Florida Attempting To Screw The Unemployed…

…and that is another one of those things that creep out of the capitol city ( Tallahassee ) with an intent to screw the general public up.

  This time around, the legislature is looking at ways to replenish the states unemployment trust fund, so it is now time for those morons to come up with something to make some money. Of course, an increase in taxes is off the table because so many darned businesses already pay to much ( 5% ).

   So what can the legislature do?

Gainesville.com

Lawmakers may shorten the time the state pays jobless benefits, make it harder for laid-off workers to win disputes with employers and force people to take low-paying jobs instead of waiting for ones with salaries matching what they previously earned. Legislators may also change tax rates so businesses hit with steep layoffs are more responsible for helping pay for those workers' benefits.

   With so many out of work here in Florida, the state has had to borrow some $2 billion from the feds to be able to pay the unemployment claims. Interest on those loans are coming due in a short time from now, so now the state perps have to scramble to come up with something. I guess  that it would have been to hard on them to work on ideas from the beginning.

   This is a Repugnican run state so it is no big surprise that the ones needing those checks the most will in most instances be the ones to suffer.

Florida's maximum unemployment payment — $275 a week — is among the lowest payments in the nation. But lawmakers, including Detert, have started asking whether the state is doing enough to prod people into work.

    First off, there is not a lot of work in this sorry state, which has it growth in nothing but the construction industry and in tourism. The real estate industry falling to pieces did not help either.

    It does not help to be living in a “ right to fuck you

work state. These states pay no living wages to the hourly worker,but want that worker to come into the job every day and then bend over for table scraps.

   So what else are the House and Senate going to come up with? Try :

Arthur Rosenberg of Florida Legal Services said lawmakers are "blaming a victim for a situation out of their control." He was especially critical of the proposal in both House and Senate bills that would make it harder for employees to win disputes over benefits, saying it will result in fewer people getting anything.

Currently, a laid-off worker has an advantage, but Rosenberg said that's needed because jobless people can't afford attorneys to fight employers in court.

Both the House and Senate have revealed bills this week that would require an initial skills review for those seeking jobless benefits. Detert said the requirement would help people get direction on possible places that they might seek jobs.

"I don't think it's good for anyone's mental health to stay at home and collect a check," Detert said.

Wentworth also raised concerns about a proposal to require laid-off workers to search for low-paying jobs to retain their benefits. Someone who has received 12 weeks of unemployment checks would have to look for "suitable" work paying as little as $275 a week — or $14,300 a year.

        More Here

Technorati Tags: Florida,Unemployment Insurance,Employment,Florida Senate,Current Events

Dumbest Political Quotes

   Another Monday is here and it will be a busy day for me. so, I am leaving you with some of the best jokes and quotes according to those fine people over at PoliticalHumor.com

'''Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!'''—-a Tweet sent by Sarah Palin in response to being ridiculed for inventing the word ''refudiate,'' proudly mistaking her illiteracy for literary genius, July 18, 2010

''If you don't hold us accountable, we'll do some real bad things in Washington, D.C.''—Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), who became the subject of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation related to the fallout from an affair he had with the wife of his best friend and co-chief of staff, Sept. 1, 2010

''The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is.''—Rush Limbaugh, on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, May 3, 2010

''I could give a flying crap about the political process ... We're an entertainment company.''—FOX News Channel's Glenn Beck, Forbes interview, April, 2010

''What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.''—Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, interview with National Review, Sept. 11, 2010

Technorati Tags: Politics,Political Humor,Political Quotes,Sarah Palin,Glenn Beck,Current Events

Egypt Protests: Sunday

   HERE is what happened on Sunday, February 6th concerning the unrest in Egypt and the attempts to calm things down a bit.

The US state department has said that Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, spoke last night with Ahmed Shafik, the Egyptian prime minister. Clinton emphasized the need to ensure that the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people are met, and that a broad cross-section of political actors and civil society have to be a part of the Egyptian-led process.

She also stressed that incidents of harassment and detention of activists, journalists and other elements of civil society must stop.

------------------------------------

People continue to defy the curfew and rally in Tahrir Square, they say that they would rather sleep under a tank than allow anyone to evict them.

-----------------------------------

According to Reuters leaked diplomatic cables suggest Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian vice president, has long sought to demonize the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in his contacts with skeptical US officials.
This has raised questions whether he can act as an honest broker in the country's political crisis.

-----------------------------------

In a new travel advisory, the state department recommends that US citizens avoid travel to Egypt at this time.

On February 1, the Department of State ordered the departure of all non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members from Egypt.  US citizens should consider leaving Egypt as soon as they can safely do so, due to ongoing political and social unrest.

US citizens who wish to depart Egypt should proceed to the airport and secure commercial passage out of the country.  Cairo airport is open and operating, and commercial airlines are reporting flight availability from Cairo.  Commercial flights are also operating from Luxor, Alexandria, and Aswan airports...

Technorati Tags: Egypt Protests,Egypt,Mubarak,Hilliray Clinton,state Department,Current Events

Another Sarah Palin Comedy Moment…

…and it does not get any better than this one.

   Palin did an interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network with wanna-be reporter David Brody, taking shots at the Obama administrations handling of the current affairs in Egypt.

WARNING! English speaking Americans may need the use of an English teacher for translation.

“And nobody yet has, nobody yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak and no, not, not real enthused about what it is that that’s being done on a national level and from D.C. in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt. And, in these areas that are so volatile right now, because obviously it’s not just

Egypt but the other countries too where we are seeing uprisings, we know that now more than ever, we need strength and sound mind there in the White House. We need to know what it is that America stands for so we know who it is that America will stand with. And, we do not have all that information yet.”

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin,CBN,English Language,Egypt,hosni Mubarak,Barack Obama,Current Events

Egypt: Some Of The Latest

   It is Sunday, February 6th, and as we all know, Egypt is still the important topic of the day for most of the world. in America, Egypt may take a back seat to 2 other events. First, there is the NFL's Super Bowl football game which is not all that important in the scheme of things, and then there is the conservative celebration of former scam artist and president, Ronald Reagan. This is an even less important happening.

    Go Green Bay Packers!!

   Back to Egypt.

(All times are local in Egypt, GMT+2)

3:28pm Several thousand anti-government protesters continue calling for the Egyptian president's resignation in Mansoura. Demonstrations across the country are anticipating a press conference later today during which Issam Al-Arian, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is expected to announce the results of talks with Vice President Omar Suleiman.

3:20pm Abdul Monim Abo al-Fotoh, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, reiterates to Al Jazeera his group's stance on the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak:

We cannot call talks or negotiations. We went in with a key condition that will not be abandoned, which was that [Mubarak] needs to step down in order to usher in a democratic phase.

2:33pm Participants in talks between the Egyptian government and opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, have agreed to form a constitutional reform committee, AFP quotes a government official as saying.

2:26pm US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has cautiously welcomed the Muslim Brotherhood's involvement in political dialogue in Egypt, telling National Public Radio that Washington would "wait and see" how talks develop.

Today we learned the Muslim Brotherhood decided to participate, which suggests they at least are now involved in the dialogue that we have encouraged ... We're going to wait and see how this develops, but we've been very clear about what we expect."

1:59pm Britain ramps up pressure on Egypt to resolve its crisis and introduce "real, visible and comprehensive change" and transition of power. Pressed on the details of the transition, William Hague, the foreign secretary, told BBC television it might entail "some mixture of a more broadly based government that includes people from outside the ruling elite of recent years."

We have to keep up the pressure for that orderly transition we have called for to visibly take place"

1:48pm The Egyptian stock exchange will remain closed for an eighth day on Tuesday, a stock exchange official tells Reuters. The exchange will announce the new reopening date 48 hours in advance.

1:33pm A Muslim Brotherhood leader tells Al Jazeera there will be a second round of talks involving the officially banned group and the government.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Protesters,Muslim Brotherhood,Super Bowl Sunday,Ronald Reagan,Current Events

Obama Administration Backs Dictator Mubarak…

….which comes as no surprise seeing as how much President Obama has turned to loving the status quo.

DKOS

U.S. Siding With Egyptian Regime (Updated)

by david mizner     Sat Feb 05, 2011

The central demand of the Egyptian protestors, the one unifying the disparate factions, is that Mubarak leave, and leave soon. They didn't rise up and risk their lives so that the primary cause of their anger and misery could remain. With Mubarak still in power, there would no reason for the reformers to trust the forthcoming pledges of reform. What's more, the protestors are counting on the momentum and publicity that a Mubarak departure would create. If they have a nonnegotiable demand, this is it.

So it's hardly a surprise that protestors are opposing this plan, which would leave Mubarak in power while his hand-picked VP negotiates with them. And it's impossible not to conclude that in backing the plan, the U.S is siding with the regime over the protestors. The signs are ominous.

Instead of loosening its grip, the existing government appeared to be consolidating its power: The prime minister said police forces were returning to the streets, and an army general urged protesters to scale back their occupation of Tahrir Square.

Protesters interpreted the simultaneous moves by the Western leaders and Mr. Suleiman as a rebuff to their demands for an end to the military dictatorship led for almost three decades by Mr. Mubarak, a pivotal American ally and pillar of the existing order in the Middle East.

Just days after President Obama demanded publicly that change in Egypt must begin right away, many in the streets accused the Obama administration of sacrificing concrete steps toward genuine change in favor of a familiar stability.

“America doesn’t understand,” said Ibrahim Mustafa, 42, who was waiting to enter Tahrir Square. “The people know it is supporting an illegitimate regime.

There was some debate earlier this week about the meaning of Obama's statement, which was construed by some as supportive of the protestors. What does it mean for a transition to begin "now." Nothing, of course. It doesn't matter when a transition begins. It matters when it ends.

Yesterday I wrote a diary objecting to a plan to install CIA-backed thug Omar Suleiman as the leader of the interim government. I'm feeling a little silly now for getting ahead of myself and portraying that as a worst case scenario. The worst case scenario, which seems to be playing out as I write this, is that Mubarak stays in power until the fall, at which point another sham election gives the presidency to a Mubarak ally, and the regime carries on in only slightly reconfigured form.

There's ample historical precedent for this kind of American backed dictatorship protection plan, but it's nonetheless bracing to be reading about it in real time. Unless the protest movement finds a way to keep surging and make this plan untenable, then my guess is, change in Egypt will be negligible.

UPDATE: (h/t Muggsy)

Reuters:

Mohamed ElBaradei said on Saturday it would be a "major setback" if Washington backed Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak or his deputy to lead a new government and warned that protests could grow "more vicious."

ElBaradei, a veteran diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leading opposition activist, was asked about remarks from senior U.S. officials that Washington could support Mubarak or his new Vice President Omar Suleiman to lead a transitional government in Egypt.

"If that were true ... that would be a major setback, I can tell you that," he told Reuters in a telephone interview from Cairo.

"If things that I hear today (are true), that would come down like lead on the people who have been demonstrating," he said.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Protests,Husni Mubarak,United States,Barack Obama,Current Events

Sarah Palin Refused A Trademark

     In case you did not know it, Sarah Palin has tried to get both her name and her daughters name ( Bristol ) trademarked by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Well, that is not going to happen be cause apparently she forgot to sign the forms which were submitted to the office.

Reuters

Applications to trademark the names Sarah Palin and Bristol Palin, both for "motivational speaking services," were filed on November 5 by the Palins' longtime family attorney, Thomas Van Flein, but were quickly slapped down by a trademark examiner.

"Registration is refused because the applied-for mark, SARAH PALIN, consists of a name identifying a particular living individual whose consent to register the mark is not of record," the patent agency said in an office action.

"Please note this refusal will be withdrawn if applicant provides written consent from the individual identified in the applied-for mark," the patent office said.

   The forms for the brat, Bristol, will also have to be redone. Her attorney says that the trademarks will be approved when they are submitted in the correct manner.

   What an idiot! Sarah Palin can’t fill out a form and sign it, but she has fantasies of being the President of the United States? Give me a break.

   I think that the idiot believe that having her name trademarked will stop bloggers and such others from using her name in articles that she would not approve of, but that is not going to happen.

Bristol Palin became a fan sensation as a contestant on the popular ABC show "Dancing with the Stars."

An unwed, single mom as a teenager, Bristol Palin has also made a name for herself giving talks about teen pregnancy and abstinence from sex.

    Just what would an unwed mother know about sexual abstinence? Has she become another one of those “ born again “ virgins or something?

   Sarah and Bristol Palin. Go back to Alaska and get lost in the woods on your way back home.

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin,Bristol Palin,Trademark Office,Current Events

Mubarak’s Secret Police Busy With Journalist

Original Article

Egyptian Secret Police Taking Journalists

by kck     Sat Feb 05, 2011

Neither freedom nor democracy can exist without a functioning press.

An illustration of what the Egyptian uprising is all about.

Two NYT journalists, Souad Mekhennet, Nicholas Kulish, and their driver were stopped at a civilian checkpoint as they were trying to drive into Cairo Thursday. They were detained for 24 hours. Stopped, searched, seized into custody because they were journalists sending pictures and bearing witness, beginning a frightening and uncertain detention.

Please read this whole NYT account.

We had been detained by Egyptian authorities, handed over to the country’s dreaded Mukhabarat, the secret police, and interrogated. They left us all night in a cold room, on hard orange plastic stools, under fluorescent lights.

But our discomfort paled in comparison to the dull whacks and the screams of pain by Egyptian people that broke the stillness of the night. In one instance, between the cries of suffering, an officer said in Arabic, "You are talking to journalists? You are talking badly about your country?"

A voice, also in Arabic, answered: "You are committing a sin. You are committing a sin."

Yesterday news of the first journalist in Cairo killed was published. Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud, 36, was shot by a sniper as he stood on his balcony photographing Egyptian security forces confronting protesters.

Foreign and Egyptian journalists, photographers, and news staff have been detained, stripped of their equipment, stabbed, beaten, blindfolded and detained. Still, the news reports, video, and phoned in blog posts spread the word. It's as if the uprising is globalized. Courageous journalists enabling and honoring courageous Egyptians and creating a sphere of support and enthusiasm for their demands.     

The free flow of information is the enemy of tyranny.

...we were driven to a military base. The military had been the closest thing Egypt had to a guarantor of stability and we thought once we explained who we were and provided documentation we would be allowed to go to our hotel.

In a strange exchange that only made sense later, Ms. Mekhennet asked a soldier, "Where are you taking us?" The soldier answered: "My heart goes out to you. I’m sorry."

After driving to several more bases we were told we were being handed over to the Mukhabarat at their headquarters in Nasr City...

The Mukhabarat is Egypt's intelligence service run since 1993 by Omar Suleiman, until his reassignment this week.

The Mukhabarat has had a working relationship with American intelligence, including the C.I.A.’s so-called rendition program of prison transfers. During our questioning, a man nearby was being beaten — the sickening sound somewhere between a thud and a thwack. Between his screams someone yelled in Arabic, "You’re a traitor working with foreigners."

Souad Mekhennet is familiar with intelligence agencies and their use of rendition and torture. It was she who broke the story in the NYT about the German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, mistakenly dragged into a nightmare of rendition and torture all because his name was similar to an Al-Qaeda operative. Mr. el-Masri was kidnapped by the United States while on vacation in Yugoslavia, transported to a prison in Afghanistan, and tortured by the CIA. We can only imagine Souad Mekhennet's thoughts and calculations while detained as she saw blindfolded colleagues tied up and pleading for help, hearing the screams and cries of beatings throughout the night. 

What a story. Bone-chilling. Takes my breadth away. The so far relentless demands from the streets for these murderous enemies of free people with armies of thuggish mercenaries to go now. Courageous journalists and witnesses are real and important parts to this uprising. In fact, hopes for democracy anywhere and everywhere depend on a free functioning press. We all owe them our gratitude and support

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Mubarak Thugs,Police State,Jounalist,Current Events,Egyptian Protesters

Middle East: Latest Tweets

Twitter

Fighting erupts in southern Sudan: Rebellion by former pro-Khartoum fighters against giving up their heavy weapo... http://aje.me/i2UQm9 2 minutes ago via twitterfeed

Al Jazeera

EGYPT Time

8:12pm Thousands more pro-democracy protesters flock to Tahrir Square amid reports of possible army evacuation of the square.

8:07pm Hosni Mubarak must stay in power for the time being, says Frank Wisner, Barack Obama's special envoy for Egypt.

We need to get a national consensus around the pre-conditions for the next step forward. The president must stay in office to steer those changes.

8:01pm Al Arabiya television retracts its earlier report that Hosni Mubarak resigned as head of Egypt's ruling party.

7:33pm Al Jazeera's online producer in Cairo reports, the army is no longer negotiating to remove the protesters out off Tahrir Square, the army is still present around the square. Protesters continue to rally in Tahrir Square under the cold and rainy weather.

6:00pm General Hassan El-Rawani, the head of the army's central command, speaks to the masses in Tahrir Square urging them to leave the square, they chant back at him "We are not leaving, He [Mubarak] is leaving".

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Egyptian Protesters,Middle East,Twitter,Al Jazeera,Current Events

GOP: Here’s Reagan’s Real Legacy

   Conservatives all over America will be celebrating Ronald Reagan.s 100th birthday on Sunday, February 6th with many tall tales of how great a president he was and of how he reigned in big government, lowered taxes, and the deficit.

   The problem is that very little of that is true.

   A bit of Reagans fiscal irresponsibility.

The Reagan administration’s hastily prepared fiscal blueprint, however, was no match for the primordial forces — the welfare state and the warfare state — that drive the federal spending machine.

Soon, the neocons were pushing the military budget skyward. And the Republicans on Capitol Hill who were supposed to cut spending exempted from the knife most of the domestic budget — entitlements, farm subsidies, education, water projects. But in the end it was a new cadre of ideological tax-cutters who killed the Republicans’ fiscal religion.             David Stockton

DKOS

A born-again convert to supply side economics, Ronald Reagan came to office in 1981 promising to simultaneously slash taxes, massively increase defense spending and balance the budget.  Instead, as his budget director David Stockman acknowledged last year, Reagan produced red ink as far as the eye could see:

"[The] debt explosion has resulted not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Party's embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that deficits don't matter if they result from tax cuts."

Which is exactly right.  While the Republicans' fiscal rot deepened under George W. Bush, it began with Ronald Reagan. It was the legendary Gipper whose financial recklessness and tax-cutting fetish came to define the modern GOP.

As predicted, Reagan's massive $749 billion supply-side tax cuts in 1981 quickly produced even more massive annual budget deficits. Combined with his rapid increase in defense spending, Reagan delivered not the balanced budgets he promised, but record-settings deficits. Even his OMB alchemist David Stockman could not obscure the disaster with his famous "rosy scenarios."

Forced to raise taxes twice to avert financial catastrophe (a fact conveniently forgotten in the conservative hagiography of Reagan manufactured by the GOP's 2008 ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin), the Gipper nonetheless presided over a tripling of the American national debt. By the time he left office in 1989, Ronald Reagan more than equaled the entire debt burden produced by the previous 200 years of American history.

For his part, George H.W. Bush hardly stemmed the flow of red ink. And when Bush the Elder broke his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge to address the cascading budget shortfalls, his own Republican Party turned on him. While Bush's apostasy helped ensure his defeat by Bill Clinton, it was Clinton's 1993 deficit-cutting package (passed without a single GOP vote in either house of Congress) which helped usher in the surpluses and economic expansion of the late 1990's.

Alas, they were to be short-lived. Inheriting a federal budget in the black and CBO forecast for a $5.6 trillion surplus over 10 years, President George W. Bush quickly set about dismantling the progress made under Clinton. Bush's $1.4 trillion tax cut in 2001, followed by a second round in 2003, accounted for half of the yawning budget deficits he produced.  Bush's presidency nearly doubled the national debt   And as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded last year, the Bush tax cuts if made permanent would contribute more to the U.S. budget deficit over the next decade than the Obama stimulus, the TARP program, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and revenue lost to the recession - combined.

READ MORE

 

Technorati Tags: Ronald Reagan,Supply-Side Economics,Voodoo Economics,George Bush,Conservative,Republicans,GOP,Current Events

Mubarak Resigns: But Still President

   That is kind of a contradiction, isn’t it?  He has decided to stay on as Egypt’s President, sending a small sign of the reform to come in the country’s government.

MSNBC

The top leadership body of Egypt's ruling party, including President Hosni Mubarak and his son Gamal Mubarak, resigned Saturday in a new gesture apparently aimed at convincing anti-government protesters that the regime is serious about reform, according to state TV.

   I’ll have more info as it becomes available.

Technorati Tags: MSNBC,Hosni Mubarak,Egypt,Egyptian Protesters,Current Events

Saturday Satire

   Well hell, it has been an interesting week with the things that have been going on over in Egypt, and with Glenn Beck being his usual “ asshole “ self.  

Conan O'Brien :

"While in Egypt, CNN’s Anderson Cooper was attacked and beaten, which raises 2 questions. Is it safe to send our media into these places? And how do we get Glenn Beck over there?"

"Egypt has responded to hundreds of thousands of protesters by shutting down the internet. Listen, if you want people to stay home and do nothing, turn the internet back on."

Jay Leno:

"The big rumor: Sarah Palin said she may run for president. I understand there's an opening in Egypt."

"President Mubarak came out of the presidential palace today and saw his shadow; six more weeks of rock throwing."

"Secretary of state Hillary Clinton said regarding the crises in Egypt that the Obama administration is not advocating or working toward any specific outcome. Same policy they had during the economic crises. Just kind of go along and see what happens."

Jimmy Kimmel:

"Apparently something is going on over in Egypt. Anderson Cooper and his crew got attacked by pro-government forces. He got hit in the head about 10 times, and I think he got kicked in the Mini Cooper too."

"I've been watching a lot of the news footage, and it turns out they don't walk like Egyptians after all. They walk regular like us.

Technorati Tags: Political Humor,Humor,Late Night Talk,Jay Leno,Conan O'Brian,Jimmy Kimmel

Middle East: Jordan…

   …got a little taste of protest on Friday as a few hundred Jordanians took to the streets in the capital city of Amman to demand political and economic reforms and to also show support for the anti-Mubarak government movement in Egypt.

Protesters from leftist groups and the Muslim Brotherhood marched from the prime minister's office to the Egyptian embassy on Friday, calling for change in their country.

Activists on Friday chanted "Down with the government" as they rallied outside the prime minister's office.

Protesters also expressed their support for Egyptians, calling on Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, to step down and accused him of being a CIA agent.

"No to Arab regimes that have ties to the US and the West," they chanted outside the embassy in Cairo, and "no to Arab regimes that serve Israel's interests".

Activists also called prayed for all the Egyptians who had lost their lives during the protests against Mubarak.

Technorati Tags: King Abdullah,Jordan,Egypt,Middle East,Current Events,Protests

Flashback: GOP claimed credit for today's jobs report

DailyKos

by Jed Lewison

Fri Feb 04, 2011 at 10:00:04 AM PST

Remember this?

19 days in, GOP leadership takes credit for job growth

It took less than three weeks for the new Republican Congressional leadership to claim credit for an apparent economic upturn.

Well, in light of today's jobs report, Republicans are doing their best to make you forget.

The drop in the unemployment rate last month wasn't enough, Republicans said Friday in reaction to the latest jobless numbers.

The GOP used the report showing that the unemployment rate had dropped to nine percent as a pretext for calling for new spending cuts, and attack President Obama's stimulus policies.

"Instead of more ‘stimulus’ spending and more debt, as the president proposed in his State of the Union address, we need less spending, more freedom, and more certainty for those in America who create jobs," House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement.

That's a load of crap. Not only have Republicans have done absolutely nothing to boost job creation since taking control of Congress, the only economic ideas they've proposed are making things worse.

The beginning and end of every Republican discussion about the economy is that we need to immediately reduce spending. Actually, the opposite is true. Since last February, there's been 1.3 million new private sector jobs. However during the same period there's been a loss of 255,000 government jobs at the local, state, and federal levels. (That doesn't include the Census hiring bubble -- since then, there's been a lost of 761,000 government jobs.)

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that cutting government employment in the middle of an economic recovery is a bad idea. If you're trying to put people to work, putting them out of work is idiotic. But that's the Republican agenda, and as long as they get their way, economic recovery is going to take far longer than it should.

Website: http://www.jedreport.com
Email: jedreport@gmail.com
Daily Kos Contributing Editor and Editor of Daily Kos TV. Las Vegas resident and former communications director for Sen. Maria Cantwell. @jedlewison on Twitter.

Technorati Tags: Politics,Jobs Report,GOP,Unemployment report,Current Events

The Egypt Saga… Updated

                    Al Jazeera Live

         

   Some of the latest tweets form those on the ground at Tahrir Square.

  UPDATE  12:00pm EST

(All times are local in Egypt, GMT+2)

6:53pm Al Jazeera's reporter says that pro-democracy protesters have set up several layers of barricades between themselves and the Mubarak-loyalists.

They are apparently using a code, which involves banging on the metal barricades, when they notice trouble heading their way - others then gather and form a human cordon behind the barricade.

6:32pm Amir Hamzawy, of the Carnegie Middle East Centre, says he met prime minister Ahmed Shafiand and vice president Omar Suleiman. Hamzawy tells Al Jazeera that Mubarak is likely to stay till September as an honory president and based on his conversations with youth, this might be acceptable to protesters.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Egyptian Protesters,Mubarak,Current Events,Twitter,Middle East

Stupidity: Glenn Beck Style

  Watch Glenn Beck explain the happenings in the Middle East, and what is going to happen to the region, to his viewers on Fox.

Technorati Tags: Glenn Beck,FoxNewsm,Middle East,Current Events

When Corporations Choose Despots Over Democracy

Posted at Common Dreams

by Amy Goodman

“People holding a sign ‘To: America. From: the Egyptian People. Stop supporting Mubarak. It’s over!” so tweeted my brave colleague, “Democracy Now!” senior producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous, from the streets of Cairo.

More than 2 million people rallied throughout Egypt on Tuesday, most of them crowded into Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Tahrir, which means liberation in Arabic, has become the epicenter of what appears to be a largely spontaneous, leaderless and peaceful revolution in this, the most populous nation in the Middle East. Defying a military curfew, this incredible uprising has been driven by young Egyptians, who compose a majority of the 80 million citizens. Twitter and Facebook, and SMS text messaging on cell phones, have helped this new generation to link up and organize, despite living under a U.S.-supported dictatorship for the past three decades. In response, the Mubarak regime, with the help of U.S. and European corporations, has shut down the Internet and curtailed cellular service, plunging Egypt into digital darkness. Despite the shutdown, as media activist and professor of communications C.W. Anderson told me, “people make revolutions, not technology.”

The demands are chanted through the streets for democracy, for self-determination. Sharif headed to Egypt Friday night, into uncertain terrain. The hated Interior Ministry security forces, the black-shirted police loyal to President Hosni Mubarak, were beating and killing people, arresting journalists, and smashing and confiscating cameras.

On Saturday morning, Sharif went to Tahrir Square. Despite the SMS and Internet blackout, Sharif, a talented journalist and technical whiz, figured out a workaround, and was soon tweeting out of Tahrir: “Amazing scene: three tanks roll by with a crowd of people riding atop each one. Chanting ‘Hosni Mubarak out!’ ”

Egypt has been the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid for decades, after Israel (not counting the funds expended on the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan). Mubarak’s regime has received roughly $2 billion per year since coming to power, overwhelmingly for the military.

Where has the money gone? Mostly to U.S. corporations. I asked William Hartung of the New America Foundation to explain:

“It’s a form of corporate welfare for companies like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, because it goes to Egypt, then it comes back for F-16 aircraft, for M-1 tanks, for aircraft engines, for all kinds of missiles, for guns, for tear-gas canisters [from] a company called Combined Systems International, which actually has its name on the side of the canisters that have been found on the streets there.”

Hartung just published a book, “Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.” He went on: “Lockheed Martin has been the leader in deals worth $3.8 billion over that period of the last 10 years; General Dynamics, $2.5 billion for tanks; Boeing, $1.7 billion for missiles, for helicopters; Raytheon for all manner of missiles for the armed forces. So, basically, this is a key element in propping up the regime, but a lot of the money is basically recycled. Taxpayers could just as easily be giving it directly to Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics.”

Likewise, Egypt’s Internet and cell phone “kill switch” was enabled only through collaboration with corporations. U.K.-based Vodafone, a global cellular-phone giant (which owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless in the U.S.) attempted to justify its actions in a press release: “It has been clear to us that there were no legal or practical options open to Vodafone ... but to comply with the demands of the authorities.”

Narus, a U.S. subsidiary of Boeing Corp., sold Egypt equipment to allow “deep packet inspection,” according to Tim Karr of the media policy group Free Press. Karr said the Narus technology “allows the Egyptian telecommunications companies ... to look at texting via cell phones, and to identify the sort of dissident voices that are out there. ... It also gives them the technology to geographically locate them and track them down.”

Mubarak has pledged not to run for re-election come September. But the people of Egypt demand he leave now. How has he lasted 30 years? Maybe that’s best explained by a warning from a U.S. Army general 50 years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He said, “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

That deadly complex is not only a danger to democracy at home, but when shoring up despots abroad.

                © 2011 Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 900 stations in North America. Goodman is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize' for "developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media." She is the author of “Breaking the Sound Barrier,” recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.

Technorati Tags: Amy Goodman,Corporate America,Dictators,Middle East,Egypt,Current Events

Egypt: Latest Tweets, and Mubarak Wants To Leave

Mubarak tells ABC News that he no longer wishes to be President, and wishes that he could leave now.

    So what’s stopping you Mr. Mubarak?

Full Story »

 

    Below is a picture taken from Egypt’s state run television, NILE TV, which shows the streets in Tahrir Square as being empty while they are really still full of people.     Al Jazeera Live

6:22pm We're seeing wire reports of significant anti-Mubarak demonstrations at the Egyptian embassy in Beirut late this afternoon. More than 100 protesters clashed with Lebanese police after trying to break through a security cordon and enter the building. No arrests or injuries were reported, but police were using batons and rifle butts to push away the crowds. Army troops were then brought in to reinforce the police lines. Many of the protesters were holding up portraits of the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

 

1:22 pm Inspired by Egypt and Tunisia, thousands of opponents of Yemen's government and its supporters are demonstrating in the capital and other cities a day after Yemen's president pledged not to seek another term in office.

8:55 am Egypt's health minister, Ahmed Samih Farid confirms five people were killed in violence in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Most of the casualties were the result of stone throwing and attacks with metal rods and sticks. At dawn today there were gunshots. The real casualties taken to hospital were 836, of which 86 are still in hospital and there are five dead

Technorati Tags: Egyptian Protest,Egypt,Middle East,ABC News,Al Jazeera,Current Events,Pro Mubarak

WTF is wrong with Americans?

    That is a very good question as we watch the events that been u n-folding  over in the Middle East.

Original Article

WTF is wrong with Americans?

by wannabe hermit     Wed Feb 02, 2011

All over the world people are standing up to corrupt kleptocracies. In Greece and Iceland, the people took to the streets to resist the looting of the public sphere by banks. The dictator of Tunisia has fallen and Mubarak is on they way down. Americans, however, are as docile and obedient towards our masters as ever.

New York's Democratic Governor is considering laying off 10,000 workers. Califonia is raising college tution by 8% in the fall of 2011. At the same time as the states are eliminating public jobs and services, the Federal government and the Federal Reserve are tranferring trillions of dollars to the biggest and most connected financial institutions.

The Fed is funnelling cash to the banks through zero percent interest rates and the scam that is quantitative easing. Quantitative easing involves the Federal Reserve buying Treasuries, essentially monetizing U.S. sovereign debt. The Fed, however, doesn't actually buy any notes from the Treasury. Instead, it buys them from banks like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan at a mark-up. So, when the Fed monetizes a trillion dollars of debt, the banks get to skim about $20 billion or so off the top. They then get to leverage that $20 billion back into trillion dollars or more.

All of this free money that our government and the Fed are bestowing upon the big banks has to go somewhere. Right now, a lot of it is being used by speculators to drive up the price of commodities. This is why oil is back over $90 a barrel and gold is over $1300 an ounce.

Speculation made possible by the Fed's generosity to the big banks is also the driving force behind skyrocketing food prices. Global grain prices rose 30% in the last half of 2010 despite no change is supply or demand. The rising price of food, along with a lack of decent jobs, has propelled the people of Tunisia and Egypt to revolution.

Americans, however, seem content to just bend over and take it. We have had some modest private sector job growth (mostly shit service jobs and not nearly enough to keep up with population growth) over the last couple of months, and so we seem quite willing to just stand aside as public sector jobs are slashed.

While the Egyptian and Tunisian people got angry in response to their elites engaging in extravagant luxuries while life deteriorated for everyone else, Americans treat the annoucement of record Wall Street bonuses for 2010 as not even newsworthy.

In 2008, the American people, outraged by 8 years of pointless wars, tax breaks and giveaways to the rich, and declines in wages and employment, voted out the ruling party in favor of a candidate who promised change.
Was that the last gasp for the dignity of the American people? Today, all the key foreign and economic policies of the previous administration remain in place, but there are no protests, no challenge to the President from the left.

While the Egyptian people are fighting off hired thugs in the streets of Cairo in order to have a shot at a decent, fair, democratic society, we here in the U.S. are sitting on our asses as America turns into a corrupt, bankrupt, Third-world oligarchy. What the fuck is wrong with us?

Technorati Tags: United States,Government,Americans,Middle East,Egypt,Tunisia,Current Events

Tweets From Egypt: Update 5

 Al Jazeera Live is online once again.

Vodafone says was ordered to send mobile-phone text messages by the Egyptian government, urging people to confront “traitors and criminals” as demonstrators demanded the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

Al Jazeera Blog

Times are local in Egypt, GMT+2)

6:16pm One of Al Jazeera's correspondents near Tahrir Square says:

People are hurling petrol bombs down at the crowds below, and you can see small fires breaking out...It's difficult to determine who is who and which supporters belong to which group. We were also hearing a string of gunshots and seeing flares fired into the air - we assume by the military.

6:11pm Egypt's Health Ministry says that 13 people were killed and 1,200 injured in last night's clashes between pro- and anti-government demonstrators.

Twitter

BloggerSeif Refrain from bringing supplies! Arresting ppl for this reason #Jan25 less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

ShaimaStreet Banks open Sunday "no matter what the circumstances", military police arresting ppl, journos arrested, media blackout #jan25 #tahrir #egypt less than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Technorati Tags: Egypt Protesters,Twitter,Current Events,Pro Democracy Protesters,Al Jazeera

Mubarak not A Poor Man…

…which is no big surprise. Most of the dictators of the world live quite comfortably while the folks that they rule over go broke and starve.

   ABC News has a story online reporting on just how much Mubarak has amassed over his 30 year insult    reign  of the Egyptian people, and it is quite a lot. Some estimates have put the Mubarak family’s net worth at between $40 billion and $70 billion, which is not chump change.

Experts say the wealth of the Mubarak family was built largely from military contracts during his days as an air force officer. He eventually diversified his investments through his family when he became president in 1981.

  It is noted also that Mubarak made tons of money from looting Egypt’s public resources and from corruption.

    Why else be a dictator if you are not going murder and pillage the country that you are controlling? unfortunately, Mubarak will still have billions of dollars when his sorry ass is finally forced to leave the country.

Jamal said that Mubarak's assets are most likely in banks outside of Egypt, possibly in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

"This is the pattern of other Middle Eastern dictators so their wealth will not be taken during a transition, she said. "These leaders plan on this."

   I would not be shocked to learn that the Mubarak clan has some of that cash in American banks and brokerages.

   In the end it does not really matter as long as Mubarak leaves, either on foot or by stretcher.

Technorati Tags: Hosni Mubarak,Wealth,Egyptian Protests,Egypt,Current Events

More violence In Egypt

   I’ll let the fine citizens of Egypt fill you in on what has happened in the last hour so.

Twitter

rontlineclub RT @lindseyhilsum: Egyptian TV says Israeli spies all over Egypt so now foreign journalists are suspect. Ugly mood. #channel4news #egypt half a minute ago via HootSuite

ugel RT @hadeelalsh: The reports are saying military is taking journos into "protective custody" #egypt #jan25 half a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Al Jazeera

1:44 pm The army has cleared the pro-Mubarak crowd off of the overpass overlooking the pro-democracy barricades.

1:36 pm The Egyptian army has pushed supporters of president Mubarak away from pro-democracy protesters, continuing its drive to separate the opposing camps who have clashed in central Cairo.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Egyptian Protesters,Democracy,Current Events,Twitter

Egypt Protest:Outright Bullshit From Fox News Channel

   Only the propaganda news channel (FOX) could come up with this bullshit. Now we will find out just how stupid their viewers really are.

Salon.com

 

Technorati Tags: FoxNoise,FoxNews,Fake News,Salon,Current Events,Terrorist

Egypt: The Latest Views and Tweets

Al Jazeera Live Blog

All times are local in Egypt, GMT+2)

The Committee to Protect Journalists has accused the Egyptian government of using "blanket censorship, intimidation, and today a series of deliberate attacks on journalists carried out by pro-government mobs" to deprive the world of independent information about the unrest. Reporters Without Borders, meanwhile, has said "infiltrated policemen" joined the assaults.
(Source: BBC)

• APIC (APICONG) 4 minutes ago

  A doctor at a clinic near Tahrir Square tells the Reuters news agency that more than 1,500 people have been injured so far in Wednesday's violence - nearly three times the official figure.
  Mr. Mubarak, you believe to be doing what you have to do. But this is a terrible delusion. You are committing suicide, perhaps quite in the physical sense. For the sake of Allah, do wake up to the responsibility conferred upon you by the position you have been holding for 30 years and to the loyalty you owe to this country! Save your own life and the lives of the sons and daughters of Egypt! Let the darkness cover you and leave tonight!

  Flag

  Like ReplyReply

• Sending in the embarrassed and armed state police with carte blanche and paying rowdies to bring violence to a peaceful demonstration... there's your US taxpayer dollars at work. Thanks, Obama, for being a predictable corporate stooge. He and other stuffed-shirt EU and US officials blatantly tripping and stumbling over their long-standing hypocrisies, their century's old practice of imperial double-talk, their continued support of useful-to-corporate-profits tyrants, their lip-service to liberty and justice, and their crass support of endless and ineffectual establishment remedies.
  The forces of repression and illegitimate authority understand only force; they will never understand that some of us are not for sale, and that certain principles are non-negotiable for a free people.
  "[The ruling elites] know who their enemies are, and their enemies are the people, the people at home and the people abroad. Their enemies are anybody who wants more social justice, anybody who wants to use the surplus value of society for social needs rather than for individual class greed, that's their enemy."
  (Dr. Michael Parenti)

EVERYONE listen carefully, starting tweeting, its time to take out the STATE owned TV channel, start tweeting it now, its now time to take Mubaraks Media away.......
And support this comment to keep it running....

This was so clearly planned I find it incomprehensible that anyone could think otherwise. The police have been in hiding for days, planning their strategy, hiring thugs as needed, and getting fancy, professional banners printed. The violent outbreaks have been simultaneous and well-coordinated. Anyone can see this as clear as the noon-day sun. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar with an agenda.

10:55pm Latest from Al Jazeera Web Producer in Cairo's Tahrir Square:

The pro-Mubarak crowd suddenly retreated, and the pro-democracy protesters advanced a moveable wall of metal shields to a new front line much further up.

A side battle erupted down a street behind the pro-Mubarak lines, with rock throwing and molotov cocktails.

An armored personnel carrier opened fire into the air, shooting red tracers up over Cairo, in an apparent effort to disperse/frighten the pro-Mubarak crowd, who contracted again.

The pro-democracy protesters are now advancing their line of staggered metal shields farther and farther and seem to have gained decisive momentum.

glcarlstrom Most pro-Mubarak rioters have pulled back onto an overpass. They're throwing Molotov cocktails down at the anti-gov't crowd. #egypt 3 minutes ago · reply

evanchill Someone just attempted to drive a bus into the Tahrir protesters, rumbled through for about 50 feet before he was stopped by the sheer mass. 6 minutes ago · reply

            More here

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Freedom Fighters,Current Events,Breaking News

 

 

Biased Media Coverage Of Health Care Court Decisions

   The far-right and those other conservative groups are always harping about how biased the media is towards them when it comes to coverage of issues. The “ liberal media “ is what the call most mainstream organizations. But…

    Original Article

by Barbara Morrill

Wed Feb 02, 2011

Since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law last March, four federal courts have handed down decisions on its constitutionality, with two finding in favor of the law, and two striking down part or all of it.

On Tuesday, Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly compared the coverage those four decisions have received in the traditional media, and not surprisingly:

... the coverage discrepancy is overwhelming. One of the two pro-reform rulings didn't even make the Washington Post's A section at all. In literally every instance, the Republican-friendly rulings generated more coverage, with better placement, and longer stories than the rulings preferred by Democrats.

And using Benen's numbers, here's a chart that shows just how glaring that discrepancy is.

Obviously a case of that liberal media bias we keep hearing about.

Technorati Tags: Media,Liberal Media,Health Care,Current Events

Latest Tweets From Egypt

    It is getting ugly in Cairo and it ain’t going to get better any time soon.

UPDATE:1:45 PM EST

• Heidi_in_US it is obvious that Mubarak sent in agents to attack the peaceful protesters so that he would have an excuse to crack down on the legitimate peaceful protesters. Don't fall for this ploy dear...

  A view from Tahrir Square · 8 minutes ago

• philoamericana The protesters aren't violent. The "police badge" thugs are clamping down on behalf of Mubarak. This is clear for anyone of sense.

  A view from Tahrir Square · 10 minutes ago

• Strategy_Warrior Egyptian state tv has just called for BURNING OF PROTESTERS !!!!! cant believe it......

  Live blog Feb 2 - Egypt protests · 10 minutes ago

• Soraya El Ramly Where is Ayman Moheildin? We haven't heard from him in a while....

  Live blog Feb 2 - Egypt protests · 11 minutes ago

• Duff Minster It is Immoral that Al Jazeera, and most of the US Mainstream Press is reporting the Complete Fabrication that "The Clashes between the Anti-Mubark Protesters" is with "Pro Mubarak Protesters."...

  Live blog 1/2 - Egypt protests · 12 minutes ago

ajimran #Egypt. Tahrir. At least 2 dead. Hundreds injured. Ambulances unable to reach sq. Tear gas. Molotov cocktails and sticks, rocks as weapons.

AJELive AJ web producer: Earlier today. The rioters in the back are standing atop an army tank. Army does nothing. http://yfrog.com/h5d3rui... #egypt 3 minutes ago · reply

nolanjazeera I have taken shelter. SO much anti-jazeera sentiment among mubarak supporters its not safe to be outside. Say a prayer for #cairo tonight 5 minutes ago · reply

glcarlstrom Earlier this afternoon. The rioters in the back are standing atop an army tank. Army does nothing. http://yfrog.com/h5d3rui... 8 minutes ago · reply

Technorati Tags: Egypt,Tweets,Twitter,Cairo,Current Events,Breaking News