Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Jennifer Granholm Takes Mitt Romney to Task for Claim of Saving Detroit
Current TV's Jennifer Granholm went after Mitt Romney with a bit of fact checking after he had the audacity to claim that he "deserved credit" for saving the auto industry. Granholm was in the middle of this disaster as governor of her state, so the indignation here is all to real and her disdain for Romney is deserved, because if it was up to him, he'd have allowed Michigan, along with every industry and state that relies on the auto industry and their workers, to just crash and burn. Consequences to what that would have done to the nation's economy be damned.
Dear Mitt: You Did Nothing to Save Detroit:
Dear Mitt Romney:
There are politics, there are lies, and then there's you. You take it to a whole 'nother level.
OK, I admit that I have a particular animus toward you, as a guy that knifed us in the back when Michigan was on its knees, but you simply cannot be our president. It cannot happen.
As you know, Mitt, I was governor of Michigan during that horrible time, when the financial industry was melting down and the auto industry was in free fall. And you were running for president. You saw the polls about the unpopularity of bailouts and you lumped the auto industry in with the bank industry -- the auto industry, where your father and so many of your family members had worked.
You raised your finger into the air, saw which way the wind was blowing, and followed it. Way to lead, Mitt.
You weren't looking into the eyes of autoworkers getting laid off as factory after factory closed.
In the six month period surrounding the president's inauguration, more than 1,018 Michigan companies had announced mass layoffs in response to the crash.
Our unemployment office was receiving more than 800,000 calls per day from people desperate for help. The auto industry was heading over the cliff, we were begging for help, and you were coolly standing behind us giving your home state a shove over the ledge. And now you have the nerve to claim credit for the auto industry's rebound? It's a joke, right?
Steve Rattner, who headed the president's auto task force said it succinctly today when he said, "Mitt Romney is nuts." If only that's all it was.
So Mitt, here's my request: Just stop it. Stop denying that you were pandering to a national audience when you wrote that Detroit should "go bankrupt" and then stop taking credit for the success of the Obama administration's intervention to save the auto industry and more than a million jobs that went with it.
The Obama team wasn't taking advice from you. So just. Stop. Talking. Just stop.
You can read the rest of Granholm's well deserved rant of Romney's dishonesty at the link above. It's a shame we don't have more in our corporate media calling him out for his lies as sternly as Granholm did here. Sadly he's not going to quit lying until they do, which I'm not holding my breath in anticipation of.
They're actually debating on a daily basis in the rest of our cable "news" what "conversation" his campaign wants to be having in what state, as though people in different states don't have access to and can't just watch what he said on the campaign trail in another state. Forget all about the existence of You Tube, the nightly news or the national media and what's on line, as though voters never take a look at any of those things and just follow their local media alone. And they're debating about whether his time as a "businessman" a.k.a. vulture fund manager who loved to bust unions, gut pension funds and make a lot of money for his investors while they ran companies into debt is going to be his "strong point" during the election or not, because Romney wants to keep the conversation about the economy.
Just shoot me now. I thought I lived through some surreal times during the Bush years. Romney is giving me a bad case of flashbacks in too many ways than one.
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Wife witnesses her husband die via Skype April 29th (reported May 4th)
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Same news source states....During the Skype conversation on April 30th 2012, there was no sign that CPT Clark was in any discomfort, nor did he indicate any alarm. Then CPT Clark was suddenly knocked forward. The closet behind him had a bullet hole in it. The other individuals, including a member of the military, who rushed to the home of CPT Clark’s wife also saw the hole and agreed it was a bullet hole.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
AND...On Tuesday, May 1st 2012, we learned that our loved one, Captain Bruce Kevin Clark, a model father, husband, family member, U.S. Army Chief Nurse, and American citizen, died while serving our country in Afghanistan.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................If you witness a person dying via streaming video do you not "learn" that that person died?
If not did you "witness it on Sunday April 29th or Monday April 30th?" or Simply "learn about it" Tuesday May 1st?....I truly do not follow.
Sunday, May 06, 2012
Friday, May 04, 2012
Patrick Lanzo, Georgia Bar Owner, Calls Obama 'N!@@&r' On Road Sign
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Rachel Maddow: Don't count out Ron Paul
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
MK Occupy Minnesota: Drugs & the DRE Program at Peavey Plaza
Video documentation by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they've been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.
Local independent media activists and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality began investigating police conduct around the Plaza after witnessing police dropping off impaired people at the plaza and hearing rumors that they were offering people drugs. We videotaped police conduct and interviewed participants, learning some very disturbing information about the DRE program.
Officers stated on record the DRE program, run by the Minnesota State Patrol, has no Institutional Review Board or independent oversight. They agreed no ambulances or EMTs were on site at the Richfield MnDOT facility near the airport where most subjects were taken. Multiple times, participants left Peavey Plaza sober, returned intoxicated, and said they'd been given free drugs by law enforcement. We documented on more than one occasion, someone being told they were sober by one officer, and then picked up by a different officer, and returning intoxicated.
Given the dangers of impaired driving, there is value in training law enforcement officers to distinguish between the effects of various drugs and several common medical conditions. However, we have captured video footage of instances in which DRE trainees recruited subjects who are not already impaired, and those participants say they were given drugs by the officers.
Although program documents indicate that participants must sign a waiver, https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/msp/forms-reports/Documents/SFSTSponsorResponsib... there was no indication from any of the participants interviewed that a waiver was offered or obtained. Further, video footage seems to validate the recollections of participants that no medical personnel or ambulance were on site during the observation and testing in Richfield. A DRE officer told one of our investigators that no Institutional Review Board assessment of the program has been made, a requirement of all experiments involving human subjects. Since it's unethical to encourage people to take drugs--whether by giving them drugs directly or enticing them with food, cigarettes, or other rewards (which participants say they were given)--it is unlikely such a program would pass IRB review as it endangers the test subjects.
According to the WCCO article from May 2011, officer trainees in the past have worked with various non-profit organizations to recruit drug users. It would appear now that they are no longer relying solely on this tactic, instead recruiting users directly and, participants say, providing them with drugs. After the sessions, these individuals are then dropped off in public areas without supportive care, creating a public safety hazard. In an example at Peavey Plaza caught on film, an individual who said he's been smoking courtesy of the police for an hour, crossed a line of Minneapolis police barricades, climbed to the top of a large sign and sat 15 feet above the sidewalk swinging his arms and legs in front of a police camera.
Our investigation points to particular efforts to target and recruit youth. Further, law enforcement officers have been taped recruiting people from the Peavey Plaza area of Nicollet Mall and have dropped off a number of impaired individuals at Peavey Plaza. In some instances, Minneapolis police squad cars were present while DRE trainees recruited people at Peavey Plaza. After receiving drugs, some subjects were asked to snitch on the Occupy movement or asked about various people and activities of Occupy, they said. Given efforts by the Minneapolis city council to pass an ordinance designed to restrict access to Peavey Plaza by the Occupy movement, the conduct of DRE trainees points to the possibility that they are working hand-in-glove with Minneapolis police to discredit and disrupt the Occupy movement.
"I think most people would be very surprised to have our tax dollars used to get people high," states Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality. "These activities call into question the methods and motives of this DRE training."
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
Crossing the line at the border
Watch Crossing the line at the border on PBS. See more from Need To Know.
Joan Walsh talks 9/11 double standards
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said in a statement on Monday they were "deeply troubled" by Rodriguez's statements that the CIA"s "so-called 'enhanced interrogation techniques' used many years ago were a central component of our success," in finding the al Qaeda leader, killed by U.S. commandos in a raid in Pakistan a year ago Tuesday.
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