By Alan Colmes
Televangelist Pat Robertson will go easy in you if you’re broke.
He encouraged families who could not pay their
bills to become “partners” of his ministry because “it’s just $20 a month.”
At the end of Monday’s 700 Club broadcast,
Robertson told the story of D.L and Deborah Hobby, who “lived large” in a
4,600-square-foot home until the housing market crashed and their real estate
business dried up.
After selling their home at a “huge loss,” the
Hobbys declared Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 2010. The “defeated” family of four was
forced to move into a 1,000-square-foot home.
“That is when we really started to focus on God,”
D.L. Hobby recalled…
“Our finances have been restored because of him,”
Deborah Hobby observed. “And I believe it was because of us continuing to tithe,
and us putting God first in our lives.”
“They were faithful,” Robertson opined at the
conclusion of the report. “Listen, there is no way you can out give God. You
can’t do it. And that which is given to him will come back 30, 60 and 100
fold.”
“We encourage you to join the 700 Club,” the TV
preacher added. “It’s just $20 a month. And if all of us do it together, it gets
to be millions and millions and millions of dollars!”
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran
To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
From: Tomas Young
I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.
I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.
You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.
I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.
I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire.
I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn’t lying a sin? Isn’t murder a sin? Aren’t theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.
My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.
Dig last updated on Mar. 18, 2013
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_last_letter_20130318/
From: Tomas Young
I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.
I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.
You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.
I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.
I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire.
I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn’t lying a sin? Isn’t murder a sin? Aren’t theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.
My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.
Dig last updated on Mar. 18, 2013
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_last_letter_20130318/
Forget the Cellphone Fight — We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own
By Kyle Wiens
While Congress is working on legislation to re-legalize cellphone unlocking, let’s acknowledge the real issue: The copyright laws that made unlocking illegal in the first place. Who owns our stuff? The answer used to be obvious. Now, with electronics integrated into just about everything we buy, the answer has changed.
We live in a digital age, and even the physical goods we buy are complex. Copyright is impacting more people than ever before because the line between hardware and software, physical and digital has blurred.
The issue goes beyond cellphone unlocking, because once we buy an object — any object — we should own it. We should be able to lift the hood, unlock it, modify it, repair it … without asking for permission from the manufacturer.
But we really don’t own our stuff anymore (at least not fully); the manufacturers do. Because modifying modern objects requires access to information: code, service manuals, error codes, and diagnostic tools. Modern cars are part horsepower, part high-powered computer. Microwave ovens are a combination of plastic and microcode. Silicon permeates and powers almost everything we own.
This is a property rights issue, and current copyright law gets it backwards, turning regular people — like students, researchers, and small business owners — into criminals. Fortune 500 telecom manufacturer Avaya, for example, is known for suing service companies, accusing them of violating copyright for simply using a password to log in to their phone systems. That’s right: typing in a password is considered “reproducing copyrighted material.”
Manufacturers have systematically used copyright in this manner over the past 20 years to limit our access to information. Technology has moved too fast for copyright laws to keep pace, so corporations have been exploiting the lag to create information monopolies at our expense and for their profit. After years of extensions and so-called improvements, copyright has turned Mickey Mouse into a monster who can never die.
It hasn’t always been that way. Copyright laws were originally designed to protect creativity and promote innovation. But now, they are doing exactly the opposite: They’re being used to keep independent shops from fixing new cars. They’re making it almost impossible for farmers to maintain their equipment. And, as we’ve seen in the past few weeks, they’re preventing regular people from unlocking their own cellphones.
This isn’t an issue that only affects the digerati; farmers are bearing the brunt as well. Kerry Adams, a family farmer in Santa Maria, California, recently bought two transplanter machines for north of $100,000 apiece. They broke down soon afterward, and he had to fly a factory technician out to fix them.
Because manufacturers have copyrighted the service manuals, local mechanics can’t fix modern equipment. And today’s equipment — packed with sensors and electronics — is too complex to repair without them. That’s a problem for farmers, who can’t afford to pay the dealer’s high maintenance fees for fickle equipment.
Adams gave up on getting his transplanters fixed; it was just too expensive to keep flying technicians out to his farm. Now, the two transplanters sit idle, and he can’t use them to support his farm and his family.
God may have made a farmer, but copyright law doesn’t let him make a living.
Neighborhood car mechanics also see copyright as a noose constricting their ability to fix problems. The error codes in your car? Protected. The diagnostic tools used to access them? Proprietary software.
New cars get more sophisticated every year, and mechanics need access to service information to stay in business. Under the cover of copyright law, auto companies have denied independent shops access to the diagnostic tools and service diagrams they need.
Mechanics aren’t taking it lying down. In September of last year, Massachusetts passed Right to Repair legislation designed to level the playing field between dealerships and independent repair shops. Under the rallying cry of “it’s your car, you should be able to repair it where you want,” voters passed the bill by a whopping 86 percent margin. The law circumvents copyright, requiring manufacturers to release all service information to Massachusetts car owners and service technicians.
The popular unrest is spreading: Legislators in Maine just introduced similar legislation.
Meanwhile, progress is being made to legalize cellphone unlocking. With grassroots groups leading the charge, the Obama administration announced its support for overturning the ban last week. Since then, members of Congress have authored no fewer than four bills to legalize unlocking.
This is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough. Let’s make one thing clear: Fixing our cars, tractors, and cellphones should have nothing to do with copyright.
As long as Congress focuses on just unlocking cellphones, they’re missing the larger point. Senators could pass a hundred unlocking bills; five years from now large companies will find some other copyright claim to limit consumer choice. To really solve the problem, Congress must enact meaningful copyright reform. The potential economic benefits are significant, as free information creates jobs. Service information is freely available online for many smartphones from iFixit (my organization) and other websites. Not coincidentally, thousands of cellphone repair businesses have sprung up in recent years, using the repair knowledge to keep broken cellphones out of landfills.
As long as we’re limited in our ability to modify and repair things, copyright — for all objects — will discourage creativity. It will cost us money. It will cost us jobs. And it’s already costing us our freedom.
While Congress is working on legislation to re-legalize cellphone unlocking, let’s acknowledge the real issue: The copyright laws that made unlocking illegal in the first place. Who owns our stuff? The answer used to be obvious. Now, with electronics integrated into just about everything we buy, the answer has changed.
We live in a digital age, and even the physical goods we buy are complex. Copyright is impacting more people than ever before because the line between hardware and software, physical and digital has blurred.
The issue goes beyond cellphone unlocking, because once we buy an object — any object — we should own it. We should be able to lift the hood, unlock it, modify it, repair it … without asking for permission from the manufacturer.
But we really don’t own our stuff anymore (at least not fully); the manufacturers do. Because modifying modern objects requires access to information: code, service manuals, error codes, and diagnostic tools. Modern cars are part horsepower, part high-powered computer. Microwave ovens are a combination of plastic and microcode. Silicon permeates and powers almost everything we own.
This is a property rights issue, and current copyright law gets it backwards, turning regular people — like students, researchers, and small business owners — into criminals. Fortune 500 telecom manufacturer Avaya, for example, is known for suing service companies, accusing them of violating copyright for simply using a password to log in to their phone systems. That’s right: typing in a password is considered “reproducing copyrighted material.”
Manufacturers have systematically used copyright in this manner over the past 20 years to limit our access to information. Technology has moved too fast for copyright laws to keep pace, so corporations have been exploiting the lag to create information monopolies at our expense and for their profit. After years of extensions and so-called improvements, copyright has turned Mickey Mouse into a monster who can never die.
It hasn’t always been that way. Copyright laws were originally designed to protect creativity and promote innovation. But now, they are doing exactly the opposite: They’re being used to keep independent shops from fixing new cars. They’re making it almost impossible for farmers to maintain their equipment. And, as we’ve seen in the past few weeks, they’re preventing regular people from unlocking their own cellphones.
This isn’t an issue that only affects the digerati; farmers are bearing the brunt as well. Kerry Adams, a family farmer in Santa Maria, California, recently bought two transplanter machines for north of $100,000 apiece. They broke down soon afterward, and he had to fly a factory technician out to fix them.
Because manufacturers have copyrighted the service manuals, local mechanics can’t fix modern equipment. And today’s equipment — packed with sensors and electronics — is too complex to repair without them. That’s a problem for farmers, who can’t afford to pay the dealer’s high maintenance fees for fickle equipment.
Adams gave up on getting his transplanters fixed; it was just too expensive to keep flying technicians out to his farm. Now, the two transplanters sit idle, and he can’t use them to support his farm and his family.
God may have made a farmer, but copyright law doesn’t let him make a living.
Neighborhood car mechanics also see copyright as a noose constricting their ability to fix problems. The error codes in your car? Protected. The diagnostic tools used to access them? Proprietary software.
New cars get more sophisticated every year, and mechanics need access to service information to stay in business. Under the cover of copyright law, auto companies have denied independent shops access to the diagnostic tools and service diagrams they need.
Mechanics aren’t taking it lying down. In September of last year, Massachusetts passed Right to Repair legislation designed to level the playing field between dealerships and independent repair shops. Under the rallying cry of “it’s your car, you should be able to repair it where you want,” voters passed the bill by a whopping 86 percent margin. The law circumvents copyright, requiring manufacturers to release all service information to Massachusetts car owners and service technicians.
The popular unrest is spreading: Legislators in Maine just introduced similar legislation.
Meanwhile, progress is being made to legalize cellphone unlocking. With grassroots groups leading the charge, the Obama administration announced its support for overturning the ban last week. Since then, members of Congress have authored no fewer than four bills to legalize unlocking.
This is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough. Let’s make one thing clear: Fixing our cars, tractors, and cellphones should have nothing to do with copyright.
As long as Congress focuses on just unlocking cellphones, they’re missing the larger point. Senators could pass a hundred unlocking bills; five years from now large companies will find some other copyright claim to limit consumer choice. To really solve the problem, Congress must enact meaningful copyright reform. The potential economic benefits are significant, as free information creates jobs. Service information is freely available online for many smartphones from iFixit (my organization) and other websites. Not coincidentally, thousands of cellphone repair businesses have sprung up in recent years, using the repair knowledge to keep broken cellphones out of landfills.
As long as we’re limited in our ability to modify and repair things, copyright — for all objects — will discourage creativity. It will cost us money. It will cost us jobs. And it’s already costing us our freedom.
Kyle Wiens
Kyle
Wiens is the co-founder and CEO of iFixit, an online repair community
and parts retailer internationally renowned for their open source repair
manuals and product teardowns. Launched out of his Cal Poly college
dorm room in 2003, iFixit has now empowered upwards of 15 million people
to repair their broken stuff.
Monday, March 18, 2013
No One in Washington DC Wants To Solve Our Economic Problems
By Nicole Belle
You know it's true, but let me be the one to commit to publishing it: No one in Washington DC wants to solve our economic problems.
Sure, it makes great fodder for the Sunday shows. They can have on Paul Ryan and legitimize him as a Very. Serious. Economic. Wonk.™ to discuss how we have to effectively kill Social Security (which is deficit neutral as anyone who understands the program well knows) to "save" it for future generations.
They can wring their hands over the unemployment rate as a way to blame President Obama, even though the private sector job growth has been positive for 24 straight months.
They can invite on those same politicians that authorized the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Bush tax cuts and let them play concern troll over the deficit, as if history only started on January 2009.
They can frame the issue as one of sacrifice and 'skin in the game', ignoring that the wealthiest nation in the world has seen the wealth gap widen enormously, offering its riches only for a very few and that 98 percent of us are doing worse than they were before the collapse.
There is an economic crisis that exists in this country and there are some serious solutions designed to resolve them. But you won't hear about them, because they're coming from the marginalized Congressional Progressive Caucus:
Because no one in Washington actually wants to find a solution.
You know it's true, but let me be the one to commit to publishing it: No one in Washington DC wants to solve our economic problems.
Sure, it makes great fodder for the Sunday shows. They can have on Paul Ryan and legitimize him as a Very. Serious. Economic. Wonk.™ to discuss how we have to effectively kill Social Security (which is deficit neutral as anyone who understands the program well knows) to "save" it for future generations.
They can wring their hands over the unemployment rate as a way to blame President Obama, even though the private sector job growth has been positive for 24 straight months.
They can invite on those same politicians that authorized the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Bush tax cuts and let them play concern troll over the deficit, as if history only started on January 2009.
They can frame the issue as one of sacrifice and 'skin in the game', ignoring that the wealthiest nation in the world has seen the wealth gap widen enormously, offering its riches only for a very few and that 98 percent of us are doing worse than they were before the collapse.
There is an economic crisis that exists in this country and there are some serious solutions designed to resolve them. But you won't hear about them, because they're coming from the marginalized Congressional Progressive Caucus:
The “Back to Work” Budget contains a $544 billion increase over current spending on public investments and job creation in the first year, including $75 billion for an infrastructure program, $155 billion for a public works program and aid to distressed communities, $80 billion for hiring teachers and $92 billion for reinstating the Making Work Pay tax credit. It also expands unemployment insurance, sends more money to the states and undoes the sequester cuts.
The CPC estimates this will create $7 million jobs in the first year—and over the next ten years, the budget would spend over $4 trillion more on job creation and public investments.
But this massive spending is offset by a number of crucial revenue measures: The “Back to Work” budget increases taxes on millionaires and billionaires, taxes investments at the same level as wages, closes corporate tax loopholes, enacts both a financial transactions tax and a carbon tax, and introduces both a public option and government negotiating for drug prices to Medicare. In addition, the budget finds savings by cutting Pentagon spending back to 2006 levels.
In short, they sketch out the opposite vision of Paul Ryan: reduced military spending, robust public investment and a strong safety net.But this plan involves making sacrifices at the top and increasing revenue, so the Beltway has deemed this a less serious plan than Ryan's, even though it has the same odds of passing as Ryan's does. Steve Benen:
Earlier, I suggested that the Senate Democrats' plan offers a bookend to the House GOP plan, but upon further reflection, that's not quite right. Ryan aims for radicalism; Senate Dems aim for modesty. Ryan throws caution to the wind and laughs at calls for compromise; Senate Dems deliberately identify a moderate middle ground.
The actual bookend for Paul Ryan's vision is the Congressional Progressive Caucus' plan -- it's bold and unapologetic, presenting an agenda without real regard for whether folks on the other side of the aisle will find it worthwhile.
We'll never know for sure whether the public would be amenable to a vision like this. In fact, I have a strong hunch more than 99% of the population will never hear a single word about the "Back To Work Budget." But let's be clear about one thing: on Capitol Hill, when it comes to creating millions of jobs in a hurry, this is the only game in town.And therein lies the problem: the solutions are there. Common sense solutions that will get us out of our economic rut and bring back prosperity to far more Americans than Ryan's budget will. But we'll only hear Ryan's plan. CPC members will not get invited on multiple Sunday shows to tout their vision. We'll only hear them ask for a grand bargain between the radicalism of Ryan and the center-middle milquetoast of the Murray Plan.
Because no one in Washington actually wants to find a solution.
About Nicole Belle
Mom, Wife, Media Critic/Political Analyst, Blogger, Austen Fanatic, Unapologetic Liberal
NicoleBelle@crooksandliars.com
80,364,995 points on a single quarter in Missile Command
Man takes to Twitch.tv with the hope of scoring 100 million in the classic arcade game.
By Nathan Mattise
- Mar 17 2013, 5:12 P.M. EDT
Here's the final scene Sandberg saw after 56 hours of domination.
Today however, seemingly out of nowhere, a challenger rose up and dethroned the 30-year-old record live on Twitch.tv. Victor Sandberg, aka Twitch user diskborsteMC, played for more than 56 hours and surpassed 81 million points around 2:20 p.m. PST. Sandberg mentioned a desire to reach 100 million in total, but he ended with 81,796,035 total points. It's an effort that's more than good enough to unseat the previous high score.
And, let's answer the natural question, how does Sandberg play for so many hours straight without breaks? Apparently, he's been building up extra cities and allowing them to get destroyed whenever he needs to step away from the machine for a moment. Sandberg said he could theoretically take up to a 30 minute break with such a strategy, but prefers to use only four or six minute breaks instead.
Sandberg's Twitch page is relatively new, but it's filled with test streams of Missile Command play and his previous attempts at the record. Before this most recent event, Sandberg's best was 56,675,180 total points. It's important to note Sandberg is utilizing marathon settings rather than tournament settings for Missile Command, as the two records are kept separately. (Tournament play does not allow players to earn bonus cities, so the scores there are much lower. The record in tournament settings has not eclipsed five million.)
Sandberg's performance will need verification from Twin Galaxies, the arcade turned international scoreboard for classic gaming (featured in the documentary Chasing Ghosts). The organization still maintains the official record keeping and also outlines the proper settings players must use to attempt a record-breaking run.
Atari released Missile Command in 1980 and players have strived for the record ever since (check out this newspaper clipping of a 40-million-plus round in 1981). Record-seeking play is regarded highly enough that it's been the subject of multiple award-winning documentaries: King of Kong (about the battle for classic Donkey Kong supremacy) in 2007, and High Score about Missile Command bragging rights in 2006. If you are not familiar with Missile Command, check out some basic gameplay from Atari's arcade version below.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Sharpton pushes back against Snyder over Emergency Manager law
By
Rev. Al Sharpton and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder went head to head on Friday’s Morning Joe over Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law and Snyder’s recent takeover of Detroit under that law.
Acknowledging the poor condition of Detroit’s finances, Sharpton argued that Snyder “undermined the will of the voters” when he signed new emergency manager legislation into law only a few weeks after Michiganders repealed it in the November 2012 election.
Snyder’s defended the move, arguing the new law was different. “The old law went away, but we put in a new one that really was responsive to the issues that came up during that process,” he said.
He also pushed back against the criticism that by appointing an emergency manager, Snyder essentially became the only voter in Detroit, with full power to decide who leads it. “I’m also the elected official,” he said. “I was elected by the people of Michigan so there is an elected official responsible for this process and I think that’s critically important.”
Sharpton also brought up Pontiac’s experience with an emergency manager. In that town, manager Lou Schimmel has privatized and outsources many of the city’s services, decimated the public unions, reduced the public workforce by 90%, and sold the Silverdome arena for a fraction of its estimated value.
Snyder argued that mayors and cities in Pontiac and elsewhere are “still giving input” and involved with an ongoing process, although many elected leaders in those towns have argued the opposite, especially Pontiac’s City Councilman Donald Watkins, who said on Thursday’s PoliticsNation that the emergency manager law has led to “one man power corruption” which he calls “emergency mismanagement.”
Watch Donald Watkins on Thursday’s PoliticsNation.
Rev. Charles Williams II, who leads the Michigan chapter of Sharpton’s civil rights organization, says the people of Detroit are ready to fight for their rights. “The mayors and the city council–they lose all of their power, and all of that power is quite frankly entrusted inside of the emergency manager,” he said. “There are certain ones who are sitting there who may still have their paycheck and they may in theory still have their power, but if the emergency manager has a gun to your head, there’s not much you can do.”
Williams, who led protests against the appointment on Thursday, said Snyder is “disenfranchising the vote and dismissing democracy in Michigan” by taking this action after the law was repealed, pointing to the more than 2 million voters who rejected the emergency manager law in November’s referendum.
“The people should decide [if elections matter], but they don’t want people to decide who chooses our president, who chooses our mayor, or our city council,” he said.
Williams also argued that the emergency manager laws are part of a broader voter suppression plan, in line with gerrymandering and voter ID laws. “This is part of the Republican scheme to continue to disenfranchise voters,” he said, calling it a “suppressive tactic.”
“We’re going to stand up and fight back we’re not going to allow our voices to be dismissed.”
Rev. Al Sharpton and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder went head to head on Friday’s Morning Joe over Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law and Snyder’s recent takeover of Detroit under that law.
Acknowledging the poor condition of Detroit’s finances, Sharpton argued that Snyder “undermined the will of the voters” when he signed new emergency manager legislation into law only a few weeks after Michiganders repealed it in the November 2012 election.
Snyder’s defended the move, arguing the new law was different. “The old law went away, but we put in a new one that really was responsive to the issues that came up during that process,” he said.
He also pushed back against the criticism that by appointing an emergency manager, Snyder essentially became the only voter in Detroit, with full power to decide who leads it. “I’m also the elected official,” he said. “I was elected by the people of Michigan so there is an elected official responsible for this process and I think that’s critically important.”
Sharpton also brought up Pontiac’s experience with an emergency manager. In that town, manager Lou Schimmel has privatized and outsources many of the city’s services, decimated the public unions, reduced the public workforce by 90%, and sold the Silverdome arena for a fraction of its estimated value.
Snyder argued that mayors and cities in Pontiac and elsewhere are “still giving input” and involved with an ongoing process, although many elected leaders in those towns have argued the opposite, especially Pontiac’s City Councilman Donald Watkins, who said on Thursday’s PoliticsNation that the emergency manager law has led to “one man power corruption” which he calls “emergency mismanagement.”
Watch Donald Watkins on Thursday’s PoliticsNation.
Rev. Charles Williams II, who leads the Michigan chapter of Sharpton’s civil rights organization, says the people of Detroit are ready to fight for their rights. “The mayors and the city council–they lose all of their power, and all of that power is quite frankly entrusted inside of the emergency manager,” he said. “There are certain ones who are sitting there who may still have their paycheck and they may in theory still have their power, but if the emergency manager has a gun to your head, there’s not much you can do.”
Williams, who led protests against the appointment on Thursday, said Snyder is “disenfranchising the vote and dismissing democracy in Michigan” by taking this action after the law was repealed, pointing to the more than 2 million voters who rejected the emergency manager law in November’s referendum.
“The people should decide [if elections matter], but they don’t want people to decide who chooses our president, who chooses our mayor, or our city council,” he said.
Williams also argued that the emergency manager laws are part of a broader voter suppression plan, in line with gerrymandering and voter ID laws. “This is part of the Republican scheme to continue to disenfranchise voters,” he said, calling it a “suppressive tactic.”
“We’re going to stand up and fight back we’re not going to allow our voices to be dismissed.”
Sanders: Economy Worse Than Obama Claims
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), with his statements
about the economy, contradicts many of the soothsaying words of President Obama
in recent addressing of the economy. ""Real unemployment ... it's not 7.7
percent; it is really over 14 percent," Sanders said during a Senate Budget
Committee hearing yesterday. "Youth unemployment, a whole future generation, is
today close to 25 percent. These are kids who are not getting their feet on the
ground, not developing a career."
March 13, 2013
WASHINGTON, March 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement today as the committee began hearings on a plan for the 2014 fiscal year that mixes tax increase with cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs:
“The resolution that we will be debating in the Budget Committee today is a step in the right direction.
“At a time when the real unemployment rate is 14.3 percent, this budget resolution will put millions of Americans back to work in decent-paying jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges, dams, culverts, sewers, schools, and other infrastructure needs. This is a step in the right direction, but I would do much more. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, we need to invest $2.2 trillion over the next five years just to get a passing grade on our infrastructure needs.
“At a time when corporate profits are at an all-time high and corporate revenue as a percentage of the economy is near an all-time low, this budget resolution begins to make sure that the most profitable corporations will contribute to deficit reduction. This budget resolution raises $975 billion in revenue over the next decade. Altogether, 36 percent of the $4 trillion in deficit reduction achieved under this budget resolution would come from ending tax loopholes and increasing tax rates on the wealthy. I would have gone much further by making sure that at least 50 percent of deficit reduction since 2010 was achieved by raising revenue from the wealthy and large corporations.
“At a time when the middle class is collapsing, poverty increasing and the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider, this budget resolution keeps the promises we have made to our seniors, veterans and the most vulnerable by protecting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid against benefit cuts.
“Let me be clear. The Senate resolution is much better than the budget proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. Unlike the House plan, the Senate resolution will not end Medicare as we know it. Instead, it protects earned Medicare benefits for both current and future beneficiaries.
“Unlike the Ryan budget, the Senate resolution will not slash Pell grants by $80 billion or eliminate college grants for up to 1 million students. Instead, it protects Pell grants for 9 million low-income college students.
“Unlike the Ryan budget, this Senate resolution will not kick up to 24 million Americans off of Medicaid. Rather, it will protect Medicaid benefits.
“Unlike the Ryan budget, the Senate resolution will not repeal the Affordable Care Act and prevent over 30 million Americans from getting the health insurance they need.
“And unlike the Ryan budget, this Senate resolution will not provide a $7 trillion tax break that will primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations, paid for by increasing taxes on the middle class.”
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Hypocrisy Alert: Anti-Marijuana Republican Rep. Steve Katz Caught With Marijuana
Since Republicans are all about state's rights, hypocrisy should also be on the
state level.
By Michael Hayne
According to reports, Katz was initially pulled over on the New York Thruway for speeding. The trooper who pulled him over apparently detected the aroma of marijuana and proceeded to ask Katz if he had any pot in the car. At which point, Katz said “yes” and then handed over a bag of the magic stuff that contained less than 25 grams. The trooper didn’t suspect that Katz was driving while impaired–an assessment that has become more common in the wake of states legalizing small amounts of marijuana–so he just issued him for unlawful possession of marijuana – a non-criminal violation – and speeding. Under New York state law, the private possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana is a non-criminal civil citation, punishable by a $100 fine. But if only there were a penalty for hypocrisy.
By Michael Hayne
According to reports, Katz was initially pulled over on the New York Thruway for speeding. The trooper who pulled him over apparently detected the aroma of marijuana and proceeded to ask Katz if he had any pot in the car. At which point, Katz said “yes” and then handed over a bag of the magic stuff that contained less than 25 grams. The trooper didn’t suspect that Katz was driving while impaired–an assessment that has become more common in the wake of states legalizing small amounts of marijuana–so he just issued him for unlawful possession of marijuana – a non-criminal violation – and speeding. Under New York state law, the private possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana is a non-criminal civil citation, punishable by a $100 fine. But if only there were a penalty for hypocrisy.
“If there was a concern that he was smoking while driving, we would have brought in a drug recognition expert to determine if he was under the influence, but there was no indication that he was,” state police spokesman Sgt. Don Baker said. (NY Daily News)But Katz, a committed hypocrite, isn’t going to let this otherwise massively humiliating and hypocritical experience impede his work of making the lives of his constituents miserable. Katz saw it fit to deny cancer patients and pain sufferers relief when he voted against a bill last year to legalize medical marijuana
“This should not overshadow the work I have done over the years for the public and my constituency,” Katz said. “I am confident that once the facts are presented that this will quickly be put to rest.”(NY Daily News)If Congressman Anthony Weiner had to resign in shame after his wiener sowed up all of Twitter, then it only seems appropriate for Katz to be forced to resign. In the mean time, there should be an inquiry into whether Katz was truly under the influence and if the Trooper just let him slide because, unlike plebeians like you and me, he was a public official.
Friday, March 15, 2013
The plan to save the middle class & trim the deficit
It's budget time again in Washington. Ryan and company want to cut - cut - cut. Is this what's best for the economy?
We'll talk to Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District) about the progressive plan to save the middle class AND trim the deficit.
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 7pm and 9pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings.
We'll talk to Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District) about the progressive plan to save the middle class AND trim the deficit.
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann on RT TV & FSTV "live" 7pm and 9pm check www.thomhartmann.com/tv for local listings.
Fox News VERY Upset That The Economy Is Recovering
By T. Steelman
Meanwhile, in Foxland, the conservatives who run the PR branch of the Republican party are busily building fantasy castles in the sky… As we have always suspected, the folks over at Fox “News” are not only ignoring the stock market’s several-day record-setting numbers, they are actively naysaying any recovery news.
Frequent Fox guest Caroline Heldman of Occidental College, appearing on Rev. Al Sharpton’s Politics Nation show Tuesday night, went so far as to say:
When she appeared on Rev. Sharpton’s show she was spot on with her analysis of the recovery, noting that this insistence upon denial could actually harm the recovery. She went on to say:
Here’s video of Heldman’s appearnace on Politics Nation:
Meanwhile, in Foxland, the conservatives who run the PR branch of the Republican party are busily building fantasy castles in the sky… As we have always suspected, the folks over at Fox “News” are not only ignoring the stock market’s several-day record-setting numbers, they are actively naysaying any recovery news.
Frequent Fox guest Caroline Heldman of Occidental College, appearing on Rev. Al Sharpton’s Politics Nation show Tuesday night, went so far as to say:
“I have never met a group of people who are so upset that the economy is rebounding than the folks over at Fox.That’s right, among the lies they tell themselves (and their viewers) is that the stock market’s recent surge is unimportant. Sean Hannity, on whose show Heldman was appearing Monday night to talk about the recovery, was so upset he lost his head. In trying to make his point that the stock market boom was not a sign of recovery, he actually asked – rhetorically, of course, as he doesn’t really give a damn – “those people on food stamps, are they investing in the stock market?” Heldman replied that she was “impressed” that Hannity was concerned about the poor. With a healthy dose of sarcasm, one notes.
When she appeared on Rev. Sharpton’s show she was spot on with her analysis of the recovery, noting that this insistence upon denial could actually harm the recovery. She went on to say:
“I think that Sean Hannity is a perfectly likeable person. I happen to know that he tips 100% in his private life. I just wish that his public stances and the stances of Republicans didn’t go after the poor, the elderly, kids – with Pell Grant cuts, Medicaid cuts, job training cuts. You really do have to put your money where your mouth is.”Well, that’s as may be. I’m not one to judge a person by only one aspect, that being the public face they turn to the world, but Sean Hannity has shown himself to be uncaring and cold when it comes to people not like him. That is to say: white, male, hetero and rich. As for his tipping well… I saw a few comments indicating that may not be completely true and even so, the only thing it really is, is a sign of insecurity and a need to impress. Since he claims to be a Christian, I will go by John’s “actions not words” yardstick. By that measure, Hannity falls far short.
Here’s video of Heldman’s appearnace on Politics Nation:
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Scott Prouty - The man behind the 47% video
Scott Prouty, a bartender working during the Mitt Romney fundraiser, talks to Ed
Schultz about why he’s coming forward about filming Mitt Romney making the “47%”
statement, which changed the conversation during the 2012 elections.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Brooklyn protests over teen killed by NYPD reflect the complete lack of trust between the police and the community
Cenk Uygur talks with Michael Skolnik, GlobalGrind.com editor-in-chief, about
how a Brooklyn vigil honoring 16-year-old Kimani Gray turned into a protest.
Gray was shot and killed by undercover New York City detectives. Skolnik
attended the protest, and he says major news reports calling participants thugs
who turned violent is disrespectful.
“There were a lot of young people who were there … who were exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest and assemble against the 67th precinct, who they think is responsible for killing their friend.”
Skolnik says that both Gray’s death and the resulting protest show that there’s no trust between New York City’s minority residents and the police force.
“There were a lot of young people who were there … who were exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest and assemble against the 67th precinct, who they think is responsible for killing their friend.”
Skolnik says that both Gray’s death and the resulting protest show that there’s no trust between New York City’s minority residents and the police force.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The Quickest, Easiest Destruction of a Conservative Pundit You'll See Today
Posted by Rude One
Tucker Carlson - that bow-tie wearing cockhole, one of the most purely stupid "thinkers" the right has produced in the last twenty years, belonging to the decent-face, dim-brain species that includes S.E. Cupp and Ben Domenech - now prances and preens with his internet concern, The Daily Caller, which is sort of like Huffington Post except with less side-boob and more full-on boob obsession.
Lately, The DC (see? Isn't that clever?) has been hawking the "story" of how Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez might have hired prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. The Washington Post did some, you know, reporting and discovered that one of the prostitutes was hired to read a script on video and lie to incriminate Menendez. The DC accused the Post of talking to "the wrong prostitute." Carlson himself spoke to the Post's Erik Wemple to say that the newspaper was wrong and Carlson's website's story was right. Wemple helpfully points out another part of the Post's story: "FBI agents conducting interviews in the Dominican Republic have found no evidence to back up the tipster’s allegations."
Today, we are not concerned with Menendez. No, today we are concerned with Tucker Carlson and the way that conservative allegations on anything skeevy that a Democrat may or may not have done automatically become articles of faith around the right-wing biosphere.
For we can take Carlson apart so easily on this matter it barely requires more than a Google search of "Tucker Carlson" and "David Vitter." In case the kids out there don't remember, Vitter is the Republicans senator from Louisiana who frequented prostitutes in New Orleans. He got reelected in 2010, post-scandal, precisely because conservatives like Carlson decided that, when it comes to their own, who gives a happy monkey fuck what they do, as long as they toe the ideological line.
In fact, let's let Carlson speak for himself, as he did on his then-MSNBC show Tucker, on July 11, 2007. It is an object lesson in how repulsive this bottom-feeding scum worm actually is. Remember: Vitter wasn't "accused" of whoring it up. He did it. And, believe it or not, even in New Orleans, that's illegal. Carlson, talking to Michael Rectenwald, the head of some fucking organization that released the names of public figures who visited the brothel of a certain madam, actually said, "How could you justify doing something like this? Why is it your business?"
Remember, again: Vitter, a Senator, broke the law. "I don‘t remember David Vitter making any case that people who frequent prostitutes ought to be punished more severely than they are," Carlson offered.
Remember, one more time: Carlson acknowledges that Vitter had sex with prostitutes, which is against the law. But still he could say, "I don‘t know anything about you other than you are holding up this guy‘s sex life to public ridicule. And you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
Now, all that is fine and dandy. We could stop there, having shown that Carlson is a hypocrite, of course, of course. But let's nail this coffin shut and toss it in the ocean with Carlson still alive inside. Let's show the true depths of delusion, the miasma of hypocrisy in which the right wallows.
Tucker Carlson, whose internet news outlet is unrelentingly pursuing Bob Menendez on whether or not he had sex with prostitutes, who proclaimed that David Vitter's actual sex with prostitutes was off-limits for discussion, said on July 11, 2007, on a program that bore his first name, "If this were [Democrat] Russ Feingold...I would be up there making the same argument that Russ Feingold's personal [life] ought to be off limits from creeps and scandal mongers like you...who profit from digging into other people's sex lives."
Annnd...scene.
Tucker Carlson - that bow-tie wearing cockhole, one of the most purely stupid "thinkers" the right has produced in the last twenty years, belonging to the decent-face, dim-brain species that includes S.E. Cupp and Ben Domenech - now prances and preens with his internet concern, The Daily Caller, which is sort of like Huffington Post except with less side-boob and more full-on boob obsession.
Lately, The DC (see? Isn't that clever?) has been hawking the "story" of how Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez might have hired prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. The Washington Post did some, you know, reporting and discovered that one of the prostitutes was hired to read a script on video and lie to incriminate Menendez. The DC accused the Post of talking to "the wrong prostitute." Carlson himself spoke to the Post's Erik Wemple to say that the newspaper was wrong and Carlson's website's story was right. Wemple helpfully points out another part of the Post's story: "FBI agents conducting interviews in the Dominican Republic have found no evidence to back up the tipster’s allegations."
Today, we are not concerned with Menendez. No, today we are concerned with Tucker Carlson and the way that conservative allegations on anything skeevy that a Democrat may or may not have done automatically become articles of faith around the right-wing biosphere.
For we can take Carlson apart so easily on this matter it barely requires more than a Google search of "Tucker Carlson" and "David Vitter." In case the kids out there don't remember, Vitter is the Republicans senator from Louisiana who frequented prostitutes in New Orleans. He got reelected in 2010, post-scandal, precisely because conservatives like Carlson decided that, when it comes to their own, who gives a happy monkey fuck what they do, as long as they toe the ideological line.
In fact, let's let Carlson speak for himself, as he did on his then-MSNBC show Tucker, on July 11, 2007. It is an object lesson in how repulsive this bottom-feeding scum worm actually is. Remember: Vitter wasn't "accused" of whoring it up. He did it. And, believe it or not, even in New Orleans, that's illegal. Carlson, talking to Michael Rectenwald, the head of some fucking organization that released the names of public figures who visited the brothel of a certain madam, actually said, "How could you justify doing something like this? Why is it your business?"
Remember, again: Vitter, a Senator, broke the law. "I don‘t remember David Vitter making any case that people who frequent prostitutes ought to be punished more severely than they are," Carlson offered.
Remember, one more time: Carlson acknowledges that Vitter had sex with prostitutes, which is against the law. But still he could say, "I don‘t know anything about you other than you are holding up this guy‘s sex life to public ridicule. And you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
Now, all that is fine and dandy. We could stop there, having shown that Carlson is a hypocrite, of course, of course. But let's nail this coffin shut and toss it in the ocean with Carlson still alive inside. Let's show the true depths of delusion, the miasma of hypocrisy in which the right wallows.
Tucker Carlson, whose internet news outlet is unrelentingly pursuing Bob Menendez on whether or not he had sex with prostitutes, who proclaimed that David Vitter's actual sex with prostitutes was off-limits for discussion, said on July 11, 2007, on a program that bore his first name, "If this were [Democrat] Russ Feingold...I would be up there making the same argument that Russ Feingold's personal [life] ought to be off limits from creeps and scandal mongers like you...who profit from digging into other people's sex lives."
Annnd...scene.
Krugman To Obama: Stop Listening To The GOP, It’s The Economy, Not The Deficit, Stupid
By Egberto Willies
The President has fallen into the Republican trap: a false narrative that the biggest crises facing America are our national debt and our budget deficits.
Middle Class and Poor America must be climbing the walls. President Barack Obama ran a middle class centric campaign and won handily, and added to the Senate and the House. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s policies were soundly rejected. President Obama’s 2nd Inaugural Speech gave the impression that he would be presenting his version of FDR’s 2nd Bill Of Rights.
Instead, the president has fallen into the Republican trap: a false narrative that the biggest crises facing America are our national debt and our budget deficits. In fact, neither of these are insurmountable, nor do they need to be tackled now. The results of attempting austerity and debt reduction during recessions are clear. The United Kingdom and European Union countries that attempted this have depressed their economies further.
When one focuses on numbers and not emotions, clarity comes quickly. Paul Krugman’s New York Times article “Dwindling Deficit Disorder” needs to be read by our President. He should also pass it on to every Congressman and Senator.
Krugman states:
Krugman continues explaining the realities of “public debt management”:
With that said one must admit that if the debate is on the debt and deficits and not what ails the economy, the middle class, the poor, the students, the veterans, etc., then it is fact that the President is not using his bully pulpit to lead and to educate. It is true that the Right Wing echo chamber has polluted the body politic with misinformation as Krugman so aptly states. It is the President’s duty to now to begin the real fight against the damage inflicted on America by the Right. He is not leading on this issue. He has no more elections to be concerned about. It is time for him to pull his Party kicking and screaming if necessary to do the right thing.
In 2011 when the discussion focused solely on the debt and deficits, it took the emergence of Occupy Wall Street to change the narrative. Income inequality and wealth disparity entered the lexicon. After an election where middle class, income, and wealth was likely uttered more than in the last 30+ years, it is incumbent that the President, his Party, the middle class, and the poor do not allow Republicans to change the narrative for their ultimate goal of destroying America’s social safety net. It may take a new Occupy style movement to peacefully march on the streets with resolve to demand that their will is effected.
The President has fallen into the Republican trap: a false narrative that the biggest crises facing America are our national debt and our budget deficits.
Middle Class and Poor America must be climbing the walls. President Barack Obama ran a middle class centric campaign and won handily, and added to the Senate and the House. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s policies were soundly rejected. President Obama’s 2nd Inaugural Speech gave the impression that he would be presenting his version of FDR’s 2nd Bill Of Rights.
Instead, the president has fallen into the Republican trap: a false narrative that the biggest crises facing America are our national debt and our budget deficits. In fact, neither of these are insurmountable, nor do they need to be tackled now. The results of attempting austerity and debt reduction during recessions are clear. The United Kingdom and European Union countries that attempted this have depressed their economies further.
When one focuses on numbers and not emotions, clarity comes quickly. Paul Krugman’s New York Times article “Dwindling Deficit Disorder” needs to be read by our President. He should also pass it on to every Congressman and Senator.
Krugman states:
For three years and more, policy debate in Washington has been dominated by warnings about the dangers of budget deficits. A few lonely economists have tried from the beginning to point out that this fixation is all wrong, that deficit spending is actually appropriate in a depressed economy. But even though the deficit scolds have been wrong about everything so far — where are the soaring interest rates we were promised? — protests that we are having the wrong conversation have consistently fallen on deaf ears.The fact that Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman along with economists like Joseph Stiglitz’ numbers and predictions over the years have been spot on while those “sanctioned” by Wall Street (e.g., Peter Morici) have been steadily wrong speaks poorly of the media’s reporting and politician’s honesty or at best their knowledge.
People still talk as if the deficit were exploding, as if the United States budget were on an unsustainable path; in fact, the deficit is falling more rapidly than it has for generations, it is already down to sustainable levels, and it is too small given the state of the economy.
Bear in mind that the budget doesn’t have to be balanced to put us on a fiscally sustainable path; all we need is a deficit small enough that debt grows more slowly than the economy. To take the classic example, America never did pay off the debt from World War II — in fact, our debt doubled in the 30 years that followed the war. But debt as a percentage of G.D.P. fell by three-quarters over the same period.
Yes, we’ll want to reduce deficits once the economy recovers, and there are gratifying signs that a solid recovery is finally under way. But unemployment, especially long-term unemployment, is still unacceptably high. “The boom, not the slump, is the time for austerity,” John Maynard Keynes declared many years ago. He was right — all you have to do is look at Europe to see the disastrous effects of austerity on weak economies. And this is still nothing like a boom.Krugman acknowledges the structural problems that must be addressed with an aging population in the long term (but first, we need to assure a robust recovery).
There are, of course, longer-term fiscal issues: rising health costs and an aging population will put the budget under growing pressure over the course of the 2020s. But I have yet to see any coherent explanation of why these longer-run concerns should determine budget policy right now. And as I said, given the needs of the economy, the deficit is currently too small.Krugman acknowledges that many are using the fear of the debt and deficit as an excuse to dismantle the social safety net:
Now, I’m aware that the facts about our dwindling deficit are unwelcome in many quarters. Fiscal fearmongering is a major industry inside the Beltway, especially among those looking for excuses to do what they really want, namely dismantle Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. People whose careers are heavily invested in the deficit-scold industry don’t want to let evidence undermine their scare tactics; as the deficit dwindles, we’re sure to encounter a blizzard of bogus numbers purporting to show that we’re still in some kind of fiscal crisis.He finishes with the reality that must be broadcast loudly and often throughout the country.
The deficit is indeed dwindling, and the case for making the deficit a central policy concern, which was never very strong given low borrowing costs and high unemployment, has now completely vanished.Many get upset when the President is accused of not leading. Most people who have made that accusation were rarely friends of the middle class, the poor, or of this President. The President has now been re-elected by a substantial margin. The policies he ran on are what most Americans want. These are not policies that can be considered the tyranny of the majority that need protection from Senate filibusters and obstructionists Republicans in the House (e.g., the majority pilfering the wealthy minority, the majority taking away rights of the minority). After-all, the converse is true.
With that said one must admit that if the debate is on the debt and deficits and not what ails the economy, the middle class, the poor, the students, the veterans, etc., then it is fact that the President is not using his bully pulpit to lead and to educate. It is true that the Right Wing echo chamber has polluted the body politic with misinformation as Krugman so aptly states. It is the President’s duty to now to begin the real fight against the damage inflicted on America by the Right. He is not leading on this issue. He has no more elections to be concerned about. It is time for him to pull his Party kicking and screaming if necessary to do the right thing.
- No cuts to Social Security. Raise the cap to ensure that the wealthy pays in more.
- Reform Medicare to prevent drug companies, hospitals, and specialists from pilfering the country’s coffers.
- Tax capital gains at the same rate as working people’s income.
- Remove all corporate tax breaks for companies that offshore and outsource American jobs.
In 2011 when the discussion focused solely on the debt and deficits, it took the emergence of Occupy Wall Street to change the narrative. Income inequality and wealth disparity entered the lexicon. After an election where middle class, income, and wealth was likely uttered more than in the last 30+ years, it is incumbent that the President, his Party, the middle class, and the poor do not allow Republicans to change the narrative for their ultimate goal of destroying America’s social safety net. It may take a new Occupy style movement to peacefully march on the streets with resolve to demand that their will is effected.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Dick Cheney's Epic Fail
Maureen Dowd/Repent, Dick Cheney
Vice comes clean: He was the real president, and he stands by all of his mistakes
March 7, 2013 12:24 am
Sunday, March 10, 2013
We have no business raising the retirement age for Medicare or Social Security
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, joins Cenk Uygur from Washington to discuss
whether it’s likely that President Obama will cut Social Security and Medicare.
“I want to trust the President mostly on this, but I also draw some lines too,”
Brown says. “We have no business raising the retirement age for Medicare or
Social Security. That’s a red line for me.”
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Bob Ney attacks John Boehner
Former Ohio congressman Bob Ney is a convicted felon who is blowing the whistle
on John Boehner's past. Ed Schultz spoke to Ney on his radio show today, and he
spilled the beans on Boehner's relationships with special interest groups and
more.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Bill O’Reilly Screams ‘Bullshit’ At Alan Colmes, Apologizes
By David Pakman
It’s been a while since David Pakman’s had an O’Reilly segment, so here’s a clip from the “O’Reilly Factor” with Bill O’Reilly shouting down Alan Colmes. In this classic Fox News maneuver, the talk show host challenged his guest to identify any spending cuts that Barack Obama has made to government programs, then shouted the hapless guest down when he attempted to answer the question.
Colmes kept trying to say “Medicare and Medicaid,” but O’Reilly kept screaming at him and even yelled “Bull Shit!”
The next day, O’Reilly issued a standard non-apology … but only for saying a bad word, not for abusing his guests. But that’s okay, the event was pre-taped and obviously staged: O’Reilly and Colmes are obviously quite comfortable and friendly with each other.
It’s been a while since David Pakman’s had an O’Reilly segment, so here’s a clip from the “O’Reilly Factor” with Bill O’Reilly shouting down Alan Colmes. In this classic Fox News maneuver, the talk show host challenged his guest to identify any spending cuts that Barack Obama has made to government programs, then shouted the hapless guest down when he attempted to answer the question.
Colmes kept trying to say “Medicare and Medicaid,” but O’Reilly kept screaming at him and even yelled “Bull Shit!”
The next day, O’Reilly issued a standard non-apology … but only for saying a bad word, not for abusing his guests. But that’s okay, the event was pre-taped and obviously staged: O’Reilly and Colmes are obviously quite comfortable and friendly with each other.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
60,000 Federal Workers Furloughed
By Alan Colmes
The workers are responsible for securing borders and facilitating trade.
The workers are responsible for securing borders and facilitating trade.
Customs and Border Protection said it
expects furloughs and other austerity will cause delays at ports of
entry, including international arrivals at airports, and reduce the
number of border patrol officers on duty at any one time.
David Aguilar, the agency’s deputy
commissioner, said it must cut about $754 million by September 30, the
end of the fiscal year.
It aims to reach that goal through
agency-wide furloughs, a hiring freeze, and reducing or eliminating
overtime, compensatory time, travel and training.
God of War: Ascension: Trial of the Gods on PS3 Revealed
By PS3 News
Sony Level Designer Andrew Chrysafidis in Santa Monica has revealed some fresh God of War: Ascension: Trial of the Gods PS3 videos today.
Below are the details, to quote: With less than a week until God of War: Ascension launches, it's time to drop the curtain on our fourth Multiplayer mode, Trial of the Gods, and our next God allegiance reveal - the Lord of the Sea, Poseidon.
In Trial of the Gods, the first two-player God of War co-op time trial mode, you and a friend will tag-team with your Champions to face five increasingly hard waves of mythological beasts, whilst surviving against the hourglass of Olympus.
Over 15 types of enemies await you, including Satyrs, Cerberuses, Cyclopes, Gorgons, Juggernauts, and more deadly creatures. You will start with a set amount of time on the clock, and win time back with every beast you slay.
Sony Level Designer Andrew Chrysafidis in Santa Monica has revealed some fresh God of War: Ascension: Trial of the Gods PS3 videos today.
Below are the details, to quote: With less than a week until God of War: Ascension launches, it's time to drop the curtain on our fourth Multiplayer mode, Trial of the Gods, and our next God allegiance reveal - the Lord of the Sea, Poseidon.
In Trial of the Gods, the first two-player God of War co-op time trial mode, you and a friend will tag-team with your Champions to face five increasingly hard waves of mythological beasts, whilst surviving against the hourglass of Olympus.
Over 15 types of enemies await you, including Satyrs, Cerberuses, Cyclopes, Gorgons, Juggernauts, and more deadly creatures. You will start with a set amount of time on the clock, and win time back with every beast you slay.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Is America Ready For Another Bush? I say HELL NO!
Jeb Bush was coy about his desire to run for president, but he made a real
splash reversing his position on immigration and moving to the right. Ed Schultz
talks to Florida Democratic Party Chair Mitch Ceasar, Bloomberg View's Jonathan
Alter and author Jim Moore about the reality of another Bush presidency.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Mitt Romney Breaks His Silence
Mitt Romney gives his first post-election interview, and wastes no time attacking President Obama's leadership skills over the sequester. Ed Schultz talks with Democratic strategists Tara Dowdell and Chris Kofinis as well as Republican strategist Susan del Percio about Romney's comments, the state of the Republican Party, and where things are heading.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Stunning List of Economists, Financial Experts and Bankers Say We Need to Break Up the Big Banks
Top Economists and Financial Experts Say We Must Break Up the Giant Banks
The following top economists and financial experts believe that the economy cannot recover unless the big, insolvent banks are broken up in an orderly fashion:- Nobel prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz
- Nobel prize-winning economist, Ed Prescott
- Nobel prize-winning economist, Paul Krugman
- Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan
- Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker
- Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich
- Current Vice Chair and director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – and former 20-year President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City – Thomas Hoenig (and see this)
- Chief Stability Officer at the Bank of England, Andrew Haldane (and see this and this)
- Former Federal Reserve Bank of New York economist and Salomon Brothers vice chairman, Henry Kaufman
- Dean and professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, R. Glenn Hubbard
- Former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund, Simon Johnson (and see this)
- President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Richard Fisher (and see this)
- President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Thomas Bullard
- Deputy Treasury Secretary, Neal S. Wolin
- The Congressional panel overseeing the bailout (and see this)
- The former head of the FDIC, Sheila Bair
- The head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King
- The Bank of International Settlements (the “Central Banks’ Central Bank”)
- The leading monetary economist and co-author with Milton Friedman of the leading treatise on the Great Depression, Anna Schwartz
- Economics professor and senior regulator during the S & L crisis, William K. Black
- Leading British economist, John Kay
- Economics professor, Nouriel Roubini
- Economist, Marc Faber
- Professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the Chicago Booth School of Business, Luigi Zingales
- Economics professor, Thomas F. Cooley
- Economist Dean Baker
- Economist Arnold Kling
- Chairman of the Commons Treasury, John McFall
- The Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Harvey Rosenblum
- Director, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, and Professor of Economics, University of Bonn, Martin Hellwig
Federal Reserve Board governor Daniel Tarullo also backs a cap on the size of banks, and Former Treasury secretary under Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Nicolas Brady, says that we need to put a cap on leverage.
Top Bankers Call for Big Banks to Be Broken Up
While you might assume that bankers themselves don’t want the giant banks to be broken up, many are in fact calling for a break up, including:- Former Citi CEO Sandy Weill
- Former Citi CEO John Reed
- Former Citi chairman Richard Parsons
- Former Merrill Lynch chairman and CEO David Komansky
- Former Morgan Stanley CEO Philip Purcell
- Former managing director of Goldman Sachs – and head of the international analytics group at Bear Stearns in London- Nomi Prins
- Numerous other bankers within the mega-banks (see this, for example)
- Founder and chairman of Signature Bank, Scott Shay
- Former Natwest and Schroders investment banker, Philip Augar
- The President of the Independent Community Bankers of America, Camden Fine
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