Obama Drops Veto Threat Over Military Authorization Bill After Revisions

Obama Drops Veto Threat Over Military Authorization Bill After Revisions: "WASHINGTON — President Obama will not veto a military authorization bill that contains several disputed provisions about the treatment of terrorism prisoners, the White House announced Wednesday, signaling a likely end to a political battle over detainees and executive power.

The administration had threatened to veto versions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 passed by the House and the Senate, arguing that provisions would open the door for the military to perform policing functions inside the United States, and that they would infringe on executive branch powers...."

Protesters Against Wall Street

Protesters Against Wall Street: "As the Occupy Wall Street protests spread from Lower Manhattan to Washington and other cities, the chattering classes keep complaining that the marchers lack a clear message and specific policy prescriptions. The message — and the solutions — should be obvious to anyone who has been paying attention since the economy went into a recession that continues to sock the middle class while the rich have recovered and prospered. The problem is that no one in Washington has been listening.

At this point, protest is the message: income inequality is grinding down that middle class, increasing the ranks of the poor, and threatening to create a permanent underclass of able, willing but jobless people. On one level, the protesters, most of them young, are giving voice to a generation of lost opportunity...."

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
~FDR

Confronting the Malefactors

Confronting the Malefactors: "There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear, but we may, at long last, be seeing the rise of a popular movement that, unlike the Tea Party, is angry at the right people.

When the Occupy Wall Street protests began three weeks ago, most news organizations were derisive if they deigned to mention the events at all. For example, nine days into the protests, National Public Radio had provided no coverage whatsoever.

It is, therefore, a testament to the passion of those involved that the protests not only continued but grew, eventually becoming too big to ignore. With unions and a growing number of Democrats now expressing at least qualified support for the protesters, Occupy Wall Street is starting to look like an important event that might even eventually be seen as a turning point...."

Journalist Checks Out Occupy Wall Street Only Because a Bank CEO Told Him To

How NY Times Shifted Blame For #Occupy Bridge Arrests In Just 20 Minutes

Correcting the Abysmal 'New York Times' Coverage of Occupy Wall Street

Correcting the Abysmal 'New York Times' Coverage of Occupy Wall Street: "Over the weekend, my inbox exploded with angry messages from people who had just read this New York Times article (though it reads more like an op-ed) about the Occupy Wall Street protest. Ginia Bellafante gives a devastating account of the event’s attendees, depicting them as scatterbrained, sometimes borderline-psychotic transients.

Bellafante, who is not a reporter but a columnist for the Times, offered a representation of the protesters that is as muddled as the amalgam of activists’ motives she presents in the span of the article. She first claims a Joni Mitchell lookalike named Zuni Tikka is a “default ambassador” of the movement. In one of the following paragraphs, she then describes the protest as “leaderless.” Either the people at Zuccotti Park have official leadership or they don’t (they don’t, by the way). So either Tikka is an official spokesperson who warrants first-paragraph favorability, or Bellafante’s own biases persuaded her to put the kooky girl dancing around in her underwear in the spotlight..."

Republicans Call Obama’s Tax Plan ‘Class Warfare’

Republicans Call Obama’s Tax Plan ‘Class Warfare’: "Republicans on Sunday decried the notion of a new minimum tax rate for millionaires as “class warfare,” saying the proposal by President Obama may be intended to portray Congressional Republicans who resist it as being callously indifferent to the hardships facing many Americans.

Representative Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said the tax proposal, which Mr. Obama is expected to unveil on Monday, would also weigh heavily on a stagnating economy.

“It adds further instability to our system, more uncertainty, and it punishes job creation,” Mr. Ryan said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Class warfare may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics...."

Class warfare? You want to see class warfare Ryan? Class warfare is cutting college students Pell & SMART Grant money. Class warfare is cutting unemployment benefits. Class warfare is wanting to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Class warfare is expecting the middle class and the poor to pay more in taxes when we can't afford it. Class warfare is letting the Wall Street bankers get off scott free after crashing the fucking market and getting us into this recession. Class warfare is taking money out of the hands of the people who can least afford it. Class warfare is cutting money to education. Class warfare is cutting funding for SNAP, WIC and other welfare programs. Class warfare is getting this stupid idea in your head that tax breaks and trickle down economics work. That is class warfare you bigot! Asking the people who can pay MORE while the rest of us CAN'T is not class warfare dammit!

Wall Street Protest Begins, With Demonstrators Blocked

Wall Street Protest Begins, With Demonstrators Blocked: "For months the protesters had planned to descend on Wall Street on a Saturday and occupy parts of it as an expression of anger over a financial system that they said favors the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary citizens.

As it turned out, the demonstrators found much of their target off limits on Saturday as the city shut down sections of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall well before their arrival.

By 10:00 a.m., metal barricades manned by uniformed police officers ringed the blocks of Wall Street between Broadway and William Street to the east....."

S&P and the USA

S&P and the USA: "OK, so Standard and Poors has gone ahead with the threatened downgrade. It’s a strange situation.

On one hand, there is a case to be made that the madness of the right has made America a fundamentally unsound nation. And yes, it is the madness of the right: if not for the extremism of anti-tax Republicans, we would have no trouble reaching an agreement that would ensure long-run solvency..."

Phones on the Hill Ringing off the Hook

Phones on the Hill Ringing off the Hook - NYTimes: "It’s not clear what they’re saying once they get on the line, but it seems clear many Americans are taking President Obama’s advice and calling their House representative to weigh in on the debt ceiling impasses..."

Power to the people!

2nd Loans, 2nd Wave of Losses

2nd Loans, 2nd Wave of Losses - NYTimes

And they're at it again. We really need to regulate these people! Or better yet, throw them in jail!

Our Fantasy Nation?

Our Fantasy Nation? - NY Times

Sending them to Pakistan sounds like a good idea to me. Or Somalia.

Stocks Drop Sharply on Disappointing Reports

Stocks Drop Sharply on Disappointing Reports - NY Times

Moody’s Warns of Downgrade for U.S. Credit

Moody’s Warns of Downgrade for U.S. Credit - NY Times

A must read.

Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan

Democrat Wins G.O.P. Seat; Rebuke Seen to Medicare Plan - NYTimes

This just goes to show anything is possible. As long as the GOP keep pushing extreme measures like this (and like the one earlier today when it comes to helping tornado victims) they're going to make it so much easier for the Democrats to win. It will still take some hard work but I think things are starting to look up for now.

Fewer Emergency Rooms Available as Need Rises

Fewer Emergency Rooms Available as Need Rises - NY Times

Too many people without jobs and without health insurance.

New York Investigates Banks’ Role in Financial Crisis

New York Investigates Banks’ Role in Financial Crisis - NYTimes

Well I guess this is better late than never but it would of been nice if this investigation would of happened sooner. A lot sooner. Like before we pumped millions if not billions into them in TARP money.

This Is Not a Democracy. It Is a Dictatorship, I Am the Law.

A State Manager Takes Over and Cuts What a City Can’t - NYTimes

I feel bad for Michigan. I can't believe that stuff like this is going on but it's not surprising with the way the GOP has been so far this year. But this isn't a democracy that's going on in Michigan. It's a dictatorship.