Archive for February, 2010
The U.S. is Now a Police State
Anyone Could be Next
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Americans have been losing the protection of law for years. In the 21st century the loss of legal protections accelerated with the Bush administration’s “war on terror,” which continues under the Obama administration and is essentially a war on the Constitution and U.S. civil liberties.
The Bush regime was determined to vitiate habeas corpus in order to hold people indefinitely without bringing charges. The regime had acquired hundreds of prisoners by paying a bounty for “terrorists.” Afghan warlords and thugs responded to the financial incentive by grabbing unprotected people and selling them to the Americans.
The Bush regime needed to hold the prisoners without charges because it had no evidence against the people and did not want to admit that the U.S. government had stupidly paid warlords and thugs to kidnap innocent people. In addition, the Bush regime needed “terrorists” prisoners in order to prove that there was a terrorist threat.
Full Story Paul Craig Roberts: The U.S. is Now a Police State.
Putting a value on nature could set scene for true green economy|
Much environmental damage has been caused by the way we do business. Is there a way of changing our economic models from being part of the problem into part of the solution?
The living fabric of this planet – its ecosystems and biodiversity – are in rapid decline worldwide. This is visible and palpable and is variously due to commercial over-exploitation, or population pressures, or a raft of unhelpful policies, or some combination. At a very fundamental human level, however, it is due to the lack of awareness that there is a problem with human society being disconnected from nature.
Economics is blamed for much of our woes these days and credited with little so two questions need to be asked: is economics part of the problem of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss? And is it part of the solution?
Nick Turse, America’s Shadowy Base World
The 700 Military Bases of Afghanistan
Black Sites in the Empire of Bases
Once is an anomaly; twice is the beginning of a pattern. Right now, we’re seeing the same sequence of events for the second time in less than a decade, and it looks like the signature American way of war in our time is coming into focus.
In 2003, when the Bush administration invaded Iraq, the Pentagon already had on its drawing boards plans for building a series of permanent mega-bases in that country. (They were charmingly called “enduring camps.”) Once Baghdad fell and it turned out that, Saddam Hussein or no, the U.S. was going to have to fight rather than settle in and let the good times roll, hundreds of micro-bases were added to the mega ones — 106 of them by 2005, more than 300 in all. Then, in 2005, Washington decided to trade in its embassy in one of Saddam’s old palaces for something a little spiffier. In its place, on a 104-acre plot by the Tigris River in the middle of Baghdad, for at least three-quarters of a billion dollars after cost overruns, it built the largest, most expensive embassy on the planet. It was planned for a staff of 1,000 “diplomats” with all the accoutrements of the good life and plenty of hired help. (Even now, despite much discussion about “ending” the American role in Iraq, further plans are reportedly being made for the embassy’s staff to double.) This was clearly to be U.S. mission control for the Greater Middle East.
Building of this expansive kind is, of course, a staggering imperial undertaking. It implies a global power with resources beyond measure, for which waste means nothing. The mega-bases and the embassy were, in that sense, American wonders of the world, our own ziggurat-equivalents in Mesopotamia, right down to the multiple PXs, familiar fast food outlets, and miniature golf. No empire had ever launched a base-building program quite like it (if, that is, you leave out the precursor to this whole experience, the U.S. in Vietnam in the 1960s).
Full Story Tomgram: Nick Turse, America’s Shadowy Base World | TomDispatch.
Democrats and Republicans watched over corporate rape of US
Chris Hedges -
American journalist and Pulitzer winner Chris Hedges told RT the United States has developed a new form of corporate totalitarianism.
“We have to break the back of the consumer economy,” Hedges said. “70 percent of our economy is driven by consumption. We have to cripple our money flow to the extent that we can build a popular movement that counters the corporate rape of the country that is furthered both by the Democrats and the Republicans – the better off we’ll be. Many people are disillusioned by Obama and quite rightly so. But whether that means that they will take the active step to step outside the system and to fight, that is unknown.”
Full Story Democrats and Republicans watched over corporate rape of US – journalist – RT Top Stories.
Praising Hard Industry
Award winning author and economist Eammon Fingleton discusses how the economy was impacted by jettisoning manufacturing
The following is part one of a 30 minute interview with Eamonn Fingleton.
Award winning author and economist Eammon Fingleton discusses how the economy was impacted by jettisoning manufacturing and why the U.S. economy cannot be sustained on services and information alone.
video at link
Praising Hard Industry | Economy In Crisis.
OPS: Henry Kissinger in 2003: (even a war criminal like HK understood)
Kissinger also expressed concern about the increasing movement in the United States to move some jobs of offshore, such as computer programming and support. “The question really amounts to whether America can remain a great power or a dominant power if it primarily becomes a service economy,” he said. “And I doubt that.”
One in Eight Americans Seek Food Banks
Struggling to make ends meet due to the economic downturn that has left nearly 15 million people unemployed, tens of millions of Americans are flocking to food banks, soup kitchens and emergency shelters in need of food assistance.
Struggling to make ends meet due to the economic downturn that has left nearly 15 million people unemployed, tens of millions of Americans are flocking to food banks, soup kitchens and emergency shelters in need of food assistance, according to a recently released report.
Feeding America, the nation’s largest food bank network, found that 37 million Americans – or one in eight – seek emergency food assistance annually, including 14 million children and three million elderly individuals. That is a 46 percent increase from Feeding America’s last study, which was conducted in 2006, before the Great Recession.
“Clearly, the economic recession, resulting in dramatically increasing unemployment nationwide, has driven unprecedented, sharp increases in the need for emergency food assistance and enrollment in federal nutrition programs,” Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America, said in a press release. “Hunger in America 2010 exposes the absolutely tragic reality of just how many people in our nation don’t have enough to eat. Millions our clients are families with children finding themselves in need of food assistance for the very first time.
Full Story One in Eight Americans Seek Food Banks | Economy In Crisis.
Hannity: Snow Storms ‘Seem To Contradict Al Gore’s Hysterical Global Warming Theories’
Last night on his Fox News show, Sean Hannity claimed that the recent spate of winter snow storms in the Washington, D.C. region clearly means that the planet isn’t warming. He then attacked Vice President Gore, calling his anti-global warming advocacy “hysterical”:
HANNITY: And tonight’s “Meltdown” is brought to you by the D.C. snow storm, you know, the storm that dumped about two feet of snow on the Washington area over the weekend causing thousands of power outages and keeping many people home from work today. And it’s the most severe winter storm in years, which would seem to contradict Al Gore’s hysterical global warming theories. [...]
Pretty unbelievable. I bet the snow even kept Al Gore’s jet from taking off.
Watch it:
Full Story Think Progress » Hannity: Snow Storms ‘Seem To Contradict Al Gore’s Hysterical Global Warming Theories’.
Conservative Activists Rebel Against Fox News: Saudi Ownership Is ‘Really Dangerous For America’
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns a 7% stake in News Corp — the parent company of Fox News — making him the largest shareholder outside the family of News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch. Alwaleed has grown close with the Murdoch enterprise, recently endorsing James Murdoch to succeed his father and creating a content sharing agreement with Fox News for his own media conglomerate, Rotana.
Last weekend, at the right wing Constitutional Coalition’s annual conference in St. Louis, Joseph Farah, publisher of the far right WorldNetDaily, blasted Fox News for its relationship with Alwaleed. Farah noted correctly that Alwaleed had boasted in the past about forcing Fox News to change its content relating to its coverage of riots in Paris, and warned that such foreign ownership of American media is “really dangerous.” ThinkProgress attended the speech, and observed attendees of the conference murmuring and shaking their heads in disapproval:
FARAH: There’s a flaw, a real compromise in Fox that you need to understand. And if you care about national security, you especially need to be attentive to it. And that is that Fox News parent company is News Corp has a significant ownership by a Saudi prince that many of you will be familiar with because right after 9/11 this prince very famously offered Rudolph Giuliani a big multi-million dollar check to rebuild and Giuliani told him to stick the check where the sun don’t shine because this guy was basically blaming America for what happened on 9/11. Well this guy owns a very significant percentage of the News Corp and has let the world know that he can get things taken off Fox News when he finds them objectionable and has in the past. And I really believe this is really dangerous for America.
Listen here:
Not Soak the Rich, Just a Little Sprinkle
President Obama’s new federal budget plan won’t end plutocracy in America. But this second Obama budget, if adopted, might actually inconvenience it.
The Heritage Foundation, the right wing’s most lavishly funded think tank, doesn’t much like the federal budget plan the Obama White House released last week. Heritage hired guns are blasting the Obama blueprint for fiscal 2011 as perhaps the “most irresponsible budget ever.”
What has the wealthy and their biggest fans so upset? Certainly not the deficit, the cause for concern they profess so earnestly.
Growing budget deficits, as economist Polly Cleveland pointed out last week, can actually work to rich people’s advantage, in part because the rich hold so much of the government’s debt. The interest payments the rich collect on that debt “tips” America’s top-heavy distribution of wealth even more their way.
Full Story Not Soak the Rich, Just a Little Sprinkle | OurFuture.org.
Corporate Media’s Cave-In to ‘Liberal Bias’ Attacks Pose a Real Threat to Our Democracy
Robert Parry -
Palin, Psy-Ops & ‘Condescending’ Libs
In the 1980s, while a reporter for the Associated Press, I had the opportunity to chat over the phone with legendary CIA psy-war specialist Edward Lansdale. A mutual friend had set up the contact, which I hoped might lead to a more formal interview.
Though that hope didn’t pan out – and Lansdale died in 1987 – I was struck by one thing that Lansdale told me about how he sold his propaganda message inside a target country. He said the goal wasn’t to plant a story in a publication that people knew to be under U.S. control, because their defenses would be up.
The trick, he said, was to plant propaganda in a publication that was perceived to be open and honest because the readers’ defenses would be down and thus they would be more susceptible to the message. In other words, they first had to be fooled about who controlled the outlet and what its biases were.
Full Story Consortiumnews.com.
7 Fun and Easy Ways to Lower Your Meat Consumption
Call it flexitarianism, conscious meat consumption, or low meat eating, lots of people are saving the flesh for special occasions and adopting a veg-centric diet. If you’ve been thinking about going vegetarian or vegan for the planet, but you really like meat and think you’ll miss it, or you’re worried that your nutrition will suffer, or you don’t want to subject your entire family to an extreme change, I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be black and white.
On a personal note, I’ve been eating about 85% veg for a few years now and it works for me…my body, my budget, and my beliefs.
Conventional livestock production uses tons of grain, water, and petroleum. It’s extremely inefficient, has huge environmental impacts, and is cruel to animals. For a detailed picture, read this now classic piece on The Meat Guzzler by Mark Bittman of the New York Times.
Full Story 7 Fun and Easy Ways to Lower Your Meat Consumption | EcoSalon.
‘Christian’ Manifesto Comparing Liberals to Nazis Gathers Signatures of Religious Right Leaders — and Catholic Bishops
Right-wing Christian leaders are making a concerted push to gain thousands of new signatures for their hate-filled Manhattan Declaration.
eligious right leaders are making a concerted push to gain thousands of new signatures for their “Manhattan Declaration,” a manifesto released late last year by about 150 conservative Christian leaders. The document, signed by such religious-right heavy-hitters as Focus on the Family eminence James Dobson and Prison Fellowship Ministries leader Chuck Colson, compares pro-choice advocates to eugenicists (and implicitly to Nazis) and equates same-sex marriage with polygamy and a gateway to legalized incest. Its authors promise to defy any law that does not comport with their religious beliefs. Joining the religious right’s Protestant leaders as signatories to the declaration are four Roman Catholic bishops, including those presiding over the powerful archdioceses of New York and Washington, DC.
Described by New York Times religion reporter Laurie Goodstein as “an effort to rejuvenate the political alliance of conservative Catholics and evangelicals that dominated the religious debate during the administration of President George W. Bush,” declaration authors initially set a target for a million signatures by December 1. Although they fell well short of that goal, they claimed at press time to have gathered more than 419,000 signatures and have redoubled their efforts to add more names.
Home Underwater? Walk Away from Geithner’s Perverse ‘Homeowner Relief’ Plan
The plan to supposedly aid homeowners drowning in debt adopted by Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is just a money trough for the banks.
The homeowner relief plan adopted by President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has not been working for a full year now. What’s worse, as the program is currently structured, its chief benefits accrue directly to the nation’s largest banks, leaving troubled borrowers to twist in the wind. But despite the administration’s indifference, underwater borrowers can still take matters into their own hands. If you owe more than your house is worth, just walk away.
“The rational thing for these people to do is to send the keys to the bank and say, ‘Good luck,’” says Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research. “Every month that you keep that person in their home paying that mortgage, that’s a gift to the bank. So if you could keep a lot of people from sending their keys to the bank, and keep sending their checks instead, that helps the banks directly.”
Full Story Home Underwater? Walk Away from Geithner’s Perverse ‘Homeowner Relief’ Plan | Economy | AlterNet.
Over-Drugged Animals, Superbugs and DIRT! the Movie
The Union of Concerned Scientists advises that a recent study reveals “the number of genes for antibiotic resistance in soil microbes has significantly increased over the past 70 years” – fifteen-fold in the case of tetracyclins. Linked below is a petition to support the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act, and a discount for DIRT! the movie.
The UCS reports, “A team of British scientists tested samples of benign and disease-causing bacteria from a soil archive in the Netherlands that dates back to 1940, the era when antibiotic use became common.
“Genes that confer resistance significantly increased over time for every antibiotic drug class they tested. Genes that confer resistance to tetracycline antibiotics are 15 times more abundant in current-day soil samples than in samples even from the 1970s.
Full Story Over-Drugged Animals, Superbugs and DIRT! the Movie « COTO Report.
Kucinich: Don’t Subsidize Childhood Obesity
Revoke tax breaks for junk food advertising
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement after First Lady Michelle Obama announced a new effort to combat childhood obesity:
“I support the First Lady’s ambitious efforts to combat childhood obesity. During childhood, we develop the eating habits and preferences that can drive our food choices for the rest of our lives. We need to ensure that families can make their own decisions about their diet, without the manipulative influence of the highly profitable and sometimes predatory junk food industry.
“Most Americans don’t know that the government now subsidizes the marketing of junk food and fast food to kids in order to cement their brand and taste allegiances early in life. That is why I introduced HR 4310, which would revoke the tax breaks that companies receive for advertising and marketing unhealthy food to children,” said Kucinich.
According to the Institute of Medicine, in 2004 approximately $10 billion was spent on food advertising directed at children. Plainly stated, marketing to children works. If it didn’t work, they wouldn’t do it. A child’s developing brain is no match for a $10 billion industry that uses the best behavioral and developmental research to create emotional bonds to brands before the children’s ability to distinguish fact from opinion has developed.
Full Story Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
America: The Sick Man of the Western Hemisphere
Reckless finance has undone more empires throughout history than invasions by enemies.
If history teaches one important lesson, it’s that politicians should never be given a free hand to borrow money to cover the costs of wars, overseas adventures, or military spending.
President Barack Obama calls the US $3.8 trillion budget he just sent to Congress a major step in restoring America’s economic health.
In fact, it’s another potent fix given to a sick patient deeply addicted to the dangerous drug of debt.
Full Story Eric Margolis: America: The Sick Man of the Western Hemisphere.
Justice Thomas’ Reasoning — Dangerous for Democracy
The normally closed Supreme Court opened a crack last week, as Clarence Thomas defended the 5-4 decision clearing away limits on corporate spending to influence elections.
“If 10 of you got together and decided to speak, just as a group,” he said, “you’d say you have First Amendment rights to speak and the First Amendment right of association.” And “if all of you formed a partnership,” it would be the same.
Then he asks rhetorically, “But what if you put yourself in corporate form?” He implies the answer would not change. “It’s wrong,” he argues, to make any distinction. The “ultimate precedent is the Constitution.”
Full Story Frances Moore Lappe: Justice Thomas’ Reasoning — Dangerous for Democracy.
Rep. Alan Grayson: The Story That No One Will Tell
The story that everyone wants to tell is that the Democratic Party is disheartened and disintegrating. Teabagger Republicans are juiced up and on top. Or so the media says, over and over again.
But the House candidate who raised the most money in the entire country during the last FEC reporting period — $860,000 in three months — is not a teabagger. He is not boosted relentlessly by Fox News. He’s not even a Republican. He doesn’t think that the Earth was created 6000 years ago, that President Obama was born in Kenya, or that global warming is a hoax.
This House candidate also, remarkably, had the largest number of contributors. Over 15,000 individuals contributed, many of whom have given time after time, whatever they could. The House candidate who raised the most money did so without French-kissing lobbyists, without flattering the idle rich, and without reaching into his own pocket.
Full Story Rep. Alan Grayson: The Story That No One Will Tell.
The National Anthem — And Why We Need Health Care Reform So Desperately
Robert Reich -
My health insurer here in California is Anthem Blue Cross. When I first opted for it, it was just called Blue Cross. Then, a year or so back, I was notified that an entity called “Anthem” would now be running my insurance policy. I didn’t think much about it at the time. I’ve had the usual problems most people have with their health insurers – confusing bills, co-payments and deductibles that never seem to add up, a bureaucracy that gives every impression of being more interested in fighting me than helping me — but nothing more.
Now, Anthem Blue Cross is going a step further. It’s raising rates for individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent. That’s fifteen times faster than inflation. So far, my group policy hasn’t been affected but I’m expecting the worst.
Anthem says it has no choice. It says the recession has forced many policyholders to drop coverage because they can’t afford it. So Anthem has to spread its costs over a much smaller pool, which ratchets up the cost of each. In addition, says Anthem, too many of those remaining policyholders have greater medical needs than the average. So Anthem is just doing what it has to do to survive.
Full Story Robert Reich (The National Anthem — And Why We Need Health Care Reform So Desperately).
How Much Military Aid to Israel?
How Much Military Aid to Israel… …Do You Provide?
Between 2009-2018, the United States is scheduled to give Israel–the largest recipient of U.S. aid–$30 billion in military aid. Through its illegal 42-year military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, Israel misuses U.S. weapons in violation of U.S. law to kill and injure Palestinian civilians, destroy Palestinian civilian infrastructure, blockade the Gaza Strip, and build illegal settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem.
How much of this total will your community provide? Is this a good use of your tax dollars? What else could your taxes be used for in your community?
Find out on the interactive map below.
Full Story US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation : How Much Military Aid to Israel?.
China threatens US debt sell-off
China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S.
Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.
World
The calls for broad retaliation over the planned U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island came from officers at China's National Defence University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency.
The interviews with Major Generals Zhu Chenghu and Luo Yuan and Senior Colonel Ke Chunqiao appeared in the issue published on Monday.
Full Story China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S. | Reuters.
Anything Beyond The Universe? New Theory Changes Our Destiny
We think our destiny is to journey to Mars and beyond. Yet as we build our spacecraft, we’re about to be broadsided – from a different direction – by the most explosive event in history.
In the next hundred years or so science will be able to create realities that we can’t even begin to imagine. As we evolve, we’ll be able to construct other information systems that correspond to other realities, universes based on logic completely different from ours and not based on space and time.
Space and time are not physical matrices, but simply tools the mind uses to construct reality. These algorithms are not only the key to consciousness, but why space and time – indeed the properties of matter itself – are relative to the observer. But what if we changed the algorithms so that instead of time being linear, it was 3-dimensional like space? Consciousness would move through the multiverse. We’d be able to walk through time just like we walk through space. And after creeping along for 4 billion years, life will finally figure out how to escape from its corporeal cage.
Full Story Robert Lanza, M.D.: Anything Beyond The Universe? New Theory Changes Our Destiny.
EU Governments Close To Agreement On Bail Out Of Greece: Report
Wealthy European nations were moving closer toward swallowing a bitter pill Tuesday: rescuing Greece from its overspending before its debts drag down the euro and stock markets all the way to Wall Street.
Stocks in the U.S. and Europe rose on expectations of some kind of decisive action to prevent a Greek debt default that could spread to other countries, undermining Europe’s hesitant economic recovery.
European Union leaders will issue a statement on Greece’s debt crisis during a Thursday meeting, officials said Tuesday – without giving details of what it would say. Markets reacted well to news that European Central Bank’s president Jean-Claude Trichet would make a rare appearance at the summit in Brussels – which they saw as confirmation that some kind of help would be discussed.
The crisis has exposed the EU’s Achilles’ heel – states remain independent to spend as they wish, but their decisions can affect all 16 eurozone nations. Countries that help Greece risk having their own borrowing costs rise as a result, and could see other struggling eurozone economies get in line for aid.
Full Story EU Governments Close To Agreement On Bail Out Of Greece: Report.
Sen. Kit Bond Wants To Privatize Medicare With Vouchers
In his interview with CBS News’ Katie Couric before the Super Bowl earlier this week, President Obama said that he was going to ask Republicans to put their health care ideas “on the table.” “What I want to do is to look at the Republican ideas that are out there,” said Obama. “How do you guys want to lower costs?”
Just days before Obama made his call for GOP health care ideas, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) offered a radical proposal for reform in a conversation with the editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. According to a blog post by the editorial board, Bond called on Friday for giving means-tested vouchers to Medicare enrollees:
Even before he asked, Missouri’s senior U.S. senator was outlining his: Privatize Medicare and limit benefits for upper-income retirees. Meeting with Post-Dispatch editors and reporters on Friday, Mr. Bond called for radical changes to the federal health insurance program that covers 45 million elderly and disabled Americans.
Full Story Think Progress » Sen. Kit Bond Wants To Privatize Medicare With Vouchers.
Nev. Medicaid cuts could lead to diaper rationing
Nevada officials on Tuesday outlined drastic cuts to the state’s Medicaid program that include plans to ration adult diapers, eliminate denture and hearing-aid programs, and force personal care assistants to buy their own disposable gloves.
State lawmakers learned of the cuts at a committee hearing in which health officials said adult day care programs, vision services and outpatient programs for people with brain trauma would also be cut to slash $109 million from Medicaid costs.
The grim proposals brought criticism and rebuke from lawmakers of both parties over Gov. Jim Gibbons’ comments that Nevada can no longer pay for “bloated government services.”
Full Story Nev. Medicaid cuts could lead to diaper rationing – AP News Wire, Associated Press News – Salon.com.
OPS: that should scare the hell out Diaper Dave Vitter
Bachmann: America ‘cursed’ by God ‘if we reject Israel’
At a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Los Angeles last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann offered a candid view of her positions on Israel: Support for Israel is handed down by God and if the United States pulls back its support, America will cease to exist.
The Republican Jewish Coalition is the same organization that recently hired former Sen. Norm Coleman. Bachmann’s appearance on Feb.1 is part of a whirlwind of national events for Bachmann in February. Next up: she’s keynoting the Take Back Washington North Dakota event in Bismarck this Friday night.
Here’s a transcript of some of her remarks at the RJC event:
Full Story Bachmann: America ‘cursed’ by God ‘if we reject Israel’ « Minnesota Independent: News. Politics. Media..
Key Figure in Bush’s Military Commissions Set for Obama Job
Marine Colonel Tapped for Detainee Policy Post Worked for Top Rumsfeld Aide
A key behind-the-scenes architect of the Bush administration’s first version of the military commissions for terrorism suspects — which the Supreme Court found to unconstitutionally restrict the legal rights of detainees — will take a central Pentagon position dealing with detainee policy for the Obama administration.
William Lietzau, a Marine colonel who currently serves as deputy legal counsel to the National Security Council, is poised to become the Pentagon’s new deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs in the next several weeks. Lietzau, an international law expert described even by his critics as a brilliant and energetic attorney, previously served as a special adviser to Jim Haynes, the top Pentagon lawyer during Donald H. Rumsfeld’s tenure, when Rumsfeld and Haynes codified torture and indefinite detention as hallmarks of Bush-era terrorism policy. The position, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, came open late last year, after Phil Carter, the previous deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs and a favorite of civil libertarians, abruptly resigned.
Full Story Key Figure in Bush’s Military Commissions Set for Obama Job « The Washington Independent.
OPS: Obama continues to hire Bush retreads and no Progressives or Liberals That HAS to tell you something.
Change – you can’t get there from here
The Bipartisan Health Care Summit: A Failure In Five Acts
Yesterday, McClatchy Newspapers warned that the proposed health care reform summit — a bipartisan encounter group session staged in front of teevee cameras for the American people — faces “long odds against success.” According to the report, “analysts” warn: “Don’t count on President Barack Obama’s upcoming health care summit to thaw the bitter political climate that’s stalled legislation for months.”
Don’t worry, analysts! I wasn’t counting on any such thing. Also not being counted on: actual health care reform happening! And that’s because the fact that we’ve moved back into “summit mode,” with the grim determination that the American people will be subjected to the full stagecraft, indicates to me that “health care reform” has been transformed from “a desired outcome for millions of Americans” into a “political brickbat that both sides will smash each other over the head with, indefinitely.”
Naturally, this whole “summit” idea sounds quite sane. It embraces the all-important, rivetingly shallow virtue of “bipartisanship” over which Beltway types tend to swoon. It promises to appear as if actual achievement might be at hand, because lawmakers have long proven themselves skilled at packaging busy work as achievement. (See also: “Gang of Six.”) And the teevee cameras will be there, thus making up for that time the Obama administration didn’t put the conference committee negotiations on C-SPAN, which Americans in the tens of tens were no doubt planning to watch.
Full Story The Bipartisan Health Care Summit: A Failure In Five Acts.
N.Y. Group Mobilizes To Help Girl Prevented From Graduating By Homelessness
New York City bureaucrats won’t let Rosa Bracero graduate from high school because her family is homeless.
The Daily News reported Thursday that Bracero missed her Regents exam two weeks ago because her family was being evicted that day and the city’s intake center requires every family member to show up for to apply for shelter. Bracero took a makeup exam, but the state won’t validate the results.
Now, after the Daily News reported on Bracero’s plight, the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City has launched a campaign to force the city to allow Bracero to graduate, blasting an email to its list of more than 17,000 people.
Full Story N.Y. Group Mobilizes To Help Girl Prevented From Graduating By Homelessness.
Tea Party movement takes aim at Ron Paul
There is more than a little irony in the fact that congressman Ron Paul is facing three primary challengers this year, all of them linked in some way to the Tea Party movement.
Many observers give the libertarian from Texas credit for having sparked the Tea Party movement in 2007 when he held a “money bomb” fundraiser on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, raking in some $6 million for his presidential run in one day.
But, as the Dallas Morning News reported earlier this week, Paul is facing three primary challengers — more than he has faced in the past six primaries combined. And every one of the challengers is linked to the Tea Party movement.
Full Story Tea Party movement takes aim at Ron Paul | Raw Story.
OPS: Eating their own LOL
Insurer Denies Life-Prolonging Treatment To Five-Year-Old Boy With Cancer
One of the worst abuses of private insurance companies is the practice of using spurious reasons to deny claims for medical treatments, which are often necessary for saving patients’ lives.
Kyler Van Nocker’s story shows that even 5-year-old kids are not exempt from this insurance company abuse. Van Nocker has neuroblastoma, which is a very rare form of childhood cancer that targets the nervous system and creates tumors throughout the body.
Due to successful treatment in 2007, Van Nocker’s cancer went into remission, giving him 12 months of pain-free life. Unfortunately, in Sept. 2008, the cancer returned, and Van Nocker was once again in need of treatment. Unfortunately, his health insurer, HealthAmerica, refused to pay for one form of treatment doctors believe could save his life (MIBG treatment) because they consider it “investigational/experimental” since it has yet to be approved by the FDA.
Full Story Think Progress » Insurer Denies Life-Prolonging Treatment To Five-Year-Old Boy With Cancer.
Kristol Calls GOP’s Preconditions On Health Care Meeting ‘Silly’
On Sunday, President Obama announced his intention to host a televised bipartisan meeting on health care reform “to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward.” Yesterday, congressional GOP leaders responded with a list of preconditions for simply sitting down with the President and Democrats.
In a letter to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Reps. John Boehner (R-OH) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) wrote that, “[i]f the starting point for this meeting” is the bills that passed the House and Senate, “Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate.” They also called on Obama to take reconciliation off the table as a “show good faith” to the GOP.
Yesterday on Fox News, Bill Kristol — who has made no secret of his desire to kill health care reform — criticized Boehner and Cantor for setting preconditions and being disrespectful to Obama, adding that they should instead be more direct about their intention not to meet the President half way:
Full Story Think Progress » Kristol Calls GOP’s Preconditions On Health Care Meeting ‘Silly’.
Sales at Wholesalers Climb, Stockpiles Decrease
Sales at U.S. wholesalers climbed in December for a ninth consecutive month, leading to an unexpected drop in stockpiles that may keep spurring orders.
Purchases increased 0.8 percent after a 3.6 percent gain in November, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. Inventories fell 0.8 percent following a revised 1.6 percent increase that was the largest in more than five years.
A record inventory drawdown last year has opened the door for factories to pick up production, leading a recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s. Another report showed job openings climbed in December for the first time in three months, signaling employers are gaining confidence the expansion will be sustained in coming months.
Full Story U.S. Economy: Sales at Wholesalers Climb, Stockpiles Decrease – Bloomberg.com.
French accuse Tony Blair of ‘Soviet-style’ propaganda in run-up to Iraq war
Tony Blair was accused by the French government of “Soviet-style” black propaganda in the run-up to the Iraq war, secret memos obtained by the Iraq inquiry have found.
The Chilcot committee has obtained confidential phone records showing that then foreign secretary Jack Straw was told days before the crunch eve-of-war Commons vote not to misrepresent the French position on the need for UN approval.
The row began after Mr Blair seized on remarks by French president Jacques Chirac on 10 March 2003, that he would not back a second UN resolution authorising war in Iraq “whatever the circumstances”.
Full Story French accuse Tony Blair of ‘Soviet-style’ propaganda in run-up to Iraq war | News.
Dutch cabinet admits errors of Iraq invasion
Giving its response to an official inquiry branding the Iraq war illegal the Dutch cabinet admits it gave parliament too little information ahead of the 2003 conflict.
Responding to the Dutch Committee of Inquiry on Iraq – also known as the Davids Inquiry – Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende said there had been a failure in communication.
The cabinet confirmed a US request for military assistance about which parliament had never been told.
It did, however argue, it was not “legally obliged” to report this to the Lower House.
But the reaction went on to say “it would have been wise if it had at least been mentioned in confidence”
Full Story Dutch cabinet admits errors of Iraq invasion | Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
Congressional Democrats point finger of blame at Rahm Emanuel
Democrats in Congress are holding White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel accountable for his part in the collapse of healthcare reform.
The emerging consensus among critics in both chambers is that Emanuel’s lack of Senate experience slowed President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.
The share of the blame comes as cracks are beginning to show in Emanuel’s once-impregnable political armor. Last week he had to apologize after a report surfaced that he called liberal groups “retarded” in a private meeting.
While Emanuel has quelled that controversy by meeting with advocates for people with disabilities, on Capitol Hill he’s under fire for poor execution of the president’s healthcare agenda in the Senate.
Full Story Congressional Democrats point finger of blame at Rahm Emanuel – TheHill.com.
Shamus Cooke: The Democrats are Coming After Social Security
It’s official: the Democrats are coming after Social Security and Medicare. All the backroom scheming and political conspiring is finally out in the open.
In an unusually long, 1,800 word editorial, entitled The Truth about the Deficit, published February 7, The New York Times — cheerleader for neoliberalism — gives its solution to the country’s debt problems. The main idea is summed up thus:
“To truly tame deficits will require serious health care reform [Obama’s plan slashes Medicare], the sooner the better. Other aspects of the long-term fiscal problem — raising taxes and retooling [reducing] Social Security — must take place in earnest as the economy recovers.”
Full Story Shamus Cooke: The Democrats are Coming After Social Security.
‘Climate Service,’ New Federal Climate Change Agency, Is Forming
The Obama administration on Monday proposed a new agency to study and report on the changing climate.
Also known as global warming, climate change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops, spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought patterns and cause polar melting.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA’s National Weather Service and National Ocean Service.
Full Story ‘Climate Service,’ New Federal Climate Change Agency, Is Forming.
Drugs In The Water: Even When Careful, Pharmaceuticals Can End Up In Water
The federal government advises throwing most unused or expired medications into the trash instead of down the drain, but they can end up in the water anyway, a study from Maine suggests.
Tiny amounts of discarded drugs have been found in water at three landfills in the state, confirming suspicions that pharmaceuticals thrown into household trash are ending up in water that drains through waste, according to a survey by the state’s environmental agency that’s one of only a handful to have looked at the presence of drugs in landfills.
That landfill water – known as leachate – eventually ends up in rivers. Most of Maine doesn’t draw its drinking water from rivers where the leachate ends up, but in other states that do, water supplies that come from rivers could potentially be contaminated.
Full Story Drugs In The Water: Even When Careful, Pharmaceuticals Can End Up In Water.
Rep. Blackburn touts Social Security privatization.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), one of the cosponsors to the radical budget proposal authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), went on Fox News yesterday to float one of the budget’s key components. Heralding “personal [Social Security] accounts” for “younger earners,” Blackburn touted Social Security privatization as the only way “you could get some of this under control”:
BLACKBURN: You know, people forget Medicare is a program that individuals have paid into every single year with their Medicare and their Social Security beneifts the federal government has first right of refusal on that paycheck. And this is one of the reasons we need to make sure individuals get the money out that they have placed in. This is one of the reasons we have had the discussion over and over for our younger earners of having accounts that have their Social Security number and their information on that — personal accounts.
VARNEY: You’re right, but it was roundly rejected when President Bush suggested doing just that. Didn’t fly. [...]
BLACKBURN: I was just going to say, and it’s interesting to me the number of people now that are coming to town hall meetings and are saying ‘you know what, if you were to scale back some of this bureaucracy and you began to look at some options for younger workers, you could get some of this under control.’
Watch it:
Full Story Think Progress » Rep. Blackburn touts Social Security privatization..
OPS: the question to ask these wingnuts is: Where would we be now, if Bush had been allowed to give all of the Social Security funds to Wall Street (Privatize Social Security) as he was pushing to do?
How to invest for the debt-bomb explosion
- MarketWatch -
Prepare for an apocalyptic anarchy ending Wall Street’s toxic capitalism
Wake up investors. Are you prepared for the economic anarchy coming after a global-debt time bomb explodes? Are you thinking outside the box? Investing differently? Act now — tomorrow will be too late.
Start by looking past the endless cable skirmishes between Rush, Glenn, Bill and Shawn versus Harry, Nancy, Ben and Barack. Look way past the insurgency bonding Sarah and her diehard Tea Party revolutionaries with Ron Paul’s Neo-Reaganite ideologues, Fat-Cat Bankers and the Party of No, all planning a massive frontal assault on the 2010 elections, hell-bent on destroying the presidency. All that’s the sideshow.
The Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 subprime credit meltdown combined. A huge market blowout. And as Bloomberg-BusinessWeek predicts: “The results won’t be pretty for investors or elected officials.”
Full Story How to invest for the debt-bomb explosion Paul B. Farrell – MarketWatch.
Greece hikes pension age, calls for bonus cuts
Greece’s government on Tuesday unveiled a hike in the average retirement age and called on striking civil servants to accept bonus cuts to pull the country out of an unprecedented financial crisis.
Labour Minister Andreas Loverdos said men and women will retire at 63 on average in a bid to save Greece’s cash-strapped pensions system, as other ministers met for a second day to finalise the country’s new tax policy.
“There will be a two-year increase of the limits on the average rate of retirement… namely 63 years on average for men and women by 2015,” Labour Minister Andreas Loverdos told reporters after a ministry meeting.
“We are changing the pensions system in order to keep it alive,” he said.
Full Story AFP: Greece hikes pension age, calls for bonus cuts.
OPS: Knuckling under to the IMF
NATO to Afghan assault villagers: keep heads down
Afghan villagers should stay inside and “keep their heads down” when thousands of U.S. Marines launch a massive assault on a densely-populated district in coming days, NATO’s civilian representative to Afghanistan said Tuesday.
U.S.-led NATO forces are planning one of the 8-year-old war’s biggest offensives to seize Marjah, a patchwork of desert canals and opium fields that is now the last large Taliban-held bastion in Helmand, Afghanistan’s most violent province.
The assault, the first since U.S. President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan in December, is the start of a campaign to impose government control on rebel-held areas this year, before U.S. forces start to draw down in 2011.
Full Story NATO to Afghan assault villagers: keep heads down | Reuters.
Tritium hot zone expands.
The Department of Health said late Monday there appears to be “a very large area” at the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor contaminated with radioactive tritium, and contamination levels continue to rise.
Because the area is so big, according to William Irwin, radiological health chief, there are many potential sources of radioactive water at this particularly high concentration of tritium.
“This is a very large area that encompasses many potential sources of water at this concentration of tritium, including the condensate storage tank and the systems and components of the advanced off-gas system,” Irwin said late Monday afternoon.
He said the area of contamination was roughly from the reactor building to the Connecticut River.
Full Story Tritium hot zone expands.: Rutland Herald Online.
Papantonio: Debt is a National Security Problem
Vice President Biden said last week that our soaring debt is a national security problem. He’s absolutely right, but the GOP wants to forget that it was George Bush who squandered the surplus left to him by President Clinton. Mike Papantonio appears on Fox News’ Bulls and Bears to talk about how our debt has made us indentured servants to our creditors.
OPS: Not only the Debt, but whats behind the Debt. Our destroyed Manufacturing base and resulting lack of jobs and the resulting lack of ability to pay taxes.
India puts on hold first GM food crop on safety grounds
India has deferred the commercial cultivation of what would have been its first genetically modified (GM) vegetable crop due to safety concerns.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said more studies were needed to ensure genetically modified aubergines were safe for consumers and the environment.
The GM vegetable has undergone field trials since 2008 and received approval from government scientists in 2009.
But there has been a heated public row over the cultivation of the GM crop.
Full Story BBC News – India puts on hold first GM food crop on safety grounds.
Join the Climate Trial
Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Terry Tempest Williams, and Dr. James Hansen
Dear Friends,
The epic fight to ward off global warming and transform the energy system that is at the core of our planet's economy takes many forms: huge global days of action, giant international conferences like the one that just failed in Copenhagen, small gestures in the homes of countless people.
But there are a few signal moments, and one comes next month, when the federal government puts Tim DeChristopher on trial in Salt Lake City. Tim–”Bidder 70″–pulled off one of the most creative protests against our runaway energy policy in years: he bid for the oil and gas leases on several parcels of federal land even though he had no money to pay for them, thus upending the auction. The government calls that “violating the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act” and thinks he should spend ten years in jail for the crime; we call it a noble act, a profound gesture made on behalf of all of us and of the future.
Full Story Join the Climate Trial | CommonDreams.org.
Lifting the Veil on US Troops in Pakistan
GRITtv with Laura Flanders »
“The deaths of three American soldiers in a Taliban suicide attack on Wednesday lifted the veil on United States military assistance to Pakistan.” So began a Feb 4th piece by Jane Perlez in the New York Times.
But even all these days on, it’s been a very discreet unveiling.
Lest we forget, US servicepeople are not supposed to be dying in Pakistan. It’s not Iraq, it’s not Afghanistan. There’s no agreement for combat troops to operate. Until recently, U.S. officials have repeatedly officially denied having any combat troops in place. This month’s killing exposed that lie — so what were the US troops doing there?
What we’ve learned so far is the soldiers were part of what federal officials say is a small contingent of American soldiers who’ve been training Pakistan’s army for 18 months now.
Full Story GRITtv with Laura Flanders » The F Word: Lifting the Veil on US Troops in Pakistan.
Battle Begins Over Who’ll Get Lucrative Haiti Cleanup Contracts
As Haiti begins digging out from under 60 million cubic meters of earthquake wreckage, U.S. firms have begun jockeying for a bonanza of cleanup work.
It’s unclear at this point who will be awarding the cleanup contracts, but there is big money to be made in the rubble of some 225,000 collapsed homes and at least 25,000 government and office buildings.
At least two politically connected U.S. firms have enlisted powerful local allies in Haiti to help compete for the high-stakes business.
Full Story Battle Begins Over Who’ll Get Lucrative Haiti Cleanup Contracts | CommonDreams.org.
China confirmed as world’s top exporter
China overtook Germany last year to become world export champion, official figures confirmed on Tuesday.
December trade figures for Germany highlighted the hit Europe’s largest economy took in 2009 from the collapse in global economic confidence at the start of the year. German goods’ exports fell by 18.4 per cent compared with the previous year – the biggest year-on-year fall since 1950, according to the federal statistics office.
Overall, German exports last year were equivalent to $1,121.3bn, which compared with the $1,201.7bn exported by China.
Full Story FT.com / Global Economy – China confirmed as world’s top exporter.
OPS: This used to be the US. This is the logical result of 30 years of Reaganomics
Mexico Earthquake: 5.7 Magnitude Quake Strikes Oaxaca, Mexico
A strong earthquake struck Mexico at 6:47 local time this evening, registering with a 5.7 magnitude, according to the USGS.
The Mexico earthquake struck in the Oaxaca region in southern Mexico, 285 miles southeast of Mexico City. It had a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 before being revised to 5.7.
Reuters reports that the epicenter of the earthquake was Miahuatlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.
…
This is a developing story.
Full Story Mexico Earthquake: 5.7 Magnitude Quake Strikes Oaxaca, Mexico.
Bernie Kerik’s Jail Sentence Should Start Immediately Says Prosecution
Federal prosecutors say former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik should go directly to jail when he’s sentenced next week.
Kerik pleaded guilty in November to eight felonies, including lying to the White House and filing false tax returns. He has been free, awaiting sentence, since Nov. 10.
He is expecting to get 27 to 33 months behind bars.
Full Story Bernie Kerik’s Jail Sentence Should Start Immediately Says Prosecution.
“But I’m Not Wrong”: Bill Maher Talks Teabaggers, Mark Sanford, And Fake Patriotism In His New HBO Special (EXCLUSIVE CLIP)
Bill Maher’s ninth stand-up special airs this Saturday on HBO, and we have an exclusive clip!
In the special, Maher’s going to address whether the “Great Recession” is really over; the fake patriotism of the right wing; what goes on in the mind of a terrorist; why Obama needs a posse instead of the secret service; the drug war; Michael Jackson; getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan; racism; the Teabagger movement; religion; the healthcare fight; why Gov. Mark Sanford will come out looking good, and how silly it is to ask “Why do men cheat?”; and why comedy most definitely didn’t die when George Bush left office.
As a sneak peek, check out Bill take on god and Rocky all in the same punchline.
WATCH:
Toyota Prius Recall 2010: Company Begins Worldwide Brake Recall On Flagship Hybrid
Toyota is recalling 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide to fix brake problems – the latest embarrassing safety lapse at the world’s largest automaker.
“I don’t see Toyota as an infallible company that never makes mistakes,” President Akio Toyoda said at a news conference Tuesday. “We will face up to the facts and correct the problem, putting customers’ safety and convenience first.”
The number of vehicles recalled globally by Toyota Motor Corp. now has ballooned to 8.5 million, including for floor mats that can trap gas pedals and faulty gas pedals that are slow to return to the idle position. The 2010 model of the Prius – the world’s top-selling hybrid and Japan’s top-selling car – wasn’t part of the earlier recalls.
There have been about 200 complaints in Japan and the U.S. about a delay when the brakes in the Prius were pressed in cold conditions and on some bumpy roads. The delay doesn’t indicate a brake failure. The company says the problem can be fixed in 40 minutes with new software that oversees the controls of the antilock brakes.
“Let me assure everyone that we will redouble our commitment to quality as the lifeline of our company,” Toyoda said.
Full Story Toyota Prius Recall 2010: Company Begins Worldwide Brake Recall On Flagship Hybrid.
Colbert: “Sarah Palin Is A F–king Retard”
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Sarah Palin Uses a Hand-O-Prompter | ||||
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Time For Wall Street CEOs To ‘Earn Back’ America’s Trust
Elizabeth Warren:
Bailout watchdog and middle-class advocate Elizabeth Warren is accusing Wall Street CEOs of abusing the public’s trust and is challenging them to step up and support financial reform — for the nation’s benefit as well as their own.
In an opinion piece in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, Warren writes that the lack of strong consumer rules has set off a competition to see which firms can make the most profits by tricking the most consumers.
For years, Wall Street CEOs have thrown away customer trust like so much worthless trash.
Banks and brokers have sold deceptive mortgages for more than a decade. Financial wizards made billions by packaging and repackaging those loans into securities. And federal regulators played the role of lookout at a bank robbery, holding back anyone who tried to stop the massive looting from middle-class families. When they weren’t selling deceptive mortgages, Wall Street invented new credit card tricks and clever overdraft fees.
Full Story Elizabeth Warren: Time For Wall Street CEOs To ‘Earn Back’ America’s Trust.
Ben Nelson To Filibuster Key Obama Labor Nominee
In a move that will further irritate his Democratic critics, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced on Monday evening that he would not just oppose but also help filibuster President Barack Obama’s nominee to a key labor relations agency
In a statement from his office, the Nebraska Democrat announced that he would oppose cloture for Craig Becker’s appointment to the National Labor Relations Board, all but assuring that confirmation won’t take place.
“Mr. Becker’s previous statements strongly indicate that he would take an aggressive personal agenda to the NLRB, and that he would pursue a personal agenda there, rather than that of the Administration,” said Senator Nelson. “This is of great concern, considering that the Board’s main responsibility is to resolve labor disputes with an even and impartial hand. In addition, the nominee’s statements fly in the face of Nebraska’s Right to Work laws, which have been credited in part with our excellent business climate that has attracted employers and many good jobs to Nebraska. Considering these matters, I will oppose the upcoming cloture motion and the nomination.”
Full Story Ben Nelson To Filibuster Key Obama Labor Nominee.
Overhaul’s Failure Will Ignite U.S. Health Mergers
- Insurers, drugmakers and hospitals will likely slash costs and merge companies to maneuver through a U.S. health-care landscape marked by rising medical expenses and the loss of millions of potential paying customers.
With Congress’ sweeping overhaul of the health system stalled, industry will seek its own answers to a push by government and the private sector to rein in costs, said Curtis Lane, senior managing director at MTS Health Partners, a New York-based equity fund. An aging U.S. population will spur demand for services and, at the same time, boost pressure to control spending, he said.
One solution will be increased consolidation, with companies led by WellPoint Inc., the biggest U.S. insurer by enrollment, and Community Health Systems Inc., the largest publicly traded hospital chain, scooping up rivals unable to “spread rising costs across fewer customers,” said Paul Keckley, of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
Full Story Overhaul’s Failure Will Ignite U.S. Health Mergers (Update2) – Bloomberg.com.
Buying Spree Nets China Stakes in Top U.S. Firms
Flush with cash despite the global economic downturn, China’s sovereign wealth fund quietly snapped up more than $9 billion worth of shares last year in some of the biggest American corporations, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup.
Although most of the stakes were small, China Investment Corp., the government’s $300 billion investment fund, now owns stock in some of the best-known American brands, including Apple, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola and Visa, David Barboza and Keith Bradsher report in The New York Times.
The detailed list, which contained holdings totaling $9.6 billion as of Dec. 31, was disclosed Friday in a filing with the Unites States Securities and Exchange Commission; it lists stakes only in companies traded in the United States.
Full Story Buying Spree Nets China Stakes in Top U.S. Firms – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com.
OPS: ….so they can buy our ‘elected’ offices from the village to Federal levels
Top House Republicans throw cold water on health-care summit
Leading House Republicans raised the prospect Monday night that they might refuse to participate in President Obama’s proposed health care summit if the White House chooses not to scrap the existing reform bills and start over.
In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) expressed frustration at reports that Obama intends to put the Democratic bills on the table for discussion at the Feb. 25 summit.
“If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate,” Boehner and Cantor wrote.
Full Story 44 – Top House Republicans throw cold water on health-care summit.
OPS: Cowards. After getting bitch-slapped by Obama in their previous televised Q&A they are afraid. Obama turned on the light and the vermin are running for cover
Beer May Be Good For Your Bones
If you downed one too many while watching the Super Bowl, here’s at least one reason to hold your head high: Drinking beer can be good for your health.
But seriously, a new analysis of 100 commercial beers shows the hoppy beverage is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for bone health.
Though past research has suggested beer is chockfull of silicon, little was known about how silicon levels varied with the type of beer and malting process used. So a pair of researchers took one for the team and ran chemical analyses on beer’s raw ingredients. They also picked up 100 commercial beers from the grocery store and measured the silicon content.
Full Story Beer May Be Good For Your Bones – Yahoo! News.
Obama admin. demands justification for health insurer’s 39 percent rate hike
Insurer spent nearly $9.5 million lobbying against health reforms; CEO’s annual salary tops $10 million health care money Obama admin. demands justification for health insurers 39 percent rate hike It’s an issue that strikes at the core of America’s health reform debate: How much should one have to pay to ensure their health care needs are met?
Now take that price and inflate it by up to 39 percent — just to get a feel for what it is like to be one of roughly 800,000 Anthem Blue Cross customers in California who hold individual policies.
The company said its dramatic rate hike would take effect on March 1.
Full Story Obama admin. demands justification for health insurer’s 39 percent rate hike | Raw Story.
OPS: Ask your teabagging wingnuts if they can name a Republican that would stand up for them like this
As Blair blasts Iraq ‘conspiracy’ hunt, British officials eye Bush, aides
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants the public to believe that his motives in helping the United States invade Iraq were completely pure.
The reasons for an inquiry into his government’s actions, he argued during a recent interview, stem merely from an “obsession” to uncover a grand “conspiracy” to take the two nations to war.
But it’s not just Blair who should be sweating the British inquiry. UK officials are also considering interviews with Bush administration officials, The Washington Post noted Monday evening.
Full Story As Blair blasts Iraq ‘conspiracy’ hunt, British officials eye Bush, aides | Raw Story.
Shelby releases most of his blanket hold, but continues to block three military nominees.
Last week, media reports revealed that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) had placed a blanket hold on all of President Obama’s pending executive nominations, holding up more than 70 nominees, including those for top national security positions. Shelby’s obstructionist move was an effort to gain leverage for two defense projects in his home state. Following aggressive pushback from the White House and negative media attention, Shelby announced yesterday that he was relenting on his blanket hold, which he acknowledged as an effort “to get the White House’s attention on two issues.” But as Marcy Wheeler notes, he is still holding three key military positions hostage:
– Terry Yonkers, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment, and Logistics (Nominated August 4, 2009)
– Frank Kendall, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (PDUSD) for Acquisition and Technology (Nominated August 6, 2009)
Full Story Think Progress » Shelby releases most of his blanket hold, but continues to block three military nominees..
OPS: Like the Filibuster (in it’s current form) here is another relic that is past it usefulness.
Why Layoffs are Not Beneficial to Companies
Contrary to popular belief, downsizing, even in the midst of a recession, does not pay, according to University of Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeiffer.
Contrary to popular belief, downsizing, even in the midst of a recession, does not pay, according to University of Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeiffer.
Writing in Newsweek magazine, Pfeiffer makes the case that oftentimes laying off employees proves to be more detrimental than beneficial for the company, the economy and the worker losing his or her job in the long-run.
“Much of the conventional wisdom about downsizing—like the fact that it automatically drives a company’s stock price higher, or increases profitability—turns out to be wrong,” he writes. “There’s substantial research into the physical and health effects of downsizing on employees—research that reinforces the seemingly hyperbolic notion that layoffs are literally killing people. There is also empirical evidence showing that labor-market flexibility isn’t necessarily so good for countries, either.”
Full Story Why Layoffs are Not Beneficial to Companies | Economy In Crisis.
Why Our Manufacturing Can’t Compete
Demand It Be Changed Now!
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement – We must change it or get out!
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – We must change it or cancel it!
The foreign value added tax (VAT) – We must negate its effects on us or implement our own VAT!
Our “free trade” policies have allowed other countries to use unfair tactics to put our industries out of business. Theoretically these nations are committed to opening their markets to our goods – but they are not as foolish as we are to allow that to happen in an uncontrolled way.
Our trade treaties should protect our country from predatory foreign countries seeking to weaken or destroy American industry. To that end, tariffs should be erected where needed and where practical, as was our policy and procedures in the past. Experience has shown that it is futile to expect other countries to adopt our policies on, for instance, fair and free competition.
Full Story Why Our Manufacturing Can’t Compete | Economy In Crisis.
U.S. Economy Cannot Evolve Without its Backbone
Despite reports of the manufacturing sector expanding for the sixth month in a row in January, the nation’s industrial decline is readily apparent in the fact that manufacturing makes up just 12 percent of the economy, down from a post-war high of 28 percent in 1953.
Without a strong and vibrant manufacturing base, the U.S. economy will continue to weaken over time. Throughout history, manufacturing has been the backbone of any strong nation.
“The reality is, in recent times, every great empire has been built on a manufacturing economy,” Lynn Tilton, CEO of Patriarch Partners, told Yahoo News‘ Tech Ticker. “The fall of every empire has been the failure to remember that one fundamental fact.”
Full Story U.S. Economy Cannot Evolve Without its Backbone | Economy In Crisis.
Obama’s Secret Police
An obscure executive order has been misconstrued and now the blowback has reached all the way to Congress.
How a radical conspiracy theory traveled from the Tea Party movement to the US Congress.
Does Obama want to impose martial law to shut down the Tea Party movement?
For months, much of the right-wing blogosphere has been fuming about Executive Order 12425, which Obama amended in mid-December. The one-paragraph document grants Interpol, the international law enforcement agency based in France, special privileges within the United States—mainly immunity from the Freedom of Information Act and from lawsuits over activity considered part of its official duties. It’s no secret police conspiracy.
But thanks to Glenn Beck, the National Review, Newt Gingrich, and others, this obscure directive has fueled a firestorm of right-wing paranoia. Conservative activists warn that Obama intends to use Interpol as a “secret police” with the power to knock down doors and arrest law-abiding American citizens. No matter that Interpol agents don’t even carry guns and have no right to arrest people, or that its American office boasts all of five people. And the hysteria over the executive order is not confined to the Tea Party movement. It has also reached the highest levels of politics—that is, the US Congress.
Full Story Obama’s Secret Police | Mother Jones.
OPS: Executive Order 12425 was enacted in 1983, by then President Ronald Reagan
Children of Hate
Sonia Scher,
Shortly after white supremacist James von Brunn’s fatal shooting attack this spring at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., his 32-year-old son issued a statement to ABC News in which he denounced his father’s ideology and described the devastating impact it had had on his family.
“My father’s beliefs have been a constant source of verbal and mental abuse my family has had to suffer with for many years,” he said. “His views consumed him, and in doing so, not only destroyed his life, but destroyed our family and ruined our lives as well.”
Erik von Brunn’s repudiation of his father’s bigotry runs counter to the conventional wisdom that virulent racists will produce children like themselves. Indeed, the movement has its share of parent-child notables, including neo-Nazi leaders Tom and John Metzger, white supremacists Don and Derek Black, and Klan/skinhead organizers Ron and Steven Edwards. But the younger von Brunn is hardly alone in rejecting a parent’s beliefs — and experts say that’s no surprise.
Full Story Children of Hate | Southern Poverty Law Center.
OPS: Here’s a short video of how easy it is: Simple Brain Washing
False Profits: We Will Be Suffering from Greenspan and Bernanke’s Ineptitude for a Long Time
An $8 trillion housing bubble fostered by the Federal Reserve has burst, and with it much of the wealth of America’s middle class.
As the nation struggles to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the people who got us here are desperately
working to rewrite history. The basic story of this economic collapse is very simple. The Federal Reserve Board, guided by its revered chairman, Alan Green span, allowed an $8 trillion housing bubble to grow unchecked.
Arguably, the Fed even fostered the bubble’s growth, seeing it as the only source of dynamism in an economy that was suffering from the aftershocks of the collapse of a $10 trillion stock bubble. Greenspan repeatedly insisted that the housing market was just fine, even as a small group of economists and analysts raised concerns about the unprecedented run-up in house prices. He also dismissed concerns about the questionable mortgages the banks were issuing on a massive scale during the bubble years. In fact, he even encouraged people to take out adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) at a time when fixed-rate mortgages were near a 50-year low.
The US Economic Crisis: Jobs Continue to Vanish While the Media Applauds “Recovery”
At first glance it appeared there was a typo in the headlines. The national media reported that, in January, another 20,000 more jobs were lost. Somehow, the unemployment rate dropped, from 10 percent to 9.7 percent. Nobody thought this paradox was worth explaining; instead, the media’s attitude was “more good news” about the economy.
But there was other evidence of an obliterated job market hiding behind the cheerful headlines. After revising the employment numbers in 2009, The New York Times reported, “…the economy lost 150,000 jobs in December, far more than the 85,000 initially reported.” Overall in 2009, the adjusted numbers showed an additional “…1.36 million fewer jobs…” (February 5, 2010).
And yet the unemployment rate dropped. One reason this happened is that the U.S. government uses a separate, more unreliable survey to calculate the unemployment rate, in contrast to the survey used to calculate job losses. There are other more important ways the government obscures the unemployment numbers: if you are no longer receiving unemployment benefits you’re not counted as unemployed; if you’ve given up looking for a job, you’re not counted either. You are counted, however, if you are working only 15 hours a week, or if you’re a temporary worker.
Full Story The US Economic Crisis: Jobs Continue to Vanish While the Media Applauds “Recovery”.
Towards a Russia -China -Iran Military Alliance?
Will Iran become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization?
The new secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Muratbek Sansyzbayevich Imanaliev, said at a news conference in Beijing earlier this week that the conflict in Afghanistan and expanding the SCO’s members to include Iran and Pakistan were the top issues on the SCO’s agenda in 2010. Certainly, these issues are likely to dominate preparation for the SCO’s annual summit, which will take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan sometime this coming summer.
The SCO was founded in 2001 by six original members: Russia and China along with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Formally, the SCO was created to institutionalize the founding members’ ongoing cooperation on border security, counterterrorism, and fighting extremist and separatist activism, as well as for economic cooperation. More broadly, the SCO has established itself as an increasingly important factor in Central Asian affairs, Sino-Russian relations, and the formation of an international “coalition”—loosely organized around Beijing and Moscow—opposed to what its members see as excessive U.S. unilateralism.
In 2004, Mongolia became the first state to receive observer status in the SCO; in 2005, Iran, India, and Pakistan were also granted observer status in the SCO. If one includes the populations and territorial extent of the four observer states along with those of the six core members, the SCO has become the world’s largest regional security organization, in terms of the number of people and the amount of territory it covers. Among other things, the inclusion of Iran, India, and Pakistan as observers significantly expands the SCO’s already considerable latent potential to exert influence over the development and marketing of Central Asia’s oil and gas resources.
Full Story Towards a Russia -China -Iran Military Alliance?.
How Wall St Destroyed Private Medicine
Paul Craig Roberts -
At my annual check-up, my doctor handed me a sheet explaining the reasons for office fee increases for Medicare Patients. It is worth reporting at length.
Medicare fixes the prices for Medicare patients' health care. All office charges for Medicare, including office visit charges, have been set by the Federal government since 1984. In real terms (adjusted for inflation), these fixed prices are less today than they were three decades ago.
During the last four years, there have been large decreases in Medicare reimbursements for laboratory services provided in-house by private physicians. Payments for in-office blood work, for example, have been cut 35 to 47 percent. Yet, a physician's overhead continues to increase as a result of uncontrollable costs, such as property taxes, building insurance, electricity, maintenance, malpractice and workers compensation insurance.
Full Story How Wall St Destroyed Private Medicine by Paul Craig Roberts on Creators.com – A Syndicate Of Talent.
Tax Cuts HURT Small and Medium Businesses
Much of the public believes that tax cuts “create jobs.” A recent Rasmussen poll found that 59% of voters believe cutting taxes is better than increasing government spending as a job-creation tool. This proves that repeating a slogan over and over can effect what people believe.
But here is some news: Corporate taxes are on profits. So a tax cut means that the more profitable companies — the Wal-Marts, Exxons, and other giants — benefit. They pay back less to the government for their use of the roads, schools, courts, police, fire & military protection and all the other services that helped them get so big and powerful. So the giant monopolistic corporations that are chewing up small businesses, destroying local and regional retailers, take those tax cuts and use them to turn themselves into even better small-business-destroying machines.
For example, giants like Wal-Mart are destroying local and regional retailers. But it is the Wal-Marts, not the local and regional retailers that are the beneficiaries of tax cuts. They already have every advantage in the world and tax cuts are just more ammunition helping them destroy the small and medium businesses that are the job engine of our economy. This is why the “usual suspects,” the politicians who get their campaign funds from the giant companies and work with lobbyists for the largest corporations and the right-wing talk show hosts who always advocate what the largest companies want are the ones who always advocate corporate tax cuts as the solution to everything.
Full Story Tax Cuts HURT Small and Medium Businesses | OurFuture.org.
The Fast Hardening of Soft Fascism in America
In Last Rites for the USA, Cindy Sheehan addresses the substantial erosion of U.S. democracy by oligarchy. The freshest hell, as Sheehan sees it — an ultimate tipping point, she claims, in tearing away ANY illusion of democracy — is the Supreme Court’s recent aggressive decision to expand “personhood” rights and protections of corporations in relation to campaign financing.
“Corporations have long held sway over our government and the soft fascism of corporate control has been running things behind the scenes.”
Sheehan points out that the oligarchs no longer need to lurk behind the “soft fascism” curtain to achieve their grotesquely ambitious goals. That had been soft fascism for decades, she contends. The corporatists presume to operate in front of the curtain now, thanks to the near unanimous, bi-partisan (or post-partisan in the darkest, Orwellian sense) cronyism — of the across-the-moral-divide enabling of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of this, our formerly representative, democracy.
Full Story The Fast Hardening of Soft Fascism in America | Corrente.
Lehman Brothers Examiner Files Sealed Report on Probe
An examiner probing Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s 2008 failure filed under seal his report investigating whether banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays Plc triggered or improperly benefitted from Lehman’s $639 billion bankruptcy.
Examiner Anton Valukas said today in court filings he would ask a judge for help in making the report public if people he interviewed didn’t consent to lift their demands for confidentiality. The report is about 2,200 pages excluding appendixes, and divulges so much “protected information” that it would be impractical to black out those parts before publication, he said.
Valukas, 66, spent a year and $34 million probing the failure of the fourth-largest investment bank by interviewing more than 100 people and scrutinizing more than 10 million documents, according to filings.
Full Story Lehman Brothers Examiner Files Sealed Report on Probe (Update2) – BusinessWeek.
What to Say to Those Who Think Single Payer Advocates Are Wacko
What do we say to our more conservative friends, who genuinely think that the Single Payer solution to our health care crisis would be a disaster? Try what follows. In the end, you may simply agree to disagree. That’s O.K., but what follows may give them pause to think.
Already, 60% of all our health care dollars come directly or indirectly (because employers insurance premiums are tax deductible) from the taxpayer. The care of our oldest neighbors are financed by Medicare, i.e. the taxpayers. The care of our disabled neighbors is financed by Medicaid. Ditto the care of our poorest neighbors who, because health follows wealth, are also at greater risk of high expense. Fourteen hundred insurance companies, at significant expense, stratify the rest of the population by “risk”. Their top-secret formula results in them covering the employed people, small groups, and individuals who can prove that they are at low risk. What about the others? When those who can’t afford the premiums get sick, go bankrupt, and can’t pay their bills, “we” all pay for it in higher charges. Furthermore, employer-paid premiums are tax deductible which means insurance company profits are subsidized by the taxpayer.
As near as I can tell, this is a big taxpayer rip-off. Additionally, our non-system is fraught with numerous perverse incentives that result in more care, but not necessarily better care. Physicians must share a significant part of the blame here, but that’s a different, though important, discussion. Addressing these perversities is problematic because we don’t have a Health Care System we have For-Profit Sick Care Non-System that, to extent that it has any design at all, is designed to serve the for-profit insurance and the pharmaceutical industries. Perverse incentives work for those who profit from them. They don’t work for patients or those who pay the bills, i.e., taxpayers.
Full Story What to Say to Those Who Think Single Payer Advocates Are Wacko | CommonDreams.org.
Incentives to going ‘off grid’ bring power to the people
The price of power has always been a political issue — but now campaigners argue it could be the key to starting a green energy revolution.
On February 1, the British Government announced details of the rates that will be paid for renewable power generated by homeowners and communities.
Called the Clean Energy Cashback, or feed-in tariff (FIT), the aim is to provide an above-market bonus that will encourage individuals and groups to invest in solar panels, wind turbines and other forms of green power.
Full Story Incentives to going ‘off grid’ bring power to the people – CNN.com.
War, Budgets and Blind Ambition
CHRIS FLOYD
The Limited Minds of the American Elite
The American elite’s unbounded, unquestioned, indeed unconscious sense of imperial entitlement and dominance — based ultimately on war, the threat of war and the profit from war — is one of the defining characteristics of our age. And if you would like to see a glaring example of this attitude in action, look no further than the front page of Tuesday’s New York Times, where one David Sanger gives us his penetrating “news analysis” of the Administration’s just-announced $3.8 trillion budget.
Sanger focuses on the huge, continuing deficits that the budget forecasts over the next decade. Completely ignoring the plain truth that his own expert source tell him later in the story — that “forecasts 10 years out have no credibility” — Sanger boldly plunges forward to tell us just what it all means. You will not be surprised to hear that the upshot of these big deficits is that neither Obama nor his successors will be able to spend any money on “new domestic initiatives” for years to come. But let’s let Sanger, savant and seer, tell it in his own words:
“In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power.
Full Story Chris Floyd: War, Budgets and Blind Ambition.
The Budget Deficit Crisis Puzzle
Dean Baker -
The country faces a serious crisis in the form of a manufactured crisis over the budget deficit. This is a crisis because concerns over the size of the budget deficit are preventing the government from taking the steps needed to reduce the unemployment rate. This creates the absurd situation where we have millions of people who are unemployed, not because of their own lack of skills or unwillingness to work, but because people like Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke mismanaged the economy.
The basic story is very simple and one that we have known since Keynes. We need to create demand in the economy. The problem is that, as a society, we are not spending enough to keep the economy running at capacity. Prior to the collapse of the housing bubble, the economy was driven by booms in both residential and nonresidential construction. It was also driven by a consumption boom that was in turn fueled by the trillions of dollars of ephemeral housing bubble wealth.
Full Story t r u t h o u t | The Budget Deficit Crisis Puzzle.
Democracy Inc.
Editorial, The Nation
The Citizens United campaign finance decision by Chief Justice John Roberts and a Supreme Court majority of conservative judicial activists is a dramatic assault on American democracy, overturning more than a century of precedent in order to give corporations the ultimate authority over elections and governing. This decision tips the balance against active citizenship and the rule of law by making it possible for the nation's most powerful economic interests to manipulate not just individual politicians and electoral contests but political discourse itself. As such, it demands a vigorous response, uniting progressive activists and good-government reformers of every stripe along with those conservatives who are also troubled by the decision. We must now fight for legislative and constitutional remedies to this threat to the American experiment.
By awarding to corporations the rights of citizens when it comes to electioneering, the Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission goes against the intent and understanding of founders like Chief Justice John Marshall, who referred to the corporation as an “artificial being, invisible, intangible”; and Thomas Jefferson, who warned almost two centuries ago that America must “crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” Dissenting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke as a strict constructionist when she declared during oral hearings on the case that “a corporation, after all, is not endowed by its creator with inalienable rights.” Unfortunately, the majority dismissed Ginsburg’s wise counsel and issued what Senator Russ Feingold, the Wisconsin Democrat who chairs the Constitution Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, correctly characterized as a “lawless” decision. President Obama was right on point when he said, “I can’t think of anything more devastating to the public interest. The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.”
Full Story Democracy Inc..
Another Wall Street Retread Rehired
- Matt Taibbi -
John Thain is getting a second chance.
CIT Group Inc. tapped the former Merrill Lynch CEO to become its chairman and chief executive.
Thain brokered Merrill’s sale to Bank of America as the credit crisis peaked in the fall of 2008, but was then pushed out the door after the deal closed as controversy swirled around bonus payments and mounting losses at the investment bank.
via News from The Associated Press.
Man, exactly what do you have to do to become unhirable in this country? Eat Christian babies on CNN?
John Thain is the dope who was buying himself an $87,000 area rug as his company was going bust. He became a symbol for brainless greed on Wall Street just in time to complete a tortured sale of Merrill to Bank of America in which billions in losses were somehow kept hidden from BofA shareholders.
Full Story Another Wall Street Retread Rehired – Matt Taibbi – Taibblog – True/Slant.
Sen. Ted Kaufman: Congress, Not the Regulators, Must Draw Hard Lines
Since the financial meltdown in 2008, America and Congress have remained stuck at a crossroads. Not since the Great Depression of the 1930's have we experienced a financial and economic crisis of such magnitude that it forces us, as a society and lawmaking body, to reconsider the legal and institutional underpinnings of our financial system.
The history of our nation shows that we have been at this crossroads before — at times we have made the right decision, while sadly at others, we have made the wrong one.
Throughout the 19th Century — and the early part of the 20th — the complacency of government and the contrivances of powerful moneyed interests prevented us from achieving fundamental reform of our financial and monetary structures.
Full Story Sen. Ted Kaufman: Congress, Not the Regulators, Must Draw Hard Lines.
U.S. sends a message by stepping up crackdown on foreign business bribes – washingtonpost.com
Federal authorities want companies to know that the cost of paying bribes to win overseas contracts is growing steeper by the day.
Long a priority of the FBI and the Justice Department, efforts to police corrupt business payments have intensified in recent weeks, with multimillion-dollar corporate settlements and coordinated arrests of individual executives accused of attempting to grease the skids.
On Friday, BAE Systems, the world’s second-largest defense contractor, agreed to pay $400 million to resolve decade-old allegations that it misled the Defense and State departments about its efforts to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The law bars companies from bribing government officials to win lucrative contracts and other favorable treatment.
Full Story U.S. sends a message by stepping up crackdown on foreign business bribes – washingtonpost.com.
OPS; Kabuki?
With the Euro Falling, US Recovery Is Under Threat
Intensified fears over government debt in the eurozone are pushing the euro weaker against the dollar. The G7 achieved nothing over the weekend, the IMF is stuck on the sidelines, and the Europeans are sitting on their hands at least until a summit on Thursday. There is a lot of trading time between now and then — and most of it is likely to be spent weakening the euro further.
The UK also faces serious pressure, and there is no telling where this goes next around the world — or how it gets there.
There may be direct effects on the US, as our banking system remains undercapitalized. Or the effect may be through making it harder to export — one of the few bright spots for the American economy over the past 12 months has been trade. But this is unlikely to hold up as a driver of growth if the euro depreciation continues.
Full Story Simon Johnson: With the Euro Falling, US Recovery Is Under Threat.
Scariest Chart EVER: Loss Severity, Subprime First-Lien
This chart shows the loss severity for subprime first-lien mortgage loans in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut). Loss severity is defined as the average size of a loss if one occurs. A loss occurs when a foreclosed home sells for less than what the borrower owes to the mortgage lender. The amount of that loss includes the costs to foreclose and liquidate, as well as taxes and declines in property value. This report uses all securitized nonprime mortgage loans from First American CoreLogic’s Loan Performance data set
NOTE: in this chart read 0.7 as 70%
Full Story Alea | Scariest Chart EVER: Loss Severity, Subprime First-Lien.
House Democrats support letting Bush tax cut expire, but see it as tough sell
House Democrats say leadership has their work cut out in convincing the public to support a tax increase on those making more than $250,000.
Centrists and liberal Democrats told The Hill they support allowing President Bush’s tax cuts on those making more than $250,000 to expire, but said leaders must win public support by portraying the tax increase as reducing the nation’s record budget deficit.
“I believe there is a message from back home that is loud and clear: do something about these out of control deficits,” said Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), a centrist whose district was won in 2008 by GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).
“Failure to address that would produce the worst consequence for the country and therefore the worst consequence politically,” Pomeroy said.
Full Story House Democrats support letting Bush tax cut expire, but see it as tough sell – TheHill.com.
Harry Reid ready for Recess Appintments
Harry Reid ready to play at recess
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used to consider recess appointments “an end run around the Senate and the Constitution” — so much so that he kept the chamber open during breaks to prevent President George W. Bush from making any more of them.
But with a Democrat in the White House, and Republicans blocking executive branch nominees, Reid and his allies are starting to sing a different tune.
Reid said last week that he’s “tried hard” to avoid the need for President Barack Obama to make recess appointments, but he added: “What alternative do we have?
Full Story Harry Reid ready to play at recess – Manu Raju – POLITICO.com.
Support High For Strong Campaign Finance Legislation: Poll
In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that corporations can spend an unlimited amount of money on political campaigns, the landscape has grown ripe for the passage of strict campaign finance legislation.
Support is incredibly high for reforms currently being considered by Congress to stem the tide of corporate involvement in elections, according to a poll released on Monday by a bipartisan group of firms.
From the study released by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research in conjunction with McKinnon Media for Common Cause, Change Congress and the Public Campaign Action Fund:
Full Story Support High For Strong Campaign Finance Legislation: Poll.
Exclusive: Sebelius Says Obama Will ‘Accelerate’ Health Care Reform After Bipartisan Meeting
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Monday that President Obama is willing to “add various elements” to health care legislation suggested by Republican lawmakers during an upcoming bipartisan meeting on the topic. But he won’t change the entire plan and he is “absolutely not” hitting the reset button on the legislative process, the former Kansas governor insisted.
In a brief interview with the Huffington Post following a speech to an audience of health care professionals, Sebelius said that the president views the bipartisan meeting as a needed pivot to move reform forward. Asked if he will expedite the legislative process following his various sit-downs with congressional Republicans, she replied:
“I certainly think so. I think he sees this as a step to actually accelerating the process forward. He wants to move forward. He wants a bill at his desk and he sees this as kind of closing the loop and let’s go.”
Full Story Exclusive: Sebelius Says Obama Will ‘Accelerate’ Health Care Reform After Bipartisan Meeting.
Bachmann’s Plan: To Deal With Debt, We Must ‘Wean Everybody’ Off Social Security, Medicare
This past weekend, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) addressed the right-wing Constitutional Coalition’s annual conference in St. Louis. She had dropped out of the Tea Party Convention occurring on the same day in Nashville to make the appearance.
Speaking to a small group of conference attendees and ThinkProgress during lunch on Saturday, Bachmann outlined how the Republican Party and its 2012 nominee must address the national debt. Bachmann referenced Glenn Beck, who falsely warned about a $107 trillion in supposed “unfunded liabilities” from Social Security and Medicare. She then called for a “reorganization” of entitlements where people “already in the system” would continue to receive benefits, but “everybody else” would be weaned off:
BACHMANN: Is the country too big to fail? No, the country can fail. We can, we’re not invincible. And we’re so close now to being at that point because the thing is, as Glenn Beck said last night, it is true. The $107 trillion that he put on the board. We’re $14 trillion in debt, but that doesn’t include the unfunded massive liabilities. That’s $107 trillion, and that’s for Social Security and Medicare and all the rest. You add up all those unfunded net liabilities, and all the traps that could go wrong we’re on the hook for, and what it means is what we have to do is a reorganization of all of that, Social Security and all. We have to do it simply because we can’t let the contract remain as they are because the older people are going to lose. So, what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system, that don’t have any other options, we have to keep faith with them. But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off. And wean everybody off because we have to take those unfunded net liabilities off our bank sheet, we can’t do it. So we just have to be straight with people. So basically, whoever our nominee is, is going to have to have a Glenn Beck chalkboard and explain to everybody this is the way it is.
Full Story Think Progress » Bachmann’s Plan: To Deal With Debt, We Must ‘Wean Everybody’ Off Social Security, Medicare.
OPS: Bachmann proving again that she is clueless - and does not understand what the Debt is and where it comes from.
Globalization Is Killing The Globe: Return to Local Economies
Thom Hartmann -
Globalization is killing Europe, just as it’s already wiped out much of the American middle class.
Spain and Greece are facing immediate crises that many other European nations see on the near horizon: aging boomer workers are retiring with healthy benefit packages, but the younger workers who are paying for those benefits aren’t making anything close to the income (or, therefore, paying the taxes) that their parents did.
Globalists/corporatists/conservative “free market” and “flat earth” advocates say this is a great opportunity to cut benefits for the old folks (and for the young folks in the future), thus bringing the countries budgets back into balance, and this story is the main corporate media storyline.
But it overlooks the real issue (and the real solution): how globalization is killing these nations’ economies and what can be done about it.
Full Story Globalization Is Killing The Globe: Return to Local Economies | CommonDreams.org.
What More Damage to Expect from Roberts Court?
Campaign case may have set course for Supreme Court
As the Supreme Court nears the midpoint of its annual term and prepares to hear several momentous cases, one question looms: Will the justices’ split decision reversing past rulings and allowing new corporate spending in political races set the tone for the term, or will Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission be an exception?
“Is this a turning point?” asks Pamela Harris, director of Georgetown Law’s Supreme Court Institute. Harris notes that Chief Justice John Roberts’ concurring opinion in the campaign-finance case defended reversing past rulings that have been, as Roberts wrote, “so hotly contested that (they) cannot reliably function as a basis for decision in future cases.”
“That is an incredibly muscular vision of when you would overrule precedent,” which usually guides justices in new cases, Harris says. “That makes it look like this is a court that’s ready to go.”
Full Story Campaign case may have set course for Supreme Court – USATODAY.com.
In a Message to Democrats, Wall St. Sends Cash to G.O.P
If the Democratic Party has a stronghold on Wall Street, it is JPMorgan Chase.
Its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is a friend of President Obama’s from Chicago, a frequent White House guest and a big Democratic donor. Its vice chairman, William M. Daley, a former Clinton administration cabinet official and Obama transition adviser, comes from Chicago’s Democratic dynasty.
But this year Chase’s political action committee is sending the Democrats a pointed message. While it has contributed to some individual Democrats and state organizations, it has rebuffed solicitations from the national Democratic House and Senate campaign committees. Instead, it gave $30,000 to their Republican counterparts.
The shift reflects the hard political edge to the industry’s campaign to thwart Mr. Obama’s proposals for tighter financial regulations.
Full Story In a Message to Democrats, Wall St. Sends Cash to G.O.P. – NYTimes.com.
How to Get Our Democracy Back: “If We Want to Change, We Have to Change Congress”
Democracy NOW!
In a cover story of The Nation magazine, Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig writes, “At the center of our government lies a bankrupt institution: Congress. Not financially bankrupt, at least not yet, but politically bankrupt.” He goes on to argue that, “Congress is the core of the problem with American democracy today. In a single line: There will be no change until we change Congress.”
Video, transcript, audio and MP3 download
Full Story How to Get Our Democracy Back: Lawrence Lessig Says “If We Want to Change, We Have to Change Congress”.
Study links sugary soft drinks to pancreas cancer
People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have a much higher risk of pancreatic cancer, an unusual but deadly cancer, researchers reported on Monday.
People who drank mostly fruit juice instead of sodas did not have the same risk, the study of 60,000 people in Singapore found.
Sugar may be to blame but people who drink sweetened sodas regularly often have other poor health habits, said Mark Pereira of the University of Minnesota, who led the study.
Full Story Study links sugary soft drinks to pancreas cancer – Yahoo! News.
Papantonio: Obama – A Populist at Last
President Obama announced that he was beefing up funding for the Small Business Administration, which is expected to increase job creation. But the biggest opponent is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Mike Papantonio appears on Fox Business's Happy Hour to talk about why the Chamber must be stopped in order to create sustainable jobs in America.
Plug-in Hybrids: Renewable Energy Solution of the Month
Many people seem to think dealing with climate change will bring poverty and limit human development.
The truth may be exactly the opposite. Moving to a world of where we aren't fighting each other over the last few drops of oil, where energy is free, will mean a better life, with greater opportunities even for an expanding population. If we make the right decisions, we could be on the verge of the most prosperous period in human history.
Costa Rica Elects 1st Woman President In Landslide
Costa Ricans have elected their first woman president as the ruling party candidate won in a landslide after campaigning to continue free market policies in Central America’s most stable nation.
With most of the votes from Sunday’s election counted, Laura Chinchilla held a 22-point lead over her closest rival. Her 47 percent share of the vote was well beyond the 40 percent needed to avoid a run-off.
The 50-year-old protege of the current president, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oscar Arias, promised to pursue the same economic policies that recently brought the country into a trade pact with the U.S. and opened commerce with China.
Full Story Laura Chinchilla: Costa Rica Elects 1st Woman President In Landslide.
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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. 
