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02-07-09 - Our Liberal Media:
- Cable networks can say anything they want -- and do. GOP Lawmakers Outnumber Dem Lawmakers By Almost 2 To 1 In Cable News Stimulus Debate Again (thinkprogress - theplumline)
- Look out! The GOP Supreme Court Is Going Back to Work:
- Taser Policies May Get Supreme Court Review (commondreams) - "Stun guns are perceived as a non-lethal alternative for officers, yet a 2009 study by two cardiologists at the University of California at San Francisco found the number of in-custody deaths increased six-fold after a number of police departments began using stun guns. Researchers sent out surveys to police departments across California asking the rates of in-custody sudden deaths in the absence of lethal force." Call it what it is -- murder.
- Where Are We? Job Losses Chart for 3 Most Recent Recessions (washingtonmonthly)
- Boundless GOP Crooks & Hypocrites:
- Rewarding Criminal Incompetence:
- KBR is awarded a new $35 million electrical contract after recklessly killing 18 military members by shoddy electrical work (msnbc) - Pentagon regards Haliburton and KBR as too big and uniquely qualified in their areas of expertise to kick them off the Dept. of War's contractors list. So the money just keeps pouring out from US taxpayers to them -- and their overcharges and shoddy work go on without interruption, hardly ever seriously touched by government oversight. Reminds me of a giant version of Tony Soprano's construction projects.
- Obama's Bunch:
- Sec. of Treasury Geithner Tax Troubles Far More Egregious Than Daschle's (democracynow)
- Obama appoints gay man to faith-based initiatives office (thinkprogress) - Mere window dressing. The very existence of this office leans threateningly against the wall of separation of church and state. Obama should have eliminated the office completely, not pander to religious voters by expanding it. His action only makes it easier for a future president to use it to blast a hole right through that wall of separation. Democratic leaders spoke 4 years ago about the need to reach out more to evangenitals and diminish the Democratic Party's outspoken position on women's reproductive rights. Looks more and more like they're getting us there.
- More Bipartisanship, Less Stimulus, by John Nichols (thenation)
- The Nelson-Collins War On Green Jobs (wonkroom)
- Comet Lulin Tails (apod)
02-06-09 - Supreme Court:
- Golly Gee! I can't wait till Obama appoints Ruth Bader Ginsburg's replacement to the U.S. Supreme Court. (google/ap) - With Obama's obsession about broad inclusion, we may see him select a conservative nominee so he can pander some more to the far right. Wouldn't that be something?
- Another campaign promise down the tubes:
- Obama apparently thinks it's ok to discriminate against job seekers in faith based tax-paid programs. (latimes)
- Obama’s Openness v. CIA Secrecy - JFK Files Show Hurdles to Obama's Transparency Goals (washingtonindependent)
- Unveiling the Matrix - Getting to Know Your Government:
- Beyond Treason (video.google Pt. 1 - livevideo Pt. 2) - For decades the U.S. Department of Defense, in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry, has been experimenting on U.S. troops.
- Arsenal of Hypocrisy (video.google) - Militarization of space, part of the Neocon wet dream of U.S. world domination from space. Obama says he opposes "weaponizing space" (satellitetoday).
- Election Theft:
- The Bushevik Who Nailed the "Commies" at the DoJ, by Mark Crispin Miller (huffingtonpost)
- Legacy of a Swindle - Part I: How Ohio Lawsuits Sought to Bring Crimes to Light (tpmcafe)
- Should Economic Stimulus Bill Include Billions for Nuclear Power? (democracynow)
- Space Station in the Moon (apod)
02-05-09 - Murdoch's News Corp. Reports Staggering Net Loss of $6.4 Billion (latimes) - Absolutely the best news of the day!
- Setting Things Right:
- Iran: Would It Kill Us to Apologize to Iran for the 1953 Coup? (commondreams) - "[M]ost Americans have little knowledge about the history of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. As far as they know, the U.S. hasn't done anything wrong. So why should we apologize? Unfortunately for us, outside our borders U.S. foreign policy isn't judged according to what we know, but according to what our government does and has done."
- Environment: Salazar cancels Bush-era energy leases in Utah (latimes - democracynow)
- Election Theft - HAVA Was Written Solely to Facilitate It:
- Brad Friedman on Our Broken Electoral System on 'The Gregory Mantell Show' (bradblog 25m video) - The conservative-controlled corporate media are doing their best to work with Republican obstructionists to prevent an Obama reelection in 2012. In November 2006 and 2008 the flood of Democratic voters literally overwhelmed Republican efforts to steal the those elections as they had stolen the 2000 and 2004 elections. Even so, in both 2006 and 2008 the GOP managed to rip off enough votes to change the balance of Congress to reduce their losses in both houses. If Obama doesn't prove himself to the overwhelming majority again and bring them out to the polls in 2012, Republicans will have a very good chance of rigging the results again in their favor -- IF Obama does not correct our disastrously broken election process before then. Listen to this interview carefully and check Brad's archive for mind boggling proof that the entire 8-year Bush regime was an illegal one, placed into power by illegal means. Folks, the ONLY safe election is a completely transparent one. The only safe way to vote is with a marker - on a paper ballot - that is placed in a clear, always-visible ballot box - and is hand-counted at the same polling place at the end of the day -- nationwide.
- RW Religious Hypocrisy Watch:
- Gay Bashing Teddy's Back - Should Have Stayed Out of Sight:
- Haggard's Pump 'n Go: Serving You 24/7 (signorile - Haas 1) - Signorile interviews Grant Haas, Haggard's latest accuser/victim - more to come.
- "Ted Two" (signorile - Haas 2) - Offers up a great clue as to why gay-bashing churches have to shout it so stridently.
- Mike Jones: Two Other Men Sexually Abused at New Life Church (signorile - Jones)
- Ted Haggard Continues to Screw the Gays (advocate) "Ted Haggard's struggle isn't about choosing a sexual orientation. His struggle is about suppressing his true self. In doing so, he undermines further understanding among people who need it the most."
- Obama's Bunch:
- Obama kicks off his Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships - and it's vague on protections (pamshouseblend)
- Will Obama Continue Bush’s Faith-Based Discrimination? (thinkprogress)
- Obama to expand Bush faith program (commondreams)
- White House panel will guide faith-based programs (latimes)
- Larry Summers Jockying for Power, Becoming a Pain in the Ass - Holding Back Obama's Program:
- Volcker Chafes at Obama Panel Delay, Strains With Summers Rise (bloomberg) - Who'da guessed it?
- Restoring the Rule of Law:
- Domenici being investigated by federal grand jury in Iglesias firing (newmexicoindependent)
- Cooperation, Rove Style, by Scott Horton (harpers - tpmmuckraker) - Rove is cooperating with DoJ's OPR, the place to go for a 1-stop whitewash.
- Rove dances with special counsel while Obama Justice Department targets Rove’s main accuser, by Wayne Madsen (onlinejournal)
- More on the Renditions Hoopla, by Scott Horton (harpers) plus, Maddow interview on same
- Some call for Bush administration trials - Want ex-leader accountable on Iraq war (michaelmoore)
- NGC 604: X-rays from a Giant Stellar Nursery (apod)
02-04-09 - Michael Phelps Returns To His Tank At Sea World (theonion)
- Restore the Rule of Law - Accountability:
- Who's in Charge?
- Generals' Revolt Threatens Obama Presidency (buzzflash) - "There is only one answer to this challenge to presidential authority: President Obama must sack both Petraeus and Odierno, and any other general who tries -- openly or behind the scenes -- to move politically against his military strategy and orders." See also my 01-31-09 entry (U.S. Coup? Again?)
- Pentagon brass chafes at Obama's Iraq pullout plan (dailystar.com.lb)
- How It Works:
- Bob Dole's perfect description of how Washington works, by Glenn Greenwald (salon)
- Economic Shakedown:
- Watching the Watchdogs:
- We can't check everything, admits atomic safety chief after 14-year nuke power plant leak (guardian.co.uk)
- How to steal a US passport (thanks to our own government) (americablog with video)
- Inside 'nasty' nut processor (chicagotribune) - A clear case of Reaganomics' deregulation and self-regulation policies brought to its natural feverish culmination. Republican point men and women for the elite conservative oligarchy have trashed this country beyond recognition. They never deserve elected office again--at any level- imho.
- Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos tears into SEC: Where were you 9 years ago?! (nydailynews)
- Obama's Bunch:
- Barack Obama’s strange new political bedfellows, Wayne Madsen (onlinejournal)
- Small Change -- Obama's Betrayal (buzzflash)
- Radical Free Trader Judd Gregg to Head Government's Trade Enforcement Apparatus, by David Sirota (openleft) "In a very real sense, the appointment of Gregg is the equivalent of the Bush administration hiring people to government offices they had previously worked to destroy."
- Liberal Media:
- Big surprise. The corporate media isn't reporting the facts about the Employee Free Choice Act, which is vehemently opposed by corporate America (americablog)
- What I Learned From NPR This Morning (digbysblog) "Clearly, the top of the" Democratic "party has learned zip in the past 8 to 10 years or so. I think it's time to work seriously to replace them. This isn't a progressive vs. centrist issue, this is a competence issue."
- A Dangerous Summer on HD 80606b (apod)
- Astronomers get a sizzling weather report from a distant planet (ucsc.edu)
02-03-09 - When Silence Can Be Catastrophic:
- Hiding China’s Bird Flu Outbreak May Lead to Global Catastrophe (theepochtimes) - A bird flu pandemic will give us no clear forewarning. By the time world health organizations have enough information on the number and distribution of human-to-human cases, the pandemic will already be around the world. Everyone should consider how to protect self, family, and whoever from contagion by the virus if it does go pandemic. Last minute decisions could be extremely costly. Maintain a supply of those food and non-food items you would need to have for two to three months if delivery systems shut down because of sick and absentee workers. This even includes household water, sewage disposal, electric and heating needs. Decide whether you are going to have an indoor pet or an outdoor pet -- you can't have it both ways, because dead birds outside and infected bird droppings or even droppings dust could possibly infect your pet, allowing it to infect you. Get started if you haven't already. If we hear on our evening news one day that it has gone pandemic, the store shelves will empty immediately. Plan ahead. Check the news on a daily basis on H5N1 and "human-to-human transmission" as search terms in order to maintain a sense of the current level of danger. Don't wait for that awful news announcement to finish your supply storage and your 'stay healthy' plan. Learn about avian flu pandemic preparedness and stay ahead of it.
- Bigotry on Parade:
- California high court to hear Prop. 8 case March 5 (sfgate) - The Court will then have 90 days to issue its decision.
- Economic Shakedown:
- The real fight starts after the stimulus is enacted, by Robert Reich (salon)
- It’s Not Going to Be OK, by Chris Hedges (commondreams) - "The daily bleeding of thousands of jobs will soon turn our economic crisis into a political crisis. The street protests, strikes and riots that have rattled France, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Iceland will descend on us. It is only a matter of time."
- Military-Industrial Complex:
- How Taxpayers Finance Fantasy Wars, by Chalmers Johnson (tomdispatch) - "Mullen wants, instead, to raise the annual defense budget in the worst of times to at least 4% of GDP. Such a policy is clearly designed to deceive the public about ludicrously wasteful spending on weapons systems which has gone on for decades. . . . It is hard to imagine any sector of the American economy more driven by ideology, delusion, and propaganda than the armed services."
- Those who seek justice do so in vain (independent.co.uk)
- Conflict of Interest:
- Don't Mourn for Daschle, by John Nichols (thenation) - Good riddance!
- Appointing Judd Gregg to the Cabinet is bad policy and bad politics for Democrats. (thenation)
- By courting the Republicans, Obama could get the worst of all worlds (guardian.co.uk) - "But while it makes sense as a process, as a principle bipartisanship is worthless, since it depends entirely on who you are engaging with and to what purpose. The war in Iraq, the war on terror and the deregulation of the economy were all bipartisan efforts. All have been disastrous. Many Democrats went along with these things not because they thought they were good for the country, but because they believed that not to do so would be detrimental to their party."
- FLASHBACK: Now They're All For Bipartisanship, by Molly Ivins 11-15-06 (alternet)
- Liberal Media:
- The L.A. Times, Obama & Renditions, by Glenn Greenwald (salon) - "The L.A. Times article is wildly exaggerated and plainly inaccurate."
- Lenticular Clouds Above Washington (apod)
02-02-09 - Military-Industrial Complex - Definitely Not a Champion of Human/Civil Rights:
- Israel:
- Israeli Gov’t Data Reveals Extent Of Illegal Settlements (wonkroom)
- Israel promised disproportionate (illegal) force, then resumes bombing Gaza after new rocket fire by Fatah wing (yahoo/afp)
- Obama Talks With Military Brass - The Brass Show Him Who's Really In Charge:
- Obama setting the stage to give gays the shaft on DADT campaign promise: Obama seeks Pentagon assessment on the risk of out gays serving in the military - No rush to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' (boston.com) - Get this, he's going to have the military brass themselves do an honest assessment of the risk of having out gays serve in the U.S. military -- and we all know how well the military brass do honest assessments of themselves. Socially conservative congressmen will no doubt be on the phone to their bemedaled pals to make sure the report goes their way. Thus armed with a Pentagon 'assessment' on the terrible risk posed by out gays, Congress can then debate the issue and bunt. Obama will be off the hook. But why go through the charade? Just honestly go back on your promise now, Mr. President. You've already done it a number of other times. Don't waste our time and energy. Countries around the globe that gladly exploit the cannon-fodder service of out gays have no problems to report and say that the troops' attitudes and behavior toward their gay comrades generally conform to whatever their military command lets them know they expect. After all, they are there to follow orders. But surely the U.S. military command, with its superior intelligence-gathering resources and grasp on reality, will be able to find that gays still pose as much risk to military morale as they did when Sam Nunn waged all-out war on them during the early Clinton years. What if a poor hetero boy drops his soap in the shower? Might not the whole military apparatus resoundingly collapse into one big gay heap? Gays were expendable then and they're expendable now. We've all watched these political games far too long to be duped by them again. Obama is flat-out letting us know that gays can go to hell, as far as he and Brother Rick are concerned. Campaign promises are made to exploit gullible voters who want change, then to be broken in favor of the established power structure. And the established power structure is a Bush power structure, carefully planted, watered and cultivated throughout those eight disastrous, usurped years in office. First it was Rick Warren as an insult to Obama's gay backers, now it's Obama's not very encrypted code for 'go fuk yourselves.' Obama, our 'best chance at salvation' from the Bush rampage - the consummate compromiser who doesn't care how much or who he gives away if he thinks it may please evangenitals and other conservatives -- and the established powers that be. We're in for a tough four to eight years, folks, or until the next time Republicans steal the election. Then it gets worse.
- Economic Shakedown:
- For the first time since 2007, Treasury investors are betting that inflation will accelerate. (bloomberg)
- David Cay Johnston(Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist)'s salient comments on the economy (democracynow - googlesearch)
- Sanders Votes No on Geithner: “He’s] More of a Part of the Problem…Than the Solution” (democracynow)
- Conflict of Interest:
- Daschle earned $220, 000 from health care industry and failed to pay $140,000 in taxes (google/ap - reuters) - Obama's pick to lead reforms on U.S. healthcare system - Is this going to be more 'change we can believe in'?
- Former Chamber of Commerce Lobbyist to Head DOJ’s Office of Policy Development? (firedoglake). What was that pledge you made about 'no lobbyists'?
- Volcano Watch - Mt. Redoubt - Waiting . . .
- Alaska's Mt. Redoubt 'on verge' of eruption (avo.alaska) - Watch the two webcams Hut and CI. Refresh often.
- Geologist: No big energy bursts at Alaska volcano (google/ap)
- Your Privacy for Sale:
- Facebook aims to market its user data bank to businesses (guardian.co.uk)
- Facebook Factsheet (facebook) - Includes brief 'Pravacy' Statement
- RW Religious Wingnut Watch:
- Anger as probably-closeted Pope Nazi elevates delusional clergyman to bishop (guardian.co.uk) - Echoes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson all rolled up into one.
- Comet Lulin Approaches (apod)
02-01-09 - Civil Rights-Equality for All:
- First Openly Gay Racehorse To Compete Sunday (theonion)
- Economic Shakedown:
- 1st Day, 1st Week, 1st Month (stockcharts DJ - S&P) - Old chestnut rule suggests a down year in 2009 for the stock markets.
- Military-Industrial Complex:
- UPDATE 02-02-09 to the erroneous report below, initiated by the LA Times: Obama Did NOT Preserve Bush-Style Detention/Torture Extraordinary Renditions (bradblog), but a pre-Dubya "renditions program". "The earlier renditions program regularly involved snatching and removing targets for purposes of bringing them to justice by delivering them to a criminal justice system. It did not involve the operation of long-term detention facilities and it did not involve torture."
- Obama Preserves Renditions as Counter-Terrorism Tool (truthout) (Personal comments deleted)
- In Memoriam:
- Arizona Cardinal Corporal Pat Tillman, critic of George Bush's illegal war, probably murdered by his own comrades in 2004, then the truth covered up by Bush's loyal military brass (bradblog - democracynow - emptywheel)
- 6 out of 10 of your US tax dollars go to the super-inflated defense budget--and that's not all of what they get: See also my 01-31-09 entry (Imperial U.S. Military . . . . )
- Obama Proposes Defense Cut To Levels Still Above 2007: Wingnuts throw a fit (crooksandliars) - Examine this pie chart carefully to understand why "we the people" don't have more of the excellent programs we should have (crooksandliars).
- Stealing Palestinian land not enough for Israel's ambitions
- Israel hopes to colonize parts of Iraq as ‘Greater Israel’ (Madsen onlinejournal)
- Israel Asserting Middle East Supremacy: From Gaza to Tehran (globalresearch.ca)
- Auroral Corona Over Norway (apod)
