Sequestration for “defense” (really war) spending is a good thing. Anything that reduces our capability to start a war at this point would be of benefit to all people and all other forms of life as well.

I do not live in Texas. But I remember that Ronnie Earle, DA of Travis County, had the integrity and the guts to investigate and indict Tom Delay. Ultimately, his tenacity forced Delay to resign.

I doubt that any state level investigation will do anything. And I have equal doubt that Obama’s and Holder’s Justice Department will do anything worthwhile either. Is there anybody in Texas now who is equivalent to Mr. Earle who has the authority and standing to do a real investigation of this scandal?

David, I thank you for all that you have written. You write well and your analysis is nearly always right on. What you have said about (non)-regulation of the banks and the foreclosure crisis has been very helpful.

I will miss reading your blog posts. I wish you the best wherever you end up.

Yet another reason why paper ballots should be the only way to vote. Will it be even more possible to electronically rig the vote in any of these states? I can only guess that it is. What about Pennsylvania which is now run by Republicans? They attempted to skew the vote with a restrictive photo ID law that they openly admitted would throw the state to Romney. Did they give up when that law was not allowed to be fully implemented? I would not be surprised at all if something like what happened in Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004 now happens in Pennsylvania this year. If the Presidential vote in Pennsylvania does not match with the exit polls, they can just say that it is because some people did not show up because things were disrupted by the hurricane. It is a perfect excuse.

Warren will be giving a prime time speech at the convention and I suspect that she will wow people. After she beats Brown, the speculation about her running will go into overdrive. She is not perfect, but she will fight the rich which Cuomo and O’Malley won’t.

The overriding issue, however, is going to be climate change because the drought, floods, tornados, food shortages, power outages, and monster hurricanes are just going to become worse. It is highly likely that having all of them happen every year will be the new normal and it will get worse from there. I do not know if Warren will take on climate change and, even if she does, it will be hard to beat the oil companies, right wing lies, and the denial of most of us.

Stupid to have the law pass in 2010 and put off implementation of the biggest changes until 2014. I know that big changes take time but Medicare was up and running a year after it passed. If the law were totaly in effect, it is unlikely this lawsuit could have happened.

Feel similarly.
Lots of people who comment seem to know little about what they are speaking about. It is not worth my time to read or respond.

I do like a lot of the stories as the writers are either well-informed or have an interesting point of view or both. I appreciate the support of Occupy and of the “democratic wing of the Democratic Party” that occurs on this website. That is why I read.

Every once in a while I am moved to comment but it is rare. I do not often feel that my comments are really a contribution. And that is not self-denigrating. If most of us would spend a little bit of time considering what we are about to say before speaking (or in this case writing), we would realize that in most cases it has already been said or is not really contributing anything. I include myself in that group as I am no better.

Obama is also an Etch-A-Sketch politician. As a candidate he said he would renegotiate NAFTA, champion the right of workers to organize, tackle global warming, close Guantanamo, and protect civil liberties. On these and many other issues he said one thing and then after elected, he did the opposite.

Why is there silence from all the groups that are working to support homeowners who are underwater and/or threatened with foreclosure? Why aren’t they demanding better terms for the “settlement”? Why aren’t they picketing Donovan’s office and Iowa AG Tom Miller’s office? Why aren’t they asking us to call all the state AGs demanding a better settlement?

By sitting back and waiting for the terms of the settlement, we are giving the big banks and their flunkies the edge. If all the AG offices were being flooded with calls, there is still the possibility of improving the “settlement.” From what I read, it is likely to really be a bailout by taxpayers as money from HAMP is supposed to go toward the cost of the writedowns.

If nothing is said during this period, we all lose. If a ruckus is raised, maybe things will get better.

Benjamin Spock, MD, the writer of the famous book on baby and child care, regularly engaged in civil disobedience over the Vietnam war and he was over 60 years old when he did. And more recently, Daniel Ellsberg, committed civil disobedience about the war in Iraq when he was over 70 years old. I, too, have thought Al Gore was a bit of a hypocrite for not putting his body on the line.

Nonetheless, Al Gore’s statement makes it harder for the mainstream media to ignore the question of approval of the Tar Sands pipeline and so I welcome it.