Obama's Weekly YouTube Address

In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is preparing a new strategy for reviving our financial system, and urged the swift passage of an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse

Rick Steves In Iran

Just saw the Rick Steves episode on Iran. Recommend watching it or DVR it. Very interesting. Great architecture and history. Steves is the Bob Ross of traveling: very soothing, mellow guy. Almost like Ned Flanders.

Too bad these guys are so hung up on the destruction of Israel.



Check for listing. Source: Rick Steves

Roberts Gibbs: I Cannot Tell A Lie

Obama's Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will not do what Ari Fleischer, Scott McClellan, Tony Snow and Dana Parino had to do on regular basis: Lie for the President.

The days of carrying water for loser President George Bush are over.

When asked if he would ever lie from the podium, the press secretary responded with a flat "no."

"I think that whenever somebody in my capacity does that, it puts you in a position where reporters are now having to guess whether what you're saying is true or not," he said. "I think at that point, you're incapable of doing your job."

George Washington's cherry tree story redux.

Source: CBS News

Detroit On The Brink: Make Test City?

Article makes the case for using Detroit as a case study for radical ideas. The Obama administration can test ideas for chronic urban problems.

The median price of a home sold in Detroit in December was $7,500, according to Realcomp, a listing service.

The houses are cheaper than their cars.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Republicans Are The New Iranians

Who knew that when Obama said "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist" it was the GOP he's be talking about?

Republicans are the new Iranians.

I can see it now, Ayatollah Boehner. Mullah Mitch McConnell. Theocrats looking to the past in order to rule, not govern.

RNC Chair: The Job No One Wants

Current Chair Mike Duncan, although leading in ballots, dropped out. #4 Ken Blackwell has withdrawn and thrown his support behind Michael Steele.

A 6th ballot? Will the RNC elect a black man? Katan Dawson's racist Kountry Klub in SC.

DEVELOPING........

UPDATE: RNC elects their first black Chairman, Michael Steele. Seems the GOP has finally embraced change and are willing to move forward. Pretty "awesome" as Bush would say.

Bonuses Paid On Massive Losses?

Hmmm. Is this what corporate responsibility looks like? Common sense is back!

"New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may demand the return of $4 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch & Co. just before it was acquired by Bank of America Corp., a person familiar with the matter said."

Aren't bonuses paid based on profits? Not tax-payer bailouts.

Source: Bloomberg

Illinois May Have Flaws, But....

Say what you will about Illinois politics and their corruption. When someone does something wrong, they correct it. Impeachment worked pretty swiftly there for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

If only we could have been that swift with Bush.

Andrew, Ted And God: Which One Is Not Like The Other

Andrew Sullivan, an openly gay conservative writer, writes about Ted Haggard's appearance on Oprah:

"I watched the whole thing. I feel for Haggard - because he is trapped between who he is and his internalized belief that God cannot love him for who he is. But God can love him for being gay. And does love him for being gay. This is hard, I know. Accepting God's unconditional love for me was the hardest part of keeping hold of my Christian faith."

And the arbitrary meaningless acceptance of religion's contradictory mythology goes on. It sucks that Andrew's true love of God is somehow not as good as Ted's because Ted is in total denial about his sexuality, his very definition of who he is.

Why Andrew wants to frame his life relative to Bronze Age fables that provide zero answers for life is beyond me. For a smart guy, doing the whole "Faith" thing is counter-intuitive. Why would you want to belong to a group like that? Would you have become a Christian at 20 years old?

Meanwhile, Ted sits there with his wife who he committed adultery on with male prostitutes, cock still on his breath, and smiles like he's internally thinking, "at least God doesn't hate me for being gay". AND people buy that!

Source: Andrew Sullivan

Andrea Mitchell Annoys Me

Andrea Mitchell has the charisma of a pro golf caddy. Her voice is a cure for insomnia. Her lack of inflection makes monotone seem orchestral compared to her.

She is on MSNBC asking whoever about current topics. That is her job. The total lack of full disclosure as she talks about our economy is mind numbing. Her husband is former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. The guy who guided our economy to where we are now.

One segment I saw today she was talking about the stimulus package. Her guest was a Democratic economist so maybe her questions were geared toward him having to defend his stance. Andrea drones on about how not one Republican voted for the package even though Obama met with and made attempts to please the GOP. She asks, "was that the wrong thing to do?" Was it wrong for the President to meet with the opposition party even though they gave no support?

It's like she is looking for conflict. She wants a guest to say, "yes, we're done reaching out. This Republican obstructionist BS is what we now embrace".

So like I said, maybe it was relative to her guest, but to hear the wife of the guy who set up our system to fail, and was backed by Republicans and conservative free markets idealists the whole time, frame questions this way is extremely annoying.

It's like have the wife of Barry Bonds questions guests on integrity in sports.

Olbermann: Yoo Calls Torture The "Bush System"

In Keith's Still Bushed segment, he reminds us of how bad pro-torture flunkee John Yoo is. Yoo, who insists in his overwhelmingly flawed WSJ article that America most torture, unknowingly cements his legacy correctly as he refers to torture as the "Bush System".

We now have a name for government sponsored torture, The Bush System.

Source: MSNBC

Brandeis Busted By Bernie

Brandeis University, America's only nonsectarian institution of higher education sponsored by the Jewish community, has been crushed by Bernie Madoff.

They've lost a lot of money under Bernie and have to make some tough decisions: fire half the staff or sell their famed Rose Art Museum and sell off its collection which was valued at $350 million.

University president Jehuda Reinharz, after 30 percent of the faculty had taken a pay cut, offered up 1% of his $600,000 for the cause. What a mensch.

With all its famous alum, Irving Howe, Thomas Friedman, Christie Hefner and Walt Mossberg all graduated, a reader asks: is raising $13MM each year for the next 6 years to cover their operating expenses that hard to cover?

Source: Daily Beast

Republicans Have Major Shrinkage

Alaska and Mormons.

Five States. That is all the Republican Party has left. Alaska is filled with people who don't like the 48 regular States and have to live in their own world. The Mormon theo-cons have the most made-up religion ever and have a history of polygamy and racism [Blacks have no soul, anyone?]



Nate Silver:

"...just five states, collectively containing about 2 percent of the American population, have statistically significant pluralities of adults identifying themselves as Republicans. These are the "Mormon Belt" states of Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, plus Nebraska, plus Alaska. By contrast, 35 states are plurality Democratic, and 10 states are too close to call."

Source: fivethirtyeight.com

What A Dick [Armey]

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) was on Hardball debating with Salon's editor-in-chief Joan Walsh.

The guy can barely say "redistributionists", let alone explain it, but that won't get in his way. When asked by Walsh who these redistributionists are, the ones who messed up Bush's tax cuts according to Armey, the same tax cuts for the rich that proved to be a massive failure, the dishonest and dismissive Dick shoots back, "I'm so damn glad you can never be my wife 'cause I surely wouldn't have to listen to that prattle from you every day."

Really? Does he beat his wife or something for talking out? A conservative from Texas is all you need to know. Get back in your Model T and crank up Rush Limbaugh.

NOTE: Host Chris Matthews shows his dickside by not doing anything about it.

GOP Lost But Refusing New Direction

The RNC has lost 2 election cycles and control of the White House, Senate and House. Their leadership seems to be non-existent. They are obstructionists and the party of "no" in this new age of Obama.

The time has come to elect new leaders for the RNC this Friday. Currently it is run by Mike Duncan.

Updated vote counts predict:

First Read: Duncan 44, Steele 30, Dawson 18, Blackwell, 16, Anuzis 16, Saltsman 1, Unknown 43.

YourRNC: Duncan 36, Dawson 20, Steele 18, Anuzis 17, Blackwell 13, Saltsman 0.

That's Republican dogma. Elect the guy who oversaw two historic defeats because you have no one better. Keep the bad ideas coming!

Colbert: O'Reilly Can't Verify Any Of The Rumors He Reports

Bill O'Reilly does not "report rumors", he just has lead stories that he cannot verify any facts on. That's good reporting.

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Obama Bringing Government To And For The People

Barack Obama is bringing government of the people for the people and the Republicans don't like it. The House passed the $819 billion economic stimulus bill by a vote of 244 to 188.

Not one Republican voted for it. Bitter obstructionist, partisan politics. That is your legacy. Why don't you just buy a ticket and watch from the sidelines.

The very same Republican House leadership presided over the greatest deficit spending and pork barrel politics in the history of the United States.

Representative John Boehner (R - OH) rejected the bill before he even saw it.

Amateurs!

via Washington Monthly:

"Of course, the last time we saw a vote like this one was probably the 1993 vote on Clinton's first budget -- every single Republican in the chamber voted against it, hoping to prove, once and for all, that they were right about economics and Democrats were wrong. If memory serves, that budget was the first step towards the longest economic expansion on record, the creation of 22 million jobs, and the total elimination of the federal budget deficit."

Obama Presides With Authority

The difference between Presidencies is so obvious, yet it will take time getting used to government working for the people. It's almost too good to be true. The way we define ourselves, carry ourselves, debate others with opposing views, argue our points, as well as, deal with our families over politics is all changing.

Not saying it's better, but it will never be as painful as the past 8 years. We've all graduated to the next level.

Nice article on Obama's "change"by Andrew Sullivan explaining this:

"At times, Bush's indifference to the system around him bordered on a kind of political autism. And so one of the oddest aspects of Bush's presidency was his tendency to declare things as if merely saying them as president could make them so. The model was clear and dramatically intensified by wartime: the president pronounced; Congress anemically responded; the base rallied. At the start, it felt like magic, but as reality slipped through the fast-eroding firewall of reckless spending and military misadventure, Bush's authority disappeared all the more quickly - because his so-certain predictions were so obviously wrong. The Decider had no response to this. He just had to keep deciding and asserting, to less and less effect, that he was right all along. Hence the excruciating final months. Within a democratic system, we had replicated all the comedy and tragedy of cocooned authoritarianism.

Now look at Obama. What the critics misread in his Inaugural was its classical structure. He was not running any more. He was presiding. His job was not to rally vast crowds, but to set the scene for the broader constitutional tableau to come to life. Hence the obvious shock of some Republican Congressman at debating with a president who seemed interested in actual conversation, as opposed to pure politics. Last Tuesday, there were none of the bold declarative predictions of the Second Bush Inaugural - and none of the slightly creepy Decider idolatry. Yes, Obama set some very clear directional goals, but the key difference is what came next: a window of invitation. The invitation is to the other co-equal branches of government to play their part; and for the citizenry to play its. This is an understanding of the president as one node in a constitutional order - not a near-dictator outside and superior to other branches of government. It is a return to traditional constitutional order. And it is rooted in a traditional, small-c conservative understanding of the presidency.

If Bush was about the presidency as power, Obama is about the presidency as authority. It's fascinating to watch this deep difference in understanding slowly but unmistakably realize itself in public actions. Somewhere the Founders are smiling. The system is correcting itself after one of the most unbalanced periods in American history. But it took the self-restraint of one man to do it."

Let's see if we can all learn from his lead.

Source: Andrew Sullivan

RIP Right Wing Talking Point: Corporate Taxes

Let's kill this Right Wing talking point right now. Last night I heard Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Ensign on TV spewing this old fable:

"You know, we have the second highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world. Microsoft, which is a great American company, has zero exports from the United States. They have a lot of exports from Ireland, because, guess what, Ireland has a 12.5 percent corporate tax rate; we have a 35 percent corporate tax rate."

Sounds scary. How could America be the #1 ranked country to do business, while Ireland is #22, if it's so bad?

Wait, I know. Two-Thirds Of Corporations Did Not Pay Taxes. According to last month's Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, between 1998 and 2005 "about two-thirds of corporations operating in the United States did not pay taxes" because of a variety of corporate tax loopholes.

We give the rich so many breaks, they end up not paying taxes. If you use that Ireland example, the US taxes paid by corporations, as a percentage of GDP, was about 2.2 percent; Ireland raised close to 4 percent.

So give this bullshit talking point a rest, or at least update and give all the information if you're trying to make a point. Also, look at Ireland now, they're dead broke.

NOTE: The reason Ireland is so attractive to high-tech companies like Microsoft is the corporate tax break; it's a tax exemption on royalties from newly patented technologies and processes, provided that the research leading to the patent took place in Ireland.

Dell has already left Limerick, Ireland for Poland where they get lower taxes. It's a corporate race to the bottom which is the backbone of the Republican free market utopia. Their "free market" is propped up by the government through breaks and insists on exploiting cheap labor around the world. And that has got us where?

Source: Washington Monthly

Limbaugh: Fat, Dumb And Stupid Is No Way To Go Through Life Son

Not to give chubster and Right Wing con-artist Rush Limbaugh any more digital ink, but even his own party is saying to give it a rest. This is Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee:

“I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party.You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell.”

Rush Limbaugh is on the same side as Russia and Osama Bin Laden in wanting the US economy to fail.

The Republican Party has lost massively in the past 2 elections. Rush is the face of the Republican Party. If he keeps up his day job, we'll have Democratic rule for a few decades.

Limbaugh’s greatest weapon? FEAR. Obama’s greatest weapon? HOPE.

Source: ThinkProgress

Rush Limbaugh Is A Power Bottom

Why is it every time Rush Limbaugh is met with ideas different from his failed conservative dogma, he claims, collectively, “We’re being told we have to bend over and grab the ankles.”

The lady doth protest too much.

Call it radical or progressive, or better yet show how your proven failed attempts are better. But don't say it's akin to aggressive wanton anal sex. Or maybe that is your thing, Rush. You have the illicit drug habit, why not the self-loathing sex, too, like your boy Ted Haggard.

Most policies are expressed in terms of your share of the burden, most likely in money terms. They say you can bring change by "voting with your wallet". Not Rush, policies effect his ass. Burdens are expressed in anal rape scenarios. Very telling.

Conyers Orders Rove To Testify

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers is going after uber-turd Karl Rove. He can no longer hide behind Bush's Wrangler® denin skirt. We as citizens need to find out about his contacts with department officials over the years and his involvement in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.

"Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it," Conyers said. "After two years of stonewalling, it's time for him to talk."

via The Washington Monthly:

Rove relied on an executive-privilege claim to ignore the subpoena the last time -- the matter is still pending in the courts -- but Bush obviously isn't president anymore. Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, argued that former presidents still retain executive privilege on matters relating to their time in office, but the current White House counsel may not agree. If so, Luskin assumes that "the matter will be resolved among the courts, the president and the former president."

We don't yet know how Obama's legal team will respond, but it's worth noting that the president has called the "absolute immunity" claims of the Bush administration "completely misguided."

Source: WaPo

Citigroup Pressured To Drop Frivolous Jet Amid Bailout

So Citigroup is refusing the delivery of a $50 million jet they bought amid their bailout because of pressure from the Obama White House. That is the proper influence of the executive branch on corporate greed.

Just pop in Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room DVD and see how Bush handled the $70 billion meltdown on Enron in 2001. Enron President Ken Lay played his pal George Bush like a chump. Do you think they had any pressure what so ever from the Bush White House?

As the executives sold off all their stock and options and let the little guy lose his shirt, that is the Republican way. All those pensions and 401Ks wiped out because Enron knew they had Bush and Cheney on their side.

If Bill Kristol Were A Sportscaster

If Conservative pundit Bill Kristol, who just did his last lame editorial for the New York Times, were a ESPN sportscaster, he would have been the guy trumpeting the Detroit Lions the past NFL season.

He would have them his team for the Super Bowl halfway through the season and in week 17 made them his "Bradley Effect" pick claiming America is not ready for black sports stars.

For non-sports fans, the Loins set the record for worst NFL season, going 0-16. How this guy still gets a job these days amazes me.

Banks And Credit Card Co's Assisted In NSA Spying

The domestic spying that the Bush Administration did is criminal. This is much bigger than just telcoms like AT&T and Verizon. This is bands and credit card companies. So lets get the CEOs on the record. The can of worms is just opening.

Remember Bush, McCain and all the Republicans wanted to give retro-active immunity to telcoms a few months back. All complicit, complete vile swine.

"Former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice shed new light on the Bush administration's warrantless domestic spying last week when he told MSNBC that the NSA blended credit card transaction records with wiretap data to keep tabs on thousands of Americans.

But Tice didn't say where the credit card information, and other financial data, came from. Did the agency scoop it in as part of its surveillance of U.S. communications backbones, or did financial companies give up your records in bulk to the NSA?

The distinction is significant. Telecommunication companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, are embroiled in lawsuits over their alleged cooperation with the government's warrantless surveillance. If credit card companies and banks also provided information without a warrant, it's conceivable they could face a courtroom challenge as well."

According to the article, as of 2006, "Tice was saying that credit card companies and banks gave the same kind of cooperation to the government that phone companies did"

Source: Wired

Maddow: Incomplete Files, No Evidence At Guantanamo

Guantanamo: The legal mess that the Bush Administration has left behind. No comprehensive files on any of the 250 detainees.

Great segment on Rachel Maddow featuring Mark Denbeaux from Seton Hall Law School.

All documents released by Pentagon and Defense Department are on plain paper. Will note put their seal to back up info.

No one wants to let dangerous people on the street, but you have to be able to document all the charges you have against these prisoners. Or should we just take George Bush's word? Or Alberto Gonzales'?

Source: Rachel Maddow

Guantanamo: The Right Pissing Its Pants "In Fear"

Matthew Yglesias rounds up the inane banter from the Right regarding closing the universal beacon of Torture, Guantanamo.

"I’ve been absolutely Gobsmacked by the nonsense the right is running with on the Guantanamo Bay issue, and the double-nonsense I’ve been hearing about it on television. The basic conservative position, as I understand it, is that the very same federal officials who can’t be trusted to prevent a breakout from a military prison in Kansas can be trusted to administer a system of indefinite detention and kangaroo courts fairly. Other arguments I’ve heard people make, apparently with a straight face:

* The fact that the Bush administration has let dangerous terrorists go free means Obama should keep innocent people detained.
* The fact that the Bush administration screwed up the paperwork on detainees shows that there was more wisdom to Bush’s policies than Obama acknowledged on the campaign trail.
* Obama’s promise of change was empty and hypocritical because it will take time to implement his executive orders.
* The “Guantanamo” issue is primarily about the physical location of the facility rather than the legal status or treatment of the detainees.
* Since many liberals live in San Francisco, anyone who thinks it would be ill-advised to transfer prisoners to a museum in the San Francisco Bay that hasn’t been a prison for decades is a hypocrite.

There’s some really out of this world stuff."

It's always been the Right's intention to scare people with illogical scenarios and boogey men who can't be stopped unless you give up all your rights, RIGHT NOW!

Republicans should stop pissing in their pants from 9/11 and man up, do what is correct.

You can no longer use 9/11 to break rules that drag us down. You now use it to make rules to lead the world.

Source: Matthew Yglesias

Neo-Cons Fought The Rule Of Law And The Law Won

I agree with this 100%. For Obama to go after these architects of torture in his first few days in no barometer for what is to come. But one thing is for sure, history will be recorded and no one will forget.

via Andrew Sullivan:

"The executive orders are so far very subtle but very smart. Scott Horton's analysis is the most telling. Some will be disappointed that Obama is not about to condemn the out-going war crimes of Bush, Cheney et al. in ringing terms. But the election did that. And as the era of the dark side recedes a little, my sense of the looming reality is as follows.

The men who ordered a man tied to a chair, doused in water, and chilled to hypothermia so intense he had to be rushed to emergency medical care, the men who presided over at least two dozen and at most a hundred prisoners tortured to death, the men who ordered an American servicewoman to smear fake menstrual blood over a Muslim's face in order to win a war against Jihadism, the men who ordered innocents stripped naked, sexually abused, terrified by dogs, or cast into darkness with no possibility of a future, and did all this in the name of the Constitution of the United States, the men who gave the signal in wartime that there were no limits to what could be done to prisoners of war and reaped a whirlwind of abuse and torture that will haunt American service members for decades: these men will earn the judgment of history. It will be brutal."

Justice will be served. The Rule of Law is back!

Please read on at the link below.

Source: Andrew Sullivan