And whoever's saying that Republicans are the only alternative to Democrats are just plain oblivious to other parties. Let's be prepared to make 2010 the YEAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS just in case the Democrats screw up which is most likely.

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phenomenon. I wonder why this one episode has produced sustained anger that none of the giant bailouts did.

There are some theories I've read so far.

One is that big financial players could be throwing AIG to the wolves to focus attention on a few lesser players and keep the heat away from themselves. It wouldn't surprise me.

Another is the Republicans saw this as an opportunity to stick it to the Democrats for letting the stimulus bill permit these bonuses, so they piled onto the outrage bandwagon. Then in turn the Democrats had to cover their butts for not disallowing these bonuses, so they in turn had to crank up the outrage rhetoric to outdo the Republicans. Now it's like a competition between the parties over which is more populist and raging.

In both of these scenarios, which are not mutually exclusive, public anger is being managed, is being permitted to enter the mainstream dialog of the media, which legitimates and encourages it. This would help explain some of the traction this incident has gained, but both these scenarios are posterior to a spike in public anger that necessitated these defensive maneuvers (so far just vain populist concessions) by elites.

So why did the public get so enraged by these bonuses in a way that wasn't as visible during the big bailouts of last year and this year? Those bailouts were much bigger than these bonuses. Granted public resentment of the financial establishment has been building for a while, and perhaps it is impossible to explain sufficiently why this straw may have broken the camel's back, why this slight rise in temperature initiated what looks like a phase change. Sudden transitions like this are complex, non-linear phenomena that are difficult to dissect.

However I am inclined to think that the working conditions most people face have something to do with this growing resentment. Most workers, especially now, live in anxiety about the security of their jobs. They know that costing the company even small amounts of money can lead to their prompt termination.

When they see the top echelons of the corporate world being paid millions - in bonuses, not just regular pay - for wrecking companies and tanking the whole economy, and those bonuses are coming from the public's taxes (well, from treasury bonds and future financing of federal debt interest payments), then people cannot help but see the stark disparity between how they are treated and how the bigwigs are treated. Seeing this gap causes resentment because the realization summons up negative emotions that come from people's fear of losing their jobs, a fear which is used by their employers to motivate them. People of course hate living with such fear, thus they really hate when others are rewarded for results that would get them fired, especially when those others are the kind of people, greedy corporate elites, who would use chronic job insecurity as a motivator for the little guys.

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We won't be.

Geithner is a mealy mouthpiece for the Paulson cabal of MBA/JD/CPA spread collar criminals who choreographed this Global fraud in the 1st place.

Subpeona GoldmanSachs/Blankfien or what AIG execs saw this wknd. will look like a game of bocce on the front lawn for GS.

You're not paying attention Mr. Obama ask Emanuel to leave the room. American's still matter not an Israeli!

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Neither will sacrificing a few financial managers on the altar of populist posturing.

This anger grows daily.

What people want is action against the corporate takeover of our society - a breaking of corporate power and a restructuring of our economy in a way that provides opportunities to ordinary people - not talk and symbolic gestures. If government doesn't provide this change, then public anger will boil to a point where people take matters into their own hands and violently challenge the corporate pillaging that's going on.

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Since Barack Obama ignored the will of the people in getting nominated, it's not surprising that he's ignoring it now.

Obama was not the legitimate nominee of the Democratic Party. The Democrats and the Obama people stole the nomination from the voters' choice--Hillary. I watched it happen, and I began worrying then.

Obama is no more our President than was George W. Bush. People forget this.

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I've been waiting for some instant polls to see how much the AIG debacle has cost Obama in popularity. A few more months of this dithering, and Obama is setting himself up for a strong primary challenge within his own party. Of course, the credit mess will take years to fix, as Obama says. So where is the corrective legislation to put strong pro-consumer regulation back in place and restore public confidence? Why is the FDIC's insurance limit still scheduled to revert to $100,000 on Dec. 31, a trap that could hurt a lot of mom-and-pop retirees trying to find "safe" CDs? The system is still heavily rigged against the little people, and now the little people are starting to wake up. Another issue left hanging -- is China helped or hurt by the AIG bailout? Since we're counting on China to bail out the bailors (Treasury Dept), somebody better check on that.

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from the clutches of Republicans downward racing spiral?

Dear Mr Rich,

YOu have most certainly captured our sense of frustration.

We feel lost......how can we -- the "new good germans" hold Obama's feet to the fire or help him/force him to turn his words into action?.

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“Since Americans get the big picture of this inequitable system, that grotesque reality dwarfs any fine print. That’s why it doesn’t matter that the disputed bonuses at A.I.G. amount to less than one-tenth of one percent of its bailout. Or that CNBC — with 300,000 viewers on a typical day by Nielsen’s measure — is a relatively minor player in the crash. Or that Edward Liddy had nothing to do with A.I.G.’s collapse, or that John Thain, of the celebrated trash can, arrived after, not before, others wrecked Merrill Lynch.”

1) The percentage of the bailout does not matter. A hundred million here and a hundred million there, pretty soon we're talking about a lot of money. Americans are also dubious about the bailout: and they're right to be since it is basically a raid of the US treasury.
2) It doesn't matter whether those receiving bonuses were involved with the collapse. These are banks that belong in receivership. How many bankruptcy judges would ask a consumer, if they've properly given themselves a bonus before the creditors get theirs? That's what this basically amounts to when AIG says OK we've pulled the wool over Obama's eyes and avoided receivership, so now let's give ourselves bonuses before we look into the needs of our creditors.
3) The viewership of CNBC has nothing to do with it. The number of people involved in these daily trades are quite small too and they are all familiar with CNBC. Moreover, CNBC acted as cheerleaders so that the insiders could safely make their sales (including short sales) before they let the dam break.
3)

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. . . in his lede:

"It's over - we're officially, royally fucked."

This opens a 10-page screed on AlterNet that ought to help many of us find our tongues and our pens. Thank you, Rolling Stone, for coming through again.

As the pot comes to a boil, remember that the virtue of anger is that it can forcefully stimulate action.

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This is an outrage, Where the Hell have You people been for the last few decades of Trickle Down (aka Feudlaistic Cast system)??
Are the media either feeling a bit freer to speak aloud now, or are they still Working for the Domestic Enemies. Anyone who expects a new president to resolves all the problems which have festered for the last few decades is either a moron or complicity.
Why has not one Media mouthpiece dared follow the Dots from the Nixon Abuse of power to W's Kingship. Why has no one bothered to equate the 3 decades of Oil controlling our nations economy and Politics?
Now you fucking pussy asses want to air your dissent? FUCK YOU!!!!
I was 17 when the Reagan Reinstituted the Crowns 'Trickle Down' economic stratedgy- and I recognized it for what it was IMMEDIATELY!! Where were you?
I was 27 When HW began the first Blood for Oil War. Where Were YOU?
I have been Screaming about Unconstitutionality since W stole office- Where were YOU?
take a fucking bow,The MSM has been a great dept of Propaganda for Decades, not to mention a Great mind altering Drug.
The MSM wasn't Just the Cheerleaders for this RED COAT Invasion, You were the 'shiny objects' that kept most americans Hyponotized.
You were covering the Teen Beat stories instead of Investigating Iran Contra, or the Keating 5. You were chasing down photos of a washed up football players slain wife and a Stained dress instead of reporting on legislation which removed all the safeguards inacted After the Firs tGreat depression. You were coming up with new and humorous names for those who had serious concerns about the events of 9/11- instead of demanding answers to why Binny's family was allowed to escape, or why most were Saudi Nationals. Hell you didn't even bother to ask McCain how he KNEW th eanthrax came from Saddam- intimate knowledge? You haven't even drilled him on why he has not come forward to Catch Binny, even though he Claims to Know. The Liast of Shit the Free Media has Avoided covering is endless, thus also evidential.I still watch interviewers intentionally NOT ask the most logical question next- require Truths to be told. Matthews LET Ari claim Saddam had something to do with 9/11- not one challenge to the blatant rewriting of history & fact.
Now you want to hold a man who has been in office for 2 months responsilbe for not only 30 yrs of high crimes, but for the MSM having not Covered ANY OF IT!!

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Thanks again Frank Rich but you need to concentrate on that Bahamas Tax Dodge business being reported by City Minister Lord Myners (UK) Here. It looks like what this article is saying is that Timothy Geithner whom had problems conducting his normal tax affairs as all taxpayers do between 2001 to 2009 esp. in 2003 had some extra banking matters occurring and that could be due to Obama's campaign, but Tim know about the Bonus money at AIG cause he worked to solve AIG's financial problem before their bubble burst requiring another bailout which may have resulted from employees leaving and wanting kickbacks to stay or return to AIG to fix their books and those bonus payments of more than $290 million had to pay them in $165 million bonuses. It might have worked but it became a major disaster requiring government intervention and even that failed. Obama's campaign seemed to be being pushed by Acorn whom had the same attitude of RBS, ask and be intimidated over and over or fired or both. City Minister Lord Myners earned £200,000 as Chairman of a Bermuda-based company which he orchestrated but left in 2007. As Chairman he avoided paying more than £100million a year in taxes. It was the Atlantic tax haven, which now in 2009 is becoming attacked on such arrangements of Tax Dodging. Lord Myners is spelling out that Obama said OK but that Tim Geithner had not commented, so who exactly does the 300,000 shares belong to he is talking about that the company (2007) now is valued at £4.8million in the Bahamas? Who is suppose to pay to move the money and how could Geithner get back involved if it was his payment cause Lord Myers got £200,000 for a year. Theres certainly more to this story, cause when gamblers wish not to pay taxes on winnings they shelter their money and use it mainly in their immediate travel measures so the American Dollars are being converted to £dollars and then invested into the Tax Dodge business at the insurer banks in the Bahamas, so is the British money ending up in the same banking scheme and that has become the issue, if Obama goes against it it then would hurt the British investors that are still existant while it is a question of whom Geithner really is, a investor or a partner.

THIS ARTICLE ALREADY PUBLISHED!
Has a 'Katrina Moment' Arrived?
Frank Rich, New York Times
Image: Frank Rich
Published: March 21, 2009
LOCATION

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This whole thing is the biggest scam ever committed in history.

The wealthy have looted the Treasury, and profited from bloody, needless wars, and from the financial misery of the lower classes.

Now they're looting the taxpayers even more directly, with massive bailouts that ensure that the lower classes foot the bill, and the wealthy don't lose a dime.

Obama is no help, let alone a magical panacea.

As I read in someone else's comment yesterday, the Tree of Liberty cries out for its manure, but we're not heeding.

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What is the difference? The results are the same. A few wealthy people get to take home all the marbles and we the suckers stand around with our thumb stuck up you know where wondering what happened and the bottom line will be what it has always been.

Nothing will happen and it will continue after they get their hands slapped.

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We have no intention whatsoever of climbing on top of Obama, or climbing under him, for that matter.

That's YOUR problem; it's how he got into office in the first place.

He's your fantasy, not ours; choke on it.

Oh. And just wait until the MSM levees break.

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The only thing left for the common people of America is to overthrow the government. It's quite obvious that Obama is just another rapist working for Wall St and the elite. Trillions of dollars heading for the pockets of the FIRE industry - Finance, Insurance & Real Estate. Heading FOR their pockets and leaving FROM our pockets. I know I've tried protesting for decades now. I've tried writing, calling, visiting my Congressmen/women, Senator's and all the rest. NOTHING WORKS!!! They continue to do the bidding of their Wall St masters. They continue to rape and pillage the country and everyone who lives in it. They continue to suck every last bit of life out of anything they possibly can. NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE THIS EXCEPT OVERTHROW!!! Read the words of Jefferson. It is our RIGHT to OVERTHROW this government that no longer serves the governed but instead serves only the corporations. It's time to start organizing to OVERTHROW.

"That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

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Pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, NOW, Completely, and FOREVER. We don't even have to explain the move to anyone, because everyone will be so happy to see it happen. We can then follow up on that success by pulling our military personnel out of every foreign nation and turn over the bases to the people in those nations, including Cuba. Mo'money, mo' money mo' money! With those monkeys off our back, we can divert that money to where it's REALLY needed, here at home.

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ONLY PROSECUTION will deter future crimes by legislators and those corporate mafiosos who fund them... because it WRITES THEIR CRIMES INTO THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THIS NATION.

As long as the MASS-MURDER-FOR-PROFIT of the Bush/Cheney mis-administration (and ALL THEIR OTHER HEINOUS CRIMES) goes unpunished, there is NO deterrent to future political and corporate crooks.

AND, IF ITS NOT WRITTEN INTO THE "OFFICIAL HISTORY" OF THIS NATION, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN! Their crimes, then, are left as mere speculation in the dozens of books written about their crimes.

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This is rehashing old news, but here's the real story on the Democratic nomination. You know why Hillary failed? She mismanaged her campaign.

I mean, ok she assumed a win by Super Tuesday...how about a contingency plan in case that doesn't happen? Nope.

So Super Tuesday rolls around and she's about even with Obama. Then she loses a string of times due to no ground game in the smaller states, allowing Obama to rack up a nice delegate lead. The rest of this story was predictable.

Now would Hillary have made a better President? Not with that type of short sightedness. I think the US just barely surived 8 years of a President with poor planning (Iraq)...last thing we needed was another 4. Hillary would be pushing bills that were politically helpful to her reelection, not because of any long term strategy.

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President Obama frequently paraphrases Frederick Douglass when he says, "Power would concede nothing without a fight." Our self-proclaimed financial "Masters" will not willingly relinquish their power and our struggle to regain control of our country will not be easy, come quickly, or be accomplished without sacrifice. To breach the sanctuary of the money changers who have acquired a stranglehold over our country (and indeed the entire world) requires finesse, savvy, and above all patience.

Frederick Douglass also wrote: Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle.

However, our capacity as "We the People" to mount a struggle against those who would persist in their self-serving oppression has been weakened, most recently, by eight long years of relentless onslaught and systematic destruction. Nonetheless, with each new revelation of arrogance, incompetence, and criminal greed, our willingness to "hold every player accountable" grows. In fact, at this time, our justifiable anger and righteous indignation are what little remains to empower us and helps to dispel the apathy and lethargy with which too many have been too long infected.

Our president wants to help us regain the power that is rightfully ours; however, President Obama cannot take back our power for us without our consent (although I'm confident he would if he could and many of our fellow citizens would rather abdicate their responsibilities and prefer he just "do it").

I for one believe it may be premature and, indeed, may ultimately prove unecessary for Obama to "make everything transparent". I ask only that by his insightful, shrewd, and adroit leadership, he aids us in our efforts to resume our rightful place as stewards of our nation's assets - physical, moral, and political. As we regain our strength, we will be more able to successfully take back our power, plot our own course, and direct his efforts.

Furthermore, as our collective intent and resolve solidifies, Obama consistently assures us that as our President, he will implement the kind and quality of governance which we seek and which we collectively deem appropriate for all our fellow citizens - and, frankly, that is more than good enough for me.

As Plutarch wrote in Parallel Lives...

Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.

Piece by piece - the plan to dismantle resumes!

Phala A. Ray - Whys=Wise

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Obama, Geithner, and Dodd afforded AIG a prime opportunity to do the right thing and eliminate retention bonuses. Instead, knowing full-well the possible consequences, AIG's management could not control their avarice and grabbed for the dangling carrot. AIG overreached its grasp and the tipping point has been reached - hence this latest display of intense outrage.

Although I'm not privy to Obama's holistic picture, however, I have an inkling as to the direction we're heading:

To-do List:

1) Without a doubt, we need a fully and truly nationalized banking system - and, finally, the majority is on-board.

2) Financial Accounting Services Board, FASB, needs to become a government agency, part of Treasury.

3) Auditors and rating agencies need to be nationalized at least temporarily. We can't trust balance sheets and rating scores until we can trust their judgment again.

4) Offshore havens for capital need to be abolished.

5) Dismantle the derivative market.

6) Merge the Fed and the Treasury (already underway).

Although comprehensive, this is a partial list. We should know by mid-April how many of these options will be employed. If progress has not been observed, then all working people of the United States (and globally) need to...

STRIKE May 1-10!

Details to follow...

Phala A. Ray, Whys=Wise

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I'm going take my bat and go home. So there!

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"The answer, I fear, is that too many of the administration’s officials are too marinated in the insiders’ culture to police it, reform it or own up to their own past complicity with it."

Ya think?

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"Goverment is essentially the negation of liberty."...www.mises.com

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One of the most telling and accurate parts of this Frank Rich piece is his description of
Barack Obama as IMPOTENT when facing the financial sector. This is a very typical Democratic "leadership" character trait. Impotence and weakness are truly Dem "leadership" qualities. The Republicans know this and that's why we have an Alito and Roberts on our Supreme Court. That's why they got away with threatening the "nuclear option" and why they know with no uncertainty there will not be a similar Dem response this Supreme Court nominee round. Wall Street knows it, that's why we have a Citi Group paying millions of $$ for ads against EFCA, AIG bonuses, lavish parties, etc. Pres O, like the rest of his party, is IMPOTENT, WEAK and so easily manipulated. CITIZENS, NOTHING HAS CHANGED...ITS THE DAME GAME IN DC.

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It will be the people who got shit on by this administration's failure to take care of the People.

We don't give a rats ass about republicans. All they care about is whose guilded crotch did you fall out of and how close to the Mayflower are your bloodlines,as if that somehow makes you a good person!!!

I know plenty of 3rd generation Americans that have money,aren't stuck up,have good character and are mad as hell at the government's constant bailing out of the Greed-machine.

My family fought in the Revolutionary War the Civil War and on BOTH sides at the Little Big Horn and I can guarantee you with the exception of Custer,they'd all be calling for
a Tar and feathering of all Politicians and the heads of all the corpie assholes that made this mess.

When people are starved,without a roof over their heads and their children are crying from hunger and dispair they will wave The Declaration in one hand and a torch in the other and there will be no place for the greedy to hide or their bought and paid for politicians.

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Though I no longer doubt President Obama's personal progressive values, I also no longer doubt that -- like other aristocrats -- he is as oblivious to public rage as Marie Antoinette was before the French Revolution. A large part of Obama’s obliviousness is that he, like the rest of the ruling class, has absolutely no grasp of what it is to live in the cesspool of economic fear and degradation to which we in the U.S. working class have been reduced.

That said, I wonder why it is so hard for so many to grasp the obvious truth that we live in a de facto one-party nation in which government and governance (at all levels) have but a single purpose: the propagation of capitalism -- that is, the protection of the plutocrats (especially as they continue their looting of the nation), and the subjugation of all the rest of us to serfdom if not outright slavery (exactly as implicit in the term "human capital").

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LOOKS LIKE JUST FLOOR PLAY AND EVERYBODY EATS IT UP.IN MY OPINION OBAMA IS JUST SHOWING OFF WHILE HE'S STABBING AMERICANS IN THE BACK. I RECENTLY RECEIVE EVIDENCE THAT MOST STATES IN OUR COUNTRY HAS A ISLAMIC TRAINING TERRORIST GROUP IN EACH STATE GOING AROUND GETTING OTHERS TO JOIN AND TRAINING THEM TO KILL. IF ANYONE WANTS TO GO AFTER SOMEONE, GO AFTER THE TERRORISTS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS FIRST, BUT IN MY OPINION I BELIEVE OBAMA WANTS TO DEPLEAT AMERICA'S FUNDS, THEN HE'LL BORROW FROM A ARABIA LEADER AND IN MY OPINION THIS SAME LEADER HELPED ORCHESTRATE THE 9-11 ATTACKS. ONCE OBAMA BORROWS FROM HIM, HE'LL WANT PROPERTY HERE SO THEY CAN COME HERE AND COMMAND THEIR ARMIES TO TAKE OVER OUR COUNTRY AND TRY TO MAKE SLAVES OUT OF ALL THAT ARE LEFT. NOW IS FLOOR PLAY. IF IT WERE I, I WOULD'NT OFFER ANYMORE THAN $250 BILLION A YEAR WITH RESTRICTIONS. IF MOST ARE OUT OF WORK, WHERE IS THE MONEY COMING FROM. TELL OBAMA TO TURN THE ECONOMY AROUND FIRST, THEN PEOPLE WILL BE WORKING AGAIN TO AFFORD MORE. WHAT WE ALL NEED PEOPLE TO DO IS TAKE WALKS AND OBSERVE TO FIND SOMETHING OUT OF PLACE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS AND FARMS, COMMUNITIES AND RANCHES AND THEN REPORT IT, MAYBE TAKE SOME PICTURES, OR TAKE RIDES, NOT ALONE AND USE CELL PHONES AT ALL TIMES. ITS BETTER TO BE SAFE, THAN SORRY, IF YOUR DRIVING TAKE A COUPLE OF FRIENDS ON YOUR SEARCH. HE ALSO PLANS ON DELETING ANY BUYING OF MILITARY WEAPONS AND PLANS ON LAYING OFF MOST OF OUR MAIN FORCES, WHAT DID HE SAY LAST YEAR= 75%. SO IT'LL BE EASIER TO DESTROY MOST, BECAUSE THEY WONT BE ABLE TO USE THEIR EQUIPTMENT AND OXYGEN BREATHING APPARATUSES. BUT IF HE'S PLANNING ON MAKING EARTH MUSLIM, A SECURITY FORCE KNOWN AS THE ALCON SECURITY FORCE, NOT AFFILIATED WITH OUR ARMED FORCES HAS CAPTURED THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND HAVE BEEN MOVED, ALL 90+ MOBILE LAUNCHERS WITH MISSLES LOADED WITH A POISON GAS ARE SOME WHERE ELSE AIMED AT MUSLIMS IN MANY COUNTRIES. SO EVERYONE BE CAREFUL AND LIKE I ASK LOOK YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS OVER REAL GOOD. WHAT GOOD WOULD IT BE WITH OUR PLANET HEATING UP AND ONE OF US HAVING ALL THE SOLUTIONS, INCLUDING GLOBAL WARMING. HAVE A NICE DAY. MIKE

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that's what obama is, another monkey for the jewish masters...www.henrybook.com

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Societies like people react to terminal illness in precisely the stages defined by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance (in societal terms, acceptance is surrender -- recognition that resistance is futile). That is what is happening in the United States: it is dying of a terminal illness called capitalism.

The only possible cure -- radical reform (or the threat of genuine revolution that existed c. 1932) -- has already been rendered forever impossible by methodical denial of its three historically proven prerequisites. These are: a binding ideology or analysis (the development of which is eternally obstructed by the dumbing down of the population -- that is, the emergence of not just Moron Nation but the most savagely anti-intellectual human society ever); the revolutionary potential implicit in a militarily trained population (the real reason the draft was ended and why it will never be resumed); a powerful foreign ally (even the reformist ameliorations imposed on capitalism by the New Deal would not have been possible without the potentially forceful support of the U.S. Communist Party and its benefactor the Soviet Union). But there will be no revolution -- nonviolent or otherwise -- because any U.S. spirit of resistance has been methodically eliminated. Apart from a few cities, we are not even allowed communities in which resistance might arise -- itself no accident. Thus the best we can do is froth and rage in the total impotence of nuclear-family isolation or keyboard solitude. The de facto bribery that fuels governance at all levels has already moved the levers of power impossibly far beyond our reach.

More to the point, without the threat of brute force, there is absolutely nothing adequate to restrain capitalism, which presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Fitzgerald Kennedy clearly understood -- the pivotal difference between the two late presidents and Obama. Though much of the legal framework for the application of such force remains intact, Obama ever more obviously has no intention of employing any such measures -- no matter the provocation. (He is probably fearful of the extent to which the ruling class has secretly compromised the nation’s law-enforcement agencies -- the ultimate lesson of 22 November 1963). Whatever, Obama is clearly loathe to muster any real defense against the ruling class -- that is, against the genuine enemies of the people.

Deny it if you like, present-day events prove beyond any doubt that the sole purpose of government and governance in our afflicted nation is the propagation of capitalism -- which just as I said before means the absolute protection of the ruling class and the total subjugation of all the rest of us. Were it otherwise the fat-cats would not be ever more enriched even as the rest of us are abandoned to euthanasia by impoverishment.

Meanwhile the ecological context in which these events are occurring explains why the ruling class is allowed to loot the nation beyond any hope of recovery. The exhaustion of our petroleum supplies -- only decades away -- will impose on humanity not merely societal collapse (which our species has survived many times), but technological collapse as well. And for technological collapse there is no precedent: thanks to our total dependence on petroleum, the hunting, gathering, fire-making, farming and shelter-building technologies that enabled pre-petroleum H. sapiens sapiens to survive for at least 150,000 years are all forgotten; thus when the petroleum supply dies, so will most human life. Combined with terminal climate change, the ensuing double apocalypse will fling humanity back into a neo-Dark Age from which the only escape is the extinction that will almost certainly follow. Meanwhile though the unrestricted looting of today will ensure the ruling class lives in maximum comfort until the end of human time.

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The economy has been spinning out of control. It's not the time for pandering to the populist demand. Please act like adults and not join the lynch mob. Let's get some blood into the patient to revive him first then prosecute him later. I'm glad the president is no hot head who goes with the crowd that has been whipped into a frenzy by the media. Stop it now. Let's jolt the economy back to life first then you can choke the execs later if you want.

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With respect to Mr. Rich, I'm starting to think that populist rage against his policies may be the least of the President's worries.

Take a gander at this article, also from the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/world/ asia/24china.html?_r=1&ref=asia

(To view the article, remove the space after world/)

The upper limit of Obama's power to stimulate, bail out, and generally gush the money supply may be in sight.

Other nations hold vast quantities of dollars, you see. That's the cumulative result of all those years of trade deficits (remember those?). We took their goods and they took dollars, and now they are sitting on dollar-denominated securites in the trillions. (China alone has over $1 trillion.)

Irresponsible behavior on Wall Street, and vast increases in the money supply to deal with the fallout, is shaking the faith of those dollar holders.

Do I have to say the obvious? Maybe I do. If China starts a dollar-dumping trend, and everyone else in the world panics, we are seriously screwed. The dollar could easily collapse entirely.

For now, China is being polite. They are merely raising the possibility of eventually moving to a world currency, possibly issued by the IMF. But behind the politeness, I sense fear. And fear is exactly what we do not want foreign holders of dollars to feel right now. Fear, once it starts, is very, very hard to hold back.

I wish Obama were right. I wish this crisis were simply a matter of "save the huge banks and AIG, so they don't pull the rest of us down into the hole they dug for themselves." But it isn't.

Saving them by rapidly expanding the money supply - the only way it can be done, really - could be the trigger for much, much worse.

Mr. President, there are more pieces to this puzzle than the big Wall Street firms and their balance sheets. Kindly pay attention to them all, and keep us safe.

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Obama Plans to Name Task Force to Overhaul Tax Code; 'Rebalance'...

White House to Hunt for New Revenues...

REBATE OFF TABLE?
=====
That means you sucker O-zero voters too.

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Imagine If A Republican Were President
By LARRY ELDER | 3.26.2009
.....the real story is the media double standard: imagine if a President McCain mistook a White House window for a door, his secretary of Treasury had not paid taxes, he granted two dozen waivers to his no-lobbyists-in-government rule and he had promised bipartisanship but got only three across-the-aisle votes for his “stimulus” package.

Imagine if President McCain, after promising a “clean break” from his predecessor, retained “extraordinary rendition,” the FISA program, the option of wiretapping without warrants and the option of using “enhanced interrogation techniques.

Or if he promised to close Gitmo, then said it would take as long as a year, but then our European allies refused to take in “detainees” from their own countries.
Or if he reneged on or fudged his promise to have all combat troops out of Iraq within “16 months of his presidency.”

Or if he adopted for Afghanistan the same counterinsurgency strategy used in Iraq, which, as a candidate, he’d criticized for not “achieving its objectives.
Or if he used the same “state secrets” argument as did the Bush administration in the same court case, to avoid turning over certain national security documents in an ACLU-brought case on behalf of an alleged torture victim/detainee.

Imagine if — on the campaign trail — a future President McCain had declared a nuclear-armed Iran “unacceptable” but agreed to engage in negotiations without preconditions, if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the new president he must apologize for 60 years of anti-Iranian activity, if President McCain then reached out to the Iranians in a televised address and, in response, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — who holds ultimate authority in Iran — told him to a) drop animosity and criticism, b) end sanctions, c) unfreeze assets, and d) end “unconditional support” for Israel.

Imagine if President McCain acted “outraged” — as though he, his secretary of Treasury and a party leader (Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.) had not previously known about and approved the controversial AIG bonuses and that executives at Freddie and Fannie, failed institutions now taken over by government, were getting bonuses, too.
Or if, during this recession and after criticizing taxpayer-funded corporate retreats, President McCain and First Lady Cindy McCain threw taxpayer-funded White House parties nearly every night, hiring entertainers such as Stevie Wonder and the Jonas Brothers.
Imagine if, as sitting president, McCain appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno and cracked jokes, while — as the media would have written — “millions of Americans have lost their homes and their jobs with millions afraid they’re next, yada, blah, etc.”

Or if he tripled the projected annual deficit and intended, within a short period, to double the national debt. Or if he promised to “create or save” an ever-changing number of jobs — never offering a yardstick to define a “saved job.”
Or if, after promising “transparency,” McCain wouldn’t say where the TARP money had gone and who had gotten it. Or after receiving bailout money, the largest 20 financial institution recipients actually reduced lending — the opposite intent of the program.
Or if after saying that he wasn’t a “socialist,” McCain defended himself by asserting that “it wasn’t on my watch” that we’d bought shares of banks — but omitted that, as senator, he’d supported and voted for it.

Or if he constantly said he’d “inherited” the deficit despite — as a senator — voting for TARP and other programs.
GOGGLE this for the rest but u get the pic here!!!

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