74 Members of Congress penned a letter to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas asking him to recuse himself should the high court take up the constitutionality of Obamacare. Justice Thomas's wife - Ginni - recently started a new lobbying firm called Liberty Consulting with the purpose of bringing, "voice to principled citizens and the tea party movement in the halls of Congress through governmental affairs efforts." Considering she will likely be paid by organizations to convince Members of Congress to repeal the healthcare law - there will certainly be a considerable incentive for Justice Clarence Thomas to rule against the law should it come to the Supreme Court.
The bias here couldn't be any more obvious. And the federal recusal statute - the law by which judges are supposed to operate by clearly states - "Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned..." For example if, "He or his spouse... is known by the judge to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding." Of course - this statute didn't prevent Justice Thomas from ruling on the Bush v. Gore decision back in 2000 - that handed George W. Bush the presidency - even though his wife worked for the Bush transition team. And it didn't prevent Thomas from hearing the Citizens United Case last year even though he often takes part in political strategy session organized by the billionaires Koch brothers who directly benefited from the Supreme Court's ruling in that case. We are seeing flat out corruption in the highest court in the land.
The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the power to oversee the duties of the Supreme Court - and if 74 Members of Congress ask Thomas to step down - then he should. Better yet - these 74 Members of Congress should call on Justice Thomas to be impeached.
-Thom
(Do you think he will be impeached? Tell us here.)
Chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee Darrell Issa finally released the responses he received from private industry on what government regulations he should go after now that he's in charge of a congressional committee. Issa asked businesses what regulations they wanted to get rid of. But surprise, surprise - over half of the responses didn't come from businesses at all - they came from lobbying organizations.
The Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute, and the Business Roundtable were among 106 other lobbying organizations that informed Congressman Issa on how to move forward with deregulation - mostly aimed at weakening the EPA and the new Wall Street reform law. Of course - lobbying organizations don't create jobs - they try to maximize profits for their clients which usually leads to fewer American jobs. For example lobbyists protect tax loopholes that allow corporations to continue shipping American jobs overseas for higher profits. In other words - most of the responses Issa received were from people who are interested in screwing over American workers. In fact - none of the Top 30 job-creating companies responded to Issa inquiry - and zero of the top 10 biggest publicly owned companies responded.
Issa is only interested in hearing from high paid lobbyists and millionaire and billionaires transnational corporate CEOs who can fund his re-election efforts. It used to be called bribery, back when we called things what they were. And, irony of ironies, this is the one House committee in charge of investigating corruption.
How far they've fallen.
-Thom
(What do you think should be done about it? Tell us here.)
President Ronald Reagan was an actor and a man - but if you believe everything that's been said about him, you might think he won ten Oscars and walked on water. Check out the facts - and the myths - about our Fortieth President.
It's often been said there's no zealot like a convert - but President Ronald Reagan wasn't really a zealot, like so many in the modern Republican Party.
As many in the conservative media celebrate - and in some cases, nearly attempt to deify - the man, on what would have been his 100th birthday, there are a lot of myths flying around about what President Reagan was and was not.
• "Ronald Reagan never raised taxes."
Reagan not only raised taxes as President, he raised them on some of the richest Americans - more than once. Robert Shapiro in Forbes gets the facts right.
• "Reagan's economic policies ushered in an era of unprecedented growth."
Not really. Nobel prizewinning economist Paul Krugman uses official Bureau of Labor Statistics' numbers to disprove that claim.
• "All the best current Republican candidates are really Republicans like Reagan."
Most current candidates for major Republican offices aren't even close to the man they claim as their political guide. In fact, if the last five Republican presidents were judged by current Republican party standards, none of them - especially Reagan - were conservative enough for their party today.
• "All those horrible stories about Reagan being less conservative are revisionist history, written after his death."
Joshua Green, currently a senior editor at The Atlantic, was an editor at the Washington Monthly in 2003, when Reagan was still alive. His piece from that year showcases Reagan's liberal legacy.
• "Reagan NEVER had Alzheimer's symptoms while he was in office."
Legendary CBS reporter Lesley Stahl was in a position to have almost daily access to the President. In her book Reporting Live, published in 2000, she relates a story that almost certainly disproves that myth - and also tends to match what is known about the medical progression of Alzheimer's.
• "All you media people didn't REALLY know President Reagan - so you don't know how he REALLY was."
That may be true for some media people. However, President Ronald Reagan's son, Ron Reagan - who has also been a member of the media - had the same kind of nearly unlimited access that most sons do to their fathers. In his recent memoir, My Father at 100, Ron Reagan busts many of the myths - on all sides - that others have constructed about his father.
Keith Olbermann announced his plans today. If you’ve ever heard any of Keith Olbermann’s announcements, you know you may want to wait for the Cliff Notes version. Keith is going to Current TV. Wow. A lot of people aren’t even sure Current TV is still currently on TV. Current TV doesn’t have a lot of current viewers, even by cable TV standards. I think its ratings are somewhere between MTV 9 and the Farsi language business channel.
As part of the deal, Olbermann will have an executive roll at and an equity stake in Current TV. Well, I guess one way to keep him from fighting with his bosses is to make him one of them. Incidentally, Comcast owns 10 percent of Current TV. But then I think Comcast owns at least 10 percent of everything. Olbermann fled NBC as they were being taken over by Comcast, but he evidently couldn’t find any media outlet that was totally free of Comcast. Ten percent Comcast was the best he could do. Still, it might be a brilliant move by Current TV. At MSNBC, Keith Olbermann drew a million viewers per night. I don’t know if Current TV has drawn a million viewers total yet.
There are rumors that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak may travel to a clinic in Germany as part of a graceful exit strategy. What exactly is graceful about telling a dictator to go to Germany? Mubarak may go to a clinic near Baden-Baden for a “prolonged health check.” Perfect, reform in Egypt goes forward while Dr. House and his team take a look at Hosni.
Also in Egypt, an executive from Google who helped organize the protests has been released from jail. Google exec Wael Ghonim had disappeared last month. Did anyone think of conducting a Google search? There were rumors that Ghonim had been taken into custody, but they were all marked “citation needed.”
Finally, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is out pushing his new book. Where? In the areas north, east, south, and west of Barnes & Noble. Now Rummy says that claiming that there were weapons of mass destruction in sites round Baghdad and Tikrit before the invasion was a “misstatement.” Call me skeptical, but when a misstatement perfectly serves your agenda, it’s usually a lie.
Enraging both the far left and right (but what doesn't nowadays?), President Obama stopped by the US Chamber of Commerce yesterday with a simple message: here's what we're doing for you, now let's see some jobs...
Republicans in the House are expected to quietly pass legislation today to extend some of the most controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act through the end of the year. Those provisions include allowing investigators to look at an individual's library records, to wiretap their phone, and to conduct surveillance on them. The White House - and Democratic and Republican leadership in Congress are trying to figure out a way to extend these provisions through the end of 2013 - but for those of us who are uncomfortable with the clear overreaches of power and destruction of civil liberties - we just may have a new ally to derail long-term extensions...the Tea Party.
Many new Republican Members of Congress have signaled they will be not support permanent extension of the PATRIOT Act - citing what they call intrusion from big government. And they're right - the PATRIOT Act is an instrument of control created by Neo-Conservatives in the wake of September 11th. In the last two years - there's been a lot of talk about government tyranny - mostly in regard to healthcare and taxes. But there's been little talk about ACTUAL tyranny - the PATRIOT Act.
When it comes to taking on our military-industrial-security complex - it looks like common ground between progressives and the Tea Party may be found after all.
-Thom
(Do you think some good will come of this? Tell us here.)
Did you go to a Super Bowl party yesterday? If you didn’t, you missed the Pittsburgh Steelers serving up turnovers. The Super Bowl has become like a national holiday—everybody eats and drinks too much, and at a certain point they all forget what it is they’re observing. If you don’t recall, the Green Bay Packers beat the Steelers. Green Bay and Pittsburgh are both small market teams. As Bill Maher points out, the NFL is basically built on a socialist economic model of sharing the wealth, which has the effect of creating more wealth for everybody. The reason a socialistic system isn’t used in the rest of the American economy is that more wealth for everybody isn’t evidently the goal of everybody. It seems some people prefer having more wealth for some people.
Before the game, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly interviewed President Obama (video below). Out of respect for the office of the President, O’Reilly refrained from shouting over President Obama’s answers. He just talked over them. Obama’s answers were cut off more times than Ben Roethlisberger’s passes. Every time Obama opened his mouth, you heard Bill O’Reilly’s voice. It was like watching the E-trade baby.
Chrysler aired a two-minute Super Bowl commercial announcing that Detroit is back. The Chrysler ad sent a very positive message—that Chrysler now has enough money to afford a two-minute ad during the Super Bowl. Hey, the entire Chrysler bailout was more than worth it, if it meant two fewer minutes of commercials for GoDaddy.com. See all the ads here.
In back-to-the-real-world news, Hosni Mubarak’s family fortune is estimated to be around $70 billion. He amassed tens of billions of dollars while serving as Egypt’s president. Thank God we live in country where politicians have to wait to become lobbyists to cash in at that level. Egypt is run as a personal fiefdom by one guy with $70 billion. No one person could do that in America. In America, it takes two Koch brothers to do that. Let me get this straight—Mubarak has 70 billion dollars, and he’s attacking people with camels? For that kind of money he should be able to attack people with endangered species. Mubarak should have sent a bunch of snow leopards and white rhinos into the protesters.
STARK: Hi, Rush. I, um… I’m calling because… Well, first of all, I’m a liberal, and I seriously don’t understand this, uh, Reagan idolatry on behalf of conservatives. I’ll get… I’ll give you my reasons. Instead of privatizing Social Security, he raised taxes. We’re all paying higher taxes today out of our paychecks every single week because he decided to save Social Security. He –
RUSH: Wait, wait. Hold it. I need to go…
RUSH: Wait. Jeez.
STARK: The Greenspan Commission. He signed it into law, and it raised taxes on Social Security.
RUSH: What…? Wait, you’re talking about Reagan or Clinton?
STARK: I’m talking about Reagan. Reagan did that. He raised taxes on Social Security. He negotiated with terrorists, sending — over and over again — arms to Iran in exchange for hostages perform by contrast Jimmy Carter didn’t give an inch to the Iranians.
RUSH: What in the world…?
STARK: Not an inch. Instead Reagan (crosstalk)
RUSH: Testing the true depth of my politeness here on this call, folks.
STARK: Say that again?
RUSH: Let me ask you a question. What do you think, given all this that you believe, when you hear Obama and the Democrats cite Reagan as they have been doing since about a week before the State of the Union?
STARK: It’s funny you ask that. Because as a liberal I think Obama owes his presidency to Reagan. They’re both kinda stuffed suits that say one thing and then do another. Obama hasn’t been anywhere near liberal enough for me. He said he’d close Guantamano (sic), he hasn’t done that.
RUSH: Yeah.
STARK: He said he’d help people out with foreclosures, he hasn’t done that.
RUSH: I feel for you on that.
STARK: But Reagan, I mean, amnesty to people who are breaking the law and living in the country illegally. He said, “Forget about it. Stay here forever.” He cut and ran from Lebanon. How many hundreds of Marines were killed –
RUSH: Yeah.
STARK: — and he just decided, “Well, you know, instead of the fighting the bad guys I’m gonna run away”?
RUSH: Yeah.
STARK: Why is Reagan a hero to conservatives?
RUSH: “Why is Reagan a hero to conservatives?” I don’t think you… Given what you’ve said, and I’m not trying to avoid the question, I don’t think you’d ever understand it.
STARK: Well, he’s a tax raiser, an amnesty giver, a cut-and-runner, and he negotiated with terrorists. Why is he a hero to conservatives? I don’t think you understand it.
RUSH: No, I do. Most assuredly I do. I just don’t think that you would understand it. Where did you get this silly notion that Reagan raised taxes on Social Security? What websites do you read? Where did you pick that up?
STARK: Look up the Greenspan Commission. It’s not too hard to find. I mean, it’s a matter of history.
RUSH: Where did you get it? I mean, you’re asking me questions. I’m just reversing one on you here.
STARK: I’m sorry. It’s just general knowledge. It’s something I’ve known for a long time. I can’t remember where I got it from.
RUSH: You can’t remember? You’ve never heard of a website called Media Matters which highlighted it yesterday?
STARK: (static) Oh, no. I know Media Matters very well but that’s not where I got it.
RUSH: Oh, not where you got it. It’s an amazing coincidence.
STARK: (static) I mean, I’m a liberal. Of course I know Media Matters.
RUSH: Amazing coincidence out there.
STARK: They’re a fantastic website. But why are you dodging the question? I want to know why a tax-raising, amnesty-giving, cut-and-running, negotiating-with-terrorists guy is a hero to the conservative movement.
RUSH: Well, because you understand Reagan in a way that is flawed. You –
Your call is actually kinda interesting because you represent the impossibility of “bridging the gap.” Somebody like you just has to be defeated. There’s no crossing the aisle and finding common ground with you. You’re free to be who you are, don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to insulting. I’m just saying, you are unreachable. You don’t want to be reached. T his picture of Reagan, you’ve just described somebody you should love, and you hate him! You just described somebody you should absolutely love, all these things. He’s an anti-conservative, as you say, but you don’t love him. You’re having trouble understanding why he’s viewed as heroic to a lot of people.
I could talk to you about anti-communism. I could. You want to talk about amnesty? Yeah, that was Simpson-Mazzoli, and that was one-and-a-half, two million illegals; and he was told, “Okay, if we’re gonna do this, this is it, then. We’re gonna secure the borders and that’s it.” It’s the same thing with every tax increase he signed. It was also accompanied by promises to cut spending, and it never happened. Reagan’s not perfect. Nobody is. But I think the proof of Reagan is the fact that when your guys get in trouble, who do they seek to associate themselves with? Remember, Obama and these people are all about getting votes.
The fact that he’s trying to surround himself with Reagan, the fact that he’s trying to position himself with Reagan is the best indication anybody could have of what this country really thinks of Ronaldus Magnus. I think if you want to focus in on hypocrisy, you’ve got far more of it on your side of the aisle to explain and dig through than we do. Reagan was forced to raise payroll taxes by a crisis in Social Security in 1983. He endorsed that rescue plan that was written by Alan Greenspan. It was reluctant. He was not a big supporter of that. Remember, Reagan did not have a congressional majority with him.
Everything he got, the tax cuts, he had Democrats outnumbering him in the House and Senate everywhere. There were certain realities that he faced. But the biggest tax increase on Social Security was authored by none other than Bill Clinton. But did you understand the notion? Ronald Reagan fought for America. He loved America. He feared where the left, based on history, wanted to take the country. Ronald Reagan set the stage for the end of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan defeated Soviet communism without firing a shot. I don’t know… But none of that would matter. So you, sir, a nice individual, I’m sure you’re a fine guy (probably not too much fun at a ball game, unlike Bill Clinton), but still, you illustrate that people like you just have to be defeated, not met halfway and gotten along with. I mean politically.
According to a New York Times report - despite the surge of US troops in Afghanistan - the Taliban is operating secret governments across the country. For example in the Ghazni province - the Taliban is running a shadow government that collects taxes, runs schools, adjudicates civil disputes, and cooperates with villagers in military operations. It looks like the US strategy to weaken the Taliban is failing - and a new report by New York University's Center for International Cooperation knows why.
According to the report- the major mistake made by George W. Bush - and now carried on by President Obama was grouping the Taliban and Al-Qaeda together as one enemy. In reality - the two organizations are vastly different - and had the US separated the two and worked with more moderate Taliban forces - they could have vanquished Al Qaeda from the region and prevented the insurgent onslaught that's been taking place for several years now. Instead we're in a quagmire today. It's time for a new direction in Afghanistan - let's bring the troops home.
-Thom
(Should President Obama group the Taliban and Al-Qaeda together as one enemy? Tell us here.)
The big question is whether Mubarak is on board for this departure. It’s like a going-away party and a surprise party rolled into one. “Surprise…You’re going away!” Mubarak might not want to go on his “Day of Departure.” It’s like an episode of A&E’s Intervention. “Hosni, all of your bags are already packed for you. All you have to do is say yes.” Maybe right now Mubarak is in a room with Candy Finnegan and a bunch of people reading letters that say “Hosni, your dictatorship has negatively affected my life in the following ways… Over the past 30 years I have watched you abuse emergency rule until I don’t even recognize you any more.” Hopefully we’ll end up seeing a shot of Mubarak on an airplane with the caption “Hosni is headed for New Beginnings Dictator Rehab in San Diego, California.”
Mubarak shows no signs of willingness to step down. He’s 82, and he’s been president of Egypt for 30 years. Talk about stuck in your ways. Convincing him to step down from the presidency would be like convincing your grandmother to give up her landline telephone. “Honest, you don’t need it anymore!” I mean, Mubarak tried to break up the protests with camels, for Godssakes. That’s such a “grandpa” thing. Mubarak said in an interview “I’m fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough.” 62 years of public service? The problem is that the last 30 years of that public service was against the will of the public. Call me picky, but I don’t know if dictatorship really qualifies as “public service.” A dictator calling his dictatorship “public service” is like a kidnapper saying he was providing his victims with housing.
Unemployment dropped to 9 percent last month—the lowest it’s been in two years. The bad news is that, although unemployment went down, job creation numbers failed to meet expectations. Part of the reason that fewer jobs were added than expected are the severe snow storms last month. Well, that just gives conservatives another reason to deny global warming—it’s hurting the unemployment numbers for Obama. 886,000 people in the survey said they did not work in January because of severe weather. We can’t get the unemployment numbers to thaw out until we get the country itself to thaw out.
Who's screwed? Voters. Republicans are exploring a new strategy to win elections in the future - repealing the 1965 Voter Rights Act. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli recently said that his state has, "outgrown racism" and should be exempted from many of the requirements of the Voting Rights Act - which prevent state lawmakers from carving out congressional districts to suppress or isolate minority voters or use tactics to intimidate minorities.
In an interview with ThinkProgress - former Republican Senator Norm Coleman agreed with Cuccinelli and admitted that Republicans have a lot to gain if the Voting Rights Act is repealed, saying they could pick up as many as 15 to 20 new seats in Congress. So let's see - the Republicans want to flood our democracy with secret, corporate cash - they want to require voters to have expensive government ID - they want to take down organizations like ACORN who help register minority voters - they often practice voter caging to purge potential voters off the rolls if they move out of a house and forget to update their address - and they engage in the most negative campaigning to turn voters off altogether and suppress the turnout.
Now - they want to gerrymander districts to limit the impact of the minority vote. Do these guys even want a democracy? Or - do they want decades of rigged elections to bring about one party rule...like Egypt.
-Thom
(Do you think the Act should be repealed? Tell us here.)
Street protests are continuing in Egypt. This has been going on a long time, even by oldest-civilization-on-Earth standards. No more camels have been involved. I guess Hosni Mubarak decided not to try to disperse the protesters by emptying the Cairo zoo. But Mubarak supporters attacked the protesters with clubs, rocks, and knives. Do the hired Mubarak thugs get paid extra for causing bloodshed? Or are they just gung-ho employees trying to impress the boss?
The new Egyptian prime minister denied the government was involved in the attacks, and then called it a “blatant mistake.” Make that two mistakes. If you really have nothing to do with something, you’re not the one to say “oops.” The prime minister said “Everything that happened yesterday will be investigated so everyone knows who was behind it.” Well, while an investigation is a good idea, I can assure you we already know who was behind it. Who beside the government would have orchestrated the attacks yesterday? The Egyptian Camel Association? If there is one, I bet Michael Brown is in charge of it.
A lot of conservatives don’t understand the differences between Iran in 1979 and Egypt now. And a lot of them just don’t want you to understand the differences. Despite what rightwingers are saying, Egypt in 2011 is not Iran in 1979. Conservatives just like to think it’s 1979 because that would mean we’re looking at 8 years of Ronald Reagan. The main opposition figure in Iran 1979 was the Ayatollah Khomeini, a fundamentalist religious leader. In Egypt 2011 the main opposition figure is a Nobel Peace Prize-winner who holds a PhD from NYU. The irony is that the people who confuse Iran with Egypt have a lot more in common with Khomeini than they do with Mohamed ElBaradei. The protests in Egypt are secular. The protesters want democracy and opportunity, not religious fundamentalism. And it’s hard for the religious fundamentalists in our country to understand that. It’s quite possible that this revolution will take Egypt closer to American values while at the same time rejecting the long-standing policies of the American government. America would do well to do the same.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics - lobbying money actually went down last year. After a record high of $2.5 billion spent in 2009 to influence Members of Congress - there was a slight drop off in 2010. Does that mean lobbying went down - or was the bar just set too high in the middle of the health reform debate? Or something else that nobody's discussing? The President of the American League of Lobbyists blamed the poor economy for the slight decline in lobbying dollars. But the dirty little secret - the unspoken reality - is that since the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited election spending directly on TV by corporations and billionaires - laundering that money through is increasingly obsolete. Instead - transnational corporations, billionaires, and foreign governments just cut out the middleman and buy their own candidates for elected office. Goodbye, Democracy - Hello, American Oligarchs and Oligopoly.
-Thom
(What do you think will happen now? Tell us here.)
Stacy Burke is a semi-well-known Fetish Model, Actress, Web-Mistress, Wrestler, Stunt Woman, Ex- Hugh Hefner Girlfriend, Promoter & Merchandise Designer. She LOVES home brewed Beer and Music, Especially Surf Punk!!
