Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 1) -- 07/21/10

Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 2)

Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Shirley Sherrod Controversy (Part 2) -- 07/21/10

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited some interesting spots over the July 4 weekend. Her itinerary included Poland and Ukraine, both intriguing choices in light of the recent Obama-Medvedev talks in Washington. But she also traveled to a region that has not been on the American radar screen much in the last two years — namely, the Caucasus — visiting Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The stop in Poland coincided with the signing of a new agreement on ballistic missile defense and was designed to sustain U.S.-Polish relations in the face of the German-Russian discussions we have discussed. The stop in Ukraine was meant simply to show the flag in a country rapidly moving into the Russian orbit. In both cases, the trip was about the Russians. Regardless of how warm the atmospherics are between the United States and Russia, the fact is that the Russians are continuing to rebuild their regional influence and are taking advantage of European disequilibrium to build new relationships there, too. The United States, still focused on Iraq and Afghanistan, has limited surplus capacity to apply to resisting the Russians. No amount of atmospherics can hide that fact, certainly not from the Poles or the Ukrainians. Therefore, if not a substantial contribution, the secretary of state’s visit was a symbolic one. But when there is little of substance, symbols matter.

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Ominous reports are leaking past the BP Gulf salvage operation news blackout that the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico may be about to reach biblical proportions.

251 million years ago a mammoth undersea methane bubble caused massive explosions, poisoned the atmosphere and destroyed more than 96 percent of all life on Earth. [1] Experts agree that what is known as the Permian extinction event was the greatest mass extinction event in the history of the world. [2]

55 million years later another methane bubble ruptured causing more mass extinctions during the Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum (LPTM).

The LPTM lasted 100,000 years. [3]

Those subterranean seas of methane virtually reshaped the planet when they explosively blew from deep beneath the waters of what is today called the Gulf of Mexico.

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NOTE: If the following statement has any semblance of truth and/or reality, this incident will dwarf 9/11 and the terrorists will have been BP and/or Halliburton, so do your own homework and check the article for veracity…

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE DESCRIPTION BELOW IN ITS ENTIRETY:
This video was found at http://www.infowars.com/bp-homeland-s… and originated from CNN.
It is truly a sign-of-the-times when one sees the absolute disregard of the American government for the American people.

THEY ARE FERVENTLY TRYING TO HIDE THE TRUTH FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!

NO ONE with a hint of common sense would deny news reporters the access they need (safely) to do their job and report on what they find where the Gulf Oil Spill is concerned. That is….UNLESS they are actively trying to hide something.

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The U.S. Department of Justice announced June 28 that an FBI counterintelligence investigation had resulted in the arrest on June 27 of 10 individuals suspected of acting as undeclared agents of a foreign country, in this case, Russia. Eight of the individuals were also accused of money laundering. On June 28, five of the defendants appeared before a federal magistrate in U.S. District Court in Manhattan while three others went before a federal magistrate in Alexandria, Va., and two more went before a U.S. magistrate in Boston. An 11th person named in the criminal complaint was arrested in Cyprus on June 29, posted bail and is currently at large.

The number of arrested suspects in this case makes this counterintelligence investigation one of the biggest in U.S. history. According to the criminal complaint, the FBI had been investigating some of these people for as long as 10 years, recording conversations in their homes, intercepting radio and electronic messages and conducting surveillance on them in and out of the United States. The case suggests that the classic tactics of intelligence gathering and counterintelligence are still being used by Russia and the United States.

 Cast of Characters

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Keith Olbermann Special Comment: Welcome To GOP’s ‘Screw You Economics’ -- 06/30/10

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The AP headline tells you that the House of Representatives rejected an extension of unemployment benefits. But the last paragraph tells you why:

Democrats brought up the bill under a special procedure in which no amendments were allowed and debate was limited. Under the procedure, the bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass.

In actuality, the House got 261 votes for the measure, including the support of 30 Republicans. 16 Democrats voted no, and they ought to be named, so here goes:

Adler, Baird, Bean, Berry, Bright, Childers, Cooper, Donnelly, Herseth Sandlin, Hill, Kratovil, Markey, Marshall, Minnick, Nye, Shuler

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Today, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) released a report showing that the federal government could save more than $23 billion by extending unemployment benefits.

The report, entitled “Extending Unemployment Insurance Benefits:  The Cost of Inaction for Disabled Workers,” focuses on labor force participation for unemployed disabled workers.  In the absence of extending the unemployment benefits program, these workers would likely drop out of the labor force and turn to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), which would cost the federal government $24.2 billion.  In contrast, the cost of keeping these workers attached to the labor force by extending unemployment benefits and COBRA premium subsides would be only $721.3 million in 2010 (see chart).

“Extending unemployment benefits provides an immediate positive jolt to the U.S. economy because unemployed individuals spend the money quickly – to put food on the table, pay rent or their mortgage, and clothe their children.  Every dollar of unemployment benefits multiplies into $1.60 of economic activity,” said Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Chair of the JEC.  “This report highlights the cost of inaction as it relates to disabled workers.  Not only is an extension of unemployment benefits the morally right thing to do, it is fiscally responsible, especially when you look at unemployed disabled workers.”

Charles E. Schumer, Vice Chair of the JEC, said, “If anyone still wasn’t convinced that unemployment benefits are a sound investment that gets a good bang for the buck, this report removes any doubt.  In addition to being the right thing to do for those who are out of work through no fault of their own, extending these benefits also makes good economic sense.  As the evidence shows, it more than pays for itself.  We will be pushing to extend these benefits through the end of the year shortly in the Senate.”

The JEC estimates that a failure to extend unemployment insurance benefits would result in nearly 290,000 disabled unemployed workers exhausting unemployment benefits in 2010.  The majority of these disabled exhaustees are likely to turn to the SSDI program for economic support.  These SSDI recipients are likely to remain permanently on disability rolls, even after economic conditions improve.

This is a costly proposition, especially because SSDI recipients become eligible for Medicare benefits after two years on the disability insurance.  The JEC estimates the lifetime cost of providing disability benefits to individuals pushed out of the labor market by the failure to extend unemployment benefits is over $24.2 billion.