So you've lost your job huh? Well when you get that unemployment check in the mail in many states you'll now get a bank debit card instead. Which bank? In California it's one that didn't have to pay federal income tax after being bailed out. The one that threatened to raise ATM fees in the same month it announced it was CUTTING 30,000 jobs. Which bank? Bank of America.

From Huffpo:

When Bank of America announced plans to charge regular banking customers a $5 monthly fee to use their debit card it created a wave of public criticism. But the lesser-known fees attached to prepaid debit cards are already extracting money from the most vulnerable Americans -- those unable to pay their bills and feed their families without public help -- in the midst of stubbornly high unemployment and soaring rates of poverty.

"The big banks have actually figured out a way to make unemployed workers a profit center, one that only grows as things get worse," said Angela Martin, executive director of Economic Fairness Oregon, a nonprofit advocacy group for low income and poor families.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Bancorp, the parent company of U.S. Bank, said unemployment recipients are clearly informed about the fees that pertain to their debit cards. She added that the cards provide a convenient and economical service, because they allow holders to use them to buy goods at stores and withdraw cash back without incurring a fee.

So not only are the skimming unemployment and welfare benefits - the recipients don't get a choice. Convenience? For whom? The bank. The pic above was from a reader who proudly closed his BofA account on November 5th at OccupyLA's action...only to get his unemployment benefits (and fees) in the mail a couple of days later with a big BofA logo on it.

This is really, really wrong.

When Teddy Roosevelt first proposed a system of single payer insurance for the United States, it was popular and quite nearly a done deal. That is, until the AMA intervened and began a whisper campaign about how it would "socialize health care" and place patients under government control. During the 21st century battle for universal health care, President Obama was able to get the AMA on board with it, which is part of the reason it actually passed.

How did he do that? Well, part of the reason it worked is because the AMA has splintered into subgroups, sometimes according to specialty and other times according to political bent. One of the more prominent (and scary!) splinter groups is the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), of which Rand Paul is a member.

The AAPS just had a tea party on September 18th. Not only did Rand Paul attend, so did our favorite Nevada teabagger, Sharron Angle. And not only Sharron Angle, but Georgia's Paul Broun, also a doctor.

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Happy Thursday to all!

By now most of you know this, but to newbies this is Alex, guest-hosting the roundup while neglecting my own malenky blog, Martini Revolution.

A little terse, after attending to an ailing parent yesterday, so let's jump right in:

The nets react to Hillary Clinton – she obviously has not won everyone over, though some of her recent remarks were clearly taken out of context.

The new GOP Convention logo undergoes much-needed changes to reflect the Cult of Bush/Cheney's obvious devotion to the Old Ones from the Nameless Void.

While, unlike the GOP, she is not a devotee to Cthulhu, Echidne expands on the use of fear (of He from the nameless void?) as a weapon by the Bush cult.

Speaking of fear, there's lots of fear in Iraq, especially of foreign mercenaries acting with impunity on Iraqi soil. Sid Blumenthal explains how this came to be.

Finally, Bush demands blanket amnesty for the undisclosed criminal actions of telecom companies who complied with his illegal orders. Speaking of criminal actions, Alberto Gonzales lawyers up while reportedly facing possible charges of lying to Congress.

Especially sorry today to those who submitted links yesterday, but things were a little hectic in this corner of Blogtopia. If you have anything you'd like to submit for the blog roundup, drop an email to alexde AT gmail DOT com.

Apparently, health warnings must be applied to watching this video.

Guardian UK: (h/t Gregory)

Yesterday they were mocking it. Today, the Sun and Mail triumphantly report that the juddering fluorescent London 2012 Olympics logo is not only bizarrely inadequate to the task of promoting the capital - it can trigger epileptic fits. "Within hours of it being launched we received 12 reports of people suffering seizures," a spokeswoman for Epilepsy Action tells the Sun.

The accompanying Talking Heads-meets-cover of-Smash Hits video has been hastily re-edited. Yesterday the multicoloured shapes were seen fizzling through swimmers' diving bodies, down motorways and up Tate Modern. Now we have footage of a cyclist being overtaken by a woman in an electronic wheelchair and elderly Britons practising their karate chops.

Does anybody know of anyone that has new templates that I can try or would be able to help customize one for C&L?

I'm having trouble with this one ( loads too slow, left hand column useless, can't place the logo properly, etc...) and I really don't want to switch to a different format.

Thanks for all the kind donations. I was able to pay off the 5000 gigs of downloads for the last 6 weeks, and have money left over for the upcoming few months. This month so far we have had almost 2500 gigs of downloads already in almost two weeks, so the amount will probably be doubled. This site costs a lot of money to run and many, many thanks to all who thought it was worth it to help out.

Working on Bittorrent and getting more servers ready. If its a little slow to download please be patient. If there is a problem downloading, always try holding down the "control" key and refresh. Sometimes that helps. Hopefully in the next few days the other servers will be ready and that will make the downloads faster. I was asked about snail mail donations. Soon I'll have a PO Box ready.

I settled on a new logo and in a week or so Cafe Press will have a new customer. Many have asked me to release a CD of my music to sell on the site as a way to support C&L. I have an injury right now which is making performing impossible at this time, but as soon as I can play again I will finish the CD.

Here's another small sample of an Alto Flute piece that I have permission to post. Its from a Japanese Anime I did last year.

Download | play -MP3 about 30 sec. long

I love the Alto Flute! I'll try and find a few more Sax pieces that I can post soon...

via Slumdance

As anyone who has worked on a commercial shoot knows, every single prop and piece of scenery that is seen in a commercial gets placed there carefully and purposefully. The chance that a certain product or logo could make it into the frame without getting there by explicit design is precisely zero. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new commercial is filled with conspicuously placed products. And these products just so happen to be sold by major contributors to his campaign...read on

Watch the ad here.

Read the piece. See the commercial. Then you decide.

Todd Harris, a Schwarzenegger campaign spokesman, said nothing should be read into the arranging of the products in the commercial.

"The reason those particular products were on a table is we were in a cafeteria and that's what those people bought," Harris said.

Sure thing. Oh by the way, I have a bridge to sell you.