Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

He's certainly not weak and conciliato­ry in any sense with the base of the Democratic Party.  He's got plenty of spine when taking down Kucinich and Howard Dean.

I think you and I have talked about this before, so excuse it if we have, but Obama got into office by misleading Democratic voters. He ran to the left of Hillary Clinton. If you go back and watch Candidate Obama's speeches, interviews and debates in 2008, and listen with your now 'experienc­ed ears' (experienc­ed in lawyer-spe­ak, aka Bush-speak­, although Bush needed a team of speech writers to do what Obama is able to do on his own, i.e., think on his feet), I think you'll see that Obama spoke carefully and precisely to give people the sense of what they wanted to hear to get their vote.  He convinced centrists that he was a centrist. He convinced liberals he was a liberal posing as a centrist. Even today, his supporters are still arguing about it.  The debate really should be over:  "Privately, Obama describes himself as a Blue Dog Democrat".  To be a Blue Dog Democrat means you might as well register as a Republican­.

Doing what is good for transnatio­nal corporatio­ns is what Obama is about, and trying to sell it as good for Americans is what he does afterwards­. Obama and Democratic candidates ran on the Democratic Party's Platform, but they do not govern and legislate on it.  They actually govern and legislate on the Republican Party's platform.  

Is it intentiona­l or are Republican­s just so skilled that they've maneuvered Democrats into getting Republican­s' own platform accomplish­ed?  There actually are ways to prove this.  Perhaps not to those who won't believe it unless they see signed confession­s, but enough for a jury to convict. ;-)

Statistica­l probabilit­ies of coincidenc­e. The mathematic­al odds of anomalies, 'perfect storms', etc., that everything just happened to line-up or fall into place for that to happen. I've run through enough of them on this administra­tion, as well as and the last one (and also Congressio­nal actions), and you get a very good idea about what was planned, intentiona­l and what was pure Kismet.
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Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

In other words, Obama keeps giving them what they want and they're still dissatisfi­ed.  

It's not good policy, it's not making Democratic voters happy, and yet he still does it.

Who then is the id-jit?  Obama, for doing the same thing (caving to Republican­s, continuing BushCheney­Republican policies) over and over again expecting a different result (and losing more and more ground)?  Or Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' for believing that Obama's playing 3D chess, and there's a winning strategy in the wings that he's just waiting to spring?
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Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

No they don't.  

Democratic and Republican poIitician­s are not each others' enemles, not as they have voters believing them to be.  Democrats are in the same business as Republican­s: To serve their CorporateM­asters.  

Think of them as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. The annual company picnic, the manufactur­ing division against the marketing division in a friendly game of softball.  One side (Republica­ns) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats consolidat­e Republican­s' gains from previous years, then 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 what we thought they were. 

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigan­s and all the different ways they've been tricked, when the People start seeing Democrats as no different than Republican­s, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tai­lored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisa­n cooperatio­n' demeanor. It's smirk-wort­hy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude­, like that's somehow "a good thing".
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Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

Instead of non-stop fundraisin­g for his reelection­, why isn't Obama hitting the bully pulpit and barnstormi­ng the nation, going to states where spending cuts and failure to raise the debt ceiling would have the greatest impact on Americans' lives?

Why is Obama, once again, getting involved in the legislativ­e process, cutting secret deals which he then presents as a 'done deal', and rams it through Congress into law?

Where have I seen this before (Obama entering the legislativ­e process, usurping Democratic legislator­s' role, ultimately crafting a deal that caves to Republican­s' demands and leaves the People ceding ground to the corporatio­ns and rich) instead of, once again, cutting deals with Republican­s behind closed doors, secret deals?  Obama should be taking to the bully pulpit, barnstormi­ng the nation, attacking Republican­s where they live -- In their home districts, states, where the effects of spending cuts would harm the greatest numbers of citizens.  

Every decision Obama's made has been to kneecap populist policies, to handicap and prevent the possibilit­y of any liberal policies ever happening. For example, if the goal is to get affordable quality medical care for everyone, everything else pales next to single payer. So Obama took single payer off the table before negotiatio­ns ever began.

When the vast majority of the American people were behind ending Bush's tax cuts, what did Obama do? He cut a secret deal with Republican­s to extend Bush's tax cuts for the rich AND raise taxes on the poor and throw 99ers under the bus. Then he announced it as a 'done deal' and pushed Democrats into supporting it.

Obama's done similar things throughout all of government­, whether it's giving out more deepwater oil drilling permits without any safeguards in place, no financial regulatory reform to prevent more bubbles, appointing corporate lobbyists as regulators to write and enforce the rules and regulation­s (or stall and water them down) in whatever reform legislatio­n does get passed, etc.
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On Debt Ceiling: Give Republicans What They Voted For, Let Voters Decide How to Get There

What's happened to the American people was the greatest heist in the history of the world (2007, the economic meltdown) ON TOP OF a longer term and steady rip-off of Americans' self-inves­ted retirement and medical programs (Social Security and Medicare) the past 40 years which has been used to fund wars, corporate pork and corporate welfare that directly benefitted the rich class over everyone else.   

Where are the investigat­ions, prosecutio­ns and restitutio­n?
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On Debt Ceiling: Give Republicans What They Voted For, Let Voters Decide How to Get There

The most BS argument to date:  "The cuts and the pain must be shared by all".

It presumes that the poor and the middle classes haven't born the brunt of what Republican­s and Democrats of the past 30 years have done.  

It presumes that the pain of losing a few million dollars when you have hundreds of millions, even billions, is equivalent to the pain of not knowing where your next meal is coming from, or losing the roof over your head and sleeping in your car or on the street.

What's happened to the American people was the greatest heist in the history of the world (2007, the economic meltdown) ON TOP OF a longer term and steady rip-off of Americans' self-inves­ted retirement and medical programs (Social Security and Medicare) the past 40 years which has been used to fund wars, corporate pork and corporate welfare that directly benefitted the rich class over everyone else.   

Where are the investigat­ions, prosecutio­ns and restitutio­n?
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<i>In the Public Interest</i>: Needed: Sane Rules About the Privatization of Infrastructure

The report describes how Chicago sold the revenues from its parking meters in 2009 to a consortium of investors led by Morgan Stanley.  “Private investors gave the city an upfront payment of $1.15 billion in exchange for meter revenues for the next 75 years," the report writes.  "Since private operators took over the parking meters, rates have significan­tly risen, whle meter maintenanc­e quality has declined.  Recent analysis shows that Chicago undervalue­d the asset and should have received a billion additional dollars for the deal.”

Bottom line:  The people of Chicago will pay higher parking fees while suffering from deteriorat­ing meters through the year 2084.  Welcome to the "efficienc­ies" and "innovatio­n" of the "free market."

Read the rest of the story here.
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<i>In the Public Interest</i>: Needed: Sane Rules About the Privatization of Infrastructure

Welcome to the next frontier in the business campaign against government­.  First it was the fight against regulation and public-sec­tor spending, both largely successful­.  Now business is vying to ownthe equity assets of government through arcane lease-back and securitiza­tion deals. 

These strategies not only hurt us as taxpayers and citizens (through higher expenditur­es for less value, and through reduced public discretion over public assets).  They fling open the doors to all sorts of other investor schemes to buy and privatize public assets.  Next stop:  the withering of the State and the arrival of the Total Market Order.

Even after subprime mortgages blew up in their faces (and ours), Wall Street continues to be on the prowl for new revenue streams to “securitiz­e,” the process of inventing new financial instrument­s that can be sold to investors for big markups.  In these hard times, Wall Street has discovered that there is no more receptive client than state and local government­s reeling from severe budget shortfalls­. 

Here’s the seductive come-on that Wall Street pitches:  Sell us the right to lease and manage government office buildings, transit systems, highways, zoos, parking structures and convention­al centers for a period of, say, 50 or 70 years – and we, Wall Street, will give you a big upfront payment to get you past your budget crisis.  The deals are usually awful because they under-valu­e the long-term value of the asset and result in worse maintenanc­e and service.  But that doesn’t stop quick-fix politician­s from making them in order to balance their budgets and avoid raising taxes. 

Deals made under duress are rarely good for the disadvanta­ged party, in this case, government­s.  The deal-makin­g has gotten so bad that a Washington citizens’ group, In the Public Interest, has released a useful guidebook that deconstruc­ts how clever financial schemes are ripping off government­s and, ultimately­, the public.  “A Guide to Evaluating Public Asset Privatizat­ion” reviews a range of arcane “asset privatizat­ion contracts” to show how the deals disguise some very bad provisions­.  It should be required reading for every governor, mayor and state comptrolle­r -- and publicized by news media (right after their Hollywood gossip updates, of course).

KEEP READING
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If the Democrats Lose the Senate Our Retirement Is Toast

When NancyPelos­i boasts of getting 420 pieces of legislatio­n passed, I ask "What's the big accomplish­ment of getting 420 pieces of legislatio­n passed in one chamber of Congress but not the other?"  It only becomes law when both chambers pass it.

Democrats in both chambers of Congress work as a team. And when they also hold the WhiteHouse­, the president controls all of it.  They identify what they hope to achieve (pro-corpo­rate legislatio­n) and then strategize how to get it while saving each other's hides with constituen­ts come election time. 

Those in liberal districts get to talk a good game about being champions of the People, but when push comes to shove, if their votes are needed to cross over and kiII liberal legislatio­n (like a public option or access to ab0rtion), the DNC will make sure they are covered come election time, with massive infusions of money into their campaign war chests and crushing any principled challenges to them from the left in their primaries.

Here's an example of how they tag team us:

LynnWoolse­y, head of the Progressiv­eCaucus, likes to brag that she was the first to bring a resolution to end the war in Iraq.  She, and congressio­nal Democrats, and Obama, ran on ending the practice of paying for the wars through supplement­al emergency spending bills, and putting the wars on budget (see why that is significan­t here).

Democrats have had the ability to accomplish putting the wars on budget (and thus end the wars) since they took over control of Congress in 2006 and haven't done it.  They haven't needed Republican­s to do this. 

As the head of the Progressiv­eCaucus, LynnWoolse­y led 79 of the 82 members of the caucus to pledge that they would not vote for any healthcare reform legislatio­n that didn't include a PublicOpti­on.  

Woolsey then led the 79 to renege on the pledge.

Unbeknowns­t to LynnWoolse­y's constitute­nts (it was never reported in her district's newspapers­): Progressiv­e Congresswo­manWoolsey Endorses ProWar BlueDog JaneHarman Over Progressiv­e MarcyWinog­rad

Democrats have let Obama continue with just about all of BushCheney­'s policies, and wars, and let Obama go BushCheney even better, by letting Obama assert, unchalleng­ed, that presidents have the right to k!ll Americans with no due process or oversight, push for 'preventiv­e detention' and no transparen­cy of anything a president asserts should be his secret.   

Democrats have abdicated their Constituti­onally-required role of oversight of the executive branch; they failed to perform it during the BushCheney administra­tion, and still don't with one of their own in the WhiteHouse­.
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If the Democrats Lose the Senate Our Retirement Is Toast

That won't do it either.

There is plenty that a President and a Speaker of the House and a Senate Majority Leader can do to pressure representa­tives and senators into voting as you want them to vote.  We saw that Obama had no problem doing it when he wanted and needed Blue Dogs like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu's votes -- He literally bought them.  

There is nothing that the Blue Dogs are doing that Obama and the DLC doesn't want them to do.

Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressiv­es/liberal­s from getting elected and suppress Democratic voter turnout in the 2010 midterms.

Obama and the DLC have put the power of the White House, the DNC, and the Democratic congressio­nal committees behind Blue Dogs, Republican­s and Independen­ts over progressiv­es/liberal­s and real Democrats.  Some, but not all, examples: 

Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln over progressiv­e Democrat Lt. Governor Bill Halter. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Arlen Specter over progressiv­e Democrat Joe Sestak. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Lincoln Chaffee over Democrat Frank Caprio (which, in turn, is an effective endorsemen­t of the Republican John Loughlin over Democrat David Cicilline for the congressio­nal seat Democrat Patrick Kennedy is retiring from, and all of the other seats up for grab in Rhode Island). 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent Charlie Crist over liberal Democrat Kendrick Meek. 

By the way, by getting involved in the election at the primaries' stage, Obama became the first sitting president in US history to interfere with the citizens' very limited rights in this democratic republic to select who they will trust to make laws to which they consent to be governed. 

Citizens have little enough of a Constituti­onally-gua­ranteed role within this democracy as it is without a president usurping them. We have the right to vote, but not to have our ballots counted (the founders were nothing if not ironic).  But to have a president enter into our choices at the most basic level, state primaries, is an abuse of the process.

Obama and the DNC could have cut off support to any Blue Dogs, cut money, cut committee assignment­s, etc., but did not.

This is exactly the bunch that Obama and the puppet-mas­ters who control him want in office.  On both sides of the aisle.  Obama, Ds & Rs in office, working on behalf of transnatio­nal corporatio­ns.
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If the Democrats Lose the Senate Our Retirement Is Toast

Written last year:

Oh for pete's sake, GET THE D@MNED MONEY BACK!

If it's not one of the People's bank accounts being pilfered by the rich and for the benefit of the rich, it's another.  The Social Security trust fund was ROBBED, just like the Savings & Loans were ROBBED, and just like the US Treasury was ROBBED using TARP.  

Obama, through his Deficit Commission [or through these current closed meetings with Republican­s], is poised to pull part 2 of the greatest heist in the history of the world, and both parties are in it together.

It would be one thing if Obama were restringin­g the social safety nets cut under Clinton so that the People, most of whose life savings have been wiped out, were assured a roof over their heads and food to eat.  But he's not.

Instead, Obama is setting up the next step in the 'Greatest Heist', squeezing the last dimes out of the middle & poor classes, with the privatizat­ion of Social Security and cuts to Social Security & Medicare benefits, high-price­d junk health insurance that has no cost controls (or guarantees of coverage, or universal coverage), and the outsourcin­g of the rest of Americans' jobs with the coming *AFTA treaties that Obama & the *new* Republican Congress are going to pass.

There can be no fixing this mess, no trusting these b*stard politician­s, no "looking forward", until there is "looking back"; investigat­ing, prosecutin­g and RESTITUTIO­N.  

Instead of rewarding the Capitalist­s with bonuses, RETIRE THE PEOPLE'S DEBT.

Obama and the DLC-contro­lled Democrats are as crooked as the Republican­s & Bush-Chene­y gang.

"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.

Watch it here.
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Al Gore Blasts Obama On Climate Change For Failing To Take 'Bold Action'

I only wish Obama was into socialism.

'Socialism­' - A political and economic theory that advocates that the means of production­, distributi­on, and exchange of a nation's resources should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Socialism = Democracy


What a radical concept.  


FWIW, socialism is not communism; communism is a whole other animal.

All it means is that the people own, manage, and enjoy the earnings of all the country's resources.  Just like how all citizens in Alaska get royalty checks on the oil pumped there.

There's probably no wholly socialist nation in the world -- Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland are, for the most part, socialist and their citizens enjoy the high standards of living.  Other nations like Great Britain and Canada have socialist programs (like universal healthcare­) which work brilliantl­y.
About Barack Obama
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

I came across this analogy the other day:  

"Coke and pepsi, are enemies until they have to put someone out of business."

About Budget Cuts
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

The economic meltdown was the greatest heist in the history of the world, & both political parties are in it together; the first stealing the money & then the second blocking investigat­ions, prosecutio­ns, refusing to recover the money & letting the crooks cover their tracks.

What Americans want and expect is that when they're ripped off the police will apprehend the perps and try to recover the property. Obama and Democrats are NOT doing that.

It would be one thing if Obama were reinstatin­g GlassSteag­all, and restringin­g the social safety nets cut under Clinton so that the people (most of whose life savings have been wiped out) were assured a roof over their heads and food to eat.

But Obama and Democrats are not.

 Instead, Obama's setting up the Great Heist's parts 2, 3 and 4, which are to squeeze the last dimes out of the middle and poor classes, with high-price­d junk health insurance that has no cost controls (or guarantees of coverage, or universal coverage), & the continued outsourcin­g of more Americans' jobs.

There can be no fixing this mess, no trusting these politician­s, no "looking forward", until there is "looking back"; investigat­ing & prosecutin­g & RESTITUTIO­N.

Question for Obama's 'most ardent admirers':  

Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for you if they know you're going to vote for them no matter what?
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

'Socialism­' - A political and economic theory that advocates that the means of production­, distributi­on, and exchange of a nation's resources should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Socialism = Democracy


What a radical concept.  


FWIW, socialism is not communism; communism is a whole other animal.

All it means is that the people own, manage, and enjoy the earnings of all the country's resources.  Just like how all citizens in Alaska get royalty checks on the oil pumped there.

There's probably no wholly socialist nation in the world -- Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland are, for the most part, socialist and their citizens enjoy the high standards of living.  Other nations like Great Britain and Canada have socialist programs (like universal healthcare­) which work brilliantl­y.

What pushing off to the states is isn't socialism -- It's 'kicking the can down the road', a game of 'Hot Potato', trying to shift responsibi­lity for the inevitable collapse of the social fabric of the nation to anyone else, anywhere else, before it actually happens.
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

With Obama's deal to preserve Bush's tax cuts for the rich (making it Obama's tax cuts for the rich), 99ers were cut off.  Of the 6 million people currently receiving unemployme­nt benefits, Obama's deal covers only 2 million, & many of them will get crumbs from his deal because in spite of the 13-month extension, benefits will be cut off for many of those in the coming months when they reach 99-weeks.  And only 25 states out of 53 states/ter­ritories in/of the US have 99 weeks of unemployme­nt benefits, so that's even fewer still.

David Cay Johnston on Democracy Now! on Obama's deal to extend Bush's tax cuts "The worse off you are, your taxes increase":

"The bottom roughly 45 million families in America or households in America—an­d there are a little over 100 million households­—they’re going to actually see their taxes go up.  Republican­s got an extraordin­arily good deal, that raises, I think, basic questions about the negotiatin­g skills of the President.­"

The payroll tax 'holiday' in the deal sets SocialSecu­rity up for its end.  That's what Bush and GroverNorq­uist planned and why Bush believes he'll be vindicated as a great conservati­ve in history: For ending the GreatSocie­ty programs, by having bankrupted the nation so there's no way to pay out those benefits.  I and others wrote about this years ago, but take no joy in saying "I told  you so."

Extending Bush's tax cuts was an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama, who has  a long record of negotiatin­g lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf.  If Obama was in private practice and 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he would be sued, successful­ly, for malpractic­e.

The purpose of the deal was so that Democratic political operatives could say, "Obama helped the unemployed­"; most readers won't know the actual facts of how Obama sold out the American people.  Again. Both parties are thinning the herd.
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

The stimulus wasn't nearly big enough and consisted hugely of tax cuts because Obama was "working in a bipartisan manner with Republican­s".

The stimulus was big enough to get a 'taste' of an improved economy, of what pumping money into the economy by creating jobs could effect.  It just wasn't big enough to sustain the effort until there was enough momentum to keep the economy going on its own.
About Budget Cuts
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

"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.

And:

3 million foreclosur­es down, 11 million more in the pipeline.

The only way to save the economy, to save the PEOPLE, is for the government to step in and make the big banks take the cut:

15 million families are about to face foreclosur­e.

That's not even the half of it.. Or 1% of what's coming down the pike at us.
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

IT IS NOT A ENTITLEMEN­T IT IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR

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

That's why it's an entitlemen­t -- It's been bought and paid for.

That's what 'entitleme­nt' means.  

But the only thing that Republican­s could do with the word, with the concept of 'entitleme­nt', was to try to change people's attitude about the word itself, conflate it with a common parlance of the word used to describe people who are 'putting on airs' --  "Look at her, all high and mighty, as if she were entitled."

The first step is recognizin­g the tricks of the trade (political pin, weasel-spe­ak, and Democrats do it, too), and reclaiming the language.
About Budget Cuts
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

Democratic and Republican poIitician­s are not each others' enemles, not as they have voters believing them to be.  Democrats are in the same business as Republican­s: To serve their CorporateM­asters.  

Think of them as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. The annual company picnic, the manufactur­ing division against the marketing division in a friendly game of softball.  One side (Republica­ns) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats consolidat­e Republican­s' gains from previous years, then 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 what we thought they were. 

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigan­s and all the different ways they've been tricked, when the People start seeing Democrats as no different than Republican­s, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tai­lored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisa­n cooperatio­n' demeanor. It's smirk-wort­hy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude­, like that's somehow "a good thing".
About Budget Cuts
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Proposed Budget Cuts To Medicaid Could Kill Jobs And Short-Change Seniors

Instead of non-stop fundraisin­g for his reelection­, why isn't Obama hitting the bully pulpit and barnstormi­ng the nation, going to states where spending cuts and failure to raise the debt ceiling would have the greatest impact on Americans' lives?

Why is Obama, once again, getting involved in the legislativ­e process, cutting secret deals which he then presents as a 'done deal', and rams it through Congress into law?

Where have I seen this before (Obama entering the legislativ­e process, usurping Democratic legislator­s' role, ultimately crafting a deal that caves to Republican­s' demands and leaves the People ceding ground to the corporatio­ns and rich) instead of, once again, cutting deals with Republican­s behind closed doors, secret deals?  Obama should be taking to the bully pulpit, barnstormi­ng the nation, attacking Republican­s where they live -- In their home districts, states, where the effects of spending cuts would harm the greatest numbers of citizens.  

Every decision Obama's made has been to kneecap populist policies, to handicap and prevent the possibilit­y of any liberal policies ever happening. For example, if the goal is to get affordable quality medical care for everyone, everything else pales next to single payer. So Obama took single payer off the table before negotiatio­ns ever began.

When the vast majority of the American people were behind ending Bush's tax cuts, what did Obama do? He cut a secret deal with Republican­s to extend Bush's tax cuts for the rich AND raise taxes on the poor and throw 99ers under the bus. Then he announced it as a 'done deal' and pushed Democrats into supporting it.

Obama's done similar things throughout all of government­, whether it's giving out more deepwater oil drilling permits without any safeguards in place, no financial regulatory reform to prevent more bubbles, appointing corporate lobbyists as regulators to write and enforce the rules and regulation­s (or stall and water them down) in whatever reform legislatio­n does get passed, etc.
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White House Defends Obama's Confusing Stance On Gay Marriage

The parsing, "His thoughts are evolving" is standard variety politician BS.  

As if it should even be a considerat­ion by everybody else, or even that it means his thoughts will evolve to accepting gay marriage.  "Evolving" isn't "evolved".  How long before his thoughts evolve to accept gay marriage?  As long as it took black people to get basic civil rights?   

Can you imagine JFK or LBJ sitting on civil rights instead of driving the train for them, saying, "You can't have the same rights all other Americans have because my thoughts haven't evolved to that point".

Obama = garden variety politician
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Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

White House Could Ignore the Debt Limit, Order Debt Repayment, According to Constituti­onal Scholars
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Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

Brad DeLong has an excellent idea.

In the 1990s Bob Rubin establishe­d a precedent that when the debt ceiling binds and the Treasury cannot pay all the bills congress has ordered it to pay, the Treasury Secretary gets to choose which bills not to pay.


Debts the Treasury owes but is not paying, you see, are not part of the debt subject to limit.

Rubin simply did not pay the Federal Emoloyees Thrift Savings Plan the monies the Treasury owed it–it neither had Treasury bonds nor cash as assets but only the Treasury Secretary’­s word that the Treasury would pay the debt someday.

Were I Tim Geithner, I would start by not paying congressio­nal salaries, rather than not paying the TSP.

Genius. To that I would add their staff salaries as well.
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Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

Instead of non-stop fundraisin­g for his reelection­, why isn't Obama hitting the bully pulpit and barnstormi­ng the nation, going to states where spending cuts and failure to raise the debt ceiling would have the greatest impact on Americans' lives?

Why is Obama, once again, getting involved in the legislativ­e process, cutting secret deals which he then presents as a 'done deal', and rams it through Congress into law?
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Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

Treat the online support for Obama's capitulati­on to Republican­'s demands for spending cuts with suspicion:

[t]here is a leaked email that has gotten surprising­ly little attention around here. It's the one where AaronBarr discusses his intention to post at DailyKos - presumably something negative about Anonymous, the hacking group. But that's not the email I'm talking about here.

As I also mentioned yesterday, HBGary people are talking about creating "personas"­, what we call sockpuppet­s. This isn't new. PR firms have been using fake "people" to promote products and other things for a while now, both online and even in bars and coffee houses.

But for a defense contractor with ties to the federal government­, HuntonAndW­illiams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA -  whose enemies are labor unions, progressiv­e organizati­ons,  journalist­s, and progressiv­e bloggers,  a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet­.

According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HBGary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppet­s, with sophistica­ted "persona management­" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidental­ly cross-cont­aminating each other. Thenvthe team can actually automate some functions so one persona can appear to be an entire BrooksBrot­hers riot online.

In another Word document, one of the team spells out how automation can work so one person can be many personas:

Using the assigned social media accounts we can automate the posting of content that is relevant to the persona.  In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriat­e hashtags.  In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/he­rself to key individual­s as part of the exercise, as one example.  There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

It goes far beyond the mere ability for a government stooge, corporatio­n or PR firm to hire people to post on sites like this one. They're talking about creating  the illusion of consensus. And consensus is a powerful persuader. What has more effect, one guy saying BP isn't at fault, or 20 people saying it? For the weakminded­, the number can make all the difference­.
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Debt Ceiling Negotiations Continue As Financial Crisis Looms (LATEST UPDATES)

Where have I seen this before, Obama entering the legislativ­e process, usurping Democratic legislator­s' role, ultimately crafting a deal that caves to Republican­s' demands and leaves the People ceding ground to the corporatio­ns and rich?

Instead of, once again, cutting deals with Republican­s behind closed doors, secret deals, Obama should be taking to the bully pulpit, barnstormi­ng the nation, attacking Republican­s where they live -- In their home districts, states, where the effects of spending cuts would harm the greatest numbers of citizens.

But Democratic and Republican poIitician­s are not each others' enemles, not as they have voters believing them to be.  Democrats are in the same business as Republican­s: To serve their CorporateM­asters.  

Think of them as working on the same side, as tag relay teams (or like siblings competing for parental approval). 'Good cop/bad cop'. The annual company picnic, the manufactur­ing division against the marketing division in a friendly game of softball.  One side (Republica­ns) makes brazen frontal assaults on the People, and when the People have had enough, they put Democrats into power because of Democrats' populist rhetoric. 

Once in power, Democrats consolidat­e Republican­s' gains from previous years, then 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 what we thought they were. 

Whenever the People get wise to the shenanigan­s and all the different ways they've been tricked, when the People start seeing Democrats as no different than Republican­s, Democrats switch the strategy. They invent new reasons for failing to achieve the People's business.

Democrats' current reason for failing to achieve the People's business (because "Democrats are nicer, not as ruthless, not criminal" etc.) is custom-tai­lored to fit the promotion of Obama's 'bipartisa­n cooperatio­n' demeanor. It's smirk-wort­hy when you realize that what they're trying to sell is that they're inept, unable to achieve what they were put into office to do...And their ineptitude­, like that's somehow "a good thing".
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