The WAWG Blog

In American, personal wealth will be redistributed one of two ways: taxation and accountability, or the lack thereof. Will redistribution recreate a wealthy aristocracy this nation rebelled against long ago, or will it provide for the common good and give all citizens an equal chance at creating their own wealth?

America’s wealth redistribution will either benefit all of us or a select few at the expense of all of us. America’s wealth redistribution will either raise all boats or only those that can be well maintained. America’s wealth redistribution will either enrich the common good or engorge the well off. America’s wealth redistribution will either create and maintain a foundation for our democracy and our infrastructure, or let both crumble for the sake of self-interest. America’s wealth redistribution will either protect citizens and their shared resources from abuse or empower the abusers as they ravage the shared resources and protect their ‘individual’ gains. America’s wealth redistribution will either empower all citizens to become wealthy or empower a few to control most of the nation’s wealth. America’s wealth redistribution will either provide for a broad based common wealth, which gives all citizens a equal chance for success and building personal wealth, or will concentrate wealth and power in a very wealthy aristocracy.

For the last 60 years, our tax laws have favored the very wealthy at the expense of other Americans not like them. The tax cuts for the wealthy are highlighted by the chart below which shows the drop in the highest tax rate between 1945 and 2008.

60 Years of Tax Cuts for the Rich

As detailed in another posting, the impact of the above tax cuts has given 16 percent of American families, those who make over $105,000, a 361 percent greater tax cut than the other 84 percent of American families. America’s growing, but young, plutocracy is becoming wealthier and more powerful.

To these tax cuts, add the surreptitious use of privateering. Privateering takes a portion of the remaining tax revenues and diverts it to companies like Blackwater and other sole-source defense contractors, or to ‘too-big-to-fail’ banks. And so the wealthy CEOs get richer still and more powerful.

This redistribution of the nation’s wealth to the wealthy is also shown by the chart below. It shows how family income distribution has changed from 1945 (blue) to 1970 (green) to 2008 (yellow). (All incomes were adjusted to 2008 dollars.)

Through Tax Reduction The Nation’s Income Goes to the Rich

(Data for this chart were obtained from the Census Bureau: 1945, 1970 to 2008.)

In 1945, while all citizens were helping to fund their share of the common wealth, only 6.6 percent of the nation’s income wealth was distributed to those making more than $75,000. (In 1945, taxation was based on funding the common wealth to protect and empower all citizens. This progressive taxation also took into account the effects of systemic causation. This progressive taxation was exemplified by the tax rates during WWII, which included up to 32 brackets and rates that ranged from 10 percent to 94 percent.)

By 1970, after the highest tax rate was dropped by more than 30 percent, that same group tripled their share of the nation’s income to 18.3 percent. By 2008, even more favorable tax cuts allowed the wealthy to keep even more of their income. Now they capture 32.4 percent of the nation’s income wealth – about a five fold increase from 1945.

Of course, while this transfer of wealth to the rich was happening, the funding of our common wealth was reduced just as dramatically. Now a college education is becoming affordable for only the very rich and grades K-12 are underfunded and failing in more and more public school districts as tax cuts rule. Now citizens die from food poisoning and inadequately tested drugs due to lack of independent inspectors which are paid with falling tax revenues. Now our nation and state infrastructures are literally falling down or being overwhelmed by nature and citizens die as a direct result of tax cuts. Now we have to borrow from other nations to pay our war bills and bank CEO’s bonuses. Now we have corporations that build facilities that electrocute our troops so they can maximize their profit. Now we have a health insurance system that lets 45,000 Americans die to maximize CEO bonuses.

As the wealthy have become disproportionately wealthier and more powerful, what has happened to accountability for the nation’s wealth between 1945 and 2008? In 1945, with highest tax rates at 94 percent, all families were proportionately funding our common wealth – our elected officials were accountable to the voters for our common wealth and used it to protect and empower all citizens. In 2008, with the highest tax rate at 39 percent, mega rich individuals, who have gained the most from the nation’s common wealth, became accountable – to themselves and to shareholders.

This difference in the distribution of wealth and whose accountability for the redistribution is explained by the strict father family model of conservatives without conscience (CWC) and the nurturant family model of progressives. As stated by George Lakoff in Making Accountability Accountable ” To progressives, it [accountability] means social as well as personal responsibility — responsibility for both oneself and everyone else who could be harmed by one’s failure. To conservatives, it means individual responsibility only.”

In other words, for CWCs, the individual is solely accountable for their wealth and they have no responsibility for other Americans not like them. Nor do they believe that other factors have an impact on their wealth. They believe they are in control. For progressives, the individual and various systemic factors like the family you were born into and the availability of a good education, contribute to an individuals wealth. Progressives also believe we are all accountable for our effects on others. They that hold our elected officials are accountable for America’s common wealth and will not support those officials that show favoritism with our common wealth.

As political power has shifted from progressive elected officials to CWCs, funding for the common wealth was reduced significantly by substantial tax cuts for the plutocrats. The result has been a slow drift toward “you’re on your own” society where most citizens suffer more abuse and find it more and more difficult to get ahead. Increasing taxes on the mega rich is the only way to defund the rising plutocracy and re-fund the common wealth This in turn will provide for the protection and empowerment of all citizens to create their own wealth based on their abilities, better K-12 basic education, equal access to higher education, protecting our common resources like land, air and water, an infrastructure that enables equal, and safe access to the nations common wealth.

In summary, America’s common wealth has been hit by a triple whammy: tax cuts for the rich far larger that can be considered fair, tax refunds to the rich via privateering, and by a shift of household income into the excessively reduced upper tax brackets. In addition, accountability for the nation’s common wealth has been transferred from our elected representatives and handed over to rich individuals mostly accountable to themselves and corporate CEOs who are only accountable to shareholders. The ultimate effect of all this transfer of income and accountability is that our government is less able to protect and empower its citizens.

It’s time we all realize that privateering and tax cuts favoring the very wealthy are not what America needs. Just look at where they have gotten us – The Great Recession, a growing plutocracy, consumer debt at 100 percent of GDP, banks too big to fail, and ultimately the deaths of fellow citizens.

Bush Press Secretary Forgets 9/11 Attacks Occurred Under Bush – In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity Tuesday night, the onetime Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino claimed there had been no terrorist attacks under President George W. Bush. Either Perino was deliberately lying — or she forgot about the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United States: Sept. 11, 2001. In addition, a July 4, 2002 shooting at Los Angeles International Airport was determined by federal investigators, the Department of Justice and the FBI to fit the definition of terrorism. She also forgot about the anthrax mailings and the D. C. Sniper.

Despite being tapped by President Obama last week, for a key post on a board overseeing government-sponsored international broadcasting, former Bush spokesperson Perino (and current Fox News contributor) hasn’t stopped attacking the Obama administration on Fox.

Republicans Led Push for Louisiana Funding That Ended Up in Senate Health Bill – You’ve heard the story: To “buy” Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) vote to bring the Senate health bill to the floor last Saturday, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) inserted a provision that would deliver up to $300 million in federal Medicaid payments to Louisiana.

Mainstream reporters gave it ominous names like “The Louisiana Purchase,” and right-wing pundits like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh labeled Landrieu “the most expensive prostitute in the history of prostitution.”

But few have mentioned that it was Louisiana Republicans — including Gov. Bobby Jindal and Congressman Joseph Cao — who have been the most aggressive advocates for the measure that’s now put Landrieu in hot water.

Investment Bank CEOs Cashed in Before Wall Street Meltdown – The CEOs of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the two investment banks that collapsed during last year’s financial meltdown, walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation even as the company’s shareholders lost everything, says a new report from Harvard Law School.

The top five executives at Bear Stearns made a total of $1.4 billion from bonuses and equity sales between 2000 and 2008, while the top five executives at Lehman Brothers made around $1 billion during that same period — the period during which the companies ran up the bad investments that would see them collapse in 2008, according to “The Wages of Failure” (PDF), a report from Harvard Law School’s Program on Corporate Governance.

“The people who invested in these companies should feel betrayed,” Nell Minow, a compensation expert at the Corporate Library, told NBC’s Lisa Myers. “The whole idea of capitalism is that the people provide the capital and the executives take care of it for us. In this case, the people provided the capital, and the executives took it.”

Bear Stearns CEO James Cayne personally made $388 million in the eight-year period leading up to the bank’s collapse, while Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld made $541 million. Boomberg news service notes that “shareholders who held their shares throughout the period analyzed in the report lost most of their initial investment.”

People on Terror Watch Lists Have Bought Guns or Explosives 865 Times Over the Past Five Years – Suspected terrorists, those on actual watch lists, successfully bought guns or explosives in the good ole US of A 865 times over the past five years. Why? Because of the Terror Gap. That is the space in our law created by right wingers with celery-stalks-for-brain-stems, bed-wetting Blue Dogs, and neglectful progressives that allows those on watch lists to pass background checks when purchasing weaponry that kills. You can’t get on a plane–but you can buy a freakin’ explosive.

Conservatives are in a corner shivering over the prospect of KSM being tried in New York, but if a member of Al Qaeda buys a cache of guns the FBI won’t know about it and any background information given when purchasing said weapons is destroyed faster than you can say Nidal Malik Hasan or Eric Rudolph.

Sarah Palin Issues Thankfulnesses List – 😉 One day before Thanksgiving, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today issued the following “thankfulnesses list”:

• I have thankfulness that we have a President who is learning to celebrate our American holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas also, even though he didn’t have either of those days when he was growing up in Kenya.
• I have thankfulness that we live in a country where we have the freedom to speak, even though Todd has never done so actually.
• I have thankfulness that little Falcon was found safe and sound in that box, being that I was worried sick about him flying around in that balloon.
• I have thankfulness for all of those Jewish settlements on the West Bank, seeing that Jewish people will be flocking to the Holy Land to celebrate Thanksgiving.
• I have thankfulness also for the new drapes I installed in my house to keep the Russians from peeping in.
• I have thankfulness that Levi posed in Playgirl, and I’m sure all the gay men who read Playgirl have thankfulness for that also.
• I have thankfulness also that Levi’s mom has been put in prison so I don’t have to worry about her selling drugs to Willow or Piper.
• And finally, I have thankfulness for all of the good people who read my book, and for the person who wrote it also.

Regards,

Jim

US Discussed Iraq Regime Change a Month After Bush Took Office, Senior British Officials Say – The chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee in 2001 told investigators Monday that elements of the Bush Administration were pushing for regime change in Iraq in early 2001, months before the 9/11 attacks and two years before President George W. Bush formally announced the Iraq war.

British investigators are probing how Britain got into the Iraq war and if officials misled the public. Already, a leaked report has shown that then-Prime Minister Tony Blair covered up British military plans for a full Iraq invasion throughout 2002, claiming at the time that Britain’s objective was “disarmament, not regime change.”

What’s Wrong With This Picture? 70% + 60% + 63% = 193% – Republican Pie Floweth Over?

Woman Forced To Give Birth In Shackles By Sheriff Arpaio Deputy – Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio needs no introduction, his bigotry and illegal activity has been well documented. The latest outrage on his watch comes at the hands of one of his deputies, who forced a woman to give birth while cuffed at the wrists and ankles, then ordered the baby taken from the mother:

The bleeding kept her up all night, drenching her black-and-white-striped jail uniform.

Alma Chacón feared her baby would arrive early. Her nightmare had started with a traffic stop a day earlier. She’d been weeping since. “What if the baby is born here, in the jail?” she thought.

In the afternoon, she was shackled and transported to Maricopa County Medical Center, where she gave birth in a “forensic restraint.” She couldn’t hold her baby daughter or kiss her. She could only watch as hospital personnel carried the infant out the door. She wouldn’t see the baby for 72 days.

Her case raises questions about the use of racial profiling by Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies during traffic stops, but, most importantly, sheds light on the mistreatment of unconvicted immigrants inside county jails.

Chacon did have two warrants for her arrest, but this sort of barbaric treatment goes beyond the pale. The officer claimed he had no choice, but it does raise some serious red flags. Somehow I doubt he truly thought Chacon was a flight risk, or capable of doing serious harm to hospital staff in the middle of giving birth. There is an online petition to remove Sheriff Arpaio, you can view it and sign it here.

Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be – 😉 Spurred by an administration he believes to be guilty of numerous transgressions, self-described American patriot Kyle Mortensen, 47, is a vehement defender of ideas he seems to think are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and principles that brave men have fought and died for solely in his head.

“Our very way of life is under siege,” said Mortensen, whose understanding of the Constitution derives not from a close reading of the document but from talk-show pundits, books by television personalities, and the limitless expanse of his own colorful imagination. “It’s time for true Americans to stand up and protect the values that make us who we are.”

“Right there in the preamble, the authors make their priorities clear: ‘one nation under God,'” said Mortensen, attributing to the Constitution a line from the Pledge of Allegiance, which itself did not include any reference to a deity until 1954. “Well, there’s a reason they put that right at the top.”

Mortensen said his admiration for the loose assemblage of vague half-notions he calls the Constitution has only grown over time. He believes that each detail he has pulled from thin air—from prohibitions on sodomy and flag-burning, to mandatory crackdowns on immigrants, to the right of citizens not to have their hard-earned income confiscated in the form of taxes—has contributed to making it the best framework for governance “since the Ten Commandments.”

Regards,

Jim

Woman Loses Health Insurance for Smiling on Facebook – Nathalie Blanchard, 29, took long-term sick leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, more than a year ago for severe depression. She was receiving monthly benefits from her insurance company, Manulife. When Blanchard called Manulife to inquire why the payments dried up, Manulife cited several pictures Blanchard had posted on her social networking website page, including some showing her enjoying herself during a male strip-tease show at a Chippendales bar, celebrating her birthday and bathing in the sun. Based on these postings, the firm claimed Blanchard was no longer depressed.

Lou Dobbs Lies to Telemundo About His Phony Leprosy Story – Lou Dobbs was interviewed on the Spanish-language network Telemundo yesterday by Maria Celeste:
Celeste: You mention that this criticism and this perception, misperception of yourself, it’s only in the extreme, ah, extreme left, and that might be the case in the Anglo market, but trust me, in the Hispanic world, you are viewed by many, by many people as the No. 1 enemy — maybe because of the many inflammatory and misleading statements about undocumented immigrants that you’ve made throughout the years. And let me go with the first one.

The most outrageous one was blaming immigrants for a dramatic rise in leprosy cases in the United States, stating that in three years, the cases of leprosy had suddenly jumped to 7,000, and that this was largely due to the influx of undocumented immigrants. By the way, according to the United States Department of Health [and Human Services], 7,000 cases of leprosy were reported over thirty years, not three, which is a big difference. But even after that, that was proven wrong, what you had said, you stood behind your reporting, insisting that it was accurate. Why was that?

Dobbs: No no. Let’s be very clear. For one, I did not stand behind that reporting. In fact, we corrected that reporting. And secondly, in fairness to me, if you will, I never said a word about leprosy and undocumented immigrants, as you put it.

Dobbs is just baldfacedly lying. He did indeed defend that reporting, he did not correct it at any time, and Romans’ didn’t simply say “those had shot up dramatically over the course of three years,” she clearly indicated that they had skyrocketed from 900 to 7,000 cases — a grotesquely false claim.

Tea Partiers Attack Family Who Lost Daughter and Grandchild – Dan and Midge Hough, of Chicago, spoke in favor of health care reform and in support of U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) at a Nov. 14 town hall meeting in Oak Lawn. Their daughter-in-law, Jenny, and an unborn grandchild died recently due in part, they believe, to a lack of health insurance. They said Jenny was not receiving regular prenatal care and ended up in an emergency room with double pneumonia that developed into septic shock. Her baby died in the womb, and Jenny died a few weeks later, leaving behind a husband and a 2-year-old daughter.

Catherina Wojtowicz, of Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community, an organizer for a Tea Party splinter group, Chicago Tea Party Patriots, falsely claimed that the Houghs fabricated their story. In an e-mail, she called them operatives of President Barack Obama who “go from event to event and (cry) the same story.” When the Houghs spoke at the Lipinski event, some Tea Partiers ridiculed them. They moaned and rolled their eyes and interrupted. Midge Hough began to cry.

It certainly was a low mark in a very dark week. What could be more illustrative of our state’s political marshland than openly mocking a grieving family?

Regards,

Jim

Good Book Title – rogue:

noun –
1. An unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal.
2. One who is playfully mischievous; a scamp.
3. A wandering beggar; a vagrant.
4. A vicious and solitary animal, especially an elephant that has separated itself from its herd.
5. An organism, especially a plant, that shows an undesirable variation from a standard.

adj. –
1. Vicious and solitary. Used of an animal, especially an elephant.
2. Large, destructive, and anomalous or unpredictable: a rogue wave; a rogue tornado.
3. Operating outside normal or desirable controls:

Bad Hillbilly Grammar, Alaskan Style – Sarah Palin took her book tour to the Rush Limbaugh Show this morning. The Oprah and Barbara Walters interviews have been fun, because they mostly just asked her about Levi Johnston, and it’s gratifying that God sent him to ruin her life and save the Republic. (Sometimes God opens a door. And it’s to Bristol’s room.) But the Rush interview was different. To Rush’s credit, he actually asked her about politics.

In answering about a dozen questions, Palin said some combination of “solutions,” “conservative” and “commonsense” twenty-five times. Is this an interview or a drinking game? Was Rush rewarding her by tossing her fish?

Her excitement got the better of her when she said, “But those common sense solutions there.” This was a shoehorn too far, as the correct form, in Hillbilly, is obviously “Those there commonsense solutions.”
When asked about the special Congressional election in New York’s 23rd District, Palin painted the race as part of “a clearer and clearer picture that what Americans are seeking – even in a district there in New York – they are seeking common sense conservative solutions to all the problems that we are facing.” Apparently she forgot that the Democrat won.

A Mixed Review – 😉 The book also fails to expose Mrs. Palin’s intellectual brilliance and keen grasp of foreign policy issues. Why wasn’t the text of her recent speech in Hong Kong included? Although it remains secret, it’s rumored that she viciously rebuked the Vietcong king for his assault on the Empire State Building. That’s a speech we’ve been waiting for nearly 75 years to hear. It’s big news and should have been included.

But a few bad reviews won’t stop her. She’s seen much worse from her kitchen window. It can’t be pleasant to gaze upon Antichristograd every morning as you brew your coffee.

My review isn’t complete, but I think I’ll quit anyway, because writing reviews, like governing, is just too darned hard to finish.

10 Murders per Day in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico – A 7-year-old boy from El Paso, Texas, and his father were gunned down in the violent city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. More than 2,200 killings have been recorded this year in Ciudad Juarez, out of a population of approximately 1.5 million people. A bloody turf war between warring drug cartels that started last year has made the city one of the most violent in the world. According to statistics from local prosecutors, Ciudad Juarez records about 10 murders a day. The bloodiest month this year has been September, with 476 killings reported.

Democrats Give and Give, While Republicans Dig In – Senator Sherrod Brown, who is a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which included a public plan in its version of the health care legislation, said that liberals had already given a lot of ground, starting with their willingness to give up a fully government-run single-payer system, which many favor.

“A large number of people in this country including many, many doctors wanted Medicare for all,” he said. “That didn’t happen. Then we wanted a strong public option tied to Medicare rates. Then we wanted a public option building the Medicare network. That didn’t happen. Now we are saying public option coming out of the HELP Committee. And now we’re saying public option with the state opt-out. Where was the compromise coming from their side?”

Hard to Believe This is America – Rich Stockwell, senior producer at MSNBC’s “Countdown”, writes about his experiences at the free clinic funded by viewer contributions:

New Orleans, La. — – It happened as I watched a 50-something woman walk out, after spending several hours being attended to by volunteer doctors. “She’s decided against treatment. A reasonable decision under the circumstances,” the doctor tells us as she heads for the next patient. The president of the board of the National Association of Free Health Clinics tells me why: “It’s stage four breast cancer, her body is filled with tumors.” I don’t know when that woman last saw a doctor. But I do know that if she had health insurance, the odds she would have seen a doctor long ago are much higher, and her chances for an earlier diagnosis and treatment would have been far greater.

After watching for hours as the patients moved through the clinic, it was hard to believe that I was in America. …

Eighty-three percent of the patients they see are employed, they are not accepting other government help on a large scale, not “welfare queens” as some would like to have us believe. They are tax-paying, good, upstanding citizens who are trying to make it and give their kids a better life just like you and me. …

Health reform is not about Democrats or Republicans or who can score political points for the next election, it’s about people. It’s about fairness and justice in a system that knows none. I’d defy even the most hardened capitalist-loving-conservative to do what I did on Saturday and continue to pretend that the system in place right now is working. …

I am left with one overwhelming question: what does it say about us as a nation of people who can live in a country so rich and yet allow this to continue?

Hawaii Losing Beaches to Sea-Level Rise; Affects Economy – Geologists say more than 70 percent of Kauai’s beaches are eroding while Oahu has lost a quarter of its sandy shoreline. They warn the problem is only likely to get significantly worse in coming decades as global warming causes sea levels to rise more rapidly.

The loss of so many beaches is an alarming prospect for Hawaii on many levels. Many tourists come to Hawaii precisely because they want to lounge on and walk along its soft sandy shoreline. These visitors spend some $11.4 billion each year, making tourism the state’s largest employer.

A more rapid rise in sea levels, caused by global warming, is expected to contribute to erosion in Hawaii within decades. In 100 years, sea levels are likely to be at least 1 meter, or 3.3 feet, higher than they are now, pushing the ocean inland along coastal areas.

Disappearing sands would also wreak havoc on the environment as many animals and plants would lose important habitats. The Hawaiian monk seal, an endangered species, gives birth and nurses pups on beaches. The green sea turtle, a threatened species, lays eggs in the sand.

Same Guy Who Tried to Get Bush to Appoint His Corrupt Pal, Bernie Kerick, to Head Up Homeland Security is Now Giving Advice About Homeland Security – Yep, Rudy Giuliani, the guy who would put his city’s police force, and later, America’s security in the hands of the most corrupt person imaginable, tells us how to protest the country. And he contradicts himself doing it.

Republican Congressman Suggests Democrats Want Another Terrorist Attack – Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas suggested yesterday that Democrats may actually want another terrorist attack in New York City because rebuilding the city would create jobs. Gohmert also said that “it is extremely helpful to have a community organizer in the White House because you’ll need lots of community organization in order to adequately evacuate massive areas of the most densely populated area in America.”

CIA Secret ‘Torture’ Prison Built at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy – Where affluent Lithuanians once rode show horses and sipped coffee at a café, the CIA installed a concrete structure where it could use harsh tactics to interrogate up to eight suspected terrorists at a time. “The activities in that prison were illegal,” said human rights researcher John Sifton. “They included various forms of torture, including sleep deprivation, forced standing, painful stress positions.” A CIA front company, Elite, LLC, purchased the property and built the “black site” in 2004.

Detainees Moved to DMV; Could Be Held There ‘Indefinitely’ – 😉 In a plan that would solve the thorny problem of where to transfer the detainees currently held at Guantanamo, Attorney General Eric Holder said today that the enemy combatants would be transferred immediately to a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Manhattan.

While Mr. Holder did not indicate how long the detainees might be held there, he did say that the DMV “is capable of detaining them indefinitely.”

Elsewhere, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced that her audiobook would be read by Barney the Dinosaur.

Regards,

Jim

Effect of the Bush Tax Cut Extention – One picture says a lot:

Rudy Giuliani Falsely Claims Democrat Voted Against the House Health Care Bill – Rudy Giuliani falsely claims that the Democrat who won the NY-23 Congressional district voted against the House health care bill and CNN host doesn’t question him on it. BTW, the Democrat voted for it.

Neocon Bill Kristol Urges No Trial For Hasan: ‘They Should Just Go Ahead And Convict Him And Put Him To Death’ – Conservative says America don’t need no stinkin’ trials.

Geithner Singled Out In TARP Watchdog Neil Barofsky’s Scathing Report On AIG Bailout – A brutal report issued Monday by a government watchdog holds Timothy Geithner — then the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and now the nation’s Treasury Secretary — responsible for overpayments that put billions of extra tax dollars in the coffers of major Wall Street firms, most notably Goldman Sachs. The authoritative new narrative describes how, while bailing out insurance giant AIG last fall, a team led by Geithner (as part of the Bush Administration) failed nearly every step of the way.

Tea Partiers Dumb Enough to Get Tricked into Supporting Removal of White People From US – A speaker at an anti-immigration rally in Minneapolis this past weekend got the crowd to support more than just the deportation of all illegal immigrants — he got them cheering for the eviction of all European-descended immigrants to America who “stole this land through genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

A crowd of some 40 people showed up to the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday to protest proposed reform of US immigration law. One of those protesters, going by the alias “Robert Erickson,” got a speaking spot at the rally and used it to argue for the eviction of all descendants of European immigrants — in other words, that contingent of white Americans who these days see themselves as “real” Americans. “Erickson” walked off the stage leading the crowd in a loud chant of “Columbus go home! Columbus go home!”

18 of the Biggest Falsehoods in Sarah Palin’s book

More Palin Falsehoods Here – (Includes some repeats from previous list)

Regards,

Jim

Chamber Of Commerce Solicits Money For Economist Who Will Give Bad Review Of Health Care Bill – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is soliciting funds to pay an economist $50,000 to study health care reform legislation and issue (what the lobby presumes) will be a negative review, providing ammunition to shoot down health care reform in the Senate.

According to an e-mail from James P. Gelfand, the senior manager of health policy at the Chamber of Commerce, detailing how the plan would work:

“The economist will then circulate a sign-on letter to hundreds of other economists saying that the bill will kill jobs and hurt the economy. We will then be able to use this open letter to produce advertisements, and as a powerful lobbying and grass-roots document.”

Grass roots, did he say?

Chuck Norris Indulges in Violent Eliminationist Fantasies About Liberals – Fresh off warning us that President Obama intends to create a “one world order,” Chuck Norris went on Sean Hannity’s show last night on Fox and described his eliminationist fantasies if he ran for office:

Hannity: Why don’t you run? No no no, there’s a solution — why wouldn’t you — Chuck Norris could be governor of Texas one day.

Norris: You know why? Because I’d be sitting here with my opponent, and debating, and then he would start attacking my character, and I’d jump over there and choke him unconscious.

Hannity: You have more control than that!

Norris: I don’t! That’s the problem, you know. I have a thin skin. It was really tough in the film world. And in the political world, you know, I’d be killing half the people. …

Norris: You know, with all the senators, you can’t get anything done. You know, it’s always right and left —
Hannity: No, no, you can, I disagree with you. You can.

Norris: Well, what I’d have to do, I’d have to choke out all the Democrats.

Hannity: [laughs] Well, it’s a good start.

Republican Bill Would Allow “Mentally Incapacitated” Vets to Buy Guns – Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) says his “Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act” will protect veterans’ gun rights. But the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence calls it a “dangerous” proposal that could allow “over 100,000 mentally incapacitated or incompetent persons” to buy guns—people who would previously have been barred from doing so by the Veterans Administration (VA).

Deported! 😉 – Acting on anonymous tips from within the Hispanic-American community, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on Wednesday deported Luis Miguel Salvador Aguila Dominguez, who for the last 48 years had been living illegally in the United States under the name Lou Dobbs.

Evidence collected by investigators indicates that Dominguez/Dobbs, who has long claimed Texas heritage, was actually born in the Mexican state of Puebla to parents of Colombian descent, neither of whom were U.S. citizens. In the summer of his 16th year, he and 14 of his brothers and sisters paid smugglers to let them ride atop packages of cocaine in the cargo hold of a fishing boat bound for Texas under cover of night.

In addition to holding multiple jobs without ever obtaining a guest-worker permit or H-1B visa, “Dobbs” is reported to have collected welfare every month for nearly five decades. He appeared in good health when apprehended, having used Medicaid to obtain numerous health care services over the years, but immigration officials fear he still may have exposed the American population to the many infectious diseases illegal immigrants tend to carry, including both malaria and leprosy.

No one here knew anything about Mr. Dobbs’ past, and to be honest, we never asked,” said a source within CNN, who asked not to be identified. “All we knew was that he was willing to take the job most American newscasters didn’t want—namely, speaking out hysterically against immigration at every turn to help us gain ratings points against Fox News.”
Much more …

Regards,

Jim

Fox News Would Never At Like That – Watch the video of Carrie Prejean blabbing and blabbing on Larry King’s liberal media show about how the liberal media won’t let her talk, and then she censors herself by removing her mike. And who is her invisible advisor?

When Larry King asked Ms. Prejean why she settled her lawsuit against the Miss Universe pageant, she replied by saying he was being “inappropriate.” She said she was attacked by the liberal media and that people on Fox News would never do that or they would be fired. Well, just read the next story.

Fox News Regular Says Katie Couric Looks Oriental – Speaking on Don Imus’ Imus in the Morning program, which is simulcast on Fox Business network, Fox News regular and President George H. W. Bush appointee Bo Dietl launched a personal attack on Couric, who some conservatives consider too liberal to be an objective news network anchor.

Dubbing Couric a “cougar” — a woman who dates younger men — Dietl continued:

“She looks like a Halloween cartoon. She’s got her eyes pulled so far, she’s starting to look Chinese herself. Enough with these face lifts, alright Kate.

And enough with the young guys Katie. You’re over the top baby. You’re over fifty. Start going out with guys your own age. This cougar stuff don’t work.”

Later in the interview, he went one further: “You like her eyes the way they look? They’re getting smaller and smaller.”

“Ten years ago, she looked American,” Dietl remarked. “Today she is an Oriental.”
Imus replied by calling Couric a “rodent.”

Dietl has appeared on the programs of Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto and numerous times on Imus’ Imus in the Morning

Regards,

Jim

Fox News Host Falsifies Footage to Make Republican Health Care Protest Look Bigger – Fox News’ Sean Hannity interviewed Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann following an event aimed at stirring up a crowd against Democrats’ healthcare reform bill.

Hannity said, “20,000+ people showed up. Were you as surprised as I was?” Hannity showed two video clips of what appeared to be huge crowds at the protest.

However, the clips appeared to be from two entirely different protests as Jon Stewart pointed out on The Daily Show. “When that clip started, it was a clear fall day in Washington, D.C. Not a cloud in the sky, the leaves have changed,” noted Stewart. “All of a sudden, the trees turn green again, and it’s cloudy, and it looks like thousands and thousands of more people arrived,” he continued. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think they just put two different days together and acted like they didn’t.”

The bogus footage, Stewart found, actually came from a Sept. 12 protest two months ago.

The Washington Post’s onetime White House reporter and columnist Dana Milbank wrote Friday. “I divided it [the crowd] into sections and counted. That’s where I came up with 5,000. It’s possible more came after I did my count, but nothing near 10,000.”

Happy Veterans Day: Lack of Health Care Killed 2,266 US Veterans Last Year According to Study – The number of US veterans who died in 2008 because they lacked health insurance was 14 times higher than the US military death toll in Afghanistan that year, according to a new study. The analysis produced by two Harvard medical researchers estimates that 2,266 US military veterans under the age of 65 died in 2008 because they lacked health coverage and had reduced access to medical care.

Coal Front Group Hijacks Veterans, Dishonors Veterans’ Day – Today, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry front group sent a message to their e-mail list that, under the guise of honoring Veterans’ Day, that hijacks the efforts of Veterans working against climate change and advocating a transition to clean energy.

Blackwater Approved Payoffs of Iraqi Officials According to Whistleblowers – To stifle criticism of civilian killings, the American mercenary group formerly known as Blackwater approved payoffs of up to $1 million for Iraqi politicians, according to former company officials who spoke to The New York Times.

“Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2007, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nisour Square stoked long-simmering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company’s employees,” the Times reported. “American and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater’s ouster from the country and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients, worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.”

Sara Palin Tries to Conjure Up a Coin Conspiracy – In a speech to a Minnesota anti-abortion crowd last week, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin seemed to see a conspiracy in a decision to put “In God We Trust” on the edge — rather than the face — of new presidential dollar coins. “Who calls a shot like that?” she inquired. “Who makes a decision like that?”

“It’s a disturbing trend,” she added, hinting that maybe the Obama administration or Democratic-led Congress had something to do with it.

Turns out, the new coins were commissioned by the Republican-led Congress in 2005 and approved by President Bush. The decision was reversed in 2007 — with the support of Democrats in Congress.

Cost of Extra Year’s Climate Inaction is $500 Billion – The world will have to spend an extra $500 billion to cut carbon emissions for each year it delays implementing a major assault on global warming, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

At United Nations climate talks in Barcelona last week negotiators from developed countries said the world would need an extra six to 12 months to agree a legally binding, global deal to cut carbon emissions beyond a planned December deadline.

The IEA, energy adviser to 28 industrialized countries, said the world must act urgently to put greenhouse gases on a track to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius.

Every year’s delay beyond 2010 would add another $500 billion to the extra investment of $10,500 billion needed from 2010-2030 to curb carbon emissions, for example to improve energy efficiency and boost low-carbon renewable energy.

High BPA Levels in Plastics Linked to Male Erectile Dysfunction and Obesity – Study in China is likely to bring further scrutiny of the common chemical.

Regards,

Jim

A Study in Contrast:

Rep. Steven King, (R-IA) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) make false statements about the House health care bill … and then says all Americans have health care coverage.
Watch the lies.

Gingrich and Perry Tout Texas Health Care Mess – Everything, they say, is bigger in the Texas. So it is with the failure of the health care system. Leading the nation with a jaw-dropping 25% of its residents uninsured, Texas ranked 46th in the Commonwealth Fund’s 2009 scorecard of state health care performance. All of which makes Friday’s op-ed by Newt Gingrich and Governor Rick Perry touting the mess in Texas all the more puzzling.

Rupert Murdoch Plans to Charge for Internet Content and Block Google Searches – Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, says he will remove stories from Google’s search index as a way to encourage people to pay for content online. In an interview with Sky News Australia, the mogul said that newspapers in his media empire – including the Sun, the Times and the Wall Street Journal – would consider blocking Google entirely once they had enacted plans to charge people for reading their stories on the web.

In recent months, Murdoch his lieutenants have stepped up their war of words with Google, accusing it of “kleptomania” and acting as a “parasite” for including News Corp content in. But asked why News Corp executives had not chosen to simply remove their websites entirely from Google’s search indexes its Google News pages – a simple technical operation – Murdoch said just such a move was on the cards.

The takeover of the Republican Party – by the [far right of the far] right is no laughing matter. – Something unprecedented is happening here — and it’s very bad for America.

Regards,

Jim