Getting Rolled

If only we had a President and Democratic party willing to fight. Leadership, I think it is called.

We are getting our asses kicked daily.

AMERICAblog News: Warren Buffet: Wealthiest winning class war in US:

"The real and only class warfare in America is the ultra-rich versus everyone else. And yes, they're winning in a big way and the Democrats can't figure out how to even slow it down. Heck, we even have a Democratic president that talks about Reagan as though he was one of the great presidents of the US"

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New Civil War erupts, led by super rich, GOP Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch:

"Wake up America. You are under attack. Stop kidding yourself. We are at war. In fact, we have been fighting this Civil War for a generation, since Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981. Recently Buffett renewed the battle cry: The “rich class” is winning this war. Except most Americans still don’t realize they’re losing, don’t see the prize at stake.

All this was predicted back in September 2008 by Naomi Klein, author of “Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.” Yes, we were warned that the GOP’s Reaganomics ideology would stage a rapid comeback … warned before the market collapsed … before Wall Street was virtually bankrupt. … before Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson conned Congress into $787 billion in bailouts … warned before Obama’s 2008 election"

....

“But rest assured,” continued Klein in September 2008, Reaganomics “ideology will come roaring back when the bailouts are done. The massive debts the public is accumulating to bail out the speculators will then become part of a global budget crisis that will be the rationalization for deep cuts to social programs, and for a renewed push to privatize.”"

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Infographic: How unions succeeded in making your workplace safer in the 100 years since the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

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He was against illegal wars before he was for them.

Joe Biden Warned In 2007 That He'd Impeach Bush For Waging War Without Congressional Approval

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Change and all.

Obama takes ‘unprecedented’ aim at leakers | The Raw Story:

"WASHINGTON (AFP) – Elected on a promise of a more transparent government, President Barack Obama has taken 'unprecedented' aim at leakers who divulge classified information to journalists, critics say.

'We've seen the current president bringing five prosecutions so far... against people for whistleblowing, for leaks of classified information,' said Daniel Ellsberg, famous for his 1971 leak of the 'Pentagon Papers,' which helped turn the tide of public opinion against the Vietnam War.

'All previous presidents put together brought three prosecutions... We see a campaign here against whistleblowing that is highly unprecedented in legal terms.'"

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Break that Wagging Finger

Obama hasn't 'scolding Progressives', he's deflecting all of the deserved blame for his failed policies and governance onto Progressives. Rahm had Clinton do it in 1996. Pretty damn irresponsible, if you ask me.

I'm sure Freud would have something to say about Obama's addict-like need to appease the GOP Daddies and shit on the people who elected him.

Sad what Obama has turned into. Doesn't hold anyone responsible and is never responsible for his own, many failures.

Just strengthens my resolve to only vote for one Dem (Jerry Brown) in November. I'm really not scared of the alternative.

Weak and wrong. Weak and wrong.

Obama both rallies, scolds Dems in campaign trip | al.com:

"'It's not helpful,' said John Aravosis, the editor of the progressive AMERICAblog.com. 'The base is depressed and they're depressing it even more, and it's not clear why.'

Said DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas: 'They wouldn't be in this predicament if they delivered on their campaign promises, rather than waste the last two years putting bipartisanship above action.'"

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Alas. I wish I could afford to purchase a ball that I could take to the home I can't afford to own.

Jane Hamsher: Obama's Blame Game: It's Not About Turning Out Voters, It's About Protecting Himself:

"And right now, Obama is turning the Democratic base into Martha Coakley and setting them up for the blame for any electoral failure in fall. The people who showed up to vote for him in 2008 'just weren't serious' if they 'now want to take their ball and go home.' There is no internal consistency to the narrative that the 'professional left' is suppressing turnout by criticizing Obama, but Obama is not suppressing turnout when he scolds the voters who aren't clapping loudly enough for his achievements. But few in the professional punditocracy find their way to that obvious conclusion. This isn't about motivating Democratic voters. It's about setting up a fall guy for November. The headline should really read:

Obama Distances Himself From Democratic Voters"

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The Obama Administration is 100% responsible. Don't forget it.

Do Progressives Need Tough Love or Coddling? | Talking Points Memo:

"It's time for the administration to face the fact that it is they who are responsible for 100% of the problems the Democrats now face in the upcoming midterms. It isn't the left and progressives and actual Democrats who criticized them and warned them and begged them not to sell out on issue after issue who turned people off. No polls are providing evidence that progressive criticism of the President's lackluster results on everything from the stimulus, to healthcare, the wars, climate change, financial 'reform', credit card 'reform', and a host of other issues is fueling the enthusiasm gap. Quite the contrary.

It is a total distortion and misreading of what is going on among voters to make the straw man argument that people are upset because Obama didn't do 'everything' 'overnight'. People are upset because the administration's priorities have not been addressing the problems that real people face like unemployment and foreclosure and that those things that have been done have been an almost embarrassing gruel of half measures and compromises that don't promise to solve the problems we face or prevent future problems."

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Dean/Grayson 2012

Dean Called Rahm's 'Contempt' For Base 'Devastating And Incredibly Demoralizing': Book Excerpt:

"The majority of the book looks at the efforts by former DNC Chairman Howard Dean to build a national network that could immunize the party from becoming either marginalized or regionalized. But the epilogue charts out how the style of Obama's governance drained the type of voter enthusiasm that, Dean acknowledges, was critical in those efforts.

'The White House began to believe that they could mobilize their supporters without hearing what their supporters really wanted in terms of specific change,' Dean is quoted as saying. 'The principal problem with OFA is the same one the president's having. You can't dictate to your base what's going to happen. It's got to be a two-way deal, and it hasn't been.'"

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Biden and Obama can do something that rhymes with 'buck' and includes 'off'.

AMERICAblog News: Biden: Liberals need to 'buck up':

"The President refused to challenge someone standing in the way of his agenda. Sound familiar?

The reason the Republicans have been able to filibuster nearly every single piece of legislation, the reason we have a new majority in the Senate, is because Democrats - with Barack Obama at the top of the list - have enabled the Republicans ever step of the way.

Rather than lecturing Democrats about how unreasonable they are to be upset with the President for constantly negotiating with himself, Biden would do better having a talk with his boss, and asking him why George Bush was so effective at passing his agenda, at kow-towing Democrats, and at thwarting opposition filibusters, when Bush had far fewer numbers than Obama has now in the US Senate.

60 is the new 50 because Democrats permit it be so."

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I scored 14/15 on the mini quiz. Of course we know more. We are thinkers.

Atheists, agnostics most knowledgeable about religion, survey says - latimes.com:

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A Big F*cking Deal

Happy Birthday, Patterson Hood. Thank you!

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It is, Joe. It really is:

Biden: Passing health reform ‘a big f*cking deal’ | Raw Story

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My, my winning sure does changes the narrative, don't it. Gotta keep this ball rolling, but November is looking a LOT brighter.

Can't pull up, though.

Obama, Democrats Begin Reaping Political Benefits Of Reform - Yahoo! News:

"According to a Gallup/USA Today poll conducted the day after health care legislation passed the House of Representatives, 49 percent of the respondents think the passage of reform is a 'good thing,' compared to the 40 percent who think it is bad. The numbers are a welcome relief for a party and a presidency that had been bleeding popular support over the course of the past six months.

Democrats didn't just get a health-care-related boost in the realm of public opinion. The Democratic National Committee reported raising more than $1 million in donations on Tuesday even without making a direct ask. The money is expected to pour in for other campaign committees as well."

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Last throes? Doubt it. Crazy motherfuckers (and I mean that in the worst possible way).

Vandals hit at least five Dem offices nationwide, threaten to ‘assassinate’ children of pro-reform lawmakers.

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GOP fans flames of health care reform hatred:

"For the record, House Republican leader John Boehner, GOP Chairman Michael Steele and the organizers of the Tea Party rally condemned the slurs. Steele suggested the movement and the party should not be linked with 'idiots out there saying stupid things.'

Stupid things? Try Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, shouting 'baby killer' when Rep. Bart Stupak, an anti-abortion Democrat from Michigan, was outlining his conviction that the bill would not result in federal funding of the procedure - and right after unruly House members had been admonished to stop yelling during the debate. Neugebauer claimed Monday that his exact words were 'it's a baby killer,' and were directed at the measure, not at Stupak - which would make his outburst less stupid only by slight degree.

Stupid things? How about the House Republicans who cheered two hecklers who were ushered out of the public gallery by Capitol Police on Sunday. Or the GOP lawmakers who kept going to the House balcony during the debate to wave clenched fists and handwritten signs at the crowd and helped ensure it remained whipped into a frenzy.

Stupid things? How about the steady stream of rhetorical excesses during the debate. They warned of the death of freedom, of a coming era of totalitarianism, of a 'fiscal Frankenstein.'"

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These people are certifiably fucking insane. Trying to work with them is unpatriotic. They live in a different, crazy world.

Just oozing with racism.

‘Scary’ Harris poll: 24% of Republicans think Obama ‘may be the Antichrist’ :

"Birthers, deathers, now, apparently, there are Antichristers on the Obama warpath.

The Daily Beast's John Avlon writes, 'On the heels of health care, a new Harris poll reveals Republican attitudes about Obama: Two-thirds think he's a socialist, 57 percent a Muslim—and 24 percent say 'he may be the Antichrist.''"

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Palin's "Real America".

Op-Ed Columnist - An Absence of Class in the G.O.P. - NYTimes.com:

"For decades the G.O.P. has been the party of fear, ignorance and divisiveness. All you have to do is look around to see what it has done to the country. The greatest economic inequality since the Gilded Age was followed by a near-total collapse of the overall economy. As a country, we have a monumental mess on our hands and still the Republicans have nothing to offer in the way of a remedy except more tax cuts for the rich.

This is the party of trickle down and weapons of mass destruction, the party of birthers and death-panel lunatics. This is the party that genuflects at the altar of right-wing talk radio, with its insane, nauseating, nonstop commitment to hatred and bigotry."

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This is awful. Congress really needs to do something about this. Fucking activist neocon Supreme Court assholes.

First Corporate Campaign Ads Appear After Supreme Court's Citizens United Decision:

"A Texas company recently took out a political ad in several local newspapers, making it one of the first corporations to do so in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling that lifted restrictions on corporate political spending."

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Gee, wonder how that happened. Enjoy all of your eggs in that unsustainable basket.

Bush speechwriter: Republicans ‘work for Fox’ :

"Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox," Frum told ABC's Terry Moran. "And this balance here has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican party."

"Frum's view of the GOP's electoral prospects seemed dim. 'Nobody ever won an election by spitting on his political opponents,' he said, evidently referring to the incident this past weekend when anti-health reform protesters spat on Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver."

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Shut the fuck up.

Tebow's pre-Wonderlic prayer request falls flat | ProFootballTalk.com:

"At the Scouting Combine, the Wonderlic exam is administered to players in groups. The 12-minute test is preceded by some brief instructions and comments from the person administering the test.

Per a league source, after the person administering the test to Tebow's group had finished, Tebow made a request that the players bow their heads in prayer before taking the 50-question exam.

Said one of the other players in response: 'Shut the f--k up.' Others players in the room then laughed."

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I was far more disgusted by the hiring of Fleischer than I was by any whore Tiger fucked.

Think Progress � Ari Fleischer quits PR job for Tiger Woods because his legacy was so bad it harmed Tiger’s rehabilitation.:

"The AP gives no reason for Fleischer’s departure, but FoxSports reports that Fleischer “fell on his sword because he felt he was becoming the story“: “Fleischer’s legacy, whether fairly or not, remains propagating Bush/Cheney myths — like Saddam Hussein attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001 — which Americans don’t want to hear. Having him in behind the curtain gave the impression Woods had something to hide, and that words were being fed to him.”"

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Know Them By Their Deeds

"Sorry" doesn't even begin to describe McPalin.

Editorial - Politics of Attack - NYTimes.com:

"It is a sorry fact of American political life that campaigns get ugly, often in their final weeks. But Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember.

They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia."

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Biden: Palin Must Condemn Supporters' Hateful Obama Attacks:

"'I watched the news and I heard a couple people hollering from the audience semi-vile things about 'terrorists,' things like that,' Biden said on NBC's Today show. 'The idea that a leading American politician who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop mid-sentence and turn and condemn that -- it's just a slippery slope, it's a place that we shouldn't be going.'"

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McPalin are inciting lynch mobs across America. Doin' it old school.

Angry voter threatens Registrar, says he needs to 'keep the n***** out of office':

"A Monroe, Louisiana man is facing a felony terrorizing charge after a racially charged, profane exchange with his Registrar of Voters and police officers who would later arrest him.

75-year-old Wade Williams, arrested Wednesday morning, was angry that he hadn't yet received his voter registration card. According to the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office, Williams threatened a state official over the phone that he would 'empty his shotgun,' stating an urgent need to vote to 'keep the nigger out of office.' On the way to be booked at the Ouachita Correctional Center, Williams reportedly 'continued his 'tirade' about niggers and also stated that he had a shotgun, but had hidden it at his residence."

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Wanna see the racist pieces of shit, low information voters that are the base for McPalin. Then look away in horror. These people are sickening. Be sure to check out the mAnn Coulter wannabe:

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This is the first 'true' thing he has said in years.

We have been prisoners, low, these last 8 years.

"My Fellow Prisoners," McCain Calls Americans:

"'Across this country this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners,' he declared. In the prepared remarks he was supposed to say 'fellow citizens.'"

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I'm spoiling for a fight myself these days, so I can understand this challenge on some level.

Alleged Des Moines burglar challenges victim to fight; winner takes all:

"Police said in a report that the thief will give the property back only if the Gray challenges him to a fight. The alleged thief told police whoever wins would get the stuff.

The burglar has a 10-year age advantage. But that still puts him in his mid 50s."

Asses Galore

So the talking heads are raving about Palin's speech last night (one she didn't even write herself). They've all been brow-beaten by McCain for not kissing his and Palin's ass enough. The traditional media in this country is awful.

Keep this YouTube in mind when you listen to the chattering class on TV. They're the worse bullshitters America has to offer.

Here's Peggy Noonan, Reagan's speech writer and GOP political operative Mike Murphy caught with an open mike.

On screen they loves them some V-PILF. Off screen, not so much.

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Another reason Palin is so very unqualified to be V.P.

'Crusade' anyone? I'm sure Palin would be awesome negotiating with any non-christian countries.

The Associated Press: Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God':

"ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a 'task that is from God.'"

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They damn well better.

Daily Kos: Biden: Criminal charges against Bush Admin. on the table:

"Looking to the future but with one eye on the past, Biden also promised that an Obama-Biden government would go through Bush administration data with 'a fine-toothed comb' and pursue criminal charges if necessary.

'If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation,' he said, 'they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution - out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one, no attorney general, no president, no one is above the law.'"

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My lord, we need some folly.

Shane, you made the national news:

Jaywalker allegedly moons motorists after ticket :

"ATHENS, Ga. - Athens-Clarke police have arrested a woman who they say started mooning motorists after she received a ticket for jaywalking. An officer stopped the 23-year-old woman and a friend about 1:10 a.m. Saturday after they walked diagonally across the intersection in downtown Athens."

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History

Tomorrow will be a bit of a special post for AAW. Be sure to drop by and say 'hey'.

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It is official. History.

Being a product of the deep South if you had asked me two years ago the possibility of a black man being this close to the Presidency of the U.S.A. in augt-8 I would have bet everything I owned that it couldn't happen.

I'm damn glad to be wrong.

If Obama is elected..... nay, WHEN Obama is elected it will ever so slightly validate the misery of the past 8 years. America has been on a bender of benders for 8 long years. I think we've sobered up enough to realize we need serious help.

Obama becomes first African-American nominee for President.:

"“I have been asked to inform you that Senator Obama accepts the nomination and will deliver his acceptance speech tomorrow night at the fourth night of the convention to be held at Invesco field,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced today. Obama is the first African-American nominee of a major political party and will accept the nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech."

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Bill rocked the house last night.

Bill Clinton Throws His Full Weight Behind Obama, Blasts Bush/McCain Legacy:

"People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."
......

"Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history."

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Joe did a hell of a job too.

Joe Biden Democratic Convention Speech (VIDEO):

"'And I realized he (Obama) has tapped into the oldest American belief of all: We don't have to accept a situation we cannot bear. We have the power to change it,'"

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Where's a seat a the table....

'.... for folks like me...."

Much Fun in Golden Gate Park, yesterday. More on that later.

Why Biden is a good VP choice:

Think Progress � Biden: McCain has to ‘figure out which of the 7 kitchen tables to sit at.’:

"Ladies and gentlemen, your kitchen table is like mine. You sit there every night after you put the kids to bed and you talk, you talk about what you need. You talk about how much you’re worried about being able to pay the bills. Well ladies and gentlemen, that’s not a worry that John McCain has to worry about. It’s a pretty hard experience — he’ll have to figure out which of the seven kitchen tables to sit at."

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Gold:

Eschaton:

"The McCain campaign keeps emphasizing that McCain was a prisoner in Vietnam, as proof of his qualification for the Presidency.

Well, so was Gary Glitter, and I'm not voting for him either."

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Very anti-libertarian of you, Alabama.

Extra pounds mean insurance fees for Ala. workers:

"Alabama, pushed to second in national obesity rankings by deep-fried Southern favorites, is cracking down on state workers who are too fat.

The state has given its 37,527 employees a year to start getting fit -- or they'll pay $25 a month for insurance that otherwise is free."

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