And WHAT will replace the existing system ... ? Please don't tell me Ron Paul ...

It was pretty much Bush. Obama inherited a crisis and even the
Bush administration would not attempt to deny it.

The single most important thing that Obama and Congress could
do to make better use of our resources would be to cut our
national health care bill in half by going with a single payer
plan - that could save something like 8% of GDP annually or
according to the chart below $1.35 trillion a year if
we can get the spending down to $2500/person per year.

I hope they get on it now. We don't have $1.35 trillion/yr to waste.



That's almost enough to eliminate our annual deficit.

WASHINGTON — The ethical woes facing Democrats are piling up, with barely a day passing in recent weeks without headlines from Washington to New York and beyond filled with word of scandal or allegations of wrongdoing.

The troubles of Gov. David A. Paterson of New York, followed by those of two of the state’s congressmen, Charles B. Rangel and Eric J. Massa, have added to the ranks of episodes involving prominent Democrats like Eliot Spitzer, Rod R. Blagojevich and John Edwards.

Taken together, the cases have opened the party to the same lines of criticism that Democrats, led by Representatives Nancy Pelosi, now the House speaker, and Rahm Emanuel, now White House chief of staff, used effectively against Republicans in winning control of the House and Senate four years ago.

The mix of power and the temptations of corruption can be a compelling political narrative at any time. But with voters appearing to be in an angry mood and many already inclined to view all things Washington with mistrust, the risks for Democrats could be that much greater this year.

With Election Day still eight months away, there is time to avert a history-is-repeating-itself storyline. But Democrats, who are already on the defensive over the economy, health care and federal spending and are facing a re-energized conservative movement, suddenly have a set of ethical issues to deflect as well. “Speaker Pelosi famously promised the most open, honest and ethical Congress in history,” Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said Thursday. “Yet here we go again.”

In 2006, when Democrats were battling for control of the House, the message of their campaign against the Republicans could be boiled down to a three-word slogan: culture of corruption. Democratic leaders aggressively seized on each indictment of a Republican member of Congress or lobbyist, building an argument that the controlling party had become arrogant and was in urgent need of a housecleaning.

So is that moment — in reverse fashion — now approaching for Democrats?

Tim Kaine, a former Virginia governor and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Thursday that the recent spate of allegations against several political figures in his party was troubling.

But he said the recent cases — largely revolving around New York politicians — had hardly reached the nationwide pitch that buffeted Republicans four years ago. Then, Tom DeLay, the Republican House leader, was indicted in Texas, and the influence-peddling scandal tied to the lobbyist Jack Abramoff touched several Republican members of Congress.

“I would never say that folks should be blithe about their ethical responsibilities. But I think it’s quite a bit different,” Mr. Kaine said Thursday in an interview. “But a couple things that happened in the same week in one state is different than the kind of corruption that roped members of Congress in from all over the country.”

Ms. Pelosi moved quickly this week to deal with escalating criticism surrounding Mr. Rangel, who was admonished by the House ethics committee for accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean. He remains under investigation on more serious accusations.

Mr. Rangel stepped down on Wednesday as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, heading off any possibility of a drawn-out political battle over his fate. The National Republican Congressional Committee has been intensifying its pressure on Democratic lawmakers in districts across the country to return political contributions from Mr. Rangel, who was among the most generous contributors to fellow members of Congress.

“All Aboard for the Ride to Victory,” screams a poster depicting Mr. Rangel against a train, showing how many Democratic campaigns he helped finance. Republicans have sent around the old Rangel campaign posters this week to highlight his influence.

Since last Friday, 29 House Democrats have given back or donated to charity more than $400,000 in contributions from Mr. Rangel’s three political fund-raising committees. But several others have not returned the money. Representative Michael E. McMahon, Democrat of New York, is among those who have not returned the money, in his case more than $70,383.

Ms. Pelosi dismissed the criticism on Thursday that Democrats had not lived up to their promise to sweep away a culture of corruption on Capitol Hill. She also noted that she had established an outside group to receive complaints about members of Congress, which could be easily referred to the House ethics committee.

“My commitment to the American people is that the public trust will always be honored,” Ms. Pelosi said at her weekly news conference. “And on the floor of the House, that happens.”

President Obama, who built his campaign around a pledge to change the way Washington works and to strengthen transparency and ethics, has followed a practice of generally not commenting on the scandals or allegations involving the Democratic politicians. Months ago, several of his senior advisers worked behind the scenes to try to dissuade Governor Paterson from running for election, a pitch that failed.

Last week, Mr. Paterson conceded that he would not be on the ticket in the fall, but he has declined to step down. The White House has said that it has no intention of wading into the Paterson situation again, but several advisers said they were following the developments with interest.

It is the case of another governor, perhaps, that has drawn even more attention from those inside the West Wing.

Mr. Blagojevich, who was impeached last year as the governor of Illinois, faces a criminal trial in June. The proceedings are expected to be unfolding at the very moment that Democrats are battling in several races, including a campaign for the Senate seat once held by the man who now sits in the Oval Office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/us/politics/05memo.html

I dont see racists everywhere, but I am aware of racial hate groups and people who take their hate to extremes with harmful action. To ignore racism would be as silly as to be obsessed with it, I just appreciated the information.

Not to mention Obama's close ties to a very dangerous communist and domestic terrorist.

Err...wasn't the deficit there when he arrived?

thank you for the information,,,,,,

perhaps parents need to do more to raise citizens who respect each other and schools need to incorporate anger management as an elective alongside home economics,,,,,,,

Funny, I don't feel bad...he also vetoed the gay marraige bill, I guess for "moral" reasons...then cheated on his wife. Quite the hypocrite.

"Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons was caught by a local news team repeatedly fibbing about whether he traveled to Washington with a Reno woman who the reporters then saw getting off the same plane, and later getting into the governor's state SUV.

Kathy Karrasch, the woman with whom Gibbons traveled to Washington for the National Governors Association conference, has been publicly linked to the governor since he had to reimburse the state for over 800 text messages he sent to her over a five-week period in 2007."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/jim_gibbons/

Here's Oklahoma's biggest hypocrite:

:In yet another example of Republican hypocrisy, Rachel Maddow rails against the contradictions from Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma. Recently, when pressed about the stimulus funds he stated: "There's no stimulus in the stimulus bill. It was nothing but social engineering and welfare." Compare that to a statement made last year when he took $25 million from the EPA for a cleanup effort in Oklahoma. He praised the funds and said they were "great news" and "necessary funds."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100222/hayes3_video
(quote)
AW there is never anyone so ilmoral than a moral person .

I'll let the Mobfather sum this arguement / debate up...like only he can...from yesterdays show...

"It really is time for Republicans to stand for the people who are paying for all of this, and that's us. Government is not supposed to be about redistribution and subsidies and payouts and bribes and kickbacks to union people. It is supposed to be about promoting a healthy society and freedom for the individual within an ordered system called the Constitution."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2007/04/200852513129407794.html



The United States is supporting anti-Iranian groups operating out of Pakistan's remote border regions, the speaker of Iran's parliament has said.

Gholamali Haddadadel accused the US of trying to put pressure on the government in Tehran, but said Pakistan was not involved in the operations.
"There is no doubt in our minds that the United States spares no effort to put pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.

The US television station ABC News reported on Tuesday that the US had been secretly advising and encouraging a Pakistani group that had carried out raids in Iran.
"The best indication of United States' support to a particular terrorist group is that one of the leaders of this terrorist group was given the opportunity to speak on VoA [Voice of America radio station] after committing the crime," Haddadadel said.

"There is no news, no evidence, and we don't have any reason to believe that the military establishment in Pakistan is also supporting such militant groups."

ABC News, citing US and Pakistani intelligence sources, said the raids had resulted in the deaths and capture of Iranian soldiers and officials.

The group, called Jundullah and made up of members of the Baluchi ethnic group, who live in Pakistan and Iran, operated from the Baluchistan province, the report said.

The group said it carried out an attack in February that killed at least 11 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on a bus in the Iranian city of Zehedan.

ABC reported Pakistani government sources as saying the secret campaign against Iran was on the agenda when Dick Cheney, the US vice president, met Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, in February.

If Republicans had a plan why don't they state what it is and bring it to the table. I watch CSPAN and i've yet to see anything brought up other than that Obama's a socialist and his healthcare plan won't work.

One year after the disaster left behind all's supposed to be solved? After a year of the GOP "Just Say No" agendas? Plus....dude said it may take years to recover..but the point is...he has a plan, what's your plan?...we'd all love to hear your plan.

You know what the beotch of it is tho~? It's OUR revolution not yours.
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his isn't what rom Emanul says . He said your a bunch of boobs .
what is this the day of the confused posters .