Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this whole situation is that the Obama administration launched its effort to support military families this week. Sadly, however, the program being launched is being used as a vehicle to rehabilitate the image of war criminal Stanley McChrystal, against the wishes of Pat Tillman’s family, who suffered greatly from McChrystal’s role in covering up the friendly fire aspect of Tillman’s death. Furthermore, the program is being administered by the Center for a New American Security, which is funded by military contractors and is involved in a campaign to sell the idea of extending the Iraq war. At a time when it should be stepping up real services for both active military personnel and for veterans, the Obama administration is playing the worst sort of cynical politics with military families. There are no words to describe the evil of this situation.

Five Republicans – Mark Kirk, Lisa Murkowski, Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins – voted with every Senate Democrat against the correction. In another correction given a vote in the Senate, Democrats defeated an effort to repeal the health care law on a straight party line vote, with all Democrats opposing and all Republicans supporting.

• Stalemate.
• Damn it feels good to be a bankster.
• Krugman: Who’s serious now?
• They’re all such idiots.
• Explains a lot, doesn’t it?

Atlas Shrugged: the Movie is even worse than Atlas Shrugged: the Novel. I just hope the Adult Entertainment Industry can pull off The Fountainhead.

John Prine — Crazy As A Loon.

What is Scottdemort trying to hide?

I guess things are getting better, except for the long term Un and Underemployed, who are seemingly being forgotten by most of the people in power.

The deficit reduction plan President Obama vaguely outlined yesterday lacks basic credibility. The problem isn’t that the math doesn’t add up–it is at least a dramatic improvement over Republican Paul Ryan’s plan, which literally defies logic and basic math. This issue is that many of the reductions President Obama promised yesterday come from actions that he has been promising for years, yet when the opportunity came up to fulfill them, he actively violated his word.

Something funny happened yesterday.

The House Armed Services Committee had a hearing on Gitmo Detainee Transfer Policy. According to Carol Rosenberg’s tweeting, up to two hours of the hearing was conducted in closed session before the hearing opened to the public and the witnesses explained that the interesting details–like the “recidivists” names and the amount paid to other countries to accept detainees–are secret (meaning they presumably got reported in that secret session).

Most of the time, you can ignore that foot on your neck. You can pretend that electoral politics work and that we are a nation of law, not of rich people. You can revel when your tribe puts someone in office, and pretend that the person you voted for is working in your interests.

Not today. Today it is confirmed: there will be no prosecutions, there will be no accountability for the rich financiers and their clients who caused the Great Crash of 2008, profited mightily, fought off regulation, and escaped with their personal fortunes and their reputations intact, all as part of the great muddle-through plan of the Obama administration.