WWII "fly girls" WASPs honored with highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal.

Netanyahu's message to Obama and Biden.

How Social Security works for people with disabilities.

Patrick Kennedy calls press "despicable" for not covering Afghan was resolution; "the first major congressional debate about U.S. military operations in Afghanistan since lawmakers authorized the invasion of that country in autumn 2001."   Rep. Alan Grayson's brief remarks in that debate.  The House vote on removing US armed forces from Afghanistan.

Say what?  FDIC thinks its a good idea for pension funds to bail out failed financial institutions.

What does Wall Street actually produce besides financial catastrophe?

Another in the growing list of cases of Bank of America foreclosing on the wrong house (including, in this case, holding a pet parrot hostage in the dispute) and then when sued insisting it acted reasonably.

Anything you tweet can be used against you.

Corporate welfare at its finest: $100 billion plus student loan industry bailout.

        

Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the White House have become DINOs of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Rather than the traditional party of the people and the party of the 21st New Deal, it is often indistinguishable from the GOP, the greed over people Republicans.

The spinelessness of the Obama administration, spun as "bipartisanship" aka caving to GOP obstructionists which has been proven to be damaging to regular Americans, has earned them the appropriate name, Wussacrats.

That apparently permanent minority invertebrate mind set has been the reality in both chambers of Congress since the the mid 1990's and continues among Democrats even though now in the majority. << MORE >>

Labor's view of Obama and the Democrats: "disappointing, disillusioning, and unengaged."

Time for workers to say enough: Ten steps to take to stop manufacturing plant closures (like Whirlpool, that took taxpayers stimulus monies) and stop job elimination.

Don't ask, don't tell not just about gays but might have been US military's philosophy for decades long carcinogenic contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

US hubris and narcissism ongoing regarding Iraq where the US created a mess and those media cheerleaders who supported Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq now backpedal from their phony "regret" of that unlawful transgression....give them an Oscar for hubris.

Obamacare bill not reform but "catering to the big players in the medical-industrial complex."

Corporate profit before people's health and safety a continuing reality; food product company ignores salmonella at its plant and knowingly continued selling its product says FDA.

Super rich try to scuttle estate tax with lies so they can continue not paying their fair share of taxes.

Yet another warning about Wussacrats needing a backbone to add to the stack....since they were a minority on Capitol Hill (from the mid 90's until 2006) these mostly DINOs continue their lack of a spine.  Now we also have a DINO Wussacrat president and administration...just what we needed: more invertebrates claiming and pretending to be Democrats.

Whiny, corporatist right wing GOP Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who thinks he should be immune from criticism.

Not to excuse Democrats' ethics problems, but "The Republican list of ethics problems was seemingly endless, and, unlike Democrats, the GOP actually tried to shield their members from repercussions."

        

What to make of some the Pollyanna statements about the meager uptick in hiring.

Take it with a hefty dose of salt and the following bucket of cold water reality. << MORE >>

When Democrats stay true to their party's principles rather than becoming Wussacrats, they win GOP votes, too.

Many people have noticed the continuing hypocrisy of this president...on the stump, Obama decries the greedy actions of the for profit, private health insurance corporations, yet as one wise blogger asks: "If the private insurance industry is so evil, why would you ever possibly force me to be their customer?"

Updating political dictionaries; e.g. "Treason" refers to Democrats criticizing a Republican administration during a war while "Patriotism" refers to Republicans criticizing a Democratic administration during a war.

Democrats need too remind everyone, especially members of the GOP and those living in states and congressional districts represented by GOP elected officials that: The national debt doubled under George W. Bush and tripled under Reagan. George W. Bush had the worst job creation record in 60 years. Taxes are historically low and have been for twenty years.

DOJ's "anti-trust concerns" decision about ES&S's purchase of Diebold (giving it a virtual voting machine monopoly in the US--- presence in 90% of the states) does nothing "to ensure the accuracy or ability of citizens to oversee their own elections run on unobservable, easily manipulated, oft-failed electronic voting systems..."

Economic inequality increases: while unemployment and poverty continue to rise, number of "they're in the money" millionaires rose by 16% last year.

It's not enough that the Obama administration followed Dubya's lead in bailing out the financiers while essentially telling regular Americans to go pound sand, is Obama's myopia about bipartisanship putting Americans at massive financial risk (in addition to Three Mile Island and Chernobyl risks) regarding nuclear expansion?.

Japan's dog washing machine more popular with owners than dogs...maybe owners should try out the machine on themselves, first.

        

"...letting bankers do what they want is a recipe for disaster..."  No kidding.

Iraq's parliamentary elections are over and, as in 2005, when tens of thousands of Iraqis braved suicide bombers to vote, this time tens of thousands braved mortar fire to "give the West its 'democracy.' "

ACLU ad challenges military commissions questioning whether Obama has morphed into Dubya.

Offshoring jobs and firing American workers OK with the Wusscrats on Capitol Hill.

Afghan conflict: a deliberate manipulation of perceptions with propaganda by US military.

Israel plays the US for a fool, as Biden is in Israel brown nosing...the VP should explain this.

Right wing witch hunt aided and abetted by the reactionary GOP on Capitol Hill and their myopic, Wussacratic enablers.

Complicit in our own enslavement?

A second bumbling, female Democratic Secretary of State....shameful.

Obama and his administration's view of the Democratic base: trained seals and doormats.

        

It's as if the economic meltdown never happened....at least in the myopic eyes of some states.

They are willing to again act like Las Vegas gamblers with public pension funds and play in the Wall Street casino that caused the financial catastrophe.

People should be very, very concerned by this news.<< MORE >>

A war criminal continues his obscene rantings.

"Ending private insurance's chokehold on health care."

Those forgetful aka prevaricating Republicans who loved reconciliation when they controlled Congress.

"GOP to the Unemployed....drop dead."

1,000 US military death in Afghanistan, a sobering statistic, as 30% of those troops dying in Afghanistan have been veterans of the Iraq conflict.

DINO shill for Big Business and Wall Street, Senator Blanche Lincoln of AK, has a Dem primary opponent.

        

When did this country cease to be a manufacturing powerhouse? When it ceased producing what its people consume.

So says Richard McCormick, editor and publisher of Manufacturing & Technology News, in an interview by Leo Gerard, President of the USW, the United Steelworkers.

Here are a few excerpts from that interview that shed light on the economic crisis and unemployment disaster.<< MORE >>

Chile's quake 500x more powerful than the recent one in Haiti; hundreds are killed and the death toll rises and 2 million people are displaced; but the danger of an after quake Pacific tsunami thankfully didn't materialize.

In secret talks, US bankers, the crooks who helped cause the economic meltdown, reacted furiously to any "socialist" attempts to decrease their pay.

How private contractors continue getting rich at the government trough: "U.S. State Department has completely failed to do any serious oversight of the private contractors to whom they paid 1.6 billion dollars to provide police training at dozens of sites around Afghanistan."

Secretary of Labor Solis a gem in Obama's usual cow pie selections of high level officials.

A recent study "found little evidence to support allegations of fraud, nor to conclude that most Iranians view President Ahmadinejad as illegitimate" contrary to mainstream media blather.

Greece, Goldman Sachs, and derivatives, those exotic financial instruments that Bernanke, Obama and his economic team, and Congress don't want to regulate.

Right wing terrorists, the "obssesed and deranged" coddled by GOP politicians, seem to be making a comeback

        

The Democratic Party better get its act together and quit kowtowing to DINOs in the White House and on Capitol Hill. There should be no DINOs in the party, period.

And the Democratic Party better get serious about the jobs crisis, now.

While organized labor is doing better than the Dems at highlighting the massive unemployment disaster, it needs to pressure the Democrats much, much more.<< MORE >>

"Social Security works for women; Social Security works for America."

How many times does it need repeating?  It's not the debt: that's the least of our worries.

US military intelligence spied on domestic groups like Planned Parenthood in 2002.

Using money as leverage for the common good.

The continuing question:  Why don't the Dems force the GOP to have a real filibuster? as Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), a GOP dimwit, says "tough shit" to unemployment benefits.

"....many of the most damaging acts inflicted on the country by Washington are enacted by bipartisanship....the harmonious joining together of Republicans and Democrats is ongoing when it comes to such terrible legislation as the extension of the Patriot Act, an abusive, destructive rights violating monstrosity of the Bushite era.

Glenn Beck and his ilk: tyranny's hideous image within our midst...it is happening here.

        

Instead of states and localities being helped by the federal government, they are being scammed and defrauded by the financial industry with an exotic instrument: interest rate swaps that make big bucks for the banks and bankrupt everyone else.

A dismal situation: What happens when the poor get poorer?

No surprise....GOP health care plan (what an oxymoronic phrase) worse that you think.

Another GOP hypocrite, Mitt Romney, and the myth of his jobs creation as MA guv.

The International Olympic Committee—that sewing circle of monarchists, extortionists, and absolved fascists—likes to hide behind the pretense of nobility...in the hands of the IOC, the Olympics are a fraud.

Obama administration on Consumer Financial Protection Agency: one step forward, two steps back.  BTW, why hasn't Geithner been fired yet?

        

With the unjust and huge unemployment numbers, there's nothing like some anti-worker news to show the extent of that anti-labor injustice.

That this is happening during a so called Democratic administration's term is shameful and makes a damning statement about the corporatist DINO White House.

One of the stories highlights the consequences of Obama and his Education Secretary Arne Duncan's education policy: which is like Bush's, only worse.<< MORE >>

Sunlight Foundation introduced a great way to watch the live health care follies: when a politician starts speaking,,,,Sunlight shows their top campaign contributors. E.g. Sen. Tom Coburn had the floor..his top career industry donor has been health professionals, who've given the Oklahoma lawmaker $984,889.

As House voted to kill health care industry's anti-trust exemption, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) "offends" GOP members with the facts.  How can you offend greedy hypocrites?

Unemployed people are organizing.

Is Obama trying to prove he's an honorary member of the Wall Street crooks club?  Keeping Bernanke at the Fed was nuts.  Ben was asleep at the wheel and helped cause the economic meltdown with its massive unemployment and now he wants another chance to do it again.  Bernanke was part of the problem and not the solution.

What a Tory win in the UK would mean: fat cats and evangelicals....could have been written about the GOP, the Bush regime and DINOs in the White House and Congress.

Little things mean a lot: smokeless stoves a boon to village women in Pakistan.

        

Stealing from the government, Blackwater even uses South Park alias.

Canadians respond to ice hockey loss to US.

"There is no Social Security crisis; Social Security works for America."

Appalling that some in the GOP think that terrorist suicide attack on IRS office in Austin that killed an innocent victim was justified.

The Reagan years: treason and deliberate economic incompetence.

        

Capitol Hill seems to be filled with elected Casablanca Captain Renaults, absolute hypocrites like Lieberman and Collins who are "astounded" that contractors outnumber full time federal work force at the Department of Homeland Security.

From CNN: "The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working for it than full-time employees, a situation two members of Congress said Tuesday was "unacceptable, untenable and unsustainable."

"Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and ranking Republican Susan Collins said they were "astounded" to learn there are more than 200,000 contractor employees at the department.

"The civilian work force of Homeland Security numbers 188,000, according to an estimate provided to the senators by Homeland Security.

"In a letter sent Tuesday to the agency's Secretary Janet Napolitano, Lieberman and Collins said the figure "raises the question of whether DHS itself is in charge of its programs and policies, or whether it inappropriately has ceded core decisions to contractors."

Who the hell increased exponentially the number of private contractors who proceed to rip off the government?  GOP regimes who handed a no questioned asked cash cow to their cronies.

The criminal Bush regime's goal was to privatize government; another way of enabling crony contractors to make out like bandits doing work for the government more expensively and often less effectively than utilizing more economical, experienced Civil Service employees.

A great portion of US intelligence is outsourced to private companies with no public accountability.  In fact, "the DNI [Director of National Intelligence] found that 'those same contractors recruiit our own employees, already cleared and trained at government expense, and then 'lease' them back to us at considerably greater expense."

Look at the terrible problems caused and crimes committed by Pentagon, State, and other departments and agencies' reliance on unaccountable private mercenary companies like Blackwater now Xe have resulted in crimes committed by these same so called "security" corporations.

Unfortunately, many of these contractors are a part of Washington's revolving door, including former high ranking military double dipping at the government trough while receiving a generous pension and health care coverage and other benefits.

Government's massive utilization of contractors has become a scandalous scam and fraud; and they are more expensive (those ubiquitous cost plus contracts are infamous) and more often much less effectual than Civil Service workers; a losing situation for regular hardworking Americans.

Time to end this fraud and horrific waste of taxpayers' hard earned money.

        

Not for the first time or the last time, Marja campaign in Afghanistan launched for PR purposes: to influence domestic US opinion.

There's the happy talk about GM crops, then there's the reality.

Many Democrats from coal producing state ignore logic and science.

No surprise....US plans for not leaving Iraq (or Afghanistan, or Pakistan.....)

Vermont reactor shutdown might throw a monkey wrench into Obama's woodenheaded plans, aka hack move to build more nuclear reactors using billions in taxpayers' money to make energy companies richer and put Americans' health and safety at risk.

The "new GM" northern strategy: go non-union.

        

After watching the finesse and experience of Canada and Great Britain's men and women's curling teams in action, it's no wonder that the US men's and women's teams have sunk like stones.

I wonder how many of those watching these events realize that most of the countries represented at the Winter Olympics have universal health care, but not the United States.

And the Rube Goldberg health care follies that the DINO Obama administration unveils tomorrow is indicative of just how shamefully and tragically the US continues to miserably trail other industrialized nations in quality affordable health care for all. << MORE >>

"Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the "Stop Outsourcing Security Act" on Tuesday. If passed, the act would force the United States to phase out its controversial use of private security contractors in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan."

Tom Friedman's fact free propaganda continues to roll on....unrelenting idiocy on parade to fool some of the people all of the time.

"Deja vu Iraq all over again...a new director general of IAEA more malleable and naive than his predecessor may provide new grist for the same old spin on Iran's spreading misinformation.

Re: torture memo authors John Yoo and Jay Bybee and "mens rea" or guilty mind...."had the same compelling motivation in rendering false legal advice. Each sought a specific high office that the recipients of the memos were able to give to them...." or quid pro quo.

John "brown nose torturer" Yoo, argued that the president was God, especially Dubya, with omnipotent, imperial power to order the deliberate massacre of civilians or the crushing of a detainee's child's testicles and contended in a public debate that the legality of crushing a child's testicles "depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that."

        

No wonder regular Americans' anger is increasing to the boiling point. They have become Washington's punching bags.

Throw the bums out is aimed at both the GOP and the Democrats. It's well deserved.

Nothing is being done to effectively overcome and fix massive unemployment, the widening chasm of economic inequality, and unfair, regressive taxation, as the richest of the rich and corporations that control government have turned it into a mechanism to serve the wealthy oligarchy, relegating typical Americans to serfdom. << MORE >>

Drug industry hooks physicians early: more than half of medical residency programs accepted drug industry financial support.

The Bushite/CIA torture-rendition regime's tentacles extended into Capitol Hill.

Obama's Bushite-Iran Contra scandal holdover, Bob Gates, wants Europe to bankrupt itself with military spending just like the US.

The reality of the so called "public option": "a feeble public insurance plan to the insurance market has been but avery poor excuse to support 'insurance reform' that will criminalizethe uninsured, divert billions of tax dollars to subsidize unaffordableprivate insurance premiums and protect pharmaceutical industrysuper-profits."

Bye-bye to Bayh, the Indiana "drama queen...an embarrassment to his constituents, his party and an affront to democracy."

RIP Alexander Haig who enthusiastically defended the rape and murder of four American nuns in El Salvador.

        

It's the last Monday in February, and we continue being assaulted by right wing nut Republicans, especially the elected kind.

However, that also begs the question: what does that say about the voters who cast their ballots for these destructive denizens of, in the following examples, state and federal legislatures?

From Right Wing Watch: "Last week we noted how Pat Robertson, Jonathan Falwell, and other right-wing activists in Virginia are targeting Gov. Bob McDonnell and other top elected officials to cut off any state funding for Planned Parenthood.<< MORE >>

"Why are the representatives of Washington, civilian and military, always so tone deaf when it comes to other peoples and other cultures [Afghanistan, for instance]....that they, and only they, have the right answers, when at home they seem to have none at all?"

Bush lawyers get away with torture,as expected,  thanks to veteran DOJ honcho, helping the Obama administration close the door on any "accountablility and justice for the Bush torture regime."

Conservative-led state governments are choosing the deficit peacock path, refusing to responsibly raise revenues and instead slashing their states’ social and infrastructure spending"....Virginia, Minnesota, and California, for example.

"European NATO allies are to urge President Barack Obama to remove all remaining US nuclear weapons from European soil."

Deja vu all over again: winning even more hearts and minds in Afghanistan.

Did Toyota mechanical failures send an innocent man to prison?

Is this a great country or what?  In key states, public option more popular than the Senate Rube Goldberg plan; ; no public option as Obama goes with Senate health care plan.

        

Jobless people in Rhode Island accuse administration of not understanding the discouraging and destructive reality of unemployment figures.

Republican opposed to workers and policies to revive manufacturing in the US.

Texas right wing education curriculum turns some Texans into unscientific dolts...for them Flintstones wasn't a fantasy cartoon series, but reality.

CPAC conference reveals conservative agenda: love of torture and hatred of Obama

Apparent goal of inflammatory rhetoric by Hillary Clinton; promoting conflict and convincing Americans Iran a threat.

Cracking down on employers who try and cheat by passing off employees as independent contractors.

The hypocrisy from the right wing about the Austin suicide-terrorist; while recently elected MA senatorial twit shrugs off terror incident.

        

Obama never lets the facts get in the way, especially as he jumps on the deficit fear mongering bandwagon.

More and more in every way, Obama acts like a Republican not a Democratic president.

In the midst of a massive unemployment crisis, he fobbed off leadership responsibilities to effectively correct the damage to regular Americans in this jobless crisis to a Wussacratic Congress so he could focus on a deficit commission which he created by executive order.

Obama appointed as co-chairs, former senator, Alan Simpson (R-WY) who attempted in the 1990's to slash Social Security benefits by pegging increases below the rate of inflation; and former Clinton chief of state, Ersking Bowles, described as corporate America's friend in the White House.<< MORE >>

Just read an article in The Guardian about the world's top firms causing $2.2 trillion in environmental damage.

An excerpt: << MORE >>

Microsoft outsources general legal work to India.

Confidential document from the 1960s found in Vatican archives "that instructed Catholic bishops around the world to cover up cases of sexual abuse or face discipline — including expulsion from the church."

The White House and Congress fiddle as Rome burns: the desperation of the tens of millions of jobless discarded by the economic system.

US media replaying its role in the illegal Iraq debacle, this time with Iran.

Obama slaps environmentalists in the face.

        

The desperation of millions of job seekers is heartbreaking, yet the White House and Congress continue to fiddle while Rome burns.

Thanks to the Reagan administration, people receiving unemployment benefits must pay taxes after $2,400 in benefits.

Meanwhile, as job seekers pay tax on unemployment benefits that are used for such luxuries as food and toilet paper, new IRS data shows the richest getting richer and see their income tax rates dropping. It's absolutely appalling and sickening!<< MORE >>

Consumer protection agency DOA in Senate; Dems who don't want to alienate Wall Street that filled their coffers will make sure the bill is toothless and weak and a few DINO senators, Mark Warner, Ben Nelson, and Tim Johnson will tread carefully because of their pro-corporate blue dogginess. 

John McCain flip-flops so often that he can't remember what he has said or what he believes...pathetic.

White House press secretary refuses to go on record as to whether US and/or its allies are waterboarding or using other torture on captured Taliban leader.

Quick on the draw: Virginia legislature passes 20 gun bills expanding possession and ownership rights in the state.

How much more of this will occur in Afghanistan?: "Officers blamed in Afghan ambush that killed 5 US troops."

Bernie Kerik, former NYC police commissioner, Rudy Giuliani pal and Bush nominee to head Dept. of Homeland Security, gets 4 years in corruption case.

        

All the GOP hypocrites, whining about the stimulus, voting against it in Congress, and yet, taking credit for it in their state and districts.

So deceitful, so anti-common good, so anti-workers and so Republican.

        

To create jobs: protect manufacturing and rebuild aging infrastructure.

Corporate controlled White House not keen on raising $100 billion a year with a financial speculation tax on the Wall Street casino (0.25% fee on stock transactions. Derivatives swaps would be taxed at a rate of 0.02%.

Meanwhile, the shmos who "could not see the $8 trillion housing bubble that wrecked the economy are convening in Washington this week to hatch new schemes to take away people's Social Security and Medicare in the name of 'fiscal responsibility.' "

Hypocritical Republicans:  Stimulus was bad but we'll take the cash and credit anyway.

Highest inequality of wealth in US among industrialized nations increased as of financial crisis as richest 1% have captured wealth.

Temp jobs no longer a sign of recovery; aren't translating into permanent jobs anytime soon.

        

Obama insists on maintaining a disastrous woodenheadedness and apparently is throwing his lot in with the destructive deficit hawks.

And dunderheaded Democrats with their ignore-the-facts blinders are acting like hybrid lemming Chicken Littles.

Meanwhile, the media has become a cheerleader for deficit zealot fearmongering rather than researching and reporting the nuts and bolts reality.<< MORE >>

The corporate controlled White House, corporate controlled Capitol Hill, and the corporate controlled media constantly try and bamboozle the American people, especially when the people are disgusted, fed up, and angry with business as usual by their elected officials, especially in Washington; especially when they voted for change to promote and support the common good and got scammed by those who promote and support the wealthy few; especially when this country is "becoming a country of serfs ruled by oligarchs."

Well, government of, by, and for all the people has become government, of, by, and for only the wealthy few including corporations.<< MORE >>

        

The Vancouver Olympics, at least in these early days, have been boring and/or malfunctioning.

From a dangerous luge run with apparent safety failures to an indoor speed skating venue where adverse ice conditions caused an hour later start.

Pairs figure skating is just one example of a veneer of a faux "isn't this wonderful" trying to disguise a missing spirit of energy and sparkle that seemed to have surrounded other winter games.<< MORE >>

Has the Olympics become an expensive farce? Women ski jumpers just might think so.

Loathsome smearing of those who dare to criticize Israel.

Those savvy bankers Obama admires so much are fraudsters.

Is the US becoming a country of serfs ruled by oligarchs?

As I noted yesterday, DINO Evan Bayh leaving is no great loss for Dems and others agree.

A summary of what can be done to checkmate the recent Supreme Court ruling that allows corporate money to flood the political process.

Single payer Medicare-for-All IS a jobs bill.

        

        

That there should be hungry people in the United States in the 21st century is appalling. That one in four children live in poverty in this country is tragic and should be unacceptable.

While the series of snowstorms in the Mid-Atlantic state during the last two months was an inconvenience for everyone, it caused even more deprivation for the poor and hungry.<< MORE >>

While we are still stuck in the quagmire that is Iraq, courtesy of the Bushite's illegal invasion and occupation of that country, bogged down in Afghanistan where Obama has expanded military presence and have sloshed over into Pakistan too, all costing trillions of dollars and digging us deeper into debt, it might be wise to ponder the words of the 4th president of the US.

H/T Jonathan Tasini at Working Life: "Words to remember on President's Day from James Madison: " 'Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.' "

        

The US financial industry helped Greece hide its mounting debt with similar tactics used in the subprime mortgage crisis in the US.
Instead of bailing these Wall Street crooks out (and filling the Obama administration with their ilk) they should be in the slammer.

Paul Krugman says that lack of fiscal discipline was not the primary cause of the Euromess but rather the fundamental problem was hubris, the arrogant belief that Europe could make a single currency work despite strong reasons to believe that it wasn’t ready.

US rockets mistakenly kill 12 Afghan civilians, continuing to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan.

Quintessential DINO, Senator Evan Bayh, decides against re-election run. Ethics problems surrounding him and his wife may have been a strong incentive to retire.  And to think Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder (members of Obama's VP search team) and Obama considered this greedy DINO a suitable VP candidate. 

The Bush established imperial presidency, a prevaricating GOP and its media megaphones, and timid Wussacrats are  institutionalizing never ending fear despite people in this country being in "vanishingly little danger from terrorism, but in significant danger driving to the mall...."

Spending taxpayers' money in a double digit unemployment economic meltdown in US....USAID has no mandated oversight in Afghan contracts...."federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan said that neither the military nor the federal civilian workforces have expanded to keep pace with the enormous growth in the number and value of contingency contracts in recent years......"

        

Snowmageddon or snowpocalypse, tomayto, tomahto....the almost 5 - 6 feet of snow in parts of the East Coast this winter are consistent with climate change contrary to the ravings of anti-science climate change deniers.

One of Obama's favorite CEOs is rabidly anti-union and the former co-chair of John McCain's campaign finance committee.  What does that say about Obama?

Lawsuit seeks to find out information about the $2 trillion bank bailout that "the Federal Reserve lent to banks at the height of the crisis — first through its discount window and then through an acronymic soup of emergency programs with arcane-sounding names like the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term."

Bank of America forecloses on the wrong house, again.

        

President Obama is pushing forward on creating a fiscal commission by executive order.

This country is mired in double digit unemployment with tens of millions unable to find jobs, and Obama and Harry Reid are, in essence abandoning those jobless Americans with a weak, woefully underfunded bill, as Obama busies himself with a deficit commission.

How about using that executive power for American workers?

My God, the man is hopelessly tone deaf and woodenheaded.<< MORE >>

Where's the regulation?  Wall Street hasn't learned anything from the financial crash it caused and continues to play casino jeopardy; "new financial market in which players can gamble on whether upcoming Hollywood movies will be blockbusters or bombs."

While Harry Reid opposes filibuster reform, Dick Durbin is lending his support.

Obama administration claiming a win on his nominations another exercise in polishing a turd; my first thought was: "what about Becker and Johnsen?  "This is a Pyrhhic victory."  Although I don't often agree with Yglesias and Klein, their explanation is spot on.

Tea Party hypocrites and those who nurture them, especially GOP leaders that want to replace democracy for all with free market dictatorship.

Why is the "rigged" Star Wars system still alive and being funded?

        

Just proves what progressives have known for a long time....Harry Reid is a terrible Senate majority leader, a bumbling Wussacrat.  He should get no congrats for occasionally doing his job.   He has been a DINO for a long time.

Marching orders for GOP and DINOs in Congress and their lobbyist handlers to derail any effective regulation of the financial industry.

"Torture is a crime, not a state secret."

On the first anniversary of the stimulus bill, Dems at last will go after those GOP hypocrites who voted against the stimulus bill but take credit for it back home.

Given it's ignominious track record, not surprising that Blackwater is accused of defrauding the US government.

Economist Joseph Stiglitz, a voice in the wilderness urging caution when financial capitalism was in a speculative frenzy, says: "Plans to re-regulate the financial markets have run into a political quagmire..." derailing any prospects for change.

        

That revolving door in Washington may have helped quash investigations regarding Toyota safety issues.   It's particularly egregious since Toyota appears to be the only car maker that engages in this questionable practice of hiring former government regulators to deal with the NHTSA, their former employer.

The story from ProPublica: "Two former regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration took a spin through the revolving door and landed at Toyota, where they helped quash at least four NHTSA investigations into unintended acceleration, Bloomberg News reports [2].

"The former regulators, Christopher Tinto and Christopher Santucci, both joined Toyota directly from the NHTSA, Tinto in 1994 and Santucci in 2003. Tinto is now vice president of regulatory affairs in Toyota’s Washington office, and Santucci works under him.

"Since 2003, NHTSA has opened eight investigations into unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles; of those, five were closed after finding no evidence of a defect. According to Bloomberg, "In four of the five cases that were closed, Tinto and Santucci worked with NHTSA on Toyota’s responses to the consumer complaints the agency was investigating, agency documents show."

"What’s more, Toyota appears to be the only big automaker that hires former regulators to deal with the NHTSA: Spokesmen for General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Honda all told Bloomberg that their companies have no ex-NHTSA staffers dealing with the agency on defects.

"While Santucci and Tinto broke no rules — the lower-level positions they held at the NHTSA don’t have required waiting periods — Allan Kam, former NHTSA senior enforcement attorney, said, " 'They’re not supposed to deal with the agency about a matter they dealt with at the agency.' "

Stinks to high heaven, doesn't it?

        

I've been saying this since Obama picked Emanuel, Geithner. and Summers, let's hope the chorus grows....Obama's orientation is corporatist,

Senate jobs bill proposal...much ado about almost nothing; too little for too few...a drop in the bucket

The lobbyist-media whores keep plying their trade.

Obama administration more like Bush regime: White House disappointed in UK court ruling that info about torture had to be disclosed.

Today there were five ways that American workers found out they're screwed...a quinquafecta.

A new game sweeping the nation: "Who's that right winger?"

As Charlie Wilson's death brings recollections of the movie, "Charlie Wilson's War" but the reality "was far less heroic and much more short-sighted..."

        

In the interest of justice and sound economics, many have proposed a financial transaction tax for many moons now.

It'sa great idea that won't see the light of day with this DINOadministration and Congress all controlled by Wall Street and bigcorporations.

Economist Dean Baker explained: "Just like that perfect sweater, a financial transactions tax(FTT) would look just great on those Wall Street bankers andfinanciers. A modest tax, which would be too small for normal investorsto even notice, could easily raise more than $100bn a year. That's real money even in the land of AIG and Citigroup bailouts.

"A tax of 0.25% on the sale or purchase of a share of stock will makelittle difference to a person who intends to hold the share for five to10 years as a long-term investment. This tax would cost someone buying$10,000 of IBM stock $25 when they purchase their shares. If the pricedoubles in 10 years, then they will have to pay $50 when they sell.These fees would be dwarfed by their capital gains taxes.

"A small increase in trading costs would be a very manageable burden forthose who are using financial markets to support productive economicactivity. However, it would impose serious costs on those who see the financial markets as a casinoin which they place their bets by the day, hour or minute.  Speculatorswho hope to jump into the market at 2pm and pocket theirgains by 3pm would be subject to much greater risk if they had to payeven a modest financial transaction tax.

"Similarly, the financial engineers who specialise in constructingcomplex financial instruments may find a FTT to be a nuisance. A FTTcould cause their derivative instruments to be taxed at several points.For example, the trade of an option on a stock would be taxed, as wouldthe purchase of the stock itself if the option was exercised. Morecomplex derivatives could be subject to the tax many times over,substantially reducing the potential profits from complexity.

"TheWall Streeters and their flacks will insist that a FTT is unenforceableand will simply result in trading moving overseas. There is a smallproblem with this argument called the United Kingdom. The UK has had a tax on stock trades(trades of derivatives and other financial instruments are untaxed) fordecades. The revenue raised each year would be equivalent to $30bn inthe US economy. Obviously, the tax is enforceable."

It sounds like just the solution. 

And speaking of the UK and taxing the super gazillionaire financial industry, we have this from Buzzflash: 'Britain's most successful comedy writer is aiming to tap into thepublic's fury at how bankers are scooping huge bonuses while the restof us suffer pay freezes by spearheading the launch of a campaigndemanding the introduction of a "Robin Hood tax" on financialinstitutions.'

(Bill Nighy does a superb job as the insufferably arrogant banker.)

        

Here's what I wrote last month: "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."

Talk about shooting themselves in the foot.

Unions fumbled the ball and got conned by Democrats on EFCA. That was bad enough. But to throw their lot in with corporations on the recent terrible Supreme Court decision was mind boggling and stupid.<< MORE >>

Weak job growth for rest of 2010, says White House...disappointing but not surprising since the administration has failed to promote any bold, 21st century New Deal jobs programs.

What you need to know about the Olympics hockey tournament for all those die hard hockey fans, especially of the Washington Capitals.

The " largely mythical US success in Iraq is now to be replicated" in Afghanistan where the media is manipulated by US government.

I continue to write about Obama the DINO; others agree....this president has revealed himself to be an unfolding disappointment, his administration the New Deal in reverse, ending up where FDR began.

A brief look at the Greek "crisis," which is a Greek word.

Media ignores those economists and environmental experts who say "cap and trade" is deeply flawed and the bill's "offsets" make it too easy to game the system; another potential financial meltdown caused by the laissez-faire Wall Street casino's "clamoring to open up a massive market to swap, chop and bundle carbon derivatives" which are unregulated.