Monday, September 30, 2013

President Obama Delivers A Statement On Government Funding As Government Heads Towards A Shutdown - Video With Complete Speech - Obama: "You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job" - Full Transcript


By Kathleen

President Obama is about to hold a news conference from the White House. Reuters has reported that "the statement comes as Washington hurtles toward a government shutdown with a stalemate between congressional Republicans and the president on a budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1." Government funding runs out at midnight. 

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UPDATE:

The speech is over - here is the clip (just the first few seconds are missing):



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Full transcript of the speech:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good afternoon, everybody.

Of all the responsibilities the Constitution endows to Congress, two should be fairly simple: Pass a budget, and pay America's bills. But if the United States Congress does not fulfill its responsibility to pass a budget today, much of the United States government will be forced to shut down tomorrow. And I want to be very clear about what that shutdown would mean, what will remain open and what will not.

With regard to operations that will continue, if you're on Social Security, you will keep receiving your checks. If you're on Medicare, your doctor will still see you. Everyone's mail will still be delivered, and government operations related to national security or public safety will go on.

Our troops will continue to serve with skill, honor and courage. Air traffic controllers, prison guards, those who are with border control -- Border Patrol will remain on their posts, but their paychecks will be delayed until the government reopens.

NASA will shut down almost entirely, but Mission Control will remain open to support the astronauts serving on the space station.

I also want to be very clear about what would change. Office buildings would close. Paychecks would be delayed. Vital services that seniors and veterans, women and children, businesses and our economy depend on would be hamstrung. Business owners would see delays in raising capital, seeking infrastructure permits or rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy.

Veterans, who've sacrificed for their country, will find their support centers unstaffed.

Tourists will find every one of America's national parks and monuments, from Yosemite to the Smithsonian to the Statue of Liberty, immediately closed. And of course the communities and small business that rely on these national treasures for their livelihoods will be out of customers and out of luck.

And in keeping with the broad ramifications of a shutdown, I think it's important that everybody understands the federal government is America's largest employer. More than 2 million civilian workers and 1.4 million active duty military serve in all 50 states and all around the world.

In the event of a government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of these dedicated public servants who stay on the job will do so without pay. And several hundred thousand more will be immediately and indefinitely furloughed without pay. What, of course, will not be furloughed are the bills that they have to pay: their mortgages, their tuition payments, their car notes. These Americans are our neighbors. Their kids go to our schools. They worship where we do. They serve their country with pride. They are the customers of every business in this country. And they would be hurt greatly, and as a consequence all of us will be hurt greatly, should Congress choose to shut the people's government down.

So a shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people, right away. Past -- past shutdowns have disrupted the economy significantly. This one would too. It would throw a wrench into the gears of our economy at a time when those gears have gained some traction.

Five years ago right now, our economy was in meltdown. Today our businesses have created 7 1/2 million new jobs over the past three and a half years. The housing market is healing and our deficits are falling fast.

The idea of putting the American people's hard-earned progress at risk is the height of irresponsibility, and it doesn't have to happen.

Let me repeat this. It does not have to happen.

All of this is entirely preventable if the House chooses to do what the Senate has already done, and that's the simple act of funding our government without making extraneous and controversial demands in the process, the same way other Congresses have for more than 200 years.

Unfortunately, right now House Republicans continue to tie funding of the government to ideological demands like limiting a woman's access to contraception or delaying the Affordable Care Act, all to save face after making some impossible promises to the extreme right wing of their party.

So let me be clear about this. An important part of the Affordable Care Act takes effect tomorrow, no matter what Congress decides to do today. The Affordable Care Act is moving forward. That funding is already in place. You can't shut it down. This is a law that passed both houses of Congress, a law that bears my signature, a law that the Supreme Court upheld as constitutional, a law that voters chose not to repeal last November -- a law that is already providing benefits to millions of Americans in the form of young people staying on their parents' plan 'till they're 26, seniors getting cheaper prescription drugs, making sure that insurance companies aren't imposing lifetime limits when you already have health insurance, providing rebates for consumers when insurance companies are spending too much money on overhead instead of health care. Those things are already happening.

Starting tomorrow, tens of millions of Americans will be able to visit healthcare.gov to shop for affordable health care coverage. So Americans who've lived for years in some cases with the fear that one illness could send them into bankruptcy, Americans who've been priced out of the market just because they've been sick once, they'll finally be able to afford coverage, quality coverage, many of them for the first time in their lives.

Some of them may be sick as we speak. And this is their best opportunity to get some security and some relief. Tens of thousands of Americans die every single year because they don't have access to affordable health care.

Despite this, Republicans have said that if we'd lock these Americans out of affordable health care for one more year, if we sacrifice the health care of millions of Americans, then they'll fund the government for a couple of more months. Does anybody truly believe that we won't have this fight again in a couple of more months? Even at Christmas?

So here's the bottom line. I'm always willing to work with anyone of either party to make sure the Affordable Care Act works better, to make sure our government works better. I am always willing to work with anyone to grow our economy faster or to create new jobs faster, to get our fiscal house in order for the long run. I've demonstrated this time and time again, oftentimes to the consternation of my own party.9m

But one faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to refight the results of an election. Keeping the people's government open is not a concession to meet. Keeping vital services running and hundreds of thousands of Americans on the job is not something you give to the other side. It's our basic responsibility. It's something that we're doing for our military and our businesses and our economy and all the hard-working people out there -- the person working for the Agricultural Department out in some rural community who's out there helping some farmers make sure that they're making some modest profit for all the hard work they're putting in.

They're the person working for HUD who's helping somebody buy a house for the first time. They're somebody in a VA office who's counseling one of our vets who's got PTSD.

That's who we're here to serve. That's why we're supposed to be carrying out these responsibilities. That's why we should be avoiding the kinds of constant brinksmanship. It's something that we do in the ordinary process of this extraordinary system of government that we have. You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway, or just because there's a law there that you don't like.

The American people sent us here to govern. They sent us here to make sure that we're doing everything we can to make their lives a little bit better -- to create new jobs, to restore economic security, to rebuild the prospects of upward mobility. That's what they expect. And they understand that there are differences between the parties, and we're going to be having some tough fights around those differences.

And I respect the fact that the other party is not supposed to agree with me a hundred percent of the time, just like I don't agree with them. But they do also expect that we don't bring the entire government to a halt or the entire economy to a halt just because of those differences. And that's what they deserve. They've worked too hard for too long to recover from previous crises just to have folks here in Washington manufacture yet another one that they have to dig themselves out of.

So Congress needs to keep our government open. It needs to pay our bills on time and never, ever threaten the full faith and credit of the United States of America. And time's running out. My hope and expectation is that in the 11th hour once again that Congress will choose to do the right thing and that the House of Representatives in particular will choose the right thing.

Thank you very much.

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UPDATE 2:

I would like to add the following comment by Ennealogic to the post:

What many talking heads seem to gloss over is that even this threat of a shutdown has dire effects, not only on the economy, but on the ordinary workings of every government agency. When I was a contractor for the Veterans Administration and there was a shutdown threat (which didn't manifest), there were daily, half-daily, even hourly updates on what that would mean for VA employees and contractors.

Top management in VA made decisions. They communicated those decisions down the chain, and ultimately it got down to us, the lowly contractors. So many hours spent! So much planning took place. I can't imagine it was much different in any other government agency. Our work day was consumed wondering whether we should carry on with our tasks. Higher ups were consumed with how best to keep track of new developments instead of managing the projects and workforce. Top management was scrambling to make sure they dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's in the event the agency had to go into shutdown mode.

Think of all the wasted hours! All the unnecessary emails. All the conference calls for naught. And all this happening on government time when people - from top to bottom - should be working to fulfill goals and deliverables.

Mr. Ted Cruz and those of his ilk have little respect for anyone who works in government. I can only hope that those in Texas who have a vote return the favor when his next election is up.

Furthermore, our reader BinWI found the following remarkable comment regarding Obamacare on HuffPost:

I am currently insured by my employer provided plan, but I pay approximately $800 per month in premiums, and have a $1500 family deductible, and my plan pays 80% in network. I live in a remote area, and there is only one insurance provider to choose from, and there is no competition.

I have run the numbers on ObamaCare. Because there is now cometition between plans, if I switch to ObamaCare, I can keep the same insurance company, but buy the Platinum plan and save $345 per month, even though I qualify for no subsidy because of my income. The Platinum plan has zero deductible, and pays 90%. Based on my last three years' medical costs, I will save about $7000--yes $7000- per year with ObamaCare...and the taxpayers don't pay a dime more. It is all about bringing choice to a monopolized market...BY MAKING THE MARKET FREE.

When people find out what ObamaCare will do for them...they will slaughter Republicans for trying to stop it, and for lying to he public and trying to keep them in the dark about what it will mean for the 99%.
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UPDATE 3:


Last night Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - Mass.) addressed the Senate regarding the Government shutdown and the Affordable Care Act. She explained the devastating cuts that are already taking place across the USA because of the Sequester and what affects a government shutdown could actually have on the economy. 



Contrast Warren's determined eloquence with Sarah Palin's latest ignorant and hateful blast on Facebook. Palin is definitely getting carried away with herself -- running off her mouth like a fishwife. She's full of it.


"Yeah. Todd bagged a moose. Dinner. Appropriate to remind folks in the GOP establishment that the progressive Bull Moose Party also met its demise - in no small part because of some liberal positions it co-opted from the left."

Palin is convinced that the battle for the heart of the GOP has been won and that she is on the winning side. It appears that she is boasting "Take that, Steve Schmidt, Karl Rove and all the rest of you whiny RINO's". We are in charge now. 

Plainly when she wrote the above Facebook comment she forgot some lessons from the Bible. Proverbs 27: 1 Do not boast of yourself and tomorrow, for you know not what a day may bring forth. 

While Warren's speeches are a joy and and an education worth listening to, Palin will always be remembered as a ranter and a loon with nothing to offer but hateful, childish vitriol that only her bots appreciate. 

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UPDATE 4:

This video from the Jimmy Kimmel Show already went viral - people hate "Obamacare", but love the "Affordable Care Act!" 

Amazing what years of propaganda can do to people!

Watch:

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Sarah Palin slams "socialization" of the USA and supports Ted Cruz's lone fight against Obamacare, but at the same time her husband, children and grandchildren receive state-funded free Alaska native healthcare, as court documents reveal - Can you say "hypocrite"? Watch her meltdown at Fox News during her interview with Cavuto! - UPDATE!


Comrade Sarah Palin: "Socialism is only for me, me, me!"

By Patrick

Dear Sarah Palin, first things first: Steve Schmidt is not anonymous! He is a gentleman called "Steve Schmidt", he grew up in New Jersey, has a degree from the University of Delaware, and despite a rather "checkered" political history, he seems to be a very decent person in my opinion.

Sarah Palin right now seems to be engaged in the "fight of her life", the final battle, so to speak, and it really appears to be like a "life or death" situation for her, given her latest interview on Neil Cavuto's show at Fox News.

Watch her total meltdown:



So what the heck is she saying there? From her world salad, which is rather like a huge flood of words streaming out her mouth, one can decipher for example the following points:

- Sarah Palin hates "socialized healthcare"
- Sarah Palin will not surrender
- That the "GOP machine" is "turning on each other" comes as "no surprise"
- The "GOP machine" controls soooo much in America right now
- Steve Schmidt and "his crew" are sooo mean, and they are also anonymous
- We forget what America "was built upon"
- "If I die, I die"
- Ted Cruz is doing a "quasi-filibuster" right now
- There are no journalistic ethics any more
- Sarah Palin won't be anonymous
- John McCain also hates anonymous sources, he told Sarah
- Karl Rove is an "appeaser", these people are "sheeple"
- Obama and his minions are driving the country towards bankruptcy
- Sarah Palin thinks that she has a "record" and a "reputation"
- Sarah Palin "not surprised" that the "RINO's" turn on her
- Sarah Palin won't run for president, she raises a family, has businesses, hunts moose
- The USA already has a "third party", the "good guys" in the GOP
- Sarah Palin has "always be very independent"
- People said nasty things about Sarah, but she stayed strong, just like Ted Cruz
- Tell the soldiers that they shouldn't storm the beaches...Omaha beach...that they should wave the white flag...
- Tell the people who have fought "physically" for the "sovereignity" of the USA that they should wave the white flag now
- Time is short, we must stop "these things" now which are happening, the transformation of the USA
- Allow the USA to continue to be "exceptional"
- The "socialist healthcare coverage policy of Barack Obama" is "unpopular" and "unaffordable" and will be "implemented" by the IRS
- The IRS is evil
- Don't wait until there is "a smaller hilltop to climb"
- Say no to the "socialization" of the USA

But this interview really has to be watched in order to be believed...

Sarah Palin's interview on Cavuto: She now believes she fights on Omaha beach! Shall we shout "MEDIC"...?

OK, Sarah, but let's get real for the moment. We all know that your brain is doing some crazy things from time to time, and that Fox News is more than happy to transmit some of these brain activities for ratings. But let's get real right now.

Sarah, you don't hate the government when there are things to receive from the government - am I right? You just hate the government when "hating" is good for ratings.

In real life, you love socialized medicine. Yes, you do. Or how would you explain the fact that your family has no hesitation to receive healthcare via the free native Alaskan healthcare system?

This rather inconvenient fact came to light during the custody trail between Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston in February 2010, when Bristol and Levi were fighting for custody for their son Tripp.

Astonishingly, Bristol Palin's lawyer explained in one of his submissions during the trial that health insurance for Tripp is "unnecessary". Why is that? Thomas Van Flein explains:

"Tripp is an enrolled tribal member of Curyung Tribal Council within the Bristol
Bay Native consortium. Because the majority of Tripp's health care costs are already covered by the IHS and the Alaska Native Medical Center, Mr. Johnston has no need to purchase additional health insurance and his deduction should not be allowed."

Screenshot:


Full document:


Look, look! Those crafty Palins! Todd Palin had a native Yup'ik grandmother, and what does this mean? He himself as well as his children and grandchildren are entitled to receive free fully socialized native healthcare in Alaska!

In fact, the complete side of Todd's family is entitled so receive the free native healthcare - and they surely will take advantage of that!

This is of course not a scandal, but a good thing! Many more people should have free fully socialized healthcare in our opinion!

But surely Sarah Palin would say no to such an evil thing like "free healthcare"...?

Heck, no!

It is a scandal of the highest order that Sarah Palin wants to destroy "Obamacare" on the basis that Obamacare allegedly constitutes "socialized" healthcare, when her family members have no hesitations to accept the free native healthcare in Alaska which is open to them! You can "betcha" that Tripp will not be the only Palin family member who receives this free native healthcare!

That is Sarah Palin for you: A hypocrite to the core, a demagogue par excellence. Time for the media to get the facts straight and expose this evil woman once and for all. Sarah Palin doesn't say no to free healthcare, but it is great for ratings to rant against "socialized healthcare." It makes the teabaggers soooo happy, doesn't it!

Sorry, Sarah, if this was too much of "reality" for you. Now you can continue with your weird brain activities and can continue to fight on the beaches, all bells ringing.


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UPDATE:

I decided to make an update, because the reported fact that Todd and his children and grandchildren receive free native healthcare in Alaska found a lot of interest on twitter. However, some people were understandably confused by the news and found it hard to believe - examples:



Therefore it could be helpful to go into more detail. Thankfully the fact that Sarah's family receives free native healthcare had already been reported in the past, so it is not difficult to find more information. I found particularly helpful a post that Regina wrote at Palingates in February 2010, where she presents some documents which provide more background.

Regina quoted from an article at the Anchorage Daily News (ADN) from October 19, 2008, in which the native background of Todd Palin's family was explained in detail, and the ADN even specifically mentioned that Sarah Palin's children are being eligible for Alaska native healthcare.

Excerpt:

Yup'ik ties give Palins unique Alaska connection
NATIVE: Grandmother on Todd's side calls the governor a 'special gal.'
By TOM KIZZIA
tkizzia@adn.com

(10/19/08 23:59:49)
HOMER -- Like many Alaska Natives of her generation, Lena Andree, Todd Palin's 87-year-old Yup'ik grandmother, grew up living between two worlds.

Her father was a Dutchman, Glass Eye Billy Bartman, a sled dog freighter in the Bristol Bay region and caretaker of the Alaska Packers saltry on the Igushik River.

Her mother was full-blooded Yup'ik, growing up in a sod-roofed barabara in the now-abandoned village of Tuklung, somewhere on the tundra between Dillingham and Togiak.

Growing up in two worlds along the Igushik River in Bristol Bay, Lena Bartman spoke broken English with her father and more fluent Yup'ik with her mother, whose Yup'ik name was Ahchitmook and western name was Amalia. Later she would make a career as a translator, bridging the cultures of Dillingham, speaking English with the doctors and storekeepers and pilots, and "speaking Native" with the residents.

"I just love that language," she says today.

Sarah Palin's personal story has captivated America from the time she was named John McCain's vice-presidential candidate.

Yet the Heath family story is a familiar one in Alaska, a pioneer narrative. Her father was a schoolteacher who loved to hunt and fish. They moved to Alaska when Sarah was a newborn.

Todd Palin's roots in Alaska are more complicated and run deeper -- all the way back to that sod house on the tundra and the winter day Glass Eye Billy made a freight stop at Tuklung on a dog run to Togiak.

The musher, who had come to Alaska after leaving Holland at 14 as a cabin boy, saw a young woman dipping water from a frozen creek. The first thing he noticed about her was her fur boots and gorgeous white parka made from the supple fur of reindeer fawn.

The courtship and marriage arrangements took a year.

Their first-born's full name was Helena, her Yup'ik name Tikchu, or Chickadee.

Andree grew up in the 1920s along the Igushik River. Along with her father, a couple of other white men lived nearby and looked after the saltries in winter -- White Headed Pete and Rum and Gum Johnson.

Otherwise, her neighbors were Yup'ik families drawn by summer fishing jobs to live along the river.

"Kids would come to play, and sometimes my sister and I talked English and the kids said, 'Don't talk funny,' " Andree recalls today.

The idea that someday a grandchild of hers would be married to the governor of Alaska, much less to the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States -- needless to say, such an idea never remotely entered the mind of a little Yup'ik girl playing along the tideflats of the Igushik.

"I have to say, is it really happening in my family?" says Andree, a short and sunny woman who now lives in Homer near a son and daughter. "Just to see her running. We love Sarah. She is kind of a special gal to me. She honors my Native side."

PURSUING THE NATIVE VOTE

As a candidate for governor two years ago, and more recently on the national stage, Sarah Palin has avidly pointed to her husband's Eskimo heritage. Lena Andree is one-half Yup'ik, and Todd Palin is one-eighth.

The Palin children are Native, too -- one-sixteenth, eligible for Indian health benefits under federal law, as lineal descendants of Native enrollees under the 1970 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

During the 2006 governor's race, Palin introduced Andree on stage at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention and described her own family's mixed roots as an example of how whites and Natives can surmount controversies that divide them.

"I look at Alaska as a family, and I want my own family to be used as an example of how it can work," Palin told the state's biggest Native organization that year.

When it came time to debate, however, Palin was often at odds with her Native listeners. On sensitive subsistence hunting and fishing issues, her positions resembled those of urban sportsmen's groups who backed her.

In the election, she finished far behind Democrat Tony Knowles in rural, Native-dominated districts. Urban and small-town votes carried her to victory. As governor, she has come under criticism for not reaching out to Natives, though her efforts to assist rural Alaska economically have been praised.

Culturally, the Palins live a lifestyle of small-town Alaska. Todd does not take part in Native organizations or tribal politics. He grew up in Glennallen and Wasilla. His Native roots can be seen in his dividends from the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and boyhood visits with his grandma, where he learned to tend fish nets along the Nushagak River.

Efforts to reach Todd Palin for this story, through the governor's office and the McCain campaign, were unsuccessful.

From Sarah Palin's financial disclosure form for 2008, which she had to submit as Governor of Alaska, we can see that Todd as well as Palin's children received dividends from the "Bristol Bay Native Corporation", and therefore we have to assume that they are all enrolled tribe members (just like Tripp, see above!) - which is a requirement to receive the free native healthcare (however, it is not even necessary to be an enrolled tribe member - being a lineal descendant of a native person is sufficient in order to be eligible for free native healthcare, as explained below).

In any case, you have to be a Alaska Native in order to be a member of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation. The registration form for descendants specifically asks for the "blood quantum." For more details, see also the FAQ at the website of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation.

Screenshots from Sarah Palin's 2008 public disclosure form:



Full document as PDF:



In a document published by the Alaska Native Medical Center it is explained that people who are for example lineal descendants of a native person listed on the original Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) are eligible for free healthcare as an "Alaska Native." As I explained above, Todd Palin has a native Yup'ik grandmother, and therefore he and his lineal descendants are eligible.

Screenshots:



Full document:


So yes, it is actually "true!"

However, it is unlikely that the media will call out Sarah Palin on this. I tweeted the reason - but please prove me wrong, media!


Bonus revelation:

But now comes the "kicker": Sarah Palin herself was also eligible for free native healthcare during her pregnancies - more screenshots from the document mentioned above:




Well, did Sarah Palin take of advantage of that, or should we believe that Todd Palin had sufficient insurance coverage as an oil field worker? We can only speculate, but in any case, "$$$" is Sarah's middle name, so she surely would have taken advantage of the free native healthcare, if it seemed necessary. It's a pity that Sarah's counterparts on Fox News won't ask her these type of questions.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Back to the feuds: Sarah Palin's declares guerilla war on "GOP elephants", "GOP cannibals", the "RINO's" and Karl Rove - Fighting the "establishment backstabbers" - UPDATE: Al Sharpton and his panel accuse Sarah Palin of "megalomania" and "narcissism", Steve Schmidt wants the GOP to "stand up" against Sarah Palin and the right-wingers

This woman wants Karl Rove's head, but will she get it?

By Patrick

Sarah Palin loves hunting - hunting enemies. She always did. The purpose of her life is going after her enemies. If Sarah Palin has a grudge, it won't go away. She has a grudge against Karl Rove and the "GOP establishment", and she won't forget about it.

Now she believes to have found the right "cause" to go into battle: "They" are after Ted Cruz, and as this Texan reincarnation of Joe McCarthy is Sarah Palin's only remaining friend, his enemies are her enemies!

Chris Wallace and Karl Rove made Sarah Palin happy, when they gave her a reason to take up the fight during this exchange earlier today:



From Mediaite:

“This has been one of the strangest weeks I’ve ever had in Washington,” Wallace said. “As soon as we listed Ted Cruz as our featured guest this week, I got unsolicited research and questions, not from Democrats but from top Republicans, to hammer Cruz.”

“This was a strategy laid out by Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz without any consultation with their colleagues,” said Karl Rove. “With all due respect to my junior Senator from Texas, I suspect this is the first time that the end game was described to any Republican Senator. They had to tune in to listen to you to find out what Ted’s next step was in the strategy.”

“You cannot build a Congressional majority, in either party, for any kind of action, unless you are treating your colleagues with some certain amount of respect, and saying, ‘Hey, what do you think of my idea?’” Rove said. “Instead they have dictated to their colleagues through the media, and through public statements, and not consulted them about this strategy at all.”

Clearly Sarah had to step in! Ted Cruz had been attacked, by her arch-enemy Karl Rove!

Anything to get the SarahPAC scam going!

So with all guns blazing, Sarah Palin tweeted:



Yes, reveal the anonymous sources, Fox News! You scoundrels!

In this same manner, Sarah declared open hunting season on the RINOs at Breitbart, the disgusting right-wing propaganda outfit where the worst of America come together to relish hate:

As I said in my speech at CPAC this year, it’s time for the Senate to put itself on Cruz Control. Ignore the peanut gallery pundits. They’ve written my political obituary so many times, I’m practically Lazarus. Now they’re trying to destroy Ted Cruz. Good luck with that, you weasels. Texans are just as tough as Alaskans. Smaller, but just as tough.

But here’s the important thing that none of these establishment backstabbers understand. It’s not the messenger that matters. It’s the message. You can try to take out someone like Ted Cruz, but that won’t stop the message from catching fire. The message is liberty, and it’s been resounding ever since a band of patriots dumped tea in Boston harbor.

The message only grows stronger. The grassroots is bigger than any one person. We the People will rise up, and we will make our voices heard. Right now, Ted Cruz is speaking for us in this Obamacare fight. God bless him for it.

Hang in there, Ted and Mike. You have millions of supporters among ordinary hardworking Americans. We support you because you don’t shy away from the fray. May your colleagues in the Senate gain the wisdom to support your excellent efforts so that you can see that the view is better from inside the bus than under it.

Oh, and a little reminder to Republican senators up for re-election in 2014: Moose season ends soon, allowing more time on one’s hands. So, we’ll be watching your votes very carefully this week.

It is a miracle in itself that this mentally ill woman is still being given a platform, but then, with hundreds of thousands of dollars available to pay for consultants from her SarahPAC scam, she still can afford to pay the people who write her articles and who help her to "stay relevant."

But trying to fight against Karl Rove and the GOP establishment in an apparent guerilla war from the sidelines, can Sarah Palin win? Or is she just raging and screaming like Hitler in his bunker in April 1945? After all, it is an acknowledged fact that a guerilla war will be won by simply keeping up the fight. I believe that this is the strategy of Sarah and her highly-paid advisors. By not shutting up, and still having a platform, she "wins", because she stays in the news, and the SarahPAC scam can continue. Her little propaganda machine fuels itself.

So it's all about Sarah. But will the GOP simply keep quiet?

In her latest interview on Fox News, she lectures the "GOP elephants" - they will not like it very much:




It is clear to virtually anyone that this woman not only suffers from severe delusions of grandeur, but continues to be a grudge carrier of the highest order.

The conservative Alaskan journalist Dan Fagan had an ominous warning for Sarah Palin in 2009:

Yes I do believe Sarah Palin has a dark soul. A soul obsessed with her image. A soul focused on hurting others. Sarah Palin’s book reveals her as someone unwilling, unable, incapable of living a life of forgiveness. She is a grudge carrier. Settling scores drive her and she is hell bent on revenge, payback, getting even. (...)

Revenge has become the work and calling of her life. Maybe it always has been. It’s clearly what drives her now. Her cutthroat attacks on others will be her downfall. Her inability to control her desire to hurt those who hurt her will end up in the end discrediting her as a leader, as a person.

This episode today is "classic Palin." The two things she hates most combined: "Anonymous sources", and the GOP establishment, the "establishment backstabbers", as she now calls them, and then there is the "permanent political class", whoever that is:


But the permanent political class is handwringing and howling that if there’s a government shutdown the media will blame Republicans for it. Here’s a little newsflash, GOP establishment: Whenever anything bad happens, the media blames Republicans for it. That’s not an excuse to roll over and play dead. It’s a call to follow the advice I give my daughters: Woman up, stand your ground, and fight like a girl!

I want no pity. I need no empathy. But use me as a barometer. Over the years, the leftwing media has falsely and irrationally accused me of everything from faking a pregnancy to abetting murder. They lie. Deal with it.


Well, she (again) sounds like a Nazi - or a Communist, raging against the "system." Her world is full of enemies: The GOP establishment (the "backstabbers"), the "leftwing media" (the "liars"), as well as anyone else who doesn't adore her.

Also, dear Sarah, yes, you did fake your pregnancy with Trig. You got away with it in the end because the "leftwing media" had been fooled and lacked courage at the same time. But it's still on your mind, is it not, Sarah...? What was your reason again not to run for President in 2012...?

So Sarah's big guerrilla war will continue, and she surely is confident that she won't turn into a moose burger, only to be eaten by Karl Rove. But there are few people who crossed Karl Rove, and had been victorious in the end. Very few. Difficult to name one, actually.

We will watch, and we surely shall be entertained!

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UPDATE:

Sarah Palin comments prompted a fierce backlash in the media. On Al Sharpton's show, he and his panel accused Sarah Palin of "megalomania", "narcissism" and "illusions of grandeur."

Mediaite reports:

Sarah Palin has jumped into the fray over defunding Obamacare, but Al Sharpton and his panel Monday said it’s less about the politics and more about the attention. Sharpton, Krystal Ball, and Cynthia Tucker all agreed that Palin, as well as Cruz, is in this fight partly to stand for conservative values, and mostly out of her own “megalomania and narcissism.”

Sharpton said it’s “time to grab the popcorn” now that Palin has weighed in at a time when the GOP is on the “brink of its own civil war.” Tucker said Palin’s just making things worse by throwing in her lot with the “crazy” Republicans, calling the intra-party fighting a “nightmare” for GOP moderates.

Ball argued that Palin and Cruz are a “match made in heaven” because both have one thing in common: they are “motivated by their own selfish interest” in everything they do, and this Obamacare fight is less about ideology and more about all the media attention. Sharpton agreed that they suffer from “megalomania and narcissism,” with Tucker adding if they really cared about the conservative cause, “they wouldn’t be destroying the Republican party.”

The one bright spot Ball found was that Palin doesn’t have nearly the same allure that she used to nor does she have the fundraising pull despite her “illusions of grandeur.”

Video:


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In addition, Steve Schmidt today totally obliterated Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and their right-wing "friends" on Hardball with Chris Matthews, and Schmidt even expresses his "regret" to have participated in the creation of "the freak show that's been running wild for four years."

(h/t BinWI)

Steve Schmidt said:

"For the last couple of years, we've had this wing of the party running roughshod over the rest of the party, tossing out terms like RINO, saying we're going to purge the moderates out of the party, that, you know, it's all of the people that she's attacking in her statement. We've lost five U.S. Senate seats over the last two election cycles and fundamentally we need Republicans whether they're running for president, whether they're in the leadership of the Congress to stand up against a lot of this asininity.

You finally see it with Ted Cruz, maybe he was the one that has gone a bridge too far. And as we come up against a potential default, potential government shutdown, wise people understand the political consequences for the Republican party. Maybe we'll start seeing our elected leaders stop being intimidated by this nonsense, have the nerve, have the guts to stand up and say enough is enough, this isn't what the Republican party's about. To fight to take conservatism's good name back from the freak show that's been running wild for four years and I have deep regret in my part, certainly, in initiating [it]. But it's time for Republicans to again embrace what made us successful in the past, which is a party that has solutions to the problems that face the country."

Video:

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Sarah Palin and SarahPAC are being sued for using iconic 9/11 photo without permission - Will Sarah Palin now play the victim again? - UPDATE: Read the full filed complaint!


"I’m the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can’t."
Sarah Palin during her time as mayor of Wasilla, quoted by "Salon"

By Patrick

It does not happen very often that Sarah Palin is sued, but maybe people are not as afraid of her as they used to be. Or not even afraid at all.

Sarah Palin's political action committee SarahPAC recently started placing its logo on all sorts of photographs, often with some text added under the photos, in order to "strengthen" the Pac's political message. These "enhanced" photos were then usually published on Sarah Palin's facebook page as well as the SarahPAC website.

However, many people started to wonder whether SarahPAC actually had permission to use the photos and put the SarahPAC logo on them. Just several days ago, Sarah Palin on her facebook for example used an iconic image of Martin Luther King, taken during the March on Washington in 1963, and had no hesitation to prominently display the SarahPAC logo on the picture.

It appears that this question has now been answered, at least for some of the photos in question, as the use of another iconic image by SarahPAC today promptly led to a lawsuit against Sarah Palin and SarahPAC.

A few days ago, on September 11, Sarah Palin posted the following photo on her facebook, an iconic image from 9/11, again with the SarahPAC logo attached on the photo:

Photo Copyright 2001, The Record (Bergen County, NJ)  "as altered by SarahPAC"


The rights to this photo belong to North Jersey Media Group Inc., and they are not amused!

Bloomberg reports:

Sarah Palin and her political action committee SarahPAC were sued by a newspaper publisher over the use of a photo of firefighters raising the U.S. flag at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11 attacks.

North Jersey Media Group Inc., publisher of The Record and Herald News daily newspapers, accused the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate and her political action committee of using the photograph without permission in a complaint filed today in federal court in Manhattan.

The picture is of three firefighters, covered in soot, hoisting the flag while standing amid the ruins of the World Trade Center the day of the attacks and taken by a photographer working for North Jersey Media Group, according to the lawsuit. Copies of the image are posted on Palin’s Facebook page and her political action committee page, www.sarahpac.com, according to the complaint.

The publisher, which alleges copyright infringement, seeks a court order barring Palin and SarahPAC from using the image.

SarahPAC representatives didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The photo was taken by Record photographer Thomas E. Franklin. The U.S. Postal Service in 2002 issued a stamp called “Heroes” with the image.

This is an interesting development because Sarah Palin is in this case not being handled with "kid gloves", as has so often happened in the past.

Sarah Palin today removed the famous 9/11-photo from her facebook page in an apparent response to the lawsuit.

The iconic photo of MLK which I mentioned above is another particularly shameless exploitation by Sarah Palin, the SarahPAC logo is an insult:




Our reader maelewis also pointed out that in another photo used by Sarah Palin, the "composition" which was created afterwards distorts the real facts:

Sarah is really hitting that Union stuff. At least her logo is on her own trademarked self. Now for the hypocrisy. I'm amazed that Google images can find a photo if I ask the right question. Sarah wants people to thing that her FB photo shows her addressing her union brothers and sisters. Nothing could be further from the truth. That photo comes from a rally in Madison, Wisconsin where Scott Walker was dismantling unions - teachers unions. Sarah was not on the side of unions. She was for Scott Walker cutting his budget any way that he could. First photo: Sarah's FB, second photo, the anti-union rally. And, just to drive home the point that Sarah was anti-union in that photo, click here.

By the way, Sarah is speaking as part of the Tea Party, and the sign on the podium is "Americans for Prosperity," a Koch Brothers enterprise. They are anti-union, anti-workers' rights. Funny that the FB people covered up the AFP logo, and tried to imply that Palin was addressing some union members. Ain't so.

Sarah Palin's "composition" on facebook, created for propaganda purposes:




There, the logo for "Americans For Prosperity" had been cut off, so as not to disturb Sarah Palin's message to her "union brothers and sisters."

An "uncropped" photo from this event in Madison, Wisconsin reveals that she was speaking for the Koch-funded "Americans for Prosperity":




It truly was a terrible "screech" by Sarah Palin, in which she was acting as a paid shill for the Koch Brothers and their infamous fake-grassroots organization "Americans for Prosperity" - watch the speech:




A friend of unions or union-members she is definitely not, our crafty Sarah. She only likes the folks with big pockets like the Koch-brothers who will happily pay her gigantic speaking fees.

Our reader JCos had some suggestions for the future use of the SarahPAC logo:










I think Sarah Palin should seriously consider the last proposal...just think about the headlines!

Good night, everyone!

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UPDATE:

The defenders of Sarah Palin, as well as Sarah Palin herself, don't have a leg to stand on in this controversy. One look at the website of SarahPAC reveals that the primary goal of her political action committee is fundraising:



Using iconic images without permission primarily for fundraising purposes therefore constitutes a particularly serious violation of copyright rules, and any other organization would have been sued for such a violation as well.

Even worse: More than 90 percent of the money that SarahPAC raised over the years was not used for the official purpose of SarahPAC - supporting other candidates. The money was used for Sarah Palin herself, in order to pay for her numerous and expensive consultants, for her travels, and even her long-time personal lawyers are being retained by SarahPAC. It's her own personal slush fund, ensuring that Sarah Palin can avoid what she hates most: Actual work.

Her PAC ensures that for example speeches, facebook posts and press articles are being written for her, just like it was the case with speeches, press articles and other items when she was Governor of Alaska. There is only one person, apart from her highly paid staff, who hugely profits from SarahPAC: Sarah Palin herself.

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UPDATE 2:

Because we are having so much fun today - Kathleen found an excellent Palin-joke in the comments of Huffington Post:

When they were prepairing SP for VP, they had a security audit checking the passwords on her computer accounts. During the audit, it was discovered that Sarah was using the following password:

“MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento”

When asked why she had such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital.
+++

UPDATE 3:

It turns out that it was Sarah Palin's own fault that the was slapped with this lawsuit - from NorthJersey.com (h/t NJfan):

Jennifer A. Borg, vice president, corporate secretary and general counsel for North Jersey Media Group, said the lawsuit was filed when neither Palin nor the PAC responded to a letter.

“It is important to enforce our copyright on this iconic photo,” Borg said. “When neither Ms. Palin nor representatives from her PAC responded to our demand letter to remove the photograph, we were left with no choice but to seek redress in court.”

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UPDATE 4:

We got a link to our story at "CNN Trends!"

Surely Palinbot-heads will explode when they see that! :-)

Screenshot:


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UPDATE 5:

The full original complaint by North Jersey Media Group Inc. has now been published. They specifically mention in the complaint that the photo was used for fundraising purposes by SarahPAC. They also demand a jury trial.



Screenshot from the complaint:




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UPDATE 6:

The controversy about the use of the picture by Sarah Palin and SarahPAC is now already a few days old, and still no word from Sarah Palin! No apology, no word to her supporters not to reproduce the SarahPAC-graphic any more. Talk about "mitigating the damage"...it isn't happening.

We know from history that Sarah Palin cannot take it if she is challenged for alleged "misconduct", because...how dare anyone to challenge her! How dare they! After all, isn't Sarah Palin an iconic item herself? Way more important than a silly photo, right...?

But "joking" aside:

Many thanks to BanditBasheert for pointing out that this iconic photo, taken by photographer Tom Franklin on 9/11, has been used multiple times very successfully for raising funds for good causes, for example for supporting 9/11 victims. The firemen who are depicted in the photo were also involved in the successful attempts to raise funds for good causes, as well as the photographer Tom Franklin himself.

The news website "Patch" provides more details:

It's one thing when a picture you've taken earns you celebrity status. But not everybody's work gets turned into a stamp. That happened in 2002 when the U.S. Postal Service introduced the "Heroes" stamp, featuring the flag-raising photo.

Proceeds from the stamp have raised more than $10 million to help families and rescue workers of 9/11.

Also that year, an autographed original print signed by Tom and the three firemen sold for $89,625 at Christie's Auction House, with proceeds benefiting two 9/11 charities. The photo has also been instrumental in raising money for other charitable causes, including Juvenile Diabetes, autism, cerebral palsy.

In addition, photographer Tom Franklin explained the following in an interview (which, by the way, is worth reading and contains great images) from 2011:

"The North Jersey Media Group, which owns the Bergen Record, owns the copyright of the photo. They have used the image in many ways to raise money, which then has been allocated to aid certain NJ families affected by 9/11. The "Heroes" stamp, which is a semi-postal US Postage stamp (semi-postal stamps are stamps where proceeds are used for charity, like the Breast Cancer stamp) features the image, and has raised over ten million dollars by itself. Those funds I believe were controlled by FEMA and allocated to 9/11-related victims. I believe that some of the funds leftover were used to aid Katrina victims."

Therefore it has to be noted, in order to understand the full context, that we are not talking about an ordinary photo - it is not just an "iconic" photo, but also a photo which has been used multiple times for fundraising purposes for various good causes. It is this context which makes the use of the photo by SarahPAC for their own fundraising particularly reprehensible.

In any case, Sarah Palin and her highly paid staffers messed it up. The photo is also displayed at Wikipedia, but at the same time, Wikipedia provides a precise warning to anyone who wants to use the photo for free, and accurately explains the limits of "fair use." Hint: Fundraising for your own for-profit PAC is never "fair use." Anyone would understand this and immediately offer a swift and sweeping apology, but we betcha that Sarah Palin feels that she was singled out unfairly. After all, she is the victim here, isn't she?

Wikipedia explains:
This image is a faithful digitisation of a unique historic image, and the copyright for it is most likely held by the person who created the image or the agency employing the person. It is believed that the use of this image may qualify as fair use under United States copyright law. Other use of this image, on Wikipedia or elsewhere, may be copyright infringement. See Wikipedia:Fair use for more information. Please remember that the non-free content criteria require that non-free images on Wikipedia must not "[be] used in a manner that is likely to replace the original market role of the original copyrighted media." Use of historic images from press agencies must only be used in a transformative nature, when the image itself is the subject of commentary rather than the event it depicts (which is the original market role, and is not allowed per policy).


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UPDATE 7:

Many thanks to our readers Maelewis and Sleuth for pointing out that this photo even has its own website, on which the rules for using the photo are explained in greater detail.

Quote from the website:

The Record (Bergen County, NJ), owns the copyright to the photograph. The following copyright notice must appear with the photo at all times: (c) 2001 The Record, (Bergen County, NJ).

• For personal, non-commercial use, visit NorthJerseyImages.com. Prints are available framed or unframed.

• For editorial use, please visit Getty Images.

• For nonprofit reuse, please call (973) 569-7014 or email groundzerospirit@northjersey.com.

• For licensed products, please use officially licensed vendors.


At the bottom of this website, there is a clear warning:

Please contact us if you find people who may be using our photo without permission.

We seek to ensure that the photograph is not used for personal gain and that it is used in a dignified and proper manner.

Therefore the rules are clear. Non-commercial use is possible with permission. For editorial use, the usual licence fee would apply, but the photograph is not to be used for personal gain. Then there are the "fair use" rules which apply to any photo, as mentioned above.

Nothing here speaks in favor of Sarah Palin or SarahPAC, who used the photo commercially without permission, for their own fundraising purposes. Exactly the opposite is the case: From the rules stated on the website, it is apparent immediately that this type of usage by Sarah Palin and SarahPAC would have never been allowed.

Amazingly, the world is still waiting for a statement from Sarah Palin. What's the problem, Sarah?

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Open Post - Crosby Stills Nash and Young

By Kathleen

It's time for a little Deja vu........

Patrick and I love us some Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and now would seem to be the perfect time to indulge in a little healthy rock idealism. Enjoy.

Carry On.


In the face of despair we have no choice but to carry on......I just love the harmonies at 1:58. "Carry on, love is coming, love is coming to us all!"

 


Teach Your Children Well 


"Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park" by Diane Arbus


I searched quite a few youtube videos and finally fixed on the following one because at the end it best explains Graham Nash's motivation for writing the song. In an interview Nash explained that he was prompted by a photograph taken by Diane Arbus, titled "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park" as it caused him to reflect on the messages that society imparts to its children. As a parent and teacher this song still resonates with me  just as strongly as it did when I first heard it.


 

Woodstock


Still my personal favourite and it is blasting out as I type. The ending of this video is golden, not to be missed.

"Well I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road
And I asked him tell where are you going, this he told me:

(He) said, I'm going down to Yasgur's farm, going to join in a rock and roll band.

Got to get back to the land, and set my soul free.

We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,

And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

Well, then can I roam beside you? I have come to lose the smog.
And I feel myself a cog in something turning.
And maybe it's the time of year, yes, said maybe it's the time of man.
And I don't know who I am but life is for learning.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

By the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong,
And everywhere was song and celebration.
And I dreamed I saw the bomber jet planes riding shotgun in the sky,
Turning into butterflies above our nation.

We are stardust, we are golden, we are caught in the devil's bargain,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden."






Feel free to comment as usual. Love and peace