Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Wednesday June 9th 2010

Well, the election results are in, and it’s good news for candidates who happen to be women, rich, or crazy. There were wins by everyone from entrenched incumbents to wealthy businesswomen, to upstart Tea Partiers. In Arkansas , Blanche Lincoln survived a challenge from the Democratic Party’s left wing. What do you call the portion of the Democratic Party that’s left of Blanche Lincoln? The Democratic Party. I think Blanche Lincoln has gotten more money from Wal-Mart than all the employees of Wal-Mart combined have gotten from Wal-Mart. But then that’s not a very high bar. In California , Carly Fiorina won the Republican primary to run for the Senate against Barbara Boxer. Well, if Fiorina wins, Barbara Boxer will hardly be the first person to lose their job because of Carly Fiorina.Meg Whitman won the Republican nomination to run for Governor of California. Well, to be more accurate, Meg Whitman bought the Republican nomination. She spent $80 million of her own money, beating Steve Poizner, who spent $24 million of his money. This wasn’t an election, it was a competitive bidding contest. But then what do you expect from a former Ebay executive? In Nevada , Tea Party darling Sharron Angle won the Republican nomination to run against Harry Reid. Give her this much: Sharron Angle ran a brilliant campaign, if by “brilliant,” you mean she avoided suggesting that people pay for health insurance with chickens. She definitely has some wacky, fringe views of her own. Now Harry Reid has the race he wanted. He damned well better win it… or we’re going to have somebody in the Senate who makes Jim DeMint look sane. If you’re looking for a trend in yesterday’s results, the only discernible one seems to be that women candidates win. You know what that means—look for John McCain to announce that he is a woman.

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Monday June 7th 2010

If you are having trouble getting your oil spill-related claim paid, visit DisasterAssistance.govAfter 50 years of covering the White House, Helen Thomas resigned today at the age 89 amid a wave of controversy regarding a statements she made ( video) regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict.Up to 460,000 gallons of oil a day are being captured by “Cut & Cap”, but the feds estimate anywhere that amount only accounts for 37-77% of the crude still gushing into the Gulf. And settle in for a long, painful ride… Adm. Thad Allen, the commander in charge of the federal response, acknowledges that even a best case scenario (a successful relief well being completed in August) still means dealing with this catastrophe well into the fall, if not longer.There’s little appetite out there for BP’s $50 million PR campaign, and they aren’t just plastering the airwaves and newspapers with ads, they’re buying search terms from the major search engines in hopes of driving info-seekers to their own website. Over half of the federal judges where spill-related lawsuits are pending have financial connections to Big Oil. And if history is any guide, don’t expect to see BP’s CEO being frog-marched regardless of what criminal charges stick.The life that BP CEO Tony Hayward wants back: a multi-million dollar salary, no work on weekends, and he never misses a holiday. Plus, how a gay escort service helped him get there.Frank Rich: Don’t Get Mad, Mr. President. Get Even.More heartbreaking news on the economy… 46% of those unemployed have been out of work for 6 months or longer, making it harder and harder to land a job. A gross new phenomenon: want ads stating that the unemployed need not apply. And according to Robert Reich, if we’re going to avoid a double dip recession, we need more government stimulus, tax cuts for the middle class, and tax hikes for the rich.MORE >>>
For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Friday June 4th 2010

It's Friday, ya bastids!
A cap has been lowered onto the sheared well pipe in the Gulf and we should know soon if the endeavor to “Cut & Cap” has been successful. Remember, this is not a fix, it’s just a stop gap to siphon off at least some of the gushing oil until a successful relief well is completed (August at best) – a stop gap that could net BP $1.4 million a day in oil revenues, by the way.
Meanwhile, the pictures of crude-coated wildlife are simply heartbreaking ( video). Oil sheen and tar balls have been reported in the Florida Keys. Oil-soaked vegetation has begun washing ashore in Pensacola . And a new computer modeling study demonstrates how the oil could climb all the way up the East Coast. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal lays into BP’s CEO, but on the same day tells Obama to drill, baby, drill – the White House was not impressed. If fact, new drilling permits issued this week have been rescinded. Obama has spent the day in Louisiana meeting with locals and he was on last night’s Larry King Live. In that interview, the president said that a hurricane hitting the spill might, ironically, be a good thing. Maybe, maybe not.On the immigration front, Arizona ’s governor Jan Brewer cools her tough talk after meeting with Obama.
And as we told you yesterday on the show, the FBI reports that the US/Mexico border and border cities are among the safest places in America .The jobs report for May is somewhat discouraging… while 431,000 jobs were added, 411,000 of them belong to temporary Census workers. But even for those with jobs, life is getting harder and harder. The last couple of decades have seen the ultra-rich wildly benefiting at the expense of the average wage slave, and for 1 in 4 Americans the paid vacation is a thing of the past.
Also, Rush Limbaugh will be wed for the fourth time this weekend. McDonald’s recalls 12 million toxic Shrek glasses. Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga gets a Corvette as a consolation prize for being robbed of his perfect game. A South Carolina state senator plays the “raghead card” (geez!). Mixed-race marriages are on the rise. Golden Girl Rue McClanahan has died of a brain hemorrhage at 76. And something to look forward to: happiness comes with age.Have a great weekend!



For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!

Randi Rhodes Newsletter Wednesday June 2nd 2010

After hours of trying to free a stuck saw, the "Cut & Cap" attempt to of trying to stop the oil volcano in the Gulf has resumed.Oil has begun washing ashore in Alabama and Mississippi. Next in line: Florida. President Obama must now come to terms with the pitfalls of believing BP had the crap together despite the horrendous track record of Big Oil. Criminal investigations are underway. And movie director James Cameron finds himself with a seat at the “how the hell do we stop this thing” table.Meanwhile, Arizona governor Jan Brewer will be meeting with Obama tomorrow to discuss immigration. If all the undocumented immigrants just disappeared, Arizona would face approximant losses of $26.4 billion in economic activity, $11.7 billion in gross state product, and 140,324 jobs. And in spite of the lazy and often race-based rhetoric, the facts show that providing a path to legalization would boost the economy and create jobs. Also, an Alaska newspaper warns a Sarah Palin biographer that “ Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property” – then apologizes for any misunderstanding of the “catchy ending”. That catchy ending dovetails nicely with the death threats author Joe McGinniss has been receiving.>>> MORE



For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Tuesday June 2nd 2010

BP’s “Top Kill“ plan has officially failed; now they move on the risky “Cut & Cap” procedure which could release even more oil into the Gulf. If the 1979 Gulf spill that took 10 months to stop can be viewed as any type of barometer, the only thing that might stop the gushing are the relief wells currently being drilled and will hopefully be ready by August. As the Obama Administration distances itself from BP and sends the Attorney General to the Gulf, could criminal charges be next? BP denies that there are massive underwater plumes of crude/dispersant despite multiple scientists confirming just that – now the man who forced BP to release the live streaming video wants to know what evidence BP has to back up their denial. Cleanup workers are being denied respirators even as more and more of them fall ill, but BP’s CEO just wants his life back (cue violins). >;>> MORE

Al & Tipper Call It Quits After 40 years of marriage, Al and Tipper Gore are getting separated. It seems like just yesterday when Al planted that big kiss on Tipper at the 2000 Democratic National Convention ( video).


For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!

Thom Hartmann`s Blog for Friday May 28th 2010

George W. Bush opened the gates of hell....
While the Senate approved $60 Billion for more war, the House slashed $24 Billion for the unemployed Workers and state aid to those in trouble. The Afghanistan war is about to go beyond two milestones, with the American death toll surpassing 1,000 this week, and on June 7 it will break the record of the war in Vietnam to become America's longest-ever war. George W. Bush opened the gates of hell when he turned down the Taliban offer to arrest Osama Bin Laden and send him to a third nation for trial and instead began a bombing campaign that has killed thousands of Afghan civilians and alienated the entire world. He then made matters worse by attacking Iraq, a country that represented no threat to us whatsoever, and spent trillions of dollars that he borrowed from the Chinese to do it. President Obama has inherited a mess of epic proportions, and if he doesn't figure out a way to end these wars and convert our military intervention into building schools and hospitals, his most lasting legacy, like LBJ's, will be a disastrous and unnecessary war based on a lie. There's an effort in Congress now to do what Congress did in 1973 and defund the war, although the members of congress are trying to make it more difficult by attaching important amendments to the war funding.

-Thom
http://ThomHartmann.com

Thom Hartmann`s Blog for Thursday May 27th 2010

Killing themselves for our pleasure?
The Financial Times is reporting on their front page today that nine people at a giant manufacturing facility in southern China where Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard manufacture their products for the US market have committed suicide.

The factory is in Shenzen and both employs and houses 300,000 people. Our cheap labor - our slave labor overseas - are starting to protest.

These companies that go overseas looking for cheap labor not only have the blood on their hands of the people so tormented by working conditions in Asia that they are committing suicide, but also that of the devastated working class families in America who must buy goods made in China yet are no longer manufacturing anything.

It's time for America to return to rational tariff based trade policies that bring our jobs home.

-Thom

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Wednesday May 26th 2010

Caving to public outrage, BP agrees to webcast the “top kill” attempt to stop the leak. The operation began at 2pm ET. Watch it here, here or here.Outrage of a different stripe is in order when it comes to the cozy relationship between government regulators and Big Oil. From porn, meth and job interviews, to the 500 million dollar grant given to the current Energy Secretary’s former lab.And let the outrage continue… BP’s chairman to US critics: remember, we are “big and important”. Watch BP’s CEO barking orders at a cameraman. As a savvy caller pointed out a few days ago, BP has a very real financial interest in low-balling the amount spilled, as they could be fined up to $4,300 per barrel. Hiding the evidence of how big the spill may also be one of the driving forces behind BP’s use of hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic dispersant. That same dispersant is creating a toxic soup underwater, breaking the oil into droplets capable of passing into the flesh of fish and birds ( video). An internal BP memo shows a “3 Little Pigs” cost/benefit analysis used to save cash at the expense of worker safety. And like Greg Palast told us weeks ago, BP was unprepared for the Exxon Valdez spill (which was their responsibility) just as they were unprepared in the Gulf.>>> MORE



For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Tuesday May 24th 2010

The heat on Obama intensifies over the Gulf oil spill, but industry experts are saying that government doesn’t have the people needed to do it any better than BP. That hasn’t stopped Sen. Ben Nelson (D-FL) from calling for a military takeover of the oil spill operation.Meanwhile, the toxic dispersant standoff between BP and the EPA persists. Big Oil oversight: oxymoronic, to say the least. And GOP Gulf Coast senators push for more drilling. VIDEO: Transocean’s CEO doing a Bollywood dance last year to celebrate his company safety record.Also, while Arizona ’s governor has resorted to a puppet show to sell the state’s new anti-immigrant law, global leaders weigh in on its monumental significance. Obama takes another step towards repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. And Eugene Robinson explores Rand Paul’s Libertarian La-La Land.Death threats against Members of Congress have risen sharply - common threads: male gun owners with a history of mental illness. Private sector wages hit a record low. Construction jobs slowly start to creep back. And David Byrne is suing Charlie Crist for using a Talking Heads song in an ad.>>> MORE



For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!

Teabagger in Idaho Plagiarizing Barack Obama’s 2004 DNC Keynote Speech

Thom's Blog
Privatized Government Just isn't Working for Obama
Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and leaders from several coastal parishes are urging the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately approve a $350 million plan to build artificial barrier islands out of sand to hold back the oil. Jindal - a Republican who very publicly suggested he might refuse to take President Obama's federal stimulus money in 2009 - has been pushing the federal government hard for several weeks to approve and help pay for the creation of these offshore artificial sand islands, but has been stymied by the several federal agencies who regulated coastal wetlands all saying that by law they need to do impact and other studies before they can approve these barriers. Meanwhile, the oil has already begun to move inshore past where the islands would have been. Meaning that the Republican governor of Louisiana, often mentioned as a possible Republican presidential opponent for Obama in 2012, may well be the media hero in this whole mess while President Obama, who has been relying on a slow-moving and heavily privatized federal bureaucracy to respond to the spill, will probably end up being the goat. When Republicans, early on, predicted that this oil spill would be Obama's "Katrina," they may well have been right. Just like over 90 percent of Americans don't know that Obama cut their taxes and tax rates are lower now than at any time since 1950, or that Obama has moved us from losing to creating jobs, most Americans also have no idea what Obama is doing in or about the Gulf. If the White House doesn't get control of both the disaster in the Gulf and their messaging on what they're doing, this will be Obama's Katrina and could badly hurt his 2012 chances.

- Thom

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Monday May 24th 2010

Anger over BP and the feds response to the Gulf oil spill is reaching a fever pitch. And the more with learn, the worse it gets…Drilling permits and environmental waivers continue to be granted even after Obama’s moratorium. BP thumbs their nose at the EPA over use of toxic dispersants. The world’s largest environmental group is in bed with BP. Tough talk from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar: "If we find they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way appropriately” – but when?! Louisiana will move forward without the feds on building sand berms.Meanwhile, BP’s “beyond petroleum” greenwashing blows up in its face. And Sarah Palin steps in it when it comes to what political party receives the most cash from Big Oil (was there ever any doubt?).Rand Paul joins Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (1996) and Saudi Arabia 's Prince Bandar (2003) as only the third major guest to back out of a Meet The Press appearance in 62 years.>>> MORE

School DazeAnd while the Texas Board of Education is grabbing headlines for rewiting history to better suit conservatives, not all the fun's happening in the Lone Star State. A Virgina school principle has been placed on leave after after plastic fetuses were handed out to third, forth and fifth graders.


For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Friday May 21st 2010

Rand Paul continues to provide a glimpse behind the curtain of today’s conservatives – one that rarely sees the light of day given how out of step with the rest of America these people have become. For example, Obama’s criticism of BP is considered “un-American”, and you can add the Fair Housing Act to Rand Paul’s dreams of private property exempt from anti-discrimination laws.

However, finding Rand Paul sympathizers is no more difficult than tuning into Fox News ( video) or talking to a Libertarian. There are limits to Paul’s hatred of government, though. Specifically when it comes to Medicare payments to him personally – in his words, “Physicians should be allowed to make a comfortable living.”

Rand Paul’s spokesperson had to resign last year after it was revealed that he left “Happy Ni***r Day” MLK posts up on his MySpace page for an entire year, in addition to some other racist nuggets. See the posts

On the Spill, Baby, Spill front, 20 times more oil could be gushing into the Gulf than previously estimated by BP. Why lowball it? To save money in court, of course. Meanwhile, Fishermen are getting sick from BP’s chemicals and the EPA has ordered BP to change its dispersant chemicals to something a little less poisonous. And the Texas lab analyzing contamination samples counts BP among their largest clients.>>> MORE

For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!

Randi Rhodes Newsletter for Thursday May 20th 2021

The extremists that have seized control of the Republican Party are so out of step with the mainstream that if we could stop feuding over wedge issues and quibbling over labels, there is real hope that millions of Americans will stop voting against their own best interests and instead unite to force our government to serve the majority versus the super-wealthy minority and anti-worker corporate interests.

Rand Paul in Kentucky is a great example – viewed at first blush as an independent Washington outsider and propelled forward by a corporatist-backed phony grassroots effort that preys upon the legitimate economic fears of working class Americans, this freak would like to see the Departments of Commerce, Education and Agriculture dismantled and the Civil Rights and Americans with Disabilities Acts shredded.

Paul also considers Medicare to be “socialized medicine” and has suggested that a $2,000 deductible would be good way to control costs, and he thinks other social programs should essentially be starved to death.VIDEO: Rand Paul interviewed by Louisville Courier-Journal (Civil Rights Act question 1 hour in)VIDEO: Rand Paul interviewed last night by Rachel MaddowNot even Ronald Reagan (or Nixon, Ford, Bush I or Bush II) is far-right enough today for the political party that lionizes him.>>> MORE



For more Randi content, be sure to check out her Daily Homework
Click to listen to today's audio comedy bit!