Week In The News: Syria, Romney, Bad Jobs Report

Hidan

Good thing the Obama Wh decided to Sell Arms to Bahrain(how else will they stop the spread of democracy that the U.S. claims to support).

Hidan

Pentagon Talks Peace, Then Arms Syria Rebels Via Gulf Allies

http://tv.globalresearch.ca/2012/05/pentagon-talks-peace-then-arms-syria-rebels-gulf-allies

A senior State Department official admitted on condition of anonymity that the United States has increased its assistance to the Syrian opposition, the Washington Post reports. The Obama administration, however, has emphasized that the US is neither supplying nor providing funding for any lethal weapons, including anti-tank weaponry.

“We are increasing our non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, and we continue to coordinate our efforts with friends and allies in the region and beyond in order to have the biggest impact on what we are collectively doing,” an official said.

The rebels confirm that they have begun receiving significantly more – and better – weapons in recent weeks. Officials and opposition activists say it is all paid for by states in the Persian Gulf and coordinated by the United States.

While Suicide bombing in Syria that kills 50 and injuries 400 gets no calls or outrage by the U.S. and West and Rebels torturing and murdering Syrian Civilian in near brutal fashion that the U.S. so Decries (rightfully should decry such abuse). The U.S. is arming the rebels goating them to attack towns and than hide behind the U.N. Cease-Fire. Amazing enough the Free Syrian Army is only the Free Syrian Army until there killed then they become Civilians or Activist again.

I guess it’s only Human Shields when it’s people fighting against the House of Sand or Israel. I love for the despot Assad to go but can’t the media at-least be honest in it’s reporting?

Example A of crap pieces

“Yemen Option” of course leaving out the U.S. arming and supporting the guy until they knew he could no longer hold power(Egypt ring a bell?)

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/30/154002166/weighing-the-yemen-option-for-syria

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Much deserved kudos and thanks to Tom Ashbrook and the On Point staff for inviting back Byron York as a guest panelist.

Ed

The slaughter in Syria is ghastly and is continuing. But we slaughter 3-4,000 human beings each day in abortion clinics. Lots of slaughtering going on.

Terry Tree Tree

HOW MANY seriously handicapped, minority children, that are the results of rape, are YOU raising, without ANY government assistance?
Just want to DICTATE to others?
Still Here

Obama slaughters more than his fair share as well, lots of innocents. We tend not to care about the defenseless and those not cute on camera.
- Ray in VT
  
  Is your solution to not go after suspected militants at all, or perhaps we should put boots on the ground to do it? Care to volunteer for those missions?
  - nj_v2
    
    “suspected militants”?
    
    Ray invents his own monikers to defend Oily Bomber drone policy.
    
    Wait until some country gets a drone and decides to target someone they decide is a “suspected militant” living in your neighborhood and hits your house and we’ll see how quick you are to defend this horrid policy.
Victor Vito

I don’t think Ed likes abortion.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  Really?
Azra

Not to mention the countless millions of unwanted babies, whose parents can’t afford, or don’t care enough about the welfare of their unfortunate, unwanted offspring, to have abortions. Instead, the rejected, neglected, resented, abused, tortured, (the lucky ones, mercifully, are murdered early in life), are brought into the world, through no fault of their own, to endure unimaginable suffering, torture, and heartache. If they live long enough, they can look forward to possibly being homeless, or living out their natural lives in prison, or mental institutions, funded by our tax dollars.

Where is your compassion?

Ed

Please see Bill Donahue’s new book ‘Why Catholicism matters’ to understand the Church’s teachings on these issues.

The bill to outlaw sex-selected abortion was defeated in Congress. And the president – the abortion president – said that he wouldn’t not support it. And he says that he wants to defend women.

He is the same person who, when an abortion failed and an infant was killed just after birth in Illinois, refused to support a bill that outlawed such killing. The abortion president.

Terry Tree Tree

Catholic clergy have PROVEN how they care about children, for decades, or hundreds of years!�
Are YOU a Child-Molesting or Child-Abusing clergy? Is THAT why you support them, WITHOUT condemning this abomination?
J__o__h__n

Why is the Pope going after his butler more seriously than he went after His Eminence Cardinal Law?
Victor Vito

Ed definitely doesn’t like abortion.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  What makes you think that?�
  Ed DEMANDS more VICTIMS for Catholic clergy?
  WHY? Is he one?

Terry Tree Tree

Wisconsin women and minorities have BETTER chances for jobs, with living wages, job safety protections, collective bargaining, and a HOST of other advantages, if they vote to get Scott Walker OUT!�
80% of Walker’s money support comes from foreign interests, at least foreign to Wisconsin?

Terry Tree Tree

Doc Watson played for over 80 years, and seemed to enjoy it to the last? How many people are lucky enough to enjoy the way they make their living THAT long? With THAT much talent?

Terry Tree Tree

Mitt, on Memorial Day, said that with HALF of current millitary, we would have NO ONE to protect us?
Do we just have ONE person in the millitary? Or can Mitt NOT perform simple math?

Steve__T

I hate to say it but he’s right. The other half will be on bases around the world protecting them.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  Half of Two, is One! Mitt can’t do that simple arithmetic? I have seen MORE than two people in millitary uniforms, recently! Some are family members!�
  Mitt’s knowledge or millitary is THAT bad?

Terry Tree Tree

Nazi concentration and death camps in POLAND, makes the slip by President Obama easy for ANYONE? �
Has Mitt made NO gaffe MORE egregious?

Gregg

No, Mitt has not. Which foreign Minister has demanded he apologize?
- Victor Vito
  
  Oh Christ Gregg, he is the ultimate flip flopper. Be reasonable.
  - Gregg
    
    Which foreign Minister has demanded he apologize?
    - notafeminista
      
      An additional small detail: Mr. Romney is not the sitting president.
    - nj_v2
      
      Thank God.
    - Azra
      
      . . . and he never will be.
- denis
  
  what was Mitts statement on russia?
  - Azra
    
    That he can see it from his house, I think. Didn’t he make that statement just after he informed the world that Russia is our enemy, and that the Cold War didn’t really end TWENTY YEARS AGO?
    
    John Huntsman is a very smart, highly intelligent, cautious, and diplomatic man, well educated, and very knowledgable. Foreign affairs is his strong suit. He knows that Russia is our ally, he is rational, thoughtful, and slow to anger; he is not an impulsive hothead.
    
    Thank God we won’t have to worry anymore, about HIS finger getting anywhere near that button.
    - Azra
      
      Forgot to mention, John Huntsman is also dignified, and “presidential”. (No wonder he didn’t get much attention.)
Azra

It wasn’t a slip, or a mistake. The death camps were in Poland. That’s a fact. The Polish people are, understandably, very sensitive about it, but lately, they have been unreasonably thin-skinned. We’ll never know the horrors that Poles were put through, but they mustn’t be allowed to make others, or themselves, feel guilty for what took place in their country. It’s their guilt, though they did nothing wrong. They still feel responsible, but they shouldn’t. They could have done nothing to prevent what the Nazis did. Poles should try harder to forgive themselves, (and realize that there’s nothing to forgive), so they can finally admit that the Nazis had death camps in Poland, and the rest of the world can stop walking on egg shells.

The past is the past. Nothing can change it now. If Poles can accept these truths, they will be released from their self-imposed, torment, and not over-react when they’re reminded that there were also death camps in Poland. No one blames them for anything. They’re stoic, very brave, good, and courageous people. No Polish citizen had any control over what Hitler did.

Someday, they will realize the truth, and the truth will set them free.

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

U.S. drones kill 8 people in Northwestern Pakistan

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/27/243422/us-drones-kill-8-pakistan/

So now Obama wants to start a war with Pakistan?

A country that is believed to possess between 100-200 nuclear war heads as well.

Terry Tree Tree

SLEAZY John Edwards, evidently could NOT be proven to have committed a crime about the money for hiding his mistress, or child? NOT enough proof? He admits he’s sleazy?

TFRX

A local newscaster went into full Kent Brockman mode sneering about how Edwards was found innocent. There were two other sentences in the lead; one was about the child, one was about his dead wife.

Apparently some media types have decided that “sleazy” is a crime in itself to be convicted of, courts be damned.
- Greyman
  
  If Edwards now proceeds to play up his sleaziness credentials, he’ll stand a good chance of being able to launch a new career in television, the medium everready to celebrate the tawdry and the tainted.
  - Azra
    
    CNN might be clearing a dressing room for him at this very minute. Once he’s a “bad boy” TV celebrity, countless women will be throwing themselves at him. It never fails. It’ll be smooth sailing for John from here on in.

Terry Tree Tree

Does Florida ENFORCE those election laws, AGAINST Republicans? Can they PROVE it? OR, are they just violating Voters’ Rights, the Civil Rights of targeted citizens, and comitting other crimes?

Terry Tree Tree

EVERY U.S. Citizen, that gets, or has been PURGED from voter elegibility, should file a LAWSUIT against Governor Scott, the responsible parties, and the others involved!
CRIMINAL charges on the Federal level are evidently in order?

Terry Tree Tree

The Vatican says it’s NOT AFRAID of what could be revealed by papal papers, THAT”S why they had the pope’s butler arrested?

RELEASE those papers, since the Catholic clergy has nothing to fear?

AC

any Halo fans? no wonder the world is clueless.
lol & maybe what the world needs is Master Chief!

http://www.geek.com/articles/games/bbc-uses-halos-united-nation-space-command-as-un-logo-20120530/

Terry Tree Tree

There are SEVERAL ways to verify millitary involvement in the slaughters in Syria.
Russia is selling more weapons to Syria at this time? That’s as bad as the U.S. selling weapons to Bahrain?

Hidan

Bingo, but the U.S. and people like Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton and Many U.S. officials are going to stand up and decry Russia while doing the same thing with Bahrain. The media of course helps.

Obama administration using legal loophole to sell arms to Bahrain despite ongoing abuses and crackdown on NGOs.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/02/201221154429600105.html

<iThe Obama administration is pushing to close an arms deal with Bahrain, despite the government's nearly year-long crackdown against protesters and recent steps to block American NGOs from operating in the island kingdom.

A previous arms sale was suspended late last year after fierce opposition from human rights groups and members of Congress. But the White House is now taking advantage of a legal loophole to push forward a separate deal without congressional approval.

The deal is also advancing despite the Bahraini government’s recent crackdown on several US-based NGOs, including the National Democratic Institute and Physicians for Human Rights. Staffers with valid Bahraini visas have been barred from entering the country.
- Hidan
  
  “The Obama administration is pushing to close an arms deal with
  Bahrain, despite the government’s nearly year-long crackdown against
  protesters and recent steps to block American NGOs from operating in the
  island kingdom.
  
  A previous arms sale was suspended late last year after fierce
  opposition from human rights groups and members of Congress. But the
  White House is now taking advantage of a legal loophole to push forward a
  separate deal without congressional approval.
  
  The deal is also advancing despite the Bahraini government’s recent
  crackdown on several US-based NGOs, including the National Democratic
  Institute and Physicians for Human Rights. Staffers with valid Bahraini
  visas have been barred from entering the country.”
  
  Guess the above didn’t work to well. Anyways far greater action than what the U.S. complain about Egypt

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Obama’s kill list – All males near drone strikes are terrorists

http://rt.com/usa/news/drone-strike-obama-casualties-604/

Looks like Obama is starting his own version of the ‘Body Count’, which was of course as we all know, very effective during the Vietnam War.

Gregg

Obama prefers targeted assassination to waterboarding.
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  Ever since Obama won his Nobel ‘Peace’ Prize, he made himself judge, jury, and executioner.
- Ray in VT
  
  Now, a while back On Point ran a show about the killing of the cleric in Yemen who was an American citizen, and I don’t recall that you, or the other conservatives here, spoke out against the case or the general practice.
  
  Now, your comment certainly has the air of a swipe at the President, but is it? If it is, then are you advocating against the use of drone strikes when there is actionable intellegence regarding known militants?
  - Gregg
    
    My point is more about the waterboarding that saved lives and ultimately helped lead to Bin Laden. There was also a lot of objection to indefinite detention without a trial. Targeted assassinations without a trial are just peachy to those who went apoplectic about the nasal rinse. Is that not odd?
  - Gregg
    
    My point is more about the waterboarding that saved lives and ultimately helped lead to Bin Laden. There was also a lot of objection to indefinite detention without a trial. Targeted assassinations without a trial are just peachy to those who went apoplectic about the nasal rinse. Is that not odd?
    - Ray in VT
      
      I object to your characterization of a long classified method of torture as a “nasal rinse”. If it isn’t so bad, then why did we execute some Japanese officers for doing it to our guys 60 odd years ago? I hear a lot from conservatives that it lead to Bin Laden, but I don’t know if that is true, and I suspect that you don’t really either. Anyways, someone told me yesterday that he’s been dead for years.
      
      As for the left saying nothing about targeted assassination, I think that you’re somewhat incorrect there. I don’t think that many liberals and libertarians like it, but if you’re on the left, why would you come out and attack a Democratic president in an election year? It’s politics. Just like how deficits didn’t matter when Bush was the president or any number of other issues that one would care to dredge up from this or previous administrations.
    - Gregg
      
      We did not execute Japaneses soldiers for waterboarding. They were mass mudurers. Further. the waterboarding as they used it involved submersion and much harsher life threatening techniques. Sorry Ray, you are using thoroughly debunked talking point #27.
      
      http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/180923/sorry-paul-begala-youre-still-wrong/mark-hemingway
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUl3iBN4PjI
      
      The left has objected far less to the assassination of scores than the waterboarding of 3.
    - Don_B1
      
      Those who strongly disagreed with waterboarding included many within the Bush administration, in both the CIA and Defense Department, but particularly in the FBI, which has the most expertise in getting information from suspects.
      
      There is NOT ONE scintilla of hard evidence that ANY of the TORTURE methods produced any new information; see the Bill Moyers & Company program of 26 May 2012 for an interview of the people who reviewed the data released by the government as the result of a FOIA request.
      
      Unfortunately from your past behavior you have shown yourself as a slimy propagandist who will never stop repeating this false story, but I will try to be there when you do.
Still Here

Let’s hope he doesn’t confuse his enemy lists (he’s got so many) or soon we’re going to hear about drone attacks very close to home!
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  It’s already here. Obama’s drones are patrolling the domestic skies and spying on private citizens.
  - Still Here
    
    I don’t doubt it, but even more reason that he keep his enemy lists separate, maybe title one “Guys I want to kill no matter how many innocents are killed” and “Guys I want to have the IRS to audit every year for the rest of their lives.”
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      With this President, I can believe that.
Victor Vito

I’m sure you wouldn’t support this if a conservative inhabited the White House.
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  You’re wrong again.
  
  My allegiance is to God, the Constitution and the Republic, not some corrupt political party or politician
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    Your alliegance to God shows in the flag you use first with your name!
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Who gave you permission to crawl out of your crib?

Terry Tree Tree

Helping Veterans find jobs as fire-fighters and police, when reductions are being made in fire and police departments?
WHY don’t ALL those that SUPPORTED the war in Iraq HIRE ALL Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan?

Terry Tree Tree

‘Job Creators’, are STILL being paid, to NOT create jobs?
THAT’S FRAUD!

Hidan

Not only paid, but subsided to outsource to China and India but since China’s been stealing there tech(per the deal they made years back and the U.S. people that outsourced to China is now feeling the hit) These same “Job Creators” want the U.S. government to stop or limit the amount of info China is stealing.

Terry Tree Tree

Genie got her wish? Lady colonel now an Air Force Combat Air Wing Commander?

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

First Lady Michelle Obama sponsors attack submarine

http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/first-lady-sponsors-attack-submarine

“Makes sense, given that her husband’s spending has put the entire country under water”.

Hidan

lol, CNS news is an subsidiary of Media Research Center
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cybercast_News_Service

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Brent_Bozell

The humor on it is about as funny As Dennis Miller is today. What a complete waste and non-issue.
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  It’s a lot more accurate than your A.C.O.R.N. pamphlets or the propaganda put out by Al-Jazeera that you like to cite.
  - Hidan
    
    Of course it’s not, where you get ACORN?
    
    Try again..
    
    As for Al-Jazeera for better then the Saudi Backed Fox News(yep second biggest stakeholder in Newscorp is a Saudi Prince) Xenophobes are funding the Saudi Royals. oh the irony.
    - Hidan
      
      “far”
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      When have I ever posted a Fox link?
      
      I’ve seen Al-Jazeera outside of the U.S. and it has some of the most anti-Israeli, anti-Jew ‘programming’ that I’ve ever seen.
      
      That’s probably why you like Al-Jazeera so much.
TFRX

One more vote for “Linking to CNS news tells us more about you than the First Lady”.

Terry Tree Tree

A Couple of men were together for FIFTY years, before they got married? That’s LONGER than ALL the marriages of Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and who, combined?
Who does that say is more dedicated to their mate?
Most churches push the concept that a woman becomes a slave, or property of a man, upon marriage? Read the church’s wedding vows? Does it require the man to Love, Honor, and OBEY his wife?

notafeminista

No-fault divorce did not come about because of any of the men you listed.

No-fault divorce was demanded by the women.
- Ray in VT
  
  What’s your point? Not all marriages can or should last, and people should have an out. Terry’s point is that some people who are out there raging against same sex relationships are less than ideal agents based upon their own histories.
  - Gregg
    
    The comparison is irrelevant.
    - Ray in VT
      
      Do you mean Terry’s? If so, then I don’t think so. I always find it interesting to see “family values” types who consistently fail to live up to their own rhetoric.
    - Gregg
      
      People need “an out”. Divorce can be best for the family. That can include people who support family values and oppose gay marriage… or the other way around… or support both… or oppose both… whatever “family values” means… either way the implication (are you not implying) it’s a conservative thing is insulting to Democrats in my view. They are just as concerned with family values and get divorces too. Newt got a divorce so he should support gay marriage or he doesn’t care about family values, or something.
      
      It’s all a bunch of disconnected mish mash.
    - Ray in VT
      
      I think that people do need an out, but I do find it both ironic and amusing when those who go on and on about how the institution is under pressure often don’t have a good record on it at a personal level.
      
      I definitely think that Democrats and liberals are for family values, although they are often portrayed as being “anti-family “. I put family values in quotes because as it is defined by social conservatives, often, but not exclusively Republicans, that includes denying gays and lesbians the ability to legally marry, the questioning of that group’s mental health, and the attempt to prevent women from having full control over their ability to control their reproductive lives. In that context, if you’re pro-gay rights and pro-choice, then you hate the family. I give you the American Family Association as an example.
    - Gregg
      
      I don’t hear Newt or Rush raging about it or going on and on about it at all. I think that is stereotyping.
    - notafeminista
      
      Profiling.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      What a twist!
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      Could you twist the logic a little more? So far, you’ve only got it looking like a can of writhing worms.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      WHAT are the words of MOST wedding vows? Til death do us part? Rush is on wife #4? #5? #8?
         HOW MANY couples that have stayed together, for over 50 years, married, or not?
          THAT shows dedication!
          Isn’t marriage about dedicating yourself to one another?
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  Those guys were DEVOTED to each other, over 50 years BEFORE they got married?
  Rush Limbaugh’s marriage record?
  Newt’s marriage records?

Terry Tree Tree

Apparently no honorable Waltons, that would vote against EXECUTEives and Board Members, that allegedly committed crimes, and cover-ups?

Hidan

No DR show for Mr. York? The guys an bonerfide Hack but far smarter than the racist Mona Charen

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Not everyone desires to be anti-Israeli like you clearly do.
- Hidan
  
  your comment still doesn’t prove what I said is wrong nor does it prove that Mona Charen is anything other than a racist.(Just so happens Many in Israel are about as or even more racist than her)
  
  Not reported in the news
  
  Fear, the African refugees and the cost of maintaining Israel as a Jewish state
  
  Poor Israeli Jews calling for burining Jewish Africans and Immigrants of course refering them to infiltrators
  
  http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/fear-the-african-refugees-and-the-cost-of-maintaining-israel-as-a-jewish-state.html
  
  In
  the link An Israeli mob setting garbage on fire and singing “The people
  wants the Africans to be burned” after a protest against African
  refugees and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood on May
  23, 2012
  
  Try defending this one homie, sure Mona would. KKK in Israel. Yes indeed
  
  “A mother with her baby cries after she was attacked by a mob in Tel
  Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood and her baby was thrown to the ground, May
  23, 2012 (Photo: Activestills)”
  
  or this
  
  ”
  A driver seen talking with protesters after his bus had been stopped
  and he had been asked by the mob if he was carrying any Africans. The
  driver replied he wasn’t, and after a chat he continued on his way, as
  protesters blocked the streets and chanted racist slogans following a a
  demonstration against African refugees and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv’s
  Hatikva neighborhood on May 23, 2012.”
  
  Pictures below
  http://mondoweiss.net/2012/05/day-after-pograms-likud-mk-calls-for-internment-camp-for-african-refugees.html
  
  P.S.
  
  If anti-Israel is being anti-Charen I have no problem with being such

Gregg

I predict if Walker loses his recall vote on Tuesday On Point will do a show about it. If he wins, they won’t.

AC

why?
- Gregg
  
  Wisconsin was the unions Alamo. They sunk millions into defeating
  Walker. They tried to recall a judge and the legislature. Walker turned a
  $3.6 billion deficit into a surplus without raising taxes. Property
  taxes were lowered for the first time in 12 years. The unemployment rate
  is around 6%. This is the blueprint the Obama WH does not want America
  to see. It’s even more stark when one compares it to IL just to the
  south.
  
  On Point has yet to cover “Fast and Furious” or the historic Catholic
  lawsuit. These are huge deals that don’t shine favorably on Obama. My
  cynicism tells me that’s the reason there is no mention. A Walker win
  makes Obama and his policies look bad, a loss makes him look good. I
  believe that is a major editorial factor for On Point.
  - AC
    
    o. i don’t remember much about it, but wasn’t something done by him that was considered illegal?
    - Gregg
      
      No.
    - AC
      
      ah
  - TFRX
    
    Wisconsin didn’t have a deficit until Walker shenanigans.
    
    He started the fire you’re applauding him putting out.
ana

Bet you are hoping he wins and “they won’t” to furthur feed your victim status.
- Gregg
  
  I definitely hope he wins and On Point does a show.
  - Still Here
    
    Guests would probably include some union stooge and Robert Reich and then Tom representing the other side.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      LOL.
      
      Thanks for the early morning laugh.
    - Ray in VT
      
      I had mine already. I followed your links.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Did your A.C.O.R.N. website get shut down again?
    - Ray in VT
      
      Yeah, the people who took out Benezir Bhuto for knowing too much keep hacking it.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Benazir, but when did you ever care about getting facts right?
    - Ray in VT
      
      A lot more often than you.
    - ana
      
      While it is expected that those opposed to anything Obama would post so vehemently on this site, their displeasure with host Tom Ashbrook, among the media’s finest, is baffling.
      Why not just find another site? Why torture yourselves. Or is there some perverse pleasure in feeling victimized even if it is delusional?
    - Ray in VT
      
      Probably the same reason that I used to occasionally tune in Michael Savage. Sometimes some people just like to get ticked off.
    - jefe68
      
      You hit the nail on the head.
      They love playing the victim and whining about it.
Markus

Think you’re wrong on this one Gregg. A Walker win would be a chance to bring up an issue of big money overcoming a good cause or look at all the problems caused by going after unions. It’s like a show on Elizabeth Warren’s problems could be a reason to show how dirty is her adversary.
- Gregg
  
  We’ll see, I hope I am wrong because the story needs to be told.
  
  BTW, the unions threw $60 million at Walker. There’s your “big money”.
  - Don_B1
    
    And just the Koch brothers are spending more!
You_Can_Keep_The_Change

The honorable Gov. Walker will be retained, which should cause Obama’s hair to go completely gray.
Still Here

I’ll bet you are right. A Walker win would not fit into Tom’s tired and biased narrative.

I think the only thing that prevents a Walker win is his supporters being overconfident. The most recent polls I’ve heard about show him up by mid-single digits. The DNC is spending a ton of money and bringing in all sorts of resources from out of state. Unions are putting up a bunch of cash after wasting $4M+ on Falk.

Walker’s done a great job though it’s been uphill all the way given the challenges presented by Obama’s gutting of the private sector.
- Ray in VT
  
  So record corporate profits and more than 4 million private sector jobs added is a gutting? Interesting interpretation.
- denis
  
  if Tom’s narrative is so tired and biased why do you listen?
  
  As a progressive I often think Tom gives way to much time to wacky conservatives so I guess with your concern and my concern he must be somewhat balanced.
  - jefe68
    
    That’s not their care, the right looks at anyone who’s not on their side as something to be stomped on. It’s how they roll.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  80% of Walker money ($25 MILLION, and climbing!) is foreign to Wisconsin!
- Don_B1
  
  For EVERY $1 spent for Barrett, Republicans, with mostly out-of-state money are spending $25. That is probably a more even fight than it looks because the Republicans are mostly lying, but it is still a big hurdle. But all that money has not bought Walker much in favorability.
jefe68

Looks as if Walker is going to win at this point.
Why do say On Point will not do a show on what is really a litmus test to the up coming general election.
You right wing chaps are hilarious. Even if they did not do a show the day after, you all would be crying foul.
You look for any excuse to whine on this forum.
And yet if someone from left of center criticizes Fox for the very same thing you all will acting like a bunch sanctimonious belles at a debutante ball.

JGC

From the Borowitz Report this week:

“Mr. Romney…experienced a rare emotional moment on Memorial Day, placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Banker.”

Still Here

Looks like a recession might be coming. Thanks Obama!

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Approximately 45 million Americans are on welfare.

Now we know what kind of ‘Change” Obama had in mind for the country.
- Victor Vito
  
  Yes, he’d like the whole country to be on welfare.
  - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
    
    Give Obama a second term and this country will become the United States of North Korea.
- nj_v2
  
  The pretty flag montage you use for your avatar makes it easy to just skip over your posts. Thanks!
  - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
    
    You’re Welcome!
    
    You are now freed up to go read some mind-less pro-Obama gibberish, which you obviously enjoy.
J__o__h__n

Thanks failing European austerity policies.
- Still Here
  
  Those haven’t even kicked in yet, try to keep up.
  
  This is all about a complete lack of confidence in Obama and his failed presidency.
  - Ray in VT
    
    Yup, China’s slowing economy and the whole mess in Europe that causing worry here is Obama’s fault. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow here. That’s probably Obama’s fault too.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      The six trillion dollars that Obama added to the federal debt in just three years time is 100% Obama’s fault.
    - Ray in VT
      
      No, it isn’t. It would be if a President could approve spending all on his own. The House controls the purse strings. It could shut it all down any time it wanted to if it had the will.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Thank God that Obama doesn’t control the purse strings otherwise there’s no telling how much money Obama would have blown.
    - Ray in VT
      
      So are you conceding my point that your statement was just factually wrong, or are you not so concerned with facts?
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Obama spent 6 trillion dollars in 3 years.
      
      I’ll give you that.
    - Ray in VT
      
      All of which was approved by Congress, including the GOP.
    - jefe68
      
      Do you know anything at all on how our government is run? Faining ignorance is really not an excuse, well maybe in your case it is.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      You’ve got a lot of courage to put your I.Q. score next to your name.
      
      You’re so ‘special’.
    - jefe68
      
      Everything is President Obama’s fault according to the rhetorical musings of the right wing echo chamber on this forum.
      Why I dare say they would blame him for the flat I noticed on my wheelbarrow this morning.
    - notafeminista
      
      Nah…that was President Bush.
    - Beez
      
      Obama is actually the one who kidnapped that Patz kid in Manhattan
    - Ray in VT
      
      I want to make a crack, but I won’t touch that one. What a horrible case that is. I hugged my kids a little extra after that coverage last week.
  - J__o__h__n
    
    They aren’t working.
Don_B1

Thank you Republican obstructionists in Congress! For not providing enough spending on infrastructure (those 28,000 construction jobs just in May) and revenue sharing with the states to keep their job cutting from occurring at the devastating rates that have kept public employment decreasing particularly for the last year and a half (total of around 600,000 jobs lost).

J__o__h__n

“I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong,” he said. “I am responsible. I don’t have to go any further than the mirror.” — When has John Edwards ever gone any further than a mirror?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

iOnePoint:

Greece is dragging the entire world economy in the brink of collapse again. 69,000 jobs created last month the most lowest job growth since Obama took office.

denis

but till far superior to the last several months of the Bush adminisrtration!
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68
  
  I know just a little suprise that the job growth was so low last month. I know one factor is Europe but the rest are unknown facts.

Ellen Dibble

Jobs. There seems to be a tug of war, where we can’t talk about the two sides tugging at once. On the one hand, we’re supposed to be spending to create jobs, or for many of us that would be spending on purchases, from education and medical care to super-sized sodas. On the other hand, we’re supposed to be cautious, and maybe not create those jobs just yet, given the economic bombshell hovering in Congress in November and December, and certain situations in Europe and the Middle East that could “go off” between now and then. No, I think I’ll hold off on expanding into new factories just now; I’ll use my excess money to pump up the price of my company’s stock offering by buying a whole bunch of it back, the better to impress my stockholders and make things look good here. Or personally, as a consumer, I’ll increase my retirement fund, increase the size of that stock portfolio, and hedge my security in case of all the potentialities that are occurring.

Half the gurus say to spend and pump up the economy that way; half the gurus say to recycle the money via the banks and investment firms by moving money from here to there without any hard consumable involved (I guess), which to me sounds healthier for the planet, unless those unconsumed consumables forswear what I’ll call red energy, the opposite of green energy on the color spectrum. Is growth of necessity an increase in our planetary obesity, aka global warming (counting degrees as fat)?

Don_B1

It is certainly true that individuals and businesses do not have a lot of incentive to spend money. The prospects for increasing aggregate demand which would mean that businesses could increase sales of their products and thus generate job creation and thus a “virtuous cycle” of economic growth.

It is clear that getting a positive cycle of growth from the private sector alone is a long, slow, halting process.

Just consider the failure of Obama’s infrastructure job creation bill. Instead of losing 28,000 construction jobs in May, possibly 30,000 jobs could have been created to do needed work for future economic efficiency and growth. That would have made a strong contribution to growth in business confidence for future growth and started the country on a virtuous growth spiral. But then Republican prospects for the fall elections would have plummeted, so anyone with a brain can calculate the likelihood of that happening when Republicans can prevent/delay it by using the filibuster in the Senate or outright blocking it in the House of Representatives.

MrNutso

John Edwards. Not worth discussing.

Ellen Dibble

Romney told CBS’s Jan Crawford in California that the huge government loans to Solyndra were specifically a conflict of interest because large campaign donors were involved. Let this be a word of warning to anyone who might want to give money to Romney’s campaign. There will be ZERO advantages to any of your businesses while he is in the White House, it seems to me. Here is a quote from a link: “The interview — Romney’s first since clinching the delegates needed to win the nomination — came as Romney appeared in California in front of Solyndra’s shuttered headquarters to hammer the president on the collapse of the solar power company after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee.�
Romney said the president committed a “conflict of interest of some magnitude” because, he said, Solyndra executives were campaign donors of Mr. Obama’s – a statement PolitiFact previously labeled as “mostly false.”
And the link: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57444955/romney-gives-obama-an-f-across-the-board/

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

There is only person involved. I wrote it on my last month’s comment.
- Ellen Dibble
  
  I probably infuriate people because I don’t hang around till every answer is answered, and I congratulate you on nailing this last month. But I missed it. Romney apparently isn’t angling for that individual’s support, such as it might be at this point in time.
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68
    
    I forgot the name of the Obama’s contributor but he is a big factor and worked for Solyndra. I got his name from 60 Minutes.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

Syria is now full blown civil war. if America or the Allies will send troops. Our world will be a bitter place to live again. War is the essence of humanity’s demise.

Still Here

Is it true that the head of the BLS is now on Obama’s Enemy List?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

I will blame the Democratic and Republican Parties incompetence for the demise of the middle class Americans.
I will blame every Americans that supported the 2 ruling elite parties.

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Japan and China to start direct currency trading today without U.S. dollars

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/japan-and-china-to-start-direct-currency-trading-on-friday

Another blow for the once mighty dollar under the current U.S. President.

I wonder if Obama’s reckless spending of six trillion dollars in three years time had anything to do with that?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

Those countries has the rights to do those. for me I won’t even dare to have Yen in my bank account.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

Can you give me some examples about the six trillion think you are talking about.

Where the money go?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

Obama inherited a $1.3 trillion annual deficit. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me…dministration/$1.3 trillion x 3 = $3.9 trillion + supplemental stimulus of $800 billion = $4.7 trillion.Which is roughly the amount of debt added since Jan 2009.(The deficit peaked a little higher than $1.3 trillion in 2010)
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  Bottom line,
  
  Obama has added six trillion dollars to the federal debt since he’s been President.
  
  But don’t take my word for it, go to usdebtclock.org and see for yourself.
MadMarkTheCodeWarrior

Fact of the matter Obama spending is up much less than under your god-like Republican presidents.
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  When have I ever defended a Republican President, namely Bush?
  
  Obama has been President for well over three years. It’s time you leftists started holding Obama accountable instead of making constant excuses for him.
  - TFRX
    
    Your comment has been tabled with an anonymous hold and will not appear until 60% of the panel votes in favor.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      It will go through. Anybody with any common sense is running away from the dollar.
      
      Even China has all but stopped buying U.S. Treasuries.
    - JGC
      
      Common sense is in short supply these days! From what I can see, due to the destabilization of the Euro, everyone is rushing in to buy U.S. securities. I was able to buy the U.S. dollar for $0.98 CDN last month. Today it is approaching $1.04 CDN per U.S. dollar.

Julia

What’s Syria got that Russia wants? A navy port on the Med.

Why doesn’t the news report more on this?

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Judge strikes down N.D.A.A.,

rules Obama must obey the Constitution

http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=44682

A federal judge ruled that Obama can’t be a dictator.

Life is so unfair.

Ray in VT

Judge also rules that Congress, which passed the NDAA, must obey the Constitution. Spread the blame around to all the guilty parties, or else you just look like a blatantly partisan hack.
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  Obama could have easily vetoed the N.D.A.A.
  
  Instead he chose to sign it, after he said he wouldn’t.
  - Ray in VT
    
    And I’ll knock him for it regarding the objectionable provisions. But tell me, why would 190 Constitution loving and protecting House Republicans vote to destroy that sacred document by voting for it?
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      I’m not defending anyone who voted for NDAA, if they did, then they need to be voted out in November.
    - Ray in VT
      
      But you’re only going to go after one guy for it. The one guy who you also conveniently go after with nearly every post here. How very fair and balanced of you.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Yeah, it’s almost as bad as Obama trashing the Constitution.
    - Ray in VT
      
      Thank you for once again proving my point that you are only interested in one sided partisan attacks.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Criticism of Obama does not equal GOP endorsement.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      YOU haven’t mentioned the Republicans involved! WHY NOT, if you were anything like fair?

JGC

An interesting essay this month from the Canadian cultural magazine, The Walrus, by Joseph Heath:

http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2012.06-essay-nadir-and-me

It concerns the growing divergence of the wealthy and not-so-well off, where there are increasingly fewer chances for shared interactions between the two solitudes, and therefore more insulation from the travails of the regular population. Mr. Heath writes,” …the rich tend to gauge what it means to be rich by comparing themselves with the people around them. And if they never interact with anyone outside their social class, then they don’t feel particularly rich. Hence the genuine befuddlement over how anyone could feel resentment toward them, much less expect them to pay higher taxes.” (Genuine befuddlement certainly applies to Mr. Romney’s interactions with the regular public.)

Mr. Heath also writes about how a “democratic society requires certain experiences, and certain institutions, where everyone is treated the same: standing in line to vote, getting a driver’s license, for instance”, situations of “forced solidarity” which “serve as a check on the tendency of the ultra-rich to drift off into their own little world…”

In Canada the major institutional locus is the healthcare system, and, curiously to me, he finds the U.S.’s major institutional locus that serves that function is the justice system. “Down south, they really do throw anyone and everyone in prison- as Martha Stewart and Conrad Black discovered, much to their apparent surprise…It was as though it took each of them a while to realize that the charges against them were serious, that they were expected to live by the same rules as everyone else.”

Several other thoughts along this line: I got an e-mail from my congressman (PA 8th district) this week wanting to know what I thought about Eduardo Saverin renouncing his U.S. citizenship to avoid paying high taxes. This is the week that Peter Thiel’s Seasteading Institute is meeting in SanFrancisco to continue with plans for a giant floating off-shore city in international waters, away from government regulation and taxes (Talk about the “tendency of the ultra-rich to drift off into their own little world”–soon to be literally the truth.)

And if the U.S. justice system really is the last leveler between the rich and the not, the connected and the not, John Edwards seems to be very relieved this week not to be serving the rest of his life as a jailhouse lawyer.

TFRX

A judge strikes down much of the Florida “Keep out the vote” laws.

Looks like Gov. Scott will have to resort to extraordinary measures. I understand Ken (We’re out of voting machines) Blackwell is available.

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

America lost 129,000 millionaires in 2011

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47631154

Ray in VT

Have you checked the couch cushions?
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  Leave it to a leftist like you to find wealth destruction amusing.
  
  It makes sense that you would be a Obama supporter.
  - Ray in VT
    
    Leave it to some right-winger like you both not have a sense of humor and to believe in the fruity conspiracy theories that you advocate here.
    
    My dad always said that you might as well laugh as cry. My brother’s been losing his shirt dairy farming these past few years, but he doesn’t sit around crying about it.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      I didn’t know that wealth destruction caused by Obama’s ruinous economic policies was part of a ‘conspiracy theory’.
    - Ray in VT
      
      How about your Osama’s been dead for years? ACORN involved in child prostitution? Obama’s a dictator with a domestic enemies list that he’d like to make into a kill list? That last one was you today, right?
      
      Still Here’s made some interesting statements on the issue, and I’d like to know if you’re something of a birther too. Where do you think that the President was born?
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Why are ALL of Obama’s Visa, medical, and school records sealed?
      
      Sounds like he’s got something to hide.
    - Ray in VT
      
      So are you onto that now? I don’t believe that he went to Columbia University. In fact, I don’t think that it even exists.
      
      Why do you want to know about his credit card anyways?
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      I don’t care about his credit cards. I want him to unseal his medical, visa, and health records.
      
      Every other President has.
MadMarkTheCodeWarrior

And how many jobs did Romney destroy as part of the pillage and rape strategy of he and his vulture capitalist buddies used at Bain Capital?

And how is this country socialist when the Billionaires are doing better than ever? This country’s corporate governance in no way meets is the definition of socialism.
jimino

Under prior administrations, financial sector fraud allowed, if not promoted, by worshipers of the religion of deregulated free markets destroyed more than $8 TRILLION in middle class assets. Of course, that’s of little interest to your ilk. I expect that’s just looked at inevitable “creative destruction” so necessary to your view of capitalism.

Ellen Dibble

Object lesson from John Edwards, if you are going to have a major family tragedy, or set of tragedies, do not do so while running for president. It tends to invite attention. Noted the Republican who decided to prosecute the Edwards case is no longer there. Feasting on the immoralities of the opposite party harkens back to Monica and the late 1990s. Something political about this foisting of morality onto legality? Where is the line? Give it a rest.

JGC

We all know there are plenty of examples of political hypocrisy to go around concerning bedroom games, one of my personal favorites being the Honorable Senator David Vitter. The truth is the Dems dodged a bullet with the Edwards implosion, and barely. This guy is already plotting his political comeback. It just takes a sincere statement or three with a dollop of contrition, look now, deeply, camera one…

AC

what % of returning veterans are inflating the unemployment #’s?? (i think their unemployment rate is 12 something?)

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

Unemployment rate is around 8.2% for US Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan but you estimate is accurate not counting the unaccounted for.

MrNutso

Tells us a lot about all politicians. It’s winning that counts.

Greyman

Obama looked as terrific as John Edwards . . . once upon a time, long long ago and far far away.

Still Here

And with really off prescription glasses and the fog of main stream media complicity and unprecedented PR misinformation …

TFRX

The boilerplate is “John Edwards is a really sleazy guy” prosecuted on a case that shouldn’t have been brought?

“Vapid and incredibly telegenic political candidate who isn’t all that we see”, Byron York? Where were you during the 1980s?

Nope. The boilerplate is that he’ll probably fade into obscurity and shame like Oliver North, another disgraced pol destined to live out his days away from the public light and in near-poverty.

Oh, wait…

TyroneJ

All I want to know is did Edwards pay income taxes on that $1M?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y6CO5C2HE4WM2OYGCDVWGPRXXM oldman

We’re going down – given Romney’s record of gutting corpses, he’s ready to go to work.

JGC

Happy 86th Birthday to Andy Griffith! There, that satisfies my nod to Mayberry R.F.D. this week…

TFRX

He kicked ass in Elia Kazan’s “A Face in the Crowd”.

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Americans beg Obama: Please don’t kill us with drones

http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-kill-list-president-695/

Still Here

The fact we have to beg is so sad. Why won’t this guy listen to reason? The Peace Prize has really gone to his head!
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  I wonder what the new catch-phrase to come out the Obama Presidency will be?
  
  It should be, “Don’t drone me bro”.

MrNutso

Trump also not worth mentioning. Stop saying his name and he will go away.

JGC

Oh please, let me mention him just one more time, again from The Borowitz Report:

Businessman Donald Trump’s endorsement of former Governor Mitt Romney could help the presumptive GOP nominee win over the support of a constituency that has been cool to him thus far: billionaire a$$holes.

Reportedly, the top 0.00001% wealthiest Americans have regarded Mr. Romney with suspicion to date, wondering, in the words of one billionaire, “if he’s really one of us. It’s a bit of a reach for us billionaires to vote for someone like Romney, who just has a couple of hundred million in the bank,” said Grayson Rance, a billionaire who has so far viewed the former Massachusetts governor warily. “But if a bona fide ass like Trump is for him, that makes you give the guy a second chance.”

Mr. Rance said that it was hard to believe that Mr. Romney, “who only owns five or six homes, could relate to people like us and understand our problems,” but that Mr. Trump’s thumbs-up “counts for a lot.”
- TFRX
  
  Okay, without a link, I’m curious if you’re giving us something from The Onion.
  - JGC
    
    Here is the link:
    
    http://www.borowitzreport.com/
    
    It could possibly be the funniest commentary in print at the moment.
    - TFRX
      
      Ah, a search brings me this similar link:
      
      http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-pompous-asshole-magazine-to-compete-with-cigar,4208/
    - JGC
      
      Excellent!
    - TFRX
      
      Remember when satire was more than a hairsbreadth ahead of reality?
      
      I miss those days.

Lila

What about Elizabeth Warren? Isn’t she toast, given her poor response to the Native American heritage issue? Shouldn’t Duval step in and run so that the Democrats don’t let the seat slip to Brown? Jack?

Still Here

I believe she’s going to meditate on her future in the sweat lodge this weekend, hoping for guidance from her ancestors, Lying Wolf and Cheating Bear.
- Wingswork
  
  None of this unimportant story makes Brown’s votes right for Mass. He’s a typical wingnut puppet now matter what he proclaims. He’s just trying the old, “look over there!” strategy.
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  ‘Lying Wolf’ and ‘Cheating Bear’
  
  LOL!
  
  That’s a great way to start the weekend.
StopSpendingNow

Elizabeth Warren is truly nutty. Besides the claim of Cherokee heritage, she also claims that she was the first nursing mother to take the bar exam in New Jersey, even though women have been taking the bar exam in New Jersey since 1895.
J__o__h__n

Polls showed that voters don’t care about this non-issue.

Still Here

Lots of leftwing whiners on the board today. Obama owns this economy and he said so. Sorry if it offends your sensibilities but reality bites and Obama happens.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y6CO5C2HE4WM2OYGCDVWGPRXXM oldman

Given what he was handed, and given the state of elsewhere in the world, and given the intractability of Congress he hasn’t done too poorly. It’s a bit much to expect someone to make cake out of a cowpie.
- notafeminista
  
  “Yes we can!” – an outright lie or just wishful thinking?
Wingswork

And the Republican congress are responsible for a record number of filibusters. The Repcons have limited and derailed Obama’s initiatives. The 60 votes rule stops legislation. I blame them, not the president.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/12/84487/senate-republicans-filibuster.html
- TFRX
  
  Norman Ornstein blames the GOP for its obstructionism also.
  
  But he may have been kidnapped, seeing as how he’s fallen off the radar. I guess it’s a warning to the rest of the media to not break with “both sides do it”.

Webb Nichols

Several years ago on On Point, there were two women economists from Europe who said the US was facing permanent unemployment of 7-9 percent. That is the new normal. No one will own up to it.

And if the world is a Global Village, letting innocent people be exploited, abused, tortured and killed anywhere is an outrage. Fearful diplomacy, blame shifting and avoidance is no justification.

MrNutso

It’s the problem with expansion of Presidential powers. Once they are created, no President will relinquish them. This started under Bush and before and will continue in the future.

Ray in VT

Well, it started long before George W. Bush, but I agree with you otherwise.

MadMarkTheCodeWarrior

Not to say that I don’t have issues with Drones…

Dubya dropped over 50 500 lb bombs on Baghdad after the war on residential areas trying specifically to kill Saddam. Does anyone know what a 500lb bomb does to a city block of homes in Baghdad!?!?!

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

JP Morgan employees join Goldman Sachs among top Obama donors

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-20/jpmorgan-employees-join-goldman-sachs-among-top-obama-donors.html

I sure am glad we’ve got Obama in the White House to clean up Wall Street.

Ray in VT

So are you going to trust the private equity guy to do it?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

lol i just smile when I see your comment but I need facts about the 6 trillion debt
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  Go to usdebtclock.org and see for yourself.

Wingswork

The caller is right. Obama is damned if he does damned if he doesn’t. He’s been very successful with his hunting down terrorists so now they try to make it a negative! Not buying it!! A few targeted terrorists dead is better than an out and out war with many innocent and soldiers dead.

TFRX

Wal-Mart drops out of ALEC.

Apparently the Koch’s bros protection racket’s losing its hold.

Sam Walworth

After today’s job’s report, I don’t think Obama has chances to get re-elected, however the alternate Mr. Romney is no messiah is either.

Not sure what is going to happen in Nov 12, its surely seems like the make or break moment for the USA, either way.

Greyman

Americans: Obama clearly enunciated his views on 1 August 2007, in his speech at the W. Wilson Institute. There, he expressed his perfect willingness to pursue a unilateralist foreign policy, irrespective of the national sovereignty and the territorial integrity of any foreign power. Justly was Obama instantly rebuked by almost all of his confreres running for the Democratic Presidential nomination (Joe Biden the most vociferous among them, Hillary Clinton the only one biting her tongue red and purple). Obama’s enunciation of his tough talk on that day showed exactly how intent he was to wield lethal force: “I’m a tough guy (even though I don’t look it, even though I don’t embody it in any substantive regard, but I can at least TALK a good game . . .)”.

MrNutso

Mitt Romney is following Game Change with Trump. Keep that part of the base fired up knowing that no one will really decide to vote for or against Romney because of an association with Trump.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y6CO5C2HE4WM2OYGCDVWGPRXXM oldman

Has anyone brought up the idea of global deflation? I think that’s where we are, stimulus and more debt postponed it a bit, but it’s back and likely where we will be for a long time to come.

Wingswork

Being silent on certain subjects is Mitt’s way of being complicit. He has no spine, no principals. He just desperately wants to be president. The more I see of Mitt the less I respect him. He’s creepy.

J__o__h__n

He’s no McCain.
Worried for the country(MA)

…or an alternative view is he is focused and disciplined. He is focused on what voters care about – growing the economy and creating jobs.

btw – Romney clearly stated he believes Obama was born in HI. Why would he want he campaign to be drawn into this media generated controversy?
- TFRX
  
  He doesn’t have to be the birther. He simply needs to not stand up to his “friends”.
  
  And if you think he’s focusing on “growing the economy and creating jobs”, you really need to read up on what this Congress has been doing.
- Ray in VT
  
  and why would he associate himself with someone with such views. I think that McCain showed much more political courage with his statements on this issue in 2008.
  - Worried for the country(MA)
    
    Maybe there will be a political cost. Maybe it takes more political courage to ignore the media on this one.
    
    However this is 100% media generated. Trump was invited on CNN to talk about other issues and was ambushed with the birther stuff. Trump was more than happy to take on Blitzer.
    
    Is there a political cost for Obama taking $1M from Bill Maher — hater of all religions and misogynist?
    - Ray in VT
      
      I don’t think that the fact that Mr. Trump, as well as many others, have lingering doubts or questions about where the President was born despite all available evidence is a media generated controversy. I think that it is a reflection of the ignorance and paranoia of some of our fellow Americans.
      
      As for Maher, maybe there is if the GOP wants to try to make hay out of it. I wouldn’t blame them if they did try.

Adks12020

With regards to Pres. Obama and Mitt Romney running “so close in the polls” I have one response: I don’t look at polls until the end of the summer. There is absolutely no point.The only people paying attention to the polls right now are those that are actually in politics as a profession.

Lauritzlarsen

Your republican and trump apologist masquerading as an objective obsever is a joke. Disgusting!

J__o__h__n

I don’t see the value of learning to spell words that would have sent William F. Buckley running for a dictionary.

Terry Tree Tree

???
- J__o__h__n
  
  On Point mentioned the spelling bee winner.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    Congratulations to the winner! Some people want the spelling bee to have only one syllable words, so they would have a chance?
    - notafeminista
      
      Be interesting to know the demographics of the people to whom you refer.
JGC

Are you being anti-elitist? Or is that anti-elitest?
- J__o__h__n
  
  Spelling words people actually use is important: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/romney-campaign-app-carries-typo-word-america-16465845
  - JGC
    
    Like!

TFRX

“The whole race stuff, what can you say, I don’t think you can accuse Romney (of actually believing this).” (Paraphrase.)

He doesn’t have to. The dogwhistles are out there. There’s an entire propaganda media empire doing the dirty work for him, and all he has to do is not push back too hard against it, while sounding polite enough for the Beltway media to give him the figleaf of honorable politeness.

Still Here

Given your blatent racism, you are not qualified to address these issues.
- TFRX
  
  Just when I think you said the stupidest thing ever, you keep talking.
  
  (h/t Hank Hill)
  - Ray in VT
    
    Hank Hill from King of the Hill fame?
    - TFRX
      
      But of course. I miss that kind of Republican.
      
      We can only find ‘em in cartoons now. I figure we’re overrun by real-life Dale Gribbles at this point.

JGC

Ban supersize tax shelters.

Greyman

What about Obama’s gaffe at his Medal of Freedom bash? Though our allies the Poles continue to seek Obama’s personal admission that he goofed, Obama sees fit to maintain the structural integrity of his aloofness. Imagine! –and he’s a Harvard grad!

Ray in VT

I think that he should clarify his misstatement and apologize to the Poles if that is what they need to satisfy their national pride and honor, but what a useless non-issue to bash the President over. My boss reminded me yesterday about Bitburg and the difference in opinion over that incident.
- Greyman
  
  Hardly a non-issue: Poles are serving in Afghanistan right now, and Poles have been staunch allies of American liberty and independence since the days of Tadeusz Kosciuszko. As I commented earlier, this is one curious blunder for Obama to have made, given that Chicago is his adopted homebase and Chicago hosts one of the largest populations (if not the largest population) of people of Polish descent outside of Warsaw.
  - Ray in VT
    
    I think that it was a simple misstatement. I once called the Hessian mercenaries who fought for the British during the Revolution “professional Germans”, but it’s not what I meant. It might be an issue for the Poles and their honor/pride, and an issue for American voters of Polish descent, but as a general issue to get on the President about, I think that it’s pretty lame.
    - Greyman
      
      Tell it to the Polish Prime Minister and the Polish Foreign Minister, especially Mr. Sikorski, who regretted the “ignorance and incompetence” evinced in this innocent Presidential blunder.
    - TFRX
      
      Sikorski, the ex-Weekly Standard hack?
    - Greyman
      
      No, Radek Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister.
    - Ray in VT
      
      I’m sure that they’re pissed, and they have a certain right to be. I don’t think that the comment, though, is any sign of a lack of knowledge by the President.

Terry Tree Tree

Congratulations to SpaceX, for a sucessful trip to the ISS and back!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

It made back!!! wow that was great.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

I saw Obama last night I thought he was going to say “I inherited your problems and debts” but he said to Bush “I inherited your cable tv channels”.

Ray in VT

I often disagree with Mr. York, but I think that what he said regarding the drone program was quite true, and I think that the President would be criticized greatly no matter which was he took it, either in it’s scaling back or if he had shut it down.

MrNutso

The criticism is pretty light. It would be hammered if he stopped doing.

TFRX

Byron York, another white guy excusing scrubbing voting rolls.

This is not the time to be “public radio polite” about voter fraud fraud.

Still Here

I believe he’s one percent Blackfoot so take your bigoted opinion elsewhere.
- TFRX
  
  Considering what “you believe” about Elizabeth Warren, I’ll have to throw that on the scrapheap.
  
  I wouldn’t follow you out of a burning building.
- Ray in VT
  
  I have some questions regarding the legitimacy of Mr. York’s column. I’m pretty sure that he writes it from Kenya.

MrNutso

Nothing wrong with ID. It’s the requirements to get the ID that are onerous. In PA, they keeps relaxing the requirements because of how hard it is to comply. States should provide funding for workers to get people registered. This could be done with someone carrying an iPod door to door.

Worried for the country(MA)

I went to the USS Constitution yesterday — run by the US Navy. To visit I needed a photo ID — valid drivers license or passport.
- TFRX
  
  Because visiting a US Navy installation is a right.
  - Worried for the country(MA)
    
    I bought a beer at Fenway Park and I needed a drivers license with photo ID.
    
    And I think you need a photo ID to purchase Sudafed from the pharmacy.
    
    Also, if you want to visit Eric Holder’s office in the justice department you will need a photo ID to enter the building.
    - TFRX
      
      So fncking what?
      
      I’m tired of being polite with your crap about worrying over voting fraud which doesn’t exist.
      
      You need to wake up black in the south one day.
      
      And I don’t care if this remark sounds personal.
TFRX

But the requirements for the poor, aged, young and non-driving simply don’t get the play. All we hear are privileged right-wingers whining about non-existant voter fraud.

I’m too wary to buy it all as one package: The Floridas, Indianas and Texas don’t want to do this. They don’t want to provide that funding, or even stop making illegal and onerous the regs to allow private orgs to do this.
StopSpendingNow

That’s a good idea. I’ve wondered why the government doesn’t make a provision to issue Voter IDs at the poll on election day. The potential voters are already at the poll, and if the voter registration workers were there, they could review the documentation and issue the ID, and the problem would be solved.
- Ray in VT
  
  That sounds like a decent idea.
- TFRX
  
  Because the thrust isn’t about ensuring no fraud and making it easy. It’s about scaring people about non-existant fraud and making it hard to register and vote.
  
  I don’t know if you’re a fool or a knave, but you have to get it through your head that this is about disenfranchising legal voters.
  
  “Millions for obstacles, not one penny for registration.”
  - StopSpendingNow
    
    Today, June 2, 2012, is the Massachusetts Democrat Party Convention. From page 14 of the registration packet: “A photo ID will be required to enter the MassMutual Center.” It looks like the MA Democrats are trying to scare people about nonexistent fraud, and disenfranchise delegates by requiring an ID.
    - TFRX
      
      You’ve just given up the game about pretending you’re not some “voter fraud fraud” right-wing hack. You may have been better off just JAQing it about “why doesn’t the government make it safe and easy” when that’s that last thing you want.
      
      Going into the convention isn’t a right.
      
      Voiting is.
      
      Millions for obstacles, not a penny for registration.
    - StopSpendingNow
      
      If I decide to go out to the local bar tonight, the bar’s owner has had his ID and background checked before he purchased the required alcohol permit, even though the 21st amendment makes the sale of alcohol legal; and I may be required to produce an ID before they will sell me a beer. If I decide to purchase a gun next week, I will have to produce an ID, have a background check, and endure a waiting period, even though the Bill of Rights and the Supreme Court state that I have that individual right; if I decide to carry my gun with me, I have to have a permit and an ID. And if I decide to organize a public protest against any of these procedures, the local government will require that I obtain a permit before the protesters gather, even though the Constitution guarantees my right to free speech.
      �
      None of these procedures violate constitutional rights. If everyone is required to prove their identities at the poll, the right to vote has not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. You’ve given up pretending that you’re not some left-wing hack who thinks that fraudulent votes will most likely be cast for Democrat candidates, so you’re okay with fraud.
    - TFRX
      
      Are you as worried about voter fraud as you are about your neighborhood being inundated with unicorn feces?
      
      Because these dangers are about as equal.
      
      You’ve started pretending you were a concerned middle-of-the-roader. Certain things have given you away as a vote-scrubber.
      
      Stop lying.
- Still Here
  
  Great idea, I’m sure lib whiners won’t like it. See below.
  - Wingswork
    
    This Lib would love to see more like the Repbulican Indiana Secretary of State, Charlie White, convicted of voter fraud. And Republican candidate Feda Morton in Virginia who was charged with election fraud.
    - Azra
      
      °
      
      Pigs might fly.
      
      °

Greyman

Obama has supported restrictions on voting himself: he rewarded a school district in South Carolina (run by Democrats) with $35 million in “stimulus funds”, even though the district continues to fail to permit elections of local school board members–EVEN THOUGH two referenda in the past two decades have passed in which voters called for elections. The local Democrats, enabled by Obama’s political largesse, continue to deny voting and continue to resist accountability in the way public schools are (mis)managed.

MrNutso

Fortunately you found a case. That proves both sides are equally bad.
Ray in VT

Well, that’s the south for ya.
- Greyman
  
  Well, that’s Obama for you.
  - Ray in VT
    
    Sounds like you guys just can’t get your you know what together.
    - Greyman
      
      Well, when a sitting US President dispenses $35 million in Federal largesse just to maintain the status quo, the field has tilted against the people being poorly served by an appointed and unelected bureaucracy. I resent the Federal intrusion, frankly, and I did not ask for it. Id est: it’s not “you guys”, it’s “THOSE guys”, the Democratic loyalists intent to keep people from voting so they can continue to run poorly performing public schools.
    - Ray in VT
      
      Now, you said that there have been votes in a couple of decades. Did Bush prop them up too?
      
      So how does one get on this board? Is it appointed? If so, then who appoints it? Get rid of them. There’s gotta be a way.
    - Greyman
      
      There might have been a way, had Obama not intervened in local affairs. The most recent referendum passed by almost a ten-to-one majority in November 2010: but to date, the legislative delegation (which gets its own measure of political support from the unelected bureaucracy they continually appoint, decade in decade out) has not submitted any legislation in the SC General Assembly to institute elections of school board members. Its a closed system, one that by his direct participation Obama has helped maintain.
    - Ray in VT
      
      That just sounds like such a screwed up system. Is that on the local or county system, or is it something that is statewide?
      
      Now, I won’t pretend to know much about this situation, and, for the record, I apologize for being rather rude and dismissive, but given some of your other criticisms of the President perhaps you could see how my comments are shaped by what I see are some unfair criticisms on your part.
    - Greyman
      
      I honor your apology, Ray, and thank you for it. I am no fan of Obama’s as my words show, but he has given me sufficient reason(s) to oppose him. If anything, I may in fact be exhibiting considerable restraint.
    - Greyman
      
      See my reply to brettearle above: only one county is involved. It’s a very screwed up system protecting unelected incumbants.
- Greyman
  
  Why do you think a handful of Southern Democrats with Obama’s tacit assistance would practice anti-democratic politics so blatantly, though, Ray? After all, many of the local citizens not being permitted to vote are of African descent, and it’s these public schools that remain immune to conventional standards of accountability that are failing so many of them so egregiously. What does Obama have against black people voting, Ray? Your snide comment offers no insight.
brettearle

You comb the decisions, regulations and policies of any administration and any public offical and you will be able to find hypocrisies and double standards, anywhere and everywhere–no matter which party is in office.

In the overall general swing of political things, you are splitting hairs.

My guess is that the stimulus money that was allocated, may have, indeed, been used to grow the local economy.

Politics is the art of compromise, my friend.

Your pettiness is showing. And it’s glaring.
- Greyman
  
  And what do you have against accountability standards in the management of public schools? The county I speak of is THE ONLY county in SC without one single solitary elected school board member: funny how Obama just happened to drop $35 million in their lap to maintain the status quo. There is no way to know exactly how the money is being spent, since the appointed unelected officeholders are shielded from accountability. What kind of “compromise” exists when a petty bureaucracy is immune to public influence and input? What is “petty” about insisting on voting for public school board members? btw: I did not “comb” pubilc records to find this case, Obama brought attention to it with his visit in August 2007 and when he used footage from his visit in his Denver nomination acceptance video in September 2008.
  - Ray in VT
    
    Has the system always been like this? So, is the board county wide, or is it a rule that applies to all boards in the county? Did the other counties used to be like this? What are the details regarding the President supporting the system? Do you have some links to stories?
    
    I am interested in how other states work, and sometimes I am puzzled by their workings. Vermont, in some ways, is very centrally run, although, at least in education, there is a great deal of emphasis on local control. New York, where my brother lives, has county legislatures. I’m not sure why that is. Perhaps due to the size of the state. VT is pretty small, so maybe that’s why a lot of this stuff that might be addressed on at least the county level is dealt with at the state level.
    - Greyman
      
      Ray: thanks for asking. I just e-mailed Mr. Brundrett for any updates he’s heard of in the past eleven months, I’ll keep you posted.
      
      http://thenerve.org/news/2011/07/11/popular-elections-in-dillon-schools-on-hold/
    - Ray in VT
      
      I can understand, in part, your anger with the public school system if it is poorly mismanaged and unaccountable. I’ve basically always had good experiences with public education. I went to some good schools, and I have a nice relationship with those who run my son’s school, despite the fact that the principal is a Yankees fan (just kidding, sort of). I think that my son’s school does about as good a job as it can with it’s funding situation, and I am extremely skeptical about private schools, be them either religious, charter or for profit. I like having the ability to vote to oversee my schools, and I cannot blame you for opposing a system that denies you that.
    - Greyman
      
      For details concerning Obama’s involvement: Google “Ty’Sheoma Bethea”. NO ONE–not the Chicago Tribune’s Howard Witt, not Salon’s Joan Walsh, not NPR’s “All Things Considered”, no one else who reported on the story contemporaneously, least of all any of the McClatchy newspapers in the Carolinas (McClatchy being the Sacramento, CA, absentee landlord owning the major dailies remaining in the two Carolinas)–in the coverage provided to their respective audiences, NO ONE mentioned that the local districts (at the time, the one County Board and the three local boards) do not permit elections of the school board members, EVERYONE who touched the story at the time missed that salient fact.

JGC

All the PAC money sloshing around as payouts to various media to get the negative messages out: whose pockets exactly does it wind up in? Who holds an interest in these cable and radio channels and newspapers? I need Matt Taibbi to investigate this for me. For example, Rupert Murdoch and his minion Roger Ailes, could they donate to PACs to get their message out, profit from the PAC money spent on their enterprises, and then re-donate some of the profits? Lather, rinse, repeat.

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Obama gave billions to green energy companies with ties to his administration and 2008 campaign
�
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/02/obama-gave-billions-to-green-energy-companies-with-ties-to-his-administration-and-2008-campaign/
�
Crony Capitalism? No way, not Obama.

Wingswork

It’s OK if you take money from oil and give them big, unnecessary subsidies?!

MadMarkTheCodeWarrior

We have the party that intentionally targeted and purged Democratic Floridian servicemen serving in Iraq in 2008 are now arguing that we need to make it more difficult to commit voting fraud. Have we gone daft?

brettearle

I’m a Democrat, but I support voter ID policy.

Byron York was right. If you register to vote, you ought to back it up with credible ID.

If you have already registered, it proves that you have presented documents, to earn the right.

The right to vote is the most fundamental ingredient of our Democracy. It ought to be preserved and protected–regardless of whether there is already fraud or not.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  They should START this stuff AFTER an election, make it well known, and assist voter ID, FAR before an election!
  - Steve_T
    
    NO,no,no… might actually work to get an honest fair election with more voters.
- JGC
  
  Voter ID policy… It is good in fact, but how will it work in truth? I am an American ex-pat still voting by absentee ballot in the district of my last residence (the local official noted I vote more consistently than the locals who live down the street). How do I prove by voter ID?
  
  My mother in Pennsylvania is housebound at the age of 86. How does she prove her situation under voter ID?
  
  I went through Pennsylvania’s absentee voting instructions for the primary, and found it to be confusing and frustrating, rather than helpful, which is just the way the Republican state governor and government wants it to be.
  
  Let’s see what awaits in November 2012.
  - brettearle
    
    I agree there will be problems. But there are some work-arounds.
    
    If the United States hires people to be census takers, they need to hire these same people to preserve voter registration and voter ID.
    
    There has to be an aggressive campaign to identify, and verify, home-bound voters….a media or direct-mail campaign to let home-bound voters know how they can preserve their right.
    
    Also, it seems to me that a statue of limitations will need to be put on ex-pats; or else an official proxy, such as a notary public, will need to step in.
    
    These matters are labor-intensive and costly.
    
    But so is airport security, since 9/11.
    
    Both airport security AND voter ID are equally important, in their own ways, to preserve the democratic security of the country.
    - JGC
      
      That is a good idea (census takers and voter verification). Something like that is done in Canada, and it seems to work well. But I have to mention that census verification is not an idea that seems to float well with conservative governments. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has cut back on census information, and the U.S. Congress is also tightening up the funding for good census info. Is it just misguided up-front savings, or a more sinister “keeping the mushrooms in the dark”?
      
      The statute of limitations idea on ex-pat voters is an absolute non-starter. An absolute non-starter. There is no statute of limitations on obligations to the IRS no matter where you live (the whole taxation without representation scenario). Why do you think all our newly minted tech kazillionaires are studying how to slink away to low-tax havens without the albatross of U.S. citizenship hanging around their wallets? But maybe the notary idea would be a possibility.
      
      Anyway, I can fully agree with your last statement about the importance of voter ID and border security.

TFRX

In the light of job numbers, high ranking GOP congressman Eric Cantor wants to try something new?

We know what that means to the “Jobs is job N+1 Congress”: Ladies, hold on to your vajayjays. Something transvaginal may be coming your way.

http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A

Worse than that…as these dirty Republican “Christian” preachers want gays imprisoned and killed, and receive applause from their evil minded congregations of fools.

Concentration camps and death for gays are part of the real Republican agenda. These evil people, full of hate, must be exposed for the criminals they are, and the Republican party banned and its leaders in jail.
- Ray in VT
  
  Now, the preacher to whom you are referring made some horribly disgusting comments, but I think that your comments about banning and jailing the GOP is way off base.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
    
    Easy for you to say when they are not calling for YOUR DEATH AND EXTERMINATION. Sorry to say, I expected a more thoughtful reply from you. I think it is more than telling that you underplay this call for the death of gay people as if it was a breech of social etiquette…like someone passed gas after dinner, nuthin much..tisk tisk.
    
    Then you have the nerve to assail me for calling for the banning of the party who wants me, and people like me DEAD. People like you are the equivalent enablers of Germany circa 1938. By not soundly denouncing this call to violence, you are complicit in it.
    - TFRX
      
      I don’t know that those “Christianists” are actually trying to do these things, but it almost doesn’t matter.
      
      To me it’s almost a test to see what they can get away with saying before anyone in our power structure says “boo”.
      
      This Sunday morning on TV someone will comment that “Nobody on the right really hates gays and lesbians”.
      
      My money is on David Gergen.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Nobody hates gays, oh really? When you call for the death and imprisonmnet of an entire group of millions innocent people, you call that love? geezzzz Haven’t we been down that road 70 years ago??
    - TFRX
      
      I’m not saying “nobody hates gays”.
      
      I’m saying that there will always be a place for the gay-hating rhetoric, and that will be washed away by our mainstream news media.
      
      David Gergen was on this very program trying to tell us that “Republicans don’t want to do away with birth control”. He’s a droning excuse-maker for the right-wing, the placid face on the dog-whistles.
      
      And that there are misguided people out there saying to imprison gays and lesbians allows someone like Gergen to help move the goalposts, because they can blanch at the idea, but it shouldn’t give cover moving what is considered “the center” rightwards.
      
      That is one way “gay hating” worms its way into our “respectable” discourse. It makes someone like you fighting for your dignity seem like the troublemaker. Which you aren’t.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Thanks much. I read your earlier post incorrectly.
    - TFRX
      
      No problem. I coulda phrased more clearly, too.
    - Ray in VT
      
      It’s funny how much some like to talk about who God hates as opposed to who he/she/it loves.
      
      “You know that you have remade God in your own image when he hates everyone that you do.” I can’t remember who said it, and I don’t feel like googling it.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      All discussions of god are pointless to me and as much a waste of time as watching the grass grow. For I am, as you, an athiest. Talk about a social outcast: openly queer, athiest, born of Jews, a somewhat leftist political progressive living in a violently RED State. WTF
    - Ray in VT
      
      Man, I don’t know how you could add another characteristic that would make you more despised by many on the right.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      You nailed it. And I also belong to a peace group.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      Really go for challenges, don’t you?
    - Azra
      
      OI-VEY!!!!!
      
      `
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      Pretty accurate description!
    - Ray in VT
      
      It is easy for me to say, I suppose. Extremist religious figures don’t tend to like atheists like me either, but I’ve not lately heard them calling for a pogrom against us, so I don’t know what it is like have that sort of rhetoric directed at me. I can only try to sympathize.
      
      My comment was more a rejection of what I see as a going too far. Vote people out of office. Fight them in the court of public opinion and the marketplace of free ideas, but until they commit a crime, or compel others to do so, I think that they’re just bigots. Potentially dangerous bigots perhaps, but bigots nonetheless who have yet to violate the law (more than likely).
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Sympathy and understanding was the fatal mistake the Jews made.
      
      Christian calls for the death of entire groups of people, and the creation of concentration camps should ring the alarm bell for anyone. These religious nuts know no bounds of decency. Their rabid criminality must be stopped. Extremist Christians are every bit as lethal as extremist Muslims.
    - Ray in VT
      
      I think that they’re potentially just as dangerous, and I dislike them with equal fervor as other extremists.
      
      There have been discussions about how to combat extremism in a free society, and I’m not sure where the point is when one can no longer tolerate an intolerant movement.
      
      It’s pretty disgusting some of the stuff that they spew. Not that it gives me an equal perspective, but I did remember that someone, a ‘religious conservative”, once threatened to kill me on the rumor that I was gay. It’s pretty sick to think that way.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      So were you inclined to invite your murderer to afternoon tea?? I am not apathetic nor passive enough to allow these dirty bigots the opportunity to call for my death without challenge and vigorous denouncement.Perhaps you are.
    - Ray in VT
      
      I did not. I told him that we could settle it outside if he wanted to give it a try.
      
      Believe me, I’m not endoring cozying up to a-holes like that, but I also don’t like the idea of banning a party or jailing people based upon their views, if that is what you were advocating. Believe me, in terms of fighting them politically, I’m on your side.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Thanks. I always say, are religous people crazy, or does religion attract crazy people?
    - Azra
      
      It will probably remain a mystery til the end of time . . . like the chicken and egg conundrum.
    - brettearle
      
      I agree with Ray in VT, you are going far, far overboard.
      
      Indeed, the other side won’t even bother to hear our points if you blindly demonize–and, inaccurately, I might say.
      
      The Republicans have a great deal to answer for–but if I were you, before you go into your excessive rhetorical mold, I would recall Obama’s eulogy in Arizona.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Who is calling for your death? Apathy in the face of extremists is the path of a fool.
    - Ray in VT
      
      I can’t say that I disagree with that.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  I hadn’t heard of one recently, with a large audience. What’s the name? Where did this stupidity happen?
  WHAT crimes and sins has he/she committed, of their own, otherwise? THAT bears looking into?
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
    
    CNN had the video this week on their web site. That phony “Christian” minister gave the usual crap about the Bible and that it requires gays to be killed. He and his church of fools is in Kansas.
    
    Last week it was another religious nut minister in North Carolina, wanting to set up concentration camps for lesbians, and another one for “homosexuals and queers”.
    
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/curtis-knapp-kansas-pastor-death-of-gays-defense-cnn_n_1559293.html#s=1002369

Worried for the country(MA)

Dan Murphy is clueless if he believes over regulation doesn’t kill jobs.

Take Dodd-Frank. 2500 pages. But that is just the beginning because Dodd-Frank created 20 pages of regulations for each page of original legislation — and they aren’t done yet. Worse yet, DF did not address too big to fail.

http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A

More Republican lies. Bring back Glass-Steagall and imprison the CEO criminals. Dodd-Frank needs to be about 100 times stronger than it is to control Wall Street greed and criminality.
- Worried for the country(MA)
  
  How many bankers have been indicted by the Obama administration? It’s been 3.5 years.
  
  Jon Corzine?
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
    
    I agree, and know first hand that both parties are on the take. I also know, first hand, the criminality and greed of the Republican party exceeds that of the Dems.
    
    Cheney – Halliburton? Or is your selective memory at work again? Or something more recent for ya: BAIN VULTURE CAPITALISM. Invade a company, strip it of its assets, load it up with debt, steal pensions, bankrupt the company, fire the employees after they have been financially raped. Mitt Romney personified.
    - brettearle
      
      Jason, I’m a big opponent of Private Equity, but you are going overboard in your description of what Romney did, as CEO of Bain.
      
      If you go to such exaggeration, then it is easier for our Democratic cause to be criticized.
      
      Romeny was not a venture capitalist and therefore should be impugned for his un-Democratic way of investing without risk.
      
      But sometimes–and I don’t like to admit this–Bain investments were successful.
      
      All we need to do is to point out that Private Equity is an hypocrisy. It goes against the policy of Democratic, free market enterprise and the way of American spirited-capitalism.
      
      In the aftermath of the Economic collapse of 2007, to have such a man, running for the Presidency, is a bizarre, loathsome, outrageous bit of self-destructive
      vision, for the country.
      
      It is abject Lunacy.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Good points all, and this site is for comments…accordingly, I am free to bitch and moan all I want, right? haha.
      We will have to agree to disagree on Romney and his dirty deeds. My own company was being looked at by a VC firm some years ago. I cannot recall if it was Bain or not. Our executives warned us of dire consequences if we were taken over – fortunately it never happened. I have NO respect for that “industry” in general, or Bain in particular, and especially for Romney…a man of no principle and one who will say anything to anyone, just to get a vote. I cannot imagine a bigger fraud than Willard. Born to money, and nurtured to MORE MONEY by his anti-gay church of nuts. Golden tablets, that have somehow conviently disappeared…give me a break! What unadulturated nonsense.
    - brettearle
      
      Got your points.
      
      The business about Mormonism and American Exceptionalism is more troublesome than Christian Fundamentalism, Armageddon, and America’s destiny, according to national politicians who secretly (and openly) believed in the 700 Club’s vision of end times.
  - Ray in VT
    
    Do you think that a GOP Justice Department would have done any more? I don’t think that they would have. This is an area where I think that both parties should be heavily criticized.
    - Worried for the country(MA)
      
      You are probably correct.
      
      For me, the root of the problem is too big to fail and the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.
    - Ray in VT
      
      What do you think is the solution to too big to fail, then? Bernie Sanders says too big to fail, too big to exist. What do you think of that? I think that it’s a problem to have a company or industry get so powerful that it can bring down the entire economy. But what do we do? Break ‘em up? I can’t see that getting enough political support even if it were the correct course.
- Greyman
  
  Sure, bring back Glass-Steagall, the regulations that Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin pushed for the repeal of from 1995 to 1999, the same regulations that Democrats like Nancy Pelosi voted to repeal in 1999 (along with Republican connivance, yes, following the incessant cajoling of Mr. Rubin).
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
    
    Seems you are the only one cheering on Rubin… I’m just sayin…
MrNutso

It’s not the regs., it’s the needless complexity. No law gets enacted that doesn’t have every congressman’s and senator’s pet idea in it.
- Don_B1
  
  And that was exactly Paul Volcker’s response to banker complaints about the Dodd-Frank complexity which the BANKS were creating with every delaying tactic possible, from legal suits to not quickly responding to information requests. He told them that a return to Glass-Steagall was the answer to their deleterious actions to delay or defang Dodd-Frank.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y6CO5C2HE4WM2OYGCDVWGPRXXM oldman

On the Bloomberg thing – it’s not surprising that after doing to OWS whatever he wanted that he thinks he do whatever he wants to everybody.

Still Here

Please, once the pot ran out OWS was doomed.
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  Apparently running out of deodorant and not bathing regularly was of no consequence either to the leftist OWS crowd.
J__o__h__n

Bloomberg is a great mayor. He got rid of smoking and transfats.
Azra

Au contraire! Big Business does whatever it wants, to everybody. (Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Big Tobacco spring immediately to mind.)

Mayor Bloomberg does whatever he can to protect New Yorkers, and, as a result, save countless billions of taxpayer dollars that would otherwise have to be used to pay hospital bills. He’s a hero.

You_Can_Keep_The_Change

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says U.S now ready to attack Iran
http://www.infowars.com/panetta-says-u-s-now-ready-to-attack-iran/

So now Obama wants to start a war with Iran as well?

Still Here

He’s trying to get 50 million troops there by November so they can’t vote here.
- TFRX
  
  And you don’t know anything about servicemen and -women and voting while deployed overseas. It’s one of the linchpins of our government.
  
  You used to put the slightest bit of effort into your bullshit. Now you just sound lazy.
  - brettearle
    
    Not lazy, simply running out of ammunition.
    
    Nothing’s sticking anymore–and with good reason.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      Actually, I see it as more lies, without even bothering to find out about what they’re talking about?
    - brettearle
      
      Yeah, normally emblematic of a radical rhetorician.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  I doubt that we have 1 million women and men in millitary uniform NOW, so recruiting, training, advanced training of 74 million will be obvious?�
  ( It takes a certain number of support troops stateside, even with ‘W’s 2 Contractors to each service member ratio!)
  Millitary members CAN absentee vote, and DO! I did when I was in, and so did most of my comrades. (comrades is a generic term, BEFORE you leap Joe McCarthy!)
  - brettearle
    
    Ha, Ha, Terry.
    
    You’re right.
    
    Use the term `comrade’ and there’ll be an NSA eavesdropping device, in your living room, in no time!
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      Let them snoop! I am more of a true patriot, than most of those paid lap-dogs!
         Volunteered for Service!
          Volunteered for Combat Duty in Vietnam!
          Volunteer Fire Fighter, for decades!
          Volunteer Rescue Squad member, for over fifteen years.
         AND MUCH MORE!
    - brettearle
      
      You deserve a great deal of credit, that’s for sure.
      
      I’ll bet there’s still an awful lot about the VietNam War
      that is still yet to be understood and uncovered.
TFRX

Wow. You really haven’t consumed a minute of right-wing propaganda and Iran in five years, have you?
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  And you’ve bought a lot of pro-Obama, left-wing, A.C.O.R.N. nonsense ever since the current President took up residency in the White House back in 2009.
  - TFRX
    
    You said the magic word!
    
    ACORN!
    
    If you want innocents to swallow your claptrap, you may want to remove that canard from your repetoire.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Ok, Ok, but first you’ve got to stop believing everything you read in those A.C.O.R.N. pamphlets.
    - brettearle
      
      TFRX–
      
      He’s baiting us, with the ACORN stuff.
      
      His MO is to provoke–not actually to espouse radical opinion.
    - TFRX
      
      If I were on a webcam you’d see how much yawning he “provokes”. It’s like the difference between brushing away a gnat and facing a loose, snarling dog.
      
      I say this all the time, but it’s one more instance in which the internet doesn’t convey non-verbal language or vocal tone.
      
      And it’s so cute that “change” thinks his shit flies here like it would on Meet the Press. That his buzzwords mean something on an NPR board. Hilarious.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      I see that you’ve been forced to using four letter cuss words to try and make your weak case.
      
      Swearing beats thinking, right?
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      What a hoot, coming from you of all people. Open mouth, insert foot..your slogan for the day, dirty bigot.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      You managed to type all that with your head up your rear-end?
      
      Aren’t you special.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      You would like it if there were no opposing views on this page.
      
      Then you and all your co-horts could just blog about how great the Obama Presidency is.
      
      Wouldn’t that be interesting as well as thought provoking.
    - Ray in VT
      
      Most thoughtful people like opposing views that are reasoned and well thought out. However, I wouldn’t put you in that category generally.
      
      If you want someone to engage you decently, then try to practice it yourself.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Sounds like some good advice.
      
      Too bad you won’t follow it though.
      
      You’ll just continue to hurl insults and over-react whenever someone refutes anything that doesn’t jive with what you believe the truth.
    - Ray in VT
      
      I try to be thoughtful so long as other comments justify it.
      
      Sometimes, though, one has to get right down in the gutter to get a good view of someone and their ideas.
      
      I have problems with statements that are biased and/or bold faced lies.
    - nj_v2
      
      “…jive with…”
      
      No one ever accused the right-wing bots of being literate.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Exactly.
Alan in NH

So let’s see…if Obama gets us into war (not that the Pentagon would have anything to do with it) then he’s a bum and just doing it to get re-elected, a war-monger of teh first order…whereas, if he doesn’t start a war with Iran, then he’s a bum and a coward for leaving the U.S. and its allies susceptible to a nuclear-armed Iran and further terrorist attacks. Either way, he’s a bum. I like that.
- You_Can_Keep_The_Change
  
  If your President does take us to war with Iran,
  
  whatever lame excuse Obama comes up with to justify the war, you’ll believe it hook, line and sinker.
  - Ray in VT
    
    So who is your President? Do you hail from some land that does not have one?
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Home for this bot is an alien planet I think.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      What a lame comeback.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      I see that an anti-gay slur is not beneath you. You really are TRASH.
      
      NOTE THAT THE SPINELESS PERSON: “YOU CAN KEEP THE CHANGE”, EDITED OUT HIS BIGOTED SLUR.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      I’m straight, I have known several gay men , I worked with some, they were actually pretty cool.
      
      Of course then I came across you and I learned that there are angry gays out there.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      You reap what you sow. Your type always mitigates your bigoty. So predicitable, such BS and lies.
    - Still Here
      
      He seems to be angry at all straight people, deep issues there I think. Better to avoid.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Nope, just dirty bigots, you are in good company.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Trash with no courage or class either. Man up, dirty bigot.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      You’ve got some very serious mental, psychological, and anger management issues that need to be addressed immediately.
      
      I strongly suggest you get some professional counselling to help you deal with your mental issues before you allow yourself to be swallowed up by the hate, fear and paranoia which you are consumed with at the present moment.
      
      I actually feel sorry for you in the present pathetic condition that you’re in.
      
      Stop hating dude, life’s too short.
      
      Get yourself some help A.S.A.P.!
    - brettearle
      
      Jim DeMint or Tom Delay, I would hazard (and it’s a big hazard) a guess.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      Whatever you say bertt.
  - Alan in NH
    
    There’s rarely a justification for going to war by either Republican or Democratic presidents or their congresses: Not Bay of Pigs, not Vietnam, not Cambodia/Laos, not Granada, not Iraq Part 2, not Afghanistan. All foolish applications of power by both parties. So actually you have me pegged incorrectly. I was instead commenting on those who, no matter what he does, down to the color of the ties he chooses to wear, will find fault with Obama. And I can find plenty to fault in Obama’s performance but I choose to believe that I don’t have an automatic reject button, not did I with Bush or Reagan. And there was plenty to fault in Clinton’s ways as well. I think you could work on keeping an open mind instead of responding reflexively.
    - brettearle
      
      Alan,
      
      Your objectivity transcends the jaded discourse, all of us must navigate through.
      
      It is hard to reconcile a time, since WWII, when the US was justified in its actions, by its military.
      
      What about Korea?
      
      Or do you see that as similar to VietNam?
      
      When you left out Gulf War I, can I assume that you saw justification for that?
    - Alan in NH
      
      Good questions. I’m not sure I know enough of the history of Korea to comment, except to say that it was a coalition of sorts that fought the war. And it was part of that post-WWII
      push-pull between superpowers that I haven’t sorted out completely.
      
      Our relationship with Saddam Hussein was complicated and color Iraq I. We supported him v. Iran in the early 80s. But he lost favor later on. I’m really unclear on what that was about. There was Iraq aggression against a neighbor, there was a coalition against that aggression…we were less alone in the affair. That makes some difference. Enough? Not sure. Best I can do.
    - brettearle
      
      Before the fall of the Soviet Union, was it not harder to assess the Red influence around the globe?
      
      How does such influence turn into adventurism and imperialism?
      
      And if it does turn into adventurism and imperialism, would the security of the United States truly be compromised?
      
      In other words, how much of an overreaction are our leaders always engaged in?
      
      It seems to me that this is the fundamental question.
      
      Also, what about Clinton, with regard to Bosnia and Rwanda?
      
      I know you brought up Clinton in your comments.
      
      It seems to me that both conflicts would pose serious challenges for any President–with regard to intervention.
      
      I am not suggesting that there should have been no intervention; I am suggesting, simply, that it is never a slam-dunk.
  - Azra
    
    Nope. Democrats are better educated. Check the statistics. Republicans are the gullible ones, incapable of analytical thought. They go along with their crowd, believing every ridiculous thing that is fed to them, unable to think for themselves.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
  
  Do not try a logical argument with the “keep the change” bot. Old and outdated programming, closed mind, underdeveloped intellect, full of contradictions. Standard Republican nonsense and lies.
  - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
    
    yeah, you’re full of nonsense and lies.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Not as they relate to you, dirty bigot.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      You really need to stop being so to hard on yourself.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Then do the site a favor, and disappear for good.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      I’ll gladly disappear just as soon as your failed President is voted out of office or impeached.
    - Ray in VT
      
      He thinks that you should take a hike. So what? He can’t make you.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Merely a suggestion, let the dirty bigot do as he pleases.
    - You_Can_Keep_The_Change
      
      He is a turd.
    - Yolanda
      
      I’m getting the sense from your posts that you do not like our current political leadership very much. Unfortunately for you and your ilk, we do have democracy in this country, and the will of the people is finally being represented!
      
      And, if democracy continuesto survive, I expect that you will not like the political leadership in this country for quite some time to come. In that case, might I suggest you relocate to a place that might be more suited to your attitudes(say, 1935 Germany?!)
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Good idea
    - Azra
      
      Yes, please let Romney take the reins from Dubya, and continue digging us even deeper into the 2008 quagmire. Let him extend the tax cuts for himself and his equally elite friends, as the rest of us continue to fade away, becoming less and less significant and more voiceless, with every passing day, fading into oblivion.
- brettearle
  
  Great analysis, Alan–and it speaks to the hypocrisy of the Right.
  
  If it were a Republican in the White House, Right Wingers would be saber-rattling more than the Pentagon.
  
  And, by the way, if you look back at Romney in the Primary Debates, with the other Republican candidates, you will hear, clearly, Romney’s bellicose stance toward Iran.
  
  You Can Keep The Change is an “On-Point” forum contributor–who, once again, has been thoroughly chastened.
  
  His comments are normally throw-aways, but this last one, may not be topped.
  
  His rhetoric lacks the
  - Gregg
    
    But don’t you have a problem with arguments that begin with the word “if” and then projects imaginary mindsets? Does that answer YCKTC’s question? Does it rebut his link. YCKTC didn’t use the word “if”.
    
    And then you do the same thing (If it were a Republican…) as you pat each other on the back and Panetta plans the war.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

The only country that will attack Iran is Israel.
They’ve been planning for an attack since Iran built their Nuclear Reactors. I know Israel will attack Iran in the future and I know that USA will have to skip war during a Presidential election.

Steve__T

I hate to say it but he’s right. The other half will be on bases around the world protecting them.

this was a reply to TTT way down.

Terry Tree Tree

That would STILL be half of how many thousand?
- Steve_T
  
  I’m sorry, I know you were talking about his counting skills, the fact that he can only count up to fired, I mean five. I was also pointing out that we spend as much if not more on bases over seas, protecting other than what our national interest should be, but we would get rid of our troupes at home, but leave those bases abroad.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    Ok. Good Point!

occam24

I don’t know if this is happening nationally, but on the station I listen to, On Point is featuring Tom’s private conversations with future guests, mic checks, chatting with technicians, etc. Was that way yesterday (Thursday) as well.

Greyman

That could be illuminating! Tell us more.
Ray in VT

I didn’t hear it. Weird.

Dee

Anyone looking at the conflict in Syria should keep in mind�
how the Zionists and Neocons are pulling the trigger over�
there…See the URLs below….Dee

The Israeli Lobby and the Zionist apologists warning to Syria�
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/john-mearsheimer/the-israel-lobby

And the history of US corruption in the Region…..
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29234

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

this is not true. Syrians are not asking troops but food and arms.
brettearle

Oh, sure, all sworn enemies of Israel always–BUT ALWAYS–have rebel uprisings promoted by Likud and Wolfowitz.

Of course, it doesn’t have anything to do with citizen oppression, for decades and decades, now does it?

That’s it….you just keep having diarrhea of the mouth, so that we can all run the other way, very swiftly and very resolutely.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

As far as I know the Syrians are not asking for US Soldiers or Allied troops in Syria.

The Syrian people are asking military hardware to battle tanks and jet fighters. They don’t need foreign soldiers in their land. All they want are food and armaments to battle the brutal Syrian army.

Please stop making propaganda by embedding false news to the American people. It will not help the hundreds of dead children in Syria.

Yolanda

I am deeply disturbed by the “headline” describing this week’s roundup. The characterization of the jobs report as “bad” is something I expect to see more on Fox News than on an NPR program.

Where is the reference to the tremendous work that our President has done creating jobs since His inauguration?! The indisputable fact is that more of our brothers and sisters are better off today than they were when Herr Bush was in power, and the direct benefits of our President’s tireless efforts and sound policies in these areas should not be diminished!

Rather than using the metrics for “success” that the capitalist, Christian fundamentalist establishment in the “mainstream” media imposes, I would appreciate a more thoughtful, accurate accounting of our current economic situation.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C2STBLZJK4VKQBV27DVQX3I6CU FAX68

Well Said.
Still Here

I agree, it should have said “Terrible Jobs Report”
- Still Here
  
  and then it should have said “Obama hates America” because he does.
  - Alan in NH
    
    I think it all comes down to the fact that Obama is the illegitimate greeat-grandson of Adolf Hitler. Didn’t you know?
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      And Uncle Adolph was a closet Muslim too.
    - Alan in NH
      
      It’s quite possible that all the ne’r-do-wells of history were closet Muslims. Wasn’t Napoleon from Corsica and hadn’t the Muslims once overrun that island on the way to Iberia? I’m suspicious.
    - Azra
      
      .
      
      …and under his uniform, he always wore a lacy bra and panties.
      
      .
TomK in Boston

Good point. And to the extent that the recovery is slow, how about “GoP austerity threatens economy”??

You can’t cut government spending in a depression without deepening the depression! That is the law of economics we’re dealing with. It’s time to borrow and spend, and there’s never been a better time:

“Investors stampeded into U.S. government bonds Thursday, driving the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury note as low as 1.54 percent, a record…The record low rate beat the previous mark of 1.55 percent, which was set in November 1945. That was just after the end of World War II, when government price controls kept interest rates artificially low to preserve financial stability.”

Unless you believe there will be no inflation for 10 years, THIS IS A NEGATIVE REAL INTEREST RATE. The world will pay us to hold their money! How can we not take advantage? Why have >600,000 public sector employees lost their jobs when the gvt can aid the states essentially for free?

Of course, the real answer is that the GoP gains by harming the economy, and the super rich can squeeze the middle class even better in a depression.
- William
  
  What austerity? Where are the major cuts in spending?
  - TomK in Boston
    
    If you haven’t paid attention to the US economy, I suggest you start looking at states and municipalities Budget cuts have caused massive public sector layoffs. Every month it’s the same – some private sector growth, more public sector layoffs. The current figure of 69,000 new jobs results from 82,000 new private sector jobs and 13,000 teacher and firefighter layoffs.
    
    Now we’re laying off postal workers and even cutting military spending! I get a laugh out of how the right accepts that military spending stimulates the economy, but no other spending does. In fact, it does, tho I’d rather get the boost out of a new railroad than a new weapon.GDP is weak because of all this decreased spending.I suppose you have drank the Kool-Aid that makes you think we’re on some big spending spree.”A big reason growth slowed in the January-March quarter was that government spending at all levels fell at a 3.9 percent annual rate. That’s the biggest decline in a year and nearly a full percentage point more than estimated last month.Government spending has declined for six straight quarters. And national defense spending has tumbled in the past two quarters. It fell at an 8.3 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2012 and at a 12.1 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2011. The declines largely reflect the winding down of the Iraq war.Federal government spending fell at a 5.9 percent annual rate in the first quarter.Spending by state and local governments fell at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter, double the initial estimate. Many economists had thought the worst was over at the state and local level.“This throws some cold water on the view that state and local governments have already bitten the bullet and are now likely to add to, rather than subtract from, growth in 2012,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial.Government spending at all levels fell last year. That subtracted nearly a half of a percentage point from 2011 growth, which was 1.7 percent.Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, said the economy would be growing at least a full percentage point faster if governments were spending at the rate they normally do three years into a recovery.“Fiscal austerity comes at a price whether you are talking about the United States or Europe,” Naroff said. “In the United States, we are taking moderate growth and turning it into sluggish growth.””
    - William
      
      Layoffs at the post office is 20 years overdue. Downsizing the military is right since the wars are over. Obama gave billions of dollars to the states to keep public servants on the job which was a mistake. It makes sense to downsize the public employee ranks just like the private sector has done. The budget at the federal level is over 3 trillion dollars and that is more than enough stimulus at the federal level.
      
      Don’t you find it curious that we have seen very little actually downsizing the federal government reach? Nobody is even looking at making it easier for the business community to start a business or expand. Obama promised to focus on jobs, appointed jobs czar, etc..etc..but it was all just a lie. He has done nothing but pander to the radicals and failed economic idea that more spending will buy us a better economy. He has failed.
    - JGC
      
      The Post Office is a quasi-private enterprise now, isn’t it? In the sense that they are not on the backs of the American taxpayer.
    - TFRX
      
      William doesn’t need the Post Office. So he doesn’t care if it’s public, private, or goes away like the Pony Express.
    - Orwellsdisciple
      
      So William, are you saying that Obama is wrong to engaged in deficit spending, as was done on massive scale by Reagan?
    - Azra
      
      Correction: “PANDERING TO THE RADICALS” is Romney’s specialty.
      
      President Obama’s top priority is to always do what’s best for the Country.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Never confuse these right wing nuts with facts.
    - Gregg
      
      You should see someone about the bitter thing. Try to find some happiness.
    - Orwellsdiciple
      
      Gregg do you mind my asking your age?
    - Gregg
      
      Not at all.
    - Gregg
      
      Wisconsin fired no one, didn’t raise taxes and turned a deficit into a surplus. Unemployment is now about 6%. What State are you talking about?
    - TFRX
      
      A different Wisconsin than you.
      
      Your low-information-media consumption habits are showing.
    - Gregg
      
      It’s true but you wouldn’t know.
    - jefe68
      
      I can’t find one bit of evidence to support your claims about Wisconsin’ deficit now being a surplus.
      
      From what I found on every search on this was that the state faces a $143 million budget deficit for next year, up from a $137 million deficit.
      
      It’s one thing to have certain political views it’s another to just make up a load of porky pies.
    - Gregg
      
      Walker faced a deficit of $3.6 billion. The $143 million number is old. The fact is, it’s remarkable either way. I don’t make things up.
      
      http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/gop-leaders-challenge-barrett-to-explain-his-budget-plan-8r5c82b-150952775.html
  - Still Here
    
    Apparently cutting 13K neerdowells is austerity, even when we increase the salary of the rest of the union thugs.
- jefe68
  
  It should be noted that Mitt Romney agrees with you, somewhat.
  
  http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/may/7/romney-rejects-ron-paul-style-austerity/
Gregg

The unemployment rate during Bush’s two terms averaged about 5% or under.
- Ray in VT
  
  Yeah, and where was it heading when he was on his way out? Depending upon how one reads the numbers, there was very little in overall job creation during Bush’s two terms.
  
  We had a nice boom, which started with the tech boom of the 1990s, there for a while, although quite a bit of it turned out to be built on shaky ground.
  - Gregg
    
    4% is considered full employment by many. How many jobs could Bush have been expected to add?
- Roy Mac
  
  As Bonehead, Can’ter, and McConnell are fond of reciting, while their strings are pulled by Norquist & Ailes, ‘the govt never created one job.’ So why blame the head of government?
  
  Where are the fricking job creaters, now that they have all the money and 0% interest rates? It ought to be pretty damned easy to make money when your cost of capital is 0 and you aren’t under indictment.
  - Azra
    
    Do you mean to say that they haven’t really been creating jobs after all? I’m shocked! If that’s the case, why haven’t their taxes been raised? Why are they being rewarded, when they haven’ t produced?
    
    What have they been doing with my hard-earned wages, and everyone else’s? Shouldn’t they at least be required to show us their Tiffany’s receipts, so we know what our money is buying? (I still think I could put all that wasted tax money to much better use.)
  - Gregg
    
    One would have to be nuts to expand business in this anti-business environment.
    - Orwellsdisciple
      
      Gregg, corporate profits are as good as ever, and they certainly have huge cash reserves. In your mind, what more should we do to make it pro-business
    - Gregg
      
      Repeal Obamacare. Cut the corporate rate. Eliminate Cap Gains. Undo new regulations that cost business an additional $46 billion/year. Repeal Obamacare. Repeal Dodd/Frank. Eliminate minimum wage. Get rid of Public Sector Unions and privatize wherever possible. Repeal Obamacare. Dig the pipeline. Remove the moratorium on drilling. Repeal Obamacare. Quit throwing money down the “green energy” rat hole because there are no jobs there. Help border States with job killing illegal immigration nightmares instead of suing them. Oh yea and Repeal Obamacare.
    - TCB
      
      Repeal Obamacare.
      
      I like the sound of that.
- jimino
  
  An $8-plus trillion bubble based on fraudulently created credit is really good for jobs numbers. Until it bursts. You didn’t miss that news, did you friend?
  
  RIP Doc, by the way.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
    
    Gregg is another amnesiac.
- Azra
  
  Nevermind his two terms.
  
  Please give us the average for his last two years.
Worried for the country(MA)

Yolanda — the headline is accurate. It is a horrible jobs report. Further, April was revised downward to 77,000 jobs. If this wasn’t a political season maybe you would agree that this isn’t good news for our country.

Hopefully things will turn around soon but I’m not optimistic.

btw – your Nazi reference to our 43rd President has no place in American politics — even for political opponents.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  Horrible job reports were the last two years of ‘W’s term, and the year and a half after, that it caused!
- Yolanda
  
  The headline is not “accurate.” The headline represents editorializing on the part of a staffer at OnPoint, injecting his (undoubtedly) proto-fascist agenda on visitors to this website, admittedly in a particularly subtle way. (Which, of course, makes it all the more odious.)
  
  And, frankly, it is my right as an individual to use whatever language I would like to refer to our political leadership, past or present, and I resent your attempt to intimidate me into doing otherwise. The Freedom of Speech is a precious right, which our President has fought dearly to protect, and we owe it to Him to respect that right!
  
  In short, please take your Gestapo tactics elsewhere.
twenty-niner

“The indisputable fact is that more of our brothers and sisters are better off today than they were when Herr Bush was in power, and the direct benefits of our President’s tireless efforts and sound policies in these areas should not be diminished!”

You certainly missed your calling as a North Korean propaganda writer. I’m feeling a strong urge to stare at a picture of the great leader and sing:

Did you ever know that you’re my hero? You’re everything I wish I could be. I could fly higher than an eagle, ’cause you are the wind beneath my wings.
Did I ever tell you you’re my hero? You’re everything, everything I wish I could be. Oh, and I, I could fly higher than an eagle, ’cause you are the wind beneath my wings, ’cause you are the wind beneath my wings.
Oh, the wind beneath my wings. You, you, you, you are the wind beneath my wings. Fly, fly, fly away. You let me fly so high. Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings. Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.
Fly, fly, fly high against the sky, so high I almost touch the sky. Thank you, thank you, thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings.
- JGC
  
  Ouch! Please stop! I think I’ve been infected with an earworm! Is there a doctor in the house? A doctor in philosophy will do, if no one else is available…

Gregg

This picture sums up Obama’s campaign strategy perfectly.

3d2b51c04df83b0f110f6a706700b3dd.jpg

Gregg

http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/D3JO5tNqsbS6LxBBZh99dQ–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zNDI7cT04NTt3PTUxMg–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/3d2b51c04df83b0f110f6a706700b3dd.jpg
Paxtriot

That picture shows the real reason why we are in such deep s… perfectly. Just one of the skeletons in the closet the GOP does not talk about in their PR blasts. Remember Bush “cut taxes for our job creators” BS?
- Gregg
  
  Obama owns his Presidency.
  - Orwellsdisciple
    
    Gregg, forgive my persistence. I would just like to point out that you ‘own’ your commentary. Try to take some responsibility yourself, and provide us with some of your ideas in context, instead of sarcastic one-liners and unhelpful links.
    - Gregg
      
      I’m long winded enough and I’m sure most of the commenters here will concur. My comment above says all I need to say.
    - Orwellsdiciple
      
      On this forum I think it’s OK Gregg to think and talk in paragraphs. We don’t want or need epics, but maybe your points would seem more sincere and less snarky, and be more convincing, if they you gave us some background and context.
    - Gregg
      
      Orwellsdiciple, I have not seen you around much. Believe me, you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’ve written the equivalent of a library on this blog. I will again when so moved.
  - J__o__h__n
    
    And I hope the House is held accountable for their obstruction to economic recovery.
Still Here

Obama is such a joke. He and his sheep here won’t take responsibility for the disaster his presidency has been. Worst president ever by far! Criminals run amok!
- Orwellsdisciple
  
  Still H, your trollery and hackery are the real joke. What talk of responsibility? You can’t even take the responsibility of engaging in productive public discourse. Instead you use it as an opportunity to spout one-liner propaganda, at the level of a misinformed high school student. I am here to call you out on it.
- Azra
  
  The joke is that you can never back up anything you say, but expect to be taken seriously.
  
  An even more inexplicable joke, is the one about people who are planning to vote against ALL their best interests, by voting for that incompetent bozo. Fortunately, the joke is on them, because the rest of the Country won’t be fooled by Mitt.
  
  .

Terry Tree Tree

Wisconsin voters NEED to ask WHY so much FOREIGN money has backed Scott Walker, and how many JOBS they could have started with that money?
   HOW much does Governor Walker get, pay, benefits, and retirement?�
   RETIREMENT?   For a four-year job?
   Could Wisconsin have PAID the union government employees with the money in those sweetheart deals Walker made, that I read about?

Still Here

Public employee union leaders and members are some of the biggest criminals in the US today. It is time to clean house and put these criminals in jail where they belong; their greed is boundless. Union membership is in decline in Wisconsin as the criminals flee their criminal enterprise.
- jefe68
  
  Next time I speak to my 80 year old mother I’ll let her know you think she’s criminal as she was a member of UFT. Funny how she lives on a fixed income, I guess she missed the memo on all that criminal enterprising you go on about.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
  
  Propaganda and LIES.

Paxtriot

I used to work for a pretty wealthy Texas company owner. I remember sitting in an airport lounge with him in 2008 on a business trip, hearing him say “I am going to do anything to get this xxxxx out of the White House… we need to fire all the sons-of-bixxes who voted for him”. I think this is pretty representative of the typical US business elite, who would sit tight on their money until they get their man in power while the country goes down the drain. For them, it is all about filling their pockets at the expense of the rest. Job creators BS… they are all about outsourcing and sticking to profitable, low-employment old technologies such as oil and coal.

notafeminista

“Anec” is not a sufficient prefix for “data.”
- Alan in NH
  
  Point taken. But just how would you obtain said data? What would the questionnaire look like to elicit those kinds of responses? 1) Do you believe Obama is an xxxxx? 2) Do you believe we need to fire all the sons-of-bixxx who voted for Obama? The vehemence behind this anecdote carries some weight that data won’t, a story carried within a casual informal interview that statistics can’t.
http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A

Very well put, and 100% true. Congrats!
- Orwellsdisciple
  
  Jason, is it your position also, that if we had GW Bush back, or McCain-Palin, that all of these problems would go away? That seems pretty simplistic, even more so than Gregg’s original point. I think it is fair to expect that you might have elaborated a bit.
Gregg

Job one is getting the disaster out of the White House.
- Orwellsdisciple
  
  Is it your position Gregg that if we had GW Bush back, or McCain-Palin, that all of these problems would go away? That seems a bit simplistic.
  - Gregg
    
    No, they would not go away. Certainly Obama has hurt the economy badly by his horrible policies. The simplistic view is to blame Bush.
    - Orwellsdiciple
      
      But it is no more simplistic than you blaming Obama, which you do in practically every one of your posts here!
    - Gregg
      
      Of course it is! Obama has had the reigns for 3 1/2 years, most with both chambers in the Legislature. He has added $5 trillion in debt. He rammed through Obamacare. He strangled fossil fuel production. And on and on. HE OWNS IT. Bush is long gone.
    - TFRX
      
      Keep spewing your talking points, bub.
    - Gregg
      
      I prefer “spewing the truth” but call it what you will.
    - JGC
      
      Bush is long gone, yet he still haunts my dreams…
    - Gregg
      
      I know JGC, I know.
- Azra
  
  We did that in 2008.
  
  .

http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A

I see that the commentor: You_Can_Keep_The_Change, edited out his anti-gay slur to me, which was made about 5 hours ago. What a cheap shot fraud and dirty bigot this person is. Dishonest and lacking the cahones to stand by the insult. A typical low down dirty Republican.

JGC

I wouldn’t tar all the Republicans with that same brush. My mother is a Republican, and we’ve been trying to change each other’s minds for years. There are a few folks here that will say any outrageous thing to get a response, and who knows, maybe they even believe what they are writing.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
  
  True enough, and no offense intended…there are some decent folks with an (R) before their name, however enough Republicans match my description well, so I stand by my comment.
  
  I have no doubt that the phony Christians…and likely Republicans, who are calling for the death of gay people, firmly believe in their false god, their worthless bible, their phony religion…and their wicked words.

Dorothy

Anyone think if checking the FOOD we’re eating instead of banning sugar? Hello – Monsanto and factory farming are killing our children. Wake up people.

Azra

Dorothy,

You are so right. We MUST join together, to insist that all poisons be removed from our food. In the not-so-distant past, there were regulations to ensure that our food was safe for human consumption. How can we be expected to compete with India, China, and the rest, if there are toxic chemicals coursing through our brains, and every fiber of our beings? If we’re lethargic and not up to par, (from bug killers which have been LEGALLY engineered into our corn, and all other food crops), if we can’ t even think clearly, how can we excel? We must demand change, and we must demand it now. We were created to consume wholesome, natural foods, which were lavishly provided for us, in order that we might flourish, be happy, and accomplish great things. Instead, everything we eat, (unless certified organic), is doing more harm than we’ll ever know; causing unimaginable, irreversible, AND COMPLETELY PREVENTABLE diseases, like cancer.

As with most atrocities, it is the defenseless, helpless children who suffer the most . . . yours, and mine.

Bless the beasts and the children, for in this world, they have no voice -

they have no choice.

Dee

Re : Bad Jobs Report ……Compared with What?

Tom, I like Paul Begala’s suggestion to this question….He proposes Obama should response to his job record with “compared with what? How On Point !!!!!!
hehttp://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/20/paul-begala-can-obama-weather-the-storm-against-incumbents.html

And it seems Romney from what Paul Begala has found from�
Romney’s time at Bain Capital he had little thought of forcing�
borderline or poor performing companies into bankruptcy and�
having US taxpayers pick up the tab.Read Paul Begala’ piece
�
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/27/paul-begala-the-right-hates-spending-unless-it-pockets-the-cash.html

Dee

Oops! Here is Paul Begala’s response to Obama’s job record
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/27/paul-begala-the-right-hates-spending-unless-it-pockets-the-cash.html

Still Here

Please see rushlimbaugh.com for a refutation of every point this hack Begala has ever made or will ever make.
- TFRX
  
  What, somebody is cybersquatting on rushlimbaughdotcom instead of El Rushbo?
  
  Because pointing to a real Rush website for “refutation” is a waste of our time.
- Orwellsdisciple
  
  OK Still, how is it that Begala is a hack but Limbaugh is not? Is it because you enjoy repeating Limbaugh’s opinions and not Begala’s? Please help us with some criteria.
  - Gregg
    
    I don’t know about “opinions” but the analysis difference is night and day. Not to mention the fairness with facts.

Dee

2nd try to get Paul Begala’s piece on Obama’s Job record right
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/20/paul-begala-can-obama-weather-the-storm-against-incumbents.html

twenty-niner

I have to say, I like the photo in this piece.
- Still Here
  
  Start at the top!

Dee

Tom, I wonder if your male guest also suggested Newt Gingrich�
take himself out of national politics after it was disclosed he was double timing his sick wife while he was pushing for Bill Clinton to be impeached as president….it seems to me your male guest has one set of standards for the Right and another for folks on the Left. he needs to take a look in the mirror.

Dee

Still Here

He had three males guests so which one. And why don’t you wait for the answer before deciding if he has a bias or not. We can all see what your bias is. Can you? Look in a mirror. Pathetic

Azra

Well, Zimmerman has been caught; his first lie UNDER OATH. Stay tuned.

Alan in NH

All may not be as it seems…I wonder why Zimmerman felt compelled, despite orders to stay put, to pursue Martin? There’s some interesting psychology there.
- Azra
  
  Indeed.
  - Gregg
    
    At least you didn’t call him a racist.
    - Azra
      
      No, I never have. It wasnt revealed until fairly recently that he had been sending racially-charged emails before committing the crime, and I’m not sure that the sources of that information were completely reliable.
      
      However, I have called him a vigilante.
    - Azra
      
      . . . a self-appointed vigilante, to be exact.
- brettearle
  
  Alan, stalking is one thing–but violent aggression is another.
  
  We still don’t know what happened and how.
  
  I want to believe that Zimmerman is guilty–but judging from some of your other comments, I am going to assume that you hold high value in recognizing that a man is innocent until proven guilty.
  
  In the court of public opinion, it has often been the reverse.
  
  And, indeed, if anyone wishes to uphold civil liberties–such as what I am attempting to do, here–then that individual faces vitriolic opposition by the civil rights constituency.
  
  It’s twisted, it’s distorted, and it’s bascially undemocratic.
- JGC
  
  OK, hands up, folks: who amongst us wanted to donate money to the Zimmerman defense fund because we felt he was being railroaded by the system? And how do we feel now that he has been shown to be using his web site as a wealth scam?
  - Azra
    
    Not many. By then, everyone had enough facts to know that he was lying about what he did, so he must also have intended to lie about his crime in court, under oath.
    - JGC
      
      I wonder if letting him out on bail, which at first seemed outrageous, was actually a gift in that it gave him enough noose to hang himself. Mr. Zimmerman’s credibility has been seriously hurt.

Yolanda

The response here and elsewhere to the “bad” jobs report raises a critical point about the status of Rule by the People in this country. Some subset of individuals in this country is too short-sighted to make rational decisions for itself, while others are too self-interested to make decisions that serve the needs of the Body Politic, particularly our most vulnerable. And yet another subset is simply too clouded with white-hot prejudice to think rationally.

On those bases, I think a real discussion needs to be had–some of us are already having it, but more need to be involved!–about the best way to choose truly democratic leadership in this country. Sadly, an increasing number of us are concluding that elections are unlikely to represent the needs of the people any longer (2008 gave many of us false hope in this regard), particularly since many in the right-wing media (including, apparently, the producers of OnPoint) refuse to allow an honest discussion about the state of our economy. In light of this, some suspension of the current “democratic” institutions, at least temporarily, seems warranted. Doing so, however, will require organization, and I urge all compassionate, fair-minded thinkers in this country to get involved!

Still Here

Wow, the right kind of democracy in your mind sounds like the white-hot fascism of misinformation, deception and distraction. There is a serious and significant chance that the Obama economy sinks into recession due entirely to his incompetence to do the job he was elected to do. In his own words, he should be judged as a failure and our democracy, such as it is, will decide his electoral fate.
- LJ
  
  ‘white-hot fascism’
  
  he-he, good one.
  
  That just about sums up her blog.
  - Yolanda
    
    Obviously, some of you have some problems with Latinas speaking their minds.
    
    Thanks so much for taking the time from your Klan meetings to post here!
    - LJ
      
      Yo,
      
      My grandmother was born and raised in Mexico and my mother was born and raised in a Mexican barrio in Blue Island Illinois so don’t go pulling that junk that I’m prejudiced against Latinas bull crap that you’re so full of when I got plenty of Hispanic bllod in my family!
      
      B.T.W., you’re not an asset to Latinas, you’re a total disgrace.
    - JGC
      
      OK, you have the background, and for sure I do not (Scottish/Southern U.S./Croatian mongrel, maybe even a bit of Cherokee à la E. Warren): What do you think of Mitt Romney, whose father was born in Mexico, pretty much ignoring/disavowing his Latin heritage, going so far as to quash the American Dream Act, and any comfortable recognition of ANY American Dreams?
    - Azra
      
      Scandalous, isn’t it? Now he’s saying anything, just to get their votes! What Mexican-American in his/her right mind would EVER vote for any Republican, especially these days, when xenophibia is more pronounced than ever? It’s right up there with their homophobia and hatred of gays, hatred of women, the elderly, and the middle and lower classes, in general.
      
      How stupid does Romney think Latinos are, that they can be so easily, and blatantly conned?
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      I was pretty much on your side until you played the race card. Petty. I am openly GAY and PROUD of it, but make no effort to denounce others who disagree with me in principle only.
      
      There are a few dirty bigots here who make irrelevant and slanderous anti-gay remarks (e.g. the commentor “you can keep the change”), and I do not hesitate to call them on it.
      
      On the other hand, I do not slander others with whom I disagree, and try to gain leverage over them by calling them anit-gay bigots…simply to make my point, and without justification.
      
      Try to keep your race as irrelevant as it really is, and stick to your arguments and ideas…they have merit on their own and deserve to be heard.
      
      Disregard the right wing nuts who infest this site and ignore their implied superiority….it exists in their minds only.
JonS

Hard to respond to your babbling incoherence. But I will try.

The news on Friday that employment gains were scant in May should hardly come as a shock. Despite $1 trillion in spending stimulus , an annual budget deficit of $1.5 trillion, $5.0trillion in increased debt, and $2.5 trillion of Fed pump priming you would think that we would have a lot stronger economy than 1.9% GDP growth. And you’d think that with all this government spending it would have generated a better jobs report for May than 69,000 jobs and an increase in unemployment to 8.2%. This is 40th consecutive month with unemployment above 8%. Realize that if the labor participation rate today was the same as when Obama took office, the unemployment rate would be 10.9%. And the U6 unemployment rate which tracks the marginally employed or completely discouraged increased last month to 14.8%. Labor earnings are nearly flat and the private workweek and the manufacturing workweek fell in May. March and April’s job reports were revised downward. The stock market in May suffered through their worst month in two years , with June starting miserably. Consumer confidence is dropping and virtually every economic indicator is trending downward. Sorry but the Keynesian government-spending model has proven to be a complete failure.

And yet despite this horrendous economic report card , Obama is out there seeking another 4 year term. Indeed on Friday he was in Minnesota attending 6 fundraisers rather than call an emergency meeting with his cabinet and Congressional leaders to decide on what could be done immediately to begin turning things around. But that would take leadership, something sorely lacking in Obama. Whatever fault one wants to ascribe to Bush, and whatever excuses Obama can dream up, what is now beyond any reasonable dispute is that Obama has no clue how to fix things. The man is simply overmatched by events. And yet his campaign is based on running against what has made America great -namely capitalism and the successful. He has created an economic mess that has caused many prominent Democratic leaders ( many of whom are black) to defend (borderline endorse) Romney, including Bill Clinton, Newark mayor Cory Booker, former Pa governor Ed Rendell, ex Congressmen Artur Davis and Harold Ford, Lanny Davis , and Gov. Deval Patrick. Obama may be well intentioned. He may be a fine husband and father. And he may be a first rate community organizer. But judging Obama as President by his own standards and what he has promised –he is a failure.
- Greyman
  
  Id est: having out-Clintoned Clinton (by passing an ACA which may well be history within a matter of days and hours), Obaaama now looks to out-Carter Carter. The man positively flounders.
  - Yolanda
    
    I know you think you’re cute by “Africanizing” our President’s name further by putting too many vowels in it, but it’s deeply disrespectful, not to mention downright racist.
    - Gregg
      
      That’s sick.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Not that you do not have a general point with these rightest nuts..but I am not sure how anything was Africanized…. BTW, I voted for Mr. O, and will again. Proudly.
    - Yolanda
      
      Please refer to our President by His official title, and not with a casual “Mr. O.”
      
      While I appreciate that you have supported him in the past and will do so again in the future, I think we need to be vigilant in our own minds as to creepy doubts, or any kind of lack of full respect. Would the First Lady, for example, call our President, “Mr. O”?! I think not.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      No thanks to you…but it is STILL a free country. Mr. O will do just fine with my abreviation. Nobody died and put you in charge.
    - Greyman
      
      On this site, apparently, racism (and the imputation of it) is in the eye of the beholder. Truth be told, my aaaaaaaaaaaaa key got stuck while I was typing, but seeing the sheepish “baaa” emerge in our President’s name did strike me as serendipitous, so I left it in. I do not even consent to having my comment deemed “disrespectul” because no President, Obama included, is immune to satiric regard, and he is our President, after all, even though I did not vote for him and plan not to come November. (For some of that reasoning, you’ll have to scroll down a few pages.)
    - Yolanda
      
      Oh, please. And I suppose that “Mein Kampf” was a typo, too?!
    - Greyman
      
      Komissar Yolanda: you are conflating my posts with someone else’s. I have not cited any such work in any of my posts, thank you. And do not even bother asking me to hew to your orthographic practice (as sampled just below) of reverencing Obaaama with capitalized personal pronouns . . . .
    - JGC
      
      I did not see it as racist. Just sheeplike. Whatever.
      
      I will be voting Obama 2012.
  - Orwellsdisciple
    
    Care to provide any substance Greyman, or just more partisan hackery, like JonS above?
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Exactly. But never fear…HRH King Mitt the first, will “personally” repeal the ACA….I know it it true, because Willard said so.
      
      Only a fool would believe this liar named Romney…only a gullible fool who has no concept as to how the Congress works. Mittens isn’t going to repeal anything.
      
      Where is Sara Palin when we need a complete idiot to act as court jester for King Mittens???
      
      Sara!!! Stop looking at Russia, kick Joe the Plumber out of your bed, and come quick.
    - Greyman
      
      (btw: I’m a fan of both Orwell and Zamyatin.) Obama is not presently projecting leadership in getting Washington to do anything he proposes or suggests. When faced with the dire economic circumstances of his first two years in office, he expended practically all of his political capital in gettting ACA passed instead of focusing on the struggling economy at large (Bill Clinton knew better: “It’s the economy, stupid!”); if the Supremes dump ACA this month, Obama will have one less leg to campaign on. Obama’s also by now successfully alienated or disaffected many within his own party, even critical allies he needs in Congress. Like Carter, a bright and decent man, no doubt, but a man not suited for the office of President because of what seems to be an overweening concern to be liked.
  - ana
    
    President Obama is floundering, but the Congress, especially the House and their band of extremists are doing okay??
    It is amazing that this President has accomplished anything (and he has) with the mind numbing non-performance of the Congress.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Indeed. And the criminals in the Republican majority House, would rather crater the entire Nation and the economy than work to solve the huge problems WE ALL face.
      
      I CALL THAT TREASON.
- brettearle
  
  Romney’s road to financial success included, at first, family money and then expressed itself in a private equity firm that is viciously hypocritical and anti-capitalistic:
  
  Bain pumped money into companies where there is diminished financial risk–because the investors, as a priority, receive their money back. Even if the company reaches bankruptcy court, there are priority agreements, for the investors to get their returns, if possible–before it reaches that end stage.
  
  Venture Capitalism is what the true democratic way is all about:
  
  In America, YOU TAKE RISK.
  
  Romney made his money by NOT taking risk.
  
  What candidate, running for office, should have such an anti-American legacy behind him–when it comes to financial services–especially when the country literally almost imploded in December 2007, as the result of Wall Street casino gambling?
  
  I can’t think of anything worse–from the standpoint of ideological symbolism and a moral opposition to abject greed–than to have a profiteer, such as Romney, in the White House.
  - Vast Conspirator
    
    “Romney made his money by NOT taking risk.”
    Really??? You make it sound so easy – perhaps you should mimic his strategy and make millions, just like Romney did, by “NOT taking risk.”Let us know how that works out for you.
    - Orwellsdisciple
      
      Vast: So you seem so to be implying that corporate leadership in America is generally meritocratic, in that individuals are rewarded or penalized based on performance. I just don’t see that.
      
      But to the specific point, it does seem to the average person that the type of game played by Bain capital is more on the lines of a ‘heads i win tails you lose’ setup. Can you really deny that? Likewise, can you really deny that making lots of money is lots easier when you start with lots and lots of it, aided moreover by lots of powerful connections? As did Mr Romney, son of wealthy businessman and Governor. To say otherwise does seem to deny reality.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Exactly.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Romney was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and the Mormon church added the diamond encrusting. Only a fool would take this liar for anything but that.
    - brettearle
      
      Ah, let me see….
      
      To a vast conspirator, there must therefore be a vast, left-wing conspiracy which prevented Romney from gaining his money WITH risk, instead of without.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      MANY CEOs have gotten ‘production BONE-USes’, for BANKRUPTING the companies they were hired to MANAGE to profitability, then got their Golden Parachutes to escape!
- Gregg
  
  Artur Davis has changed parties and is now a Republican.
  
  http://www.officialarturdavis.com/2012/05/a-response-to-political-rumors/
  - Christian conservative
    
    Smart man.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Anyone with such a name as you is a DANGEROUS PERSON.
    - Christian conservative
      
      Hitler put Christian conservatives in concentration camps, if you had as much power as he did, I suspect you would do the same.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Actually you do not know German history very well. The conservatives put Hitler in power. However if what you said was correct, then it would be tit for tat, since your type wants to kill gay people and hold them in concentrantion camps. I see NO differece between your example (however incorrect it is) and what you very dangerous people have in mind for folks like me.
    - Warren
      
      Hitler,Mussolini(?),Pol Pot,Stalin,Mao,Ceacuceau(?),Tito,Honnecker,Hoxha,Tito,Castro,et al…All Leftists and
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Try making your comment relevant for a change.
    - nj_v2
      
      When one finds oneself at a loss for a serious argument, invoke Hitler.
    - Warren
      
      NAZI=National Workers Socialist Party
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      You have your terms confused… You are one mixed up dude.
    - J__o__h__n
      
      By this logic, North Korea is a republic.
- Yolanda
  
  I apologize for speaking my mind. I understand that, in your mind, a women giving her opinions amounts to little more than “babbling.”
  - JonS
    
    For the record, when I drafted my reply it never occurred to me nor do I care that you are a woman. However it did occur me that you sound like a blithering idiot.
    - Yolanda
      
      Oh, I would suppose you don’t see race, just the individual, either.
      
      And, for the record, I wish moderators would ban your type of hate speech.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      You surely want to “ban” speech for ANYONE you disagree with. Folks like you are the most dangerous of all. Add your penchant for race baiting and you are over the top.
- Orwellsdisciple
  
  JonS thinks rhetoric counts as evidence. So he grabs a few numbers, sprinkles in some sarcasm, and assumes it counts for informed commentary. It’s just partisan hackery, is all.
  - JonS
    
    An what is it about your comments that doesn’t qualify it as “partisan hackery”. It must be frustrating to read my post and have no ability to respond with anything other than inane comments.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
    
    JonS is a well groomed student of Frank Dunce…err, Luntz. You know, the right wing Republican propagandist and empty slogan maker.
  - Warren
    
    The English intellectual class is more ashamed of standing at attention during”God save the king”,then stealing from a “Poor Box”.
    Orwell hated the left
- http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
  
  Booker has been bought by Bain. Look it up.
  - TFRX
    
    Yep. Funny thing if a NJ pol wants to be a US Senator: They can’t rattle the saber too much about Wall St; NJ is the bedroom to too many of them.
Greyman

Dear Tovarishch Yolanda: I’ll leave the hardworking producers of On Point to speak for themselves, but if in your considered opinion they work at the behest of “right-wing media” barons, you must yourself be so far off the left end of the scale as to occupy a narrow portion somewhere between the ultrared and the infraviolet. Given your willingness to “temporarily” suspend democratic institutions, perhaps you and your intrepid cohorts would do well to go set up shop in some locale more amenable to your anti-democratic views, as it would spare the rest of us the ordeal of having to submit to them, even temporarily.

TomK in Boston

Economists know that cutting government spending in a depression makes the depression worse. That is the law of economics that should be front and center. Sadly, ideology and class warfare are more important to the right than the condition of the USA, and the President is a Rockefeller republican who won’t fight hard enough for what needs to be done.

Geez, the 10-year T-bond hit 1.54%, lowest since 1946. IMO this is a NEGATIVE real interest rate. We’re not only not taking the obvious steps, we’re not doing it when we can borrow for free! How crazy is that? (BTW, I hope everyone who was howling about the RICO credit agencies downgrade of our debt has noticed that the markets don’t care). The right loves the false analogy of the USA to “a family sittin’ around the kitchen table”, saying the family wd cut spending when faced with debt (ignoring that families can’t levy taxes). Imagine if that family needed a new roof or college tuition and could borrow the money for 10 years at a negative interest rate? What do you think they’d do? The most obvious failures of current policy are the massive public sector layoffs, the lack of foreclosure relief, and the lack of stimulus spending. Every month there are more public sector layoffs as austerity cripples states and cities, canceling out jobs added in the private sector. Now postal workers are getting the axe too. This is quite a headwind to “job creation”.

Here’s a nice summary of what public sector austerity is doing to the employment picture. It’s one of the primary forces holding back the recovery. According to the right, it’s a good thing.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/BUSHvOBAMA_jobsREV.png

Gregg

You lost me at the first sentence, so I quit there.
- Orwellsdisciple
  
  Gregg, if that happens often, you may want to be checked for dementia/senility syndrome.
  - Gregg
    
    I try to never engage in debates built on false premises.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Your life philosophy, and rightist thinking are built on false premises.
    - JGC
      
      We frequently disagree, but I appreciate the evenness and civility of your commentary, which is unfortunately not always reciprocated.
      
      Vote Obama 2012.
    - Gregg
      
      Back atcha’ JGC, thanks.
      
      Vote Romney 2012.
  - TCB
    
    The same could be said for you as well.
  - Warren
    
    England is the only great country whose Intellegentsia are ashamed of their own nationality.They get their cuisine from Paris and their politics from Moscow.
    George Orwell hated the Left.
    - Ray in VT
      
      Orwell was a leftist, genius. He fought against the fascists in Spain during the Civil War there.
    - J__o__h__n
      
      Don’t forget this Prof. Warren thinks the Nazis were Democrats.
    - Ray in VT
      
      …. and that the GOP has now and always been on the side of states rights vs. federal power if allegations regarding his true identity are correct.
- TomK in Boston
  
  That’s a win-win, Gregg: you’re more comfortable with Fox, and we don’t get the n’th repetition of an Official Talking Point from 1980.
JonS

I’ve already given my comments below on May’s horrible jobs report so I won’t repeat them here other than to say this is the worst recovery since the Great Depression. So why the terrible recovery? Certainly mistakes were made: the bullying of business, the advent of a massive and expensive Obamacare, the stimulus itself. And forget about all of the excuses that Obama routinely trots out. What we really lack is strong growth in the range of 4% on a sustainable consistent basis which cures all economic ills. It boosts consumer demand, housing prices, and business investment. Rather than focus on growth policies, you are focused on creating public sector jobs by having government extract ever more tax dollars (or borrowings) to shower money on projects that will hire people. In the very short run, such a policy might actually create a few jobs but it won’t take long for the effect of the extraction of those dollars to be felt by the people from whom the money came from. Taxpayers and creditors aren’t stupid. Taxpayers see the government spending and anticipate future increased taxes so they pull back and constrain their spending , or in the case of corporations, hold on to their cash. Creditors see the increased sovereign debt and demand ever higher interest rates or refuse to buy the debt (as with Greece and now Spain). Stimulus of the public sector job-creation sort that you would support simply doesn’t work. Reducing wasteful government spending is one of the key factors that produces growth. A bloated government bureaucracy puts a damper on growth for the simple reason that it’s supported by taxes and borrowing that discourage private sector investment and hiring. And at the end of the day , it is the private sector that creates wealth, not the public sector.

One sidebar comment regarding your characterization of Obama as a “Rockefellar Republican” and my having taken issue with your description. Perhaps we’re both right. I suggest you read a May29 article by Victor Davis Hanson entitled ” Two ,Three ,Many Obamas”. VDH ( along with Charles Krauthammer) is always worth reading no matter your political persuasion.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
  
  Much of your commentary is false, or half baked truths, and based on Republican propaganda and lies.
  - Warren
    
    You rem,ind me of PIG PEN.The kid in the comics with the black cloud over his head.You ooze hate from every pore.Please get outside more
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Over medicated again today I see…
- TomK in Boston
  
  JonS, I’m afraid that looks like several articles of voodoo econ faith pasted together to me, as opposed to a response to the actual situation. It’s hard to know where to begin, but:
  
  You’re right that the solution is growth, but you’re wrong if you think growth comes from austerity. I’m didn’t say anything about “creating public sector jobs”, I said that massive LAYOFFS in the public sector are very bad for the recovery. Why? Because every non-ideological answer to what is holding back business is DEMAND, not the pundits favorite bogeyman of “uncertainty”, and laying off all those customers kills demand.
  
  Saying “extract ever more tax dollars” in a time of ultra-low taxation does nothing but reveal your ideology. At this time the high-income “job creators” have done so well and have such low taxes that asking us to contribute more is not a serious burden. Tax rates on high income individuals and corporations are now so low, and corporate and individual wealth at the top is so high, that it’s just smoke to talk about taxes discouraging private investment.
  
  Customers are what the private sector needs, and the 10 year T-bond just hit 1.54%, a record post-WW2 low. Looks like the world isn’t too concerned about the USA, huh? Wouldn’t you have predicted that our interest rates would be soaring with a big spending socialist in the WH? Time to borrow, spend, and get demand going.
  
  It’s easy for you to say stimulus doesn’t work, but it’s wrong. WW2 stimulated us out of the great depression and stimulated the private sector with a flood of new technology. On the local level, the Big Dig created a construction boom in Boston for over 10 years and has transformed the city, with the formerly run-down waterfront the hot new neighborhood.
  
  Yes, jobs are created by the private sector, but within a public-private partnership. Gvt provides infrastructure, safety, basic R&D, education etc and then it’s easier for the pvt sector to do their thing. That’s why a hard working American will be more successful than a Haitian that works even harder, statistically speaking.
  
  I’ll read your link. I agree that there are several Obamas (and an infinite number of Romneys). It’s important to focus on the walk, not the talk, however. BHO may talk tough about business occasionally, but he’s a pussycat in action.
  - JonS
    
    I agree lack of demand is an issue, more so with small businesses than major international corporations that take a longer view and are influenced more by tax incentives and opportunities to drive down costs. For larger corporations, higher interest rates are critical as far as increased borrowing costs or to justify internal returns on investment.
    
    Unfortunately too much of the stimulus money was paid to cash strapped deficit riddled states that refused to tame their bloated bureauocracies and unfunded pensions and generous benefits. Those that did (NJ and Wisc) are in far better shape than those that did not (Calif and Illinois).
    
    The US benefits today from overseas investors flight to safety in T-bills and treasuries. However,as someone once said, when something can’t last forever , they won’t. When it becomes harder to float our debt or the dollar continues to sink , the economic pain will really begin.
    - TomK in Boston
      
      JonS,
      Econ is not a collection of one size fits all scripts. You adjust the cure to the disease. I’m disappointed that you mentioned the one about gvt borrowing competing with private sector borrowing. That is appropriate for a high tax, high interest rate situation where corporations are struggling. It’s crazy to trot it out with record low taxes and record low interest rates, and corporations sitting on mountains of cash. Totally inappropriate.
      
      Unfortunately much of what was counted as stimulus was tax cuts. I think relief to states is very important, since the layoffs are such a drag on the economy. A depression is not the time (again, context matters) to “trim bloated bureaucracy”). Do it after the economy gets going. Maybe we can agree that the stimulus should have been more plain infrastructure projects. Gawd knows we need them.
      
      You guys have been predicting soaring interest rates for a long time and have been always wrong. Even the credit downgrade that made the right so happy did not change the trend. So it’s understandable that now your spin is that they may be at a low since 1946 now, but hey, they will be higher eventually. Sure they will! but IMO not anytime soon. The relevant fact is that this is a time when we need to borrow and spend, and by happy coincidence are borrowing costs are near zero!
  - JGC
    
    Concerning 10-yr T-bond, I agree, as I mentioned elsewhere in the postings this week, I saw with the uncertainty in Europe, the exchange rate is quickly increasing in Canada with reference to the U.S. There are few perceived world havens for cash, and the U.S. is strong, Canada not far behind, and Switzerland at the top (Good safe stash for your secret bank accounts Mr. Romney, but I digress…) If the U.S. is engaged in “socialist” spending, I have to think the world approves.
  - Warren
    
    “Lower rates of taxes will stimulate economic activity and so raise the levels of personal zand corporate income as to yield within a few yearsan increased-not a redduced -floww of revenue to the Federal Govt.”
    
    JFK….The inventor of Voodoo Economics the first of the Trickle Down Presidents
    - Ray in VT
      
      I think that we can agree on this one. I also think that we can have positive outcomes and some good growth with a top income tax rate of around 50%, just like JFK said. Thanks for finally coming around to something sensible.
- Azra
  
  You’re wrong. Why would anyone anticipate tax increases? Everyone knows that since President Obama has been in office, they’ve been receiving tax CUTS.
  
  PLEASE EXPLAIN YOUR ILLOGICAL REASONING.
  
  

Terry Tree Tree

The pope, with DECADES of Catholic sex-scandals, yesterday maintained that priests and clergy be celibate?
Evidently Catholic celibacy means sex with children?

Veritas

Showing up here again red-neck?

What happened?

Did your favorite Skin-Head website go off line again dork?
- JGC
  
  Too many “red” flags, Veritas? Watch out, my friend, or you may find your posts being tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center…
  - Warren
    
    Please tell us all about this.Picture Hannibal Lechter,trussed up with the Hockey Mask.That’s what TTT will look like when he realizes how badly Obama is about to lose.
    - JGC
      
      You are all heat and no light this evening. I just mean, a civil approach to discussion is better than a lot of profane accusations. People’s words are monitored, at some level.
      
      Good night.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  Skin Head? Me? NO!
JGC

This seems to be a subject very important to you, but I can deal. I was raised Catholic, but it just doesn’t speak to me anymore. The ethics of any religion are always important, but the traditions, not so much. I remember when I was 8 years old and going to the Saturday morning church service before catechism class, and I had forgotten a hat, and the nun pinned a Kleenex on top of my head. Humiliating.

All the same, I am disgusted with the way the church hierarchy is treating some of the orders of the nuns here, who in actual fact do all the real work of the church, while the management is busy playing political games in Rome and trying to obfuscate the child abuse scandals world wide.
- Greyman
  
  The American media ably obfuscate sexual predation occurring in
  our public schools. NPR, for its part, continues to dedicate generous amounts of airtime to
  clergy abuse scandals (an actual problem, granted); but the scale and scope of
  sexual predation in public schools would seem to be on the order of at least
  100:1 or as high as 400:1 vis-a-vis RCC cases (pick your number, based on a buried USDE
  study from 2004):
  
  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-act-violence/201202/classroom-sexual-predators-perfect-storm-trust-and-betrayal
  - JGC
    
    And not to mention what has been occurring in our youth sports programs. I don’t blame it on the media though, just an uncomfortableness of confronting it in any gathering. But we are all gradually waking up. I am a Penn State graduate, and whooaaa, do I need to say anymore about the Great Awakening in Pennsylvania after Jerry Sanduski? (His trial begins this week, I think.) There has also been in Canada a mirror image “outing” of the junior hockey program, with shocking abuses by mentor coaches. It is all one and the same, youth that are vulnerable to higher figures that have control over their outcomes.
  - Terry Tree Tree
    
    I have read of MANY public school teachers CHARGED, CONVICTED, AND SENTENCED for having sex with teen children.
    I have read and heard of MANY Catholic clergy having sex with children, teens and YOUNGER! HOW MANY of them are serving in prison?
    New York public schools put teachers accused of ANYTHING in the ‘Rubber Room’, or prosecute them?
    Catholic clergy HIDE CHILD-MOLESTERS AND CHILD-ABUSERS, Move them where they can molest MORE, and committ MANY MORE crimes?
    - Veritas
      
      The extreme hate that you keep spewing out got old a long time ago. You’re simply using this issue as an avenue to promote your prejudice and sickening views.
      
      Do us all a favor and go back to your Skin-Head website were your hateful views are much appreciated.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      YOU support clergy Molesting and Abusing Children?
      WHAT is not to hate about their crimes?
    - LJ
      
      Obama believes in woman’s right to have an abortion in the 7th, 8th, and 9th month of pregnancy.
      
      That’s INFANTICIDE!
      
      Do you support INFANTICIDE like like our Criminal in Chief, Obama does?
    - Azra
      
      What does that have to do with perverted priests?
    - Azra
      
      (Continued from my previous statement)
      
      Abortion rights are completely irrelevant in this discussion. Little boys don’t get pregnant.
    - Warren
      
      What PercentOF THESE pervert PRIESTS are LIBERAL DEMOCRATS?
    - Warren
      
      WhAt PerCENt OF PerVERT PriESTS are Liberal DEMOcrats?
    - Warren
      
      This guy is here every day saying the same thing.Bush did it,the greedy riuch did it,or the Pervert Priests did it.He’s so addlepated he has to Capitalize everything
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      But, but Bush DID DO IT…you suffer from right wing nut AMNESIA.
    - JGC
      
      “Addlepated” is a great word, and one I haven’t heard in a long while. It’s so 19th century, but in a good way. I’ll refer it on to J_o_h_n, because we are both dictionary aficionados.
      
      Try writing posts to people just like we are all here together in the same room, having a face-to-face conversation, and you can’t go wrong. T3 has his own agenda, I have mine and you have yours. But I don’t ever want to write anything I wouldn’t say to you in person, or in front of my mama.
      
      P.S. Bush did it. (Oops, my agenda just slipped!)
Warren

WHAT PERCENT OF PERVERT PRIESTS ARE LIBERAL DEMOCRATYS?
- http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
  
  Closeted Republicans make up the majority of perverts. Do you ever read?
  - Warren
    
    Nothing more then temper tantrums
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
      
      Sorry pal, you MISTAKE facts for something else. 2 + 2 is 4 dude.
      
      I know in your world the sum is different…how sad.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      It’s obvious that you read nothing more than temper tantrums!

JGC

Maybe, sadly, the job description of POTUS has just become too big for the 21st century. Maybe the voting process involving the public has become too expensive, too unwieldy, and not responsive enough in a timely fashion. Maybe the job of POTUS needs to be privatized (Right, JonS, “…it is the private sector that creates the wealth, not the public sector.”?) A privatized POTUS will therefore be better equipped to handle the vagaries and nuances of the market of ideas in the U.S. system, and strangle the excesses out of existence.

I suggest a “just in time” strategy for the new corporation POTUS, based on the strengths seen with Wal-Mart and Amazon, among others.

Last thought: who gets to handle the IPO of POTUS? Morgan Stanley, anyone?

Greyman

No need to: just elect Mick Jagger, a man of the people
whose personal wealth exceeds Mitt Romney’s. If Sir Mick is not
eligible, surely some well-heeled member of American rock ‘n’ roll royalty could be
found (Bruce Springsteen is said to have a net worth of at least $200 million, that probably qualifies as comparable to Mitt’s in these days and times).
- JGC
  
  Sir Bruce could possibly have wide appeal as potential POTUS…Good thinking, Batman,errr, Greyman…
- Warren
  
  Sir Mick has over a billion……As W.Buckley oft said,I’d rather be led by anyone in the first five hundred pages of the Boston Yellow Pages,then a Professor from Harvard
  - JGC
    
    I’m sorry, Warren, I guess you know the connection between Sir Mick Jagger, Harvard and William F. Buckley, but I sure am not following it. Anyway, it is just a fantasy, because Greyman and I both know that Sir Mick is not a “natural born” American, like Mitt Romney, Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen.
    - JGC
      
      Meaning that Romney, Obama and Springsteen are all “natural born” Americans. I think my wording in my previous post did not make that clear.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      Don’t expect Moda, er.. ‘Warren’ to know that, or a LOT of other facts.
      Don’t expect him to care about it, either?

Leah Harrison

Dear Tom,
It would be great to hear about how the feds are now cutting off the long term unemployed have been cut of because the Senate
will not renew the Unemployment Emergency Funds, even though all of these
people have a balance left on their claim. It is getting very little coverage in the mainstream
press. It would be wonderful if
you could address the issues with your poignant insight on your show.

I apologize in advance if you have already covered this
topic.

Here is a link to one op ed I could find on CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/01/opinion/owens-unemployment-insurance/index.html

Best,

Leah Harrison

Still Here

It’d also be great to see an analysis of the huge jump in people getting SS disability and exactly how much fraud is occurring to make this possible.
- Terry Tree Tree
  
  ESPECIALLY disability for drug-addiction and alcohol addiction!
  IF they use the money to buy what they are disabled by, WHY?
  - Warren
    
    What PERCENT of Pervert Priests are Liberal DEMOCTRATS.
    - Terry Tree Tree
      
      Is that supposed to be pertinent to my statement?�
      Religious people CLAIM to be ‘conservative’?
    - Azra
      
      What difference would it make? Why should it matter? Do you know the answer? If so, why should anyone care? Why do you want to make everything political?
      
      Whatever differences we may have, our problems (and all problems of the world), can be boiled down to morals and values . . . right and wrong, and whether our leaders care enough about “the least of their bretheren” to do the right thing by them.
      
      For Christians, and the rest of humanity, leaders, (whether Christian or not), must posess Christian virtues. Those who do the most to eliminate sufferng, who provide help and opportunity for all, will be chosen; those who do not do what’s best for the common good will be cast aside.
    - J__o__h__n
      
      What percent of the bishops who covered it up are Republicans?

Warren

President Clinton,Corey Booker,Deval Patrick,Ed Rendell,all say Pres.Romney is cool and that Bain is a great company.Romney turned a one party state with 3 billion in deficit into s state with a Rainy Day Fund.Unemployment was 4.5%.I’m from Boston and times were great.I made tons between 2001 and 2005(who was president?).Pres.Romney had 800 Vetoes and was overridden 700 times.The Ma.Politiburo made Moscow blush.

Terry Tree Tree

So the GREEDY rich spent their ‘Job Creator’ money on your baubles! NOW we know why jobs weren’t created, so YOU could make a ‘killing’ off all those JOBS that could have supported families?�
How many died because of your ‘killing’?

Warren

The Unions killed Eastern Airlines,American Airlines,GM,NASA,the public schools and California.They tried to kill Wisconsin,but all they did was unintentionally,defeat their own President

http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A

What classic, simplistic, rightist hogwash. POOR MANAGEMENT killed these entities.
- Warren
  
  I’ll bet there are more Birdwatchers then Liberals in the USA…”Life of Julia’,that says it all.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/PQOCSU3NJ5J6SSQBEM5YBFCPZY Jason__A
    
    Nope, reading your other worldly thinking says it all. Does an original thought ever come out of your head..one can only speculate. My money is on the fact that you are simply a right wing nut bot, who takes your mental ques from the standard Republican play book of lies.
    
    Quick, look out your rear window, I bet you too can see Russia!
Terry Tree Tree

You saying that Management that made WRONG decisions, and FILLED their own POCKETS had NOTHING to do with the failures?
Management is meant to manage?

Warren

Ms.Warren made quite a killing trading foreclosed and distressed properties.Hmmmmmmmm.Ms.Warren says she’s Cherokee Nation,I say more like Aryan Nation.Indians all have High Cheeks bones,she quips.That’s pretty racist Ms.Warren.In Joburg they used to look at Finger Nail “Moons”to determinbe degree of Whiteness.
Some one asked why so many of the audience hails from Vt…That’s easy.Vt.has the highest proportion of Govt.employees……….Vt.is also 47th least business friendly state, the most white and the 11th most taxed.

Terry Tree Tree

You know little of the Cherokee!
Ray in VT

We’re also one of the healthiest, have one of the lowest rates of obesity, one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, and a good record for protecting our air and water quality. My question would be this: what’s your point?
Azra

Vermont may be the “47th least business-friendly state”, but Massachusetts is 47th in job creation, right down at the bottom of the pile, with Wisconsin, which is the absolute worst; it has lost more jobs than any state in the union. In fact, most other American states are experiencing JOB EXPANSION, yet the economy of Wisconsin continues to plummet. Must be because Massachusetts and Wisconsin are business friendly.

However, Massachusetts does have one thing going for it. Hospital emergency rooms there are almost empty, Massachusetts residents are much healthier than most of us, and more people in Massachusetts have health insurance than in any other state. Not sure if anyone knows the reason for this phenomenon, or if they know why Texas is the exact opposite, and why most children in Texas don’t even have health insurance.

It would be helpful if someone would do a study of those two states, to find out why they are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Texans would be might grateful to know the secret of Massachusetts’ success.
- jefe68
  
  It’s called the Romney health care bill, well it’s not really but he’s proud enough of signing the law that he has the law folio in his official portrait.
  
  By the way it was during Romney’s tenure as governor that Massachusetts was 47th in job creation. It’s abut 30 or 33 now. With lower than US average for unemployment.
  - Azra
    
    Thanks for bringing me up to speed.
    
    Good thing Mitt isn’t Governor anymore, except that now he wants to do the same thing to the Country that he did to Massachusetts . . . BUT WITHOUT THE BENEFIT OF HIS VERY EFFECTIVE HEALTH CARE BILL!
    
    What Romney is proposing for America is a lose, lose situation for us, if he’s allowed to become President. How stupid does he think we are?
    
    (Don’t answer that. We already know.)
    
    .

Warren

Corzine,Daley(JP Morgan),Gensler(Goldman Sachs),Phil Murphy(GS),Gene Sperlling(GS),James Johnson(Along with Jamie Gorelick and Frank Raines they robbed Fannie Mae of 100million in commission),Mark Peterson(GS),David Lipmman(GS),Steve Rattner(Lehman),Rubin(Citi),Dudley(GS)Storch(GS),Eric Holder(Wall St.Bundler),Chuck Schumer(High Priest of Wall St.)Rahm Emmanuel(llaw firm representing GS),Peter Orzag(Citi)
Who are all these guys.They’re “All the President’s Men”.They’re all Greeeeeeeeedy,Greeeeeeedy,Greeeeedy Democrats.NPR is a corporation.NPR is funded by the Koch Brothers(luv you guys) and the Catholic Church
By the way,guess what party Bernie Maddoff belongs to?

JGC

NPR funded by the Koch Bros? I think not. I would like to boycott their products, which includes Lycra. Do you know how hard it is to boycott Lycra? It’s everywhere! And every time we buy something as ubiquitous as Lycra, a small percentage goes into the KochBros deep, deep pockets, to be pulled out later along with the lint, funding pro-Walker PACs, anti-Obama PACS, the Fraser Institute in Canada, the economists at George Mason University and who knows what else.

Warren

Wisconsin teachers no longer need donate dues involuntarily.Dues are down 50%.Unions are the Pac to end all Pacs.Last cycle they donated 400 million to the Democrats.This year they’ll throw 500million to the Dems.40ish % of Union guys are Republicans.

Azra

Wow! No wonder Republicans want to screw union workers. We can’ t let Democrats have donors; Republicans must have it all.

Let’s also rearrange the voting districts to be more advantageous to Republicans.

Taking away voters’ rights also seems to be working like a charm, don’t you agree? Rigged voting machines will do the rest. Talk about landslides . , . Obama won’t know what hit him!

We have plenty of other tricks up our sleeves, are are coming up with more all the time. 2012 is in the bag.
Terry Tree Tree

Union members cannot afford your baubles? Therefore you don’t want them to ever be able to?
Zero

Call your congressman. Tell him or her to pass a constitutional amendment limiting campaign contributions to individual U.S. citizens who can only donate up to a couple thousand dollars; entities cannot have political voice within election seasons.

Call or email now.

TomK in Boston

Hey, did you see that Romney appointed Mike Leavitt as head of his “transition team”? Amazingly among the contemporary GoP, Leavitt is SANE and has been quite a supporter of RomneyCare, aka ObamaCare. This has some wingnuts with their knickers in a major twist. Live by the Etchasketch, die by the Etchasketch, huh?

Romney has tapped Michael Leavitt, the former Utah governor who was the secretary of of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush, to lead the team that builds his potential administration. He runs the health care consulting firm Leavitt Partners, which advises states on how to set up the insurance market exchanges in the signature Affordable Care Act. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Leavitt “strenuously backed the core piece of President Barack Obama’s health-care law and urged the states to move forward together in adopting health insurance exchanges.” And his stance hasn’t changed: “We believe that the exchanges are the solution to small business insurance market and that’s gotten us sideways with some conservatives,” Leavitt’s top aide Rich McKeown told Politico. “We’re troubled by it,” Dean Clancy, who runs health care advocacy for the Dick Armey-led conservative group FreedomWorks, told TPM Monday via email. “We’re very concerned. The tea party grassroots have always feared that Gov. Romney would be a weak standard bearer because of RomneyCare. This choice only reinforces those doubts. Tapping a high-profile ObamaCare profiteer is disturbing, there’s no way around it. … The tea party has been fighting exchanges in state after state.” Michael Cannon, who directs health policy for the libertarian Cato Institute, reacted to the Leavitt choice in a blog post he penned: “Romney’s appointment of Leavitt is a first step toward flip-flopping — or Etch-a-Sketching, or Romneying(TM), or whatever — on ObamaCare repeal.”

JGC

Interesting…Must read more about Mr. Leavitt.

JGC

This is just a bizarro conjecture, but why not, when it deals with Donald Trump. I saw my kids watching the last part of the Miss USA pageant last night, and I wondered, was the big dustup last week concerning re-opening the Obama/Birther can-o’-worms more to do with generating television ratings for the Trump-sponsored program? Just my own suspicious curiosity here…

JGC

Note to self: ask Miss Rhode Island; she knows The Truth…
Azra

Think you’re on to something. I knew he was looking for attention, but didn’t think he was masochistic enough to start beating that dead, and very dried up, horse again. After so much ridicule, (when the birth certificate was finally produced, and authenticated, removing all possible doubt), Trump was crest-fallen, humiliated, very angry . . . And SILENT, as he slinked away, tail between his legs, to lick his wounds. After making such a fool of himself, I didn’t think he would ever show his face again. So, after just a year, what could possibly motivate him so much that he would dare to reopen that can of worms? MONEY! He can never have enough of it. How very perceptive of you.

Azra

*
WHAT A SURPRISE!

Romney, and his cronies, (who also have much more money than sense), have proven, if there was ever any doubt, that they only care about Americans who have as much money as they do. They have no use for the rest of us.

They claim to care about reducing the Debt, and putting people to work, but they still refuse to pass the jobs act. This afternoon, they’re supposed to make a decision as to whether or not a woman should be allowed to make as much money as a man. From what I’ve just heard on P.O.T.U.S., it probably won’t be allowed. They have to keep us in our place, and I don’t mean just women. They won’t lift a finger to help the other 99%.

Something just occurred to me, as I was about to say that no woman will vote Republican, neither will a Mexican-American, immigrant, fire fighter, police officer, teacher, student, military personnel, people without health insurance, mothers, seniors, gays, African-Americans, or anyone who isn’t independently wealthy, and must work for a living . . . in fact, ALL OF US, unless we’re in that elite 1%.

As I was about to go on about how foolish they are, and that 99% of Americans would never vote Republican; how much they need OUR votes, because they can’t be elected by getting votes from just the wealthiest 1%, and religious zealots. Then it dawned on me that there’s a reason they don’t care about the rest of us, or about getting our votes; why they don’t even pretend to care anymore, and make no bones about going against the wishes of the VAST majority of Americans, and doing as they please.

Limitless money = limitless power and corruption, which is what Republicans are all about. They can buy all the votes they’ll need, and then some. They are also taking away voters’ rights, they manufacture the voting machines . . . yadda, yadda, yadda. They don’t need us after all . . . not a bit. Our elections are a farce; we just go through the motions, and they laugh all the way to the Cayman Islands, Austrailia, Switzerland . . .

Azra

______________
NEWS FLASH

*

Just heard that Republicans have voted AGAINST women, again.

By 2018, mandatory burqas?

?

Slipstream

The commentators seemed united in their condemnation of John Edwards as a total sleazebag – yet he walked free from a case that many are saying should not have been brought against him. And how many politicians out there have cheated on their wives??? I suppose these days they can’t get away with it like they used to, but that is ignoring the fact that up until recently a huge percentage of them did, and if they had gotten caught, they probably would have, as Edwards did, try to cover it up. If we were to get rid of all philandering politicians then we would be looking at American history without both Bushes, Clinton, probably LBJ, and most notoriously, Jack Kennedy. What was more damning in my view was the story Beatty related in which got up and blatantly lied to his supporters about his views on an important political matter, then laughed it off with a quip.

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