Bill Maher skewers Republican nail-biters

PASADENA, U.S.A.--Political pundit and provocateur Bill Maher offers a cogent, if snarky, analysis of why Republicans are acting so peculiar with regard to President Obama--they are out of touch with reality.

The conservative base is absolutely apoplectic because, because ... well, nobody knows. They're mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore. Even though they're not quite sure what "it" is. But they know they're fed up with "it," and that "it" has got to stop.

The truth is that the right flank of social issue Republicans are not so much concerned with what Obama HAS done, they are apoplectic about what he MIGHT do. They worry about tax increases when he just lowered the taxes for at least 95 percent of them. They worry that he will take away their guns when he has repeatedly declined to re-up the Assault Gun ban.

The GOP base is convinced that Obama is going to raise their taxes, which he just lowered. But, you say, "Bill, that's just the fringe of the Republican Party." No, it's not. The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, is not afraid to say publicly that thinking out loud about Texas seceding from the Union is appropriate considering that ... Obama wants to raise taxes 3% on 5% of the people? I'm not sure exactly what Perry's independent nation would look like, but I'm pretty sure it would be free of taxes and Planned Parenthood. And I would have to totally rethink my position on a border fence.

I might have to agree with Mr. Maher's ambivalence about the fence.

Loser Norm Coleman should go quietly into the night

Politico is reporting that the still contested 2008 election of Al Franken to the U.S. Senate may drag on to the fall, as knucklehead Norm Coleman refuses to accept the will of people and, instead, chooses to use procedural manoeuvring to prevent the Senate from operating at full capacity.

When Republicans used fake riots (by Republican staffers flown in from Washington) to lay siege to vote centers in 2000, manipulation of ballot boxes and suspicious maneuvering from the Republican Secretary of State, the Republican mantra was that Vice President Gore should concede for the good of the country. Robert Kennedy Jr. documented how the 2004 election was stolen as well. We know how that race ended and we also know the consequences that decision had on our democratic institutions and Constitution.

We now have another contested election and Texas Senator John Cornyn is threatening "WW III" if Democrats seat Franken before Coleman has a chance to play out the procedural tactics to their conclusion.

Now is the time for former Norm Coleman to concede the election and go gracefully into retirement. Comity and patriotism should dictate no less. The memory of Senator Paul Wellstone's sweat and blood remains quietly in the background. His honor deserves no less than the speedy resolution of this farce.

Speaker Pelosi knew about Harman wiretap

WASHINGTON--House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted today that she was briefed years ago about a wiretap of a suspected Israeli spy; one who allegedly pressured Congresswoman Jane Harman to help stave off an FBI prosecution of two American Israel PAC lobbyists for espionage. In the NSA-intercepted call, the spy allegedly offered to get Harman the sought-after post of Intelligence Committee chairmanship in return for helping the AIPAC lobbyists.

Ultimately, Pelosi denied Harman the Chairmanship, presumably because of personal animosity. Today's revelations, however, seem to indicate that the chairmanship denial may have been partially a result of the NSA intercept.

Congresswoman Harman denies the accusations and has requested that Attorney General Holder release any transcripts of the purported phone conversation. She also denies contacting any relevant public officials in support of the two AIPAC lobbyists. The New York Times is reporting that former Attorney General Gonzalez allegedly quashed an FBI investigation of Harman's intercepted call. ABC is reporting today that the case against Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman may be dismissed in the near future.

What is forgotten in the immediate scrutiny of the situation is that Rosen and Weissman were originally arrested after meeting with Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin, who was closely associated for neo-conservative diehards working as civilians in the Pentagon. Was Franklin a conduit of secret information from Vice President Cheney to contravene the Joint Chiefs and Executive Department by passing secret intelligence on Iran to support Israel's proposed attack on the Persian nation's nuclear facilities? If the case is dropped, we may never know the truth.

Chinese banking model could spur jobs, business

PASADENA, USA--BusinessWeek reporter Ann Lee writes in the current edition of the magazine that China offers an interesting model for public/private banks that would be designed to a specific social task (e.g., job creation, small business incubators, etc.). Her thesis makes sense. Since the government is already deeply immersed due to the global banking crisis, why not use some of that new equity to ameliorate some deep social issues.

Innovation bank branches could be opened across the country in offices vacated by bankrupt companies. Unemployed workers in every sector could finally get a shot at becoming entrepreneurs with an equity investment from the government. The government would in turn receive a share of the profits.

China has problems of its own, but we can learn from other countries' successes. The current system is failing Americans. Innovation in banking is not only possible, it is imperative.

Cheney assertions on torture are untruthful

PASADENA, USA--The Plum Line, a blog, recently refreshed the memory of former Bush Administration officials who have repeated the canard that torture in the months after 9/11 produced actionable intelligence about impending terrorist attacks. Those assertions are false.

Robert Mueller, Bush's FBI director, was quoted in the December edition of Vanity Fair as stating that no attacks were prevented as a result of the application of torture to suspected terror suspects. The steaming pile of mendacity coming from the mouths of former Bush officials is as unseemly as it is despicable. Repeating a lie a million times does not make it the truth.

Obama should support new South African leader

PRETORIA, S. Africa--Jacob Zuma appears headed to a resounding victory in South Africa's presidential election to replace Western-backed Thabo Mbeki, who was ousted as ANC party leader in 2008. While Zuma has shown a lack of judgment in the past (financial and sexual scandals), he has the heart of his people and a mandate to improve the lives of the nation's millions of impoverished citizens.

President Obama should reach out to Zuma and help him put together the infrastructure and social services to sustain Africa's best hope for a stable future. If we lose South Africa, we lose Africa. If we help sustain a stable, prosperous South Africa, the whole continent can build a generation of citizens to a better future... and America will gain, economically and politically, from that potential.