Albert Greene (born April 13, 1946),[1] better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as “You Oughta Be With Me”, “I’m Still In Love With You”, “Love and Happiness”, and “Let’s Stay Together”.[2] In 2005, Rolling Stone named him #65 in their list of the ‘100 Greatest Artists of All Time’. The nomination, written by Justin Timberlake, stated that “people are born to do certain things, and Al was born to make us smile.”[3] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Green in 1995, referring to him as “one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music.” Green has sold more than 20 million records.[2]
If the tea party were people of color & they signed a pledge to Rev Al Sharpton, they’d be brought up on charges of treason in a snap!
You got that right! It is so ugly out there I am ready to scream. Obama sold us out.
This latest attempt to move forward may not even work out. I am proud that Pelosi and Reed are standing with the president throughout this ordeal.
Of course, there are the usual uberprogressives who are not protecting the president’s back, but then, they are politicians. They are only concerned about their voters. They are even unwilling to take a chance that this game being played will work out just fine. Chill you friggin asses.
Dorothy,
You know the naysayers, firebaggers etc were just waiting for anything so they could pounce! They’re like fk vultures sitting on a fence post!
Pelosi Resorts To Name Calling
Senate Republicans Rebuke Boehner’s ‘My Way or the Highway’ Approach
Empty Rallies and Unpaid Bills: The Tea Party’s Death Spiral
By Hrafnkell Haraldsson
While Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann rant and rave, while Bachmann leads the Tea Party Caucus in Congress and Sarah Palin levels threats against it, what about the Tea Party itself? What about all those patriotic, Confederate flag-waving, Bible-thumping, racist, misogynist good old boys and girls who with corporate dollars rose up against our first black president?
If you look at the facts on the ground, the Tea Party is not easy to find. A Tea Party rally in Columbia, South Carolina in May drew only 30 people. Two thousand had been expected to attend. Then the Tea Party had planned to get together for a huge “straw-poll” event in Kansas come late September/early October, using the Woodlands racetrack in Kansas City. It was figured that such Tea Party luminaries as Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum would be there.
Alas, it was canceled due to a lack of interest, the Kansas City Star reporting that the organizers were “unable to get enough tea party organizations to commit to attending…”
And when you find the Tea Party in the news these days, that news tends, invariably, to be dismal. The recall is proceeding apace in Wisconsin and there is a good likelihood they will soon be out of power in that state. Then, in a shocker, John McCain ridiculed the Tea Party in Congress the other day, calling them “hobbits”. He singled out Tea Party favorites Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell in particular. He wasn’t kind: “This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into GOP Senate nominees.”
Ouch.
~snip~
http://www.politicususa.com/en/tea-party-end
Thank you, Deaniac and Extreme Liberal!
The President Is Not Your Boss!
Deaniac83 over at The People’s View has yet another excellent piece that I highly recommend you read. It goes a long way towards explaining a lot of the whining and hand wringing on the left over President Obama’s performance as President. The President is not the CEO of the country, contrary to what you might have heard.
Despite our strong belief that the government does not and should not operate like a business, many on the so-called “Left” seem to be suffering from the delusion that the President is a unitary executive, and can do whatever he pleases. If he really wants to do something, he can do it, the argument goes, thereby attributing anything that does not get done to the President’s unwillingness to do it, rather than legislative reality or any other extraneous factor. It allows people to flat out ignore the fact that the President is but the head of one branch of government, restrained by the other branches, as well as the Constitutional limits on his power. But the same people are also always the first to scream that any use of legitimate executive power is itself abusive!
You have heard it all before. A, B, C didn’t get done because President Obama didn’t really want to do it. Or he didn’t fight for it. He didn’t pound podium enough. He didn’t twist enough arms. He didn’t do this. He didn’t do that. If only he had gone to Maine and verbally beat the Maine Republican senators over the head, we would have the public option in health reform. If only he had issued an executive order rather than go through the legislative process, DADT would be history on Day 2 of his presidency. And I suppose he was supposed to bullypulpit and podium-pound into submission all 90 senators and the overwhelming majority of the House who voted to block the closure of Guantanamo.
~snip~
http://extremeliberal.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/the-president-is-not-your-boss/
Remnants of an African-American Past Found Beneath Central Park
By Jamilah King
Today marks the end of an important excavation of New York City’s Central Park to uncover the remnants of Seneca Village, an African-American community founded in the 19th century. Researchers from the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History have been digging for weeks to find clues about the village, which was founded in the 1820’s and destroyed by the construction of New York’s iconic park in the 1850s. From the New York Times:
While the borings of the past produced just a few artifacts, the dig, which will end on Friday, generated 250 bags of material that should keep the scholars busy for months, if not years. The work on Wednesday alone yielded a toothbrush handle fashioned of bone and the lid of a stoneware jar.
About two-thirds of the residents of Seneca Village were African-American, while the rest were of European descent, mostly Irish. The community was settled in the 1820s, a few years before slavery was abolished in New York. Despite old news reports that the village was a squatter camp, it…
~snip~
http://www.alternet.org/rss/breaking_news/641813/remnants_of_an_african-american__past_found_beneath_central_park/
The One Thing We Didn’t Need: Sarah Palin Threatens House Tea Party Caucus
By Sarah Jones
The backseat driver from Alaska has repeatedly reared her head in the debt ceiling debate, attempting to capture the attention of the press to no avail. Let’s face it, Sarah Palin is the one voice we simply don’t need in a serious crisis. But we are going to have it anyway, because when her Facebook rants and even a desperate attempt to reclaim the limelight encompassing a hate-filled rant on Fox “News” wherein the “contributor” weighed in on issues she knows nothing about, Ms Palin doubled down on her desperate bid for attention by sending a unilateral threat to the Tea Party from her Facebook bunker. And since the only people in the entire country who still listen to her are in the Tea Party, this doesn’t bode well for America.
Yes, Ms Palin who signed the largest budget in Alaska’s history as governor, and who left Wasilla 20 million in debt in spite of inheriting a surplus, and who had to hire a city manager due to threats of recall, is trying to take the reigns of the global economy by warning the Tea Party members of the House that they will be primaried if they vote on any agreement to raise the debt ceiling.
Naturally she couched this in her affected folksiness, and sent the weapon of mass destruction via Facebook so America couldn’t see the rage that she wears when she’s not getting the kind of attention she feels entitled to. Here’s the Republican’s 2008 Vice Presidential candidate’s ideas about how to fix our current problem (also translated into how to use an issue she knows nothing about in order to attempt to derail the Presidency of the man she’s so jealous of that she can’t stop harassing him and his wife):
~snip~
http://www.politicususa.com/en/the-one-thing-we-didnt-need-sarah-palin-threatens-house-tea-party-caucus
This is for Sarah “If-I-Only-Had-A-Brain” Palin.
Palin has to be the dumbest bee.itch on the planet. And she doesn’t have the slightest clue of what’s going on or what’s at stake. She’s dumb ignorant trash!
Turkey’s Top Generals Quit En Masse Over Political Targeting
by: Gul Tuysuz and Sabrina Tavernise
Istanbul – Turkey’s top military commanders resigned en masse on Friday, a move without precedent in Turkish history that many analysts saw as a failed effort by a beleaguered institution to exert what is left of its dwindling political power. In the surprising series of events, Turkey’s top commander, Gen. Isik Kosaner, together with the leaders of the navy, army and air force, simultaneously resigned in protest over the sweeping arrests of dozens of generals as suspects in conspiracy investigations that many people in Turkey have come to see as a witch hunt.
Hours later, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted the resignations and elevated his own choice to become the senior military commander: Gen. Necdet Ozel, who was until Friday the commander of the military police. The decision stamped Mr. Erdogan’s civilian authority on the country’s military, which has long regarded itself as a protector of Turkey’s secular traditions.
The news stunned Turkey and left many people wondering whether they were witnessing the end of the power the military has long exercised over the nation’s political system.
~snip~
http://www.truth-out.org/turkeys-top-generals-quit-en-masse-over-political-targeting/1312040824
CNN Still Pretending the ‘Tea Party’ is Not Just the Extreme Right Wing of the Republican Party
By Heather
While I do not disagree with any of the points that CNN’s Fareed Zakaria made to Anderson Cooper after seeing the turn that this debt ceiling hostage taking has taken with the extreme level of obstruction by these so-called “tea party” freshmen in the House of Representatives and as Zakaria pointed out, their refusal to do any negotiating at all during this debacle. But what both of them failed to point out here is that there is no “tea party.” It’s the extreme right wing of the Republican base.
It’s a drummed up astroturf movement sponsored by corporate America that is not only one of Fox’s making, but CNN’s as well. I don’t believe for one minute that any of these right wing Republicans actually believe that it’s not necessary to raise the debt ceiling. I also don’t believe that any of them are too naive to realize what kind of dangerous game they’re playing with our economy. I don’t believe they’re acting out of ideological purity. I think they’re willing to play bad cop to push the Overton window even further to the right so that the rest of them can jam through right wing policies that would otherwise be completely unacceptable to the electorate in the name of a fake, drummed up emergency.
It’s shock doctrine and the “tea party” is playing their part as the useful idiots. And our media continues to pretend that they’re some grass roots movement that is just beholden to some ideological purity and not just the extreme right of the Republican Party who is helping them to achieve their goal of destroying our social safety nets, which Republicans have hated ever since they’ve been enacted. And they’re doing corporate America’s bidding with helping to turn us into a third world country where we have no middle class left. That’s their goal. They’re not crazy. They’re bought and sold.
~snip~
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/cnn-still-pretending-tea-party-not-just-ex
Debt Debate Drags On As Reid Seeks Republican Votes – Evan McMorris-Santoro
House Republicans struck a partly symbolic blow against the debt plan of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) by voting it down Saturday afternoon. It’s partly symbolic because the vote happened before the Senate moved on the bill, so it’s possible a slightly fiddled version can pass that chamber later and then return to the House. However, it’s not a hopeful sign for Reid, who has been summoned to the White House for urgent discussions on the matter. The House vote was highly partisan, with a final vote of 236 opposing, and 173 in favor.
Moments before the vote, Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) warned that the Democrats’ language was bordering on offensive. That came in response to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) saying that House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) had thrown away the chance for bipartisanship and gone to “the dark side” by pushing a bill that would fail in the Senate, thus edging the country closer to default. As it stands right now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid doesn’t have the votes to move his plan to raise the debt ceiling in the Senate today.
In a letter announced on the Senate floor by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Saturday afternoon, 43 Republicans refused to support the plan, leaving Reid three votes short of the 60 he needs to achieve cloture. If the Reid plan is to pass and hit the House for a vote that could conceivably get the final bill on the President’s desk before the default deadline expires, then Reid ideally needs a successful vote by around 1am on Sunday morning. Either that, or to be allowed to proceed with the vote on the basis of a simple majority. Currently the Republicans are demanding it be done as a 60 vote super-majority.
~snip~
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/43-republicans-pledge-to-kill-reid-plan-in-the-senate.php?ref=fpb
This is the damage that is being done because of the Republican’s antics…
World Reacts To Debt Ceiling Debacle: ‘Irresponsible,’ ‘Worst Kind Of Absurd Theatrics,’ U.S. Politicians A ‘Laughing Stock’ – By Guest Blogger on Jul 29, 2011 at 6:00 pm
The rhetoric over raising the debt ceiling has become increasingly harsh as Democratic and Republican congressional leaders trade barbs back and forth. But as the U.S. inches closer to defaulting on its debts for the first time in history, criticism of Congress is starting to come from beyond our own borders. From France and Germany to China and India, countries around the world are angry that American politicians play with the possibility of a U.S. default like a yo-yo with little regard for the international economic system that depends on American solvency.
Despite China’s traditional preference of staying out of the domestic affairs of other nations, senior Chinese officials’ frustrations are growing louder and louder. Stephen Roach, the non-executive chairman of Morgan Staley Asia, said senior Chinese officials told him the debt ceiling debte in the U.S. is “truly shocking.” “We understand the politics,” a Chinise official said, “but your government’s continued recklessness is astonishing.” And newspapers around the world are voicing discontent with Congress’s handling of the debt ceiling:
Conservative German Die Welt: “[T]here are few signs of self-doubt or self-awareness in the U.S. … [The Tea Party movement] sees the other side as their enemy. Negotiations with the Democrats, whether it’s about appointing a judge or the insolvency of the United States, are only successful if the enemy is defeated. Compromise, they feel, is a sign of weakness and cowardice.”
The German mass-circulation Bild: “What America is currently exhibiting is the worst kind of absurd theatrics and the whole world is being held hostage… Most importantly, the Republicans have turned a dispute over a technicality into a religious war, which no longer has any relation to a reasonable dispute between the elected government and the opposition.”
French newspaper Le Monde:”The American politicians supposed to lead the most powerful nation in the world are becoming a laughing stock.”
Chinese state-owned newspaper Xinhua: “Given the United States’ status as the world’s largest economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, such political brinksmanship in Washington is dangerously irresponsible.”
The founding documents of many nations around the world take their inspiration from and quote the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution. But now, foreigners don’t seem to be too inspired watching the intransigent wing of one political party that controls one house of one branch of the federal government hold the entire U.S. hostage. American soft power has taken a self-inflicted hit as a result of the debt ceiling debate.
Even if Congress manages to forge a deal against the wishes of the Tea Party and deliver a bill to President Obama’s desk raising the debt ceiling before default, the damage to our international standing has already been done. Other nations won’t forget how some members of Congress were so careless to allow the international economy fall into another financial disaster in order to score a few political points.
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/07/29/283703/world-reacts-to-debt-ceiling-debacle-irresponsible-worst-kind-of-absurd-theatrics-u-s-politicians-a-laughing-stock/
I’ll keep on repeating this:
ISSA IS FUCKING CRAZY AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH.
on top of that, his ass should be sitting IN JAIL, not in Congress.
………………………………………
The GOP is an Oil Lobbying Firm
by BooMan
Sat Jul 30th, 2011 at 12:18:05 PM EST
I think something we need to work on in the next election cycle is figuring out to make it clear to the American electorate that the Republican Party isn’t just in denial about climate change, they actually oppose anything that would reduce our consumption of fossil fuel products. That’s why, for example, Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is going to investigate the negotiations between automakers and the administration that resulted in new strict fuel economy standards.
Issa sent out letters to executives of the country’s major automakers Friday alerting them to the investigation and requesting that they keep all documents related to meetings with administration officials on the standards.
In the letters, which were obtained by The Hill, Issa says the administration’s efforts to negotiate the fuel economy standards “raise serious concerns.” The new rules, which were announced Friday by President Obama, will also limit consumer choice, Issa says.
“I am concerned about the agreements lack of transparency, the failure to conduct an open rulemaking process, as well as the potential for vehicle cost increases on consumers, and negative impact on American jobs,” the letters say.
Mind you, this is an agreement the automakers signed off on. It would require vehicles to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. That would save consumers almost 2 trillion dollars in gasoline costs, preserve 12 billion barrels of oil, and reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 6 billion metric tons. The average consumer would save over $8,000 on a new car bought in 2025 compared to a car bought today.
But, for Republicans, this means less profit for oil companies and so we must have investigations.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/7/30/12185/2738
This is an excellent commentary from Zakaria on CNN. his slamming of Tea Partiers was terrific.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/30/video-zakaria-on-tea-partys-influence/?hpt=ac_bn3
The GOP thugs in Brooks Brothers suits have done nothing for the American people since they took control of the House. They’ve spent every single day screaming about the black man sitting in the Oval Office. They’re driving the country into economic disaster because the spiteful cowards can’t handle the black man as President of the United States. What is happening in our country is very disturbing and very offensive! They have no shame, no conscience, no morals! John Boehner as Speaker has passed 12 bills in 7 months because he can’t stop crying wah wah wah…there’s a black man in the White House! This is beyond the pale what they’re doing. How can this be acceptable to decent thinking folks with a brain? How long must we endure this madness? When is it enough?
Here’s the rock band, Living Color, singing “American Skin.” This song was written by Bruce Springsteen–and dedicated to Amadou Diallo. Very powerful lyrics…
My intention in posting this song was to reinforce the reality of what it’s like to be an American in this country who has black, brown, yellow, or red skin in this country. There is no race card being played here…just an example of the effects of racism which far too many people endure! I will repeat the question that SG2 asked in the previous post: “When is it enough?”
Pride comes before the fall…
Ah…those are words my mother use to say all the time. God bless her soul!
Here’s Maysa again, singing Can We Change the World.
Just in case anyone have doubt this debt ceiling hostage taking isn’t about the black guy in the White House…
House Republicans Defend a Debt Ceiling Hike
Good afternoon everyone
Hello Dannie!
Happy Saturday!
Hugh Masekela – Grazing In The Grass
Compromise on Behalf of the American People
Every one of the Congress people who signed Grover Norquist’ pledge should be charged with Treason. They took an Oath to uphold the Constitution & they’re intentionally destroying the country’s economic progress. Try these mofos for treason and get Grover Norquist. Are these sobs above the law?
AMEN
Here’s Incognito, w/ Maysa Leak, singing A Shade of Blue.
here’s pianist, Philippe Saisse, performing Me& the Boys…
Here’s Luther, singing Always And Forever…
How about some mid-day music with Lady Day?
Here’s flutist, Althea Rene, performing In the Moment. Have a great afternoon.
New York Post Employees Told To ‘Preserve’ Documents Related To Phone Hacking
Jillian Rayfield
Employees of the New York Post were instructed Friday to “preserve and maintain” any documents that may relate to the practice of phone hacking or bribing of public officials. The legal department for News Corp, the Post’s parent company, explained in a memo to Post staff that “we are sending this notice not because any recipient has done anything improper or unlawful. However, given what has taken place in London, we believe that taking this step will help to underscore how seriously we are taking this matter.”
The legal team told employees that it “must preserve and maintain all documents and information” pertaining “to unauthorized retrieval of phone or personal data, to payments for information to government officials.” The memo added that employees should “not destroy, discard, alter or change any potentially relevant documents as defined above, even if such documents or materials would otherwise be routinely discarded or destroyed in the ordinary course of your business.”
New York Post editor Col Allan sent a follow-up memo to employees explaining that “all New York Post employees have been asked to do this in light of what has gone on in London at News of the World, and not because any recipient has done anything improper or unlawful. I am sorry for any inconvenience caused by this directive. However, given what has taken place in London, it is necessary for us to take this step,” he wrote.
~snip~
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/new_york_post_employees_told_to_preserve_documents.php?ref=fpb
VIDEO: House GOP Urged Clean Debt Ceiling Hike As A Matter of Responsibility And Good Governance – By Jeff Spross
Under the leadership of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Majority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), the Republicans continue to precipitate a stalemate over the debt ceiling and a possible economic crisis. As ThinkProgress’ Zaid Jilani and Travis Waldron have reported, not only did the Republican leadership vote multiple times for clean debt ceiling hikes under more favorable political circumstances, but no less than 98 currently serving House GOP members did so as well.
Between a vote in 2004, and another in 2002, many of these Republicans took to the floor of the House to defend a debt ceiling hike as not only necessary, but as a basic matter of responsibility and good governance. ThinkProgress has compiled the video. [Click on link to view.]
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/07/30/283404/video-house-gop-urg
This is what happens when you watch too much TV…
Texas jail guard guilty of serving up hacksaw blade in taco
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – In old movies, the inmate usually got a hacksaw blade secreted into his cell baked in a cake. But in Texas, it came in a soft taco. Jail guard Alfred Casas, 31, was convicted on Tuesday of smuggling a saw blade to a double murder suspect in the Bexar County Jail by hiding it in a folded soft taco shell. Casas admitted to sneaking a taco into the jail in December 2009, but denied that a hacksaw blade was inside its shell.
Assistant Bexar County District Attorney James Ishimoto said a jury convicted Casas of bribery and providing an inmate with escape elements after 10 hours of deliberation. Ishimoto said Casas, who had been a jail guard for three years, brought two tacos into the jail for an inmate, who later pleaded guilty to murder, in exchange for two bottles of Xanax provided by the girlfriend of the inmate, Jacob Keller. The hacksaw blade, along with a length of rope and an inmate jumpsuit dyed to resemble street clothes, was found in the inmate’s cell during a surprise inspection.
Ishimoto said Casas was convicted of two felony counts of bribery, each punishable by two to 20 years in prison. The third count was for providing an inmate with “escape implements,” punishable by two to 10 years. Merely smuggling a taco into the jail could have been classed as a felony, Ishimoto added. The jury will begin hearing arguments on Casas’ sentencing on Wednesday morning.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/27/texas-jail-guard-guilty-of-serving-up-hacksaw-blade-in-taco/
Moody’s: Neither debt plan protects the nation’s AAA rating + Pelosi won’t endorse 14th Amendment fix – Posted by GottaLaff
The reason I combined two topics in the same post is this: On MSNBC early this morning, Melissa Harris-Perry said something to the effect that if President Obama were to rely on the Fourteenth Amendment to resolve the (manufactured) debt ceiling crisis, that in itself would reduce confidence, because it would appear to be a last ditch solution of a dysfunctional government…. which in turn would lead to a lower rating. In other words, the debt ceiling would be raised, but the credit rating could still drop.
The Hill: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday declined to endorse a 14th-Amendment solution to the debt-ceiling impasse. […] On Thursday, the second-ranking House Democrat, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), threw his weight behind the 14th-Amendment option to prevent a government default. “Very frankly, if it came down to his looking default in the eye on Tuesday or taking this action,” Hoyer told MSNBC, “better to take the action and find out later that perhaps he went beyond his authority but at least protected the credibility of the United States of America.” Reps. James Clyburn (S.C.), John Larson (Conn.) and Xavier Becerra (Calif.) agree with Hoyer.
As for Moody’s take, neither plan would cut it. Here it comes, via a different post at The Hill:
“Reductions of the magnitude now being proposed, if adopted, would likely lead Moody’s to adopt a negative outlook on the Aaa rating,” the credit rating agency said in a new report. “The chances of a significant improvement in the long-term credit profile of the government coming from deficit reductions of the magnitude proposed in either plan are not high.”
It added that “prolonged debt ceiling deliberations” have increased the odds of a downgrade, but that the firm is still confident policymakers will avoid a default. […] It also clarified that as far as it is concerned, the nation will only default if it misses an interest or principal payment on U.S. debt, not if it misses payments on other obligations like federal employee salaries or Social Security benefits. […]
Moody’s said it would not reaffirm the nation’s AAA rating unless there is at least a six-month boost to the debt limit. However, if the nation were to default for a short period of time, Moody’s said it would knock its credit rating down to Aa, under the assumption that the default would be quickly rectified and investor losses would be minimized. They added that the government could “postpone a potential debt default for a number of days… Revenues would be more than adequate for some period of time to meet those payments, although other outlays would be severely reduced as a result.”
Are we having fun yet?
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/07/29/moodys-neither-debt-plan-protects-the-nations-aaa-rating-pelosi-wont-endorse-14th-amendment-fix/
Chinese Families Mourn Loved Ones Killed in Wenzhou Train Accident
2011-07-29 11:1892
Grieving families of the victims of China’s high-speed train crash laid their loved ones to rest on Friday. The July 23 train crash that killed at least 40 people in eastern China has fueled a rare outpouring of public anger. A high-speed train rammed into a stalled train late on Saturday, injuring at least 191 people. It’s China’s worst railway accident since 2008.
Families gathered at a local morgue on Friday for cremation rites, while others paid their respects to the dead on the seventh day of mourning, according to Chinese tradition. Emotions overwhelmed many. 40-year-old Liu Canlan is paying respects to her late husband, 42-year-old Chen Wei. Liu last spoke to her husband on the phone when he was still on the train. He promised to be home for dinner.
~snip~
The Chinese people have accused officials of trying to cover up details of the accident because evidence was removed from the scene only two days after the disaster. A Chinese railway research institute took responsibility on Thursday for a flaw in signaling equipment that led to the accident and made a public apology. The state-run Xinhua news agency, quoting railway authorities, said a signal that should have turned red after lightning stalled a train, remained green, but railway staff failed to notice the signal failure, causing the crash.
~snip~
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-07-29/chinese-families-mourn-loved-ones-killed-in-wenzhou-train-accident.html
Norway Pays Tribute to Muslim Youth Killed Last Week
2011-07-30 06:5214
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg paid tribute to two young Muslims on Friday who were killed in last week’s deadly shooting at a youth camp. Later, the Prime Minister, along with an imam and a bishop, attended a ceremony in Oslo’s main mosque to mark the moment when a car bomb was detonated in the city center. Officials of the Islamic Council of Norway said it was important to show solidarity.
Mehtab Afsar, Secretary-General, Islamic Council of Norway: “We are showing that it doesn’t matter which religious, cultural or ethnical background you have, you are all human beings and we feel it is our obligation to show sympathy with those who were killed and their families.”
Widely considered an open society, Islam rates as the second most popular religion in the country. The bombing and shooting suspect, anti-Islamic extremist Anders Behring Breivik, is being held in connection with the deaths of 77 people.
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_europe/2011-07-30/norway-pays-tribute-to-muslim-youth-killed-last-week.html
US Presidential Candidate Romney Vows Tough Stance on China
2011-07-29 11:07
US presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Wednesday he would get tough with the Chinese regime over a long list of trade abuses if he wins office in 2012. The Republican contender told reporters at a campaign stop in Pataskala, Ohio that Chinese businesses were the “worst offenders” of global trade rules. The offenses he was talking about included staling US technology, manipulating the yuan to give Chinese companies an unfair advantage, and violating intellectual property laws.
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-07-29/us-presidential-candidate-romney-vows-tough-stance-on-china.html
Bill cosponsored by Buchanan, Nugent, Young said to fight ‘backdoor amnesty’
By Marcos Restrepo
HALT, an immigration-enforcement bill, is necessary because President Obama is seeking “backdoor amnesty” for millions of undocumented immigrants, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said Tuesday during a House Judiciary committee hearing. HALT — or the Hinder the Administration’s Legalization Temptation Act — is cosponsored by Florida Republicans Vern Buchanan, Richard Nugent and C.W. Bill Young.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., responded during the hearing that HALT — which would expire in January 2013, one day after the next presidential inauguration — assumes that President Obama cannot be trusted to enforce immigration laws using the authority all other presidents have exercised.
Jessica Vaughan (.pdf), the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, testified at Tuesday’s hearing that “HALT would not have an impact on immigration levels, law enforcement or how immigration agencies do their jobs but it would prevent any further harm to Americans or legal residents if the administration and its appointees in the immigration agencies were allowed to expand their efforts to bring about an ill-advised legalization scheme though executive action.” She added that the Obama administration wants to wave in as many immigrants as possible, to scale back immigration enforcement and legalize as many of America’s 11 million aliens as possible.
Contrary to Vaughan’s position, Margaret Stock (.pdf) — a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, an immigration attorney with 15 years experience and a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association — said in her testimony that HALT is costly, misguided and irresponsible, and would hinder law enforcement and hurt millions of U.S. citizens and legal residents. Stock added in her written statement that HALT would “suspend several existing executive branch powers that include protections for U.S. citizens and legal residents who would suffer hardship if their family members were deported.”
A report published ahead of the Judiciary committee hearing by the Immigration Policy Center explains that HALT would eliminate:
* Temporary Protected Status, recently used to allow thousands of undocumented Haitians to remain in the U.S. in the wake of the 2010 earthquake;
* Humanitarian Parole, “used sparingly to bring someone into the United States for a temporary period of time due to a compelling emergency”;
* Deferred Action, a form of prosecutorial discretion that allows law enforcement officials “to not pursue enforcement against a person for a specific period of time.”
~snip~
http://floridaindependent.com/40860/lamar-smith-vern-buchanan-richard-nugent-c-w-bill-young
You gotta give it to Ron Paul for his limitless passion on issues near and dear to him BUT I personally believe that the man needs to be medicated….(Note: This article was posted on January 19, 2011.)
Ron Paul takes to House floor to disparage colleagues for ignoring Constitution
By Patrick Caldwell
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) spoke on the House floor Wednesday and attacked his fellow members of Congress for having previously ignored the Constitution. He praised the increased attention that the country’s bedrock document has received with the new prominence of tea party groups, but noted that his colleagues in the government have employed the Constitution as a living document to fit their legislative goals. “Though the authors [of the Constitution] allowed for flexibility through the amendment process, this process has been ignored for the sake of speed and convenience. As a result the Constitution now has little meaning, since most members pay only lip service when taking their oath to obey it.”
Paul argued in the brief but vehement speech that the government has overstepped in its interpretation of the Constitution, applying his criticism to both Democrats and Republicans. “For too long that agenda has expanded government at the expense of personal liberty, regardless of which party was in charge,” he said. “By misinterpreting the general welfare clause, the interstate commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause, Congress has justified every conceivable expansion of the federal government. Congress also has misinterpreted the 14th Amendment and legislates as though it had repealed the 10th Amendment.”
Paul closed his speech by calling for a number of federal agencies and policies to be disbanded as unconstitutional, including such topics as the Federal Reserve Act, federal departments such as Energy and Labor, making gold and silver the monetary standard, the IRS’ collection abilities and the war on drugs.
http://www.americanindependent.com/166213/ron-paul-takes-to-house-floor-to-disparage-colleagues-for-ignoring-constitution
New federal air pollution rules would be EPA’s first for fracked wells
By Patrick Michels
While natural gas processing facilities are already covered by EPA rules, the new proposals would include controls for other steps in the natural gas production chain, including compressor stations, storage tanks, pneumatic controllers and well completions. A slideshow accompanying the announcement said the rules would be the first federal air standards for wells that were hydraulically fractured. The agency’s new rules would apply to new frack jobs and old wells being refracked. The agency is also proposing to lower the threshold for cancer-causing benzene emissions from major sources, and tighten its definition of a “leak” at natural gas processing plants.
As the Texas Independent reported, the EPA is in the middle of a series of new rule announcements bound to draw more fire from Gov. Rick Perry and other state officials. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioner Bryan Shaw blasted EPA’s new rules on cross-state pollution issued earlier this month, in an editorial, saying the rules seemed intended to “impose unnecessary, expensive federal controls on industry and increase the costs of energy to consumers.”
Today, a TCEQ spokeswoman said it was too say much about the latest proposals: As soon as EPA makes the actual rule proposal available, we will review and evaluate it for any potential effects. It would be premature to comment on this proposal with the limited amount of information provided in their press release and fact sheet. It may be lousy timing for the new rules, politically, but the new rules are the result of a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, requiring updated standards by the end of February 2012. The EPA is heading off cost complaints in its announcement today, arguing that eliminating natural gas leaks will help make producers more profitable in the long run:
~snip~
http://www.americanindependent.com/196109/new-federal-air-pollution-rules-would-be-epas-first-for-fracked-wells
Victory For Iraq War Whistleblower; KBR’s Profiteering Exposed
By Amy Goodman
“War is a racket,” wrote retired US Marine Major General Smedley D Butler, in 1935. That statement, which is also the title of his short book on war profiteering, rings true today. One courageous civil servant just won a battle to hold war profiteers accountable. Her name is Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse. She blew the whistle when her employer, the US Army Corps of Engineers, gave a no-bid $7bn contract to the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) as the US was about to invade Iraq. She was doing her job, trying to ensure a competitive bidding process would save the US government money. For that, she was forced out of her senior position, demoted and harassed.
Just this week, after waging a legal battle for more than half a decade, Bunny Greenhouse won. The US Army Corps of Engineers settled with Greenhouse for $970,000, representing full restitution for lost wages, compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees. Her “offence” was to challenge the KBR contract. It was weeks before the expected invasion of Iraq, in 2003, and Bush military planners predicted Saddam Hussein would blow up Iraqi oilfields, as happened with the US invasion in 1991. The project, dubbed “Restore Iraqi Oil”, or RIO, was created so that oilfield fires would be extinguished. KBR was owned then by Halliburton, whose CEO until 2000 was none other than then Vice President Dick Cheney. KBR was the only company invited to bid.
Bunny Greenhouse told her superiors that the process was illegal. She was overridden. She said the decision to grant the contract to KBR came from the office of the secretary of defence, run by VP Cheney’s close friend, Donald Rumsfeld. As Bunny Greenhouse told a congressional committee: “I can unequivocally state that the abuse related to contracts awarded to KBR represents the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career.”
~snip~
As the chief procurement officer, Greenhouse’s signature was required on all contracts valued at more than $10m. Soon after testifying about the egregious RIO contract, she was demoted, stripped of her top secret clearance and began receiving the lowest performance ratings. Before blowing the whistle, she had received the highest ratings. Ultimately, she left work, facing an unbearably hostile workplace.
~snip~
http://www.alternet.org/story/151801/victory_for_iraq_war_whistleblower%3B_kbr%27s_profiteering_exposed/
YOUCH~
Lawrence O’Donnell Bans Dead Beat Teabagger Dad Joe Walsh From The Last Word
By Jason Easley
Lawrence O’Donnell has banned dead beat tea party dad Rep. Joe Walsh from his MSNBC program, The Last Word. After playing video of Walsh giving America the tea partier lecture about deficit spending where he promised not put another single dollar of debt on the backs of his kids, O’Donnell tore into him. Joe Walsh’s lawyer offers this reprehensible defense, “Joe Walsh hasn’t been a big time wage earner politician until recently. He’s had no more problems with child support than any other average guy.” Sounds like Walsh’s lawyer is a specialist in deadbeat dads.
Joe Walsh’s lawyer, the champion of average guys and deadbeat dads everywhere, cannot explain why the supposedly financially struggling Joe Walsh was able to loan his 2010 congressional campaign $35,000. nor can Joe Walsh’s deadbeat dad lawyer explain how Joe Walsh got his hands on $35,000 to loan his campaign $35,000, nor can Joe Walsh’s deadbeat dad lawyer explain why Joe Walsh’s campaign fund has paid him back at least $14,000 for the loan while Joe Walsh hasn’t paid the several years of child support he owes the mother of his first three children. Nor can Joe Walsh’s deadbeat dad lawyer explain how the impoverished Joe Walsh was able to take vacations with his girlfriend in 2004 to Mexico and Italy while refusing to pay child support.
~snip~
Read more: http://www.politicususa.com/en/odonnell-bans-joe-walsh
it was a great segment. hilarious, really
I thoroughly enjoyed it too!!
Alleged Norway killer bought ammunition clips from U.S.
By David
The man who confessed to killing 68 people in Norway last week says he bought the ammunition clips used in his shooting spree from the U.S by mail order. Anders Behring Breivik wrote in his 1,500-page manifesto that he spent $500 for 10 30-round clips. Clips with more than three rounds are banned from sale in Norway.
[Click on link to view video.]
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), who introduced legislation to limit high-capacity ammunition clips following the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), told Politico that U.S. lawmakers should be ashamed. “We’re sending a death warrant to other parts of the world,” she said. “Unfortunately now, internationally, it’s known that you can get here, buy your guns, buy your large magazines, and you’re not going to have any problem.”
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/alleged-norway-killer-bought-ammunition-clip
GOP in DC Kills Jobs and Helps Squash Small Businesses
Submitted by BuzzFlash
John Boehner’s alleged American/global corporation “job creators” are actually job killers in the United States. It’s another example of how the GOP uses Frank Luntz’s focus group-molded message points that transform the opposite of the truth into “perceived reality.” As BuzzFlash has noted before, small businesses that do actually generate jobs in the US are actually on the decline. Why? Because large, global corporations, such as General Electric, use tax loopholes and global reach to ship jobs overseas. Many global corporations based in America see the US as a consumer market that has peaked – and they can get cheaper labor and expanded buyers overseas.
But the tax breaks that the US government gives to global corporations that move jobs and profits offshore hurt small businesses that can’t compete and don’t have the lawyers or size to take advantage of the loopholes. Recently introduced legislation would cut down on offshore tax havens for global corporations, keeping funds in the US and taking one step to level the playing field for small businesses. According to the organization Business for Shared Prosperity: Newly introduced legislation … would recapture $100 billion in revenue annually – and $1 trillion over the next decade – lost to tax dodging by multinational corporations and wealthy individuals through offshore tax havens.
~snip~
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12899
The only thing more incredulous than the fact that the following statement had to be made is the breathtaking stupidity of the Teahadists–who apparently still don’t get it! What’s wrong with these people?
Sen. Kyl: ‘Conservatives are not in charge’
By Daniel Strauss – 07/29/11 11:16 AM ET
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) warned that conservative Republicans shouldn’t expect to get exactly what they want on a compromise in a deficit-reduction and debt-ceiling-increase package.
“My Tea Party friends I’m sure appreciate this, but we have to keep reminding ourselves, we don’t control the government. Conservatives are not in charge,” Kyl said Friday on Fox News. “And therefore we are not going to get exactly what we want; we have to craft something that leads us in the right direction.” Kyl said the question for Republicans is what kind of bill they can entice Democrats to agree to.
“We can’t dictate the result. Republicans only control the House of Representatives, and twice now they’ve passed something to the Senate and the Senate has said no,” Kyl said. “The question is what can be crafted that Senate Democrats will say yes to, because they are half of the legislative equation here.”
Kyl’s comments come as House Republicans and Senate Democrats race to raise the debt ceiling ahead of the Aug. 2 deadline when the Treasury Department projects the U.S. would otherwise default on its loans. Thus far, though, both chambers have been at odds about what should be in a debt-ceiling increase bill. In the same interview, Kyl said he’s less optimistic about Congress extending the debt ceiling because of “absolute intransigence” by Senate Democrats. “My gut tells me that we are in a different position than we were even a week ago, where I was very optimistic that we would avoid the Aug. 2 problem,” Kyl said. “I am less certain of that now, because there seems to be absolute intransigence on the Senate Democrat side.” [Riiiiiigggghttt…]
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/174343-sen-kyl-conservatives-are-not-in-charge
Think they’ll kiss and make-up any time soon?…
Rep. West: Tea Party groups ‘schizophrenic’ in their support
By Alicia M. Cohn
Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) says the back-and-forth accusations coming from the debt standoff won’t affect his decision-making. West said that neither Tea Party groups nor Democrats would make him change his plan to vote for Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) deficit plan. At least one Tea Party faction threatened to find a primary challenger for West because of his support for the Speaker. “One minute they’re saying I’m their Tea Party hero, and three, four days later I’m a Tea Party defector; that kind of schizophrenia I’m not going to get involved in it,” West said on conservative Laura Ingraham’s radio show.
Tom Trento, an organizer for the Tea Party National Convention who is involved in the leadership of two Tea Party groups, said, “The explanation to that schizophrenia is simple … the focus is on the principle.” Speaking of West, he said, “The individual representing that principle changed. The focus is on the principle. That’s not schizophrenic.”
Conservative Republicans and Tea Party groups have criticized Boehner’s original plan for not including enough spending cuts up front and not making passage of a balanced-budget amendment part of the deal. Conservative groups are encouraging Republicans to “hold the line” and demand more rather than vote for Boehner’s plan. West has said he has to vote his own conscience on this bill, and it doesn’t matter if his Tea Party supporters disagree with him. “If you’re telling me I need to vote ‘no’ against the Boehner plan, then what am I voting for?” West said.
~snip~
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/174399-rep-west-tea-party-groups-schizophrenic-in-their-support
West is getting his just desserts. When you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas.
Besides, he is one dumbo negro for getting in bed these folks anyway.
they’re all cannibals
When the Super-Rich Cry, “Class Warfare!”
by: Michael Winship
I ran into my friend Jeff Madrick a few weeks ago. Like a rabbit out of a hat, or so it seemed, he whipped from his coat a copy of his new book, “Age of Greed.” He gave the book to me and I’m grateful. It’s a compelling and worthy read. Jeff’s an able journalist, an excellent and cogent storyteller in a field that often defies the straightforward plot or easy explanation – economics. The book’s subtitle says it all: “The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present,” an ongoing saga of avarice told through profiles of the men who confidently strode forth and marched us smack into the middle of our current fiscal nightmare.
~snip~
As Jeff writes in the introduction, the first part of “Age of Greed” “is mostly a story of business pioneers who fought government regulation or, through innovation, escaped government oversight,” building on fear from punishing inflation in the seventies and a new post-Watergate distrust of government, “all the while diminishing the power of government and reinforcing the changing national attitudes.” In the second part, “Once government was no longer a counterweight and a new political ideology cleared their path, financiers led the way … Debts more than innovation and technological progress became the economy’s driving force. Financial businesses doubled in size compared to the economy and profits grew still faster. Hundreds of billions of precious American savings were wasted.”
I thought of all this last week when I read a report headlined “Fly on the Wall,” on the web site Politico.com: “Fifty of the most prized donors in national politics, including several hedge-fund billionaires who are among the richest people in the world, schlepped to a Manhattan office or hovered around speakerphones Tuesday afternoon as their host, venture capitalist Ken Langone, a co-founder of The Home Depot, implored New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to reconsider and seek the GOP presidential nomination.”
Yikes. That prospect alone is enough to make sensible men and women weep. But wait, there’s more.
~snip~
http://www.truth-out.org/when-super-rich-cry-class-warfare/1311945868
Wall Street Money Never Sleeps is the movie that tells the entire truth of what transpired with the capitalists and maruding fiananciers.
Tea Party Cancels “Lame” Rally After Getting Only Three Positive Responses
Posted by GottaLaff
I couldn’t resist posting that blog title taken directly from St. Louis Activist Hub, who wrote this:
Wow. The St. Louis Tea Party had previously announced a rally on August 4th that they apparently thought would be big enough to fill Kiener Plaza. Instead, they 0 Comments and 0 Reactions three, that’s right, three positive responses.
Oh, but there’s more! Please click on this link and read. It’s short and oh so suh-weet!
UPDATE: To be fair, by the time I posted this, they did get four comments.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/07/29/tea-party-cancels-lame-rally-after-getting-only-three-positive-responses/
Koch-Backed Group Buys $150K in TV Time for Wisconsin Ad Blitz
— By Andy Kroll
Americans for Prosperity, the conservative political advocacy group founded by David Koch and funded by a roster of right-wing think tanks, has purchased $150,000 in TV air time in Green Bay, Madison, and Milwaukee, three of Wisconsin’s biggest media markets. The ad buy comes in the run-up to Wisconsin’s big recall elections, which are just over a week away. If spent on pro-GOP recall ads, the buy brings AFP’s overall political spending on the recall races to more than $500,000.
The August 9 recall elections pit six under-fire state Senate Republicans against Democratic challengers. The six GOPers were targeted by voters after they backed Republican Governor Scott Walker’s anti-union budget “repair” bill, a piece of legislation that sparked weeks of protests in Madison, the state capitol. Walker won the battle over his bill, which curbed collective bargaining rights for most public-sector unions in the Badger State, signing it into law in March. But soon after it was blocked by a district-level judge, who claimed GOPers violated the state’s open meetings act in the passage of the bill. The bill eventually wound up before the state Supreme Court, where a three-justice conservative majority upheld the bill.
~snip~
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/07/koch-americans-prosperity-wisconsin-recall
Class Warfare!!
Inspiration for today…
Good morning, everyone~
Morning CC & Rikyrah!
Happy Saturday!
Hello, SG2. Happy Saturday to you too!
Good Morning, Everyone :)
Hey, rikyrah~