ThinkFast: March 25, 2008
ThinkFast: March 25, 2008
What was supposed to have marked the countdown to China’s Olympics “began Monday with a statement against China’s human-rights policies and crackdown in Tibet.” Protests are “bound to follow” the Olympic torch “throughout its 85,000-mile journey.”
“To thunderous applause from fellow lawmakers,” Pakistan’s new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani — a “loyalist” of Benazir Bhutto –on Monday “released the judges detained by President Pervez Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule last year.”
The contractors who breached the passport files of Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and John McCain (R-AZ) “were part of a private workforce that has increasingly assumed responsibility for processing the sensitive documents.” “From 2001 to 2007, 40 to 45 percent of the workers handling passports were contractors, but now 60 percent of the 4,400 passport employees work for private firms, State Department officials said yesterday.”
“A majority of Americans are opposed to the federal government helping out banks that made bad loans or homeowners who borrowed more than they could afford,” a new Fox 5/The Washington Times/Rasmussen poll finds. 61 percent of Americans surveyed said they opposed “moves by the Federal Reserve Board and other federal agencies” to provide “assistance to investment banks and a troubled mortgage industry.”
“As the mortgage crisis continues to unfold,” the FBI says incidents of suspicious financial activity reported by banks has skyrocketed, “jumping from 28,000 cases in 2005 to 48,000 last year. Among the factors fueling this two-year, 71 percent increase is a spike in scams targeting citizens facing foreclosure, one of which is known as the ‘home foreclosure rescue scam.’”
Yesterday, just two U.S. newspapers — The Rocky Mountain News in Denver and the Daily News in New York — devoted their entire front pages to honoring the 4,000 men and women killed in Iraq, according to an analysis by Huffington Post. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post left the milestone off their front pages.
Consumers worldwide “face rising food prices in what analysts call a perfect storm of conditions,” due to “changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India.” Consumers still face at least 10 years of more expensive food, according to predictions.
The Bush administration is now stating that it plans to model its long-term agreement with Iraq on one that the United States already has with Afghanistan. The Afghanistan agreement, reached in 2005, states that the United States will “[c]onsult with respect to taking appropriate measures in the event that Afghanistan perceives that its territorial integrity, independence, or security is threatened or at risk.”
“A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.” At the same time, the Iraqi government “launched a crackdown” on the city of Basra while facing “warnings by Sadr’s followers that they’ll fight government forces if any Sadrists are detained.”
And finally: Politico looks at Capitol Hill’s “top jocks.” Included in this list is Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), who has been practicing tae-kwon-do since the age of 12 and is currently a second-degree black belt. There’s also Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), who “bikes anywhere from 25 to 100 miles” once a week. Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) is the “the great-grandson and namesake of the renowned Philadelphia Athletics manager and owner,” and naturally, still loves baseball.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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Watchdog Group Names Top Corporate Abusers
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/24/7865/
** I nominate GE for singling out candidates during their “privatized” Presidential debates on MSNBC.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:02 amDemocrats, Bush Square Off Over Housing Relief
The Washington Post, Thursday 20 March 2008
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032008C.shtml
March 25th, 2008 at 9:11 amRepublicans are trash. They are all antiAmerican bigots, greedy fearmongers, and the people of low moral character. The “free market” as practiced by Republicans just means a “get out of jail free” card for them when they’ve taken everything they can by hook or by crook.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:12 amin today’s print paper, the new york times profiles six of the dead; and devotes four full pages to photos in a ‘roster of the dead’.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/25dead.web.html?ref=world
March 25th, 2008 at 9:14 am“From 2001 to 2007, 40 to 45 percent of the workers handling passports were contractors, but now 60 percent of the 4,400 passport employees work for private firms, State Department officials said yesterday.”
I hope this is something that President Obama will change quickly. We don’t need to be privatizing our government. It costs more in the long run and I don’t think we want to have people who are loyal to an outside company, rather than to the government, handling any of our information.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:16 amRegarding contractors in our government. It’s going to be very interesting finding out how much of our government Bush has privatized. It’s also going to be interesting to see how the contractors got their contracts. Anyone want to bet that they were all “no-bid” contracts that went to FOB’s or FOFOB’s?
March 25th, 2008 at 9:19 amMisspeak: to speak inaccurately, inappropriately, or too hastily.
Lie: a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood.
BLUE BELL, Pa. — As part of her argument that she has the best experience and instincts to deal with a sudden crisis as president, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton recently offered a vivid description of having to run across a tarmac to avoid sniper fire after landing in Bosnia as first lady in 1996.
Yet on Monday, Mrs. Clinton admitted that she “misspoke” about the episode — a concession that came after CBS News showed footage of her walking calmly across the tarmac with her daughter, Chelsea, and being greeted by dignitaries and a child.
The backpedaling was a rare instance of Mrs. Clinton’s acknowledging an error, and she did so on a sensitive issue: She has cited her “strength and experience” since the start of the presidential race, framing her 80 trips abroad as first lady as preparation for dealing with foreign affairs as president. That argument was behind her campaign’s “red phone” commercial, which cast her as best able to handle a crisis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/politics/25clinton.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
March 25th, 2008 at 9:20 am61 percent of Americans surveyed said they opposed “moves by the Federal Reserve Board and other federal agencies” to provide “assistance to investment banks and a troubled mortgage industry.”
This is especially true since the Bush Crime Family is telling the homeowners who were scammed that they are on their own.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:20 amMake Oil a Public Utility
by Ed Ludwig
The furious moans and groans about gasoline and heating oil prices have been met with a public-be-damned attitude from the oil industry — and nothing is being done to rectify the problem. Prices continue to sky-rocket.
Why not designate oil companies as public utilities?
A public utility has been defined as “a business that provides an everyday necessity to the public at large” — such as water, electricity, natural gas, telephone service, transportation, cable TV and other essentials.
Because of the need for and dependence on these commodities and products, the business of supplying them is readily subject to abuse. Without regulation, price gouging can become rampant in a time of great demand and economic turmoil, such as this.
snip
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/24/7863/
I can hear the “socialist” screams now, but this is an intresting option. Take a look at what deregulation and greed have done to the economy so far.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:30 amI’m glad to see all the links to the Hillary “mis-speak” story.
It looks like everyone in the country except the writers at TP (thank you Mr. P@desta) see this as a huge story.
She’s been caught in a flat-out lie, which speaks volumes about her charachter.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:33 amI observed the 4000 US dead yesterday by holding a solitary vigil yesterday morning outside the local army recruiting office in a grim reaper costume. Was out there for as long as I could stand the bitter cold(in the teens-not including windchill), little over an hour and a half.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:33 amHow this site can use the word “Progress” in it’s name, and show such an obvious bias toward Hillary Clinton is beyond me. She’s about as progressive as the average Republican on the street.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:38 amWatch Online PBS: Bush’s War: A 4-Hour Special Pre-9/11 Til Now
The gangs all here: Rummy, Wolfy, Rice, Powell, Armitage, Clarke, Cheney, Bush, Rove, and the other Iraq Neocon Chickhawk Criminals of War. Watch online here
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/link.php?id=55293
Watched part 1 last night. Frontline did an amazing job laying this all out. Anyone else get a chance to view it?
March 25th, 2008 at 9:39 am61% of passports are now processed by contractors..what will heppen if McCain wins the presidency?
Will be it be 100%? !!
This will make snooping and digging for information by outsiders about citizens much easier.
Most people do not know that 61% of passports processed by contractors when they apply for or request a renewal of their passports.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:39 amShe’s been caught in a flat-out lie, which speaks volumes about her charachter.
What’s wrong with you? She didn’t get caught in a lie, she “misspoke”. Maybe she should have said she was having a “Senior Moment”.
Everything about Hillary Rove Clinton’s so-called qualifications to be Commander in Chief is either a lie or a gross exaggeration. It really surprises me that people are buying her “35 years of experience” story. The fact that she wants to use her years as first lady as “executive experience” is laughable at best. If that’s true, then I guess Laura Bush is going to be qualified to be Commander in Chief when she leaves with George.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:40 amRegulation is bad. Let us subsidize corporate scamming rather than preventing it regulation, and protect those self-employed scammers by citing “individual freedom” jargon.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:45 amVet Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:33 am
She’s been caught in a flat-out lie, which speaks volumes about her charachter.
Don’t ya know? The Bushie Presidency changed everything. Now one of the qualifications of the job is to lie like a dog.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:46 am/snark
Housing market still plummeting.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:48 amarazan Says:
61% of passports are now processed by contractors..what will heppen if McCain wins the presidency?
Will be it be 100%? !!
This will make snooping and digging for information by outsiders about citizens much easier.
And think what’s going to happen if Real ID is implemented. I’m sure if Bush had his way (which he won’t because he will be gone, hopefully) he would probably privatize that too.
These people have access to all the information they would need to steal your identity. These passport files contain all your personal information including SSN, Driver’s license number and even your mother’s maiden name. All this information should never be in the same place. It’s way too insecure. One of these contractors (or even a government employee) could steal this information on a regular basis and sell it to identity thieves. I have read that they are willing to pay upwards to $1,000 for each identity they are able to steal. What a nice little sideline benefit for those workers.
Anyone worried about identity theft, there is an easy way to guard against it. There’s even a company who is doing this now for you for a fee. What’s this magic solution to identity theft? Put a fraud alert on your credit every 90 days. All you need to do is to call one of the three credit companies and they will report to the other two. If you are applying for credit, the person you applied to will call and ask you some identifying information before proceeding. The only part of this that is hard is remembering to do it every 90 days. I have a reminder in Outlook. A sideline benefit to this is that you will stop getting credit card solicitations because the credit card companies can’t sell your information when you have a fraud alert on your credit. Here’s the information you will need to get started:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
March 25th, 2008 at 9:48 amExperian: 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
Bilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Regarding contractors in our government. It’s going to be very interesting finding out how much of our government Bush has privatized. It’s also going to be interesting to see how the contractors got their contracts. Anyone want to bet that they were all “no-bid” contracts that went to FOB’s or FOFOB’s?
No-bid contracts are rare, particularly for institutional contractors who work in-house in government agencies. What is happening more and more are limited bid task-order contracts, where a group of four or five major firms are selected to handle, say, all IT tasks for the agency. Then each piece is bid out as a task order among these five firms – they bid individually on network maintenance and firewalls and intranet servers and whatnot.
I’m not as worried about the loyalties of the people doing the work, however. Usually when a new company gets a contract to do in-house work, they just hire the same staff who worked for the old company. That way, they don’t have to spend time and money recruiting and training new people. The only loyalties that change are the middle managers who have one foot on Pennsylvania Avenue and one foot in the corporate headquarters.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:51 amUncle Ho Says:
I observed the 4000 US dead yesterday by holding a solitary vigil yesterday morning outside the local army recruiting office in a grim reaper costume. Was out there for as long as I could stand the bitter cold(in the teens-not including windchill), little over an hour and a half.
Good for you Uncle Ho. We had an awesome peace vigil here in Corvallis on the 5th anniversary. I love living in Corvallis. Every Monday for the last 5 years there are 5-10 people standing in front of our courthouse holding signs and waving at motorists. I would so love to join them. Unfortunately work and life gets in the way.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:52 amhussein toasterhead Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
So, are you saying that you approve of privatizing our government?
March 25th, 2008 at 9:53 amAnd the beat goes on Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:56 amMarch 25th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Make Oil a Public Utility
by Ed Ludwig
———————-
If the U.S. Nationalized it’s oil it would have to attack and start a war with itself.
And the beat goes on Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Watch Online PBS: Bush’s War: A 4-Hour Special Pre-9/11 Til Now
What an awesome account. I’ll make sure to watch the second part as well.
It got me thinking: Does Powell’s long-term reputation deserve to suffer? It seems he was constantly frustrated by the timing of this administration, and he desperately wanted to change elements of the infamous U.N. speech written by Scooter Libby. While his advisers did tell him that resigning would be the most powerful message of non-confidence to send this administration, he decided to stick around and be a fighter for influence. He was used, and he was wrong to comply, but he wasn’t about to let Rumsfeld monopolize presidential influence.
Rumsfeld is a sick bastard. The Pentagon is already in much better shape w/o his presence, or that of his cronies, though it would fare even better in democratic hands.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:58 amAnd the beat goes on Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Watch Online PBS: Bush’s War: A 4-Hour Special Pre-9/11 Til Now
The gangs all here: Rummy, Wolfy, Rice, Powell, Armitage, Clarke, Cheney, Bush, Rove, and the other Iraq Neocon Chickhawk Criminals of War. Watch online here
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/link.php?id=55293
Watched part 1 last night. Frontline did an amazing job laying this all out. Anyone else get a chance to view it?
March 25th, 2008 at 10:01 am——————-
I watched the first 45 minutes. I was disappointed with what they left out.
Does Powell’s long-term reputation deserve to suffer? It seems he was constantly frustrated by the timing of this administration, and he desperately wanted to change elements of the infamous U.N. speech written by Scooter Libby.
Powell has had his hands on republican dirty-dealing since Iran Contra. Does his long term reputation deserve to suffer? You bet.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:02 amBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:53 am
So, are you saying that you approve of privatizing our government?
100% privatization, no. Within reason and with appropriate safeguards to prevent abuses of power and breaches of private information, yes. I don’t believe all government services should be privatized – particularly ones that deal with sensitive information – but I have no problem with support services that help the government function being performed by private industry.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:06 amYou are right about Powell barfly. He was one of the few that came out looking clean from the Iran Contra affair.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:09 amMcWars Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:58 am
It got me thinking: Does Powell’s long-term reputation deserve to suffer? It seems he was constantly frustrated by the timing of this administration, and he desperately wanted to change elements of the infamous U.N. speech written by Scooter Libby.
My thoughts as well. He took his job seriously – not as an opportunity to spread the neocon view of warring with the world but promoting peace and diplomacy which just doesn’t fit in their agenda. He lasted longer than many would have!
March 25th, 2008 at 10:11 am> by holding a solitary vigil yesterday
> morning outside the local army recruiting
> office in a grim reaper costume.
thats wonderfully creative…i dont suppose you happened to have anyone take pictures of this spectacle, did you?
March 25th, 2008 at 10:11 ambarfly Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Does Powell’s long-term reputation deserve to suffer? It seems he was constantly frustrated by the timing of this administration, and he desperately wanted to change elements of the infamous U.N. speech written by Scooter Libby.
Powell has had his hands on republican dirty-dealing since Iran Contra. Does his long term reputation deserve to suffer? You bet.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:15 am———————-
Doesn’t Powell’s bad reputation run all the way back to covering up a massacre in Viet Nam?
And speaking of Iran Contra:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8XWZcL7ZyY
A moment in time, that’s emblematic of republicans.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:15 amDoesn’t Powell’s bad reputation run all the way back to covering up a massacre in Viet Nam?
Yes, but he wasn’t serving as a republican dirty-trickster back then, just an apologist for war crimes.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:17 amdid you see this? from a former TP staffer, Nico Pitney:
4000: A Mosaic
March 25th, 2008 at 10:17 amFor over 2 year’s I have been posting and reading all your word’s on TP….We have faught the troll’s together, grieved for the losses in Iraq and New Orleans and bashed the worst president and administration in our history…
Day before yesterday marked the 4,000 loss of our troop’s and a few day’s before the 19th year anniversary of the Exxon Valdeze spill…..I could go on about all our losses and the hundred’s of thousand’s of Iraq’s we don’t know about or the hundred thousand of our maimed trying to survive when they come home from this evil war but on this typical Tuesday it all seem’s stupid to even mention my thought’s about my country and what it has become ,but I will, damn right I will…
This old woman is sick at heart with the mud slinging, political crap and intentional division of the left…..In my view finder there rely is very little true left still around to vote for…The one’s I supported were not allowed out of the starting gate in this race…So I ask you all, who is winning while you nit pick and bash on all side’s?,,,Who along with the media has the most to gain.?,,,Just who is filling our air way’s, internet and blog site’s with daily crap to keep our mind’s busy with an endless campaign for the white house while planning another war front under all our noses..Who.? I know the answer’s, do all of you.?
Special thank’s to Uncle Ho for all you do I appreciate you…..Blessings
March 25th, 2008 at 10:20 amA Court Sheds New Light on Terror ProbeBy JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
March 24, 2008
RICHMOND, Va. — Federal prosecutors tracking a Saudi-backed American foundation accused of ties to terrorists are tightening the screws on their target, levying half a million dollars in contempt-of-court fines and moving to pierce the attorney-client privilege as a way of getting information from a lawyer who represented the foundation.
The case has the elements of an international thriller. The federal officials sprang into action after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, with an investigation code-named Operation Green Quest. They say the Saudi-backed Virginia charity spirited $22 million out of America and into a trust on the Isle of Man, a windswept tax haven in the Irish Sea. A Florida professor has become entangled in the investigation, as has a Georgia poultry processing plant that has vigorously defended itself against accusations of terrorist links, to the point of filing a libel lawsuit against CBS News.
snip
http://www.nysun.com/article/73461?access=375599
How has this happened with Saudi dark-prince Cheney out there trying to deflect this stuff. It will be interesting if this moves forward now that it is outed.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:20 amHT:Calibleu
2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:56 am
If the U.S. Nationalized it’s oil it would have to attack and start a war with itself.
Sorry, 2mil but it’s already happening! In fact, the government is winning.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:25 ammust read:
Tomgram: Michael Schwartz, How to Disintegrate a City
[...] Outside the heavily fortified Green Zone, much of Baghdad is a nightmare. Just consider a walk that Nir Rosen took for Rolling Stone magazine in the Dora district of Baghdad (”…now a ghost town. This is what ‘victory’ looks like in a once upscale neighborhood of Iraq: Lakes of mud and sewage fill the streets. Mountains of trash stagnate in the pungent liquid. Most of the windows in the sand-colored homes are broken, and the wind blows through them, whistling eerily…”); or watch a video shot by Iraqi journalist Ghaith Abdul-Ahad for the British Guardian portraying the massive walls that now encase so many Iraqi neighborhoods, or the cemeteries he visited that hold some of Iraq’s recently slaughtered citizens. [...]
March 25th, 2008 at 10:28 amCJ: A couple of cars did briefly stop to take some pix.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:30 am19 indicted in massive mortgage fraud case
Indictments allege massive mortgage fraud targeting homeowners near foreclosure.By Christina Jewett – cjewett@sacbee.com
Federal prosecutors in Sacramento announced Monday that 19 people have been indicted in a massive mortgage fraud case that preyed on people close to foreclosure and stripped homeowners in two dozen states of millions of dollars in equity.
McGregor Scott, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, unsealed the contents of two indictments Monday that detail a conspiracy to strip 115 people of $12.6 million in equity and their homes in cases that stretch from California to New York.
Two indictments – both citing Charles Head, 33, of La Habra as the ringleader – allege a total of 18 counts of money laundering, mail fraud and conspiracy.
http://www.sacbee.com/749/story/809314.html
There’s a thought. Lock up these scum-sucking b@st@rds instead of bailing some of these companies out. For every “scam” that gets prosecuted, 20 will go unnoticed.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:33 amanyone talking about this?
Today on the Presidential Campaign Trail
March 25th, 2008 at 10:35 amBy The Associated Press
IN THE HEADLINES
Clinton calls for legal protections for honest mortgage lenders … Clinton campaign says she ‘misspoke’ in account of Bosnia trip … US Virgin Islands official says Obama is on the islands for a few days of ‘down time’ … Clinton once eager to debate has not committed to April 19 debate in N.C.
___
Clinton: Protect reputable home lenders
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed several remedies to the nation’s home mortgage problems Monday, including one tool more often associated with Republicans than Democrats.
The New York senator proposed greater protections for lenders from possible lawsuits by investors, a variation of so-called tort reform. For years, GOP leaders have called for restrictions on what they consider unwarranted lawsuits against businesses. Democrats have often resisted them on grounds they limit injured parties’ legitimate rights to redress.
[...]
barfly Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Does Powell’s long-term reputation deserve to suffer? It seems he was constantly frustrated by the timing of this administration, and he desperately wanted to change elements of the infamous U.N. speech written by Scooter Libby.
Powell has had his hands on republican dirty-dealing since Iran Contra. Does his long term reputation deserve to suffer? You bet.
He goes back even farther, my friend. He was involved in the attempted cover-up of the My Lai Massacre.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre#Cover-up_and_investigations
March 25th, 2008 at 10:37 amAnd the beat goes on Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 10:25 am
2MillionLightYearsToAndromeda Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:56 am
If the U.S. Nationalized it’s oil it would have to attack and start a war with itself.
Sorry, 2mil but it’s already happening! In fact, the government is winning.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am—————————
The neo-cons declared war on their own sanity and they’re taking all of us with them.
Clinton says she ‘misspoke’ about sniper fire
No she a bloody liar , unfit to be president
March 25th, 2008 at 10:40 am“A majority of Americans are opposed to the federal government helping out banks that made bad loans or homeowners who borrowed more than they could afford,” a new Fox 5/The Washington Times/Rasmussen poll finds. 61 percent of Americans surveyed said they opposed “moves by the Federal Reserve Board and other federal agencies” to provide “assistance to investment banks and a troubled mortgage industry.”
——————
If you’d like to help out a Wall Street Investment house in distress simply send a check or money-order made payable to:
Criminal Banker
March 25th, 2008 at 10:42 amPO Box 666
Gates of Hell, NY 00000
katy Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Clinton: Protect reputable home lenders
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed several remedies to the nation’s home mortgage problems Monday, including one tool more often associated with Republicans than Democrats.
The New York senator proposed greater protections for lenders from possible lawsuits by investors, a variation of so-called tort reform. For years, GOP leaders have called for restrictions on what they consider unwarranted lawsuits against businesses. Democrats have often resisted them on grounds they limit injured parties’ legitimate rights to redress.
Let’s review this. Bush wants telecoms protected from lawsuits. Courts protecting pharmas from lawsuits (http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/courts-weakening). Hillary wants to protect mortgage companies from lawsuits. What did I miss? In other words, bend over and say thank you when they are done.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:47 amAnd the beat goes on Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Watch Online PBS: Bush’s War: A 4-Hour Special Pre-9/11 Til Now
Watched part 1 last night. Frontline did an amazing job laying this all out. Anyone else get a chance to view it?
yes… except for the 1/2 hour break to watch “christine” – which happened to be a needed chuckle break…
the show was fast paced enough to prevent any boredom, and combined with
just the facts needed, made for a very engaging program…
also, repost from last night:
it WAS hard to watch, and yet intriguing… i realized that i only learned about
all that way after the fact… not until things like AirAmericaRadio, which directed me to ThinkProgress, which led to the many other blogs and news sites…
what little i DID know about the lead up to the “war” just left me with a feeling
of inevitability, helplessness… now, seeing how it all played out, in condensed time, brings a new understanding of how it happened so easily… fear. fear. fear.
and planned chaos… but that’s tomorrow’s episode…
the show is so well done, and concise… a MUST see…
March 25th, 2008 at 10:50 amWhen Bush’s War first got started, I felt that it was really going to soft-peddle the whole story. The more I watched, I realized they were weaving a web that made it clear how this whole thing happened. I feel like we really didn’t have a choice with the information we were given, but that really isn’t true. Thank goodness there were many others who saw through the lies and spoke out.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:07 amMushy just forgot about those judges, he’s really a good guy.
/sarc
March 25th, 2008 at 11:12 amUncle Ho Says:
March 25th, 2008 at 9:33 am
I observed the 4000 US dead yesterday by holding a solitary vigil yesterday morning outside the local army recruiting office in a grim reaper costume. Was out there for as long as I could stand the bitter cold(in the teens-not including windchill), little over an hour and a half.
Bless you, Uncle Ho. I wish America had MORE patriots like you.
Thank you from my heart.
~A
March 25th, 2008 at 11:22 amL.Hussein Annie, Witch 1; Thank you kindly for your support.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:31 amHEY, HILLARY – check this out:
Exit, pursued by Bear Stearns
Bail out America’s hard-pressed homeowners and banks by all means.
But the Wall Street geniuses who caused this mess should pay the price
[...] Rather than taking this opportunity to tighten the screws, many progressives are standing by the sidelines or actually cheering on plans to bail out the ridiculously rich. The same people – who are on other days fight to raise the income tax rate on the rich, or for preserving the estate tax – are just watching as the Fed hands taxpayer dollars to Wall Street, and hoping that Congress will come up with tens of billions for buying the bankers’ bad mortgage debt.
There is of course a cover story – there always is. We have to let the Fed bail out the banks or the financial system would collapse. This would hurt everyone, especially ordinary workers. And the mortgage bailout is supposed to help low and moderate income homeowners.
But the cover stories don’t hold water. We can keep the banks running without bailing out the incredibly rich people who drove them to ruin. England showed us the way earlier this year with its takeover of Northern Rock, a major bank that got itself in trouble with bad mortgage debt.
We can also help homeowners without bailing out the banks. [...]
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dean_baker/2008/03/exit_pursued_by_bear.html
March 25th, 2008 at 12:07 pm“A majority of Americans are opposed to the federal government helping out banks that made bad loans”
To which Cheney promptly replied: “So?”
March 25th, 2008 at 1:09 pmCourt overturns air passenger rights law
And a big warm, fuzzy “fcuk you all” from the airline industry.
So Cheney-esque.
March 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pmClinton Lie Kills Her Credibility on Trade Policy
What is the proper word for the claim by Hillary Clinton and the more factually disinclined supporters of her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination — made in speeches, briefings and interviews (including one by this reporter with the candidate) — that she has always been a critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement?
Now that we know from the 11,000 pages of Clinton White House documents released this week that former First Lady was an ardent advocate for NAFTA; now that we know she held at least five meetings to strategize about how to win congressional approval of the deal; now that we know she was in the thick of the manuevering to block the efforts of labor, farm, environmental and human rights groups to get a better agreement. Now that we know all of this, how should we assess the claim that Hillary’s heart has always beaten to a fair-trade rhythm?
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– a put-in-boldface-type “L-I-A-R” liar.
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boy, if only ohio had known about this earlier…
HEY, PENNSYLVANIA – PAY ATTENTION!
March 25th, 2008 at 2:06 pmRE: Privitization of Passports:
How long till the Shrub govt makes itself like a real business and privitizes the duties to overseas companies ?
Or figures out that prisoners are a great workforce, work cheap, and don’t go home for lunch and dinner ?
March 25th, 2008 at 3:56 pmhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080325/cm_huffpost/093197;_ylt=ArFX5GHOTyGsjpNDJs0_bdCs0NUE
“Two talented teams locked in competition. Partisans watching closely to determine who has the stuff to lead us to victory this fall. Some folks carried away by the heat of battle deliver overly personal attacks. Decked out in my “Democrat 08″ jersey, I join the fray, calling out: “Don’t boo the home team!” As far as I’m concerned, that’s what the other side is there for.”
If ONLY! There are two teams that will be the death of a Democratic President in 2009:
“Obama can do no wrong” and “Clinton at all costs”.
Why can’t people stop doing the work of the Republican party? The death of “Progressive/Liberal” will not come from outside, but from the people tearing it down from inside.
You know who you are. Will you work for Pres. McCain by bashing the Dems?
March 25th, 2008 at 4:04 pmwhoa… clintonistas are certainly a haughty, hateful bunch…
can’t take the facts, OR opinions…
i learned with my first child not to argue with 2 yr olds…
no matter what age they are…
especially rude, hateful ones…
mighty fine example there… “yea! i want what HE wants!” … hardly…
March 25th, 2008 at 7:25 pm…
Put a fraud alert on your credit every 90 days. All you need to do is to call one of the three credit companies and they will report to the other two. sohbet
March 25th, 2009 at 5:00 pmBedava mp3 indir
cetIf you are applying for credit, the person you applied to will call and ask you some identifying information before proceeding. The only part of this that is hard is remembering to do it every 90 days.