Lobbyists invited to the Republican retreat?

Oh yes, of course they are! From ABC:

The day after President Barack Obama urged members of Congress to be more transparent about their interactions with lobbyists, the House Republican Caucus headed up Interstate 95 for a retreat where they will be able to mingle privately with… lobbyists.

The annual retreat, sponsored by a non-profit group called the Congressional Institute, is meant to be a chance for members to escape the Beltway to talk about big ideas, hear from rising stars in the party, media pundits, and even visit with President Obama, who will address the caucus Friday.

In between these work sessions, though, there will be less formal gatherings involving several of the Institute's 14-member board of directors. The vast majority of the Institute's board is made up by top Capitol Hill lobbyists whose clients include leading drug manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and such major corporations as American Express and Verizon.

Institute Executive Director Mark Strand said the entire event has been scrubbed for potential ethics problems, and everything will be done above board. He explained it this way:

"The institute's supporters, who include lobbyists, do not plan, attend or participate in any session of the annual conference. They are invited to a reception and dinner and depart the next morning," he said.(emphasis mine)

"Such a courtesy for a tax-exempt organization's supporters is commonplace and within ethical rules," Strand added. "All members of Congress who participate in the conference pay their own expenses. The Institute does not employ a lobbyist nor does it engage in lobbying."

Oh...and there will be no "transparency" during the reception and dinner, meaning the press will not be allowed to attend. Chew on these facts regarding lobbying Congress:

Last year Washington lobbyists netted $3.2 billion, a 13.7 percent increase from 2007, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, aka OpenSecrets.org. 

And it's the industries most affected by the economic downturn that seem to be doing much of the spending: finance, insurance and real estate, the group found. 

Fucking carpetbaggers. Nothing turns my stomach more than lobbyists. Nothing. They are the hyena pack, ready to surround and consume whatever they see as a threat to their bottom line, regardless of the consequences to Main Street and the average Joe and Jill American. Below is a list from OpenSecrets of the top 20 corporations and what they spent to lobby Congress in 2009:

US Chamber of Commerce                                                    $73,899,200
Exxon Mobil                                                                           $27,430,000
Pharmaceutical Rsrch & Mfrs of America                                $26,150,520
General Electric                                                                       $21,470,000
AARP                                                                                     $21,010,000
American Medical Assn                                                           $20,830,000
Chevron Corp                                                                         $20,815,000
Blue Cross/Blue Shield                                                            $20,067,939
Pfizer Inc                                                                                $19,669,268
National Assn of Realtors                                                        $19,477,000
Verizon Communications                                                         $17,820,000
FedEx Corp                                                                            $17,000,000
Boeing Co                                                                               $16,850,000
National Cable & Telecommunications Assn                            $15,980,000
Northrop Grumman                                                                 $15,180,000
Lockheed Martin                                                                     $13,533,782
Business Roundtable                                                                $13,410,000
ConocoPhillips                                                                         $13,382,079
American Hospital Assn                                                           $13,230,696
Altria Group                                                                             $12,770,000

Ain't that some shit?  Makes me wanna beat someone about the head and shoulders with a Louisville Slugger.

Howard Zinn dies.

Howard Zinn died yesterday at the age of 87 of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California. Mr. Zinn was a wonderful voice, and activist, for the left and he will be missed. From The Nation:

Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and the author of the seminal A People’s History of the United States, died today at the age of 87 of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California. He was in a swimming pool doing laps and was spotted immediately by lifeguards but died instantly.

Zinn’s brand of history put common citizens at the center of the story and inspired generations of young activists and academics to remember that change is possible. As he wrote in his autobiography, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train (1994), “From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than ‘objectivity’; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble.”

I heard him speak on several occasions during the Vietnam War. He was a moving orator and a damn fine human being.

 

Our F*ckwit of the week.

Paul Shirley is an athlete. More precisely he was an athlete. He writes for ESPN and occasionally DeadSpin, a sports blog/site that I frequent.

Paulie is also an ignorant fuckwad and our Fuckwit of the Week. If you read his little OpEd I think you just might agree with me.His glaring lack of knowledge regarding Haiti, and their history, is quite obvious. Below is a short piece of his rant:

I haven’t donated a cent to the Haitian relief effort. And I probably will not.

I haven’t donated to the Haitian relief effort for the same reason that I don’t give money to homeless men on the street. Based on past experiences, I don’t think the guy with the sign that reads “Need You’re Help” is going to do anything constructive with the dollar I might give him. If I use history as my guide, I don’t think the people of Haiti will do much with my money either.

As a general rule, most sports nuts aren't that into politics, current events or anything outside the sphere of sports.

I also agree with most of the points in this article, which tears down his laughable and pathetic logic. The site is a sports blog.

People have been hounding ESPN (Paulie writes there) to shitcan his worthless ass.

So they did. Here is their statement on it. It's short and somewhat sweet. ;)

Don't let the door hit ya in the ass there Paulie!

It's about time!

This asshole, has finally been jailed.

Sadly, it wasn't for his fuckery regarding ACORN, where the white guy played a pimp of all things.

Trying to bug a senator's office is a federal offense right? I can't wait to see how the DOJ deals with James O'Keefe and his co-conspirators. One of his buddies sure has some explaining to do, as his father is an acting US Attorney, one Bill Flanagan.

Wonder how all the rightwing nutters will process these newest developments. They think James O'Keefe is a hero because of his ACORN 'undercover' videos.

I think he is just another rightwing nutter who see's nothing wrong with using WaterGate-type tactics. I have no love for Mary Landrieu..none. But that said:

I hope he looks good in prison orange. Fucking douche nozzle.

A ‘macaca’ moment for Lt. Gov of SC

This asshole really takes the cake. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer wants to run the state of SC as their governor. He also refuses to apologize for what he said. Comparing people to stray animals doesn’t usually help you get elected. From C&L’s video site, the video and audio:

From our Dept of WTF?

SCOTUS has ruled that corporations now have civil rights. I shit you not. SCOTUS just opened up a huge can of vile, carpetbagging, worms.

You can read the ruling here (pdf). This decision is total crap. Corporations are not human, they are always money-making operations.

I am pretty sure the First Amendment was not created to protect The Corporatocracy.From Public Citizen:

Today, in the widely-publicized Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FEC, the Justices ruled in a 5-4 decision that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence election outcomes.

        Shed a tear for our democracy.

Today, in the case Citizens United v. FEC, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence election outcomes.

Money from Exxon, Goldman Sachs, Pfizer and the rest of the Fortune 500 is already corroding the policy making process in Washington, state capitals and city halls. Today, the Supreme Court tells these corporate giants that they have a constitutional right to trample our democracy.

In eviscerating longstanding rules prohibiting corporations from using their own monies to influence elections, the court invites giant corporations to open up their treasuries to buy election outcomes. Corporations are sure to accept the invitation.

The predictable result will be corporate money flooding the election process; huge targeted campaigns by corporations and their front groups attacking principled candidates who challenge parochial corporate interests; and a chilling effect on candidates and election officials, who will be deterred from advocating and implementing policies that advance the public interest but injure deep-pocket corporations.

Because today’s decision is made on First Amendment constitutional grounds, the impact will be felt not only at the federal level, but in the states and localities, including in state judicial elections.

So, wtf were those five assholes thinking?

Coakley and the circular firing squad..

It started last night...the Dem's taking pot shots at Coakley and each other for the massive failure in MA. last night.

The rightwing nutters are dancing in the street, with visions of a majority dancing in their heads.

At this point..would it make much of a difference who runs Congress? My thought is hell no..they are all dysfunctional and the majority of them are carpetbaggers.

Coakley still has a job to wake up to this morning. Hopefully she is better at that job then she was at campaigning for Senator of MA.

Scott Brown ran a great campaign and sadly, we can not take that away from him. Martha took a nice vacation during the middle of the campaign...she lost and deservedly so.

Below is Howard Dean waxing poetic about the major fuck-up in Mass. last night:

FBI broke the law? You don't say...

Like this is a friggin surprise.

Naomi Klein-Shock Doctrine, the Haiti edition.

Those rat bastards at the Heritage Foundation are already pushing their pro-american-corporationist agenda on Haiti. From Ms. Klein's latest post:

Readers of the The Shock Doctrine know that the Heritage Foundation has been one of the leading advocates of exploiting disasters to push through their unpopular pro-corporate policies. From this document, they're at it again, not even waiting one day to use the devastating earthquake in Haiti to push for their so-called reforms. The following quote was hastily yanked by the Heritage Foundation and replaced with a more diplomatic quote, but their first instinct is revealing:

"In addition to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, the U.S. response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti earthquake offers opportunities to re-shape Haiti’s long-dysfunctional government and economy as well as to improve the public image of the United States in the region."

And Democracy Now! talks to her about it here.  From the DN transcript:

Journalist and author Naomi Klein spoke in New York last night and addressed the crisis in Haiti: “We have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy—which is part natural, part unnatural—must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interest of our corporations. This is not conspiracy theory. They have done it again and again.”

The carpetbagging Heritage fucks and their ilk, love a good natural disaster... don't cha know? They get a proverbial woody over them when they happen in places like Haiti. They can rape and pillage legally and with the UN's blessings. Douche nozzles all...

Harold Ford Jr.- Coulter's favorite DINO

The folks of NY State need to tell this fucker to hit the road. He isn't a Democrat, he is a corporate-lovin bag o' batshit. From BraveNewFilms:

Well, for starters, he’s a staunch opponent of abortion rights. He also disapproves of marriage equality for gay couples, opposes public safety laws to keep guns off the streets, and blames immigrants for America’s problems. Doesn’t sound like much of a New Yorker, does he?

Of course, now that he’s living in Manhattan instead of south of the Mason-Dixon line, Ford is remaking himself as a pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-gun control progressive. But unfortunately for Harold, this is the age of the internet, and you can’t just walk away from your past statements. That’s why we compiled this video of the REAL Harold Ford, Jr., to introduce New Yorkers to their latest carpetbagger.

Stop this fucker...say no to Harold Ford Jr. NY!!!!!

Biblethumper jokes about torture. What a guy!

The Huckster, gotta love this cretin..don't ya know?

Grayson slaps The Big Dick Cheney™ around.

Thanks to Critter's crap for posting this gem.  I so adore Alan Grayson!!!! From TPM:

Appearing just now on the Ed Schultz show on MSNBC, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) said that former Vice President Dick Cheney's attacks against President Obama are just a ploy to increase Cheney's book sales -- and rhetorically asked whether the Devil himself had a hand in the book.

"You know, honestly I think he's just trying to prime his book tour, his upcoming book tour," said Grayson. "He got $2 million to write about his memories, and he's trying to stay in the public eye in order to push sales for his book. That's what I think."

"I'm wondering, though, who's doing the introduction to his book? Is it Mephistopheles? I don't know -- maybe it's Satan."
Grayson also responded to the frequent Republican attacks against him: "I am attacked by them all the time. But as Franklin Roosevelt said, I welcome their hatred."

Cheney has been a frequent target of the fiery liberal Grayson's jibes. Grayson has told Cheney to "STFU," and has also imagined Cheney as a vampire with blood dripping from his teeth, who turns into a bat and flies away after he finishes speaking his attacks against Obama.

WooT! Speak da truth Brotha Grayson!

Iraq to go after the Blackwater murderers.

I don't see anything happening with the US suit..but the Iraqi courts would have a field day with these fuckers. Remember, the SOFA that Bush signed keeps contractors from being immune from Iraqi law prosecution. From Jurist:

 Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Monday that Iraq will file lawsuits in both US and Iraqi courts against Blackwater after a US judge dismissed charges last week against five guards indicted for their involvement in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in September 2007. Judge Richardo Urbina of the US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed [opinion, PDF] voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges against the five guards, finding that statements were obtained in violation of the Constitution. Al-Maliki said that his government rejects the ruling and has formed a committee to file suits in both the US and Iraq.

If the Blackwater, aka Xe, employees are no longer in Iraq..I guess they are safe..for now, but I wouldn't want to be them..nope.

Once again, WaPo publishes propaganda as news.

One of the uber-rich extreme rightwing nutters is Peter G. Peterson. Pete owns a shitload of media conglomerates that masquerade as 'news publications', among other things.




He hates entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. His flagship publication is The Fiscal Times.The Fiscal Times likes to quote only from the Think Tanks that Pete Peterson has set up, giving the appearance of being unbiased and newsworthy.

Nothing could be further from the truth of course. From Politico, not exactly a mainstream unbiased news source either:

 The Post and the new publication announced an agreement last month to jointly produce content “focusing on budget and fiscal issues,” and the first article from The Fiscal Times appeared in The Post on Thursday. Headlined “Support grows for tackling nation’s debt,” it described growing momentum for “a special commission to make the tough decisions that will be required to dig the nation out of debt.”

In a letter to The Post’s ombudsman, 14 academic and public-policy experts on Social Security said the newspaper should “rescind the partnership, “reserve opinion pieces for the op-ed page, and not allow itself to be a propaganda arm for ideologues who use fiscal distress as a stalking horse to destroy social insurance.”

Corporate Media, and their propaganda wing, are here to stay folks. The only way to see these groups for what they are is with academia and other watchdog groups screaming and exposing such horseshit that is passed off as journalism and news to the masses. Media Matters has a nice section of background info on this dirtbag Pete Peterson here. The progressive site Campaign for America's Future has a good writeup on this little endeavor between neocon rich guy Peterson and the Washington Post here. TPM has a great writeup here on this douche nozzle and his fake news efforts.

Below is a letter sent to the big cheese at WaPo, Andrew Alexander, Ombudsman at the Washington Post, denouncing the fake news article. It is signed by a plethora of academic scholars and experts in the field of economics:

     Dear Mr. Alexander:

    We strongly protest the printing in the Washington Post of an article taken verbatim from an extremely biased source. The article, "Support grows for tackling nation's debt" (page A-10, 12/31/09) appears to be a straightforward, objective news story, only opaquely revealing that the piece was “produced by the Fiscal Times.” Nowhere is it disclosed that the Fiscal Times is funded by an individual, Peter G. Peterson, who has spent the last thirty years in a crusade to undermine Social Security. Shame on the Post for presenting this propaganda as journalism.

    Consistent with Mr. Peterson's bias, the story glowingly reports increasing support for a deficit reduction commission, and fails ever to mention that over forty national organizations, including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Common Cause, NAACP, National Organization for Women, SEIU, to name just a few, have been outspoken in their opposition to the proposal. Indeed, most readers would have little idea from this story that there was any opposition whatsoever to the proposed commission.

    Even worse, the Post has apparently entered into a partnership with the Fiscal Times and plans to publish other artilces from that source. We respectfully urge the Post to rescind the partnership. The Post should maintain its independence, reserve opinion pieces for the op-ed page, and not allow itself to be a propaganda arm for ideologues who use fiscal distress as a stalking horse to destroy social insurance.

    Please note that we are submitting this letter to the Post's editors for publication. Notwithstanding that, we respectfully request that you respond to us about this very serious matter. In that regard, we have provided the contact information for the first signatory at the end of the email. As you can see, the response among Social Security experts was swift and strong, notwithstanding that the piece appeared on New Year’s Eve. In the event that we receive more signatories over the weekend, as we expect we will, we will forward the additional names to you on Monday.

    Sincerely,

    Nancy J. Altman, author, The Battle for Social Security (John Wiley & Sons)
    Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research
    Merton C. Bernstein, Coles Professor of Law Emeritus, Washington University
    Robert H. Binstock, Professor of Aging, Health, and Society, Case Western Reserve University
    Suzanne Blouin, retired, Office of Communications, Social Security Administration
    Barbara Burt, Executive Director, Frances Perkins Center
    Dale Coberly, co-author of the Northwest Plan to restore Social Security to balance
    Nancy Dapper, Executive Director, Western & Central WA Chapter, Alzheimer's Association
    Patricia E. Dilley, Professor of Law, University of Florida
    Stephen Gorin, Professor, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH
    Roger Hickey, Co-Director, America’s Future
    Eric Kingson, Professor, Syracuse University School of Social Work
    Robert Kuttner, Founding Co-Editor, American Prospect
    Theodore Marmor, Professor Emeritus, Yale University
    Gerald A. McIntyre, Directing Attorney, National Senior Citizens Law Center
    Lawrence Mishel, President, Economic Policy Institute
    Maya Rockeymoore, President, Global Policy Solutions
    Max J. Skidmore, University of Missouri Curators' Professor of Political Science, Thomas Jefferson Fellow, University of Missouri-Kansas City
    Joseph White, Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Policy Studies, Case Western Reserve University

Those are some mighty big guns calling WaPo a propaganda arm of the neocon extremists. Good for them, speak truth to the powerful and publicize the shit out of it!!!!

If you care about journalism – you should make your views known to the Post at ombudsman@washpost.com. Dont be shy..email the sumbitch today.

Whoa, David Brooks said what???

This is scary, very scary. The idea that David  Brooks could get anything right freaks me the fuck out, especially after reading his OpEd at the NYT, a section of which is quoted below:

All this money and technology seems to have reduced the risk of future attack. But, of course, the system is bound to fail sometimes. Reality is unpredictable, and no amount of computer technology is going to change that. Bureaucracies are always blind because they convert the rich flow of personalities and events into crude notations that can be filed and collated. Human institutions are always going to miss crucial clues because the information in the universe is infinite and events do not conform to algorithmic regularity.

Resilient societies have a level-headed understanding of the risks inherent in this kind of warfare.

But, of course, this is not how the country has reacted over the past week. There have been outraged calls for Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security to resign, as if changing the leader of the bureaucracy would fix the flaws inherent in the bureaucracy. There have been demands for systemic reform — for more protocols, more layers and more review systems.

Much of the criticism has been contemptuous and hysterical. Various experts have gathered bits of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s biography. Since they can string the facts together to accurately predict the past, they thunder, the intelligence services should have been able to connect the dots to predict the future.

Video of this douche nozzle calling out Cheney and the right for their usual fearmonging fuckery below, courtesy of C&L.



I am searching the sky's for flying pigs this cold morning..seriously. I own a flying pig you know... sure, it's only a little wood carving..but it's still a flying pig. ;p

Graphic by Mark Bryan. I love his work. 

Fed Judge lets Blackwater murderers off the hook.

From the NYT via Crooks and Liars:

In a significant blow to the Justice Department, a federal judge on Thursday threw out the indictment of five former Blackwater security guards over a shooting in Baghdad in 2007 that left 17 Iraqis dead and about 20 wounded.

The judge cited misuse of statements made by the guards in his decision, which brought to a sudden halt one of the highest-profile prosecutions to arise from the Iraq war. The shooting at Nisour Square frayed relations between the Iraqi government and the Bush administration and put a spotlight on the United States’ growing reliance on private security contractors in war zones.

Investigators concluded that the guards had indiscriminately fired on unarmed civilians in an unprovoked and unjustified assault near the crowded traffic circle on Sept. 16, 2007. The guards contended that they had been ambushed by insurgents and fired in self-defense.

A trial on manslaughter and firearm offenses was planned for February, and the preliminary proceedings had been closely watched in the United States and Iraq.

But in a 90-page opinion, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of Federal District Court in Washington wrote that the government’s mishandling of the case “requires dismissal of the indictment against all the defendants.”

In a “reckless violation of the defendants’ constitutional rights,” the judge wrote, investigators, prosecutors and government witnesses had inappropriately relied on statements that the guards had been compelled to make in debriefings by the State Department shortly after the shootings. The State Department had hired the guards to protect its officials.

Aint' that some shit to start off the new year with?