Voted For Obama? Then You Are Going To Hell

I found this letter from CBS13 in Modesto, CA, where that Priest told his parish that if they voted for Obama they have committed a “mortal sin”.

The Rev. Joseph Illo says his parishioners at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Modesto shouldn’t risk losing their “state of grace” by receiving communion sacrilegiously. He delivered the message in a Nov. 21 letter and during mass.

In an interview this week with the Modesto Bee, Illo says he sent the letter because Catholic teaching requires that people go to confession when they commit a mortal sin.

I don’t know about the hell part, but brain function has definetely been altered.

h/t Undeniable Liberalism

B’Man’s Sabbath Watch: Study Shows Religion Linked To Immoral Behavior

Food for thought…

“The more ‘faithful’ a nation is, the more likely it is to have markers of social pathology; like homicides, suicides, rape, unwed pregnancy, teen pregnancy, and the like.“

h/t AfterDowningStreet and Read here and here for a pdf of the study.

From the Abstract of the Study:

Large-scale surveys show dramatic declines in religiosity in favor of secularization in the developed democracies. Popular acceptance of evolutionary science correlates negatively with levels of religiosity, and the United States is the only prosperous nation where the majority absolutely believes in a creator and evolutionary science is unpopular. Abundant data is available on rates of societal dysfunction and health in the first world. Cross-national comparisons of highly differing rates of religiosity and societal conditions form a mass epidemiological experiment that can be used to test whether high rates of belief in and worship of a creator are necessary for high levels of social health. Data correlations show that in almost all regards the highly secular democracies consistently enjoy low rates of societal dysfunction, while pro-religious and antievolution America performs poorly.

How To Handle War Criminals In A REAL World

A quick clip from Russian TV where a former Georgian Ambassador says that whomever is responsible for the illegal attacks on South Ossetia should be tried as a war criminal.

Those responsible for starting the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict should be tried in court. Thats according to Erosi Kitsmarishvili, Georgia’s former Ambassador to Russia, who spoke exclusively to RT after giving evidence to a Georgian parliamentary commission looking into the war.

We can only wish America was so “American”.

The Bush Doctrine (Obama’s Directive?)

h/t to ThinkProgress for this article that EJ Dionne penned at the Washington Post. Makes sense.

So are we getting that “change” we had “hope” for, yet?

Obama’s Bush Doctrine

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush.

That is the meaning of Obama’s apparent decision to keep Robert Gates on as defense secretary and also to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

With strong ties to the military and a carefully cultivated image of tough-mindedness, Clinton will protect the incoming president’s back from those on the right ready to pounce at any sign of what they see as weakness.

As for Gates, Obama has found the ideal figure to help him organize his planned withdrawal from Iraq, and to bless it.

What’s most striking about Obama’s approach to foreign policy is that he is less an idealist than a realist who would advance American interests by diplomacy, by working to improve the country’s image abroad, and by using military force prudently and cautiously.

This sounds a lot like the foreign policy of George H.W. Bush, and it makes perfect sense that Obama has had conversations with the senior Bush’s closest foreign policy adviser, Brent Scowcroft. Obama has drawn counsel from many in Scowcroft’s circle, and Gates himself was deputy national security adviser under Scowcroft.

The truth about Obama’s worldview was hidden in plain sight in his most politically consequential foreign policy speech. Antiwar Democrats cheered Obama for addressing a rally against the Iraq war in Chicago’s Federal Plaza on Oct. 2, 2002. His opposition to the war was a major asset in his nomination struggle with Clinton…

There was nothing “hidden in plain sight”. It was out in the open, all along (which gives Obama the right to say he didn’t lie). But there was a huge group pf people who were so anti-Iraq war that they were willing to listen to the anti-Iraq War rhetoric Obama used to defeat Clinton in the Primary and somehow close their ears and minds to the real militaristic agenda that Obama wants to continue.

And this isn’t just about pitting the “anti-war” folks against the “war” folks. I am not anti-war, but I am anti-criminal activity especially when it the criminals are the ones that control this country. I cannot stand the hypocrisy of it and even less, I cannot condone killing and maiming so many other people for these criminal reasons.

…In fact, Obama sounded a great deal like — Brent Scowcroft. In a widely noted 2002 op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, published six weeks before Obama gave his speech, Scowcroft warned that an invasion of Iraq “very likely would have to be followed by a large-scale, long-term military occupation.” Going to Iraq, Scowcroft said, would “divert us for some indefinite period from our war on terrorism,” and it could “destabilize Arab regimes in the region,” “stifle any cooperation on terrorism” and “even swell the ranks of the terrorists.” Clinton, who once said that “we have to be both internationalists and realists,” is a natural fit with the new Obama-Scowcroft-Gates establishment. In explaining the appeal of Clinton, a senior Obama adviser recently spoke several times of the president-elect’s respect for her “toughness” and described the practical reasons for choosing a figure who would have instant credibility around the world…

And yes, militarily, President Clinton was basically a continuance of Papa Bush’s policy. The big difference is that Papa Bush and Willy knew not to be as brazen about their actions. They had differing styles, but the policy continued and even got worse under Clinton. When Baby Bush createdfound his opportunity (911) to become brazen (harboring an astonishing 90%+ Approval rating… I can say I was part of those pesky 10%ers) he went fucking nuts.

…Obama’s national security choices are already causing grumbling from parts of the antiwar left, even if Obama made clear six years ago that while he was with them on Iraq, he was not one of them.

Ironically, Obama is likely to show more fidelity to George H.W. Bush’s approach to foreign affairs than did the former president’s own son. That’s change, maybe even change we can believe in, but it’s not the change so many expected

I agree, not many “expected” this kind of “change”, but that simply shows their blindness and readiness to follow any perceived Savior without even listening to what their Messiah is saying.

I knew that Barack Obama was not on the up in up when he flip-flopped on his Palestinian stance and became the Zionist regime’s bag man. The day I saw for myself that AIPAC owned him, I knew he had been bought. Since then, there have been countless issues in which the illusion was forced into the light, yet reality was never absorbed by his followers… the “Progressives”.

Yeah, right.

Sheople is more like it.

Remember The Joint You Lost In The Seat Cushions Years Ago?

They found it:

2,700 year-old cannabis stash is ‘oldest ever’

The world’s ‘oldest’ stash of cannabis has been unearthed inside a remote tomb in China.

The 789 grams of marijuana is thought to be about 2,700 years old and appears to have been buried next to a shaman, according to The Star.

Favourable conditions means the stash still has its green tint, although possibly disappointed researchers said its lack of odour told them immediately it wasn’t still good to smoke.

According to an article in the Journal of Experimental Botany it’s ‘the oldest documentation of cannabis as a pharmacologically active agent’.

The tomb in north-west China also contained bridles, archery equipment and a harp, but apparently no ancient cache of chocolates, crisps and biscuits.

The article doesn’t mention the box of Twinkies found with the stash (still edible). What strikes me is that 2,700 years ago they knew what pharmacological benefits this drug had. The other thing to mention is that 789 grams is a damned good “stash” (29 pounds of bud). Makes me wonder if this truly was a Pharmacy of old.

More Roaches Come Out Of Hiding: Robert Scheer Scrambles In The Light

Robert Scheer is a man whom I respect and have quoted here on several occasions. However, when he began jumping on the Obama bandwagon and began the offensive towards Ralph Nader regarding this subject, I knew that he, too, had drank the Messiah koolaid. Now, we have him coming out and almost admitting he made a mistake and at the very least does hold claim that he wanted to challenge Ralph to a debate over the issue of the bail out and Mr Obama’s stance.

Now we see what Ralph (and I) have been saying for so long to be absolute truth and now the roaches are running wild that the light has been turned on. From The Nation:

Return of the Wall Street Hustlers

by Robert Scheer

Maybe Ralph Nader was right in predicting that the same Wall Street hustlers would have a lock on our government no matter which major party won the election. I hate to admit it, since it wasn’t that long ago that I heatedly challenged Nader in a debate on this very point.

But how else is one to respond to Barack Obama’s picking the very folks who helped get us into this financial mess to now lead us out of it? Watching the president-elect’s Monday introduction of his economic team, my brother-in-law Pete said, “You can see the feathers coming out of their mouths” as the foxes were once again put in charge of the henhouse. He didn’t have time to expound on his point, having to get ready to go sort mail in his job at the post office, but he showed me a statement from Citigroup showing that the interest rate on Pete the Postal Worker’s credit card was 28.9 percent, an amount that all major religions would justly condemn as usurious.

Let me tell you how one should respond. You respond the same way you would if you happened to see a man break your neighbor’s window and begin hauling shit out of the house. Call the law, make a fuss, stop them with your own might, if needed. But DON’T allow them to continue stealing the man blind.

…Why then has he appointed the very people responsible for this disaster to now make it all better? Why not ask him? Heck, yes, it is time for the many of us who responded to his e-mails during the campaign to now challenge our e-mail buddy as to why he suddenly acts as if the interests of Wall Street and Main Street are one and the same.

You think, Robert? But before I let you go, answer me this? Where the hell have you been this entire run-up to the election? I’m sure that being on the Obama bus caused you to not see or hear this coming from a mile away, right? Sorry, dude. It ain’t that easy when you have such a large microphone. Get real. Admit you were and are wrong, then use that loud assed microphone to change it.

Mine just has a peep coming from it, but I have never stopped warning people. Maybe you should join those who were right all along?

What Are Friends For?

Oktapodi

Mind Blowing: BuelahMan Style

What if I told you that I believed that America, as we know it, will no longer be the same in 1 – 2 years… that we will divide into 6 different provinces owned and operated by the debtor nations who actually own us now?

Would you consider me a freak?

This is what Russian TV heard when interviewing Igor Panarin, a Russian professor of economics about his predictions.

Holy Shit.

WTF Thursday: Happy Turgooduccochiqua Day

I wonder who had Turkey today (I happen to love turkey oven roasted, smoked or deep fried)?

My Mother is a German cook who was raised during the aftermath of the war. Her family was desititute and as the oldest child she had to quit school and work to help out. Her father was long dead and she learned to cook (using anything available and you would think it exquisite). My mom likes turkey, but she prefers Goose and has cooked duck, quail, dove… among rabbits, squirrels, deer, crabs, frog legs, mountain oysters and virtually any edible farm animal (and God knows what else).

So when I saw this I knew I could finally do a tribute to a woman that would, by all means, be able to cook something like this (and I promise it would be delicious). I must admit that this is supposedly a hoax (CNN video), but no matter, my Mother could do it, I have no doubt.

From Neatorama:

Forget the turducken, here’s the turgooduccochiqua by Wil Shipley of Call Me Fishmeal blog. It’s a quail inside a cornish game hen inside a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey inside a goose. Oh, and with bacon between the layers…

I should also note that in many cases, it would have been game that my Mother, herself, hunted and bagged. She can clean a fish as well as any one alive, in my opinion, and certainly can cook them with the best.

She once was running a trot line (catching catfish in and around Pickwick Lake along the Tennessee River) when she noticed something swimming across the river. She noticed it was a male deer and she ran it down in the boat, pulled up beside it and beat it with a boat paddle until she was able to tie it up with a rope along side the boat.

She started driving towards the bank when the deer started trying to get loose and she pulled out her fish skinning knife and cut the deers throat. Luckily she was near the bank and could get it up on ground to finish field dressing the animal.

We ate deer that night.

Honest to God true story.

And you wonder what is wrong with me and what caused it?

B’Man’s Hypocrite Watch: The Obama Apologists As They Make Excuses

I have a lot of respect for certain progressive blogs and what they stood for (at least initially). But, there is no doubt that many of these well known sources fell quickly for the Obama rhetoric and basically made the bed they now are making us all sleep in. What upsets me is to watch these very same “progressive” entities back track and make excuses for Mr Obama… to the point of blaming the followers of those very blogs for not understanding what Barack was telling them. One, (a favorite of mine) Glenn Greenwald put up a post where he quotes various sources from these well known blogs and seems to be saying that Americans fell for their own imagined policy ideologies and that Barack Obama never said or mean the innuendo that got him elected by the Progressive movement in America.

From Glenn Greenwald:

Progressive complaints about Obama’s appointments

I’ve been genuinely mystified by the disappointment and surprise being expressed by many liberals over the fact that Obama’s most significant appointments thus far are composed of pure Beltway establishment figures drawn from the center-right of the Democratic Party and, probably once he names his Defense Secretary and CIA Director, even from the Bush administration — but not from the Left.\

Let me take a stab, here Glenn. Are you truly “mystified” that the progressives that were instrumental in electing Mr Obama are now upset that they are seeing the truth in “the most liberal Senator’s” stances? Are you truly baffled by what is evidently a mass illusion that Obama played off of, if his campaign wasn’t directly complicit in the hoodwinking of the Progressive Movement? The fact is that this Progressive (me) saw this long ago and has been shouting at the top of my lungs that people were hoodwinked by rhetoric.

What angers me most is that those whom I respected the most (you, in particular) didn’t raise any objections or even act as if there was something amiss. You, Glenn, have fed the monster as much as anyone has from your silence. So, for you to speak about it now has ZERO credibility and for you to blame Progressives is ludicrous and an assault on people like me.

The fact is that I called it long ago and the powerful bloggers missed the damned boat and are now swimming desperately to try and protect their little kingdom of followers. In this, I am totally disappointed in Digby as a source to explain:

None of them are liberals, but then Obama said repeatedly that he wasn’t ideological, that he cared about “what works.” I don’t know why people didn’t believe that. He’s a technocrat who wants to “solve problems” and “change politics.”  The first may actually end up producing the kind of ideological shift liberals desire simply because of the dire set of circumstances greeting the new administration. (Hooray for the new depression!) The second was always an empty fantasy — politics is just another word for human nature, and that hasn’t changed since we were dancing around the fire outside our caves.

Yeah, right. The man played us for chumps. Admit it and hold his fucking feet to the fire. The last thing we need is a technocrat who will continue the stupidest and most dangerous imperialistic strategy that has ever hijacked America. What we need is a TOTAL change from the same old white man Elitist power mongering. Unfortunately, the black man you elected works for them and it is high time you admit it. THEN and only then, can we move forward.

But you aren’t finished, Glenn. You just come out and say it:

So many progressives were misled about what Obama is and what he believes.  But it wasn’t Obama who misled them.  It was their own desires, their eagerness to see what they wanted to see rather than what reality offered.

Early on in the primary cycle, Markos Moultisas — in a post I recall vividly though can’t find — wisely urged that progressives refrain from endorsing or supporting any of the Democratic candidates unless they work for that support, make promises and concessions important to the progressive agenda, etc., lest progressives’ support end up being taken for granted.  But that advice was largely ignored.  For whatever reasons, highly influential progressive factions committed themselves early, loyally and enthusiastically to Obama even though he never even courted that support, let alone made commitments to secure it.

Bullshit, Dude. I call MAJOR bullshit. I listened to the man’s every speech and word. He knew precisely what he was doing by leading Progressives to believe that he was their man. This is the same with every god damned election and you know it. You are no fool, Glenn.

As for kos, you couldn’t have quoted a more unreliable source. Markos cares about power and his kingdom. He does not give two shits about the progressive Movement and his posts are clear indicators of such. His advice was ignored because look where he is now. The entire kos group was for Barack Obama long ago, including the little prick, Markos. How many times must one read how he belittled the very most progressive candidates running, insisting Barack is progressive and leaving the true progressives out to fend for themselves. How NONE of these power bloggers were outraged at the exclusion of the real Progressive voices in America from the debates.

Sorry, Glenn, but kos is the worst source to use to bolster your claim.

That may have been perfectly justified — by pragmatic calculations regarding electability, by excitement over his personality and charisma, by the belief that he was comparatively superior to the alternatives.  Still, the fact remains that progressives, throughout the year, largely lent Obama their loyal support in exchange for very little.  He never pretended that he wanted to implement or advance a progressive agenda.  And he certainly never did anything to suggest he would oppose or undermine the Democratic establishment that has exerted power in the party over the last two decades.

I can agree with the statement that Barack Obama never did “say” the things that Progressives took for granted. But, the liberal blogoshere jumped right in the defending of him… belittling the true progressives… causing the liberal world to fall for a bunch of fluffy bullshit. So, you are correct, he didn’t say it, but the mouthpieces you are quoting were all over the dude and making sure the meme was continued, true or not.

I saw it. I bitched here and at their sites (the ones I wanted to sign up for) and have been complaining about what we were electing all along. But did you? Did any of the progressive blogs that you now quote?

NO. THEY DID NOT.

It goes without saying that there will be Obama policies, both in the foreign policy and domestic realms, that are vastly superior to what we’ve seen the last eight years and to what we would have seen had McCain/Palin won.  And as the second-tier positions begin to fill out, there will probably be a handful of appointees who progressives consider to be one of their own.  And as Digby points out, the magnitude of the financial crisis may compel him to embrace policies that are deemed to be quite progressive (from massive stimulus packages and government intervention in the economy to a diminution of our foreign adventurism).

Really. It goes without saying? I call Bullshit, again, Glenn. What gives you the idea things will be “vastly superior” to what we had the last 8 years? Is it Barack’s Senatorial voting record? For I would gladly point out the consistency with voting FOR Bush’s wants and desires. Please take a little time at your blog to explain how it is so obvious by linking to the votes the man made as a Senator:

The point isn’t that this reality should just be passively accepted and nothing done about it.  The point is that for anything to be done about it, the reality needs to be accepted.  The campaign we began earlier this year with Accountability Now and are now vigorously developing and pursuing — to devote all resources and energies to defeating incumbents in primary challenges — is grounded in the premise that one’s political beliefs and principles will be ignored until there is a price to pay for ignoring them. Democrats don’t perceive there is a price to pay for ignoring progressives, and so they do. That isn’t surprising. What would be surprising is if, under those circumstances, anything else happened.

The point should be that many of you power bloggers are a part of the reason Barack Obama was elected as POTUS. It is because of the huge online influence of you people, ignoring the “centrist” reality of Obama and painting him as a liberal and progressive, when he is really neither. Maybe “Accountability Now” should have held this man “accountable” and offered truth to what his positions really is. But did you?

The answer is NO. You DID NOT.

What you DID Do is play the same old Two Party Paradigm game where we, as Americans, lose and the elite win. You, Jane Hamsher, Markos, John Amato, etc, etc, etc played right into the fucked up game. You fell for it just like the rest of the brainwashed bunch of Americans that were willing to elect personality and the “hope” for something different when, in fact, every bit of evidence showed this to be a falsehood. The evidence shows that we are heading for the same shit, just a little more suave delivery.

Good for you.

If you so desire to read the original article, go here.

Thanks

Being Thanksgiving Day, a day that is only recognized here, for obvious reasons, I wanted to let people know that I am thankful for many things in life.

I went to a cardiologist yesterday to follow up with some unexplained sickness I have had over the past 3 weeks (especially running high blood pressure). They shaved several spots of hair from my chest (I am a hairy guy) and then they strapped me to the machine and had me walk on a treadmill to get my heartbeat up.

I found that my heart is still strong as an off, but I have some artheritis in my right hip (suspected it for quite some time). I was doing great except for my hip hurting like hell.

I am thankful that I am not worse sick and that I also found out that I had a case of staph which came from food poisoning (this shit had me down for almost 3 weeks… bad stuff). I am thankful they cured me from that.

Here is the rub… I had to wait three weeks to get in a see a cardiologist. And then I lucked out because someone cancelled last minute (it was supposed to be in January).

I am thankful that my issue was found, but this is a great example of how our system works. I could be more thankful if we had a decent health care system that doesn’t kill us by stealing all our money.

I am thankful for my wife and my daughter, for except for those two, I would have no reason to even try anymore.

I have many friends to be thankful for, both online and in real life.

I thank each and every one of you who bother to come here and read or pitch in.

I truly thank Lynda, my Rosey, for being here.

The next few posts will be total bitch posts, now that we got all the niceties out of the way.

Jen’s Update: Guest Column From Mom

I want to wish all our family and friends a very blessed and grace-filled Thanksgiving.

Thank you for all your prayers, cards, flowers, postings on Caring Bridge and edible treats — God has blessed us with all of you!

Jennifer sleeps most of the time and being on steroids she enjoys her food — especially her fruit salad and hot cocoa. For Thanksgiving she is anxiously awaiting turkey and Grampa Smith’s secret dressing. (EDITOR’S NOTE: WE ALL ARE — YUMMY!)

Her nurse Kim comes on Tuesdays & Thursdays, and Jennifer’s vital signs remain good because of her relative young age.

I didn’t realize how difficult the holidays would be, but it is so hard to watch her and wonder, “Why is she suffering?” Jennifer never complains and she has taught me so much on this journey.

Matthew, TR & Todd are so good and patient with her — we have a lot to be thankful for, especially each other.

TR and I are going to a hospice brown bag lunch at the hospital today on dealing with grief over the holidays. I’m sure they can help us.

TR has been a blessing to Todd and I. He has done a wonderful job keeping everyone updated. TR is always there for us and his faith, strength and love keep us going.

This Thanksgiving we are counting our blessings for our family, friends and each other. – Much love, Kathy

Now They Are Seeing The Truth? A Little Late Now, Dumbass.

I still have several friends who are touting the new president and posting shit about him with abandon. They seem like they have seen Christ, Himself. But, even within the same posts, I see where the Savior has lied to get where he is and these posters seem totally oblivious to his flip-flopping -or- since he is the Messiah, they don’t care.

Let me tell you, all you Obama-ites, this man is NOT what you think he is. It is obvious and has been obvious since he started the run. He is no progressive and certainly not liberal and if you are and you voted for the man, then you voted for an illusion.

I will sit back and watch as those who fought most desperately for him, defending him against “me” (a realist, apparently) and my “unfair” attacks against the man (altho, I have only pointed out the hypocrisy and blindness of him and his followers). That hurts and no one likes to have their stupid ass brainwashing illuminated for the world to see. To make it worse, we have people like Markos attacking the people who were right about the issues, even though their man did not get elected, and it is obvious that the entire kos sheople group has become Obama Maniacs, even though the site was started under rationale to fight against wars and lies by the POTUS. Its the same for the fine people at Crooks and Liars. To be able to hob nob and rub elbows with the Elite, Amato and Moulaitas have succombed to the lies and bullshit.

I read this article from SFGate this morning and it reassures me that within a few months to a year, I will be perfectly able to say, “I told you so.”

Somehow there is no gratification in that, since most people are too far gone to even realize what the man has been saying is AGAINST their interests. Mostly because he was a black man… different than the power structure you are used to, but still beholden to the very same power structure.

I hold you Obama sheople accountable for the “change” that will NOT happen. You and your “hope” is full of shit.

Obama picks foxes to guard henhouse

By Robert Scheer

Maybe Ralph Nader was right in predicting that the same Wall Street hustlers would have a lock on our government no matter which major party won the election. I hate to admit it, since it wasn’t that long ago that I heatedly challenged Nader in a debate on this very point.

But how else is one to respond to Barack Obama’s picking the very folks who helped get us into this financial mess to now lead us out of it? Watching the president-elect’s Monday introduction of his economic team, my brother-in-law Pete said, “You can see the feathers coming out of their mouths” as the foxes were once again put in charge of the henhouse. He didn’t have time to expound on his point, having to get ready to go sort mail in his job at the post office, but he showed me a statement from Citigroup showing that the interest rate on Pete the Postal Worker’s credit card was 28.9 percent, an amount that all major religions would justly condemn as usurious.

Moments earlier, Obama had put his seal of approval on the Citigroup bailout, which his new economic team, led by protégés of Citigroup Executive Committee Chairman Robert Rubin, enthusiastically endorsed. A bailout that brings to $45 billion the taxpayer money thrown at Citigroup and the guarantee of $306 billion for the bank’s “toxic securities” that would have been illegal if not for changes in the law that Citigroup secured with the decisive help of Rubin and Lawrence Summers, the man who replaced him as Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration.

As Summers stayed on to ensure passage of deregulatory laws that enabled enormous banking greed, Rubin was rewarded with a $15 million-a-year executive position at Citigroup, a job that only got more lucrative as the bank went from one disaster, beginning with its involvement with Enron in which Rubin played an active role, to its huge role in the mortgage debacle. It is widely acknowledged that Citigroup fell victim to a merger mania, which Rubin and Summers made legal during their tenure at Treasury.

Yet despite that dismal record of dismantling sound regulation, Summers has been picked by Obama to be the top White House economic adviser and another Rubin disciple, Timothy Geithner, is the new Treasury secretary. Geithner, thanks in part to the strong recommendation of Rubin, had been appointed chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank after working for Rubin and Summers during the Clinton years. Once at the New York Fed, he was the main government official charged with regulating Citigroup, a task at which he obviously failed. Yet over the weekend, it was Geithner who hammered out the Citigroup bailout deal with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and a very actively involved Rubin.

As the Washington Post reported, Paulson had indicated last week that no further bailouts were planned before the new administration took office until “Rubin, an old colleague from Goldman Sachs, told Paulson in phone calls that the government had to act.” Rubin conceded in an interview with the Post that he had played a key role in the politics of the bailout.

This outrageous conflict of interest in which Rubin gets to exploit his ties to both the outgoing and incoming administrations was best described by Washington Post writer Steven Pearlstein: “The ultimate irony, of course, is that just as Rubin and Co. at Citi were being bailed out by the Bush Administration, President-elect Barack Obama was getting set to announce a new economic team drawn almost entirely from Rubin acolytes.”

As opposed to the far tougher deal negotiated on the bailout of AIG, the arrangement with Citigroup leaves the executives, including Rubin, who brought Citigroup to the brink of ruin, still in charge. Nor is there any guarantee of the value of the mortgage bundles that taxpayers will be guaranteeing. That is because, as candidate Obama clearly stated in his major economics address back in March, the deregulation pushed though during the Clinton years ended transparency in banking.

Why then has he appointed the very people responsible for this disaster to now make it all better? Why not ask him? Heck, yes, it is time for the many of us who responded to his e-mails during the campaign to now challenge our e-mail buddy as to why he suddenly acts as if the interests of Wall Street and Main Street are one and the same.

E-mail: rscheer@truthdig.com

Oh please, Robert. The answer is that he duped you all, even though he was saying it all along. The “Progressives” that got him elected have become complacent and stupid, nor have they been paying attention.

Jen’s Update: My Muse Visits On Mondays

GREETINGS JEN NATION, AND HAPPY EARLY THANKSGIVING!

Haven’t rushed to write lately because there’s not much to report, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Her attitude and appetite remain healthy and strong. She’s dozing on the couch while I type this and watch the Monday Night Football halftime show.

Hard for me to really shed insights on where she stands because the days start running together. My Mom is afraid it will get hard being the holidays, so I told her let’s concentrate on the profound spiritual aspect of the season, of God coming among us as a child. We have to immerse ourselves into the moment with Sis as she radiates that spirit. We won’t find that by longing for Christmases past or getting sucked into the hustle and bustle that is often confused for Christmas.

As much as we love Sis, it’s hard coming over here some days, and I’m late to the party. I confided that to my Mom tonight which lead to a great heart-to-heart. My mother’s existence for most of the last two years has been occasionally going to weekday morning Mass, then spending 8-9 hours powerless alongside the child she raised who’s slowly slipping away. Matthew has traveled the same journey.

There have been so many special times along the way that we wouldn’t trade for anything, but as it largely becomes reduced to a caring & feeding effort, there’s such a rush of mixed emotions. It’s as important as ever to rotate and keep each other fresh so we can give Sis our best.

So we enter the holidays with a brave and thankful face. We will have a traditional turkey dinner on Thursday, eat more than our fill, watch football and laugh and be together. For the 34th consecutive year, my Dad & I will spend Friday as far away from retail establishments as possible — ha ha! What could be better?

I think my Mom is considering a guest column, so check back often for that! Otherwise enjoy the next 45 days with your loved ones, find its true meaning in quiet spaces, and let it reflect back all that is good about this human experience. — Love, TRH

Read Journal

Marijuana Two Minute Truths

Is weed addictive? Yep, but you have to work ultra hard at it. But even so, is it life changing or threatening? What does addiction mean in the case of weed? What does it do to you?

It just so happens that I can answer all of these questions from experience and from testimony of many people who still use.

The very worst thing that ever happened to me after heavy usage (about 15 years ago) was two nights where I didn’t sleep all that well and being grumpy. I was not very hungry for about two days. I never felt as if I would kill someone or steal to get it (at the time I still had plenty, but was cleaning up for a test). I just felt slightly agitated for two days and afterwards, no ill effects whatsoever.

As a matter of fact, other than a very occasional use with old buddies at a class reunion, I hardly ever touch the stuff anymore (can’t afford it, even though there are times when it sure as hell would give me some tension relief). I would never use during work because it can de-motivate me to a certain extent (but this is all my own reaction and this varies greatly among users and the quality of the weed).

I have worked roof construction back in the late 70′s and everyone there smoked and worked the hardest job imaginable, so this is largely an individual’s claim.

The main reason I even write about the subject now is not because I want to smoke (I quit over a decade ago), but because I know it can help people and that the laws are are unfair for users.

I witnessed a best friend die of cancer, me denying him some relief because his wife had heard all the lies and propaganda about the “evils of marijuana”, yet my buddy suffered, begging me to get him high because that was the only way he could eat or cope with the chemicals they were pumping into his body. I fell for it and ignorned his wishes.

I have never forgiven myself for that and I will do whatever I can to legalize the shit because I know without any shadow of a doubt that it IS a medicine and can help people.

If you don’t like that then you can take a flying leap into a small bag of horseshit.

On another note, Mr Barack Obama can show that he is a beacon for real “change” by bringing on someone who will dismantle the draconian drug laws. He could dismantle the “Drug Czar” position and take a stance more in tune with “hope”.

But with the latest leaked name, Republican Congressman James Ramstad (MN/3rd), it doesn’t look much like Obama gives even half a shit about “change” when it comes to the very issue of his youth that could have cost him his entire career, without his hard line stance following up the addmittance during the campaign.

According to the DPA (Drug Policy Alliance), it appears he will choose a person who:

Ramstad has voted against medical marijuana five times. He has voted against making sterile syringes more available to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS three times. Even though his colleagues are increasingly supporting sentencing reform, including eliminating the crack/powder sentencing disparity, he hasn’t stood up on the issue.

In other words, Rep. Ramstad does not appear to be committed to the kind of change President-elect Obama has said he will bring to our nation’s drug policies.

I know there are a few Obama followers that read here. What I don’t know is if any of you even consdier the half truths and downright lies the man (or his campaign or diehard followers) has made about what he wants to get done in this country.

One of the first should be a lightening and erradication of these laws that feed the Prison System’s hunger for more and more people. It is time to put forward a huge effort to USE the benefits of cannabis to heal people instead of making them false criminals.