If you missed Dylan Ratigan's interview today with Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) -- well you missed a lot!
They spell out in stark relief the very REAL need for serious Wall Street Regulation -- NOW! (and still!)
Or we risk a repeat of the same Bubble-driven collapse of Trillion Dollar Derivative Bets, that occur in the dark, beyond the reach -- or even the Watch -- of any Govt Regulator, or even the Public scrutinity.
Nothing has changed, they can STILL Gamble Trillions in Derivatives, and let US the Taxpayers pick up the Tab, whenever their Bets GO Bad!
Since Lobbyists are the "REAL agents of Change" in most of our Legislation, since Lobbyists practically write much of the Legislation, that they Lobby for, insuring that it will Benefit ONLY their Benefactors --
I've been wondering WHEN will the Democratic Party take a stand on this "non representative" process, which contaminates so much of The People's Business, that SHOULD be taking place in Congress? Why is it, that Congress mostly caters to Corporate Business concerns, putting OURS off until some unknown Future date?
Health Reform's Missing Ingredient By Ron Wyden, Senator D-OR, NYTimes Op-Ed
September 17, 2009
The various bills making their way through Congress would, as the president explained, provide some consumer choice by establishing large marketplaces where people could easily compare insurance plans and pick the one that best suits their needs.
[...]
The problem with these bills, however, is that they would not make the exchanges available to all Americans. Only very small companies and those individuals who can't get insurance outside of the exchange - 25 million people - would be allowed to shop there. This would leave more than 200 million Americans with no more options, private or public, than they have today.
Jimmy Carter and Bob Herbert are right-on with their opinions of racism concerning today's right-wing Conservative activists and Republican Party Leaders.
My own Republican Senator Roger Wicker from Tupelo,Mississippi is a known racist sympathizer who, like our Gov. Haley Barbour, has associated with the White Supremacist (KKK) Council of Conservative Citizens group. When a reporter asked Wicker about his meeting with the group in a North Mississippi town, his answer was:"no comment," a typical reply from a Republican caught within a known racist camp.
The Scourage Persists
Source: Bob Herbert, NY Times Op-ed 9-18-09
Did we really need Jimmy Carter to tell us that racism is one of the driving forces behind the relentless and often scurrilous attacks on President Obama? We didn't know that? As John McEnroe might say, "You can't be serious."
It's disgusting, and it's dangerous. But it's the same old filthy racism that has been there all along and that has been exploited by the G.O.P. since the 1960s.
Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer appeared on CNN today, and accused the White House of changing the content of President Obama's stay-in-school speech in the wake of conservative outrage at political indoctrination -- outrage that he was instrumental in mobilizing, by the way -- and that the original would have been much more politically-oriented.
If there is one single definition that stands out when describing the Republican Party it is: hypocrisy oriented.
Source: Political Animal by Steve Benen 9-7-09
Perhaps no one did more this week to push the mind-numbing "controversy" about President Obama encouraging young people to do well in school more than Jim Greer, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
It was Greer who, in a striking tantrum, issued a statement condemning the president for, among other things, trying to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda." He added that Obama "has turned to American's children to spread his liberal lies." Greer's hysterical press release said the very idea of a political figure taking a political message to school children is "infuriating" and "an invasive abuse of power."
No member of Congress should serve without having been elected by the people of the district or state they represent.
Unfortunately, four appointed senators are currently serving. And since Florida Sen. Mel Martinez has just resigned and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is talking about doing so, more appointed senators will soon join the ranks.
I'm at the America's Future Now! conference here in DC, sponsored by the Campaign for America's Future. Howard Dean is about to speak on Health Care...you might be able to watch live too, try: http://ourfuture.org/now
Hida Solis speaking now...
So far, the highlights from what I got to hear earlier in the day:
When the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, 2009, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) hopes you'll be ringing in "the Year of the Bible."
It's probably just wishful thinking.
"At any rate, according to Thomas Jeffereson, it would be a blatant endorsement of religion and a violation of the establishment clause:
The 'Wall of Separation':
Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. Thomas Jefferson."
Broun:
"While we must focus on fiscal policies that provide relief to families during these tough economic times, an endeavor I have been working tirelessly towards in this Congress, we must also not forget to protect and celebrate our fundamental freedoms that the Bible has influenced, Broun said."
Me:
"I am inclined to conclude that the subject of "fundamental freedoms" Broun writes about is the exact fundamental freedoms our Founding Fathers had in mind when they set about to "protect and celebrate"them by excluding any reference to Christianity or the Christian Bible and thereby creating a secular Constitutional Document. A.B."
