Obama ...

... telegraphed all along that he believed in Reaganism more than he believed in liberalism, and that's why he's governing like a jackass.

Barack Obama and the very bizarre Alan Simpson ...

Of course the real question is why on earth did the administration pull this cadaverous joker out of his own cushy, federally funded retirement to head up the ill-conceived deficit commission in the first place? The only generous reason I can think of is that someone thought that he would sabotage it, but there's no evidence they want to do that. And in this era of batshit insane politics, counting on some right wing kook to discredit anything is a very risky thing to do --- even they must know that.

So you have to assume that Simpson's fulfilling his designated role. He will make a deal. All he asks is that the geezer parasites, current and future get it out of their heads once and for all that this society should provide some basic security for everyone.

Why did Obama appoint Simpson? Why does he forgive his stupidities and his prejudices?

Because Simpson is doing what Obama wants? Attempting, once again, to destroy Social Security. If you catch their drift they want to shush those who are already on SS up by convincing them that they will be left unscathed in the bloodletting. ---Just believe us. We aren't after you right now so keep quiet and you might be safe til you die, though we don't guarantee we won't help that along later.--- It's the way dictators divide the peons in order to keep different factions from joining forces.

Now that's a zinger ...

... There is anti-Americanism and radicalism in Yemen; therefore, to solve that problem, we're going to bomb them more with flying killer robots, because nothing helps reduce anti-American sentiments like slaughtering civilians and dropping cluster bombs from the sky. ...

Communism, fascism and democracy ...

Communism and fascism seem to me to have the same ultimate result: making sure workers are completely under the control of management. It seems to make little difference whether management is the government, the party or private industry. Effective slavery is the result.

The US has always had it's proponents for the complete control of workers. But with the T-Bags it's coming to the fore with draconian, or Dicksonian, ferver.

NY Tea Party Platform: Relocate Welfare Recipients to Prison Dorms

____________
ADDED:
The parallels between the T-Bags increasing attacks on all things muslim is too close to Hitler's sadistically incremental attacks on Jews in Germany for comfort.

The "mosque" debate is not a "distraction"

____________
ADDED II:
emptywheel writes:

Treasury’s attitude about HAMP is not just evidence they’ve lost all track of who they work for and where the benefits of the economy are supposed to be delivered, but it also suggests that these Treasury folks have lost the most basic notion of capitalism, that if businessmen never pay for bad decisions, they’ll continue to make bad decisions.

I beg to differ. Treasury, as does Obama himself, believe they work for the banksters and other powerful industries.

Elected officials still have to play the election game but money and the corporate controlled media are able to effect sufficient numbers of election campaigns. And when they fail, there's always the Supreme Court who can choose to appoint an embarrassment like Bush to reside in the WH.

Obama, it appears, gave acceptable assurances to the banksters (and others) before he was elected. To get the votes Obama aimed his promises at the fair minded, the liberals, the progressives, the unions, those interested in a responsive and fair government, those who were against these unending wars.

What did Obama do once he was elected? He appointed people who failed to recognize, or actually contributed to, the financial problems of the country. He continued most of Bush's disastrous war and torture policies. He took care to insult most of those who voted for him. His actions and policies appear taken in response to the desires the Robber Barons and the actions of the Crazies.

Everyone has blind spots ...

... but most of us don't have to defend them on video. Howard Dean seems to me to blindly miss the point while thinking Glenn Greenwald (whose position I mostly agree with) is the one who is missing the point:

Video discussion with Gov. Howard Dean

I think I do see into what terms (local zoning) Dean is attempting to constrain the issue. I just don't think it can be constrained. The pressure is on for one group to give up, or have taken away, their --I believe already approved--- plans because a bunch of mostly non-affected US citizens see it as an issue they can make waves with.

Obamination ...

... The only “change” most Americans might experience is a reduction in their Social Security benefits from a President currently presiding over one of the most regressive wealth transfers in history. ...

Excuse me, but ...

Glenn Greenwald writes:

... Barack Obama sent the bust [of Winston Churchill] back to Britain because "his Kenyan grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was imprisoned without trial for two years and tortured on Churchill's watch, for resisting Churchill's empire."

Well I'm OK with that. Making a point about injustice is a worthwhile endeavor.

But, I have to ask, Obama. Is it only injustices to your father that matter? What about all those individuals that the US captured and/or kidnapped and imprisoned without trial and tortured for resisting US actions. This is still going on. The US is doing some of the same things that Churchill did? Haven't you noticed?

And the cowardly WH bumps along ...

Playing the CFPB Nomination Game

Will they or wont they nominate Elizabeth Warren?
Will they or wont they appoint Elizabeth Warren?
If I enjoyed soap operas this could be such a wonderful Dawn Johnsen re-run.

George Bush and Barack Obama ...

So, there's no similarity between Bush and Obama? Then how to explain that Obama appears to emulate many of Bush's worst actions?

What We Stand For

Yesterday was a stark reminder that instead of closing the book on the Bush-era military commissions, President Obama is adding another sad chapter to that history. Although President Obama promised transparency and sharp limits on the use of tortured and coerced statements against the accused, at Guantánamo today one military judge ordered that a sentence be kept secret from the public and another military judge allowed statements obtained by abuse and coercion of a 15-year-old to be used at trial.

...

It boggles the mind that the military judge could find that Khadr was not coerced and gave these statements to interrogators voluntarily. Khadr, then 15 years old, was taken to Bagram near death, after being shot twice in the back, blinded by shrapnel, and buried in rubble from a bomb blast. He was interrogated within hours, while sedated and handcuffed to a stretcher. He was threatened with gang rape and death if he didn't cooperate with interrogators. He was hooded and chained with his arms suspended in a cage-like cell, and his primary interrogator was later court-martialed for detainee abuse leading to the death of a detainee. During his subsequent eight-year (so far) detention at Guantánamo, Khadr was subjected to the "frequent flyer" sleep deprivation program and he says he was used as a human mop after he was forced to urinate on himself.

...

Any decent person can see that what has been done to Omar Khadr is an injustice. But Obama continued and expanded the bizarro world of Bush where these injustices just keep going on and on.

So much for 'America' ...

And what about the economy’s future? Everything we know about economic growth says that a well-educated population and high-quality infrastructure are crucial. ...

Back to the feudal and serfdom ...

--------------
More:

What collapsing empire looks like by Glenn Greenwald

and

Gauging the Mood of the Country by Carolyn C, firedoglake.com

Carolyn C writes:

"Then Greenwald adds, "The real question is whether the American public is too apathetic and trained into submission for that to ever happen."

"Trained into submission" may be correct, but apathetic is a misconception.

Carolyn C documents cases of expressed anger and some of the, in my opinion mostly irrational, responses they have to such overwhelming anger and frustration.

Trained into submission does certainly appear to apply from Carolyn C's examples. Most of these people seem to be channeling their anger at their fellows, their relatives, and those in more precarious straights but not in any effective way against those who caused their situation.

Truth be told ...

The private, for-profit health insurance companies will always be the enemies of true health care reform. The problem is that they are a pure waste in the system. They are the financial equivalent of a parasite. ...

But then, we don't really want this much truth, do we Obama?

Oh, the pride we claim as a nation of independent, courageous and freedom loving souls ...

How does the image of a nation of shorn sheep strike you?

... The loss of privacy is entirely one-way. Government and corporate authorities have destroyed most vestiges of privacy for you, while ensuring that they have more and more for themselves. The extent to which you're monitored grows in direct proportion to the secrecy with which they operate. Sir Francis Bacon's now platitudinous observation that "knowledge itself is power" is as true as ever. That's why this severe and always-growing imbalance is so dangerous, even to those who are otherwise content to have themselves subjected to constant monitoring.

Before I die ... I wish the U.S. would recall its brain.

With the T-bags and their GOP bosses and the compliant and complicit press, getting reason back into the atmosphere appears highly unlikely.

From Oly Mike at The Left Coaster I read:

The NYT has a story about the new US strategy to switch to targeted killings of Taliban leaders.

And the stupid keeps rolling along ...