Richard729's Comments (43)

“travelah, well then, let's see your cooling trend charts that are based on solid scientific data gathered over the last 100 years.

Anyone looking at the temperature record can easily see short-period spikes in some cases downward for a few years. The evidence for global warming is indisputable.

In another graph the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) is compared with the hyped-up hacking of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) e-mails, the Republicans' Holy Grail, and both show positive, indisputable increases in temperature from the beginning of the Industrial Age until present.

You say there is "no consensus" but you are dead wrong. The consensus is overwhelming. Stop with the Limbaugh ignorant claim that global warming is just a "Librul hoax." Limbaugh doesn't have a degree in ANY subject, let alone meteorology or climatology. As a purveyor of hate and lies, however, I'll grant you that he has no equal.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwarming/instrumental.html”

“A recent Time Magazine article reported on the global warming deniers aka, Republicans, and their screech over the Climate-gate hacked e-mails at the Climate Research Unit (CRU) in England and overlaid that data with National Aeronautics Space Agency (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) temeperature records from over 100 years and they matched up almost perfectly.

In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) displayed satellite photos and infrared imaging that show increasing ice melts at the polar regions and the collapse of massive ice sheets in Greenland as well as accelerated glacier melting in the Himalayan Mountains, an area of the world that supplies 3 billion people with water and irrigation.

The answer the global warming deniers, aka, Republicans, give is the Limbaugh rant that global warming/climate change is a liberal hoax. Yes, like all those dozens of countries whose scientific evidence involved in this decades-long research really give a crap about either political party in the United States.

The ant colony dittoheads, however, reacting to the pheromones emitted by their queen ant, Rush Limbaugh, are programmed by over a generation to repeat the broken record that it's all a "Librul hoax." No wonder, as Bush was prompted to ask in one of his more captivating moments, "Is our children learning?"”

“To some degree I think Arianna is channelling the GOP's constant refrain that Barack Obama is failing and it's just a matter of time before he meets his Waterloo as South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint has proclaimed.

Katrina and the employment numbers are not synonymous. Bush and the Republicans didn't inherit Hurricane Katrina even though their response to it was dismal. But so was the response by Louisiana's governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin.

Arianna is also inferring that by some magic waving of a wand Obama should have been able to create millions of jobs overnight and stem the layoffs that resulted from a Wall Street Ponzi scheme crowd that ran wild and unregulated for eight years under Bush-Cheney stewardship.

GM, Chrysler and Ford have all gone through the throes of layoffs and plant closings which have had the domino effect of shedding jobs in all other categories such as auto parts suppliers, restaurants, hotels, fast food and housing. So, what's the solution? The truth is, unemployment is likely to stay above 10% for who knows how long?

Peter Whybrow's book, American Mania: When More is Not Enough, describes the plight of our economy today. We borrowed foolishly for too many years. Now, we want our Blackberrys and Apples while eating them too. Today, somebody else's citizens are producing them: China, India and Japan.”

“Unfortunately for the Democrats Joe Lieberman's promise to join the GOP filibuster of the health care bill is based, not on any sense of principle, but entirely on vindictiveness and vengeance against Barack Obama whom he did not support in the 2008 election.

Standing next to John McCain on almost every campaign stop during the McCain-Palin rallies, Lieberman reminds me of the dual character personality which encompasses the withered physical exterior of Benjamin Button while his brain has barely developed beyond that of an infant. He, like his Republican cohorts, cannot stand it that their cherished Party of No lost the presidency as well as seats in both houses of congress in 2008. So, it's become revenge time for Lieberman.

If Joe Lieberman couldn't stop progress for our country during the hate-filled Republican gatherings of the Apartheid Party crowds who loudly directed their venom at Barack Obama which he followed around like a faithful puppy, he will get his pound of flesh in the U.S. Senate during the filibuster of the health care bill proceedings.

No wonder Fox News and their 24/7 Hate Obama acolytes love Lieberman. He's one of them.”

“It will be a long time before the housing bubble shrinks enough to allow average American working people to afford a home. There are at least three scenarios that could change dramatically how people either jump back into the market or stay out for a long time.

1. One thing that may help in the short run is the $8,000 government-backed incentive for first time buyers who can apply that amount to the purchase price of a home.

2. Lower interest rates than exist now. Currently, only the fat cats and big financial institutions are able to borrow at record low interest rates, about .25%, a rate most people would die for.

3. Rising wages and salaries. During the Bush years, even when inflation was low, average pay fell behind the actual cost of living. That cost, at least to the Bureaut of Labor statistics, excludes the volatile jumps in oil prices which in turn affect the cost of just about everything. Their Consumer Price Indes (CPI) also excludes the price of food.

Finally, greed is a factor that will never disappear. There is always the specter of people buying a home, flipping it to move up to bigger and more expensive and try to create the illusion that the conveyor belt real estate will reap big investment returns and create at least another mini-bubble.
Of course, we'll be right back to where we are now. Broke.”

“When Blunt says "we need to be more of what we should be" he means the GOP should be more racist, more xenophobic, more incendiary, more hateful and more obstructionists than they have been since Barack Obama took the oath of office.

Just when you think this odious GOP mob which has the gall to call themselves Americans or a legitimate political party, they sink even lower and deeper into their own effluvium. They keep regurgitating racism and hatred, the two principles by which they survive and the real values that define them.

Just listen to their hate-infested mouthpieces: Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Joe Wilson, Joe The Plumber, Michele Bachmann, Dick Cheney, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Sarah Palin, Laura Ingraham, James Inhofe, Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn, Fox News channel and of course, the halo horde, James Dobson and Tony Perkins.

The more effluvium they spew out of their swamp the deeper they sink each day. It just gets worse. They almost make tom DeLay look like a Boy Scout -- almost.”

“Arianna is right. Wall Street is on the brink of a huge victory regardless of what the president says and irrespective of the massive fraud perpetrated by these Ponzi scheme swindlers. In a few days we will know the extent to which unlimited corporate money will be flowing to Republican candidates for the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Citizens United, a right-wing conservative corporation, is poised to win a big case against the Federal Election Commission. If the ruling goes their way in what is predicted to be a 5-4 decision joined by Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Scalia (RATS) + one so-called swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, unconstrained corporate money is set to roll into Republican coffers.

The ruling will make any warnings or appeals by Barack Obama to the Wall Street swindlers and tax-avoidance hucksters to rein in their greed moot.

Adding more oversight regulations is about as meaningless as asking politicians of both parties to eliminate pork in legislative bills. Pork is a congressional entitlement just as corporate thievery has been elevated to a virtue in the financial world. Ethics and honesty are for the chumps. Like the late Leona Helmsley once said, “Only the little people pay taxes.”

All the regulations on the books have been routinely ignored by the astounding corporate fraud that caused the biggest financial heist in the history of our country, most all of which occurred under the Bush years when regulation and oversight were scoffed at and treated with contempt.”

“So, we are just "bystanders" in this Jihad within the Islamic world? Seems to me by torturing captives, including those Muslims in Iraq who had nothing to do with 9/11, U.S. interests or security we created an even bigger enemy now that the al-Maliki government is forging closer ties to Iran.

Killing, torturing and maiming tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children for no reason other than Bush said he got to make the call is hardly what I'd call being a bystander.”

“GZ, just what part of your statement, "the rest of us are bystanders in a war within Islam" did I miss?

Maybe a clearer explanation?”

“You missed the point that Cyrus made and that is torture of Islamic captives inflames and advances the cause of Jihad. Abu Ghraib in Iraq is just one example.

Clearly, based on knowledge we now have, it is indisputable that captives were sent (renditioned) to other countries where we know those governments also tortured.

The Bush-Cheney administration made all Americans less safe. We know that I.E.D.s have become more sophisticated and powerful in Afghanistan because they were tested and perfected in Iraq for seven years. What better incentive for Jihadists to continue their attacks against Western nations?

Apparently, you must think 4,370 fallen U.S. military in Iraq are not sufficient lives lost to fight armies who wear no uniforms or represent no single country. If it were that simple and clear-cut, we would have bombed them to smithereens years ago.

After Bush landed on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 he declared to one of his military advisers, "Hey, you wanna do Iran?" In your view, why not bomb Indonesia, 86% Muslim, a country with over 240 million people?
After all, you lump all of Islam in with Jihadists.”

“Bush's wars allowed his administration and the Justice Department to redefine terrorism in such a way that anyone, including American citizens, could be declared enemy combatants, thrown in jail with no charges or access to legal representation. Therefore, the term terrorism fit in perfectly with a regime that had no respect for any laws, domestic or international. They made up their own laws and own rules to exert absolute control over anyone.

They made it even easier on themselves by ramming through the Military Commissions Act in the waning days of their administration, aided and abetted by a complicit and sufficiently fear-drenched U.S. Congress which was controlled by the Republicans at the end of 2006.

High ranking toady senior officers were put in charge of this “legal system” which established a complete set of rules outside of the U.S. Constitution. It put an incredible burden on junior officer prosecutors based at Guantanamo prison to get convictions -- or else!

Of course, we can never defeat terrorism any more than we can defeat poverty or hunger in the world. For Bush and his Republican war and fear mongers, keeping Americans frightened 24/7 is their agenda. It works well. Just witness the doomsayers of Fox News channel and their legions of viewers who live in constant fear because they have been sufficiently brainwashed and indoctrinated into believing that we can no longer handle democracy in America. For them, paranoia, violence and fear rule their days -- and their lives.”

“WCSteve, too many assume we can continue the status quo. The thinking at one time told us that if we cut corporate taxes and gave business investment incentives the rewards and benefits would lift all boats. Even if we concede the truth that investments create jobs the disconnect comes in when the jobs leave your own country and accrue to another -- like China and India.

There is a huge disconnect which the Republicans have locked into their DNA: No new taxes -- ever! In other words, we should never have to adjust our spending priorities to growing needs unless it comes through cutting services!

Wars which enriched a handful of profiteers and tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of the population clearly lifted some yachts, but hardly the rowboats for the average citizens.

What better way to increase the bottom line than to outsource jobs and manufacturing to other countries where goods can be produced and shipped back to America far cheaper than creating them here?

Now, our cities, roads, bridges, health care system, electrical grids, water systems, schools, housing industry and hospitals are crumbling while our society decided it was easier to borrow and spend but never make those investments that we need to maintain our once-envied standard of living.

True, the president shouldn't try to do everything on our behalf. Neither should the president be permitted to do everything to enrich the powerful while dismissing the rest of the population.”

“Forget about the cost. Of course we can't afford a lot of things. Big things like rebuilding our electrical grid delivery system, roads, bridges, subways, dams, power plants, schools, water treatment, hospitals and emergency rooms, educating more doctors and scientists, (not Creation Scientist/IDers), alternative energy with actual cost-savings, affordable transportation (including rail), more fuel- efficient cars and trucks -- all of these will cost gazillions.

But, just take a look at some of your neighbors and communities where people got cash out after refinancing, bought lots of toys and homes on which they couldn't afford the mortgage payment, maxed out credit cards that so many thought they could live the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

What have we, as individuals and a nation, got to show for it? Debt, miles and miles of debt. And the ever-horrifying truth that jobs with good pay, pensions and health benefits pretty much went the way of the dinosaurs.”

“If you go down the list in every election the Democrats are right on almost every issue that affects ordinary working Americans.

Strong, pro-unions that protect workers' pay, health and workplace safety, environmental laws that protect the public's drinking water, the air we breathe and food we eat, consumer protections against corporate fraud, Medicare and Social Security for seniors whose retirement pensions are low or non-existent, total government-run military medical coverage paid for by the taxpayers, the finest educational institutions in the world, West Point, Air Force Academy and U.S. Naval Academy, government subsidies for first-time home buyers, subsidies for ethanol production (about $7.5 billion per year), subsidies to war profiteering companies like Haliburton and KBR, Exxon, funding for mercenary armies like Xe (Blackwater) and of course the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq where billions go down the black hole every month.

The Republicans clearly love the wars since they never protested them at town hall meetings. They love all their corporate welfare and health insurance company contributions but they have no intention of giving up their Medicare, Social Security or Veteran's Administration benefits but they whine over the cost.

Bush and his Republican cohorts busted our country and now they want to blame Barack Obama for not fixing their screwups overnight.

To the GOP: take a long hike down the Appalachian trail with your red state hypocrite, Mark Sanford, because you've been lost in the woods for the last 20 years.”

“Mr. Reich, wake up! It's not the "gang of six" holding up health care for millions of Americans who have no coverage. It's the Democrats. They've been playing Kumbaya so long they can't remember why they lost elections in 1994, 2000, 2002 and 2004

Once again, Democrats are allowing Republicans to set the talking points and capture the emasculated mainstream media spotlight who focus on death panels, tea baggers, birthers and AR-15 assault weapons carriers and "socialized medicine" at so-called town hall meetings.

The GOP show of force is not just political; it's physical. The overt threats displayed by armed crazies urging the "watering of the tree of liberty" ala Timothy McVeigh reveals the real GOP for what they are: bitter, subversive, angry, fuming over their loss of the 2008 election, and a resolve to stir up as much hatred and violence as possible.

The media are more than happy to promote their agenda because rational discussions and debates on health care are not headline-grabbers. Gun violence, outrageous lies and direct threats against elected representatives are.

The media have all but raised the white flag of surrender while Democrats still think they can draw up a Faustian pact with Republicans. Their attitude is a shameful reminder that if you don't know how to use blunt force, just like Republicans, the battle has been lost before it began. It's time fish or cut bait. Right now, the Democrats are the bait flowing downstream with Sarah Paliln's dead fish.”

“One of the problems with the Democrats over health care reform is that they believe we can have a debate with the Republicans. Democrats deserve derision when they resort to Kumbaya discussions on health care as if Republicans really care.

Let me give one example. In 1995 in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building which killed 168 people when the GOP took control of both houses of congress they immediately held hearings to give aid and sympathy to the militia-types who had been fed a litany of anti-government screechers like G. Gordon Liddy who once stated that in confronting federal agents you need to go for "a head shot because they wear body armor."

It seems even the Secret Service has been intimidated by these NRA kooks who patrol town hall venues with assault weapons now that Barack Obama is president. But, last year they wasted no time in forcibly removing a woman who wore a T-shirt with the message, "McCain=Bush" (apparently a threat) from a Bush speech event where only ticket-holding Republicans were allowed in.

One has to wonder if any of these agents themselves may have been so ideologically brainwashed during 12 years of a GOP congress and 8 years of Bush-Cheney iron-fisted rule that they too may have a lone wolf in their ranks just as committed to violence as were Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nicols in April 1995.”

“Kent Conrad and now Kathleen Sebelius are watering down the most essential part of the Obama health care reform, the public option.

Without it, the health insurance industry and big Pharma are free to go about business as usual knowing that competition to lower drug and medical costs will never happen. Without the leverage of a government option, which is not a government takeover, individuals will not receive any relief from skyrocketing insurance premiums and generic drugs which are kept off the market due to drug companies unrealistically extending patents on tier 3 drugs.

Those who screech over "socialized medicine," if they are all that concerned about government run and funded health care, need to look no further than the totally government-run and efficient health care coverage for over 2 million U.S. military and their dependent families, Veteran's Administration hospitals and health Public Health Care service (which provides medical clinics to indian reservations), Social Security and Medicare -- all government operated and U.S. taxpayer funded.

Right-wing dupes and proxies for the insurance and drug companies should begin screaming about all those "socialized" programs to their congressmen and women and demand that the taxpayers stop funding them. Surely they'll do that, right?

Both Conrad and Sebelius must either be in cahoots with these anti-health care reform health care lobbyists or they don't care about getting anything passed if they are against the government option. Without the government option, this health care debate is dead in the water.”

“The longer this idiocy by Fox News and their Screech Radio cohorts keep peddling their lies and disinformation the sooner they will implode just like the phony birther movement. Tea Bag Patriots is just another one of those typical Republican ruses that they produced during their 12-year rein in congress from 1994 to 2006. Bills like Freedom to Bake Mom's Apple Pie and other legislation named to sound like Hallmark cards only went so far. By 2006 it finally dawned on the voters that all of these clever slogans were crafted to dupe Americans into thinking they cared about the people.They don't. They are nothing but shills and handmaidens for their corrupt corporate benefactors.



The truth is, they are extending their failed 2008 campaign tactics that were grounded in hatred, fear and racism because as a political party, they are devoid of any new ideas.



They pillaged American citizens and allowed the Wall Street hucksters and swindlers to bust our economy and drag us into two wars, one in Afghanistan which Bush abandoned once he set his sights on destroying the unarmed, broken country of Iraq.



Calling the Bush-Cheney administration death panels would be a compliment. Today, the GOP has descended so far into the swamp of desolation and effluvium they will need another Ross Perot to come in, not with shovels and pitchforks to clean out the barn, but with fleets of Diesel tractors and caravans of dump trucks lined up for hundreds of miles.”

“Got a bit of amnesia? Here's a refresher:

"Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," Karl Rove

"First he kicked his American flag pin to the curb. Now Barack Obama has a new round of patriotism problems. Wait until you hear what the White House hopeful didn't do during the singing of the national anthem," said Steve Doocy, co-host of "Fox and Friends" on the Fox News Channel.

"He felt it OK to come out of the closet as the domestic insurgent he is," former radio host Mark Williams said on Fox.

There are literally hundreds more quotes by Republicans questioning Democrats' patriotism. Most are not that old since you referred to the Clinton years. It's called selective memory.

Let's also not forget that great "warrior", Dick Cheney who was so terrified of having to put on the uniform of the U.S. military, he received, FIVE draft deferments, during the Viet Nam War.

That's just a sample to jog your foggy memory.”

“I don't believe Republicans hate America, they just don't want Democrats or other Americans who disagree with them to be part of it. The biggest reason why Newt Gingrich is relevant to the Republican far-right Base is that he orchestrated the Contract With America in 1994 which resulted in the defeat of Democrats in both houses of congress.

The GOP and their combustible Base assume the success of that coup will be the driving force to take back control in 2010. They are counting on the shrill, incendiary rhetoric spewed out by the likes of Cheney, Gingrich, Limbaugh and other really, really freaky Loony Tunes characters like Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Michele Bachman and Eric Cantor to tear down our president and tear down our democracy.

The more they wail and howl, however, the clearer it becomes that America will not fall victim nor return to the nonstop fearmongering and hate spouted by the failed leadership of the Bush/Cheney 8-year holocaust against our country's honor, integrity and democracy. Never again.”

“Karen4, I totally agree with that. We are getting close to the time when the people expect more than just rosy words. We expect some real action -- other than bailing out corporate CEOs in charge of failed companies and banks that have been tanking for the past year.

Universal health care is my personal soap box issue priority. Without health care costs for everyone will continue to soar while more than 50 million without coverage will become an even bigger strain on the industry because they'll only seek medical care when they have an emergency. We all know emergency care costs 3 times as much as it would be had they been able to afford health insurance.

Republicans of course, simply want to give the fat cats more tax cuts and a piddling %5,000 annual tax credit to cover health premiums which, according to the National Coalition on Health Care, "The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $12,700."”

“I don't have the same level of optimism for Barack Obama I once had. I say this because he appears to be trying too hard to reach out to the utterly depraved, take-no-prisoners Republican ideologues who still, in my opinion, are calling most of the shots.

Obama has backed off on his pledge to close Guantanamo Bay detainee prison by 2010 and now embraces the Bush policy of trying these prisoners using military tribunals.

Barack Obama recently stated that he will oppose a lower circuit court order to release damning photographs of prisoner abuse and torture that occurred during the Bush years.

The health care overhaul and promise to bring health care coverage to all Americans is in jeopardy because of two major obstacles. 1. The big pharmaceuticals and health insurance companies have set a trap by offering to decrease costs by 1.5% per year but this offer is contingent on voluntary efforts which have no force of law behind them. 2. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is about to release the eventual costs of universal health care. It is expected to be far more expensive than the taxpayers can support in a down economy.

Given the way Obama is backtracking it won't surprise me if he also endorses the Bush mandate that allows health care workers to withhold prescription drugs and medical care from patients whose beliefs depart from their own religious ideology.”

“Miz Liz, good questions. "What can we do?" Don't vote for a single GOP politician.

"Who can we write to?" Write to President Barack Obama and tell him to stop wasting taxpayer dollars trying to mollify and kiss up to the bigoted Relgious Right.

"And will it do any good if we do write?" Who knows? I live in Texas where even Democrats have to pass Republican litmus tests before they can consider running for office. I wrote to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison about the deplorable statistics that show almost 25% of Texas citizens don't have any health care. She answered back and said she too is concerned. If enough people yell loud enough just think what you can accomplish.

Before the Internet became a huge vehicle for expressing opinions the Right Wing Screech Radio wackos controlled what people heard. Things are different now.”

“ManwithaParachute, remember that song from the Paul Newman movie, Cool Hand Luke?

I don't care if it rains or freezes
Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Sitting on the dashboard of my car

Comes in colors, pink and pleasant
Glows in the dark because it's iridescent
Take it with you when you travel far

Get yourself a sweet Madonna
Dressed in rhinestone, sitting on a
Pedestal of abalone shells

Going ninety, I ain't scary
Because I got the Virgin Mary
Assuring me that I won't go to Hell

Get yourself a sweet Madonna
Dressed in rhinestone, sitting on a
Pedestal of abalone shells

Going ninety, I ain't scary
Because I got the Virgin Mary
Assuring me that I won't go to Hell

I guess atonement won't be complete without a good ol' Christian waterboarding though!”

“This is the sort of story that gives credence to the claim by Islamic nations that the U.S. is carrying on a religious crusade in order to conquer the Middle East. It goes along with what Ann Coulter urged several years ago when she said we shoud "kill all their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

Once this sort of proselytizing becomes either official or unofficial U.S. military policy it serves only to alienate people of other faiths.

The policy harms our troops because it makes them more likely to be targets of Islamic militants. It hurts the integrity of the United States because it uses the threat and the appearance that we will use lethal force to advance religious dogma, most of which, by the way, is exactly the right-wing Republican strategy in the United States.

This is nothing new. Right-wing religionists and evangelicals have infiltrated our U.S. military academies where they ostracize those of different beliefs. There are well-documented cases where those of the Jewish faith are harassed and intimidated by the biblical purists and literalists who believe they are called by God to convert everyone to their religious tenets.

These religionists have been attacking our U.S. Constitutional right to be free of this sort of iron-fist indoctrination through aggressive means under 8 years of the Bush/Cheney administration. Their reign of repression ended on November 4, 2008. It's time it ended in the U.S. military as well.”