The Commentariat -- Jan. 24, 2014
Internal links removed.
... Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute: "The minimum wage is 23 percent less than its peak inflation-adjusted value in 1968. This is despite productivity (how much output can be produced in an average hour of work in the economy) more than doubling in that time period. The low-wage workforce has surely contributed to this rise in economy-wide productivity, since as a group they have far more education now than they did then." Via Daily Kos.
The outstanding faults of the economic society in which we live are its failure to provide for full employment and its arbitrary and inequitable distribution of wealth and incomes. -- John Maynard Keynes,1936 ...
... ** Paul Krugman: "... it applies to our own time, too. And, in a better world, our leaders would be doing all they could to address both faults." Krugman goes on to show how unemployment, inequality, & economic crisis go hand-in-hand-in-hand. ...
... Tim Egan: Bill Gates predicted that "by 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world."
Savvy Businessman Jamie Dimon gets a raise, despite the fact that JPMorgan Chase had to pay $20 billion in fines this past year.
I think a lot of it was unfair. -- Jamie Dimon, while hobnobbing with the super-rich & famous in Davos, Switzerland, on the way federal regulators' "assaulted" JPMorgan
David Remnick of the New Yorker has more from "The Obama Tapes."
Richardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP: "The uninsured rate dropped modestly this month as expanded coverage rolled out under President Barack Obama's health care law, a major survey released Thursday has found. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that the uninsured rate for U.S. adults dropped by 1.2 percentage points in January, to 16.1 percent. That would translate to roughly 2 million to 3 million people gaining coverage."
Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Democrats are drawing their red line against debt limit concessions -- again. Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will release a letter later Friday saying Democrats will not heed any GOP demands in exchange for hiking the debt limit next month in the latest round of the fiscal fights that have plagued the Capitol." ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Two years ago, the demands were for trillions of dollars in cuts. Then it became 'the Boehner Rule,' which was the Speaker's made-up requirement that the House would demand equal-size spending cuts every time it lifted the debt ceiling. Now they're just floating a bunch of scattershot attacks on Obamacare, without even the pretext of reducing the debt, which was the whole rationale for threatening a crisis in the first place.... But you can only try this bluff once. The only way it could still work would be if Obama either paid a ransom or Republicans shot the hostage. Once the mark knows you're bluffing, it's over. You can't do it again. Nobody is falling for this":
Julie Creswell & Reed Abelson of the New York Times: "This month, the Justice Department said it had joined eight separate whistle-blower lawsuits against [Health Management Associates, a for-profit hospital chain based in Naples, Fla.,] in six states. The lawsuits describe a wide-ranging strategy that is said to have relied on a mix of sophisticated software systems, financial incentives and threats in an attempt to inflate the company's payments from Medicare and Medicaid.... The accusations reach all the way to the former chief executive's office, whom many of the whistle-blowers point to as driving the strategy." CW: I am totally shocked that a Florida-based for-profit hospital conglomerate would engage in Medicaid & Medicare fraud, Rick Scott.
Steve Kenny of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Thursday that the United States was willing to discuss how the criminal case against Edward J. Snowden would be handled, but only if Mr. Snowden pleaded guilty first. Mr. Holder, speaking at a question-and-answer event at the University of Virginia, did not specify the guilty pleas the Justice Department would expect before it would open talks with Mr. Snowden's lawyers. And the attorney general reiterated that the United States was not willing to offer clemency to Mr. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has leaked documents that American officials have said threaten national security." ...
... Kate Tummarello of the Hill: "National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden on Thursday said he would be willing to return to the United States if he were able to mount a legal defense as a whistleblower. 'Returning to the US, I think, is the best resolution for the government, the public, and myself, but it's unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistleblower protection laws, which through a failure in law did not cover national security contractors like myself,' Snowden wrote during an online chat." CW: Apparently his bids to help Germany & Brazil guard against U.S. cyberspying did not go well.
"The Hidden History of the CIA's Prison in Poland." Adam Goldman of the Washington Post: "The CIA prison in Poland was arguably the most important of all the black sites created by the agency after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It was the first of a trio in Europe that housed the initial wave of accused Sept. 11 conspirators, and it was where Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-declared mastermind of the attacks, was waterboarded 183 times after his capture.... But what happened in Poland more than a decade ago continues to reverberate, and the bitter debate about the CIA's interrogation program is about to be revisited."
Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Dinesh D'Souza ... was indicted on Thursday on charges that he used straw donors to illegally donate to a 2012 Senate campaign. Mr. D'Souza is an outspoken political commentator who directed '2016: Obama's America,' a scathing anti-Obama documentary released in the final months of the president's re-election campaign. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said that Mr. D'Souza encouraged others to give $20,000 to a Senate candidate and reimbursed them for the donations. Election law prohibits such arrangements and caps donations at $5,000 per donor to any one candidate." ...
... Schadenfreude Gives Way to Guffaws. J. K. Trotter of Gawker: "D'Souza is scheduled to be arraigned in Manhattan on Friday. He is also scheduled to debate former Weatherman Bill Ayers on January 30 at Dartmouth College about what makes America so great."
Laura Barron-Lopez of the Hill: "Climate change may get in the way of future Olympic Winter Games, a new study finds. If the globe continues to warm at its current rate -- without taking measures to mitigate climate change -- only six out of the last 19 locations that hosted the winter games will be cold enough to hold them by the end of the century, according to the report conducted by the University of Waterloo and Austria's Management Center at Innsbruck." CW: Finally something that could get politicians to do something to abate global warming. ...
... Ah, Another Incentive. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Today, after a decade of increasing damage to Coke's balance sheet as global droughts dried up the water needed to produce its soda, the company has embraced the idea of climate change as an economically disruptive force." Thanks to contributor Mushiba for the link.
Thomas Caton & Brody Mullins of the Wall Street Journal: "Behind the scenes..., [Google] has been working hard to change its profile as an ally of the Democratic Party, courting Republicans and building alliances with conservatives at a time when regulators and Congress are considering issues affecting its business interests." CW: Story is firewalled. If the link doesn't work, cut & paste part of the sentence into a Google search box. Irony intended required.
All Bob's Friends -- Are Crooks. Jonathan Deinst of NBC News-4 New York: "The federal criminal investigation into New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez [D] is broader than previously known.... The Department of Justice is investigating Menendez's efforts on behalf of two fugitive bankers from Ecuador, multiple current and former U.S. officials tell NBC 4 New York. The probe into Menendez's dealing with the bankers comes as federal authorities are also investigating his relationship to a big campaign donor from Florida." With video. ...
... Josh Rogin of the Daily Beast: "Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez is striking back against new corruption allegations regarding his ties to two Ecuadorian bankers who are accused of defrauding account holders in Ecuador to the tune of $100 million."
Local News
Michael Isikoff of NBC News: "FBI agents have begun questioning witnesses in the investigation into whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's aides threatened to cut off Hurricane Sandy relief money to Hoboken unless the city's mayor backed a billion-dollar development project, three sources with direct knowledge of the probe told NBC News on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors and agents have also instructed key witnesses to preserve all documents and emails relating to the allegations by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, these sources said.... Federal agents questioned Dan Bryan, Zimmer's chief of staff, and Juan Melli, her communications director.... The two Zimmer aides are among at least five witnesses who Zimmer told the FBI could confirm that she had previously told them about the conversation she says she had with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno last May." ...
... Darryl Isherwood of NJ.com: "The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey has issued a subpoena for documents to both the Christie for Governor reelection campaign and the New Jersey Republican State Committee, an attorney for both organizations confirmed today.... The subpoenas request documents from the two organizations in relation to the investigation into lane diversions at the George Washington Bridge in September." ...
... Tom Haydon of the Star-Ledger reported this story January 17, but it's just now getting more attention: "Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage says recalling he complained about political retribution back in 2010. Bollwage on Thursday said that shortly after Christie first became governor, he closed the Motor Vehicle Commission office in Elizabeth because Bollwage, along with Union County Democrats state Sen. Raymond Lesniak and Assemblyman Joe Cryan, opposed some of governor's legislative efforts, such as an annual cap on budget and property tax hikes. Bollwage said Elizabeth also was denied red-light cameras, while surrounding municipalities received approvals. Christie spokesman Colin Reed disputed Bollwage's claim that closing the motor vehicles office was political, stating the move saved hundreds of thousands of tax dollars." CW: Yes, withholding basic services can save lots of tax dollars. (It's true that the DMV is revenue-producing, but almost everybody who needs drivers licenses or car tags will go out of his way to get them.) ...
... Matt Katz of WNYC: "The Christie administration has quietly cut its ties to an embattled company that had New Jersey's biggest contract for getting Sandy victims back in their homes. Homeowners and legislators had widely criticized the company's performance, taking some of the gloss off Governor Chris Christie's signature project: Sandy recovery. Christie officials - who as recently as two weeks ago gave legislators in Trenton no hint that the contract had been cancelled - wouldn't say on Thursday why the deal with Hammerman and Gainer, or HGI, was terminated more than two years before completion." CW: Could there be a seedy untold backstory here?
Can This Marriage Be Saved? Rosalind Helderman & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "Maureen McDonnell relayed to federal prosecutors last summer that she felt responsible for the relationship with a wealthy businessman..., and her attorney asked whether the case could be resolved without charges for her husband.... Instead, months later, authorities proposed that then-Gov. Robert F. McDonnell plead guilty to one felony fraud charge that had nothing to do with corruption in office and his wife would avoid charges altogether. The governor rejected the offer.... Since the indictment was handed up on Tuesday, the former governor's comments have focused almost exclusively on his own innocence." ...
... Gene Robinson: "Nobody's as stupid as Bob McDonnell pretends to be."
Jeff Karoub & David Eggert of the AP: "Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder asked the federal government Thursday to set aside thousands of work visas for bankrupt Detroit, a bid to revive the decaying city by attracting talented immigrants who are willing to move there and stay for five years.... The proposal involves EB-2 visas, which are offered every year to legal immigrants who have advanced degrees or show exceptional ability in certain fields.... The visas are not currently allocated by region or state. And the number he is seeking -- 50,000 over five years -- would be a quarter of the total EB-2 visas offered."
Ian Simpson of Reuters: "The company behind a chemical spill that left about 300,000 people in West Virginia without tap water failed to disclose a second chemical in the leak, state officials said on Wednesday. The company, Freedom Industries, had previously said that only one chemical, crude MCHM, had spilled from one of its storage tanks into the Elk River at Charleston on January 9. Freedom Industries told the state Department of Environmental Protection on Tuesday that a second chemical, PPH, was in the above-ground tank despite an order immediately after the spill to disclose what was in it, the department said in a statement."
Congressional Races
** A Sobering Reality Chek. Molly Ball of the Atlantic: "The GOP's effort to rebrand itself didn't get far -- but it may not matter: It's winning anyway.... Republicans are almost guaranteed to keep the House of Representatives in November; they have about a 50-50 chance of taking the majority in the U.S. Senate; and they are likely to keep their majority of the nation's governor's mansions." AND "Republicans will have a 64 percent chance of victory" in the 2016 presidential contest, according to a model developed by John Sides. ...
... Presidential Election 2016
This Is Depressing. Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "The Obama political operation that once buried Hillary Rodham Clinton's White House ambitions is now rapidly converging around her possible 2016 presidential bid, conferring on Mrs. Clinton enormous early advantages in money, expertise and voter targeting techniques. On Thursday, Priorities USA Action, a 'super PAC' that played an important role in helping re-elect President Obama, announced that it was formally aligning itself with Mrs. Clinton and would begin raising money to fend off potential opponents for 2016. The group -- the largest Democratic super PAC in the country -- also named new directors, appointments that will cement the group's pro-Clinton tilt...."
Zeke Miller of Time: "The Republican National Committee took steps Thursday to change how it will pick its presidential candidate in 2016, the latest effort by the national party to tighten control over the primary calendar.... It’s all about the money. The RNC, is looking to free up those general election dollars sooner by moving the 2016 convention to late June or mid-July. On Thursday, the RNC's Rules Committee, continued to ease the path for better-funded establishment candidates to avoid the type of 'long slog' against poorly-organized and under-funded candidates that Mitt Romney was subjected to."
Sex and the GOP
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Mike Huckabee says Democrats make women feel helpless to control their libido by offering government-sponsored birth control":
... Peter Grier of the Christian Science Monitor: "'It sounds offensive to me, and to women,' said White House spokesman Jay Carney when asked about the remarks, which Huckabee made during a luncheon appearance at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting." ...
... Fade to Guffaw. Again. Dave Weigel: "Earlier today, Harvard's Institute of Politics announced that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who's currently a Fox News host and who may run for president again in 2016, would be a 'visiting fellow' for the spring semester." ...
... CW: May I suggest, in the interest of efficiency, that the Harvard student clinic set up its free contraceptives booth in front of Huckabee's classroom so the ladies of Harvard can picket while they wait in line for condoms, pills & other Democratic reproductive handouts.
David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) revealed on Thursday that he had become a congressman because he was outraged that single women were having as many as 15 babies and getting welfare checks." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.
News Ledes
AP: "Syria's government handed an ultimatum to a U.N. mediator hoping to broker peace in the country's civil war, vowing to leave if 'serious talks' do not begin by Saturday. The delegation chosen by President Bashar Assad met for less than 90 minutes Friday with U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi as part of a peace conference with the Western-backed opposition. The meeting has been on the verge of falling apart ever since it was conceived."
AP: "A string of bombings hit police around Cairo on Friday, including a suicide car blast that ripped through the city's main police headquarters and wrecked a nearby museum of Islamic artifacts. Five people were killed in the most significant attack yet in the Egyptian capital at a time of mounting confrontation between Islamists and the military-backed government."
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Reader Comments (15)
Margaret and Helen (both grand dames in their 80s) have a terrific response to Mike (Teeny Prickster) Huckabee in their blog today!
http://margaretandhelen.com/2014/01/24/uncle-sugar-needs-to-meet-aunt-flo/
Today's early CW take seems to prove, pretty conclusively, that women have libido control issues. All I want to know is WHERE WERE THEY WHEN I WAS 18 and WHY WERE THEY PRETENDING NOT TO BE SLUTS !!!???
Coke acknowledges climate change. More and more corporations are seeing their supply chains disrupted because of severe weather and now that marketing master, Coca-Cola, has publicly admitted it, will others follow? If the bottom line is severely disrupted, then, maybe ~ or, maybe not. Here is the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/science/earth/threat-to-bottom-line-spurs-action-on-climate.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140124
Evidently the Republican seminar on "How to Talk about Women" hasn't born much fruit. It's uncanny that something like the pill that has proven to be the liberating force for women all over the world, helping them control their lives in ways not possible before, enabling them to succeed and compete for a place at the table would be besmirched. Oh wait! That must be the problem for dipwads like Huck-a-bee––pass the sugar, please.
Interesting history on the pill: It was conjured up by a guy named Goody Pincus and his scientist associates. At the time-fiftes––the birth control movement had a lot of Huckabees and religious folk who were against anything that prevented fertilization. Goody and his guys were all Jewish so what they needed was a Catholic to join their cause. Enter Dr. John Rock, chief of OB/ GYN at Harvard, Irish Roman Catholic––can't get better than that––who was almost denied the sacrament of marriage to his sweetie in 1925 because he performed a cesarian section which was forbidden by the "Church" but the cardinal of Boston performed the ceremony, over ruling the local priest.
Rock was a conservative, argued against admission of women to Harvard Med.school––told his daughter women were not capable being doctors. Ouch! But his views on birth control evolved steadily, thought it shocking to see the "big family" glorified and wanted to give women the right to make choices, free them of the cumbersome concern of getting pregnant. By May 1960, the FDA approved Enovid. Goody and the guys broke out the bubbly.
And of course we women pay homage to Margaret Sanger (yes, I know about her views on euthanasia) who started the whole ball of wax and said she hated the idea that her colleagues hid behind the title of "Planned Parenthood." "It irks my very soul and all that is Irish in me to acquiesce to the appeasement group that is so prevalent in our beloved organization," she said. Eisenhower and Truman had not been at all helpful to Sanger when in office, but later became co-chairmen of Planned Parenthood's world population committee.
@Kate: "Aunt Flo"––very funny. In my day we called it "gramma"––have no idea why.
Re: Professor Huckabee's (you can't make that name up) science class for creationists uncovers a startling fact. The universe's black hole is actually a vagina.
Oh man, this is just too delicious.
Serial propagandist Dinesh D'Souza, bombastic dissembler, faux (as in no) right-wing intellectual, the guy who cheated on his wife while lecturing at a Christian Values conference(!), and the raging hypocrite who wrote a book blaming liberals for 9/11 because of their (wait for it), sexual dalliances, which pissed off Muslims, and the guy who sniffs haughtily about the essential honesty and uprightness of conservatives, has been indicted on charges of campaign fraud and violation of election laws. So much for honesty. Will you excuse me for one second?
Ha! ha,ha,ha ha,ha,ha ha,ha,ha ha,ha,ha ha,ha,ha ha,ha,ha ha,ha,ha......tee-hee.
Ahhh.....oh, sorry.
So where was I? Oh yeah....
It's been a long time coming, but since he was a Reagan loving hater at Dartmouth, where he saw his mission as outing gay students, ridiculing black students, and comparing liberal Jewish professors to Hitler in the right-wing rag he edited, this guy has needed a serious beating. He cloaks his conservative contempt and paranoia with a trumped up, phony intellectualism and big words which allow him to sound professorial even while lying through his teeth and making with the shiv in the back. Conservatives just loved that a smart sounding holier-than-thou Ivy League prig like D'Souza was espousing some of the most vile wingnut pap.
Well, here's some other big words, Dinesh, ol' buddy, ol' pal: hubris, hauteur, louche, prevaricator, mountebank, supercilious, dissimulator, arraignment, and felonious. And let's not forget douchebag.
Don't let courtroom door hit you in the ass on the way in, shithead.
PD,
Thanks for the interesting history. I wasn't all that aware of John Rock's involvement in the development of the pill. In one of those weird historical twilight zone intersections, the first clinical trials for the pill took place in Brookline, MA, giving women the first opportunity in history to take full control of their lives, the same town where, some 40 years later, John Salvi stormed a Planned Parenthood clinic and shot women for doing just that. And the wingnuts cheered.
And Kate, thanks for the Margaret and Helen link. Those ladies always crack me up. Just imagine them as keynote speakers at the next RNC convention. Oh, the humanity!
I've never heard of Aunt Flo or Gramma. When I was in high school, girls called it their "friend". Whatever euphemism you choose, it's pretty clear that Republicans, especially the ones who don't get it (in both ways), are just as uncomfortable with biology--especially the reproductive kind--as they are with most all other branches of science. I'm guessing Texas biology textbooks have a chapter on storks.
So what is it about sex that scares the absolute crap out of conservatives? More to the point, what is it about women that inspires such animus, arrogance and condescension? I'm guessing it's something they really can't control, as much as they'd love to. That's likely the reason they feel the need to trot out the Bible (aka the Rules of Discipline) so they can play the god card and try to lord it over women.
Pretty fucking sad, if you ask me.
But just think. That blockhead Huckabee was once (and maybe still is!) considered serious presidential timber by wingnuts and right wing media shills.
Talk about sad.
@AK: whoopee! Yes, by gum, I am as thrilled as you are that D'Souza has got his just desserts––the old pie in the face, egg on the chin and all that. I once had an online argument with someone who thought he was the bee's knees and when I voiced my opinion about this jerk, citing all the info you cited about him, she called me a prejudiced ignoramus who didn't know my ass from my elbow–-that he was a fine fellow that spoke truths that evidently I didn't want to face. I now take great satisfaction knowing she is somewhere with that egg on her face.
My outrage over the elder Mrs. Gohmert's perpetration of Louie on the world far outweighs Louie's outrage over any phantom or otherwise single mom with a brood north of a dozen.
Negotiating about the terms of a Snowden whistleblower prosecution is farcical at best. He and his fellow dickhead have made it abundantly clear that more information is secreted in undisclosed locations guarded by others. Snowden does not control the future use of information once it has passed into the hands of others. These "others" are likely to be either ideologically and/or fiscally driven to release more stuff. Duh.... Do you think you are the only one seeking fame and fortune? Ever the immature prick, Snowden appears to be tiring of exile. He continues to underestimate everyone but himself and be blinded by his faux awesomeness.
PD,
Oops. That didn't take long.
Dinesh D'Souza is indeed under indictment and, based on his non-denial denial ("I didn't know what I was doing, I was just trying to help a friend. Ya gotta believe me!"), he did actually engage in campaign fraud, BUT, it doesn't matter. He's innocent. Why?
Obama. That's why.
The riptide pulling the legs out from under truth once again is the power of the right-wing echo chamber which has decided that Obama is going after his critics, which automatically means they're innocent. One by one he's knocking them off. Bob McDonnell, now D'Souza, tomorrow he'll be coming for you. So stay home today and clean the guns.
D'Souza's indictment for stuff he actually did PROVES that Obama is out to get conservatives.
It's really a marvel to watch the wingnut mind (if you can call it that) in action.
Recently I heard that Glenn Beck came out in favor of same sex marriage. This I had to hear. Well, actually, what he says is something along the lines of "gay marriage doesn't pick my pockets or break my leg" which seems to mean, it's okay by him. Wow. Pretty amazing. But he then goes on to say that the government still cannot tell his church or any other church that same sex marriage is okay (which they haven't done). But this was enough to send the whackos over the side without a life preserver.
But one particular wingnut, former SNL player, Victoria Jackson, who has said that she would be blessed if she was raped and had a child, a present from god and all that, can't take it. Must have voted for Todd Akin.
And she goes from Beck's half-assed assent that same sex marriage won't hurt him to the Christian church being outlawed. How? Only the wingnuts can do this, boys and girls, don't try this yourself. You might end up with a brain fracture.
The logic is beautiful.
Glenn Beck accepts that gays can be married. Thus...
He does not accept conservative Christians. Thus...
He does not believe the Bible. Thus...
The Bible is a lie. Thus...
The government finds out that the Bible is a lie. Thus...
The Bible will be interpreted as hate speech. Thus...
It will be outlawed and therefore...
Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the Christian faith will all be expunged and made illegal.
Glenn Beck okay with same sex marriage leads to Christianity outlawed.
It's like a magic trick, in'it?
The Wingnut Mind: it's a terrible thing to baste.
Anyway, now that D'Souza is innocent and all, get ready for the onslaught from the right. Again.
(Don't they ever get tired of this shit?)
PD: My guess is that she may well have a runny egg dripping from her face but she won't notice it. The human race's imperviousness to Fact (even when it hits them in the face or over the head) remains miraculous.
On the education and wage statistics: Of course. Just another Fact we choose not to see. I have begun to gag every time I hear a politician (even my esteemed President) point to education as the elixir that will solve our unemployment problems. Pointing to education is easy, sounds good, and since our schools continue to stumble along supported by an outmoded, regressive tax structure which we are unwilling to change, the gesture has the added benefit of costing little or nothing. Here again money and mouth are seldom in synch.
Beyond the mostly empty gesture toward education, we do little about the real causes of the problem. Our staggering unemployment results, as Krugman says, from the astonishing inequality between the phenomenally rich and the rest of us, aided by technology (computers and robotics) and from the world labor market we have created, pitting Detroit against Bangladesh. And our "free" trade deals don't help.
Generally, we don't need as many workers as we used to need to produce the same result (very obviously far fewer American workers), and businesses increasingly see their markets elsewhere than in the US. Developing economies mean consumers; Americans no longer have all the money.
Interesting that the stock market is not doing well the last few days on news of lower earnings. Wonder how much of those earning are dependent on sales outside the United States? I'd guess a lot. On Wall Street, we're no longer the only Big Dog.
As AK asks, "So what is it about sex that scares the absolute crap out of conservatives?" A woman who can give just as good if not better than any macho obsessed dork. Independent women scare the crap out of all the authoritarians masquerading as conservatives because their personal reproductive system is out of their control. It's always about control with these guys.
Newsflash: Dateline Tonight Show.
CheetoMan Boehner is not giving up ciggie butts and merlot to be president. Whadaguy.
Did I miss something?
Was he in line to be president? Have the lumpen proletariat and the Koch Galumphers been colluding to impress him into service as the Primo Exec? Have Fox and Greggers and Rushbo and Charles Krautlover been waxing poetically presidential in his general direction?
No?
Then WTF is he talking about?
Really Jay, you need to shut your guests down after two bottles in the green room.
If only we could do the same at the Capitol.
Going through my closet checking labels: ah, yes the job creators..
Where have the "job creators" created jobs? Let's see: Korea, China, Vietnam(!), India., Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Pakistan, and a pitiful few: USA.
Amusing Daily Kos post by Hunter on the Republicans' three (count 'em, three) responses to Obama's State of the Onion. I suppose this shit goes on until someone finally burns the fucker down.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/24/1272235/-Republicans-planning-three-separate-responses-to-State-of-the-Union-speech