http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/category_rss/allnetworkfrontpage Keith Olbermann went on a tear tonight! Recently, Sen. Dave Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) said this to his followers on Twitter: "Don't for a second, think Obama wants what is best for U.S. He is flying the U.S. Plane right into the ground at full speed. Let's Roll." As reported in today's Denver Post, Ed Kowalski, a director for the New York-based 9/11 Families for a Secure America, said Schultheis was "clearly" referring to United Flight 93, the plane that hijackers flew into the ground on 9/11. (Denver Post 11/12/09). "Let's roll" reportedly were the last words from one of the passengers just before they attempted to storm the cockpit. Schultheis claims in the Post article that he wasn't referring to Flight 93 and comparing President Obama to Al Qeada terrorists. But that's baloney, and we all know it. Tell Dave Schultheis what you think. http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/Schultheis http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRy http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRy/commentary#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:29:44 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRy Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRy/ Wednesday, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act , a bill that has been championed mainly by Democratic members of Congress for over a decade in the face of largely Republican opposition based on hideous lies from legalizing pedophilia to canceling the free exercise clause. Somewhat lost in the celebration and remembrance of Matthew Shepard, the bill's namesake, was the story of Angie Zapata, an 18 year-old transgender woman from Greeley. She was brutally beaten to death with a fire extinguisher and left for dead just over a year ago because, as the thug who murdered confessed, "gay things must die." “It’s not like I went up to a school teacher and shot her in the head or killed a straight, law-abiding citizen," he boasted to his girlfriend in a jailhouse-recorded phone conversation. And if he were to ever encounter a gay person in prison, he proclaimed that he would kill that "pink-shirt wearing motherfucker." http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRz http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRz/commentary#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:14:32 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZRz Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRz/   There's an election on Tuesday!  If you vote by mail and haven't turned your ballot in yet, hand-deliver your ballot to your County Clerk's office Monday or Tuesday to ensure that it's received in time for your vote to count. Your county may have more than one possible drop-off location for your convenience. If you haven't received your ballot yet, contact your county clerk to find out how to obtain a replacement ballot. Below, we've included some other information that may help. Whether you're liberal, conservative, progressive, libertarian, or a completely unaffiliated free spirit,  vote . The elections in odd years involve local issues from school boards to city council to county commissioner. There may also be bond issues, initiatives, and referenda--all very local to your city or county. Although elections call to mind voting for President, Governor, and legislature, the fact is that most of what affects our daily lives happens locally. Our schools, our city streets, our zoning boards, even our trash collection are all local issues. If you don't exercise your right to vote in these local elections, you will miss the best opportunity you will have this year to affect change for yourself and your family. Helpful Information According to the Secretary of State, there is an election in every Colorado county except Archuleta, Hinsdale, and Phillips. Most Colorado counties have an all-mail election this year. If you have not received a ballot or information on where to vote, contact your county clerk right away. Your ballot must be  received  by your county clerk no later than 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3rd for your vote to be counted. Postmarks don't count. If you already voted by mail, you can make sure your ballot was received on the Secretary of State's secure voter lookup website: https://www.sos.state.co.us/Voter/secuVoterHome.do If your county has a polling place election, your polling place may not be in the same location as last year. Contact your County Clerk if you are not sure where you should vote. If you need to contact your county clerk for any of the above reasons, you can find your county clerk's contact information here: http://www.elections.colorado.gov/Default.aspx?PageMenuID=1397 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZR8 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZR8/commentary#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:58:07 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZR8 Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZR8/ This is bad for democracy because it gives ESS monopoly power for controlling elections in the US. The voting irregularities in past elections concerning equipment manufactured by ESS and Diebold should be ample warning that giving monopoly power to one electronic voting machines manufacturer should never be tolerated in a democracy. McClatchy News' Washington Bureau scoop of the day: " WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Camden, N.J., agreed late Friday to hear a request for an emergency injuction that could halt Election Systems & Software's announced acquisition of Diebold Inc.'s Premier Election Solutions. The quietly arranged shotgun wedding between the two voting-machine giants would give ES&S control of election systems in use in almost 70 percent of the nation's voting precincts. Federal Judge Robert Kugler agreed to hear Tuesday the request for immediate injunction brought by a small competitorm, Hart InterCivic Inc...." http://www.mcclatchydc.com/politics/story/76093.html http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CZS2 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CZS2/commentary#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:48:21 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CZS2 Ken Ken 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZS2/ That's a tweet by Republican Senator Dave Schultheis, whose previous comments on healthcare reform included a suggestion that babies should be allowed to get HIV/AIDS in order to teach their promiscuous mothers a lesson . Apparently he's had a change of heart and now endorses President Obama's health insurance reform plan. Which is odd, because just two days before he tweeted that "AARP is betraying Seniors by supporting Obama's sick healthcare plan," asking " Who says AARP is concerned for SRs?" http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZN7 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZN7/commentary#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:16:39 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZN7 Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZN7/ In each of our lives, we experience moments of shock that we will never forget. When Kennedy was shot in 1963. When the Challenger exploded over Florida in 1986. For me, it was when 21 year-old Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten, tied to a fence, and left for dead on a cold October night in 1998. Matt was killed because he was gay. It sent chills of terror through the gay and lesbian community because the message was clear: you're next . Matt's murder sparked a national movement to amend the federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by sexual orientation, gender, or disability. After ten years, that change in law is finally in sight. Tonight, the U.S. Senate will vote on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Both Senator Mark Udall and Senator Michael Bennet are cosponsors of this bill. The House version of the bill passed earlier this year with the support of six Colorado Representatives, and President Obama has committed to signing it. Will you sign our virtual thank-you card to the members of the Colorado delegation who support this important law? http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/HateCrimesThanks Angie Zapata was an 18 year-old transgender woman from Greeley who had just moved into her first apartment on her own. She was murdered--in her killer's own words--because " all gay things need to die ." http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZNv http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZNv/commentary#comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:43:14 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZNv Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZNv/ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZg3 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZg3/commentary#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:55:05 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelditto/CZg3 Michael Ditto http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/f660dc8ce688a8bfdc_5fmmv2i99.jpg Michael Ditto 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZg3/ Bloomberg reports : The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion, an amount that approaches the value of everything produced in the country last year, to stem the longest recession since the 1930s...  The money works out to $42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation. The nation’s gross domestic product was $14.2 trillion in 2008.  Look at the table: =========================================================== --- Amounts (Billions)--- Limit Current =========================================================== Total $12,798.14 $4,169.71 ----------------------------------------------------------- Federal Reserve Total $7,765.64 $1,678.71 Primary Credit Discount $110.74 $61.31 Secondary Credit $0.19 $1.00 Primary dealer and others $147.00 $20.18 ABCP Liquidity $152.11 $6.85 AIG Credit $60.00 $43.19 Net Portfolio CP Funding $1,800.00 $241.31 Maiden Lane (Bear Stearns) $29.50 $28.82 Maiden Lane II (AIG) $22.50 $18.54 Maiden Lane III (AIG) $30.00 $24.04 Term Securities Lending $250.00 $88.55 Term Auction Facility $900.00 $468.59 Securities lending overnight $10.00 $4.41 Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility $900.00 $4.71 Currency Swaps/Other Assets $606.00 $377.87 MMIFF $540.00 $0.00 GSE Debt Purchases $600.00 $50.39 GSE Mortgage-Backed Securities $1,000.00 $236.16 Citigroup Bailout Fed Portion $220.40 $0.00 Bank of America Bailout $87.20 $0.00 Commitment to Buy Treasuries $300.00 $7.50 ----------------------------------------------------------- FDIC Total $2,038.50 $357.50 Public-Private Investment* $500.00 0.00 FDIC Liquidity Guarantees $1,400.00 $316.50 GE $126.00 $41.00 Citigroup Bailout FDIC $10.00 $0.00 Bank of America Bailout FDIC $2.50 $0.00 ----------------------------------------------------------- Treasury Total $2,694.00 $1,833.50 TARP $700.00 $599.50 Tax Break for Banks $29.00 $29.00 Stimulus Package (Bush) $168.00 $168.00 Stimulus II (Obama) $787.00 $787.00 Treasury Exchange Stabilization $50.00 $50.00 Student Loan Purchases $60.00 $0.00 Support for Fannie/Freddie $400.00 $200.00 Line of Credit for FDIC* $500.00 $0.00 ----------------------------------------------------------- HUD Total $300.00 $300.00 Hope for Homeowners FHA $300.00 $300.00 ----------------------------------------------------------- he FDIC’s commitment to guarantee lending under the Legacy Loan Program and the Legacy Asset Program includes a $500 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury.Makes you proud? Or does it make you think...what a rip off?Remember the canary in the coal mine? Welcome to the future : MENDOTA, Calif. — The customer seemed interested in a black blouse offered for $1 at the thrift store. But instead of buying it, she set it on the front counter. Maybe tomorrow, she told the cashier, she would have the money. Or the next day. But not now. "That is the way people are now," said the cashier, Alicia Reyes, as she watched the middle-aged woman walk out of the store. "They just come in here and look. They just come in here to kill the time. And then they take off." Welcome to life in Mendota — the unemployment capital of California. With a 41 percent jobless rate, the town's social fabric is tearing at the seams. Alcoholism and crime are on the rise. To save money, some mothers wash and re-use disposable diapers. Unemployed men with nothing to do wander the streets and sit on benches.... The national Katrina is here and now.     http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CZg8 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CZg8/commentary#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:59:17 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CZg8 Ken Ken 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZg8/ This really, really cheeses me off when I read this McClatchy report : WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday will reject requests for almost $22 billion in new taxpayer bailout money for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, saying the car makers have failed to take steps to ensure their viability. But..butt-boy Geithner wants this : March 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said some financial institutions will need substantial government aid, while warning against any attempt to tax investors who join a federal program to buy tainted assets from banks.  Right!  Just because AIG has lost almost 100 billion USD in the last six months and the American taxpayer has bailed out AIG to the tune of almost 250 billion USD in the last four months. Meanwhile... GM and Chrysler have already received $17.4 billion in government rescue money. The two companies faced a Tuesday deadline for the government to approve plans they'd submitted weeks ago in hopes of persuading the Obama administration that they could remain in business anad deserved additional money. I suggest reading " Why GM Matters " and " American Theocracy" to understand that what is happening is the collapse of American industry.  The collapse in no way should be happening except for the fact that the political and mass media systems has been utterly corrupted by the Wall Street Banksters. Why we can give the crooks and grifters on Wall Street trillions of dollars?  But when it comes to real jobs that create real products there is the "kick in the teeth" for GM and Chrysler? http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYh http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYh/commentary#comments Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:34:09 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYh Ken Ken 2 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQYh/ Why does the economic plans by Geithner trump the ideas that Nobel Prize winners Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz have?  Because President Obama picked "Timmeh" Geithner as Secretary of Treasury simply because he was "an insider"? [BTW- Some wag suggested that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer should be the new Secretary of Treasury!  Why?  Because then we would see real rules and rules that would be strictly enforced for the "Masters of the Universe" who are nothing more than WATB (see this ).  For example Spitzer just recently wrote about AIG and not the executive compensation but the billions of dollars that was being paid out by AIG to counterparty foreign banks.} So, the economists who have some ideas on how to handle the financial crisis are not the ones in charge (Krugman, Stiglitz, and Roubini) but the same people who created or had oversight on the financial " bucket " games going on. Will Obama fail his Katrina moment?   http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYJ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYJ/commentary#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:18:26 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYJ Ken Ken 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQYJ/ Remember the big Mid-West floods?  Well there was an underreported story on the affect of flood waters on agricultural lands and the runoff that was loaded with fertilizers.  The fertilizer laced river water that is injected into the ocean causes huge algae blooms such blooms trigger "dead zones" in the ocean.  Dead zones are regions of the ocean which lack oxygen.  However another effect of nitrates and algea is this: Surface blooms of the algae known as Pseudo-nitzschia can generate dangerously high levels of domoic acid, a neurotoxin blamed for bizarre bird attacks dramatized in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film "The Birds." Reuters reports that there are two long term dangers the most visible is the above quote.  However the second danger is that particulates with domoic acid sink to the bottom of the ocean.   They found that large quantities of domoic acid were sinking to the ocean floor, invading the deep-sea food chain. And the toxin appears to linger. So not only will we harm life on the surface but all marine life, even life that lives in thousands of feet below the ocean's surface.   http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYx http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYx/commentary#comments Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:56:53 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQYx Ken Ken 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQYx/ What is it with President Obama that he can talk but when it comes to "the walk" there isn't the fortitude?  From the Wall Street Journal (h/t Talkingpointsmemo.com) reports: President Barack Obama said Monday that he would "pursue every single legal avenue to block" $165 million in bonuses to American International Group Inc. employees who were in part responsible for the insurance giant's near collapse. But hours later, administration officials said the payouts made Friday couldn't be extracted from their recipients without a legal fight that would cost the taxpayers even more. But wait what does that mean?  Well, AIG produced a white paper about their "contracts" and Emptywheel, Firedoglake.com, provides the understanding : In other words, I take this to be a threat: "if you don't give us our bonuses, we'll trigger a default event that will cost AIG the US government tens of billions of dollars."  It's just a polite way of saying, "Pay us the $100 million ransom or we start exploding the suicide bomber vests we're wearing." Terrorists in three piece suits are much worse than terrorists living in caves.  http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsl http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsl/commentary#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:46:50 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsl Ken Ken 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQsl/ What!  It was 450 million dollars in the teaser from the Wall Street Journal.  But Talkingpointsmemo says : AIG gives out 1.2 billion taxpayer dollars for bonuses!  [Guess they can afford to get a subscription- thanks Josh!] So we just keep on giving the Wall Street psychos more of their drug- money.  Without accountability or asking too much because it might upset them because they are blackmailing this nation with fiscal destruction. AIG and the Treasury Department have both said that they can not stop the bonuses because of their nature of the contracts. Do you believe that? Are they willing to have anyone believe in that excuse? When there is a crisis of such magnitude then the "rules change" because the world has changed.  (Heh!  I remember the monster who said that!) http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQs2 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQs2/commentary#comments Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:02:16 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQs2 Ken Ken 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQs2/ The real meaning of theft lies with the "big boys" on Wall Street and not with the penny ante thugs and punks in the 'hood.  Chris in Paris writes : The sense of entitlement among CEOs like Lewis simply does not register with the rest of the country. If the best thing someone can say about you is that "someone else *could* have lost even more money, it's a challenge to see how you can keep your job. So what is the result of having been done wrong in the 'hood?   Retribution.  The eye for an eye because you have been challenged.  But on Wall Street there are people who are the "masters of the universe" who have paid millions in protection money which is called "donations" for laws to be created to protect themselves from the righteous anger of the people whose money is being stolen. The war zone in the 'hood, which might as well be in Baghdad, because the two worlds are seperate.   http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQs3 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQs3/commentary#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:50:35 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQs3 Ken Ken 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQs3/ I caught this off Huffingtonpost.com about Jim Cramer and his boasting of what he did as a hedge fund manager: -On manipulating the market: "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund, and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down, I would create a level of activity before hand that could drive the futures," -On falsely creating the impression a stock is down (what he calls "fomenting"): "You can't foment. That's a violation... But you do it anyway because the SEC doesn't understand it." He adds, "When you have six days and your company may be in doubt because you are down, I think it is really important to foment." Check it out     http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQst http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQst/commentary#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:48:24 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQst Ken Ken 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQst/ Josh Marshall, Talkingpointsmemo.com, found this little backgrounder about Tim Geithner: ...Sandy Weill, the guy who in the 1990s built Citi into the mammoth systemic risk Death Star it is today wanted the job [CEO] to go to Tim Geithner. So if Geithner is ousted from Sec. of Treasury then he could simply jump on the Citigroup ship?   This is what Felix Salmon, Portfolio.com, thinks .  What a marvelous stinking revolving door.  While we the taxpayers are stuck with people like Geithner who still talk of "free market" and "private companies" as being the be all and end all for the American economy. BTW- Meanwhile, President Obama thinks of the netroots and bloggers in this light: And part of the reason we don’t spend a lot of time looking at blogs is because if you haven’t looked at it very carefully then you may be under the impression that somehow there’s a clean answer one way or another – well, you just nationalize all the banks, or you just leave them alone and they’ll be fine, or this or that or the other.  Duncan Black, Eschaton blog, writes : I find it more amusing than annoying that Obama has joined with many others in employing the rhetorical trick of attributing any views you wish to marginalize as coming from bloggers. I guess we, the netroots and bloggers, are just too darn new, still!   Perhaps Obama is still an intermediary step in the new political landscape and political process; i.e., Dean for America as version 1.0 then MyBarackObama as version 2.0 but what will version 3.0 look like? http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsR http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsR/commentary#comments Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:06:46 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsR Ken Ken 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQsR/ Isn't it about time to have our government start a new financial system?  Bloomberg News has estimated that we are now in debt to the tune of over 11 trillion dollars for bailing out grifters.  The biggest rip off in history. Sign this to tell Congress no more bailout money for con men.  It is time to start a new financial system. Firedoglake.com has a petition to sign .  The Fed's Vice Chair Donald Kohn has refused to comply with requests from both the House and the Senate for the names of banks receiving federal funds, angering Republicans and Democrats alike. Bloomberg estimates that the government has spent more than $11.7 trillion to save the financial system since the crisis began, but Fed has refused to comply with Bloomberg's requests for details under the Freedom of Information Act. We know now that $80 billion of the $162 billion used to bailout AIG went to pay off its derivative trading partners at the full value of their contracts, despite the fact that values had tumbled. Economist Nouriel Roubini calls it "a nontransparent, opaque and shady bailout of the AIG counterparties: Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and other domestic and foreign financial institutions. The House passed the TARP Reform and Accountability Act on January 16, which would provide increased conditions, transparency and accountability for Wall Street bailout funds. The Senate is refusing to take up the legislation." http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsN http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsN/commentary#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:56:42 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsN Ken Ken 2 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQsN/ Still living in the past are Republicans when they say this : President Barack Obama should fill vacant spots on the federal bench with former President Bush’s judicial nominees to help avoid another huge fight over the judiciary, all 41 Senate Republicans said Monday. Obama should call the party of "No"'s bluff. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsj http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsj/commentary#comments Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:11:17 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsj Ken Ken 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQsj/ Admiral Mullen seems intent on playing up the fears of a nuclear weapon possessing Iran.  In interviews over the weekend he spoke that Iran had enough fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon.  However Secretary of Defense Gates said that Iran does not have the bomb grade uranium that is necessary for producing a nuclear weapon within a short time period. Read this LA Times article and come to your own conclusion. I would say that there are two components to building a strategic weapon- 1). the warhead and 2). a delivery system. What is lacking is the necessary enrichment production system and a ballastic missile that has the range and accuracy system. Eventually there will be a MAD doctrine for the regional powers in the Middle East if there is not real diplomatic progress both overall and specifically with the Palestine/Isreal problem. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsg http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsg/commentary#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:45:46 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQsg Ken Ken 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQsg/ I caught this off Talkingpointsmemo.com on the secret meetings going on in the Senate: Many of the parties, from big insurance companies to lobbyists for consumers, doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, are embracing the idea that comprehensive health care legislation should include a requirement that every American carry insurance. I think that this is shows that all stakeholders are involved in the process but the plain truth is that even though patients do have a voice it could very well be drowned out by the "Big Bucks Boyz" of BigPharma and Big Insurance. Read the list of who is at the table: ....The 20 people who regularly attend the meetings on Capitol Hill include lobbyists for AARP, Aetna, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, the Business Roundtable, Easter Seals, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the United States Chamber of Commerce.... Tell me if what comes out is what will be good for people or for the bottom line? http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQ9W http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQ9W/commentary#comments Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:32:32 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/kennethdebacker/CQ9W Ken Ken 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CQ9W/