GOP cyber-security expert suggests Diebold tampered with 2002 election
By Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane
CyberSecurity Expert Raw Story.com
A leading cyber-security expert and former delegate for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections.
Steven Spoonamore is the founder and until recently the CEO of Cybrinth LLC, an information technology policy and security firm that serves Fortune 100 companies. At a little noticed press conference in Columbus, Ohio Thursday, he discussed his investigation of a computer patch that was applied to Diebold Election Systems voting machines in Georgia right before that state's November 2002 election.
Spoonamore is one of the most prominent cyber-security experts in the country. He has security clearances from his work with the intelligence community and other government agencies, as well as the Department of Defense, and is one of the world’s leading authorities on hacking and cyber-espionage.
In 1995, Spoonamore received a civilian citation for his work with the Department of Defense. He was again recognized for his contributions in 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security. Spoonamore is also a registered Republican and a John McCain delegate who until recently was advising the McCain campaign.
Spoonamore received the Diebold patch from a whistleblower close to the office of Cathy Cox, Georgia’s then-Secretary of State. In discussions with RAW STORY, the whistleblower -- who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation -- said that he became suspicious of Diebold's actions in Georgia for two reasons. The first red flag went up when the computer patch was installed in person by Diebold's Chief Executive Officer, Bob Urosevich, who flew in from Texas and applied it in just two counties, DeKalb and Fulton, both Democratic strongholds. The source states that Cox was not privy to these changes until after the election and that she became particularly concerned over the patch being installed in just those two counties.
The whistleblower said another flag went up when it became apparent that the patch installed by Urosevich had failed to fix a problem with the computer clock, which employees from Diebold and the Georgia Secretary of State’s office had been told the patch was designed specifically to address.
Some critics of electronic voting raised questions about the 2002 Georgia race even at the time. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, who was five percentage points ahead of Republican challenger Saxby Chambliss in polls taken a week before the vote, lost 53% to 46%. Incumbent Democratic Governor Roy Barnes, who led challenger Sonny Perdue in the polls by eleven points, lost 51% to 46%. However, because the Diebold machines used throughout the state provided no paper trail, it was impossible to ask for a recount in either case.
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Read the rest of the story:
Raw Story.com
That Diebold tampered with the elections and still does is a given. I remember when the President of the company openly bragged he could give the election to whoever he wanted.
ReplyDeleteThe machines are only one of a growing number of ways the election can be stolen. The last 2 were stolen and I still have to wonder how they are going to steal this one because they have to.
Remember the primaries in New Hampshire when Obama and I think Edwards alleged the machines miscounted the votes demanding a recount? They were told they could have it if they would pay for it and agreed to but it died down and we never had that recount. Remember? Anyway the right has to steal this election too to keep their almost complete mis agenda going forward. There are too many powers in the President today. I cringe at what the right Is going to do too keep their power!
This is of course just the tip of the iceberg. Does anyone actually think that the only tampering happened to be the one we're hearing about?
ReplyDeleteThis is just the guy who's getting caught, so to speak.
When I heard the President and Vice President arguing with the press about Electronic voting, saying it will help the outcomes be more fair, I knew they were cheating.
And all they need for the Diebolds to work again, is a close race in the polls.
If McCain is within 10 points of Obama they'll be able to claim voters switched their minds at the last minute.
Like they tried to claim in several democrat districts in 2004.
Its all bull.
Vote. Don't vote. It really doesn't matter. They will decide who gets to be President.
Bart with diebold machines and the MSM already trumping up the supposed “Bradley effect”, they are writing the prologue for trying to stealing another.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem might be is Obama is fighting a 50 state fight so the republicans can't game a state or two with illegal slimy tricks to steal it.
The right wing must be lookin' over their shoulders for the next Scotty McCellen in their ranks.
BTW, national security expert John McCain just proved he knows less about Operational Security when it concerns VIP's in a combat zone, then he does the current countries of 21st Century Europe or why Islam has two main branches Sunni and Shiite, and which branch Bin Forgotten recruits from.
ReplyDeleteBut remember he is a national security expert cause he got shot down.
Oh and Phil Gramm just resigned from the McSame campaign because he couldn't tell the difference between a really bad economy and the way right wing trolls and talking heads usually act.
ReplyDeleteBartlbee's right the only way McLOSER can steal this election is if its close, i think McLOSER's gonna get stomped.
ReplyDeleteHow many frickin LOSER'S are there that are gonna vote for a deranged old fossil that has no respect for women, I mean come on the dude made a joke about a woman getting raped, his fundraising buddy said women enjoy getting raped, McLOSER traded in his crippled wife who waited loyally for his release from torture which he now agrees with for a younger model, ohh and lets not forget the moral maverick called his own frickin wife the C@#$ word.
Yeah he'll pull in the women vote, yeah right
Wow you guys are a lively bunch tonight, did I piss someone off or offend someone last night or somethin?
ReplyDeleteClif said "But remember he is a national security expert cause he (McLOSER) got shot down."
ReplyDeleteHey would that make me a DOT safety expert if I got a DWI?
Just wonderin
Olberman just said Larry "widestance" Craig is tired of getting jerked around by the gas nozzle, i guess "widestance" likes doin the nozzle jerking himself in bathroom stalls.
ReplyDeleteExcept for MIKE. Mike donated to our show and I am very grateful. Thank you MIke.
ReplyDeleteAnd I understand how tight money is and how hard it is to support a show and send money in, but I'm just saying in general, Progressives are blind when it comes to this. If we had a media in place, our country would be in great shape and we'd never have to worry.
Meanwhile Rush Limbaugh receives a $400 million dollar pay package to spew hatred and lies for the right wing, and we do our show as volunteer work, having to pay studio costs and airtime without any help to get it on the air.
This is a travesty.
Hi Lydia, thats a great point, I absolutely love your show, thats how i found this blog. i'll try to make a donation in the next month or so, car insurance is due next week.
ReplyDeleteYou are right though we need to have many more shows like yours and Olberman's and work on breaking the conservotards stranglehold on our media and their distortions of reality.
Actually Lydia it was the movie Wall-E, I took my daughter, and it is a must see movie if you have children.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post Lydia...and the Voting issue is still to be watched- and I think you are right the main problem is the media ( and yes, if they can spin it close- that makes it work.....they can spin it..) I don't really think it is as close as they want us all to think....I have seen NO McCain stickers here by Lake Erie- None...not one....
ReplyDelete( about the movie- I took 6-6 to see DrKnight...it is amazing..BEST movie of the summer by far- review over at watergate....)
Keep up the great writing....and thinking...
Now that is the way to stab a Bushie in the back;
ReplyDeleteIraq's Prime Minister states his position
"Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in and interview with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." He then continued: "US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."" Der Spiegel
Now that St Johnny wants 100 years of troops and permanent bases and Barack Obama wants the troops home and the Iraqis to have their country back.
No wonder that Bush's hand picked leader in Iraq wants Barack's plan so we will stop blowing up their country, and just maybe they can have a life again.
I guess St Johnny ain't the foreign policy guru he thinks he is, and we all know he weren't such a hot shot pilot either.
Sara - thank you but No, I'm not asking for donations on this blog. I'm just saying that we need to get together and invest in a Progressive media structure and get Congress to pass the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE or THE HONESTY DOCTRINE.
ReplyDeleteHonesty in media should be an imperative.
Hi Sara, your comments are very funny.
ReplyDeleteClif - we LOVED WALL-E. Too the kids to see to the first weekend. Today we say "The Dark Knight." Pretty good. Heath Ledger is so amazing, chilling.
It's one of my co-host's statements and we've been saying it for months on our radio show: that you can't steal an election unless it's close.
That's why you have to watch how they spin the numbers and watch how the media keeps acting like they are close.
The media is the culprit first and foremost.
Until Dems understand the importance of supporting radio and media -- and building a solid media infrastructure, the right will continue to own the media, create and spin the message and steal elections.
We are throwing our money at so many different groups, we are not united the way they are. The media is the most important thing.
clif said...
ReplyDeleteOh and Phil Gramm just resigned from the McSame campaign because he couldn't tell the difference between a really bad economy and the way right wing trolls and talking heads usually act."
HMMMMM!!!!!!!.....................as USUAL the repug elitists are completely out of touch with the working class............People are losing their jobs and homes and bankruptcies and forclosures are at RECORD levels, gas and food prices are at record levels and inflation is raging in the double digits even with the govs cooked bogus CPI numbers if we used the older more accurate way to compute the CPI, GDP and unemployment the misery index would be worse than the 1970's.
Yet Phil Graham has the nerve to spew a "let the peasants eat cake" type statement when he says we have become a nation of whiners and the recession is largely mental.........News flash Phil if we used the older more accurate numbers for stats Bush's entire presidency would essentially be one big recession.
Remember 1992 when Clinton disilled things down to "its the economy stupid"............we need another similar type catchphrase.......how about showing Marie Antionette saying let the peasants eat cake then the add pans to hundreds of Americans losing their jobs and homes then Phil Graham and McSame saying we have beome a nation of whiners and the recession is mental right before they make their pitch that welfare for the wealthy is great its just welfare or help for the working class and poor they dont like then show them suporting bailing out Bear Stearns and freddie and Fannie at tax payer expense.
So Volt and Fascist Fan........WHO IS THE ELITIST NOW????????
From where I sit it sure looks like McSame and Porno phil the elitistist economic wizard.
Hey I got an idea why dont the repugs run under the slogan "we've become a nation of whiners" and spin things that the economy isnt that bad and the war is a great its ok to occupy iraq for 100 years and let me know how that works out for you clowns come November.........i'm sure Troll Tex would be willing to welsh on another bet or two.
ReplyDeleteHey Fascist Fan and Volt, what i want to know is what happened to moral hazzard and free markets.................you guys LOVE to parrot free market capitalism and freedom and democracy yet when push comes to shove its YOU clowns that support stifling freedom of speech, or eroding and destroying protections against warrantless spying, search and seizure, invasions of privacy, indefinate imprisonment, the right to be charged and see your accuser, have a fair tril and proper legal representation, and lets not forget the using tax payer money to bailout recless wall street brokerages, hedge funds, mortgage lenders etc....
ReplyDeleteWhats amazing is you stupid little hippocrites screech about moral hazzard, socialized medicine and socialism when it concens providing national health care or welfare to the poor or working class but when it comes to welfare for the wealthy and bailouts for the corporate elite at tax payer expense wheres your outrage there???????
Today’s Top Ten List: Why the Prospect
ReplyDeleteof Another Depression Isn’t Very Funny
Kevin DeMeritt
President, Lear Financial
We’re all into top ten lists, and we have David Letterman to thank.
Sorry to say that the following list on our woeful economy won’t provide you much of a chuckle, though.
Evidence is mounting that things are indeed getting scary out there, and, what’s worse, we’re all more or less in denial about it. It’s like we’re sitting around the campfire trying to shoo away a big grizzly that wandered into our camp. Unfortunately, saying “shoo” or “scoot” or simply “go away” means virtually nothing to 800 pounds of bad-tempered, non-English-speaking bear.
So while many analysts believe the idea of a severe recession or even depression is utterly laughable, the case is building that these economic days, the ones we’re now living in, may be getting as bad as Hoover’s first year in office.
That said, here’s (drum roll please) …
The Top Ten List
Okay…number ten…
#10/ According to Nouriel Roubini, former senior advisor to the U.S. Treasury, the FDIC has already depleted 10 percent of its funds rescuing IndyMac alone. He believes it will quickly run out of funds salvaging the other troubled banks now lined up around the block and will have to be recapitalized by Congress (i.e., the American taxpayers) soon.
So…did a lot of banks fail during the Great Depression? Is Tiger Woods good at golf? There were about 60 bank failures a month through most of 1930, then 254 in November and 344 in December of that year. In fact, from 1929 to 1933, 10,000 banks simply vanished (there were only 25,000 to start off). Should something like that happen today, Washington would be frantically printing increasingly worthless dollars just to keep the banking industry afloat. Definitely not amusing.
#9/ Roubini also had a great observation on the coming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout, another unbearable load on taxpayers. He said that the Treasury rescue plan is “socialism for the rich, the well connected and Wall Street; it is the continuation of a corrupt system where profits are privatized and losses are socialized.” Nothing funny about that.
Optimistic—or Entirely Uninformed—Outlooks
#8/ “I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism. I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring and that, during this coming year, the country will make steady progress.” Andrew W. Mellon, the former U.S. Secretary of Treasury, said that on December 31, 1929, two months after Black Tuesday. The Great Depression delayed his cheery prediction by roughly ten years. Unfortunately equally oblivious experts are out there at this moment insisting the economic downturn will be nothing of great significance.
And doing it with straight faces.
#7/ At the beginning of October 1929, taxi drivers, hairdressers and many everyday folks felt stock-market-wealthy. “The first day of October in 1929 made me feel like I was rich,” wrote Greek immigrant and restaurant owner, George Mehales. A few short weeks later, the man was wiped out. “I had nothing left.” That’s because it took stocks just two days during the Great Crash to shed 20 percent in value. But that wasn’t the worst of it: Three years later, stocks were down a staggering 90 percent.
Ancient history? Maybe…until you realize that we’re in something of a freefall ourselves. From July of 07 to July of 08, stocks also fell 20%. Have we hit bottom yet? Not according to the Royal Bank of Scotland, the bank that produces all those funny commercials. Bob Janjuah, a senior credit analyst there, is warning of a stock market crash in the autumn. Not exactly something to make you grin.
The Dreaded “Hobson’s Choice” Ahead
#6/ Speaking of Bob Janjuah, he referenced Hobson’s Choice in discussing the likelihood of a market crash in the fall. Hobson’s Choice is one of those paradoxes—a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” kind of thing— that refers to a free choice where only one option makes sense…but nobody wants to even think about taking that one.
In this case, the choice will be between rampaging inflation and higher interest rates. The obvious choice would be to raise rates…though the Fed doesn’t want to be caught dead doing it. The consequence may well be a contracting stock market—Janjuah’s collapse. The truth is, he may have some credibility in these matters; he predicted the beginning of the current mess, last year’s credit crunch.
#5/ The world no longer finds our debt amusing, and that includes our main debt vacuum cleaner, China. Merrill Lynch recently warned that the U.S. could face a foreign “financing crisis” as the “full consequence of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage debacle spread through the world.” Unfortunately, America still needs some $2 billion a day in foreign capital, one way or another, to service its current account deficit.
What happens if we end up defaulting? Will the world foreclose on us?
Dollar Deposed as the World’s Currency?
#4/ The price of gas may be the wild card in this 2008 version of recession/depression. In the 1930s, energy prices were a non-factor—a gallon of gas cost about 10¢. This time around, though, the cost of getting to work would cut deeply into the cost of eating and the cost of staying out of the weather. So while recessions, even depressions, come and (eventually) go, today’s one-of-a-kind energy costs may prolong the economic misery and delay any recover. And that’s pretty serious stuff.
#3/ The aforementioned Nouriel Roubini had this alarming observation on our tanking dollar: “The Bretton Woods 2 regime of fixed exchange rates to the US dollar…will unravel—as the first Bretton Woods regimes did in the early 1970s—as US twin deficits, recession, financial crisis and rising commodity and goods inflation in emerging market economies will destroy the basis for its existence.” Not exactly a laughing matter.
#2/ Should the dollar go the way of the dodo, as horrible as that sounds, investors would have to get pretty agile pretty fast in deploying their assets into currency-proof investments. The 1930’s depression was deflationary; the smart investor back then found the antidote to it by getting liquid early on. This time around, should we face another depression, it will likely come in the fiendish form of hyper-stagflation and a collapse in confidence…both of which can be successfully treated with gold.
And number one on the list?
#1/ We still have to deal with financial “experts” like famed economist John Maynard Keynes, who said in 1927, “We will not have any more crashes in our time.”
Actually…that is kind of funny.
Armed & Dangerous
ReplyDeletePeter Schiff
This week, with the nation’s financial infrastructure crumbling before our very eyes, the nation’s top two economic policy makers made their way to the Congress for an extraordinary episode of political theater. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the quasi-government entities that form the backbone of America’s gargantuan mortgage market, appeared to be cracking. To the somewhat bewildered members of Congress, Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson offered radical remedies to save the lenders. Despite the fact that the proposed policies would thoroughly redefine America’s supposedly capitalistic pedigree, the moves were presented as wholly inevitable, and in the end, benevolent and costless.
If you are looking for a new chapter in American history, it has just begun.
The most memorable moment in the episode came when Secretary Paulson explained that the best way to minimize the chances that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will need a government bailout would be for Congress to grant the Treasury unlimited authority to lend to the two institutions. His analogy: When the bad guys see a bazooka on your hip, you are less likely to be challenged to a gunfight.
At its heart Paulson’s argument assumes the GSE’s problems are simply a function of confidence. He believes that if the U.S. Treasury signals that it will stand behind both firms to the bitter end, then investors would have no reluctance in buying their bonds. But assuring that creditors will be repaid (albeit with cheaper dollars) does nothing to address the root cause of the problem, which is that both firms are losing money on their loan portfolios, and on the loans that they insure. Paulson’s plan actually assures that Fannie and Freddie’s losses will be even larger, and puts American taxpayers, or more precisely wage earners and savers, directly on the hook. The longer these two entities remain in business, the more bad loans they will buy or insure, and the more money taxpayers will lose.
In theory, Fannie and Freddie were originally created to help provide affordable housing. In reality, like all government programs, they achieved the opposite. Rather than making houses more affordable, they merely enabled buyers to overpay for them. The result is that American homeowners are now saddled with staggering amounts of debt, as easy credit made it possible for buyers to bid prices to dazzling heights. So while a record number of Americans now own homes, they have bankrupted themselves in the process.
Without the help of Fannie and Freddie, and now the full faith and credit of the United States, American home buyers would be facing much steeper mortgage interest rates. This is particularly true given that our ability to borrow is now dependent on access to the global savings pool. Without the implicit, and now explicit, government guarantee, foreigners would be much less willing to extend cheap credit to Americans. If we had to rely solely on our shallow domestic savings pool and individual credit worthiness alone, rates would be significantly higher. Since home prices are a function of the ability of buyers to pay, higher interest rates would mean lower prices, thus making houses themselves more affordable.
Even the tax deductibility of mortgage interest has achieved a similar result. By subsidizing home buying, and encouraging renters to become buyers instead, the government has artificially increased demand for houses, causing prices to rise. In the end, the benefits of the mortgage tax deductions are limited to those who benefit from inflated home prices. This includes realtors, who earn higher commissions, governments that collect higher property taxes, and those who owned their homes prior to the loophole being enacted who cashed in on the gains.
At present, the best the government can do for housing and the economy is to leave both alone, cease interference in the free market, restore sound money, and allow capitalism to work.
Unfortunately, the laws of capitalism are now demanding that home prices continue to fall precipitously. But, based on the speed in which our government, public and financial institutions are willing to abandoned free market principals at the first whiff of economic pain, the likelihood that this impulse will take hold is increasingly remote. So hunker down as the United States finds itself on the express track to state socialism with Paulson’s Bazooka locked, loaded and pointed right at us. When the government pulls the trigger the blast will blow the dollar, and what’s left of our capitalist economy, to smithereens.
July 18, 2008
BTW, Peter Schiff's Book Crash Proof is a great read..........in fact Lydia he would make a good guest on your show.
ReplyDeleteHere's some quotes from Andrew Mellon " “Give tax breaks to large corporations, so that money can trickle down to the general public, in the form of extra jobs.”
ReplyDelete"A nation is not in danger of financial disaster merely because it owes itself money."
“I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism. I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring and that, during this coming year, the country will make steady progress.” Andrew W. Mellon, the former U.S. Secretary of Treasury, said that on December 31, 1929, two months after Black Tuesday. The Great Depression delayed his cheery prediction by roughly ten years. Unfortunately equally oblivious experts are out there at this moment insisting the economic downturn will be nothing of great significance.
Sounds kinda like McSame, Phil Graham and Ronald Reagan's failed talking points, and predatory "voodoo economics" doesnt it Volty?
Lydia said "I'm just saying that we need to get together and invest in a Progressive media structure and get Congress to pass the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE or THE HONESTY DOCTRINE.
ReplyDeleteHonesty in media should be an imperative."
You can say that a couple million more times Lydia...........We NEED implement Honesty Doctrines and Fairness Doctrines and break up the Media empires and conglomerates to insure diversity of opinion...........I honesty think Obama KNOWS this and will do this if he wins.........I think the Reich Wing knows this as well........thats why they are so desperate to steal this ones.
Have you noticed the Bush and Rove thugs are starting to align themselves with McSame
The more I see, the more convinced I've become that the whole shooting match is about done.
ReplyDeleteThis country is a house of cards, waiting for a bit of a breeze. When I look at the weather forecasts, I see some breezy days just up ahead.
Jolly you're not very far off;
ReplyDelete8,500 U.S. banks; many will die soon(updated 3x)
For those with strong economic constitutions they even have a website that keeps track of this round of bank failures;
Bank Implode-O-Meter : Your play-by-play for the end game of modern banking.
And hedge funds;
Hedge Fund Implode-O-Meter
If you want an excellent truly complete hyper-linked website of the entire fiasco as it happens this is it;
Credit Writedowns
The website I read every day to see what is happening and what IT MIGHT MEAN TO ME;
the automatic earth
I have read their analysis since they were commenting from The Oil Drum Canada, and followed their commentary to this new website.
For the most part they have been as the British say;
Spot On ...... with their insightful analysis.
A simple explanation of the depth of the problem;
If you look down from a very high level what you see is this: There is $75 trillion in global real estate, $50 trillion in annual global GDP, and $675 trillion in derivatives - synthetic financial instruments loosely associated with the real world that, when inspected, prove to be worth a small fraction of their face value. Nine years ago Weathervane McCain’s chief economic adviser, Phil Gramm, got the Glass Steagall Act largely repealed. Investment houses engaged in an orgy of what can only be described as private money printing, taking real assets, puffing them up, marking them up, passing them around, and they kept at it until there were five or six dollars of funny money for every real dollar of stuff. Ssshhh, don’t anyone tell the pension funds ...
Lets see 75 trillion plus 50 trillion minus 675 trillion is that a lot of money to be short?
As George H W bush used to say;
Not prudent, but too bad it was done anyway eh?
So I guess we might as well pop some popcorn and sit down in front row seats, as the worlds economic systems unravel thanks to the economic guru's like Phil Gramm and his right wing republican cohorts who pushed for the ability to unbalance the whole system this much.
Cause there is really little else we can do at this point;
Enjoy the show .....
PS the people at automatic earth have an interesting take on the new SEC rulings against shorting the stock of certain banks;
ReplyDeleteAs we expected, there had to be a follow-up to the SEC’s decision to ban short trading in 19 carefully selected financials, a ban justified by the assertion that short sellers and speculators "unjustifiably" target banks and spread rumors.
First, now all banks want in.
Second, the SEC has changed its original protection decree. I am NOT making this up.
It has selected a group of financials eerily similar to those protected, and labeled them "market makers".
These can now go on naked shorting each other unabated, while the rest of the market is on the sidelines.
I have a few observations:
1. Why only banks? I’m sure GM and Ford will want in on the deal too. Where is the limit?
2. What, pray tell, is the origin of the "loss of confidence in the safety and soundness of this country's banking industry"? If the banks were all so safe and sound, how many people would be foolish enough to short them?
3. We’ll make you a good deal: any and all institutions and companies that want to be protected from shorting, an elementary element of the financial markets, need to fulfill one requirement first and foremost. And that is: open their books, and show how safe and sound their assets really are. When that is done, we’ll talk again. We don’t want to waste our energy and the taxpayers’ money on protecting what is already dead anyway.
4. A pivotal part of opening the books, other than a mark-to-market reality check on all paper held by the institutions, including Level 3 and off-balance sheet, needs to be a full disclosure of how much money the potential protectee has made in the past decade by shorting other companies. We won’t protect Tony Soprano from the enemies he made while killing their families.
5. Who am I still kidding? I’ve said it so many times before: this is a criminal enterprise, operating in broad daylight, while the nation is asleep.
More corporate welfare and special protections for the VERY WEALTHY while the rest of us pick up the tab.
It seems these people only dislike government when it is NOT helping them fleece the general public.
When they control the power THEY LOVE using government to protect their "ponzi schemes" when they go belly up.
Ponzi schemes like hedging 675 trillion dollars with only 75 trillion of real estate and 50 trillion world wide GDP.
Which is what they have been working on since the last time we were force to bail out the banks in the savings and loan scandal, you know the one, where Neil Bush got a big bail out and John McCain was caught trying to cover for the Keating criminal activities among other nefarious things that happened while Reagan slept or was just plain clueless about that economic thingy like ST Johnny has admitted he is ......
On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.
ReplyDeleteIt is a God damned shame some right wing hucksters lied when they said the US government couldn't do anything right ...
as this great achievment in the history of mankind proves ....
IF the progressive FORWARD thinking people are trying great things happen, when regressive conservatives are in charge we get collapse and fear instead of inspiration to do great things as a people.
The last 30 years should prove that easily.
Because when faced with a need for another mission for greatness all Reagan gave us was a call to our basest greed and attacks on the poor and weaker of our neighbors for nothing more then crass political gain at the detriment of the entire nation, and future generations ...... it is NOW apparent Reagan was NO JFK or FDR but just another paid frontman on the right who was way out of his element but greedy shallow people still honor him for some reason.
Will George W Bush LISTEN to this commander on the ground?
ReplyDeleteSurge Protector
By WILLIAM J. FALLON
THE prospect of a long-term security arrangement between the United States and Iraq has become a lightning rod for criticism. Yet such an agreement — which the White House believes could be completed this month now that the two countries have agreed to set a “general time horizon” for reducing the number of American troops in Iraq — would be in the best interests of the governments of both countries, and of the people who live in a region of the world that urgently needs stability.
The United Nations Security Council resolution that authorizes coalition operations in Iraq expires at the end of this year. But the calendar is not the most important reason for the United States to enter into a long-term pact with Iraq. The opportunity presented by the improved situation on the ground begs to be exploited lest it disappear in the ever-shifting sands of Middle East strife.
Are the desires of the American people and the Iraqi people different? I don’t think so. During my year in command of all American forces in the Middle East, I met often with Iraqis of all walks of life. Discussions with people — from Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to clerics, governors and generals to men in the streets of Baghdad and towns and cities throughout the country — left me with several strong impressions. The top objective of both countries is security and stability in the region. Letting Iraq’s security forces assume responsibility for their country is another mutual goal. Withdrawing the vast majority of American and coalition troops from Iraq as soon as possible is a clear priority.
Why is achieving these aims so difficult? The most significant obstacle is war weariness. The war has dragged on so long that people are fixated on yesterday’s many negative aspects and are not aware of the profoundly different and improved situation in Iraq today — which is very different from only a few months ago.
Another major challenge is the continuing tendency to view anything to do with Iraq in the polarizing terms of yes or no, in or out. The prudent and rational approach is more nuanced, and more likely to achieve both countries’ mutual goals.
There are two key aspects of the bilateral security accord that has been proposed. The first is a status of forces agreement, which is a detailed compilation of the procedures and legal protections that govern the presence of foreign troops in another country. The second element is a higher-level strategic framework agreement, in which the two parties agree on the principles that will guide their mutual actions to create long-term security in Iraq. This more important part of the accord focuses on major policy issues like the roles and missions for each country’s military, the control of forces in various security situations, procedures for detainees, and the transition of responsibility.
Objections and objectors to the agreement are numerous. From the American side, we hear that it would tie us to an open-ended commitment to defend Iraq from external threats; that it would continue to drain resources from a faltering domestic economy; and that it violates Congressional prerogatives enshrined in the Constitution.
Some Iraqis, meanwhile, complain that any continued American presence in their country perpetuates what they see as an occupation and an infringement of their national sovereignty. They and other skeptics in the region object to the potential for long-term military bases, and they denounce America’s alleged hegemonic intentions.
And Iran objects to every aspect of continued American-Iraqi cooperation while promoting instability and supporting attacks on coalition forces in Iraq by providing arms and training to Shiite extremists and criminals.
These objections are obscuring what may be a one-time opportunity to achieve the goals so keenly desired by the majority of Americans and Iraqis, who care about peace and stability in the world. Most of the concerns involve worst-case possibilities that play to the fears of the poorly informed. For example, the security accord would define future commitments rather than perpetuate the perception of an “open-ended” engagement. The United States needs access to bases in Iraq to support the current level of operations. As responsibility for security passes to Iraqi forces, the need for bases will diminish.
[unless one has plans to attack Iran at sometime]
Negotiators can sort through the issues. Given their recent history in Iraq, contractors and their rights and protections are a controversial topic. But civilian contractors perform a wide range of essential tasks, and the terms of their future service needs to be included in the agreement. Control of Iraqi airspace is another important component that will require clearheaded negotiations to preserve our military’s ability to ensure the safety of the many airplanes flying over Iraq and the timeliness of combat air support for troops on the ground.
The benefits that could be achieved are considerable. The agreement could reap dividends similar to those gained over the past year through the sacrifice and efforts of so many who have carried out an enlightened counterinsurgency strategy.
The number of incidents of violence nationwide in Iraq is less than a tenth of what we were experiencing in the spring of 2007. The casualty rate among American troops is the lowest in more than four years and continues to improve. Ethnic and sectarian violence among the Iraqi population has declined to levels not seen since the early days of the war.
Iraq’s security forces, with only modest coalition support, have demonstrated unprecedented initiative by taking control and assuming security of previously insurgent-dominated areas like Amara, Basra, Diwaniya and Sadr City. These actions signal a more confident and capable Iraqi leadership and military.
The government of Prime Minister Maliki has assumed an increasingly large share of the cost of Iraqi security, paying $3 for each American dollar contributed, and is on track to assume near total responsibility next year as revenues from oil exports continue to rise. Economic activity in Iraq is accelerating. Major oil companies are signing development contracts to improve the infrastructure.
The government of Iraq is eager to exert its sovereignty, but its leaders also recognize that it will be some time before Iraq can take full control of security. They are acutely aware of Iran’s behavior and of the need for continued cooperation with the United States.
This is a pivotal time. The aspirations of the hopeful could come to fruition: a stable Iraq, with a modern oil industry and substantially increased export capacity, that is part of the growing regional economic and political cooperation in the Middle East. This is not wishful dreaming but a very real possibility.
But it will happen only if security in Iraq is maintained. And a long-term arrangement with the United States is key to Iraq’s future security.
Reasonable objectors to the security pact, in both countries, must jettison the rhetorical and emotional baggage of the recent past. Forget the errors and bad decisions and deal with the present. Real progress has been made, and this positive momentum must be maintained.
Compromise, of course, will be essential. But confidence will be, too. The Americans need to trust Iraq’s security forces, and the Iraqis need to trust America’s intentions. The United States must give the Iraqi government an opportunity to demonstrate sovereignty over its territory while the government of Iraq must recognize its continued, if diminishing, reliance on the American military.
But the political posturing in pursuit of short-term gains must cease. All interested parties should cooperate for the general good.
We have come a long way in Iraq. It is in the mutual interest of the United States and Iraq to continue the transition to Iraqi forces and the drawdown of American troops in circumstances most likely to provide for stability. Certainly there is some risk involved. But the opportunity is unprecedented and the potential vast.
I guess this is why Bush et al PUSHED Admiral Fallon out as CENTCOM commander and installed their willing shrill Gen Petraeus because he parrots their lines much more willingly.
Too bad Maliki is NOT SO willing even when PUSHED hard;
.... The troop escalation, which actually allowed the ethnic cleansing of the Sunnis of Baghdad and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis from the country, has largely been pushed as propaganda by the White House and the AEI. Here's an example of how their propaganda works. As is usual with news it does not like, the Bush administration attempted to muddy the waters this weekend regarding the interview of PM Nuri al-Maliki with Der Spiegel in which he expressed approval of Barack Obama's plan to get US troops out of Iraq within 16 months of next January. Al-Maliki told Der Spiegel in response to a question about how long US troops would be in his country,
'Maliki: As soon as possible, as far as we're concerned. U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.
SPIEGEL: Is this an endorsement for the US presidential election in November? Does Obama, who has no military background, ultimately have a better understanding of Iraq than war hero John McCain?
Maliki: Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems. Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans' business. But it's the business of Iraqis to say what they want. '
Ali al-Dabbagh, who is usually described as al-Maliki's spokesman but actually seems to work for the CENTCOM or Pentagon Middle East command, was trotted out to make vague statements about Der Spiegel's having mistranslated or misinterpreted what al-Maliki said. This denial was issued through CENTCOM! When the original demand came from al-Maliki for a timetable for US withdrawal, it was al-Dabbagh who reinterpreted it as a 'time horizon.' Al-Dabbagh was contradicted by National Security Counsellor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, who seems actually closer in this thinking to al-Maliki. My guess is that al-Dabbagh has been recruited by some agency in Washington, DC, to explain away al-Maliki's statements whenever they contradict Bush's.
Der Spiegel stood by its story. The text of Der Spiegel's statement is here. It turns out that the translator involved works for al-Maliki, not for Der Spiegel, and so presumably knew what the prime minister's words meant in Arabic. And for the piece de resistance, it turns out that Der Spiegel has an audiotape of the Arabic of the interview, which they leaked to The New York Times. Sabrina Tavernise and Jeff Zeleny write:
' But the interpreter for the interview works for Mr. Maliki’s office, not the magazine. . . The following is a direct translation from the Arabic of Mr. Maliki’s comments by The Times: “Obama’s remarks that — if he takes office — in 16 months he would withdraw the forces, we think that this period could increase or decrease a little, but that it could be suitable to end the presence of the forces in Iraq.” He continued: “Who wants to exit in a quicker way has a better assessment of the situation in Iraq.” '
But you see, it does not matter that al-Maliki actually said what he said. It does not matter that Der Spiegel can prove it. All that matters is that the Goebbelses around Bush and Cheney have managed to muddy the waters and produce doubt, taking the hard edge off the interview. Even AFP, the usually skeptical French wire service, asserted that al-Maliki had "denied" the accuracy of the Der Spiegel interview! Of course, al-Maliki has done no such thing. CENTCOM ventriloquising al-Dabbagh engaged in the denial, and a very vague one at that.
That is the way propaganda works, to obscure the truth and ensure it can be denied. Some wingnut even tried to pressure me to retract the little sentence I had written on the affair yesterday, on the grounds of "al-Dabbagh's" mendacious and ridiculous assertions. Our information system is so corrupt and easily manipulated that even a clumsy ploy can obscure the truth and bully the journalists.
Why would Bush listen to admiral Fallon AFTER he was forced out, just like they did to Gen Shinseki when he TOLD TOO MUCH TRUTH TO CONGRESS,
Or other US commanders who told the truth about the administrations (IE RUMSFELD, FEITH, WOLFOWITZ, BUSH AND ESPECIALLY CHENEY'S)incompetence IN Iraq .......
after all according to them the mission was accomplished 5 years ago (but the troops couldn't come home)
the invasion was going to be greeted as a liberation force with wine and roses
the insurgency was in it's last throes 4 years ago
The surge to provide political progress worked even though NO political progress has been made, and the Iraqi government has just postponed their provincial elections UNTIL after they KNOW who our new commander in chief is going to be.
Wanna bet they have a new idea of what they want if Bush's FAILED policies are known to have their days numbered?
Wanna bet they just say GO HOME and we'll clean up your mess thank you.
Two predictions
ReplyDeleteSo I've got two predictions for you.
First: John McCain will pick Mitt Romney for VP. There's nothing terribly special about this prediction -- it's almost conventional wisdom now, though I think Pawlenty has a good shot. (I think that McCain should, but won't, pick Huckabee.)
Second: John McCain will select his VP choice this week, perhaps on Wednesday. His intention? Distract attention from the utter collapse of his agenda on Iraq, his total flip-flop on Afghanistan, and, last but not least, Barack Obama's successful trip overseas.
Bonus time: I'll venture a third one for you -- if I get both of these predictions right, you'll never hear the end of it.
Update: A fourth prediction, from the comments: "John McCain announces his VP pick on Wednesday, but the ratings are a distant second to the viewer ratings of Barack Obama's trip to Europe." Only thing I'd add is that if we're really lucky, at least some of the coverage will frame McCain's pick as a desperate attempt to keep up with Obama.
St Johnny the delusional is going to pick Mr Flip Flopper 2008 himself as his VP;
McInsane is really, really gonna pick Mr Flip Flopp to be his VP on the Flip Flopper Express to political oblivion,
if this actually happens;
it proves;
there is a Karma Goddess after all
and she has one hell of a sense of humor ..........
Hi Lydia.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your take on 9/11?
Please watch 9/11: Press For Truth, and In Their Own Words: The Untold Stories Of The 9/11 Families.
Thank you for taking the time.
By the way Lydia... thank you for the teenage memories. ;)
ReplyDeleteso much for listening to the commanders on the ground any time one of the generals actually stood up and spoke truth to power like shinseki or Fallon they got fired by president bush.
ReplyDeleteall this debt is gonna come back to bite us too, i dont owe a penny to no one and have 2 houses paid off, now i'm know economics phd but i do know that all the americans in debt up to their eyeballs and all the money we are borrowing from china and other countries that dont much like us aint a good thing, when the shit hits the fan it aint gonna be pretty.
ReplyDeleteson, no offense but i've had enough of 9/11, it was the great pearl harbor the warmongers needed to do as they damn well please, these ignorant fools have learned nothing from vietnam not a damn thing.
ReplyDeletei dont much like a bunch of greedy war mongering opportunists who turn a tragedy into a false flag bludgeon to bash anyone opposing their unconstitutional power grabs and war crimes with phoney patriotism, i've seen their cowardly kind before and i spoke truth to power then just as now.
Whoa! Betmo over at Lifes Journey has posted this today:
ReplyDeleteFront group associated with Cheney calls for Bush to be dictator... for life...
Buckle up kiddies. I am cranky and this is not making things better:
Family Security Matters a neo-conservative based think tank has published an article advocating that George W. Bush should be a dictator for life. The organization has since taken the article down, but is still viewable via this cached link.
Conquering the Drawbacks of Democracy: By Philip Atkinson
The article written by Philip Atkinson states that Bush would fail his country by becoming an ex-President or can achieve greatness by becoming President-for-Life Bush in order to bring sense to Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Atkinson is bluntly advocating that Bush should become dictator for life with these outrageously anti-American statements.
From the article:
President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming “ex-president” Bush or he can become “President-for-Life” Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.
Atkinson also advocates that Bush should get rid of everyone in Iraq through military force and repopulate the country with Americans.
From the article: please read the article there is more at Betmo's That is all pretty screwed up!
9/11 was only the day that created the "Post-9/11 World." If it wasn't what we were led to believe, then we need to know about it, and we need to know about it now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to hijack this thread with 9/11 information. I posted the movies because I wanted Lydia to please watch them. Nothing more.
Bhahwhahwhahwahwhahwahaaa....
ReplyDeleteNevada GOP Cancels Convention, Opts for Conference Call
Citing a lack of interest, the Nevada Republican Party has called off its state convention and will instead pick its delegates to the national convention by private conference call.
At least they ain't tryin' to spin the truth that nobody wants to get caught being republi-scam in Nevada about now.
Best part this is the Rupert Murdoch owned wall street journal admitting republi-scams this disliked.
Only faux noise could miss-spell education on a segment about get this;
ReplyDeleteEDUCATION.
........home schoolin' ain't what it is cracked up to be ..... eh?
Just how dumb are GOPers?
ReplyDeleteThis dumb
I guess she is off McInsane's short bus list for VP;
ReplyDeleteState legislators in Alaska are considering hiring a special investigator over Governor Sarah Palin's (R)firing of Public Saftey Commissioner Walt Monegan. Palin faces accusations of pressuring Monegan to fire Palin's sister's ex-husband from a government job.
Who says GOPers don't use government power for their own ends?
it looks like the conservatives think they found themselves another ike. the warmongering chickenhawk little punks think mccain is another eisenhower, too bad for them the ignorant little punks arent smart enough to realize that ike actually won the wars he was involved in instead of becoming a damn pow.
ReplyDeletesee, now i'm no phd or rocket scientist but i'm smart enough to know you win wars by ending them and making the enemy pow's rather than becoming a pow yourself or declaring mission accomplished prematurly while the war rages longer than ww2 and thousands of americans are still dying, this war might still make nam look like a damn cakewalk.
these conservative punks and chickenhawks need to getr their asses or their kids asses over there with a gun in their hand then see how much they like war.
Jimmy, as a veteran I'd agree with you until I think of how much a burden it would be for the rest of the troops trying to cover up for those gutless wonders.
ReplyDeleteIn the end that would just make the rest of the troops job that much harder.
didnt president bush say we would only be in iraq as long as the iraqis want us there, and i do believe that senator mccain was wrong and out of touch with the country when he said that the iraqi's want us to stay there, just like nam and watergate are these lying conservatives ever right about anything
ReplyDeletesure clif that may be true but at least it would make the gutless punks think twice about suporting a treasonous war if them or their kids were the ones fighting it, i've seen lots a wars and you dont win wars by clinging to failed policies and lies like we did in nam or the soviets did in afghanistan, and you dont declare mission accomplished a half decade before the war is over when americans are still dying.
ReplyDeleteor maybe we should stop calling it a war and call it an unlawful occupation for oil.
Jimmy, six weeks of Marine boot camp would produce about the same result with out stressin' any troops but a few hundred Marine DI's and they know what to do with gutless punks at Paris Island.
ReplyDeleteYou know something that hasn't been mentioned this week yet, is that Obama is the first American nationally known politician who has gone over seas with out either lying about their experience, OR embarrassing the entire country.
ReplyDeleteOlberman is da man, did you hear him expose mcLOSER as the deranged senile liar he is.
ReplyDeletethe fricken loser tried to say Der Spigel got the Iraqi Presidents translation wrong when they didnt even do the fricken translation its was the Iraqi's translator that did it.
What it comes down to is McLOSER wants to stay in iraq and occupy it for like 100 years.
Hey lydia, wasnt that one of those frickin goons living in their moma's basement.
ReplyDeleteSara actually McInsane was confused he thought Iraq and Pakistan were neighbors and he needed bases in Iraq to defeat the Taliban in Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteCause if the Czechoslovakia Republic can time travel for McInsane then middle east countries can change locations on a map for him.
And remember his claim to be a great candidate fur president is gettin' shot down.
Olberman just aired a commercial from mcLOSER that tried to say high gas prices are Obama's fault.
ReplyDeleteHello wasnt that senile fool mcLOSER in the senate for like a few decades and didnt he vote against alternate energy bills?
Who was that goon anyway does he always take a crap on the floor in here?
ReplyDeleteSara, that was willthe cry baby hart
ReplyDeleteHe has a waste of bandwidth here
Where-O-where is crusty to tell me this ain't true?
ReplyDeleteWidespread earnings woes reflect consumer fears
The deepening plight of the American consumer has started to take a big bite out of corporate earnings.
A number of major U.S. companies who rely on consumer spending warned about their results on Monday evening, including credit card company American Express Co, Macintosh computer and iPod maker Apple Inc and cruise ship operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
The breadth of the warnings, which also came from makers of chips and carpets, may signal that the credit crisis is quickly moving beyond housing and banks and into mainstream Corporate America.
"It's understandable that the U.S. consumer would be apprehensive with the circumstances -- weakness in housing, gasoline is up, the stock market is down and job insecurity," said Brian Gendreau, an investment strategist in New York for ING Investment Management Americas. "We may actually have a consumer-led recession -- which is rare."
The wrath of the credit crunch and housing collapse of the past year has largely been felt by middle- or lower-income people. But Monday's results reflected a broadening of fears.
Actually Sara,not only did McSame vote against alternate energy bills, but he also voted against the oil in ANWR being used domestically, despite the fact the slimy Reich Winger liar tried to spin things that drilling in ANWR would lead us to energy independence.
ReplyDelete1) it would be 15 to 20 years before we saw ANY meaningful amounts
2) putting the oil on the world market like McSame wants will not make any meaningful difference in price or make us any more energy independent.........it would make abot 38 cents difference.
clif said...
ReplyDeleteSara actually McInsane was confused he thought Iraq and Pakistan were neighbors and he needed bases in Iraq to defeat the Taliban in Pakistan...........
Clif i believe thats called being a senile old LOSER or Alzheimer's, either way being a stupid doddering old fool and getting shot down, imprisoned and tortured doesnt make you qualified to be president,
i'm gonna go check out the frickin goons so called blog.
ReplyDeleteBBL
Allright, i'm probably gonna get attacked here, but i really like T Boone Pickins energy plan.
ReplyDeleteI know he supported the Reich Wingers and Bush Neo cons and swift boated Kerry........but right is right and wrong is wrong no matter who's idea it was or who says something.
Like with Scott mcClellan if he comes over to the light from the dark side he should be supported not attacked.........this isnt a partisan issue it is a crucial issue and what Pickins is saying is smart and i support his plan!
We NEED to invest in solar, wind, LNG, Nuclear, clean coal, more refineries better fuel mileage etc...
ReplyDeleteWhat a little momma's boy LOSER that guy is........how bare that frickin goon bash Keith Olberman.
ReplyDeleteMike, I don't necessarily disagree with you about Boone Pickins, however I wonder how much he is slanting his claims to help his newer economic investments after his swift boat backin' of Bush in 2004 has turned out so disastrously in the middle east.
ReplyDeleteOh and Mike the last think we need in this country are more frickin refineries, nuclear crap, and clean coal's a frickin oxymoron dude.
ReplyDeleteYou ever heard of global warming if not maybe you should use the google and find out about it.
And you wont find me supporting a frickin swift boater, ever think what this country would be like if President Shit For Brains wouldnt have won in 2004, you can thank that goon Pickins for that.
Clif said "I have a few observations:
ReplyDelete1. Why only banks? I’m sure GM and Ford will want in on the deal too. Where is the limit?
2. What, pray tell, is the origin of the "loss of confidence in the safety and soundness of this country's banking industry"? If the banks were all so safe and sound, how many people would be foolish enough to short them?
3. We’ll make you a good deal: any and all institutions and companies that want to be protected from shorting, an elementary element of the financial markets, need to fulfill one requirement first and foremost. And that is: open their books, and show how safe and sound their assets really are. When that is done, we’ll talk again. We don’t want to waste our energy and the taxpayers’ money on protecting what is already dead anyway.
4. A pivotal part of opening the books, other than a mark-to-market reality check on all paper held by the institutions, including Level 3 and off-balance sheet, needs to be a full disclosure of how much money the potential protectee has made in the past decade by shorting other companies. We won’t protect Tony Soprano from the enemies he made while killing their families.
5. Who am I still kidding? I’ve said it so many times before: this is a criminal enterprise, operating in broad daylight, while the nation is asleep.
More corporate welfare and special protections for the VERY WEALTHY while the rest of us pick up the tab.
It seems these people only dislike government when it is NOT helping them fleece the general public.
When they control the power THEY LOVE using government to protect their "ponzi schemes" when they go belly up."
FANTASTIC POST, Clif, i've said all onlong that the repug hippocrites absolutely LOVE welfare for the wealthy and corporate elite, its just welfare for the working class and poor they loathe.
Secondly i've ALSO said for years the energy companies, banks and other various corporate elite and robber barons need to actually do something productive and or responsible and honest that actually BENEFITS society to get their tax breaks and bailouts or else its just corporate welfare stolen from the tax payers........in other words any tax breaks or bailouts NEED to be earned and deserved and need to be neccessary and beneficialial to the public welfare not the wealthy robber barons ONLY at tax payer expense.
See the Oil companies NEED to invest in wind, solar, LNG, nuclear, build more refineries and increase production to get tax breaks and the banks need to open up their books......and if we are regulating that the averager investor cant short banks then the insiders and corporate elite at those institutions should be able to short either.
I'm DAMN tired of the deck being stacked and rigged for the wealthy elite at the expense of almost 99% of America......the days of the FEW benefiting at the expense of the MANY need to end.
I say that with lots of love of course. LOL
ReplyDeleteOf course any one who disses Olberman crossed the line with me.
Well Sara, i guess we'll agree to disagree.
ReplyDeleteClif check out my last post and let me know what you think, i'm working on another post, i'll be back later when i'm finished,
Sara it wasn't really attackin' Keith Olbermann like you think it is,
ReplyDeleteWill just has a little man love for Keith like he has had for over a year for Bill O,
Will just wants to be noticed and any attention for him is a good thing.
If you check closely he posts about his failed internees hook-ups also.
Oh my God Clif, i just checked this dude out, what a frickin LOSER, no wonder he defends mcLOSER, birds of a feather i guess.
ReplyDeleteDude have you like ever had a second date with like anyone, i'm curious if even the prostitutes wanna hang with you a second time.
One more thing dude, WTH is Therapeutic Recreation, is that like a gay masseuse or somthin?
Lydia and Bartlebe, along with breaking up the MSM media empires and conglomerates to insure truth and honesty in media and fact based news rather than Reich wing lies and spin, and preventing the SCOTUS from being stacked with freedom hating elitist fascists who crave a fascist police state, several other reasons we need to win back the White House are to stop the bogus dishonest government stats currently being used to steal from the working class and the poor.
ReplyDeleteI've talked about the Core CPI and how it is a complete joke and utter lie many times before firstly it excludes food and energy the two things that have probably inflated and risen in price the MOST the last 8 years, particularly the last year, food and energy probably make up 90% of my expenses other than housing.......and as for housing the CPI doesnt even measure housing it measures rents, so if 65% of America owns houses and those houses were rising like crazy the last 10 years that inflation is hidden just as the current food and energy prices were hidden, last year gas prices double and the core CPI about half way through the year was listed around 2% food and gas which make up roughly 90% of my non housing expenses doubled and the idiots calculating the CPI say inflation is around 2%..............ok they gotten better recently they are around 4%-5%, the trouble is when you use the older more accurate method of calculating the CPI it is around 14%..........among the worst its ever been.
Lets examine some other bogus ways of calculating the CPI, i've discussed Hedonics before but lets briefly go over it again in a general way Hedonics is used as a sham to vastly understate inflation and overstate GDP, just as an example lets say computer processing speed has gone up 5 times over a 10 year period while prices have remained the same now this is likely a slight exaggeration but for simplicity sake lets say that Hedonics would say that computer prices are "FALLING" by 50% per year even though the price you pay for a computer is the same and even though the government claims productivity is rising at 50% a year for computers you cant type or generate a report 50% faster or do your job 50% faster.......this also works for other items take coffee makers say the price for a coffee maker rises 20% from last year but the new models allow it to set a timer to make the coffee automatically that saves you about 90 seconds of sleep in the morning Hedonics could claim the price went down 10% because you are more productive even though you are paying 20% more........see the Hedonics sham allows many items particularly electronics and appliances to dishonestly offset the rise of items like food and energy, consider that a computer is usually only bought every 5 years or so while food and energy are every day expenses. Further Hedonics could be used to overstate GDP, in several ways firstly inflation is always subtracted from GDP so if inflation is understated at 4% instead of 14% then GDP will be overstated by a similar amount because much of the rise in GDP is illusory because of inflation and devalued dollars, the second way is if computer prices remain the same but processor speed rises 50% the government could take that 50 million in sales Bartlebe had for instance and make it 75 million thus overstating GDP, understating CPI and cheating seniors and the working class particularly those on fixed income who get raises according to the stated CPI.
The purpose of CPI AND Fed is to stop inflation from robbing the working class and poor and reducing their standard of living, in fact the Federal Reserve has a dual mandate to control inflation and maintain maximum unemployment...........lets examine yet ANOTHER sham they utilize to cheat the poor and working class and do the EXACT OPPOSITE.
The Federal Reserve uses the PCE Deflator to hide and camaflage inflation and lower standards of living and reduced lifestyles, it basically says instead of inflation infiltrating the economy and lowering peoples standard of living you just substitute one thing for another and everything is great......kinda like when Cheney stated the Iraqi's will scatter rose petals at our feet and greet us as liberators. lets look at another cute little example of scams like the PCE Deflator and Hedonics dreamed up by economic charlatans and hacks like Phil Graham, Milton Friedman, Helicopter Ben Bernanke, The Maestro, Reagan and others:
Lets say the year is 2005 and our good friend Fascist Fan drives a Dodge Viper with a big block V10 engine, eats Filet Mignon and King Crab legs 4 times a week and takes 4 vacations a year to Europe along with putting $15,000 a year away for retirement in a 401 K.................lets say food and energy rise 50% as does insurance and other costs and the Fascist Fan only receives his 2% raise, now while the CPI has only gone up a "CLAIMED" 2% the Fascist Fan feels the pinch so his wife gets a job and he substitutes Filet Mignon and crab 2 nights a week for hamburger and fries, substitutes 2 vacations to Europe for a relaxing vacation 2 weeks at home.
Now the Year is 2007 and food and energy have again risen at 50% per year, so now the Fascist Fan substitutes his Dodge Viper with the mighty V10 for a Toyota Prius, his 2 nights a week of filet mignon and crab for hamburger and fries 4 nights a week, he substitutes his remaining 2 vacations to Europe for 2 relaxing weeks at home, and 2 weeks were he goes to work and takes the money instead of the vacation time off.
Now the year is 2008, food and energy have risen 100% per year, so now the Fascist Fan substitutes the $15,000 he puts in a 410K for retirement for paying down his credit card debt and the Foole's wife substitutes the free time she has from her 20 hour a week part time job for a full time 40 hour a week job so she can earn more money.
Now the year is 2009 food and energy have again risen 50% a year, so now the Fascist Fan substitutes the hamburger and fries for catfood, substitutes all his vacations for working 52 weeks a year and takes the money instead.
Now the year is 2010 food and energy have risen 150% a year, so now the Fascist Fan substitutes driving his Prius to work with riding a bicycle to work, he substitutes paying his electrical bill for light and heat with using candles and wrapping himself in a blanket, and he substitutes the catfood he bought to scrounging for roadkill or shooting and eating birds and the neighbors dogs or cats and raiding other peoples gardens and stealing vegetables........................BUT according to charlatans and hacks like Helicopter Ben Bernanke, Greenspan, Milton Freedman, Phil Graham etc............there IS NO INFLATION AND YOUR STANDARD OF LIVING AND LIFESTYLE DID NOT DECLINE............oh YEAH AND PHIL GRAHAM MCSAME"S OLD ECONOMIC ADVISOR SAYS TO QUIT WHINING THE ECONOMY IS FINE!
Mike you might want to check this out.
ReplyDeleteIt could change things a little bit on the economic front because of shut in oil and gas infrastructure the next couple of weeks.
Well Clif, i said we would have $4.50 a gallon gas and unfortunately as usual it looks like i'll be right again.
ReplyDeleteClif did you see what I wrote on Hedonics, the PCE Deflator and the Voodoo/Predatory economics of the Reich Wing........that one's dedicated to our friend the Fascist Fan!
ReplyDeleteHey did any of you guys notice that Volt seems to be absent along with Crusty.........he must be carrying Crusty's bags or be his "towel boy"
ReplyDeletekinda funny though how one is gone and so is the other......must be one of those Clark Kent/Stupidman things huh?
Mike look at it this way;
ReplyDeleteEver since Reagan began the right wing war on the middle class, the republicans in his government(and all successive administrations) have skewed the stats more and more to hide the true extent of the damage they have done until now when the right wing war on the middle class is actually showing signs of actually rendering the middle class lifestyle untenable with what most Americans can expect to earn.
Now with the beginnings of the economic collapse showing signs of erupting in ways even the fed and hollow banks can no longer hide, they want to reset the rules so people like Paulson and Bernanke can hide what the government wingnut welfare for corporations take out of middle class pockets to further enrich a very few wealthy people.
Once you know that you go here, and see the truth they want hidden. Not that it will do much good as the recession gets deeper and more and more people end up bankrupted, out of work, wondering how and why.
If you know how to read the charts on this page you know how and why.
How interesting;
ReplyDeleteDry Goods?
Blackwater is getting about the security contracting business because "U.S. government scrutiny and negative media attention had made the business too costly."
So what's the new racket? Dry goods? Day care?
Actually, the AP article says they're now going to focus on "training, aviation and logistics."
Come to think of it, 'training, aviation and logistics' sounds a lot like military contracting. But who knows.
Eric Kleefeld suggests another possibility. As a partisan Republican mercenary outfit, they may rightly anticipate slackening sales under a Democratic president.
Looks like Blackwater is thinkin' it's an Obama victory also.
Yeah Clif, i love Shadow Stats.........i'll bet the Reich Wing Liars absolutely loathe it.
ReplyDeleteWanna see the wingnuts heads explode?
ReplyDeleteReuters: Russian Companies Now Own 10%
of U.S Steel Industry
I guess St Ronnie is spinnin' so fast that if we could hook a dynamo to him we could solve our need for electricity for the next century ....
heck of a job Georgie.
I know in Miami and South Florida lots of wealthy people from overseas are snapping up lots of properties and keeping real estate from imploding there........whats funny is these losers actually say they support a strong dollar........if thats the case then that policy is a failure just like all there other policies........or else they are just liars or possibly ALL OF THE ABOVE!
ReplyDeleteThe Reich Winger's are selling off our country piece by piece.
ReplyDeleteThis is outrageous;
ReplyDeleteAP: White House Irked With Maliki's Support Of Obama Plan
The White House is not happy with Maliki's endorsement of Obama's withdrawal timetable. "We don't think that talking about specific negotiating tactics or your negotiating position in the press is the best way to negotiate a deal," said press secretary Dana Perino.
The White House ain't happy that the country they illegally invaded and occupied what it to end.
How damned ungracious of them not to let Bush order US troops to their country endlessly to drop more bombs, shoot more people, blow up more homes and destroy more of it's future.
Damn it seems they want a nicer life them Bush ET Al have provided since march 2003.
It's outrageous is say, truly outrageous they show so little gratitude for all we have done to them.
You'd almost think they want their country back or somethin'.
You'd think they own it and all the oil under it, and are demanding the right to determine it's future with out unwanted foreign meddlin' ......
Conservative Senator Denied Delegate Slot For Not Being Right-Wing Enough
ReplyDeleteNow this is just sad. Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has long led the conservative forces of his state, has been denied his customary position as a voting delegate to the Republican National Convention -- and it's being done by an even more conservative bunch€.
The Iowa Christian Alliance, a successor to the state's Christian Coalition, has effectively taken over the state party's executive committee, and they obviously weren't happy with Grassley. It does seem curious, though, when one considers that he came up in the ranks of conservative activists and was elected to the Senate in 1980 on Ronald Reagan's coattails, and is a reliably conservative vote on issues like abortion and gay rights. What could have gotten them angry?
The Washington Times, of all places, has a hypothesis: Grassley teamed up with Democrat Max Baucus to investigate the finances of televangelists.
A Christian, a Jew & Barack Obama are floating on a raft in the middle of the ocean & Barack Obama says:
ReplyDeleteThis joke doesn't really work because there's no Muslim on the raft.
H/T Andy Borowitz
Tony Snow arrived in heaven and soon was let into a room of his dreams. There was John Kennedy talking to Reagan, Tim Russert laughing with George Washington.... Tony was looking around the full room in delight when suddenly everyone stopped talking and looked to the door attentively.
ReplyDeleteTony looked and saw that it was Barack Obama that had just walked in. Tony turned to his guide and said "Why is he here? He was alive and healthy...". His guide stopped him and said "Oh that's God, he just thinks he's Obama"
Today McCain tried ridiculing Obama by recalling his time in the Hanoi Hilton. Obama cooly rebuffed him, recalling his time in the Jakarta Motel 6.
ReplyDeleteHaving embraced him earlier, leading Irish Catholics have begun to doubt Obama's claims of being Christian, noting his lack of drinking and cursing and excessive time spent in church.
ReplyDeleteOkay, here goes - a Priest, a Mullah and Obama walk into a bar. A talking dog comes up and says, "Hey fellas, I'm down on my luck - can you spare a poor mutt 2 bits for a drink and some chow?" The Priest looks down at him and says, "Praise be to God, me laddies, a talking dog - who would have expected such miracles?" and hands the dog $50. The Mullah turns around and declares, "Inch'allah, God is Great and Merciful" and hands the dog $100. Obama bends down, pats the dog on the head, and whispers, "Okay, Hillary - nice ventriliquism act, but get the big dog in here so we can make some real money".
ReplyDeleteClif - that's funny!
ReplyDeleteNEW THREAD'S UP
Please read the new post. I am so sick of politics, this should be refreshing.
All of us need to stop reacting to all the bad news and insanity - and instead see how we can alter our own Circle of Influence in profound ways. If each of us were to go out in the world and help one of our fellow human beings -- spread happiness to one other person, lighten someone's load -- and really give from out hearts - we'd see a better world immediately.
There are so many depressed lonely people, shut-ins, homeless children, abused children, rape camps, hungry people -- there is really only one way to solve all the worlds' problems.
And the way is? To raise your own consciousness. To help whomever you can. To do all you can in the time you have in the place that you are... in the words of Nicosi Jones: all these things mean the same thing: to find God. God is simply LOVE IN ACTION.
There is no religion attached to God, and in fact, religion gets in the way of "god's" simple purpose: to love one another.
Thanks for listening. I am sick of being too scared to tell my own truth which is this: I AM NOT IN FEAR. I don't buy into the "bad stuff." I am an optimist. It has made all the difference in my life. I constantly strive to turn around any negative thoughts about others — even my worst enemies — and miracles never cease. Everything continually changes for the better because I choose my thoughts carefully.
This is the essence of prayer: not buying into the human race belief of sickness, terror, fear or disease. I don't even believe in aging. I don't believe in any of the garbage they keep trying to sell us. There is no opposing force to good. There is no power in "evil." When I choose to see the good even in a jerk, his behavior changes. It works like a charm. This is seeing the good within, or the "Christ within" each man. Christ simply represents love. The love and truth of man's spiritual nature.
The Christ Truth is a concept not a religion It's the idea of unconditional love. Christ himself was NOT RELIGIOUS.
And I refuse to stay on a lower level and continue to bitch and moan and groan anymore. It's not productive and I think many of us are ready to step into the light.
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