“These are items that have nothing to do with survival — they reflect the moral damage of the people, some of whom came just to find things they could make money from,” she said, adding that the government also will prosecute anyone responsible for price speculation in the disaster area.

via Chileans Reject Post-Quake Looters, Speculators : NPR.

At least the judgment cuts both ways.

“I feel Perry is strong enough to butt heads with Washington, and I’m not sure Kay Bailey is strong enough,” said Susie Bradley, 67, a housewife from Fulshear. “I wanted to send a big message to Washington with all the trillions of dollars they are spending that we don’t have and ruining the future of our children and grandchildren.”

via ‘Yes’ for Texas Governor Perry Over Senator Hutchison Is ‘No’ to Washington – NYTimes.com.

Yes, I will pick fights with “regular people” who were quoted in the NY Times. Ms. Bradley like the tea baggers are hypocrites whom I give no credit to. Ms. Bradley, if you cared so much for your children and grandchildren, where were you for eight years? Who ran up the deficit and took us into Iraq? Who waged class warfare against you by providing tax cuts to a percent of the population who make tons of more money than yourself? After all the article says you are a housewife not a billionaire-housewife.

Just like in the MA election of Scott Brown you and the people who voted like you are guilty of misdirected anger. You didn’t care enough when it was important. Now when the administration is trying to do something about healthcare and other social programs you cry about debt. You vote against your own interests. You would have the government now balance the budget on the backs of people? You are just as bad as Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, but I heard the tea baggers support him for his stunt!

After announcing the end of his campaign, Mr. Paterson said he would devote himself to the state’s continuing budget struggles until his term runs out on Dec. 31. “Right now, what we need is a governor who will devote his full attention to those issues and other issues that come into this jurisdiction,” he said. “I hope that history will remember that I fought the good fight, that I did what was hard and that I put the people first.”

via David A. Paterson Drops Out of New York Governor Race – NYTimes.com.

He may not have been popular as Governor of New York State. Yet, I still remember the David Patterson who was the New York Senate Minority Leader. He helped start the effort that would eventually end with Democrats controlling the State Senate. Had he stayed in the State Senate he would have went on to become majority leader, but he saw an opportunity running with Spitzer in ‘06. Of course you can’t go back in time, but I salute the career of a progressive in David Patterson.

For better or worse, new laws that take effect on Monday are poised to curb the proliferation of credit cards on college campuses, making it tougher for Perretta, Bush and other students to get credit cards.

via Congress makes it harder for youths to get credit cards – Feb. 21, 2010.

Hopefully, this will begin to stem the tide of predatory lending that the banks have foisted upon college students in the form of credit cards for decades now.

Recall that one year ago, Obama instructed the DEA to follow his campaign pledge and respect local statutes legalizing medicinal marijuana. When the DEA kept raiding pot dispensaries in states that had passed such laws, Attorney General Eric Holder reiterated the cease and desist decree, stating that “What (Obama) said during the campaign is now American policy.”

Rogues Gone Wild by David Sirota on Creators.com – A Syndicate Of Talent

It really makes no sense.

Microsoft and the European Commission have agreed on Microsoft’s proposal to present a “Browser Choice Screen” to users with a choice of 12 browsers, based on popularity as determined by market share within the European Union. Flock was included as one of the 12 browsers, and this means that 100 Million Windows users will receive a window notifying them of their choice in innovative offerings other than Internet Explorer.

Flock Browser – European Commission and Microsoft Elect To Include Flock In Browser Ballot Screen | Flock

We here in the United States do not regulate enough. It’s why we have tainted food and unsafe workplaces.

For all the hype and accolades that conservatives like to heap on the Reagan administration there are chinks in the armor that can always be found. Besides the fact that he raised taxes at one point, there’s also the deficit issue. Of course Dick Cheney once said that Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter. Yet, is that really what conservative ideology has to say about deficits?

Describing himself as a "dark horse," Haig sought the Republican presidential nomination for the 1988 elections. On the campaign trail, he told supporters about his desire to "keep the Reagan revolution alive," but he also railed against the administration’s bulging federal deficit – calling it an embarrassment to the GOP.

It gets better..

And later, when he criticized Reagan’s "fiscal flabbiness," Haig asserted that the "ideological religiosity" of the administration’s economic policies were to blame for doubling the national debt to $2 trillion in 1987.

As Rachel Maddow on MSNBC has been pointing out on her show all week there is a lot of hypocrisy on that side.

I’m happy that Markos of Daily Kos took the time to highlight this post.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.  Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

Drown government in the bathtub indeed.

In these tough economic times I hardly think it right to do this to people.

While President Obama is in Washington talking about putting a freeze on government spending, soon millions of American families will be out in the cold. In one month, one million Americans are slated to lose their unemployment insurance. Millions more will follow. According to Judy Conti, Federal Advocacy Coordinator at the National Employment Law Project, the expiration of this vital lifeline “would be a catastrophe for these families and their communities.”

I have a proposal for you. But first, let me talk a little bit about some of the problems I currently have. In the country I was born in–the United Stats of America–we have about 46.3 million Americans without health care. It is an absolute crime against humanity. We have corporations in this country who have the power to essentially govern over the populace. Our elected officials are held in check by corporations and their donations–some are even ideological soulmates of the corporate world and its “free market” mentality.

It is because of this reality that we are unable to get healthcare coverage for everyone. It is because of this reality that we are unable to get a living wage passed or ensure that there are protections for workers at the workplace. It is because of this reality that workers have such a hard time organizing. Is is because of this reality that the cost of a college education is so high. It is because of this reality that we get outbreaks of E. Coli in the beef industry. It is because of this reality that we endanger the entire world because the United States of America cannot stand up to the oil and coal industries on carbon emissions or pollution in general. It is because of this reality that our urban areas are flooded with illegal weapons. We just can’t seem to stand up to them and we allow their PR to drown us in a consumerist culture. We allowed them to bring down the entire economy through reckless banking escapades. We allowed them to outsource hundreds of thousands of jobs but at the same time abuse undocumented workers.

We simply do not regulate.

In this country we also deal with an unleashed fundamentalist social conservative (it’s Christian but I disdain any religious fundamentalism) movement. They constantly try to legislate morality. They attempt to rewrite history when they talk about the founding generation. The authors of the Constitution, though not perfect, believed in a separation of church and state and would cringe at what is being attempted now. Now this social conservatism has resorted to wearing the costume of the “angry teabagger.” They’re upset with the way things in this country are. To them I say, where were you eight years ago? Where were you even in the 90’s when NAFTA was passed? You are a sad and misguided lot.

The United States of America is headed towards the path of a corporatist-authoritarian state. It has been on a very long march ever since the repeal of the New Deal began. We worked hard to elect Barack Obama the president of this country, but if we cannot keep that coalition of people who voted and campaigned for him mobilized it will all be in vein. So far they have gone back to sleep. Where were they when the teabaggers were bringing guns to town hall healthcare meetings? Why didn’t they march on the Mall here in Washington? One would say that there was a large mobilization during the Bush years concerning the Iraq War which wasn’t covered by the media. You would be correct but by not coming out every time you allow the other side to get attention.

So anyhow here is my proposal. You guys over there in the EU seem to have your act together somewhat. You do regulate. You also know how to keep social conservatism in check. You are far more progressive than the United States. Honestly, I’d love for someone to tell me otherwise. So what’s say you start a liberal-reality based community import program? We could make the European Union truly great you know. We could take all of our knowledge and money (and there is a lot of that ahem “donor state” ring a bell?) and leave. We could relocate that liberal “Hollywood” there too. Let the conservatives-corporatists take over. Let’s see how they would like it once we were gone. If things keep going the way they are now it could happen. Sure, I write this partly as a sarcastic piece but there is a lot of reality here. Anyhow please consider it

Sincerely,

Jason