Close to the ground…

Close to the ground… 2 June 2009

Posted by marisacat in 2010 Mid Terms, DC Politics, Egypt, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Riyadh.
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London park animals by Simon de Glanville: Crouching, kneeling or even lying on the ground, Simon does all he can to get the best shots.
[BARCROFT MEDIA]

As it happens, I have no thoughts or devices to impart. Or plunk on a page, or whatever…

***

Actually, let me rethink that:

I did allow myself a long slow nasty snicker. And he is just one version of the slag propagandists… We have so many similar, jesters of a sort…. On both “sides”. To say nothing of the buffoons who are run by both sides. Switch hitters. Shit switchers. One of my most favorite moments of civilian political observation, was Camelotta having a meal in Harlem with this particular Shit Switcher. It is to laugh, at how awful they all are.

I often think of the Perot sound bite, one of the best of my life, that “giant sucking sound”. Prepare for more of that… a lot more of that. Take it any way you like, as a metaphor.

Oh yes, my mood is very dark. Why not.

***

Oh! BTW! Allahu Akhbar! On to Riyadh…then Cairo!

The invading Obama hordes descend … in a few hours! But! Not to worry! It is not a crusade, it almost a coming home…the prodigal returns to the mother breast. All but.

Did you know that the WH is pushing Obama … That is Barack Hussein to you! as someone who “has lived on three continents”..

Really? What is the third? Did a post-war circa 1960 mid-rise building on the old Punahou estate become a continent? Somehow? Is he claiming to have lived in Africa, somewhere? Or other?

And… he has “been deeply immersed in Islam”? I have even heard commentary that he attended at a muslim school in Indonesia.

Oh yes?

Did you know that? They fought so hard against any of that in the extended runs for the nom and then for the pretzelness. To mention it or his middle name was to be racist. Or, at the least a smear meant to tarnish his run for the pretzel job…

Who are these people? Who is he? Do they know? Is there a real person there? Anywhere near there? Is there a there there?

Here is one version of the slobber that I found:

[I]t is a politics of biography rapidly becoming synonymous with the Obama presidency. The message he hopes to deliver to Muslims, outlined by advisors ahead of the president’s departure Wednesday for the Middle East, will draw on the same storytelling instincts Obama has employed with great success at home.

Now, as Obama attempts to forge new relations with a Muslim community that is at best suspicious of American motives, he relies on a diplomacy of personality that rests on the hunch that the best way to make friends for his country is by winning them over himself.

“The fact is that the president himself experienced Islam on three continents before he’s been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world,” said Denis McDonough, Obama’s deputy national security advisor for strategic communications. The president sees a fundamental need, McDonough said, to change “how we engage our allies.”

So when Obama arrives in the region Wednesday, advisors say, he won’t be carrying detailed policy proposals, but rather an appeal focusing on common experience and mutual respect.

It’s worn thin. And the last graf is a very fancy way to say he got bent over by Israel. Just as always happens. Because we have no plans to change anything about the “special relationship”.

It’s beyond thin. But it is very very amusing…

***

Comments»

1. marisacat - 3 June 2009: The gooeyness goes on. Bug eyed in Goo Goo Land.

06.02.09 — 6:02PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (35)
Hard Hitting

Brian Williams, on the access his crew got for NBC’s two-night primetime behind-the-scenes look at the Obama White House:

“To be in the hallway when the president walks by with a handful of M&Ms, popping them in his mouth as he goes to visit his chief of staff — it was unbelievable.”

–David Kurtz

There’s that giant sucking sound.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 3 June 2009: jeez, why didn’t they sneak in one of the plaster casters with them while they were at it, so we could get the full measure of the rock star?

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2. marisacat - 3 June 2009: No steps forward, several steps backwards. A lot of names pop up from Dov Weisglass to Elliot Abrams to Miss Condi (who confirmed it all yesterday, apparently)

Netanyahu cites secret deal with Bush to justify more settlements

Revelation puts more strain on relations with US as Obama heads for Middle East

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

Wednesday, 3 June 2009

The Israelis claim that Ariel Sharon reached an agreement with the Bush administration that West Bank settlements, such as Beitar Illit, above, could be expanded

The Israeli government of Benjmain Netanyahu is seeking to deflect Washington’s demand for a total settlement freeze by complaining that it ignores secret agreements between his predecessors and the Bush administration that construction in existing Jewish settlements could continue.

The rift between Mr Netanyahu’s government and the US appeared to deepen yesterday, with a clear declaration by President Barack Obama that a freeze – including on “natural growth” of West Bank settlements – was among Israeli “obligations”.

But Mr Netanyahu’s government – which has made it clear it will not accept a total freeze – is pushing to restore at least part of the private “understandings” which it is emerging were struck between Israel and the previous US administration despite the Bush team’s repeatedly stated opposition to settlement construction. snap

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mattes - 3 June 2009: As did Clinton, [Hilary New York senate seat]. But if you read today’s Haaretz, it seems those bets are off, to the Israelis’ surprise.

And today, on CNN they showed the settlers fighting with Palestinians in the West Bank. Commentator avoided mentioning that the settlement was an illegal town by US Resolution….but, it’s a start. IDF soldiers were not shown in a good light. Hope the commentator has his will in order.

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3. brinn - 3 June 2009: The commencement speech never spoken:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/03-5

Nicely done, Tom.

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4. brinn - 3 June 2009: Another extremely well-written article I read yesterday, that should be seared into the consciousness of anyone remotely involved in “education” (as we all should be intimately involved, that I wrote the preceding just makes me even sadder…)

http://www.alternet.org/story/140318/students_aren%27t_customers%3B_education_is_not_a_commodity/?page=entire

How are you all today?

Lucid, got any new poetry? I started one last week that began:

Acid regret
Making unique snowflakes of the present
….

then I stopped/blocked
8:)

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NYCO - 4 June 2009: Higher education has always been about social stratification and training new recruits for the ranks. In that sense, I would not begrudge the national obsession with “access for everyone.” Who am I to tell a poor kid he’s wasting his time at Corporate U.? But if you want to become educated, read books. And compare notes frequently with other book-readers.

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marisacat - 4 June 2009: But if you want to become educated, read books. And compare notes frequently with other book-readers.

absolutely.

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5. lucid - 3 June 2009: Brinn – I posted one last week I think… I churn out a couple a month.

So… hmm… 37 today.

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brinn - 3 June 2009: lucid — it’s your birthday?!

for a maiker of music
a sculptor of words
i imagine a smile

You were born this day — celebrations, indeed from deep in the hole, er, heart, of texas! 😉

PS
If it isn’t your birthday, consider this a cyber hug for no readily apparent reason!

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lucid - 3 June 2009: ’tis… crazy gemini. Thanx

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catnip - 3 June 2009: Happy Cheesecake Day! (you young whippersnapper!)

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brinn - 3 June 2009: Crazy Pisces here — I feel/live the duality! 😉

And yeah, catnip, he is a youngin’ isn’t he?? (Sayeth the intermittently old/young/senile/lucid/brilliant/ignorant 43-year-old me!

heh.

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catnip - 3 June 2009: You’re a whippersnapper too!

(I like using that word.)

I’m going to be 50 this year and I’d like to know how the hell that happened.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 3 June 2009: considering how old you are, I’m not surprised you can’t remember (Madman starts to run, but his 46 year old right knee locks up, and he gets a stitch in his lower back, and then …)

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catnip - 3 June 2009: Vengeance is mine, sayeth the herb.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 3 June 2009: you can beat me with your walker.
NYCO - 4 June 2009: Gosh, so this is why this is virtually the only blog I care to hang out at any more… everyone here is “matoore.” (at 40, I guess I am in the middle).

damn kids!!

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brinn - 4 June 2009: LOL!

Ya’ll make me smile! THANKS!

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marisacat - 3 June 2009: Happy Birthday to you… HB to you … HB dear lucid…

😉

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Madman in the Marketplace - 3 June 2009: Reply
6. catnip - 3 June 2009: Gitmo protest captured on film

WASHINGTON – A Guantanamo Bay detainee committed suicide late Monday just hours after two Chinese Muslim captives staged the detention centre’s first public protest, increasing the pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama to outline his plan of how he will close the offshore prison.

Yemeni Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah Salih, 31, is the first prisoner to die since the White House changed hands four months ago. His suicide follows weeks of criticism from both ends of the political spectrum over the fate of the remaining 240 Guantanamo detainees.

News of the suicide was emailed to the media just as a flight bringing journalists from Guantanamo landed in Maryland. The press had been at the U.S. naval detention centre for the war crimes court hearing of Canadian Omar Khadr.

Khadr, 22, is accused of war crimes, including the murder of a U.S. soldier during a firefight in Afghanistan in July 2002.

Hours after Khadr’s brief hearing Monday, fewer than a dozen journalists on the trip, including a Toronto Star reporter, witnessed a rare unscripted moment on the base when two Uighur (pronounced Wee-gur) detainees managed to hold an impromptu protest.

The group was at an Oceanside prison known as “Camp Iguana,” where 16 Uighur and one Algerian detainee are imprisoned.

As the journalists neared the fence line, the captives held up messages written in crayon on prison-issued sketch pads, knowing the Pentagon prohibits journalists from speaking to detainees.

For a few minutes they silently turned the pages quickly, as journalists shot video, photos and scribbled down their messages.

“We are being held in prison but we have been announced innocent a corrding to the virdict in caurt,” one message said. “We need to freedom (sic).”

Another stated, “America is Double Hetler in unjustice,” seemingly comparing their treatment by the U.S. government to that of the Nazis.

The Uighur prisoners with Chinese citizenship have been cleared for release but there’s nowhere for them to go since the minority group is persecuted in its Communist-controlled homeland. The U.S. government has tried for months to find a country willing to provide the group asylum.

Reporters were ushered away from the fenced-in area shortly after the Uighurs had their written protest. One of the captives yelled as the gate was locked behind the group: “Is Obama Communist or a Democrat? We have the same operation in China.”

Journalists were later forbidden from sending photos or video footage of the signs until Guantanamo officials received clearance from the White House – which didn’t come until about 14 hours later.

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7. Madman in the Marketplace - 3 June 2009: Telecom Spy Suits Dismissed / UPDATE: EFF, ACLU Plan Appeal

A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed lawsuits targeting the nation’s telecommunication companies for their participation in President George W. Bush’s once-secret electronic eavesdropping program. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker upheld summer legislation protecting the companies from the lawsuits. The legislation, which then-Sen. Barack Obama voted for, also granted the government the authority to monitor American’s telecommunications without warrants if the subject was communicating with somebody overseas suspected of terrorism.

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8. Madman in the Marketplace - 3 June 2009: Obama’s “Open Government” Deletes Top Proposal on “End Imperial Presidency”

Is irony even the word for this? The president created a new online “open government” system in which people were free to brainstorm and vote proposals up or down. Far and away the leading proposal in the category of “Legal and Policy Challenges” as of the scheduled end of brainstorming was End Imperial Presidency. You can still find it, but it’s been removed from that category and from the list of all proposals. Unless you have the direct link to it, you cannot find it, and when you do you can no longer vote for it. It has a label at the top with a closed lock and the words “pending moderator approval.” When voting was scheduled to end on the 28th, this proposal was at the top in its category and ranked #3 over all.

Then the Open Government announced that it would keep the brainstorming open until June 19th and not begin Phase 2, involving discussion of the brainstormed ideas until June 3rd. So, voting continued, and “End Imperial Presidency” moved up to second place over all. And here we are on June 3rd, and the proposal has been removed from the running. I’m not sure if you call this irony, but I definitely wouldn’t call it Open Government. During the campaign, the top demand of Obama’s supporters on his website was that he keep his promise to oppose and filibuster immunity for telecom companies. During the presidential transition, the top question was whether Obama would allow the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor for Bush-Cheney. Both of those proposals were rejected. Now this one has been rejected as well.

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brinn - 4 June 2009: Dean Baker — my favorite economist! Yeah, so I have a favorite economist, I’m a geek! 😉

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9. marisacat - 3 June 2009: Cheerleading the Recovery

Reporters With Pom-Poms

By DEAN BAKER

Last week we got a whole series of bad reports on the state of the economy. New and existing home sales both remain near their lowest level for the downturn, as house prices continue to drop at the rate of 2.0 percent a month. New orders for capital goods, a key measure of investment demand, fell by 2.0 percent in April. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, new orders were still down by 1.5 percent.

On Friday, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index fell by more than 5 percentage points from its April level, approaching its low for the downturn. The employment component of the index did hit a new low.

These reports might have led to gloomy news stories, but not in the U.S. media. The folks who could not see an $8 trillion housing bubble are still determined to find the silver lining in even the worst economic news.

For example, National Public Radio told listeners that the new home sales figure reported for April was up from the March level . While this was true, the April figure was only 1,000 higher than a March level that had just been revised down by 5,000. April new home sales were 4,000 below the sales level that had originally been reported for March. USA Today touted a “surge” in durable goods orders, which was also based on a sharp downward revision to the prior month’s data. …

First they cheered and lied and hid things under Bush… and now they do the same for Ob. It’s a very sick end game for “equality”.

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10. marisacat - 3 June 2009: from moiv:

Fred Phelps is headed to the funeral — along with more than one member of the Army of God (that I know of).

http://www.kansas.com/news/tiller/story/838758.html

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11. marisacat - 4 June 2009: Clemons at The Washington Note has up a Max Blumenthal vid of settlers – talking out loud, and then some.

the thread is very interesting as well.

Esp this comment (but not the only one of interest) which wonders if Ob ever sees anything like this or is deeply cocooned. Oh with Axelrod and Rahm… LOL deep in the pupa.

Clemons recommended thsi, Ibn Ezra, blog from inside Israel… I leafed thru, very interesting.

http://ibnezra.wordpress.com/

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12. marisacat - 4 June 2009: in case brinn is around:

Obama Ordering states close 5000 failing schools Chicago lies go national

from the close:

But behind the rhetorical smokescreen typical of corporate Chicago’s school reform jargon, Duncan is wielding the biggest stick in the history of American public education: the second wave of federal “stimulus” money. The Obama administration intends to force the entire country to begin the massive privatization of public education or face the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money.

Of course, the feds won’t be forcing any policy on anyone: “The various school districts themselves would have to actually order schools closed,” the AP article concluded.

here is the kick, it is written by a “long time Chicago organiser and education activist”.

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brinn - 4 June 2009: Yep, George Schmidt — been reading him for years — check him out at Substancenews.com — the pick of Duncan as EdSec was the final straw — the damned non-educator CEO of CPS (yes, that was his title CEO!) , great. Just great. Spent most of yesterday reading John Taylor Gatto, and getting more and more and more pissed off …

I also took at look at the Regional Ed Service Center jobs page — they’ve got a bun ch of new jobs listed for their “Turnaround Program” — it’s going national alright…

BUT, when I get this pissed off I start thinking about stuff to do, and I came up with a bunch of things I might go ahead and try with my students next fall AND a with my kids this summer, while they are allowed to be unincumbered by the clutches of the “system”…

We’re going to start off with an analysis of some Pink Floyd lyrics…

Welcome, my son, welcome to machine….

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Madman in the Marketplace - 4 June 2009: good place to start!

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Madman in the Marketplace - 4 June 2009: Speaking of Pink Floyd: Roger Waters slams Israeli occupation

After visiting Jenin, Rogers traveled to Jerusalem to meet with students at the Sam Spiegel Film and Cinema School. He spoke of his impressions from the West Bank city, which he found much livelier and modern than he had imagined.

Waters said that he also visited the Jenin refugee camp, which was invaded by IDF forces in 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield. “Some of the people there are still extremely traumatized,” he said. “Parts of the camp have been rebuilt, but there are still a lot of humanitarian problems, which can also be seen in the Gaza Strip and the occupied territories.”

The rocker also commented on the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza, which he defined as “not an eye for an eye, but a hundred eyes for an eye.” He spoke strongly against the occupation, the checkpoints and the restrictions on free movement of Palestinians.

“I think that without equal rights for everyone – this democracy is meaningless. Innocent people are being slaughtered on both sides, and for what? The desert sand?”

Waters warned that the conflict had a detrimental effect on Israel’s standing in the world, and that many no longer believe that the Jewish people deserve a state of their own.

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marisacat - 4 June 2009: Zogby likes to say that Arab Prince Money has fully rebuilt Jenin… Angry Arab has identified with part of the Saudi Royal Family keeps him on retainer.

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13. marisacat - 4 June 2009: Listening to the speech from Cairo… when he brought up “colonialism” having been an issue I laughed out loud.

😈

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14. marisacat - 4 June 2009: Shorter speech:

We have always loved you.

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15. marisacat - 4 June 2009: Something something about “innocents slaughtered in Bosnia or Darfur”…

Leave anywhere out Bud?

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16. marisacat - 4 June 2009: Al Qaeda is going strong and the War on Terrorists will as well. Etc.

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17. marisacat - 4 June 2009: i think a protest tried to break out, after he quoted the ”Holy Quran” to them, there was a big yell that was snuffed out…

on and on it goes.. he now on to the Holocaust and Jews……….. don’t be mean to the Jews. They have SUFFERED!

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18. marisacat - 4 June 2009: The full text as prepared. Think he just got a shout of … might have been We Love You.

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19. catnip - 4 June 2009: you can beat me with your walker.

Are you going to pay for my plane ticket? And my passport?

hehe

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Madman in the Marketplace - 4 June 2009: are you kidding? I know how much you canucks drink … I couldn’t afford it!

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20. catnip - 4 June 2009: From Obamalama’s speech:

For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America’s founding.

Okay. Maybe I’m just an ignorant canuck, but didn’t y’all have a civil war related to that somehow…?

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marisacat - 4 June 2009: Plus America was founded on slavery…

… and somebody better go count the ”7 million” muslims. take a bag lunch, don’t call for help. LOL A lot of them don’t exist.

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catnip - 4 June 2009: According to this state dep’t factsheet (which has since disappeared from the state dept’s site):

Islam is one of the fastest-growing religions in the U.S. By the year 2010, America’s Muslim population is expected to surpass the Jewish population, making Islam the country’s second-largest faith after Christianity.

Are you kidding me?

Meanwhile, the CIA factbooksays:

Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)

Muslims have a lot of catching up to do if they plan to overrun the Jewish community by 2010.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 4 June 2009: not to mention the Black Panthers and Malcolm, setting up a clenched fist that made MLK’s peaceful alternative look even better.

Oh, and they STILL haven’t won full and equal rights, not in actuality.

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marisacat - 4 June 2009: it’s rolling back imo………….. but hey… I decided just to watch. All I can do anyway.

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21. lucid - 4 June 2009: Thanks guys – went out and got drunk last night, hence I wasn’t around.

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catnip - 4 June 2009: DID YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME?

(Sorry for shouting.

Not really.

lol)

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Lucid - 4 June 2009: Now I could remember that the answer would be no 😉

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marisacat - 4 June 2009: Happy Birthday to you… HB to you… HB dear lucid….

🙄

Sorry I have never known good hangover treatments… if I did I would recommend one.. 😉

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22. catnip - 4 June 2009: My latest: Obama and “the Muslim world”

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23. catnip - 4 June 2009: I’m surprised to see Gideon Levy buying into Obama hopeyness.

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24. catnip - 4 June 2009: Peter Daou: Let Women Wear the Hijab: The Emptiness of Obama’s Cairo Speech

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marisacat - 4 June 2009: Daou is right… and I am not a Peter Daou fan. Well Ob did say he was seeking COUNSEL from King Abdullah… not “here to talk over issues and areas of agreement”, no he said “counsel”. He embraced Mubarak with words so cosy and complimentary…

God forbid he mention the real problems.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 4 June 2009: there are no problems, those are in the PAST … unless of course you’re remembering the Holocaust, which must be kept in mind at all times and which excuses any outrage.

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25. catnip - 4 June 2009: It’s all one big shell game – at your expense.

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26. catnip - 4 June 2009: Hmmm…Krugman on BBC’s Hardtalk said there’s Washington “buzz” about another $500 billion stimulus package coming down the pike.

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marisacat - 4 June 2009: they should try for a front loaded Stumble Bill this time, one that goes into action the YEAR it is launched.

The first one was mostly calibrated to pump money in the MID TERM YEAR.

What shits they all are… The latest unemployment figures for May show construction jobs still falling. The ONE SECTOR Oblings promised Stumble Bill No 1 would be putting to work.

I think we will be putting Cairenes to work before Americans, at this point. As we go on bombing…

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27. marisacat - 4 June 2009: Course they HAD to charge someone… otherwise it would Madoff alone in all this mess who was ever charged with anything…. So Angelo was a good pick… 🙄

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:

SEC Charges Countrywide’s Angelo Mozillo With Insider Trading and Fraud [3:30 p.m. ET]

For more on this and other breaking news go to ABCNews.com: http://abcnews.go.com?nwltr=bn

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28. marisacat - 4 June 2009: The News Hour has on Angry Arab… what a hoot. The LONE dissenter among the muslim and Arab mush mouths who luvved the speech.

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29. Madman in the Marketplace - 4 June 2009: 7 Factors That Led to Crisis

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30. Madman in the Marketplace - 4 June 2009: Angry Arab:

So let me summarize Obama’s message to Arabs: if Arabs adopt and internalize Gun Zionism, the US will be very pleased.

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31. Madman in the Marketplace - 4 June 2009: Obamanity: The Religion of Complicity

With Obama’s allegiance to Wall Street bankers, by way of gigantic bailouts, black unemployment rates can expect to remain markedly higher than for whites. With Obama’s appointing of cabinet members like Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, we can expect schools in predominately black and brown areas to remain disadvantaged and increasingly privatized. With Obama’s non-existent approach to systemic, structural and institutional racism, we can expect America’s centuries-old legacy of racism and white supremacy to linger on. For many black Obama supporters his presidency continues to appear as a mirage in a “desert” of oppression.
However, some so-called white liberals voted for him because it made them feel as though they shed a little bit of that “white man’s burden.” They retain the built in white privilege that comes with their skin color. Voting for Obama was almost cathartic for white liberals, allowing them to feel they had done something to close the race gap in America – without really doing much of anything at all. They can now return to their racially segregated lives, unburdened by worries about structural and institutional racism. Police brutality, disproportionate black and brown unemployment, racial profiling, a racist criminal “justice” system, and apartheid styled school systems are alive and well. America’s war mongering foreign policy sure hasn’t changed an iota since the inception of America’s first black presidency. As if any change could have been reasonably expected within the constraints of the two corporate beholden mainstream parties.

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marisacat - 4 June 2009: speaking of police brutality… today the judge in the hearings in Oakland for the Mehserle killing of Oscar Grant on New Years morning at an East Bay BART station found for Mehserle to stand trial. Said he did nto believe the story of “meant to taser nto shoot him”…

I am sure the trial will be moved otu of Oakland… no “jury of his peers” for the former BART cop… to some white district. But new tapes surfaced in the hearing, fuller exposition and they worked agaisnt a lot of the police commentary about how on the offense, in the cops faces etc… Grant’s companions were that night.

Etc.

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32. marisacat - 4 June 2009: LOL Supposedly Sotomayor owns a condo down in the Village, worth 1 million.

have they assessed that property lately?

🙄

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33. marisacat - 4 June 2009: gnu

LINK

……………….. 🙄 …………………..

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