Month: April 2013

If You Claim the Right to Kill Anyone You Want, You Will Kill Anyone You Want

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It turns out that Obama’s claims that drone strikes are exclusively made against senior terrorist figures are a lie:

Contrary to assurances it has deployed U.S. drones only against known senior leaders of al Qaida and allied groups, the Obama administration has targeted and killed hundreds of suspected lower-level Afghan, Pakistani and unidentified “other” militants in scores of strikes in Pakistan’s rugged tribal area, classified U.S. intelligence reports show.

The administration has said that strikes by the CIA’s missile-firing Predator and Reaper drones are authorized only against “specific senior operational leaders of al Qaida and associated forces” involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks who are plotting “imminent” violent attacks on Americans.

“It has to be a threat that is serious and not speculative,” President Barack Obama said in a Sept. 6, 2012, interview with CNN. “It has to be a situation in which we can’t capture the individual before they move forward on some sort of operational plot against the United States.”

Copies of the top-secret U.S. intelligence reports reviewed by McClatchy, however, show that drone strikes in Pakistan over a four-year period didn’t adhere to those standards.

The intelligence reports list killings of alleged Afghan insurgents whose organization wasn’t on the U.S. list of terrorist groups at the time of the 9/11 strikes; of suspected members of a Pakistani extremist group that didn’t exist at the time of 9/11; and of unidentified individuals described as “other militants” and “foreign fighters.”

In a response to questions from McClatchy, the White House defended its targeting policies, pointing to previous public statements by senior administration officials that the missile strikes are aimed at al Qaida and associated forces.

Micah Zenko, an expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, a bipartisan foreign policy think tank, who closely follows the target killing program, said McClatchy’s findings indicate that the administration is “misleading the public about the scope of who can legitimately be targeted.”

Gee, you think that they are lying to us?

Hoocoodanode?

You remember what they say about absolute power.

And Cue the Republicans Accusing Obama of Throwing Grandma Out on the Streets in 3 … 2 … 1 …

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Because offering cuts that Republicans are afraid to mention in public work so well

Well, right now:

Appearing on CNN, the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman accused Obama of “trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors” and signaled Republicans may try to use the changes against Democrats in the coming election.

 Walden’s comments come even as key Republicans have embraced Obama’s “chained CPI” proposal to cut Social Security benefits.

 “I thought it’s very intriguing in that his budget really lays out kind of a shocking attack on seniors, if you will,” Walden (Ore.) said. “We haven’t seen all the detail yet, so we’ll look at it. But I’ll tell you, when you’re going after seniors the way he’s already done on Obamacare, taking $700 billion out of Medicare to put into Obamacare, and now coming back at seniors again — I think you’re crossing that line very quickly here in terms of denying access to seniors for health care…”

Not only is this mind-blowingly bad policy, it is mind-blowingly bad politics.

And let us remember something important:  Social Security contributes nothing to the deficit, and it will not for decades.

Once again, we have Obama playing the Manchurian Democrat.

Unfair to Circus Clowns

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Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy just described Wayne LaPierre, NRA’s CEO and poster child for the batsh%$ insane as a circus clown:

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy (D) tore into the National Rifle Association during an appearance on CNN’s State Of The Union on Sunday. The NRA this week introduced its legislative response to the massacre in Malloy’s home state. Its plan focuses on arming school staff.

Malloy specifically called out NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre for his absolute opposition to commonsense gun regulations, including the new gun law just enacted by Connecticut. After watching a clip of LaPierre mocking Connecticut’s new law, Malloy shot back, “Wayne reminds me of the clowns at the circus. They get the most attention”.

If I were a circus clown, I’d be pissed off at this characterization, and I would not want to deal with a pissed off clown:

Clowns scare me.

Jeebus

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The Obama administration has revealed what policies it wants changed under the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

What do the Obama administration oppose?

They oppose things like:

  • Requiring that meat packing plants have separate spaces for halal and non halal slaughter.
  • Restrictions on pork and alcohol importation for religious reasons.
  • Better capital requirements for banks.
  • High taxes on cigarettes and alcohol to discourage their use.
  • Personal data privacy protections.
  • Regulatory actions to control pharmaceutical costs.
  • Objecting to a fee (all of $21) to file a copyright complaint.
  • Public ownership of energy resources.
  • Patent policies which prohibit evergreening (renewing patents ad infinitum).
  • Comprehensive food labels.
  • Buy local military procurement. (which the US has)
  • A publicly owned post office.
  • Requiring that cheese be made from milk.

Seriously, this is a neoliberal (free market mousketeer) wet dream.

Yes, Republicans are Classy People

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In a meeting with between Mitch McConnell and campaign aides, they talked about using her religion, and her depression in 6th grade against her in the campaign:

On February 2, Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate, opened up his 2014 reelection campaign headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, and in front of several dozen supporters vowed to “point out” the weaknesses of any opponent fielded by the Democrats. “They want to fight? We’re ready,” he declared. McConnell was serious: Later that day, he was huddling with aides in a private meeting to discuss how to attack his possible Democratic foes, including actor/activist Ashley Judd, who was then contemplating challenging the minority leader. During this strategy session—a recording of which was obtained by Mother Jones—McConnell and his aides considered assaulting Judd for her past struggles with depression and for her religious views.

Read the whole thing, and you will find a fairly repugnant bit of immature locker room talk that sounds like your worst stereotypes of drunk College Republicans.

It gets even better, because McConnell called in the FBI, and accused people of bugging his office, though he has walked it back a bit.

Originally, he accused ProgressKY, and now it’s the nebulous “political left” that he is accusing of wiretapping him.

In any case, calling in the FBI has turned this from being a minor embarrassment into a case of his being a whiny bitch.  Heh.

Here’s a hint mother f%$#er, there is something called a cell phone, and many of them can make audio and video recordings.

Just ask Mitt Rmoney about the 47% video.

Here is hoping that whoever runs against you kicks your butt.

What is Wrong With Democratic Political Class in One Phrase

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It appears that they think that the biggest strength that a candidate can have is he or she, “doesn’t have particularly strong views.”

Because, I guess, nothing always beats something:

Democratic Party officials believe that Kevin Strouse is exactly the kind of candidate who can help them retake the House next year.

 He’s a smart, young former Army Ranger — good qualities for any aspiring politician. But what party leaders really like is that Strouse doesn’t have particularly strong views on the country’s hottest issues.

 Immigration? Tax policy? “Certainly I have a lot of research to do,” Strouse acknowledged in an interview Thursday as he announced his candidacy in a suburban Philadelphia House district.

 Strouse’s candidacy reflects an emerging Democratic strategy for taking back the House from Republicans after the tea party takeover of 2010.

 The best way to defeat the conservative, ideologically driven GOP, Democrats say, is to field non-ideological “problem solvers” who can profit from the fed-up-with-partisanship mood of some suburban areas. These districts will offer some of the few competitive House campaigns in the country.

 “You pick your strategic high ground and force them to fight on it,” said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has begun a particularly early effort at traveling the country and working the phones to lure Strouse and others like him into races.

(emphasis mine)

Steve Israel was, until he wanted a leadership position, he was a one of the Quisling Blue Dog Caucus, and his goal is to restore the decimated Benedict Arnold Blue Dog Caucus, because the f%$#ing Blue Dogs were so good for the party in the past.

In any case, be aware that this sort of mind bogglingly stupidity is from the person trying to pick and choose Democratic Party nominees for the US House of Representatives, and he is bragging about this bit of lunacy.

Choose your own candidates.  Don’t give to the DCCC, because they will waste your money on bullsh%$ like this.

It is Called Fraud

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When lenders lose original loan documentation, and their response is to fabricate documents that have nothing to do with reality, it is not a business plan, it is criminal fraud:

It is hard to credit, but lenders routinely mislay the card and loan agreements their customers originally sign. But even more astonishingly, if there has been a dispute later on, the lenders have used computer software to ‘ recreate’ the original documents, sometimes with less than accurate results.

Being able to recreate agreements in this way helps banks pursue borrowers over debts, but there is growing evidence that when lenders ‘recreate’ contracts they often do not stick to the original terms.

The result is that borrowers who are often already in financial trouble are left in worse difficulties.

Document ‘recreation’ is in the spotlight after a court case last month involving a number of borrowers with credit cards issued by HBOS, Barclaycard, MBNA and HSBC. Part of the case, heard in the High Court in Manchester, was to assess the circumstances in which banks could ‘ reconstitute’ lost agreements.

Judge David Waksman concluded that in future, lenders would have to explain why they did not have the original agreements. He said they would have to prove that the recreated document was a true copy of the original contract.

This is in the UK, not the US, that this is happening in right now.

There should be arrests and criminal charges, but all they are getting is a slap on the wrist from the Office of Fair Trading guidelines.

The UK is like us in this way, and it is a pity.

Just In Case You Wondered if Obama Didn’t Want to Gut Social Security

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Notice his shout out to Bob (Rubin) who wants to privatize Social Security

This is Obama at the opening meeting for the Wall Street driven “Hamilton Project”, and when he says, “too many of us have been interested in defending programs the way they were written in 1938, believing that if we admit the need to modernize these programs to fit changing times.”

Notice how he is enthusiastic about the idea of cutting Social Security.

He knows that it involves “throwing momma from the train,” so when he says, “This is not a bloodless process,” (7:56 in the vid) it ain’t his blood, or Bob Rubin’s blood that he is talking about.

This is not eleventy dimensional chess.  Obama sees gutting cutting Social Security as a potential bipartisan legacy.

This is what he wants.

H/t Naked Capitalism.

Margaret Thatcher, Dead at 87

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She was 87.

There is an argument that one should not speak ill of the dead, but Margaret Thatcher was a public figure, and her supporters are using this as an opportunity to shape her legacy, so I feel that speaking the truth is essential at this juncture in any public forum except for her funeral or wake.

In my case, I will start with a list of positive things about her:
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That is all.

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Off to have a birthday date with Sharon.*

We are going to a newly opened kosher middle eastern restaurant, Easta La Vista.

If you are ever there, get the silk soup (Charira), a Moroccan Chick Pea and herb soup.  It is sublime.

No blogging, because I hope to be busy doing other things.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

The Non Farm Payroll Numbers Sucks

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Only 88,000 Jobs were created:

American employers added an estimated 88,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, compared with 268,000 in February, according to a Labor Department report released Friday. It was the slowest pace of growth since last June, and less than half of what economists had expected.

It also was the start of a third consecutive spring in which employers tapered off their hiring after a healthy start to the year. Slowdowns in the previous two years could be attributed to flare-ups in the European debt crisis, but this time the cause is less obvious. The recent payroll tax increase or other fiscal tightening in Washington could be partly to blame for the sudden retreat in hiring, but neither seems to be showing up much yet in other relevant economic data.

“People were starting to believe the economy was really picking up steam, and desperately wanted this report to be better,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief economist at MFR Inc. “But that didn’t happen.”

Paul Krugman understands what is causing this:

That deficit has declined from 5.6 percent of potential GDP in 2011 to 2.5 percent in 2013 — that’s 3 percent of GDP, which is a lot of austerity. Not all of that cut has even hit yet — the sequester isn’t in the macro numbers yet — but the rise in the payroll tax is very clearly driving the latest bad numbers, which show big declines in retail.

This is Obama policies that we are talking about largely.  Notwithstanding the posturing by Republicans, all they really want is to cut the social safety net and cut taxes for rich guys.

Obama is the one who really wants to cut the deficit in the middle of a recession.

His “Grand Bargain” is all about balancing the budget in the relatively near future while bridging the difference parties. 

It is a dangerous delusion.

High Tech Eutopianism Fail

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The fact that the Silicon Valley icon Michael Arrington’s behavior towards woman has been ignored and covered up for years puts the lie to the idea that somehow the culture of high tech will in and of itself to create a better world and a better workplace:

Everyone knows Silicon Valley is a boys’ club. The needs of women are often ignored when it comes to business, but the story developing around the alleged rape and brutalization of a girlfriend by a Silicon Valley hotshot indicates that lack of effort carries into the personal realm as well.

Michael Arrington, tech magnate and founder of TechCrunch, has long been known for temper tantrums. His former girlfriend, Jenn Allen — the CEO and founder of the start-up RTist.com — recently took to Facebook to accuse him of some nasty stuff. Allegedly, he was constantly violent, raped her and another woman, and threatened to “murder” her if she told a soul.

That is disturbing, yes. But what is most disturbing is that many people in Silicon Valley had heard about his alleged violent tendencies towards women for years and never said anything, fearing repercussions by the constantly angry man who controlled so much in the land of tech.

Arrington’s legendary temper and deep connections in Silicon Valley and the most powerful media outlets earned him the ability to do whatever he pleased with no fear of being confronted. While this apparent bully might have been stopped years ago, bystanders preferred their comfortable lives in Silicon Valley while others suffered terribly at Arrington’s hand.

This is not surprising.

The difference between the Silicon Valley and any other industry is simply the technology they use.

The underlying human aspects are the same as in any other industry.

Judge Overturns Craven Obama Administration Morning After Pill Policy

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A while back, in yet another attempt to appease right wing Neanderthals who will never support him, the Obama Administration overruled its experts at the FDA, and limited access to the morning after pill.

Well, a Federal Judge just called the decision, arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable:

A federal judge on Friday ordered that the most common morning-after pill be made available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and younger. But his acidly worded decision raises a broader question about whether a cabinet secretary can decide on a drug’s availability for reasons other than its safety and effectiveness.

In his ruling, Judge Edward R. Korman of the Eastern District of New York accused the Obama administration of putting politics ahead of science. He concluded that the administration had not made its decisions based on scientific guidelines, and that its refusal to lift restrictions on access to the pill, Plan B One-Step, was “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable.”

He said that when the Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, countermanded a move by the Food and Drug Administration in 2011 to make the pill, which helps prevent pregnancy after sexual intercourse, universally available, “the secretary’s action was politically motivated, scientifically unjustified, and contrary to agency precedent.”

This is a very well deserved smack down.

Of all the bits of cowardice to come out of the Obama administration over the past few years, this was arguably the most heinous.

Because the So Called Pro-Life Movement is an Oxymoron

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Yes, the folks who want to criminalize abortion have threatened the life of a Nevada state legislator for saying that she had an abortion:

The life of a Latina assemblywoman in Nevada has been threatened after she used a story about her own personal abortion experience at age 16 to make a point about the importance of sex education.

“I’m going to say something I’ve never said publicly before, because — Why not? I’ve been open about everything else?” Democratic Assemblywoman Lucy Flores reportedly told the state Assembly Education Committee on Monday. “I had six other sisters, all of them became pregnant in their teens — all of them. One was 14 years old when she got pregnant with twins. That is what I had to learn from.”

“I had an abortion because I didn’t have access to birth control, or even an understanding of what that meant,” she explained. “I didn’t even understand that my worth did not come from men, or sex with men, trying to fill up a hole in me from so much pain.”


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After several Nevada news sites published accounts of Flores’ emotional testimony, conservative websites like Life News got the message out to anti-abortion activists with headlines like: “Democratic Legislator: I Don’t Regret Killing My Baby in Abortion.”

“Unlike Flores, most women regret their abortions and tell painful stories of how they are often unable to come to grips with taking the life of their child,” Life News’ Steven Ertelt wrote.

Flores was scheduled to explain her support for Assembly Bill 230 to reporter John Ralston on the Thursday edition of Ralston Reports, but canceled before the show aired.

Assemblywoman Lucy Flores, who testified at sex ed hearing re abortion as a teen, recipient of threatening messages. Cancels Ralston Thur.
— Dana Gentry (@DanaGentryLV) April 3, 2013



“Assemblywoman Lucy Flores, who testified at sex ed hearing re abortion as a teen, recipient of threatening messages,” television producer Dana Gentry wrote on Twitter. “Cancels Ralston Thur.”

On Thursday, feminist blogger and activist Emmily Bristol, who wrote about Flores’ testimony, wondered if she had “indirect culpability in giving greater exposure to the kind of information that has been shown to incite anti-choice news outlets and organizations.”

“Those opposed to reproductive health care — lest I remind you that abortion is a legal form of health care — and those opposed to comprehensive sex education share the same goal: To silence and shame women,” Bristol wrote. “They seek to demonize human sexuality.”

This is what the whole abortion criminalization movement is all about: Punishing women for having sex.

It’s why they threaten lives, and why, over the past few election cycles, they have talked about banning birth control, and keeping birth control coverage out of Obamacare.

They hate the idea of women having power over their bodies.

This is why compromise with those ratf%$#s is a losing proposition.

Obama is Not On Our Side

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After increasing signs that even rank and file Republicans oppose to cutting Social Security, but Barack Obama is determined to throw mama from the train:

President Obama next week will take the political risk of formally proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare in his annual budget in an effort to demonstrate his willingness to compromise with Republicans and revive prospects for a long-term deficit-reduction deal, administration officials say.

In a significant shift in fiscal strategy, Mr. Obama on Wednesday will send a budget plan to Capitol Hill that departs from the usual presidential wish list that Republicans typically declare dead on arrival. Instead it will embody the final compromise offer that he made to Speaker John A. Boehner late last year, before Mr. Boehner abandoned negotiations in opposition to the president’s demand for higher taxes from wealthy individuals and some corporations.

 Congressional Republicans have dug in against any new tax revenues after higher taxes for the affluent were approved at the start of the year. The administration’s hope is to create cracks in Republicans’ antitax resistance, especially in the Senate, as constituents complain about the across-the-board cuts in military and domestic programs that took effect March 1.

 Mr. Obama’s proposed deficit reduction would replace those cuts. And if Republicans continue to resist the president, the White House believes that most Americans will blame them for the fiscal paralysis.

Yeah, and who is going to take the blame for gutting Social Security?

Seriously, when I have referred to him as the Manchurian Democrat, I was being prophetic.

He just flushed Democratic protection of Social Security down the f%$#ing toilet.

This is so contemptible MoveOn has gotten its hipster head out of its hipster ass and condemned his move without taking the time to set it up as a lame video contest:

“President Obama’s plan to cut Social Security would harm seniors who worked hard all their lives. Under this plan, a typical 80-year-old woman would lose the equivalent of three months worth of food every year. That’s unconscionable.

 It’s even more outrageous given that Republicans in Congress aren’t even asking for this Social Security cut. This time, the drive to cut Social Security is being led by President Obama and Democrats.

 Millions of MoveOn members did not work night and day to put President Obama into office so that he could propose policies that would hurt some of our most vulnerable people. Just as we fought and defeated President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, we will mobilize and stop this attempt to diminish the vital guarantee of Social Security. MoveOn’s 8 million members will not stand by and watch a Democratic President chip away at one of the most successful government programs of all time. Every member of Congress — Democrat or Republican — who votes for this proposal should expect to be held accountable.”

Call your Congresscritter, and tell them that you will do your best to have them primaried if they vote to support this.

IOKIYAR*

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It’s on!

Mark “Hiking the Appalachian Trail” Sanford won the Republican nomination for the special election in 1st Congressional district in South Carolina:

Mark Sanford’s fiancée, the Argentine for whom he risked a political career, stood next to him Tuesday as he accepted the Republican nomination for a South Carolina Congressional seat.

María Belén Chapur’s appearance was a surprise, especially to leaders in the national Republican Party. It might not have been the most strategic move in Mr. Sanford’s attempt at a political comeback. Still, it was how Mr. Sanford wanted it.

Whether national Republican leaders will decide that the former governor is putting the seat in jeopardy and decide to lend more support is only one question in a race that has already been filled with political and personal drama. After defeating 15 other candidates in a primary race and winning a runoff on Tuesday, Mr. Sanford faces Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a Democrat with enough celebrity appeal and financial backing to change what could have been an easy victory in the special election on May 7 into a real battle.

There is yet another example of just how classless Republicans are in the article:

“Everybody is really concerned because she’s not a bad-looking lady, she is a good speaker and she’s got some money,” said Jerry Hallman, chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party. “In politics, those things are important.”

Elizabeth Colbert Busch is Stephen Colbert’s older sister, so when the classless Mr. Hallman talked about her celebrity, he was not kidding. (See the vid for more)

Still, it is remarkable how complete a Republican self-immolation can be, and yet they are still allowed to return to positions of public trust.

This is a guy who runs on family values, and he gets caught f%$#ing around on his former wife with the woman who is now his current wife, and it’s, “Hey, no harm, no foul.”

The Republican culture of impunity is a marvel to behold.

*It’s OK If You Are a Republican.