Today's edition of quick hits:
* A chilling figure out of Afghanistan: "Nearly nine years passed before American forces reached their first 1,000 dead in the war. The second 1,000 came just 27 months later."
* Action is way overdue: "Minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Reserve reveal that many board members see the need for additional monetary action 'fairly soon' to boost the pace of economic recovery. The minutes also show that the Fed staff and many of its board members expect inflation and interest rates to remain low in 2014 as a result of slack in the economy."
* President Obama slammed Mitt Romney on education policy in Las Vegas today. I watch a whole lot of Obama's speeches, and I'd say he seemed a little more fired up than usual. (Pay particular attention to his tone of voice in the last 90 seconds.)
* Syria: "Syrian regime forces shelled two central Damascus districts Wednesday before troops backed by tanks swept through to carry out house-to-house raids, killing at least 35 suspected rebels, in a major flare-up of fighting in the Syrian capital, activists said."
* Housing: "More Americans purchased previously-owned homes in July, suggesting improvement in the beleaguered housing market over the summer."
* West Nile: "The United States is experiencing one of the biggest outbreaks of West Nile virus in history, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of Tuesday, 1,118 cases of the mosquito-borne disease had been reported."
* Ahead of schedule: "First lady Michelle Obama announced on Wednesday that the Obama administration has achieved its stated goal for U.S. businesses to commit to training or hiring 100,000 veterans by the end of 2013 'more than a year ahead of schedule.'"
* Mars: "NASA's Curiosity rover made its first drive on Mars today, more than two weeks after its high-stakes landing on the Red Planet. To celebrate the day, as well as what would have been the late science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury's 92nd birthday, NASA said the rover's landing site would be forever known as Bradbury Landing."
* And with a big storm moving West in the Atlantic, officials in Tampa are at least aware of the possibility that a hurricane may hit during the Republican National Convention next week.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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Phil Angelides (chairman of the sadly low-impact Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission) had a scathing OpEd in Sunday's SF Chronicle about the on-going failure to punish Wall Street and big banks for their massive lawbreaking. Considering how lightly they have been treated, he asks a good question: "If someone robbed a 7-Eleven of $1,000 but could settle a few days later for $25 and no admission of guilt, would they do it again?" That's pretty much what is happening with the big financial players: a light tap on the wrist, extraction of some money from the petty cash fund, and then they are back to business as usual. One of his recommendations is more money for enforcement, but of course, the GOP is 1000% against that, and therefore more funds probably can't get through Congress.
Agreed. Letting Corzine walk is corruption personified.
Until they start putting people in jail, nothing will change. Everyone from Alan Greenspan on down had to know the sub-prime loans and NINJA loans were wrong. There was a whole banking industry trying to talk people into re-financing their mortgages so the industry could bury these people in fees.
People took on so much debt that they were lucky to make the mortgage payment and nothing left for anything else. Wonder why the economy slowed down?
The rich should pay more in taxes and it should be given to the poor. The rich will get their money back anyways because they own the companies or are stockholders in these companies that poor people will buy products from.
I never thought Id agree with anything Iran did, but I have to admit, this makes sense:
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-own-way-dealing-bank-fraud-death-penalty-223141811.html
Republicans: in the event of hurricane-force winds in Tampa, stand behind Chris Christie.
Hmmmm . . . better think about this one. I wouldn't want to stand behind CC or anyone in Tampa if this giant
blow jHimicane comes on shore.Doesn't anyone realize that this Himicane is GOD'S JUDGMENT ON REPUGLICANS!! Thus they shall be punished for violating the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD. Things like love thy neighbor, love one another, if you do this to the least of mine, etc. Violations of the Laws in The First Letter on Science to the People of The Right by Bill Nye.
Commit the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Commit the sins of Repuglicans, suffer the fate of Republicans. Blown away. Gone with the Wind. And it shall rain down a plague of frogs upon them, and they all shall all croak.
Uhump
A note on the origin or the word hurricane ;-)
http://weather.about.com/od/h/g/huracan.htm
http://www.helium.com/items/845638-origin-of-the-word-hurricane
Republicans can be like turkeys, not enough sence to get out of the rain
The Catholic Church excommunicating a sister, because she helped a woman get an abortion. Well first of all for a sister to even consider doing that there had to be an important reason why she did it. And that I would any day stand with that sister over the Catholic Church, since that sister knew better of that situation. The Catholic Church can have their narrow-minded men views all they want, but it is still not what God or Jesus would desire from them anyway. And the Catholic Church certainly has no say over what I will do, except what is really above their authority.
Yet another failed Obama economic plan/idea. Use givernemnt funds to promote an idea (stimulus) on televison cable programs one hosted by a dolbermann who is now reduced to howling online through a twitter acct and the other Maddow, who has a total access audience of about (judging from the bleacher creatures devoted to the show here inside this blog) maybe 50 per show. Ok, maybe 110 if you force your kids to watch. Liberals are like that so no telling what the kids are put through.
What a pathetic waste of $500,000.00 Nobody watches this sh@t cable network!
And the bottom line, jobs created? Zero. That would be 10 times the IQ of the TRMS blog author. But ten times zero, is still ZERO. You can't even come up with your own original material? Patriots Giants super bowl comparison to a story line ........ I knew I should have copy righted that material. hahahahaha
Labor Department spends stimulus funds for ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows
Contract shows no new jobs were created
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By Jim McElhatton
-
The Washington Times
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Enlarge Photo
President Obama speaks Aug. 20, 2012, at the White House in Washington. ... more >
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/21/stimulus-funds-spent-obama-ads-olbermann-maddow/%26gl%3DUS%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dca-pub-4362624082965872%26ai0%3DBxFIOp1Q1UN6DOOfa0AGwzICACsv4o5MDw57i3xvAjbcBgLUYEAEYASDxk-wXOABQt86V7P3_____AWDJ5taKsKTsD6AB7eyt3gOyARd3d3cud2FzaGluZ3RvbnRpbWVzLmNvbboBCjMwMHgyNTBfanPIAQHaAWBodHRwOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b250aW1lcy5jb20vbmV3cy8yMDEyL2F1Zy8yMS9zdGltdWx1cy1mdW5kcy1zcGVudC1vYmFtYS1hZHMtb2xiZXJtYW5uLW1hZGRvdy-AAgHIArPg2SuoAwHoA4wD6AMQ6ANM9QMABADG9QMgAAAQiAYB4Ab70MYi&usg=AFQjCNEMt1ywYKaVoWH7SjOQNrEVHAGYtg">Ads by Google
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The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two MSNBC cable shows, records show.
The commercials ran on MSNBC on shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann in 2009, but the contract didn’t report any jobs created, according to records reviewed recently by The Washington Times.
Spending reports under the federal Recovery Act show $495,000 paid to McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, which the Labor Department hired to raise awareness “among employers and influencers about the [Job Corps] program’s existing and new training initiatives in high growth and environmentally friendly career areas” as well as spreading the word to prospective Job Corps enrollees.
The firm ultimately negotiated ad buys for “two approved spots” airing 14 times per week for two months on “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” according to a project report, which listed the number zero under a section of the report asking how many jobs had been created through the stimulus contract.
David Williams, president of the nonprofit watchdog Taxpayers Protection Alliance, called the contract “questionable” because it created no jobs and because of the placement of the ads on shows viewed as friendly to the administration’s policies.
“Hiring a PR firm does not create jobs, and this was obviously meant for selling a particular political agenda,” Mr. Williams said. “The placement really reeks of a political ad rather than a job ad, and taxpayers see through this.
“Taxpayers would be a lot happier at the end of the day to see a completed road rather than a bunch of ads on cable television,” he said.
The public relations firm did not respond to inquiries from The Times about who directed the ads to appear on MSNBC, but Labor Department officials defended the expenditures, saying the decision to place the ads on the network — now NBC News — had nothing to do with politics.
In a joint email statement to The Times from two Labor Department spokesmen, David Roberts and Michael Volpe, officials said the money was used for outreach efforts to raise awareness among potential employers about the Job Corps’ green training in career areas, including automotive, advanced manufacturing and solar-panel installation.
Mr. Roberts and Mr. Volpe also said Labor Department research showed that advertisements would reach the target demographic of business owners and managers interested in hiring “green-trained” employees through a programming list that initially also included shows hosted by CNN’s Larry King and public television’s Jim Lehrer as well as the two MSNBC programs where the ads eventually appeared.
Public television was eliminated because advertising rates were too high, Labor officials said, and Larry King was dropped because MSNBC held the potential to reach more viewers, officials said. Officials gave no indication whether their research indicated if Fox News, ESPN or other cable outlets were considered for the Job Corps ads.
Read more: Labor Department spends stimulus funds for ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows - Washington Times
After watching Maddow & Olbermann the United States probably LOST jobs because viewers suffering from anxiety had to quit their jobs and stay home to recover from depression and becoming loony bin nut jobs. Keep up the good work Maddow. As.........Theeee number one political hack on msnbc.
The Washington Times is the go to source of news? Really?
How long have you been saving your rant on Olbermann? It would be like blaming the ill working of the GOP on Dr Scott for his work as a TV preacher.
Please read Born To Run and Omnivores' Dilemma. And sure Irish,, what are your two favorite reads?
Besides Ryan casting "budget busting" votes, the unions make big donations to him- specifically the carpenters and home builders. The reason? Ryan's family owns a construction firm that relies heavily on union labor. (Mojo 2011 article). The carpenters/Joiiners and the home builders association each gave 50K to his war chest. (US News WR)
What? Unions donating to Ryan?!?
It is yet another indication how laughable it is to think of Ryan and the GOP as ideological. What they represent is monied interests controlling government.
Cheap money and leverage encourage speculation which pushes inflation. Tie the money to job growth (not net zero job growth) and that will spur genuine innovation. I've heard tell there's an infrastructure problem we could work on, but apparently that's against the repukeagan platform..
"President Obama slammed Mitt Romney on education policy in Las Vegas today. I watch a whole lot of Obama's speeches, and I'd say he seemed a little more fired up than usual. (Pay particular attention to his tone of voice in the last 90 seconds.)"
If you assert that college students are taking on too much debt because there isn't enough loan money available to the students, you don't understand the economics of the problem.
* A chilling figure out of Afghanistan: "Nearly nine years passed before American forces reached their first 1,000 dead in the war. The second 1,000 came just 27 months later."
Every presidential candidate says that they'll be very cautious about sending the troops into combat anywhere, until they actually get the get the chance to send troops into combat somewhere.
I'm sure by now you've been made aware....you've gotta read this. I live in Texas, own guns and don't scare easily, but this stuff needs to be noted.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-official-warns-of-Obama-civil-war-3807672.php
wow... I'd just say the Judge is a total nutcase, but.. well, he IS a judge. I think that, even in Texas, you don't get a judge-ship in a box of Cracker Jacks...
Some scary stuff, for sure...
You would hope to think that a judge would be an intelligent person, but how could he possibly think that any president of the United States could or would hand over the United States to the United Nations.
It's just beyond comprehension.
How was your nap, Rip?
The election of Obama just seriously freaked the right. They blown right through insanity to the realm of cartoon-level madness. Nothing they do or say can really surprise me any more.
I could almost hope that, should Obama win a second term, scattered right-wing uprisings actually do occur. I don't wish for the harm that would do in terms of injuries, deaths, and property damage. But I do wish they really would just rip the mask off for all the world to see just how freakishly nuts they really are, and thoroughly discredit themselves in the process.
Well if this is the kind of mental midgetry infesting its judges, this certainly explains why Texas has so many innocent people being released from death row. And what chapter in those "revised" Texas civics textbooks covers the procedure for a president "handing over" the country to the UN?? (I doubt they'd accept such a gift anyway). Well, Timothy McVeigh thought that bombing the Murrah Building would result in racial war, and we know how well that succeeded. I do miss Molly Ivins; at least she kept us posted on these lunacies.
Minnesota House DFL minority leader Paul Thissen is calling for Duluth Rep. Kerry Gauthier to end his campaign for reelection to the Minnesota legislature after his sexual encounter last month at an interstate rest stop.
Gauthier, a Democrat, was questioned by police on the evening of July 22 at the Thompson Hill rest area off Interstate 35, where he met a 17-year-old boy for sex.
The two arranged the meeting on Craigslist, and the teen admitted he had told Gauthier he was 18 when responding to the post from the 56-year-old state lawmaker
The Republicans insist that Personhood begins at the moment of conception. Has any of them announced how that moment is determined? Of course, if they don't know, they can be counted on to make something up.