The DOJ stand is depressing, however, I’m suffering such angst over the economy that I can’t muster the appropriate outrage.

glad to hear this:

And, in fact, there are several who’ve suggested that FDR [President Roosevelt] was wrong to interfere back in the New Deal. They’re fighting battles that I thought were resolved a pretty long time ago.

Did Obama filibuster?

Yes.

I’m not happy with that either. Nor am I happy that the photographing of returning caskets policy is “under review.” How fuckin’ difficult can that decision be? An arbitrary decision by Darth and Rumsfeld that has to be reviewed? Give. Me. A. Break.

For a grin:

Fifty-one years ago, Herman James, a North Carolina mountain man, was drafted by the Army.
On his first day in basic training, the Army issued him a comb.
That afternoon the Army barber sheared off all his hair.
On his second day the Army issued Herman a toothbrush.
That afternoon the Army dentist yanked seven of his teeth.
On the third day the Army issued him a jock strap.
The Army has been looking for Herman for 51 years.

Thanks for the grin. I needed one.
I’m with you on the give me a break thing. There were so many arbitrary decisions that cause a lot of grief. It just pisses me off that it takes a study group, researching and then forty amendments before a potential votes to get anything fixed. We all know how long Hugh’s List is. I doubt I’ll live long enough for everything to be fixed.
I just peeked at the sky and the moon’s looking pretty full. How ’bout your sky?

Sky’s still there but I can’t see the moon. It’s after 8 here and the sun is out. *g*

If the chart Rachel showed doesn’t snap folks too, nothing will. Unfortunately, I think the corporations will use this opportunity to dump even more jobs to improve their bottom line. Most profit comes from labour, after all.

same here.

Oh, right. You know what I meant, tho.
Sun is out. Blue skies. Smiling at me. Nothing but blue skies, do I see.
Good way to start the day. :)

I’m with Digby.

Depressed.

Good Morning…that was discussed alot on the thread last night. I really felt that he took the path of decorum or sensitivity in the sense that was not the forum for the announcement. Maybe not the way to let previous families effected know, etc. That was my take, anyway. I actually thought the question was not such a good one; all those families need tender care and respect.

My Blue Heaven, Gene Austin

I’ll have to agree with that. The policy radical coming out in me I suppose. I was waiting for a public repudiation of the policy.

i don’t have my reaxing glasses

Left me manners in the other room. Good morning.

It is all such a sad, painful reminder of what this country has been through. I did think also that his cautious answer about the prosecutions left the door open. At least, that is my hope, but not sure.

Good Morning to you, too….haven’t seen you in awhile ;)

I agree too, I just wish he had expressed his personal preference. Perhaps just didn’t want a follow up question to muddy the waters and change the focus of the STIM discussion. I’m certain he did not want the headline out of the conference to be- Obama wants to photo coffins.

It’s a long waiting game and after the disastrous last 8 years I think folks want to see something tangible right now. Even I, who can watch a butterfly for hours, am antsy to get things turned around.

Yeah, not since yesterday. *g*

If it’s a policy directed from the Office of the President a “personal preference” would be tantamount to changing the policy and he is not ready to do that yet, especially in a press conference.

Yes, and a huge need for justice. I really hate thinking about these sociopaths just drifting off to all their gated communities. I heard this morning an Iraqi talking about wanting us out of there. Duh…we trashed the place. (Looks likes I need to go back to bed; the horrors just keep coming.)

True. That’s why he’s the President and I’m not. (Among other reasons) *g*

Completely off topic: What’s your take? Watching our charming and brilliant President last night, I had the random thought that we may see a very large uptick in interracial marriages. Im sure someone can track the numbers. This is my sociological hypothesis for the moment.

Christy’s up
Most Of The Whores Are Only Taking Calls For Cash

Well, I have read that they’re expecting an Obama baby boom. Like Leonard Cohen said: “Baby, we’ll be makin’ love again”.

Playing “Love and Marriage” Thanks

I liked how David Axelrod stated that one of the reasons Obama took to the road, was to redirect the MSM away from the political debate to the reality of the urgency of government spending-stimulus, which the MSM has been missing.

I like how Obama’s staff is looking at ways to “reframe the debate” towards the reality of why the legislation is needed. That is a nice improvement.

Thanks. You put a smile on my face, and I always appreciate that.
Hi Raven!

That chart needs to be up on all the progressive blogs today as much as possible, followed by where the nation’s governors stand on the national needs.

And we need to make calls backing the National Governor’s Association and their stimulus package requests.

I’ve seen this mentioned by several posters on other sites but not here.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…..zfDxfbwhzs

“The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal, Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system. “
“Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt. “

Anyone?

That is a challenging question. The reason we have gone to the extent we have, is that there are often younger folks who end up with hopeless diagnosis and it is the experimental treatments that prolonged or cured the 35 year old mom of three kids.

Then the question becomes, “Why do we consider the experimental treatment for the 35 year old but not the 60+ year old?”

Not to mention, the medical field needs to be looking for those treatments that can cure to reduce the impact of “long term” terminal cases which are a drain financially. A cure in such cases would be financially better than the long term terminal case.

Here’s the link to the article with the chart from the Speaker’s site. Now, if one of our brilliant front pagers could extract it and put it up. Just sayin’.

Well said. It is very risky to deem something “hopeless.” Maybe Daschle’s statements are over-simplified. Maybe he should told some of this to Cheney and we would not be in such trouble; but that disaster does not a policy make.

Hey,

Jane had a post up yesterday about the nation’s governors and the stimulus and we need to get behind and support the post. It posted at a time of day where the site does not get that much traffic. We need to revisit the post today. Go here.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

Just sayin’…is spot on!

Jane? Are you here? Get the whole blogosphere to post this…That chart should be the foundation of a StrangBedfellows stand on the stimulus bill along with some bullet points for callers to stand on.

hey there

Hope all is well at your pad.
My challenge is to stay happy, ’cause you know what they say about If Mommy’s not happy….
Such a burden. :)

Except they WEREN’T resolved. Economic data indicates that unemployment was worse in 1939 than it was in 1933. Only WWII got the Nation out of the Depression. The only thing that will stop a depression here now is to declare a tax holiday for six months to a year, make the tax cuts permanent after that. That will put money into people who CAN buy now and rev up the economy. Reducing trade barriers will stimulate growth in trade …

i’m gonna pass. my guv was asked to make phone calls to R senators and gladly did so day after day. he’ll be introducing the Prseident in a few hours. he’s totally on board.

what “economic data” shows that?

The negative reaction to the DOJ stand on State Secrets protection of government crimes — expressed by Douglas N. Letter, who’s been at the DOJ at least since 1989 — seems pretty widespread. I looked up comments recently made by Dick Cheney regarding his contribution to this end as a review of what he advised Obama to do as president:

Cheney is more optimistic about the long-term prospects for those Bush administration national security policies that have kept the country safe for more than seven years. He believes that the incoming president might quickly come to appreciate the value of the Terrorist Surveillance Program and the special interrogation program for high-value detainees–the two Cheney cites as most important.

CHENEY: I hope that what will happen is they sit down every day now and avail themselves of the same intelligence information the president and I have been looking at for eight years; that they will come to understand the enormous importance of continuing to collect that intelligence; and that they will resist the temptation to automatically take their campaign rhetoric and make that policy. Now, will they do that? I don’t know.

TWS: Was the campaign rhetoric then something born of naïveté?

CHENEY: Absolutely–or, well, I can’t say it was malicious; it was the stuff that a lot of Democrats and a lot of people in the press have hammered us with for years. And I think on the left wing of the Democratic party, there are some people who believe that we really tortured and–then in the course of the Democratic primary process, he rode that issue pretty hard.

He’s now going to be President of the United States, and two weeks from today we swear him in. And it would be a tragedy if he let his policies be founded on nothing more than the rhetoric of his campaign. It’s got to be based on knowledge and experience.

To that end, Cheney says he’s heartened by Barack Obama’s decision to retain Robert Gates. The vice president, who also said that Obama had assembled a “pretty good team” on national security, believes Gates will push the new president to continue the controversial programs.

I’m hopeful, for example, that his decision to keep a guy like Bob Gates means he’s at least open-minded enough on these issues, to sit down and find out the facts, find out what we’ve really done, find out what we’ve learned from it, before he automatically closes down those operations, because there’s–you know, as I say, if you believe, as I do, that those programs have been instrumental in keeping us safe, then the conclusion would be if you cancel those programs, you may well enhance the danger to the nation.

Perhaps I’ll address this in an Oxbow/Oxbridge/er..Oxdown diary entry.

I forgot to include this link.

Treasury Statistics 1929, quoted by Sec. Treasury Henry Morgenthau in August, 1929..