Jack & Jill Politics

Oh no they didn't! How could the Universal forget that in the Obama era, it is ok to be Black?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/15/couple...

[Universal changed "Couples Retreat" marketing material for the film's UK release, and removed the black actors from both the poster's photo and the list of stars typed out.

The film, which features four couples who go on vacation together, costars Faizon Love as a divorced man who takes his new girlfriend along, played by Kali Hawk.

Below are the UK (left) and the US (right) poster.

The Mail on Sunday reports:

The studio said it regretted causing offence and has abandoned plans to use the revised poster in other countries... A Universal spokesman said the revised advert aimed 'to simplify the poster to actors who are most recognisable in international markets'.]

Yeah right. Who the hell is Malin Akerman and Jean Reno? Exactly, and they made the ad.

Never heard of Jean Reno?
He is the equivalent of Robert De Niro in Europe.

Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipe, Samuel L. Jackson and Eddie Murphy would have passed.

Yeah!, that is marketing!

Please watch NIKITA (aka La Femme Nikita) in which Jean Reno has a small part as Victor, nettoyeur (the cleaner) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wp0g_victor-... . An awesome movie. Avoid the TV show la femme nikita.

wow i just watched that movie a few weeks ago on netflix. thanks for making the connection!

Why would they change it? Last time I checked, there are black people in the U.K.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/222825
"Why Palin Matters to Obama—And to You"

Richard Nixon sensed trouble. seated in the cow palace in San Francisco at the GOP convention in 1964, he listened as Barry Goldwater said: "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty—is—no—vice." A 41-second ovation ensued. Then Goldwater continued: "And let me remind you also—that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." As Rick Perlstein reconstructs the scene in his book Before the Storm, Nixon reached over to keep his wife, Pat, from rising politely with the crowd. Later Dwight Eisenhower called the Goldwater speech an offense to "the whole American system." The crowds did not care: Goldwater was one of their own, riding in from Arizona to take the GOP from the Ikes and the Rockefellers.

Goldwater was a seminal figure, and is too often caricatured as a nuclear cowboy by the left and as a conservative John the Baptist by the right. But as Perlstein's reporting makes clear, Goldwater was seen in real time as an extremist, as the embodiment of unflinching conservative dogma. How unflinching? Well, it is striking that even Nixon wanted to distance himself from the nominee.

Now comes Sarah Palin, an heir to the Goldwater tradition, to try to harness the conservative discontent abroad in the land. Her political celebrity is so powerful that it has reduced a large part of the Republican Party to irrationality and civic incoherence. According to Gallup, Republicans are more likely to say they would seriously consider voting for Palin for president (65 percent) than to say she is qualified for the job (58 percent). At the moment she is promoting a book. But she is also, inevitably, promoting a distinctive political sensibility.
What Obama advisers privately refer to as "Palinism" has created a climate of ideological purity inside the GOP. To deviate from the anti-Obama line at all—that is, to acknowledge that politics is the art of compromise—risks the censure of the party. Pure ideologues will argue that this is a good thing; others like, say, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close friend of Palin's onetime champion John McCain, think differently. Graham was denounced last week by the Charleston County Republican Party for working with Democrats on issues such as climate change; the senator's office replied by invoking President Reagan's belief that "elected officials need to find common ground and work together to solve difficult problems."

As Evan Thomas argues in this week's cover, the Reagan style was one that might not have passed muster with Palin's adoring fans. Reagan realized that movement conservatives like him needed moderate conservatives to win and ultimately to govern. In 1976, in his challenge to President Ford, Reagan announced that he would run with Pennsylvania Sen. Richard Schweiker, a Rockefeller Republican. It never came to that, but four years later, in Detroit, Reagan seriously considered only two men for the ticket: Ford and George H.W. Bush, both men from the middle, not the far right, of the Republican Party. It is difficult to imagine the 2012 nominee choosing a more moderate running mate, not least because there are so few moderates left in the GOP. Even those of centrist inclinations are finding it virtually impossible to work with the administration for fear of a backlash from the base.

We have been to this movie before, when the unreconstructed liberals of the fading New Deal–Great Society coalition obstinately refused to acknowledge the reality that America is a center-right nation, and that Democrats who wish to win national elections cannot run on the left. We are at our best as a country when there is something approaching a moderate space in politics. The middle way is not always the right way—far from it. But sometimes it is, and a wise nation should cultivate a political spirit that allows opponents to cooperate without fearing an automatic execution from their core supporters. Who knew that the real rogues in American politics would be the ones who dare to get along?

An interesting AP article framed Obama's recent trip to China as the "passing of the torch" from America to China as then next emerging superpower. I thought it a bit much; however, at this point I do think China is ascending and we are descending. It's all a matter far how far it goes.

I have also seen opinions that China is the next superpower. But opinions vary about the fate of the USofA. Some think that secondary to all the illegal immigration, the US will remain a superpower thanks to young, cheap labor in the US. Europe, Japan and other aging populations will decline into has beens and hanger-ons.
OR NOT.

I think that the US having allot of cheap labor is not going to help us much. As it stands, incomes are going down overall; hence, so is government revenue. Combine that with an increasingly uneducated workforce and increasingly less opportunity and we are in trouble.

China has over 300 million people living in abject poverty in the rural areas and city slums. Until this wealth gap is addressed becoming a superpower may not be possible.

Obama Says Russia ‘Reset Button’ Has Worked
By HELENE COOPER
Published: November 15, 2009

SINGAPORE — President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia expressed dissatisfaction Sunday with Iran’s response to a nuclear offer made by world powers, raising the prospect that sanctions may be the next step in the West’s ongoing efforts to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The two men, meeting during an Asia-Pacific summit conference in Singapore before Mr. Obama traveled to Shanghai, also made progress in efforts to negotiate a replacement for a key arms control treaty between the United States and Russia that is set to expire in December, American administration officials said.

While White House officials acknowledged on Sunday that a new pact to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, will not be ratified soon, they said they expect to reach a “bridge” agreement that will preserve the status quo until a new treaty is approved.

Earlier, on Sunday morning, Mr. Obama and other world leaders decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement at a global conference scheduled for next month, deciding instead to make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific, “politically binding” agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future.

The Sunday afternoon discussion with Mr. Medvedev was the fifth such meeting for Mr. Obama since he took office vowing to repair America’s relationship with Russia, and American officials expressed satisfaction Sunday with their progress so far.

“I have found, as always, President Medvedev frank, constructive and thoughtful,” Mr. Obama said after the meeting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/asia/16...

I think it is Really an injustice to corner Iran this way, while european leaders shield Israel's apartheid and violence agains palestinians.

Great Britain fucked with Zimbabwe's economy with help by Mrs Clinton and now Obama. Why can Great Britain shred the Lancaster's agreement to pieces and add injustice to injury by imposing economic sanctions which are directed sorely to bring down Zimbabwe's economy (no one remembers Iraq sanctions, and HOW some intellectuals rallied against it)?

OH, hypocrisy!

Och, the lancaster agreement is far from harmless but for you not to mention Mugabe in regards to the terrible economy of Zimbabwe is not telling the whole story.

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lancaster agreement is far from harmless …

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As i said hypocrisy.
Armless for who?
Do you know what was the excuse for such act of cowardice (not having courage to stand for ones own word IS cowardice)?
- The stupid Blair minister said Scotland was also colonized so she sees no obligation to honor the Lancaster House's agreement.
Because she knew what europeans say is the norm.


Should i mention Mugabe?
What for?
Do need to kiss westerns?

Do you think any african nation can survive without foreign aid?
So the economic sanction did weight nothing on the economic collapse (remember dying Iraqis babies because of shortage of food and medicine?)?

If i remember Mugabe was awarded Best African leader many time by the same westerns until he started talking about land retribution.
As history points out i expect nothing from african-americans regarding Africa, Obama included.

Before the economic meltdown there was progress that was put on held by sanctions.

Kenya is the example of a country owned by westerns, where africans only serve as prostitutes, because they own nothing almost.
Land IS sovereignty.

Black Africa's duty to help Zimbabwe defeat sanctions by Chinweizu

... US Assistant Secretary of State on African Affairs, Chester Crocker said in a 2005 testimony to the US Senate for the Zimbabwe Democracy Act [i.e. sanctions and regime change legislation]:

To separate the Zimbabwean people from ZANU-PF we are going to have to make their economy scream, and I hope you senators have the stomach for what you have to do." (Democracy Now!, April 1st, 2005).

First off, you don't have to try to educate me on the Land Reform measures in Zimbabwe because I fully understand what happened. You are missing the point.

If you are going to tell me that Mugabe who has been ruling that country for over 30 years is not responsible for anything that is wrong with that country you are intellectually dishonest, uninformed or just a moron.

I didn't see you criticizing Mugabe when he ordered his military to tear down slums where poor people were residing.

You mentioned Land Reform you know Mugabe conveniently snatched up all the best land for himself and his family.

Ask Morgan Tsvangirai about Mugabe and Operation Gukurahundi
Didn't Mugabe kill his wife or was that just Western propaganda
Didn't Mugabe try to kill him multiple times or was that made up as well.

Mugabe has been rigging elections in the country for years.
The ZANU-PF has beaten and raped their own people on Mugabe's orders for years. Defend that? So please don't come on this website and act as if Mugabe is some choir boy and has some sort of infallibility.

Why is there a brain drain in Zimbabwe? Why aren't you as an African using your intellect/education to improve your continent and your country. Instead you are pissing away your time living as a European and at the same time looking down on African Americans. You are playing yourself och.

And by the och,

"As history points out i expect nothing from african-americans regarding Africa, Obama included."

Why would you expect anything from anyone including African Americans? That's part of the problem? I don't think African Americans expect anything from Africans? Why don't you come out and say how you really feel about African Americans because it's obvious with that statement. It's funny how you didn't mention what part of Africa you are from och. Are you ashamed or something. And by the way I'm not African American.

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First off, you don't have to try to educate me on the Land Reform measures in Zimbabwe because I fully understand what happened. You are missing the point.
…

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I doubt you know what is to educate.
Ignorance is not a fault but a choice.

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I didn't see you criticizing Mugabe when he ordered his military to tear down slums where poor people were residing.
…

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Let be adult here.
For me to show the hypocrisy of the West and your country in particular i should point out Mugabe faults?
Why should i amuse you?

Tear down shanty towns and then DO you know where those people went?
In Europe this happens all the time?
Did you saw lately in France?
How hypocrite!!

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…
You mentioned Land Reform you know Mugabe conveniently snatched up all the best land for himself and his family.

Ask Morgan Tsvangirai about Mugabe and Operation Gukurahundi
Didn't Mugabe kill his wife or was that just Western propaganda
Didn't Mugabe try to kill him multiple times or was that made up as well.
…

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Now this IS commix moment!
What Morgan Tsvangirai said about his wife death?
Please Google about that. He said it was an accident!
This comment really leave your toes shattered.

Contrary to you i take NO side, so who is biased?

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…
Mugabe has been rigging elections in the country for years.
The ZANU-PF has beaten and raped their own people on Mugabe's orders for years. Defend that? So please don't come on this website and act as if Mugabe is some choir boy and has some sort of infallibility.
…

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OH, i should come to this web site only to concur with you!
So adult?!

And in what paragraph did i prized Mugabe?
hug hug?

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…
Why is there a brain drain in Zimbabwe? Why aren't you as an African using your intellect/education to improve your continent and your country. Instead you are pissing away your time living as a European and at the same time looking down on African Americans. You are playing yourself oh.
…

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I see you watched his face to face with that stupid woman from CNN, i wrote a piece in my blog that goes like this:
Fuck you, not you her.

Here in Portugal and all over Europe there are USA scientists, they left USA to work here for many reason, isn't that brain drain?
He rigged it but until he started calling the land back the WEST see no EVIL?
How appropriate!

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…
Why would you expect anything from anyone including African Americans? That's part of the problem? I don't think African Americans expect anything from Africans? Why don't you come out and say how you really feel about African Americans because it's obvious with that statement. It's funny how you didn't mention what part of Africa you are from och. Are you ashamed or something. And by the way I'm not African American.
…

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UG???

I expect nothing from anyone, people have different interest and defend theirs, i defend mine. I wrote this ad nauseam, sorry you did not get to already.

I am african period, to me it is what you call race, i see people NOT as White, Black …, i see people as europeans, asians, africans.

We do not share same values reason why i do not read people like you are trying to read me, you cannot.

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How i feel about AA, you wrote?

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By reading my posts here, you can make yr. mind.
BTW, by blog - http://ochyming.blogspot.com/ ; it dispels any trace of prejudice you are trying to snap me on.
Sad you went through that corner.

To separate the Zimbabwean people from ZANU-PF we are going to have to make their economy scream, and I hope you senators have the stomach for what you have to do." (Democracy Now!, April 1st, 2005).


By 2005 the economy of the country was already destroyed. Mugabe was busy demolishing shanty towns of extremely poor citizens, as well doing his customary beating, killing, and imprisoning of political opponents.

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By 2005 the economy of the country was already destroyed.

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???
When IMF started denying Zimbabwe loan, while Zimbabwe still a member and WHO has been the cheerleaders in the campaign to deprive Zimbabwe of international credit?
Your comment is an excuse, itself unfolds the non truth beneath.

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Mugabe was busy demolishing shanty towns of extremely poor citizens, as well doing his customary beating, killing, and imprisoning of political opponents.

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I live in Portugal, and throughout Europe poor people are get rid from shanty towns for sanitary reasons and what not, but do you know where those people were sent to?
Of course you do not care.
What you want is for the land, stolen from africans to continue on the hand of British who happens to employ mostly people from neighbor countries.

And the excuse?
Oh, because africans cannot make those lands profitable, the say.


Do you expect them to sit while their country is scrambled on?

Then WHY western countries including UK, when even the Queen danced with Mugabe and proudly announced him as the leader to follow in Africa before he started the fight he've forgotten for quite a time?

Before discussing things you are not well informed of prepare yourself first.

Links for you to study, if you care for truth check them.

New African's Zimbabwe Special Report, … both side of the story.

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http://www.africasia.com/uploads/zimbabwe_speci...

http://www.africasia.com/uploads/zimbabwe_speci...

http://www.africasia.com/uploads/zimbabwe_speci...

http://www.africasia.com/uploads/zimbabwe_speci...

http://www.africasia.com/uploads/zimbabwe_speci...

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Mugabe is the one who brought down Zimbabwe's economy. He's also the one who is killing the country off bit by bit. Zimbabwe has been reduced from the bread basket of Africa to a hell on earth--all under the watchful eye of Zanu PF

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Mugabe is the one who brought down Zimbabwe's economy.
…

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Oh, yeah, you are western (you all work for the great european conqueror, at least the less honest of you) aren't you?
Can Zimbabwe survive any economic sanction, Iraq didn't even selling oil?

I am african, but at least i listen to both sides.

Charles Powell, Mrs Thatcher’s long-time foreign policy advisor who, while at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1979, was instrumental in the Zimbabwe independence negotiations at Lancaster House. Talking about Zimbabwe’s land issue in an interview with David Dimbleby for a BBC1 documentary broadcast on 24 June 2000, Powell said on camera: “We tackled it really from the point of view of the Rhodesian regime, not the future of Zimbabwe. The real concern at the beginning was to offer guarantees, assurances, protection, to the white farmers.”
...
Baffour's Table



The same BBC that tried to dilute Obama impact on the first G8 (then 10?) he attended by promoting its prime minister as the savior of the world.
… UK still in recession, all EU countries already are off from it.
Ironic?

Looks like you've seen Sky News propaganda/demonize of Mugabe to much. You criticize Fox News while BBC, CNN, SKY news and all the West do the same.

Michelle Obama, first lady of fashion, is hailed for her style in print
First Lady Michelle Obama's style and wardrobe is celebrated in a glossy new book that will delight her growing band of fashion devotees.
By Philip Sherwell in New York
Published: 7:48PM BST 24 Oct 2009

Michelle Obama demonstrated a fresh skill to the American people last week when she completed an impressive 142 swivels of a hula hoop on the South Lawn of the White House at a "healthy kids fair" to promote fitness and nutrition for children. She hitched up her studded belt over a blue cardigan, held out arms hung heavy with bangles and skilfully sashayed hips clad in figure-hugging black capri trousers.

Mrs Obama was again filling the role she gave herself during her husband's presidential bid of the nation's "Mom-in-chief". For her legions of fashion devotees, it was also further evidence of the style she has brought to events ranging from glitzy dinners to physical work-outs.

Almost a year after Barack Obama won that historic race, there have been numerous books about the election, the first African-American incumbents at the White House and a new era of American politics.

Now the First Lady is now the subject of a series of glossy books celebrating a closet that has made the transition from the campaign trail to Washington. Published this week by Hachette, Mrs O: The Face of Fashion Democracy is a tribute to the mix of designer brand with high street outfits that is earning her glowing acolades.

The book is a spin-off from the blog Mrs.O , set up last year by Mary Tomer, 28, who works in advertising for Bartle Bogle Hegarty in New York. "I was captivated by this very dynamic professional woman who was confident wearing such striking feminine clothes," she told The Sunday Telegraph.

"She was just as happy wearing off-the-rack outfits for $150 as she was choosing interesting young designers in high fashion. It was such a change for a woman in politics where if you think of style at all, it's all boxy suits."

The book features features more than 120 photographs, including rarely-seen images from the campaugn trail, details her own impressive professional career as a lawyer, and then delves into the back story of her clothes and accessories. It also goes behind the scenes with interviews from some of her favourite designers, including Isabel Toledo, Jason Wu, Michael Kors, Maria Pinto and Isaac Mizrahi.

Miss Tomer believes much is communicated through Mrs Obama's style.

"There is a sense of optimism, such as the lemongrass dress she chose for the inauguration in January, amid a sea of black winter coats," she said of an outfit by Ms Toledo.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/6425918/Mich...

the blog Mrs. O is listed amongst the links on the right side. though Tomer is a professional, Mrs. O is a good source on the First Lady's fashion.

Op-Ed Columnist
The Missing Link From Killeen to Kabul
By FRANK RICH
Published: November 14, 2009

THE dead at Fort Hood had not even been laid to rest when their massacre became yet another political battle cry for the self-proclaimed patriots of the American right.


Their verdict was unambiguous: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an American-born psychiatrist of Palestinian parentage who sent e-mail to a radical imam, was a terrorist. And he did not act alone. His co-conspirators included our military brass, the Defense Department, the F.B.I., the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and, of course, the liberal media and the Obama administration. All these institutions had failed to heed the warning signs raised by Hasan’s behavior and activities because they are blinded by political correctness toward Muslims, too eager to portray criminals as sympathetic victims of social injustice, and too cowardly to call out evil when it strikes 42 innocents in cold blood.

The invective aimed at these heinous P.C. pantywaists nearly matched that aimed at Hasan. Joe Lieberman announced hearings to investigate the Army for its dereliction of duty on homeland security. Peter Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, vowed to unmask cover-ups in the White House and at the C.I.A. The Weekly Standard blog published a broadside damning the F.B.I. for neglecting the “broader terrorist plot” of which Hasan was only one of the connected dots. Jerome Corsi, the major-domo of the successful Swift-boating of John Kerry, unearthed what he said was proof that Hasan had advised President Obama during the transition.

William Bennett excoriated soft military leaders like Gen. George Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, who had stood up for diversity and fretted openly about a backlash against Muslim soldiers in his ranks. “Blind diversity” that embraces Islam “equals death,” wrote Michelle Malkin. “There is a powerful case to be made that Islamic extremism is not some fringe phenomenon but part of the mainstream of Islamic life around the world,” wrote the columnist Jonah Goldberg. Islam is “not a religion,” declared the irrepressible Pat Robertson, but “a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world.”

As a snapshot of where a chunk of the country stands right now, these reactions to the Fort Hood bloodbath could not be more definitive. And it’s quite possible that some of what this crowd says is right — not about Islam in general, but about the systemic failure to stop a homicidal maniac like Hasan in particular. Whether he was an actual terrorist or an unfathomable mass murderer merely dabbling in jihadist ideas, the repeated red flags during his Army career illuminate a pattern of lapses in America’s national security. Whether those indicators were ignored because of political correctness, bureaucratic dysfunction, sheer incompetence or some hybrid thereof is still unclear, but, whichever, the system failed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/opinion/15ric...

In Meeting with Southeast Asian Nations, President Obama Calls for Myanmar to Free Aung San Suu Kyi

November 15, 2009 5:44 AM

Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report:

SINGAPORE -- At a meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this morning, President Obama reaffirmed his call for Myanmar's ruling junta to free democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

President Obama used the same language at the closed-door meeting that he used in a public address in Tokyo on Saturday, an aide reported, saying of Myanmar, also known as Burma, that "there are clear steps that must be taken – the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi; an end to conflicts with minority groups; and a genuine dialogue between the government, the democratic opposition and minority groups on a shared vision for the future."

ASEAN's member states are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Myanmar's prime minister, General Thein Sein -- appointed interim prime minister in 2007 by the ruling military junta -- was in the room. It was not clear what his reaction was to that part of President Obama's remarks.

"The President's position is the same one he reiterated in Tokyo," National Security Council spokesman Benjamin Rhodes told reporters. "He delivered that directly and as a part of our approach of taking this message to them directly, enumerating the steps while maintaining the very strong sanctions we have on the Burmese government."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/11...

A consequence of war?



Huge rise in birth defects in Falluja

Iraqi former battle zone sees abnormal clusters of infant tumours and deformities
Martin Chulov in Falluja
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 November 2009 19.24 GMT

Doctors in Iraq's war-ravaged enclave of Falluja are dealing with up to 15 times as many chronic deformities in infants and a spike in early life cancers that may be linked to toxic materials left over from the fighting.

The extraordinary rise in birth defects has crystallised over recent months as specialists working in Falluja's over-stretched health system have started compiling detailed clinical records of all babies born.

Neurologists and obstetricians in the city interviewed by the Guardian say the rise in birth defects – which include a baby born with two heads, babies with multiple tumours, and others with nervous system problems - are unprecedented and at present unexplainable.

A group of Iraqi and British officials, including the former Iraqi minister for women's affairs, Dr Nawal Majeed a-Sammarai, and the British doctors David Halpin and Chris Burns-Cox, have petitioned the UN general assembly to ask that an independent committee fully investigate the defects and help clean up toxic materials left over decades of war – including the six years since Saddam Hussein was ousted.

"We are seeing a very significant increase in central nervous system anomalies," said Falluja general hospital's director and senior specialist, Dr Ayman Qais. "Before 2003 [the start of the war] I was seeing sporadic numbers of deformities in babies. Now the frequency of deformities has increased dramatically."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/13/fal...

Oh, the silence to this article is telling. When will we start denouncing the barbarians that destroyed Fallujah? Oh, I forgot. We cant denounce them. Those barbarians are us. Our cousins, brothers, neighbors, classmates and others in the U.S military.

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Those barbarians are us. Our cousins, brothers, neighbors, classmates and others in the U.S military.

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No, by denouncing it you already are free from the dirty.

FROM RUDE PUNDIT

11/13/2009
Conservatives Are Scared of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; Liberals Are Not:



So it was that in a hangover haze, desperately thirsty, sore, and craving pancakes, the Rude Pundit opened his laptop this morning to see he had received a frantic email from Erick Erickson of the blog RedState. Knowing that he had never subscribed to any spam lists on that creepy fucker's site, the first thing the Rude Pundit did was curse whatever son or daughter of a bitch signed him up. And then he opened the message, which waved its little arms like a crazed Kermit the Frog by being subject-lined, "Stop Obama From Importing Terrorists Stateside" (man, the tariffs have gotta be heavy on that shit).

What did the screechy deacon have to say? "Today Barack Obama is going to announce that the terrorist mastermind of September 11th, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be sent to New York City for a criminal trial in a civilian court." Huh. Seemed eminently reasonable. If he is the 9/11 masterblastermind, then the city of the crime would be where he has to be tried, no?

If you're Erick Erickson (and if you are, the Rude Pundit says, "Dude, seriously?"), the answer is "Oh, fucking no fucking way, motherfucker." Or, as he wrote, "In that trial, the terrorist will get all the rights afforded an American citizen in a criminal trial, including the right to a fair trial, the right to a taxpayer funded attorney, the right to review all the evidence against him, potentially including classified intelligence matters, the right to exclude evidence against him including, potentially, any confession obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques, etc."

Now, the Rude Pundit's no lawyer like Erickson once was, but he's pretty damn sure that the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution says, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial" and then talks about the rights that entails. That really doesn't distinguish between citizen and non-citizen and, indeed, there have been many decisions that allow for fair and speedy trial for immigrants both legal and illegal, as well as for non-Americans extradited to the United States for trial.
................................

Why does the notion of putting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on trial drive them past the edge of insanity and "get the rhino tranq" frothing? Mohammed will more than likely get their beloved death penalty. Erickson seems to think Mohammed might pass classified information on to terrorists. But one of his readers inadvertently hits the nail on the head. In a comment, jdub19 writes, "I see this as another way to bash the Bush years. No OBL and after all the years in custody, KSM will be brought to justice. They have to keep reminding the public of GWB failures."

Ah, dear jdub, there is the problem. It's not that Barack Obama is going to put us in danger. It's that he's showing how justice is supposed to be done. Just doing that simple thing, abiding by the laws of the land, demonstrates the failures of the last administration. The Rude Pundit's said it before and he'll say it again: so much of the anger at Obama is a projection of right wing anger at George W. Bush. Obama has to fail at everything in the right wingers' sad world, just to show that they didn't devote eight years of their pathetic, deluded lives to abetting the destruction of the nation. They are shitting themselves in fear, not just in the intensely unlikely scenario of hot terrorist on terrorist action. They are afraid of what evidence at trial might reveal about how far down the rabbit hole to actual tyranny we fell.

We on the left are not afraid. We have the courage to confront the truth and not hide it away in a cell forever.

Just to reiterate another point: it's not weak to say that our laws are strong enough to take care of terrorists. In fact, believing in our justice system actually makes Barack Obama more patriotic than all waterboard-loving, conservative pricks and cunts who just want Mohammed disappeared. Nidal Hasan killed more people than just about anyone ever at Gitmo, yet no one's saying that he should be detained forever without charge or trial.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

Sunday talk show tip sheet
ABC’s “This Week” has both Clinton and Giuliani, who blasted the administration's move Friday as proof “we have regressed to a pre-9/11 mentality with respect to Islamic extremist terrorism.”

Clinton also headlines NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where she’ll be followed by an education discussion with Education Secretary Arne Duncan, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Giuliani also appears on CNN’s “State of the Union,” as do senior White House adviser David Axelrod, who's traveling with President Barack Obama on his nine-day Asia trip; Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.); and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat.

Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, will be interviewed as well on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”

The former mayor, who’s reportedly flirting with a bid for New York governor, also takes to “Fox News Sunday,” along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

CBS’s “Face the Nation” hosts Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bloomberg’s “Political Capital” hosts Anita Dunn, who's stepping down as White House communications director, and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag.

Dunn, interviewed Friday by Bloomberg’s Al Hunt as part of its Washington Summit at the Newseum, said the White House’s fight with Fox News had discouraged other TV networks from following its lead. “It did help people get a sense of perspective again,” Dunn said. “People took a step back and said, ‘Hmm, am I really wanting to go chase those stories?’ ”

Finally, TV One’s “Washington Watch” interviews Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), retired Army Major Gen. John Hawkins and Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The Bishops' Huge Financial Stake in Stupak-Pitts
By Wendy Norris, RH Reality Check
November 13, 2009 - 7:00am

The justifiable anger at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for lobbying on the Stupak-Pitts amendment overshadows what is possibly the bigger motive for the Vatican: the billions of dollars at stake for the church's hospitals.

The scale of the church's involvement in the rapidly growing $2.5 trillion dollar American health care industry is staggering.

What the Stupak-Pitts amendment does for the Catholic health care system is omit a competitive advantage secular and other religiously-affiliated hospitals without doctrinal restrictions can use to simultaneously market their services to both the expected influx of newly insured patients and the outpatient medical professionals who will treat them.

By restricting insurance coverage of women's reproductive health care, the competitive barriers faced by Catholic institutions will be eliminated — provided the amendment is not stripped out of the final bill that emerges from House-Senate health care reform conference committee. Which is why pro-choice advocates should expect nothing short of a full-frontal attack by the Vatican on conservative Senators.

And in the case of an industry that accounts for 18 percent of the gross domestic product and is expected to double in less than 10 years, it's absolutely critical to follow the money.

One in six patients are cared for in 624 Catholic hospitals scattered throughout the U.S. in 2006, according to the Catholic Health Association. The church also operates more than 800 post-acute care, senior living and skilled nursing centers across the nation. All told, $84.6 billion was spent on Catholic church-affiliated care.

The Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives is now the largest of the church's hospital systems in the country with 78 hospitals and 40 long-term care facilities in 20 states and operating revenues exceeding $9.6 billion ranking it sixth among all for-profit and charity health care networks.

Now consider that there are 60 some Catholic-affiliated hospital systems in all 50 states — representing 13 percent of the nation's entire in-patient health care system. That's easily tens of billions of dollars flowing through the business arm of the Catholic church that continues to grow through mergers with private and other religiously-affiliated hospitals.

Congressional health insurance reforms promise the prospect of 36 million uninsured Americans — who are currently self-rationing care, paying on sliding fee scales, or not paying at all — flowing into hospitals, clinics and outpatient facilities via subsidized insurance, mandated policies and more affordable options in the proposed insurance exchange.

Conservatively, those newly insured people will not only add millions of dollars more to hospital coffers in the short term but the potential for trillions in billable services over their lifetimes.

So why would the bishops risk the House health reform bill collapsing under the weight of a bitter abortion debate? It appears to be a fairly brazen attempt to kneecap their health care industry competitors while knowing the president's top domestic agenda would be passed in some way, shape or form.

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/11/13/t...

This article is factually incorrect. Asscension Health is the largest Catholic Healthcare System by dollar volume (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_Health) with 14.4 billion in revenue (2008).
Catholic Health Initiatives is the second largest Catholic Health System (more hospitals than Ascension Health but fewer beds, less revenue).

Saturday, November 14, 2009


Not Playing Faaair

by digby

That commie bastard Al Franken broke the rules. He actually had the temerity to introduce a bill that made Republicans look bad when they voted against it. Somebody's going to have to talk to that guy. That's very uncivil.

When Al Franken ran for the Senate last year, the former “Saturday Night Live” star had to reassure skeptics that the fierce partisan attacks he lobbed at Republicans as an author and radio host wouldn’t define his style as a legislator.

But because of one of his first pieces of legislation, Democrats now have their most brazen attack line of the emerging 2010 campaign season: that Republicans are insensitive to rape victims.

The charge stems from a Franken-sponsored amendment that would prohibit the Department of Defense from contracting with companies that require employees to resolve workplace complaints — including complaints of sexual assault — through private arbitration rather than the courts.



Is the "charge" wrong? Are those Senators not insensitive to rape victims? It's quite obvious that they are.

The good news is that the Republican senators have learned their lesson:

Privately, GOP sources acknowledge that they failed to anticipate the political consequences of a “no” vote on the amendment. And several aides said that Republicans are engaged in an internal blame game about why they agreed to a roll-call vote on the measure, rather than a simple voice vote that would have allowed the opposing senators to duck criticism.



Right, they forgot to hide their misogyny. (Man, you let your guard down for one minute and those bitchuz are all over you.)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/that-com...

The CIA has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan's intelligence service since the Sept. 11 attacks, accounting for as much as one-third of the foreign spy agency's annual budget, current and former U.S. officials say.

The Inter-Services Intelligence agency also has collected tens of millions of dollars through a classified CIA program that pays for the capture or killing of wanted militants, a clandestine counterpart to the rewards publicly offered by the State Department, officials said.

The payments have triggered intense debate within the U.S. government, officials said, because of long-standing suspicions that the ISI continues to help Taliban extremists who undermine U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and provide sanctuary to Al Qaeda members in Pakistan.

But U.S. officials have continued the funding because the ISI's assistance is considered crucial: Almost every major terrorist plot this decade has originated in Pakistan's tribal belt, where ISI informant networks are a primary source of intelligence.

CIA says it gets its money's worth from Pakistani spy agency

I'm sorry to say this I have a well-educated friend from Pakistan and he is very sympathetic to the Taliban. I'm sure his opinion is reflective of broads views in Pakistan. Pakistan has allowed Taliban to have unfettered and unchallenged access to their country. That cannot I happen without elite members of Pakistani society being complicit.

Taliban is one of many fundamentalist Muslim movement, not much different from conservatives all over western world only they are fiercely anti what people call western way, which is ironically opposed by most conservatives (distance the state from religion, basic human rights).

I see no brouhaha if well-educated muslims enrich it position, all these people want is to mix state and religion.


In the end it is the fight between moral corruption from republicans (related to republic not the USA party) and delusion from the religious zealous.

Yeah, you are right Och. It's just like Republicans and Democrats. Riiight. In the same breath my friend mentioned how the area that the Taliban controls they take all the women as their "property" if they don't adhere to the strict interpretation as Islam. And you know what they do to the Pakistani men......slit their throats.

You did not get my post, read it again.

---

…
It's just like Republicans and Democrats. Riiight.

---

Did i said that?
My english is poor, but i can suer i did not wrote that as anyone can see above.
I was saying Taliban (wikipedia link) is not a tribe, but more like a system of belief.

Please look for things outside TV, it will enrich you.

Och, I'm going to send you a free copy of Rosetta Stone (American English) version so you can express yourself properly.

OH, you need it more than me!

You hardy understand what you wrote!

AH!

Ochyming = let them talk.

Someone I knew from college, well-educated in the United States and England for graduate degrees, has had a prosperous career in international banking. He was full of debauchery when I knew him in college and even up to 10 years ago, he was still partying hardy. Saw him on a trip stateside recently, and he's totally conservative and religious now.

I don't believe it, but rather they spend money there, trying to get info. Pakistan IS a problem.

A post on our Top of the Ticket blog today about President Obama’s greeting of Japan’s Emperor Akihito has already generated over 1,000 comments from readers.

This weekend, the president has done a lot of bowing to show respect on his first Asia tour as president. The photo above was taken after the president gave a speech in Tokyo's Suntory Hall. However, the emperor's bow was a little different. Times staffer Andrew Malcolm, who wrote the post, allowed the photo (and the video) of Obama’s gesture to speak for itself -- see it here.

We mostly enjoyed what readers had to say about the president’s greeting -- a mixture of outrage and patriotism, snarky one-liners and more serious diatribes.

Here are the top 10 best comments so far (leave your own below):

1. Mitch wrote: Obama to Emperor of Japan: "May I shine your shoes, Sir?"
2. Plain Jane wrote: Obama WASN'T bowing - He SAW a Japanese Yen on the floor and went to pick it up because it might be Worth More Than Our Dollar!
3. Veteran wrote: Was that before or after he appologized for World War 2?
4. bmcc wrote: Palin would have winked at him. You betcha!
5. Maripo wrote: I'm surprised he didn't curtsy.
6. MP wrote: Whatever happened to the good old days when we could count on a Republican in the White House to puke on foreign dignitaries?
7. marty1234 wrote: I wish are first black president had been a rapper at least he'd have some attitude...
8. Wax on wax off wrote: Look eye! Always look eye! -Mr. Miyagi
9. helen roach wrote: I wonder why they didn't run the dust mop over the floor. It would have looked much nicer in the picture.
10. Xavier wrote: See, Obama is not a Muslim. He's a shintoist.

(LA Times) Top 10 reader comments about President Obama's bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito

"Wax on wax off wrote: Look eye! Always look eye! -Mr. Miyagi" - LOL

it was a damn bow. get over it.

rikyrah: MEGA-CO-SIGN!! DANG!! :>)

Agreed

It showcases the ignorance of the American Public if anything else. Power does not earn respect. We want others to respect our culture but yet we don't think twice of others culture. Arrogance at best

I'm sick and tired of seeing my damn President bow every fucking time he takes a foreign trip. That is not protocol. I've never seen any other President do it. I get it. You are not Bush. Thank goodness for that but give me a freaking break. It makes you look weak and gives your enemies ammunition to say you are weak. Does Putin bow to King Abudallah......NO? Does the Hu Jin Tao bow to Emperor Akihito........NO? Show your respect to these countries in the way you deal with them.
So far so good in your administration but the last thing I want to see when I log on to my computer is my President bowing. If I see this negro bows again I swear I'm going to vomit all over my laptop. Now I have to hear conservatives shit talking about this bowing again. It's now becoming indefensible.You are the POTUS.

ENOUGH ALREADY WITH THE BOWING SHIT.

Adding to Craig Hickman's comment:

This is not just conservative jibber jabber but out-and-out white arrogance. Since when do you go to somebody's house and not observe their customs, protocol and good manners? Only a particular strain of Amerrikkkan would go and just bust their way through the door. It's the history of some folks in this country and despite it being the 21st century, some folks still want to bust on through doors that don't belong to them.

This is the Emperor of Japan. You bow. This is a courtesy and centuries of protocol. Some of these critics need to go school.

Yes, you bow. I understand that. I lived in Japan for two years. Did you see how far he bowed down? It was the same thing with the Saudi King. My President almost bowed down to the floor. That's overkill. That's going too far. Give a respectable bow to your chest area and that's it. Don't bow like you are a giraffe picking up rocks off the ground.

I also lived in Japan. And, the deeper the bow, the more respect is shown. So, when meeting the Emperor, it is protocol to bow deeply.

This may be bowing too low for your taste but this is centuries-old protocol in action, not your personal taste nor American pseudo-democracy in play. And, after centuries of white people telling Japanese and others how to do stuff, it just may be in our interest for the President of the United States of America to do the correct thing.

Thank you.

Protocol is showing customary respect. Obama is a head of state. He doesn't have to bow down to the floor.

"And, the deeper the bow, the more respect is shown. So, when meeting the Emperor, it is protocol to bow deeply."

Agreed, but a what point is it overkill. If he would have bowed to the Emperor's shoes would you still be defending the "bow?" As a head of state he is bowing way too low.

I think it's overkill measuring the bow...

really?

The President should not be bowing to the floor. It looks undignified.

It looks undignified to arrogant folks. It looks undignified to insecure individuals who think power comes from a fucking title of president.

Go back to the corner and think "the president should not be bowing to the floor it looks undignified" -- no wonder this country is fucked up.

Ignorance displayed. Step out and see the world. I can't believe i read this shit. Wow... I guess the rest of the world was right, this nation is the most uncultured and ignorant shit have ever seen.

Amen!

"Step out and see the world."

You can't be this stupid. I was born in a foreign country and lived in multiple. I'm not like 73% of Americans who don't even have a passport. My passport has been stamped more times that you have swiped your EBT card. LOL. Like I said the President should show respect but he shouldn't be bowing to the floor. If you want to find ignorance in this country you can start in the mirror.

At least you should be humble enough to see that your values ARE not his.
Which person with such power would submit himself in the presence of mere mortals as Obama did supporting Chicago for the Olympics?
Why cant people SEE dignifying gesture in that, are we all this stupid and arrogant?

He is your President, but why should he ask for your opinions or honor yr. dubious values if he has his?
Let him be himself, that is how we judge people, that is how you want people to see you and judge you, though your own values.

och, you don't know my value system. I don't think the President of the United States should be bowing almost to his knees. Show me another head of state that does that for the Saudi King?

Still NOT getting what i wrote.

You are judging him by yr. values.
Is that fair?

Or he can only bow to europeans (caucasians)?

Are you a hypocrite or what? Scroll up and read what your wrote.

"I am african period, to me it is what you call race, i see people NOT as White, Black …, i see people as europeans, asians, africans."

Then you wrote this.

"Or he can only bow to europeans (caucasians)?"

Now you see Caucasians. Maybe one day you will make up your mind.

Why did i use (…)?

… Ever learned Math?
You are the hypocrite!

Was just addressing you through yr. own values.

Loks like you hardly can sustain a discussion.

I voted for him I can I judge him by any value system that I like.

I didn't wrote you cannot.
I asked if is it fare?

Looks like you need to study yr. mother language.

I covered the fairness question with the statement I made. You can't just read the words comprehension is important as well.

Do you have a link to the video of the President bowing to the floor? I can't find a clip of that.

Thanks but I've seen this. I want to see the video clip of him bowing to the floor.

May I make a suggestion?

Don't listen to the conservatives talk shit. Altough you say you do it's not like you have to.

I hear you Craig.(In my best Chris Tucker impersonation.)

But we have a lot of morons in this country that are going to jump all over this. I say avoid moments which your enemies are waiting to exploit. And I just don't like to see him doing it. Nobody else does it. It's not necessary.

Do not mind me, but mind this:

People of value do nothing to prove a thing as long it do not harm anyone, history is full of such grace.
Stand with pride, live by your own values and standard, that is being honorable.

Stop talking in the abstract and lets get back to the real world. That footage is going to used against him 2012 to vote him out of office and to rile up ignorant folks who stayed home last time who didn't want to vote for John McCain.

I got it!
You are mocking me. Aren't you talking in the abstract?

Are you saying most of your country men and women are stupid?
Your President thinks NOT, judging how he behave.

If you cannot vote in US elections you should be quiet concerning American politics.

Was this an intellectual brake?
This is a proof of yr. chosen ignorance, as i wrote before ignorance is a safe garden not a fault.
USA politics influences Africa directly, because Arica is dependent of IMF.

It was a joke but it obviously went over head because you have the comprehension level of a primary school student.

Naked liar you painted yourself.

What joke?
If you can lie about Africa, why can't i criticize any USA administration?

If those people, to the extent they exist, are going to be riled up to do what you say, don't you think that all the CommieMuslimAntichristKenyanGrammaKiller stuff that has already been "put out there", to put it mildly, is enough to do the trick? I don't see a bow to the Emperor of Japan as the tipping point. Hell, all the ignorant people who would be inclined to do what you say reached that tipping point when he got elected.

Conservatives will bitch no matter what.
Fuck them.

It doesn't matter what he does. Had he not bowed, they would be outraged over that. Apparently, following protocol and respecting the traditions of others in their own land is now a sign of weakness. But when Michelle broke protocol and touched the Queen, these same people were just as outraged.

Obama is not playing their game and that's why I like him. This man is, as he said himself, our first Pacific president. I think he knows more about Asian cultures than these dumb ass white boys on these right wing sites.

So why should he give a damn about giving them "ammunition". He's black and he's alive. That in itself is ammunition to these people.

They're going to jump all over him, and...what? Or, I should say, so what?

Politics 101 Plant. You don't give your enemies ammunition.

Barack Obama should swipe a sword from the Japanese Emperor and kill himself. That would be the only way to satisfy the conservatives.

Barack Obama gave the conservatives "ammunition" the day his black ass was born.

That's not the point Town and you know it.

Yea it is the point. NOTHING Obama does will be right to the right white wing of this country and you know this.

As far as him bowing? Asia (and the Saudis) owns our asses lock stock and barrell...might as well keep it real and bow down.

Own us? Don't believe everything you read? What do u think happens if the American consumer stops buying all those cheap products? We're all in the same boat. China holds all that US debt and they want that money back. If the US tanks they are screwed. As far as the Saudis are concerned the only thing that's stopping them from being a 3rd world country is oil. What do you think we are in Iraq for "hearts and minds?" We are going to get it by hook or by crook. Dig a little deeper Town. Did you ever think why we are the only country to use a nuclear weapon in War? It's because the United States government doesn't give a shit. We went to Iraq over a lie do you really believe the US government is going to allow China and Saudi Arabia to destroy us. We blow up things over a lot less. This "expansion" of Army has nothing to do with Iraq and Afghanistan. That's the cover. War is what we do. We are going to have permanent bases in Iraq and Afghanistan in perpetuity. Did you ever ask yourself why? Africom? Why? Strategic Realignment Town. Obama is portraying himself as a peaceful pragmatist. That is a front. He is a ruthless cunning figure. He won't allow these countries to destroy us. He will pull the trigger and unfortunately War is looking like it's inevitable. Saudi and OPec are trying to undermine US influence by trading oil in another currency. More these other countries rise in influence the bigger enemy they become. I hope you don't have a son Town. There's a lot more I can say but I think I've made my point. I'll leave you with this. What does the mob do when they owe money and they can't or don't want to pay? People die. They only "own us" up until the point we decide to stop playing by the rules. And you are very aware of the history of America especially as black person since when does America stick by rules and commitments.

But, if your enemies are going to fabricate ammunition regardless, I don't think you have to follow that rule quite as strictly.

The conservatives may feel they are given ammunition by the simple fact
that Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America.
Guess we should give the Presidency to Palin (or Mc Cain), then conservatives will be out of ammuninition.

"Guess we should give the Presidency to Palin"

What are you talking about? Pure gibberish.

"Pure gibberish."

You mean...like this:

"I'm sick and tired of seeing my damn President bow every fucking time he takes a foreign trip. That is not protocol. I've never seen any other President do it."

Just saying...

Do other heads of state bow for the Saudi King?

only if you can't imagine them as anything other than enemies or if you can't imagine diplomacy in any terms but war terms or if you insist on keeping on with the "guys" approach to politics that has gotten us into many of the messes in the world. . .

First off Zack if you interpreted what I said properly you wouldn't have wrote what you did. When I said "enemies" I meant in the political sense ie Republicans, conservatives and the people at DailyKos j/k. I wasn't talking about foreign governments. Bowing isn't going to fix the mess we are in sound political policies will.

oh no offense, guns3000. just playing with you because of the words you choose here. i think the argument here is a rather small one, but how we talk about things matters deeply. and you were framing this as a matter of "enemies" and "ammunition." those are fightin words, guy words. many of the repubs have gone down those verbal exaggeration roads and its just not doing a lot for dialogue and you're better than that. just sayin. i am kinda tired of that kind of crazy framing of things this morning so i spouted. heard some young folk on the block last week talking as tho a little beef they had was a war and i know what that can lead to so i reacted when i saw your words --- maybe projected a bit. bowing won't fix things, but respect might.

oh well, back to baking a couple of sweet potato pies. . . maybe i should offer one to those youth on my block if they promise to let go of their argument (they are really not bad youth, just showing off at being tough and in other places that wouldn't be dangerous, but we have not done enough to make sure that such talk is just talk and not dangerous in our community).

Agreed, language is powerful. But in this forum full of adults I don't think we have that concern.

An analysis of the "Stimulus" impact on Michigan: http://www.freep.com/article/20091115/NEWS15/31...

"The Free Press examination of more than 1,800 government reports of those who have received or expect to receive stimulus money found the biggest impact was spurring or protecting public-sector or summer jobs -- not private-sector jobs. Michigan has the nation's worst unemployment rate."

Correct me if I am wrong, wasn't it officials in the public sector, namely Governors, who said to "Candidate Obama" they had "shovel ready" projects? So, why are there expectations for "private sector" job creation?

this was brought up on the radio this morning. Seems as if a lot of those Governors LIED about 'shovel ready' projects in order to get the money. And THAT is the President's fault because????

A lot of the governors are not using the money it was intended for.

Everything is the President's fault. EV---RE----THING. I had bird crap on my car this morning. I'm blaming Barry.

Get in line, dude.
The Raiders have been having a terrible year, and the President is the reason for their season (snark).

Errrrrr..... I just posted it because: 1) it is the headline on highest circulation newspaper in Michigan, 2) the Free Press is a "liberal" paper but does investigative reporting, 3) Its interesting to see where the money actually went, 4) and they are correct in asking what will happen in 2 years to the govt programs/schools sucking up this money when the gravy train ends.
Todays Free Press editorial suggests changing the Tax Structure for Michigan to cover expenses once the stimulus money dries up. http://www.freep.com/article/20091115/OPINION01...

The Obama administration, in deciding to try alleged Sept. 11 conspirators in a New York courtroom, has said it is setting its sights on convictions, but some critics say a civilian trial -- instead of a military tribunal -- could end up targeting the Bush administration and its anti-terror policies.

One of those five defendants, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has been at the center of the debate over those Bush-era polices, in particular the harsh interrogation techniques used on Mohammed and others in an effort to obtain information on Al Qaeda and any additional attacks.

"The government is going to try to put Khalid Sheik Mohammed on trial. Defense lawyers will try and put the government on trial," former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Fox News.

Some Fear Bush Administration Could Become Target in 9/11 Trial

---

So... "Concerns" about having the "terra" trials in the U.S. is NOT about the safety of U.S. citizens?

i have found the gnashing of the right to be absolutely pathetic. either you believe in the Constitution and RULE OF LAW or you don't. plain and simple. up to the Government to PROVE ITS CASE. that is what this country is SUPPOSED to be about.

They don't.
Next...

Scientists have found "significant" amounts of water in a crater at the moon's south pole, a major discovery that will dramatically revise the characterization of the moon as a dead world and likely make it a more attractive destination for future human space missions.

"The moon is alive," declared Anthony Colaprete, the chief scientist for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission.

That mission used a rocket Oct. 9 to punch a hole about 100 feet across in the moon's surface, then measured about 25 gallons of water in the form of vapor and ice. While that's not even enough to swim in, it could indicate sufficient water in permanently shaded craters at the poles for future astronauts to live off the land.

NASA's plans, currently under review by the Obama administration, call for a return to the moon at the end of the next decade, and construction of a lunar base in which astronauts could live and work for months at a time.

The presence of large quantities of water would make that plan more practical, since water could be used for drinking, breathing and even making rocket fuel.

'The moon is alive,' NASA says after water discovery

colonization, here we come.

Well you know they've got to get the moon ready so all the Real Americans(tm) can live there in peace without having to deal with all these black racists and illegals and kommunists and such.

You betcha!
Also.

Reporting from Salt Lake City - Utah has emerged as an improbable battleground in the fight for the future of the GOP, as the party's veteran U.S. senator -- with nary a whiff of personal or political scandal -- has become one of the most threatened lawmakers up for reelection next year.

Utah becomes a battleground in the GOP's civil war

when they start attacking UTAH REPUBLICANS as not being' conservative enough', you know they are CRAZY.

Almost two years after its debt structure collapsed, Jefferson County is suing JPMorgan, among others, for fraud, conspiracy and unjust enrichment.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Jefferson County Circuit Court, the county accused JPMorgan of colluding with local agents to dupe the county into an unsustainable and disastrous debt structure. Other defendants include former Commission President Larry Langford, Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount, lobbyist Al LaPierre, JP Morgan banker Charles LeCroy and JP Morgan banker Douglas MacFaddin.

“JPMorgan, JPMorgan Chase, and Blount Parrish were paid millions of dollars as a result of the issuance of variable rate demand warrants and auction rate warrants and the closing of interest rate swap transactions,” the county says in the lawsuit. “The price the County paid for these transactions in terms of fees and interest rates was artificially inflated by millions of dollars, to account in part for the fact that JPMorgan’s scheme to secure the County’s business included bribes, kickbacks, and pay-offs the Defendants paid to or received from each other.”

Jefferson County sues JPMorgan

---

Hope B'ham succeeds.

B'ham's experience is not unique, the vultures on Wall Street ARE involved in local government and are politically active in efforts to drain local governments of their earnings. If your city/county commission can not afford garbage pick-up any longer, a similar story may be the reason why.

"The Securities and Exchange Commission says investment bank JP Morgan Chase & Co. will pay a $50 million penalty to Jefferson County and forfeit $647 million in swap termination fees in a settlement related to county bond deals. "

sue their asses off.

The county took a big risk and lost.

If the county bond deal was legal, why is JP Morgan paying penalties?

The November 9 Supreme Court arguments on whether it is cruel and unusual to impose life in prison without parole on violent juveniles who have not killed anybody understandably got prominent media coverage.

But a far more important imprisonment story gets less attention because it's a running sore that rarely generates dramatic "news." That is our criminal-justice system's incarceration of a staggering 2.3 million people, about half of them for nonviolent crimes, including most of the 500,000 locked up for drug offenses.

Forty percent of these prisoners are black, 20 percent are Hispanic, and most are poor and uneducated. This has had a devastating impact on poor black families and neighborhoods, where it has become the norm for young men -- many of them fathers -- to spend time in prison and emerge bitter, unemployable, and unmarriageable. (These numbers come from studies cited by Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, a reform group.)

America imprisons seven times as many people as it did in 1972, several times as many per capita as other Western nations, and many more than any other nation in the world.

Yes, violent criminals should be locked up for long enough to protect the rest of us. But the mass, long-term imprisonment of nonviolent, nondangerous offenders in recent decades and excessive terms for others has made us no safer while ruining countless lives and converting potentially productive citizens into career criminals.

America's Prison Spree Has Brutal Impact: The trend toward long-term imprisonment of nonviolent offenders has made us no safer while ruining countless live

i agree with you about ruining countless lives.

What's your definition of non-violent and non-dangerous?

Imprisonment for child support, marijuana, school zero tolerance violations, etc. Some individuals with minor infractions sit in jails for 12 mos waiting for their day in court.

Yeah, it's not correcting anything by imprisoning those people. When you put them in jail with violent offenders they have to become violent to not get exploited.

Yes, get those people out of jail. But also try to find a mechanism to insure payment of child support.

The cycle of jailing for child support is never ending. Requirement for child support continues while the offender is in jail, on the day the offender is released they are further in debt and jobless. Often, offender can't get job because of jail time. The cycle starts over.

Easier said than done

Good point mon but I don't think taking someone's driver's license where so many employers require you to have one is a good mechanism.