ProgressiveDem
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. " Eleanor Roosevelt
ProgressiveDem

More FYII, Monday, February 8, 2010

" 'Undercover Boss." a real fairy tale....ignores reality....why not pay that "undercover" CEO worker's stagnant wages!

The Rube Goldbergian exercise aka HCR has descended into Three Stooges slapstick.

Interview with eminent professor and author, Stjepan Mestrovic, who says the US Army, as an institution, has become dysfunctional.
with the fallacious nature of the rules of engagement where illegal rules of engagement (ROE) are issued by officers and politicians at the top of the Army's hierarchy, but only low-ranking soldiers are punished for carrying out those same rules and orders.

Special election will follow Rep. John Murtha's death...right wing GOP see this as an opportunity to pull another "Mass Miracle."


Governor who resigned/quit her office after only a little more than two years, intelligence challenged, Sarah Palin, continues her hallmark lying here and here.  Hypocrites, the Quitter and TX Secessionist Rick Perry, ironically, held an anti-government rally in a taxpayer funded $73 million complex.

The right wing, pro-corporate ad that was part of the Super Bowl...Murrow would be appalled
.

And speaking of appalling: US soldier allegedly waterboards his 4 year old daughter for failure to recite the alphabet.  This is even worse than the "baby cockfights."  Why are these men, who obviously have no judgment or humanity, still in the US Army?

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FYII, Monday, February 8, 2010

Wall Street, filled with the president's friends and Clintonites who call themselves Democrats, reminding Democrats who controls Washington, sends cash to an equally greedy GOP.  Regular Americans don't stand a chance.

With obstructionist, destructive GOP members, and cowardly, defeatist nominal Democratic members, the 100 club of corporate controlled multimillionaires, the US Senate, is destroying this country.


"Globailization is killing the globe" as "transnational corporations acquire the political power that comes with that control of economies..."they get richer, our nations become poorer, and national sovereignty is reduced."

Political prayer breakfasts are bad religion, and the National Prayer Breakfast is a tradition that "amounts to a religious festival of American Christian nationalism."

Taxpayers defrauded not just in bank bailout as "American political economy guarantees private profits with public subsidies of what should be private losses" but also by the military-industrial complex.

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Obama Administration Deliberately Favoring Wall Street Over Putting Americans Back To Work

We seem to have a paralyzed Democratic elected leadership in Washington. Of course, what else can be expected with a DINO president and majority on Capitol Hill.

Instead of strong solutions for the unemployment crisis, tens of millions of jobless people get rhetoric from the president who fobbed off the massive double digit disaster to a do nothing Senate.

Rather than leading the way, Obama and his administration, especially his Wall Street controlled economic team, seem to have joined the GOP to create an artificial deficit crisis, acting more like Reagan than FDR.<< MORE >>

FYII, Saturday, February 6, 2010

In Afghanistan, US troops died for nothing....sent to die for a small outpost that was worthless; "there was no tactical or strategic value to holding the ground.."

Fiscal conservatism is a joke!

Obama misunderstands leadership.  In trying to "square a circle" he has created muddled solutions that may not prevent a potential US economic freefall.

US Congress bill "pledges $1 billion to addresses the plight of women around the world who are victims of violence."

This should put an end to claims that the Tea Bag Party and its adherents are populist and non-partisan.  Its convention shows that the Tea Bag Party is blatantly racist and bigoted, while its candidates are expected to support the Republican National Committee platform.

Human rights situation worsening in Honduras.

Dems to force GOP vote on anti-privatization of Social Security resolution.

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The Stupidity and Hypocrisy of the GOP Knows No Bounds

It never ends....the stupidity, cowardice, and hypocrisy of the GOP, especially of those elected to public office.

As far as the voters who keep casting their votes for these twits and gits, it proves you can fool some of the people all of the time into shooting themselves in the foot and voting against their own interests...that of the common good and general welfare.<< MORE >>

FYII, Friday, February 5, 2010

Old news but now officially on record: hypocrite televangelist aka scam artist, Pat Robertson, likes to hobnob with war criminals.

NFL retreats from trademark rights to New Orleans Saints supporters' chant.

"Flying cash registers" and captive customers for shopping malls in the sky.

Facebook group stops IMF from shafting Haiti, again.

The ever expanding and increasingly not-so-secret US war in Pakistan.

Make the GOP senators filibuster and expose the Republicans for the obstructionists they are to the American voters.

"After Detroit, the wreck of an American dream" as, in this current economic climate, the "arduous and uncertain job was the best job workers were likely to get."

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The Super Bowl and Workers' Rights....Say, What?

While a giant winter storm is about to hit the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states, many of those snowbound will, like much of the nation, be tuned into the Super Bowl on Sunday.

But the Super Bowl should also be a reminder about human rights and workers' rights.

Say what?

Yes, elemental, universal human and workers' rights and their violation are a part of Sunday's event.<< MORE >>

FYII, Thursday, February 4, 2010, Part II

Obama and Congress critters' woeful, inadequate response to the jobless crisis."Today's Democrats seem to lack the urgency, compassion and spine of their '30s forebears."  Others, like myself, have been saying that for quite some time.

A real Democrat is running in New York.

Why the GOP does so badly with African-Americans; and with most regular, hardworking people in this country who aren't tea baggers.

Brief, simple lesson about unfair, regressive taxation aka those tax breaks for the corporations and other wealthy few that cause higher taxes for the rest of us.

Way past time for all senior government officials and Democrats in Washington to boycott the hypocrisy scam known as the National Prayer Breakfast.

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Black Lung Disease, the Coal Miners' Scourge On The Rise; Meanwhile Dept. of Labor Underestimates Jobs Lost

This is supposed to be the 21st century, isn't it? You sure wouldn't know it when you read the labor news. It seems like two steps forward in the 20th century and three steps back for workers now

Black lung disease is on the rise among coal miners. Instead of decreasing in the 21st century, it's increasing.

It's especially ironic since President Obama has thrown his lot in with those who believe in the myth of "clean coal."<< MORE >>

FYII, Thursday, February 4, 2010, Part I

Never let facts stand in the way: "Obama 's energy policy....clean coal and ethanol, both myths he accepts as fact.

Three countries' supreme courts: "three very different political and cultural responses. The British seek accommodation; the Americans slug it out. The Canadians simply pretend nothing happened."

Iraq appeals court defuses political tension by allowing hundreds of Sunnis allegedly linked to the Baath party of Saddam to run for election.

Where is this country headed when Obama adopts the Bush assassination policy, targeting American citizens if the executive branch deems them terrorists, that makes the president judge, jury, and executioner?

While public interest groups decry the takeover of NBC by Comcast as uncompetitive their warning if falling on deaf ears as far as this administration and Congress is concerned...they pretend they've never heard of anti-trust laws

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FYII, Wednesday, February 3, 2010, Part II

US Transportation Secretary warns people not to drive any cars involved in the Toyota recall until problem is fixed.

Susan Collins of Maine just another inane Republican senator, 

The Obama administration's budget: accept "mass unemployment as just one of those things we have to live with."


Agribusiness profits at the expense of our health.

Israeli commander says they rewrote the rules of war during the Gaza conflict   putting civilian lives at greater risk.

The death of American soldiers in Pakistan's Northwest frontier raises questions about "Obama's silent war."

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GOP Leadership Filled With The Illogical, The Unthinking, and Often The Blatantly Ignorant

While the stench of hypocrisy permeates both political parties, especially heavily among the elected denizens on Capitol Hill, the Republican Party, the party of everyone for themselves, the party of if you're poor, struggling, lost your job, can't afford health care, lost your home, it's your own fault seems to be the master of the phony, the deceitful, the sanctimonious.<< MORE >>

FYII, Wednesday, February 3, 2010, Part 1

As Obama continues banging his head against a brick wall reaching out to obstructionist Republicans, the reality is that "bipartisanship" is hurting this country and its people.

The terrible policy of "don't ask, don't tell" should be abolished.  "In contrast with the US, gay people serve openly in British and other European forces and in the Israeli military."  Losing qualified people due to this discrimination should be unacceptable.

Since the beginning of this new century, US soldiers have died in Iraq and Afghanistan; now they're dying in Pakistan, too, where, officially, they are not supposed to be.

"US, Karzai clash over unconditional talks with Taliban."

"US interference in the politics of Haiti and Honduras is only the latest example of its long-term manipulations in Latin America."

How Congress works: money that's now being used to build schools and restore tropical forests in a U.S. territory is being turned into what is essentially a $3 billion tax break for foreign rum maker; in the House it was buried in a larger tax bill; in the Senate could be essentially hidden in a jobs bill.

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More FYII on Groundhog Day

Hunger in the US increases dramatically: "a study from the nation's largest food bank operator, the number of Americans in need of food aid has jumped 46 percent in three years,including a 50 percent jump in the number of children needing food assistance, and a 64 percent increase in hunger in senior citizens' homes."

"....the single most conservative, anti-tax and anti-government bastion in America - Colorado Springs" shows what would happen if conservatives had their way....and it ain't pretty.

Right wing GOP Congress critter expresses GOP's philosophy: denigration of suffering people.

Many regular Americans have been brainwashed by GOP administrations into believing that the "deficit stems from profligate spending on old people and undeserving little dark children who refuse to get a job" rather than understanding that deficits (which the GOP helped cause with their tax cuts for the rich) decrease when there is full employment...living wage jobs for all.

Entertaining, brief dramady of the result of crossed wires in "stovepiping" national security operations; (stovepiping is retrieval of info from unconnected data bases...intel raw material used without proper context)

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FYII, Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Seen as a snub towards Europe, Obama will not attend EU-US summit in Spain; reported to have been unimpressed by last year's meeting.

Pope Benny raises Protestant ire in England with authoritarian, imprudent statement.

Former British Cabinet minister says Tony Blair deceived Parliament over the grounds for the Iraq war.

US military defense strategy: continual war in the future as the Pentagon dreams up military engagements; spending over $2 billion a day is not a defense budget, but a death budget.

Politics obstructing US economic recovery.

Obama tax increase on the rich still not adequate.  Since Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy helped create the deficit, why does Obama fear asking everyone to pay their fair share?

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Obama, A Talented Rhetorician With Anemic Policies for the Jobless Crisis

Though it still may not be obvious to the majority of the American electorate or the Democratic base, we have a president who is a Democrat only nominally, avoiding Democratic Party values in his rush to embrace Republicanism.

We have a corporatist president without a Democratic vision for the common good, without the boldness required to fight for regular Americans.

He is a talented rhetorician whose primary concern appears to be well said is better than well done as his anemic policies regarding the unemployment crisis and the economic disaster testify. << MORE >>

FYII, Monday, February 1, 2010, Part II

It didn't work under Reagan or the Bushes, but wooden-headed Obama is leaving regular Americans to suffer under trickle down economics...again, as he and his Wall Street economic team rescued the crooked creditors at public expense; and asking the American people to ignore the government's ongoing knuckling under to the financial industry's protection racket.

Did your donation to the DNC pay for Senator Ben Nelson (DINO-NE). who helped kill the public option and inject anti-women's reproductive rights choices in the health care fiasco, to run ads justifying his Republican/DINO stance on health care?

1906 article about the US Senate reads just as true today.

Obama's DOJ protecting Yoo, Bybee and the rest of the torture enabling cabal; as Obama continues to embrace Bush/Cheney policies regarding terrorism and civil liberties.

"Property dispute took millions of years in the making" as meteorite in Lorton, VA causes litigation.

Nine Wall Street honchos who made out like the bandits they are.

No big, bold jobs programs in the works....cornerstones of Obama's jobs plan, top heavy with tax credits for employers that studies have shown don't work, may not have much impact.

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Obama Sacrifices The Domestic Common Good On The Altar of Increased, No Cuts Military Spending

While DINO President Obama washes his hands of the jobless crisis in the US by shunting it to the do nothing Senate, he plays the Republicans' game with the deficit: cut domestic spending but do not touch military spending.

Bloated military spending should be on the chopping block but isn't. That increased Pentagon spending (at the expense of domestic programs for the common good) has become blatantly obscene.<< MORE >>

FYII, Monday, February 1, 2010, Part I

"Nano invention, macro possibilities; " Nanotechnological non-toxic liquid glass "could revolutionize manufacturing"; anti-bacterial and repels dirt.

Pontiac, MI reflects the financial woes of the economic debacle; selling the Silverdome at fire sale price.

According to the Miami Herald, Jeb Bush is looking presidential to some people.  Only to those people who can ignore (or perhaps identify) with his involvement in fraud and other crooked deals.

Haiti humanitarian efforts drew its share of religious zealots causing problems.

First ever woman wins Directors' Guild Award.

Apartheid by paper, as US foreign policy utterly fails in Middle East turning "a blind eye to Israeli bulldozers." 

Meanwhile, trying to thwart threatened war crimes proceedings since Israel has failed to hold independent investigations into military conduct during the Gaza war, Israel "reprimanded" two high ranking officers for shelling a UN compound filled with 700 Palestinian refugees during that war.

US, the world's largest arms dealer, taking advantage of the Obama administration's backing off of detente with Iran, "plans to increase its military presence and step up arms sales to friendly regimes in the Persian Gulf..." like to Saudi Arabia, you know where 15 of the 19 9/11 terrorists came from.

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FYIi, Friday, January 29, 2010

Right wing Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell, embarassed himself with his controversial human prop filled rebuttal to the SOTU.  The GOP is notorious for using members of the military inappropriately and against regulations.

Bernanke confirmed: hypocrisy and dishonesty abounds in the White House and on Capitol Hill from the president who re-nominated him to the senators who confirmed him.

Justice served: jury finds Scott Roeder guilty of the first degree murder of Dr. George Tiller.

Labor needs a new plan; unions should realize they can't count on the so called Democratic president and DINO Dems in Congress.

Hey, Obama!  While you're flipping the jobs issue to the do-nothing Senate, what about stagnant wages and those "free trade" deals that are "based on the fundamental principle of the race to the bottom on wages."

And in a move that shows how many twits there are in the US Senate, there is this from the senatorial mental midgets.

Right wing media spouts usual lies about Obama's criticism of the reactionary Supreme Court corporatist decision and ignores historical facts.

Following SCOTUS decisions on corporate campaign financing, a corporation is running for a Maryland congressional seat

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Americans Seem To Have Forgotten That The Iraq Invasion Was Illegal; Great Britain Hasn't

Whenever I write about Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq, the word illegal always precedes invasion to remind readers that the Bush regime unlawfully perpetrated that conflict and committed more crimes to cover-up, and Obama's administration continues to protect that regime.

Bushites have obvious reasons to conceal and lie about their actions, like fear of being held responsible for war crimes and Obama, because he is irresolute and a DINO and follows Bush's path in many ways, constantly shields that criminal regime and its former leader by using the pathetic, hypocritical excuse of looking forward not back.<< MORE >>

FYiI, Thursday, January 28, 2010, PM edition

RIP Howard Zinn; the history making historian, a modest, courageous man whose lesson to many generations was to challenge the abuse of power

Right wing justice Alito, one of the reactionary judicial activists on the right wing Roberts Supreme Court, turns himself into a GOP partisan sideshow and casts more doubt on that court's credibility.

Economic initiatives for the middle class, but what about jobs?

Bush regime's "Afghan night raids, the accompanying killings, disappearances, incarcerations, and abuses, as well as the secret military detention centers" whether US military, CIA, private mercenary contractors continues under Obama; and only Americans are ignorant of this secret war.

Obama said he's not interested in punishing banks, but what about financial industry crimes that continue to go unpunished?

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SOTU: If You Didn't Expect Much, You Weren't Disappointed

I didn't expect much regarding President Obama's State of the Union address and I wasn't disappointed.

As far as delivery, Obama actually never gives a bad speech; as far as content, John Nichols at The Nation gave an insightful critique. Here are some excerpts:<< MORE >>

FYII, Thursday, January 28, 2010, AM edition

Shades of Donald Segretti and Lee Atwater: right wingers continue their decades old lawlessness and the Nixonian/Reaganites/Bushites still inspire dangerous twits.

More on the Geithner-AIG scandal; Obama sure can pick 'em.


And the chorus grows for firing Geithner as the Federal Reserve seems to be involved in the AIG scandal, its part in the AIG fiasco and its future should be under the public microscope.  Not only has Obama re-nominated Bernanke but the "president's financial reform proposals would authorize the Federal Reserve to become the super-regulator of the entire financial system--empowered in privileged secrecy to decide the most fateful matters of who should fail, who should be saved."  What does that say about Obama?

Thanks to the right wing Supreme Court, it didn't take long....foreign corporation lobbyists already working to make sure their bosses can influence American elections.

Iraq (and Vietnam) redux...winning hearts and minds by killing innocent civilians.

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FYII, Wednesday, January 27, 2010, Part II

If Obama tries to convince the American people that a "hopeful" future awaits, just remember the adage, "those who live on hope will die fasting."

Obama, the hatchet man, just like John McCain on economic issues.

Is the AFL-CIO nuts?  Unions can't compete with corporate cash.  Instead of filing amicus curiae briefs on the merits of the corporate position of the recent undemocratic Supreme Court decision, AFL-CIO should have been sending the message of the California Nurses Association and the National Nurses United that the right wing Roberts court decision was a "disastrous ruling for American workers and American democracy."

America looking like a developing country with its massive poverty problem.

Victory for concerned, intelligent citizens: Oregon voters pass tax increase measure raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations (boosting the minimum corporate tax from its shocking level of $10 a year) rather than gutting school funding and essential government services.

While a woodenheaded Barack Obama and corporate shills from both parties wanted an idiotic deficit reduction commission an unlikely Senate coalition killed the crappy proposal. 

The former CIA operative who, in his 15 minutes of fame popped up all over the media during Bush's regime, claiming waterboarding worked, lied.  Now says he didn't know what he was talking about.  Some of us never thought you did.

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Political Leaders in Washington Have Lost Their Moral Compass; That Is, IF They Ever Had One

On this State of the Union speech day, we await President Obama's attempt this evening to appease a righteously upset American electorate. It will probably consist of another formulaic rhetorical address, followed by the administration's usual busy getting dizzy motions ensuring either the minimum or no effective,substantive result for the common good. In the end, it will translate into failure to produce millions of needed jobs.

Just as it's impossible for a leopard to change its spots, the DINOs, among whom is included the president, are unable to change their actual corporatist philosophy, even though they can fool some of the people all of the time with their phony "Democratic" spiels.<< MORE >>

FYII, Wednesday, January 27, 2010, Part I

Obama will try and spin a "sorry state of the union."

As Catholic bishops busily injected themselves into the health care bill process, the church hierarchy's obscene and criminal role in clergy pedophilia scandal rolls on and on.

Geithner and Paulson , two Wall Street protecting peas in a pod, brought their AIG prevarications to Capitol Hill.

The classic Duralex glass tumbler back from near extinction.

"Barack Obama, like George Bush before him, has claimed the authority to order American citizens murdered based solely on the unverified, uncharged, unchecked claim that they are associated with Terrorism and pose 'a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests.' "

What the US really thinks about Karzai.

Encouraging Obama to fight for Democratic Party principles is a waste of time since he only gives rhetorical lip service to those party values.  Obama is not an FDR or Kennedy but a Reagan/Bush clone.

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FYII, Tuesday, January 26, 2010, PM edition

Say no to Obama.  "If John McCain had compiled Obama's record, he would be condemned by even the most moderate Democrats as a tool of the corporate elites."

No matter how incomprehensible President Obama's renomination of Ben Bernanke, given his terrible record at the Fed, the Senate committee should not confirm him.

SEC originally thought about keeping AIG bailout secret via claims of national security.

Not on the president's chopping block even though military spending accounts for over 50% of discretionary government spending.  Obama continues to give the Pentagon a blank check which is punishing regular Americans.

Obama's State of the Union address will probably be a myth filled exercise.

Right wing filmmaker who tried to do a number on ACORN, arrested in alleged attempt to bug a US senator's office. 31 Republican House members supported a resolution praising this alleged felon.

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"Democrats" in the White House and Congress are Killing Our Democratic Party

It has been obvious since before the inauguration when he chose Rahm Emanuel to be his chief of staff that, unlike FDR and Kennedy, Obama was all talk, hoping those who voted for him would be swayed by rhetoric into confusing motion, however limited and ineffectual, with real action. In other words, like Bush and Reagan, the former whom he seems to emulate and protect, the latter to mistakenly revere, he is not a leader and not ready to govern.

Obama and his corporate and Wall Street filled administration and the other Wussacrats and their leadership on Capitol Hill whose ongoing caving, DINO mind set was honed to perfection when the GOP was in the majority from 1995 to 2006 are ruining the Democratic Party. Because of them and the Clintonites, it has become a twin of the Republican Party: controlled by corporations while the common good and general welfare be damned.<< MORE >>

FYII, Tuesday, January 26, 2010, AM edition

Just what the suffering Haitians need: Scientology lessons and solar powered Bibles!

Obama continues his wrongheaded policy: minimum job creation ideas, but big discretionary spending cuts that Wall Street will love.

"...founding patriots like Jefferson are "clawing their way out of their graves to throttle Alito, Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas's ruling on corporatism supreme."  It's an outrageous "decree that rules in favor of fascism; plus this on the Supreme Corporate's idiotic decision.

Climate change and "Frankenstorms" like the one that hit the southwestern US last week.

Prioritizing deficit reduction while the economy for regular Americans is in tatters and joblessness expands, proving once again, Obama hasn't a clue or doesn't care about the common good.

Obama's tone deafness: criticizing Wall Street while continuing to push Bernanke,

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FYII, Monday, January 25, 2010

Voters in Massachusetts punished the Democrats for neglecting their most vital issue: jobs.  But what in the hell kind of Democrats are these in Washington?  DINOs mostly, not true Dems.

Will the crooks at Goldman-Sachs and other financial institutions be held accountable for their thievery...don't hold your breath since they control the elected denizens on Capitol Hill and are ensconced in the White House.


A tale of what happens when the greed of the real estate and financial industries created the artificially inflated real estate prices that led to a massive meltdown.

President Obama recalls David Plouffe to lead Democratic mid-term elections.  After his role as Obama's campaign manager, Plouffe has shown himself to be another "change to win" hypocrite.

The drone surge, for the military, the glorious stuff of dreams, for the rest of the planet, a nightmare and, as history shows, "the promised 'breakthroughs,' whether aimed at destroying enemy fortifications, enemy networks, or the enemy’s will, seldom follow so reliably.

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Obama Fails To Provide Real Leadership Projecting "Well Said" Is Not Better Than "Well Done"

I wrote that Obama and his administration just don't get it and don't care to get it.

Given that he has shown us that he is antithesis of "well done is better than well said," the Massachusetts debacle, in many ways is a message that should not be ignored as has been the MO of this DINO administration dissing its Democratic base and the rest of the electorate who voted for Obama.<< MORE >>

Time To Quit Begging Obama To Do What He Was Elected To Do

For the umpteenth time I've read an article on how President Obama must change. 

Yet another well meaning author writes about how Obama must learn from his disappointing first year and take the country in the correct direction, the direction he campaigned on which got him elected; the direction, the issues on which he campaigned and that
he promptly, deliberately forgot or ignored.

It's getting tiring this ongoing call for President Obama to lead and to act like a real Democrat.  And its an exercise in futility. It's pretty pathetic to have to beg a so called Democratic president to do what he is supposed to for the common good and general welfare.

His first year has been unsatisfactory and mediocre from his mostly disastrous selections of individuals (the list gets longer) for high level positions in his administration, to his failure to provide leadership in so many policy areas like health care.  His woeful woodenheadedness about the economy and jobs, embracing Wall Street and dissing Main Street and almost constantly contradicting his hypocritical rhetoric are contemptible.

President Obama is not a real Democrat which we so badly needed after the Reagan, Bush, Shrub and triangulating Clinton years.  He is a corporatist, Clintonite/Rubinite DINO, who uses rhetoric to obfuscate, introduce and/or sell to the American people a lackluster, ineffective action usually doomed to fail while protecting government of, by, and for the wealthy few.

His so called laid back style smacks of an unacceptable complacency as he copies Dubya and Reagan, not FDR.  Obama hasn't changed Washington at all, but shown his true colors...more Republican lite than Democrat.

To all those disappointed people exhorting Obama to change from the past year's disastrous record and begging him and his administration to actually accomplish what he campaigned on and for which he was elected, rather than the current policy of polishing turds and calling it "the best we could do" gold, Benjamin Franklin offered some sage advice: "He that lives upon hope will die fasting." 

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FYII, Saturday, January 23, 2010

Daffy David Axelrod needs to move out of the White House and back to Illinois and take Rahm Emanuel with him.  Is Obama that myopic when it comes to these two?

Speaking of daffiness...."Are House Democrats thinking about extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy?"


How the DCCC recruits DINOs and Repugs while real Democratic candidates get shafted.

Selling a city's soul to corporate hucksters for chump change.

The unbearable Hardball and its "uninformed, confused and ridiculous" host Chris Matthews keep sinking lower.

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How Woodenheaded Can You Be? Obama and Reid Still Support Bernanke Ignoring the Anger of American Voters

Federal Reserve Chair, Ben Bernanke, faces more opposition to confirmation for his second term.

From McClatchy Newspapers:
"Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke's prospects for a second term became shakier Friday as two Senate Democrats, furious at his stewardship during the nation's economic crisis, said they'd oppose him.

"Both President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid renewed their support for Bernanke on Friday, but his performance since becoming chairman in early 2006 has become a rallying point for some lawmakers being bombarded by constituents frustrated about the economy's sluggish pace of recovery.

"Reid's endorsement of Bernanke in a statement late Friday reflected the difficult politics of the confirmation, especially for senators who, like Reid, a Nevada Democrat, face uncertain re-election prospects.

"Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., was among those who said she'd oppose a second term for Bernanke.

" 'It is time for a change,' she said. 'It is time for Main Street to have a champion at the Fed.

" 'Dr. Bernanke played a lead role in crafting the Bush administration's economic policies, which led to the current economic crisis. Our next Federal Reserve Chairman must represent a clean break from the failed policies of the past.' "

"Also coming out against Bernanke Friday was Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

" 'Under the watch of Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve permitted grossly irresponsible financial activities that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,' " he said.

In a press release, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today "he senses growing opposition to a second term for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

“ 'I sense that many Democrats see the Massachusetts election as a wake-up call,' Sanders said. 'There is a growing understanding that our economy is in severe distress, a greater appreciation that people are disgusted with the never-ending greed on Wall Street, and a better recognition that we need a new direction at the Fed.

“ 'People do not want another term for the man whose major job as Fed chairman was to protect the safety and soundness of our financial system but instead was asleep at the switch,' he added.  'I am confident that more and more senators understand that we need a new Fed and a new Wall Street and will oppose Bernanke’s confirmation. ' ”

Since I and other progressives have indicated, for quite some time , our opposition to keeping Bernanke at the Fed here are  questions some elected Democrats in Washington need to answer:

President Obama, a real Democratic president who understood the gravity of the economic meltdown and Bernanke's disastrous failure by omission and commission during this financial crisis would not re-nominate him to the Federal Reserve chair. Why did you and how could you?

Only Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley on the Senate Banking Committee voted against Bernanke.  Why did Democratic senators Dodd, Johnson, Reed, Schumer, Bayh, Menendez, Akaka, Brown, Tester, Kohl, Warner, and Bennet all vote for Bernanke who was part of the economic disaster problem?  

Some of you are known certified DINOs but what about the rest?

Going along to get along....supporting Wall Street, not Main Street.   It's disgusting.  None of you can call himself a real Democrat.

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FYII, Friday, January 22, 2010

Federal judge rules that mass surveillance of Americans is immune from judicial review..."that so long as the government spies on all Americans, the courts have no power to review or halt such mass surveillance even when it is flatly illegal and unconstitutional..."

In the no surprise department...Chevron knowingly committed felonies including violating the Clean Air Act and lying to the federal government.

Air America's demise: great idea, lousy execution...but progressive radio has an immense market and carries on.


Last decade was the warmest ever on Earth says NASA.

The fiscal crisis unfolding in state legislatures will only get worse this year.


Democratic Party no longer the party of the people...it's the party of Wall Street and the party of war and militarism just like the GOP, Meanwhile Obama has squandered the presidency as his administration and Capitol Hill Dems "lick the boots of their Wall Street controllers and yet managing to get labeled "socialists" by the voters.

"What happens when the legal structure itself stands in the way of democracy?"

Dear Mr. President...if you're so interested in financial industry reform why did you reappoint Ben Bernanke or pick Tim Geithner?


What exactly did Harold Ford, Jr. DINO and DLCer do on Wall Street the last three years?

Oops.  New tests reveal centuries old relic of St. Joan of Arc's charred bones contained bones of a cat and an Egyptian.  Lesson: only get holy body parts relics from reputable bone dealers.

Beware the techno-optimism about "warbots." The "development of autonomous military robots should be outlawed now."

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Obama's Regulatory Banking Proposal Deliberately Minimal to Avoid the Stronger Solution: a Reinstatement of Glass-Steagall

Yesterday, I wrote that Obama's proposed "Volcker Act" seemed to be his Glass Steagall for the 21st century, but probably not. I was correct. It's nothing but a Rube Goldbergerian, busy getting dizzy attempt to pretend that he's doing something.

As I have written ad infinitum, why doesn't he actually lead by pressuring Capitol Hill Democrats to immediately restore the Glass Steagall Act? It was FDR New Deal legislation that worked effectively for more than half a century until it was killed by Phil Gramm and his fellow Republicans in Congress joined by the Clintonite Rob Rubin brigade of Wall Street whores who set the stage for the recent economic meltdown caused by a greedy, deregulated, unregulated financial industry<< MORE >>

FYII, Thursday, January 21, 2010

Not only do corporation control Congress and the White House, now, thanks to the right wing Roberts Supreme Court which just ended limits on corporate campaign spending, corporations will control candidates and elections to the detriment of "we the people." However, there are growing movements to overturn this court decision here , here, and here.

More about the conservative scum who won that terrible Supreme Court decision for corporate bribery.

Elected Democrats in Washington have ignored the working class at their peril; more rank and file Democrats seem to agree with Kucinich and not the Dem DINO centrists.

"Haiti needs water, not occupation."

Those pesky Blue Dog Dems still love the Bush tax cuts.

Obama's arrogant and presumptuous statements following the Massachusetts debacle are disturbing; he seems to eerily parrallel the ending of the film, "The Candidate."

Pentagon contractor that put biblical inscriptions on rifle scope backs off...money trumps Christian fundamentalism.  Meanwhile, Pentagon use of private mercenary companies doubles in Afghanistan.

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New Glass Steagall for the 21st Century....Probably Not

President Obama proposed his 21st century "Glass Stegall Act called the Volcker Act.

From the NYTimes: "Declaring that huge banks had nearly brought down the economy by taking “huge, reckless risks in pursuit of profits,” President Obama on Thursday proposed legislation to limit the scope and size of large financial institutions.

"The changes would prohibit bank holding companies from owning, investing, or sponsoring hedge fund or private equity funds and from engaging in proprietary trading — what Mr. Obama called the Volcker Rule, in recognition of the former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul A. Volcker, who has championed the restriction.

"In addition, Mr. Obama will seek to limit consolidation in the financial sector, by placing curbs on the growth of the market share of liabilities at the biggest firms. An existing cap, put in place in 1994, put a limit of 10 percent on the share of insured deposits that can be held by any one bank. That cap would be expanded, officials said, to include liabilities other than deposits.

"Both changes require legislation by Congress, and Republican leaders, as well as the banking industry, signaled on Thursday that they would resist the proposals."

And given the right wing Roberts corporatist Supreme Court ruling that ends corporate limits to campaign spending, this proposed legislation will be killed or diluted (and probably written) on Capitol Hill by the obscenely rich financial industry that caused this economic meltdown and got even richer with taxpayers' bailout money.

Ironically, President Obama was surrounded at the announcement by those in his administration who have protected and enriched Wall Street at the expense of Main Street and those whose campaign coffers are filled by the financial industry that controls Congress and the White House.

Like the health care bill, this proposed financial regulation will end up being a piece of Rube Goldberg crap that does nothing effective.

Why not use anti-trust laws already on the books to break up these crooked, "too big to fail" financial institutions first?

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FYII, January 20, 2010

The Coakley debacle: flying the finger at Obama; punishing the Democrats in the White House and Congress for squandering an opportunity for change as they ignored the common good and regular Americans.

More post mortems on the Massachusetts Democratic train wreck: here, here, here, here, and here.

Insurance companies can game the so called health care reform bill to the detriment of the consumer.

Those terrible lefties; it's all their fault.

Obama's GOP Bushite Sec'y of Defense holdover, Bob Gates, promises defense contractors a "closer relationship" (as if it's not incestual enough now) and, with the help of the White House, an ever expanding budget (as if it's not bloated already), the power of the military-industrial complex and more militarism make this obscene budget only a shadow of possibly worse to come.

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Tim Kaine, DNC Chair, Has Overseen Losses In Virginia, New Jersey and now Massachusetts... Three Strikes and He Should Be Out

Of all the post mortems about the Masschusetts debacle, Democratic Party train wreck last night, Cenk Ugyur at The Young Turks had an interesting take.

He asks, "Should Tim Kaine Be Fired?" And goes on to write: "....is Tim Kaine also the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Yes and no. These elections definitely mean something. You could have dismissed Virginia as leaning conservative and New Jersey as unique in their anger at Corzine. But there is no excuse for Massachusetts. This is a national election for a senate seat, not a local governor's race with local issues. And three is an undeniable trend. Houston, we have a problem.<< MORE >>

FYII, January 19, 2010, Part II

Wall Street controlled US Senate trying to kill or gut the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

President Obama's proposal for a tax on banks to recoup TARP funds is a mere pittance and woefully inadequate. Much more needs to be done.  A tax on financial speculation would be more productive and effective and change for the better the way the financial industry does its business, a win situation for everyone but the speculators.


US "security" companies aka mercenaries aka war profiteers are offering their "services" in Haiti just as they did in New Orleans where they ripped off US taxpayers by contracting to Bushite government agencies for big bucks.

Wall Street and the rest of the financial industry already control the White House and Congress, so its power grab is no surprise;enforcing existing anti-trust laws to break up big banks, falls on deliberately deaf, bribed ears.

Will Diebold steal votes in the Massachusetts special election?

Tweetybird Matthews, purveyor of political trivia as opposed to substance.

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DINOs In Washington Have Succeeded In Deliberately Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory

Disappointing, disgusting, dismaying, duplicitous, DINOs.

That pretty much describes the so called members of the Democratic Party elected to the US presidency, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.<< MORE >>

FYII, Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Part I

Obama didn't change Washington, it changed him, for the worse.

Failed rescue efforts in Haiti?

Wall Street should get a suitable reward.

Gitmo suicides that weren't, Camp No at Gitmo a part of the CIA's torture archipelago; Bush Justice Dept. cover-up of homicides.

Gits on Wall Street still don't get it.

Pentagon contractor puts "Biblical Jesus codes" on US Marine and Army gun sights in violation of the Constitution, and other federal laws.

During the Bush regime, FBI routinely broke the law to obtain phone records, trampling on civil liberties. 

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 2010


"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

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FYII, Friday, January 15, 2010

Iraq deja vu all over again....poor US oversight on spending in Afghanistan.

While Bush was mute and detached when levees broke during Katrina, Obama was promising that everything would be done for the people of Haiti.  Unfortunately, the outcome in Haiti may be the same as Katrina.

Obama's bank tax: smoke and mirrors covering false assumptions and bad math.


Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission avoiding trust-busting Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and other big financial institutions; so far only playing wiffle ball instead of hard ball with the crooks.

Latvia, which set a world-historical record by losing more than 24 percent of its economy in just two years, shows just how much damage a far right wing economic policy can do.

US mainstream media, either deliberately or incompetently, "skew the terms of our political debate"... depicting the center-right Obama administration and its corporatist policies as quasi-Marxist....and Senator Bernie Sanders as "far, far left."


One of Obama's closest confidants, Cass Sunstein, now head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, in 2008 proposed an Orwellian, Bushite policy to use covert propaganda "to undermine free speech."  Totally appalling.

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Wall Street Perps Making Out Like the Bandits They Are Because They Control Government

This week we had the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission underwhelming us by failing to ask the financial industry perps the hard questions, and deliberately avoiding trust busting the too big to fail "banks" while President Obama proposed a tax on banks that is a pittance.

It's that kind of weak, basically ineffective action towards those who caused this economic debacle and the every day reality of economic injustice and double digit unemployment are infuriating regular, struggling Americans who wonder what ever happened to government of, by, and for the people and the common good.

Regular people suffered under the criminal Bush regime as it trampled on the Constitution (and other laws) so they voted for change promised by Obama administration. << MORE >>

FYII, Thursday, January 14, 2010, Part II

Maybe this explains his lack of leadership on health care reform....Obama received $20 million from health care industry in his campaign, three times more than McCain.

Gee, however did we predict it? ....Day One: the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission fails to ask Wall Street CEOs the hard question. let's the big boys off the hook; it's not the Pecora Commission after all, not by a long shot. 


It's amazing how ignorant Sarah Palin and the rest of her ilk are about American history.

Speaking of ignorance, Texas state board of education tries to rehabilitate Joe McCarthy in textbooks.

Obama's proposal for a tax on banks is a pittance filled with loopholes, the usual smoke and mirrors from a Wall Street protecting administration. Where is the 95% tax on financial industry excessive compensation packages?

Ken Silverstein at Harper's points readers to photos from Haiti and comments on how the media is providing a sanitized history of Haiti to American audiences.

A preview of the GOP 2010 campaign aka how Democrats in Washington shot themselves in the foot.

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Idiots Everywhere...a Police Officer Tasering Junior High Students and the Demented Pat Robertson's Revisionist History

There are idiots everywhere, but when one is a member of law enforcement and the other a well known so called "Christian" minister one wonders about their mental health and the damage they cause.

From Jonathan Turley: "A police officer in Kankakee has a curious method of applied learning for children. While visiting the Kankakee Junior High School, he called for volunteers and tasered students in a demonstration. One of the parents rushed her son to the hospital because he has a pre-existing heart murmur.<< MORE >>

FYII, Thursday, January 14, 2010 Part I

A primer on economic rights.

More Haiti news here, here, here, and here.

Obama administration: "no pain for the wealthy and powerful; sticking it to the working stiff;" no wonder Obama is in trouble.

US housing foreclosures shattered all records in 2009 and are set to repeat this year.

Eight year old on TSA watch list.

George H.W. Bush's attempt to force a unanimous vote in the UN in 1990 for Operation Desert Storm, called a 'a multilateral fig-leaf for a unilateral war' may have led to Yemen's anti-Americanism.

Suicide rate surges among US military veterans.

While, unlike many industrial nations, the US lacks universal health care, and now has double digit joblessness with ever expanding economic injustice, the US military has spent $1 trillion on its post-9/11 wars so far; isn't it time for an objective review of the US military vs. al-Qaeda, a war of futility...."shooting gnats with a machine gun"

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