The American Trial Lawyers Association

We'll kick things off today with some depressing news for those of you who are fans of justice. According to Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff, has said unequivocally that there will be absolutely no prosecutions of former Bush Administration officials. This news comes on the heels of the release of the former administration's torture memos, which made most of us believe that prosecutions were just around the corner. But the statement from Obama released with those shocking memos included this sentence: "In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution." Obama has made it clear since he took office that he had no intention of prosecuting the former administration, but some of us were still hopeful. Unfortunately, like Bill Clinton before him, Obama is ready to allow the crimes of the Republicans go unpunished, leaving America with a bruised reputation and no remedies.

And speaking of the leftover problems from the Bush Administration, the sour economy has actually had a positive effect on the military. For years the military has been forced to allow below-average recruits to join, thanks to declining numbers of worthy applicants. But due to the recent economic downturn, the Army is seeing an uptick in what it calls “quality” recruits and has halted the practice of giving recruitment waivers to convicted felons and recent drug offenders. Since the Army started handing out numerous waivers to felons and drug offenders, officials say there has been an increase in drug abuse among soldiers in Iraq and afghanistan. There have also been reports that members of US gangs are signing up for the Army and leaving identifying graffiti in the streets of Iraq. Afghanistan's abundent heroin crops are a particular spot of concern for the Army, as any soldier so inclined could easily procure doses of that and other substances. Hopefully, this surge in recruits is the beginning of a new trend. Studies have shown that when the military allows in people who required waivers, morale goes down, and incidents increase. With a new crop of able recruits, soldiers can once again be sure that the guys watching their backs are capable of keeping them safe, which will keep the rest of us safe as well.


And finally today, a new report shows that the government has consistently overlooked massive amounts of waterway contamination stemming from 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals that were legally released into waterways. According to an AP investigation, government and industry officials don't know how many pharmaceutical ingredients – like lithium and nitroglycerin – are released into lakes and rivers that feed into drinking water, because they don't track those chemicals as drugs. But the AP found that 22 pharmaceutical compounds do show up in EPA and Food and Drug Administration records. Drugmakers and federal regulators both say that the manufacturing of these kinds of chemicals doesn't impact water quality. However, the investigation revealed that the release of these chemicals is similar to a “don't ask, don't tell” policy, where the government looks the other way, while the pharmaceutical industry dumps chemicals into our water. Studies have shown that exposure to lithium can cause fluid to build up in the lungs, and that the side effects of the drug become more severe when it is exposed to moisture. That sounds like just the thing we want in our water supply.

Labels: Barack Obama, Economy, Farron Cousins, George Bush, Memo, Military, Pharmaceutical, Poison, Prosecution, Rahm Emanuel, Recruit, Torture, Waiver, Water

In their frenzied drive to crack down on illegal immigrants, the US government over the last 8 years has actually been deporting legal US citizens. A monthlong investigation by the Associated Press revealed at least 55 cases where legal citizens were rounded up by immigration officials and held in custody anywhere from one day to five years. According to immigration lawyers, the number of people who have been victims of this dragnet reaches into the hundreds. It is illegal to deport U.S. citizens or detain them for immigration violations. Yet citizens still end up in detention because the system is overwhelmed. The number of detentions overall is expected to rise by about 17 percent this year to more than 400,000, putting a severe strain on the enforcement network and legal system. The result is the detention of citizens with the fewest resources: the mentally ill, minorities, the poor, children and those with outstanding criminal warrants, ranging from unpaid traffic tickets to failure to show up for probation hearings. Most at risk are Hispanics, who made up the majority of the cases.


In other news, the Center for Disease Control has been withholding evidence of the dangerously high levels of lead found in tap water in Washington, D.C. 8 Years ago, the city decided to remove chlorine from their water, and replace it with a similar chemical. However, they didn't realize that the chlorine actually helped prevent lead from breaking off inside of lead pipes, and the new chemical allowed high levels of lead to pour out. Numerous studies confirm that very low levels of lead in blood are linked to short attention spans and reading problems in children. In adults, low levels are linked to high blood pressure and an increased risk of death from heart disease and stroke. If not detected early, children with high levels of lead in their bodies can suffer from brain and nervous system damage, stunted growth, and hearing problems. The CDC discovered in 2007 that many young children living in D.C. homes with lead pipes were poisoned by drinking water and suffered ill effects. Yet the health agency did not publicize the new findings or alert public health authorities in D.C. or other federal agencies that regulate lead.


And finally today, it looks like president Obama was correct when he claimed last year that bitter Americans would cling to their guns in times of desperation. Firearms sales have surged in the six months since Obama's election as millions of Americans have gone on a buying spree that has stripped gun shops in some parts of the country almost bare of assault weapons and led to a national ammunition shortage. The FBI says that since November more than seven million people applied for criminal background checks in order to buy weapons. Gun-shop owners and the National Rifle Association say the surge is driven by worries that Obama is planning to ban many types of firearms and that the deepening economic crisis will fuel a crime wave. Control groups pressing for greater control on firearms accuse the NRA of funding a massive scare campaign to portray Obama as a gun owner's worst nightmare and to argue that tighter restrictions on weapons ownership are a threat to broader liberties and a step toward tyranny. Here's what we know right now – People are scared, they are depressed, and they are angry. When you combine those national sentiments with an increase in the number of firearm purchases, the results will not be pretty, as we've basically been seeing over the last few months.

Labels: 2nd Amendment, Ammunition, Barack Obama, CDC, Deportation, Dragnet, Farron Cousins, Guns, Illegal Immigrant, Lead, Water

A new television ad against same-sex marriage is being slammed as deceptive and full of "half-truths" by gay rights groups. According to one report, $1.5 million will be spent to air the ads in four Northeastern states, which are considering gay marriage bills. The National Organization for Marriage's ad depicts individuals, from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds, standing against a backdrop of stormy clouds. With lines like --- “The clouds are dark and the winds are strong” and “They want to bring the issue into my life,” and “My freedom will be taken away” --- the ad is filled with ominous hints that gay marriage advocates seek to impose their values on others. After suffering a serious setback in November with California voters' passage of Proposition 8, gay rights advocates have enjoyed a slew of victories in the last week. The victories include an Iowa Supreme Court verdict in favor of gay marriage, the Vermont legislature's legalization of gay marriage and a vote by the District of Columbia city council to recognize other states' same-sex marriages. If you haven't seen the ad, here it is…As you can see, they provide no specific examples of how their rights will be taken away, nor do they explain how this is a bad thing. Its just a bunch of close-minded people who want to take away the rights of people different from them.


In other news, according to a new investigation published this week, US military officers pressured Army medical personnel not to diagnose soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder in an apparent effort to save money and reduce benefits. Interviews conducted by Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna for Salon revealed that at least two Army medical personnel say they've been pressured by higher-ups to avoid giving wounded soldiers post traumatic stress diagnoses. The said that the VA has also jumped on board and has even stepped in after some diagnoses to claim that soldiers don't have PTSD, even though they clearly did. So why is the Army writing off PTSD diagnoses? A former Army psychologist who now chairs a Texas university psychology department explained that each diagnosis is an acknowledgment that psychiatric casualties are a huge price tag of this war, and its easiest to dismiss these casualties because you can't see the wounds. If they change the diagnosis they can dismiss soldiers at a substantially decreased rate.


And finally this week, in a stunning defense of President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, President Barack Obama has broadened the government's legal argument for immunizing his Administration and government agencies from lawsuits surrounding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping efforts. In fact, a close read of a government filing last Friday reveals that the Obama Administration has gone beyond any previous legal claims put forth by former President Bush. For the first time, the Obama Administration's brief contends that government agencies cannot be sued for wiretapping American citizens even if there was intentional violation of US law. Both the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union say the "sovereign immunity" claim in the context of the case goes farther than any previous Bush Administration claims of wiretap immunity. This story comes as a devastating blow to everyone who was expecting the criminal reign of the last 8 years to be over. This kind of makes you wonder if Karl Rove is still hiding behind the scenes pulling the strings.

Labels: Ad, Barack Obama, Diagnos, Doctor, Farron Cousins, Gay Marriage, George W Bush, Lies, National Organization for Marriage, Northeast, Post Traumatic Stress, PTSD, Telecom Immunity, VA, Veteran

Corporate lobbyists have been working overtime recently to stop a proposed tax increase on corporations' overseas profits, which is currently being considered by the White House. The Obama Administration isn't actually considering imposing a tax hike, but instead they want to repeal a series of tax cuts that actually reward companies for shipping American jobs overseas. Repealing these cuts would bring in an estimated $100 billion dollars over the next 10 years. Groups including the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Foreign Trade Council have helped form a lobbying coalition called Protect America's Competitive Edge that is devoted specifically to the issue. A letter sent to Congress last month opposing the plan was signed by 200 trade associations and companies, including General Electric, Intel, IBM, McDonald's, Merck, and Microsoft. The repeal of these tax breaks would also cause American corporations to lose their offshore tax havens which they have used to avoid paying taxes on their income. America is in desperate need of money right now, and if these companies want to continue doing business in the United States, they need to repay the system that they used to become wealthy.


In other news, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has a message for his fellow conservatives – either rebrand yourselves, or you'll most likely see a fracturing of the party and as a result, we could see a third party rise up before the next election. During an interview on Fox News this weekend, Gingrich said quote, “Republicans need to understand that there's a country which did not like the big spending of the Bush administration, and they didn't like the interventionist policies of that administration.” Gingrich helped draft the Contract with America back in 1994 when his party regained control of both houses of Congress, and has been a powerful and influential figure in Republican politics for more almost 2 decades. He believes that if the party doesn't change, it could be all over for the modern Republican Party. Gingrich, who is now the chairman of the think tank American Solutions, said that Republicans must stop insisting on earmarks and big spending, and must begin paying attention to the "vast majority of Republicans." I think the problem with Newt's philosophy is that he doesn't quite understand that conservatism simply doesn't work. Over the last 8 years, George Bush executed the GOP's plans exactly how they wanted, and look where that has gotten us. The failures of the last 8 years aren't the failures of Bush, they are the failures of the Republican Party.


And finally today, in light of the Justice Department stepping in and attempting to get the conviction against Senator Ted Stevens thrown out, former Alabama governor Don Siegelman is asking attorney general Eric Holder to do the same for him. The Justice Department wants Stevens' conviction thrown out because prosecutors withheld evidence during the trial. If that's reason enough to throw out a conviction, then Siegelman shouldn't have anything to worry about. Siegelman's case was riddled with misconduct, from the first trial against him which ended with the judge throwing the charges out saying that they had no basis for a prosecution; to the new Republican judge going along with basically the same case. Then there's the involvement of Karl Rove, the testimony from Dana Jill Simpson, and the fact that what Siegelman was accused of doing wasn't even really a crime. With any luck, Siegelman will get the same treatment as Stevens, and the Justice Department will step in to finally end this long nightmare for him.

Labels: Barack Obama, Contract With America, Don Siegelman, Farron Cousins, GOP, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Offshore, Outsourcing, Tax Break, Tax Haven

John Yoo, author of the notorious torture memos that allowed the Bush Administration to torture detainees, has found a new ally with the current Obama administration. Obama's Justice Department defended Yoo in a San Francisco federal court last week, arguing that a prisoner formerly held as an enemy combatant had no right to sue Yoo for writing legal memos that allegedly led to his detention and torture. Attorney Mary Mason repeated a claim made last year by the Bush administration, saying that the courts should not have the authority to question a president's actions during time of war. In addition to authoring many of the torture memos, Yoo also advised the Bush administration that the Geneva Conventions on humane treatment of captives did not apply to terrorist suspects classified as enemy combatants. The specific case in question here is the one of Jose Padilla, who was arrested in 2002 and held as an unlawful enemy combatant for three and a half years. After his time served, he was charged with taking part in an unrelated conspiracy to provide money and supplies to Islamic extremist groups. He was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in federal prison.


In related news, the US Supreme Court has refused to hear a case about whether US presidents have the authority to indefinitely detain a terrorist suspect in the United States without charges. The case has now been sent back for a new hearing before the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, which ruled last July that former president Bush did have the power and authority to indefinitely detain prisoners. The appeals court in Richmond scheduled a session April 27 to hear arguments in the case. By refusing to hear the case, the Court has effectively delayed resolution on an issue that could greatly effect the 245 alleged enemy combatants currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court has taken up the question of "enemy combatants" three times, and three times delivered setbacks to the government. In 2004, it gave them the right to legal counsel; in 2006, it outlawed military commissions set up by the president to try them. which were re-established by Congress three months later, and in 2006, it gave them access to US civilian courts.


In other news today, economists are now predicting that our current recession will be the longest and deepest this country has seen since World War 2. The last 2 major recessions, which occurred from 1973 to 75, and from 1981 – 82, both only last 16 months, meaning that if this recession hasn't been fixed by April, it will take the record as the longest since the war. Unemployment hasn't reached 1982 levels and the gross domestic product hasn't fallen quite as far. But the hurt from this recession is spread more widely and uncertainty about the country's economic health is worse today than it was in 1982. However, economists say that the outlook for today's recession is much bleaker than back then, as more people believe that we could be heading towards another Great Depression. For even more comparison, a new set of statistics has been released showing that: In 207,000 manufacturing jobs vanished in January, making it the largest one-month drop since October 1982. Major automakers' sales extended their deep slump in February, putting the industry on track for its worst sales month in more than 27 years. Struggling homebuilders have just completed the worst year for new home sales since 1982. There are 12.5 million people out of work today, topping the number of jobless in 1982. In addition, personal wealth is dwindling in the U.S., and the effects of the financial meltdown have been felt around the world.

Labels: Barack Obama, Detention, Economy, Farron Cousins, George W Bush, John Yoo, Justice Department, Lawsuit, Memo, Recession, Rendition, Supreme Court, Torture

These days, it is getting harder and harder to tell the Obama Justice Department from the Bush Justice Department. The current DOJ is standing behind the former administration's law that provides retroactive immunity to telecom firms that spied on US citizens. The law was specifically designed to protect companies who participated in government wiretapping programs from legal claims and is one that President Obama supported as a senator when it was approved by Congress last year. The administration said in to a brief filed late Wednesday afternoon, that electronic communication service providers play an important role in assisting intelligence officials in national security activities, and that the intelligence community cannot obtain the intelligence it needs without assistance from these companies. According to the Justice Department, the law requires a judge to dismiss a wiretapping lawsuit against a telecommunications company if the attorney general explains the firm's role to the judge in a confidential statement. This comes as a major blow to civil libertarians, who were hoping that we finally had an administration in power that understood the basic concepts of liberty.


In other news this week, it looks like CBS News' new vice president for communications has some skeletons in his closet that he would like to keep hidden. In addition to the fact that new VP Jeff Ballabon once said that “Democrats are inherently bad people and Republicans are fundamentally good people,” Ballabon has now been linked to one of those allegedly “fundamentally good” republicans. Ballabon formerly had a close relationship with lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff, first as a client and then seemingly as a friend. Ballabon was an executive vice president with Channel One in 1998 when it came under fire from Republican Senator Richard Shelby from Alabama. Channel One had developed a comfortable niche providing free educational programming to public schools in exchange for running commercials during the programs, many of them for soda, candy, and other junk food. After the anger from the GOP reached a boiling point on the issue, Ballabon hired Abramoff's firm to lobby on their behalf, paying them over one million dollars. Abramoff then proceeded to get some of the most powerful conservative organizations to write favorable pieces about Channel 1. And now this man with no apparent conscience is in charge of all media relations and public affairs for CBS. I guess Fox News wasn't hiring.


And finally this week, according to a new book by two Indiana University professors shows that journalists, by censoring themselves, have been offering more favorable coverage of Republicans than Democrats. This self-censoring is a result of them trying to avoid being accused of having a liberal bias. The professors' new book details their study of the three major broadcast networks' presidential campaign coverage from 1992 to 2004. According to the analysis, the coverage on ABC, NBC, and CBS, favored Republican candidates in each election. The authors examined 62 hours of network news coverage between Labor Day and Election Day over the four presidential elections. Among their findings were that candidates were steadily shown more visually in so-called image bites, while their sound bites shortened in average length. The authors examined one of the most negative forms of image bites, the "lip-flap shot," in which a reporter's narration is overlaid on video of the candidate talking. In their findings, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to be given the "lip-flap shot." Also looked at was the "Goldilocks effect," which is who was given the last say in a piece and therefore were better remembered by viewers. The authors found that Republicans were more likely to get the last word in every presidential election studied except for the 2004 election.

Labels: Barack Obama, DOJ, Domestic Spying, Farron Cousins, Jack Abramoff, Jack Ballabon, Media Bias, Raw Story, Telecom Immunity, Warrantless Wiretapping

Ok, I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the Federal Reserve is now saying that their original predictions about the US economy for this year, which were pretty grim, were wrong. The bad news is that they're now saying that things are going to be much worse than expected. Under the new projections, the unemployment rate will rise to between 8.5 and 8.8 percent this year. Their previous forecast had predicted that unemployment wouldn't pass the 7 and a half percent mark. They are predicting that the unemployment rate, which currently stands at 7.6%, will continue to rise as more and more companies continue to lay off workers. This new forecast could reflect the recent announcements from major companies that they were cutting their work forces, including General Motors, who will be getting rid of 57 thousand employees. The Fed also believes the economy will contract this year between 0.5 and 1.3 percent. Employment is usually the last piece of the economy to heal once the country is out of recession and in recovery mode. Businesses are usually reluctant to ramp up hiring until they feel confident that any recovery has staying power. However, the light at the end of the tunnel is that economists are predicting that next year the economy will grow between 2.5 and 3.3%.


In other economic news, apparently taking the advice of political strategist Paul Begala, some Republican governors are debating on whether or not to accept funds for their states from the recently passed stimulus bill. While no one has outright rejected the money available for education, health care and infrastructure, the governors of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina and Idaho have all questioned whether the $787 billion bill signed into law this week will even help the economy. However, governors who reject some of the stimulus aid may find themselves overridden by their own legislatures because of language included in the bill that allows lawmakers to accept the federal money even if their governors object. This means that state legislatures could easily override the governors. The fact that these Republicans are even considering such a move shows that they are putting their own ideology over the needs and wants of the people. Polls show that the majority of US governors, from either party, support the stimulus bill, as do the majority of Americans. To reject this money would be a slap in the face to every citizen of the United States who has been effected by our dismal economy.


And finally today, if you thought that it wasn't possible to be viewed less favorably than George Bush or members of Congress, think again. According to a new poll, American CEOs are now the most despised interest group in the country, with only 22% of Americans viewing them favorably. Stockbrokers and financial analysts as well as journalists and reporters are held in higher regard, with 37 and 38% approval respectively, while lawyers are at 41% and bankers stand at 44%. Congress still stands at a 26% approval rating, but the numbers for Democratic members are far better than those for Republicans. Among Democratic Americans, 41% view members of Congress favorably while just 15% say the same about corporate CEOs. By contrast, 31% of Republicans have a favorable opinion of CEOs, but only 14% feel the same way about those in Congress. Those numbers really show you where their faith lies. But as the last 8 years have shown us, Republicans aren't big fans of democracy, and I'm sure they'd all be much better living in a “corporatocracy,” and just letting those CEOs run their lives.

Labels: Barack Obama, CEO, Charlie Crist, Corporation, Depression, Economy, Farron Cousins, Federal Reserve, Governor, Recession, Republican, Stimulus Package, Wall Street

Officials from the Bush White House are no longer advising Karl Rove to claim that he is protected from testifying by executive privilege. In addition, Rove's attorney told reporters at Raw Story that the former advisor will not be invoking the Fifth Amendment to protect himself from testifying. Rove was subpoenaed in 2007 to testify before Congress about his role in the Don Siegelman prosecution, as well as the politicization of the Justice Department. He was then subpoenaed in 2008 for this same testimony. Both times he refused to show. He did however offer to testify, as long as he didn't have to be under oath and the hearings were not public, which Congress refused. He was recently subpoenaed in January of this year, and then again this month. Though it remains unclear what form Rove's cooperation with Congress and Justice Department investigators might take, it seems increasingly likely that Rove will testify to Congress in some way.


In other news, it looks like the United States' war on terror didn't just take away the rights of American citizens, but according to international legal experts, it stripped away the rights of people across the globe. According to Mary Robinson, former High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN, citizens across the globe have fewer rights today than they did when terrorists attacked on 9/11, largely due to the fact that the US responded inappropriately to the attacks. The harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay gave a dangerous signal to other countries that quickly followed suit. A new report found that many undemocratic states have referred to U.S. counter-terrorism practices to justify their own abuses, creating a serious situation that the UN must now deal with. The UN Security Council has already begun investigating prisoner abuse in places like Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, and Germany.


In economic news today, a new report shows that all of those Wall Street banks who begged and pleaded for a bailout so they could lend more money, have actually not been lending anymore money. In fact, since they received their bailout funds, they've actually been lending less money. The Treasury Department said the banks reduced their mortgage and business loans by a median of 1 percent each, while credit card lending rose by a median of 2 percent. The report also said that banks reduced new commercial real estate loans by 19 percent. But don't think that these banks will be reprimanded for not upholding their end of the deal. The Treasury Department has already written off the decrease in lending by saying that consumer demand for loans has decreased, so it really isn't the banks' fault. Basically, what this means is that the banks took our tax dollars, and did nothing to help the economy. They aren't loaning people money, they laid off tens of thousands of employees, and they aren't producing any tangible goods for Americans. They used the money to shore up their investments and pay dividends to stockholders. If you ask me, all of these banks are guilty of stealing money from the government, and the CEOs of these institutions should be sitting in prison.


In other news, a new USA Today report shows that cyber attacks against government computer systems increased by 40% last year. In total, there were 5,488 tracked incidents of unauthorized access to US government computers, as well as installations of hostile programs in 2008. However, rather than taking this as a serious threat, one official from the Department of Homeland Security said that this doesn't necessarily mean there was an increase in attacks, and it could mean that their detection software is catching more intruders. However, if that is the case, that means that 40% of the hacks from 2007 were never detected. President Obama announced last week that his administration will be conducting a review of US cyber security to protect the government's information technology systems from security and economic threats.


And finally today, horny teenagers are getting a new role model to tell them to keep it in their pants – Bristol Palin. While speaking about the birth of her son Tripp to Fox News, Bristol said she now hoped to become an advocate against teen pregnancy. The little Palin went on to say that everyone should be abstinent, but that that idea isn't realistic at all. She refused to give her views on contraception, which makes her an astounding hypocrite. She says that abstinence isn't going to work, but it's the only thing that will work. I'm not sure I follow her logic here. The bottom line is this – studies have been conducted throughout this century showing that abstinence-only education programs result in higher rates of teen pregnancy, than education programs that teach the use of contraceptives. That is a fact. Teenagers shouldn't be listening to a girl who couldn't figure that out on her own.



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Labels: Bailout, Barack Obama, Bristol Palin, Economy, Farron Cousins, Hacker, Karl Rove, Lending, Mortgage Crisis, Political Briefs, Recession, Sarah Palin, Sex, Teenager, Trigg, Underage

By Mike Papantonio


Last Sunday, the pastor in the church I attend prayed for Barack Obama. That pastor prayed that Obama would have the strength and wisdom to guide America. I'm certain that the majority of that congregation agreed that we should all pray for Obama's success. It made me proud to be a member of that church during that prayer.


I wish Rush Limbaugh had been there. Because the week before Limbaugh made the statement on his radio show that he hoped that Obama's efforts to pull America through these dark days would fail. His words were: “I hope Obama fails. Somebody's got to say it.” He went as far as telling his lockstep listeners that he was angry at Republicans who are pulling for Obama to succeed.


I'm pretty sure there are preachers all over this country leading congregations in prayers that make the same plea my pastor made last Sunday. And I'm comfortable knowing that the power of those prayers are much stronger than the repugnant hate talk of an aging radio host in search of a bigger audience.


It's important to consider the specifics of what Limbaugh is hoping for in Obama's failure. Eight million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure during the Bush years. Perhaps if Limbaugh could step out of his 25,000 square foot home and see the pain of a mother and father telling their children that they just lost their home, maybe then he would want Obama to succeed.


Or maybe Mr. Limbaugh could step away from his $400 million dollar job long enough to be on sight the day a factory or a bank or a restaurant closes. And maybe he could follow one of those fathers home to tell his family that he just lost his job. Maybe then he would want to pray for Obama, rather than hope Obama fails. Or what if he heard one of the closed-door conversations that takes place late at night in the privacy of a bedroom between a husband who got his last paycheck and a wife who has to figure out how she will feed her children and keep a roof over their heads? Rush Limbaugh has probably never heard one of those conversations that take place with hushed whispers … quiet conversations that take place when parents don't want to frighten their children.


It might even be a good idea for this pathetic radio demagogue to put his solid gold microphone down for a few days and spend some time with his Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity chicken-hawk crowd touring V.A. hospitals. Perhaps then Mr. Limbaugh, who himself received a military deferment, could appreciate Obama's effort to end W's Iraq disaster instead of hoping for Obama's failure.


These latest words give us a creepy picture of the real heart and soul of Mr. Limbaugh. Because as he rallies his ditto-head crowd around the hopes of failure for Obama, he is in effect hoping that all of America fails.


But last Sunday, a prayer of hope and compassion delivered by a preacher who truly cares about America made Rush sound like the petty, irrelevant demagogue that he has worked so hard to become.

Labels: air america radio, Barack Obama, democrat, Economy, failure, GoLeft.tv, GoLeftTV, manufacturing, Mike Papantonio, president, Recession, ring of fire, rush limbaugh, unemployment

Mike Papantonio of Air America's Ring of Fire apears on Your World with Neil Cavuto to talk about Nancy Pelosi's plan to raise taxes on the top 2 percent of Americans by repealing the Bush tax cuts.

Labels: Barack Obama, Economy, Fox News, GoLeft.tv, GoLeftTV, Mike Papantonio, NAncy Pelosi, Neil Cavuto, Recession, tax Cut, Taxes, War, Your World