Spintested: 09/01/11

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Except it was Bush who bailed out GM and Chrysler.
About GOP
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By the way, SinglePayerUniversalHealthcare was the compromise. SinglePayer wasn't our first, best proposal. We've already have been denied our first best proposal: A level playing field where we all could rise and share in the obscene corporate profits that come at the expense of so many people's lives. We've lost to a corporate mentality that it's a 'dog eat dog'-world, where making a living isn't enough (or even possible); only 'making a kiIIing'.

Had Republicans never been in power these past 35 years, had Democrats not crossed over to become the same bought-off corporate tools that Republicans are, free education through college, access to nutritious, clean and safe food and water, abundant clean and green and sustainable energy, and affordable health care for everyone would've been the bare minimum standard of living for all Americans. But greedy OILy conservative politicians entered our lives and our government, and we're now on a fast track to THE END.

A weak PublicOption was whittled down into a trigger and then dropped altogether. There are no cost controls in the healthcare legislation, but plenty of protections for continued gouging by insurance and drug industries.

Then Democrats caved over the budget.

When the budget process began, Republican congressman Paul Ryan came out with the first number that Republicans wanted to cut ($32 billion). Then there was a Tea Party revolt in the House, and Republicans in the House said "Fine, you win, $64 billion."

At $64 billion and Democrats moved all the way over to where Paul Ryan was when the process began. So even if Democrats got that number (which in Washington would be considered a "win" for Democrats), Democrats went all the way over to where the Republican leadership thought their opening bid would be. Ultimately the cuts are going to be very dramatic, more so than anyone in either party thought was wise months ago -- NOBODY is representing the interests of the poor and middle classes. The 'People's Budget' is nowhere to be found.

Nothing's going to change until and unless Obama and Democratic politicians make the decision to engage. Democratic voters thought they'd made the decision in 2006 and in 2008 when they put Obama and Democrats in power. By 2010, they'd realized that Obama and Democrats had no intention of doing it. Hopefully soon Obama's 'most ardent supporters' will realize that the DLC-controlled Democratic Party is as committed to corporations over the People as Republicans are, retake the Democratic Party and return it to a populist party.
About GOP
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Is Obama Playing Rope-a-Dope?

What's "extreme" to you?

Do you support deregulation? Are you for privatization? These are 'either/or' propositions. You're either for a woman's right to choose or you're not. You're either for clean air/water or you're not.

With ~~Bush's~~ Obama's tax cuts for the rich, the left was willing to compromise on all of the tax cuts. Obama's deal on the tax cuts for the rich wind doesn't cover the 99ers and increases taxes on the poor.

The left comes to the table already having compromised our positions. On everything. All the time. We have done the compromising for more than 30 years.

And even after we compromise, after we have deals, Republicans renege and Democrats still cave some more. One example of that is the Capps amendment. That was the compromise AGREEMENT on abortion in Obama's healthcare legislation.

In the end, with the Stupak amendment and Obama's executive order, Obama and Democrats have put us firmly on the path of ending all insurance coverage for abortions.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/17/gwu-study-yes-the-stupak-amendment-would-end-coverage-of-abortion-services-over-time/

Fairly soon, Roe and overturning it is going to be moot with all that Republicans have managed to get Democrats to "compromise" on, making getting an abortlon impossible. As it is now, you can't get an abortlon in 92 percent of the counties in the US.

KEEP READING
About GOP
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White House Report: Unemployment Rate Above 6 Percent Until 2016

If the OMB Is Right About Unemployment Obama Campaign Is DOA
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Iowa Democrats Turn On Progressive Activists After Grassley Town Hall

Here is a video of the Town Hall. It's not the riot that I envisioned when reading the article.
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Obama's Close Ties To CEOs Whose Firms Dodge Taxes

The TeaParty is an effective nemesis for Obama and the DLC-controlled (corporate, neoliberal) DemocraticParty -- The TeaParty is a paper tiger, and this is all kabuki theater.

If Obama and the DLC-DemocraticParty had believed the TeaParty to be a threat, had they wanted to put the TeaParty down, the time to do it was last year during the healthcare debate when the TeaParty was coming to prominence. When Democratic members of Congress were cancelling TownHalls 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 and announcing increased 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 l!e about it) as the TeaParty grew and bullied at TownHalls.

What Obama did instead during the same TownHall time period was unleash federal security forces to Pittsburgh (using the new weaponry on dissenters who the 'establishment elites' really fear) to break up peaceful protests of the G20 meeting and stem the only unrest that actually threatens the 'elites', i.e., the American people taking back their government.

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 RepublicanParty that controls the RepublicanParty (far rightwing extremists ) and the rest of the RepublicanParty (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 in 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 -- It's been on the drawing boards of the DLC for years.
About Photo Galleries
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Idaho Abortion Lawsuit: Jennie Linn McCormack Challenges State Fetal Pain Law

FWIW, the US newborn death rate is higher than 40 countries, and 1 in 7 hospital infections lead to death in the US, compared to 1 in 122 in Europe.
About Abortion
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Idaho Abortion Lawsuit: Jennie Linn McCormack Challenges State Fetal Pain Law

I hope people realize many 6 month gestation babies have survived.

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At what cost? They can't survive outside of a uterus without extreme medical intervention, and even then, they will have lifelong disabilities requiring medical care and likely be in special education classes throughout their public school careers.

The costs (passed on to all of us) were prohibitive prior to the economic meltdown, but now seem unconscionable in these times where 1 in 4 children go hungry in the US and plans to end Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc., are moving ahead.
About Abortion
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Dick Cheney Book Tour: 11 Questions Reporters Should Be Asking

Mr. Cheney, why were maps of Iraqi oil fields and pipelines included in the documents reviewed by the administration's energy task force, the NationalEnergyPolicyDevelopment Group, which you headed during the first months of 2001?

Did discussions about regime change in Iraq figure in the deliberations of the energy task force?

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Markos Moulitsas on Countdown two days ago, talking about the Bush interview that will be aired on the 10th anniversary of 9/11:

MOULITSAS: I would have probed deeper into why he [GeorgeWBush] really ignored that report about OsamaBinLaden determined to strike the US I don't know if you remember, but DickCheney was supposed to be in charge of a terrorism -- counterterrorism task force, which he basically ignored because he started a new one that was more focused on how to get kickbacks to his oil buddies. He was more concerned about the energy stuff than he was about fighting terrorism. To me, that's the biggest question, because when Bush sits there and wonders why he didn't know, it's clear that there's something going on, and maybe what was happening, given what Cheney's saying these days, was that Cheney was really in charge. And maybe while Bush was floating around in the air, hiding off in some remote airbase in the Dakotas, he had Cheney in charge at that command and control bunker.

[...]

OLBERMANN: It is amazing that they had all that curtailment of civil rights ready to go within weeks, but, you know, ten years later, he still really doesn't really understand why he didn't know that it was going to happen in advance.

MOULITSAS: No, and when he quickly talked about how he had to put the plans on invading Iraq on hold.

OLBERMANN: That's right.

MOULITSAS: Why were there plans to invade Iraq in the first place at that point? And the fact is we know as for a fact that they actually were at that time planning to invade Iraq. Now, they had a really great excuse to do so.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost