Rabid Liberal Rants

Clinton donors are at it again, pushing veiled threats against anyone who doesn’t implicitly back Clinton. This is similar to the threats made in trying to get the Florida delegates to count. Enough is enough. Like Pelosi said, superdelegates should “back whoever emerges from the nomination contests with the most pledged delegates”. Obama clearly is winning the popular vote. If I’m a superdelegate, and a majority of my constituents voted for Obama, and I end up throwing my hat to Clinton, I’d be worried about looking like a traitor to my support/base. Where will the Clinton donors be then?

Christian Science Monitor has an opinion page on the Universal Health Care proposals being bandied about by both Dem candidates, saying it may not even be Constitutionally legal. Personally, I think the whole idea is crazy. Do we really want another large bureaucracy? Has our government managed anything properly lately? Social Security and Medicare are both nearing bankruptcy. Our war veterans can’t even get proper care at the Army’s “Top” medical facility, Walter Reed. How about the EPA telling us the air was safe to breathe in downtown NYC, right after 9/11? Or 9/11 First Responders who are dying because they can’t get the proper care, after breathing in the toxic dust? We’re providing nice subsidies to farmers who will use their farm land to produce corn for biofuels, driving up the cost of everyday household staples like wheat and milk. And we’re giving HUGE tax breaks to oil companies that make billions of dollars every quarter. How about getting rid of the tax breaks, and sending that money over to people who can’t afford health care? I won’t even go into the management of our economy or the Iraq/Afghanistan war. And I don’t want the government involved in what type of care I can get. What we do need is more insurance choices, tort reform, a limit to frivolous lawsuits, lower insurance costs for doctors. I bet there are more people that have either cell phones or cable/satellite TV than have insurance.

And to just get an idea of how our government works for big business rather than you and me, check out these stats for 2007 (courtesy of opensecrets.org):

• The Health sector ranked #1 in total lobbying spending with $425,832,461
• Of the $425+ million, $219,685,061 came from Pharmaceuticals/Health Products such as Amgen, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline.
• $48,218,712 came from Health Services/HMOs such as United HealthCare, Aetna, Wellpoint, and HealthSouth.
• In addition, for 2008 Election Year cycle, the Health Services/HMOs contributed over $5 million to Federal Candidates and Parties, with the top spender being United Health Group.

From the AP, Breach exposes 4.2 million credit, debit cards 

I thought the government existed to protect us?

“Visa and MasterCard have stipulated in their contracts with retailers that they will not divulge who the source is when a data breach occurs,” Spitzer said. “We’ve been engaged in a dialogue for a couple years now about changing this rule…. Without knowing who the retailer is that caused the breach, it’s hard for banks to conduct a good investigation on behalf of their consumers. And it’s a problem for consumers as well, because if they know which retailer is responsible, they can rule themselves out for being at risk if they don’t shop at that retailer.”

Just another example of how our government protects businesses (those that line the political pockets)  rather than the American people.

And just an FYI: The Visa USA PAC has contributed $127,266 to the 2008 election cycle, through 12/2007. Mastercard International Employees PAC has contributed $189,598 to the 2008 election cycle, through 12/2007. They’ve both contributed to Senator Chris Dodd’s presidential bid, who is currently serving as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

As reported byReuters, American tourists in Amsterdam are having a tough time exchanging their dollars for local currency, because nobody wants to get caught holding worthless paper.

Great article on how the government is ok with bailing out, providing tax breaks, and subsidies, to large corporations,  using YOUR MONEY. But when it comes to you and helping you during hard times, you get nothing, because helping you is deemed too expensive.

Bear Stearns is too important to allow to fail, but millions of homeowners can end up on the street when home prices plummet sharply. The Wall Street holders of overvalued mortgage pools are too important to fail, but homeowners drowning in debt are told to keep paying not matter what.

And Gretchen Morgenson, in the NYTimes, opines on how the Fed bailout of Bear Stearns, “Crosses a Line”.

And as Paul Krugman writes in the NYtimes:

Bear, in other words, deserved to be allowed to fail — both on the merits and to teach Wall Street not to expect someone else to clean up its messes.

JPMorgan to buy Bear Stearns for $2/Share, with help from the Feds. Folks on top thought it would be ok to give out mortgages and credit/loans to people who couldn’t afford it. Now, we’re paying for the cockiness, greed, and stupidity of the elite.

Clinton fundraisers threatening the DNC to get Michigan and Florida delegates seated. Look, Michigan and Florida broke DNC rules, knowing well what the consequences would be. There should be NO DO OVERS!! PERIOD. No second chances, just because Hillary is not the leading candidate.

The dollar touched a record low of $1.5651 against the euro and crude oil reached a record $111 a barrel. Grocery costs are expected to go up further with the rise in the cost of wheat.

The price of wheat has more than tripled during the past 10 months, making Americans’ daily bread — and bagels and pizza and pasta — feel a little like luxury items

“It’s going to affect everything … impact on every section of the grocery store,” said Michael Bittel, senior vice president of King Arthur Flour Co. in Norwich, Vt.

And JPMorgan Chase, along with the Feds, are trying to bail out Bear Stearns, an 85 year old investment bank, whose stock lost more than 20% of it’s value in recent days.

CCNWON has a good writeup of stagflation. In it he shows how commodity prices have gone up in recent years yet the wages for the average American has gone down about 2%.

Nobody wants the dollar. Even some stores in NYC are accepting foreign currency. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, start saving, start looking for ways to reduce your monthly expenditures (maybe less movies, less eating out or ordering in), hold off on buying luxury items, etc. Take public transportation whenever possible, instead of wasting your money on gas. Save – Save – Save!!!

It’s getting to be laughable, and ridiculous. The Clinton camp keeps bringing race into the picture, albeit, indirectly. What would happen if the Obama camp kept bringing up the fact that Clinton is a woman? And as Keith Olbermann puts it, the Dems basically have the presidency in the bag, but are working really hard to give it away to the Republicans, with their divisiveness: