kpete
kpete's JournalKRUGMAN: "Always be skeptical & Never Rely On Supposed Authority"
Paul Krugman, drawing an analogy between "everyone knows there are WMD in Iraq" and "everyone knows the deficit is the problem", asks a simple question:
always be skeptical and that you should never rely on supposed
authority. If you hear that “everyone” supports a policy, whether it’s a
war of choice or fiscal austerity, you should ask whether “everyone”
has been defined to exclude anyone expressing a different opinion. And
policy arguments should be evaluated on the merits, not by who expresses
them; remember when Colin Powell assured us about those Iraqi W.M.D.’s?
Unfortunately, as I said, we don’t seem to have learned those lessons. Will we ever?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/opinion/krugman-marches-of-folly.html?hp&_r=0
Elizabeth Warren RIPS GOP & NRA
Warren hammered Republicans over their vow to block Richard Cordray, Obama’s nominee to lead the CFPB, from being confirmed..... Warren, as well as the consumer advocates she was addressing, argues the Republicans are attempting to weaken the watchdog.
“Blocking Rich Cordray is about keeping the game rigged, keeping the game rigged so that consumers remain in the dark—and a few bad actors can rake in big profits,” Warren said.
................
Warren hammered the NRA, naming the group among the “armies of lobbyists that are fighting to rig the system so that the public remains in the dark.”
...............
“If as many people were dying of a mysterious disease as innocent bystanders are dying from firearms, a cure would be our top priority,” Warren said. “But we don’t even have good data on gun violence. Why? Because the NRA and the gun industry lobby made it their goal to prevent any serious effort to document the violence.”
MORE:
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=57F05D9A-3073-43D4-93A8-DAF3466C26AC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/14/1194117/-Elizabeth-Warren-takes-on-the-NRA-and-the-GOP
KRUGMAN: Somebody Needs To Step Up & Spend & The Government CAN & Should Be That Somebody
March 14, 2013, 6:53 pm49 Comments
Running Government Like A Business or Family
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to knock down the bad analogy between governments and individuals, and the line that the government should act like an individual family or business, and cut back when times are tough. The key point is realizing interdependence: your spending is my income, my spending is your income, and if we all try to slash spending at the same time the result is a depression. Somebody needs to step up and spend when others won’t — and the government can and should be that somebody.
That said, the funny thing is that real individuals and businesses don’t behave the way the balanced-budget scolds claim. Businesses often borrow and spend when borrowing is cheap or they see high payoffs to investing; so do families. So Think Progress http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/03/14/1717901/14-gop-congressmen-who-think-government-shouldnt-borrow-have-big-debts-of-their-own/ doing good by pointing out how many of those deficit-fearing Congresscritters turn out to have quite large personal debts.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/running-government-like-a-business-or-family/
Republican Slams Limbaugh: "You’re so brave, as you daily hide in your little “glass monkey cage""
Well this is refreshing. A, self-proclaimed, Republican women, tells Rush Limbaugh what time it is... And we're cheering her on!
In her DailyNewsOnline article, http://thedailynewsonline.com/... Esther Kohlhagen writes:
"Fortunately for me, a Registered Republican, I have grown into a crotchety old lady who has lived long enough to see and witness the “good,” “bad” and “ugly” in its truest form."
She says to Rush,
"You are no more than a leech that sucks the goodness out of a person or nation until you can extract no more. At this point, we know, you don’t care because your needs have been fulfilled and you are free to go and look for your next victim to ridicule and try to destroy.
And “victims?” You, Rush have an endless supply. You can make fun of a person’s name (this always gives you a good belly laugh); you can make derogatory remarks about prominent women, especially if they are black or Democrat; and one of your greatest pleasures is when a person of the Democratic Party is affected with a disease or disabling condition — oh how you can chuckle about their physical inabilities.
Rush, you’re so brave!
You’re so brave, as you daily hide in your little “glass monkey-cage,” surrounded by your obedient caretakers who throw you your very nutritious crumbs of malicious gossip to brazenly deliver to the public. Then when your daily stint is over you seem to disappear until the next day...
MORE:
http://thedailynewsonline.com/opinion/article_12e36b62-8ccb-11e2-bd9c-0019bb2963f4.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/15/1194257/-Krugman-After-the-Flimflam
DIGBY
Liberty loving wingnut "adores" the new pope because lefties object to his ties to death squadsby digby
for reals, just go:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/liberty-loving-right-winger-adores-new.html
Want Obamacare? Here’s the 21-page draft application.
Want Obamacare? Here’s the 21-page draft application.
Posted by Sarah Kliff on March 14, 2013 at 10:13 am
Just click HERE:
Ezra has a draft application for 'obamacare' up at the wonkblog.
Actually the "21 page application" they refer to is only applicable if you're applying for as many as five people.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/14/want-obamacare-heres-the-21-page-draft-application/
Former CEO reveals Blackwater worked as ‘virtual extension of the CIA’
Exclusive: Court Docs Reveal Blackwater’s Secret CIA Pastby Eli Lake Mar 14, 2013 4:45 AM EDT
It was the U.S. military’s most notorious security contractor—but it may also have been a virtual extension of the CIA. Eli Lake reports.
The mercenary group formerly known as Blackwater worked as a “virtual extension of the CIA,” the company’s former CEO revealed to Daily Beast reporter Eli Lake, who obtained court documents showing the company argued as much when its executives were facing prosecution.
It has long been known that Blackwater, now called Academi, worked with the Central Intelligence Agency, and there were even some pretty straightforward clues that former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince was an agency asset. That relationship is strongly clarified by the company’s own legal defense in a three-year prosecution that collapsed in February, going from having the potential to jail several of the company’s executives to wrapping up with a guilty plea from two men punishable by probation, house arrest and a $5,000 fine.
“Blackwater’s work with the CIA began when we provided specialized instructors and facilities that the Agency lacked,” Prince told Lake. “In the years that followed, the company became a virtual extension of the CIA because we were asked time and again to carry out dangerous missions, which the Agency either could not or would not do in-house.”
Prince added that for many missions he did not even charge the CIA, saying his work at the company came not out of a desire for enrichment, but because “in the wake of 9/11, I felt it my patriotic duty.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/14/exclusive-erik-prince-on-blackwater-s-secret-cia-past.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/14/former-ceo-reveals-blackwater-worked-as-virtual-extension-of-the-cia/
Explosive Exchange at Gun Hearing --- Feinstein To Cruz: "I'm not a sixth grader ...
"The question that I would pose to the senior senator from California is," said Cruz to Feinstein, "Would she deem it consistent with the Bill of Rights for Congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the Second Amendment in the context of the First or Fourth Amendment, namely, would she consider it constitutional for Congress to specify that the First Amendment shall apply only to the following books and shall not apply to the books that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights? Likewise, would she think that the Fourth Amendment's protection against searches and seizures could properly apply only to the following specified individuals and not to the individuals that Congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?
"I'm not a sixth grader," said Feinstein. "Senator, I've been on this committee for 20 years. I was a mayor for nine years. I walked in, I saw people shot. I've looked at bodies that have been shot with these weapons. I've seen the bullets that implode. In Sandy Hook, youngsters were dismembered. Look, there are other weapons. I've been up -- I'm not a lawyer, but after 20 years I've been up close and personal to the Constitution. I have great respect for it. This doesn't mean that weapons of war and the Heller decision clearly points out three exceptions, two of which are pertinent here. And so I -- you know, it's fine you want to lecture me on the Constitution. I appreciate it. Just know I've been here for a long time. I've passed on a number of bills. I've studied the Constitution myself. I am reasonably well educated, and I thank you for the lecture."
VIDEO & MORE HERE
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/explosive-exchange-gun-hearing-between-ted-cruz-and-dianne-feinstein_707602.html
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/judiciary-approves-assault-weapons-ban-88866_Page2.html#ixzz2NWvmTprm
Another Gift From the Big Dog
March 14, 2013 9:52 AM
Another Gift From the Big Dog
So anyone who watched the 2012 Democratic National Convention is probably aware that former president Bill Clinton did the best job of anyone during the entire campaign to articulate the case for Barack Obama’s re-election. He also campaigned where and when he was asked.
But turns out he performed another important service to the president and his party, without even knowing it, per this report at HuffPost from Jason Cherkis:
When the bartender learned he would be working at Romney’s fundraiser, his first thought was to bring his camera, in case he had a chance to get a photo with the presidential candidate.
Romney, of course, did not speak to any of the staff, bussers or waiters. He was late to the event, and rushed out. He told his dinner guests that the event was off the record, but never bothered to repeat the admonition to the people working there.
One of them had brought along a Canon camera. He set it on the bar and hit the record button.
.............
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_03/another_gift_from_the_big_dog043544.php
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/12/how-bill-clinton-47-percent-filmmaker_n_2864711.html
VIDEO & MORE re: 47% TAPE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/03/13/scott-prouty-reveals-himself-as-man-who-shot-47-percent-video/
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