The O’Jays are a Canton, Ohio based soul and R&B group, originally consisting of Eddie Levert (born June 16, 1942), Walter Williams (born August 25, 1942), William Powell (January 20, 1942 – May 26, 1977), Bobby Massey and Bill Isles. The O’Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. The O’Jays had their first hit with “Lonely Drifter”, in 1963. In spite of the record’s success, the group was considering quitting the music industry until Gamble & Huff, a team of producers and songwriters, took an interest in the group. With Gamble & Huff, the O’Jays (now a trio after the departure of Isles and Massey) emerged at the forefront of Philadelphia soul with “Back Stabbers” (1972), and topped the Billboard Hot 100 the following year with “Love Train“.
U.S. And Pakistan Reportedly Made Secret Deal On Bin Laden Mission 10 Years Ago
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/osama-bin-laden-mission-us-pakistan_n_859574.html#comments
The US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting a US operation against Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil similar to last week’s raid that killed the al-Qaida leader, the Guardian has learned.
Stop your damn lies! Just fking stop it!
These mofos know know bounds.. to try and take credit for OBL. The Bushites are a bunch of lying, thieving war criminals.
I’m feeling something really wicked is going to come out!
another slave catching coon:
…………….
Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) Defends Fairness Of Giving Billions In Oil Subsidies To Exxon: ‘Fair Is A Relative Word’
After a wave of Republicans came out for ending billions in taxpayer subsidies to big oil companies, first quarter profits showed major oil companies like Shell and ExxonMobil made about $35 billion in profits.
Although observers expected that news of record profits might mean the end of some $70 billion in taxpayer subsidies, fiscal conservatives were disappointed last week when the Republicans voted in lockstep to extend oil subsidies.
ThinkProgress spoke with Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), a freshman Republican who voted to preserve the subsidies, at a Republican Party dinner in South Carolina on Friday. Asked if giving taxpayer money to massively profitable companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron is “fair,” Scott danced around the issue. “Fair is a relative word,” Scott claimed, before launching into a discussion about more domestic drilling:
FANG: Government’s obviously spending billions every year in oil subsidies and it was just found out this week that in the first quarter, the big oil companies, Exxon, Chevron, whatever, made thirty five billion. And they’re still getting taxpayer money. What do you think of that? Is that fair?
SCOTT: Well, A) I have not seen the report so I can’t tell you whether it’s fair or not. I think everybody — fair is a relative word.
Republicans have made cutting funds for NPR, regulators for Wall Street, the EPA, and Pell Grants a priority. While they rail about the national debt, none of these programs come close to the amount of money taxpayers are forced to give to big oil companies. As Rep. Scott said, “fair is a relative word.”
Scott tried to change the topic by talking about drilling. But as the Energy Information Agency has explained, new domestic drilling would not change prices at the pump. If anything, the push for new drilling, along with extending oil subsidies, is another ploy to boost the profits of big oil businesses.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/09/tim-scott-oil-subsidies/
Fuck Timmy Scott, the slave-catching coon. He’d selll his own mama for two bits, if it meant licking the GOP’s ass.
Can TV SANK ANY LOWER?
Bio orders Bristol Palin reality series
Bristol Palin will be the focal point of a reality series given a 10-episode order by Bio (nb – formerly the Biography Channel). The series is scheduled to premiere before the end of the year.
The untitled project will follow Palin and her son Tripp as they work on a charity while living with Kyle Massey (whom Palin met as a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars”) and his brother Christopher.
Palin first gained national attention as the daughter of 2008 vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and the subsequent coverage of her becoming a teenage single mother. Her fame then increased through her fall 2010 appearance on “Dancing,” where she reached the final round despite questions of her ability.
“Bristol is the kind of personality Bio is drawn to,” A&E and Bio programming EVP David McKillop said. “Her personal life has been playing out in the media for several years, but this will be the first time she’s opening up her real life.”
Read more: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118036611
I sincerely hope that people will not help Bristol’s mom get a second wind by tuning in to the show. That’s all we need is for her to be plastered front and center on every corporate-sponsored media outlet 24/7.
“Just say No!” America will thank you…
Arizona takes controversial immigration law to Supreme Court
CNN) — Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Monday she is “confident” the U.S. Supreme Court will lift the injunction on the state’s controversial immigration law, known as SB 1070.
Brewer has asked the justices to lift the court order that is blocking enforcement of parts of the law, which the Obama administration opposes.
“For decades, the federal government has neglected its constitutional duty to secure the border. It is because of that negligence that Arizona was forced to take action to protect its citizens via SB 1070,” said Brewer.
“I’m confident that Arizona will emerge victorious from this legal fight,” she added.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/09/arizona.immigration/?h…
Governor Jan Brewer sure sounds rather CONFIDENT about the SCOTUS rendering a decision in her favor.
Boehner tells Wall Street Republicans are willing to gut Medicare+
*by Joan McCarter
Mon May 09, 2011 at 08:20 AM PDT.
Speaker John Boehner is more blatant even than most politicians about telegraphing which constituency matters to him most: Wall Street. While his caucus leadership can’t run away from abolishing Medicare fast enough, Boehner is assuring Wall Street that it’s still on the agenda.
In a speech to the Economic Club of New York in Midtown Manhattan, the Ohio Republican is set to reiterate to leading financial executives that he believes that reforming Medicare should be part of negotiations in raising the debt ceiling, saying that there needs to be “an honest conversation,” because the program is on an “unsustainable path if changes are not made,” according to sources familiar with the speech. Boehner also is expected to advocate for immediate cuts rather than deficit and debt targets preferred by some Democrats.
After his talk, Boehner will take questions from two prominent Wall Street players at the intersection of Washington power: Peter G. Peterson, the private-equity giant who worked for President Richard Nixon, and Observatory Group CEO Jane Hartley, who worked for President Jimmy Carter….
Boehner’s public insistence that reforming Medicare stay a part of debt ceiling negotiations could reaffirm a concern among Wall Street types that Republicans are driving a hard bargain on the limit and will take the negotiations up to the last minute. Boehner said last week Congress must now cut trillions, not billions….
Friday evening, in a sign of unity after a disjointed week, GOP leadership, along with Ryan and Camp, released a statement saying “everything must be on the table except increasing taxes.”
Freshmen, who voted en masse for the Ryan budget, largely want entitlement reform dealt with.
It’ll keep Pete Peterson and his crowd happy, no matter how disastrous the plan is with actual voters. But more than anything, this is reflecting the very thin ice Boehner is skating. He’s got to try to convince the powers that be that really, his caucus isn’t a bunch of nihilists perfectly willing to blow up the economy over the debt ceiling vote. He has to convince those nihilists that blowing up the economy is a really stupid idea, and in the meantime has to actually come up with some sort of policy other than Ryan’s budget, something that he’s been either too lazy or too arrogant to worry about up until now. All that while trying to figure out how he’s going to keep that Speaker’s chair when his party just voted overwhelmingly to abolish one of the most popular programs in America.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/09/974446/-Boehner-tells-Wall-Street-Republicans-are-willing-to-gut-Medicare
Hey everyone!! Hope all is well.
Hiya, Dannie!
Hi Dannie! Thank you. My daughters called and had me rolling with laughter. Love them so much…
Happy Belated Mothers Day!!
Remember this…..the fed money was GUARANTEED. IT WAS NOT GOING TO COST THE STATE OF FLORIDA ONE FUCKING DIME.
………………………..
Wanker of the Day: Rick Scott
by BooMan
Mon May 9th, 2011 at 12:51:15 PM EST
Gov. Rick Scott turned down $2.4 billion from the Department of Transportation to help Florida build a rail-line between Orlando and Tampa. As a result, former Republican congressman and current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, has distributed the money to fifteen states, most of which make up part of President Obama’s Electoral College majority.
LaHood said that he was awarding $2.02 billion to 22 projects in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast and Midwest. California also received funds.
The biggest winners were in the Northeast rail corridor, which will get $795 million. Projects in the Midwest, including a Chicago-to-St. Louis Railway, will get a total of $404.1 million with $186 million going to the Chicago-St. Louis line. California will get $300 million to add 20 miles to its proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco line.
In the words of Rahm Emanuel, Gov. Rick Scott is “effing retarded.” More importantly, this kind of hardball move by the administration doesn’t just divert money to his political base of support; it sends a clear message to moran Republican governors. And how do you think the Floridian congressional delegation feels about their governor’s decision to piss away over two billion dollars and the jobs that would have come with it?
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/5/9/125115/7940
I’ve said it before, the DNC needs to make a political ad for 2012: simple ad – video showing folks working on HIGH SPEED RAIL IN OTHER STATES
the voiceover?
THIS COULD BE YOU, BUT YOUR GOVERNOR TURNED DOWN THE MONEY.
period.
end of ad.
run it in an endless loop.
Cosign!
Mon May 09, 2011 at 08:18 AM PDT.
Military Noticing Congressional Snub of SEALs+*
by rblinne
Last week I gave the following comment to a diary that noticed how the House refused to honor the Navy SEALs bin Laden mission.
My father is a lobbyist for the Military Officers Association. This overreach could sour another reliable Republican block, military officers. So, here goes:
Dad,
It appears the failure of honoring of the last WWI vet was not a fluke. The House of Representatives showed their contempt for our men and women in uniform yet again, yesterday. On Tuesdays the House has suspension of the rules to pass non-controversial resolutions quickly. An example from yesterday is H.R. 362 which names a George W. Bush courthouse. But, there is a new rule that “prohibit the consideration of any measure that expresses appreciation, commends, congratulates, celebrates, recognizes the accomplishments of, or celebrates the anniversary of, an entity, event, group, individual, institution, team or government program; or acknowledges or recognizes a period of time for such purposes.” Apparently this is not limited to sports teams but also our military and intelligence services.
What this means is the Senate by a 97-0 vote congratulated our brave Seals for finally killing Osama bin Laden but the House has failed to do so, presumably because who is the current CiC. I’m sure those Seals would appreciate MOA and you contacting the congressional delegations on their behalf to redress this great injustice.
………………………………….
I had a number of interesting conversations over the weekend. As I alluded to in my letter to my father, the conservative evangelical church I attend is loaded with retired military and their children and grandchildren are current active duty military. A friend of my wife’s a retired SEAL (due to health reasons). She asked him on Saturday whether he knew the SEALs on the bin Laden mission. With a huge grin on his face and beaming with pride, he mentioned that he trained them. When we visited his family he told of how rigorous the SEAL training is and how over 400 sign up and only a dozen graduate. On Sunday I relayed the story about this to one of the retired military members of our church. He thanked me for doing so and his response in a VERY Republican church is classic:
“Obama made the right decision. He was very courageous.”
.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/09/974440/-Military-Noticing-Congressional-Snub-of-SEALs
What this means is the Senate by a 97-0 vote congratulated our brave Seals for finally killing Osama bin Laden but the House has failed to do so, presumably because who is the current CiC.
THIS
They have no shame, no morals, no conscience!
Thank you for sharing that story, Rikyrah!
Well now this should shed more light on what the House Republicans think about our military. And these clowns want to give GW Bush credit?
Our President is courageous. Thank you, Mr. President and Navy Seals!
Very telling, isn’t it? Republicans don’t give a damn about America! And they have the gall to question the President’s patriotism. They can rot in hell.
Morning Joe Discovers How Rep. Aaron Schock Got His ‘Rippling Abs’
video
by Jon Bershad | 11:16 am, May 9th, 2011
Rep. Aaron Schock and Men’s Health have started up a campaign to make us all feel terrible about ourselves and our bodies. Oh, wait. I misread that. They’re actually trying to get Americans “to lose weight and get healthier this summer” as part of the Fit for Life Summer Challenge. Of course, their campaign involves putting pictures of a shirtless Schock, the “Fittest Congressman,” on their cover so side effects may involve us all looking in the mirror and sobbing. Anyway, Morning Joe brought Schock on this morning to discuss the initiative and somehow refrained from force-feeding him burgers so as to bring down the handsomeness curve for the rest of us.
Schock promised Willie Geist that, no, his cover is not the product of the photoshop diet but rather that of good ol’ fashion working out and eating healthy. He gave some alarming statistics about the dire situation regarding America’s health and explained how easy it was to get in shape even without expensive gym memberships. Schock was then asked if he ever worried that his shirtless pictures in Men’s Health and TMZ (sample headline: “Illinois Congressman Is Schockingly Hot”) might distract from his serious work.
God, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone ask you if you were too good looking for your job? Why doesn’t that ever happen to us normal people?
You know what? How dare Aaron Schock make us feel fat! We should all gang together and make a smear campaign calling him a fascist! That’s the American way!
Now, back to the mirror for more sobbing.
Check out the clip from MSNBC:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/morning-joe-discovers-how-rep-aaron-schock-got-his-rippling-abs/
Yousef Raza Gilani, Pakistan Prime Minister: Bin Laden Death Was ‘Justice Done’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/yousef-raza-gilani-pakist_n_859375.html
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s prime minister said Monday that Osama bin Laden’s death in an American raid was “indeed justice done” but warned Washington that future unilateral strikes inside the nation’s borders could be met with “full force.”
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani insisted Pakistan’s key relationship with the United States remained strong despite the May 2 raid by Navy SEALs who crossed into the country from Afghanistan in helicopters with radar-evading technology. But in a sign of deep strains, Pakistani media have reported what they said was the name of the CIA station chief in Islamabad in an apparent leak aimed at damaging covert American activity in the country.
In his first address to parliament since the raid, Gilani defended his nation’s military and its Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which has been heavily criticized at home for failing to stop the U.S. operation, and he lashed out at allegations Pakistan knew where bin Laden was hiding.
“It is disingenuous for anyone to blame Pakistan or state institutions of Pakistan, including the ISI and the armed forces, for being in cahoots with al-Qaida,” Gilani said. “Elimination of Osama bin Laden, who launched waves after waves of terrorists attacks against innocent Pakistanis, is indeed justice done.”
From a HP commenter:
Dear America:
Stop killing the terrorists we are hiding and supporting. We’ll give you this freebie, but don’t come back.
Sincerely,
Pakistan
Oops! LOL
and, everyone Black remembers what happened when Randall one…he tried to force him to share it with the loser White girl. …first and only time he asked a WINNER to SHARE the prize, and Randall said, ‘ I don’t think so’.
…………………………..
Donald Trump: I’m Not Racist — One Of My Apprentice Winners Is Black
Donald Trump wants to clarify that he’s “the least racist person there is.” In fact, he says, he’s so not-racist that Randal Pinkett, who is black, “won on The Apprentice a little while ago, a couple years ago, and Randal’s been outstanding in every way.”
Trump was on Fox & Friends Monday and addressed a campaign by Van Jones and Color Of Change, a political advocacy group for African-Americans, to get Celebrity Apprentice contestants Star Jones and Lil Jon to condemn Trump for “race-baiting.”
“When it comes to racism and racists,” Trump said, “I am the least racist person there is. And I think most people that know me would tell you that. I am the least racist. I’ve had great relationships.”
“In fact,” Trump added, “Randal Pinkett won on The Apprentice a little while ago, a couple years ago, and Randal’s been outstanding in every way. So I am the least racist person. But [Van Jones] is a guy trying to get some publicity for himself by attacking Donald Trump.”
Pinkett won the show in 2005, and was the first African-American contestant to win.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/donald-trump-im-not-racist—-one-of-my-apprentice-winners-is-black.php?ref=fpi
Like I said early:
Trump the CHUMP can go straight to HELL. I def remember when he asked Randalll Pinkett to share his title of SOLE APPRENTICE with the “becky”
Randal wins The Apprentice 4 but declines to let Rebecca share the title with him
by Andy Dehnart / December 16, 2005, 9:54 AM
The fourth Apprentice is Randal Pinkett. While the entire episode made it seem as if Donald Trump would hire both of them, he hired Randal. Then, a few moments later, Trump bizarrely asked Randal if he should also hire Rebecca Jarvis. Randal declined, saying, “Mr. Trump, I firmly believe that this is ‘The Apprentice,’ that there is one and only one apprentice, and if you’re going to hire someone tonight, it should be one,” Randal said. “It’s not ‘The Apprenti,’ it’s ‘The Apprentice.’
After the episode, I wrote an essay arguing that Randal’s choice was selfish. Since apparently the entire Apprentice-watching world thinks I’m a racist for saying that, here’s my defense. Had Rebecca been hired first and declined to let Randal share the title with her, I would have written the exact same essay, just reversing their names. And, despite what many people are arguing, I don’t think that sharing the title would have in any way diminished Randal’s win. It would have simply acknowledged that his competition was exceptionally competent; there was no real reason to fire her. (I argued the same thing last season.)
As I wrote, I remain impressed by Randal, who is clearly the most educated, experienced, and qualified candidate yet. I think it’s a valid critique to ask why the only black candidate ever hired was asked to make such a decision, although I suspect it’s just coincidence since, by his own admission, Trump was basically as equally impressed with Rebecca as he was with Randal. And I completely agree that Trump should not have made this Randal’s decision; it was unfair and if Trump wanted to hire both, as he seemed ready to do the entire episode, he should have done so himself.
THIS:
After the crowd cheered and Randal had begun accepting the congratulations of the other contestants, The Donald called Randal back to the boardroom table for one final question — “what did you think of Rebecca?”
As one would expect, Randal went on to say nice things about Rebecca. But then, The Donald pulled a fast one on his newest employee and put Randal in a no-win situation by asking him if he should also hire Rebecca. After responding with a nervous laugh that indicated he knew he was in a lose/lose situation, Randal had the guts to silence the cheering crowd by telling Trump that the show was “not The Apprenti” and should therefore only have “one” winner. The Donald accepted Randal’s statement, but some of the crowd did not, filling the room with boos due to their feelings that he had not been magnanimous in victory. But then again, perhaps Randal was simply following the ever-present first rule of Trump’s ruthless The Apprentice competition — “It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.”
http://www.realitytvworld.com/…
Apparently the youtubevideo or any video of this finale is nowhere to be found. Wonder why.
dude, doesn’t matter if you can’t find the video…I remember what I saw…everybody Black knows what they saw.
And what we heard. That “becky” was almost in tears. You know the kind of white entitlement musings… How dare the black guy not share the prize with me!
May 09, 2011 8:30 AM
Boehner takes his debt posturing to Wall Street
By Steve Benen
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is well aware of the fact that his chamber — and his party — have to raise the debt ceiling fairly soon. He knows the risks; he’s aware of the consequences; and he’s acknowledged many times, in public, that this isn’t optional.
But Boehner has also started to see the debt ceiling in a Blagojevich sort of way: an extension is “f**king golden” and a “f**king valuable thing.” He’s not just going to do the right thing “for nothing.” The Speaker wants “something real good.”
For those of us who care about the health of the country, this isn’t encouraging. Boehner has already reached out to financial industry leaders, asking how much time he has to screw around before doing lasting damage. He was told that “even pushing close to the deadline — or talking about it — could have grave consequences in the marketplace,” and top Wall Street executives and lobbyists have already urged Republicans to end this reckless nonsense.
Today, however, Boehner will head to Midtown Manhattan to announce the recklessness will continue.
House Speaker John Boehner will step up his efforts Monday to lay out a strategy for raising the debt ceiling to a crowd heavy on Wall Street players who are anxiously watching the fierce debate over the debt ceiling unfold.
In a speech to the Economic Club of New York in Midtown Manhattan, the Ohio Republican is set to reiterate to leading financial executives that he believes that reforming Medicare should be part of negotiations in raising the debt ceiling, saying that there needs to be “an honest conversation,” because the program is on an “unsustainable path if changes are not made,” according to sources familiar with the speech. Boehner also is expected to advocate for immediate cuts rather than deficit and debt targets preferred by some Democrats.
Boehner, the report added, is not expected to “say specifically that Medicare reforms must be part of any deal.”
Of course not. And Blagojevich didn’t say what he wanted in exchange for a vacant Senate seat, either. But Blagojevich said he wanted “something real good,” and Boehner is saying he wants
“something really big.”
At this point, Boehner has already backed away from his party’s Medicare privatization/voucher scheme, though he apparently still expects some kind of Medicare cuts as a debt-ceiling ransom — one that Democrats aren’t willing to pay.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/boehner_takes_his_debt_posturi029443.php
Dick Cheney, the President Will Take Your Apology Now
If the ex-VP still thinks Obama’s soft on terror, perhaps he should consult Osama bin Laden. Oh wait, he’s at the bottom of the ocean.
By David Corn | Fri May. 6, 2011 3:00 AM PDT
Does Dick Cheney owe President Barack Obama an apology?
Ever since Obama entered the White House, the former vice president has been decrying him as a weak leader whose actions place the nation at risk. He’s been the lead-singer of the Obama-is-bad-for-national-security mantra on the right. Yet in the wake of the successful raid on Osama bin Laden’s suburban compound, Cheney has not rescinded his previous assaults on the president.
The ex-veep did release a statement [1] hailing the operation as “a tremendous achievement for the military and intelligence professionals who carried out this important mission. Their tireless work since 9/11 has made this achievement possible, and enabled us to capture or kill thousands of al Qaeda terrorists and many of their leaders.” (Cheney did not rush into the debate over whether enhanced interrogation techniques—or torture—had yielded the intelligence nuggets that led to Bin Laden’s comfortable whereabouts.)
Almost as an aside, in that statement, Cheney added one line about the president, “I also want to congratulate President Obama and the members of his national security team.” But there was, of course, no reference to Cheney’s past criticism of Obama and no recognition that Obama had, if only in this episode, performed ably as commander in chief. After all, any such acknowledgment, however slight, would undermine over two years of Cheney’s Obama-bashing.
But let’s roll the tape. In 2009, after Obama was in office less than a month, Cheney told Politico [2] that there was a “high probability” that terrorists would attempt a nuclear or biological attack in the coming years and that, thanks to Obama’s policies, the odds were better that such an assault would succeed. He also said, “When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry.”
This was no hint: Cheney was accusing Obama of caring more about process than the security of the American people. That was a profoundly serious charge. The former vice president was not merely engaging in a debate over Obama’s national security policies; he was suggesting that his adminstration fretted more about terrorists’ civil liberties than the lives of American citizens. Cheney’s real charge was not that Obama was wrong (any leader can make an ill-advised policy choice), but that Obama really wasn’t devoted to defending the United States. Cheney was not merely arguing about the best way to counter terrorists; he was trying to delegitimize Obama as commander in chief.
A month later, Cheney, in an interview with CNN [3], continued this line of attack: “Now [Obama] is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack.” Again, Cheney went beyond arguing policy. He questioned Obama’s motives, accusing the president and his aides of not being sufficiently concerned about terrorists: “They are very much giving up that center of attention and focus that’s required.”
Now, how would Cheney know that? At that time, the CIA, in response to a request from the president, was actually coming up with a revved-up plan to find Bin Laden. The Obama administration also was intensifying its drone war against the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other violent extremist groups in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
Later in the year, after the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt of a Northwest Airlines plane, Cheney again went on the offensive. In a statement [4], the former vice president derided Obama: “He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war.” He charged that Obama “pretends we aren’t” at war and once more proclaimed that Obama had made America “less safe.” He was still pushing the spin that Obama did not consider national security a priority: “Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency: social transformation, the restructuring of American society.” This was no subtle dig. Cheney was contending that Obama was placing his policy agenda—health care reform?—above his duty to protect the United States. It was a polite way of calling him a traitor.
This past January, during an interview with NBC News [5], Cheney was asked if he still considered Obama a cause of concern: “You said you believe President Obama has made America less safe. That he’s actually raised the risk of attack. Do you still feel that way?”
Cheney replied that he was pleased that Obama had intensified the drone attacks on terrorist targets, adding, “That’s a plus that he’s learned in that regard. But I still worry.” That is, Obama still couldn’t be fully trusted with national security. Cheney noted that he and President George W. Bush had possessed an “absolute commitment” to preventing another 9/11. As for Obama, Cheney wasn’t sure: “I hope President Obama is to that point now where he has that same basic attitude. But we might never find out until there’s actually another attack.” That wasn’t much of an endorsement.
In his statement responding to the Obama-ordered mission that killed Bin Laden, Cheney declared, “[T]he message our forces have sent is clear—if you attack the United States, we will find you and bring you to justice.” But during the Bush-Cheney years, that message was not always so clear. In March 2002, Bush indicated that he was not that fixated on Bin Laden [6]. Asked at a press conference about efforts to find the terrorist leader, Bush said:
We haven’t heard from him in a long time. The idea of focusing on one person…He’s a person who’s now been marginalized…I don’t know where he is. I just don’t spend that much time on it…I’m more worried about making sure our soldiers [in Afghanistan] are well-supplied, that the strategy is clear…I truly am not that concerned about him.
Four years later, conservative journalist Fred Barnes, after interviewing Bush, said that Bush had told him [7] that capturing Bin Laden was not a “top priority.” Still, throughout the Bush-Cheney years, intelligence professionals maintained the hunt for Bin Laden. It was Obama, once he took office, who instructed the CIA (which probably didn’t need much more motivation) to push ahead. He signaled that nailing Bin Laden was a top priority. And he signed the order authorizing the risky mission that required unilateral military action and that did not include reading Bin Laden his rights. Obama was the commander-in-chief who delivered the message to Bin Laden and other terrorists: the United States will hunt you down and kill you.
This hardly fits the caricature of Obama that Cheney and other Republicans have been promoting since the president took office.
It’s unlikely that Cheney will retract his previous remarks. But he and other conservatives who denigrated Obama’s devotion to national security have lost a much-valued possession: the Obama-is-weak-on-defense card. They’ve been playing it since the 2008 campaign and, no doubt, they anticipated deploying it during the 2012 contest. GOP 2012 contenders for months have been slamming Obama on national security issues. But soft on terrorism? If Cheney or anyone else ever again hurls that charge, they will be met with an obvious reply: Obama weak on defense? Just ask Osama bin Laden. Oh, you can’t. He’s at the bottom of the ocean. Ultimately, this shield against an age-old canard often tossed at Democrats is worth much more than any apology from a grumpy old ex-vice president.
http://motherjones.com/print/112242
Dick Cheney can go to hell where he belongs! And he can take Liz with him!
LMBAO
Breaking News Alert: Newt Gingrich to announce candidacy for president
May 9, 2011 11:00:38 AM
—————————————-
A spokesman for Newt Gingrich says the former House speaker will announce Wednesday he is running for president.
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/6041ZA/0GVFVS/32ZFDW/2SY2O3/ZELW5/82/h
BWA HA HA HA HA HA
I’m sure POTUS is so worried.
NOT
Duh Winning! :)
Tee hee hee
If at first you don’t succeed, try again…and again…until reality catches up to you and you finally get the message that no one is buying what you’re selling.
Are we there yet Newt?
Obviously not!
Newt Gingrich is a GRIFTER of the highest order.
When the Truth Can Be Dangerous
by BooMan
Mon May 9th, 2011 at 09:29:27 AM EST
You can listen to all the phone calls that President Lyndon Johnson participated in on November 22nd, 1963, the day JFK was assassinated, through to the end of the month. All of them, that is, except for the call Johnson had with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover at 10AM on the morning of November 23rd. The audio of that particular conversation was erased. However, somewhat inexplicably, a transcript has survived. The second page of that transcript is what can only be called a bombshell. It reveals two things that the president and the FBI Director did not want the American people or the Soviets to know. First, it revealed that the FBI had pictures of someone using the name Oswald visiting the Soviet Embassy down in Mexico City, and the picture did not correspond to the Oswald they had in custody. In other words, someone had been impersonating Oswald, possibly for the purpose of implicating the Soviets in killing of the U.S. president. Second, it revealed that all mail going to the Soviet embassy was opened and read by the FBI before being delivered. It’s not surprising that someone made the decision to erase this (and only this) tape. The information about the mail-opening was probably sufficient to justify erasure, but the part about Oswald raised the specter of a right-wing conspiracy. Meanwhile, the fact that Oswald had a Russian wife and had lived in Russia raised the specter of a Soviet-backed plot. President Johnson needed to control the narrative even before he had a firm grip of the facts. And Johnson was quickly faced with pressure originating from the Washington Post to create a commission of inquiry into the assassination. He had another conversation with Hoover on the 25th, in which they discussed the problems with a commission. Hoover compared the Post to the Daily Worker, while Johnson said “sometimes a Commission that is not trained hurts more than it helps.” Nonetheless, he could not avoid appointing one. But he made sure that the people on the Commission understood that the wrong conclusions could result in a nuclear war with the Soviets.
On the 29th, Johnson had another conversation with Hoover, in which he argued that the only way to avoid congressional investigations was to appoint an independent one. Johnson decided that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren, should chair the Commission, and he announced (without consulting him first) that Senator Dick Russell of Georgia would also be serving. Sen. Russell did not want to serve on a commission with Warren because of the deep unpopularity of the Warren Court in the segregated South. When LBJ called Russell to inform him of his press release, a facinating conversation ensued. But the most interesting part is that LBJ told Russell that he needed him to serve because “we’ve got to take this out of the arena where they’re testifying that Krhuschev and Castro did this and did that and check us into a war that can kill 40 million Americans in an hour…” It was the same threat that he used to convince Warren to chair the commission, and it was a line he would use several other times on the tapes.
I mention all of this not to have a debate about what really happened. I mention it because long before LBJ had any firm idea about how the assassination was pulled off, how many shooters there might have been, who was behind Oswald (if anyone), who was impersonating Oswald in Mexico City, or many other issues of grave concern, he had already decided that he needed a Commission to assure the people that the communists had not been responsible. And he came to that conclusion because it was more important that we avoid a nuclear war than that the American people learn all the facts, no matter where they might lead.
President Obama faces similar choices right now because no one knows what the treasure-trove of documents that were seized at bin-Laden’s compound might say about who assisted bin-Laden in avoiding detection for ten years. It is very possible that the answers could justify very strong action against Pakistan or even, conceivably, other nation-states. American opinion has cooled considerably in the decade since 9/11, but could still be aroused mightily if certain information came to light.
The president must weigh these competing considerations. If it isn’t in our interests to be in a state of war with some other country, it may not be in our interests to know all the facts.
That’s a heavy burden for a president to bear.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/5/9/92927/39095
THIS: “The president must weigh these competing considerations. If it isn’t in our interests to be in a state of war with some other country, it may not be in our interests to know all the facts.
That’s a heavy burden for a president to bear.”
And thus the President must continue to go about the business of presiding and ignore the petulant, whiney, spoiled, racist bigots, teabaggers, coons, house negroes, and obstructionist Republicans who do not have a CLUE or care about what is really at stake.
Why don’t someone get Orly Taitz the help she needs? This fool is crazy as hell!
Orly who?
May 08, 2011
Rep. Allen West, anti-govt big-govt man
My guess is that Allen West, that rootin’-tootin’ Floridian tea partier of the U.S. House, simply likes his government job and wants to keep it.
A disgruntled House staffer said that West’s vote last week against repealing a part of ‘Obamacare’ ($100 million for school-based health centers) was “sorely mistaken and is out of step with the rest of his conference.” In that description the staffer at least approached the truth: West isn’t so much “out of step” as he’s hearing footsteps. That whole Ryan thing, you know. For West, not good. Especially in Florida.
In a classically preposterous piece of West-ern incoherence, the congressman’s office issued a statement explaining why the GOP’s Number One boogeyman should no longer be the GOP’s Number One boogeyman: “[T]here are bigger funding issues to be focusing on right now including the numerous developments in the Middle East, concerning Pakistan and whether there is a link to [Osama bin Laden] and the recent unity agreement with the [Palestinian Authority] and Fatah and Hamas.”
This barefaced drivel “flummoxed” his fellow GOPers, reports The Hill. But it doesn’t flummox for long.
West likes his government pay, he likes his government healthcare, he likes his other government benefits, he likes his big government staff and he likes his government-paid travel and he likes the attention he receives from being a Government Man. And West — tea partier or not — is willing to do or say anything to keep them.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2011/05/rep-allen-west-anti-govt-big-govt-man.html
I think Allen West should receive therapy and then medicated before being placed in physical restraints. He comes off as being (how should I put this)….slightly “unhinged.”
May 08, 2011
“Meet the UnPressed”
Invited to “Meet the Press” this morning to “debate” the criminal euphemism called “enhanced interrogation” and its integral connection to the assassination of Osama bin Laden were — are you braced? — a former Bush administration CIA director, a former Bush administration secretary of homeland security, and Rudy “9/11” Giuliani.
No dissenting Bush administration officials were invited; no actual interrogators were invited, who have from experience universally denied waterboarding’s effectiveness; and no Constitutional scholars were invited, who have routinely argued that at any rate the controversy is pointless, since torture is both strikingly unConstitutional and in gross violation of international law.
I’m not sure if I have ever witnessed such a wholesale abdication of mainstream journalistic responsibility such as that of host David Gregory’s this morning. His was, to use an overused word, breathtaking. When I heard him promo the upcoming segment earlier in the show, I thought perhaps I had missed a name; it was incomprehensible that those would be his only three guests on the topic of torture. But when the segment aired minutes later, there they were, just the three ideological monkeys, blind, deaf, and mute — with Gregory doing his usual job of eliciting nothing but more talking points.
Is Beltway journalism dying from its own corporate and ratings-driven weight? Or are feckless journalists like Gregory simply killing it?
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2011/05/meet-the-unpressed.html
David Gregory is a GOP water-carrying hack, nothing more.
Same soup, different day!
May 08, 2011
In search of a Wendell Willkie
Via “First Read,” I see belatedly that RedState.com’s Erick Erickson characterized Herman Cain’s response Thursday night to a question about his abysmal lack of political experience for the nation’s highest political office — other presidents have been professional pols, and “How’s that working out for you?” said Cain — as “a brilliant defense” (my emphasis).
This was, as well, according to Erickson, “a golden moment.”
The children of the right are not only easily amused and effortlessly impressed, they still seem to believe, as they did with George W. Bush, that gravitas in high office is a net negative. To them, ideology compensates for everything, which is why, to their minds, a pizza guy for a presidential candidacy is as good as, say, a law professing U.S. senator.
The last GOP presidential nominee with no history of political experience was businessman-lawyer Wendell Willkie, in 1940, who at least had the good sense and humility to write to a friend a few months before that his popular consideration for such an office was “a joke”; furthermore, he wrote, could the body politic “even consider the election of a utility executive with an office in the precincts of Wall Street for constable, let alone president?”
Well, not really. He lost 449 to 82 electoral votes. A few days later he admonished his party “not [to] fall into the partisan error of opposing things just for the sake of opposition.” Even later he went on to lambaste his party’s isolationist wing for doing just that, and he enthusiastically represented his old foe, Franklin D. Roosevelt, overseas.
Can one even conceive the success of roughly such a man in today’s Republican Party? Cain of course is a joke and will remain one. But I’m sure that question is keeping Jon Huntsman up at night. And considering the immaturity level and intellectual deficiencies of “grassroots” conservative activists out there, I don’t think Huntsman will much like the answer.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2011/05/in-search-of-a-wendell-willkie.html
May 09, 2011
Douthat’s discontinuities
Ross Douthat’s column this morning is both a daylight partisan hijacking and a clumsy, cover-of-night attempt at credit-fraud. He opens:
For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office. But last week made it official: When the story of America’s post-9/11 wars is written, historians will be obliged to assess the two administrations together, and pass judgment on the Bush-Obama era.
This is by now an old conservative tale. Once Obama distinguished himself in the field of foreign affairs and failed to run up a white flag of surrender to swarthy terrorists, as the fearmongers predicted, conservatives began charting the striking “continuity” between this administration and Bush’s winding trails of incompetence and extensive legacy of disasters. Douthat sketches his version of continuity, which, if you haven’t already, you really should read. Here’s mine, redrawn from Douthat’s.
Obama ended our military mission in Iraq. Bush didn’t.
Obama is poised to reduce our present military commitment in Afghanistan, an accelerated buildup because of Bush’s reckless drawdown.
Obama officially ended the practice of torture, Bush’s stain on America’s honor.
Obama tried his damnedest to close Guantánamo, another neoconservative stain. Bush foolishly opened it and in time sat and wrung his hands over closing it, finally — and characteristically — leaving the headache to someone else.
Obama’s Predator strikes in Pakistan have killed scores of terrorists with little to no political fanfare. Bush would have paused weeks at a time to takes bows.
Obama punctually withdrew the US as a principal player in NATO’s Libya campaign. Bush never could have; his swagger wouldn’t have allowed it.
Obama made it a priority to locate and kill Osama bin Laden. Bush didn’t.
Douthat encourages us to “look at the reality. For most Democrats, what was considered creeping fascism under Bush is just good old-fashioned common sense when the president has a ‘D’ beside his name.”
It’s true, Mr. Douthat, that common sense, post-Bush, has played a role. But mostly just good old-fashioned competence has distinguished Obama’s foreign policy. And at the mere mention of “competence,” one loses all underlying traces of continuity with the Bush administration.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2011/05/douthats-discontinuities.html
Wow! This really seperates the wheat from chaff, now doesn’t it?
Pakistan Media Out Alleged Name Of CIA Station Chief
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/09/pakistan-media-out-allege_n_859240.html#comments
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani media have reported what they say is the name of the CIA station chief in Islamabad – the second such potential outing of a sensitive covert operative in six months, and one that comes with tensions running high over the U.S. raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.
The Associated Press has learned that the name being reported is incorrect. Still, the publication of any alleged identity of the U.S. spy agency’s top official in this country could be pushback from Pakistan’s powerful military and intelligence establishment, which was humiliated over the surprise raid on its soil, and could further sour relations between Washington and Islamabad.
On Friday, the private TV channel ARY broadcast what it said was the current station chief’s name. The Nation, a right-wing newspaper, picked up the story Saturday.
ARY’s news director, Mazhar Abbas, said the television station’s reporter gleaned the name from a source. He defended the broadcast, saying it was “based on fact,” and denounced allegations that the name was leaked to the television channel by an official with a motive.
“The prime responsibility of the reporter is to give a story which is based on facts,” he said. “Interpretation of the story is something else.”
The U.S. Embassy and a spokesman for Pakistani intelligence declined to comment. The AP is not publishing the station chief’s name because he is undercover and his identity is classified. It was not immediately clear whether the Americans would pull him out of the country.
Asad Munir, a former intelligence chief with responsibility for Pakistan’s militant-riddled tribal areas, said very few people know the name of the CIA station chief in Islamabad. But he said that releasing it would not necessarily jeopardize the American’s safety.
JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO, THEY WERE ALL BIG AND BAD TALKING ABOUT SECESSION…SO, JUST S-T-F-U.
…………………..
Grumpy Republicans await Obama in visit to Texas
President Barack Obama may be visiting Texas on Tuesday, with stops in El Paso and a fundraiser in Austin, but he won’t be feeling the love — at least not from a growing chorus of unhappy GOP lawmakers who see the administration’s refusal to designate the wildfire-battered state a disaster area the latest slap in the face to the very Republican Lone Star State.
The refusal by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give Texas disaster status, and the federal aid that goes with it, follows on the state’s ongoing fights with the administration. The state and the Environmental Protection Agency have been battling over permitting under the Clean Air Act — the federal agency even took over some state functions — and NASA’s surprising decision not to give Houston, home to the Johnson Space Center, a retired space shuttle, opting instead to send them to California, Florida and New York.
“You can almost make the case the administration has a vendetta against Texas,” said Republican Rep. Michael Burgess.
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn wrote Obama on Friday, inviting him to tour north Texas, hard hit by wildfires. “We are hopeful that after seeing this devastation firsthand, you will reconsider your recent denial and provide the state and localities with the vital resources and funding required to fully support their work,” wrote the senators.
The administration has hotly denied shortchanging Texas on disaster assistance, saying the state has received 25 federal fire assistance grants for the wildfires.
A Texas Democrat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity in the state over the issue, says that with Gov. Rick Perry and every other GOP lawmaker slamming Obama at every turn, the state should not be surprised if it’s losing out. “We’ve done everything we possibly could to be offensive to the Obama administration,” said the Democrat, a former Texas elected official.
Perry, who in April 2009 famously suggested Texas might secede from the union, last week was urging federal action to help the state fight wildfires.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/05/09/113870/grumpy-republicans-await-obama.html#ixzz1LrTmh4tq
A Texas Democrat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity in the state over the issue, says that with Gov. Rick Perry and every other GOP lawmaker slamming Obama at every turn, the state should not be surprised if it’s losing out. “We’ve done everything we possibly could to be offensive to the Obama administration,” said the Democrat, a former Texas elected official.
Now the ass clowns are begging for help? GTFOOH!
Remember this post?
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY FAKES A GLENN CLOSE: TELLS PBO “I WON’T BE IGNORED!”
http://3chicspolitico.com/2011/04/30/governor-rick-perry-fakes-a-glenn-close-tells-president-obama-i-wont-be-ignored/
Cosby to Hampton University graduates: ‘Act on all that is wrong in the world’
Fat raindrops plopped on the caps and gowns of the 980 Hampton University students proceeding into Armstrong Stadium for their day in the sun.The soon-to-be graduates didn’t allow Sunday’s showers to dampen their spirits, settling onto white chairs on the field in anticipation of receiving their degrees and hearing keynote speaker Bill Cosby.
“The rain is a divine symbol and metaphor,” said the Rev. Debra Haggins, the university’s chaplain, during the invocation. “We’ve weathered every storm, and we’ll weather this one as well.”
By the time actor and comedian Cosby took the podium to deliver what turned out to be a comedy routine interspersed with inspirational lectures, the dark clouds had rolled away.His first advice to graduates during the Mothers’ Day ceremony: “Do not use your diploma as a present to (your mom). That’s raggedy. A good present is ‘I found an apartment, and I’m paying for it.’ “If a diploma is used as a gift, he said, it better at least have a check in there — one that won’t bounce.
Then came the serious stuff.Other graduation speakers often tell students to follow their dreams, Cosby said.”What does that mean to most of you?” he asked. “Nothing. Because you haven’t set a dream. Goal is the word to use.”In a world of budget cuts, layoffs and a dearth of jobs, now is the time for graduates to act on all that is wrong in the world, Cosby said. He encouraged students to delve into politics, and responded to cheers at some of his remarks with “You can make all that noise at a football game, but you better be ready for your own neighborhood. Go door-to-door and make sure people vote.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/hampton-university/dp-nws-cp-cosby-hu-graduation-20110508,0,3565161.story
Ouch! Excellent way to get it on record and tie him to Medicare privatization…
“Forty-eight Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sent a letter to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) on Thursday, urging him to stick with the conclusion that the GOP’s plan to privatize Medicare is a non-starter with Democrats.”
“Your conclusion was correct that House Republicans “need to look elsewhere” after President Obama “excoriated” the proposal you and your Republican colleagues adopted to privatize Medicare through a voucher system,” the letter reads.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/senate-dems-to-cantor-walking-away-from-medicare-plan-was-
LOL Now this is good stuff! The Dems need to keep the fire going and continuing exposing the GOP’s hand. Oh look, it’s EMPTY.
America’s fittest congressman Rep. Schock of Illinois on Morning Murderer says persoanl repsonsibility for our health, exercising, and eating is the way to cut healthcare cost, so it must be the truth. I agree.
Hey hasn’t FLOTUS been saying this for the last two years?
Of course she has but you know…it doesn’t count because it came from the wife of “that one!” LOL! So predictable…and it shouldn’t be funny but it is…on so many levels. The following article is a “must read” and shows the hypocrisy of the folks who targeted Acorn for “voter fraud”.
I hope they’re able to learn who was behind this. Me thinks someone should not pass go but go directly to jail…
“Wisconsin Democrats, who are seeking to win a majority in the state Senate through recalls against six incumbent Republicans, have filed a challenge to Republican efforts to recall three Dems, alleging that vast levels of fraud will disqualify the Republican recall efforts against Democrats.”
“The Dems had previously announced that they would file such a challenge, citing stories of voters being misled into signing petitions. The Dems also alleged that Republican signature-gatherers were brought in from out of state and paid on a per-signature basis.”
“The Dems rolled rolled out their official complaint on Thursday, after making phone calls to almost 1,800 petition-signers, and acquiring affidavits from signers who say they were falsely told that the petitions were for other things — such as supporting a local park, recalling a Republican state senator in a different district, or recalling Gov. Scott Walker.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/wis-dems-alleging-gop-fraud-in-recalls.php?ref=fpc
Happy MUN-dane, Everybody! :-)
Good morning Ametia and SouthernGirl2! I hope you have a great Mother’s Day.
“In the last few months, conservatives in several states have moved to limit unemployment benefits, even with the national unemployment rate at 9 percent and more than 40 percent of the unemployed having been out of work for six months or more. Conservative lawmakers in Utah falsely claimed that cutting jobless benefits would be “motivation for people to get back to work,” while Michigan gutted its unemployment insurance system despite having one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.”
//
“A bill that would establish some of the deepest and most far-reaching cuts in unemployment benefits in the nation is heading for the desk of Gov. Rick Scott…The legislation would cut maximum state benefits to 23 weeks from 26 when the jobless rate is 10.5 percent or higher. If lower, the maximum would decline on a sliding scale until bottoming at 12 weeks if the jobless rate was 5 percent or less.”
“As the National Employment Law Project pointed out, with this bill, Florida will “go further than any other state in dismantling its unemployment insurance system.”….Research by the San Francisco Federal Reserve has found that workers who qualify for unemployment benefits stay unemployed just 1.6 weeks longer than those who do not qualify for such benefits.”
“‘Even before this legislation, Florida’s benefits were amongst the stingiest in the nation….’As the Miami Herald pointed out, the bill also makes it ‘easier for companies to keep former workers from collecting benefits.'”
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/08/florida-benefits-corporate/
Good Morning, creolechild. Their quest to rob American working class is shameless. And just where is the money these clowns are trying to withhold from the umemployment benefits supposed to go?
Yet somehow, I have to remind the Floridians and the rest of these states that they voted for these Republcians.
I’d really be interested in knowing what Debbie Wasserman Schultz has to say about the deterioration of FL, since Scott became governor.
Morning, Creolechild!
Happy Monday, everyone!
Doesn’t Florida have a budget crisis? If they don’t now, they will when their governor is through…
@creolechild. Florida has a CRISIS, period, the moment Gov. Scott got elected. yes they have a budget crisis, at least that’s what Scott claims.
They’re going to use the money for spending gaps in the budget, or something like that. How fiscally conservative of them! (smirk)
Good MOrning, Everyone :)
Good morning to you too Rikyrah!
“”If you were masochistic enough to tune into the Sunday shows this week, you might actually suspect that George W. Bush was still in office by the sheer magnitude of Bushies booked on every single Sunday news show. Each and every one of them eager to do damage control and insist that we’re all so much safer thanks to their program of torturing people…even those whose only crime is flying commercial while being Muslim (a niggling little dark mark on the rendition and torture campaign that the media never ever brings up).”
“But if you listen between the lines of the conversation between Howie Kurtz and Brian Ross, it’s clear that the media knows that what they did post-9/11 was enable the Bush administration to hype terror threats and report them dutifully to keep Americans frightened and complacent while they invaded and occupied two countries and ignored Bin Laden. It’s interesting to me how now the media is reluctantly walking back that Bush administration talking point that Bin Laden was not involved operationally in al Qaeda that they used to justify not hunting him down. Yet they were only too happy to keep the entire country on high alert against terror attacks like the Sears Tower gang, to whom nobody should have given any credibility.”
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/brian-ross-and-howie-kurtz-acknowledg
Curious to see how Boehner will handle this predicament. .Wil he cater to Wall Street or the Tea Party? Decisions, decisions…
“House Speaker John Boehner’s appearance before Wall Street leaders tonight challenges him to provide reassurance that Congress will raise the U.S. debt limit without undercutting Republican demands for spending controls.”
“Investors attending Boehner’s speech to the Economic Club of New York dinner will be listening for the Ohio Republican to describe the path to an agreement on raising the debt ceiling and installing new deficit controls between the Republican-run House and Democrats led by President Barack Obama.”
“What Wall Street wants to hear is that they are going to raise the debt ceiling in a timely way,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Investors expect “policy makers are going to negotiate and debate, but at the end of the day” they want assurances that “when it comes down to brass tracks they are going to raise that debt ceiling,” Zandi said.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-09/boehner-must-reassure-markets-that-debt-ceiling-will-be-raised.html
“WASHINGTON — Linking two of the politically volatile issues of the moment, Senate Democrats say they will move forward this week with a plan that would eliminate tax breaks for big oil companies and divert the savings to offset the deficit.”
“With high gas prices and rising federal deficits in the political spotlight, senior Democrats believe that tying the two together will put pressure on Senate Republicans to support the measure or face a difficult time explaining their opposition to voters whose family budgets are being strained by fuel prices.”
“President Obama and some top Congressional Democrats have said they want to take some of an estimated $21 billion in savings from ending the tax breaks and steer it to clean energy projects. But the Senate’s Democratic leadership is calculating that using it to cut the deficit instead makes it a tougher issue politically for Republicans who are trying to burnish their conservative fiscal credentials.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/us/politics/09congress.html?hp
Boehner will cater to what he does best, a bar stool at the local DC taverns.
Inspiration for today….
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
John 13:34-35
Good Morning, SG2.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__j-Yh5rKmeY/Sh2rGgOB69I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/o5mFlyVP8pk/s400/cup-of-coffee.jpg
I love You! I can use a good cup of coffee. SG2 is so tired. I’m still sleepy! :)