Archive for February, 2010
“Economic Terrorism”: The Consequences are Poverty and Mass Unemployment
“The American oligarchy spares no pains in promoting the belief that it does not exist, but the success of its disappearing act depends on equally strenuous efforts on the part of an American public anxious to believe in egalitarian fictions and unwilling to see what is hidden in plain sight.” — Michael Lind, To Have and to Have Not
Yes, of course, we all have very strong differences of opinion on many issues.
However, like our Founding Fathers before us, we must put aside our differences and unite to fight a common enemy. It has now become evident to a critical mass that the Republican and Democratic parties, along with all three branches of our government, have been bought off by a well-organized Economic Elite who are tactically destroying our way of life. The harsh truth is that 99% of the US population no longer has political representation. The US economy, government and tax system is now blatantly rigged against us.
Current statistical societal indicators clearly demonstrate that a strategic attack has been launched and an analysis of current governmental policies prove that conditions for a large majority of Americans will continue to deteriorate. The Economic Elite have engineered a financial coup and have brought war to our doorstep. . . and make no mistake, they have launched a war to eliminate the US middle class.
Unless we all unite and organize on common ground, our very way of life and the ideals that our country was founded upon will continue to unravel.
Before exposing exactly who the Economic Elite are, and discussing common sense ways in which we can defeat them, let’s take a look at how much damage they have already caused.
Full Story “Economic Terrorism”: The Consequences are Poverty and Mass Unemployment.
A Thought on Evan Bayh and Partisan America
Robert Reich –
Not long ago I was debating someone on television. I thought the discussion was going well until the commercial break when a producer said into my earpiece “be angrier.”
“Why should I be angrier?” I asked him, irritated that he hadn’t appreciated the thoughtfulness of debate.
“That’s how we get channel surfers to stop and watch the program,” the producer explained. “Eyeballs are attracted to anger.”
At this point I lost my temper.
The incident came back to me when I heard about Evan Bayh’s decision to leave Congress because he felt it was becoming too partisan. The real problem isn’t partisanship. Bold views and strong positions are fine. Democratic debate and deliberation can be enhanced by them.
Full Story Robert Reich (A Thought on Evan Bayh and Partisan America).
Italy’s Government Seeks Control Over Online Videos
Italy’s government is drafting a decree that would give it control over online video content.
In a country where Internet usage is still relatively small, the measure is seen as an attempt by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to protect his TV empire from future competition from the freewheeling world of Google and YouTube.
Italians were among the first to enthusiastically embrace mobile phones.
Not so with the Internet. Just finding a WiFi hot spot is difficult. One of the few hot spots in Rome is a cafe filled with foreign expatriates hunched over open laptops.
Full Story Italy’s Government Seeks Control Over Online Videos : NPR.
Foreigners Reduce Holdings of US Debt by Record Amount
Foreign owners of US government debt reduced their holdings by the largest monthly amount ever in December, with China offloading so many Treasury securities that it is no longer the largest foreign holder.
According to new data released Tuesday morning by the Treasury Department, foreign holdings of Treasury securities plunged by $53 billion in December, a record drop. China led the sell-off, reducing its holdings by $34 billion. Japan, meanwhile, increased its holdings by $11 billion to become the new largest foreign holder of Treasuries. As of the end of December, Japan held $768 billion of US government debt, followed by China at $755 billion, and then Great Britain at $302 billion, after increasing its holdings by $25 billion during the course of the month.
Full Story Foreigners Reduce Holdings of US Debt by Record Amount – The World Newser.
Suburban Homeless: Rising Tide Of Women, Families
‘We Are Seeing Many Families That Never Before Sought Government Help’
Homelessness in rural and suburban America is straining shelters this winter as the economy founders and joblessness hovers near double digits – a “perfect storm of foreclosures, unemployment and a shortage of affordable housing,” in one official’s eyes.
“We are seeing many families that never before sought government help,” said Greg Blass, commissioner of Social Services in Suffolk County on eastern Long Island.
“We see a spiral in food stamps, heating assistance applications; Medicaid is skyrocketing,” Blass added. “It is truly reaching a stage of being alarming.”
Full Story Suburban Homeless: Rising Tide Of Women, Families.
Evan Bayh Won’t Rule Out Becoming A Lobbyist After His Term Ends
A day after he announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate, Indiana Democrat Evan Bayh declined to rule out a career as a lobbyist.
“I have no idea what I’m doing next,” Bayh said in a statement to HuffPost. He would not elaborate further on his career plans when his term ends in 11 months.
Bayh offered a few clues about his next move in his retirement announcement on Monday: “At this time, I simply believe I can best contribute to society in another way: creating jobs by helping grow a business, helping guide an institution of higher learning, or helping run a worthy charitable endeavor.”
Full Story Evan Bayh Won’t Rule Out Becoming A Lobbyist After His Term Ends.
The Makings of a Police State-Part VII
Perpetual Wars & the Permanent Wartime Presidency
Sibel Edmonds
With almost a decade under its belt, our multi-front war on a vaguely defined notion of terrorism targeting never-really-defined enemies across the world and here in the newly rephrased ‘homeland’ has come to define the state of our nation. Even the meager limitations on presidential powers of the last six decades have in effect been nullified and replaced with a newly declared and interpreted authority mirroring those of past emperors and kings, and of any classic authoritarian regimes’ rulers. One look at the last decade’s successfully won legal arguments on behalf of the executive, the presidency, is enough to establish the common theme that ‘the war on terror is global and indefinite in scope, and that it effectively removes all traditional limits of wartime authority to the times and places of imminent or actual battle.’
Whether it is illegal domestic eavesdropping or unlawful detention and torture, these newly claimed and boldly practiced presidential entitlements rely on one factor, and that is the extraordinary claims of presidential war-making power. Here is a perfect example of the new permanent wartime presidency in action; boldly, loudly, and unfortunately thus far successfully:
On occasion the Bush administration has explicitly rejected the authority of courts and Congress to impose boundaries on the power of the commander in chief, describing the president’s war-making powers in legal briefs as “plenary” — a term defined as “full,” “complete,” and “absolute.”
Full Story Sibel Edmonds’ Boiling Frogs Post | Home of the Irate Minority.
Team finds subtropical waters flushing through Greenland fjord
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Waters from warmer latitudes — or subtropical waters — are reaching Greenland’s glaciers, driving melting and likely triggering an acceleration of ice loss, reports a team of researchers led by Fiamma Straneo, a physical oceanographer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
“This is the first time we’ve seen waters this warm in any of the fjords in Greenland,” says Straneo. “The subtropical waters are flowing through the fjord very quickly, so they can transport heat and drive melting at the end of the glacier.”
Greenland’s ice sheet, which is two-miles thick and covers an area about the size of Mexico, has lost mass at an accelerated rate over the last decade. The ice sheet’s contribution to sea level rise during that time frame doubled due to increased melting and, to a greater extent, the widespread acceleration of outlet glaciers around Greenland.
While melting due to warming air temperatures is a known event, scientists are just beginning to learn more about the ocean’s impact — in particular, the influence of currents — on the ice sheet.
“Among the mechanisms that we suspected might be triggering this acceleration are recent changes in ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, which are delivering larger amounts of subtropical waters to the high latitudes,” says Straneo. But a lack of observations and measurements from Greenland’s glaciers prior to the acceleration made it difficult to confirm.
OPS: This can’t be good. “The Day After Tomorrow” might come the day after tomorrow!
Charter Operators Snow the Public
Like the storm that was dumped on the eastern seaboard this past week, charter operators are snowing the public. From padding the pockets of politicians if they agree to lift the caps on charter law to misusing funds to line their own pockets, some charter operators are colder than Jack Frost.
For instance, the Walton Foundation — yes, the people who brought you Wal-Mart — have contributed millions to charter schools. But lately, they have also been contributing to political campaigns like New York Governor Paterson's re-election campaign. Hoping that he would help lift the cap on charter schools in the state, their investment paid off when Paterson sponsored a bill to abolish the charter cap. Charter operators are dying to get into the relatively untapped New York market. Just to give you a sense of the difference, there are 200 charter schools in New York State, and over 500 in Arizona. Over 700 in California.
In operation, charter operators can be just as shady. White Hat, a charter operator out of Ohio, run by David L. Brennan, an Akron industrialist, earns $1 million a year for each of the 34 charter schools, charging anywhere from 3-12% fees to charter schools.
Full Story Charter Operators Snow the Public | Education | Change.org.
Max Keiser: ‘The Truth About Markets’ – Slavery in America?
A virulent form of debt slavery is spreading across the nation. Will we even recognize our calculated captors or simply waddle in our Stockholm Syndrome sedation? Are YOU ready? A New Era Begins….
The Media’s Billion Dollar Ad for Evan Bayh
The mainstream media has been giving Evan Bayh a big fat sloppy kiss for the last 24 hours. Every single story is about how moderate and centrist and independent he is. Golly gee willikers, Evan Bayh is such a pure and innocent person and he just couldn’t take the corruption of Congress anymore. He was so fed up with the partisanship and like any great man decided he must strike out on his own and leave DC.
Come on, are these people this naïve or do they have a stake in this? Do you really think Evan Bayh only has pure motivations and was the last good man in Washington. This is absolutely absurd and on many fronts the exact opposite of the truth. No one made a deal with corporate lobbyists faster than Evan Bayh did. He wasn’t sick of the problems of DC, he was the problem of DC.
Bayh masked his craven capitulation to corporate lobbyists with a veneer of bipartisanship and moderation. If he sold out to enough special interests, he could claim that he was on both sides. But the one side he was never against was business interests that fed him his campaign cash.
So, he is a typical fake politician; I get that and I can live with it. What bothers me is how the media plays along. They have been running a giant ad for Evan Bayh’s future political career or future lobbying career over the last couple of days. There is never a skeptical story about how Evan Bayh might be retiring to cash in on lobbyist money. And for those of you not familiar with the process – and apparently that’s the entire DC media – the most powerful tool lobbyists have is the implied bribe that politicians get at the end of their career. If you play ball and do what you’ve been told, you’re nearly guaranteed a multi-million dollar payoff at the end. Look at Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt, Billy Tauzin, Dick Armey. This list goes on and on. Everybody gets rich, oh right, except the American people.
Full Story Daily Kos: The Media’s Billion Dollar Ad for Evan Bayh.
Foreign demand for US debt drops by record amount
Foreign demand for US Treasury bonds and notes fell by a record amount in December as China reduced its holdings.
The Treasury said foreign holdings of US debt dropped by $53bn, surpassing the previous record set last April.
China cut its holdings by $34.2bn – meaning it is now the second-biggest US debt holder after Japan.
The drop in demand may mean that the US has to pay more to borrow, just as the government has to fund a record budget deficit.
In total, net purchases of long-term stocks, bonds and notes increased by $63.3bn in December, down from $126.4bn in the previous month, the Treasury said.
China was a net seller for a second straight month.
Full Story BBC News – Foreign demand for US debt drops by record amount.
MK-ULTRA: The CIA’s Mind Control Program
MK-ULTRA was the code name for a secret CIA mind control program, begun in 1953, under Director Allen Dulles. Its purpose was multifold, including to perfect a truth drug for interrogating suspected Soviet spies during the Cold War. It followed earlier WW II hypnosis, primitive drugs research, and the US Navy’s Project Chatter, explained by its Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request as follows:
It began “in the fall of 1947 focusing on the identification and testing of drugs (LSD and others) in interrogations and the recruitment of agents. The research included laboratory experiments on both animal and human subjects. The program ended shortly after the Korean War in 1953.”
It was run under the direction of Dr. Charles Savage of the Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, MD from 1947 – 1953, after which CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence continued it under the name Project Bluebird, its first mind control program to:
Full Story SteveLendmanBlog: MK-ULTRA: The CIA’s Mind Control Program.
The Great Bi-Partisan Deception
A Joint Mission for the Corporate Elites
By SHAMUS COOKE
Some cancer is too aggressive even for chemotherapy. The US political system is infected with such a disease; and we may be witnessing the first death spasms. In a country ravaged by war and economic crisis, with tens of millions of people suffering, politicians are capable of doing absolutely nothing to help ordinary people. The only two “achievements” of the Democrat’s super majority in the Senate — over the course of five months — were an ineffectual stimulus package and a “surge” of troops in Afghanistan.
Now the two party system is reshuffling to pursue a joint mission. Policies that the corporate elite have been planning for decades are in the process of being implemented. The recession is being used as the ultimate excuse to gut Medicare, Social Security, public education and other social services while expanding war, corporate tax breaks and corporate health care.
Typically, the Republicans leave the really dirty work to the Democrats, who enforce pro-corporate policies by exploiting their political capital with labor and community groups — while somehow managing to emerge “the lesser of two evils.” This is why Bill Clinton was left with the task of “reforming” welfare and implementing NAFTA. In regards to “reforming” Social Security, Bush looked into the abyss and got scared; better to let the Democrats play with that fire.
Full Story Shamus Cooke: The Great Bi-Partisan Deception.
How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America
The Atlantic -
How should we characterize the economic period we have now entered? After nearly two brutal years, the Great Recession appears to be over, at least technically. Yet a return to normalcy seems far off. By some measures, each recession since the 1980s has retreated more slowly than the one before it. In one sense, we never fully recovered from the last one, in 2001: the share of the civilian population with a job never returned to its previous peak before this downturn began, and incomes were stagnant throughout the decade. Still, the weakness that lingered through much of the 2000s shouldn’t be confused with the trauma of the past two years, a trauma that will remain heavy for quite some time.
The unemployment rate hit 10 percent in October, and there are good reasons to believe that by 2011, 2012, even 2014, it will have declined only a little. Late last year, the average duration of unemployment surpassed six months, the first time that has happened since 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking that number. As of this writing, for every open job in the U.S., six people are actively looking for work.
Full Story How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America – The Atlantic (March 2010).
How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America
The Atlantic -
How should we characterize the economic period we have now entered? After nearly two brutal years, the Great Recession appears to be over, at least technically. Yet a return to normalcy seems far off. By some measures, each recession since the 1980s has retreated more slowly than the one before it. In one sense, we never fully recovered from the last one, in 2001: the share of the civilian population with a job never returned to its previous peak before this downturn began, and incomes were stagnant throughout the decade. Still, the weakness that lingered through much of the 2000s shouldn’t be confused with the trauma of the past two years, a trauma that will remain heavy for quite some time.
The unemployment rate hit 10 percent in October, and there are good reasons to believe that by 2011, 2012, even 2014, it will have declined only a little. Late last year, the average duration of unemployment surpassed six months, the first time that has happened since 1948, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking that number. As of this writing, for every open job in the U.S., six people are actively looking for work.
Full Story How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America – The Atlantic (March 2010).
Israel should heed Obama’s warning not to strike Iran
- Haaretz -
Israel should heed the friendly warning it received from the Obama administration, which opposes a preemptive Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, warned in Tel Aviv on Sunday of the unexpected consequences of an Israeli attack on Iran, just as he did during the days of the Bush administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Qatar that Iran’s neighbors, who are worried about its nuclear plans, must rely on the American defense umbrella. And next week, Vice President Joseph Biden will visit Israel to pass on a similar message.
Both Israeli and Iranian leaders have escalated the threats they have been exchanging over the past few weeks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at Auschwitz about a new Amalek. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad that if Israel goes to war, “we need to put an end to the Zionist regime once and for all.” And last week, on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran will enrich uranium to 20 percent and declared that his country is capable of building an atomic bomb
Full Story Israel should heed Obama’s warning not to strike Iran – Haaretz – Israel News.
US Broadband Figures Show 40 Percent Lack High-Speed Internet: STUDY
Roughly 40 percent of Americans do not have high-speed Internet access at home, according to new Commerce Department figures that underscore the challenges facing policymakers who are trying to bring affordable broadband connections to everyone.
The Obama administration and Congress have identified universal broadband as a key to driving economic development, producing jobs and bringing educational opportunities and cutting-edge medicine to all corners of the country.
“We’re at a point where high-speed access to the Internet is critical to the ability of people to be successful in today’s economy and society at large,” said Larry Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an arm of the Commerce Department that released the data Tuesday.
Full Story US Broadband Figures Show 40 Percent Lack High-Speed Internet: STUDY.
Sink the Bismarck!: Brewery Releases World’s Strongest Beer At 41% ABV
The flamboyantly competitive Scottish brewery BrewDog has released Sink the Bismarck!, a “quadruple IPA” that they say is the most alcoholic in the world at 41%. BrewDog had previously earned similar attention last year with their then-record-setting 32% ABV beer, Tactical Nuclear Penguin, but rival brewery Schorschbrau just weeks ago (briefly) reclaimed the beer potency title with their Schorschbock, at 40% ABV, prompting Brewdog’s latest counterattack.
Sink the Bismarck!’s 41% ABV renders it more alcoholic than whiskey or vodka. BrewDog has preempted the expected accusations of irresponsibility from British alcohol awareness groups, and explains that the beer should be consumed responsibly, “in spirit-sized measures.”
Full Story Sink the Bismarck!: Brewery Releases World’s Strongest Beer At 41% ABV.
Dollars for Death, Pennies for Life
Norman Solomon –
When the U.S. military began a major offensive in southern Afghanistan over the weekend, the killing of children and other civilians was predictable. Lofty rhetoric aside, such deaths come with the territory of war and occupation.
A month ago, President Obama pledged $100 million in U.S. government aid to earthquake-devastated Haiti. Compare that to the $100 billion price tag to keep 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a year.
While commanders in Afghanistan were launching what the New York Times called “the largest offensive military operation since the American-led coalition invaded the country in 2001,” the situation in Haiti was clearly dire.
Full Story Dollars for Death, Pennies for Life | CommonDreams.org.
Obama and the ‘savvy’ bankers
Dean Baker -
In an interview, the US president described the Goldman Sachs CEO as ‘savvy’. So how did he and his crew use their wisdom?
Last week, when President Obama was asked about the $9m dollar bonus for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, he described Blankfein as a savvy businessman, adding that Americans don’t begrudge people being rewarded for success. While the White House later qualified Obama’s comment about Blankfein and his fellow bank executives, it’s worth examining more closely some of the ways in which Blankfein and the Goldman gang were “savvy”.
Perhaps the Goldman gang’s best claim to savvy was in buying up hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgages and packaging them into mortgage backed securities, and more complex derivative instruments, and selling them all over the world. Blankfein and Goldman earned tens of billions of dollars on these deals. The great trick was that many of the loans put into these securities were issued by banks filling in phony information so that borrowers could get loans that they would not be able to repay. But this was not Goldman’s concern. They made money on the packaging and the selling of the securities.
In fact, Goldman actually recognised that many of these loans would go bad. So they went to the insurance giant AIG and got them to issue credit default swaps against many of the securities it had created. In effect they were betting that their own securities were garbage. Now that is savvy. (It says something else about the highly paid executives at AIG.)
Full Story Obama and the ‘savvy’ bankers | Dean Baker | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.
Vampire Squid Threatened By Human Activity (VIDEO)
The vampire squid is one of many unheard of creatures living in the deep sea. The species, which is technically not a squid, but a cephalopod, had been living fairly anonymously since it first appeared 300 million years ago, even before dinosaurs existed, according to National Geographic. Only now is it getting more attention because its existence could be threatened by human activities, according to a report by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
The vampire squid has a unique ability to turn itself inside out when it feels vulnerable to predators. This skill, however, will not protect it against the dangers of human activity:
“They are threatened by ocean warming, decreasing oxygen, pollution, overfishing, industrialization, and dozens of other changes taking place in the deep,” said Bruce Robison, of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. “We have a responsibility to learn all we can about these amazing animals and to protect them from the greatest danger to life in the deep– the human species.”
Full Story Vampire Squid Threatened By Human Activity (VIDEO).
Bank Of North Dakota: America’s Only ‘Socialist’ Bank Is Thriving During Downturn
But now officials in other states are wondering if it is helping North Dakota sail through the national recession.
Gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Oregon and a Washington state legislator are advocating the creation of state-owned banks in those states. A report prepared for a Vermont House committee last month said the idea had “considerable merit.” Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore promotes the bank on his Web site.
“There’s a lot of hurt out there, a lot of states that are in trouble, and they’re tying the Bank of North Dakota together with this economic success that we’re having right now,” said the bank’s president, Eric Hardmeyer.
Hardmeyer says he’s gotten “tons” of inquiries about the bank’s workings, including questions from officials in California, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Washington state. North Dakota has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate at 4.4 percent, soaring oil production and a robust state budget surplus – but Hardmeyer says the bank isn’t responsible for the prosperity.
Full Story Bank Of North Dakota: America’s Only ‘Socialist’ Bank Is Thriving During Downturn.
Obama Nuclear Plant: President To Announce Loan Guarantee For More Than $8 Billion
President Barack Obama is highlighting a new investment in energy jobs with an announcement that the government will guarantee more than $8 billion in loans needed to build the first U.S. nuclear power plant in nearly three decades.
Obama was to make remarks Tuesday after touring a job training center at the headquarters of Local 26 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in nearby Lanham, Md. The union represents electrical and telecommunications workers, and it offers training useful for energy jobs, including the construction of nuclear power plants.
Obama was expected to announce a total of $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees to build and operate a pair of reactors in Burke County, Ga., by Southern Co., an administration official said Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of Obama’s announcement.
Full Story Obama Nuclear Plant: President To Announce Loan Guarantee For More Than $8 Billion.
CEPR: Deficit Scaremongering Undermining Economic Recovery
Reining in Health Care Costs of Far Greater Consequence in Long-Term Budget Picture
For Immediate Release: February 16, 2010
Contact: Alan Barber, (202) 293-5380 x115
Washington, D.C.- The Great Recession has left tens of millions of families facing unemployment, underemployment and the threat of losing their home. However, concerns over the deficit threaten to derail efforts to turn around the economy and spur employment. A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) corrects many of the misperceptions about the deficit that have brought the issue to the center of national debate.
“There would be no short-term or long-term benefit from reducing the current deficit,” said Dean Baker, co-director of CEPR and the author of the report. “If the budget deficit were smaller we would see higher levels of unemployment.”
The report, “The Budget Deficit Scare Story and the Great Recession,” shows that the most-cited claims of leading deficit hawks are driven by unfounded fears and misrepresentations of basic economic relationships.
Full Story Deficit Scaremongering Undermining Economic Recovery – CEPR.
Mr. President; It’s the trade deficit stupid!
Peter Morici
As the US economy expands, the trade deficit will again drag the economy down.
Since the Democrat’s debacle in Massachusetts, President Obama has been campaigning. In the State of the Union address, his new budget and other staged events for the faithful gather for hope, the President has the audacity to double down on class warfare and crowd frenzying envy, and tout as success an economic recovery about as thin as the Chicago Cubs World Series record book.
The economy is growing again but the President instead of divining new tax-the-rich and spend policies should recognize the economic recovery simply won’t create enough jobs to drive down unemployment, because his administration has not addressed the trade deficit. Instead of blaming George Bush and indulging in sparkling oratory, our constitutional law professor and now president should seek a brief tutorial from White House economic advisor Lawrence Summers on GDP, employment and international trade.
Fourth quarter GDP growth was 5.7 percent, but 60 percent of that was a slower pace in depletion in business inventories. Businesses continued to sell more goods off their shelves than they produced, but the reduction in inventories fell from $157 billion in the third quarter to $40 billion in the fourth.
Full Story Mr. President; It’s the trade deficit stupid! | Economy In Crisis.
China Suspends U.S. Military Ties
Relations between Beijing and China turned frosty once again as the Obama administration last month announced an arms sale to Taiwan worth $6.4 billion, leading Chinese officials to cut off military ties with the U.S. and threaten retaliatory sanctions.
Relations between Beijing and China turned frosty once again as the Obama administration last month announced an arms sale to Taiwan worth $6.4 billion, leading Chinese officials to cut off military ties with the U.S. and threaten retaliatory sanctions.
U.S.-Chinese relations have been fraying over the past year after a series of trade disputes, Chinese complaints about American debt and Google’s decision to leave China after the company’s security was breached by what is believed to be the Chinese government.
The Taiwan arms sale, however, has the potential to ratchet tensions up to an entirely new level. Until 1949, Taiwan was considered a part of China. The island nation separated that year amid the Chinese revolution in which the communists gained control of the mainland. Since that time, China and Taiwan have been bitter enemies, with Beijing claiming Taiwan as part of its “One China” policy.
Full Story China Suspends U.S. Military Ties | Economy In Crisis.
The American Press Misleading Us on the Role of Finance
The following is part five of a 30 minute interview with Eamonn Fingleton.
The American Press Misleading Us on the Role of Finance | Economy In Crisis.
Employer Tax Credit likely to Create Few Jobs, at High Cost
The current proposal to provide incentives for jobs creation, crafted by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), would be highly inefficient – creating very few jobs at a relatively high cost.
Desperate to bring down the historically high unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, lawmakers of both parties are actually working together to craft a bill that would provide incentives for jobs creation. However, according to Timothy J. Bartik of the Economic Policy Institute, the current proposal would be highly inefficient – creating very few jobs at a relatively high cost.
The current proposal, crafted by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), would provide a 6.2 percent tax credit awarded to businesses for new hires. If, at the end of the year, those employees are still with the company, it would be rewarded with a $1,000 tax credit.
The proposal is problematic for a number of reasons, according to Bartik. For one, the credit is applied to companies for new hires rather than net hires. Even in the midst of a steep recession, there are currently four million hires every month. Given that, it is likely that many companies will be awarded for keeping their payrolls at the same level or for hiring that would have occurred anyway.
Full Story Employer Tax Credit likely to Create Few Jobs, at High Cost | Economy In Crisis.
What Is Our Government’s Economic Plan?
Who is managing our country, and for whose benefit?
Laws are being made that encourage foreign corporations to set up shop in the US. They receive huge tax benefits and various subsidies for bringing their jobs to our country. This sounds like good business on the surface, but further inspection reveals some long-term problems.
* American owned factories are going out of business in record numbers because they can’t compete.
* Thousands of other businesses are selling out to foreign ownership or moving entirely overseas to keep costs down.
* Americans are laid-off from their high wage skilled labor positions and retrained for a low wage service or assembly position. This creates an under-employment situation.
Full Story What Is Our Government’s Economic Plan? | Economy In Crisis.
Fiscal Challenge Threatened By Ideological Warfare
Pay-go rules, bipartisan budget commissions and task forces on the national debt will all be futile in restoring fiscal stability to the U.S. government unless lawmakers from both parties can come together to implement a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.
“In the end, solving our fiscal challenge — so many years in the making — will take both parties coming together, putting politics aside, and making some hard choices about what we need to spend, and what we don’t,” President Obama said in his weekly Saturday radio and internet address.
The out-of-control national debt – the ceiling of which was raised to over $14 trillion last week – is driven mainly by entitlement programs. Social Security and especially Medicare are the two biggest expenditures in the federal government, and both are growing exponentially.
Full Story Fiscal Challenge Threatened By Ideological Warfare | Economy In Crisis.
Toyota likely to escape huge fines
If you think Uncle Sam will whack Toyota with massive civil penalties for not acting promptly to fix issues with its cars, think again.
Transportation secretary Ray LaHood has taken a sharp tone against Toyota in his public comments, including hints that he’s considering fines.
But despite “get tough on safety” laws enacted a decade ago, anything the government might do to Toyota will seem like a gentle smack on the wrist compared to the full-bore bashing the automaker is getting from others.
Personal injury attorneys are lining up to take a financial machete to the company while its precious brand image is getting battered after three nearly consecutive major safety recalls.
Full Story Toyota likely to escape huge fines – Feb. 16, 2010.
Report: Prosecutors charging DNA evidence with crimes
charging inanimate objects with a crime?
In their effort to beat the statutes of limitations that prevent people from being charged with a crime after a certain amount of time has passed, prosecutors in some parts of the US are trying a new tactic: They’re charging half-eaten food, saliva-crusted glasses or other inanimate objects with the crime.
That’s because prosecutors now have DNA evidence as a way to get around statutes of limitations. One way to make sure a criminal doesn’t get away by hiding long enough is to simply charge the DNA itself, and wait until the DNA is matched to an actual person.
Laura Bauer of the Kansas City Star reported Monday that prosecutors “in a few pockets of the country” have begun issuing “John Doe” arrest warrants that identify only a person’s unique DNA signature. Once the arrest warrant on the DNA is in place, the statute of limitations on the applicable crime will no longer run out. Bauer reports:
Full Story Report: Prosecutors charging DNA evidence with crimes | Raw Story.
How an L.A. Suburb Became One of the Most Toxic Towns
Downey illustrates the potential harm when old industrial sites, in this case a NASA plant, are redeveloped before toxic chemicals are removed
In July 2007, Gail Shephard quit her job as an orthopedic technician. Her weakened muscles had made it too difficult for her to wash her hair or even pull up her pants in the morning. Now, Shephard, 55, takes two pain medications and Mirapex, a pill to treat Parkinson’s disease, each day.
“I don’t do anything,” Shephard said. “I sit in the same chair. I dread getting up in the morning, it’s so painful. I can’t walk and I hold onto the walls to go the bathroom and back. And that is my entire day.”
But Shephard doesn’t have Parkinson’s disease and doctors don’t quite know how to diagnose her. She knows, however, that her ailments began shortly after February 2006, when she transferred to the new Kaiser Permanente facility built on the site of a former NASA plant, which comprised 160 acres of land in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, Calif.
Full Story How an L.A. Suburb Became One of the Most Toxic Towns | Environment | AlterNet.
Michael Pollan: Forget Nutrition Charts, Eat What Grandma Said Is Good for You
The author of ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ says science has supplanted cultural wisdom as a guide in telling us what to eat.
This excerpt originally appeared in Political Awakenings: Conversations with History, published by The New Press. Reprinted here with permission. Copyright © 2010 by Harry Kreisler.
Harry Kreisler: Where were you born and raised?
Michael Pollan: I was born on Long Island in the town of Hempstead and grew up the first five years in Farmingdale, on the South Shore, and then in a town called Woodbury on the North Shore.
HK: And looking back, how do you think your parents shaped your thinking about the world?
MP: Oh, in many ways, my parents and my grandparents. I got very serious about gardening as a young boy. I had a grandfather who had been in the produce business, and he was a passionate gardener–this is the late ’60s–and he was very kind of reactionary, and there was not too much we connected on except plants.
I put in a garden at our house, too, in imitation of his garden, but I didn’t call it a garden. I called it a farm stand, and every time I could get six strawberries together in a Dixie cup, I’d sell them to my mother. She was the only customer.
Full Story Michael Pollan: Forget Nutrition Charts, Eat What Grandma Said Is Good for You | Food | AlterNet.
Central Falls to fire every high school teacher
The teachers didn’t blink.
Under threat of losing their jobs if they didn’t go along with extra work for not a lot of extra pay, the Central Falls Teachers’ Union refused Friday morning to accept a reform plan for one of the worst-performing high schools in the state.
The superintendent didn’t blink either.
After learning of the union’s position, School Supt. Frances Gallo notified the state that she was switching to an alternative she was hoping to avoid: firing the entire staff at Central Falls High School. In total, about 100 teachers, administrators and assistants will lose their jobs.
Full Story Central Falls to fire every high school teacher | Education | projo.com | The Providence Journal.
What’s Wrong With Us?
The great danger right now is that we will do exactly the wrong thing, that we’ll turn away from our screaming infrastructure needs and let the deterioration continue.
Bob Herbert -
Gov. Ed Rendell likes to tell a story that goes back to his days as mayor of Philadelphia.
As he recalled, the city had a long cold snap with about a month and a half of below-freezing temperatures. Then, abruptly, the mercury rose into the 60s, he said, “and 58 of our water mains broke, causing all sorts of havoc.”
The pipes were old. Some were ancient. “My water people told me that some had been laid in the 19th century,” said Mr. Rendell, “and they were laid shallow, without much protection. So with any radical changes in temperature, they were susceptible to breaking. We had a real emergency on our hands.”
Infrastructure, that least sexy of issues, is not just a significant interest of Ed Rendell’s; it’s more like a consuming passion. He can talk about it energetically and enthusiastically for hours and days at a time. He has tried to stop the hemorrhaging of Pennsylvania’s infrastructure, and he travels the country explaining how crucially important it is for the United States to rebuild a national infrastructure landscape that has deteriorated so badly that it is threatening the nation’s economic viability.
Full Story Op-Ed Columnist – What’s Wrong With Us? – NYTimes.com.
Roeder Tape Reveals Militia Connection
The story of the assasination of Dr. George Tiller by antiabortion militant Scott Roeder has taken a revealing turn. The AP is reports that in a 1996 cable TV interview with fellow antiabortion miltant David Leach, Roeder discussed his anti-government militia views.
Although there has been reporting on Roeder’s involvement in the farther reaches of the Religious Right, this would be the first detailed examination of the depth and breadth of the views that have animiated his politics for many years.
The AP reports:
A newly resurfaced 1996 video shows the convicted killer of a Kansas abortion doctor discussing his anti-government militia views with an Iowa anti-abortion activist…. on a Des Moines cable show.
In it Roeder talks with Iowa abortion opponent Dave Leach about his Freemen philosophy. He also discusses his appeal of a 1996 conviction for carrying bomb-making materials in his unlicensed vehicle.
Leach plans to post a preview of the interview on YouTube and sell copies of the entire tape.
Roeder was convicted Jan. 29 of first-degree murder for shooting Dr. George Tiller last May as the doctor served as an usher at his Wichita church. The Kansas City, Mo., man is to be sentenced March 9.
In the Summer 1998 issue of Intelligence Report, the journal of the Southern Poverty Law Center, I published a two part discussion of antiabortion violence, one of which was an analysis of how antibortionism was often an animating feature of the farther reaches of the far right, as was evident in the militia movement at the time.
Full Story Talk To Action | Roeder Tape Reveals Militia Connection.
U.S. congressman: U.S. should break Israel`s blockade of Gaza
The United States should break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver badly needed supplies by sea, a U.S. congressman told Gaza students.
Rep. Brian Baird, a Democrat from Washington state, also urged President Barack Obama’s Mideast envoy to visit the Hamas-ruled territory to get a firsthand look at the destruction caused by Israeli’s military offensive last year.
The Obama administration, like its predecessor, shuns Hamas because the Islamic militant group refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence.
Israel and Egypt have restricted access to Gaza since Hamas’ victory in parliament elections in 2006 and tightened the blockade after Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007.
Israel allows humanitarian supplies and food into Gaza, but has kept out cement and other building supplies needed for reconstruction. Israel argues such materials could be diverted by Hamas for military use.
Full Story U.S. congressman: U.S. should break Israel`s blockade of Gaza – Haaretz – Israel News.
Putting the Science of Happiness Into Practice
Countries around the world are beginning to apply the science of well-being to the decisions they make. News from the 5th International Conference on Gross National Happiness.
The study of happiness is experiencing a boom. Its practitioners include economists who believe that gross domestic product (GDP) is too limited a tool to measure the success of societies, psychologists and sociologists who feel that their disciplines have focused too much on neuroses and social problems and not enough on determining what kind of activities and policies actually contribute to happier societies, and political leaders who want to know how to make use of their findings.
During the 5th International Gross National Happiness Conference, held last week in Brazil, happiness proponents from around the world were able to come together and compare notes about the practical application of “happiness science.”
The Science of Happiness
Not surprisingly, that science has found that beyond a certain minimum level of income, greater happiness comes from strong and plentiful human connections, a sense of control over one’s life and employment, meaningful work, good health, basic economic security, trust in others and in government, and other factors less directly connected with monetary remuneration.
Full Story John de Graaf :: News from the 5th International Conference on Gross National Happiness.
The New Economy Challenge: Implications for Higher Education
A new economy requires a new approach to education. David Korten discusses how we can rethink our goals, reskill ourselves, and teach Spaceship Management 101.
We humans are in the midst of a potentially terminal economic, social, and environmental crisis of our own making. Our economic systems are unstable, extreme inequality is tearing apart the social fabric, and Earth’s critical living systems are collapsing. We have gathered for this conference, not to debate the seriousness of our situation, but rather to explore how our educational institutions can contribute to the solution.
Building an Earth Community
I want to start by quoting from the preamble of The Earth Charter, a document that grew out of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. It is a summation of conversations over several years involving thousands of persons representing the grand diversity of the world’s people and cultures. Its opening words frame the work at hand:
We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth Community with a common destiny.
Full Story The New Economy Challenge: Implications for Higher Education by David Korten — YES! Magazine.
After Years of Quiet, Expecting a Boom in U.S. Medical Schools
Peter Allen applied to 30 medical schools after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh last year. Twenty-eight said no.
Of the two that said yes, one had something in common with Mr. Allen: It, too, was starting out in medicine. He enrolled in the inaugural class of The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pa.
“I was ecstatic that I had been accepted to a medical school,” Mr. Allen said, adding that he would have gone for a master’s in bioengineering if he had not been accepted. “It’s a giant sigh of relief; it secures your plans for the rest of your life really.”
The Commonwealth is one of nearly two dozen medical schools that have recently opened or might open across the country, the most at any time since the 1960s and ’70s.
Full Story After Years of Quiet, Expecting a Boom in U.S. Medical Schools – NYTimes.com.
Calculated Risk: Five Million Workers to Exhaust Unemployment Benefits by June
Back in December, the qualification dates for existing tiers of unemployment benefits were extended for an additional two months. Time is up at the end of February.
Now another extension is needed or millions of workers will lose benefits over the next few months.
The National Employment Law Project (NELP) released a new report last week showing that …
1.2 million jobless workers will become ineligible for federal unemployment benefits in March unless Congress extends the unemployment safety net programs from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). By June, this number will swell to nearly 5 million unemployed workers nationally who will be left without any jobless benefits.
…
Currently, 5.6 million people are accessing one of the federal extensions (34-53 weeks of Emergency Unemployment Compensation; 13-20 weeks of Extended Benefits, a program normally funded 50 percent by the states).
Exhaust Unemployment Benefits This table shows the NELP’s projections
Full Story Calculated Risk: Five Million Workers to Exhaust Unemployment Benefits by June.
Fox News Scolds WellPoint Rate Hike, Not For Hurting Consumers, But For Energizing Health Reform Advocates
California Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, a subsidiary of health insurance giant WellPoint, announced recently that it would be hiking premiums for customers in the individual market by up to 39 percent. The looming hike unleashed a firestorm of criticism, and provoked two Democratic lawmakers to launch congressional probes into the matter. Even a spokesman for Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) was compelled to feign concern, telling reporters, “If the argument is that the WellPoint hike means we need reform, well, ‘duh.’”
Earlier today on Fox Business, WellPoint VP Brad Fluegel appeared to discuss the hikes. Fox hosts Charles Payne and and Stu Varney lashed out at WellPoint for increasing rates just when “it was safe to get out of the healthcare debate.” The hosts were uninterested with how the increasing rates would affect customers and struggling families in California. Instead, the pair attacked Fluegel for re-energizing advocates for health reform. Payne groaned, asking Fluegel why he didn’t “take Wall Street’s lead” and “wait for this to blow over and maybe a year from now try to hike rates”:
Green Stimulus Jobs Going to China?
Jon Karl finds the stimulus is creating green jobs …. overseas
Green Stimulus Jobs Going to China? – ABC News.
Indicting the Supreme Court
Prof John Kozy -
The Supreme Court has taken its task to be the “constitutionalization” of an immoral and rapacious economic system instead of the promotion of justice and liberty.
Grumbling over the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Citizens United continue to rumble like distant thunder. Will the decision go down in history as one more in the Court’s long line of egregious opinions? Likely! Will it have much effect on the American political landscape? Likely not! Simply ask yourself, how much worse can it get?
There is scant evidence that the Congressional attempts to limit corporate expenditures in electioneering have had any effect in reducing corporate influence in government. Expecting the Congress, most if not all of whose members reside deep in corporate pockets, to eliminate that influence can be likened to expecting the rhinovirus to eliminate the common cold. Corporate money is the diseased life-blood of American politics; it carries its cancerous spores to all extremities.
The Supreme Court really should be named the Unbeseem Court. Without any Constitutional justification whatsoever, as Justice Holmes, dissenting in Lochner, pointed out, the Court has taken its task to be the constitutionalization of a totally immoral, rapacious, economic system instead of the promotion of justice, domestic tranquility, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty. Consider this short list of examples:
Full Story Indicting the Supreme Court.
Spying for Dollars: Military Contractors and Security Firms Reap Huge Profits
As the Defense Budget Soars, Billions of Dollars are Channelled Offshore to Avoid Paying Taxes
The Obama administration is seeking to increase the obscenely bloated U.S. Defense Department budget to a whopping $708 billion for fiscal year 2011, 3.4% above 2010′s record level, The Wall Street Journal reported.
While the overall budget deficit will balloon to a staggering $1.6 trillion in 2011, the result of massive tax cuts for the rich, declining revenues, a by-product of capitalism’s economic meltdown, imperial adventures abroad and general corporate malfeasance (the old tax-dodge grift), the administration plans to cut $250 billion over three years from non-military “discretionary spending” on domestic social programs.
However, as the World Socialist Web Site points out: “President Barack Obama has done nothing to reverse decades of wage stagnation, mounting poverty, and attacks on the social welfare system. On the contrary, following George W. Bush, he has seized on the crisis to redistribute wealth to a tiny financial elite through the ongoing bailout of the finance industry.”
Full Story Spying for Dollars: Military Contractors and Security Firms Reap Huge Profits.
Report Says Cape Wind Would Save Billions
An offshore wind farm in the Nantucket Sound could save the New England region billions of dollars over 25 years, according to a new report.
The long-debated Cape Wind project, which would install 130 offshore wind turbines roughly five miles from the nearest shore, would be the first of its kind in the United States. It would cover 24 square miles in the sound.
The turbines would supply about 10 percent of the 2013 power demand in Southeastern Massachusetts and about 1 percent of the total 2013 New England demand.
The project would save the New England region about $185 million a year, according to the report, which was prepared this month by Charles River Associates and commissioned by backers of the project. Over 25 years, this would amount to $4.6 billion.
Full Story Report Says Cape Wind Would Save Billions – Green Inc. Blog – NYTimes.com.
Pregnant Woman, Husband Kicked Off Spirit Airlines Flight For Asking For Water
It’s not just famous directors who are getting kicked off planes for bizarre reasons.
A New York doctor claims that he was booted from a Spirit Airlines flight for asking for water for his pregnant wife on Sunday.
Mitchell Roslin, the Chief of Obesity Surgery at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital, says that after being grounded at LaGuardia Airport for two hours in a hot plane his attempts to get water for his 7-month pregnant wife were repeatedly refused.
Roslin informed the New York Post that flight attendants told him that it was “against corporate policy” to give him water before the plane was in the air.
Full Story Pregnant Woman, Husband Kicked Off Spirit Airlines Flight For Asking For Water.
Oil groups mount legal challenge to Schwarzenegger’s tar sands ban
A lobby group that includes BP and Shell in its membership has launched a legal challenge against low-carbon legislation in California that in effect rules out the use of oil from Canadian tar sands. The action by the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) comes amid growing political, investor and consumer pressure on US oil companies not to participate in the carbon-intensive tar sands of Alberta.
A NPRA statement said the legislation was unlawful for a number of reasons, including the imposition of “undue and unconstitutional burdens on interstate commerce”.
It claimed the legislation would also have “little or no impact” on greenhouse gas emissions nationwide and would harm US energy security “by discouraging the use of Canadian crude oil and ethanol produced in the American midwest”.
The refiners are joined by the American Trucking Associations and the Centre for North American Energy Security in their attempt to overturn legislation from California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wants to cut C02 emissions from transport by 10% by 2020.
Full Story Oil groups mount legal challenge to Schwarzenegger’s tar sands ban | Business | The Guardian.
Nuclear Does Not Make Economic Sense Say Studies
The enormous technical and financial risks involved in the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants make them prohibitive for private investors, rebutting the thesis of a renaissance in nuclear energy, say several independent European studies.
The risks include high construction costs, likely long delays in building, extended periods of depreciation of equipment inherent to the construction and operation of new power plants and the lack of guarantees for prices of electricity.
Adding to these is the global meltdown and the consequent cautious behaviour of investors as also fiscal and revenue difficulties of governments in the industrialised countries, say the studies.
In the most recent analysis on the feasibility of new nuclear power plants, the Citibank group concludes that some of “the risks faced by developers … are so large and variable that individually they could each bring even the largest utility company to its knees financially.”
The Citibank paper, titled ‘New Nuclear – The Economics Say No’, lists five major risks developers and operators of new nuclear power plants must confront. These risks are planning, construction, power price, operational, and decommissioning. According to the study, most governments in industrialised countries today have only “sought to limit the planning risk” for investors.
Full Story ENERGY: Nuclear Does Not Make Economic Sense Say Studies – IPS ipsnews.net.
The Decline: The Geography of a Recession
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 30 million people currently unemployed — that’s including those involuntarily working parttime and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are hurting. “The Decline: The Geography of a Recession,” as created by labor writer LaToya Egwuekwe, serves as a vivid representation of just how much. Watch the deteriorating transformation of the U.S. economy from January 2007 — approximately one year before the start of the recession — to the most recent unemployment data available today.
Animated Map at link
Guns and Butter – The New Junk Economics: From Democracy to Neoliberal Oligarchy
Guns and Butter – The New Junk Economics: From Democracy to Neoliberal Oligarchy
“The New Junk Economics: From Democracy to Neoliberal Oligarchy” with financial economist and historian, Dr. Michael Hudson. We discuss the Federal Reserve; money as debt; Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s misconception of the causes of the great depression of the 1930′s; classical political economy versus anti-classical, so-called “neoclassical”, economics; the labor theory of value; the dollar carry trade; government deficit spending; Greece.
Evan Bayh to retire
Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek re-election this year, a decision that hands Republicans a prime pickup opportunity in the middle of the country.
“After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned,” Bayh will say, according to prepared remarks obtained by the Fix. He will make the decision formal at a press conference later today.
Bayh was first elected to the Senate in 1998 and was re-elected easily in 2004. National Republicans had recruited former Sen. Dan Coats to challenge Bayh in 2010 although polling suggested Bayh began the race with a 20-point edge. He also had $13 million in the bank at the end of the year.
Full Story The Fix – Evan Bayh to retire.
Colorado Medical Marijuana Lawyer Filing Complaint Over DEA Raid
A medical marijuana lawyer wants the U.S. Department of Justice to discipline agents who raided a the home of a marijuana grower in suburban Denver.
Rob Corry filed a complaint against the Drug Enforcement Administration on Saturday.
He says the Highlands Ranch raid Friday violated the agency's new policy on enforcing drug laws in the 14 states that allow medical marijuana.
The policy says authorities shouldn't target those who are in clear compliance with their state laws.
Full Story Colorado Medical Marijuana Lawyer Filing Complaint Over DEA Raid.
Soda: A Sin We Sip Instead of Smoke?
Is soda the new tobacco?
In their critics’ eyes, producers of sugar-sweetened drinks are acting a lot like the tobacco industry of old: marketing heavily to children, claiming their products are healthy or at worst benign, and lobbying to prevent change. The industry says there are critical differences: in moderate quantities soda isn’t harmful, nor is it addictive.
The problem is that at roughly 50 gallons per person per year, our consumption of soda, not to mention other sugar-sweetened beverages, is far from moderate, and appears to be an important factor in the rise in childhood obesity. This increase is at least partly responsible for a rise in what can no longer be called “adult onset” diabetes — because more and more children are now developing it.
Attention is being paid: Last week, the Obama administration announced a plan to ban candy and sweetened beverages from schools. A campaign against childhood obesity will be led by the first lady, Michelle Obama. And a growing number of public health advocates are pushing for even more aggressive actions, urging that soda be treated like tobacco: with taxes, warning labels and a massive public health marketing campaign, all to discourage consumption.
Full Story Is Soda the New Tobacco? – NYTimes.com.
‘Empathic Civilization’: Our Brains Were Built For Feeling Each Other’s Pain
In our culture we’re taught to think of ourselves as independent and self-actualizing. In reality, our brain is uniquely constructed for experiencing other people’s thoughts, emotions and actions as if they were our own.
When we watch another person move, our observations of their movement activates in our own brain the same areas that are involved when we make that movement. This innate tendency for imitation was first observed in macaque monkeys where “mirror neurons” in the monkey’s prefrontal cortex respond both when the monkey grasps a peanut and when it watches another monkey grasp it. Mirror neurons are also active in our brains.
If you observe my hand reaching for a cup of tea the motor cortex in your brain will become slightly active in the same areas you would use if you reached for the cup of tea yourself. Further, if you observe my lips as I savor the tea, the area of your brain corresponding to lip movements will fire as well. Of course that doesn’t mean you can taste my tea but it does mean that I am directly affecting your brain as you watch me drinking it. And the process is reciprocal. If you pour yourself a cup of tea, a similar pattern occurs in my brain. In both situations the artificial distinction between you and me breaks down; we form a unit influencing each other’s actions: I alter your brain as a result of your observations of me, and vice versa.
Full Story Richard Restak: ‘Empathic Civilization’: Our Brains Were Built For Feeling Each Other’s Pain.
Zachery Kouwe Plagiarism Scandal? New York Times Says Reporter ‘Borrowed’ Repeatedly
The New York Times has issued an editor’s note saying that business reporter Zachery Kouwe, “reused language from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other sources without attribution or acknowledgment.”
According to the Times, they were notified of the issue by the Journal.
In articles about the Bernard Madoff scandal that appeared in both newspapers on February 6, there were similar phrases and even identical sentences. Versions of the stories were also available online on February 5. For example, each contained a sentence reading:
Last year Mr. Madoff’s wife, Ruth, also agreed to an asset freeze as part of a separate trustee’s $45 million lawsuit against her.
In each story, that sentences was immediately preceded by very similar passages. From the New York Times version:
Full Story Zachery Kouwe Plagiarism Scandal? New York Times Says Reporter ‘Borrowed’ Repeatedly.
At Least 10 Civilians, 5 Children, Killed by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan – Rethink Afghanistan War Blog
A few days ago a commenter on my blog took issue with my post, “Fallujah, New Orleans and Marjah.” Part of our disagreement focused on whether the Marines could precisely target their munitions. The commenter said in part:
What do you know about Marine Corps military operations? What do you know about the accuracy of any of the weapons in their arsenal? We are not talking about the CIA lobbing missiles at some Taliban bad guys from a UAV. We are talking about precision guided weapons.
I don’t often call out commenters like this, but at least 10 people including 5 children were butchered today because someone bought this kind of thinking in Marjah, Afghanistan:
An errant American rocket strike on Sunday hit a compound crowded with Afghan civilians in the last Taliban stronghold in Helmand Province, killing at least 10 people, including 5 children, military officials said.
…Officers said the barrage had been fired from Camp Bastion, a large British and American base to the northeast, by a weapons system known as Himars, an acronym for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. Its munitions are GPS-guided and advertised as being accurate enough to strike within a yard of their intended targets.
Full Story At Least 10 Civilians, 5 Children, Killed by U.S. Forces in Afghanistan – Rethink Afghanistan War Blog.
Female Prisoner Serving 27-Year Sentence For First-Time, Non-Violent Drug Offense
A Letter from Behind Bars on President’s Day
As we celebrate President’s Day, one prisoner asks President Obama to exercise his clemency power to commute the remaining 10 years of her 27-year sentence, which she received for a first time, non-violent drug offense. Hamedah Hasan, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a formal commutation petition today and included a letter addressed directly to President Obama. Below is a condensed version of her letter, adapted especially for Huffington Post. To read Hamedah’s full letter and learn more about her story and the President’s unique power to send her home, click here.
Dear Mr. President,
Today is President’s Day. As the President of the United States, you have the unique and absolute power to commute the sentence of any federal prisoner. That means you could send me home today, and that is what I am asking you to do.
From everything I have observed, you are a compassionate and just man. I pray that if you learn of the story behind my sentence, you will be moved to exercise your clemency power to give me a second chance.
Full Story Hamedah Hasan: A Letter from Behind Bars on President’s Day.
Windows Phone 7 Series RELEASED
Microsoft officially unveiled its new Windows Phone 7 Series at the Mobile World Congress 2010.
See photos of the new Windows Phone 7 Series in the slideshow below.
Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore introduced the new phone and said that the company’s goal was to create ‘a modern phone that fits people’s complex lives.’ Belfiore added, ‘First, we want a smart design that puts the user at the center of the experience. Second, we wanted to design integrated experiences.’
Early reviews of the Windows Phone 7 Series emphasize how different it is from past iterations of Windows Mobile.
Full Story Windows Phone 7 Series RELEASED: PICTURES Of Microsoft’s New Phone.
Health Care Costs: More Americans Trapped In Increasingly Expensive Plans
To critics, a 39 percent hike in health insurance for some Californians foretells skyrocketing rates for the rest of us. Not so, says the company, arguing the increase only hits a relatively small number of people and the economy is to blame.
But the rhetoric from both sides distorts the reality.
It’s true that hikes like the one by WellPoint Inc. apply only to people who buy individual insurance and are unlikely to spread to the majority of Americans covered through their employers. But such hikes also hit a huge number of Americans who mostly went unmentioned in the furor – the 46 million with no insurance at all.
That’s because for most people who don’t get insurance through their jobs and do not qualify for government assistance, the only option is buying individual policies like the ones in WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross plan, often with high deductibles.
Full Story Health Care Costs: More Americans Trapped In Increasingly Expensive Plans.
The Washington Post’s deceptive false-balance
Factually, that’s correct, but the phrasing majorly distorts reality. It essentially implies the Democrats used stalling tactics to largely the same degree when they were in the minority. If you believe that, have a look at this chart:
No fair-minded or objective reporter can look at that and say the Republican use of the filibuster (since being pushed back into the minority) isn’t unprecedented. It is, and it needs to be reported as such.
This could just be an honest mistake for lack of fact checking, but given how the mainstream media works it’s far more likely a backwards attempt at portraying balance whether or not it’s there, usually out of fear of being labeled partisan. Either way, it’s wrong.
Full Story The Washington Post’s deceptive false-balance – Sahil Kapur – AntiPartisan – True/Slant.
Do Smart Phones Thwart Public Records Laws?
State leaders in Florida are in a battle with technology: new forms of communications that make it difficult for public officials to follow the law.
The state has one of the best government public record laws in the country. Virtually every public document is accessible to the public. And though the state is embracing the perks of advanced technology — the Legislature just started piloting the use of electronic meeting packets, instead of printing them on paper — the use of cell phones and BlackBerrys is causing concern. It’s simply too difficult to archive all communications.
E-mails sent from a BlackBerry are easily tracked and archived by government servers. But the wireless devices can also send electronic messages in another way called “PINing,” and those communications often are not tracked. The practice stirred controversy last summer when staff members of Florida’s Public Service Commission were caught exchanging PIN messages with a lobbyist for a utility it regulates.
Full Story Do Smart Phones Thwart Public Records Laws? : NPR.
Hertz to include Nissan electric cars to fleet
Hertz will add Nissan’s electric vehicle to its lineup next year in the U.S. and Europe, the rental car company said Friday.
Hertz Corp., the world’s largest car rental agency, plans to use the Nissan Leaf, an all-electric vehicle with a rechargeable battery.
The Leaf can seat five adults and is designed to travel up to 100 miles on a single charge. It will be available at select Hertz rental sites, though the company did not specify where.
Full Story Hertz to include Nissan electric cars to fleet.
Check Out the FCC’s Useless Broadband Competition Map
The Federal Communications Commission released data today detailing the spread of high-speed Internet connections across the nation as of the end of 2008, including this map (click on image for an expanded view). You might be thinking, “Wow, that’s awesome — so why are we spending $350 million to create such a map as part of the broadband stimulus bill?” It’s because the FCC map is worthless.
The map defines broadband as any technology (excluding mobile broadband providers) delivering speeds of 200 kbps down. I challenge folks to surf to Facebook, the new video-heavy CNN site or even get their Gmail over such a connection. It’s not a fun experience. Plus, at those speeds video streaming isn’t going to happen at all.
However, there are only a few areas of the nation that don’t have access to at least 200 kbps at the end of 2008, and according to the map many folks have a choice of between four and six providers. However, given that some of those are undoubtedly meeting the old minimum standard of 200 kbps or even the new minimum standard of 768 kbps, I can’t say this map really proves a competitive broadband market for anyone who wants to do anything more than get email.
Full Story Check Out the FCC’s Useless Broadband Competition Map – GigaOM.
Keith Olbermann blames Bush, Cheney for 9/11 attacks
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 changed American politics forever. But in spite of the warning signs raised by the U.S. intelligence community, the Bush administration seemed preoccupied with other issues, aloof to the alleged threat until the day both towers fell.
Why then, MSNBC’s liberal host Keith Olbermann asked on Friday night, is it “taboo” to blame the Bush administration for allowing the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on their watch?
His conclusion: For their lack of vigilance and because they “did not prioritize,” President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are to be faulted for the attacks.
Full Story Keith Olbermann blames Bush, Cheney for 9/11 attacks | Raw Story.
E. coli fears spark massive meat recall – 5 million lbs
Calif. firm’s products include ground beef patties, veal patties, burrito mix
A Southern California meatpacking firm has significantly expanded its recall of ground beef and veal that might be contaminated with E. coli.
The recall includes approximately an additional 4.9 million pounds of products by Huntington Meat Packing Inc. under the Huntington, Imperial Meat Co. and El Rancho brands, the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said Friday.
The original recall was announced Jan. 18 and was for 864,000 pounds of meat.
Full Story E. coli fears spark massive meat recall – Food safety- msnbc.com.
We Must Stop the Rampant Fraud in the Health Care Industry
By US Senator Bernie Sanders -
Its function is not to provide quality health care, but to make huge profits for those who own the companies
As a member of the Senate health committee, one of two Senate panels dealing with health care reform, it has become apparent to me that real health care reform must address the billions of dollars in fraud and abuse that comes from the major corporations in the health care industry.
What we have seen over the last several decades is the systemic fraud perpetrated by private insurance companies, private drug companies, and private for-profit hospitals ripping off the American people and the taxpayers of this country to the tune of many billions of dollars.
The rampant fraud is another reason why our current health care system, dominated by private insurance companies, is the most costly, wasteful, complicated and bureaucratic in the world. Its function is not to provide quality health care, but to make huge profits for those who own the companies. With 1,300 private insurance companies and thousands of different health benefit programs designed to maximize profits, our country spends an incredible 30 percent of each health care dollar on administration and billing, exorbitant CEO compensation packages, advertising, lobbying and campaign contributions. Public programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the VA are administered for much less.
Full Story OpEdNews – Article: We Must Stop the Rampant Fraud in the Health Care Industry.
Lessons the U.S. Could Learn from Greece
Both the United States and Greece carry a large amount of government debt, have official unemployment of 9 percent or more, their service sectors have been battered in the past year, and the only employer still hiring is the government.
On February 10, 2010 thousands of Greek civil servants took to the streets in a nationwide general strike.
The momentum for a strike grew in strength after Parliament officials announced that the country would likely cut pensions, salaries, and benefits for hundreds of thousands of government employees as a means of coping with its growing deficit crisis. Other European Union members were calling for this measure as a necessary step before any financial aide could begin flowing in.
Athens may need to borrow up to $53 billion to cover its unfunded liabilities for this year. The government has enough money to pay for its operations through April, but if a bailout hasn’t been achieved and implemented before then the system could grind to a halt.
Full Story Lessons the U.S. Could Learn from Greece | Economy In Crisis.
U.S.: No National Manufacturing Policy and Not Getting Tougher with China
President Barack Obama vowed to get tougher with China when it comes to trade, but stopped short of pledging to revoke trade deals with the communist nation if it continues to practice mercantilism.
“I would not be in favor of revoking the trade relationships that we’ve established with China,” Obama said in response to a question on the matter from Democratic Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.
Specter asked the president how to better combat illegal Chinese trade practices such as currency manipulation, illegal subsidies and other measures taken by the Chinese government to gain a competitive advantage.
Full Story U.S.: No National Manufacturing Policy and Not Getting Tougher with China | Economy In Crisis.
Car seizures at DUI checkpoints prove profitable for cities, raise legal questions
An investigation by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley with California Watch has found that impounds at checkpoints in 2009 generated an estimated $40 million in towing fees and police fines – revenue that cities divide with towing firms.
Additionally, police officers received about $30 million in overtime pay for the DUI crackdowns, funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety.
In dozens of interviews over the past three months, law enforcement officials and tow truck operators say that vehicles are predominantly taken from minority motorists – often illegal immigrants.
In the course of its examination, the Investigative Reporting Program reviewed hundreds of pages of city financial records and police reports, and analyzed data documenting the results from every checkpoint that received state funding during the past two years. Among the findings:
Full Story Car seizures at DUI checkpoints prove profitable for cities, raise legal questions | California Watch.
Dick Cheney Admits to Torture Conspiracy
If the U.S. had a functioning criminal justice system for the powerful, former Vice President Dick Cheney would have just convicted himself with his Sunday comments.
On Sunday, Cheney pronounced himself “a big supporter of waterboarding,” a near-drowning technique that has been regarded as torture back to the Spanish Inquisition and that has long been treated by U.S. authorities as a serious war crime, such as when Japanese commanders were prosecuted for using it on American prisoners during World War II.
Cheney was unrepentant about his support for the technique. He answered with an emphatic “yes” when asked if he had opposed the Bush administration’s decision to suspend the use of waterboarding – after it was employed against three “high-value detainees” sometimes in repetitive sequences. He added that waterboarding should still be “on the table” today.
Cheney then went further. Speaking with a sense of impunity, he casually negated a key line of defense that senior Bush officials had hidden behind for years – that the brutal interrogations were approved by independent Justice Department legal experts who thus gave the administration a legitimate reason to believe the actions were within the law.
Full Story Dick Cheney Admits to Torture Conspiracy | News & Politics | AlterNet.
Cars, Riptides, Lightning — All More Likely to Kill You Than Terrorists
Any attempted terror attack, no matter how poorly executed, raises a national alarm — and our paranoia only adds to the power of the imperial presidency.
Let me put American life in the Age of Terror into some kind of context, and then tell me you’re not ready to get on the nearest plane heading anywhere, even toward Yemen.
In 2008, Americans were murdered, according to the FBI. In that year, there were 34,017 fatal vehicle crashes in the U.S. and, so the U.S. Fire Administration tells us, 3,320 deaths by fire. More than 11,000 Americans died of the swine flu between April and mid-December 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; on average, a staggering 443,600 Americans die yearly of illnesses related to tobacco use, reports the American Cancer Society; 5,000 Americans die annually from food-borne diseases; an estimated 1,760 children died from abuse or neglect in 2007; and the next year, 560 Americans died of weather-related conditions, according to the National Weather Service, including 126 from tornadoes, 67 from rip tides, 58 from flash floods, 27 from lightning, 27 from avalanches, and 1 from a dust devil.
Full Story Cars, Riptides, Lightning — All More Likely to Kill You Than Terrorists | | AlterNet.
The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States of America – Part I
It’s time for 99% of Americans to mobilize and aggressively move on common sense political reforms
-I: Causalities of Economic Terrorism, Surveying the Damage
——-II: The Rise of the Economic Elite
——-III: Exposing Our Enemy: Meet the Economic Elite
——-IV: The Financial Coup d’Etat
——-V: Overcoming the Divide and Conquer Strategy
——-VI: How to Fight Back and Win: Common Ground Issues That Must Be Won
“The American oligarchy spares no pains in promoting the belief that it does not exist, but the success of its disappearing act depends on equally strenuous efforts on the part of an American public anxious to believe in egalitarian fictions and unwilling to see what is hidden in plain sight.” — Michael Lind, To Have and to Have Not
Yes, of course, we all have very strong differences of opinion on many issues. However, like our Founding Fathers before us, we must put aside our differences and unite to fight a common enemy.
It has now become evident to a critical mass that the Republican and Democratic parties, along with all three branches of our government, have been bought off by a well-organized Economic Elite who are tactically destroying our way of life. The harsh truth is that 99% of the US population no longer has political representation. The US economy, government and tax system is now blatantly rigged against us.
Current statistical societal indicators clearly demonstrate that a strategic attack has been launched and an analysis of current governmental policies prove that conditions for 99% of Americans will continue to deteriorate. The Economic Elite have engineered a financial coup and have brought war to our doorstep. . . and make no mistake, they have launched a war to eliminate the US middle class.
Full Story The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States of America – Part I | Amped Status.
This is the first part of a six-part report. Part two will be posted on Wednesday.
China orders retreat from risky assets
China has ordered managers of its vast currency reserves to withdraw from risky dollar assets and retreat to core debt guaranteed by the US government, a clear sign that Beijing is battening down the hatches for fresh trouble on global markets.
A Communist Party directive leaked to the Chinese-language edition of the Asia Times said dollar reserves should be limited to US Treasuries or agency mortgage debt such as Freddie Mac that enjoys Washington’s implicit backing.
BNP Paribas said the move has major implications for global risk assets. “The message from Beijing is that we don’t like this environment,” said Hans Redeker, the bank’s currency chief.
Full Story China orders retreat from risky assets – Telegraph.
The battle of 9/11’s ailing first responders
As Susan Edelman reported in the NY Post’s billable billions, the legal battle of ailing 9/11 first responders for compensation at Ground Zero will bring literally billions in billable hours to defense lawyers. These fees could amount to half of the money payable to some 10,000 first responders and recovery workers from toxic injuries, whose suits could total some $4 billion.
Of course, the workers were not racking up triple- to four-digit hourly fees plus expenses. They did get to inhale for some period of time Ground Zero’s toxic brew straight from Pandora’s open box. That would be . . .
* Over 400 tons of asbestos, which inhaled in any quantity, cannot be expelled by the lungs.
* 90,000 liters of jet fuel containing benzene, a carcinogen that suppresses the immune system and causes leukemia.
* Mercury from over 500,000 fluorescent lights that is toxic to the nervous system, and damaging especially to the kidneys.
* 200,000 pounds of lead and cadmium from personal computers toxic to the respiratory tract, especially damaging to kidneys.
* Polycystic aromatic hydrocarbons that cause lung, laryngeal and throat cancers.
* 130,000 gallons of transformer oil, which contains PCBs ad causes serious skin rashes and liver damage.
* Crystalline Silica from 420,000 tons of concrete, sheetrock and glass (tiny particulates that lodge in the heart, causing ischemic heart disease).
The above facts come from filmmaker Heidi Dehncke’s amazing documentary, Dust to Dust: the health effects of 9/11. I reviewed this film in my article 9/11’s Second Round of Slaughter. In fact, some 2,500 contaminants erupted from the explosions of the World Trade Center that felled Towers One, Two and Seven, plus the two, fuel-laden jetliners, turning into a toxic gray dust that hung in the air as well as settled in people’s lungs, including first responders, and on area streets, vehicles, buildings, residences, both outside and inside the city for months.
You can add to the list of deadly pollutants the red dust of nanothermite, an explosive discovered in the pile by physicist Steven Jones and his team of scientists. The red dust, aerosolized from the military explosive thermite by nanotechnology, was likely sprayed on walls and girders within the Towers. Ironically, Tower 7, the third tower to go down, was not hit by an airliner to ignite the heat-sensitive thermite. Actually, T-7 came down at 5:20 PM at the request of the building owner, WTC lessee, Larry Silverstein. He claimed at 3 PM on 9/11 that there was so much pain and suffering that “we decided to pull it,” the term for a planned internal demolition by explosives. Yet, two hours and 20 minutes was not enough time to set up an internal demolition for that building. It had to be done well in advance. Not so surprisingly, the red nanothermite dust was found in the Tower 7 ruins as well.
Full Story The battle of 9/11’s ailing first responders.
Walmart Made Millions Off Oregon’s Renewable Energy Tax Credits
Renewable Tax Incentives Gone Wild?
As much as we tout the importance of government support for the fledgling renewable energy industries like wind and solar, recent revelations in Oregon point out how these can get out of hand, and become a mess, fast. Until now, Oregon has had a generous business energy tax credit available designed to help its renewable energy sector. But due to the program’s massive popularity, curious loopholes, and apparent inefficiency, the state has voted to cut back on the credit. After all, the retail mammoth Walmart had raked in $11 million dollars by taking advantage of it–without ever touching a solar panel or a wind turbine.
Clean Energy Tax Credit Abuse?
Here’s what happened with Wal Mart, according to the Portland Oregonian:
Walmart took advantage of a provision in Oregon’s Business Energy Tax Credit that allows third parties with no ties to the green power industry to buy the credits at a discount and reduce their state income tax bills.
State records show Walmart paid $22.6 million in cash last year for the right to claim $33.6 million in energy tax credits. The cash went to seven projects, including two eastern Oregon wind farms and SolarWorld’s manufacturing plant in Hillsboro. In return, Walmart profits $11 million on the deal because that’s the difference between what it paid for the tax credit and the amount of its tax reduction.
Full Story Walmart Made Millions Off Oregon’s Renewable Energy Tax Credits : TreeHugger.
Utah Considers Cutting 12th Grade To Save Money
It looks like the race to be the most whacked-out state is now a four state field. Joining Florida, South Carolina, and Texas is upstart Utah. After making yesterday’s Watercooler when their state legislature passed a resolution denying climate change science, they make it again tonight with this bold new idea to trim the state budget:
The sudden buzz over the relative value of senior year stems from a recent proposal by state Sen. Chris Buttars that Utah make a dent in its budget gap by eliminating the 12th grade. The notion quickly gained some traction among supporters who agreed with the Republican’s assessment that many seniors fritter away their final year of high school, but faced vehement opposition from other quarters.
Buttars has since toned down the idea, suggesting instead that senior year become optional for students who complete their required credits early. He estimated the move could save up to $60 million, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. The proposal comes as the state faces a $700-million shortfall and reflects the creativity — or desperation — of lawmakers all over.
All kidding aside, something is seriously wrong when it’s crunch-time for the budget, and the first thing put on the chopping block is education – an entire year of a child’s education.
What’s on your mind tonight?
Full Story The Seminal » Watercooler – Utah Considers Cutting 12th Grade To Save Money.
Prof Gil Seralini Runs Monsanto’s numbers, liver/kidney damage from GMOs
As part of an upcoming documentary on the introduction of a genetically engineered chile pepper to New Mexico, I interviewed Professor Gil Seralini over Skype. Though technically this interview is plagued with problems, I wanted to get it up as soon as possible.
Biofuel ‘miracle crop’ jatropha failing to deliver
A “miracle” plant, once thought to be as the answer to producing renewable biofuels on a vast scale, is driving thousands of farmers in the developing world into food poverty, a damning report concludes today.
Five years ago jatropha was hailed by investors and scientists as a breakthrough in the battle to find a biofuel alternative to fossil fuels that would not further impoverish developing countries by diverting resources away from food production.
Jatropha was said to be resistant to drought and pests and able could grow on land that was unsuitable for food production. But researchers have found that it has increased poverty in countries including India and Tanzania.
Full Story Biofuel ‘miracle crop’ jatropha failing to deliver – Business – NZ Herald News.
The Making of a Euromess
Paul Krugman -
Lately, financial news has been dominated by reports from Greece and other nations on the European periphery. And rightly so.
But I’ve been troubled by reporting that focuses almost exclusively on European debts and deficits, conveying the impression that it’s all about government profligacy — and feeding into the narrative of our own deficit hawks, who want to slash spending even in the face of mass unemployment, and hold Greece up as an object lesson of what will happen if we don’t.
For the truth is that lack of fiscal discipline isn’t the whole, or even the main, source of Europe’s troubles — not even in Greece, whose government was indeed irresponsible (and hid its irresponsibility with creative accounting).
Full Story Op-Ed Columnist – The Making of a Euromess – NYTimes.com.
Obama affirms right-wing, pro-business policies in interview
In an interview published in the latest edition of Bloomberg BusinessWeek, US president Barack Obama defended the right-wing credentials of his administration, insisting that everything he has done and intends to do is in the interests of corporations.
Prior to the publication of the full interview, a passage was released in which Obama declares that he does not “begrudge” the $26 million in bonuses awarded to Wall Street CEOs Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein. The declaration was intended to make clear his loyalty to the financial elite. (See “Obama doesn’t ‘begrudge’ bankers their multi-million-dollar bonuses”)
The entire interview (now available here) is along the same lines. Obama stressed his role in bailing out the banks, his regular discussions with CEOs, his plans for corporate tax cuts and cuts in health care.
The interview begins with the question: “The Administration is perceived as anti-business. Why?”
Full Story Obama affirms right-wing, pro-business policies in interview.
Cuba’s aid ignored by the media?
Among the many donor nations helping Haiti, Cuba and its medical teams have played a major role in treating earthquake victims.
Public health experts say the Cubans were the first to set up medical facilities among the debris and to revamp hospitals immediately after the earthquake struck.
However, their pivotal work in the health sector has received scant media coverage.
“It is striking that there has been virtually no mention in the media of the fact that Cuba had several hundred health personnel on the ground before any other country,” said David Sanders, a professor of public health from Western Cape University in South Africa. The Cuban team coordinator in Haiti, Dr Carlos Alberto Garcia, says the Cuban doctors, nurses and other health personnel have been working non-stop, day and night, with operating rooms open 18 hours a day.
Full Story Al Jazeera English – Focus – Cuba’s aid ignored by the media?.
Insurer’s Plan To Jack Up Premiums Puts New Steam Into Health Reform On Senate Floor
Just weeks ago the Senate majority leader declared there was “no rush” to complete comprehensive healthcare reform. But a California insurer’s intent to raise rates as much as 39 percent appears to have lit a new fire under Sen. Harry Reid, as he took to the Senate floor to beseech his colleagues to “finish the job.”
Anthem Blue Cross, a California subsidiary of WellPoint, has come under fire for jacking up premiums by as much as 39 percent this year on some individual health policies. This comes as a new study indicates WellPoint was one of the five largest health insurance companies that posted $12.2 billion in profits last year, 56 percent more than in 2008.
“A lot of companies are hurting in this economy. But this California health care company isn’t one of them. Last year, its parent company raked in eight times what it made in the same quarter just the year before,” Reid (D-Nev.) says. “And it’s not the first time we’ve seen this happen. Just two months ago, another exceedingly profitable company raised its rates with the full knowledge that it would mean 650,000 people would no longer be able to afford coverage. That’s the equivalent of every man, woman and child who lives in Las Vegas, plus 100,000 more people.”
Full Story On The Hill: Insurer’s Plan To Jack Up Premiums Puts New Steam Into Health Reform On Senate Floor.
How global warming contributed to the snow
A warming world increases atmospheric moisture, which leads to massive snowstorms
You can’t even find your car on the street, the kids have been out of school for days, and “blizzard conditions” is now standard weatherman talk in the D.C.-Baltimore region. So if global warming is happening, why in the world are we literally buried in snow?
It’s a good question, and thankfully, the answer is pretty straightforward. In fact, the growing pattern of extreme snowfall in our region has the fingerprints of climate change all over it — even as temperatures steadily rise across America and the world.
Let’s agree on one thing: Our weather has been totally unrecognizable this winter. Of the ten heaviest snow storms ever recorded in Baltimore since 1870, three have occurred in the last seven weeks. Before this winter, the city had never gotten even two storms of 19-plus inches in a single season, much less a trio. And we’ve shattered the old record for snowiest cumulative winter ever here, 62.5 inches, set in 1995-96. Philadelphia and D.C. have posted very similar snow statistics.
Full Story How global warming contributed to the snow – baltimoresun.com.
Marine base’s ex-residents, many ill, only now learning of toxic water
Paul Akers was in his oncologist’s office last summer when his adult daughter handed him a magazine.
He saw a half-page ad from the Marine Corps, alerting former residents of Camp Lejeune, N.C., that if they lived on the base between 1957 and 1987, they might have been exposed to contaminated water.
Akers thought about his mother, the wife of a Marine, who died in 1960.
He remembered his little sister, whom he called Penny. She died of cancer in June at 61. She’d been diagnosed last spring, when she went in to be tested as a bone marrow match for her ailing brother. She was dead within a month.
Full Story Marine base’s ex-residents, many ill, only now learning of toxic water | McClatchy.
More Homeless Americans Living in Cars and Campers
Tim Barker never thought he’d have to live in his truck. Four months ago, the plumber was in a one-bedroom apartment in California’s San Fernando Valley, with a pool and a Jacuzzi. Then, on his birthday in October, he and 199 other plumbers were laid off by their union, Local 761 in Burbank. Now Barker’s son sleeps on the sofa of his cousin’s one-bedroom Hollywood apartment, and Barker sleeps on the roof of the apartment building – or in his 2003 Ford Ranger pickup. “I’m 47, and I’ve never lived in my car,” says Barker, a husky 220-lb. single father with sandy hair and a rapid-fire voice. In January, as torrential rains pelted the streets of Southern California, father and son were sleeping in the truck in San Pedro, next to the Los Angeles Harbor. “We were able to spend four nights in the Vagabond Motel, but for two nights we slept in the car,” says Barker. “It was raining, cold, and the cat was jumping on us. We both got sick.”
For people who cannot afford rent, a car is the last rung of dignity and sanity above the despair of the streets. A home on wheels is a classic American affair, from the wagon train to the RV. Now, for some formerly upwardly mobile Americans, the economic storm has turned the backseat or the rear of the van into the bedroom. “We found six people sleeping in their cars on an overnight police ride-along in December,” says John Edmund, chief of staff to Long Beach councilman Dee Andrews. “One was a widow living in a four-door sedan. She and her husband had been Air Force veterans. She did not know about the agencies that could help her. I had tears in my eyes afterwards.” (See TIME’s photo-essay “The American Economy: Down and Out.”)
“Cars are the new homeless shelters,” says Joel John Roberts, CEO of PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) Partners, the largest provider of services for the homeless in Los Angeles County, which had nearly 50,000 people homeless in 2009. Of these, experts estimate that up to 10% live in vehicles – even though doing so is illegal in most of the county. A similar situation is true for many other regions across the nation, especially in the Sun Belt. A woman lives in her BMW in Marina Del Rey, a swank L.A. address on the coast. PATH outreach workers Jorge Guzman and Tomasz Babiszkiewicz say she was an executive recruiter until the Great Recession. “She was self-employed for 36 years,” says Guzman. “Now she sits in the car with a blanket and reads. She has not told her daughter.” (See the 50 worst cars of all time.)
Full Story More Homeless Americans Living in Cars and Campers – Yahoo! News.
Palin, Romney and the GOP Field
It is ridiculously early to even begin discussing the Republican field for the 2012 presidential election – hell, it’s still too early to really talk about the 2010 midterms – but let’s do it anyway. Why bother? Because there is a really interesting dynamic shaping up within the GOP concerning the next presidential election cycle that deserves notice, and besides, it’s fun.
Many within the opinion-making pundit class of the news media have been prophesying doom for President Obama and the Democratic Party’s control of Congress in 2010. As stated before, it is far too early to begin making ’10 Congressional predictions, but the Democrats and Obama definitely have reasons for concern. Several Democratic congressmen have announced they will be retiring at the end of their terms, and four Democratic senators – Harry Reid, Blanche Lincoln, Arlen Specter and Michael Bennet – are looking down the barrel of almost certain defeat unless circumstances change dramatically in their favor.
Analysts like Nate Silver predict the GOP has only a slim chance of toppling the Democratic majority, but predicts an equally slim chance of the Democrats retaining the sizable majority they currently enjoy. They’ll hold Congress, it seems, but not by much. The outlook could be worse for the Obama administration, given recent history. President Clinton lost control of Congress altogether after the first midterm elections of his administration, a fact that radically altered the political landscape of the day and ultimately led to his impeachment.
Full Story t r u t h o u t | Palin, Romney and the GOP Field.
OPS: It will be the Mit-ster all the way. And the last hope for America will dissapear.
Man advising Idaho detainees in Haiti confirmed as fugitive
Jorge Puello is wanted on suspicion of child prostitution; Meridian church says he called to offer his services.
The man providing legal advice to American church workers charged with trying to take children out of Haiti did jail time in the United States years before emerging as the key suspect in a child prostitution ring in El Salvador, according to records and interviews.
The mother and stepfather of Jorge Anibal Torres Puello told The Miami Herald in an extensive interview Saturday the fugitive wanted by Salvadoran police was their son.
“That’s him,” a teary Ana Puello said from her modest home in the outskirts of Santo Domingo. “But those things they say about him, I doubt they’re true. É He told me, ‘Mami, I swear I didn’t.’ He would never hurt a child.”
Full Story Man advising Idaho detainees in Haiti confirmed as fugitive | Local News | Idaho Statesman.
Reid and Obama Abandon the Jobs Front
What planet are Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and the Democrats on?
Obama’s own economic advisers say that unemployment is going to average 10 percent this year and 9.2 percent next year.
And yet all that Harry Reid now is proposing to spend on a new jobs bill is $15 billion over the next decade, which is peanuts. And most of those peanuts are going directly to businesses, which is the least efficient way to stimulate the economy.
There is no money to extend unemployment benefits.
There is no money to extend health care coverage to the unemployed.
There is no money to support state governments, which are having to make vicious cuts to balance their own budgets.
There is no money to create a federal jobs program.
Full Story Reid and Obama Abandon the Jobs Front | The Progressive.
Climate Catastrophe: Surviving the 21st Century
“The catastrophic impacts of climate change are not only going to take place in the distant future. They are taking place now.”
–Vandana Shiva, Soil not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis
Climate Stabilization Requires a Cultural and Political Revolution
The climate, energy, and political catastrophe we are facing is mind-boggling and frightening. Yet there is still time to save ourselves, to move beyond psychological denial, despair, or false optimism. There is still hope if we are willing to confront the hydra-headed monsters that block our path, and move ahead with a decisive plan of action. The inspirational message we need to deliver is that we’re not just talking about drastically reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution, but rebuilding society, creating in effect a New Woman and a New Man for the 21st Century. What we are witnessing are the early stages of a mass grassroots consciousness-raising and taking back of power from out-of-control corporations, banks, corporate-controlled media, and politicians. This cultural and political revolution will empower us to to carry out a deep and profound retrofitting of industry, government, education, health care, housing, neighborhoods, transportation, food and farming systems, as well as our diets and lifestyles.
The scale of human and physical resources needed to turn our current suicide economy into a green economy is daunting, but absolutely necessary and achievable. The only viable roadmap for survival-an 80-90% reduction in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050-means we must force a drastic reduction in military spending (current wars and military spending are costing us almost one trillion dollars a year). We must tax the rich and the greenhouse gas polluters, and bring our out-of-control politicians, banks, Federal Reserve System, and corporations to heel.
Full Story Climate Catastrophe: Surviving the 21st Century | CommonDreams.org.
The local eco-warriors making a big noise
Shivering atop a power-station chimney certainly makes a dramatic eco statement. But is direct action the best way to combat global warming? Robin Barton meets the climate-change campaigners who like ‘big and bold’ and the green communities who prefer ‘slow and steady’
Most of us enjoyed a good night’s sleep last night. A warm bed, soft pillow, that sort of thing. But for the past six months, during the harshest winter in decades, protesters against the proposed Mainshill opencast mine in South Lanarkshire have been sleeping in treehouses and tunnels on the site, risking their wellbeing, or at least frostbitten fingers. Last week the eviction process began. Somewhat reassuringly, after the recent cold spell, the activists were given a medical once-over to check they were well enough to be arrested.
From Scotland to the village of Sipson, the site of BAA’s planned third runway at Heathrow, environmental activists are fired up. Frustration over December’s COP15 cop-out has led many to abandon hope in state-led solutions on climate change and renewable energy. In a poll conducted by treehugger.com, the leading green blog, 48 per cent of respondents, by far the largest group, described the Copenhagen summit as “a big expensive waste of time that failed to deal with an urgent problem”. So how best to get that view across?
“Direct action is a form of political engagement that’s far more effective than other forms of protest I’ve tried,” argues Ben Stewart. He was one of six Greenpeace protesters arrested after occupying the chimney of Kingsnorth power station in Kent in 2007 (see panel, right). But, heroic though abseiling down a chimney may be, is it the best way forward to a greener, cleaner environment? Or is the greatest progress being achieved in tiny steps that we can all take: cutting down on household waste, using less energy, reducing journeys. These are the seemingly mundane actions being taken by the Transition Town movement.
Full Story War at home: The local eco-warriors making a big noise – Green Living, Environment – The Independent.
Anthem To Delay Insurance Rate Hike Amid Criticism
Health insurer Anthem Blue Cross will postpone its much-criticized plan to raise rates for some California residents who buy insurance on their own, after reaching a deal Saturday with state regulators.
Anthem’s planned rate hike, which the state estimates would affect about 700,000 customers, averaged 25 percent and would have been as high as 39 percent for some.
Anthem Blue Cross of California, based in Thousand Oaks, agreed to postpone the increase from March 1 until May 1 so California could have outside experts review the company’s complex and detailed plan filing, including data on the medical costs it expects to incur.
The California Department of Insurance had been working with Anthem since mid-November to get more information about the increase, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said. He wanted to have experts comb through the company’s figures to confirm the new rates comply with a 2006 state law that insurers spend 70 cents of every premium dollar on medical care
Full Story Anthem To Delay Insurance Rate Hike Amid Criticism.
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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. 
