Thursday, August 06, 2009
Hiroshima
We remember.
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Nothing Nuclear Is Good For Living Things, Nuclear War, Nuclear Weapons
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Flashback: Cheney-- "Deficits Don't Matter"...
I was just thinking about that famous line. It's hard not to double-think that line looking back.
via On The Issues
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was told "deficits don't matter" when he warned of a looming fiscal crisis.
O'Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush's economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from "the corporate crowd," a key constituency.
O'Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. "You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don't matter," he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: "We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due." A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.
The vice president's office had no immediate comment, but John Snow, who replaced O'Neill, insisted that deficits "do matter" to the administration.
Source: [X-ref O'Neill] Adam Entous, Reuters, on AOL News Jan 11, 2004
And yet, heading into his eighth month in Office, it is OBAMA's ECONOMY, and the ads are asking if we've "had enough of Big Government Liberal Spending, yet?"
Oi!
I remember Republicans telling me, "Bush inherited the recession, what's he supposed to do so soon? Fix it? He gave you a big Tax refund."
Yeah. With the House, Senate and SCOTUS all firmly Republican/Conservative, I sort of expected him to NOT give away the revenue as a recession was coming on.
I heard this sort of thing a lot, too: "What could he have done to protect us from 9/11 when he was only eight months into his Presidency? What did you want him to do? Take his PDBs seriously?" Which reminds me-- Happy August 6th PBD Day. 9th Annual, doncha know.
Getting back on topic, Obama has, at least, slowed the crash enough to gain some breathing and thinking room. That's better than not. I don't like his sops to the Republicans and the Corporations and Banks that got us into this mess in the first place, and are proving to be major flaws in turning the ship around at enormous waste, but all that is about to abruptly end soon enough, as we enter Act II of the Bush Depression.
The old Democratic adage proves true, still-- "The Republicans borrow and spend,and war us into horrible deficits, and then the Democrats are called in to fix it," sadly, in part, by restoring or increasing Taxes. It seems to me, that since Nixon, or so, those deficits keep getting deeper and deeper, causing any Progressive fix to be more costly to achieve Tax-wise. This time round, I think they've finally achieved their mission. It's unfixable, without drastic cuts and changes. I think that we are getting close to the Republican dream. California seems to be leading the way.
I hope their screaming, and scare tactics wear off before they get any worse. They've run out of civil ceiling space way too soon.
Well. That was pretty free-flow thought. I guess it's time to go to bed.
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Collapse, Deficits, Dick "dick" Cheney, Fiscal Irresponsibility
What Dangerous Right-Wing Extremists?
Raleigh, Virginia edition.
Democratic Representative Brad Miller has received a death threat over Health Care Reform.
via TPMDC
"The call to the D.C. office was, 'Miller could lose his life over this,'" said Canipe. "Our staffer took it so seriously, he confirmed what the guy was saying. He said, 'Sir is that a threat?' and at that time our staffer was getting the phone number off caller ID and turning it over to the Capitol Police."
Way to go, Right-Wing Media-- Mission Accomplished.
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Dangerous Right Wing, Right Wing Media, Right-Wing Nutjobs
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Dr. Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman-- "Weird And Twisted Nights"...
Good fun music. Written and produced by Ralph and the Good Doctor.
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Big Dog Goes To North Korea In The Morning...
... and comes back to America in the evening, having freed the two imprisoned CurrentTV reporters, Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Rock on!
via WaPo
North Korea announced Tuesday that it had pardoned two detained American journalists, hours after former president Bill Clinton met in Pyongyang with reclusive dictator Kim Jong Il as part of an unannounced and highly unusual diplomatic mission to win their freedom.
Kim issued an order "granting a special pardon to the two American journalists" and releasing them, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
See, that's what you do with a Former POTUS.
Meanwhile, John Bolton sums up the LINK
Rightwing/NeoCon position, this morning, also at WaPo.
Sorry Mr. Bolton, but you lose.
Advantage: Clinton!
To Top Of Main Page
Monday, August 03, 2009
Orly Taitz-- "I Am Not Crazy!"
ORLY?!!???
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Oh, dear.
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Batshit Crazy, Birthers, Orly Taitz, Right-Wing Nutjobs
Birfers Pawned Again...
Whirled Nuts Daily and (Lawyer/Real Estate Agent/Dentist) Orly Taitz really, really, really stepped into the stoopid today, and hilarity ensues.
One would have thought that the Birfers would have had the sensibility to be embarrassed the first time round, and put themselves to bed... But, one would be wrong. Apparently, Ms. Taints transferred some money into a Kenyan bank account, and instead of reaping the millions of dollars, got an absolutely hysterically BOGUS "Obama Birth Certificate" as a prize.
Here's what the Whirled Nuts and FReeptards are calling "The Smoking Gun!!!11ty!!!" (click for BIG)

via Kos
First, the hospital is Coast Provincial General Hospital (sometimes said to be Coast Province General Hospital), not Coast General Hospital.
Second, Kenya was a Dominion the date this certificate was allegedly issued and would not become a republic for 8 months.
Third, Mombasa belonged to Zanzibar when Obama was born, not Kenya.
Fourth, Obama's father's village would be nearer to Nairobi, not Mombasa.
Fifth, the number 47O44-- 47 is Obama's age when he became president, followed by the letter O (not a zero) followed by 44--he is the 44th president.
Sixth, EF Lavender is a laundry detergent.
Seventh, would a nation with a large number of Muslims actually say "Christian name" (as opposed to name) on the birth certificate?
Eighth, his father (born in 1961[sic] {MF corrects-- he was born in 1936}) would have been 24 or 25 when he was born and not 26.
Ninth, it was called the "Central Nyanza District," not Nyanza Province. The regions were changed to provinces in 1970.
Others are piling on everywhere across the blogosphere, and the FReepers are in a mixed state-- somewhere between jubilation, and fear of having been uber-duped. Instead of accepting the reality that this "Kenyan Birf Certificate" is an obvious and poorly-done fraud, they are jumping through hoops to make the forgery hang with their insane narrative. Have a look for yourselves. And now they are saying that the originally posted picture has somehow been swapped EVERYWHERE-- including Orly Taitz' (virus-infected) site with a spoof version just to make them look stoopid... Sorry FReeptards, it would only add to your being dangerously stoopid.
Update: Looking at that second FReep thread, it appears to me that the FReep altered the version he posted, and the fun begins there. Special guest appearance from RimJob, hisself, to break up a couple of burgeoning dogfights.
And the band plays on...
Someone please let me know if Lou Dobbs covers these new developements... pleease?
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Birthers, Right-Wing Nutjobs
Sunday, August 02, 2009
What Dangerous Right-Wing Extremists?
National Health Care edition...
The Teabaggers and Right-Wing Lunatic Base are out in force, disrupting Town Hall meetings, and threatening their Representatives and Senators. Keep an eye on this new tactic, as soon enough, a group or individual will assuredly decide to get violent.
First, the strategy talking-points (screaming points?) as sent out to the fringe groups, via Think Progress.
– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”
– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”
Malkin thinks it is great, and pushes the falsehood that this is just a grassroots effort, and the crazies are getting riled-up all on their own...
Here's what their mob-rules tactic looks like:
Over the coming weeks, this will look civil by comparison. Eugenics keeps coming up as one of the Right's paranoid fever dreams. I have a haunting feeling that this will not end well.
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Right-Wing Nutjobs
What Dangerous Right-Wing Extremists?
Long Island edition...
via Kos
As reported by Saturday's NY Post, "A Long Island mother of three -- armed to the teeth with an assault rifle and shotgun -- was arrested for scouting out and taking pictures of an Air National Guard base."
Her arsenal included an XM-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and 500 rounds of ammunition.
The woman, Nancy Genovese, had been seen at the base a few weeks earlier, taking photos and questioning the guards. This time she had returned to take photos of the perimeter of the base. It's not difficult to make the connection that she was paranoid about "FEMA Camps".
Genovese is a Glenn Beck fan, according to her MySpace page and archived. "He is mad as hell and so are we. He is right and so are we", writes Genovese, who also posted a video of a Glenn Beck rant.
Genovese additionally posted an amateur video indicating her apparent affinity for right-wing militia movements.
More at the link.
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Dangerous Right Wing, Glenn Beck Lunacy, Rightwing Violence
Saturday, August 01, 2009
The Most Important Book You Don't Need To Afford...
"Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford," From Steve Martin, and Saturday Night Live... It's just one page long.
To Top Of Main Page
Labels: Get out of debt-- just pay it off, just do it-- one bill at a time






