Politics Plus

It’s health care reform all over again.

In February, the Wall Street Journal reported that Republicans were "stepping up their campaign to win donations from Wall Street. In discussions with Wall Street executives, Republicans are striving to make the case that they are banks’ best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on Wall Street."

Two months later, it seems the GOP is relying on the same strategy. In return for obstructing Democratic legislation to hold Wall Street CEOs accountable, Republican lawmakers are pressing bankers for financial help heading into the November elections.

FoxBusiness.com reported [Faux Noise delinked] that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) had a "private meeting" with "25 Wall Street executives, many of them hedge fund managers." After listening to "numerous complaints the executives have with the bill," the GOP lawmakers reportedly assured the bankers that Republicans would be their ally in the fight. After discussing likely Republican electoral gains this November, "McConnell and Cornyn made it clear they need Wall Street’s help."

A day after the story broke about McConnell’s "private meeting" with Wall Street bigwigs, he stormed onto the Senate floor to spout false attacks on Democratic efforts to hold those bankers accountable. The timing was no coincidence.

Republicans are brazenly playing politics by putting the needs of big banks and credit card companies above struggling American families. Now is the time to hold Wall Street accountable for causing the worst recession in a generation… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Huffington Post>

Rachel Maddow and Howard Fineman debunk the GOP lies and expose the source of the script for their talking points.

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Let the GOP lie.  But we must keep pointing out their lies and making people aware that they are accusing Democrats of doing exactly what the GOP is doing.  The problem with the legislation under discussion is that it does not go far enough.

Once upon a time, I used to enjoy eating raw meat.  Don’t worry.  Today I wouldn’t dream of it.  But I was not aware just how bad it is.

It is a frightening picture: beef contaminated with toxic heavy metals, pesticides and antibiotics making its way into the nation’s supermarkets.Phyllis K. Fong, the Agriculture Department’s inspector general, looked at how beef is tested for harmful substances.

According to her new report, inspectors charged with checking cattle for disease and meat for contaminants were, "unable to determine if meat has unacceptable levels of… potentially hazardous substances [and do] not test for pesticides… determined to be of high risk."

The inspectors also failed to test beef for 23 pesticides, the report says.

The study — entitled the National Residue Program for Cattle Audit Report — says there are no standards for how much of certain dangerous substances, such as copper and highly toxic dioxin, is too much for someone to eat.?? As a result, meat containing these substances has gotten into the nation’s food supply, it finds.

The report says the health danger to people who eat this beef is a "growing concern," and calls for better coordination among the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure the safety of the country’s meat supply.

"When it comes to this particular issue of these foreign chemicals, pollutants, antibiotics, things like that — they haven’t been doing enough, that’s what’s clear," says Patty Lovera of Food & Water Watch, a consumer advocacy group.

The audit report, which took place in 2007 and 2008, cited instances when inspectors found beef containing excessive levels of contaminants, but declined to recall it.

"I think the thing that was most alarming was when lab tests were failed, there was no real concerted effort to recall the failed supply," says Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

The report also found that the metal copper has made its way into American beef.

Often a waste product from industry, it can seep into the water that’s fed to cattle.??

In one incident in 2008, Mexican officials refused a shipment of U.S. beef because it contained more copper than Mexico allows.

America has no such restriction… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

Are you shocked that our food isn’t good enough for Mexico?  It’s even worse than that!  According to Sustainable Food, the US ranks in the world’s five worst countries for food safety, along with China, Turkey, Iran and Spain!

What say you?

Keith Olbermann and Howard Fineman discuss the Nuclear Summit, and Rachel Maddow interview Elizabeth Warren about the failure of TARP to reach Main Street, as intended.  First Keith:

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Although I still oppose his Afghanistan policy, Obama did more for world peace yesterday than Crawford Caligula did in eight years.

Now Rachel:

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While TARP helped $167 thousand homeowners, $3 million were foreclosed.  That’s a success rate of less than 6%.  Banksters are making huge profits investing the money they were supposed to use to help homeowners.  Why?  Timothy Geithner chooses not to use the tools he has to enforce TARP.  Is it any wonder that I want Obama to fire Geithner and hire Warren in his place?

In Oklahoma, they just might.

The Associated Press reports that Oklahoma tea party leaders, “frustrated by recent political setbacks,” are working with right-wing Republicans in the Oklahoma legislature to create a new “volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.” State Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-OK) and State Rep. Charles Key (R-OK) have met with tea party leaders, like J.W. Berry of the Tulsa-based OKforTea group, to plan legislation for a state-authorized militia. Brogdon, who is running for Governor and sponsored the right-wing anti-health reform “state sovereignty” resolution in his state, explained that he believes his anti-federal government militia has constitutional backing:

The founding fathers “were not referring to a turkey shoot or a quail hunt. They really weren’t even talking about us having the ability to protect ourselves against each other,” Brogdon said. “The Second Amendment deals directly with the right of an individual to keep and bear arms to protect themselves from an overreaching federal government.”

But critics say the tea party militia idea could “throw fuel in the fire of radicals.” Even some Republicans are opposed to Brogdon’s initiative. “If the intent is to create a militia for disaster relief, we have the National Guard,” said Sen. Steve Russell, (R-OK), a retired Army lieutenant colonel. “Anything beyond that purpose should be viewed with great concern and caution.” Indeed, the news of the state-sponsored militia movement arrives shortly before the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, on April 19.

Berry, the tea party leader who first solicited support for the militia, has posted rants against President Obama: the “Muslim President” — a “reincarnation of Pol Pot” [Teabaggers delinked] who is trying imprison [Teabaggers delinked] Americans for resisting health reform. One ominous posting from Berry says that his militia should “launch a thousand guerrilla attacks on the plans that these people have to ruin us and our country.”

Both Berry and Brogdon lean heavily on far right propaganda and media outlets to fuel their conspiracy theories. Berry frequently cites conservative news outlets like CNS and notes that he draws inspiration from the white supremacist thriller The Turner Diaries. [Teatraitors delinked] Despite his extremism, Berry has met with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and other members of the Oklahoma Republican delegation, and counts them as “rock solid.” [Teabaggers delinked] [emphasis original]

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Defending a state from the US by force of arms sounds like a Civil War Redux to me.  Ed Schultz interviewed this … person.

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Ded you notice how he tried to weasel out of answering the question, but refused several opportunities to deny it?