AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Lieberman declares Ft Hood shooting an Islamic terrorist act with no conclusive proof

2009-11-08T22:59:00.000-05:00

We have no idea what happened yet. But Joe Lieberman is already on FOX feeding hatred of Muslims, and national hysteria to boot. The man is an idiot. And he's sounding a bit of a bigot too.

Sen. Joe Lieberman called the Fort Hood massacre an act of "Islamist extremism" - even as top Army brass warned Sunday against guessing at a motive, fearing backlash against Muslim soldiers.

"There are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act," Lieberman (I-Conn) told Fox News on Sunday.

"If the reports that we're receiving of various statements he made, acts he took are valid, he had turned to Islamist extremism."

We don't know yet what happened. It's incredibly irresponsible of Lieberman to feed this story, knowing full well that it fuels hatred against Muslims, and Arabs. Then again, perhaps that's his intent.

Frank Rich on Wall Street Reform, or not

2009-11-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

NYT's Frank Rich:

The Obama administration does not seem to understand that this rage, left unaddressed, could consume it. It has pushed aside the entreaties of many — including Paul Volcker, the chairman of the White House’s own Economic Recovery Advisory Board — to break up too-big-to-fail banks. Those behemoths, cushioned by the government’s bailouts, low-interest loans and guarantees, are back making bets that put the entire system at risk. Yet last Sunday, we once again heard the Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, on “Meet the Press” dodging questions about the banks in general and Goldman in particular with unpersuasive bromides. “We’re not going to let the system go back to the way it was,” he said.

Surely he jests. On Monday morning, a business-savvy Democratic senator, Maria Cantwell of Washington, publicly questioned Geithner’s fitness for his job, given his support of loopholes in proposed regulations of the derivatives that enabled last year’s collapse. On Tuesday, Congressional Democrats, with the White House’s consent, voted to gut the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the post Enron-WorldCom law passed in 2002 to prevent corporate accounting tricks and fraud. Arthur Levitt, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, told me on Friday it was “surreal” that Democrats were now achieving the long-held Republican goal of smashing “the golden chalice” of reform. If investors cannot have transparency, Levitt said, “the whole system is worthless.”

The system is going back to the way it was with a vengeance, against a backdrop of despair.

SNL does FOX News

2009-11-08T18:45:00.000-05:00

Autumn in the Limousin

2009-11-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

The Chateau of Rochechouart in the Limousin. Last weekend (1 November) was La Toussaint (all saints) in France so our neighbors returned to the village where their family lived for the previous three hundred plus years. It has traditionally been one of the poorer regions of France and many lived by eating large quantities of chestnuts which are abundant in the area.

In France there's always a very strong connection to the region where you or your family are from. When you visit, you typically eat and drink the local foods. You may be able to find the same type of food in Paris, though the quality is never quite the same as you find in the country. There's something special about enjoying it in the area where it's been enjoyed for hundreds of years. It makes me homesick for soft shell crabs, Chincoteague oysters and Natty Boh.

More photos past the click.

People will lay flowers at the graves of their family at this time of the year so florists all over the country have stunning fall flowers.

It was too overcast to get much color so I tried a black and white of the local church.

A closer view of the unique steeple. It reminded me a bit of the famous crooked spire in Chesterfield, England.

Standing by a river where you could hardly tell where the river started.

Foraging in the local forest for chestnuts. Wild boar also like them so any noise that you hear, you wonder if that's the sound of one of them. Well, at least that's what us city types think. They're everywhere but you need to find one that is heavy. The light ones probably have a worm inside who is getting full.

The target - chestnuts.

Eating the roasted chestnuts that we rounded up earlier.

Signs of Halloween (Alowine, actually) on this butcher's sign. It's still more widely seen in the country than in Paris.

A cute little cheese shop in the country next to the farm. Very tasty cheese from both cow's milk and goat's milk at prices that I've never seen before.

The curious bull from the dairy farm. This breed has what looks like a wig on their head. The cows at this farm were dairy cows as opposed to the Limousin cattle which is highly regarded for beef.

Lustucru the neighborhood cat stopped by when he smelled dinner. Saucisson and boudin blanc scraps were on the menu.

Lustucru relaxing after a hard day of patrolling the neighborhood.

Casimir Pulaski now a US citizen

2009-11-08T14:30:00.000-05:00

Paying the ultimate price should automatically make one eligible so glad to see the US finally extend the honor. Darren Rovell must be angry about this since Pulaski wasn't born and trained in America.

Finally, Gen. Casimir Pulaski became an American citizen on Friday, 230 years after the Polish nobleman died fighting for the as yet-unborn United States.

President Barack Obama signed a joint resolution of the Senate and the House that made Pulaski an honorary citizen.

Pulaski's contribution to the American colonies' effort to leave the British Empire began with a flourish. He wrote a letter to Gen. George Washington, the Revolution's leader, with the declaration: "I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it."

Note from John: Pulaski is a well-known street in Chicago. I never knew the history. Fascinating.

Pro-life congressmen taking abortion money?

2009-11-08T14:24:00.000-05:00

Say it ain't so. But it just may be true.

The House passed the anti-choice Stupak amendment last night. Basically, the amendment stops any government money from funding insurance plans that cover abortions. The twisted logic being that any money connected to any insurance company covering abortions is "abortion money," i.e., profits earned from "killing babies." We can't have the government touching that.

So I sure hope that no pro-life members of Congress are accepting political donations from any insurance companies that cover abortions. Because if they are accepting such donations, they're accepting profits that came from "killing little babies."

Anyone want to do a cross-check of the Stupak amendment supporters, and the supporters of like amendments, and whether any of those members received donations from insurance companies, or for that matter, pharmaceutical companies that produce the pill, RU486, the morning after pill, etc.

We haven't heard a lot of from pro-choice and women's groups lately, at all. Perhaps they can work on this.

Teabaggers attack Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel

2009-11-08T12:20:00.004-05:00

The photo below is of Elie Wiesel in the Buchenwald concentration camp. He's in the second row from the bottom, seventh from the left (next to the wood support).

Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel criticized a Teabagger protester in Washington, DC this week who held up a sign showing dead bodies from the Dachau concentration camp stacked in a pile, and compared this to the Democrats' health care reform plan. Here are a few of the Teabaggers' responses to Weisel, posted on Politico:

Rothschilds nothing! Everyone knows that Obama is George Soros sock puppet. Wasn't Soros Jewish once upon a time? May the Schwartz be with you.

The jews need to clam up and accept the fact that they are in a Chritian country.

This hollowcost thing is totally overblown by the jewish.

Eli Wiesel should just go back to Indonesia. I don't see him condemnig the terrorist shooter at Fort Hood.

Elie is a whiner. She should stop her whining. You didn't not complane when the libs were calling Bush Hitler.

You know what? The fact is that at a time in history, The Rosthchild family controlled practically everything.This is a fact. Not anti semitic. I resent the Jewish outrage at everything. I am a tea partier. obama is a Marxist and takes his orders from George Soros... it is similar and these people need to get a life., Why any Jew would support the Obama administation is a mystery anyway. He is a Muslim sympathizer and the greatest threat to Israel ever to sit in the White House. Wake up Jewish community. Take off the blinders.

Rothschild sign? Well its factually true. They were one of the primary families involved in founding the Federal Reserve and are still in it up to their necks. Obama, Bush, and every president since Wilson have done as the Fed told them. Since it a valid historical fact that this family was involved in creating and still has ownership of a substantial piece of the Federal Reserve (but nobody seems to know how much), I guess its now Anti- Semitic to discuss anything a Jew does critically? This guy is a Hebrew Al Sharpton.

Elie, how did that whole Madoff thing work out for you?

Elie Wiesel: Newest, most current tool of the sick, perverted, racist, anti-semetic Democrap party. Have you no shame Democraps?

"most American jews are not very religious and many are outright unbelievers, Jews in name only." Many older Jews in America feel shame for BEING in America, rather than emigrating to Israel in the late 1940s. Many sent money to help the colonization, and a few sent Army-surplus rifles, but the majority came up with the most interesting excuses for not answering the call to gather together and forge their homeland.

Elie Weisel is disgusting PR-seeking profiteering demagogue who has made a fortune off playing on the world's guilt trips about the what happened to the Jews during WW2. Most objective WW2 researchers agree now that the beastial Nazi''s, who happened to be anti-capitalist Socialists, killed even more Slavs and Gypsies in their concentration camps than Jews, but you don't see the Slavs and Gypsies trying to profit off the "Holocaust" like some of the shameless powerful Jews in the media.

I sometimes wonder what has happened to the Jewish people?. The Bible says that they are GODs' people and Israel is their home land. I see so many Jews seem to have abandoned their faith and I think this has to sadden our Father in Heaven. I see many Jews that are homosexual-actively promoting it as a "normal" lifestyle. I see many Jews involved in the ACLU- which I call the "Anti Christian Liberal Union", this bothers me as how can one be against their Father and Son in Heaven who are for Life??. I see many Jews in Hollywood making filthy ,sinful movies-what happened to the good, Family movies??. I see many Jews full of Greed in Hollywood, Wall Street,etc. I see many Jews involved in abortion groups- how can one support the killing of human fetuses??, especially people who have suffered through the Holocaust??. I am not anti-semitic, I know many will come on here and attack me. I am simply stating what I see and I believe our Father in Heaven is wondering what is happening to his "chosen" people?. He sent his only son to Earth to die for our sins and I think He is wondering the direction our Country is taking??. I am praying for our Country and all the Jews in our Country and pray that our Father will forgive us all for our sins. I hope I have stated what GOD would have wanted me to say?. GOD Bless and Pray for our Country.

Old man should go away.

Who voted how on health care in the House

2009-11-08T10:13:00.001-05:00

The New York Times has an interactive map of the House vote on health insurance reform yesterday.

The lone Republican who voted yes, Anh Joseph Cao, from Louisiana, claims he "voted for life" last night. Among the right wingers on twitter, "traitor" seems to be one of the favorite attacks on Cao. But, that's not the ugliest thing they're saying.

The reason Cao said he "voted for life" was because pro-choice Democrats were thrown under the bus by the Stupak amendment. 64 Democrats gave that win to the GOP.

It's always the progressives who lose out. Adam Green has more on the bill, which he says was "watered down, watered down, watered down. And still, only 219 Dems."

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

2009-11-08T08:14:00.000-05:00

A slew of politicos and a couple military types are on the shows today. The military personnel will talk about the tragedy at Fort Hood and the ongoing wars.

No doubt, we'll get a recap of the House vote and another analysis of last week's election. But don't expect DNC Chair Tim Kaine to mention the Maine marriage election. No. The DNC and OFA largely avoid gay issues especially marriage. In fact, the DNC and OFA actually undermined the campaign for marriage equality in Maine -- and lied about it. (We'll have much, much more to say on that growing controversy very soon.)

For some unfathomable reason, the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Chris Van Hollen, is appearing on FOX News today (along with leading GOPers like VA Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Joe Lieberman.) Makes no sense for the Chair of the DCCC to show up on FOX News. No sense at all.

The good news is that Rachel Maddow is on the panel of pundits on "Meet the Press." That's about the only reason to ever watch that show.

Full lineup after the break.
Here's the full slate of guests:

ABC's "This Week" — Democratic National Chairman Tim Kaine and Republican National Chairman Michael Steele; Army chief of staff Gen. George Casey.

___

CBS' "Face the Nation" _Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

___

NBC's "Meet the Press" — Govs. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., and Ed Rendell, D-Pa.

___

CNN's "State of the Union" — Army chief of staff Casey; Virginia Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell.

"Fox News Sunday" _ McDonnell; Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent; Reps. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Mike Pence, R-Ind.

Sam & Dave, Soul Man

2009-11-08T05:49:00.000-05:00

Absolutely fantastic.

UK proposes new tax on banks, Geithner rejects

2009-11-08T03:45:00.000-05:00

The "Tobin Tax" has been kicked around a lot lately as one possible option. France and Germany were recently promoting the idea and now, the UK has come on board. It's easy to understand that not everyone will always agree on policies such as this though it's becoming hard to see when Geithner and Obama will ever ask the financial businesses to contribute their fair share. If not this, what? When? Under what circumstance? The never-ending free ride for Wall Street becomes less and less acceptable as time moves on. The administration continues to be either too timid to fight or they actually believe the Wall Street centric view of the world.

Gordon Brown suffered a rebuff from Washington yesterday after he signalled Britain's backing for plans for an international transactions tax on banks to help the world recover from the financial crisis.

At the G20 summit in St Andrews, Fife, the Prime Minister dropped Britain's longstanding opposition to the scheme, which could raise billions a year for poor nations.

But within hours of the significant shift in UK policy on the so-called "Tobin tax", the US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner dismissed the move, saying Washington was "not prepared" to support it.

House passes health care bill, 220-215

2009-11-07T23:23:00.003-05:00

39 Dems voted no. Republican House member Cao of Louisiana voted "yes." In Rahm-land, that makes the bill overwhelmingly bipartisan.

THIS JUST IN: Dems have over 218 votes for health care reform in House

2009-11-07T22:34:00.003-05:00

A well-placed congressional source tells me the Democrats now have over 218 votes to pass health care reform. Three more votes to go. Will be over well before midnight.

Brand USA takes the top spot

2009-11-07T22:27:00.000-05:00

Bush leaving and Obama arriving certainly makes a difference. Reuters:

The United States was seen as the ideal place for business, one of the top places for families, shopping and quality products, as well as one of the countries people wanted to visit whether for the first time or again.

The FutureBrand survey echoes a similar poll which showed that the United States was the most admired country globally, largely thanks to Obama's global popularity.

And even more bank closings

2009-11-07T20:19:00.000-05:00

Silly bankers. They should have sold out to one of the big players on Wall Street. They would still be in action and flush with cash.

Regulators on Friday shut banks in Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and California, bringing the number of bank failures this year to 120 amid the struggling economy and a cascade of defaults on loans.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over United Commercial Bank in San Francisco, with $11.2 billion in assets and $7.5 billion in deposits. East West Bancorp Inc., parent company of East West Bank based in Pasadena, Calif., is buying all of the deposits and most of the failed bank's assets.

Unemployed and underemployed hits 17.5%

2009-11-07T18:20:00.000-05:00

It's probably the worst jobs market since the Great Depression. The Obama administration continues to buy into the Geithner/Summers/Wall Street view of the world which puts Wall Street above everyone else at the expense of everyone else. Americans are generous people who grudgingly accepted the bailout to prevent an even worse economic failure but enough is enough. The greed and the acceptance of that greed - regardless of words - by the White House is wearing thin as Americans wait for the upside to the bailout. All pain and no gain can only be tolerated for so long. Meanwhile the 17.5% and their friends and family look at the outrageous bonuses that are being lined up and wonder how it can be possible.

In all, more than one out of every six workers — 17.5 percent — were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982.

This includes the officially unemployed, who have looked for work in the last four weeks. It also includes discouraged workers, who have looked in the past year, as well as millions of part-time workers who want to be working full time.

The official jobless rate — 10.2 percent in October, up from 9.8 percent in September — remains lower than the early 1980s peak of 10.8 percent.

House health care vote probably at 9pm, final vote

2009-11-07T16:20:00.001-05:00

A friend in the House tells us that the final vote is expected around 9pm Eastern tonight. You can follow more updates on the health care twitter feed at http://twitter.com/healthreformnow. And if anyone in the comments want to tell folks what Twitter is, that might be a nice thing :-) Thanks.

Are the teabaggers getting ready to disrupt the House health care debate?

2009-11-07T14:15:00.002-05:00

From a friend, watching the Teabaggers on a live stream:

I'm watching Steve King's "house call" tea party rally streaming online. King & Hoekstra are giving them directions on how to get visitors passes & sit in the gallery during the vote... this could get interesting.

Krugman: Obama faces his own Anzio

2009-11-07T13:30:00.000-05:00

Another great read by Paul Krugman. Obama's cautious approach to the economic crisis may lead the way for Democratic losses in 2010. Clearly the situation is better than it was a year ago though as we saw on Friday, employment is still lagging with limited chances of recovery before the mid term elections.

Administration officials would presumably argue that they were constrained by political realities, that a bolder policy couldn’t have passed Congress. But they never tested that assumption, and they also never gave any public indication that they were doing less than they wanted. The official line was that policy was just right, making it hard to explain now why more is needed.

And more is needed. Yes, the economy grew fairly fast in the third quarter — but not fast enough to make significant progress on jobs. And there’s little reason to expect things to look better going forward. The stimulus has already had its maximum effect on growth. Even Timothy Geithner, the Treasury secretary, admits that banks remain reluctant to lend. Many economists predict that the economy’s growth, such as it is, will fade out over the course of next year.

Male GOP House members try to block women from speaking

2009-11-07T11:25:00.004-05:00

A group of male GOP House members, just tried to repeatedly block a group of female Democratic House members from speaking on the House floor. The Democrats wanted to speak about how Health Care Reform was important for women. The men would have nothing of it. Typical. Oh, did I just hear the "socialist" word?

Even as Dioceses file bankruptcy over sex abuse cases, Catholic Bishops threaten to undermine health insurance reform

2009-11-07T09:26:00.002-05:00

Not happy with just ruining the lives of same-sex couples in Maine this week, the Catholic Bishops are trying to bring down health insurance reform in the House over the abortion issue. What really sucks is that members of the House are willing to let the Catholic Bishops, who enabled rampant sex abuse of children, to impose their theocratic view on this issue:

Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions.

The deal clears the way for the dozens of Democratic lawmakers who oppose abortion to lend their support to the health care package, the most dramatic expansion of health coverage in more than 40 years. It also satisfies the demands of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which had threatened to oppose the House bill.

If the amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) passes, said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops conference, "we become enthusiastic advocates for moving forward with health care reform."

Who cares if the Bishops support health insurance reform? It's dangerous that the House is letting the Bishops dictate any kind of policy.

Does anyone on the Hill know the history of the Catholic Bishops Conference and the horrors they allowed to be inflicted on children? How can those Bishops speak with any moral authority? The Catholic Bishops protected and enabled pedophiles and child abusers. And, it's costing them. Last month, the Diocese of Wilmington became the seventh Diocese to file bankruptcy:

It joins a list of six other dioceses in the United States that have filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws in what lawyers said is an attempt to manage an avalanche of clergy sexual-abuse litigation.

But, in the warped world of DC, a group that is going bankrupt because it protected pedophiles and sexual abusers speaks with moral authority.

If I was on the Hill, I'd make this a debate about the Catholic Bishops and what they've done to children. Those hypocrites can't talk about the "sanctity of life" when they've destroyed so many. Check out the website of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and ask if you want the Catholic Bishops setting policy for America.

If you don't want the Bishops dictating policy, call the House and urge your member to oppose the Stupak Amendment. The main number is 202-224-3121.

Saturday Morning Open Thread

2009-11-07T07:55:00.002-05:00

Good morning. It's been a rough week. I prefer winning elections -- particularly when my rights are on the ballot. And, I really, really resent the fact that people get to vote on people's rights in the first place. But, I do have to give a shout-out to my family for their help on the campaign in Maine. My parents, Rita and Chuck, did everything they could to help, as did my sisters. They were all beyond amazing and I am extremely grateful.

Watching Tom Tancredo storm off the set during a debate with Markos was a great way to end the week. Those right-wing, immigrant-bashing, homophobic tough guys, like Tancredo, are so thin-skinned.

And, I can always find comfort and laughs in the haikus for the Obama administration from KarenMrsLloydRichards. Here are a couple, which appeared in the comments, this week:

Sarah-approved pols
Crash and burn in her havoc--
She'll kill, baby, kill!

And:

ObamaCare kills!
Worse'n "homicide bombers"!
We'd ruther die sick!!

The House votes today on its health insurance reform bill. Obama is heading to Capitol Hill today to speak to the House Democratic Caucus. I believe he's actually going to ask them to vote for the reform bill. We'll be monitoring events on Capitol Hill as they unfold. It should be a wild day.

Start threading the news....

Moldy Peaches

2009-11-07T05:44:00.000-05:00

So much great music from the Juno soundtrack and I love Kimya Dawson. It's the perfect tune for getting started on a lazy Saturday morning. The sun is out though so it's time to get on the bike before the rain comes back. Again.

Iranian student criticizes Ayatollah Khamenei in person

2009-11-07T03:50:00.000-05:00

The exchange was recorded and was first published on Khamenei's website. Lots of talk about this story but for now, it's more a mystery that will be answered later. The Guardian:

He may be the bravest student in Iran or an unwitting stooge of the Islamic regime – or both. Either way, Mahmoud Vahidnia has gained instant fame after breaking a taboo by criticising the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to his face.

The 25-year-old maths student has been lauded by opposition websites after reportedly telling Khamenei that he had been turned into a "grand idol" who was above criticism. But in a twist demonstrating the inscrutable nature of Iranian politics, the incident has been used by Khamenei's supporters to show how he embraces criticism. Vahidnia has remained unmolested since his 10-minute critique, which condemned the recent brutal post-election crackdown and denounced the state broadcaster, IRIB, for biased coverage. But his most remarkable comments were reserved for Khamenei himself.

Underwater kites for energy

2009-11-07T00:23:00.000-05:00

Another very interesting new possibility for generating energy. What's also interesting is the brief mention inside the article about UK energy consumption being a third of US households. That is quite a difference and it's going to have to change in the future. Also inside is a link to a computer generated video of what it would look like underwater.

A completely new concept of underwater wave energy using a simple 7 ton kite turbine design has been developed by Minesto; which is a spinoff from the Swedish military and aircraft design firm Saab. The Deep Green underwater turbine captures the power of the ocean just like a kite in wind.

The system could generate 18 terawatthours of energy annually, enough to provide nearly 4 million British households with reliably green electricity every year. UK households now use about a third of what average US households use in energy.