Something has got to be done about the way students have to pay for higher ed in this country. It’s basically been put out of the reach of everyone except for the very well to do. Our economy is going to go noplace over the long term unless the whole priority base for higher ed in this country is changed: Either we believe that we need highly educated people to drive the economy and back it up…or we continue to do what we are doing which means we are doomed to mediocrity. I do not see anyplace in the middle for us.

I would love to see a WPA or CCC-type program with a 2009 twist to fully/fairly employ the unemployed while tending to our country’s vulnerable infrastructure, e.g., roads and bridges, the environment, housing, etc.

The battle over health care will need to be waged. The battle lines between the corporations and reality have been drawn. The money that the Health insurance industry has skimmed over the past decades will be pushed onto the table. Groups with names obfuscating their positions have been created. Let us get after it.

Good Morning egregious,

Something resembling the Fairness Doctrine seems to be a must have imho.
While the rethugs have the megaphone the dittoheads will keep rowing the boat with the gaping hole in the bottom. Emily Dickinson sums it up for me:

Tell All The Truth

Tell all the truth but tell it slant,
Success in circuit lies,
Too bright for our infirm delight
The truth’s superb surprise;

As lightning to the children eased
With explanation kind,
The truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind.

Emily Dickinson

The first part sounds like what the msm has done, and the second part is what must be done for relief.

We need electronic democracy rather than representative democracy. We need a way to have a meaningful discussion amongst millions of people, a way to reach consensus and a way to take action. It may be we will decide capitalism and hierarchy are not the best way to regulate a society. We have to cure ourselves of our craziness. (collective inferiority) Obama is a large improvement over what we had, but we cannot leave everything up to him. We also might consider what we would have done had Georgie boy pushed the envelop further and assumed greater more arbitrary powers where posting something challenging authorities gets you put in the slam.

Morning, Barbara – big thumbs up for that also. I should have included in mine that this education program has to include training and certifications that are not college based. There are a lot of people who are hands-on rather than classroom skilled and we need those people too. If we are going to get this economy moving, we need people with skills from the factory floor all the way up – but we have to make it a priority that our people be trained AND that they be employed. No more of this shipping technology overseas stuff. We have to make the decision that the US is a producing nation, not just a consumer nation. Back it up with education. Back it up with legislation that does not reward companies for shipping jobs and technology overseas.

Good morning.

So many problems, so little time. I’d like to see a massive economic stimulus that does not include useless tax cuts to woo Rs who will grind their heels in Obama’s face anyhow. And I’d like to see troop withdrawals from both Iraq and Afghanistan.

With those thoughts & a couple of bucks I can take a NYC subway. Sure ain’t gonna happen on Obama’s watch.

BTW, I loved his inaugural speech. First thing he’s ever done that I like.

This week the Republicans have been lying to derail Obama’s stimulus plans and the corporate media has been promoting the lies. Until the corporate media in all it’s guises is neutered America’s problems will only be kicked down the road, exactly what Republicans want.

End the drug war.

I’d like to see American taxpayers get as good a deal on the public money “invested” under TARP and by the Federal Reserve as Warren Buffet got for the private money he invested in Goldman Sachs.

Amen to @1

This administration will have to demonstrate to the world the nation’s rehabilitation from the criminality of the prior holders of office, going back as far as the Nixon administration if needed. In this words will not suffice. Only the restoration of Law and the application of those laws with neither fear or favor can so demonstrate, all who created, gave aid and comfort to, and sustained, must be held accountable. In this, the constitution must be restored to its prior integrity. All acts that diminish, subvert, alter, or distort the traditional interpretations arrived at by historical experience, must be eradicated from the books.

Good morning egregious.

I’d like to see America become an innovative society in environmental issues, and with changing the dynamics to break the cycle of poverty.

Oh, and I’d like to have intelligent guests on WJ who are not idealogues. Case in point, current guy (Carnegie Endowment) sez flexible exchange rates are a “no brainer” for developing countries. Here’s my email Q:

If flexible exchange rates are such a “no brainer” for developing countries, why is it that developing countries with flexible exchange rates experience economic crises (for example, the Asian crisis of 1997), whereas China with a fixed exchange rate has been stable in its international finance and its domestic economy.

Hi bjnts.

Thanks for the poem to start the day.

Are you in the city? How’re you doing?

Hi eCAHN,Toby,

In city and I think Toby is sending some of the wind our way. ;-)

Howsaboutyou? North or south?

Good Morning Egregious and Puppies!

Yes! It feels good to have competent, compassionate leadership, ESPECIALLY in hard times like these.

I’d like to add a hearty vote of agreement to both your statements, TobnyWollin and Barbara. Absolutely!

I was stunned yesterday to hear columnist David Brooks insisting it is far more important to continue the current pattern of obscenely large executive bonuses “because that’s just how things are done.” And others argued that it’s wasteful and stupid to give aid those in need as opposed to dumping billions on the billionaires, because the needy would just waste the important stimulus money on groceries and health care.
What planet are those elite-nits on?!

We can use change all right. Right now.

In the city. Will probably go up tomorrow. Need to be there Monday for a new woodstove installation.

You availble for drinks tonight?

Heh..you know me BJNTS — I always share. But it is really really windy up here. sky is blue; sun is out, but the wind is gusting and bowing the show everywhere…very cold here.

Trying to say “President Obama” without stopping in awe right there. He is not the answer to all our problems but isn’t it amazing we have gotten this far?

Hear Hear!

I think a lot of what you offered above is lost on many people here. Many of us have become so cynical and jaded about government it’s become hard to conceive of a POTUS that is simply trying to do the right thing on so many fronts.

No, he’s not gonna do everything we want when we want it, but for the first time in 8 years I feel adults with morals are in charge again.

If President Obama and his administration veer off course, I’ll be among the first to lay wood to them just like the Bush Criminal Empire, but I doubt that is gonna be necessary.

And on the accountability front, I’ve got a feeling Obama is playing ‘good cop’ vs. the Congress’ ‘bad cop’. Investigations will be forthcoming from various committees and the evidence will be so overwhelming he will be ‘forced’ to go along. We already know they tortured prisoners; they’ve admitted as much.

Imagine all the stuff we don’t know that’s about to come to light.

Darth & Co. are gonna get theirs.

Warren Buffet seemed to be tuning up in a helpful way yesterday. Does anyone think he might take a more active, official role in helping the administration sort through the bushco mess? eCAHN?

Sounds good to me.

when and where? or should we e-mail?

Amen!

Obama’s speech set a sobering standard for accountability, responsibility and “putting away childish things.” The media need to shape up and start looking in their own mirror instead of carrying water like parrots for the neocons still burrowed in the Pentagon or reciting the already discredited as “fact.”

Mostly right now I’m thinking of Matthews attack on the blogosphere in light of his own NBC team of “reporters” who are still repeating memes like “61 terrorists released are already….boo-gah, boo-gah….”

We see your laziness, we see your refusal to fact-check [and at this stage it is refusal and a conscious choice by the “reporters” when they perpetuate already debunked information], we see your refusal to hold the Republicans to the same “critical questions” standard that you profess you’ll hold for Obama.

We see you being parrots, still, instead of press. You want the respect of the blogosphere? Earn it.

You grow up, too. Or maybe its a larger arc…the press standards and practices have made dinosaurs of most of ‘em. How many will evolve?

There is more wrong than there is right!

we need election reform – public finance, instant run off voting, paper trails etc.

we need to shrink the DOD to 10% of it’s size, close all the bases in foreign countries

we need to join the community of nations and not treat them like our lackeys

we need universal health care – free (let’s exchange our DOD spending for health care)

we need affordable housing for everyone – safe and clean and green(er)

we need to get more rail going inter city, regional, local and commuter.

we need to wean ourselves off the car as being American as apple pie and a “right”. To transition the state should provide and maintain “free share cars” for qualified drivers.

we need better education at k-12 and free education for university. We need to take over most private schools and get away from these blue ribbon schools for the elite

we need to pass usury laws which forbid interest on any credit instrument to to prime +1% and roll back rates now on all CCards to 10% max

we need to provide everyone with a decent pension / retirement so that investing for retirement is not “required”.

we need to tax all incomes over 500K severely

we need to tax all inheritances over $250K severely

we need to outlaw lobbying by for profit “interests”

we need to close the revolving door between gov and biz completely so that you cannot work in the industries you worked “on” in gov and visa versa.

we need to rid the environment of toxins and clean up our food supply.

we need to protect American businesses with tarriffs and tax those american businesses which send jobs overseas severely.

we need to end all tax shelters

we need to provide FREE internet to everyone

we need to improve the content of the broadcast media and at least have a semblance of a “fairness” doctrine.

we need to reward those who live green and build green and penalize those who don’t

we need to encourage local farming

we need to reduce, recycle and re use.

we need to develop new energy resources and distribution and storage systems

we need to protect our remaining wilderness and severely punish polluters

we need to impose luxury taxes on all luxury items

we need to fix our intellectual property laws

we need to….

Bummer. Means it’ll hit New Paltz right when I get back to there. But Monday, new wood stove, bigger model, so that should help. My house, having no insulation except the roof, still does pretty well in the cold if there’s no wind, but wind makes it drafty and sets the heating system into a frenzy.

A hopeful sign re the adults being in charge:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c…..e_arne.php

I’ll email.

The following isn’t my top priority (I think the plight of the Palestinians, torture policy, etc., is should be a main focus), but I think, as far as bread-and-butter isssues go, this is extremely important:
I want to see U.S. manufacturing put back “on the table.” I’d like to see money spent on start-up manufacturing businesses, tax policies put in place that favor home-grown manufacturing, and penalties for corporations that ship manufacturing offshore. I want to see the textile industry, the toymakers, the food industry, etc., reborn.
Just good ol’ lunch bucket, union jobs that provide products you can put your arms around. “Retraining for new jobs” only goes so far, in my opinion.

We had the same problem with ours but ours is not a historic house, so we were able to wreck it out and install new insulation and windows. It has made an amazing amount of difference; I can set the thermostat at 55 and we are pretty comfy; holds the heat well now.

As you know, that’s out of the question for me. I make do by closing off rooms when it’s really windy. My upstairs parlor is the warmest room in the house. Right above the furnace, plus we insulated the attic floor (i.e., parlor ceiling) when we first bought the house, before I redid the roof and insulated it. So if I close the parlor door, it’s comfy cozy.

Hey – reminds me of the response at State. I think there are literally thousands of career people at the agencies who have just been holding on my their toenails and waiting and hoping for a change. And now they got it. I think the amount of energy we will see from these folks will be truly astonishing in this first term – I also think we will see some good scuffles with the burrowed Bushniks.

Maybe it’s time for blogosphere to make concerted/coordinated effort to explain what’s happening out here. In language that speaks to the common denominator (whatever that may be). There are excellent blogs and dangerously uninformed blathery blogs, informational blogs and bilious screeds, with a wide range between the extremes. Repugs and Matthews are threatened by anything that holds them accountable, that makes more sense than they do, that gets to the heart of things, all of which puts blogs like FDL square in the crosshairs. Pesky pups. What do they know? *g*

Listened yesterday to portions of Science Friday on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. The whole tone was optimistic. Science exists again.

Strong investments in scientific research and education across the whole spectrum of possibilities, from medicine to fuel efficiency, will bring the country forward.

We need to hear more of “I reject as false.” Will be interesting to see how forceful Pelosi is now that the dust of inauguration and the new congress swearing in have settled. We need more pushback against the false framings that have been accepted as Cokie’s conventional wisdom because its out there

Where to start.

I’d like to see a truly progressive tax code, with no loopholes, and a return of the estate tax for estates over a certain amount.

I’d like to see a foundation built for public financing of elections, federal, state and local.

I’d like to see an end to private prisons and a complete revamping of the archaic drug laws.

I’d like to see the sovereignty of the Native American nations restored and what’s owed those nations paid, like yesterday.

I’d like to see an end to militaristic adventures.

I’d like to see Israel removed from the occupied territories and the 1967 borders established as the lawful boundaries of the the state of Israel.

I’d like to see a return to a functioning public school system and the demise of charter schools and vouchers.

I’d like to see a return to an economy based on the manufacturing of goods rather than one based on financial services that breeds greed like cockroaches.

Just for starters.

And all that before breakfast, thank you very much.

closing off un-used rooms is always a good idea, anyway. We closed off the ducts to the kids rooms and that tends to concentrate the heat into other areas.

Pelosi is on Snuffy’s show Sunday morning.

I want to see taxes on the rich go up. They caused the financial crisis and they should pay. It will show conclusively that the repub idea that tax cuts cure all ills is not only false, but that the basis of repub ideology is a lie, designed to help the rich and hurt the rest of the country.

Just a few gusts this am caught my attn.

rethinking my plans to travel to my mtn. top retreat.

Look up draft in dictionary…pic of my old farmhouse.

btw caught your front page this am. keep it up kiddo! luvin it.

There is more wrong than there is right!

No argument there, but it’s going to take more than one week to clean up the steaming piles of doo-doo left by Darth and Co.

And as for taxing anything over 500k “severely”, I respectfully disagree. (Not that I’m anywhere close to it making a difference in my life!)

Making money in and of itself isn’t a bad or evil thing. Should those who earn more pay more in taxes? Absolutely. But to punish those who honestly make lots of money (operative word “honestly”) is wrong and counterproductive.

oh, for a second, I thought you were talking about the front page on my blog; but I get what you mean – the Oxdown piece. The Goopers are a bunch of whiners. Obama changed the rules of the game and they are very unhappy and frustrated right now. Tough luck, boys.

Am I crazy to think that giving money to the rich does NOT put money into the economy? We need money in the hands of people who actually need to spend it.

It is possible to insulate walls in older houses. A small hole is drilled in each stud space and insulation pumped in. Not as effective as when done in ordinary construction sequence but can have tremendous impact.

We closed off the ducts to the kids rooms

Should you be admitting that publicly? Soulds like you might be lining yourself up for cruelty charges!

Should those who earn more pay more in taxes?

The operative word is earn. Who makes the decision about those who earn and those who simply benefit from cagey compensation negotiations via boards with blinders?

Mike, not all houses can use that technique. My parents’ home was built n 1917 and was solid: two layers of bricks on the outside; 3″ of plaster on top of that on the inside. The only way to insulate that house would have been to put studs on the walls(and thereby making the room smaller), putting in bats and then wallboard on top of that. Would have just ruined everything, so my parents did not do it.

ahem…(whispering: No kids at home any more….)

Nope. I have plaster right on bricks (front and side) or stone (back & other side). No air space to pump in insulation. But the method you suggest is how we insulated the attic floor.

Soulds like

Of course that should be “sounds”.

That ruined a perfectly good snarky comment!

The operative word is earn.

Agree wholeheartedly! That’s why I used ‘earn’.

We really do need to make a concerted effort to once and for all debunk the Rethug myth of tax cuts. The Helmsley philosophy of “…only the little people pay taxes” needs to be hung out to dry along with the pols that follow that philosophy and the Randian/Friedmanite school of economics.

Morning all.

It’s been hard for me to talk about what Obama’s done in his first few days without choking up a little. It’s all a bit overwhelming.

I’d like to see stem cell research get a boost. I suspect that’s coming. Rolling back the global gag rule was expected, but that made it no less welcome.

But more than anything I’d like to see the immigration system get an overhaul. The vast majority of Americans live their lives without encountering the immigration bureaucracy. But for those of us who are forced to deal with them because we choose to marry a US citizen, or are skilled foreigners who work in the US it is too often a surreal nightmare.

One immigration attorney I am acquainted with puts it like this: “the US immigration system was designed in the Land of Oz, is interpreted by rules derived Through the Looking Glass, and is administered by Franz Kafka.”

National health care and from that flows higher wages so that people can approach paying their debts. We must also get rid of the silly minimum wage and have a living wage. And let us cut down the atrocious salaries paid to the CEO class.
TobyW. is absolutely right about education though it needs to be FREE not just less costly.

Of course what I really, really want is a socialist state!!!

Anyone else seen pix of Boehner lately? Always looks as if he’s either sweating bullets or been crying, or both. He’s looking helpless and werry werry uncomfortable. Good! Someone oughtta send him a copy of this thread when it gets full to bursting with dastardly librul ideas. I like watching him squirm in his private little pity-party.

Even Mitch McCon ain’t lookin’ too robusto any more either. I’ll waste no pity on him either. Hand all those bozos shovels and brooms and make ‘em work for a living.

For those who are speaking of the increasing income distribution disparity, please read Krugman’s Conscience of a Liberal. He goes thru the whole history, starting with the long post-Civil War Gilded Era. And he details how that was overcome during FDR-WWII era. The short version is the heavy hand of govt coming down on the side of real workers. But that does not give full credit to his description. It’s a must read.

In that situation, 2″ of foam could be appled to old walls w/ adhesive. then covered w/ 1/4″ drywall using adhesive. That would be r-10+

Forgive SanderO, they are heavy into demagoguery, which replaces the ability to consider and reason. Sander’s main hates are rich and wealth, out of which all evils flow in his construct, There are many things Sander has contributed to economic discussion, but unfortunately, these subjects are not among them. It would be interesting to have Sander provide his definition of: rich, wealth. It might help to understand his ravings.

They’re whistlin’ past the graveyard cuz they know what’s comin’ and there’s really nothin’ they can do about it except whine and puff out their chests. Poor babies.

I wholeheartedly second that recommendation.

I think it’s a matter of every time we type “President Barack Obama” and send it off into the blogosphere, a wingnut head explodes. ;-)

I want hate crime laws! No more Lot Dobbs lying about Mexicans spreading leprosy.

ah..I had never thought of just putting on adhesive; clever…

Now you are making me want to watch the news:)

So you’ve read it? Glad to get reinforcement from someone who isn’t an economist. It was an easy read for me, but I have a lot of built up knowledge that I bring with. Was not sure how well it communicated to those with less background.

And what about the window frames? Indented in the new walls? I don’t think so.

New Doors help allot too.

Finished it last weekend. My economic knowledge is limited to basic overall theory but I understood all that he discussed.

I haven’t been here for awhile. It’s good to put a toe back in the water. My special complaint is the flipping multi-billion dollar boondoggle known as Missile Defense which was originally a hallucination of Ronald Reagan’s known as Star Wars which doesn’t work, isn’t needed, is completely misguided, distracts from important defense issues, and costs the U.S. treasury something like $10 Billion every year, and has been since Edward Teller put Reagan up to it in the 1980s. Ya know, the program that George W. Bush and minions regularly faked the results of the tests of, which were rigged even the results were phony. Ya know, where they were f—ing up Kodiak Island to install non-working missiles on just before 2004 General Selection, all the while knowing they didn’t work. Ya know, the program Kindasleezy Rice was going to give a Big Speech about on September 11, 2001, because it was the Biggest National Security Issue of the Time (NOT!) until about 9 am EDT that day. Still the #1 case in point in my mind of just how full of bull—- George W. Bush and the RepubliCONS were (and are). GM and Chrysler down the tubes? No prob, no tax $$ for them, we got to spend Billions and Billions on Missile Defense! Star Wars! Hoo ha! What a flipping waste.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela will renew its demand for the United States to extradite a former CIA operative accused of plotting the 1976 bombing of a Cuban plane that killed all 73 people on board, a lawyer for the Venezuelan government said Friday.

Venezuela hopes President Barack Obama’s administration will shift policy on the case of 80-year-old Luis Posada Carriles and turn him over to face trial in Venezuela, attorney Jose Pertierra said.

http://www.google.com/hostedne…..wD95T3G501

Turning over Luis Posada Carriles to the Hague would insure him a fair trial and Better are relations with all of South America.

Yuppers. Just replaced three (along with frames, thresholds, et al).

Amen right back at ya!

Ol’ Johnny boy is probably up to 3 packs of those Camel non-filters a day now!

Do you have some mechanism for distinguishing those who make money honestly and constructively from those who cheat, lie, steal and buy off congress and presidents?

Everyone who makes money does so in the system. If we didn’t have a system in place to protect good ideas, one where the infrastructure is in place to allow commerce to proceed, courts to protect people from cheaters, and so on. The system, badly damaged as it is, makes Bill Gates possible, just like it makes John Thain possible.

Seems like an easy thing to cut it never worked. Besides Russia is pissed that we are setting it up in Poland I think.
Remove the missile defense and we get better relations with Russia.

My house is historic. Old doors stay. There are storm doors and windows. Even though those are not historically correct, they are not as intrusive as some other changes might be. It’s a trade off, subject to personal judgement & taste. I have strong views, but YMMV.

Jobs, so my college degreed son can find a decent job and get his own place!
Health care.

Peace on Earth and (good will to all men)! That means republicans are suppose to lay off liberals and Pres. Obama!

Excellent. Very glad to get your feedback.

The difficulty with things like doors, however, is that with older houses, nothing is compatible with current standards, and much rehab is necessary to make ready-made stuff (windows, doors, etc.) work. End result: more $$ unless you’re a handy person. barbara is not.

Just take some care with what adhesive you use, those which have petroleum can out-gas noxious fumes for extended periods, same as with NO trailers.

Do we get a family discount if we package him with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al.?

Having spent a number of years retrofitting old homes, among them mine at 1853, I have found that caulk caulk and more caulk is sometimes the only way to beat the draft. In homes where there are no restrictions, historic rules in particular, new windows make the greatest difference. I do not recommend blown in insulation as it sinks over time and leaves a gap at the top where all the warm air gets out.

I reseat a section of my cedar clapboards every year and that has great benefits. For stone homes caulk and pointing seem the most effective without breaking the rules of historic restoration.

Another effective way is to visit the Caribbean during the winter months

Off to breakfast with friend Joe, who’s losing his sight more rapidly than we thought. He can’t afford cataract surgery and now only drives to work and the grocery store. If we had had single payer health care this would have been taken care of years ago.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

Thank you for that reminder – adhesives are always an issue.

Yeah, as a matter of fact, it’s worse than just a Monumental Waste, it’s pissing off Russia with no real benefit. Thank you.

Good morning pups!

Mebbe they’d self-police if there were a significant across-the-board $$$ penalty made necessary by the high-rolling bottom-feeders?

Yep. Got the caulk thing going. Also, stuffing insulation whereever possible. Like little chinks where mortar fell out between the stones or bricks when doing plaster repair. Every little bit helps. The house is a lot less drafty than it was 29 years ago when we bought it.

Modern houses have the windows mounted to the outside of the wall with a return of either wood or drywall.Very common and not unattractive.

Good morning, how ya doin’?

To do major surgery on the windows would involve an expense that would never be made up in lower heating costs.

Even without the discount lets do it. The GOP Leadership will scream and not cooperate with Obama at all.
But as the trial goes on details will emerge that will likely put the GOP and DLC leadership away.

Morning Egregious

Obama thinks Venezuela (and Iran) are run by dictators. Guess no one told Obama that they have elections in those countries. Anyhow, given Obama’s repeated statements to that end, I doubt he’ll give up anyone to Venezuela.

Employee Free Choice Act.

And get $$ to the poor and middle class and NOT via tax cuts.

Do the infrastructure thingy.

Get the Democrats to really, really understand they don’t HAVE to listen to these GOP’ers who screwed this country from the bottom up. Yes, they REALLY are back in power make ‘em BELIEVE it.

Life is good, counting my blessings. Nice to see you here.

And how about Noriega? Bush1 set him up as his personal money launderer while head of the CIA and then kidnapped him, using the US Army, to keep him quiet while Pres. The bushies thrive on illegalities.

Oh dear. Got a political reporter on cspan who doesn’t know shit from shinola, and an author on cspan2 who thinks the younger generation all plagarize from wiki and steal other people’s music.

I’m off to the farmers’ market and other errands.

I think he spent too much time with Jerkin Joe the CT weasel. He keeps saying “terrorist” when referring to regimes that have a beef with the US.

Amen.

I’m off to the farmers’ market and other errands.

What do they sell in the farmers market this time of year snowballs and icicles?

hahaha…some cities have large indoor farmers markets – our little regional effort got a couple of dates set inside the Coop Ext. building so that people could buy eggs, honey, meat..that sort of thing. I’m sure eCAHN’s in NYC has much more available. and I know that the huge one in Syracuse has 8 buildings where you can buy pretty much anything you want..though very little is going to be grown locally unless through hydroponics in greenhouses. But they allow the big fruit and veggie guys to sell there.

I don’t know. I’ll find out. Certainly apples & potatoes; only place I know I can get purple potatoes. I’m also looking for celeric. I bought some there awhile ago, but wasn’t dilligent about looking for a way to use it, so ended up throwing it out. Now I’ve got a soup recipe for it.

New post upstairs…

I’m good with getting his case looked at again. He was on the CIA payroll Panama was the drug dealers bank. I think he may fill in some gaps about what we know about IranContra.

Boy aint that the truth!!! I think the the bushies would like to have him suicided before he could say anything.

G’Morning FreedomPups™ !

In his first 3 days in Office, Barack broke another of Bush’s Laws … namely … workin’ 3 days in a week !

Hey there Petro

{{{ eg }}}

Yannow, even up here in friendly Toronto, people are friendlier since the Inauguration.

I hope Harper gets tossed out of Office on Tuesday … that would be another reason to celebrate.

I’m worried that people will get complacent about the health care issue now that Obama is in. Even with a sympathetic president, health care reform is going to be a huge uphill battle. If anything, grassroots action will be even more important now than it was under Bush. We need to keep the pressure on and double it.

He is not the answer to all our problems…

Obama presents the opportunity for us to answer our problems.

the grinding oppression of bush/cheney wasn’t just their outrageous insidious destructiveness, lying, and upside downism, but even worse was that they presented in big blaring horns and flashing signs that there was no hope of improving anything. Every ounce of energy was consumed in limiting their destruction.

It is that oppression of republican/conservatives shutting down of any hope of improving things that has been lifted, creating an involuntary gasp of relief for so many. It is the end of bush/cheney and the advent of Obama that provides the opportunity for things to improve in a humane decent way, and THAT makes all the difference in the world.

Fix FISA.
He owes us that!
He promised, and then he caved.
This is AMERICA where there’s NO SUCH THING as “retroactive immunity”.
That would be my No. 1.

Siri !

Every ounce of energy was consumed in limiting their destruction.

Aint it the truth.

Hunh – exactly – that’s why the Rethugs are acting so whiny and punchy now..they think we only know how to play Defense!!

Thank you, T-Bear! I have never heard or read my first concern stated better.

Until the foundation of our country is restored to its full strength, nothing that our elected officials do to patch our house of government will endure.

I would like to see a constitutional amendment which removes the presidential power to pardon. IMO, that power subverts and overrules a judicial determination properly executed in our courts and puts into the hands of a single person the power to prevent justice.

Our Judicial Branch has become politicized and corrupted by appointees who served not the Law but an ideology, thereby precluding justice. It appears that the Law as it now stands is inadequate to prevent this, therefore we need a thorough overhaul of our Judicial Branch. (to include term limits for judges at all levels including the Supreme Court).

Our country has become not a republic, not a democracy, but in truth a country ruled from the dark side by a secret government controlled by the National Security Agency, CIA, and the 14 (?) other “spy agencies”. The ultimate abuse by this many-headed monster was Secretary of State Powell’s blatant lies using drawings and that little bottle of white powder to lie to the whole world.

President Obama has proven himself to be devoted to Constitutional Law. There is nothing more important that he can do for America than to fully restore us to the rule of Law and not of men.

i know this is epu’d, but i know people read puc later in the day, like i do when i miss it in ‘real time’.

here is a something that a friend of my mom sent to her. move your mouse around the map and get front page headlines from around the world. really cool.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/

As a long time activist against poverty, I have to agree about the need to look deeply into this issue. Poverty is widespread, affects just about every American community, and it is not getting any less. While it is a travesty that the middle class is falling into poverty, the good that can come out of it is, that poverty is now of interest to others.

In the 1990’s, I often felt a great deal of sadness because people would look to Africa or Eastern Europe, very worthy places to look all right, but they refused to acknowledge that poverty was right under their noses in their own communities. They would crow about how “rich” we are as a country and then applaud the harsh, punitive “solutions” for poverty , with Welfare Reform that has decimated entire families and left children to grow up without any adult supervision.

I wish I could tell you the stories I know here, but suffice it to say that our priorities when we demonized the poor that Robert Rector did out of the Heritage Foundation when he wrote and submitted Welfare Reform to an applauding nation after Ronald Reagon told his “Welfare queen” stories that he later denied were true. Welfare took away the entitlement to a safety net, and codified into law that traditional women’s work of parenting, was “doing nothing” and not worthy of our support. Only a paid position, even if it did not support a family, was “doing something.”

Rector had met met some low income women who had fled the Virginia towns where racism and classism would have only relegated them to working in mansions as cooks and maids, and they came to DC to go to school. Rector felt that these women were “taking advantage of the System” by using Welfare as a stepping stone to college and hopefully success. He did not seem to see that his own white male bastion had been doing this for decades and that they felt entitled to this benefit while they trampled on other people’s rights and took those rights away.

Now our safety net is in tatters. the holes are leaving people to fall through it to freeze to death, die in agony with untreated diseases, and make sure that children are left without any supervision or a home, so Mom can work that McJob that won’t evenb pay the rent.

It is time to discuss that. Whole families are waiting at the bus stop without any place to go. While we debate, perhaps it is time to listen to the advocates and people who have lived poverty to begin the change.
http://static1.firedoglake.com…../quote.gif
One thing we need to acknowledge: Poverty is a systematic war on class, beginning with the creating by Welfare Reform, a multi-billion dollar plan who many cynically call poverty pimps: http://www.welfarewarriors.org…..s_tour.htm where billions for families in need are diverted to fraudulent agencies who use the money for their own perpetration rather than for the families who desperately need help. some of these industries have actually been prosecuted for fraud yet are still the ones being contracted for services. Low income people pay more in taxes than the rich; http://www.itepnet.org/wp2000/text.pdf, yet the services that cost far less than the rich enjoy, are cut and cut. States are crying they do not have enough revenue when in fact they refuse to make the ones who would turn their deficits into surplus by taxing the ones who can well afford it, such as large coporations who refuse to pay even half of their obligations (some even refuse to pay anything) yet use our infrastructures and expect the poor and middle class to foot the bill.

I know I am not supposed to be talking about charities who are taking these millions for themselves. It could hurt what little help they give. Yet who is going to bring to our attention that the government was doing a much better job with a fraction of expenses unless SOMEBODY does not speak up? (sigh)

This is what I am speaking about as far as the systemization of poverty that, until some of these things are dealt with, will never address the issues of poverty until we recognize what is *not* being done to eradicate poverty in America. I guess those voices are those few around the nation, including the courageous, scrappy Pat Gowen a true woman who has given almost 2 decades of her life to speaking the Truth, those of us who know the Truth …

Cat In Seattle

Great post, Egregious! Thank you. ;-)

I would like to see a constitutional amendment which removes the presidential power to pardon. IMO, that power subverts and overrules a judicial determination properly executed in our courts and puts into the hands of a single person the power to prevent justice.

For your consideration, all sovereigns have the power of pardon, a republic must also exercise that power through the acts of the executive authority of that republic. The purpose of that exercise was historically restricted to be used to reverse a miscarriage of justice or alleviate excessive severity of sentence. Dr. Mudd’s pardon would serve as a good example of proper use of the pardon, albeit too late for his lifetime. Abandon or curtail the power to pardon at great risk to justice. The use of pardon for political ends is a very recent extension (and abuse in many cases) of that power.

Get military recruiters and the military our of our public schools!

We are not a military democracy in America and we should never allow ourselves to become one, no matter what the Pentagon says!

Links did not work that I gave, sorry.

Here they are again: (fraudulent private contracting funded by Welfare Reform funding, which btw is only documented in two states, if there were more people looking into it, I can guarantee they would find more …)

Maybe doing it the firepup way will work better …

Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy:

AARRGGHH! Trying the firepup way did not work either!

Let me try THIS:

http://www.itepnet.org/wp2000/text.pdf (Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy).

http://www.welfarewarriors.org…..s_tour.htm
A story about a bus tour for journalists in Milwaukee who toured the area looking at “non-profits” and their roles in poverty …

Cat

A sane path to decentralized renewable energy, not more of the same huge Corporate Industrial “green” (not very) energy that rips apart public lands and keeps energy control in the same old huge corporate hands.

Wow! Thanks. This is fascinating. Bookmarking it now!

T-Bear, I appreciate your view. I am not a lawyer. Perhaps I should have said that the power of the pardon should be amended to ensure against the misuse or abuse thereof. It appears to me that the purpose and intent of the law has not been well served in my lifetime.

Here, here to decentralized renewable energy (#121) without the big corporate baggage and their giant, annoying, deceptive advertising. Creating decentralized, clean, renewable energy is such a pure, constructive, obviously necessary path we need to take.

Concentrate on energy efficient products—esp. solar. Finally fund IDEA (special education funding), restructure education and fund it–esp. focusing on rural and urban districts that don’t have the local taxes that wealthier suburban districts do. Get science based reading instruction into our schools STAT—for all kids struggling with literacy. Heck–get it into prisons, jails, juvie halls since ~ 75% of those populations struggle with LD esp. literacy. Get rid of the stupid liquid ban on flights so I can carry my own water, bottles of wine to family, soccer ball ice packs keeping the SF burritos until they get back east. (Yes, I have gotten in arguments with TSA in Burlington VT about the ice packs—after several other TSA places had no problems with them…) Health care-the costs are killing us. It they “can’t” give us universal coverage at least roll back the prices to what they were 5-6 years ago. (We have gone from about 350 per month to 1,200 per month through Kaiser.) Looking forward to getting this cup of coffee down and reading through the comments.

Thank you Cat.

Only a paid position, even if it did not support a family, was “doing something.”

Agree, that concept is idiocy. I argued rather strenuously just yesterday this very point against an author who has made this the central premise of her latest book.

As part of the effort to repair DOJ’s reputation and performance, I believe it will become necessary to pass legislation extending the statute of limitations for events occurring during the last two presidential terms. The gutting of the civil rights division alone should be sufficient reason for this remedy, especially if we consider the equal protection issue–after all, those who were wronged prior to and after GWB’s presidency had the civil rights division take up their cases, but many, many, MANY during the last eight years clearly did not.

127 responses and not one mention of FEMA. We can’t afford another Katrina type of response to whatever may happen next. Restoring Fema to its previous state and then improving on that would probably generate a lot of good jobs as well. Two birds…..

Thank you for your eloquence. Only by restoring economic balance to people, can there be hope of turning around this economic collapse. That includes restoring whatever economic assets these people have to the original value. Your views are most welcome.

To be fair. The presence of elections does not preclude the existence of a dictator. You can freely elect your new dictator; more or less.

That is precisely the direction the U.S. was/is heading under Unitary Executive Theory.

This is way cool. Thanks!