Archive for February, 2010
McConnell Tries To Insist The GOP Isn’t Obstructionist: ‘It Is Simply Not True’
Today on Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tried to insist that his party has not been obstructionist. To prove his point, he quoted recent remarks by President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV):
McCONNELL: Look, in terms of whether or not we’re at a gridlock, I would like to quote the President of the United States himself, who said just a couple of months ago, “If we stop today” — this is the President — “If we stop today, this legislative session would have been one of the most productive in a generation.”
My counterpart, the Democratic leader, just last month in the first half of the 111th Congress: “We made significant progress. It is a long list of accomplishments.” [...]
MCCONNELL: [T]hey’re trying to spin the notion that we are stymieing everything they’re doing. It is simply not true based on the president’s own words.
Full Story: Think Progress » McConnell Tries To Insist The GOP Isn’t Obstructionist: ‘It Is Simply Not True’.
A Good Week For Science — and Insight into Politics
George Lakoff -
Over the past couple of weeks, the NY Times has been reporting on results from the cognitive and brain sciences that confirm past research in those fields partly by me and partly by my community of colleagues. What makes this of general, not personal, interest is that the scientific results are especially important for understanding what has been going wrong for the Obama administration and for liberals generally, and what has been going right for conservatives. I’m going to start out with some science, and get on to the politics after brief discussions of three important NY Times articles and what they mean scientifically.
It’s always satisfying for a scientist to see his or her predictions proved right experimentally (which happens often) and actually discussed in the press (which happens rarely). As a cognitive scientist and linguist, it’s been a good couple of weeks for me and my colleagues, especially in the NY Times. Experiments are hard to do and I celebrate all the experimenters cited. Experiments are also hard to report on, and I praise the journalists at the Times for a fine job.
Metaphor and Embodiment
Back in 1980, Mark Johnson and I, in Metaphors We Live By, demonstrated the existence of metaphorical thought and argued that metaphor and other aspects of mind were embodied. That book, and our 1987 books, my Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things and Mark’s The Body in the Mind, helped to start a cottage industry in the study of embodied cognition.
Full Story: A Good Week For Science — and Insight into Politics | CommonDreams.org.
Dean Baker: Incentives for Recovery
“No one could’ve seen this coming.” We heard that line over and over again as the economy crumbled around our ears. Yet many people DID see it coming, and Dean Baker was one of them. Co-Director of the Center for Economic And Policy Research, blogger at Beat the Press, and author of a new book, False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy
GRITtv: Dean Baker: Incentives for Recovery.
The NYT, a Mexican Billionaire, and JP Morgan Chase
This is a scandalous story, involving one of the world’s largest banks, a powerful federal judge, and two Mexican telecom giants. Under any other circumstances, the business section of the Times would be expected to cover it, as the Journal and Bloomberg have. Yet as of Saturday midday, I cannot find a single mention of any aspect of this case, anywhere in the physical New York Times
A little more than a year ago, when the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim increased his stake in the New York Times Company (NYT), I wrote “I pity the Times Mexico bureau chief who has to tiptoe through who is and isn’t out of favor with the paper’s new sugar daddy.” Now we have a very clear example of how the Times treats Slim within its pages; it’s not pretty, and the journalistic compromise can be seen well beyond Mexico.
For the last several days, bloggers and many business news outlets have been revealing truly astounding details from a court case involving J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and two large Mexican telecom companies, one of which is Slim’s. Blogger Felix Salmon at Reuters was one of the earliest to cover this at length; his summary of the case gets right to the heart of it:
JP Morgan took one of its longest-standing clients in Mexico — Grupo Televisa — and tried to hand all of its secrets over to its biggest rival, Carlos Slim. And the way it tried to do that was by selling Slim a loan larded up with covenants which would essentially force Televisa to reveal any and all information to the holder of the debt.
via The NYT, a Mexican Billionaire, and JP Morgan Chase
Bearing False Witness
Forgive me my trespass, Steve Benen of Political Animal, for pasting so much of your post here, and readers, Washington Monthly is the place to go for Steve’s update on what’s happening in politics.
I don’t usually rip off so much of someone else’s writing, but this post concerns Pat Robertson. Pat Robertson is in my opinion an international criminal who uses religion as camouflage for his steady accumulation of personal power. [Kmareka's legal department says that the First Amendment still allows human beings to have an opinion. I'm so grateful. Thank you, Supremes.]
If Robertson was following Christian morality he might be constrained by the Ten Commandments. Namely, the ninth. The Bible, interestingly, doesn’t say straight out that it’s a sin to tell a lie. God’s Commandment is– ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor’. ‘Bearing false witness’ is perjury. It’s a malicious lie that ruins a life. It’s the provocation that gets someone killed.
via Bearing False Witness « Kmareka.com.
HAITI: Private Contractors ‘Like Vultures Coming to Grab the Loot’
- Critics are concerned that private military contractors are positioning themselves at the centre of an emerging “shock doctrine” for earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Next month, a prominent umbrella organisation for private military and logistic corporations, the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), is co-organising a “Haiti summit” which aims to bring together “leading officials” for “private consultations with attending contractors and investors” in Miami, Florida.
Dubbed the “mercenary trade association” by journalist Jeremy Scahill, author of “Blackwater: the Rise of the World’ Most Powerful Mercenary Army”, the IPOA wasted no time setting up a “Haiti Earthquake Support” page on its website following the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean country.
IPOA’s director Doug Brooks says, “The first contacts we got were journalists looking for security when they went in.” The website of IPOA member company, Hart Security, says they are currently in Haiti “supporting clients from the fields of media, consultancy and medical in their disaster recovery efforts.” Several other IPOA members have either bid on or received contracts for work in Haiti.
via HAITI: Private Contractors ‘Like Vultures Coming to Grab the Loot’ – IPS ipsnews.net.
Yet Another Congressman Questions 9/11
Congressman Jason Chafetz just said that we need to be vigilant and continue to investigate 9/11.
A nutjob, right?
Maybe.
But he joins quite a few other Congressmen:
According to the Co-Chair of the Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 and former Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, an FBI informant had hosted and rented a room to two hijackers in 2000 and that, when the Inquiry sought to interview the informant, the FBI refused outright, and then hid him in an unknown location, and that a high-level FBI official stated these blocking maneuvers were undertaken under orders from the White House(confirmed here)
Current Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy said “The two questions that the congress will not ask . . . is why did 9/11 happen on George Bush’s watch when he had clear warnings that it was going to happen? Why did they allow it to happen?”
Current Republican Congressman Ron Paul calls for a new 9/11 investigation and states that “we see the [9/11] investigations that have been done so far as more or less cover-up and no real explanation of what went on”
Current Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich hints that we aren’t being told the truth about 9/11
Former Democratic Senator Mike Gravel states that he supports a new 9/11 investigation and that we don’t know the truth about 9/11
Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chaffee endorses a new 9/11 investigation
Former U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Hamburg says that the U.S. government “assisted” in the 9/11 attacks, stating that “I think there was a lot of help from the inside”
Former U.S. Republican Congressman and senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, and who served six years as the Chairman of the Military Research and Development Subcommittee Curt Weldon has shown that the U.S. tracked hijackers before 9/11, is open to hearing information about explosives in the Twin Towers, and is open to the possibility that 9/11 was an inside job
And 9/11 Commissioners:
via Yet Another Congressman Questions 9/11.
Campaigning for State-Owned Banks
The public bank concept is gaining ground on the state level, attracting proponents across the political spectrum.
While bank bailouts fatten Wall Street, states continue to battle the credit crisis. In the search for innovative solutions, some political candidates are proposing that states generate their own credit by setting up their own banks.
State budgets for 2010 face the largest shortfalls on record, totaling $194 billion or 28 percent of state budgets; and 2011 is expected to be worse. Unemployment has already officially hit 10 percent, and many economists expect it to rise higher. Continued high unemployment will keep state income tax receipts at low levels and increase demand for Medicaid and other essential services states provide. The existing alternatives are spending cuts or tax increases, but both will just serve to make the downturn deeper. When states cut spending, they lay off employees, cancel contracts with vendors, eliminate or lower payments to businesses and nonprofit organizations that provide direct services, and cut benefit payments to individuals. The result is a reduction in overall demand. Tax increases also remove demand, by reducing the amount of money people have to spend.
Amanda Paulson, writing in The Christian Science Monitor, quotes Arturo Pérez, fiscal analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures, which released its survey of state budget situations in December: “Unless you’re North Dakota, you’re probably a state that has had some degree of difficulty or crisis involving finances. It’s the worst situation states have faced in decades, perhaps going as far back as the Great Depression in some states.”
via Campaigning for State-Owned Banks by Ellen Brown — YES! Magazine.
Gaza’s defiant tunnellers head deeper underground
They are threatened with drowning by the Egyptians and punitively taxed by Hamas. Our correspondent meets the Palestinian smugglers bringing oranges, car batteries and bottle tops to a territory under siege
They are the real resistance. They are the lung through which Gaza breathes. True, missiles must pass along their subterranean tracks, Qassam rockets, too, Kalashnikov ammunition, explosives. But by far the greatest burden of the tunnellers of Gaza is the very life-blood of this besieged little pseudo-Islamic statelet: fresh meat, oranges, chocolate, shirts, trousers, toys, cigarettes, wedding dresses, paper, entire motor-cars in four bits, car batteries, even plastic bottle tops. The tunnellers of Gaza are bombed by the Israelis, they die in their own collapsing tunnels – and now they face a new Egyptian wall, even the fear of drowning. Terrorists they may be to the Israelis – the promiscuous use of this word makes it fairly meaningless these days – but heroes they are to the Palestinians of Gaza. Rich ones, too, perhaps.
But right now, Abdul-Halim al-Mohsen is worried about the Egyptians. He sits by the spitting log fire near the shaft of his tunnel, turning his hands to the flames, breathing in the thick blue smoke, a vast white tent above him casting his fellow-tunnellers into Rembrandt-like shadow, half-faces, thick pullovers, bright flames amid the gloom, the generator purring in the corner.
“Of course I’m afraid of the Egyptian wall,” al-Mohsen says. “They will pour water down. How can we defeat this? We may drown.” He holds out the palms of his hands towards me in that familiar “what-can-we-do?” gesture of so many Palestinians – but he is speaking in a matter-of-fact voice. The tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egyptian frontier are a business, a professional’s game, Israel’s bombs a challenge rather than a problem. There’s even a four-truck miniature railway down one of the shafts. Money makes the wheels go round.
Report: Bush Lawyer (Yoo) Said President Could Order Civilians to Be ‘Massacred’ crimes
Michael Isikoff -
The chief author of the Bush administration’s “torture memo” told Justice Department investigators that the president’s war-making authority was so broad that he had the constitutional power to order a village to be “massacred,” according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility.
The views of former Justice lawyer John Yoo were deemed to be so extreme and out of step with legal precedents that they prompted the Justice Department’s internal watchdog office to conclude last year that he committed “intentional professional misconduct” when he advised the CIA it could proceed with waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques against Al Qaeda suspects.
The report by OPR concludes that Yoo, now a Berkeley law professor, and his boss at the time, Jay Bybee, now a federal judge, should be referred to their state bar associations for possible disciplinary proceedings. But, as first reported by NEWSWEEK, another senior department lawyer, David Margolis, reviewed the report and last month overruled its findings on the grounds that there was no clear and “unambiguous” standard by which OPR was judging the lawyers. Instead, Margolis, who was the final decision-maker in the inquiry, found that they were guilty of only “poor judgment.”
Consumers who buy individual health policies feel trapped
They have few options other than dropping coverage as insurers raise rates and slash benefits. Insurers blame the soaring cost of medical care and the churn of customers in the individual market.
Health insurers across the country are dramatically increasing rates and slashing benefits for many of the estimated 17 million consumers with individual insurance policies, while making it almost impossible to obtain affordable alternatives.
The problems have captured national attention as President Obama steps up his campaign in Washington for a healthcare overhaul and Congress investigates rate hikes of as much as 39% by Anthem Blue Cross in California.
Health insurers across the country are dramatically increasing rates and slashing benefits for many of the estimated 17 million consumers with individual insurance policies, while making it almost impossible to obtain affordable alternatives.
Full Story Consumers who buy individual health policies feel trapped – latimes.com.
Gingrich: GOP Should Be Bipartisan “Until We Finish Defeating The Left”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged a crowded hall of CPAC conservatives on Saturday to be “brave enough” to pursue “responsible, principled bipartisanship” even with the temptation of huge gains in the upcoming elections.
It was a type of message that would get a speaker booed off the CPAC stage, certainly after two straight days in which other speakers classified the Democratic agenda in terms best fit for third world despots. But Gingrich — who has long assumed the role of intellectual godfather of the modern conservative movement — was cheered for his plea, entering and exiting the hall to roars, clapping, and Rocky-theme music.
That’s because bipartisanship, as he defined it, was not ideological compromise. Rather, it was a means to hasten the GOP’s return to political power. Predicting that Republicans would take over both chambers of Congress in 2010 and the White House two years later, Gingrich declared:
Full Story Gingrich: GOP Should Be Bipartisan “Until We Finish Defeating The Left”.
Oklahoma declares anti-choice law posting details of women’s abortions online unconstitutional.
Last year, the Oklahoma legislature passed a controversial abortion law that mandated collecting personal details about every single abortion performed in the state and posting them on a public website. Although women wouldn’t have to disclose their name, address, or other specific identifying information, many were concerned that patients could still be revealed. The law was supposed to go into effect on Nov. 1, 2009, but delayed because of a legal challenge by the Center for Reproductive Rights. Yesterday, an Oklahoma County district judge ruled the law unconstitutional:
The court ruled that the bill passed by the legislature addressed too many disparate topics and therefore violated the Oklahoma Constitution’s “single-subject” rule which requires laws only address one topic at a time. [...]
The law also would have banned abortions based on a woman’s gender preference for her child; created new responsibilities for state health agencies to gather and analyze abortion data and enforce abortion restrictions; and redefined a number of abortion-related terms used in Oklahoma law. [...]
Direct action protests against Genetic Modification(GM) of food
Direct action protests against Genetically modification of food – from thrashing crops to going naked (spanish subtitles) Monsanto
Bad economies in states to worsen: governors
The already gloomy conditions of states’ economies are set to worsen, according to preliminary survey findings from the National Governors Association released on Saturday.
Barack Obama
“The situation is fairly poor for a lot of states around the country. In fact, most states,” Vermont Governor Jim Douglas, who is chairman of the association, said at a press conference at its annual meeting.
“What we’re finding out from a fiscal standpoint is that the worst is yet to come,” Douglas said.
In a survey conducted last week of 45 of the 50 states, the group found that states have $18.8 billion of budget gaps yet to be closed in fiscal 2010. This comes after they have already imposed measures to eliminate budget imbalances totaling $87 billion in the fiscal year, which for most started last summer.
In the budgets they are drafting for fiscal 2011, states foresee shortfalls of $53.6 billion and for fiscal 2012 $61.6 billion.
Full Story Bad economies in states to worsen: governors | Reuters.
Terrorism: the most meaningless and manipulated word
Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com -
Yesterday, Joseph Stack deliberately flew an airplane into a building housing IRS offices in Austin, Texas, in order to advance the political grievances he outlined in a perfectly cogent suicide-manifesto. Stack’s worldview contained elements of the tea party’s anti-government anger along with substantial populist complaints generally associated with “the Left” (rage over bailouts, the suffering of America’s poor, and the pilfering of the middle class by a corrupt economic elite and their government-servants). All of that was accompanied by an argument as to why violence was justified (indeed necessary) to protest those injustices:
I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual” . . . . Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.
Full Story Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.
What Are We Bid for American Justice?
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship -
That famous definition of a cynic as someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing has come to define this present moment of American politics.
No wonder people have lost faith in politicians, parties and in our leadership. The power of money drives cynicism deep into the heart of every level of government. Everything — and everyone — comes with a price tag attached: from a seat at the table in the White House to a seat in Congress to the fate of health care reform, our environment and efforts to restrain Wall Street's greed and prevent another financial catastrophe.
Our government is not broken; it's been bought out from under us, and on the right and the left and smack across the vast middle more and more Americans doubt representative democracy can survive the corruption of money.
Full Story What Are We Bid for American Justice? | CommonDreams.org.
Allied Bid for Obama to Remove US European Nuclear Stockpile
European NATO allies are to urge President Barack Obama to remove all remaining US nuclear weapons from European soil, as domestic pressure grows to rid its soil of outdated Cold War-era aerial bombs.
Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Norway will call “in the coming weeks” for more than 200 American warheads, mostly stocked in Italy and Turkey, to be taken back, a spokesman for Prime Minister Yves Leterme told AFP.
A joint proposal by the five NATO members will demand “that nuclear arms on European soil belonging to other NATO member states are removed,” Dominique Dehaene said.
Full Story Allied Bid for Obama to Remove US European Nuclear Stockpile | CommonDreams.org.
Bush Official Criticizes Obama For Killing Too Many Terrorists
Just how unpopular are President Barack Obama’s anti-terrorism policies with his Republican critics? Even when he’s killing terrorists they find flaws.
At a panel on national security policy at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, a prominent lawyer from the Bush administration’s Department of Justice said he was concerned that the higher number of terrorist executions taking place under Obama was compromising U.S. intelligence operations.
“Why have executions increased?” asked Viet Dinh, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and one of the authors of the USA Patriot Act. Citing a recent Washington Post article on the increased targeted killing of terrorists, Dinh complained that “the president and vice president expound this fact as a fact that they are actually successful in war.”
Full Story Bush Official Criticizes Obama For Killing Too Many Terrorists.
OPS: Apparently this piece of shit didn’t bother stating what the optimum number of terrorists is in the minds of Republicans.
Reid Offers Support For Public Option Through Reconciliation
Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Friday afternoon that he would work with other Democrats and the White House to pass a public option through reconciliation if that’
s the legislative path the party chooses.
“Senator Reid has always and continues to support the public option as a way to drive down costs and create competition,” said Reid aide Rodell Mollineau in a statement provided to the Huffington Post. “That is why he included the measure in his original health care proposal. If a decision is made to use reconciliation to advance health care, Senator Reid will work with the White House, the House, and members of his caucus in an effort to craft a public option that can overcome procedural obstacles and secure enough votes.”
This represents a major breakthrough for those Senators and activists who are pushing to get a public option considered via an up or down vote.
Reid has always been a proponent of the provision. But he has deflected questions about using reconciliation to get it into law citing a potential lack of votes needed for passage.
Full Story Reid Offers Support For Public Option Through Reconciliation.
Mercury: How To Get This Lethal Poison Out Of Your Body
If you are heavy, it could be making you sick and tired and age prematurely. And I don’t mean heavy with fat …
I mean heavy with heavy metals — like mercury!
Unfortunately, toxic mercury problems are common. Along with polar bears, beluga whales, ducks, otters, panthers, and all river fish as well as most large ocean fish, we humans are poisoning ourselves with mercury at ever increasing rates.
There’s no doubt about it, mercury is the most alarming, disease-causing source of environmental toxicity that I see daily in my practice. Many of patients have toxic levels of mercury — and they’re not alone. I personally suffered from mercury toxicity and chronic fatigue syndrome –which I cured myself from, in part by getting rid of the mercury in my body. So I know about this first hand.
Full Story Mark Hyman, MD: Mercury: How To Get This Lethal Poison Out Of Your Body.
Diabetes Drug Avandia Harms the Heart, Studies Find
Hundreds of people taking Avandia, a controversial diabetes medicine, needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports that recommend the drug be removed from the market.
The reports, obtained by The New York Times, say that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart. Avandia, intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, is known as rosiglitazone and was linked to 304 deaths during the third quarter of 2009.
“Rosiglitazone should be removed from the market,” one report, by Dr. David Graham and Dr. Kate Gelperin of the Food and Drug Administration, concludes. Both authors recommended that Avandia be withdrawn.
Full Story Diabetes Drug Avandia Harms the Heart, Studies Find – NYTimes.com.
Unsettled Mechanism of Supernova Detonation Gets a New Twist
Type Ia supernovae, often used to calibrate cosmological measurements, may arise from merging white dwarfs, after all
When stellar cataclysms known as type Ia supernovae flare up far across the universe, their brightness and consistency allow astronomers to use them as so-called standard candles to measure cosmological distances. Just over a decade ago, two teams used the supernovae to show that the universe is accelerating in its expansion due to the influence of dark energy, a shocking discovery that thrust type Ia supernovae into the astrophysical limelight. But how exactly did these cosmic mileposts come to be?
A type Ia supernova arises from the explosion of an ultradense stellar remnant known as a white dwarf, but it is less than clear how the white dwarf comes to ignite in a thermonuclear blast. The traditional view held that a white dwarf, locked in a binary pairing with another star, sucked matter from its companion, growing ever larger in size until it could no longer support its own weight. Once a white dwarf reaches the Chandrasekhar limit, roughly 1.4 times the mass of the sun, it contracts and explodes in a massive blast.
Full Story Make A History.
Watch “Elizabeth Warren On HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher” Video at mediaite
Elizabeth Warren On HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher
Full Story Watch “Elizabeth Warren On HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher” Video at mediaite.
Credit-Card Fees: the New Traps
Law Allows Some Aggressive Lender Tactics to Continue
A new federal credit-card law that takes effect Monday could erase billions of dollars a year in fees and interest charges paid by consumers. But card issuers are already deploying new tactics that could prove costly for even the most cautious cardholder.
The law made some important changes. Card companies must now tell customers how long it would take to pay off the balance if they only make the minimum monthly payment. Customers can only exceed their credit limit if they agree ahead of time to pay a penalty fee. And unless a cardholder misses payments for more than 60 days, interest-rate increases will affect only new purchases, not existing balances.
Banning these and other profitable tactics is expected to cost the card industry at least $12 billion a year in lost revenue, according to law firm Morrison & Foerster. This has sent the industry scrambling to find new sources of revenue. So get ready for higher annual fees, higher balance-transfer charges, and growing charges for overseas transactions.
Full Story Credit-Card Fees: the New Traps – WSJ.com.
Eliot Spitzer’s Tough Words For Obama: Reform Doesn’t Come From Bipartisanship (VIDEO)
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, MSNBC Washington Correspondent Norah O’Donnell, and “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane appeared on “Real Time With Bill Maher” Friday.
The panel weighed in on everything from Obama’s failure to communicate to financial reform, waterboarding, and Sarah Palin’s son who has Down Syndrome.
Spitzer had tough words for Barack Obama on and his constant search for bipartisanship. “Fundamental reform doesn’t come from bipartisanship. And it seems to me bipartisanship has become appeasement. Barack Obama won an election based on a set of principles. Fight for them.”
Full Story Eliot Spitzer’s Tough Words For Obama: Reform Doesn’t Come From Bipartisanship (VIDEO).
Jesus was ‘gay:’ Elton John
British pop superstar Elton John stirred controversy in a magazine interview Friday when he claimed that Jesus Christ was “gay.”
“I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems,” John said in an interview posted on the website of US celebrity news magazine Parade.
“On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don’t know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East — you’re as good as dead,” said John, who is gay.
Full Story AFP: Jesus was ‘gay:’ Elton John.
OPS: Well this’ll put a kink in your average Christian Colon
Dutch government falls over Afghan troop mission
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s coalition government collapsed on Saturday when the two largest parties failed to agree on whether to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this year as planned.
The fall of the government in the EU member country, just two days short of the coalition’s third anniversary, all but guarantees that the 2,000 Dutch troops will be brought home this year and will eventually prompt new parliamentary elections.
The collapse, the fourth for a cabinet led by Balkenende in eight years, throws into doubt the scope and timing of planned budget cuts for next year as the Dutch economy battles to emerge from the global downturn.
Full Story Dutch government falls over Afghan troop mission – Yahoo! News.
Obama: Social Security fix would be simple
President Barack Obama says Social Security is slowly running out of money but that it can exist well into the future with a slight fix.
The system is funded with a tax on earnings, up to $109,000 a year. Obama says lifting that cap to tax a larger share of income would be one way to extend the system of monthly payments for retirees. It also would be unpopular with some.
Without an adjustment, Obama said Social Security will start to run out of money in about 20 years as more people begin collecting benefits.
Obama spoke Friday at a town-hall meeting in Henderson, Nev., the home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Republicans are targeting Reid for defeat in November’s midterm elections.
Full Story Obama: Social Security fix would be simple – Yahoo! News.
OPS: WELL NO SHIT! Well hurray for the Big O! This is something many have been saying for years.(including, Hartmann, Sanders, Kucinich and echoed by OPS) Lift the CAP on Social Security so that Bill Gates pays into it just like the rest of us. ……Problem Solved – FOREVER!
Former Bush Treasury Secretary Describes Eric Cantor As A Policy Dunce
When it first came before the House of Representatives, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was defeated after House Republicans failed to deliver on their promised votes. At the time, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and other House Republicans circulated a plan that, instead of authorizing the government to purchase toxic assets, would have it ensure hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgages.
Cantor claimed that the plan “does not leave the American taxpayers with the bag and makes sure that Wall Street pays for this recovery.” However, as economist Robert Waldmann noted then, “I can’t manage to find any reason to doubt that the House Republicans’ plan would destroy the US financial system,” as it actually gave mortgage holders an incentive to push for defaults (since the U.S. would explicitly cover the losses).
As it turns out, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson didn’t think very much of Cantor’s plan either (or the GOP response to the economic crisis, as a whole), and in his memoir derides Cantor’s “unformed” proposal:
Full Story Think Progress » Former Bush Treasury Secretary Describes Eric Cantor As A Policy Dunce.
Fox News ambusher Griff Jenkins hypocritically cowers from interview: ‘Call the media relations people.’
Video – Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins, who often ambushes liberals for host Bill O’Reilly, appeared at CPAC this weekend to help cover the event for his network. When ThinkProgress found him, he was casually chatting with a gaggle of students about working at Fox News, and about conservatism in general. Asked about Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s ownership stake in News Corp — the parent company of Fox News — Jenkins dodged the question. Then, before ThinkProgress could continue the interview, Jenkins said any request for an interview had to be scheduled beforehand by his media relations personnel in New York:
JENKINS: I’m just covering CPAC for Greta, but listen, call the media relations people, we can do something about my coverage here, other than that, ask the media relations people.
[crosstalk]
TP: Do you ever extend that courtesy to the people you interview?
JEKINS: I gotta go buddy. [...]
REPORT: How Conservative And Progressive State Governments Are Dealing With Their Budget Crises
One of the major problems facing the nation’s economy are the budget crises being experienced by states all over the country. Ethan Pollack, an analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, estimates that “the combined shortfalls for state and local governments [is] $469 billion over the next three fiscal years.” Additionally, a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts finds that states are looking at a budget gap of nearly a trillion dollars for state worker pensions and other benefits.
State legislatures faced with these crises have a choice. They can choose the path of the “deficit peacocks,” who demand cutting social spending while ruling out tax increases on those who have benefited immensely from years of conservative policies.
However, at a time when the tax burden between the wealthy and the middle class is “narrower than at any time in modern history” they can instead look for ways to responsibly raise revenues while protecting their states’ spending on vital programs. Conservative and progressive state-led governments are approaching their problems with different policy solutions.
Pawlenty disregards Bachmann: ‘I don’t think anybody’s gonna’ try to ‘abolish or reduce’ entitlement programs.
Earlier this month, ThinkProgress reported a comment made by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) in favor of eliminating entitlement programs. To deal with the national debt, Bachmann suggested that the government should ultimately “wean everybody” off Social Security and Medicare. In this month’s edition of Esquire magazine, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) seemed to rebuke Bachmann’s call for eliminating entitlements, saying Republicans should never try to “abolish or reduce” Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid:
ESQ: Or how about the Social Security Act? Is Social Security a proper role of government? How are those programs materially different from the health-care reform that has been the focus of the president’s attention?
PAWLENTY: Well, in 1965 I was only five years old. I think if you look at Medicare and Medicaid, the premise was that government needs to provide some assistance to people who aren’t able to take care of themselves. I think we all share that goal, Republicans and Democrats. I don’t think anybody’s gonna go back now and say, Let’s abolish, or reduce, Medicare and Medicaid.
Understanding the Trade Deficit
Over the past 30 years, we have been giving dollars to foreign countries and they have been giving us finished consumer goods. They have given us luxury cars and we have given them the keys to our factories.
Foreign Companies Are Buying Out The US Through Our Trade Deficit
Over the past 30 years, we have been giving dollars to foreign countries and they have been giving us finished consumer goods. Some of those dollars have stayed abroad, some have come back to purchase interests in our companies, governments, and our factors of production. This has been evidenced by massive foreign direct investment especially over the past 15 years and massive net international investment deficits by the US over the same period. They have given us luxury cars and we have given them the keys to our factories.
The US Must Invest In Domestically Owned Tradable Production
When foreign countries decide to stop accepting dollars in exchange for consumer goods, what guarantee is there that they will come to this country to buy goods and services? We don’t make anything that they want now (as evidenced by the trade deficit). At the very least, we are not competitive now, what assurance is there that we will be competitive in the future? Will our labor rates and working conditions need to recede to those of China, India, or Mexico? How will we pay for this? What will we do, we don’t produce the goods we need. How long will it be before other countries are no longer willing to extend credit to us?
Full Story Understanding the Trade Deficit | Economy In Crisis.
What the U.S. can Learn From Germany – Video
The following is part eight of a 30 minute interview with Eamonn Fingleton.
Award winning author and economist Eamonn Fingleton discusses how the German economy operates in comparison to the U.S
What the U.S. can Learn From Germany | Economy In Crisis.
PleaseRobMe website reveals dangers of social networks
A website called PleaseRobMe claims to reveal the location of empty homes based on what people post online.
The Dutch developers told BBC News the site was designed to prove a point about the dangers of sharing precise location information on the internet.
The site scrutinises players of online game Foursquare, which is based on a person’s location in the real world.
PleaseRobMe extracts information from players who have chosen to post their whereabouts automatically onto Twitter.
“It started with me and a friend looking at our Twitter feeds and seeing more and more Foursquare posts,” said Boy Van Amstel, one of PleaseRobMe’s developers.
Full Story BBC News – PleaseRobMe website reveals dangers of social networks.
CEO politicians Runing the country like a Bottom-line Business
For generations the government was expected to do whatever it could to provide for its people. Now, it is expected to do whatever it can to support businesses and create more corporate profits.
The movement of business interests into the halls of government is not a new phenomenon. However, the belief that government should be run with a sort of “business mentality” is a stark contrast to what we are used to seeing in the United States in the past 230 years.
For decades, generations even, the government was expected to do whatever it could to provide for its people. Now, it is expected to do whatever it can to support businesses and create more corporate profits. Instead of having our soldiers fight our wars, we outsource the job to private firms. Instead of having state-run banks oversee lending and provide to borrowers when necessary – as is the case with the Bank of North Dakota – we have motley assortments of private banks working without much of the regulation needed to keep them afloat.
George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, was the first president whose only claim to academic fame was a prestigious M.B.A degree. After having generals, doctors, scholars, and attorneys at the head of the nation for its entire history, the United States was being led by someone groomed for a Board of Directors.
Full Story CEO politicians Runing the country like a Bottom-line Business | Economy In Crisis.
OPS: So the Question becomes:
Are the Government and Corporations here to serve the People, or, are the People here to serve the Government and Corporations?
America’s Priciest Steak Houses Still Serving Factory-Farmed Beef
Free range and grass fed at Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris and BLT Steak House? Sadly, that’s a tall order, one that appears too rare for the tastes of these popular dining destinations.
You have to wonder why when considering the health of loyal customers lapping up 10 ounces of beef in one sitting, washing down the seared flesh of a hormone-induced, antibiotic-injected feed lot animal with a glass of bold Cabernet.
Most of the high-priced U.S. haunts of meat connoisseurs cite several excuses for not making the shift to ethically raised, drug-free, grass-fed cattle, which scientists tell us are much healthier animals at market, and healthier food on our plates and in our bodies.
For Morton’s, the rationale in selling Midwest grain-fed prime is widespread availability and consistency of flavor. It’s the wonderful flavor, it says, which has famous athletes and businesspeople seeking out the ritzy restaurants in the towns they visit.
“We have to have a consistent product because we ship all over the world to 76 owned and operated steak houses,” explains Roger Drake, Chief Communications Officer. “Beef is 80 percent of what we sell and we have to have the availability. With organic I know you don’t always have that availability. ”
Full Story America’s Priciest Steak Houses Still Serving Factory-Farmed Beef | Food | AlterNet.
Texas Suicide Flyer Had Real Populist Grievances
Joe Stack’s suicide screed chafes and exposes a raw wound this country does not know what to do with.
Joe Stack’s suicide screed chafes and exposes a raw wound this country does not know what to do with.
Liberals are dismissing Stack’s rant as a brutal anti-government battle cry — “Tea Party on steroids.” Conservatives are dismissing it as the petulant whine of a “victim” who couldn’t hack capitalism.
The tortured manifesto cannot be credibly labeled as left- or right-wing. Rather, it’s a non-partisan screed against problems roiling the Republic — and Stack’s head — for years. A crippled economy dominated by political and corporate potentates. A campaign and election system rotted by special interests and money. Byzantine tax laws that baffle small business owners and individuals.
History haunts Stack’s crime and screed. His crime consciously mimics 9/11. And his suicide note recalls the Great Depression.
“I remember reading about the stock market crash before the ‘great’ depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows,” Stack wrote. “Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s ‘business-as-usual.’ Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes.”
Full Story Texas Suicide Flyer Had Real Populist Grievances | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.
School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home
The school district admits that student laptops were shipped with software for covertly activating their webcams, but denies wrongdoing.
According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools’ administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins’s child was disciplined for “improper behavior in his home” and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.
If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don’t know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while I’m getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on. The idea that a school district would not only spy on its students’ clickstreams and emails (bad enough), but also use these machines as AV bugs is purely horrifying.
Full Story School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home Boing Boing.
OPS: The Corporations are going to love this. Wait till they get involved….
U.S. Military in Colombia- drastic increase in militarization
In the fall 2009, U.S. and Colombian officials signed an agreement granting the U.S. military access to seven Colombian bases for ten years. (Watch the 21min. video about the agreement)
SOA Watch is extremely concerned about the drastic increase of U.S. militarization in Latin America. The bases agreement operates from the same failed military mindset that has given rise to the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC). The purpose of the bases and the purpose of the SOA/ WHINSEC are the same: to ensure U.S. control over the region through military means.
Already, the SOA/ WHINSEC is deploying “Mobile Training Teams” to Colombia and other Latin American countries, that train hundreds of soldiers annually. Over 10,000 soldiers of the Colombian military (the military with the worst human rights record in the Americas) have received SOA/ WHINSEC training and used the lessons learned in their brutal war that has left thousands dead and millions displaced.
Full Story U.S. Military in Colombia- drastic increase in militarization « COTO Report.
DOJ Report on Torture Memo: Yoo Said Bush Could Order Civilians “Exterminated”
For background on Jason Leopold’s extensive work on the Yoo/Bybee torture memo report please see here, here, here, and here. Leopold will also be writing a through analysis of the voluminous report this weekend.
A long-awaited report into the legal memos former Justice Department attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee prepared for the Bush administration on torture was released Friday afternoon and concluded that the men violated “professional standards” and should be referred to state bar associations where a further review of their legal work could have led to the revocation of their law licenses.
But career prosecutor David Margolis, who reviewed the final version of the report, changed the disciplinary recommendations to “exercised poor judgment.” [There are three versions of the report, all of which can be found here.]
That means Yoo and Bybee will not be punished for having fixed the law around Bush administration policy that allowed the CIA to subject suspected terrorists to torture techniques, such as waterboarding, beatings, and sleep deprivation, as the report notes.
Full Story t r u t h o u t | DOJ Report on Torture Memo: Yoo Said Bush Could Order Civilians “Exterminated”.
Will They Raise the Retirement Age to 91?
That seems to be the implication of a comment made by Alan Simpson, who along with Erskine Bowles, are the tag team that President Obama has appointed to deal with the growing deficit.
These two characters seem to think the only way the deficit problem can be solved is by increasing taxes or cutting back on Social Security payouts. There is very little coming out of their mouths about cutting the number of Federal government employees or cutting back on the wars being fought. Nope. They are just thinking about taking it out of the hides of the people.
From the tax angle, these guys are really hyping a value added tax.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend, they said:
Full Story EconomicPolicyJournal.com: Will They Raise the Retirement Age to 91?.
DOJ, FBI Close Investigation into 2001 Anthrax Attacks
The Department of Justice, the FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service on Friday announced they have formally concluded a nine-year investigation into the Anthrax attacks that occurred shortly after 9/11 that killed five people and left 17 others seriously ill.
According to a news release issued earlier Friday by the Justice Department:
Representatives of the FBI and Justice Department provided a 92-page investigative summary along with attachments to victims of the attacks, relatives of the victims and appropriate committees of Congress. This document sets forth a summary of the evidence developed in the “Amerithrax” investigation, the largest investigation into a bio-weapons attack in U.S. history. As disclosed previously, the Amerithrax investigation found that the late Dr. Bruce Ivins acted alone in planning and executing these attacks.
The investigative summary and the attachments are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the Justice Department Web site… under the Freedom of Information Act. In addition, roughly 2,700 pages of FBI documents related to the Amerithrax case are now accessible to the public and have been posted to the FBI website …under the Freedom of Information Act.
Full Story t r u t h o u t | DOJ, FBI Close Investigation into 2001 Anthrax Attacks.
OPS: They’re are letting Yoo and Bybee and other off the hook. Might as well clear off all of the old business. No sense letting the American Public know what really happened in any of this
Total refinery workers go on indefinite strike in France
Since February 17, workers at Total’s six oil refineries in France have gone on an indefinite nationwide strike to support their colleagues at Flanders refinery, near Dunkirk in northern France. The site faces permanent closure, threatening some 800 jobs. The strike may cause fuel shortages in France in coming days, as crude-processing operations shut down.
The strike began at Flanders refinery on January 12, and workers occupied the administrative offices of the Flanders refinery starting February 16. Workers are calling for production to restart at the refinery, which has stopped producing fuel products since last September. The refinery of Flanders—which represents 13 percent of Total’s refining capacity and directly employs 370 employees and 450 subcontractors—produces 137,000 barrels per day. Thirty percent of its production is exported to Europe, the United States and Africa.
Initially, four trade unions (CGT, SUD-Chimie, FO and the CFDT) called for a two-day strike at six French Total oil refineries for February 17-18.
Full Story Total refinery workers go on indefinite strike in France.
Bush administration lawyers John Yoo, Jay Bybee cleared on torture rap
The Justice Department is letting Bush administration lawyers off the hook for condoning the use of harsh interrogation techniques on terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks.
The investigation had brought outraged protests from former Vice President Dick Cheney and other defenders of Bush-era terrorist interrrogation methods.
John Yoo and Jay Bybee showed lousy judgment, but not professional misconduct by writing memos authorizing techniques such as waterboarding, the Justice Department report concludes, sources said.
Full Story Bush administration lawyers John Yoo, Jay Bybee cleared on torture rap.
Wake Up America: The Looming Threat of Terrorists in Small Aircraft… and Cars
David Lindorff -
The deliberate suicide crash bombing by a domestic terrorist pilot of a small plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas has exposed a grave failure of the Homeland Security Department to protect us Americans from the threat posed by the virtually unregulated use in this country of small aircraft.
Just about anyone can own and fly a small plane, and these, as we have now seen, are readily adaptable into kamikazi missiles capable of destroying large buildings.
If Homeland Security won’t act, then it is up to Congress to move quickly to tighten up security and control over small planes. We need to insist that anyone seeking a pilot’s license first submit to a full screening by the FBI. No one with a criminal record of any kind should be permited to fly or ride in a small plane. The same should be true with regard to all foreigners. Since it’s not possible to do a full check of the background of persons from other countries, only US citizens should be able to obtain and fly small aircraft within US airspace.
All civil air pilots and their passengers should be required to pass through meal detectors before entering an airfield. We don’t want them carrying hand grenades or other weapons onto their planes. Planes should also be subject to full searches by specially trained government inspectors before takeoff to be sure they have not been packed with explosives.
Full Story Wake Up America: The Looming Threat of Terrorists in Small Aircraft… and Cars | CommonDreams.org.
OPS: So now we have to take away guns a Civilian aircraft and …… cars. It’s only ‘logical’ 
PS: Don’t forget that bicycles have been used also. Better get them while were at it
When is a “Terrorist” Not a “Terrorist”? When He’s a White Texan and Not an Arab. Joe Stack.
If someone flew an airplane into a building full of people to protest the Afghan war, it would be called a terrorist incident. However, when Mr. Joe Stack flew his plane into an IRS building and killed people, the news media calls it. “the accident,” and “the incident.” The local Texas prosecutor and even the White House claimed specifically that Mr. Stack was not a terrorist.
But what should you call it when a man pens a manifesto proclaiming, “violence is the only answer,” then kills people because they work for the government? Mr. Stack’s wife apologized on the news to “everyone affected by the incident,” but was careful not to use the term “victim,” when referring to the people her husband murdered.
Regardless of the media’s politically correct posturing, the simple fact is this: Joe Stack was a suicide bomber, a domestic terrorist. Even though his name was Joe, and not Mohammed, and even though he was protesting taxes, not Israeli foreign policy, Mr. Stack was, a murderer of the innocent.
Full Story When is a “Terrorist” Not a “Terrorist”? When He’s a White Texan and Not an Arab. Joe Stack. | BuzzFlash.org.
The myth of the “liberal” Washington Post opinion pages
Media Matters for America -
There may be no better example of the absurdity of the “liberal media” myth than the widespread notion that the Washington Post’s opinion pages — and Fred Hiatt, the man who runs them — lean to the left.
The Daily Beast and Forbes magazine have both named Hiatt one of America’s five most influential liberal journalists — though the Daily Beast acknowledged that many liberals would question that assessment given Hiatt’s “near-neocon” views on foreign policy, while asserting “there is no doubt at all that he is a traditional liberal in all matters domestic.”
The assertion that a neocon — near or otherwise — is the nation’s fifth most influential liberal is self-evidently absurd. But that bizarre assessment isn’t limited to Tunku Varadarajan, the Scaife-funded Hoover Institution fellow who compiled both lists. NewsBusters’ Warner Todd Huston has called Hiatt a “socialist” — a kinder assessment than that of his colleague, Matthew Sheffield, who thinks the Post’s editorial page is merely “liberal.” Fellow NewsBuster Noel Sheppard expresses surprise when the Post publishes an op-ed that is “counter to leftwing economic dogma.” Tim Russert described the Post in 2006 as “hardly an organ for Republican views.”
Even the Post’s own media critic, Howard Kurtz, says that the paper’s editorial page is “left-leaning” and that “liberals are pretty well represented on the Post op-ed page” by, among others, Richard Cohen. For his part, Hiatt has insisted that the Post has “a pretty good balance on the oped page.”
So, the idea that the Post’s opinion operation is liberal is pretty well-entrenched, if not unanimously held. But is it true?
Full Story The myth of the “liberal” Washington Post opinion pages | Media Matters for America.
Science of Profit, Corporate Takeover of Science, Wake Up America #2
What influence has corporations and big Pharma had on science and government regulations via the FDA, NIH and CDC? Big money and conflicts of interest have changed the face of science and health care in America….more
Full Story YouTube – Science of Profit, Corporate Takeover of Science, Wake Up America #2.
Pharma corruption of medical science
Beatrice Golomb highlights pharma corruption at the science network. She presents Data from NIH, FDA and JAMA including a meta analysis which reveals that orchestrated pharma strategies disguise bad science to appear positive and certain. An example of multiple orchestration of conflict of interest, is charles Nemeroff now sacked from emory university.
Unfortunately the reaction by most working scientists to this manipulation is drawn out often with nothing happening. Shock first, a period of recovery followed by denial, then perhaps action years later. This gives pharma plenty of time to devise new manipulation strategies.
Beatrice a high status researcher, says it is now very difficult to judge the work of other scientists in regards to medical products. It's not the scientists that are fault, but what happens to their work afterwards.
for an up to date article on this Click Here
Teabaggers are a Cult, Not A Movement
BILL MAHER, NEW RULES 02/19/2010
“Now here’s an amazing statistic. In a recent poll almost ninety percent of Tea Baggers said that they thought taxes had either gone up or stayed the same under Obama. Only two percent thought they went down. But the reality is taxes have gone down… for ninety five percent of working families taxes went down.
Think about that. Only two percent of the people in a “movement” about taxes named after a tax revolt have the slightest idea what’s going on…with taxes.”
ACLU Sues USAID: Are We Exporting US Taxpayer-Funded Religion? | RHRealityCheck.org
On Thursday, February 18th, they filed a lawsuit against USAID for refusing to comply with their Freedom of Information Act requests from July and September 2009, for documents related to USAID-funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs abroad. The ACLU has patiently awaited documents that may help shed light on an audit completed last year suggesting USAID is dispersing money, unconstitutionally, for religiously-based HIV prevention programs.
The report, filed by the Office of Inspector General, surveyed 9 out of the 10 faith-based organizations using USAID funds and stated clearly that USAID-awarded funds were being used for religious activities.
For example, USAID monies fund abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for African youth that include “Biblical stories and religious messages.” What do these look like?
One curriculum, used for HIV/AIDS prevention education, includes an optional psalm for self-reflection: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.”
Full Story ACLU Sues USAID: Are We Exporting US Taxpayer-Funded Religion? | RHRealityCheck.org.
World’s top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report estimates
Report for the UN into the activities of the world’s 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost if firms were forced to pay for use, loss and damage of environment
The cost of pollution and other damage to the natural environment caused by the world’s biggest companies would wipe out more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable, a major unpublished study for the United Nations has found.
The report comes amid growing concern that no one is made to pay for most of the use, loss and damage of the environment, which is reaching crisis proportions in the form of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater, fisheries and fertile soils.
Later this year, another huge UN study – dubbed the “Stern for nature” after the influential report on the economics of climate change by Sir Nicholas Stern – will attempt to put a price on such global environmental damage, and suggest ways to prevent it. The report, led by economist Pavan Sukhdev, is likely to argue for abolition of billions of dollars of subsidies to harmful industries like agriculture, energy and transport, tougher regulations and more taxes on companies that cause the damage.
Full Story World’s top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report estimates | Environment | The Guardian.
Obama to Offer Health Bill to Ease Impasse as Bipartisan Meeting Approaches
President Obama will put forward comprehensive health care legislation intended to bridge differences between Senate and House Democrats ahead of a summit meeting with Republicans next week, senior administration officials and Congressional aides said Thursday.
Democratic officials said the president’s proposal was being written so that it could be attached to a budget bill as a way of averting a Republican filibuster in the Senate. The procedure, known as budget reconciliation, would let Democrats advance the bill with a simple majority rather than a 60-vote supermajority.
Congressional Democrats, however, have not yet seen the proposal or signed on.
Full Story Obama to Offer Health Bill to Ease Impasse as Bipartisan Meeting Approaches – NYTimes.com.
The Great Goldman Sachs Fire Sale of 2008
In an interview last week, President Obama said he didn’t begrudge Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorganChase, and Lloyd Blankfein, the head man at Goldman Sachs, their 2009 bonuses of $17 million and $9 million, respectively. He said that while $17 million was “an extraordinary amount of money,” there are “some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”
While one could argue that, metaphorically anyway, both Dimon and Blankfein made it to the World Series in 2009 — with Blankfein, whose firm earned $13.4 billion last year, being the M.V.P. — President Obama went one step further in trying to publicly support Wall Street by saying he knew both men to be “savvy businessmen,” and that “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth.”
Obama was of course simply repeating a bedrock principle of American capitalism that even the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression cannot dislodge. But one wonders if the president would be a bit more begrudging if he knew that at the height of the financial crisis, many of Goldman Sachs’s top deal-makers — although not Blankfein himself — moved quickly to unload their own stock in their firm. This happened both in March 2008, after Bear Stearns collapsed, and again that September, after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the near-unwinding of the rest of Wall Street.
Full Story The Great Goldman Sachs Fire Sale of 2008 – Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com.
Should Animals Be Genetically Engineered So They Don’t Feel Pain?
The New York Times had a very interesting Op-Ed Friday, which took an unusual approach to the concern that factory farms are inhumane. Adam Shriver, a doctoral student in the philosophy-neuroscience-psychology program at Washington University, makes the argument that the key to raising more humane meat isn’t changing the methods by which they are raised, but to genetically engineer them so they feel less pain from their conditions.
We are most likely stuck with factory farms, given that they produce most of the beef and pork Americans consume. But it is still possible to reduce the animals’ discomfort — through neuroscience. Recent advances suggest it may soon be possible to genetically engineer livestock so that they suffer much less.
Full Story Should Animals Be Genetically Engineered So They Don’t Feel Pain?.
State Pension Plans Face $1 TRILLION Shortfall: Pew Center
States may be forced to reduce benefits, raise taxes or slash government services to address a $1 trillion funding shortfall in public sector retirement benefits, according to a new study that warns of even more debilitating costs if immediate action isn’t taken.
The Pew Center on the States released a survey Thursday of state-administered pension plans, retiree health care and other post-employment benefits in all 50 states that blamed a decade’s worth of policy decisions for leaving them shortchanged.
The result for some states will be “high annual costs that come with significant unfunded liabilities, lower bond ratings, less money available for services, higher taxes and the specter of worsening problems in the future,” the study said.
Full Story State Pension Plans Face $1 TRILLION Shortfall: Pew Center.
Feinstein Seeks To Block Insurance Rate Increases Across The Nation
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Friday that she plans to introduce legislation that would bar insurance companies from enacting health insurance premium rate increases that the Secretary of the Health and Human Services deems to be unjustified.
The bill would create a national Medical Insurance Rate Authority, which would be able to prevent such increases. Feinstein’s announcement follows reports that Anthem Blue Cross had intended to jack up premiums for certain policyholders in California by as much as 39 percent.
A report published Thursday by HHS found that health insurance companies have requested dramatic premium hike increases over the past year in states beyond California — 56 percent in Michigan, 24 percent in Connecticut and 23 percent in Maine.
Full Story Feinstein Seeks To Block Insurance Rate Increases Across The Nation.
OPS: What about your war profiteering husband?
Crackdown on credit card provisions begins Monday
U.S. consumers will get long-awaited relief from some of the most costly and deceptive credit card tactics when the sweeping provisions of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 finally kick in on Monday.
The CARD Act, which President Barack Obama signed last May 22, dramatically changes the way card issuers can profit from plastic.
Instead of arbitrary rate hikes, exorbitant fees and murky calculations of interest charges, card companies must now be more transparent in establishing and disclosing the terms of their offerings, and, as a result, more prudent in the way they manage credit risk.
Full Story Crackdown on credit card provisions begins Monday | McClatchy.
2 Chinese Schools Said to Be Linked to Online Attacks
A series of online attacks on Google and dozens of other American corporations have been traced to computers at two educational institutions in China, including one with close ties to the Chinese military, say people involved in the investigation.
They also said the attacks, aimed at stealing trade secrets and computer codes and capturing e-mail of Chinese human rights activists, may have begun as early as April, months earlier than previously believed. Google announced on Jan. 12 that it and other companies had been subjected to sophisticated attacks that probably came from China.
Computer security experts, including investigators from the National Security Agency, have been working since then to pinpoint the source of the attacks. Until recently, the trail had led only to servers in Taiwan.
Full Story 2 Chinese Schools Said to Be Linked to Online Attacks – NYTimes.com.
Swiss prostitutes trained to use defibrillators in brothels to prevent clients dying
Swiss prostitutes are being trained to use defibrillators to prevent clients with heart problems from dying on them, it has emerged.
Brothel owners in the Lugano area say electric shock treatment to restart customer’s hearts is needed because so many elderly customers are using their services.
The most recent victim was a pensioner, thought to be having fun with the help of anti-impotence medication.
His death followed a series of other incidents, some fatal, in which heart attacks have claimed brothel customers in the area.
The owner of one sex club said: “Having customers die on us isn’t exactly good publicity”.
Full Story Swiss prostitutes trained to use defibrillators in brothels to prevent clients dying – Telegraph.
Microsoft to outsource general legal work to India
Software giant Microsoft will begin outsourcing general legal work to India after signing a deal with legal process outsourcing (LPO) company CPA Global. The news comes as CPA outlined plans to expand its Indian workforce from 600 to 1,000 by the end of 2011, and hinted at opening another outsourcing centre.
CPA said that it will be taking on ‘multi-jurisdictional legal research’ for Microsoft, but could not give further details, citing client confidentiality. Microsoft has outsourced intellectual property (IP) work to CPA since 2005, although no lawyers work on the IP team.
In June last year, Rio Tinto announced an outsourcing deal with CPA which the mining giant forecast would cut 20% from its annual legal spend. CPA lawyers review and draft contracts, undertake legal research and review documents on behalf of Rio Tinto. Leah Cooper, former managing attorney at Rio Tinto, joined CPA Global’s executive team this week. She will lead the strategy and development of CPA Global’s legal services outsourcing business.
Full Story Microsoft to outsource general legal work to India | The Law Gazette.
Panel approves Bible classes for public schools | Raw Story
Angel sent down’ to put Bible on Kentucky school curriculum, legislator says
A Kentucky state Senate committee has approved legislation allowing the Bible to be studied as a literary subject in public schools, a move that means the state will likely follow Tennessee, Texas and a handful of others in bringing the Christian text into the curriculum.
The bill, put forward by three Democratic state senators, orders the Kentucky Board of Education to draw up guidelines for teaching the Bible as a literary work in the context of “literature, art, music, mores, oratory and public policy,” reports the Louisville Courier-Journal. The Bible courses would be elective.
The bill passed the committee 12-0, and is expected to sail smoothly through the legislature. “It’s the kind of legislation that most Kentucky lawmakers dare not vote against, especially in an election year,” reports the Associated Press.
Full Story Panel approves Bible classes for public schools | Raw Story.
Tea Party organizer says she didn’t really want to kill lawmaker: ‘Nobody had a rope to hang Patty Murray.’
Last Saturday, a tea party gathering in Asotin County, Washington “turned more than a bit ugly” when an identified female speaker called for Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to be hanged. Dianne Capps, a local organizer of the Lewis & Clark Tea Party Patriots, has since confessed to being the speaker who made those remarks. Capps “initially denied to The Associated Press that she was the speaker.” But on Thursday night, she acknowledged she was, but claimed that the rest of the statement was that she wanted to “hang Patty Murray, by vote.” However, local news station KLEW said the unedited footage from the rally contains no statement from Capps about hanging Murray with votes. Watch KLEW’s initial report:
OPS: Isn’t it still a Felony to threaten to kill a Senator?
Poll: Large Number Of Texans Doubt The Theory Of Evolution, Believe In Human-Dinosaur Coexistence
A new University of Texas/Texas Tribune survey shows just how destructive a politicized right-wing curriculum can be. A large number of Texans polled said they still don’t believe in evolution and are convinced that humans and dinosaurs co-existed:
– 51 percent disagree with the statement, “Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals.”
– 38 percent agree with the statement, “God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago.”
– 30 percent agree with the statement, “Humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time.” Another 30 percent said they “don’t know” whether the statement is true.
To Create Jobs Protect Domestic Manufacturing
A new poll that shows that a plurality of Americans believe that the best way to create jobs at home is to protect domestic manufacturers.
The tide may be turning in opposition to America’s ill-thought out trade policies. Based on a new poll, evidence shows that a plurality of Americans believe that the best way to create jobs at home is to protect domestic manufacturers.
The poll, conducted by USA Today/Gallup, asked respondents the open-ended question, “In your opinion, what would be the best way to create more jobs in the United States?” The number one response: Protect domestic manufacturing.
Eighteen percent of respondents, without prompting, said that protection of manufacturing capabilities was the best solution to the jobs crisis. Protecting manufacturing jobs was the top response for 20 percent of Democrats, 18 percent of independents and 15 percent of Republicans. The poll also found that another 4 percent of respondents believe that raising taxes on imports and domestic procurement policies are the best methods to create domestic jobs.
Full Story To Create Jobs Protect Domestic Manufacturing | Economy In Crisis.
How the U.S. Economy Compares to Asian Nations
Award winning author and economist Eamonn Fingleton discusses how the U.S. economy compares to Japan and China’s
The following is part seven of a 30 minute interview with Eamonn Fingleton.
Full Story How the U.S. Economy Compares to Asian Nations | Economy In Crisis.
Outsourcing U.S. Jobs and Recruiting Cheap Temporary Labor
employers will sometimes forgo seeking out a qualified American worker and instead immediately seek to hire a foreign worker that can be hired at less than the prevailing wage.
For foreign workers in America on H-1B or L-1B visas, their guest worker status is more likely to put them on a path toward exploitation than permanent residency, a new report on the programs says.
According to the Ron Hira of the Economic Policy Institute, the fact that the H-1B and L-1B visa programs are temporary and under restrictive terms puts “workers in a precarious position that invites their exploitation, creates insecurity for them, and undermines the integrity of the labor market.”
One of the main problems with the program is the fact that guest workers need their employers to sponsor them for permanent immigration status. More often than not, this does not occur. Not only must an employer sponsor the guest worker for residency, except for special circumstances, the worker must also remain with the company that sponsored him or her for the guest worker status. If not, the guest worker's status is immediately terminated.
At the mercy of their employer, however, guest workers are often forced to contend with a pay rate below the prevailing wage, substandard living conditions, unnecessary fees to maintain their guest worker status and other abuses.
Full Story Outsourcing U.S. Jobs and Recruiting Cheap Temporary Labor | Economy In Crisis.
Fed seeks to Steady Markets after Rate Move
Markets fell in the morning after overnight futures collapsed, and the Federal Reserve announced a tightening of discount bank-to-bank lending rates. Using the turnout in Asia and Europe as a guide, markets in the U.S. should expect to close down today.
Wall Street gained again at the close yesterday, strengthening a weeklong rally on American investment markets. The Dow Jones led the way with a 0.81 percent (83.66 points) gain, followed closely by the NASDAQ (0.69 percent, 15.42 points), and the S&P 500 (0.66 percent, 7.24 points).
Unfortunately the gains from yesterday were not expected to stay alive during the morning today. Markets fell in the morning after overnight futures collapsed, and the Federal Reserve announced a tightening of discount bank-to-bank lending rates. Using the turnout in Asia and Europe as a guide, markets in the U.S. should expect to close down today.
In other news, the aforementioned rate increase by the Federal Reserve may be an indication of things to come.
Full Story Fed seeks to Steady Markets after Rate Move | Economy In Crisis.
Of High Treason and Economic Incompetence: The Reagan Years Revisited!
Len Hart -
Ronald Reagan was already a ‘grandfather’ figure when he came to office in 1981. It may be unfair to say that he won the election with a single phrase: ‘Well….there ya’ go again!’ In retrospect, it is all that one remembers of Reagan’s empty promises and equally empty platitudes! Those and a head nod won him the White House. It is this surface veneer we remember –not his cowardly refusal to assent to Mikhail Gorbachev’s offer of complete nuclear disarmament, not his two year long ‘depression’ which left millions homeless, not the act of ‘high treason’ called Iran/Contra.
Reagan was no friend of the poor, the working class, the cities. On numerous occassions, Reagan would offer up his own version of ‘let them eat cake’. Reagan implied that the poor were lazy and welfare recipients ‘crazy’. He invented –full cloth –a ‘welfare Grandma’ who drove a cadillac and had ripped off $150,000 from the government using 80 aliases, 30 addresses, a dozen social security cards and four fictional dead husbands. Many reputable journalists tried to find this ‘welfare cheat’! None succeeded! At last, they were forced to admit that this infamous ‘welfare cheat’ did not exist. She was either one Reagan’s bald-faced lies or one of his many psychotic delusions. I will be charitable to Reagan’s memory. She did not exist! Reagan was not nuts, he was just a common, goddamned liar! Tragically, the image stuck. Reagan might have known it would. The lasting image of the ‘Cadillac driving’ cheat was behind the 1996 ‘welfare reform law’ which the GOP stuck on Clinton who, to his shame, signed. It demonstrates the power of the ‘big lie’ technique which the GOP clearly learned from Hitler.
Of aids victims, he might as well have said what he really believed: ‘let them die and decrease the surplus population!’. Reagan is evidence if not proof that evil is what Nuremberg psychologist Dr. Gustav Gilbert said it was: ‘the utter lack of empathy!’.
Full Story The Existentialist Cowboy: Of High Treason and Economic Incompetence: The Reagan Years Revisited!.
Currency Manipulation Undermining U.S.
The 19,000 member U.S. Business and Industry Council said that after President Obama’s harsh rhetoric recently on currency manipulation, failure to act would further undermine U.S. bargaining power in trade relations with China.
A group of domestic manufacturers earlier this month called on President Barack Obama to back up his tough talk on currency manipulation with tangible action.
The 19,000 member U.S. Business and Industry Council said that after President Obama’s harsh rhetoric recently, failure to act would further undermine U.S. bargaining power in trade relations with China.
“If President Obama really wants to create more U.S. jobs by tackling China’s trade cheating, he’ll demand that Congress’s Democratic leadership immediately pass the strong currency-manipulation bill he endorsed as a presidential candidate,” USBIC President Kevin L. Kearns said in a press release on his group’s Web site. “Further delay will only make clear to all – including the Chinese – that Obama is all bark and no bite.”
Full Story Currency Manipulation Undermining U.S. | Economy In Crisis.
Obama Unveiling More Homeowner Aid
President Barack Obama will travel to Nevada on Friday to unveil a $1.5 billion plan designed to help struggling homeowners in states hit the hardest by the housing crisis.
With embattled Senate Majority Leader by his side, Obama will announce the plan which will be funded with leftover TARP money. The money will be allocated to state housing finance agencies in the five states – Nevada, California, Arizona, Michigan, Florida – where home values have fallen more than 20 percent since the housing crash began.
“President Obama recognizes the challenges facing our families in the nation’s housing markets, where local conditions vary considerably,” the White House said in a statement. “The legacy of price declines, together with the effects of high unemployment, means that many working- and middle-class families in these especially hard-hit areas are facing serious challenges, in many cases beyond what their families’ resources can handle.”
Full Story Obama Unveiling More Homeowner Aid | Economy In Crisis.
Tell Whirlpool: Enough is Enough!!
Across the Ohio River from Kentucky in Indiana is the city of Evansville. For years, American workers have made quality appliances at the Whirlpool factory there. Now, Whirlpool has decided to close this factory down and put 1100 more Americans out of work. It it even more outrageous the circumstances under which they plan to do so.
Yes, it seems as if the American worker are just too fat and sassy, despite the quality products they produce. From an email from Working America:
The Whirlpool Corp. is closing a refrigerator manufacturing plant in Evansville, Ind., putting more than 1,100 people out of work. Even worse, Whirlpool will continue to produce these refrigerators, but not in Evansville and not anywhere else in America. They are planning to manufacture them in Mexico, where weaker labor and environmental laws make them “cheaper” for Whirlpool to produce.
To make matters worse, Whirlpool has shown profitibility even manufacturing in the states. They also took millions of dollars that was set aside to help Americans recover from the economy the Republicans crashed into a ditch:
Full Story Hillbilly Report:: Tell Whirlpool: Enough is Enough!!.
Part III: Exposing Our Enemy – Meet the Economic Elite
..this is not a conspiracy theory, this is a conspiracy fact – but as a whole the Economic Elite are primarily united by ideology.
“The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes… As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong it’s reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.” – Abraham Lincoln
U.S. Elite:
- Institutions:
- Federal Reserve
- Business Council
- Bilderberg Group
- Conference Board
- Brookings Institute
- Advertising Council
- Heritage Foundation
- Trilateral Commission
- Business Round Table
- Chamber of Commerce
- Federal Trade Commission
- Council on Foreign Relations
- American Petroleum Institute
- American Enterprise Institute
- American Bankers Association
- Pharm Research & Manufacturers
- Public Relations Society of America
- American Psychological Association
- Project for a New American Century
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Committee for Economic Development
- National Association of Manufacturers
- Carnegie / Ford / Rockefeller foundations
- Military / Media / Prison Industrial Complex
I don’t view the Economic Elite as a small group of men who meet in secrecy to control the world. They do feature elements of conspiracy and are clearly composed of secretive organizations like the Bilderberg Group – this is not a conspiracy theory, this is a conspiracy fact – but as a whole the Economic Elite are primarily united by ideology. They’re made up of thousands of individuals who subscribe to an ideology of exploitation and the belief that wealth and resources need to be concentrated into the fewest hands possible (theirs), at the expense of the many.
Full Story Part III: Exposing Our Enemy – Meet the Economic Elite | Amped Status.
Roberts Versus Roberts
The New Republic –
Just how radical is the chief justice?
Last month, the Supreme Court handed down its most polarizing decision since Bush v. Gore. The 5-4 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission called into question decades of federal campaign finance law and Supreme Court precedents by finding that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend as much money as they want on election campaigns, as long as they don’t consult the candidates. It was precisely the kind of divisive and unnecessarily sweeping opinion that Chief Justice John Roberts had once pledged to avoid.
In 2006, at the end of his first term on the Court, Roberts told me and others that he was concerned that his colleagues, in issuing 5-4 opinions divided along predictable lines, were acting more like law professors than members of a collegial court. His goal, he said, was to persuade his fellow justices to converge around narrow, unanimous opinions, as his greatest predecessor, John Marshall, had done. Roberts spoke about the need for justices to show humility when dealing with the First Amendment, adding that, unlike professors writing law review articles, judges should think more about their institutional role. “Yes, you may have another great idea about how to look at the First Amendment,” he said, “but, if you don’t need to share it to decide this case, then why are you doing it? And what are the consequences of that going to be?”
Full Story Roberts Versus Roberts | The New Republic.
Mass. Says Federal Marriage Law Unconstitutional
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman interferes with her state's right to regulate the institution.
Coakley's office filed a lawsuit in July challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act. In papers filed late Thursday, Coakley asks a judge to deem the law unconstitutional without holding a trial on the lawsuit.
Coakley argues that regulating marital status has traditionally been left to the states. She also says the federal law treats married heterosexual couples and married same-sex couples differently on Medicaid benefits and burial in veterans' cemeteries.
Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage and is the first to challenge the law.
Full Story Mass. Says Federal Marriage Law Unconstitutional – NYTimes.com.
The Media-Lobbying Complex
President Obama spent most of December 4 touring Allentown, Pennsylvania, meeting with local workers and discussing the economic crisis. A few hours later, the state’s former governor, Tom Ridge, was on MSNBC’s Hardball With Chris Matthews, offering up his own recovery plan. There were “modest things” the White House might try, like cutting taxes or opening up credit for small businesses, but the real answer was for the president to “take his green agenda and blow it out of the box.” The first step, Ridge explained, was to “create nuclear power plants.” Combined with some waste coal and natural gas extraction, you would have an “innovation setter” that would “create jobs, create exports.”
As Ridge counseled the administration to “put that package together,” he sure seemed like an objective commentator. But what viewers weren’t told was that since 2005, Ridge has pocketed $530,659 in executive compensation for serving on the board of Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear power company. As of March 2009, he also held an estimated $248,299 in Exelon stock, according to SEC filings.
Moments earlier, retired general and “NBC Military Analyst” Barry McCaffrey told viewers that the war in Afghanistan would require an additional “three- to ten-year effort” and “a lot of money.” Unmentioned was the fact that DynCorp paid McCaffrey $182,309 in 2009 alone. The government had just granted DynCorp a five-year deal worth an estimated $5.9 billion to aid American forces in Afghanistan. The first year is locked in at $644 million, but the additional four options are subject to renewal, contingent on military needs and political realities.
Full Story The Media-Lobbying Complex.
There’s No Such Thing as a Free Market — Just a Matter of Who Pays for It
Raj Patel argues that the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis are the result of our bankrupt political system.
Raj Patel opens his new book, The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy, with Oscar Wilde’s observation that “nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Patel shows how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. Revealing the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger — as much as $200 — he asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our bankrupt political system. Searching for solutions, Patel goes back to basics in both economics and politics.
Raj Patel has worked for the World Bank and WTO and been tear-gassed on four continents protesting against them. He is a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Center for African Studies, a researcher at the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, a fellow at the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First) and the author of Stuffed and Starved. Though recently heralded as the Maitreya (or chosen one) by members of Share International, Patel protests he’s just an ordinary bloke.
Full Story There’s No Such Thing as a Free Market — Just a Matter of Who Pays for It | Economy | AlterNet.
Falkland Islands oil speculation could lead to another U.K.–Argentina showdown
Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina’s finest writer, dismissed the Falklands War of 1982 as “two bald men fighting over a comb,” but it killed almost a thousand British and Argentine soldiers, sailors and airmen anyway. So what would happen if the bald men started fighting over something really valuable, like oil?
Any day now a deep-sea drilling rig will arrive from Scotland and start searching for oil and gas in the North Falkland basin, about 150 km north of the islands. Optimistic predictions suggest that there are up to 60 billion barrels of oil to be found around the Falklands. There might also be not very much at all—but Argentina has begun issuing warnings and veiled threats again.
This may only be bluster, but Argentina has claimed the islands, which it calls the Islas Malvinas, for almost two centuries. The local population are all English-speakers, mainly of British descent, and back in 1982 the islands’ economy was based almost entirely on sheep. The Falklands had no value—but Argentina invaded anyway, because the military regime in Buenos Aires needed a boost in popularity and it looked like an easy win.
OPS: maybe we’ll all go broke before the Water Wars start
Exclusive: War in Iraq to Be Given New Name – Political Punch
ABC News has learned that the Obama administration has decided to give the war in Iraq — currently known as Operation Iraqi Freedom — a new name.
The new name: “Operation New Dawn.”
In a February 17, 2010, memo to the Commander of Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the “requested operation name change is approved to take effect 1 September 2010, coinciding with the change of mission for U.S. forces in Iraq.”
You can read the memo — a copy of which was sent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen – HERE.
Full Story Exclusive: War in Iraq to Be Given New Name – Political Punch.
OPS: A Crime Against Humanity by any other name…..
Top 1%: Lower Tax Rate Than Their Secretaries
Yes, there is a class war, Warren Buffett once said, and my class is winning. The IRS study of taxes paid in 2007 makes his point. The top 1% of taxpayers averaged about $138 million in income, and paid taxes at a rate of 16.6%.
As Buffett says, their secretaries pay a higher rate. No wonder Republicans and conservaDems like the much regretted Evan Bayh are fighting to lower the estate tax rate as part of a “jobs” bill. These folks will have a lot to put in the estate that’s never been taxed as income.
Ah, for the extremist liberal days of Ronald Reagan when capital gains were taxed at the same rate as income.
For a report on the IRS study, here's the WSJ David Wessel on the IRS Study
The top 400 U.S. individual taxpayers got 1.59% of the nation’s household income in 2007, according to their tax returns, three times the slice they got in the 1990s, according to the Internal Revenue Service. They paid 2.05% of all individual income taxes in that year.
In its annual update of the taxes paid by the 400 best-off taxpayers, who aren’t identified, the IRS also said that only 220 of the top 400 were in the top marginal tax bracket. The 400 best-off taxpayers paid an average tax rate of 16.6%, lower than in any year since the IRS began making the reports in 1992.
Full Story Top 1%: Lower Tax Rate Than Their Secretaries | OurFuture.org.
Pentagon Bracing for a Snap Offensive Against Venezuela
The US SOUTHCOM electronic surveillance base has been functioning in Aruba for several years. One day, an individual looking like a typical American, wearing shorts, a Hawaii shirt, and sunglasses, walked into it effortlessly and started roaming around. The US marines must have been too tired of the heat and assumed he actually was one of their countrymen – the base has been hosting numbers of visitors from the US recently amid the preparations for serious operations against Venezuela.
The visitor moved across the site with its standard blocks, glanced at the impressively proportioned radar and froze by the door to a large room with four giant screens in it. The screens were showing the contours of Venezuela’s Tachira and Zulia states and the locations of military installations, tank parks, aerodromes, and army bases as well as Venezuela’s industrial infrastructure including oil fields, refineries, pipelines, and plants. Even a brief look made it clear that the Caribbean coast and the west of Venezuela were under permanent surveillance from the base.
The Western media say nothing about the buildup of the US surveillance activity at Aruba and Curacao bases and generally filter away any information concerning the US espionage targeting Venezuela. The US intelligence services are spying on the country from Columbia, Puerto-Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Full Story Pentagon Bracing for a Snap Offensive Against Venezuela.
Anthem Blue Cross’ Statement Justifying Rate Hike Contradicted by Internal Documents
Anthem Blue Cross’ parent company, WellPoint Inc., has been called out by Congressman Henry Waxman over discrepencies between the company's public statement explaining why it was hiking rates on individual insurance premiums in California and the health insurer's own internal documents, which tell a different story.
Last Friday, in response to widespread criticism over Anthem Blue Cross’ planned 39 percent rate increase, WellPoint said it was forced to increase rates on individual insurance plans due to the poor economic climate and the fact that healthy individuals decided to drop their coverage. The company's rate hike is expected to affect as many as 700,000 customers.
In a statement WellPoint issued February 13, the company said:
“We are … experiencing a higher proportion of healthy individuals choosing not to enroll, leaving an insured pool that utilizes significantly more services.”
Full Story t r u t h o u t | Anthem Blue Cross’ Statement Justifying Rate Hike Contradicted by Internal Documents.
California Death Spiral
Paul Krugman -
Health insurance premiums are surging — and conservatives fear that the spectacle will reinvigorate the push for reform. On the Fox Business Network, a host chided a vice president of WellPoint, which has told California customers to expect huge rate increases: “You handed the politicians red meat at a time when health care is being discussed. You gave it to them!”
Indeed. Sky-high rate increases make a powerful case for action. And they show, in particular, that we need comprehensive, guaranteed coverage — which is exactly what Democrats are trying to accomplish.
Here’s the story: About 800,000 people in California who buy insurance on the individual market — as opposed to getting it through their employers — are covered by Anthem Blue Cross, a WellPoint subsidiary. These are the people who were recently told to expect dramatic rate increases, in some cases as high as 39 percent.
Full Story Op-Ed Columnist – California Death Spiral – NYTimes.com.
Cluster Bomb Ban to Become Law – Without US
Just over a year after it was opened for signature, an international treaty banning cluster bombs received the final two ratifications it needed to become international law Tuesday.
Burkina Faso and Moldova ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions to much praise from human rights and victim advocacy groups. The treaty will become international law Aug. 1, when use, production and trade in cluster munitions will be banned and deadlines for stockpile destruction will be set.
States that have used cluster munitions in the past will also be obligated to provide support for communities affected by the use of the munitions and to assist in clearing contaminated land.
Full Story Cluster Bomb Ban to Become Law – Without US by Matthew Berger — Antiwar.com.
Republicans Consistently Turn To Lobbyists For Strategies To Block And Kill Legislation
Yesterday, The Hill reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may not have the votes to begin debate on a $15 billion jobs package. Reid, for his part, is reaching out to Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), in the hopes that he will provide support to overcome a GOP filibuster. A Reid spokesman said simply that “the vote is in the hands of Republicans.”
However, as Roll Call reported, the Senate Republican leadership is trying to persuade members to simply block the legislation. And this push comes after the GOP spent an afternoon huddled with more than 100 lobbyists, trying to figure out how to react to Reid’s bill:
Senate Republican leadership staff are huddling with K Streeters this afternoon over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to forgo a bipartisan jobs package in favor of a smaller, targeted plan…The business community has been up in arms since Reid decided to ditch a bipartisan job-creation bill last week.
And this is not the first time that Republicans have organized a pow-wow with lobbyists in order to devise a strategy and gin up support for killing a significant Democratic initiative:
Full Story Think Progress » Republicans Consistently Turn To Lobbyists For Strategies To Block And Kill Legislation.
Utah state senator wants to create holiday honoring ‘gun pioneer’ on MLK Day.
Utah State Sen. Mark Madsen (R) is introducing legislation to create a holiday honoring John Moses Browning — the Utah native and “gun pioneer” who founded the Browning Arms company — on the same day as Martin Luther King Day. Browning’s birthday is believed to be around Jan. 21, so “Madsen proposes doubling up Browning and King”:
“I see them as complimentary,” [Madsen] said. Browning is known for developing a variety of guns, including the gas-operated machine gun. Madsen said he plans to meet with the NAACP to discuss his proposal.
“We’ll see if they can take it in the spirit it’s intended,” Madsen said. [...]
“Guns keep peace,” [state Senate Majority Leader Scott] Jenkins [R] said. “I kind of like the idea of making his birthday a holiday. I’m all over that.”
Full Story Think Progress » Utah state senator wants to create holiday honoring ‘gun pioneer’ on MLK Day..
On House GOP Website, Republican Leadership Takes Credit For Successful Stimulus Project
Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the historic American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus. Despite being called a success by most economists and independent analysts, Republicans have mocked the stimulus, calling it a boondoggle that has “failed to create a single job.” Essentially, the GOP has lied about the stimulus in order to justify their unified opposition to its passage.
Yesterday, GOP.gov, the official website for the House Republican caucus, continued the anti-stimulus drumbeat, blaring press releases calling the stimulus a failure. Ironically, posted just above two releases attacking the stimulus, the website features a release from Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) taking credit for $35 million dollars in stimulus highway money. Below is a screen shot:
Full Story Think Progress » On House GOP Website, Republican Leadership Takes Credit For Successful Stimulus Project.
The Recovery Act at One Year: Creating Jobs and Boosting Our Economy
February 17, 2010
It is no coincidence that the Great Recession ended just as the stimulus began providing its maximum economic benefit. The stimulus is doing what it was supposed to do: short-circuit the recession and spur recovery
Dr. Mark Zandi, before the Senate Joint Economic Committee, 10/29/09
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the day that President Obama signed the landmark American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law (P.L. 111-5). When President Obama took office last January, he inherited an economic crisis unlike any since the Great Depression. After the country suffered through eight years of failed Republican fiscal policies, there was a significant drop in economic growth, unemployment rates were increasing, and lax financial regulation led to the crash of the housing and financial markets.
The Democratic Congress worked with President Obama to ensure the passage of the Recovery Act, an extraordinary effort to rescue, rebuild, and strengthen our struggling economy. Already, with almost 40 percent of the dollars yet to be spent, the recovery package has provided for more than one million jobs and the rate of job loss has slowed significantly. Democrats understand, however, that for many American families, the economic recovery simply is not yet a part of their day-to-day reality. Building on the foundation laid by the investments in the Recovery Act, Democrats are committed to ensuring that more American families begin to feel the impact of the recovery through increased job opportunities, additional tax cuts, and increased confidence in the continuing growth of our economy.
As we look toward the future, Democrats believe that the Recovery Act, combined with the American work ethic and ingenuity, will continue to make a difference for American families and will deliver on its promise to rebuild our economy and get Americans back to work. Democrats will continue to serve as champions for the middle class and those who still believe in the possibilities inherent in the American dream.
Laying the Foundation for Economic Recovery and Growth
A year ago, the economy was in free fall. When President Obama took office in January 2009, GDP and wages were falling, while unemployment and foreclosures were rising. The economy had been shattered by the Republican policies of the Bush Administration and Americans were reeling from the effects of lax regulation and irresponsible spending. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in December 2007 and payroll employment has declined every month since the end of 2007. [National Bureau of Economic Research, 12/11/08] Fortunately, Democrats were able to lay a foundation for economic recovery and growth to combat the recession by passing the Recovery Act to invest in the long-term prosperity of America. Economist Nariman Behravesh believes that the Recovery Act “prevented things from getting much worse than they otherwise would have been.” [New York Times, 2/16/10]
Today, our economy is growing. When President Obama took office, GDP was declining at a rate of 5.4 percent. According to economist Alan Blinder, by the second quarter of 2009, the Recovery Act had “already had a notable impact” adding about 2 ½ percentage points to the annualized GDP growth rate. [Washington Post, 8/11/09] By the fourth quarter of 2009, GDP had increased at an astonishing rate of 5.7 percent. [Bureau of Economic Analysis, accessed 2/16/10] This is the largest gain in GDP in six years.
The Council of Economic Advisors believes that the Recovery Act “added between 2 and 3 percentage points to read GDP growth in the second quarter of 2009; between 3 and 4 percentage points in the third quarter; and between 1 ½ and 3 percentage points in the fourth quarter” of 2009. [Council of Economic Advisors, 1/13/10] Mark Zandi, the Chief economist at Moody’s economy.com has concluded that, without the Recovery Act, “GDP would still be negative.” [New York Times, 11/20/09] The Recovery Act has spurred economic development, increased consumer spending, and is building confidence for businesses and American families.
Full Story The Recovery Act at One Year: Creating Jobs and Boosting Our Economy.
Road to Recovery
We still have a long way to go, but one year after President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law, it’s clear that we are now on the road to recovery.
Lawsuit: School gave kids laptops to spy on them at home
Students in a Philadelphia-area school district have launched a lawsuit accusing their schools of spying on them at home through webcams installed in laptop computers the district gave them.
The parents of Blake Robbins, a student at Harriton High School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, have launched a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 1,800 high school students who were issued laptops by the Lower Merion School District.
Robbins' lawsuit (PDF) alleges that students and parents weren't told that school administrators had the ability to activate the laptop webcams remotely, even when the student is at home or away from the computer.
The lawsuit seeks “damages for invasion of privacy, theft of private information, and unlawful interception and access to electronic information,” reports Courthouse News.
Full Story Lawsuit: School gave kids laptops to spy on them at home | Raw Story.
Elizabeth Warren: Shortcomings Of Credit Card Reform Show Need For CFPA
The credit card reforms enacted by Congress and signed by the president last year are set to take effect on Monday. Unsurprisingly, credit card issuers have already found several ways to get around the reforms.
Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the bailout oversight panel, said on Thursday that the shortcomings of the credit card reforms show the need for an independent agency that protects consumers from the financial industry.
“[The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act] is a good first step but it isn’t enough alone,” said Warren on a conference call with reporters hosted by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “The credit card industry and the entire consumer credit industry is broken. We need an agency, a cop on the beat that is flexible and responsive.”
Full Story Elizabeth Warren: Shortcomings Of Credit Card Reform Show Need For CFPA.
Haiti Quake More Destructive Than 2004 Tsunami: Study
The scale of devastation in Haiti is far worse than in Asia 
after the 2004 tsunami, a study has said, estimating the cost of last month's earthquake at up to 14 billion dollars.
The report released yesterday from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) raised the possibility that the quake could be the most destructive disaster in modern history.
Its stark assessment comes with Port-au-Prince still lying in ruins more than one month on, while the bodies of more than 200,000 dead pile up in mass graves outside the capital.
The study’s release coincided with what would normally be Haiti’s annual carnival, an explosion of pulsing music and colorful parades. But this year, the events have been cancelled as no one is in the mood to party.
Full Story Haiti Quake More Destructive Than 2004 Tsunami: Study | CommonDreams.org.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s perk costs taxpayers $1 million
Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has plowed through about $1 million in taxpayer dollars in the last two years for an office and staff in west suburban Yorkville, thanks to a little-known perk given to ex-speakers.
Hastert, 68, a lobbyist and business consultant who retired from Congress in 2007, has hired three of his former staffers at salaries of more than $100,000 apiece to run the publicly financed office.
Taxpayers also are paying monthly rent of $6,300 to a company partly owned by three sons of a Hastert mentor and business partner. Other public funds go for an $860-a-month 2008 GMC Yukon leased from a dealership owned by a Hastert friend and campaign donor.
Full Story Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s perk costs taxpayers $1 million – chicagotribune.com.
OPS: Your Tax $$ at work
Health Insurance Costs: ‘Shocking’ Premium Increases Coming, Says Health And Human Services Dept.
Eye-popping health insurance premium increases of up to 39 percent are a worrisome sign of the times, the Obama administration said in a report Thursday as it tried to tap public frustration with high costs to revive the stalemated effort to overhaul health care.
Proposed premium increases by WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross for Californians purchasing their own coverage set off a wave of criticism and forced the company last week to announce a postponement. Now, the Health and Human Services Department says similar pressure on premiums is being felt in at least six other states.
“This shocking increase isn’t unique,” said the report, being presented by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a news conference Thursday. “Across the country, families have seen their premiums skyrocket in recent years, and experts predict these increases will continue.”
Full Story Health Insurance Costs: ‘Shocking’ Premium Increases Coming, Says Health And Human Services Dept..
Marijuana Provides Pain Relief, New Study Says
The first U.S. clinical trials in more than two decades on the medical benefits of marijuana confirm pot is effective in reducing muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and pain caused by certain neurological injuries or illnesses, according to a report issued Wednesday.
Igor Grant, a psychiatrist who directs the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, San Diego, said five studies funded by the state involved volunteers who were randomly given real marijuana or placebos to determine if the herb provided relief not seen from traditional medicines.
“There is good evidence now that cannabinoids may be either an adjunct or a first-line treatment,” Grant said at a news conference where he presented the findings.
Full Story Marijuana Provides Pain Relief, New Study Says.
Top Secret UFO Files Released By Ministry Of Defense (VIDEO)
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense, the MoD, is releasing secret documents on UFO sightings, the Telegraph reports.
Some of these sightings include a UFO flying over the London soccer stadium Stamford Bridge and a “funny shaped object” spotted above British politician Michael Howard's house. Other reports mention Winston Churchill and someone claims to have seen a flying Toblerone chocolate bar.
Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defense UFO claim investigator, states that 95% of the reports are ordinary occurrences that people have misidentified or mistaken.
He adds, “But a small percentage of cases–perhaps 2-3%–are very interesting, are genuinely unexplained, and even those of us at the MoD who worked on this issue were puzzled genuinely saying, 'Well, we dont know what it is.'”
Full Story Top Secret UFO Files Released By Ministry Of Defense (VIDEO).
Bernie Kerik Sentenced To Four Years In Prison
Former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who was hailed as a hero alongside former Mayor Rudy Giuliani after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and nearly became chief of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was sentenced to four years behind bars Thursday for eight felonies.
Kerik admitted in November that he lied to the White House, filed false taxes and committed other crimes.
“The fact that Mr. Kerik would use that event (9/11) for personal gain and aggrandizement is a dark place in the soul for me,” said federal Judge Stephen Robinson.
Full Story Bernie Kerik Sentenced To Four Years In Prison.
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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. 
