Archive for March, 2009

Mexican Trucking Will Be Revived By U.S., LaHood Says (Update3)

OPS:  What about reviving AMERICAN Trucking?

Mexican Trucking Will Be Revived By U.S., LaHood Says (Update3)

March 24 (Bloomberg) — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he will revive a program that lets Mexican trucks deliver goods across the border in a bid to resolve a dispute with the U.S.’s third-largest trading partner.

LaHood met today with Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, who worked successfully to cut off funding for the program because of what he said was a failure to meet U.S. safety standards. The program is required by the North American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Mexico last week applied $2.4 billion in tariffs on at least 90 U.S. products in retaliation for the U.S. suspending rules that let some Mexican trucks operate beyond a zone along the countries’ border. Senators including John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, have said the U.S. should bring back the program, citing the economic needs of U.S. consumers and exporters.

via Mexican Trucking Will Be Revived By U.S., LaHood Says (Update3) – Bloomberg.com.

NY Gov. orders 8,900 layoffs

AP NewsBreak: NY Gov. orders 8,900 layoffs -By MICHAEL GORMLEY

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday ordered layoffs that could total about 4 percent of state workers after unions refused concessions amid a staggering economic downturn that was projected to push the state’s deficit to $16 billion in the next year.

Budget Director Laura Anglin told The Associated Press that the layoffs of nearly 9,000 employees would be the first since the late 1990s after unions refused to even provide counterproposals.

It was unclear if the eventual number of layoffs could be offset by attrition or early retirement incentives. Those are among the details that would be worked out in coming weeks.

The layoffs, which Anglin said could save the state $481 million over two years, could begin July 1. The state currently employs nearly 200,000 people. But only 141,000 are directly under the governor’s control and that’s where the job reductions will be made.

Anglin said unions have been informed and could still try to return to the table in the coming days before a budget is negotiated.

“We felt there was no other option at this point considering the size and magnitude of the deficit,” Anglin said in an interview. “We asked everyone for a sacrifice and the unions were not willing to have that conversation.”

The unions held their positions.

via The Associated Press: AP NewsBreak: NY Gov. orders 8,900 layoffs.

Saudi clerics want women banned from TV, media

Saudi clerics want women banned from TV, media

Hardline Saudi clerics have called on the government to ban women from appearing on television and to prohibit their images in print media, which they called a sign of growing “deviant thought.”

In a letter to new Information Minister Abdul Aziz al-Khoja that appeared on websites this week, the 35 Islamic clerics also condemned the increase of music and dancing on television, as well as images of women in popular newspapers and magazines that they labelled “obscene.”

via Saudi clerics want women banned from TV, media.

Scientists in possible cold fusion breakthrough

OPS:  Then Navy? Really?

Scientists in possible cold fusion breakthrough

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Researchers at a US Navy laboratory have unveiled what they say is “significant” evidence of cold fusion, a potential energy source that has many skeptics in the scientific community.

The scientists on Monday described what they called the first clear visual evidence that low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR), or cold fusion devices can produce neutrons, subatomic particles that scientists say are indicative of nuclear reactions.

“Our finding is very significant,” said analytical chemist Pamela Mosier-Boss of the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) in San Diego, California.

“To our knowledge, this is the first scientific report of the production of highly energetic neutrons from a LENR device,” added the study’s co-author in a statement.

The study’s results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The city is also the site of an infamous presentation on cold fusion 20 years ago by Martin Fleishmann and Stanley Pons that sent shockwaves across the world.

Despite their claim to cold fusion discovery, the Fleishmann-Pons study soon fell into discredit after other researchers were unable to reproduce the results.

via Scientists in possible cold fusion breakthrough.

Most electronic voting isn’t secure, CIA expert says

OPS: Just Figuring this out eh ?

Most electronic voting isn’t secure, CIA expert says

WASHINGTON — The CIA, which has been monitoring foreign countries’ use of electronic voting systems, has reported apparent vote-rigging schemes in Venezuela, Macedonia and Ukraine and a raft of concerns about the machines’ vulnerability to tampering.

Appearing last month before a U.S. Election Assistance Commission field hearing in Orlando, Fla., a CIA cybersecurity expert suggested that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his allies fixed a 2004 election recount, an assertion that could further roil U.S. relations with the Latin leader.

In a presentation that could provide disturbing lessons for the United States, where electronic voting is becoming universal, Steve Stigall summarized what he described as attempts to use computers to undermine democratic elections in developing nations. His remarks have received no news media attention until now.

Stigall told the Election Assistance Commission, a tiny agency that Congress created in 2002 to modernize U.S. voting, that computerized electoral systems can be manipulated at five stages, from altering voter registration lists to posting results.

via Most electronic voting isn’t secure, CIA expert says | McClatchy.

Enforcement Agency Is Failing Workers, Report Says

OPS:  Another one from the Department of:  No Shit Sherlock

Labor Agency Is Failing Workers, Report Says

The federal agency charged with enforcing minimum wage, overtime and many other labor laws is failing in that role, leaving millions of workers vulnerable, Congressional auditors have found.

In a report scheduled to be released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office found that the agency, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, had mishandled 9 of the 10 cases brought by a team of undercover agents posing as aggrieved workers.

In one case, the division failed to investigate a complaint that under-age children in Modesto, Calif., were working during school hours at a meatpacking plant with dangerous machinery, the G.A.O., the nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress, found.

When an undercover agent posing as a dishwasher called four times to complain about not being paid overtime for 19 weeks, the division’s office in Miami failed to return his calls for four months, and when it did, the report said, an official told him it would take 8 to 10 months to begin investigating his case.

via Enforcement Agency Is Failing Workers, Report Says – NYTimes.com.

Duluth labor group passes measure backing RNC Eight

Duluth labor group passes measure backing RNC Eight

The Duluth Central Labor Body, which represents roughly 17,000 workers, has unanimously passed a resolution opposing the prosecution of the RNC Eight (pictured). The measure also calls for repeal of the state law under which the defendants have been charged with criminally conspiring to disrupt September’s Republican National Convention (RNC). Describing the prosecutions as “politically motivated,” the resolution implores labor unions across the state to oppose the actions of the Ramsey County Attorney’s office.

Chad McKenna, field coordinator for the labor body, says that they were motivated by a concern that such prosecutions could lead to people being arrested for engaging in routine protest activities such as walking picket lines.

via Duluth labor group passes measure backing RNC Eight | Twin Cities Daily Planet | Minneapolis – St. Paul.

Firedoglake founder Jane Hamsher – ConservaDem Sen. Evan Bayh

YouTube – Rachel Maddow Show – Firedoglake founder Jane Hamsher – ConservaDem Sen. Evan Bayh.

Governor backs off stance on stimulus

Governor backs off stance on stimulus – By Pat Forgey | JUNEAU EMPIRE

Legislature can seek any funds governor decides to reject

Gov. Sarah Palin appears to be backing off her aggressive stance against accepting some of the federal stimulus money for Alaska, and some lawmakers are disputing whether she “rejected” any money at all.

Palin on Thursday said she would accept only 69 percent of the estimated $930 million that could flow to the state. Palin said she would only accept money that did not create strings binding the state in the future.

The action spurred angry denunciations from activists for causes, such as education, for which Palin chose not to accept money.

“There was sort of a hue and cry from some sectors,” said Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole.

Therriault, leader of the Senate Republican Minority, defended Palin’s action, saying she didn’t reject any money but simply announced what she would accept and gave the Legislature the opportunity to act on its own.

The Legislature can seek any stimulus funds Palin rejects, but the governor still has veto power.

Palin aides have said the governor is not “rejecting” any money.

via Governor backs off stance on stimulus – Juneau Empire.

Eruption disrupts life across state

Eruption disrupts life across state

Volcano spews ash up to 60,000 feet, snarls air travel

ANCHORAGE – The overnight eruption of Mount Redoubt spewed ash up to 60,000 feet in the air, snarling air travel Monday and stranding small groups of people in remote, sparsely populated parts of the state.

The eruption of the 10,200-foot volcano, about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, had a limited effect on the state’s largest city and its suburbs. Winds blew the lower layer of ash north of Anchorage and into the Susitna Valley, where a mild coating of debris was reported in some rural areas.

The volcano erupted five times throughout the night, starting at 10:38 p.m. Sunday. The last reported eruption was at 4:31 a.m. Geologists said eruptions could continue for weeks or months and that the largest effect probably would be on air travel.

via Eruption disrupts life across state – Juneau Empire.

Reid Splits With Obama: No Bailout Funds In Budget

OPS:  Reid & Pelosi MUST be replaced – ASAP!

Reid Splits With Obama: No Bailout Funds In Budget

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that he doesn’t object to the removal of $250 billion in bailout funds that Obama had requested in the budget in case of a financial emergency.

Obama prides the budget he presented to Congress as an honest accounting. Past budgets have not included costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and didn’t budget for natural disasters. Obama, critical of such fingers-crossed, bury-the-cost accounting, hoped to change that this fiscal year, accounting for the wars, emergencies and the possibility of a further collapse of the financial system.

But honest accounting makes for a high deficit. Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said earlier he planned to reduce that deficit by removing the $250 billion bailout contingency fund.

via Reid Splits With Obama: No Bailout Funds In Budget.

Serving 22 years in jail: the environmentalist who fell victim to US anti-terror laws

Serving 22 years: the environmentalist who fell victim to US anti-terror laws

‘The government is trying to send a message,’ Marie Mason tells the Guardian in her first interview since she was sentenced

She is, in the eyes of the law, America’s most dangerous eco-terrorist: a self-confessed serial arsonist who resorted to fire and destruction to register her opposition to the fur industry and genetically modified crops.

But to those who know her and to some legal experts, the 22-year jail term handed to Marie Mason, 47, is a consequence of America’s preoccupation with terrorism in the post-9/11 world.

She is serving the longest sentence of any convicted animal rights or environmental militant, including several activists responsible for greater destruction.

“It is obvious the government is trying to send a message – to have a chilling effect, not only on my action, which of course transgressed the laws, but also on 30 years of above-ground actions in the environmental rights spheres,” Mason told the Guardian in her first interview since she was sentenced last month.

via Serving 22 years in jail: the environmentalist who fell victim to US anti-terror laws | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

Don Manzullo: Worst Congressional Questioning Ever (VIDEO)

Don Manzullo: Worst Congressional Questioning Ever (VIDEO)

It’s generally not worth reporting on exchanges between backbench committee members and witnesses that occur toward the end of a congressional hearing, because the member often hasn’t been at the hearing and merely re-asks questions that have already been posed.

But the exchange at Tuesday’s House Financial Services Committee hearing between Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) is of a different sort. The most generous interpretation is that Manzullo is hoping to create footage for a future campaign commercial.

Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, captive extras in his campaign spot, are at a loss as to how to respond — with Bernanke going so far as to break with the traditional comity that suffocates the hearing structure to tell Manzullo that his question is “poorly posed.”

The exchange began before the clip below starts, with Manzullo repeatedly demanding a yes or no answer to a question that neither Geithner, Bernanke or, for that matter, this reporter, can make any sense out of. The inability to answer the question frustrates Manzullo.

via Don Manzullo: Worst Congressional Questioning Ever (VIDEO).

On Wall Street, Talk of Trust and Civil War

OPS: Phuck ‘em. They NEED to be in Jail

On Wall Street, Talk of Trust and Civil War

By ANNELENA LOBB and HEIDI N. MOORE

Finance executives expressed anger and betrayal at Washington’s latest anti-Wall Street rhetoric during Tuesday’s sessions of the Future of Finance Initiative, a conference hosted by The Wall Street Journal

The conflict suggested that the lines of communication between government and the private sector remain limited just as government is hoping to expand cooperation with private investors. Those tensions flared over the last week, as the U.S. House passed a bill taxing bonuses by 90% for banks and other companies receiving large government capital injections.

“Washington and Wall Street are the equivalent of Gettysburg and Antietam right now,” said Glenn Hutchins, co-chief executive of private-equity firm Silver Lake.

“To point the finger at one group means, No. 1, you’re not understanding the problem, two, you’re stretching our social fabric thinly, and you’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” Mr. Hutchins noted. “Trust goes both ways.”

via On Wall Street, Talk of Trust and Civil War – WSJ.com.

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

Investigation

Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear – |Vanity Fair

Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination.

by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele May 2008

An anti-Monsanto crop circle in the Philippines

No thanks: An anti-Monsanto crop circle made by farmers and volunteers in the Philippines. By Melvyn Calderon/Greenpeace HO/A.P. Images.

Gary Rinehart clearly remembers the summer day in 2002 when the stranger walked in and issued his threat. Rinehart was behind the counter of the Square Deal, his “old-time country store,” as he calls it, on the fading town square of Eagleville, Missouri, a tiny farm community 100 miles north of Kansas City.

The Square Deal is a fixture in Eagleville, a place where farmers and townspeople can go for lightbulbs, greeting cards, hunting gear, ice cream, aspirin, and dozens of other small items without having to drive to a big-box store in Bethany, the county seat, 15 miles down Interstate 35.

Everyone knows Rinehart, who was born and raised in the area and runs one of Eagleville’s few surviving businesses. The stranger came up to the counter and asked for him by name.

“Well, that’s me,” said Rinehart.

As Rinehart would recall, the man began verbally attacking him, saying he had proof that Rinehart had planted Monsanto’s genetically modified (G.M.) soybeans in violation of the company’s patent. Better come clean and settle with Monsanto, Rinehart says the man told him—or face the consequences.

Rinehart was incredulous, listening to the words as puzzled customers and employees looked on. Like many others in rural America, Rinehart knew of Monsanto’s fierce reputation for enforcing its patents and suing anyone who allegedly violated them. But Rinehart wasn’t a farmer. He wasn’t a seed dealer. He hadn’t planted any seeds or sold any seeds. He owned a small—a really small—country store in a town of 350 people. He was angry that somebody could just barge into the store and embarrass him in front of everyone. “It made me and my business look bad,” he says. Rinehart says he told the intruder, “You got the wrong guy.”

When the stranger persisted, Rinehart showed him the door. On the way out the man kept making threats. Rinehart says he can’t remember the exact words, but they were to the effect of: “Monsanto is big. You can’t win. We will get you. You will pay.”

via Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear | vanityfair.com.

Did Appellate Court Screw Don Siegelman? You Betcha

Did Appellate Court Screw Don Siegelman? You Betcha

How bad was the recent appellate ruling that upheld the convictions of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy?

So bad that even a lawyer publicly criticized it.

Experience has taught me that some lawyers will, in private, admit that our justice system is a mess. Some, in hushed tones, will even tell you about specific lawyers they know to be shysters and judges they know to be corrupt.

But a lawyer criticize the system in a public forum? That’s real man bites dog stuff.

via OpEdNews » Did Appellate Court Screw Don Siegelman? You Betcha.

Treasury and the Fed Don’t Need New Powers, They Need to Use the Power They Have

Treasury and the Fed Don’t Need New Powers, They Need to Use the Power They Have

By Dave Lindorff

Wait a minute! Did I hear correctly? Did Treasury Secretary and former New York Federal Reserve Bank screw-up Tim Geithner really tell a House Financial Services Committee today that he needed “new powers” to allow the federal government to take control of non-bank financial corporations whose actions threaten the financial system or the economy and “break them up”?

The subject under discussion at the hearing was AIG, and Geithner and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, under attack for those AIG “bonus payments” to executives, were trying to talk tough about the evil insurance giant.

But aren’t the powers that Geithner is calling for exactly the powers that he and Bernanke already have in the case of the banking industry?

Yes they are.

via OpEdNews » Treasury and the Fed Don’t Need New Powers, They Need to Use the Power They Have.

The Most Evil Corporations, Industries and Orgs

The Most Evil Corporations, Industries and Orgs -by Rob Kall

Lately, we’re having more conversations about corporations whose behaviors have been outrageous, shameful, even criminal. These conversations sometimes lead to people saying this or that company is the worst, the most evil, the most murderous, the most corrupt or corrupting, the most destructive, most exploitive.

Some of the companies often listed include AIG, Blackwater, Diebold, Dow, Enron, Exxon, Fox/Newscorp, Haliburton, Monsanto, Walmart, and then there are whole industries– the Military industrial complex, big pharma, big agra, health insurers, porn, anti-net neutrality giants, the RIAA music industry fighting downloading, coal burning energy companies, privacy invading, spying telecoms, auto companies building gas-hog pollution machines, corpstream mainstream media selling corporate and government messages, chemical or livestock polluters, oil spillers.

via OpEdNews » The Most Evil Corporations, Industries and Orgs.

The Ink Tank:

The Ink Tank: a daily roundup of editorial cartoons – Boston.com.

Who Fared Best (and Worst) in 2008?

Who Fared Best (and Worst) in 2008?

In an especially challenging year, some media sectors managed to post profits and increase audiences. But most of the news business saw declines in both.

Across media sectors, audience and economic shifts indicate that cable news was the big winner in 2008. With both ad revenue and audience gains of more than 25%, the three cable news channels stood far above other news media. Online news also showed growth in both areas, but display advertising, on which news largely depends, grew a mere 4% through the first three quarter of 2008, and was expected to show declines. And, except for very slight audience growth in audio, all other sectors saw declines in both ad spending and audience, with newspapers and print magazines faring worst.

These trends in economics and audience are among the key findings from the State of the News Media 2009 report. In addition to looking across media sectors, the report offers sector-specific findings on the eight major sectors of media—newspapers, online, network TV, cable TV, local TV, magazines, ethnic and radio.

via Who Fared Best (and Worst) in 2008? | Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).

Monsanto woos Senate Agriculture Committee in private dinner

OPS: Monsanto might possibly be the most evil and dangerous Corporation on the Planet. At least it’s in the top 3

Monsanto woos Senate Agriculture Committee in private dinner -by: Jay Stevens

Thanks to the AP (Matt Gouras?) for bringing this little tidbit to our attention:

Instead of offering public testimony at the committee hearing for the bill, Monsanto shared its opposition to the measure during a private dinner with the Senate committee at the Montana Club, according to committee chairman Sen. Donald Steinbeisser. Six of nine committee members attended the dinner, but all were invited, he said.

“I doubt if anything we talked about that night affected anybody’s position on the bill,” said Steinbeisser, a Republican farmer from Sidney who has found biotech products to be very useful.

Seriously, does Steinbeisser think Montanans are that stupid? And, sadly, the report doesn’t mention which legislators besides Steinbeisser were at the dinner.

As the report mentions, this is over HB 445, which prevents multinational corporations from sampling Montana farmers’ crops for presence of genetically modified and patented crops.

Here’s what HB 445 doesn’t do: it doesn’t interfere in any way with the sale or production of genetically modified crops. It doesn’t interfere with Monsanto’s right to enforce its biotech patents (which are ethically shaky to begin with) and seek redress for crop theft.

via Left in the West:: Monsanto woos Senate Agriculture Committee in private dinner.

Laredo’s ‘Agent Orange’ Controversy

Laredo’s ‘Agent Orange’ Controversy

Listen to this article. Powered by Odiogo.com

Along the border, rhetoric is high. As if there were not enough things to worry about here at home US, there is however, one more issue that may create the final perfect storm: Mexico.

The violence in Mexico that has spun out of control so quickly in 2008 has created a political reaction. It is hard to escape the bombardment of reports that has dominated our airwaves. From government and military officials to the talking heads, Mexico has been declared as a failed state, on the verge of civil war, and posing a threat to US national security.

Recently, President Obama weighed in on the issue saying that he was “not interested in militarizing the border.” However, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is singing a different tune. Her recent call for “more boots on the ground” along the border is currently taking place.

Not learning the harsh lessons from the past, Frontera NorteSur has just reported that Napolitano is unleashing a Vietnam tactic on the border. In the Vietnam War, the US sprayed vast tracts of land with the chemical defoliant Agent Orange as part of a counter-insurgency strategy aimed at removing forest cover for Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces.

Because a giant bamboo-like weed known variously as Carrizo cane – scientifically as Arundo donax – has run rampant along portions of the Rio Grande between the US, the US Border Patrol and DHS are eager to find a way to kill it. The variety of Carrizo cane that is common in the Laredo-Del Rio borderlands grows as tall as 30 feet and provides convenient cover for undocumented border crossers and smugglers. On the US side, US Border Patrol plans to use the same Vietnam tactic to eradicate stands of the Carrizo cane.

The herbicide in question is imazapyr. Like all broad spectrum herbicides, imazapyr efficiently kills most plants with which it comes in contact, even those not intended as targets of the herbicide. However, as Jay J. Johnson Castro, Sr., executive director of the Rio Grande International Studies Center at Laredo Community College noted, “Nobody knows the impact of imazapyr.”

via » Laredo’s ‘Agent Orange’ Controversy – By ¡Para Justicia y Libertad!.

Senate Dems propose cutting Obama budget by billions – CNN.com

OPS:  They are not Dems – they are Republicans lying about their affiliati0n. They are Republican-Lite Blue Dogsand tehy need to be replaced. ASAP.

Senate Dems propose cutting Obama budget by billions

Hours before President Obama was to hold a prime time news conference — in part to boost his $3.6 trillion budget plan — a key Democratic senator Tuesday unveiled a scaled-down budget proposal.

Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota said the Senate Budget Committee, which he chairs, will vote on his version Wednesday.

“We’ve made hundreds of billions of dollars of changes to make this work to get down to the deficit goal and at the same time maintain the president’s priorities — education and energy and health care,” Conrad said as he left a closed meeting in the Capitol, where he briefed Senate Democratic colleagues on his plan.

Conrad and other centrist Democratic senators — whose support is critical to passing the legislation — have raised concerns about the long-term impact of the president’s spending plan on the deficit.

On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Obama’s plan would cost more than $9 trillion over the next 10 years.

via Senate Dems propose cutting Obama budget by billions – CNN.com.

Obama: ‘I don’t support a global currency’

Obama: ‘I don’t support a global currency’

Australian PM voices support for the dollar, says new currency not on G20′s agenda

During a live, prime-time press conference at which reporters focused almost exclusively on economic matters, President Barack Obama gave his first public opposition to Russia and China’s proposal of a world currency to supplant the dollar.

Mere hours earlier, both Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that they would not allow the dollar to be stripped of the premier status, as suggested by the head of China’s central bank.

“… The dollar is extraordinarily strong right now,” said the president during his prime-time press conference. “The reason the dollar is strong right now is because investors consider the United States the strongest economy in the world, with the most stable political system in the world. So, you don’t have to take my word for it.

via The Raw Story | Obama: ‘I don’t support a global currency’.

Terkel Discusses O’Reilly’s Harassment Machine With MSNBC’s Olbermann

Terkel Discusses O’Reilly’s Harassment Machine With MSNBC’s Olbermann

Last weekend, Bill O’Reilly sent his producers to ambush ThinkProgress’s Amanda Terkel while she vacationed in Virginia. Last night, O’Reilly showed portions of the footage, lying to viewers that Amanda had attacked rape victims and a rape victims’ support organization.

Tonight, Amanda discussed O’Reilly’s harassment machine — of which she is hardly the first victim — with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. Amanda noted the disturbing irony of O’Reilly trying to defend his comments about rape by sending out two men to stalk her:

Bill O’Reilly was trying to show that he cares about women who have been victims of crime. So to make that point, he sends two men to find my home address and to follow me on vacation? I mean, it was incredibly disturbing. The rest of the weekend, I was constantly looking over my shoulder, wondering how long they had been following me, if they’re still following me.

Amanda also noted that O’Reilly’s producer ambushed her when she was least expecting it and unprepared to answer his questions. “O’Reilly may be surprised I don’t sit around on vacation thinking about him,” she said. Watch it:

via Think Progress » Terkel Discusses O’Reilly’s Harassment Machine With MSNBC’s Olbermann.

Major Coalition Launches Health Care Equality Project,

Major Coalition Launches Health Care Equality Project,

Demands Swift Action to Eliminate Health Care Disparities Through Healthcare Reform

Leading Labor Groups, Community Organizations, Health Advocates, Civil Rights Groups, Social Justice Advocates, and Faith Networks Join Together to Announce Major New Campaign, Website Launch, Events in 13 States

WASHINGTON – March 24 – More than 20 major labor, community, health, civil rights, social justice, and faith organizations gathered in Washington today to kick off a major coalition campaign, the Healthcare Equality Project, to fight healthcare disparities. Flanked by allies in Congress, physicians, nurses and members of the community, The HealthCare Equality Project demanded that Congress pass healthcare reform that addresses the serious and pervasive inequalities that plague the American health care system. The Healthcare Equality Project is fighting for healthcare that works for EVERYONE.

This unprecedented platform will serve as a national nexus for partners to organize, mobilize, and coordinate their efforts to include healthcare equality solutions in national healthcare reform. It’s a single project that combines the forces of the coalition partners to have a greater and strategic impact on the healthcare debate. The coalition is being led by Centers for Community Change, ACORN, Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, SEIU, Gamaliel, LULAC, La Clínica del Pueblo, URU the Right to Be, Partnership to Fight Chronic Diseases, National Hispanic Medical Association, National Puerto Rican Coalition, Hispanic Federation, and Latinos for National Health Insurance

“We all know that our healthcare system is in crisis; and many of us know from our own experiences that where it is most broken and failed is in communities of color. Minorities, even when they have insurance, struggle disproportionately with serious obstacles to the high quality care we need to stay healthy and live productive lives” said Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, National Campaign Coordinator for the Healthcare Equality Project.

via Major Coalition Launches Health Care Equality Project, | CommonDreams.org.

Fighting For Re-election In Blue State Pa., Specter Goes Bright Red

Fighting For Re-election In Blue State Pa., Specter Goes Bright Red

By suddenly opposing a top legislative priority for oranized labor, Arlen Specter is taking an odd path to threading the needle toward what is likely to be his toughest re-election next year in three decades as a Republican senator from the increasingly bright-blue Pennsylvania.

At issue is Specter’s speech on the Senate floor in which the five-term lawmaker reversed himself by stating his opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Specter had offered the lone GOP Senate vote in favor of EFCA, also known as “card check,” just in 2007 when it failed to get the needed votes to move to passage.

EFCA would make it easier for unions to organize, and is a measure bitterly opposed by business.

With an expanded majority of perhaps 59 senators this year, Democrats were looking at Specter to cast the deciding 60th vote to end a GOP filibuster and move the bill to President Obama to sign into law.

via On The Hill: NEWS ANALYSIS: Fighting For Re-election In Blue State Pa., Specter Goes Bright Red.

Transcript – President Obama’s News Conference

President Obama’s News Conference

Following is a complete of President Obama’s prime-time press conference on March 24, as transcribed by Federal News Service.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hello, everybody. Please have a seat.

Good evening. Now, before I take questions from the correspondents, I want to give everyone who’s watching tonight an update on the steps we’re taking to move this economy from recession to recovery, and ultimately to prosperity. Now, it’s important to remember that this crisis didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t result from any one action or decision. It took many years and many failures to lead us here. And it will take many months and many different solutions to lead us out. There are no quick fixes, and there are no silver bullets.

That’s why we’ve put in place a comprehensive strategy designed to attack this crisis on all fronts. It’s a strategy to create jobs, to help responsible homeowners, to restart lending, and to grow our economy over the long term. And we’re beginning to see signs of progress.

via Transcript – President Obama’s News Conference – Text – NYTimes.com.

Progressives Launch Campaign Targeting Centrist Senate Dems

OPS:  Good – It’s time for Blue Dogs to either get in line or quit – just get the hell out of the way of Progress.

Progressives Launch Campaign Targeting Centrist Senate Dems

A coalition of progressive groups and officials announced the launch of a media and grassroots campaign Tuesday to target conservative Democrats they deem obstructionist.

The impetus of the campaign was a recent move by some Democrats, led by Sen. Evan Bayh, to form a working group that would ostensibly move the president’s agenda in a more conservative direction. Calling their work — particularly the preemptive call to not consider major legislative reforms in the budget reconciliation process — “very bad politics and very bad policy,” Robert Borosage, the co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, said that the Senate group was obstructing the president’s agenda.

“We have been pretty unhappy to see many conservative Democrats, new Democrats, Blue Dogs, etc., suggesting that they are beginning to have doubts about the president’s program and are ready to move against it,” he said.

“Major change has come through the reconciliation process because it is the process that allows you to have a majority vote on your program,” he added. “Giving that away preemptively reduces your ability to negotiate on these programs and suggests that we will have policies that will have majority support in the House and the Senate but fail in its passage because” because of Republican filibuster.

via Progressives Launch Campaign Targeting Centrist Senate Dems.

GOP Senator Accuses Party Of Sabotaging Him

GOP Senator Accuses Party Of Sabotaging Him

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning is blaming his fundraising difficulties on a fellow Kentucky Republican, Senate Minority Floor Leader Mitch McConnell.

Bunning said during a conference call today that McConnell and Texas Sen. John Cornyn have put doubts about his 2010 candidacy into the minds of possible donors. Bunning claimed McConnell and Cornyn, who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have tried to recruit someone to challenge him in the GOP primary.

via GOP Senator Accuses Party Of Sabotaging Him.

- Newt Gingrich, guardian of Catholic values

Newt Gingrich, guardian of Catholic values

Twice-Divorced Gingrich Gets Savaged For Criticizing Obama’s “Anti-Catholic Values”

via Media Matters – Newt Gingrich, guardian of Catholic values.

Obama Protest: Bishop Boycotting Notre Dame Graduation Over President’s Stem Cell, Abortion Views

OPS:  Maybe it is time for places like Notre Dame loose their tax exempt status.

Obama Protest: Bishop Boycotting Notre Dame Graduation Over President’s Stem Cell, Abortion Views

via Obama Protest: Bishop Boycotting Notre Dame Graduation Over President’s Stem Cell, Abortion Views.

GOP Senators Who Used Budget Reconciliation To Pass Bush Agenda Items Now Calling It ‘Chicago Style Politics’

GOP Senators Who Used Budget Reconciliation To Pass Bush Agenda Items Now Calling It ‘Chicago Style Politics’

Today, Politico reported that Republican senators are prepared to go “nuclear” — essentially shutting down the Senate through the use of parliamentary maneuvers — if President Obama attempts to use budget reconciliation to pass key parts of his legislative agenda, such as health care reform and and cap-and-trade. Reconciliation allows some legislation to be protected from filibusters and passed by a simple majority. On NPR this morning, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) repeated a now familiar attack on budget reconciliation:

BOND: “In this post-partisan time of Barack Obama, we’re seeing a little Chicago politics. They steamroller those who disagree with them, then, I guess in Chicago, they coat them in cement and drop them in the river.” [NPR, 3/24/09]

Bond appears to be parroting his colleague Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), who said any use of budget reconciliation by President Obama would be “regarded as an act of violence” against Republicans, and likened it to “running over the minority, putting them in cement and throwing them in the Chicago River.” Other GOP senators have chimed in against reconciliation, with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) calling it a “purely partisan exercise” and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) saying it “would be a mess.”

via Think Progress » GOP Senators Who Used Budget Reconciliation To Pass Bush Agenda Items Now Calling It ‘Chicago Style Politics’.

Woodchips With Everything

Woodchips With Everything – by George Monbiot

Here comes the latest utopian catastrophe: the plan to solve climate change with biochar

Whenever you hear the word miracle, you know there’s trouble just around the corner. But however many times they lead to disappointment or disaster, the newspapers never tire of promoting miracle cures, miracle crops, miracle fuels and miracle financial instruments. We have a bottomless ability to disregard the laws of economics, biology and thermodynamics when we encounter a simple solution to complex problems. So welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the new miracle. It’s a low-carbon regime for the planet which makes the Atkins Diet look healthy: woodchips with everything.

Biomass is suddenly the universal answer to our climate and energy problems. Its advocates claim that it will become the primary source of the world’s heating fuel, electricity, road transport fuel (cellulosic ethanol) and aviation fuel (bio-kerosene). Few people stop to wonder how the planet can accommodate these demands and still produce food and preserve wild places. Now an even crazier use of woodchips is being promoted everywhere (including in the Guardian(1)). The great green miracle works like this: we turn the planet’s surface into charcoal.

Sorry, not charcoal. We don’t call it that any more. Now we say biochar. The idea is that wood and crop wastes are cooked to release the volatile components (which can be used as fuel), then the residue – the charcoal – is buried in the soil. According to the magical thinkers who promote it, the new miracle stops climate breakdown, replaces gas and petroleum, improves the fertility of the soil, reduces deforestation, cuts labour, creates employment, prevents respiratory disease and ensures that when you drop your toast it always lands butter side up. (I invented the last one, but give them time).

via Woodchips With Everything | CommonDreams.org.

PUT THE “PUBLIC” BACK IN PUBLIC SAFETY

PUT THE “PUBLIC” BACK IN PUBLIC SAFETY - Jim Hightower

The report came from the official inspector in March 2008, and its conclusion was unequivocal: “The overall food safety level of this facility,” he wrote, “was considered to be: SUPERIOR.”

The facility in question was the Peanut Corporation of America’s processing plant in Georgia. Yes, that’s the very one that then shipped salmonella-contaminated products all across America last year – killing nine people and sickening more than 22,000.

How could the inspector have been so disastrously wrong about a plant that actually was alive with deadly salmonella? Well, the inspection system itself is grossly flawed. In this case, corporate officials were given advance notice that the inspector would be coming. He was allowed only one day to check a plant that handles millions of pounds of peanuts a month. This inspector’s expertise is in fresh produce, not goobers – he didn’t even know that salmonella can thrive in peanuts. Besides, he was not required to test for salmonella.

via Jim Hightower | PUT THE “PUBLIC” BACK IN PUBLIC SAFETY.

NASA’s early lunar images, in a new light

NASA’s early lunar images, in a new light

HER MISSION: Archivist Nancy Evans knew her mission: to preserve the history of human space exploration.

Pictures from the mid-1960s Lunar Orbiter

program lay forgotten for decades. But one woman was determined to see them restored.

Rising over the battered surface of the moon, Earth loomed

in a shimmering arc covered in a swirling skin of clouds.

The image, taken in 1966 by NASA’s robotic probe Lunar Orbiter 1, presented a stunning juxtaposition of planet and moon that no earthling had ever seen before.

via NASA’s early lunar images, in a new light – Los Angeles Times.

Rep. Michele Bachmann Supports Violent Opposition to Obama

YouTube – Rep. Michele Bachmann Supports Violent Opposition to Obama.

Miami vets get procedures with unsterile equipment

OPS:  that’s a shitty deal!

Colonoscopies !

Miami vets get procedures with unsterile equipment – By MATT SEDENSKY

MIAMI — A Veterans Affairs hospital here has notified thousands of patients that their colonoscopies were performed with improperly sterilized equipment, officials said Monday.

The hospital urged about 3,260 patients who had colonoscopies between May 2004 and March 12 of this year to get tests for HIV, hepatitis and other diseases.

The VA insisted the risk of infection was minimal, saying the tubing that was improperly cleaned didn’t make contact with patients.

It was the second recent announcement of errors during colonoscopies at VA facilities.

“The very notion that veterans have to contemplate this new reality now before them and visit special care clinics to undergo blood testing is stomach-turning,” U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Fla., said in a letter Monday to the VA’s inspector general. “This information is shocking.”

Meek urged a door-to-door campaign to alert veterans of the error.

via Miami vets get procedures with unsterile equipment – Florida AP – MiamiHerald.com.

Marijuana Legalization Bills Introduced In Massachusetts!

NORML Breaking News: Marijuana Legalization Bills Introduced In Massachusetts!

California’s highly publicized effort to legalize the commercial cultivation and sale of cannabis is getting some well-deserved company!

A pair of bills — House Bill 2929 and Senate Bill 1801 — seeking to “tax and regulate the cannabis industry” have just been introduced in the Massachusetts legislature.

These proposals seek to legally regulate the commercial production and distribution of marijuana for adults over 21 years of age.  Like California’s proposal, they would impose licensing requirements and excise taxes on the retail sale of cannabis. By some estimates, these taxes could raise nearly $100 million in annual state revenue.

Adults who possess or grow marijuana for personal use, or who engage in the non-profit transfer of cannabis, would not be subject to taxation under the law.

via Marijuana Law Reform – NORML.

Insurers offer to stop charging sick people more

OPS:  Damn White of  ‘em – and running scared

Insurers offer to stop charging sick people more

WASHINGTON – The health insurance industry offered Tuesday for the first time to curb its controversial practice of charging higher premiums to people with a history of medical problems.

The offer from America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a potentially significant shift in the debate over reforming the nation’s health care system to rein in costs and cover an estimated 48 million uninsured people. It was contained in a letter to key senators.

In the letter, the two insurance industry groups said their members are willing to “phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market” if all Americans are required to get coverage.

“The offer here is to transition away from risk rating, which is one of the things that makes life hell for real people,” said health economist Len Nichols of the New America Foundation public policy center. “They have never in their history offered to give up risk rating.”

via Insurers offer to stop charging sick people more.

CHICAGO: Can Private Security Guards Act As Cops, As They May Be Asked To Do On Far South Side

OPS: Daley brings Chicago further into Fascism

Can Private Security Guards Act As Cops?

That’s Exactly What They May Soon Be Doing On The Far South Side

They’re private security guards, already on patrol, but they may soon have the powers of Chicago Police officers.

As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, the private security officers now on patrol on the city’s Far South Side are expected to have their powers expanded as part of a citywide ordinance now being prepared.

But officials are questioning whether this means public safety is being outsourced.

Mayor Richard M. Daley has already privatized many city functions. The Chicago Skyway has been leased to a Spanish conglomerate. Midway Airport is run by a Canadian company. The parking meters were sold to a firm run by Morgan Stanley, and as a result, the cost of parking in the city has skyrocketed.

But the question is whether another foreign firm providing cops on patrol may be privatization gone too far.

via Can Private Security Guards Act As Cops, As They May Be Asked To Do On Far South Side – cbs2chicago.com.

4.7-magnitude earthquake shakes California

4.7-magnitude earthquake shakes California

A moderate, 4.7-magnitude earthquake shook southern California Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey, with no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The tremor hit at 4:55 am (1155 GMT), 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) underground, centered some three miles (four kilometers) from Bombay Beach, which is on the Salton Sea, a large lake in the Salton Sink desert basin, the USGS reported.

The town is some 90 miles (144 kilometers) west of San Diego.

Geologists say an earthquake capable of causing widespread destruction is 99 percent certain of hitting California within the next 30 years.

via The Raw Story | 4.7-magnitude earthquake shakes California.

Turley: Cheney war crimes probe would be ‘shortest in history’

Turley: Cheney war crimes probe would be ‘shortest in history’

President Barack Obama said all the right things on 60 Minutes, according to Jonathan Turley. But no mere verbal rebuff to the former vice president will see the law upheld.

If Obama would step out of the way and allow prosecutors to look at evidence of alleged Bush administration war crimes, “it would be the shortest investigation in history,” Turley said on a Monday episode of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.

President Obama, appearing Sunday on the CBS news program, said the former vice president’s policies on the treatment of prisoners captured in President Bush’s terror war are “unsustainable” and had caused “incredible damage to our image and position in the world.

via The Raw Story | Turley: Cheney war crimes probe would be ‘shortest in history’.

Harvard economist: Prohibition creates violence, legalize all drugs

OPS:  It’s so bad they finally understand this, even at Harvard

Harvard economist: Prohibition creates violence, legalize all drugs

Because of his title as a Harvard economist, people tend to listen to Jeffrey Miron. And, if the old principle holds true and controversy always creates interest, expect a lot of people to be talking about Miron’s latest volley into the mainstream media.

“Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground,” he wrote in an essay published by CNN on Tuesday. “This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead.

“Violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after.”

Miron’s proposed solution to ending the cartel war along the US-Mexico border is both simple and enormously complex.

via The Raw Story | Harvard economist: Prohibition creates violence, legalize all drugs.

Bobby Jindal To Speak At Fundraiser On Same Night As Obama’s Prime Time Press Conference

OPS:  Jindal gets a do over? Good luck there Piyush

Bobby Jindal To Speak At Fundraiser On Same Night As Obama’s Prime Time Press Conference

via Bobby Jindal To Speak At Fundraiser On Same Night As Obama’s Prime Time Press Conference.

Terkel to appear on Olbermann tonight to talk about the O’Reilly harassment machine.

Terkel to appear on Olbermann tonight to talk about the O’Reilly harassment machine.

Tonight, ThinkProgress’s Amanda Terkel will be on MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann to talk about her ambush by the Bill O’Reilly harassment machine. For four straight nights, “Olbermann awarded O’Reilly gold, silver and bronze as ‘Worst Person in the World’…for his insistence on speaking at the [Alexa] Foundation’s luncheon.” The show is pushed back tonight due to President Obama’s press conference, so she will be on at approximately 9:50 p.m. ET.

n_countdown_worst_061128300w.jpg

Terkel will also be on The Young Turks this evening at 7:45 p.m. ET. Be sure to tune in.

via Think Progress » Terkel to appear on Olbermann tonight to talk about the O’Reilly harassment machine..

Romney Flip-Flops On Fealty To Reagan, Complains That ‘Some In Washington’ Think ‘Deficits Don’t Matter’

Romney Flip-Flops On Fealty To Reagan, Complains That ‘Some In Washington’ Think ‘Deficits Don’t Matter’

On his radio show last night, right-wing talker Hugh Hewitt asked former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to react to President Obama’s budget proposal. “Well, the budget is very, very troubling,” replied Romney.

Claiming that it was “something” that conservatives like him had “been saying for years,” Romney then complained that there are “some in Washington” who think “that deficits don’t matter.”

via Think Progress » Romney Flip-Flops On Fealty To Reagan, Complains That ‘Some In Washington’ Think ‘Deficits Don’t Matter’.

Fox Business anchor compares tax on AIG bonuses to sexual abuse.

OPS: NO surprise here. Sex and Money are connected for the Reich wing.

Fox Business anchor compares tax on AIG bonuses to sexual abuse.

Today, Fox Business Network anchor Dagen McDowell appeared on Fox News to make the case against the tax on AIG bonuses by comparing it to sexual abuse:

You don’t want to think if you get in bed with Uncle Sam he’s going to strip you naked, chain you to the bed, leave you there and then take nasty pictures of you and then put them on the Internet. Because that’s what’s been happening.

Watch it:

via Think Progress » Fox Business anchor compares tax on AIG bonuses to sexual abuse..

Venice seaport eyes algae to fuel energy needs

Venice seaport eyes algae to fuel energy needs

ROME (Reuters) – Venice’s seaport plans to become self-sufficient in its energy needs by building a power plant fueled by algae, in what would be the first facility of its kind in Italy, the port authority said.

The plant will be operative in two years and produce 40 megawatts of electricity, Venice’s port authority said, adding that an emissions-free energy source would help preserve the historic lagoon city’s delicate ecological balance.

The plant — only the third of its kind being planned in Europe — will be built in collaboration with renewable energy services company Enalg at a cost of 200 million euros ($272.6 million), a port authority spokeswoman said.

Several companies are in the race to find economic ways to turn algae, one of the planet’s oldest life forms, into vegetable oil that can be made into biodiesel and other fuels.

In Venice, the algae will be cultivated in laboratories and put in plastic cylinders where water, carbon dioxide, and sunshine trigger photosynthesis. The resulting biomass will be treated further to produce a fuel to turn turbines.

via Venice seaport eyes algae to fuel energy needs | Science | Reuters.

Specter delivers death blow to labor union bill

Specter delivers death blow to labor union bill – By Kevin Bogardus

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced Tuesday he will oppose card check, giving an apparent death blow to the most important congressional issue to organized labor.

Specter made the dramatic announcement in a floor speech. His opposition means Democrats can count on a maximum of 59 votes to move the bill forward, one short of the 60 required to clear Senate rules.

via TheHill.com – Specter delivers death blow to labor union bill.

Tea Party Tantrums: GOP Astroturf Groups Failed to Hit the History Books Before Fomenting Revolution

OPS:  The Teabaggers Ball – POP, goes the weasel

Tea Party Tantrums: GOP Astroturf Groups Failed to Hit the History Books Before Fomenting Revolution

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS  by Meg White

This whole conservative tea party thing has really gotten out of control. The idea that these anti-tax, anti-spending conservatives are anything like the Boston colonists is downright laughable.

What was sparked by CNBC stock market reporter Rick Santelli’s on-air freak out over the homeowner bailout has outgrown its anger britches (The brainchild behind this cute repackaging of lusty GOP rage is probably irrevocably obscured, you’ll find an interesting round up of the Santelli chase here and here).

No matter whose idea this was, it certainly took on a life of its own before anyone really had a chance to notice how little sense it makes. Conservatives who get warm fuzzies over the idea of overthrowing the government need to abandon the Boston Tea Party as their personal symbolic moment in time. All it’s really doing for the right wing is making them look unaware of their country’s history, as well as a little nutty.

via Tea Party Tantrums: GOP Astroturf Groups Failed to Hit the History Books Before Fomenting Revolution | BuzzFlash.org.

Obama nudges Congress to empower regulatory units

Obama nudges Congress to empower regulatory units – By JENNIFER LOVEN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Tuesday he hopes “it doesn’t take too long to convince Congress” to approve new authority to oversee big, tottering financial firms.

The administration is pushing the idea of an overarching regulator, such as the Federal Reserve, to have the ability to take over nonbank financial entities whose failure could topple the entire banking system.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to detail the administration’s proposal for a broad overhaul of financial sector regulations during testimony Thursday before the House Financial Services Committee. Along with the new regulating authority, the administration wants increased oversight and controls of previously unregulated markets such as hedge and private equity funds.

via The Associated Press: Obama nudges Congress to empower regulatory units.

Coleman Dismisses Idea of Taking Case to Supreme Court

Coleman Dismisses Idea of Taking Case to Supreme Court-  By Jessica Brady

Roll Call Staff

Ex-Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.), at the Capitol on Tuesday to lunch with his former GOP colleagues, said he does not expect to take his election recount battle all the way to the Supreme Court.

via Coleman Dismisses Idea of Taking Case to Supreme Court – Roll Call.

Ron Paul predicts 15-year depression

Believer in small government predicts 15-year depression – By Phil Davis

Pension trustees and insurance company portfolio managers look away now. Your increased commitment to government bond holdings in recent times is about to blow up spectacularly.

At least, that is the view of Ron Paul, the US congressman who ran against John McCain in last year’s Republican Party presidential nomination.

His is a minority view. Yields on government bonds worldwide have been falling fast over the past few months and in the UK, the commencement of “quantitative easing” this month sent bond prices soaring.

But the credibility of both western governments and their currencies is waning, and has been ever since the gold standard was abandoned in 1971, says Mr Paul. And that means even “safe” investments are far from safe, he claims.

“People will start to abandon the dollar as current and past economic policies create a steep rise in interest rates,” Mr Paul says.

“If you are in Treasuries, you will need to be watchful and nimble to time your escape.”

via FT.com / FTfm / Investments – Believer in small government predicts 15-year depression.

Specter: I’ll Vote No on Employee Free Choice Act

OPS:  Anyone still think he should be a Dem?

Specter: I’ll Vote No on Employee Free Choice Act – By Elana Schor

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) just dealt a big blow to the labor movement by announcing publicly that he would support a GOP filibuster of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), unions’ No. 1 priority for this year and a subject of intense lobbying on both sides of the aisle.

“My vote on this bill is very difficult for many reasons,” Specter said in a Senate floor speech, minutes after the news was broken by the Washington Independent. “It is very hard to disappoint many friends … who are urging me to vote their way.”

But Specter affirmed that he would join his fellow Republicans to block cloture on EFCA, effectively dooming the union-organizing bill’s chances of becoming law in its current form. The Pennsylvania senator, who faces a tough re-election challenge from the right, was the only GOPer to support breaking his party’s filibuster on EFCA when it last came up for a vote two years ago.

via TPMDC | Talking Points Memo | Specter: I’ll Vote No on Employee Free Choice Act.

The Morning After Pill Conspiracy

The Morning After Pill Conspiracy  – by Cristina Page

If Bush waged a war on science then yesterday the war crime tribunal spoke. The U.S. District court of the Eastern District of New York ruled that the Bush administration had politicized a once respected regulatory agency, the FDA, for bending the law to its right wing purposes. The court’s condemnation was comprehensive and brutal, all but labeling the Bushies political criminals. At issue was the FDA’s decision to overrule its staff recommendation and restrict access for adolescents to one of the most effective methods of preventing unwanted pregnancy, emergency contraception. The Court, in one excoriating stroke, reversed the first (and let’s hope last) ideological decision the FDA ever made.

The decision could not have been more dismissive of the Bush administration’s maneuverings. Mincing no words, the Court concluded that the FDA “acted in bad faith and in response to political pressure,” “departed in significant ways from the agency’s normal procedures,” and engaged in “repeated and unreasonable delays.” The court also found that the FDA’s justification for denying over-the-counter access to minors “lacks all credibility,” and was based on “fanciful and wholly unsubstantiated ‘enforcement’ concerns.” The Court ordered the FDA to reconsider it’s decision based on scientific evidence alone. In the meantime, it ordered the agency to make the contraceptive available over-the-counter to 17-year-olds within 30 days as it now does for adults.

The decision comes amidst news that US teen birth rates are spiking for the second year in a row. Those Bush era virginity pledgers are shifting smoothly into teen motherhood — the legacies of ignorance-only sex education and restricted access to and information about contraception.

via The Morning After Pill Conspiracy | CommonDreams.org.

Obama’s Plan to Save the World

Obama’s Plan to Save the World  – by Scott Ritter

While pundits and politicians wrestle with immediate issues such as the economic meltdown, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, global climate change has emerged as one of the most critical and contentious security issues of the 21st century. The new director of national intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair, has cited rising temperatures, combined with an increase in weather-related natural disasters, as a major facilitator of governmental instability worldwide, especially in underdeveloped regions. Issues of poverty, infrastructure degradation, social and political collapse and environmental decay will all be exacerbated by global warming. While the crises stemming from climate change will initially manifest themselves most critically in regions of the world already impacted by political, social and economic turmoil, there is a pronounced threat of spillover as entire populations migrate from the stricken regions into areas where humans have a better chance of survival. The severity and longevity of the consequences of severe weather-related events will make current mechanisms of containing and mitigating these crises inadequate. The scope and scale of these massive migrations would be unprecedented in modern history, as would the ensuing conflicts over basic resources such as food and water, not to mention energy.

via Obama’s Plan to Save the World | CommonDreams.org.

GM begins white-collar layoffs with 160 pink slips

GM begins white-collar layoffs with 160 pink slips

General Motors begins white-collar layoffs with 160 pink slips at technical center

DETROIT (AP) — Dreaded white-collar job cuts at General Motors Corp. started Tuesday as the wounded automaker began to deliver on promises to the government to shrink its work force so it can be profitable at lower sales levels.

On Tuesday morning, GM told 160 people at its manufacturing engineering operations in Warren, Mich., that they would be laid off as of April 1, spokesman Tom Wilkinson said.

It’s the beginning of 3,400 salaried layoffs in the U.S. and part of the 47,000 job cuts that GM wants to accomplish worldwide by the end of the year, Wilkinson said.

“It will impact every area of the business. Some of those will be through normal attrition, but there will be a significant number of involuntary separations coming from now through the early part of May,” Wilkinson said.

Tuesday’s cuts were mainly engineers, coming as GM’s North American manufacturing footprint shrinks to match reduced sales and market share.

via GM begins white-collar layoffs with 160 pink slips – Yahoo! Finance.

Farting Student Suspended From School Bus

Farting Student Suspended From School Bus

LAKELAND, Fla. — An eighth-grader was suspended from riding the school bus for three days after being accused of passing gas. The bus driver wrote on a misbehavior form that a 15-year-old teen passing gas on the bus Monday to make the other children laugh, creating a stench so bad that it was difficult to breathe. The bus driver handed the teen the suspension form the next day.

Polk County school officials said there’s no rule against flatulence, but there are rules against causing a disturbance on the bus.

The teen said he wasn’t the one passing gas.

via Farting Student Suspended From School Bus.

AIG’s Six Year Saga Of Alleged Fraud

AIG’s Six Year Saga Of Alleged Fraud

The recent outcry over $165 million in post-bailout bonus payments has put AIG on the hot seat. But, in fact, the bonus disbursement is perhaps the least serious in a string of actions by the insurance giant that span six years and involve several cases of alleged fraud.

“AIG has a culture of complicity. “You don’t get into these kinds of problems by having a good corporate culture,” said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and the former chief economist at the US International Trade Commission. “Clearly this company has had endemic problems and it’d be best if we broke it up and sold it off so others can run its parts.”

AIG is currently facing investigations by the New York Attorney General’s office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the British Serious Fraud Office.

via AIG’s Six Year Saga Of Alleged Fraud.

Staving off the global food crisis

Staving off the global food crisis

THE END OF FOOD

by Paul Roberts

Sometimes an author gets lucky, or is truly prescient. He can work for years researching a complex and obscure topic, only to see it hit the headlines just as his book is published. Suddenly, the topic is hot.

Food is hot. If high supermarket prices have not grabbed the average citizen’s attention, the world food crisis surely has. With food riots from Haiti to Egypt and panic-buying of rice in Hong Kong and Vietnam, food scarcity is the topic of the day. Following on from his earlier best-selling book The End of Oil, Paul Roberts’s The End of Food taps into these timely concerns.

Staving off the global food crisis

L. LIWANAG/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Supporters of the Gabriela political party protest against rising food prices near president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s palace in the Philippines in April.

Food crises tend to recur in history. The most severe in recent times was the world food crisis of 1973–75. Even the Old Testament of the Bible talks of years of glut and famine, and the role of good governance in smoothing out supply.

Are our worries about food different this time? Perhaps in the future we will see constantly high prices, the re-establishment of food scarcity in the developed world after decades of surplus, and widespread hunger. Or perhaps a technological solution will lessen the tension between a growing human population and the natural resources that feed it. Will there be a continuation of the trends that Roberts documents so well, of perpetually lower prices, greater reliance on world trade to source the cheapest commodities, the spread of meat-intensive diets with increasing affluence, and more land used to grow corn for ethanol to fuel our cars?

via Access : Staving off the global food crisis : Nature.

EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits

BREAKING

EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits – By DINA CAPPIELLO,

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency is putting on hold hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits until it can evaluate the projects’ impacts on streams and wetlands.

The decision was announced Tuesday by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. It targets a controversial practice by coal mining companies that dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands.

It could delay more than a hundred permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.

The EPA also denied two permits the Army Corps of Engineers was planning to issue that would allow companies to fill thousands of feet of streams with mining waste in West Virginia and Kentucky.

The agency says the projects could damage aquatic resources.

via EPA halts hundreds of mountaintop mining permits.

UK population must fall to 30m, says Porritt

UK population must fall to 30m, says Porritt

JONATHON PORRITT, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society.

Porritt’s call will come at this week’s annual conference of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), of which he is patron.

The trust will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m if the country wants to feed itself sustainably.

Porritt said: “Population growth, plus economic growth, is putting the world under terrible pressure.

via UK population must fall to 30m, says Porritt – Times Online.

India Inc. gets White House meeting on H-1B visas

OPS:  Phuck ‘em.  Hire Americans.

India Inc. gets White House meeting on H-1B visas

Head of business delegation from India said to describe session with Obama economic adviser Lawrence Summers as ‘positive’

A delegation from one of India’s largest business groups visited Washington last week to make a case for the H-1B visa program, among other political topics. And it was a group with enough clout to meet with top White House officials.

The meeting likely would have gone unnoticed had it not been for reports in the Indian news media. Heading the delegation was Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and CEO of Bharti Enterprises Ltd., India’s largest mobile phone operator. The U.S. officials at the meeting included Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council (NEC) and assistant to President Obama for economic policy.

via India Inc. gets White House meeting on H-1B visas.

DARE Admits Failure

GAO: Research Shows That DARE Is A Failure, Alternative Prevention Programs Do Exist

The General Accounting Office released a review of current research regarding alcohol and other drug abuse prevention programs, particularly DARE, on Jan. 16, 2003. The review, Youth Illicit Drug Use Prevention: DARE Long-Term Evaluations and Federal Efforts to Identify Effective Programs, GAO-03-172R, was prepared in response to a request from Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL).

The GAO report found that “In brief, the six long-term evaluations of the DARE elementary school curriculum that we reviewed found no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who received DARE in the fifth or sixth grade (the intervention group) and students who did not )the control group). Three of the evaluations reported that the control groups of students were provided other drug use prevention education. All of the evaluations suggested that DARE had no statistically significant long-term effect on preventing youth illicit drug use. Of the six evaluations we reviewed, five also reported on students’ attitudes toward illicit drug use and resistance to peer pressure and found no significant differences between the intervention and control groups over the long term. Two of these evaluations found that the DARE students showed stronger negative attitudes about illicit drug use and improved social skills about illicit drug use about 1 year after receiving the program. These positive effects diminished over time.” (p. 2)

Fortunately, the report noted that proven alternatives do exist. “HHS and Education have identified several programs that show evidence of effectiveness in preventing youth substance abuse and promoted their use in schools and communities. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within HHS and Education use expert panels to review program information that the programs’ developers or others submit and rank the programs on several criteria, such as the scientific rigor of their evaluations and the overall usefulness of their findings for preventing substance abuse. Only those programs that produce a consistent pattern of positive results that have been verified scientifically are recognized as effective, according to SAMHSA.”

via Common Sense for Drug Policy: DARE Program Flawed.

Fox News Attacks Barney Frank For Accurately Characterizing Scalia’s Views As Homophobic

Fox News Attacks Barney Frank For Accurately Characterizing Scalia’s Views As Homophobic

In a recent interview with gay news site 365gay.com, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said he hopes the Supreme Court takes up the issue of gay marriage — but not with its current conservative makeup, led by “that homophobe Antonin Scalia.” Not surprisingly, Scalia’s defenders at Fox News decried Frank’s comments, insisting that Scalia doesn’t attack the gay community directly. “Homophobe is a really strong word,” scolded Fox Supreme Court reporter Shannon Bream. Other Fox hosts leaped to Scalia’s defense:

MEGYN KELLY: In defense of Justice Scalia, in that dissent Lawrence v. Texas, he wasn’t necessarily harsh, he just made clear his position…on homosexual sodomy.

BREAM: There was no direct attack by Justice Scalia on the homosexual community, nothing along those lines. It was a very technical legal argument.

Sean Hannity insisted Scalia is “one of the most brilliant jurists of all time. Absolutely!” Watch a compilation:

via Think Progress » Fox News Attacks Barney Frank For Accurately Characterizing Scalia’s Views As Homophobic.

Al Gore to rally action around climate change with new book.

Al Gore to rally action around climate change with new book.

Today, Al Gore announced that he will be publishing a new book, “Our Choice,” set to be released on Nov. 3, 2009. In a press release put out by his publisher, Rodale, Gore said:

An Inconvenient Truth reached millions of people with the message that the climate crisis is threatening the future of human civilization and that it must and can be solved. Now that the need for urgent action is even clearer with the alarming new findings of the last three years, it is time for a comprehensive global plan that actually solves the climate crisis. Our Choice will answer that call.

As with “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from his new book to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

via Think Progress » Al Gore to rally action around climate change with new book..

Cost of uninsured adds $1,100/year to premiums of insured families.

Cost of uninsured adds $1,100/year to premiums of insured families.

When the uninsured cannot pay for the care they receive, health care providers shift costs to Americans with insurance in the form of higher premiums. A new report from The Wonk Room’s Ben Furnas and Peter Harbage concludes that a failure to continuously cover all Americans accounts “for roughly 8 percent of the average health insurance premium“:

This cost-shift amounts to $1,100 per average family premium in 2009 and $410 per average individual premium. By 2013, assuming the cost shift remains the same percentage of premium costs, the cost shift will be approximately $480 for an individual policy and $1,300 for a family policy.

Read the full report here.

via Think Progress » Cost of uninsured adds $1,100/year to premiums of insured families..

A major difference between conservatives and progressives

A major difference between conservatives and progressives (updated below) – Glenn Greewald

One of the linchpins of the Bush presidency, especially during the first term (and well into the second, until he became a major political liability), was the lock-step uncritical reverence – often bordering on cult-like glorification – which the “conservative” movement devoted to the “Commander-in-Chief.” An entire creepy cottage industry arose – led not by fringe elements but by right-wing opinion-making leaders – with cringe-inducing products paying homage to Bush as “The First Great Leader of the 21st Century” (John Podhoretz); our “Rebel-in-Chief” (Fred Barnes); “The Right Man” (David Frum); the New Reagan (Jonah Goldberg); “a man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius” who is our “Big Brother” (John Hinderaker); and “the triumph of the seemingly average American man,” the supremely “responsible” leader who, when there’s a fire, will “help direct the rig to the right house and count the kids coming out and say, ‘Where’s Sally’?” (Peggy Noonan).

Even as Bush implemented one massive expansion of government power after the next — the very “un-conservative” policies they long claimed to oppose — there was nothing but (at best) the most token and muted objections from them. The handful of conservatives who did object were cast aside as traitors to the cause, and criticisms of the President became equated with an overt lack of patriotism. Uncritical support for the Leader was the overarching, defining attribute of conservatism, so much so that even Bill Kristol, in The New York Times, acknowledged: “Bush was the movement and the cause.”

via A major difference between conservatives and progressives – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Japanese man certified as double A-bomb victim

Japanese man certified as double A-bomb victim

TOKYO (AP) — A 93-year-old Japanese man has become the first person certified as a survivor of both U.S. atomic bombings at the end of World War II, officials said Tuesday.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi had already been a certified “hibakusha,” or radiation survivor, of the Aug. 9, 1945, atomic bombing in Nagasaki, but has now been confirmed as surviving the attack on Hiroshima three days earlier as well, city officials said.

Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city. He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki just in time for the second attack, city officials said.

“As far as we know, he is the first one to be officially recognized as a survivor of atomic bombings in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Nagasaki city official Toshiro Miyamoto said. “It’s such an unfortunate case, but it is possible that there are more people like him.”

via The Associated Press: Japanese man certified as double A-bomb victim.

Geithner’s Plan: Like an Oil Spill

Geithner’s Plan: Like an Oil Spill  – by Laura Flanders

Twenty years ago this week, the Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling ten millions gallons of filthy oil over 10,000 square miles of Prince William Sound. The Exxon corporation spent the next two decades fighting paying punitive damages to the victims. Announced, by coincidence, on the anniversary of that disaster, the Obama administration bank rescue plan is about as comforting as Exxon’s clean up.

The economy’s drowning in bad assets; trillions of dollars worth. The Treasury proposes renaming that bad stuff “legacy assets” and hopes to drive up the price by paying private investors to buy them. Go ahead and buy — the Treasury says — the taxpayer will take the hit if those toxic assets turn out to be, well, toxic.

via Geithner’s Plan: Like an Oil Spill.

Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?

Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?

AS tens of thousands of people recently strolled among booths of the nation’s largest organic and natural foods show here, munching on fair-trade chocolate and sipping organic wine, a few dozen pioneers of the industry sneaked off to an out-of-the-way conference room.

Although unit sales of organic food have leveled off and even declined lately, versus a year earlier, the mood among those crowded into the conference room was upbeat as they awaited a private screening of a documentary called “Food Inc.” — a withering critique of agribusiness and industrially produced food.

They also gathered to relish their changing political fortunes, courtesy of the Obama administration.

via Is a Food Revolution Now in Season? – NYTimes.com.

Fiscal Plan Fails both Markets and Taxpayers

Fiscal Plan Fails both Markets and Taxpayers -  by Joseph E. Stiglitz

Let’s be clear: President Barack Obama inherited an economy in freefall and could not possibly have turned things around in the short time since his election. Unfortunately, what he is doing is not enough.

The real failings in the Obama recovery program lie not in the stimulus package — though it is too heavily weighted toward tax cuts, and much of it merely offsets cutbacks by states — but in its efforts to revive financial markets. America’s failures provide important lessons to countries around the world that are or will be facing increasing problems with their banks:

via Fiscal Plan Fails both Markets and Taxpayers | CommonDreams.org.

With Alzheimer’s, Health-Care Costs Could Triple

With Alzheimer’s, Health-Care Costs Could Triple

Experts urge greater investment in research to stem ‘crippling’ expenses

TUESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) — In a new report, the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that Alzheimer’s disease and dementia triple the health-care costs for afflicted seniors.

In addition, people who live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities

pay an average of $16,689 in out-of-pocket costs each year, researchers found. The association also estimates that nearly 10 million unpaid caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease spent 8.5 billion hours in 2008 watching over their loved ones, care valued at an estimated $94 billion.

“These health-care costs are crippling, not just to society at large but to families and individuals,” said Angela Geiger, chief strategy officer with the Alzheimer’s Association, which released the report Tuesday.

About 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, according to the association’s Facts and Figures report for 2009. The number includes about 14 percent of people aged 71 and older.

via With Alzheimer’s, Health-Care Costs Could Triple – US News and World Report.

Nearly All Native Hawaiian Birds At Risk Of Extinction: Report

Nearly All Native Hawaiian Birds At Risk Of Extinction: Report

via Nearly All Native Hawaiian Birds At Risk Of Extinction: Report.

Mount Redoubt Ash Begins Falling On Alaskans

Mount Redoubt Ash Begins Falling On Alaskans

WILLOW, Alaska — Rita Jackson said she was taking a sip of coffee when she tasted something funny on her lips _ ash.

Alaska’s Mount Redoubt’s first cluster of eruptions in nearly 20 years _ a total of six were detected between Sunday night and Monday night _ sent a volcanic ash plume more than 9 miles into the air and down into nooks and crannies.

Ash missed the state’s largest city, but dusted small communities north of Anchorage. The National Weather Service had an ash advisory in effect until 5 a.m. Tuesday for the Susitna Valley. There were no reported injuries.

via Mount Redoubt Ash Begins Falling On Alaskans.

New Solar Refrigerator Prototype from Chile

New Solar Refrigerator Prototype from Chile

Even if each time the words ‘solar refrigerator’ come in the news it sounds like a groundbreaking story, truth is the idea of using heat to create cold is pretty old. A French inventor came up with a concept to do this as far back as 1858, there are records that show a machine prototype from 1935, and the concept of evaporative cooling has been widely explored, as Lloyd notes in a previous article.

However, it’s always interesting to see new prototypes. This one comes from South America and is based on adsorption, using methane as gas and active carbon as the absorbent solid material. Get the details and larger pics in the extended.

Details of the Solar Refrigerator Prototype from Chile

The fridge was developed by mechanic engineering students Frederik Knop, Nicolás Ripoll, and Olivier Bernade, the last one a French exchange student.

via New Solar Refrigerator Prototype from Chile : TreeHugger.

British Pubs May Be Becoming An Endangered Species

British Pubs May Be Becoming An Endangered Species

LONDON — Nothing can stay the same forever although Britain is one country where they try like the Dickens to fight that basic truth. The lyric of an old World War I song said it best:
There’ll always be an England
While there’s a country lane,
Wherever there’s a cottage small
Beside a field of grain.
And down the lane from that cottage beside the field of grain there will always be a pub serving imperial pints (20 ounces) of beer. Well, that is changing rapidly. (Although you can still find some authentic pubs.)

via British Pubs May Be Becoming An Endangered Species.

NJ Scraps Brazilian Wax Ban: Salons “Were Panicking”

NJ Scraps Brazilian Wax Ban: Salons “Were Panicking”

TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey is smoothing out differences over a plan to ban bare-it-all bikini waxing.

The state on Friday decided to reverse course on the proposal after angry salon owners complained about losing business ahead of swimsuit season.

“It was an unnecessary issue,” said spa owner Linda Orsuto. “In New Jersey especially, where the government has been picking our pockets for so long, it was like, ‘Just stay out of our pants, will you?’”

via NJ Scraps Brazilian Wax Ban: Salons “Were Panicking”.

Obama’s Global Op-Ed: “A Time For Global Action”

Obama’s Global Op-Ed: “A Time For Global Action”

More than 30 papers around the world ran an op-ed today by President Obama arguing for “the urgent need for global economic cooperation.”

According to the White House, the op-ed ran in the following papers:

1. Al Watan (Gulf States)
2. Arab Times (Gulf States)
3. Asharq Al Awsat (Arab-wide paper in Arabic)
4. The Australian (Australia)
5. Baltimore Sun (United States)
6. Bangkok Post (Thailand)
7. Chicago Tribune (United States)
8. Clarin (Argentina)
9. Corriere della Sera (Italy)
10. Die Welt (Germany)
11. El Pais (Madrid)
12. El Mercurio (Chile)
13. Eleftyropiea (Greece)
14. Estado de Sao Paulo (Brazil)
15. Gulf News (Gulf States)
16. The Hindustan Times/ The Hindu (India)
17. International Herald Tribune (London)
18. Kristeligt Dagblad (Denmark)
19. Le Monde (Paris)
20. Lidove Noviny (Czech)
21. Los Angeles Times (United States)
22. The News (Pakistan)
23. NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands)
24. Saudi Gazette (Saudi Arabia)
25. South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
26. Straits Times (Singapore)
27. Sunday Times (South Africa)
28. Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden)
29. Syndey Morning Herald (Australia)
30. WProst (Poland)
31. Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)

Here’s the full text of the piece:

via Obama’s Global Op-Ed: “A Time For Global Action”.

O’Reilly Producer Stalks Amanda Terkel: THE VIDEO

O’Reilly Producer Stalks Amanda Terkel: THE VIDEO

So, over the weekend, Fox News sent their employees to stalk Amanda Terkel, a blogger for Think Progress.

They followed away from DC, into Virginia, across that state, and finally ambushed her on her vacation, in order to ask a bunch of frenzied, crackpotty question in an attempt to make her look fearful, agitated and incoherent on national teevee. They did this on behalf of another person in their employ, the thin-skinned shouty moron Bill O’Reilly.

via O’Reilly Producer Stalks Amanda Terkel: THE VIDEO.

Bernanke, Geithner Testify On AIG For Congress

Bernanke, Geithner Testify On AIG For Congress

the Fed chief said he wanted to sue to stop insurance giant AIG from paying millions in bonuses,

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on Congress Tuesday to grant him new powers to regulate huge financial companies like insurance giant AIG, whose failure would pose a grave danger to the U.S. financial system and the broader economy.

Specifically, Geithner wants powers similar to those of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which has authority to seize control of banks, take over their bad assets and sell good ones to competitors.

“AIG highlights broad failures of our financial system,” Geithner told the House Financial Services Committee. “We must ensure that our country never faces this situation again.”

via Bernanke, Geithner Testify On AIG For Congress.

NAACP leader blasts Huckabee for comparing abortion to slavery

NAACP leader blasts Huckabee for comparing abortion to slavery – Ron Brynaert

A NAACP leader is blasting former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee for comparing abortion to slavery.

Huckabee’s comments were made “Monday speech during a fundraiser for an anti-abortion group,” the Associated Press reports.

“The half-hour speech was the keynote address during a luncheon fundraiser for the Jefferson City-based Vitae Caring Foundation,” the AP notes. “The organization, created in 1991, sponsors advertisements across the country encouraging women to seek alternatives to abortion.”

via The Raw Story | NAACP leader blasts Huckabee for comparing abortion to slavery.

It’s Time for a New Monetary System

It’s Time for a New Monetary System – by Richard C. Cook

Obama Economic Program: Increased Bondage to Wall Street Billionaires:

This article previews the author’s new six-part video series scheduled for release April 2: “Credit as a Public Utility: The Solution to the Economic Crisis.”`

The Obama administration is spending hundreds of billions of dollars trying to persuade the banking system to restart lending. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to create hundreds of billions more of new bank reserves by purchasing mortgage-related debt. With Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner working together, “the initiative will seek to entice private investors, including big hedge funds, to participate by offering billions of dollars in low-interest loans to finance the purchases. The government will share the risks if the assets fall further in price.” (Martin Crutsinger, AP) Finally, President Obama is taking over the distinction of being the biggest Keynesian in history with a fiscal year 2009 deficit of $1.75 trillion.

The cancer of debt grows by the day. According to Michael Hodges’ famed “Grandfather Economic Report”: “America has become more a debt ‘junkie’ than ever before, 
with total debt of $57 trillion, and the highest debt ratio in history. That’s $186, 717 per man, woman and child.”

With the federal bailouts of the financial system and the recession, the debt load has increased by $4 trillion in the last six months. What are we going to do with even more debt coming?

The growth in debt will be impossible for households to deal with when more then half a million jobs are still being lost per month. Impossible too for U.S. businesses when the drop-off of consumer spending reflects not only job loss but also a new propensity to actually save a portion of our earnings after the mortgage-based spending spree of the last decade.

via It’s Time for a New Monetary System.

O’Reilly’s sexism: Women need male breadwinners, should stay home to watch the kids.

O’Reilly’s sexism: Women need male breadwinners, should stay home to watch the kids.

Last night — before engaging in a baseless, misleading attack against ThinkProgress’s Amanda Terkel — Bill O’Reilly launched his ire at single mothers who dare to have children without fathers. He said such decisions make women poorer because they need male breadwinners, and he insisted that mothers should be at home with the children anyway:

via Think Progress » O’Reilly’s sexism: Women need male breadwinners, should stay home to watch the kids..

Moody’s strips GE of triple-A rating

Moody’s strips GE of triple-A rating  – By Francesco Guerrera

General Electric’s financial health came under renewed focus on Monday as Moody’s stripped the conglomerate of the triple-A rating it had held for 42 years and challenged its executives’ pledge that its finance arm would be profitable this year.

A downgrade by Moody’s was expected following this month’s decision by its rival Standard & Poor’s to lower its rating by one notch to AA-plus.

However, Moody’s went a step further, cutting GE’s rating by two notches from triple A to Aa2, saying the financial crisis had increased the risks associated with GE Capital.

The credit rating agency, which has rated GE as triple A since 1967, also warned that further writedowns on GE Capital’s large portfolio of real estate and consumer loans could tip the unit into the red during 2009

via FT.com / Companies / Industrials – Moody’s strips GE of triple-A rating.

Fears of record hedge fund withdrawals

Fears of record hedge fund withdrawals  – By James Mackintosh in London

Hedge fund investors believe the industry will see even bigger withdrawals this year than last, when record levels of cash were pulled from the sector.

A survey of investors by Deutsche Bank found a third expect more than $200bn to be withdrawn, after a net $155bn was taken out last year, according to calculations by Chicago consultancy Hedge Fund Research.

Only a quarter of investors expect net inflows into the industry, and 82 per cent of the 1,000 surveyed said redemptions were the biggest issue hedge fund managers face.

Deutsche found that most investors expected more than a fifth of hedge funds to go out of business this year, following a record year for closures last year, when performance was its worst on record.

via FT.com / Companies / Financial Services – Fears of record hedge fund withdrawals.

Retiring Old Cars, Creating New Jobs

Retiring Old Cars, Creating New Jobs

A new government program would use incentives to encourage consumers to trade in older cars for new, fuel-efficient models.

Legislation now moving through Congress to encourage consumers to trade in their old clunkers for newer, energy-efficient cars is well-timed to help beleaguered automakers, lower our dependence on foreign oil, and clean up the air we breathe. The programs outlined in the legislation would offer premium rates for older vehicles as an incentive for consumers to purchase more fuel-efficient models, and would be complemented by a new lending program launched this week by the Obama administration to help automakers and dealers sell more cars.

But first, the legislative details. Two new legislative proposals by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) would introduce a so-called “cash for clunkers” program to provide incentives to registered owners of older high-fuel-consumption cars to replace these cars with fuel-efficient models or vouchers for public transportation.

via Retiring Old Cars, Creating New Jobs.

The Inefficient Individual Health Insurance Market

The case for Health Care Reform

The Inefficient Individual Health Insurance Market -  By Peter Harbage

Download the full memo (pdf)

The federal government projects that Americans will spend over $2.5 trillion on health care in 2009 alone; roughly $100 billion of this goes to the cost of administering private insurance. And nowhere are those costs higher than in the individual market—that is, when people purchase coverage directly through the insurer and not through an employer.

There are a variety of reasons why the individual market is more expensive, including that insurers screen those applying for individual insurance to make sure they are a “good risk.” In other words, the insurers spend a significant amount of money to insure only the healthiest people. Sometimes called the nongroup market, more than 14 million Americans get their health coverage on the individual market.

Health reform is an opportunity to drastically reduce administrative costs in the individual market. Progressives have called for health reform where all individuals would be able to purchase coverage through an exchange in which individuals could be pooled together to purchase insurance through a common marketplace. This could greatly reduce—if not eliminate—the individual market’s extra costs. In fact, the Center for American Progress Action Fund projects that it is possible to reduce health care administrative spending by more than $3.0 billion in 2009 and more than $40 billion over 10 years if all Americans had the option—and chose to—purchase coverage through a group market, such as an exchange or an employer.

via The Inefficient Individual Health Insurance Market.

The Obama Deception HQ Full length version

OPS:  Keep in mind that this is Alex Jones (Infowars).  Jones makes some good points but drives closely to the edge and can go over the edge easily.   You be the judge.  This video is 2 hours.

YouTube – The Obama Deception HQ Full length version.

Our Surge Is Working!

Cartoons.

Be Careful of Colon Cleanse Scams!

OPS:  Keep an eye on your Colon

Be Careful of Colon Cleanse Scams!

Background: It has come to our attention that due to the recent popularity of colon cleanse in our society there has unfortunately been many companies trying to cash in on this craze by putting out colon cleanse products that have very few active ingredients (if any) and selling them online and in stores. To combat this we have spent the last 5 months testing over 35 different readily available colon cleaning products using our very strict criteria and standards to find out which ones actually work as promised.

Our Results:

We found 3 products that fit all of our criteria and had adequate levels of active ingredient. A’ 3 of the products we list below were very potent cleansers and weight loss catalysts while not causing any stomach discomfort or irritation at all. Many of our participants lost 15 lbs in just a few days after they started cleansing. Please read our reviews below and choose a cleanse that has proven results.

via Colon Cleanse Report.net – Colon Cleanse Reviews, Colon Cleanse, Colon Clean, Free Colon Cleanse, Clean Colon, Colon, Colon Cancer, Weight Loss, Lose Weight, Colonoscopy.

McClatchy

McClatchy.

Comics and Editorial Cartoons: Tom Toles

Comics and Editorial Cartoons: Tom Toles on Yahoo! News.

Coalition takes aim at moderate Dems

OPS:  Politico, being a Reichwing organization itself, sees right wing Dems as moderate.  Whoda Thunk?  These “moderate”  Dems are Blue Dogs and worse.

Coalition takes aim at moderate Dems

Forget party unity in the Obama era. Liberals are fed up with moderate Democrats, and a coalition of left-leaning groups is targeting Democratic senators who have been critical of the president’s $3.7 trillion budget proposal.

Campaign for America’s Future and USAction will roll out a multifront media campaign Tuesday targeting Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), who has been the most vocal in his opposition to the budget.

Bayh is forming a group of moderate Democrats in the Senate modeled after the powerful House Blue Dog coalition, and the Senate liberal coalition is promising to “dog” those senators on where they stand.

“We just want them to take a stance. Either they are for him or against him,” said USAction spokeswoman CeCe Grant. “We’re just basically saying, ‘What side are you on?’”

Grant said the coalition would be releasing radio, TV and online ads in the coming days.

via Coalition takes aim at moderate Dems – Alex Isenstadt – POLITICO.com.

Kennedy returns to Hill as work on health plan is gearing up

Kennedy returns to Hill as work on health plan is gearing up

National service is also on agenda for ailing senator

WASHINGTON – Senator Edward M. Kennedy is back in Washington this week to shepherd a bipartisan bill that would greatly expand funding for national service and to hold a series of meetings on healthcare as part of an effort to draft a massive overhaul plan this summer.

It would be the longest stint on Capitol Hill of the Obama administration for Kennedy, who has been in Florida recuperating and undergoing treatment for brain cancer. He returned to Washington earlier this month for a White House healthcare forum and before that returned briefly to cast a key vote last month on the economic stimulus package. On Obama’s inauguration day, he suffered a seizure at a congressional luncheon and was held overnight for what doctors said was fatigue.

via Kennedy returns to Hill as work on health plan is gearing up – The Boston Globe.

The New McCarthyism?

The New McCarthyism?

Government Faces Challenge to Practice of Denying Foreign Scholars Entry Based on Political Beliefs

In January 2004, Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss professor of Muslim studies and visiting fellow at St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford, was offered a tenured position as a professor of religion, conflict and peacebuilding at the University of Notre Dame. He applied for and received a visa to come to the United States that May. But just nine days before the 44-year-old academic and his family were to move to Indiana, Ramadan was informed by the United States Embassy in Switzerland that his visa had been revoked.

At a press conference on August 25, a spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security said that Ramadan’s visa had been revoked based on a part of the USA Patriot Act that allows the government to exclude those who have “endorsed or espoused” terrorism.

via The Washington Independent » The New McCarthyism?.

LET IT DIE: Rushkoff on the economy

LET IT DIE: Rushkoff on the economy – by Douglas Rushkoff

With any luck, the economy will never recover.

In a perfect world, the stock market would decline another 70 or 80 percent along with the shuttering of about that fraction of our nation’s banks. Yes, unemployment would rise as hundreds of thousands of formerly well-paid brokers and bankers lost their jobs; but at least they would no longer be extracting wealth at our expense. They would need to be fed, but that would be a lot cheaper than keeping them in the luxurious conditions they’re enjoying now. Even Bernie Madoff costs us less in jail than he does on Park Avenue.

Alas, I’m not being sarcastic. If you had spent the last decade, as I have, reviewing the way a centralized economic plan ravaged the real world over the past 500 years, you would appreciate the current financial meltdown for what it is: a comeuppance. This is the sound of the other shoe dropping; it’s what happens when the chickens come home to roost; it’s justice, equilibrium reasserting itself, and ultimately a good thing.

I started writing a book three years ago through which I hoped to help people see the artificial and ultimately dehumanizing landscape of corporatism on which we conduct so much of our lives. It’s not just that I saw the downturn coming—it’s that I feared it wouldn’t come quickly or clearly enough to help us wake up from the self-destructive fantasy of an eternally expanding economic frontier. The planet, and its people, were being taxed beyond their capacity to produce. Try arguing that to a banker whose livelihood is based on perpetuating that illusion, or to people whose retirement incomes depend on just one more generation falling for the scam. It’s like arguing to Brooklyn’s latest crop of brownstone buyers that they’ve invested in real estate at the very moment the whole market is about to tank. (I did; it wasn’t pretty.)

via LET IT DIE: Rushkoff on the economy | ARTHUR MAGAZINE – WE FOUND THE OTHERS.

Geithner’s Last Stand

Geithner’s Last Stand – Robert Kuttner

The political and pundit classes have spent the past week expressing outrage over bonuses paid to AIG executives. In case you have been on Jupiter, this is the company that has received $183 billion from taxpayers to cover part of its gambling losses that helped crash the entire system.

The indignation over AIG will serve a useful purpose if it focuses public attention on the much larger issue — the failure of the entire approach that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House economic czar Larry Summers are using to rescue the banking system.

It would be hard to find two administrations more different than Bush and Obama. Yet, when it comes to bailing out financial firms, Geithner’s approach is a seamless continuation of his predecessor, Hank Paulson’s. It makes you wonder who is the permanent government. Perhaps Wall Street?

via Robert Kuttner: Geithner’s Last Stand.

Video: The New Hard Times

13 Year Old interviews his 82 yr old grandmother about the Great Depression

The New Hard Times – The New York Times.