January 23, 2015

Is John Boehner a Traitor?

[link:http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2015/01/john-boehner-traitor|
http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2015/01/john-boehner-traitor]

Is John Boehner a Traitor?

On Wednesday, the Speaker of the House confirmed that he had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come speak to Congress, “on the grave threats radical Islam and Iran pose to our security and way of life.”

The announcement just so happens to come as Republicans in Congress are pushing for new sanctions against Iran, which threaten current diplomatic negotiations with that country.

As of now, Netanyahu is expected to speak to a joint session of Congress in March, while he’s in the U.S. for the annual AIPAC conference. So, why is Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu such a big deal?

First off, it’s a HUGE violation of protocol and MASSIVELY disrespectful to President Obama and


NOw that you mention it. How about Reagan and HW Bush for the Iran Hostage Crisis?
TO late to prosecute Nixon

January 22, 2015

Republicans vote, and Decide that Reality is Real! ....but not quite

Must have been painful

[link:http://www.alternet.org/environment/senate-republicans-admit-climate-change-real-deny-humans-cause-it|
http://www.alternet.org/environment/senate-republicans-admit-climate-change-real-deny-humans-cause-it]

Senate Republicans Admit Climate Change Is Real, But Deny Humans Cause It
They even cite "biblical evidence."

In a surprise move, US Senate Republicans joined Democrats and went on record Wednesday acknowledging that climate change is real.

The symbolic amendment, attached to a controversial bill authorizing construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, was approved 98-1 after Senator James Inhofe, seen as the top climate change denier in Congress, announced he was supporting the legislation.

Inhofe however strongly rejected any suggestion that human activity was responsible for climate change.

January 21, 2015

TTP Isn’t the Only ‘Trade’ Takeover Busting Our Sovereignty

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/20/troubled-ttip-isnt-only-trade-takeover-busting-our-sovereignty

Even as controversial ‘trade’ deal, TTIP, sputters, other deals to give corporations as much power as countries are being negotiated even more secretively.

Billed as the biggest trade agreement ever, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is in trouble. Started in July 2013, negotiators hoped to have it wrapped up by the end of 2014. The deadline has now slipped to the end of 2015, but that too looks unlikely. So far the talks have achieved little in terms of reaching agreement for specific market sectors. And they are facing increasing scepticism because of TTIP’s plans to deregulate goods and services like health through “harmonisation” of EU and US standards – something that in practice usually means leveling down.

The most contentious area is undoubtedly that of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) which enables companies to sue for alleged losses caused by government actions. Originally, these were intended to cover physical expropriation, but companies now use ISDS to make claims for “indirect expropriation” of future profits. This might be something as simple as bringing in plain cigarette packs or health warnings, or refusing to grant a patent for medicines.

ISDS not a new idea: it has been included in bilateral trade agreements for decades. But those were generally between Western nations looking to invest in developing countries that were keen to attract foreign companies. The ISDS mechanism was there to protect investments in regions where legal systems were often weak and governments capricious.

January 20, 2015

DNC MIA?

Where's Debbie?



Does she still have the job? (Hope not)

I may have missed it but I don't recall hearing ANYTHING from her prior to November Last year. Sure as hell haven't heard anything from her since. We should at least get an apology.

Where does our our fearless leader stand, (on anything) now?

Schultz should be on every TV show she can get to, Beating the drum. I see no news on the DNC or that "leadership"

BTW don't bother posting a link to their website. I'm looking for soapbox/Bully Pulpit related stuff.

What Am I missing here?

January 19, 2015

New ‘Charlie Hebdo’ editor scolds Chuck Todd: When you blur our cover, ‘you blur out democracy’

Hear, Hear!



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/new-charlie-hebdo-editor-scolds-us-press-when-you-blur-our-cover-you-blur-out-democracy/

On Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press, Charlie Hebdo‘s new editor-in-chief admonished American media outlets for blurring the cover of this week’s issue of the controversial satirical magazine.

After recounting what it has been like for the magazine’s editorial staff in the days and weeks since the attack, Gerard Briard was asked by Chuck Todd about the Pope’s statement that “you cannot provoke, you cannot insult other people’s faith, you cannot mock it,” and that “freedom of speech is a right and a duty that must be displayed without offending.”

“Every time we draw a cartoon of Muḥammad,” Briard replied, “every time we draw a cartoon of the prophet, every time we draw a cartoon of God, we defend the freedom of religion. We declare that God must not be a political public figure, but that he must be a private figure.”

(snip)


“What they must understand,” Briard continued, “is that when they blur it out — when they decline to publish it — they blur out democracy, secularism, freedom of religion, and they insult the citizenship.”

January 18, 2015

We Will Never Be Strong Again Living off of Imports

http://economyincrisis.org/content/we-will-never-be-strong-again-living-off-of-imports

The government and media try to sell the false idea that we have regained all the jobs we lost from the Great Recession and that things are going well. Meanwhile, economic indicators suggest otherwise. The media claims the U.S. is creating jobs. This may be true, but the jobs they are creating are in China, India, and Mexico, not in the United States.

Wealthy multinational corporations are accumulating more wealth by draining money from the American middle class. The top 1% are gaining more and more wealth while the middle class is evaporating and the number of people living in poverty is multiplying.

Our leaders have sold us out to “free trade” agreements that put large corporations first and American workers last. .....

Seventy percent of our GDP is based on consumer spending. However, 70% of our consumer goods are imported, ...
(also demonstrates the BS of Supply-side Trickle-down)




and sorry kids, we can not forget that NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO, GAT and soon TPP were all brought to you by the Blue-Dog, DLC, Third Way, Democrats.

January 17, 2015

Brownback Flips, Proposes Tax Increases In Wake Of Budget Fiasco

Heck of a job Brownie. Reality is a bitch, ain't it!




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/16/sam-brownback-taxes_n_6489918.html

Kansas would nearly triple its cigarette tax, raise taxes on alcohol and slow down promised income tax cuts to balance its budget under proposals Republican Gov. Sam Brownback outlined Friday.

Brownback presented detailed recommendations to the GOP-dominated Legislature for eliminating projected shortfalls totaling more than $710 million in the current budget and for the fiscal year beginning July 1. He also presented a spending blueprint for the fiscal year beginning in July 2016 designed to leave the state with some cash reserves.

The state’s budget problems arose after lawmakers aggressively cut personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging to stimulate the economy. Brownback’s budget-balancing plans would make those reductions more gradual, without abandoning his long-term goal of eliminating income taxes.

January 16, 2015

Christian Mom Alarmed That School Bus Tail Lights Form ‘Pagan’ Pentagram

Tennessee mother wants those lights removed, fearing the presence of the occult.

A Christian mom in Cordova, Tennessee is worried that occult influences are lurking in her town and showing their presence in the unlikeliest of places, the red tail lights of local school buses.

Memphis’ Action News 5 reported Wednesday that Robyn Wilkins snapped a photo of the tail lights while she sat behind a bus in traffic. To her, the pattern of tiny light bulbs under each brake light’s red plastic lens looked like inverted five-pointed stars, which form the ancient symbol of the pentagram when enclosed by a circle.
“Anyone who fears a God, if not God and Jesus Christ, should be outraged,” the worried mother told Channel 5.



--------------------
This 'christian' mom needs to stop voting republican if she's afraid of Satanists. The following photo is the former Republican Party Chairman and now MSNBC 'contributor' Michael Steele. Notice the stars on the OFFICIAL RNC logo behind him. But then many of us realize that the republican party is now the anti-Christ.



...and the current RNC Chairman



and BTW - WTF is the little EXTRA little thing on the lapel flag? Does that somehow = crossing your fingers behind your back?

January 16, 2015

Keystone XL prelim? 230,000 People Told Not To Drink Their Water After Diesel Fuel Spill In Canada

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/15/3612298/longueuil-do-not-drink-water-diesel-spill/

The 230,000 residents of Longueuil, a city just outside of Montreal, Canada, have been told that their tap water is unsafe to drink following a diesel fuel spill that leaked into the water supply.

According to media reports, 7,400 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from a city-owned wastewater treatment center in Longueuil, apparently due to equipment failure. Canada’s CBC News reported that the spilled diesel made its way into the sewers from a generator, eventually flowing into the river that supplies drinking water to the city.

The city told its residents on Wednesday morning not to drink their tap water, but then told residents later that afternoon that the water was safe to drink, according to a report from Global News. Then, after reports that residents could still smell diesel in their water, the city on Thursday again put a “do not drink” advisory in place.

--------------

When the Keystone XL pops (as ALL pipelines do), and they poison the Ogallala Aquifer the number will be 2.3 million Americans that cannot drink the water.

It is complete insanity to allow Keystone XL. I keep hearing about ‘Climate Change’ as the reason to not build this suicide machine. This is important for the long term (maybe not so long term) however, there are very immediate, and ‘hand-to-mouth’ reasons, for not allowing this stupidity. These are centered around Fresh Water. Specifically the Ogallala Aquifer

Fresh Water is a requirement for survival,
Canadian Oil is not a requirement for survival.
Profits of Corporations and Billionaires are not a requirement for survival.
A few temporary jobs and 35 permanent jobs is not a requirement either – sorry to the 35
ALL Pipelines leak.
The Ogallala Aquifer
Crosses 8 states
IS the Fresh Water supply for 82% of the 2.3 Million people in the area
27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies and uses the aquifer
Is about 30 percent of the ground water used for irrigation in the United States
It would take hundreds to thousands of years of rainfall to replace the groundwater in the depleted aquifer. Certain zones of the aquifer are now empty; these areas will take over 6,000 years to replenish naturally through rainfall.
Once this aquifer is poisoned
30% of the crop production of the United States will end – permanently.
Millions of people will be forced to abandon these areas and relocate.

There are probably many additional points to be made here, but the ones listed should be more than enough to make any rational person just a bit nervous. It scares the shit out of me.

January 14, 2015

Bernie Sanders: Passing Keystone XL Means A 'Significantly Less Habitable' Planet

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/14/bernie-sanders-keystone-pipeline_n_6470716.html

As the Senate prepares to vote on whether climate change is real as part of the proposed Keystone Pipeline bill, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) strongly believes “it’s a good idea” for President Barack Obama to veto the bill.

“Unless we get our act together, the planet that we’re going to be leaving to our kids and grandchildren will be significantly less habitable than the planet we have right now,” Sanders said in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday.

“I think it’s a good idea for the president, Congress, and the American people to listen to the overwhelming amount of scientists who tell us loudly and clearly that climate change is one of the great planetary crises that we face,” Sanders said. He insisted that we must face the “devastating problems” caused by climate change and...



How about, filibuster the goddamn thing?!
We cannot afford this.

It is complete insanity to allow Keystone XL. I keep hearing about ‘Climate Change’ as the reason to not build this suicide machine. This is important for the long term (maybe not so long term) however, there are very immediate, and ‘hand-to-mouth’ reasons, for not allowing this stupidity. These are centered around Fresh Water. Specifically the Ogallala Aquifer

Fresh Water is a requirement for survival,
Canadian Oil is not a requirement for survival.
Profits of Corporations and Billionaires are not a requirement for survival.
A few temporary jobs and 35 permanent jobs is not a requirement either – sorry to the 35

ALL Pipelines leak.

The Ogallala Aquifer
Crosses 8 states
IS the Fresh Water supply for 82% of the 2.3 Million people in the area
27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies and uses the aquifer
Is about 30 percent of the ground water used for irrigation in the United States
It would take hundreds to thousands of years of rainfall to replace the groundwater in the depleted aquifer. Certain zones of the aquifer are now empty; these areas will take over 6,000 years to replenish naturally through rainfall.

Once this aquifer is poisoned
30% of the crop production of the United States will end – permanently.
Millions of people will be forced to abandon these areas and relocate.

There are probably many additional points to be made here, but the ones listed should be more than enough to make any rational person just a bit nervous. It scares the shit out of me.