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Gottlieb and Diane G. are live and in color (or is that off color?) on WWL radio Friday night at 6pm Eastern Time to guide you through Current Events taken from a Wildly Left Prospective.
Hear the Unreported & Under Reported Headlines stories you should be paying attention to, from US Politics, to the farthest reaches of the Earth by the WWL coalition of subversion: undermining the PTB by speaking Truth to Power!!!!
1984 much anyone? Come to the land through the looking glass yet again; where attacking an innocent Country and destroying it is Victory, where leaving means staying, where Oil spills become the Norm, where both Parties are One and Slavery is the best end-game for our economic system.
We have myriad breaking news stories to cover, friends, listeners and lunatics... but really? We wish the song remained the same... but no, it IS getting worse.
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Summary: President Obama's Social Security cutbacks are being trial ballooned today, with little resistance shown by the official left. Obama wants us not to notice those plans, while animatedly (since 2007) nodding and winking to the financial and economic elite. The U.S. Democratic Party are no help, of course, so what strategy do the rest of us need in order to successfully protect Social Security?
According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, U.S. Voters Want to Soak the Rich in order to fight the deficit. Matthew Yglesias writes that the only measures a majority of voters supported were
lower Medicare benefits for the rich, higher Social Security taxes for the rich, higher income taxes for the rich, higher corporate income tax, and lower Medicare payment rates. That's pretty much an aggressively leveling agenda.
But, unfortunately for all but the ruling elite, for President Obama (through his appointed commission) the way to cut the deficit is to soak the old by cutting Social Security:
In addition to raising the retirement age, which is now set to reach age 67 in 2027, specific cuts under consideration include lowering benefits for wealthier retires and trimming annual cost-of-living increases, perhaps only for wealthier retirees, people familiar with the talks said.
On the tax side, the leading idea is to increase the share of earned income that is subject to Social Security taxes, officials said. Under current law, income beyond $106,000 is exempt. Another idea is to increase the tax rate itself, said a Democrat on the commission.
The next paragraph of the WSJ piece is the 'get a clue' one for those who still don't 'get' Obama:
The devices employed in US election cycles and its national politics, in general, are akin to the dramatic conventions of children's theatre. Every two to four years, voters are instructed to clap their hands and believe in Tinker Bell. "Children, you have to believe -- you really, really have to believe in Tinker Bell." But behind the stagecraft is oligarchy. President Obama took millions from Goldman Sachs, et al. If there is a Captain Hook in this show, it is those Wall Street pirates who threw the global economy to the crocodiles for their ill-gotten gains.
Of course, this is a tired, old show, riddled with shopworn devices, performed by a rotating cast of hacks. Ronald Reagan set the fool's gold standard of a president playacting the role of populist, matinee hero -- Clinton, Bush, and Obama all learned from him -- as, all the while, he, in reality, went about the business of protecting and enhancing the holdings of the moneyed elite.
In Reagan's case, this con game was both an act of inspired career advancement and banal casuistry. Reagan, b-grade actor that he was, was never deep enough to harbor any belief he wasn't paid to evince. By professional necessity, he convinced himself he believed those bright and shining lies and polished platitudes he pitched to a public of credulous marks; for this is the mode of mind of effective salesmen and good showmen ... having the ability to conflate shallow self interest with the good of all.
Such self-deception -- played out as public legerdemain and state stagecraft -- is now the modus operandi of media age presidencies. The effect of this transformation, from executive gravitas to virtual playacting, has been somewhat less than salubrious for the health of the republic. When, for example, an American city drowns in floodwater and Americans are drowning in economic woes, US presidents know how to act like a president -- but not act as president. The soundbites make the man; not the man makes the soundbites.
The current hoo-hah over President Obama's public statement of the obvious, that Muslims have the same rights as everyone else, to worship, to speak, to petition the government for redress, to get jiggy, and just about whatever, Dude, has had the media, the Republicans and a few chicken shit Democrats obsessing through the weekend and deep into today, with no end in sight.
This is, as usual, being driven by the same gang of Republicans who really don't give a damn about the siting of this Islamic cultural center but do care deeply about sticking a knife in every vulnerable patch of flesh that the President and his party expose to their efforts.
They hope only to drive a wedge between the electorate, at least the fraction of it that cares about this sort of nonsense and the Prez and Democrats in general.
It is also, of course, being fanned by the completely irresponsible news media whose only concerns are notoriety, ratings, advertising dollars and maintaining a shallow pretext of objectivity.
This sort of behavior is a constant with Republicans, creating a large issue out of nothing, finding a mountain where all that exists is a molehill and wasting the public's time picking fly shit out of pepper.
As a personal matter I don't give a damn where mosques, churches, temples or other religious shrines and symbols are built as long as they don't tear down decent saloons in the process.
To me, some things are more sacred than any of this religiosity.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama said Monday he's been talking closely to Gulf Coast fishermen and various experts on BP's catastrophic oil spill not for lofty academic reasons but "so I know whose ass to kick."
Ooh. You scared yet? Obama's going to kick some ass. You know how he does. You know how he kicked those insurance and pharmaceutical company asses to get us all Universal healthcare. How he kicked those Bankster asses of Goldman Sachs et al to regulate casino capitalism and bring the Looters to justice. How he kicks the collective ass of the Military-Industrial-Complex to stop the siphoning of trillions from the treasury better spent on the health and wealth of America and stop the illegal, immoral and irresponsible war crimes of aggression. And on and on...
Frankly, Obama's ability to kick ass is limited to a game of horse against an oil-soaked pelican.
As counterinsurgency (COIN) marches into the expanding ranks of failed U.S. military doctrines, the military-industrial-congressional complex casts about for a new raison d'être. Since manpower-centric, generational occupations of broken countries we can't fix have finally fallen out of favor as our foreign policy tool of choice, the American warmongery is back to championing a high-price, high-tech force posture reminiscent of the Cold War days.
The "China Shop," my label for an ad hoc cell within the neoconservative think-tankery, is consuming swaths of bandwidth in an attempt to make Americans believe an expanded, modernized Chinese navy is about to grab control of the world's oceans and make us all work in laundries and restaurants for sub-minimum wages or something equally implausible but nonetheless horrifying to the rank and file of the insentient Right. A May 20 article by Human Events columnist Robert McGinnis warns us of "China's High Seas Aggression." A Wall Street Journal op-ed piece from the same date by Michael Auslin of the infamous American Enterprise Institute sends chills up our spine with haunting tales of "Asia's Troubled Waters." An ad placeholder at Military.com's Defense Tech blubbers, "It's Springtime for China's Blue Water Navy." Swim away! Swim away!
At the heart of this latest wave of Sinophobia is a pair of recent articles by U.S. Navy Commander James Kraska, a judge advocate general (AKA "lawyer") who frames himself as the next coming of Ray Spruance. Kraska is a senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), one of the oldest right-wing think-tanks in the country. Contributors to FPRI publications constitute a pogues gallery of neoconservatism: Max Boot, Eliot Cohen, Donald and Fred Kagan, James Woolsey, and more. Kraska is also on the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College, which is a de facto neocon think-tank. (Professor Mackubin Thomas Owens, an associate dean of academics at the college, was co-author of the neocon manifesto Rebuilding America's Defenses. He is a regular National Reviewonline contributor and is also, by sheer coincidence I'm sure, a senior fellow at FPRI.)
The USS Gravely (DDG-107) an arleigh burk-class guided missile destroyer sits in the Port of Pascagoula, Mississippi surrounded by oil containment booms to prevent oil from the Deepwater Horizon from reaching it's hull while in port. Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater oil rig that sank April 22, causing an oil spill threatening the waters near the U.S. Gulf Coast. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (EXW/SW) Corey Truax/Released)
Well, it looks like the National Enquirer who brought us the live burial of John Edwards has finally got the goods on Barack Obama. It's not enough Obama is an African Nationalist, Muslim Communist and Political Promise Breaker. Not enough he is a shiny-happy war criminal and smooth talking flim-flam man. Not enough Obama swings both ways while he lectures black daddies to take care of their birthing and babies.
President Obama is a philanderer. Our Tiger Woods President.
Certainly Not News (CNN) has been insisting, along with the Obama administration, that his proposed executive order to coax anti-choice Dems into voting for the HCR bill simply reiterates existing law regarding federal funding of abortion.
I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that this executive order will be a de facto insertion of the Stupak Amendment into the bill after it becomes law. It will prohibit the so-called insurance exchange--from which the uninsured will be required by law to purchase private health insurance coverage--from including plans that provide family planning services.
Are there any lawyers out there who can correct me if I've misinterpreted the ramifications of this proposed executive decree? The full text of the executive order is below the jump.
The progressive blogosphere has worked itself up into quite a lather following Dennis Kucinich's "betrayal" on health "care" reform. His sudden decision to back Obama's efforts to bail out the beleaguered health insurance industry has left many progressives feeling understandably confused and pissed.
I can sympathize with the rage and despair that many of you on the real left feel as a result of Denny-boy's decision to take the cock of Hope™ up his ass balls deep. Despite being an ardent capitalist (the theme of one of his last two presidential campaigns was "Saving Capitalism" or something like that) and a Democrat, Kucinich has nevertheless been the closest thing resembling a leftist that Congress has had during my lifetime. I have personally admired many of his seemingly principled stands on behalf of the poor and the working class, and I found his vocal opposition to Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama's endless wars to be a much-needed breath of fresh air. Like many of you, I once desperately wanted to believe that he would eventually emerge as a powerful progressive force capable of actually redressing social injustice instead of merely paying lip service to a few leftist values while raping an indigenous South American child and fellating Aetna. I wanted to believe in a "people's politician", if you will.
I stopped having that dream a long time ago. It wasn't easy. From time to time, I still catch myself fantasizing about the Utopian society that would inevitably follow in the wake of a Kucinich or Nader administration. But I now recognize such mental meanderings for what they are: fantasies.
With few exceptions, I've generally remained silent when people here at WWL have made statements to the effect that the left needs to come together to get Kucinich elected President. I was a huge fan of Kucinich at one time myself, and I can understand why many on the real left have revered the man. Compared to his colleagues, he is practically the Congressional version of Che or Ho Chi Minh--albeit a much mousier version and sans the army fatigues.
I am not going to presume I can divine his motives for entering politics. From what I have read, I am even willing to concede that his motives were pure and his heart was in the right place. However, I concluded a number of years ago (perhaps incorrectly...only time will tell) that in the extraordinarily unlikely event that Kucinich (or Nader or McKinney etc.) managed to come within a few thousand light-years of the Oval Office, they would still wind up perpetuating the status quo. Call me a cynic if you like--goddess knows I've been called worse--but please hear me out.
The problem with a potential Kucinich presidency or a Nader presidency or a [insert your favorite progressive/radical candidate here] presidency does not necessarily lie within the politician himself/herself. Your dream president may therefore very well be a genuine and ardent proponent of a boldly progressive agenda with the courage to fight for a measure of social justice in our capitalist Gomorrah. Unfortunately, the content of your dream president's character and the substance of his or her convictions matter not one whit.
A Rhode Island school board fired all the teachers in a school, in a dispute over working more hours without any more pay, and Obama says, that's just great, while the right wing applauds.
To get a share of the $3.5 billion in what are known as School Improvement Grants, school officials can choose to transform the learning environments in failing schools by extending instructional hours and making other changes, converting them to charter schools, closing them entirely or replacing the principal and at least half the staff.
The Central Falls superintendent, Frances Gallo, initially chose the first option this year, but after a dispute arose with the union over extra pay for adding 25 minutes to the school day, she broke off negotiations. Backed by the local school board, she announced the firings on Feb. 23. Last Monday, Mr. Obama supported the board's action in a speech to a dropout prevention group.
Of course, it's just fine to militarize the schools:
Disturbing as well is the prominence of Duncan's belief in offering a key role in public education to the military. Chicago's school system is currently the most militarized in the country, boasting five military academies, nearly three dozen smaller Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs within existing high schools, and numerous middle school Junior ROTC programs. More troubling yet, the military academies he's started are nearly all located in low-income, minority neighborhoods. This merging of military training and education naturally raises concerns about whether such academies will be not just education centers, but recruitment centers as well....
The battle for America's future is being played out in the schools, charter schools, and Texas-approved textbooks, and the left just doesn't seem to care. For 30 years, the right is pushing the schools ever further right, although they don't plan to send their own kids their-- many have pulled their own kids out- for those that can afford it to expensive private schools, and those that can't, to homeschooling (82% of home-schoolers are Christian right) .
War Criminal Torture Champions roam free, teach Law, and show up as guest/experts on the Sunday Talk Shows, but failing to teach all those brown kids to pass those tests is just ... wrong!
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - President Barack Obama says a Rhode Island school that recently fired all its educators is an example of how there needs to be accountability.
He made the comments Monday in Washington at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He called for "accountability" if a school continually fails its students without improvement.
He said that is what happened at Central Falls High School, where the school district's board of trustees voted last week to fire 93 teachers, administrators and other staff. No more than half could be hired back under federal law.
Obama pointed out that just 7 percent of students at the high school have tested proficient in math.
Right. That'll fix it. Fire them. Just fire them all.
(NOTE: updated to better video quality- not so blurry now, so you can really get a good look at the dead kids!)
This is not a typical post.
Instead of writing a blog post and further destroying my wrists in the process, I thought I'd try something a little different.
Below you'll find a video that I cobbled together from pictures I found online and designs created by my partner. I am not a film director, nor do I desire to be one. It shows.
The song, however, is one that I think many people here will enjoy. It's called "Money Machine", and it was recorded live at Eddie's Attic in Atlanta. The album is entitled Jeff's Last Dance, by Kahler & Mullins. I was at this show. It's just two guys singing, one of whom plays the hell out of the congas. I suppose my affinity for this song results from the fact that I do possess an inner hippie (shhh!). The song is all about corporate greed & US militarism, but it actually manages to not be cheesy. IMO. it happens to rock. I hope you enjoy my amateurish iMovie editing, which was intended to convey visually the sentiments expressed in the lyrics (with a bit of snarkiness). Even if you dislike the editing, I hope you'll enjoy the tune.
From a commenter at reddit, on the subject of Associate Attorney General David Margolis, with Holder's approval, reducing the conclusion of the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility report on Yoo and Bybee's Torture Memos to Bush to say that they showed only "poor judgment":
If Obama's 'Justice Department' had conducted the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, all of the Nazis would have gone free - 'Merely Poor Judgement, the Holocaust was just a policy mistake'!
There is a road, no simple highway,
Between the dawn and the dark of night,
And if you go no one may follow,
That path is for your steps alone...
Instead of getting Sunday talk-show gigs, Dick Cheney should be put up against a wall and shot as the war criminal he is - no charges, no trial, just BLAM! If it's good enough for the 'terrorists' it's good enough for evil incarnate; Dick Cheney.
The fact Dick Cheney not only lives but is free to spread his evil is proof God is Dead.
(Gottlieb is ALWAYS fp material! - promoted by Diane G)
The classic Ambrose Bierce short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge has a man being hung and miraculously the rope breaks and he escapes and has an adventure only to find in the end the rope didn't break and his escape was a dying dream of desperation. In the end the man hangs from a stiff rope, dead of a broken neck.
(H/t to Stu Piddy.) Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair on Wednesday confirmed that President Obama can and does authorize assassinations of U.S. citizens, if those citizens are overseas. Are we all OK with this? Why no protest from progressive leaders within the Democratic Party? Progressives, leaders, within the Democratic Party? How can anyone still sane and moral in this country not agree with Glenn Greenwald (emphasis added):
Barack Obama, like George Bush before him, has claimed the authority to order American citizens murdered based solely on the unverified, uncharged, unchecked claim that they are associated with Terrorism and pose "a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests." They're entitled to no charges, no trial, no ability to contest the accusations. Amazingly, the Bush administration's policy of merely imprisoning foreign nationals (along with a couple of American citizens) without charges -- based solely on the President's claim that they were Terrorists -- produced intense controversy for years. That, one will recall, was a grave assault on the Constitution. Shouldn't Obama's policy of ordering American citizens assassinated without any due process or checks of any kind -- not imprisoned, but killed -- produce at least as much controversy?
I'd like for you to try a little experiment for me.
It's a very simple experiment, one that doesn't involve stoichiometry, Bunsen burners, p values, test tubes, or access to hydrochloric acid. It'll be fun, I swear.
Ready?
Fantastic! Let's begin.
Step 1: Think of five "liberal" or "progressive" Obama supporters you know. Try to include as many queer and transgender Obama supporters in that list as possible. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with a list of ardent queer and transgender Obama supporters in the wake of the Pope of Hope's hope-inducing HRC speech, not to mention his current--and sudden--almost deafening screeching about his plans to overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (which is in no way a cynical effort to shift the national debate away from his "failed" "attempt" at health care reform, nor is it a strategy to prevent "progressives" from starting to notice that over the past year he has fought--with a Democratic super-majority in Congress--to advance a hawkish neo-liberal agenda that is breathtaking in its scope; and no, it has nothing to do with the U.S. military's inability to recruit and retain enough prospective corpses for his ongoing wars of aggression).
Step 2: Call each of the Obamaniacs on your list and read the following statement to them:
"Obama has been President for one year now, during which time the Democrats have had a super-majority in Congress. Candidate Obama presented himself as a harbinger of change: the anti-Bush, if you will. Yet over the past year, Obama has (1) continued and/or strengthened a range of the very Bush administration policies that, as a "liberal/progressive", you once ardently opposed; (2) Enacted (or threatened to champion) paleoconservative policies that, had they been enacted by Bush, would have pissed you off so much that you just might have snapped and thrown down the gauntlet by attending a peaceful protest or a candlelight vigil. Here are just a few examples:
If the new administration is keenly interested in reversing the misfortunes of that region, it has to understand the uniqueness of every country and appreciate the untold harm inflicted on civilians by the US and other militaries. Only dialogue and truly respecting the sovereignty of Afghanistan and Pakistan can begin to stabilise the fractious situation.
U.S. drones killed 123 Pakistani civilians and three al Qaeda in January, the largest death toll ever for a single month. 17 more died today, some low-level militants, most civilians. Apparently the sharp increase in drone attacks is motivated by revenge, for the late December suicide attack that killed seven CIA drone-targeting experts in Afghanistan. All this in the context of the just-released Pentagon budget, which features a 75% increase in funding for drone production and operations.
What a moral low America has reached, to be doing what we are doing to Pakistan's innocent civilians. But the perp country's people and media ignore the crime because, after all, no Americans are dying. Admittedly, we seemingly have no control, so what is the point of protesting? So a quiet but ugly war guided by the lowest of motives, simple revenge, takes over, bullies against bullies, civilians be damned.
LAHORE: Afghanistan-based US predators carried out a record number of 12 deadly missile strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan in January 2010, of which 10 went wrong and failed to hit their targets, killing 123 innocent Pakistanis. The remaining two successful drone strikes killed three al-Qaeda leaders, wanted by the Americans.
