Green Eagle

Well, the death panels are back.  The lying, corrupt, hateful liars who make up the Republican party and its sucker followers are screaming their heads off again, repeating the biggest, most malicious lie of 2010. I try to avoid anything personal on my blog, because I want it to be about something more important than me.  I am going to make an exception this time, because this is a lie too abominable to let it stand unchallenged. Over the last few years, my mother, my wife's mother and her aunt have died, all in their mid-90's.  When our parents were dealing with their parents' mortality, this would have been remarkable.  It was a rare thing for people to live beyond 90, and experience deterioration of a kind that would have been very uncommon a few decades ago.  Now it is becoming a frequent occurrence. We really knew almost nothing about this process and how to deal with it.  This is where the "death panels" come in.  Thanks to our government, ...

Doesn't this comfort you? "The Republicans taking over the House of Representatives next week will read the constitution out loud in its entirety. It's something that has never been done in the chamber's 221 year history."  That will really contribute a lot to solving the problems which the same Republicans caused, right?  What a bunch of jackasses. I can't wait to see what other ways they find to avoid dealing with the real issues.

The following story is making the rounds today: " (AP)  BALTIMORE - A person with knowledge of the investigation says federal authorities have opened a criminal probe of Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell to determine if the former Senate candidate broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses." Funny that the people in the press care nothing for the massive, virtually hidden, buckets of money from multinational corporations, and almost certainly from foreign governments, used to buy political candidates today, but they sure have time to savage this pathetic losing candidate for what is undoubtedly an extremely minor matter. My take? The Republican party, despite doing everything it could to help this woman win their nomination (she rose a state record $7.3 million for her campaign) realizes that she made a total fool out of herself, and they are going to make sure that she is destroyed before she can humiliate them again.  They didn...

From Talking Points Memo: "It's really almost criminal what they do with our president...There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he's doing certain things that he's not. It's just a big old political game that I don't want to be part of." -Merle Haggard Here's someone who bought the lies until he met the guy and discovered the truth.  Well, when you are a legendary country singer you get a chance to find out for yourself that you have been misled.  What will ever suffice to do that for the rest of the teabaggers out there?

This, from Crooks and Liars today: "A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives' brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other "primitive" emotions. At the same time, conservatives' brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate -- the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism." No comment needed.

God, there's no way to shut up the Maverick. "(An old political associate) said "it hurts" McCain to vote against legislation like the Dream Act after years of working on reform but said the senator felt betrayed when Latinos overwhelmingly supported Obama in 2008. "When you carry that fight at great sacrifice year after year and then you are abandoned during the biggest fight of your life, it has to have some sort of effect on you," he said." I see, John.  You only represent the interests of people who vote for you, and anyone who disagrees with you can drop dead.  In fact, you will even vote against legislation that you previously supported, just to screw them for not sending you to the White House.  That's the spirit of our founding fathers, yes sir. Another quote from this guy: " McCain would be more helpful if the White House reached out to him, but "they haven't talked to him at all." The way the Bush White H...

The people over at Sadly No! are devoting themselves to a really good cause, and I think we should help them out. Every year, some pathetic idiot who calls himself the "Gay Patriot" sponsors a contest to name someone the "Grande Conservative Blogress Diva."  And no, I didn't make that name up.  Anyway, the Sadly No! people are urging us all t o go over there and vote for Robin of Berkeley, one of the most deranged wingnut writers on the web today, and one of the candidates for this prestigious award.  Faithful readers (ha) of Wingnut Wrapup will be familiar with Robin of Berkeley, as she has frequently been the subject of Green Eagle's ridicule. Currently, Robin is in the lead.  Please take a few seconds to go over there and make sure that she stays ahead.  She is such a fitting spokesperson for the wingnut right.

I'm having a little internet problem, but I thought I'd whip out something in the limited window I have here.  I want to note that I have, over the last year, cut down on the number of sources for Wingnut Wrapup, because right wingers follow their leaders, even when picking their own variety of insanity; consequently they all pretty much spew the same garbage.  I think I have gone a little too far, so I am going to add some "award winning" (i.e. particularly offensive) blogs to my list.  I'll keep you posted.  Anyway, here's today's load of rubbish: Michelle Malkin, Town Hall:  "Internet Access is Not a Civil Right" Not when it stands in the way of some rich person to make a whole lot of money, anyway. Janice Crouse, Town Hall:   "Childhood Obesity and National Security" The Republican party today- for obesity, against  security.  Sounds about right to me. Floyd and Mary Beth Brown, Town Hall:  "New Stimulus Will Damage R...

Well, thank heaven.  The War on Christmas is almost over this year, and the Republicans can get back to their War on America. 

I have to say that my dire predictions about how little would be accomplished in the lame duck congressional session were wrong.  Obama and the Congress delivered on far more than we had any reason, based on their previous performance, to expect.  Good for them, and I hope it reminds them of what can be accomplished when they show a little fight, particularly given the fact that the American people are overwhelmingly behind the Democrats on these issues. The Republican "momentum" from the recent election, so carefully built up by the mainstream press, has been squandered already by their unreasonable obstructionism.  That's shouldn't be that surprising to anyone who remembers the Gingrich days in Congress, and how Bill Clinton mangled them when they tried the same tricks. Apparently, however, Republicans have as little memory of that history as they do, for example, of why we fought the Civil War, or exactly which party supported civil rights. Now the Democrats ha...

And I mean, the REAL green one: What would the holiday season be without a little good will from the big guy?

So, as it's the end of the year, it's time for everybody to compile their top ten lists, right?  And why should World Net Daily be any different?  They are conducting their annual poll of the most neglected news stories of the year.  Isn't that exciting?  I won't bother to provide a link to the site, as you have to register with them in order to vote, and registering with WND is, in my opinion, only marginally different than being a registered member of NAMBLA.  What really interested me about this whole exercise in idiocy was the list they provided of the ten winners from last year's poll.  So, here they are, as a sort of little Christmas present, of course with Green Eagle's analysis of the press malfeasance that resulted in their inclusion on this list: 1. Evidence the Fort Hood mass murderer was an Islamic terrorist acting as part of a larger, radical Islamic movement Well, given as how the "evidence" that this lunatic had anything to do with a ...

Talking Points Memo has the tale: "Today in the Senate, they passed (by unanimous consent) the defense authorization bill that Republicans held up over objections to repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell just two short weeks ago; they passed by a voice vote the 9/11 First Responders Health bill that had been the subject of so much drama and debate; and they passed by a 71-26 vote the START nuclear treaty with Russia despite Republican objections to that as well. " Finally, the Republicans realized what sort of impression they were creating, and did the right thing on all of these clearly moral issues.  Not that they did it for the right reason, of course.  I am interested in what this Republican collapse presages for their threats to shut down the government when they take over the House next month.  We all knew that their attempt to do this in the nineties destroyed Newt Gingrich and the contract on America.  They all seem to think things will be different this time ar...

I see Rachel Maddow almost giddy over the passing of the START treaty.  Like lots of other liberals, she has already succeeded in convincing herself that this represents a tremendous victory over the Republicans. Wrong.  All we have seen here is that the Republican party can tell when it is on the losing end of a public relations battle.  They gave up on Don't Ask Don't Tell, because they think it is going to be a great issue to rile up their base in 2012 (they're right) and they gave up on the START treaty because even the endless collaboration of the press could not disguise the fact that they had placed party loyalty above our national security in the most craven way imaginable.  So they will have Lisa Murkowski (who they undoubtedly hate because she defeated one of their selected teabaggers) and a few other Republicans, vote for the treaty, not because it is essential to maintaining world nuclear stability, but because their bankrupt political calculus tells th...

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the secession of South Carolina, precipitating the Civil War, or as many in the south still call it, "The War of Evil Yankees Lettin' Our N*****s Loose to Rape Our Women."  In an interesting article in the Guardian today, Eric Foner has this to say: "A century and a half after the civil war, many white Americans, especially in the South, seem to take the idea that slavery caused the war as a personal accusation. The point, however, is not to condemn individuals ..." Sorry, Eric, you are writing for a British publication and maybe you are not here to see what is really going on in the U. S. these days.  The point is exactly to condemn individuals who still want to lie away the abomination that the confederacy was, and in all too many cases, reserve for themselves the right to retain the hatred of others that made the toleration of slavery possible.  Mr. Foner himself points out: "The new nation's "corne...

Can this be true?  The noxious hater Bryan Fischer over at Renew America is finally starting to see the light? "Benedict Arnold Republicans destroy military and our national security" So, he has finally realized the abomination of squandering our military might in a failed war of aggression, or maybe he is disgusted by the Republicans' willingness to severely damage our national security and that of the whole world, by destroying our nuclear inspection agreement with the Russians, in order to score cheap political points.  Or could it be that he finally realizes what the consequences are when Republicans demolish major CIA assets in the middle east, in order to get cheap revenge on a guy who wouldn't lie for them.  Whatever it is, Bryan, congratulations for finally coming out and telling the truth! Oh, wait... "We are now stuck with sexual deviants serving openly in the U.S. military because of turncoat Republican senators..." Never mind. Silly me.

Well, everyone on the left is just so excited about the victory in repealing DADT.  Leave it to Green Eagle to see the dreadful side to this.  I think the Democratic party has just fallen prey to another bunch of sucker bait from Republicans. Here is how I think this is going to pay off in 2012.  The Republican party is going to run on the following:  The Democrats couldn't deliver a nuclear arms control treaty with the Russians, they couldn't deliver a thing to deal with illegal aliens, they didn't even get a budget enacted properly.  In fact they didn't do a damned thing with their majority except pander to the homosexuals.  That's all they really care about- destroying the moral fiber of our country to make people more dependent on government, and that's all that they could muster the determination to get through congress. Forget that it's virtually one hundred percent the fault of the Republican party that none of the things listed above were passed...

The Council of Conservative Citizens, commenting on the choice of a black man to play one of the Norse gods in the upcoming movie Thor: "It’s not enough that Marvel attacks conservative values and promotes the left-wing, now mythological Gods must be re-invented with black skin.  It seems that Marvel Studios believes that white people should have nothing that is unique to themselves." Don't worry so much, Conservative guys. White people still have something that is unique to themselves.  They are uniquely stupid.

Here's a story from the Huffington Post, via Daily Kos , that puts a new light on the vile pack of degenerates who make up the Republican party: "On Thursday, the House took up the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010. The bill would ensure that child marriage is recognized as a human rights violation, and develop comprehensive strategies to prevent such marriages around the world. The legislation seemed likely to garner strong bipartisan support in Congress, and in the Senate, it did. But last night, the bill was voted down in the House by Republicans who argued the bill is too costly and could lead to increased abortions -- gripes the measure's supporters say have no basis in reality and are just excuses to kill the popular bill." This behavior is loathsome in the extreme, and the Republicans manage to get away with it over and over again, because our mainstream press will not hold them accountable for the most disgust...

Someone must have put something in their pop-tarts this morning.  They're really up in arms: World Net Daily:  "Obama's urgent treaty push called 'contempt of Congress'   Analysts fear START doc holds something prez wants concealed" Called contempt by whom?  Why, World Net Daily's founder, Joseph Farah, of course.  And by the way, the text of the treaty has been available for eight months, so if Obama wants something concealed, he must have written it in really little letters. Joseph Farah, World Net Daily:  "Time to quit the U.S. military...As much as I respect and admire the U.S. military as an institution, I would find myself actively encouraging men and women to leave – in droves." Better to leave the United States helpless against foreign attack than have gays in the military.  Boy, these conservatives are so patriotic and so dedicated to defending our country. Farah continues with his sick ravings: "After all, this is simply...

From Talking Points Memo , although it is all over the news, of course: "Late last night, Harry Reid's plan to get the federal government funded through the end of the fiscal year went up in flames, burning months and months of work by Senate appropriators and their staffs. To avert a government shutdown, Reid agreed to work out a federal funding plan with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell..." Remind you of any other Democratic behavior lately? Harry Reid collapsed just like Obama did over the tax cuts for the rich, and here, at the end of the two years when the Democrats could have done virtually anything that these weak leaders wanted to, we are left with virtually nothing.  The people that WE worked for and paid for have now openly determined that it is a lot easier to just give in and collaborate with a party that is looting the country, rather than stand up for what they know is in everyone's best interest. And don't tell me about the sixty vote...

Bob Feller died last night at 92. One of the earliest sports memories I have is seeing Bob Feller pitch in Cleveland.  I was too young to understand that I was watching one of the most dominant pitchers in major league history.  He was part of a great tradition of Cleveland pitching, along with Bob Lemon (missed him,) Early Wynn and Herb Score (both of whom I saw later) in the days before the tribe became the Major League whipping boy it was from the sixties to the nineties.  Well, it was a long time ago.  Bye, Bob.

From Yahoo Sports: "Michael Vick wants another dog."

From the Website of the "Army of Tennessee, Sons of Confederate Veterans" " The preservation of liberty and freedom was the motivating factor in the South's decision to fight the Second American Revolution." How can you be expected to reach some kind of reasonable common understanding with people who are willing to tell themselves such preposterous, malignant lies?

Doesn't it seem past time that we had some sort of eruption from Orly Taitz?  Where's she gone?

Green Eagle has been neglecting his duty lately, but here he is, back with a full load of right wing lies from the last few days.  As they say, read it and weep: Guy Benson, Town Hall:  "President Obama Must Oppose and Veto His Party's Monster Omnibus Bill" Because it is imperative that he take orders from right wing lunatics bent on destroying him and anything he tries to accomplish.  That will sure make his presidency a success.  Sad to say, the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if Obama took this guy's advice. Bob Owens, Confederate Yankee:  "Pajamas Media was kind enough to publish a piece I wrote about Fox News Sunday's interview with US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on December 11th. Justice Breyer revealed himself to be a stereotypical leftist believer in a "living, breathing, Constitution" As opposed to Republican Justices like Scalia and Alito, who appear to believe in a constitution that is dead as a doorknob...

In the course of my life, I have seen repeated eruptions of government outrage at people who publicized things that officials didn't want us to know.  Offhand, I can think of exactly one time that these leaks caused us any real harm:  the Dick Cheney masterminded outing of Valerie Plame, which destroyed a large part of our covert monitoring of middle eastern nuclear proliferation.  And surprise, surprise, that was just fine with the American press. Other than that, every case did not involve information damaging to our national security, but things that were embarrassing to the government perpetrators. It has virtually always been the case that the more information we have, the better off we are; and based on my experience of that, I say that the more information screwed out of the government, the better. And, as for the usual hysterical Conservative screams that the revealing of this information is going to result in a few deaths, please remember this:  First of...

An E-mail from Fox News managing director Bill Sammons to his staff: From : Sammon, Bill To : 169 -SPECIAL REPORT; 036 -FOX.WHU; 054 -FNSunday; 030 -Root (FoxNews.Com); 050 -Senior Producers; 051 -Producers; 069 -Politics; 005 -Washington Cc : Clemente, Michael; Stack, John; Wallace, Jay; Smith, Sean Sent : Tue Dec 08 12:49:51 2009 Subject : Given the controversy over the veracity of climate change data... ...we should refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question. It is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies. Some other subjects that should benefit from the same treatment: ...we should refrain from asserting that the earth is more than 6,000 years old without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data th...

"Gibbs: Afghan withdrawal will begin in July" I'll believe that when I see it.  My prediction:  Obama will start some kind of real troop withdrawal the day after he ends the tax giveaways for the rich.

Can there be any more blatant sign of the sickness of our society than this one , reported today by the New York Times? "Speculators Are Eager to Bet on Madoff Claims The lawsuits filed by the trustee seeking money for Bernard L. Madoff’s fraud victims may be a blow for the defendants — but they are catnip for an obscure breed of Wall Street traders speculating on the outcome of the enormous Madoff bankruptcy case." This is what our vital financial sector has become: maggots eating dead rats. People on Wall Street making a living by betting on the outcome of disasters that they create themselves.  And the game is still rigged by the government to make sure that these guys end up the winners in the murderous game they force the rest of us to pay for.

This sordid story from the New York Times: "QOSH, Iraq — A new wave of Iraqi Christians has fled to northern Iraq or abroad amid a campaign of violence against them and growing fear that the country’s security forces are unable or, more ominously, unwilling to protect them.  The flight — involving thousands of residents from Baghdad and Mosul, in particular — followed an Oct. 31 siege at a church in Baghdad that killed 51 worshipers and 2 priests and a subsequent series of bombings and assassinations singling out Christians. It threatens to reduce further what Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana of the Assyrian Church of the East called “a community whose roots were in Iraq even before Christ.”  Would it be impolite to mention that this Christian community was doing just fine until the United States decided that it knew better than anyone in the world what would be best for the Iraqi people?  The anti-Muslim Christian hatemongers in this country who are already hard at w...

It is, unfortunately, time to discuss yet another perverse mangling of our history, brought to us by the American right- this time the misuse of the notion of American exceptionalism. This term, first used by Alexis de Toqueville to refer to the fact that this country was founded by the will of the people, rather than through the monarchical power struggles that produced most previous countries, has been reforged by conservatives as a battering ram to beat up and silence anyone who dares to criticize their plans for the United States in any way. Naturally, as this perversion of Toqueville's comments represents a new high in right wing nativism, its foremost proponen t is politics' lowest common denominator of demagoguery, Sarah Palin. "The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty wrote a smart piece this morning that identifies what will likely be the running theme of the 2012 presidential primary season: American exceptionalism. It's the name given to the concept tha...

From The Guardian, this sordid tale: "WikiLeaks cables: Vatican refused to engage with child sex abuse inquiry Leaked cable lays bare how Irish government was forced to grant Vatican officials immunity from testifying to Murphy commission...The Vatican refused to allow its officials to testify before an Irish commission investigating the clerical abuse of children and was angered when they were summoned from Rome, US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks reveal. Requests for information from the 2009 Murphy commission into sexual and physical abuse by clergy "offended many in the Vatican" who felt that the Irish government had "failed to respect and protect Vatican sovereignty during the investigations", a cable says." Where to begin, where to begin?  First, what the hell business does a church have with "sovereignty," anyway?  And since when should that claim of sovereignty justify their trying to hide perpetrators of one of the most abomin...

Isn't it a sad thing that the entire mainstream media in this country are so beaten down or so complicit that they have to rely on a bunch of out of control teenagers to stand up for freedom of the press?

Here's an amusing story , via Think Progress: "Halliburton May Pay $500 Million To Nigerian Government To Settle Case And Keep Cheney Out Of Jail...GlobalPost goes on to note that “Cheney and three other top executives could face sentences of three years in a Nigerian prison if convicted of the charges in the 16-count indictment.” One has to wonder how the employees and stockholders of the company feel about it possibly sacrificing half a billion dollars to keep Cheney and other executives out of jail." Just to give some perspective on this amount, Halliburton's average annual tax payments to our country over the last five years are $301.2 million.  The $500 million amount of this bribe is over a quarter of Halliburton's annual income. I have spoken before about executives' supposed fiduciary responsibility to stockholders, which seems to go out the window when the executives have a chance to dip their hands in the corporate trough.  Can there be a worse...

From today's New York Times: "The Obama administration is retreating on long-delayed environmental regulations — new rules governing smog and toxic emissions from industrial boilers — as it adjusts to a changed political dynamic in Washington with a more muscular Republican opposition. The move to delay the rules, announced this week by the Environmental Protection Agency, will leave in place policies set by President George W. Bush. President Obama ran for office promising tougher standards, and the new rules were set to take effect over the next several weeks." And don't forget, these are regulations.  They don't require 60 votes in the Senate, they don't require Republican cooperation, they don't require anything at all except for Obama to do the right thing. Which, it now appears, he has no interest in doing.  One more promise to the people who worked so hard to put him in office, discarded without a second thought, in order to get...absolutely ...

I want to strongly recommend this article at the Columbia Journalism Review, which recounts several other pieces detailing the sham which is Obama's prosecution of Wall Street crime.  Here is a small excerpt: "The Obama Administration’s Financial-Fraud Stunt Backfires...The New York Times’s Andrew Ross Sorkin called out Eric Holder’s Justice Department on Monday, noting that the 343 criminal defendants it said it’s prosecuting in a sweep it lamely calls Operation Broken Trust are small fry. No executive from the major corporations (like, oh, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, Countrywide, Ameriquest, etc.) has yet been charged." And what's more, there is plenty of evidence in this article to convince anyone that even the accounting of cases they are supposedly prosecuting is grossly inflated, including many cases that have nothing to do with the real issues, but which were included to pump up the numbers and further delude the American people into thinking...

I've been thinking about this quote all day, and I am happy to see that Digby was thinking of it too: "Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred. Those who used to have [access to the White House] are not happy. Some of them are desperate. Only desperate men with their backs to the wall would descend so far below the level of decent citizenship as to foster the current . . . campaign against America's working people." Do you recognize that?  It was spoken during the 1936 campaign by Obama's alleged role model, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a President like that again?

With all of the anger about Obama's collapse in giving a gigantic present to the rich, as a reasonable alternative to standing up to the Republicans, scant attention has been given to an equally malignant part of this historic failure.  That is the cut to the payroll tax.  This is the money that funds social security. So, instead of standing up to the rich and demanding that they pay their fair share, Obama is going to short  the social security trust fund by $120 billion over the next year, to fund the government.  And in the run up to the 2012 election, Republicans are going to scream bloody murder that, if Obama doesn't continue the payroll tax cut, he is "raising taxes," just like they are doing with the Bush giveaways to the rich.  And Obama will cave, because he will let no long-term looming disaster get in the way of his lunatic notions of how to win re-election. The end result of this will to be to take the Social Security system, which despite all of ...

From a number of stories today online- this quote from Talking Points Memo: "Self-described "patriot" Mark Krause, a 40-year-old Arkansas blacksmith whose home was foreclosed upon, was arrested in Washington state on Friday and charged with placing a bomb made out of a Pepsi can in front of a polling place during the runoff election for the Arkansas Democratic Senate primary." I just want to point out the obvious conclusions that we need to draw from this incident.  First, that all Christians are terrorists.  Second, that they are all trying to replace the Constitution with religious rule.  Third, that all Christian churches are nothing but fronts for terrorist organizations.  And finally, that we need to kick every Christian out of the country and send them back to wherever they came from, if we want to preserve our Republic. That makes sense, right?

"In a statement delivered at the White House a few minutes ago, President Obama confirmed the details leaked earlier today about the shape of the compromise to extend Bush income and estate tax policy for another two years in exchange for a thirteen month extension of unemployment benefits and a package of tax cuts designed to stimulate the economy. President Obama said he "completely disagrees" with the GOP's insistence on extending tax cuts for the wealthy, but he said that given their opposition to extending any tax cuts without including upper-income taxpayers, it was necessary to agree with their demand." The gutless worm.  No, it wasn't necessary to act like a craven coward.  It was necessary to stand up to these greedy bastards.  This tax giveaway to the rich is going to force major cuts in the future to Social Security and Medicare, and with weak, feckless Democratic leaders like Obama and Harry Reid in charge, there will never be a point where we...

From the New York Times: "As the White House and Congressional Republicans near a deal on sweeping tax legislation, including an extension of the Bush-era tax rates for all income levels, President Obama has agreed to give up the “Making Work Pay” tax credit that was the central tax break for middle and low-income Americans in last year’s economic stimulus bill." And what did the Republicans "agree" to give up? "Officials said negotiators were also close to an agreement to restore the federal estate tax, which lapsed at the start of this year, with an exemption of up to $5 million per individual, and a maximum rate of 35 percent." In other words, what the Republicans agreed to was a mammoth cut in the estate tax, in return for which Obama gave up the "central tax break for middle and low-income Americans" in his stimulus package.  The Republicans graciously consented to let Obama screw the middle class, in return for his giving a g...

I have a question that I haven't been able to answer, despite a reasonable amount of time searching the web.  The question is this:  How much revenue does the government (Federal, State and local) lose because of religious tax exemptions?  Because the earnings of churches are exempt, I suspect that no accurate number exists, but there must be some relatively reliable estimates.  Does anyone have any idea where I can answer this question? I found a link to an apparently no-longer-functioning site that gave the amount as over a trillion dollars a year, but as the site seems to no longer exist, I can't verify that number in any way. Here is why I am interested:  If I were in charge, this is the very first place I would look to diminish government's budgetary problems.  A trillion or so a year, spread out over Federal, State and local governments would go a long way toward balancing the budget, and between the behavior of Catholic priests and Muslim clerics...

Thanks a lot, President Obama.  From the New York Times: "White House officials and Congressional Republicans said Sunday they were closing in on a deal to temporarily continue the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, while bitterly frustrated Democratic Congressional leaders began exploring whether they would have the votes for such a package. Rather than extending the tax rates only on income described by Democrats as middle class — up to $250,000 a year for couples and $200,000 for individuals — the deal would also keep the rates for higher earners, probably for two years. In return, Republicans said they would probably agree to extend jobless aid for the long-term unemployed. " How can you even begin to explain what a thorough, humiliating failure this is for a party that still controls both houses of Congress by large margins?  Can Obama be so stupid as to think that the same Republican howling about "raising taxes" that made him collapse this time wil...

This news just in: "The national Tea Party Nation group is planning to send a letter to Sarah Palin asking the former governor of Alaska and John McCain sidekick to run for chair of the Republican National Committee." Listen, guys, unless you are willing to come up with $150,000 every time she shows up for a meeting, forget it.  She's got more important things to do with her time. Although, it's kind of a shame, really, for those of us who enjoyed the reign of Michael Steele.

Oh yeah, they're still here.  And even if Barack seems to be joining them, Green Eagle is still on the watch.  Here's today's selection: Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit: "Oops!… Obama Forgets the Coast Guard During Afghan Speech" What an abomination! Maybe this is the reason:   "Chief Petty Offi­cer Daniel Kinville and Petty Offi­cer 2nd Class Lau­ren...are the only two Coast Guard per­son­nel in Afghanistan."  Or maybe he just hates the troops.  We report, you decide. Confederate Yankee Speaks the Truth:  "It is the height of hilarity that McCaskill and her fellow Democratic senators think that this vote (for middle class tax cuts) actually helps their image with the Tea Party-affiliated voters that drove so many of their allies out of office just over a month ago. It is cognitive dissonance on a massive scale." It sure is, Confederate Yankee.  Because you and your self-destructive, racist teabagger friends are determined to destroy the count...

I have a list of things I feel I should be writing about, but everything seems to have come down to one issue:  when, if ever, is Barack Obama going to awaken from his hypnotic collapse and begin to govern?  If he continues with his present behavior, this country is doomed.  We need a president who is capable of something else than acquiescing in the face of any opposition, however contemptible and however hollow; and right now we don't have one. Obama may very well turn out to be the weakest president since James Buchanan, whose pathological inaction was a major factor in making the Civil War inevitable.  He has now utterly squandered the strong hand he was dealt in 2008, and he shows every sign of being even more incapable of wielding the power of his office now that the Republicans have made electoral gains, than he has been in the last two years.  His capitulations to the Republicans in the last couple of weeks have been pathetic, and they only seem to pre...

Not that anyone cares, but I got the following sickening e-mail from the Democratic National Committee today: "The President's opponents in Congress are gearing up for a fight. Their plan? Obstruct progress and delay action on our agenda during these last few weeks of this session of Congress. Which battles go our way is unknown -- what's certain is that failure to act will hurt the economy, the middle class, the unemployed, the military, and our national security." Which battles go your way?  I can tell you which battles are going to go your way, if Obama continues his utter collapse of will, and doesn't awaken from the dream world he is inhabiting- none of them, and you know it damned well. "Because among other critical items, our agenda includes extending tax cuts for the middle class, repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," making sure those who are out of work get the relief they need, passing the DREAM Act, and ratifying...

"Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists" Thanks for that history lesson, Helen.  But no, of course as you insist, you are not an antisemite, you are just speaking the truth. The same truth spoken by Father Coughlin.  The same truth spoken by David Duke.  And (do I need to say it?) the same truth spoken by that guy over there in Germany who started World War II. I suppose we could be charitable and suggest that, after a lifetime as an invaluable journalist, Ms. Thomas has fallen into dementia; but sorry, I don't feel charitable with people who say things like this.  I think baseless hatred of Jews is far more prevalent in this country than anyone wants to admit, as are baseless hatreds of black people, Hispanics and anyone else who doesn't meet, shall we say, Sarah Palin's notion of real Americans.

Paul Krugman, in today's New York Times, for those who may have missed it: "After the Democratic “shellacking” in the midterm elections, everyone wondered how President Obama would respond. Would he show what he was made of? Would he stand firm for the values he believes in, even in the face of political adversity? On Monday, we got the answer: he announced a pay freeze for federal workers. This was an announcement that had it all. It was transparently cynical; it was trivial in scale, but misguided in direction; and by making the announcement, Mr. Obama effectively conceded the policy argument to the very people who are seeking — successfully, it seems — to destroy him.  So I guess we are, in fact, seeing what Mr. Obama is made of." I've got nothing to add, except this one fact, which Krugman rudely fails to forget: "Meanwhile, there’s a real deficit issue on the table: whether tax cuts for the wealthy will, as Republica...

This hilarious opinion piece from Pravda: " By attacking the democratically elected President of the United States of America at a sensitive time in her country’s history, she shows the tact of a boorish drunkard bawling obscenities at a funeral…. And now she turns not only against the fibre and backbone of her country, but against its democratically elected President, accusing him of being incompetent for not stopping Wikileaks. Where was she and where was her GOP before and during the 9/11 attacks? She accuses President Obama of not taking “steps” to assure the leaks were not published. What “steps”?…… If anything is a threat to the national security of the United States of America, it is this screaming, unrefined oaf with as much class as a searing release of flatulence followed by hysterical giggling at a state banquet. Is this what the people of the USA deserve?"

Jed Lewison, at Daily Kos: "After the House passes the Obama tax plan -- something we were told the House would never do, even though it ended up passing by 46 votes -- the first thing we hear from the administration is sorry, but Republicans won't let us do the right thing -- so we're going to sit down with them and figure out the best way to do the wrong thing." Obama's standard operating procedure.  God, how did we get saddled with this pathetic person? By the way, just in case you wondered, here is the House vote on the middle class tax cut: For the tax cut:  214 Democrats, 3 Republicans Against the tax cut:  20 Democrats, 185 Republicans. If this isn't the first thing out of every Democrat's mouth every time they get near a microphone for the next six weeks, they're crazy. Update: Thanks to Daily Kos, this tabulations: 9 of the 20 Dems who voted against the tax cut, or 45%, were among the Democratic congressmen who lost their s...