Jack & Jill Politics

Look at this picture: http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs...

SMH, thank Goodness for screen captures.

EVENING OPEN THREAD IS UP

Democratic lawmakers in a handful of states are facing pressure from Republicans to distance themselves from the Service Employees International Union as a result of its ties to Acorn.

Republicans in Kansas, Virginia and Illinois in recent weeks have called on union-backed Democrats to return SEIU campaign contributions, citing the close connection between the union and the community organizing group, whose full name is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Acorn has been under fire in the past month after secretly recorded videos showed Acorn employees offering advice on evading taxes, setting up brothels and smuggling illegal immigrants. Acorn has called the actions unacceptable and has fired the workers involved.

The Virginia Republican Party urged Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds to return campaign contributions from the SEIU, one of the biggest financial backers of Democratic candidates. Mr. Deeds received a total of $200,000 from the SEIU in 2009, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks campaign contributions in the state.

"The close, almost symbiotic, relationship that SEIU and Acorn have call into question the propriety of being so closely involved with this union," said Tim Murtaugh, spokesman for the Virginia GOP. A spokesman for Mr. Deeds couldn't be reached for immediate comment.

Acorn Woes Hit Union, Democrats

Dems need to MAN THE PHUCK UP and defend their allies.

This could have the unintended effect (unintended for Republicans, that is) of forcing the Dems to defend ACORN, 'cause those politicians ain't giving that much money back, and they aren't going to distance themselves from the SEIU.

Good new numbers. Looks like the Prez is recovering from the summertime blues, even though Americans have many concerns which is natural.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091006/ap_on_go_pr...

Shep Smith Defends the Public Option:

“Why would we not want a public option?” Shep Smith asked Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), kicking off a tense and lively exchange this afternoon on Fox News. When Barrasso quickly launched into his Frank Luntz-inspired GOP talking points, calling it a “government take-over of health care,” Smith — who’s been known to go off the Fox News reservation from time to time — pushed back:

SMITH: It’s not a government take over, Senator! That’s not fair and we both know it. It’s not a government takeover because what it would be is a government option if you have insurance now and you like it you can keep it. … That’s not a government take over if we’re being fair is it Senator?

Barrasso struggled to muster a response. “Well compare it to Medicare, which we know right now is going bankrupt,” he said. Later, Smith engaged in fierce advocacy in favor of the public option:

SMITH: As the costs have gone up, the insurance industry’s profits on average have gone up more than 350 percent and it’s the insurance companies which have paid and have contributed to Senators and congressman on both sides of the aisle to the point where now, we can’t get…what more than 60 percent of Americans say they support, is a public option. This has been an enormous win for the health care industry. That is an unquestioned fact. [...]

[E]very vote against a public option is a vote for the insurance companies, sir. It is!

Again, Barrasso replied with trite talking points. “We’re not even allowing the people of America to read the bill,” he said, later adding that “Washington is incapable” of running health care. “I want to be clear,” Smith told Barrasso, “this wouldn’t be Washington running the system, Senator. It would be a government run plan paid for by the people who sign up for the plan.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/06/smith-barra...

Video and more at the link

Shep is trying to get fired to he can turn around and sue them.

HELL NAW@ this vid: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=12361...

I hope this isn't a real video, now THAT is terrorism.

no its not, its a guy being stupid period.

Hopefully, but even still I went to check out the website it allegedly came from, and it looks like a bunch of BS, I didn't get past the first page after the intro before closing the browser. Just Ugh.

Netherlands to Close Prisons: Not Enough Criminals
http://blog.mpp.org/uncategorized/ne...nals/052...

http://www.nrc.nl/international/arti...k_of_cri...

"For years prohibitionists, including our own Drug Enforcement Administration, have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation a nest of crime and drug abuse. They may have trouble wrapping their little brains around this:

The Dutch government is getting ready to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a declining crime rate.

Just for fun, let’s compare the Netherlands to California. With a population of 16.6 million, the Dutch prison population is about 12,000. With its population of 36.7 million, California should have a bit more than double the Dutch prison population. California’s actual prison population is 171,000.

So, whose drug policies are keeping the streets safer?"

They brought the world Coca-Cola and Pepsi, two of the globe's most recognisable brands. Now Americans - not renowned for favouring new taxes - have been told that a national levy on its fizzy drinks could not only wipe out the budget deficits of most US states but significantly reduce obesity and diabetes.

The proposal from the Centre for Science in the Public Interest - a health advocacy group - follows the release of a study last week claiming budget-strapped states, including California, could raise $10bn (£6bn) a year by raising a tax of 7 cents on each can of Coke or similar sodas.

Twenty-five American states already tax fizzy drinks. The new study suggests that all states should be made to follow suit. The issue has been taken up by President Barack Obama, who has said in public statements that he believes too many children are drinking sugary drinks. Indeed Obama has said such a national tax could lower health expenditure.

A Tax on Coca-Cola and Pepsi 'Could Make Americans Thinner'

---

Right. They tax us because they care about our health.

Yes, they care deeply about our health, that is why they allow tobacco products in the USofA.
Are beer guts caused by soda pop? Perhaps a tax on all carbohydrates would bring in more revenue?

Before you reply KB,let me save you the trouble.Why should I pay a extra tax to fund big government.If I want to developed diabetes that is my right.Oh No this is not freedom.This is a plot of a socialist government to implement fascist policies.Did I get it right?

morphus,
So, what are you saying on the other post.... that we should subsidize the cell phone and a car and house.... 2 of the 3 are subsidized the transportant and the house... so why stop there.... let's subsidze food and entertainment...and school and healthcare.... pretty soon hell it will all be free !!!! So what the point of working when you get 16 months unemployment pay????? Its hard to hire somebody to start a job, when they get 70% of what I would pay them by sitting on there butt. But then when the "benefit" runs out there, at my doorstep wanting to know it the jobs still open. Being successful is hard, hard work. Just getting by is easy.....being irresponsible is easy, You do what you feel like doing, why not someone will bail me out... I choose to be different. and don't feel a desire to reward bad and irresponsiblity behavior. When we do that as a society we set a standard, of minimum work, of responsibility. Then the irresponsible people cry out....It's not fair, its not fair!!!! It is fair, you choose where you are today by the choices you made yesterday. Until people (not collectives) take responsibility for the actions and there choice they will alway be blaming someone else.. Life is really quite easy, work hard, don't get someone pregant when your young,stay in school, don't go to jail. You will have you valleys and peaks, its what we will tell our grandkids about.

No, thats not what I said or suggested.

A new report from Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky has exposed lies given by former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson about the state of certain banks that received bailout funds.

According to the report, Paulson misled the public about the health of the banks that receiving funds from the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program.

“These are healthy institutions, and they have taken this step for the good of the economy,” Paulson had said in a public address at the time.

But banks like Citigroup Inc. and several others were, in fact, on the verge of collapse, with billions of dollars following the initials bailouts to keep them from falling.

According to Barofsky, this lie could have consequences much more serious than just the implications of how tax dollars were used.

...

This report comes along with an attempt to eliminate the ‘too big to fall’ mindset, with FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair calling on officials to end bailouts.

“We need to end ‘too big to fail’ and this needs to be an overarching policy that applies to everyone,” Bair was quoted by Reuters.

She has spoken out against what she called the ’shadow sector’, a secretive elements to financial institutions that pull the strings beyond the usual regulations.

“If you tighten regulation of the banks even more without dealing with the shadow sector you could make the problem even worse,” she said.

She has suggested a new way of dealing with banks, forcing them, for instance, to provide a ‘living will’ on thier website to explain to shareholders and customers the outcome should they be subject to a systematic shutdown.

New Report Speaks Of Dishonest Paulson, While FDIC Calls For End To ‘Too Big To Fall’

What????!!! a government official lied....Tell me this just can be..... We have just witnessed the largest bank robbery in the history or the world....and the federal reserve does'nt know exactly where all the money went.... Wow, I thought the truth would come out in a couple of years after the evidence disappeared and the people died.

So in other words...Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns didn't have enough friends in the WH and Treasury.

Actually Mothsmoke, it is just the opposite..

One of the tidbits that I don't think was ever reported, at least by mainstream MSM is the direct ties the WH had to Lehman Brothers.... former President George Bush's second cousin George Herbert Walker and his brother Jeb Bush....Walker as head of Investment Management (assets) and Jeb Bush as a private equity investor.

The WH especially did not want this info disseminated all over the teeVee, especially in the midst of a presidential campaign, that would hurt the Republican brand. A collapse of a longstanding company like Lehman's was easier than airing out the dirty laundry....gotta perserve that "Bush legacy."


George Walker left the company just before the collapse.
Just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in bankruptcy, executives at a subsidiary company, Neuberger Berman, sent e-mail memos suggesting, among other things, that the company's top people forgo multi-million dollar bonuses to "send a strong message to both employees and investors that management is not shirking accountability for recent performance."

Walker dismissed the proposal, going so far as to actually apologize to other members of the Lehman Brothers executive committee for the idea of bonus reduction having been suggested. He wrote, "Sorry team. I am not sure what's in the water at Neuberger Berman. I'm embarrassed and I apologize." [1] On September 29th, 2008, Walker was named head of Neuberger. [2] from wikipedia


But even during the S&L Crisis of the 1980's, Vice President GHW Bush was NEVER asked not one question about the failures he and Reagan presided over during his own presidential campaign....even the FDIC's website makes a note of that.

I even think that Paulson was on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs, for many years. And they where forced to change from and investment bank to a commercial bank over the weekend, which normally takes 6 to 12 months. When things happen fast there's usually corruption involved and a few palms got greased. Once the Fed opens its book it will shed a little light on who got what. but the real figures in the shadows will never be seen.

Paulson was once the CEO of Goldman Sachs and was one of, if not THE most influential figures in dismantling the net capital rule for investment houses which required brokerage houses hold reserve capital that limited their leverage and risk esposure. He was the one leading the charge and was able to get the SEC to agree to this, and let them run wild and unregualted

Maybe they weren't kissing cousins. (j/k) I'm still trying to figure out why they were allowed to collapse since all the others seem to have been in the same dire straits.

It has been said many times by Paulson & others, that had they known that the collapse of LehmanBros/BearStearns would led to the financial crisis, they would not have let it collapse. Unfortunately, they believed that the financial system could withstand the failure. Alas, that was a very egregiously false assumption..as LehmanBros/bearStearns were not outliers but the very tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Breaking: A Republican Quits something:

Tom DeLay's brief reality television career is coming to an end. Citing stress fractures in both feet, the former House Majority Leader will announce tonight that he is leaving "Dancing With The Stars," according to E! Online:

I just got word that the former Republican congressman will announce on tonight's results show that his injuries have left him no choice but to drop out of the competition.


With stress fractures in both of his feet, the 62-year-old Texan performed the samba last night against the advice of his doctors and DWTS producers.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/06/delay-...

Good riddance! I do feel bad for Cheryl Burke, though. She's the best pro dancer on the show.

I wonder will they go ahead with eliminating one of the couples?

DeLay should just get shot up with painkillers and soldier on like a good conservative. That way it could lead to a permanent disability and he would need government assistance.

He is already on government assistence.As a former member of congress he has health care for life .

WHITE HOUSE SELECTS ART TO GRACE PRIVATE RESIDENCES, OFFICES

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...

thanks for this..I have been watching to hear more about the artwork the Obama's selected. loved the descriptions in the article

The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse

10/06/2009
Does Anyone Actually Understand the Health Care Debate?:
Okay, let's see if we can get this straight:

There's the "public option," the worst-branded good idea since solar power, which is a federal government-run not-for-profit health insurance program that would be there as a way to force for-profit insurance companies to rein in costs and not be such dickheads because it would be part of an "exchange," a menu of various kinds of health insurances competing for your (or your company's) health insurance dollars, all private except for the federal government-run one, depending on how many accessories you want or can afford on your policy; however, as a way to water it down for insurance company lobbyists and their pet members of Congress, as well as for idiots who don't actually get how any of this works, the people who could get a public option would be those who can't get health insurance through their work, either because it's not offered or because they don't work, and small businesses, who routinely get dicked over by insurance companies because they are, as mentioned before, such dickheads. And people who can't afford jack shit would get reduced cost or free public option insurance, just like school lunches. But wait...

That's too socialist for conservative Democrats, who wouldn't know a socialist if Karl Marx bit them on the ass and yelled, "Lose your chains"(and let's not even talk about Republicans [yet] because they're not part of the equation), so instead of a really stupidly-named "public option," they might would maybe perhaps be willing to talk about possibly having health care cooperatives, which would be privately-run and based on premiums after getting seed money from the federal government, but they'd be non-profit, which would possibly maybe, in an ideal world, provide the competition that supposedly would eventually drive down costs if and when things get going in a few years if maybe the co-ops are allowed to negotiate lower fees for services, unless the drug companies and others get in the way. But wait...

That's all a bit too centralized for some conservative Democrats, who, really, need to have primary candidates run against them, so instead they are thinking about giving states the money to run their own versions of the aforementioned shittily-labeled public option or the previously discussed co-op or some Frankensteinian combination of those and other things cobbled together that would be "experiments" in creating competition for the dickhead insurance companies and, in an ideal world, could maybe possibly lower costs in the long run if the experiments are successful, but, hey, at least then Idaho or New Hampshire would only have itself to blame and not the Congress if it turns out they made things worse. But wait...

That's all a bit too cart-before-the-horse for some conservative Democrats and the one and only Republican Senator, Olympia Snowe, who might maybe be willing to vote for some kind of health care bill if perhaps it possibly maybe has something in it that covers her ass with fellow Republicans but still gives her the semi-compassionate street cred with her allegedly independent-thinking constituents who mostly just want the previously mentioned poorly-marketed public option. So they've come up with this idea of a "trigger," which means that if the insurance companies, who are, as mentioned before, dickheads, all of a sudden think there might one day perhaps be some kind of public option, they might consider being marginally less dickish about things like pre-existing conditions and cutting sick people off and jacking up premiums, which does more than anything else to harm the bottom line of all American businesses except the insurance companies, and thus, in concept, in an ideal world, the dickhead insurance companies, who have proven so trustworthy in the past, will rein in their costs, and if they don't, then, after a few years, oh, boy, they better watch out because, depending on how Congress words it, they could face a federal public option or co-op or 50 state-run versions of those previously mentioned and described potential possibilities if any trigger is actually pulled, because any Congress after this one can merely unload the gun.

Is that about right? Are they just fucking with us?

The only real question remaining before any of this convoluted, alienating nonsense is passed is if Democrats will realize that the majority of the people in this country want a straightforward government-run health plan, a, yes, "public option." (What they really want is nationalized health care, but, shhh, Obama says we're not allowed to bring that up.) The electoral implications are simple: if a bill with any kind of watered-down, bullshit public option is passed, be it a trigger or state-run or co-ops, Republicans will attack it as socialism and government intervention in blah, blah, blah. It could be a slightly lower cost on aspirin, and conservatives will make it seem like Josef Stalin is shooting Grandma and tossing her in a mass grave. That's what August and everything after should have taught us.

So why not just pass the real thing?

Rude Pundit thinks it was stupidity that named the Public Option,...well, they're stupid like foxes.

Tyler Perry's Letter about his abuse as a child:

Hi there.

I know I've been a little quiet lately but I've been in silent reflection, quiet meditation, and prayer. Turning 40 is such a blessing. Especially because as I child I always thought I would die before I grew up.

If life begins at 40, then I owe the little boy that I was my life. Case in point, not long ago, I was brought a film to watch to see what I thought of it. It's called PRECIOUS, based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire. I sat at home watching this movie not knowing what to expect. After the movie was over, I sat there for a long time just thinking about what I had just witnessed. I watched all the things that Precious, a 16-year-old girl in the film, went through. I watched her mother be unusually cruel to her and I realized at that moment that a large part of my childhood had just played out before my eyes. It hit me so hard, I sat there in tears realizing that somehow, by the grace of God, I made it through. My tears were tears of joy, being thankful that I made it.

Believe me when I tell you, PRECIOUS is a powerful film. After seeing it, I had to be involved. I didn't write it or direct it, nor am I making any money from it. Oprah and I both are giving any proceeds we would make to charity. I just wanted to get as many people to see it as I can. It gave me so much hope after watching it. For everyone who has been a Precious, male or female, this movie will make you so glad you made it through.

It took me through some raw emotions and brought me to some things and places in my life that I needed to deal with but had long forgotten. It brought back memories so strong that I can smell and taste them. Like, when I was very young, my mother decided to leave my father...she had had enough of his insanity. She loaded me and my two sisters up in an old Cadillac that he had bought for her, and drove to California. When he realized she was gone, he called the police and reported the car stolen, as it was in his name. My mother was arrested and my two sisters and I were put in the cell with her. He and my uncle drove from Louisiana to California to get us. We spent several days in jail waiting for him. He bailed her out and couldn't wait to get her into the car. He got into the back seat with us and beat her black and blue from California to Louisiana, as me and my sisters watched Even though I was only two or three, I know that this had to have some effect on me.

I'm tired of holding this in. I don't know what to do with it anymore, so, I've decided to give some of it away...

Memories at 40: Not long ago, I was asked to speak at an engagement. I walked in and I was told that they had assigned a person to take care of me while I was there. She walked up to me, all of 5'2 " of her, and asked if I needed anything. I looked at her and started to sweat. It took me back thirty-something years to her apartment. I couldn't have been more than 10 years old when I went over to play with her son and Matchbox cars. She opened the door in skimpy lingerie. There was a man sitting on the couch, smoking. She told me that her son was in the bedroom. I was there playing with him about 20 minutes when I heard the man arguing with her. He said he was leaving and slammed the door. She came into the bedroom and told me that I had to go home. She told her son to take a bath and she locked him in the bathroom. I was at the front door trying to get out, when she came in and laid on the sofa and asked me if I wanted the key. I told her I had to go home as it was getting dark. She put the key inside of herself and told me to come get it, pulling me on top of her.

Memories at 40: "What the f*#K are you reading books for?! That's bull*#*T! "

"You F*#*ing jackass! You got book sense but you ain't got no mothaf*#*en common sense! You ain't sh*t and ain't never gonna be sh*t! " I heard this every day of my childhood. As my father would beat and belittle me, he played all kinds of mind games with me. He knew I loved cookies as a kid, most kids do. So he would buy them and put them on top of the fridge and when I would eat them he would beat me mercilessly.

My mother was out one night, as she loved to play bingo, and my father came ome...mad at the world. He was drunk, as he was most of the time. He got the vacuum cleaner extension cord and trapped me in a room and beat me until the skin was coming off my back. To this day, I don't know what would make a person do something like that to a child. But thank God that in my mind, I left. I didn't feel it anymore, just like in PRECIOUS. How this girl would leave in her mind. I learned to use my gift, as it was my imagination that let me escape After he was done with his rant he passed out. Since my aunt lived two doors down, I ran to her. She saw me and was horrified. She loaded her 357 and went to kill him. Holding a gun to his head, her husband came and stopped her.

Memories at 40: I got a call not long ago from a friend. He told me that a man that I knew from church when I was a kid had died and he didn't have any insurance. His family was trying to reach out to me to see if I would pay for his funeral. I quickly said no, but I wish I would have said yes. There is something so powerful to me in burying the man that molested me. I wish I would have dug the grave myself.

Memories at 40: I was about 8 or 9 years old. I had a crush on a little girl across the street. She would come over to my house and we'd play. She was about 12 or 13. One day she stopped coming and when I asked her why, she told me that my father was touching her. I didn't believe her, so I talked her into staying one night. We were both asleep -- she was in one bed and I was in another. I opened my eyes to see my father trying to touch her and her pushing him away. I moved in my bed trying to make him think I was waking up. He looked over at me and left out of the room. Not long after that, he beat me mercilessly for something again. Another mind game set up, so I told my mother what he had done. The blood drained from her face. We left that day. We were at my Aunt's house and he came there about 1am. Not long after that we were back at home. Nothing would compare to the random, drunken, violent beatings I would receive from then until I was 19.

Memories at 40: We would spend the summers in the country, with my father's adoptive mother. As a kid I was always sick. I had asthma and he hated it. He hated that I wasn't strong and virile like him. He hated that I couldn't be in the sawdust, pollen and the raw lumber like him. He hated that I liked to read and write and draw. He hated that me and my middle sister were darker-skinned than him. He didn't think he could make a dark baby. He just hated everything about me I guess. Anyway, I had to go to the doctor every Tuesday to get shots to control my allergies. When his mother found out she said, "Ain't nothing wrong with that damn boy...he just got germs on him. Stop wasting all that money. " When my mother left to visit some friends I heard what sounded like water running in a tub but it was sporadic. She came and got me out of the living room leaving my Matchbox cars on the floor. She said she was going to kill these germs on me once and for all. She gave me a bath in ammonia.

Grateful at 40: I was asked recently how I made it through all of this, (half has not even been told) and my answer to that is...I know for a fact that there is a GOD. When my father would say or do those things to me, I would hear this voice inside of me say, "That's not true " or, "Don't believe that " or, "You're going to make it through this ". I didn't know at the time what "it " was, but today I surely have no doubt that "it " was GOD. That voice always gave me comfort. It allowed me to hold on. It kept me from being strung out on drugs, from dying when I wanted to commit suicide. It kept me from being a gang banger or drug dealer. Worse than all of those things put together, it kept me from being him. It brought angels to comfort me after every foul, harsh word or every welt on my legs or back GOD, only GOD.

To know that the little boy that I was went through all that -- he went through and made it. Then me, as a man...I have to take on the responsibility of forgiving all of those people. I owe it to that little boy that I was and, more than that, I owe it to the man that I am Think about it, as a child we have no recourse. We have nowhere to go. We have to endure it. But as adults, we have choices. I choose to forgive with all my might. Forgiveness has been my weapon of choice. It has helped to free me.

If you're having a hard time getting over something in your life, maybe you can try forgiveness too. It's not easy, but it does bring forth healing. I know that there are a lot of people out there with stories far worse than mine but you, too, can make it. To those of you who have, welcome to life. I celebrate you. We're all PRECIOUS in His sight.

Tyler Perry

Tyler would surely take issue with me for saying this; but, "it" was his own desire to live, not a "God", as he says. "It" wasn't an external force. And it is not his pejorative to forgive, either. Forgiveness does not free...it is more religious nonsense with no basis in psychology. Attempting to forgive someone abhorrent causes more harm to the self. The self will do, what the self wants...you cannot make it forgive.

Interesting theory, I've found from personal experience that it's easier to just forgive (and not necessarily forget). Are you an Atheist? I'm just curious, I don't think there's anything wrong with being an Athiest for the record, it's just always good to hear other points of view.

Agnostic probably would be a more accurate description of my belief system.

Are you Atheist?

Nope, I believe in God and Jesus, but I'm loathe to refer to myself as a "Christian"

..Cool.

"If you're having a hard time getting over something in your life, maybe you can try forgiveness too. It's not easy, but it does bring forth healing."

Saying "hi" to everyone who came to Naptown for the Circle City Classic over the weekend. Some pics from the parade are up on my blog: http://postpostracial.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/...