This Week with Christiane Amanpour - April 3, 2011

Guests
Jim Jones - Fmr. Obama National Security Advisor
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
****************************

Amanpour: the middle east is falling into total chaos

Audience: well that’s new

Amanpour: some idiot burned a Koran so people attacked a UN post in Afghanistan

Reporter: 6 US soldiers were killed in a vicious firefight on the Pakistan border

Audience: yikes

Reporter: this is a turning point in the war

Audience: problem solved

Amanpour: this moron pastor in Florida is affecting US foreign policy

Reporter: because of this guy people are shouting ‘Death to President Obama

Amanpour: that’s odd because I heard Obama was a muslim who will impose sharia law

Reporter: it’s complicated

Amanpour: the rebels got killed by friendly fire

Rebels: Han shot first!

Reporter: Tripoli is very normal today - the rebels are disorganized and Qadaffi

Marquadt: the rebels have no leaders - just a princess, and old man and kid from Tatooine

Audience: and 2 droids

Reporter: that’s not going cut it

Audience: damm

Amanpour: General Jones how is America’s longest war going?

Jones: it’s all being disrupted by one wackjob pastor from Florida

Amanpour: when do we win?

Jones: some time next summer or possibly 2014

Amanpour: depending on what?

Jones: on who you define victory

Amanpour: I see

Jones: seriously though - it all really depends on whether Pakistan is willing to go after al-qaeda which they never have done before

Amanpour: that seems like a problem

Jones: it is

Amanpour: America is also involved in a civil war in Libya

Jones: the French need our help to prevent illegal Arab immigrants from getting to Cannes

Amanpour: America is out and NATO is in - but NATO is all-American

Jones: no the US are refueling while the British and French lead the attack

Amanpour: what is the endgame?

Jones: we need Qaddafi to stay because those rebels are untrustworthy

Amanpour: who are the rebels - who are they??

Jones: we know there’s one guy named Fred

Amanpour: ok

Jones: now we need to find out who the rest of the rebels are

Amanpour: it’s very troubling that we don’t know who they are and what their aspirations are and if they have Facebook likes

Jones: we tried poking Fred

Amanpour: what about our favorite dictator in Yemen?

Jones: it’s very worrisome because he hates al-qaeda like we do

Amanpour: can we keep him in power?

Jones: Sadly those pesky people in Yemen have other ideas

Amanpour: that’s a shame

Jones: all this democracy nonsense is a vast tectonic shift

[ break ]

Amanpour: The tea party may force John Boehner to shut the government down

Boehner: we can’t just impose our will [sobs]

Tea Partier: take of the lace panties noodlebat

USAID: the cuts would kill 70,000 kids

Dean: let a shutdow happen and blame the GOP yeeeaaahh

[ break ]

Amanpour: will you guys make a deal?

Sessions: since ignoring the debt under Reagan, Bush I and Bush Jr we have to cut the debt right now!

Schumer: fuck the debt - we need jobs

Session: but the deficit causes recession oh mah stahrs

Schumer: we should not cut cancer research instead we should cut some of those damm farm subsidies

Sessions: Obama is only adding 100,000 jobs - clearly we need to cut the debt right now

Amanpour: so you say

Sessions: we have to cut $800 billion - did you know we have to borrow all this money?!?

Amanpour: wow was this true when Reagan, Bush and Dubya were President

Sessions: who?

Amanpour: Jeff are the Tea Parties going to destroy America?

Sess: no they are very mature lunatics

Amanpour: you’re not worried

Sessions: the Democrat debt will cause the shutdown of all social programs in 2 years

Schumer: I feel sorry for the Republicans because the Tea Party are all freaks and crazies

Amanpour: Chuck you called the tea party extreme!

Schumer: you’re damm fucking right I did

Sessions: the Tea Party may not be the fastest cars on blocks but they are fundamentally right about everything

Amanpour: like what

Sessions: Obama really is a black democrat!

Amanpour: thanks for coming guys
************************************

Partial Meltdown in Reactor Two

The radioactive core of Reactor Two of the Fukushima plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and may have melted on to a concrete floor, running the risk of radioactive gases being released into the surrounding area, according to experts.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973

Protection of civilians

Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory, and requests the Member States concerned to inform the Secretary-General immediately of the measures they take pursuant to the authorization conferred by this paragraph which shall be immediately reported to the Security Council;

5. Recognizes the important role of the League of Arab States in matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security in the region, and bearing in mind Chapter VIII of the Charter of the United Nations, requests the Member States of the League of Arab States to cooperate with other Member States in the implementation of paragraph 4;

U.S., France, Britain Launch Attacks on Libyan Government

U.S. naval and air forces, with the French and British military attacked targets in Libya in an effort to criple the government run Moammar Qaddafi.

The New York Times reports:
The mission to impose a United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone was portrayed by Pentagon and NATO officials as under French and British leadership.

But the Pentagon said that American forces took the lead in the initial campaign to knock out Libya’s air defense systems, firing volley after volley of Tomahawk missiles from nearby ships against missile, radar and communications centers around Tripoli, the capital, and the western cities of Misurata and Surt.

Little Effect

New York Times:
Earlier Thursday the military forces dumped seawater from a helicopter on Reactor No. 3, making four passes and dropping a total of about 8,000 gallons over it as a plume of white smoke billowed. The Japanese government said that the reactor typically needs 50 tons of water, or about 12,000 gallons, a day to keep from overheating.

The Self-Defense Forces later said the measure had little effect on reducing the temperature in the pool where the spent rods are stored.

Ice Sheets Shrinking More Quickly

Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets are shrinking more quickly, suggesting United Nations

projections for sea-level rise are too conservative, a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration-funded study said.

From 1992 to 2009, the two regions lost on average 36.3 billion tons more ice every year than the previous year, scientists led by Eric Rignot at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a study in the Geophysical Research Letters journal. The researchers said they

linked two independent sets of measurements to validate them.

Jobless Claims Fall Again

Jobless claims:

March 28, 2009: 651,000

February 26, 2011: 368,000

Team Obama Throws Cold Water on Social Security Cuts

White House Budget Director Jack Lew and Jason Furman, deputy director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, both stressed this week that Social Security isn’t facing an immediate funding crisis and should be viewed separately from moves to reduce the federal deficit.

“They’ve dumped a big pot of ice cold water on any embers of Social Security reform,” said Chuck Blahous, a Social Security public trustee who headed a commission on the program empaneled by President George W. Bush.

Austerity!

U.S. Economy Grew 2.8% in Fourth Quarter

The revised increase in gross domestic product compares with a 3.2 percent estimate issued last month and a 2.6 percent gain in the third quarter, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The economy, excluding inventories, grew at a 6.7 percent pace, the most since 1998. For all of 2010, the world’s largest economy expanded 2.8 percent, the most in five years, after shrinking 2.6 percent in 2009.

U.K. Economy Shrank More Than Estimated in Fourth Quarter

Feb. 25 -- Britain’s economy shrank more than initially estimated in the fourth quarter, complicating the task of the Bank of England as a split deepens among policy makers on whether to withdraw stimulus. Gross domestic product fell 0.6 percent from the previous three months, compared with an initial estimate for a 0.5 percent drop, the Office for National Statistics said

Revenues Rise Most in 5 Years

Total revenue for S&P 500 companies may rise 7.5 percent this year, the most since 2006, to an all-time high of $1,017.44 a share, according to analyst estimates compiled through Feb. 6 by Bloomberg. Sales fell 13 percent between November 2008 and October 2009 as the worst U.S. recession since the 1930s forced businesses and consumers to cut back on spending.

Consumer Spending Gains Most in Years

The U.S. economy accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2010, driven by the biggest gain in consumer spending in more than four years and rising exports.

Final sales, which includes all categories except stockpiles, rose at a 7.1 percent pace, the most since 1984.

Coolest Countries in the World

Yeah, Mongolia!

Her Name Was Lola

Lola, a red-tailed hawk living in Central Park since 2002 with her mate hawk Pale Male, a 20-year fixture of the park, hasn't been seen since Dec. 18 and is presumed dead.

"It's pretty clear that Lola has met her demise, probably from a poisoned prey animal (such as a rat or pigeon) or by injury," hawk expert John Blakeman said.

Fans of Pale Male said the hawk has had at least five mates since settling in the park in 1991 and has fathered at least 23 chicks.

Baucus on Wealth Transfer

Baucus Seeks to Stop Wealthy From Year-End Transfer of Assets

Sen. Max Baucus has introduced a proposal intended to stop wealthy taxpayers from transferring assets to family members before the end of the year and pay less in gift taxes than the levy they would face after they die.

The Senate will vote Saturday. Under the proposal, the existing 35 percent gift tax would increase to 45 percent for transfer until the end of the year. It becomes law as part of a compromise to extend Bush-era tax cuts that expire Dec. 31, would remove an incentive to pass along fortunes to children and grandchildren before year-end to lock in a historically low gift tax rate.

Tina Fey's Remarks on Palin Edited on PBS

Tina Fey is the youngest recipient of the Mark Twain prize, but not all of her speech was seen on PBS. This is the part PBS edited out:

"You know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women. Except, of course, those who will end up, you know, like, paying for their own rape kit, 'n stuff.

But for everybody else, it’s a win-win. Unless you’re a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years – whatever.

But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know – actually, I take it back. The whole thing’s a disaster."

Who Killed Tycho Brahe?

PRAGUE (AP) -- An international team of scientists opened the tomb of famous 16th-century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe Monday in an effort to shed light on his sudden and mysterious death. It had been long thought he died of a bladder infection.

But tests conducted in 1996 in Sweden and later in Denmark on samples of his mustache and hair - obtained during a previous 1901 exhumation - indicated unusually high levels of mercury, leading to a theory of mercury poisoning, even possible murder.

They also are interested in Brahe's skull. He had part of his nose cut off during a duel with a fellow nobleman as a student and it was replaced by a metal plate. The plate was not found in 1901, but the tests should be able to determine what it was made of.

James Blunt: I Prevented World War Three

So he says.

Meet the Press - November 14, 2010

Guests:
David Axelrod - White House advisor
Sen. John McCain - (R-AZ)
Alan Greenspan
Harold Ford
Newt Gingrich
Bethany McLean
**************************
Gregory: Dave did Obama achieve anything touring Asia?

Axelrod: Obama is out there fighting for American jobs Fluffy and he rejected a bad trade deal because it wasn't fucking good enough!

Gregory: what about those Bush tax cuts for the rich?

Axelrod: We can afford to borrow money to keep the tax cuts for the middle class but we can’t afford to borrow to keep the cuts for the wealthy

Gregory: but the rich have suffered so much

Axelrod: John McCain opposed those cuts and he was right

Gregory: can I get a compromise right now?

Axelrod: are you negotiating on behalf of the Republicans David?

Gregory: it saves time

Axelrod: I see

Gregory: is Obama open to compromise please??

Axelrod: dear god stop whining Fluffers

Gregory: is the President going to move to the right?

Axelrod: the message from the American people is they want us to act together and give them jobs

Gregory: I still hear you still fighting for liberals - dammit will you just stop and be conservative already!!

Axelrod: ok how about tax cuts for businesses?

Gregory: the Chairmen of the debt commission proposed a lot of pain and spending cuts which I hope will be very popular

Axelrod: no one wants cuts or higher taxes so this should be a lot of fun

Gregory: Is Obama willing to finally stop all this free money going to the elderly and sick?

Axelrod: the right-wing demagogues this issue

Gregory: [ grinning ] but you won’t even make any concessions on my tv show!!!

Axelrod: I heard you were a moron

Gregory: so did I

Axelrod: this is a dark cloud over us and we must make these cuts

Gregory: excellent

Gregory: what about Rahm

Axelrod: he’s fucking crazy

Gregory: are we ever going to make progress in Afghanistan?

Axelrod: we need to train the Afghans to fight and love America which is tricky

[ break ]

Gregory: President McCain what would it take to satisfy you in Afghanistan?

McCain: it’s just a fact that we must never leave that far-away country or terrorists will here and cut our heads off

Gregory: but President Karzai doesn’t even want us there

McCain: he’s paranoid

Gregory: you’re calling him paranoid?

McCain: look the entire Afghan government is corrupt and Pakistan is harboring international terrorists

Gregory: these are arguments for staying there?

McCain: exactly

Gregory: what about gays in the military

McCain: Look we need a study that says gays are icky

Gregory: fascinating

McCain: we need a thorough and complete study to determine the if gay people cause cooties

Gregory: your wife called you a bigot - what did you say to her?

McCain: I only communicate with my wife through Twitter

Gregory: doesn’t military honor require not lying

McCain: the head of the marines has validated my bigotry!

Gregory: but what do you believe personally about gays?

McCain: look I met a soldier in Kandahar who has to sleep with all the men under him

Gregory: interesting

McCain: these are petty officers!

Gregory: Indeed they are

Gregory: we have more tape of you on Meet The Press than anyone else

McCain: oh noes

Gregory: you blatantly flip-flopped on tax cuts on the rich

McCain: look this is a very different time - we now know what an incredible hypocrite I am

Gregory: what about the debt commission?

McCain: the American people have sent the message that they hate spending and want to send all of their money to the richest one-percent

Gregory: President Bush is peeved at you for not campaigning with him

McCain: I had to do it - Obama was trying to tie me Bush

Gregory: yes he tried to link you in the public’s mind

McCain: no he found us backstage and tied us up!

Gregory: my god - well that’s it until your 60th appearance

McCain: Ooh I hope I get a toaster

[ break ]

Gregory: Alan where are the jobs?

Greenspan: there are no construction jobs because we already built what we need and businesses are very uncertain about the future which we need to be certain about

Gregory: Newt you’re a failure and widely hated - tell us about world economics

Gingrich: all of this is Obama’s fault because he hate business

Ford: Newt is right that I should have been the first black President

Gingrich: um what

Ford: we should have a moratorium on regulations and accept all the debt commission recommendations

Gregory: Beth how can American thrive until we inflict more pain on homeowners

McLean: if the government stops involvement in housing there will be another crash

Greenspan: hey old white men are doing great

Gingrich: this debt commission report debate is stupid because we won’t cut social security

Gregory: but don’t we have to have an adult conversation that we must slash funding for the poor and give money to the rich??

Greenspan: the Congress will pass these recommendations because they must or bond traders will have a sad

McLean: we are headed to a huge crisis

Gregory: I’m just a talk show host but we must raise the retirement age!! [ sobs ]

Ford: Newt Gingrich is a close friend and handsome man - why can’t he lead the Democrats to cut social security ??

Gingrich: this stupid chairmen’s plan is a step backwards because it’s a hurtful proposal from bunch of rich people who won’t be affected by their own recommendations

Gregory: gee that’s what I liked about it

Gregory: [ shows tape of people rioting in Europe ]
look at this horrible social unrest just because poor people see all the benefits going to the rich

Ford: I love the Tea Party because they realize that we must eliminate Social Security for young and poor people

Gregory: Newt does Obama have the guts to slash Medicare?

Gingrich: I fear government workers in Albany will riot

Gregory: over cuts in salaries?

Gingrich: Lack of parking

Gregory: should we cut the debt by extending tax cuts for the very rich?

Greenspan: yes - also the deficit is a real problem which is why we need to cut entitlements

McLean: those tax cuts sure didn’t provide jobs

Gregory: only 8 million were lost

McLean: We’re running out of time - the bond will take their balls and go home and then we will have no balls!

Gregory: what if the government gets out of the mortgage business?

Greenspan: home prices get lower and we will have to foreclose on 8 million people which will be necessary but exhausting

Gregory: Newtie will you run for President please

Gingrich: yes but first I must create a movement for insanity

Gregory: I’m torn between you and Sarah Palin

Gingrich: true - also there’s heavyweights Huckabee, Romney and Barbour

Gregory: Don’t forget my new best buddy - Bobby Jindal - squee!!!
*************************

Holocaust Film 'Too Gruesome"?

Nov. 12 (Telegraph) -- A German-made film about the horrors of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz is so horrific that many critics have already said they will boycott it when it is
released next year. Uwe Boll's film entitled Auschwitz is already on the internet, showing disturbing images of naked victims dying in gas chambers. Mr Boll, a filmmaker who has made it his life's work to shock, said he wanted to present to the world "a movie about the Holocaust that tells it like it really was".

I Can See Chris Christie From My House!

Surrounded by his family and Pennsylvania's Republican elite, Gov.-elect Tom Corbett looked into the election-night crowd in Pittsburgh and said, "Throughout the campaign, people asked me, 'What kind of role model do you have?' I reminded them: Just look across the Delaware River to New Jersey. Take a look at Gov. Christie."

Obama Cut Taxes for 95 Percent of Americans

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks and has overseen an economy that has grown for the past four quarters.

Most voters don’t believe it.

A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Oct. 24-26 finds that by a two-to-one margin , likely voters in the Nov. 2 midterm elections think taxes have gone up, the economy has shrunk, and the billions lent to banks as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program won’t be recovered.


The Obama administration has cut taxes -- largely for the middle class -- by $240 billion since taking office Jan. 20, 2009. A program aimed at families earning less than $150,000 that was contained in the stimulus package lowered the burden for 95 percent of working Americans by $116 billion, or about $400 per year for individuals and $800 for married couples.

Other measures include breaks for college education, moderate-income families and the unemployed and incentives to promote renewable energy.

Still, the poll shows the message hasn’t gotten through to Americans, especially middle-income voters. By 52 percent to 19 percent, likely voters say federal income taxes have gone up for the middle class in the past two years.

No Legos?

BREMERTON, Wash., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A 4-year-old boy playing with a semiautomatic shotgun in Washington State accidentally shot and wounded his mother, police said. Investigators say the boy was given a shotgun cartridge by his father. The father apparently gave the boy the cartridge because he was interested in guns.

Digby & Watertiger Tonight on Virtually Speaking

**VIRTUALLY SPEAKING SUNDAYS**
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OUR MEDIA NOT THEIRS ---- THIS WEEK: DIGBY & WATERTIGER

DIGBY
An American political blogger and founder of the liberal blog Hullabaloo, digby has contributed to Campaign For America's Future's blog The Big Con, Salon Magazine, Eschaton and Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars and Firedoglake.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

WATERTIGER
NYC-based aquatic feline that likes long walks on the beach, illuminating the hypocrisies of "family values" Republicans, and engaging in snarling snarkitude.

http://www.dependablerenegade.com/ | http://twitter.com/WatertigerNYC
http://firedoglake.com/author/watertiger/ | http://www.wakeupworld.tv

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ABOUT VIRTUALLY SPEAKING SUNDAYS
A weekly news review and counterpoint to the network opinion shows. Each week, two well regarded bloggers discuss the events of the week, with an emphasis on U.S. politics and policy.

400,000 Documents Shed Light on Truth of Iraq War

WikiLeaks has published 400,000 U.S. government documents relating to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. The New York Times has extensive coverage.

Heads You Win, Tails He Loses

Politico, quoting George Will:

"If Democrats lose both houses, Obama will seem repudiated. If they lose neither, he will seem impotent. So, if Democrats lose big, he loses big. If they lose smaller, he loses bigger.”

HIS WORK IS DONE

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- AIG Chief Risk Officer Robert Lewis is stepping down after saying that the company underestimated the risk of bets tied to subprime mortgages. “We were wrong about how bad things could get,” Lewis told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in June. “What ended up happening was so extreme that it was beyond anything we had planned for.”

Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche is overhauling management at the insurer, which was bailed out in 2008 by taxpayers and posted the biggest quarterly loss in U.S. Benmosche said in a memo to staff today that Lewis will remain with AIG for “a period of time to ensure a smooth transition.”

Lewis joined New York-based AIG in 1993 and was named chief risk officer in 2004, according to the memo. He told the FCIC that responsibility for liquidity-risk management fell to others at the company.

Brazil Clown May Be Barred From Congress

Sao Paulo (AP) -- The clown who got more votes than any other candidate for Congress will have to convince authorities he can read and write if he wants to take office.

House To Vote on Tax Cuts Before Election?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House may vote next week on extending Bush-era tax cuts for most Americans in a pre-election showdown with Republicans over rates that expire at year’s end. “We will retain the right to proceed as we choose,” Pelosi said today to reporters following the decision by Senate to wait.

Texas School Books Anti-Jesus?

Social conservatives are seeking to curtail references to Islam in Texas textbooks, warning of what they describe as a creeping Middle Eastern influence in the U.S. publishing industry.

The resolution cites world history books no longer used in Texas schools that it says devoted more lines of text to Islamic beliefs and practices than Christian beliefs and practices.

"Diverse reviewers have repeatedly documented gross pro-Islamic, anti-Christian distortions in social studies texts," reads a preliminary draft of the resolution. "Diverse reviewers have repeatedly documented gross pro-Islamic, anti-Christian distortions in social studies texts," reads a preliminary draft of the resolution.

Got Mail?

A Philadelphia postal carrier has been sentenced to probation after admitting he stored more than 12,000 pieces of undelivered mail in his garage. According to court documents, he began stashing the mail in 1997 and added to the pile whenever he found himself unable to keep up. Authorities say Blauser's wife discovered the 12,808 pieces of undelivered mail in April and reported it to the postal service.

"This is America. I don't want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American.
Then sliced by Guatemalan and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian."

I Do Not Think Grassroots Means What Huma Khan Thinks It Means

by Huma Khan, ABC
Sept. 20, 2010
"Congress must sit down with a blank slate and have an honest and open process to improve America's health care system by empowering patients and their doctors," said Heritage Action for America's chief executive Michael A. Needham, who heads grassroots efforts to push for repeal. "

Two Gitmo Detainees To Germany

The government has announced the transfer of two detainees from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the government of Germany.

174 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.

Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Fall to 450,000

Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in two months, a sign the labor market is improving.

But.....

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month forecast unemployment will hold above 9 percent through next year, a sign it will take years to recover the more than 8 million jobs lost in the recession.

It's Hard Out There For a Pope

Pope picks rap song as anthem for UK visit
By Jerome Taylor
Tuesday, 7 September 2010

He is a strict traditionalist who is known to favour the Latin Mass with all its ancient trimmings. But when it comes to finding a song that will appeal to young worshippers, the Pope has opted for rap. The committee overseeing Pope Benedict's itinerary in Britain this month says it has chosen a hip-hop track to be the official "youth anthem" for his three-day visit. "Heart's Cry", by the Catholic trio Ooberfuse, opens with extracts of a speech by the Pope on evil.

Gettysburg Casino Backed

A proposal to build a new casino near the Gettysburg battlefield has picked up support from a historic preservation association that aims to protect the battlefield from development.
Last week, the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association announced its support for the proposal to turn an existing conference center into a casino with 600 slot machines and 50 gaming tables near the historic Civil War site.

The proposed Mason-Dixon Resort & Casino is competing with three other applicants for Pennsylvania’s final resort casino license. The state Gaming Control Board will hold a hearing on the proposal on Aug. 31.

Sacred ground.

Welders Needed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Workers with specialized skills like electricians, carpenters and welders are in critically short supply in many large economies, a shortfall that marks another obstacle to the global economic recovery, a research paper by Manpower Inc concludes.

The skilled trades category also includes jobs like bricklayers, cabinet makers, plumbers and butchers, jobs that typically require a specialist's certification.

Muslim Americans are entitled to nothing less than the full rights of every American

USA PATRIOT ACT

Approved October 26, 2001; amended November 2, 2002.

SEC. 102. SENSE OF CONGRESS CONDEMNING DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ARAB AND MUSLIM AMERICANS.

(a) FINDINGS — Congress makes the following findings:

(1) Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and Americans from South Asia play a vital role in our Nation and are entitled to nothing less than the full rights of every American.

(2) The acts of violence that have been taken against Arab and Muslim Americans since the September 11, 2001, attacks against the United States should be and are condemned by all Americans who value freedom.

(3) The concept of individual responsibility for wrongdoing is sacrosanct in American society, and applies equally to all religious, racial, and ethnic groups.

(4) When American citizens commit acts of violence against those who are, or are perceived to be, of Arab or Muslim descent, they should be punished to the full extent of the law.

(5) Muslim Americans have become so fearful of harassment that many Muslim women are changing the way they dress to avoid becoming targets.

(6) Many Arab Americans and Muslim Americans have acted heroically during the attacks on the United States, including Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old New Yorker of Pakistani descent, who is believed to have gone to the World Trade Center to offer rescue assistance and is now missing.

(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS — It is the sense of Congress that —
(1) the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans, including Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, and Americans from South Asia, must be protected, and that every effort must be taken to preserve their safety;

(2) any acts of violence or discrimination against any Americans be condemned; and

(3) the Nation is called upon to recognize the patriotism of fellow citizens from all ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.

Whose Tea Party?

Tea party activists said that a campaign that submitted 60,000 petition signatures to the state Wednesday to qualify candidates for office under the banner of the Tea Party is a trick to help Democrats. The activists said the group that submitted the petitions wants to siphon votes from tea party conservatives running as Republicans.

A Tuscola County man who described himself as head of the party that turned in the petitions, issued a statement Wednesday criticizing both major parties and claiming "the tea party is a grassroots movement that belongs to everybody. No one person, click (sic) or party boss owns the tea party."

"This is absolutely not legitimate," said Mark Graham, an organizer of a tea party group in Tuscola County.

A similar dispute is under way in Florida, where Republicans and tea party activists have accused Democrats of financing so-called Tea Party candidates for local office in an attempt to dilute the anti-Democratic Party vote.

Most of Michigan's public tea party activists, like those elsewhere in the country, have dismissed the idea of forming an official third-party alternative as counterproductive to their goal of reining in the cost and size of government. "We don't need another party," said Bill Hollister, chairman a Macomb County-based tea party organization. "The tea party is trying to cleanse the Republican Party." Hollister said Wednesday's filing was "as bogus as it can get. They don't have support from anybody in the tea party movement in this state."

So the only people allowed to use the term Tea Party are people who don't think there should be a Tea Party?

Build The Dang Fence!

No, not that one.

Federal officials had already committed $80 million to control the spread of the Asian carp - a voracious eater which biologists fear will outmaneuver native fish and cause a collapse in the lakes' multibillion-dollar commercial and recreational fishing industries. But the control effort, which included the construction of an underwater electric fence, has apparently failed, and politicians in the region are pressing for further action.

China Arrests Environmentalist

China Jails Tibetan Environmentalist
By REUTERS

BEIJING, July 3 (Reuters) - A Chinese court on Saturday sentenced a Tibetan environmentalist who organized villagers to pick up litter and plant trees to five years in jail for inciting to split the nation, his lawyer said.

The environmentalist, Rinchen Samdrup, is the third brother in his family to be jailed. Mr. Samdrup ran an environmental group in the Tibet Autonomous Region near Sichuan Province that organized about 1,700 local villagers to reforest the area and report poaching, and also ran a small magazine. His group worked with international conservation groups and was praised by Chinese media.

Exile Tibetan groups say Mr. Samdrup ran afoul of powerful local interests after accusing a local police officer of poaching.

Mr. Samdrup was accused of posting a favorable article about the Dalai Lama on his website, his lawyer, Xia Jun, said. He pleaded not guilty But the Chamdo prefecture court convicted him of incitement to split the country, the lawyer said, and deprived him of his political rights for three years.

Did Manute Bol Invent "My Bad"?

Perhaps he did:

USA Today, Jan. 27, 1989: After making a bad pass, instead of saying "my fault," Manute Bol says, "my bad." Now all the other Warriors say it too.

Either way he was a very generous guy and a good example for other professional athletes.

Israel Rejects Demands for International Probe of Gaza Raid

June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Israel turned down demands for an international probe of its raid on a ship bringing aid to the Gaza Strip, which left nine dead, saying it would launch its own investigation.

“We are rejecting the idea of an international commission,” Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. said, speaking on “Fox News Sunday. “We are discussing with the Obama administration the way in which our inquiry will take place.”

WATERTIGER & CULTURE OF TRUTH @ VIRTUALLY SPEAKING SUNDAYS
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OUR MEDIA NOT THEIRS ---- THIS WEEK: CULTURE OF TRUTH & WATERTIGER
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Culture of Truth writes The Bobblespeak Translations, political satire wherein he recaps the Sunday morning talk shows and major appearances of national political figures. "What They're Really Saying When They're Saying What They're Saying" just about sums it up.

Watertiger
NYC-based aquatic feline that likes long walks on the beach, illuminating the hypocrisies of "family values" Republicans, and engaging in snarling snarkitude.


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ABOUT VIRTUALLY SPEAKING SUNDAYS
A weekly news review and counterpoint to the network opinion shows. Each week, two well regarded bloggers discuss the events of the week, with an emphasis on U.S. politics and policy.

THE VSS PRESS CORPS
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Obama Meets with BP Executives

Obama: Hello. My name is Barack Obama. You killed the Gulf of Mexico. Prepare to die.

BP: Hi Mr. President. We'll try to pay for the clean up-

Obama: Hello!! My name is Barack Obama! You killed the Gulf of Mexico. Prepare to die!

BP: Naturally we'll meet our legal obligations-

Obama: Hello!! My name is Barack Obama!! You killed the Gulf of Mexico!! Prepare to die!!

BP: we'll try to make restitition to the people affected-

Obama: Hello!! My name is Barack Obama!! You killed the Gulf of Mexico!! Prepare to die!!

BP: Will please you stop saying that?!?

Obama: Offer me anything I want!

BP: yes billions, free oil, an apology, anything... just don't kill us!!

Obama: I want the Gulf Coast back you son-of-a-bitch!

All Was Well!

Wall Street Journal:

In the minutes after a cascade of gas explosions crippled the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, confusion reigned on the drilling platform. Flames were spreading rapidly, power was out, and terrified workers were leaping into the dark, oil-coated sea. Capt. Curt Kuchta, the vessel's commander, huddled on the bridge with about 10 other managers and crew members.

Andrea Fleytas, a 23-year-old worker who helped operate the rig's sophisticated navigation machinery, suddenly noticed a glaring oversight: No one had issued a distress signal to the outside world, she recalls in an interview. Ms. Fleytas grabbed the radio and began calling over a signal monitored by the Coast Guard and other vessels.

"Mayday, Mayday. This is Deepwater Horizon. We have an uncontrollable fire."

When Capt. Kuchta realized what she had done, he reprimanded her, she says.

"I didn't give you authority to do that," he said, according to Ms. Fleytas, who says she responded: "I'm sorry."

Swim Club

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A Northeast Philadelphia synagogue that bought a swim club accused of racial discrimination last year says it plans to use the property for recreation for its 2,000-plus members. The Congregation Beth Solomon bought the Valley Club property in Huntingdon Valley for $1.46 million at a bankruptcy auction on Thursday. The club filed for bankruptcy in November following discrimination lawsuits.

FOX FORCE FIVE!

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has hand-picked a team of five scientists “extraordinarily intelligent” scientists from around the country with reputations for creative problem solving.

Members of the Chu team are credited with accomplishments including designing the first hydrogen bomb, inventing techniques for mining on Mars and finding a way to precisely position biomedical needles.

Chu selected one scientist with experience operating on Mars, George Cooper, and Alexander Slocum, who holds more than five dozen patents for devices
related to biotechnology, robotics and computer science.

“He has a lot of creative ideas. One in 10 are really brilliant ideas, but nine are dumb,” said MIT professor Wai K. Cheng, a colleague in Slocum’s department. “You can’t miss that one that is brilliant.”

The team is rounded out by Tom Hunter, 64, President of Sandia Laboratories, which conducts research for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, and which houses all alien technology retrieved by the U.S. military.

“We’re using some, uh, innovative-type technology that Sandia labs has,” Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer for exploration and production, said today in an interview on CNN.

Clearly Obama has authorized use of our secret alien technology to build a wormhole.

You go, nerds!

Palin Fact Check

Phillip Elliott, Associated Press:

Palin said Obama is "the most pro-abortion president ever to occupy the White House" and asserted that the health care law
would fund abortions.

In fact, Obama's health care law would not allow federal dollars to pay for elective abortions. Catholic hospitals and organizations of Catholic nuns backed the measure. U.S. Catholic bishops and major anti-abortion groups opposed it, arguing that federal dollars could end up paying for abortions.

Good for Phil

Ex-Mexican Governor Laundered With Lehman, U.S. Says

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- A former Mexican governor was scheduled to appear in federal court today in New York today to face federal drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges, using a Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. account.

Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, the former governor of the state of Quintana Roo, was charged in two indictments, one that accused him of conspiring to import “hundreds of tons” of cocaine into the U.S. and a second alleging he laundered almost $19 million through accounts at Lehman Brothers, said Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

How charming.

Snark Alert

May 10 (Telegraph) -- Raquel Welch, the actress, has blamed the Pill for the decline of the institution of marriage. Miss Welch said the widespread use of oral contraceptives had led to a breakdown in norms of sexual morality and fuelled the growth of rampant promiscuity among the young. She said that the situation has grown so grave that "these days nobody seems able to keep it in their pants or honour a commitment". While it carried some benefits, the enduring legacy of the Pill, she argued, has been social anarchy.

Miss Welch found fame in the 1966 movie One Million Years BC and was voted by readers of Playboy magazine as the "most desired female of the 1970s".

She said that in spite of her own three failed marriages she still believed that marriage is the "cornerstone of civilisation, an essential institution that stabilises society, provides a sanctuary for children and saves us from anarchy".

Nobody's Fault

May 5 (Bloomberg) -- James “Jimmy” Cayne, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Bear Stearns Cos., will blame market forces and loss of confidence in his firm for its collapse in 2008, according to a person who has reviewed his testimony before a U.S. investigative panel. “The market’s loss of confidence, even though it was unjustified and irrational, became a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Cayne said in written testimony

Alan Schwartz, who succeeded Cayne as CEO and negotiated Bear Stearns’s fire sale to JPMorgan will blame the fall on rumors. “We did not foresee the extent to which housing prices had been driven to unsustainable levels,” Schwartz will say.

Cayne, who loved to play bridge, pulled away from hands-on management roles, spending more time away from his office even while Bear Stearns was running into trouble. When the firm ran out of money in March 2008 and faced a bank run from its hedge-fund clients and short-term creditors, Cayne was at a bridge tournament in Detroit. He couldn’t fly back to New York in time to take part in talks to sell the firm to JPMorgan under
government pressure.

No worries.

Digby & Stuart Zechman Tonight

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OUR MEDIA NOT THEIRS
THIS WEEK: DIGBY & STUART ZECHMAN

DIGBY
An American political blogger and founder of Hullabaloo, digby has contributed to Campaign For America's Future's blog The Big Con, Salon Magazine, Huffington Post, Eschaton, Crooks anhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd Liars and Firedoglake.



STUART "Centrism IS an ideology" ZECHMAN - is a frequent commenter at TIME Magazine's political blog "Swampland" and co-founder with Jay Ackroyd of the blog "Political Lagoon." He brings the perspectives of entrepreneur and technologist to a New Liberal analysis of policy and politics.

Recent Post
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210,000 Gallons Per Day

The most recent estimate by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which exploded on April 20 and sank days later, is gushing as much as 210,000 gallons of crude into the gulf each day. Concern is mounting that the flow may soon grow to several times that amount.

TV ALERT

Fab Tourre and Lloyd Blankfein will appear before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on April 27.

BAG OF PUS

Goldman Sachs' London units will be formally investigated by Britain's financial regulator after U.S. authorities sued the bank for fraud. Financial-market regulators in France and Germany are reviewing the lawsuit filed against Goldman Sachs last week by the SEC.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on the FSA, which he created in 1997, to investigate Goldman Sachs two days ago, accusing employees of the bank of "moral bankruptcy."

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said today that regulators need to take urgent steps and that the charges against Goldman Sachs had "huge ramifications." Darling, who described the securities Goldman sold as "a bag of pus," said the government would look at changing the law if necessary.

COOPER UNION PART DEUX

President Barack Obama plans to travel to New York City April 22 for a speech to push his legislation for financial overhaul, spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The remarks at Cooper Union comes “almost one year after the administration first laid out a detailed plan for holding Wall Street accountable and protecting consumers,” Gibbs said in an e-mailed statement.

Obama will talk about “what is at stake if we do not move forward with changing the rules of the road,” Gibbs said, as the Senate prepares to debate legislation that’s drawn Republican opposition.

THIS WEEK IN GOD

Beirut (AP) -- A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

"What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?" Sedighi asked during a prayer sermon Friday. "There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes."

Obama Wins Nuke Deal

Obama Wins Backing for Nuclear Security Goal as Summit Ends

President Barack Obama won commitments from 46 nations to lock down nuclear material and keep it out of the hands of terrorists. The next test will be how far global leaders will go to carry out their pledges. “The summit represents a major step to overcome complacency about this threat,” said Bunn, an associate professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who has advised on U.S. nuclear controls. “There’s a lot of work yet to be done, but this does represent major progress.”

The presidents, prime ministers and other representatives from around the world convened by Obama endorsed the U.S. president’s timeline for securing nuclear material within four years. Obama said he set the goal because the world’s biggest security threat is the potential for al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups to acquire the materials to develop a nuclear weapon through theft or illicit sales. “We have seized the opportunity,” Obama said yesterday during a news conference at the conclusion of the summit. “The American people will be safer and the world will be more secure.”

Virtually Speaking

Join Adam Lambert (clammyc) and Chris Kendrick (CSKendrick) at "Virtually Speaking Sundays: A Reality-Based Counterpoint to the Sunday Morning Talking Heads."

go to blogtalkradio or Second Life

Polish President Killed En Route to Katyn Memorial

Relations between Poland and Russia have been tense in part because of a perceived reluctance by Vladimir Putin to acknowledge and apologize for the Katyn forest massacre. But this week the President of Poland flew to Russia to participate in a ceremony to commemorate the event. I don't imagine the death of the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other high-ranking officials in a plane crash in Russia will help relations very much.

America: Blowing Things Ups to Sell Artificial Cheese

Texas Stadium, the former home of the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys, will be blasted into oblivion by 2,715 pounds of explosives Sunday in a public spectacle infused with fan nostalgia and some novel marketing.

Kraft Foods Inc. paid $75,000 to sponsor the demolition in as part of a campaign to introduce its “Cheddar Explosion” macaroni and cheese. An 11-year-old boy who won a Kraft essay contest will trigger the explosive charge, taking down 4 million pounds of concrete, 2 million pounds of steel and a banner reading “Demolicious.”

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine sent the city a letter in March saying it would donate $75,000 if Irving dropped Kraft and hung a banner from the stadium warning about obesity and the dangers of “fatty, cholesterol-laden products.”

Face it, this is a fun, but weird, nation.

ORWELL ALERT

Airline Passenger Conversations to Be Monitored Under EU Project

April 4 (Telegraph) -- Airline passengers could have their conversations and movements monitored under a European Union project aimed at tackling terrorism. Brussels is funding research at Reading University aimed at detecting suspicious behaviour on board aircraft. It uses a combination of cameras, microphones, explosives detectors and a
sophisticated computer system which would give a pilot early warning of any danger.

Oh, it's "sophisticated." Ok, then.

AND THE DEVIL CAUSES CAVITIES

MADISONVILLE, TEX. -- As vendors sold yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flags nearby, Texas State Board of Education member Don McLeroy assured a gathering of Tea Party activists one recent evening that President Obama was going to keep his hands off the schools in the Lone Star State.

There would be no bid for Obama's Race to the Top grant program, no endorsement of new math and English standards that Obama backs. And the state school board, under McLeroy's prodding, would continue its push to adopt social studies standards that set Texas apart from other states because, among other changes, they recast sections on the American Revolution to put more emphasis on Christianity and less on the writings of Thomas Jefferson.

"Our children will now study some of the unintended consequences of the Great Society, such as the destruction of the black family," said McLeroy, a compact, enthusiastic dentist who keeps a copy of the Constitution in his breast pocket. "Our students will be taught that this country was founded on biblical principles."

Texas's rejection of federal education initiatives is good politics, analysts say, especially in a primary season in which Gov. Rick Perry (R) fought off a challenger by shifting rightward.

"You get a lot of issues that the other states are facing but not talking about because they want to be eligible for Race to the Top" money, said Sandy Kress, a former adviser to President George W. Bush and one of the authors of the No Child Left Behind Act.

GARAGE SALE!!!!!!

London (AP) -- An auction house says it will offer for sale artworks from the ancestral home of Diana, Princess of Wales - including an $18 million Rubens portrait from
the 17th Century.

Christie's auction house said Monday it will sell $30 million worth of artifacts from Althorp House, in Northamptonshire, central England. Althorp is the home of Diana's brother Earl Charles Spencer, who recently announced his engagement to Lady Bianca Eliot.

The Rubens portrait -- "Commander Being Armed for Battle" - has been owned by the Spencer family since 1802. Other lots include a painting by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri and 19th Century horse-drawn carriages.

SMALL GOVERNMENT, YEAH!

H.R. 4892
Introduced March 19, 2010

Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010

SEC. 5. DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL OF UNPRIVILEGED ENEMY BELLIGERENTS

An individual, including a citizen of the United States, determined to be an unprivileged enemy belligerent under section 3(b)(1) in a manner which satisfies Article 5 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War may be detained without criminal charges and without trial for the duration of hostilities against United States or its coalition partners in which the individual has engaged, or which the individual has purposely and materially supported, consistent with the law of war and any authorization for the use of military force provided by Congress pertaining to such hostilities.

I, For One, Welcome

Our New Marxist Robot Health Care Overlords

What Took So Long?

The New York Times, after immense pressure, has finally, belatedly, seen seen fit to revist the accuracy, or lack thereof, of their ACORN reporting. The short version if that they fell for a childish hoax. Worse has been their resistance to embrace a culture of truth. This is a story about what Acorn is, or is not guilty of, and also what the hoax perpetrators are guilty of as well. But it is also a story about The New York Times, and how it has misled readers for months, to push a conservative political agenda, and its convoluted, desperate attempts to avoid telling the truth.

Department of Confusing Headlines

"Sandra Bullock Still Poised for Successful Future"
By Sandy Cohen | AP
Published: Mar 19, 2010 12:45

Really? Even after winning an Oscar?

***************

NJ Transit's Budget Cuts

Have hit hard

Radu Sigheti, Reuters

White House Predicts Heath Care Passage

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said he believes the House of Representatives will approve health-care overhaul legislation by the end of this week, while House Minority Leader John Boehner predicted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn’t have enough votes for passage.

“I am absolutely confident that we are going to be successful,” Axelrod said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. Appearing also on ABC’s “This Week,” he said, “health care deserves an up or down vote, and health care will get an up or down vote.”

Reconcile This!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a letter to his Republican counterpart, said that Democrats plan to use reconciliation to pass final health-care legislation.

Many Republicans now are demanding that we simply ignore the progress we’ve made,” Reid said in a letter today to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “We will not. We will finish the job,’’ adding that “we plan to use the regular budget-reconciliation process."

As you know, the vast majority of bills developed through reconciliation were passed by Republican Congresses and signed into law by Republican Presidents - including President Bush's massive, budget-busting tax breaks for multi-millionaires. Given
this history, one might conclude that Republicans believe a majority vote is sufficient to increase the deficit and benefit the super-rich, but not to reduce the deficit and benefit the middle class. Alternatively, perhaps Republicans believe a majority vote is appropriate only when Republicans are in the majority. Either way, we disagree.

Paul Krugman writes:

Wow. Harry Reid's letter to Mitch McConnell.
As Ezra says, this can be summed up as: Reconcile this.

The Time For Talk Is Over

President Barack Obama, March 8, 2010:

"The time for talk is over. We need to see where people stand, and we need all of you to help us win that vote.

So I need you to knock on doors, talk to your neighbors, pick up the phone. When you hear an argument by the water cooler and somebody's saying this or that about it, say, "No, no, no, no. Hold on a second."

(APPLAUSE)

And we need you to make your voices heard all the way in Washington, D.C. They need to -- they need to hear your voices because right now the Washington echo chamber is in full throttle. It is as deafening as it's ever been. And as we come to that final vote, that echo chamber's telling members of Congress, "Think about the politics," instead of thinking about doing the right thing."

*************************

Department of Confusing Headlines

Washington Post, March 8, 2010

Oscars Audience Up Despite 'Avatar's'
Loss to 'The Hurt Locker'

****

Ten Ways Dick Cheney Can Kill You

I've traced this image as far back as 2005, but have been unable to find the creator.

Jon Swift

Sad news about a writer most of us knew as the satirist Jon Swift.

You know, if David Paterson had

had the State Police threaten the legistature, people would probably have supported that.

NYT: Truth Not Worth the Effort

New York Times:
"I still don't see that a correction is in order," he continued amazingly, "because that would require conclusive evidence that The Times was wrong, which I haven't seen. The Times could seek out all the employees, but I don't think that's a realistic prospect worth the investment of effort."

What happened to a culture of truth?

114 Year Old Record Broken

A winter storm that pummeled New York City for two days broke a monthly record for snowfall in Central Park that stood for 114 years, according to the National Weather Service.

Duchy of Ice

(Reuters) - An iceberg the size of Luxembourg has broken off from a glacier in Antarctica after being rammed by another giant iceberg, scientists said on Friday, in an event that could affect ocean circulation patterns.

McCain: Paulson Lied to Me!

In response to criticism from opponents seeking to defeat him in the Aug. 24 Republican primary, the four-term senator says he was misled by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. McCain said the pair assured him that the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program would focus on what was seen as the cause of the financial crisis, the housing meltdown.

"Obviously, that didn't happen," McCain said in a meeting Thursday with The Republic's Editorial Board, recounting his decision-making during the critical initial days of the fiscal crisis. "They decided to stabilize the Wall Street institutions, bail out (insurance giant) AIG, bail out Chrysler, bail out General Motors. . . . What they figured was that if they stabilized Wall Street - I guess it was trickle-down economics - that therefore Main Street would be fine."

But McCain stopped short of calling the TARP a mistake.

"Something had to be done because the world's financial system was on the verge of collapse," he said. "Any economist, liberal or conservative, would agree with that. The action they took, I don't agree with."

Truth and The Quest for Innocence

Jay Rosen on truth, reality, and the journalistic quest for innocence.

Meteorite Older Than Sun Had Organic Compounds

Space rock contains organic feast
By Doreen Walton
Science reporter, BBC News

Scientists say they have confirmed that a meteorite that crashed into earth 40 years ago contains millions of different organic compounds.

It is thought the Murchison meteorite could be even older than the Sun.

"Having this information means you can tell what was happening during the birth of the Solar System," said lead researcher Dr Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin.


A study using high resolution analytical tools including spectroscopy allowed the team to identify 14,000 different compounds including 70 amino acids in a sample of the meteorite.

Anomaly

"Intelsat S.A. announced today that its Intelsat 4 satellite (IS-4) experienced an anomaly on 1 February 2010 at approximately 00:18 GMT. Intelsat and Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, the manufacturer of the IS-4, are working together to identify the cause of the anomaly."


Careful, this is how Capt. Picard almost destroyed humanity.

Party in Hawaii!

The Republican Party’s leadership plans to watch President Barack Obama’s
State of the Union speech tonight from a Hawaiian resort’s South Pacific Ballroom.

More than 100 RNC members are at the
conference at the oceanfront Hilton Hawaiian Village amid
swimming pools and lagoons in the city where Obama was born.

Bob Bennett, 70, an RNC member from Cleveland, Ohio, said
there is no shame in meeting in a palm-tree-lined locale, though
he also said, “If you took a poll of members, they probably
would have held it a little closer to home.”

Michael Steele, the RNC chairman, told the Associated Press
he isn’t concerned about gathering in a lush place and wants to
recognize the efforts of Republicans from Hawaii and U.S.
territories in the Pacific Ocean who usually must travel to the
mainland for such events. “Hawaii’s going through a recession, too,” Steele told
AP. “So we’re going to help the economy a little bit.”

After the State of the Union, RNC members plan a luau with
a speech by Hawaii Lieutenant Governor James “Duke” Aiona, a
Republican candidate for governor in the state.

Drooling Over Pickups

Chuck Raasch
USA Today

“The pickup has become a symbol of so much more than a ride. Fred Thompson drove to the Senate from Tennessee in his. In Massachusetts, Senator-elect Scott Brown’s GMC, with 201,000 miles on the odometer, became a metaphor for his unlikely journey in the unlikeliest of uprising states. It was a touchstone for deeper political trends: the fading connection between the political and working classes, the hemorrhaging of made-in-America jobs, the meltdown of the American auto industry, the rise of independents in the public square, and Democrats’ collective tin ear in the wake of a fresh anti-Washington uprising. The pickup is as good an expression as any of American independence in 2010. It’s halfway between sedan and SUV, neither a BMW nor a Smart Car, functional in city, suburbia and farm field, ready for both a gun rack and the haul to the organic farmers’ market vegetable stand. It’s the kind of vehicle many blue-collar independents drove to the polls to vote for Brown.”

******************************

Gregg Hitt and Tamara Audi - Fair and Unbalanced

"High Turnout Seen in Massachusetts Battle Close Race for Senate Galvanizes Supporters"
January 19, 2010

By Gregg Hitt and Tamara Audi

Quotes from Brown supporters: 2
Quotes from Coakley supporters: 0

Quotes from chair of RNC: 1
Quotes from chair of DNC: 0

Quotes from a Republican strategist: 1
Quotes from a Democratic strategist: 0

Wall St. Journal:

In Littleton, Mass., Alex Olsen, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, said he's fed up with Mr. Obama and the Democratic majority. He voiced strong discontent with efforts to push the health bill through the Senate. "They're just trying to ram things down our throats," said Mr. Olsen, 65, an independent. "People are just so sick and tired of being treated like second-class citizens."

Gene Giordano, 65, an engineer from Salisbury, Mass., said he voted for Ross Perot
and Ralph Nader in past presidential campaigns and plans to support Mr. Brown Tuesday.

"I just believe in this fellow, for some reason," he said. Mr. Giordano voiced concern
with the Obama administration's decision to put terrorists on trial in the U.S., and said he wants more parity between the parties in the Senate. "I'm a man of balance," he said.

Quotes from Coakley supporters: None

Health Care Reform with 51 Votes?

Even if Democrats lose the Jan. 19 special election to pick a new Massachusetts senator, Congress may still pass a health-care overhaul by using a process called reconciliation, a top House Democrat said.

“Even before Massachusetts and that race was on the radar screen, we prepared for the process of using reconciliation,” said Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Using reconciliation would likely force Democrats to scale back their health-care plans. The procedure is designed to make deficit-cutting easier by reducing the number of votes needed to pass unpopular tax increases and spending cuts. Lawmakers can’t include policy changes that the parliamentarian deems have only an “incidental” connection to budget-cutting, and senators would need 60 votes to override those rulings.

*********************

VATICAN BLASTS AVATAR

Vatican City (AP) -- The Vatican newspaper and radio
station have called the film "Avatar" simplistic, and
criticized it for flirting with modern doctrines that promote
the worship of nature as a substitute for religion.

L'Osservatore Romano said the film "gets bogged down by a
spiritualism linked to the worship of nature." Similarly,
Vatican Radio said it "cleverly winks at all those
pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the
millennium. Nature is no longer a creation to defend, but a divinity
to worship," the radio said.

In a recent World Day of Peace message, the pontiff warned
against any notions that equate human person and other living
things. He said such notions "open the way to a new pantheism
tinged with neo-paganism, which would see the source of man's
salvation in nature alone."

The Vatican newspaper occasionally likes to comment in its
cultural pages on movies or pop culture icons, as it did
recently about "The Simpsons" or U2. In one famous instance,
several Vatican officials spoke out against "The Da Vinci
Code."

**************

THIS WEEK IN MEAT

Russian police busted a ring of smugglers supplying markets in Moscow and other cities with 36- year-old meat from Latin America, state television reported. The Interior Ministry said its economic security unit seized a truck carrying 22 tons of meat that was “deep frozen” when former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev was in power, Vesti-24 reported today.

THIS WEEK IN MEAT PART II

Orangeburg, S.C. (AP) -- A South Carolina man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing an $80 slab of meat testified he was "massaging" the meat, not stealing it.

DUMBASSES OF THE DAY

Irish Police Seize Explosives After Failed Slovak Security Test

Irish police seized explosives in Dublin today after Slovak authorities contacted them about a failed airport security exercise last weekend. Slovak authorities concealed the material in an airline passenger’s luggage without the man’s consent as he travelled to Dublin on Jan. 2, Ireland’s Justice Ministry said in an e-mailed statement. They contacted Irish airport police today to inform them about the explosives. The Slovak government has expressed "profound regret" for the incident, which Irish police are investigating, the ministry said.

**********

Meet the Press - January 3, 2010

Guests:
John Brennan
Hayden
Michael Chertoff
Tom Brokaw
Doris Goodwin
E.J. Dionne
David Brooks
**************************

Gregory: Brennan why did Janet Napolitano say things went great even though a terror attack was thwarted?

Brennan: I heard you were a moron

Gregory: what did the CIA know about underwear before 12/24?

Brennan: Boxer-briefs are the most comfortable way to go

Gregory: how do we win the war on terror?

Brennan: degrading people who hate us

Gregory: how could the government let underpants-boy on a plane!?!

Brennan: calm down Fluffy

Gregory: but I’m scared!

Brennan: the government has to be seamless and perfect every day

Gregory: dear god

Gregory: should we get rid of privacy rights?

Brennan: maybe - the Dutch have full nude body scanners

Gregory: yeah but they are all tall and incredibly good looking

Brennan: that’s a good point

Gregory: why aren’t we torturing this Nigerian kid?

Brennan: oh I don’t know - the law or something

Gregory: boooooorrrring!!!!!

Brennan: we’ve got Jack McCoy getting a strong plea deal right now

Gregory: should we send accused terrorists who hate us back to Yemen?

Brennan: like George W. Bush did?

Gregory: never heard of him - did he work for Dick Cheney?

Brennan: something like that

Gregory: President Cheney says Obama surrendered to terrorists

Brennan: Dick should spend a little more time not shooting his friends and a little time undermining the President of the United States

Gregory: when are we going to catch Osama?

Brennan: we had him at Tora Bora and Bush let him get away

Gregory: what’s the deal with Yemen anyway?

Hayden: it’s terror-central

Gregory: you released terrorists from Gitmo and sent them to Yemen!

Hayden: that’s true but we had to - we ran out of orange chicken

Gregory: what mistakes did Bush make?

Hayden: we were too soft on terrorists

Gregory: right

Gregory: what about right to privacy?

Chertoff: plane travelers have the right to life dammit!

Gregory: isn’t the underwear bombing proof that the Bush system doesn’t work?

Chertoff: hey Fluffy it worked for 7 years when we never had an attack or attempted attack

Gregory: should we have full body scanners?

Chertoff: oh yes and the fact that I get rich off selling it is irrelevant

Gregory: what’s it’s called?

Chertoff: “Scan-Wow!”

Gregory: ok

Chertoff: blame those civil liberty loving Dutch - we should bypass them entirely

Gregory: pass the Dutchie on the left hand side

Gregory: some terror guy told me that 90% of terrorists are young muslim men

Chertoff: well that person was using you to spout bullshit Fluffers

Gregory: unpossible

Gregory: should Dick Cheney criticize Obama or does that make him unpatriotic like Dick Cheney would say?

Hayden: people need to stop hyperventilating

Gregory: oh noes!

Gregory: isn’t Obama weak on terror?

Hayden: no but he could torture more

Chertoff: Obama has said we are at war but putting KSM on trial in New York city will weaken America

Gregory: because terrorists will attack if they think they will only go to a supermax prison

[ break ]

Gregory: how has Obama handled his first 3:00 am phone call?

Brokaw: his failure to panic proved we are vulnerable to suicidal teenagers

Brooks: Obama failed but look bad things happen and people should stop crying every time some failed underpants bomber fucks up

Gregory: why does Dick Cheney whine so much?

Dionne: because he’s a dishonest ghoul

Gregory: that’s true

Dionne: even Bush officials think he’s a hypocritical lunatic

Gregory: Doris this is not as much fun as other wars

Goodwin: because we didn’t raise taxes or do anything but go shopping

Brokaw: we learned that we can’t kill every single muslim on earth

Gregory: too bad

Brooks: this all started in Iran in 1979 and we can see that regime dying right now

Gregory: so what do we do about it?

Brooks: cut off supplies on gasoline and pretend to be tough with a lot of empty words

Dionne: what a weasel you are david

Goodwin: this proves that Obama making diplomatic overtures to China has worked

Brooks: me strong!

Brokaw: the teabaggers rule America!

Dionne: sure Tom but repealing the health plan won’t be popular either

Brokaw: warble warble

Brooks: most people oppose the Obamacare plan

Goodwin: not the actual plan just the fake Fox news version of the plan

Brooks: no one knows what’s in the plan! And they oppose the plan!

Goodwin: idiot

Brooks: it rations care! And costs too much!

Brokaw: we should kill old useless people

Gregory: like you?

Brokaw: arble garble

Gregory: this decade really sucked

Goodwin: yes but epic failure represents great opportunity

Brokaw: this is nothing - the 60s really sucked

Brooks: the future belongs to the teabaggers

Gregory: good god

Dionne: Obama has to show government can work and that will show how stupid the teabaggers are

Brokaw: 9/11 general motors wall street urble burble

Gregory: and that’s the last word

****************

This Week With George Stephanopoulos hosted by Terry Moran - January 3, 2010

January 3, 2010
Host: Terry Moran
Guests:
John Brennan - Director of DHS
Rep. Pete Hoekstra
Sen. Susan Collins
Sen. Joe Lieberman
Rep. Jane Harman
*******************

Moran: John why did we close the Yemen embassy

Brennan: well as soon we found out we had one we closed it

Moran: why?

Brennan: dude the hostage crisis killed Jimmy Carter - we’re not going to let that happen again

Moran: when are we invading Yemen?

Brennan: we don’t have to - the happy little Yemen government is going to get al qaeda for us

Moran: really?

Brennan: ha no just kidding

Moran: who dropped the ball with that Nigerian kid with the explosive underpants?

Brennan: from now on whenever a dad calls and says ‘hey my kid is a terror loving-lunatic’ we won’t put them on hold

Moran: bad news for liz cheney

Brennan: indeed

Moran: how come the CIA is stupider than Google or Facebook?

Brennan: free market baby

Moran: that’s sad

Brennan: just watch college football and enjoy it

Moran: Should Janet Napolitano be fired because of underwear boy?

Brennan: If Bush were President she’d get the Medal of Fearrdom

Moran: you mean freedom

Brennan: right

Moran: 7 CIA officers were just killed in Afghanistan

Brennan: we’re trying to make sure it will never happen again

Moran: we could leave Afghanistan

Brennan: no we can’t because there are cunning swarthy people in that far off land in central asia

Moran: Pete you just got back from Yemen - did you run into Osama bin Laden?

Hoekstra: sadly the innocent people we tortured at Gitmo are not happy about it

Moran: who knew?

Hoekstra: also there are many Americans who look forward to more terror attacks under Obama

Moran: we’ll get to Dick Cheney later

Lieberman: we have to declare war on Yemen

Moran: why did Janet Napolitano let the underoo bomber kill all those Americans?

Collins: I don’t know maybe she hates America

Lieberman: we need bipartisan hearings to determine which brown people we should kill next

Moran: hasn’t the time come to stop releasing the innocent people we tortured - I mean if they didn’t hate us before they sure do now

Harman: we should let them go just not send them to Yemen cause it’s a crazy place

Moran: but you think we should release them?

Harman: yes let them live free in a prison in Illinois

Moran: what should America do now?

Harman: we need a global anti-terror strategy

Moran: what an interesting idea

Harman: also we should use Bush’s privacy and civil liberties board

Moran: how would that help

Harman: when we repeal all civil rights they can give us cover

Moran: isn’t it obvious that we can’t stop every attack?

Hoekstra: kill kill kill!

Moran: shouldn’t we start profiling brown people?

Collins: to me the real question is why wasn’t the rule invoked that whenever your dad calls an embassy about you your visa is revoked?

Moran: should this teenage Nigerian be put on trial?

Lieberman: no this misguided kid should be put in a military brig, tortured, and disappeared - that will prove the terrorists are evil!

Moran: what about Gitmo?

Lieberman: I know Gitmo has a bad reputation-

Moran: because of the non-stop gruesome tortures?

Lieberman: yes but other than that it’s an incredibly humane facility - after all they have free health care and involuntary snorkeling

Moran: any other crazy ideas?

Lieberman: yes the CIA should be in charge of visas and also Africans should not be allowed to fly

Moran: isn’t Dick Cheney right that Obama doesn’t care about terrorism

Harman: no that’s stupid

Moran: but Dick is so strong - he shot an innocent guy!

Harman: we’re not at war on terrorism - we’re at war with al qaeda

Moran: Pete isn’t it disgusting to raise money for governor off an attempted terror attack

Hoektra: hey I finally got Obama to recognize that threats are real

Moran: thank for coming you repulsive man

Lieberman: thank you terry

Moran: I was talking to Pete Hoekstra

Joe: oh sorry - force of habit
****************

Should the Dems Strip Joe of His Committe Chair?

Of course they should. He supported John McCain, and besides he has, again and again, betrayed the Democratic party and Congressional leaders and lied to the American people.

Having said that, they can put make his head of the damn Senate and put him on Mount Fucking Rushmore for all I care if it will help get a progressive health care bill enacted. I doubt that it will, since he's unprincipled - or rather, his only real goal appears to be to protect the insurers from his state. In which case, there's not much more to be done. Except cut him loose. Finally.

What Recession?

James Purdey & Sons, the gunsmith owned by Cie. Financiere Richemont SA, will expand production of its entry-level, 31,625-pound ($52,000) shotguns this fiscal year, broadening the company’s market as the wealthiest luxury- goods shoppers retrench.

Purists respond by saying cheaper guns may risk Purdey’s cachet and cannibalize demand for the more expensive guns, according to Florian Thaler, a London-based shooting enthusiast who trades commodities for a living.

Sporters are ideal for clay-pigeon shooting and may win new clients who later commission a bespoke gun for game, while their light weight may appeal to female shooters as more women take up the sport, Purdey said.

They're going to need those guns when the revolution starts.

Shhh!!! He's Hiding!!

No Bin Laden Reports 'In Years'

The US has had no reliable information on the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in years, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has admitted.

Mr Gates told ABC News in remarks being broadcast on Sunday: "Well, we don't know for a fact where Osama Bin Laden is. If we did, we'd go get him."

A Taliban detainee in Pakistan told the BBC last week that he had information Bin Laden was in Afghanistan this year.

However, Mr Gates said he could not confirm that information.

When asked by ABC's This Week programme when the US last had any good intelligence on the whereabouts of the al-Qaeda leader, Mr Gates said: "I think it's been years."

He could not confirm the details of the Taliban detainee, who claimed to have met Osama Bin Laden numerous times before 9/11.

The detainee said that in January or February he met a trusted contact who had seen Bin Laden about 15 to 20 days earlier in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden had previously been thought to be on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan.

But the detainee said that militants were avoiding Pakistani territory because of the risk of US drone attacks.

The detainee said Bin Laden was well.

DOMA UNCONSTITUTIONAL - FOR ONE COUPLE

Judge rules same-sex couple must be repaid
By Denny Walsh, The Sacramento Bee

Nov. 19- A judge ruled Wednesday an assistant federal public defender's spouse must be compensated for health care benefits withheld since July 2008 because the couple are gay.

Stephen Reinhardt, a member of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, also reminded the bureaucracy that he decreed nine months ago in the same case that withholding benefits based on sexual orientation violates the U.S. Constitution's due process guarantee and the circuit's employment dispute resolution plan for federal public defenders and their staffs.

In his order Wednesday, Reinhardt wrote there is no rational basis for denying benefits to same-sex spouses of federal public defender employees while granting them to opposite-sex spouses of employees. "I conclude that the application of DOMA -- to reach that result is unconstitutional."

Reinhardt was writing not in his capacity as a federal appellate judge but as an employer's representative in a grievance procedure. Consequently, the ruling applies only to Levenson and Sears.

Applying that standard to Levenson's case, "the challenged denial of benefits is constitutional only if there is a rational basis," Reinhardt wrote. "No such basis exists."

"Thus," Reinhardt concluded, "the denial of federal benefits to same- sex spouses cannot be justified as an expression of the government's disapproval of homosexuality, preference for heterosexuality, or desire to discourage gay marriage."

http://www.sacbee.com/
*********************************

Barbour Wants to Eliminate 3 State Universities

Clarion Ledger:

Facing growing budget constraints, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour wants to save money by cutting the state's public universities from eight to five. On Monday, Barbour proposed combining historically black universities Mississippi Valley State and Alcorn State into Jackson State, also an HBCU. He also called for merging Mississippi University for Women into Mississippi State.

He has totally blown my image of the Republican party.

Gov. Paterson Chickens Out

"This is not a decision that I would have made," Paterson said when asked about the impending trial. "Our country was attacked on its own soil on Sept. 11, 2001, and New York was very much the epicenter of that attack."

He wasn't going to beat Andy Cuomo anyway, but running for Governor as a coward surely won't help.