Why Isn't The Following Post On DU's Front Page?

And a Progressive agenda will never be had, because we'll never make it that far.

Our nation is being raped. And the SCOTUS is holding up the skirt.

Workers had to wait a period of years before taking such a job?

Now they are celebrated and richly compensated.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123879462053487927.html

Of course I also forgot Jack, Robert, and many, many others.

From Kinsey: "In his notorious memo, Summers was doing his job and doing it well: thinking outside the box about how to help the poor countries that are supposed to be the World Bank's constituency. Plenty of outside-the-box thinking will be required from our next Treasury secretary too. Summers is famous for this, and for the abrasiveness that goes along with it. But the Obama administration won't have time, and shouldn't have the patience, for the umbrage game that dominated the recent political campaign. There is no point in making Larry Summers promise to behave himself. That just isn't his style, and if President-elect Obama can't face it, he should choose someone less likely to stir up fusses at regular intervals. That would be a pity."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/11/revisiting_one_lawrence_summer.html

"The Case for Fiscal Stimulus

There are a number of reasons why monetary policy is unlikely to provide stimulus going forwards: It would be difficult to lower interest rates further without putting the US dollar and commodity markets at risk. In an environment where banks and other firms are constrained by lack of capital, it is not clear that lowering interest rates will have a substantial effect on lending and borrowing. There are long lags between monetary policy changes and changes in the performance of the economy. As the recent takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac illustrates, financial authorities will face important challenges simply maintaining adequate liquidity in financial markets in the coming months.

Given all that has happened in the housing and financial sector, many observers have been surprised that overall economic performance has not been worse. This is in significant part a result of the stimulus to the economy provided by legislation passed last winter. Without that stimulus which is wearing out now, our economic situation would likely be even worse.

If new policy action is going to support the economy by raising the demand for goods and services, it likely will have to come on the fiscal side. Indeed, in a situation of excess capacity and a situation where interest rates are likely to be relatively rigid because of financial strains, the multiplier from fiscal policy is in the short run likely to be larger than normal. There is a strong case for the prompt enactment of further timely, targeted and temporary fiscal stimulus…"

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/testimonies/summers-testimony-house-budget-committee

I vote to take him off your list.

A major blind spot at DU is that "we", the Democratic Party, have the most control over our own Party.

Because of this constructive and accurrately descriptive of the current actions, ommissions, and stances of our political tribe is the individual' most effective and natural role once joining a Party is not popular; specifically, to criticize the policies, appointments, and acclaimed political "wins" under a Democratic Party administration makes one a minority, sometimes mocked, at DU. Democratic Party malacontents are the canaries in Party politics and, if one looks at DU, often tend to those with some age, experience, and less vested interest.

Your contribution to DU is smart, clever, and heroic in my perception.

Montsanto example:

Michael R. Taylor

snip

Michael R. Taylor is the Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

snip

He received a B.A. degree in political science from Davidson College and a law degree from the University of Virginia. In 1976, after passing the bar examination, Taylor became a staff attorney for the FDA, where he was executive assistant to the Commissioner.[1][2]

In 1981 he went into private practice at King & Spalding, a law firm, one client of which was the biotechnology company Monsanto,[3] where he established and led the firm's food and drug law practice.[1][2]

snip

On July 17, 1991, Michael Taylor left King & Spalding, returning to the FDA to fill the newly created post of Deputy Commissioner for Policy. During that time, he signed the Federal Register notice stating that milk from cows treated with BGH did not have to be labeled as such.[1][7] His name is not on the FDA’s 1992 policy statement on genetically engineered plant foods,[8] but he is said to have been a co-author.[1] Both of these documents grew out of, and fall within, the regulatory policy framework that was developed starting in the mid 1980s under the Reagan and Bush Administrations to ensure safety of the public and to ensure the continuing development of the fledgling biotechnology industry without overly burdensome regulation.[9] The policy had three tenets: "1) U.S. policy would focus on the product of GM techniques, not the process itself, (2) only regulation grounded in verifiable scientific risks would be tolerated, and (3) GM products are on a continuum with existing products and, therefore, existing statutes are sufficient to review the products."[9]

snip

Between 1994 and 1996 he moved to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), where he was Administrator of the Food Safety & Inspection Service. During that term he implemented a science-based approach ( called Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP)) to raising safety standards for meat and poultry production[11] over the protests from industry, which has been called by food safety advocates "a truly heroic accomplishment".[1][12]
snip

Between 1996 and 2000, after briefly returning to King & Spalding, he then returned to Monsanto to become Vice President for Public Policy.[14]

In 1999, a lawsuit (Alliance For Bio-Integrity v. Shalala[15][16]) and GAO report revealed considerable disagreement within the FDA concerning decisions about biotechnology products made during Taylor's tenure there. The lawsuit and report also revealed that Mr. Taylor had recused himself from matters related to Monsanto’s BGH and had “never sought to influence the thrust or content” of the agency’s policies on Monsanto’s products.[1][17]


snip

On July 7, 2009, Taylor once again returned to government as Senior Advisor to the FDA Commissioner.[21] And on January 13, 2010, he was appointed to another newly created post at the FDA, this time as Deputy Commissioner for Foods.[22]

Taylor is featured in the documentaries The Future of Food and The World According to Monsanto[23] as a pertinent example of revolving door since he is a lawyer who has spent the last few decades moving between Monsanto and the FDA and USDA.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_R._Taylor

How Monsanto outfoxed the Obama administration

The inside story of how the government let one company squash biotech innovation, and dominate an entire industry

By Lina Khan

Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice quietly closed a three-year antitrust investigation into Monsanto, the biotech giant whose genetic traits are embedded in over 90 percent of America’s soybean crop and more than 80 percent of corn. Despite a splash of press coverage when the investigation was initially announced, its termination went mostly unreported. The DOJ released no written public statement. Only a brief press release from Monsanto conveyed the news.

The lack of attention belies the significance of the decision, both for food consumers around the world and for U.S. businesses. Experts who have examined Monsanto’s conduct say the Justice Department’s decision not to act all but officially establishes the firm’s sovereignty over the U.S. seed industry. Many of them also say the decision ratifies aggressive practices Monsanto used to entrench its dominance and deter competition. This includes highly restrictive contractual agreements that excluded rivals, alongside a multibillion-dollar spree to buy up seed companies.

When the administration first launched its investigation, many antitrust and agriculture experts believed it was still possible to imagine an industry characterized by greater competition in the marketplace and greater diversity in seeds. That future may now be foreclosed.

More:


http://www.salon.com/2013/03/15/how_did_monsanto_outfox_the_obama_administration/

The story dispels the illusion that the President is an awesome dude who just wants what's best for the little people. Therefore, DU is not amused.

President Obama is better than a Republican president would have been, but he is not as progressive as I thought he was going to be. People get upset at me when I critize the expansion on the drone program during his administration, the witch hunt of Julian Assange, the secrecy, and the continuous selling out of the EPA. I vote Democrat (until the day that the Green Party becomes a real player on politics) but I'm not blind.

country, I have learned, since the end of the Bush administration when we opposed all bad policies, that anything goes. We are seeing now support for Monsanto on DU eg. And anger at those of us WHO HAVE NOT CHANGED! I don't recall anyone every being angry at me on a Democratic board for speaking out against Monsanto. NOW I am the recipient of personal attacks, accused of what is apparently the WORST SIN a Democrat can now commit, disagree with the President.

Something will have to change soon, or the Dem Party will be no more. I hear so many Democrats who are absolutely disgusted with the constant caving in of the party they have supported for so long.

I am just trying to figure out how I could have been so right, according to DU, during the Bush years, and so wrong, with the exact same opinions, since Bush left office.

Your opinions were also wrong during the Bush administration- but we didn't figure out how foolish you were until Obama started doing the exact same things!

Hope that helps.

Exactly right.

K&R

... running our Dept of Justice. This is the behavior that we accuse other world leaders of exhibiting. Dictatorships. Rogue nations. But us? We are above the law? And the swinging door swings both ways. They come and they go, in and out. Never to be held accountable, in the inside or on the outside. What we need is a REAL Attorney General and real Dept of Justice employees, not a bunch of mob lawyers. We're only lost if we stand around and do nothing about it. Wonder what the process is for impeachment of an Attorney General? And where can we find one who can't be bought off, who will stand for real justice?
Is there such an animal in this country?

Including the first time it was aired on TV...and it becomes more true the more time that passes.
In our time, the prophets are comedians, because otherwise we would never hear what they had to say.

Slavery is alive and well in America and not just in a "we can't live anywhere free so we have to work for The Man" way. People are rounded up, tossed in prisons, and exploited for capitalist profit.

Land of the Free to Complain. That's the freedom the USA offers.

Led apparently, by people without scruples or integrity.

Disgusting.

Covington and Burling's Washington, D.C. location: 1201 Pennsylvannia Ave. NW. We all know the address of the White House. It's a little point, but.........

Isn't there a rule that he can't lobby for two or five years?

BP and UBS screwed the 99%, and... Got wristslaps. Do you see a pattern here?

"Stanford screwed the 1%, and went right to jail BP and UBS screwed the 99%, and... Got wristslaps. Do you see a pattern here?"

...likely right, but this caught my attention:

"It was the first unit of a big global bank to plead guilty in two decades."

Standford deserved jail.

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2012/07/23/libor-fraud-may-be-the-mother-of-all-bank-scandals

Might well have been as big as the attempted theft of the Social Security Trust Fund that's underway.

And it could have blown up the financial world, sibce LIBOR is the underpinning for $100s of trillions in [strike]incredibly-leveraged bets[/strike] derivatives.

I don't think the world's ever seen anything like this.

"LIBOR theft was likely trillions of dollars. Trillions."

...I know, and I'm not arguing that point. I simpy said the following statement caught my attention:

"It was the first unit of a big global bank to plead guilty in two decades."

The One Percenter Nation, Guarded by The Legal Gang and Abetted By The Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaires.





We should be so proud.

K&R.

So, 4-million dollars is the cost of selling out the country these days.

His children will be so proud of their inheritance. Well, the money part at least.

travesties and criminals to go after, like people who buy potato chips and snickers bars with their food stamps, or disabled people scamming the system.

(Do I REALLY need the sarcasm thingie here?)

Fat people and people who drink soda.

Olive Garden, AppleBees, Cigarettes, breastfeeding, circumcision, narwhals, pit bulls, smoking bans

Elliot Spritzer, High school bands, soda pop, pornography, toilet paper dust, and Natalie Wood's untimely death

We didn't start the poutrage, if you don't recycle they'll drum you out of the neighborhood, we didn't start the poutrage, if you aren't concerned about the Patriot act you better be

food stamps, kids on planes, drinking caffeine, bombing the moon,

tax fast food, Rapture, PETA, Vaccinations, orange juice, and Jessie James

we didn't start the poutrage, and the penis size is once again on top of GD

Ipads, PayPal, Michael Vicks, and Octomom, unicorns Charlie Sheen, Jesus Christ we had good times

we didn't hate the Weiner, 2 Broke Girls are the new screaming kids in restaurants, we didn't include the spare tire....... and the Dugger mom is popping out another one......

we didn't start the poutrage, if you own a hot car you must be a total dick.........we didn't start the poutrage, ut we'll find something else to complain about next week....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanny_A._Breuer

Otherwise, what's over there is pretty much a puff-piece about all the wonderful things he's done.

I can't get out of my head that interview with him on Frontline. Ugh! What a pompous ass!

As you said: "Every American should know how our government really works - from the very top, on down." <emphasis, mine>

Pres. Obama appointed him. But I guess he was forced to do it. Or something like that.

The government gave him a payoff not to prosecute somebody for something? How are we to know what happened here? No wonder no one is talking about it.

Now, they flaunt it.

and if they "all do it" where is the ability to decide what a standard of "ethics" is? Make your own rules and everyone else has to live by them...and then there's the "code of silence" with the revolving door between Government/Wall Street/Military Industrial Complex.

Reminds me of a certain crime organization that had a reputation back in the 20's.

Nothing more, nothing less

I would like to think that the Bush Administration was more corrupt.

But how many Bush foxes were brought in to guard the hen houses?

Why is it that openly-admitted war criminals are still walking around free, rich, and happy?

I was thinking earlier about the Harding admin. and teapot dome....I don't think it would be a bump in the road in the last few administrations.
BTW, Larry Summers should be near the top of the list IMO...

"where banks and other firms are constrained by lack of capital, it is not clear that lowering interest rates will have a substantial effect"
there is no lack of capital for the wealthy or their corporations. The lack of capital is felt in the lower 80%.....come on, look at the wealth distribution... fuck larry

I think it's called burying the lead.

-p

already been paid for, i.e., handsomely rewarded for not doing the job sworn to do.

That's where I saw it first. I guess other stuff pushed it off.

Putting that one on the queue.

I can ping truthout,org


Pinging truthout.org [98.129.229.176] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 98.129.229.176: bytes=32 time=52ms TTL=51


But accessing it through a browser, it forwards to truth-out.org, and I cannot resolve that domain in the DNS

criminality at all levels. K & R

Are ya fed up enough yet?

but the numbers speak.

Add to this that Martha Stewart got hard jail time, AND a public drubbing, for a sum of cash that makes what Wall Street took look like lunch money.

I hear calls for public lynchings but never for just not giving them your labor or money.
Why would anyone want to give GE, Monsanto or Chevron money? Just for the chance to help them out and get a little in return? Hmmm. Foxconn you say? Where do I sign?
It can't be regulated. At least, not in any time frame that takes scientific evidence about climate change seriously.
It can't be reasoned with. It literally doesn't give a shit about anything but the next massive payday.
It can't be fought toe to toe. It has millions of people donating to its defense fund everyday.
We are bought and paid for. The fleecing of the flock will continue as long as we reward those willing to lend a buck and promote those willing to turn a blind eye.