As I watched the whole TSA swarm descend on the media and Internet over the past month, I was surprised at the violent reaction from the left AND right on airport screenings. Blowing this issue up right before the holidays seemed to be a Tea Party tactic from beginning to end, as far as I was concerned.

Mark Ames and Yasha Levine at The Nation contended in a post yesterday that the current publicity surge was orchestrated and magnified by organizations with ties to Koch Industries. With one exception, they list a solid trail that leads back to organizations with a vested interest in: a) discrediting government agencies and the TSA specifically; and b) discrediting the current administration's ability to handle national security. Unfortunately, they led off the article by trying to link up John Tyner ("Don't Touch My Junk") with these organizations, and as many critics have pointed out, there is no "there", there.

Glenn Greenwald:

As for his standing accused by The Nation of suspicion on the grounds of his avowed libertarianism, consider what he wrote several weeks before the TSA incident. In a post responding to this question -- "When’s the last time you were seriously inconvenienced or injured by something that big government did?" -- Tyner wrote:

Gay rights [infringements], TSA body scanners, highway checkpoints, the PATRIOT Act, warrantless wiretaps, extra-judicial assassinations, indefinite detentions, inflation, etc. Don't tell me that (some of) these don't affect me. When one person's rights are trampled, everybody's are, and that's just at the federal level.

What a right-wing monster! If only Democratic Party leaders -- who support most of the serious rights infringements he condemns -- were this monstrous. Or consider what he wrote about the statements of Juan Williams and Bill O'Reilly which conflated Muslims with Terrorists: (read the rest)

Jeremy Scahill:

The article my magazine, The Nation, published about John Tyner is a shameful smear

While I tend to agree with his criticism of their opening focus on John Tyner, and particularly the authors' focus on personal details of Tyner's education and background as evidence of his bias, that should not automatically disqualify the balance of their article, where they list at least six other connections which are solid and easily documented.

The authors responded to Greenwald's criticism late Wednesday, writing:

We believe that Tyner is in all likelihood innocent in his motives, but our larger point is that his discourse and the movement that has embraced it is far from innocent. In focusing entirely on our characterization of Tyner, Greenwald ignores the larger thrust of our argument and the vast majority of the evidence assembled in the piece, leaving a distorted impression of it.

On this point, I agree. Their article would have been stronger without any reference or only a mere passing reference to John Tyner. I don't believe anyone is arguing that the TSA is perfect, that their scanners are the best we have to offer, or that body searches are not a violation of civil liberties. I certainly am not. At the same time, these issues are not new. It isn't as though patdowns are a new procedure in effect as of this holiday. They've been doing them for years. So why now? Why when there are so many important issues on the table, is this one taking the center stage. Levine and Ames have the same question:

Here is what the article really said: Like many Americans, we found the TSA's intrusive procedures offensive and we are against the invasive pat-downs and attack on our civil liberties. This was a given in our article, and we stated as much. What our article did was look beyond the obvious surface, into possible reasons why this particular issue suddenly rose to forefront of the national debate, when dozens of other, more pressing issues are getting so little attention--people being kicked out of their homes and living on the street because of fraudulent foreclosures, a massive wealth transfer from struggling Americans to the financial sector, ongoing wars that are bankrupting the country and killing thousands, the attack on public education and so on.

They found enough connections inside and outside of Congress to warrant a report on it. Unfortunately, the gist of their findings has been lost in the larger anger over a) the tenuous linking to John Tyner; and b) the overall outrage over enhanced TSA screening procedures.

Here's what bothers me. This smelled like an overblown PR effort from the get-go. Again, I am NOT saying there aren't problems, but this happening right now when more people are flying home to family and friends for the holidays is not coincidental. It's just not. Now The Nation has linked the "OptOut" campaign to astroturf sources, but is still getting a complete smackdown by those who would ordinarily pay attention because...why?

The anti-TSA campaign began in early November, and gained traction just in the nick of time for Thanksgiving travel. Absent from the debate on the left side of the aisle was any discussion about where employees of the TSA stand with regard to unionizing (they have not had a chance to vote on a union to represent them yet); about the clamor for privatization despite the fact that privatization has failed once; whether those employees were properly trained and whether the actual stories told were factual or not. We know Meg McLain's was a complete fabrication. We know the guy headlined by Drudge actually cooperated with authorities.

So what is so unreasonable about linking up agendas with what certainly appears to be a well-timed and carefully crafted campaign? Isn't there a way to both acknowledge the issues inherent with these TSA screening procedures AND the idea that it's being capitalized upon for political gain?

To many, it seems to be a zero-sum game. If one doesn't choose to accept the premise that this entire brouhaha is an organic swarm commanding attention because of self-inflicted TSA incompetence -- malevolence, even -- from a government intent on invading every single aspect of our lives and killing the constitution, then in Greenwald's estimation we must be "centro-facist" (see below) party hacks falling into lockstep and yessing every move with no regard for facts, liberties, or any combination thereof. And that conclusion would exclude any possibility at all that there was, in fact, a PR push to make this a Very Big Issue at a time where a lot of people would be affected and view the TSA, and by extension, this administration in a negative light.

I do believe the TSA has bungled their handling of airport security. I do believe they believe they're doing what they're called to do, but doing it badly and without regard to people's rights. I also believe those errors were capitalized upon by people with agendas and money who set a PR machine in motion to score political points and ultimately political victories which also will disregard our rights and liberties. For Glenn Greenwald and others, this is less important than what the TSA is doing right now. He acknowledges the possibility that the six different instances cited by The Nation may have been true and factual, but for him, the mention and "smear" (his words, not mine) of John Tyner supercede any validity the other 3/4ths of their piece may have had.

It may be that several vocal opponents of the new TSA process are Koch-funded -- that wouldn't surprise me -- but that has absolutely nothing to do with Tyner, and The Nation, for which I have high regard, owes him an apology and retraction for the innuendo it smeared on him without a shred of evidence.

Nothing is absolute. It's likely that all dynamics are at work. Without the work of The Nation's reporters, we would be missing a piece of the larger picture. How are we harmed by that, and why shouldn't it be weighted with more than a passing nod tossed in a maelstrom of biting criticism?

Update and clarification: The term "centro-fascist" was one used by The Nation authors in their response to Glenn Greenwald. The phrasing I used made it appear to be attributable to him. I had originally quoted the authors' full quote using that term, and removed it to make the length readable. In so doing, it left that quote attributable to the wrong speaker.

This is an utter disgrace and Gov. Ed Rendell needs to fix this now:

Actor Mark Ruffalo has been placed on a terror advisory list by U.S. officials after organizing screenings for a new documentary about natural gas drilling.

The "Zodiac" actor arranged showings for "GasLand" earlier this year and voiced his concerns about the practice in relation to the national water supplies.

But his efforts to raise awareness and demand a stop to natural gas drilling reportedly attracted the attention of officials from Pennsylvania's Office of Homeland Security - and he recently discovered it had landed him on a terror alert watchlist.

But Ruffalo is taking it all in his stride and has laughed off the idea he could be a threat to security.

He tells GQ magazine, "(It's) pretty f**kin' funny."

From Democracy Now: British Novelist John le Carré on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa and His New Novel, "Our Kind of Traitor":

Today, we spend the hour with world-renowned British novelist John le Carré, the pen name of David Cornwell. Le Carré’s writing career spans half a century, during which he has established himself as a master spy writer. His latest novel, his twenty-second, is entitled Our Kind of Traitor. David Cornwell worked in the British Secret Services from the late 1950s until the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, became an international bestseller. As the Cold War ended, le Carré continued to write prolifically, shifting focus to the inequities of globalization, unchecked multinational corporate power, and the role national spy services play in protecting corporate interests. "The things that are done in the name of the shareholder are, to me, as terrifying as the things that are done—dare I say it—in the name of God," le Carré tells Democracy Now! Perhaps best known among his many post-Cold War novels is The Constant Gardener, depicting a pharmaceutical company’s exploitation of unwitting Kenyans for dangerous, sometimes fatal, drug tests. In this rare US interview, le Carré also discusses Tony Blair’s role in the Iraq war, US policy toward Iran, and international money laundering.

Bill Hemmer sure was excited to get to greet Lou Dobbs to the Fox News network yesterday: "What in the world took you so long, man? We've been waiting for ya!" And you could see why, immediately.

Because Hemmer had already given intentionally false information to his viewers about the DREAM Act, which was the segment's real subject: He claimed that it "grants citizenship" to students whose parents brought them here as children.

This is, of course, a lie:

In fact, the versions of the DREAM Act pending in the House and Senate both state that eligible unauthorized immigrants could have their status adjusted to "conditional permanent resident status," which "shall be valid for a period of 6 years" and subject to termination should the immigrant cease to be eligible. Following the 6-year period, Dream Act immigrants would have to meet further requirements to gain permanent resident status and could only apply for citizenship (provided they meet further requirements) after they obtained such status.

Fox anchors, as MM notes, have also been claiming that the DREAM Act would allow some immigrants to "jump right to the front of the line." This too is a lie.

And you see that chryon in the screen grab? The one that describes the DREAM Act as an "immigration overhaul"? Absurdly false: The DREAM Act is only a very narrowly tailored bit of immigration legislation designed to resolve a small sliver of the issue -- a far, far stretch from an "immigration overhaul" as in comprehensive immigration reform.

But none of this bothers Lou Dobbs, who you may recall was vowing to reform his Latino-bashing ways while still between contracts. That was good until he got the Fox gig.

Now he not only is happy to let Hemmer's blatant misrepresentations of the DREAM Act stand, he's happy to regurgitate them and then blame Democrats for even daring to bring the issue up.

Dobbs openly admits he's reading almost directly from the phony talking points being distributed by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-KKKMississippi. But as Jackie Mahendra at America's Voice explains, these talking points are lies mounted upon falsehoods with some distortion thrown in for good measure:

Continue reading »

The fraudulent foreclosure mess is a nightmare for Americans and it's going to cause another major meltdown because of the corruption that is rooted in the actual foreclosure process.

Ellinorianne has a great post up at DKOS called: Foreclosure Fiasco - What to Do for the Homeowners? HELP THEM! She outlines the problems and abuses and then offers some assistance.

People need legal help to keep their homes. And many of those people don't have the means to pay for that help. But there are resources but they need funding.

I started here: Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance. The crisis of fraud has grown so large that we have a new kind of legal assistance focussed on just helping people keep their homes.

IFLA Mission Statement and Goals
As the nation's foreclosure epidemic continues to worsen, the Center for Responsible Lending has formed the Institute for Foreclosure Legal Assistance (IFLA) to support groups giving legal representation to families facing foreclosure and financial ruin because of abusive subprime mortgages. The National Association of Consumer Advocates will manage the project, which recognizes that one of the biggest barriers families face to avoid losing their homes is the lack of access to quality legal services.

The Institute, launched with a $15 million grant from investment management firm Paulson & Co. Inc., will provide funding and training to organizations that help homeowners negotiate alternatives to foreclosure. The majority of the funds will be grants to support direct legal assistance to borrowers in 10 or more states to fight foreclosure, predatory lenders and abusive loan servicers. It will do this primarily by providing money to top non-profit legal-aid groups and law school clinics.

The IFLA then lists the many Legal Aid Foundations in various states. They need money to hire more lawyers so they can help people keep their homes.

That's it. Donate to your local Legal Aid Foundation and if you have the legal ability to help, please do. If you know the law, get training to help people keep their homes.

As progressives we have a responsibility to help people stay in their homes, we can help them do so. So I'm asking you to help.

This is a worthy cause. Please help if you can because who will?

Earlier this week the California Secretary of State gave the green light to Republican Michael Erickson to begin gathering signatures for his version of the Arizona immigration law that targets ethnic groups for heightened scrutiny by law enforcement officers. Erickson is the former head of the California Republican Party, current chairman of Republicans for the National Interest and the Support Federal Immigration Law Committee (full bio here). He also appears to be a xenophobic Tea Party bigot cast in the mold of Jan Brewer, Russell Pearce and Kris Kobach.

From the press release:

“Californians are under attack from a growing wave of drug related, gang violence. Now that Arizona courageously has resolved to crack down on the drug cartels in their state, we may presume that the murderous warlords will seek a safe haven in our state,” continued Erickson. “Frankly, under the circumstances, we no longer have the time for the phony political posturing and fence sitting that substitutes for real leadership on this issue.”

Noting that illegal immigration costs the state of California “tens of billions annually in education, health care, and incarceration,” Erickson scolded politicians as not being serious about solving our fiscal crisis when they “refuse to provide anything other than safe, poll driven clichés on this issue.”

It's so easy to make claims like this without substantiation. In fact, California's crime rate has been steadily decreasing, with 2009 seeing a 6.6% drop in violent crime over 2008. That drop isn't an anomaly either. Crime rates in California have been decreasing since 1992 at a steady rate, even as California's population has increased.

In order to get this initiative on the ballot, Erickson will need to gather about 434,000 signatures between now and 2012. He will surely employ the usual professional petition-gatherers, mobilize Tea Party supporters, and rely on conservative strongholds like Orange and Riverside counties to gain traction. As usual, the initiative and surrounding PR campaign have been crafted with some lip service to the exploitation of immigrant workers in order to fool people into signing the petition. Here's an overview:

Initiative supporters must gather at least 433,971 signatures of registered voters by April 21, 2011, to qualify for an election. Erickson said he'd aim to put the measure before voters during the 2012 election cycle.

The effort will rely largely on volunteers from California's Tea Party network, Erickson said.

The California proposal would make it a state crime for undocumented persons to seek work while hiding their immigration status, and a state crime for employers to "intentionally or negligently" hire an illegal immigrant.

The measure would also require all highway patrol, police, sheriff's deputies and other officers to investigate a person's immigration status if they are "reasonably suspicious" that a person who they stopped is in the country illegally.

The difference with Arizona's law, Erickson said, is that officers would have to contact federal immigration authorities and conduct such a check within a "timely manner" and could not hold a person for a long period of time.

Just like the Arizona law, it targets people of color and Latinos in particular, because after all, who would "reasonably suspect" a white person with a Canadian or Australian accent from being here illegally. Right?

There are two ways this can go, assuming he's able to gather the required signatures. If it lands on the 2012 June primary ballot, Erickson and his group are counting on a similar turnout to the 2010 midterms, giving it a greater chance of passage. If it lands on the 2012 general election ballot, chances will diminish for passage because of the higher turnout and more engaged electorate. I think he underestimates the clout of the Latino vote in California.

Let's hope it never makes it to the ballot, but if it does, I predict a solid rejection at the polls..

Happy Turkey Day, campers! Here were yesterday's big economic stories:

• Ireland continues down its insane path to economic doom by unveiling its newest and bestest budget plan yet:

  The key announcements include:

  * Corporation tax rate unchanged at 12.5%.
  * 10bn euros (£2.5bn) of spending cuts between 2011-2014, and 5bn euros in tax rises.
  * Minimum wage to be cut by one euro to 7.65 euros per hour.
  * 3bn euros of cuts in public investment by 2014.
  * 2.8bn euros of welfare cuts by 2014, returning spending to 2007 levels.
  * Reduction of public sector pay bill by 1.2bn euros by 2014.
  * Reform public sector pensions for new entrants and cut their pay by 10%.
  * 24,750 cut in public sector jobs, back to 2005 level.
  * VAT up from 21% to 22% in 2013, then 23% in 2014.
  * Raise an extra 1.9bn euros from income tax.

  This is quite a laundry list of awesome. Raise the VAT and the income tax, cut the minimum wage, cut welfare. But wait! We haven't even got to the best part -- their GDP growth projections:

  Real GDP to grow by an average of 2.75% from 2011 to 2014.

  The "O RLY?" Owl just had a heart attack after laughing his feathers silly. Cutting services, cutting minimum wage and raising taxes to pay for the services that aren't being cut... where the hell is the aggregate demand going to come from, guys?! And it's not like this loan you're receiving from the IMF is going to pay for anything useful -- rather, it's going into the black hole of what used to be your banking system.

  And this is even before we get to the negative externalities created by persistent rioting and looting that will surely follow these measures!

• Amazingly, the Irish are relieved -- yes, relieved -- that the IMF is coming to set things "right":

  On the streets of Dublin, anger over the foreign paternalism appears to be limited. Passers-by in the city's main shopping streets seem relieved that someone is finally keeping a close eye on the conservative-Green coalition government. "I am very pleased that the IMF is here," said dentist Margaret Shannon."The government is incompetent and corrupt."

  "The people are delighted that experts are now in charge," said Brian Lucey, a finance professor at Dublin's presitigious Trinity College. Indeed, there are few signs of major protest in the Irish capital. A lone poster from the Socialist Party hangs on a lantern post in front of parliament, inviting people to an "public meeting" to oppose any drastic remedy the IMF might propose.

  But the people's anger is largely directed at Prime Minister Cowen's government, which is to present its four-year plan on Wednesday afternoon. The conservative politician has frittered away any remaining trust. After his party's junior coalition partner, the Greens withdrew their support for Cowen on Monday, the prime minister was forced to announce that new elections would be held in the beginning of 2011. Now it appears to be just a matter of time before he steps down.

  Well they do have every right to be angry at their government, just as Americans have every right to be angry at our government (both the Bushies and our current regime). But dudes, the IMF is not like Santa Claus -- when it comes to town, it ain't bringing toys for all the little girls and boys.

• ICAP's Nic Lenoir sensibly sees that this arrangement is untenable and it won't prevent the bond vigilantes from swarming around Portugal, Spain and Italy next. He lays out the European Central Bank's options:

  I/ Bail-out countries individually as has been the case so far: the market rejected Ireland's bail-out so it is extremely unlikely as failure is quite obvious and Germany is opposed to it

  II/ Outright monetization by the ECB: so far intervention has been sterilized which has not proven too helpful. Germany is again highly opposed to this type of resolution.

  III/ Create a mechanism that involves the private sector and the EFSF: Germany has been pushing for this solution from day one but obviously no solution has been found, and if you start restructuring Irish debt you run the risk of a flight out of other PIIGS's bonds

  IV/ Let the PIIGS out of the Euro, or the PIIGS show themselves out / the Euro is disbanded

  He's placing his bets on outcome #4: The end of the Euro.

• The bailouts of Eurozone countries are coming to an end one way or the other, since Spain will be the straw that breaks the camel's back:

  The cost of providing an Irish-style bailout for Spain would almost empty the emergency fund that was set up by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to deal with the crisis affecting weak members of monetary union, a leading team of analysts warned tonight.

  Amid growing fears that pressure on Portugal will be followed by financial trouble for its Iberian neighbour, Capital Economics said the price tag for a rescue providing the equivalent funding security offered to Greece and Ireland would be a "whopping €420bn" (£356bn).

  Jennifer McKeown, Capital's senior European economist, said there was a total of €660bn available from the EU and the IMF, of which Ireland was due to get €80-90bn.

  "If we knock off the similar amount that might be required to meet Portugal's needs, we are left with just €490bn. That suggests that Spain's needs could barely be met by current arrangements."

  McKeown said the risk of a Spanish bailout was still fairly low, even though the country's borrowing costs rose yesterday to their highest level since the creation of the single currency more than a decade ago. But should Spain require help, the cost would be "devastatingly high".

  Wheeeeeeeeeee!

• Home sales are still in the crapper:

  Don't look to the new home market for glad economic tidings: Home builders had another dismal sales month in October, falling to just one-fifth of the sales rate during the boom five years ago.

  New home sales dropped to an annual pace of just 283,000, according to the Commerce Department. That was down 8.1% from a slow September and 28.5% from 12 months ago when the annualized sales rate was at 430,000.

  Housing experts from Briefing.com had forecast a sales pace of 314,000.

  Gee, I wonder why people are reluctant to buy homes? Oh right, that whole forging key foreclosure documents thingee. How could I forget that?

• It will surprise you to learn that Glenn Beck has no idea what he's talking about with regards to inflation:

  And inflation isn't even computed like it used to be computed. The government figured it out. The government realized that people could recognize how bad things actually were, so they changed how we calculated it. So, in other words, the TV could say, "There's no inflation," and you'd be going, "I'm broke. How's that happening?"

  Now, they calculate inflation without adding in the price of food and energy. Oh, well, other than those going up, we're set.

  It's true that the core Consumer Price Index does not contain food and energy prices. However, that doesn't mean the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't keep track of those prices. In fact, it does! If you compare core CPI to CPI with food and energy prices incorporated, you get a graph like thees one:

  

  So when your Beck-loving uncle starts ranting about Zimbabwe and the Weimar Republic at Thanksgiving today, kindly point him to this graph.

• Now for some happy news: It looks like the FBI's insider trading probe has snagged its first fly:

  Federal law enforcement officials arrested an employee of an "expert-networking" firm Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to provide inside information to hedge funds.

  Don Chin Trang Chu, known as Don Chu, has been charged with arranging for insiders at publicly traded companies to provide nonpublic information to the firm's hedge fund clients under the guise of a consulting service, according to a federal complaint unsealed in a Manhattan court.

  I'm no expert on this, but it seems like what's being alleged is that Mr. Chu and his compatriots are in the business of bribing former company execs for insider secrets and then selling those secrets to hedge funds. I'm sure that the firms involved will claim that they provide an invaluable service by keeping our largest financial institutions solvent by giving them a head's up on important blah, blah, blah, etc. Anyway, this is definitely something to monitor.

• More sorta happy news: Jobless claims were down to a two-month low last month.

• And finally, Yves Smith has a depressing-but-likely-accurate description of why the government will fail to hold anyone at all accountable for the massive fraud going on in the housing market. This one sentence about sums it up for me:

  The regulators appear not know what they are doing.

  This seems to be a running theme in American government. In fact, I'm beginning to think that my libertarian "gold standard today, gold standard 4-eva!" friends just might be onto something.

  And with that, have a great Thanksgiving peeps!

A very happy Thanksgiving to all. While there's so much to be thankful for, I think we can all agree to give an especially enthusiastic "Thanks" ... that the GOP Tribe was not at the First Thanksgiving! Enjoy these links with your morning turkey oatmeal, turkey dinner, or midnight turkey snack:

Taylor Marsh on David Brock: Some Democrats Do Fight

Lance Mannion: The 'Logic Deficit' on the Deficit

They Gave Us a Republic: If There's a (George) Will, There's a Hack Way

Bark Bark Woof Woof on Motor Trend's "Electric Volt" to Limbaugh

Polising: Most Want Health Reform Maintained, Expanded

Guest post by Don Davis of The Satirical Political Report. E-mail tips to Don at satiricalpolitical AT gmail DOT com.

Continuing our My Space tour through the world of Indie, Psych and Shoegaze tonight. Daylight Frequenices (you have to admit, a pretty bitchin' name) are another one of those bands, like Jesus Deluxe from last night, not around that long, not with a label but working on ep's and gigging locally around the UK. In short; doing it themselves.

Tonight's track, Six In The Chamber is from their My Space page and, as always, check out the rest of their stuff for other tracks if this one makes the grade with you. There's some interesting material from a band working things out.

Keith Olbermann talked to journalist David Cay Johnston about how President Obama should handle the Republicans and their demand that those Bush tax cuts for the rich remain in place: call their bluff.

Call Their Bluff, Mr. President:

Will President Obama cave on yet another of his campaign promises, this time by giving in to Republican demands to extend all of the temporary Bush tax cuts? The president signaled this on his Asia trip when he said his principal concern was retaining the middle-income tax rates.

Republican congressional leaders have said they will let all of the Bush tax cuts expire unless the president bows to their demand that the top 3 percent of Americans be included in any tax cut extension.

Obama should call their bluff.

I don't think the Republicans are so stupid that they would let all the Bush tax cuts expire if they cannot continue tax cuts for billionaires and the affluent on all of their income. But let's assume that the Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are that dumb, or so beholden to the antitax billionaires funding their campaigns, that they would force universal tax increases.

This is a fight that Obama can win, and win handily, if he has the backbone to stand up for the vast majority and sound tax policies, and to take on the antitax billionaires who are piling up huge gains while unemployment, debt, and fear stalk our land.

A sudden reduction in take-home pay in January would seriously damage our fragile economy, not to mention provoke widespread anger and fear. The economic news would be so awful that a president half as eloquent as Obama could easily focus attention on the Republican all-or-nothing tax policies as the cause of this universal pain.

And like an extra cherry atop a sundae, the Republicans gave Obama a gift when they said they have no interest in renewing his $400 Making Work Pay tax credit. That statement alone lets the president paint Republicans as tax hikers who want to hit people who work, while shielding billionaires.

Moreover, since polls show that hardly anyone knows about this Obama tax cut, which the administration calls the largest middle-class tax cut in history, promoting it would be like getting a second free cherry from the GOP. Read on...

Olbermann also did a great job of laying waste to the talking point that taxing the rich is going to harm the "job creators". The one thing he left out is that those tax cuts are creating jobs alright, just not in America.