###LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): We do not need any more news conferences. What we need is getting more than 16 people in a room. We need to slow down, take a timeout, and get it right.
ROGER WICKER (R-MS): As Thomas Jefferson reminded Americans in his day — and I quote — "Delay is preferable to error." Let's not rush into doing this the wrong way.
JOHN ENSIGN (R-NV): So we need to act much more responsibly than this bill acts. It's still time. There is no hurry.
TOM COBURN (R-OK): There's no reason for us to hurry up, number one. There's no reason for us not to look at every area of this bill and make sure the american people know about it.
Here: Senator Graham on the "Stimulus" ...
Here: Obama losing the "stimulus" message war?
Here: REICHERT ON THE "STIMULUS"
I'm not the first to say this, but this is the same flat-earthism we see from the right on evolution, anthropogenic climate change, and the innateness of homosexuality: right-wingers don't even accept the most obvious premises as givens. When an overwhelming evidence-based consensus threatens a superstition, of theirs, the evidence-based consensus has to go; the superstition is sacrosanct.
We are dealing with people who are impervious to reason. George W. Bush really may not have been the least reality-based of the lot.
So there you go…this is one place I think I'd avoid if I had a time machine.
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The new 'opt-in' feature available in Google Maps pinpoints the exact location of loved ones, but has been met with sharp criticism from privacy campaigners. Millions of people will be able to track each and every move by friends and family through their mobile phones, thanks to a new feature launched by Google yesterday.
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A couple of days ago Turd Blossom said he'd cooperate with Congress, but now he says he won't (again): http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Rove_says_he_wont_comply_with_0205.html
This is complete and utter bullshit.
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News Corp., the global media giant controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said Thursday it lost $6.4 billion in its most recent quarter because of a massive write-down in the value of its assets.
The New York-based company, which owns The Wall Street Journal and the Fox broadcast network, also forecast a 30 percent drop in operating profits for the fiscal year to June from a year ago, when it earned $5.13 billion. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/05/news-corp-suffers-stagger_n_164463.html
Somehow I don't think Rupert Murdoch banked (heh) on this when he decided to devote his news empire to the perpetuation of Republican power and their now-shown-to-be-utter-horseshit "free market capitalism"
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Paul Krugman's compelling case for a NEW 'New Deal Ditch Dig'
"What you basically do is put people to work digging ditches .... and then filling them up with right wing Republican lawmakers."
Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate in Economics, has been right all along about where the disastrous policies of deregulation, privatization and large tax cuts for the rich and multinational corporations would lead our Nation's economy. Yet no one listened to him while the Republicans looted the Treasury and Wall Street gambled insanely on real estate and mortgage backed derivatives. No one listened to him while banking executives milked billions in salary and bonuses from the suckers, the rubes, etc.
And he's still right - no one in Washington is treating the worldwide economic crisis with sufficient gravity and seriousness it deserves. Not the Republicans, not the Blue Dog Democrats, not a media controlled by conservative interests and (in the case of television seriously out of touch with the financial concerns of ordinary Americans) and not even our Post Partisan President.
In short, despite an overwhelming defeat at the polls the Republicans are still controlling the message machine that is our corporate media. And the message they are pushing is one that has been tried. It was tried and now our economy is on life support. What is more, the current politicians in control of the GOP are all to willing to pull the plug. Even sadder, far too many Democratic members of Congress, out of fear of being labeled "liberal" or "socialist" (or whatever) by Limbaugh's legions of ditto heads are following their lead. Democrats won the election because Republican policies created the mess we are in, but too many of these Congressional Democrats lack the courage of their convictions, or never had any convictions to begin with.
It's past time for President Obama to stop playing nice with the insane collection of clowns, grifters, war profiteers, racists and faith based ideologues (and that's not only a reference to Christian fundamentalists) we euphemistically refer to as the Republican Party. Just as in the case of those old doctors who kept bleeding their patients long after Louis Pasteur proved the disease was caused by germs, we know from experience that conservative methods of governance don't work. We have all the evidence we need from history, both recent and not so recent. But will the President listen to Krugman and those of us who have been sounding alarm bells that seeking cooperation from radically wrong right wingers is a deeply flawed political strategy, or is it already too late?
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Here's Keith Olbermann calling bullshit on The Dick for his latest round of delusional self-serving lies and fearmongering.
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Thoughts and prayers to one of the only four remaining justices with a heart and soul: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has pancreatic cancer.
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Andy Card just won't shut up:
"There should be a dress code of respect," Card tells INSIDE EDITION. "I wish that he would wear a suit coat and tie. The Oval Office symbolizes the Constitution, the hopes and dreams, and I'm going to say democracy. And when you have a dress code in the Supreme Court and a dress code on the floor of the Senate, floor of the House, I think it's appropriate to have an expectation that there will be a dress code that respects the office of the President. I don't criticize Obama for his appearance, I do expect him to send the message that people who are going to be in the Oval Office should treat the office with the respect that it has earned over history."
Hey Andy Card, you whiny little war criminal - guess your Boy King really didn't have any respect for the Oval Office.
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President Barack Obama said Thursday he will establish a White House office of faith-based initiatives that will show no favoritism to any religious group and adhere to the strict separation of church and state.
It is still giving our tax dollars to religious institutions, and I am opposed to that under all circumstances. The State (in the Separatation of Church and State) should not finance religion in any way. If you want to achieve a secular goal, such as feeding the hungry, then add more money to Foodstamps. What is so hard about this? Don't make me go all Christian Bale on you, Carebear…
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Obama instituted a pay cap on bailed out businesses after it was revealed that Wall Street doled out an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses last year. "If the taxpayers are helping you, then you've got certain responsibilities to not be living high on the hog," he explained.
In what appears to be an attempt to call Obama a hypocrite, ABC's Scott Mayerowitz "reports" today that the President also has a "lavish lifestyle." Under the title: "Obama's Perks: Private Jet, Chef Tax-Free," ABC notes that Obama earns $400,000 dollars a year and even has a private jet:
The president makes $400,000 a year, but hasn't received a raise from Congress since 2001. He also gets a $50,000 annual entertainment expense account (any unused money at the end of the year must go back to the Treasury.)
Then there is the use of two private jets, Boeing 747s better known as Air Force One. And of course the constant security details, drivers, a private chef, a country vacation estate and the rent-free use of a well-known, 132-room mansion called the White House. The president also used to have a yacht, until Jimmy Carter sold it.
Comparing the President to Wall Street CEOs is absurd. The "private jet" that Obama uses is Air Force One, which is used as a security precaution and necessary for the dozens of staff and press that accompany the President on every trip. Each use of the jet by the President is regarded as a "classified military operation" in order to ensure the President's safety.
Furthermore, Obama's salary is set by Congress (whose members are elected by the public). CEO compensation is decided internally within the company, usually by its board of directors. The problem with recent excessive CEO compensation was that executives receiving federal funds were still rewarded for failure with tens of millions of dollars from their companies.
The President, on the other hand, does not get a bonus for his performance, good or bad. Indeed, Presidents Bush and Obama earn the same salary. County Fair at Media Matters has more.
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Michael Phelps was suspended from competition for three months by USA Swimming in the wake of the photo that some creep released showing him smoking a bong: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/31/michael-phelps-bong-pictu_n_162842.html
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