Headlines - Friday March 12

 

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"One year after U.S stocks hit their post-financial-crisis low on March 9, 2009, Standard & Poor's 500 Index has risen more than 68 percent, and it's up more than 41 percent since Obama took office. Credit spreads have narrowed. Commodity prices have surged. Housing prices have stabilized." Link  

It's better than that - the stock market tanked at 6800 or so and it's at 10,558 as I type this. My math says that's about a 55% increase in one year. That's Clinton-esque!
 

"We've had a phenomenal run in asset classes across the board. If Obama was a Republican, we'd hear a never-ending drumbeat of news stories about markets voting in favor of the president." - Dan Greenhaus and he's right Link 
 

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"I don't believe for a minute we got everything right, the Commission was set up to fail. People should keep asking questions about 9/11, and that the 9/11 debate should continue..."  former 9-11 commission chair Lee Hamilton, who agreed to cover-up Iran-Contra AND 9-11 for the Bush bastards Link 

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The GOP is of course against any reform. They are an extension of Wall Street and have been living the high life from their lobbyist money. Dodd is promising a lot though the specifics still are light. Democrats need to remember that 82% of Americans support reform. It's time to paint the GOP as part of the 18% who are fighting reform. Let the Republicans explain to the public who very kindly bailed out Wall Street why they are being obstructionists yet again. Few issues gather such broad support so there's no excuse for going wobbly on this. Another soft showing by the Democrats and they will lock down their image as weak and unable to govern with the public. NY Times:

Democrats said on Thursday that they would go it alone in an effort to pass an overhaul of financial regulation, increasing the likelihood of a bitter partisan showdown.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said he would put forward his own bill on Monday, despite the lack of a single Republican endorsement. Democrats concluded that bipartisan talks were not making enough progress and that going their own way was the only realistic hope of getting the legislation adopted in an election year, he said.

Mr. Dodd said the bill would rewrite the rules of Wall Street, end the "too big to fail" phenomenon and protect consumers from risky or abusive financial products. The Congressional calendar meant that further delay could imperil the legislation's chances, he said.

I hope everyone out there has disabused themselves of the notion that Republicans actually care about the country or their constituents. It's all about assuring Democratic failure, the consequences be damned.

 

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Those of you who are thinking about places to move after Palin wins in 2012 might want to cross the home of the Lord of the Rings, Bondi Beach and Tuscany from your list if you want to keep reading Balloon Juice: http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/03/12/central-scrutinizer/

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Ha ha! Actual mainstream racism!

WINGNUTS FURIOUS OVER… WELL, ANY MUSLIM: "RICHMOND — Hundreds of people are urging legislators to boycott the House of Delegates' floor session on Thursday, when a Falls Church imam whom they accuse of condoning violence and defending terrorism is set to deliver the opening prayer." It's funny, because this particular imam has been one of the most visibly outspoken American imams against terrorism and Al Qaeda and what not. Doesn't matter though, STILL A DIRTY MUSLIN. Washington Post

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The olympics did change China - their human rights record is even worse, if you can believe it. As long as they buy our debt and then send back cheap stuff for everyone to buy, few will complain. AFP.

 

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Of all of the troubles facing the state of New York, including a highly dysfunctional legislature, a politically-neutered governor and a whopping budget deficit, some asswipe of an assemblyman from Brooklyn is seeking to make it a crime for a chef to prepare food if one of the ingredients is salt. Send four meals out with a pinch of salt added, that's four violations.

So this would become a criminal instrument in a restaurant kitchen in New York, if that jerkoff's bill were to become law:Don't those f**kers have anything better to do in Albany? Has winter completely addled their brains? I wish this was a joke, but it is not.

The true joke, of course, is the NY State Legislature, the Official State Circus.

 

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Glaad reports that sponsors have "refused to allow" American figure skater Johnny Weir to join the Stars on Ice Tour because they deemed him "not family friendly." While Weir — a three-time national champion — has never "officially announced his sexual orientation, he has garnered a significant amount of LGBT fans" and is also known for his flashy costumes. Weir won an online poll that asked fans who they wanted to see in the tour, but Stars on Ice seems to have barred him because of his "perceived sexual orientation": http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/11/weir-uninvited/

 

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A Mississippi school district has canceled this year's prom at Itawamba Agricultural High School after the Mississippi ACLU urged school officials to allow a lesbian couple to attend. Administrators turned down requests from 18-year-old Constance McMillen and her girlfriend, another student at the school, who planned on wearing a tuxedo.

PZ Meyers: I predict that Constance McMillen will be one of the progressive young people who will be fleeing Small Town America as fast as she can, as soon as she can. And the old geezers and flea bag preachers will sit around in their shrinking, backwards-looking community and wonder why the young people are so anxious to abandon them.

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Eric Massa gets under Glenn Beck's skin: http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/eric-massa-gets-under-glenn-becks-ski

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Last night, Glenn Beck mocked Woody Guthrie and his anthem, This Land Is Your Land.

"This song is about a progressive utopia where there are no owners of anything. We all just share it. It's made for you — it's your land, it's my land. We all have it together. Some people have property now, and some people don't. We can all think of this song as an American song. Yes, it is — an American progressive song."

Here's the revolting clip: http://mariopiperni.com/dicks/woody-guthries-stupid-song.php

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Mario Piperni: Stupid elitist libruls want your loved ones to live

Make what you will from the following talking point used by Republican Representative Mike Pence.  He was warning his audience of the dreadful consequences should health care reform come to pass.

"Once the American public becomes dependent on the federal government during that most vulnerable moment of illness of a loved one, a spouse, a parent, a child, a grandchild, those on the elite leadership of the left know…they'll never let it [public healthcare] go."

Good point, Mikey.  Much more honorable, I imagine, for a parent to watch their 5-year old daughter die because some health insurance flunky patriot deemed their child's illness a preexisting condition than to allow the government to pass legislation which would disallow ANY health insurer from EVER canceling a policy over a preexisting condition.

Stupid elitist libruls caring about your loved ones, parents, spouses, children and grandchildren.  How dare they.  Much smarter to let your loved ones die needlessly than to cave in to elitist propaganda.

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Check out this tidbit MadDog found:

In 2008, CIA head Michael Hayden told Congress it had only been used on three high-profile al-Qaeda detainees, and not for the past five years.

One of those was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a key suspect in the 9/11 attacks.

Mr Rove said US soldiers were subjected to waterboarding as a regular part of their training.

A less severe form of the technique was used on the three suspects interrogated at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, he added.

Maybe this is a typo. But it appears to feature Turdblossom, boasting that three Gitmo prisoners (as DOD detainees, not included among the three CIA detainees who got waterboarded), got waterboarded in some "less severe" form.

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"I believe, as we stand on the abyss tonight, that those Americans who want to turn to God for answers that this is a time to be doing that. To ask for his help, supernaturally, so that we don't make this fatal step pushing our nation into socialized medicine." – Congressman Todd Akin, R- Missouri