Green Eagle

You've heard the old one, I'm sure- killing your parents and then begging the court for mercy because you are an orphan.  Well, that has nothing on this: "WASHINGTON —€” Six years after the government rescued the American International Group from the brink of collapse, the bailout came under a new microscope on Monday, with the opening of an unusual trial that challenges the legality of the government's actions...At the heart of the case, unfolding here in the United States Court of Federal Claims, is a question that six years ago seemed unthinkable to the American conscience: Did A.I.G. get a raw deal? Maurice R. Greenberg, the former A.I.G. chief executive who through his company Starr International continues to hold a major stake in the insurance company, argues that the answer is an unequivocal "yes."€ Mr. Greenberg, who sued the government on behalf of fellow shareholders, is seeking more than $40 billion in compensation." $40 billion.  By w...

And Reagan and Nixon and all the other Republican jerks that have done so much damage to our country:  This story today from Al Jazeera about the Obama administration in the Honduran military coup a couple of years ago which removed a legally elected liberal President: "In letters to Clinton and her successor, John Kerry, more than 100 members of Congress have repeatedly warned about the deteriorating security situation in Honduras, especially since the 2009 military coup that ousted the country’s democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. As Honduran scholar Dana Frank points out in Foreign Affairs, the U.S.-backed post-coup government “rewarded coup loyalists with top ministries,” opening the door for further “violence and anarchy.” The homicide rate in Honduras, already the highest in the world, increased by 50 percent from 2008 to 2011; political repression, the murder of opposition political candidates, peasant organizers and LGBT activists increased and continue to...

What, in the long run, is Eric Holder going to be remembered for?  Well, I suspect, insofar as anyone remembers past Attorneys general*, he will be remembered not for anything he did while in office, but for two things he didn't do: 1.  He held not a single person in government or in the financial industry responsible for crushing the economy and wiping out a large part of the middle class. 2. He held no one in the Bush White House responsible for starting a war of aggression against an innocent country in which hundreds of thousands of civilians were slaughtered. And these criticisms obviously apply to his boss, too.  So, the Obama administration has put off for sixteen years the Democrats' duty to oppose a situation in which Republicans are permitted to commit the most extreme forms of corruption and even engage in open war crimes, without a shred of consequence, while Democrats are threatened with impeachment for carrying out the most basic responsibilities of th...

I've really noticed some results of the Republican effort to shut down their more crazy members (i.e. the base) in the leadup to the November election, in the probably well-founded hope that a couple of months is enough for most Americans to forget who has been screwing them royally for the last forty years, but thankfully for Green Eagle, there is still plenty of wingnut maliciousness to go around. John Ransom, Town Hall:  "Here America: Have Some More Filth to Go with that Government...Yes, the Democrats are that desperate. Smacked with the guy who has made his business to lead the loyal opposition to policies that hurt the country, the Democrats did something so foul, so mind numbingly stupid and so desperate that it out Nixoned Nixon in his worst of days. And in doing so, they’ve completed the transformation from political party to caricature.  Does Rick Perry's indictment disqualify him for 2016?!!! asks CNN, while fronting for the Dems." A wonderful analysi...

Daily Kos , where I found this says that it is “The most important chart about the American economy you'll see this year.” Well, I agree, so here it is, and it's pretty dispiriting reading: Not much more to say, except that this is a road map to hell.  And it seems likely that the American people this November are going to speed up our journey there.

Republican governor Nathan Deal of Georgia, the State with the highest unemployment in the country: "It's ironic that in a year in which Republican governors are leading some of the states that are making the most progress — that they almost, without exception, are classified as having a bump in their unemployment rates. Whereas states that are under Democrat governors' control, they are all showing that their unemployment rate has dropped. Now, I don't know how you account for that..." No, Governor Deal, I guess you don't know how you might account for that.  Not without admitting the obvious truth that Democrats know how to run things and Republicans don't. No, that could never be the answer. "Maybe there is some influence here that we don't know about," he continued. "But when you say California is in a better position in terms of unemployment than the state of Georgia, there's just something that just does not ring true...

This news, which, I guess, is supposed to terrify us, emerged at that "liberal" bastion and champion of Bush and Cheney's Iraq disaster, the New York Times: "WASHINGTON — As the United States begins what could be a lengthy military campaign against the Islamic State, intelligence and law enforcement officials said another Syrian group, led by a shadowy figure who was once among Osama bin Laden’s inner circle, posed a more direct threat to America and Europe. American officials said that the group called Khorasan had emerged in the past year as the cell in Syria that may be the most intent on hitting the United States or its installations overseas with a terror attack... There is almost no public information about the Khorasan group, which was described by several intelligence, law enforcement and military officials as being made up of Qaeda operatives from across the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa. Members of the cell are said to be particularly intere...

A photo from today's march for action on climate change in New York, which attracted a crowd of 300,000: And now, a photo of the "crowd" at the last major Washington Impeach Obama rally, last fall; attendance 130 or so. That means that, for every person who showed up at the Impeach Obama march, 2300 showed up at the climate protest. I don't think I need to say much to demonstrate which of these represents a real movement, and which is a cheap charade.  I think it is amusing, however, to look at the Tea Party Nation site and find this photo, which they imply was taken at one of their impeach Obama events: Now for something not entirely different: Here's a photo which was actually taken at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's comedy march in Washington a couple of years ago: Look a little familiar there?  Just one more demonstration that the Tea Party, and the supposedly gigantic right wing movement against the government are nothing but a colossal f...

After a lot of attention to the Icelandic volcano situation, I haven't had much to say about it lately.  That's not because it's gone away.  Unprecedented volcanic and seismic events are still occurring nearly daily, but at this point, no one seems to know what this is leading to.  It could result in a huge, climate altering eruption, as has happened before in Iceland, it could go along for years as it is, or it could die out.  I don't see much point in repeating the same sort of story every day, and I am certainly not qualified to draw any conclusions on my own about what is really going on, but I'll let you know if the situation changes.  In the meantime, Rei at Daily Kos continues a daily detailed account of what is going on, if you want to know more.

Today's Wingnut Wrapup is respectfully devoted to America's whiner-in-chief, Lindsay Graham: "Graham, like some other lawmakers, maintains that the Islamic State is poised to attack America and possibly wipe out humankind if it continues to expand its reach." Leaving aside the monstrously idiotic nature of the idea that ISIS could wipe out humankind, I would like to point out that Graham, in his siding with global warming deniers, is actually himself working to possibly wipe out humankind, not as some sort of grotesquely out of proportion figure of speech, but in reality. Oh, foolish me.  Reality- that's not something Lindsay is familiar with. Well, on to the rest: Ted Cruz' Dad:  ‘The Average Black’ Doesn’t Know Minimum Wage Is Bad" Well, they sure don't.  Only White Republicans know that.  Dumb black people. Daniel Doherty, Town Hall:  "Scary: Deceased, American-born ISIS Terrorist Used to Work at Midwestern Airport" O...

Via Digby , this enlightening sentiment from our betters: "We live in somewhat coarse and emotional times—when large numbers of Americans do not adhere to the same standards of logic, evidence, or even civil discourse as those practiced by members of the CIA community." Oh, now I understand everything. ___________________________________________________________ Translation for those who are still confused: Logic= overthrow their countries, give them dictatorships and then kill them if they object. Evidence= anything we make up to get what we want. Civil discourse= torture. I hope that has made things clear.

Which means no contest for a new flag for England.  Here was my entry: Well, at least Green Eagle doesn't have to worry about a trade war cutting off his Lagavulin supply.

Illegal immigration.  You can count on it- when the Republicans' screaming about every other fake scandal they can think of has turned into nothing, they's start yammering on about how illegal immigrants are all coming to kill us in our beds or give us Ebola or something.  And the press will hop right in there, taking their nonsense seriously. Of course, their only solution is to send a lot more heavily armed troops to "guard" a 2,000 mile border that is beyond any country's abilities to secure, and if they can't get the rest of us to pay for this exercise in futility, some of them are going to go down there themselves, and play soldier, like this man, a stalwart defender of our border before he murdered four people and then committed suicide. Well, here is the ugly truth:  Absolutely nothing that we do inside our country or on the border is going to stop human migration from poor areas to better ones (which hopefully still includes the United States, ...

A million dollars?  They should be so lucky.   Box Office Mojo is now reporting Atlas Shrugged III to have achieved a first weekend gross of $355,000.00 on 242 screens, or $1467 per screen.  My quick calculation tells me that that works out to about 21 paid customers per screening.  Well, at least you wouldn't have had a problem getting a good seat. I want to state clearly that, although I do take a good deal of pleasure in reporting on right wing humiliations like this, that is not the reason I keep writing posts about them.  This is just one more proof that the great right wing populist rebellion in this country simply does not exist, and is nothing but the product of Republican lies and the press' willingness to repeat them.  Whether it's national marches on Washington that can't get 500 people or Impeach Obama demonstrations that cant get 10, or the Republican party's obvious knowledge that they can't win elections even in Republican States without...

Did you know that the third part of the grand Conservative movie trilogy of Atlas Shrugged is being released this weekend?  From Breitbart News: 'ATLAS SHRUGGED: WHO IS JOHN GALT?' HITS THEATRES THIS WEEKEND...   For those of you waiting for the final chapter of the Atlas Shrugged trilogy, the wait ends today, Friday, when "Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?" lands in 254 theatres this weekend.  Box Office Mojo expects Shrugged fans to bring in a cool $1 million this weekend, which lines up with the openings of the previous chapters. Part 1 (2011) opened to 1.69 million. Part two (2012) bested that with $1.75 million." "A cool $1 million this weekend!"  The mind boggles. I've got nothing else to say.

At various times in the last couple of months, I have been tempted to report on endless predictions by right wingers that various Islamic groups were preparing to carry out massive attacks on the United States on this September 11th.  But I didn't bother- too boring. Well, it's now September 12th, and guess what?  No attacks.  The thousands of sleeper agents which wingnuts confidently assert have been implanted all across our country apparently stayed home and slept in.  No nuclear missiles came zooming at us from Northern Iraq.  None of those 12 imaginary stolen Libyan airliners crashed into anything.  Nothing.  That's what happened. But keep worrying, Republicans.  Because it's bound to happen next time.

You betcha!   Just go and enjoy.

And what a tangled web we weave, when we just go along with those who practice to deceive, and let them have the stage to spread their lies unchallenged. I have said, as long as I have made political comments, that there is only one thing Progressives need to do to wipe the Republican party off of the earth.  That thing is to tell the truth.  That's it, just tell the truth.  But we've stood by for decades now waiting for the gutless Democrats in this country to figure that out. The current case in point:  We have a President who has had a six year long chance to be honest with the American people about Bush and Cheney's miserable, incompetent war of aggression in Iraq, and the hopeless position it has left us in.  But he has never bothered to do that, scared to death of the mean things that Republicans will have to say about him.  Now, he is caught in a miserable no-win situation, in which that very war of aggression has spawned what may be the most vio...

I haven't posted anything about the Icelandic volcano situation for a few days now, but I don't want you to think the problem is going away.  Here's the latest of the excellent daily reports we have been getting from Daily Kos, if you care, and a picture.  On the whole, things seem to be getting gradually more intense.  Something like this can take months or years to reach the critical stage, or it could subside.  Right now the bets of the experts seem to be on it getting worse.  I guess we'll see.

And they are a pack of insane, violent murderers because of their religion.  That's pretty much it, right?  People in the Middle East wouldn't have any other reason to hate us or be suspicious of us, because we are Western Civilization, the best thing that has ever happened in the whole universe. No reason to hate us at all, except maybe for a few irrelevant issues like this: Egypt: "The French Campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Orient, ostensibly to protect French trade interests, undermine Britain's access to India" And then: "The Anglo-Egyptian War occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the khedive Tewfik Pasha and vastly expanded British influence over the country, at the expense of the French." More: "...by 1882 Islamic and Arabic Nationalist opposition to European influence and set...

I'm really having trouble finding anything that's worth talking about these days.  That's because it really does get tiring pointing out the same mixture of corruption and stupidity which the Republican party dishes out day after day.  A small sample from today: "A bill passed the lower house of the State of Wyoming with an amendment to study the conditions under which the State should acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier.  The only place in Wyoming big enough to hold an aircraft carrier is a lake in Yellowstone Park." "House Republicans Cut Administration Funding Request To Fight Ebola...According to a source familiar with the negotiations, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) agreed as of Tuesday morning to spend a total of $40 million to fight the epidemic in the 2015 spending bill...The White House had asked for $88 million for Ebola in total" "Pat Robertson Calls For More Guns In Churches: 'Blessed Ar...

This recent repost of an article by Henry Makow, one of the real loons I occasionally like to ridicule in Wingnut Wrapup: Makow makes the final comment: "This then is the real story of Jack the Ripper, straight from the 'horse's mouth' .  These facts must be known by the current establishment but as always, they close ranks to prevent the truth from becoming known.  All of the multiplicity of theories that abound as to the identity of the killer and the many films, documentaries and TV programmes that portray an unending search for the 'truth' are nothing more than elaborate smokescreens, born from the deliberate confusion engendered by the Elite to protect the guilty, as is their usual modus operandi.  This is another tiny example of how easy it is for these psychopaths to provide us all with a completed distorted view of both the past and our existing reality." Completely distorted view of our existing reality indeed.  If you were to scroll down ...

Not much to indicate much of a change in Daily Kos' incisive reporting on this event, but a wonderful comparison of two pictures that I cannot resist reprinting: At the top, a picture from the current eruption, at the bottom, a rendering of Mordor. Things like this can go on for months or years- I'll keep an eye on it. And More, from Saturday Night:  Another great report from Daily Kos: "But we're not here because of small eruptions. We began covering this because of the potential of a big eruption, from Bárðarbunga herself. And there's a growing belief that this data suggests that it's increasingly likely to happen." Earlier, I thought things might be leveling off, but I guess not.  I don't want to keep stealing things from Daily Kos, so I suggest that, if you are interested in this, you click on the link, and scroll down to the bottom of the post, where you will find an absolutely spectacular video of the eruption.  It's the f...

And this is about as fine as it gets.  Right wingers finally found a judge (in Louisiana- are you surprised?) to rule against marriage equality, utilizing the following supreme logic: "This Court is persuaded that Louisiana has a legitimate interest…whether obsolete in the opinion of some, or not, in the opinion of others…in linking children to an intact family formed by their two biological parents, as specifically underscored by Justice Kennedy in Windsor." Apparently, during his consideration of this lawsuit, it never occurred to judge Martin Feldman that this exact wording could be used in the case of parents who divorced and then married other partners, to take away their children, since the children would no longer be part of  "an intact family formed by their two biological parents."  It also could be used, for the same reasoning, to take children away from a parent if the other parent died. But for right wingers, making a total mockery of our judicial...

In the last few hours, in a superb example of the wingnut noise machine's ability to generate panic from nothing, a story involving the theft of perhaps a dozen passenger jets by militant Islamists has spread like wildfire around the right wing media.  Here's an example from Newsmax: Naturally, there is not one single story about this from anything but right wing sources on Google.  That ain't stoppin' these guys, oh no.  It's such an easily disproven lie that this particular wingnut outrage will probably not have legs, but we'll see. Update:  Hours later now, but still not a story about the theft of all of these passenger planes in the regular media.  It's still spreading around in wingnut world- let's just see how long they go with it before dropping it for a new lie.

Not much news these days, but still plenty of "news," i.e. lies.  So, here we go: Leah Barkoukis, Town Hall:  "New Al Qaeda Magazine Hints an Attack on US Is Imminent" Back under your beds, mighty wingnut terrorist-fighters! Austin Bay, Town Hall:  "Vladimir Putin: The Return of the CommuNazi" Austin, I'm sure you mean "CommuNaziMuslimSatan."  Don't want to leave anyone out and hurt their feelings, now. Matt Vespa, Town Hall:  "Republicans Still Struggling With Women Voters" Struggling?  That's like saying "Michael Brown Still Struggling With Ferguson Police." Daniel Doherty, Town Hall:  "North Korea: Isn't America Just so Terribly Racist?" You right wingers must be so proud of yourselves- it takes an amazing amount of work to make Kim Jong Un look like the good guy. Daniel Doherty, Town Hall:  "Poll: Meanwhile, Romney's Crushing it in Iowa" Crushing what?  Our s...

Finally, we are seeing some of the above-ground results of the activity of the Bartharbunga volcano in Iceland.  There was a smaller eruption on Friday, and now a considerably larger one starting Sunday morning and continuing to today.  Here are a couple of pictures of eruptions along a rift following the dyke that has spread from Bartharbunga to the Northeast in recent weeks: So far, nothing that is that massive, but of course this is only the beginning.  I'm waiting for Daily Kos, which has covered this story so well, to link to the current reports from its Icelandic sources, which will be much more informative. Please remember that an eruption here in the late 1700's distributed enough ash into the atmosphere to cause the Mississippi river to freeze down to New Orleans, and caused mass deaths due to famine, from Scotland to as far away as Egypt.  That sort of thing is why I am paying attention to this.  Given the tenuous economic situation in Eur...