Al Qaeda gave us a bloody nose on September 11, 2001. A few large buildings were destroyed, others damaged, about 3,000 people killed.
As a result, we have spent over a trillion dollars going after them, engaging in a war of aggression (against Iraq) and have added a whole plethora of security measures, most of which were eyewash to make people feel better.
On the other hand:
Wall Street and the banks knowingly engaged in bubbleizing the economy. Some of them sold off securities that they knew were fraudulent and then bet on the near dead-nuts certainty of those securities failing. The global economy almost collapsed in September of 2008. Millions of Americans and tens of millions of people around the world were thrown out of work. The uncertainty of continued employment, let alone losing one's job, has bad health effects and people are dying.Thousands of businesses failed, as did well over a hundred banks in this country alone. Millions of Americans are financially trapped in houses for which they cannot sell, as they owe more than their homes are worth. At least one entire nation is essentially bankrupt.
As a result, by pledging almost a trillion dollars, we propped up the banks and Wall Street. Nobody, other than Bernie Madoff, went to jail. The only firm that was dismantled was Lehman Brothers. No meaningful reforms have been enacted to make it so the grifters on Wall Street and the banks, including those greedy fucks at Goldman Sachs, cannot do it again. No meaningful help as been provided to anyone other than the big banks. Commercial credit is still largely unavailable, as the banks took the billions from TARP and did nothing with the money, other than pay out lots of bonuses to their top-level management.
Does any of this make any sense to anyone? We got so outraged when a bunch of Chitrali-hat wearing thugs wrecked the World Trade Center, but when a bunch of bespoke-suit wearing goons wrecked the economy, we have done essentially nothing.
The bind moggles.
George W. Bush took a shot at Jimmy Carter during this morning's closed-door reunion breakfast for Bush-Cheney bastards, saying Carter "made my life miserable."
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Kings County DA Charles Hynes says "no criminality has been found" after his investigation into ACORN. Earlier reports from the former Massachusetts DA ACORN hired to investigate themselves and the Congressional Research Office also found no evidence of law-breaking.
So: as soon as Andrew Breitbart is done demanding that everyone in the world retract and correct their claim that James O'Keefe has a parole officer (he has a pre-trial officer, it's different) he will presumably strip the untrue descriptor "criminal" from all the mentions of ACORN on his 600 hideous websites. Unless his constant demands for nitpicky corrections are based more on a desire to attack the credibility of people who criticize him and his little friend than any sort of respect for the truth! But what are the chances of that?
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Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins was disinvited from a planned speaking engagement at Andrews Air Force Base that was to have taken place last weekend after criticizing the president's position on DADT - and Bryan Fischer, the notorious America Family Association radio host who has called for forcible reparative therapy for gays, is outraged.
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Cue wingnut head explosion
Obama Plans "Dramatic Reductions" In Nuclear Weapons Arsenal: http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014838.php
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Not a surprise that Republicans are on a record setting pace for obstructionism.
The frequency of filibusters — plus threats to use them — are measured by the number of times the upper chamber votes on cloture. Such votes test the majority's ability to hold together 60 members to break a filibuster.
Last year, the first of the 111th Congress, there were a record 112 cloture votes. In the first two months of 2010, the number already exceeds 40.
That means, with 10 months left to run in the 111th Congress, Republicans have turned to the filibuster or threatened its use at a pace that will more than triple the old record. The 104th Congress in 1995-96 — when Republicans held a 53-47 majority — required 50 cloture votes.
Reconciliation sounds more justified by the day, don't you think?
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On any given Sunday morning, only 1%###
Bunning Amendment Nixes White House Easter Egg Roll: http://thedesperateblogger.com/2010/03/bunning-amendment-nixes-white-house-easter-egg-roll/
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Utah animal shelters sell animals to the U for medical research: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_14493638
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Goldman Sachs' board has rejected several demands from shareholders that it investigate recent compensation awards, recoup excessive compensation and reform pay practices.
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Hazmat crews called to Utah IRS building.
Another anti-government crazy here.
Jim Bunning, Richard Shelby, and Pat Roberts Aboard
Aside from weirdos like Chunky David Brooks, who on earth would want to be a Catholic anymore?
Employees at Catholic Charities were told Monday that the social services organization is changing its health coverage to avoid offering benefits to same-sex partners of its workers—the latest fallout from a bitter debate between District officials trying to legalize same-sex marriage and the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Starting Tuesday, Catholic Charities will not offer benefits to spouses of new employees or to spouses of current employees who are not already enrolled in the plan. A letter describing the change in health benefits was e-mailed to employees Monday, two days before same-sex marriage will become legal in the District.
The Catholic Church has spent the last 50 years raping children. Doesn't there come a time when they ask themselves if it's really such a good idea for a bunch of would-be celibates to spend every waking moment worrying about other people's sex lives?
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Secret Video of Actual Politico Editorial Meeting: http://wonkette.com/413975/actual-secret-video-of-actual-politico-editorial-meeting
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How the liars get away with so much - part 3: http://www.theygaveusarepublic.com/diary/5036/how-the-liars-get-away-with-so-much-part-3
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Disgraced Florida Congressman Mark Foley opens consignment shop.
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Of course he's only talking about fetuses
"There is no way to tell how many lives were protected by your fearless pro-life efforts," Texas governor Rick Perry said to Commander Codpiece.
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As ThinkProgress has noted, conservatives — especially Fox News — have been trying to re-brand the long-standing Senate process known as reconciliation as the "nuclear option" — a term that came into prominence when Republicans threatened to unilaterally change the rules of the Senate in 2005 to prohibit the filibuster on judicial nominations. The right wing's revision of the terminology hit an apex yesterday when Fox News' Gregg Jarrett declared that "reconciliation" is a "warm and fuzzy phrase" that has been recently coined to change the name of "what used to be called the nuclear option." "Only in Washington would they do that," said Jarrett.
Jarrett's not one of Fox's opinion commentators and is presented as a a straight news anchor. That he's misleading his audience about reconciliation isn't surprising though. Even the man that Fox points to to defend its claim of being an objective news outlet, Special Report's Bret Baier, is falsely conflating the terms. In an interview on Steve Malzberg's radio show last week, Baier said, "reconciliation or the nuclear option … people aren't calling it the nuclear option" but "it's exactly what it is."
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