CNN did a piece yesterday morning on how to teach children K-12 about 9/11 without traumatizing them. I wondered how they will teach the children about the people the usofa has killed.

Like much of america’s bloodthirsty, imperialistic history, the truth would no doubt truly traumatize the children.

There was a speech last night?

So the foks in Sarasota and Miramar were paling around with terrorists. The terrorists apparently also took refuge in Del Ray Beach and Boynton Beach.
Since our post 9-11 mission was to destroy any government that provided refuge and a safe haven to the terrorists I’ve always wondered why Florida did not become an occupied territory. Probably because there really wasn’t enough oil in the Everglades to make it worth it to Dick Cheney.

Let’s get ahead of the curve here, I wasn’t paying attention. Somebody tell me what the zombies have been ranting for. That’s what Obama will give them in the name of compromise. The rest is commentary.

I didn’t see it either. I thought that it would be a pointless waste of my time. His measures and proposals were no doubt half assed and “bipartisan”, and none of which will pass the House. In the end, we won’t get any stimulus but social security and medicare will be cut and Obama will declare victory and John Cole and Markos Moulitsas will tell us it’s “the best we can get”. Tired of this fucking song.

Obama claimed we have to cut Medicare “while protecting current beneficiaries”- I don’t get this meme (and yes I asked this question at another blog)…Has anyone ever offered an explanation as to why current Medicare recepients are protected while, say, I, have to eat shit on these deals? I know it’s a political ploy, but has any politician ever explained why people who are currently old are so much more important than I am?

Good morning, pups. It’s Brooks, Cohen and Krugman today. In “Stimulus for Skeptics” Bobo says the president was feisty Thursday night, and that his jobs plan has potential. Mr. Cohen, in “Imagining 9/11,” says if you tell him your theory of what really happened on 9/11 and he’ll tell you who you are. Prof. Krugman, in “Setting Their Hair on Fire,” says President Obama, with a significantly bolder and better plan than expected, tries to get action on unemployment.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got lemon poppy seed muffins to share. I’m with Attaturk 110% about avoiding Sunday’s news programs. They’re generally toxic enough, but this Sunday they’re sure to be ghastly. I’m also going to avoid looking at The Savannah Daily Disappointment. Have a great day.

Prolly because we old folks tend to vote in large numbers.

My son is 39 and has asked the same question as you did. I told him the president says “we have to eat our peas.” And yeah, you’re getting screwed.

Oh, I know the actual reason, but has anyone ever provided a policy reason? Why is my retirement less valuable than that of my ancient neighbor?

So “eat your peas” is what the kids are calling it these days?

Older people (on Medicare) vote in greater numbers. As Dean Baker says in nearly every column, if we had single-payer, we’d be running surpluses, not deficits.

There’s a scene in Catch-22 where Yossarian is asked by the brass, “Don’t you want to give your life for Col. Corn and me?”

Don’t you want to contribute to our Master’s eighth home or to their 15th billion?

Good morning all,

Boy, I was to young to remember the tenth year anniversary of Pearl Harbor so this should be interesting.

The opposite of a truther is ?

I rue this whole 9-11 show and what we did to our morals and country using that as an excuse.

I think we are so past the point of believing anything we hear from the “folks” in DC…very sad. Whatever we hear has very little to do with what is or what will be. Talk, just talk….

Yep. Everybody, Republicans and Vichycrat(s) alike are running for the Presidency of the DC Beltway, not of the the rest of the country out here in Realityland.

I accidently saw a few snippets of it. Switched channels before it turned me too stupid.

Boxturtle (would NOT buy a used car from that man)

What’s most scary is what we don’t hear, such as the the secret meetings of the Supercongress or the meetings of plutocrats we are ruled by.

I’m with Attaturk 110% about avoiding Sunday’s news programs.

Ditto. I plan to sleep through them, then watch football.

Boxturtle (GOOOOOO Browns!)

When was the last time,on any issue, that we heard our “elected” representatives actually debate a policy on its merits? It’s all gamesmanship now.

I think Digby’s cut is about right:

So the speech is a mixed bag. Hearing a recitation of the liberal legacy is welcome and I hope he does more of it. Since the Republicans aren’t likely to pass anything anyway, it would have been nice to have an argument for direct government stimulus, but since the president has been making the case for belt tightening for the last several months, I guess they figure it would be too confusing. But committing to more deficit reduction, singling out Medicare and Medicaid, was an unnecessary step backwards.

Not quite strong enough for me but close enough.

Hearing a recitation of the liberal legacy is welcome

So Digby wants to hear more talk about the liberal legacy? I’d rather see more policy in support of the liberal legacy but that’s just me: DFH.

Yep, Richard Nixon would be proud. He’s won again.

The plan is mostly a republican plan. Pure and simple.

No, she agrees with you. The post is quite long.

Good Morning Pups,

Mr breathless, feckless, (listened on the radio) doesn’t have the lung capacity to even sound convincing anymore.

I’ll try to have a good morning by depending on myself to stuff a few more quarts of fresh veggies into the freezer for winter (5 gallons of yellow wax and green string beans). I saved 4% on my payout for pre-buying my propane for staying warm this winter. I don’t know how many more winter’s that’ll happen.

Travis,
I do not know if you are still here but I would like to answer part of your question.
I am 68 years old, my wife 67 and yes we do receive Medicare and would be financially destroyed if not for Medicare and supplemental insurance with her medical troubles.
I hate the way obummer (small type deliberate) is using Medicare, SS and Medicaid as a tool to appease the Republicans. We have all said that he is not Democrat, because Democrats would fight tooth and nail to protect these safety nets and now he is using generational issues pitting the older against the younger as you say. It is flat out wrong. I have children who are now approaching middle age and I want the same or better than I have with regard to protections. It should not be an issue that is even on the table with regard to cuts and “austerity measures”. This over 55 and under 55 issue is a sham and I am ashamed to say I voted for him looking for hope and change. I could not even listen to his worthless promises last night so I am tryng this morning to see what others think of his message.
I am sorry if you feel that we old timers are part of the mix and are satisfied because “I got mine, screw you…” that is not the case I would venture with 90% of us. We want you to have the same safety net.
Just explaining, not complaining about your very good comments.
Respectfully submitted,

I could not even listen to his worthless promises last night so I am trying this morning to see what others think of his message.

Most feel the same as you do, I suspect. I do.

Billionaires, millionaires, hedge fund managers, banksters, corporate CEOs, and war profiteers are all drunk from champagne celebrating last nights speech. Mr. O wants to steal Social Security funds and payroll tax payments into it. Divert it to criminal banksters and political cronies. We should expect very little, if any of that money actually going into the pay check of American workers or US infrastructure projects. The money like that of the $ 16 trillion hand3ede out by the Fed, will likely make it into the pockets of Wall Street criminals and be used to outsource more American jobs and factories overseas.

Something is up.

I read about this Saudi Prince a while ago, Short version is that he married some Egyptian woman who was really in to partying and living it up. The family was against a relationship with her, so he left the family and SA and got married to be with her. They lived decadently in an expensive hotel in Cairo for a few years.

Members of her family started spending the money and they got some hangers on. They held a lot of expensive parties, did a lot of drugs, gave away a lot of gifts. Needless to say there were power struggles between hangers-on to be the favorite. A lot of the gossip and news gets back to the royal family and they aren’t pleased.

The Prince’s wife’s son (from another marriage) gets married, and the new wife finds out hes already married. They buy a handful of properties in Florida. The old wife moves in one, and the new wife in another..etc. etc., Eventually the second wife leaves and sues him for divorce and money. The Prince is sick of it all and heads back to Saudi Arabia and the son is miffed at his crappy allowance and leaves the properties, including one under development and skips out on the divorce court. The Prince’s wife turns up dead in london and her family thinks that the royals have had her killed. Its a real soap opera.

And now this.

This is a leak from our government sending the saudis a message. ubetchiam had a diary the other day about them breaking away from our WTI oil pricing scheme.

Also, Its not unlikely that the saudis were paying for bin Ladens up keep in Pakistan. Could be we’re tanking economically, and we’ve been looking the other way and protecting secrets and they’re not playing ball. We already know the Bin Laden Family were in the country and shuttled out after 9/11.

It was Prince Turki as al haiijjiii the one who’s name is spelled wrong in the miami herald, she was Princess Hend al-Fasi
Egypt reopens case of dead Saudi princess
Who Is Behind The Death Of Princess Hind Al Fasi?!
The Sheiks Who Shake Up Florida
The Princess was a Jewelry Thief
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=220315750690

Probably just keeping us on our toes hating the muslims gratuitously for patriot day.

That’s key to the strategy of dividing the generations. They don’t want you to focus on keeping what you should have. They want you to hate your grandmother. It’s the same thing they do pitting union and government workers against others. Don’t get mad at your private sector boss for cutting your health benefits and eliminating his 401K match while pocketing the money for himself. Get furious at the union guy who still gets health benefits and a pension. It’s his fault.

Well, the other reason is that there seems to be bipartisan agreement that they can no longer afford a middle class. It’s the bipartisan plan to turn the American Dream into the American Nightmare. The middle class will be allowed to die out in peace. You will never have a middle class retirement because there isn’t going to be a middle class when you retire. Ironic in that we were supposedly willing to nuke the planet to save you from communism but they’re totally OK with returning to serfdom.

I am as tired as Margaret. The James Fallows appreciation of preznit’s rhetoric linked to by BT upstairs (Morning Swim) shows preznit did use new words. The speech and actions to back it up could have had a dramatic impact on the 2010 midterm elections but asshat preznit had no balls to give that speech or take those actions when they would have had useful impact. Instead, after the midterms he gave away all the money to the ultra-wealthy and the billionaire trust-fund babies. So fuck preznit’s fancy rhetoric, it’s too late to stave off the Depression workers will suffer for the next five years.

I’m way behind all of you in reading this thread, but here is a policy-based rationale: the law in general (not necessarily Medicare law itself) makes sharp distinctions between rights to benefits that have vested or are being paid at the current time, and rights to future benefits. The law generally gives substantial weight to something called “reliance interest” or “reliance.” IOW, people who are already relying on receipt of benefits or reimbursements (i.e. medical care paid for by such reimbursements) may have a stronger legal claim to those benefits than persons who are not yet in pay status.

I have not done the constitutional law research recently but one of the foundation cases regarding due process rights to govt benefits is a Supreme Court decision called Goldberg issued in the mid-1960s or early 1970s.

Here’s the deal friends. Most readers and writers on this blog understand that the government we have is incapable of serving the needs of the people. Our government and the process of placing people to serve within the government has been completely corrupted. The courts are almost completely in the pocket of the right wing agenda which is supports the powerful elite’s agenda. We’ve grown up a huge military which sucks enormous resources and is engaged in creating wars and fear and drumming patriotism to induce the people to go along with their self serving agenda. Wall Street is only there to secure wealth or create more for the already wealthy and is not about financing business growth and job creation. Our foreign policy is all about exploiting people and extracting resources for wealth creation for a very few already wealthy individuals.

We know well by know that we are getting the royal screwing. And we are faced with having fewer and fewer tools to turn all the above (and more around). We rail, we protest, we write letters, we even attempt to lobby our government and none of it has done a thing. In fact, each day things get worse (for the people).

All of the goings on of the establishment are well documented and some in stunning detail. But nothing happens. There is no accountability.. and nothing resembling justice.

And what are we doing? For the most part commiserating about it, sharing stories and comments and either paralyzed and incapable of doing anything, or have *given up* as everything seems to be fruitless.

What is needed is a revolution… a rather complete house cleaning… a second American revolution. That won’t happen it seems. We don’t have what it takes to take our nation back.

What will happen is that the whole *thing* will come crashing down.. consumed by its own excesses… led by the crumbling economy. The fall of the US empire will not come with a bang but with a whimper.. a long whimper as institution after institution goes bust one after after another. Capitalism brought the great empire and capitalism will be the cause of its demise.

There’s not much anyone can do to prevent the fall from happening… All we can do is complain, suffer and watch… and try to figure out how to survive after the fall.

Historical inevitability.

Totally agree. I’ve been posting this on Facebook and all my friends are in denial. Capitalism is dying and there is nothing Osterity and his merry band of bankstas and criminal capitalists can do about it. We will be the ones to suffer as they cower in their gated communities as the whole house of cards comes crumbling down.

It’s obvious to me what happened with the Saudi Family:
Fastball – The Way

What Obama says and what Obama does are very different things. So I don’t pay attention to what he says.

My favorite part of the Saudi connection story:

So there you have it: The FBI had photos of Mohammed Atta’s car driving to visit a Saudi family that suddenly disappeared mysteriously just days before Atta executed the most deadly terrorist attack in U.S. history and the bureau never told anyone about it. Totally unrelated: The only major redaction in the 9/11 Commission report was a 28-page section spelling out connections between the hijackers and Saudi elites. I can’t wait until the 20th anniversary, when we’ll get to find out more. Happy 9/11 Day!

and we all know how very much Bush LOVED kissing the Saudi princes………

There are many thing I don’t know, there are some I am sure of……

Actually, No. Nixon would be considered a raving liberal by today’s DC standards.

Agree. I suspect Nixon was taken out because he refused to implement Friedman’s supply side economics/ Shock Doctrine buildup

Agree with SanderO, BlueToe & you. What SanderO said @34 nails it.

I am *starting* to witness some of my trad-Dem voter friends slightly awaken. Most have been sound asleep & paying not one whit of attention to anything. My roommate is a teacher & was *clueless* about the Union-busting going on in WI, as well as totally *unaware* of the various rallies held in our city in support of the Unions, particularly the Teacher Unions. Blindingly UNAWARE and didn’t particularly give a crap… feels utterly (and falsely, I believe) *secure* in her job, so why bother with anything or anyone else?? I guess that’s her thing.

Despite my roommate’s partner having lost his job some years ago & his various financial struggles to survive, my roommate continued to be blissfully *unaware* of the drastic problems & hardships confronting a lot of citizens. Recently, however, some of her relatives have started to be laid off their jobs, as well as a couple of neighbors. All middle class, mostly all over 50, most with NO prospect of ANY work.

So the penny is *finally* dropping for my roommate that – hey! – we’re in deep do-do here. At this point, she is mostly frozen & has *no clue* of what to do… just kind of whining about it.

I think that sums up how most US citizens are. Clueless, can’t be bothered to pay attention even to stuff that may directly affect them, essentially overfed & lazy and addicted to their gizmos and clickers.

Now the really big sh*t is hitting the fan, and some are finally waking up to how screwed up things are, and that they ain’t gonna get any better any time soon… in fact, they’re most likely gonna get a h*ll of a lot worse.

But I just don’t see most US citizens having the guts and the ambition to get offa their lazy duffs to, you know, revolt. And most of ‘em are still blindingly *clueless* as to WHY things are the way they are. My roommate, the trad-Dem voter, STILL complains that taxes are “too high,” and that she “understands” why jobs are shipped off to China, and so on…

And so: on it goes….

Didn’t bother to watch whatever so-called “political speech” happened last night. Why? It signifies BUPKISS. We are screwed. Bend over & grab your KY jelly, if you’re lucky enough to have the money to buy some lube. That’s about the size of it. What else is there to say????????

Don’t worry. I have full faith that there is one thing left of our Democracy – our government will screw us all equally. Except, of course, the “elite” 1%.

I have wondered about that, myself… Why did Tricky get busted? My fundie rightwing Teapublican mother was right, after all: Nixon didn’t do anything more or less than what they *all* do… so why did he get busted??? Must’ve upset the PTB in some way… busted to send a lesson to those following… quite possible.

Talk, as they say, is cheap, and at this point, Digby’s a world-class “bargain hunter” when it comes to shilling for Obama. :o)

That speech was campaign-rhetoric “please-God-my-numbers-are-tanking!” PR foof. Nothing in there has been passed, and if ANY jobs bill can get by the republican house, it will be watered down to the consistency of piss-thin gruel, with happy, bipartisan, agreement.

It’s not like Obama had all this descend on him from heaven. Unemployment was at 10 percent when he came in. What he needed to do was go after the tough stuff right away. I.E.; send a jobs bill up to the DEMOCRATIC House that was bristling with Rooseveltian teeth, and dare the republicans to filibuster it. He’d have been Captain America.

Now, he’s a whimpering poodle.

All the republicans have to worry about is not humiliating him to the point that he becomes a complete sympathy figure. They need to let political gravity do it’s work, and it will.

Campaign flourishes are not going to turn this around. He needed to figure out how to put some money in the pockets of Joe and Jane sixpak…and the republicans won’t let him do that, even if he wanted to, which he doesn’t.

“I am starting to witness some of my trad-dem voter friends slightly awaken.”

Don’t go anywhere, Onitgoes: as we move right along, the noise from rose-colored glasses falling off heads is going to sound like piano’s hitting the street.

Nixon was involved, by his own admission, in payments to keep accused felons from dragging his administration any further into Watergate.

Among other things…

Of course, the real reason that the Goldwater Firing Squad mustered up to serve the eviction notice was that Nixon had become such a political liability that most any conger with an “R” after his or her name was at high risk of losing their job.

Funny how history is repeating itself (with a different letter) isn’t it. :o)

It was an important and solemn occasion for the corporate lapdog in the White House to invite the corporate lapdogs in Congress to join hands in combating Social Security, which is our gravest threat.

Hey, Sunday is 9/11 and there’s another possibly credible terra threat. Congress must pass this bill to save our homeland ASAP!