Check out the charity scam being run by Sean Hannity. What else could you call it other than scam when less than 10% of the donations end up going to the cause? I would like to see a jury through him in prison for charity fraud (and everyone else who runs a charity that skims 90% of the top).
What isn't Barack Obama telling us? According to Dan Froomkin, there are ten major things, and Froomkin isn't pulling any punches. Not a very open government, it turns out. And for those who might think I'm an Obama basher, I voted for Barack Obama. Based on his sordid record, George W. Bush had an even more secretive government than Obama's, and I have little doubt that John McCain would have carried on in the tradition of George Bush (and McCain would have likely have involved us in a third war in the Middle East). What I would say based on these ten immensely important questions, is a major disappointment in Barack Obama, and an even bigger disappointment in the thoroughly corrupt electoral and political systems of the United States.
Truthout has published a recap of what the invasion of Iraq has brought to the United States:
We are still shocked. We were never awed. We have not adjusted. The senseless waste of our blood and treasure, our honor and our reputation continue. Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom - the latter unleashed seven years ago today - have morphed into a single Operation Enduring Occupation, set to bankrupt this country financially as well as morally, to destroy our own security as it has that of the over 31 million people who populate Iraq and 32 million people of Afghanistan. . . . Of course, the loss of our troops (over 4,200 dead and 30,000 wounded) and treasure (three trillion dollars according to economics Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz), the perversion of our language, the mangling of our laws, the broken bodies and tortured brains of our veterans really bear no comparison with the suffering we have inflicted on the citizens of Iraq.
Arianna Huffington has recognized the excellent work of Senator Ted Kaufman, who dares to comes out swinging against Wall Street.
In the last week alone, Kaufman has taken to the Senate floor to deliver two major -- and blistering -- speeches. The first was a masterful overview, offering chapter and verse on what led to the financial crisis and what, specifically, needs to be done to ensure that we "build a regulatory system that will endure for generations instead of one that will be laid bare by an even bigger crisis in perhaps just a few years or a decade's time." . . . . The great thing about Kaufman is that he isn't afraid to use direct, pointed language, saying that "fraud and lawlessness were key ingredients" in the financial collapse. And he's willing to name names: in his attack on derivatives, he called out Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Larry Summers as key cheerleaders for unregulated derivatives markets . . .But why is Kaufman speaking out against dysfunctional/corrupt Wall Street banks while most other senators are timid? The absence of money as a factor in his decision making.
Kaufman didn't need to raise any money to become a senator -- he was appointed. And he doesn't need to raise any money for his reelection campaign -- he's not running. At 71, with a long, distinguished career in government under his belt, Kaufman is completely unencumbered by the need to curry favor and approach moneyed interests with his hat in his hand. So let's all take a good look at Ted Kaufman. This is what it looks like when our representatives are not beholden to special interests, and are only serving the public interest.
I agree with these observations by Patrick Smith, writing at Salon:
[T]here is an awful lot of yammering going on. There can be up to a half-dozen cabin P.A.s before your plane even reaches the runway, sometimes in multiple languages. Is this really necessary? To some of these announcements we grant a pass. Surely there's nothing out of line about a brief welcome-aboard speech, for example, or other practical reminders. However, if there is one hideous and glaring example of excess, it has to be the pre-departure safety briefing. Is there anything more tedious? . . . With a pair of shears and some common sense, the average briefing could be trimmed to half its length, resulting in a lucid oration that people might actually listen to.