December 2010 – Page 11

The $500 Million ChickenHawk

Posted by TomCat at 2:17 am Politics

Dec 102010

It must be international bad negotiation week. I’m not talking about Obama’s gift of Christmas cowardice to the Republican party. From the extreme right, a major criminal corporation is may cheating their stockholders by paying $500 million, just to keep one rather worthless ChickenHawk and three of his sycophants out of prison.

As ThinkProgress previously reported, earlier this month, the Nigerian government moved to “charge former Vice President Dick Cheney in a massive bribery case involving $180 million in kickbacks paid to Nigerian lawmakers, who awarded a $6 billion natural gas pipeline contract to Halliburton subsidiary KBR when Cheney was running the company.” As a part of the charge, the Nigerian government is seeking an arrest warrant through Interpol for the former vice president.

Now, GlobalPost is reporting that the company is in talks with the Nigerian government to arrive at a settlement. Sources within the Nigerian government informed GlobalPost that a possible plea bargain could “involve a $500 million settlement“…

…GlobalPost goes on to note that “Cheney and three other top executives could face sentences of three years in a Nigerian prison if convicted of the charges in the 16-count indictment.” One has to wonder how the employees and stockholders of the company feel about it possibly sacrificing half a billion dollars to keep Cheney and other executives out of jail… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Is he worth it? If I was a stockholder, I’d be screaming, not only over the $500 million, but also the missed opportunity for profit. Progressives would have contributed a bunch in small donations to pay for his plane ticket to Nigeria.

Now I’ll have to change the poll. Annoyed

Open Thread–12/10/2010

Posted by TomCat at 2:16 am Open Thread, Personal

Dec 102010

Yesterday I caught up on comments. I don’t know how I’ll do today, because I need to get as much rest as I can. Tonight I co-chair our CoDA group at a time when I’m usually sleeping.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:02 (average 4:56). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Christian Science Monitor: Senate Republicans blocked what might have been a last-ditch effort to repeal "don’t ask, don’t tell" before next year, when any effort to repeal the law is expected to become substantially more difficult.

Did LIEberman lie when he said he had 60 votes, or did his fellow Republicans lie to him?

From Think Progress: Members of the hate-filled Westboro Baptist Church announced today that they will picket outside Elizabeth Edwards’ funeral this weekend. The Westboro Church is well known for holding publicity-seeking anti-gay stunts at funerals, particularly at those of U.S. soldiers.

Pseudo-Christian Republican Theocons have no shame.

From Portland Examiner: Thursday Oregon Representative Peter DeFazio introduced a non-binding proposal to reject President Obama’s tax compromise, a proposal that received overwhelming support from the House Democratic Caucus.

It took an Oregonian to lead the way.

Cartoon:

Happy Human Rights Day!

Breaking: House Democratic Caucus Rejects Bad Deal

Posted by TomCat at 9:18 am Politics

Dec 092010

9house

The Democratic Caucus of the House of Representatives has just met and the majority voted not to accept, without modification, Obama’s surrender to Republicans on income tax cuts and estate tax giveaways for millionaires and billionaires.

We do not know whether Pelosi will bring it to the floor as is. If she does, it will likely be passed by a minority of Democrats and a majority of Republicans, a sad epitaph. She should not do so. If she does not, we’ll need to wait to see what changes are made.

Stay tuned.
Update: Pelosi says she will not bring it to the floor, as is.

DADT: Is 60+ Votes Still Too Little?

Posted by TomCat at 1:57 am Politics

Dec 092010

I keep hearing that Obama, as Commander in Chief, should simply kill DADT by executive order. As much as I’d love to see it, it’s more complex than than. First, ending DADT is not that same as Truman ending segregation in the military. Segregation was always an executive branch policy. There was no law passed by Congress mandating it. The President does not have the Constitutional authority to issue an executive order that contradicts the law. Just because Bush did it 478 times weekly, that does not make it OK. Even if he could, how long would his order hold up, if a Republican gains the White House? The best way to end DADT is for Congress to repeal it. The next best is for the courts to declare it unconstitutional. The problem remains Republican obstruction.

Senate Republicans are making a bad and dangerous gamble in stalling the inevitable end of the military’s useless “don’t ask, don’t tell” anti-homosexual policy.

Arizona Sen. John McCain continues to lead an increasingly shrinking minority in the Senate bent on forcing their will on a huge majority of Americans, a huge majority of members of the military, a growing list of fellow conservatives, and even a huge majority of fellow members of the Senate. That overwhelming majority spread across the country has made it unequivocal that they want gays to serve openly in the U.S. military.

McCain and company have run out of excuses to continue stonewalling the measure.

Not only have a vast number of military and Pentagon leaders agreed that no harm will come to troops or readiness by ending the ridiculous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but an extensive study of the issue by the Pentagon assures all Americans that this is only a big deal to the close-minded politicians holding it up, none of whom will serve in the military alongside a gay soldier.

The rest of the country has moved beyond the dark days of homophobia that harken back to Jim Crow laws and a time when members of Congress just like McCain made almost identical arguments about integrating blacks and whites in the military.

This vastly overdue change is in the works and can’t be stopped. It can only be repeatedly delayed by stonewalling bullies… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Aurora Sentinal>

Even though it has become clear that the Senate whip-count for repeal is at least 60 votes, negotiations broke down last night.

The negotiations being over how many amendments Republicans can offer to the Defense Authorization bill and how much time they’d get to debate them.

Of course this is a part of the ongoing efforts by Republicans to run out the clock. But as I argued earlier, Harry Reid must not let them do it.

… if Senate Republicans insist they need the time, give it to them. Take away their stated reason for not having a vote and let them have the national stage for two weeks to make their case — because God knows they’ll never be able to keep a lid on the bigotry fueling their opposition for that long.

And again:

Harry Reid may want wrap things up and get home for the holidays, but the fact is this lame-duck session can run right up until the 112th Congress is sworn in on January 5.

We’ve heard a lot of whining from Senate Democrats in recent days about wanting to fight — well here’s their chance. They need to put down the eggnog, put off their extended holiday break and fight to end the military’s official policy of discriminating against millions of Americans.

Democrats need to fight. For once… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Keith Olbermann discusses the lame duck Senate with Chris Hayes.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ben Nelson and Leg Hound Harry Reid want to go home? They have 60+ votes. They should stop whining and do their job… for once.

Cyber War Over Wikileaks

Posted by TomCat at 1:56 am Politics

Dec 092010

I haven’t had much to say over the Wikileaks controversy so, mainly because I have been preoccupied with other issues that I considered more important at the time. Now, however, online activists, for good or ill, have responded to Obama administration attempts to silence Julian Assange, using tactics reminiscent of Nixon’s pursuit of Daniel Ellsberg, with attacks on companies that have cooperated with the administration. If the our government thinks that Assange has committed a crime, let them charge him. However I must oppose attacking his means to operate by making allegations of criminality without specific charges to back them up.

Internet vigilantes stepped up attacks in support of WikiLeaks on Wednesday, downing Visa’s web site in a widening protest against a handful of companies that banned the secret-spilling site after it began publishing hundreds of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

The outages, organized by the group Anonymous under the banner “Operation Payback,” have taken the battle between WikiLeaks supporters and opponents over web censorship to the streets, so to speak, sparking a series of tit-for-tat retaliations that appeared to be growing at the time this article was posted.

At stake is not just the future of WikiLeaks, the protesters seem to believe, but freedom on the net in general — a principle worth defending by any means possible, however dubious.

“There are people that want to send a message that the Internet is a sovereign territory,” according to Barrett Lyon, CEO of 3Crowd and one of the early pioneers in fighting DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks from 2000 to 2006.

Online speech and corporate attempts to control it have sparked firefights before, but the naked control of commercial service providers over WikiLeaks’ cash flow and internet presence has sparked an unprecedented reaction that may not be easily brought to heel… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Wired>

Keith Olbermann and author, Jim Moore, add depth.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Bear in mind, that Assange is not directly responsible for the actions taken on his behalf. The publication of innocent individuals’ credit card information is not in character with what Assange has done to date.

To the best of my knowledge, all the information published has been carefully redacted to avoid exposure of individual operatives and threats to national security. Rather than using extreme measures against Assange, the administration might find that transparent, honorable behavior is a better way to avoid embarrassment.

A Facebook Clone for Republicans!

Posted by TomCat at 1:55 am Politics

Dec 092010

I’m not a big fan of Facebook. I had a flirtation with it for a few months, found Farmville totally addictive, and ended up spending so much time consuming their fast food for the mind, that it was interfering with my blog and with my life. Worse yet, I’ve seen a few lefty bloggers succumb to their siren song and stop blogging. Now there is a Facebook clone that caters to the racism and bigotry of the Republican base. So I wonder, can the white supremacist version numb Republican minds any more than they already are?

It looks like Facebook. It apparently works like Facebook. But the Terms of Use, not to mention the name, might give you a clue that this definitely isn’t Facebook.

Meet AryansBook.com.

“AryanBook [sic] is a racialist, WHITE ARYAN PRIDE Social Network for Whites Only! Niggers, Jews, Mexicans, and Muds and other non-white trash aren’t allowed!” the Terms of Use page declares, even though the actual website address is aryansbook.com, with a “s.” “All anti-white, pro-Jewish, pro-nigger, pro-faggot or other communist trash is hereby banned on this Network!”

On AryansBook’s home page, underneath a world map that looks like the one that has identified Facebook’s home page, is the phrase “14 W.P.W.W. 88”: 14 for the infamous “14 Words” credo of white nationalism, the initials for the slogan “White Pride World Wide,” and 88 for two iterations of the eighth letter of the alphabet, h, meant to represent “Heil Hitler.”

The real Facebook — the global social network service with more than a half-billion subscribers — isn’t amused that its familiar look is being copied by a white supremacist.

“We’re aware of this website, and our legal team is considering what action to take,” Simon Axten, Facebook’s manager for public policy, told Hatewatch in an E-mail. “We’re also investigating the website owner.”

That would be music promoter, entrepreneur and accused con man Chris “Big Poppa” Hogan of Heber Springs, Ark., who earlier this year was the Arkansas state leader and mid-South regional coordinator for a faction of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations before he resigned in late November. He registered Aryansbook.com on Nov. 16… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <SPLC>

Will they offer online games, perhaps Lynchville? It may even be positive of it keeps Republicans exploring their hate-fantasies there, instead pf perpetrating them in real life.

Open Thread–12/9/2010

Posted by TomCat at 1:54 am Open Thread, Personal

Dec 092010

Yesterday I never made it back to reply to comments, because, having been up all night, I slept almost all day. I hope to do better today.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today it took me 4:24 (average 4:48). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From McClatchy DC: Despite weak demand in the U.S. and Europe, oil prices climbed this week to near $90 a barrel and gasoline prices have passed $3 a gallon on the West Coast and parts of the Northeast.

Why? If demand is down and supplies are plentiful — and they are — why would prices be going up?

Because Wall Street speculators are driving up oil and gasoline prices again — just in time to dampen holiday cheer.

When gas prices were skyrocketing during the Bush Regime, I said that speculation, not demand, was driving it. Thanks to the people who didn’t vote in November, there is no chance to get the needed regulation to prevent it before 2013.

From LA Times: The House passed a landmark youth immigration bill known as the Dream Act on Wednesday night largely along party lines, but the measure faces a tough test in the Senate as Democrats struggle to pass priority legislation in the waning days of this Congress.

Now it goes to the Senate to die.

From Alternet: Glenn Beck might, for once, be right: the government is coming for your gold. But only if you happened to buy it from one of Beck’s advertisers, the Superior Gold Group. At the request of prosecutors from LA County and Santa Monica city who have filed a civil suit against the company, Los Angeles County judge has ordered that Superior Gold be placed into receivership and all of its assets—bank accounts, real estate, and presumably gold stored for customers—frozen. On Monday, a court-appointed lawyer actually physically seized control of the company, presumably to prevent further wrongdoing. The lawsuit alleged that among other things, Superior had defrauded its customers by overcharging them, fraudulently inducing them to buy overpriced collectors’ coins rather than the bullion that they wanted, and taking customers’ money for coins they never produced.

Farewell to the Golden Fleece. We’ll never get all his advertisers to turn away from him, because some are just as warped as he is.

Cartoon:

What’s on your mind?

Obama: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN

Posted by TomCat at 2:29 am Politics

Dec 082010

And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. [Dan. 5:25-28, KJV]

After a day to think further about the deal reached between Barack Obama and the Republican leadership, with zero input from his own party, I am more convinced that it is not acceptable. The three tax credits he says Republicans oppose include one that Republicans campaigned in favor of and two that were added to the stimulus package to attract Republican votes. I did not realize that the one year payroll tax holiday was 33% reduction in Social Security withholdings. That is an open door for Republicans to say that benefits should be reduced as well. In short, Obama gave up huge tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. He gave up huge estate tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. All he got in return was a too-short extension of unemployment benefits and nothing for the 99ers. I am convinced that Republicans will cave-in on unemployment, if Democrats hold their ground. On top of all this, Obama had the audacity to lecture the very people who put him in office.

When debating with Republicans, the president uses tough rhetoric, and he dished some today. He said he was ""itching for a fight on a whole range of issues." But when talking about Democrats, he has the intensity associated with family arguments. He was as heated as he gets in public (still not warm enough for your hot chocolate, but above his baseline, which is the serving temperature for white wine). He warned liberals of being "sanctimonious" and engaging in a no-win political fight simply to stir up their bodily humors. He compared it to the last dead-end fight liberals wanted to wage—over the public option during the debate over health care reform, in which they were willing to give up the chance to extend insurance to millions for a narrow ideological crusade… [emphasis added]