Brain bleach!!!!!

Maru:

... Hot, steamy lesbian sex. As read by Bill O'Reilly.

God, it's too early in the morning for that picture ...

Advice ...

Fred the Cat voices what I've wanted to blog about since we heard about the tragic, untimely death of Natasha Richardson.

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So the reason I, Fred the Cat, am sharing this with you is just to remind you about the old saying, Make every minute count. Don’t take anything for granted. Hug your honeys.

...

Indeed. You never know when you'll meet up with the proverbial bullet-with-your-name-on-it. Live every day like it might be your last.

Headin' out...

Me an' Mrs. G are headin' out to the coast for a few days just for fun. I will stay in touch but blogging will be minimal. See yas.

Obama abandons veterans' private insurance plan

After reading yesterday's post, President Obama has seen the light.

Raw Story

After today's meeting between veteran advocacy leaders and the Obama administration, the White House announced that it will be abandoning a plan to make veterans use private insurance for war-related injuries.

The 11 leaders of veterans advocacy groups left today's meeting feeling relieved that veterans' health care wasn't going to be further jeopardized. Journalists caught up with Norbert Ryan, president of Military Officers Association of America, after the meeting. Ryan told reporters, "Our voices were heard. They made the right decision on this."

Yes, they did.

Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.

Not trying ...

To pee on Barry's sunshine, but over the past few weeks, it's becoming evident his financial folks might be in a bit over their depth. Either that, or they've been trying to protect their pals on the Street:

...

Anyway, I guess no one could have predicted that Geithner and Summers would screw the pooch, except for everybody who was horrified that Obama put Geithner and Summers in such sensitive positions. Should've left 'em out in the wilderness where they belonged. And now they're even lying about the position and lying about whose fault it is. Creeps. They should be fired immediately.

...

Because I'm pretty sure they had a hand in this:

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Dodd did not indict the administration in his comments today. He didn't name any names and he said that he didn't think AIG was on the radar at all at the time. He was being a good soldier, as he was when he agreed to the changes thinking he was compromising. But at some point he may have to name names since somebody in Washington is determined that he take the fall for these bonuses and the press is on the hunt to prove that the Obama administration has been lying about when they knew about it.

...

I'm sorry, but the minute AIG accepted taxpayer funding, the board and all the officers should have been out and the books laid bare. A lot of bad shit's been hidden in this big deal and the bonuses could be just the beginning.

This is for MandT

Like any good college radio station, we do our best to play requests, but the Emmylou Harris tune you asked about, 'High Powered Love', which I posted on November 22 of last year, and which was here at YouTube by neddysea, has been 'removed by the user', probably at the 'request' of a phalanx of attorneys. Sorry.

The real 'outrage'

LATimes

The AIG debacle is a slap in the face to American labor, which was asked to sacrifice so automakers could survive.

What we're essentially being asked to believe is that employment contracts involving hardworking men and women on Detroit's assembly lines are somehow less legally binding -- less "sacred" in the current rhetorical argot -- than those protecting a bunch of cowboy securities traders living in Connecticut. When Larry Summers, Obama's chief economic advisor, piously tells us that the administration's hands are tied because we all must abide "by the rule of law," perhaps it's time to ask: What rule and for whom?

For years, the smart guys on Wall Street have convinced a growing number of Americans that organized labor is an impediment to economic progress, an unacceptable "cost" in a globalized system of production, a quaint social fossil from the era of mills and smokestacks. If there's a lesson to be gleaned from the current crisis, however, it's that when the chips are down, organized labor is a far more responsible social actor than the snatch-and-run characters who fancy themselves financiers.

Please read the rest.

Plan to bill insurance for combat injuries criticized

WaPo via LATimes

An Obama administration proposal to bill veterans' private insurance companies for combat-related injuries has prompted veterans groups to condemn the plan as unethical, and powerful lawmakers on Capitol Hill have promised to oppose it.

The proposal -- intended to save the Department of Veterans Affairs $530 million a year -- would authorize the VA to bill private insurance companies for treatment of injuries and medical conditions related to military service, such as amputations, post-traumatic stress syndrome and other battle-related conditions. The VA already pursues so-called third-party billing for non-service-related conditions.

Veterans groups said the change would abrogate the government's responsibility to care for the war-wounded. And they expressed concern that the new policy would make employers less willing to hire veterans for fear of the cost of insuring them, and that insurance benefits for veterans' families would also be jeopardized.

Veterans groups described the plan as a puzzling political misstep by the new administration in its relations with the 25 million Americans who have served in the military. Obama heard firsthand about such objections Monday when he met with leaders of the groups at the White House.

So...is a traumatically amputated limb suffered in service to one's country a 'pre-existing condition' worthy of denying benefits? Sounds like a can o' worms to me. Among other things.

Quite simply the most ridiculous and mean-spirited cockamamie idea I have heard yet from this administration. It must not happen, and I have faith that it will not.

C'mon, you guys, this is a misstep worthy of the Repugs' "no pull trigger, no get food, make 'em pay for their own rides home and their meals in a roach-infested moldy chow hall" mentality.

Crossposted at The American Patriot Institute.

Words to live by

The photo accompanies a story about Carpinteria (CA) High School's recent internecine strife about using Native American images for its football team, but I like the message.

Many spectators waved signs that read, “Warrior Spirit Never Dies!” The crowd cheered 76-year-old Evangelina Diaz, a Carpinteria resident of Yaqui descent, who proclaimed she was “a warrior — not a victim!”

Fuckin' A, lady!

Just as a meaningless aside, when you're in Carp check out El Taco Grande. They have an al pastor plate that is simply to die for!

Quote of the Day drei

MoDo

What President Obama should have said to the blood-sucking bums at A.I.G., many of them foreigners who were working at the louche London unit, was quite simple: “We stopped the checks. They’re immoral. If you want Americans’ hard-earned cash as a reward for burning up their jobs, homes and savings, sue me.”

Even though there are no 'checks' at that level, I still like it. 'Direct un-deposit' doesn't have the same zing.

Quote of the Day deux

Arianna Huffington in a post emtitled "What If Jon Stewart, Instead of John King, Interviewed Dick Cheney":

Until the Jon Stewart Journalism Deprogramming Center opens for business, all TV interviewers should ask themselves a simple question right before the camera goes on: What would Jon Stewart do?

Pure fantasy, but fun to think about. I have a few other fantasies about Arianna, but none of them involve Jon Stewart. In them I do my own comedy, thank you.

Update:

Go read The Rude One:

Cheney may as well have been talking to a John King puppet. More precisely, he may as well have been jacking off with a John King puppet on his hand. Because, apparently, challenges and follow-up questions are to John King what boric acid is to ants. He dare not even step near it.

John King's approach to Cheney was like a cat in heat's approach to an alley tom. He put up his haunches and let the ex-VP go to town. [...]

Taking one in the ass for the team seems to be the watchword these days for what used to be called 'journalism'.

Quote of the Day

Digby:

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What kind of a man is this that he can't even defend his daughter against personal insults from the likes of Laura Ingraham? He doesn't even have a political motivation, as low and cynical as that might be. He won't be running for president again. He's never been a favorite of the right wing and has no reason to curry favor with them now and everything we know about him would suggest that he thinks right wingers like Coulter are political poison. They sure aren't friends of his.

...

Thank god he ain't President. Late for work ... obviously.

Question ...

Why does Rick Santelli still have a job?

A little St. Paddy's Day humour

Well, so much for my retirement heaven...

LATimes

Oh, please, please, please don't steal the money back from all those good Repugs who stole it from us in the first place!

Normally, I wouldn't link to Jonah "Jizz 'n Cheetos" Goldberg, but this time he's unusually outlandish. He doesn't think it's right to go for clawback on the big bonuses. What a dork. You can actually go leave him a comment.

And here's a general rule of life: When you buy an elephant, you can't refuse to buy the manure that comes with it. You can try, but, soon enough, you'll be knee-deep in problems anyway. And they'll continue to pile up no matter how loudly you complain that "this isn't what I paid for."

Yeah, J 'n C, you oughta know. You been mainlining elephant shit for years.

We should have learned from the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac what dangers lie ahead: The rule of law and political manipulation of the economy don't mix well. Liddy -- the front-line sweeper behind the AIG elephant -- has already warned the administration that letting politics dictate salaries and bonuses will make it difficult for the firm to hold on to talented staff.

'Talented staff' my ass. Is he referring to the 'talented staff' that wrecked the joint and are now giving themselves our money?

The New York Times reports that the administration is worried about a coming "populist backlash." It's right to be worried. But further blurring the lines between politics and the market isn't the answer. That's how we got in this mess in the first place.

We got into this mess because your 'politics' let these bastards rape, pillage, and steal from the rest of us, you dumb little shit.

Banned hyperlinks could cost you $11,000 a day

Sydney Morning Herald (Oz)

The Australian communications regulator says it will fine people who hyperlink to sites on its blacklist, which has been further expanded to include several pages on the anonymous whistleblower site Wikileaks.

Online civil liberties campaigners have seized on the move by ACMA as evidence of how casually the regulator adds to its list of blacklisted sites. It also confirmed fears that the scope of the Government's censorship plan could easily be expanded to encompass sites that are not illegal.

How much is 11,000 roobucks in real money? Fixer who? Never heard of 'im, mate!

Anybody seen Bush lately? Could he have headed Down Under to shred another Constitution?

Logo Change-o

Go see some revised corporate logos. Heh.

Will Canuckistan man up and arrest Bush?

BuzzFlash asks the question:

George W. Bush: Should Canada detain him and arrest him for war crimes?

The short answer is 'YES!' but they go into it in detail.

If the thought of arrest, like the Chimp has ever had a thought, deters him from going, it will be enough. If Bush is under de facto protective custody as long as he doesn't leave our borders, it will send him a message. The message is 'you screwed the pooch big time, boy, and you have to stay here or go to prison and you might end up in prison anyway if there's any real justice in this supposed nation of laws.'

Busting him and the other war criminals in his regime is ours to do. It's getting closer all the time, but whether our government has or will ever have the stones to actually do what needs to be done is mighty iffy.

Gov't reaction to Wall Street meltdown like ''punishment'' of Prescott Bush for hiding Nazi money

Professor Smartass deftly connects the Bush family, the Nazis, Wall Street fraud, the OCs, and terrorism.

It seems that something similar is going on with Wall Street today. Can anyone doubt that Wall Street's concerted effort to get themselves deregulated, their Rube Goldberg maze of shell corporations and off-shore accounts, and intentional defrauding of ordinary investors, mortgage holders, and retirees has done more damage to our economy than Tim McVeigh, Osama bin Laden, and all the other terrorists to ever blow up anything in the US combined?

And in fact, the connection to terrorism is not just by analogy, but literal. To the degree that we face a legitimate terrorist threat, it is because business interests demand to be put ahead of human rights, democracy, and even the national security of the United States.

Worse, business is a direct cause of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the Bush administrations failure to bring a quick conclusion to the War on Terror. Those in the Islamic world do not hate us for our freedom, but because we take theirs away to ensure that our oil companies have compliant governments to deal with, from overthrowing the democratically elected secular government of Iran in the 1950s to backing the oppressive Saudi government for decades. Oddly, even though the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 found direct involvement of the Saudi government in the attacks nothing was done about it. Whether this was done because we didn't want to jeopardize business ties with Saudis or because the Saudis were doing the Bush administration a favor with the attack, neither is acceptable.

And yet, the punishment of the wealthy who endanger and loot us like this will be much like Prescott Bush's. The public will use our taxpayer dollars to clean up their mess, and they will continue to live lives of leisure and be free exercise their power as ''masters of the universe'' even though they are masters of nothing but moving our money into their pockets.

I have no problem with capitalism in theory, but in practice, we can no longer afford a financial elite that not only ignores the law, but buys our politicians and makes the indefensible legal.

Any solution to this current problem has to involve putting the fear of God or at least fear of the wrath of the American people into these spoiled sociopathic trust fund babies, the likes of which no financial elite has felt since the Russian or even French Revolution.

I agree, but Americans aren't very good at 'getting involved' and the Masters of the Universe are well aware of it.