George Carlin -"Who Really Controls America" (Video)
After Reading Matt Taibbi's Rolling Stone Piece on Goldmans Sachs, The Great American Bubble Machine, Watch George Carlin's Take on Who Really Owns US. George Carlin was a Prophet, Blazing a Trail of Truth, Through America's Long Decline under the Rule of the Bush Dynasty, That Lasted from 12:30 PM, 11-22-63 till noon 1-20-2009. America's Recovery from 46 years of Lies, Lies, and Damn Lies, will take a Long Long Time. This Independence Day Remember, America is not a Destination it is a Journey, That has a Long way to Go.... Willy Bova
Jon Stewart On The Governor That Went "Hiking" Over Fathers Day in Argentina (Video)
Gov. Mark Sanford’s bizarre press conference in which he revealed his Argentina “disappearance” revolved around marital infidelity was the top story last Wednesday. Daily Show host Jon Stewart noted that the Republican needed an “act from God” to get himself off the front pages. Then the “King of Pop” passed away last Thursday.
“Boy, you can imagine the sentiment around the Sanford camp,” Stewart mocked, before shouting in a happy and excited voice: “Hey everybody did you hear the tragic news?”
Stewart then pantomimed the Sanford campaign team celebrating and giving each other high fives.
“All he has to down is keep his head down, not say anything, and the whole thing will blow over,” Stewart continued, before showing a clip about how Sanford had revealed more infidelities to the Associated Press.
“God killed Michael Jackson to save your ass!” Stewart screamed.
Stewart later played a clip of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Reverend Philip Linder saying, “Many of us are praying that he goes into a more silent mode.”
“That’s actually Episcopalian for shut the f*ck up,” Stewart joked.
Colbert: The Clinton Curse, and Fox News calls Hurricane Katrina a Democrat (Video)
...Colbert then went on to address Fox News’ flub last week when the network identified South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, as a Democrat.
“Look, I get it,” Colbert said. “When someone misbehaves it’s natural to assume he’s a Democrat, even when he’s the head of the Republican Governors’ Association. After all, Fox made the same mistake with Mark Foley and Hurricane Katrina.”
Jon Stewart blasts former CIA analyst for rooting for bin Laden attack (Video)
Perhaps it’s a form of Stockholm Syndrome.
The same person who spent nearly a decade fruitlessly leading the CIA unit charged with finding Osama bin Laden now seems to be rooting for him.
Former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer told Fox News’ Glenn Beck Tuesday night, “The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States.”
According to his bio, “From 1996 to 1999, [Scheuer] served as the Chief of the bin Laden unit (aka Alec Station), the Osama bin Laden tracking unit at the Counterterrorism Center. He then worked as Special Adviser to the Chief of the bin Laden unit from September 2001 to November 2004.
Happy Canada Day, 142 Years Young!
Video About Canada, the SPP and the North American Union
Goldman Sachs: The Wall Street Bubble Mafia
By Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone
The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it’s everywhere. The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled-dry American empire, reads like a Who’s Who of Goldman Sachs graduates.
By now, most of us know the major players. As George Bush’s last Treasury secretary, former Goldman CEO Henry Paulson was the architect of the bailout, a suspiciously self-serving plan to funnel trillions of Your Dollars to a handful of his old friends on Wall Street. Robert Rubin, Bill Clinton’s former Treasury secretary, spent 26 years at Goldman before becoming chairman of Citigroup – which in turn got a $300 billion taxpayer bailout from Paulson. There’s John Thain, the rear end in a top hat chief of Merrill Lynch who bought an $87,000 area rug for his office as his company was imploding; a former Goldman banker, Thain enjoyed a multibillion-dollar handout from Paulson, who used billions in taxpayer funds to help Bank of America rescue Thain’s sorry company. And Robert Steel, the former Goldmanite head of Wachovia, scored himself and his fellow executives $225 million in golden parachute payments as his bank was self-destructing. There’s Joshua Bolten, Bush’s chief of staff during the bailout, and Mark Patterson, the current Treasury chief of staff, who was a Goldman lobbyist just a year ago, and Ed Liddy, the former Goldman director whom Paulson put in charge of bailed-out insurance giant AIG, which forked over $13 billion to Goldman after Liddy came on board. The heads of the Canadian and Italian national banks are Goldman alums, as is the head of the World Bank, the head of the New York Stock Exchange, the last two heads of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York – which, incidentally, is now in charge of overseeing Goldman – not to mention …
Jon Stewart: Cheney's 'nuts may be the size of baby elephants'
(Video)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney has been critical of the plan to pull US troops out of Iraq cities. Did he forget that those plans were made while he was in office? Jon Stewart thinks Cheney may have a medical condition which causes him to forget inconvenient facts.
"You know what, Sourpuss McMonkeyheart is right," Stewart said. "What idiot came up with the idea to pull troops out of Iraqi cities by June of '09?"
Stewart then played a video of former President George W. Bush talking about the plan last December...
Fox News Blows a Gasket Over Senator Deahead Franken's Unanimous Victory (Video)
Here's a fun dose of schadenfreude.
Sen.-elect Al Franken's (D-MN) long-awaited victory in the 2008 Minnesota Senate race seems to have caused quite a lot of stress in the Murdoch-owned press. Remember, this is the same corporation that sued him for his Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them book back in 2003, with the unintended consequence of giving him tons of free publicity to sell books -- and elevating him into being a hero of liberal activists, without which he might never have become a politician!
On Fox News yesterday evening, Glenn Beck was quite alarmed by the development...
It's Unanimous, Deadhead Al Franken, is the 60th Democratic Senator,
Norm Coleman is Now a Verb for Sore Loser....
The Minnesota Supreme Court has handed down its much-expected ruling in the heavily-litigated Minnesota Senate race from 2008 -- and it's a unanimous one -- deciding against Republican former Sen. Norm Coleman's appeal of his defeat in the election trial and affirming the lower court's verdict that Democratic comedian Al Franken is the legitimate winner of the race...
Franken vs. Coleman: Our Top 10 Moments,
What A Long Strange Trip It's Been
It's been a strange eight months following the Minnesota elections. Here are 10 of our very favorite moments (post election), care of TPMDC reporter (and Franken-Coleman authority) Eric Kleefeld:
Nov. 5: Franken Says Race "Too Close to Call"
The day after the election, Franken releases a statement vowing that the race is not over. He doesn't know the half of it..
Jon Stewart: CIA hopes Wall St. geniuses will help other
‘calm, stable countries to collapse’
.....“Economics, finance and business professionals, if the quest for the bottom line is just not enough for you, the Central Intelligence Agency has a mission like no other,” a radio ad announced about the openings. “Join CIA’s directorate of intelligence and be a part of our global mission as an economic or financial analyst. Make a difference in your career and for your nation.”
Stewart joked, “The CIA specializes in taking calm, stable countries and causing them to collapse, why would they want people who ran Banks…”
“Brilliant,” Stewart applauded after a short pause....
Insurance Firms Fear Public Option Will Kill Their Near-Monopolies
....The report, released by Health Care for America Now (HCAN), uses data compiled by the American Medical Association to show that 94 percent of the country's insurance markets are defined as "highly concentrated," according to Justice Department guidelines. Predictably, that's led to skyrocketing costs for patients, and monster profits for the big health insurers. Premiums have gone up over the past six years by more than 87 percent, on average, while profits at ten of the largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007.
Far from healthy market competition, HCAN describes the situation as "a market failure where a small number of large companies use their concentrated power to control premium levels, benefit packages, and provider payments in the markets they dominate."....
Billionaire Madoff tied to intelligence agencies
....The day before Madoff was arrested, he sent a "package" to Citibank's private banking facility at 850 Lexington Avenue. Usually when Madoff Securities sent out a "package," a set of documents in an 8 1/2 x 11 inch envelope authorizing electronic funds transfers, there was always a signed receipt from Citibank. One exception was "packages" personally sent by Madoff to Citibank. On December 10, Madoff sent a "package" to Citibank with no receipt from the private banking service. That evening Madoff attended the company's annual Christmas party, which had always been held on December 17. Madoff was reportedly not acting normal and his wife Ruth was trying to play the gregarious role normally handled by Madoff in previous parties. WMR's inside source believes that Madoff knew then that he was facing arrest the next day......
Ponzi Scum Madof Sentenced To 150 Years In Prison
Barring extraordinary developments, Bernie Madoff will spend the rest of his life in prison.
The Wall Street swindler has been sentenced to 150 years in prison for swindling investors out of many billions of dollars, reports the AP. That was the sentence prosecutors had been seeking. The federal probation department had asked for 50 years. Madoff's lawyer, Ira Sorkin, had argued that both figures were excessive -- but the judge sided with prosecutors....
Madoff may not have benefited most in scam
Client Jeffry Picower allegedly withdrew $5.1 billion from accounts...
....Between December 1995 and December 2008, Picower and his family withdrew from their various Madoff accounts $5.1 billion more than they invested with the self-confessed swindler, according to a lawsuit filed by the trustee who is trying to recover money for those Madoff defrauded....
Healthcare industry spending $1.4 million - a day - on lobbyists
The healthcare industry is spending upwards of $1.4 million each day on average to lobby members of Congress on health care legislation, a report issued by Common Cause this week reveals. Industry spending has nearly doubled since 2000. Healthcare interests contributed $94 million to Congress members during the 2008 election cycle alone — up from $40 million in 2000...
The NSA’s new data-mining facility is one component of a growing local surveillance industry
......Does automated data mining even work?
While the opening of the NSA’s massive new data center heightens existing civil-rights concerns, a new report from the National Research Council questions whether such data-mining is even effective. Sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Science Foundation and released in October of this year, the report suggests that pattern-based data-mining is not even a viable way to identify terrorists.
The 352-page study —“Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists” — concludes that identification of terrorists through automated data-mining “is neither feasible as an objective nor desirable as a goal of technology development efforts.” It also says inevitable false positives will result in “ordinary, law-abiding citizens and businesses” being erroneously flagged as suspects.....
Reviewing F. William Engdahl's "Full Spectrum Dominance:" Part I
.....Engdahl's newest book is reviewed below. Titled "Full Strectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order," it discusses America's grand strategy, first revealed in the 1998 US Space Command document - Vision for 2020. Later released in 2000 as DOD Joint Vision 2020, it called for "full spectrum dominance" over all land, surface and sub-surface sea, air, space, electromagnetic spectrum and information systems with enough overwhelming power to fight and win global wars against any adversary, including with nuclear weapons preemptively....
How the Wall Street Bankers Bought Congress
You would think that causing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression might have repercussions. You would think being a major factor in the destruction of around 40 percent of the world’s wealth might get you in trouble. You would think being the cause of the worst housing crisis in history — with millions of people losing their homes because of you — might force a restructuring of how Wall Street does things.
You would think that. But you’d be wrong.....
The Big Takeover
It's over — we're officially, royally fucked. No empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country's heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire....
Ex-insurance exec confesses health insurers dump sick people
A retired health insurance executive — in a shocking but not terribly surprising admission — confessed Wednesday that insurance companies deliberately confuse policyholders and attempt to dump sick patients to plump their profit margins. “[T]hey confuse their customers and dump the sick, all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors,” former Cigna senior executive Wendell Potter...
Public health plan could save $1.8 Trillion...
and Scew Insurance Companies, Too Bad So Sad...
A nationwide health insurance exchange that includes a Medicare-like government option could save $1.8 trillion more than if only private plans are offered, a prominent private U.S. health policy group said on Wednesday. Federal spending on health-related costs would still rise from 2010 to 2020, but they would be less with a plan that pays doctors and hospital rates similar to the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund.....
Craig Ferguson Devotes Entire Monologue To Mark Sanford: Applauds Jenny For Not Standing By Her "Douchebag" (VIDEO)
Craig Ferguson opened his show with a sigh of relief and joy last night saying, "It's one of these days if you're a guy who hosts a late night talk show, even a crap one, it's one of these days that you go 'ahhhh.'"
After taking a few shots at Sanford for an outsourced mistress and (inexplicably) for being flatulent, he applauded Jenny Sanford for not appearing at her husband's press conference saying:
"Good for her I say! Good for you! Finally! I never understood why these women had to stand by their douchebag at the press conference. He's like, 'Oh I did this I did that then I took off her dress and then we went to Hooters'...I think what the wives should do is just wear a t-shirt that says 'I'm with stupid.'"
Ferguson then went after Sanford for banging on about family values while banging on, and governors in general for all the scandals they've caused in America in the past few years:
"You know things are bad when the most normal governor of the last decade has been Jesse 'The Body' Ventura."....
Stewart ‘apologizes’ to Sanford for ‘coyote f**ker’ speculatio (Video)
On Tuesday’s show, Jon Stewart and Wyatt Cenac speculated on what might have happened during the governor’s long weekend. One theory was that Sanford “chased a coyote into the woods to f**k it.”
“So I apologize to you, sir, for implying that you were a coyote f**ker,” Stewart said Wednesday night.
Stewart summed up Sanford’s admission that he had an affair with an Argentinean woman. “Oh, marital infidelity. You’re just another human being whose simple moralizing about the sanctity of marriage is only marred by the complexities of their own life. Well, just another politician with a conservative mind and a liberal penis,” said Stewart.
Missing Governor reappears, Daily Show Spectulates that he May have been Naked in the Woods Looking for a Coyote (Video)
.....Cillizza notes, “The fact that — whether willfully or accidentally — Sanford’s staff misled the public about his whereabouts is a major problem for a candidate considered almost certain to run for president in 2012.”
In addition, Cillizza carries a quote by an unnamed GOP strategist regarding Sanford’s future: “With the lack of judgment he’s shown, Sanford is now seriously damaged goods.” But perhaps Cillizza is wrong. It could be far worse.On Tuesday night’s edition of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart and Wyatt Cenac speculated on what might have happened during the governor’s long weekend.
One theory was that Sanford “chased a coyote into the woods to f**k it.”...
Nixon supported abortion ... For interracial babies
White House audio recording released on Tuesday show that former President Richard M. Nixon -- arguably the most hated Republican president in U.S. history and the only one to resign due to ongoing criminal scandals -- was a supporter of legal abortion in certain circumstances ... Like rape.
Or, interracial babies....On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly released tapes reveal, he expressed ambivalence. Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies. “There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.....
Monday's Late Night Round-Up: Bill Bennett, Rush Limbaugh, Dunkin Donuts, And More! (VIDEO)
We've got some good stuff for you today in Monday's Late Night Round-Up. Letterman lamented the loss of the world's oldest man, but noted cheerfully that it won't affect the programming of Larry King Live. The Late Show host also discussed the recently revealed news that Steve Jobs of Apple had a liver transplant. We wonder how long he'll be happy with this newest model......
Colbert: ‘If you don’t fight Saddam, you love Hitler’ (Video)
Due to the fact that the past is “full of mistakes,” Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert isn’t very fond of history. So Tuesday night he showed a historian how one could actually “learn from the past.”
Colbert explained to Simon Schama, author of The American Future: “Hitler. Hitler, okay. This is the one thing I like about the past is that I can look at Hitler and go, okay, there’s a lesson from the past. Can I make an equation. I can transfer from Hitler all the evil on to Saddam and I can go Hitler and Saddam are the same. Therefore if you don’t fight Saddam, you love Hitler.”
John Hodgman Calls Obama A Nerd At Radio And TV Correspondents' Dinner (VIDEO)
Author and comedian John Hodgman--also known as the PC Guy-- was the headliner of this year's 65th annual Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner, and he delivered a humorous speech in which he teased President Obama for being a "nerd," saying that he hoped Obama could finally heal the "age-old conflict" between nerds and jocks. ......
Keith Olbermann, John Hodgman Interview: Hodgman Discusses His Speech And Obama As 'Nerd-In-Chief' (VIDEO)
John Hodgman, who gave the keynote address at the White House Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner Friday night praising President Obama as the first Nerd-in-Chief, appeared on Countdown tonight to discuss his speech and if Obama can heal end the age-old conflict between nerds and jocks.
Olbermann asked the question on everyone's mind: is Obama a nerdy-jock or a jockey-nerd? Hodgman thinks "he crosses the streams, to drop a Ghostbusters reference......
Change: DHS To End Domestic Satellite Spying Program
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano plans to kill a program begun by the Bush administration that would use U.S. spy satellites for domestic security and law enforcement, a government official said Monday. Napolitano recently reached her decision after the program was discussed with law enforcement officials, and she was told it was not an urgent issue, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it...
Health Care Reform by Medicare Expansion
Exploding costs, limited accessibility and uneven quality of basic health care in the United States have been highlighted as a top priority for early correction by the Obama administration1. The cost of health care represents a significantly higher proportion of national income in the U.S. than in any other industrialized nation. Medical expenses currently consume almost 17 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, up from 13.5 percent in 19982, and now are the most rapidly escalating expenditure in the federal budget. At the same time almost one-sixth of the U.S. population is uninsured, with many others being underinsured. Market forces have been unable to restrain the downward spiral of medical care delivery or the upward spiral of medical costs.....
Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years
Executives at U.S. companies are taking advantage of the biggest stock-market rally in 71 years to sell their shares at the fastest pace since credit markets started to seize up two years ago....
Defense Department Considers Constitutionally Protected
Dissent To Be "Low Level Terrorism"
It might seem hard to believe, but it is true. The Department of Defense (DOD) considers protests an example of "low-level terrorism," at least according to an exam DOD employees were required to take this year. You would have thought that the Pentagon learned its lesson after its nationwide surveillance program targeting peace activists, called TALON, was exposed in 2005 and roundly condemned. The program and the secretive Pentagon unit that ran it, the Counterintelligence Field Activity Agency (CIFA), were both shuttered in 2007. Apparently it is easier to kill a program than change an attitude.
According to a whistleblower that came to the ACLU, a multiple choice question on the 2009 DOD Anti-terrorism Awareness training exam asked which of the following was an example of low-level terrorism:
1.Attacking the Pentagon
2.Improvised Explosive Devices (IED)
3. Hate crimes against racial groups
4. Protests
The right answer is: "protests."...
Goldman Sachs to make record bonus payout Before Paying back Bailout Money
Staff at Goldman Sachs staff can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm's 140-year history after a spectacular first half of the year, sparking concern that the big investment banks which survived the credit crunch will derail financial regulation reforms.....
Google to Launch Phone Service Soon
Google last month reserved 1 million phone numbers with Level 3, signaling that it may finally be ready to roll out its long-anticipated Google Voice service....
The Risks of Genetically Modified Foods (Video)
We all know how utterly corrupt the FDA is, but sometimes the full significance of this fact doesn't resonate.This video is a major wake up call. The FDA gave Monsanto and it friends a free pass on genetically modified organisms. They've helped suppress the science that shows food produced this way is dangerous. Here are the foods that are genetically modified: milk, corn, soybeans, canola oil and cottonseed oil. One simple way to protect yourself is to stop eating these foods unless they come from a certified organic source.
Why apples, avocados and a glass of red wine could ease your arthritis
....Research shows a definite link between the food you eat and the severity of your symptoms. Like your heart, your joints thrive best on plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Try to eat at least five (and preferably eight or more) servings a day. Fruit and vegetables provide an array of antioxidants that reduce the rate at which cartilage breaks down, helping to slow the process of osteoarthritis. Antioxidants can also reduce inflammation and help combat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and gout.
Apples and avocados are anti-inflammatory superfoods. Don't peel your apples - the skin contains five times more antioxidants than the flesh. Oily fish are a rich source of omega-3 essential fatty acids that oil the joints and damp down inflammation. Research shows that omega-3 can reduce the long-term need for painkillers in those with joint problems....
Tony Hawk Skateboards in the White House, Republican Wingnuts blow a gasket, compare it to shooting a Porno Film in the Lincoln Bedroom....
(Skateboarding is a Billion Dollar Industry for America, Perhaps Honoring the Worlds Greatest Skateboarder Might Be a Smart Thing, Maybe Even, get young people to Vote...)
According to the Associated Press, Hawk's indoor performance at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. was sanctioned by the White House. But no sooner had Hawk posted pictures of his ride online than conservative bloggers began to lambaste him -- and the Obama administration -- for showing disrespect and immaturity.
"What next, strippers and bongs in the Blue Room?" asks the Just a Regular Guy blog.
"At the risk of giving them ideas, maybe we could let them shoot a porno film in the Lincoln bedroom," quipped a writer on the Say Anything blog....
Obama's Radio And TV Correspondents' Dinner Speech (VIDEO)
President Obama poked fun at the press during his speech at the 65th annual Radio & Television Correspondents' Association Dinner Friday night, taking aim at such big names as MSNBC's Chuck Todd and Joe Scarborough and CNN's Wolf Blitzer, while also joking about the struggling state of the radio and TV industries. In of his better lines of the night he joked about literally being in bed with Brian Williams; in another highlight he suggested an idea for a Arnold Schwarzenegger reality TV show called "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.
Wide Support for Government-Run Health Care
Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers,...
Did Fox News out a source to protect a Republican Senator?
It is looking like someone at Fox News may have exposed a source who came forward with serious allegations about a Republican senator.
The source in question is Doug Hampton, who along with his wife previously worked for Senator John Ensign. Hampton allegedly sent a letter to Fox’s Megyn Kelly about an affair that Sen. Ensign had with Hampton's wife. The letter was allegedly sent some five days before Sen. Ensign publicly confessed his infidelity, leading to speculation that someone at Fox notified Ensign. This morning Fox denied receiving the letter or any communications from Hampton until about a day before Ensign's confession....
Daily Show: Perpendiculars are ‘eerie’ for Iranians and GOP (Video)
On Thursday’s Daily Show, Jon Stewart dissected remarks made by Congressional Republicans that compared their election losses to the plight of the Iranian people. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) sent an early Thursday Twitter declaring “Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in the Hosue last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.”
Stewart agreed that both were the “exact same.”
“One group a victim of a fraudulent election,” Stewart mocked. “The other group lost an election, but still — [ laughter ] — the parallels are eerie. Not parallels, the perpendiculars.”...
Judge rejects argument Darth Cheney
needs to be shielded from Daily Show
Tired of waving the national security flag, Obama administration lawyers are apparently trying another tactic to get the courts to back Bush administration arguments which never worked to prevent the release of critical documents. Forget Qaeda or North Korea, late night hosts who tell jokes are why the government should retain its secrets.
“A federal judge yesterday sharply questioned an assertion by the Obama administration that former Vice President Richard B. Cheney’s statements to a special prosecutor about the Valerie Plame case must be kept secret, partly so they do not become fodder for Cheney’s political enemies or late-night commentary on The Daily Show,” R. Jeffrey Smith reports for The Washington Post...
Letterman: 'Top ten things overheard at fire Dave rally' (Video)
Tuesday evening, CBS Late Night host David Letterman attempted to put an exclamation point on the end to the Palin apology-fest, and the ensuing grass-roots movement calling for Letterman's termination. "Fire David Letterman" protesters gathered across from Letterman's studio to shout angry attacks on the Late Show host, with more media than protesters there to capture the dismal turnout....
Bush Crony, Ponzi Scum Stanford Arrested and In Jail
Texas billionaire Allen Stanford will appear in a federal court in Virginia on Friday over allegations of massive fraud involving his Antigua bank, U.S. officials said after he surrendered to the FBI......In its civil case, the SEC in February accused Stanford, his college roommate and three of their companies of carrying out a "massive Ponzi scheme" over at least a decade and misappropriating at least $1.6 billion of investors' money....
Health Care Reform D.O.A.?
What’s the latest assessment from those closely monitoring health care reform? Prognosis negative. “Health reform is, I think it fair to say, in danger right now,” wrote Ezra Klein this morning at the Washington Post.
“Attention fellow liberals who want health care reform,” wrote Jonathan Cohn yesterday at the New Republic. “You are in danger of losing the fight for universal health insurance. And it’s not only — or even primarily — because of the public plan.”...
Medicare for all may be the best cure for the US
For the past few months, Barack Obama and his allies in Congress have been striding towards far-reaching reform of the US healthcare system without the public paying much attention. This is changing. Interested parties are studying draft legislation to see where they stand. In spite of the Democrats’ dominance in Washington, reform will not glide through unopposed....
NSA analysts spied on own wives and girlfriends (Video)
According to the reporter who first broke the NSA wiretapping story, there is no proof the agency has scaled back its interception of the personal phone calls and email messages of American citizens as promised by the Obama administration or even that it is being straight with Congress about its activities.
James Risen and Eric Lichtblau revealed the NSA’s over-collection of data in an article for the New York Times on Tuesday, noting that one NSA analyst was even found to have been reading the private email of former President Bill Clinton.....
Russia, China to Promote Ruble, Yuan Use in Trade
The leaders of Russia and China agreed to expand use of the ruble and yuan in bilateral trade to lessen dependence on the U.S. dollar a day after they took part in the first summit of the so-called BRIC countries. “We agreed to take further steps in this direction, including, perhaps, by adjusting contracts and laws that already exist,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told reporters in the Kremlin today after talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.
Russia, the world’s biggest energy supplier, wants to start selling oil to China in rubles...,
"E-Mail" Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress
.....He said he and other analysts were trained to use a secret database, code-named Pinwale, in 2005 that archived foreign and domestic e-mail messages. He said Pinwale allowed N.S.A. analysts to read large volumes of e-mail messages to and from Americans....
The recent concerns about N.S.A.’s domestic e-mail collection follow years of unresolved legal and operational concerns within the government over the issue. Current and former officials now say that the tracing of vast amounts of American e-mail traffic was at the heart of a crisis in 2004 at the hospital bedside of John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, as top Justice Department aides staged a near revolt over what they viewed as possibly illegal aspects of the N.S.A.’s surveillance operations.
James Comey, then the deputy attorney general, and his aides were concerned about the collection of “meta-data” of American e-mail messages, which show broad patterns of e-mail traffic by identifying who is e-mailing whom, current and former officials say. Lawyers at the Justice Department believed that the tracing of e-mail messages appeared to violate federal law.
“The controversy was mostly about that issue,” said a former administration official involved in the dispute.
Dating Mining and the Curious Section 126 of the Patriot Act
What is it that the National Security Agency began doing after 9/11 that necessitated Presidential authorization for warantless surveillance? .....
My guess is the government decided after 9/11 to monitor everyone.
Thanks JMC for pointing out that the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act Of 2005 contains a Section 126, inserted by the House, requiring the Attorney General to submit a report to Congress "on any initiative of the Department of Justice that uses or is intended to develop pattern-based data-mining technology." ....
Data-mining is defined in Section 126 as:
"a query or search or other analysis of one or more electronic databases, where--
(A) at least one of the databases was obtained from or remains under the control of a non-Federal entity, or the information was acquired initially by another department or agency of the Federal Government for purposes other than intelligence or law enforcement;
(B) the search does not use personal identifiers of a specific individual or does not utilize inputs that appear on their face to identify or be associated with a specified individual to acquire information; and
(C) a department or agency of the Federal Government is conducting the query or search or other analysis to find a pattern indicating terrorist or other criminal activity.
"From Patriot Act II in 2007 a report on Data-mining was required, That report has never been released, Why? This report on Data Mining needs to be produced or Declassified, by the Obama administration, since it is required by LAW in Patriot Act II....." Willy Bova
SEC. 126. REPORT ON DATA-MINING ACTIVITIES.
(a) Report- Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report on any initiative of the Department of Justice that uses or is intended to develop pattern-based data-mining technology, including, for each such initiative, the following information:
(1) A thorough description of the pattern-based data-mining technology consistent with the protection of existing patents, proprietary business processes, trade secrets, and intelligence sources and methods.
(2) A thorough discussion of the plans for the use of such technology and the target dates for the deployment of the pattern-based data-mining technology.
(3) An assessment of the likely efficacy of the pattern-based data-mining technology quality assurance controls to be used in providing accurate and valuable information consistent with the stated plans for the use of the technology.
(4) An assessment of the likely impact of the implementation of the pattern-based data-mining technology on privacy and civil liberties.
(5) A list and analysis of the laws and regulations applicable to the Department of Justice that govern the application of the pattern-based data-mining technology to the information to be collected, reviewed, gathered, and analyzed with the pattern-based data-mining technology.
(6) A thorough discussion of the policies, procedures, and guidelines of the Department of Justice that are to be developed and applied in the use of such technology for pattern-based data-mining in order to--
(A) protect the privacy and due process rights of individuals; and
(B) ensure that only accurate information is collected and used or account for the possibility of inaccuracy in that information and guard against harmful consequences of potential inaccuracies.
(7) Any necessary classified information in an annex that shall be available consistent with national security to the Committee on the Judiciary of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
(b) Definitions- In this section:
(1) DATA-MINING- The term `data-mining' means a query or search or other analysis of one or more electronic databases, where--
(A) at least one of the databases was obtained from or remains under the control of a non-Federal entity, or the information was acquired initially by another department or agency of the Federal Government for purposes other than intelligence or law enforcement;
(B) the search does not use personal identifiers of a specific individual or does not utilize inputs that appear on their face to identify or be associated with a specified individual to acquire information; and
(C) a department or agency of the Federal Government is conducting the query or search or other analysis to find a pattern indicating terrorist or other criminal activity.
(2) DATABASE- The term `database' does not include telephone directories, information publicly available via the Internet or available by any other means to any member of the public, any databases maintained, operated, or controlled by a State, local, or tribal government (such as a State motor vehicle database), or databases of judicial and administrative opinions.
Telephone Records are just the Tip of NSA's Iceberg
by William M. Arkin
The National Security Agency and other U.S. government organizations have developed hundreds of software programs and analytic tools to "harvest" intelligence, and they've created dozens of gigantic databases designed to discover potential terrorist activity both inside the United States and overseas.
These cutting edge tools -- some highly classified because of their functions and capabilities -- continually process hundreds of billions of what are called "structured" data records, including telephone call records and e-mail headers contained in information "feeds" that have been established to flow into the intelligence agencies.
The multi-billion dollar program, which began before 9/11 but has been accelerated since then. Well over 100 government contractors have participated, including both small boutique companies whose products include commercial off-the-shelf software and some of the largest defense contractors, who have developed specialized software and tools exclusively for government use.....
Supertankers Storing Oil Plan to Deliver Cargoes, ICAP Says
A fifth of supertankers being used to store oil are scheduled to deliver their cargoes, according to ICAP Shipping, a unit of ICAP Plc, the world’s biggest broker of deals between banks. A so-called notice of redelivery was issued for seven of 33 supertankers storing crude, Simon Chattrabhuti, a London-based analyst at ICAP, said by e-mail today. There “may well be others storing or that have given notice,” he said. Two new carriers were hired to store oil, the analyst said....
Farmed Fish May Pose Risk For Mad Cow Disease
University of Louisville neurologist Robert P. Friedland, M.D., questions the safety of eating farmed fish in today’s Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, adding a new worry to concerns about the nation’s food supply.
Friedland and his co-authors suggest farmed fish could transmit Creutzfeldt Jakob disease--commonly known as mad cow disease--if they are fed byproducts rendered from cows. The scientists urge government regulators to ban feeding cow meat or bone meal to fish until the safety of this common practice can be confirmed.
Lilly Sold Drug for Dementia Knowing It Didn’t Help, Files Show
Eli Lilly & Co. urged doctors to prescribe Zyprexa for elderly patients with dementia, an unapproved use for the antipsychotic, even though the drugmaker had evidence the medicine didn’t work for such patients, according to unsealed internal company documents.
In 1999, four years after Lilly sent study results to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showing Zyprexa didn’t alleviate dementia symptoms in older patients, it began marketing the drug to those very people, according to documents unsealed in insurer suits against the company for overpayment....
Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food
On May 19th, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks."[1] They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation," as defined by recognized scientific criteria. "The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies."