THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

They suffer from Inigo Montoya Syndrome

2012-02-18T12:23:00.000-05:00

They go through life using a word that does not mean what they think it means. They are the Republican/Teabaggers who go around calling Barack Obama a Socialist. And Richard Eskow writing in AlterNet takes the time to show us that Obama is not only the least socialist of men, but that lack of socialism drags down his popularity.

The Republican presidential candidates keep calling Barack Obama a socialist. If they're trying to invoke the Red Menace like Republicans of past campaigns, they're a generation too late. Americans between the ages of 19 and 29 have no memory of the Cold War. Today they have a more positive impression of socialism than they do of capitalism.

The word “socialism” can be applied to a range of economic models, from Cuban collectivism to the Western European social democracies that are the home of some of the world's most successful corporations.

But until this election came along it had never been used to describe someone who expanded the private health insurance system, let a negligent company keep control of the cleanup for an environmental disaster it caused, offered to cut retirement and elder health benefits, and repeatedly insisted that the government should cut costs. This president is less socialistic than most of his predecessors, including many Republicans.

The irony is that socialist-inspired policies are popular with Americans, including many Republicans, even if the label is not. Polls suggest that a more “socialist” Obama would also be a more popular candidate, and the same is true of his opponents.

If only what makes you popular with people also made you popular with corporations and the people they have enriched.

Gee, who could have seen that coming

2012-02-18T12:10:00.001-05:00

Once again the big hedge funds and speculators are buying up gas and oil futures at a pace that far outstrips any demand. As a result the price of crude is over $100 a barrel despite demand being the lowest in years. The Big Swinging Dicks hope to make a killing and we pay over $4.00 a gallon. Just try getting any sensible regulation of futures past the BigOil/Wall St running dogs in Congress.

What is dumber than the driver of a gray Porsche?

2012-02-17T22:45:00.003-05:00

When you read this and see the pictures, you will know the answer is not much. Maybe the driver of a red Porsche. Once again a Porsche owner helps to cement their reputation as assholes.

Music to scare away the Santorum

2012-02-17T20:08:00.001-05:00

I hope it works. I know it is very afraid of Good Lovin'

Christian charity?

2012-02-17T19:13:00.001-05:00

Dominating women is more important to the Frothy One than giving the Lord His due.

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Hopelessly hoping

2012-02-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

They say that suicide is painless.

From the pen of Tom Toles

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Some rich dude couldn't wait for the sale

2012-02-17T13:39:00.000-05:00

So he sent a couple of armed thugs to steal the antiquities he wanted from a Greek museum.

Two masked gunmen stormed into a small museum at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in southern Greece on Friday, smashing display cases with hammers and making off with dozens of antiquities up to 3,200 years old, authorities said.

It was the second major museum theft in as many months in debt-crippled Greece, and a culture ministry unionist said spending cuts have compromised security at hundreds of museums and ancient sites across the country. With unemployment at 21 percent and Greece's economy in its fifth year of recession, crime, poverty and homeless rates also have been increasing.

Friday's robbers targeted the museum of the ancient Games at Olympia, a few hundred yards (meters) away from the world heritage site's main museum that contains priceless statues and bronze artifacts excavated at the holiest sanctuary of ancient Greece.

Officials said 65 artifacts were stolen by the robbers, who tied up the only site guard, a 48-year-old woman.

Whoever contracted for the robbery may have saved some money over the eventual auction price, but they may also have started a trend.

Stephen Colbert's mother ill

2012-02-17T13:31:00.003-05:00

From the HuffPo:

The Colbert Report" has been temporarily suspended due to the host's mother, Lorna Colbert, 91, falling ill, sources close to the show say.

Since news broke early yesterday morning that new episodes of "The Colbert Report" had been abruptly put on hold due to "unforeseen circumstances," speculation as to the reason has ranged far and wide. Many fans suspected a family illness, while others speculated that the host had been fired or that he was engaging in some kind of bizarre PR stunt.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Colbert family.

Let me tell you about Maxi the Moocher

2012-02-17T13:23:00.001-05:00

Also known as Conservatives in red states. Paul Krugman looks at the excellent NY Times article revealing the extent to which Conservatives rely on government programs.

The article made its case with maps showing the distribution of dependency, but you get the same story from a more formal comparison. Aaron Carroll of Indiana University tells us that in 2010, residents of the 10 states Gallup ranks as “most conservative” received 21.2 percent of their income in government transfers, while the number for the 10 most liberal states was only 17.1 percent.

Now, there’s no mystery about red-state reliance on government programs. These states are relatively poor, which means both that people have fewer sources of income other than safety-net programs and that more of them qualify for “means-tested” programs such as Medicaid.

PK misses the opportunity to state that the red states are poor states because the Conservatives don't know how to govern for the good of the people. He does speculate on a few reasons but when all is said and done, it is impossible to deny the truth.

Presumably, then, voters imagine that pledges to slash government spending mean cutting programs for the idle poor, not things they themselves count on. And this is a confusion politicians deliberately encourage. For example, when Mr. Romney responded to the new Obama budget, he condemned Mr. Obama for not taking on entitlement spending — and, in the very next breath, attacked him for cutting Medicare.

The truth, of course, is that the vast bulk of entitlement spending goes to the elderly, the disabled, and working families, so any significant cuts would have to fall largely on people who believe that they don’t use any government program.

Some people will never get it, but maybe someday most people will realize that to vote Republican/Teabagger is to paint a target on your own feet and fire away.

EXTRA: Paul Krugman got an interview in Playboy. SFW? What do you think!

Good news made permanent

2012-02-17T13:04:00.000-05:00

Four months ago Pat Buchanan was suspended by MSNBC. Now it has been msde complete, MSNBC has dropped to old bigot. Better late than never.

Tom Harkin is absolutely right

2012-02-17T12:42:00.001-05:00

Sen. Tom Harkin, the intelligent Senator from Iowa, has blasted the administration and fellow Democrats for extending the SSI payroll tax cut.

The bill will extend a 2 percent break in the tax that goes to fund Social Security for the rest of 2012, saving families $1,000 on average.

That lost revenue will be replaced in the Social Security trust fund from the nation's general tax collections, but the plan has attracted opposition from both the left and right on grounds that it sets a bad precedent and adds the $100 billion cost to the deficit.

Harkin (D-Iowa), who has long been a staunch defender of Social Security, hammered it as the beginning of the end for the program.

"This Congress will be making a grave mistake -- a grave mistake -- and reinforcing a dangerous precedent," Harkin said in a dramatic Senate floor speech late Thursday. "And I’m dismayed that Democrats, including a Democratic president and a Democratic vice president, have proposed this, and are willing to sign off on a deal that could begin the unraveling of Social Security."

Harkin argued that Social Security had always been strong and protected because it was funded by its own dedicated tax stream that ensured every American would be guaranteed a basic income in their retirements, and that the program added not "even one dime to the deficits or the national debt."

Politicians never go back and fix things, no matter how badly they screw the pooch. And they have screwed the pooch with this tax cut.

The Frothy One tries to defend Aspirin Boy

2012-02-17T12:30:00.000-05:00

By doing a Gingrich on CBS News for asking him about his owners remark.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum took a page from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s playbook on Friday and lashed out at CBS News for asking him about a major supporter who dismissed the need for contraception by saying women could put an aspirin “between their knees.”

“This is someone who is a supporter of mine and I’m not responsible for every comment a supporter of mine makes,” the candidate told CBS host Charlie Rose. “It was a bad joke. It was a stupid joke. It’s not reflective of me or my record on this issue. … This is the same gotcha politics that you get from the media.”

“Nobody said you were responsible,” Rose explained. “They said, how would you characterize it and what had you said to him, not that you were responsible? It’s to understand how you differ from what this person said.”

“This is what you guys do,” Santorum charged. “You don’t do this with President Obama. In fact with President Obama, what you did was you went out and defended him against someone who he sat in a church for — for 20 years — and defended him that, ‘Oh, he can’t possibly believe what he listened to for 20 years.’”

Attacking the press and trying to deflect the subject may work for Newticles because everyone knows he is a mean, unprincipled son of a bitch. When it comes from Ricky it sounds like play acting.

From her first album

2012-02-16T19:52:00.000-05:00

You can hear where she is going to go with her music.

This can only be classified as a Massive Fail.

2012-02-16T19:30:00.000-05:00

From the AP:

North American Aerospace Defense Command said it scrambled two F-16 fighters from March Air Reserve Base, Calif., to intercept a Cessna 182 over Los Angeles about 2:30 p.m. EST, according to a NORAD statement.

The Cessna entered into the same airspace as Marine One, according to the Secret Service. Officials interviewed the pilot and turned the matter over to local law enforcement.

A law enforcement official said police discovered about 40 pounds of marijuana inside after it landed at Long Beach Airport.

Somebody no pay attention to NOTAM. As long as he doesn't call it medical marijuana his lawyer might get him off.

Garry Wills demolishes anti contraception arguement

2012-02-16T17:33:00.000-05:00

And the curbstone Catholics who propound it as if they knew what they were talking about.

By a revolting combination of con men and fanatics, the current primary race has become a demonstration that the Republican party does not deserve serious consideration for public office. Take the controversy over contraceptives. American bishops at first opposed having hospitals and schools connected with them pay employee health costs for contraceptives. But when the President backed off from that requirement, saying insurance companies can pay the costs, the bishops doubled down and said no one should have to pay for anything so evil as contraception. Some Republicans are using the bishops’ stupidity to hurt the supposed “moderate” candidate Mitt Romney, giving a temporary leg up to the faux naïf Rick Santorum; others are attacking Barack Obama as an “enemy of religion.”

Pusillanimous Catholics—Mark Shields and even, to a degree, the admirable E. J. Dionne—are saying that Catholics understandably resent an attack on “their” doctrine (even though they do not personally believe in it). Omnidirectional bad-faith arguments have clustered around what is falsely presented as a defense of “faith.” The layers of ignorance are equaled only by the willingness of people “of all faiths” to use them for their own purposes. Consider just some of the layers:

This one is a must read for anybody in the real world.

Thirty one morons led by Jos Lieberschmuck

2012-02-16T17:17:00.001-05:00

Declare war on Iran when it becomes nuclear capable. I would gladly buy a one-way plane ticket for anyone of those shitheads to get them over there and out of our hair. Now Israel is going to think they have a green light to attack Iran whenever they want.

The Perils of Going Negative

2012-02-16T13:56:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Pearls Before Swine and Stephan Pastis

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Scott Brown gets it ass backwards again

2012-02-16T13:19:00.001-05:00

Elizabeth Warren supports contraceptive coverage for all women. Sen. Scott "Nudie" Brown is a co-sponsor of the Blunt Amendment which even a neanderthal would consider over the top. So Sen. Nudie comes out with this brain fart.

One of our most fundamental rights as a people is the freedom of religion. It was right here in Plymouth, Massachusetts that pilgrims from Europe established a colony because of religious persecution at home.

Now, it is Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren who has assumed the mantle of oppressor. She and her allies on the left are dictating to Catholics and other people of faith that they must do as they are told when it comes to health care or face the consequences, regardless of their personal religious beliefs.

The founders of Massachusetts left England so they could establish their own religious oppression. The purpose of the First Amendment is to prevent anybody's bishop from imposing religious law on innocent people. Sen. Nudie gets it ass backwards again.

Darrell Issa's Panel of "Experts"

2012-02-16T12:59:00.001-05:00

For his kangaroo committee on birth control. Will any one ask any of these wizened old dudes if they have stopped beating their wives? Or in the case of the bishops, their altar boys?

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So tell me again, why did they settle?

2012-02-16T12:46:00.001-05:00

San Francisco county officials did an audit of recent foreclosures. Their findings are illustrative of the type and extent of fraud in bank foreclosure activity.

An audit by San Francisco county officials of about 400 recent foreclosures there determined that almost all involved either legal violations or suspicious documentation, according to a report released Wednesday.

Anecdotal evidence indicating foreclosure abuse has been plentiful since the mortgage boom turned to bust in 2008. But the detailed and comprehensive nature of the San Francisco findings suggest how pervasive foreclosure irregularities may be across the nation.

The improprieties range from the basic — a failure to warn borrowers that they were in default on their loans as required by law — to the arcane. For example, transfers of many loans in the foreclosure files were made by entities that had no right to assign them and institutions took back properties in auctions even though they had not proved ownership.

Commissioned by Phil Ting, the San Francisco assessor-recorder, the report examined files of properties subject to foreclosure sales in the county from January 2009 to November 2011. About 84 percent of the files contained what appear to be clear violations of law, it said, and fully two-thirds had at least four violations or irregularities.

This is only one county in one state but it would be safe to say in the largest banks, those too big to manage properly, this criminal activity is probably the norm. Over the last 10-15 years the guiding metrics for the banks have devolved into make your numbers or else. In that kind of climate anything that helps you do so can be justified. And once again we find MERS knee deep in the problem.

Iowa goes full tilt misogyny

2012-02-16T12:27:00.001-05:00

In an attempt to prove that Steve King is not a fluke as the Dumbest King in Congress, Iowa Republican/Teabaggers, in an attempt to prove that they are the Dumbest in the country, will push for a law that makes all abortions illegal and condemns anyone who terminates a pregnancy to life in prison.

Legislation introduced to the Iowa House of Representatives on Wednesday would completely outlaw abortion and mandate up to life in prison for those who purposefully terminate a pregnancy.

The bill, House File 2298, was introduced by state Rep. Kim Pearson (R). It would outlaw all abortions, even cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of a mother.

In response, Iowa Democrats blasted Republicans for pushing a divisive social agenda rather than focusing on improving the economy.

“Republicans have failed to focus on ways to make Iowa stronger,” Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky said in a statement. “House Republicans and their colleagues in the Senate would rather put the lives of women in danger than have a real discussion about how we create jobs and move Iowa forward.”

This law runs contrary to Roe v Wade and is only meant to be run up to the Supreme Court as soon as possible before Obama can appoint another justice and put their activist justices in the minority. It also highlights the potential for tragedy any time someone votes for a Republican/Teabagger.

An American in Paris

2012-02-15T19:59:00.003-05:00

Back then they liked us and we were just ignorant, not stupid.

A comparison of the two front runners.

2012-02-15T19:11:00.001-05:00

Bashir looks at Obama and Santorum

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It's not too difficult if you know what to look for

2012-02-15T18:08:00.003-05:00

Robert Fisk, writing in the Independent, explains that the real situation in Syria is not what what it appears to be here in the US and among our allies. Far from facing a "Benghazi moment", little Bashar has enough support in his world to continue his course.

It's not difficult to see how the opposite plays in the West. The barrage of horrifying Facebook images from Homs, and statements from the "Free Syrian Army", and the huffing of La Clinton and the amazement that Russia can be so blind to the suffering of Syrians – as if America was anything but blind to the suffering of Palestinians when, say, more than 1,300 were killed in Israel's onslaught on Gaza – doesn't gel with reality on the ground. Why should the Russians care about Homs? Did they care about the dead of Chechnya?

Look at it the other way round. Yes, we all know that Syria's intelligence service has committed human rights abuses. They did that in Lebanon. Yes, we all know this is a regime in Damascus, not an elected government. Yes, we all know about corruption. Yes, we watched the UN's humiliation at the weekend – although why La Clinton should expect the Russians to click their heels after the "no-fly zone" in Libya turned into "regime change" is a bit of a mystery.

The destruction of the Alawite-led government in Syria – which means in effect, a Shia regime – will be a sword in the soul of Shia Iran. And look at the Middle East now from the windows of the massive presidential palace that overlooks the old city of Damascus. True, the Gulf has turned against Syria. True, Turkey has turned against Syria (while generously offering Bashar exile in the old Ottoman empire).

But look east, and what does Bashar see? Loyal Iran standing with him. Loyal Iraq – Iran's new best friend in the Arab world – refusing to impose sanctions. And to the west, loyal little Lebanon refusing to impose sanctions. Thus from the border of Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, Assad has a straight line of alliances which should prevent, at least, his economic collapse.

The trouble is that the West has been so deluged with stories and lectures and think-tank nonsense about the ghastly Iran and the unfaithful Iraq and the vicious Syria and the frightened Lebanon that it is almost impossible to snap off these delusional pictures and realise that Assad is not alone. That is not to praise Assad or to support his continuation. But it's real.

And until the Western powers realize what is happeneing and act upon the reality, Syria is not going to improve for us. But the secret lies in not seeing what we wish for.

Fall back on the old reliable way

2012-02-15T12:19:00.001-05:00

From the pen of Stuart Carlson

Greece commits to its destruction

2012-02-15T11:57:00.000-05:00

From the New York Times:

The leaders of the two parties in Greece’s coalition government committed themselves Wednesday in writing to respect the terms of a new financial bailout, one of the last remaining conditions set by the country’s foreign creditors before they will consider releasing the funds needed to avert a potentially disastrous default.

But amid escalating tension, confusion remained over whether demands for additional measures to close a savings gap had been met — which could spell additional delays in approving the 130 billion euro, or $171 billion, loan deal.

Greece has reached the point where only a default can save them, because the Banksters will not.

MoDo examines quaint Catholic superstitions

2012-02-15T11:54:00.000-05:00

And even takes time to talk with an exorcist who has been tempted by Satan himself. The hell you say! Her post Valentines Day fantasy is a fun read.

Are they compiling a No Latte list?

2012-02-15T11:28:00.001-05:00

The FBI, in its infinite crime fighting wisdom, has developed a profile of the perfect terrist. One of the sure signs of these creatures is their paying for their coffee with cash.

If you're in Starbucks and notice a nondescript individual paying for their coffee with cash - watch out.

According to the FBI you might have found evidence of a terrorist plot.

A series of fliers distributed to companies around the United States by the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Assistance appear to give workers and business owners exactly this advice.

The fliers, as highlighted by the miscellania blog BoingBoing, are intended to help various businesses from hobby shop owners to car rental services identify suspicious people who might be involved in terrorist activity...

However the fliers also reveal the slightly more bizarre side of counter-terrorism.

For one, the fliers advise internet cafe owners that "evidence of a residential based internet provider (signs on to Comcast, AOL)" could be a sign of a suspicious character. The FBI says that such services can mask IP addresses, and that may be a sign the person does not want their tracks followed.

People who pay cash for small purchases, including coffee, are also highlighted in the fliers. They may be attempting to avoid a paper trail of their whereabouts by not using credit cards.

Owners of electronics stores visited by regulars with missing fingers, chemical burns or strange odours are also told to watch out.

Missing fingers might be a sign of someone who is more a danger to themselves. And as for strange odours, just go into anybody's home for the first time. I t will smell strange to you.

Zombie Newt promises a return

2012-02-15T11:17:00.000-05:00

Now that he is a good Catholic, Newter calls it a resurerection, but whatever you call it,he is triying to revive his moribund campaign.

Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign has a history of near-death experiences, and the former House speaker insists another resurrection is on its way.

"I'm very happy to continue this campaign based on real solutions that ... are going to attract a lot of Americans," Gingrich said Monday while on a fundraising swing in California. "We've done it twice and I suspect you're about to see us do it again."

The third time may not be the charm. Gingrich sustained a string of disappointing performances in several state contests last week and has watched rival Rick Santorum emerge as the leading conservative opponent to Mitt Romney.

While Romney and Santorum are preparing to face off in Michigan's primary Feb. 28 and Romney is campaigning to win Arizona the same day, Gingrich has all but stepped off the campaign trail to focus on raising money. Ahead lie the 10-state Super Tuesday contests of March 6 and a handful of Southern states where he hopes he can revive his sputtering candidacy.

Hustling for money because hisformer owner Adelson has given up on this loser. In the meantime the Republican/Teabaggers look to find what will kill a political zombie.

A different kind of love song

2012-02-14T19:46:00.001-05:00

NSFW but you could send it to your boss.

1984

2012-02-14T19:14:00.003-05:00

Will the Frothy One seek a return to the good old days of George Orwell?

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New rules from that fracker Ken Salazar

2012-02-14T19:01:00.001-05:00

The fracking Department of Interior is putting together some new fracking rules about how the fracking energy cowboys can go about their fracking business, fracking for gas.

Natural-gas drillers will be required by U.S. rules to inspect their wells after hydraulic fracturing on public land to ensure the safety of drinking-water supplies, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

The agency in coming weeks will propose standards under which companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) must disclose the chemicals in the mixture injected underground to free trapped gas, demonstrate the well isn’t leaking and check the work after fracking, Salazar said today in a speech to the City Club of Cleveland.

“To me, those rules are common sense,” Salazar said. “You have some people say that this will kill the natural gas- industry -- that’s very far from the truth.”...

Interior also will require that drilling on federal land meet guidelines for handling fracking water that returns to the surface after being injected into the rock to make sure streams aren’t contaminated.

Naturally the Republican/Teabaggers will do all they are paid to do to stop the new rules. But they can just go frack themselves.

For those who don't need chocolate & flowers

2012-02-14T14:03:00.000-05:00

And put away those dreams of baby dolls with thongs.

On a day when more people kiss than usual

2012-02-14T13:39:00.003-05:00

The FDA has chosen to release its list of lipsticks with lead in them.

Four hundred of the nation’s most popular lipsticks contained trace levels of lead when tested by the federal government, confirming similar results of earlier analyses but on a much wider scale and at higher levels than previously detected.

Five L’Oreal and Maybelline lipsticks, owned by L’Oreal USA, ranked among the top 10 most contaminated brands, according to the Food and Drug Administration analysis. Two Cover Girl and two NARS lipsticks also landed in top 10 slots, as did one from Stargazer.

The findings exacerbate an ongoing disagreement between the FDA and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a consumer group that’s been pushing the government for years to set limits for lead levels in lipsticks. The FDA has resisted, insisting that the lead levels detected in two rounds of testing, including the most recent one, do not pose safety risks. But the consumer group says the FDA has no scientific basis for its conclusion.

MAybe we have found the reason for women embracing Republican/Teabagger politics. Dumbs down the wearer and a few kisses later dumbs down her sweetie as well.

Austerity is the cat's meow

2012-02-14T13:32:00.000-05:00

And despite clear evidence of its destructive effect on the British economy, the Conservatard government has every intention of maintaining its failed policy.

The British government came under renewed criticism on Tuesday for its far-reaching austerity program after Moody’s Investors Service warned that the country could be next in line to lose its triple-A credit rating.

The opposition Labour Party and some business groups saw the threatened downgrade as evidence that the government’s deep spending cuts were hindering growth and called for a change of course. George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, defended the cuts and said the idea that he had abandoned growth was “nonsense.”

Mr Osborne, having never embraced growth, could never abandon it.

In other European news, Greece and Portugal are still totally fucked, with economies tanking and unemployment rising thanks to Bankster enforced austerity. This failure continues despite the Confidence Fairy spreading fairy dust like a farmer spreads manure in the spring. For some strange reason, people think that breaking from the Euro and defaulting on bad debt will be worse that the ultimate result of austerity. Will they figure it out in time?

Private prisons - the next Wall St bubble?

2012-02-14T13:10:00.000-05:00

In this time of budgetary troubles in the 48 states that have not yet committed fiscal suicide, Corrections Corporation of America is making a big push to buy up state prison systems, smelling big profits to had from friendly Republican/Teabagger legislatures or desperate ones.

As state governments wrestle with massive budget shortfalls, a Wall Street giant is offering a solution: cash in exchange for state property. Prisons, to be exact.

Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest operator of for-profit prisons, has sent letters recently to 48 states offering to buy up their prisons as a remedy for "challenging corrections budgets." In exchange, the company is asking for a 20-year management contract, plus an assurance that the prison would remain at least 90 percent full, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Huffington Post...

Corrections Corporation has been a swiftly growing business, with revenues expanding more than fivefold since the mid-1990s. The company capitalized on the expansion of state prison systems in the '80s and '90s at the height of the so-called 'war on drugs,' contracting with state governments to build or manage new prisons to house an influx of drug offenders. During the past 10 years, it has found new opportunity in the business of locking up undocumented immigrants, as the federal government has contracted with private companies in an aggressive immigrant-detention campaign.

And Corrections Corporation's offer of $250 million toward purchasing existing state prisons is yet another avenue for potential growth. The company has billed the "corrections investment initiative" as a convenient option for states in need of fresh revenue streams: The state benefits from a one-time infusion of cash, while the prison corporation wins a new long-term contract. In addition, supporters of prison privatization have argued that states can achieve cost savings through

Wall St would be foolish not to back this play. It is a trifecta of screwing. Screw the public by buying public assets at deep discount, screw the public employees by paying bottom dollar with few or no benefits and screw the prisoners, many who would only be there because of the 90% full clause, by cutting necessary services to the bone. And despite an increase in profit for 2011, the cheap bastards still don't pay a dividend.

Palmetto Bug State protects citizens from Sahria Law

2012-02-14T12:37:00.001-05:00

Which may be a good thing for a population more familiar with palmetto bugs than Sharia laws. We wouldn't want them graciously accepting Sharia Law into their homes the way they do with palmetto bugs. Now if only they had some protection against Jim DeMint.

Ending the dictatorship

2012-02-14T12:30:00.002-05:00

The people of Michigan have taken the first step in recovering their state from the vicious Republican/Teabagger dictatorship that Go. Rick Snyder has been imposing on those cities that oppose his fascist dreams.

Groups collecting petition signatures to force a vote on state appointed “emergency managers” that have been running several cities and school districts say they have done it: out of 161,300 needed, they’ve collected more than 200,000, according to The Associated Press.

Activists in the state have taken to calling the emergency managers “local dictators” because of their sweeping powers. The law, signed by Gov. Rick Snyder (R), mandates that municipal entities facing bankruptcy be assigned a state appointed official who controls their budgets, ostensibly in an effort to fix the problems.

Inasmuch as these managers have full charge of their assigned entities, they are empowered to cut public workers, slash services, sell off public infrastructure, cancel union contracts, overrule and even fire elected officials, and write all contracts as they see fit.

Wow, even governors don't have the power to fire elected officials. That Snyder guy must really hate democracy.

Texas country blues

2012-02-13T20:01:00.001-05:00

From a Southern Cal woman who lived in Nashville before she moved to Texas. And she learned a thing or two along the way.

Bad day in Mittensville

2012-02-13T17:36:00.001-05:00

And regardless which world it may be in, Tom Tomorrow valiantly brings us the skinny.

Murdoch's British woes are crossing the Pond

2012-02-13T17:23:00.001-05:00

The center of all Murdoch enterprises is incorporated in the US. And the British are coming over to begin legal action against the corrupt old Aussie bastard.

Mark Lewis, one of several lawyers representing clients pursuing claims against the News of the World for phone hacking, is expected to travel to the US within the next few weeks to meet American lawyers to discuss legal action there. Lewis was reported to be in the "advanced stages" of bringing at least one case against Murdoch's company in the US. He said he was "not prepared to deny" the reports.

The threat of prosecution under the US foreign corrupt practices act, which criminalises the payment of bribes to public officials by American companies overseas, exposes the company to tens of millions of dollars in fines and the risk of imprisonment of its executive officers – and brings the fallout from the phone-hacking scandal to the US.

Attorney Corporal Holder may have trouble avoiding legal action in this matter. The FCPA is pretty clear on what needs to be done and our British cousins don't look like they will let Old Rupe walk on their side.

Worth more dead than alive

2012-02-13T17:13:00.000-05:00

Before the body got cold, Sony had jacked up the prices for Whitney Houston albums. This is probably some weird music industry tribute to her.

When you shoot for the moon

2012-02-13T12:11:00.001-05:00

From the pen of Tony Auth

Have your cake and eat it, too

2012-02-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

Too many New York hospitals have put themselves in that position by ignoring the requirements of New York State's Indigent Care Pool, pressing collection efforts on patients in need who were not informed of the possible assistance and collecting monies from the pool.

The state’s Department of Health acknowledges systemic problems, including the need for better reporting and enforcement, a spokesman, Michael Moran, said. A group of patient advocates and hospital administrators is being convened to develop a better system, he said, and the department is engaged in “a comprehensive data integrity project that will include the retention of an outside auditor.”

The study found that some hospitals did not provide financial aid applications at all, and that many made impermissible demands for irrelevant documents or failed to supply key information, like eligibility rules for big discounts required by state law in 2007. Data reported to the state was obviously faulty, it found.

Yet even hospitals that reported they had spent nothing on financial aid, or had filed hundreds of liens against patients’ homes, were allowed to collect without questions from the charity care pool, which distributes more than $1 billion a year.

Hospitals are not legally barred from seeking judgments or liens, but must first offer an aid application, help the patient complete it, and wait while it is pending. Instead, many hospitals turn to collection agencies, and sue when that fails. The unpaid bills — typically reflecting much higher rates than what insurers pay — are then treated as the equivalent of charity care.

And with a comprehensive single payer plan, none of this would be necessary.

Getting real with the tax rate

2012-02-13T11:48:00.000-05:00

A major target of President Obama's tax realignment in his budget is changing the rate paid on dividends.

In his new budget blueprint, President Obama is proposing to tax dividends of the wealthiest taxpayers as ordinary income subject to their top income-tax rate, which was the practice until the Bush administration lowered the rates. The proposal, released on Monday morning with other parts of the budget, would raise about $206 billion over 10 years.

Assuming that the Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of the year, as required by law, dividends for the top 2 percent of income-earners would be taxed at 39.6 percent. Before 2002, the richest taxpayers paid a 35 percent tax on dividends, like on all ordinary income.

Republicans are certain to try to block the change, as they have done to thwart Mr. Obama’s 2008 campaign promise to end the Bush-era tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 a year.

Mr. Obama once again proposed no change for taxing dividends of Americans with taxable income less than $250,000. Taxpayers in the 10 percent and 15 percent tax brackets – that is, households with up to about $100,000 in income – pay no income taxes on dividends or capital gains. Those in the 25 percent and 28 percent brackets pay a 15 percent rate on income from both dividends and capital gains.

This makes perfect sense as many of the wealthy live on unearned income from dividends and capital gains. The President is merely suggesting that unearned income be taxed at the same rate as earned income for the top brackets.

Another bad idea

2012-02-13T11:38:00.001-05:00

Just because these types of forces need to be kept on a very tight leash. When you let them go you need to be ready for any and all of the consequences.

As the United States turns increasingly to Special Operations forces to confront developing threats scattered around the world, the nation’s top Special Operations officer, a member of the Navy Seals who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, is seeking new authority to move his forces faster and outside of normal Pentagon deployment channels.

The officer, Adm. William H. McRaven, who leads the Special Operations Command, is pushing for a larger role for his elite units who have traditionally operated in the dark corners of American foreign policy. The plan would give him more autonomy to position his forces and their war-fighting equipment where intelligence and global events indicate they are most needed.

It would also allow the Special Operations forces to expand their presence in regions where they have not operated in large numbers for the past decade, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

the SOC heads may believe they are the perfect answer to all our problems, but they are really the perfect example of why they need close supervision.

No law was too small for the Bushoviks to ignore

2012-02-13T10:46:00.002-05:00

Not even a minor legal requirement to file an annual report on wiretaps conducted by the DoJ. And these were the legal wiretaps.

The reports, detailing the use of pen registers and trap and trace devices — wiretap methods that reveal a subject’s communications, and who a subject is communicating with, all in real time — were obtained by privacy activist Christopher Soghoian, who used a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to shoehorn out not just the reports, but a series of revealing emails as well.

One of the emails (PDF) — a 2009 exchange between the former deputy assistant attorney general for legislative affairs and a staffer for former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) — lays the situation bare: “I am pleased to attach the criminal pen/trap reports for the last five years,” the DOJ’s Mark Agrast wrote. “The Criminal Division recently discovered that reports had not been filed for 2004 and subsequent years, so they filed all of the reports in 2009.”

In the department’s internal communications, included in the FOIA, Agrast asked subordinates what became of the reports and when they stopped being filed. One individual replied: “Although there was an annual reporting requirement, apparently, no one had been actually filing the annual report. When we discovered the problem this year, we had OEO go back and do the report this year.”

It’s not clear how long the reports were not being filed, but an analysis by Soghoian claims that 1999-2003 did not see reports filed either, with data from all of those years being made public all at once in 2004.

Remeber when Republicans were foursquare for lawnorder?

Mr. Romney “described conservatism as if it were a disease.

2012-02-13T00:06:00.001-05:00

And Dr Krugman goes onto to explain in greater detail the truth of these words.

It's nice to see a father help his daughter get started

2012-02-12T19:24:00.002-05:00

Carrying on the family business.

The curious omissions of Rick Santorum

2012-02-12T16:57:00.002-05:00

As The Frothy One blares his devotion to the most misogynistic elements of Catholic dogma and pledges his loyalty to the bishops and the Pope (something we wouldn't let JFK do 50 years ago), Juan Cole looks at other policies of the bishops that The Frothy One turns a blind eye to.

1. So for instance, Pope John Paul II was against anyone going to war against Iraq I think you’ll find that Rick Santorum managed to ignore that Catholic teaching.
2.The Conference of Catholic Bishops requires that health care be provided to all Americans. i.e., Rick Santorum’s opposition to universal health care is a betrayal of the Catholic faith he is always trumpeting.
3. The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty for criminals in almost all situations. (Santorum largely supports executions.)
4. The US Conference of Bishops has urged that the federal minimum wage be increased, for the working poor. Santorum in the Senate repeatedly voted against the minimum wage.
5. The bishops want welfare for all needy families, saying “We reiterate our call for a minimum national welfare benefit that will permit children and their parents to live in dignity. A decent society will not balance its budget on the backs of poor children.” Santorum is a critic of welfare.
6. The US bishops say that “the basic rights of workers must be respected–the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions…”. Santorum, who used to be supportive of unions in the 1990s, has now, predictably, turned against them.
7. Catholic bishops demand the withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Rick Santorum denies that there are any Palestinians, so I guess he doesn’t agree with the bishops on that one.
8. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops ripped into Arizona’s law on treatment of immigrants, Cardinal Roger Mahony characterized Arizona’s S.B. 1070 as “the country’s most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law,” saying it is based on “totally flawed reasoning: that immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder, and consume public resources.” He even suggested that the law is a harbinger of an American Nazism! Santorum attacks ‘anchor babies’ or the provision of any services to children of illegal immigrants born and brought up in the US.
9. The Bishops have urged that illegal immigrants not be treated as criminals and that their contribution to this country be recognized.
10. The US Conference of Bishops has denounced, as has the Pope, the Bush idea of ‘preventive war’, and has come out against an attack on Iran in the absence of a real and present threat of an Iranian assault on the US. In contrast, Santorum wants to play Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove and ride the rocket down on Isfahan himself.

The true sign of a Defender of the Faith, picking and choosing the elements that you want your "small government" to impose of the rest of the population. As Dr. Cole points out, it is just so much stuff and nonsense.

The ultimate goal

2012-02-12T13:21:00.000-05:00

From the pen of Brian McFadden

click pic to big

Having tasted blood

2012-02-12T13:10:00.001-05:00

The pack of hounds calling itself The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is back and baying for more in the battle against contraception.

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have rejected a compromise on birth control coverage that President Obama offered on Friday and said they would continue to fight the president’s plan to find a way for employees of Catholic hospitals, universities and service agencies to receive free contraceptive coverage in their health insurance plans, without direct involvement or financing from the institutions.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — which has led the opposition to the plan — said in a statement late Friday that the solution offered by the White House to quell a political furor was “unacceptable and must be corrected” because it still infringed on the religious liberty and conscience of Catholics.

Or as someone on Bill Maher's Real Time said while discussing the fight on Friday,

We wouldn't be having this discussion if men and altar boys got pregnant.

The safety net conundrum

2012-02-12T13:05:00.000-05:00

The feature article in the New York Times is about those who stand up and declare themselves self-sufficient while they benefit from various federal programs to help people like them.

Ki Gulbranson owns a logo apparel shop, deals in jewelry on the side and referees youth soccer games. He makes about $39,000 a year and wants you to know that he does not need any help from the federal government.

He says that too many Americans lean on taxpayers rather than living within their means. He supports politicians who promise to cut government spending. In 2010, he printed T-shirts for the Tea Party campaign of a neighbor, Chip Cravaack, who ousted this region’s long-serving Democratic congressman.

Yet this year, as in each of the past three years, Mr. Gulbranson, 57, is counting on a payment of several thousand dollars from the federal government, a subsidy for working families called the earned-income tax credit. He has signed up his three school-age children to eat free breakfast and lunch at federal expense. And Medicare paid for his mother, 88, to have hip surgery twice...

But the reality of life here is that Mr. Gulbranson and many of his neighbors continue to take as much help from the government as they can get. When pressed to choose between paying more and taking less, many people interviewed here hemmed and hawed and said they could not decide. Some were reduced to tears. It is much easier to promise future restraint than to deny present needs.

“How do you tell someone that you deserve to have heart surgery and you can’t?” Mr. Gulbranson said.

The cognitive dissonance is truly awesome.

The Queen is at war with the King

2012-02-12T12:43:00.004-05:00

Yes, sir! The Queen of the Batshit Crazy, Michelle Bachman, is at war with the King of the Butt Stupid, Howard Stern.

Meh!

One way to keep the numbers down

2012-02-12T12:39:00.003-05:00

For the first time in Shitholeistan the death toll, or at least those reported, among the mercenaries has exceeded those among the military. This serves two roles, the deaths include other nationals in service to the US and the numbers are not reported in the US press, keeping the totals down so as not to disturb the homies.

This is a war where traditional military jobs, from mess hall cooks to base guards and convoy drivers, have increasingly been shifted to the private sector. Many American generals and diplomats have private contractors for their personal bodyguards. And along with the risks have come the consequences: More civilian contractors working for American companies than American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year for the first time during the war.

American employers here are under no obligation to publicly report the deaths of their employees and frequently do not. While the military announces the names of all its war dead, private companies routinely notify only family members. Most of the contractors die unheralded and uncounted — and in some cases, leave their survivors uncompensated.

“By continuing to outsource high-risk jobs that were previously performed by soldiers, the military, in effect, is privatizing the ultimate sacrifice,” said Steven L. Schooner, a law professor at George Washington University who has studied the civilian casualties issue.

Last year, at least 430 employees of American contractors were reported killed in Afghanistan: 386 working for the Defense Department, 43 for the United States Agency for International Development and one for the State Department, according to data provided by the American Embassy in Kabul and publicly available in part from the United States Department of Labor.

By comparison, 418 American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year, according to Defense Department statistics compiled by icasualties.org, an independent organization that monitors war deaths.

And as the report notes, this only includes those that are reported to the US Command. Wogs and other lesser peoples are paid off and forgotten.

Republican/Teabagger dirty tricks? or just BAU

2012-02-12T12:25:00.000-05:00

After Mittens microscopically fantastic triumph in the CPAC straw poll and the Maine caucus, The Frothy one denounced the Mittens for his dirty tricks in the straw poll.

In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) suggested that Romney had doctored the results of the CPAC contest.

"I don't try to rig straw polls," he said. "You have to talk to the Romney campaign and how many tickets they bought... We've heard all sorts of things."

And Ron Paul, who was barely edged out by Mittens in Maine, had to throw in his 2 cents worth.

Meanwhile, late Saturday night, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) sent an email to supporters that essentially alleged collusion between the Romney campaign and the Maine Republican Party without actually mentioning Romney by name...

[T]he real story there is not that Romney won but that Ron Paul and his campaign have been left so aggrieved. The Paul and Romney campaigns have been in a détente since the campaign started, with each candidate expressing admiration for the other. It's unclear whether that changes now, but it certainly doesn't help Romney to have Paul's legion of backers believe that he stole a caucus, no matter how minor, from their still-bare win column.

Gotta love it when Republicans fight each other over being Republicans.

The soul of a Republican

2012-02-11T22:32:00.002-05:00

Up Niagara Falls way there lives a prominent Republican donor, successful contractor, generous benefactor and 3 time felon who will soon begin his third term in prison.

In some communities, convicted felons are avoided.

In Niagara Falls, sometimes they're celebrated.

John J. Gross Jr., sentenced to his third stint in federal prison in January, was the toast of a party Friday night, an event organized by the Niagara Falls Republican Committee and supported by Laborers Local 91, the construction union once known for its intimidation and racketeering...

"All right, he got convicted of tax evasion," Krause said. "But the citizens of Niagara Falls consider [John Gross] like a Robin Hood type of guy. He was friendly to us, so we're friendly back."

He was a generous man who did a great many good things for the community and people in need. He was also unable to stay on the right side of the law.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara sentenced Gross to 33 months in federal prison in January for rigging bids and evading income taxes while running his son's plumbing business, David Gross Contracting...

Fifteen years before Gross' latest crimes, Arcara sentenced him to three years and five months in federal prison for racketeering, stealing, bribing officials and cheating on his taxes. He also served jail time in 1974 for grand larceny and conspiracy, and was the FBI's star informant in a bribery investigation in the 1980s...

In July, Gross admitted his recent crimes cost the Internal Revenue Service $161,000. As of July, he also owed $222,000 to the government from the 1997 judgment.

He just couldn't stay on the straight and narrow.

If you're putting on the old soup 'n fish

2012-02-11T20:12:00.002-05:00

You might end up dancing to this old favorite.

Global warming - now its personal

2012-02-11T19:53:00.003-05:00

Bill Maher's New Rules.

Kim Jong Un still undead

2012-02-11T13:41:00.001-05:00

Despite all the excitement on the chinese version of Twitter, Kim Jong Un has not been assassinated in Beijing. But nobody can say for certain.

EXTRA: Like Kim, Mitt Romney is also not dead yet, despite all the news reports.

Know your audience

2012-02-11T13:28:00.001-05:00

From the pen of Mike Lukovich

click pic to big

Quote of the Day

2012-02-11T13:18:00.002-05:00

The bishops have made their point. Even if many of them had managed to avoid noticing the Catholic institutions in their own diocese that were already covering contraceptives to comply with state law, they are absolutely correct that Church doctrine holds that artificial methods of birth control are immoral. They’re not going to let the White House ignore that just because their own flocks do.

Gail Collins, writing about the Pyrrhic victory of the Catholic bishops in the fake contraception controversy..

Newt likes Callista to play French Horn

2012-02-11T12:36:00.002-05:00

Callista Gingrich introduced her husband, Newticles Gingrich, to the whackdoodles at CPAC who may have forgotten about him since South Carolina. In doing so she also revealed a special part of their private life.

Callista Gingrich told Republicans on Friday that they should get behind her husband’s presidential campaign because he was the type of person who supported her playing the “French horn.”

Hmm. With or without French Letters?

Tired of lame Super Bowl halftimes?

2012-02-11T11:55:00.002-05:00

Had enough of geezer rockers supplementing their pensions at your favorite football game. A fellow named Dave Indren has a petition drive going to collect a Million signatures asking the NFL to have Weird Al Yankovic perform at halftime. A weird idea, you say? Not at all and his explanation makes perfect sense. So help a sincere man achieve his dream. And if you have a blog or website, give him a link. Together we can get this done.

Some hot jazz for us geezers

2012-02-10T20:06:00.000-05:00

Kai Winding and some friends

Gabby Giffords has a ship named in her honor

2012-02-10T19:11:00.000-05:00

The Navy has named its latest vessel the USS Gabrielle Giffords.

The Navy on Friday named its newest combat ship after former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who attended the Pentagon event with the mother of a 9-year-old girl slain in the Tucson shooting rampage that left Giffords gravely wounded.

The 3,000-ton ship, known as an Independence Variant Littoral, will be built in Mobile, Ala., by Austal shipbuilding, as part of the Navy’s strategy to provide access and dominance in coastal waters, according to NBC News.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus made the announcement before a gathering at the Pentagon’s Center Courtyard. "It's a major part of the future of our Navy," he said about the vessel, which measures 419 feet in length and can travel in excess of 40 knots. "She's going to provide our Navy and country with fast and flexible capability ... this ship can perform an amazing variety of missions."

Provided it doesn't rust out. Earlier versions of the ship suffered from "aggressive corrosion" and needed major overhaul within a year. It appears that some bright light built a ship with aluminum and steel and forgot to install the Cathodic Protection System. Hopefully this vessel will have one and it will be sufficient to solve the problem.

Way back on Monday

2012-02-10T18:37:00.001-05:00

We had a post about Lt Col Daniel Davis and his report on Afghanistan in the Armed Forces Journal. That was a condensed version of his full report, of which a classified and declassified version exist. The Rolling Stone is good enough to publish the 84 page declassified version online. It begins:

Senior ranking US military leaders have so distorted the truth when communicating with the US Congress and American people in regards to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan that the truth has become unrecognizable. This deception has damaged America’s credibility among both our allies and enemies, severely limiting our ability to reach a political solution to the war in Afghanistan. It has likely cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars Congress might not otherwise have appropriated had it known the truth, and our senior leaders’ behavior has almost certainly extended the duration of this war. The single greatest penalty our Nation has suffered, however, has been that we have lost the blood, limbs and lives of tens of thousands of American Service Members with little to no gain to our country as a consequence of this deception.

You can read the rest here (pdf)

Catholic Bishops also support unemployment insurance

2012-02-10T17:45:00.000-05:00

But that will be the line in the sand for Republican/Teabaggers support of what the mackerel snappers want. There is nothing sexy or in any way involving sex when you are talking about a christian duty.

R.I.P. Janice Voss

2012-02-10T13:53:00.000-05:00

Scientist and astronaut.

After being caught with their pants down on child abuse

2012-02-10T13:48:00.001-05:00

The Catholic bishops were better prepared to attack the White House when the question of contraception was presented. Not that the kiddy diddlers are any more moral now that their pants are pulled up, but their attack dogs were snarling at the first knock on the door.

The speed and passion behind the bishops’ response reflects their growing sense of siege, and their belief that the space the Catholic church once occupied in American society and the deference it was given are gradually being curtailed by an increasingly secular culture...

On the day of the decision, bishops across the country posted similarly dire statements on their Web sites, and at Mass on the following Sundays, priests read the bishops’ letters from their pulpits and wove the religious freedom theme into their homilies. By the bishops’ own count, 147 bishops in the nation’s 195 dioceses have now issued personal letters on religious freedom, which are trickling down to Catholics through their local parish bulletins and diocesan newspapers.

The original Fox News.

Another Republican/Teabagger under investigation

2012-02-10T13:19:00.001-05:00

And this one may explain why Kosher Mouse delayed passage of The Stock Act in the House.

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee over possible violations of insider-trading laws, according to individuals familiar with the case.

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who holds one of the most influential positions in the House, has been a frequent trader on Capitol Hill, buying stock options while overseeing the nation’s banking and financial services industries.

The Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent investigative agency, opened its probe late last year after focusing on numerous suspicious trades on Bachus’s annual financial disclosure forms, the individuals said. OCE investigators have notified Bachus that he is under investigation and that they have found probable cause to believe insider-trading violations have occurred.

As it is a Congressional investigation, Rep. Bachus would be well advised to buy wrist guards to protect himself from the severe slap in the wrist that he can expect as punishment.

Religious freedom Catholic style

2012-02-10T12:38:00.001-05:00

As the Perfumed Princes of the Catholic Church piously decry the new rules regarding health insurance and contraception as an attack on their religious freedom, Milwaukee gives us another view of their religious freedom.

The bankruptcy hearings for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee have revealed more than 8,000 previously unreported instances of alleged sexual abuse of children, according to one attorney representing the victims. The charges cover a span of 60 years and implicate a group of 100 alleged offenders, including nuns, church workers and some 75 priests.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Annysa Johnson writes that 570 “victim-survivors” have filed claims in the case, which is currently before U.S. bankruptcy judge Susan V. Kelley.

At a press conference on the federal courthouse steps in Milwaukee, Peter Isley, director of the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests said, “This is a public safety crisis, a child safety crisis that needs to be investigated. We need to know who they are and where they are. How can there be 8,000 crimes committed by over 100 offenders and there be no accountability?”

The children were free for the religious ones to use as they saw fit. Is that how it works?

Krugman demolishes another Republican/Teabagger lie

2012-02-09T23:32:00.001-05:00

Easy cheese for the Shrill One. Sadly there is only one Krugman and so many Republican/Teabagger liars.

This may be a funny time for it

2012-02-09T19:58:00.001-05:00

But a week early is OK for a funny valentine. And anytime is good for Linda.

I accept that no one wants a Marine who thinks

2012-02-09T19:23:00.001-05:00

But there is no excuse for this shit.

Scout snipers in the Marine Corps shown with a flag bearing an "SS" similar in design to one used in Germany by the SS, a paramlitary force that operated under the Nazi party.

Somewhere between Steal Underwear and Make Profit

2012-02-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

The train goes off the tracks. Barry Deutsch explains the Conservative/Teabagger mind with his cartoon.

click pic to big

The other sweetheart sellout to the Banksters

2012-02-09T17:36:00.001-05:00

D-Day (Dave Dayen) writing at Firedoglake has the skinny on the the Great OCC Sellout. The other settlement that provides absolutely nothing to the wronged parties and everything to the criminal element. Read the details.

House passes insider trading ban

2012-02-09T13:01:00.001-05:00

Only after the Republican/Teabagger Majority Leader Kosher Mouse had removed an important part of the bill. Apparently the little man believes there is still money to be made in the Congress and he wants his share.

Like Al Capone getting a fine for St Valentines Day

2012-02-09T12:47:00.002-05:00

The perpetrators of the greatest real estate and securities fraud this country has ever known have reached a settlement that pretty much allows them to keep the bulk of their ill gotten gains and the potential to run the fraud again if they choose. As for the people whose houses were stolen by the fraud, they will receive a token payment because they are too insignificant to be made whole.

I hope Obama got binding promises from the banks to fund his re-election. You know you can't rely on a banker's word.

The latest trendy item for the rich and famous

2012-02-09T12:31:00.001-05:00

RomneyCondoms.com for the elite penis. Avoid spreading your seed to the unworthy without missing the fun.

It would be good news if it were true

2012-02-09T12:20:00.000-05:00

The Frothy One is getting worked up on the campaign trail and has come up with a doozy to throw at Obama.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum warned on Wednesday that President Barack Obama and other liberals are leading people of faith down a path that ends at the guillotine...

He continued: “They are taking faith and crushing it. Why? When you marginalize faith in America, when you remove the pillar of God-given rights then what’s left is the French Revolution. What’s left is a government that gives you rights. What’s left are no unalienable rights. What’s left is a government that will tell you who you are, what you’ll do and when you’ll do it. What’s left in France became the the guillotine.”

Truth be told, that would be an excellent outcome for those that Santorum considers Christians. Good way to clean the gene pool.

Is it just me or have all the Republican/Teabagger candidates ceased using truth in their attacks on Obama?

Because employers are our friends

2012-02-09T12:12:00.002-05:00

And the workers need to be prevented from abusing these good people, a wingnut jackass in New Hampshire has put forth a devilishly inspired bit of legislation.

A Republican State Representative in New Hampshire has found a way to create a new front in the war on workers, proposing a bill that would repeal the state’s law requiring that workers get a 30-minute lunch break after five hours of labor.

State Rep. J.R. Hoell (R), a supporter of libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) for president, told a New Hampshire General Court committee this week that he believes the law is unnecessary because it is in employers’ interest to treat workers well, according to The Concord Monitor.

His argument was seconded by state Rep. Kyle Jones (R), a 20-year-old Ron Paul backer who earned a seat in the New Hampshire General Court during the last election as part of a mother-son candidate slate. Jones said that his days working as a shift supervisor at Burger King taught him that employers will always treat employees well because human resources departments require it.

How cute, his backup jackass knows all about labor relations from working at Burger King. I guess no one told him that HR requires it because it is the law. And if left to their own devises most employers would rather beat you like a rented mule.

Another Free Woman

2012-02-08T19:45:00.001-05:00

Again from Canada - Blackie & The Rodeo Kings

Pete Hoekstra updated

2012-02-08T18:25:00.001-05:00

The good people at Funny or Die.com have fixed Pete's ad to say what he forgot.

Controversial Racist Pete Hoekstra Ad - watch more funny videos

h/t Dependable Renegade

Quote of the Day

2012-02-08T17:54:00.001-05:00

America should expect much more from a candidate for a high federal position. His racist thoughts are not welcome in the United States Senate.

Sen. Daniel Inouye D-HI, Nisei and Medal of Honor recipient, responding to Peter Hoekstra's racism.

What is the attraction of golf?

2012-02-08T13:04:00.000-05:00

The dedicated golfer will find a way to play no matter where he may be. Consider this diehard player.

Water-buffalo dung dots the fairways, girl caddies in flip-flops lug the golf bags and firefights with the Burmese Army have broken out a half-hour’s drive away.

There is also a camp of 5,000 displaced people around a bend in the road.

A war is under way in Kachin State, but the Laiza Golf Club is unfazed, a reflection, perhaps, of the clientele.

Senior officers of the Kachin Independence Army, the guerrilla force trying to defend its mountainous territory in northern Myanmar against government troops, show up here wearing polo shirts and carrying Chinese-made golf clubs. The dirt parking lot is crowded on weekends with sport utility vehicles driven by generals.

“Golf clears the mind for officers to make decisions,” said Col. Maran Zaw Tawng, 45, secretary of the club, after teeing off at the fourth hole, a 392-yard par 4.

The six-hole golf course may be among the world’s unlikeliest, but it is open to the public, even in wartime. Anyone can play a round for a dollar, though most golfers here are military men or civilian officials in the government, like the two who were playing with the colonel and a major on a recent morning.

DO you get a mulligan for air raids? (w/pic of group that can whip Arnie's Army any day.)

A Frothy Night for leading GOP misogynist

2012-02-08T12:33:00.000-05:00

Rick Santorum gets his 15 minutes at the top of the heap as the Republican/Teabaggers keep grasping for straws in their effort to not nominate Mittens. True, Ricky the Fetus Lover's big night included one beauty contest, and a caucus in a state crazier than Michelle Bachmann herself, but he got the most of the few who turned out. Enjoy it Richy. Now that they can see you, they can aim at you.

Fracking is good for you

2012-02-08T12:22:00.001-05:00

Bet you didn't know that. Neither do the many farmers in fracking areas who have lost cattle to contamination from the gentle art of fracking.

Smelling gas one morning, a southern Pennsylvania farmer almost passed out when he went outside to check on his bellowing cows.

One of the animals did keel over, kicking its feet in spasms. A couple of days later, a calf was fighting for its life, the farmer said. It died...

These farmers are getting out of the beef business, in part over concern that their animals will become delivery systems for contaminants.

An organic farmer from southeast Ohio told me he has abandoned his cash crop, ginseng, for now, concerned that contaminants would enter his product. He began noticing changes around his 20-acre property in 2007, when a fracking operation began dumping wastewater nearby. He lost quite a few deer that were drawn to the brine and antifreeze in the fluid.

The Fracking industry has been poo-pooing all such talk because they keep their fracking ingredients secret so how could you know what is poisoning you. And now they have a new response.

Energy representatives dismiss the veterinarians’ study. They say that health indicators have actually improved in areas with shale development.

See! It's good for you.

Let's try something different

2012-02-08T12:05:00.000-05:00

After ten years of blowing shit up and, ostensibly teaching Afghans how to fight for their awesome leader, Karzai of the Afghans, now we have a better idea.

The No. 2 U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that U.S. military advisory teams will start deploying to Afghanistan this year to help Afghan combat forces as they take a more prominent role in fighting the Taliban.

The plan as described by Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti is for U.S. and other international troops to begin stepping back from their leading role, so that responsibility for the war is fully in Afghan hands by the end of 2014.

Got to feel sorry for the guys who draw that assignment. They aren't exactly working with a lean, mean fighting machine.

2 out of 3 North American countries officially endorse torture

2012-02-07T23:01:00.001-05:00

So far Mexico doesn't endorse torture on an official basis but the US ambassador is in talks with the President of Mexico.

The federal government [of Canada] is defending itself after more information has come to light about its directions to Canada's spy agency to use information that may have been extracted through torture in cases where public safety is at stake.

The order represents a reversal of policy for the Conservative government, which once insisted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service would discard information if there was any inkling it might be tainted.

Opposition MPs seized on the news, saying it means the government is indirectly supporting torture.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews quietly told CSIS the government now expects the spy service to "make the protection of life and property its overriding priority" and may under exceptional circumstances share information based on intelligence that may have been derived from the use of torture.

Just can't trust those Conservative white folks.

Another Tuesday, another Bluesday

2012-02-07T19:59:00.001-05:00

Elmore James (January 27, 1918 -- May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, song writer and band leader.

The Dickens you say!

2012-02-07T19:06:00.001-05:00

Martin Bashir shows how Charles Dickens would recognize Newt Squeers and Ebenezer Romney with no difficulty.

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The Peter Hoekstra Memorial Money Bomb

2012-02-07T16:47:00.000-05:00

For the benefit of Debbie Stabenow and the people of Michigan. Don't worry about Peter finding out, he has no clue.

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From Morning in America to Bedtime for Republicans

2012-02-07T12:09:00.000-05:00

After they have had their oatmeal and prunes because they get extra cranky when they aren't regular. Leonard Pitts notes the state of decay in the erstwhile party of optimism.

Perhaps you are old enough to remember when it was morning in America. That was the title of a 1984 campaign ad for Ronald Reagan, but it also came to symbolize an era. Say what you will about Reagan, but credit him with this much: He restored to his party and the nation a sense of vibrant optimism that came as a welcome jolt after Carter’s malaise and Nixon’s crookedness. Nearly 30 years later, as his putative political offspring attempt to claim his mantle, it is obvious by many measures that none of them is Reagan. But the most glaring deficit is embodied in that picture.

It reminds us that Republicans are no longer about sunshine and can-do. These days, they simply seem cranky and dyspeptic. As in Herman Cain vowing to build a fence to electrocute Mexicans, Newt Gingrich verbally punching out the media and debate audiences cheering for record executions and the death of the uninsured. As in Jan Brewer poking her finger in the president’s face.

Under Reagan, optimism about the future was the Republican brand. But that brand has curdled in the ensuing 30 years and the party that once sold hope has become instead the party of grouchy codgers yelling at the future to get off their lawn. More to the point, it has become a party of those unable to process the sense of dislocation, the loss of primacy and privilege our present demographic path portends. Thus, it has become the party of resentment and resistance, the last stand against ongoing racial, religious, cultural and sexual upheaval, the Alamo in the fight to forestall change.

And if this wasn't clear before, the Clint Chrysler ad and the Republican/Teabagger response has made everything very clear.

When you support wingnuts unconditionally

2012-02-07T11:57:00.002-05:00

From the pen of Pat Oliphant

click pic to big

She's out!

2012-02-07T10:55:00.001-05:00

The Komen, in an attempt to limit the self inflicted damage from its foolish attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, has accepted the resignation of Karen "Three Chins" Handel.

A high-ranking official resigned Tuesday from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity after a dispute over whether the group should give funding to Planned Parenthood, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

Karen Handel, the charity's vice president for public policy, told Komen officials that she supported the move to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. She said the discussion started before she arrived at the organization and was approved at the highest levels of the charity.

"I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it," Handel said in her letter. "I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen's future and the women we serve."

Handel had supported a decision that Komen announced last week to exclude Planned Parenthood, which provides a range of women's health care services including abortions, from future grants for breast-cancer screenings because it was under government investigation. The charity cited a probe launched by a Florida congressman at the urging of anti-abortion groups.

Karen Handel may have been the focus of the fury directed at the Komen, but she freely admits the move was being planned before she arrived and TPTB was on board. And I believe her. She is proud to be a pig and has no reason to lie.

This time it is a criminal indictment

2012-02-06T23:39:00.002-05:00

Just as some 40 states have signed onto the Feds/Bankster mortgage fraud coverup, in the state of Missouri a grand jury has handed down fraud indictments on a major part of the foreclosure industry.

One of the largest companies that provided home foreclosure services to lenders across the nation, DocX, has been indicted on forgery charges by a Missouri grand jury — one of the few criminal actions to follow reports of widespread improprieties against homeowners.

A grand jury in Boone County, Mo., handed up an indictment Friday accusing DocX of 136 counts of forgery in the preparation of documents used to evict financially strained borrowers from their homes. Lorraine O. Brown, the company’s founder and former president, was indicted on the same charges.

Employees of DocX, a unit of Lender Processing Services of Jacksonville, Fla., executed and notarized millions of mortgage documents for big banks and loan servicers over the years. Lender Processing closed the company in April 2010, after evidence emerged of apparent forgeries in these documents, a practice now called robo-signing.

Chris Koster, the Missouri attorney general, will prosecute the case. “The grand jury indictment alleges that mass-produced fraudulent signatures on notarized real estate documents constitutes forgery,” Mr. Koster said in a statement. “Today’s indictment reflects our firm conviction that when you sign your name to a legal document, it matters.”

Mr. Koster said his office’s investigation was continuing. This suggests he may hope to persuade Ms. Brown to cooperate in his investigation of the parent company. If convicted, Ms. Brown could face up to seven years in prison for each forgery count. DocX could be fined up to $10,000 for each forgery conviction.

It is good to see they got the company president. Criminal penalties do count, I hope they can flip her to get the higher ups.

I wonder who Therese was?

2012-02-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

The 1631 version of the King James Bible

2012-02-06T19:18:00.004-05:00

A Martin Bashir disquisition on Newticles religion.

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The early retirement of Lt Col Davis

2012-02-06T19:10:00.000-05:00

Lt Col Davis was assigned to the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force and travelled all over Shitholeistan. Lt Col Davis is also an honest man and has written an essay in the Armed Forces Journal about what he saw.

I spent last year in Afghanistan, visiting and talking with U.S. troops and their Afghan partners. My duties with the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force took me into every significant area where our soldiers engage the enemy. Over the course of 12 months, I covered more than 9,000 miles and talked, traveled and patrolled with troops in Kandahar, Kunar, Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Kunduz, Balkh, Nangarhar and other provinces.

What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground.

Entering this deployment, I was sincerely hoping to learn that the claims were true: that conditions in Afghanistan were improving, that the local government and military were progressing toward self-sufficiency. I did not need to witness dramatic improvements to be reassured, but merely hoped to see evidence of positive trends, to see companies or battalions produce even minimal but sustainable progress.

Instead, I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level.

Lt Col Davis' essay was condensed from an 82 page report he delivered following this tour (his second in Shitholeistan). After several examples of of bad the situation is, he raises this important point.

How many more men must die in support of a mission that is not succeeding and behind an array of more than seven years of optimistic statements by U.S. senior leaders in Afghanistan? No one expects our leaders to always have a successful plan. But we do expect — and the men who do the living, fighting and dying deserve — to have our leaders tell us the truth about what’s going on.