Open Thread
By bluegal Thursday Mar 19, 2009 7:30pm
The latest New Yorker arrived in my mailbox this afternoon with this fabulous cover art, "OctoRush" by Barry Blitt. I think my neighbors wondered why they heard that lady several doors down yell "Open Thread!"
Open Thread below....
Login or Register to post comments.
Palin rejects over 30% of stimulus money
But she's also working with the Legislature to be sure they accept ALL the Stimulus Money .. and then she and they will negotiate to decide how much they will end up taking ..
It would be hilarious if it was a Sit-Com ..
Why does Caribou Barbie hate the elderly and little kids?! Just despicable...
She knows that her days are numbered, so burning bridges and making it nasty for poorer people to live in Alaska.
One way to move the blue voters out, and increase the red percentage.
That is horrible. She has no shame whatsoever.
A glaring lack of shame is the trademark of sociopaths every where, just look at our ex-preznit.
You got it, that's how they run the show. Terrorize blue voters till they move away. Keep em stupid, all they need is Jesus.
She's getting old, and she'll be taking care of her daughter's little kid. Zing!
Hopefully Bristol will want her kid raised in a home where he isn't just an accessorry for Mom.
n/t
children and the elderly because they are not in the womb.
I seem to recall one of her spawn has a learning disability. That's what makes this sick:
The biggest single chunk of money Palin is turning down is about $170 million for education, including money that would go for programs to help economically disadvantaged and special needs students.
When you hate yourself, hate your family, and hate your neighbors, congratulations! You've become Republican.
... carries Trig like most people carry a sack of groceries.
An apt description. No warmth comes across from mother to son. I feel so sorry for that poor baby boy.
... it was video shortly after the election. She had Trig under her left arm, but she wasn't supporting him or carrying him, more like lugging him around.
I've see football players carry the ball with more care than that.
During the campaign we used to refer to him as "Hot Potato Baby" because he was being passed around so much.
is a bitch.
The true heart of the repuglycan party
they so hate the american people. they so depend on Diebold.
Diebold's election machines were not lawfully certified.
So some nice Repug must have pulled some strings and payed off somebody to get them the bits of paper.
E voting is a human rights violation.
R voting is a gross violation of human and civil rights, or at least thats the outcome for the majority.
Remember now, Diebold has changed its name to something that I can't recall at this point. The oldest trick in the book: "change the taited name".
pronouonced "Z".
Premier Election Systems.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7001
lets force her to take our money!the bitch! take the money damit , its free , we want you to take it, you unpatriotic slut! every bodys got to bite the big wienie for the barack!
So you're now on record agreeing with Governor Palin's decision not to accept money for education, the elderly, special needs children, etc.
I wonder how many tears crybaby Beck will shed for this. Cutting funding for special needs? He and Sarah have that special bond. Oh well, he's too busy with the Mexicans anyway.
Yeeeeuck! That is a great cover though, even if it's nightmarish in nature!
Speaking of Flush, I posted this in last night's open thread too late today, but I was out hunting for used books, and I came across an oldie from the 80's that was supposed to be comparing Flush's commentary of that period to what the Bible has to say. It was a book for evangelicals to discern whether Flush was a good influence or not. I almost bought it out of morbid curiosity, but naaah, I picked up a bunch of books on Buddhism instead! ;)
(I imagine the author has probably issued a belated apology by now or something)
Some things are unrepentive.
Washinton Post is so far left liberal, "NOT."
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/031909.html
as we said b4, the media will attack Obama immediately and ratchet up the cacophony as he/we succeed. CNBC now blatantly works for reichwing thinktanks and we're not supposed to have that figured out.
I can hear the squeals of fury from here!
eight repigs anyway.
That was a good film.
I've subscribed for years and still look forward to seeing the cover (and the contents) every week.
Here's a collection of Barry Blitt's political NY'er covers:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/covers/slides...
I especially like the "Odd Couple" cover from December, 2005, with Bush as dweeby Felix and Cheney as bossy, obnoxious Oscar. How apt.
Shouldn't some of the pedo piglets be trying to molest the other pedo piglets while some of them are popping oxycotin?
with all the pissing and moaning he does.
That Blob ‘O the Rush hasn’t procreated. And let us pray to the FSM that he hasn’t been to any sperm banks. (Oops. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.)
Combining vacation and pleasure as the saying goes...
(don't get caught going through US customs with dodgy drugs as Fatty Arseboil did)
RAmen!
that Rush is shooting blanks!
Darin Kagan. Anyone heard anything about her since she lefy CNN?
*
Continuous, traumatizing nightmares of sleeping with that pig Rush kept the poor woman up all night crying, sweating and shaking.
For the sake of the human gene pool and the future of homo sapiens, I pray that Mr. Limbaugh is indeed shooting blanks.
Uhm you might want to think on that a little more if you do.
China backs talks on dollar as reserve -Russian source
http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/id...
Dollar heading for worst week in 24 years
http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/...
Allure of U.S. treasuries set to fade
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/18/...
Keynesian's like Krugman were saying inflation was not a big concern, it would appear the Austrian's might have a Peter Schiff was right part 2 coming to a YouTube video near you soon.
Seems the dollar might be dumped as the worlds' premier reserve currency.
Role and value of U.S. dollar set to fall: Asia think tanks
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Role-and-value-...
Of course they are all going to hold hands at the G20 and UN, smile, and call each other friend. It's called shmooooooozing
Relevant to this comment. Peter Schiff on the Economic Meltdown and what's next:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgMclXX5msc
Particularly the last 10 minutes.
funny in so many ways :-D
Mission not accomplished on cleaning Baghdad's water. Down-sizing gets its own video game. The Army sort of reconsiders reducing the backdoor draft. Thirteen firms getting bailout money owe back taxes. Obama and Webster say, "They're here, they're queer, get used to it!" Now if only Barry can resolve the Don't Ask, Don't Tell problem...Waddya know? After the food supply scare, a guy at a giant firm like Kellogg wants more government regulating business. It can't be the $70 million dollar loss, can it? On a related note, uber-poisonous South American spider caught in a banana bunch in Tulsa! The Pentagon will finally open up about dead soldiers. AT&T gives you a cheaper way to be ripped off by their cell phones. Oil goes up again. Will Barry still run in 2012? An activist judge enforces Arnie's state worker pay-check hatchet job. Barry claims to be caught off-guard by the bonuses. Unfortunately, he defends Geithner in a similar fashion to the way Bush defended Brown. Illegally imprisoned Iraqis are finally freed. The Catholic Church doesn't care about AIDS-infected black people. In Dallas, children weren't just left behind; they were forced to do cage matches. An ex-Bushie admits that most of the Gitmo detainees are innocent. Wal-Mart pretends to care about its employees. I'm not fond of her show, but since she's probably popular with red-staters, it must come as a shock to see Judge Judy support gay marriage. Alumni of Ken Starr's university are naturally peeved about the organization not speaking out against his separate-but-unequal views. One high school gets sued by the ACLU for encouraging homophobia.
So what say you re: Obama's "gaffe" over his bowling score? Will the MSM and the republicans try to blow it up into a big controversy?
If BHO had come out and said he bowled like a black/white/latino/woman/gay/etc. people would be up in arms. Yet, somehow, we can make fun of those that are mentally retarded and it's not a problem. I work with these people every day and that is just not funny, no matter who says it. He either is the president of one america or not. It's very simple.
But I don't think he meant it in a mean spirited way...
But yeah...the right will go apeshit over this.
I've met many mobility/behavior/perception challenged individuals but none who would've assumed that Obama meant jack about them as being inadequate human beings.
Obama could have meant it as comparing a perfectionist purse career sport versus a best effort fund raising trophy event but we'll never know now.
If the ADA were to be asked if the word "Special" is too restrictive, that too could get scrutiny.
FBI handing out nice orange clothing to KY officials.
http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=10037...
I would guess that the FBI/DoJ (and others) or at least some low mid ranking people there were keeping records of complaints made back in 02 onwards, but unable to proceed or maybe even mention the cases due to the Bushco appointees.
Now will we see the floodgates open and the various Repugs who fixed the elections around the country brought to book for their crimes.
Theres photographed and named Republican activists and officials down in Florida that rioted and stopped a lawful recount in 2000.
would be to marry the Octomom. They deserve each other. Greediest pigs in the world.
since as we suspect, he can't concieve, perfect.
The biggest single chunk of money Palin is turning down is about $170 million for education, including money that would go for programs to help economically disadvantaged and special needs students. Anchorage School Superintendent Carol Comeau said she is "shocked and very disappointed" that Palin would reject the money.
Let's see.... Diebold... (my family name ironically) what is it now.... hmmm... DUPONT?
Except for maybe Olbermann and a few others, U.S. journalism is worthless and dead of any integrity or significance. It's no coincidence that the king of tabloid-style journalism (if you can call it journalism) now controls a major portion of America's brain food. He recently purchased the Wall Street journal and the effects of that are already being seen.
Too big to fail? How about: too big to be objective.
So here's the most recent "faux outrage" du jour. We are supposed to believe the Obama is a bad person. Why? Oh, the shame, he's so mean and hurtful - belittling invalids. Torches! Pitch forks!
Sadly, the real news is behind the scenes. Wall street and corporate media have always been against the middle class, the working man, and the new president who now supports them. They will do everything in their power to take him out.
It's BS but it's the truth. Did you really think that these corporate magnates would just give up their $38 million salaires, $10 million dollar offices, corporate jets, and tax breaks without a fight?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090320/ap_on_en_...
It's time to root out Bush's BFF's and sweep them totally out of power.
They've destroyed every aspect of this country over the past 8 years and need to pay for their crimes.
Bring on the pitchforks and stakes!! Time to investigate & incarcerate is nigh.
... a big broom and a bigger dustpan.
And I'm afraid passive enablers like Pelosi and Reid need to go as well.
*****REMINDER: Keith Olbermann & Bernie Sanders on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight*****
A fond farewell to Battlestar Galactica - http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ar...
Sounding the Dire Alarm: Food, energy, and water shortages will spur a global crisis by 2030. - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7951838.stm
Special Corporatocracy Denouncement Edition:
Edward Liddy, Head of the De Facto Government-Owned-But-Not-Really-Owned- A.I.G. Fired 6,000 Agents When He Headed Allstate Insurance Without Giving a Damn About Their Contracts, But Believes Contracts are Sacred for A.I.G. Execs Who Led America Into Losing Hundreds of Billions of Dollars. Liddy is the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award. for this and so much more.
He even called these "retention" bonuses at A.I.G., even though 11 of the multi-millionaire execs had already left the company. A.I.G. and Liddy exemplify the Reagan/Bush era of no responsibility for one's actions as long as one swears an oath to greed.
The Busheviks appointed him, and we're sure that he has not disappointed them -- wherever they may be at this point.
- http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/honors/144
Enough is Enough, Fire the Executives and Nationalize A.I.G. This Weekend : "A.I.G. Sues U.S. for Return of $306 Million in Tax Payments.While the American International Group comes under fire from Congress over executive bonuses, it is quietly fighting the federal government for the return of $306 million in tax payments, some related to deals that were conducted through offshore tax havens.
A.I.G. sued the government last month in a bid to force it to return the payments, which stemmed in large part from its use of aggressive tax deals, some involving entities controlled by the company’s financial products unit in the Cayman Islands, Ireland, the Dutch Antilles and other offshore havens.
A.I.G. is effectively suing its majority owner, the government, which has an 80 percent stake and has poured nearly $200 billion into the insurer in a bid to avert its collapse and avoid troubling the global financial markets. The company is in effect asking for even more money, in the form of tax refunds. The suit also suggests that A.I.G. is spending taxpayer money to pursue its case, something it is legally entitled to do.
Its initial claim was denied by the Internal Revenue Service last year." - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20...
It Gets Worse: At least 13 firms receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a key lawmaker said Thursday. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., chairman of a House subcommittee overseeing the federal bailout, said two firms owe more than $100 million apiece. "This is shameful. It is a disgrace," said Lewis. I'll Say.
- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090319/ap_on_go_...
Killer of Giants: "These corporate leaders have brought the greatest economy in the world to its knees." - http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/i...
"We're furious. ... We are sick and tired of corporate greed and excess," Monica Sandschafer, organizer for a community organization, told about 50 protesters outside the American International Group office in Phoenix.
Ungrateful is an understatement: Citigroup Inc. plans to spend about $10 million on new offices for Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and his lieutenants, after the U.S. government injected $45 billion of cash into the bank.
- http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsar...
Forget AIG Bonuses--The Next Bailout is Here - http://www.progressive.org/mag/rc031809.html
And there is more to come. The Obama Administration is putting the finishing touches on another big bank bailout. Called the Public Private Investor Partnership (PPIP), it is the brainchild of the Treasury Secretary from Wall Street, Tim Geithner. Under the plan, the government will give our money to hedge fund managers to buy "toxic" assets for more than they are worth.
The banks that created these toxic turkeys will use the money from the sales to recapitalize themselves. Everyone comes out ahead except, of course, the taxpayers, who are essentially funneling money to hedge funds to buy bad assets for more than they are worth. The other bonus for the banks in this plan, as Yves Smith points out, is that they get to avoid giving the toxic assets any real market value.
Less transparency and more transfers of wealth from taxpayers to hedge fund managers.
E.J. Dionne Jr.: Populism's Virtues "Con-servatives have argued for decades that the sins most dangerous to our society were rooted in lust when in fact they were rooted in greed."
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
Corporatist/Con-servative Dems/Republican lite: The Official Senatorial Blue Dog Sh*t List - http://deadlyhaiku.com/2009/03/19/of-15-democ...
Health care is a right, not a privilege. I am fairly certain that the formation of Evan Bayh's 'Blue Dogs' caucus is here to do nothing more than to try to deny us universal health care. This group needs to be called out at every pathetic turn they make, as they side with the GOP and the vampires in the health insurance industry.
Another direction Obama needs to watch for: Senator Evan Bayh (R-IN) announces "Moderate Dems Working Group" - http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bayh_creates_gr...
Remobilize; Obama's team calls on campaign's grassroots machine to pressure Congress | DO SOMETHING: Help Obama Pass His Budget (VIDEO); Tell Congress we need to invest in energy, health care, and education
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/politics...
- http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/budget...
U.S. workers on jobless benefits hit record high - http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/i...
The number of U.S. workers drawing state unemployment benefits hit another record high early this month and factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region shrank again as the economy battles a severe downturn. The Labor Department said on Thursday that 5.47 million people stayed on the benefit rolls in the week ended March 7, up from 5.29 million the previous week and the highest on record.
With the economy mired in recession since December 2007, the nation's unemployment rate has skyrocketed and the claims figures underscore the difficulty of finding a new job. The insured unemployment rate, the percentage of insured workers receiving jobless benefits, jumped to 4.1 percent in the March 7 week, the highest since June 1983, from 3.9 percent the week before.
Amy Goodman: Those Hit Hardest Get No Bailout - http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090317_...
Getting Sanity back a little bit a time: Court blocks Bush administration rule that allowed concealed, loaded guns in national parks
- http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/s...
Ostroy Report: AIG -- Time to Hire the Worst and the Dumbest - http://ostroyreport.blogspot.com/2009/03/aig-...
Robert Parry: Framing Obama -- by the Washington Post - http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/031909.html
As Barack Obama reaches the two-month anniversary of his presidency, he is facing such a problem from the powerful Washington Post, which is creating a negative “frame” for his administration.
The Post’s news pages have been filled with supposedly objective news stories that have portrayed Republican obstructionism not as the GOP’s determination to hobble Obama – much as the Republicans did to Bill Clinton in 1993-94 – but as Obama’s “failure” to achieve the bipartisanship he advocated during the campaign.
The Post and other leading news organizations also have suffered from a strange amnesia about the fact that today’s worldwide financial disaster has been in the making for many years and reached a crisis point in 2008 under the “self-regulatory” theories of President George W. Bush.
Vermont Single-Payer Advocates Remind President Obama of What He Once Believed! - http://www.commondreams.org/video/2009/03/19-0
Geithner Fesses Up: He Pushed for Dropping a Senate Restriction on Bonuses. Geithner's Becoming a Radioactive Enabler of His Wall Street Buddies Who Robbed America Blind.
- http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/...
Brad Blog: I Don't Care About AIG's Bonuses - http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6996
David Sirota on Obama's Geithner Problem - http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=...
She may not be a Southern GOP governor, but Sarah Palin is learning from them: she's accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money. What money is she turning down? Education money and some unemployment money.
- http://community.adn.com/adn/node/139409
House passes a bill 328-93 to impose 90% tax on AIG bonuses - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20...
Robert C. Koehler: A Modest Proposal -- What's good enough for Gitmo is good enough for AIG - http://commonwonders.com/archives/col488.htm
Climate Battle Spawns More than 2,300 DC Lobbyists - http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-battle-spaw...
Climate Change Denier Clowns Grumpy Over New Learning Resource - http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-clowns-grum...
A tale of two taxes, let's call a gas tax the 'All-American Energy-Independence Assessment'. - http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/3/19/12...
The Obama Cap and Trade Debate Rages On - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/obama...
Charged Up, Ready To Go! Obama unveils $2.4 billion grant program to aid electric cars - http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/natio...
The theory is that if we don't regulate the successful and wealthy, people will see the value of their habits and emulate them.
Well, they did.
Only it was the bad habit of 'zero accountability' and the mindset that 'I don't owe you shit.' So the lower classes didn't inherit a viable work ethic, but the 'fuck you, I want mine' attitude of the chronically rich.
information, and thanks for the Maher reminder tonight.
In keeping with Keith Olbermann's spirit from last night: As my company employs pay freezes, stops bonuses to everyone under 'director' level, and denies employees with health issues work place accomodations, the employees have decided what's good for the company is good for us, etc., etc.
Yet according to our brand new CEO (who came to us from the real estate industry - perfect for a healthcare company, eh?) they still have the money to purchase more floor space, buildout new offices & conference rooms, and install $2,000 flat screen televisions in the lobby, board room, and meeting rooms with the channel set only to CNN.
Mind you, we usually have about 5 to 10 guests per week (not like a Doctors office that actually does have a need for entertaining waiting guests/patients) who generally don't wait more than 15-20 minutes to see who they came to see...but hey, it makes the office look nicer, more professional....right?
My point is this, the executive worldview, their 'world' as it is, is 1st class seating, VIP rooms, executive bathrooms, never deciding can I afford to eat there tonight, ok my child - you can have the BMW for your 1st car, honey I think we need to buy a 2nd house in the Carribean, that big screen tv in the yacht isn't big enough; is the problem with our world today.
The enabling of if you're not 1st, you're worst, the I have and you don't mindset is something better left in the 20th century to rot, decay, and effectively die.... All the issues this world is about to face (water wars, food shortages, climate change, air pollution, new diseases, overpopulation), it won't matter how much money you have, if we aren't in this together, then we won't survive. The bigger, better, I have more mindset needs to become extinct.
Not for fairness, not for justice, not for peace, not for compassion.....for the future survivability of this planet and us that inhabit it, while we can...
People always say that this mindset is what made America great, and maybe it did help us, economically speaking, in the beginning, I don't know. What I do know is that this way of thinking is extremely counter productive now, just as you have pointed out.
http://blogs.wnyc.org/news/2009/03/18/eliot-s...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090319/na_us_citigrou...
Good thing yet another bunch of morons were bailed out, huh?
... that they were already slammed for planning to purchase their $50 million executive jet from Dassault.
i think its ludicris, absolutlty astounding that anyones outraged ,that we complain that anyone complains ,because we cant piss our money away fast enough by anyone refuseing bail out money,is this not a bazare world ,its like were liveing in country thats been infected by mad people disease, if we were cows they would dig a pit drive us into it and kill us, moo!
certainly been a massive change tyree. "Progressives" screaming about anything Repubs do, and getting angry at anyone that questions stupid crap done by Dems. It's almost like the US has been taken over by the same forces that ran it for 8 years under Bush. Except this time, the undying loyalty is to all things Dem no matter how damn stupid. It boggles the mind. People previously thought of as smart liberals, have turned into the Dem version of 23%ers.
absolutely , its incredible , conserned , the worm has surely turned, the craps in the wind bro!
who STILL don't get it:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090320/ap_on_go_...
Nobody held a damn gun to his head. It was a request, and he, after receiving election donations from AIG, has a HUGE conflict of interest. Any and EVERY Dem and progressive would be screaming for blood if Dodd was a Repub.
Give it back!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/20/suze...
Eww. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/20/joe-...
This New Yorker cover of Rush Limbaugh must be perpetuating Phil Gramm's theory that we have a nation of whiners - the GOP, only offering tax breaks and cutting taxes for the wealthiest 1%.
One of the largest beneficiaries of the auto bailout is Rush Limbaugh. Clear Channel Communications is Rush's latest lucrative contract and the two depend on the frequent use of cars and trucks to survive.
Many Americans listen to talk radio only in their cars.
High gas prices along with the general disuse of private passenger cars and trucks can have huge negative effects on both Rush's and CC's bottom line.
Take an AM radio with you onto a modern transit bus or train and those vehicles power systems render AM unlistenable but a car or truck is assured reception.
The same skewed ratings data that bends with technology also contorts around radio listening habits when private & business vehicle users pocket the keys and walk into their homes. A different world is on TV with many more opinions than corporate group radio.
Every radio station that Rush is heard on pays their share of regulatory and renewal fees to the FCC just to survive.
These represent thousands of payments to the Fed in the form of thousands of dollars for each station.
Our Congress has a vested interest in seeing that unprofitable broadcast stations don't leave the air altogether. This category of station failure is listed as a Dark Station that remains comatose and off the air until new money men show up or other economic factors produce conditions for their return. A broadcast station is required by the FCC to carry the Emergency Alert System that has weather, Presidential and other security related messages that can run all by themselves. It was a great system in the 1980's.
If you've wondered like I have, why George W. Bush called Rush as a photo opportunity a few weeks before the 2008 election, I don't think it was because of the diverse numbers of opinions heard without a Fairness Doctrine steering the issues.
Login or Register to post comments.