Archive for November, 2009

Looking at Link Between Religion, Prosperity at National Level

The world’s most prosperous (and happiest) countries are also its least religious, new research states.

From Dostoyevsky to right-wing commentator Ann Coulter we are warned of the perils of godlessness. “If there is no God,” Dostoyevsky wrote, “everything is permitted.” Coulter routinely attributes our nation’s most intractable troubles to the moral vacuum of atheism.

But a growing body of research in what one sociologist describes as the “emerging field of secularity” is challenging long-held assumptions about the relationship of religion and effective governance.

In a paper posted recently on the online journal Evolutionary Psychology, independent researcher Gregory S. Paul reports a strong correlation within First World democracies between socioeconomic well-being and secularity. In short, prosperity is highest in societies where religion is practiced least.

Full Story Culture & Society Articles | Looking at Link Between Religion, Prosperity at National Level | Miller-McCune Online Magazine.

47,000 Women Could Die As a Result of the New Mammogram Guidelines

By George Lakoff –

Cost-benefit analysis can kill. Scaling back on mammograms, as a government task force suggested, could result in 47,000 unnecessary deaths.

Cost-benefit analysis can kill. The failure to distinguish statistics from arithmetic can kill. In the current debate over mammograms, the number of women projected to be at risk of death due to cost-benefit analysis is about 47,000.

That is the approximate number projected to die by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), if its recommendations on scaling back mammograms had been accepted. It is the task force’s number, if you do the arithmetic, which it apparently did not.

USPSTF statistics say that the life of “only” one woman in 1,900 will be saved if mammograms start at age 40 instead of age 50. In other words, a 40-year-old woman’s “risk” of dying from breast cancer in the next 10 years is only 1 in 1,900. That seems like no risk at all. 1 divided by 1,900 equals .000526. About half a woman per 1,000. Minuscule, right?

Now, how many women in America would be affected?

Full Story 47,000 Women Could Die As a Result of the New Mammogram Guidelines | Reproductive Justice and Gender | AlterNet.

Challenging China

Ralph Nader –

There was something both sad and strange about President Obama’s weak presence in China last week.

Sad because he arrived with no seeming goals and left empty handed just after visiting the ancient Great Wall, which he said gave him a perspective on time.

Strange because he allowed the Chinese rulers to quarantine his stops from the Chinese people—whether in person or on television. His main public meeting was with young Communist League students who came with scripted questions.

All the outward signs were that Mr. Obama had no cards to play. The U.S. is by far the world’s biggest debtor. It was hard to challenge his Chinese hosts who made crisp mention of our government’s deep deficits and deficit spending. They did not have to describe our weakened economy, its declining dollar and the huge indebtedness that the U.S. has with its Chinese creditors. Everybody knows how rickety America’s global financial situation is.

Full Story Challenging China – The Nader Page.

Iraq war inquiry: Britain heard US drumbeat for invasion before 9/11

*  UK dismissed idea in 2001 as having no basis in law
*  Terror attacks ended US support for ‘containment’

Tony Blair‘s government knew that prominent members of the Bush administration wanted to topple Saddam Hussein years before the invasion but initially distanced itself from the prospect knowing it would be unlawful, it was disclosed at the Iraq inquiry today.

British intelligence also dismissed claims by elements in the US administration that the Iraqi leader was linked to Osama bin Laden, it heard.

Evidence given at the opening day of the inquiry, chaired by the former top civil servant Sir John Chilcot, painted a picture of a Whitehall slowly realising the significance of George Bush‘s election in November 2000 on US policy towards Iraq.

Full Story Iraq war inquiry: Britain heard US drumbeat for invasion before 9/11 | UK news | The Guardian.

Beware of a false flag attack on the US to justify “defensive” war with Iran

A false flag attack is a military operation that includes a nation attacking itself disguised as an attack coming from another nation. The purpose of a false flag attack is propaganda for public support for war on a chosen target. The best known historical example is Nazi Germany’s attack on Poland under Operation Himmler.

If US “leadership” is committed to war with Iran, a predictable strategy is false flag. This would involve a US target being attacked, US lives lost, outraged political rhetoric, media propaganda, and a “defensive” US military action.

Former National Security Advisor and founding member of the Trilateral Commission Zbigniew Brzezinski warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2007 that this is possible to begin war with Iran. He described a “plausible scenario for a military collision with Iran,” which would include “some provocation in Iraq or a terrorist act in the US blamed on Iran, culminating in a ‘defensive’ US military action against Iran that plunges a lonely America into a spreading and deepening quagmire eventually ranging across Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Full Story Beware of a false flag attack on the US to justify “defensive” war with Iran.

Greg Craig and Obama’s worsening civil liberties record

Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com

Over at Daily Kos, Barbara Morrill complains that The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen “is Karl Rove dressed up in pseudo-sadness” because — according to her — Cohen today “whines that the Attorney General announced that the United States follows the rule of law” by giving trials to 5 Guantanamo detainees. I don’t disagree with Morrill’s general assessment of Cohen, but his point today is actually the exact opposite of what she describes. Cohen wasn’t accusing Obama of lacking moral clarity because he’s giving trials to a few of the 9/11 defendants; rather, Cohen argues that the lack of moral clarity comes from denying trials to many, perhaps most, of the detainees, who will receive only military commissions or be subjected to indefinite detention with no trials:

The Barack Obama of that Philadelphia speech would not have let his attorney general, Eric Holder, announce the new policy for trying Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other Sept. 11 defendants in criminal court, as if this were a mere departmental issue and not one of momentous policy. And the Barack Obama of the speech would have enunciated a principle of law and not an ad hoc system in which some alleged terrorists are tried in civilian courts and some before military tribunals. What is the principle in that: What works, works? Try putting that one on the Liberty Bell.

I point to this because it highlights an extreme logical fallacy coming from some Obama supporters ever since Holder announced the Guantanamo policy — a fallacy that is the inevitable by-product of the administration’s incoherent positions. In order to defend Obama, it’s necessary simultaneously to embrace these self-negating premises:

Full Story Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Washington Post To Close New York, Chicago, LA Bureaus

The Washington Post plans to close bureaus in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

A Post story by media reporter Howard Kurtz confirmed the news reported by The Washington City Paper. Kurtz:

The six correspondents who work in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago will be offered reassignments in Washington, while three news assistants will be let go.

The money-saving move, coming on the heels of four rounds of early-retirement buyouts and the closing or merging of several sections, is the clearest sign yet of the newspaper's shrinking horizons in an era of diminished resources.

Kurtz goes on to quote Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, who traveled to New York to deliver the news to the bureau staff in person.

The City Paper has published the memo sent to Post staff informing them of the move:

Full Story Washington Post To Close New York, Chicago, LA Bureaus.

OPS: The Closing down of our society, right before our eyes.  Police State is at the end of this road.

The Budget Deficit Crisis: The Blame Is Bipartisan

Dean Baker:

The country is being bombarded with stories claiming that record budget deficits threaten our children’s future and jeopardize the credibility of the dollar. These stories are a serious problem — they have hugely confused the public about the nature of the country’s economic crisis. And both parties share the blame.

Starting with the reality behind the scare stories — trillion-dollar deficits are really huge relative to the money that any of us will ever see in our lifetime. But this is an absurd measure. The United States is a country with more than 300 million people. It doesn’t matter that a trillion dollars is a huge amount to any of us individually. What matters is the size of the deficit and the debt relative to the size of the economy.

Only people who want to deceive the public would talk about the deficit or debt in “trillions” of dollars. This is a very simple lie-detector test since honest economists and policy analysts always refer to these sums relative to the size of the economy.

Full Story Dean Baker: The Budget Deficit Crisis: The Blame Is Bipartisan.

New map suggests Mars was wet and humid

A new detailed map of Mars shows what was likely a vast ocean in the north and valleys around the equator, suggesting that the planet once had a humid, rainy climate, according to research published Monday.

The computer-generated map, based on topographic data from NASA satellites, also shows that the network of valleys on the red planet is at least twice as extensive as previously estimated.

“The relatively high values over extended regions indicate the valleys originated by means of precipitation-fed runoff erosion — the same process that is responsible for formation of the bulk of valleys on our planet,” said Wei Luo, geography professor at Northern Illinois University who co-authored the report.

“A single ocean in the northern hemisphere would explain why there is a southern limit to the presence of valley networks,” Luo said.

“The southernmost regions of Mars, located farthest from the water reservoir, would get little rainfall and would develop no valleys. This would also explain why the valleys become shallower as you go from north to south, which is the case.”

Full Story New map suggests Mars was wet and humid.

Affidavit From Ex-Editor Miniter Details Inner Workings Of Wash Times

A wide-ranging affidavit by Washington Times editorial page editor Richard Miniter in the lawsuit he is filing against the Times provides a detailed picture of the inner workings of the newspaper that has been rocked in recent weeks by the canning of three executives and the resignation of its top editor.

Budget meetings Miniter attended show that the newspaper relies on a roughly $40 million annual subsidy, delivered weekly, from the Unification Church, he alleges in the affidavit. Church leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon founded the Times and his son Preston controls its parent company. Miniter writes:

70. Based on what I learned in budget meetings, the paper relies on a roughly $40 million annual subsidy from the Unification Church and cannot survive without that subsidy, which is paid in weekly amounts. Of the slightly more $70 million the Washington Times spends annually, less than $37 million comes from advertising and subscription revenue. In addition, the number of paid subscribers has been falling since July 2008 and advertising revenue is plunging as competition from the Washington Examiner and others intensifies.

Full Story Affidavit From Ex-Editor Miniter Details Inner Workings Of Wash Times | TPM LiveWire.

Study: CEOs cashed in before Wall Street meltdown

The CEOs of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the two investment banks that collapsed during last year’s financial meltdown, walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation even as the company’s shareholders lost everything, says a new report from Harvard Law School.

The top five executives at Bear Stearns made a total of $1.4 billion from bonuses and equity sales between 2000 and 2008, while the top five executives at Lehman Brothers made around $1 billion during that same period — the period during which the companies ran up the bad investments that would see them collapse in 2008, according to “The Wages of Failure” (PDF), a report from Harvard Law School’s Program on Corporate Governance.

“The people who invested in these companies should feel betrayed,” Nell Minow, a compensation expert at the Corporate Library, told NBC’s Lisa Myers. “The whole idea of capitalism is that the people provide the capital and the executives take care of it for us. In this case, the people provided the capital, and the executives took it.”

Full Story Study: CEOs cashed in before Wall Street meltdown | Raw Story.

UK cops ‘arresting people to get their DNA’: report

Three-quarters of young black males now listed in database, report says

Police in Britain are regularly arresting people just to get their DNA samples into the country’s massive biometric database, says a new report from a British government watchdog.

The report (PDF) from the Human Genetics Commission also says race is a factor in the arrests: While about eight percent of the British population is now listed on the DNA database, more than three-quarters of young black males, aged 18 to 35, are listed.

The Times of London reports that commission chairman Jonathan Montgomery said “there was some evidence that people were arrested to retain the DNA information even though they might not have been arrested in other circumstance[s].”

Britain’s Labour Party government has been persistently attacked by civil rights groups for creating what has now become the world’s largest DNA database. Under the rules of the database, police can keep DNA samples taken from arrested individuals on file forever. The person does not need to be charged or convicted of any crime for their DNA to remain on file.

Full Story UK cops ‘arresting people to get their DNA’: report | Raw Story.

Insurance Industry Antitrust Fight Headed To Conference Committee

The insurance industry successfully fought off a Senate threat to revoke its antitrust exemption as part of health care reform, but the issue lives to fight one more battle in the conference committee negotiations that will take place between the two chambers.

The issue surfaced in mid-October, shortly after the industry lobby, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), pushed hard against the Democratic health care reform effort, claiming it would significantly raise premiums.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) responded by saying the industry should lose its cherished antitrust exemption — implemented some 60 years ago by the McCarran-Ferguson Act — and be forced to compete under the same rules as any other enterprise.

“Insurance companies have become so large they dominate entire regions of the country,” he said. “They have become so powerful they block start-up businesses from entering the market, and they put smaller companies out of business. They have become so dominant that they dictate business practices. They are so influential that they exert tremendous influence over public policy.”

Full Story Insurance Industry Antitrust Fight Headed To Conference Committee.

Palin Supporters Struggle To Explain Why They Support Palin (VIDEO)

Chase Whitestead and Erick Stroll of “New Left Media” set out to determine just what was it about Sarah Palin that impelled her supporters to stand in massive lines for hours for the chance to meet her at book signings.

They interviewed several of her supporters who were waiting in line at a Borders bookstore in Columbus, Ohio. These fans expressed very strong support for Palin, but it was mostly couched in vague generalities about her being “real” and “strong” and “fair.”

When pressed to cite specific policies that they favored or thought qualified her for the presidency, most of her fans struggled to come up with anything other than generic lines about cutting taxes and spending and the Palin staple: “drill, baby, drill.”

On the other hand, they were all worried that President Obama has been doing enormous damage to the country. However, again, specifics eluded them.

WATCH:

Full Story Palin Supporters Struggle To Explain Why They Support Palin (VIDEO).

Doug Hampton: Ensign Should ‘Resign Immediately,’ C Street Protecting Him (VIDEO)

Doug Hampton, whose wife had an affair with John Ensign, said in an interview that the Nevada senator should “resign immediately,” claiming that powerful Republicans and others on Capitol Hill have protected Ensign.

When Hampton sought help to stop the affair, he reached out to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who lives with Ensign in a house on C Street in Washington associated with a secretive religious group. After an emotional meeting with Coburn, Hampton says he was encouraged to forgive.

“[The people at C Street] think the consequences don't apply,” Hampton told ABC News's “Nightline”. “Those need to be dealt with differently. Because of the responsibility. Because of pressure. Because of the work that needs to be done… This is about preserving John, preserving the Republican party, this is about preserving C Street. These men care about themselves and their own political careers, period.”

Meanwhile the woman at the center of this scandal, Cindy Hampton, has been mysteriously absent.

Hampton also said he was “crystal clear” that a payment from Ensign's parents was actually a severance, which might violate campaign finance rules:

Full Story Doug Hampton: Ensign Should ‘Resign Immediately,’ C Street Protecting Him (VIDEO).

In Crazy New Landscape For Banks, Taxpayers Are The Big Losers

50 Banks Collapsed During 3rd Quarter Of 2009… 1 In 15 On Verge Of Failure

Fifty banks collapsed during the third quarter of 2009, while more than one in 15 are on the verge of failure — the highest rate since 1992 — according to a new report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that depicts a crazy new landscape for banking in which taxpayers are the consistent losers.

Because of all the failure and near failures, the fund that guarantees deposits hit the red for the first time since 1992.

Meanwhile, some banks are making money hand over fist, with the sector as a whole posting $2.8 billion in profits — up from a $4.3 billion loss in the second quarter.

They're doing so in part by borrowing cheap federal money — subsidized by the American taxpayer — even while massively cutting back on lending. The plunge in lending since last quarter is the largest recorded since federal regulators began keeping track in 1984.

Full Story In Crazy New Landscape For Banks, Taxpayers Are The Big Losers.

Dick ‘Five Deferments’ Cheney Talks About War From The ‘Perspective’ Of U.S. Troops

In a new interview with right-wing radio host Scott Hennen, Vice President Cheney again criticizes President Obama’s national security policies, harping on his belief that Obama is “dithering” on Afghanistan and endangering U.S. troops. To make his point, Cheney talked about the “perspective” of men and women serving on the front lines:

I worry that there’s a lack of understanding there of what this means from the perspective of the troops. You know, if you’re out there on the line day in and day out and putting your life at risk on a volunteer basis for the nation, and you see the Commander in Chief unable, to or appearing to be unable, to make a decision about the way forward here — you know that raises serious doubts. Nobody wants to think of volunteering to be participate in that kind of operation. [...]

It may in part be inexperience on Obama’s part. It may be that there’s confusion on the staff. But I’m not encouraged by it.

Full Story Think Progress » Dick ‘Five Deferments’ Cheney Talks About War From The ‘Perspective’ Of U.S. Troops.

After conceding, then unconceding, then conceding, then unconceding, Hoffman now concedes.

Doug Hoffman On Nov. 16, ThinkProgress reported that failed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman told Glenn Beck that he was unconceding the NY-23 special election, even though the winner, Democrat Bill Owens, was already in office. Shortly thereafter, however, Hoffman’s spokesman said that they weren’t unconceding the race. But then on Nov. 19, Hoffman posted a statement on his website, this time making clear that he was actually unconceding the race, citing concerns about voter fraud at the hands of ACORN and labor unions. Today, Hoffman has put out another statement, this time saying that he is conceding:

Yesterday, the remaining ballots were counted in the 23rd Congressional District special election. The results re-affirm the fact that Bill Owens won.

Since, the morning of November 4th, many of my supporters have asked me to challenge the outcome of this race. Their concerns centered on the veracity of the new voting machines used, for the first time, in the majority of the eleven counties that make up the Congressional District. Over the past three weeks, we nearly cut Bill Owens’ lead in half. Sadly, that is not enough.

Full Story Think Progress » After conceding, then unconceding, then conceding, then unconceding, Hoffman now concedes..

In the Shadow of Hoover

William Greider, The Nation

While he was in China, Barack Obama made a bizarre declaration that the US government must reduce its budget deficits in order to avoid “a double-dip recession.” The remark was alarming because it suggests the president may not fully understand the country's economic predicament. Deficit spending is a cure for our troubles, not the cause. If Obama follows through and actually reduces the red ink, the Great Recession could be born again with new fury.

In an interview with Fox News, the president said: “It is important to recognize if we keep on adding to the deficit, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point people could lose confidence in the US economy in a double-dip recession.” Maybe he didn’t mean it. Or was merely nodding to Chinese leaders, our leading creditor, who had scolded him for profligate spending.

Still, his backward logic gave me a chill. If Obama acts on it, he will be walking in the footsteps of Herbert Hoover, not Franklin Roosevelt, and I fear his presidency could be doomed as a result. I know that sounds too strong and brutally unfair, given the president’s energetic vision for the country and his early efforts to stimulate economic recovery. But history is often unfair to leaders who do not get their priorities straight and fail to deliver what they promise.

Hoover was the Republican president from 1929 to 1933 and faced a far more dramatic unwinding of the economy after the 1929 stock market crash. In popular memory, he was blamed, somewhat unfairly, for causing the Great Depression. People came to loathe him personally for the repeated pep talks–”Prosperity is just around the corner”–and Democrats ran against “Hoover” for many years after.

Full Story In the Shadow of Hoover.

Should Obama Fire Gen. McChrystal?

by Ray McGovern  –

It is not too late for President Barack Obama to follow the example of Harry Truman, who fired the famous Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1951 for insubordination. Then, as now, the stakes were high. Then it was Korea; now it is Afghanistan.

In my view, Obama should fire Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

In that showdown nearly six decades ago, President Truman and his advisers were preparing to engage North Korea and China in peace negotiations when MacArthur, commander of the U.N. forces in Korea, issued an unauthorized statement containing a veiled threat to expand the war into China.

MacArthur was playing a back-channel game to win the support of like-minded Republican congressmen to expand the war, but Truman faced him down. With the support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the Secretaries of State and Defense, Truman rose to the occasion and fired the distinguished “old soldier.”

Full Story Should Obama Fire Gen. McChrystal? by Ray McGovern — Antiwar.com.

Dean Baker: The Vampire Banks Rise Again

Too Big to Kill?

There are more than 15 million people unemployed and almost 2 million people set to lose their homes to foreclosure this year. But there is good news: the Wall Street banks are as profitable as ever and set to give out record bonuses this year. The taxpayer bailouts worked.

Congress is now debating a financial reform bill that is supposed to prevent this sort of disaster from ever happening again. Leaders in Congress are promising us tough measures that will put an end to “too big to fail” institutions and the other implicit and explicit subsidies that allow the Wall Street crew to get incredibly wealthy at our expense.

It’s still an open question as to whether this reform effort will just be a pointless source of greenhouse gas emissions. If the goal were to fix the financial system, then the process would not be difficult. But the halls of Congress are infested with financial industry lobbyists. As a result, the bills being put forward are written like the adjustable rate subprime mortgages that helped get us into this mess. The wording often leads to bills that do the exact opposite of the stated meaning.

Full Story Dean Baker: The Vampire Banks Rise Again.

Oil Giant Chevron Accused of “Extortion” on Capitol Hill

Chevron is piling on the lobbyists and PR firms in an extraordinary effort to evade responsibility for its massive toxic contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

But in a recent article for Politico, Kenneth Vogel, who tracks the confluence of money, politics and influence for the influential Washington news outlet, writes that the oil company's increasingly combative approach is backfiring, “drawing fire from environmentalists, media ethicists, state pension funds, New York's attorney general, members of Congress and even Barack Obama when he was a senator.”

Facing the possibility of a $27 billion judgment in an Ecuadorean court, Chevron is employing an increasingly aggressive kitchen sink strategy, with a major lobbying effort in Washington, and a multifaceted PR campaign in the U.S. and Ecuador that produced a phony news report and promoted a contrived bribery scandal to smear the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Full Story Han Shan: Oil Giant Chevron Accused of “Extortion” on Capitol Hill.

Poll shows 58% want health care reform now

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll has shown that 58% of Americans want the congress to press ahead with a health care reform bill despite the country’s economic problems. The margin was 58%-36%, almost the opposite of a recent Rasmussen poll just released and criticized heavily here for being unreliable.

The two biggest reasons given for supporting health care reform were to ensure access to healthcare ( the public option) cited by 34% with 24% citing controlling cost.

The numbers which are virtually opposite the recent Rasmussen poll shows just how unreliable polls can be and while some might argue its the Kaiser Family Foundation poll that is wrong, Rasmussen has a history of being highly unreliable in their polling.

Full Story Poll shows 58% want health care reform now.

Newsweek Exposes how AARP Screws Youth

I’ve been getting a little bit of pushback from the piece posted yesterday about entitlement spending, right wing orgs funding youth groups, and the weekend conference “Exploring the Millennial Generation’s Return on Investment” hosted in part by Mobilize.org. Mobilize reminded me that AARP was also part of the funding for the conference – which in turn reminded me of the Newsweek article one of my favorite writers, Robert Samuelson, posted this morning all about how AARP wants to screw young people.

Screw is an awfully powerful word… perhaps undermine is more accurate. It isn’t surprising that the AARP co-sponsored the entitlement conference because they very strongly support entitlements. The problem is that they don’t want young people to have them, they just want us to pay for the Baby Boomers to have them.

Samuelson talks about the $1.3trillion spent on programs that take care of primarily older generations. These were created during the New Deal to take care of older people, the result has become that an entire culture of older people now live independently in swank facilities or in their own homes when they age, vs. years ago when they moved back in with their children who took care of them. Spending like this is also why we saw such a significant decrease in the poverty rate among the elderly since the 1960′s as Social Security spending increased.
Full Story Newsweek: Exposes how AARP Screws Youth | Future Majority.

A good article but it misses one important point: AARP makes more money from health “insurance” than from memberships. AARP sold us all out on Medicare “reform” and now AARP is selling us all out on Healthcare “reform”.

New ‘Swype’ System DOMINATES iPhone In Typing Test (VIDEO)

Swype could completely change the way we type on touchscreen smartphones — and potentially pose a real challenge to the iPhone.

Swype, invented by the creator of the T9 predictive typing system, offers a new input system for typing on touchscreen phones.

TechCrunch explains, “the way you type with Swype is you literally swipe your finger from one letter to the next as fast as you can.”

The new “Swyping” system will debut with Verizon's new Samsung Omnia II smartphone.

The video below shows a smartphone typing smackdown: Swype vs. iPhone, side-by-side. (Spoiled alert: the Samsung Omnia II, with Swype, beats the iPhone hands down.)

See the new technology for yourself below.

WATCH:

Full Story New ‘Swype’ System DOMINATES iPhone In Typing Test (VIDEO).

GOP Spinning Hard On Health Care Reform Bill

Republicans love to get their hands on the Democrats' health care legislation. They show it to the cameras at every opportunity, even piling one version on top of another to make a big pile look even bigger.

Although they complain they don't have time to read all of it, they found the time to tape it together, page by page, so they could roll it up the steps of the Capitol like super-sized toilet paper and show how very long it is.

It surely is long. But, no, not longer than “War and Peace,” as they claim.

No one really expects brevity when reinventing something as complex and huge as the nation's health insurance system, which accounts for one-sixth of the economy. Indeed, legislation of comparable size was used to redefine an area of much more limited federal responsibility, education. That was the No Child Left Behind Act from the agenda of Republican President George W. Bush.

Size only matters in the health care debate because Republicans have turned the length of the legislation into a symbol: Big, unwieldy bill means big, overreaching government. Even bigger when you display double-spaced copies with double-wide margins and large print.

Full Story AP: GOP Spinning Hard On Health Care Reform Bill.

Sushi DNA Tests Reveal Fraud

A biologist walks into a sushi bar and orders some tuna. What does he get? Escolar, a nasty fish with buttery flesh that can cause bizarre episodes of diarrhea, accompanied by a waxy intestinal discharge.

It’s not a joke. It happened five times to the same scientists during a brief research project. The results of that study were published Wednesday in PLOS One.

“A piece of tuna sushi has the potential to be an endangered species, a fraud or a health hazard,” wrote the authors. “All three of these cases were uncovered in this study.”

The team of researchers from Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History ordered tuna from 31 sushi restaurants and then used genetic tests to determine the species of fishes in those dishes. More than half of those eateries misrepresented, or couldn’t clarify the type of fish they were mongering. Several were selling endangered southern bluefin tuna.

Although their results were shocking, exposing sloppy sushi joints wasn’t their main goal. The scientists were trying to improve on a new species-identification technique, called DNA barcoding. A coalition of labs has been collecting fish, reading their genes and uploading the information to a database called FISH-BOL.

Full Story Sushi DNA Tests Reveal Fraud | Wired Science | Wired.com.

Related Story:
Sushi and Rev. Moon: How Americans’ growing appetite for sushi is helping to support his controversial church

Underwater Mortgages: 1 In 4 U.S. Borrowers Have Negative Equity On Their Homes

First the good news: The number of Americans who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are actually worth is not as high as many thought. In August, First American CoreLogic reported that about one third of U.S. borrowers had mortgages that could be called “underwater.”

At the time, CoreLogic put the number of U.S. homeowners dealing with negative equity at 15.2 million. or 32.2% of all mortgaged properties.

The good news, as the Wall Street Journal reports, is that, according to American CoreLogic’s revised calculations, that figure is actually 10.7 million Americans — or about 23 percent of U.S. mortgage holders.

Here’s the Journal’s explanation of the revision:

The latest First American data aren’t comparable to previous estimates because the company revised its methodology. First American now accounts for payments made by homeowners that reduce principal, and it no longer assumes that home-equity lines of credit have been completely drawn down.

Full Story Underwater Mortgages: 1 In 4 U.S. Borrowers Have Negative Equity On Their Homes.

Couple arrested over ‘theft’ for refusing to tip in restaurant

A couple who refused to leave a tip after allegedly receiving bad service in a Pennsylvania restaurant were arrested by police after being accused of theft.

Leslie Pope and John Wagner were handcuffed and hauled away after they failed to leave a restaurant’s mandatory 18 per cent gratuity – totalling $16 (£10) – for their party of eight.

“Nobody wants to be forced to pay a tip or be arrested for terrible service,” said Miss Pope, 22.

The couple, students at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, had joined six friends at the town’s Lehigh Pub for dinner. They claimed they had to wait almost an hour for their meal to arrive and Miss Pope said the service was so shoddy they had to get their own cutlery and napkins.

The group said they had to repeatedly ask for drink refills while their waitress smoked outside the pub.

At the end of the meal of salad and chicken wings, they were presented with a $73.87 bill. A $16.35 tip had been added as there was eight people in the party.

Full Story Couple arrested over ‘theft’ for refusing to tip in restaurant – Telegraph.

Philippines declares emergency after 46 killed

The Philippine president placed two southern provinces under emergency rule Tuesday as security forces unearthed more bodies, pushing the death toll to 46 in some of the deadliest election violence in the nation’s history.

Police and soldiers found 22 bodies in a hillside mass grave Tuesday, adding to the 24 bullet-riddled bodies recovered near the scene of Monday’s massacre in Maguindanao province, said Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna of the Central Mindanao region.

This southern region of the Philippines is wracked by violent political rivalries, in addition to a long-running Islamic insurgency, but the killings have shocked this Southeast Asian nation. One adviser to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has described the massacre as the worst in the country’s recent history. A media rights watchdog also says that it appears to be the world’s worst mass killing of journalists, with as many as 20 reportedly among the dead.

Full Story Philippines declares emergency after 46 killed – Yahoo! News.

Blacks hit hard by economy’s punch

34.5 percent of young African American men are unemployed

These days, 24-year-old Delonta Spriggs spends much of his time cooped up in his mother’s one-bedroom apartment in Southwest Washington, the TV blaring soap operas hour after hour, trying to stay out of the streets and out of trouble, held captive by the economy. As a young black man, Spriggs belongs to a group that has been hit much harder than any other by unemployment.

Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions — 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population. And last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that unemployment in the District, home to many young black men, rose to 11.9 percent from 11.4 percent, even as it stayed relatively stable in Virginia and Maryland.

Full Story Blacks hit hard by economy’s punch – washingtonpost.com.

Gonzales evades criminal prosecution for misleading Congress on NSA spying

The Justice Department has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for allegedly misleading Congress about the Bush administration’s warrantless eavesdropping program.

The decision was first disclosed yesterday by Murray Waas in a little-noticed posting on the blog of New York Magazine. The magazine cited public court records and federal law enforcement officials as its sources.

Although Gonzales remains under investigation by the Justice Department for two other matters, it had been allegations that he gave false or purposely misleading testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the warrantless eavesdropping program that placed him by far in the greatest legal jeopardy.

In not bringing criminal charges, however, investigators for the Department’s Inspector General, which conducted the investigation, hardly let Gonzales off the hook completely. They concluded that Gonzales testimony before Congress about the eavesdropping program was “confusing,” “incomplete’ and had the “effect of misleading” both Congress and the public.

Full Story Gonzales evades criminal prosecution for misleading Congress on NSA spying | Raw Story.

US discussed Iraq regime change a month after Bush took office, senior British officials say

The chairman of the British Joint Intelligence Committee in 2001 told investigators Monday that elements of the Bush Administration were pushing for regime change in Iraq in early 2001, months before the 9/11 attacks and two years before President George W. Bush formally announced the Iraq war.

Sir Peter Ricketts, now-Secretary at the Foreign Office, said that US and British officials believed at the time that measures against Iraq were failing: “sanctions, an incentive to lift sanctions if Saddam allowed the United Weapons inspectors to return, and the ‘no fly’ zones over the north and south of the country.”

Ricketts also said that US officials had raised the prospect of regime change in Iraq, asserting that the British weren’t supportive of the idea at the time.

“We were conscious that there were other voices in Washington, some of whom were talking about regime change,” Ricketts said.

The head of the British Foreign Office’s Middle East department, Sir William Patey, told the inquiry that his office was aware of regime change talk from some parts of the Bush Administration shortly after they took office in 2001.

Full Story US discussed Iraq regime change a month after Bush took office, senior British officials say | Raw Story.

Washington Times falsely claims Boehner was ‘not invited’ to White House state dinner.

Today in the Washington Times, reporters Joseph Curl and Matthew Mosk write a story titled “Top Republican lawmakers not invited to State Dinner.” The article attempts to paint President Obama’s invitation list for tonight’s dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an example of his partisanship because he did not invite enough Republicans. The article states that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), like House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), “didn’t get an invitation to the dinner”:

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner won’t be there; he’s on Thanksgiving break and home in Ohio. His deputy, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, also didn’t get an invitation to the dinner.

However, this simply isn’t true. As Politico reported, Boehner was invited but turned the White House down. Already, Fox News is trying to gin up controversy by reprinting the Washington Times along with the same error.

Full Story Think Progress » Washington Times falsely claims Boehner was ‘not invited’ to White House state dinner..

China Buys Hummer Brand– Further Evidence of a Shock Doctrine Assaulted America?

Naomi Klein described, in her breaktrhough book, Shock Doctrine, how a nation is attacked, shocked and torn apart, destroying the middle class. It looks like the GM sale of Hummer to a wealthy Chinese investor, probably with the help of Morgan Stanley, is an example of how it’s happening in the US.

The deal is sealed. Motortrend reports

The new owners, upon Chinese government approval, will be Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, with 80 percent via an investment entity, and Suolang Duoji, a private entrepreneur who will hold the other 20 percent.

Don’t assume that Duoji is a minority partner. Asia times reports

Tengzhong is “under the wing of Sichuan Huatong Investment Holding Co, Ltd, 98.5% owned by Suolang Duoji”, according to a SinoCast Daily Business Beat report, carried on the Zachs Research website.

One man will basically control Hummer.

The GM is selling Hummer for an estimated $150 million, far less than the $500 million it estimated it would get when it declared bankruptcy. Hard to believe that after the tens of billions the US has poured into GM, Hummer is worth so little. But apparently China thinks so. There’s some good news. The manufacturing will stay in the US. Seems the market for Hummer vehicles is primarily in the US. Also, the manufacturer of the military version of the H2 Hummer will continue to build Hummers for the military, at least until 2011.

Reports indicate that the newly owned Hummer company intends to introduce a new H4 model that gets 25 MPG. The Asia Times article compares the Hummer sale to IBM’s sale of Thinkpad notebooks to Lenovo, a Chinese company that took the brand to be the number three selling notebook in the world.

Full Story OpEdNews – Article: China Buys Hummer Brand– Further Evidence of a Shock Doctrine Assaulted America?.

OPS: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Indian Outsourcing Firms Benefiting from Recession

India’s top three outsourcing firms, Tata Consultancy , Infosys and Wipro could benefit from roughly $1 billion in business over the next two years.

Indian outsourcing firms could stand to profit handsomely as U.S. banks emerge from the recession, according to a report in The Economic Times.

India’s top three outsourcing firms, Tata Consultancy , Infosys and Wipro could benefit from roughly $1 billion in business over the next two years. Banking institutions repaying the government for TARP loans are increasingly seeking to lower costs and offshore portions of their business, the report found.

JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which combined paid back $68 billion in TARP funds earlier this year, are among the banks that are seeking to offshore non-core IT and back-office projects to India.

The report also found that American Express, Bank of New York Mellon and Capital One are among the banking institutions interested in outsourcing production to India.

Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

Stocks Gain, Dollar Declines

Analysts with Bloomberg do not see any reason to expect a dollar rebound in the next year.

Wall Street finished slightly lower at Friday’s closing bell. The NASDAQ was down 0.55 percent (11.92 points), followed by the S&P 500 which fell 0.32 percent (3.52 points), and the Dow Jones which dropped 0.14 percent (14.28 points). Despite these small drops, most analysts expected to see markets charge at the 9 a.m. opening.

CNNMoney.com predicted that markets in the U.S. would follow the charge seen around the globe during the trading day. After just one hour Wall Street saw huge gains to overshadow a poor ending to the week on Friday. Each of the major indexes was up more than 1.50 percent with a good outlook for the rest of the day.

For the most part the global charge seems encouraged by commodities gains and an outlook which seems to indicate growth in coming months.

According to Bloomberg News, the simultaneous rush to commodities and flight from both the dollar and yen is pushing markets.

Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

Quiet Conspiracy

Sen. Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings –

Business began the conspiracy of silence on the Trade War that rages in globalization.

Fifteen years ago, I called my friend Walter in California to ask that his next expansion be in South Carolina. Walter responded: “I don’t produce anything in the United States. It’s all in China. I lease the plant for a year. They provide the workers, and I put a quality control man in charge, keeping up with him on the Internet. If I make a profit, I don’t have to pay any taxes. I just invest in another plant and expand. If business has a downturn, I just walk away. I haven’t lost any capital investment or incurred any legacy costs.”

The conspiracy has four components. The first begins with business keeping this deal quiet. It is globalization. Nothing you can do about it. If one tries to address the issue, it is called “protectionism,” and they are told “don’t start a trade war.” Instead of leading the way in Congress for a strong economy, they remain hushed! Thus, business began the conspiracy of silence on the Trade War that rages in globalization. Globalization is nothing more than a Trade War with production looking for a cheaper country to produce. When producing offshore one doesn’t have to bother with health care, labor laws, protecting the environment, OSHA’s safety rules and anti-trust provisions.

Second in the conspiracy is Wall Street, which is interested in offshore profits, banks and investment houses like Goldman-Sachs finance offshore production.

Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

China Blocks U.S. Panel Request at WTO

The U.S., EU and Mexico filed a complaint against China for using a combination of tariffs, quotas and other measures to keep raw materials artificially cheap for the benefit of domestic companies.

Chinese officials Thursday blocked a request from the United States for the World Trade Organization to establish a dispute settlement panel that would have ruled on Chinese market barriers on the export of raw materials.

The complaint was filed jointly by the U.S., the European Union and Mexico. It alleges that China uses a combination of tariffs, quotas and other measures to keep raw materials artificially cheap for the benefit of domestic companies.

“These restraints not only limit the availability of these raw materials, but also increase the cost of these raw materials to U.S. and other producers outside of China, while providing an artificial cost advantage to downstream industries within China,” the complaint read.

Chinese officials contend that the export controls are necessary to protect the environment and conserve precious resources.

China’s guarded resources include bauxite, coke, silicon, zinc and fluorspar, all of which are key inputs for products in the steel, aluminum and chemical sectors.

Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.

War of words escalates between Kennedy and the church

After stating that Bishop Thomas Tobin had barred him from receiving communion because of his criticism of the church’s opposition to health care reform if it didn’t contain strong anti-abortion language Tobin responded that Kennedy’s assertion wasn’t true.

But Kennedy responded by telling the Providence Journal, ” Bishop Tobin instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me communion,” directly contradicting Bishop Tobin’s reply.

Now Bishop Tobin is admitting that Kennedy was right.

The issue has escalated from interference in the legislative process by the Catholic church in violation of the establishment clause

The argument which for a time was a “He sayeth, he sayeth” religious war of words, has now proved that it was Kennedy who was telling the truth, saying that Bishop Tobin told him, “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official.”

Kennedy’s response to the church was, “If the church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health-care reform because it’s going to provide health care that is going to keep people alive.”

Originally Tobin denied that he had barred Kennedy from receiving communion. Now he is admitting it.

Full Story War of words escalates between Kennedy and the church.

Building Stonehenge Solved?

Wally Wallington has demonstrated that he can lift a Stonehenge-sized pillar weighing 22,000 lbs and moved a barn over 300 ft. What makes this so special is that he does it using only himself, gravity, and his incredible ingenuity.

For hundreds, maybe thousands of years, people have been trying to figure out how primitive people could build huge structures such as  Stonehenge and the pyramids out of stone blocks weighing thousands of pounds. Scientists have been stumped.

Then along comes a normal guy – a retired construction worker  and he says well, I would do it like this. And he does. This guy uses the simplest tools known to man and shows how simple and easy it would have been to create Stonehenge . This is a really great video clip. Amazing how this guy could figure out something that has confounded scholars for centuries. And not only figures it out, but demonstrates it! And this guy could build a replica of Stonehenge single-handedly, while a committee of 20 or 30 Civil Engineering professors from leading universities would be debating how it
might be done.

Feeling Nervous? 3,000 Behavior Detection Officers Will Be Watching You at the Airport This Thanksgiving

Nearly 100,000 passengers were pulled aside by TSA behavior watchers last year, and it remains to be proven whether you can spot terrorists by the looks on their faces.

Here’s a question to ponder the next time you’re taking off your shoes at airport security: Can you spot terrorists by the look on their faces?

For the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the answer is yes. For the past few years, airports across the country have been using what many call “behavioral surveillance” to weed out potential hijackers among us, by covertly examining travelers’ facial expressions and body language as they go through security. Unlike those airport employees who herd us along as we remove our shoes and relinquish all liquids over three ounces (with dubious results), this new program, named “Screening Passengers by Observational Techniques,” or “SPOT,” is carried out by TSA employees who have been trained to monitor travelers’ faces and movements. As Americans head out of town this holiday season, more than 3,000 “Behavior Detection Officers” will be at 161 airports nationwide, watching our every move.

Tthe TSA boasts that the SPOT program is “derivative of other successful behavioral analysis programs that have been employed by law enforcement and security personnel both in the U.S. and around the world.” Yet, the success of the SPOT program remains highly questionable. This month the Washington Post reported that, in 2008 alone, Behavior Detection Officers across the country pulled 98,805 passengers aside for additional screenings, out of which 9,854 were questioned by local police. 813 were eventually arrested.

The cost of the program, according to TSA spokesperson Ann Davis, was $3.1 million.

Full Story Feeling Nervous? 3,000 Behavior Detection Officers Will Be Watching You at the Airport This Thanksgiving | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet.

A Trial That Will Convict Us All

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS –

The Twisted Logic Behind the Prosecution of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

Republican members of Congress and what masquerades as a “conservative” media are outraged that the Obama administration intends to try in federal court Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11, and four alleged co-conspirators.

The Republican and right-wing rant that a trial is too good for these people proves what I have written for a number of years: Republicans and many Americans who think of themselves as conservatives have no regard for the US Constitution or for civil liberties.

They have no appreciation for the point made by Thomas Paine in his Dissertations on First Principles of Government (1790):

“An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”

Republicans and American conservatives regard civil liberties as coddling devices for criminals and terrorists. They assume that police and prosecutors are morally pure and, in addition, never make mistakes. An accused person is guilty or government wouldn’t have accused him. All of my life I have heard self-described conservatives disparage lawyers who defend criminals. Such “conservatives” live in an ideal, not real, world.

Full Story Paul Craig Roberts: A Trial That Will Convict Us All.

The Self-Delusionary American Tragedy

A Disconnect Between Cause and Effect –

By Rev. WILLIAM E. ALBERTS –

President Obama is following in the footsteps of George W. Bush as America’s Disconnector-in-Chief. Obama went to Fort Hood, Texas, where 13 soldiers were killed and many wounded by military psychiatrist Major Nadal Malik Hasan, and continued the self-delusionary American tragedy of disconnecting cause and effect. Calling the shootings “even more incomprehensible” because the Americans were killed here and not on a foreign battlefield, Obama said, “It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But,” he continued, “this much we know—no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. And for what he has done,” Obama declared, “we know that the killer will be met with justice—in this world, and the next.” (“Obama’s speech at Fort Hood: The Transcript,” The Washington Post, Nov. 11, 2009). Obama himself is “twist[ing] logic” by his overriding need to disconnect cause and effect.

“No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor.” In fact, the illegal, falsely-based invasion and occupation of Iraq, the killing of well over one million innocent men, women and children, the destruction of the country’s life-sustaining infrastructure, the triggering of horrible and extensive sectarian violence, and the displacing of over four million Iraqi citizens—these “murderous and craven acts”—were justified by a “Jesus changed my heart,” peace-praying President Bush, who, led by “faith,” repeatedly proclaimed, “Freedom is not America’s gift to the world, it is Almighty God’s gift to every man and woman in the world.” (The New York Times, Sept. 3, 2004)

“Twisted logic.” In the face of America’s crimes against humanity in Iraq, President Obama told his Fort Hood audience, “In Iraq, we are working to bring a war to a successful end, as there are still those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that Americans and Iraqis have sacrificed so much for.” (Ibid.) Whose war? A successful end? For whom? It is about US political leaders’ war crimes that have denied a future to countless millions of Iraqis—and to tens of thousands of Americans and their allies. It is about the US-orchestrated and-controlled UN sanctions that led to the deaths and denial of a future to half a million Muslim Iraqi children under five between 1991 and 1998 alone. (UNICEF, Aug. 12, 1999).

Full Story Rev. William E. Alberts: The Self-Delusionary American Tragedy.

The History of Our Economic Crisis and What Must be Done

Richard C. Cook »

The United States does not control its own destiny. Rather it is controlled by an international financial elite, of which the American branch works out of big New York banks like J.P. Morgan Chase, Wall Street investment firms such as Goldman Sachs, and the Federal Reserve System. They in turn control the White House, Congress, the military, the mass media, the intelligence agencies, both political parties, the universities, etc. No one can rise to the top in any of these institutions without the elite’s stamp of approval.

This elite has been around since the nation began, becoming increasingly dominant as the 19th century progressed. A key date was passage of the National Banking Act of 1863, when the system was put into place whereby federal government debt was used to collateralize bank lending. Since then we’ve paid the freight through our taxes for bank control of the economy. The final nails in the coffin came with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

In 1929 the bankers plunged the nation into the Great Depression by constricting the money supply. With Franklin D. Roosevelt as president, the nation struggled through the decade of the 1930s but did not pull out of the Depression until the industrial explosion during World War II.

After the war came the Golden Age of the U.S. economy, when the working man, protected by strong labor unions, became a true partner in the prosperity of the industrial age. That era lasted a full generation. The bankers were largely spectators as Americans led the world in exports, standard of living, science and space exploration, and every measure of health, longevity, and culture.

Full Story Richard C. Cook » Blog Archive » The Economic Crisis and What Must be Done.

Is American Casino the Best Picture of the Year?

“And the Envelope, Please …”  —

By MIKE WHITNEY —

Andrew and Leslie Cockburn have produced the best movie of the year. American Casino tells the story of the financial crisis, which started with the meltdown in subprime lending and ended up triggering the deepest slump since the Great Depression. The Cockburns skillfully uncover the truth behind the headlines, shining a light on the negligent regulators, the colluding Fed, the unscrupulous ratings agencies, the mercenary banks, the venal mortgage lenders, and the long daisy-chain of opportunists and fraudsters who gorged themselves on the spoils from the biggest swindle in history. This is this generation's big story and it is warmly conveyed by master narrators, Andrew and Leslie. Expect to see them both on Oscar night.

The movie begins in downtown Manhattan, the camera shifting lazily from one sharply silhouetted skyscraper to the next. This is Wall Street, the epicenter of the financial universe. With the edgy murmur of jazz in the background, the Cockburns fix their lens on Senator Phil Gramm and Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, the two policymakers who, more than anyone else, laid the groundwork for the impending market blowup. In testimony before a congressional committee, “Maestro” Greenspan reluctantly admits that he discovered a “flaw” in his theory of how markets work. The film contrasts Greenspan's fumbling defense with sweeping visuals of the endless rows of boarded up homes in downtown Baltimore where the foreclosure epidemic has turned large parts of the city into a ghost-town. This is the Greenspan/Gramm legacy, the triumph of deregulation.

American Casino explains the most complex aspects of the financial collapse in terms that anyone can understand. The movie is an informal tutorial on Wall Street's “innovations”, including a brief rundown on collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) and credit default swaps (CDSs). These are the notorious debt-instruments which clogged the credit markets and sent stocks into a tailspin. The Cockburns also interview a number of people who played bit-parts in the market crash. Here we see the shame of a ratings agency executive who caved in to the investment banks and gave them the triple A ratings they wanted, but didn't deserve. There's also a brief segment with a mortgage lender who routinely filed false income statements which allowed unqualified loan applicants to be approved. Then there's a moment with a financial technician who loaded B-rated junk into CDOs that were sold to gullible Korean investors. One of the things that's so disturbing about American Casino, is that it shows how normal, moral people eagerly participated in a profit-skimming operation that was based on repackaging dodgy loans and selling them to credulous investors. They knew what they were doing was wrong, but did it anyway.

Full Story Mike Whitney: Is American Casino the Best Picture of the Year?.

tehran times : China: Iran has the right to gain nuclear know-how

TEHRAN – Chinese deputy foreign minister has said Iran has the right to acquire the nuclear technology.

The Chinese official made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here on Saturday.

He said China has always supported a diplomatic solution for Iran’s nuclear dossier.

China believes that the International Atomic Energy Agency is the only authorized body to examine the issue, he added.

He also expressed satisfaction at regular meetings between the two countries’ officials.

He said Tehran-Beijing economic and cultural ties have made significant progress over the past few years.

Mottaki, for his part, said Tehran welcomes China’s views on how to expand strategic relations between the two nations.

He added a sharing of common views on mutual, regional, and global developments would help both countries to adopt a practical stance in dealing with the current issues

Full Story tehran times : China: Iran has the right to gain nuclear know-how.

OPS: when China finally turns on us – we’re finished

India tests nuclear-capable missile after sunset

India’s army tested a nuclear-capable Agni missile after sunset on Monday for the first time to demonstrate it could be fired whenever required, defense officials said.

The surface-to-surface Agni II missile is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to targets around 2,000 km (1,200 miles) away, officials said.

“It was tested after sunset and we are awaiting results,” said a defense official, who asked not to be identified.

The missile was test launched from Wheeler’s Island, off India’s east coast in Orissa state.

Its range can be increased to 3000 km (1,900 miles) by reducing the load. It is 65 feet long and can carry a payload of one tonne.

(Reporting by Jatindra Dash; Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Ron Popeski)

Full Story India tests nuclear-capable missile after sunset | International | Reuters.

Single Payer Advocates To Help With Sanders’ S703 Amendment and HCR Updates!

Dr. Margaret Flowers of PNHP:

“As a movement, it’s important for us to continue to educate people that this is not enough, it’s not sufficient, it’s not addressing the problem that we have, it’s not going to be universal or financially sustainable,” said Dr. Margaret Flowers, who is with Physicians for a National Health Program. “And, at this point, it’s important to turn our attention to the Senate. We still have an opportunity at the very least to try and get the Sanders single-payer amendment that would allow states to pass single-payer legislation.”

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/23-5

Donna Smith of California Nurses Association:

Time is drawing short for our Senators to hear from us. Debate will begin on November 30 on the current Senate bill. Senator Sanders needs support. He has already told us that he does not expect a win on his amendment. But we are all laying groundwork for this nation to move in the right direction before long – we know that the current bills do not “bend the cost curve” enough and we know they certainly do not bend the death or bankruptcy curve nearly enough to make the bills what this nation needs. Additionally, we want the legislation to contain language that will allow states that opt in to a single-payer system to be able to do so with the appropriate waivers from federal legal provisions which might otherwise present obstacles to doing so.

So, the ask of our Senators – each and every one, liberal, centrist or conservative – is two-fold and urgent:

1. Vote with and for Sanders’ S. 703 substitute amendment; and
2. Support state single-payer enabling language in the final bill.

Support Bernie Sanders’ S 703 amendment. Give the president a call at 1-800-578-4171, and/or call a Senator or more. Four toll-free switchboard numbers for the Senate and House: 1-800-828-0498, 1-866-338-1015, 1-866-220-0044, and 1-800-473-67

Full Story The Seminal » Single Payer Advocates To Help With Sanders’ S703 Amendment and HCR Updates!.

Lessons from the Japanese: Time to Stop Borrowing Money and Start Printing

Ellen Brown, Web Of Debt

“We are completely dependent on the commercial Banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the Banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible, but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon.”

–Robert H. Hemphill, Credit Manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 1934

Miners used to keep canaries in coal mines as an early warning device. If the air was so bad that it killed the canary, the miners would soon be next. Japan may be the canary for the out-of-control deficit spending policies now being pursued in the United States and the United Kingdom. In a November 1 article in the Daily Telegraph called “It Is Japan We Should Be Worrying About, Not America,” international business editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote:

“Japan is drifting helplessly towards a dramatic fiscal crisis. For 20 years the world’s second-largest economy has been . . . feeding its addiction to Keynesian deficit spending – and allowing it to push public debt beyond the point of no return. The rocketing cost of insuring against the bankruptcy of the Japanese state is telling us that the model has smashed into the buffers.

“. . . Tokyo’s price index fell 2.4% in October, the deepest deflation in modern Japanese history. . . . The government could stop this . . . . It could print money à l’outrance to stave off deflation. Yet it sits frozen, like a rabbit in the headlamps.

“Japan’s terrible errors are by now well known. . . . QE was too little, too late, and this is the lesson for the West. We must cut borrowing drastically over the next decade, and offset this with ultra-easy monetary policy. Does Downing Street understand this? Does the White House? . . . Clearly not.”

In case you too have forgotten your high school French, “a l’outrance” means “to the uttermost.” “QE” is “quantitative easing” – printing money. Evans-Pritchard’s proposed solution to the mounting fiscal crisis is that the government needs to quit borrowing money and start printing it.

Full Story Web of Debt – LESSONS FROM THE JAPANESE: TIME TO STOP BORROWING MONEY AND START PRINTING IT.

First skin reconstitution using stem cells

French and Spanish researchers reported the first reconstitution of the complete epidermis from stem cells in The Lancet on November 21, 2009. The aim of the research was to speed the reconstruction of skin tissue for burn victims.

Reconstitution of the entire epidermis does not mean the scientist made a whole human skin. What they have accomplished is isolating skin stem cells and making the cells generate all the cell types that occur naturally in the epidermis.

The skin was grafted onto mice that had been treated to avoid rejection of the “foreign” tissue. The grafted skin demonstrated all the characteristics of mature human skin cells in twelve weeks.

The skin stem cells (keratinocytes) can be kept indefinitely and made to grow so rapidly that any burn can be covered with new tissue in a matter of days. The best method presently available takes three weeks at minimum.

Full Story First skin reconstitution using stem cells.

Signs of Hope

Bob Herbert

…when Stan Ovshinsky tells us that we should be putting our chips on hybrid and electric vehicles, and that solar and hydrogen power can be the cornerstone of an industrial renaissance in the U.S. as well as a cleaner planet, we should be listening very, very closely.”

I came to Detroit and its environs, the seat of America’s glorious industrial past, to see if I could get a glimpse of the future. Is the economic, social and physical deterioration that has caused so much misery in the Motor City a sign of what’s in store for larger and larger segments of the United States?

Or are there new industries waiting in the wings — some of them right here in the Detroit metropolitan area — with new jobs and bright new prospects for whole new generations of American dreamers?

I found real reason to hope when a gentleman named Stan Ovshinsky took me on a tour of a remarkably quiet and pristine manufacturing plant in Auburn Hills, which is about 30 miles north of Detroit and is home to Chrysler’s headquarters. What is being produced in the plant is potentially revolutionary. A machine about the length of a football field runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, turning out mile after mile after mile of thin, flexible solar energy material, from which solar panels can be sliced and shaped.

You want new industry in the United States, with astonishing technological advances, new mass production techniques and jobs, jobs, jobs? Try energy.

Full Story Op-Ed Columnist – Signs of Hope – NYTimes.com.

The End of Welfare Water and the Drying of the West

Red Snow Warning –

By Chip Ward –

Pink snow is turning red in Colorado. Here on the Great American Desert — specifically Utah's slickrock portion of it where I live — hot 'n' dry means dust. When frequent high winds sweep across our increasingly arid landscape, redrock powder is lifted up and carried hundreds of miles eastward until it settles on the broad shoulders of Colorado's majestic mountains, giving the snowpack there a pink hue.

Some call it watermelon snow. Friends who ski into the backcountry of the San Juan and La Plata mountain ranges in western Colorado tell me that the pink-snow phenomenon has lately been giving way to redder hues, so thick and frequent are the dust storms that roll in these days. A cross-section of a typical Colorado snowbank last winter revealed alternating dirt and snow layers that looked like a weird wilderness version of our flag, red and white stripes alternating against the sky's blue field.

The Forecast: Dust Followed by Mud

Here in the lowlands, we, too, are experiencing the drying of the West in new dusty ways. Our landscapes are often covered with what we jokingly refer to as “adobe rain” — when rain falls through dust, spattering windows or laundry hung out to dry with brown stains. After a dust “event” this past spring, I wandered through the lot of a car dealership in Grand Junction, Colorado, where the only color seemingly available was light tan. All those previously shiny, brightly painted cars had turned drab. I had to squint to read price stickers under opaque windows.

Full Story Tomgram: Chip Ward, The Ruins in Our Future | TomDispatch.

State Secrets Privilege: The Puppets & Puppet Masters

Sibel Edmonds

It’s Time to Get the Facts Straight

I want to revisit a topic which happens to be extremely important to me, both personally and politically, and even more important to our civil liberties.

Some of you have already read my brief piece on Richard Horn & the CIA dishing out $3 million to buy silence in this narco scandal. Those of you who have not read it click here and read it – because this story also goes to the heart of a very significant and ongoing issue: The State Secrets Privilege.

My recent heads-up piece on Horn focused mainly on the CIA’s attempt to hush another narco scandal where the agency was directly and actively involved. Although I introduced Horn as ‘another recipient of the government’s State Secrets Privilege invocation’, I didn’t delve into the significance of this case on this repeatedly used and abused draconian privilege. This was partly due to wrongly assuming that the media, at least the alternative media, would have gotten all over it since lately the SSP has been a quite fashionable and talked about topic among the wanna-be progressive community. Well, I was wrong. Despite the scandalous nature of the case, and despite the massive implications to SSP, those who’ve been publicizing themselves and cashing in using SSP did not touch or mention the case.

Full Story Sibel Edmonds’ Boiling Frogs Post | Home of the Irate Minority.

College Is Probably Just A Huge Waste Of Money Right Now

It’s quite amazing that the bias in favor of college continues to survive against mounting evidence that it is a bad investment for many young people and their parents.

At the top of intelligence scale, most would-be college students would clearly be better off avoiding college in favor of joining a start up, founding their own company or simply pursuing intellectual pursuits outside of the traditional four-year college.

At the bottom of the intelligence scale, the would-be students would be far better learning a trade without accumulating tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. Even middling students would probably be better off seeking a profession that is not irrationally closed off to those without a college degree.

“In this environment, opportunity cost trumps tradition. For many undergraduates and parents, the cost of going to college is now far greater than the supposed benefits,” a new story on Minyanville reports.

More from Minyanville:

Full Story College Is Probably Just A Huge Waste Of Money Right Now.

G.O.P. Considers ‘Purity’ Resolution for Candidates

The battle among Republicans over what the party should stand for — and how much it should accommodate dissenting views on important issues — is probably going to move from the states to the Republican National Committee when it holds its winter meeting this January in Honolulu.

Republican leaders are circulating a resolution listing 10 positions Republican candidates should support to demonstrate that they “espouse conservative principles and public policies” that are in opposition to “Obama’s socialist agenda.” According to the resolution, any Republican candidate who broke with the party on three or more of these issues– in votes cast, public statements made or answering a questionnaire – would be penalized by being denied party funds or the party endorsement.

The proposed resolution was signed by 10 Republican national committee members and was distributed on Monday morning. They are asking for the resolution to be debated when Republicans gather for their winter meeting.

Full Story G.O.P. Considers ‘Purity’ Resolution for Candidates – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com.

OPS: The GOP becoming more and more like the Nazi Party every day.  There is no other way to describe it.

Schumer: Democrats ready to pass health care without GOP

The Democrats will pass a health care reform bill even if it means abandoning efforts at bipartisanship and passing the bill with only Demcoratic votes, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told NBC’s Today Show.

“We prefer to go at it with the Republicans,” Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, told NBC’s Matt Lauer. “But we’re not going to not pass a bill. The future of the country depends on getting something done, or the government will go broke, businesses will go broke, and people will go broke (because of) health care.”

Schumer debated Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who argued that the Democrats’ health reform bill would add to the deficit and put onerous new tax burdens on businesses. Schumer retorted by pointing out the Congressional Budget Office estimated the health bill would actually reduce the deficit.

Full Story Schumer: Democrats ready to pass health care without GOP | Raw Story.

Democrats ‘in deep trouble’ due to health care, Howard Dean warns

Key Democratic allies in the US health care battle warned Sunday that a Senate bill required major changes if it was to earn their support and give President Barack Obama a crucial victory on his top domestic priority.

Meanwhile, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told Huffington Post's Sam Stein that Democrats could be in “big trouble” because of delays in crafting health care legislation.

A knife-edge ballot Saturday saw Democrats scrape the 60 votes needed for debate to begin November 30, but wavering senators Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson sent a strong message that they would not back the bill as it stands.

Lieberman, an independent senator from Connecticut who usually votes in line with the Democrats and did so on Saturday, opposes the creation of a government insurance program to compete with private firms, the so-called “public option.”

Full Story Democrats ‘in deep trouble’ due to health care, Howard Dean warns | Raw Story.

Imported Chinese drywall emitting hydrogen sulfide gas in US homes

US to expand health probe into Chinese drywall

US authorities expanded a probe Monday into health impacts of drywall imported from China, saying an initial study found a “strong association” with indoor pollution in homes using the product.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it would be leading an investigation into the relationship between the drywall and the reported health symptoms, and electrical and fire safety issues reported by some home owners.

Some of the drywall linked to the problems was used in rebuilding in southern states after damage from hurricanes.

The agency said it would also examine the origin and distribution of the drywall, which are sheets of plaster used for home interior.

The announcement came after months of complaints from consumers and local officials that defective drywall from China was leaking chemicals that caused illness and safety problems.

“Results from a major indoor air study of 51 homes are being released today along with initial reports from two studies of corrosion in homes with Chinese drywall,” the CPSC said in a statement.

Full Story AFP: US to expand health probe into Chinese drywall.

Lieberman refuses to debate Maddow on health care because she has a ‘point of view.’

Lieberman refuses to debate Maddow on health care because she has a ‘point of view.’

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has repeatedly tried to get Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to come on her show and debate health care. However, he and his office have refused to even respond to her requests for statements. Last week, Mike Stark caught up with Lieberman and asked him whether he’d go on Maddow’s show. The senator declined, saying the tv host has “a point of view”:

STARK: You’ve expressed an interest to have a serious policy debate instead of all the invective and that. And I think one of the best folks from the progressive side is Rachel Maddow —

LIEBERMAN: (LAUGHTER)

STARK: — and she’s been trying to get you on her show for a really long time.

LIEBERMAN: She’s got a point of view. I think we’re going to have this debate on the floor of the Senate. And I look forward to it. In other words —

STARK: There’s no chance you’ll do her show?

LIEBERMAN: I don’t think so.

Watch Maddow’s segment on Friday:

Full Story Think Progress » Lieberman refuses to debate Maddow on health care because she has a ‘point of view.’.

OPS: Apparently old Droopy Dawg prefers to debate people that DON’T have a point of view?

Fox’s Fuzzy Math: 193 Percent Of The Public Support Palin, Huckabee, And Romney

Reporting on the latest Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll last night on Fox News’ local Chicago affiliate, anchor Byron Harlan employed some funny math in asserting that Sarah Palin is leading the pack for the GOP nomination in 2012:

HARLAN: It looks as if the rogue route is helping Sarah Palin. Her book tour has meant new support. A new Opinion Dynamics poll for 2012 shows her on top when it comes to landing the nomination. Palin is at 70 percent, about a third higher than this past July. Mike Huckabee stands at 63 percent. Mitt Romney’s 60.

Those figures add up to 193 percent. An accompanying graphic tried to squeeze the numbers into one pie chart:

In fact, the poll Harlan referred to did not ask Republican respondents to pick their favorite candidate. The numbers he cited merely represent favorable ratings among Republicans surveyed for each individual. Watch Harlan’s report:

Full Story Think Progress » Fox’s Fuzzy Math: 193 Percent Of The Public Support Palin, Huckabee, And Romney.

Former Insurance Company Executive: Health Insurers Stand Between Patients And Their Doctors

One of the most common right-wing memes used by opponents of health care reform is that progressive solutions to America’s health care problems place “Washington bureaucrats firmly between you and your doctor.” Again and again, conservatives have deployed this meme to demagogue the health care debate.

However, the reality is there already is someone standing between you and your doctor: health insurance companies. Single mother Ellen Hayden knows this from experience. After losing her mother at the age of 7 from breast cancer, Hayden has done everything she can to get regular mammograms. Following an abnormal mammogram, her doctor recommended that she have an MRI. After the scan, her insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, refused to pay for the procedure and is also refusing to pay for a follow-up second MRI her doctor has suggested.

Ned Helms, a former health insurance industry executive who now works at the University of New Hampshire, told Sea Coast Online that this is Hayden’s case is an example of “insurance people” getting between patients and their doctors:

Full Story Think Progress » Former Insurance Company Executive: Health Insurers Stand Between Patients And Their Doctors.

Mom: Marijuana Saved My Autistic Son’s Life (VIDEO)

Kids may seem an unlikely group to include in the medical marijuana debate, but some children with autism are reaping life-changing benefits from the drug. Mieko Hester-Perez, a mother in California, told the Early Show’s Hattie Kauffman that marijuana saved her son’s life.

Hester-Perez’s 10-year-old son, Joey, was uninterested in food and weighed a startling 48 pounds. “Everyone that came to my home was watching me watch Joey die,” Hester-Perez told Kauffman. “He was deteriorating hourly.”

But that all changed with a batch of marijuana brownies. After four years of only eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Joey’s appetite came to life and revived him in other ways as well.

“We’re seeing Joey come out,” Hester-Perez said. “He’s never made noises, we didn’t even know he could make noise until the first batch of brownies.”

Full Story Mom: Marijuana Saved My Autistic Son’s Life (VIDEO).

Obama Not Upping His Involvement In Health Care Debate

President Obama is not planning to increase (or, for that matter, decrease) his involvement in the health care debate even as legislation enters a pivotal moment in the United States Senate.

Just days after the Senate passed a historic measure, allowing health care reform to come to the floor for amending and debate, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs essentially stuck to the maxim, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” when describing the administration’s upcoming approach.

“I think the president will continue to play the role that he and his team have played [so far],” Gibbs said. “I don’t think we would be at this point if the president and his team hadn’t played roles in getting this process to the point of where it is.”
Full Story Obama Not Upping His Involvement In Health Care Debate.

OPS: Still leading from the rear.  Where’s my change dude?

Wall Street Journal Supports Break-Up Of Big Banks

Add the Wall Street Journal editorial board — of all people — to the growing ranks of those calling for a restoration of barriers between commercial and investment banking.

In an editorial today, the Journal's anti-regulation free marketeers threw their weight — albeit in a back-handed way — behind government limits on “risk-taking” by commercial banks.

The editorial was mostly an assault on Democratic proposals described as offering “unlimited taxpayer funds” to bail out “just about anyone… engaging in finance of one kind or another” in a way that “would entrench moral hazard (and cheaper funding costs for the likes of Goldman Sachs) even deeper into the financial system.”

Full Story Wall Street Journal Supports Break-Up Of Big Banks.

Tea Party Patriots Attack Family Who Lost Daughter And Grandchild (VIDEO)

A group called the Chicago Tea Party Patriots publicly heckled a grieving family and suggested that the couple fabricated their tragic story.

At a town hall held by Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) on Nov. 14,, Dan and Midge Hough spoke about how they believed the death of their daughter-in-law and her unborn child were caused, in part, by a lack of health insurance. Twenty-four-year old Jennifer was uninsured. According to her in-laws, she was not receiving regular prenatal care and was not properly treated when she got sick. She ended up in an emergency room with double pneumonia that developed into septic shock, had a heart attack, a brain bleed and a stroke. The baby died and Jennifer died a few weeks later.

Midge Hough was heckled by anti-reform crowd members. “You can laugh at me, that's okay,” she said, crying. “But I lost two people, and I know you think that's funny, that's okay.”

Full Story Tea Party Patriots Attack Family Who Lost Daughter And Grandchild (VIDEO).

Democrats Contemplate Direct Government Hiring

As desperate Democratic lawmakers cast about for ways to create jobs from Capitol Hill, a 1970s-era jobs program is getting a fresh look.

Known as CETA — the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act — the program provided direct government funding to hire temporary workers. At its peak in 1978, it had created 725,000 public service jobs and shaved roughly one point off the unemployment figure.

A one-point drop in the unemployment rate — not to mention the ancillary benefit of hundreds of thousands of people having money to spend on other goods and services — would give politicians something concrete to point to before the mid-term elections.

“That's certainly one of the options being discussed, the CETA program back in the 70s,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told HuffPost in a recent interview, when asked if leadership was considering direct government hiring as a partial answer to the deepening unemployment.

Full Story Democrats Contemplate Direct Government Hiring.

Obama To Announce Increase Of US Troops For Afghanistan On December 1

President Barack Obama is expected to announce a “sizeable force” increase in US troops for Afghanistan early next week, tentatively December 1, according to a report from NPR.

Obama met with his war council on Monday evening to decide how many troops to send in addition to the 68,000 already deployed. According to the Associated Press, “Military officials and others said they expect Obama to settle on a middle-ground option that would deploy an eventual 32,000 to 35,000 U.S. forces to the 8-year-old conflict.” General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in the region, had been pressing for 40,000.

After Obama's announcement next Tuesday, General McChrystal, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, are expected to testify on Capitol Hill.

Full Story Obama To Announce Increase Of US Troops For Afghanistan On December 1.

Report Debunks Oil Industry’s TV Ad Attacks on Climate Action

A massive TV ad campaign paid that argues that legislation to contain global climate change would result in dramatically higher fuel prices for average consumers is just plain not true, according to a recent report.

The American Petroleum Institute, the main Washington trade group representing the oil industry, has been funding television spots attacking Democrats' legislation to create a national cap-and-trade system to contain greenhouse gas emissions.

Not only are such charges false, the climate bill actually would cut gasoline prices, says a report issued by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

The Senate is considering a climate change bill, while the House approved its cap-and-trade plan earlier this year.

Full Story On The Hill: Report Debunks Oil Industry’s TV Ad Attacks on Climate Action.

Senator Menendez Speaks In Favor Of Health Care Reform

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on Senate Floor Prior to Vote for Cloture on Health Care Bill.

After Words with Nomi Prins – C-SPAN Video Library

Nomi Prins talked about her book It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street (Wiley; September 22, 2009). The guest interviewer was Senator Bernie Sanders. About the Program Nomi Prins, former managing director at Goldman Sachs and current senior fellow at Demos, talks about the 2008 financial crisis and its ongoing aftermath. This is the subject of her latest book, “It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street.” Ms. Prins discusses her book with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I). Prior to coming to the Senate in 2007, Sen. Sanders spent 16 years representing Vermont in the House of Representatives. He currently sits on five Senate committees, including the committee on Labor & Pensions. About the Authors Nomi Prins For more on Nomi Prins and her work, visit: nomiprins.com.

Full Story After Words with Nomi Prins – C-SPAN Video Library.

A Blow to Privatization in Israel (and Perhaps Beyond)

Is there something inherently wrong with entrusting a private company to run a prison? Might this even be unconstitutional? As far as I'm aware, no court in Europe or the United States has entertained this question. When and if one does, there will now be a precedent to cite: a potentially historic 8-1 ruling just handed down by the Supreme Court in Israel that overturned a 2004 Knesset amendment permitting the establishment of such prisons.

In an opinion rightly hailed as a “bombshell” in Haaretz, Israeli Supreme Court President Dorit Benisch did not deny that privatizing prisons might potentially save money. She simply determined that incarceration infringes on such fundamental liberties that only the state should carry out this function, not least since the alternative is to turn prisoners into a means of extracting profit. “Economic efficiency is not a supreme value, when we are dealing with basic and important rights for which the state has responsibility,” ruled Benisch.

The ruling is not without its ironies, among them the fact that Israel doesn't actually have a written constitution, only a set of Basic Laws that are supposed to serve as a guideline for legal rulings. There is also the fact that, as Yonatan Preminger noted in this fine article in the magazine Challenge a year ago, the conditions in Israel's state-run prisons have often been abysmal, with prisoners and security detainees (mainly Palestinians) crowded into cramped, squalid cells bereft of adequate beds and toilet facilities.

Full Story A Blow to Privatization in Israel (and Perhaps Beyond).

Eurozone economic activity ‘hits a two-year high’

Eurozone economic activity rose at its fastest pace in November for two years, according to an influential survey.

The latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) figure rose to 53.7, up from 53 in the previous month, confirming the bloc’s recent economic recovery.

The growth was driven by manufacturing output, which scored 54.6, its fastest growth since September 2007.

Figures released earlier this month showed that the eurozone emerged from recession between July and September.

Full Story BBC News – Eurozone economic activity ‘hits a two-year high’.

OPS: Gee, could it be the ‘socialism?, the Regulation?  the Government control?  All of these countries have Health care for everyone.  Get it?

Dimon Seen as Successor to Geithner – Report

Several U.S. policy makers consider JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon as a potential successor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the New York Post said, citing sources.

Dimon “would love to serve his country,” the paper quoted people familiar with his thinking as saying.

JPMorgan could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.

Geithner endured a grilling last week before the U.S. Congress over his role in the rescue of American International Group Inc in 2008, when he was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

Full Story Dimon Seen as Successor to Geithner – Report – NYTimes.com.

OPS:  Digging the hole deeper. More proof that the  Reich is still in control.  I guess that’ll teach us for speaking out

Army recruiters see a jump in enlistment

Heads of families, others find economic advantages in a military career.

Unemployment may be high, but there are still jobs available.

With an estimated 13.9 percent unemployment rate in Long Beach last month, and a statewide rate of 12.5 percent, many are setting their sights on the Army.

“There’s been a 32 percent growth in recruitment (in Long Beach) this year from last year and companywide 28 percent,” said Sgt. 1st Class Richard L. Woods, commander of the Long Beach Recruiting Station.

However, they can’t be certain the numbers are up because of the unemployment rate.

California’s Employment Development Department reports 33,100 people in Long Beach out of work. This does not include the elderly, disabled, part-time workers or those who have stopped looking for work.

Economists believe if those numbers were added they would push the unemployment rate to about 18 percent.

According to Woods, there are some who say they are joining the Army because the job market is so bad.

Full Story Army recruiters see a jump in enlistment – ContraCostaTimes.com.

Rep. David Obey Warns President Obama of Afghanistan War Surtax

David Obey to Obama: ‘There Ain’t Going to Be Money for Nothing if We Pour It All Into Afghanistan’

The powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee has a stark message for President Obama about Afghanistan — sending more troops would be a mistake that could “wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy.”

“There ain’t going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan,” House Appropriations Chairman David Obey told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “If they ask for an increased troop commitment in Afghanistan, I am going to ask them to pay for it.”

Watch ABC News’ exclusive interview with Rep. Obey here.

Obey, a Democrat from Wisconsin, made it clear that he is absolutely opposed to sending any more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and says if Obama decides to do that, he’ll demand a new tax — what he calls a “war surtax” — to pay for it.

“On the merits, I think it is a mistake to deepen our involvement,” Obey said. “But if we are going to do that, then at least we ought to pay for it. Because if we don’t, if we don’t pay for it, the cost of the Afghan war will wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy.”

Full Story Rep. David Obey Warns President Obama of Afghanistan War Surtax – ABC News.

New FBI data show a sharp increase in anti-gay hate crimes.

Today, the FBI released its latest annual statistics on U.S. hate crimes in 2008. Overall, “the 2008 numbers are up slightly — 7,783 incidents and 9,691 victims” were reported last year. Hate crimes based on sexual orientation had the largest increase — nearly 11 percent. Hate crimes based on religion rose 9 percent and the “largest category, racially-motivated hate crimes, fell less than 1 percent.” A breakdown of the 1,706 victims of sexual-orientation hate crimes:

• – 57.5 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-male homosexual bias.
• – 27.3 percent were victims because of an anti-homosexual bias.
• – 11.6 percent were victims because of an anti-female homosexual bias.
• – 2.0 percent were victims because of an anti-heterosexual bias.
• – 1.6 percent were victims because of an anti-bisexual bias.

Full Story Think Progress » New FBI data show a sharp increase in anti-gay hate crimes..

Gun Lobby Mobilizes Against Health Reform By Claiming Obama Administration Will Issue ‘No Guns’ Decree

On Friday, Gun Owners of America sent out an action alert to its 300,000 members warning that the Senate health care bill “would mandate that doctors provide ‘gun-related health data’ to ‘a government database,’ including information on mental-health issues detected in patients, which could jeopardize their ability to obtain a firearms license.” The alert also warned its membership that the “wellness and prevention” provisions in the health care bill would allow the Obama administration to issue a “no guns” decree:

Finally, as we have mentioned several times in the past, the mandates in the legislation will most likely dump your gun-related health data into a government database that was created in section 13001 of the stimulus bill. This includes any firearms-related information your doctor has gleaned…or any determination of PTSD, or something similar, that can preclude you from owning firearms.

And, the special “wellness and prevention” programs (inserted by Section 1001 of the bill as part of a new Section 2717 in the Public Health Services Act) would allow the government to offer lower premiums to employers who bribe their employees to live healthier lifestyles — and nothing within the bill would prohibit rabidly anti-gun HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from decreeing that “no guns” is somehow healthier.

Full Story Think Progress » Gun Lobby Mobilizes Against Health Reform By Claiming Obama Administration Will Issue ‘No Guns’ Decree.

US home resales surge in October

Gain of 10.1% lifts housing recovery hopes

Home resales in the US continued to surge last month, as buyers rushed to scoop up properties ahead of the anticipated expiration of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, lifting hopes that the housing market may have found firmer ground.

Sales of existing homes jumped by 10.1 per cent to an adjusted annual rate of 6.1m from September to October, the National Association of Realtors said on Monday. That easily exceeded economists’ predictions that resales would rise by 2.3 per cent and beat the prior month’s increase of 8.8 per cent.

Full Story FT.com / US / Economy & Fed – US home resales surge in October.

Living Standards Declining in America

Len Hart –

The US used to boast the highest standard of living in the world. Those days are long past. Today –the US is among the most inequitable nations on earth where is also found those nations enduring the very worst standards of living. The US –once number one –is not even in the top ten.

According the ranking, the country with the best living conditions is the Scandinavian country of Norway. Helped by a relatively small population of only five million people, combined with an abundance of energy resources such as oil and natural gas, the people of Norway also live in one of the most democratic countries in the world. Further contributing to Norway holding the top ranking in the report has been the ability of the socialist government to continue to provide the generous social benefits the government provides due in large part from its massive sovereign wealth fund, which is the second largest in the world at approximately 330 billion dollars.

–The richest country in the world does not have the highest living standards

About the current crisis begun in the Bush years, some have said that the stiumli were/are ‘too small’. The real problem is that the wrong people got the ‘stimuli’. Those getting the stimuli were the banksters who had created this mess to begin with! Much of the ‘stimuli’ wound up in offshore tax havens in which may be found much of US ‘wealth’! Much of the ‘stimuli’ never stimulated anything but the greed of those getting the windfalls. Is there any evidence that the ‘stimuli’ ever created a single job or in any way ‘stimulated’ those who might have used the money to get out of poverty, buy a home or get an education.

Full Story The Existentialist Cowboy: Living Standards Declining in America.

Hosting Your Own Hedonistic Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday about three things: eating, drinking, and fun. If you haven’t realized that yet, you’re doing it wrong. Here’s how to do it right.

You might not know this, but Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year. You don’t have to buy a gift for your most annoying family member or send your boss a cheese log. You don’t have to pretend that the ten-year-old girl dressed up as Britney Spears is appropriate or deserving of a mini Snickers bar. You really don’t have to fast. No, this is a holiday about three simple things: eating, drinking, and merriment.

If you haven’t realized that yet, it’s probably because you’re doing it wrong. Maybe you’re still stuck in the old family rut — dutifully flying home for a few days each November to eat turkey with mom, dad and great-aunt Mildred. And it’s probably fine; the food is good, the conversation might be somewhat lively (especially if Mildred’s had her schnapps), but you’re still secretly counting down the minutes till everyone goes to bed and you can have a smoke and a proper-sized glass of wine. Or, maybe you’re one of those Thanksgiving deniers who just pretends the whole thing isn’t happening, staying at home and eating turkey lo mein with your cat.

Either way, you’re missing out, and this year it’s time to break the cycle. And it’s not as hard as you think. Here are five ways to host your very own kick-ass, grown-up Thanksgiving dinner.

Full Story Hosting Your Own Hedonistic Thanksgiving – Nerve.com.

Goldman Sachs’s Tax Rate Drops to 1%, or $14 Million

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which got $10 billion and debt guarantees from the U.S. government in October, expects to pay $14 million in taxes worldwide for 2008 compared with $6 billion in 2007.

The company’s effective income tax rate dropped to 1 percent from 34.1 percent, New York-based Goldman Sachs said today in a statement. The firm reported a $2.3 billion profit for the year after paying $10.9 billion in employee compensation and benefits.

Goldman Sachs, which today reported its first quarterly loss since going public in 1999, lowered its rate with more tax credits as a percentage of earnings and because of “changes in geographic earnings mix,” the company said.

The rate decline looks “a little extreme,” said Robert Willens, president and chief executive officer of tax and accounting advisory firm Robert Willens LLC.

“I was definitely taken aback,” Willens said. “Clearly they have taken steps to ensure that a lot of their income is earned in lower-tax jurisdictions.”

Goldman Sachs’s Tax Rate Drops to 1%, or $14 Million (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.

Sewers at Capacity, Pollution Spills Into Waterways

A worker maintaining a tank at a Brooklyn wastewater treatment plant. Half the rainstorms in New York overwhelm the system.

It was drizzling lightly in late October when the midnight shift started at the Owls Head Water Pollution Control Plant, where much of Brooklyn’s sewage is treated.

A few miles away, people were walking home without umbrellas from late dinners. But at Owls Head, a swimming pool’s worth of sewage and wastewater was soon rushing in every second. Warning horns began to blare. A little after 1 a.m., with a harder rain falling, Owls Head reached its capacity and workers started shutting the intake gates.

That caused a rising tide throughout Brooklyn’s sewers, and untreated feces and industrial waste started spilling from emergency relief valves into the Upper New York Bay and Gowanus Canal.

“It happens anytime you get a hard rainfall,” said Bob Connaughton, one the plant’s engineers. “Sometimes all it takes is 20 minutes of rain, and you’ve got overflows across Brooklyn.”

Full Story Sewers at Capacity, Pollution Spills Into Waterways – Series – NYTimes.com.

Should we each have a carbon footprint allowance?

Thom spars w/ Shikha Dalmia

Sanders Details Weakness in Current Senate Health Care Bill

Do Not Pass Handout Ins Cos. 30M New Customers

November 20, 2009 Senator Sanders (I-VT) and Thom Hartmann

Early Data Suggest Suicides Are Rising

A 1987 Dodge van stuck on a rock overhang near Grand Junction, Colo., after the driver sent the vehicle off a cliff in an apparent suicide attempt in January. The driver survived.

Reports Indicate 2008 Uptick Is Similar to Those Seen in Past Recessions, Though Cause Is Unclear

Early signs suggest the number of suicides in the U.S. crept up during the worst recession in decades, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of states that account for about 40% of the U.S. population.

Available data, still incomplete, suggest that this recession, like past ones, coincided with an uptick in suicides. The data from 19 states find an increase in suicides in the recessionary year of 2008 from 2007. Those states historically account for about half of annual suicides in the U.S. Calls to suicide hotlines are rising. And suicides in the workplace and the military — a small sliver all of self-inflicted deaths — were up in 2008.

Official data on suicides in the U.S. lag, and a 2008 national tally isn’t yet available. In 2007, there were 33,185 suicides, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared with an average of about 32,800 in the previous three years.

Full Story Early Data Suggest Suicides Are Rising – WSJ.com.

Economists Predict Job Losses Will Stop In Early 2010

Economists expect the joblessness that has weighed down the nation’s economic recovery will start to slowly abate in 2010, but they predict consumers will continue to keep a tight rein on spending, according to a new survey.

While signs have pointed to the end of the recession, joblessness remains rampant. The national unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 percent in October, the highest in 26 years. About 9 million people currently receive unemployment benefits.

The November outlook by the National Association for Business Economics, which is set to be released Monday, shows economists expect net employment losses to bottom out in the first quarter of next year. Employers are seen starting to add to their payrolls after that.

“While the recovery has been jobless so far, that should soon change,” said Lynn Reaser, NABE’s president and chief economist at Point Loma Nazarene University. “Within the next few months, companies should be adding instead of cutting jobs.”

Full Story Economists Predict Job Losses Will Stop In Early 2010.

OPS NOTE:  Not all are this optimistic. Those NOT so optimistic are: Paul Krugman, Dean Baker, Ravi Batra, Robert Reich, Nouriel Roubini and many more.   Articles by this group are posted here at OPS. Search for them and get the other opinion.

Support for legalizing marijuana gaining ground rapidly

Approval for medical use expands alongside criticism of prohibition

The same day they rejected a gay marriage ballot measure, residents of Maine voted overwhelmingly to allow the sale of medical marijuana over the counter at state-licensed dispensaries.

Later in the month, the American Medical Association reversed a longtime position and urged the federal government to remove marijuana from Schedule One of the Controlled Substances Act, which equates it with heroin and cocaine.

A few days later, advocates for easing marijuana laws left their biannual strategy conference with plans to press ahead on all fronts — state law, ballot measures, and court — in a movement that for the first time in decades appeared to be gaining ground.

Full Story Support for legalizing marijuana gaining ground rapidly – washingtonpost.com.

Rise in stock ownership among lawmakers brings ethics concerns

As stock ownership rises in Congress, experts warn of potential ethics concerns

When Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) this summer proposed a $4 billion tax on medical-device firms to help offset the cost of health-care reforms, an unusual mix of lawmakers joined in a chorus of protest.

Full Story Rise in stock ownership among lawmakers brings ethics concerns – washingtonpost.com.

4 US Soldiers Die In Afghan Attacks

Bomb attacks and a firefight killed four U.S. troops in 24 hours in Afghanistan, the military said Monday, adding to the growing toll as NATO and the U.S. consider whether to send more forces to the war.

Three of the Americans died in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, NATO said in a statement. Two of them were killed in a bomb attack and the third in a separate firefight.

The statement said a bomb killed the fourth American in the east Monday.

The deaths bring the number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in November to 15. October was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the eight-year war, with 58 dead.

Full Story 4 US Soldiers Die In Afghan Attacks.

Durbin, Feinstein rally for public option

Centrist Democrats acted appropriately in supporting a healthcare reform bill with a public option, senior Democrats Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” vowing a vigorous fight until the end of the coming debate.

On the heels of the Senate’s 60-39 vote on Saturday night for the Democratic-written healthcare bill, Feinstein immediately adressed the concern among centrist Democrats that the bill’s cost is too high.

“You have the vote, and I think the vote will decide,” Feinstein said, referring to the nature of Saturday’s procedural vote, which is far from a final vote. “To not to vote, to not to consider this question… America’s in serious problems with respect to healthcare. Virtually every other developed country has a better system than we do. Ours is costly, in places it’s ineffective, it’s deeply troubled, and the time has come to really see that people who have no insurance can really get insurance.”

Durbin, Feinstein rally for public option – TheHill.com.

Unburied bodies tell the tale of Detroit — a city in despair

The abandoned corpses, in white body bags with number tags tied to each toe, lie one above the other on steel racks inside a giant freezer in Detroit’s central mortuary, like discarded shoes in the back of a wardrobe.

Some have lain here for years, but in recent months the number of unclaimed bodies has reached a record high. For in this city that once symbolised the American Dream many cannot even afford to bury their dead.

“I have not seen this many unclaimed bodies in 13 years on the job,” said Albert Samuels, chief investigator at the mortuary. “It started happening when the economy went south last year. I have never seen this many people struggling to give people their last resting place.”

Full Story Unburied bodies tell the tale of Detroit — a city in despair – Times Online.

Sugar-coated polymer is new weapon against allergies and asthma

Scientists at Johns Hopkins and their colleagues have developed sugar-coated polymer strands that selectively kill off cells involved in triggering aggressive allergy and asthma attacks. Their advance is a significant step toward crafting pharmaceuticals to fight these often life-endangering conditions in a new way.

For more than a decade, a team led by Bruce S. Bochner, M.D., director of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has studied a unique protein known as Siglec-8. This protein, whose name is an acronym for Sialic Acid-binding, Immunoglobulin-like LECtin number 8, is present on the surfaces of a few types of immune cells, including eosinophils, basophils and mast cells. These different cell types have diverse but cooperative roles in normal immune function and allergic diseases. When functioning correctly, they are a valuable aid to keeping the body healthy and infection-free. However, in allergic reactions and asthma attacks, the cells unleash an overwhelming response that typically harms the body more than it helps.

The researchers found in previous studies that when they bound antibodies that specifically target Siglec-8 to the protein on eosinophils, the cells promptly died, an effect that might be useful in stemming an allergy or asthma attack. Since producing antibodies can be expensive — a potential roadblock to using them as pharmaceuticals in the future — the researchers sought another way to activate this protein.

Full Story Sugar-coated polymer is new weapon against allergies and asthma.

Sea level rise could cost port cities $28 trillion

The melting of ice caps in Greenland and the Antarctic could mean sea levels rising by 0.5 meters, the report says.

The value of infrastructure exposed in so-called “port mega-cities,” urban conurbations with more than 10 million people, is just $3 trillion at present.

The rise in potential losses would be a result of expected greater urbanization and increased exposure of this greater population to catastrophic surge events occurring once every 100 years caused by rising sea levels and higher temperatures.

The report, released on Monday by WWF and financial services Allianz, concludes that the world’s diverse regions and ecosystems are close to temperature thresholds — or “tipping points.”

Full Story Sea level rise could cost port cities $28 trillion – CNN.com.

Oceans rising faster than expected as climate change exceeds grimmest models

Warming exceeds grimmest climate models

Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.

As the world has talked for a dozen years about what to do next, new ship passages opened through the once frozen summer sea ice of the Arctic. In Greenland and Antarctica, ice sheets have lost trillions of tons of ice. Mountain glaciers in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa are shrinking faster than before.

And it's not just the frozen parts of the world that have felt the heat in the dozen years leading up to next month's climate summit in Copenhagen:

_ The world’s oceans have risen by about an inch and a half.

Full Story Oceans rising faster than expected as climate change exceeds grimmest models | Raw Story.

Colorado senator says he’ll sacrifice his job for healthcare reform

A freshman Democratic senator in a competitive race says he’s willing to sacrifice his job to pass healthcare reform.

“As a new senator who’s on the ballot next year in a tough state,” began CNN’s John King on the network’s Sunday “State of the Union” program, “and if every piece of evidence tells you, if you support that bill, you will lose your job. Will you lose your job?”

The question was posed to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), who appears on the state’s ballot in 2010.

“Yes,” Bennet replied.

Bennet was appointed to the seat after it was vacated by Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO), who took a job in Obama’s cabinet as Secretary of the Interior.

Full Story Colorado senator says he’ll sacrifice his job for healthcare reform | Raw Story.

5 Bad Things That Immediately Happen to Your Body When You Eat Sugary Junk

Sugary food tastes great going down, but the effects it has on our insides are far less appetizing.

At this point, most people understand the basic effects of subsisting on junk food. We’d be hard pressed to find someone who thinks eating a bowl of broccoli is the same as eating a bowl of candy (though doing either will undoubtedly wreak havoc on the human digestive system). But simply knowing that junk food is bad — or even knowing how it’s bad — doesn’t make it any less tempting. Humans have a natural predilection for high-fat, high-sugar foods, and if those ingredients are combined into one magical dish, resistance is practically futile.

Even the healthiest among us have to give in to a cake craving every now and then; it’s normal and won’t do much damage in moderation. The only problem is when we take the craving too far (i.e., eat too much) and end up feeling less than optimal. What happens within our bodies when we eat an excess of sugar that causes such extreme reactions?

This Is Your Body on Cake

When it comes to celebrating, nothing completes the occasion like a rich, perfectly sweet slice of cake. Each bite tastes great going down, but the effects it has on our insides are far less appetizing.

Full Story 5 Bad Things That Immediately Happen to Your Body When You Eat Sugary Junk | | AlterNet.

The Dark Side of the Bright Side

– In These Times –

Many people are not getting by. The human species faces dire ecological threats. Pretending everything will be OK helped get us into this mess, and it won’t get us out.

In her new book, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of contemporary optimism

In her new book Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America (Metropolitan/Holt, October 2009), Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of contemporary optimism from nineteenth-century healers to twentieth-century pushers of consumerism. She explores how that culture of optimism prevents us from holding to account both corporate heads and elected officials.

Manufactured optimism has become a method to make the poor feel guilty for their poverty, the ill for their lack of health and the victims of corporate layoffs for their inability to find worthwhile jobs. Megachurches preach the “gospel of prosperity,” exhorting poor people to visualize financial success. Corporations have abandoned rational decision-making in favor of charismatic leadership.

This mania for looking on the bright side has given us the present financial collapse; optimistic business leaders—assisted by rosy-eyed policymakers—made very bad decisions.

In These Times recently spoke with her about our penchant for foolish optimism.

Is promoting optimism a mechanism of social control to keep the system in balance?

Full Story The Dark Side of the Bright Side — In These Times.

Why Do Conservatives Love Sarah Palin? Because She Never Stops Whining

By Matt Taibbi,

Sarah Palin constantly complains about the imaginary injustices done to her person. And our country loves whiners.

The really beautiful thing about the culture war, from an entertainment standpoint, is that it is fundamentally irresolvable. There isn’t a concrete set of issues involved, where in theory both sides could give in a little and find middle ground, reach some sort of compromise.

That’s because there are no issues at all. At the end of this decade what we call “politics” has devolved into a kind of ongoing, brainless soap opera about dueling cultural resentments and the really cool thing about it, if you’re a TV news producer or a talk radio host, is that you can build the next day’s news cycle meme around pretty much anything at all, no matter how irrelevant — like who’s wearing a flag lapel pin and who isn’t, who spent $150K worth of campaign funds on clothes and who didn’t, who wore a t-shirt calling someone a cunt and who didn’t, and who put a picture of a former Vice Presidential candidate in jogging shorts on his magazine cover (and who didn’t).

It doesn’t matter what the argument is about. What’s important is that once the argument starts, the two sides will automatically coalesce around the various instant-cocoa talking points and scream at each other until they’re blue in the face, or until the next argument starts.

Full Story Why Do Conservatives Love Sarah Palin? Because She Never Stops Whining | | AlterNet.

The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete … If It Weren’t for Archives

That Maj. Hasan tried to get a military discharge before the massacre is largely being erased — we’re supposed to keep focusing on the Muslim part.

What happened to all the initial reports that accused Fort Hood killer Maj. Nidal Hasan snapped because he was distraught over the Army’s refusal to grant him either a discharge or an exemption from being deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, wars which the Muslim psychiatrist abhorred — and how it was this callous Army refusal to accommodate Maj. Hasan that led to his downward spiral into despondency, rage and mass murder?

We heard quite a bit about this in the first couple of days, and then — poof! That part of the Fort Hood story disappeared so neatly that I almost started to wonder if I’d imagined it — such is the power of media bombardment versus a mere soap bubble like the human memory. I might have forgotten too and gone along with the reality-scrub, the way all of Official America has gone, but thanks to all the news archives, it was possible to check the record as it was first reported on November 5, and trace how a key part of the Nidal Hasan story was airbrushed away from reality.

The Army’s pig-headed failure to accommodate Maj. Hasan was, for a time, the most important — and most damaging — detail forunderstanding his shooting rampage. Because if Maj. Hasan tried to get out of his deployment, and if he telegraphed every warning signal possible (emailing terrorists, cruising 7-11s in his Al Qaeda costume) to bolster his case to reverse his deployment orders, and all the while the Army bureaucracy ignored him despite his 20 years’ service — then that means the massacre can’t be blamed just on one crazy Islamofascist’s inner evil.

Full Story The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete … If It Weren’t for Archives | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet.