Toasting

Toasting 18 February 2011

Posted by marisacat in 2012 Re Election, California / Pacific Coast, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Lie Down Fall Down Dems.
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via BI Flicker/WH photo

Here’s an iconic photo of Barack Obama sitting down for dinner with the elite of Silicon Valley.

In the photo, we see Eric Schmidt of Google, someone we can’t make out, John Chambers of Cisco, John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Reed Hastings of Netflix, another one we’re not sure about (John Hennessy, president of Stanford?), Carol Bartz of Yahoo, Dick Costolo of Twitter, another person we can’t make out, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, President Obama of the United States, Steve Jobs of Apple, Steve Westly of the Westly Group (we think), and a woman we can’t recognize.

via BI Flicker/WH photo

I heard he named Ottolini of Intel to his Jobs Council.

What can you do but laugh. They are.

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1. marisacat - 18 February 2011: FWIW (nothing)

BREAKING – White House:

“Paul Otellini, President and CEO of Intel, will be named to President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. In January, the President signed an Executive Order creating the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, an advisory board which will focus on finding new ways to promote growth, encourage hiring, educate and train our workers … The President has named Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, as the Chair, and other members of the Council will be named in the coming weeks. [Today], the President will travel to Hillsboro, Oregon, where he will visit Intel.”

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2. catnip - 18 February 2011: Just posted this in the last thread: They’ve attacked the hospital

Riot police attacked pro-reform protesters with tear gas and gunfire at a hospital compound in Bahrain’s capital on Friday.

The hospital is a triage centre in Manama that was housing most of the victims of an attack by riot police on Thursday of a protest camp in Pearl Square, leaving at least 230 injured.

“Tear gas and some rounds have been fired into that hospital,” Martin Chulov of the British newspaper the Guardian told CBC News.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: well that is US style. We did it in Iraq.

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3. marisacat - 18 February 2011: AA hasn’t posted in about an hour and half (must have a class to teach) but there is this…

Washington Post really cares about people of Bahrain

“A golf tournament of oil engineers from Saudi Arabia, including many from the American firm Halliburton, was halted Thursday as tanks rolled toward the center of Manama. Employees were swept off the golf course and sent home on a chartered flight.” (thanks Mick)

Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil at 6:46 AM

AJ E reported yesterday that Formula One is whupset, if it turned violent might hve to move the upcoming race from Bahrain, mid March.

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4. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Post by a Philosophy professor in Madison

The prognosis? Tomorrow national union leaders from round the country will be arriving. The Senate Democrats say they’ll stay in Illinois till Walker negotiates. Private conversations with wavering Republican Senators have apparently been intense, but none can be expected to vote against without the assurance that they will be on the winning side. I’m hoping that one theme of tomorrow’s demonstrations will be showering love on Republicans willing to oppose the bill—there have been efforts to create space for them by talking about “Courageous Republicans” and they should reach wider among the demonstrators. I’m by nature an optimist about the long term but a pessimist about the short term, so that tells you where I expect this to go, but then a week ago I would not have predicted anything but the most anodyne response to the bill.

An aside: It’s been my first close look at organising through facebook – my 14 year old (who used to be 8) has been organising high schoolers to attend: information seems to flow very efficiently, and so do ideas—her imperious statement that, tempting as they are, comparisons between Walker and Hitler are entirely inappropriate, and people should keep this in mind when making their signs, attracted thumbs up by the second. She is, with the permission of her parents, sleeping over at the Capitol tonight (I confess, the fact that one of the Assembly Democrats is a close friend and will be there all night to check on her needs made parental permission easier).

Just flipped thru CNN, which made a point of finding THREE teabagger counterprotestors and giving their very angry ranting some screen time.

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5. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: “I Know A Lot About Having Black Babies.”

Kate Harding has been collecting some of the videos of Democratic women in the House expressing themselves with tragic eloquence in the face of Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Because of the Hyde Amendment, no actual tax dollars go to fund abortion, but Planned Parenthood is still the only option for women’s health services for people who don’t have a lot of money.

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6. marisacat - 18 February 2011: hmm dropping like the flies they are:

Democratic Sen. Bingaman to retire

Atlanta Journal Constitution – David Espo – ‎8 minutes ago‎

AP WASHINGTON – Sen. Jeff Bingaman, DN.M., intends to retire at the end of his term, his office announced on Friday, the latest in a string of departures to hit the Democrats as they look ahead to the 2012 elections.
….

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Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: wipe the slate clean, start fresh … I hope more of those worthless old hacks would quit.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: oh I agree…

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BooHooHooMan - 18 February 2011: Just a Tactical Retreat!

The Fight Gons On!
To Live with the Slobber! On a Hill! Some Shined shit.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: that made me laugh….

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7. marisacat - 18 February 2011: AJ E reporting that “thousands” have gone to the hospital in Manama Bahrain as word spread that it was under attack…

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8. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: The 45 Best Protest Signs At The Wisconsin Capitol

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catnip - 18 February 2011: I like “Screw us and we multiply”.

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9. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Walker Flinches on Releasing Budget in Face of Mounting Protests

Madison — Faced with growing protests in cities around Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker today asked for a second extension from the legislature to delay in providing the specifics of his proposed 2011-13 state budget. Walker now wants to give his speech on Tuesday, but not provide the press and the public with the details of his proposals until a later date.

By law (s. 16.45), the Wisconsin Governor is supposed to introduce his budget on or before the last Tuesday in January of the odd-numbered year (January 25, 2011). Already, Walker has received one extension from the legislature, delaying the introduction to next Tuesday, February 22. Based on records compiled by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Walker’s introduction of the budget would have been the latest in at least 34 years. (http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Informationalpapers/75_State Budget Process.pdf) Delaying the budget again would add more to Walker’s record of tardiness.

“Gov. Scott Walker has had since November 2 to prepare his budget, but now like a failing student who wasn’t ready to hand in his paper, he has asked for another extension,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “While Gov. Walker has plenty of time to appear on Fox News to criticize the Senate Democrats and call his fellow union-busting governors in other states, he obviously hasn’t found enough time to do his own job.”

The reason for Gov. Walker’s delay has become obvious over the last few days as details of his budget plans started to leak out. With ideas ranging from cutting aid to public schools by $900 million to privatizing UW-Madison and raising tuition by 20 percent, Walker appears desperate to keep the public from learning the details of his plans, especially while tens of thousands are already protesting at the Capitol and around the state in schools and universities.

Budget experts say that by this point in a budget cycle all of the final budgetary decisions should have been already made, the legislative language would been drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau, and the supporting materials would be on the way to the printers. The only reason for a delay at this point would be to prevent the press and public from learning the details of his budget.

“Gov. Walker has tried to ram through in a week a scheme to use the government to take away the rights of workers across Wisconsin,” said Ross. “But, now he wants a ‘time out’ in telling Wisconsin just how radical his next plans are to dismantle our way of life in Wisconsin.”

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10. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Senate Adjourns Indefinitely, as Democrats Remain Absent

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: all the local media here are covering it… I slept thru the am shows, network, but looks like they did as well…

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Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: I’m glad it’s getting so much coverage.

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11. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Erpenbach Gives Reasons For Leaving State

Erpenbach said he was proud of the thousands of demonstrators both inside and outside the Capitol, but acknowledged Wisconsin’s current climate is “not a happy place to be.”

He’s concerned about what many protesters may not know, that the budget bill does more than strip away public workers’ collective bargaining rights and increase their contributions to their health care and pensions. It also leaves the future of the state’s health care programs up in the air.

“There are some substantial Medicaid changes in here where the governor, all of a sudden, is in charge of Medicaid, which is SeniorCare, which is BadgerCare. And he has never once said what he intends to do,” said Erpenbach.

For those who felt the move by the group, now dubbed the “Wisconsin 14″’, was a sign of their unwillingness to bend, Erpenbach said this:

“In the end, what’s going to happen is the public employees are going to pay on their pension and pay on their health care. We all know that, they all know that. They’re OK with that. The one thing the public employees do not understand is why (Walker) is going after unions.”

Erpenbach also shot back at critics who said the senators were cowards and not doing their job.

“We are absolutely doing our job. What we are doing by taking this action is standing up for the people of the state of Wisconsin, for the people we represent in our districts. I’ve had over 10,000 contacts alone this week from people saying either, ‘Stop it,’ or ‘Slow it down.’ We need to have an honest, open debate on this and it isn’t happening. So we are absolutely doing our job. We are standing up for the people who don’t like this or want to see some changes.”

Erpenbach said the issue of union rights is not a fiscal item and doesn’t belong in a fiscal bill.

“This legislation clearly has torn this state apart, and when you look at the fabric of Wisconsin, unions are very strong in this state,” he said. “So you’re basically taking that fabric and ripping it in half.”

Erpenbach said he doesn’t feel like he’s on the run, instead, he feels like he’s doing the right thing.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: Watching this ruipple thru the states and the HHS letter Sibelius sent… I wonder does it fucking occur to anyone much, that Obama Care is the joke it is.

IF we cared about health care for massses of people, we have two not so bad (hardly perfect, and both need more funding, esp MedicAid schemes) programs in place that just need to be expanded and ramped up.

That and Community Health Centers, which are facing cuts as well.

What a fuking bleeding joke it all is.

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12. mattes - 18 February 2011: Obama vetoed the settlement resolution in the UN. Ugh. What to say.

No….zionists don’t control anything….

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: why on earth would we do anything different NOW than waht we have done?

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mattes - 18 February 2011: And Egypt just approved Iranian ships through Suez Canal. Tit for tat.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: well there is no reason they shouldn’t go thru. From what i have read, they have scheduled war games with Syria.

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mattes - 18 February 2011: Hadn’t heard about the war games. Now that could get interesting.

Michael Savage, half way down, what a wackjob:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/18/republicans-us-television

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BooHooHooMan - 18 February 2011: Yes. The whole Tittin and Tattin angle.
Whatever it is, Let’s Win It!

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ts - 18 February 2011: No, no, no. It’s win the future. That way you can keep losing over and over in the present and feel no need to change course.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: AND:

The future is always a DAAAAAy AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!

Works fo this bunch.

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BooHooHooMan - 18 February 2011: I see. I like it, I like it.

Yes We Can. We Can Man-Tit Today So Our Chillin
and Grandchillin Can Be ALL TAT in the FUTURE!

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13. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Gawddamn they’re fucking stupid … don’t offer to compromise WHEN YOU’RE WINNING:

The head of the largest state workers union said Friday that his group is willing to give in to Gov. Scott Walker’s demand for concessions on their benefits if the governor gives up his bid to repeal nearly all bargaining rights for public worker unions.

Marty Beil, head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, which represents some 23,000 blue-collar state workers, said his group would agree to pay more of their pension contributions and health insurance benefits.

“We are prepared to implement the financial concessions proposed to help bring our state’s budget into balance, but we will not be denied our God-given right to join a real union . . . we will not – I repeat we will not – be denied our rights to collectively bargain,” Beil said in a statement.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said he would review Beil’s statement and respond as soon as possible.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: A caller to KGO this am, which did an hour and a half on WI, said the unions (unamed) were prepared to offer up 3% … to pick up an additional 3% of medical / benefits. So I wonder if there has not been a package offr on the table.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Walker almost immediately rejected it:

“Doesn’t work,” Walker told Journal Sentinel reporters in his office Friday afternoon. “And the reason, having been a local government official, is we’ve got 72 counties, 424 school districts, over a thousand municpalities. And like every other state, or nearly every other state across the country, our budget is going to have cuts in aids to local governments.”

Walker mentioned that states such as New York and California have had to cut billions in aid to schools.

“My goal all along has been… to give these folks, and I asked for this in the past, tools to control their own budgets. You’ve got to give them some flexibility.”

Walker said that time and time again, collective bargaining issues “stood in the way of local governments and school districts being able to balance their budget.”

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Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: oh, btw, the Koch Bros funded Americans for Prosperity have offered support for a teabagger counter-protest tomorrow, including offering buses to Madison from other parts of the state.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: my guess is they can only get a few hundred. But a lot of camera time.

For one thing it is fucking winter. I am in SF and I am FREEZING, or at least some of the house is (and I just crept out to see if the mail had come, holy fuck: bitter cold and wind)….

I cannot imagine what it might be on the Northern Tundra.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: it’s supposed to be 33 and sunny tomorrow.

My friend’s wife is a grad student at UWM, they’re going tomorrow with some other students they know.

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ts - 18 February 2011: Damn, they’re predictable. “We will not give up our g-d given right to cave in and concede to everything the Governor asks for.”

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: Handmaiden party!

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14. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: US Uncut

The “progressive tea party” has been born. Inspired by the UK Uncut movement, the popular revolutions sweeping through North Africa, and articles in the Nation and Washington Post, activists in Mississippi, Chicago, New York, California, Maine, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Washington DC and elsewhere have started US Uncut to mobilize against corporate tax cheats who are costing America billions of dollars each year and forcing the government to propose deep cuts to vital services and pay freezes for hardworking families.

As reported by many major news outlets in 2008, the Government Accountability Office found that between 1998 and 2005 approximately two-thirds of all American corporations did not pay ANY income tax. Of the largest corporations, 25 percent did not pay any federal income tax despite generating over $1.1 trillion in revenue.

A recent report by Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse found that US corporations and banks avoid at least $37 billion (another report put the amount as high as $100 billion) in US taxes per year, unfairly shifting the tax burden to small businesses and individuals. Even worse, some of the most egregious tax-dodging corporations are the same institutions that taxpayers were forced to bail out during the financial crisis! In 2007, Citigroup had 427 off-shore tax haven subsidiaries (in places like the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Switzerland) and received a $45 billion bailout. Morgan Stanley had 273 and received $10 billion; Bank of America had 115 and received $45 billion; JP Morgan Chase had 50 and received http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/entities/282-jpmorgan-chase; Goldman Sachs had 29 and received $10 billion; and AIG had 18 and received approximately $70 billion.

President Obama’s 2012 budget released on February 14th 2011 calls for the collection of $129 billion in revenue over the next 10 years by cracking down on corporate tax havens and abuse of foreign tax credits. While this is a noble effort, a similar initiative in last year’s budget sought to raise $122 billion by closing the same “loopholes.” Due to corporate and Republican opposition, Congress reduced that amount to just $10 billion over 10 years.

While allowing the corporate tax cheats to prosper, our political leaders are preparing more sweeping sets of service cuts and spending freezes that threaten to bring misery and despair to countless men, women and children still suffering from the economic crisis those same corporations caused. President Obama has proposed more than $600 billion in spending cuts over ten years, with some Republicans calling for up to $2.5 trillion in cuts. The long-term suggestions of the “bipartisan” budget commission are even more dire and include major cuts across the board—even to Social Security and Medicare!

We demand that before the hard-working, tax-paying families of this country are once again forced to sacrifice, the corporations who have so richly profited from our labor, our patronage, and our bailouts be compelled to pay their taxes and contribute their fair share to the continued prosperity of our nation. We will organize, we will mobilize, and we will NOT be quiet!

This has the potential to be a popular grassroots movement. Numerous polls have shown that the majority of Americans are fundamentally opposed to most spending cuts, and events in the UK have demonstrated how such an initial small effort can grow into a powerful force for social and economic change.

Please consider joining us. Our first day of action will be on the 26th February. Find out how to organise your own action here.

See you on the streets!

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mattes - 18 February 2011: LOL….cnn, soros just said Obama has lost the agenda, abdicated it to the republicans.
ya, think?

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mattes - 18 February 2011: From november:

At a private meeting on Tuesday afternoon, George Soros, a longtime supporter of progressive causes, voiced blunt criticism of the Obama administration, going so far as to suggest that Democratic donors direct their support somewhere other than the president.

The Hungarian-American financier was speaking to a small side gathering of donors who had convened in Washington D.C. for the annual gathering of the Democracy Alliance — a formal community of well-funded, progressive-minded individuals and activists.

According to multiple sources with knowledge of his remarks, Soros told those in attendance that he is “used to fighting losing battles but doesn’t like to lose without fighting.”

“We have just lost this election, we need to draw a line,” he said, according to several Democratic sources. “And if this president can’t do what we need, it is time to start looking somewhere else.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/george-soros-obama_n_785022.html

If he thought that in nov. I can imagine it’s gone downhill from there.

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mattes - 18 February 2011: Here it is:

Soros Says Obama `Has Lost Control of the Agenda’

Billionaire investor George Soros said Democratic President Barack Obama “has lost control of the agenda” on the U.S. economy, leaving it “now in the hands of the Republican Party.”

Republicans “are going to pursue a very strong effort to cut services by refusing to have any tax increases,” Soros said in an interview with CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” program.

“I think this agenda will be successful,” though it will be “more directed at cutting services and achieving the ideological purposes of the Republicans rather than to get the economy going,” Soros, 80, said, according to excerpts of the interview released by CNN. “I think this will have a negative impact on the economy.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-18/soros-says-obama-has-lost-control-of-the-agenda-.html

Wonder how this plays out. Spits democractic party?

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: Not that I am a fan of Soros, but could be interesting. I clearly thought by September 2004 he saw Kerry throwing the election.

Now a Reagan lover with Ob. (and, I personally believe, as imo published polls are part of “chatter”, that Ob’s real numbers are somewhat to much lower than published, esp the always too buoyant media polling.)

But Dem duds are hardly a new story.

We shall see..

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ts - 18 February 2011: He had an agenda? I thought the agenda was to abdicate to the GOP?

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15. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Grass Roots: Community pitches in; AFSCME, IWW call emergency sessions

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16. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Some more details on what state workers face losing, blogged by a Milwaukee public defender:

Around the Courthouse this week, many of those most affected by the union-busting treachery of Walker and the lock-stepping Republicans had already resigned themselves to a 8% cut in their take-home pay and an end to all their hard-bargained job protections and work rules. As I have discussed before, Walker’s claims that those in the classified service have sufficient job protections are a joke because the broad language of the statutes and its enforcement through the management-friendly Personnel Commission are not nearly as effective as the same protections under a union-enforced contract. But the assistant district attorneys and the public defender staff attorneys I work with everyday are not even in the classified service – they would have nothing to protect them under the bill’s draconian measures. But, on Thursday afternoon, they and the hundreds of thousands of other public employees in the state breathed a sigh of relief knowing that someone had stuck a stick in the spokes, however temporarily, of the radical Republican steamroller.

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mattes - 19 February 2011: Called someone in Wisconsin last night that was in a union. He told me the private unions had been gutted years ago. So he did not have much sympathy for the government workers.

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17. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: The LONG Term Plan is MUCH MUCH Worse!

As cynical as this may sound. I’ve figured out what the corporations are up to! I’ve figured out why the bills being tried by the corporate bought and sold GOP are becoming increasingly radical and harsh!
The ultimate goal of the Koch Brothers, the Oil Tycoons, the major manufacturers and other huge corporate interests in this nation is to CREATE an employer’s environment like that in Mexico!!! All their best labor leaves Mexico the first chance they get to find work in the US that meets the amazing laws that labor unions have given us over the past century.
I had this vision this morning. Of a corporate CEO sitting in a board room saying almost under his breath and almost kidding, “Wow, wouldn’t it be great if the working environment in the US was the same as it is in Mexico?” Then looking around the room in a sudden ‘light over the head’ idea moment and everyone saying at once… “Why not? Why can’t it be? We OWN these politicians. Why not?”
So who would you need to get rid of first to accomplish a goal this bold? The labor unions of course! Starting with the public sector (who don’t fall under the NLRB), and then when the public sector unions are all destroyed, you can go after the weakened private sector unions. Get rid of the unions first and you can then get rid of those pesky “liberals” who brought all these awful burdens to the country in the first place. Next, you make sure you have your people in charge of all the elections, all of the legislators, and all of the executive branches. You pack the courts with pro-corporate judges along the way. You now can start to one by one eliminate all of these pesky labor laws.
This is NOT an attack on the public sector unions. It’s NOT an attack on private unions. It’s NOT an attack on a political party. Well it IS all of those things, but the real goal is NONE of them.
THE REAL GOAL IS TO SEND THE UNITED STATES WORKER BACK TO THE CONDITIONS THE MEXICAN WORKERS ENDURE and the American corporations have become so fond of operating under in the past 10 years.
To essentially create a SLAVE LABOR class in the United States. An uneducated, desperately poor and sick class of workers in the United States who are completely and utterly at the whim of the corporate class.
Thing I’m wrong? Does this sound alarmist? Does it sound radical?
ARE YOU SURE ENOUGH that I’m wrong to bet your life on it?
Think about this for a while. Stew on it. Do your own research on the labor movement, on working conditions in the US 50-60 years ago, on the working conditions in Mexico now, on the bills being proposed by the GOP recently, on their platforms, on the effects of NAFTA on our economy in the US. Then think about it again.
What else could be the BIG picture goal? Maximize shareholder wealth.

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18. marisacat - 18 February 2011: hmmm mmm Gary Sick is on Lehrer… he mentioned that there is a causeway from the Eastern side of Bahrain, which is packed iwth Shia, over to the Shia oil resource side of SArabia.

Soounds like the Saudis are terrified of it spreading.

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BooHooHooMan - 18 February 2011: I saw this in Forbes earlier.
(I love to go to the assorted monied Club Rooms..
just to the assholes pucker at times like this.)

The demographics and strategic position caught my eye. Love how it’s filed straight up – under ENERGY.

Energy

Saudi Royals Wary Of Bahrain Unrest
Feb. 18 2011 – 12:15 pm | 2,827 views | 2 recommendations | 1 comment
By CHRISTOPHER HELMAN

Riyadh is watching the protests and killings in neighboring Bahrain with fear and trembling. With Bahrain’s majority Shia demanding more rights and respect from the Sunni monarchy, the concern is that Saudi Shia, which make up roughly 20% of the population, could rise up as well. In Saudi, the Shia are situated largely in the eastern part of the country, near Bahrain, and virtually on top of oil giant Saudi Aramco’s biggest fields like Ghawar. (Chevron manages oilfields in Bahrain, while Shell, G.E., Total and Dow Chemical all have projects in Saudi Arabia)

And while it goes on to quote Royal alarm coming from SA King Abdullahs brother – the kind of dish from a Saudi Prince that might be dismissed as one of the family throwing the streets a bone, after reading the intro above, and the takeaway below, NAH:

In a remarkable admission, Saudi Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud told the BBC that the country is in dire need of political reforms. If the authorities “don’t give more concern to the demands of the people, anything could happen in this country,” he reportedly said, adding that the only one who could initiate a reform process is his half-brother, the ailing 86-year-old King Abdullah.

Loved the dig in the article…
And the Hero Sandwich served up to choke on there in the end…The actually think the majority of Sunni in SA are happy with their ass?

But how likely is Abdullah to even consider a move towards democracy? The king famously rebuked President Barack Obama earlier this month, insisting that the demonstrations in Egypt were not a home-grown uprising at all but the result of Iranian meddling. Likewise, this is a man who will likely view any uprising in Saudi Arabia as fomented by Shite-dominated Iran, and have no qualms about quashing it by force.

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mattes - 19 February 2011: King sounds, senile.

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19. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: BREAKING: Assembly GOP calls session early to block debate

All hell just broke out in the Assembly chamber, as GOP leaders started the session called for 5 p.m. approximately 5 minutes before the stated time.

As Republicans began to vote on amendments on the Assembly’s version of Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, Democrats ran from their caucus and quickly filled their seats. The action moved so quickly that the GOP representatives had approved amendments and had a motion before them for the final reading of the bill, which would have allowed no other debate on the issue.

Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) was livid and didn’t attempt to hide his distain for his colleagues across the aisle.

“This is unbelievable that you would gather before 5 and have illegal votes before the proceedings were to start. It is un-American and out of sync with the values of this state,” he shouted. “I know you are eager to trample on the rights of workers in this state. You might think that because you’ve been elected you can do whatever you damn well please.”

After a short break, Barca came back hotter than before. He had discovered that the Republicans had only voted on one of the amendments before them, even though three had been presented. None of the amendments were forwarded by Democrats.

“You can’t just ignore amendments on the table,” Barca screamed. “You need to vote on all of them. This is worse than a kangaroo court.”

Kelda Helen Roys (D-Madison) was in tears as she addressed the GOP leadership, imploring them to show respect for process, even though they had the votes to pass the bill.

“Your will will be done,” she said. “You will pass this bill. But I implore you to not do it this way. Just because you’re the majority doesn’t give you the right to controvert our process.”

Rep. Roys hasn’t been paying attention … that is EXACTLY what they think they can do.

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20. Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: Treasurers association cancels Milwaukee conference

The National Association of State Treasurers has decided not to hold its 2012 conference in Milwaukee after Wisconsin elected a treasurer who is actively seeking to eliminate the office.

The conference, scheduled to be held in summer 2012 in Milwaukee, will be put to bid again, according to a news release from Wisconsin State Treasurer Kurt Schuller.

“They told me they were uncomfortable holding the convention in Milwaukee since I was actively seeking to eliminate the office of state treasurer,” Schuller said in the release. “While I am extremely disappointed, I will not back down from my campaign promise.”

I like to see the election of teatards having real consequences.

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mattes - 18 February 2011: I am waiting for the sequel: “What’s Wrong With Wisconsin?”

Things have really changed since I visited. What the heck?

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BooHooHooMan - 18 February 2011: Welp, I have a theory. Heroically,
They mixed sweat with the Steelers in the Epic Super~Hoo.
And in so doing, they tragically returned with recombinant Precious Bodily Fluids that mutated into some pernicious Rust Belt Virulent Horrorshow which aerosolized quickly through the celebratory crowds.

And now. Basically,

they’re fucked.
We got teh football here in the U.S. tho.
Got teh football.

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21. marisacat - 18 February 2011: oh god. Shrillary will be on with Christiane on Sunday.

gah… Madame Martial. Her second speech this week was pretty bad too.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 18 February 2011: I’m sure she’ll be squealing about Iran.

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22. BooHooHooMan - 18 February 2011: Sorry. Another HTML disaster.
Any help for a guy lost in the Riyahdi Run?

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BooHooHooMan - 18 February 2011: Lemme see if this cleans up the HTML..}

More on those doings within the House of Saud..

FWIW, Like the article Forbes ran,
I see Drudge ( who isn’t the point he’s simply the canary) but telling as the amplifiers are at work..Anyways Drudge is humping virtually the same Prince Talal story, one appearing in Murdoch’s Australian.

Really only a slight editorial slant evident..the Ommision of the discomfitting Shia Demographics noted in the Forbes story above.
Both pieces on Talal reveal TPMs of elevating a new King.

Both articles provide cushion for the forthcoming rough ride while noting Talals background as “reform” minded. 🙄
{Same tripe going back to like EVAH }

Murdoch’s Australian in a very accommodating piece:

Talal has long called for reform in Saudi Arabia and formed the liberal political group “Free Princes Movement” in 1958 in reaction to the hostility between former kings Saud and Faisal.

Because of his involvement with the Free Princes Movement it is unlikely that Talal, a former ambassador to France, will ever become king.

The Forbes piece plays heavy on old Palace intrique as if they only barely missed bellbottoms followed with a quick pivot to promote Talal’s son:

Abdullah’s father Ibn Saud unified the tribes of Saudi Arabia and reigned until 1953.
All of Saudi Arabia’s subsequent kings have been his sons. Although Abdullah’s full brother Sultan is the crown prince and technically next in line for the throne, Sultan is widely considered to be in too ill of health to take the job. If that’s the case, the crown would likely pass to the next brother Nayef, 77. But Royal infighting among rival princes will not make the transition a clean one. And any perceived weakness among the Sunni royals could be leveraged by arch-enemy Iran to sew unrest among the Shia.

The outspoken Talal, though a senior royal, is not considered a contender for the crown, in part because in the 1960s he was one of group of princes calling for reform. He does have a lot of skin in the game, though. 🙄

His son Alwaleed bin Talal Al-Saud is one of the richest men in the world, a clear leader in the next generation of Saudi princes, and even a potential king himself some day.

Very easy to see where the Western Financial Press is headed with Talal and Alwaleed on this.

The questions: are these old Saudi brothers so cut off from reality that they don’t think revolution could come to them? Do they think they could quash uprisings with force? Will they keep fighting each other, or come together to find a new way? < — *

Unfortunately for them, time moves a lot faster now than it did when Ibn Saud ruled the roost. Here’s two Bedouin proverbs to keep in mind at this time: “I against my brother, I and my brother against our cousin, I, my brother and our cousin against the neighbors; all of us against the foreigner.”

And another: “The broth is cooking, and now we have to act as one.”

I bet King Abdullah isn’t going to make it long but will be used for as much dirty work in the meantime . Seems like they already have a another pony in Alwaleed in the stable to trot out while the US buys a little time in that big Mil refooting we heard about last week and they redeploy as many troops to SA that Uncle Sam can.

Gotta love Gates (not) who a month ago said DADT WILL be online mucho mucho sooner rather than later. And of course the whacks running Israel want their cataclysmic War with Iran so they’re crazy enoough to want this whole thing in Bahrain and the Eastern Province of SA to melt down anyways.

:::

Here’s a short yet serviceable 60’s epitaph from teh Wiki on the Talal’s “Free Princes Movement”:

Estrangement with Nasser
The Free Princes grew increasingly estranged from Nasser, their ideological leader, 🙄 when Radio Yemen (an Egyptian controlled organ) called for the death of all members of the Al Saud family without exceptions. 😯 😳

In August 1963, Prince Talal announced that his criticism of the Saudi dynasty “entirely wrong” and expressed admiration for Faisal’s reforms. By early 1964, the Free Princes had all returned from Beirut to Riyadh and ended their movement.

So after 45 years they trot out old Talal once again. Who quickly chats up his son.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: So many princes. AA has said for some time tht the King is dead, or so close there is hardly any difference…. that he is constantly just out of some major (often US) hospital and declared to be ”just fine”.

Think when I mentioned earlier I thought Talal is often hanging in NYC, I was thinking of the son.

In – out, so many princes.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: I was sound asleep… think I will go with removing first version and keeping second.

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23. BooHooHooMan - 18 February 2011: Sorry. I think I got the HTML Below.

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24. catnip - 18 February 2011: Joe Klein once again proves what a freaking idiot he really is:

Revolutions everywhere–in the middle east, in the middle west. But there is a difference: in the middle east, the protesters are marching for democracy; in the middle west, they’re protesting against it. I mean, Isn’t it, well, a bit ironic that the protesters in Madison, blocking the state senate chamber, are chanting “Freedom, Democracy, Union” while trying to prevent a vote? Isn’t it ironic that the Democratic Senators have fled the democratic process? Isn’t it interesting that some of those who–rightly–protest the assorted Republican efforts to stymie majority rule in the U.S. Senate are celebrating the Democratic efforts to stymie the same in the Wisconsin Senate?

Democracy = vote

Poor Joe.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: Joe Klein is an idiot. He should know he sounds like some high falutin’ Tea Partier. Basically.

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25. catnip - 18 February 2011: Consumer Watchdog Hires Former Bankers

Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard University law professor who is setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced her latest string of hires on Thursday, including former managing directors at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

Foxes…henhouse…

dkos is trying to draft her for the senate.

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26. catnip - 18 February 2011: Judge throws out Padilla suit over alleged torture

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit brought by a man convicted of plotting terrorism and who alleged he was tortured at a Navy brig in South Carolina, saying a trial would create “an international spectacle.”

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled Jose Padilla, arrested as an enemy combatant, had no right to sue for constitutional violations and that the defendants in the case enjoyed qualified immunity.

Padilla claimed he was illegally detained as an enemy combatant and then held in a brig near Charleston where he was tortured. His lawsuit named government and brig officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Ben Wizner, the litigation director for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, told Gergel at Monday’s hearing that, if the case went to trial, he planned to have Padilla testify.

The judge expressed concern about that.

“A trial on the merits would be an international spectacle with Padilla, a convicted terrorist, summoning America’s present and former leaders to a federal courthouse to answer his charges,” he wrote.

Can’t have THAT, obviously.

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: Ben Wizner, the litigation director for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, told Gergel at Monday’s hearing that, if the case went to trial, he planned to have Padilla testify.

Probably to show that whatever torture Padilla suffered, took his mind.

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mattes - 19 February 2011: God, that sickens me. Multiple reasons for Gates to run. Away.

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marisacat - 19 February 2011: Except the case is not going to trial.

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27. catnip - 18 February 2011: How Britain taught Arab police forces all they know

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marisacat - 18 February 2011: We make sure that, between us, we own them.

“It is a real concern and highly symbolic of the cosy and powerful relationship that countries like the UK and the USA have had for many years with these deeply repressive regimes,” he said. “The British Government often states that it insists on incorporating human rights elements in its overseas training programmes but when it comes to dealing with protesters, we have seen over the past few weeks how the security forces in many of these countries are unleashed in a particularly brutal way.”

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28. catnip - 18 February 2011: Prison guards accused of killing dozens of jail inmates in Egypt

An investigation has opened into the suspected fatal shooting by prison guards of dozens of jail inmates in what is probably the biggest single atrocity committed by state-employed security forces during the protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

An account of killings, wounded inmates left without treatment for days and others forced to scavenge for food at a jail in al-Qatta has emerged based on evidence from inmates and relatives. Some details are impossible to corroborate, including a claim by one prisoner this week that 153 inmates were killed.

…

Up to 400 protesters are still thought to be detained by the army, some of whom were tortured, according to international human rights agencies. Tens of thousands demonstrators demanded their release at a victory rally in Cairo yesterday.

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29. marisacat - 19 February 2011: Hahahahahaha I see Smithee over at SMBIVA, in a thread on WI says the DNC submarines have arrived to scuttle it all.

Prolly been there all along. I saw some news tonight clips and got some audio of Jesse Jackson.

No doubt the pwog brigades are already en-route, armed to the teeth with truncheons made from Working Families Party leaflets and knives forged from old “safe state strategy” position papers. There must be a lot of unemployed Obot Left apologists available to man the DNC submarines.

Posted by AlanSmithee | February 18, 2011 3:39 PM

Gah. Time to swallow the bile.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 19 February 2011: I was talking to my friend about this last night and he said “shit, that fucker Jesse showed up.”

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marisacat - 19 February 2011: I read that the radio/MSNBC guy, Ed Shultz, that former Republican, went in a couple of days ago.

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Madman in the Marketplace - 19 February 2011: yup, he’s all over it, though he does have some good interviews w/ people in the crowd, when he shuts up long enough to let them speak.

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30. marisacat - 19 February 2011: noooo

LINK

………… 8)

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