A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

The Untold Story of TARP

Sunday, October 3, 2010


That, by the way, is one of the big shenanigans that shows how Republicans & Democrats are really not on opposing sides at all, but working together in 'friendly competition', as a kind of tag relay team (or like siblings competing for parental approval).

What politicians have figured out is that while voters may not like what their elected representatives are doing, there's really little, if anything, that voters can do about it.  Certainly not in between elections, and even at election time, memories fade or can be distracted in any number of ways.  

The "new tools" are the same kinds of tools that existed when Democrats chose not to impeach Bush and Cheney when Democrats learned they'd committed crimes.  When you make everything discretionary, based on political will, you're no longer in a land of 'rule of law'.  

Even when the public wants action, wants the 'tools' used or else there will be political consequences, first Bush (and now Obama) showed us that there are ways around it.  Announce that Osama Bin Laden has released a tape the weekend before an election, and you're home free.  

   

 
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The Untold Story of TARP


As an old liberal Democrat who's lived through decades of party politics, I suggest that people consider Democrats and Republicans as working on the same side, as tag relay teams.  Or 'good cop/bad cop'.  One side (Republicans) make brazen frontal assaults on the People, & when the People have had enough for that round, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats then consolidate Republicans' gains from previous years, & continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertising campaigns.  They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't even what the People thought they were.  

Whenever the People get wise to the political shenanigans & all of the different ways they've been tricked & start seeing Democrats as no different than Republicans, Democrats switch the strategy.   They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business -- This current one, because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc., is custom-tailored to Obama's 'bipartisan cooperation' demeanor, and is smirk-worthy when you realize they're trying to sell that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do, and that's "a good thing".  
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

The Untold Story of TARP


Over the course of US history, corporations have managed to game our political system, & done it so effectively that the two-party system competes to serve corporate interests while defending that service as, "What's good for GM (corporations) is good for America (We the People)". 

Democrats (controlled by the DLC, and that's important to remember) & Republicans are corporate t00Is. Like siblings competing for the attention & approval (campaign contributions) of a parent, Republicans & DLC-controlled Democrats try to outdo each other in delivering for their real constituent, BigCorporations. The trick for them has been to make it seem as if they were really working on behalf of WeThePeople. 
 
Democratic voters have mistakenly believed that Obama & Democrats were for strong regulations on banks, WallStreet, investigations, prosecutions, restitution of what has been robbed from the middle class and poor for the past 30+ years, environmental clean-up, clean, sustainable renewable energy (& that isn't nuclear), putting an end to the wars and occupation of Iraq & Afghanistan, affordable, quality universal healthcare (which ObamaCare is not), and more. The DLC-controlled DemocraticParty gives lip service to these & all populist issues, because like the RepublicanParty, the DLC works for the benefit of transnational corporations.

If you must continue to delude yourself into thinking Obama's a good guy who never would have started those wars, & who has only the best of intentions (I don't share that opinion anymore), but got a bad deal, then think of all this as a business plan where the Corporate Masters of the Universe have charted out their plans years in advance (governments do them, too) & select the politician/personality best able to achieve those plans in 4 year increments.  If you want to l!e the country into war for oil & war-profiteering, then George W. Bush is your man to front it (with Dick Cheney, the former Secretary of Defense who initiated the privatizing of the military a decade earlier, actually running the operation from the shadows).  

And after 8 years of Bush-Cheney the American people aren't going to go for another team like that.  They're going to want HOPE & CHANGE, with a persona they can believe in & trust.  BarackObama.
  
The truth is that Obama is no better than Bush-Cheney.   Not better, not worse, but the same.  His 'most ardent admirers'  just like the packaging better.  I'm not talking skin color, although that may be a factor for some of them; I'm talking about how a 'D' after the name is a brand they trust believe and trust in, despite the fact that it's the same 'soap' (product).

Unless and until there is drastic and uncompromising change to our campaign financing system, until corporations are no longer 'persons' and are prohibited from participating in elections and politics, all efforts to reform government are useless.  

Once campaigns are publicly financed, then reforming our system & returning the government to the People can begin.  That's when the work really starts.
   
 
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

The Untold Story of TARP


As an old liberal Democrat who's lived through decades of party politics, I suggest that you consider Democrats and Republicans as working on the same side, as tag relay teams.  Or 'good cop/bad cop'.  One side (Republicans) make brazen frontal assaults on the People, & when the People have had enough for that round, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats then consolidate Republicans' gains from previous years, & continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertising campaigns.  They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't even what the People thought they were.  

Whenever the People get wise to the political shenanigans & all of the different ways they've been tricked & start seeing Democrats as no different than Republicans, Democrats switch the strategy.   They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business -- This current one, because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc., is custom-tailored to Obama's 'bipartisan cooperation' demeanor, and is smirk-worthy when you realize they're trying to sell that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do, and that's "a good thing".     
 
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

The Untold Story of TARP


The crooks were never voted out of office.

All still there.

Democrats are the crooks, too.  I say that as an old old liberal Democrat.  

Do you know what the DLC is, and who's in it?
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The Untold Story of TARP


What did any of them say that you object to?

And why shouldn't I reference a clip at YouTube?
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The Untold Story of TARP


And nothing has changed.
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The Untold Story of TARP


the sight of Wall Street rewarding themselves with billions in bonuses after they'd been bailed out was what made everyone throw up a little.
========================================

"a little", "a lot".


But that doesn't even begin to cover the problem.


TARP was a stick-up.  And all of the ensuing debate over it, and "it would have been so much worse had there been no TARP" missed the point: The economic meltdown was the greatest heist in the history of the world, nothing has been done to prevent it from happening again, no one's been 'restored', no one's been prosecuted, and Obama has blocked investigations and prosecutions into the entire financial house of cards.  


Nothing has changed, except the culprits have been gotten away with America's fortune.  
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The Untold Story of TARP


Ratigan & Spitzer:  TARP's Only a Tiny Piece of Subsidies to Banks

"Why Aren't We Demanding Restitution?" 

On Dylan Ratigan, Eliot Spitzer and Larry McDonald explain how banks paying back TARP monies doesn't begin to cover what's been stolen.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Rt_cCFenI

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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


Speak for yourself and stop telling others what I would and wouldn't rather see.  

I am an old FDR liberal Democrat. There is absolutely nothing that I believe or have ever said to contradict that, so if you think that's far left or far right, then that's what you think about FDR. 

I am one of the 70% of liberals that comprise the Democratic Party, and what Obama and Democrats are doing is not what Democratic voters put Obama & Democrats into power to achieve on their behalf.

The DLC, to which you apparently belong, are DINOs, ideologically the moderate Republicans of the 1950s & 1960s.  It is anti-populist and a t00l of the corporations, just like Republicans.  The DLC, through no acclaimation of the People or Democratic voters, controls the Democratic Party.   

The DLC got into power by refusing to defend the word 'liberal' when Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove were demonizing the word. Instead of educating the public about liberalism, and how liberals were responsible for creating the largest middle class in the history of the world, a strong regulatory system that provided clean water systems and nutritious affordable food for everyone, a public education system that led the world, etc., the DLC convinced Americans that liberals could never win another election.  The DLC attributed to ideology what is more accurately explained by lousy campaigns outgvnned by election dirty tricks & fraud. 

When informed of the issues, most Americans agree with liberal policies.  Neither they nor I would characterize themselves as far-anything or extreme, but mainstream. For example, nobody likes the idea of abortion, but most Americans do not want the government involved if they find themselves in the predicament of an unwanted pregnancy.
 
You've got no moral center, dearie.  You would just as soon throw your fellow American under the bus with wedge issue politics and triangulate away basic rights as root for Gordon Gekko if you knew he was a Democrat.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


I've asked you a question -- "What do you think Obama is going to do after the election in just a few weeks if Republicans take control of one or both Houses of Congress?"


I've solicited your opinion, and you can't or won't answer, but complain instead that it's too long.  [You're on the wrong website for that type of political discussion.  You need to go to Twitter for what you like.]


Here's another question:


How do you expect anybody to take you seriously?











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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


That's factually incorrect.

Democrats' bills are Republicans' bills.  Republicans were for the bills, the amendments in them, before Democrats authored them.  

You can't have it both ways.  
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


One example of the tag team or relay race, where Republicans and Democrats compete with each other for the appreciation of their Corporate Masters, is the healthcare policy for the US and the two most significant pieces of legislation passed in the last decade that does NOT get what Obama and Democrats were put into power to achieve by the voters:  Affordable quality medical treatment for everyone.

Obama's healthcare legislation is really just part 2 of Bush's Medicare Reform Act of 2003 (which corporate-serving Democrats also signed onto).  At that time, Republicans were currying favor with their corporate masters.  Democrats and Obama then had to step up to the plate and get a jackpot for Big Insurance & PhRma in order to keep those campaign contributions flowing to Democrats' campaigns.

Obama's healthcare legislation does  not  contain costs, and does  not  force insurance companies to pay for medical care for everyone.  Those with pre-existing conditions are not getting insurance policies that will cover their conditions without also having to pay high deductibles and co-pays.  So high that they can't afford the treatment, and insurance companies are under no obligation to pick up those costs.  The language that has been used to sell the healthcare legislation is artful in deceiving People about what they're getting.  

Affordable, quality medical treatment for everyone is do-able, but both parties, working for Big Insurance and PhRma, are refusing.
About Financial Crisis
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


Over the course of US history, corporations have managed to game our political system, & done it so effectively that the two-party system competes to serve corporate interests while defending that service as, "What's good for GM (corporations) is good for America (We the People)". 

DLC Democrats (co-founded by BillClinton) who control the DemocraticParty & Republicans are corporate t00Is. Like siblings competing for the attention & approval (campaign contributions) of a parent, Republicans & DLC-controlled Democrats try to outdo each other in delivering for their real constituent, BigCorporations. The trick for them has been to make it seem as if they were really working on behalf of WeThePeople. 
 
Democratic voters have mistakenly believed that Obama & Democrats were for strong regulations on banks, WallStreet, investigations, prosecutions, restitution of what has been robbed from the middle class and poor for the past 30+ years, environmental clean-up, clean, sustainable renewable energy (& that isn't nuclear), putting an end to the wars and occupation of Iraq & Afghanistan, affordable, quality universal healthcare (which ObamaCare is not), and more. The DLC-controlled DemocraticParty gives lip service to these & all populist issues, because like the RepublicanParty, the DLC works for the benefit of transnational corporations.

If you must continue to delude yourself into thinking Obama's a good guy who never would have started those wars, & who has only the best of intentions (I don't share that opinion anymore), but got a bad deal, then think of all this as a business plan where the Corporate Masters of the Universe have charted out their plans years in advance (governments do them, too) & select the politician/personality best able to achieve those plans in 4 year increments.  If you want to l!e the country into war for oil & war-profiteering, then George W. Bush is your man to front it (with Dick Cheney, the former Secretary of Defense who initiated the privatizing of the military a decade earlier, actually running the operation from the shadows).  

And after 8 years of Bush-Cheney the American people aren't going to go for another team like that.  They're going to want HOPE & CHANGE, with a persona they can believe in & trust.  BarackObama.
  
The truth is that Obama is no better than Bush-Cheney.   Not better, not worse, but the same.  His 'most ardent admirers'  just like the packaging better.  I'm not talking skin color, although that may be a factor for some of them; I'm talking about how a 'D' after the name is a brand they trust believe and trust in, despite the fact that it's the same 'soap' (product).

Unless and until there is drastic and uncompromising change to our campaign financing system, until corporations are no longer 'persons' and are prohibited from participating in elections and politics, all efforts to reform government are useless.  

Once campaigns are publicly financed, then reforming our system & returning the government to the People can begin.  That's when the work really starts.

About Financial Crisis
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


the differences between Parties: the income disparity.  

==============================================

As an old liberal Democrat who's lived through decades of party politics, I suggest that you consider Democrats and Republicans as working on the same side, as tag relay teams.  Or 'good cop/bad cop'.  One side (Republicans) make brazen frontal assaults on the People, & when the People have had enough for that round, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats then consolidate Republicans' gains from previous years, & continue on with Republican policies but renamed, with new advertising campaigns.  They throw the People a few bones, but once Democrats leave office, we learn that those bones really weren't even what the People thought they were.  

Whenever the People get wise to the political shenanigans & all of the different ways they've been tricked & start seeing Democrats as no different than Republicans, Democrats switch the strategy.   They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business -- This current one, because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc., is custom-tailored to Obama's 'bipartisan cooperation' demeanor, and is smirk-worthy when you realize they're trying to sell that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do, and that's "a good thing".     
 



Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


The biggest mistake was when Obama tried to get things done on a bipartisan basis.  That turned out to be a big waste of time.
=============================================

Obama hasn't seen the light; he's still doing it.  

Obama hasn't sworn off 'bipartisanship'.

For all of his tough rhetoric of the last couple of weeks (and I don't think it's tough at all -- it's show-talk), it's only directed at a specific faction of the Republican Party -- The teabaggers.  He hasn't taken on the actual Republican leadership, the Mitch McConnells, John Boehners, Eric Canters, John McCains, Lindsay Grahams, et al.  

What do you think Obama is going to do after the election in just a few weeks if Republicans take control of one or both Houses of Congress? 

Do you think he'll veto the legislation they pass (through reconciliation and every other means they can manage)? Do you think Obama will take to the bully pulpit, urge Americans to bury Republicans in email, phone calls, snail mail, and urge Democrats to block Republicans every way possible? 

Or do you think that Obama's going to be making deal after deal with them, spinning what he can as somehow "Good for the People and Democrats", and/or, "I'm president of all the People, and the People in their infinite wisdom put Republicans in the majority, so I must honor their wishes and work with Republicans, and not try to obstruct their will"?


Do you think he'll blame his lack of spine in standing up to the Republicans in the coming two years on the Democratic base (should the base sit out the 2010 election or should the base vote for the independent?).  "It's all their fault, the liberals, for holding me and DLC-Democrats to account for not keeping our promises"?  And will you believe that?

And what if Democrats keep control of Congress?  Do you think Obama's to have a change of heart, stop watering down bills, stop looking for bipartisan support, or is he going to keep flip-flopping on his campaign promises, and say that the election was a referendum on his flip-flopping, and voters want him to do more of the same?

What are you expecting from Obama and a Democratically-controlled Congress this next two years?
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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


We never truly had 60 votes in the Senate and you know it.
============================================

Yes, we did.

'Party government' runs the US Congress, and the Democratic Party has controlled both Houses of Congress (with a supermajority in the Senate) and the White House since 2008.  

If you really believe that Republicans are the scvm of the earth (and I certainly do), you have to then ask yourself, "Why haven't Obama and Democrats used every tool at their disposal to stop them?"


There is nothing that Democrats in Congress are doing that Obama hasn't signed off on, much less ordered.

When you're the president, you're the head of your political party. When your political party controls both Houses of Congress & the WhiteHouse, you do what the head of your party tells you to do. The only people who don't understand this are those who have never worked in politics or in government. 

Democrats like to hide this from the people, & foster the illusion of democracy (small 'd'), like "herding cats", "no organized party", etc., but that's how it is; it's the only reason there are political parties.

If you don't get behind what the leader of your party tells you to do, you're going to find your life really cold & lonely for the duration of your term in office. Come election time, you will NOT have the party organization behind you either at a state or national level, & that's certain de@th for your time in office, not to mention your overall career in politics.

The Democratic leadership could've taken away committee chairs of members in their caucus that joined with Republicans & threatened to filibuster a PublicOption for healthcare. 
  
The DNC could've taken away reelection funds, but it hasn't, because Lieberman & BlueDogs (& Republicans) provide cover to Obama & the DLC-controlled DemocraticParty, to let them continue to serve corporate interests over the interests of the People.

Obama insisted Lieberman remain in the DemocraticCaucus. In spite of multiple betrayals by Lieberman before & during the 2008 election (Lieberman endorsed McCain, campaigned FOR McCain).

Over REAL Democratic senators, Obama insisted Lieberman keep the chairmanship of the GovernmentalAffairs & HomelandSe­curityComm­ittee. That's the committee that whitewashed the BushAdministration's failure during HurricaneKatrina. Obama rubberstamped that committee's not investigating Bush once Democrats took over control of government after the 2008 election. 
About Financial Crisis
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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


Yes, we did.

'Party government' runs the US Congress, and the Democratic Party has controlled both Houses of Congress (with a supermajority in the Senate) and the White House since 2008.  

If you really believe that Republicans are the scvm of the earth (and I certainly do), you have to then ask yourself, "Why haven't Obama and Democrats used every tool at their disposal to stop them?"

Why hasn't Obama-Biden governed boldly against the bad policies that got us into this mess?  The only time we've seen bold leadership out of Obama is when he slams the Democratic base and Rush Limbaugh/Sarah Palin, two people with absolutely no role in the Republican Party or government.  

Why has Obama blocked all investigations and prosecutions into the Bush-Cheney administration?  Not only on war crimes, but on banking crimes?

Why has Obama kept Bush appointees and lobbyists in his administration, and not included any liberals into his administration?

Why didn't Obama do as all other presidents do when they get into office, and fire all of the US attorneys?  He didn't and what the US attorneys are working on is Bush-league -- The same kind of cases we saw out of Bush's and R0ve's Liberty University US attorneys (evangelical Chr!st!an, anti-obscenity).
About Financial Crisis
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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


Let's test it:

Do you know what the DLC is and who is in it?
About Financial Crisis
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


During the Bush years, Democrats said if the People wanted change, they had to put Democrats in the majority in Congress. So in 2006, we did. Nothing changed. 

Democrats said, "You have to give us more Democrats -- 60 in the Senate". In 2008, we gave them the 60. And the White House. 

Obama came into office with the wind at his back. More people voted for him, a black man in America, than ever in the history of the US. They did it because of his ability to persuade that he was going to change the system, end the corporatocracy, lobbyism in government -- He was going to be the People's president, not a corporate t00I. 

And no sooner did Obama get elected than he slammed the brakes on the momentum of his election & a filibuster-proof Senate (tentative yet, with 2 senators, Kennedy & Byrd, at d.e.a.t.h's door, Obama did a 180-degree turn on his promises & sloooooowed everything down. To "work in a bipartisan manner with Republicans", after Republicans had already announced they were going to block everything Democrats wanted to do, and vote no on everything, in lockstep.

Since Obama has gotten into office, he's continued most of Bush's policies & his 'accomplishments' are being spun as "reform" when, in fact, they're Republican in nature.

There could be 100 "progressives" in the Senate & 435 in the House, & they & Obama would still find a way to deliver to corporations instead of the People.  And then try to blame it on Republicans.

It's way past time to get the DLC-Democrats out of office, out of the Democratic Party, and put real Democrats in.  That's what we thought we were doing when we put Obama in over Hillary Clinton.  But in came Obama who put the Clinton team into the White House, and not one liberal in his administration.  He actually kept liberals neutralized for close to a year, with vague promises and nomination paralysis (waiting to be confirmed, where they weren't free to speak out about his Republican-ways.  No recess appointments, just half-hearted excuses. 

About Financial Crisis
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


Candidate Obama, February 2008:

"We have to stop providing tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas and give those tax breaks to companies that are investing here in the United States of America," Obama said in during a debate with rival Senator Hillary Clinton in Cleveland, Ohio. 

The Illinois Senator said he would ensure that every pact the US signs has environmental, safety and labour standards to protect workers and consumers alike. 

"We can't have toys with lead paint in them that our children are playing with. We can't have medicines that are actually making people more sick instead of better because they're produced overseas," Obama said.  

"The problem is we've been negotiating just looking at corporate profits and what's good for multinationals; as President, what I want to be is an advocate on behalf of workers".

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/27bpo.htm


Candidate
Obama, October 2008:

"If we've learned anything from this economic crisis, it's that we're all connected; we're all in this together; and we will rise or fall as one nation as one people. The rescue plan that passed the Congress was a necessary first step to easing this credit crisis, but if we're going to rebuild this economy from the bottom up, we need an immediate rescue plan for the middle-class, and that's what I will do as President of the United States".


I've proposed a new American jobs tax credit for each new employee that companies hire here in the United States over the next two years. I'll stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas and invest in companies that create good jobs right here in Colorado. 

I won't let banks and lenders off the hook when it was their greed and irresponsibility that got us into this mess. We should not be bailing out Wall Street; we should be restoring opportunity on Main Street.

For the last eight years, we have tried it John McCain's way. We have tried it George Bush's way. We've given more and more to those with the most and hoped that prosperity would trickle down to everyone else. And guess what? It didn't. So it's time to try something new. It's time to grow this economy by investing in the middle class again."



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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


The guy in the picture should try getting a job at McDonalds. Walking in traffic looking for loose change is for terminal losers. Where is this guys dignity and self respect. Democrats see this guy as a good vote for Obama.
=====================================

To begin with, he couldn't get a job at McDonalds; no manager would hire him.  It's a teenager's job.  

Even if he could get a job at McDonalds, it wouldn't support him much less a family.

You seem to have contempt for people who, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs and can't find new ones.  There aren't enough jobs for all of the people who want and need them.

Have you ever been hungry and have no idea where your next meal is coming from?  Do you have children?  Have you ever worried about how you were going to feed them?  Have you ever been homeless?  Walk in his shoes before you comment about "terminal losers" -- And use your real name.  I can't imagine your having any idea about dignity or self-respect when you know that you'd be afraid to own your comments around people who actually knew who you are.

And as a liberal Democrat, I don't think this guy is a good vote for Obama -- I think this guy is a black eye for all everyone in Congress and the White House, for the past 20 years.  I've been writing about what Republicans and DLC-Democrats were doing to the nation and what the inevitable result was going to be since the Reagan years.  They knew that what they were doing would have dire effects on everyone's lives in America, but they were too cowardly to take on the Reagan myth.  

A good portion of the blame also goes to the media and to people like you, who so loved your movie star president that whenever the media reported what the impact of Reagan's deregulating and privatizing, you rallied to Reagan's defense (like the Bushies and 0bots) and attacked the media.  The media's reaction was to stop reporting anything that might have Reagan's and Republicans' fans upset.  

If you want to understand how that happened, read Media Monopoly by Ben Bagdikian.  Here's a taste  - http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media/MediaMonop oly_Bagdik ian.html
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Welfare, Weakened In Clinton Years, Now A Key Piece Largely Missing From Economic Safety Net


To begin with, he couldn't get a job at McDonalds; no manager would hire him.  It's a teenager's job.  

Even if he could get a job at McDonalds, it wouldn't support him much less a family.

You seem to have contempt for people who, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs and can't find new ones.  There aren't enough jobs for all of the people who want and need them.

Have you ever been hungry and have no idea where your next meal is coming from?  Do you have children?  Have you ever worried about how you were going to feed them?  Have you ever been homeless?  Walk in his shoes before you comment about "terminal losers" -- And use your real name.  I can't imagine your having any idea about dignity or self-respect when you know that you'd be afraid to own your comments around people who actually knew who you are.

And as a liberal Democrat, I don't think this guy is a good vote for Obama -- I think this guy is a black eye for all everyone in Congress and the White House, for the past 20 years.  I've been writing about what Republicans and DLC-Democrats were doing to the nation and what the inevitable result was going to be since the Reagan years.  They knew that what they were doing would have dire effects on everyone's lives in America, but they were too cowardly to take on the Reagan myth.  

A good portion of the blame also goes to the media and to people like you, who so loved your movie star president that whenever the media reported what the impact of Reagan's deregulating and privatizing, you rallied to Reagan's defense (like the Bushies and 0bots) and attacked the media.  The media's reaction was to stop reporting anything that might have Reagan's and Republicans' fans upset.  

If you want to understand how that happened - http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media/MediaMonop­oly_Bagdik­ian.html
About Financial Crisis
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Read more...

CIA Escalates Pakistan Campaign, Diverting Drones From Afghanistan


For those who defend Obama by saying that when he was a candidate he said he would expand the war in Afghanistan:

When Candidate Obama talked about Afghanistan, it was in the context that Bush had erred in moving the war on Al Qaeda to Iraq, and that he, Obama, wanted to refocus US efforts to where Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda were -- In Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan.

It was certainly clear that Al Qaeda was not synonymous with the Taliban, and that the AUMF did not include the Taliban. 

It was also clear that Obama was speaking for that moment in time, during the campaign, and that should circumstances change, i.e., Al Qaeda was not any serious threat or Osama Bin Laden was k!lled or somewhere else, Obama wouldn't be expanding the offensive in Afghanistan.

Once Obama got into the White House, the assessment was crystal clear that there were fewer than 100 in Al Qaeda, they weren't capable of anything.

Candidate Obama also communicated clearly that he understood how the US's pursuit of empire and military aggression was a recruitment tool for Al Qaeda, and that if elected, all that was going to end.

What Obama is doing as president is not what Candidate Obama campaigned on.
About Pakistan
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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