Jack & Jill Politics

AFTERNOON OPEN THREAD IS UP

Shaniya Davis found dead.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/...

http://thisblksistaspage.wordpress.com/2009/11/...

Some people should NOT be having children...

They should send her mother to prison and let the general population take care of her. Don't give her the death penalty, don't send her to the nuthouse. Let those women who CAN'T see their children take care of her A@#. Mark my words she will be taken care of.

I know this is hardcore, but it breaks my heart to imagine what that Angel went through and not understanding why.

some people are only egg donors.

I don't blame Bradley Lockhart. He tried. Right egg, well-meaning sperm, wrong egg donor.

I don't blame him either. this is all on that wretched woman who should be put UNDER THE JAIL

New From AOFBlog: Monday Mad-ness Over All Little Girls Like Shaniya Davis http://bit.ly/4A8F1M

New From AOFBlog: My First Examiner Article Is Up – Go Check It Out http://bit.ly/3Txf1q

New From AOFBlog: The Path To Empowerment Lies Beyond Our Hair http://bit.ly/2jQpNd

New From AOFBlog: Do I Really Have To Explain Why Push/Precious Normalizes Black Depravity? http://bit.ly/uoR

New From AOFBlog: How Poor CisGender & Trans Women Got The Shaft So Obama Could Have A “Win" http://bit.ly/1ag4NH

yo congrats on the examiner post! it's nice to see people comin up.

rikyrah: MR. PRESIDENT CONTINUES - - - -

+Seeing Tiananmen
Obama's first look at Beijing

President Barack Obama saw Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City for the first time Monday as he arrived in Beijing for a meeting and dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao, according to the pool.

At the Diaoyutai State Guest House, where Obama and Hu were meeting, the pool described a scene of "dramatically pruned trees and majestic landscaping and architecture, with lakes on the grounds and a little snow on the grass."

Joining POTUS in his dinner with Hu were Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, National Security Adviser Jim Jones, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and NSC Director for Asian Affairs Jeffrey Bader.

+<a href=" http://community.livejournal.com/obama_daily/27... November 2009 @ 09:48 pm
Obamamania in Shanghai, China.

MANY of these R duplicates; HOWEVER, CHECK out the STONE CARVING annnnnd the WAX FIGURE! :>) :>)

+Annnnnd, SOME MORE! :>)

+Obama's Opening Remarks At Town Hall Meeting In China VIDEO

+Part 2| President Obama Takes Question At Town Hall Meeting In ChinaVIDEO

+Part 3| President Obama Takes Question At Town Hall Meeting In ChinaVIDEO
HERE AGAIN, CNN MIS-REPRESENTED the QUESTION on the CRAWL:
A commentor caught this: "Question: Why were you awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?" ... That was not quite the question CNN, now was it :P ? ...

THAT'S O.K. Mr. President GAVE GOOD ANSWERS!! :>)

thanks GLH

rikyrah: MY PLEASURE! :>)

OOPS! Messed UP! Here's a CORRECTION:

15 November 2009 @ 09:48 pm
Obamamania in Shanghai, China. :>)

Michael Scott, president of the Chicago Board of Education, shot himself. Body found in water. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,575277,00.html

oh how very very sad. i will say some prayers for he and his family. please keep us updated.

King Richard II is at it again
...................................

Leasing water system could be a risky move for Chicago
Mayor Richard Daley could learn from other cities' experiences

By Michael Hawthorne Tribune reporter

November 16, 2009

Mayor Richard Daley says any part of city government is up for grabs if the price is right.

But if he is tempted to dangle Chicago's vast water system as his next lease deal, he might want to first consult Atlanta, which is still smarting from a botched experiment with privatizing a big-city water supply.

Or the mayor could look someplace closer to home, like Bolingbrook, one of dozens of suburbs and downstate communities furious about steep rate increases imposed by a private water operator.

Daley is searching for more jackpots as his administration draws heavily on the money it reaped from leasing parking meters and the Chicago Skyway to ease the city through the recession. The mayor recently told the Tribune editorial board that he has met with consultants who outlined new privatization deals, but he would not provide details.

"Everything is always on the table," Daley said, though mayoral aides later insisted that nothing immediate is in the works.

If Chicago tried to sell off its water department to a private company, it would be the largest U.S. city to do so. Such a deal also would run counter to movements in dozens of smaller towns across the suburbs and the rest of the nation, where local officials are having second thoughts about private control of public water.

Mayors from Homer Glen to Urbana are threatening municipal takeovers of their local water systems, moved by complaints about skyrocketing rates and lackluster service from corporate operators. Fort Wayne, Ind., already wrested away part of its water system and is seeking to buy back the rest after accusing a private operator of putting shareholder interests before those of customers.

Backers of privatizing government services suffered a bigger setback in Atlanta, where city leaders tried during the late 1990s to turn over management of the water system to a corporate operator. In 2003, less than four years into a 20-year deal, Atlanta regained public control in response to cost overruns, service problems and breakdowns.

Similar concerns forced Milwaukee this year to scuttle a bid to lease its water system. Even the idea of studying a deal prompted such a fierce outcry that city leaders backed off, at least for now.

"Water is critical to a city's future management and growth," said Rob Hunter, Atlanta's commissioner of watershed management. "It's not something you want to turn over to somebody else."

It is unknown how much money could be raised by leasing Chicago's system, which pumps treated Lake Michigan water to 7 million people in the city and suburbs. The payoff likely would increase based on how much control the city would be willing to sign over to a private water company.

But given the public backlash over the mayor's controversial parking meter deal and mindful of what has happened in other communities that have experimented with private control of water, questions remain about whether the short-term windfall would be worth the potential long-term costs.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-chicago-...

As the author points out, there is no up side when dealing with the "world water consortium". Water is the next, "Ultimate Commodity". There states where its illegal to collect rain water.

Frontline: The world is running out of fresh water, and the fight to control it has begun.

read an article in the New Yorker a couple of years ago that made this point. the thing is about King Richard, is that he's absolutely ridiculous, and we have a chickenshit city council that should be standing in his way, instead of letting his merry band of friendly thieves loot our treasury. you really don't want me to get into it about the fraud that has turned out the parking meter fiasco. Downtown Chicago and near downtown - 25 cents for 8 minutes.

8 DAMN MINUTES.

add that up to see how many quarters you have to put in to get 2 hours, which is the limit, which is a JOKE, because who can get anything done downtown in 2 hours?

rikyrah: Good morning! :>)

WELLLLLL - - It WAS - - -until I saw THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE!!!

First, I'll SHARE the COMMENT of another INFURIATED PERSON!:

"It's official. I'm unsubscribing from the grio. You guys print absolute GARBAGE. Your journalism is sloppy.

"Given that controversy sells, it's no wonder Oprah Winfrey tried so hard to get Palin on her show next Monday during November sweeps. She even complained that Palin was snubbing her (after Winfrey snubbed Palin during the campaign season). Given Winfrey's ratings slump - which may be partly due to women not liking that she supported then Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton, and later didn't support Palin's vice presidential bid - Winfrey needs Palin more than Palin needs Winfrey.""

Now, HERE IS THE GARBAGE!!: TAKE A DEEP BREATH!

Sarah Palin has a lot in common with black women[By Shamara Riley - -8:30 AM on 11/13/2009]
Her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, has been a best-seller for weeks and it's not yet in bookstores. She can attract a crowd of thousands. Critics often blow her off as unimportant, not serious, or vacuous. Meanwhile, she seems to be on the White House's mind a lot as it reacts - albeit not by name - to her specific criticisms regarding health care reform, troop levels in Afghanistan, and energy policy. That woman is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Given that controversy sells, it's no wonder Oprah Winfrey tried so hard to get Palin on her show next Monday during November sweeps. She even complained that Palin was snubbing her (after Winfrey snubbed Palin during the campaign season). Given Winfrey's ratings slump - which may be partly due to women not liking that she supported then Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton, and later didn't support Palin's vice presidential bid - Winfrey needs Palin more than Palin needs Winfrey.

Much like my view of Winfrey, I have mixed views about Palin. I don't get either the hero worship or the virulent hatred towards her. Although I agree with Palin on perhaps 65 percent of policy issues, she does not enthrall me. She's not ready to be president or vice president, nor will she be ready any time soon. She took the easy way out, giving up a governorship a year and a half early. If she plans on running for the presidency - where one must be able to withstand withering attacks, even unfair ones - her abandoning her elected role in Alaska would be a significant strike against her for my vote.

I'd wager that, unlike me, most black women - being liberal Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents - have a pretty negative view of Palin. She's been called "white trash" by white elites, and even by some blacks. Yet ironically, Palin probably has just as much - and arguably more - in common with many black women than most female politicians. Palin is from a working-class family. She's not from the "right" part of the country. She doesn't possess the elite background that many folks have come to expect out of political leaders.

While she went through four different colleges and universities - eventually returning to the University of Idaho to finish - she did stick with it and get that degree. Like most black women, she has Christian faith. Palin tells you what she thinks. She has come up in a mostly male-dominated field. She is the breadwinner in her family, and she balances work and family commitments. She's even had to deal with a teen daughter who had an out-of-wedlock child and "baby daddy" drama, an issue that America's black moms disproportionately deal with regarding their daughters and suitors.

Just like I do with black women who persevere despite various barriers, I admire Palin's tenacity. I can also identify with the title of her book, which emphasizes her maverick streak against much of the GOP establishment.

Palin has encouraged some of my black center-right peers to, like her, "go rogue". One, Adrienne Ross, a conservative blogger in New York, wasn't active in politics at all until Sarah Palin came on the national scene last year. Now she's a conservative activist trying to draft Palin for the 2012 presidential campaign and involved in other political activities. Ross, who has met Palin, states on her blog: "Some may think it's a stretch, but I don't think so: Sarah Palin is more like Dr. King than President Obama, and I believe he [King] would have held her in very high regard. He, like she, was a public servant. He paid the ultimate price for opening his mouth for freedom; he would not shut up because too much was on the line. I see the same spirit in her as she continues to fight the fight for the unborn, health care, energy independence, limited government -- for freedom." She adds that Palin inspires her because Palin "has common sense -- something severely lacking in the leaders of our nation today."

I disagree with Ross that there are strong similarities between Palin and King. Nevertheless, Palin is inspiring folks - including black conservative women who normally stay on the sidelines - to get involved in their communities and political activism. I've even seen it within my own family. I'm not ready to jump on the Palin bandwagon just yet - and perhaps never will, since we disagree on quite a few social issues. One thing that I do know, especially after having seen her speak in person last year; liberals would be foolish to underestimate her charisma and her populist ability to galvanize and grow the center-right base.

2 make matter WORSE - - the GARBAGE was followed by a - - POLL of the GARBAGE!

*
"HOW IN THE FREAK -COME" did ONLY 63.36% state that No, she has nothing in common with black women
ONLY 63.36%!!! WTFreak!!!

POLL: Do you think Sarah Palin has a lot in common with black women? (262)
(63.36%)No, she has nothing in common with black women
(24.05%)She shares a few experiences
(8.4%)Yes, I think she does
(4.2%)I don't know

I shouldn't UPSET myself so early in the morning! :>)

SORRY 2 cause anyone else 2 B UPSET!! WHEW!!!

I almost 4-got: SAAAAAAAAAAAA-LAP!!!

Right behind you GLH--SAAAAAAAAAAAA-LAP!!!

HEEEEY Lisa M! ***BIG HUG*** :>)

LOL!!! :>) :>)

THANKS 4 your BACK-UP!! :>) :>)

Um, so conservative black women weren't compelled to improve their communities until Sarah Palin came along?

TRANSLATION ---> Barack Obama wouldn't be our man back in the day, so now it's payback time **shakes Shirley Temple curls***

Town: **shakes Shirley Temple curls*** LOL!!! :>)

U R always ON SPOT with the TRANSLATIONS!! :>)

the 'logic' that it takes to actually believe this, is painful and too twisted for words.

of all the palin news out today, this hurts my soul the most

Baratunde: U! SPEAK! TA-RUTH!!

Apparently, there R THOSE among us who try 2 live out these WORDS:

"These are the times that try men's souls."

THEY SADDEN ME, ALSO!!

"Some may think it's a stretch, but I don't think so: Sarah Palin is more like Dr. King than President Obama, and I believe he [King] would have held her in very high regard."

GreenLadyHere, don't know which one to reach for first, the barf bag or can of air.

HEEEEEY morphus! ***BIG HUG*** :>) LOL!!! :>)

SICKENIN' - - - HUH???

Here's YER CAN of OXYGEN! :>)

Annnnnnnnd, YER BARF BAG!! :>)

Ta-Ryin' 2 he'p!!! :>) :>)

OMFG. Sarah Palin = Dr. King? I don't think so.

Hello Jill: I! DON'T THINK! SO!, EITHER!

Their names should NOT appear in the SAME sentence!! :>)

Guess I wasn't the only one that rolled her eyes when she saw this.

rikyrah: LOL!! :>)

NO U WERE NOT!! :>) :>)

I JOINED U! :>) :>)

Gag me with a spoon! Oprah doesn't NEED Palin. Yeah, her ratings have gone down (plunged? WTF) but that's to be expected after all these years. Not to mention all the stuff she goes up against now. If she didn't have Palin on, people would've bitched about that too. As for Palin having stuff in common with me-UH NO. As for her and Dr. King, I could only imagine the vitriol she would've aimed at him.

She would have said Dr. King was a communist who didn't love America(tm) the same way she and her fellow Patriots did.

EXACTLY!

HEEEEY Shazza! :>)

MEGA-CO-SIGN on ALL POINTS!! :>)

ESP - - As for her and Dr. King, I could only imagine the vitriol she would've aimed at him.

U! AIN'T! NEVA! LIED! :>)

I'll just bet you had to drag out yer smellin' salts, didn't ya?

Maybe this will cheer you up, GLH.

An Arkansas 10-year-old says he won't pledge to the flag until gays and lesbians have equal rights.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/11/16/...

this news acts as an antidote to the news above it. thank you!

oh very cool. . .

HEEEEY Wordsmith! ***BIG HUG***

LOL!!! :>) :>) YEP!! :>)

Annnnnnnnnd, my ***OXYGEN MASK*** :>)

THANKS! :>)

Just breathe deeply - and say it, "OM!"

WordSmith: Oooooo-Kaaaaaaay!

HERE! I! GO! :>)

Lincoln Heights re-runs begin on TVOne next week.

The Palin Image is a Fraud

by BooMan
Mon Nov 16th, 2009 at 08:58:53 AM EST
Sarah Palin appears almost stunned that the Associated Press got a pre-release copy of her book and fact-checked it.

"We've heard 11 writers are engaged in this opposition research, er, 'fact checking' research!" Palin continued. "Imagine that – 11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to "fact check" what's going on with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hassan's associations, etc."

To which, The Hill's Michael O'Brien responds dryly, "The Associated Press employs roughly 4,100 journalists around the globe."

This is entirely reminiscent of the campaign, when Sarah Palin introduced herself to America with the line about her saying, "Thanks, but no thanks, on that Bridge to Nowhere." Then, as now, she and the McCain team seemed completely unprepared for the fact that that claim was going to be debunked roughly eight minutes after it was uttered. Palin had actively pursued the money for the Bridge to Nowhere until it became clear that she wasn't going to get the money because it had turned into a national symbol of wasteful pork-barrel spending. She wanted to tie herself to McCain's image as a crusader against government profligacy. But Alaska is more dependent on profligate federal appropriations than any other state in the union. It's main representatives in DC, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young, had both compromised themselves through their corrupt efforts to bring home the bacon. Palin had been elected, in part, as a reaction to this kind of ossified corruption, but she still behaved as any representative of Alaska would behave. She had her hand out. If she wanted to point out how she had made some baby steps at reform, that would have been acceptable. But she decided to introduce herself to the nation by telling an enormous whopper that was debunked as fast as it could be googled. And, worse, she insisted on repeating the lie at appearance after appearance, even after it had been thoroughly debunked.

A story from August 10th, 2008, before most people had ever heard of Governor Sarah Palin, shows just how full of shit her image as a crusader against taxes and socialism is.

Republicans in Congress this June united to defeat a proposed windfall tax on oil companies, deriding it as a bad idea that would discourage investment in U.S. oil exploration.

Things worked out far differently in the GOP stronghold of Alaska, a state whose economic fate is closely tied to the oil industry.

Over the opposition of oil companies, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin and Alaska's Legislature last year approved a major increase in taxes on the oil industry — a step that has generated stunning new wealth for the state as oil prices soared.

Now, that was a progressive reform. Not only did Palin buck the national party's position on taxing Big Oil, she turned around and handed that money out to the citizens of her state.

Democrat Barack Obama supports a national windfall-profits tax, while Republican John McCain opposes it.

Alaska collected an estimated $6 billion from the new tax during the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to the Alaska Oil and Gas Association. That helped push the state's total oil revenue — from new and existing taxes, as well as royalties — to more than $10 billion, double the amount received last year.

While many other states are confronting big budget deficits because of the troubled economy, Alaska officials are in the enviable position of exploring new ways to spend the state's multibillion-dollar budget surplus.

Some of that new cash will end up in the wallets of Alaska's residents.

Palin's administration last week gained legislative approval for a special $1,200 payment to every Alaskan to help cope with gas prices, which are among the highest in the country.

That check will come on top of the annual dividend of about $2,000 that each resident could receive this year from an oil-wealth savings account.

Imagine this as federal policy. Imagine every citizen of this country getting an annual check for $3,200 from the federal government. Imagine all of that money coming from royalties and taxes on Big Oil. That's what Governor Palin did in Alaska. She was the biggest and certainly the most effective socialist leader in the country. She could have introduced herself to America honestly by saying that she stood for massive socialist subsides paid for through windfall taxes on Big Oil. But that didn't fit in with McCain's platform, so we were told that she was a huge opponent of pork barrel spending and an anti-socialist crusader.

Her entire story is a gigantic lie. Why should we expect her book to be any different?

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/11/16/8...

Nov 16 2009 9:11am EDT
CNN Pays Lou Dobbs More to Quit Than MSNBC Pays Olbermann, Matthews to Work

How much did CNN want Lou Dobbs gone from its air? Enough to shell out $8 million to get rid of him, according to the New York Post's Michael Shain, who reported that the controversial CNN anchor will be paid that eye-popping figure in severance. Dobbs announced his departure from CNN on November 11: He's being replaced at 7 p.m. by John King.

To put CNN's payout in perspective, Dobbs is getting more money to leave his show than MSNBC's Keith Olbermann gets to host Countdown five nights a week. Last year, the New York Times' Brian Stelter reported Olbermann's salary as $7.5 million-a-year. Chris Matthews, Olbermann's network sibling, reportedly earns "about $5 million," (per the Times' Bill Carter) for Hardball.

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/pressed/20...

Even in Texas they are having their doubts. The state that executes more people than any other by far – it will account for half the prisoners sent to the death chamber in the US this year – is seeing its once rock-solid faith in capital punishment shaken by overturned convictions, judicial scandals and growing evidence that at least one innocent man has been executed.

The growth of DNA forensic evidence has seen nearly 140 death row convictions overturned across the US, prompting abolition and moratoriums in other states that Texas has so far resisted.

But the public mood is swinging in the conservative state, which often seems to have an Old Testament view of justice. A former governor, Mark White – previously a strong supporter of the death penalty – has joined those calling for a reconsideration of capital punishment because of the risk of executing an innocent person.

The number of death sentences passed by juries in Texas has fallen sharply in recent years, reflecting a retreat from capital punishment in many parts of America after DNA evidence led to the release of scores of condemned prisoners.

The number of death sentences passed annually in the US has dropped by about 60% in the past decade, to around 100.

"In Texas we have seen a constant stream of individual cases that really destroy public faith and integrity in our criminal justice system," said Steve Hall, former chief of staff to the Texas attorney general for eight years, who is now an anti-death penalty activist.

Texas Accounts for Half of Executions in US but Now Has Doubts Over Death Row

---

Yeah, concealing 800 boxes of evidence for 25 years can cause doubts.

The Guardian could not have been more in error.

There is nowhere near 140 DNA exonerations from death row.

9 inmates have been removed from death rows because of DNA exclusion.

The near 140 (really 139) is a blatant anti death penalty fraud whereby they claim 139 exonerated from death row because of innocence (DNA & other).

Death penalty opponents make up their own, deceptive definition of exonerated.

The reality, based upon a number of published reviews, is in the 25-35 range. I combined three of the studies and found that 25 would be the realistic number of actual innocents released from death row, because of an 83% error rate in the death penalty opponents "exonerated" or "innocence" claims.

It is impossible to get most of the media to fact check, clarify or correct this, as with the Guardian.

Interestingly, the New York Times recognized this blatant deception and found about a 75% error rate in these fraudulent anti death penalty claims.

There is no growing evidence of an innocent executed in Texas. The reality is that all of the reports critical of the trial forensics in the Willingham case concluded that the origin of the fire was undetermined. However, that is without the full rebuttals of various state agencies, all of which are pending.

The reality is, based upon all of the facts that are known, today, the fire may have been arson and it may have been an accident, based upon the most critical reports.

No evidence of an innocent executed exists with Willingham, nor is it growing or pending.

Based upon all we know, today, that case cannot "become the first officially acknowledged miscarriage of justice which led to a man being executed." At worse, it will remain in the undetermined category. However, there is much additional evidence for guilt in the case.

Again, reality intervenes. The New Mexico Governor conceded that he may be wrong on the facts he gave to justify repeal. He was. He also conceded that the death penalty may actually save innocent lives. The anti death penalty leadership in New Mexico admitted that the reason the repeal passed was because more Democrats were elected in the last voting cycle.

Why did Gov. Richardson repeal the death penalty? His legacy.
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/03/31/why-did...


Rebuttal to Governor Richardson - Repeal of the Death Penalty in New Mexico
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/03/19/rebutta...


Regarding Illinois, first, I suspect most state death rows have released more from death row than they have executed. Nationally, 34% of death penalty cases are overturned on appeal. 15% result in execution.

Secondly, in Illinois, the claim was that 13 actual innocents had been freed from death row, while there had been a total of 12 executions. This goes to anti death penalty deceptions and the lack of fact checking.

"The Death Penalty Debate in Illinois", JJKinsella,6/2000, http://www.dcba.org/brief/junissue/2000/art0106...

This article was not accurate in all of their case reviews, as we now know, but it makes the point that a number of the innocence claims were either false or there was no evidence for such claims, just like the 139 fraud.

I was not a founder of Justice For All and have not been with them for many years.

Yes, the death penalty is a greater protector of innocents.

"The Death Penalty: More Protection for Innocents"
http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/07/05/the-dea...

With prosecutors currently arguing before the SC: "We have a legal right to frame innocent people", coupled with Justice Scalia's revelation that it is NOT unconstitutional to executed an innocent, there isn't much need for discussion is there?

Instead of, completely, misinterpreting Scalia, maybe some should be responsible enough to read his opinion. Here it is:

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads...

Then, read the last paragraph of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's concurrence in Herrera on this issue, below. As well as her entire concurrence at

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-7328...

"Ultimately, two things about this case are clear. First is what the Court does not hold. Nowhere does the Court state that the Constitution permits the execution of an actually innocent person. Instead, the Court assumes for the sake of argument that a truly persuasive demonstration of actual innocence would render any such execution unconstitutional and that federal habeas relief would be warranted if no state avenue were open to process the claim. Second is what petitioner has not demonstrated. Petitioner has failed to make a persuasive showing of actual innocence. Not one judge--no state court judge, not the District Court Judge, none of the three Judges of the Court of Appeals, and none of the Justices of this Court--has expressed doubt about petitioner's guilt. Accordingly, the Court has no reason to pass on, and appropriately reserves, the question whether federal courts may entertain convincing claims of actual innocence. That difficult question remains open. If the Constitution's guarantees of fair procedure and the safeguards of clemency and pardon fulfill their historical mission, it may never require resolution at all."

Can you provide a link to the case, whereby the prosecutors argued "We have a leagl right to frame innocent people"? I didn't think so.

Justice Scalia: "This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is “actually” innocent."

---

"Do prosecutors have total immunity from lawsuits for anything they do, including framing someone for murder? That is the question the justices of the Supreme Court face Wednesday (Nov 4)."

"The case is Pottawattamie County, Iowa, v. McGhee and Harrington.

"Lawyers for Mr. McGhee and Mr. Harrington argue in their briefs that police officers who fabricate evidence do not enjoy such absolute protection from a civil lawsuit. They say prosecutors who actively participate in the pre-trial investigation of a case must be held to the same standard as police officers, detectives, and agents, who can be sued if they violate clearly-established constitutional rights.

"When law enforcement officers fabricate evidence with an intent to use it to deprive innocent citizens of their liberty, they violate the Constitution," writes Paul Clement, a former US Solicitor General who is arguing the case for McGhee and Harrington.

"The framing of innocent African-American citizens for a crime they did not commit, lies at the core of what Congress sought to prevent in the Civil Rights statutes," Mr. Clement says in his brief.

Lawyers for the two prosecutors counter that there is no constitutional right "not to be framed.""

Morphous:

A lot of folks misinterpret that.

Scalia and O'Connor are both referring to the entire Court. They are both correct that the Court has never so forbidden.

Per O'Connor: "Accordingly, the Court has no reason to pass on, and appropriately reserves, the question whether federal courts may entertain convincing claims of actual innocence. That difficult question remains open. If the Constitution's guarantees of fair procedure and the safeguards of clemency and pardon fulfill their historical mission, it may never require resolution at all."

You wrote: "Justice Scalia's revelation that it is NOT unconstitutional to executed an innocent, there isn't much need for discussion is there?"

You misinterpret. What they are saying is that the Court has not ruled on that issue, yet. They haven't forbidden or accepted the issue. It hasn't been ruled on.

You left out the next sentence in Scalia's quote, which is: "Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged “actual innocence” is constitutionally cognizable."

"unresolved"

I suspected that you made up that prosecutors stated that "We have a legal right to frame innocent people".

They can't say they "have a legal right to frame innocent people.", because no such right exists, obviously. That is why I knew you were in errors. Rights have to be given and promulgated.

The quote from the article, which I have no way of knowing is accurate, states: "Lawyers for the two prosecutors counter that there is no constitutional right "not to be framed."

There is no claim that there is a "right" to "frame innocent people". I knew that wasn't the case, that is why I challenged you.

What there lawyer is saying, in slightly different language, is that there is no specific language in the constitution which says it is unconstitutional "to be framed."

Legally, what you "wrongly" said and what is "actually" being argued are very different points.

The legal problem for these a-holes is that there is a whole bunch of things not said in the constitution - that doesn't mean that something is constitutional ONLY because it isn't specifically prohibited in the constitution.

It is a stupid legal point which will not win the case for them and for which SCOTUS will beat the dickens out of them in the opinion, IF they don't think it is too stupid to respond to and IF this article is accurate. Hard to imagine that stupid of an argument. But . . .

The real issue in this case is if such an incredible violation is protected by sovereign immunity. For a whole bunch of reasons, I can't imagine how SCOTUS will vote on this one, particulalry, without reading all of the arguements. I have a guess.

"I suspected that you made up that prosecutors stated that "We have a legal right to frame innocent people"".

(Lawyers for the two prosecutors counter that there is no constitutional right "not to be framed." )

WITHOUT legal parsing, prosecutors lawyer's arguments can simply be interpreted "they believe that prosecutors are untouchable". Other than Nifong, rampant prosecutor misconduct without action creates appearance of absolute immunity. In Pennsylvania crooked judges are now asserting their judicial immunity, again, the average person is left to wonder.

"Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged “actual innocence” is constitutionally cognizable."

What do you think the justices were considering in the case of Delma Banks in Texas? Delma has been scheduled to be executed 15 times. In March 2003, he came within 10 minutes of being killed before the U.S. Supreme Court granted him a stay.

Morphus, I properly corrected your errors and explained the issues. It was not legal parsing. Your claims were in error. Words really do matter.

I don't know the Banks case, but if you are interpreting it in the same manner as you did on these other cases, I bet you need to re read the decsions.

There is nothing to be corrected or in need of additional explanation from the plain text of the statement: Lawyers for the two prosecutors counter that there is no constitutional right "not to be framed". The statement literally says it all. The prosecutors feel they are above the law.

As for Justice Scalia's statement:
Scalia: Constitution Doesn't Recognize Claims of Innocence After Verdict

Dershowitz: Scalia's Death Penalty Remarks a "Betrayal" of Constitution and Church

because they know that Willingham was just the tip of the iceberg. there WILL be more cases discovered.

just watched Roland's show from Tivo...

Roland had on the panel this week, someone from The Final Call?

LOL

Go Roland.

And, he had another Black General talking about Fort Hood.

and, the guy who does the online stuff for Roland broke it down about the Brotha who was really the hero at Fort Hood.

' This was a 'wag the dog' situation. we have the MEDIA putting out a caucasian woman to take all the credit.'

BWA HA HA HA HA

Is Roland Martin's show available online anywhere?

try TVOne.com

Like question from CAIR's panellist, Is it terrorism if only a Muslim does it (make threats of violence)?

It sure seems that way. It also helps if the culprit doesn't look like you, therefore the memo is 'THOSE people are out to get you!' It's interesting that the right wing is pushing for barring Muslims while good old American boys like Tim McVeigh or the white supremicists presently in service are being ignored.

i was glad that Roland brought up Oklahoma City, and that the original 'rush to judgment ' was that it was Arabs, only to have them walk it back when proven it was a ' WHITE GUY WITH A MILITARY BACKGROUND', as Roland put it.

Leaders of a congressional commission investigating the causes of the recent financial crisis are threatening to publicly identify any company or government agency that stalls in voluntarily producing requested documents.

Phil Angelides, the chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, told McClatchy Newspapers in an interview that the panel would investigate the role that Wall Street firms played in causing the crisis to mushroom.

McClatchy reported earlier this month that Goldman Sachs, the nation's premier investment bank, sold more than $40 billion in securities backed by risky mortgages in 2006 and 2007 while secretly betting on a housing market downturn that would depress the value of those securities.

After buying those bonds from Goldman, pension funds, insurance companies and other institutions are facing bigger losses from the financial meltdown.

Angelides, a Democrat, and Republican Bill Thomas, the vice chairman, vowed that they wouldn't let the subjects of their inquiry “run out the clock on us.”

The special commission is patterned after the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, which exhaustively investigated the causes of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

While Congress gave the financial commission subpoena powers, legislators also required the panel to submit its report by December 2010. To issue a subpoena, a super-majority of at least seven commissioners is required on a panel of six Democrats and four Republicans.

Angelides stressed that he is treating Thomas like “a co-chairman” and the two said they are united in their efforts.

The panel has begun investigating, but has issued no subpoenas and is starting with voluntary requests for information, Angeles said.

“Our biggest concern, and we won't let people do it, is that there will be some people with trillions of dollars at stake that they want to protect,” he said. “They'll try to run out the clock on us. Both Bill and I have watches with dates on them, and we understand that we have to move.”

“You'd like to think that the threat of the use of the tools we have will get people to comply,” Thomas said.

Both men promised to shame those who don't cooperate voluntarily.

Financial crisis panel is ready to play hardball

Network TV winners and losers
As broadcasters approach midseason, we look at what's working (and not) on their schedules. One guess where 'The Jay Leno Show' falls.
By Scott Collins
November 16, 2009



TV ratings haven't toppled over a cliff this season. That counts as something of a triumph for the networks, given that they spent much of the last few seasons seemingly balanced on the edge of oblivion.

A few new hits have emerged -- real hits, not just middling shows that PR people and overexcited fans wish were hits. This list includes ABC's sitcom "Modern Family," CBS' crime drama "NCIS: Los Angeles" and Fox's animated "The Cleveland Show," a spinoff of "Family Guy." The herds are finding other fresh favorites too, such as ABC's sci-fi remake "V," CBS' court drama "The Good Wife," Fox's exuberantly goofy high-school musical "Glee" and CW's zeitgeist-grabbing "Vampire Diaries."

But a reality check is in order. For all the good feelings stoked by these early successes, three of the five broadcasters, according to data from the Nielsen Co., are still down compared with last season among young adults, the demographic that advertisers care about most. ABC, CBS and NBC have all slipped, with NBC off 10%, thanks in large part to declines stemming from "The Jay Leno Show" at 10 p.m. weeknights. Among the freshman series that have already tanked are ABC's fantasy "Eastwick" and the sitcom "Hank," as well as NBC's medical drama "Trauma." Last week, Fox yanked the second-season sci-fi series "Dollhouse."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/la-...

Michael Scott, president of the Chicago Board of Education, commits suicide

Cops: Preliminary investigation indicates Scott shot himself
November 16, 2009 9:53 AM

A preliminary investigation indicates Michael Scott, president of the Chicago Board of Education, apparently shot himself in the head along the banks of the Chicago River early this morning, sources say.

Scott's family had reported him missing on Sunday. Police used his cell phone to locate his body and his car behind the Chicago Apparel Center at 350 N. Orleans along the north branch of the river, police sources tell the Chicago Tribune.

He apparently fell forward after shooting himself, and the gun was found near the body, the sources say.

While police sources say it appears the gunshot wound was self-inflicted, the Cook County medical examiner's office was still conducting its investigation and hadn't determined how he died.

Scott's family had contacted police Sunday night when he didn't show up after visiting his sister at a South Loop care facility. The relative said he visited his sister regularly on Sundays and described him as a creature of habit. He was last seen about 6 p.m.

Around 3:15 a.m. today, police found Scott's blue Cadillac parked next to a trash bin yards away from where he was discovered along the river, police say. The car was winched onto a tow truck about 6:30 a.m.

Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart said in a statement that Scott recently told her he didn't think he'd be around much longer as board president, and that he viewed his appointment as being an interim one.

Stewart said she last spoke with Scott on Saturday regarding the upcoming school board agenda.

"I found Michael to be someone who worked with the union in a cooperative manner and who was willing to hear the other side of any issue," said Stewart. "I believe he was dedicated to doing what was best for the children in Chicago Public Schools and his death leaves a huge void to fill at a time when the Board desperately needs stability in its leadership."

Tariq Butt, a Chicago school board member who has known Scott for about 20 years, said he was shocked by the news.

"He's been a giant of Chicago civic life for many many years," said Butt. "It is very tragic news."

Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived at the scene about 7:25 a.m.

"I am stunned beyond disbelief," said Jackson, who said that he and Scott go back at least 25 years and praised Scott as a decent man and an excellent negotiator and problem-solver who got along with everyone. "What a Monday morning to wake up to."

"The suddenness of it ... midday has become midnight," he said later. "The sun has been eclipsed."

Scott had been board president for five years until July 2006, when then-board member Rufus Williams was appointed at his recommendation. His reappointment in February came about a month after Ron Huberman replaced former Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan, now the U.S. education secretary.

Scott served in public posts under Mayors Jane Byrne, Harold Washington, Eugene Sawyer and Daley, who also has appointed him Park District board president and a member on the boards of the RTA and Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.

Representatives of the Chicago Board of Education have not been available for comment so far this morning.

-- Pat Curry, Andrew Wang, Azam Ahmed, and Mark LeBien

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/11/man-...

I thought this was a well-written and thoughtful article in the independent about young former radical islam jihadists who have recanted and are now working against radical islam in london.

"A generation of British Islamists have been trained in Afghanistan to fight a global jihad. But now some of those would-be extremists have had a change of heart. Johann Hari finds out what made them give up the fight"

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentato...

(hat tip to dish andrew sullivan)

this is a good article.

Glenn Greenwald has it in Salon.com, too.

“Despite a solid Democratic majority in the Senate, Obama is on pace to set a record for the fewest judges confirmed during a president’s first year in the White House.” So far, only six of Obama’s nominees to the lower federal courts have won approval, while President George W. Bush had 28 judges confirmed and President Clinton had 27 confirmed in their respective first years in office.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/...

There are also several nominees that have to be approved by the Senate that are languishing as well. What is the point as President of having majorities in the Senate if they can't at least confirm your nominees?

I know...how is it that he can't get his folks confirmed and on the bench?

Because democrats are idiots and only get together to oppose something. The republicans put holds on the nominees but democrats can force cloture and cut off the debate but they can't get their act together to push back on the republicans because they themselves are too divided. It's why they can't make progress on healthcare or energy or anything else. The irony is that if they don't get their act together, they will lose their majorities which will bring them together but that will turn the Obama WH into the Clinton WH minus Monica.

Attention ye Christians! Are you sick of all the smut and sin on that cesspool Twitter? Well, feast your eyes on this: a new Christian alternative to your favorite social networking website!

In October, life survivor and snake oil salesman, James L. Paris, launched ChristianChirp.com, a website that promises to be the "family friendly" version of Twitter. Paris claims he was banned from Twitter for posting a pro-Rush Limbaugh article in which he argues that the NFL rejected Limbaugh’s bid to become a partner in the St. Louis Rams Franchise, not because Limbaugh is a divisive, racist demagogue, but because the NFL is an immoral organization!

Paris is outraged -- outraged!! -- that the NFL chose to ignore the work of a man who "for more than twenty years [has] spoken out against a woman's right to murder her unborn baby" and who had the courage to harp on the meaningless connection between Reverend Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and President Obama. In the article, Paris salutes Limbaugh, writing, "You sir, dare to tell people that they have the right to think for themselves, challenge their government, and live up to a moral standard."

There is no way to confirm Paris's assertion that he was banned from Twitter for posting the Limbaugh article. Numerous attempts to speak to Twitter representatives met no response. (Personally, I have been blocked from Twitter a few times because sometimes hyperlinks are incorrectly flagged as spam. Suspension from Twitter can last up to a week -- as it did in Paris's case -- but his account was restored after eight days.)

So maybe all of this would have passed without further incident. But no sooner had Paris signed onto his newly restored Twitter account than Satan reared his ugly head:

"Within the first day, I received a solicitation from a gay romance site," says Paris. Unable to withstand that combination of hot, dirty manlove and a weeklong Twitter banishment, Paris decided to make the "best of the situation." Thus, Christian Chirp was born unto the world.

Introducing ChristianChirp, the Evangelical Right's Alternative to Twitter

Will it be as big of a joke as the Conservapedia?

Hard to say. Still pinching myself each time I hear Palin's name.

posted November 15, 2009 10:24 am
Tomgram: Max Blumenthal, How Palin Became a Rogue

Maybe Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party, the blistering, bestselling exposé of just how the Republican Party ate itself for lunch, is right. Maybe Palin is intent on going nuclear in American politics. Unfortunately, when the fun's all over, we have no idea who is going to clean up the mess. (To catch a TomDispatch audio interview with Blumenthal on Palin, "the queen of fly-over country," and her book, click here.) Tom

The Palin Effect
How Sarah Palin Made Herself Indispensable While Destroying the Republican Party
By Max Blumenthal

Sarah Palin's heavily publicized book tour begins in earnest this Monday, but weeks before, her ghostwritten memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, had already vaulted into the number one position at Amazon. Warming up for a tour that will take her across Middle America in a bus, Palin tested her lines in a November 7th speech before a crowd of 5,000 anti-abortion activists in Wisconsin. She promptly cited an urban legend as a "disturbing trend," claiming the Treasury Department had moved the phrase "In God We Trust" from presidential dollar coins. (The rumor most likely originated with a 2006 story on the far-right website WorldNetDaily.)

In fact, a suggested alteration in its position on the coin was shot down in 2007 after pressure from Democratic Senator Robert Byrd. Nonetheless, Palin did not hesitate to take up this "controversy," however false, since it conveniently pits a tyrannical, God-destroying, secular big government against humble God-fearing folk. In doing so, of course, she presented herself as this nation's leading defender of the faith.

In a Republican Party hoping to rebound in 2010 on the strength of a newly energized and ideologically aroused conservative grassroots, Palin's influence is now unparalleled. Through her Facebook page, she was the one who pushed the rumor of "death panels" into the national healthcare debate, prompting the White House to issue a series of defensive responses. Unfazed by its absurdity, she repeated the charge in her recent speech in Wisconsin. In a special congressional election in New York's 23rd congressional district, Palin's endorsement of Doug Hoffman, an unknown far-right third-party candidate, helped force a popular moderate Republican politician, Dede Scozzafava, from the race. In the end, Palin's ideological purge in upstate New York led to an improbable Democratic victory, the first in that GOP-heavy district in more than 100 years.

Though the ideological purge may have backfired, Palin's participation in it magnified her influence in the party. In a telling sign of this, Congressman Mark Kirk, a pro-choice Republican from the posh suburban North Shore of Chicago, running for the Senate in Illinois, issued an anxious call for Palin's support while she campaigned for Hoffman. According to a Kirk campaign memo, the candidate was terrified that Palin would be asked about his candidacy during her scheduled appearance on the Chicago-based Oprah Winfrey Show later this month -- the kick-off for her book tour -- and would not react enthusiastically. With $2.3 million in campaign cash and no viable primary challengers, Kirk was still desperate to avoid Palin-backed attacks from his right flank, however hypothetical they might be.

"She's gangbusters!" a leading conservative radio host exclaimed to me. "There is nobody in the Republican Party who can raise money like her or top her name recognition."

During the 2008 presidential race, some Republican Party elders warned of Palin's destructive influence. They insisted she was a polarizing figure whose extremism would accelerate the Party's slide toward the political and cultural margins. New York Times columnist David Brooks, a card-carrying neocon who had written glowingly of Senator McCain, claimed Palin represented "a fatal cancer to the Republican Party." Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for President Reagan and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, blasted Palin as "a dope and unqualified from the start." Last June, Steve Schmidt, the former McCain campaign chief of staff, warned that Palin's nomination as the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee would be "catastrophic."

New polling data appears to support such doomsday prophecies. According to an October 19th Gallup poll, the former governor of Alaska has become one of the most polarizing and unpopular politicians in the country. Since she quit the governorship to pursue her lucrative book deal, a move that upset many in Alaska's Republican leadership and cost the state's taxpayers almost $200,000, her unfavorability rating has spiked to 50% while her favorability has sunk to 40%, again according to Gallup's figures. (The only nationally-known politician who is less popular right now, according to the poll, is John Edwards, the former two-term senator who fathered a child out of wedlock and paid his mistress hush money while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination on a social justice platform.)

Queen Esther

If Palin is indeed a cancer on the GOP, why can't the Republican establishment retire her to a quiet life of moose hunting in the political wilderness? Why has her appeal only increased in the wake of her catastrophic political expeditions? Why won't she listen to, or abide by, conventional political wisdom?

The answer lies beyond the realm of polls and punditry in the political psychology of the movement that animates and, to a great degree, controls, the Republican grassroots -- a uniquely evangelical subculture defined by the personal crises of its believers and their perceived persecution at the hands of cosmopolitan elites.

By emphasizing her own crises and her victimization by the "liberal media," Palin has established an invisible, indissoluble bond with adherents of that subculture -- so visceral it transcends any rational political analysis. As a result, her career has become a vehicle through which the right-wing evangelical movement feels it can express its deepest identity in opposition both to secular society and to its representatives in the Obama White House. Palin is perceived by its leaders -- and followers -- not as another cynical politician or even as a self-promoting celebrity, but as a kind of magical helper, the God-fearing glamour girl who parachuted into their backwater towns to lift them from the drudgery of everyday life, assuring them that they represented the "Real America."

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175139

When I read "God-fearing glamour girl", I saw poles.

But her bright white face gazing upward superimposed over a cloudy blue sky on the cover of her book is exactly the image to which those evangelicals cling.

Craig,

You crack me up

Move Gitmo to Illinois

by BooMan
Sun Nov 15th, 2009 at 08:31:05 PM EST

Obama wants to move the inmates currently housed in Guantanamo Bay to Illinois. He's got the support of the governor and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin. The plan is to buy an unoccupied state prison in a rural part of the state and turn it into a federal facility. Unfortunately, several Illinois Republicans are bedwetting cowards.

But leading Republicans in the state — including Representatives Donald Manzullo, whose district includes Thomson, and Mark Kirk, who is running for the United States Senate seat once held by Mr. Obama — signed a letter to the president on Sunday strongly opposing any such move.

“As home to America’s tallest building, we should not invite Al Qaeda to make Illinois its No. 1 target,” the letter said, referring to the Sears Tower in Chicago. “The United States spent more than $50 million to build the Guantánamo Bay detention facility to keep terrorists away from U.S. soil. Al Qaeda terrorists should stay where they cannot endanger American citizens.”

Why must everything be political? I'd be less disgusted with this cowardice if it were confined to the GOP. But, last I checked, there are a number of Democrats who are also afraid of their own shadows.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/11/15/2...

Politicians have no fears when it comes to building more prisons to warehouse Black Americans. So I don't want to hear how they suddenly have concerns about building new prisons for convicted terrorists.

co-sign. When originally built, they thought it was gonna have Black folks in it....you tell the truth there.

They're probably worried about the blowback, considering these cats are out to kill...LOL!

ROTC for civilian service
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Monday, November 16, 2009

Imagine a time when government work was exciting, widely admired and much sought-after.
It seems an outlandish thought at a moment when you cannot turn on your television without hearing government spoken of as almost an alien creature. It is cast as far removed from the lives of average Americans and more likely to destroy the achievements of private citizens than to accomplish anything worthwhile.

True, we don't apply our anti-government sentiments to at least one group of Americans who draw government paychecks: our men and women in uniform. All the polls show they are, deservedly, held in high esteem. But civilians who do the daily work of government are more likely to be referred to as "bureaucrats," "timeservers," and various unprintable names than as public servants.

This has not always been the American way. There were important eras in our history when citizens in large numbers were drawn to government service with a sense of mission and exhilaration. The New Deal was certainly such a time, as were the days of the New Frontier and (though it is unjustly derided now) the Great Society.

They came in part -- take note, President Obama -- because they were inspired by leaders who made it a point to call them into government. Caroline Kennedy has said that when she was growing up, "hardly a day went by when someone didn't come up to us and say: 'Your father changed my life. I went into public service because he asked me.' "

But inspiration is not enough. The military, after all, does not rely solely on patriotic feelings to build its force, and neither should the civilian parts of government. One of the most powerful incentives the military has is the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, which offers assistance to those seeking higher education. It's time for a civilian ROTC.

That's the idea of a bipartisan group of senators and House members, who are proposing to create a Roosevelt Scholars program, named after Teddy Roosevelt. Reps. David Price (D-N.C.) and Mike Castle (R-Del.) have introduced a bill in the House, and a similar measure is expected in the Senate this week from Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

Although there is sentiment to include undergraduates in the program, the House bill is aimed at graduate students because the federal government has a special demand for highly qualified employees who are otherwise attracted (and heavily recruited) by the private sector. In exchange for generous scholarships in fields such as engineering, information technology, foreign languages and public health, the scholars would commit to three to five years of service in an agency of the federal government.

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

Before any "new" program is introduced to build a "new" civilian work force, the yahoos on Capitol Hill must "correct" what they have broken, the "civilian work force".

Since "Raygun" businesses have been allowed to bid on functions within the government. If the targeted government agency fails to rebuff the bid, the government agency is replaced by the business and career federal workers loses. As time rolled on, more contracts and various projects were granted which literally used businesses to replace roles of more federal agencies.

Today, as observed in Iraq and Afghanistan, although actions are called "government actions", we are actually watching "contractors" manage "contractors" in the name of governance and government.

The #1 group who was systematically and adversely impacted by these changes, POC in government, because the government was/is the #1 employer of POC. POC were the targets of the coded "lazy" and "inept" government worker message politicians railed about daily.

The contractor managing contractor government is some time called the "shadow government". In its scope and size, in many ways, its actually larger than the "regular" government which PBO presides over.

MSNBC Presses Obama on Campaign Promises
By BRIAN STELTER
Published: November 15, 2009

If President Obama happened to glance at “The Rachel Maddow Show” last Monday, he might have winced.

Ms. Maddow pretended to celebrate the passage of a health care overhaul bill in the House, calling it “potentially a huge generational win for the Democratic Party” — but then halted the triumphant music and called it an “electoral defeat.”

The Stupak amendment, she said, was “the biggest restriction on abortion rights in a generation.” Then she wondered aloud about the consequences for Democrats “if they don’t get women or anybody who’s pro-choice to ever vote for them again.” She returned to the subject the next four evenings in a row.

This is how it looks to have a television network pressuring President Obama from the left.

While much attention has been paid to the feud between the Fox News Channel and the White House, the Obama administration is now facing criticism of a different sort from Ms. Maddow, Keith Olbermann and other progressive hosts on MSNBC, who are using their nightly news-and-views-casts to measure what she calls “the distance between Obama’s rhetoric and his actions.”

While they may agree with much of what Mr. Obama says, they have pressed him to keep his campaign promises about health care, civil liberties and other issues.

“I don’t think our audience is looking for unequivocal ‘rah-rah,’ ” said Ms. Maddow, who calls herself a liberal but not a Democrat.

The spectacle of Democrats sniping at one another is not new, but having a TV home for it is. MSNBC — sometimes critically called the “home team” for supporters of Mr. Obama — has even hit upon the theme with a promotional tagline, “pushing back on the president,” in commercials for “Hardball,” Chris Matthews’s political hour.

“Our job is not to echo the president’s talking points,” said Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC. “Our job is to hold whoever’s in power’s feet to the fire.”

But is it good business? MSNBC is projected to take in $365 million in revenue this year, roughly the same amount as last year, when the presidential election bolstered its bottom line. Three years ago, before making a left turn, it had revenue of about $270 million a year. MSNBC’s parent company, NBC Universal, is on the verge of being spun out of General Electric in a deal that would make Comcast its controlling entity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/business/medi...

When Ed, Keith, and Rachel start taking the democrats in congress to task for not confirming Obama's nominees for administration positions and for the courts I'll take their criticisms of Obama seriously.

"But is it good business?"

Gee, is the same "good business" for Faux?

Maddow needs to sit her ass down somewhere. Stupak amendment or not when she comes back to Earth from her temper tantrum she'll realize that none of those pro-choice folks we'll never align themselves with the GOP.

Obama Hobbled in Fight Against Global Warming
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: November 15, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Obama came into office pledging to end eight years of American inaction on climate change under President George W. Bush, and all year he has promised that the United States would lead the way toward a global agreement in Copenhagen next month to address the warming planet.

But this weekend in Singapore, Mr. Obama was forced to acknowledge that a comprehensive climate deal was beyond reach this year. Instead, he and other world leaders agreed that they would work toward a more modest interim agreement with a promise to renew work toward a binding treaty next year.

The admission places Mr. Obama in the awkward position of being, at least for now, as unlikely to spearhead an international effort to combat global warming as his predecessor — if for different reasons.

In Mr. Bush’s case, he remained skeptical about the science of global warming until near the end of his presidency and dubious about the need for concerted global action.

And his reluctance was echoed by a Congress that wanted to see clear commitments from developing countries like China.

But Mr. Obama has been a champion of climate change regulation. He has moved unilaterally to limit greenhouse gases from vehicles and large sources such as coal-burning power plants. And in recent months, China, India, Brazil and some other developing countries have issued promises to slow the growth of emissions, although with the knowledge that a binding treaty to enforce such pledges will not take effect for at least several years.

Yet Mr. Obama has found himself limited in his ambitions by a Congress that is unwilling to move as far or as fast as he would like.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/science/earth...

"The admission places Mr. Obama in the awkward position of being, at least for now, as unlikely to spearhead an international effort to combat global warming as his predecessor — if for different reasons.

In Mr. Bush’s case, he remained skeptical about the science of global warming until near the end of his presidency and dubious about the need for concerted global action.

And his reluctance was echoed by a Congress that wanted to see clear commitments from developing countries like China."

---

In the "you can't make this stuff up" category.

B__ nor Congress allowed science or members from scientific community to participate in meaningful climate talks. Congress had a hearing on the subject but invited a movie director to discuss global warming impact.

Op-Ed Columnist
World Out of Balance
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 15, 2009

International travel by world leaders is mainly about making symbolic gestures. Nobody expects President Obama to come back from China with major new agreements, on economic policy or anything else.International travel by world leaders is mainly about making symbolic gestures. Nobody expects President Obama to come back from China with major new agreements, on economic policy or anything else.

But let’s hope that when the cameras aren’t rolling Mr. Obama and his hosts engage in some frank talk about currency policy. For the problem of international trade imbalances is about to get substantially worse. And there’s a potentially ugly confrontation looming unless China mends its ways.

Some background: Most of the world’s major currencies “float” against one another. That is, their relative values move up or down depending on market forces. That doesn’t necessarily mean that governments pursue pure hands-off policies: countries sometimes limit capital outflows when there’s a run on their currency (as Iceland did last year) or take steps to discourage hot-money inflows when they fear that speculators love their economies not wisely but too well (which is what Brazil is doing right now). But these days most nations try to keep the value of their currency in line with long-term economic fundamentals.

China is the great exception. Despite huge trade surpluses and the desire of many investors to buy into this fast-growing economy — forces that should have strengthened the renminbi, China’s currency — Chinese authorities have kept that currency persistently weak. They’ve done this mainly by trading renminbi for dollars, which they have accumulated in vast quantities.

And in recent months China has carried out what amounts to a beggar-thy-neighbor devaluation, keeping the yuan-dollar exchange rate fixed even as the dollar has fallen sharply against other major currencies. This has given Chinese exporters a growing competitive advantage over their rivals, especially producers in other developing countries.

What makes China’s currency policy especially problematic is the depressed state of the world economy. Cheap money and fiscal stimulus seem to have averted a second Great Depression. But policy makers haven’t been able to generate enough spending, public or private, to make progress against mass unemployment. And China’s weak-currency policy exacerbates the problem, in effect siphoning much-needed demand away from the rest of the world into the pockets of artificially competitive Chinese exporters.

But why do I say that this problem is about to get much worse? Because for the past year the true scale of the China problem has been masked by temporary factors. Looking forward, we can expect to see both China’s trade surplus and America’s trade deficit surge.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/opinion/16kru...

slideshow of the President in Asia

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2009/no...

A year ago, the financial system was tottering and government officials arranged a $2.3 billion emergency cash infusion into CIT Group, a troubled lender to small businesses.

Today, CIT is in bankruptcy court, and the taxpayers' investment is on the brink of being wiped out. It would be the largest loss so far from the government's massive rescue of the financial system, but it isn't likely to be the last.

Officials poured about $700 billion into investments in scores of companies, from giants such as the automaker General Motors and the insurer American International Group to smaller regional banks. Of them, 46 had missed required dividend payments to the government as of the end of September, according to the inspector general overseeing the program.

On Nov. 6, United Commercial Bank of San Francisco failed, becoming the first recipient of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, to collapse. The cost to taxpayers: $299 million.

Analysts expect more bailed-out firms to fail in the months ahead. Others may survive but will struggle to repay the government. Steven Rattner, the former head of the government's efforts to bail out the auto industry, said recently that the full public investment in GM is unlikely to be repaid. Meanwhile, AIG is dismantling itself, selling healthy subsidiaries at what critics say are bargain prices in an all-out effort to get cash to repay the government.

Taxpayers on hook as some bailed-out firms prove frail

Nearly three years after Heather Ellis switched checkout lines at a southeast Missouri store and touched off what she calls a racially charged dispute with white customers and authorities, the young black schoolteacher faces a trial that could send her to prison for 15 years.

Witnesses have told authorities that Ellis cut in front of waiting customers at the Walmart in Kennett on Jan. 6, 2007, shoved merchandise already placed on a conveyor belt out of the way, and became belligerent when confronted, according to court filings.

Ellis maintains she was merely joining her cousin, whose checkout line was moving more quickly. She claimed in a written complaint to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that she was then pushed by a white customer, hassled by store employees, called racial slurs and physically mistreated by Kennett police officers.

Police say in court documents that Ellis refused requests to calm down and leave the property, allegedly kicking one's shin and splitting another's lip while resisting arrest. Her trial on charges of assaulting police officers, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace begins Wednesday in Dunklin County Circuit Court. Syracuse, N.Y.-based Your Black World Coalition is organizing a Monday rally in Kennett.

Arrest at Walmart Leads to Charges of Racism

go sign the petition.

Already have.

link? not that i have faith in petitions too much. maybe we should write to walmart directly?

Link: Save Heather Ellis

In retrospect, even Charlie Crist admits that “the optics” of The Hug are not great.

It was in the glow of a new day in politics last February when Mr. Crist, this state’s popular Republican governor, took the stage with President Obama and declared that Republicans and Democrats had to rise above partisanship in support of an economic stimulus. And Mr. Obama embraced him.

Now, as a season of tea parties and fractious town hall meetings has energized the right wing, that embrace has endangered what once seemed like Mr. Crist’s surefire bid for a Senate seat and put Florida at the center of a debate about the future of the Republican Party.

Republican pragmatists argue that to take back its majority, the party has to appeal to a broader range of voters, even if it means running candidates who might stray from the party orthodoxy.

A Florida Republican Becomes a Right-Wing Target

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Florida's GOP had party orthodoxy? Who knew?

This is my governor. He hasn't been that bad for a Republican. A lot of people question his sexuality. I think he really enjoyed the hug.

Charlie isn't so bad for a Republican. He seems sane most of the time.

Crist knows her liked that hug..LOL

Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.

In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992.

The drug trend is distinctly at odds with the direction of the Consumer Price Index, which has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year.

Drug makers say they have valid business reasons for the price increases. Critics say the industry is trying to establish a higher price base before Congress passes legislation that tries to curb drug spending in coming years.

Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform

they are crooks, plain and simple.

Their actions are typical when govt. steps in a skews supply and demand with cost controls.

A former House speaker, an ex-lawmaker and eight aides Thursday became the latest — and the first Republicans — to be charged in a three-year-old investigation into the diversion of public resources and employees to legislative campaigns.

Attorney General Tom Corbett said that individuals within the House GOP caucus spent millions of taxpayer dollars on computer technology to gain an upper hand in campaigns, and that investigators can prove that some high-ranking officials and their employees tried to cover up their part.

The charges of theft, conspiracy, conflict of interest and obstruction of justice, and an accompanying 188-page grand jury report, were released Thursday, and the defendants were scheduled to turn themselves in today at a Dauphin County district judge’s office.

The most prominent defendant is state Rep. John M. Perzel, R-Philadelphia, who served as speaker for nearly four years and as majority leader for nearly a decade before that.

...

Also charged in the ongoing grand jury probe were Perzel’s former chief of staff, Philadelphia attorney Brian Preski; and Brett Feese, a Perzel ally and former state representative who resigned last week as the House GOP caucus’ chief counsel.

The grand jury calculated that the House Republican caucus spent more than $20 million between 2000 and 2007 to help its candidates prevail.

Former House speaker among those charged with using tax money on computer software to aid campaigns

that these stories are getting investigated at all is a surprise.

Good morning JJP. Just Another beautiful day in sunny South Florida. I'll get some sunshine for the rest of you

Good Morning Guns. No more tropical storms to worry about? Is hurricane season over?

Hurricane season ends November 30th. Been a pretty slow few years. Not saying I'm complaining.

Morning.