SHOCK AND AWESOME : THE PENTAGON PAPERS

Today on Shock and Awesome the fellas escaped Boston and the Ted Kennedy while wondering why Dick Cheney didn't show up for the funeral and if former Red Sawx pitcher Curt Schilling can seriously win his Senate seat? Obamacare. Yawn. Bored of that story.

Summer's out, school's in. Of course at least it's not 1789. What did Thomas Jefferson do without White out while writing the Constitution. That's alot of pressure. The duo's analysis on the matter is the first of it's kind.

Judith Airlick, Producer of the forthcoming documentary "The Most Dangerous Man In America," Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, joined the show today to give listeners a preview into the  new footage and Nixon phone tapes that will help reshape one of the biggest stories regarding war, secrecy, and the widening gap between people and government this country may have ever seen.  President Obama will soon have to decide whether or not to let investigation and prosecution on Bush era CIA torturers proceed. Who were the whistle blowers whose conscious made them tell the people the truth? Daniel Ellsberg (above)  was THAT guy in 1971. He felt Richard Nixon's wrath following the paper's release to the NY Times. The film opens Wed Sept 16 at the NY Film Forum. See Film info.

AWESOME THOUGHTS: CAN ADHD CURE SWINE FLU?

So ADHD (above) is the new drug of choice on College campuses. The prescription drug for 10-19 year olds is apparently the latest thing. God we're so proud of those college kids continuing on a long tradition of campus life introducing the culture with how and what to abuse for the coming decade.

Speaking of which, I walked by a street book sale and picked up a nothing book called "The Gap" for a buck and loved it! It's 100 pages, takes place in 1968. Both a college student and his 42 year old Uncle spend time in each others circles. The kid goes to Madison ave while the Uncle smokes weed with his nephew and hangs out in Tompkins sq park. Conversations are about Vietnam, the draft, music, hippie culture vs the work world. It's a pre cursor to 70's mega huge show " All in The Family"
which gave the world the lovable bigot Archie Bunker. The book came out the same year as "I Love You Alice B Toklas," a film in which the "square" star Danny Kaye leaves his wife at the alter for a life of smoking weed that extends to a hippie commune in his apartment. Great cult film.

Now waking up today to Washington we see that there are those like Joe Lieberman who suggest as he did on CNN's State of The Union Sunday, that Obama should wait for another year, another time, to get back into health care. Meanwhile rumours about whether to ram the bill through still fly overhead. Town hall meetings across the country continue today. None in Martha's Vineyard where according to right wing mosquito Anne Coulter the Obama's are having their "elitist" summer vacation. Hey Anne, if McCain won, which of the six houses that he didn't know he had would HE be camping out at?

News from Kabul is that the Afghan elections may have been rigged. That's almost as shocking as telling me a horse race was rigged. Those poor bastards at OTB on Manhattan ave in Greenpoint. Imagine if we let them in on that secret. It could crush their whole existence.

Back to thecollege kids. 47 cases have been reported at U of Kansas already. The college heads are telling kids to stay home and commute if possible . Yea right. Don't the school heads know that the sole purpose for most kids in college is to party and get laid? Should be an interesting semester across the country. Can ADHD cure Swine Flu? We're sure the frat boys will give it the old college try after three beer funnels.

That's all for now. Gotta race to the dealer. Cash for clunkers is on the clock. One hour left. My dreams for a hybrid the size of a mini snickers candy bar is fading. Fast.

The Six Top Republicans Obama Listens To

I love lists.  They left quite a few republicans off this list.  Bob Gates, John Huntsman, etc.  Maybe Obama just doesnt listen to them.  read the list here.

Israel: Arab Governments Are 'Borat'-ing Us

First Israel thinks they are getting Borat-ed by the arabs, then they are taking offense to Obama talking with Netanyahu while Obama's feet are up on the desk. Israel is saying feet on desk = shoe thrown at george w. bush. Hey, Bibi, at least Obama had pants on while you were on the phone.

Lets paint the town red, and charge it to the taxpayer

This week President Obama took the First Lady out on a date. They went to dinner and then to a Broadway show. At face value it seemed like an innocuous evening that continued to let the President live outside the bubble of the white house. There is one tiny detail, however, that made these events offensive, the First Couple went on this date in New York City.
The reason why this is such a big deal stems from the President’s own call for fiscal responsibility. Obama could just as easily accomplished the same goal while staying in DC. He could have flown Dan Barber down from New York, and Mr. Barber could have prepared a special “Blue Hill” meal in the White House with fresh ingredients trucked down from the Blue Hill farm in upstate New York. The Obama’s could have then gone to see a show at the Kennedy Center for the Arts, which is a short drive from their residence. Instead Obama fired up Air Force 1 and flew to New York. Now to his credit he did fly a smaller version of Air Force 1 to save on fuel. At least that is what the White House wanted you to believe. The truth is that The President ended up having to fly three of these smaller planes to accommodate staff and the press. Are three small planes cheaper, and better for the environment than one big plane?
Beyond the direct cost of this venture to the taxpayer (the complete trip cost around $200,000) he burdened New Yorkers further by blocking traffic in downtown Manhattan for the better part of Saturday night. The traffic is already bad on the weekends, but imagine gridlock that makes Lagos, Nigeria seem like a Nascar race. Commentators that condone the trip say that President Bush used to take trips to Texas all the time while he was President and that leisure travel is an accommodation granted to the Commander in Chief. I respond to that analysis by saying that no President, no matter the party, should be able to fly leisurely on the taxpayer’s dime. If the Obama’s were already coming to New York on official business then the trip would have been justified. Beyond official trips Obama has no business coming to New York City unless he is covering the expenses with his own hard earned book deal money. I would go as far as to say that this trip with Michele constitutes a junket. The same type of junket Obama preached against while trying to scold Wall Street. That scolding has backfired twice now. First it caused Las Vegas to loose hundreds of millions of tax revenue dollars from hotel/convention cancellations, and second, after this weeks date night, it makes Obama look very hypocritical. The one exception to this “no fly” rule should be standard holidays.

STANDING OVATION FOR OBAMA IN CAIRO

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China, Japan on collision course over rare-earth metals

This article takes an interesting look at the future viability of green tech industries.  Obama says he wants the US to be #1 in green tech, and reduce our dependance on foreign oil.  The only problem is that in order to control green tech you need to control the supply of rare earth metals that go in batteries and windmills.  Guess who is trying to secure a world monopoly on these metals??????? Our good friends the Chinese.  They are trying to create a cartel, like OPEC, that can set world market price.  In going green we may be trading one foreign policy disaster - oil, for another - rare earth metals.  read it and weep.

AIG may have written default swaps on Chrysler and GM

When questioned about AIG's history of writing default swaps for the Detroit car companies CEO Ed Liddy responded, "I don't know?"...  Why is this question so important?  This may be another back door bailout in the making.  How did Obama get all the major banks to agree to give up their debt in Chrysler?  Simple. Their money was guaranteed by AIG through a credit default swap, which our government bailed out 100%, which means the treasury paid back the banks for their "cooperation". Read.

Talk Talk Update: Healthcare Industry already renegs on Obama Deal

We spoke last show about how Obama got the healthcare industry to agree to a 1.5% per year cut on the increasing cost of healthcare. An adjustment that would save the country 2 trillion (with a T) dollars over the next 10 years. It only took the industry 4 days however to come out against the Obama statement calling it a "misunderstanding" and that the 1.5% cut would "eventually" be reached over the next decade. Talk Talk. Read Read.

Are Multinationals paying their fair share?

Short article from Newsweek debunking Prez Obama's attack on multinational companies.  Obama's statements about MNC's stifling job growth in the US, and stiffing the government on tax dollars are far fetched.  read.

Cinco de Mayo!

Get your obama pinata!  or your giuliani pinata.

NY Times photographer wins pulitzer

Screw Krugman's Nobel Prize, Damon Winter is the new winner on the block, and he def deserves it.... for these

Godwin's Law

wondering how everything and everyone in society eventually gets compared to Hitler?  Yeah there is a law for that...

A man amongst children

GOP graphically represents Obama's budget

The Fog of Cheney

Looks like Cheney has spies in the Obama administration. 

Obama lulls the Financial Times to sleep

For his first interview given to an international publication Obama chose the Financial Times.  Thank god for the article.  The recorded interview should be used along with sounds of the ocean to put your children to sleep this evening.

Great convo about US-Russian relations

peter baker and jim hoagland on charlie rose this week discussing russia, iran, afghanistan, and putin.

Big Brother to Little Brother: No New New Deal

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested that we move to create a New New Deal around the world for the recovery and preservation of the financial system.  Obama rejected the choice of words.  Thinking about the future, I do not see how the world is going to agree on forming a governing body to monitor financial systems around the world.  Governing bodies that try and handle trade (WTO), peace (UN), etc. never get everyone to agree on policy.  So how is an international body going to be able to regulate finance across boarders?

The Post's cartoon department def redeemed itself with this one