God I love Matt Taibbi. We all knew Mike Bloomberg was a massive tool of Wall Street, and could care less about anyone south of the 1%...but his most recent foray into public philosophizing really takes the cake. As in Marie Antoinette's cake. This goes with a post I did earlier to DU a which uses Bloomberg's amazingly condescending and ill-informed quote as grist for the mill -- here it is: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently said the "Occupy" movement should blame Congress, not...

You know why the bank took your house? Because by eliminating Glass-Steagall, our government enabled a massive speculative bubble which burst and sent the world into financial chaos. Which is why you lost your job. Which led to you losing your house that was massively overvalued. Instead of the government putting an end to bank speculation, they gave the banks $6 trillion of our tax money -- paying 100 cents on the dollar for FAKE VALUE created in the speculative bubble. This made the banks w...

(Link) (Image) House Democrats Upset With Supercommittee Negotiations (snip) Representative Maxine Waters of California has introduced a bill to repeal the supercommittee, and the $1.2 trillion in cuts it’s mandated to make. She believes the committee is “illegitimate” and “borders on unconstitutional.” At a breakfast meeting with progressive reporters and bloggers today, Waters said she knows her bill probably doesn’t have the support to pass right now, but she wants it on the table if th...

 
if you haven't seen ABC's Jake Tapper's questioning of Jay Carney from Friday...it's a must-see. here's the transcript...but it doesn't do justice to seeing Tapper's questioning. this is what a real journo looks like. (Link) Jake. Q You said that Awlaki was demonstrably and provably involved in operations. Do you plan on demonstrating -- MR. CARNEY: I should step back. He is clearly -- I mean "provably" may be a legal term. I think it has been well established, and it has certainly been t...

Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are. -- St. Augustine (Image) _________________________ That's the problem with hope, it doesn't come alone. Hope brings it's family along. When hope is raised, so are expectations. We expected change. (Image) Instead they came for our homes, our jobs and our money. We expected that a new regime would fight for us. Instead, we're finding power in our voice. (Image) We expecte...

Something to think about from ThinkProgress...citing a study by Northeastern University, we find that the economic "recovery" (such as it is) has only benefited corporations. Which, is another way of saying that big corporations found yet another way to profit from our misery. S&P Corporations are sitting on nearly $800 BILLION in cash...but if you take non-S&P corps into account, we're looking at $4 TRILLION in cash that's being HOARDED by corporations. In case you're wondering, this is exact...

Matt Stoller asks if we're not heading into a Carter-Reagan scenario in 2012. He points out that the Obama brand is tanking not b/c he's adhered too close to party orthodoxy, but instead b/c his policies too closely resemble those of the prior administration: continuing unpopular wars, bailing out banks, letting homeowners lose everything, while allowing the jobs crisis to fester unabated. This has caused an "institutional crisis" for the Democratic Party, where we face another "shellacking" i...

Charles M. Blow is a graphic designer by training, and like many designers I know, he also designs beautiful sentences around elegant ideas. As the New York Time's "visual Op-Ed" columnist, recalls Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori's idea of the "uncanny valley" which asserts that people can feel comfortable with robots as long as they're not too human. Mori learned that when robots become too real we experience an "unsettling sense of revulsion." The "valley" in question is a dip in a proposed ...

Those among us still rooting for an Obama win in 2012 should be very concerned about this. Written into the debt deal the mechanism to defund and dismantle Obama's signature policy victory, the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as healthcare reform (or the offensive, "Obamacare"). Between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2011, well before the program is slated to be implemented, the Supercongress must *successfully* agree to $1.5 TRILLION in cuts or else the ACA gets cut right along with everything...

...because why? it's all a phony crisis and this bogus deal Obama is pushing down our throats is going to put us into a generations-long Depression. Are we unable to see the DIRECT relation of these events? Our elected representatives are helping the banks fleece us clean. This is OBAMA'S deal. This is HIS plan. Maybe sorta kinda someone might suggest revenue increases down the road...and he's calling a WIN, as if he got he what he wanted. Holy shite. (Link) Obama Presses Dem Leaders to Acc...

Very interesting analysis from TruthDig and DailyKos that shows how the all-important "swing voter" is not actually a moderate-centrist who yearns for deficit reduction and "pragmatic" non-ideological candidates. Rather, the swing voter is a disaffected partisan who just hasn't seen anything worth voting for in a while. This is bad news for Obama's reelection, as he's been running to the right just as fast as he can since the party's "shellacking" in 2010. Only, if you remember, the Dems who rec...

Obama's appeasement: cut progressive programs now so you can propose progressive programs later Everyone but the president knows that Republicans are NEVER going to bargain in good faith Sacrificing democratic principles in order to take GOP issues "off the table" just never gets old for some people. I hoped that after the endless impotent triangulations of the Clinton Administration that our party would never let this empty maneuver be played on us again. But my hope was wrong, as it's exac...

Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat -- the burden of proof rests on who asserts, not on who denies We no longer lynch people in this country. No matter how much a person is hated or feared, they are innocent until proven guilty and the burden of proof rests on who asserts guilt, not on who denies. Today was a victory for these basic principles of American Justice & Democracy as the State of Florida was not allowed to put Casey Anthony to death based on innuendo and speculation. Sh...

In a post I wrote earlier this week about Jane Mayer's New Yorker article on the Obama administration's war on whistleblowers, I pulled out this passage as a cutline to the Total Information Awareness graphic that illustrated the post: "We are witnessing the bipartisan normalization and legitimization of a national-surveillance state." (Image) Great minds think alike b/c Glenn Greenwald also took this sentence to illustrate a recent post on THREE new expansions of The Surveillance State (now ...

Most everyone has heard about about the NSA whistleblower, Thomas Drake, who is being prosecuted as an "enemy of the state" via The Espionage Act for the "crime" of publicizing a $1.2 Billion-dollar disaster that has resulted in the permanent loss of privacy of every American who uses any electronic communication device. What's troubling is that no one seems to care. Only 10 years ago, government agents had to obtain a warrant before mucking around in our personal data; bills, phone calls, em...

It's exactly the "sensible-ness" of this administration that is fucking this country beyond repair. When the other side consists of nothing but raving lunatics, bringing your most magically sensible game is suicide. RIGHT NOW folks, European countries that instituted AUSTERITY are expecting contracting economies. CONTRACTING economies. Not slower growth. Contraction. We needed a solid Keynesian strategy out of this economic quagmire back during the anemic "stimulus" debates. Instead we got thi...

Or, if they had similarly promised a showdown for the public option. Or for tighter controls on deep water drilling. Imagine the effect that would have had on us, the base. Think about how that would have made you feel, to know that your Congress had your back and was willing to expend large amounts of political capital on the issues that matter to you most. I know how I would have felt -- invincible. This budget showdown will most likely dissolve in a few days, if not a few hours. But, the T...

Hey everyone -- we have less than 60 days to impact this legislative session in Tallahassee, while also getting our message out about Federal budgets and workers' rights issues. MoveOn.org is sponsoring a nationwide "Defend The Dream" action. Can you come out and play? Use the links to RSVP an event in your area! If your area isn't listed (Jacksonville, I'm talking to you), you can also sign up to host one! PS -- Please kick and rec for visibility! (Image) (Image) Republicans in Congress are...

In case you missed it, this reveals a lot about why we don't see the president donning his "comfortable shoes" and "walking the picket line" with American workers fighting the corporate coups in Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida. Turns out, the DNC was out in front of the struggles with staff in place to mobilize a national network for protest, BUT THEY WERE RECALLED at the behest of Obama's new "no drama" staffers. Seems that the fight of our lives is "too much drama" for this administration -- ...

"Understand this, if American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I'll put on a pair of comfortable shoes myself and I'll walk on that picket line with you as the President of the United States of America because workers deserve to know when someone is standing in their corner." Mr. President, you were absolutely correct when you said that workers deserve to know when someone is in their corner. So, are you...in our corner? T...

This was an amazing rally. Very well attended -- I got there a little late, but the count was around. No teabaggers. Very positive crowd! Teachers, FOP, SEIU, Teamsters, UCF students, nurses, retirees, and a smattering of us downtown office rats. I saw three news trucks and many more random reporters. It was a really big success, and the organizers really deserve some love...so pease visit the Awake the State facebook page and say thanks if you feel so inclined - :) (Link) on edit...if there's ...

Scaife, Coors, and Koch...the corporate-conservative conspiracy behind the demonization of public servants "Conspiracy" is a strong word, and one that's not looked upon kindly in many circles, but there's no other adequate or honest description of what's behind the recent attacks on public sector workers, including teachers, firefighters, police, state administrators of every kind. Unpacking one small corner of the public worker pension hysteria, by Dave Johnson, in an article reprinted at Tr...

The firing...or, "mutual separation," of Keith Olbermann from MSNBComcast has shocked everyone. But many us watching from the nosebleed section of the political blogosphere have been wondering how he's survived so long on the rigged playing field that is mainstream media. To us it's not shocking that he's been shown the door. Rather, it's amazing that he was able to keep his ball in play as long as his did, because, while there's been a few additions to Team Liberal on mainstream news, no one ...

It is no accident that the American Southwest has grown increasingly violent. From armed militias on the border, to senatorial candidates touting "Second Amendment remedies," the American Southwest has been a laboratory used by mainstream Republicans to exploit the narrative of extremist groups, using the banner of "immigration reform" to put lipstick on their mendacious piggies seeking office. Now, with the assassination of a Federal Judge and the near assassination of beloved congresswoman, ...

and reported today that the White House press office has been furiously selling the Obama tax cut capitulation package, with near constant tweets and missives about how it's going to "stimulate the economy" and that various mayors and governors are "endorsing" the deal. This got me to thinking, in his disastrous presser yesterday, Obama rationalized that the Tax Cut Capitulation Package would be easy for Democrats to run against in 2012 because it's a GOP plan that the public hates, and it's...

Electioneering is the art of emotioneering. Elections aren't won or lost on rational arguments or solid logic that lays out pristine policy initiatives. Elections are won and lost in proportion to emotional content. Voters reward the candidates who best reflect their emotional sensibilities...their moral center. A swing voter is nothing more than a person who doesn't want to understand policy debates (who does, really). Swing voters aren't "centrists," as is there's some magical gooey center ...

(Link) Reflexive Hippie Bashing For A Thousand by digby The MSM are going to make a big deal out of Jack Conway's Aqua Buddha ad and Alan Grayson being generally rude and aggressive as reason for their losing their races, but they will be reflexively hippie punching and wrong on the facts. (In fact, they are already doing it.) Regarding Grayson,well we have a little controlled experiment. His neighboring first term Democratic congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, in a very similar district, took th...

What is to be gained by "going negative" on your own people? It's not like the Dems don't have *anything* to run on, so why are they acting like their only rhetorical move is to harangue the "dissatisfied voter"? It's counter-productive, and really just painful to watch. There are stark contrasts to be drawn between Dems and the GOP in this election cycle, but instead of talking about those distinctions, our leaders are spending precious time drawing stark distinctions between themselves and t...

Democrats, unlike Republicans, have the burden and the honor of representing The People of the country. As such, we're a multi-faceted group with a spectrum of interests reflecting the amazing quilt of Americans who work hard, try to provide for their families and hope for a better future for our children. We're women and men. Gay and straight. Young and old. Hispanic, Anglo, African-American, Asian-American. From European roots. Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish. We're p...

Here's a look back at the effects of September 11 on our national psyche. I originally wrote this piece in 2007, and have updated it for 2010. Enjoy -- brook ________________________________________________________________________ "Your people will support what they help to create." -- Laminated sign in airport security office I wrote this in my journal on September 10, 2001 -- at 8:30 am according to my scrawl. I was obtaining my security credentials for my new job in Nashville Interna...