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Mark K: I wonder how Michele Bachmann will explain away the obscenity-laden phone messages to Rep. John Lewis, and the open threats to hang or shoot Sen. Patty Murray. She certainly can’t claim lack of evidence this time; maybe she’ll say that the liberals temporarily altered the time/space continuum during which this world was in a parallel universe, and the words of the right-wing hate-mongers were retranslated to the opposite of what they meant to say.
Meanwhile, Jerry Brown, currently attorney general of California, has (kind of) exonerated ACORN of any wrongdoing stemming from the infamous James O’Keefe charade. The most damning “evidence,” that of a taped conversation with a Latino ACORN staffer allegedly offering assistance in the traffic of under-age girls from Mexico, omitted the part where he continued to ply the “pimp” O’Keefe and his “prostitute” helper for more specific information about what they were up to—and after they left, he immediately called his brother, a police detective, about this conversation. Fox News, of course, is accusing Brown of being “partisan,” although much is being made of the fact that Brown isn’t recommending charging O’Keefe and his helper with a crime. Why? Because in order to get the “cutting room” tapes from O’Keefe, he had to grant him immunity from prosecution. What does remain patently clear, however, is that the “mainstream” media willing became an accessory to O’Keefe’s politically-motivated travesty not for truth, but for ratings.
There is another area that monopolistic behavior is taking advantage of the little guy. That is the area of contract cell phones. Verizon Wireless announced earlier this year that they will now require data packages for any phone with HTML capabilities, not just smart phones. Many of these phones have features that are useful for people that still do not want a data plan. They have better cameras and better keyboards for texting.
Verizon requires these plans even if you get your phone without a contract through a third party. This is taking advantage of the people locked into their service like me. I have a family share plan with varying contract end dates and so it is very difficult for me to switch services. I think that this type of behavior is not right and there should be a movement to make Congress to fix it. Here is a story about it:
http://www.betanews.com/article/Verizon-Wireless-demands-data-plans-for-nonsmartphones/1263579899
Raleigh County isn't far from Blair Mountain. Don Blankenship may be ignoring history at his peril.
Here is my take on "Miss Me Yet ?": http://www.zazzle.com/miss_you_yet_bumper_sticker-128244069396651371
Yes, and being from WV I have to say the coal miner on the show was full of it, just ask the people who lost homes and water was poisoned when those "fabulous" pools of crap burst down on them! We only have 16,000 mining jobs now and make most of our money from the beauty of the state, mainly tourism, but with a Governor who wanted to make our state slogan, "WV Open for Business" instead of "Wild and Wonderful" what can you expect. Blankenship wants to be Gov. and is being supported by one of the largest TV stations in WV, obviously a Republican. And what is all this nonsense about clean coal; coal is not clean. Just look at the miner's lungs or the towns they live in and they aren't poor. They make good money, but their towns look like they were washed in dirt! Alot of us in WV do not support mountain top removal, but we do remember how hard the miners worked to have unions, which helped us to have some security in this world
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@ mstaggerlee Thanks friend. Can you imagine what this would mean if we could trace it to say....Alaska? This could be the Holy Grail. If only we had the money to trace it.
@DDay - Good work, my man ... obviously, RATPAC has become a threat to Bachman's horde, so they've launched an attack. Keep it up, and keep us posted.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/new_controversy_for_us_attorney_in_siegelman_case.php
Ethics Complaint Alleges New Politicized Probe Involving Siegelman ProsecutorZachary Roth | April 5, 2010, 1:30PM
A U.S. attorney in Alabama whose close ties to local Republicans were at the heart of previous high-profile charges of politicized justice is drawing scrutiny again. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department received a formal complaint alleging that an investigation being run in part by U.S. attorney Leura Canary was intended to influence the vote on an upcoming bill in the statehouse, and asking that Canary be removed from the probe because of her "close political ties" to Governor Bob Riley.
This isn't the first time that Canary's ties to Riley and Alabama Republicans have generated controversy. Numerous observers have charged that the prosecution by Canary's office of former governor Don Siegelman, who in 2006 was convicted on corruption charges, was politically motivated. Canary's husband, Bill Canary, a top Alabama GOP political consultant and associate of Karl Rove, ran Riley's 2002 gubernatorial campaign against Siegelman, a Democrat.
So, why is Mrs. Canary still in office more than a year into the Obama administration?
@DuaneV - I left out Summers because I forgot about him - but yes, ALL the Goldman guys MUST GO!
@radlof - Yesterday, _I_ wrote:
“If President Obama wants to energize HIS base, prior to the mid-term congressional elections, he needs to disassociate himself from certain of his cabinet members -
1) Rahm Emmanuel
2) Tim Geithner
3) Ben Bernanke
He should forget about all the bi-partisan crap, about trying to "win over" the haters, and concentrate on "Winning BACK" those Americans who see him as having sold the left downriver over the past 2 years. Dropping Rahm and the Goldman boys would be an excellent first step down that road.”
To which, _YOU_ replied
"Great sentiment but Our Great and Grand DLC Driven President is far more interested in disassociating him and the White House from the demo portion of democracy."
If that is indeed the case, then he'd better prepare for a MUCH more hostile Congress for his second two years in office - assuming he survives long enough to serve them ...
good point. I knew it was the pipelines, but assumed the pipes would be coming west, not east.
Anyway to get away from resource wars, we must insist that wars of aggression for resources are illegal, and that to start such an endeavor will land the perpetrator in the Hague, without exception.
This will never happen in this national security state. The only way to get around the lies and secrecy is to expose the deeply rooted hidden histories, and Thom and Lamar are to be commended for their efforts in this area. When we start pulling on the threads of the JFK, MLK assassinations, we start, but the thread runs far into the drug trafficking spheres, the banking and insurance spheres...
from: http://madcowprod.com/03082010.htm
An investigation into suspicious circumstances surrounding the sale of the former Huffman Aviation has unearthed an explosive secret at the heart of an otherwise unremarkable aviation facility.
Almost since its inception, the specter of heroin trafficking has hung over the airfield which would later become the Venice Municipal Airport.
During World War II, when it was known as the Venice Army Air Field, it was home to the Stateside operations of a man widely and credibly accused of using proceeds from international heroin trafficking to prop up the war machine of a corrupt Chinese warlord whose army, even after its defeat, hung on to a lion's share of Southeast Asian real estate which became known as the Golden Triangle.
Does Huffman Aviation ring any bells for you? Think Mohamad Atta...
Listen up people. Last Friday while posting here a little before the third hour, I discovered that I had been "hacked". I checked an email and discovered that all my wife's most sensitive data had been sent to me from where she works. This had been prompted by an email sent from my computer to her work. The problem is that not only didn't I send this email. It was an email sent by my wife two years ago and long deleted. On Saturday I was called by a gubernatorial campaign on which I work. They had been receiving emails from two months ago from me. I have spoken to the FBI, MN State Attorney's Office, Sherriff's Cyber Crime Unit, and a private cyber crime expert. The athorities are not interested until I have lost money. The private technician told me that a "worm" was remotely placed on my computer. He said that it was almost assuredly done because my name went out to 125 plus news agencies the day before, connected to Bachmann/Palin. The perpetrators having pinged the other campaign connections indicates the political motives of their cyber attacks. He said this can be done but requires great sophistication. The cost to me thus far? My laptop that was hacked will need about $500 of work to clean it and forensically preserve evidence. Tracking that evidence will cost between 5k and go up from there. I cannot use my new computer. All of my and my wife's private information is comprimised. And the cops are too busy chasing pedophiles to bother. This RATPAC deal is proving to be more costly and damaging than I ever imagined. This is why I dropped out suddenly last Friday, and why it will be problematic to write here for a while. I am using an old borrowed, (and real slow!) computer to write this. Tommorrow is the Palin Bachmann event. I'll be there handing out RATPAC goodies and info. I had bumper stickers made up that show Bachmann and Palin with the words "Dumb meets Dumber" April7th The Dumb Summit. I also have some with the same pictures which say: Michele! Sarah! "The Mother Ship is calling" (You have violated the prime directive). So folks...what do you think? Shades of "Water Gate"? Whomever did this had money and sophistication. And they came after a little guy like me who blogs here sometimes. Scarey stuff. What if I could trace this to Alaska? BTW I use Trend Micro Systems Security. It didn't even detect the breach. I might have never detected it if it wasn't for my wife's work sending another follow up email inquiring about the previous bogus emails. The RATPAC is back on it's heals with this blow.
The oil in Iraq was earmarked for China.The direct route for pipelines powering China's manufacturing is through Iran and Afghanistan, hence the continued interest in these two soverign nations.
Cheney's FIRST job was to find Bush a Vice-President, and he did. Himself!
In the days of sail, empires such as Russia and Britain went to war over cannabis...If you question this, know that canvas is a Dutch word derived from cannabis...the "b" and the "v" being linguistically equivilent.
Boss Rahm decides who is a worthy Democrat
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer
(WMR) -- WMR has learned from sources close to ousted White House chief counsel Greg Craig that it was not President Obama’s top legal adviser who balked at ordering the Justice Department to review the politically-motivated criminal cases brought by the Bush administration against three top Democrats in the South, but it was White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who made the decision to nix any White House backing for new trials for the southern Democratic officials involved -- former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, former Georgia state Senate leader Charles Walker, and Mississippi attorney Paul Minor.
Walker and Minor are currently incarcerated in federal prisons while Siegelman was freed from prison pending an appeal of his conviction in a trial headed by a corrupt Bush-appointed federal judge and former Republican operative, Mark Fuller.
Craig announced his resignation as chief counsel last November. Although press reports indicated that Craig was forced out by Emanuel over Craig’s determination to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison and to release Bush administration Justice Department memos on harsh interrogation techniques, the new information suggests that Craig and Emanuel also differed over Bush-era Justice Department prosecutions of Siegelman, Walker, and Minor, with Craig favoring a Justice Department review of the cases and possible new trials.
The involvement of Emanuel in blocking Justice Department review of the cases against Siegelman, Walker, and Minor is the first evidence that ties Obama’s chief of staff to the continuation of the political prosecutions of a number of Democrats that was brought about largely by President Bush’s top political adviser Karl Rove.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5718.shtml
Why did you leave out Lawrence Summers?
Rahm DEFINITELY has to go. If Obama had taken his advice, health insurance reform would have died. He keeps counseling Obama to move to the right. And he's killed an investigation into Don Siegelman's case. He's worthless.
There are also coal mines in western Pennsylvania; I know, because my mother's father died in a coal mining accident there when I was very young.
Rahm Kills Siegelman Investigation
Boss Rahm decides who is a worthy Democrat
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer
(WMR) -- WMR has learned from sources close to ousted White House chief counsel Greg Craig that it was not President Obama’s top legal adviser who balked at ordering the Justice Department to review the politically-motivated criminal cases brought by the Bush administration against three top Democrats in the South, but it was White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who made the decision to nix any White House backing for new trials for the southern Democratic officials involved -- former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, former Georgia state Senate leader Charles Walker, and Mississippi attorney Paul Minor.
Walker and Minor are currently incarcerated in federal prisons while Siegelman was freed from prison pending an appeal of his conviction in a trial headed by a corrupt Bush-appointed federal judge and former Republican operative, Mark Fuller.
Craig announced his resignation as chief counsel last November. Although press reports indicated that Craig was forced out by Emanuel over Craig’s determination to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison and to release Bush administration Justice Department memos on harsh interrogation techniques, the new information suggests that Craig and Emanuel also differed over Bush-era Justice Department prosecutions of Siegelman, Walker, and Minor, with Craig favoring a Justice Department review of the cases and possible new trials.
The involvement of Emanuel in blocking Justice Department review of the cases against Siegelman, Walker, and Minor is the first evidence that ties Obama’s chief of staff to the continuation of the political prosecutions of a number of Democrats that was brought about largely by President Bush’s top political adviser Karl Rove.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5718.shtml
This is a rare opportunity for Americans to actually to do something about needless government secrecy. The 1992 JFK Act was passed unanimously by both houses of Congress, and while that level of cooperation seems unimaginable today, it' s hard to think of any legitimate reason why a member of Congress wouldn't want to co-sponsor the new King Act. From: Threats, Violence Against Congress Show Urgent Need for King Records Act by Thom Hartmann and Lamar Waldron http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/05-1
Needless government secrecy? It would be needless if this were a functioning democracy, and a well-informed citizenry capable of informed decision making was the idea. It is not.
This is a national security state. An informed populus would only get in the way. Congress can no longer control the purse strings of the intelligence community, nor even peer into the black box of those expenditures. Legal justification for extrajudicial killings and torture have been regularly produced, now by Mr. Koh of the Obama Administration for the use of drones, as by Yoo and Bybee for torture.
Obama will not disassociate from Bernanke, Geittner, Emanuel, et al., he would sooner disassociate with the remnants of the veneer of the consent of the governed.
I would like to share with you my April 3, 2010 evening experience. We went to the 8:30 evening Mass. This Mass is the longest Mass during the year, about 2 and one half hours. There are several readings during the Mass and we redo our baptismal vows as a Christian.
After Mass we arrived home and I wanted to see what was on television. All that seemed of significance was on the History Channel. The program was God versus Satan. God, Satan, and the anti-Christ would have the battle of all battles before the Final Judgment.
Most pundits depict the anti-Christ as a person. I do not see the anti-Christ as a person. The anti-Christ is a nation, the United States of Hell. I give our nation the nod for the anti-Christ because we are a prodigal nation that refuses to return to God; we consider ourselves above God and the law; we refuse to repent for our evil ways in the killing of God’s children; we have historically chosen false prophets to follow; and we are a nation where mass murders and war crimes are glorified.
Make no mistake, the United States of Hell is the anti-Christ with its diet of gorging on human blood and a mouth filled with a shit-eating grin.
"I've learned not to put things in my mouth that are bad for me." - monica lewenski
A bomber's jacket does not cover blood.
http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2010-03-29-08-32-45-news.php