Glenn Greenwald is one of my heroes. He can research the hell out of a complex topic, then really spell it out succinctly. On this occasion, though, he decided to quickly blow away the garbage strewn buy neocon Cliff Kincaid, who took a swipe at both Greenwald and at I. F. Stone. [Via Firedoglake]
The banks "own the place." What place? Congress. Who would say such a shocking thing? Someone relatively trustworthy: Dick Durbin. Consider this from Huffpo:
Only 45 Senate Democrats voted Thursday to oppose the banking industry and pass legislation aimed at stemming foreclosures. The bill would have allowed bankruptcy judges to allow homeowners who met strict conditions to renegotiate mortgages -- a process known as cramdown. It would have only applied to mortgages entered into before 2009.
Earlier in the week, the measure's lead proponent, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), concluded that banks "frankly own the place."
Need the pill? If you live in Missouri, and your pharmacist disagrees with your doctor about your reproductive needs, you're stuck. No recourse. That is, if an amended bill passed in the House makes it to law this week. According to this,
The amendment is similar to "conscience legislation" passed in other states that protects pharmacists who object to dispensing birth control medication.
Let your legislators know whether you think personal medical decsions should be up to doctors and patients, or churches acting through politicians.Sam Stein at Huffpo published this impressive list of Obama's under-publicized accomplishments during his first 100 days. Some of these items are truly remarkable. As I reviewed the list of ten items, I kept thinking "it's about time." Consider the new hospital records system, for example. The Bush Administration had 8 years to clean up this big mess but didn't get anything done. Under Obama, a new system is already underway. And, of course, he has done wonderful work starting to repair the sullied image of the United States around the world. It's a lot better to have good international relations than to taunt other nations and threaten wars.
Republicans Are Crap Weasels and Even If You Tell Them, It Won’t Change Anything! Lo, and behold, the lowly crap weasel! This creature is of indeterminate numbers, and stinks to high heaven because of its singularly smelly style of smearing itself with its own squishy fecal matter. Such is the current Republican Party in America. No one can know how many Republicans there are in America as the numbers dwindle as they cover themselves with banners supporting Wall Street (not Main Street), torture, more tax breaks for the rich, Oil Companies and their other corporate masters, and vote with near unanimity against every attempt by President Obama and the Democratic Party to right the economy, fight our enemies (not US citizens’ rights) and restore integrity to our foreign policy. Curiously, the Urban Dictionary definition of “crap weasel” also applies to the GOP;
“Any worthless individual [sic] who tries to steal credit for someone else's work; also someone who tries to pass blame on others.”
I mean, who can forget that only three GOP members voted for the stimulus plan. And, the three GOP Senate members who voted for the plan will likely now have far right primary opposition in their upcoming elections. Thank you Senators Specter, Collins and Snowe!