Clipmarks | Wisco's clips

Dems Move to Block WH on Vet Injuries

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:09:57 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: I don't know who's idea this was, but it's Bushian in it's disregard for veterans.

"We cannot compromise on the promise we have made to those who serve our Nation," said Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ.).

"Treatment for service-connected injuries is clearly within the responsibility of the U.S. government through the Department of Veterans Affairs -- period," said Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA).

There may be some things we can get away with going cheap on. Veterans shouldn't be on that list.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Democrats in Congress are organizing to squash a White House proposal that would require veterans to use private insurance to pay for treatment of their combat and service-related injuries.

In a letter being sent to the White House, a group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Glenn Nye (D-VA), warned that such a proposal "could harm our veterans and their families in unintended, yet very serious ways, jeopardizing their families' health care and even negatively affecting veterans' employment opportunities."

"While we strongly support your plans to increase funding for the VA by $25 billion over the next five years," the letter reads, "it is with equal conviction that we oppose the proposal to bill veterans' private health insurance plans for care and treatment of service-connected injuries or disabilities."

Tags: news

'Too Big to Fail' a Problem Too Big to Ignore

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:46:26 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: While Cloutier calls for increased oversight, I'm with Foer -- too big to fail is too big to exist.

Time to bust the trusts.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Congress should identify banks or other financial institutions that have become so large their failure poses a systemic risk and should put them under federal supervision, according to the Independent Community Bankers of America.

"Excessive concentration has led to systemic risk and the banking crisis that we now face," C.R. Cloutier, president of MidSouth Bank in Louisiana, told the U.S. House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee on Tuesday.

Albert Foer, head of the independent American Antitrust Institute, said antitrust challenges in the courts were unlikely to succeed and urged the creation of a new position in the Justice Department -- deputy assistant attorney general for emergency restructuring -- to argue for antitrust concerns while crucial decisions were being made.

"Congress should assure that a loud competition voice is heard," said Foer, who argued the government should stop mergers that could create "an unreasonable systemic risk."

Tags: news

About Those AIG Retention Bonuses...

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:02:13 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: So they need to pay bonuses to retain good employees. That's the argument, anyway.

But the numbers show they they gave huge bonuses to 73 of their worst employees. Further, these bonuses failed to retain employees, since "eleven of those who received 'retention' bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer working at A.I.G."

There's nothing about any of this that makes a damned bit of sense. Anyone else starting to suspect that "Titan of finance" and "complete moron" are synonymous?

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Seventy-three employees were paid more than $1 million in the latest bonuses at the insurance giant American International Group, according to the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo.

“A.I.G. made more than 73 millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees, forcing a taxpayer bailout,” Mr. Cuomo wrote in the letter. “Something is deeply wrong with this outcome.”

Mr. Cuomo did not name the bonus recipients, but the numbers are eye-popping, given A.I.G.’s fragile state. The highest bonus was $6.4 million, and six other employees received more than $4 million, according to Mr. Cuomo. Fifteen other people received bonuses of more than $2 million, and 51 people received bonuses of $1 million to $2 million, Mr. Cuomo said. Eleven of those who received “retention” bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer working at A.I.G., including one who received $4.6 million, he said.

Tags: news

White House: States Can't Use Stimulus to Pay Off Debt

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:37:15 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: "Congress has not authorized the executive branch to waive any of the above statutory requirements governing the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund," Orszag wrote. "Accordingly, states' spending... must satisfy the statutory requirements."

It looks like states who want to fill their budget holes with federal taxpayer dollars will have to push for separate legislation. Somehow, I don't see Sanford begging for a taxpayer-funded bail-out for S. Carolina -- it'd look bad when he runs for president in '12.

Clip Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

White House Budget Director Peter Orszag on Monday rejected South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's request to use up to $700 million of his state's economic stimulus funds to pay down state government debt.

Orszag, responding to a letter Sanford sent to President Barack Obama last week, said the $787 billion stimulus bill Obama signed into law last month doesn't allow governors to use money intended for other purposes to instead make debt payments.

"During this severe economic downturn, Congress and the president wanted to provide states and localities with emergency funding in order to prevent the layoffs of teachers, police officers and other vital public servants," Orszag wrote to Sanford.

Tags: news

Rep. Requests Probe into Cheney Hit Squad

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:53:35 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: “If true, these operations violate longstanding U.S. policy regarding covert actions and illegally bypass Congressional oversight," Kucinich writes. "Hersh is within a year or more of releasing a book that is said to include evidence of this allegation. However, we cannot wait a year or more to establish the truth.”

Kucinich's full letter is available at Raw Story.

In my morning post, I used this assassination squad to question Cheney's sanity. Why would you do this -- along with the torture and illegal detentions -- if you didn't think it was absolutely necessary? How paranoid would you have to be?

Here's hoping Kucinich's investigation gets rolling. We need to know just how lunatic our government has been for the past 8 years.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

After comments made by a New Yorker journalist about Vice President Dick Cheney's alleged involvement in a "executive assassination ring" abroad, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) called Monday for a formal congressional probe.

Kucinich's call was concomitant with a letter he sent to House Oversight Chairman Edolphus Towns.

Describing the allegation, Kucinich writes, "Mr. Hersh made the allegation before an audience at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday, March 10, 2009" in which "he stated, ‘Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office... Congress has no oversight of it.'"

Hersh's claim is detailed here in an earlier piece by Raw Story.

Tags: news

From the Front of the War on [Libertarian] Terror

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:32:12 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: From the report:

Militia members most commonly associate with 3rd party political groups. It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitutional Party, Campaign for Liberty, or Libertarian material. These members are usually supporters of former Presidential Candidate: Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr...

Militia members commonly display picture, cartoons, bumper stickers that contain anti-government rhetoric. Most of this material will depict the FRS, IRS, FBI, ATF, CIA, UN, Law Enforcement and “The New World Order” in a derogatory manner.

Be on the lookout for anti-government rhetoric, because that has absolutely no place in a democracy. Seriously though, I can't remember the last time I heard anyone who had something good to say about the CIA or the IRS.

Still, you Ron Paul Revolutionaries better watch your step. We're on to you now.

Clip Source: donklephant.com

If you’re in Missouri, it might be better to take that old Ron Paul or Bob Barr bumper sticker off your car. A February 20 report to help Missouri law enforcement identify domestic terrorists has some alarming advice.

The report is put out by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, which is a “public safety partnership consisting of local, state and federal agencies.” It collects information on matters of homeland security and disseminates it throughout Missouri and neighboring states.

Supposedly, this is a report not meant for public distribution, but it is getting wide dissemination throughout the media. Although not one of my favorite sites because of exaggerated conspiracy theories, infowars.com has copies of the report.

Tags: news

Cheney on the Economic Crisis: 'Stuff Happens'

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:04:31 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: Faced with the employment numbers, Cheney chose to ignore them. Instead, he defended the budget deficits -- which, of course, have almost nothing to do with the economic downturn.

"There's something that's more important than the specific numbers you're talking about," he told King. "Eight months after we arrived we had 9/11. We had three thousand Americans killed one morning. ... We immediately had to go into wartime mode. ... We had major problems with respect to things like Katrina. ... All of these things required us to spend money."

"Stuff happens," Cheney summarized," and an administration has to be able to respond to that -- and we did."

9/11! 9/11! 9/11! It's like a reflex with these guys -- back them into a corner and they throw 9/11 at you. In any case, I think defending the Bush admin's economic performance is a futile effort -- that ship has sailed.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney added his voice to the bickering on Sunday, in his first interview since leaving the White House. While acknowledging to CNN's John King that "the economic circumstances that [Obama] inherited are difficult ones," Cheney also insisted, "I don't think you can blame the Bush administration for the creation of those circumstances."

"The notion that you can just sort of throw it off on the prior administration -- that's interesting rhetoric, but I don't think anybody really cares about that," Cheney stated.

Later in the interview, King put up a chart of "The Bush-Cheney Record," showing that between 2001 and 2008 that had been a leap unemployment from 4.2% to 7.6%, substantial increases in the ranks of the poor and the uninsured, and a shift in the federal budget from a yearly surplus of $128 billion to a deficit of $1.3 trillion.

Tags: news

Cheney Says Torture was 'Essential'

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:11:09 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: "President Obama campaigned against it all across the country, and now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack," Cheney said.

Here's a wild idea -- and I'm just spitballing here -- but how about people involved in the greatest counter-terrorism failure in history shut the hell up about how to fight terrorism? Seems to me that we have plenty of evidence that they really sucked at it. 3,000 people are dead because the Bush admin. couldn't be bothered to worry about Bin Laden -- they had online porn to fight.

This is like having Micheal "Brownie" Brown lecturing you on how to respond to a hurricane.

Just shut up, Dick.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

The Obama administration has endangered Americans and opened the country to further attack by reversing Bush administration anti-terrorism policies such as harsh interrogations of suspects, former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday.

Cheney told CNN's "State of the Union" that the Bush administration's "alternative" interrogation techniques were "absolutely essential" to preventing further assaults like the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Critics said those techniques amounted to the torture of prisoners in American custody.

Cheney said the administration had to grapple with the September 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks and the resulting war in Afghanistan, as well as the disaster of 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

Tags: news

AIG to Pay Out Millions in Bonuses

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:33:57 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: AIG almost had me with their argument that they were legally obligated to pay the bonuses. Then I got to this part.

"We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” [Edward M. Liddy, the government-appointed chairman of A.I.G.] wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday.

Yeah, they've been freakin' brilliant so far. When it came to bailing out car companies, the talk was about all the concessions union workers were going to have to make; they absolutely had to renegotiate their contracts. When it comes to Wall St. execs, they get every dollar they were promised -- no renegotiation is possible.

What exactly is the big freakin' difference between these two groups of employees?

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.

Word of the bonuses last week stirred such deep consternation inside the Obama administration that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the firm they were unacceptable and demanded they be renegotiated, a senior administration official said. But the bonuses will go forward because lawyers said the firm was contractually obligated to pay them.

The payments to A.I.G.’s financial products unit are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses for the company’s senior executives and 6,400 employees across the sprawling corporation. Mr. Geithner last week pressured A.I.G. to cut the $9.6 million going to the top 50 executives in half and tie the rest to performance.

Tags: news

$100 Billion in Fat Cat Tax Evasion

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:38:37 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: "The United States Treasury isn’t the only one being shorted," the Times reports. "The Tax Justice Network, a research and advocacy organization, estimates $11.5 trillion in assets from around the world are hidden in offshore havens."

So that's not just $100 billion in tax revenue from wealthy tax cheats, it's $11.5 trillion taken out of our economy and moved overseas. And this isn't some loophole, this is tax fraud -- these are hidden assets and this is criminal.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Senate investigators estimate that Americans who hide assets in offshore bank accounts are failing to pay about $100 billion a year in taxes. In good times, that’s grossly unfair and bad for the country. In times like these, it should be intolerable. The government not only needs the money, but closing down such tax scams is essential for President Obama’s rescue effort to retain public support and credibility.

Some of the banks at the center of the global financial meltdown are prominent purveyors of evasion services. UBS of Switzerland has acknowledged that as of Sept. 30, it held about 47,000 secret accounts for Americans. It has refused to disclose the names of all but a tiny number of the account holders, arguing that it would be a breach of Swiss law. But last month — after UBS got caught soliciting business in the United States — it admitted to breaking federal law by helping Americans hide assets, and the bank agreed to pay $780 million in fines and restitution.

Tags: news

NBC's 'Daily Show' Blackout Extends to Cramer's Own Show

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:56:36 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: At the end of the Martha Stewart clip, Cramer said, "Now back to business as usual." There wasn't any mention of Jon Stewart.

Look, I realize that the TDS appearance must've been a tremendous embarrassment for Cramer, but come on... This isn't something you can just laugh off. The credibility of the entire network has been brought into question in a very well-reasoned argument. Is CNBC actually journalism or is it just an infomercial for stock traders?

CNBC needs to answer that question. If it's just about money worship and BS "stock tips" straight off the fax from some PR firm, then screw 'em -- they're freakin' worthless.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Any viewers who might have decided to take in Jim Cramer's Mad Money on Friday in hopes of finding out how the CNBC host would react to the verbal thrashing he'd received from Comedy Central's Jon Stewart the night before were doomed to disappointment.

Cramer started promisingly enough. "Before we get started, I want to say something about what happened yesterday," he began soberly. "A lot of people are talking about what happened. ... Although I was clearly outside of my safety zone, I have the utmost respect for this person, for the work that they do, no matter how uncomfortable it was to be on. So I want you to take a look at this clip from yesterday of Cramer vs. Stewart!"

At that point, it was revealed that the come-on had been nothing but a tease, as the clip turned out to show Cramer helping Martha Stewart -- on whose program he had appeared earlier on Thursday -- prepare what appeared to be a banana cream pie.

Tags: news

Meet Japan's New Diplomatic Corps

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:01:20 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: The piece goes on:

"[We] would like to communicate and spread the cuteness [of Japanese fashion] by visiting many countries, and if they would come to like Japan as well." The ministry said the women would spend the next year travelling the world, promoting Japan.

What the hell, it beats giant robots.

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Foreign envoys come in all shapes and sizes but rarely decked out in miniskirts, schoolgirl uniforms and polka dot dresses adorned with bunny rabbits – until now.

The dramatic new look for Japan's diplomatic corps was unveiled by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, part of a plan to boost its soft power abroad with what it called "ambassadors of cute".

In place of the traditional buttoned-down male bureaucrat, trailing the whiff of stale cigarettes and mild distress, the perfumed power trio of Misako Aoki, Yu Kimura and Shizuka Fujioka were wheeled out for the foreign press. Representing Japan's Lolita, schoolgirl and gyaru (a youth fashion) sub-cultures, the three pop envoys from Japan's manga and animation world will be tested out at cultural festivals in Bangkok and Paris, said the ministry's head of cultural affairs, Tsutomu Nakagawa.

Tags: news

For MSNBC, Cramer/Stewart Interview Never Happened

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:08:53 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: I just got done writing about how Jon Stewart humiliated Jim Cramer on The Daily Show, so it doesn't come as any surprise that CNBC's parent network isn't willing to highlight how indefensible their financial channel's performance has been.

Still, a press blackout on a story -- one that's all over the internet, BTW -- that makes CNBC look bad isn't the best example of good journalism out there.

Clip Source: www.mediabistro.com

A TVNewser tipster tells us MSNBC producers were asked not to incorporate the Jim Cramer/Jon Stewart interview into their shows today. In fact, the only time it came up on MSNBC was during the White House briefing, when a member of the press corps asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs if Pres. Obama watched. Gibbs wasn't sure if the president had, but Gibbs did. "I enjoyed it thoroughly," the Press Secretary said.

On Cramer's network, CNBC, the subject has only come up twice today, including when master marketer/CNBC personality Donny Deutsch brought it up briefly around 1pm on "Power Lunch." "I'm a huge Jon Stewart fan," said Deutsch, "He does what he does he does his job. But I'm also a huge Jim Cramer fan. He sticks up for the little guy, he cares, he puts his neck out, and I respect that. I respect both those guys."

Insiders tell TVNewser Cramer will talk about Stewart tonight on "Mad Money" (6pmET & 11pmET).

Tags: news

Critic: Leahy's 'Truth Commission' a 'Whitewash'

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:00:11 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: Ratner's not the only one who feels this way. Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley agrees -- passionately.

"It is shameful that we would be calling for this type of commission..." Turley said. "We're obligated to investigate. This whole discussion in front of the whole world is basically saying that we are not going to comply with the promise we made, not to ourselves, but to the world."

And he's right. prosecuting torture is not optional under the treaty against torture. We're required by international law to hold torturers accountable.

Either we put these people in court or we become a nation where law doesn't mean a damned thing.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

Speaking to Raw Story, Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a human rights attorney, says he is opposing Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy’s proposed 'Truth Commission' because it doesn’t go far enough.

"We’re talking about a whitewash with Leahy. Are we some Latin American country where we don’t have a democracy robust enough to try people?" Ratner said. “[Leahy’s] essentially diffusing the issue so there’s not as much pressure on prosecution. It’s not really going to go far. [The commission is] going to divert us for a few years and we’re never going to see something come out of it.”

“Cheney has openly said that he approved the water boarding memo and that he would do it again,” Ratner said, adding, “My view is you absolutely have to have prosecutions to have deterrents [for future executive power abuses].”

Tags: news

SC Gov. Sanford to Reject Stimulus Money

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:33:59 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: Good advice, Mark. You ought to take it. Your hole's as big as it needs to be right now. The article tells us:

[H]is announcement came the same week that South Carolina's unemployment rate shot to 10.4 percent, the second highest in the nation. With those dire figures as a backdrop, national Democrats -- keenly aware of Sanford's rising national stature -- piled on.

When your unemployment's the second worst in the nation, you don't turn down funds to expand unemployment benefits. That's what most experts refer to as "stupid as all hell."

Of course, Sanford's already running for president in 2012 and is burnishing his flat-Earth economic bona fides. Too bad he feels the need to do make that run the backs of his citizens.

Clip Source: www.google.com

(AP) — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has been the leading voice among Republican governors who have criticized President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan as a pork-laden boondoggle that will plunge the country further into debt. It's won him praise from many conservatives and boosted his national profile, fueling speculation he will run for president in 2012.

But the governor's announcement this week that he may reject nearly a quarter of the money headed to South Carolina has stirred criticism in the state and elsewhere that he has placed his own political future ahead of the needs of the state's most vulnerable citizens.

"I have come to conclude that it would be a mistake to simply accept the money as offered," Sanford wrote to state legislators in announcing his decision. "When one is in a hole, the first order of business is to stop digging."

Tags: news