Governor Jim Douglas looks really serious

Quotes come from GOP governors press Congress to pass stimulus bill, Yahoo News, 01/31/09 … please … you gotta see our Republican guv in action!

Most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama’s economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.

Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama’s spending priorities.

The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, planned to meet in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state’s share of the package.

I do know our own “Jumpin’ fer dollars” Jim is a big fan of the economic policies that have helped to destroy our nation’s economy; drive down lower and middle class wages; eliminate benefits; keep medical care away from the undeserving poor; trash our only source of food, water, air and shelter (aka the physical environment); and more … I’d like to know how all these other “gimmee my monee” guvs felt about the bushies and their Republican cohorts in DC … I imagine much the same.

While former radio talk show host and author Al Franken is consistently described in corporate media reports as “comedian Al Franken,” it seems it’s the legal team of former Senator Norm Coleman who are providing the laughs in the first days of the U.S. Senate election contest up in Minnesota.

When even the unapologetic, rightwing, “Franken is stealing the election!” nutcases and conspiracy theorists at Powerline describe Coleman’s legal case as being of “Three Stooges quality,” you know these guys must really be falling apart.

(Coleman’s Continuing Comedy of Errors: Days 2 & 3 at the U.S. Senate Election Contest in MN, Bradblog, 01/28/09)

News from Alaska … could this be about our new found best conservative friend Sarah Palin?

an eruption may be imminent

last erupted during a five-month period

“There was steaming through pre-existing holes, but there were no new holes. … and there was no ash on the snow cover,” he said.

The crew members smelled sulphur as they flew over

(source)

Can there be no (re)doubt about it?

but any level of torture is.

The other day I had a visit from a state game warden. Because the bird food that was being put out behind our house was also attracting deer, the wife and I were told we had to stop.

It’s called feeding the deer. It’s a bonafide crime in Vermont to feed deer with a few exceptions, and now that we’ve received a warning a violation will result in a criminal citation.

So when I read of some schmuck like Senator Schumer of NY saying “If there are egregious cases [of torture], I don’t think you can say, blanket, no prosecutions,” Schumer told Fox’s Chris Wallace Sunday morning. “If there are egregious cases, yes, you have to look at them.” (source) I shake my head in disbelief.

In my life torture is a much more serious issue than feeding white tailed deer in one’s backyard … but in the twisted minds of the likes of Schumer (and apparently a lot of the DC DemRepup elites) that isn’t the case at all.

There’s been a sizable population in the United States who stood up and said torture is immoral and illegal no matter the plaintive excuses made by those who approve of it. The torturers were warned long ago.

And now Mr Holder’s nomination for Attorney General is being held up apparently because he won’t say he won’t pursue prosecutions against cheney/bush administration officials who, among other illegal acts, engaged encouraged or approved torture.

We could go through a list of illegal activities by the cheney/bush admin. It ranges from lying to congress about Iraqi WMD to criminal negligence regarding Hurricane Katrina to cheney shooting another hunter in the face.

But unlike me, these cretins from the last administration and their still extant legions of apologists and fellow torture approvers feel they’re above not only the law but any sense of decency.

And reading that some Democratic Senator like Schumer is talking about looking into only the egregious examples of torture (yeah … still trying to figure out what would be egregious and what wouldn’t) makes my sick.

It’s time to put torture on equal footing with feeding the deer … if somebody is reasonably suspected of participating in it, planning it, approving it, ordering it or any other action that falls under the rubrics of direct action or conspiracy … they should be prosecuted.

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

“They’re calling it ‘the miracle on the Hudson’“, blares this morning’s top of the fold, front page, Times Argus headline.

But it wasn’t a miracle at all.

It was an extremely well prepared crew, an orderly set of passengers and a trained and talented pilot who were all aided by some good luck in the weather.

I’m referring, of course, to the Airbus that lost both engines shortly after takeoff at Laguardia Airport in NYC. Apparently the plane and a flock of birds tried occupying the same point at the same time, and the birds and jet engines paid the ultimate price resulting in a forced landing on the Hudson River just off Manhattan Island.

Farther back, on page 5, of this morning’s TA we find out that this ‘miracle’ was nothing short of hard work, training, practice and knowledge.

In Hudson River hero is ex-Air Force Pilot (again with the non-sequitors … there is very little connection to his being an Air Force pilot here) we find that the pilot, Mr. Sullenberger, has been flying for US Airways since 1980, aided in several National Transportation Safety accident investigations and had even “been studying the psychology of keeping airline crews functioning even in the face of crisis.”

Unfortunately the headlines decided to pay homage to two of our most prevalent contemporary public memes: god and the military.

But at least the articles let you know what the headlines should have been: They call it competence on the Hudson and Hudson River hero did so well because he worked hard to be that good.

No religion or military necessary … no miracles … just good old fashioned hard work.

The following is most of a post by David Z. over on the Prog Blog … link here:

As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I got to see the work of Douglas’ Tax Commissioner Tom Pelham in action. It was a remarkable sight. As he told of his reasoning for not recommending lowering the property tax rate, he made it appear as though his annual recommendation as dictated by statute, is just a formality.  He had no response when I questioned him as to the fact that it is actually law and that he tended to see it as a much bigger deal in the past when a political score could be made by the Governor that he would be lowering taxes! But now, the Governor saw the property tax as a potential pool of money that he could use for other purposes, so Tax Commissioner Pelham did not want to recommend reducing the rate by 1 or 2 cents per $100. (to the tune of about $10.1 million per penny).

Of course what is interesting is that when the legislature lowers the rate, the corresponding income sensistivity rate no longer goes down. It is set at a floor of 1.8% of ones income. This was set in policy a few years ago.

So oddly enough…when the penny rate is lowered…we are effectively giving a tax reduction to homeowners with incomes greater than $95,000, and to any non-residential property tax payers. In a strange twist of the law…the school property tax is now a mildly progressive tax (except it taxes everyone above $95,000 the same…without tiers).

Divide $700 billion (the amount of the publicly acknowledged Wall Street & Rich People’s Bailout … which doesn’t include the trillions in dollars worth of low or no cost loans made to these same people by the Fed) by 300 million (the approximate current population of the US) and you’ll come up with about $2,300.

That’s not a per household figure … that’s a per person (infant to elderly and everything in between) figure.

So think about it: what could YOU do with that twenty three hundred dollars?

I know there are plenty who will talk of vacations or new purchases, and there will also be many who will think about debt such as mortgage or credit cards or auto loans.

None of the above should be considered a bad thing.

But keep in mind that others will think savings or investments … and building true economic strength for themselves via new privately owned, small (not in the bloated US SBA definition of hundreds of millions of dollars or hundreds of employees; I mean small as in ‘mom and pop’, in the neighborhood) businesses.

Years ago I was doing an interview on a local radio show I hosted/engineered/produced. The topic was community development and micro-loans. In this case the micro loan was about $1,000, and it purchased a massage table for an aspiring masseuse who had developed a workable business plan and obtained the loan with the help of a local non-profit agency.

When I talked to the not quite young, not quite middle aged woman about her experiences, current status and future dreams; she talked of a year’s worth of success and the vision of a shop outside of her apartment (where she’d been doing business).

She also talked of self worth, independence and personal growth … along with the ability to earn a livable income.

Quick jump to me: I’ve been a computer programming junkie for decades now. I actually putzed with a computer for the first time way back in the early ’70s!

Not to long ago, out of financial necessity, I decided to turn what has been a much loved hobby into an income producer: I combined my experience and knowledge with a high quality laptop … made a few pitches … and started earning some decent per hour cash as an independent contractor.

I know there are a lot of stories like the above … so I ask in closing … what could YOU do with $2,300?

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or circles make me dizzy and nauseous.

All quotes come from this story: Rubin Leaving Citigroup; Smith Barney for Sale, NY Times, 01/09/09.

The new chapter of wrenching change came as former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, who came under fire for his strong support of that model [you know … the model that resulted in Madoff and tranched mortgage backed financial intruments that deliberately hid a lot of bad loans … that sort of thing] in an advisory role that helped fuel the bank’s troubles, said he would resign.

Yupper dupper …

For Mr. Rubin, his resignation is a sobering turn in a sterling career in Washington and on Wall Street. Since joining Citigroup in 1999 as an adviser to the bank’s senior executives, Mr. Rubin, 70, who is an economic adviser on the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama, has sat atop a bank that has made one misstep after another.

Mr. Rubin began backing away from his senior advisory role last summer when he started counseling Mr. Obama, according to several Citigroup executives who have spoken to him recently. Still, he held discussions with Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. as Citigroup negotiators orchestrated the bank’s bailout in late November. The government injected more than $45 billion into Citigroup and agreed to guarantee about $269 billion of illiquid mortgage-related assets.

What isn’t mentioned in the NY Times article is: prior to being financial advisor and then Secretary of the Treasury for Clinton, advisor/temp chair for Citigroup, and new found financial guru for Obama; Rubin spent some 25 years rising through the corporate ranks at Goldman Sachs.

Regrets? Guess he’s had a few …

“My great regret,” he added, “is that I and so many of us who have been involved in this industry for so long did not recognize the serious possibility of the extreme circumstances that the financial system faces today.”

… but then again, too few to change him (apologies to Frank Sinatra).

Obama, why didn’t you just bring Greenscamspan into your administration-to-be instead of just channeling him via one of his acolytes?

Ahh yes … “change” we can believe in.

From Raw Story:

Several major blogs were in jeopardy after a Tuesday hack of their software provider had its owner ready to throw in the towel.

According to SoapBlox owner Paul Preston, the attack on its servers–which prompted SoapBlox’s Internet service provider to shut it down–was connected to a shadowy group called Astalavista, which claimed credit for the attack in the site’s altered source code.

“Consider this the ‘We’re Out of Business’ post,” Preston wrote on Wednesday morning. “Most of the servers have been taken off line because they were being used to hack and exploit other websites. The hackers install this crap on servers after they get in. SoapBlox’s ISP then takes the servers off line… It was a good ride, but it’s over.”

On January 20th, 2009, Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States. The second he takes the oath of office his hands will be covered with blood.

I’m talking about the blood of a Palestinian people who have been abused by their Arab neighbors and slaughtered by the Israelis (with direct support of the United States government).

Obama will have a choice: turn his back on AIPAC and the foreign policy neo-cons of America, or smear that blood all over his body. Judging by Obama’s so far obsequious and fawning words when it comes to Isreal, I’m betting he’ll be doing a lot of smearing.

Obama’s obvious distaste for the Palestinians is mirrored quite well in his invitation to well known radical right wing religious preacher Rick Warren to perform the invocation at the inauguration. Obama was happy to accept the money and volunteer efforts and votes from folks who feel very strongly about human rights. And Obama has been just as happy to proclaim that “change” didn’t include them or the folks who want to enter into a same sex marriage.

Apparently the change Obama has been talking about referred to the color of one’s skin … not the politics of death and destruction and deprivation our federal government has been practicing for decades.