Home » The Watercooler for 12/02/08 9:00 AM
The Watercooler for 12/02/08 9:00 AM
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I'm handwringing about the soldiers in the street -- POSSE COMITATUS. Whenever they have to put little old ladies in Cones of Nudity at the airport just b/c they want to fly somewhere and put their feet just so so they can photograph up their 'skirts' and yell at them to hurry through the ridiculous maze that is TSA at the airport b/c they are taking to long -- well -- dammit I'm handwringing. Give some guy with a gun an inch and he's gonna take a mile.
and Phil, I have no cows to shoot, but if my dog, cats, and I need a bullet I can supply my own, thank you. Gun ownership is alive and well in the deep South for just that reason...
"soldiers in the streets" from the WaPo article. A group of people trained for a special purpose, and the special purpose here is: "All would be trained to respond to a domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive attack, or CBRNE event, as the military calls it." (quoting the WaPo).
In general, I agree with the rationale: ""This is a genuine recognition that this [job] isn't something that you want to have a pickup team responsible for," said Tussing, who has assessed the military's homeland security strategies."
However, as a kid I traveled through Spain under Franco, where La Guardia Seville soldiers were posted on every street corner. Not COMFORTING, as a matter of fact, very disconcerting.
Once again, though, the article never stated that this measure means "soldiers in the streets".
I think we need to hear more before declaring the sky is falling. jmo.
Anni, were you literally strip-searched during a domestic flight? That IS scary.
The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
I guess to me that translates to soldiers in the streets.
Must confess however that if it hadn't been for my hero Roussel Honore and his troops Nola would still be w/ people on rooftops.
Also -- no I wasn't strip searched - at least not physically -- just virtually -- in that machiine they have where you stand there and they xray you from every angle -- and the 'matron' did (after asking permission lol) 'feel me up' under my bra and all...
LWC -- thanks for that website -- I had no idea you could do that -- but it pisses me off that those w/ $$ get to go 'first class' through the security lines. I'm not sure I travel enough to warrant the $199/year but it's very tempting.
I'd say this is more for the business traveler. I never fly first class, lol. Sometimes business class but with e-upgrades but that is rare.
Most employers pay this fee. Mine does and it's cheaper when they have specials. I renewed for 3 years at $129.
Not for everyone, true, but I wouldn't look at it as an elitist thing - and think of it this way - it actually cuts down on the number of people in line that you have to wait for by removing them from the general population.
Frequent flyer programs are so ubiquitous lately that even those lines are long at most airports.
But y'all know that.
- Have no idear why that link is giving an error to a DFA 404
By Love White Castles on Dec 2, 2008 9:46 AM ESTBut cut and paste are our friend
I never have to stand in line, get searched, etc. Still go through the metal detector but that's about it. Shoes are off for about five seconds.
- Phil, it isn't illegal to sell an out-of-the-money put.
By * cChalfonte* on Dec 2, 2008 9:56 AM ESTRegulations needed: serious regulation around the issuance of mortgage-backed securities (MBS)......and much more. The whole system needs to be examined.
and a good morning to all:)
Bummer it was so foggy last night. Couldn't see the moon venus jupiter array that was in the sky.
culpability amongst the ratings agencies and probably enough evidence to convict.
I've done it myself with corn, but the fraud that was perpetrated was the leveraging of an underlying asset known to be worthless destroying the trust of any that would buy bundled securitized anything.
some was simply business and some was fraud and until the crooks are behind bars there will be no trust
de-leveraging the entire economy will continue up to and until trust is restored ( a cop on the beat)
- delivery points so that futures come to cash are what keeps the futures markets from becoming thin air
By Phil Specht on Dec 2, 2008 10:34 AM ESTthe ability to deliver or take delivery and it goes for houses as well
there has to be something of under-lying value or it is fraud
will restore confidence...not confidence in the markets. I think that the Federal Reserve should act as a clearing house, guaranteeing that institutional transactions will clear.
So far, the Fed has purchased commercial paper, a bold step, they've cut the interest rates and will do more of that but the clearing house guarantee would be the real green light that removes the congestion, imo.
actions should be coordinated with the rest of the world's central banks (the main ones). I think Obama's team will do this and the above ONCE THEY ARE IN OFFICE, lol;)
I think we'll see a *Bretton Woods* agreement, of sorts--one that makes sense for the 21st century, especially since we've become an interwoven global economy.
That's it for me until later today. Back to work.
Hope you all have a wonderful day.
the weather dudes have predicted about 6 winter disaster warnings. Had they been right, I would be still digging out from over 40" of snow. In fact? From the three snow falls that actually materialized, I've gotten 1 1/4" ~~ the problem now is: I just laugh when I get another warning. . . .
each of these episodes fills up my email box with hourly warnings. They simply lose creditability. . . . .
- I was singing a certain John Denver tune in the shower this morning
By Love White Castles on Dec 2, 2008 10:33 AM ESTThe main reason for the Democrats continued gains this year is not hard to pinpoint. The fact that they were able to recruit excellent candidates in many of their first and second tier targets certainly helped, but, more importantly, the gains they realized all come back to the difficulty the GOP has had getting the electorate to differentiate the Republican brand from a bad case of indigestion. A political party just cannot hope to perform well when people's perception of it is so poor.
all my hand-wringing friends. (and I've had to stand spread-eagled at an airport in front of 100 people while I was wanded).
A brigade has already been deployed and I posted about it when it happened. Notice the date. It's bad enuf to have soldiers on our soil, excepting the guard. But now there's that shadowy citizen security force thing that no one's talking about. Let's not forget that fascism always claims it's protecting the homeland and its citizens.
The Germans should have been hand-wringing and paying attention and maybe millions of innocents would not have died like animals.
NewsWax
2008-10-13 at 8:33 am · Filed under Crime, Current Events, New World Order, NewsWax, North America, Politics, Terrorism
US President Bush deployed the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team to a new role on United States soil last Wednesday, training for dealing with national crises. Critics claim that act of the Executive Branch violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits military participation in domestic matters.
In 2007, the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act was introduced; it overturned the Posse Comitatus Act by allowing the Commander in Chief to suppress ‘insurrection’ and ‘restore order’. When it was repealed in 2008, Bush stated that he did not respect the later repeal.
The combat team, renamed CCMRF, has been assigned for year-long duty and training at Fort Stewart to prepare them for “civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios” such as security or natural disasters. After a year, a new unit will take its place.
CCMRF will be under the control of the Northern Command, and now has the same legal authority as a unit deployed to Iraq under the direct control of the Executive Branch. The unit will have use of engineer and medical units, the Marine Corps Chemical, Biological Initial Reaction Force, and a Navy weather team, as well as members of the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. A spokeswoman for Northern Command added that both wheeled and tank vehicles would be available for the CCMRF.
In July the unit was assigned a new commander, Col. Roger Cloutier. “If we go in,” he said proudly of the deployment, “we’re going in to help American citizens on American soil”. CCMRF will be training in both traffic and riot control equipment, and will be the first to use the Army’s new nonlethal package, which is intended for war-zone and not domestic use.
Good Day y'all.
Our Virginia Dem Women's Caucus, where I was recently elected 1st Vice Chair, is having our second annual silent auction this weekend at our Central Committee Meeting in Charlottelsville, Va.
Last year, we raised over $6000 and had a great time.
All monies raised goes to women candidates in Virginia. I am tasked this year with finding candidates in all of VA's 11 congressional districts to run at the local level.
This year's auction is gonna be great with Congressman Bobby Scott, New Congressmen Tom perriello and Glen Nye donating lunch and a tour of the US Captiol. They will be auctioned from the floor so it will be fun.
Come on by if you can.
Peace.
Click here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081202/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_governors to see the President elect's progress! Please also and remind our President elect that faith based initiatives are unconstitutional resulting in churches getting your tax dollars; backing the Republicans and feathering their own nests with money that was meant for the poor and homeless!! I am currently being denied financial assistance by such a church because even though I am a Christian; I used to be an atheist and I am a Democrat instead of a Republican!!! Call the Methodist church involved at: (517) 485-9477 and ask them about their ethnocentrism!!!!
Chambliss - Martin Runoff Is Today
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) faces Democrat Jim Martin in a runoff in Georgia today. A poll from PPP (D) puts Chambliss ahead 53% to 46%. Martin can only win if there is a huge black turnout--bigger than the one that turned out for Barack Obama on Nov. 4, and that seems unlikely. Probably Chambliss will hang onto his job.
Chambliss called in all the big guns to campaign for him, including John McCain and Sarah Palin. Martin also had some big guns, including Bill Clinton, but not Barack Obama, who presumably doesn't not want to be associated with a Martin defeat. McCain was in Georgia to help his Senate colleague Chambliss. Palin was in Georgia to help the governor or Alaska, Sarah Palin. First of all, Chambliss will surely be grateful for her help and may become an early supporter for her 2012 presidential run and other Republicans may appreciate her doing things to help the party. But more important, it gives her more experience campaigning and gets voters in at least one state more familiar with her. But she has a tough row to hoe because independents don't think she is made of presidential timber and Democrats despise her. CQ Politics has a column on her presidential ambitions.
Gates said he talked to Obama about how staying in Afghan would work.
"Legislation needed to close GITMO." Gates
(Albright said it would only take a stroke of the pen)
The problem is that he has been consistently right in his predictions.
A lot of readers are twanging on me for refraining to castigate President-elect Obama for deeds yet undone. They're discouraged by the advisors and cabinet sectetaries he's picked, ostensibly because the crew coming in are Washington "insiders," meaning they can't possibly see or do things differently.
My
own starting point for this is the belief that in the years just ahead any
sociopolitical entity organized at the giant scale will flounder -- this
includes everything from the federal government to global corporations to
factory farms to centralized high schools to national retail chains. So even
expecting Mr. Obama's government to act effectively may be asking too much in a
situation that will require mostly local action.
The only "change" that America really wants to hear about is evicting George Bush from the White House. They're sick of him and all the disturbance he has caused in their financial affairs. But beyond that, the American public is deathly afraid of the kind of changes we actually face -- such as, the end of consumer culture, the gross loss of value in suburban real estate (which forms the bulk of the middle class's private wealth), the prospect of food and fuel scarcities, the need to re-localize our lives, the need to physically shape up to stop the costly and unnecessary drain on our medical resources, to grow more of our own food, to work harder at things that actually matter, and to save whatever we can for a difficult future.
If Mr. O introduces any of these themes into the national discourse, the public and the media and the bloggers will all dump on him for failing to prop up the wild party that American life became in recent decades.
For Kunstler's 2008 forecast, made at about this time last year, check out:
new FCC chair? Goto Freepress:
https://secure.freepress.net/site/SPageServer?pagename=wanted&JServSessionIdr004=776xmfu093.app46b
When the reports were released, Obama stunned his competitors by raising more than twice that, about $26 million, and matching Clinton’s primary contributions. Of that total, nearly $7 million came from small, online donations.
To nurture that support, Rospars coordinated summer training seminars for online activists and organized a national voter canvassing day in July. For that event, the campaign shipped boxes of DVDs, sign-up sheets and other materials to supporters in all 50 states.
“We wanted them to know that we were serious about them being part of the campaign,” he said, and that “they didn’t have to wait for the carnival to come through town to get on board.”
At the suggestion of the campaign’s more experienced donors, Smoot also organized two training programs for her newer bundlers, the surrogate fundraisers who tap into their own circle of friends and family to generate donations to the campaign.
Her finance teams were divided by regions and began holding regular phone conferences to announce their fundraising figures — a tactic that piled some pressure onto the regions to keep pace.
Solomont was a leader of the New England steering committee. From February 2007 to October 2008, the committee held 167 fundraising events. The group, which ultimately included more than 700 members, raised $30 million from its region.
But Solomont seems most proud of another statistic: Members of the New England finance team also hit the campaign trail, knocking on doors and making phone calls in 28 states.
“It was more engaging, more participatory, more inclusive,” said Solomont, who was a leader on Kerry’s fundraising team four years ago. “It was about more than the money.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16115_Page2.html
MN-Sen: The Minnesota recount has been impossible to follow, since challenges have obscured any progress in the recount. But this is certainly good news:
Ramsey County officials say they've found about 200 ballots in the town of Maplewood, which Franken carried, that weren't counted at all up to now due to a machine breakdown, and were just discovered. Franken could conceivably get a net gain of one or two-dozen votes from these ballots. Franken's lead recount lawyer Mark Elias wasn't even aware of this going into the call -- he was informed of it by a local reporter seeking comment.
Using their own count, based on guesses on how the challenges will go, the Franken campaign estimates they are down by 50 votes, with seven percent of the vote to be counted. So these "found" ballots can loom large, as well as the fate of about 1,000 absentee ballots that were apparently rejected because of clerical errors (as opposed to voter error or disqualification).
The recount ends this week. Then it's onward to the canvassing board to rule on challenged ballots.
at Kos, front page
December 2, 2008
Conscience?
Filed under: Obama Administration — maha @ 12:27 pmDavid Savage reports at the Los Angeles Times about some of Bush’s last-minute mischief.
The outgoing Bush administration is planning to announce a broad new “right of conscience” rule permitting medical facilities, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare workers to refuse to participate in any procedure they find morally objectionable, including abortion and possibly even artificial insemination and birth control.
Under these rules, healthcare workers not only can refuse to participate in abortions; they could refuse to provide information about abortion, or birth control, including morning-after pills.
The new rules appear to cover just about everyone who works in the healthcare industry, including pharmacists and technicians. Someone could refuse to clean instruments he thinks might be used in a procedure he doesn’t like. Wouldn’t this wreak havoc with hospital procedures?
Seems to me that this rule sets up situations in which everybody in the hospital is second-guessing the doctors’ orders. Remember the ambulance driver who refused to take a woman in severe pain from a hospital to an abortion clinic? She was promptly and rightfully fired and another ambulance driver was called. Imagine what would happen if every such circumstance required multiple phone calls and negotiations?
The ambulance-driving woman sued the ambulance company that fired her for discriminating against her religious beliefs. Part of her claim rested on her opinion that the drive to the abortion clinic was not an emergency. Her opinion. She was a bleeping ambulance driver, not a physician.
Already, pharmacies are refusing to fill birth-control prescriptions. There are documented cases of LGBT people being refused medical services and pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for antibiotics and prenatal vitamins because they didn’t like the clinic the prescription came from. And contraceptive pills are prescribed for many reasons other than birth control. In some circumstances a woman’s health depends on hormone regulation.
The implications of this nonsense go a lot further than abortion. If everyone in the hospital is second-guessing the doctors and deciding what tasks they will or will not do based on half-assed information, it could jeopardize everyone’s health care.
There is a simple solution to health-care workers with a “conscience” problem — find another line of work.
Is there no blog any more ?
Has the watercooler taken its place ?
Am I not in Kansas anymore ?
"Well . . . . . er . . . . . it's good to be home . . . . . "
I hope this will be grist for a discussion (again) at DemFest in Burlington this summer.
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