1864 - For the first time, Oxford met Cambridge in track and field competition in England.
1946 - Winston Churchill delivered his famous Iron Curtain Speech at Fulton, MO, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”
COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!
Quote:
“The clergy, no less than the capitalist class, lives on the backs of the people, profits from the degradation, the ignorance and the oppression of the people. ”
-- Rosa Luxemburg
FROM THE CHURCH OF INEFFABLE STUPIDITY:
a) OH NO! SHE'S BACK!
Nancy Pfotenhauer, the ill-informed, smiling, mostly wrong, top lobbyist for the Koch group, is back, and she is leading the charge against fixing:
i. our economy
ii. our health care cystern
iii. our banking industry
iv. none of the above
v. all of the above
The answer is of course, v. All of the above.
For those who missed the last several sermons, Koch (pronounced cook, as in "your goose is . . .") Industries is the primary funder of the Koch Foundation, which underwrites and pay millions a year to prop up discredited groups like the Heritage Foundation, the failed Cato Institute, and many other ultra-reich wing nutcase organizations that hate liberals, moderates, "the democrat party", and Bill Clinton, in that order. Nancy Pfouflepfouflepfouflegruber has been the "pretty face" that hides the seamy, steamy, and seedy activities funded and organized by Koch.
Being paid to commit unsavory certain acts is defined as prostitution in most states. While Nancy apparently is great at spreading her legs, it is a pity she won't ever be charged.
Koch Industries Is At The Center Of The Right-Wing Message Machine. Koch’s founder, Fred Koch, also helped found the John Birch Society, an ultraconservative organization that believed the U.S. government was controlled by a traitorous cabal of Communist sympathizers. Koch Industries’ charitable arm, the Koch Family Foundations, has provided over $120 million in the past 20 years to the Cato Institute (founded by Charles Koch), Citizens for a Sound Economy (founded by David Koch, now Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks), the Heritage Foundation, George Mason University, the Federalist Society, the Mercatus Center, and dozens more right-wing, anti-regulatory, and global-warming denial organizations.
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/...
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b) Tom DeLay & Karl Rove
The Cretins from Texas has also returned, this time, claiming that the DEMOCRATS have created the Rush Limbaugh controversy, by proclaiming him the intellectual leader of the GOP. They ignore the growing numbers of GOP pols who grovel at the feet of Rush, begging forgiveness for telling the truth about Limbaugh in public.
Why MSM continues to air what these folks say is simply beyond understanding. Between their lies, statistics, and more lies, it is no wonder that the GOP brand has failed, and will not recover. The 19% regional party is now a loud, brash, whiny, incompetent shadow of its former self. Luckily, they have Rush to lead them further into the swamp.
The real question remains, "Why are they not in jail?"
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c) CNBC
One wonders how they will respond to the devastating and hilarious job Jon Stewart of the Daily Show did on their (ahem) opinions and accuracy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Of course, RIck Santelli, of the infamous anti mortgage help rant fame, was set up by Koch Foundation to push a pro-corporation groundswell.
The problem with Santelli, (and Koch Foundation) is that the economic reality is so stark, the problems so clear, and the wrongdoers so clearly identified, that Santelli (and Koch) end up looking like the fools they are.
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d) Merrill Lunched, while Americans starved.
"While Merrill staggered, 11 top executives were paid more than $10 million in cash and stock last year, say people familiar with the situation," reports the Wall Street Journal. Amazingly, the top ten earners at the company in 2008, according to the paper, made slightly more than the top ten in 2007: $209 million, up from $201 million.
Remember, as you think about that, what happened to Merrill last year. It collapsed -- so wrecked by its investment in toxic mortgage assets that it had to be taken over by Bank of America. Then, even after that deal had been announced, it absorbed such massive fourth quarter losses that B of A needed $20 billion from the Treasury to digest Merrill.
None of that, of course, stopped Merrill, under then-CEO John Thain, from dishing out billions in bonuses late last year -- a decision currently being probed by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...
Their company, under their expert leadership lost $30 BILLION dollars of your money. The executives, happy with this result, increased their bonuses for the same time period. Sure, $209,000,000 is not really that much, given the billions the Bear Stearns, Citicorpse, Skank of America and other Wall Street bandits paid themselves over the same time. In bonuses. While they lost hundreds of billions of your money. And while they begged for and received hundreds of billions of your tax payer dollars.
Funny, how the comedians on CNBC fail to report on the bonus fiasco, the billions stolen by the thieves who ran our economy into the ground, then off the cliff. Mr. Santelli, Mr. Kramer? Where are you guys on this issue?
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SNEED WATCH - yet another column, and not one hint of a love note from Sneed to her secret love, Sarah Palin.
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Pastor Ag can be awfully negative at times. Then comes some good news:
Quote:
Illinois House Committee Approves Medical Marijuana Bill For First Time Ever
A state House committee on Wednesday passed a bill that will legalize medical marijuana in Illinois if approved. HB 2514, also called the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, passed the state House Human Services Committee 4-3, according to an aide for State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), who is sponsoring the bill. Lang said it is the first time a House proposal for medical marijuana has ever gotten off the floor. He ... expects to work hard in the coming week telling colleagues in the state House "that we have nothing to fear from this bill, and we have a responsibility to alleviate pain and suffering for the citizens of Illinois." (March 4, 2009)
http://www.mpp.org/
then there is this:
AIDS Gel Shows Promise in Early Tests
South African Scientists yesterday said that an early study involving an experimental vaginal gel has shown promise in preventing the person using the gel being infected with AIDS.
http://www.shortnews.com/...
and then there is this,
Darrel Dochow, the West Coast regional director at the Office of Thrift Supervision who investigators say allowed IndyMac to backdate its deposits to hide its ill health, quit last Friday. Prior to his leaving, Dochow was removed from his position but remained on the government payroll while the Inspector General's Office investigates the allegations against him.
Finally, this co-conspirator resigned. This is the second time that Dochow broke the rules to help his banking industry friends, even while he was supposed to be investigating them.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
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"There was never a good war or a bad peace."
Benjamin Franklin