R U FN KDDNG?
Who wears this shit?
San Ysidro border crossing closes after shooting
U.S. officers fire at three vans carrying more than 70 suspected illegal immigrants as the vehicles try to speed north through the checkpoint. At least four people are hurt.
You know? I was born and raised in Southern California and sometimes I just feel stunned at the weirdness of the place. Santa Anna's don't help quell that feeling.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
I'm back
and this is some depressing stuff.
Why did the FBI destroy Walter Cronkite's FBI file?
Why did the FBI destroy Walter Cronkite's FBI file?
Two years ago, the FBI destroyed documents that “may have” contained information about Walter Cronkite. What documents? We don’t know. Why were they destroyed? Good question!
Raw Story reports that blogger Michael Petrelis filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Cronkite’s file with the FBI, and got back a response that essentially said, “We destroyed a bunch of files a couple years back, and they may have been about Conkrite. We’re not saying they were about Cronkite, but for some reason that we can’t explain to you, we think they may have been about Cronkite, but anyway we threw them away, so thanks for asking.”
With Copenhagen Summit Approaching, Leading Polluters US and China Undercut Hopes of Substantial Pollution Cuts
Federal Judge Dismisses Police Harassment Claims by Activist Groups at Pittsburgh’s G-20
Thousands of additional security forces have been brought into Pittsburgh ahead of the G-20, and tall steel fencing now runs along the the convention center in this former steel town. On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled against two protest groups who accused the Pittsburgh police of harassment. Seeds of Peace and Three Rivers Climate Convergence claim the police used illegal searches, vehicle seizures, raids and detentions to discourage them from taking part in protests later this week.
TIME TO CHANGE BERNANKE'S MEDICATION?
Secret White House letter to G-20
by Greg Palast
Tuesday, September 22, 2009, New York
And finally, another Republican elite to run for CA Governor. She's great at rhetoric, and kissing the ass of rich fucks. The corporate whore will be trolling for corporate money at Gen-Probe in my city today.
"Both McCain and Romney have endorsed Whitman, as has former Gov. Pete Wilson, who is her campaign chairman and joined her in speaking in Fullerton Tuesday."
Romney, the Mormon? The ones who financed the Yes on h8te campaign?
Arnold's secret meeting with Kenny Boy
Chris Kelly over at HuffPo has some questions for her
Chris Kelly
Writer, Real Time with Bill Maher
Posted: May 13, 2009 04:41 AM
Meg Whitman Week -- Wednesday: A Tawdry Episode
...Meg Whitman was the CEO of eBay. EBay's investment bankers were Goldman Sachs. EBay didn't have to hire Goldman Sachs to be their investment bankers, because this was a few years ago, when there were lots of banks, and not just the three we keep bailing out. Goldman Sachs was very grateful for eBay's business and they had a special way of showing their gratitude to eBay's executives. Goldman Sachs would let them buy shares in other companies whose initial public offerings they were underwriting. This was during the dot-com era and IPO companies often posted huge first-day gains. After Meg Whitman brought eBay's business to Goldman Sachs, she bought shares in 100 Goldman Sachs IPOs one day and sold them the next day. She made 1.78 million dollars...
Read more at: Chris Kelly -- Meg Whitman
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Wendell Potter on Rachel Maddow
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
I think Wendell Potter is a hero.
So, nobody ever accused me of having good taste
But even the politickybitch has to take a short break from politics and be entertained once in a while. I do not know who is playing, but I love this song.
I finished Hollywood Station. It was a nice little romp to places I don't want to be, around criminals and familiar with police officers. My friend and I agreed that we just like to fly under the radar, no cops, no criminals in our lives. I like Wambaugh because he writes about cops as people, as fully fleshed out characters. Cops put up with a lot of crap, and this book is newer than some of the stuff by Wambaugh that I've read recently. It was written after the fallout from the Rampart Scandal, and released after this scum-sucking piece of shit won an Oscar. No, I haven't seen the movie. Why should I? It doesn't look like entertainment to me. What I read and what I watch for entertainment are two entirely different animals.
I finished Hollywood Station. It was a nice little romp to places I don't want to be, around criminals and familiar with police officers. My friend and I agreed that we just like to fly under the radar, no cops, no criminals in our lives. I like Wambaugh because he writes about cops as people, as fully fleshed out characters. Cops put up with a lot of crap, and this book is newer than some of the stuff by Wambaugh that I've read recently. It was written after the fallout from the Rampart Scandal, and released after this scum-sucking piece of shit won an Oscar. No, I haven't seen the movie. Why should I? It doesn't look like entertainment to me. What I read and what I watch for entertainment are two entirely different animals.
Monday, September 21, 2009
My friend is such a clown
Well, no, actually this weekend she showed up at a triathlon in a chicken suit. She said the weather was warm and she got baked and then fried, lol. I hear her young niece did very well.
Congratulations Baby J!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Music
Obviously I had a few years to catch up on, and I just had a ball today. If you are my age, you will know it.
Aint No Mountain High Enough
Brown Eyed Girl
In the Summertime
Mr. Big Stuff
Sunshine (go away today)
Low Rider
Fire
We Just Disagree
In the Evening
Flashlight
You can't change that
101 Eastbound
Who can it be now
One Wish
Nena- 99luft Ballons
Put your records on
Aint No Mountain High Enough
Brown Eyed Girl
In the Summertime
Mr. Big Stuff
Sunshine (go away today)
Low Rider
Fire
We Just Disagree
In the Evening
Flashlight
You can't change that
101 Eastbound
Who can it be now
One Wish
Nena- 99luft Ballons
Put your records on
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Can't decide which one to read
The Black Swan by Nicholas Taleb or Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh? Click on the books for reviews. I'm leaning towards the Wambaugh because I just need a break from shit I have to think about. A little fiction break maybe? Anybody read either of these?
ACORN’s Family Tree
Behind the News, Campaign Desk — September 18, 2009 05:44 PM
Was the Baltimore video journalism? Does it matter?
By Alexandra Fenwick
In a piece in the October 2009 issue of The Atlantic, “The Story Behind the Story,” journalist Mark Bowden examines the source of the Sonia Sotomayor video clips that surfaced during her Supreme Court nomination—and what happens when ideologues step forward to provide the reporting that journalists don’t have the resources to do.(click title link)
Was the Baltimore video journalism? Does it matter?
By Alexandra Fenwick
In a piece in the October 2009 issue of The Atlantic, “The Story Behind the Story,” journalist Mark Bowden examines the source of the Sonia Sotomayor video clips that surfaced during her Supreme Court nomination—and what happens when ideologues step forward to provide the reporting that journalists don’t have the resources to do.(click title link)
Friday, September 18, 2009
Selective Deficit Disorder
Published on Friday, September 18, 2009 by TruthDig.com
by David Sirota
Watching the health care debate unfold these days is a little like watching scenes from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”—the ones showing a collage of strung-out, deranged or otherwise incapacitated patients rotting away in a squalid psychiatric ward....(click on title link)
Sirota makes me laugh.
Bill Moyers is going to expose the Tea Baggers and their leaders' hypocrisy tonight. Whadyaya know, the same people who killed "HillaryCare" are all juiced up with health sector bucks to kill "Obamacare" and the Tea Baggers are so stupid they don't even know they are being used by Glenn Beck and Dick Armey to do the bidding of those that make Armey and Beck wealthy. And hypocritical. Is there no end to teh stoopid?
Man Arrested For Asking Anthem Blue Cross/Shield About His Rate Increase
By Susie Madrak Friday Sep 18, 2009 4:00pm
It gets more unbelievable by the day, doesn't it?
Joe Szakos leads the Virginia Organizing Project, an almost fifteen year-old community organization that Health Care for America Now works with in Virginia to organize for health care reform. Szakos's organization employs dozens of people, and they get their health care through Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
This year, Szakos was informed that Anthem was going to increase the premiums on Virginia Organizing Project's health plan by 14.1%. Around the same time, the Virginia Organizing Project received an email from Anthem:
We strongly support reform that builds a strong, sustainable private-sector health care system - and strongly oppose creating a government-run health plan. We are urging our elected officials in Washington to take bipartisan action that will accomplish that. We are educating policymakers in Washington and working with our trade associations to encourage Congress to build on the current system and not disrupt the quality, affordable coverage on which our members depend....
As our elected officials debate health care, they need to hear directly from you.
Szakos immediately had some questions for Anthem. Chief among them, why is Anthem using its resources to lobby against health care reform with a public health insurance option while at the same time increasing rates by 14.1%?
Szakos, along with three other Virginia Organizing Project board members, went down to Anthem's offices in Richmond, VA to ask. He left in handcuffs.
Szakos, a customer, couldn't get an answer from Anthem. There was no justification for raising rates on one hand, and spending money lobbying against health care reform on the other. And instead of trying to offer Szakos an explanation, they had him arrested.
As Szakos said in the video, this is about greed and force. There is no good explanation for these rate increases, and there is no justification for Anthem to spend money it collects in premiums from customers suffering under its "health care" plans on lobbying against reform that would help these very same people. The only thing motivating Anthem - and all insurance companies - is greed. And they get and keep their money by force.
by David Sirota
Watching the health care debate unfold these days is a little like watching scenes from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”—the ones showing a collage of strung-out, deranged or otherwise incapacitated patients rotting away in a squalid psychiatric ward....(click on title link)
Sirota makes me laugh.
Bill Moyers is going to expose the Tea Baggers and their leaders' hypocrisy tonight. Whadyaya know, the same people who killed "HillaryCare" are all juiced up with health sector bucks to kill "Obamacare" and the Tea Baggers are so stupid they don't even know they are being used by Glenn Beck and Dick Armey to do the bidding of those that make Armey and Beck wealthy. And hypocritical. Is there no end to teh stoopid?
Man Arrested For Asking Anthem Blue Cross/Shield About His Rate Increase
By Susie Madrak Friday Sep 18, 2009 4:00pm
It gets more unbelievable by the day, doesn't it?
Joe Szakos leads the Virginia Organizing Project, an almost fifteen year-old community organization that Health Care for America Now works with in Virginia to organize for health care reform. Szakos's organization employs dozens of people, and they get their health care through Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
This year, Szakos was informed that Anthem was going to increase the premiums on Virginia Organizing Project's health plan by 14.1%. Around the same time, the Virginia Organizing Project received an email from Anthem:
We strongly support reform that builds a strong, sustainable private-sector health care system - and strongly oppose creating a government-run health plan. We are urging our elected officials in Washington to take bipartisan action that will accomplish that. We are educating policymakers in Washington and working with our trade associations to encourage Congress to build on the current system and not disrupt the quality, affordable coverage on which our members depend....
As our elected officials debate health care, they need to hear directly from you.
Szakos immediately had some questions for Anthem. Chief among them, why is Anthem using its resources to lobby against health care reform with a public health insurance option while at the same time increasing rates by 14.1%?
Szakos, along with three other Virginia Organizing Project board members, went down to Anthem's offices in Richmond, VA to ask. He left in handcuffs.
Szakos, a customer, couldn't get an answer from Anthem. There was no justification for raising rates on one hand, and spending money lobbying against health care reform on the other. And instead of trying to offer Szakos an explanation, they had him arrested.
As Szakos said in the video, this is about greed and force. There is no good explanation for these rate increases, and there is no justification for Anthem to spend money it collects in premiums from customers suffering under its "health care" plans on lobbying against reform that would help these very same people. The only thing motivating Anthem - and all insurance companies - is greed. And they get and keep their money by force.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
While the Fox newz freeptards were obeying the order to sic ACORN
They were successfully distracted from the fact that the health sector lobbyists were screwing them:
Wendell Potter: Public Option Essential, Baucus Plan An "Absolute Gift" To Health Insurance Industry (VIDEO)
Hmm, looks like I'm not the only one who had that thought, Greenwald points out the M-I-C and the banksters lobbyists activity also.
Glenn Greenwald:
Thursday Sept. 17, 2009 11:18 EDT
The distracting benefits of ACORN hysteria
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Health care reform
FACTBOX: Details of Baucus plan for healthcare reform
Yeah. Ever since I read distributorcap NY's post titled Constitutional Side Effects I knew we were screwed. You think corruption is endemic in only states that have large populations?
Bwaaa haa ha ha ha hahahahaha ha ha ha
Yeah. Ever since I read distributorcap NY's post titled Constitutional Side Effects I knew we were screwed. You think corruption is endemic in only states that have large populations?
Bwaaa haa ha ha ha hahahahaha ha ha ha
Finished reading The Big White Lie by Michael Levine
And the same information keeps popping up. This time from a link to a Robert Parry article I happened upon through Scoobie's The Real Sun Myung Moon blog. Ladies and gentlemen, the truth really is stranger than fiction and more horrifying. The CIA drug smuggling while running a campaign to persecute a clean DEA agent who uncovered it. Nazis. US govt trained death squads all over Latin America. Religious nutcases involved with all of the above while running a national newspaper and funding one of the most powerful political families in the US.
The real nutcases in the world have FAR too much power.
How long before we figure out that there are more of us than there are of them?
The real nutcases in the world have FAR too much power.
How long before we figure out that there are more of us than there are of them?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Nobody listened, they're still not listening
Why Obama Won't Be Able to Reform Wall Street
Huff TV
Posted March 31, 2009 | 10:49 PM (EST)
Black Swan Author Nassim Taleb Joins Arianna on CNBC's Squawk Box
Originally Aired: September 14, 2009
Analysis
One Year After Financial Crisis, Reform Questions Loom
On the one year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Jeffrey Brown talks to economists and experts about what has been learned and the future of financial reform.
Stiglitz Says Banking Problems Are Now Bigger Than Pre-Lehman
Huff TV
Posted March 31, 2009 | 10:49 PM (EST)
Black Swan Author Nassim Taleb Joins Arianna on CNBC's Squawk Box
Originally Aired: September 14, 2009
Analysis
One Year After Financial Crisis, Reform Questions Loom
On the one year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Jeffrey Brown talks to economists and experts about what has been learned and the future of financial reform.
Stiglitz Says Banking Problems Are Now Bigger Than Pre-Lehman
WTF?
Why a New York Court Unmasked the Blogger Who Wrote Harshly About a Model
By JULIE HILDEN
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
By JULIE HILDEN
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
FINANCIAL CRISIS DAILY UPDATE: WHO WILL CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY OF MELTDOWN?
NY TIME SAT: WALL STREET TRIUMPHANT, CRIME UNCHECKED
NYT VIA LBN: A YEAR AFTER A CATACLYSM, LITTLE CHANGE ON WALL ST.
Bitchin'
The banksters are fine and the arms industry is booming.
The middle class?
Uh, not so good.
I have a question. How come I have to get the news from someone who got sick of the BS in the news business and struck out on his own?
NYT VIA LBN: A YEAR AFTER A CATACLYSM, LITTLE CHANGE ON WALL ST.
Bitchin'
The banksters are fine and the arms industry is booming.
The middle class?
Uh, not so good.
I have a question. How come I have to get the news from someone who got sick of the BS in the news business and struck out on his own?
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Tomgram: Chip Ward, The Ruins in Our Future
posted September 13, 2009 5:44 pm
I was born here. I grew up here. I've noticed the gradual changes. I don't remember ever having fear of the Santa Ana winds and massive fires. That has happened in the last ten years.
All of us have been watching drought in action this summer. When it hits the TV news, though, it usually goes by the moniker of "fire." As we've seen, California, in the third year of a major drought, has been experiencing "a seemingly endless fire that has burned more than 250 square miles of Los Angeles County" (and that may turn out to be just the beginning of another fire season from hell).
Southern California has hardly been the only drought story, though. For those with an eye out, the southern parts of Texas, the hottest state in the union this year, have been in the grips of a monster drought. Seven hundred thousand acres of the state have already burned in 2009, with a high risk of more to come...
I was born here. I grew up here. I've noticed the gradual changes. I don't remember ever having fear of the Santa Ana winds and massive fires. That has happened in the last ten years.
Born to be Big
Early exposure to common chemicals may be programming kids to be fat.
By Sharon Begley | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 11, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Sep 21, 2009
...In 2006 scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health reported that the prevalence of obesity in infants under 6 months had risen 73 percent since 1980...
...hormone-mimicking pollutants,...
What Causes Hormonal Imbalance?
By Sharon Begley | NEWSWEEK
Published Sep 11, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Sep 21, 2009
...In 2006 scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health reported that the prevalence of obesity in infants under 6 months had risen 73 percent since 1980...
...hormone-mimicking pollutants,...
What Causes Hormonal Imbalance?
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wall Street's Mania for Short-Term Results Hurts Economy
By Steven Pearlstein
Friday, September 11, 2009
No shit Sherlock. Yeesh what a title.
Update 8:24 PM 9/11/2009
Ironically, I had to go shopping to get the kid ready for the dorms. I am tired.
I don't think any American likes this particular anniversary. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that 8 years ago today was the beginning of the end of my brainwashed existence. I read very little non-fiction now and I read constantly.
Friday, September 11, 2009
No shit Sherlock. Yeesh what a title.
Update 8:24 PM 9/11/2009
Ironically, I had to go shopping to get the kid ready for the dorms. I am tired.
I don't think any American likes this particular anniversary. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that 8 years ago today was the beginning of the end of my brainwashed existence. I read very little non-fiction now and I read constantly.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Reading Now
The Big White Lie by Michael Levine (c) 1993
So far it's depressing, but not surprising. After all, I have read The Politics of Heroin by Alfred McCoy. Maybe the decriminalization of small amounts of drugs in a couple of Latin American countries will force the CIA to knock off its bullshit, eventually. How many more innocent people will die before then? Who knows? Some moron told me he thought the CIA was a good organization. Good for who? I couldn't have had more contempt. Nothing will really change here until decriminalization of small amounts of drugs and drug treatment takes precedence.
So far it's depressing, but not surprising. After all, I have read The Politics of Heroin by Alfred McCoy. Maybe the decriminalization of small amounts of drugs in a couple of Latin American countries will force the CIA to knock off its bullshit, eventually. How many more innocent people will die before then? Who knows? Some moron told me he thought the CIA was a good organization. Good for who? I couldn't have had more contempt. Nothing will really change here until decriminalization of small amounts of drugs and drug treatment takes precedence.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Supreme Court decisions affect YOU
So first of all, I don't get why the Obama speech to a joint session of Congress will get more air-time, but oh well, I don't get why local newz will cover some dead gang-banger and not a Supreme Court decision that will affect 300 million people, not just Hillary Clinton.
This fucking lizard brain thinks that corporations should have more "free speech" rights. You think they control the political message now? HA. This will be Sotomayor's first case as a Supreme Court Justice. Wanna bet that she passes the rich fuck's first test? You think Puerto Ricans have rights? Pffft.
Yes I do understand why the Obama speech needs to be covered and since he's a great orator, I love to watch him. I dunno why the media whores keep saying how much they need "bi-partisanship?" They don't. What they need is to separate the corporate money from the congresswhores.
I hope that some of the right-wing fucktards get a clue, but they probably won't listen to him if they do watch him, so ginned up on hate spew from Hannity, Beck, and the other corporate funded msm whores. So stupid they refuse to see that the highly paid corporate media whores get them to vote against their own best interests.
Big Business's Hidden Hand in the Smear Job on Van Jones
By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet. Posted September 8, 2009.
"...The strategy is simple: Prey upon the worst fears of the right-wing folks who live next door in order to get them to organize against their own interests..."
See?
Update 4:21 PM 9/19/2009
Gordon at Alternate Brain draws attention to a comment that the WSJ
picked up on regarding the original court decision on corporate personhood. I'm still a bit skeptical, being that judges put so much stock in precedent but I'd like to hope for a new precedent on an old case, or no new powers given to corporations in the current case.
This fucking lizard brain thinks that corporations should have more "free speech" rights. You think they control the political message now? HA. This will be Sotomayor's first case as a Supreme Court Justice. Wanna bet that she passes the rich fuck's first test? You think Puerto Ricans have rights? Pffft.
Yes I do understand why the Obama speech needs to be covered and since he's a great orator, I love to watch him. I dunno why the media whores keep saying how much they need "bi-partisanship?" They don't. What they need is to separate the corporate money from the congresswhores.
I hope that some of the right-wing fucktards get a clue, but they probably won't listen to him if they do watch him, so ginned up on hate spew from Hannity, Beck, and the other corporate funded msm whores. So stupid they refuse to see that the highly paid corporate media whores get them to vote against their own best interests.
Big Business's Hidden Hand in the Smear Job on Van Jones
By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet. Posted September 8, 2009.
"...The strategy is simple: Prey upon the worst fears of the right-wing folks who live next door in order to get them to organize against their own interests..."
See?
Update 4:21 PM 9/19/2009
Gordon at Alternate Brain draws attention to a comment that the WSJ
picked up on regarding the original court decision on corporate personhood. I'm still a bit skeptical, being that judges put so much stock in precedent but I'd like to hope for a new precedent on an old case, or no new powers given to corporations in the current case.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
The Next Financial Crisis
Economy
The New Republic
It's coming--and we just made it worse.
* Peter Boone and Simon Johnson
* September 5, 2009 | 12:00 am
The New Republic
It's coming--and we just made it worse.
* Peter Boone and Simon Johnson
* September 5, 2009 | 12:00 am
Bloomberg still thinks Rethugs are important
* Congress
Current Party Numbers: 111th Congress, 1st Session
House Senate
Democrats 256 58
Independents 0 2
Republicans 178 40
Vacancies 1 0
House Senate
Democrats 256 58
Independents 0 2
Republicans 178 40
Vacancies 1 0
Think "fracking" ain't fucking your water supply?
Well water, that is.
Ahhh, Halliburton's lawyers are busy. They just can't seem to stay out of trouble, can they? Good thing they moved to Dubai .
Bet they hate this website:
Halliburton Watch
They probably weren't wild about this post of mine, either, since I have had an interest in gas and oil exploration because it wreaks environmental havoc:
halliburton.com landed here, wtf?
Ahhh, Halliburton's lawyers are busy. They just can't seem to stay out of trouble, can they? Good thing they moved to Dubai .
Bet they hate this website:
Halliburton Watch
They probably weren't wild about this post of mine, either, since I have had an interest in gas and oil exploration because it wreaks environmental havoc:
halliburton.com landed here, wtf?
Reading now
The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
translated "El poder del perro"
It's about narcotraficantes, the "War on Drugs," mercenaries, dirty cops on both sides of the border, dirty politicians that go all the way up to presidents on both sides of the border, murder, revenge, Iran/Contra, the S American right-wing bullshit wars on the people funded by the US and trained at SOA It mentions NAFTA , you know, all the lovely things our foreign policy has inflicted upon Latin America.
It's in the fiction section, I dunno why, so far the "good guys" are not only non-existent, they're losing. Which brings me to a newspaper article I spotted this morning:
Mother of Colombian girl allegedly raped by U.S. officer seeks justice
By Gonzalo Guillen and Gerardo Reyes | El Nuevo Herald
Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 McClatchy
Olga Lucia Castillo could never bring to justice the men who raped her in Bogota when she was pregnant with her daughter. Twelve years later, she is putting up the fight of her life to have a U.S. Army officer and a Mexican-born contractor indicted because, according to her, they raped her daughter at the military base in Melgar...
...both suspects were taken out of the country under diplomatic immunity,...
(more on the story here) | U.S. soldier's immunity clouds 2007 Colombian rape case
Enough about the "War on Drugs" how's that war in Afghanistan going?
translated "El poder del perro"
It's about narcotraficantes, the "War on Drugs," mercenaries, dirty cops on both sides of the border, dirty politicians that go all the way up to presidents on both sides of the border, murder, revenge, Iran/Contra, the S American right-wing bullshit wars on the people funded by the US and trained at SOA It mentions NAFTA , you know, all the lovely things our foreign policy has inflicted upon Latin America.
It's in the fiction section, I dunno why, so far the "good guys" are not only non-existent, they're losing. Which brings me to a newspaper article I spotted this morning:
Mother of Colombian girl allegedly raped by U.S. officer seeks justice
By Gonzalo Guillen and Gerardo Reyes | El Nuevo Herald
Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 McClatchy
Olga Lucia Castillo could never bring to justice the men who raped her in Bogota when she was pregnant with her daughter. Twelve years later, she is putting up the fight of her life to have a U.S. Army officer and a Mexican-born contractor indicted because, according to her, they raped her daughter at the military base in Melgar...
...both suspects were taken out of the country under diplomatic immunity,...
(more on the story here) | U.S. soldier's immunity clouds 2007 Colombian rape case
Enough about the "War on Drugs" how's that war in Afghanistan going?
Sunday, September 06, 2009
'Why should the liberals always cave?' Dem asks
Rep. Keith Ellison
Ellison said private insurers wielded substantial market power "in nearly every major metropolitan area" that gives companies the ability to set premiums at high rates.
Ellison said private insurers wielded substantial market power "in nearly every major metropolitan area" that gives companies the ability to set premiums at high rates.
"How are we going to get them down? By introducing three things: competition, choice and a competitive price. I don't know how any conservative can be against those three things," he said.
Thank you Mr. Ellison!!
Update, and Dr. Dean
(sorry I missed this)
Finished reading Cruel and Unusual by Mark Crispin Miller
(c) 2004Hucky-ducky, here's the deal; these are some sick motherfuckers that were at the helm of this country. Sick, twisted, abused and abusive critters who believed that their shit didn't stink and they could do no wrong. That's probably why you are still seeing the evil bastards on the Sunday talking heads shows. I say 'you' because I never watched watched those bullshit shows, and I don't watch these DC bubbleheads anymore, either. It was hard to go back over the destructive policy decisions again, but I learned a few things, so I'm glad I did. As painful as it was to read, it was worth it. I recommend it.
Pages 276-277
"The only legal way to halt the nation's slide into theocracy, it seems, would be to open serious investigations by the Congress and the press, begin a robust national debate, and finally vote the zealots out of power. And yet that electoral possibility as also been subverted-- to what precise extent we don't yet know-- by the Christian Reconstructionists and their allies in the GOP, for the computerized machines now widely used for voting purposes in the United States are actually the handiwork of Reconstructionist ideologues. It was Howard Ahmanson and his brother Robert who bankrolled American Information Systems (AIS) which was founded by another pair of brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich. Under the corporate rubric of AIS, Bob Urosevich is president of Diebold, while Todd Urosevich is vice president of aftermarket sales at IS&E. Diebold and ESS are the nation's largest manufacturers of electronic voting machines, now mandated to be used in every state, thanks to the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Neither company's machines leave any sort of paper trail; neither company has allowed the public to review its programming code; and machines produced by both firms are notoriously easy to manipulate--from outside the system, so that anyone who has the skills and inclination can just revised whatever "final tally" he may find unacceptable. That a democracy would use such shoddy goods as its electoral infrastructure is disquieting enough. That both those companies were funded by a far-right partisan and active Christian Reconstructionist --whose am is an all-Christian franchise in America --is surely grounds for rational concern and timely action. Heir to an enormous fortune from the savings and loan business, Ahmanson is probably not into touch-screen voting for the money. "My purpose," he told the Orange County Register in 1985, 'is total integration of Biblical law into our lives."
Two Voting Companies & Two Brothers Will Count 80% of U.S. Election -
Using BOTH Scanners & Touchscreens
by Lynn Landes 4/27/04
Diebold Finally Dumps E-Voting Division... But Sells It To Equally Problematic ES&S
by Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Thu, Sep 3rd 2009
Max Blumenthal
Senior Writer for The Daily Beast
Posted: November 4, 2008 02:14 AM
Who Is The Mystery Man Behind Prop 8?
Howard Ahmanson becomes a Democrat. Seriously
March 23rd, 2009, 8:49 am · 7 Comments · posted by Steven Greenhut
And one more thing, Van Jones was right, they are assholes.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Taibbi nails it again, this time on health care reform
Published on Saturday, September 5, 2009 by Rolling Stone
How Washington is Screwing Up Health Care Reform – and Why It May Take a Revolt to Fix It
by Matt Taibbi
(Yep, once again he breaks it down into digestible chunks)
...Let's start with the obvious: America has not only the worst but the dumbest health care system in the developed world...
...Almost every single one of the main players - from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Blue Dog turncoat Max Baucus - found some unforeseeable, unique-to-them way to fuck this thing up...
...The only committee that didn't finish a bill is the one that's likely to matter most: the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by the infamous obfuscating dick Max Baucus, a right-leaning Democrat from Montana who has received $2,880,631 in campaign contributions from the health care industry...
...In the real world, nothing except a single-payer system makes any sense. There are currently more than 1,300 private insurers in this country, forcing doctors to fill out different forms and follow different reimbursement procedures for each and every one. This drowns medical facilities in idiotic paperwork and jacks up prices: Nearly a third of all health care costs in America are associated with wasteful administration. Fully $350 billion a year could be saved on paperwork alone if the U.S. went to a single-payer system - more than enough to pay for the whole goddamned thing, if anyone had the balls to stand up and say so...
(Yeesh sometimes I wonder how many times the Democrats will play Charlie Brown to the Lucy-with-the-football Republicans/Lobbyists/Moneyed Interests? And I did not know the following when I listened to Darrell Issa go on and on bitching about Obama's czars. )
...Many of the health care advisers in Obama's inner circle, meanwhile, are industry hacks - people like Nancy-Ann DeParle, the president's health care czar, who has served on the boards of for-profit companies like Medco Health Solutions and Triad Hospitals. DeParle is so unthreatening to the status quo that Karen Ignagni, the insurance industry's leading lobbyist-gorgon, praised her "extensive experience" and "strong track record."...
...employers who currently offer sub-par coverage will have their shitty plans protected by a grandfather clause. Which means ...
"If you have coverage you like, you can keep it," says Sen. Sanders. "But if you have coverage you don't like, you gotta keep it."
This grandfather clause has potentially wide-ranging consequences. One of the biggest health care problems we have in this country is the technique used by large employers - Walmart is the most notorious example - of offering dogshit, bare-bones health insurance that forces employees to take on steep co-pays and other massive charges. Low-wage workers currently offered these plans often reject them and join Medicaid, effectively shifting the health care burden for Walmart employees on to the taxpayer. If the HELP committee's grandfather clause survives to the final bill, those workers who did the sensible thing in rejecting Walmart's crap employer plan and taking the comparatively awesome insurance offered via Medicaid will now be rebuffed by the state and forced to take the dogshit Walmart offering...
...If the public option is the sine qua non for progressives, then the "individual mandate" is the counterpart must-have requirement for the insurance industry....
And Buzzflash nails it again.
Health Care "Reform" that Will Enrich For-Profit Insurance Companies and Big Pharma is What the WH is Fighting For Now
How Washington is Screwing Up Health Care Reform – and Why It May Take a Revolt to Fix It
by Matt Taibbi
(Yep, once again he breaks it down into digestible chunks)
...Let's start with the obvious: America has not only the worst but the dumbest health care system in the developed world...
...Almost every single one of the main players - from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Blue Dog turncoat Max Baucus - found some unforeseeable, unique-to-them way to fuck this thing up...
...The only committee that didn't finish a bill is the one that's likely to matter most: the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by the infamous obfuscating dick Max Baucus, a right-leaning Democrat from Montana who has received $2,880,631 in campaign contributions from the health care industry...
...In the real world, nothing except a single-payer system makes any sense. There are currently more than 1,300 private insurers in this country, forcing doctors to fill out different forms and follow different reimbursement procedures for each and every one. This drowns medical facilities in idiotic paperwork and jacks up prices: Nearly a third of all health care costs in America are associated with wasteful administration. Fully $350 billion a year could be saved on paperwork alone if the U.S. went to a single-payer system - more than enough to pay for the whole goddamned thing, if anyone had the balls to stand up and say so...
(Yeesh sometimes I wonder how many times the Democrats will play Charlie Brown to the Lucy-with-the-football Republicans/Lobbyists/Moneyed Interests? And I did not know the following when I listened to Darrell Issa go on and on bitching about Obama's czars. )
...Many of the health care advisers in Obama's inner circle, meanwhile, are industry hacks - people like Nancy-Ann DeParle, the president's health care czar, who has served on the boards of for-profit companies like Medco Health Solutions and Triad Hospitals. DeParle is so unthreatening to the status quo that Karen Ignagni, the insurance industry's leading lobbyist-gorgon, praised her "extensive experience" and "strong track record."...
...employers who currently offer sub-par coverage will have their shitty plans protected by a grandfather clause. Which means ...
"If you have coverage you like, you can keep it," says Sen. Sanders. "But if you have coverage you don't like, you gotta keep it."
This grandfather clause has potentially wide-ranging consequences. One of the biggest health care problems we have in this country is the technique used by large employers - Walmart is the most notorious example - of offering dogshit, bare-bones health insurance that forces employees to take on steep co-pays and other massive charges. Low-wage workers currently offered these plans often reject them and join Medicaid, effectively shifting the health care burden for Walmart employees on to the taxpayer. If the HELP committee's grandfather clause survives to the final bill, those workers who did the sensible thing in rejecting Walmart's crap employer plan and taking the comparatively awesome insurance offered via Medicaid will now be rebuffed by the state and forced to take the dogshit Walmart offering...
...If the public option is the sine qua non for progressives, then the "individual mandate" is the counterpart must-have requirement for the insurance industry....
And Buzzflash nails it again.
Health Care "Reform" that Will Enrich For-Profit Insurance Companies and Big Pharma is What the WH is Fighting For Now
Friday, September 04, 2009
This is not good
By Brad Friedman on 9/3/2009 7:10PM
DIEBOLD FINDS ELECTION DIVISION BUYER; ES&S TO CONTROL MOST U.S. ELECTIONS
Bargain-basement sale price; Anti-trust complaints to be filed; Dreadful history of failure by both companies
Merger causes concern among Election Integrity experts...
DIEBOLD FINDS ELECTION DIVISION BUYER; ES&S TO CONTROL MOST U.S. ELECTIONS
Bargain-basement sale price; Anti-trust complaints to be filed; Dreadful history of failure by both companies
Merger causes concern among Election Integrity experts...
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