Archive for December, 2009
Solar cell breaks efficiency record
Boeing-Spectrolab has developed a solar cell that can convert almost 41 percent of the sunlight that strikes it into electricity, the latest step in trying to drop the cost of solar power.
Potentially, the solar cell could bring the cost of solar power down to around $3 a watt, after installation costs and other expenses are factored in, over the life of the panel. The new cost information comes from Boeing, whose Spectrolab unit supplies searchlights and solar simulators, and the Department of Energy, which sponsored the project. Current silicon solar cells provide electricity at about $8 a watt, before government rebates. The goal is to bring it to $1 a watt without rebates or incentives.
The cell achieves 40.7 percent efficiency. The Department of Energy has been sponsoring research to find ways to get solar cells past the so-called 40 percent barrier.
Earlier this year, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories reported that cells made of a new type of semiconductor, zinc-manganese-tellurium, combined with a few atoms of oxygen, could convert around 45 percent of sunlight into electricity. That technology, also partly sponsored by the Department of Energy, has been licensed to RoseStreet Labs in Arizona. It remains to be seen whether this material can be made into solar cells economically.
Full Story Solar cell breaks efficiency record – CNET News.
Afghanistan: What Obama and the US Media Aren’t Telling Us
If you pay attention only to the commercial and so-called “public” media in the United States, you’d get the impression that the response around the world to President Obama’s proposed escalation of the decades old U.S. war on Afghanistan has ranged from tepid to positive.
Inside Afghanistan – well; when do we ever hear from anyone actually in Afghanistan? I mean the Afghans themselves? Obama claims, as the Bush administration did, that The U.S. will be heading an international peacekeeping force representing more than 40 nations in an all-out effort to, in the words of both Obama and Bush “get the job done”. What job? That’s a question the media, by and large seems reticent to ask.
In the few days immediately following 9-11 ( September 11th, 2001, that is) I had occasion to be in New York City. The Pacifica Radio network was in a state of crisis as self-appointed rogue national board of directors had assumed control of the 5-station network and was busy scuttling its best programs and dismantling Pacifica station by station.
Pacifica’s flagship program, Democracy Now, was being produced in exile and had been banned at all 5 Pacifica stations by the national program director. Long-time dedicated Pacifica employees and volunteers, with precious few resources were trying to provide coverage of the tragic events while reporting at each of the 5 stations suffered, beginning, even, to resemble the sensationalist yet shallow treatment being offered on the commercial networks.
Full Story The Free Press — Independent News Media – International Issues.
Capitalism discussion
Thom Hartmann & Howard Bloom have a rumble on Capitalism
Howard Bloom’s latest book: The Genius of the Beast: A Radical re-Vision of Capitalism.
YouTube – Thom & Howard Bloom have a rumble on Capitalism.
Pentagon’s War Pitch Belied by Taliban-Qaeda Conflict
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen argued in Senate Testimony Wednesday that the 30,000-troop increase is necessary to prevent the Taliban from giving new safe havens to al Qaeda terrorists
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert).
But that argument is flatly contradicted by the evidence of fundamental conflicts between the interests of the Taliban and those of al Qaeda that has emerged in recent years, according to counterterrorism and intelligence analysts specializing in Afghanistan.
Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee that, “Taliban-ruled areas could in short order become once again sanctuary for al Qaeda, as well as a staging area for resurgent militant groups on the offensive in Pakistan.”
Full Story Pentagon’s War Pitch Belied by Taliban-Qaeda Conflict | CommonDreams.org.
Killing Gays For Jesus
Frank Schaeffer: –
Nothing illustrates the danger we face from our own Taliban better than the way American “Christians” are now tangled up with the homophobic — now potentially gay murdering — Ugandan Christian/political leadership.
‘…It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after. World conquest. That’s what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel.’–
The Ugandan Parliament is considering a bill that would impose the death penalty on gays. One American must be cheering from the grave. Here’s what the late R.J. Rushdoony, Reconstructionist theologian and founder of the modern movement of that name, wrote in a letter to gay rights activist Mel White: “God in His law requires the death penalty for homosexuals.”
Disclosure: Both Mel White and Rushdoony were friends of mine, back in the day I was a Religious Right leader and sidekick to my father – the late Francis Schaeffer – who is “credited” by many, including by Karen Armstrong and Max Blumenthal – with being a key father of the Religious Right…along with R.J. Rushdoony. I quit the movement over its hate for the “other” and got out by the late 80s and started writing novels like Portofino, aimed at the heart of the movement through humor at fundamentalist’s expense.
Full Story The BRAD BLOG : Frank Schaeffer: Killing Gays For Jesus.
Geithner Calls for Tightening Derivatives Loopholes
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for tightening loopholes in U.S. legislation to regulate the $605 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market.
“For this to really work, for us to bring this market out of the dark, to try to make sure we have protections in place against manipulation and fraud, we can’t allow these exceptions to undermine those basic protections,” Geithner said in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt” airing today.
Airlines, energy companies and other end-users that rely on derivatives to protect their businesses against swings in oil and commodities prices would be exempt from most new requirements in House of Representatives bills designed to rein in more speculative trading in the loosely regulated derivatives market. The House legislation is slated for votes next week.
Full Story Geithner Calls for Tightening Derivatives Loopholes (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.
To a Divisive Health Care Debate, Now Add Religion
Should health insurance companies cover prayer as a legitimate medical expense?
The Christian Science church is seeking to insert a measure in the Senate’s health care legislation that would encourage private insurance companies to cover prayer and spiritual treatment of the sick, even though both the House and Senate turned down earlier versions.
A provision proposed by the Christian Science church was backed by Senators Edward M. Kennedy, top, and Orrin G. Hatch.
The push is just one facet of a broader health care debate over whether the government should encourage — or use taxpayer money to support — alternative therapies and treatments that are not considered “evidence based.”
Such treatments are no longer on the sidelines. In 2007, more than one in three adults used some form of so-called complementary and alternative medicine, according to a federal study, spending $34 billion in out-of-pocket expenses on techniques like yoga and meditation and on the purchase of herbs, vitamins and supplements. Some of those treatments and supplies are now covered by some insurance policies.
Full Story To a Divisive Debate, Now Add Religion – Prescriptions Blog – NYTimes.com.
OPS:
- So, how much does a prayer cost?
- If you pay more for your prayer does god listen better?
- Can we see the chart on that?
- If the prayer dosen’t work, can I sue god (and his retail outlet the church) for malpractice?
Organized religion will destroy humankind
Venezuela arrests bank chief close to government | Markets | US Markets | Reuters
- Arrest in purge of businessmen with government links
- Minister calls for tighter financial regulation
Venezuela arrested the brother of one of President Hugo Chavez’s senior ministers on Saturday, the latest move in a clean-up of the financial system that has closed banks and pointed to corruption close to the government.
Police arrested Arne Chacon Escamillo, president of one of seven small banks seized by the authorities this week, on unspecified charges linked to irregularities in the bank he ran in South America’s top oil exporter.
“Chacon Escamillo, the president of Banco Real, was detained in the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 5, after handing himself in,” the attorney general’s office said.
Full Story Venezuela arrests bank chief close to government | Markets | US Markets | Reuters.
Mary Glasspool Is Second Gay Bishop Elected At LA Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has elected a lesbian as assistant bishop, the second openly gay bishop in the global Anglican fellowship, which is already deeply fractured over the first.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, said Sunday that the choice raised “very serious questions” for the divided church and urged restraint.
The Rev. Mary Glasspool of Baltimore needs approval from a majority of dioceses across the church before she can be consecrated as assistant bishop in the Los Angeles diocese.
Full Story Mary Glasspool Is Second Gay Bishop Elected At LA Episcopal Church.
Senate Will Vote On Plan To Re-Import Drugs From Canada
Pharma Deal To Be Tested On Senate Floor
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised to allow a vote on re-importing prescription drugs from Canada as an amendment to the health care reform bill, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) told reporters on Saturday.
Dorgan, one of two lead sponsors on the measure, said that he was pushing for a vote on the amendment over the weekend but expects it to come up on the floor on Monday following debate on an abortion amendment backed by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), which mirrors extremely restrictive language pushed by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) in the House.
The measure is also being championed by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine); both she and Dorgan noted that Republican Sens. David Vitter (La.), Charles Grassley (Iowa) and John McCain (Ariz.) are cosponsors of a bill doing the same thing.
Snowe pledged to back it on the floor and do what she could to bring other Republicans along, she told reporters Saturday.
Full Story Pharma Deal To Be Tested On Senate Floor.
Why Treasury Needs a Plan B on Mortgages
AFTER months of playing pretend, the Treasury Department conceded last week that the Home Affordable Modification Program, its plan to aid troubled homeowners by changing the terms of their mortgages, was a dud. The 10-month-old program is going nowhere, the Treasury said, because big institutions charged with implementing it are dragging their feet.
“The banks are not doing a good enough job,” said Michael S. Barr, assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions, in an article published last Sunday in The New York Times.
After the government spent hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out banks, the Obama administration rolled out the $75 billion loan modification plan to show its support for beleaguered homeowners. But if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, homeowners are going hungry.
Full Story Fair Game – Why Treasury Needs a Plan B on Mortgages – NYTimes.com.
UN Climate Chief: Hacked E-Mails Are Damaging, But Science Is Strong
The world is entering talks on a new climate pact with unprecendented unity and leaders must seize the moment to create a turning point in the battle against global warming, the U.N.’s top climate official said Sunday. At a news conference, Yvo de Boer called on the 192 nations represented at the U.N. climate summit starting Monday “to deliver a strong and long-term response to the challenge of climate change.”
Even so, he worried that e-mails pilfered from a British university would fuel skepticism among those who believe that scientists exaggerate global warming.
“I think a lot of people are skeptical about this issue in any case,” de Boer told The Associated Press earlier Sunday. “And then when they have the feeling … that scientists are manipulating information in a certain direction then of course it causes concern in a number of people to say ‘you see I told you so, this is not a real issue.’”
E-mails stolen from the climate unit at the University of East Anglia appeared to show some of world’s leading scientists discussing ways to shield data from public scrutiny and suppress others’ work.
Full Story UN Climate Chief: Hacked E-Mails Are Damaging, But Science Is Strong.
Democrats To Revise Presidential Primary Rules
The presidential primary process is flawed and needs to be fixed, the Democratic National Committee says. A committee has issued recommendations that de-emphasize the importance given to early contests like Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, and the outsized influence of the superdelegates.
These problems clearly manifested themselves in the 2008 election. As states jockey for position, the primary season has been steadily extended — the 2008 Iowa caucuses took place on January 3, two weeks earlier than in 2004 — and Michigan and Florida touched off a heated fight withing the Democratic party by moving up their primaries.
As House Majority Whip James Clyburn told CNN: “We need to improve a little bit in spite of the fact that we got a great candidate out of the process. It was not very comfortable at various points along the way.”
The consequences could have been catastrophic for the Democrats, Chris Good writes at The Atlantic:
Full Story Democrats To Revise Presidential Primary Rules.
Primary Controversy, Not Yet Solved
The DNC’s working group charged with examining and retooling the Democratic presidential nominating process is moving forward with some recommendations, CNN reports, having produced working off a draft document that suggests grouping primary and caucus states by “region or sub-region,” with the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina retaining their earliness, convention perks being used to incentivize sticking to the schedule.
Democrats were not happy with how controversy over the Florida and Michigan delegates ran through the primary season in 2008, with lots of party anger directed toward Chairman Howard Dean, who was, essentially, stuck in the position of having to decide what to do after the two states moved their primaries up ahead of the party-specified time, seeking greater power in the process.
With the initial suggestion that the votes wouldn’t count anyway, Obama took his name off the ballot in Michigan, and neither he nor Clinton campaigned in Florida…confused talk of splitting Michigan delegates, and the looming decision of the DNC Credentials Committee (with Obama vs. Clinton tensions running high) were a huge story until Obama sealed things.
Full Story Primary Controversy, Not Yet Solved – The Atlantic Politics Channel.
Durbin ’skeptical’ of Afghanistan surge, wants clear withdrawal plan
Dick Durbin Won’t Commit To Support Budget For Afghanistan
The senior senator from President Barack Obama’s home state isn’t convinced the plan to send more troops to Afghanistan will succeed. Sen. Dick Durbin told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he wanted to talk to the president about withdrawal plans before committing to vote to support the additional troops.
“I’m skeptical as to whether 30,000 more troops will make a difference,” said Durbin.
Durbin thinks a limit on America’s commitment to the country is important to make clear it is not being made a protectorate. He pointed out there are over 200,000 troops there already between NATO, US military and Afghan military. He did not mention private contractors.
“If you take a look at Mr. Karzai and his leadership in this country,” Durbin said. “There’s a lot to be desired in terms of the last election and corruption in his government. Are we gonna let American soldiers stay there indefinitely while they dither?”
Full Story Durbin ’skeptical’ of Afghanistan surge, wants clear withdrawal plan | Raw Story.
Obama’s Broken Promises to Family Farmers: Disappointing and Dangerous | CommonDreams.org
“And it means ensuring that the policies being shaped at the Departments of Agriculture and Interior are designed to serve not big agribusiness or Washington influence peddlers, but the family farmers and the American People.”
–President-elect Barack Obama, December 17 2008, Chicago, Illinois.
The message was one of hope, the words of a newly elected President echoing the Populism of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the promise of John F. Kennedy. It stopped there, the delivery of the promise fell short.
We have gotten a New Deal, albeit one that is more protective of those who caused the economic and agricultural crises than of those who suffer from them. We have also gotten a new version of “The Best and the Brightest” in the Obama Administration and their faulty counsel extends beyond war into food and trade policy.
The campaign promises were not worth the notepads they are written on. The promises were broken and business at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will carry on much as it did during the Bush Administration.
Full Story Obama’s Broken Promises to Family Farmers: Disappointing and Dangerous | CommonDreams.org.
Met Office to re-examine 160 years of climate data
The Met Office plans to re-examine 160 years of temperature data after admitting that public confidence in the science on man-made global warming has been shattered by leaked e-mails.
The new analysis of the data will take three years, meaning that the Met Office will not be able to state with absolute confidence the extent of the warming trend until the end of 2012.
The Met Office database is one of three main sources of temperature data analysis on which the UN’s main climate change science body relies for its assessment that global warming is a serious danger to the world. This assessment is the basis for next week’s climate change talks in Copenhagen aimed at cutting CO2 emissions.
Full Story Met Office to re-examine 160 years of climate data – Times Online.
Black Caucus tells Obama you’ve done too little for African-Americans
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members on Wednesday criticized the Obama administration for not doing enough to help African-Americans through the bleak economy.
Soon after withholding their votes on a wide-ranging financial services bill, 10 CBC members said they are pressuring the White House to do more.
The House Financial Services Committee voted 31-27 in favor of the bill, but the lawmakers’ boycott came on a major financial measure the administration wants to see Congress pass this month.
“We have not been forceful enough in our efforts to protect the most vulnerable of our population,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who represents one of the nation’s poorest districts. “We can no longer afford for our public policy to be defined by the worldview of Wall Street.”
The committee vote came shortly after White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was seen leaving the panel’s private staff room.
Full Story Black Caucus tells Obama you’ve done too little for African-Americans – TheHill.com.
Obama’s Logic Is No Match for Afghanistan
Frank Rich –
AFTER the dramatic three-month buildup, you’d think that Barack Obama’s speech announcing his policy for Afghanistan would be the most significant news story of the moment. History may take a different view. When we look back at this turning point in America’s longest war, we may discover that a relatively trivial White House incident, the gate-crashing by a couple of fame-seeking bozos, was the more telling omen of what was to come.
Obama’s speech, for all its thoughtfulness and sporadic eloquence, was a failure at its central mission. On its own terms, as both policy and rhetoric, it didn’t make the case for escalating our involvement in Afghanistan. It’s doubtful that the president’s words moved the needle of public opinion wildly in any direction for a country that has tuned out Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq alike while panicking about where the next job is coming from.
You can think the speech failed without questioning Obama’s motives. I don’t buy the criticism that he contrived a cynical political potpourri to pander to every side in the debate over the war. Nor was his decision to escalate mandated by his campaign stand positing Afghanistan as a just war in contrast to the folly of Iraq. Nor was he intimidated by received Beltway opinion, which, echoing Dick Cheney, accused him of dithering. (“The urgent necessity is to make a decision — whether or not it is right,” wrote the Dean of D.C. punditry, David Broder.)
Full Story Op-Ed Columnist – Obama’s Logic Is No Match for Afghanistan – NYTimes.com.
HPV vaccine rates low in United States
The use of the vaccine to prevent human papilloma virus (HPV) was found to be very low in the United States in a study conducted by Amanda Dempsey, M.D., PhD, MPH, of the University of Michigan and published in the journal Vaccine.
Dr. Dempsy analyzed factors associated with adolescent HPV vaccine use and reports variation by insurance type, race, type of visit, and whether the health care provider was a pediatrician, gynecologist or family medicine doctor.
These are Dr. Dempsey’s results verbatim:
Researchers looked at HPV vaccination rates among nine to 18 year-old patients seen at 20 university-affiliated outpatient clinics in southeast Michigan in three medical specialties family medicine, pediatric and gynecological clinics.
The study found:
Full Story HPV vaccine rates low in United States.
Obama calls ineptitude on healthcare a “strategy”
Obama’s handling of health care so far has been a lot more dope than rope -a-dope.
For much of the healthcare debate as the town hall meetings got contentious and Republicans attacked, Obama laid on the ropes and covered up as he absorbed blows from Republicans, conservatives, and even Democrats unhappy with his lack of leadership and salesmanship in trying to get a health care reform bill done.
Obama sold out the public option every other day when the going got tough and the news media proclaimed it dead. It took the congress wresting control from Obama to save the public option and take control of the debate where Obama is now little more than a spectator.
Obama is now trying to claim this was all part of a grand “hands off” strategy that is now paying off, and theNew York Times, showing a gullibility that could make it a laughing stock, seems to have swallowed it whole.
Full Story Obama calls ineptitude on healthcare a “strategy”.
Butterflies In Space Station: Butterflies Attempt To Fly In Space And Fail (VIDEO)
The University of Kansas and Bioserve Technologies decided to send some monarch butterfly larvae to the International Space Station, provide them with microgravity (the nearest thing to feeling weightless) and see whether or not the caterpillars would become butterflies. The creatures did manage to metamorphose, but now that they’re butterflies, the poor things absolutely cannot fly. The low gravity conditions fling them into a chaotic and rapid flight pattern that sends them banging around the plastic cages they’re living in.
The first video is of Dr. Chip Taylor, the director of Monarch Watch, explaining the experiment. The second is a video of the results of Monarch Watch, and the third seems to be a pair of butterflies who got stuck together. Take a look and let us know what you think.
Full Story Butterflies In Space Station: Butterflies Attempt To Fly In Space And Fail (VIDEO).
Sprint manager: ‘Half’ of all police surveillance includes text messaging
According to a graduate student’s research into the spying policies of major U.S. telecommunications companies, at a recent security conference a Sprint surveillance manager told a group of onlookers that half of all police requests include the target’s text messages.
Half of millions — including some 8 million automated, web-based requests for GPS location, all in just over a year’s time.
The revelation was made by Indiana University grad Christopher Soghoian, as part of his PhD dissertation published Dec. 1, 2009.
He attributes the stunning number to Paul Taylor, an Electronic Surveillance Manager with Sprint Nextel, who was speaking recently at the Washington, D.C. International Securities Systems conference, otherwise known as ISS World.
Full Story Sprint manager: ‘Half’ of all police surveillance includes text messaging | Raw Story.
Gordon Brown: climate-change sceptics are ‘flat-earthers’
People who doubt that human activity contributes to global warming are “flat-earthers” and “anti-science”, Gordon Brown has said.
The Prime Minister launched an outspoken attack on climate-change sceptics amid growing signs of public doubts about the scientific and political consensus on the environment.
World leaders meet in Copenhagen next week seeking a global deal on cutting carbon emissions. But the debate has been clouded by a row over accusations that British scientists manipulated data on global temperatures.
Full Story Gordon Brown: climate-change sceptics are ‘flat-earthers’ – Telegraph.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Lobbyists Quietly Helping Extreme Effort To Declare Health Reform Unconstitutional
Blue Cross Blue Shield Lobbyists Quietly Helping Extreme Effort To Declare Health Reform Unconstitutional
ThinkProgess has documented how the private health insurance industry is waging a duplicitous, “two-faced” campaign to kill health reform. Because the industry understands that the public views it in a largely negative light, the industry presents itself as proactively working hand-in-hand with legislators to produce reform. However, behind the scenes, the industry is coordinating a massive effort to kill all reform — employing attacks from front groups, allied politicians, think tanks, lobbyists, and right-wing media.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which is a lobbying group representing 39 independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, is also engaged in this two-faced campaign. Like most of industry, the BCBS Association says it fully supports the concept of health reform, but continually demands drastic changes to the bills in Congress. Some have begun to question the BCBS Association’s claim of support given its new study attacking reform legislation in the Senate. The criticism of BCBS is bolstered by a new revelation that BCBS Association lobbyists are helping to orchestrate a right-wing movement to invalidate all of health reform.
Yesterday, the BCBS Association released yet another industry-sponsored study to distort health reform and falsely claim that premiums will skyrocket because of the legislation. However, the nonpartisan CBO reported earlier this week that under the Senate health reform bill, “most Americans would pay the same or less in premiums.” A New York Times editorial yesterday criticized BCBS Association’s study, and noted correctly that it is yet another example of the private insurance industry doing whatever it can to frighten Americans.
Watergate redux: Break-ins reported at another climate research center.
Burglars and hackers have attacked the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, apparently in an attempt to further the “Climategate” intimidation of global warming researchers. The Climategate smear campaign rests on the release of thousands of emails illegally hacked last month from the British Climatic Research Unit (CRU). The National Post reports that the Centre for Climate Modelling, a government institution, is also the victim of repeated criminal attacks:
Andrew Weaver, a University of Victoria scientist and key contributor to the Nobel prize-winning work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says there have been a number of attempted breaches in recent months, including two successful break-ins at his campus office in which a dead computer was stolen and papers were rummaged through.
As the United States — led by President Barack Obama — prepares to join the world in the fight against global warming, the opponents of reform are resorting to criminal desperation, harkening back to the amoral extremes of Richard Nixon. The release of the hacked emails from CRU was praised as the act of a “whistleblower” by conservatives. “The timing couldn’t be better,” chortled Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). The original Watergate scandal began when right-wing operatives burglarized the offices of their political opponents during a presidential election. “Climategate” is turning out to be worse — now the criminals are turning on scientists as the world burns.
Full Story Think Progress » Watergate redux: Break-ins reported at another climate research center..
OPS: But this time it;s not the President – It’s Trans-national Corporations
Eliot Spitzer: Geithner, Bernanke “Complicit” in Financial Crisis and Should Go
In an extended interview, we speak with former New York governor Eliot Spitzer about the financial crisis and how it was handled by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Bernanke and Geithner “actually built and participated in creating the structure that now has collapsed,” Spitzer says and calls on them to be replaced. Spitzer also talks about the scandal that erupted last year that forced him to resign as governor. “I have no doubt that there were many people who were opposed to me, very powerful forces, who were happy to see me go,” Spitzer says. “Whether they participated, I’ll let others figure that out. I resigned because of what I did.” [includes rush transcript]
Free AUDIO, VIDEO, MP3 Download, Transcript at link
Full Story Eliot Spitzer: Geithner, Bernanke “Complicit” in Financial Crisis and Should Go.
5 Reasons that Corporate Media Coverage is Pro-War
Note: McClatchy and several other large news sources are exceptions which have reported well on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
There are five reasons that the mainstream media is worthless.
1. Self-Censorship by Journalists
Initially, there is tremendous self-censorship by journalists.
For example, several months after 9/11, famed news anchor Dan Rather told the BBC that American reporters were practicing “a form of self-censorship”:
There was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around peoples’ necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck. Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions…. And again, I am humbled to say, I do not except myself from this criticism.What we are talking about here – whether one wants to recognise it or not, or call it by its proper name or not – is a form of self-censorship.
Keith Olbermann agreed that there is self-censorship in the American media, and that:
You can rock the boat, but you can never say that the entire ocean is in trouble …. You cannot say: By the way, there’s something wrong with our …. system.
World’s Leading Scientist Fighting Against Global Warming is Opposed to Cap And Trade
James Hansen is the world’s leading climate scientist fighting against global warming.
Yesterday, Dr. Hansen told the Guardian:
He is vehemently opposed to the carbon market schemes – in which permits to pollute are bought and sold – which are seen by the EU and other governments as the most efficient way to cut emissions and move to a new clean energy economy.
Therefore, Hansen says:
It would be better for the planet and for future generations if next week’s Copenhagen climate change summit ended in collapse.
Hansen has previously said that cap and trade “will not work”, and he has previously called cap and trade “a Ponzi-like … scheme”.I have repeatedly pointed out that cap and trade won’t work. Indeed:
Bankruptcy Filings up 100 Percent from 2007
Americans Financially Unable to Meet Current Debt Payments. 85 Percent of Chapter 7 Filings are Classified as No-Assets.
The U.S. Courts released data last week closing out the 2009 fiscal year. In the release we find that bankruptcy filings are up 100+ percent from 2007. No other economic vehicle shows deeper signs of financial strain than bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is the end of the road for many Americans. Although businesses file for bankruptcy as well the vast majority of filings come from individuals simply not able to meet the demands of their monthly payments. Average Americans are looking at the recovery talks but the reality on the street is much different.
Bankruptcy isn’t a new concept. In fact it has its roots in English law dating back to 1542 under the reign of Henry the VIII. The first laws of bankruptcy were designed to protect the creditor, not the debtor. The creditor had the right to seize all the possessions of the debtor and the debtor also lost his freedom by imprisonment if he failed to pay his debt. Families were left struggling to pay for this debt over multi-generations. Many in the 1700s that were released from debtors’ prison left England and immigrated to places like Georgia and Texas in what came to be known as debtors’ colonies. We have come a long way from that point in history.
Bankruptcy happens for a variety of reasons including loss of job, divorce, medical, and simply being unable to meet the new terms of onerous debt. Many credit card companies jacking rates up to 79.99 percent or suddenly setting up traps for consumers only help to accelerate the growing trend in bankruptcies.
New misinformation on public option reported by MSNBC
Mike Viquera who is making a career out of getting it wrong on the health care debate is reporting that the senate may consider Olympia Snowe’s trigger public option as a replacement for the one currently in Reid’s bill.
Viqueria erroneously reported that the Baucus bill, which Snowe voted for, contained the trigger option and he called it a ‘proven vote getter”.
Viquiera got it wrong on both counts. There was no trigger option in the Baucus bill which contained no public option at all and one reason is, far from a vote getter, there is virtually uniform rejection of the trigger option from the 56 senators who support the current public option.
The fact that one Democratic senator, Carper, is working with Snowe to try and fashion some kind of trigger option doesn’t mean, even if they can, that it would be acceptable to the majority of Democratic senators and it would be totally unacceptable to the House where it would most likely be shot down in conference.
What Viquiera isnt reporting is that the Democrats still have budget reconciliation as a tool to pass the bill with the current public option and they would only need 51 votes to do it. If any trigger mechanisim is used at all, it would only be, at most, to get the bill passed in the senate and then see the trigger be replaced with the current public option with an opt out clause. Then the merged bill would get passed through budget reconciliation bypassing the usual process. Budget reconciliation only allows for 20 hours of debate effectively preventing a filibuster
Full Story New misinformation on public option reported by MSNBC.
Bank lobby lashes out at credit unions
The nation’s biggest bank lobby sent Democratic leaders a letter Friday lashing out at credit unions for seeking to expand their lending authority to improve the economy.
In a lengthy letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.), the American Bankers Association (ABA) urged lawmakers not to increase the amount of money credit unions may lend.
ABA and 56 state and regional bank lobbying associations said lawmakers should “oppose this unnecessary expansion of lending authority.”
The bank lobby’s effort comes after Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) urged Pelosi and House leaders to raise the business lending cap for credit union members from 12.25 percent to 25 percent.
Kanjorski argued an increase would lead credit unions to lend more to small businesses and create as many as 100,000 jobs. Kanjorski personally appealed for the change with President Barack Obama on Air Force One as the president visited Allentown, Pa.
Full Story Bank lobby lashes out at credit unions – TheHill.com.
Geithner Dismisses Tax on Financial Transactions as Unworkable
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, throwing cold water on a plan by congressional Democrats to tax financial transactions, said banks and other market participants would find ways to circumvent the expense.
“I have not seen the version of that that I think works,” Geithner said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” that airs throughout the weekend. Firms are “going to move in a heartbeat to get around any tax like that.”
The Treasury chief also predicted a “quite high” chance that the U.S. unemployment rate will be lower than 10 percent in a year, and he called yesterday’s Labor Department report showing the smallest monthly job loss in two years “progress but not good enough.”
Geithner also continued to push Congress to pass legislation that would rewrite financial rules and said that the Obama administration was close to announcing a new tack for the $700 billion bailout. Geithner said he expects the Troubled Asset Relief Program to get as much as $175 billion in repayments from banks by the end of next year.
Full Story Geithner Dismisses Tax on Financial Transactions as Unworkable – Bloomberg.com.
EPA Petitioned to Cap Carbon Dioxide Under the Clean Air Act
Two advocacy groups have filed a petition asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set national limits for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. They say there is no need to wait for Congress to pass a law limiting greenhouse gases because the Clean Air Act already contains the comprehensive, science-based, flexible,and immediately available tools necessary to address the climate crisis.
The petition filed Wednesday by the Center for Biological Diversity and 350.org seeks to have seven greenhouse gases designated as “criteria” air pollutants and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) capped at 350 parts per million, the level many scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.
Under the Clean Air Act, the groups argue in their petition, “the Obama administration and the EPA have not only the authority, but also the clear legal duty, to take such action as is necessary to set the United States on a course towards reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below dangerous levels.”
Full Story EPA Petitioned to Cap Carbon Dioxide Under the Clean Air Act.
Afghanistan Withdrawal Date: ‘Flexible’ Or ‘Locked In’?
During his speech from West Point on Tuesday, President Obama specified the date when U.S. forces would start to withdraw from Afghanistan. “[A]dditional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces,” he said, “and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011.” Obama added: “Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground.”
What remains unclear is how firmly the administration is treating the July 2011 draw-down date.
On Wednesday, CBS White House correspondent Chip Reid questioned administration spokesman Robert Gibbs on this point. Reid reported later:
Full Story Afghanistan Withdrawal Date: ‘Flexible’ Or ‘Locked In’?.
Senate Takes Aim At Insurance Company Executive Pay
Americans can’t take weekends off from worrying about health care and the Senate shouldn’t either, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday as he opened a rare weekend session to debate President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
With Democrats preparing to vote on an amendment targeting tax breaks for insurance executives’ pay, Reid lashed out at “greedy health insurance companies” that he said make profits by neglecting consumers’ health needs.
Reid, D-Nev., called the weekend session as he races the clock to complete action on the 2,000-page remake of the nation’s health care system by Christmas. With both sides jockeying for political advantage amid raging partisan debate, Democratic senators used their weekend work to cite their commitment to Obama’s signature issue.
Full Story Senate Takes Aim At Insurance Company Executive Pay.
Space Shuttle Atlantis: INCREDIBLE Images From Space (PHOTOS)
The space shuttle Atlantis and its astronauts returned safely to Earth after a seven-day mission resupplying the International Space Station.
They chronicled their stay in space with some incredible, high-quality photographs that capture the astronauts at work, breathtaking views of the earth, and detailed portraits of the space shuttle and ISS.
These sharp images, which were released by NASA almost immediately after they were snapped in space, are testament to how far tech has come. As the Daily Mail notes, “Previously when images were released by Nasa they were soon after the event but still very fuzzy. It is only on recent missions that images of this quality of image were released almost as soon as they had happened.”
Check out the incredible images from the Atlantis mission in the slideshow below.
Full Story Space Shuttle Atlantis: INCREDIBLE Images From Space (PHOTOS).
Geithner Rejects Goldman Sachs Assertion It Didn’t Need U.S. Help
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner disputed claims by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives that the bank could have survived the financial crisis without government help and said it and other Wall Street firms should show some restraint in handing out bonuses this year.
“It is very important that we change the way these executives are paid, the form of compensation, this year,” Geithner said in an interview yesterday for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” which is being aired throughout the weekend. “We have to end that era of irresponsibly high bonuses.”
President Barack Obama has blamed compensation tied to excessive risk-taking for fueling the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The administration has named a special master to approve compensation packages at firms that have received the biggest government bailouts.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank are set to pay record combined bonuses this year, according to analysts’ estimates. Goldman set a Wall Street pay record in 2007 when its compensation totaled $20.2 billion, including $68.5 million for chairman and chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein.
Full Story Geithner Rejects Goldman Sachs Assertion It Didn’t Need U.S. Help – Bloomberg.com.
Arianna On The Problems Posed By Tea Party Activists In 2010 Elections (VIDEO)
Democratic National Committee Chairman, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine recently weighed in on the Tea Party movement, saying that Democrats stand to gain from the fringe group’s assault on more conventional GOP leaders. Arianna isn’t so sure.
MSNBC’s David Shuster Interviewed Arianna on Countdown about the effects that Tea Partiers will have on the 2010 midterm elections. To be sure, Arianna agreed that the right wing fringe is making trouble for Republicans facing primaries, but she’s not convinced that Democrats will necessarily benefit.
“Unfortunately, what Gov. Kaine said is only half the story. The other half is the bad news for the Democrats, which is losing Virginia, losing New jersey and losing the enthusiasm quotient. Which is so important in elections. Because there is so much enthusiasm and passion right now on the Republican side than on the Democratic. And just as important is what’s happening with Independents. First of all, the rise of independents and secondly the fact that independents are now favoring Republicans over Democrats. So there are many problems for both parties.”
Full Story Huff TV: Arianna On The Problems Posed By Tea Party Activists In 2010 Elections (VIDEO).
Mob witness links Berlusconi to Mafia bombings
A jailed Mafia hitman told a court on Friday that a godfather convicted of a 1993 bombing campaign had boasted to him of his links to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Berlusconi says biased courts are making false charges to bring down the 19-month-old government — his third since 1994 — and attack his Mediaset business empire.
Stripped of immunity from prosecution, the prime minister faced legal difficulties on two fronts on Friday, with an ally appealing against conviction on Mafia charges and an unrelated corruption case where he is accused of bribing a British lawyer.
Mafia “pentito”, or mobster-turned-witness, Gaspare Spatuzza told a court in Turin that a Mafia clan leader later jailed for the attacks had named Berlusconi, who had not entered politics at the time, in connection with the bombings.
Full Story Mob witness links Berlusconi to Mafia bombings – Yahoo! News.
Slim Fast Recalls Millions Of Shakes, Diet Drinks
Unilever Says All Its Liquid Products May Be Affected By Non-Lethal Toxin
Slim Fast is recalling every last one of its popular diet drinks over concern they may be contaminated with bacteria that can cause moderate food poisoning.
All cans and cartons of ready-to-drink Slim Fast products — about 10 million of them — are affected, “regardless of flavor, best-by date, lot code or UPC number,” the recall notice reads.
Unilever, which makes Slim Fast, said the recall was prompted by “quality testing” that turned up Bacillus cereus, a toxin that can cause nausea and diarrhea but that is not life-threatening.
Full Story Slim Fast Recalls Millions Of Shakes, Diet Drinks – ABC News.
Is Erik Prince ‘Graymailing’ the US Government?
Jeremy Scahill –
The in-depth Vanity Fair profile of the infamous owner of Blackwater, Erik Prince, is remarkable on many levels–not least among them that Prince appeared to give the story's author, former CIA lawyer Adam Ciralsky, unprecedented access to information about sensitive, classified and lethal operations not only of Prince's forces, but Prince himself. In the article, Prince is revealed not just as owner of a company that covertly provided contractors to the CIA for drone bombings and targeted assassinations, but as an actual CIA asset himself. While the story appears to be simply a profile of Prince, it might actually be the world's most famous mercenary's insurance policy against future criminal prosecution. The term of art for what Prince appears to be doing in the VF interview is graymail: a legal tactic that has been used for years by intelligence operatives or assets who are facing prosecution or fear they soon will be. In short, these operatives or assets threaten to reveal details of sensitive or classified operations in order to ward off indictments or criminal charges, based on the belief that the government would not want these details revealed. “The only reason Prince would do this [interview] is that he feels he is in very serious jeopardy of criminal charges,” says Scott Horton, a prominent national security and military law expert. “He absolutely would not do these things otherwise.”
There is no doubt Prince is in the legal cross-hairs: There are reportedly two separate Grand Juries investigating Blackwater on a range of serious charges, ranging from gun smuggling to extralegal killings; multiple civil lawsuits alleging war crimes and extrajudicial killings; and Congress is investigating the assassination program in which Prince and his company were central players. “Obviously, Prince does know a lot and the government has to realize that once they start prosecuting him,” says Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “In some ways, graymail is what any good defense lawyer would do. This is something that’s in your arsenal.”
Perhaps the most prominent case of graymail was by Oliver North when he and his lawyers used it to force dismissal of the most serious charges against him stemming from his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. In another case, known as Khazak-gate, a US businessman, James Giffen, allegedly paid $78 million in bribes to former Khazakh Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev in an attempt to win contracts for western oil companies to develop the Tengiz oil fields in the 1990s. In 1993, he was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the largest overseas bribery case in history. After Giffen was indicted, he claimed that if he did what he was accused of, he did it in the service of US intelligence agencies. The case has been in limbo ever since.
Full Story Is Erik Prince ‘Graymailing’ the US Government?.
Repeated break-ins point to ‘orchestrated campaign’ by climate skeptics
A series of repeated break-in and computer hacking attempts at a Canadian climate research institute are a sign of a “well-orchestrated campaign of harassment” against climate researchers ahead of the Copenhagen summit, several news sources report.
Employees at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, have revealed that the school’s Centre for Climate Modelling has experienced at least two break-ins in recent months, as well as several attempts at hacking into the center’s computer network.
The news comes a week after revelations that computer hackers stole thousands of emails from a climate research center at the University of East Anglia in the UK, some of which purportedly show attempts to cover up data that does not fit with claims about global warming.
Those leaked emails are at the center of a political push-back by climate skeptics, who are arguing that the “Climategate” emails show that global warming is a fraud, or at least has been exaggerated.
Full Story Repeated break-ins point to ‘orchestrated campaign’ by climate skeptics | Raw Story.
Baucus nominated girlfriend to be US attorney
Senate Finance Committee Chairman
was romantically involved with a former staffer when he recommended her earlier this year to become the next U.S. attorney for Montana, a spokesman said.
The Montana Democrat and his former state office director Melodee Hanes began their relationship in the summer of 2008 after Baucus separated from his wife, Ty Matsdorf told The Associated Press late Friday.
Baucus nominated Hanes for the U.S. attorney post in March. But she later withdrew, saying she had been presented with other opportunities she couldn’t pass up.
Full Story Baucus nominated girlfriend to be US attorney | Raw Story.
Philippines Imposes Martial Law In Massacre Province
martial law never again
The military chief in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao took over as local governor after martial law was imposed on Saturday, following the country’s worst election-related crime last month.
Police took five members of the Ampatuan political clan, including the patriarch who is a close ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and other officials for questioning on the massacre of 57 people, more than half of whom were journalists.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters the government suspended civil rights in the province, for the first time in nearly three decades, after receiving reports armed groups loyal to local mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr were massing in the area to launch a rebellion against his arrest last week.
Ampatuan Jr. is the main suspect in the killings on November23 when members of a rival political clan were attacked while they were on their way to file the candidacy of one of their leaders for elections next year.
The Ampatuan family has ruled in Muslim-dominated Maguindanao for nearly a decade.
“These are large forces that could really undertake violent actions against anybody in the province. By their sheer number, they are really a threat to the security of the province,” General Victor Ibrado, head of the armed forces, told reporters.
Full Story Philippines Imposes Martial Law In Massacre Province – NYTimes.com.
Despite Once Praising The Stimulus For Creating Jobs, Boehner Now Claims ‘Government Doesn’t Create Jobs!’
Some Democrats in Congress have been considering a new $300 billion jobs bill. Lawmakers “are calling for extending aid to the unemployed, infrastructure spending, a hiring tax credit and increased small business loans.”
Last night on CNBC, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) attacked the idea. “All they want to do is grow the size of government. Government doesn’t create jobs!” Boehner complained. Boehner and host Larry Kudlow then repeated the debunked GOP talking point that the Obama administration doesn’t know how to fix the economy because “virtually no one” in Obama’s cabinet has private sector experience:
KUDLOW: There’s virtually no one in President Obama’s cabinet with any business experience. Have you ever looked at that? Virtually no one in that cabinet with any real private sector business experience.
BOEHNER: That’s right. Listen I’ve talked to them. It’s like talking to a wall because they don’t understand the dynamics of our free enterprise system.
Watch it: video at link
Hatch: If GOP Controlled Government, We Would ‘Get This Country Under Control’
Last night, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) delivered an hour-long speech on the Senate floor condemning the Democratic health care reform bill and accusing Democrats of displaying “the arrogance of power” in trying to pass health reform before the holiday recess. Hatch predicted that if Republicans had 60 votes and control of all three branches of government, they would “get this country under control”:
This will become one more example of the arrogance of power being exerted since the Democrats secured a 60-vote majority in the United States Senate and took over the House and the White House. I dream some day of having the Republicans have 60 votes. I’ll tell you one thing, I think we would finally have the total responsibility to get this country under control and I believe we would. But we never come close to that. There are essentially no checks and balances found in Washington today just an arrogance of power with one party ramming through unpopular and devastating proposals on after the other.
Watch it:
Full Story Think Progress » Hatch: If GOP Controlled Government, We Would ‘Get This Country Under Control’.
Comcast: The Chamber Of Commerce Is Wrong On Health Care
U.S. Chamber of Commerce In recent weeks, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been stepping up its campaign against health care reform, running ads in seven states fear-mongering that the public option will increase individual costs and threaten the system of employer-sponsored coverage. It has even been “collecting money to finance an economic study that could be used to portray the legislation as a job killer and threat to the nation’s economy.”
But on Thursday, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, came out and endorsed the Senate health care legislation. CEO Brian Roberts sent a letter to President Obama saying that the “enactment of comprehensive health care reform legislation is, in my judgment, critical to putting this country on a path of sustained growth and prosperity.”
Later that day, a small group of bloggers met with Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen, who discussed how important the company believes health care reform is to reinvigorating the economy. A Comcast spokesperson confirmed to ThinkProgress that the company is an annual contributor to the Chamber, but not a member of the board of directors. It is also active on a number of working groups, such as Technology and Regulatory Affairs, and a supporter of a recent broadband study commissioned by the Chamber.
Full Story Think Progress » Comcast: The Chamber Of Commerce Is Wrong On Health Care.
OPS: Wonder if COMCAST will be singing this tune AFTER the NBC deal is done
A Sinking Ship Full Steam Ahead
Trillions of dollars of foreign goods clog the docks of our port cities battling to find a home on American consumer shelves.
Growth in GDP is no longer an accurate test of our domestic health. Given the predominance now of foreign owned industry in this country, benefits in terms of GDP are largely accruing to parent companies overseas. Tax cuts put money into consumer's hands that is largely spent on goods that are either imported or produced in this country by a foreign owned company. This is why the faster GDP appears to grow, the greater the burgeoning trade deficit swells. Trillions of dollars of foreign goods clog the docks of our port cities battling to find a home on American consumer shelves. In an ultimate symbol of irony, consider the dollars spent on imported Chinese produced flags and symbols of patriotism following the attacks on September 11th, 2001.
[India may get $1 bln IT outsourcing contracts] Productivity should also be subject to review. Popular opinion holds that American technological gains have had the unfortunate consequence of making our own manual skills obsolete. Another opinion is that outsourcing has led to tremendous gains in this category. In reality, productivity gains are most significantly due to the transition from a vertically-integrated economy to a thinly veiled economy consisting mainly of assembly and retail. By purchasing foreign semi-finished components and performing final assembly in this country, it appears as though we are able to produce finished goods in a fraction of the erstwhile production time.
Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Class War in America, the Ongoing Assault
Transnationals are “foreign” manufacturers with no particular interest in America except making money here
Vi Ransel, with video by Craig Harrington
Protectionism. Capitalists were all for it before they were against it. When manufacturing took place in America, when they paid workers enough to buy the products they produced, adding a tariff/tax/fee on to the cost of imported goods made by these same manufacturers’ competitors overseas, was fine. It just made sense. It was good business to prevent your domestic market from being flooded with cheaper goods from overseas, because that would lower domestic manufacturing’s ability to make enough money to stay in business. And this is exactly how the British and the Americans built their global empires.
But when “free trade” was elevated to the god of the marketplace, when American manufacturers had the ability to locate manufacturing overseas in order to take advantage (and I do mean take advantage) of “cheap labor platforms” – that is, to stand on the backs of poor people in other countries who had no choice but to work at a rate far below American workers, who, after all, were Americans and had come to expect a “fair” share of the wealth they created with their labor in the form of wages – well then, all bets were off. And the downsizing of American industry and the outsourcing of American jobs were off to the race to the bottom in order to fatten the bottom line.
American industries became multi-nationals. They built their manufacturing plants in many countries with all the “cheap labor platforms” they could find to use as scaffolding. They lost the ability to think of themselves as American manufacturers, except when it came to branding their products (produced outside America via foreign, “cheap labor platforms”) as American, reaping the benefit of American manufacturing’s reputation without actually selling American-made products. Thus, many American manufacturers were American nationals in name only. There were transnationals, manufacturers without a country, since they stood over/across – trans – all countries to make their profits. And in the process they abandoned America, Americans and their own American-ness. They abandoned loyalty to their own country and transferred it entirely to money.
Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Going Undercover in the Crazy, Tragic World of Christian Gay-Conversion Therapy
Ted Cox posed as a gay man to infiltrate gay-to-straight therapy programs. What he found was equal parts shocking and tragic.
Over the course of the past two years, writer Ted Cox posed as a gay man. He attended weekly meetings for several months at two churches in California and a two-day camp at a ranch in northern Arizona in February, both geared toward one end: turning homosexual men and women straight. Last week, I sat down with my friend, Cox, to hear about his experience going undercover in Christian gay-to-straight therapy programs.
Sena Christian: What made you want to learn more about the Christian gay-to-straight movement
Ted Cox: I was born and raised in the Mormon church and even after I became non-religious, I was still fascinated with religion. This was a cool intersection of religion, subculture, sex and equal rights.
SC: What exactly interested you?
As the World Waits on the U.S., a Sense of Déjà Vu in Denmark?
Yale Environment 360 –
Twelve years ago in Kyoto, the world was poised to act on a climate treaty but looked for a clear signal from the United States. Now, with the Copenhagen talks set to begin, the outcome once again hinges on what the U.S. is prepared to do.
by bill mckibben
President Obama took much of the drama out of the Copenhagen talks earlier this month when he and other world leaders announced that there’d be no treaty at the end — in essence, they said, we’ll wait for the U.S. Senate. Still, you can’t call off the party entirely, and so the planet’s climate scientists, bureaucrats, activists, skeptics and journalists will still descend on the Danish capital in a few days for a fortnight of meeting, marching, propounding, denying, and most of all spinning.
Almost all of what happens will be murky (and not just because Copenhagen in December averages 45 minutes of sunlight daily). Without the focus provided by the need to draw up a real document, much of the tension may go out of the proceedings — minus a deadline it’s hard to push to resolution on anything. And yet it’s the fate of the world being discussed: as British negotiator Ed Miliband put it, “Bretton Woods plus Yalta multiplied by Reykjavik.” We’ll see some kind of paper signed, but it won’t commit anyone to much of anything — the talks will lurch forward into next year. Most of what occurs in Denmark will be shadow boxing, feeling each other out.
Full Story As the World Waits on the U.S., a Sense of Déjà Vu in Denmark? by Bill McKibben: Yale Environment 360.
The Secret to Legal Marijuana? Women
Why women have signed onto marijuana reform — and why they could be the movement’s game-changers.
In September, ladymag Marieclaire ruffled some feathers when it published a piece about women who smoke weed. But its most interesting effect was not the “marijuana moms” chatter it unleashed, and instead the fact that it brought to the mainstream media a more open discussion of the fact that women can be avid tokers, too.
Public acceptance of pot is at an all-time high, and the fact that women have drastically changed their attitudes may be what is most fascinating about the sea change in public opinion — and policy — regarding marijuana. In 2005, only 32 percent of polled women told Gallup they approved legalizing pot, but this year 44 percent of them were for it, compared to 45 percent of men. In effect, women have narrowed what had been a 12-point gender gap.
Women are also smoking more weed. The most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that current marijuana use increased from 3.8 to 4.5 percent among women, while there was no significant statistical change for men.
Full Story The Secret to Legal Marijuana? Women | DrugReporter | AlterNet.
Fire and Innocence
Evidence suggests that hundreds of Texans are in prison on false arson convictions. What can be done to free them—and prevent similar injustices in the future?
erald Hurst is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on fire and explosives. At age 72, he’s tall and lean, with graying hair combed back on his head and a white beard—think Santa Claus after a Nutrisystem diet. Within minutes of welcoming me into his West Austin home in the fall of 2008, he had me hooked, recounting vivid, head-scratching stories of person after person who’d been wrongly convicted of arson.
That was what I’d come to hear. I had developed a fascination with arson cases—specifically, with the methods fire investigators used to distinguish intentionally set fires from accidental ones. Until recently, the process was more art than science. And in many places, it still is. Fire investigators long worked from a basic set of assumptions about how buildings burn—“old wives’ tales,” as Hurst calls them, passed from one generation to another. For decades, they walked into the remains of charred buildings in search of the same clues to arson: furniture and windows buckled by extreme heat; burn patterns on the floor caused by an accelerant like gasoline; and other markers that were supposed to indicate that a fire had spread, quickly and wildly. They took those markers to mean that a fire had been ignited on purpose. And then they used the evidence to send thousands of people to prison.
But many of the investigators’ assumptions have turned out to be wrong. Over the past 15 years, the forensic science of arson has undergone a revolution led by experts like Hurst. With nearly 800 people serving time for arson convictions in Texas prisons alone, the wider implications aren’t hard to grasp. It now appears that hundreds of Texans have been wrongly convicted on the basis of outdated and inaccurate forensic evidence. Nobody knows exactly how many, because no one’s looked comprehensively at the cases of those in prison for arson. I wanted to dig into as many of those cases as I could. Hurst liked the idea, and he offered to help examine any suspicious cases I could turn up through court documents and police records.
How Do You Ask Someone to Be the Last to Die for President Obama’s Political Image?
I don’t like to try to read the minds of politicians – mostly because with the automatons we have in office today, if you actually could read their minds, my guess is you’d find almost nothing actually going on in there. However, there are ways to ferret out the actual motives of politicians – and in particular, on the issue of the Afghanistan War.
Consider this fact that has been reported almost nowhere other than McClatchy (incidentally, one of the only news organizations that didn’t propagandistically beat the drum for the Iraq War):
There are 68,000 U.S. troops and 42,000 from other countries in Afghanistan. The U.S. Army’s recently revised counterinsurgency manual estimates that an all-out counterinsurgency campaign in a country with Afghanistan’s population would require about 600,000 troops. (emphasis added)
Yes, to run the kind of counterinsurgency operation that President Obama said he’s aiming for in his West Point speech this week, the U.S. Army says there needs to be 600,000 troops in Afghanistan. President Obama obviously knows this – and yet his escalation means we’ll only* have 100,000 troops there (And even if you insist that the 600,000 number is for an “all-out” counterinsurgency campaign and further insist Obama is not promising an “all-out” counterinsurgency campaign, he’s still not proposing even a quarter of the 600,000 number – for self-identified goals that would clearly require nearly and all-out effort).
Full Story How Do You Ask Someone to Be the Last to Die for President Obama’s Political Image? | The Smirking Chimp.
Report: Senate’s Ensign Probe Heating Up
Jon Ralston, the Nevada political columnist who has been all over the John Ensign story, reports in his email newsletter that the Senate Ethics probe of the matter is heating up.
Writes Ralston:
Sources confirm that the Senate panel has begun issuing subpoenas for documents, including to key players in the case involving U.S. Sen. John Ensign’s scandal.
Ralston reports that the investigators seem to be trying to find links between Doug Hampton’s job as a lobbyist after he left Ensign’s office, and the role Ensign played in helping him get that job.
Ralston also suggests he thinks the committee, controlled by Democrats, went into action in response to Ensign’s recent interview in which he said he needs to stay in office to give the GOP a better chance of defeating Harry Reid next year.
Full Story Report: Senate’s Ensign Probe Heating Up | TPMMuckraker.
Confronting the Globalcrat (video)
Geneva
You could call him the Generalissimo of Globalization. The World Trade Organization’s director general, Pascal Lamy, was a bit defensive, wanting to assure us that the WTO “wasn’t created as a dark club of multinationals secretly cooking plots against the people. We do things in the open. Look at our website.”
It’s been a year since globalized finance brought the planet to its knees, yet here in Geneva, where in late November the WTO opened its grand “seventh ministerial,” the diplomats are in denial. One confidential document from the files of WTO members–definitely not on the WTO website–tells us that despite financial and environmental crises, the globalizers still want to party like it’s 1999.
In that year, just eight months before the Battle of Seattle, the WTO’s Financial Services Agreement (FSA) became global law, breaking down old rules against cross-border trade in currency and financial derivatives. Financial goods spread rapidly. So did financial bads. The result: the collapse of US mortgage-backed securities slammed holders worldwide. When California home prices swooned, Iceland’s banks melted.
Full Story Confronting the Globalcrat.
Sen. Sherrod Brown joins Republicans in demanding that Congress go on ‘public option,’ too
Whenever Democrats talk about their proposed federally backed insurance plan, or public option, in the ongoing health-care debate, critics pipe up. If you think this public option is so great, they say, why don’t you demand that all members of Congress go on it, too?
Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown says that’s a fine idea. And this morning, he forced his way onto a Republican amendment saying as much, becoming a co-sponsor of a Republican protest measure that would require Congress to go on the public option if it passes.
Fact is, Republicans pushing the amendment are using it as a form of rotten eggs to hurl at their opponents. But Brown, a key sponsor of the public option legislation, likes those eggs.
Brown has refused to participate in the government’s array of health insurance plans for 17 years, saying they are more generous than the coverage choices that many other Americans get. Why should Congress get such sweet coverage? he asks.
OPS: It’s unfortunate that the Democrats allowed the Republicans to introduce this first. Even though the right-wing is doing this for the wrong reasons (they hope it’s a poison pill that will kill the bill) it will be quite a propaganda coup for them when it’s included…. or if the Democrats remove it. The Democrats should embrace this and every one of them should sign on as co-sponsors and call it a BIPARTISAN amendment!
DOJ to the Rescue… of John Yoo
By Scott Horton (Harper’s Magazine) –
The Holder Justice Department has filed a sweeping amicus brief in the Padilla v. Yoo case before the Ninth Circuit, seeking to make absolute the immunity granted Justice Department lawyers who counsel torture, disappearings, and other crimes against humanity. The case was brought by Jose Padilla, who claims that he was tortured as the direct result of memoranda written by Yoo, now a law professor at Berkeley. At this stage, the case does not address the factual basis of Padilla’s claims, but documents that have been declassified by the Department of Justice make it clear that the charges have a firm basis in fact. Here’s the portion of the opinion authored by a lifelong Republican, Bush-appointed judge that the Justice Department found so objectionable:
Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct….
The Holder Justice Department insists that they are absolutely not responsible, and that they are free to act according to a far lower standard of conduct than that which governs Americans generally. Indeed, this has emerged as a sort of ignoble mantra for the Justice Department, uniting both the Bush and Obama administrations.
According to the allegations in the suit, Padilla’s extraordinary regimen of abuse was imposed only after John Yoo personally gave it a green light, knowing that the torture prescription awaited his say-so. The result was long-term physical and psychological damage. Yoo’s outlandish opinions have been rescinded, but the question remains: can a Justice Department lawyer be held to account for grossly incompetent and unethical work that results in severe physical harm? It’s long been a tenet of federal law that agents of the government who are responsible for torturing individuals may be held to account for their conduct. The Holder Justice Department has been working feverishly to overturn this law, at least as it applies to employees of the Justice Department. With the solid backing of Republican-appointed judges on the Second Circuit, they achieved a major breakthrough on the Second Circuit in the Maher Arar case. Now they’re peddling the same pap to the Ninth Circuit.
Full Story DOJ to the Rescue… of John Yoo—By Scott Horton (Harper’s Magazine).
OPS: The Ruling Elite, protecting their own
Neo-Cons Get Warm and Fuzzy Over “War President
U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan for a 30,000-troop surge and a troop withdrawal timeline beginning in 18 months has caught criticism from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers.
But a small group of hawkish foreign policy experts – who have lobbied the White House since August to escalate U.S. involvement in Afghanistan – are christening Obama the new “War President”.
The response to Obama’s Tuesday night speech at the West Point Military Academy has largely been less than enthusiastic, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle finding plenty in the administration’s Afghanistan plan that fails to live up to their expectations. Republicans have hammered the White House on Obama’s decision to begin a drawdown of U.S. forces in 18 months, while Democrats largely expressed ambivalence or dismay over the administration’s willingness to commit 30,000 more soldiers to a war seen by many as unwinnable and costly at a time when the U.S. economy is barely in recovery from the global financial crisis.
The White House’s rollout of the 30,000 troop surge did little to convince an already sceptical Congress, but foreign policy hawks who have accused the president of “dithering” in making a decision on Afghanistan are praising the administration’s willingness to make the “tough” commitment to escalate the U.S. commitment in the war in Afghanistan.
Full Story POLITICS: Neo-Cons Get Warm and Fuzzy Over “War President” – IPS ipsnews.net.
OPS: When people, who have been correct about absolutely nothing, approve of what you’re doing – it’s time to re-think you position.
Noam Chomsky: The Unipolar Moment and the Culture of Imperialism.
Noam Chomsky delivers the 5th Annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture: The Unipolar Moment and the Culture of Imperialism at Columbia University School for International Affairs for the Heyman Center for the Humanities. After paying homage to Edward Said’s stressing imperialism as central to our culture Chomsky builds his case with telling quotes of American leaders rationalizing and denying extermination of Native Americans on through US terrorism in Latin and South America, like in Chile, Brazil, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, and the Middle East.
In Search of Education Leaders
Bob Herbert –
For me, the greatest national security crisis in the United States is the crisis in education. We are turning out new generations of Americans who are whizzes at video games and may be capable of tweeting 24 hours a day but are nowhere near ready to cope with the great challenges of the 21st century.
An American kid drops out of high school at an average rate of one every 26 seconds. In some large urban districts, only half of the students ever graduate. Of the kids who manage to get through high school, only about a third are ready to move on to a four-year college.
It’s no secret that American youngsters are doing poorly in school at a time when intellectual achievement in an increasingly globalized world is more important than ever. International tests have shown American kids to be falling well behind their peers in many other industrialized countries, and that will only get worse if radical education reforms on a large scale are not put in place soon.
Full Story Op-Ed Columnist – In Search of Education Leaders – NYTimes.com.
The Devastating Consequences of the Corporate Health Insurance Bill
Legislative Trash
By SHAMUS COOKE
Wading through the endless debate over health care has exhausted the patience of most Americans — the zigzags, obscure language, and long-winded discussion is inherently repulsive.
But now the dust is starting to settle, and the Congressional vision for health care in the U.S. is emerging. Instead of being “progressive,” it will amount to a massive, corporate-inspired attack on American workers, the elderly, and the poor.
After months of confusion and delay, Congress has shipwrecked the popular energy over health care onto the jagged rock of corporate interests. More spectacularly, health care “reform” is being used as an opportunity to greatly advance corporate influence over social spheres long-dedicated to the working-class — seemingly harmless provisions carry with them enormous implications.
These devils hide in the details of the competing health care bills in Congress; both contain debilitating right-wing policies hidden within a progressive shell. Obama is indeed acting as the agent of change, to the great benefit of the U.S. corporate elite.
Full Story Shamus Cooke: The Devastating Consequences of the Corporate Health Insurance Bill.
Ancient Pompeii Ruins Hit Google Street View (PHOTOS)
Google Street View, a feature of Google Maps that allows users to zoom into a location and peruse it in a 3D environment, has already mapped over 100 cities around the world with street-level shots taken with with a car-mounted camera.
Now, it's hit Pompeii.
As part of its effort to move beyond roads, and map, in 3D, amusement parks, college campuses, and hiking trails, Google Street View has just added incredible, interactive panoramas of the ancient ruins of Pompeii.
Thanks to the new images, now you can virtually explore the UNESCO world heritage site in Naples, Italy, with 360 degree horizontal views, and 290 vertical views. (see screenshot below)
Meander through the ancient columns, inspect the worn rock, and clamber around the historic site on Google here.
Full Story Ancient Pompeii Ruins Hit Google Street View (PHOTOS).
FDIC Fire Sale! 11 Homes For Under $10,000 (PHOTOS)
Need a cheap home? Just call the FDIC.
During the housing crisis, the Federal Deposit Insurance Company took over thousands of failed banks' soured properties. All told, the FDIC now owns $1.8 billion worth of real estate, much of which it is trying to sell off at bargain prices.
The agency's website, last updated in September, lists over 1,500 properties that are available for purchase. The value of these listings span the spectrum, and include the Bayview Corporate Center in Newport Beach, CA, which the FDIC sold to S.K. Hart Properties for a reported $53 million last month.
But for our readers with a slightly tighter budget, we've compiled a list of some of the cheapest homes — all $10,000 or less — across the country. One Chicago house, sold for $280,000 two years ago, is now listed by the FDIC at the deeply-discounted price of $10,000. And one Detroit home is going for just $500 — less than the property's estimated annual taxes.
To browse the rest of the FDIC's real estate deals, see their website for yourself. The best values can be found on their list of “Bargain Properties.”
Full Story FDIC Fire Sale! 11 Homes For Under $10,000 (PHOTOS).
Pelosi nixes Obey’s war tax proposal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday all but eliminated the prospect of a “war tax” to pay for the escalation in Afghanistan, saying she opposed it. But she suggested it would be considered if President Barack Obama asked for it.
“I am not in support of the proposal of Mr. Obey,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said of the tax plan suggested by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wis.). “When the president makes a request, we will make a decision.
“With the highest regard for Mr. Obey, that is his idea,” Pelosi said. “He is speaking for himself.”
White House officials have said that a war tax is not being discussed within the Obama administration.
In a 12-minute weekly press conference on Thursday, Pelosi made no mention of Afghanistan in her opening comments. She opined on Obama’s plan only after reporters pressed her.
Full Story Pelosi nixes Obey’s war tax proposal – TheHill.com.
Poor economy drives US charities into red: survey
The 200 biggest US charities lost money in 2009 for the first time in a decade due to plummeting investment, a survey by Forbes magazine showed Friday.
“For the first time since we began tracking these giants in 1999, they collectively lost money,” Forbes said.
“Last year, they ran surpluses (from operations and investment returns) averaging 66 million dollars. This year: a six million dollar loss,” the report said.
Forbes blamed huge investment losses and in some cases new accounting rules.
Despite the alarming dip in funds, donations are up, which means that charities are not generally feeling the pain.
“The fall certainly can’t be blamed on donors. Despite the economy, they boosted giving to our 200 by seven billion dollars, or 16 percent,” Forbes said.
Full Story Poor economy drives US charities into red: survey – Yahoo! News.
Comcast Promises To Preserve The ‘Integrity’ Of NBC News, Readies For The ‘O’Reilly-Olbermann Wars’
Bill O’s;Reilly Yesterday, Comcast officially announced that after nine months of negotiation, it had reached a deal to acquire NBC Universal from General Electric. The deal is valued at about $30 billion and includes NBC’s “lucrative cable channels — USA, Bravo, SyFy, CNBC and MSNBC.” Later in the day, Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen spoke at length with ThinkProgress and a small group of bloggers. When asked about Comcast’s plans for NBC News, CNBC, and MSNBC, Cohen stressed that the company was committed to preserving the “journalistic integrity” of the NBC news outlets:
[W]e’re keeping the same management team. We’re very impressed with what [NBC Universal CEO] Jeff Zucker and his team have been able to do. He’s taken a lot of hits, but if you look particularly in the cable channel world, they’ve just had phenomenal success. … I don’t want to say there won’t be any changes in anything — I think it would be crazy to say that — but we don’t come in with an agenda. [...]
We made a commitment today — another one of our commitments to protecting the journalistic integrity of all the news assets on the cable and broadcast side, and we’re very serious about that. I think professional journalists need to feel like they’re allowed to be professional journalists — do their job and express their opinions, and someone isn’t looking over their shoulder saying, “You know, what the hell did you say that for?”
The clock anvil and the lie that business creates jobs
Ever since David Stockman sold the ruse to Ronald Reagan, the American fish has been swallowing the lie that businesses create jobs hook, line, sinker and worm. And in the process of digesting what we’ve swallowed we have also swallowed the accompanying lie that cutting business taxes to the point of eliminating them altogether is the way to keep the economy spinning, and if its revolutions slow, to get it swirling once again.
It’s time to shove an entire bottle of Ipecac syrup down our collective throats.
Understand this basic truth: No successful business has ever created even one job.
Demand for the product or service the business produces creates jobs. Two examples.
Let’s say you awake one morning in a “Eureka” fit of blinding brilliance: The way to become a billionaire — invent the clock anvil.
Full Story OpEdNews – Article: The clock anvil and the lie that business creates jobs.
Taking the Lid Off of the Tea Party Movement, One Family Finds ‘It’s Just Hate’
by Meg White
Originally, Midge and Dan Hough only went to Rep. Dan Lipinski’s town hall meeting on Nov. 14 to thank him. As a somewhat conservative Democrat representing a blue-collar district in south Chicago, Lipinski had been cautious about supporting healthcare reform efforts in the House, but ultimately came out in support of the bill.
“He has a hard time there because he has these people to deal with,” Midge said of Lipinski. “We went there to thank him.”
Little did Midge know, it would be her and her husband having to deal with the anger of the town hall attendees. Lipinski called Midge up to tell the heart-wrenching story of her daughter-in-law Jenny. Jenny was a healthy 24-year-old pregnant mother this summer. Now she was dead, along with her unborn child, both symbols of the failure of our country’s healthcare system.
But when Midge told the story to the people gathered at the town hall meeting, she was jeered, mocked and laughed at. They didn’t believe her, or didn’t care. Midge still told Jenny’s story, and her bravery shines in a YouTube video of the event, which now clocks in at well over 100,000 views and functions as a symbol of what the tea party movement has become.
Full Story Taking the Lid Off of the Tea Party Movement, One Family Finds ‘It’s Just Hate’ | BuzzFlash.org.
Are Americans Too Broken for the Truth to Set Us Free?
In Search of Morale
By BRUCE E. LEVINE
Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being screwed do not “set them free” but instead further demoralize them? Has such a demoralization happened in the United States? Do some totalitarians actually want us to hear how we have been screwed because they know that humiliating passivity in the face of obvious oppression will demoralize us even further? What forces have created a demoralized, passive, disCouraged U.S. population? Can anything be done to turn this around?
Can people become so broken that truths of how they are being screwed do not “set them free” but instead further demoralize them?
YES. It is called the “abuse syndrome.” How do abusive pimps, spouses, bosses, corporations, and governments stay in control? They shove lies, emotional and physical abuses, and injustices in their victims’ faces, and when victims are afraid to exit from these relationships, they get weaker; and so the abuser then makes their victims eat even more lies, abuses, and injustices, resulting in victims even weaker as they remain in these relationships.
Does the truth of their abuse set people free when they are deep in these abuse syndromes? NO. For victims of the abuse syndrome, the truth of their passive submission to humiliating oppression is more than embarrassing — it can feel shameful; and there is nothing more painful than shame. And when one already feels beaten down and demoralized, the likely response to the pain of shame is not constructive action but more attempts to shut down or divert oneself from this pain. It is not likely that the truth of one’s humiliating oppression is going to energize one to constructive actions.
Has such a demoralization happened in the U.S.?
Full Story Bruce E. Levine: Are Americans Too Broken for the Truth to Set Us Free?.
The dark side of Dubai
Johann Hari - Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports
The wide, smiling face of Sheikh Mohammed – the absolute ruler of Dubai – beams down on his creation. His image is displayed on every other building, sandwiched between the more familiar corporate rictuses of Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. This man has sold Dubai to the world as the city of One Thousand and One Arabian Lights, a Shangri-La in the Middle East insulated from the dust-storms blasting across the region. He dominates the Manhattan-manqué skyline, beaming out from row after row of glass pyramids and hotels smelted into the shape of piles of golden coins. And there he stands on the tallest building in the world – a skinny spike, jabbing farther into the sky than any other human construction in history.
But something has flickered in Sheikh Mohammed’s smile. The ubiquitous cranes have paused on the skyline, as if stuck in time. There are countless buildings half-finished, seemingly abandoned. In the swankiest new constructions – like the vast Atlantis hotel, a giant pink castle built in 1,000 days for $1.5bn on its own artificial island – where rainwater is leaking from the ceilings and the tiles are falling off the roof. This Neverland was built on the Never-Never – and now the cracks are beginning to show. Suddenly it looks less like Manhattan in the sun than Iceland in the desert.
Once the manic burst of building has stopped and the whirlwind has slowed, the secrets of Dubai are slowly seeping out. This is a city built from nothing in just a few wild decades on credit and ecocide, suppression and slavery. Dubai is a living metal metaphor for the neo-liberal globalised world that may be crashing – at last – into history.
Full Story The dark side of Dubai – Johann Hari, Commentators – The Independent.
NPR Covers Up for Bernanke Big Time: Still Has Not Noticed Housing Bubble
Dean Baker
Morning Edition did a great effort to cover up for Ben Bernanke’s responsibility for the Great Recession telling listeners that the public doesn’t want to engage in the blame game. (This is reminiscent of the great line from Monty Python: “let’s not argue about who killed who.”)
The reporters actively ridiculed Senator Bunning who blamed the Fed for the crisis.
Of course, Mr. Bunning is exactly right. Bernanke chose to ignore an $8 trillion housing bubble that was easy for any competent economist to recognize. It was inevitable that the collapse of this huge bubble would lead to a severe downturn. The bubble was driving the economy, creating more than a $1 trillion in annual demand through its impact on residential construction and consumption. There is no easy way to replace this amount of demand, which evaporated when the bubble collapsed.
Full Story Beat the Press Archive | The American Prospect.
An Open Letter to Congress From US Scientists on Climate Change and Recently Stolen Emails
As U.S. scientists with substantial expertise on climate change and its impacts on natural ecosystems, our built environment and human well-being, we want to assure policy makers and the public of the integrity of the underlying scientific research and the need for urgent action to reduce heat-trapping emissions. In the last few weeks, opponents of taking action on climate change have misrepresented both the content and the significance of stolen emails to obscure public understanding of climate science and the scientific process.
We would like to set the record straight.
The body of evidence that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming is overwhelming. The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming. The scientific process depends on open access to methodology, data, and a rigorous peer-review process. The robust exchange of ideas in the peer-reviewed literature regarding climate science is evidence of the high degree of integrity in this process.
As the recent letter to Congress from 18 leading U.S. scientific organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Meteorological Society, states:
Author says large-scale farms killing land as well as towns
A passive populace obsessed with easy answers has led to an economy that is destroying America’s land, author Wendell Berry told a packed-in crowd at the University of Virginia on Thursday evening.
“Simple solutions will always lead to complex problems, surprising simple minds,” he said.
In a lecture in the full auditorium of the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature and Culture/Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, Berry outlined the need for small-scale landholders engaging in forestry and farming, as opposed to the industrial-scale operations now in place.
The talk was so popular that seats in the auditorium ran out long before the 5:30 speech began. Eventually, a pair of university police officers shooed away the overflow crowd waiting outside.
Even some of those who made it inside were left without seats, and Berry invited them to sit on the stage near him.
Large-scale and corporate operations cause long-term damage to the environment and to rural cultures, he told the crowd.
Full Story Author says large-scale farms killing land as well as towns | Charlottesville Daily Progress.
Durbin: The Trigger Proposal Has Not Been Abandoned
The man tasked with counting the votes for Democrats in the Senate told reporters on Friday that the caucus was still considering health care reform that included a public option “triggered” by economic conditions.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), in a conference call organized by Families USA, made no commitments regarding what proposal the party would ultimately settle upon. But he stressed that his preference remains a public plan.
But, in an admission that will be disheartening to his fellow progressives, the Illinois Democrat did note that leadership was engaged in “serious negotiations” on “a variety of different ideas.” And with the goal of getting 60 votes to fend off a Republican filibuster, the senator said that the party was still looking at Senator Olympia Snowe's (R-ME) favorite proposal as a means of passing legislation.
Full Story Durbin: The Trigger Proposal Has Not Been Abandoned.
US Marines Launch Large Offensive In Afghanistan
U.S. Marines and Afghan troops on Friday launched the first offensive since President Barack Obama announced an American troop surge, striking against Taliban communications and supply lines in a southern insurgent stronghold, a military spokesman said.
Hundreds of troops from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and the Marine reconnaissance unit Task Force Raider were dropped by helicopter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft behind Taliban lines in the northern end of the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province, scene of heavy fighting last summer, according to Marine spokesman Maj. William Pelletier.
A U.S. military official in Washington said it was the first use of Ospreys, aircrafts that combine features of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, in an offensive involving units larger than platoons.
Full Story US Marines Launch Large Offensive In Afghanistan.
US Marines Launch Large Offensive In Afghanistan
U.S. Marines and Afghan troops on Friday launched the first offensive since President Barack Obama announced an American troop surge, striking against Taliban communications and supply lines in a southern insurgent stronghold, a military spokesman said.
Hundreds of troops from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and the Marine reconnaissance unit Task Force Raider were dropped by helicopter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft behind Taliban lines in the northern end of the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province, scene of heavy fighting last summer, according to Marine spokesman Maj. William Pelletier.
A U.S. military official in Washington said it was the first use of Ospreys, aircrafts that combine features of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, in an offensive involving units larger than platoons.
Full Story US Marines Launch Large Offensive In Afghanistan.
Sanders offers Medicare-for-All amendment in Senate
| Physicians for a National Health Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 3, 2009
Contact:
Quentin Young, M.D., (312) 782-6006
Margaret Flowers, M.D., PNHP Congressional Fellow
Mark Almberg, PNHP, (312) 782-6006, mark@pnhp.org
Challenging head-on the powerful private insurance and pharmaceutical industries, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced an amendment to the Senate health reform bill Wednesday that would replace the bulk of the Senate bill’s language with provisions establishing a single-payer, Medicare-for-All program.
Joining with Sanders, I-Vt., in co-sponsoring the measure, known as Senate Amendment 2837, were Senators Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Roland Burris, D-Ill. Other senators, including Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, have previously declared their support for single-payer health reform. The vote on the measure could take place in the next few days.
“This amendment starts from the premise that health care is a human right, and that every citizen, rich or poor, should have access to health care, just as every citizen has access to the fire department, the police or public schools,” a statement from Sanders’ office said.
The single-payer approach embodied in Sanders’ amendment stands in sharp contrast to the reform models being offered by the Senate and House leadership and the White House. Those bills would enhance the central role of private health insurers.
Full Story Sanders offers Medicare-for-All amendment in Senate | Physicians for a National Health Program.
Aetna Forcing 600,000-Plus To Lose Coverage In Effort To Raise Profits
Health insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations.
In a third-quarter earnings conference call in late October, officials at Aetna announced that in an effort to improve on a less-than-anticipated profit margin in 2009, they would be raising prices on their consumers in 2010. The insurance giant predicted that the company would subsequently lose between 300,000 and 350,000 members next year from its national account as well as another 300,000 from smaller group accounts.
“The pricing we put in place for 2009 turned out to not really be what we needed to achieve the results and margins that we had historically been delivering,” said chairman and CEO Ron Williams. “We view 2010 as a repositioning year, a year that does not fully reflect the earnings potential of our business. Our pricing actions should have a noticeable effect beginning in the first quarter of 2010, with additional financial impact realized during the remaining three quarters of the year.”
Full Story Aetna Forcing 600,000-Plus To Lose Coverage In Effort To Raise Profits.
OPS: Killing people for Profit. The SCUM of the earth
Multiple sclerosis ‘blood blockage theory’ tested
US scientists are testing a radical new theory that multiple sclerosis (MS) is caused by blockages in the veins that drain the brain.
The University of Buffalo team were intrigued by the work of Italian researcher Dr Paolo Zamboni who claims 90% of MS is caused by narrowed veins.
He says the restricted drainage, visible on scans, injures the brain leading to MS.
He has already widened the blockages in a handful of patients.
The US team want to replicate his earlier work before treating patients.
Experts welcomed the research saying it was important to confirm the basic science before evaluating any therapy.
Full Story BBC News – Multiple sclerosis ‘blood blockage theory’ tested.
Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater- Now Acting in Uzbekistan – Expanding War
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill on the notorious Eric Prince
Full Story YouTube – MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill on the notorious Eric Prince.
Bernanke suggests repeal of Social Security and Medicare
Bernanke Channels Willie Sutton In Assault On Social Security: ‘That’s Where The Money Is’
Ben Bernanke has overseen the greatest expansion of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet in its history, pouring trillions of dollars into Wall Street firms at roughly zero interest rates.
His generosity, however, has a limit.
In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee today, where he’s seeking re-appointment as the Fed’s chairman, Bernanke called for cutbacks in Medicare and Social Security even as unemployment rises and the middle class is endangered.
Citing legendary bank robber Willie Sutton, Bernanke said of the retirement and health care funds that are the legacy of the New Deal: “That’s where the money is.”
Full Story Bernanke Channels Willie Sutton In Assault On Social Security: ‘That’s Where The Money Is’.
Bush, Franco, Poetry and War Crimes
Thom reads a Spanish Poem on War Crimes
YouTube – Bush, Franco, Poetry and War Crimes.
Matt TaibbiThe U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s Key Recommendations
The Commission recommends that Congress urge the United States Trade Representative to evaluate the use of selective value added tax rebates by China and their trade-distorting effect
The following is from 2009 REPORT TO CONGRESS of the U.S.-CHINA ECONOMIC AND SECURITY REVIEW COMMISSION Delivered to Congress in November of 2009.
The Commission believes that 10 of its 42 recommendations to Congress are of particular significance. These are presented below in the order in which they appear in the Report. The complete list of 42 recommendations appears at the Report’s conclusion on page 325.
• Employing World Trade Organization trade remedies more aggressively. The Commission recommends that Congress urge the administration to employ more aggressively all trade remedies authorized by World Trade Organization rules to counteract the Chinese government’s practices. The Commission further recommends that Congress urge the administration to ensure that U.S. trade remedy laws are preserved and effectively implemented to respond to China’s unfair or predatory trade activities.
[ ... Currency Manipulation, and] • Responding effectively to China’s currency manipulation. The Commission recommends that Congress urge the administration to press China to allow the RMB to become flexible and responsive to market forces, thereby contributing to the correction of global economic imbalances. The Commission further recommends that Congress consider legislation that has the effect of offsetting the impact on the U.S. economy of China’s currency manipulation.
Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Huge Drop in Monthly Job Losses
According to CNNMoney.com, the huge boost in investment is almost certainly tied to a monumental employment report released today
Stocks took an unforeseen dip in trading yesterday. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 were in a virtual tie for last place; followed by the NASDAQ, which also declined. The S&P dropped 0.84 percent (9.32 points), the Dow fell 0.83 percent (86.53 points), and the NASDAQ fell 0.54 percent (11.89 points).
However, yesterday’s losses were trumped in just a few minutes of morning trading on Wall Street today. Each index was up more than one percent in 30 minutes of trading.
According to CNNMoney.com, the huge boost in investment is almost certainly tied to a monumental employment report released today.
Investors were already excited by the initial projections, by Briefing.com, that the economy would have shed 125,000 jobs in November. When the Labor Department released figures showing just 11,000 jobs cut last month, investors responded with near jubilation.
Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Elusive Goal of Greening U.S. Energy
The Great Green Hope for lifting America’s economy is not looking so robust.
Barack Obama, when he was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, visited a wind turbine being built in Pennsylvania.
<<President Obama, both during his campaign and in his first year in office, has promoted the promise of new jobs in cutting-edge, nonpolluting industries, and such green jobs will be a major issue at his jobs “summit” meeting Thursday.
But, increasingly, skeptics who point to the need for more jobs are wondering why he is not doing more to create green jobs faster.
Full Story TradeReform.org – Elusive Goal of Greening U.S. Energy.
A Chinese Owned GM?
According to a recent article by CNNMoney.com, the future of American auto-giant General Motors may be in Chinese hands.
General Motors has already shown that its prospects for future growth are in the enormous Chinese market. Research facilities for GM have sprung up in many Chinese cities, and in that country a Ford or GM vehicle is still considered a high-class import – much the way Americans view BMW or Mercedes.
When the company was on its last legs there was a real initiative to sell-off many brands to Chinese automakers – Hummer being the most likely candidate for sale. Now, it is possible that the entire conglomerate could one day be on the auction block.
It seems more likely that Chinese automakers would put their weight into purchases of European or Asian manufacturers than going for GM right now. Furthermore, after investing tens of billions of dollars to stave off collapse, it is unlikely that the U.S. government will allow its wards to be sold overseas – particularly to China.
However, the fact that General Motors could become yet another foreign-owned American-registered corporation is a point of discussion that should be alarming. This country has sold thousands of companies to foreign-based interests in the past 30 years. Patents, technological research, development, and profits have all gone with them.
Full Story Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Coburn and Vitter preventing Democrats from co-sponsoring public option amendment.
The Hill reports that Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and David Vitter (R-LA) are preventing Democrats from co-sponsoring an amendment to the Senate health bill that would “force members of Congress into any public option health plan that becomes law.” The amendment was conceived by Republicans as a political stunt. As Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said, “If [the public option] is good enough for the American people — and they don’t think it is — then it ought to be good enough for Congress.” But Democrat Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has called them on their gimmick:
Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) said he is trying to co-sponsor the amendment — but that Coburn and Vitter won’t let him. … “They’ve not said yes to allow me to be a co-sponsor,” Brown told The Hill on Thursday. “I’ve called their office four times. I’m proud of the public option, I think it would be great and we ought to join it and show the country how good it is. I think my interest may be more genuine than theirs, but I’d like to work with them if they’ll let me. If they just want to score partisan points, I still want to work with them.”
Full Story Think Progress » Coburn and Vitter preventing Democrats from co-sponsoring public option amendment..
OPS: WHY the hell are the Democrats still treating Republicans as if they are rational, adult and human?
President Obama’s lobbying reforms praised by Congressional Research Service
Critics across the political spectrum have lambasted the Obama administration’s restrictions on lobbying as everything from a loophole-ridden political ploy to an unconstitutional violation of free-speech rights.
But this week, congressional researchers concluded that the administration’s crackdown has “already changed the relationship between lobbyists and covered executive branch officials” and suggested that Congress might consider enacting similar restrictions on itself.
The White House seized on the 18-page report by the Congressional Research Service as evidence that President Barack Obama is fulfilling his campaign promise to rein in the power of special interests in Washington.
Full Story President Obama’s lobbying reforms praised by Congressional Research Service – - POLITICO.com.
Gore Cancels Climate Lecture In Copenhagen
COPENHAGEN — Climate campaigner Al Gore has canceled a lecture he was supposed to deliver in Copenhagen.
The former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner had been scheduled to speak to more than 3,000 people at a Dec. 16 event hosted by the Berlingske Tidende newspaper group.
The group says Gore canceled the lecture Thursday, citing unforeseen changes in his schedule.
Full Story Gore Cancels Climate Lecture In Copenhagen.
U.S. Soldier Who Killed Two Army Buddies Was Shattered by Iraq Tragedy
It’s gotten remarkably little coverage so far — perhaps because there’s no “terrorist” angle — but we’re now catching up with case of an Iraq war vet now captured and suspected of killing two of his fellow servicemen, age 20 and 23, near the army base at Fort Drum, N.Y., where they all served.
Spc. Joshua Hunter, a military cop, fled to Ohio and has now bring brought back to New York. It’s not known what sparked the murders but he had returned from 15 months in Iraq. The two victims served with him there and his wife says he considered them his “best friends.”
Tonight AP talked to his wife, who said he had seen a good friend die at close range in Iraq, and held the victim in his arms afterward. He was totally changed when he got home, flying into rages, “abusive,” sleepless, “edgy.” His father and mother tell much the same story.
Earlier today, the Watertown paper, near Fort Drum, cited quotes from his Hunter’s My Space page:
Full Story Greg Mitchell: U.S. Soldier Who Killed Two Army Buddies Was Shattered by Iraq Tragedy.
Talks on future of public option in healthcare bill intensify in the Senate – TheHill.com
Senate Democrats from the liberal and centrist factions are engaged in increasingly urgent talks aimed at bridging the divide within the party over the public option in the healthcare reform bill.
With the end of the year rapidly approaching and no agreement over whether the bill should create a government-run insurance program – or at least what form it should take – Democrats said Thursday they are deepening their resolve to unite the party and renewing their efforts to court Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine).
“Our caucus now is in the process of negotiating with ourselves because we need all 60 of us to get this done. And this issue is being negotiated as we speak,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), a centrist who opposes the public option in the Senate healthcare bill. “We knew this day would come and it has come.”
Full Story Talks on future of public option in healthcare bill intensify in the Senate – TheHill.com.
At Last, One Government Agency Considers Cutting Mortgage Principal For Distressed Homeowners
FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair indicated Thursday that she is exploring the idea of reducing the principal on as much as $45 billion in mortgages her agency has acquired from failed banks.
That would be the first significant government attempt to employ a measure that some economists and consumer advocates have long argued is the only really effective way to stop foreclosures.
Although the $45 billion in mortgages only amounts to less than half of one percent of mortgages nationwide, the move would be significant because the idea of reducing principal has been all but dismissed for the last nine months by the Obama administration.
Full Story At Last, One Government Agency Considers Cutting Mortgage Principal For Distressed Homeowners.
Obese Man On American Airlines Flight (PICTURE, POLL)
MSNBC passes along this picture of a slightly awkward situation on an American Airlines flight.
Originally reported by Kieran Daly at airline blog FightGlobal.com, the picture was supposedly taken by a worried flight attendant who wanted to ensure that the seating arrangement didn’t compromise the safety of the other passengers.
Here’s FlightGlobal:
“This is sent to me with the absolute assurance that it’s a genuine picture taken by a flight attendant at American Airlines. The F/A took it to show her manager what was happening on the aircraft (757???) and why she was unhappy about it. Seems the guy paid for only one seat and the gate staff let him board.”
As we pointed out earier this year, some airlines are now requiring obese passengers to buy more than one seat. Last year United Airlines had received “more than 700 complaints last year from passengers ‘who did not have a comfortable flight because the person next to them infringed on their seat,’ an airline spokesman said.”
What do you think?
Full Story Obese Man On American Airlines Flight (PICTURE, POLL).
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Republicans Don't Care about Voter Fraud....owa Republicans are trying to dismiss claims that the vote count in Tuesday's Iowa Caucus was wrong. An Iowa voter told a local TV station yesterday that he noticed a 20-vote discrepancy in the count - and that Rick Santorum was the real winner of the Caucuses. Republican Party officials, though, are sticking to their first count - showing Mitt Romney as the winner by 8-votes - and there will be no recount.The Republican Party has launched a war on voters around the nation this year with strict new laws that will disenfranchise over 5 million Americans. They claim these laws are necessary to combat so-called voter fraud. Yet in Iowa - where there are no such laws - and where a very, very close and questionable election was just held - Republicans don't seem to care at all about getting it right.Clearly - the war on voters isn't about making sure the people's voices are represented accurately - it's about making sure poor people, young people, and minorities who tend to vote for Democrats - can't vote at all.-Thom(Who do you think won? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
