Jack & Jill Politics

I bet Sean stuffs his crotch with socks, too.

AFTERNOON OPEN THREAD IS UP

The combination of egomania, self-righteousness, irresponsibility, and cowardice that characterizes many United States Senators is pretty hard to take. For example, instead of doing their jobs, this gang wants to pretend that they’ll force the United States to default on its debt unless a commission of other people is appointed to propose cutting Social Security and Medicare:

“You rarely do have the leverage to make a fundamental change,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who said he hasn’t ruled out offering the independent commission legislation as an amendment to the healthcare reform bill. [...]

Among its chief responsibilities would be closing the gap between tax revenue coming in and the larger cost of paying for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.

The Government Accountability Office recently reported the gap is on pace to reach an “unsustainable” $63 trillion in 2083. [...]

But before Tuesday’s hearing was over, Sens. Conrad, Gregg, Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) publicly vowed to vote against raising the debt ceiling if a budget reform commission bill doesn’t come along with it.

Why not throw it back at this crew? Tell the Irresponsible Threat Caucus that instead of asking for a commission, they should just start calling themselves a “budget commission” and then they can specify their own proposed set of tax hikes and Medicare cuts.

Note that Senators Gregg, Bayh, Voinovich, and Sessions didn’t have these concerns about the budget when voting to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts to the children of multi-millionaires. And I continue to await congressional support for making the war in Afghanistan deficit neutral.

Your 2010 Entitlement Commission

Owens could be removed in NY-23 due to ACTUAL election results. Absentee ballots could swing the election.

"We sent a letter to the clerk laying out the totals," Conklin said. "The key is that Hoffman conceded, which means the race is not contested. However, all ballots will be counted, and if the result changes, Owens will have to be removed."

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/...

TRANSLATION: We've got to cook the books to get Owens out of there.

Hey, it worked for George W. Bush!
Just saying...

U.S. foreclosure filings surpassed 300,000 for an eighth straight month as unemployment made it tougher for homeowners to pay their bills, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

A total of 332,292 properties received a default or auction notice or were seized by banks in October, up 19 percent from a year earlier, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said today. One in every 385 households received a filing. The tally fell 3 percent from September, the third consecutive monthly decline.

“The foreclosure problem is still with us and will keep prices down,” Stephen Miller, chairman of the economics department at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said in an interview. “The real issue is we don’t know what inventory banks are holding that they have yet to put on the market.”

Distressed real estate transactions accounted for 30 percent of all home sales in the third quarter as the median price fell 11 percent from a year earlier to $177,900, according to the National Association of Realtors. U.S. unemployment surged to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October as payrolls fell by 190,000 workers, the Labor Department said last week.

Housing will reach a bottom by March 2010, with lower- priced properties recovering value more quickly than expensive homes, First American CoreLogic said last month

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Surpass 300,000 for 8th Straight Month

Artificial expansion, resulting in devastating contraction.

But as long as the stock markets are up, and GDP is up, and "orders" are up, then I guess the contraction of middle class net worth isn't a problem. {rolling eyes}

When there is talk about the middle class today it really depends on which middle class we are talking about. The "old' middle class who work three jobs but stand in soup lines and self-identify as middle-class because they live in the 'burbs'? Or, is it the "newly" defined millionaire middle class?

Most of us here must be 3rd world or something...

Can't find support article, but, yes we are.

LARGE percent of working population is trapped in 29 year old stagnant salary caps outstripped with galloping cost of living increases. In Dec 2008 B___ praised hardworking middle class families after reports showed that two members in family had to have two or more jobs to sustain a household.

Is there a racial breakdown on the "millionaire middle class"?

Probably similar to the "billionaire middle class". In other words, who the fcuk cares?

Haven't seen racial breakdowns on "new" middle class. But, disappearance of jobs and job sectors that produced minority middle class coupled with hundreds of reports about disappearing minority middle class should provide a hint??

According to Clarence Page, Hannity has apologized:

Stop the presses! Sean Hannity just announced, "Though it pains me to say it, Jon Stewart was right."

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/pagespage/2...

this is hilarious. but being caught cold busted, because now with the apology, he hopes folks just stop it at this. but, what if someone went further investigating? how many more of his stories could be proven to be straight up lies?

After The Daily Show busted the Fox 'News' anchor attempting to inflate the apparent attendance for a recent D.C. Tea Bagger rally by using old footage from two months ago, Sean Hannity offered an "apology" of sorts on tonight's show.

Having no choice but to cop to it, Hannity admitted getting busted, though claims it was "an inadvertent mistake". How one can inadvertently go fetch footage from two months ago, and "inadvertently" edit it into a report on an event that took place earlier on the same day is not entirely clear.

He also failed to explain to his viewers the context in which the "incorrect video" actually was shown. Neither did he run Stewart's report from last night explaining clearly how Hannity had attempted to fool them. So, as usual, Hannity's viewers remain largely both in the dark and misinformed.

Hannity forced to 'apologize' for 'some incorrect video' played as 'inadvertent mistake'

Edit: Media Matters documents how Hannity's phony video is only "the tip of Fox News' video-doctoring iceberg"...

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This is the SAME industry/organization that now wants to demand pay for its "content" on the Internet.

The Colorado parents in last month's notorious "balloon boy" case will plead guilty to offenses for creating a hoax that their son had flown away in a large balloon.

Lawyer: 'Balloon boy' parents to plead guilty to hoax-related charges

Florida govt 'loses' 18,000 buildings

By FRANK CARNEVALE, Special Contributor
State officials in Florida are having trouble determining how many buildings the state owns and where they are, according to a report in The Palm Beach Post .

Officials were asked 10 months ago to create an inventory of their buildings, but nearly 18,000 building have not been detailed. The official charged with finding these building now wants to hire an outside company to find each building Florida has misplaced.

Department of Management Services Secretary Linda South was tasked with locating surplus state-owned properties and buildings that could be sold. South found that there was no single list of all the properties taxpayers own, WFOR-TV reported. She does have a list of the 115 state buildings her department is responsible for.

"I think it's amazing the state doesn't know what our inventories are," Ways and Means Committee chairman, J.D. Alexander, of Lake Wales, told South at a hearing last week.

Officials were surprised to learn that there was no single list of buildings and that the Department of Management Services did not have the manpower to compile such a list. South told legislators, "We do not have the knowledge base, the expertise in-house to understand what those values are. We need to ask the commercial real estate sector to tell us how we can get that done."

As WFOR reported it appears that Florida taxpayers will eventually pay to find the buildings they also paid to build.

Arizona officials have floated the idea of selling state buildings to generate money to close state budget shortfalls. The New York Times reported that state buildings like the executive office tower, the buildings that house offices for both chambers of the state legislature, as well as 10 prison complexes, a state mental hospital and other buildings valued at $735 million are for sale. The historic Capitol building is not on the market.

And city officials in Sacramento are working with the state of California to sell some state buildings so that the buildings would move onto the city's tax rolls.

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/strange_news/flori...

Not surprising. Florida loses children in its foster care system.

Opinion About Michelle Obama In The South Breaks On Party Lines
In the South, opinion about First Lady Michelle Obama has a lot to do with political affiliation, according to a new poll. Nearly 78 percent of Democrats had a favorable opinion of Mrs. Obama compared to only 26.2 percent of Republicans, according to the Winthrop University survey.

Independents favored Mrs. Obama by 55.4 percent to bring her overall favorable rating to 53.2 percent.

Among Democrats, only 18.2 percent were undecided about Mrs. Obama compared to 51.1 percent for Republicans and 26.9 percent for independents.
The poll of 866 adults 18 years old and over was taken between Oct. 24-Nov. 7 in 11 Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The poll included respondents with cell phone and land lines. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.33 percent.


http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/11/opinion...

1) Did they poll people on Laura Bush?

2)I'm pretty sure the 26.2 favorable rating in the South is because Michelle Obama should be cleaning the White House instead of living in it.

you are on point.

I call complete and utter BULLSHIT on this one.

---------------------------------------




* The Wall Street Journal

* NOVEMBER 11, 2009

Did Students Pay Witnesses?
Prosecutors Allege Journalism Class Sought Testimony to Overturn Murder Conviction

By JOE BARRETT

CHICAGO -- Prosecutors alleged Tuesday that a group of Northwestern University journalism students paid two people to testify in a class project seeking to overturn a 1981 murder conviction.

The claims marked the latest twist in a monthslong battle between the Cook County State's Attorney's office and the Medill Innocence Project at Northwestern. Past student research has helped set free 11 wrongly convicted men since 1992, including five on death row.


The Medill Innocence Project has investigated the case of Anthony McKinney, sentenced to life in prison.

The allegations Tuesday concern the 1978 murder of security guard Donald Lundahl in the southern suburb of Harvey. Anthony McKinney was found guilty of putting a shotgun in Mr. Lundahl's face and firing. In 1982, Mr. McKinney was sentenced to life in prison.

Prosecutors allege the students paid a man $40 -- which authorities claim he used to buy crack cocaine -- in exchange for a videotaped confession to the murder. They also allege the students paid another man $50 to $100, though he didn't provide any information.

Prosecutors declined to comment on whether any of the students would face criminal charges.

The students -- and their Northwestern professor, David Protess -- denied the allegations Tuesday, calling the state's court filing part of a "smear campaign."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125790435005942...


----------------------------------------------------

they got folks off DEATH ROW, and there wasn't the kind of reaction that I'm seeing now, with this case. there is a stench on this case something bad. and, someone or someones, want to keep it buried. now, remember, we're the town of John Burge. we're the state of 13 men on Death Row freed. nobody, not a cop or prosecutor has remotely been charged for the misconduct in THOSE cases...so, why the attack on them now? what have those students uncovered, or what are they afraid of what will be uncovered?

Can't be the same prosecutor's office that's trying to sling mud thats been silent about Jon Burge's 20 year long history of torturing to obtain death penalty confessions. Or, never made an effort to clean up its "Two-Ton Contest" aka "Niggers by the Pound".

I know we discussed this before, but I thought this take from Michelle Obama Watch was on point.

--------------------------
Michelle Obama’s Forgotten Family … WTH?

The well gets deeper and deeper. Every time I write a post about the First Lady’s slave roots, I keep telling myself it will be the last one. What’s the use in stating the obvious? However, the mainstream media just won’t let up. How dare that Michelle Obama become First Lady of the United States and forget her Caucasian fourth cousins? Shoudn’t they have been looked up and invited to the Inauguration festivities? Maybe invited to live at 1600? Or a spin on Air Force One?

With her blonde hair and blue eyes, Debbie Shields looks nothing like First Lady Michelle Obama, but they actually share a common bond — they’re related.

Debbie’s great-great-grandfather is also Michelle Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather.

“You were told that you were Michelle Obama’s fourth cousin. What was your reaction?” asks INSIDE EDITION’s Les Trent.

“I said, ‘Awesome!’ “

“Did you believe it?”

“No, not at first. [I] thought it was a joke,” Shields says.

The man believed to be the family link between Debbie Shields and Michelle Obama was a white slave owner named Charles Marion Shields. He died 93 years ago, in 1916…

“What goes through your head? You, a white woman, when you find out you may possibly be related to the first African American First Lady?” Les Trent asks.

”I think it’s great. I would like to sit down and talk with her and share memories, share photographs, stories,” says Shields.

INSIDE EDITION

All I can say is WOW! Share memories? Share photos? That would be a really interesting conversation. I guess all us Black folks need to get busy searching census data and finding our “forgotten family”, because if we ever move on up, we would never want to be accused of leaving them behind. That way the media can go straight to giving them their props, instead of wasting time and money on expensive genealogists and researchers.

As for me, I’ve devoted the rest of 2009 to compiling a list of every successful Caucasian person, cross-referencing our family trees, and getting ready for my come up. Anybody want to join me?

Posted by Aminah Hanan


http://michelleobamawatch.com/2009/11/michelle-...

Well how can she hate Whitey when Whitey is part of her family?

Or will it be proven that she hates Whitey when she puts the white wing of her family on "ignore?"

Or will it be proven that she hates Whitey when she puts the white wing of her family on "ignore?

so true. so true.

Initially waved off, Hispanic advocates jump into health debate
Effort centers on ensuring reform doesn't shortchange immigrants

By Krissah Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 12, 2009

After trying to carefully balance their interests in health-care reform and immigration, the nation's Hispanic lawmakers and largest advocacy groups are scrambling to develop a strategy to counter what they see as efforts to shortchange immigrants in health bills on Capitol Hill.

They had tried to keep the two issues apart, concerned, they said, that immigration would distract from health care. But other lawmakers and activists have inserted the immigration issue into the middle of the health-care debate, causing a collision between what Hispanic leaders call their two top policy priorities.

Many of them believe that a health-care overhaul is vital to their community, which is disproportionately uninsured and suffers from a host of chronic illnesses. But with the current bills excluding more than a million Hispanics -- mostly legal immigrants -- the debate runs into the issue of immigrants' rights.

"In every policy debate, as long as immigration remains unresolved, there is going to be a question of what happens to immigrants in this country," said Jennifer Ng'andu, deputy director of health policy at the National Council of La Raza. "One of the reasons that there is so much concern is that our nation's leaders have not dealt with these issues."

Under the health bill passed in the House on Saturday, illegal immigrants would be allowed to buy insurance on a newly created exchange with their own money and without government subsidies. The bill expected in the Senate would bar illegal immigrants from the exchange altogether. In both the Senate and House, all legal immigrants are eligible for government subsidies to buy insurance on the exchange, but immigrants who have been in the country for less than five years would remain barred by existing law from enrolling in Medicaid and Medicare.

At a meeting in May with Hispanic groups and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, activists pushed for dealing with immigration reform within the health-care debate, recalled Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Medical Association.

"They told us, 'Don't you dare,' " she said of lawmakers. " 'Don't distract. This is about health-care reform and eliminating health-care disparities.' I thought that was smart. We realized that wasn't the focus."

Now, however, she says she is worried that the health-care bills moving through Congress will not do enough to help immigrants and alleviate health-care disparities in the Latino community.

Similarly, a September meeting with White House policy advisers included a "warning" against confronting the health-care barriers immigrants face because of "fears that conservatives in the Senate could use the issue to kill the bill," Rios wrote on her Web site.

Immigration has become a major political hurdle, regardless.

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

Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum
Same-sex marriage bill, as written, called a threat to social service contracts


By Tim Craig and Michelle Boorstein
Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.

"If the city requires this, we can't do it," Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Wednesday. "The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that's really a problem."

Several D.C. Council members said the Catholic Church is trying to erode the city's long-standing laws protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination.

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

I am not sure how D.C. would enforce laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians vis-a-vis the Catholic Church or Islamic mosques. Perhaps D.C. should just cancel all contracts with religious institutions and truly seperate church and state.

Let's see how the lawmakers respond. Surely they saw this coming a mile away.

Medical group pulling trade show from Chicago after one visit
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society cites high cost of electrical services for moving 2012 meeting to Las Vegas

By Kathy Bergen Tribune reporter

November 12, 2009

Chicago is losing a premier medical trade show to Las Vegas because of the high cost of electrician services at McCormick Place, the show organizer said late Wednesday.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, which held its annual meeting at McCormick Place for the first time in April, is taking its 2012 show to the Sands Expo and Convention Center and the adjacent Venetian hotel.

The show rotates between several cities, and 2012 had been the next window for Chicago, which is trying to establish itself as a center for medical meetings.

Chicago was ruled out after show exhibitors and organizers were slammed with electrical services bills that were four to 10 times greater than what they paid at last year's show in Orlando, Fla., for identical services, said Steve Lieber, president and CEO of the Chicago-based association.

One small exhibitor saw its electrical-services bill climb from $4,000 in Orlando to $40,000 in Chicago, for the same booth, he said, adding that others saw costs rise by four to eight times what they paid in Orlando.

While hourly rates are not significantly higher here, the number of workers required and the number of hours billed for identical jobs are much greater, he said.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chicago/ch...


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been a scam for years in Chicago.

It's Obama's fault.

no, this is King Richard II's fault.

Trade show venues are notorious for this kind of thing, even in Orlando and Vegas. Being "customer" friendly is sometimes not high on their list. At one of our first trade shows in Indianapolis, I thought me and my guys were going to get into a large melee because we brought our display and intended to set it up ourselves. Only a $100 bill to the shift leader (union) gained us access to the dock.

Union rules raise costs.

Warhol Fetches $43.7 Million at Auction
By CAROL VOGEL
Published: November 11, 2009

It was the sale of the season. When a seminal Warhol — one of the artist’s first silk-screen paintings — came on the block at Sotheby’s auction of contemporary art on Wednesday night, the auctioneer, Tobias Meyer, opened bidding at $6 million and was stunned when a bidder instantly doubled it.

The price rose at breakneck speed as five collectors vied for the classic image, “200 One Dollar Bills.” It ended up selling for $43.7 million (including fees to Sotheby’s), more than three times its high estimate of $12 million. The buyer, whom Sotheby’s refused to identify, bid by telephone through Bruno Vinciguerra, the company’s chief operating officer. Sotheby’s would also not identify the seller, although people familiar with the collection said it was Pauline Karpidas, a London-based collector.

Just a year after the art market was in the doldrums with the world’s financial markets, buyers with deep pockets were not shy about stepping up for tried-and-true artists. The sale topped Sotheby’s expectations, totaling $134.4 million, well above its $67.9 million high estimate. Of the 54 works on offer, only two went unsold. The evening also eclipsed Christie’s auction of postwar and contemporary art on Tuesday night, which brought in $74.1 million. While both sales featured big-name artists, Sotheby’s had just enough blockbusters to make for a successful evening.

In pristine condition, “200 One Dollar Bills” was enticing to any Pop Art collector. Add to that the provenance — it had once been part of the celebrated collection of Robert C. Scull, the taxi tycoon — and it was irresistible.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/arts/design/1...

Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a plan for higher payroll taxes on the upper-income earners to help finance health care legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate in the next several days, numerous Democratic officials said Wednesday.

These officials said one of the options Reid has had under review would raise the payroll tax that goes to Medicare, but only on income above $250,000 a year. Current law sets the tax at 1.45 percent of income, an amount matched by employers.

- - -

Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, declined comment and said the majority leader has made no final decisions and is awaiting detailed information from the Congressional Budget Office about the cost and coverage implications of the proposals he has drafted.

Reid eyes payroll tax hike on wealthy

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Cheap Gimmick. Trick likely will not "touch" billionaires or million/billion dollar bonuses.

November 11, 2009, 9:30 pm
The Betrayal

ST. LOUIS – So long as Budweiser, the King of Beers, was enthroned in this pleasant and nobly resilient middle American city, the blows of corporate condescension from the other giants who abandoned the Gateway Arch could be endured.

But then, last year, came a kidney punch that still hurts: Anheuser-Busch, which had survived Prohibition and the micro-brew craze, was sold to a Belgian brewer. Bud was now Euro-beer. Next they’ll tell us Huck Finn had a taste for éclairs as he floated down the Mississippi.

Board members, those solid citizens of St. Louis, made a pile in the merger that created the world’s largest brewer. But everyone else lost, including more than a 1,000 longtime employees given pink slips.

I heard the Bud buyout mentioned in the same soured breaths that exhaled expletives regarding the upcoming bonuses that will be passed around this holiday season by Wall Street firms saved by taxpayers — $30 billion in bonuses to the top three investment banks.

It takes quite a bit for Americans to say that the social contract is broken, or look upon concentrated wealth as anything except a virtue.

But we may have reached that breach. Our politics are not simply left and right, conservative and liberal. Never have been. Every once in a while, the great middle of independents are stirred to one side. My guess is, if the drift caused by recent actions continues, the United States will be consumed in the coming year by the politics of betrayal, and the winner will be ahead of the rage.

Right now, a time when only 20 percent of Americans call themselves Republicans and Democrats are shrinking as well, the independents are disgusted with both parties. In large part, it’s because neither one seems to be on their side.

http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/the-be...

Foreign investors own most of America. Therefore, there is no longer a basis for a "social contract" because the owner is not Amerrycun.

Remember the Dubai managing U.S. ports uproar? Shortly afterwards, Dubai was in the process of acquiring one of the last U.S. owned military manufacturing plant, which builds tanks and military aircraft.

Okinawans Grow Impatient With Dashed Hopes on U.S. Base
By MARTIN FACKLER
Published: November 11, 2009

GINOWAN, Japan — Okinawans like Zenji Shimada, who have spent most of their lives under the thudding of helicopters from a busy American air base, are accustomed to disappointment. Decades of complaints about the base here and others on the island have gone largely unheeded, and a painstakingly negotiated plan to move the Marines from populated areas remains years from completion.

This summer was no different. Hopes stirred by the election of a new Democratic Party government were quickly dashed after members of the administration of the incoming prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, backed away from the party’s pre-election promises to move the base off the island.

“We feel like Mr. Hatoyama has been jerking us around,” said Mr. Shimada, 69, a Protestant pastor who joined a lawsuit against the base.

When President Obama visits Tokyo on Friday as part of a weeklong tour of Asia, the base issue is perhaps the most prominent of several he will face as the countries’ long-close relations enter a new period of uncertainty. While Mr. Hatoyama has affirmed that the military alliance with the United States remains the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy, he has also called for ending Japan’s “overdependence” on Washington and reorienting his nation toward a resurgent Asia.

“Japan-American relations have entered a new stage that people don’t really understand yet,” said Masaaki Gabe, a professor of international relations at Okinawa’s University of the Ryukyus. “Japan feels a lot of uncertainty about the future in Asia, but it also feels like it doesn’t have to follow quite so closely behind the United States.”

As the two nations search for a new balance, the fate of the base, the sprawling United States Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, has taken on heightened significance. Futenma has occupied the center of Ginowan, a city of 92,000, since it was built on land seized in the closing days of World War II.

It was this base, with its busy runway lying adjacent to homes and a university and its flight paths running directly over crowded neighborhoods, that Washington initially agreed to move in 1996 after a public outcry over the rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl by three American servicemen.

Washington wants to proceed with a 2006 agreement to move the Marines to a less heavily populated part of Okinawa by 2014. But Mr. Hatoyama’s party is now backtracking, saying it may seek to renegotiate the deal. Mr. Hatoyama has postponed making a formal decision until after local Okinawan elections in January.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/world/asia/12...

No chance in Hell Barack Obama will give the order for that base to be closed. What else is new? He also said during the campaign that he was against building permanent bases in Iraq. Oh, well.

ummmm....from this article, it is the Japanese officials who are reneging on their promise....curious as to how this becomes another opportunity to bash the president, especially when there was not even one quote from the President included in this article regarding this subject.

BTW, as much as anti-military Americans like yourself hate the US involvement in other countires, many countries depend heavily on the money generated by US military bases, their economies depend on it, the revenue troops and their families bring...look up the many areas in Germany who became quite upset when plans to close and drawdown forces there were announced there.

Of course the Japanese are walking back on their promises: They dont want to upset their U.S Masters now led by one Barack Obama. The people of Okinawa (just like the folks in Cuba with Guantanamo Bay) have been asking the U.S to leave their land for the longest. In fact, this case of Okinanawa is very interesting because a few years ago a couple of U.S soldiers rapped a young girl and there were massive protests (bet you didnt hear any of that in the U.S Media?).

At this point, Barack Obama could end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (with the stroke of a pen), he could lead the efforts to return Guantanamo back to Cuba, he could've NOT sign off on the seven (7) brand new military bases in Colombia (what does the U.S need bases in Colombia for?)...Please, let's not pretend that piss is rain.

about the "Germans wants us there 'cause it's good for the economy? I can find you dozens of German activists groups that have been fighting for the U.S to leave their country.

I highly recommend that you stop by your local public library and pick up Chalmer Johnson's Trilogy:

Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.

First off, I need not pretend anything....I live it and have lived in places overseas in military arenas...and while yes, they are activists( there always is) I do KNOW that many foreign locales DO depend heavily on military populations for their own economy and that was the crux of what they Japanese official said...that their particualr community had become overdependent because they particular base probably provided PLENTY of jobs for their area. That official is backing off his OWN promise, the US at this time doesn not appear to have even made a final decision.
I live it dear, I don't have to read everything on Commondreams.org and think it's the gospel.

But as always, an article which does not even contain one single quote regarding the President's stance on this becomes an opportunity to bash him.

But what is there to expect for you...if my memory serves correctly, you once on this very site wished Happy Memorial Day to the draft dodgers and deserters....and well that poor and tasteless stance of yours is reflective of well...you know.

Btw, lemme know the latitude and longitudes of those permanent military bases in Iraq you speak of...I'm curious to know...you must have a serous Department of Defense connect...you got all the details....forward me the memos.

Oh, and we actually know what the U.S position on the bases is after all:

"But all of that paled in comparison with the uproar that erupted in Japan after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited Tokyo in October. Mr. Gates, known for speaking bluntly, pressed Mr. Hatoyama and Japanese military officials to keep their commitment on the military agreements.

“It is time to move on,” Mr. Gates said, calling Japanese proposals to reopen the base issue “counterproductive.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/world/asia/12...

Perhaps you can know tell us why does the U.S needs bases in a place where the people of the community (not the government) does not want them there.

Right. Because the only troops that ought to be honored are the ones that go and fight unjust wars (vietnam anyone?) and occupy other people's lands at the request of politicians in Washington, DC. I'd much rather honor a draft dodger or someone who deserts than a soldier that follows orders to kill women and children in Fallujah.

In Sick Around the World, FRONTLINE teams up with veteran Washington Post foreign correspondent T.R. Reid to find out how five other capitalist democracies -- the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland -- deliver health care, and what the United States might learn from their successes and their failures. (more »)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaro...

Do your part on corruption, Karzai man tells West

By Sardar Ahmad (AFP) – 5 hours ago

KABUL — The Afghan presidency on Thursday hit back at mounting Western concern over corruption, urging the international community to do its part by battling graft in aid contracts.

Siamak Herawi, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, made the comments after the US ambassador reportedly expressed deep concern about sending extra troops until Karzai's government shows progress against corruption.

"We are committed in further fighting corruption as we prepare to form a new government," Herawi told AFP.

Karzai is to be sworn in on November 19 for another five years in power under the scrutiny of foreign leaders who are stepping up pressure on the one-time darling in the West to act against graft.

The president has also faced widespread criticism for his alliances with warlords and one of his two picks for vice president, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, is widely accused of rights abuses.

"We've pledged to the international community to further intensify our efforts against corruption. We are serious," Herawi said.

"At the same time, we want the international community to do more to eliminate corruption in spending aid money. We want the international community to eliminate corruption that exists in the contract systems."

Billions of dollars in international assistance have poured into Afghanistan since a US-led force ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.

"Corruption in the international aid money spending affects Afghanistan, Afghan people and their lives, and the Afghan administration," Herawi said.

The Washington Post and New York Times said classified cables from Ambassador Karl Eikenberry reportedly detail strong reservations against sending reinforcements until Karzai's government shows it can tackle widespread corruption that has spurred a Taliban resurgence

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/AL...

The 2010 military budget—which doesn’t even cover many war-related expenditures—is listed as $680 billion. In 2009 it was $651 billion and in 2000 was $280 billion. It has more than doubled in 10 years.

The U.S. Congress has been debating a basic health care plan—which every other industrialized country in the world has in some form—for more than six months. There has been intense insurance company lobbying, right-wing threats, and dire warnings that a health care plan must not add one dime to the deficit.

Yet in the midst of this life-and-death debate on medical care for millions of working and poor people who have no health coverage, a gargantuan subsidy to the largest U.S. corporations for military contracts and weapons systems—a real deficit-breaker—is passed with barely any discussion and hardly a news article.

Physicians for a National Health Program estimates that a universal, comprehensive single-payer health plan would cost $350 billion a year, which would actually be the amount saved through the elimination of all the administrative costs in the current private health care system—a system that leaves out almost 50 million people.

Compare this to just the cost overruns each year in the military budget. Even President Obama on signing the Pentagon budget said, “The Government Accountability Office, the GAO, has looked into 96 major defense projects from the last year, and found cost overruns that totaled $296 billion.” (whitehouse.gov, Oct. 28)

Bernard Madoff’s $50-billion Ponzi scheme, supposedly the biggest rip-off in history, pales in comparison. Why is there no criminal inquiry into this multibillion-dollar theft? Where are the congressional hearings or media hysteria about $296 billion in cost overruns? Why are the CEOs of the corporations not brought into court in handcuffs?

The Pentagon Budget: Largest Ever and Growing

that's why when I hear the GOP utter 'welfare', they need to STFU.

A study released Wednesday warns that nine states are barreling toward an economic disaster similar to California's ongoing fiscal crisis that has been marked by IOUs and budget-busting deficits.

The budget woes could mean higher taxes, accelerated layoffs of government employees, more crowded classrooms and fewer services in the coming year for some of the nation's most populous states.

Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin join California as those most at risk of fiscal calamity, according to the report by the Pew Center on the States.

Double-digit budget gaps, rising unemployment, high home foreclosure rates and built-in budget constraints are the key reasons.

Report: 10 states face looming budget disasters

I do not disagree with the report, and we have a bunch of cowards in our statehouse, refusing to do the right thing, and just bite the bullett and raise the state income tax.

IMO McDonnell's going to have to either drastically cut services (which will make him very unpopular), implement new ways of raising funds (like tolls, which will make him unpopular) or raise taxes (which will definitely make him unpopular). I don't see any other way to raise the necessary funds for transportation without doing one or more of these three things. If he can do it without doing any of the above, more power to him.

THIS? Didn't make any damn sense:

Long before the Westin Hotel served as scene for a downer Deeds post-election prom, there was another party. It was held on a warm summertime evening at the home of a well-connected Richmond couple on Cherokee Road. The couple, which asked to remain anonymous, was hosting a Deeds meet-and-greet for potential big-money campaign supporters and volunteers.

Though the candidate’s attendance was promised, Deeds never showed.

“They brought in a bunch of prominent people all based on the idea that Deeds would be there,” says a longtime party fundraiser who attended the event.

“It’s kind of funky to go to a party expecting to get the gubernatorial candidate and you get a 19-year-old girl instead — wearing flip-flops. I don’t know her exact age, but she was powerful young. It was quite disconcerting.”

In addition to her lack of proper footwear, she arrived without literature, bumper stickers or yard signs. “I was horrified when I saw her,” says a woman who attended the event. “The people who were there were well-known volunteers. Not only was it disappointing, it was embarrassing.”

http://www.styleweekly.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod...

This is why Deeds' ass didn't get the support he needed, because he and his team were completely incompetent. Who the F sends a teenager to a big money fundraiser in his place? Although I know Sheila Johnson's move was completely self-serving, maybe he pulled the same stunt on her and she was like "Oh honey, no."

everything you reveal about Deeds shows him to be a lackluster candidate that didn't deserve to win. YOU never insult THE MONEY PEOPLE.

In my state, the statehouse has nearly taxed the citizens into the poor house. Yet, they never touched or gave serious review of corporation giveaways at taxpayers' expense nor did they make any serious effort to sever ties with vultures on Wall Street.

I live in michigan and we are between a rock and a hard place. We really, really need to lure non auto industry jobs to Michigan. But if we raise taxes or reduce "corporate giveaways" the companies will go to Texas, NC, or other states with low taxes and minimal union involvement. And worse, unemployment and foreclosers are so high any new sales or flat rate taxes could tip people over the edge.

Im in NY (Home to Wall Street, AIG, Goldman and Sachs, JP Morgan...) and governor Patterson keeps running around saying that the only way to fix the budget crisis is to further break the backs of the poor. He already proposed a $96 Million dollar cuts to the state university of ny. He's also proposing cuts on social services and healthcare. No wonder he wants that gay marriage bill passed really bad: He's got nothing else to show for!

Just saying... Things did not work out better in Michigan with deals/giveaways for pharmaceutical companies.

Most of the big pharmaceutical companies in Michigan left or lost jobs while Auto was still king and before the state offered "deals". Park-Davis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parke-Davis) is no longer in business in Michigan. It merged several times and Pfizer closed down all of the extensive Parke-Davis research/production facilities in Michigan.
Upjohn (also owned by Pfizer) still has some facilities here in Michigan but Upjohn was established in the 1880's, predating all deals/giveaways.
There are some generic pharmaceutical companies in Michigan but they also predate all deals/giveaways.
The pending healthcare bills will do nothing to help the Michigan pharmaceuticals.

Earlier point. Pfizer concessions did not help Michigan or stop site closures. Not trying to put down Michigan. Pfizer was under investigation because of its deals.

Prior in the week I remember seeing this picture of a white female police officer who got shot while trying to engage Hassan. She was being heralded as a "hero" that "took down" the shooter. I was a little groggy this morning and could have swore I saw a story on one of the morning shows with the headline "The Real Hero of Ft. Hood." There was this black male police officer on there and he was saying that he was the one that shot Hassan. Was I dreaming this up or did someone try to pull the okey doke on us? Surprise Surprise

She shot Hasan first, then the brotha was the one who took him down after she got shot. She's just Jessica Lynch 2009.

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20091111...

Senior Sgt. Mark Todd arrived at the scene at about the same time as Sgt. Munley. One or both officers shot Hassan. Hassan shot at Munley as she ran at him firing her pistol and he hit her four times which may have given Sgt. Todd the opportunity to shoot Hassan.

The moment when another G.I. Jane was inserted on the FT Hood storyboard, I stopped listening.

There are probably people who still do not know that the Iraqi hospital staff had made numerous contacts with the military to pick up "our" last highly publicized "Jane" before the military decided to "rescue" her.

There are real G.I. Janes out there, they seldom, if ever, receive visibility.

Good reminder!

now, you've got me back to my two positions;
A) a setup
B) utter incompetence.

as I've said before, neither one is all that comforting for differing reasons.

just like, how often is it you have one of these, and the shooter is declared dead -FOR HOURS, only to be told ' my bad -he's alive'. THAT smells too.

I've lived on military bases as a child and 4 years as an adult. Please someone explain to college educated Guns. How in the hell did local police get to the crime scene before the military police? Especially on a base the size of Fort Hood. They probably have one the biggest military police units in the world. When I was youngin getting crazy in the E club(enlisted). The MPs used to swarm the place in matter of minutes if there was a little scuffle. You telling me country bumpkin ass Kaleen Tx police got there before them. And a bunch of those MPs probably served in Iraq and Afghanistan so you know they are trigger happy. My bullshit meter is starting to go off.

All you need to know is:

Obama didn't keep us safe on American soil.

Obama is incompetent.

Obama is a failure.

A Real American(tm) white woman took down the evil A-Rab terrorist.

Obama is bad for America. He is the brown bogeyman that refuses to protect Real Americans. He's dithering on Afghanistan and that's showing weakness. That's why this Hasan did this. In fact, Hasan met with Obama in the West Wing to plan this attack while Michelle Obama screamed "KILL WHITEY!" in the background.

That's all you need to know.

That's all you need to know.

The lone ranger story, especially on a military base, just doesn't add up for me at the moment. Even the notion of a lone shooter causing chaos on said base also doesn't make sense. I know this is tin-foil territory, but still...

The surge in spending on equipment for the Army over the past several years has likely run its course, the president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an independent research organization, told analysts at an investor conference here Tuesday.

But, said Andrew Krepinevich, who is also a former member of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessments, that spending surge has resulted in a “hollow” buildup that doesn’t really add to the Army’s assets in a significant way, as equipment continues to be worn out by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That situation is unlikely to be remedied as long as the burden of fighting two wars falls heavily on the Army. The “safety valve” used in the past — cutting force strength to lower personnel costs and free up procurement funds — currently isn’t an option with a high-operational tempo for the service and planned troop increases.

Krepinevich spoke at an investor conference hosted by Defense News and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. He echoed other speakers at the conference in saying there is a concern operations and maintenance and personnel costs will crowd out acquisition spending, and U.S. government spending to support the economy will add pressure to defense spending as well.

Expectations are that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will ask for base budget spending that is 2 percent higher in real dollars for fiscal year 2011 versus the base budget for fiscal year 2010, Krepinevich said, adding that plans to incorporate supplemental or war funding into that base budget will add pressure as well.

Analysts: Army equipment spending surge to end

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"Lowering personnel costs" during past eight years meant: ignoring HIGH suicide rates, charging soldiers for equipment, subpar equipment, separating soldiers from military with dishonorable discharge who needs medical care, moving the bug-infested wards at Walter Reed down to Texas, barebones budget for the VA, multi-year claims processing. Although they are all nearly dead, there were, up until last year, Korean War veterans still trying to get VA claims met.