Jack & Jill Politics

rikyrah: NOW THE DAY IS OVER.

+ March 3, 2009: The Day in 100 Seconds

ENJOY!! - - FAST!! :>) :>)

+ U.S. President Barack Obama (L) walks along the Colonnade with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 3, 2009. Brown will press Obama for details on his plans to fix the ailing U.S. financial sector in talks on Tuesday that will focus on the global economic crisis.

I like these "SWAGGA PICS!" :>) :>)

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/18805463/detail.html

MC Steele Moe Dee having more problems with campaign finances

Mmm hmm...

The knives are out for Steele and even though his financial troubles are nothing new, they will be amped up in the media. The campaign to get rid of Steele is well under way:

1) Rush Limpball publically pimp slaps Steele, and lets everyone know Steele's a loser who gets hung up on when he comes begging for money

2) "Anonymous Republican Insiders" whisper to the press that Steele can't raise money and is on thin ice

3) Steele's money problems are re-introduced as "proof" that he's unsuitable for the job.

I'm just waiting for some random white woman to claim she had an affair with Steele and offer somebody photographic proof.

Steele is done in 5....4....3....2...

Oh well, let this be a lesson to anyone under any delusions about why so many blacks are in the Democratic party or Independents. I would love to know where all the reasonable/non house-negro blacks are right now who are Republicans. There's a few. Why are they being soooo silent?

I'd give Steele a month and he will resign. Since he can't bring the money, there is no use for him.

the GOP really set him up for the okie doke and he walked right into that shit. and is digging himself into a deeper hole. i wanted him to show that the republican party good get blacks and hispanics but he didnt help himself out with his comments

He could never have shown that the republican party could get a significant number of blacks and hispanics because the republican party leaders would never have let that happened. It was never his call.

Steele has too big an ego, he doesn't want to do the job, he wants to be on tee vee.

Rush had it Right, and the RNC didn't see that from jump....

It was clear that the RNC should have stayed with Duncan.

Now with the Rush trap none of the larger figures want to go on tee vee lol

allamr18: LET THE "VETTING" CONTINUE!! :>) :>)

LAWD HA'MERCY!! ***shakin' my head**

HE IS INCREDIBLE!! This is probably 1 of the MANY REASONS "WHYCOME" he's genuflecting 2 RASH LIMPBALLS!!

"TRASH" has the "MIC" and can "PUT HIM "ON BLAST!" 4 REAL!! :>) :>)

Chris Matthews' BIG NUMBER 4 the DAY was "51 MINUTES!" That was the time that it took for STEELE to FAUX - 'pologize to "TRASH!" :>) :>)

LAWD HE'P HIM!! :>)

P.S. "TRASH'S" WEAPON! :>)

rikyrah: a friend JUST sent this 2 me:

Beyond Words: From Slavery to the Presidency

RELATIVES of FREDERICK DOUGLASS & BOOKER T. WASHINGTON!! WOW!! :>)

ENJOY! :>)

P.S. I tried 2 get it on youtube, BUT it was "no longer available." ??

Here's the youtube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiEOSNPw7B8

ultramagnetic: HEY!! :>) :>)

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :>) HOW KIND OF YOU!! :>)

I loved the VIDEO. :>)

rikyrah: Earlier I posted the VIDEO. BUT - - HERE R some PICS!!: :>)

Michelle Obama Wears Lots Of Layers To Arlington Cemetery (PHOTOS)

*Scroll down for photos*

WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday observed women's history month by touring a memorial for women in the military. She said the country must do all it can to support not just the servicemember on active duty, but their families, too.

Long and repeat tours of duty affect grandparents, parents, spouses and siblings, some of whom are left to look after the servicemember's children, Mrs. Obama said at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Center at Arlington National Cemetery.

The plight of military families is among the issues Mrs. Obama wants to focus on from her perch at the White House. She heard from military families during the past two years as she traveled around the country campaigning for her husband, President Barack Obama.

THERE IS MORE! :>) THEY R LOVELY!!! :>) ENJOY!! :>)
.

Please call the Kala Nation radio show tonight at 12 midnight,We will discuss the crisis in Black leadership in the wake of the State of the Black Coonion.Also the weak cowardly cooning Micheal Steel did in cow towing to Rush bimbo yesterday.Call the show at (347)326-9463
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Kala-Nation

I can't wait to see this.

Obama Outfitted With 238 Motion Capture Sensors For 3-D Record Of Presidency

Oh snap. That is too damn funny. I bet they sign Montell Williams to sell the 3d video game online.

White Kids on Dope

Lol an article from a conservative attacking Limbaugh its kinda funny
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/03/cp...

Hey, scroll down. I published this earlier.

jindal hypocrite

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal brought most of his Cabinet here Monday afternoon to offer moral and tangible support to a group of 500 desperate Pilgrim's Pride contract growers and employees whose livelihoods are at risk following the company's decision to idle its northeastern Louisiana and southern Arkansas operations.

...
http://thenewsstar.com/article/20090303/NEWS01/...
Jindal said that the state would apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance from the federal government, which would expand unemployment benefits to employees and provide benefits to growers who aren't eligible for unemployment benefits. The state was recently granted Trade Adjustment Assistance for International Paper workers who lost their jobs when IP closed its Bastrop paper mill late last year.

JJP you guys know they gave up on that search for the two NFL players. I dont know im not the one to scream racism but after 3 days at sea they stopped looking but how damn long were they looking for someone in ARUBA? Or that lady who fell off a boat? or that rich guy who was lost at sea? just asking just asking

If the families want to hire a private team they are free to do so. Honestly it's sad but they probably drowned immediately when they got caught in the 14ft swells. The guy that was found was clinging to the capsized boat 35 miles from shore. It wasn't a good scenario.

Yes, it's sad. They've given up the search for those poor guys. I couldn't believe it.

3 days without water and you are dead.

If you are in the ocean you'd die from hypothermia first.

dehydration and hypothermia are racist. gotcha.

So I finally watched Harlem Heights last night.

What did you guys think of it?

I'm watching it as we speak. So far, so good. I like that they all have careers and are doing something productive.

Are they all living together, a la Real World? I'm on the second episode, but haven't seen their home yet.

You know, I like all the folks. They all appear to be doing something with their lives. A few seem shallow, but that only adds to the reality of it.

I'm gonna say it...they did go out and find BEAUTIFUL Black people for this show..LOL

I think I might get hooked.

Yeah, me too.

It didn't hurt having the first episode being about Obama's election though. They had me at "Obama"!!!

I'll keep with it as long as it doesn't become "The Real World: Harlem"!!!

You are so easy!!

rikyrah: The POLLS continue 2 B FAVORABLE!:

Obama Gets Strong Support in Poll

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama enjoys widespread backing from a frightened American public for his ambitious, front-loaded agenda, a new poll indicates.

He is more popular than ever, Americans are hopeful about his leadership, and opposition Republicans are getting drubbed in public opinion, the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll suggests.

The American people trust him and like him," Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, said in an interview. "That's how you make change possible, because it's not threatening but accessible."

THERE IS MORE.

LOVIN' THIS!! :>) :>) THANK U MR. PRESIDENT!! :>)

The poll numbers are looking great, GreenLady! Woo Hoo!

Jusrice58: AB - SO - LUTE -LY!! :>)

Poll numbers are favorable for PBO. That explains the unhinged right wingnuts.

Yes, Thank you Mr. President

spirit: YEP!! :>) :>)

Anybody check out The Batchelor this season on ABC. I watched it for the first time last night because I saw that there was going to be a "twist." I ain't mad at the young man, you would have thought he was a brotha with that smooth move he made. Now after he picked the one that he was most in love with, spent 6 weeks with her before the end of the show aired and found out who she really was and that it just wasn't going to work. The Batchlor comes back onto national tv and dumbs the woman instead of telling her before she gets there. Then he has the audacity to ask the second woman that he did not originally pick if he can have a second chance with her. Now the second choic woman accepts him back (for the moment) and he has gotten with two women in one show. I ain't mad at the boy cause he's determined to find himself a wife out of that lot of women.

I just watched the segment on Keith Olbermann about this.

OMG!!

That show just proves that punanny is in abundance.

Are the Clintons trying to undercut Obama's foreign policy with Russia? David Shuster talked about this briefly tonight mentioning that the reporter is a 'good' friend of the Clintons. Chris Cilizza wouldn't come out and say it but it seemed he agreed with David.

Obama Offered Deal to Russia in Secret Letter by Peter Baker

how would they do that? im not too much worried about anything with russia. they have nothing to counter offer and i dont see really what the clintons gain from this. russia is more bankrupt than the rest of the world. ill pass on this one

I don't know about this association. It kinda smacks of how they did Obama about Ayers, just cause you know someone doesn't mean you are the source of the info. Of course, it is also possible it is true.

It just seems so made for TV gossipy/divisive politics.

Schuster is my boy...but you know he is probably still pissed about being yanked for several days following his remarks about HRC 'pimpin Chelsea' hahaha

This is a great summary of the Rush infighting...I love how it ends wth the elephant roar..hahahahah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-YxsBNARcA&eurl...

Hilarious! Other than Steele, Ron Christie, was the only handkerchief head in the montage. So sad, too bad!

Rush is such a PIG!!!

This is very important. We have all probably watched CSI and marveled at it. We wish it was there for everyone. It may happen depending how the Supreme Court rules. This is a case we have to be aware of and if the ruling is adverse it must become a legislative priority. This case concerns whether it is mandatory to due DNA testing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

This is soooo disengenuous on the part of the court

Either the DNA is evidence of guilt or it is not.

This stuff about opening legal challenges is for the birds...so? Isn't the rule of justice in our system that it is better that 10 guilty men go free than to err and find one innocent guilty?

Isn't that why our court system finds folks ...not guilty vs. innocent? We can't prove innocence. The law is not set up to do so. We can only prove guilt.

Ergo...give up the DNA evidence ...geez

Sorry Rob, but I did not catch where they discuss mandatory DNA testing. It appeared to be deciding whether they had to test or provide DNA evidence testing to criminals who challenge their convictions.

As opposed to mandatory DNA testing of defendants or convicts or uncharged American citizens.

I t believe the outcome of this case will start mandatory testing everywhere. You may remember the Governor of Ill threw out his entire death penalty statues when he came to the conclusion the convictions were totally untrustworthy. I believe it was the McGillJournalism school at Northwestern University that ran a writing project on the death penalty and had several cases overturned which convinced the governor to look. DNA evidence was a key for them even in that rudimentary process.

As to your cynicism no one blames you. If this case opens more eyes the better off we will all be. No one will be more grateful than the families of those railroaded. Too many of them are AfricanAmerican

I read your link. Mr Obama's justice department is against allowing convicted felons to reopen their cases for DNA testing and the creation of a federal Right for DNA testing, much like the Miranda warning.

Do you have link to a report confirming what you are asserting here?

RobM posted the link (see above)- its all there.

I read the article ealier. First case in Alaska, huh ?

Agree, this bears watching, for sure.

Sorry if this was already posted:

Jack Cafferty: I have a crush on Michelle Obama

NEW YORK (CNN) -- I think I am developing a crush on America's first lady. Michelle Obama is more compelling than her husband. He's good, but she's utterly fascinating.

Mrs. Obama has blown away the stale air in a White House musty from eight years of the Bushes. It's like the sun came out and a fresh spring breeze began wafting through the open windows.

It's the people's house, and Michelle Obama totally gets it. So much so that she has taken to inviting people in from the streets to see her home. Nice touch -- one completely lacking in her recent predecessors.

Watch her when she visits a local school and you see the warmth and affection she instantly triggers in people. Kids are pretty much totally honest with very good BS-detectors. If they sense you're a phony, forget it. But around the first lady, they want to hug her and laugh with her and tell her stories.

You can see the same qualities these kids recognize in her daughters. She is the consummate mother as evidenced by the poised, polite smiling children she and her husband are raising. I have four daughters, and trust me -- they don't turn out like the Obama children without devoted parents.

New to the Washington neighborhood, Michelle Obama has taken it upon herself to go around and introduce herself to the people in the various agencies of government. When's the last time a first lady did that? I don't ever remember it before. And during her visits she listens rather than lectures. And people respond to her.

She was raised on the south side of Chicago by blue-collar parents. She went to Princeton University, and Harvard Law School. But in many ways she's still a kid from the south side of Chicago, and that's what makes her special. She knows exactly who she is.

The Obamas bring a humanity and humility to their tasks which sets them far apart from the run-of-the mill phonies who populate Washington. It's exactly what the doctor ordered for this wounded nation.

Michelle Obama's unassuming, but dead-on, sense of style has the fashion press gushing all over itself.

Her arms are becoming the stuff of legend. Who appears sleeveless on the cover of Vogue, let alone in front of a joint session of Congress while her husband delivers one of the most important speeches of his life? And the reviews were rave.

Cindi Leive, the editor of Glamour magazine gushed, "Oh my god! The first lady has bare arms in Congress in February at night!" If she keeps it up, Seventh Avenue will soon stop making women's clothes with sleeves.

Ok, I admit it. When it comes to the first lady, I'm smitten.

I admire Michelle Obama because she's smart. Today she wore 3 layers on her arms with a blouse that buttoned all the way up to the neck. She's smart enough to realize that the day's news stories should not be about her "arms" but about the President's policies.
Touche Michelle, touche!

DCCC sets up automated Rush Apology form!..lol lol

http://www.dccc.org/content/sorry

OMG! How funny is that? Hysterical.

I was just about to post this. Isn't it hilarious!!!!! I love the recap of all the comments and apologies on the sidebar.

Yes it is downright comical!!

If we are known by our enemies, Rush Limbaugh assures the political future of the Obama Administration.

Yup!

This made Bernake angry: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068...
One has to ask what was he doing between Sept 2002 when he was appointed to the Board of Governors and now. He had to be aware of the Commodity Modernization Act of 2000(this where Sen Phil Gramm inserted the amendment that kept credit default swaps(CDS) unregulated He had to see CDS's showing up in the balance sheets of banks like JPM.

Rikyrah

Where was this fabulous picture of FLOTUS and POTUS taken?

It was a concert/fundraiser. The photographer, Callie whatshername took it.

At the White House?

no, this was during election season.

Skeptical Brotha is at it again:

Michael Steele, Fugitive Slave

http://skepticalbrotha.wordpress.com/2009/03/03...

TRUTH!!

skeptical brotha is ON POINT....

Is President Obama doing anything right?

I ask this of my JJP family because I haven't had a whole lot of time lately to read all the posts here (or in the few other places I can still stomach) and I must say that outside of the Women's History/Black History blurbs, we appear to have become a bit reactionary. Which is perfectly fine, of course. But somewhere, somehow, I'd like to read some intelligent analysis on what this administration is doing right, and since his approval ratings are still pretty high, it must be something. I suppose I could write my own, but I haven't had the time lately to follow closely all the comings and goings of this whirlwind first 100 days.

So, my intelligent and insighftul JJP frontpagers -- what is President Obama doing right?

And what can we do to help?

Well I'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who's actually read the entire stimulus bill. I'm making an appointment with my Rep to have someone in their office go over it with me because I want to know line by line how my city and state will be distributing and dispersing it. The $$$ is coming and people will need to know how to best tap into funds and programs, not wait for some hierarchy pool to decide who gets what. I'm specifically talking about Blacks. As far as the markets go: it's all a crapshoot as far as I'm concerned. They are guessing. The intention is there but the execution has yet to be determined. In my state in particular you don't get to a $42B deficit unless there's a lot of idiots in charge and people not paying attention. When they spend more on prisons than education the priorities are all wrong. Being reactionary is a good first step - taking a leadership role is the next one, but we're still waiting for that hero with their magic wand to fix everything so we can go back to our 'real' lives. This is real life and it requires our full participation.

I give him very high mark for his coherent long-term strategy, but absent is the day-to-day effective communication explaining the continued, pray short-term, free fall of the DOW. Let's be honest the vast VAST majority of Americans have no understanding of the economy. The only measure of the health of the economy we understand, beyond our own personal finances, is the DOW. The White House has not explained nor prepared us for the falling DOW as it rolls out its prescriptions to save the economy. I'm no financial guru, so I'm only left to wonder with my limited knowledge if there is a conspiracy of investors purposely sinking the DOW to kill the President's policies. Are investors by nature adverse to liberal economics? Are they racists? Know something we don't? I just don't know. And no one from the White House is explaining, which leaves a wide opening for conservatives and now the media to blame the President for the DOW drop. The White House, like the Campaign before, goes into reactionary mode. Why are they not ahead of this? Did they not anticipate that the DOW would continue to fall in the short-term? If they did, why did they not have a communications plan in place to get in front of the story? Popularity if fleeting. If the meme takes hold that the President policies are sinking the DOW, his popularity will sink, and he'll be able to get nothing done.

Thanks for posting this provocative discussion starter, Craig. I don't really have much new to say that hasn't already been mentioned, except for maybe some of the cultural aspects (acknowledging the genius of Stevie Wonder, for one!) but mostly I've enjoyed reading this post and seeing a recap of all Obama has accomplished so far. I loved his speech today - at the Dept. of Interior, I think? - when he emphasized the role that hard science and critical thinking will having in making decisions.

LMBAO!!! Good one, whiterosebuddy.

He started the process toward ending DADT.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/03/obama-...

He created a stamp to flag all projects funded by the stimulus so that people can easily recognize the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/03...

id like to think the Equal pay bill, the schip bill. closing gitmo, overturning the ban on stem cell research, overturning the abortion legislation, increasing aid to states as well ending the raids of marijuana centers and there are tons of other areas hes worked on but its still early. I know hes working on that re-entry program for former prisoners as well as his syringe exchange program as well as his foreign policy is doing overall pretty well.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke of the USA economic steps today and he said:

" History will record what he has done in the first 50 days has been momentous in terms of global economic recovery"

Where to begin. PBO continues to hold weekly radio addresses to keep us in the know.
FLOTUS continues to serve and support POTUS. She visited Arlington Cemetary today and spoke to military families.

Troops will remain in Iraq trough August 2010 CNN Poll sjows 88% Favorability with the pull out date.

Robert Gibbs does daily pressers and continues to carry PBO vision

PBO' selection of Sebelius for HHS

Rahm knocked it out of the park on Face the Nation Sunday. He follow up with PBO comment a week ago about Limbaugh being the mouthpiece for the Republican party Rahm continued to set the bait and Steele go bitched slapped for dissing Limbugh on D.L. Hugley's how this weekend.Limbaugh attacks Steele and Steele apologizes.

The GOP is self-destructing and PBO continues to serve the American peope.

I usually tune out the reactionary stuff. Its been 44 days. I'm quick to turn from any of the news shows if they get all "panicky" or stupid. Nope, not gonna do that and the man has been in office 44 days. Honestly, I can tolerate the batshyt craziness of the right way more than I can tolerate the hand-wringing of the left.

"Honestly, I can tolerate the batshyt craziness of the right way more than I can tolerate the hand-wringing of the left."

Same here.

I believe Sebelius is something done right.

I have problems with The President, specifically the lack of a forthright Urban Policy.

I'm not one that sees everything as a 'Black issue'.

but, there are certain things that 'concern' the Black community

1. In this infrastructure money:
a) where is the money for Black contractors
b) where is the pressure to get Black folks INTO THE UNIONS that do construction
2. Increased funding for HBCU's - nobody could say that is money wasted.
3. Increased funding for BLACK organizations that deal with Black women and Black men with HIV/AIDS? How can we be the majority of the cases, and the organizations that serve us DONT get the money?
4. Prison Industrial Complex:
a) drug sentencing
b) re-entry into the community for former felons
5. Job programs for Youth

These are things that are specific to the Black community. I don't think it's insulting anyone to bring them up and advocate for them.

I also know that there has been a lot of discussion lately about the number of people in prison and the cost of incarceration v. education. Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee has introduction legislation recently on how inmates should be released from prison and will reduce the numbers in prison. That has not gotten legs yet. Neither has the POTUS and the AG announced plans on what they want to do about the situation. I think the may have to tread lightly since there was such an increase of people buying firearms after President Obama was elected. White people a very scared that criminals will come back home to hurt them.

Yeah buddy, are young black men "shovel ready"?

Bids were released this week for contractors in all cities across the country for the Second Chance Act programming for felons returning home to their communities. Bush approved the concept a year ago but never funded it (you know the wars and all). Bids went to cities/states to administer the programs in lieu of greedy nonprofits that look to pay salaries and not provide services. The grants of $2m cap limit the salary fund to $250k so most of the money will truly go to direct services.

I'm not insulted by anything I read on these frontpages. (Rush is sucking oxygen from the room, though) I'm just looking for some constructive criticism and some action items. This is a good list for starters.

Who is this Carrion cat from the Bronx?

How do we ask the administration to look at the issues on this list besides sending an email on Whitehouse.gov?

Former President of the Bronx. Not chosen because he was the best choice, but because Latinos needed to be paid back. Am I upset about the lack of Blacks in the Cabinet? Honestly, yes. Carrion doesn't impress me. You know I think Arne Duncan is Obama's ' Brownie', and he could have found someone Black for Commerce Secretary or HUD.

Duncan's speech patterns do have a certain "swagger", don't they?

I think that he has been doing well in foreign policy. As for his economic policy, that's mixed. Overall the stimulus is good but it could have been bigger. His budget is excellent. It 's a corrective to rightwing policies that have warped the federal government, One thing that I am extremely disappointed with is Geithner's way of dealing with the banking situation. It seems as if Geithner is incapable of breaking with Bush.

Why you ask, are you disappointed with him? What do people in Maine say?

I've been so busy I can hardly breathe. I read this about Geithner from a reader on Andrew Sullivan today and it gave me pause:

You're wrong about Geithner. I think he has a pretty basic problem -- the political will to do what needs to be done with the banks doesn't exist. They can't really move until that accumulates. It's necessary to nationalize the sick institutions. If we do that, the market will plunge. The administration doesn't have the strength to do something that will crater the market. So we're doing this death by a thousand cuts thing.

You're squeamish about nationalization, and I understand why. Everything the critics say about it is true. The problem is that the sickness in the finance industry is a cancer that's taking the whole economy down, and we have to cut it out. Cutting it out is dangerous, and it's going to create all sorts of problems, some of which are really serious. But we have to cut it out.

I have a friend whose father in law just went in for heart bypass surgery. He's not in good shape, and they weren't sure he'd survive. The surgery was traumatic, and difficult, and hard to come back from, and the guy isn't strong. But the blockage is even worse, and he had to get rid of it.

Fortunately, he seems to be OK. But sometimes, you have choices like that. It's where we're at now with the economy. It's a really bad place. It's hard to take that decision to go in for the surgery that might kill you. It takes awhile to gather the courage. That's what we're doing with the banks -- gathering the courage. The market has to crater, because that's what will produce the resolve to do what has to be done. No one will brave nationalization until they've been pummeled into submission.

Our leaders aren't dictators. They're answerable to the markets to some extent, and they can't just impose things. No one was willing to burn down Atlanta at the start of the civil war -- it took people awhile to get there. Eventually, enough people had died that it became a reasonable thing to do. Sometimes in a bad crisis, to do what's necessary is so difficult that it takes awhile for it to become thinkable. Don't blame Geithner too much for not wanting to blow up the economy. He's surrounded by land mines. He's smart, he's honest, and he shows no sign of buckling under what must be a lot of pressure. We're lucky to have him.

I don't know if I agree with it or not, but it's food for thought.

I have never invested a dime in the stock market and I never would. I have always advised against it. If I'm going to gamble, I'd rather go to the casino. At least I have control over how much money I lose. I never understood the stock market as nothing more than a white collar casino that has scammed too many middle class people out of their money. I still can't grasp how economic health is so connected to its rise and fall, on the whims of the "insiders" who do what they do whenever they feel like doing it. I wish it would crash to zero and not exist anymore. And then we could measure our economy without the cotton candy traded on the stock market.

The stock market is a bastion of capitalism. It allows everyone to have a stake in the economy. As pointed out by Prometheus 6, the stock market is really a futures market in that it measures optimism. It also allows companies to raise money for expansion and hiring additional workers.
People with an IRA, 401K, 403, and/or pension fund are fervently hoping that the stock market recovers.

I realize all of this. But that's in a capitalistic utopia.

Greed, irresponsibility and gambling addiction rule the day.

I feel for those who have money in it.

Craig, Whew! Powelful comment. I so appreciated the heart by-pass metaphor. It really cut to the HEART (pun intended) of the seriousness of the economic crisis and the resolve America will need to muster.

I too wish the market would crash already. Let the healing begin.

I wish it would crash to zero and not exist anymore. And then we could measure our economy without the cotton candy traded on the stock market.

MAJOR CO-SIGN

If only it was that simple.

If you start a company w/ more than two people in it you have a stock company. When the two of you put up $100/person the company is worth $200. If you allow your partner to sell his share of the company, you can allow someone to purchase it and the document you sign giving him the ownership is stock. In a larger company it is equivalent to letting your friends buy ownership for a share of the profits. If you become large enough you let anyone buy.

Your objection is to certain actions in the finance that are unethical and selfserving. Everyone is in agreement w/ you on this point. The problem is a lack of education about economic issues. Look how many people bought into the idea of a 2/28 subprime mortgage(Common subprime hybrids include the "2-28 loan", which offers a low initial interest rate that stays fixed for two years after which the loan resets to a higher adjustable rate for the remaining life of the loan, in this case 28 years. The new interest rate is typically set at some margin over an index, for example, 5% over a 12-month LIBOR).
.

We had economies before stock markets. I think they've run their course.

But that's me.

Geithner doesn't impress me. I don't care if he does know Mandarin, the man isn't presentable to the public and can't explain JACK to the average American about what the policies are and what he's doing and why it should be done.

And, if you have a Treasury Secretary that, as Tweety accurately described him, reminds you of FREDO..

He's useless.

The Treasury Secretary should be a PR weapon FOR the Administration.

Not a PR liability.

Wasn't it Bernanke who is Fredo?
As to the PR issue you are absolutely correct.

No, I remember. It was in the middle of Geithner's 'tax problems', and they showed a clip of him testifying in Congress, and Tweety was like, ' nobody believes this guy because he's Fredo'. The moment he said it, I knew it was true.

He reminds me of Dougie Howser. His voice lacks gravitas, He sounds like a kid. Obama needs Austan Goolsbee to be the public face. Obama's economic adviser. He explains things in laymen terms. He breaks it down for you.

Better Austan classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKvMfVntY2g

I loooooove Austan Goolsbee. Oh he was just hilarious.

Fruit loops! Oh and who can forget this exchange when he asks the McCain adviser if he is a Muslim. Classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS2I2k0I3DY

He was so good during the campaign.

I have often wondered why he was not on the President's economic team.

Especially, after I heard the story of how he and Obama met.

he is on the economic team hes being held up in senate confirmation along with another economic advisor the black lady i forgot her name sorry.

so..... well... give it up.....

How did he and Obama meet?

Obama was citing Professor Goolsbee's opinions repeatedly while debating Keyes...and here is the rest:

www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/21789

The Americans for Change ad against Limbaugh

IT does not get any better than this....

This ads been running a few days now, on cable, especially MSNBC.

Where is Limbaugh's neck?

Pssst, Miranda, that's were he hides the Oxycontin.

Best picture of that fine a$$ President and his gorgeous First Lady EVER.

Yes!

Glowing in the dark, they are. Lovely!

Yes!

I'm watching Countdown with Olbermann.....he just showed a montage of wonderful future campaign clips of right wingers saying they want the President to fail..... they want the President's policies to fail...they want the stimulus plan to fail............perhaps they don't understand that their wish for failure would mean suffering (in most cases, MORE suffering) for everybody NOT making millions by spouting off rhetoric on talk radio everyday.

Good grief every time I see Mcsahme and Lilly...I mean Lindsey Graham together, they're hugging and slapping each other.

Yep, watching it too, Miranda. Self-serving mofos. But the base of hillbilly crackas will rally behind this shit. They're like a boat full of folks who would throw out the oars if somebody told them, the oars were made by PBO.

Self serving and phony
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

LMAO!! You're absolutely right!

Tavis is gonna be in Larry King tonight hawkin' his book. *major eye roll*

Thank you, God, for cable.
Channel surfing, matey!
Arrrrr!

I wouldn't give Tavis the time of day.

*major eye roll*.....*major gritting of teeth*......*folds arms*........*Umph*

Hat tip to Americablog for this piece.

Rod Dreher is as winger as they come, but this piece on Beliefnet says it all about the CPAC convention this past weekend:

White Kids on Dope.

BTW, the First Couple looks marvelous in that picture!

The First Couple just beams when they're with each other. They are too cute.

Love IS beautiful! I love watching them together.

ITA! Love them together!