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Latest Articles: Opinions/Editorials
Kerry Killinger, the man who destroyed WaMu
Post Date: 2010-04-16 11:42:14 by Skip Intro
0 Comments
Kerry Killinger, the man who destroyed WaMu He was the CEO who, by promoting reckless and wildly speculative lending, brought disaster to a 100-year-old banking institution. Kerry Killinger, the deposed head of Washington Mutual, was in Congress this week protesting that the seizure of the Seattle-based bank on Sept. 25, 2008, was not only premature, it was "unfair." Had WaMu only been placed on the "do not short list" and thus protected from those nasty Wall Street speculators. Had WaMu only been allowed to live a few weeks longer, it could have benefited from the increase in federal deposit insurance (the per-person limit was raised to $250,000 from $100,000). Had ...
Dear Deficit Commission, It's Not Hard
Post Date: 2010-04-12 13:11:47 by go65
5 Comments
Dear Deficit Commission, It's not hard to figure out why we have a huge deficit. It's so easy I don't have to use words. Here are some pictures: Bill Clinton raised taxes on the rich. Bush cut them. Now, about that huge national debt... The second chart kind of explains itself. The third chart can help you find a place to get some money: (Note: There is no more Soviet Union.) In case that isn't clear enough, try this: Let me know if you still have any questions.
Matt Drudge and the Republican Delusion
Post Date: 2010-03-31 11:53:58 by Brian S
3 Comments
In my opinion Matt Drudge is the most important and influential single figure in American media. In terms of daily and ongoing influence he is more influential than The New York Times, the television networks, cable news or anyone else. Let me suggest here that Drudge's power may turn out to be more of a curse than a blessing for Republicans and conservatives because in my view, it fosters delusions that can lead to defeat. Recently a Gallup poll, of course highlighted on Drudge, found that Obama's numbers had (then) turned more unfavorable than favorable. This has (now) dramatically changed, unreported by Drudge, with Obama's favorables now well above his unfavorables. The ...
The Dawn of a New Age In the United States
Post Date: 2010-03-29 09:12:29 by war
0 Comments
Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, after a tumultuous year of political theater, the Age of Obama has dawned. With legislative success however tarnished by rancor and dissent, the hopes and dreams of generations of Progressives have been fulfilled. The trifecta of Social Security, Medicare, and the first installment of Universal Healthcare are now the law of the land. Based on a common set of financial principles and an unshakable faith in the wisdom of government the productive power of the young, the healthy, the successful, and generations yet unborn are now fully lashed to the yoke of redistribution. The poor, the old, the infirm, the government employee, the union worker, the ...
Going to Extreme
Post Date: 2010-03-27 13:14:00 by Skip Intro
0 Comments
Going to Extreme I admit it: I had fun watching right-wingers go wild as health reform finally became law. But a few days later, it doesn’t seem quite as entertaining — and not just because of the wave of vandalism and threats aimed at Democratic lawmakers. For if you care about America’s future, you can’t be happy as extremists take full control of one of our two great political parties. To be sure, it was enjoyable watching Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican of California, warn that by passing health reform, Democrats “will finally lay the cornerstone of their socialist utopia on the backs of the American people.” Gosh, that sounds uncomfortable. ...
Laying the Groundwork for Universal Health Care Coverage
Post Date: 2010-03-27 09:50:09 by go65
3 Comments
But as part of that [social] contract, it is also reasonable to expect residents of the society who can do so to contribute an appropriate amount to their own health care. This translates into a requirement on individuals to enroll themselves and their dependents in at least a basic health plan – one that at the minimum should protect the rest of society from large and unexpected medical costs incurred by the family. And as any social contract, there would also be an obligation on society. To the extent that the family cannot reasonably afford reasonable basic coverage, the rest of society, via government, should take responsibility for financing that minimum coverage. The obligations ...
Memo To Dems: People Still Don't Like Obamacare
Post Date: 2010-03-26 12:15:54 by war
7 Comments
Did the world really change overnight? If you listen to some Democratic spinners, you might think that the same American people who opposed Obamacare for many, many months now support it. This week the president's supporters embraced a quickie poll by Gallup/USA Today showing that more Americans say it was a "good thing" than a "bad thing" that the health care plan has now been passed. Based on that rushed and flawed survey -- among other things, Gallup asked the question in a different way than before -- some commentators pronounced it a new day. One suggested that Republicans need to learn "the Kenny Rogers rule: Know when to fold 'em." But has ...
Masters of Distraction
Post Date: 2010-03-26 09:35:04 by war
22 Comments
The mob is furious. And while it hollers on about "killing" bills, Republicans stoke the fury by calling on citizens to "target" races in "battleground" states. Get it? "Target." The violent intentions are palpable. Most Americans abhor violence and no serious person has offered excuses or rationalized the actions of the smattering of loons who have threatened politicians who voted for health care reform. But this campaign of distraction mounted by Democrats meaning to smear millions of Americans involved in legitimate political expression is as transparent as it is distasteful. The narrative: Fearful underdog Democrats (true if you ignore their ...
Why I voted for this health care bill
Post Date: 2010-03-26 09:24:58 by war
2 Comments
Before I was a public servant I was a small-business owner, keeping the books in the Web-development firm my husband and I started. I crunched numbers, evaluated costs and always looked for solutions that combined good budgeting with good management. Every time we made a major business decision, we evaluated that decision on its own merit. That was the approach I brought to Congress a year and a half ago: weigh costs with results, and make decisions based on the facts, not politics. I know this has angered people on the left as well as the right. Frankly, I take that as a sign that I am doing my job. Last fall, I voted against the House version of health care reform. I had many issues ...
Going to Extreme
Post Date: 2010-03-26 09:13:47 by war
2 Comments
I admit it: I had fun watching right-wingers go wild as health reform finally became law. But a few days later, it doesn’t seem quite as entertaining — and not just because of the wave of vandalism and threats aimed at Democratic lawmakers. For if you care about America’s future, you can’t be happy as extremists take full control of one of our two great political parties. To be sure, it was enjoyable watching Representative Devin Nunes, a Republican of California, warn that by passing health reform, Democrats “will finally lay the cornerstone of their socialist utopia on the backs of the American people.” Gosh, that sounds uncomfortable. And it’s been a ...
Obama Rates Higher Than Reagan At Same Point In Term
Post Date: 2010-03-25 08:19:49 by war
1 Comments
March 25 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama receives lukewarm ratings from Americans, at least until you compare him with other major political figures and institutions. Fifty percent approve of the job he is doing, a Bloomberg National Poll shows, down from 54 percent in December. Those favorability numbers look solid when compared with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and both political parties, with voters unhappy about U.S. finances and the direction the nation is heading. “It’s about the money,” says J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., a Des Moines, Iowa-based firm that ...
An open letter to conservatives
Post Date: 2010-03-24 12:36:22 by Skip Intro
7 Comments
An open letter to conservatives Dear Conservative Americans, The years have not been kind to you. I grew up in a profoundly Republican home, so I can remember when you wore a very different face than the one we see now. You've lost me and you've lost most of America. Because I believe having responsible choices is important to democracy, I'd like to give you some advice and an invitation. First, the invitation: Come back to us. Now the advice. You're going to have to come up with a platform that isn't built on a foundation of cowardice: fear of people with colors, religions, cultures and sex lives that differ from your own; fear of reform in banking, health care, ...
Healthcare Reform Helps Obama as Republicans Hurt Themselves
Post Date: 2010-03-23 13:17:29 by Brian S
2 Comments
By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog As the great debate raged on Capitol Hill over the weekend, I happened to run into Norm Ornstein, the American Enterprise Institute scholar. It was a happy encounter, since I needed an expert to validate a notion that was rattling around in my brain, about the political winners and losers in the healthcare debate. Ornstein confirmed something I had read, or been told, once upon a time: that in predicting the outcome of an off-year election, no indicator is more reliable than a president's popularity. Voters may be upset about the lagging economy, or generally disgusted with Congress and its ways, but if Barack Obama has a relatively ...
David Frum: Waterloo
Post Date: 2010-03-21 19:50:29 by go65
10 Comments
Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s. It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But: (1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs. (2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now. So far, I think a lot of ...
Rampant Patriotism Breaches On America's Right
Post Date: 2010-03-21 19:17:09 by Brian S
0 Comments
During the Bush years, the Bush-following Right's Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, frequently accused opponents of the Iraq War of being "unpatriotic," endangering the Troops, and committing treason: "They're not so much 'antiwar' as just on the other side," he often wrote. Today, the same Glenn Reynolds wrote (emphasis added): If I were the Israelis, not only would I bomb Iran, but I'd do so in such a way as to create as much trouble for China, Russia, Europe and the United States as possible. Calling on a foreign country to act in a way that creates "as ...
Is China's Politburo spoiling for a showdown with America?
Post Date: 2010-03-15 07:45:26 by A K A Stone
2 Comments
China has succumbed to hubris. It has mistaken the soft diplomacy of Barack Obama for weakness, mistaken the US credit crisis for decline, and mistaken its own mercantilist bubble for ascendancy. There are echoes of Anglo-German spats before the First World War, when Wilhelmine Berlin so badly misjudged the strategic balance of power and over-played its hand. Within a month the US Treasury must rule whether China is a "currency manipulator", triggering sanctions under US law. This has been finessed before, but we are in a new world now with America's U6 unemployment at 16.8pc. "It's going to be really hard for them yet again to fudge on the obvious fact that China ...
Rush Limbaugh, Inadvertent Socialized Medicine Fan
Post Date: 2010-03-10 10:48:54 by go65
14 Comments
The low-end of the right-wing, hate-talk AM dial has a socialized medicine supporter! OK, an inadvertent public option supporter. It all started in January, when Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a hospital in Hawaii with chest pains. At a press conference after his recovery, he crowed: “Based on what happened here to me, I don’t think there’s one thing wrong with the American health care system. It is working just fine, just dandy.” What Limbaugh appears to not have known is that since 1974, Hawaii has had a state-wide employer mandate for health insurance. The employer mandate is one of the key points of health care reform that right-wingers like Limbaugh have railed ...
Are There Any "ACER ASPIRE" Laptop Owners Here?
Post Date: 2010-03-03 16:52:56 by Murron
0 Comments
Are There Any "ACER ASPIRE" Laptop Owners Here? I just got my first laptop, it's an Acer Aspire 5517 and wanted to know if anyone else here has a laptop, and if you could post any 'tips', 'helpful hints', 'warnings'...ect? I sure would be very appreciative of any advice and/or opinions. After about 3yrs, my monitor for my Compaq went dead, so I called around to see where I could go locally and buy another...every shop and store in our area were out of monitors. I either had to wait, or order one, so I decided to just get myself a laptop. Right now I have it conn ected to my ISP (DSL) provider, but later I will get the router so I can go mobile. ...
Tea Baggers: Where Were You When Bush Demolished U.S. Economy?
Post Date: 2010-02-28 17:45:21 by Brian S
34 Comments
If you want a stern dose of reality I recommend visiting an important website, one to keep you in touch with the real world in a society where media and political spin abound. The site is USDebtClock.Org and all you need to do is look at the steadily changing, ever flickering numbers that literally jump out at you to get in touch with the real economic world. As I write this the grand total stands at over $12.4 trillion. That encompasses $40,239 owed per citizen. While this figure has been quoted frequently when this verboten topic has been discussed the real figure of overriding importance that has tended to be overlooked is the amount per taxpayer. While $40,239 is a far from ...
It's George Wallace's GOP Now
Post Date: 2010-02-26 21:21:07 by Skip Intro
6 Comments
It's George Wallace's GOP Now Like Wallace and his supporters 40 years ago, today's conservative populists are long on anger and short on coherence. by Jonathan Rauch Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 The history of the modern Republican Party in one sentence: Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller got into an argument and George Wallace won. OK, footnotes are required. The most important is that racism, a central factor in Wallace's career, is marginal in today's Republican Party. In fact, if there is anything Republicans like about President Obama, it is the racial breakthrough that his election represents. Nothing in this article implies that the GOP is a racist party. ...
Zapatista Candidate for Ohio Governor
Post Date: 2010-02-26 15:46:08 by Murron
3 Comments
Democrat, a Republican, a Green, and a Libertarian aren’t enough, we’ve got a Zapatista candidate for governor. Sean Swain is running as a write-in – from his prison cell. Again. Swain ran in 2006 (the Secretary of State’s Office doesn’t record any write-in votes on its web site). This time again he’s running from Mansfield Correctional Institution and I must say – he’s got a pretty impressive web site. His goal: ”Steer Ohio into a corporation- and bank-free future.” He also claims to be the only candidate to seek endorsements from Fidel Castro, Hugh Chavez, and of course, Subcommandante Marcos http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2010 ...
The Road to Armageddon
Post Date: 2010-02-26 12:45:01 by Brian S
4 Comments
Operation Northwoods was a plot drawn up by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff for the CIA to commit acts of terrorism in American cities and fabricate evidence blaming Castro so that the US could gain domestic and international support for regime change in Cuba. The secret plan was nixed by President John F. Kennedy and was declassified by the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board, says Paul Craig Roberts. The Washington Times is a newspaper that looks with favor upon the Bush/Cheney/Obama/neocon wars of aggression in the Middle East and favors making terrorists pay for 9/11. Therefore, I was surprised to learn on February 24 that the most popular story on the paper's website ...
Pee-Wee for President? (Luap Nor A/K/A Republican Party's "Crazy Uncle")
Post Date: 2010-02-21 20:15:10 by _Jim
0 Comments
Ron Paul has won the CPAC straw Presidential vote with 31 percent of the total. This is dismaying, to the extent one takes it seriously. Ron Paul is the crazy uncle in the Republican Party's attic. He is not a principled libertarian like, say, Steve Forbes. Rather, as I noted in this post, where I likened him to Pee-Wee Herman, Paul has a rather sinister history as a hater and conspiracy theorist. He has no business being taken seriously as a Presidential contender--and that's before we even start talking about his inadequate vision of national security or his disgraceful performance in the 2008 Presidential debates. - - - - - The "Pee-Wee Herman" of the Republican ...
The Olympic Death Wish
Post Date: 2010-02-21 18:07:57 by _Jim
1 Comments
There is something very, very wrong about the Olympics that no one is talking about; it's the same thing that was wrong with Expo67. There is a real prospect the Olympic 'spirit' will end in slavery and civilizational death. The Olympic Death Wish by Frank Hilliard Let's start with this quote from today's Globe & Mail, one of many extolling the spirit of the Olympics. Visitors all say Vancouver is a positive love fest: Juggler David Aiken - a.k.a. The Checkerboard Guy - performs two shows a day. Mr. Aiken said the atmosphere at Vancouver's Olympic epicentre is electric. A veteran street performer, he said it's a joy to watch people from different nations ...
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