Christy Hardin Smith posted this to Crooks and Liars.  From 1968 – a sweet Sunday surprise. 

Posted by Al Swearengen as Music, Video at 2:06 PM GMT+4

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From Think Progress

You can sell [this approach]. It’s more logical. You can say to people, the American people, we’re only hitting those people that we think are trying to hit our boys and the coalition forces. And so that seems to be more sensible. Because the White House thinks they can actually pitch this, this would actually work. In other words, you can do a bombing and not have the world scream at us and also get the British on board.

During a secure videoconference that took place early this summer, the President told Ryan Crocker, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, that he was thinking of hitting Iranian targets across the border and that the British “were on board.” At that point, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice interjected that there was a need to proceed carefully, because of the ongoing diplomatic track. Bush ended by instructing Crocker to tell Iran to stop interfering in Iraq or it would face American retribution. (Al: Condoleezza Rice isn’t affecting anything here, just as she failed to affect anything significant during the Iraq war. If Bush is suddenly convinced that it is time to do something, if history is any indication of what will happen, she will turn into a bobblehead, and leak dissent here and there to the papers. It won’t be voiced emphatically during the run-up, and whatever mistakes are made, she will take on the task of defending the President and laying blame on people who don’t deserve it…ala George Tenet and the 16 words on uranium that appeared in Bush’s state of the union speech in 2003.)

The White House has even prepared a “Clinton did it too” defense for attacking Iran, according to Hersh. “If Democrats objected, the Administration could say, “Bill Clinton did the same thing; he conducted limited strikes in Afghanistan, the Sudan, and in Baghdad to protect American lives.”

Posted by Al Swearengen as Military, Video at 1:44 PM GMT+4

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This is interesting – a news clip from Texas, where the state legislature has a rule on the books saying representatives can’t cast votes for one another, yet the video footage shows many of them casting several votes. Where the hell are all these politicians who should be at their desks?

Posted by Al Swearengen as Video, politics at 12:32 AM GMT+4

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This is its genesis right here – text of an amendment to the defense authorization bill (note that paragraphs 3 and 4 were removed from the final version, and 5 remained):

(1) that the manner in which the United States transitions and structures its military presence in Iraq will have critical long-term consequences for the future of the Persian Gulf and the Middle East, in particular with regard to the capability of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to pose a threat to the security of the region, the prospects for democracy for the people of the region, and the health of the global economy;

(2) that it is a vital national interest of the United States to prevent the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran from turning Shi’a militia extremists in Iraq into a Hezbollah-like force that could serve its interests inside Iraq, including by overwhelming, subverting, or co-opting institutions of the legitimate Government of Iraq;

(3) that it should be the policy of the United States to combat, contain, and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies;

(4) to support the prudent and calibrated use of all instruments of United States national power in Iraq, including diplomatic, economic, intelligence, and military instruments, in support of the policy described in paragraph (3) with respect to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies;

(5) that the United States should designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and place the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, as established under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and initiated under Executive Order 13224; and

(6) that the Department of the Treasury should act with all possible expediency to complete the listing of those entities targeted under United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1737 and 1747 adopted unanimously on December 23, 2006 and March 24, 2007, respectively.

Paragraph number 5 cracked the door open, and far too many Senators remain naive as to what this President can and will do with an inch. If Iran’s national military is a terrorist organization, then they’ll reason an attack is authorized based on the President’s war powers in fighting the global war on terror. If Iran’s military is a terrorist organization according to the US Congress, then there’s nothing left to discuss. There doesn’t need to be WMDs. The nuke reasons aren’t necessary once this thing passes.

Cute little buggers that they are, the Democrats attached the Hate Crimes bill to this defense authorization, and so, the blood of foreigners will be traded in exchange for legislation that has no business being a part of it, ala the minimum wage increase tacked onto the last war spending bill this past spring. I could go on forever on this, but one example of why I’ve been depressed this week is Dick Durbin, who speaks harshly about the amendment and then 12 hours later votes in favor of it. Is he on drugs? Are any of these fucks paying attention? I suppose I have less to complain about than others, as Kerry and Kennedy both voted against the amendment, though it does seem silly for a Lieberman/Kyl amendment on Iran to get an up or down vote on the floor, yet Webb’s amendment couldn’t break the filibuster. How does that make sense? Republicans get their votes on this and the bullshit MoveOn amendment, but an amendment to give troops equal time home as time deployed can’t make it to the floor? Will it ever be time to say enough’s enough and shut the place down?

Harry Reid is a chump, Dianne Feinstein is a disgrace and Hillary Clinton just lost my vote forever. Carl Levin…he can be talked into anything. “My good friend, you say you want to work on a bipartisan amendment to outlaw breathing…hmm, Bi-Partisan ey?” Click here to see the roll call, 76-22.

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, History, Military, politics at 1:13 AM GMT+4

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This war is becoming more difficult to support in a romantic sense as the bloody months continue to pile up.  What interests me most about true believers today, is that besides the token blather points – “Anbar now has casual Friday and a soft serve ice cream machine on every corner” or “I talked to someone who is over there, and they say that the war is going well” – there is still only that romantic outlook of how democracy can still be a good thing, even if half of the population has to die before it can enjoy its freedom to vote for government officials.  To hear them say it, you’d think that every democracy in the world was doing well, operating openly and adhering to the will of its people.  When the truth is, as long as the water is running, the electricity is up and there’s a job to pay the bills, most people don’t give shit about all the rest.  It’s not that important when the alternative is possibly being doused with kerosene and set on fire, or having to move the family to a shantytown in Syria without a cent to your name…militia squatters have destroyed your collection of artwork, stolen your stash of pornography and used your bathtub as a toilet…you know it’s true, but all that can be replaced, repaired, remembered, as these American fellows seem quite optomistic about things, so I tell the wife and children that they will only have to turn tricks for a few more months and then we’ll be able to go back home. 

No…these people are a very inconvenient reality for the true believer, and they are not featured as part of the romantic bullshit story of freedom, liberty and democracy.  Neither are the veterans, nor the fact that IEDs kill more of our people than any other method of attack, nor the fact that Iraq is in the midst of a civil war.  Take out all of these elements and you’re close to the story they’ll tell you, but not there yet.  Since the political party that handled this from the start is still in power, and happens to be the party that the true believer votes for, they are likely to sprinkle in a whole lot of blame for why the war has failed.  It’s easy to point fingers at various nations full of brown people and accuse them of interfering with our occupation, so Iran, Syria and every other Arab nation besides Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan will be talked about, blamed for our own mistakes. 

This is a tough thing to have to do, basically turn the brain off and revert back to the animal instincts.  If necessary, eat your own.  Veterans have it tough already, but now the true believers want us to know that they’re sick and tired of hearing about things they’d rather ignore.  They’re offended that people who served in the military would have the audacity to lay claim to their woobie, their security blanket, this myth that somehow the right-wingers are the only patriotic Americans, and so the veterans speak, their families speak, the true believers want to smear them like they do every other political opponent, only it’s tabboo…or it used to be before these people lost their minds.  Two pieces of evidence here, and the second is a video of someone I’m friends with online.  The first is something written by a veteran in response to something Rush Limbaugh said:

1.   So I’m a “Phony Soldier,” Rush? w/update

2. Wife of a veteran told she should ‘cease to exist’ by a right-wing professor at a Vets for Freedom event

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Military at 12:42 AM GMT+4

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At least republicans are consistant in their financial management style, where they borrow and spend and then hope that the Saudis will bail them out, the part about the Saudis bailing them out comes from when George Bush was a CEO.

A crucial GOP fundraising committee is nearly broke, according to its latest monthly filing with the Federal Election Committee last week.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) reported $1.6 million in cash on hand and $4 million in debts as of Aug. 31. The group helps bankroll House campaigns for GOP candidates.

Its counterpart, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, reported $22.1 million, more than 10 times its Republican counterpart.

on a more serious note this lack of fund raising may also show that the traditional GOP supporter, corporate America, does not have faith that the republicans will be able to deliver key legislation any more. One example might be the failure of the various amnesty bills, corporate America wanted a new source of low paid legal workers and Bush and his pals were unable to deliver it for them, without losing a large part of the GOP base.

The other side of this is that a lot of the money seems to be flowing the way of the Democrats, the challenge for the Democrats is to keep all the corporate money from making them into a pantsuit wearing version of the GOP, where corprate interests are placed ahead of indaviduals at all times.

The entire article can be viewed here

Posted by John Rove as Words at 9:52 AM GMT+4

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Anyone who has followed this race down the stretch, you know what I’m talking about.  They’re up 2-0 on the Dodgers late in tonight’s game, and if they win, they’d still be a game out of the wild card spot with both Philly and San Diego ahead of them, though it would be 10 wins in a row!  The Mets are fading in this last week, and could lose the division to Philly, as their one game lead isn’t looking solid at this point.  If I had to pick one of those four teams in a seven game series, I’d go with San Diego, but at this point, my heart’s with Colorado. 

As for the team coming out of the national league, I’m having a hard time figuring out how teams are going to hit against the Diamondback pitchers.  If Webb is hitting on all cylinders, he can pitch forever, and their bullpen is better than anyone else’s, especially in the late innings with Lyon, Cruz and Valverde.  I won’t get into predictions from the American League just yet.  Manny and Youk are back now, Gagne managed not to blow a 6 run lead tonight (actually struck out two in a row to end an inning with runners at the corners), Okajima is still a question mark, Dice-K seems worn out, Lugo & Drew are hitting right now…in the American League, with the four teams that are in, I’d take Josh Beckett in a game seven start over anyone.  I’m not sure Boston’s bullpen is even better than the Yankees’ now.  Joba Chamberlain is for real, and in spite of our success vs. Rivera in recent years, it’s still a bad feeling knowing your team has to score a run off of him to tie up a game.  He’s one of the only guys I’d ever pinch hit a righty in place of a lefty. 

The magic number is 2, and it looks like the Sox are going up against the Angels.  Like I said, the NL is wide open, and I’m pulling for Colorado to make it in. 

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, sports at 12:37 AM GMT+4

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I agree with the guy. Even when it happens in professional sports, it sucks. I’ve been tempted some nights to get on the blog and tear Eric Gagne to pieces, but then I calm down and get over it. When atheletes make problems with their mouth or lack of discipline, I feel like it’s open season, but to screw up in a game is human. Not only that, but we fans are really full of shit if we think that somehow it hurts us more than it does the guy who screwed up and lost the game. At the college level I especially respect a guy who will stand up for his players like this guy just did. The vast majority of college atheletes don’t make a living off of sports once they’ve graduated, and they don’t make a penny while they’re going to school. That scholarship is something they earn tenfold when you consider the amount of revenue a successful program brings in to the school.

Coming from the Boston area, I’m used to a combative sporting press, especially on the radio, but even back there, they won’t get on a Boston College player’s case like often happens in the midwest at that level (and sometimes high school as well). I think some of these fans are nuts, but the fact that they’re nuts means there’s a market for the type of writing this coach is upset about. Not much going on in Oklahoma…can’t forget that. The articles on OU and OSU that come out after a game, are like Page 6 in the NY Post for them. Or, to equate it with something I look forward to reading, Barron’s weekly, on a Saturday night…damn, the sheer notion of that being an exciting way to spend a Saturday night, if the 23 year old me had known about this, I’d definitely be short a few thousand more brain cells. Check out this video:

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Video, sports at 10:11 PM GMT+4

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(Harpers) From a February 26 sentencing memorandum by Judge Gregory R. Todd, in the case of Montana v. Andrew McCormack. In 2006, McCormack was arrested for stealing beer. After entering a guilty plea, he received a sentence of probation, community service, and a fine.

Mr.McCormack, to the question of “Give your recommendation as to what you think the Court should do in this case,” you said, “Like the Beatles say, ‘Let it be.’” If I were to overlook your actions and let it be, I would have to ignore that day in the life on April 21, 2006. Evidently, you said to yourself, “I feel fine,” while drinking beer. Later, whether you wanted money or were just trying to act naturally, you became the fool on the hill. As Mr. Moonlight at 1:30 A.M., you did not think for yourself, but just focused on I, me, mine. Because you didn’t ask for help, wait for something else, or listen to your conscience saying, “Honey, don’t,” the victim later that day was fixing a hole in the glass door you broke. After you stole the eighteen-pack of Old Milwaukee, you decided it was time to run for your life and carry that weight. But when the witness said, “Baby, it’s you,” the police responded, “I’ll get you,” and you had to admit, “You really got a hold on me.” You were not able to get back home because of the chains they put on you. Although you hoped the police would say, “I don’t want to spoil the party” and “We can work it out,” you were in misery when they said you were a bad boy. When the police took you to jail, they said, “Hello, goodbye,” and you became a nowhere man. Later, when you thought about what you did, you may have said, “I’ll cry instead.” Now you’re saying, “Let it be,” instead of, “I’m a loser.” As a result of your hard day’s night, you are looking at a ticket to ride that long and winding road. Hopefully, you can say when I’m sixty-four, “I should have known better.”

Posted by Al Swearengen as Comedy, Justice at 1:45 PM GMT+4

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Salon has a lengthy article about how a persons brain may still be functioning while they are in a persistant vegatative state, in some ways this seems to make the idea of keeping these people alive for years even less humane.  Although maybe guys like Senator Vittor might really like the idea of someone changing his diaper everyday some of us might prefer death with at least some dignity.

Let’s briefly look at the study. In mid-2005, a 23-year-old woman sustained massive head injuries in an auto accident. Following multiple brain surgeries and five months of rehabilitation attempts, she remained unresponsive. According to her treating physicians, she could open her eyes but could not respond to any commands; she could not voluntarily look in the direction of a voice; there was no evidence of orientation or emotional response. They determined that she was in a permanent vegetative state — a neurological categorization of patients who emerge from coma, appear to be awake, but show no signs of awareness of self or environment.

Before the recent advances in functional brain imaging, most neurologists, based upon their bedside observations and brain wave studies, would have agreed that the woman, though “awake,” was extremely unlikely to have a significant private mental life — either in terms of personal awareness or willful mental activity. (This failure to differentiate between awake and aware was a major feature of the Schiavo affair.) But new tools bring new opportunities; her doctors wondered if the fMRI could provide additional understanding of the clinically unresponsive brain. What if the fMRI could demonstrate residual consciousness and self-awareness, perhaps even the ability to respond to commands?

For me personally it would be worse to be aware of my situation and know that I was powerless to move or communicate, and I would probably want to be taken off life support.  It also helps make a case for active euthanasia as starving to death is probably pretty unpleasant.  It also shows the importance of a living will as some people are probably fine with the idea of sitting in a bed unable to move or communicate, and these people should probably make that known in a living will;  If I am ever in a vegatative state I hope Al will send this post to the hospital so they will know that I would like to be disconnected .  You might have to sit through an advertisement but you can read the entire article here.

Posted by John Rove as Words at 10:33 AM GMT+4

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Maybe O’Rielly is not that stupid, he knows his audience and knows how to tell them what they want to hear.

On the May 29 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, host Bill O’Reilly asserted that the “segment of the population” who, like The New York Times, wants to see some restrictions on migration in the Senate immigration bill eased or modified “hate America, and they hate it because it’s run primarily by white, Christian men. Let me repeat that. America is run primarily by white, Christian men, and there is a segment of our population who hates that, despises that power structure.” In an editorial, the Times criticized restrictions in the bill “that narrow[] the channels through which family members can immigrate,” while also saying, “It is encouraging that the bill survived several attempts by that camp ['the restrictionist right'] to blow it apart.”* O’Reilly continued: “So they, under the guise of being compassionate, want to flood the country with foreign nationals, unlimited, unlimited, to change the complexion — pardon the pun — of America. Now, that’s hatred, too.” O’Reilly later asserted that the Times “want[s] to change the white, Christian male power structure” and concluded: “So you’ve got racism on the anti-Latino front, and you have racism on the anti-Christian, white male front. Aha! Isn’t that interesting?”

There you you have it, if you don’t want white christian males in charge you must hate America, media matters has the whole discussion here.

Posted by John Rove as Words at 1:03 PM GMT+4

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Talkleft takes and in depth look at the Jena 6 case and offers a lawyers opinion in only the way a lawyer can:

Like other bloggers, I got a few emails about the case before the march. It wasn’t until the day of the march that I did my own research. I spent more than three hours reading news articles online and on Lexis and reading blogs. I also watched the CNN one hour special. Even afterwards, I was too unsure of key details to do anything but write a post linking to news sources.

The MSM coverage was not particularly helpful. This is not about a singular event but a course of events, including criminal acts, that culminated in yet another criminal act. But too many news articles glossed over critical components.

There’s also a lack of double-sourcing or other reliable means available for resolving the disputed facts with respect to several essential components of the story.

While I still can’t make judgments as to much of the story, I have no problem declaring the case one of prosecutorial over-charging and abuse of a system that allows prosecutors discretion in charging juveniles as adults. I think the only reason the kids were charged with such serious felonies was to get Mychal Bell, then a juvenile, into adult court.

Sounds like prosecuters abuse their discretion both with black and white defendants, the entire discussion is worth reading

Posted by John Rove as Words at 12:44 PM GMT+4

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Former White House press secretary Tony Snow on an October 2003 edition of Fox News Sunday: “Here’s the unmentionable secret: Racism isn’t that big a deal any more. No sensible person supports it. Nobody of importance preaches it. It’s rapidly becoming an ugly memory.”

Unfortunately, Tony Snow’s judgement regarding who is and who isn’t a “sensible person” isn’t all that good. This was prior to him becoming a paid liar, but for the right-wing it’s a mantra that some know to be complete bullshit. Nothing gets them more defensive than to have race enter a discussion, and since they’ve been in charge of the country for so long, it has worked for them. This situation in Jena isn’t something that side wants to hear about right now, and to make matters worse, here come the neo-nazis. You know, the ugly guys from high school (those that actually went) who just threw in the towel one day, shaved their head, decided to hang out with other guys with shaved heads who couldn’t get laid either, so that maybe their combined loser potential could somehow bring happiness into their lives, which it didn’t, mostly because at some point they realize they’re attracted to men with shaved heads and wallet chains – BUT – beating on niggers, spics and queers managed to help them stop thinking about skinhead group sex all the time, so they do it as often as they can. The upside to this life, is that when they get caught and locked up, they can finally find happiness, as having sex with one another in prison doesn’t compute as being gay to them. Unfortunately, once they’re parolled and back running with their people, the urges build up once more, and the only way to feel better is to find someone to beat up. Back to prison, which they’re secretly happy about, but if anyone else knew about it, they’d have to get kicked out of the gang…

Anyways, ‘Lynch the Jena 6′ is the title of a web posting, made by a group of repressed homosexual neo-nazis, and it lists the phone numbers and addresses of each of the six kids’ families. Pat’s House Blend – a new blog I’ve found recently – posted on this, and is where I read these exerpts from their message:

Repressed homosexual neo-nazi leader William A. White also listed some of the defendants’ telephone numbers, urging his readers to “Get in touch, and let them know justice is coming.” On his Web site, White complained of “agitators” who were demanding acquittals.

A posting Thursday afternoon that contained contact information for the six youths was headlined: “Addresses of Jena 6 Niggers; In case anyone wants to deliver justice…If these niggers are released or acquitted, we will find out where they live and make sure that white activists and white citizens in Louisiana know it…in order to find someone willing to deliver justice.”

I know, I know…these are just a handfull of crazies. The point is, they’re out there. Repressing their desire for rough man love, at home thinking about it most nights as they listen to Michael Savage.

UPDATE 9/24/07

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Justice at 1:25 AM GMT+4

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Another week of football, the Patriots still look unstoppable, in the NFC, or the JV, Dallas looks to be the early favorite. 

See Napoleons picks here 

Posted by John Rove as Words at 12:48 AM GMT+4

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This Boggles the mind:

Summary: Discussing his recent dinner with Rev. Al Sharpton at the Harlem restaurant Sylvia’s, Bill O’Reilly reported that he “couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship.” O’Reilly added: “There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘M-Fer, I want more iced tea.’ “

See the whole artcle here

Posted by John Rove as Words at 10:59 AM GMT+4

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White kids from the high school hang nooses up on trees on school property, and one of them gets his ass kicked for it.  Something to learn from, nothing too serious, as he was up and about that night, attending a function.  Rural Louisiana has a number of things locked up for whites, and the judgement of a DA in this case, was that the six black kids needed to be charged with attempted murder.  Now there are thousands of protesters inside of that town, and for the black community this is the place to take a stand.  I agree. 

UK Guardian – Bell, 16 at the time of the attack, is the only one of the “Jena Six” to be tried so far. He was convicted on an aggravated second-degree battery count that could have sent him to prison for 15 years, but the conviction was overturned last week when a state appeals court said he should not have been tried as an adult. Thursday’s protest had been planned to coincide with Bell’s sentencing, but organizers decided to press ahead even after the conviction was thrown out. Bell remains in jail while prosecutors prepare an appeal. He has been unable to meet the $90,000 bond.

I haven’t been able to confirm it for myself just yet, but apparantly the DA went to the school and spoke to all of the black kids in the cafeteria or auditorium, telling them that if they continued protesting the arrest of their classmates, if they didn’t accept the fact that they were no good niggers for thinking they had the right to criticize white folk, that he’d come down on them hard. The slate of injustice is stocked full at the moment, but this example right here speaks to what America really is.

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Justice at 3:49 PM GMT+4

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Looks like the Dollar is getting even lower when compared to the Euro.  I seem remember that at one point traveling abroad was cheaper because of the strength of the Dollar, not to mention the fact that a Ducati motorcycle used to be a bargain.  Now not so much.

The euro on Thursday hit a new record of 1.4006 dollars as US interest rate cuts took a new toll on the American currency.

Markets are also nervously awaiting statements on the American economy by US officials later in the day.

The euro has hit new highs regularly since the rate cut on Tuesday. It rose to 1.3988 dollars during Wednesday’s trading in Europe before falling back to 1.3949 dollars

see the story here.

Update: Al advised on 9/17/07 – Buy Gold – Junk Bonds

Posted by John Rove as Words at 12:44 PM GMT+4

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Looks like George Bush is starting to think about health care, maybe he is hoping it will make people forget about Iraq, or maybe it is his “only nixon can go to China moment” chances are he will screw it up and some how the only benificiary of the program will be Haliburton; but here is what he had to say:

President Bush would like to see some form of universal health coverage for all Americans before leaving office next year, a Cabinet official said Monday.

In an interview with the USA Today Editorial Board, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said Mr. Bush likely will veto a measure working its way through Congress that will add $35 billion over five years to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

But, Mr. Leavitt said, the president would “like to see the larger debate begin” regarding health care – an emerging issue in the next election.

“The very best opportunity we have may well be in the next 15 months,” he said.

See the entire article here 

Posted by John Rove as Words at 10:44 AM GMT+4

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Jim Webb is one hell of a leader, and this time around, Repubicans are going to have a tough time claiming to care about the troops if they filibuster. This bill would give the troops equal recovery time to how long they’re at war. Otherwise, a soldier could finish up a 15 month tour in Iraq, change units and end up back there in 6 months. That’s what’s happening now. The stop loss policy was largely ignored for too many years, but come Wednesday (big day on CSPAN!) that could finally change. Secretary of Defense Gates was pre-empting this amendment on the talk shows this past Sunday, arguing against it. “The Price of Loyalty”…indeed.

Supposedly this guy was going to be an honest broker, but here he’s blocking for the sake of Lil’ Bush not having to end the war before he’s out of office. Here’s Webb’s one minute clip explaining the amendment.

Update: Here’s the news from today, no surprise – GOP opposes bill regulating combat tours

Posted by Al Swearengen as Justice, Military, Video at 1:09 AM GMT+4

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Ezera Klien has a full discussion of Hilary Clinton’s health care proposal, this I think summarizes it well: 

Let me try and give a quick sketch of the Clinton proposal before I have to run for a meeting. Here’s the thumbnail: Clinton’s plan is of the “individual mandate” variety, in which universal coverage is achieved by mandating that every American purchase health care. In order to ensure that that’s both possible and affordable, the Clinton plan creates a few new coverage options, reform the insurance industry, limits coverage costs to a percentage of income, and washes your car.

Okay, it doesn’t wash your car. It does open the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program to everybody, ensuring that anyone can access the same menu of regulated private options that federal employees get. FEHBP is the program that already insures millions of current government employees, including the members of Congress, by offering a variety of regulated private options to choose from. Throwing the doors to that program wide open is the most basic and ubiquitous of coverage solutions.

This seems like a the mandatory insurance that I am required to carry on my car, but this may be a very workable plan and would make it much easier for people to get coverage, while at te same time making it possible for people who want a different plan to continue with whatever plan they like. This proposal seems like something that serious presidential candidate would think up to fix a problem. See the whole article here

Posted by John Rove as Words at 1:57 AM GMT+4

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I’ve been trying to rip Hagel’s speech and questions to Petraeus and Crocker at last week’s day 2 hearing from CSPAN’s website, but my computer is barely a step up from an abacus, so every time I try, only the first 25 seconds is produced. On this score, the blogsphere hasn’t been all its cracked up to be…the community shit the bed here, as Hagel’s speech is nowhere to be found, yet those of about 10 other senators were. I don’t know if it’s because he’s a Republican or what, but he stole the show as far as I could tell, and that fact became even more obvious upon a review of that hearing on CSPAN’s website that night. It really sucks that his words weren’t given the time they deserved in the corporate news or on radio, but it sucks even more that there wasn’t a youtube up of it. That’s pathetic. As a consolation, here’s his interview on Bill Maher’s show this weekend.

Posted by Al Swearengen as Military, Video, politics at 6:06 PM GMT+4

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Watching the pile-on this weekend, I finally understand how it must feel to be a Republican right now. The only comment I have on all of this is…who the hell signed Emmitt Smith up for Sunday Countdown? Did they notice that he’s barely able to speak at a 4th grade level? I assume there’s a producer scratching their head somewhere at ESPN, getting the “he knocked the interview out of the park, honestly”, mantra cued up. Next to Keyshawn Johnson, the Emmitt Smith contract looks worse than the one they gave Rush Limbaugh a couple years ago. But anyways – here’s the third adaptation of that crazy Britney video I’ve found ‘post-worthy’ in less than a week:

Posted by Al Swearengen as Comedy, Video, sports at 5:49 PM GMT+4

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FED set to cut rates on Tuesday – The dollar is already going in the wrong direction, and a .25 or .50 rate cut this week will lower its value even more. I sold one of my three US securities (BAM – Brookfield Asset Management) two weeks ago, and dumped it all into gold, and while one of my other US stock (ORCL – Oracle) is in the sweet spot [corporations are cash heavy and looking to squeeze out productivity, enterprise technology investment - particularly in the service oriented architecture realm - will continue to be that shortest distance between most two points], there are solid companies selling bonds right now at yields above 10%. One in my area, Yankee Candle, I noticed last week they were selling 10 year paper at right around that yield. In 2017 Yankee Candle may have been gobbled up by a bigger fish, but all I’d have to worry about would be it going bankrupt between now and then, which it won’t. You’ll more than double what you put in.

I’m not 100% cynical, but pretty close at this point. Foreign currency, high yield paper from the right company, gold and some other commodities…it’s time to step away from the table at this point. If you’ve got retirement money in mutual funds, be sure to check on their allocations, and if it’s a domestic stock fund, perhaps one that could be especially hurt by a slowdown in consumer spending (what wouldn’t?), it’s time to hit the books and make an INFORMED decision to either hold what you’ve got, or like I’ve said, move that money off onto the sidelines.

Posted by Al Swearengen as Al Swearengen, Economics at 12:45 AM GMT+4

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From ‘Check Your Head’, one that came out when I was a freshman in high school, and a couple of us had the record memorized in about two weeks. At the time I figured this video was the coolest shit ever, and watching it now, I have to agree with myself.

CLOSE SECOND – HEY LADIES

Posted by Al Swearengen as Music, Video at 3:00 AM GMT+4

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Josh Marshall gives a very succinct summary of the presidents speech on Iraq:

But with respect to the president’s cartoonish babble, like I said, whatever. I know this reads like an expression of cynicism or disengagement. But while the president’s chatter, with its brainlessness and brazenness, drives many to distraction, I think this is the only appropriate response. Anyone watching what’s happening can see that what the president is talking about bears no relation to what’s actually happening in Iraq — a fact well confirmed by the fact that polls show no change in the public’s take on what’s happening in response to the president’s speech. Primitive animals will sometimes keep chattering or twitching their muscles even after their heads have been cut off. And that’s probably the best analogy today to the president’s continuing enunciation of his policies.

Read the entire discussion here

Posted by John Rove as Words at 3:18 PM GMT+4

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To coincide with the post a bit further down from a couple days ago, the “LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!” video, we now have the first parody.

Posted by Al Swearengen as Comedy, Video at 2:42 PM GMT+4

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Slate has an article discussing the benefits of reducing the number of people born every year.  I am suprised that this this is so contraversial, it seems to make a lot of sense that if people had fewer children not only would the enviroment be better the people who are here would enjoy  better quality of life.   the whole article is worth a read but the argument for fewer children is made well in these paragraphs:

What’s the environmental cost of having a child? In the crudest terms, you’ve added another version of yourself into the world, which means you’re potentially doubling your carbon-dioxide emissions over the total life of your family. That’s a high estimate, since our kids won’t spew as much greenhouse gas as we do—automobiles, appliances, light bulbs, and everything else will become more efficient in coming generations. But these marginal improvements aren’t going to make our babies carbon-neutral. They’ll just contribute to global warming at somewhat lower rates than we do.

Our other green lifestyle choices can’t even begin to offset the cost of adding a brand-new CO₂-emitter to the population. When I ran my own numbers through Al Gore’s carbon calculator, I discovered that a switch to 100 percent wind and solar power would reduce my emissions by just 1.3 tons per year. That’s not even enough to account for one quarter of today’s average American. Meanwhile, I’d have to do quite a bit of driving around in a Hummer H3 to mimic the environmental impact of creating another version of me. Not to mention the fact that my children might eventually decide to have their own children, who would emit even more carbon dioxide down the line.

The article is here

Until now it has been taboo to discuss overpopulation, and it is a glaring problem that will hopefully start to get some attention.

Posted by John Rove as Words at 11:07 AM GMT+4

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h/t to Blue Gal over at Crooks and Liars

Posted by Al Swearengen as History, Military at 10:57 PM GMT+4

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I know that some of you have bookmarked the ‘Army of Dude‘ blog, and I wanted to pass along that he’s done with the 15 months in Iraq.  His father posted a comment saying he’s home safe and sound.  If you haven’t yet read any of his work, get over there and check it out.  Great writing and of course, a first hand account of what’s what in Iraq. 

Posted by Al Swearengen as Military at 2:08 PM GMT+4

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Brooklyn, 2004-06-18

Posted by Al Swearengen as Music, Video at 12:25 AM GMT+4

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