“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”

-Grover Norquist

This is the person Jane Hamsher has partnered with.

I have advocated the creation of a strong council of federal financial regulators. This council would monitor the financial system to help prevent the accumulation of systemic risks and would also have the authority to close even the largest institutions. But we don’t need — and can’t afford — to depend on one supreme regulator to have sole decision-making authority in times when our entire financial system is in flux.

And where is the voice of Sheila Bair lately?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/opinion/01bair.html?_r=1

I agree, Jane. When does one of us get to be JoeLie or BenNe? If it can be anyone, I say, you go. Do it for us.

Notice the differences between Democrats and today’s Republicans. Democrats go after corrupt leaders, Republicans design idiocies to justify their leaders’ failures. Unfortunately Republican’s destructive approaches prevent effective efforts unity can bring to getting this country back on track.

It’s so good to see the spreading realization that we must fight for policy and principle rather than bow to party. Nothing will get done while we are chained to party instead of fighting for real change.

The political peril of ousting a popular regulator who has sided with struggling homeowners and sought tougher conditions on financial firms could fuel charges that Geithner and other Obama appointees are too closely connected to Wall Street.

‘No Girls Allowed’

Oh, wait, the good old boys threw the FDIC under the bus a long times ago.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTFflUwD.Qbg

jane, I have to ask;

how did it feel to find out that the adminstration was asked what they thought of “jane hamsher” (and grover)?

you it them over the head with a two by four allright but when you found out they not only got the message but also the messenger, how did that feel?

In February 2008, just days and weeks before he was politcally “assassinated,” Eliot Spitzer wrote an op-ed which called out the White House for deliberately obstructing the investigation of subprime mortgages by the 50 states attorneys general by way of the Office of Comptroller of Currency.

To the best of my knowledge, the Office of the Comptroller of Currency has not changed its position and remains obstructive even now.

Why?

We also know at state level that firms which specialize in foreclosures are partnered with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and are instrumental in obstructing efforts by homeowners to renegotiate their mortgages, which sustains the rate of foreclosure on properties rather than reducing the number of foreclosures.

Why has this not changed since the administration took office?

Is it because any effort to investigate these situations would lead us right back to the same underlying problems?

The Cenk rawkin the FDL House!

Mz. Hamsher, yer the best Christmas present a progressive ever received.

Thanks for all you, FDL, Staff and Pups do for our causes and needs.

Merry Christmas to one and all, and Happy Boxing Day to all our friends in The Great White North.

*wavestoall*

Cenk..what he said

But , he is painting a rosy scenario.rahm would be investigated in a democracy.If you wonder what I mean? Think Ted Stevens and Don Seigleman.

Think Blackwater/Halliburton..no investigation.

Acorn..yes to investigation.

TARP ..billions going to banks with no strings attached.

Health Care Reform. ..you would think the US is asking for the senator’s last 2.00 for grocery money.

We no longer live in any kind of democracy. It is totally..I am not trying to kid anybody…out and out fascist.Just because some people are afraid of being called “conspiracy theorists” just shows how deep the propaganda goes in the US.

A conspiracy is when two or more people get together to commit fraud.But if you say that is what our govt. is doing you are a whack job.A clue is that there is so much secrecy while the bills are being worked up.Then there is a big rush for different reasons to vote. The US is just left to trust and obey..as the old hymn goes.

I was pretty certain nobody would be asking that question if it was just me alone who wrote the letter. And that if they had to address it, the arrow hit the mark.

And to you!

That’s exactly the kind of thing that appeals to Independents, though. Many of them are Independent because they see craziness in both the parties and they certainly aren’t tribalists or they’d pick a tribe. I’d like to see Jane get a reputation left, right and center for calling them as she sees them so recommendations at election time have broad reach. People are desperately looking for someone to trust in this scary place where the ones we’ve been taught to trust have been caught giving the alarm codes to the burglars. That’s why Glenn Beck is so popular. He says, trust me, I believe you and don’t think you’re paranoid and marginalize you and people dying to trust someone flock to him. Same with I’m just a hockey mom just like you Palin. We need people on the left to be trustworthy, too, and we need to get the message to the right who are looking to others that the enemy is not us liberals, it’s the corporations and the corrupt politicians in both parties.

Along those lines, I was thrilled to see an article on the letter about Rahm front page on fox.com when I checked last night to see if the story was getting any traction. There’s a whole new audience that is getting the message that we are not the enemy, we are as sick of the corruption as you are and willing to work together to kick the bums out.

We are making a list aren’t we? A focused list, headed

Send His Shit

Well said.

I love this place.

I remember during the Bush years when they’d be doing all kinds of outrageous illegal stuff and you’d look at the wingnut sites and they’d be defending it all blindly, just because they “loved” George Bush and they “hated” those who were making the critiques. No thought beyond that.

And I thought “wow, that could never happen to us.” Strictly speaking, that’s still true. But I’m learning that I defined “us” perhaps a bit too broadly.

I remember when Bill Frist as Senate majority leader was in a big hurry to pass no over time for firefighters, policemen and nurses.

Bill Frist’s family owned a chain of hosptials . That law alone would have saved them some serious money.It was a fight but it did not pass.Instead the Labor Dept. passes some insidious similiar deals.

Remember Arlen Specter asking Sec. Chow if nurses were included in their new rules. Sec. Chow did not know. In some parts of the country nurses do have to work like that. As a retired nurse, I know when you work two shifts and are very tired…you could accidentally kill somebody. But to be doing it because you have to ..you are going to get time off down the road..It kind takes away the grief if you do make a serious mistake.

So, one wonders about the real agenda of our govt. When was the last time you remember our reps. in DC all getting behind a bill that would help US?

Bipartisanship is supposed to be a political tactic that only rightwingers use, dontchaknow.

If you ever want to triangulate, it’s against someone defending the coverup of a banking scandal.

That’s the universe dealing you a royal flush.

Hateful Neo-Cons.

And I thought “wow, that could never happen to us.” Strictly speaking, that’s still true. But I’m learning that I defined “us” perhaps a bit too broadly.

that’s a great observation, I have always told my friens and I said it here at the lake, in heart I am a “true” concervative, I believe the things “concervatives” are supposed to believe, I believe in “concerving the economy, the armed forces, our international stature, our constitution, our economy, our envirnment, our law”

the people who use they term “I am a concervative” are nothing of the sort, they are “neo cons”, or “the new definition of concervatives” or to be blunt, the word was highjacked and now means “wing nut” it does not mean concervative at all

I have always said “I will turn on the democratic party, I will hold their feet to the fire when they become corrupt”

and of course everyone remembers me telling all, be wary, the democrats WILL corrupt themselves as power corrupts. I also told everyone straight up, when obama had the democrats vote for bush’s “rediculous” bank bailout that obama had corrupted himself, I said it before when he had them vote for telecom immunitiy

yet through that I thought obama could change just like fdr changed, that he was a candidate that did not need corporate sponsorship and that might free him to do what was right for this country

but now we are faced with corruption and those that want to cheerlead that corruption have to look in the mirror, they are the new democrat, they are “neo libs” and we need to tag them with the same tag we give those fascists that supported bush

Merry Christmas Firepups.

jane, you have to also realise the question would never have reached obama if grover did it alone either

the two of you needed each other to hit the center of that target

bulls eye!

Rahm = Karl Rove’s replacement

Merry Christmas, Jane.

Thanks for making it more interesting.

If you don’t “have the stones” to go after your own, why would the opposition pay attention to you? If you let your own get away with improper or illegal gaming of the system for their exclusive financial benefit, how – as a Democratic rather than as a hypocrisy-worshiping authoritarian – would you have the stature to oppose such conduct by the other side?

Those appalled by Jane’s creative politics should be appalled at their own inability to be appalled by their own movement’s lack of movement, its cratering to the insiders. They care as much about their rank and file as GM’s former top executives used to care about theirs. They only cared when the rank and file was able to make trouble, then they negotiated with them, and then they tried to legally take away their right to make trouble.

That dynamic isn’t any different inside Washington. Joe Lieberman and Olympia Snowe do it every day.

rham is more inteligent then rove but not as adept “yet”

he’s learning

Yeah, this whole plan of taking a once in a lifetime chance to actually fix our broken systems and flushing it down the toilet makes me want to scream. The fact that so many people who genuinely want change go along with that plan makes me want to cry. Thanks for being smart, effective and brave, Jane. You give me more hope for change I can believe in than anyone in Washington probably ever will.

Reading Cenk’s words was kewl, but I just watched the vid . . . and that certainly brought an even LARGER smile to my face . . . if you haven’t watched the vid, it’s sweet! *G*

Have there been lots of new visitors???

Chicago politicians. Yeah. Particularly odious. That’s how you gotta play. Gotta play dirty. Better Jane than me. I’m a wimp, man.

Does “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak ring a bell? Yeah. Rahmbo is bigger time than Fast Eddie, but of the same genus. Heard many stories in college from Chicago friends about Fast Eddie’s antics.

Now I wonder how corrupted Obama was in that slime pit?

This is great. We couldn’t have a better Christmas gift. I for one, have been waiting for transparency in all areas of government (as promised) for some time. Thanks, Jane, for fighting the good fight. I will definitely sign the petition to get this stuff out on the table. As a registered independent, I want accountability from all sides of the aisle. It is the only way we will become a great nation again, IMO.

Thank you, Jane, all day long, every day, for your ferocity, intelligence, savvy and, most of all, your integrity.

Who woulda thunk?! Jane Hamsher, the Diogenes of Washington, D.C.

I LOVE this site!

That is true too. But he wouldn’t have done it on his own — for all of the noise about being “used” by the right wing, this was conceived, researched, written, fact-checked and organized by progressives.

Salaries are 4-6 Million, not billion. Probably been caught by now.

besides that great post.

Hey Jane Hamsher: Here’s 2 words from me and mine that you probably don’t hear enough: Thank You!

Merry criminal empire Christmas everyone.

I think RGB said our registrations were up 600% over an average day in just 3 hours earlier this week. Haven’t checked in with him since, but I’d bet they are still going strong.

Well, that goes without saying since Grover Norquist never fact checks anything. Sorry, although I fully support your teaming up with him to get this done, I still hate the guy and can’t resist a snark here and there.

Thank you! I corrected.

Wow! Presumably, lots of right wingers. Maybe they’ll learn something.

When I signed Jane’s petition to Holder, I didn’t address my comment to Attorney General Mitchell, but I did add three signatures below mine:

Archibald Cox
Elliot Richardson
William Ruckelshaus

Thanks, Jane.

While I support the letter and the joining forces with the darkside (GOPers and even “libertarians” like Norquist), I DO think that the idea that the letter has real heft is questionable, regardless of the dualist signatures. Why? Well, that AG asshole…what’s his name? Oh yeah, HOLDER, has demonstrated he is merely a pack mule for Obama. He doesn’t DO the law. He looks to Obama and if Obama nods his head, Holder will do Obama’s bidding (which MIGHT happen to also coincide with the actual law). If Obama shakes his head, however, then there is nothing there. Holder will simply ignore the letter or crime or whatnot and everything will go the criminal’s way.

Just like with the previous Administration. AG’s are puppets, not independent entities. They do not uphold the law, they cover Presidential ass and that’s it.

Right on! Jane Hamsher goes after one of the major obstacles to progressive reforms, a shady corporatist power player. And what is the reaction from parts of the left? Whining and criticizing? As long as the progressive left behaves like a meek, weak victim it will continue to get beaten. Im starting to believe some people are so identified with being the victim that they lash out against anyone who dares to step out and play agressive on their behalf. Its just not what the left is supposed to do?

People are dying as a result of the corporate capitalist system. How about meditating a second on that, whiners? Then come back and tell me that its wrong to use every tool at our disposal to fight it!

Jane — you are awesome. You give this senior citizen hope! I hope you have some time today for some merriment and maybe a little rest tho. Thanks for all you do!!!!

Thank you too, Paleo!

I’ve actually been getting a lot of emails like this, from people who might not want to register and wade into the community but wanted to reach out:

Your actions are respected Attn: Jane

I am a conservative and I want to thank you. Your actions to prompt an investigation of apparent corruption in Washington reaffirms my faith that principles matter to people on both ends of the political spectrum. When people question the actions of people in their own party, it makes clear that principles trump all else.

I remember a time when a friend and co-worker and I found similar common ground. I am a conservative born-again Christian and she was the co-chair for my company’s gay, lesbian and transsexual organization. She was also very liberal and very political. Although we were good friends, we were as opposite as two people could be politically.

One day, I was looking over her shoulder at her work station and realized that she was mad about Google stifling the flow of information to regular people in China. What a revelation. I was also mad about the same thing. We laughed that we had finally found some common ground…….something we both agreed on. Again, people with completely different world views, bound by a matter of principle.

All the best to you.

Those are nice to get.

I highly recommend Cenk’s full post on Obama on Huff Po:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/how-progressives-can-move_b_402779.html

And to you! Have a wonderful holiday.

Their punch in the face is going to happen in 2010 when the progressives stay home.

Need a gate name for this.

Rahmgate?

Oh I didn’t mean “heft” by the way of making Holder do anything about it. I meant cutting through the media dead space between Christmas and New Year’s so the White House couldn’t authorize the bailout without anyone noticing.

They did it anyway, but people noticed — more than they would have I think.

Oh, not to hijack the thread or anything but I did read an interesting posting about the question of whether or not the individual mandate actually is constitutional:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/48553

The argument is that the idea that insurance is a tradable commodity, as is required for the commerce clause to hold, is specious at best. I would like to see the argument actually work its way through the courts. The SCROTUS could go either way, I suspect. The partisan wingers on the court would likely feel torn – wanting to take a “win” away from Obama and the Democrats by ruling the individual mandate (as written…the article also states that a mandate COULD be done in a constitutional manner but the way it is now AIN’T IT) is unconstitutional, or going along with their “corporations are BETTER than people” beliefs and hand this to Obama AND the corporations.

This is a slippery slope for real: if the government and a special subportion of corporations are now favored and in a special place with government, then there is pressure for a LOT of other corporations to argue that they too are “socially important” and thus should also be graced with a mandate. Citizens should be mandated to buy certain products from a HOST of “important” private, for-profit corporations too.

Their salaries aren’t 4-6 billion… yet. Thanks for holding their feet to the fire.

I love it when the pundits get all huffy and lecture voters, saying “don’t they know how bad it will be if they petulantly stay home and Republicans are elected!”

Yeah, scolding the electorate. Great GOTV strategy. Works every time.

jane. Im thinking you can set a post, “worse then rove, obama’s brain”

you want to get action, that will get action, rove will go on the TEEvee and agree with you!

Merry Christmas, Jane Hamsher,

Lots of slings and arrows lately, huh?

Got a break before the turkey comes out of the oven and figured I’d see what’s up/

Emanuel is a dirtbag de la dirtbag. After the election debacle next year, I’m going to remember two words: “Fucking stupid.”

Good on your Jane, You are a person with integrity. I support your approach completely. Call it as you see it and let the chips fall where they may.

I have no doubt the mandate without a public option is unconstitutional however it would take a court and ag that wanted to side with the argument

let’s look at education, there is a “madate” that all children attend school. so we know mandates are legal, however we have public education to keep private school costs down

on the other hand there is also an auto insurance mandate, the differance there is the fact thta driving isn’t a right it’s a priviledge you have to be lienesed for and they can set any requirement they want for that license

Ive been saying this for a while.

We need to be active at the state legislature level in 2010. The prize is some control over decennial redistricting. By all means cast a no vote or a symbolic third party vote for US Congress (stay home). But get active to help determine the districts for 2012-2020. Get involved in your local party organization, meet current state assembly/senate members. Start conversations now with people that might be better simultaneously. Do this now… and by February be thinking of where tere should be primarie for state legislators.

always good to see you saner0

howz everything going for you?

me, as everyone, business is way down

Happy holidays firepups. and Jane- thank you for the paradigm shift!

Okay, that’s hard ball. And if you’re not willing to play it, you’re going to lose on every policy issue and on every political issue.

Rawk on, Jane…! *g*

Mele Kalikimaka and Hauoli Makahiki Hou… to ya’ll…! ;-)

I had a boss once who gave the employees a pep talk in December which included the sentence, “I don’t care if I have to fire somebody on Christmas Eve… merry fucking Christmas!”

I thought it a bit much at the time but it was worth it for all the laughs it has given me over the years.

Principle- important word that. Not so much around as we would like but thanks to you Jane still some. Thanks for all you do. Sad so many don’t get it but then there are really not so many smart people – mostly people who think they are but aren’t.

I love it! Merry Christmas!

Same to you, CT. I gather Santa was able to clear the mountain? I checked the video feed and didn’t notice any reindeer dangling from the observatory.

Those appalled by Jane’s creative politics should be appalled at their own inability to be appalled by their own movement’s lack of movement, its cratering to the insiders.

Woah, that’s awesome :)

thank you Jane! ’bout time someone brought a gun to this gd knifefight – why am I not surprised it’s Katy and Lucy’s mom :D

Jane is not blurring the lines between left and right. Those who thought 2006 was just swapping name plates at the K-street cabal did. The health care debacle merely underlined it and the drug re importation bill made it plain for all to see–except for our corporate media.

Bold move Jane. Rahm gets a 2X4 shampoo from Ms. Hamsher for Christmas.

After the 2010 mid-term debacle, Rahm and Karl will have a great future together on K Street. Bush’s Brain & Obama’s Soul

Jane is not blurring the lines between left and right. Those who thought 2006 was just swapping name plates at the K-street cabal did.

bingo

off to the jim, see all later

They did it anyway, but people noticed — more than they would have I think.

Merry Merry, Happy Happy, Jane & Firepups.

So given what just happened with Fanny/Freddie, did a potential investigation get shot in the head? I, for one, am very hungry to see some far-reaching investigations, hearings with real teeth. And you’re absolutely right about these financial crimes being an issue around which ideological polar opposites can unite – which can’t be very good news for the status quo.

Minor spelling nitpick: Cenk Uygur

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur

- Tom

I keep hearing “the lesser of two evils.”

Well, I am starting to think perpetuating a Democratic party that is only concerned with getting re-elected would be the greater evil.

Tea parties do not really understand or care about the banks. They just want to see Obama fail. If there is no resistance, the bonus class will party on unabated. Count on it.

Oh, and I don’t think there is an e in Cenk’s last name. Might fix post headline. Merry Christmas everyone.

Heh… That would not have been good…! Another gorgeous day… I can see the observatories from all the way down here in Hilo town…!

GO JANE! There are a gazillion people behind you, especially honest Democrats who don’t want the RahamObama Administration to turn out to be another band of George W Bush thugs. We’ve had enough deceit,truth twisting, back room deals, propaganda and outright lies from the George W. people to last us a life time. Please don’t let this fade out or be forgotten, we want to see the crooks exposed no matter who they are, the sooner the better

Kobe’s ashes here on the desk. He’s totally with us on this one.

Thanks OFG, I fixed. How are you?

“Barack Obama will soon be pursuing a policy that George Bush Jr. would never dare try. He must be resisted at every step. American unions should look to Europe for inspiration for how to deal with the coming onslaught: mass demonstrations and united strike action will be the only way to put sufficient pressure on a government enforcing a solidly right-wing corporate agenda. The political instability that is currently engulfing Europe is soon to be exported to the United States — we must not be caught off-guard.”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16658

“Our “current economic crisis,” Obama recently said, did not come from nowhere. It is “the logical conclusion of a tired and misguided philosophy that has dominated Washington for far too long.”"

President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday during an interview with editors at the Washington Post promised to reform Medicare and Social Security, “saying that the nation’s long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs,” the Post reports.

“So Keynes exploded with a book called The Economic Consequences of the Peace. It condemned Versailles. It prophesied doom if the treaty were carried out: “If we aim deliberately at the impoverishment of Central Europe, vengeance, I dare predict, will not limp. Nothing can then delay for long that final civil war between the forces of reaction and the despairing convulsions of revolution, before which the horrors of the late German war will fade into nothing, and which will destroy… the civilization and progress of our generation…” (HB, page 391).”

http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/Econ_Articles/Reviews/skidelsky_jel.html

Makes me wonder about the value of listening to Krugman…

Jane I’m with you on this , if we want change we’re gonna have to force it. And we may even have to make some strange alliances . Seems to me the left and the right are in agreement on a lot of issues now. If we need to use those on the right so what?

Public schools are not for-profit private entities. It would be unconstitutional to force all kids to go to private, for-profit schools, however.

The argument at the site is not that mandates, per se, are unconstitutional. The point is that never ever in history has the government ever mandated that people buy a private, for-profit product. It also argues that the commerce clause doesn’t properly apply because of the nature of insurance – it is not a tradeable. There can be no “commerce” in insurance.

I’m good. Had one hell of a time getting home last night. OKC’s socked in with ice and snow. So many car and trucks strewn everywhere it looks like a massive salvage yard. Good thing I’m all knowed up on this driving thing.

Cold and blowing snow here. Trade ya, at least for a little while. :-)

President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday during an interview with editors at the Washington Post promised to reform Medicare and Social Security, “saying that the nation’s long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs,” the Post reports.

the man is clearly a “trickle downer”

here’s a news flash for obama, the ONLY way to “get control” of what HE calls “entitlement programs” is to GET OUR FRIGGING MONEY BACK, GET IT BACK FROM THE PEOPLE IT WAS GIVEN TO

rescind the reagan “tax cuts to the wealthy tax increases to the middle class, rescind bush’s “economic stimulous of giving middle class assets to the wealthy” and BING, the “costs are under control”

man I am hating this guy

got above 40 here today , a veritable heat wave !

praedor, that was my very point, I guess I wasn’t clear but we agree

Makes me wonder about the value of listening to Krugman…

like everyone else, krugman can be wrong, has been wrong, will be wrong again

krugman misses the big point, it wasn’t “this bill or no bill” it was “this bill instead of a good bill”

he doesn’t get that point

ok, now I am really off for the day, see all later

I hate using cliches but this one fits
meet the new boss same as the old boss

Sheeple 2.0

bbl later. have a great day everyone !

Started in the high 30s but we’re in the 20s now.

76°F
Feels Like
76°F

Brrr…! ;-)

As someone else put it it’s the great guilt trip. I call it the great cop-out because when they lose their majorities in both houses of Congress in 2010 and Obama is saddled with a Congress that will block him at every move even if the Republicans only have a 40-50 vote advantage in the House and a 1-2 vote advantage in the Senate they’ll blame us for staying home instead of taking responsibility for the loss and fixing why we stayed home.

I’m sick of voting for the lesser of two evils. I’ve been doing that for over 25 years now on the national level. I’m tired of being baited and switched and being blown air kisses by the Democrats whenever they want money and my vote but once elected ignore or even vote against me.

@ WMD1961: I don’t intend to sit out the local and state elections. Provided no progressive choices on the national level my ballot will simply register blank votes for those offices. For instance I have no intention of voting for Diane Feinstein in 2010. I won’t vote for the Republican, but if there’s a progressive third party candidate running I’ll vote for him/her. If Feinstein is primaried, I’ll vote for her primary opponent provided s/he is a progressive. I’ll happily vote for Zoe Lofgren because she is a progressive (I don’t remember if she’s up next year).

It’s too early to say whether or not I’ll vote for Obama in 2012, but right now it’s not looking very good because he sold out his principals and has joined the culture of corruption in DC.

You islanders must be tough as nails to endure that kind of hardship. “g”

I think what Krugman doesn’t get is that of all the OECD countries America is dead fucking last, and this little hat trick will not only accomplish no vaunted change, but in fact perpetuate the disastrous Casino Mentality that is the Global, and especially American Financial System.

We really need to start molding a bigger and clearer picture of what is facing us. The Next bubble will be a debt bubble that will cause the American middle class to go the way of the dodo.

Same, lots of time to read the interwebs and watch the slo collapse of western civilization.

I recommend you listen to the Guns and Butter show from today.

The lines are being drawn now… we are entering a new phase in the economic collapse.

The market will take a huge drop soon. Don’t know when.

Even the independent Swiss, who use private insurers as the health system’s principal means of spreading risk and making payments, heavily regulate the terms of insurance. Standard American insurance practices would be so far beyond the pale that even the corporate loving Swiss would tell those insurers to conform, to go, or go to jail for fraud.

In regards to the markets, I think you’re right. Without jobs and productivity there’s nothing holding the market up except for hot air and wishful thinking.

LOL

The difference between Rove and Rahm is that Rove actually won a few election cycles.

It was Howard Dean who engineered the 2006 and 2008 elections, a la the 50 state strategy. Rahm jumped on CNN a lot to proclaim it was his idea, but he hated the idea (and he hated Dean as well). He’s just a publicity hog and an arrogant ass. Rahm has never won any election cycle.

Jane, I confess to disagreeing with your alliance with Norquist. However, now that I see how this integrates into the entire financial fiasco, I’ve got your back.

In fact, even when I didn’t agree, I respected your decision. Thank you for your integrity. Thank you for all that you do.

From Cenk’s show:

Listen. If you don’t have the stones to go after the Democrats, they’re never going to listen to you. They don’t listen to reason, they listen to power. So Jane’s approach is definitely the right approach.

That’s why I wrote this. Jane’s obviously aware of this. It’s time the folks who are wringing their hands got wise to it, too.

Feinstein isn’t up in 2010. Boxer is up in 2010 and is not as execrable as Feinstein.

I supported a Republican against DiFi in 2000 – Tom Campbell – primarily because he has sensible ideas about the War on (some) Drugs.

Zoe is up in 2010, members of the House are up every 2 years.

Congressional districts get redrawn every 10 years following the census. 2010 is a census year, meaning 2011 is when districts will be determined. California doesn’t put this in the legislatures hands, but in many states those elected in 2010 will get to gerrymander in 2011. I think it’s a big prize that’s below the radar for a lot of people, meaning we might be able to get a lot of bang for our volunteer and contribution buck, especially since state legislative races are lower turn out and less expensive races. GOTV for primaries for a state assembly race (3,000-20,000 votes) has more potential for ousting a bad incumbent than for a Congressional race (40,000+ votes).

Thank you, Joanie. I didn’t take this on lightly. Someday I’ll tell you the story, and you will laugh…

“Goodwill.” ;-)

Reducing the scope of ‘us’ based on a perceived moral or intellectual superiority will in the end result in only ‘me’. Any idea that “I would never do that” is probably wrong.

Taking inventory of the post replies here and at DK, I find the the quality and the tenor to be just about the same.

I adhere to a time tested observation: “Everybody I know is just like me, they’re stupid.” (John Giorno). My mistakes turn out to be as numerous as my successes, if things go well.

Here’s an old southern Black saying, courtesty of George Lewis: “Oh Lord, please don’t take away my stumbling block.”

Merry Christmas Jane. Thanks for the Christmas present from all of us out here. You are one helluva woman. Love what you are doing. You rock.

I’m sure Rahm could care less.

Over the last couple of weeks FDL has slowly been losing all its credibility. No one at this point cares about your silly little petition except for teabaggers.

Whenever you can, I’d love to hear the backstory. We’d all love to hear it.

Christy if you are reading this, we love and miss you!

happy holidays to you, peanut and mr redhead.

LOL

…FDL has slowly been losing all its credibility.

In whose eyes…? Yours…? Bwhahaha…!

I really worry about Obama destroying Soc Sec and Medicare. Neoliberal austerity/shock doctrine fascism is rife in this country. Clearly, that’s his plan. Remember what George Carlin said about SS (paraphrase): “Just wait, they’re get it. They’re coming after your SS.”

See the Carlin link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Cz4vcQKWfA

Same old attack from kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/25/819162/-Cenk-Uygur:-Jane-Hamsher-

But not seeing much from conservative blogs. I thought this story would get some traction from the right.

We need to go after Rahm, and after Obama’s economic advisers, because the way the Economy is played defines the sources of their power. Within a system set up to benefit the Powerful, the parties are merely levers employed by the privileged to accomplished their desired effects.

Obama, and his Congress critters will be soon entreating us to accept The Grand Bargain, lest the world comes to an end. We must start preparing for that now. They’ll treat the middle class the way they’ve treated Unions, – that, may be a Grand Bargain for them, but not for us.

Time is against us,- we must define our goals, strategies, and prepare our tactics NOW!

So much for “being a front for a right-wing attack.”

If that was the plan, didn’t work out very well, did it.

;)

The Right may well be digesting the implications of this one night stand. The Democrats are reacting like dicks to viagra.

error

Jane, on the $$$$$$ to Fannie & Freddie: is there ANYTHING that can be done to derail this?

From my feeble understanding, if the “okay” was given before 12/31 [which it was], it evades Congressional oversight.

But there MUST be some way to claw this money back! I can’t imagine that all those blowhard Senators, particularly on the right, will be able to pass up a chance to rail [rightfully] against this criminal enterprise.

Do you know if there’s something that can be done?

Maybe you haven’t sold out enough. Maybe you just need to go on Faux News more.

I too am thrilled to hear about the placement front page on the fox.com site!

To me this is going to be the ONLY way this story gets traction… cus you can rest assured corporate MSM won’t be covering it most likely…

To me the big tell is that the IG was shut down by Obama justice dept. when investigating Fannie/Freddie at the time Emanuel was involved.

THAT should get the attention of the right wing media BIG TIME… and hopefully will ultimately lead to the preening prick Emanuel’s downfall… I know that is a long shot, but it’s at least gratifying to bring some heat on the bastard.

Since I don’t venture over in to right wing land… thanks for the report… that give me hope.

I hope they bring it up big time.

As Cenk says… it’s time to play hard ball.

She’s not selling out you idiot… she’s trying to keep Obamuel from selling US out even more than they already have.

But keep drinking that Obama koolaid… I hear grape is a particularly good flavor.

Obama … A wolf in Sheeps clothing…disguised to get his prey

Some of them are debating the substance of your argument but most are attacking.

Two things Obama said he wanted was bipartisanship and to be held accountable.

Lets give it to him and make 2010 the year of accountability in this election year.

Or as Spencer Ackerman said on the first thread about his letter:

“If life hands you shit, make it a shitstorm”!!

Love it…

Obamuel

Racist too I see.

Don’t let them fool you in the mainstream media. This is not a Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative issue. This is about Wall Street and those politicians inside the beltway who do the bidding of Wall Street.

Rahm Emanuel is the consummate insider here. But no more or no less so than the Democratic and Republican Party leadership in Congress and high level White House officials in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administration.

Jane is “controversial” precisely because she aims her questions not at the “personalities” involved here, nor at sustaining a “partisan attack” against the “evil Republicans”. Instead, her enquiries are aimed at following the money inside Washington and asking a simple question: How can we trust either Congress or the White House to do “the people’s business” when so many of the power brokers in both branches of government are intimately intertwined monetarily with the very banks and the very corporations they are supposed to legislate and/or regulate.

Again, she’s not calling the emperors naked so much as pointing out how their wardrobes are largely bought and paid for by the very “special interests” that bankroll their political careers.

I am new to this site. I checked it out after seeing Jane on the Rachel Maddow show. Jane adresse issues that concern me as a citizen. Thank you so very much.

How DO you keep getting out of your playpen? Do the other kossack trolls grip your little breeches and heft your ass over the wall? I’m certain you couldn’t make it without help. Your utter lack of imagination is a disgrace to trolls everywhere.

Apparently, the synapses in your brain are misfiring…! How on earth can you make that asinine remark…?

Jane,
Thanks to you, Cenk Uygur and (gulp) Grover Norquist for nailing Rahm on this. I hope the investigation is re-opened!

And thanks again for your role as Hostess with the Mostest and creator of FireDogLake. Kobe is well remembered here, and will always be our Dog in Chief.

Merry Christmas,

Bob in AZ

Yes, precisely. System analysis a la Sixties activism is a no-no in DC. Once you forsake partisanship, they call you a radical. “The man.” “The system.” Those terms went out of style 40yrs ago. Maybe, we should bring them back.

The hippies were, ultimately, right. We need to create a new world for our children.

We are not trolls. We are a proud people from the Ukrainian Steppes.

Obama Targets a ‘Grand Bargain’ to Fix Budget Mess

http://blogs.wsj.com/capitaljournal/2009/01/16/obama-targets-a-grand-bargain-to-fix-budget-mess/

“The third leg — largely underappreciated for now, but a high priority for the new president — is a legislative package to overhaul regulation of the financial markets. The Obama team considers that step crucial to maintain political support for the other parts of the rescue plan. It worries that without confidence that there is a new regulatory system to create greater transparency for investors, both Congress and the public will begin to feel that tax dollars are being thrown down the same black hole that swallowed the nation’s 401(k)s.”

Hah!

interesting, short article penned in january, and thus giving some perspective and calling for areality check.

Someday I’ll tell you the story, and you will laugh…

I want to be sittin’ around THAT campfire when the tale is told!!!

The hippies didn’t collude with conservatives.

My point is that they both work for the same interests — The United States of Goldman Sachs

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/12/should-investment-firms-bet-against-their-clients/

And they’ll share the same fate. Rove was bounced after Repub’s disastrous 2006 losses in congress. A year from now, Rahm will need a partner on K Street while Abramoff is still in the slammer.

Hey — We can sponsor a FDL smackdown event with Jane & Grover going up against Rahm & Karl. Now that would be a pay per view for the ages.

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful fiendship.”

excellent!

Republican / Democrat schism is the Cirque de Soleil for the plebs, or Dkos nitwits and Freeper wingnuts.

The real focus must be on where the Money and Power reside.

Do you guys realize how paranoid you sound?

“Do you guys realize how paranoid you sound?”

- was the last fucking thing he said, before being swept away by the shit-storm.

But, if you remember, the hippies pretty much hated LBJ and Nixon equally because of the war. That’s what scared the establishment so much. And why the backlash occurred. The rest is history.

You pee your pants when someone challenges your preconceptions, so what?

And they didn’t collude with conservatives like what you are doing. You keep on ignoring that.

Jane Hamsher numero uno patriot. You taking hits for all of us. Muchas gracias and Merry Christmas.

This is what scares me to death…

“President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday during an interview with editors at the Washington Post promised to reform Medicare and Social Security, “saying that the nation’s long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs,” the Post reports.”

I will never forget Claire McCaskill breathlessly saying on KO that we “had to finish with healthcare so we can work on entitlements”…. this pretty early on, say around April timeframe.

Obviously this is next on the Obama agenda…

How do we stop this?

Same here. I’d love to hear that story.

Over the last couple of weeks FDL has slowly been losing all its credibility. No one at this point cares about your silly little petition except for teabaggers

Or as Rahm Emanuel might put it, “the progressive left is losing all credibility on Wall Street. I’ve had bankers ask me, ‘Rahm, what’s with it with Jane, doesn’t she know we are on a mission from God?’”

After all, what would Jesus do? You know, after spending a couple of days on the New York Stock Exchange and then visiting soup kitchens in and around New York?

Obviously, you’re too young to understand the difference.

In the late 60′s and 70′s hippies were AT ODDS with conservatives, who were trying so hard to quash them.

But now… Liberals/Progressives and (true) Conservatives are all AT ODDS with our government’s corporate merge with Wall Street. See? Get it? Wall Street is trying to quash ALL OF US!

Glad you made it home safely… I read OKC got 14 inches… beating their previous record of 2.5″ by a longshot!

They’re really scared to screw with seniors, especially heading into what already promises to be a contentious midterm. Not saying they won’t try but they’ll likely retreat when seniors start to howl.

Lofgren will be. Feinstein is up in 2012 (assuming she decides to run again), but Boxer is up next year.

Boxer might go from untouchable to in trouble if she keeps bad mouthing the nurses. Ask Arnold how well that worked for him, Us California folk love our nurses. They are some of the people who really truly care. Just saying.

…interesting, short article penned in january, and thus giving some perspective and calling for a reality check.

Philip K. Dick had a dual view of reality.

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. ”

“It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.”

“man I am hating this guy”

Sadly, I can hardly stand to look at him anymore… and CAN NOT stand to hear him talk… his arrogance shows through loud and clear.

“How do we stop this?”

Optimally: Deny Obama and Rahm The HCR win (I’m really peed off at Sanders for being so shortsighted), as that would effectively slow their momentum, and make them more responsive to the electorate.

Yeah, those California nurses really made Arnold have to get his hands dirty in the streets. Seems to me that what Jane is doing intends the same effect for Rahm and Obama. Of course, they have many more minions (pawns!).

That explains where you got your manners.

You are contradicting yourself. You compare this situation, to the hippies. Then you explain the differences.

And no, they are at war with just teabaggers, conservative or “liberal”.

In steps Jane Hamsher, with a two-by-four. And she just clocked Rahm Emanuel across the head.

You just gotta love Cenk. That imagery is hysterical. Heh heh!

As opposed to a president who ran as left of center and changed every f*cking one of his positions after being elected?

Oh really! speak for your self Chump.

Well, and looming huge increases in medical insurance complex profits!

But that will only carry us them so far….

I didn’t compare it to the hippies. You did.

I just explained, for your benefit, how then and now are very different, since apparently, you are much too young to remember those olden days.

I agree… but I don’t see that happening…

Pelosi et al. are going to cave… of course Hoyer doesn’t have to “cave”… he was against PO all along.

There is a slight chance that Slaughter and her two compatriots might hold some sway… but we’ll see. There’s an awful lot of Obamuel pressure on them to cave.

He has had to compromise to get things done because of the realities in Congress. News Flash: the President is not a dictator.

By the way, Cenk Uyger just posted here in the Seminal: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/20901

“Listen. If you don’t have the stones to go after the Democrats, they’re
never going to listen to you.”

So basically, we should all be Joe Liebermans and Jane Liebermans now where we only go after Democrats and we use the right wing fringe to help us?

No thanks! Have fun, though.

Are your pants dry yet? Whoops, there you go again.

The comment he made on TV pissed off so many people,(my self included) that when we heard they were having protests we were all out the door in a heart beat, to support them.

Here’s one for you:

“I’m not talking about the progressives who have rejected this bill because they don’t think it’s good enough; I disagree, but I respect their motives. I’m talking instead about the self-described centrists, pundits and politicians, who have spent years lecturing us on the need to make hard choices and actually come to grip with America’s problems; you know who I mean. So what did they do when faced with a chance to help confront those problems? They made excuses.”

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/the-insincere-center/

BTW whatever became of the Kellerman case at Freddie Mac?

The CFO at Freddie who committed suicide last spring?

Rahm ” Obstruction of Justice” Emmanuel needs to go.
If left unchecked he will scuttle the case against Hassan Nemazzee, Chuck Schumer’s bagman, and doin cases involving the Rabbi’s Money laundering, the human organs for sale case , and the one’s pending over rampant Democratic corruption in New Jersey and New York.

Emanuel could give a damn about the country, the law, OR the Democratic Party. I knew it was downhill the day Obama named him as CoS. Until the Rubinites in the Democratic Party are taken down, they’ll cart off eevrything in the country that isn’t nailed down. You’re civil liberties included.

I could give a damn about Obama’s political fortunes or short term electoral prospects. I’ll work with anybody who gets what’s going on and work with them to whatever degree it stops it.

BOTH Parties have played their mushy middles in coordinated efforts to marginalize their ideological base. Time for a game changer on the wings to pick up the independents and start throwing incumbants the hell out. Let the chips fall where they may. As for concerns about abortion, gay marriage, guns, ANY of the wedge issues..Most often expressed by the Professional Advocacy Class – What do we have now for all their “noble” advocacy efforts? THE STATUS QUO. As the Economy is PILLAGED .

There you go again, – making excuses!

You mean to say that FDR and LBJ were dictators?

“Time is against us,- we must define our goals, strategies, and prepare our tactics NOW!”

I agree completely…. where do we start?

I guess we need to pre-emptively plan an onslaught on both Houses of Congress to let them know what they are up to.

Altho, I thought we did that with healthcare, and that hasn’t worked out so well.

But seriously… we must start getting the word out via the internet/email to tell people what is next… surely the AARP knows this is coming… I used to think they had evolved into ahuge part of the problem… but they have been progressive on healthcare reform in large part.

Krugman also posted this:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/what-has-health-care-reform-ever-done-for-us/

Firstly, FDR wasn’t able to enact healthcare reform, so that was pretty dumb to mention his name.

Secondly, LBJ had 66 democratic Senators and Republicans also didn’t use the filibuster as much back then like they do now. Furthermore, medicare has become much much more progressive over time.

Still linking to Krugman? You really have no thoughts of your own. Just like a teabagger.

I was responding to someone who linked to Krugman

For sure, and I expressed my disagreement with building reforms on the rotting carcass of failed economic ideologies. Krugman, is frankly contradicting himself on this count.

But, you are attempting an authoritarian type of absolutist approach which is nuts.

Yes but I know fuckno is capable of original thought. You are not.

When LBJ was informed of having 55 votes committed to passage, they declared it a win.

As we all now know, the world is flat … according to Little Tommy Friedman

The real focus must be on where the Money and Power reside

Yes, and on the role the oh so chummy “White House Correspondence Dinner”, uh “journalists” play in keeping our minds as far removed from the money as possible.

They are paid their salaries by employers who earn their living by selling advertising to the same health care industrial complex players who bankroll the politicians the media are supposed to be “spraking truth to power” to

All the dots are there to be connected. Right out in the open. But so many fail to.

Just a minor point.

Rahm Emanuel is neither important nor scary. Talk like that comes only from people that pay deference to elected officials or anyone they put above themselves.

These people when they break the law are common thiefs and should be treated as such. Same for Obama. If he breaks a campaign promise or feels no pariticular compunction to abide by the wishes of the people we in turn have no allegiance to him or anybody else. He is there because we put him there and he is above no one, nor should he ever be seen that way.

This being in awe of polticians of any stripe for any reason is the attitude of servants. These people are no better than a person at random walking down the street.

Yes they or anybody else should be pursued agressively when they step out of line and go against our interests or against the law. This idea the we owe defernce to the office of the presidency or to people in Congress or to someone in the Democratic party is absolutely contemptible. It is largely this servile easy willingness to bow before authority that makes it easy for government or banks or politicians to beat people over their heads into unopposed submission. To hell with that.

No particular person should quake in there boots before Emanuel or anyone else, period. Nor should Jane Hamsher refrain from joining league with anyone she chooses if it suits her purpose when a legitimate complaint affects them. This notion of blind allegiance to people or party is absurd and pointless.

Noam Chomsky wrote a piece a while back that he made the point of listening to talk radio regularly and found that many people calling in had legitimate complaints. But the problem was that the callers were misdirected to vent their complaints in the wrong direction. We on the left should absolutely join with anyone that shares our complaints and aggrievements, Chomsky realized that months ago.

Firstly it passed with 70 votes. Secondly like I said the filibuster wasn’t used back then like it is now. Thirdly, Medicare is very similar to the current bill in Congress. Both were compromised pieces of legislation, and in medicare’s case it got better over time, which I suspect this piece of legislation will do as well.

Dinner’s ready, Merry x-mass to all, and I mean ALL!

And 90 percent of Congress is willing to kill both Medicare and Social Security, the two major ‘entitlement’ programs, probably because they want the money from those trust funds. We can see the warm-up right now: you seem to think that’s a good idea.

With one notable exception.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/stephencolbert/a/colbertbush.htm

Yeah, right, the president’s chief of staff is ‘not important’. Tell that one to Rove.

Not.
Different Congress, different political parties – the names are the same, but the current GOP is off the edge compared to back then, and there’s nothing now in the spot that the Democrats occupied then.

Thank you for doing that!

Do you guys realize how paranoid you sound?

Please.

Since 1990, the finance, real estate and insurance industries have contributed $2,314,869,742 to U.S. Senators. That’s two billion, three hundred million dollars. In the 2010 election cycle [just so far] these “FIRE” industries have already contributed $85,000,000. And 58% of that has gone to the Democrats.

Are you familiar with the Bilderberg Group? Are you familiar with all the folks from the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations who are members of it?

Why don’t you and I have a debate about this right here in FDL:

RESOLVED: Crony capitalism in Washington is largely just a myth.

I’ll argue against it.

I would love to see Rahmasputin get his due, but the odds are long. Look what it took to get rid of the original!!

See… the problem is there are no synapses and no brain!

Are you idealizing the Democratic party of the 60′s? All the racists used to be in the Democratic party then.

Like I said: paranoid.

I think you’ll find Grover Norquist would put you in a camp if he thought he could get away with it. That you don’t think you’re “at odds” with him kind of says it all about your, and Jane’s, worldview. Still “this gets everybody’s attention” and that’s what counts.

Tom The Bugman DeLay, the worst criminal in congress over the past 20 years, had to make the jump to K Street.

The president’s Chief of Staff is no mean administrator, like some public high school assistant principal.

The COS is the keymaster to the lock of the Oval Office. He sets the president’s schedule, often his agenda. He determines who gets time with him and who waits in the closet. He devises the president’s travel and work schedule and oversees the WH PR department. He’s usually the topmost person WH staffers see, including the WH Counsel’s office. Cabinet members and potentates, bureaucrats and lobbyists, all must squeeze through Rahm Emanuel’s gate. He also does the jobs the president wants done, but for which he needs a cutout, so he isn’t tarnished with the dirty side of his own job.

Barack Obama put Rahm there and keeps him there. But Rahm does the job according to his own personality and agenda. Important? Not so much.

I’m not saying Boxer is worth support, just that she’s less execrable than DiFi.

Redistricting. Influence over redistricting is a prize we can claim in the 2010 elections in some states. Blue Dog district progressives can get new districts that don’t have the sizable “conservative” cohort.

My former home of Bloomington IN is a good case for this. Bloomington doesn’t want to elect Baron Hill and with a new district it could send a progressive to Congress.

That response was to the migratory troll who cannot find his way home…

It is not about my thoughts or feelings re: Norquist, who in an earlier comment I referred to as a man I love to hate. It pays to read previous posts for context.

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. ”

True. But on the other hand unreality is that which, if you believe in it, reality itself is irrelevant.

That’s the strange thing about the human mind. If you believe something is true it doesn’t have to be true at all in order to motivate you to behave as though it is.

If you believe God is sitting next to you on that 747 jet, you’ll fly it into a building shouting shrieks of joy.

Similarly, if you believe the current Democratic leadership in Congress and the White House are not appendages of Wall Street, nothing I tell you will stop you from going into that voting booth and reelecting them to office next November.

I’ll we can do, instead, is exchange arguments about whether or not that is in fact reality.

Fortunately, in FDL, democracy still prevails. You don’t have to make “contributions” to the hosts in order to get posted. At least I never have.

Please explain exactly how Medicare got better over time.

There may have been fixes around the edges, allowing people with disabilities, etc etc, but the original plan was to have medicare for all… but they compromised and limited it to seniors, planning to expand the age downward over time.

And we all see how that worked out…

Just had Christmas dinner with my right wing family members and you have some new fans there, Jane. My dad won’t sign your petition because he’s afraid he’ll get emails from lefties, but he wants me to keep him apprised of what you’re doing on the issues we have common ground on and he made a donation through ActBlue.

He was really angry about the health care bill, which I expected. What I didn’t see coming was that he hates this bill without a public option more than he hated the idea of a foothold for socialized medicine. He thinks that we ended up with the worst of all options because it was done by special corporate interests and special senatorial interests and nobody cared about regular people. He has great insurance as management for a defense contractor, but he doesn’t like to see other people screwed or monopolies given more power or banksters rewarded and left to go back to everything they were up to before. He, too, was very impressed by your going after a Democrat and to hear that a big block of the progressive community puts principle over party. He’s looking at bailing on the Republicans because he thinks they are corrupt, too. AND THIS IS A GUY WHO STILL LIKES CHENEY!!!!!

He said that he has had a similar experience with a friend from work who is left wing. They argued as much as we used to about politics before, but in the last year or so, they are on the same page a lot. There’s a shitstorm a comin’ my friends.

During the second Clinton administration, the COS was in charge of White House interns’ laundry, too. Poor Leon Panetta, he’s now in charge of the CIA.

It’s good know which skills in D.C. are transferrable.

rahm likes the third way. Not democratic or republican. More like a feudal state with peasants , US , propping up the elite. them

I never saw clinton do anything for a progressive or a progressive cause.His wife is in the Family.

THIS is what it’s going to take to bring the corporate masters down… if there is any hope at all.

Thanks for posting…

Well, we don’t need no stinkin’ bribery/extortion to grease the free flow of ideas skids here at FDL. A little mutual respect and common sense go along way, too.

I really worry about Obama destroying Soc Sec and Medicare.

This clown doesn’t have ANY credibility on Social Security and Medicare after this fiasco. He doesn’t have the values. He doesn’t have the skill. And he doesn’t have the balls.

This has to be the loud and clear message from the left: Stay away, you double-crossing, lying asshole.

Stories like that give me hope. Because conservatives have been sold out just as much as progressives. After all, we are Americans. We have all been screwed. The only people who would be offended at Jane’s coalition with like minded people are the screwers.

The Federal Reserve is broke. Isn’t it ironic that the country who has been propping us up is a repressive communist regime. China. Think they are getting tired of being screwed too.

At the peace marches there would always be a little group shouting things like swim to Cuba. We were business partners with a country far more repressive.

The third way …. like in Casablanca.

I’m shocked! Shock! To find gambling in this establishment. Close it down, at once.

Your winnings, Sir.

(Pocketing them surreptiously) Thank you.

OH ROFLMAO

You have to put that up as a diary, Paula.

Hi to dad.

Kossaks = Obama’s Sockpuppets

Why should we maintain his majority so he can push through entitlement reform? Sounds like the party of no might come in handy. As far as climate control and what not, we’ll just get more crap like the health care bill anyway, so what’s the difference? Incrementalism on issues that are pressing isn’t any better than doing nothing and doing nothing is better than doing stuff that’s harmful. So let them stew about majorities and polls and go on permanent campaign mode so they don’t have time to try to cram down entitlement reform.

Obama has his Colbert White House Press Club moment coming.

He’s okay with letting people of any age buy into Medicare, by the way. He doesn’t want to see the old people in the streets but he’s tired of paying more taxes. He thinks that if patriotic younger people like me want to pay into that system instead of into CEO salaries, they should be allowed to. As long as you don’t force him into single payer, anyway. OTOH, he hated the public option because he thought it was going to turn into another expensive nightmare bureaucracy where people get stashed for political favors and lazy civil servants get to unionize and do nothing (told you he was a right winger). So using the same administration as Medicare was acceptable while a second program was not. When I told him that liberals don’t want a second program either, because it’s inefficient and we want to cover people, not run up the national debt for no reason, he was kinda surprised. He’s heard a lot of demonizing of liberals for a lot of years. He thinks Medicare should pay doctors better even if it raises his taxes a bit. He’s okay with taxes as long as it is paying for important stuff and not just more bureaucracy and definitely not for bailouts.

I think we should follow whatever happens to the current HCR effort with a demand for those who said they were for a public option to open up Medicare to all uninsured who want to pay premiums, to those who qualify for the high risk pool and to the subsidized once those subsidies are set up. Put up or shut up and pack your bags.

Now wait a minute, I didn’t say anything about mutual respect!!!

Seriously, though, what I do respect about anyone posting at FDL [even the goddamn fools who don't agree with me ; o )] is that they take the whole bit about “being a good citizen” seriously enough to at least follow “the news”. The greatest danger to democracy in my view is the way literally millions and millions of folks don’t have the first clue about how things get done in D.C.

Being enthralled by pop culture, consumer culture and celebrity culture it just never occurs to them to care.

Ignorance and apathy are worth their weight in gold on Wall Street.

THIS IS A GUY WHO STILL LIKES CHENEY!!!!!

*heh* You did mention he was a Defense Contractor… What’s not to love about Darth then…? ;-)

We need a national strike. Even a day. The media can ignore protests. God knows the politicians and Wall St. can. Profit loss? No way.

You mean suckpuppets

Watch this shiny object …. over here …. now over here. Yeah, good luck with that.

Btw, Wall Street’s dependence on the public’s ignorance and apathy is worth its weight in 40:1 derivative bets on the price of gold, not the metal itself.

1) I guess Mathews is going to have retract his backseat bitching remark as Jane has played more hardball in a day than he has his entire life.

2) If these mandates aren’t unconstitutional we can tell our fellow citizens and our new friends on the right they sure as hell are UnAmerican.

3) This Rahm guy is becoming a distraction. I think he has to go.

Put them all in permanent campaign mode. Start raising money for primary challengers even if we don’t have a body yet. Make the incumbents too scared to take on anything controversial. Whack ‘em in 2010 so neither corrupt party has what it takes to take on a controversial issue like entitlement reform. Tell all the seniors you know that this is coming down the pike and to bug AARP and their congresscritters about it.

It’s going to take a ten million person uprising — roughly the margin of Obama’s popular vote victory in 2008 — to get any traction in D.C.’s centers of power. That would get the White House & congress’ attention.

The Villagers? Not so much. I expect they’ll still be rearranging their self serving Tower of Babel opinionista deck chairs as the Hindenburg hits the teabagger mooring station in Lakehurst.

Not just a work strike, but a day when no one buys anything that is not essential. As essentials, I would classify diapers, milk, food for children, that sort of thing. Medicines, too, of course.

He actually thinks we should close down our bases all over the world now that they can take care of themselves, that we should get out of Afghanistan as well as Iraq and that they were stupid to pull shit in Yemen. He sees the biggest problem as Saudi Arabia. We have never agreed on climate change (he’s a hard core denier), but we can agree that we need to get off of foreign oil even if there is no such thing as global warming. He thinks we should use nuclear power (can anyone explain why the wingnuts love their nuclear power so much?) and I prefer wind and solar, but we could write a better climate bill between the two of our diametrically opposed ideological positions than Congress ever will. I think maybe even atheists should start preparing for the Second Coming!

4) If this is what they do with health care, what are they going to do with financial reform? What reason do we have to believe that they are going to do anything different? Every Democrat should have to answer that.

An uplifting story, and proof that Jane on the right path.

Nate still doesn’t get it…

…By “others”, I mean in particular two or three of the writers at the blog FireDogLake. I don’t exactly know what’s going on over there; as a group, they’re whip-smart, and they also reflect a diversity of voices, some of which I have had a problem with and others of which I haven’t. But some of the initiatives they’ve launched over the past week, particularly teaming with Grover Norquist to pursue a conspiracy theory about Rahm Emanuel, threatening to primary Bernie Sanders, and attacking Joe Lieberman’s wife, are a little bizarre and not reflective, in my view, of a website that is in the frame of mind right now to have a fact-based debate about the merits of the health care bill.

*sigh* and I love the guy too…!

If this is what they do with health care, what are they going to do with financial reform?

He’s already killed financial reform. How do you do financial reform with clowns like Summers, Geithner, and Bernanke on your team?

No more capitulation masquerading as reform from this asshole!

Indeed!

Just imagine some marches consisting of lefties and DFHs and teabaggers and conservative Republicans.

What would the Legacy Media say? How would they try to spin that world-changing dynamic?

Just say no to the Capitulator in chief.

…He sees the biggest problem as Saudi Arabia.

Sage man…! ;-)

I like his thought processes on getting the hell outta Iraq/Afghanistan…!

I served twenty years with Uncle Sam and I’ve been preaching that forever…!

Seriously, what is wrong with those people? I’m starting to think that dkos is infested with paid operatives whose job it is to glorify Obama no matter what he does and to divide progressives by whining about how any progressive leader like Jane, who sees the need to fight the a$$holes, is dividing progressives.

I wonder how effective a one day strike would be?

What we need is an unequivocal Howard Beale moment: This is a sustainable sea change, something those of you in power can aligned with — not suppress, not co-opt, not bribe off, not fear monger to death — or be swept away in a torrent of people who finally stand up for their Public Good.

Maybe that’s what it should be called:

A Howard Beale Day! (subtitle: We’re not gonna take it any more!)

What do you think?

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to read Bacevich’s The Limits of Power.

Actually, I had in mind Jane Hamsher Day so that the most important new word in the language for 2010 will be the verb — to hamsher, a modern term for what Plato described in The Republic:

“When modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them.”

After all, Howard Beale, Chayefsky’s media iconoclast, is fictional, and Jane is a real life, force of nature.

He’s a statistician. He is comfortable with numbers for a reason. I wouldn’t expect him to get the political stuff. It’s not 100%, but usually the extreme numbers guys like that are not the ones who are into deeply analyzing human motivations. It doesn’t matter whether he gets it or not. It only matters if it works or not.

Beats me. I could show those guys a closet full of Obama campaign literature, posters, T-shirts, receipts to the DNC, OFA, Moveon.org, and a worn pair of shoes from canvassing my ass off for Obama. Yet, when I posted a diary on KOS months before it became news in the mainstream media about what a farce I thought his Making Home Affordable program was, I was totally vilified and basically told to fuck myself. Bizarre.

The reason I think a one day strike would be effective is that basically anyone could do it. You can call in sick for a day easier than you can walk out for a week and wonder if you’ll get your job back when there are a lot of applicants out there. You can refuse to buy anything for a day even if you have to work because you get no time off. Almost anyone can stock up on anything they’ll need for one day and not spend a cent. You don’t need to necessarily go hard core right away, just give a taste of how many people are out there on your side. A one-day dip that shows some numbers gets some attention. If need be, people can start doing more than that, and I personally avoid all Wall St operatives as much as possible, going local and banking at the credit union, for example. But you’re never going to get the numbers for a sustained effort that you can get to send a one-day message because of the practicalities of people needing to live their lives, especially when they have kids. For example, I would not risk arrest because I am a single parent, but there are other things I’d do. We need to get the message across that we have numbers behind us like Jane got the message across that the right/left division tactics aren’t working any more. They just need a message to get them thinking and put them off-guard ASAP.

I can see your point; mine was only that Beale actually has had wide appeal across the political spectrum, and may even have more name recognition. (And that association with the much-hated media would not hurt.)

I don’t think Beale’s fictional status should be held against him. John Galt and Howard Roark have certainly never suffered from theirs. ;~) And his presence has not been a deterrent on Digby’s blog, either.

Hamsher the bum! I love it. Then he can go Cheney himself! Thank you PPDCUS and especially THANK YOU JANE!

You and those darned numbers that show that it was a failure. Why does reality hate Barack Obama?!!!!

Dayam… Merry Xmas… Charlie…!

Actor Charlie Sheen was arrested early Friday and charged with several offenses with a domestic violence component, Aspen, Colorado, police said.

Sheen, 44, is being held without bond in the Pitkin County Jail pending a court appearance. A date for that appearance has not been set.

Maybe he’ll learn from it…! 8-(

It has to be a sustainable change that really establishes a new relationship between power, money and political governance.

The current structure can easily absorb a one day moratorium because they know business as usual will resume the next day.

I think you’re on to something Paula.

In fact, I just recently switched to a credit union, because I was so furious at TD Bank, first after their 10 days or more of being practically incommunicado about the status of anyone’s bank accounts, then after their very cavalier responses on some other issues.

So far, I’m thrilled with my switch.

And a one day drop in consumer sales all over the country, as a swipe in the face at the big banksters and big box stores would be hard to ignore.

Yes, but a series of one-day strikes, and unusual ones, might be less absorbable.

Imagine a Christmas Season, or Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day when there was a one-day strike or moratorium? Retailers would find that hard to take. In fact, the Chamber of Commerce might even call uncle, at that.

Not likely! Have you seen his latest show, one that is supposed to be what now passes for a sit-com?

Exactly. If Cheney gets his own verb, so can our Jane.

Of course, to cheney has two definition 1) to tell someone to go f-ck themselves in public while cameras are rolling and your remark becomes part of the federal register, and 2) to shoot someone in the face while hunting captive animals, laying low for two days to obscure your blood alcohol level at the time of the shooting, then your victim apologizes for any inconvenience they may have caused you and any damage to national security caused by this public embarrassment.

Jane doesn’t need profanity, alcohol or firearms to slam her message home.

He is no more important to me than anyone else is.

He is confined by the same laws as me and should he brake them he is just as liable to be prosecuted. He is not endowed with super powers of any kind. Or given free reign to infringe on any one’s rights. Neither is Obama. If they stray outside the law or infringe on anyone’s rights he/they should be treated like anyone else.

If you choose to glorify these people and allow them to exert priviledges no one else has, that is up to you. But then you can’t complain when they make full use of these extra legal and mighty gifts you bestow on them. You will rightly then be the object of their arbitrary whims and abuse and be in no position to bemoan your lot.

You did after all willingly agree that they are more powerful than you. On what grounds will you then be complaining about?

You mean – the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? It’s going to take more than replacing Black Friday with a National Day of Listening.

They’ve got the Roberts’ SCOTUS behind them.

Remember Newt and Pelosi working together?

“It’s American to disagree. It’s also American to come together in the face of a challenge.”

Rahm Emanuel MADE SURE THIS BARGAIN HAPPENED….His settlement is a testament to his criminal activities. Rahm Emanuel should be in prison and they are now thinking of sending Rod Blagojevich to prison.

I would love to know what dirt Rod Blagojevich has on Obama and Emanuel. It is obvious that Rod Blagojevich was set up by the thieves and criminals in the Obama White House. The Obama White House threatens, coerces, bribes, and extorts members of Congress on one issue after another yet we are to believe that Rod Blagojevich is some “awful human being” by the media who are more concerned about the former Governor’s hair than the bogus charges pending against him. Rahm Emanuel should be the one on trial and not Rod Blagojevich.

Yes, Rahm Emanuel is an unconvicted criminal. Patrick Fitzgerald and the FBI went after the wrong Chicaogan as well. The real criminal from Chicago is Rahm Emanuel and the Daley clan not Rod Blagojevich…

What the U.S. Congress does day in and day out are bribes, extortion and blackmail. The ex-Governor did child’s play compared to what the Obama-Biden-Emanuel-Clinton White House just keeps on keeping on doing compared to the miniscule nonsense they claim Rod Blagojevich did…..

Free Rod Blagojevich & Indict Rahm Emanuel and other criminals in the Obama White House!!!!

Fictional characters may have more cultural currency, nothing against ‘em.

However, John Galt and Howard Rourke make me think of this:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ayn-rand-the-bitch-is-back/

Four out of Five can’t be wrong

It’s said that in Illinois, their governors serve two terms — the first in Springfield, and the second in Joliet.

LOL

Al Gore & Bob Barr Team Up to Fight Against Civil Liberties Absues by the Bush Administration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2006!!!

President Obama and WARMONGERING Rahm Emanuel have continued the Bush administration’s abuses (Bush Doctine contnues under Obama-Biden-Emanuel-Clinton) and illegal extraconstitutional measures, inlcuding the healthcare bill–which includes DICTATORAL MANDATES!!!!!!

“Congressman Barr and I have disagreed many times over the years, but we have joined together today with thousands of our fellow citizens—Democrats and Republicans alike—to express our shared concern that America’s Constitution is in grave danger….In spite of our differences over ideology and politics, we are in strong agreement that the American values we hold most dear have been placed at serious risk by the unprecedented claims of the Administration to a truly breathtaking expansion of executive power….As we begin this new year, the Executive Branch of our government has been caught eavesdropping on huge numbers of American citizens and has brazenly declared that it has the unilateral right to continue without regard to the established law enacted by Congress to prevent such abuses….It is imperative that respect for the rule of law be restored….”———-Al Gore Speech on “Restoring the Rule of Law” at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy from January 16, 2006

If Rahm had made sure there was a strong public option in the health care bill to appease the liberals, Jane would’ve left Rahm alone?

In case you have forgotten Shelia Bair is on top of her game,but Geithner and Summers and Berdanke are trying to stop her from doing what she is suppose to do. Another person who doing an excellent job is Elizabeth Warren and Geither and Summers are trying to undermine her by not asking questions about the TARP FUNDS. In any case the question to be asked is why are these two individuals are undermining these women efforts.

What about…

Howard Beale Day! Hamsher it home…

There we’ve got our Jane in it as verb, too!

Rahm appease liberals? That’s an oxymoron… but even if he had, there would likely have been plenty of other reasons (like the Fannie/Freddie issue) to criticize him. And substantively.

This has to be one of the most important posts on FDL.

What Jane’s audacious move shows is that people are hungry for and respond to true courage and leadership. Maybe Obama will be smart enough to 1) get rid of Rahm and 2) seek some good advice from Ms. Hamsher!

Take a real hard look at some of the associations of the Washington Monthly’s Kevin Drum, who penned an article with others, including, some neocons in the July/August 2006 Issue of Foreign Affairs Journal put out by the Council on Foreign Relations….Foreign Affairs ran a disccusion-debate article on Iraq in which Kevin Drum was part of, which also included the following people, whom some supported the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq openly and publicly!!!

Kevin Drum was on a panel with the war mongering, pro-Imperialist Christopher Hitchens….who cares nothing about human rights!!!!

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/print/64101
What to Do in Iraq: Responses and Discussion
A Foreign Affairs Roundtable

Christopher Hitchens - Christopher Hitchens is a columnist for Vanity Fair and the author of A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq

Fred Kaplan - Fred Kaplan is the “War Stories” columnist for Slate and the author of The Wizards of Armageddon

Marc Lynch - Marc Lynch is an associate professor in the department of political science at Williams College and the author of Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today

Kevin Drum - Kevin Drum is a contributing writer for The Washington Monthly and author of the blog “Political Animal” at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com

Stephen Biddle - Stephen Biddle is a Senior Fellow in Defense Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of Military Power.

Larry Diamond - Larry Diamond, a Senior Fellow at the
Hoover Institution, is the author of Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq.

Elizabeth Warren is just about the only official in D.C. that I trust. She should be nominated and confirmed to the next SCOTUS vacancy in 2010.

Sheila Bair, not so much. The FDIC is going down on her watch.

Sorry, Gordon, but I really don’t think he’s that progressive. He really is the centrist he appears to be, and he always was.

My Own Answer to the Hypocrite Kevin Drum:

Maybe Kevin Drum can go and yell at Al Gore for teaming up with Bob Barr…I mean Bob Barr only sought to IMPEACH Bill Clinton….Then Kevin Drum can go yell at Bill Clinton for making nice with Newt Gingrich….and then Kevin Drum can go yell at Barack Obama for continuing to heap praise on Richard M. Nixon and Ronald W. Reagan in his Oslo speech….then Kevin Drum can go an yell at Obama for keeping so many of the Bush appointments on board in his administration….Then Kevin Drum can go yell at Obama for recently hiring a former Bush employee to head his cybersecurity team….Then Kevin Drum can go yell at Obama for being spineless and opening his arms wide in allowing Joe Lieberman back into the fold… Then Kwvin Drum can go and chastise Obama for keeping many of Bush’s former cabinet choices and all in the name of HARMONY and “Bi-Partisanship.”

We now live in a “post-racial” country because the Messiah and Emperor Obama is in-charge. What a lie!!! Obama is a liar and Emanuel is his right hand man as they carry out a center-right agenda once again!!!!

Just remember you Jane Hamsher bashers and wise-asses, that Joe Lieberman stood behind of all people you hate, Sarah Palin, and laughed, giggled, smiled, and openly clapped his hands as the Lady from Alaska said that “Obama consorts with terrorists” and “hangs around with terrorists like Bill Ayers.” And you Jane Hamsher bashers only need to know that your man Joe Lieberman who voted with all the other spineles Democrats SUPPORTED THE McCain-Palin Ticket…..

I could also go into the actual long and deep friendship between Bill Clinton and Poppy Bush….some other time when minds and brains are more open to honest debate and discussion and wanting the truth and knowledge we can also talk about the ties of former President Clinton and yes, even Mr. Obama to the nefariois wing of the CIA…..Obama after all has some Cheney blood in him—they are Related!!!! How Bout that. Maybe Kevin Drum can go yell at Obama for being an eight time removed relative of Dick Cheney and you all wonder why these guys are not much different? And if you think I am crazy for saying this, then, it’s you who does not want to know the truth and think beyond the fifth grade level. One does not rise to the top of the political establishment in America as fast as Obama did without being connected….Chew on that one, you Jane Hamsher bashers!!!!

Most excellent link. Thanks.

This week’s Orwellian head fake is called the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

Obama will spend the next two years defending this loser, right up to his 2012 campaign for re-election.

Unless Jane’s two by four wakes him up sooner.

I don’t like siding with the conservatives on anything, but Emanuel has to go. I hate the way he treats progressives. Hey Rahm, don’t you know which party you are in? The way you act, you’d think you were a Republican! Anyway, Emanuel single-handedly has made me want a new political party for progressives. We don’t need to stay in a party that is full of people who don’t even like us.

You’re welcome. Ritholtz nails these hypocrites to the wall. His book Baiout Nation along with Sorkin’s Too Big to Fail was named best in financial affairs for 2009.

BREAKING

Attempted terror attack in Michigan. Nigerian man with ties to AQ attempts to set off a device in a landing plane.

i.e. Bailout Nation

My dad was saying that he wished a third party were a viable option in our system. It’s not just us. The whole country is getting to see what a mess our government has become. That was a blessing of the total mismanagement of HCR. Since it played out as a very important issue at a very important time, people paid attention. Nothing that happened was beyond business as usual in DC (just listen to the pundits who don’t see a problem with any of the bribery by lobbyists or recalcitrant senators)but it was unusual for the voters to be paying enough attention to have seen it all. And when these are serious times and serious issues, it put a magnifying glass on just how dysfunctional it all is.

Done!

And I still see dozens of fools on Orange attacking Jane Hamsher for teaming up with Grover Norquist.

Nigeria—OIL, OIL, OIL….

ANOTHER FALSE FLAG ATTACK TO MAKE INROADS INTO NIGERIA FOR OIL!!!!!

Seems that whenever the U.S. IS Attacked, FUNNY HOW those Foreign “NATIONALS” Come From Nations which have Deep Oil Reserves…..

America, always fixing to use military force somewhere and thanks to so many false flag attacks, the American people just get scared and then want to fight more wars even as they are being lied to….

Just like the CIA-backed Mumbai attack last year which have recently been exposed.

Rahm is wrong! Progressives DO have a place to go. They can start making signs, right now, everywhere, all across the land – THROW THE BUMS OUT!

Howard Beale meets Mr. Jensen. Mr. Jensen explains to him how the world really works:

I started as a salesman, Mr. Beale. I sold sewing machines and automobile parts, hair brushes and electronic equipment. They say I can sell anything. I’d like to try and sell something to you:

Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?
(pause)
You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen, and howl about
America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy.
There is only IBM and ITT and A T and T and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide
and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think
the Russians talk about in their councils of state — Karl Marx? They pull out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories and minimax solutions and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale! It has been since man crawled out of
the slime, and our children, Mr. Beale, will live to see that perfect
world in which there is no war and famine, oppression and brutality -one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work
to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock,
all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom
amused. And I have chosen you to preach this evangel, Mr. Beale.

george:

And basically my own narrative here is to suggest that Emanuel, the Clintons, Geithner, Summers, Obama etc. are just the modern day equivalent of this New World World. The world of Bilderberg.

This is what we are up against ultimately. Not the next election cycle.

I was on antiradio.com on Thursday discussing Rahm and Ezekiel Emanuel with Host Scott Horton.

The left and right can agree on many things, of which the failure of the political system is quite obvious to anyone with half a pea brain.

John Walsh wrote a great article – The Book of Rahm at counterpunch.org a few years ago…

I suggest people read that artcle about the other fraud – Rahm Emanuel who works for The Fraud – of the Decade – Barack Obama!!!

I like this idea…. I would be all for organizing for it.

During the worst of the Iraq war, with no national protests on the horizon (which I later did participate in in DC with NO national media coverage btw), I had thought that a 50 state protest would be good…

People meeting in all 50 state capitols on the same day…

A nationwide strike would be better because of the financial implications…

We need to figure out how to do that… seriously.

You know, I think you are on to something.

These guys came from out of the woodwork seemingly, as dk used to be a fairly liberal site.

I don’t know if they’re paid or not… but I bet they’re a bunch of OFA people who are orchestrated.

Had never thought of that before.

One thing’s for sure, they operate in concert and flood any diaries critical of Obama with religious zeal.

And the fawning photo diaries (which I think the primary perpetrator of has now left the site… thank God) were sheer fanboy type stuff…

LOOK! LOOK, see how handsome he is? See, he AWESOME!

Really very scary behavior imo.

How about “A Stand up to Taxpayer Ripoff Day”…

Call it what it is…

I have seen you on a number of TV network shows and I think Rachel Maddow can become one of your allies and Keith also send them the letter. At the same time I am glad you are taking on RAHMN he needs to be kicked up side the head period. However, I also think they will dismiss your complaint over time. So some corrective action need to take place in calling them out. First you have to show them you are serious by taking out those four DEMS in the Senate. Also those Bluedogs out in the House as many as possible. How will you do that I e-mailed you my plan and also but this on your blog. Here is the plan a million progressives contributing 10 dollars a month for the next 12 months of 2010. That adds up to 120 million dollars for the entire year. I say this cause you are going to need those resources to do what you have to do. If they think you are dangerous now with that kind of money you will be even more so. By the way I voted and contributed money to Obama campaign,but now he has sold us out now it time for payback. I would hope you would form a new orgaization separate and apart from ACTBLUE In other words I want you to have control over this money period. Enough talk it time for action the sooner the better. Formulate the plan and let do what we must do to move our country forward.

It would be cool to make it in favor of the Tobin tax. All of America could get behind making Wall St pay instead of it always being the middle class. That would help put us in line with global financial regulation advice and get the attention of those who only worry about their bank accounts, too.

jane, you have to also realise the question would never have reached obama if grover did it alone either

the two of you needed each other to hit the center of that target

This raises a lot of questions. I believe the Democratic party and Obama should have their feet held to the fire 150%, but I don’t agree that it needs to be done with the weight of someone like Grover Norquist. Anyone, any Progressive or Liberal should be pretty disgusted if they know anything about what the man has taken part in, in the past and what he truly represents.

So my questions are the following: Why hasn’t the GOP gone after Rahm and Obama over this Fannie and Freddie situation, or Fox for that manner and anyone of its demagogue’s who would give an eyetooth for a “silver bullet” on the administration. That’s the first thing.

Secondly, why couldn’t the co-signor have been someone like Charles Johnson or Bruce Fein any other Right wing conservative that doesn’t have a criminal past? It would seem to me that the choice of GN is really to deliver as much of a slap in the face to Prog/Libs as it is to get the admin to notice. I don’t know about you, but a lot of people don’t need to be treated like that to notice something or do what’s right. That behavior is deeply alienating and presumptuous and it has the taint of a Right Wing stunt, add to that a lot of echoing surrounding this stunt of Right wing teaBagger justification and it makes it even more repellent.

I say, let’s hold the Obama admin and the COngress Dems to high standards and hit them with a “2×4,” absolutely, their much too reactive to the Right, but I would caution while that happens that the lesson of the Scorpion and the Frog is not forgotten, especially in this situation where one of the prime architects of the corruption that has infiltrated DC comes full circle like this, it would seem to me that the Scorpion is simply a wolf in sheeps clothing.

Yes, I read that awhile back, too. Not much new in it.

Still, I do think there are fictional characters who can capture the imagination in ways that real-life people cannot. Of course, Jane could compete with any fictional character, and probably win.

But why not allow her to be the flesh and blood, real-life person, and not just a symbol? Howard Beale is already a symbol for “not taking it any more!”

Go for it Jane Rahm is a crook. Obama has surrounded himself with crooks like this. The whole Obama thing is a huge marketing scam bait and switch operation from the top on down. We probably wouldn’t have been any better off with Hillary either. In any event these people are all corrupt lying Corporatist scum.

Doesn’t look like it.

Probably a lot of the new people here are, also. Some of them are certainly trying to cause trouble.

By the way Jane you might want to think about who will be the person or persons who can effectively run against Obama for the Presidential spot and doing it early as possible. I say that for this reasons the economy unless unemployement is cut in half,healthcare is working and we do not get a watered down version of a climate change bill,get all of our forces of Iraq and withdrawal from Afghanistan we have more of the same. Enough is Enough. By the way could you put a poll on your BLOG to see who are the possiblities. I have had enough of Obama period.

The reason I think a one day strike would be effective is that basically anyone could do it.

I suggest January 20, 2010, the one year anniversary of Obama’s inauguration.

In fact, I just recently switched to a credit union

Can you utilize a credit union if you don’t work for the folks sponsoring it?

I always thought that, for example, you had to be a state or federal employee to utilize their credit union.

Are there ones out there that are “non-denominational.”

I just got here from Teddy’s Cenk-thread at Dkos. Please go over there and join in the Christmas fun. There are many very sharp people there amid a pack of praise-the-leader types not much different from the Bushies.

One guy/gal even compared Jane to Paula Jones.

my credit union’s requirement is residency or work in the counties that make up its name. check around – they are not as exclusive as i thought they would be.

Again, Jane called it:

Yesterday the White House did a Christmas news dump, announcing that the limit for Fannie and Freddie wouldn’t be $800 billion — it would be unlimited. They also announced that salaries for Fannie & Freddie executives would be $4-$6 million.

I was most impressed with her “Countdown to Lieberman” post of Oct 5, where she noted that the White House’s problem was to kill the public option without getting Barack’s fingerprints on the corpse. She noted that Reid couldn’t take on the task and hinted that it would fall to Lieberman. Sure ’nuff, that’s how it went down.

The Mumbai “terrorist attacks” were said to be “legtimate” by the same liars in rhe media feeding more propaganda and lies about this “aborted” attempt at “terrorism” today. I do not believe the media or the government about what they are saying regarding this “terrorist attack” today. The Obama administration is efficiently carrying out the “terrorist threat” lies of the Bush White House for many reasons. Obama will bomb Iran and continue to piss on civil liberties in the name of security as well. You’d have to show me loads and loads of EVIDENCE BEFORE I WOULD CALL THIS B.S. STORY TODAY A TERRORIST ATTACK. The Mumbai cover story turned out to be a LIE!!!! The media couldn’t help themselves on that one, either. The same media which bombs Iraqis and Afghans sells weapons to the Defense Department.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION NEEDS A GOOD STORY IN ORDER TO CONVINCE ALL DUMMIES IN AMERICA THAT SCANNER MACHINES ON YOUR BODY ARE OF THE ESSENTIAL NEED AT AIRPORTS. THE UNDERMAKING OF THESE SCANNER MACHINES IS BIG BUSINESS IN THE NEW SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS AND THEY NEED TO CONVINCE VILLAGE IDIOTS IT’S GOOD FOR YA.

Just like the healthcare bill which calls for the MICROCHIPPING OF AMERICANS WHO WILL HAVE THESE NEW HEALTHCARE PLANS…..AMERICA WILL SOON BECOME A FULL-FLEDGED SURVEILLANCE STATE MAKING WARS WITH EVERY NATION ON EARTH AND ITS CITIZENS GOOD LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS WHO WILL BE MICROCHIPPED OR ELSE…

CHECK THIS NEWS STORY OUT HERE:

Naked images at Sea-Tac Airport? It’s for security
Last updated November 24, 2009 10:58 p.m. PT
By VANESSA HO
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

“As hordes of travelers pass through checkpoints at Sea-Tac Airport this Thanksgiving, one of the many things they won’t have to worry about are screeners checking out an anatomically detailed image of their naked body….That’s about to change. The Transportation Security Administration said this week that it plans to expand its controversial “whole body imaging” program, which takes a black-and-white image of people’s naked bodies at airport security checkpoints. Critics have likened it to “digital strip searches.”…TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird said the agency plans to buy an additional 150 such imaging units with stimulus funds, and that five units are scheduled to arrive at Sea-Tac Airport in the first quarter of next year…..Currently, 23 airports are using the imagers. According to TSA’s Web site, 10 of the airports are using them as primary screening, as an alternative to metal detectors. The other 13 airports are using them for secondary screening, as an alternative to a pat down after someone’s set off a metal detector. Some of those airports are also using the imagers for random screening….”

The entire article can be read @:
http://www.seattlepi.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412606_naked24.html

One thing’s for sure, they operate in concert and flood any diaries critical of Obama with religious zeal.

And at the same time, they dismiss anyone who agrees with Jane as being a cult follower. Funny that…

Having said that, I really hope that Jane’s endgame strategy here is, as the dk diarist who’s currently at #1 rec put it, to organize

primary opponents to all those New Democrats who stood in the way of real progress, watered the bill, voted against cram down etc.

Let me rephrase. I don’t hope that that’s Jane’s endgame, I want to impress upon her that it’s imperative that that be the endgame.

~~~~~~~

Jane,

I’ve had many a frustrating time feeling unlistened to/unheard while having to wait, watch what you’re doing, and struggle at times to figure out wtf you’re going to do next and why. I don’t just believe in friendship and loyalty, I live and breath it. Friendship and trust in return are required. At the very least, I need to know that you’re hearing me as you’re formulating plans and positioning yourself. So, please, please factor into all that you’re doing that there is great need to focus on House and Senate primaries and midterms asap. I get the need to build the right narratives for the coming 2010 races, but don’t forget the flipping races. I’m with you and want to see you to succeed (i.e. doing what’s right in the best way possible, regardless of whether you win or lose). Do that, and every one of your successes will give me the greatest pride. Thanks.

Jane is great and I again wish her a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and Happy New Year 2010!!!

Jane is simply grand in very wretched times for Americans. It’s too bad Jane has to do the work that neither the media nor the politicians are doing and it’s a great job she is doing….

Jane just know that not everyone holds negative or hateful views about you….

I see you in a very positive manner and am grateful you can do what you have been these last weeks and months. Thanks Again!!!

You can join just about any credit union these days no problem. I haven’t dealt with a bank in 20 years!

Yeah, I’ve come to a similar conclusion.

I have been on dKos since 03-04 and something about the current strain of virulent Obama supporters makes me think it does have some kind of orchestration. Certainly others are noticing the same thing.

Yes. Most are still linked to employment but there are some that aren’t. I have a couple friends who belong to credit unions that have no link to where they work. Check the cu’s in your area and see what their eligibility requirements are.

There is no other way to explain it. There’s an effort to shepherd the flock when possible, and to drown out voices of dissent among those who refuse to be herded.

I found working on medical marijuana issues that the AARP had a surprisingly liberal attitude.

I expected them to be like big insurance, so I was really surprised to find an approach more like a consumers union. I don’t know if it is really good PR or actual progressive politics, but it would be worth it to find out.

Wow! The Obamabots are swarming:
– http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/25/808924/-Clapping-Harder-will-not-make-Jane-Hamsher-right.-No-matter-who-says.
– http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/25/819162/-Cenk-Uygur:-Jane-Hamsher-

You think actually think the Daily Kos is a “legitimate” site?

Because I don’t and I will leave it there if you know what I mean….Other media outlets are compromised by various government agencies….Carl Bernstein wrote a fine article on this for Rolling Stone in 1977…..

DailyKos—–Gatekeeper and I will end it there….Figure out for yourselves what and who the DailyKos really is!

I never went on DailyKos because I was told long ago by a good source what that operation is all about even as it appears as a “liberal/progressive” site…..Believe whatever you may or wish though….

Markos admitted himself at the Commonwealth Club in 2006 that he once, yes, “worked for the CIA,” and on missions to boot, so I am not surprised the DailyKos would work to discredit Jane for voicing her constitutional rights. Markos and Rahm and Obama have more in common than Jane has in common with Markos anyhow….I will leave it there for now….

Markos’ Commonwealth Club speech can be accessed online too.

I joined the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union. I’m not sure how they fit me in. I did have a AAA card, but it’s also possible that I live in an underserved area. I also mentioned how dissatisfied I was with TD Bank, and they had been getting a lot of other as unhappy as I was.

There is a credit union where I work, and I’m a member, but they don’t like to do checking accounts and such. The FMFCU is actually expanding and adding branches. Maybe look for one like that. Also, rather than call, I just went in cold.

Good luck!

To the first of the two dk diaries you cited, I wrote:

There are true Progressive leaders, and there are

those who would confuse our efforts to succeed as Progressives by coming to dkos to disrupt honest debate and discourse.

Seriously, there’s clearly an orchestrated effort among people who come to dkos to shepherd those who can be shepherded and to drown out voices of dissent among those who refuse to fall in line and cheer on Obama as he fails to do what’s right.

There are clearly those whose job it is to glorify Obama around here no matter what he does and to divide progressives by whining about how any progressive leader like Jane Hamsher, who sees the need to fight the a$$holes, is dividing progressives.

Jane Hamsher isn’t dividing Progressives at all.

Obama’s failures are causing Progressives great concern, and these con-artists who come to dkos are trying to confuse our conversations about Obama’s failures as much as possible.

Markos had better figure out a way to fix this mess, or dkos will be reduced to a total waste of time.

“Obama worked hard for the public option” posted at the link to the blog over at DailyKos which you posted….That’s enough for me to read to know how delusional they are over at that awful blog. I have never been a regular at DailyKos and never would be. I have never trusted Markos Moulitsas either. He is the typical Obama gatekeeper–criticizes Obama a little to make himself appear “legitimate” but in the next breath or three, starts praising “how hard the president is working” in the face of all his “politcal opponents on the right.” If it was that simple. Yes, you see, the Kos wants things to be as simple as the media simpletons want it to be. Markos is at home on the GE-Defense, I mwan War–Pushing “Meet the Press” program.

Man, the DailyKos bloggers are morons. They do not do too much homework or fact checking over there. I wonder what the DailyKos morons think of Matt Taibbi? Taibbi exposed the lies about Obama “pushing hard for that public option” in a recent article for Rolling Stone and on PBS Journal with Bill Moyer son December 18, 2009.

Geez, the Kos morons are not only gatekeepers for Obama and Rahm “The Criminal” Emanuel, but, like to smoke crack cocaine, too, it seems.

This essay is definitely bold and worth reading and pondering. The fact that FDL, Jane and Cenk are drawing unrestrained vitriol for it was enough to convince me to register here.

The left and right can agree on many things, of which the failure of the political system is quite obvious to anyone with half a pea brain

What the left and right must agree on in turn is that a failed political system for some is viewed instead as a smashingly successful political system by others.

That means grappling first and foremeost with the relationship between wealth and power. The relationship, in other words, between “the government”, “the economy” and “citizenship”.

What will the future of capitalism be when questions like this are actually taken seriously? Google “political economy”. Either you understand the existential meaning of this with respect to Emanuel, freddie and fannie, TARP, Bernanke, crony capitalism, health care “reform” etc. or you remain merely idealists.

One thing is for certain: Unless those who lack political and economic power individually aspire to cleave the two collectively the Rahm Emanuels will continue to divide up the pies as they see fit.

This does not mean “socialism”. After all, who really wants to go back to that? But it does mean organizing against the Bilderbergers. There is simply no other viable alternative.

Unless, of course, I’m wrong.

That was one of Al Gore’s better speeches, IMHO. I wish that it had received more coverage in the blogosphere and in the MSM.

Bob in AZ

thanks for the tip

And Shelia Bair and Elizabeth Warren are two of the sharpest minds on the economy currently on the scene, along with Stiglitz, Krugman, and Jaimie Galbraith. Heck, even Paul Volcker. On the other hand, Geithner and Summers are part of the problem.

Bob in AZ

I agree.Blagojevich was a hit. He had just said that the state of Illinois would no longer do business with Bank of America. He has also said that rahm asked him if he could have his old job in the House after two years in the WH. What he was asking was not legal. Since rahm was facing reelection problems anyway.

I saw him on John Stewart. His allegations about the way he was railroaded were stunning. He was not given a fair trial.Lots of illegal stuff going on to make him step down.

JANE SHOULD TALK TO BLAGO. Didn’t want you to miss that. Sorry.

rahm never pushes issues that help US. Just corporations. He is a criminal as well.

And don’t forget Brooksley Born, whom Summers and Geithner had to get congress to take care of, because she would not back down.

In fact, they had to get congress to pass a law rescinding the power of the agency she was heading up, in order to keep her from investigating some of the relevant financial shenanigans.

It is no longer about having stones enough. It’s all about the ovaries, guys!

Agree. The last couple of days have been very suspicious. The comments bashing Jane do have a lot of similarity. If they are getting paid…they are lucky.

Then today , majically it all stopped. Because it was giving Jane momentum.

I’m in…

The media laugh when Rod Blagojevich says he wants Obama, Emanuel, Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett to testify at his trial…

I heard Bill Press one morning laughing at the idea that Obama, Emanuel, Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett should be made to testify at his trial, because they have more “important things to focus, on, like the country,” than to be consumed by someone like Rod Blagojevich….

This is what I mean by people always taking the side and being gatekeepers of Obama. The Obama White House is THE REASON THE FEDS WENT AFTER Rod Blagojevich…..In the healthcare debacle, the Obama White House used bribery, extortion, blackmail and thievery in their regular threats to members of Congress to get Obama-EmanuelCare through the U.S. Senate, making what Rod Blagojevich is accused of, as nothing more than child’s play on a rainy day.

I think I will go and buy Rod Blagojevich’s book tomorrow to see what he says about Rahm and other criminals in the Obama White House…..

I have always been rooting for this guy Blagojevich because what he is accused of doing is nothing less than what happens on a regular basis in the halls of Congress and with the whore lobbyists and those going from the Executive branch back to industry and back to government again…..

FREE Rod Blagojevich!!!!!!

Listened/watched to some panel of pundits on CSPAN. To a final question about what would happen in 2010, Joe Lockhart (Clintonista)predicted (self-servingly) that Conservative Democrats and Moderate Conservatives would win the center for Obama.

If we look at the political landscape this way, than the whole DKos bullrhama is a matter of semantic fallacy. The Kossacs tend to define themselves as either Liberals or Progressives; they are centrists (economic liberals and fiscal conservatives define the center, so we have got damnably little in common with who they are, by fefinition.

Yes, I agree with the idea of a general strike.

I have been advocating this sort of collective action and there are quite a few qctions we can engage in. To be honest even the threat os such widespread action would serve its purpose.

The conomic boycot of the big banks is essential and should actually be ecarried out. Without our money and deposits they are helpless. The vast majority of people have their money protected by deposit insurance and can simply transfer their money into community Banks over which they have more direct control.

The willingness to engage in various types of collective action should begin at once. Proposals and debate as to various strategies should start now.

yeah…. I find it quite scary the way they attack anyone who dares to criticize “their” Obama…

it’s ironic that someone said the people that dare to criticize are tiresome and are like Republicans!

Doublespeak completely.

That seems to be one of their main issues… criticizing Obama and frankly I believe that underlies their hatred of Jane… not anything to do with Norquist… it is the fact that she is such a strident voice against Obama’s Empire… as we all are.

I heard Markos’ speech saying he almost joined the CIA… and went through their training all the way up to being hired… but he has spoken out against the “HCR” BS as well.

So I’m not convinced the site is a “plant.”

But one thing I know for sure… Ms. Hamsher has made Kos a bunch o’ money the past couple of weeks!

He owes her big time and has done nothing to quieten the voices of hatred over there.

Just went over to Kos. Yep,…I think they are paid. Not much. Definately not the politically astute type of comments they used to have. The people making the comments don’t seem interested in politics.

More of I hate Jane and Michael Moore too. Who would want to read the child like mud slinging with no substance. Well me …just to see what they are doing. But to learn anything ….never.

Yes, I just saw that Joe Lockhart on the Economist Forum from December 7, 2009, and was going to post it too. You beat me to it, but, yes, isn’t that telling?

And they have Clinton asswipe Rahm Emanuel still pulling that Lockhart wish in the White House right now….

Screw the Democrats!!!!

Lockhart told the truth the Dems keep trying to hide…..The Dems can no longer even feign they are working on behalf of liberal or progressive issues as hard as they claim they are.

Agree with all of your sentiments except the last…

Markos is laughing all the way to the bank with these FDL wars on DK!!

And, don’t forget, she’s a woman. That is definitely a factor. My antenna is very sensitive on that issue. Note who the complainers seem to be. (Mostly…)

Thanks for looking so I don’t have to…

They hate Michael Moore, he with the most populist of voices and POV? Unbelievable!

The Kossacs tend to define themselves as either Liberals or Progressives; they are centrists (economic liberals and fiscal conservatives define the center, so we have got damnably little in common with who they are, by fefinition

Orange is a zoo filled with all kinds of animals: they do not fit into any one category. The idea, for instance, that they are all “centrists” would have to leave out the communists who reside there.

That being said, it’s a place with plenty of dangerous predators, and its center of gravity is sometimes shockingly low-IQ.

Huh, forgot about that one.

“The idea, for instance, that they are all “centrists” would have to leave out the communists who reside there.”

Reside there how? Tied to the whipping post? I cannot see real communists, or socialists finding much in common with the Orange community.

Honestly, I don’t know as much about Markos as many of you do. Based on what I do know, saying that he better figure out a way to fix the mess or watch dkos be reduced to a total waste of time seemed the most appropriate.

Hey folks. As one of the “new” people here, may I relieve your paranoia?

I have enjoyed Jane’s work and this site for some time, but felt no need to comment. It was not until I felt everything was going off the rails that I bothered to speak up. That seems natural, no?
If someone’s paying me to say so, I wish they’d let me know.

And if you’re wondering why this supposed conspiratorial swarm of paid commenters disappeared today…check the calendar.

Also, dismissing people you don’t agree with by using childish names (e.g. “Obamabots”) is usually not necessary if you stand on solid ground. “Winning” a back-and-forth on a comments page does not actually accomplish anything but making you feel better.

The Case for the Libertarian Democrat
by MARKOS MOULITSAS
October 2nd, 2006

“…It was my fealty to the notion of personal liberty that made me a Republican when I came of age in the 1980s. It is my continued fealty to personal liberty that makes me a Democrat today….The case against the libertarian Republican is so easy to make that I almost feel compelled to stipulate it and move on. It is the case for the libertarian Democrat that has created much discussion and not a small amount of controversy when I first introduced the notion in what was, in reality, a throwaway blog post on Daily Kos on a slow news day in early June 2006…..Hence, there was (and is) a natural tension between liberals who see government as a benign force for good, and those who can point to plenty of history showing otherwise. And as long as government remained the greatest threat to our personal liberties, this tension was fated to remain. Republicans, out-of-power for much of the 20th century, and livid at the Democrats’ expansion of government, spoke of shrinking government and limiting its power. Libertarians, while not exactly perfect allies of the GOP, were likely to get more of what they sought by making common cause with conservatives than liberals…..”

This Markos article was published by the CATO INSTITUTE OF ALL PLACES…..Yes, CATO—-very conservative…..It can be read at:

http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/10/02/markos-moulitsas/the-case-for-the-libertarian-democrat/

Markos—-a very skilled agent provacateur and disinformation specialist–both traits of a CIA operative…..Just cause he supposedly “did not join the CIA” means nothing as far as working for them….there are loads and loads of cover stories for those under the pay of the CIA…..

I bet you never knew Julia Child was on the CIA payroll either…..

Obama has come out as a committed defender of Markets, exclaiming “I love Markets” at a Hamilton Project event. That, at a moment in time when the Free Market failures have brought about a world wide recession, which many predict is yet to play itself out in a global depression. (FDR/LBJ would be on a soap box every day exhorting Congress to legislate hard ass regulations, Obama, on the other hand is keeping the crooks in position of authority and quashing investigations).

Here’s my Bumper sticker for the AntiObama campaign:

Seed Stakeholders, not Stockholders!

Reside there how?

Ask Eli Stephens — with a user ID of 563 he’s been registered at Orange pretty nearly since it was started…

WTF, as Obamabot is simply shorthand. Thanx, none the less!

And the polite shorthand at that.

I agree with you,but someone or us have to call for the resignation of entire economic team and entire top level of the Treasury Dept. Did you see the documentary on Frontline THE WARNING it was about some of those same characters who got us in this mess in the first place. I think it time to call Obama out for what he has done before he does anymore damage. By the way REP and the wingnuts are going do it anyway. We have to be smarter in framing the conversation.

I have got no problem with the general notion of a Libertarian Democrat. I wouldn’t mind seeing a streamlined (small) efficiently working government myself, instead of Obama’s gang of Corporatist Pirates.

The disagreements that we would likely have with Libertarians, pale in comparison to the current Policies on offer from the Democrats.

Neither do I….But Markos is making a big stink out of Jane right now….

So, it’s okay for Markso to make common cause with say the CATO Institute but Jane is vilified for her own political actions which are more than legitimate.

I am just pointing out Markos’ deceptions.

Markos and CATO? Do you remember what brought them together?

Markos C. A.Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA (MAMZ) the founder and owner of DailyKos has a long history of participation in and support of the Republican Party and, moreover, trained or worked or “interviewed” with the US Central Intelligence Agency betwee 2001 and 2003. Markos says he started training at the CIA to be a “secret agent” in 2001, but, finished training when the Howard Dean campaign took off in 2003. Of course, Dean is loathed by the same people Markos just loves, such as the Obamites and Rahm Emanuel.

Markos goes from rejecting to be part of the CIA to seek unemployment status before starting up DailyKos? Ummm, ummm good, isn’t that food from the Julia Child recipe soooo gooodddd…um…umm…ummm…yummy…No, of course, Markos could not be working as a CIA Man since he has not said so to you or I….Okay….Okay….I am sure you believe in other fables too…whatever you want to believe….He is definitely a disinfo specialist and agent provavateur….His site is what one would call a White Operation….But, I know, because Markos denied outright at the Commonwealth Club that he did not become a “full CIA man” that means he is not with them….That is delusional….Active CIA employees don’t admit it…see through the b.s.

Since secret agents are trained to offer cover stories, false backgrounds and provide false information, therefore, nothing that MAMZ, his supporters and associates say can be accepted at face value. Markos C. A. Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA was born in Chicago, and not in El Salvador as he lied about over and over again. Therefore, Markos is actually a US citizen and NOT an immigrant, in spite of his past stories to the contrary.

Markos C.A. Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA was a Ronald Reagan Republican, taking credit for supporting Ronald Reagan, campaigning for George. H.W. Bush, and for Republican Representative Henry Hyde, who was the House prosecutor in the Clinton impeachment hearings.

Markos has been all over the political map in supporting both Republicans and Democrats in a very short time….In short, Markos is not a “liberal” or “progressive.”

Check this one out—in an essay he submitted to the Northern Illinois University campus newspaper, the Northern Star, Markos ardently opposed ALL service by GAYS in the US military which is consistent with extreme Republican conservative views over such a discriminatory policy.

Markos’ family business received five million dollars in foreign investments between 1997 and 2000, immediately before the period in which he claims that he sought work at the CIA because he was either “underemployed” or “unemployed.”

Thus, why has Markos been less than honest about so many things, and why did he suddenly present himself to be a “progressive” during the period of his six-month involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency?

I got yelled at for saying Obamabot over at dkos. Said I can get hide-rated or some such thing for calling someone an Obamabot. What’s up with that?

Who cares.
I got hit a little for the exact same thing, but since I give their criticisms no more than a passing giggle…

To be lectured at by the weak, content-to-be-electorally body-slammed – who cares. Let them stew in their own juices.

One screw’s turn to the right and they’d be authoritarian ditto-heads.

Believe whatever ya want….about the DailyKos and Markos….I sincerely believe it’s a CIA Front Site and always have…People have to find ways to become legitimate, in order, to spread their disinformation and act as agent provacateurs without detection…..There are mamy reasons why the government uses front sites and front people to run such sites….I will let you people figure out those many reasons…..

I know some of you will deny that it is even possible that such a “progressive” site/blogger could be part of the government apparatus that they seem to be “attacking” in regards to “critical thinking.”

Thanks.

This is the last post I will be making regarding the DailyKos and the CIA. From now, figure it out on your own.

Antiwar.com has run some very damning articles on the major corporate donors and backers of war at the Huffington Post as well…..

Wendell Potter, 12.24.2009

Why I’m Not Joining the Call to “Kill the Bill”

“Instead of sending more “Kill the Bill” emails, we need to turn our attention now to leaders in the House, insisting they stick to their guns and improve on what the Senate has passed.”

Agreed, let Nelson and The Independent from Tel Aviv “kill the Bill”.

Thank you.

I think they are just pissed that their expectations are not met, but unable to free themselves to act.
Admitting that you got your hopes up is difficult – especially when you are on record, and are now chum.

Synopsis of “The Governor” by Rod Blagojevich

“….Accused of trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacated senate seat, impeached as governor of Illinois, and abused as a national joke, Blagojevich recounts his political life in this desperate, unsuccessful bid for redemption. While steadfastly maintaining his belief that he’s the victim of a vicious conspiracy (headed by members of his own Democratic party), Blagojevich focuses on his humble roots and the good works he has done for the citizens of Illinois…..The behind-the-scenes workings to fill the Senate seat vacated by the most popular President-elect in decades becomes something much more incendiary when wiretapped conversations are used by authorities to commit the arrest. But, as the governor soon learns, those tapes are not allowed to be played at his impeachment hearings in the House or Senate. What is on those tapes? And why will the prosecution not let them be heard if they were the primary factor in initiating the arrest that started this political scandal in the firstplace? Quoting from sources as diverse as Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics to Aeschylus, Shakespeare to The Purpose Driven Life, THE GOVERNOR provides not just an inside look at politics on a state and national level but a treatise on the proper place of government in the everyday lives of its people. It is a mandate for healthcare reform, which the governor feels is the civil rights issue of our lifetime. It is a clarion cry, remarkably, against cynicism in modern governing and a return to a more thoughtful and informed sense of government that views its state budgets as “moral documents.” It is a lament against the current state of the political landscape, one that too often is wracked by scandal and interwoven with a media-driven culture obsessed with scandal and snap judgments. And it is a proclamation that one man will not be silenced, that his side of the story must be heard and that the fight for American liberties and freedom must sometimes occur within its own borders.”

I got yelled at for saying Obamabot over at dkos.

Back in the late 70s, I was making my political transition from the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Spartacus League to NAM, DSOC and [eventually] DSA.

At the time, the anger expressed at “the system” paled next to the anger progressives hurled at each other. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this was an expression of our weakness more than anything else. The radical/liberal “Sixties” was segueing into the so much more reactionary Reagan “Eighties” and progressives pummelled each other for causing it.

This FDL/Kos spat seems ominously similiar. I try to assume that other liberals and/or progressives and/or radicals are after the same thing strategically: a more humane, compassionaite, genuinely democratic world.

But the more the reactionaries come out on top [and I believe they have on health care] the easier it is to project our anger and frustration onto and into folks who might actually read our opinions.

After all, do any of you suppose Emanuel and Obama do?

I share the same frustration that other progressives don’t grasp the Obama administration the way I do—as part and parcel of the Bilderberg world of crony capitalism. But somehow these “tactical” disagreements need to be patched up. Otherwise, any mass movement will become just another internecine slaughterhouse of “factions”.

Been there. Done that.

It doesn’t work.

Go over to CounterPoint and read Mark Rudd’s piece on “activists” and “organizers”.

I am in also,but I want to see if JANE want to go this route or not. I know she knows she is going to come under some heavy fire period. The only way to deal with Obama and company is to have the resources to hit back. There is not any doubt in my mine that JANE can do this in a way she will have them wanting to talk to her. At that time I hope she write a letter listing the demands she want from Obama and Co.I get it,but to change the dynmaics Jane and a million of us Prgressive will force the issues period. By the way there are enough Progressive blog out there,but they need a clear and concise plan from Jane. She has the tools ,but she needs to start as soon as possible.

Wow, Didn’t you forget about the Reptilians and the Illuminati?

Say hello to Alex Jones for me mmmkay?

Counterpunch?

Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission, and the like represent a reality that somehow is irrelevant (imo) to the organizing of activists into a meaningful movement. These Groups elicit in many a sense of excitable conspiracy theories which detract from that which is in our face every day and should be sufficient enough to mobilize a visceral disappointment with the Status Quo.

I prefer Max Keiser to Alex Jones for the above mentioned reason.

Yeah, and over there they call you folks “Jane-worshiping Jane-headed Janey Janes” or whatever…it’s stupid both ways and doesn’t accomplish anything.

But I think the reason they find “Obamabots” etc offensive is because of it’s currency with right-wingers. I would add that I’ve been seeing lots of “BHO” and “Barry” and all of that nonsense around here the last few days, and it’s disturbingly reminiscent of the primary pie-fights. Yeah, I know those are his names, but you and I both know how people mean it.

Can the left do anything other than internecine warfare? I sure would like to see it.

How about we start by listening to each other first, rather than reflexively accusing them of weakness, stupidity or sock-puppetry? Or is that not hardcore enough for you, and you just wanna break some 2x4s on some heads?

I don’t listen to Alex Jones…..He is another fraud himself….

I make my own conclusions….I know what I know….It’s people like you whom are dangerous for being ignorant of what is around and near you….But it’s not my job to educate you….

Believe what you want but it’s obvious you are unable to think beyond the obvious….

we were talking about posters on dk not here.

Look it, I agree with you…

The deniers in the population are great and useful idiots to the powerful whom are into controlling people on so many levels….

Most people have been programmed for so long that they cannot allow themselves to think beyond what they have been indoctrinated for so long….The media is a great measurement for how easy it is for the super-elite to literally brainwash people and the masses.

I am here only to converse and not to educate others….I know the visceral reactions and hateful denials directed at me when I voice such things, but those whom tell me I am a tin foil hat wearer often are the same morons who think America operates as a “real democracy or republic” at this late date….I remember telling lots of friends Obama was an empty suit too, and many of my pals could not hear such things. I remember telling other pals that Obama would not indict or go after Bush or Cheney and their criminals and they told me how wrong I was…so I am used to people telling me “how wrong” and what a “whack job” I am, but time after time, I am the one who turns out to be correct……

As I have said educate yourselves and understand what you are saying before you say someone is unequivocaly wrong about something….

Oh, yeah, there is no such thing as “mind control” by the government…Oh, that would never happen….Is that right?

The RAND Corporation only spends billions and billions of dollars doing research on mind control and manipulation operations….Oh, yeah, the Voice of America is such a legitimate network too….

The U.S. Government would never ever violate the Smith-Mundt Act either…never ever…okay….

“Can the left do anything other than internecine warfare? I sure would like to see it.”

The Left?? You aren’t left. You don’t even know what it means. You are reactionary populists.

“How about we start by listening to each other first”

Your assumptions are wrong. Your hate for Rahm is irrational and based in antisemitic attitudes. You are almost completely ignorant of how things get down in the real world. You’re also ignorant of the realities of power and your own role in history.

You are completely immersed in your own fantasied ideology that has little to no connection with the real world. You don’t have any “politics”, all that you have is paranoid conspiracy theory masquerading as real politic.

You are fools who are only becoming more and more irrelevant day by day.

Ok, how about saying something material and relevant that we can find agreement on. Because, as of now, you’re sounding just a tad schoolmarmish?!

Again with the

antisemitic attitudes

You should be ashamed of yourself. Inflicting this trash is beyond the pale.

“Oh, yeah, there is no such thing as “mind control” by the government…”

Are you hearing voices wizard? I encourage you to seek a therapist. They can help you. Do you have a diagnosis? I’m guessing paranoid schizophrenia. When was the last time you were hospitalized?

No, you are wrong. There really is no such thing as mind control. MKULTRA was abandoned due to scandals in the 70′s but mainly because it just didn’t work. I have no doubt they would have if the science turned out different but it didn’t.

But water fluoridation, that shit’s real ya know.

“Inflicting this trash is beyond the pale.”

No, I don’t think so. Be prepared. You’re going to get hit with this sooner or later. It will destroy the reputation of FDL overnight. Trust me.

Believe whatever you want….stay gullible…..

And stop with your crocodile “tears” and phony “outrage” since you are so scared to know the truth…..

Have fun in your delusional thinking that you or anyone else will change what the powerful are doing, or, as if the powerful never plan their next moves like say, yeats and years ahead of time….

Like I said before, know-it-all’s, I mean know-nothing’s like you are just what the powerful need to carry out their next plan or policy or war and you cannot do anything about it without knowledge….

Unlike people as yourself, I am not surprised by any of these latest policies and legislation. Danny Estulin wrote about the housing crash over a year before it happened–people as yourself would have told him he was wrong as well….

Some of you here may be well meaning but have much to learn…

No problems with semites here at all, – major ones with the IDF perpetrating war crimes, and so, so much more about Israel’s conduct.

“I make my own conclusions….I know what I know…”

Yeah, that’s the problem with self made men. I know what others have taught me, that’s the difference between being an internet crank and actually knowing something. Sorry but you don’t know shit, as your fact free posts only prove. Please take your meds and call your psychiatrist. He must be worried, it’s a tough time of year.

Yes, your damn right I make my own conclusions…I am not programmed as you are, is what I meant by that…

I think for myself and do not rely on others to do it for me as you seem to do….You hurl personal insults but cannot refute with any of your own facts what I have posted….

Believe whatever you want—I don’t think you are too bright.

“with the IDF perpetrating war crimes”

Oh do tell…. Do they have their hooks in Obama? Are they really just wolves in sheep’s clothing? Tell me all about how Rahm is secretly in control of Obama and how the Likud is secretly blackmailing US congressmen and senators. Tell me how the Mossad celebrated after 9-11 and tipped off Jews before the planes hit.

“I don’t think you are too bright.”

How could we tell? Political opinions are not a matter of intelligence. Fascist, Marxist, Dictator, Republican, Democrat, Anarchist…. none of those labels mean squat with regard to how smart someone is..

Many paranoid conspiracy believers like yourself are fairly bright. That isn’t the problem.

noen is brainwashed…..This is my last post in regard to neon who thinks just as the TV tells him to.

Typical Establishment thinker…..believes all the hype from what the masters tell him/her to think……keep believing the hype, lies and propaganda….The Big Bad Wolf is out to get ya–keep believing that…funny if I was the “paranoid” you claim, why am I so unfraid of the things you are so fearful of?

I am a skeptic and proud of it….I do read books and articles and the like, so to presume I do not have information is your take.

Example of inductive logic:

“with the IDF perpetrating war crimes”

Oh do tell…. Do they have their hooks in Obama? Are they really just wolves in sheep’s clothing? Tell me all about how Rahm is secretly in control of Obama and how the Likud is secretly blackmailing US congressmen and senators. Tell me how the Mossad celebrated after 9-11 and tipped off Jews before the planes hit.

What a fucking paranoid delusional rant.

White phosphorous?

How is the dollar doing????

Ya think the dollar might just tank by mid-March and super hyperinflation might take place or is this just conspiracy thought?

“What a fucking paranoid delusional rant.”

Satire hun, satire. Those are all statements that I have seen repeated at various times by those ranting on and on about Rahm. Oh!! You… you didn’t actually think I believed that crap did you??

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I have never resorted to aggressive personal insults towards anyone here since I have been here in the past week, when I did not agree with one’s post…..

I usually do not respond to most posts I disagree with, because people have the right to post as they may….Yet I am called the one who needs to “take meds.”

It’s funny how the person the most worried about “insults” about this and that hurls the most vicious of personal attacks themselves, here…..

Well, that is my own fault for thinking nice people are on these sites in search of any dialogue or open ideas.

Neon, you will never get it, but, I don’t trust people like you at all and for good reason….you deny things for the reasons only you know….

Have you ever read any articles by Retired Lt. General Sam Gardiner?

Have you ever read articles written by William Arkin or Walter Pincus?

Do you know what the DSB is?

I believe that sort of satire speaks volumes.

as does this: “HAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

How is a prediction based on your paranoid delusions or whatever else you heard Max Keiser say going help decide if you are right or not? Max has been making doom and gloom predictions for years now.

Did you subscribe to his newsletter?

“…or is this just conspiracy thought?”

I’d lay odds that it’s just Max making a living off idiots gullible enough to believe him. Given that he’s never been right yet Id’ say he’s full of shit.

I just wish Obama would see Lord Blankfein, Geithner, Lawrence, etc. the way Max sees them. Instead, he seems to prefer swimming with the scummy lot of them.

“Have you ever read any articles by Retired Lt. General Sam Gardiner?

Have you ever read articles written by William Arkin or Walter Pincus?

Do you know what the DSB is?”

This is somewhat less paranoid that your previous posts (except for your cite of Project Mockingbird). Those were decidedly “shrill”. Sure, there are bad people in the world and especially in the former administration. So? That doesn’t mean we are all controlled by vast all powerful forces. CT’s are bunkum, they are a projection of one’s inner most fantasies.

Conspiracy theories are dreams of power by little men.

…………………….you are useless to talk to….think whatever you want but you will not be able to coerce me to think as you wish and that is exactly your goal—you seek to conrtrol those whom do not agree with your canned ham worldview brought and told to you by the establishment.

Insults and trying to tell me what I think is typical of people as yourself.

You have not answered my questions but that is also typical as well.

Try your crap on someone else…all the insults in the world by you makes no difference to me….Sorry dude….

Actually you are wrong……

Much of what is done and to be done is all out there for people to read from policy papers and government documents or speeches given by the elite as to know what is coming down the pike….nothing conspiratorial about it at all….

I do not agree with you on mind control either, and that is not being, in your words believing in CT’s. Mind control by the government exists whether you want to believe it or not. Since the days of MKULTRA, it’s carried out in many diffeent manifestations……They have become much more creative in their mind control tricks but you will never get it….

Enjoy the X-Ray machine used on your body when they frisk you at the airport…oh, no, that too, must be a conspiracy theory too…..NOT!

Small groups of super wealthy and powerful people, who can and do crash markets, start wars, buy and sell nations, control heads of State, create chaos and mayhem at will, all out of reach of law and out of the public eye.

Such groups do not exist, says noen affirmatively?

fuck yes, she does!

If you go and look, the people who get called “obamabots” are almost without exception always the first to call names and they are almost always the first to ignore what others say. Sad, but true. In order to have a signal as opposed to noise you have to interact with others in a sincere way. If you just used a simple measure, oh like the number of capital letters used, you would find that Dkos beats firedoglake. What does that tell you? It tells you that there is less use of reason there and more here. People have had enough of insincere noise.

Can the left do anything other than internecine warfare?

Yes. And you’re about to see it. Now that this latest step of Jane’s strategy is coming into focus for me (see my comment @ 61 here), I fully expect to be knocked into confusion again going into the next steps (that won’t reduce my frustration, Jane… sorry). But there is way forward. Have no doubt.

How about we start by listening to each other first, rather than reflexively accusing them of weakness, stupidity or sock-puppetry?

They are weakling little fucking sockpuppets. They’ve made themselves largely irrelevant (arguing with them has helped me develop some of my own thinking, so I guess that’s a use I have for them…).

Hope I’ve sufficiently addressed all your questions and concerns.

“obamabots” are almost without exception always the first to call names and they are almost always the first to ignore what others say.

One of the reasons I became convinced that most of them are paid to do what they’re doing over there.

Jane,

As someone from the right, in spite of the chasm that separates us on many political issues, I openly applaud your efforts to take on the twin headed hydra of the Obama machine and the Mortgage Titans. You have done a great service for the country in simply shining a light on this hotbed of corruption. Bravo.

Now that Treasury has given carte blanche to Fannie and Freddie, there will be howls of outrage from the right, but with Healthcare on the front burner, it will be interesting to see the amplitude of outrage as to Fannie, Freddie and Rahm. Frankly, I suspect that outrage from Conservatives and Libertarians will be focused on the Treasury’s acts today, rather than Rahm’s acts several years ago. Whatever the outcome, you have taken great risks and I can only hope that my collegues on the right help you bring this fight to the White House’s doorstep as they should.

President Obama Amends Executive Order 12425

Why Does Interpol Need Immunity from American Law?
[National Review Online]
By Andy McCarthy
December 23, 2009

You just can’t make up how brazen this crowd is. One week ago, President Obama quietly signed an executive order that makes an international police force immune from the restraints of American law.

Interpol is the shorthand for the International Criminal Police Organization. It was established in 1923 and operates in about 188 countries. By executive order 12425, issued in 1983, President Reagan recognized Interpol as an international organization and gave it some of the privileges and immunities customarily extended to foreign diplomats. Interpol, however, is also an active law-enforcement agency, so critical privileges and immunities (set forth in Section 2(c) of the International Organizations Immunities Act) were withheld.
[...]

On Wednesday, however, for no apparent reason, President Obama issued an executive order removing the Reagan limitations. That is, Interpol’s property and assets are no longer subject to search and confiscation, and its archives are now considered inviolable. This international police force (whose U.S. headquarters is in the Justice Department in Washington) will be unrestrained by the U.S. Constitution and American law while it operates in the United States and affects both Americans and American interests outside the United States.

Why would we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files which, therefore, will be beyond the ability of Congress, American law-enforcement, the media, and the American people to scrutinize?

Other Reports on this matter:

[...]

In light of what we know and can observe, it is our logical conclusion that President Obama’s Executive Order amending President Ronald Reagans’ 1983 EO 12425 and placing INTERPOL above the United States Constitution and beyond the legal reach of our own top law enforcement is a precursor to more damaging moves.
[more at link]

[Modnote: for copyright reasons, please use only a portion of the article and then link back to the original, thank you.]

How much longer do you suppose this administration will be viewed as “democratic”?

I give them four more months at the most…

I got yelled at for saying Obamabot over at dkos.

“Meteor Blades,” the hall monitor over there, imagines that a ban on the word “Obamabot” is somehow going to soften the political violence which goes on there every day. “MB” has cred: he did time during Vietnam for draft evasion. His ideas of how to be a hall monitor, though, need a lot of work. His email address: tleelange AT hotmail DOT com . Your best bet for now is to choose other words to say what you want to say.

How much longer do you suppose this administration will be viewed as “democratic”?

Wait until “entitlement reform.”

You’re going after the wrong people. I see this crusade from the “progressive left” as a good indication of a depth of passion, but horribly misguided in terms of achieving the desired end result. All you’re doing is not going after the admin with a 2×4, but really shooting progressive goals in the foot with a shotgun.
The key thing is: Grover Norquist and the teabaggers do NOT have the same goals as you. They don’t want to kill the bill to get a better bill! they want to kill it and then dismantle any regulation over the insurance industry, and in general work for EVERYTHING that is an anathema to the progressive base and its ideals.
going after the current democratic administration, however pleasing, and righteous it may be, gets you NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING in return. It weakens democrats, and increases the likelihood of a greater number of republicans taking office in the next cycle. How this will help the progressive agenda is beyond me.
say the administration does investigate and get rid of rahm? do you know the kind of fodder that will give the opposition in the next election? they’ve been banging this manipulative line about “the Chicago way” since PBO took office. Do you think that getting rid of rahm and starting an investigation would reduce that? do you think independent voters are going to be pulled into the progressive world by this process? or do you think they will become more disenchanted with the whole process, and begin voting out incumbents, of which democrats, and people you can actually have a rational conversation with (even if they don’t agree, and are being paid for by corporate money)?
if you seriously weaken a democratic president, who has already been falsely accused of his associations with various “criminals” and “palling around with terrorists”, it will damage your cause to no end. If you enjoy being a vocal minority railing against an incompetent and highly damaging rightwing president and congress again, then I suppose your trajectory is the correct one.
but from what I’ve seen here, many are 100% in their belief that Obama is a republican in disguise, so I suppose if that’s your starting point, then you may as well continue your merry dance to damage him and this administration.

If you just used a simple measure, oh like the number of capital letters used, you would find that Dkos beats firedoglake.

The only real measure is one of how many hits per day does a website get. Espousing radicalism in order to chat with your friends has its place, to be sure, and when in doubt there’s always Marxmail. But if you really want to reach large numbers of people, you need a large hit count.

One of the reasons I became convinced that most of them are paid to do what they’re doing over there.

Not cost-effective: you’d have to pay a lot of people to spout a lot of bull in order to persuade damn few. A more likely explanation is that this comes out of the same source of cultural folly which produced sports spectatorship.

You will NEVER win anything or find you’re represented in Washington by maintaining the same tired status quo. Progressives need a tougher strategy to have any say in what goes on in this country anymore, and you use the tools available. Period.

I am with you 100 percent, Jane. I’ve believed that there are issues that we can agree with the rightwingers about and we should do that. Corruption is the number one issue in Washington today. Until that is cleaned up, they will continue to represent the corporations first and foremost. When this becomes a simple ideological battle between conservatives and progressives I believe progressives can rule the day.

Until then, we the people need to take back Washington.

Right now–they are paying attention only during the campaigns.

Is that enough?

How this will help the progressive agenda is beyond me.

How leaving Rahm in office will “help the progressive agenda” is beyond me too. Obama and Rahm are neoliberals. Does that word do anything for you?

What has Obama given you that is WORTH saving?

Really. Why so scared? Even if the right DOES win the next election, the differences, at this stage would appear to be minor ones. It is the cowardice on the left–the willingness to hope for any crumbs and even if we don’t get them, to pat ourselves on the back and console ourselves with the “it could be worse” mantra.

You don’t change the country that way.

Ever.

This goes beyond right and left—to men who are not beholden to any party except the corporate one. How much more obvious does it have to get?

We can roll over like dogs forever and enjoy that belly scratch during the elections–or we can make a stand for meaningful reform of a corrupt institution.

I knew one of them was up next year and I stand corrected. I’ll happily vote for Boxer and Lofgren. I really really wish someone would primary Feinstein.

And you’re right, the local elections next year are far more important than the national elections.

And to those who still want to use the guilt trip on me, I say “bite me.” As others have pointed out while there are definitely differences between the parties, the end result is still pretty much the same. Again, if Democrats aren’t going to adhere to their own party platform, you know the one on which they campaigned in 2008 – then they don’t deserve my vote. They have no one to blame but themselves, but that’s probably giving them too much credit for owning the responsibility for their success or failure. It’s much easier to blame it on the voters, and as Jane said somewhat sarcastically, that’s a great way to GOTV.

I’ll drink to that. coffee but still

It will be interesting to see if MSM picks up on this.

They have been mouth frothing over Howard Dean and war in the democratic party.

I would say no. Because it would bring to light the Freddie and Fannie scandal. And of course obamarahm’s part in it.Howard Dean was given a platform to make good criticisms of the Health Care Bill.

The msm definitely will pick up on this. It’s in their corporate interests to do so. Fox, for one, has already announced that it’s pushing the White House for a response to the letter calling on the AG to investigate the weasel.

I also fully expect Gibbs to be fielding questions about it come Monday morning. His answers so far amount to ducking. That will only encourage more questions being fired at him, at the same time that Jane keeps swinging, jabbing, and calling out every bit of their bullshit.

An epic internecine war within the Democratic Party will be irresistable to the msm. And, if done well from our part, their focus on it will used most effectively.

That’s an interesting theory about the sports spectatorship. It seems to be based on about as much intellectual deep thought as their politics.

It’s rather pathetic that the only name you can drop in support of your foolishness is Cenk Uygur. Who?

Enjoy the wilderness Jane. You’ll never eat lunch in this town again.

And look who we have partnered with. Barack Obama.

To Cenk: what a way to silence right opposition of Fannie and Freddie. Buy them off with 800B for Wall Street and the bankers. That keeps Mr. Emmanuel in play -yes? And on our side we get no investigation and hear nary a raised voice from the pack on the other side. As was stated- a news dump.

Agree Jane. The only rules are our ideals. If we can activate the great unmoved and come together- great.

Hmm, I have a hunch that Ms. Jane has already eaten quite a bit of that town’s “lunch”,already.

Many of us read FireDogLake to educate ourselves.

Your comment sounds like a variant of Argumentum Ad Populum.
http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum

If the majority isn’t supporting Jane, then her point must not be valid. I think Rosa Parks had that same problem once.

If you believe Jane’s actions are not principle-based and instead about enriching herself, that tells us more about you than it does her.

Enjoy your filling your belly with those DC lunches Dalybean.

- Tom

When the Democrats struck down the public option, I realized that they were no better than the Republicans. Ever since George Bush Sr. was president, I have been worrying a lot that I won’t make it in the economy. I have watched the middle class slowly disappear, & areas that were once middle class turn into slums. I had to be treated for depression. I really wanted to kill myself. I say that we fight back, because if we don’t I don’t think I will have a future. I don’t think that any of us will have a future. I am still suspicious of conservatives & Glenn Beck, but I am desperate. I’m tired of getting too hooked on TV shows because I want to forget that my life stinks for awhile. I’ve been doing that, & it isn’t good. So let’s fight. Let’s take our country back.

Enjoy the wilderness Jane. You’ll never eat lunch in this town again.

Enjoying the view from the veal pen, Dalybean?

I seriously doubt you even hurt Jane’s feelings, much less convinced her that she’s on the wrong course.

DailyKos—–Gatekeeper and I will end it there….Figure out for yourselves what and who the DailyKos really i

Markos admitted himself at the Commonwealth Club in 2006 that he once, yes, “worked for the CIA,” and on missions to boot, so I am not surprised the DailyKos would work to discredit Jane for voicing her constitutional rights. Markos and Rahm and Obama have more in common than Jane has in common with Markos anyhow….I will leave it there for now….

*

….er yes, please….

the stupid…it burns!!! Sorry had to do that.

DKos is made up of a range of diarists. Flaming assholes are allowed to flame as long as they don’t start promulgating violence, just like most bloggers rules for comments.

Cenk Uygur posted this ON DKOS as well as his own site. There is a great post up today in defense of this as well as a few rabidly defending the administration. Kos himself is fighting for a better health care bill as much as any progressive can.

If you read Cenk, he is welcoming the fuss and the buzz so that this stays alive on both ends of the progressive poles.

The new triangulation: fighting from both the right and left progressive poles to move the center. Right now, America is firmly liking the left. We have the power to move the policy to the left if we keep at it and especially if we work for more and better progressive DEMs for 2010.

Think Darcy Burner, people.

heh, never eat lunch in this town again…..whoooooooo hoooooooo.

As long as we have MSNBC progressive teevee, who needs your stinkin’ lunch.

Whoa, whoa, whoa…back the fuck up. I’m anti-semitic? Where do you get that? Tell my Jewish family, they’ll be really surprised.

And who are you to tell me I’m “not left”? All of a sudden you define who’s left and who’s not? Who gave you the power to do that? My politics would be described by most as “textbook socialist”. If I ain’t left enough for you, well, I’m sorry. You take the crown.

But you know what really gives me the chills? The way you respond to me in plural, like I’m a part of some kind of conspiracy. That’s a very real sign of projection.

Listen up: anyone who disagrees with you is not, repeat not necessarily a) anti-semitic, b) corporatist, or c) whoever hurt you in childhood. Please don’t act as if one of those is automatically the case.

Finally, will someone give me some evidence that the public option was going to affect more than 1.5% of the population? If you can, maybe I’d be as pissed off as you are. Or provide a reasoned rebuttal to Ezra Klein et al, based on facts. Convince people, rather than just hurling accusations.

Are you really committed to fighting for progress, or are you just committed to fighting? Rather than just flinging shit back at me, please take a moment and ask yourselves.

Well, we don’t need no stinkin’ bribery/extortion to grease the free flow of ideas skids here at FDL. A little mutual respect and common sense go along way, too.

*

FTR, a lot of the start of the hate monkeys over there was when Jane was paying people to write diaries in support of a public option on DKos. That told me that there is a lot of probably paid administrative trolling / diarying / DLC trolling / diarying over there.

whoa, I was wondering when the antisemitic calls would come.

What we are fighting for is a chance to clear the fucking air against the great Third Way of corruption that the Clintonistas found necessary. That Obama is using Third Way tactics and personnel is his problem. If he wants a second term he is going to have to change his arc.

We do have a fighting chance. GO FDL!!

And don’t forget Brooksley Born, whom Summers and Geithner had to get congress to take care of, because she would not back down.

IIRC, she was named to the new committee that is supposed to be our equivalent of the Pecora Commission. We’ll see how well that works.

Bob in AZ

w

Bob
During the Senate hearing for Bernanke’s renomination, GOP’s Bunning was the only person to mention Brooksley Born. Had me jumpin up and down for joy that at least I had one hero that day. Lo and behold it was a Republican. I’ll take him.

The modern communists tend to reside over at World Can’t Wait (WCW) and Not in Our Name (NION). They’re mostly good folk, and strong on social activism.

Bob in AZ

The Case for the Libertarian Democrat
by MARKOS MOULITSAS
October 2nd, 2006

Actually, I was about to suggest something similar.
You seem to cite this article as something bad against dKos.

Actually, Jane’s moment with Grover Norquist shows us the way to get attention– that can be very useful. As Markos suggested, we DO have some things in common with the Libertarians, such as a fear of government becoming too intrusive, and too expansive (e.g. with wars). If the Republicans had any sense, they would be tapping into this part of the Libertarian legacy– but no, they have become all rabidly pro-intrusion, pro-war.

Jane, as usual, hits the target.

Bob in AZ

Did you see the documentary on Frontline THE WARNING it was about some of those same characters who got us in this mess in the first place.

Yes, I did. It is a great documentary.

Bob in AZ

The Left?? You aren’t left. You don’t even know what it means. You are reactionary populists.

“How about we start by listening to each other first”

Your assumptions are wrong. Your hate for Rahm is irrational and based in antisemitic attitudes. You are almost completely ignorant of how things get down in the real world. You’re also ignorant of the realities of power and your own role in history.

I don’t even know the person you are talking about, but this ad hominem attack tells me a whole lot more about you than it tells me about trafalgar. You are the ignorant one, because you can’t possibly know what you claim to know. You jump to conclusions too easily. Thanks for wearing your colors so boldly that I can readily identify you and not waste too much time thinking about your comments.

Bob in AZ

I did not suggest Markos article as being necessarily “bad.” That may be the take here on FDL for why I posted it, but, the intention was to show the hypocrisy.

I go to antiwar.com every day to read the latest headlines in foreign policy and listen to antiwarradio faithfully and its a libertarian site. I have never however wanted to jump on the libertarian side unless I join them at antiwar rallies or to protest civil liberties abuses. That being said, I totally reject any type of union as a leftist with libertarians in any formal sense.

I do not oppose internationalism either. If internationalism was carried out in a useful and peaceful and balanced manner holding all natons to account equally, then I am all for internationalism and development which does not impoverish, but, lift up less developed countries. Unfortunately, all the more prosperous countries control all the important international organizations and bend those entities to their will of national interests. So, instead of working most effectively for all nations, those international organizations, instead of being honest arbiters of justice and equality become referees in inter-nation conflicts and disputes. So, unlike libertarians, I am not opposed to interationalism at all. I oppose wars but think nations have much to learn from one another’s cultures and life, etc. I am not an isolationist except perhaps when it comes to war. I am also against big military budgets but not opposed to all foreign aid either. Unfortunately, the foreign aid utilized by the U.S. government is used to manipulate an Imperialist foreign policy agenda, and in that case at it stands now, I am also opposed to it in the present form.

I was just pointing out the hypocrisy of Markos and Kos….

It’s okay when Markos even supports Republicans and works for candidates like Henry Hyde but God forbid, Jane does something with Grover Norquist and she is vilified….

Its okay for Markos to be writing on a CATO Site but Jane gets hammered for going on Fox and Friends…..I mean Markos was a Republican before he signed on to become a “Progressive.”

I was always a leftist…..and always will be without even having to think about it.

just like the healthcare bill which calls for the MICROCHIPPING OF AMERICANS WHO WILL HAVE THESE NEW HEALTHCARE PLANS…..AMERICA WILL SOON BECOME A FULL-FLEDGED SURVEILLANCE STATE MAKING WARS WITH EVERY NATION ON EARTH AND ITS CITIZENS GOOD LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS WHO WILL BE MICROCHIPPED OR ELSE…

I have read some of your comments and they are reasonable, but this crap isn’t. Members here are open to the investigation of the seedy underbellies of society, but this kind of stuff will smear this site as a cook site.
If you have evidence the plan calls for microchipping then post a link to the text of the bell where is says that.
Otherwise,, please stop. NOW!

Do you have links or proof for all those accusations about Markos?, Even if he were working for the CiA, the values he espouses on the TV, at least the ones I have heard are good. Because he has wackos on his site doesn’t make him one either, although he probably should provide some better leadership or oversight over it.
Reasoning that because he is the owner of DK and it’s become a major blog, so therefore it has to be a CIA front is a non sequitur. Extending your reasoning, any owner of a successful blog could be a secret agent.

You need to provide proof – links to credible sites when you start leveling charges the ones you have issued.
A cato speech does not a secret republican CIA make.
We should seriously question your motives here instead.

If it’s today’s corporate owned parties, I’ll be glad to help Jane and Norquist drown them in a bath tub. If these are Democrats, who needs them.