Archive for December, 2009
Oil shale development and climate change
While the world discusses climate protection in Copenhagen, a climate disaster looms in the Rocky Mountain West: a resurgence of interest in oil shale development. We need only look at Canada to see that oil shale development in the West, like tar sands production in Alberta, would undermine our country’s goal of reducing greenhouse gasses.
Eleven years ago when the international community met in Kyoto to establish goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Canada pledged to reduce its levels 6 percent by 2012. Since that time its output has increased 26 percent, largely as a result of tar sands production. Canada is now one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gasses.
Oil shale, which is closely related to tar sands, is a sedimentary rock found in the Green River Formation under Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. When heated, the shale releases kerogen, a waxy substance that may be refined for use as transportation fuel.
Full Story Oil shale development and climate change – The Denver Post.
US lawmakers push tough new ‘Buy American’ bill
US lawmakers have introduced legislation to tighten “Buy American” rules that often anger major US trading partners by requiring that public sector projects rely on domestic goods and services.
Representative Dan Lipinski and Senator Russ Feingold, both Democratic allies of US President Barack Obama, say their “Buy American Improvement Act of 2009″ will help foster US job growth amid double-digit unemployment.
“For American taxpayer dollars to needlessly wind up in the pockets of workers in China and other foreign countries is indefensible in the best of times. During the worst recession in more than a quarter-century, it’s a disgrace,” Lipinski, who hails from Illinois, said in a statement.
“By purchasing American-made goods whenever possible, our federal government will send a simple message to American workers: We support you,” said Feingold as they introduced the legislation on Wednesday.
Similar provisions in a nearly 800-billion-dollar economic stimulus package approved in February drew European and Canadian complaints of protectionism.
Full Story US lawmakers push tough new ‘Buy American’ bill – Yahoo! Canada News.
Feds defy order to provide same-sex benefits
The Obama administration refused Friday to follow a federal judge's order to provide insurance benefits to the wife of a lesbian court employee in San Francisco and said its hands were tied by a discriminatory law.
“This issue shows exactly why Congress needs to repeal” the law, which prohibits federal benefits to same-sex couples, government lawyer Elaine Kaplan said in a message to attorneys for court employee Karen Golinski.
One of Golinski’s lawyers, Jenny Pizer of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal, said Kaplan’s response was “something we might have expected from the Bush or Reagan administration, and not from a ‘fierce advocate’ of LBGT rights,” as President Obama has described himself.
The case is one of two in which the Office of Personnel Management has balked at orders by judges on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to provide coverage to the same-sex spouses of federal employees.
Full Story Feds defy order to provide same-sex benefits.
Data to expose ‘ghost mountains’ in Antarctica
Scientists who mapped one of the most enigmatic mountain ranges on Earth have given a first glimpse of their data.
An international team spent two months in 2008/9 surveying the Gamburtsevs in Antarctica – a series of peaks totally buried under the ice cap.
The group has told a major conference in the US that the hidden mountains are more jagged than previously thought.
They are also more linear in shape than the sparse data collected in the past had suggested.
This latter finding hints at a possible origin for the mountains whose existence has perplexed scientists for 50 years.
“If you have a linear structure it makes them more like the Alps or the Appalachians,” explained Dr Michael Studinger from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University, New York.
“These are mountain ranges that formed by the collision of tectonic plates.” But he stressed that the analysis of the survey data was in its infancy and the team would publish their final assessments in forthcoming papers in the formal scientific literature.
Full Story BBC News – Data to expose ‘ghost mountains’.
Former Congress member: Don’t let Senate usurp House’s powers
A former Democratic member of Congress has come out swinging in an op-ed for The Hill against “the suggestion that the Senate is so tied in knots that the House will simply have to accept without change whatever can win 60 votes in the Senate.”
Martin Frost, a moderate Democrat who represented the 24th Texas congressional district from 1979 to 2005 — when he was squeezed out in a controversial redistricting engineered by Tom DeLay — is concerned about the consequences “if President Obama lets divided Senate Democrats dictate the shape of his legislative agenda.”
Frost points out that in recent years “far-reaching legislation” has typically originated in the House, been “walked back to the center” by the Senate, and winds up somewhere in between. But earlier this fall, the House accepted a measure from the Senate without taking it through conference committee because of an impending deadline for extension of unemployment benefits.
Full Story Former Congress member: Don’t let Senate usurp House’s powers | Raw Story.
After ‘Truth Squad’ Fizzles, Der Spiegel Reporter Tells Inhofe: ‘You’re Ridiculous’
Back in September, godfather of global warming deniers Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) announced that he would be going to the U.N.’s climate change summit in Copenhagen this week to present “another view.” “I think somebody has to be there — a one-man truth squad,” he said. His “truth squad” later expanded to three, with Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) joining in.
But MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow noted last night that Inhofe’s mission of wreaking havoc on the summit fell flat:
MADDOW: When Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton and all the bigwigs arrived in Denmark, the Inhofe truth squad was nowhere to be found.
We confirmed with the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works that truth squad, denialist, congressional delegation with Senators Barrasso and Wicker – that has ended up getting canceled.
Full Story Think Progress » After ‘Truth Squad’ Fizzles, Der Spiegel Reporter Tells Inhofe: ‘You’re Ridiculous’.
OPS: Ridiculous and proud of it – A GOP Tradition
Coburn Admits Republicans Are Just Trying To Kill The Bill: ‘The American People Want To Hear Us Say No’
As the health care debate enters its final stages, Republicans are doing everything they can to slow the process down in order to “defeat” the Senate bill. In recent days, GOP senators have claimed they are working “in good faith” and simply want to take the time to “see a little bit of what’s in the bill.”
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who most recently killed an attempt by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to have a debate about his single-payer health care amendment by forcing the 767-page document to be read aloud on the floor, today let truth slip out. On Washington Journal, Coburn explained that he sees the GOP’s role is to defeat the health care bill, saying “The American people want to hear us say no.” He added, “No is a wonderful word“:
COBURN: Look, there’s nothing wrong with the word no. No is a word Washington needs to hear. The American people want to hear us say no. No when we’re stealing 43 cents out of every dollar that we spend this year from our grandkids. No when we’re ignoring the Constitution. No when we’re gonna pass a bill that says you have to buy something even when it goes totally against the Constitution and the enumerated powers of our Constitution. No to socialism at every turn. … There’s nothing wrong with that word, it’s a healthy word. … No is a wonderful word.
Watch it:
OPS: Public option: 59% to 31% in FAVOR – STILL, even after all of the BS rightwing lies. When Coburn says people want to here them say NO – he means his Corporate Sponsors in that Alternate Universe they link in.
Reid to Unveil Final Health Care Bill Amendment Saturday in Anticipation of Christmas Eve Vote
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to unveil a final compromise Saturday morning to a health care bill that numerous progressive Democrats, labor unions, and grassroots organizations said has been gutted of any meaningful consumer reforms and amounts to a bailout for the insurance industry.
Democratic leaders said Friday the “manager's amendment” Reid intends to introduce will coincide with the release of the Congressional Budget Office’s hotly-anticipated cost analysis of the bill and will follow a vote on a Defense Department spending bill.
The language in Reid’s amendment, which is said to be hundreds of pages, may include further concessions in order to win the 60 votes he needs to fend off a Republican-led filibuster and the support of conservative Democrats, such as Sen. Ben Nelson, (D-Nebraska), who, as one of the few remaining holdouts, said Thursday he would not back the health care reform bill because it did not include tougher language restricting the use of federal funds for abortion.
Nightmare scenarios haunt states
One question keeps coming up as governors and legislators grapple with a seemingly never-ending stream of gloomy budget news that keeps getting worse: How bad can it get?
The answer, according to experts and a look through history, is probably that it could get worse than it has been in a generation — maybe even a lifetime — but not catastrophic.
“If revenues don’t pick up, states are going to be in a pretty tough spot when we get to 2011,” said Kim Rueben, a state and local tax policy expert with the Urban Institute. “Do I think it’s going to be the end of the world as we know it? No.”
Bankruptcy, at least the scenario where a judge would take control of a state’s finances, is off the table. Bond defaults, the cardinal sin of public finance, seem highly unlikely for states. Another federal bail-out is plausible. Some state governments may even be fundamentally overhauled. But the worst for most states will sound familiar: service cuts, tax hikes, IOUs, layoffs, furloughs and political gridlock.
In other words, Rutgers University public policy professor Carl Van Horn said, state budgets for next year will look a lot like those passed for this year — “only worse.”
In the halls of many state capitols, many others are repeating that same refrain.
Full Story Nightmare scenarios haunt states.
Defense Bill Raids Personnel Funds to Pay For Weapons
Matt Taibbi
The measure also trims personnel and maintenance accounts from previous versions of the measure to pump up weapons procurement for Afghanistan and Iraq by almost $2 billion.
via The Associated Press: Wrap-up bill clears Senate hurdle.
Every year about this time a tiny trickle of little-noticed news stories weeds its way into the papers, usually in the back sections. It’s the same narrative every year: Congress lumps all the unpassed appropriations bills together, slaps them full of pork, and quietly passes them (often in the dead of night) while everyone is already thinking about Christmas.
The defense bill is always the worst and most morally reprehensible, and this year is no exception. It should be noted that defense pork is one of America’s great bipartisan traditions. The scheme is the same every year, regardless of who is in the majority: Congress quietly shoves in earmarks for unnecessary and ridiculously expensive weapons programs, and pays for them by gutting the existing budgets for actual soldiers.
What most people don’t understand about earmarks is that they are not achieved by simply adding to the top number for the whole federal budget. Earmarks have to come out of the approved number for that particular appropriations bill. So if you want a highway earmark, the money has to come out of some other highway program.
Full Story Defense Bill Raids Personnel Funds to Pay For Weapons – Matt Taibbi – Taibblog – True/Slant.
The New Christian Zionism and the Jews
In late October, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel spoke at a Christians United for Israel (CUFI) event hosted by the controversial Christian Zionist John Hagee at his Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. Internationally broadcast on GodTV, Hagee presented $9 million in donations to 29 Israeli and U.S. Jewish organizations.[1] Hagee is one of the world’s most successful televangelists and a prolific author who prophesizes that apocalyptic wars and the migration of Jews to the holy land will help trigger the return of Jesus and his thousand-year reign on earth.
Wiesel joins a long list of Jews and Israelis who show no discomfort at being in the center of someone else’s apocalyptic religious vision. Making common cause with Christian Zionists are the lobby group American Israel Political Action Committee, which hosted Hagee as a conference keynote speaker in 2007, and Israeli ambassador Michael Oren, who attended a CUFI summit last July.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, a very different kind of “pro-Israel” gathering was taking place. J Street, the “pro-peace, pro-Israel” lobby group, was holding its first national conference with panels featuring American, Israeli and Palestinian speakers. Hundreds gathered in the ballroom of the Washington D.C. Grand Hyatt for the conference, whose program explicitly stated that J Street aims to challenge “right-wing Christian Zionists” – the very people Wiesel was addressing.[2]
Full Story PublicEye.org – Website of Political Research Associates.
Insanity must be recognized, acknowledged and stopped.
OPS: You don’t get to abuse children or undermine democracy and hide behind Religion by saying “god told me it was OK”
Morgan Stanley to Give Up 5 San Francisco Towers Bought at Peak
Morgan Stanley, the securities firm that spent more than $8 billion on commercial property in 2007, plans to relinquish five San Francisco office buildings to its lender two years after purchasing them from Blackstone Group LP near the top of the market.
The bank has been negotiating an “orderly transfer” of the towers since earlier this year, Alyson Barnes, a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman, said yesterday in a telephone interview. AREA Property Partners will take over the buildings. Barnes declined to say when the transfer will occur.
“This isn’t a default or foreclosure situation,” Barnes said. “We are going to give them the properties to get out of the loan obligation.”
The San Francisco transfer would mark the second real estate deal to unravel this year for Morgan Stanley, which bet big on the property markets as prices were rising. The firm last month agreed to surrender 17 million square feet of office buildings to Barclays Capital after acquiring them for $6.5 billion in 2007 from Crescent Real Estate Equities. U.S. commercial real estate prices have dropped 43 percent from October 2007’s peak, Moody’s Investors Service said last month.
Full Story Morgan Stanley to Give Up 5 San Francisco Towers Bought at Peak – Bloomberg.com.
Barack Obama’s speech disappoints and fuels frustration at Copenhagen | Environment | guardian.co.uk
US president offers no further commitment on reducing emissions or on finance to poor countries
Barack Obama stepped into the chaotic final hours of the Copenhagen summit today saying he was convinced the world could act “boldly and decisively” on climate change.
But his speech offered no indication America was ready to embrace bold measures, after world leaders had been working desperately against the clock to try to paper over an agreement to prevent two years of wasted effort — and a 10-day meeting — from ending in total collapse.
Obama, who had been skittish about coming to Copenhagen at all unless it could be cast as a foreign policy success, looked visibly frustrated as he appeared before world leaders.
Full Story Barack Obama’s speech disappoints and fuels frustration at Copenhagen | Environment | guardian.co.uk.
Report: 3.2 Million Foreclosures Must Be Prevented In 2010 To Stabilize Housing Market
More than three-quarters of next year's estimated 4.2 million foreclosures will need to be prevented in order to further stabilize housing prices, according to a new report by Credit Suisse analysts.
The analysts argue that already there are early signs of recovery. Thanks to a decline in foreclosure sales from their winter highs, the homebuyer tax credit, and “record high
affordability levels,” housing prices have begun to stabilize.
But for a recovery to take hold next year, foreclosure sales will have to decrease even more. The analysts note that if foreclosure sales represent some 25-30 percent of all home sales next year, then home prices could see an uptick.
Full Story Report: 3.2 Million Foreclosures Must Be Prevented In 2010 To Stabilize Housing Market.
Russ Baker: The shadow government – Audio
Sibel Edmonds
Russ Baker discusses his book, Family of Secrets, the first complete historic portrait of the Bush dynasty, and provides us with an overview of how this dynasty shaped our politics. He tells us about the shadow government in the US, the real players, elites, and power centers within each president’s government, and the limitation on what and how much an American president can accomplish – considering the influence of these powerful and independent fiefdoms characterized by entrenched agendas and constant intrigue. Mr. Baker defines and explains the concept of Forensic Journalism, and talks about his nonprofit news organization WhoWhatWhy, the need for nonpartisan and independent journalism today, the current media landscape in the US, and more.
RussBaker Russ Baker is an award-winning investigative journalist and the author of Family of Secrets- – the Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years. He has written for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Village Voice and Esquire. He has served as a contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review, and is the founder of WhoWhatWhy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organization.
Full Story Sibel Edmonds’ Boiling Frogs Post | Home of the Irate Minority.
Audio at Link.
Flashback: McCain Refused To Grant 30 Seconds Of Time During Iraq War Debate
Yesterday, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), acting on the orders of the Senate leadership, refused to grant Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) “an additional moment” to continue speaking on the Senate floor after his 10 minutes expired. Franken’s objection caused Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to groan about how Franken’s move was unprofessional, unprecedented, and disrespectful:
McCAIN: I’ve been around here 20-some years. First time I’ve ever seen a member denied an extra minute or two to finish his remarks. … I just haven’t seen it before myself. And I don’t like it. And I think it harms the comity of the Senate not to allow one of our members at least a minute. I’m sure that time is urgent here, but I doubt that it would be that urgent.
Unfortunately, McCain’s memory is suffering. In fact, McCain has engaged in the very same behavior that he was criticizing Franken for yesterday.
Full Story Think Progress » Flashback: McCain Refused To Grant 30 Seconds Of Time During Iraq War Debate.
1 in 110 children have autism, study finds
Rise in disorder may be due to changes in diagnosis; other causes probed
About 1 in 110 children have autism, according to the government’s latest estimate released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s a small change from a 1 in 100 preliminary estimate that CDC officials made in October from the same study. CDC officials said the latest number comes from a more complete analysis of reports from 11 states.
Until recently, the CDC had been saying autism occurred in 1 in 150 children. The new CDC estimate looks at 8-year-old children who had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder in 2006.
Full Story 1 in 110 children have autism, study finds – Mental health- msnbc.com.
MSNBC host berates Democratic lawmaker over soaring insurance stocks – Video
MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan shouted down Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) after she couldn’t answer why insurance stocks have increased since major reforms have been stripped from health care legislation.
The health care reform bill “does very little to bring real choice and competition to the insurance market place,” explained Ratigan. “It does very little to reform the insurance monopolies. It does very little to create more choices for everybody in America for their health care but at the same time it mandates that everybody in America face penalties if they don’t buy health care.”
“The result of that has been the following,” continued Ratigan. “You know the monopoly scenario. I want you to take a look at the insurance stocks in this country on news of the creation of millions of new customers but the bill doesn’t reform the monopoly structure.”
Full Story MSNBC host berates Democratic lawmaker over soaring insurance stocks | Raw Story.
OPS: Good on Dylan! Debbie keeps drifting back into talking points (like she’s seen republicans do) and Dylan keeps reeling her back to the question.
Fox News: Ben Nelson Opposes Health Reform Because He ‘Understands The True Meaning Of Christmas’
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is still refusing to support Senate health care reform legislation, with his main objection being that the bill doesn’t restrict women’s rights enough by severely limiting access to abortions. Today on Fox News, host Steve Doocy and analyst Peter Johnson, Jr. lauded Nelson for his “moral” stance. But they then went even further, arguing that Nelson is obstructing progress because he “understands the true meaning of Christmas” — unlike all the immoral people who want to make sure that Americans have access to quality, affordable health care as soon as possible:
DOOCY: Democrat senator from Nebraska Ben Nelson, the holdout on health care reform right now on the Democrat side. The sticking point? Abortion, which could push lawmakers up right until Christmas. But could it be because he understands the true meaning of Christmas? [...]
JOHNSON: So what you have is an interesting, almost Christmas pageant. On one hand, we have this political or secular rush for the Democratic Party: “We must get this done by Christmas,” and if you don’t it done, you’re going to be there on Christmas Eve, you’re going to be there on the day after Christmas, and you’re going to get this done.
DeMint Laughably Claims Republicans Have Been Acting In ‘Good Faith’ To Improve Health Care Reform
Republicans opposed to health care reform have long said that their “objective is to slow this down” in order to “defeat” reform. Earlier this month, Politico’s Chris Frates obtained a copy of a memo authored by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) outlining exactly how Senate Republicans can kill health reform using various parliamentary tactics such as offering “an unlimited number of amendments — germane or non-germane — on any subject.”
Over the past few weeks of Senate debate, Republicans have put their plan into action, using procedural stunts like Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) demand that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 767 page single payer amendment be read in full on the Senate floor. On Fox News today, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who took delight in Coburn’s effort, claimed that Republicans weren’t just being “obstructionist,” but were working in “good faith” to make “progress” on the legislation:
HOST: Alright, so we read that quote from your spokesperson about how you’re basically being obstructionist and it sounds like you think that’s a badge of honor at this point. But let’s face it. Are you just postponing the inevitable and do the American people really just want you to obstruct it or are they looking for progress here?
Marriage equality is now legal in the nation’s capital.
This morning at the All Souls Unitarian church in Washington, DC, approximately 150 activists and same-sex couples congregated to witness marriage equality become law in the nation’s capital. “I say to the world: An era of struggle ends for thousands in Washington, D.C.,” said Mayor Adrian Fenty (D), who also invoked his biracial upbringing and noted that it was illegal for his parents to get married 40 years ago because they were an interracial couple. Several other officials spoke, including David Catania (I), the council member who sponsored the bill. When Fenty signed the bill, he held it over his head and the room erupted in cheers. Watch some highlights from the event:
Full Story Think Progress » Marriage equality is now legal in the nation’s capital..
After Falsely Accusing Obama Of Politicizing The Military, GOP Filibusters Defense Bill To Kill Health Reform
Over the past few days, Republican senators have seized on a false story manufactured by a former Republican operative at The Weekly Standard. The unfounded rumor alleged that sources in the White House had told Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) to vote for health reform, or else the Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska would be closed. Using the story, Republican senators quickly accused the President of politicizing the military:
SEN. KIT BOND (R-MO): “The rumors out there, we haven’t confirmed it, but the rumor keeps coming back that he’s threatened to close a major air base in Nebraska. It is total blackmail. It’s the worst kind of Chicago politics.” [WND, 12/17/09]
SEN. BOB BENNETT (R-UT): “This would be one of the most outrageous demonstrations of presidential power I’ve ever seen.” [The Hill, 12/17/09]
Why Seed Consolidation Matters
What would you say if I told you that one company is making decisions about what you eat? As it turns out, a new report [pdf] released last week by the Farmer to Farmer Campaign on Genetic Engineering reveals that Monsanto controls the genetic traits — and thus the seeds — of most of the corn, soy and cotton grown in the US; and that they are using their control of the market to raise prices on their products and limit access to non-genetically modified (GM) seed.
This means that farmers are unable to make decisions about what they grow, and also that they grow more to make ends meet, pushing more corn and soy on the market to be processed in to a proliferation of packaged foods — making up most of what is available to eat. This report details the history of seed consolidation (including excellent visuals mapping larger chemical companies’ acquisitions of smaller seed companies), provides recommendations, and importantly, gives a voice to some of the affected farmers from all over the United States.
It will be useful reading for the Department of Justice (DoJ) because as we wrote back in August, the DoJ is investigating Monsanto and other agribusiness companies for antitrust activity. In addition, the DoJ and the USDA will hold workshops all over the nation beginning in Iowa on March 12th, 2010, where farmers have been invited to discuss the issues of concern to them. In addition, the DoJ is taking public comments on the issue: you can email agriculturalworkshops@usdoj.gov to add you thoughts to the investigation before December 31st.
Full Story Civil Eats » Blog Archive » Why Seed Consolidation Matters.
Kucinich panel to investigate Citigroup tax ruling
A House subcommittee said Thursday that it will investigate the Treasury Department's decision to change a long-standing law so that Citigroup could keep billions of dollars in tax breaks.
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) called Treasury's action a “farce” and an “outrage” during a hearing Thursday of the domestic policy subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Kucinich, the subcommittee chairman, said that he would demand an explanation from Treasury officials.
“This committee is not going to rest until we've examined this last deal threadbare, until we have spoken to every individual associated with it, examined every communication related to it, with every person that may have had an interest in it, or who may have had some kind of a channel of influence,” Kucinich said.
Full Story Kucinich panel to investigate Citigroup tax ruling – washingtonpost.com.
Copenhagen negotiators bicker and filibuster while the biosphere burns | Environment | guardian.co.uk
George Monbiot despairs at the chaotic, disastrous denouement of a chaotic and disastrous climate summit
First they put the planet in square brackets, now they have deleted it from the text. At the end it was no longer about saving the biosphere: it was just a matter of saving face. As the talks melted down, everything that might have made a new treaty worthwhile was scratched out. Any deal would do, as long as the negotiators could pretend they have achieved something. A clearer and less destructive treaty than the text that emerged would be a sheaf of blank paper, which every negotiating party solemnly sits down to sign.
This was the chaotic, disastrous denouement of a chaotic and disastrous summit. The event has been attended by historic levels of incompetence. Delegates arriving from the tropics spent 10 hours queueing in sub-zero temperatures without shelter, food or drink, let alone any explanation or announcement, before being turned away. Some people fainted from exposure; it’s surprising that no one died. The process of negotiation was just as obtuse: there was no evidence here of the innovative methods of dispute resolution developed recently by mediators and coaches, just the same old pig-headed wrestling.
Watching this stupid summit via webcam (I wasn’t allowed in either), it struck me that the treaty-making system has scarcely changed in 130 years. There’s a wider range of faces, fewer handlebar moustaches, frock coats or pickelhaubes, but otherwise, when the world’s governments try to decide how to carve up the atmosphere, they might have been attending the conference of Berlin in 1884. It’s as if democratisation and the flowering of civil society, advocacy and self-determination had never happened. Governments, whether elected or not, without reference to their own citizens let alone those of other nations, assert their right to draw lines across the global commons and decide who gets what. This is a scramble for the atmosphere comparable in style and intent to the scramble for Africa.
Full Story Copenhagen negotiators bicker and filibuster while the biosphere burns | Environment | guardian.co.uk.
Stunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know
contractors now comprise 69% of the Department of Defense’s total workforce,
Jeremy Scahill
A hearing in Sen. Claire McCaskill’s Contract Oversight subcommittee on contracting in Afghanistan has highlighted some important statistics that provide a window into the extent to which the Obama administration has picked up the Bush-era war privatization baton and sprinted with it. Overall, contractors now comprise a whopping 69% of the Department of Defense’s total workforce, “the highest ratio of contractors to military personnel in US history.” That’s not in one war zone—that’s the Pentagon in its entirety.
In Afghanistan, the Obama administration blows the Bush administration out of the privatized water. According to a memo [PDF] released by McCaskill’s staff, “From June 2009 to September 2009, there was a 40% increase in Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan. During the same period, the number of armed private security contractors working for the Defense Department in Afghanistan doubled, increasing from approximately 5,000 to more than 10,000.”
At present, there are 104,000 Department of Defense contractors in Afghanistan. According to a report this week from the Congressional Research Service, as a result of the coming surge of 30,000 troops in Afghanistan, there may be up to 56,000 additional contractors deployed. But here is another group of contractors that often goes unmentioned: 3,600 State Department contractors and 14,000 USAID contractors. That means that the current total US force in Afghanistan is approximately 189,000 personnel (68,000 US troops and 121,000 contractors). And remember, that’s right now. And that, according to McCaskill, is a conservative estimate. A year from now, we will likely see more than 220,000 US-funded personnel on the ground in Afghanistan.
Full Story RebelReports – Stunning Statistics About the War Every American Should Know.
Statement on President Obama’s Climate Speech by the Center for Biological Diversity
COPENHAGEN – December 18 – Just hours after touching down in Copenhagen, President Obama delivered a speech indicating that the U.S. negotiating position is unchanged. The U.S. has pledged to cut emissions by only about 3% below 1990 levels by 2020. According to a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat document leaked yesterday, the emissions reductions promised by the U.S. and other countries would, even if fully realized, still result in atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceeding 550 parts per million and a global temperature rise of over 3 degrees C. This translates into a death sentence for small island nations, coral reefs, polar bears and much of the world’s biodiversity. And the 550 ppm and 3 degree prediction of the Secretariat is likely optimistic; independent scientists conclude the current proposals in Copenhagen would take us to over 750 ppm and 3.9 degrees of warming.
Obama also conditioned U.S. support for a $100 billion fund to help the most vulnerable nations in the developing world cope with the impact of global warming “if – and only if – it is part of the broader accord” outlined by the U.S.
Kassie Siegel, director of the Climate Law Institute of the Center for Biological Diversity, had the following response to President Obama’s speech:
Full Story Statement on President Obama’s Climate Speech by the Center for Biological Diversity | CommonDreams.org.
The underlying divisions in the health care debate
Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com –
Ed Kilgore has a very perceptive analysis in The New Republic about the underlying (and largely unexamined) ideological and strategic differences among progressives that are at least partially driving the rift over the health care bill. He argues — correctly — that the current debate “displays a couple of pretty important potential fault lines within the American center-left” that have manifested in other disputes as well. That was the principal point of this much-maligned Daily Kos post observing that many (but not all) of the progressive bloggers most vehemently demanding passage of the health care bill also supported the Iraq War. As the author of that post (Jake McIntyre) explicitly said, his intent wasn’t to suggest that those individuals shouldn’t be listened to because of their Iraq position six years ago (that would be an invalid and unfair claim), but simply that — as Kilgore says — there are underlying and significant differences in strategic and ideological outlook driving the health care debate that have been present for some time but are typically ignored.
Shared contempt for the Bush administration (at least once Bush and the Iraq War became discredited) largely obscured these differences when Bush was in office. The desire to undermine the Bush GOP and dislodge that movement from power subsumed all other objectives and united people with vastly different political outlooks and agendas. There is still a shared revulsion towards the Palin/Limbaugh Right, but that faction is too marginalized and impotent to serve the same function. With the unifying force of Bush/Cheney gone, the divisions Kilgore describes are now vibrant and increasingly potent. In addition to health care and Iraq, roughly the same progressive fault lines are seen over the bank bailout, escalation in Afghanistan, Obama’s economic team, tolerance for Obama’s embrace of Bush/Cheney civil liberties polices, and even the reaction to Matt Taibbi’s recent Rolling Stone article on Obama’s subservience to Wall Street.
There are many reasons for the progressive division on the health care bill. There are differences over the narrow question of health care policy, with some believing the bill does more harm than good just on that ground alone. Some of it has to do with broader questions of political power: if progressives always announce that they are willing to accept whatever miniscule benefits are tossed at them (on the ground that it’s better than nothing) and unfailingly support Democratic initiatives (on the ground that the GOP is worse), then they will (and should) always be ignored when it comes time to negotiate; nobody takes seriously the demands of those who announce they’ll go along with whatever the final outcome is. But the most significant underlying division identified by Kilgore is the divergent views over the rapidly growing corporatism that defines our political system.
Full Story Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.
CIA working with Palestinian security agents (Allegations of CIA Involvement in West Bank Torture)
US agency co-operating with Palestinian counterparts who allegedly torture Hamas supporters in West Bank
Palestinian security agents who have been detaining and allegedly torturing supporters of the Islamist organisation Hamas in the West Bank have been working closely with the CIA, the Guardian has learned.
Less than a year after Barack Obama signed an executive order that prohibited torture and provided for the lawful interrogation of detainees in US custody, evidence is emerging the CIA is co-operating with security agents whose continuing use of torture has been widely documented by human rights groups.
The relationship between the CIA and the two Palestinian agencies involved – Preventive Security Organisation (PSO) and General Intelligence Service (GI) – is said by some western diplomats and other officials in the region to be so close that the American agency appears to be supervising the Palestinians' work.
Full Story CIA working with Palestinian security agents | World news | guardian.co.uk.
Specter, Toomey in dead heat in Senate race, poll says
Voters approve of president’s handling of war, but give him bad marks on health care
The race for a Pennsylvania seat in the U.S. Senate in 2010 couldn’t get any tighter, according to a poll of state voters released this morning.
Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter and Republican challenger Pat Toomey are deadlocked at 44 percent each, the latest Quinnipiac University poll says.
Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,381 state voters from Dec. 8 through Monday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
Pennsylvania voters also gave President Barack Obama a narrow job approval rating, 49 to 45 percent.
Mr. Specter held a 53 to 33 percent lead over Mr. Toomey in the May 4 poll, but Mr. Toomey took a 43 to 42 percent lead Oct. 1.
Full Story Specter, Toomey in dead heat in Senate race, poll says.
Bottled water sales dry up, industry asks ‘why?’
$11 billion enterprise stuttering after change in consumers’ habits
Heather Lewis was wracked with guilt when she realized she was addicted to the bottle.
Bottled water, that is.
At her worst, she said she went through five plastic bottles of water a day nearly every day for two years.
Full Story Bottled water sales dry up, industry asks ‘why?’ – Going Green- msnbc.com.
OPS: Oh, let’s see: BPA, Cost, Environmental isues……
Fox says Time Warner Cable may drop Fox TV shows
News Corp’s Fox television unit said on Friday that testy carriage negotiations with Time Warner Cable Inc could leave viewers unable to see Fox programing, including “American Idol” and NFL football.
Fox said it has for the past nine months attempted to “negotiate in good faith” with Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, which serves some 14 million customers, and said those talks are ongoing.
But there is a “very likely possibility that Time Warner Cable may choose to no longer carry Fox Broadcasting, Fox Cable and Fox regional sports programing,” Fox said.
Time Warner Cable confirmed that the talks are ongoing but said Fox’s current demands “are unreasonable and excessive, especially in this economic climate.”
“We hope Fox won’t punish our customers by taking their programing away while we try to reach an agreement,” said spokeswoman Maureen Huff.
Full Story Fox says Time Warner Cable may drop Fox TV shows | Reuters.
OPS: Don’t get your hopes up. COMCAST will pick them up
Keiser Report №5: Markets! Finance! Scandal!
This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, look at food stamps in the U.S. and how drug money saved the global banking system. Keiser also speaks to Charles Goyette, author of NY Times bestseller, The Dollar Meltdown.
Full Story YouTube – Keiser Report №5: Markets! Finance! Scandal!.
Activist targets CEO succession
SEC rule change gives investors new power
US companies including Bank of America, American Express and Whole Foods are to be targeted by activist shareholders over plans to replace their chief executives, in a further sign of investors’ increasing power in corporate America.
The Laborers’ International Union of North America, whose pension funds manage about $30bn, said it had filed proposals with 14 companies asking them to detail succession planning policies and put them to a vote in their annual meetings.
The move takes advantage of a recent decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission to relax rules that prevented a shareholder vote on succession, long regarded as the responsibility of boards.
Full Story FT.com / Companies / Financial Services – Activist targets CEO succession.
Her Brother Dead For Lack Of A Battery, Pittsburgh Woman Returns To Washington
Since she lost her brother in March, Georgeanne Koehler’s vocation has been to tell people how he died: slumped over his steering wheel because his defibrillator battery ran out.
William Koehler, who worked as a pizza deliveryman and would have turned 58 in the spring, couldn’t afford to replace the battery because he lost his insurance when he lost his job as an electronics technician in 2003. No insurer wanted anything to do with his arrhythmia. That’s why Georgeanne Koehler, a 63-year-old hospital worker in Pittsburgh, found herself standing in front of the Capitol steps on a frigid Thursday in Washington, D.C. — her third visit in three months.
“I’m here to talk about my brother,” she said, holding a small piece of poster board with his photo. “Without health insurance, he couldn’t get necessary cardiac care to keep him alive. This is the face of uninsured Americans whom we loved most dearly. Without meaningful reform, there will be many more. We just don’t know their names yet.”
Full Story Her Brother Dead For Lack Of A Battery, Pittsburgh Woman Returns To Washington.
AFL-CIO President: Senate Bill As Is Will Die In The House
The head of the most powerful union group in the country said on Thursday that the Senate version of the health care bill will not survive a vote in the House without substantial changes.
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, told the Huffington Post that both he and his members are “extremely disappointed” with the compromises conservative Democrats extracted from Senate leaders. Rather than formally opposing the bill, he expressed confidence that it will change before passage
“If the Senate bill in its current form went to the House it would go down,” he declared.
“I can tell you this,” he added. “The plan as it currently is would not get much support from the American worker unless it is improved.
“So that is another line they are going to have to deal with. Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi I think will adequately represent everybody involved. And I think that is a better model for a bill.”
Full Story Trumka: Senate Bill As Is Will Die In The House.
James Bain, Florida Man, Exonerated After 35 Years Behind Bars
James Bain used a cell phone for the first time Thursday, calling his elderly mother to tell her he had been freed after 35 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
Mobile devices didn’t exist in 1974, the year he was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping a 9-year-old boy and raping him in a nearby field.
Neither did the sophisticated DNA testing that officials more recently used to determine he could not have been the rapist.
“Nothing can replace the years Jamie has lost,” said Seth Miller, a lawyer for the Florida Innocence Project, which helped Bain win freedom. “Today is a day of renewal.”
Full Story James Bain, Florida Man, Exonerated After 35 Years Behind Bars.
Hackers Steal South Korean-US Military Secrets, North Korea Suspected
South Korea’s military said Friday it was investigating a hacking attack that netted secret defense plans with the United States and may have been carried out by North Korea.
The suspected hacking occurred late last month when a South Korean officer failed to remove a USB device when he switched a military computer from a restricted-access intranet to the Internet, Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said.
The USB device contained a summary of plans for military operations by South Korean and U.S. troops in case of war on the Korean peninsula. Won said the stolen document was not a full text of the operational plans, but an 11-page file used to brief military officials. He said it did not contain critical information.
Full Story Hackers Steal South Korean-US Military Secrets, North Korea Suspected.
Homeowners often rejected under Obama’s loan plan
READ THE FINE PRINT: Banks Can Auction Homes Without Warning…
Ten months after the Obama administration began pressing lenders to do more to prevent foreclosures, many struggling homeowners are holding up their end of the bargain but still find themselves rejected, and some are even having their homes sold out from under them without notice.
These borrowers, rich and poor, completed trial modifications of their distressed mortgage, and made all the payments, only to learn, often indirectly, that they won’t get help after all.
How many is hard to tell. Lenders participating in the administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, still don’t provide the government with info
Full Story Homeowners often rejected under Obama’s loan plan | McClatchy.
Poll: Voters Reject Health Care Mandate Without Public Option, Medicare Buy-In
“This poll shows voters in full-blown revolt against the Senate bill”
A new poll suggests that voters are not pleased by the idea of health insurance mandates without a public option or a Medicare expansion.
Conducted by Research 2000 for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), the survey finds only 33 percent of likely voters favor a health care bill that does not include a public health insurance option and does not expand Medicare, but does require all Americans to get health insurance. Slightly more Democrats — 37 percent — favor the idea, while only 30 percent of Republicans and 31 percent of independents do.
Meanwhile, if the public option and Medicare buy-in are added, 58 percent of people support the idea. The number of Republican supporters drops to 22 percent, but independent support rises to 57 percent and Democratic support to a whopping 88 percent.
“This poll shows voters in full-blown revolt against the Senate bill,” said PCCC co-founder Stephanie Taylor. “Only one-third of voters support mandates without a public option, while nearly two-thirds want the public option and Medicare expansion. This will be a disaster of epic proportions for Democrats in 2010 if it's not fixed — fast.”
Full Story Poll: Voters Reject Health Care Mandate Without Public Option, Medicare Buy-In.
Acid Oceans: The ‘Evil Twin’ Of Climate Change
Far from Copenhagen’s turbulent climate talks, the sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters reposing along the shoreline and kelp forests of this protected marine area stand to gain from any global deal to cut greenhouse gases.
These foragers of the sanctuary’s frigid waters, flipping in and out of sight of California’s coastal kayakers, may not seem like obvious beneficiaries of a climate treaty crafted in the Danish capital. But reducing carbon emissions worldwide also would help mend a lesser-known environmental problem: ocean acidification.
“We’re having a change in water chemistry, so 20 years from now the system we’re looking at could be affected dramatically but we’re not really sure how. So we see a train wreck coming,” said Andrew DeVogelaere, the sanctuary’s research director, while out kayaking this fall with a reporter in the cold waters.
Full Story Acid Oceans: The ‘Evil Twin’ Of Climate Change.
Obama’s Copenhagen Speech: The Collapse of a Deal?
‘I Think Our Ability To Take Collective Action Is In Doubt’
No deal. Not even a fig leaf.
That seemed to be the implication of President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated speech at the Copenhagen climate summit.
He arrived at the Bella Center at 9:30 in the morning and immediately huddled in a non-scheduled and tense meeting with 18 other world leaders, including Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei. As Obama and the others talked, White House officials told reporters that Obama had ripped up his schedule for the day—supposedly the last day of the conference—and was attempting to rescue the troubled negotiations. He apparently did not succeed.
After the meeting ended, the summit began its most high-profile session. Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen opened the gathering, saying that it is “not too often us leaders get a chance to chart out a new course for our planet.” No such course was forthcoming. Minutes later, Chinese Premier Wen Jibao hailed his own nation’s efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. But he offered no give on the key matters that had been raised by the United States: China placing its emissions reductions within a binding treaty and subjecting them to outside verification. Wen indicated that China would keep its emissions limits voluntary and unilateral. Next Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva said it would take a “miracle” to reach an accord at Copenhagen. He complained that due to the lack of progress in the negotiations he had been forced to participate in a 2:00 am meeting with other world leaders. He declared that “each country has to have the confidence to do its own oversight”—seemingly siding with China on this front.
Full Story Obama’s Copenhagen Speech: The Collapse of a Deal? | Mother Jones.
US leading economic indicators up eighth straight month
The forward-looking US index of leading economic indicators rose in November, according to a Conference Board survey Thursday, suggesting recovery from recession is gaining momentum.
The index rose 0.9 percent, following a 0.3 percent rise in October and a revised 1.2 percent jump in September, the business research firm said.
The November increase was stronger than the average analyst forecast of 0.7 percent rise in the index, which is based on data such as average weekly hours in manufacturing, initial claims for unemployment insurance, stock prices and consumer expectations.
Full Story US leading economic indicators up eighth straight month – Yahoo! News.
Want to Reduce Malpractice Costs? Reduce Malpractice
Every day, American newspapers and other news media crank out a new supply of editorials calling for tort reform. Every day, there are new accusations that millions of dollars are wasted by “frivolous” lawsuits filed by “greedy” litigants and predatory lawyers. These so-called “greedy” litigants include people suffering from mesothelioma and other deadly diseases caused by asbestos exposure.
You can pretty much count on the words “frivolous” and “greedy” appearing at least once in every editorial. A new rhetorical twist that has been popping up lately is likening personal injury lawyers to drug dealers. It’s as if all these editorialists are writing from the same set of notes.
Oddly, it’s hard to find a similar number of fire-and-brimstone editorials raging against malpractice. Yet a 2006 study by the Institute of Medicine showed that medication errors alone injure 1.5 million people and cost billions of dollars every year. Why aren’t we seeing as much outrage about “sloppy” doctors and pharmacists?
Full Story Want to Reduce Malpractice Costs? Reduce Malpractice | Mesothelioma and the Politics of Asbestos Litigation.
Dem Rep. Bean falls victim to Facebook scam
Her office issued a release Thursday afternoon saying that unknown individuals have co-opted her image, name and the names of family members to solicit money using fake accounts on the social networking site.
“As someone who has spent a lot of time working on issues of Internet safety and identity theft, I know how widespread scams like this have become,” Bean said. “I encourage everyone to be careful and follow common-sense procedures…before giving out personal or financial information over email, or to someone who has contacted you via email.”
Full Story Dem Rep. Bean falls victim to Facebook scam – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
GOP senators to block defense bill in bid to delay health-care vote
Late into the night, Democrats emerged from a huddle confident that they would muster the 60 votes needed to thwart the GOP effort at blocking the military spending bill as an antiwar liberal said he would set aside his reservations and support choking off the filibuster in order to keep the chamber on a timeline of holding a final health-care vote before Christmas. The vote on the defense spending bill was to occur after 1 a.m. Friday, too late for this edition.
The maneuvering occurred on a day when Democrats were still desperately trying to round up a 60th vote on the health-care legislation, as Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.) rejected an abortion compromise aimed at bringing him on board. Nelson, the last holdout in the Democratic caucus and the focus of an intense lobbying campaign by White House officials, has said he would not support the package unless it explicitly bars the use of federal funds for abortion services.
Full Story GOP senators to block defense bill in bid to delay health-care vote.
Congress to probe ‘US funding of Taliban’
US may be ‘unintentionally involved in vast protection racket’: Tierney
Troop surge could backfire if it means more cash for insurgents
A House committee has launched an investigation into claims that US military contractors in Afghanistan are paying the Taliban to guarantee the safety of their transportation convoys, an allegation that could mean American taxpayers are indirectly funding the insurgency that has killed more than 900 American soldiers so far.
“Serious allegations have been [made] that private security providers for US transportation contractors in Afghanistan are regularly paying local warlords and the Taliban for security,” said Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. “After a preliminary inquiry, it has been determined these reports warrant a full-scale subcommittee investigation.”
Tierney said that if the allegations are proven to be true, “it would mean that the United States is unintentionally engaged in a vast protection racket and, as such, may be indirectly funding the very insurgents we are trying to fight.”
Full Story Congress to probe ‘US funding of Taliban’ | Raw Story.
OPS: “unintentionally” ? Hmmmm……. Bush let bin Laden get away twice, US funded the Taliban against the Soviets….
MoveOn tops $1 million in 2 days from anti-Lieberman donations
Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) staunch refusal to support both the public option and the Medicare buy-in compromise, thereby killing both programs, has sent the progressive base into a fury, eager to toss him out of office.
The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org on Thursday announced that it had raised more than $1 million in a campaign drive to target Joe Lieberman for “single-handedly gutting health reform,” as they accused him of doing in their first e-mail to members Tuesday.
“First, we’re going to launch a huge ad campaign,” Tuesday’s e-mail read, “to make sure every last Connecticut voter knows that Senator Lieberman is blocking strong reforms. Then, we’ll push Senate leaders to strip him of his chairmanship and seniority. Finally, we’ll work to defeat him in his next election.”
“Joe Lieberman can’t be allowed to stay in the U.S. Senate,” MoveOn declared.
Less than 24 hours later, the group claimed to have raised $650,000 “to send Lieberman home for good.” Before another 24 hours were up, it had hit the $1 million mark.
Full Story MoveOn tops $1 million in 2 days from anti-Lieberman donations | Raw Story.
Chuck Norris: Public health care would have killed Baby Jesus
‘Will Obamacare morph into Herodcare for the unborn?’ Hollywood star asks
Movie star and Mike Huckabee booster Chuck Norris has dragged the “War on Christmas” into the health care debate.
Norris has penned an article in which he suggests that Jesus Christ would have been among many “great souls” who would have been “erased from history” had a health plan similar to the one proposed by the Democrats existed in the Levant 2,000 years ago.
In a column published at the conservative Human Events blog earlier this week, Norris suggested that if a government-run health care plan had existed in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth, the shame of Mary’s “out-of-wedlock” pregnancy would have pushed her into aborting her child. Norris wrote:
Lastly, as we near the eve of another Christmas, I wonder: What would have happened if Mother Mary had been covered by Obamacare? What if that young, poor and uninsured teenage woman had been provided the federal funds (via Obamacare) and facilities (via Planned Parenthood, etc.) to avoid the ridicule, ostracizing, persecution and possible stoning because of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy? Imagine all the great souls who could have been erased from history and the influence of mankind if their parents had been as progressive as Washington’s wise men and women!
Full Story Chuck Norris: Public health care would have killed Baby Jesus | Raw Story.
OPS: More proof that one has to be insane, or a pathological liar, to be a good republican
O’Reilly to Ingraham: ‘You are a blind ideologue’ and a ‘Kool-Aid drinker.’
O’Reilly to Ingraham: ‘You are a blind ideologue’ and a ‘Kool-Aid drinker.’
Wednesday on Fox News, host Bill O’Reilly praised First Lady Michelle Obama, whom he had met at the White House holiday party the previous evening. “The President and First Lady were very gracious to me,” he said, adding that he was “impressed” with Michelle Obama. “She’s charismatic, articulate, and beautiful,” O’Reilly said of the First Lady. Last night on Fox, when right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham teased O’Reilly for “gushing” over Michelle Obama, O’Reilly called her a “blind ideologue“:
INGRAHAM: I’m gushing over your gushing last night about the Christmas party. I’m still trying to get over that.
O’REILLY: Wait, a minute. I’m going to call you — I’m calling you out on this. [...] I thought she was very nice at the party. [...] You are a blind ideologue who even if somebody’s nice to you, won’t admit it because you’re talking about a Kool-aid drinker. [...] You have an ID attached to your arm on the Kool-aid.
Watch it:
Full Story Think Progress » O’Reilly to Ingraham: ‘You are a blind ideologue’ and a ‘Kool-Aid drinker.’.
House Passes Bills on Debt, Military Spending and Jobs
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives passed a slew of bills on Wednesday including legislation that increases the national debt limit, a $154 billion jobs package and a $636 billion military spending bill.
Before heading back to their districts for the Holidays, members of the U.S. House of Representatives passed a slew of bills on Wednesday including legislation that increases the national debt limit, a $154 billion jobs package and a $636 billion military spending bill.
The Pentagon funding bill was the first of the three major pieces of legislation to be voted on, and the only one to go smoothly. In a show of bipartisanship, the final vote was 395-34. However, the bill was not without controversy. According to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, the bill contains $4.2 billion in earmarks – pet projects of lawmakers that some would deem frivolous.
The measure to raise the national debt ceiling from $12.1 trillion to $12.394 trillion was narrowly approved by a 218-214 vote. The $290 billion increase in the debt limit is much less than the nearly $2 trillion increase Democratic leaders had hoped to pass and will only keep the government running through February, the Treasury Department says.
Full Story House Passes Bills on Debt, Military Spending and Jobs | Economy In Crisis.
Ohio Steel Towns Falling by the Wayside
While the recession is taking a major toll on Americans all across the country, it is simply adding insult to injury for the people of the Youngstown metropolitan area.
With the nation mired in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are experiencing unemployment, financial instability and dwindling hope for the future. But for one dying city in northeast Ohio, those sentiments are nothing new.
While the recession is taking a major toll on Americans all across the country, it is simply adding insult to injury for the people of the Youngstown metropolitan area, according to The Washington Post.
“In this corner of northeast Ohio, from Warren to Youngstown, where the old steel mills along the Mahoning River stand like rusted-out mastodons in the weeds, the recession was a final cruelty piled on top of three decades of disappearing jobs,” The Washington Post’s Anne Hull writes.
Full Story Ohio Steel Towns Falling by the Wayside | Economy In Crisis.
COP15: This Is About Us
The talks at Copenhagen are not just about climate change. They represent a battle to redefine humanity.
This is the moment at which we turn and face ourselves. Here, in the plastic corridors and crowded stalls, among impenetrable texts and withering procedures, humankind decides what it is and what it will become. It chooses whether to continue living as it has done, until it must make a wasteland of its home, or to stop and redefine itself. This is about much more than climate change. This is about us.
The meeting at Copenhagen confronts us with our primal tragedy. We are the universal ape, equipped with the ingenuity and aggression to bring down prey much larger than itself, break into new lands, roar its defiance of natural constraints. Now we find ourselves hedged in by the consequences of our nature, living meekly on this crowded planet for fear of provoking or damaging others. We have the hearts of lions and live the lives of clerks.
The summit’s premise is that the age of heroism is over. We have entered the age of accomodation. No longer may we live without restraint. No longer may we swing our fists regardless of whose nose might be in the way. In everything we do we must now be mindful of the lives of others, cautious, constrained, meticulous. We may no longer live in the moment, as if there were no tomorrow.
Full Story Monbiot.com » This Is About Us.
Handwriting Is History
Writing words by hand is a technology that’s just too slow for our times, and our minds.
At 11 p.m. on Dec. 27, I checked my inbox out of habit. I had 581 new e-mails. All had been sent between 8 and 11 p.m. The days between Christmas and New Year’s are not usually a busy time for e-mailing. What was going on?
It turns out that the home page for msn.com had linked to a short article I had published a year earlier. In the article, I argue that we should stop teaching cursive in primary schools and provide some background on the history of handwriting to back up my claims.
The comments on my piece were hostile, insulting and vehemently opposed to my argument. The onslaught continued for a few more days: Some 2,000 comments were submitted, and editors took down about 700 of the worst. If you check this article online today, you will find more than 1,300 comments. For some reason, people are very invested in handwriting.
8 Things We Love That Climate Change Will Force Us to Kiss Good-Bye
We face losing everything from 50,000 species a year to the world’s best wines. How to put it all in perspective?
If we don’t work quickly to curb the effects of climate change we may lose the bird-eating fanged frog. Most of us may not miss that one, but there is an enormous list of species and places we may never see again unless we reverse this crazy climate change ride we’ve put the earth on. The Natural Resources Defense Council reported that, “The first comprehensive assessment of the extinction risk from global warming found that more than 1 million species could be obliterated by 2050 if the current trajectory continues.”
The numbers are virtually impossible to comprehend, especially when you consider that not just individual species, but entire habitats, cities, and cultures may be lost. How to put it all in perspective? Below are eight major features of our planet and our lives whose potential disappearance may inspire action.
Full Story 8 Things We Love That Climate Change Will Force Us to Kiss Good-Bye | Environment | AlterNet.
$57,077.60 — That’s What We’re Paying Each Minute for the Occupation of Afghanistan
The $30 billion cost of Obama’s surge alone would place the US in the top-ten for global military spending, sandwiched between Italy and Saudi Arabia.
$57,077.60. That’s what we’re paying per minute. Keep that in mind — just for a minute or so.
After all, the surge is already on. By the end of December, the first 1,500 U.S. troops will have landed in Afghanistan, a nation roughly the size of Texas, ranked by the United Nations as second worst in the world in terms of human development.
Women and men from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, will be among the first to head out. It takes an estimated $1 million to send each of them surging into Afghanistan for one year. So a 30,000-person surge will be at least $30 billion, which brings us to that $57,077.60. That’s how much it will cost you, the taxpayer, for one minute of that surge.
Full Story $57,077.60 — That’s What We’re Paying Each Minute for the Occupation of Afghanistan | World | AlterNet.
Barack Obama, Inc.
by Cenk Uygur
The man who said he was going to challenge the system, fight corporate lobbyists and change the system now appears to be fighting for the status quo and corporate America at every turn. I call the Republican Party a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America, but now Barack Obama is not far behind. Let me explain.
*
On health care reform, Obama on the surface appears to be challenging the status quo in a major way and fighting for universal coverage. But what does that mean? The way the Senate bill is written now 30 million new Americans will get insurance coverage. That’s great, right? Yes, it’s great for the private insurance companies. They get all of those new customers and with the help of Barack Obama they defeated any new competition from a public option or expanded Medicare. And now there’s a mandate that everyone must buy insurance from those same companies that Obama was supposedly challenging. Change you can believe in!
You might be thinking, wait a minute that was Lieberman who insisted that we kill the public option and protect the corporations. Yes, but there’ll always be Liebermans in the world. Obama told us that he would fight for us against the corporate sell-outs of the world like Lieberman. And he most certainly did not. Instead, he ordered the other Senate Democrats to stand down and bow their heads to Lieberman. That’s because Obama never wanted the public option. While claiming in public that he thought it was a good idea, behind the scenes he fought to kill it at every turn.
Full Story Daily Kos: State of the Nation.
No One Is Going To Save You Fools
nothing–absolutely nothing–is going to trump the White House’s deal with PhRMA and the insurance industry.
Before I explain the generic insult, let me first make something perfectly clear: I am your enemy. That you don’t know this is understandable: after all, people like me prefer it that way. But until you understand just what you’re up against and why, you’re going to continue to lose, and look like fools in the process.
Barack Obama has indeed sold you out. He and many of his Democratic colleagues have sold you out on healthcare, and they’ve sold you out on financial reform. You were looking for a savior, and you’ve been had–not an altogether atypical result for those looking for a strong leader to “save” them.
He hasn’t done this because he’s a bad guy. In fact, he’s a great guy. I think he’s doing pretty much the best job he can. He’s sold you out because he’s not afraid of you. And really, if I may be so bold, he shouldn’t be afraid of you. You don’t know who really runs the show, and you’re far too fickle and manipulable to count on.
* thereisnospoon’s diary :: ::
The first thing you need to understand about healthcare reform is what Jane Hamsher identified long ago: nothing–absolutely nothing–is going to trump the White House’s deal with PhRMA and the insurance industry. The question you need to ask yourselves is: why? If you’re intellectually mature enough to get past “personal betrayal” as your best answer, you’ll be on the right track.
While you ponder that one, you might want to also consider why nothing has been done–nor will anything serious actually be done–about financial industry reform. Standing up to the financial industry in the current political environment should be a no-brainer. So what in the heck is going on here? If you can think past shadowy conspiracy theories and possible personal enrichment for the Obama family, you’ll be doing the kind of thinking that will help actually solve the problem.
Full Story Daily Kos: State of the Nation.
Clinton’s Copenhagen Announcement ‘Was Naked Blackmail’
Naomi Klein
It’s the second to last day of the climate conference and I have the worst case of laryngitis of my life. I open my mouth and nothing comes out.
It’s frustrating because I was just at Hillary Clinton’s press conference and desperately wanted to ask her a question – or six. She said that the U.S. would contribute its “share” to a $100-billion financing package for developing countries by 2020 – but only if all countries agreed to the terms of the climate deal that the U.S. has slammed on the table here, which include killing Kyoto, replacing legally binding measures with the fuzzy concept of “transparency,” and nixing universal emissions targets in favor of vague “national plans” that are mashed together. Oh, and abandoning the whole concept (which the U.S. agreed to by signing the UN climate convention) that the rich countries that created the climate crisis have to take the lead in solving it.
Unless every country here agrees to the U.S. terms, the Secretary explained, “there will not be that kind of a [financial] commitment, at least from the United States.”
It was naked blackmail – forcing developing countries to choose between a strong fair deal that stands a chance of averting climate chaos and the funds they need to cope with the droughts and floods that have already arrived. I wanted to ask Clinton: Is this not climate structural adjustment, on a global scale? We’ll give you cash, but only with our draconian conditions?
Full Story Clinton’s Copenhagen Announcement ‘Was Naked Blackmail’ | CommonDreams.org.
Are Americans a Broken People? Why We’ve Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression
A psychologist asks: Have consumerism, suburbanization and a malevolent corporate-government partnership so beaten us down that we no longer have the will to save ourselves?
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, dis-couraged 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?
Full Story Are Americans a Broken People? Why We’ve Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression | | AlterNet.
Slouching Toward Health Care Reform
Robert Reich –
“Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the better,” says the President and congressional insiders when confronted with the sorry spectacle of a health-care bill whose scope and ambition continue to shrink, and whose long-term costs to typical Americans continue to grow. They’re right, of course. But by the same logic, neither the White House nor congressional Democrats will be able to celebrate the emerging legislation as a “major overhaul” or “fundamental reform.” At best, it’s likely to be a small overhaul containing incremental reforms.
Real reform has moved from a Medicare-like public option open to all, to a public option open to 6 million without employer coverage (still in the House bill), to a public option open only to those same people in states that opt for it, or about 4 million (the original Harry Reid version of the Senate bill), to no public option but expanded Medicare (the Senate compromise) to no expanded Medicare at all (the deal with Joe “I love all the attention” Lieberman).
In other words, the private insurers are winning and the public is losing.
Full Story Robert Reich’s Blog: Slouching Toward Health Care Reform.
Why Lieberman Rules The Senate / AIPAC
Joe Lieberman is AIPAC’s Senate minder like Emanuel is Obama’s AIPAC minder. Lieberman bucks the Democratic party leaders because no one has the courage to buck AIPAC ~ who pushed the Iraq War and greatly influences both houses through their political influence and financial donations: Allen L Roland
The Iraq War’s main purpose was just the oil ~ it was to protect Israel. The removal of Saddam Hussein was the first step in remaking the Middle East into a region friendly, instead of hostile, to Israel. Their plan “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” also signaled a radical departure from the peace-oriented policies of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by a member of an extreme right-wing Israeli group.
AIPAC ( American Israel Public Affairs Committee ) greatly influences the US Government which is the real reason Joe Lieberman carries so much weight in the Senate. Ron Emanuel is the AIPAC point man in the White House as President Obama’s chief of staff.
Full Story Scoop: Why Lieberman Rules The Senate / AIPAC.
Leaked UN report shows cuts offered at Copenhagen would lead to 3C rise
UN secretariat initial draft shows gap of up to 4.2 gigatonnes of CO2 between present pledges and cuts required to limit rise to 2C
The emissions cuts offered so far at the Copenhagen climate change summit would still lead to global temperatures rising by an average of 3C, according to a confidential UN analysis obtained by the Guardian.
With the talks entering the final 24 hours on a knife-edge, the emergence of the document seriously undermines the statements by governments that they are aiming to limit emissions to a level ensuring no more than a 2C temperature rise over the next century, and indicates that the last day of negotiations will be extremely challenging.
A rise of 3C would mean up to 170 million more people suffering severe coastal floods and 550 million more at risk of hunger, according to the Stern economic review of climate change for the UK government – as well as leaving up to 50% of species facing extinction. Even a rise of 2C would lead to a sharp decline in tropical crop yields, more flooding and droughts.
Tonight hopes of the summit producing a deal were rising after the US, the world’s biggest historical polluter, moved to save the talks from collapse.
Full Story Leaked UN report shows cuts offered at Copenhagen would lead to 3C rise | Environment | The Guardian.
Report Reveals Scope of Government Contracting
According to a new government report, more than 50 percent of the Department of Defense workforces are military contractors and the Obama administration’s troop surge in Afghanistan is set to only increase these numbers.
The report, prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the investigative arm of Congress, and released Monday, highlights the internal dealings of the Defense Department with that of the 218,000 contractors, compared to 190,000 uniformed personnel, it employs, and the logistical and administrative issues inherent in dealing with a military campaign through outsourcing.
According to the CRS report, the 30,000 troop increase in Afghanistan is expected to require anywhere from 26,000 to 56,000 contractors as supporting staff.
Full Story t r u t h o u t | Report Reveals Scope of Government Contracting.
GOP Senators Appear on TV With Christian Martyrdom Advocate
Last night’s segment of the Rachel Maddow show provided footage, which first appeared at Talk To Action, of a Christian evangelist who is quite influential but also little known to secular Americans: Lou Engle, founder of TheCall. The Maddow segment highlighted an event noted a few days ago by RightWingWatch, an anti-health care reform “Prayercast,” held by the Family Research Council, led by emergent, highly militant leaders of the Christian right such as Lou Engle and also by Republican senators Brownback and DeMint, and GOP Representatives Bachmann and Forbes.
The GOP fab-four has scored a trifecta – Lou Engle is opposed to health care reform and legal abortion, and his organization TheCall played a major, if little noticed, role in passing California’s Proposition 8.
A 2002 study of the influence of the Christian right within the GOP indicated the movement exerted strong to moderate influence in a majority of state Republican Party structures. Over the current decade the Christian right has gone on to become dominated by a tendency that, during the 1990′s, was associated with domestic terrorism. In 2009, top captains of the GOP now pay obeisance to radical Christian leaders who appear to advocate acts of Christian martyrdom, which some might call terrorism, to stop gay marriage and legal abortion.
Full Story Talk To Action | GOP Senators Appear on TV With Christian Martyrdom Advocate.
Dorgan Exploring Mystery Of Who Killed His Reimportation Legislation
Sen. Byron Dorgan is unhappy that his amendment to the Senate health care bill on reimportation, which at one point appeared to have the votes for passage, failed after a late intervention from the Democratic leadership to preserve a deal with the drug industry. But Dorgan goes much further in pointing fingers specifically at the Obama Administration for the defeat, even intimating that the White House wrote a letter from the FDA about safety without the Commissioner’s knowledge.
Last week, he said he heard rumors that the FDA was going to send a letter objecting to drug importation on safety grounds, which he has said is a bogus reason. He said he called FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, who said she knew nothing about such a letter.
He said his timeline shows that a letter, signed by Hamburg questioning the safety of drug imports, was sent 24 hours later to a few senators who opposed importation. That piece of paper became a rallying cry for other senators who voted down Dorgan’s amendment.
“I think the letter was prompted, probably drafted somewhere else,” like “the White House” Dorgan said.
That’s a pretty inflammatory charge. According to the story, the White House has not responded to it. They haven’t yet responded to my query, either.
As David Sirota notes, the FDA is an agency that’s supposed to be insulated from politics, and yet this looks extremely political, if Dorgan’s charge is accurate. Either Hamburg was lying when she said she didn’t know what Dorgan was talking about, or she was cut out of the drafting of the letter entirely. If there’s a better explanation, I’d like to hear it.
Full Story FDL News Desk » Dorgan Exploring Mystery Of Who Killed His Reimportation Legislation.
Mumbai terror suspect David Headley was ‘rogue US secret agent’
A key terror suspect who allegedly helped to plan last year’s attacks in Mumbai and plotted to strike Europe was an American secret agent who went rogue, Indian officials believe.
David Headley, 49, who was born in Washington to a Pakistan diplomat father and an American mother, was arrested in Chicago in October. He is accused of reconnoitring targets in India and Europe for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terror group behind the Mumbai attacks and of having links to al-Qaeda. He has denied the charges.
He came to the attention of the US security services in 1997 when he was arrested in New York for heroin smuggling. He earned a reduced sentence by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) infiltrating Pakistan-linked narcotics gangs.
Indian investigators, who have been denied access to Mr Headley, suspect that he remained on the payroll of the US security services — possibly working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — but switched his allegiance to LeT.
Full Story Mumbai terror suspect David Headley was ‘rogue US secret agent’ – Times Online.
New Analysis of Public Water Systems Emphasizes Need to Address Source Pollution
Statement of Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter
Washington, D.C.—“Recent media coverage on contaminants in public drinking water supplies has obscured the root causes of many of our water woes. Rather than vilifying public tap water, we should instead examine the reasons for the compromised quality of this essential public resource.
“According to EPA’s integrated national water quality assessment database, industrialized agriculture is one of the biggest probable sources of impairment to water resources, polluting 100,000 miles of rivers and streams and 1.6 million acres of lakes, reservoirs and ponds around the U.S. The destructive nature of certain agricultural practices, and their impact on the environment and public health, deserves considerable scrutiny and a more prominent place in the conversation about public water quality. So too does the health of our nation’s wastewater systems, another source of water contamination, according to EPA. Some 38,000 miles of our nation’s rivers and streams, and some 600,000 acres of lakes, reservoirs and ponds are polluted due to problems with our municipal sewage systems, many of which occur as a result of deteriorating infrastructure.
“In addition to addressing the underlying causes of water pollution, the federal government needs to create a steady stream of funding for public water infrastructure systems so that municipalities can modernize local drinking and wastewater systems, thereby delivering safe, clean, affordable tap water to all their customers, while preventing much of the contamination that results from aging pipes. A Clean Water Trust Fund would achieve this goal.
Full Story New Analysis of Public Water Systems Emphasizes Need to Address Source Pollution — Food & Water Watch.
BP’s Atlantis: Will it Cause a Catastrophic Accident in the Gulf of Mexico?
Internal BP documents characterize the situation as having the potential for “catastrophic operator errors.”
What is the Atlantis?
The Atlantis is the deepest moored semi-submersible oil and gas platform in the world. Located more than 150 miles off the coast of New Orleans at a water depth of more than 7,000 feet, the Atlantis has a production capacity of 8.4 million gallons of oil and 180 million cubic feet of gas a day.
Why does it pose a serious, immediate and potentially irreparable threat to the Gulf of Mexico’s marine environment, oil workers and communities?
As hurricanes create incredible stress on the welds that are critical for containing oil and gas under high pressure far beneath the surface of the ocean, this situation could lead to an unprecedented disaster in the Gulf.
Full Story BP’s Atlantis: Will it Cause a Catastrophic Accident in the Gulf of Mexico? — Food & Water Watch.
Is Rahm intentionally driving the Democratic Bus Toward the Cliff’s Edge?
Rahm, whatever his other faults, is no dummy.
What a difference a year makes. In December, 2008, Democrats basked in the glory of a triumphant presidential election campaign that saw their candidate, the first African American in history, take the presidency. Democrats swept to bigger majorities in the Senate and the House. It appeared with Obama in power that the country was on the brink of major, progressive change.
But a year later, the wheels have already come off the Democratic bus and it appears to be swerving toward the edge of a cliff. Here are some poll numbers from a just-released Battleground Poll as reported in the L.A. Times:.
The president’s job-approval rating has slipped to 49%, Republican pollster Ed Goeas and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake say. And the percentage of people who strongly disapprove of the president’s performance, 41%, outweighs the 37% who strongly approve.
Disapproval of the job that Congress is doing has risen to 68%, “an all-time high,” and 77% among independent voters.
The problem for the president’s party, the pollsters say, is that the most passionate supporters of the Democratic president appear less likely to turn out to vote in congressional elections next year. And the most angry of the independent voters — a swing-voting bloc that supported Obama in 2008 — appear heavily motivated to vote against Democrats.
“There is a potential for this being the 1994 of the angry white male,” said Goeas, pointing to the pivotal year during President Clinton’s first term when Republicans gained control of the House.
The reference to 1994, of course, refers to the year the Democrats lost the House to the Republicans a loss that pretty much cut off any chance that the DLC-orientated Clinton White House had for any meaningful reform, not that they had such ideas. One character was pivotal in 1994 and is again pivotal today: Rahm Emanuel. Recall that Emanuel was a close advisor to Bill Clinton in 1994 and in fact was in charge of getting more Democrats elected back then. Today, he’s in an even more elevated position as Obama’s Chief of Staff.
Full Story The Seminal » Is Rahm intentionally driving the Democratic Bus Toward the Cliff’s Edge?.
There are already 355 terrorists in American prisons.
President Obama’s remark that some Guantanamo detainees might be transferred to American prisons has prompted an extraordinary, and intellectually feeble, storm of protest. Former Vice President Dick Cheney kicked off the campaign when he said, during his May 21 speech at the American Enterprise Institute, that “to bring the worst terrorists inside the United States would be a cause for great danger and regret in the years to come.” Sitting lawmakers—especially those from states such as Kansas and Colorado where federal prisons are based—raised the same specter and shouted the ancient cry of principled rebellion: “Not In My Back Yard!”
It makes one wonder: Do any of these legislators know who’s in their backyards already, with no apparent detriment to their constituents’ daily lives, much less the nation’s security?
According to data provided by Traci L. Billingsley, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, federal facilities on American soil currently house 216 international terrorists and 139 domestic terrorists. Some of these miscreants have been locked up here since the early 1990s. None of them has escaped. At the most secure prisons, nobody has ever escaped, period.
Full Story There are already 355 terrorists in American prisons. – By Fred Kaplan – Slate Magazine.
Coal-fired Congress Blocks Path to Clean Energy
U.S. leadership on global warming threatened by compromise in Congress
Becoming a grandfather is cause for celebration, unless you’re a coal-fired power plant.
Coal plants that predate the Clean Air Act have become the mules of air pollution—set in their ways and not liable to change. Exploiting their “grandfathered” status, these coal plants have refused to implement technologies that are currently available to reduce pollution.
Now, Congress seems determined to let these dinosaurs off the hook all over again.
Although the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent Clean Air Act endangerment finding prescribes a strong antidote to global warming pollution—a fact President Obama will surely highlight tomorrow on the final day of climate negotiations in Copenhagen—a political compromise over coal plants threatens to bind EPA’s hands just as it begins to act.
Full Story Coal-fired Congress Blocks Path to Clean Energy | unEARTHED, the Earthjustice blog.
Maine House Republican drops party affiliation – Bangor Daily News
Minority Republicans in the Maine House have lost a member.
Rep. Jim Campbell of Newfield said Thursday he's withdrawn from the Republican Party and will become the only legislator with no party affiliation. That leaves the House with 95 Democrats, 55 Republicans and one unenrolled or independent member. The Senate also is controlled by Democrats
Campbell said his move was a long time coming. He said he's frustrated with the Republican Party in Maine and nationally for failing to address the health care crisis in a meaningful way.
Full Story Maine House Republican drops party affiliation – Bangor Daily News.
Exclusive: Fox-backed seniors group exposed as conservative front
Group’s founder formerly headed firm bankrolling Beck, Hannity projects
The seniors group American Seniors Association (ASA) describes itself as a conservative alternative to the AARP and has attracted notable press coverage this year for its opposition to health care reform. A Raw Story investigation, however, reveals that the group has a massive web of affiliations to right-wing activists, think tanks, politicians, media and executives — signaling ideological motivations than extend well beyond serving the interests of seniors.
ASA extensively linked to Tea-Partiers and right-wing movements
ASA was originally founded in 2005 under the name National Association for Seniors Concerns (NASCON) by former NAPA Auto Parts executive Jerry Barton, who made an initial investment of $500,000. The group is listed as a coalition member of the Internet Freedom Coalition, a group that opposes “net neutrality” and has received at least tens of thousands in funding from the conservative think tank Institute for Liberty.
The group’s ties to the right-wing Tea Party movement are evident as the Institute for Liberty has officially co-sponsored some of its activities, as well as those of Glenn Beck’s so-called 9/12 Project, both of which have organized anti-health-reform rallies comprising deeply offensive Holocaust imagery. Members of the Institute for Liberty have also hosted Tea Party events.
Full Story Exclusive: Fox-backed seniors group exposed as conservative front | Raw Story.
Kucinich: ‘Class war is over, working people lost’
Reflecting on the growing divide between Wall Street and Main Street, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on Wednesday offered a powerful critique on the state of the economy in an open committee hearing.
“The class warfare is over — we lost,” Kucinich said before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “I want to make that announcement today. Working people lost. The middle class lost.”
The harrowing comments from Kucinich, who is Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, come amidst a national unemployment rate of 10 percent, one year and several months after the economic collapse of 2008 has marred the livelihoods of many.
Full Story Kucinich: ‘Class war is over, working people lost’ | Raw Story.
Happy Hour over: Fundraising firm drops Bachmann
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who can't seem to hold onto a chief of staff for more than a year at a time, has now lost her fundraising firm as well.
According to a report which first appeared in Roll Call on Wednesday, “The Gula Graham Group, a Republican fundraising and consulting firm, ended their three-year relationship with Bachmann last week.”
The Gula Graham Group arranges fundraising events for a select group of Republican members of Congress, like the “Happy Hour” they put on for Bachmann last spring at the Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar with an admission fee of $500 per attendee.
Full Story Happy Hour over: Fundraising firm drops Bachmann | Raw Story.
Blue Shield of California reverses course on its cancellation policy.
Blue Shield of California reverses course on its cancellation policy.
Yesterday, Think Progress reported that Blue Shield of California has threatened its customers with revocation of their policies if they miss even a single payment. Today, following “tough questions” from its policyholders and the press, the massive Californian insurer reversed course and backed off its new cancellation policy:
San Francisco-based Blue Shield told its policyholders recently, if they paid their insurance premium late, they could lose their insurance. However, late Wednesday afternoon, after facing tough questions from ABC7 and policyholders, Blue Shield reversed that policy.
They went back and forth on this issue and it quickly turned into a nightmare for Blue Shield. Then on Wednesday afternoon, the company sent ABC7 an email saying in light of all the feedback from members, they are now going back to their old policy — meaning nothing has changed.
Blue Shield policyholders like Kevin Epstein were put on notice and told if their insurance payment is made after the due date, they may be declined coverage. “Maybe it’s the season, but based on the season, I think, the Grinch came early this year,” said Epstein.
Watch ABC7’s report about the incident here:
Full Story Think Progress » Blue Shield of California reverses course on its cancellation policy..
Staffers for corporate front group organizing anti-health rallies refuse to reveal their names.
Staffers for corporate front group organizing anti-health rallies refuse to reveal their names.
On Tuesday, right-wing billionaire David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity (AFP) organized yet another anti-health reform rally on Capitol Hill. Part of AFP’s strength is its secrecy. The organization, a front group for corporate interests, has set up multiple other front groups and tea party events to create a veneer of public support for its agenda. ThinkProgress attempted to interview AFP staffers who were coordinating the event, but they refused to even reveal their real names:
TP: What’s your name?
AFP STAFFER: Puddin Tain. … Puddin Tain. [...]
PROTESTER: What’s your name?
TP: My name’s Lee Fang.
PROTESTER: Lee Fang? Are you an American?
TP: Why do you ask?
PROTESTER: I’m just asking a question, just as you are.
Watch it:
Tea Party hires a plane with 100-foot banner reading ‘OBAMA STOP DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY’ to fly over DC.
Tea Party hires a plane with 100-foot banner reading ‘OBAMA STOP DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY’ to fly over DC.
This morning, Washington, DC residents have may seen a plane with a giant banner bashing President Obama flying overhead, courtesy of the Danville, VA Tea Party Patriots:
The group’s project coordinator, Susan Lee, raised funds during the last two months to fly a plane over Washington, D.C. morning traffic today with a nearly 100-foot-long banner reading “OBAMA STOP DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY” in five-foot-tall letters. [...]
“It was just something that I had this inspiration for and I started looking into it,” Lee said. “It was a lot cheaper than (other options) and it’s much more exciting and novel. We’re excited.”
The message cost the group $1,350 from New York-based Arnold Area Advertising, according to TEA Party leader Nigel Coleman. He said they solicited donations from other TEA parties across Virginia and other states.
Greenpeace Protesters Declare U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Headquarters A ‘Climate Crime Scene’
As ThinkProgress has documented, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been standing in the way of bold and ambitious action to mitigate the effects of climate change. The business federation has repeatedly questioned the science of global warming and opposed cap and trade, causing numerous companies to leave the organization.
Today, protesters from the environmental justice group Greenpeace declared the Chamber headquarters in Washington, D.C. a “climate crime scene.” As protesters scaled the Chamber’s building, draping it in yellow crime scene tape, Greenpeace vehicles designed to look like police units and ambulances marked “Climate Crime Unit” surrounded the building and blared their sirens. Watch a video of the event:
Full Story Think Progress » Greenpeace Protesters Declare U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Headquarters A ‘Climate Crime Scene’.
Greenspan says more immigration could help clean up the economic mess he left behind.
Greenspan says more immigration could help clean up the economic mess he left behind.
Today, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was invited to speak before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on the nation’s economic future. During his testimony, Greenspan indicated that an increase in legal immigration, from an economic point of view, is imperative to “growing the economic pie” and that ramped-up deportations could spell economic suicide:
LIEBERMAN: Forget all the politics of this — if we had a significant increase in America of legal immigration that would be one way to grow the economic pie?
GREENSPAN: It would be. … We have a very large number of immigrants who are high school or less educated, a significant part of whom are illegal. And then we have a remarkably large number of Ph.D.’s and better who have come to this country and contributed immensely to our economic success. I argue that both groups are affecting the economy in a positive way. If we try to send all our illegals home…speaking as an economist, I will tell you, we would have a very serious problem. There are 12 million of them.
LIEBERMAN: I am not suggesting we increase legal immigration as a way to deal with the national debt. But it does have those positive economic implications.
GREENSPAN: Oh it certainly does, Mr. Chairman.
Watch it:
Full Story Think Progress » Greenspan says more immigration could help clean up the economic mess he left behind..
Franken refuses Lieberman’s request to drag on Senate debate.
This afternoon, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) spoke for 10 minutes on the Senate floor about a health care amendment he is co-sponsoring. After his 10 minutes expired, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) — the president chair of the Senate at the time — informed Lieberman his time was up. When Lieberman requested “just an additional moment,” Franken retorted, “In my capacity as Senator from Minnesota, I object.” “Really??” a surprised Lieberman said, “don’t take it personally.” Lieberman’s friend, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), flipped out, erupting in anger at Franken’s move:
MCCAIN: I’ve never seen a member denied an extra minute or so, as the chair just did.
SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI): If the chair would yield for that…I think the same thing did occur earlier this afternoon, for reasons which have to do with trying to get this bill going. […]
MCCAIN: I think it harms the comity of the Senate.
Watch it:
Full Story Think Progress » Franken refuses Lieberman’s request to drag on Senate debate..
Health-care bill wouldn’t bring real reform
Howard Dean
If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health-care bill. Any measure that expands private insurers’ monopoly over health care and transfers millions of taxpayer dollars to private corporations is not real health-care reform. Real reform would insert competition into insurance markets, force insurers to cut unnecessary administrative expenses and spend health-care dollars caring for people. Real reform would significantly lower costs, improve the delivery of health care and give all Americans a meaningful choice of coverage. The current Senate bill accomplishes none of these.
Real health-care reform is supposed to eliminate discrimination based on preexisting conditions. But the legislation allows insurance companies to charge older Americans up to three times as much as younger Americans, pricing them out of coverage. The bill was supposed to give Americans choices about what kind of system they wanted to enroll in. Instead, it fines Americans if they do not sign up with an insurance company, which may take up to 30 percent of your premium dollars and spend it on CEO salaries — in the range of $20 million a year — and on return on equity for the company’s shareholders. Few Americans will see any benefit until 2014, by which time premiums are likely to have doubled. In short, the winners in this bill are insurance companies; the American taxpayer is about to be fleeced with a bailout in a situation that dwarfs even what happened at AIG.
From the very beginning of this debate, progressives have argued that a public option or a Medicare buy-in would restore competition and hold the private health insurance industry accountable. Progressives understood that a public plan would give Americans real choices about what kind of system they wanted to be in and how they wanted to spend their money. Yet Washington has decided, once again, that the American people cannot be trusted to choose for themselves. Your money goes to insurers, whether or not you want it to.
Full Story Health-care bill wouldn’t bring real reform – washingtonpost.com.
Bernanke Approved For 2nd Term As Fed Chairman By Senate Banking Panel
A Senate panel on Thursday approved the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to run the nation’s central bank for another four years.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 16-7 to send Bernanke’s nomination to the full Senate for consideration. Approval came after a two-hour debate that heaped both praise and criticism on the Fed chief.
In voting for Bernanke, the panel’s chairman, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Bernanke’s “wise leadership” will mean “better days do lie ahead.”
Full Story Bernanke Approved For 2nd Term As Fed Chairman By Senate Banking Panel.
79.9 Percent Interest Credit Card From First Premier Bank Skirts New Regulations
It’s no mistake. This credit card’s interest rate is 79.9 percent.
The bloated APR is how First Premier Bank, a subprime credit card issuer, is skirting new regulations intended to curb abusive practices in the industry. It’s a strategy other subprime card issuers could start adopting to get around the new rules.
Typically, the First Premier card comes with a minimum of $256 in fees in the first year for a credit line of $250. Starting in February, however, a new law will cap such fees at 25 percent of a card’s credit line.
In a recent mailing for a preapproved card, First Premier lowers fees to just that limit – $75 in the first year for a credit line of $300. But the new law doesn’t set a cap on interest rates. Hence the 79.9 APR, up from the previous 9.9 percent.
Full Story 79.9 Percent Interest Credit Card From First Premier Bank Skirts New Regulations.
Treasury Official Blames Fed For Citigroup Fiasco
A top Treasury official blamed the Federal Reserve on Thursday for Citigroup’s botched attempt to raise funds to pay back its federal bailout. The finger-pointing comes a day after the market rejected the government and the Fed’s assertions about the health of Citigroup, turning back the bank’s effort to raise $17 billion by selling common stock.
The rebuke is a blow to the administration’s effort to withdraw itself from its ownership stake in major financial institutions and a reminder that many Wall Street banks, despite planning to pay sky-high bonuses this year, have yet to turn things around.
Major Wall Street banks are rushing to refund TARP money, in part so that they can get out from under compensation restrictions that come along with the assistance. Despite analysts’ warnings that Citigroup still wasn’t healthy enough, Treasury and the bank went ahead with the attempted payback.
Full Story Treasury Official Blames Fed For Citigroup Fiasco.
Nation’s Largest Union: Change Health Care Bill Or Else
The nation’s largest union group said Thursday that it will not support the Democratic health-care bill unless “substantial changes” are made to the current Senate version.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement to reporters that without a public option for insurance coverage or an employer mandate – and with a tax on high-end insurance plans that some union members get – the health care legislation supported by Senate Democrats falls far short of meeting his group’s standards.
“[For] this health care bill to be worthy of the support of working men and women, substantial changes must be made,” said Trumka. “The AFL-CIO intends to fight on behalf of all working families to make those changes and win health care reform that is deserving of the name.”
The remarks are a strong indication that the coalition of pro-health-care-reform groups has begun to fray. Earlier in the day, Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern penned a letter to his fellow union members in which he called out President Barack Obama for abandoning his own principles of reform.
Full Story Nation’s Largest Union: Change Health Care Bill Or Else.
How Banks Fleece the Unemployed
Just when you thought the big banks had maxed out their chutzpah account, think again.
While posting breathtaking profits in the last two quarters – Wells Fargo’s $3.2 billion, Citigroup’s $3 billion and Chase’s $2.7 billion – U.S. banks have figured out a way to squeeze some extra dollars from those who can least afford it, the unemployed.
Here’s how it works. In the past two years, states have been overwhelmed with unemployment claims. Always eager to serve, America’s banks offered a deal the states couldn’t refuse.
Sign a contract — which won’t cost you a dime — and send us your weekly unemployment funds, the banks said. In return, we’ll issue our VISA or MasterCard debit cards to your laid-off workers, on which we’ll post their benefits electronically.
Full Story Consortiumnews.com.
Karl Rove flushes Ronald Reagan down the memory hole
This piece of political history continues to bedevil Obama-haters who are desperate to declare that Obama’s first year in office has been an historic failure. The trouble is that Obama’s first year in office looks an awful lot like Ronald Reagan’s, who conservatives hold up as the symbol of all that’s right and true (and successful!) about a presidency.
From Rove’s WSJ column today [emphasis added]:
Barack Obama has won a place in history with the worst ratings of any president at the end of his first year: 49% approve and 46% disapprove of his job performance in the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll.
From the AP, Dec. 20, 1981:
The public’s confidence in the economy and opinion of President Reagan’s performance remain near their lowest levels since he took office, according to the latest Associated Press-NBC News poll.
The nationwide poll, of 1,602 adults telephoned Dec. 14-15 in a scientific random sampling, said 48 percent think Reagan is doing a good or excellent job as president. Last month, the president’s approval rating was 46 percent, his lowest since it peaked at 66 percent last spring.
Full Story Karl Rove flushes Ronald Reagan down the memory hole | Media Matters for America.
Joe Lieberman’s Former Roommate Talks to BuzzFlash About the Healthcare Bill, 2012 and the Senator’s Journey ‘to the Dark Side’ | BuzzFlash.org
There are a lot of wild theories about what is driving Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to oppose healthcare reform. Why would a man who has recently expressed support for health insurance reform, universal healthcare, expanding Medicare and SCHIP turn around and oppose those things once they had a chance at becoming law?
Many think he’s been bought off by Big Pharma and the powerful health insurance companies in his home state. Others point to his bitterness over being abandoned by the Democratic Party in his 2006 bid to keep his Senate seat, or just to his ego. Some of the wilder theories revolve around Israel, blackmail and White House involvement.
Honestly, I don’t know what to think. So when I got a chance to talk to Lieberman’s former roommate at Yale, writer David Wyles, I had to ask.
“I wish I knew. I think there are aspects of those theories that are true,” Wyles told me (though he agreed with me that the Israel motive is far-fetched). “Certainly he holds a grudge against the Democratic Party.”
Fired for Speaking Out
Morris Davis, a retired Air Force colonel who was chief military prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, showed courage and respect for democratic principles when he resigned rather than follow orders to use evidence obtained through torture. We wish the Congressional Research Service would live up to Mr. Davis’s example.
The service fired Mr. Davis after he wrote about how detainees should be tried. On Nov. 11, The Wall Street Journal published an opinion article in which he argued against the Obama administration’s decision to try some detainees before military commissions and others in federal court. The same day, The Washington Post ran a letter to the editor about the ability of federal courts to try detainees. He wrote as a private citizen and did not mention his employer.
Later in the month, Mr. Davis was fired from his position as assistant director of the foreign affairs, defense and trade division, of the research service. He was told that his writing violated its policies, showed poor judgment and interfered with the service’s duty to remain objective and nonpartisan.
Full Story Editorial – Fired for Speaking Out – NYTimes.com.
VIDEO: Splitting the Sky: The Man who Attempted a Citizen’s Arrest of George W. Bush
Michel Chossudovsky endorses Splitting the Sky
Renown professor Michel Chossudovsky acknowledges Splitting the Sky for his attempt to arrest G.W. Bush in Calgary. (March 2009) He also discusses the importance of the forthcoming trial in March 2010.
Scientists unlock genetic code in major cancer breakthrough
The entire genetic codes of two common types of cancer have been cracked, according to scientists, who say the breakthrough could unlock a new era in the treatment of deadly diseases.
Scientists at the UK-based Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute catalogued the genetic maps of skin and lung cancer and have pinpointed the specific mutations within DNA that can lead to dangerous tumors.
Researchers predict these maps will offer patients a personalized treatment option that ranges from earlier detection to the types of medication used to treat cancer.
The genetic maps will also allow cancer researchers to study cells with defective DNA and produce more powerful drugs to fight the errors, according to the the study's scientists.
Full Story Scientists unlock genetic code in major cancer breakthrough – CNN.com.
How Bush Redefined American Freedom
Freedom’s Just Another Word for …
George W. Bush is gone from Washington but his legacy, like an abandoned toxic waste dump, lingers on. Like President Franklin Roosevelt before him, President Bush helped redefine American freedom. And like Roosevelt’s, Bush’s changes were perversions of the clear vision the Founding Fathers bequeathed to us.
What did freedom mean in the era of George Bush? In Iraq in September 2004, “Camp Liberty,” a tent compound to house Iraqi detainees, was constructed next to the Abu Ghraib prison. (The torture scandal and photos had been revealed in late April.) Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller declared that Camp Liberty and other changes in the treatment of Iraqi prisoners were “restoring the honor of America.”
“Camp Liberty” was typical of the rhetorical strategy of the Bush administration: empty words in lieu of basic decency and honest dealing.
From the beginning, President Bush invoked freedom to sanctify his war on terrorism. In his Oval Office address on the night of September 11, 2001, Bush declared, “America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.” He pronounced authoritatively on the motives of the attackers even before the FBI and CIA knew their identities. He never offered evidence that that was al-Qaeda’s prime motivation.
Full Story James Bovard: How Bush Redefined American Freedom.
Drug War Sea Change in the US Congress?
Domestic Initiatives Are Cause for Hope; Foreign Drug War Funding Remains Unchanged For Now
The United States Congress set its sights on the drug war this week. Legislators have or will consider several important bills that address the drug war at home and abroad. According to decriminalization advocates, the news is mostly good.
On Tuesday, the US House of Representatives unanimously voted to create the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission. This week the House is expected to vote on the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes measures that would repeal a national syringe funding ban and allow Washington, DC, to establish a medical marijuana program. The Appropriations Act, also known as the Omnibus bill, also includes further funding for violent drug wars in Mexico, Central America, and Colombia.
Drug Policy Commission
The Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission will evaluate US drug policy in the Western Hemisphere and “submit recommendations on future US drug policy to Congress, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP),” according to Federal Information & News Dispatch.
Full Story Drug War Sea Change in the US Congress? | | the narcosphere.
Millions Drink Tap Water That Is Legal, but Maybe Not Healthy
The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks — and still be legal.
Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.
But not one chemical has been added to the list of those regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2000.
Other recent studies have found that even some chemicals regulated by that law pose risks at much smaller concentrations than previously known. However, many of the act’s standards for those chemicals have not been updated since the 1980s, and some remain essentially unchanged since the law was passed in 1974.
Full Story Millions Drink Tap Water That Is Legal, but Maybe Not Healthy – Series – NYTimes.com.
Intelligence Improperly Collected on U.S. Citizens
In February, a Department of Homeland Security intelligence official wrote a “threat assessment” for the police in Wisconsin about a demonstration involving local pro- and anti-abortion rights groups.
That report soon drew internal criticism because the groups “posed no threat to homeland security,” according to a department memorandum released on Wednesday in connection with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The agency destroyed all its copies of the report and gave the author remedial training.
That was just one of several cases in the last several years in which the department’s intelligence office improperly collected information about American citizens or lawful United States residents, the documents show.
Full Story Intelligence Improperly Collected on U.S. Citizens – NYTimes.com.
Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones
$26 Software Is Used to Breach Key Weapons in Iraq; Iranian Backing Suspected
Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.
Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.
Full Story Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones – WSJ.com.
OPS: Great – Now any teenager can take control of a loaded Drone?
Citigroup to suspend foreclosures for 30 days
Citigroup will suspend foreclosures and evictions for 30 days in a temporary break for about 4,000 borrowers during the holiday season.
The New York-based bank said Thursday the suspension will run from Friday through Jan. 17. It applies only to borrowers whose loans are owned by Citi. Borrowers who make payments to Citi but whose loans are owned by other investors are out of luck.
“We want our borrowers to have a much less stressful time, to spend their time with their families during the holidays as opposed to worrying about their homes,” Sanjiv Das, head of the company’s mortgage division, said in an interview.
The suspension means Citi will halt foreclosure sales and stop evicting homeowners from properties it has already seized. The company projects it will help 2,000 homeowners with scheduled foreclosure sales and another 2,000 that were due to receive foreclosure notices.
Full Story Citigroup to suspend foreclosures for 30 days – USATODAY.com.
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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. 
