Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays Everyone ! :)

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-

BREAKING: Minutes ago, the FCC passed new rules -- written by corporations -- that will end Net Neutrality !

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For the first time in history, the U.S. government approved corporate censorship of the Internet, putting the future of online free speech at risk. Unbelievably, the person leading the charge was Obama appointee Julius Genachowski.


This violates President Obama's campaign promise to protect Net Neutrality, but some media are reporting the corporate spin that this is a "Net Neutrality compromise." It's not -- there's no such thing as half a First Amendment. We need to set the record straight.


*Today's FCC Net Neutrality rules from Chairman Julius Genachowski -- written by Comcast and AT&T, the companies the FCC is supposed to regulate -- broke Obama's promise and allow discrimination and corporate censorship online. Read the 3 reasons why to learn the truth.


Con't..

http://act.boldprogressives.org/go/2751?akid=3035.246289.DKsOO7&t=3

**

Try & Pay Attention People ! Or, Is That Too Much To Ask ?

--

(meant for Teabaggers,Libertarians & The Self Righteous Right)

You know,The Hypocrites R Us crowd..

--

It sure has been & continues to be,great for the richest 2% .. Unless you have a Social Conscious,at all..

--



--

We’re So Fu*ked !

--

With American Politics in the state that it is in now..

No wonder poor Miley Cyrus is sucking down on that big old bong ! ;)

Deja Vu .. All Over Again !

--

In Latest Compromise with GOP, Obama Agrees He is a Muslim

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Place of Birth ‘Negotiable,’ President Says

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – In his latest effort to find common ground with Republicans in Congress, President Barack Obama said today that he was willing to agree that he is a Muslim.



Differences over his religious orientation have been a sore point between the President and his Republican foes for the past two years, but in agreeing that he is a Muslim Mr. Obama is sending a clear signal that he is trying to find consensus.

“The American people do not want to see us fighting in Washington,” Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House. “They want to see us working together to improve their lives, and Allah willing, we will.”

Con't..

The Borowitz Report

--

Thx Gloryoski..

--

Please Support This Petition !

We Need Jobs, NOT Tax Cuts For The Top 2% or A BS Deficit Commission !

Just Read Some Economic History, Let's Say Covering The Years 1928 thru 1934 or so..
..Economic Stimulus Creates Jobs,Which In Turn Creates Tax Revenues,Which In Turn Reduces Our Deficit..
This Isn't Rocket Science People..

The Right Wing Is Just Trying To Put Through Programs That Won't Work and,Still Are Practicing Obstructionism,So They Can Blame Pres.Obama & The Democrats For Their Economic Failures Starting Back With Bushtard..
Remember,The Repubs Believe In The Repub Party First,Country 3rd or 4th..

Now If We Can Just Get The Democrats To Show Some Much Needed Backbone,More Jobs Will Start Being Created..

But,We Need To Keep Letting The Democrats Know That They Need To FIGHT, NOT Lay Down On A Real Jobs & Economic Stimulus Program !
One That History Has Proved Will Work !

Thank you..

*******

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

**

Not Smiling Now, Are Ya !

-

Future bag boy at Wallmart !

-

Tom DeLay convicted ! !

YEA !! YEA !!






-

Alright all u Heathens,There is a God ! ! ;)


Or,hell just froze over..

-

Tom "The Old Bug Sprayer" DeLay was Convicted of Money Laundering..


Link - Raw Story

-

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Learn about Big Media and Media Consolidation

Palin: It's All About Meeeeeee.. !

-

Scary but true folks..

-



Thanks,All Hat No Cattle.net

THE MOST CORRUPT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: “UNFINISHED BUSINESS” | CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress

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THE MOST CORRUPT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: “UNFINISHED BUSINESS” | CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress

How Hank Paulson’s inaction helped Goldman Sachs

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By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Henry Paulson has received widespread acclaim for his bare-knuckled decision-making as the treasury secretary at the peak of the 2008 financial crisis, but former federal regulators say he missed multiple chances to contain the disaster.

Among the prime beneficiaries of Paulson's inaction in 2006 and 2007 was Goldman Sachs, the investment banking behemoth he ran before he was named to former President George W. Bush's Cabinet.

Paulson's failure to take steps to curb risky mortgage lending also enabled top executives of other Wall Street firms to continue cashing big bonus checks, while less privileged Americans lost their jobs, their homes and their retirement savings in the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.

Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have been widely praised for engineering the Wall Street bailouts, which avoided systemic chaos, and they'll probably get more plaudits if the government recovers much of the $400 billion in loans it made to financial institutions.

However, while Paulson has been criticized, unfairly or not, because $12.9 billion of the bailout money went to Goldman, he's drawn little scrutiny for what he did in his first 18 months in office, during the final frenzied stages of the housing bubble.

* "No one was better positioned . . . than Mr. Paulson to understand exactly what the implications of his moving against the (housing) bubble would have been for Goldman Sachs, because he knew what the Goldman Sachs positions were," said William Black, a former senior thrift regulator who delivered the harshest criticism of the former secretary.

Paulson "knew that if he acted the way he should, that would have burst the bubble. Then Goldman Sachs would have been left with a very substantial loss, and that would have been the end of bonuses at Goldman Sachs."

Con't..

*******

*Gee..It's about time these guys caught up..
Better late then never..

Dylan Ratigan,Sam Seder & some Ass Clown Wannabe Pundit..

-

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

Thanks,ToniD..

Racial Predatory Loans `Fueled U.S. Housing Crisis: Study

-
Duh !

You might want to show this Study to the GOP & the M$M/Corporate Media !

*******

By Nick Carey Nick Carey – Mon Oct 4,

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Predatory lending aimed at racially segregated minority neighborhoods led to mass foreclosures that fueled the U.S. housing crisis, according to a new study published in the American Sociological Review.

Predatory lending typically refers to loans that carry unreasonable fees, interest rates and payment requirements.

Poorer minority areas became a focus of these practices in the 1990s with the growth of mortgage-backed securities, which enabled lenders to pool low- and high-risk loans to sell on the secondary market, Professor Douglas Massey of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and PhD candidate Jacob Rugh, said in their study.

The financial institutions likely to be found in minority areas tended to be predatory -- pawn shops, payday lenders and check cashing services that "charge high fees and usurious rates of interest," they said in the study.

"By definition, segregation creates minority dominant neighborhoods, which, given the legacy of redlining and institutional discrimination, continue to be underserved by mainstream financial institutions," the study says.

Redlining is the practice of denying or increasing the cost of services, such as banking and insurance, to residents in specific areas, often based on race.

The U.S. economy is still struggling with the effects of its longest recession since the 1930s, which was triggered in large part by the housing crisis, which was in part triggered by the crash of the subprime loan market.

Con't..

Feds Sue Fox News Over Reporter Catherine Herridge's Charges Of Discrimination, Retaliation

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By SAM HANANEL

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities are suing the Fox News Network for allegedly retaliating against a reporter after she complained about unequal pay and job conditions based on her gender and age.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Fox News Channel reporter Catherine Herridge filed an internal complaint about allegedly discriminatory practices in 2007.

Con't..

*Thanks,ToniD..

`

Christine O'Donnell Witchcraft Comment from 1999 Bill Maher Show Surfaces

O'Donnell makes light of witchcraft comment



By RANDALL CHASE Associated Press Writer

LINCOLN, Del - WATCH THE VIDEO FROM REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER HERE.

Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell is making light of comments she made more than a decade ago about having dabbled in witchcraft when she was in high school.

"How many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school?" she asked fellow Republicans at a GOP picnic in southern Delaware on Sunday.

"There's been no witchcraft since. If there was, Karl Rove would be a supporter now," O'Donnell jokingly assured the crowd.

Rove, the former GOP strategist and adviser to President George W. Bush, has suggested that O'Donnell's win in last week's GOP primary cost Republicans a chance to retake the Senate seat long held by Democrat Joe Biden before he was elected vice president.

O'Donnell, a conservative Christian activist, rode a surging tide of tea party activism to an upset victory over GOP moderate Michael Castle, Delaware's longtime congressman and former two-term governor. She faces Democratic county executive Chris Coons in November.

O'Donnell's comments about witchcraft were made during a 1999 taping of comedian Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect" show.

"I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven," she said on the show, a clip of which hit the Internet as O'Donnell canceled Sunday appearances on two national news shows, citing commitments to attend church and the GOP picnic in Delaware.

"I hung around people who were doing these things. I'm not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do," O'Donnell told Maher.

"One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn't know it. I mean, there's little blood there and stuff like that," she said. "We went to a movie and then had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar."

Con't..

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/offbeat/christine-odonnell-witchcraft-comment-from-1999-bill-maher-show-surfaces-092110

*

-

Fight Washington Corruption ! !

*



1. Overturn Citizens United
2. Fair Elections Now
3. Lobbyist Reform Act

•Read about the campaign in The Nation

About The Campaign - Frequently Asked Questions

Hmm..Do you remember "The Culture Of Corruption" ?

Well,it's Still Flourishing Within The GOP !

-



-

Thanks to You want the Republicans back in charge? Are you f-ing kidding me???
For the pic..

Get Corporations Out Of Politics !

-

Now That’s Rich

-



By PAUL KRUGMAN

We need to pinch pennies these days. Don’t you know we have a budget deficit? For months that has been the word from Republicans and conservative Democrats, who have rejected every suggestion that we do more to avoid deep cuts in public services and help the ailing economy.

But these same politicians are eager to cut checks averaging $3 million each to the richest 120,000 people in the country.

What — you haven’t heard about this proposal? Actually, you have: I’m talking about demands that we make all of the Bush tax cuts, not just those for the middle class, permanent.

Some background: Back in 2001, when the first set of Bush tax cuts was rammed through Congress, the legislation was written with a peculiar provision — namely, that the whole thing would expire, with tax rates reverting to 2000 levels, on the last day of 2010.

Why the cutoff date? In part, it was used to disguise the fiscal irresponsibility of the tax cuts: lopping off that last year reduced the headline cost of the cuts, because such costs are normally calculated over a 10-year period. It also allowed the Bush administration to pass the tax cuts using reconciliation — yes, the same procedure that Republicans denounced when it was used to enact health reform — while sidestepping rules designed to prevent the use of that procedure to increase long-run budget deficits.

Obviously, the idea was to go back at a later date and make those tax cuts permanent. But things didn’t go according to plan. And now the witching hour is upon us.

Con't..

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/opinion/23krugman.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

**
Thanks mb..

A Picture Can Say A Thousand Words !

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-
http://allhatnocattle.net/8-18-10_dr-laura-n-word.htm

More GOP Hypocrisy..

-

It's The Year 2010 & "Blogger" Is Just Now Going To Give Us A "Spam Folder" To Deal With Their Spam Problems..What A Joke !

-
I'm sure you can guess that I'm NOT impressed..
I mean it's 2010 & that's all they can come up with ?
A "spam-folder" ?
Jeebus !

*Below,my comments to "Blogger.com"
concerning their WEAK response to basic Spam & Spam in your comment section..
*Thanks for letting me vent..

*

BLOCK THE SPAM SO WE DONT HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT !
YOUR METHOED(Blogger)of reporting spam & dealing with spam is Totally Inadequate..
Hey,it's 2010 guys & your just now giving us a "Spam Folder" ? !
We Don't need a Spam Folder,
We Need for you folks at "Blogger" to get off your rear ends & get some software that "Blocks Spam" before it hits our sites..And,at the same time "Bans" the Spammer..
Yep,it's 2010..I'm sure you guys can find some software out there that can do both of the above..BUT,YOU HAVE TO LOOK !
Sorry but,I've been trying to get you people to STOP the SPAM in my comment section for months !
Please DO MORE THAN JUST GIVING US A "SPAM FOLDER"..That's got to be a joke,right ? !
M.. :(

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?&answer=187141

Robert Gibbs has sure turned into a douche..We got your boss elected,moron !

-

Gibbs’ attitude/M O is basically what’s wrong with too many Dem’s in The White House & Congress today..

They believe their own Bullshit & they won’t rock the boat for any reason
because,damn it I got this job kissing so much ass,
I’m not about to lose it because of those damn “bloggers”,
that’s for damn sure..Moo ! Moo !

*

-



bartcop

The Old Piss Down Theory..Some Moron's Still Believe..Pathetic !

-



David Stockman (Reagan's trickle-down guy)

said 25 years ago that trickle-down was a SHAM

www.bartcop.com

-

Dirty Energy Money !

-

Revealing Dirty Energy's Influence on Democracy

Dirty Energy Money is an interactive tool that tracks the flow of oil, gas, and coal money in U.S. Congress. Find out which energy companies are pumping their dirty money into politics and which politicians are receiving it.

http://dirtyenergymoney.com

-

Another Good One..

-



Thanks ToniD..

In Depth: Ralph Nader - Book TV (From Today)

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Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader was a candidate for President of the United States on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and 2000 and as an independent in 2004 and 2008. He is the author of several books, including "Unsafe at Any Speed," an indictment of the auto industry published in 1965. As a consumer and political activist he has spoken out on a variety of issues, including health care, food safety, environmental pollution, worker rights, tax reform, civil rights, and corporate influence. .

Just Add/Substitute Our Never Ending Thirst For Oil !

-

Wake Up People !

-

Same Old Rethug BS !

-

Butt Munchers to the Wealthy..



**

Thanks ToniD.. :)

The Sound Strike

-




JOIN THESE ARTISTS IN THE BOYCOTT OF ARIZONA!

http://www.thesoundstrike.net/content/sign-petition-stop-sb-1070

*

http://www.thesoundstrike.net/

*

THE STRANGE BIRTH AND DEATH OF HELA..

By SBLAKE

23 June 2010

Leaf through the pages of almost any life sciences journal, and you will come across advertisements for HeLa cells, living laboratory tools that have formed the basis of an incalculably vast amount of biomedical research since the early 1950s. Retailing at anything from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for a small vial, different versions of this indispensable elixir are hawked by laboratory supply companies the world over. Many of these products’ consumers have long been aware that there is a human story behind HeLa’s blandly commercialised ubiquity; now Rebecca Skloot’s remarkable book has appeared to fill in all the details. The moniker ‘HeLa’ is derived from the name of a young African-American mother of five, whose agonising death in a Jim Crow era charity hospital gave rise to a quiet revolution in medicine. In January 1951, at the age of 30, Henrietta Lacks was admitted to the ‘Coloured Only’ examination room of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, complaining of abdominal pain and irregular bleeding. A week later she was back to receive radium treatment for cervical cancer. Before operating, the surgeon shaved a small sample of tissue from the tumour on her cervix and sent it off to the laboratory of George and Margaret Gey (pronounced ‘Guy’), two research scientists who were engaged in a frustrating quest to keep human cells alive outside the body.

For years the Geys had been taking tissue samples from Johns Hopkins patients, nurturing the cells with warmth, nutrition and gentle movement, trying to coax them into continuing to divide. This had worked with mouse cells a few years earlier, but human cells were proving fussier. The Geys experimented with recipe after recipe for cell chow – the ‘nutritional medium’ – but their efforts resulted in, at best, a few days of survival. By 1951 a certain fatalism had settled over the lab’s day-to-day proceedings, and so when Henrietta Lacks’s sample appeared, the technician, Mary Kubicek, finished her lunch before embarking on the lonely little performance she had gone through so many times before. After sterilising everything and donning a surgical cap and mask, she cut the sample into one-millimetre dice, dropped each tiny square onto a chicken blood clot in a test tube, and covered it with a few drops of the mixture of broths, salts and umbilical cord blood that was the cells’ experimental plat du jour. She then plugged each test tube with a rubber stopper, labelled it ‘HeLa’ for the patient’s first and last names, and inserted it into a crazy rig that George Gey had fashioned out of junkyard scraps to keep the cells warm and in constant motion.

Con't..
http://sblake.livejournal.com/325375.html

D'Oh ! Our Main$tream Media Is So Pathetic..

-

Isn't This The Truth !

-

Why are we still hooked on oil ?

-

One reason?
Obama has failed to lead.

Exxon-Mobil made $35 Billion dollars
in tax free profits last year, that's why..

They buy senators like you and me buy gum.

BIG OIL is bad for America.

- Bartcop

Asshole Rethugs !

http://www.bartcop.com/

BP spent roughly 0% of profit on safety research

Tue Jun 29 - Yahoo!News

Monday night on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow laid out a rather startling set of numbers: In the past three years, BP has netted $58.3 billion in profit, yet has spent only $29 million (0.05% of the profit) on safer-drilling research. Over the same period, BP hasn't spent one penny on researching how to respond to any type of oil spill, much less one as huge as the breach currently fouling the Gulf.

As Maddow pointed out, a BP spokesman recently told the Associated Press that instead of performing its own research on combating oil spills, the company offers support to groups that (allegedly) specialize in spill response. The BP spokesman cited the Marine Spill Response Corp. as one such group.

But when a member of Maddow's staff contacted the Marine Spill Response Corp. to see what type of spill response research it had done, a spokeswoman for the group issued the following statement: "The MSRC is an operational company, not a research and development company."

You can watch the segment at Link below:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100629/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2917

Roxy Music - Avalon

-

Love this song..

Janeane Garofolo - If You Will

-

Video from Huffington Post..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/24/janeane-garofalo-on-obama_n_624540.html

Thx CeeCee.. :)

Jill Andrews – Little Less

-

*Formally of The Everybodyfields..

Jill Andrews - "A Little Less" - HearYa Live Session 4/22/10 from HearYa.com on Vimeo.

Judge who nixed drilling ban has oil investments..Gee,Who Woulda Thunk It ?

-



By CURT ANDERSON and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN-AP

NEW ORLEANS – The Louisiana judge who struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has reported extensive investments in the oil and gas industry, according to financial disclosure reports. He's also a new member of a secret national security court.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, a 1983 appointee of President Ronald Reagan, reported owning less than $15,000 in stock in 2008 in Transocean Ltd., the company that owned the sunken Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

*Feldman's 2008 financial disclosure report — the most recent available — also showed investments in Ocean Energy, a Houston-based company, as well as Quicksilver Resources, Prospect Energy, Peabody Energy, Halliburton, Pengrowth Energy Trust, Atlas Energy Resources, Parker Drilling and others. Halliburton was also involved in the doomed Deepwater Horizon project.

Feldman did not respond to requests for comment and to clarify whether he still holds some or all of these investments.

Con't..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100623/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

You Tell Em,Spock !

-

* If you missed this..

-

Tell Disney: Don’t Pay for Sarah Palin’s “Nature” Show!

Credo Action..

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/disney_discovery/?r_by=-954639-TZmAcix&rc
*

Your paying someone who is dumber than a box of rocks $1 million dollars for each of her shows ? !

Walt Disney’s head must be rolling over in his tank..

Governess To The Highest Bidder..Somethings Not Right Here People !

-

Beautiful Music - Tanya & Dorise..

-

Live From New Orleans..




Thanks Mire.. :)

FYI..Not that I get alot of comments here..

But,I've had to monitor comments here because some jerk has been
Spamming the comments section here for awhile..
And,Blogger hasn't done Swat about it & even though I've sent them the needed info they request, a bunch of times..

I think this is the same Spammer who Spammed the hell out of Sammy's blog..
I might have to stop allowing comments all together if Blogger.com
doesn't do something soon..Yeah right..
Well,hopefully it won't come to that..
I'll try to update things,when & if Blogger.com
gets off their rear ends & does something..
Thanks..

BP Oil Spill Cover Up..

Thanks Gloryoski.. :)

Yes Finally ! ! - Jeebus ! It only took 4 years..

-

Jeebus ! It only took 4 years..
About F-ing Time !

*******

NCAA hands USC two-year bowl game ban, major scholarship reduction in football

The penalties come after a four-year investigation into allegations surrounding Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and former basketball star O.J. Mayo. The Trojans will lose more than 20 scholarships in football.

Con't..

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-usc-20100610,0,7548894.story



"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Quote of the Day

-

“If you’ve ever chanted “Drill, Baby Drill”,

please report to the Gulf for cleanup duty.”

-- bartcop reader Joann L, in an e-mail


www.bartcop.com

Coach John Wooden - R.I.P.

-



Wooden’s Legacy Extends Beyond Titles


Go Bruins !

"Drill Baby Drill" - Don't The Rethugs EVER Get Tired Of Being Wrong ? Nope..They Are Just Too Corrupt To Care..

-

Here's A Good Example Of What's Mentioned Above

-

Hold BP, Halliburton and TransOcean Fully Responsible For The Gulf Oil Catastrophe !

-

The President offered the excuse the other day that the reason why
there was inadequate environmental vetting for what has become the
Deepwater Horizon oil disaster was that a provision of law had passed
which only permitted 30 days for such a review, making it a practical
impossibility. Of course, that is precisely why corporate lobbyists
for the oil industry inserted into law this crippling of any
attempted regulatory oversight in the first place.

So too with the liability limitation of million on corporate
responsibility for wreaking havoc on our environment. Again, this was
just another corporate irresponsibility safety valve, so they would
not have to even concern themselves about putting all the rest of us
in grave danger. And so they did. It is even being reported that
Transocean made a whopping $270 million profit on the destruction of
their over-insured drilling rig.

Each and every one of these corporate "get out of jail and liability
free" cards must be immediately rescinded, starting with passage of
the "Big Oil Bailout Prevention Liability Act of 2010", S. 3305.
Republican Senators like Murkowski (from Alaska, home of Exxon
Valdez) actually had the gall to argue that "smaller" oil companies
should not be held liable at all for destroying our planet.

Hold Oil Companies Accountable action page:

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1046.php

*******

Just some words of wisdom I added on my petition
to my Senators,Rep. & President Obama..

You Guy's Haven't Held Anyone Accountable For Anything In Wash.D.C. For Quite Awhile..

Your Not Exactly The Rule Of Law Government,Anymore..

But,If You Guys Ever Wanted To Get Off Your Rear Ends And Start Holding Someone Accountable For The Wrong Doing They Have Done,Beside Yourselves Of course,BP Should Be On Your Radar Big Time !

Please Don't Make The Tax Payers Pay For Everything Again..Fight BP..

And,Put Some Damn Regulation Back On The Energy Companies !
Don't You Folks Know What The Word Regulation Means ?
You Had Me Fooled..

Have A Safe & Happy Memorial Day Weekend..

-
Remember The Troops Past & Present..

And,Remember Those That Have Falling..

Thanks..








*Thx..FilthyRich for the gif..

BP wants Houston judge with oil ties to hear spill cases

Gee,Corporations Can Vote & Pick Their Own Judge..

Again,Welcome To The Banana Republic Of America !

*******

By Scott Hiaasen and Curtis Morgan | Miami Herald

MIAMI — Facing more than 100 lawsuits after its Gulf of Mexico oil spill killed 11 workers and threatened four coastal states, oil giant BP is asking the courts to place every pre-trial issue in the hands of a single federal judge in Houston.

That judge, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, has traveled the world giving lectures on ethics for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, a professional association and research group that works with BP and other oil companies. The organization pays his travel expenses.

Hughes has also collected royalties from several energy companies, including ConocoPhillips and Devon Energy, from investments in mineral rights, his financial disclosure forms show.

Hughes, appointed to the bench in 1985 by then-President Ronald Reagan, declined to comment for this report.

Con't..

Yep..This About Sums It All Up !

Jim Morin / The Miami Herald (May 26, 2010)

*2 Wars..

*

h/t to ToniD.. :)

Happy Mothers Day All ! :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Beta Band - Dry The Rain - Live - DVD HD

**

Rapture Ready Caribou Barbie..

Michele Bachmann Said What.com

*Just click on the Crazy Ones head..

JEFF BECK LIVE Cause We've Ended As Lovers

**

Happy,Happy Earth Day !

h/t.... JB.. :)

**

**

The Moody Blues - Its Up To You

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Finally a Honest Reality Show..

**

The GOP Pledge..

Bartcop.com

WTF ?

Them Good Old Family Values..GOP Style..

Court Rejects Government's Executive Power Claims and Rules That Warrantless Wiretapping Violated Law

Electronic Frontier Foundation

News Update by Kevin Bankston

Today, Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the federal district court in San Francisco found that the government illegally wiretapped an Islamic charity's phone calls in 2004, granting summary judgment for the plaintiffs in Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. Obama. The court held the government liable for violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Today's order is the first decision since ACLU v. NSA to hold that warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency was illegal. The decision in ACLU v. NSA was overturned on other grounds in 2007, and the focus of the government's litigation strategy since then has been to avoid having any court rule on the merits of the issue.

The court's thorough decision is a strong rebuke to the government's argument that only the Executive Branch may determine if a case against the government can proceed in the courts, by invoking state secrets. The Obama Administration adopted this "state secrets privilege" theory from the Bush Administration's legal positions in this and other warrantless wiretapping cases.

The government's overreaching claim of unbridled executive power finally backfired today in the Al-Haramain case. As the court wrote in its order, "Under defendants' theory, executive branch officials may treat FISA as optional and freely employ the SSP [state secrets privilege] to evade FISA, a statute enacted specifically to rein in and create a judicial check for executive branch abuses of surveillance authority."

The court, although noting the government's "impressive display of argumentative acrobatics," flatly rejected this theory. "Defendants could readily have availed themselves of the court's processes to present a single, case-dispositive item of evidence at one of a number of stages of this multi-year ligitation: a FISA warrant. They never did so." Therefore, "for purposes of this litigation, there was no such warrant for the electronic surveillance of any of plaintiffs," and the surveillance therefore violated FISA.

In his opinion, Judge Walker found that the plaintiffs had succeeded in making out a case based solely on non-classified public evidence that the government had eavesdropped on their phone calls. Because the government refused to confirm or deny that it had ever gotten a court order authorizing that wiretapping, Walker concluded that the government had failed to dispute the plaintiffs' claims. Walker then held that the government violated FISA when it spied on the charity without first obtaining an order from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to authorize the spying.

The plaintiffs also brought several other claims against the government based on the illegal wiretapping, including claims for violation of the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. However, today's order only granted summary judgment on the FISA claims. The next step is up to the plaintiffs, according to Judge Walker. Al Haramain can either voluntarily dismiss their non-FISA claims and obtain a final judgment, including damages, on their FISA claim, or they can continue to press their additional claims, in which case the court and the parties will have a case management conference to determine how to proceed. Regardless of which path the plaintiffs choose, the government is ultimately likely to appeal Judge Walker's decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will also be considering appeals in EFF's NSA wiretapping lawsuits

Hepting v. AT&T and Jewel v. NSA.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/03/court-rules-warrantless-wiretapping-illegal

**
To the NSA folks:

Screw these guys if they gave money to terrorists but,ya couldn't get a Warrant ? Come on..

And,Wiretapping American Citizens Without a Warrant is Wrong & Illegal..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

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Thx ToniD.. :)

Just One Question: Where were all these “freedom-loving” right wingers during the Bush years ?

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03/26/2010

STEPHEN PIZZO FOR BUZZFLASH

Where were all these “freedom-loving” right wingers during the Bush years ?

That’s a rhetorical question, of course. But one that should be asked of the morons now breaking windows and cutting gas lines, all in the name of “freedom from big government.”

Well an old gentleman from Chico, California is asking it. From what I’m told the fellow worked as a volunteer teaching retirees about Medicare and COBRA. Here’s his open letter to Republicans. Sorry, don’t know his name, but if you do, let me know. Pass it on to your favorite Republican/Tea Party member:

We had eight years of Bush and Cheney, but now you get mad?

•You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

•You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

•You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

•You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed..

•You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

•You didn't get mad when we spent $1 trillion on said illegal war.

•You didn't get mad when over $10 billion dollars (in hard cash) just “disappeared" in Iraq .

•You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

•You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

•You didn't get mad when they didn't catch Bin Laden.

•You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed hospital.

•You didn't get mad when they let a major US city drown.

•You didn't get mad when they gave a $1.6 trillion in tax breaks to the rich.

•You didn’t get mad when, using reconciliation; a trillion dollars of our tax dollars were redirected to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage -- which cost more than 20% more for the same services that Medicare provides.

•You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark, and our debt hit the thirteen trillion dollar mark.

No, but you did get mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.

Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans... oh hell no!

http://blog.buzzflash.com/contributors/3099

TRUTH HAS FALLEN AND TAKEN LIBERTY WITH IT

March 27, 2010.




Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts has been writing about the state of the American nation until he was blanked out by the American mainstream media. Writing one last time on the internet, the noted columnist says, “The militarism of the U.S. and Israeli states, and Wall Street and corporate greed, will now run their course. As the pen is censored and its might extinguished, I am signing off.”

There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest.

Today Americans are ruled by propaganda. Americans have little regard for truth, little access to it, and little ability to recognize it.

Truth is an unwelcome entity. It is disturbing. It is off limits. Those who speak it run the risk of being branded “anti-American,” “anti-semite” or “conspiracy theorist.”

Truth is an inconvenience for government and for the interest groups whose campaign contributions control government.

Truth is an inconvenience for prosecutors who want convictions, not the discovery of innocence or guilt.

Truth is inconvenient for ideologues.

Today many whose goal once was the discovery of truth are now paid handsomely to hide it. “Free market economists” are paid to sell offshoring to the American people. High-productivity, high value-added American jobs are denigrated as dirty, old industrial jobs. Relicts from long ago, we are best shed of them.

Wherever one looks, truth has fallen to money. Wherever money is insufficient to bury the truth, ignorance, propaganda, and short memories finish the job.

Con't..

http://bigozine2.com/feature/?p=372

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