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Sarah Palin went all Pam Geller on us the other night with Greta Van Susteren on Fox:

Palin: Ya know, it sounds cliched to say the president is disconnected from the American people on this issue, but how else do you describe it? He just doesn't get it -- that this is an insensitive move on the part of those Muslims who want to build that mosque in this location, that feels like a stab in the heart of, collectively, Americans who still have that lingering pain from 9/11.

Oh please. These drama queens on the right need to explain to us just who among the survivors of the 9/11 attacks -- let alone those right-wing bedwetters traumatized by repeated viewing of the attacks -- sees someone expressing their religion freely as an attack on them.

We know, they're out there (right, Pam?), but then someone needs to explain why we need to pay any attention to -- let alone make important decisions based on their input -- these fundamentally irrational hysteria-mongers.

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(h/t Heather)

This clip of Anthony Weiner going ballistic on the House floor is one for the ages -- it should be watched again and again and again, and not only because he was angry and frustrated, but because he spoke a truth that all of us expect from our representatives. It's really quite simple: "If you believe that it's right, you vote yes. You don't hide behind procedure and give cover to your pals."

It's really that simple, but here's the backstory. The House has been trying to re-open the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund through 2031 for 9/11 responders whose health has been affected.

When it became apparent that the Republicans were going to attach "poison pill" amendments to the bill that had nothing to do with 9/11 and everything to do with their political agenda, Democrats shut down the possibility of amending the bill by moving it to the suspension calendar, where a minimum 2/3rds vote is needed for it to pass.

Republicans applied the same old talking points, calling it a "massive new entitlement program". Actually, that's not quite right. They called it a "massive job-killing new entitlement program", because that's the Frank Luntz mantra of the week. (I was monitoring the Senate at the same time, and somehow the Small Business Jobs bill also became another "massive job-killing new entitlement program.") Of course, that's nonsense too, given that it had been structured to be paid for by closing a tax loophole for foreign corporations.

If you believe it's right, you vote yes.

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Another One Bites the Dust Roger Ailes

Finally -- finally! -- an obituary that mentions some of the unpleasant truths about Reed Irvine:

Ideologically, [Accuracy in Media] paved the way for the tide of conservative talk shows, Web sites and news programming that would follow decades later. And while AIM occasionally lived up to its name, it also spent much of its time pursuing conspiracy theories.

In recent years, for example, Mr. Irvine turned his attention to such speculative topics as whether the death in 1993 of Vincent W. Foster Jr., the deputy White House counsel in the Clinton administration, was really a suicide. He also challenged the government's explanation of the crash in 1996 of T.W.A. Flight 800, alleging that it had been caused by a rocket.

Irvine also pimped the theory that the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was the work of al-Qaeda.

Yes, Irvine had no respect for the survivors of tragedy -- or for the truth.

The Existentialist Cowboy: BBC debates on Iraq: Speaking truth to power which no longer speaks the truth

Faithful Progressive: On Edwards, cancer, souless Katie Couric, and the will to live and believe

Your Right Hand Thief: Suggests having a presidential debate in New Orleans. A few updates on N.O.L.A and the Gulf Coast...

Words of Power: DoJ Purge Update

Simply Left Behind: We didn't go to war with the army we had, or wished we had. We went to war with the army we could get on the cheap, and some of the survivors are coming home to lost jobs, debt and bankruptcy

The Poor Man Institute: Keyboard Kommando Komics Kontinues…

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: POLITARY...Sorry About Our President..."and i quote blog"...Underneath Politics…

Booman Tribune: You get what you pay for, and in Iraq, we paid for Death Squads

James Wolcott: The South has made such progress, yet in affairs of the groin, it still has so far to go.

Confined Space: Either allow us to rape your countryside, destroy your streams and flood your homes or we'll kill your husbands and fathers, lay off the survivors and wreak economic ruin upon your communities.

Simply Left Behind: Diebold being run by a long-time Bush supporter and Pioneer who promised to deliver Ohio for Bush is OK, but there're limits to GOP tolerance...digby has more...

NewsHog: America's untapped anti-terror weapon--Technothriller Writers

Politics in the Zeros: Several videos from a protest at the CNN Building in Los Angeles last Saturday.

I sincerely hope the election come off without any problems, but if it doesn't, will you take action to protect our Right to Vote?

Craig’s Thoughts, Theories and Tantrums: Exxon will post a $10 billion profit this quarter.

Syndicated Clear Channel radio host Glenn Beck referred to survivors of Hurricane Katrina who remained in New Orleans as ''scumbags.'' He also attacked the families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying: "I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims."

d r i f t g l a s s: "Before the body count is even reasonably guesstimated, or New Orleans pumped even half dry, the awarding contracts on the backs of the dead, dying and displaced to the same fucking group of Bush/Cheney Usual Crony Suspects has begun in earnest and in broad daylight."

~ News Hounds: Bush Cohorts Profiteering at all levels. Bush crony hired to collect dead bodies in New Orleans.

",0]);D(["ce"]);D(["ms","d053"]);//--> "Before the body count is even reasonably guesstimated, or New Orleans pumped even half dry, the awarding contracts on the backs of the dead, dying and displaced to the same fucking group of Bush/Cheney Usual Crony Suspects has begun in earnest and in broad daylight."

Katrina May Have Killed 80 in Miss. County

Rescuers in boats and helicopters searched for survivors of Hurricane Katrina and brought victims, wet and bedraggled, to shelters Tuesday as the extent of the damage across the Gulf Coast became ever clearer. The governor said the death toll in one Mississippi county alone could be as high as 80....

After my father retired, my parents lived a few miles from Biloxi for many years and the people there were really kind to them (being New Yorkers and all :-). If you've ever been in that region then you'll know that that much water is devastating to the area.

A Chicago leader of a group of victims abused by priests plans to travel to Rome today to protest the participation of ousted Boston Cardinal Bernard Law in funeral services for Pope John Paul II. Barbara Blaine of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests will be part of a group protesting the inclusion of Law, who resigned from the Boston archdiocese in 2002 amid the unfolding priest sex abuse scandal. Law had reassigned priests despite abuse allegations against them.

Still a cardinal with a vote for pope, Law will preside over one of nine daily masses Monday at the Rome church where John Paul II appointed him archpriest. "Our concern is that many Catholics going there don't know the history with Cardinal Law and that's why we want to inform them," Blaine said.

via The Raw Story / NY Times/ SS website (hat tip HF)

Their question 18 Why can't I invest my Social Security taxes into an IRA rplan?
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Why can't I invest my rSocial Security taxes into an IRA plan?

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Question
	I think I could do better if you let me invest the Social rSecurity I pay into an Individual Retirement Plan (IRA) or some other investment rplan. What do you think?

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-Your Social Security rtaxes pay for potential disability and survivors benefits as well as for rretirement benefits;
-Social Security incorporates social goals - such as rgiving more protection to families and to low income workers - that are not part rof private pension plans; and
-Social Security benefits are adjusted yearly rfor increases in the cost-of-living - a feature not present in many private rplans.

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Answer: Maybe you could, but then again, maybe your investments wouldn't work out. Remember these facts:

-Your Social Security taxes pay for potential disability and survivors benefits as well as for retirement benefits;

-Social Security incorporates social goals - such as giving more protection to families and to low income workers - that are not part of private pension plans; and

-Social Security benefits are adjusted yearly for increases in the cost-of-living - a feature not present in many private plans.

After he was shown the passage on Thursday, a White House spokesman, Trent Duffy, said: "The president is not talking about this approach.

It must be hard trying to get a plan together when it just doesn't make sense.