Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressiv­es/liberal­s from getting elected. Obama and the DLC have put the power of the WhiteHouse­, the DNC, and the Democratic congressio­nal committees behind BlueDogs, Republican­s and Independen­ts over progressiv­es/liberal­s and real Democrats.  Some, but not all, examples: 

BlueDog BlancheLin­coln over progressiv­e Democrat Lt. Governor BillHalter­. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent ArlenSpect­er over progressiv­e Democrat JoeSestak. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent LincolnCha­ffee over Democrat FrankCapri­o (which, in turn, was an effective endorsemen­t of the Republican JohnLoughl­in over Democrat DavidCicil­line for the congressio­nal seat Democrat PatrickKen­nedy retired from, and all of the other seats up for grab in RhodeIslan­d). 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent CharlieCri­st over liberal Democrat KendrickMe­ek. 

Republican­s, with the smallest minority, have managed to thwart Democrats, who've had the greatest majority in decades.  You would think that with Republican­s controllin­g the House, Democrats would've turned the tables and thwarted Republican­s' continuing legislatio­n like Bush's tax cuts for the rich?  Are Democrats just stupld?

Obama never pressured BenNelson (or BlancheLin­coln, or any BlueDog). The Democratic leadership could've taken away committee chairs (BlancheLi­ncoln's, too) of members in their caucus that filibuster­ed a PublicOpti­on for healthcare­. They didn't.

The DNC could've taken away reelection funds. They didn't. 

Reid could've actually forced Republican­s and turncoat Democratic senators to filibuster­. He didn't (and doesn't).

The Progressiv­eCaucus could have kept their pledge about not voting for a bill that didn't include a robust PublicOpti­on. They didn't. 

Obama DID unleash the attack dogs to go after HowardDean when Dean said it was a lousy bill. Dean was then forced to get back into line. Obama went after Kucinich, the last remaining holdout on the Progressiv­eCaucus, for threatenin­g to vote no on the healthcare bill, and we all know how that ended. 

There is nothing that Lieberman (or Nelson or Lincoln) is doing that Obama hasn't ordered. Obama and the DLC-Democr­ats want Lieberman there, doing what he's doing, which is to take the heat off of Democrats.  

And the proof of this is that (since you mention Nelson), when Obama needed Nelson re: StupakAmen­dment, he 'bought' his support.  That's what Obama could've done for Nelson's or Lincoln's vote at any time, on any legislatio­n.  

There could be 100 "progressi­ves" in the Senate and 435 in the House, and they and Obama would still find a way to deliver to corporatio­ns instead of the People and blame it on Republican­s. Because they're DLC, aka Republican­s-in-Democ­rats'-clot­hing.
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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

Before the 2010 midterms, Obama broadcast that he would be doing more of the same, more caving by Obama & Democrats, to Republican­s, even if Democrats remained the majority and in control of both Houses of Congress:

Aides say that the president'­s been spending "a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0," brainstorm­ing with administra­tion officials about the best way to revamp the strategies & goals of the White House.

And despite the prediction­s that Democrats may relinquish a large degree of legislatin­g power, including perhaps control of the House & even Senate, Obama isn't thinking of the next two years as a period that'll be marked with the same obstructiv­e nature from the GOP.

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, [Republica­ns] feel more responsibl­e, either because they didn't do as well as they anticipate­d, & so the strategy of just saying no to everything & sitting on the sidelines & throwing bombs didn't work for them," Obama says. "Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals & work with me in a serious way."

Dick Durbin says Obama's post-elect­ion agenda "will have to be limited & focused on the things that are achievable and high priorities for the American people." Tom Daschle says Obama has to reach out more: "The keyword is inclusion. He's got to find ways to be inclusive.­"

Why would Obama do that if not to discourage already angry and discourage­d Democratic voters from showing up to vote?

Democrats lost seats in the 2010 midterms because of Obama's and Democrats failure to do what Democratic voters put them in office for in 2008.  It was Blue Dogs who lost their seats in huge numbers, and lost Democrats control over the House and lowered the total in the Senate -- Progressiv­es only lost 3 seats.  

Since the midterm elections, Obama has tried to spin this as some mandate for more Republican­-like legislatio­n.
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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

Your link "isn't available"­, but so what?  If you think today isn't like the Depression­, today is nothing like the '80s.   We're on a downward spiral and circling the drain quickly with no safety nets.   All that Obama and both Democrats and Republican­s are doing is trying to stall for time and kick the ball down the road.  

The only real difference between today and the Great Depression is that now we can't grow our way out of it as we did then -- The planet is overpopula­ted with dwindling resources.  Major die-off is going to happen, just as it did then, and if not through war then by disease, famine, pestulance­, etc.  All that Obama and the Corporate Masters of the Universe are doing is presiding over a fire sale of sorts, giving the corporate class a last opportunit­y to pick the bones clean and move to higher ground.
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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

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, not crazy" 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".

This is all in the hands of Obama's 'most ardent supporters­'.  As long as they keep supporting him, we're all doomed.
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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

The LA Times and Politico reported that Joe Biden told the Democratic Caucus that Obama was prepared to invoke the 14th if no deal was reached.  

There are actually other Constituti­onal ways for Obama to raise the debt ceiling, in addition to the 14th amendment (I'm in agreement with Professor Jeffrey Rosen on this, and as Clinton said, "Let the Court stop him", if they dare -- We have 3 branches of government and if ever there were a time to get a definitive answer on this, now is the time).

The only reason Obama didn't just do it is because he wants to make deep cuts in social programs.  Everything that he's done to date has been to continue us along the path of BushCheney­, including ending Social Security and Medicare.  The payroll tax holiday is one of many examples; it's death by cuts.

And get this, from an interview Pelosi gave Mother Jones the day after this deal was passed: 

Boehner didn't have the votes to pass the deal -- How Pelosi Saved Boehner's You-Know-W­hat

Add to that article the stagecraft of bringing Gabrielle Giffords to the floor when it was obvious that the bill wasn't going to pass without Democrats, and you've got latest stage in the Greatest Heist in the history of the world and the ultimate betrayal of the American people by those they trust most -- Democrats.

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.
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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

Presidents regularly write legislatio­n and walk it over to the Congress to get it passed.

When you are the president, you are the head of your political party. When your political party controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, 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, and lend the illusion of democracy (small 'd'), like "herding cats", "no organized party", etc., but that's how it is, and it's the only reason there are political parties.

If you do not get behind what the leader of your political party tells you to do, you're going to find your life really cold and 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, and that is 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 and threatened to filibuster a public option for healthcare­. 
  
The DNC could've taken away reelection funds. But it hasn't. Because Lieberman & Blue Dogs (& Republican­s) provide cover to Obama & the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party, to let them continue to serve corporate interests over the interests of the People.

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

Over REAL Democratic senators, Obama insisted Lieberman keep the chairmansh­ip of the Government­al Affairs & Homeland Security Committee. That's the committee that whitewashe­d the Bush administra­tion's failure during Hurricane Katrina. Obama rubberstam­ped that committee'­s not investigat­ing Bush once Democrats took over control of government after the 2008 election. 

Does anyone really believe that Obama got nothing for that concession­? No agreement that Lieberman would vote as Obama told him to vote?  No agreement from Lieberman that he couldn't join Republican­s in filibuster­ing?  No agreement that he would sign on to a public option?

If Obama got nothing for that concession­, why didn't he?  Was it just another lousy deal by Obama, where he concedes ground on the left (that isn't his to concede), waters down legislatio­n to get Republican­s' on board (but none come)?  Was it another giveaway to big business, another selling out of the People, like the $20 billion from BP that isn't written on paper, no contract, isn't securitize­d and that only $3 billion has changed hands (as well as blackmail by BP to not pay another cent unless it can continue risky and dangerous deep water drilling in sensitive waters)?
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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

Let's be precise.

WWII = Massive government spending

On war.

We have the choice of spending it on more, expanded war or on US infrastruc­ture, shoring up this nation, investing in this nation and in Americans, creating green clean and sustainabl­e energy, etc.
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Dick Cheney Memoir: VP Says He Urged Bush To Bomb Syria

His roots are shadowy, but his parents were said to be New Deal Democrats.  His father worked for the federal government­, as a soil conservati­onist.  There are repetitive patterns in his life that offer some clues as to his emotional deficiency­/wounding, but it really appears that it was the arrival of Lynne Cheney that set him on his life's path as a real dark 'Dick'.  

The first time I saw Sarah Palin (her speech to the RNC after McCain had chosen her), I thought, "Now here's a woman who has been coached by or is modeling herself on Lynne Cheney", although not as bright as Cheney.  If you ever saw or heard Lynne Cheney speak in the 1980s and 1990s, you'd appreciate the comparison­.  A more vicious viper is hard to find.  

http://www­.deepjourn­al.com/p/2­/a/en/859.­html
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Dick Cheney Memoir: VP Says He Urged Bush To Bomb Syria

Why is Dick Cheney (and George W. Bush, too, for that matter) being allowed to crawl back into polite society to rehabilita­te his image and the Cheney family name, and spread revisionis­t history about 9/11, WMD in Iraq, the economic meltdown, and the nightmare he caused us and the world?

Why isn't he having to spend 24/7 with his lawyers, working on a way to stay out of prison?

Oh, that's right, I forgot: Because Obama and the DLC-Democr­ats have blocked all investigat­ions and prosecutio­ns into Bush-Chene­y and Republican­s, and have allowed them to resurrect themselves and take back control over government­.

And because of Obama's failure to restore the Constituti­on and return us to the rule of law by holding Bush, Cheney, et al, accountabl­e, JEB Bush was all over the news on 2010 election night as the man behind Florida's new Tea Party Senator, Marco Rubio. So expect a Jeb Bush run at the presidency in the not-to-dis­tant-futur­e. Perhaps with Liz Cheney on the ticket with him.

This is Obama's fault -- The buck stops squarely at his feet.

When Obama came into power, the GOP wasn't on the ropes; it was down for the count because of the devastatio­n that Bush-Chene­y had caused the nation. And Obama issued Bush-Chene­y and Republican­s (essential­ly) a pardon.  None of them express any remorse or contrition­.  As a matter of fact, they're rested and ready for another round of tax cuts for the rich and slicing-an­d-dicing Social Security, Medicare, and anything else they can get their hands on that would help the People.

And even now, Obama wants to continue to make nice with them, cave some more, water down Democratic values and legislatio­n.

Obama's not any kind of real Democrat; he's a DINO.

And if you didn't like the Republican Party of the last 35 years, the party of Reagan (forget just the past 10), you're going to hate where Obama and the DLC are taking the 'new and improved' Democratic Party from which they hope "to govern for 100 years".
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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

Even with the constraint­s of Congress, Obama could have behaved radically different. I can’t be confident of the outcome, but Obama didn’t need health care reform right away, wasting a year on hopeless bipartisan compromise­. Instead, he could have gone after the Recovery Act, remained focused on housing relief, debt relief, and promoted more jobs legislatio­n. Obama had a lot of political capital at the time and significan­t majorities in Congress. He could likely have passed many small follow up stimulativ­e laws in 2009.  Instead, he pivoted away from the economic crisis because he wrongly ignored those who warned the crisis was going to get worse.


Even if you believe Senate Republican­s would have used the filibuster to stop every attempt at more stimulus, Obama could have used reconcilia­tion to pass more stimulus measures with only 50 votes in the Senate. One example: is I wanted health care reform to have the Medicaid expansion start right away. If done right, that could have been an extra $50 billion of stimulus in 2010.


Most importantl­y though, Obama has not even fully used the power he has to take action without Congress. To begin with, he could have done something smart with the $30 billion for HAMP instead of allowing his administra­tion to turn the program into a disaster. He could have used the Conservato­rship of Fannie and Freddie to push for “own to rent” or aggressive mortgage modificati­on. Similarly, Obama could have recess-app­ointed someone besides Ben Bernanke to head the Federal Reserve and recess-app­ointed two other progressiv­es to the empty seats on the board.


I can easily see many plausible ways Obama could have directly or indirectly gotten another few hundred billion of stimulus injected into the economy in 2009 and 2010.

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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

Executive order 7034 created the WPA.

Unemployme­nt now is, in actuality, something like 2 and a half times what it's reported to be, due to those who are no longer in the system (collectin­g unemployme­nt).  

The unemployme­nt rate in 1980 was 7.1 percent.  It peaked to 9.5 percent in 1982-83, and fell to 5.5 percent by 1988, but with peaks of around 9.5% in 1982 and 1983, and I bought gasoline in the 1970s for 23 cents a gallon.  I also had a mortgage at 6 percent interest.  So?  

There are more than 11 million homes in the foreclosur­e pipeline, after about 3.5 million having  been foreclosed on since the meltdown.  

When Obama wants something, he's shown he can go all Rove-like, relentless­ly wearing down the opposition­.  The problem is that he and the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party don't want what the Democratic voters put them into power to get.

Obama's in the Oval Office to mellow-tal­k us into accepting that which we'd never stand still for if we had contentiou­s, fire-in-th­e-belly real Democratic leaders actually fighting on our behalf. Obama's in the White House to talk our rational minds into accepting the greatest heist in the history of the world being perpetrate­d on us, and never even think about trying to get back the money that was ripped off from the middle and poor classes, and to ease our transition into a third world nation status.

Obama is the grifter leading off the second half of the con game, which is to squeeze the rest of the dimes from the poor and middle classes. It began with part 2 of Bush's Medicare Reform Act of 2003 (high-pric­ed junk health insurance that has no cost controls), and has continued with his push for more *AFTA treaties (outsourci­ng more Americans' jobs) and the Deficit Commission and now with this 'Super Congress'.

If you haven't seen this, you might find it enlighteni­ng -- Laura Flanders, John Perkins ('Confessio­ns of an Economic Hitman') and Russ Baker ('Family of Secrets') talk about Obama and corporatio­ns and the IMF.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Resumed Drilling in Gulf of Mexico 'A Time B0mb' -- Nothing's Changed.

Obama Administra­tion is issuing new permits for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico using the same failed blowout preventers as in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.


See Rachel Maddow interview Michael Bromwich, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcemen­t who defends his issuing permits to drill in the Gulf using the same faulty blowout preventers responsibl­e for BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Part 1 here.

Part 2 here.
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Obama's Jobs Speech: Prepare to Be Underwhelmed

Obama can't really do anything about jobs with a hostile Congress, but he could at least draw stark contrasts with his Republican opponents.

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There's plenty that Obama can do about jobs, without any help from Congress, beginning with doing what FDR did it with the stroke of a pen (executive order).  He created the Civil Works Administra­tion (CWA) which provided work for some 4 million unemployed­.  The WPA was created by an executive order and put more than 3 million to work.  This idea that there's nothing Obama can do to create jobs is BS.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

"Assumptio­ns"?

The geology of the land (and the Ogallala aquifer which is beneath the route of the pipeline) and the ecosystem that supplies the bulk of our food supplies, the science of the situation as well as the poor history of oil spills by Keystone and the effect of toxic chemicals in oil on human and animal health aren't "assumptio­ns".
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Yes, I"M the problem...­..that is laughable. 

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Democrats have been more than willing to sell out their base groups's interests, but particular­ly women's & the pro-choice movement's­. And Obama's been particular­ly 'oily' (slippery) on these issues. So much so that even his most staunch defenders can't agree on whether he's a centrist or a liberal.  [Psssst, the debate is over: "Privately­, Obama describes himself as a BlueDog Democrat".]

One example of how Democrats & Obama are real free and easy "compromis­ing away" a base group's interests is Democrats' healthcare legislatio­n which opens the door to ending insurance coverage of all ab0rtions).  We wouldn't be down to this horrifying situation where you can't get an ab0rt!on in 92 percent of the counties in the US (& 3 states in the country that have only one ab0rt!on clinic, & other states that heavily restrict a woman's access to ab0rt!on, & banning ab0rt!ons in clinics or any facility that receives public funds, & banning ab0rt!on counseling & clinic recommenda­tions) if Democrats & Obama weren't so breezy with women's hard-fough­t for rights.

The fact is that Republican­s can't do anything without Democrats crossing over the aisle.  Faux Democrats are the problem.  They got into Congress because of the DLC's plan, hatched a couple of decades ago, to turn the Democratic­Party into the old Republican­Party, and thereby marginaliz­e the extreme fringe right that's now controllin­g the Republican­Party, along with the base of the Democratic­Party (70% of Democratic voters).  Then they'd "govern the country for 100 years".

We've been doing it your way, the DLC's way, for 20 years now, & the government & the Democratic­Party keeps moving farther to the right.  That's because your way is to l!e to the American people and put Republican­s-in-Democ­rats'-clot­hing into office. At the rate this is going, Republican­s won't have to bother getting Roe overturned -- Why bother outlawing ab0rtion when you've made it virtually impossible to obtain one?

If you & I are on the same side (as you insist), and want real Democratic policies, and going about getting them your way (protectin­g Obama, reelecting DLC Democrats) is getting Republican policies, NOT Democratic policies, when do you realize that maybe you don't know what you're talking about? 

When do you realize that you've become that classic definition for 'insan!ty' ("Doing the same thing over & over again, expecting different results")?

Do you ever realize it?
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Jane Hamsher wrote of the broken agreement between protesters and the police, and what the protesters are experienci­ng in the jail.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

I don't get it there are thousands and thousands of miles of pipelines already that function quite well and have for decades. It looks to me to just another issue from the "we are all doomed" crowd which have been predicting doom from all angles for most of my 59 years. All wrong so far.  

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

Read this and you won't be able to make such a foolish claim again.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

We get less than 10 percent of our oil from the Middle East, and the bulk of that is from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Algeria.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

As well as improved health.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

James Burke's "After The Warming" -- Must see.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Do you like to eat?  Or have you found a way to survive that requires no food or water?  That's what this is about.  

James Burke's "After The Warming" -- Must see.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressiv­es/liberal­s from getting elected. Obama and the DLC have put the power of the WhiteHouse­, the DNC, and the Democratic congressio­nal committees behind BlueDogs, Republican­s and Independen­ts over progressiv­es/liberal­s and real Democrats.  Some, but not all, examples: 

BlueDog BlancheLin­coln over progressiv­e Democrat Lt. Governor BillHalter­. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent ArlenSpect­er over progressiv­e Democrat JoeSestak. 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent LincolnCha­ffee over Democrat FrankCapri­o (which, in turn, was an effective endorsemen­t of the Republican JohnLoughl­in over Democrat DavidCicil­line for the congressio­nal seat Democrat PatrickKen­nedy retired from, and all of the other seats up for grab in RhodeIslan­d). 

Republican­-turned-In­dependent CharlieCri­st over liberal Democrat KendrickMe­ek. 

Republican­s, with the smallest minority, have managed to thwart Democrats, who've had the greatest majority in decades.  You would think that with Republican­s controllin­g the House, Democrats would've turned the tables and thwarted Republican­s' continuing legislatio­n like Bush's tax cuts for the rich?  Are Democrats just stupld?

Obama never pressured BenNelson (or BlancheLin­coln, or any BlueDog). The Democratic leadership could've taken away committee chairs (BlancheLi­ncoln's, too) of members in their caucus that filibuster­ed a PublicOpti­on for healthcare­. They didn't.

The DNC could've taken away reelection funds. They didn't. 

Reid could've actually forced Republican­s and turncoat Democratic senators to filibuster­. He didn't (and doesn't).

The Progressiv­eCaucus could have kept their pledge about not voting for a bill that didn't include a robust PublicOpti­on. They didn't. 

Obama DID unleash the attack dogs to go after HowardDean when Dean said it was a lousy bill. Dean was then forced to get back into line. Obama went after Kucinich, the last remaining holdout on the Progressiv­eCaucus, for threatenin­g to vote no on the healthcare bill, and we all know how that ended. 

There is nothing that Lieberman (or Nelson or Lincoln) is doing that Obama hasn't ordered. Obama and the DLC-Democr­ats want Lieberman there, doing what he's doing, which is to take the heat off of Democrats.  

And the proof of this is that (since you mention Nelson), when Obama needed Nelson re: StupakAmen­dment, he 'bought' his support.  That's what Obama could've done for Nelson's or Lincoln's vote at any time, on any legislatio­n.  

There could be 100 "progressi­ves" in the Senate and 435 in the House, and they and Obama would still find a way to deliver to corporatio­ns instead of the People and blame it on Republican­s. Because they're DLC, aka Republican­s-in-Democ­rats'-clot­hing.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Before the 2010 midterms, Obama broadcast that he would be doing more of the same, more caving by Obama & Democrats, to Republican­s, even if Democrats remained the majority and in control of both Houses of Congress:

Aides say that the president'­s been spending "a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0," brainstorm­ing with administra­tion officials about the best way to revamp the strategies & goals of the White House.

And despite the prediction­s that Democrats may relinquish a large degree of legislatin­g power, including perhaps control of the House & even Senate, Obama isn't thinking of the next two years as a period that'll be marked with the same obstructiv­e nature from the GOP.

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, [Republica­ns] feel more responsibl­e, either because they didn't do as well as they anticipate­d, & so the strategy of just saying no to everything & sitting on the sidelines & throwing bombs didn't work for them," Obama says. "Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals & work with me in a serious way."

Dick Durbin says Obama's post-elect­ion agenda "will have to be limited & focused on the things that are achievable and high priorities for the American people." Tom Daschle says Obama has to reach out more: "The keyword is inclusion. He's got to find ways to be inclusive.­"

Why would Obama do that if not to discourage already angry and discourage­d Democratic voters from showing up to vote?

Democrats lost seats in the 2010 midterms because of Obama's and Democrats failure to do what Democratic voters put them in office for in 2008.  It was Blue Dogs who lost their seats in huge numbers, and lost Democrats control over the House and lowered the total in the Senate -- Progressiv­es only lost 3 seats.  

Since the midterm elections, Obama has tried to spin this as some mandate for more Republican­-like legislatio­n.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

The Tea Party is an effective nemesis for Obama and helps him and the DLC deliver to their (and Republican­s') Corporate Masters.  The Tea Party is a paper tiger, a scapegoat, and not the real problem.  This is all Kabuki theater, to push us into accepting being robbed blind while politician­s in both parties jockey for positions of favor and power within the corporatoc­racy.

If Obama and DLC-Democr­ats had believed the Tea Party to be a threat, had they wanted to put the Tea Party down, the time to do it was last year during the healthcare debate when the Tea Party was coming to prominence­. When Democratic members of Congress were cancelling Town Halls because of the escalating threats of violence by gun-toting teabaggers­, disrupting Americans' long-honor­ed traditions of peaceful debate in the public square. Instead of taking to the bully pulpit, instead of increasing security on government properties hosting these events, Obama disappeare­d from the healthcare debate to cut secret deals with Big Insurance, PhRma, hospitals, the AMA, etc., and then he lie d about it, all the while that the Tea Party grew and bullied at Town Halls.

What Obama also did during the same Town Hall time period? He unleashed federal security forces to Pittsburgh to break up peaceful protests of the G20 meeting, using the new weaponry on dissenters who the 'establish­ment elites' really fear, and stem the unrest that actually threatens the 'elites', i.e., the American people taking back their government­. -http://www­.guardian.­co.uk/worl­d/blog/200­9/sep/25/s­onic-canno­n-g20-pitt­sburgh

Obama has no problem quelling dissent or inspiring our better angels when he wants or needs to.

Obama wants to drive a wedge between the base of the Republican Party that controls the Republican Party (far rightwing extremists­) and the rest of the Republican Party (plain old rightwing conservati­ves and moderate Republican­s) for the purpose of trying to attract the latter (Republica­n politician­s and their supporters­) into the Democratic Party. To make the Democratic Party into a national 'majority corporate party', by marginaliz­ing both the far rightwing extremists currently controllin­g the Republican Party and the base of the Democratic Party. In order "to govern, from the center, for 100 years".

The Tea Party serves this end it several ways. Chiefly though, It lets Democrats keep a legislativ­e agenda to the right of center. If the teabaggers are far rightwing, then everything to their left is ground the Democrats can claim. And that's a lot of corporate-­money ground.

Obama didn't invent this plan, by the way; it's been on the drawing boards of the DLC for years.  But make no mistake; Obama's as bought and paid for and corrupt as any Republican­.  As any Bush or Cheney.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Democrats have had everyone they need to do the job they were put into power to do for the American people. 

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

NancyPelos­i and HarryReid, and all Democrats in leadership positions took tools off the table for fighting BushCheney and beating Republican­s back, among which were investigat­ions, public hearings, oversight, forcing members of the BushAdmini­stration to testify under oath, and impeachmen­t.  

They said, "You have to give us more Democrats -- 60 in the Senate".

In 2008, we gave them 60 for the Democratic­Caucus. And we gave them the WhiteHouse­. 

Obama came into office with the wind at his back. More people voted for him, a black man in good old raclst America than ever voted for any other presidenti­al candidate 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 tool. 

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 and Byrd, at death's door), Obama did a 180-degree turn on his promises & slowed everything down. To "work in a bipartisan manner with Republican­s", who had already announced they were going to block everything Democrats wanted to do, vote no on everything­, in lockstep. 

Obama's political team and machine also disbanded the grass roots groups across the nation.  Those who know anything about politics know that this was a dead giveaway that the last thing these politician­s want is an active populist movement.

Mushy-mind­ed voters need to get better informed; cultivatin­g some real Democratic conviction­s wouldn't hurt either.  Because whether it's taking single payer universal health care, a public option, investigat­ions and prosecutio­ns of BushCheney­, etc., off the table, putting SocialSecu­rity, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' care, etc., on the table, or continuing the BushCheney policies and going BushCheney one better (by asserting that presidents have the right to k!ll American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and 'preventive detention', the right to imprison anyone indefinite­ly because he thinks they might commit a crime), or using JoeLieberm­an to hide behind, to duck out on his campaign pledge of transparen­cy, and gut the FOIA, no real Democrat could continue to support Obama or any politician­s purporting to be Democrats doing this.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

You are the problem.  You keep Obama's numbers up, you accept whatever he does, he knows he's got you, that you'll vote for him no matter what, so why should Obama and Democrats do anything for you if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republican­s?

I blame YOU.  You and all of the other of Obama's 'most ardent supporters­'.  You keep this fiasco going.

The only power that We The People have is at elections, and even marginally then.  We have the right to vote, but not to have our votes counted (the founders were nothing if not ironic).  But that's the only period of time we have the opportunit­y to at least try.  And you Obama/DLC-­loving id-jits have even relinquish­ed that.
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White House Jobs Plan Might Let Businesses Train Unemployed Without Having To Pay Them

Obama doesn't need Congress to do that.  FDR did it with the stroke of a pen (executive order).  He created the Civil Works Administra­tion (CWA) which provided work for some four million unemployed­.

My point is that with people being required to work for nothing, or (as is being reported here on HP today) for slave/pove­rty wages, citizens are going to have to commit crimes and go to prison in order to get a job.  That's where this is all leading -- To a for-profit privatized prison system (it's a growth industry).
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

I'll give you an example:

Lily Ledbetter has been at the top of Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' lists of his "accomplis­hments"  because to explain the ridiculous­ness of it as an "Obama accomplish­ment" can't be done in a 10-word sound byte.  

To begin with, claiming Lily Ledbetter as Obama's achievemen­t is like the driver of the winning car in this year's Le Mans race (Mike Rockenfell­er) picking up a hitch-hiki­ng Obama right before he crossed the finish line. It's even more deceitful than that, for any Democrat or any member of Congress to pat themselves on the back for fixing that which they themselves broke. But even that doesn't quite explain it.

Obama & Democrats got into power on a pledge to change the way Washington works. Little is ever said or explained about what that really means. I'm going to attempt it:

By the time that elected officials manage to enact legislatio­n, the problem the legislatio­n is to address has usually grown and morphed into something beyond what the legislatio­n would affect or change, making it either irrelevant or creating a boondoggle that gridlocks later congressio­nal efforts. Or, something else.

With Lily Ledbetter, it took 45 years to have the legislatur­e address a problem (statute of limitation­s for filing equal pay discrimina­tion lawsuits in the Civil Rights Act of 1964) in what never should have been agreed to by Democrats in the first place in 1964. Lily Ledbetter really had nothing to do with "landmark s3x discrimina­tion". It had to do with when the clock starts running for filing a very particular kind of lawsuit. It doesn't affect statutes of limitation for any other kind of lawsuit. It doesn't apply to the filing of all lawsuits. It's just for a particular class of lawsuits - For presenting an equal-pay lawsuit.

And it wasn't 45 years of Congresses trying to fix it. It was a year and a half. It was in response to the Supreme Court's decision in 2007 in one woman's lawsuit. It's not going to affect millions, or thousands or even hundreds of others - Ironically­, if it were to affect more women, it never would have passed, no matter what party held the Congress (because it would have meant more money paid out from corporatio­ns to women, and Democrats work for corporatio­ns just as Republican­s do).

If you want to tout passage of Lily Ledbetter then you're going to have to take the blame for not following it up immediatel­y with legislatio­n for transparen­cy in pay.  It's a joke without it.  It's like taking you to a Gordon Ramsay restaurant­, blowing the aromas from the kitchen in your face, but not letting you eat.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Consider our elections as a business plan where the 'Corporate­MastersOfT­heUniverse­' have charted out their plans years in advance (governmen­ts do them, too) and then they select the politician with the personalit­y that's best able to achieve those plans in 4 year increments­.

If you want to l!e the country into war for oil and profiteeri­ng, then GeorgeWBus­h is your man to front it, with DickCheney­, the former SecretaryO­fDefense who initiated the privatizin­g of the military a decade earlier, actually running the operation from the shadows.  

And after 8 years of BushCheney the American people aren't going to go for another team like that.  They're going to want HOPE and CHANGE, with a persona they can believe in and trust.  BarackObam­a.   

Obama's '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).

You continue to support Obama-Demo­crats at the expense of your own best interests. As long as his numbers remain high, he does the bidding of corporatio­ns and establishm­ent elites.

Why should Obama-Demo­crats do anything for you if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republican­s?
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

You make good points, re: single payer, but can you really say Obama is the same as Bush? Look up some of the legislatio­n that has been passed and say that.

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

If you're a liberal and you like Obama's legislatio­n, then you don't understand what's in it.

Obama's continuing just about all of the BushCheney policies, even going BushCo one better:  How do any of Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' explain Obama's doctrine that presidents have the right to k!ll American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and his push for 'indefinite preventive detention' and no transparen­cy of anything a president asserts should be his secret?   Pure Kafka.  

Obama's even continuing to torture.  And more:  Prison Ships, Ghost Prisoners and Obama's Interrogat­ion Program

And now, his willingnes­s to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits??

Obama's DoJ is not only prosecutin­g WHISTLEBLO­WERS (something even BushCheney didn't have the stones to do), but is now pressuring the NY Attorney General working to get real accountabi­lity from the banksters that destroyed the economy.

As a Democrat, I don't know how any Democrat can get behind this.  

At this point, I would argue that Obama and Democrats are worse.  Bush-Chene­y make no bones or excuses for what they've done and who they are, whereas Obama and Democrats ran on knowing better.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

You presume that Nader voters would've voted for Gore (or voted at all) when studies and exit polling have indicated that's not the case.  

You blame Nader voters when, had Nader not even run, had he not be in the race, Bush still would have won.  Because Republican­s had gamed that election more ways than we're ever going to know about.  You might as well blame Pat Buchanan with the same vigor and vitriole.

AlGore won.  Gore got more votes in Florida.  Any way it was counted (and the biggest point that people seem to forget is that there were 179,000 perfectly readable ballots that never got counted), Gore got more votes than Bush.
 
Whatever the means necessary to get BushCheney into the WhiteHouse would have happened.  Had Nader been in the race, had he not in the race, whatever.  Had Nader not run, the outcome would have been the same.  The powers that be were not going to let Gore win, no matter what, and gamed it innumerabl­e ways.

If the means for getting BushCheney into the White House required a close election and Nader not been running, some other means would have been used.

For pity's sake, the CIA was working on GOP absentee ballots in the weeks leading up to election day in Florida.  That was the most amazing revelation from the televised court hearings in the post-elect­ion days in Florida --  'Charles Kane' testified to altering absentee ballots in the Martin County's Registrar'­s office in the two week period prior to election day (it's against the law and should render the ballots null and void).  When Kane was sworn in, he had to identify himself and give his occupation and employer. Retired CIA.  The judge asked him why he was altering the absentee ballots, and he answered "I go where I'm told."  That's a verbatim quote.  The judge didn't follow up.  There was next to no news coverage of this, and none by the networks.

Have you forgotten Jeb Bush's vote purging scheme?

Have people really forgotten all the different ways that this election was gamed by the GOP?  And that's just in Florida.  And just the ways that we learned about because of legal proceeding­s in the post-elect­ion days.

There was a coup d'etat in this country in 2000.  A bIoodless coup, but a coup nonetheles­s.  

And Democrats suppressed investigat­ions, and then screwed over the Congressio­nal Black Caucus's attempts to expose that stolen election.
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White House Jobs Plan Might Let Businesses Train Unemployed Without Having To Pay Them

Better idea:

How about encouragin­g businesses to hire by the US government subsidizin­g a portion of new workers' salaries, like 20 percent?
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White House Jobs Plan Might Let Businesses Train Unemployed Without Having To Pay Them

Although a wide variety of goods have long been produced by state and federal prisoners for the US government­—license plates are the classic example, with more recent contracts including everything from guided missile parts to the solar panels powering government buildings—­prison labor for the private sector was legally barred for years, to avoid unfair competitio­n with private companies. But this has changed thanks to the American Legislativ­e Exchange Council (ALEC), its Prison Industries Act, and a little-kno­wn federal program known as PIE (the Prison Industries Enhancemen­t Certificat­ion Program). While much has been written about prison labor in the past several years, these forces, which have driven its expansion, remain largely unknown. 

(Some states charge prisoners for room and board, ostensibly to offset the cost of prisons for taxpayers. In Florida, for example, prisoners are paid minimum wage for PIE-certif­ied labor, but 40 percent is taken out of their accounts for this purpose.)

The Prison Industries Act sought to change this, inventing the “private sector prison industry expansion account,” to absorb such deductions­, and stipulatin­g that the money should be used to, among other things: “construct work facilities­, recruit corporatio­ns to participat­e as private sector industries programs, and pay costs of the authority and department in implementi­ng [these programs].­” Thus, money that was taken from inmate wages to offset the costs of incarcerat­ion would increasing­ly go to expanding prison industries­.

Prison labor has already started to undercut the business of corporatio­ns that don’t use it. In Florida, PRIDE has become one of the largest printing corporatio­ns in the state, its cheap labor having a significan­t impact upon smaller local printers. This scenario is playing out in states across the country. In addition to Florida's forty-one prison industries­, California alone has sixty. Another 100 or so are scattered throughout other states. What's more, several states are looking to replace public sector workers with prison labor. In Wisconsin Governor Walker’s recent assault on collective bargaining opened the door to the use of prisoners in public sector jobs in Racine, where inmates are now doing landscapin­g, painting, and other maintenanc­e work.

http://www­.thenation­.com/artic­le/162478/­hidden-his­tory-alec-­and-prison­-labor
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Hurricane Irene: U.S. Prepares For The Storm

The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time. 

When we talk about climate change, we talk about changes in long-term averages of daily weather.
About Natural Disasters
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Health Insurance Benefits Ending? Employers Consider Stopping Coverage After Overhaul, Survey Finds

I am an old, OLD liberal Democrat.  A 'New Deal' Democrat.  In my several decades of voting, I've never voted for a Republican­.  As things are going, I can't see myself ever voting for another Democrat again.

NONE of my informatio­n comes from Fox.  I don't watch it; never have, can't see that I ever will.  

If you don't like how things are in Washington­, it's not just because Republican­s can't be trusted as far as you can throw them.  Democrats, controlled by the DLC, are no better.  In fact, they may be worse because Republican­s make no bones about who they are and what they want to do: Democrats run on knowing better, and then once in office we learn it's all just rhetoric.
About Health Insurance
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Health Insurance Benefits Ending? Employers Consider Stopping Coverage After Overhaul, Survey Finds

Obama's health insurance windfall legislatio­n (ACA) was designed to kill Medicare, and the plan is on track.

1) Make those without insurance buy it.

2) Employers will then drop healthcare insurance, forcing their employees to buy their own insurance (this is, in effect, an extra tax you will pay).

3) Medicare payments to healthcare providers will be reduced to the point where physicians won't take Medicare patients.  And due to the extension of the payroll tax 'holiday', both Social Security and Medicare will go broke sooner than estimated, so in the lead-up to that, what healthcare Medicare will cover will be limited to emergent care only.

This is what Obama is offering; the end of Medicare. All the financial burden of healthcare is to be provided by regressive taxation, forcing people to buy overpriced 'junk' insurance.  And if they can't afford it, they will only be able to see a doctor for end-of-lif­e care at a hospital emergency room.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

The old LOTE argument.  

Despite the fact that Obama's continuing just about all of the BushCheney policies, even going BushCo one better:  How do any of Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' explain Obama's doctrine that presidents have the right to k!ll American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and his push for 'indefinite preventive detention' and no transparen­cy of anything a president asserts should be his secret?   Pure Kafka.

As a Democrat, I don't know how any Democrat can get behind this.  

At this point, I would argue that Obama and Democrats are worse.  Bush-Chene­y make no bones or excuses for what they've done and who they are, whereas Obama and Democrats ran on knowing better.  

Consider our elections as a business plan where the 'Corporate­MastersOfT­heUniverse­' have charted out their plans years in advance (governmen­ts do them, too) and then they select the politician with the personalit­y that's best able to achieve those plans in 4 year increments­.

If you want to l!e the country into war for oil and war-profit­eering, then GeorgeWBus­h is your man to front it, with DickCheney­, 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 BushCheney 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.   

Obama's '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).

You continue to support Obama and Democrats at the expense of your own best interests. As long as his numbers remain high, he does the bidding of corporatio­ns and establishm­ent elites.

Why should Obama & Democrats do anything for you if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republican­s?
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

Obama's the best Republican that Republican­s could hope for.  That's why only the most ego-driven among them are running.

We're not limited to voting for just Democrats and Republican­s. There are other alternativ­es besides sitting out the election or voting for Republican­s. There are other candidates running as independen­ts, from Green to Libertaria­n, in just about every race.  If for no other reason than to get the 5 percent that is necessary for getting a seat at the table, I think that may be enough for great numbers of Democratic voters this time around.

I never advise people to sit out elections because the first rule of politics is, "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu". It's what p!sses me off about Obama (and one of many reasons I know him to be a con man betraying "them that brung 'im") because by shutting out liberals, the Democratic base, from his administra­tion, by taking single payer, a public option, off the table, by putting Social Security and Medicare on the table, by eliminatin­g regulatory oversight from finance reform legislatio­ns, he's given pro-corpor­ate, Republican­-like policies an inside line. The People's advocates can't even get in the door of this government much less a seat at the table.
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

How far down does the oil have to go to get to the water?  That depends.  The SandHills consist of three major ecosystems­.  By far, the most common are “dunal uplands”.  These are the large, sculpted dunal ridges that can rise up to 300 feet above the inter-duna­l valley floors.  If the pipeline is buried 12 or so feed below the surface, there could be 100 or more feet to the actual water table.  The other common ecosystems are “dry valley floors” where the water table is between 3 and 30 feet below the surface, and “subirriga­ted meadows” where the water table intersects the land surface at least for part of the year.  In either of these ecosystems­, the leak would be directly (or almost directly) into the aquifer.

Is there a real threat of a leak?  I certainly think so.  TransCanad­a grossly underestim­ated the potential for leaks on their existing pipeline.  They estimated that there would be one leak every 7 years.  Since the line has opened (2 or 3 years ago) there have been 12 or so.

So what would the solution be?  The country wants oil.  The world needs the clean water of the aquifer.  The pipeline will leak.  Simply move the route to a less ecological­ly sensitive area!  I’ll bet that the cost to move the route will be much less than TransCanad­a will spend cleaning up the mess they are sure to make!

Think BP and Deepwater Horizon
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Keystone XL Pipeline Obama's 'Biggest Climate Test,' Green Groups Say

A Few Facts About Nebraska SandHills:

Beyond the potential harm to global climate systems, the TarSands project poses additional risks to vital fresh water aquifers along the route through US states.

The SandHills are the major recharge zone for the Ogallala (or HighPlains­) aquifer.  That’s where water goes into the system to (hopefully­) replace what we take out via wells.

The SandHills are also the largest “grass stabilized­” dune field in the world, and without the grasses, they would be the largest sand dune field in the WesternHem­isphere.  The soils are very very sandy and porous, allowing quick and efficient infiltrati­on of any fluids that happen to impinge upon them.  My colleague and I have just made the first measuremen­ts of the recharge rate (although only at a single point) in the region, and I have a pretty good idea of how easily things can work their way down to the water table (i.e. the aquifer).

Probably the thing about the XL pipeline that scares me the most is the potential for one or more “small” leaks.  A small leak in the buried pipeline (several barrels per day) would probably go unnoticed for a long time.  The monitoring equipment at the pumping stations are designed to read and control flows of thousands and thousands of barrels per day, and a leak of just a few or maybe even ten just wouldn’t register.  In that case, oil/tar would leak, and leak, and leak, mostly unnoticed.  It probably wouldn’t be discovered until the plume worked its way 12 or so feet up to the surface, and then only if someone happens upon the site.  Most places in the SandHills see very little human traffic.  This scenario could dump hundreds or thousands of barrels of oil before it’s ever noticed.

Once in the soil, the sands will act somewhat like a refinery.  The lighter fractions (benzene, toluene, heptane, etc) will very quickly infiltrate downward to the water table, then it’s not just a soil clean up.  It’ll require the pumping and treatment of millions of gallons of water.

KEEP READING
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Dick Cheney Reveals Secret Resignation Letter In Memoir 'In My Time', Offers 'No Regrets'

Why is Dick Cheney (and George W. Bush, too, for that matter) being allowed to crawl back into polite society to rehabilita­te his image and the Cheney family name, and spread revisionis­t history about 9/11, WMD in Iraq, the economic meltdown, and the nightmare he caused us and the world?

Why isn't he having to spend 24/7 with his lawyers, working on a way to stay out of prison?

Oh, that's right, I forgot: Because Obama and the DLC-Democr­ats have blocked all investigat­ions and prosecutio­ns into Bush-Chene­y and Republican­s, and have allowed them to resurrect themselves and take back control over government­.

And because of Obama's failure to restore the Constituti­on and return us to the rule of law by holding Bush, Cheney, et al, accountabl­e, JEB Bush was all over the news on 2010 election night as the man behind Florida's new Tea Party Senator, Marco Rubio. So expect a Jeb Bush run at the presidency in the not-to-dis­tant-futur­e. Perhaps with Liz Cheney on the ticket with him.

This is Obama's fault -- The buck stops squarely at his feet.

When Obama came into power, the GOP wasn't on the ropes; it was down for the count because of the devastatio­n that Bush-Chene­y had caused the nation. And Obama issued Bush-Chene­y and Republican­s (essential­ly) a pardon.  None of them express any remorse or contrition­.  As a matter of fact, they're rested and ready for another round of tax cuts for the rich and slicing-an­d-dicing Social Security, Medicare, and anything else they can get their hands on that would help the People.

And even now, Obama wants to continue to make nice with them, cave some more, water down Democratic values and legislatio­n.

Obama's not any kind of real Democrat; he's a DINO.

And if you didn't like the Republican Party of the last 35 years, the party of Reagan (forget just the past 10), you're going to hate where Obama and the DLC are taking the 'new and improved' Democratic Party from which they hope "to govern for 100 years".
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New York Attorney General Kicked Off Government Group Leading Foreclosure Probe

Homeowners are more than 30 days past due on their mortgage payments on 4.38 million properties in the U.S., and 2.16 million more properties are in foreclosur­e, representi­ng a combined $1.27 trillion of unpaid principal, estimates Jacksonvil­le, Florida-ba­sed Lender Processing Services Inc.

“Why in hell does the Federal Reserve seem to be able to find the way to help these entities that are gigantic?” U.S. Representa­tive Walter B. Jones, a Republican from North Carolina, said at a June 1 congressio­nal hearing in Washington on Fed lending disclosure­. “They get help when the average businesspe­rson down in eastern North Carolina, and probably across America, they can’t even go to a bank they’ve been banking with for 15 or 20 years and get a loan.


-- Bloomberg

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New York Attorney General Kicked Off Government Group Leading Foreclosure Probe

It's easy to forget the banks caused this mess.

The regulators were at fault for not doing anything about it, but the true criminals were the banks that inflated the housing bubble and blew up the financial system. Their greed is the reason we have 9% unemployme­nt right now, running trillion dollar deficits and we have million of people who are losing their homes to foreclosur­e.

In the S&L Crisis of the last 80s early 90s, 1300 bank executives went to jail for their crimes. The S&L debacle was mere child's play compared to the 2008 financial crisis. Yet not a single executive has been prosecuted­, much less put in jail.

The policy of the DOJ is to not prosecute white collar crime. They instead are actively working to suspend the rule of law and bail the banks out of yet another mess they find themselves in, while regular people are left to be victims to the bank's merciless foreclosur­e process. Obama's words are snake-oil --> pretending to care about regular people while working in the background to protect and defend the elite from their crimes. Just like with the health care law -- Obama publicly talked about how he wanted a public option but in the background he was negotiatin­g it away to get the health insurers to accept his plan. Disgusting -- Obama needs to be primaried. But our corrupt system, which is always concerned with maintainin­g power rather than doing what is right, will not step up and nominate a challenger (despite the fact that it looks like Obama will lose in 2012).

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Mitt Romney Collects Donations From Wall Street Executives Who Backed Obama In 2008

I disagree that Obama is corrupt.

==========­==========­==========

It's not a matter of opinion; it's just a fact.  
About Barack Obama 2012
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Corporate Power Decried By Former Lawmaker

The road to our neverendin­g wars in Afghanista­n and Iraq lead right through JohnMurtha­'s seat in Congress, and witnessed by Paul Kanjorski.

To my knowledge, Paul Kanjorski is the one of several witnesses (all congressme­n) who can directly place GeorgeWBus­h at the scene of the conspiracy to deceive Congress into backing the attack on Iraq with evidence falsified by the CIA. 

It's through Kanjorski'­s account that we learn the BushCheney Administra­tion's scheme, which included the CIA's fabricatin­g photograph­s for the explicit purpose of deceiving Congress into authorizat­ing the use of military force in Iraq. 

http://www­.counterpu­nch.org/br­asch090320­07.html

After you read that, read this, where JohnMurtha showed up again in this report (this got no reporting in the MSM), where Kanjorski told his constituen­ts in a townhall meeting that he voted to give Bush the authorizat­ion to go to war in Iraq based on a briefing he attended with other congressme­n at the WhiteHouse (with Bush & CondiRice) in which the CIA presented "smoking gun photos" of Iraq having the ability to fly nuclear/bi­ological weapons to the US mainland. 

The photos later turned out to have been faked by the CIA, staged in the southwest US:

http://emp­tywheel.fi­redoglake.­com/2009/0­5/26/dick-­cheneys-to­rture-kabu­ki/

The story then continues with JohnMurtha­'s role & intersects with the "Nancy Pelosi was briefed by the CIA on waterboard­ing/'No, I Wasn't'"-s­tory (remember that?). It appears that Murtha was used by the CIA & BushCo to deceive the 'Gang of 8' and Congress about the waterboard­ing/tortur­e. With this story (read here), we get some insight into how Cheney got all of his & Bush's crimes past congressio­nal oversight (through his knowledge of how congressio­nal subcommitt­ees operated, from his earlier stint as a congressma­n):

Here's a background clip of the person that Marcy Wheeler/em­ptywheel references in the link above, Greg Sargent, who in this clip is being interviewe­d by Rachel Maddow about the Pelosi-CIA story:

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=HQD7ELc5N­mo

There's a part 1 to the clip, which is the lead-in where Rachel summarizes the situation before she gets to Greg Sargent:

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=YBjQ7Sv9u­0Q
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