BartBlog

Marines patrol outside a poppy field in Afghanistan

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Former congressman Charlie Wilson (D-TX) has some advice for the Obama administration. Get out of Afghanistan.

Charlie Wilson should know. His efforts to arm the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet occupation in the 1980′s led to a book and a movie called “Charlie Wilson’s War.”

In a telephone interview with the Scranton Times-Tribune of Pennsylvania, Wilson said he advocates a “calculated withdrawal” of American troops from the country, “rather than lose a lot of soldiers and treasure.” Regarding the Afghan freedom fighters he continued, “I’d rather take on a chain saw, they’re the world’s best foot soldiers, best warriors. And they’re fearless. They’re fearless, and they’ve got nothing to lose. And they have a pretty serious hatred for those who try to occupy their country.”

History shows that Afghanistan is “where empires go to die.”

Read more here: http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m10d7-Charlie-Wilsons-advice-Get-out-of-Afghanistan

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Photo by Vincente

 

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As the debris from the explosion of the sub prime mortgage bubble is still settling, the same Wall Street wizards that brought us that disaster are concocting a new exotic financial scheme to recoup their losses. This one involves life insurance policies and now the bailed-out banks are using American’s tax dollars to pull it off.

Wall Street banks intend to take over the broker side of the business by setting up an extensive network of heavily advertised “life settlement” agencies across the country. The settlements will then be “securitized” and packaged into bonds that are sold to super-rich speculators around the globe.

The New York Times reported that “Goldman Sachs has developed a tradable index of life settlements, enabling investors to bet on whether people will live longer than expected or die sooner than planned. The index is similar to tradable stock market indices that allow investors to bet on the overall direction of the market without buying stocks [and] Credit Suisse…is in effect building a financial assembly line to buy large numbers of life insurance policies, package and resell them — just as Wall Street firms did with sub prime securities.”

This may sound like a good way to recover losses from the sub prime debacle, but once again, it is the people on “Main Street” that will pay.

Read more here:

http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m10d2-Wall-streets-next-scam

Thanks for posting the Grayson quote and link, Bart! It gave me an idea for an article. We need more Dems like Grayson! I say Grayson for Senate 2012, strip Baucus of all his committee duties and replace him with Grayson.

In a speech on the House floor on Tuesday, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) stated that the Republican alternative health care proposals would force sick Americans to “die quickly”:

It’s my duty and pride to be able to announce exactly what the Republicans plan to do for health care in America… It’s a very simple plan. Here it is. The Republican health care plan for America: don’t get sick. If you have insurance don’t get sick, if you don’t have insurance, don’t get sick; if you’re sick, don’t get sick. Just don’t get sick. …If you do get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: die quickly.

Read more here:

http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m10d1-Rep-Alan-Grayson-apologizes-to-the-dead

View the video clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-usmvYOPfco

Apparently that statement created a ruckus in House, because several House Republicans such as Marsha Blackburn (TN), Patrick McHenry (NC) and Tom Price (GA) demanded an apology. It is no coincidence that these three are among some of the most extremist partisans in the obstructionist caucus seeking to derail health care reform.

Alan Grayson did apologize, but not to the House Republicans. He apologized to the dead:

According to [a Harvard] study,…44,789 Americans die every year because they have no health insurance….That is more than ten times the number of Americans who have died in the war in Iraq [and] who died in 9/11. But that was just once. This is every single year. That’s right. Every single year! Take a look at this and read it and weep….Let’s remember that we should care about people even after they are born…. Now I think we should do something about that and the democratic health care plan…makes health care affordable for those who can’t afford insurance and it saves these peoples lives. …So I call upon the Democratic members of the House, I call upon the Republican members of the House, I call upon all of us to do our jobs for the sake of America and for the sake of those dying people and their families. I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America.

View it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoITVLWpKB8.

This is truly shocking! Not because House Republicans were insulted, but because there is a Democrat that actually shows some courage and tells it like it is. Thanks to Rep. Grayson for standing up for the vast majority of Americans who want to see a public option included in any health care reform bill.

For more info:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/30/grayson-gop-plan/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howie-klein/alan-graysons-candor-hone_b_304742.html

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/study-45000-americans-die-each-year-for-lack-of-insurance/

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=27994

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/16/stocks-baucus/

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The U.S. Census Bureau released a report on Tuesday, part of the American Community Survey (ACS), that found that the overall poverty rate in the US rose to 13.2 percent in 2008. That statistic represents approximately 39.8 million Americans. See: http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/acsbr08-1.pdf.

This report is the most recent one that measures the impact of the recession on working class families and the poor. Based on the changes between 2007 and 2008, the first full year of the recession, its findings do not reflect increases in poverty and joblessness this year as the consequences of the economic crisis have become even more severe.

When Ben Bernanke said that the recession is ” very likely over,” he must have been referring to his buddies on Wall street and not the average American.

Read more here:

http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d30-American-Community-Survey-report-finds-398-million-Americans-live-in-poverty

Just for the record, I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do however, support a new scientific, forensic and independent investigation into what really happened on 9/11. There are too many questions that Lee “whitewash” Hamilton painted over.

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To what temperature do steel core columns in buildings have to be heated in order to sufficiently weaken and enable a collapse of the building?

According to the History channel, it is both “about 1100 degrees Fahrenheit” and “well over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Which is it?

The History Channel’s new documentary Life After People points out that steel structure buildings can withstand temperatures of well over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit without being compromised, while in their documentary 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction, structural engineer Matthys Levy stated that fires burning “at a temperature of about 1100 degrees [are] sufficient to cause the steel to lose half its strength [and lose] the ability to support the floors above it.”

Read more here:

http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d30-History-channel-contradicts-itself

Link includes video clips.

Bruce in WA state wants you to check out the post titled Eric Cantor’s insane rant at a Town Hall meeting. Just go broke and find a government program to help you or beg for charity. You can view it at this link:
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/eric-cantors-insane-rant-town-hall-meet

Additionally, Bruce had this to say to Cantor’s office:
“Eric Cantor is a stupid son-of-a-bitch. Just looking at him I want to kick him in the face. What an asshole.”

Bruce is a an ex-army Capt that served for 7 yrs. in the 173rd airborne. He currently works in Yelm, WA near Seattle.

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The following article is something I cannot write because I was not in Pittsburgh for the G20 summit. It is, however, relevant information and well-worth reprinting here. A lot of people have been very vocal in protesting things such as government spending, high taxes, and “socialized” health care. But there are a few that believe that 20 countries controlling 80 percent of the world’s natural resources is unacceptable. Here’s how they were dealt with:

Read more here:

http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d29-Street-report-from-the-G20

P.S.: This one made Mike Malloy’s story time with Mike last night.

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A British newspaper, The Daily Express, reported on Sunday that Saudi Arabia is “ready to allow Israel to bomb Iran’s new nuclear site.” The report cites a meeting in London between MI6 intelligence chief Sir John Scarlett, Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Saudi officials. British intelligence officers helped to uncover the plant three years ago, in the side of a mountain near the ancient city of Qom.

The city of Qom where the plant is reported located near, is one of the holiest cities in Shi’ite Islam. An attack by Israel near the city would almost certainly provoke outrage. It is uncertain how Russia, with many vital interests in Iran, would react to such an attack. Any flare up of tensions in the middle east would likely send oil prices skyrocketing.

Read more here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d28-British-newspaper-reports-Saudis-will-let-Isreal-bomb-Iran

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The number of Americans receiving aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has reached the highest level since records began being kept by the USDA in 1969. Commonly referred to as “food stamps,” there are approximately 35 million Americans receiving aid under the SNAP, which represents about 12 percent of the population. This data does not include those receiving similar aid under state programs. See: http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/SNAPsummary.htm.

A look at the increase in the amount of people who qualify for government benefits paints a disturbing picture. The U.S. is in a deep recession and bailing out banks and industries may not be addressing the core of the problem. There may be no such thing as a “jobless recovery.”

Read more here:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d26-Number-of-Americans-on-food-stamps-highest-since-records-kept

How cravenly insensitive. Senator Jon Kyl says he doesn’t need maternity care “So requiring that on my insurance policy is something that I don’t need and will make the policy more expensive.”

Wow. Could there be a more stupid, misogynist  argument? Women don’t need prostate exams so perhaps we should exclude them from insurance too. Are you really that fucking stupid senator?

Women do need mammograms and Pap tests to determine their well being.

Senator Kyl; since you feel maternity care is expendable are you okay with excluding mammograms from people’s health care too?  You okay with not detecting cancer when it’s treatable rather than when it’s a death sentence? You probably are since it’s common for insurance companies to find a way to drop coverage for cancer patients. God forbid insurance companies actually model the teachings of Jesus and help people. Profit is so much more important.

And I bet you think you are pro-life. Pro-life for the unborn but pro-fuck-off-and-die to the people who are post-born. The hypocrisy of being pro-life and anti-health care is undeniable. Your position is we should ensure every baby is born. But, after they are born you want to blame them for their social situation and deny them education and health care that will allow them to survive. Senator Kyl, you and your ilk are truly evil people.

I hope there is a hell so you can burn eternally in it for your obvious duplicity and your transgressions against other humans. No God will reward your actions.

At a hearing regarding the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act on Wednesday, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) questioned Assistant Attorney General David Kris about the discrepancy between what the bill was intended for and what it is actually used for.

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According to a July 2009 report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, however, only three of the 763 “sneak-and-peek” requests authorized under the PATRIOT Act in fiscal year 2008 actually involved terrorism. 65% involved drug cases with no apparent link to terrorism. The greatest numbers of applications were reported by judges in the District of Hawaii, the Southern District of Texas, the Northern District of Georgia, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin

Feingold: “As I recall it was in something called the USA PATRIOT Act, which was passed in a rush after an attack on 9/11 that had to do with terrorism it didn’t have to do with regular, run-of-the-mill criminal cases. Let me tell you why I’m concerned about these numbers: That’s not how this was sold to the American people. It was sold as stated on DoJ’s website in 2005 as being necessary – quote – to conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists.”

Read more here:
http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d24-Sen-Feingold-questions-use-of-PATRIOT-Act

The exchange can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSXMW2FMC7A&feature=player_embedded

I like this guy! Feingold for President 2012…

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In an interview with Spiegel on the topic of prisoner abuse at Bagram prison in Afghanistan, human rights lawyer Tina Foster said “the Obama administration has completely failed in delivering the change that was promised.”

Much ado has been made in the media after Obama announced his plan to close the prison in Guantanamo Bay. It appeared to many that it signaled a reversal of the human rights policies of the Bush administration. Not so, according to Foster. “There is absolutely no difference between the Bush administration and the Obama administration’s positions with respect to Bagram detainees’ rights.”

Read more here:
http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d23-Human-rights-lawyer-The-Obama-administration-has-completely-failed

The complete interview:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,650324,00.html

An exclusive interview with FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds by former CIA officer Philip Giraldi will appear in this week’s issue of The American Conservative.

Brad Friedman, who occassionally fills in for Mike Malloy on the Malloy show, has been on this one like stink on shit..or like Steven Jones and Kevin Barrett on the whole 9/11 thing. You can check out the BRAD BLOG here: http://bradblog.com/

Read more here: http://www.examiner.com/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m9d21-Exclusive-interview-with-FBI-whistleblower-Sibel-Edmonds-to-appear-this-week

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One may think this would be breaking news in the U.S. corporate media, but apparently stories about Kanye and Tom DeLay on Dancing with the Stars are more important information. Brad Friedman goes on to write:

Not much of a surprise by now. After all, what U.S. media would possibly care about members of the U.S. Congress (both Republican and Democratic) and high-ranking State and Defense Dept. officials taking bribes, being blackmailed, and enabling the theft and sale of U.S. nuclear secrets? Even if the allegations came under sworn and video-taped deposition by a former FBI translator who overheard such things first hand. Non-story, apparently.

Let’s hope that a conservative publication can force the “liberal media” to mention this one.