Headlines - Sunday

News Corp. Suffers Staggering $6.4 Billion Loss;

Murdoch Forced to Re-Think Policy of Hiring

Olbermann's 'Worst Persons in the World'

 

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The conservatives aren't just trying to "undo the New Deal" - though of course they are - but ultimately to undo the recovery from the First Great Republican Depression by first preventing a recovery from their new one. And it looks like, with the help of Mr. Post-partisanship and his buddy Rahm, they will succeed. Because God forbid that the President of the United State and the Democratic leadership should go out and tell the public the truth about how regressive taxation (which is what we now have) sucks the life out the economy. God forbid they should make the case that stimulus is spending, that paying for useful government projects like research on migration patterns and new energy proposals doesn't just create jobs in the public sector, but in the private sector as well. And because transportation is how people get to work. And because health care is not some luxury, but a natural expense in the efficient running of an economy - and a country. We spent eight years watching the Democrats help the Republicans pass crappy bills, and now, apparently, we're all prepared to spend more time watching them do much the same.

 

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Some might call this treason:

A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision [to abide by the promises he made to the people who elected him and require] the military leaders to come back quickly with a detailed 16-month plan [to withdraw from Iraq].

 

Just a reminder to the jingoistic warmongers who think St. Petraeus is infallible, the people of this great land are sovereign, and they have spoken. Their elected representative is General Petreaus's Commander, and he has spoken. This stuff is a damn sight closer to actually betraying our nation than anything the New York Times ever dreamed of doing.

What a horrible state of affairs that President Obama's first major military challenge would come from within the ranks of our own troops. You really should read the whole article and see how political influences have infiltrated the command structure of the General Staff, already geared to undermine the President.

 

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Oh, look, it's standard practice at Bank of America to try to defraud people into paying other peoples' debts that they have nothing to do with. Like, for example, your dead mother.

 

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Econ 101: Spending = Stimulus

 

Economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, explains: "Spending that is not stimulus is like cash that is not money. Spending is stimulus, spending is stimulus. Any spending will generate jobs. It is that simple. ... Any reporter who does not understand this fact has no business reporting on the economy."

 

Unfortunately, many of the reporters who have shaped the stimulus debate don't seem to understand that.

 

ABC's Charles Gibson portrayed spending and stimulus as opposing concepts in a question to President Obama: "And as you know, there's a lot of people in the public, a lot of members of Congress who think this is pork-stuffed and that it really doesn't stimulate. A lot of people have said it's a spending bill and not a stimulus…"

Keep reading: http://badattitudes.com/MT/archives/2009/02/econ101_spendin.html#005988 

 

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                                     "Remember when we were little boys and believed the

holes were caused by termites? We sure laughed more

back then, didn't we?"

 

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Thanks to the people that voted for Bush and the resulting Bush economic miracle, some Arizona State University employees who are being laid off will face a double whammy under the university's new furlough policy.

In response to the state's ongoing budget crisis, the university was forced to eliminate up to 550 positions through attrition and layoffs, a number that could grow by an additional 1,000 jobs. The process of issuing 90-day layoff notifications began several months ago.

Last week, ASU President Michael Crow announced plans to require each of the university's 12,000 employees to take up to 15 unpaid days off by June 30, which would save $24 million.

That's like getting slapped with an F-you after being given the finger. Thanks for the collapsing economy George!

It's bound to get worse. When they start cutting back on education in times when the very thing people need is more training, you will see that there is nothing but a great sucking sound about to drown everyone in the cesspool of a global economy triggered by eight years of the W, Rove and Co. high quality government.

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The Left Coaster:

Paradox, as usual, has done a great job summing up what I and perhaps others feel about how the Obama administration has screwed up coming out of the blocks. His supporters, to be expected, easily dismiss all critiques as being premature whining from Clinton supporters.

Sure, that's all it is. But please, before I move on, let me say a few things one more time. http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/013786.php

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Elderly Americans dying on our streets

What a lovely future our country is headed toward, eh?

As health care costs rise and Medicaid rates lag behind, nursing and boarding homes are forcing out sick, elderly and frail residents in what advocates say is a growing trend. No official data exist on eviction counts, but discharge complaints have climbed to record highs. - seattle pi

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In 2001, the FDA discovered that products at Peanut Corp had been exposed to insecticides, and they also found dirty duct tape wrapped on broken equipment, dead insects around peanuts and gaps in doors where rodents could enter the plant.

Eight years went by and the FDA never made another visit. After people started becoming ill and dying, the FDA finally returned, and discovered similar problems to those found years previously. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Insecticide-found-in-peanut-apf-14282876.html

Now, the very same FDA tells us that it's safe for us to use drugs made from genetically engineered animals. ap - No thank you, Skipper.

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Finally, they'd had enough.

A loaf of bread cost $25.

The economy was in shambles. As Naomi Klein describes it, it was a moment for democracy:

The people of Argentina, who, in the midst of an economic crisis eerily similar to our own, took to the street banging pots and pans. They shouted, "¡Que se vayan todos!" ("All of them must go!") and forced out a procession of four presidents in less than three weeks. What made Argentina's 2001-02 uprising unique was that it wasn't directed at a particular political party or even at corruption in the abstract. The target was the dominant economic model--this was the first national revolt against contemporary deregulated capitalism.

Other shoes are beginning to fall all over the globe: in Ireland, in Iceland, in Latvia, in Greece, and in Estonia, all once regarded as economic miracles, with huge growth rates, big spikes in gdp, etc.

Now the money is fleeing as fast as it once flowed, and the people in those nations are tasting the bitter bile of cleaning up the messes left behind by the global speculators who move industries and undermine currencies on a whim (think George Soros, no friend of 'liberalism,' friends).

Now the US faces a catastrophe of similar kind but on a far more massive scale, and all our leaders can do is name the same failed policy-makers to key positions, spout crisis/optimism rhetoric, and cave-in to the globalist interests which, if they can milk an additional scheckel out of the economy, will cheerfully preside over the dissolution of the country and the economy that made their predations possible in the first place. The only difference between Madoff and Paulson is that the one got busted running a splendid, profitable, virtually undetectable (to the regulators at least) Ponzi scheme, and the other got appointed to the Treasury. Otherwise? Pick'em!

Now the Pukes in Congress are acting like IMF/WorldBankers, trying to extort concessions on spending to (attempt to) relieve the present crisis. Employing the same economic 'logics' which have landed both our own economy and those of nations around the world ijn the shitter, they're extorting 'tax' breaks for the rich and blocking authentic stimuli (of which they apparently believe they won't get a big enough piece).

It is now way past time that the people of the US turned off the TV, fired the Pizza man, put down their Budweiser Lite, and took to the streets to bang their pots and pans together, to create enough of a din that the cretins in BOTH wings of the Party of Privilege and Property will finally begin to look over their shoulders at what's back there catching up.

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Over at Congress Matters, the blogger formerly known as Kagro X is reveling in the spectacle of the Illinois Senator (Diaper Man) slamming his Louisiana colleague for slamming ACORN - who helped rebuild houses in the state after Katrina struck. Such is the fate of ungrateful idiots. There's also quite a bit wonky recovery plan blogging going on over there.

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Wingnut email making the rounds:

This stimulus package....driven by DEMOCRATS will cost more than all of the wars in history of the United States. It will cost every American $12,000...!! How is that for bread and butter for the common man. On top  of this....government spending and stimulus has  NEVER INVIGORATED AN ECONOMY.....! I challenge you to PROVE otherwise...!

Hmm ... The Stimulus will cost what, maybe $850 billion at most?  Ok, as of 25 July 2008:

The new report by the Congressional Research Service estimates the U.S. has spent $648 billion on Iraq war operations, putting it in range with the $686 billion, in 2008 dollars, spent on the Vietnam War, the second most expensive war behind World War II. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. has doled out almost $860 billion for military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere around the world. All estimates, adjusted for inflation, are based on the costs of military operations and don't include expenses for veterans benefits, interest on war-related debts or assistance to war allies, according to the nonpartisan CRS.

Shall we go on and add in the cost of Gulf 1, Korea, WW2, WW1, etc., in 2008 dollars or original? Note that Iraq will easily top a trillion, and maybe twice that, when all is said and done. Dare we mention the Stimulus Bill won't cost the life of one US soldier, won't injure who knows how many hundreds of thousands more, and won't kill or maim millions of innocent men, women, and children? How about the fact that with the stim bill, the money will be spent in the United States on Americans? How long before this one goes full on viral Zombie Lie and makes it onto Morning Blow?

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Congress seeks to cap octuplet Mom's eggs-ecutive pay

 

"Maybe we should put the contraception funds back into the stimulus package, before our poulation starts to catch up with India and China." 

Nadya Suleman, mother of 14 children.

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Dick T: 

Dilemmas

 

Once upon a time about 90 or so years ago we had a terrible war.  It was so awful we felt we had to somehow clearly identify it for posterity.  So we called it the Great War, because it was, well, Great.

 

Then, low and behold, a mere 20 years later we had not learned the proper lessons so along came another war, this one even greater than the Great War.  We were stumped; what to call such a catastrophe such that we could somehow identify another Great War for posterity so as not to confuse them over our Great Wars?  Voila!  We'll call them, respectively, World Wars...I & II!  Now posterity will not be confused...and they will be able to conveniently continue the series when they decide to conduct Great Wars of their very own.  Mission accomplished.

 

Once upon a time about 70 or so years ago we found ourselves in the midst of the greatest economic downturn anyone had ever experienced.  It was all so abysmal and depressing we felt we had to somehow identify it for posterity.  Creative people that we were, and remembering our recent experience naming a war, we called it the Great Depression, because it was, well Great, and we were certainly feeling Depressed.

 

Now, low and behold, 70 or so years later, having not learned the proper lessons, we find ourselves in the midst of the greatest economic downturn anyone alive (well, mostly) has ever experienced.  And, as with the dilemma of correctly identifying Great Wars for posterity, we are facing the challenge of likewise doing the same for our Great Depressions; eliminating any possible confusion for our progeny.

 

So, before some creative genius in the media jumps on the historical bandwagon and decides that we should have Great Depression I and Great Depression II, may I suggest we have the opportunity to be a bit more creative this time around?  How about we simply give credit where credit is due?  How about we name these Great Depressions after the individuals most responsible for their respective creations?  The Great Hoover Depression and the Great George W. Bush Depression.  Confusion eliminated.  Problem solved.  And we have the added benefit of providing a precedent for identifying future Great Depressions. 

 

Oh...and we will have provided our most recent president with an everlasting legacy.  I'm not certain it's exactly the one he seems to be searching for, but it is indeed one he richly deserves.

 

 

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Imagine working your whole life saving for retirement, then having your life savings disappear. It's reality for a Ben Lomond man, who at age 90 is forced back to work to make ends meet - because of Bernie Madoff, who's still hanging in his penthouse suite instead of in prison: http://cbs5.com/local/elderly.madoff.victim.2.929316.html?hbx.hra=SanFrancisco-LAN&hbx.cmp.c1=story+90283820&hbx.cmp.c3=641&hbx.cmp.c2=728+x+90+90283820&hbx.cmp=AFC-San

 

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A bishop who faces a Vatican demand to recant his denial of the Holocaust said he would correct himself if he is satisfied by the evidence, but insisted that examining it "will take time," a German magazine reported Saturday.

Richard Williamson is one of four bishops whose excommunication was lifted by Joey Rat last month. The decision sparked outrage because Williamson had said in a television interview he did not believe any Jews were gassed during the Holocaust. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/07/richard-williamson-holoca_n_164938.html

There isn't a doubt in this guy's mind that God exists, even when there is zero proof that he does, but the verdict is still out on photos like this: 

 

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The Pope, who has his own radio station, TV station, YouTube channel, and over 30,000 MySpace friends, warns of the perils of media overconsumption: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-12/123407086430660.xml&coll=1

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There has been such a terrible heat wave in Australia that this baby koala approached a family. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/737051/summer-heatwave-damages-produce-farmers

And the country is also battling massive, out of control wild fires.

People who deny global warming like to point to winters like we are having this year as proof that it is all a myth. But weather isn't climate. Weather is a transient phenomenon influenced by many temorary factors such as the El Nino phenomenon. But climate does effect changes in weather patterns, and the increase in droughts and heat waves and, yes, wild fires, is directly attributable to changes in climate driven by man made global warming. We can't say that one year's weather is directly caused by global warming but our changing weather patterns over the past 15 decades is direct evidence of climate change which is the result of global temperatures rising on average. Year after year of upward trends in average temperatures, expanding deserts, increasing areas of drought, melting glaciers, rising ocean levels, etc. -- all these items support the vast multitude of climate scientists who have been screaming from the roof tops that we indeed have a problem here on Earth. Mother Nature isn't happy with the greenhouse gases and the deforestation and the other changes we humans have made over the last 200 odd years or so to are only home. We are conducting a grand experiment testing the limits of what the Earth can endure. And the results are now in.

Indeed, the evidence for global warming is increasing, even in places that the denialist industry has pointed to as refuting that climate change is occurring: Antarctica.

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The details are still sketchy, but here's what we know about what was cut from the House version of the stimulus bill when the Democrats felt they had to play nice with the Republicons.

Krugman is very unhappy with the "compromise"

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Does everyone remember this from Sarah Palin during the campaign? "I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence."

Well, just as suspected at the time, that pipeline was far from even being started, and now she's asked the guy that pals around with terrorists (Obama) to swing by her state to discuss the construction of the pipeline when he visits the Canadian PM. 

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Michael S. Steele, the newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, arranged for his 2006 Senate campaign to pay a defunct company run by his sister for services that were never performed, his finance chairman from that campaign has told federal prosecutors.

Fun fact: Michael Steele's sister was once married to Mike Tyson.

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In a May 2006 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Pete Hoekstra wrote:

But every time classified national security information is leaked, our ability to gather information on those who would do us harm is eroded. … I regret that I see little sign of intolerance for unauthorized disclosures of intelligence to the media from some of my Democratic colleagues today. … We are a nation at war. Unauthorized disclosures of classified information only help terrorists and our enemies – and put American lives at risk.

Rep. Pete Hoeksra (R-MI), the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, put American lives at risk when he revealed classified intelligence information on Twitter by reporting on his "congressional trip to Iraq this weekend that was supposed to be a secret.

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If you ask almost any American today how they feel about the US Congress, the answer will be something to the effect of "completely out of touch" and a "complete waste of time." Based on what has happened in the past 8 years, including recent weeks under the new administration, their feelings are justified. In between the bad and wasteful bills that have been passed, all 535 Congressmen seem to do is spend their time perpetually campaigning (aka raising money) and blocking legislation.
http://distributorcapny.blogspot.com/2009/02/fil-is-busting-out-all-over.html

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Environmentalist sentenced to 21 years as a "terrorist" http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/2009/02/05/marie-mason-sentenced/

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Mmmm, pretty colors. Be sure you check out the green one. It's the Great George W. Bush Depression: