#3
"The swine flu pandemic could kill millions and cause anarchy in the world's poorest nations unless £900m can be raised from rich countries to pay for vaccines and antiviral medicines fully equipped Toyota Land Cruisers (in white, please...and don't forget the upgrade package) and plenty of overnight stays in 5-star hotels, says a UN report leaked to the Observer".
There. Fixed it.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
09/20/2009 13:28 Comments ||
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#4
I know I'm an evil warped vindictive person, but it tickles me that Islam sees these Vaccinations as EEEEEVVVVIIILLL, and refuse to take them.
DIE YOU MURDERING MORONS
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 13:40 Comments ||
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#5
So here's the issue.
Set aside white Land Cruisers and 5 star hotels for the moment. Yes, the UN is not exactly the most attractive or credible source, especially when they are trying to guilt us into paying into their schemes.
That said, consider what the best H1N1 epidemic models say, especially the one I've mentioned here before that was highly accurate in its predictions of where/when/how many cases we'd see in the Spring.
Those models demonstrate that, if the virus mutates into a virulent more lethal form, there are only two ways to prevent a repeat of the 1918 lethal pandemic, here in the US as well as elsewhere.
One way is to somehow know ahead of time where that mutation will occur and block all humans and foodstuffs coming out of that area, for a year or so. Of course, it is quite possible it will mutate in multiple places at once and in any case it's impossible to detect the instant it mutates.
The other way is to vaccinate those people who are a) most likely to catch it early or b) especially susceptible to it.
No one knows who might be in category a). We can hypothesize that it might be the poor whose nutrition, sanitation and health care make them vulnerable to disease in general, but that's just a guess.
Category b) seems to include people under 24 or so and pregnant women, in the current non-lethal strain. FWIW those are the same population groups that were most susceptible to the 1918 strain.
I haven't a clue if this mutation will occur. But if it does, we will wish those vaccinations had occurred earlier because it will affect us in direct ways.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2009 15:00 Comments ||
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#7
Agreed, Frank - and there's a big push to do that, hoping that the vaccine we are generating for the current strain will be sufficiently close to any mutated virus that it will prevent the spread of a more deadly form.
#9
Lotp's 2-pronged scenario makes the assumption that an H1N1 vaccine will function as desired.
AFAIK, there is no vaccine being used at this moment to stop H1N1. One has just been approved but we can't know if it will work -- until it's too late.
#10
$1,459,928,754 total (rounded off to the nearest dollar).
$1,135,420,015 on antiviral drugs and vaccines to protect health care workers and other essential personnel as well as cover those suffering from severe illness.
$238,470,123 for vaccine campaigns, improve communications, monitor levels of illness and improve laboratory capacity in 61 countries.
$85,979,205 to pay for WHO and other UN-related organizations administrative costs, as well as an emergency fund for additional antiviral medicines.
We could help the downtrodden of the world AND our cranberry farmers by exporting lots of cranberry juice to them. Win-win for everyone except the UN kleptocrats!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2009 18:07 Comments ||
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#14
I absolutely love cranberry juice.
We even get fresh cranberries from the U.S. now
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/20/2009 18:31 Comments ||
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#15
I'm surprised someone isn't growing cranberries in Europe, EC. I think y'all have the right climate for it in much of northern Europe.
Have you tried Craisins? (Like raisins, but made with dried sweetened cranberries.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2009 18:36 Comments ||
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#16
BTW, except for the fact that the Useless Nitwits are always scheming to get their hands on more of our money, I'm surprised they want to combat swine flu or any other disease that they think will kill millions. They're greenie leftist gerbil worming believers, and greenie leftist gerbil worming believers think there are too many people on the planet and that's what's ruining it, so why don't they want those millions killed for the sake of Mother Gaia?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2009 18:41 Comments ||
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#17
The Euro-Asian variety of the cranberry is calles Moosbeere in German and actually grows here, but is not grown commercially. Don't know exactly why but in Scandinavia other berries are preferred.
(Cludberries which are heavenly delicious grow in the wild and are harvested by anyone who wants them, fetching good prices).
Only North America has mass production of cranberries and I suppose it's cheaper to import the (more robust) North American variety.
Yes we have Ocean Spray craisins here, too, but few people know them (yet)
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/20/2009 19:03 Comments ||
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#18
So much more is available, on both sides of the pond, than when I lived there almost two decades ago, European Conservative. It almost seems like globalization is a good thing. ;-)
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/20/2009 19:24 Comments ||
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#20
I've got a better deal.Give me a dollar and I wont give you Swine Flu. Deal?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/20/2009 21:04 Comments ||
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#21
I got a chuckle that you put this under lurid crime tales. Maybe a graphic of Uncle Sam's pockets being picked. But then, Sam's pocket is empty. Maybe of crooks stealing his identity and running up his credit cards, taking out a mortgage with poor Sam working on the chain gang to pay it all back. haha. be funny if it wasn't true.
Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) leaders are using the threat of a law suit to silence and intimidate critics, according to current and former members of the liberal activist group.
In a letter dated June 11 an attorney for ACORN advised top whistleblowers that their unauthorized use of the organization's name could make them liable for monetary damages and injunctive relief.
"I am here to testify in a whistle-blowing capacity about the organization formerly known as ACORN. I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help me God. And please remember you promised me a new identity afterward, because I want to keep my kneecaps unbroken."
ACORN executives have also changed their organization's name, which was tarnished by investigations in at least 14 states of allegations of voter registration fraud during the 2008 presidential campaign, and charges by current and former members of financial mismanagement and misrepresentation.
Not bad enough for the Rab, but quite bad enough to go on with.
The new name will let ACORN leaders continue their operations without worrying about prior bad publicity, according to Marcel Reid of ACORN 8, a group of present and former members. "We've known for many months now that the name ACORN is going to be retired," Reid said. "The name has been so damaged to the point where the leadership knows it simply can't go on as it has with the ACORN label out front and center, especially after all of the reporting."
In fact, the process has already begun, she noted. Wade Rathke, who founded the organization, announced on his blog that ACORN International has officially changed its name to "Community Organizations International."
In fact, the process has already begun, she noted. Wade Rathke, who founded the organization, announced on his blog that ACORN International has officially changed its name to "Community Organizations International."
Reid also said ACORN is in the process of dismantling Citizen's Consulting Inc. (CCI), a New-Orleans based non-profit, which has been used to maintain centralized financial control, ACORN 8 activists claim. Tax records show that CCI is interlinked with several ACORN affiliates.
Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, embezzled almost $1 million from the organization in 1999 and 2000, while he was employed as the organization's chief financial officer with the CCI affiliate. For almost a decade Wade Rathke and other staff members concealed the embezzlement from ACORN's board of trustees, according to the criminal complaint ACORN 8 members filed against the organization.
ACORN's national leaders withdrew a lawsuit Reid filed with fellow board member Karen Inman last October seeking access to internal financial records. Reid and Inman were also expelled from their board positions; a move they say was illegal. Reid and Inman then came together with six other colleagues to form ACORN 8. "ACORN has to be decapitated," Reid said. "The senior staff and current national board should be dismantled. The only way to have reform is for the current leadership to be removed completely. We also need a forensic audit."
Arthur Schwartz, the general counsel for ACORN, has sent a "cease and desist" letter to Reid and Inman instructing them to discontinue using the name ACORN in a connection with their activities. This same letter threatens legal action if the ACORN 8 members do not provide written assurances that they will comply with this demand by the end of June. "It is a violation of federal and state law for you to use the ACORN name and mark without the written permission of ACORN," the letter states. "Should you continue to do so, you will be liable for monetary and injunctive relief."
Reid told The Examiner that ACORN 8 will not comply. "We have no intention of not using the name ACORN 8, it is not a trademark infringement," she said. "This get tough attitude is part of larger attempt to silence people and shut them down. We are not going to be silenced."
Meanwhile, ACORN's Project Vote affiliate has filed suit against Anita MonCrief, a former employee, who has testified under oath on voter registration allegations. ACORN is currently under investigation in at least 14 states for electoral irregularities. The Project Vote suit claims that Anita MonCrief and an unidentified accomplice gained access into private e-mails from group executives and stole the group's name without permission. It also accuses Moncrief of using a company credit card for her own purposes. "ACORN is attempting to silence me, and the allegations in the lawsuit are false," MonCrief said in statement emailed to The Examiner.
ACORN 8 has released its own statement on "whistleblower retaliation" through its national spokesman Michael McCray that expresses support for new protective legislation. "On behalf of the national board of ACORN 8, we are all saddened by and express great concern due to ACORN's court action filed against whistleblower Anita MonCrief," the statement reads. "While we do not express an opinion on the merits of ACORN's complaint; we as reform advocates decry the tactic of suing whistleblowers -- especially, low to moderate income people who do not have the financial means to effectively fight back in courts of law. Moreover, this is yet another example of why congress must enact strong corporate, government and tax-payer funded whistleblower protection laws."
IIUC there are two things going on. One is the response to the ACORN videos. But this name issue predates the videos ... it's related to the financial fraud that Radke's brother perpetrated, which caused some ACORN leaders to push him out and try to open the books.
So COI isn't the real ACORN syndicate that needs taking down. It's just a red-on-red squabble about naming rights.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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ACORN executives have also changed their organization's name
Ah, the old "shell game" approach. A new way to still funnel money into the organization when funding dries up.
#4
New Name - T.H.E.M. (The Horrible Evil Menace) or The Matt Helm films featured the Brotherhood of International Government and Order abbreviated as "BIG O"
#6
You are an absolute darling, Blinky Uluns9485, and you're welcome. However, if it's Jack Daniels, would you be good enough to drink mine, too? Mr. Wife has long enjoyed the fact that, with the alcohol tolerance of a small guppy, 'tis better if I plump for designated driver from the beginning. So I drive him both to and from drink.
Reporting from Los Angeles and Chicago - Stung by the recession and a string of scandals, the ACORN community activist organization has been shutting down in many of the communities it once worked to empower. No new clients are being signed up, said national spokesman Brian Kettenring, while the group conducts an internal investigation into how its business is conducted.
The Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now had already shuttered 40% of its centers -- in cities including Chicago, Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Omaha -- since its high of 105 offices two years ago, he said. The branches helped low- and middle-income clients with housing, jobs and navigating government aid programs.
Kettenring said that the closures were mostly due to the poor economy and had become more frequent in the last year. "We're seeing the same challenges the entire nonprofit sector is seeing," he said.
But former ACORN members say the scandals that have recently dogged the organization -- including allegations of mismanagement and voter registration fraud -- have been a bigger problem.
In the latest controversy, ACORN workers in several cities, including New York, Baltimore and Washington, were secretly videotaped giving advice to two conservative activists who posed as a prostitute and her pimp and said that they wanted to buy a house and run it as a brothel with teenage girls. Workers were recorded giving advice on how to evade taxes and conceal the nature of their business.
The appearance of the videos last week on a Fox News program set off a furor. The U.S. House voted this week to deny all federal funds for ACORN, while state lawmakers in California, Georgia and Minnesota called for investigations or a cutoff of state funds. "When you have this big of a mess, it takes time to clean up and your funders drop like flies," said Madeline Talbott, a former head organizer for ACORN's operations in Illinois.
ACORN's Chicago office closed in January 2008, when Talbott -- along with 365 community members, the local ACORN board and at least a dozen paid staff members -- quit over concerns about mismanagement and a lack of financial transparency at the group's national headquarters. "I feel so torn about what's happening now," said Talbott, who today is an organizer with Action Now, an advocacy group for the poor in Chicago. "I'm so relieved not to be part of the organization anymore, and so sad because they are trying to clean things up."
Founded in Arkansas in 1970, ACORN advocates for higher minimum wages, access to affordable housing and increased voter registration in low-income communities. It has been a top target for conservatives because of its liberal agenda. President Obama worked as an attorney for the group in the 1990s.
The organization mobilized a get-out-the-vote effort to support Obama's presidential bid last year, but it was tainted when nearly a third of the 1.3 million voters the group registered were rejected. Last week, authorities in Miami announced the arrests of 11 former registration canvassers on allegations that they had submitted nearly 200 falsified forms. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for this month in Nevada, where state prosecutors have accused ACORN and two former top officials of using an illegal incentive system to motivate people registering voters just before the 2008 presidential election.
ACORN officials blame such woes on a conservative push to force the organization out of business.
Because it couldn't possibly be that criminal behaviour results in criminal penalties.
Amy Schur, ACORN's head organizer for California, acknowledged that the organization has had a tough year, but said that the state's 12 offices would survive. Membership is up, and funding has been stable, she said.
Current funding, at least. Future funding is evaporating faster than spit on a New York City sidewalk during a summer heat wave. Surely you remember when New York City had heat waves, dear reader.
"Our organization is under attack," she said. "But we're going to come out of this just fine."
Suuuure you will, Schur.
Schur said that the decentralized nature of ACORN ensures that if an office in one part of the country founders, it won't necessarily affect those in the rest of the country.
Still, Schur said, she has taken steps to quell any public uneasiness. Schur said that the organization had hired an independent auditor to review the finances of the state's programs, and that the group would require more training for staff.
John Atlas, who just completed a book about ACORN's history, said that the recent scandals had brought "overwhelming bad publicity."
"The brand is tainted," Atlas said. "This is going to make it harder for them to recruit new members, to get foundation funding and get funding for voter registration."
Good.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Obama to George Stephanopoulos just 3 minutes ago:
Steph: How about that funding for ACORN?
Obama: Frankly, it's not something I've really followed closely. I didn't even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of Federal money.
Steph: But the Senate and the House have voted to cut it off.
Obama: Ya know, what I know is that what I saw on that video is certainly inappropriate.
Steph: So you're not committing to cut off Federal funding?
Obama: (Smirking) George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country. It's not something I'm paying a lot of attention to.
#2
President Obama worked as an attorney for the group in the 1990s.
He doesn't pay "alot of attention to"
Lie number 57,926,000 - No Smirking here - Just a long succession of "mis-information" - this guy has got millions of those Attention Deficit Syndrome lines
#3
Hype. The 'gravy train' is too big for them to just totally shut down. They'll probably just close their doors in a few places (to make it look good) and re-open across the street under a new name.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/20/2009 12:01 Comments ||
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#8
Ohblahblahblah is NOT going to jettison the force that put him in office, and the force he's expeecting to do it again in 4 years.
They'll just change names and seem to vanish, but NOT really disband, Bambi needs them to stack the votes again (at least once more)
THEN he'll dump them like a hot rock. And pretend they were'nt "His" folks
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 13:36 Comments ||
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#9
Snuffle: Surely, since you aware enough of current events to make a comment concerning Kanye's behavior, you know something about about the organization you have been working with throughout your professional career?
Obama (d-new level of transparency): 1, 2, 3, 4...fifth!
#11
"I surprised ACORN didn't classify their regular employees as 'contractors'."
No doubt they tried, Pappy - but the eviillll IRS under BushHitler actually enforced the requirements for an employee to be considered a contractor. And it's doubtful ACORN's employees would qualify. Maybe they'll get more favorable treatment from Bambi's IRS.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2009 21:43 Comments ||
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Unlike other ACORN workers nabbed on undercover video, two Brooklyn ACORN employees have not been fired -- nearly a week after they were exposed in their office giving helpful advice to a fake pimp and prostitute on how to launder money.
A spokesman for New York ACORN Housing Corp. told The Post that the employees, Volda Albert and Milagros Rivera, have been suspended without pay. "It will remain that way until the outcome of the [Brooklyn district attorney's] investigation is resolved," said spokesman Jonathan Rosen. Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes has launched a criminal probe of the incident, and the ACORN office is "cooperating fully," said Rosen.
Five other ACORN workers nabbed in similar video stings in Baltimore, Washington and San Bernardino, Calif., have already been axed.
In Brooklyn, the two housing counselors were caught on hidden camera by two conservative activists who claimed they wanted advice on how to set up a brothel.
Gov. Paterson yesterday moved to put a 30-day hold on all state contracts with ACORN. New York ACORN's president, Pat Boone, said: "We welcome the governor's review and are confident he will find that every state dollar we've received went directly to combating New York's foreclosure crisis" and helping New Yorkers get tax credits.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Tax problems continue to build for the New Orleans-based national activist group ACORN, with the IRS filing a $548,000 lien this month for two years worth of unpaid payroll taxes, according to records in the Orleans Parish Clerk of Court's office.
Whoops! How does the underside of the bus look, ACORN?
The latest federal tax filing lists seven different payments that were missed for unemployment taxes from July 2007 through March of this year. That adds to an existing IRS bill of more than $1 million, which The Pelican Institute detailed in an August report.
It's hard to get people to donate for overdue taxes -- IRS inspectors don't have sad puppy eyes like homeless children.
The latest federal filing, recorded Sept. 3, comes as Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell investigates delinquent state payroll taxes from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and its myriad related groups. Caldwell is also investigating other allegations against the group...
In the Louisiana tax case, court records show the state Department of Revenue filed two liens in January. The first, for $306,702, was against Citizens Consulting Inc., the bookkeeping arm of ACORN. It describes delinquent employee withholding taxes from late 2002 through mid 2008. The second lien was against ACORN itself for $26,026, again for unpaid withholding taxes. Both state liens appear to be cancelled, according to a citation in the Clerk of Court's computer.
State revenue officials will not discuss individual taxpayer cases, so they could not confirm that the issue is clear. A spokeswoman for Caldwell said investigators are still awaiting information from subpoenas and couldn't yet address the status of the liens.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Ummm, ten cents per fake voter?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 0:28 Comments ||
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#2
They weren't employees, they were "volunteers", therefore ACORN shouldn't have to pay unemployment taxes. Besides, they are Democrats, who are exempt from taxes (just ask Geithner).
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/20/2009 1:31 Comments ||
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#3
$548K Tax Lien Filed Against ACORN
Pocket change for them.
Like a slap on the wrist, with a feather.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 14:06 Comments ||
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California's unemployment rate in August hit its highest point in nearly 70 years, starkly underscoring how the nation's incipient economic recovery continues to elude millions of Americans looking for work. While job losses continue to fall, the state's new unemployment rate -- 12.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- is far above the national average of 9.7 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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Yup, it's bad here. Soon there won't be anyone left but public employees, illegals and the Argentine ants.
#3
Given the anti-business environment they've put in place don't expect any quick turn around. Once the doors close, it's easier to restart elsewhere. Punishing the productive and rewarding the non-productive will lead to this eventually.
#4
"Punishing the productive and rewarding the non-productive will lead to [high unemployment] eventually."
Too true, P2k.
Since punishing the productive and rewarding the non-productive is DemocRat default mode, one has to wonder where they think they're going to get all the money to reward the non-productive (including themselves) as they force fewer and fewer people to be productive.
Oh, wait - I know. They're going to get it off the Magic Money Tree™ out back just like they're sure everybody else does....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2009 10:31 Comments ||
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#5
Please just let the housing prices come back a little and watch how many of us bail. A lot of what's left are just itching to just ship as we have watched the democrats utterl destroy everything about California. Truly we have ruined paradise and I will be sad to leave. But this state is lost.
#3
Spot, Obama rules over local police matters, like the Skip Gates brouhaha. Surely he has the power to to interfere in a very important state election.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/20/2009 11:44 Comments ||
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#4
President Obama has sent a request to Gov. David A. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governors race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing
Dismal political standings are enough? Well then...
#6
Agreed, Pappy. Separately, the president of the United States is traditionally the head of his party, so this request, while I believe unusual, should be well within his purview. Governor Paterson need not comply, however, and it will be quite interesting to see which way he chooses... and the reasons he gives for doing so.
#9
Steele plays the race card on Obama: Michael Steele said it was curious on why the White House would ask New York Gov. David Paterson (D) not to run for reelection in 2010.
I found that to be stunning, that the White House would send word to one of only two black governors in the country not to run for reelection, Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), said on CBSs Face The Nation.
Heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2009 15:39 Comments ||
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#10
It'll be interesting to see if the US Secretary of State bails in the next few months in order to take a shot at the NY governor's race.
If Bambi and his Chicago rogues' gallery were subtle thinkers (which they definitely are not - their artistic media are clubs and hatchets, not stilettos and cyanide), I'd suspect a double-headfake strategy worthy of James Carville. To wit: (1) Clear the way for Hillary! to gain the Dem nomination for Governor. (2) Subtly sabotage her campaign and ensure a Giuliani victory. (3) Get some popcorn and beer and enjoy the spectacle of Hillary!'s ambitions imploding once and for all.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
09/20/2009 16:34 Comments ||
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#11
Or: stay neutralish, let her resign and try for the nomination and then encourage all the racism charges so that she implodes, helped along by walking-around money in Brooklyn and Queens.
Andy Stern, head of the Service Employees International Union, has just released a statement vowing not to be "silenced" by "right wing attack dogs" targeting "progressive individuals" and "community organizations." Stern, whose union has sometimes been linked with the community organizing group ACORN, which yesterday suffered an enormous blow when the House of Representatives voted 345-45 to cut off all federal funds for the organization, said his union will not be intimidated by a right-wing "backlash" that is "fierce, ugly and anti-American." Here is the full text of Stern's statement:
This is a moment of profound change for this country--from kitchen tables to town halls to the floor of the Senate, this nation is engaged in a vigorous and heated debate about how we rebuild our economy, solve our national healthcare crisis and restore the American Dream.
As has always happened when progressive change is in the air, the backlash gets fierce, ugly and anti-American. This time is no different. Right now, there is an insidious and coordinated effort on the part of the extreme right to target individuals and grassroots community groups as a way to silence the voices of women and men who have suffered the most under 8 years of right wing policies.
These extremists will attempt to shut down and shout down anyone with a different point of view.
Let's be clear who we are talking about--call them attack dogs, call them Teabaggers, call them Glenn Beck--these are the same folks who cheered the policies that crashed our economy. Who make up lies about death panels to try to kill healthcare reform. Who scream about democracy while denying workers a voice on the job. Who target anyone who poses a threat to a status quo that for too long has rewarded greedy CEOs while leaving people who work out in the cold.
This is not the America we believe in.
Their lies, their stunts and their smears will not silence us. Glenn Beck, FOX News and their pals have demonstrated that they don't care about what janitors, security officers, nurses, teachers, and other hardworking Americans go through each day trying to give their kids a better future. But make no mistake--these hardworking women and men will not be the next casualty of the cruel and cheap attempts of a loud and venomous minority to silence people who want to restore the American Dream.
We are going to make sure healthcare is affordable and accessible for every man, woman and child in this country. We are going to demand transparency and accountability in the financial industry. We are going to create a fair and just path to citizenship. We are going to make sure workers get a voice on the job. And we will protect our democracy by calling out those extremists who would silence the voices of women and men who work each day.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/20/2009 00:00 ||
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An America divided will not stand.
Stern, your an ass and you should not play with fire.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/20/2009 0:11 Comments ||
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34575, that is.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
09/20/2009 0:52 Comments ||
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#3
We are going to make sure healthcare is affordable and accessible for every man, woman and child in this country. We are going to demand transparency and accountability in the financial industry.
Funny how SEIU is exempt from Obama care.
And how about transparency and accountability in SEIU first. Take the log out of your own eye and all that....
#7
Will all the right wing extremists please stand. Ready, aim, fire. Problem taken care of. Thank you. That's what I hear in Andy's statement.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/20/2009 10:59 Comments ||
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#8
You guys in the "Progressive" (= American Communist)movement need to chill-out I'll pass on your vision of "Amerika" theme - Marxist - The handwriting is on the wall Andy - UAW got all the cash in the "Amerikan Automoble Bailout" - SEIU is left with nothing - go back and start doing your laundry - You Sh*t Yourself Comrad Sternski !
In a little noticed interview with the Daily Beast (presumably little noticed because serious people don't read the Daily Beast), Zbigniew Brzezinski suggests that Barack Obama do more than just refuse to support an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites -- the American president must give the order to shoot down Israeli aircraft as they cross Iraqi airspace:
DB: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in Americas worst interest?
Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?
DB: What if they fly over anyway?
Brzezinski: Well, we have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you arent just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a Liberty in reverse.
Contrary to Brezinski's half-hearted disclaimer that no one wishes for such an outcome, there are plenty on the left who would delight in a pitched battle between the United States and Israel. Democrats in Congress routinely support resolutions affirming Israel's right to take whatever steps it deems necessary to assure its own national defense. And Obama has at least paid lip service to the concept. But hostility to Israel among the rank and file is very real on the left -- and among "realists."
So conjure the image -- the Obama administration sending U.S. aircraft up to protect Iran's airspace and it's nuclear installations from an attack by a democracy that is one of America's closest allies.
Unfortunately, this may not be so hard to imagine in Israel, where the number of people who believe Obama is pro-Israel is at just 4 percent -- and falling. And given Obama's (literally) submissive posture to the Saudis, his indulgence of the Iranians, and his simultaneously hard-line approach to Israel, it seems even some of Obama's supporters can savor the possibility of a "reverse Liberty."
#6
This scenario has been discussed here previously. Taken a frightening stip further, what an IDF pilot(s) bail out due to hostile fire or equipment malfunction, land in Iraq and are policed up by US or Iraqi military personnel. Will he or she detained in an Iraqi prison facility or a US confinement center? Will they go there by.... train?
#7
Besoeker, any IDF pilot captured by US or Iraqi forces would, under Obama, probably be sent to Iran as an apology.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/20/2009 11:47 Comments ||
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#8
I don't want to defen Zbig or Obama here, but is this threat really serious?
Wouldn't the use of US military power in the defense of Iranian nukes be an extremely unpopular move (to put it mildly), provoking congressional countermeasures (condemnation, defunding, threat of impeachment)?
The Obama administration could hurt Israel in a much less conspicuous though maybe equally severe way by sharing intelligence on Israel with Iran.
An Israel that had to operate under the assumption that her deepest darkest secrets were known to Iran would probably even be more constrained by that than by an empty threat of military engagement.
#9
"An Israel that had to operate under the assumption that her deepest darkest secrets were known to Iran"
I'll bet Netanyahu already does that, CF - since Bambi's in office here....
(At least I hope so.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/20/2009 12:29 Comments ||
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#10
The point, Cheack, is not that Obama would consider doing it, but that the Carterite fossil actually suggested it.
I remember the ridiculous picture of Zbig posturing on the Afghan-Pakistan border shortly after the Soviet invasion in 1979, aiming an assault rifle into Soviet held territory on the other side for the benefit of news cameras. The Russkies were probably thinking "Yeah, make my day."
#12
he defines "our" differently than you or I would
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/20/2009 13:14 Comments ||
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#13
All this time I thought Brezinski had no sense of humor.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/20/2009 14:11 Comments ||
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#14
Remember that Brzezinski belongs to CSIS, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a collective of the very worst failures of American foreign policy since the 1960s.
Other members include Henry Kissinger, Madelyn Albright, Carter-era draft dodger and SecDef Harold Brown, general purpose scoundrel Richard Armitage, ex-Republican RINO/ex-senator William Cohen, etc.
CSIS wanted to be SPECTRE, but none of its members could figure out how to operate an elevator.
#15
SPECTRE - SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion : Anonymous - CSIS is part of the organization; everytime these people pontificate the "C" or "T" comes into play.
#17
Yeah, and they're gonna take that missile shield that was planned for Eastern Europe and put it in Iran just in case the Juice try to fire missiles.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/20/2009 20:31 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Reporting from Los Angeles and Chicago - Stung by the recession and a string of scandals, the ACORN community activist organization has been shutting down in many of the communities it once worked to empower. No new clients are being signed up, said national spokesman Brian Kettenring, while the group conducts an internal investigation into how its business is conducted.
