IntoxiNation

Congress Is Doing A “Ram Down”

jamie — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:52:17 +0000

The House is now in a rare Saturday session for the government health care takeover ram down.

So a bill that will affect virtually every citizen of this country is a “ram down” because it is being voted on on a Saturday. What would that make a bill being voted on in the twilight hours of Palm Sunday?

Childish GOP

jamie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:53:59 +0000

The lack of maturity by the House GOP is on full exhibit today as they debate healthcare reform. Here’s a compilation put together by Think Progress of the GOP trying to silence women lawmakers today:

Here’s something that isn’t childish – people will die while they Republicans pull these games because they don’t have healthcare. These sick fucks think this is all a game? Explain that to the families of the tens of thousands who perish every year because of a broken system. It’s to the point that we can’t even classify them as human, let alone American.

Partying Above National Security

jamie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:55:00 +0000

This is a priceless move by several House Republicans yesterday:

When it's a choice between strengthening the Patriot Act, or showing up for the Tea Party Patriots, what's a GOP lawmaker to do? We'll give you one guess...

Several Republican members of Congress yesterday blew off votes on the signature anti-terror legislation of the post 9/11 era to attend Michele Bachmann's Tea Party rally against health-care reform.

Why do Republicans put politics and face time above national security? Why don’t the Democrats start asking this question more and more, especially in the coming months?

Go Markos

jamie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:43:48 +0000

On the Ed Show a bit ago, Markos went after chickenhawk Tom Tancredo. When Markos informed Tancredo that he was an actual Veteran and not some chickenhawk who went off and got a deferment during Vietnam, well Tancredo decided to take his ball and go home.

I just love it when the wingnuts get so flabbergasted that they have to leave.

That Didn’t Take Long

jamie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:04:00 +0000

Not 24 hours after the massacre at Ft. Hood, wingnuts have found a way to turn it into something political. In this instance, Maj. Hasan was an adviser to Obama, brought to you by birther in chief – Jerome Corsi. What a great way to honor the memory of those who perished yesterday – NOT.

10.2%

jamie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:56:00 +0000

More bad economic news for the real people of America – the workers:

The unemployment rate in the U.S. soared to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and employers cut more jobs than forecast, underscoring why Federal Reserve policy makers say interest rates will remain low until the labor market recovers.

Payrolls fell by 190,000 workers last month, compared with a 175,000 drop anticipated by the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. The jobless rate gained from 9.8 percent in September and exceeded 10 percent for the first time since 1983.

Just because Wall Street is making money again doesn’t mean that Main Street is. It’s time for the White House to focus on regular America instead of the elites. If these numbers don’t turn around soon then Democrats can kiss it good bye next year.

What Could Have Been Behind Major Nidal Malik Hasan?

jamie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:48:42 +0000

There is still a lot of speculating going on, but the most reasonable sounding thing I have heard so far is this:

His cousin said Maj Hasan had been resisting such a deployment.

"He hired a military attorney to try to have the issue resolved, pay back the government, to get out of the military. He was at the end of trying everything," Nader Hasan told Fox News.

He also said that Nidal Malik Hasan had been battling racial harassment because of his "Middle Eastern ethnicity".

(emphasis added)

Even on The Today Show they were interviewing people who know Maj. Hasan and talked about how much he heard things like “sand nigger” or “terrorist” yelled at him.

While the right is trying to paint Hasan as some Islamic terrorist, just look at the guy. He was American born and just spent countless years going through school to become a Psychiatrist, MD. This wasn’t a man planning on doing something like this, this was a man who snapped.

So our question now is how to fix our relationship with Muslims. The military really needs to take a long, hard inner look at itself and come up with a way to limit incidents like this.

And the fix isn’t limited to the military alone – it also must include society. For example, look at this:

Here we have a guy who went on a rampage, and so far the one of the leading reasons is that he was constantly harassed about his ethnicity and religious beliefs, and then you add in a big voice of the right making wild claims like this. This isn’t a solution – it’s asking for more of the same.

Luckily Maj. Hasan is still alive. Now maybe we can get a better idea of what was going through his mind when he decided this was the route to take. Hopefully we can use that as a teaching moment also and try to instill a better sense of tolerance in both our military and society as a whole.

This could be a make or break moment for President Obama. How he takes the lead on this will really define him not only as our President, but also as a man. We can’t afford any cover-up of what really happened. We need full transparency here and for our Commander in Chief to insure the changes needed to help prevent future events like this from happening. The coming weeks and months should prove to be rather interesting as this story continues to unravel.

Teabagger Fail

jamie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:30:00 +0000

Here is Rep. Todd Akin reciting the pledge today to the teabaggers in hopes of “driving liberals crazy”:

Notice something missing? Akin forgot the word “indivisible”. I don’t know about you, but when I see a member of our Congress not knowing the Pledge of Allegiance, well it drives this liberal crazy. Great job Tea Bagger!

Bigger Than The 9/12 Rally?

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:26:52 +0000

And the failure in math from the right begins:

After the 9/12 march on Washington, conservatives falsely claimed that over a million people attended, when in reality the closest thing to an official count — numbers given by the Washington DC Fire Department to ABCNews.com — placed the crowd at “approximately 60,000 to 70,000 people.” Though today’s anti-health care reform rally has been much more sparsely attended, that hasn’t stopped conservatives from inflating the numbers again. On G. Gordon Liddy’s radio show today, producer Franklin Raff, who was on the ground at the rally, told guest host Joseph Farah that the crowd is “just as big or bigger than” the 9/12 rally, which Raff estimated “at about a million.”

Capital Hill Police are estimating it at 4,000, and here is a nice aerial photo of the crowd today:

You really have to feel bad for the women married to these wingnuts. I guess they get told every night that 2 inches equals a foot.

12 Dead, 31 Wounded At Ft. Hood And MSNBC Breaks Out Tinfoil Hats

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:35:46 +0000

Watching Tweety talk about the carnage that happened today at Ft. Hood is seriously raising my blood pressure. In a conversation between him and Cliff Van Zandt I have heard 9/11 brought up a few times and reference the main shooters last name, Hasan, as being a key to what has happened. Of course then Matthews precedes to talk about how people will “turn to conspiracy theory and speculation” right after he just spent 32 minutes doing just that.

People like Matthews shouldn’t be allowed on the air when stories like this happen. He has a history of suffering from massive foot in mouth disease, and today is not a time for him to exhibit it. Please MSNBC – yank him off and let Shuster or one of the other’s fill in.

Idiots Getting Arrested

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:24:30 +0000

So far 10 teabaggers have been arrested today in the Capital Hill protests:

They were charged with unlawful entry (entering a Congressional office and refusing to leave when told to do so) and/or disorderly conduct (yelling in the hallway outside an office) at Room 235 in the Cannon House Office Building.

Room 235 is Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office for district business, not where she conducts her duties as Speaker. That's handled at an office in the Capitol building.

And this really is a gem:

Without those official details, protesters in the crowd watching the arrests were furious. They shouted "Let them go!" and one man yelled at the police that "Martin Luther King" was being dishonored and shouted "Letter from Birmingham Jail!"

Because forcing your way into an office that is off limits to the public is soooooo much like not being allowed in public places because of the color of your skin. Their ignorance really shows their racist beliefs.

Important Lessons From This Year’s Election

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:29:54 +0000

Steve Benen finds one of the most important lessons from Tuesday night:

Keep in mind, the two Republican statewide candidates who won this week -- Christie in New Jersey and McDonnell and Virginia -- wanted nothing to do with Palin, while the high profile conservative candidate who embraced Palin -- Doug Hoffman in NY23 -- lost in a district that hadn't elected a Democrat since the 19th century.

The big loser Tuesday night wasn’t Democrats, despite what the beltway and MSM try to tell you. Instead the biggest loser was Sarah Palin and all her little minions. Now if only the Democrats can realize that.

One Of Today’s Teabaggers

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:59:00 +0000

(source)

Quick question hot shot – Who do you think covers this guy’s healthcare?

Old Glory Hates Teabaggers

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:12:22 +0000

Oh this is such sweet irony. As wingnut talker Mark Levin took to the stage today at the tea party protest on Capital Hill the U.S. flag takes a dive to the ground.

Who Are These People?

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:41:04 +0000

Teabaggers are descending upon Capital Hill:

Thousands of Tea Party activists descended on Washington Thursday to protest the trillion dollar health care bill and government spending, holding signs protesting Barack Obama’s agenda while aiming chants of “you work for us” at the Capitol building. .

The gathering was organized by local Tea Party groups around the country, who are arriving in Washington this morning by the busload. Conservative leaders in Congress, led by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), have taken to the airwaves to encourage the activists to show up on the Capitol steps and demand meetings with members of Congress. The crowd grew to about 10,000 by noon. Bachmann has promised to lead some protesters to a press conference inside the Capitol to express their opposition to the health care bill in person to members of Congress.

It’s Thursday and the cal went out for this rally on Monday. Who are these people that can just pickup and head to some big protest in the middle of the week? Seriously. We have a major recession going on and unemployment is extremely high, meaning employees are more expendable. So how do these people just get to up and leave in the middle of the week and head to some protest? My guess are the retired and unemployed, and just think of that demographic – mostly a massive majority living off the government teet right now.

Adding..Why doesn’t anyone in the mainstream media ever ask this very basic question?

Why Tuesday Could Be The Death Of Healthcare

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:14:26 +0000

Yesterday TPM ran a story talking about how Tuesday’s election made healthcare reform just a “bit easier”. Here is the basic overview of that reasoning:

The NY-23 seat abdicated by Republican John McHugh (who resigned to become Secretary of the Army) went to Democrat Bill Owens--the first Democrat to hold the seat in over a century. And the CA-10 seat abdicated by Democrat Ellen Tauscher (who resigned to become Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs) went to Democrat John Garamendi.

That creates some simple arithmetic. Yesterday, Democrats had 256 voting members in the House. By week's end, they'll have 258. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could afford to lose no more than 38 Democratic votes on a landmark health care reform bill. Next week, after Owens and Garamendi are sworn in, she can lose up to 40. For legislation this historic and far-reaching, she'll need every vote she can get--and both seem likely to support reform

Sadly this little celebratory post may have been premature. Democrats have never been good at reading the tea leafs, and that is becoming more evident as election 2009 fades further into history:

Democrats on Capitol Hill began a nervous debate Wednesday about the course President Obama has set for their party, with some questioning whether they should emphasize job creation over some of the more ambitious items on the president's agenda.

The conversations came as White House officials insisted that the party's gubernatorial defeats in Virginia and New Jersey had few implications for Obama's standing or for Democratic prospects in the 2010 midterm elections.

But moderate and conservative Democrats took a clear signal from Tuesday's voting, warning that the results prove that independent voters are wary of Obama's far-reaching proposals and mounting spending, as well as the growing federal debt. Liberal lawmakers, meanwhile, said the party's shortcoming came in moving too slowly on health-care reform and other items that would satisfy a base becoming disenchanted with the failure to deliver rapid change in government.

As I posted yesterday the biggest failure of Creigh Deeds is that he ran against the Obama/Democratic agenda. This was an instant turnoff to the base that came out in overwhelming numbers last year and helped elect President Obama. It’s not that Obama wasn’t on the ballot –it’s that his agenda wasn’t.

Another failure has come in the way that Democrats have gone after healthcare reform. This country looses out on a lot of business because they have to fork out so much to insure employees. A perfect example is when Toyota decided to build a new plant in Ontario last year instead of their first choice of the United States. The big reason:

In addition to lower training costs, Canadian workers are also $4 to $5 cheaper to employ partly thanks to the taxpayer-funded health-care system in Canada, said federal Industry Minister David Emmerson.
“Most people don't think of our health-care system as being a competitive advantage," he said.

So we miss out on bringing business in because of the higher cost per employee companies have to face here.

This is where the Democrats have failed miserably on healthcare, and why they should have started with pushing universal coverage. Simply put, it plays into the possibility of creating far more jobs in the U.S.

Now we are stuck with spineless Democrats who are reading Tuesday’s results totally wrong and now could end up with no reform at all. It’s time for Democrats to stand on principal instead of listening to spin. It’s time for them to deliver on what they promised us last year.

How Good Is The Republican Healthcare Bill?

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:05:35 +0000

Not very according to the CBO:

The Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday that an alternative health care bill put forward by House Republicans would have little impact in extending health benefits to the roughly 30 million uninsured Americans, but would reduce average insurance premium costs for people who have coverage.

The Republican bill, which has no chance of passage, would extend insurance coverage to about 3 million people by 2019, and would leave about 52 million people uninsured, the budget office said, meaning the proportion of non-elderly Americans with coverage would remain about the same as now, at roughly 83 percent.

So covering those who can’t get insurance – fail!

According to the report by nonpartisan budget office, the Republican bill would reduce future federal deficits by $68 billion over 10 years, compared to a reduction of $104 billion by the House Democrats’ legislation.

Reduce the deficit? Check, but no where near as much as the Democrat bill, which covers about 13x the amount of people.

Perhaps if the Republicans would have spent the summer actually working on a bill instead of pulling one out of their ass then we would have something more viable, and something that could end up having provisions implemented in the entire plan. This is how Congress used to work, before we ended up with a minority party that was set on nothing but saying “NO”.

A New Battle In The GOP Civil War Emerges

jamie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:47:49 +0000

Now we have Michael Steele taking on Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh – the true GOP leadership:

RNC Chairman Michael Steele endorsed moderate Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R-NY) in the NY-23 special election before national conservative leaders — like Dick Armey, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin — forced Scozzafava out in favor of right-wing candidate Doug Hoffman. Following Hoffman’s defeat, Steele struck back at firebrands within his party, telling reporters earlier today that the opinion of conservative outsiders “really doesn’t matter much”:

STEELE: If you don’t live in the district, don’t vote there, your opinion really doesn’t matter much.

Blitzer later asked about Limbaugh and Palin directly and Steele didn’t really back down much:

So should we start the countdown until Steele goes on Limbaugh’s show to apologize?

The New Darling Of The Right And The Sex Tape

jamie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:12:52 +0000

Like we didn’t see this one coming:

Carrie Prejean demanded more than a million dollars during her settlement negotiations with Miss California USA Pageant officials -- that is, until the lawyer for the Pageant showed Carrie an XXX home video of her handiwork.

The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let's just say, Carrie has a promising solo career.

We're told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to jettison her demand and essentially walk away with nothing. As we first reported, the Pageant is paying around $100,000 to her lawyers and publicist -- a fraction of her bills. She pockets nothing in the settlement.

And she represents the family values of the right? Now we can all wait and see how long before the tape hits the internet.

The Real Lessons Of Last Night

jamie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:21:50 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, a major contributing factor to the huge loss Creigh Deeds suffered last night was from the fact that he ended up running against the Democratic agenda. Markos gives some needed warning to the Democrats on what happened last night:

Giving Republicans cover by stymying the reform agenda that won Democrats the 2006 and 2008 elections won't win them any conservative votes. In a base election, and 2010 will certainly be one, the party that better rallies its base will win. And abandoning the promises that got Democrats elected is a sure fire way to make sure that the activist base stays home and refuses to do the heavy lifting every campaign needs to win, and makes sure that less committed Democrats say "fuck it" and stay home on election night.

This is exactly what the Democrats have been doing this year, and healthcare is a shining example. Instead of starting out with a package that the left would have loved, something like universal coverage, the Democrats immediately started bowing to the Republicans and making healthcare less liberal. That was before the rightwing attacks could even start. Once they did then Democrats took even more out of the reform.

The Democrats need to remember who their base is, the people who will go out and knock on doors, man phone banks and most importantly – vote. The whole notion of bipartisanship gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, like saying “a world without war”, but in reality it is just a fantasy. As soon as Democrats and the White House recognize this and stop bowing down to the party of 20%, then they will see their odds greatly improve in 2010 and beyond. Run like you did in 2008 and deliver on what you promise, then see what happens. I guarantee the results will be very pleasant to our side.

“Where Were The Obama Voters?”

jamie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:13:00 +0000

That is the new meme emerging following the two gubernatorial losses last night for Democrats. I seemed to have missed it where Obama was on the ballot, but that’s what all the talking heads want us to think.

Let’s take a look at Creigh Deeds and the Virginia race. Actually have a look at Think Progress and you will notice how Deeds made a sharp move to the right towards the end of the race. Moves like that won’t bring in any last minute voters, but it will certainly tell the more progressive crowd to just stay home, including those Obama voters.

Then we have a new message being pushed by the right saying that the Democrats should move “more towards the center'”. That’s an interesting angle considering the conservatives want the Republicans to move more towards the right. Sadly we can expect the Democratic leadership to heed this warning and do just that. They are already talking about moving health care reform until next year, and we know what that means. It will then be “well we got to worry about the midterms so let’s go ahead and put it off until 2011”.

The problem is that Democrats are gullible, and not just the elected ones but even the membership at large, including many in the progressive blogosphere. I have pointed out in the past how many Democrats seemed to drink the Kool-Aid that Obama is some uber-liberal, comparable to Ghandi light. Afghanistan is a perfect example of this. The left is acting like Obama has broken some promise by not pulling the troops out of Afghanistan, when he actually is doing what he campaigned on. Instead of listening to the candidate, the left chose to listen to the right wing talking points. This practice is very dangerous for any progressive movement.

The Democrats need to learn how to control the message. Until they can do that they will exist as puppets to the right. Falling for the new meme that the left must move towards the “center” is not a way of doing this.

BREAKING: Italian Court Convicts 23 Americans Of Kidnapping

jamie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:37:37 +0000

This is all I got so far from an email alert:

Italian court convicts 23 Americans of kidnapping in CIA rendition of Muslim cleric

CIA operatives and a U.S. Air Force colonel had been tried in absentia on kidnapping charges for their involvement in the 2003 abduction of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar.

It should be interesting to see where this goes.

Up Next – Charlie Crist

jamie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Just reading Eric Erickson’s post on RedState trying to spin NY-23 into a great victory, I can’t help but notice his closing:

For all intents and purposes, NY-23 is a trial run for Florida. And in Florida, the conservative candidate is operating inside the GOP. If John Cornyn and the NRSC do not want to see Florida go the way of NY-23, they better stand down.

In other words they are going to teabag Charlie Crist next.

But that isn’t the only interesting thing in his post. For example:

First, the GOP now must recognize it will either lose without conservatives or will win with conservatives. In 2008, many conservatives sat home instead of voting for John McCain. Now, in NY-23, conservatives rallied and destroyed the Republican candidate the establishment chose.

So if they didn’t vote for John McCain, what about the primaries? John McCain was chosen by the Republican electorate to be their nominee.

(Source: Wikipedia)

That’s an awful lot of green, which represents states voting for McCain. How did he pull it out over the conservatives when they have such a “strong base”, or did the conservatives decide not to even vote in the primaries?

Why the conservatives are championing around NY-23 is because they did have an impact. Of course this was in an off year, and that was the only congressional race. What will they do next year with hundreds of races to worry about?

Another thing to consider is what we will never know. What would have happened if Scozzafava didn’t drop out? Perhaps she would have siphoned off enough votes from Owens that Hoffman could have ended up winning. Then perhaps people like Erick could really celebrate today.

Moral Turpitude In The Buckeye State

jamie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:19:06 +0000

After countless failed attempts over the past couple of decades, Ohio has finally passed an issue allowing gambling in the state. The opponents of issue 3 warned of prostitution, drugs and all kinds of things like that, but finally the voters of Ohio ignored them and approved the measure. It’s about time considering we have 3 bordering states that allow it.

Blame The Democrats!!!

jamie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:58:00 +0000

When there is a ton of finger pointing at the Democrats going on, it can only mean one thing – ELECTION DAY!

Earlier today, the Hoffman campaign and conservative bloggers threw a fit over a very nefarious accusation: That somebody had slashed the tire of a Hoffman poll-watcher's pickup truck.

"Hoffman Poll Watcher Has Tires Slashed," blared Red State, with photos of the truck and its flat tire. And Hoffman himself chimed in.

"We just had a report that one of our pollsters in Clinton County just had their tires slashed," Hoffman said. "So I think the Democrats are doing everything they possibly can to steal this election away from the 23rd District."

However, the Wall Street Journal reports that the local police captain said there's another explanation: "This was not a tire slashing--this was some guy who drove over a bottle and cut his tire."

Does this remind anyone of Ashley Todd?

Keith Bardwell The Racist Louisiana Justice Resigns

jamie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:13:42 +0000

It’s always a happy day when you see some racist sack of crap relinquish his power:

A Louisiana justice of the peace who refused to marry a couple because the bride was white and groom was black resigned Tuesday.

Keith Bardwell, who is white, quit the post with a one-sentence statement to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne and no explanation of his decision: "I do hereby resign the office of Justice of the Peace for the Eighth Ward of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, effective November 3, 2009.

Don’t worry Mr. Bardwell, I’m sure FOX News is working on a job offer for you.

How To Turn A Pandemic Into A Disaster

jamie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:58:00 +0000

You take something highly contagious like H1N1, add a bad economy and throw in the employer practice of not giving sick days, or giving too few to employees:

Public health experts worried about the spread of the H1N1 flu are raising concerns that workers who deal with the public, like waiters and child care employees, are jeopardizing others by reporting to work sick because they do not get paid for days they miss for illness.

Tens of millions of people, or about 40 percent of all private-sector workers, do not receive paid sick days, and as a result many of them cannot afford to stay home when they are ill. Even some companies that provide paid sick days have policies that make it difficult to call in sick, like giving demerits each time someone misses a day.

Public health experts say policies like these encourage many people with H1N1, commonly called swine flu, to report to work despite official warnings from the government and most companies that they should stay home.

Now think about this for a minute. We have extremely high unemployment and you get an employee who has to miss a week or two because of this illness. The employer decides “well I can just fire him and bring in someone for a few dollars less an hour”. So now that sick person is unemployed.

That scenario is the very one that goes through the heads of millions of American workers, on top of wondering how they can pay the bills after missing too much work, or if their health care insurance gets cancelled because of it. Losing your job because of illness is something that is quiet common in the American workplace. So now we got more Americans at risk of contracting the virus because of our screwed up work system here in the United States. This really is a recipe for disaster.

Better Than Bush To The Southerners

jamie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:28:08 +0000

This tidbit from a new CNN poll shows that Obama actually has more support down south than the very Republican George Bush did:

Fifty-seven percent say Obama has been a better president than George W. Bush; only a third say Bush’s track record was better.

“Compared to Obama, Bush does fairly well among southerners and rural voters. But even in those categories, a majority still says Obama has done a better job than Bush,” says Holland.

That should make the Beck type people out there stop and pause for a second. A black “liberal” is rated higher than a white “conservative” in the south.

(h/t Plumline)

Stephen Colbert’s Nightmare Comes True

jamie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:35:00 +0000

BEARS!!!!

A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.

Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.

The militants had assault rifles but were taken by surprise - police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked.

It is thought to be the first such incident since Muslim separatists took up arms against Indian rule in 1989.

On the other hand we now have a much more effective weapon to use in the war on terror.

Don’t Trust Those Credit Reporting Companies

jamie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:23:00 +0000

The FTC is now going after credit reporting companies like freecreditreport.com and starting a campaign to inform people that the only authorized source under federal law to get a free credit report is annualcreditreport.com. Also they are wanting to gather any spam you may receive offering free credit reports:

The FTC also wants you to forward us any unsolicited emails you've received offering you a free credit report. Send them to spam@uce.gov.

This is an interesting new twist by the Obama administration to protect consumers, something we didn’t see under Bush. The FTC is also releasing a couple of promos that are very similar to those of freecreditreport.com.

I wonder how long before the wingnuts start screaming that the FTC is interfering with private business. What the FTC is doing now is exactly what a federal government should do, protect its people, and its a welcome change to what we have experienced the previous eight years.