Weekend…

Weekend… 19 February 2010

Posted by marisacat in Divertissements, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter.
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Birds gather around a feeder in Nashville, Indiana [David Snodgress/AP]

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1. mrmcgoo - 19 February 2010: Super picture – even has the feel of Nashville IN

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marisacat - 19 February 2010: I really liked the little bird pavillion… certainly not a bird “house”…

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2. marisacat - 19 February 2010: ONLY thing better than a crazed loner is a dead crazed loner.

FP NYT

F.B.I., Laying Out Evidence, Closes Anthrax Letters Case

By SCOTT SHANE

The bureau released a report adding new details to its case that the attacks were carried out by Bruce E. Ivins, an Army biodefense expert who killed himself in 2008.

Better than “solving” a case is just shutting it closed.

Might as well laugh laugh laugh.

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3. Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: Justice Department Will Not Punish Yoo and Bybee Because Most Lawyers Are Scum Anyway

In deciding not to refer charges to state bar committees, Margolis does not tell us that Yoo and Bybee behaved admirably or according to the high standards that we should expect from Justice Department lawyers. Indeed, he says the opposite. Yoo and Bybee exercised poor judgment and let the Justice Department down. But Margolis argues that the Office of Professional Responsibility chose too high a standard to judge the professional responsibility of Yoo and Bybee. The OPR argued that Yoo and Bybee had “a duty to exercise independent legal judgment and to render thorough, objective, and candid legal advice.” This standard, Margolis explained, is much too high a requirement and not one that Yoo and Bybee were previously warned was the standard to which they would be held.

I know what you are probably saying: shouldn’t every government lawyer have to live up to this standard? Of course, they should, but the point is that this is a disciplinary proceeding. It’s not about what people should do, but about how badly they have to screw things up before they are subject to professional sanctions.

Instead, Margolis argues that, judging by (among other things) a review of D.C. bar rules, the standard for attorney misconduct is set pretty damn low, and is only violated by lawyers who (here I put it colloquially) are the scum of the earth. Lawyers barely above the scum of the earth are therefore excused.

Margolis concludes that Yoo and Bybee exercised poor judgment and made bad legal arguments. But lawyers often make arguments that are bad or even laughably bad, and this by itself does not violate the very low standard set by rules of professional responsibility. These rules are set up by jurisdictions to weed out the worst offenders, leaving the rest of the legal profession to make entirely stupid, disingenuous and asinine arguments that normal people with functioning moral consciences would not make. That is to say, rules of professional misconduct are aimed at weeding out sociopaths and people driven to theft and egregious incompetence by serious drug and alcohol abuse problems; they do not guarantee that lawyers will do right by their clients, or, in this case, by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America. In effect, by setting the standard of conduct so low, rules of professional conduct effectively work to protect all those lawyers out there whose moral standing is just a hair’s breadth above your average mass murderer. This is how the American legal profession simultaneously polices and takes care of its own.

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4. Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: MSNBC just reported that Al Haig just took charge of a slab in the morgue.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: At last.

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5. marisacat - 20 February 2010: Well. We know Al Haig won’t be on….

NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’: Commander of U.S. Central Command General David Petraeus; Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN); roundtable with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

ABC’s ‘This Week’: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA); roundtable with ABC’s George Will, the Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington, former Bush strategist and independent political strategist Matthew Dowd, and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile

CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell

‘Fox News Sunday’: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); RGA Chairman Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) and Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI); roundtable with the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, NPR’s Mara Liasson, the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes and NPR’s Juan Williams; ‘Power Player of the Week’ segment with You Tube Head of News and Politics Steve Grove

CNN’s ‘State of the Union’: Gov. Jim Douglas (R-VT) and Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA); Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), former U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari (R-NY), former Gov. and Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ)

C-SPAN — ‘Newsmakers’ (10am ET / 6pm ET Sunday): U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), questioned by Politico’s Patrick O’Connor and The Hill’s Jeffrey Young (topic is upcoming health care summit) … ‘The Communicators’ (6:30pm ET Saturday): National Cable and Telecommunications Association President and CEO Kyle McSlarrow, questioned by The Hill’s Kim Hart … ‘Q&A’ (8pm ET & 11pm ET Sunday): Ted Morgan, author of ‘Valley of Death: The Tragedy at Dien Bien Phu That Led America Into the Vietnam War.’

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6. catnip - 20 February 2010: Dutch government falls over Afghan troop mission

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s coalition government collapsed this morning when the two largest parties failed to agree on whether to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this year as planned.

The fall of the government, just two days short of the coalition’s third anniversary, all but guarantees that the 2,000 Dutch troops will be brought home this year and will eventually prompt new parliamentary elections.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: ….all but guarantees that the 2,000 Dutch troops will be brought home this year and will eventually prompt new parliamentary elections.

SOMEBODY please pull out.

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7. catnip - 20 February 2010: Belgian coma patient can’t communicate after all

LONDON — It was heralded as a medical miracle. After spending more than two decades in a coma, Rom Houben, a Belgian man in his mid-forties, was suddenly able to communicate, news reports trumpeted last November.

Other experts questioned the method Houben that was apparently using to communicate. The technique is known as “facilitated communication,” in which the patient supposedly directs the hand of a speech therapist who typed out his thoughts.

Houben’s doctors said it seemed to be genuine. Until now.

Dr. Steven Laureys, a neurologist at Liege University Hospital in Belgium, one of Houben’s doctors, now acknowledges the technique doesn’t work and that while Houben is conscious, he is not communicating.

“We did not have all the facts before,” he said Friday. “The story of Rom is about the diagnosis of consciousness, not communication.”

Sheesh. Whatever happened to the idea that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof?

According to the article, his mother proclaimed that he was writing a book!

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: …the patient supposedly directs the hand of a speech therapist who typed out his thoughts.

…

According to the article, his mother proclaimed that he was writing a book!

yes it often seems to be relatives that are the loudest town criers of a breaktrhu… can’t blame them I guess, but a mess.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: “directed communication” is such an old scam.

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8. marisacat - 20 February 2010: I am watching NOW, on PBS… a local – “County Executive” – election on Long Island that the Democrats did not look closely enough at… the Democrat, Suozzi, fell to the challenger, a R, Mangano. Suozzi failed to get out the vote, left millions in unspent campaign funds and lost after a month of recounts by some 360 votes.

Property tax in Nassau Co is about $10,000 annually and a very high sales tax. So many of the national issues, jobs, cost of living, people out of work, residents forced to move… etc.

It PRE DATED the MASS election and no Democrats analysed how Suozzi lost.

Tea partiers were active for Mangano.

snatch/jaws/victory/defeat and so on. Always trust the Democrats.

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9. catnip - 20 February 2010: Dana Milbank hearts Rahm.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: ugh i found just the snippet i read in the politico plybook email to be vomit worthy. 😛

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10. marisacat - 20 February 2010: Honey ti won’t get the R to vote for you, the second time around.

“Today we mourn the loss of Alexander Haig, a great American who served our country with distinction,” President Barack Obama said in a statement Saturday. “General Haig exemplified our finest warrior-diplomat tradition of those who dedicate their lives to public service. He enjoyed a remarkable and decorated career, rising to become a four-star general and serving as Supreme Allied Commander of Europe before also serving as Secretary of State. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

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BooHooHooMan - 20 February 2010: What a fucking oxymoron.
our finest warrior-diplomat tradition…

Like right out of Oxymorons-for-Morons ~ oxymoronic.
🙄

Nice to see Al go, tho.
Maybe I should send a Mass card.
.
.
.
.
.

Nah. Fuck ‘im.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: I thought it was awful. Excessive.

I mean, one COULD say he tried to seize the government in the wake of Reagan Bang Bang.

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CSTAR - 20 February 2010: No, it all makes sense. And when somebody of the likes of Jimmy Dimond or Lloyd Blankfein (sp?) dies, they will be similarly eulogized by Obama XXX Exemplified our finest thief-philanthropist tradition.

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BooHooHooMan - 21 February 2010: LOL. Wait till he get’s to do Benny 16.
Beloved by all – well – almost all- A leader in the …
~ PedoNazi Papal Tradition. ..

I was on the road in Hell for a few weeks, Rural Radio Jesus Land, about a 200 mile stretch of Bunker Your Family sponsored by Survival Foods. Ya know, the Absolute full spectrum dominance of shows like The Loin Girder and others, REMINDING ALL that The Libs, Commies, and Homo’s Are A’ Comins For Yer Quiverfull of Behbies. …

Oddly, ~ In Central Hell, perhaps due to some atmospheric anomaly, a weak pulse from NPR bleats through for an instant , and only an instant in the 110 mile an hour driveby, ( the wholly rational speed to drive while attempting escape).

Momentarily grateful , as one is for the monotony breaking
Gas Leak during the Fires of Hell Hour
( negative 89.5 FM on your listening dial)
NPR interrupted my tuned-to-radio-static channel to say that Obama’s Offensive in Helmand Province is ~~unwinding, predictably into a bloody morass on the windswept plains of Afghanistan~~
NO! They say it’s “not going as fast” as McChrystal and the Obama Administration would like.

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: War Forever.. Everyone saluting.

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CSTAR - 21 February 2010: Goldman Sachs could create Credit Default Swaps on the outcomes of the wars.. A new revenue generating instrument that GS could sell to … the US government and Afghanistan and why not… to the Taliban.

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: probably in formulation… offered in some private sale….

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CSTAR - 21 February 2010: PedoNazi tradition

pedo in Spanish means “fart”. Perfect. Or Pedofect.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: everytime I think he can’t possibly make me respect his ass less, he manages to hit new lows.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: Only 2 years and a lot of months to go. I think we will need oxygen tanks and miners lamps before it is over.

I am watching Branagh’s Wallander series, from BBC… and I must say they are dark and brooding enough for the moment we are in.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: I heard those were good.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: They are… So far, at least at Nefflix, there are only two discs, which have a total of 3 – 90 minute episodes… I just watched the one disc with two… The stories are dark, psychological mysteries… beautifully shot in Sweden. Wonderful interiors as well…

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Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: I keep meaning to read some of those books.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: it is so long ago that I read one or maybe two of them… and I know I have seen other Wallander episodes, by other actors, but it too is so long ago. Branagh is better than I had expected, actually…

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11. Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: Welfare Recipients Forced to Sell Food Stamps to Buy Basic Necessities

JUAN GONZALEZ: The number of Americans receiving food stamps is at an all-time high. Earlier this year, the Agricultural Department said one in eight Americans—nearly 38 million people—received food stamps last October. The New York Times reported that about six million Americans receive food stamps, saying they have no other income.

A new investigation from ColorLines Magazine, supported by the Nation Institute’s Investigative Fund, shows that some poor families are forced to sell their food stamps on the black market for cash in order to survive this prolonged recession.

When Congress overhauled welfare in 1996, it created the Temporary Aid to Needy Families, or TANF, program, which placed time limits on aid and made cash assistance contingent on finding a job.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, TANF is up for reauthorization this fall, and journalist Seth Wessler’s investigation focuses on the impact of both the recession and welfare reform in Hartford, Connecticut, a state which has the shortest welfare time limit in the country, just twenty-one months. Seth Wessler is a senior research associate at Applied Research Center, a think tank on race, and a staff writer for ColorLines Magazine. His article, “Selling Food Stamps for Kid’s Shoes,” is available online at colorlines.com.

We welcome you to Democracy Now! Explain what’s happening in Hartford.

SETH WESSLER: Well, this really is a story about what happens when the Great Recession meets welfare reform from 1996. It’s a story about what happens when people are pushed off of cash assistance by a welfare program that’s intent is to push people off of cash assistance, families trying to raise their children; what people do now that even those low-wage poverty jobs, that families have been stuck in for now a decade and a half, aren’t available.

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12. catnip - 20 February 2010: Texas Rep. Ron Paul has won the CPAC presidential preference straw poll, capturing 31 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who had won the conference’s contest the last three years, took 22 percent. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took 7 percent and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawkenty 6 percent of the 2,395 ballots cast.

haha

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13. catnip - 20 February 2010: Eve, are the Senate offices in D.C open today? (3+ / 0-)

I’m thinking how to phrase my Public Option action diary today and I want to know if we could still flood the D.C and local offices of the Senators with calls. I know we still need to tell the White House to step up on the Public Option.

Founding Member of Peanut Butter PAC- A People-Powered PAC

by pistolSO on Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 08:16:31 AM MST

No. (2+ / 0-)

And please don’t call today, you’ll fill up our voicemail and then no one else can leave them.

Pragmatic progressivism is the future.

by Pragmaticus on Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 10:09:05 AM MST

“our” voicemail? n/t (1+ / 0-)

“I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats.” – Eckhart Tolle

by catnip on Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 01:20:58 PM MST

No response…as crickets chirp…

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: stumble…

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Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: LOL

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Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: “PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE SOCK PUPPET BEHIND THE CURTAIN!”

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catnip - 20 February 2010: “Pragmaticus” – sounds like something Harry Reid would call himself in his little Roman fantasy world. ;0

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14. Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: I don’t know what is happening in other states, but at least here, I have read, people wait a few weeks between each extension. Which has to be impossible. Congress sure did not care right before christmas… the extension lanquished while they stayed at home.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 20 February 2010: it’s really horrible.

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marisacat - 20 February 2010: I see that article is riding at the top of the column on the FP………

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NYCO - 21 February 2010: Dmitri Orlov is starting to look more prescient than ever when he scoffed at the notion of “jobs” in his book Reinventing Collapse.

“Jobs” are merely the embroidery on the fabric of society. For this large and growing underclass, it becomes about “favors” and “protections.” The “jobs” of the future will be about making nice with your neighbors (the more powerful your neighbors, the better) with whatever you have at your disposal (alas, for many women they have only their own bodies at their disposal).

It’s not the same thing as barter, though. The notion of barter is basically about substituting other stuff for devalued dollars. What Orlov was talking about was the use of neighborhood social capital – where you do favors for people out of largesse and then other people do favors for you. It’s going to take a long time to get Americans accustomed to reestablishing actual social bonds on that level.

Many “unmarketable” skills will become valuable on a person-to-person basis in an America with a large unemployed underclass – but of course, anyone in Soweto or Haiti could tell you that already.

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15. BooHooHooMan - 21 February 2010: Sigh. Where to begin with this Oxymoronic lede-

Obama pushes for compromise

Thursday’s summit could prove a pivotal moment in the year-long effort to overhaul the system.

Shailagh Murray and Michael D. Shear

Here’s the deal.
I’m running over the next reporter (Sorry – no private plane )
that checks off the cliched “could prove a pivotal moment” box in their word processor. I didn’t drive through Hell and survive Rural Radio to put up with that shit. LOL.

So it makes makes no Neva Mind to me if it’s about Health Care Reform, the Israeli Occupation, Our Endless Wars, or a reference to Brad and Angelina. The next MSM journo who scheisse~peddles the same ol’ “could be a pivotal moment” crap is a goner. 😉

The real compromised joke is w/r/t Obama “pushing” …..for anything.

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: I just read a headline that said the NEW PLAN is to make the R the “party of obstruction” AFTER Ob puts them on the spot.

Can this get emptier? Historically empty? Unprecedented in the emptiness? (the jokes write themselves)

I am guessing it can.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 21 February 2010: not only emptier, but a big vast sucking vacuum.

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: well it’s running on fumes. Rendell (on TW) said Obama is a “great communicator” who “did not communicate”.

Hard to get emptier.

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16. marisacat - 21 February 2010: hmm think it was catnip who linked to the Wapo Milbank article but I just saw this at Ben Smith. Id say, look for leaks to continue and accelerate.

GOOD LUCK!!

February 20, 2010

Categories:White House.

Rahm’s press shop

A telling line from a Dana Milbank column that channels and defends Rahm, and blames the Chicago loyalists for making large and small mistakes:

No wonder Emanuel has set up his own small press operation and outreach function to circumvent the dysfunctional ones that Jarrett and Gibbs run.

I’m not entirely sure what Milbank means: Rahm has always spun on his own behalf, and has an aide who used to be his press secretary. His implication is that they’re spinning reporters against the rest of the White House, but it seems worth noting that that aide is married to the White House communications director.

Posted by Ben Smith 10:25 AM

comments (10)

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17. catnip - 21 February 2010: My latest: Assassination Politics

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18. Madman in the Marketplace - 21 February 2010: Law limiting release of gun-trace data blasted by chief, D.A.

As a candidate, Barack Obama promised to get rid of a law – quietly passed by Congress – that hides information from the public about guns used in crimes and the stores that sell them.

Instead, President Obama has embraced most of the law and added even more rules that could make it harder for law enforcement to crack down on dealers and stores selling guns to criminals.

While supporters of the secrecy law say shielding crime-gun data and dealer violations protects police officers, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn labels that notion “a crock.”

In fact, Flynn said he didn’t get a clear picture of what role West Milwaukee’s Badger Guns plays in selling crime guns that end up in his city until six police officers were shot in a two-year span – all with guns from Badger Guns or its predecessor, Badger Outdoors.

Before the law passed, it was easier to see such trends and Badger Outdoors ranked at the top, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In 2005 alone, the store sold 537 crime guns – most in the nation.

As public pressure mounted on gun dealers, a little-known congressman from Kansas slipped sweeping secrecy rules into a giant federal budget bill, protecting law-breaking gun stores from scrutiny and making it harder for law enforcement to get information it considers vital.

U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), who is the second-largest congressional recipient of National Rifle Association cash, said his legislation – commonly referred to as “Tiahrt” (pronounced TEE-heart) – is intended to protect undercover officers.

Flynn called the congressman’s rationale for the law “a cynical fig leaf.”

“Tiahrt was enacted after the ATF published reports telling everyone who the irresponsible gun dealers are. Suddenly officer safety was at risk? That is a crock,” Flynn said. “It is sad, sad, sad that Congress is willing to endure this language and continue to be a willful accomplice in the arming of criminals with high-quality firearms.”

By putting it in a budget bill, Tiahrt assured his measure would be passed without a separate up or down vote. Seven years later, there still hasn’t been one.

U.S. Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) is one of the only members of Wisconsin’s delegation to vote on the secrecy measure – and he changed his position.

Obey voted against the Tiahrt Amendment in 2003 when it first came to the House Appropriations Committee. A year later, Obey changed his position and endorsed an even more restrictive version of the measure.

After Obey rose to House Appropriations Committee chairman, he again backed the secrecy rules in 2007. A spokesman said Obey was not available to comment.

Tiahrt’s amendment not only put records off limits to the public, it choked off law enforcement’s access to gun-trace data that is crucial for dismantling criminal organizations, according to Flynn and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.

The change means ATF can no longer say which stores sell the most crime guns. It is impossible to know where Badger Guns ranks today nationally.

ATF also won’t give Milwaukee police the gun-trace data from other cities – even neighboring suburbs. And Chisholm cannot get trace information from ATF for all Milwaukee County police departments, though that is his jurisdiction.

“If you are playing blind man’s bluff with that information, you are unnecessarily handicapping our efforts,” Chisholm said. “I have no interest in taking political shots at anybody. I just want them to let us do our job, in a restrained but proper way.”

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: Well here is a plan, the COPS should be exposing this. But I would be surprised to see them do that.

It is so ridiculous and so rigged, it is almost laughable.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 21 February 2010: Local cops have been making a big deal of it …. of course it helps that a lot of them and the prosecutors are Republicans and the local pols responsible are national Dems.

It’s interesting, since the city Republicans have to fight not only the dems they’re going after, but the suburban/rural Republican gun nuts in this state. They’re cooperating pretty closely w/ the Dem mayor on this.

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19. Madman in the Marketplace - 21 February 2010: A reader flags this from a new book about Gordon Brown:

Rawnsley reveals that another victim of the prime minister’s wrath was Bob Shrum, a respected American political consultant and speechwriter, who had worked for Brown for years. When Brown was accused of plagiarising phrases used by Al Gore and Bill Clinton in his 2007 conference speech, the prime minister screamed at a shaking Shrum: ‘How could you do this to me, Bob? How could you fucking do this to me?’

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: oh that is just funny! (.. and the dream shall never never die!)

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20. Madman in the Marketplace - 21 February 2010: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Our country’s power elite is, quite literally, governed by the pre-adolescent verbal trick of “heads I win, tails you lose,” with “I” being high-level officials seeking to flout the law and “you” being the rule of law itself. The absurd threshold of attorney misconduct discussed by Balkin is merely the “heads I win” of this formulation, allowing advising attorneys to be shielded by nearly insurmountable ethical hurdles. The “tails you lose,” meanwhile, is the equally impervious ability of deciding officials to hide behind even the most frivolous legal advice of the “heads I win” attorneys.

Indeed, to completely eviscerate the rule of law, the laughably narrow attorney misconduct standard must be combined with a similarly extreme interpretation of the protection those attorneys provide to the government officials “relying” on their advice. In other words, “heads I win, tails you lose” results when the justice system does both of the following: (1) allows government officials to avoid culpability for their actions by commissioning legal hacks to justify what they want to do; and (2) makes it nearly impossible to punish the advising lawyers for their bald-faced hackery. As a result, as long as a government official launders his or her preordained illegal activity through the hocus-pocus of a sufficiently loyal legal hack, neither the official nor the legal hack will ever be held to account for their central roles in breaking the law.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 21 February 2010: ADDENDUM:

This comment by Sarcastro reminded me tangentially of Hannah Arendt’s downright amazing “rule by Nobody” observation of modern government, which is chillingly apt today:

These definitions coincide with the terms which, since Greek antiquity, have been used to define the forms of government as the rule of man over man – of one or the few in monarchy and oligarchy, of the best or the many in aristocracy and democracy, to which today we ought to add the latest and perhaps most formidable form of such dominion, bureaucracy, or the rule by an intricate system of bureaux in which no men, neither one nor the best, neither the few nor the many, can be held responsible, and which could be properly called the rule by Nobody. Indeed, if we identify tyranny as the government that is not held to give account of itself, rule by Nobody is clearly the most tyrannical of all, since there is no one left who could even be asked to answer for what is being done. It is this state of affairs which is among the most potent causes for the current world-wide rebellious unrest.

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21. catnip - 21 February 2010: Cenk Uygur at dkos:

Dana Milbank transcribed an article written by Rahm Emanuel today in The Washington Post.

No doubt.

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: kiss kiss

The thought of Dana and Rahm kissing………………….. oh no.

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22. marisacat - 21 February 2010: yikes… hold on to your hats. ABC will air an interview tomorrow (GMA, I guess?) with Stack daughter (step daughter, maybe…) calling him a hero. Tho she does not agree with his last act…

gah.

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23. marisacat - 21 February 2010: noo ooo ooo

LINK

……………….. 🙄

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24. BooHooHooMan - 21 February 2010: They seem to be having a
Hitler in the Bunker Night on Dailykos.
Moving Imaginary Men around etc…

Obama Stands Up for Public Option! (updated)
by The Third Man
Digg this! Share this on Twitter – Obama Stands Up for Public Option! (updated)Tweet this submit to reddit
Sun Feb 21, 2010 at 05:14:13 PM PST

Not a diary, but the plan is out and look here:

LOL. Lookey Here! The Whitehouse.gov site!

Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice. The President believes this option will promote competition, hold insurance companies accountable and assure affordable choices. It is completely voluntary. The President believes the public option must operate like any private insurance company – it must be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums it collects.

* The Third Man’s diary :: ::
*

I don’t see legislative language posted, but the plan looks familar….

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: I think Obama is having a Fire Sale.

Or something. yard sale.

Tag sale.

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25. BooHooHooMan - 21 February 2010: More from Hitler in the Bunker Night on DK:

Public Option Will Happen! Now, let’s talk Mid Term Elections
by GeorgesMouth
Sun Feb 21, 2010 at 05:25:07 PM PST

And …em….ah…….this one.

Capture Bin Laden and change the game
by Jamesleo

Ok, most of you don’t know what the hell I am talking about. I beg your indulgence and I will explain:

* Jamesleo’s diary :: ::

We have been focusing on the economy and what has not or what has worked. I think we can all agree that the Stimulus was insufficient (thank you Dr. Paul Krugman you were right all along) in creating new jobs and being a “rising tide that lifted all boats. What do progressives do.
While this has been going on, we have had some incredible success in Afghanistan. Every day, a new Al Queda stronghold is overtaken and a new leader captured. One of them surely must know Bin Laden.
Find him, cpature him, if he is killed in the process, put his body on display.
Why? We need a game changer and fast.
If this happens, Obama becomes a national hero. He can then go to the American people and make his case for time
“Pleae, we overestimated the extent of the crisis”. Please give us time. With the same zeal and commitment that I captured this terrorist, I will fix the economy, pleas trust me.”
The Glen Beck’s will be stopped in their tracks. I can see the Sunday news programs, John Boehner, Mitch McConnel would be gasping Ha–di—hammid whatever. This cold buy us time in 2010.

Folks: I can think of no other tactic save a miracle in the job market. Even if the market added 90,000 jobs a month it would be way insufficient. We need a game changer and we need one fast.
If I am wrong, please correct. And please don’t give me that 9/11 was an inside job paranoia. That makes as much sense as Obama being a Muslim or a foreign born citizen.

So “Progressive.”
So different from Bush supporters and Republicans.
😯
So very VERY fucked up.

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marisacat - 21 February 2010: I’ll move this to the noo ooo oo thread… 😉

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