TARP? Has anyone seen Paulson loading pallettes of $100 bills onto an airplane? Because it worked so well in Iraq.

Hubby sent me the link for "Prop 8 - The Musical" earlier today. Funny!!!

Can I put another plug in for Howard Fineman?

I sat there and listened to him on Olbermann last night and while disturbing to hear once again of Bushs' brain--namely his lack of introspection--it was also so oddly refreshing to hear someone like Mr. Fineman to call it like it is.

Bush clearly has a dis-inclination to look back and reflect. And yet in order for human beings to learn, this is one of our greatest abilities...it leads to such admirable growth, it leads to things like insight, wisdom and humility.

I felt so sad when I heard Fineman confirm my worse fears about Bush. But equally proud we still have journalists willing to be bold and spell it out--on prime-time, no less.

I don't think his assessment should be soon forgotten. There are others who share this disdain for self-reflection (arguably the hallmark of narcissism) such as Palin...

In any case, I gotta say I am so glad he said it--not just this time, but throughout the campaign--he's always been unafraid to just say what he sees.

Howard Fineman is my hero, for sure. I hope he keeps it up, because the truth is painful, but it yep--it does set you free.

As per the climate article -- note that eating chickens instead of cows causes much MUCH more suffering per mouthful of flesh. Boca burgers -- least greenhouse gas and suffering!

HFTILNO wrote: "Bush clearly has a dis-inclination to look back and reflect."

I don't think so.

I think Bush looks back and reflects with great satisfaction that he delivered a lot of what the people who installed him in power wanted: a massive transfer of wealth and power to the wealthy and powerful, and the degradation of government of, by and for We The People in favor of government of, by and for the corporate aristocracy.

Sure, he failed to deliver the vast oil wealth of Iraq into the hands of his cronies and financial backers in the US-based transnational oil corporations, and from their point of view that was a serious disappointment.

And he failed to hand over ("privatize") the Social Security trust fund into the hands of his cronies and financial backers on Wall Street, and from their point of view that was a serious disappointment.

But you can't win 'em all. And in so many ways, Bush successfully advanced the ruthless, rapacious class war of America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc. (a.k.a. "the top one percent", a.k.a. "Bush's base") against everyone else more than any president in history. He plundered, looted and pillaged the nation to enrich the rich and impoverish everyone else.

Of course, Bush has a "dis-inclination" to reflect upon that record in public and prefers to spew bullshit for public consumption, just as he has done for his entire political career.

But he knows exactly what he did, and he knows exactly what he's doing now with his shamelessly dishonest drivel that the corporate-owned media is obediently broadcasting to the masses. I'm sure that in private he will cry over his low approval ratings ... all the way to the bank.

What's up with the Southern states being the unhealthiest in the nation? The South is also the most conservative section in the county. Is there a cause-and-effect correlation between the two or is this apparent correlation just coincidental?

TARP

Who in the hell calls it that?

I say Wealthcare.

700 billion (maybe 7 trillion?)..... taking care of the wealth of the few at the expense of the many.

If TARP has no oversight, then nobody should feel obligated to pay their bills, ever.

What on earth is going on?

We were told fire and brimstone would rain down on us all if 700 billion dollars of TARP funds aren't immediately released. And so TARP/aka wealthcare was passeth.

Oversight, overschmight?

God Bush America.

(and he did)

Gore/Feingold '16 wrote: "As per the climate article -- note that eating chickens instead of cows causes much MUCH more suffering per mouthful of flesh. Boca burgers -- least greenhouse gas and suffering!"

The sad truth is that most "liberals" and "Democrats" and even most "environmentalists" will let the melting icecaps flood every major city in the world, and let megadroughts starve hundreds of millions, before they will give up their MEAT.

And the suffering of chickens? To most people, there is no such thing as sentient beings called "chickens", there is just "chicken" ... which is just some "stuff" that you eat.

I've been a vegetarian for 34 years and a vegan for 20 years and I'll tell you something: if I go to a cookout with a bunch of MEAT-eating "liberals" who know I'm a vegan, I can't even eat a Boca Burger in peace without a string of people coming up to me and volunteering all sorts of rationalizations for why it's OK for them to eat MEAT.

They seem to be somehow offended or disturbed just by knowing that someone else has made a different choice, as though my eating a Boca Burger is an affront or accusation against them. All without me uttering a word -- at least until I get tired of it and say "Guess what, I don't give a crap what you eat."

Looks like the Episcopalian conservatives (aka gay haters) will form a schism.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jldFTuKLofLmn40HFLfnIMlaVDvgD94RGCM00

No way. Kentuckians are far, far, FAR less healthy than people in any other state.

We're tops in obesity, smoking, cancer, diabetes, drug abuse, alcoholism, pollution, unsafe workplaces, tooth loss, fatty fried food, pregnant women and other people who never see a doctor - you name it.

And damn proud of it!

Having children is worse for the environment than eating meat, driving cars or just about anything else. The planet needs fewer people more urgently than the planet needs fewer cows.

WAB is correct. I've often contended that everything wrong is either directly or indirectly related to overpopulation.

I've often contended that everything wrong is either directly or indirectly related to overpopulation.

More specifically, to my neighbors' children.

Remember this holiday season, the Nixon tapes are the gift that keeps on giving.

(Looking around suspiciously) I sense I'm being mocked here.

Re:
According to bloomberg the UAW was willing to DELAY paying toward retirement health benefits. And it would give up the 95% paid when laid off. There was no mention of giving back some of their pay level. Which is for pay and benefits about half again what Toyota and Honda's are (UAW ~73/hr versus $48)(see http://bigthreeauto.procon.org/viewtopic.asp for this and below).

There is an Urban legend that UAW wages are coming down. Well as I understand it there will be a reduction of wages for NEW HIRES. They were just as unwilling in contract negotiations as now to accept lower wages. Fair enough.
BUT if you think about it, what is the probability that there will be any new hires. Surely there will be layoffs and those laid off will be first hired back. So the pay scale will never in reality be reduced.
What it seems to me is that the Union is run by those with a lot of seniority. And they in the spirit of solidarity are willing to take pay cuts for new hires, will sell out those already hired and those with less seniority (the two givebacks bloomberg mentions are to postpone retiree benefits and to give back the 95% pay cushion for those laid off.) But cut the pork choppers own wages....Never

Since insurgents in some African countries are 10 or 12 years old and carry AK-47s, will we see a "Kill the children" campaign?

It's not just that we are overpopulated. It's that the vast majority are condemned to lead lives of misery and poverty, in comparison to western standards. There is simply no way the earth could sustain our level of rapacious consumption, even if it were possible to supply everything we enjoy in this country in the quantities necessary, and it is emphatically not possible.

The burning of gas, oil and coal alone would have suffocated all life on this planet by now. Think how much damage 85 million barrels of oil a day going up in smoke is causing. Now multiply that by five, how much the entire world would need to burn to equal our per capita consumption. My God, that would render the world of "Soylent Green" a paradise.

How selfish can we be, then, ever increasing our numbers when most of those born today will never have a chance to live the way we do? The earth simply cannot provide for them.

And look at what we have to do, just to feed ourselves, as SecularAnimist points out. The savage cruelty in raising chickens ought to make us recoil in revulsion, but we don't even think about it, and label people who bring it up as shrill, extremist, nutcase liberals.

There's a lot of change needed in this world if we're going to make it to the end of this century.

The mountaintop mining regs are terrible. Can Obama just rescind them as soon as he gets into power? If these things are promulgated now, can't they be undone immediately? (I'm honestly asking for info here.)

you can't expect transparency in the bailout - i mean, what is a TARP for if not covering things up?

An excellent story on the Wal Mart tragedy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/03/AR2008120303469.html?sid=ST2008120303494&s_pos=

* The Obama transition team "has notified all politically-appointed ambassadors that they must vacate their posts as of Jan. 20." -- Steve Benen

Yeah? And what happens between then and whatever the time is that Obama nominates and the Senate confirms (or not) his nominations? When are the new ambassadors supposed to unpack their trunks in their new locations and what happens in the interregnum?

Not that I would mind if some of them got pulled like, yesterday. I've been getting bad reports about the one in Belgium from both American *and* Belgian lacemakers and they're the crowd which, usually, steers clear of politics...

Vis methane sources: you can keep your cows from breeding, 11 months out of 12, and you can, *definitely*, keep your chickens (and other fowl) from hatching, 12 months out of the year (though I do like eggs). But. You'll have to pry my pork chops and my smoked hams from my rigor-mortis-ed fingers...

I'll take Americana for $200 Alex...

Answer: Jdimytai Damour
Question: Who is the American killed in Mumbai by terrorists?

Er... no.

Jdimytai got trampled to death in a NY Walmart. Jon Talbot hangs back long enough read the message in the footprints. Read it to see how he arcs around to this killer conclusion:

The truth that oil production has flattened and will head down. The truth that no magical hydrogen or battery car will appear to allow them to continue their "consumer lifestyle." That global warming is real and will prove dangerous and costly. That a nation that doesn't produce things of values, that has been living off debt, tax cuts and swindles, can't keep running up the tab forever. That the casino culture is dead and there's no free lunch. If they would trample a man to death who stood in the way of their bargain on adding a fourth flat-screen TV, on credit, to their nearing-foreclosure split-level...What will they do when they learn the hard, stubborn facts of our lives going forward?

Indeed, what will they do?

Watching the tail end of Chris Mathews MSNBC, making a direct comment to Obama. Obama should not be squeamish and do something big. I like that word, squeamish.

Or, perhaps Obama should say Chris Mathews should not be a sour ball and really report to the public what Bush and Company did to America. Heck with such a resource like Andrea Mitchell wife of former Jekyll Island group chairman Allen Greenspan, should be easy.

Both, Allen and Andrea not only being privy to every titillating connection, also, made economic policy for those trillion dollar deals of instant title funding to the stock market, greasing the balanced budget bankers, and likely their personal account. And you thought you were the only one who could not balance a check book. All fair and balanced profiteering, creating this chaos of absolute uncertainty. Here, daily casted by every net work as how did this all happen? Love the way Lou Dobbs acts like he doesn’t know what is happening, but buy his book on the something about Middle America getting screwed. It is so funny.

Andrea Mitchell is going offer a new program for the Middle Class, those who fail to balance their check book can go the Federal Reserve and get a low or middle income bail out. But strings attached, the package includes first class air fair to all those associated luxury hotels that have big bank secret conferences, which gather to think through screw ups and how to get more bail money. The kicker is Joe six pack America gets to be an instant associate monitor to report back to America what these bankers are scheming for in the next hand out. Wouldn’t that be a hoot? Sorry, Please no plumbers!

Usually unknown by Mainstream Media, especially Chris Mathews for years throwing spit balls as the key player of deception and covered up reporting, like America was not in a recession for years, until about a few day ago we were screwed up a year ago, reporting it like he didn’t know. I have to laugh at that one.

Mainstream Media for the most part always dodge balling the recession that was staring at America, and then until just days ago, we were told America is in an official recession “�a year ago��. That takes a lot of courage to report that and just blow by it.

The whole legacy is simple for Bush. The theme is “�Siphoning quasi-gaga secret tax dollars through Bush’s executive privileged statements like you with me or against me. Or more profiteering through Bush’s Bin Laden buddies��. Uncle Bandar Bush, the famous brother or cousins of the Bin laden family, yes the famous family, of the master mind of 911 Osama Bin Laden, sill free and planning, flown out of the country directly after 911. Yes America Bush’s Bin Laden Buddies were immediately flown out of the country because of paranoia, or guilt? I wish Holder could find that out!!! Oooooo would that be cool.

There was no mention of giving back some of their pay level. Which is for pay and benefits about half again what Toyota and Honda's are (UAW ~73/hr versus $48)(see http://bigthreeauto.procon.org/viewtopic.asp for this and below).

UAW workers don't make $73 an hour. That's the number someone came up with by taking all of the current workers PLUS all of the ones getting retirement benefits, adding that dollar amount together, and then dividing by only the current workers.

Interesting how you're calling for the $40/hour guys to "give back" some of their pay, but not a peep about having the $100/hour middle management give back their pay. Are the middle management guys earning their keep in some way that the guys actually building the cars are not?

"The mountaintop mining regs are terrible. Can Obama just rescind them as soon as he gets into power? If these things are promulgated now, can't they be undone immediately? (I'm honestly asking for info here.) "

Short answer: No.

But as I hear it, Congress can stop it... but they won't. Too many of Appalachia's Reps and Senators (Dems and Gops) are in favor of it.

your links to "the healthiest states" and the "cows v cars" can be tied together..
the number one reason the southern states are the unhealthiest is diet. not cows per say, but meat, pork and chicken [smoking, drinking and poverty are also in the mix.]

all totally preventable to boot....