http://mydd.com/users/theyoungturks/posts/clinton-ryan-caught-on-tape-on-medicare-cuts

Kabuki theatre

the art of "reel" to mask the "real"

who knows

but the holder of strings

as the kleig lights center our attention on the marionettes

Punch

to

our 

Judy

in the stacked game of 3 card Monte

as th… Read full post »

Scott Walker had a teacher.

The teacher's name was George W. Bush.

Bush only believed what he wanted to believe.

Facts be damned.

Scott Walker, Republican, has learned well.

The legislature to be a rubber stamp for a madness.

Neither politician has sprung from American soil.

Bush did not… Read full post »

Is this the last straw to break the camel's back?

"...A White House source familiar with the budget process told HuffPost that the president will propose cutting $2.5 billion from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, which received $5.1 billion in federal funds in 2009. That… Read full post »

This is what the Republican Party has devolved to:

"Gov. Christie announced this morning that the state will invest $260 million in the stalled Revel Casino project, allowing work to resume next week...."

For all of the "chest thumping of America first" jingoism by the Republican leaders in Congress, the true allegience that Republican leaders have is to foreign countries and foreign corporations over the obligations that our government has to its citizens.

[Republican Senator Pat] "Toomey's plan woul… Read full post »

Will he or won't he for the State of the Union address?  The question is if President Obama will call for cuts to Social Security.

President Obama's "Cat food Commission" other wise known as the National Commission of Fiscal Responsiblity and Reform has made recommendation to cut Social Security… Read full post »

The old need not apply

                                the colored need not apply

                     … Read full post »

"And the company had already determined its rules of engagement. “Blackwater does not intend to take any pirates into custody, but will use lethal force against pirates if necessary,” the cable said...."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40447975/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/

What is Blac… Read full post »

House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larsen explaining very succinctly why the Democrats got crushed this month:

We had a Roosevelt moment and responded like Hoover.

 http://firedoglake.com/2010/11/16/three-quotes-obama-needs-to-read/

This is why 29 million people who voted for Obama did not s… Read full post »

This is how it's going to play out in the lame duck session of Congress:

The Republicans will couple their demand for tax cuts for the rich to unemployment benefits to the 99er's.

Elegant and cruel to the extreme is what the Republican party has become.

Does it matter that tax… Read full post »

What do French workers (and students) know that American workers do not know?

The faux crisis of Social Security in America is nothing more than a cheap fearmongering tactic by the corporations and right wing billionaires that want to do away with it all together.

The same arguments are being used… Read full post »

Ian Welsh writes:

The rich crashed the world economy. They were bailed out, with their wealth having almost entirely recovered and corporate profits likewise have pretty much recovered. Now, at the G20, the world's leaders are discussing how to make regular people pay for the… Read full post »

Well isn't this comforting:

"Adding a dispersant - specifically Corexit 9500 - made the oil more poisonous. A lot more poisonous.

The "dispersed" oil had an LC50 of 317.7 ppm, making it more than 11 times more lethal in its effects. The study found a similar worsening… Read full post »

I read this and wondered:  Why does this make no sense at all?  "BP:  Mile-long tube sucking oil away from Gulf well" was the headline on a Yahoo featured story from AP.

I mean it gives the impression that the oil gusher is contained now.  But if you do the math… Read full post »

Well Nightline had one segment devoted to this ongoing crisis.  I think the local news had one segment on this crisis a few months ago.  Since that time there has been nothing about the collapse of bee colonies.

This is a crisis that will not go away but is easily forgotten… Read full post »

"University of Texas economics professor James K. Galbraith previously said that fraud caused the financial crisis:

    You had fraud in the origination of the mortgages, fraud in the underwriting, fraud in the ratings agencies.

Senator Kaufman said last month:

    Fraud an… Read full post »

What Digby says:

I don't think Obama's words alone have enough credibility anymore to fix this. He's going to have to take some concrete action.

It is time for action.

But, of course, since the election of Chris Brown, this is what we get for "leadership" on the signature issue… Read full post »

I had to laugh at the stupidity of the Tea Party people for this: "Tea Party Group Backs Brown, Pressures Third Party Candidate To Drop Out Of Mass. Senate Race"

http://bit.ly/5X6RiA

So the Republican Party will use these people to elect a man, Scott Brown, who… Read full post »

The latest Gallup Poll has President Obama experiencing some pretty harsh disapproval ratings among the American people on some key issues.

The president has 40% approval on the economy and 56% disapproval.

(h/t to Digby)

Gee, I wonder why those numbers are so bad?

No leadership on HCR and the p… Read full post »

McJoan, Dailykos.com, writes:

AP is at it again, with an article that says the House healthcare bill is way too expensive, and that "some moderate Democrats" might just not be able to bring themselves to spend that much.

If the price tag of having a robust public option to cover… Read full post »

Congratulations, Mr. President.  Winning the Nobel Peace Prize shows that the world is backing you for your initiatives  to "reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism."

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_nobel_pe… Read full post »

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine states: "We have no certainty as to whether or not these plans are going to be affordable."

Why in God's name do something that will fail?

What kind of morality do individuals have in the health insurance companies that will cause the death of Americans through… Read full post »

Why is God's name is Michael Moore's new documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story" rated "R"?

An "R" rating for "some language"?

What kind of language?  Predatory lending, vulture funds, TARP, taxpayer rip off, Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae, Bank of America, collateralized debt obligations, Moody's, Fe… Read full post »

McClatchy News' Washington Bureau scoop of the day:

<blockquote>Judge considers bid to block merger of voting machine giants

 WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Camden, N.J., agreed late Friday to hear a request for an emergency injuction that could halt Election Systems & Software's… Read full post »

Ozymandias

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that… Read full post »