Maybe the Bible got it right. We're just evil

Notes 70

If there were fewer rich and powerful shouting we are broke and more Michael Moores shouting we are not, maybe we could right this ship by implementing tax policies that would take us back to when there was a vibrant middle class at the tiller.

Michael Moore: "America Is NOT Broke"
Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com: "America is not broke. Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you'll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich."

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The French justice system works, why doesn’t ours

Former French President Chirac to stand trial…
By Jamey Keaten, Associated Press – Sun Mar 6
PARIS – After years of claiming presidential immunity to avoid legal proceedings, Jacques Chirac is finally facing a court.
The former president, a bugaboo for George W. Bush during his rush to war in Iraq, on Monday becomes France's first former head of state to go on trial since its Nazi-era leader was exiled
That is, if the whole case isn't derailed by a last-minute protest by another defendant.
If the trial goes ahead as planned, Chirac, 78, faces a month in court on charges that he masterminded a scheme to have Paris City Hall pay for work that benefited his political party when he was mayor — before he became president in 1995.

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Spoken like a true believer

Ensign: 'I couldn't put my family through this'

Carrie Dann writes
John Ensign said during a press conference announcing his retirement from the Senate
"There are consequences to sin and when you’re in a leadership role, those consequences can affect a lot of other people,"
Ensign, whose fast-rising political career was derailed after he admitted to an affair with a campaign aide whose husband served as his deputy chief of staff, said that a pending Senate ethics investigation into his conduct had “zero effect” on the decision not to run for a third term.

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During a debate on government getting in the way, New York Times columnist David Brookes said the Democratic Party was controlled by workers--actually he said unions.
Since most people are workers, that would be wonderful if it were true.

Wis. gov. rebuffs Democrats' request for meeting
Scott Bauer, Associated Press – MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Democrats who fled the state nearly three weeks ago asked Monday for a meeting with Gov. Scott Walker to talk about changes to his plan to eliminate most public workers' union rights, a request the governor dismissed as "ridiculous."
Walker said he and his administration have been in communication with at least a couple of the AWOL Senate Democrats about a deal that could bring them back, but the lawmaker who asked for the meeting, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, "is firmly standing in the way."
That accusation led to a flurry of angry responses from Democrats who said Walker was misrepresenting the talks. The sometimes-angry exchange suggested that any resolution to the stalemate was farther away than ever.
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It’s a sad state of affairs when somebody whose main qualification for being considered presidential material is the ability to be a carney barker in charge of a sideshow.

Tea Party 2012: Will Michele Bachmann steal Sarah Palin’s thunder?
…
National Journal – Mon Mar 7,
By Lindsey Boerma

It's looking increasingly likely that Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., will dive into the 2012 presidential waters.
Among the evidence was a packed schedule for this past weekend, including two stump-like stops in Florida on Friday and a Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet the Press.
Most notable was Bachmann's involvement in the conservative Club for Growth's annual winter meeting on Friday, where her name shared a guest list with those of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former Govs. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts—all rumored White House contenders.

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The problem with Free Enterprise is it is not very good at policing itself .but, what the hell, let’s cut the budgets on all the oversight and law enforcement anyway . If we think we can’ trust government, we definitely can’t tust corporations.
21 airlines fined for fixing passenger, cargo fees
By Alicia A. Caldwell, Associated Press – Sat Mar 5
WASHINGTON – When the airline industry took a nose dive a decade ago, executives at global carriers scrambled to find a quick fix to avoid financial ruin.
What they came up with, according to federal prosecutors, was a massive price-fixing scheme among airlines that artificially inflated passenger and cargo fuel surcharges between 2000 and 2006 to make up for lost profits.
The airlines' crimes cost U.S. consumers and businesses — mostly international passengers and cargo shippers — hundreds of millions of dollars, prosecutors say.

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There needs to be another way

Obama: Military action against Libya possible