Sunday, September 4, 2011

Headlines - Sunday September 4

 
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Common Dreams: Lies We Still Tell Ourselves about 9/11
 
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Magic-panties wearing robotic hair helmet from the future who came here to destroy us all Mitt Romney agrees when a supporter tells Willard that his La Jolla remodel has created more jobs than Barack Obama. You hardly hear any whirring and clicking before his programming replies "that is true," and switched to "my friend" instead of "asshole." (Think Progress)

I think you would be hard pressed to find a more clear example of what a "low information voter" looks like. Or at the very least, what a Fox News viewer looks like.

The stimulus program saved or created as many as three million jobs, and up until this summer when Republican obstruction swung into full-gear, we had a year straight of private sector job growth. More jobs were created during President Obama's first two years in office than were created during eight years of President Bush.

It hasn't been enough to keep up with the scores of unemployed created by the housing crash and the still-Bushed economy however, but to claim zero jobs have been created under this president is simply inaccurate.

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Paul Krugman writes that with the stimulus and aid to states run out, we're officially in the Age of Austerity so beloved by Republicans -- and that it's playing a big part in the current economic slowdown. Look at it this way; demand is people spending money. But people aren't spending money. And cutting government spending only reduces demand. It won't do a damned thing to help the economy, it'll do the opposite. Duh.

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The editor-in-chief of a peer reviewed science journal resigns in disgrace. His sin? Publishing a "fundamentally flawed" paper by climate science denier Roy Spencer. This illustrates just how bad the deniers' "science" actually is.

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Dr. Judith Reisman - 219 x 240

"We know that pedophilia, which was the original Greek they say it's 'love of' but of course it isn't, it's 'lust for' boys. And there's a strong, clear, cross-cultural, historical reality, people don't want to do deal with, but the propaganda has been loud and strong to deny the fact, the aim of homosexual males and now increasingly females is not to have sex with other old guys and get married but to obtain sex with as many boys as possible. That's the reality. I wish it weren't, but it is." - Liberty University law professor Judith Reisman, speaking on Matt Barber's Liberty Counsel radio show.

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"For that reason alone, the left should worship Sarah Palin and adopt her as one of their own. Because the leftist haters are an entire political ideology of special needs children." Conservative comedian Eric Golub warming up the crowd before Palin's speech in Iowa today

Another bit of evidence proving the theory that conservatives aren't funny. And, of course, Palin has a special needs child.

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Dr. Keith Ablow

"I advise parents to not allow their children to watch the episodes in which Chaz appears. [snip] Chaz Bono should not be applauded for asserting she is a man (and goes about trying to look like one) any more than a woman who believes she will be happier without arms, has them removed and then continues to assert that she was right all along—her self-concept was that of a double amputee. Now, all is well. Chaz Bono should not be applauded any more than someone who, tragically, believes that his species, rather than gender, is what is amiss and asks a plastic surgeon to build him a tail of flesh harvested from his abdomen. If only a plastic surgeon would acquiesce, all would be well." - Dr. Keith Ablow, writing for Fox News.

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The kill-them-all crowd will love this, but it's important to underscore Rick Perry's obvious lack of moral character — you know, for someone who claims that Jesus is his personal savior.

JUVENILES: According to the Tribune, three people who were juveniles at the time of their crime were executed between 2000, when Perry took office, and 2005, when the Supreme Court banned the execution of juveniles. Before Napoleon Beazley, who committed a murder at 17, was executed, 18 state legislators wrote Perry asking him to grant clemency, and the trial judge who eventually had to sign his execution order asked Perry to commute the sentence to life in prison. Perry's response: "To delay his punishment is to delay justice."

MENTALLY DISABLED: Ten executions during Perry's tenure have involved serious questions about the prisoner's mental health and stability. One was Kelsey Patterson, who was judged as mentally fit by a doctor known as "Dr. Death" because he rarely found patients mentally unfit for trial. During his trial, Patterson testified about having devices planted in his head by the military, and once in prison, he sent incoherent letters to courts. The Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended to Perry that he grant clemency, but Perry rejected the recommendation. Another was James Clark, whose final statement was, "Howdy." Two Texas prisoners with mental health concerns have been executed in 2011.

INADEQUATE COUNSEL: Five men executed since 2000 have had major questions about the adequacy of their legal counsel, including Leonard Uresti Rojas. The appellate attorney appointed to Rojas was on probation with the state bar, suffered from mental illness and missed multiple deadlines to file appeals on Rojas' behalf. New attorneys took Rojas' case before the Court of Appeals asked Perry to stay the execution but were denied. After the execution, an appeals court judge wrote a dissenting opinion against the court, saying Rojas' attorney had "neglected his duties."

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The number of prosecutions conducted for Medicare fraud has jumped 85 percent in 2011 over 2010.

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A new Fixed News poll show 71% of Republicans do not want Sarah Palin to run for office.

Thank you, Jeebus!

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Margaret and Helen: Who has the better bouffant?

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Corporate filings show that Rupert Hacker Murdoch's compensation rose 47% in fiscal year 2011, to $33.3 million$12.5 million of that was a bonus. Rupert Murdoch's son, James Murdoch, was awarded a $6 million bonus but he declined it "in light of" the phone hacking scandal.

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Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Have Cost a Million Jobs.

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The world of environmentalists has flown into an uproar about Obama's recent decision to overrule the recommendations of his own EPA's scientists and not strengthen ozone standards (because, you know, jobs).

But be re-assured, we're told wasn't a political decision; it was a campaign calculation.
Dave Roberts at grist.org:

Senate staffer contacted me to let me know that smog decision not about votes, but about terror of post-Citizens United money. Feel better?

So, a bid for money, not a bid for votes. There's a word for that, isn't there?

In the meantime, Paul Krugman has
harsh things to say about the economics of the decision (my emphasis):

And now you can see why tighter ozone regulation would actually have created jobs: it would have forced firms to spend on upgrading or replacing equipment, helping to boost demand. Yes, it would have cost money — but that's the point! And with corporations sitting on lots of idle cash, the money spent would not, to any significant extent, come at the expense of other investment.

More broadly, if you're going to do environmental investments — things that are worth doing even in flush times — it's hard to think of a better time to do them than when the resources needed to make those investments would otherwise have been idle.

So, a lousy decision all around. Are you surprised?

Read the bolded sentence again; if you listen too much to the mainstream "conventional wisdom" megaphone, this is counter-intuitive. On the other hand, to the uncluttered mind, it makes perfect sense. Demand (i.e., spending) is exactly the antidote to a demand-driven recession (well, duh).

About the politics of the decision, Krugman is equally harsh. He thinks the crack Obama political machine "just keep[s] reinforcing the perception of mush from the wimp, of a president who doesn't stand for anything."

Mush from the wimp — that could take hold.

I think this
"Obama is weak" meme, with which I disagree, is becoming conventional wisdom. Good; maybe calling him unmanly will embarrass him into playing strong for the team he's pretending to be on — for a change.

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"Who are all those people under the bus?" "Obama's base."

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In the context of news that the Obama ozone cave-in decision was Citizens United–related, we find this, from Zach Carter & Jordon Howard at the Huff Post

Zach Carter, by the way, is one of the intrepid reporters behind this stunning revelation.

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U.S. tries to stall Palestinian statehood bid

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Trying to help the poor is now a crime.

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They use TASERS when they aren't needed, and bullets in the rare instances when a TASER would actually be appropriate. "North Miami Beach police officers shot and killed Ernest Vassell, a 57-year-old autistic man, on Wednesday after responding to calls about a man seen walking with a rifle. But the gun was later determined to be a realistic-looking toy. ... The officers said Vassell refused orders to drop the "weapon," and was shot after turning around and facing the police."

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If you're shocked by this, we have a bridge to sell you. "The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has worked closely with Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi in imprisoning terrorists suspects, according to documents found in Tripoli by Human Rights Watch. ... The documents reveal that the CIA worked with Gadhafi's intelligence agencies in capturing Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group that has links to al-Qaida. The CIA also gave Gadhafi information on Libyan antagonists in Britain. ... Human Rights Watch emergencies director Peter Bouckaert told the Guardian that the documents represent "a very dark chapter in American intelligence history, and it remains a stain on the record of the American intelligence services that they cooperated with these very abusive intelligence services." ... Britain's security services also appear in contact with the Libyan government, with talks between London and Tripoli before then Prime Minister Tony Blair's meeting with Gadhafi in a desert tent."

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Digby: "They are so emboldened at this point that they are one step away from mooning the President during his speech."

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God Continues to respond to Rick Perry's prayers for rain. This is a home in Possum Kingdom Lake

 

 

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