ThinkFast: April 15, 2009
ThinkFast: April 15, 2009
Forty-one percent of Americans now believe that lower-income people are paying their “fair share” of federal taxes, up from 32 percent last year, according to a new Gallup poll. At the same time, just 23 percent say that upper-income taxpayers pay their “fair share,” while 60 percent say they pay too little.
The Obama administration plans to “disclose the conditions of the 19 biggest banks in the country.” Administration officials concluded that “keeping many of the findings secret could send investors fleeing from financial institutions rumored to be weakest.” All the banks are expected to pass the “stress tests,” but “some are expected to be graded more highly than others.”
Today, a U.S. ship carrying food aid destined for Kenya “foiled an attack by Somali pirates” who are pledging revenge for their recent defeat by Navy SEALs. The pirates “fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons” at the Liberty Sun, whose crew was not injured.
While details remain vague, “clues are now emerging” that suggest President Obama intends to strengthen President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law by toughening “requirements on topics like teacher quality and academic standards” and increasing the law’s emphasis on helping failing schools.
“The Obama administration is leaning toward keeping secret some graphic details of tactics allowed” in CIA interrogations, which include stories about head smashing. Top CIA officials and “some in the White House…argue that disclosing such secrets will undermine the agency’s credibility with foreign intelligence services.”
A 21-year-old Guantanamo detainee, Mohammed el Gharani, called Al-Jazeera “to say he was severely beaten for refusing to leave his cell.” Al-Jazeera would not disclose how it managed to speak with el Gharani, whom a judge ordered to be released in January.
Human Rights Watch reports that the government has deported hundreds of thousands of immigrants convicted of nonviolent crimes in recent years, despite its claim to prioritize violent criminals for deportation. “Nearly three-quarters of the roughly 897,000 immigrants deported from 1997 to 2007 after serving criminal sentences were convicted of nonviolent offenses, and one-fifth were legal permanent residents.”
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today “that he was preparing a new proposal to resolve disputes with the West over Iran’s nuclear program, opening the door to talks with the United States.” Ahmadinejad “did not elaborate on the contents of the proposal,” but his announcement appeared to be a response to the recent U.S. decision to join discussions with Iran on its disputed nuclear program.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told an audience at Morehouse College that “recently we have seen tentative signs that the sharp decline in economic activity may be slowing,” noting that housing and consumer spending may be flattening. “A leveling out of economic activity is the first step toward recovery,” he said.
And finally: It seems that fallen governor Rod Blagojevich isn’t quite ready to get out of the spotlight. Since losing his gubernatorial perch, Blagojevich has filled in as a talk radio host on WLS radio in Chicago. Now he may star in an NBC reality tv show called “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here.”
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“…tactics allowed” in CIA interrogations, which include stories about head smashing.”
“Top CIA officials and “some in the White House…argue that disclosing such secrets will undermine the agency’s credibility with foreign intelligence services.””
Yeah, they’ll think we’re a bunch of bleeding heart liberals.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:06 amsarc/off
O.K. So I am scrolling through the TP site before today’s ThinkFast is posted and I counted five stories in the last four hours of posting about “tea parties.” Five stories in four hours???? If I wanted that much coverage I would have turned on faux noise. There had to be something more noteworthy to cover. If not, perhaps don’t post anything at all. Just sayin’…
April 15th, 2009 at 9:09 am“…At the same time, just 23 percent say that upper-income taxpayers pay their “fair share,” while 60 percent say they pay too little.”
While 98% of attendees of the recent teabag parties don’t have a clue.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:09 amGood morning.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:11 amI just finished the best cup of tea I’ve ever had.
It’s the newly released ‘Republicans are Nuck’n Futz’ brand.
It’s not too hot.
It’s not too strong.
Dispose the bags at your nearest RNC / Fox News outlet, because used tea bags fit their agenda nicely; all used up.
sorry, Sonny… Cher up!
April 15th, 2009 at 9:11 amon Morning Joke this morning, Joe complained about the DHS report about the rising danger of right wing hate groups because the bush adminstration never talked about the dangers or left wing hate groups…that there were no left wing hate groups advocating for the overthrow of the gov escaped his notice. He complained about the report mentioning the problem of unemployed veterans being sucked into right wing hate groups…forgetting all about tim mcvie. Joe and his ilk are a threat to our country and need to be called out.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:12 amhow do these pirates approach these big ships without getting blown out of the water? cover of darkness? Don’t these tankers have any means of self-defense?
these pirates are obviously in dire straits. maybe someone should try and help them.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:12 am“Dispose of the bags at your nearest RNC / Fox News outlet,..”
Please retain the strings by wrapping them neatly around the bag.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:12 am“The Obama administration is leaning toward keeping secret some graphic details of tactics allowed” in CIA interrogations, “Top CIA officials and “some in the White House…argue that disclosing such secrets will undermine the agency’s credibility with foreign intelligence services.””
………………………
April 15th, 2009 at 9:14 amThe hell with the agency, how about our nations credibility as civilized ! Millions displaced and killed in a war justified by lies , torture and kidnapping and ZERO accountability . Where’s the change ?
Oh my g-d, No Child Left Behind has got to be the worst piece of education legislation ever passed by a federal government. Obama gets a D+ for supporting it’s fleshing out and continuation. On the other hand, let’s give the Administration a bit of time, maybe the Dept of Education will scrap it entirely in the next year.
Stop blaming the teachers, blame the parents for raising media-saturated consumerist-trained kids who don’t value school and education. Blame corruption in school boards and principles and vendors to boards of ed, don’t blame the teachers!
Kids want to learn or they don’t. It’s not up to the teacher, it’s up to the values of the society within the homelife of the child.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:14 amYes Isis.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:22 amMy daughter is in the first grade and she’s already getting test prep. She brings home an essay a week that she has to speed read. the essays are on things like the Greek civilization, the Roman Empire. There is no comprehension involved she has to read these essays out loud as fast as she can. No pausing for puncutation, no context, no understanding of what she’s reading, she just spits out the sounds as fast as she can. We’ve talked to the teacher and she’s embarrased about this but there’s nothing she can do, it comes down from administration.
I’m still waiting for the real change we were promised with the new admin. Keeping so many bushies in place and strengthening bush policies is not change, just more of the same. The list of obama’s shortcomings is too well known to bother to repeat at this point.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:22 amHas the Obama administration actually even disavowed torture or is it just to be farmed out to foreign governments ? I’m a bit shaky on this .
April 15th, 2009 at 9:23 amHabeas corpus doesn’t apply to Bagram ? Domestic spying to continue ?
Signing statements to continue ?
Posse comitatus still struck down ?
No cases to be allowed to proceed on torture ?
No investigations or charges brought against people who believed it was alright to torture other human beings to death or use a scalpel on their testicles ?
An expanded legal argument for the Imperial presidency ?
Continued domestic spying without judicial oversight ?
………help……….
Intelligence officials also believe that making the techniques public would give al Qaeda a propaganda tool just as the administration is stepping up its fight against the terrorist group in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some former administration officials have also argued that releasing all the memos could help terrorists train to endure the most extreme interrogation techniques.
This is the excuse we’ve heard for years from the Bush administration. First of all, much of what’s happened is no longer secret anyway. Our tactics and the prisons we’ve been running, as well as the Iraq war, have already served as “propaganda tools” for al Qaeda and other extremist groups. The tactics also have been well known enough to help terrorists train to endure them. We already know who wrote the memos, and who signed off on the tactics. So what’s to keep secret any more anyway?…or did they propose/approve of even MORE extreme tactics.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:25 am# 12 ….. your right of course but bear with me …..
April 15th, 2009 at 9:25 amThe Army Field Manual was made the universal standard through executive order on Jan 20, effectively banning torture.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:31 am“some in the White House…argue that disclosing such secrets will undermine the agency’s credibility with foreign intelligence services.”
That’s going to require foreign intelligence services to pretend they never heard about US abuse and torture–which of course we all have learned actually did happen at Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and elsewhere.
That’s just STUPID.
The Intellgience community has been poisoned by the Bush torture policies and Obama’s politically obliged to not aggravate them–at least for the moment ( ( a year, 2 years?). But Obama has a greater duty to the nation , constitution and the rule of Law and brushing their crimes under the carpet makes an accessory to crime. No avoiding that.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:34 amDid everyone see the This Modern World comic strip by Tom Tomorrow with Glenn Beck as the Mad Hatter at the tea party?
http://www.credoaction.com/comics/2009/04/teabaggers_unite.html
April 15th, 2009 at 9:35 amSome former administration officials have also argued that releasing all the memos could help terrorists train to endure the most extreme interrogation techniques.
___________
Why is this even a concern? We should never be using these techniques to begin with.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:35 am…as were extraordinary renditions
April 15th, 2009 at 9:35 amDru
April 15th, 2009 at 9:36 amhow does that work if the administration is defending the use of extraordinary rendition . Will we still be sending prisoners to foreign governments without such a prohibition ?
Obama is getting dangerously close to losing all credibility with me, based on the singular issue of propping up and reaffirming the Bush positions on torture and wiretapping. The Bush civil liberty abuses were one of, if not THE, main issues that had to stop. This quote from the article: “Making those details public, one official said, would make CIA officials disinclined to take any risks in the future”. is in my mind, EXACTLY why they should release the documents in their entirety. It doesn’t take a legal memorandum to let you know that smashing someone’s head into a wall is unacceptable treatment of prisoners. It didn’t work at Nuremberg, and the CIA should be put on notice that it won’t work here either.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:36 amhelp!
so, MY fact filled letter-to-editor was not printed in my daily paper, but once again some yahoo is allowed to vent his stoopidity… “Allen J. Will, Neoga [IL]“…
any of you troolls ever hear of this kook…?
did you know that “the Chinese harvest our oil, coal and timber”?
can anyone explain this conclusion?
of course he mentions the “fascist takeover of the auto industry”… “taxpayer bailouts”… “talking to radical Muslims, who live each day on a goal to kill infidels”…
“schools are influenced by people like Bill Aires, who hate capitalism”…
did you know, “we have access to as much oil as Saudi Arabia but can’t touch it… we have the leanest air in the world and ignore it”… whaaa???
this is what i’m up against… i should give up.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:38 amI haven’t heard this side of the pirate stories before this.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:38 amFrom the Atlanta Tea Party website:
So much for the lie that these are ‘grass roots’ protests.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:38 amObama preserves rendition … LA Times
April 15th, 2009 at 9:39 amhttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-rendition1-2009feb01,0,4661244.story
Thanks noseeum…I’m feeling much more sonny.
Didn’t see this posted yesterday. So very sad.
The wife of a possibly wrongfully convicted Mississippi attorney has died. Sylvia Minor, the wife of former attorney Paul Minor, died from brain cancer Monday night, former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz told the Jackson Free Press.
Minor, who is serving 11 years for judicial corruption, is appealing his conviction, arguing that the U.S. Justice Department under President George Bush pushed prosecutions against Democrat politicians and Democratic fundraisers like himself in an attempt to swing elections toward Republicans. A congressional committee is investigating whether former Bush administration Chief of Staff Karl Rove influenced the Justice Department under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, but Rove has repeatedly refused to answer questions from the committee under oath.
Minor had asked to be released on bond April 9 pending appeal, but 5th Circuit Court Judge Priscilla Owen, who had hired Rove as a campaign manager for $250,000 to help her in her run for Texas Supreme Court in 1994, refused to grant him a bond. The panel later upheld Owen’s decision—despite the fact that she later recused herself from the panel because of conflict-of-interest issues.
Minor’s father, columnist Bill Minor, called the situation “senseless,” because the court may ultimately uphold the appeal—but too late for Minor to be with his dying wife. “He should have been out on bond anyway, pending appeal,” Minor said today.
more
***SO Ted Stevens’ case gets thrown out (justifiably) but everything KKKarl touched remains intact. What is wrong with this picture? Are these Bushco crime family members teflon coated? Are they blackmailing anyone who even whispers about holding them accountable? Uh oh…I guess I am not so sonny after all.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:42 amDru
how does that work if the administration is defending the use of extraordinary rendition.
I have heard them talk about keeping rendition as a tool. The executive order, as I understood it, prevents the US government from farming torture to foreign governments. I’m not against rendition because if a foreign contry were able to render bush to the Hague, i wouldn’t protest.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:42 amHave a link for that dru ?
April 15th, 2009 at 9:44 am“that disclosing such secrets will undermine the agency’s credibility with foreign intelligence services.”
the fact that the regime of 43 tortured is the big pink elephant in the room. everyone in the world knows it happened. it’s time to fess up and prosecute.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:45 amI would protest. It would go something like this:
No. wait. stop.
…
shrug.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:45 amPlease, no more references to “poor” pirates. I just hate “the devil made me do it” excuses for thug behavior.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:45 amspearNmagicHelmet Says: “how do these pirates approach these big ships without getting blown out of the water? cover of darkness? Don’t these tankers have any means of self-defense?
these pirates are obviously in dire straits. maybe someone should try and help them.”
This post and its comments can help to answer some your questions)
April 15th, 2009 at 9:46 amhttp://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/the-somali-pirates/#comments
Obama said we will abide by the Geneva Conventions ! I believe that we are obligated to prosecute violations as signatories .
April 15th, 2009 at 9:46 amhttp://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/07/secrecy/
April 15th, 2009 at 9:51 ami’m with aquarius2,
April 15th, 2009 at 9:51 amwhat proof are these pirates offerring regarding their spurious claims. and the best way to solve this alleged problem is to allow warlords to line their pockets by holding ships and crews hostage for millions of dollars?
Thug behavior begets thug behavior.
From BearCounty’s link:
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn’t act on those crimes – but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, we begin to shriek about “evil.” If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause – our crimes – before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia’s criminals.
That holier-than-thou attitude towards the disenfranchised is THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH THE U.S. REGARDING ‘TERRORISM’.
ARROGANCE, IGNORANCE AND FEAR.
I don’t recall these being praised as “Christ-like” characteristics in the Bible.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:53 amI’m confident in what i posted above. It is simply taking me time to find the link which differentiates between rendition and extraordinary rendition. I will provide in on this post in shortly…
April 15th, 2009 at 9:53 amHmmm, Ron Paul has a different idea on how to solve the pirate problem, a little known law written into the Constitution.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21245.html
April 15th, 2009 at 9:55 amIn calling the claims “spurious,” you seem to have already rejected any proof they might present.
Democracy Now has an excellent piece on the pirates:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/14/analysis_somalia_piracy_began_in_response
April 15th, 2009 at 9:57 amwatchpuppy is so easily fooled by right wing liars
i guess he just doesn’t have the brain power to resist their BS
April 15th, 2009 at 9:58 amwatchpuppy
April 15th, 2009 at 9:58 ama)then why is faux noise promoting it
b)where the hell were you for the past 8 years when 43 was on an out of control spending and expansion of federal government orgy?
perry,
April 15th, 2009 at 10:00 amso taking hostages for millions of dollars to line the pockets of warlords is the natural solution to their claims, right?
watchdog Says:
Tax Day Becomes Protest Day
How the tea parties could change American politics.
Today American taxpayers in more than 300 locations in all 50 states will hold rallies — dubbed “tea parties” — to protest higher taxes and out-of-control government spending. There is no political party behind these rallies, no grand right-wing conspiracy, not even a 501(c) group like MoveOn.org.
Anyone who believes stupidities like this from the Wall Street Journal ought to fit right in at a teabagging party. Or, maybe, some of them could pay a little attention to reality.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:02 amwatchdog, how much have your taxes gone up under Obama?
April 15th, 2009 at 10:02 amHere is an article that focuses on the nuances of the Executive order that separate it from Bush’s policy.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016703.php
and a follow up by Greenwald.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/02/renditions/
For those who are aginast rendition as a tool, Update III in the greenwald article. I gives a compelling justification for case rendition that can applied universally.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:02 amSince the MSM refuses to give context, I will:
Why We Don’t Condemn Our Pirates
But war is expensive and militias need food for their families, and Jaad (an amphetamine-based stimulant) to stay awake for the fighting. Therefore, a good clan -based Warlord must look out for his own fighters. Aidid’s men turned to robbing aid trucks carrying food to the starving masses, and re-selling it to continue their war. But Ali Mahdi had his sights set on a larger and more unexploited resource, namely: the Indian Ocean.
Already by this time, local fishermen in the coastline of Somalia have been complaining of illegal vessels coming to Somali waters and stealing all the fish. And since there was no government to report it to, and since the severity of the violence clumsily overshadowed every other problem, the fishermen went completely unheard.
But it was around this same time that a more sinister, a more patronizing practice was being put in motion. A Swiss firm called Achair Parterns, and an Italian waste company called Achair Parterns, made a deal with Ali Mahdi, that they were to dump containers of waste material in Somali waters. These European companies were said to be paying Warlords about $3 a ton, whereas to properly dispose of waste in Europe costs about $1000 a ton.
In 2004, after a tsunami washed ashore several leaking containers, thousand of locals in the Puntland region of Somalia started to complain of severe and previously unreported ailments, such as abdominal bleeding, skin melting off and a lot of immediate cancer-like symptoms. Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environmental Program, says that the containers had many different kinds of waste, including “Uranium, radioactive waste, lead, Cadmium, Mercury and chemical waste.” But this wasn’t just a passing evil from one or two groups taking advantage of our unprotected waters. The UN envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, says that the practice still continues to this day. It was months after those initial reports that local fishermen mobilized themselves, along with street militias, to go into the waters and deter the Westerners from having a free pass at completely destroying Somalia’s aquatic life. Now years later, the deterring has become less noble, and the ex-fishermen with their militias have begun to develop a taste for ransom at sea. This form of piracy is now a major contributor to the Somali economy, especially in the very region that private toxic waste companies first began to burry our nation’s death trap.
LINK
April 15th, 2009 at 10:02 am“some in the White House…argue that disclosing such secrets will undermine the agency’s credibility with foreign intelligence services.”
If these foreign intelligence services live up to their name, they already know.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:03 amwatchdog, Did you think we could continue the tax policy and spending policies of GWBush?
April 15th, 2009 at 10:03 am#2 Republican in the House, Eric Cantor, again suggested that the Democrats are overreacting and that the economy was not in trouble.
I do believe the repugs are schizophrenic. One day they say, “yes, we’re in trouble and Obama is making it worse” – and the next day they say “this is all overblown.”
We should expect as much from the party whose solution to everything is to cut taxes. They pander to their base, and mislead the public by doing so.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:04 amThey claim socialism is quite evil, but they would never eliminate Social Security.
I’m going to go videotape some of the loonies at the Atlanta Tea Party tonight. I know the media will use tight shots to try to make the crowd look bigger, so I want to get the truth.
Also, it’s fun to get right wingers on camera to attempt to explain their views. They usually have no idea what they are protesting, they just go where the TV tells them to go.
If any of you right wingers want to “discuss” it with me, and you are not too much of a cowardly pansy hick to do so, please find me. I’m the guy with the camera on the big black motorcycle, pointing and giggling at you idiots.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:04 amkeith,
April 15th, 2009 at 10:05 amwatchdog is a cadillac-driving welfare queen much like joe the fake plumber…he don’t pay no stinking taxes!
How many people here, including and especially the trolls, have seen their taxes increased under Obama? How many expect to see their taxes decrease under Obama’s policies?
April 15th, 2009 at 10:05 amMarie, my wife and I have a combined 6 figure salary and both of our paychecks have gotten larger due to the TAX CUT that we, and 95% of taxpayers received under Obama’s budget.
These right wingers just continue to prove their ignorance and the right wing media continues to use that ignorance to further their political goals.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:07 amwatchdog, I’m waiting.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:08 amoohhh, ohhhhhh, marie,
April 15th, 2009 at 10:08 amlet me answer those two questions
a) none since obama’s tax plan won’t be used until this years
b) 95% of us.
Thanx dru I’ll be reading very carefully .
April 15th, 2009 at 10:08 amget over yourself, watchpuppy, you would do well to spend your time getting educated rather than demonstrating your lack thereof on this website
April 15th, 2009 at 10:10 amDo not confuse ordinary rendition of persons to their nation of origin (which may or may not be for prosecution) with the “extraordinary rendition” (by the Bushies) of persons to third party nations for the purposes of torture.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:10 amwatchdog, when Reagan and GHWBush took us from a debt of less than one trillion dollars (first 200 years of US) to one of $4.1 trillion—did you complain?
April 15th, 2009 at 10:11 amNo problem freeman, President Obama is wrong on in several areas regarding executive power and domestic security; however, he has made some significant changes in some areas that should be noted and commended.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:13 amwatchpuppy @59
April 15th, 2009 at 10:17 am“nuthugging” and “defending” aren’t synonyms for “protesting”
We have a serious problem when disclosing the reality of the CIA’s actions will undermine the agency’s credibility. They committed crimes against humanity, but if we don’t tell anyone about them, what’s the difference, right?
I still hold out hope that in some areas the Obama administration is currently holding onto Bush administration policies because they have not completed their review of those policies yet. We are still early in this administration. I hope that over the next four years they find the guts to do the right thing on some of these issues rather than continuing the current craven policies.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:18 amwatchdog Says:
Keith Says:
watchdog, Did you think we could continue the tax policy and spending policies of GWBush?
I would hope we wouldn’t, but we are faster and bigger.
I don’t know what that means. I meant that if you have a debt of over $11 trillion and a deficit of $1.3 trillion—then you absolutely must raise taxes on somebody (people or corporations). And we had our financial institutions and auto industry failing and our GDP in the negative. This requires spending. Obama would not have raised taxes and spending if he were following Clinton in 2001.
You didn’t tell us how much your taxes have gone up.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:19 amok then…
thanks a lot, not…
April 15th, 2009 at 10:21 amwatchdog Says:
Tax Day Becomes Protest Day
How the tea parties could change American politics.
Today American taxpayers in more than 300 locations in all 50 states will hold rallies — dubbed “tea parties” — to protest higher taxes and out-of-control government spending. There is no political party behind these rallies, no grand right-wing conspiracy, not even a 501(c) group like MoveOn.org.
_______________
ChicagoTeaParty.com, registered in August 2008 by Chicago radio producer Zack Christenson, was live within twelve hours.
Huh… ChicagoTeaParty.com, registered in August 2008…???
Gee… a website named “ChicagoTeaParty.Com”, organized SIX MONTHS EARLIER.
ChicagoTeaParty.com was just one part of a larger network of Republican sleeper-cell-blogs set up over the course of the past few months, all of them tied to a shady rightwing advocacy group coincidentally named the “Sam Adams Alliance,” whose backers have until now been kept hidden from public. Cached google records that we discovered show that the Sam Adams Alliance took pains to scrub its deep links to the Koch family money as well as the fake-grassroots “tea party” protests going on today. All of these roads ultimately lead back to a more notorious rightwing advocacy group, FreedomWorks, a powerful PR organization headed by former Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey and funded by Koch money.
http://www.wikio.com/news/Zack+Christenson
The “tea party protests” are about as real as your Newticles®”, swatchie…
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April 15th, 2009 at 10:23 amwatchdog, no, JFK did not grow the debt. And he spent on social programs–not on the rich. that’s why the rich hated him and called him a traitor to his class. I was reading newspapers 1960-63. But Reagan and GHWBush sure did explode the debt: from $0.9 trillion to $4.1 trillion! And they increased the size of government.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:24 amRahm Emanuel or David Axelrod?
“some in the White House…argue that disclosing such secrets will undermine the agency’s credibility with foreign intelligence services.”
Whoever crafted it is Karl Rove level twisted.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:28 amOK, so I checked out foxnews.com because the fox & friends tea party circle jerk this morning was unintentionally hilarious.
Their Front page story is actually kind of cool.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,515986,00.html
April 15th, 2009 at 10:30 amGlenn Beck’s recent actions:
Imitating President Obama pouring gasoline onto the “average American”: On April 9, Beck responded to, among other things, reports that President Obama will pursue immigration reform by imitating Obama pouring gasoline onto the “average American.” After lighting and extinguishing a match, Beck asked: “President Obama, why don’t you just set us on fire?”
Mocking Obama’s aunt’s “limp”: On April 2, Beck — using a cane as a prop — devoted large portions of a segment to mocking Obama’s aunt’s “limp.”
Portraying Obama and Democrats as vampires: On March 30, Beck portrayed Obama and Democrats as vampires “going after the blood of our businesses” and suggested “driv[ing] a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers.”
Sign mediaMatters’ petition:
http://mediamatters.org/action_center/wallace/
April 15th, 2009 at 10:32 amDru ,
April 15th, 2009 at 10:35 amScott Horton says we are wrong to worry however on one point he is dead wrong .In his interview with Mz. Madow he states a difference between Obama and Bush’s policy is ….
” the long term detention of individuals outside of any accountability to law , no criminal charges , no arraignments, no courts “.
However the new administration is trying to deny Habeas corpus rights to detainees at Bagram air base many of whom were transferred from other places , quite possibly to deny them these very rights in Guantanamo .
So in this respect he is Wrong .
ALso in his critisism of the LA times article greenwald says this …”As I find myself repeating quite often, it makes no sense to attack (or praise) Obama for predicted actions. It’s possible that the group I referenced in item (2) above may turn out to be right, or it’s possible that those who see Obama as some transcendent, transformative change agent will be .”
April 15th, 2009 at 10:39 amSo he is saying in effect we don’t know .
So i must unfortunately stand by my post @ 13 in it’s entirety .
April 15th, 2009 at 10:41 amcookz, that video comparing Bush to Nazis was not made by MoveOn. They had a contest asking people to send in videos. All were on MoveOn’s website. That one was one of hundreds. MoveOn just did not censor any.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:43 amGee, the truth hurts, doesn’t it? Too bad if the CIA gets a bad review from the world for it’s torture practices. None of these people belongs in federal service anyway and our revived reputation from revealing the truth and implementing reforms matters more than they do. Stop the Bush type reasoning already.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:44 amOutside education, where were high standards and pay for performance prominent? Wall Street had rating agencies and CEO incentive pay. It imploded.
Obama’s strengthening of NCLB is the race that drove Wall Street to the top. From there it entered free fall.
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/progressive.htm
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/22century.htm
April 15th, 2009 at 10:48 amThe wash monthly article I must spend more time on and hope it allays my fears and proves me wrong . Thanx again Dru for doing my homework for me , I owe you .
April 15th, 2009 at 10:49 amRegarding the tea party protests – where were all these concerned citizens when many of us were protesting the invasion of Iraq? Now thousands and thousands are dead because of lies – and not even a whimper from these right wing wackos or their masters.
Yet, they are protesting a decrease in taxes for themselves and an increase for the wealthiest. And their little parties are getting news coverage. Wow, just wow.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:59 amwait…the macho guys at the CIA are now worried about what foreigners think of us? that sounds so….uhm ..”liberal” or something… since when has the worry of us “losing credibility” abroad controlled our policy decisions?
April 15th, 2009 at 11:11 am“The Obama administration is leaning toward keeping secret some graphic details of tactics allowed” in CIA interrogations, which include stories about head smashing. Top CIA officials and “some in the White House…argue that disclosing such secrets will undermine the agency’s credibility with foreign intelligence services.”
“… like Syria’s, Russia’s, Egypt’s, Morocco’s, Saudi Arabia’s, etc…. These guys know how to ‘do it right’, you see….”
Cheers,
April 15th, 2009 at 11:15 amIn a warming world, we need a plan to promote nuclear energy.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:17 amTightrope for sure, but oil and coal will kill us all.
The problem with not making this information public is that is will come out eventually, especially to other countries’ intelligence services. It’s their JOBS to ferret out such secrets. Being open and honest about what was done may be the only way to retain credibility with other governments. Consider the PR nightmare of another country getting info we’ve covered up and releasing it with the most negative spin possible at the worst moment possible. Lance the boil and let it drain.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:50 pmOK Pat obviously senile dementia has set in. Time to see the nice young men that will need to take care of you soon.burun estetigi rent a car arac kiralama
April 18th, 2009 at 5:25 amsac ekimi