The Many Faces of US Politics...

[mannix]

I can't help staring at her, a thing of beauty at the right age.

[Eamonnca1]

I can't help staring at her, a thing of beauty at the right age.

[Tyrones own]

Just how much more do we need to know about this pair
Un fecking believable;
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2011/sep/13/michelle-obama-all-just-flag/#.TnAMFa5aAgM.facebook

[Denn Forever]

Reminds me of the Bill Hicks sketch.

My father died for this flag.

Oh really?  I just bought mine at Walmart?
And you know what?  It was made in Korea!

[Tyrones own]

Quote from: Tyrones own on September 02, 2011, 09:52:44 AM

    Can't believe none of ye picked up on this... actually I can 
    Way to go Barrack 

    http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/white-house-backed-solar-solyndra-company-collapses/story?id=14420755


TO, absolutely right, Barrack Obama just personally guaranteed (certainly not the US department of Energy) a loan for a tech company in the US that employed 1100 people that before the investment was made had an expected market cap of $2BN US.  (http://gigaom.com/cleantech/solyndras-estimated-market-cap-up-to-2b-report/)

Hmm...Really? Fact is, it was Cronyism plain and simple on the backs of the tax payer
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/solyndra-bankruptcy-insider-warning_n_963275.html

[heganboy]

yep really. One staffer did predict correctly, in fact there were a wealth of folks advising against the Solyndra investment however, many saw it as a particularly good investment as did the markets (see the quote I originally posted for details). Fitch's B+ rating is surprisingly quite high for an alternative energy company, though for the record that's the same Fitch's that was rating the same sub prime Mortgages that collapsed Lehman brothers as AAA so wouldn't have too much faith in their system.

Are you suggesting that the US government should not be funding non oil energy sources?

Maybe leaving the future of the world's energy to the Chinese is a good plan for the US. Should definitely keep government spending lower (i know you like that) for the considerable future. If there's no money to spend and the Chinese won't lend any as they own all the global power sources so you can't repay.

THe US is losing its place at the top table of world economies due to its lack of spending in research and development. 3 times more money was spent in the US on Cosmetic surgery that was spent on R&D. In fact more money was spent on crisps (potato chips) than was spent on R&D. Not great signs for the economy or the future success of US pioneering progress.

Do you know how much money the US stood to gain if that investment paid off, and Solyndra had been successful? This is not supposed to be a pension grade investment paying back the US government a 4% annual return.

How would you have spent the money?

By the way, very impressed by you citing the Center for Public Integrity (however indirectly via the HP), I look forward to many more posts from there. Facts are a great place to start any of these discussions.

Also TO I think that you are absolutely right to have a go on this one, and there are a lot of conflicting reports on predictions of the performance of Solyndra and it indeed was money down the drain in hindsight. My own opinion is that given the aim of the (far too small) investment pool that was cut out of the budget to be spent on this, that Solyndra was a fair choice. I do however think that a DARPA style approach would have been an improvement on the fund method, and a Manhattan project style approach would even now be a welcome step to the US plotting a route to not only energy independence, but also becoming a net exporter of energy.

[seafoid]

US census report on income

• Real median household income was $49,445 in 2010, a 2.3 percent
decline from 2009 (Figure 1 and Table 1).

• Since 2007, the year before the most recent recession, real median household income has declined 6.4 percent and is 7.1 percent below the median household
income peak that occurred in 1999 (Figure 1 and Tables A-1 and A-2).

• The official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent—up from 14.3 percent in 2009. This was the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. Since 2007, the poverty rate has increased by 2.6 percentage points, from 12.5 percent to 15.1 percent (Table 4 and Figure 4).

• In 2010, 46.2 million people were in poverty, up from 43.6 million in 2009—the fourth consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty (Table 4 and Figure 4).

(Definitions of income are in appendix A page 31. Definition of poverty is in appendix B page 61).

http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p60-239.pdf

[screenexile]

Just how much more do we need to know about this pair
Un fecking believable;
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2011/sep/13/michelle-obama-all-just-flag/#.TnAMFa5aAgM.facebook

Never let the facts get away of the propaganda machine . . .

Mrs. Obama leans to her husband and appears to say, "all this just for a flag." She then purses her lips and shakes her head slightly as Mr. Obama nods.

[J70]

Just how much more do we need to know about this pair
Un fecking believable;
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2011/sep/13/michelle-obama-all-just-flag/#.TnAMFa5aAgM.facebook

Never let the facts get away of the propaganda machine . . .

Mrs. Obama leans to her husband and appears to say, "all this just for a flag." She then purses her lips and shakes her head slightly as Mr. Obama nods.

I watched it out of morbid curiosity. The right wing fake outrage machine must have some serious lip reading skills to decipher such a treasonous utterance from that piece of film!

[Tyrones own]

Just how much more do we need to know about this pair
Un fecking believable;
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2011/sep/13/michelle-obama-all-just-flag/#.TnAMFa5aAgM.facebook

Never let the facts get away of the propaganda machine . . .

Mrs. Obama leans to her husband and appears to say, "all this just for a flag." She then purses her lips and shakes her head slightly as Mr. Obama nods.

I watched it out of morbid curiosity. The right wing fake outrage machine must have some serious lip reading skills to decipher such a treasonous utterance from that piece of film!

Ok that said, what does it look like she uttered then in your opinion.......?

[J70]

Just how much more do we need to know about this pair
Un fecking believable;
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/robbins-report/2011/sep/13/michelle-obama-all-just-flag/#.TnAMFa5aAgM.facebook

Never let the facts get away of the propaganda machine . . .

Mrs. Obama leans to her husband and appears to say, "all this just for a flag." She then purses her lips and shakes her head slightly as Mr. Obama nods.

I watched it out of morbid curiosity. The right wing fake outrage machine must have some serious lip reading skills to decipher such a treasonous utterance from that piece of film!

Ok that said, what does it look like she uttered then in your opinion.......?

I have no idea whatsoever TO nor, more importantly, do I care whatsoever what Michele Obama or any other woman whispers privately to her husband.

To me, this type of "issue" is on a level with the birther/"Obama is a muslim" extreme fringe paranoia.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Typical far-right bullshit: attempting to put words into people's mouths (literally), just so that they can have an unhinged rant about them. Pathetic.

[Eamonnca1]

Sarah Palin sex claims: Tea Party firebrand had fling with Glen Rice and took drugs
Thursday, 15 September 2011


Sarah Palin, darling of the Tea Party, had a fling with a basketball star just before she got married and took cocaine while out snowmobiling, according to a US author.

The claims are contained in a highly critical book by acclaimed author Joe McGinniss which is due to be published next week.

The former Alaska Governor has not ruled out a bid for the Presidency next year, but the new allegations, based on 200 interviews with present and former staff, could be devastating for her political future.

The allegations originally published in the National Enquirer quoting publishing sources close to the book, throw into chaos her carefully constructed image of a down-to-earth hockey mom.

Mr McGinnis,( 67) a well established non fiction author, wrote the best selling account of Richard Nixon's 1968 Presidential run.

He spent four months last year in a cabin beside the Palin residence on the shores of Lake Lucille in Alaska.

He also reportedly claims that she took marijuana while a student and had an affair with her husband Todd's business partner in his book "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin."

Mrs Palin's life has been under the microscope for three years, but the claims will be the first such lurid allegations by a serious author, and will be seized on by her enemies. She has not responded publicly so far.

Mrs Palin angrily accused him of planning to spy on her family.

In the book he claims Mrs Palin had a one-night stand with basketball player Glen Rice, who went on to play for the Miami Heat, less than a year before marrying her husband Todd.

Ms Palin's alleged fling with the 6ft 8 inch black basketball star is at odds with the deeply conservative persona she had cultivated appealing greatly to the strongly traditional Tea Party.

The book is published by Crown Publishing of the Random House stable and the publisher is standing by the claims.

"It is based on extensive reporting by Joe McGinniss in Alaska and on interviews with 200 people who have known Sarah Palin very well at different stages in her life and career," David Drake of Crown told The Times newspaper.

Source Irish Independent

[screenexile]

Sarah Palin sex claims: Tea Party firebrand had fling with Glen Rice and took drugs
Thursday, 15 September 2011


Sarah Palin, darling of the Tea Party, had a fling with a basketball star just before she got married and took cocaine while out snowmobiling, according to a US author.

The claims are contained in a highly critical book by acclaimed author Joe McGinniss which is due to be published next week.

The former Alaska Governor has not ruled out a bid for the Presidency next year, but the new allegations, based on 200 interviews with present and former staff, could be devastating for her political future.

The allegations originally published in the National Enquirer quoting publishing sources close to the book, throw into chaos her carefully constructed image of a down-to-earth hockey mom.

Mr McGinnis,( 67) a well established non fiction author, wrote the best selling account of Richard Nixon's 1968 Presidential run.

He spent four months last year in a cabin beside the Palin residence on the shores of Lake Lucille in Alaska.

He also reportedly claims that she took marijuana while a student and had an affair with her husband Todd's business partner in his book "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin."

Mrs Palin's life has been under the microscope for three years, but the claims will be the first such lurid allegations by a serious author, and will be seized on by her enemies. She has not responded publicly so far.

Mrs Palin angrily accused him of planning to spy on her family.

In the book he claims Mrs Palin had a one-night stand with basketball player Glen Rice, who went on to play for the Miami Heat, less than a year before marrying her husband Todd.

Ms Palin's alleged fling with the 6ft 8 inch black basketball star is at odds with the deeply conservative persona she had cultivated appealing greatly to the strongly traditional Tea Party.

The book is published by Crown Publishing of the Random House stable and the publisher is standing by the claims.

"It is based on extensive reporting by Joe McGinniss in Alaska and on interviews with 200 people who have known Sarah Palin very well at different stages in her life and career," David Drake of Crown told The Times newspaper.

Source Irish Independent

[heganboy]

so twice in one week! The NY Times (my bible as per TO) has slated the author of this book, and in some style.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/books/joe-mcginnisss-the-rogue-on-sarah-palin-review.html


On May 22, 2010, Joe McGinniss moved into a strategically well-situated house in Wasilla, Alaska. It was next door to the home of former Gov. Sarah Palin and her family, but that understates the highly exploitable proximity of the two places. They were very close together. The Palins could probably hear tweets from the newly hatched birds that Mr. McGinniss excitedly uses as filler for "The Rogue," his book about his summer-long experiment in homesteading. "The grebe chicks have hatched!" he needlessly exclaims.

Nancy Doherty
Joe McGinniss
THE ROGUE
Searching for the Real Sarah Palin
By Joe McGinniss
Illustrated, 321 pages. Crown Publishers. $25.
Related


Jake Guevara/The New York Times
Tweets emanated from the Palin place too. But they were the kind that Mr. McGinniss could have monitored from home in Massachusetts.

Mr. McGinnis, who has been writing best sellers since "The Selling of the President" in 1969, starts this book by affecting a gee-whiz attitude about his amazing new digs. ("Forty years in the business and I've never had a piece of luck like this.") But he doesn't get far with that attitude. Ten pages into "The Rogue" he has already blown his cover, printing a map to the Palins' isolated house. He describes having gone to the Palin door with a signed copy of his book about Alaska, "Going to Extremes," and exploiting this encounter to engage the family's older son, Track, in conversation. But had Mr. McGinniss been a good neighbor, he would have delivered that book without showing up unannounced.

Mr. McGinniss explains that he was shocked, just shocked, at the angry response his presence in Wasilla provoked. But "The Rogue" makes the Palins' widely publicized anger understandable, even to readers who might have defended his right to set up shop in their neighborhood and soak up the local color. Although most of "The Rogue" is dated, petty and easily available to anyone with Internet access, Mr. McGinniss used his time in Alaska to chase caustic, unsubstantiated gossip about the Palins, often from unnamed sources like "one resident" and "a friend."

And these stories need not be consistent. "The Rogue" suggests that Todd Palin and the young Sarah Heath took drugs. It also says that she lacked boyfriends and was a racist. And it includes this: "A friend says, 'Sarah and her sisters had a fetish for black guys for a while.'  " Mr. McGinniss did in 2011 make a phone call to the former N.B.A. basketball player Glen Rice, who is black, and prompted him to acknowledge having fond memories of Sarah Heath. While Mr. Rice avoids specifics and uses the words "respectful" and "a sweetheart," Mr. McGinniss eggs him on with the kind of flagrantly leading question he seems to have habitually asked. In Mr. Rice's case: "So you never had the feeling she felt bad about having sex with a black guy?"

So much for the soft sell. Soon Mr. McGinniss is settling in to enjoy the fuss his mere presence has created. "Normally, for a news story to continue beyond the first 24-hour news cycle, something newsworthy must occur," he writes loftily, but "The Rogue" is filled with proof to the contrary. What was his hate mail like? He quotes it. What did Glenn Beck call him? That's here too. Who took umbrage at this venom and chose to help him? One man offered him a hideout, despite Mr. McGinniss's slight skepticism about his motives. "But you don't know me," Mr. McGinnis protested.

"Hell, I've even got an AK-47 you might like," the man volunteered.

Is it any wonder that such shenanigans found their way to "Doonesbury"? The "Rogue"-related controversy has escalated this week with the news that some newspapers have declined to run installments of the comic strip that incorporate excerpts from the book. But what exactly is stopping them? Is it the book's intrepid reporting, or its questionable tone? Mr. McGinniss's most quotable, inflammatory lines call Ms. Palin a clown, a nitwit, a rabid wolf and a lap dancer — and those aren't the parts that assail her as a wife and parent.

He even finds a species of Alaska yenta willing to remark on the condition of the Palins' toilet, and he too (many of these gossips are men) has a place in "The Rogue." A journalist as seasoned as Mr. McGinniss surely knows what these details will do to his credibility regarding the book's more serious claims.

"The Rogue" reopens many knotty arguments about Ms. Palin's public record, mostly the same ones that were hashed over when she became part of the 2008 presidential campaign. It cites the investigation that became known as Troopergate, the questions about her involvement with the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (Mr. McGinniss covered this in a 2009 Portfolio article) and her possible commitment to such extreme theological ideas as dominionism, although here too "The Rogue" is too busy being nasty to be lucid. Mr. McGinniss suggests both that Ms. Palin is committed to stealth religious control of government, and that she is not sufficiently devout.

With the same imprecise aim he cites conspiracy theories that Ms. Palin may not be the mother of her youngest son, Trig, and questions the circumstances under which he was born. Mr. McGinniss puts forth a provocative case for doubting Ms. Palin's account of Trig's birth, which involved a round trip between Alaska and Texas while she was supposedly in labor. But then he comes to an indefensibly reckless conclusion: "It is perhaps the most blistering assessment of her character possible that many Wasillans who'd known Sarah from high school onward told me that even if she had not faked the entire story of her pregnancy and Trig's birth, it was something she was eminently capable of doing."

There is one area, and only one, in which "The Rogue" is dead-on. Mr. McGinniss knows how publicity works. He appreciates, not to say emulates, the way members of the Palin family cash in on celebrity and contradict themselves without penalty. He also denounces the press's willingness to let this happen. How was it possible, he asks, for Ms. Palin's daughter Bristol to assail Levi Johnston, the father of her son, as being "obsessed with the limelight," then turn up herself on "Dancing With the Stars"?

Speaking of Mr. Johnston, Mr. McGinniss interviews his resentful mother, who was under house arrest on a drug charge at the time. He leaves her house "wanting to find Levi and give him a good hard shake and tell him to forget his sputtering career for half a second and go home, because his mother needs him." Since absolutely nobody connected with "The Rogue" seems to lack ulterior motives, there is one here as well. Mr. Johnston's sputtering career has produced a memoir, "Deer in the Headlights." Next week it will compete for attention with "The Rogue," when both are officially published on the same day.