The Real AIG Scandal; It’s not the bonuses. It’s that AIG’s counterparties are getting paid back in full.

by Eliot Spitzer, from Slate Everybody is rushing to condemn AIG’s bonuses, but this simple scandal is obscuring the real disgrace at the insurance giant: Why are AIG’s counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars?

Of Patriots and Assassins

by Patrick Buchanan,  Atheo News During Nixon’s historic trip to China in 1972, his interpreter and I, free for a few hours, conscripted a driver to take us on a tour of Beijing. Somewhere in my files are photos from that day we toured the grim city of Chairman Mao in the time of the [...]

Tears of Grief – A Gift from the People of Russia

I had never heard of this before. The people of Russia gave us this in 2006. Had you guys heard of it?

Vice President Cheney says, ‘We’ve never made the case, or argued the case, that somehow Osama Bin Laden was directly involved in 9/11′

by Enver Masud, Wisdom Fund (update Jan.20 2009) The FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” web page does not state that Bin Laden is wanted for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The FBI page states: “Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of [...]

Rabbi Weiss Speaks out Against Zionism

“On Nov. 27, 2007, in Annapolis, MD, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, a spokesman for the Neturei Karta International, ripped into Zionism. He blasted the Zionists for its supposed “fearmongering.” He also accused the Zionists of “beating” Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem.” [June 2008 video after the break]

The TALF: Bernanke’s Witness Protection Program

(With the economy in shambles due to the collapse of the derivatives bubble, Bernanke and Geithner have formulated another way to create a new one, an “Enron-type, off-balance sheets Structured Investment Vehicle (SIV)“. Are you surprised? Why? Bernanke and Geither worked for the financial institutions, and they still do. They will continue fleecing this nation [...]

Dick Cheney Calls 9/11 the “Highest Moment” of the Last Eight Years

by Steve Benen, Alternet (the video was “memory-holed” pretty quick) On Fox News yesterday, Chris Wallace asked Dick Cheney to identify the “highest moment” of the last eight years. It wasn’t a trick question. Cheney pondered this for a few moments before answering, “Well, I think the most important, the most compelling, was 9/11 itself, [...]

Another Giveaway? The Sad Truth about the Geithner TALF Plan

by Ian Welsh,  FireDogLake This may sound a little hyperbolic, but my jaw did drop when I read Obama Economic Advisor Anna Burger’s succinct description of Geithner’s plan for convincing private investors to buy up assets: Secretary Geithner’s proposal for the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) would enable private equity firms and hedge funds [...]

AIG Bonuses Total $450 Million and $105 Billion of Their TARP Bailouts Went to Off-Shore Banks

by Scott Creighton The Obama administration tried to paint a rosey picture of the economic forecast this weekend, partly because the story of the AIG bonuses had come out. What was originally reported was that $170 million in bonuses had been paid to their CEOs and executives so that these “talented” business leaders wouldn’t take [...]

REDDIT Censoring Stories, Again

(apparently porn spamming at REDDIT is just fine, but posting stories about what is happening in this country is not.) I posted this AIG story, complete with reference links, stock chart images, and a link to a petition at FireDogLake.  The first time I posted it, it was removed immediately. The second time I put [...]

Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’

Obama’s justice department is using an old strategy employed by the Bush administration. Their primary argument is that Ex-Guantanamo detainees don’t have any constitutional rights. Even if they did, the brief continues, Rumsfeld and other officers should be immune from prosecution because detainees’ right not to be tortured and to practice their religion without abuse [...]

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria Wants Your Opinion About AIPAC’s Influence in America

CNN reporter, Fareed Zakaria has asked if we think AIPAC has too much influence in America these days.  He asks we email him our responses to the following address.  Included below is mine.  FareedZakariaGPS@cnn.com “… do you believe groups that lobby on behalf of Israel have too much influence?” What a question is this. Why [...]

In Honor of Obama’s Latest Betrayal… Play “Raid Gaza!”

Play Raid Gaza! (I got a high score of 3,000! Beat that!)

U.S. official: Obama won’t cut military aid to Israel

U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. (hmmm. could that be Rahm Israel Emanuel they are quoting?) The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis [...]

The Miracle of America Revisited

by Scott Creighton So.  Not only are they keeping single payer health care off the table… while keeping a plan for taxing your health care benefits on the table, they can’t even keep AIG, the recipiant of the most bailout money of any single institution and an insurance company, from handing out $165 million in [...]