While I was tuned out this week

Two stories should have been highlighted.

As Obama Golfs with UBS CEO Days After Firm Avoids Criminal Prosecution, UBS Whistleblower Given 40-Month Jail Term



“One Nation, Two Economies”–As Obama Nominates Bernanke to Second Term, a Look at Who Benefits from Economic “Recovery”


‘Just 4%’ of Israelis think Obama is pro-Israel
By Agence France-Presse
Published: August 28, 2009
Updated 5 hours ago

Right, we should give a good Goddamned flying fuck about a country of 6 million why?

I'm not much of a country fan

But I love Jo Dee Messina.
Jo Dee Messina - My give a damn's busted

Jo Dee Messina - Bye Bye

Jo Dee Messina - Stand Beside Me


Jo Dee Messina I'm Alright

I need more

I'm so bored with the liberal political bloggers stating the obvious. Stating what anyone with any common sense knows. Talking to each other about how fucking stupid the bullshit lies on Fox news are. Constantly warding off blows by the Congresswhores and MainsStreamMediawhores. Bitching about Sarah Palin instead of ignoring the stupid ass distraction that she is.

I don't want to get involved with campaigns, that's the same old 'who's the richest sheikh in the neighborhood' shit. I want the system changed. I want the money OUT of politics. I want to see everyday people with a vote that fucking means something. I'm fucking tired of the cash from multi-national corporations and people who's families haven't worked in six fucking generations on mah tee-vee newz trying to blow smoke up my ass by blathering on that this a Democracy and my vote means something. Bullshit, they know god-damned good and well that they can get what they want, no matter what "the little people" want.

What I want is the kind of change I was hoping for when I voted for Obama. Yes, I know what he's up against, I'm not some starry-eyed naive kid.

Here's the thing.

The world is tired of our crap, and I don't fucking blame them. Our shit stinks.

Let me know what you think "our shit" is, I'd like to know what you think it is?

Mexico's finally had enough of the "War on Drugs"

Friday, Aug. 21, 2009

Mexico decriminalizes small-scale drug possession By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press Writer

It's killing average Mexicans, not the big guys in the drug cartels.


This week's Boiling Frogs was on the "War on Drugs" and it was awesome. Sibel Edmonds is one smart cookie, and quite brave. I subscribed to the podcast and it's easier to listen to. The streaming was spotty.

Michael Moore' s new trailer

TRAILER: Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story'



Boy do I have a shit eating grin on my face right now :)

Milk market a free market? Bwaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha hahahahahaha

Independent Farmers Feel Squeezed By Milk Cartel
by John Burnett

The Milkweed
Dairy’s best marketing info and insight
P.O. Box 10, Brooklyn, WI 53521 · (608) 455-2400 © 2002 - 2008 The Milkweed all rights reserved

Here is your Friday rodent


Caught a ground squirrel in a tree, heh.

Health care reform

Betsy McCaughey's Ideas Called "Hyperbolic... Dangerous" By Jon Stewart (VIDEO)

Here's the bill, search to page 432
‘‘America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009’’.

Health Care Bill Page 425 - The Truth
Monday July 27, 2009
About.com UrbanLedgends

Health Care Reform Proponents Review Options for Passing Plan
Friday, August 21, 2009
California Healthline
A daily digest of news, policy and opinion

Money, Meds, and Members of Congress Sunlight Foundation

Healthcare Ripoffs
— By Kevin Drum | Fri August 21, 2009 8:10 AM PST
Mother Jones
Miller-McCune glosses some recent research about the exorbitant rates the uninsured are forced to pay for medical care:

Drop in world temperatures fuels global warming debate

Oh puhleeeeeeze. That's why it should always be referred to as "Climate Change" rather than "Global Warming." Yeeesh.

This is the man we need to pay attention to. George Lakoff is someone that every progressive should be familiar with.

Rethinking Afghanistan

Dostum?

Afghan media blackout plunges election day into confusion and fear
• Coverup sees officials dodge questions on Taliban attacks
• Government orders press not to scare voters away from polls

* Jon Boone in Kabul (UK Guardian)
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 August 2009 18.12 BST


Pipelineistan, hellooooooo?

Cash-Roots, Manufactured Anger, and Hot Air over Health Care

Submitted by Lisa Graves on August 17, 2009 - 10:00pm.


I spoke with a physician last week who told me that over 50% of doctors in this country are pro single payer. Quit asking your doctor for drugs you see advertised on tee-vee and quit asking him for pain meds that you wouldn't need if you got your ass to some NA meetings and got off of them and ask your doctor if they have had enough of not being able to treat patients instead of fucking around with insurance bullshit, including indemnities against ambulance chasers.

Rep. Frank lashes out at protester for Nazi remark

Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009
DARTMOUTH, Mass. (AP) - Rep. Barney Frank lashed out at protester who held a poster depicting President Barack Obama with a Hitler-style mustache during a heated town hall meeting on federal health care reform.

"On what planet do you spend most of your time?" Frank asked the woman, who had stepped up to the podium at a southeastern Massachusetts senior center to ask why Frank supports what she called a Nazi policy.

"Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it," Frank replied.

Good for him!!!! Man, I wish he was my rep. *sigh*

Hmmm. The White house has not given up on the public option.

And on to Health Care.

MSM proves again what whores they are. Notice how they keep quoting Republicans. Guess what? Fuck the RepugnanThuglicans, they are not in power, they lost.

Now, the Congresswhores the Health Sector needs to pay are Democrats. Fuck me. Representative Democracy my ASS. Who the fuck are the Congresswhores representing? I'm a Democrat and Max Baucus does not represent me. He represents who pays him, and that includes Big Coal and the Health Sector .

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

‘Nothing Has Changed’ for Public Option
Posted on Aug 18, 2009

White House / Pete Souza
Press secretary Robert Gibbs called the media’s determination that the president had abandoned the public option “one of the more curious things I’ve ever seen in my life.” Is this a case of spin or spine? Read Gibbs’ entertaining back-and-forth with reporters (full text after the jump) and come to your own conclusion.

Appeals Court Asked To Vacate Net Neutrality Ruling

by Wendy Davis, Yesterday, 11:22 PM


Fuck Comcast.

Fuck them hard, right in the ass.

My Congresswhore Bilbray's votes Fuck him too.

The public health insurance plan would harm profits

BusinessWeek: “The Health Insurers Have Already Won”
Dc-health-web
In a cover story for BusinessWeek earlier this month, reporters Chad Terhune and Keith Epstein argue UnitedHealth and other insurers maneuvered to shape healthcare reform for their own benefit.

Greedy fucker's lies win because Americans are stupid enough to believe that advertising is the truth.

And another thing, why should I have to read this?

In Defense of Britain's Health System
By Ara Darzi and Tom Kibasi
Monday, August 17, 2009

Why should the Brits have to defend their system against OUR greedy health sector profiteering LIARS?

update 5:33 PM 8/17/2009


WALL STREET CELEBRATES APPARENT DEATH OF PUBLIC HEALTH OPTION
Health Insurance Companies' Stocks Spike, Buck "Bearish Trend"

New Hack of Sequoia Voting Machine Changes Votes Undetectably

UC San Diego scientists change votes undetectably. Sequoia fails again. Media, Congress yawn...

The Dollar: How Printing It Made Us Powerful and Set Decline in Motion

By JAMES O. GOLDSBOROUGH

You have got to read the first comment after the article. I was thinking basically the same thing as I read the article.

The money will win in the health care "debate"

"Debate" my ass. More like a bunch of thugs at those "town hall meetings." Rachel Maddow told you so.

White House appears ready to drop 'public option'
AP
By PHILIP ELLIOTT,
Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer –
8/16/2009

See Obama wave to the for-profit health conglomerates as we all bend over, knowing we aren't getting any lube. Hey love, give 'em a big wet sloppy kiss too eh? We sure ain't getting one.

And the Washington Putz finally lets the cat out of the bag;

Loose Network of Activists Drives Reform Opposition
The anti-reform movement is fueled by upstart, Web-savvy groups and by well-funded organizations such as Americans for Prosperity , whose bus sits outside a town hall forum in Pennsylvania.
By Dan Eggen and Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 16, 2009

How long does California have to suffer because of these idiots?

Legalizing Marijuana in California: Why It Won't Lessen the State's Tax Woes

http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/amar/20090814.html
By VIKRAM DAVID AMAR
Friday, August 14, 2009

Among the many creative ideas to redress California's budgetary plight are proposals (including at least one that is currently pending in the legislature) to legalize, and then regulate and tax, recreational marijuana use. In this column, I explain that whether or not legalizing marijuana is a decent idea (a topic on which I don't know enough to express a view), legalization wouldn't generate any significant state tax receipts for the foreseeable future.

According to the California State Board of Equalization, legalizing and taxing marijuana transactions -- an idea backed (according to a Field poll in April) by 56 percent of Californians -- could generate $1.4 billion of annual state revenue. That is a non-trivial amount, even in a large state like California, where yearly general fund revenue expenditures are in the ballpark of $100 billion. The Board's estimates presumably rely on some empirical data about the overall amount of (currently illegal) marijuana sales and marijuana use in the state, and on some guesses about the number of people who would report and pay taxes on their marijuana activities if those activities were no longer criminal under California law.

But it is at this second step – which concerns the likely extent of reporting and detection of the production, sales, or use of marijuana in California -- where the public discussion (including discussion by gubernatorial candidates) thus far has been very incomplete.

Federal Law: The Missing Link In The Tax Reporting Chain

The piece that has largely been missing from the policy debate over legalizing and taxing marijuana at the state level is federal law. All marijuana production, distribution, sales and consumption remains illegal under federal law, and that won't change anytime soon. A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court in Gonzales v. Raich made clear, less than a decade ago, that Congress enjoys the constitutional power to criminalize all marijuana cultivation, possession and use. Congress can even regulate and prohibit the growing and consumption of small amounts of marijuana at home for ostensible medicinal purposes. What Raich means is that if marijuana activity is to be decriminalized at the federal level, such a change will have to come from Congress, not the courts.

And in Congress, the prospects for decriminalization seem dim. Even if a majority of Americans (or close to it) were to mirror Californians' attitudes and favor decriminalization of the use of small amounts of marijuana for recreational purposes (and I don't know if polls really show that they would), it is improbable that Congress would act to change existing law. One important reason is the makeup of the Senate. All federal laws (including those that repeal or amend laws already on the books) must obtain the support of a majority of Senators as well as House members, and it seems likely that pro-legalization sentiment is and will remain weak in a large number of (admittedly smaller) socially conservative states. Thus, getting a majority of Senators, even if there were a majority of House members and Americans more generally, on board for marijuana decriminalization legislation would appear to be a tough task.

And as long as the specter of federal criminal sanctions remains, the reporting (and thus the taxation) of marijuana activity will likely be low in those states that decriminalize marijuana under state law. Even if a marijuana seller or user complies with state law, unless and until he could be confident that his sale or use would not land him in federal prison, he is heavily deterred from reporting and paying state taxes on that sale or use.

None of this means that the federal government can force states to keep marijuana illegal. Indeed, states can decriminalize marijuana, under state law, if they so choose; they simply cannot obstruct or interfere with federal efforts to enforce federal laws that Congress enjoys the power to pass, even if federal enforcement frustrates state policy or taxation objectives.

Federal Enforcement Resources and Attitudes

Of course, the deterrent effect created by federal law depends not just on what Congress has done, but also on what the federal executive branch does by way of criminal enforcement. And, as Professor Rob Mikos and others have pointed out, federal law enforcement resources are limited in this respect, so that some people may be willing to report and pay state taxes on some activities that are illegal under federal law simply to avoid state tax liability and related penalties. But relying on an absence of federal enforcement resources is obviously a dangerous game to play, when the stakes include a possible trip to the federal penitentiary.

Some decriminalization advocates might point to the fact that in the dozen or so states that have decriminalized medicinal marijuana (as opposed to recreational marijuana), many dispensaries have been open and overt about their activities (so as to comply with state law), even though such openness risked federal investigation and prosecution. But the federal government's attitude about state decriminalization of medicinal marijuana has been ambivalent, and the federal government has at various times sent mixed messages about how vigorously it would try to crack down on state-approved dispensaries. Recently, the Obama administration has signaled, albeit not always clearly, that such state-approved dispensaries will not be a high enforcement priority at the federal level. This move seems designed to encourage those involved with medicinal marijuana to go about their state-approved business without too much fear.

Importantly, there is no indication that the Administration's attitude about non-medicinal -- that is, recreational -- marijuana use would be at all similar. And politically, a public statement of non-enforcement by the Administration with respect to non-medicinal use would seem very costly.

A rejoinder might be that not long ago it might also have seemed politically unlikely that the feds would refrain from targeting medicinal dispensaries – and yet that has come to pass. That brings us to a big point about the relationship between state and federal law in this and other areas: Often, state laws have short-term effects that are more political than tangible, but state-level political messages can then set the stage for more practical long-term legal change at the federal level. As Professor Mikos has observed, if states decriminalize recreational use, then marijuana "may seem more beneficial and less dangerous or wicked simply [by virtue of the fact that] it's now permitted by state law." That dynamic is essentially what happened in the area of medicinal marijuana use, where a dozen or so states (along with last year's election results) have helped shape federal enforcement attitudes, and helped generate the current seemingly hands-off federal attitude.

There is some truth to all this, and for these important reasons, the question of state decriminalization is a worthy issue for California and other states to discuss and consider. But legalization will not provide even a partial answer to state budget problems any time soon, and thus it should not really be discussed or sold as a fiscal cure.

Vikram David Amar, a FindLaw columnist, is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis School of Law. He is a 1988 graduate of the Yale Law School, and a former clerk to Justice Harry Blackmun. He is a co-author, along with William Cohen and Jonathan Varat, of a major constitutional law casebook, and a co-author of several volumes of the Wright & Miller treatise on federal practice and procedure. Before teaching, Professor Amar spent a few years at the firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

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I have actually been busy

And I have been enjoying it. I am so proud of my friend Anna. She has always been an artist but believe me, her work did improve during the 17 years that we did not see each other. I was thrilled to learn that she was able to go to art school. I always loved the artist, the person, the beautiful spirit that is Anna, but I have grown to love her work and the peace that it brings more than I expected to. Her work will be displayed in the above gallery until after the Camarillo Art & Jazz Festival even though the gallery invitation does not say so. More of Anna's work can be seen here

HEALTH CARE IS NOT THE ONLY CHALLENGE: WHO WILL STOP THE BANKSTERS?

Danny is tireless in this area. Who's paying attention?

If you are not paying attention to Pepe, you should be

Posted March 24, 2009 3:36 pm
Tomgram: Pepe Escobar, Welcome to Pipelineistan

Iran/Russia - a deadly embrace
Pepe Escobar revisits the New Great Game
August 7, 2009:

Are these things connected?

Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler: “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite”

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sam Stein
stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting
Internal RNC Memo: "Engage In Every Activity" To Slow Down Health Care Reform

I don't think anyone is connecting these things except for me, in my mind, but the profit motive wins every time in this country.

Did anybody read this post? Zippo in the comments? Dang it, I worked hard on this one and slogged through that 715 page book! Yes, I'm whining. And pouting. I'm hooman, K?

Here's the Ardillón de California de viernes

The Nationwide Recess Rally takes place on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Malkin astroturfin'

More on Russia

Russian official irked by US Vice President Biden

Posted on Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Biden had it right: Rural Russia is dying of poverty, neglect



Busines oligarch

Business: The Economy
Russia: The IMF's biggest failure
Thursday, September 23, 1999 Published at 20:45 GMT 21:45 UK
Business: The Economy
Russia is the largest borrower from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but now controversy over corruption threatens to deter future loans. BBC International Business Correspondent Peter Morgan examines what the IMF has achieved so far


OligarchWatch.com
OligarchWatch is a news resource dedicated to reporting on Russian oligarchs business activities. It is edited out of New York and Moscow with correspondents stationed in London and Tel-Aviv and is dedicated to responsible reporting of the most important stories related to the Oligarchs.


Iran/Russia - a deadly embrace
Pepe Escobar at the REALnews parts 1,2 and 3

Enough guilt.

On August 6, 1945 the Hiroshima bomb was dropped. There are two areas that I will ALWAYS veer sharply to the right. Illegal immigration (it hurts the immigrants and their kids, and ME, stupid,and I don't give a fuck if they make YOUR life easier or your business more profitable) and Hiroshima. Hiroshima ended the war in the Pacific in which Americans were taking hella losses. You don't like it that I'm not liberal on those issues-FINE, there are literally millions of blogs out there, buh bye, ta ta, c-ya later.

Russian official irked by US Vice President Biden

Craig Ferguson loves to make fun of Joe Biden.

Finished reading Secrets of the Temple by William Greider

(C) 1987 (Click on book cover pic for NYT 1988 book review)

Never stated so briefly in the book, but I came away from this monster of a book (over 750 pages) with the idea that what the Fed is supposed to do and what it does in practice are not necessarily the same thing. Protecting big fat greedy piggy bankers that are "too big to fail" from their own stupid mistakes is what the Fed does. Protect the investor class is what the Fed does. Can't have an ugly thing like inflation increase the real estate value of middle class homeowner's investments by making them pay back a loan in dollars of less value, right? Ben Bernanke may give a crap about the little guy, but the Fed as an institution sure hasn't proven that to me. Actually I hate the bankers and Wall Street in general more than I hate the Federal Reserve for bailing their big sorry asses out, but only slightly less.

p.155 "..it took real chutzpa for banks to complain about "taxes" since they paid to little compared to other business sectors. In 1980 the effective federal income-tax rat n financial institutions was only 5.8 % compared ti 34.1% for retailing, 24.5% for electronics and appliance manufacturing, 16.4% for aerospace, 10.9% for utilities..."

I do understand now that the Fed is supposed to be apolitical, and stabilize the money supply. Though created by an act of congress, congress has no real power over it and neither does the White House other than appointing the board members and the Congress confirming them, or not. If you think about it that makes sense because money doesn't give a crap whether it's Democrats, Republicans or purple people eaters that allow it to flourish, you know, kind of like bacteria. At first I was confused as to why Paul Volcker was advising Obama with the current crisis, but he at least believed in regulation, unlike Greenspan. I don't know how anyone could come away from this book now and not think "Wow, if you're gonna fuck up in a gamble, make sure you're a really big banking or insurance institution, and just go for it, the 'little people' will pay off your debts."

Here is Steve Lendeman's take on the Fed from a 2006 article

There are growing slums around the world and yet we are witnessing things like this:

£14,000-per-night luxury resort planned for world's richest people
A billion-pound resort for the world's richest people to be named Dall House is being planned for a remote area of Scotland.
By Simon Johnson
Published: 9:30PM BST 31 Jul 2009

Members of the exclusive club would be expected to have minimum liquid assets of £100 million...

Mr. Greider recently wrote this article for the Nation magazine:
Dismantling the Temple

Banking Bandits Get Their Reward
By Robert Scheer
Posted on Aug 4, 2009

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Good luck with that: A protest sign is held up outside the Bank of America Tower, left, on April 28, 2009 in New York.

Goldman Sachs staff told to avoid big purchases


The Great American Bubble Machine
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they're about to do it again
MATT TAIBBI
Posted Jul 13, 2009 1:49 PM
Watch Taibbi explain on video here why supply and demand and all that "free market" stuff is bullshit.

When are we going to to rise up and quit asking for seconds on shit sandwiches?

Crapola, when the cold war was on were we borrowing from our cold war enemies?

Olbermann exposes some health sector congresswhores

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sempra's earnings outperform forecasts

Company's utilities lead way in quarter
By Onell R. Soto
STAFF WRITER
2:00 a.m. August 1, 2009

A struggling economy failed to dampen profits at Sempra Energy, which said yesterday that its utilities, including San Diego Gas & Electric Co., are outperforming expectations.

The San Diego company announced a second-quarter profit of $198 million, or 80 cents a share, down 18.9 percent from a year earlier as it wrote off $64 million from a failed salt cavern gas storage project in Louisiana....
... “The Public Utilities Commission was very generous with SDG&E,” said Michael Shames, executive director of UCAN, the Utility Consumers' Action Network.

In proceedings before the PUC, he argued that the rates SDG&E sought were excessive – giving it $50 million to $70 million in undeserved profits.

The commission sided with SDG&E.


Monthly Weather Averages for San Diego

I'd say the phrase "undeserved profits" fits, how about you? If you don't think that corporate America and their Congresswhores suck donkey dick, here's more proof.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that SDG&E will just shut off power to the back country when the Santa Anas are blowing since their power lines started some of the worst fires in San Diego's history.

Ilegal immigration makes me sick

Immigration rights activists retool reform efforts
Friday, July 31, 2009
By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press Writer

Ugh. Call the Waaaaaambulance. I'm so sick of the greed involved in illegal immigration. If Americans meant more to corporate America than the greed of their shareholders, and the spinelessness of the US government then the immigrants wouldn't risk their lives coming here. And we wouldn't be burying a border patrol agent today.

Drop in crime coincides with exodus of illegal immigrants

Health care reform

Bob Cesca
Political Author, Blogger, and New Media Producer
Posted: July 29, 2009 05:39 PM
Republicans Lying to Old People About Euthanasia, Robots

Oh fuck, it's wingnuts on parade here


And from Tomgram

"...Today, he turns to the issue which should be, but isn't, central to our moment: dismantling the empire. Think of this as the American health care reform program that no one is discussing, Tom"


Three Good Reasons To Liquidate Our Empire
And Ten Steps to Take to Do So
By Chalmers Johnson

Pork-Laden Defense Bill Ready to Waddle Its Way Into Law - With the Help of 'Fiscal Conservatives', No Doubt
By Susie Madrak Thursday Jul 30, 2009 2:00pm

And gee, I wonder how many of the people voting for this expensive pork barrel of a bill are the same Blue Dogs who are restricting health care because of "fiscal responsibility"?