Archive for February, 2010

Buzz Changes: Google Drops Auto-Following, Adds Better Disable

Google product manager Todd Jackson apologized on Saturday for “the concern we’ve caused” with the roll-out of Google Buzz, and promised a series of significant changes to the company’s new social-networking service.

“It’s been an exciting and challenging week for the Buzz team. We’ve been getting feedback via the Gmail help forums and emails from friends and family, and we’ve also been able to do something new: read the buzz about Buzz itself,” Jackson wrote in a blog post. “We quickly realized that we didn’t get everything quite right. We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback. We’ll continue to do so.”

Jackson announced three major changes.

1) Buzz will drop auto-following, and instead suggest people who Gmail users might want to follow when they first sign up for Buzz. “For the tens of millions of you who have already started using Buzz, over the next couple weeks we’ll be showing you a similar version of this new start-up experience to give you a second chance to review and confirm the people you’re following.”

Full Story Buzz Changes: Google Drops Auto-Following, Adds Better Disable.

Bloomberg News Files ‘Extraordinary Lawsuit’ To Crack Fed Secrecy Around Bank Bailout

Seeking to Crack the Fed’s Secrecy Around the Bank Bailout

Battle Over the Bailout

THE critical lawsuit challenging that mystery of finance known as the Bailout started, oddly enough, with a casual newsroom chat.

Mark Pittman, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News, had filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Reserve Board, seeking the details of its unprecedented efforts to funnel money to the collapsing banks of Wall Street. Mr. Pittman, sometimes known as Bloomberg’s Yoda for his Jedi-like command of economic issues, had quietly surmised that the Fed was holding tightly to the secrets of the bailout. So he was hardly surprised when, after four months, it had failed to even answer his request. He was nonetheless annoyed. One day, even grumpier than usual, he approached his boss, Amanda Bennett, as she stood talking in the company’s East Side newsroom with an in-house lawyer named Charles Glasser.

“Pittman was this big shlumpy guy and he was wandering around going, ‘Argh argh argh,’ ” Ms. Bennett said recently. “So we asked him, ‘What’s with your FOIA?’ And Mark says — he used some colorful language — ‘They won’t answer us.’ ”

Full Story Seeking to Crack the Fed’s Secrecy Around the Bank Bailout – NYTimes.com.

Black Caucus Foundation Spent More On Catering Than Scholarships

When the Congressional Black Caucus wanted to pay off the mortgage on its foundation’s stately 1930s redbrick headquarters on Embassy Row, it turned to a familiar roster of friends: corporate backers like Wal-Mart, AT&T, General Motors, Coca-Cola and Altria, the nation’s largest tobacco company.

Soon enough, in 2008, a jazz band was playing at what amounted to a mortgage-burning party for the $4 million town house.

Most political groups in Washington would have been barred by law from accepting that kind of direct aid from corporations. But by taking advantage of political finance laws, the caucus has built a fund-raising juggernaut unlike anything else in town.

Full Story In Black Caucus, a Fund-Raising Powerhouse – NYTimes.com.

Survey says, the bigger the bank, the less people trust them

It’s no revelation that big banks have an image problem these days. And to add proof to what we’d already suspected, a new report from Forrester Research shows that America’s biggest banks are the least trusted banks in the country.

Forrester Research ranked almost 50 financial services firms in the United States, asking approximately 4,500 people if they agree with the following statement: “My financial provider does what’s best for me, not just its own bottom line.”

With the percentage of respondents who agreed with that statement ranging between 33% and 16%, the bottom seven of this year’s rankings were, in order, Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, TD/Commerce, Fifth Third, Citibank and, at the very, very bottom, HSBC.

Full Story Survey says, the bigger the bank, the less people trust them.

1988-2008 State Uncounted Votes and Unadjusted Exit Poll Analysis

This is more than a just a historical statistical reference of 1988-2008 state presidential votes. It’s a confirmation of pervasive presidential vote miscounts.

State total votes cast is key to the analysis. The NET uncounted vote is the difference between total votes cast and the recorded vote. Allocating the uncounted vote in the 1988-2008 state elections produced some interesting results. The Democrats won the average unadjusted state exit poll by 49.7-44.4%. They won by 49.7-44.8% when uncounted votes were added to the recorded vote. Typically, votes cast exceeds the number of votes recorded. But in a few states (FL 2004 and OH 2004) there was an excess of votes recorded over votes cast. In other words, ballots were stuffed. The Census Burueau does not provide the actual number of uncounted and stuffed ballots, just total votes cast. But we can use a simple formula to calculate the number of stuffed ballots in a state if we know the uncounted votes (or vice versa). ****** Net Uncounted votes = Uncounted votes – Stuffed ballots ***** In Ohio 2004, Bush won by 119,000 votes. But there were 143,000 NET stuffed ballots. According to RFK Jr in his Rolling Stone article, there were 350,000 UNCOUNTED ballots. Therefore, using the above formula, 493,000 were stuffed and Kerry won by 543,000 votes (54.7-44.8%) This is very close to the unadjusted Ohio exit poll.

**************

Here it is. All in one place. But it’s more than a just a historical voting statistical reference. It’s a confirmation of pervasive vote miscounts.

Census total votes cast is a key statistical measure which very few are aware of. But it is the key to unlocking the fraudulent vote counts. The net uncounted vote is the difference between total votes cast and the recorded vote. The Census provides total votes cast for each state. The margin of error for total votes cast is 0.3% nationally, or +/- 300,000 votes in an election of 100 million. For a given state, the MoE ranges from 1 to 2.5% based on the population.

1988-2008 State Uncounted Votes and Unadjusted Exit Poll Analysis.

John Kyl Calls Bipartisan Health Care Summit ‘Pointless’

A top Senate Republican said on Sunday that it appeared the upcoming bipartisan health care summit with the White House would be “pointless” since Democrats could ultimately pass legislation using reconciliation.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) described it as a near certainty that congressional Democrats would use budget-related parliamentary maneuvers to get health care amendments passed into law via an up-or-down vote. This, he said, would be the “nuclear option” — causing paralyzing strife in the Senate and rendering useless a bipartisan health care summit — scheduled for February 25.

“They have devised a process by which they can jam the bill through that the president supported in the past throughout the Republican ideas in it,” Kyl said. “And [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's] chief health care adviser… said that ‘there is a trick, but I think we will get it done.’ Well there is a trick. Reconciliation is not the process for comprehensive bills like this. It’s sort of to balance the budget. It would be what some — some call it the nuclear option — to proceed that way. I don’t know why we would be having a bipartisan summit down at the White House if they have already decided on the other process by which they are going to jam the bill through that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve.”

Full Story John Kyl Calls Bipartisan Health Care Summit ‘Pointless’.

OPS:  Almost have to agree. The only possible point to this is to expose the republicans yet again for their hypocrisy.  Given that they don’t have the gene that tell one when to be embarrassed…..

By now it should be obvious that Obama is the only one on the planet still looking for bipartisanship.

Rachel Maddow Stuns Rep. Aaron Schock By Calling Out His Spending Hypocrisy (VIDEO)

A heated exchange took place during NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday when MSNBC host Rachel Maddow accused Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) of hypocrisy for railing against a spending bill in public while touting its benefits in his home district.

Appearing alongside each other during a panel session, Maddow pivoted from a discussion on job creation to note that Schock had appeared at an event on Friday touting a grant program that he had voted against.

“You, in your district, I just read that you were at a community college touting a $350,000 green technology education program, talking about how great that was going to be for your district,” she said. “You voted against the bill that created that grant. That’s happening a lot with Republicans sort of taking credit for things that Democratic bills do and then Republicans simultaneously touting their votes against them and trashing them. That, I think, is a problem that needs to be resolved within your caucus. Because you seem like a very nice person but that is a very hypocritical stance to take.”

Full Story Rachel Maddow Stuns Rep. Aaron Schock By Calling Out His Spending Hypocrisy (VIDEO).

OPS: There’s a new sheriff in town….

Reid’s updated jobs bill tosses ‘pathetic’ corporate tax giveaways

An ostensible bipartisan agreement on a jobs bill yesterday lasted just a few hours before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) tossed it in favor of a scaled-down version. The new proposal is considerably less costly and scraps a series of corporate giveaways that appeared unlikely to create jobs.

Finance Committee chair Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) struck a deal Thursday with the committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), on a $85 billion jobs bill.

Hours later, Reid replaced it with a $15 billion alternative that he called a “simplified, focused bill” that focuses solely on “putting millions of Americans back to work.”

Reid’s new proposal eliminates concessions that experts say were irrelevant to the goal of creating jobs. Among these is a corporate tax cut that exempted businesses from paying a 6.2 percent Social Security tax for new employees’ salaries.

Full Story Reid’s updated jobs bill tosses ‘pathetic’ corporate tax giveaways | Raw Story.

Bank of America forecloses on house that couple had paid cash for

Charlie and Maria Cardoso are among the millions of Americans who have experienced the misery and embarrassment that come with home foreclosure.

Just one problem: The Massachusetts couple paid for their future retirement home in Spring Hill with cash in 2005, five years before agents for Bank of America seized the house, removed belongings and changed the locks on the doors, according to a lawsuit the couple have filed in federal court.

Early last month, Charlie Cardoso had to drive to Florida to get his home back, the complaint filed in Massachusetts on Jan. 20 states.

Full Story Bank of America forecloses on house that couple had paid cash for – St. Petersburg Times.

Senate moves on jobs – but not state rescue

States are looking to the federal government for more help balancing their budgets, but the Senate is not heeding their call.

Federal aid to the states was among the top priorities in an early Senate job creation bill, as well as in a $154 billion measure passed by the House in December. But it has fallen off the list as Senate Democrats look to craft legislation that will attract bipartisan support.

The New York Times reported late Thursday that authorities in El Salvador are investigating whether the man representing the U.S. Baptists being held in Haiti is the same person suspected of leading a trafficking ring in that country involving Central American and Caribbean women and girls.

Full Story Senate moves on jobs – but not state rescue – Feb. 13, 2010.

Laywer For American Baptists Held In Haiti Suspected Of Trafficking Women, Girls

The New York Times reported late Thursday that authorities in El Salvador are investigating whether the man representing the U.S. Baptists being held in Haiti is the same person suspected of leading a trafficking ring in that country involving Central American and Caribbean women and girls.

Police said a picture of the lawyer, Jorge Puello, seemed to match that of a suspected trafficker, according to the Times. Puello denied any connection to trafficking in an interview with the newspaper and said he had never been to El Salvador.

Police Commissioner Howard Cotto, deputy director of investigations for the Salvadoran national police, told The Associated Press on Friday that authorities would need to compare fingerprints before they could determine if Puello was the man being investigated.

Full Story Laywer For American Baptists Held In Haiti Suspected Of Trafficking Women, Girls – cbs4.com.

Biden: Cheney ‘not entitled to re-write history’

The Sunday morning talk shows heated up this morning with Vice President Joe Biden firing back at former Vice President Dick Cheney’s criticisms.

Earlier, Cheney told ABC’s Jonathan Karl that Biden was “dead wrong” in his recent assertion that a 9/11-style attack wasn’t likely in the near future. Biden responded on NBC, saying Cheney is “outspoken in a way” that suggests he is trying to re-write the history of America’s fight against terrorism.

“Cheney is entitled to his own opinion,” Biden said, choosing his words carefully. “He is not entitled to re-write history. He is not entitled to his own facts.”

Full Story Biden: Cheney ‘not entitled to re-write history’ | Raw Story.

Thousands of Floridians protest offshore oil drilling

Thousands of Floridians demonstrated against moves to allow offshore oil drilling on Saturday along the east and west coasts of the state in a protest dubbed “Hands Across the Sand.”

Organizer David Rauschkolb said about 80 demonstrations took place at beaches from Pensacola on the northwest coast of Florida to Key West in the south and Jacksonville in the north.

“This issue is one Floridians care about, protecting our waterways and coastlines from the devastating effects of oil exploration,” Rauschkolb said in a telephone interview. He owns a beachfront restaurant in Seaside, Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico.

Legislation to allow oil drilling off the Florida coast passed the Florida House of Representatives last year but was blocked by Republican Governor Charlie Crist and the state Senate.

Full Story Floridians protest offshore oil drilling | Reuters.

OPS:  wonder how many were republicans.  How’s that  Drill baby drilly thing workin for ya?

Good On Target: Retailer Bans Farm-Raised Salmon

It’s hard to overstate the case against farm-raised seafood, so we applaud Target’s recent decision to stop selling factory-fished salmon in its stores. The mass merchandiser has already, “eliminated all farmed salmon from its fresh, frozen and smoked seafood sections at stores nationwide,” replacing it with wild-caught Alaskan fish. By the end of the year, all Target-sold sushi will follow suit.

If you’re wondering what’s wrong with “aquaculture,” here’s a short list, courtesy of the Pure Salmon Campaign. Almost all these problems apply to farm-raised trout, catfish, tilapia, shrimp, etc. as well.

Full Story » Good On Target: Retailer Bans Farm-Raised Salmon » Pensito Review.

Despite Obama admin’s promise, DEA continues raids on medical marijuana growers

On Thursday, a Denver news station interviewed Chris Bartkowicz about his medical-marijuana operation in the basement of his home. Bartkowicz, confident of his compliance with state laws, boasted of its size and profitability.

“I’m definitely living the dream now,” he told 9News.

The following day, the dream was over.

Drug-enforcement agents raided his home, placed him under arrest, and carried off dozens of black bags of marijuana plants and growing lights.

The Obama administration promised in October that the federal government would respect state laws allowing the growing and selling of marijuana for medicinal use, but the Drug Enforcement Agency sent a loud message with the arrest of Bartkowicz.

Full Story Despite Obama admin’s promise, DEA continues raids on medical marijuana growers | Raw Story.

NATO Rockets Miss Target, Kill 12 Afghan Civilians

NATO rockets miss target, kill 12 Afghan civilians in military offensive against Taliban

Twelve Afghans died Sunday when two rockets fired at insurgents missed their target and struck a house during the second day of NATO’s most ambitious effort yet to break the militants’ grip on the country’s dangerous south.

Thousands of U.S. and Afghan forces encountered pockets of resistance, fighting off sniper attacks, as they moved deeper into Marjah, a town of 80,000 people that is the linchpin of the militants’ logistical and opium-smuggling network in Helmand province.

Marines and Afghan troops used metal detectors and sniffer dogs, searching compound to compound for explosives rigged to explode. Blasts from controlled detonations could be heard about every 10 minutes north of Marjah.

Full Story NATO Rockets Miss Target, Kill 12 Afghan Civilians – ABC News.

Lindsey Graham blames Reid for GOP’s record filibusters

Sen. Lindsey Graham isn’t willing to place all of the blame on Senate Republicans for the record number of filibusters in the 110th Congress.

On Fox News Sunday, Graham implied Majority Leader Harry Reid forced so many filibusters by allowing so many bills and refusing Republican amendments.

When asked about the GOP’s use of the filibuster, Graham said, “Harry Reid put more bills in — into the hopper and filled up the tree, shedding out Republican amendments [more] than anybody I know of, but we’re all in this together.”

The senior Senator from South Carolina quickly changed the subject to national security. “I will meet the president more than halfway and help him close Guantanamo Bay, only if he creates a legal system to make us safe and keep this enemy off the battlefield in a transparent way living within our values,” Graham told Fox News’ Chris Wallace Sunday.

Full Story Lindsey Graham blames Reid for GOP’s record filibusters | Raw Story.

OPS:  “…well HE MADE ME DO IT!…”  Our position has always been – treat the Republicans in DC like petulant, sociopathic children.  Then you will have a workable base from which to operate and address them.

New poll finds more Americans in favor of eliminating the filibuster.

One of the greatest obstacles to passing progressive legislation in Congress has been the use of the filibuster in the Senate. With upwards of “40 cloture votes since the start of the 111th Congress in January, this Senate is on pace to record the second-largest number of filibuster roll calls,” transforming what was intended to be a seldom-used procedural tactic into an all-out tool for obstructionism. Now, a new CBS/New York Times poll finds that more Americans support ending the filibuster and requiring legislation to pass by a simple majority:

As you may know, the Senate operates under procedures that effectively require 60 votes, out of 100, for most legislation to pass, allowing a minority of as few as 41 senators to block a majority. Do you think this procedure should remain in place, or do you think it should be changed so that legislation is passed with a simple majority?

Full Story Think Progress » New poll finds more Americans in favor of eliminating the filibuster..

Honduras’ new president wants to meet with Obama in hopes of restoring ties with US

Honduras’ foreign minister says he is going to Washington to try to arrange a meeting between new President Porfirio Lobo and President Barack Obama in hopes of restoring ties damaged by last June’s coup.

Honduras’ army ousted then President Manuel Zelaya after he pushed ahead with plans for a referendum on changing the constitution the country’s Supreme Court ruled illegal.

The move was condemned by many governments and Washington cut aid to the Central American country.

Full Story Honduras’ new president wants to meet with Obama in hopes of restoring ties with US – Courant.com.

Most lawmakers haven’t returned donations from disgraced Texas banker Allen Stanford

Most lawmakers haven’t returned donations from disgraced Texas banker R. Allen Stanford despite pleadings from a federal receiver who is trying to get the money back for defrauded investors.

Dallas attorney Ralph Janvey is sending new letters this week demanding the funds from about 70 members of Congress, as well as the fundraising committees for Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate. Janvey is seeking more than $1.8 million in contributions from Stanford, his top corporate lieutenants and employees of his offshore bank and affiliated financial services companies.

“The funds used to make these contributions came directly from defrauded investors,” said Kristie Blumenschein, a spokeswoman for Janvey. “Such payments were fraudulent transfers, and the receiver has requested that the funds be returned to the receivership estate as soon as possible.”

Full Story Most lawmakers haven’t returned donations from disgraced Texas banker Allen Stanford | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Staff Writer Dave Michaels | Washington News | Dallas Morning News.

Utah delivers vote of no confidence for ‘climate alarmists’

The US’s most Republican state passes bill disputing science of climate change, claiming emissions are ‘essentially harmless’

Carbon dioxide is “essentially harmless” to human beings and good for plants. So now will you stop worrying about global warming?

Utah’s House of Representatives apparently has at least. Officially the most Republican state in America, its political masters have adopted a resolution condemning “climate alarmists”, and disputing any scientific basis for global warming.

The measure, which passed by 56-17, has no legal force, though it was predictably claimed by climate change sceptics as a great victory in the wake of the controversy caused by a mistake over Himalayan glaciers in the UN’s landmark report on global warming.

But it does offer a view of state politicians’ concerns in Utah which is a major oil and coal producing state.

Full Story Utah delivers vote of no confidence for ‘climate alarmists’ | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

1,000 Architects & Engineers demand new 9/11 WTC investigation!

Major Milestone Reached at AE911Truth:  — Editor

1,000 Architects & Engineers demand new 9/11 WTC investigation!

Press Conference Scheduled February 19th

As of January 2010, over 1,000 architects and engineers have signed our petition demanding a real investigation into the destruction of the three World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9/11. This petition, along with AE911Truth literature and DVDs, will also be presented to every Member of Congress.

To underscore the importance of this milestone achievement, AE911Truth is launching a massive publicity campaign nationwide and holding a Press Conference in San Francisco, California on February 19, 2010 followed by an exclusive Keynote Luncheon to include David Ray Griffin, Steven Jones and others. We will also host an exclusive A/E Conference in honor of our AE911Truth petition signers– many of whom will be flying in to San Francisco to join us. Mark your calendars now! This will be a day of events that you won't want to miss!

• DATE: February 19, 2010

• TIME: 11am – 6pm

• PLACE: Marines' Memorial Club & Hotel,

609 Sutter St.

San Francisco, CA

PROGRAM:

11:00 am – Press Conference

Richard Gage, AIA, accompanied by other distinguished speakers and prominent petition signers, will announce this milestone with a brief dynamic presentation of the evidence which has convinced over 1,000 architects and engineers to support the demand for a real investigation. The presentation will be followed by Q&A. Press kits will be distributed.

• Open to the Public – Free

Full Story Info Item.

The Goal of Modern Propaganda: Mythocracy

Cindy Sheehan –

“The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief.” Jacques Ellul

On Super Bowl Sunday, the reason that I wrote my new book: Myth America: 20 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution, literally hit home.

Since it was the Holy Day of Obligation for our national religion of Football, I headed for my health club because I have always been a heretic. I arrived there a little before kick off, so the club was still occupied, but after kick-off it was deserted.

After my water workout and swim in the pool that I had all to myself, I headed to the hot tub which was occupied by another spa patron—an older gentleman named Bill whom seems to come to the club just to sit in the hot tub and chat. I get the feeling he is very lonely, and this following exchange may be why:

Bill: I think what you do disgraces your son, his memory and what he died for.

Cindy: Oh really? Since he was killed in an illegal and immoral war, I think this nation disgraced him.

Bill: But they attacked us on 9-11.

Cindy: Who attacked us on 9-11?

Bill: Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

Cindy: Are you serious? If you believe the official story, 16 Saudi Arabians attacked us.

Full Story The Goal of Modern Propaganda: Mythocracy.

Wall St. Helped Greece to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis

As worries over Greece rattle world markets, records and interviews show that with Wall Street’s help, the nation engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. One deal created by Goldman Sachs helped obscure billions in debt from the budget overseers in Brussels.

Even as the crisis was nearing the flashpoint, banks were searching for ways to help Greece forestall the day of reckoning. In early November — three months before Athens became the epicenter of global financial anxiety — a team from Goldman Sachs arrived in the ancient city with a very modern proposition for a government struggling to pay its bills, according to two people who were briefed on the meeting.

The bankers, led by Goldman’s president, Gary D. Cohn, held out a financing instrument that would have pushed debt from Greece’s health care system far into the future, much as when strapped homeowners take out second mortgages to pay off their credit cards.

Full Story Wall St. Helped Greece to Mask Debt Fueling Europe’s Crisis – NYTimes.com.

OPS: anyone wanta bet this ends up making the US taxpayer responsible for, and liable for, bailing out Greece?

Calling Current Law ‘Outdated,’ Judiciary Chairman Wants To Legislate In Cell Phone Battle

As the Obama administration argues in court for the right to track the locations of cell phones, a leading lawmaker on civil liberties issues wants to update current legislation to help solve the problem.

A Justice Department attorney went before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Friday to argue that authorities don’t need to obtain a search warrant in order to gain access to the location information of Americans’ cell phones. Civil liberties groups, however, argue that Americans should expect some right to privacy. These groups want the appeals court to uphold (PDF) a lower-court ruling that found the government does need a search warrant.

Judge Dolores Sloviter reportedly expressed some skepticism toward the Obama administration position, saying that cell phone location data could be used for wrongful political purposes.

The rules that govern this area of the law is unclear because technology has outpaced legislation, according to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Full Story On The Hill: Calling Current Law ‘Outdated,’ Judiciary Chairman Wants To Legislate In Cell Phone Battle.

It’s Time for a Progressive Revolution

Cenk Uygur – TYT

New numbers from a CBS News-New York Times poll indicate that only 8% of Americans want their representative in Congress re-elected. That’s staggering. That’s the American people saying it’s time for a revolution.

This is what a revolution in a democracy looks like, where the voters throw everyone out of office. The number one concern people have is that these politicians represent special interests instead of their constituents. An overwhelming 80% of people think that and only 13% think politicians are representing the voters. And the majority is absolutely right.

So, why are Congressional numbers now lower than they have ever been? My theory is that some people actually believed that the Democrats were going to make a difference. They got sold a bill of goods on hope and change. And when the Democrats sold out to special interests just like the Republicans, there was profound disappointment and hopelessness. That leads to the attitude of they’re all bums, throw them all out.

Full Story It’s Time for a Progressive Revolution | The Smirking Chimp.

OPS: IF this produces low voter turn out – because there are NO DECENT CANDIDATES for which to vote – the Reich still wins….

Paul Weyrich (co-founder of the Heritage Foundation):

“I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

and….

“We are different from previous generations of conservatives… We are no longer working to preserve the status quo. We are radicals, working to overturn the present power structure of this country.”

Monsanto ‘faked’ data for approvals claims its ex-chief

The debate on genetically modified (GM) brinjal variety [eggplant] continues to generate heat. Former managing director of Monsanto India, Tiruvadi Jagadisan, is the latest to join the critics of Bt brinjal, perhaps the first industry insider to do so.

Jagadisan, who worked with Monsanto for nearly two decades, including eight years as the managing director of India operations, spoke against the new variety during the public consultation held in Bangalore on Saturday.

On Monday, he elaborated by saying the company “used to fake scientific data” submitted to government regulatory agencies to get commercial approvals for its products in India.

The former Monsanto boss said government regulatory agencies with which the company used to deal with in the 1980s simply depended on data supplied by the company while giving approvals to herbicides.

Full Story Monsanto ‘faked’ data for approvals claims its ex-chief « Wake-up Call.

Think tank: Israel faces global delegitimization campaign

- Haaretz -

Israel is facing a global campaign of delegitimization, according to a report by the Reut Institute, made available to the cabinet on Thursday. The Tel Aviv-based security and socioeconomic think tank called on ministers to treat the matter as a strategic threat.

The report cites anti-Israel demonstrations on campuses, protests when Israeli athletes compete abroad, moves in Europe to boycott Israeli products, and threats of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders visiting London.

Reut says the campaign is the work of a worldwide network of private individuals and organizations. They have no hierarchy or overall commander, but work together based on a joint ideology – portraying Israel as a pariah state and denying its right to exist.

Full Story Think tank: Israel faces global delegitimization campaign – Haaretz – Israel News.

NH lawmaker claims children ’subjected’ to anal sex lessons in school

New Hampshire State Representative Nancy Elliott just became a blog superstar for all the wrong reasons.

Elliott, a Republican and member of the state’s judiciary committee, thinks that because New Hampshire allows gay marriage, children in schools are now being “subjected” to lessons on how best to penetrate members of the same sex.

She even went so far as to level such an allegation during a recent hearing on a bill to repeal the state’s marriage equality law, much to the confusion of school officials who vehemently denied her claims.
Full Story NH lawmaker claims children ’subjected’ to anal sex lessons in school | Raw Story.

Religious faith in government accusations

it semes clear and obvious that the person is an Evil, Dangerous and Bad Man.  But when those accusations are actually subjected to scrutiny by courts, it turns out that — in the overwhelming majority of cases — there is virtually no reliable evidence to support them.

Glenn Greenwald

The Washington Post, today:

The case against Saeed Mohammed Saleh Hatim seemed ironclad.

The Justice Department alleged that Hatim, a detainee at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, trained at an al-Qaeda military camp in Afghanistan, stayed at terrorist guesthouses and even fought in the battle of Tora Bora. . . .

But a federal judge reviewed the case and found the government’s evidence too weak to justify Hatim’s confinement. The judge ordered the detainee’s release, ruling that he could not rely on Hatim’s statements because they had been coerced. He also found that the government’s informer was “profoundly unreliable.”

…snip…

In other words, if one hears only the Government’s unchallenged, untested accusations about detainees and others whom it labels Terrorists and Enemy Combatants, it semes clear and obvious that the person is an Evil, Dangerous and Bad Man.  But when those accusations are actually subjected to scrutiny by courts, it turns out that — in the overwhelming majority of cases — there is virtually no reliable evidence to support them.  Even beyond those cases, Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, had access to detainee files and revealed that a huge number of Guantanamo detainees — constantly accused of being the Worst of the Worst — were, in fact, completely innocent, as even the Bush administration came to acknowledge.  It’s unsurprising that the Government would falsely accuse so many people:  unlike in traditional (i.e., real) wars, where POWs are captured in uniform, as part of an army and on a battlefield, most of the people accused of being Terrorists and Enemy Combatants are captured far away from any battlefield:  in their homes, walking on the street, at work, etc.  The potential for both error and abuse (and thus the need for real safegurads) is radically greater.

Full Story Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Economic vampires – who really sucked the life out of Americas workforce?

Thom Hartmann w/ Andrew Langer

Terrorist backer supports FOX NEWS

Thom Hartmann -

This is a twofer video!!!!! Thom Hartmann NAILS them on his 2/10/10 radio/tv show.

#1- Newt Gingrich lies to Jon Stewart about underwear bomber and shoe bomber.

#2- FOX News aka NewsCorp #2 investor man who supported families who carried out attacks against our ally Israel and he opposes getting the USA off of oil and he opposes bank/financial reform. FOX News to toe the line from their #2 investor from Saudi Arabia who does not support the USA side on many issues. What will teabaggers do now as their TV channel is pro-terrorist.

Far-Right Radio Host Savages Palin: It’s ‘Suicide’ For Republicans To Choose Palin As Our 2012 Nominee

On Thursday, a Washington Post-ABC News poll had some bad news for Sarah Palin: 71 percent of the American public — including 52 percent of Republicans — don’t think the former Alaska governor is qualified to be president. This week, far-right radio host Michael Savage voiced some of these GOP complaints, saying that the Party would essentially be committing “suicide” if it made Palin its 2012 nominee:

If you want Obama for a second term, just make sure that Sarah Palin is the Republican nominee. … And I am telling you, that if they make that idiotic mistake of pushing her as their lead candidate, it’s over; Obama will get a second term, no matter how bad his presidency has been. That’s my opinion. It’s one man’s opinion. It doesn’t mean I don’t agree with her politically. It doesn’t mean I think she’s a bad person.

She’s not electable as president. She doesn’t have…the gravitas. He doesn’t either. That doesn’t mean — She’s not the right person. We need a businessman. We need someone with guts, preferably someone who’s served in the military. That means we have nobody. And please don’t tell me about Mr. Brown. God! Please! I warned you! Don’t Obama-size these guys.

Full Story Think Progress » Far-Right Radio Host Savages Palin: It’s ‘Suicide’ For Republicans To Choose Palin As Our 2012 Nominee.

OPS; The Savage Wiener strikes

Our Founders were NOT Fundamentalists

Harvey Wasserman -

“God made the idiot for practice, and then He made the school board.” –Mark Twain

Tomorrow’s New York Times Sunday Magazine highlights yet another mob of extremists using the Texas School Board to baptize our children’s textbooks.

This endless, ever-angry escalating assault on our Constitution by crusading theocrats could be obliterated with the effective incantation of two names: Benjamin Franklin, and Deganawidah.

But first, let’s do some history:

Full Story Our Founders were NOT Fundamentalists | CommonDreams.org.

Obama’s secret prisons in Afghanistan endanger us all

Johann Hari:

He was elected in part to drag us out of this trap. Instead, he’s dragging us further in

Osama bin Laden’s favourite son, Omar, recently abandoned his father’s cave in favour of spending his time dancing and drooling in the nightclubs of Damascus. The tang of freedom almost always trumps Islamist fanaticism in the end: three million people abandoned the Puritan hell of Taliban Afghanistan for freer countries, while only a few thousand faith-addled fanatics ever travelled the other way. Osama’s vision can’t even inspire his own kids. But Omar bin Laden says his father is banking on one thing to shore up his flailing, failing cause – and we are giving it to him.

The day George W Bush was elected, Omar says, “my father was so happy. This is the kind of president he needs – one who will attack and spend money and break [his own] country”. Osama wanted the US and Europe to make his story about the world ring true in every mosque and every mountain-top and every souq. He said our countries were bent on looting Muslim countries of their resources, and any talk of civil liberties or democracy was a hypocritical facade. The jihadis I have interviewed – from London to Gaza to Syria – said their ranks swelled with each new whiff of Bushism as more and more were persuaded. It was like trying to extinguish fire with a blowtorch.

The revelations this week about how the CIA and British authorities handed over a suspected jihadi to torturers in Pakistan may sound at first glance like a hangover from the Bush years. Barack Obama was elected, in part, to drag us out of this trap – but in practice he is dragging us further in. He is escalating the war in Afghanistan, and has taken the war to another Muslim country. The CIA and hired mercenaries are now operating on Obama’s orders inside Pakistan, where they are sending unarmed drones to drop bombs and sending secret agents to snatch suspects. The casualties are overwhelmingly civilians. We may not have noticed, but the Muslim world has: check out Al Jazeera any night.

Full Story Johann Hari: Obama’s secret prisons in Afghanistan endanger us all – Johann Hari, Commentators – The Independent.

OPS: This is also why Obama will never prosecute Bush or andyone in the Bush Crime Family -  He’s just a guilty.

Obama’s chance to be next FDR or Reagan fading fast

President Barack Obama’s dream of being a historically transformational figure like Franklin D. Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan may be slipping from his grasp.

To be sure, he’s already made one lasting mark that changed the country’s course — his election as the first African-American president broke a centuries-old racial barrier.

He also could break through with bold new initiatives that change the course of history, as Richard Nixon did late in his first term when he opened U.S. relations with communist China.

Full Story Obama’s chance to be next FDR or Reagan fading fast | McClatchy.

OPS: It’s obvious now that Obama never had any intention of being FDR.  He has been working on being a Corporatist: Reagan-Clinton-Bush

Yes, America is Still in an Official State of Emergency

A reader asked whether the U.S. is still in an official state of emergency, and if so, what that means.

The answer is yes, we are still in a state of emergency.

Specifically:

On September 11, 2001, the government declared a state of emergency. That declared state of emergency was formally put in writing on 9/14/2001:

“A national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York, and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001 . . . .”

That declared state of emergency has continued in full force and effect from 9/11 [throughout the Bush administration] to the present.

On September 10 2009, President Obama continued the state of emergency:

The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on September 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue in effect after September 14, 2009, the national emergency with respect to the terrorist threat.

Does a State of Emergency Really Mean Anything?

Does a state of emergency really mean anything?

Yes, it does:

Washington’s Blog.

Will The U.S. Economy Recover This Time?

As we all know, the massive wave of subprime mortgages that defaulted in 2007 and 2008 caused the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. What most people don’t yet know, however, is that the “second wave” of mortgage defaults is on the way. A huge mountain of adjustable rate mortgages are scheduled to reset this year, and once those ramped-up mortgage payments have to be made, then once again there are going to be plenty more folks who simply cannot or will not continue paying on those mortgages, most of which will be foreclosed, leaving the banks with tens of thousands of properties which they will eventually be forced to sell, for prices well below what had been considered a fair market price. This in turn will press the market value of all other homes down still further, well below their current value.

But what if six million great new well-paid jobs are created in the next six months, to replace the six million we’ve lost in the last few years? Wouldn’t that allow these owners to hang on? Well yes, it might begin to, but with Obama and most members of Congress having been bagged and captured by the big banks, what are the chances that such jobs will be created?

The answer is, zero.

Full Story OpEdNews – Article: Will The U.S. Economy Recover This Time?.

Upper Mismanagement

The New Republic -

Why can’t Americans make things? Two words: business school.

One of the themes that came up while I was profiling White House manufacturing czar Ron Bloom earlier this fall was managerial talent. A lot of people talk about reviving the domestic manufacturing sector, which has shed almost one-third of its manpower over the last eight years. But some of the people I spoke to asked a slightly different question: Even if you could reclaim a chunk of those blue-collar jobs, would you have the managers you need to supervise them?

It’s not obvious that you would. Since 1965, the percentage of graduates of highly-ranked business schools who go into consulting and financial services has doubled, from about one-third to about two-thirds. And while some of these consultants and financiers end up in the manufacturing sector, in some respects that’s the problem. Harvard business professor Rakesh Khurana, with whom I discussed these questions at length, observes that most of GM’s top executives in recent decades hailed from a finance rather than an operations background. (Outgoing GM CEO Fritz Henderson and his failed predecessor, Rick Wagoner, both worked their way up from the company’s vaunted Treasurer’s office.) But these executives were frequently numb to the sorts of innovations that enable high-quality production at low cost. As Khurana quips, “That’s how you end up with GM rather than Toyota.”

Full Story Upper Mismanagement | The New Republic.

The Mysterious Death of Bush’s Cyber-Guru

Shortly before six o’clock on the evening of December 19, 2008, a man standing outside his home in Lake Township, Ohio heard the whine of an engine in the sky above him.

Moments later two red lights broke through the low clouds, heading almost directly toward the ground. It was a light aircraft, and for a second, as it descended below the tree line, the man thought it would climb back up. Instead, there was a terrible thud, and the sky turned orange. When the fire crews arrived, they found the burning wreckage of a Piper Saratoga strewn across a vacant lot. The plane had narrowly missed a house, but the explosion was so intense that the home’s plastic siding was on fire. So was the grass. The pilot had been thrown from the plane and died instantly. Body parts and pieces of twisted metal were scattered everywhere. A prayer book lay open on the ground, its pages on fire.

The crash would have remained a private tragedy confined to the pages of the local press and the hearts of the pilot’s widow and four children, but within days the blogosphere was abuzz with rumors and conspiracy theories: The plane, it was said, had been sabotaged and the pilot murdered to cover up the GOP’s alleged theft of the Ohio vote in the 2004 presidential election. At the center of this plot was the Saratoga’s pilot, a prodigiously gifted IT expert named Michael Connell, whose altar boy charm and technical brilliance had made him the computer whiz of choice for the Republican Party. Left-wing Web sites openly referred to Connell as “Bush’s vote rigger” and claimed that his fingerprints were on all the most controversial elections in recent history. There were dark whispers of electronic pulses or sniper fire being used to bring down the plane—a black ops attack designed to keep him from testifying against his former cronies. Right-wing bloggers and talk show hosts derided such claims as the twisted delusions of liberal nut jobs and tinfoil hatters. The mainstream press sat on its hands.

But while the rumors, innuendos, and allegations continue to swirl through the ether, evidence has recently emerged that suggests the Ohio vote may have been hacked, and that Connell was involved.

Born in 1963 in Peoria, Illinois into a large Irish-American family, Michael Connell was a lifelong Republican and a devout Roman Catholic who went to Mass every day and wore a wristband saying what would jesus do? What Connell did was realize the potential of the Internet to shape politics. While still in his 20s, he worked as finance director for Republican Congressman Jim Leach, and as director of voter programs for Senator Dan Coats of Indiana. In 1988 Connell developed a voter contact database for George H. W. Bush, thus inaugurating a long association with the Bush family: Connell worked on Jeb’s gubernatorial campaign in Florida in 1998; two years later he was the chief architect of George W. Bush’s Web site as Dubya launched his bid for the White House.

But it was while serving as tech guru to Karl Rove that Connell developed his deepest and perhaps most problematic professional relationship. Recruited in the late ’80s, Connell became Rove’s most trusted cyberlieutenant: a Web wizard who could turn portals into power and who would gain access to the very heights of American politics by the time he reached 30 years old. Connell’s two Ohio-based companies, New Media Communications and GovTech, became virtual research and development labs for the Republican Party, building and managing Web sites and e-mail accounts for both Presidents Bush and a long list of leading Republicans. GovTech also designed and managed numerous Congressional IT systems, including those for the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, putting Connell “behind 
the fire wall” of some of the most sensitive gov–ernment Web sites from the safety of the Bush White House.

“Mike was known as the GOP’s Mister Fix-It,” says Stephen Spoonamore, an IT security expert and friend of Connell’s. “He built really intelligent tools that allowed people who wanted to win elections do a better job organizing their data.” But aside from his more legitimate business, Connell was no stranger to the darker side of American politics. He was forced to resign from Senator Coats’ campaign for his involvement in ethical violations. Connell’s was also the hand behind the Web site for the notorious Swift Boat Veterans’ for Truth smear campaign against John Kerry and GWB43.com, the secret e-mail account used by Rove and dozens of other White House staffers.

Full Story The Mysterious Death of Bush’s Cyber-Guru | Maxim.com.

Louisiana Sues Its Own Death Row Prisoners

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections last Friday sued every inmate on death row, in an effort to block any one of them from challenging the state’s lethal injection procedures. Each of the 84 prisoners in the “death house” at Angola State Penitentiary was personally served papers in the suit, said Nick Trenticosta, who has represented numerous clients on Angola’s death row.

Trenticosta, who is also director of the non-profit Center for Equal Justice in New Orleans, knows of no other instance in which a state sued its death row inmates en masse over legal questions relating to their execution. “I’ve been hanging around death penalty cases for 25 years,” Trenticosta said in a phone interview this morning, “and I have never seen anything like this.”

The Corrections Department’s litigation is a countersuit, filed in response to an earlier lawsuit claiming that Louisiana’s lethal injection procedure is in violation of state law. That suit was filed by the Capital Post Conviction Project of Louisiana (CPCPL) on behalf of death row prisoner Nathaniel Code. It stated that Louisiana had not met the requirements of its own Administrative Procedures Act in creating guidelines for execution by lethal injection. The state procedure ought to specify exactly what drugs should be used to kill prisoners, the CPCPL argued, rather than simply calling for the administration of drugs. Without such stipulations, Trenticosta said, “They’re saying if we want to pour boiling oil into your veins, we can do it.”

Full Story Louisiana Sues Its Own Death Row Prisoners « Solitary Watch.

McConnell Objects To One-Week Extension Of Unemployment Benefits (VIDEO)

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) introduced an amendment to push back one week the eligibility deadline for extended unemployment benefits. After Feb. 28, nobody will be eligible for extended benefits made available by the stimulus bill — Reid wanted the deadline moved to March 7 as a stopgap measure.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) objected, suggesting instead that the Senate take up the bipartisan jobs proposal unveiled earlier in the day by Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), which includes extensions of unemployment insurance and COBRA subsidies.

“Now, I know my friend and colleague is going to offer some scaled-down version of that shortly, but if we offered instead the Grassley-Baucus amendment, which was filed earlier today, that would include the unemployment extension,” said McConnell.

Reid did not accept McConnell’s suggestion — he had already rejected the Grassley-Baucus jobs proposal.

Full Story McConnell Objects To One-Week Extension Of Unemployment Benefits (VIDEO).

Health Care Reform Summit Looks Like Political Theater (VIDEO)

President Obama’s upcoming health care summit is more about political theater than the politics of health care reform, according to HuffPost Editor Roy Sekoff.

Sekoff appeared on “The Ed Show” Friday evening with guest host Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss health care reform.

Sekoff pointed out that the administration’s invitation to Republican leaders for the February 25 health care summit called for the party to bring a “comprehensive” health care plan. How, Sekoff wanted to know, could the GOP be expected to produce new health care ideas in two weeks, when they could not produce them in 14 months.

WATCH:

Full Story Huff TV: Roy Sekoff: Health Care Reform Summit Looks Like Political Theater (VIDEO).

U.S. Marines spearhead major Afghanistan offensive

U.S. Marines spearheaded one of NATO’s biggest offensives against the Taliban in Afghanistan on Saturday, in an early test of President Barack Obama’s troop surge policy.

Marines in helicopters landed in Marjah district, the last big Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, in the first hours of a NATO campaign to impose government control on rebel-held areas before U.S. forces start a planned 2011 drawdown.

They fired at least four rockets at militants who attacked from compounds near the bazaar in Marjah town. Hours later, the area was still gripped by the firefight.

There was one Marine casualty in the unit in which a Reuters correspondent was embedded. In their house nearby, a family huddled in one room, laundry flapping on the line outside.

Full Story U.S. Marines spearhead major Afghanistan offensive | Reuters.

Greece Derails: Is Europe Far Behind?

It’s Not Just About Greece Anymore

Already facing serious difficulties – both internal and with regard to its EU partners (see our longer essay in Saturday’s WSJ) – Greece’s predicament just became substantially worse.

Speaking on national television this evening, the Greek Prime Minister – George Papandreou – lashed out at the European Union (presumably meaning mostly Germany) for creating a “psychology of looming collapse which could be self-fulfilling.” He also implied that Greece was being treated, in some senses, like a “lab animal.”

Without doubt, EU engagement with Greece over the past week or three has not be well-managed – and the pseudo-announcement of support after the summit on Thursday was a complete amateur hour.

Full Story Simon Johnson: Greece Derails: Is Europe Far Behind?.

Measuring Climate Change in Mediterranean Caves

Caverns on the underside of Mallorca — the Spanish island where Germans like to bake in the sun — offer strange new evidence about the movement of glaciers long before the last ice age. What if glaciers melt faster than anyone has suspected?

The underside of the Spanish island of Mallorca is as perforated as Swiss cheese. The rising and falling ocean has worn hollow caves into a soft layer of calcium, and stalagtites and stalagmites in these caves bear evidence of prehistoric sea levels. Now a team of scientists around the geochemist Jeffrey Dorale, from the University of Iowa, claims the Mediterranean some 81,000 years ago stood a full meter higher than it does today.

The results were published in the journal Science on Friday. Dorale and his team won’t speculate why sea levels were so high back then — or why, in fact, they seemed to surge all of a sudden — but they believe their findings have “major implications for future concerns with sea-level change,” according to the Science Web site.

Full Story Under Mallorca: Measuring Climate Change in Mediterranean Caves – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International.

Poll Reveals Most Americans Don’t Know They Got a Tax Cut

Of all the very information that came out of the recent CBS News/New York Times poll, one question stuck out, that of taxes.

Here’s the poll question: “In general, do you think the Obama Administration has increased taxes for most Americans, decreased taxes for most Americans or have they kept taxes the same for most Americans?”

The answer:

• 24 percent of respondents said they INCREASED taxes.

• 53 percent said they kept taxes the same

• And 12 percent said taxes were decreased.

Of people who support the grassroots, “Tea Party” movement, only 2 percent think taxes have been decreased, 46 percent say taxes are the same, and a whopping 44 percent say they believe taxes have gone up.

Full Story Poll Reveals Most Americans Don’t Know They Got a Tax Cut – Political Hotsheet – CBS News.

Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Power

With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities.

Mr. Obama has not given up hope of progress on Capitol Hill, aides said, and has scheduled a session with Republican leaders on health care later this month. But in the aftermath of a special election in Massachusetts that cost Democrats unilateral control of the Senate, the White House is getting ready to act on its own in the face of partisan gridlock heading into the midterm campaign.

“We are reviewing a list of presidential executive orders and directives to get the job done across a front of issues,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.

Full Story Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Power – NYTimes.com.

Obama signs ‘pay as you go’ legislation into law

US President Barack Obama called Saturday for new spending cuts, warning the country must bring its ballooning deficit under control in order to be able to move forward.

“Even as we make critical investments to create jobs today and lay a foundation for growth tomorrow — by cutting taxes for small businesses, investing in education, promoting clean energy, and modernizing our roads and railways — we have to continue to go through the budget line by line, looking for ways to save,” Obama said in his weekly radio address.

“We have to cut where we can, to afford what we need,” he added.

The Obama administration acknowledged earlier this month that the budget deficit will swell to a record 1.556 trillion dollars.

Full Story Obama signs ‘pay as you go’ legislation into law | Raw Story.

TRADE Act Reaches Milestone

A piece of legislation with the potential to completely reshape how Washington conducts business with regard to trade has reached a major milestone in the House, garnering the support of over half of the Democratic caucus, according to the Coalition for a Prosperous America.

The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment Act (TRADE), which would “ensure economic security and the creation of quality jobs here, while offering opportunities for sustainable development in poor countries,” moved a step closer to passage with the announced support of Democratic California Reps. George Miller and John Garamendi. The legislation now has 137 co-sponsors in the House.

The bill would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a comprehensive review of America’s major trade pacts including the North American Free Trade Agreement, the World Trade Organization and the Central American Free Trade Agreement. That review must be conducted before Congress and would be allowed to analyze any new or pending trade pacts. In addition, the GAO would be asked to set guidelines for what could and could not be included in future trade pacts.

Full Story TRADE Act Reaches Milestone | Economy In Crisis.

The American Job Exodus

Award winning author and economist Eamonn Fingleton discusses how the U.S. is losing its jobs, where they are going and the role China plays in this equation.

The American Job Exodus | Economy In Crisis.

Is Bipartisanship Possible with the Jobs Bill?

With Senate Democrats looking to pass a new jobs initiative within the next week, America will once again see “bipartisanship” brought to the forefront of our political culture.

According to CNN, many Democrats in the Senate are hoping to engage their counterparts across party lines to tackle America’s growing unemployment problem. Unfortunately, if the Democrats hope to build a bipartisan jobs initiative, they will have to find a way to cajole Republicans onto their plan. By including many of these Republican provisions, an otherwise worthwhile plan could turn into a disaster.

A Republican president initiated the Wall Street bailout and rescue programs, with wide Republican support in Congress. A Republican president initiated the “stimulus programs”, with wide Republican support in Congress. Now however, a Democrat is in the Oval Office and Republicans are unilaterally against the very same policies they supported up until the day before the 2008 election.

Full Story Is Bipartisanship Possible with the Jobs Bill? | Economy In Crisis.

White House Report Forecasts Sluggish Job Growth this Year

Modest job growth, little to no reduction in the unemployment rate, moderate gross domestic product expansion and tight credit will be fixtures of the 2010 economic landscape, according to the annual Economic Report of the President, released Thursday.

The economy is expected to create an average of 95,000 jobs per month, according to the report. That, however, will not be nearly enough to bring down the unemployment rate, which is expected to average 10 percent on the year despite the recent drop to 9.7 percent.

“Relatively little decline is projected in the unemployment rate during 2010,” the report says. “Indeed, it is possible that the rate will rise for a while as some discouraged workers return to the labor force, before starting to generally decline.”

Full Story White House Report Forecasts Sluggish Job Growth this Year | Economy In Crisis.

After warmest January in history, Vancouver airlifts in snow for Winter Olympics.

Record warmth is forcing the organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia to helicopter in snow to cover mountains. The planet’s changing climate is threatening the start of the Olympics, as “sloppy, foggy weather” has canceled training runs on both Whistler and Cypress Mountains. In Vancouver, the “average temperature in January was 44.9 degrees, besting the previous warm record of 43.3 in 2006 and well above the historic average of 37.9 degrees”:

Full Story Think Progress » After warmest January in history, Vancouver airlifts in snow for Winter Olympics..

Global warming is a ‘nightmare’ for coffee.

Man-made global warming has “affected Kenyan coffee production through unpredictable rainfall patterns and excessive droughts, making crop management and disease control a nightmare.” Joseph Kimemia, director of research at Kenya’s Coffee Research Foundation (CRF), told reporters that hotter temperatures and unpredictable rainfall are damaging his nation’s ability to grow coffee:

Full Story Think Progress » Global warming is a ‘nightmare’ for coffee..

The Cleveland Model

Something important is happening in Cleveland: a new model of large-scale worker- and community-benefiting enterprises

Something important is happening in Cleveland: a new model of large-scale worker- and community-benefiting enterprises is beginning to build serious momentum in one of the cities most dramatically impacted by the nation’s decaying economy. The Evergreen Cooperative Laundry (ECL)–a worker-owned, industrial-size, thoroughly “green” operation–opened its doors late last fall in Glenville, a neighborhood with a median income hovering around $18,000. It’s the first of ten major enterprises in the works in Cleveland, where the poverty rate is more than 30 percent and the population has declined from 900,000 to less than 450,000 since 1950.

The employees, who are drawn largely from Glenville and other nearby impoverished neighborhoods, are enthusiastic. “Because this is an employee-owned business,” says maintenance technician and former marine Keith Parkham, “it’s all up to us if we want the company to grow and succeed.”

“The only way this business will take off is if people are fully vested in the idea of the company,” says work supervisor and former Time-Warner Cable employee Medrick Addison. “If you’re not interested in giving it everything you have, then this isn’t the place you should be.” Addison, who also has a record, is excited about the prospects: “I never thought I could become an owner of a major corporation. Maybe through Evergreen things that I always thought would be out of reach for me might become possible.”

Full Story The Cleveland Model.

Obama’s Drug War Budget Looks a Lot Like Bush’s

Obama has taken significant steps to treat drug use as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue. But he’s failed to change the drug war budget in a meaningful way.

President Obama’s newly released drug war budget is essentially the same as Bush’s, with roughly twice as much money going to the criminal justice system as to treatment and prevention. This despite Obama’s statements on the campaign trail that drug use should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal justice issue. And despite his drug czar telling the Wall Street Journal last year the war on drugs should be ended.

While the president appears unwilling to change how taxpayer money is misspent, he can still seek reform. The White House’s forthcoming 2010 drug strategy is the best opportunity to do that. The administration has already directed federal law enforcement to stop arresting medical marijuana patients in states where medical marijuana is legal. The White House also worked with Congress to repeal the provision blocking states from using their share of prevention money on syringe exchange programs to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. The administration has also urged Congress to repeal the crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity, a policy that creates enormous racial disparities and causes law enforcement agencies to waste resources on low-level offenders instead of dismantling violent crime syndicates.

Full Story Obama’s Drug War Budget Looks a Lot Like Bush’s | | AlterNet.

Looking for Inspiration? Try This

People are feeling in the dumps these days, and for very good reasons. But there’s hope in working together.

People are feeling in the dumps these days, and for very good reasons. Everywhere you turn, there is corruption and exploitation by corporations trying to squeeze every last penny out of our pockets, and it seldom seems we get much in return. Elected officials from the top on down, seem to respond far more to those with money bags, than the rest of us. But you know this already.

What do we do? Well let’s just say that giving up, as much as it is attractive, is not an option. AlterNet’s former Tech Director Deanna Zandt, who by the way has a new book coming out in June: Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking … sent me the Marge Piercy poem, “The Low Road.”

It’s tough, but inspiring. I wanted to share it with everyone this weekend. It is a fitting valentine to all of you who don’t give up, won’t give up, and will support your friends, family those you care about, and those who need it the most. And the hell with Washington, D.C.

Full Story Looking for Inspiration? Try This | Take Action | AlterNet.

Texas Education Board Is Trying to Infuse Schoolbooks with Ultraconservative Ideology

“We are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles,” says one board member. “The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel.”

Don McLeroy is a balding, paunchy man with a thick broom-handle mustache who lives in a rambling two-story brick home in a suburb near Bryan, Texas. When he greeted me at the door one evening last October, he was clutching a thin paperback with the skeleton of a seahorse on its cover, a primer on natural selection penned by famed evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr. We sat down at his dining table, which was piled high with three-ring binders, and his wife, Nancy, brought us ice water in cut-crystal glasses with matching coasters. Then McLeroy cracked the book open. The margins were littered with stars, exclamation points, and hundreds of yellow Post-its that were brimming with notes scrawled in a microscopic hand. With childlike glee, McLeroy flipped through the pages and explained what he saw as the gaping holes in Darwin’s theory. “I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say,” he declared at one point. “Evolution is hooey.” This bled into a rant about American history. “The secular humanists may argue that we are a secular nation,” McLeroy said, jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis. “But we are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan — he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.”

Views like these are relatively common in East Texas, a region that prides itself on being the buckle of the Bible Belt. But McLeroy is no ordinary citizen. The jovial creationist sits on the Texas State Board of Education, where he is one of the leaders of an activist bloc that holds enormous sway over the body’s decisions. As the state goes through the once-in-a-decade process of rewriting the standards for its textbooks, the faction is using its clout to infuse them with ultraconservative ideals. Among other things, they aim to rehabilitate Joseph McCarthy, bring global-warming denial into science class, and downplay the contributions of the civil rights movement.

Full Story Texas Education Board Is Trying to Infuse Schoolbooks with Ultraconservative Ideology | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.

Dem Sell-out Dianne Feinstein Attempts End-Run to Hand California Water to Billionaire Farmers

Feinstein is trying to ram through a massive transfer of public water into the private pockets of a clique of billionaire corporate farmers.

California’s Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein showed Californians who she really serves this past Thursday, when news emerged that she was trying to ram through a massive transfer of precious water out of the hands of millions of state residents, and into the private pockets of a clique of billionaire corporate farmers.

Here’s how the San Francisco Chronicle described the swindle:

Feinstein wants to attach the proposal as an amendment to a fast-tracked Senate jobs bill. She is pitching the plan as a jobs measure to address the economic calamity in the Central Valley. It would increase farm water allocations from 10 percent last year to 40 percent this year and next, an amount that farmers say is the bare minimum they need.

Bay Area Democrats were livid, accusing Feinstein of concocting the plan in secret, upending fragile water negotiations that Feinstein has supported and pitting California’s Central Valley against its coast.

Full Story Dem Sell-out Dianne Feinstein Attempts End-Run to Hand California Water to Billionaire Farmers | Economy | AlterNet.

What Does the Prez Stand for? You Are Going to Be Shocked When You Learn the Name of Obama’s Favorite CEO

“Change you can believe in.” “We must pledge once more to walk into the future.” “Help me take back America.” Obama is a savvy sloganeer — but what’s behind his brand?

When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces. The man who’d introduced them didn’t much like either of them, though he acted as if he did, anxious as he was to preserve good relations at all times. One never knew, after all, now did one now did one now did one.

–”A Radically Condensed History of Postindustrial Life,” from Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

During his now-infamous Oval Office interview with Bloomberg, Obama named FedEx CEO Frederick Smith as one of his favorite business executives. Smith is an unlikely choice to say the least. He raised more than $100,000 for the McCain campaign and was co-chair of his finance committee. He is also “fiendishly anti-union,” in the words of Doug Henwood; he has been engaged in a long-running battle with the labor movement over allowing the company’s workers to unionize. Unions were key allies of Obama during his presidential campaign.

Full Story What Does the Prez Stand for? You Are Going to Be Shocked When You Learn the Name of Obama’s Favorite CEO | News & Politics | AlterNet.

Leading Austrian Economist: Some Conspiracy Theories Are True

Many people are starting to appreciate the Austrian school of economics, and its recognition that unrestrained bubbles lead to economic crashes.

But many of those who respect Austrian economics dismiss all “conspiracy theories” as being crazy.

But in fact, leading Austrian school economist Professor Murray N. Rothbard wrote in 1965:

It is also important for the State to inculcate in its subjects an aversion to any “conspiracy theory of history”; for a search for “conspiracies” means a search for motives and an attribution of responsibility for historical misdeeds. If, however, any tyranny imposed by the State, or venality, or aggressive war, was caused not by the State rulers but by mysterious and arcane “social forces,” or by the imperfect state of the world or, if in some way, everyone was responsible (“We Are All Murderers,” proclaims one slogan), then there is no point to the people becoming indignant or rising up against such misdeeds. Furthermore, an attack on “conspiracy theories” means that the subjects will become more gullible in believing the “general welfare” reasons that are always put forth by the State for engaging in any of its despotic actions. A “conspiracy theory” can unsettle the system by causing the public to doubt the State’s ideological propaganda.

And in 1977, Rothbard wrote:

Anytime that a hard-nosed analysis is put forth of who our rulers are, of how their political and economic interests interlock, it is invariably denounced by Establishment liberals and conservatives (and even by many libertarians) as a “conspiracy theory of history,” “paranoid,” “economic determinist,” and even “Marxist.” These smear labels are applied across the board, even though such realistic analyses can be, and have been, made from any and all parts of the economic spectrum, from the John Birch Society to the Communist Party. The most common label is “conspiracy theorist,” almost always leveled as a hostile epithet rather than adopted by the “conspiracy theorist” himself.

Washington’s Blog.

Aspartame has been renamed and is now being marketed as a natural sweetener

In response to growing awareness about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, what does the manufacturer of one of the world’s most notable artificial sweeteners do? Why, rename it and begin marketing it as natural, of course. This is precisely the strategy of Ajinomoto, maker of aspartame, which hopes to pull the wool over the eyes of the public with its rebranded version of aspartame, called “AminoSweet”.

Over 25 years ago, aspartame was first introduced into the European food supply. Today, it is an everyday component of most diet beverages, sugar-free desserts, and chewing gums in countries worldwide. But the tides have been turning as the general public is waking up to the truth about artificial sweeteners like aspartame and the harm they cause to health. The latest aspartame marketing scheme is a desperate effort to indoctrinate the public into accepting the chemical sweetener as natural and safe, despite evidence to the contrary.

Aspartame was an accidental discovery by James Schlatter, a chemist who had been trying to produce an anti-ulcer pharmaceutical drug for G.D. Searle & Company back in 1965. Upon mixing aspartic acid and phenylalanine, two naturally-occurring amino acids, he discovered that the new compound had a sweet taste. The company merely changed its FDA approval application from drug to food additive and, voila, aspartame was born.

Full Story Aspartame has been renamed and is now being marketed as a natural sweetener.

Father uses Bible to defend attack on son

A man who disciplined his son by hitting him with an alkathene pipe believed he was following the practice laid down in the Bible, a court was told yesterday.

The man, who has name suppression to protect the identity of his school-age son, was to have been sentenced in New Plymouth District Court yesterday on charges of assaulting a child and assault with a blunt instrument.

But Judge Allan Roberts delayed sentencing until March 19 and called for a new probation report after he was told the man now accepted he must change his ways, The Taranaki Daily News reported.

Full Story Father uses Bible to defend attack on son – National – NZ Herald News.

Issuer of 79.9% Interest Rate Credit Card Defends Its Product

APR Shocks Many, but Issuer Says They Are Pricing for the Risk

If you have bad credit in the new era of credit card regulation, be prepared to pay — dearly — for the privilege of using credit. That’s the message underlying recent credit card offers that feature jaw-dropping interest rates of up to 79.9 percent.

The sky-high rates may be a sign of things to come in the market for so-called subprime credit cards as issuers who lend to the riskiest of borrowers try to figure out how to stay in business and comply with the new credit card reform law.

“We need to price our product based on the risk associated with this market and allow the customer to make the decision whether they want the product or not,” according to a statement issued by Miles Beacom, CEO of Premier Bankcard, the South Dakota credit card marketer that mailed test offers in September and October featuring 79.9 percent and 59.9 percent annual percentage rates (APRs) on cards with $300 credit limits. Premier markets credit cards issued by First Premier Bank.

Full Story issuer-of-79.9-interest-rate-credit-card-defends-its-product: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance.

The Legacy of Billy Tauzin: The White House-PhRMA Deal

More than a million spectators gathered before the Capitol on a frosty January afternoon to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama, who promised in his campaign to change Washington's mercenary culture of lobbyists, special interest influence and backroom deals. But within a few months of being sworn in, the President and his top aides were sitting down with leaders from the pharmaceutical industry to hash out a deal that they thought would make health care reform possible.

Over the following months, pharmaceutical industry lobbyists and executives met with top White House aides dozens of times to hammer out a deal that would secure industry support for the administration's health care reform agenda in exchange for the White House abandoning key elements of the president's promises to reform the pharmaceutical industry. They flooded Congress with campaign contributions, and hired dozens of former Capitol Hill insiders to push their case. How they did it–pieced together from news accounts, disclosure forms including lobbying reports and Federal Election Commission records, White House visitor logs and the schedule Sen. Max Baucus releases voluntarily–is a testament to how ingrained the grip of special interests remains in Washington.

Full Story Paul Blumenthal: The Legacy of Billy Tauzin: The White House-PhRMA Deal.

The Game: Anatomy of the White House – PhRMA Deal

Narrative visualization for the Sunlight Foundation's article: “The Legacy of Billy Tauzin: The White House-PhRMA Deal”

Full Story YouTube – The Game: Anatomy of the White House – PhRMA Deal.

SocGen’s Edwards Sees Euro Breakup as Feldstein Predicts Change

The Greek budget crisis is a symptom of imbalances that will lead to the breakup of the euro region, according to Societe Generale SA strategist Albert Edwards, and Harvard University Professor Martin Feldstein said monetary union “isn’t working” in its current form.

Southern European countries are trapped in an overvalued currency and suffocated by low competitiveness, top-ranked Edwards wrote in a report today. Feldstein, speaking on Bloomberg Radio, said a one-size-fits-all monetary policy has fueled big deficits as countries’ fiscal records differ.

The problem for countries including Portugal, Spain and Greece “is that years of inappropriately low interest rates resulted in overheating and rapid inflation,” Edwards wrote. Even if governments “could slash their fiscal deficits, the lack of competitiveness within the euro zone needs years of relative (and probably given the outlook elsewhere, absolute) deflation. Any help given to Greece merely delays the inevitable breakup of the euro zone.”

Full Story SocGen’s Edwards Sees Euro Breakup as Feldstein Predicts Change – Bloomberg.com.

Haiti: A Creditor, Not a Debtor

Naomi Klein - The Nation:

If we are to believe the G-7 finance ministers, Haiti is on its way to getting something it has deserved for a very long time: full “forgiveness” of its foreign debt. In Port-au-Prince, Haitian economist Camille Chalmers has been watching these developments with cautious optimism. Debt cancellation is a good start, he told Al Jazeera English, but “It’s time to go much further. We have to talk about reparations and restitution for the devastating consequences of debt.” In this telling, the whole idea that Haiti is a debtor needs to be abandoned. Haiti, he argues, is a creditor–and it is we, in the West, who are deeply in arrears

Our debt to Haiti stems from four main sources: slavery, the US occupation, dictatorship and climate change. These claims are not fantastical, nor are they merely rhetorical. They rest on multiple violations of legal norms and agreements. Here, far too briefly, are highlights of the Haiti case.

§ The Slavery Debt. When Haitians won their independence from France in 1804, they would have had every right to claim reparations from the powers that had profited from three centuries of stolen labor. France, however, was convinced that it was Haitians who had stolen the property of slave owners by refusing to work for free. So in 1825, with a flotilla of war ships stationed off the Haitian coast threatening to re-enslave the former colony, King Charles X came to collect: 90 million gold francs–ten times Haiti’s annual revenue at the time. With no way to refuse, and no way to pay, the young nation was shackled to a debt that would take 122 years to pay off.

Full Story Haiti: A Creditor, Not a Debtor.

Halliburton charged with selling nuclear technology to Iran – in 2005

Senate hearing on foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies dealing with Iran

Halliburton, the notorious U.S. energy company, sold key nuclear-reactor components to a private Iranian oil company called Oriental Oil Kish as recently as 2005, using offshore subsidiaries to circumvent U.S. sanctions.

OPS:  Treason

Teamsters to represent workers at Continental

The Teamsters won an election to represent Continental Airlines ground workers who had rejected bids by other unions in recent years.

The Teamsters said Friday that about 4,100 workers out of 7,600 voted to join the union.

The airline industry is among the most heavily unionized in the U.S. private sector. The Continental fleet service employees were among the largest groups of nonunion workers in the industry, according to labor officials.

“This is a big victory,” Teamsters President James Hoffa said in an interview. “It proves there are people to organize out there.”

Hoffa said the union won by generating excitement with big rallies at Continental’s hubs in Houston, Newark, N.J., and Cleveland, and by reaching into the airline’s smaller bases where previous organizing campaigns had failed.

Full Story Teamsters to represent workers at Continental | Business – cleveland.com.

‘Profound Pain’: Organization Seeks To Make Massive Corporate Giveaway Fla. Senate Issue

A Puerto Rico advocacy group wants to put a stop to an impending mammoth tax giveaway to a global booze conglomerate by making it an issue in Florida’s high-profile Senate race.

At issue is a pending measure in Congress that would steer billions of dollars in federal aid from public projects in Puerto Rico to one of the world’s largest liquor conglomerates over the next 30 years.

The National Puerto Rican Coalition (NPRC) is challenging Florida Senate hopefuls Gov. Charlie Crist (R), Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) to join former six-term mayor of Miami Maurice Ferre in denouncing a massive taxpayer-funded corporate handout to the British liquor conglomerate that owns Captain Morgan Rum. The scheme, as Puerto Rico-born Ferre notes, will cost Puerto Rico upwards of $400 million in rum excise tax revenues each year.

Full Story On The Hill: ‘Profound Pain’: Organization Seeks To Make Massive Corporate Giveaway Fla. Senate Issue.

No Nukes

Ralph Nader –
A generation of Americans has grown up without a single nuclear power plant being brought on line since before the near meltdown of the Three Mile Island structure in 1979. They have not been exposed to the enormous costs, risks and national security dangers associated with their operations and the large amount of radioactive wastes still without a safe, permanent storage place for tens of thousands of years.

All Americans better get informed soon, for a resurgent atomic power lobby wants the taxpayers to pick up the tab for relaunching this industry. Unless you get Congress to stop this insanely dirty and complex way to boil water to generate steam for electricity, you’ll be paying for the industry’s research, the industry’s loan guarantees and the estimated trillion dollars (inflation-adjusted) cost of just one meltdown, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, plus vast immediate and long-range casualties.

The Russian roulette-playing nuclear industry claims a class nine meltdown will never happen. That none of the thousands of rail cars, trucks and barges with radioactive wastes will ever have a catastrophic accident. That terrorists will forgo striking a nuclear plant or hijacking deadly materials, and go for far less consequential disasters.

Full Story No Nukes | CommonDreams.org.

Obama Moves to Unravel Twenty Years of ‘Law & Order’ – Seeks Optional Miranda

The Obusha Friday night bad news dump (under cover of the Olympic Games), is really, really bad and is way beyond Bush!

In a single night, President Barack Obama re-invaded Afghanistan (because it’s worked *so well* over the last eight years) and announced that the White House is ‘reviewing a plan that would require the Justice Department and FBI to consult with the intelligence community before *deciding* whether to inform terrorism suspects arrested in the United States that they have the right to remain silent and to consult with an attorney.’ This is quite staggering, even for the Administration’s Friday night bad news dump!

Now, how are we going to watch ‘Law & Order,’ ‘The Closer,’ ‘NCIS,’ and all the other good crime dramas, after the constitutional law scholar unravels their plots by deciding *if* suspects should be read their rights? Soon, the only show we’ll be able to watch will be ’24,’ whose plots — like Fox News itself — revolve around torture for the sake of sexual gratification of Fox’s audience.

Full Story Citizens For Legitimate Government.

Chris Hedges on the Zero Point of Systemic Collapse

We stand on the cusp of one of humanity’s most dangerous moments.

leksandr Herzen, speaking a century ago to a group of anarchists about how to overthrow the czar, reminded his listeners that it was not their job to save a dying system but to replace it: “We think we are the doctors. We are the disease.” All resistance must recognize that the body politic and global capitalism are dead. We should stop wasting energy trying to reform or appeal to it. This does not mean the end of resistance, but it does mean very different forms of resistance. It means turning our energies toward building sustainable communities to weather the coming crisis, since we will be unable to survive and resist without a cooperative effort.

These communities, if they retreat into a pure survivalist mode without linking themselves to the concentric circles of the wider community, the state and the planet, will become as morally and spiritually bankrupt as the corporate forces arrayed against us. All infrastructures we build, like the monasteries in the Middle Ages, should seek to keep alive the intellectual and artistic traditions that make a civil society, humanism and the common good possible. Access to parcels of agricultural land will be paramount. We will have to grasp, as the medieval monks did, that we cannot alter the larger culture around us, at least in the short term, but we may be able to retain the moral codes and culture for generations beyond ours. Resistance will be reduced to small, often imperceptible acts of defiance, as those who retained their integrity discovered in the long night of 20th-century fascism and communism.

Full Story Chris Hedges on the Zero Point of Systemic Collapse | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters.

It’s Official: 2009 Was Record Year For Lobbying, Despite Recession

The final reports are in and we can now officially say that 2009 was the most profitable year ever for the lobbying industry.

The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics tallied lobbying income data from tens of thousands of disclosure filings, and the data show that special interests of all stripes spent $3.47 billion lobbying the federal government in 2009, up from $3.3 billion the previous year.

How did the influence industry manage such a banner year despite a battered economy? The simple answer is that the Obama administration's aggressive change agenda has prompted businesses to open their wallets to an unprecedented degree in the hope of preventing reform.

“Lobbying appears recession-proof,” said CRP director Sheila Krumholz. “Even when companies are scaling back other operations, many view lobbying as a critical tool in protecting their future interests, particularly when Congress is preparing to take action on issues that could seriously affect their bottom lines.”

A Republican lobbyist put it more bluntly:

Full Story It’s Official: 2009 Was Record Year For Lobbying, Despite Recession.

Thom confronts a global warming skeptic on the real Snowmageddon?

Thom Hartmann

Republicans Whine After Reid Scraps Jobs Bill That They Said ‘Does Not Create One Job’

Yesterday, Senate Finance Committee members Max Baucus (D-MT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released what they were calling a jobs bill, an $85 billion piece of legislation composed of tax incentives for businesses to hire as well as a handful of extenders to expiring tax provisions (that had nothing to do with job creation). Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) had been working on a jobs package, but as Ezra Klein put it, “the Finance Committee wants control of the process, so it’s trying to muscle its way in front of them.”

The Baucus/Grassley bill was roundly panned by the rest of the Democratic caucus. “It looks more like a tax bill than a jobs bill to me,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). So Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) scrapped it in favor of a $15 billion bill with four pieces: a payroll tax break, and one-year extension of highway funding, an extension of the Build America bond program, and a business tax break for equipment expensing.

Full Story Think Progress » Republicans Whine After Reid Scraps Jobs Bill That They Said ‘Does Not Create One Job’.

New Phase, Not Just Another Recession

The Retrogression

It is becoming increasingly clear that the financial meltdown of 2008 and the subsequent economic contraction that continues to this day represent more than just another recessionary cycle. More importantly, they represent a structural change, a new phase, the phase of the dominance of “finance capital,” as the late Austro-German political economist Rudolf Hilferding put it.

Although the current domination of our economy by finance capital seems new, it is in fact a throwback or “retrogression” (as financial expert Michael Hudson puts it) to the capitalism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that is, the capitalism of monopolistic big business and gigantic financial institutions. The rising economic and political influence of powerful financial interests in the early 20th century led a number of political economists (such as John Hobson, Rudolf Hilferding and Vladimir Lenin) to write passionately on the ominous trends of those developments—developments that significantly contributed to the eruption of the two World Wars and precipitated the devastating Great Depression of the 1930s, by creating an unsustainable asset price bubble in the form of overblown stock prices.

The harrowing experience of the Great Depression, followed by the devastating years of World War II, generated momentous social upheavals and extensive working class struggles worldwide. The ensuing “threat of revolution,” as F.D.R. put it, and the “menacing” pressure from below prompted reform from above—hence, the New Deal reforms in the US and socialist/Social-Democratic reforms in Europe. Combined, these historic developments significantly curtailed the size and the influence of big business and powerful financial interests—alas, only for a while.

Full Story Ismael Hossein-Zadeh: New Phase, Not Just Another Recession.

Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment

A  book review.

This new publication of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (Volume 1181), by Alexey Yablokov, Vassily Nesterenko, and Alexey Nesterenko, is the elucidation many of us have been waiting for since the 1986 disaster at the failed nuclear reactor in Ukraine. Until now we have read about the published reports of limited spotty investigations by western scientists who undertook projects in the affected territories. Even the prestigious IAEA, WHO and UNSCEAR reports have been based on about 300 such western research papers, leaving out the findings of some 30,000 scientific papers prepared by scientists working and living in the stricken territories and suffering the everyday problems of residential contamination with nuclear debris and a contaminated food supply.

Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment is wrtitten by Alexey Yablokov, Vassily Nesterenk and Alexey Nesterenko. The senior author, Alexey Yablokov was head of the Russian Academy of Science under Gobachev – since then he receives no support. Vassily Nesterenko, head of the Ukrainian Nuclear establishment at the time of the accident, flew over the burning reactor and took the only measurements. In August 2009, he died as a result of radiation damage, but earlier, with help from Andrei Sakarov, was able to establish BELRAD to help children of the area.

The three scientists who assembled the information in the book from more than 5000 published articles and research findings, mostly available only within the former Soviet Union or Eastern block countries and not accessible in the West, are prestigious scientists who present objective facts clearly nuanced with little or no polemics. They were not encumbered by a desire to promote or excessively blame a failed technology!

Full Story Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment.

Government of Lawyers Spit on Law

Assassination, Inc.

By SAUL LANDAU

“In a striking admission from the Obama Administration's top intelligence officer, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair announced Wednesday that the United States may target its own citizens abroad for death if it believes they are associated with terrorist groups.” (Feb 4, 2010)

We face a multi-trillion dollar deficit derived to fund two ongoing wars of dubious legality against unconquerable nations and still, U.S. school kids learn we are a nation “of laws not men.”

“Conservatives” refer reverently to the Founding Fathers and the Constitution, but where in that Document does a President derive authority to order assassinations? Must the Constitution adapt to wars against terror and communism? Like the contemporary conflict with “terror” the Cold War (1946-91) required our Commander in Chief to use “extrajudicial procedures: the CIA executed “enemies” without judicial process.

The media reports such procedures as routine news stories. “U.S. Predator Drones fired two missiles into Pakistan’s North Waziristan region on the Afghan border… killing at least a dozen people … the third such attack by a CIA-operated drone aircraft in Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun tribal areas this month.”

Full Story Saul Landau: Government of Lawyers Spit on Law.

Empire of the Sunset

Randall Amster

Unfortunately,  America — even in its illusory state — has ceased to exist.

Sometimes, I really miss America — or at least the idea of it. You know: that can-do spirit, streets paved with gold, champion of the tired and poor, purple mountains majesty, that sort of thing. Say what you will, and call it naïve, but the storybook values at the heart of America’s erstwhile image are inspiring.

Like most who grew up here, I was steeped in the lore and legend of this place. Despite obvious flaws in the narrative (how exactly does one ‘discover’ land upon which others are living, anyway?) there existed a strong sense that at the end of the day some part of our cherished ideals would emerge in time to set things right. Principles like due process, free speech, the work ethic, checks and balances, equal opportunity, and the pursuit of happiness held meaning if only as a reminder that our collective lives stood for something and that our destinies were in our own hands. It may well have been an illusion all along, yet even the most cynical among us likely believed in the underlying ethos at some point in time.

Unfortunately, that America — even in its illusory state — has ceased to exist. We are no longer an abstract beacon of hope to the world, but rather a purveyor of concrete hellfire. We rain automated death from above and commit orchestrated theft from below. We export despair and import disdain. We’ve abandoned even keeping up the pretense of fair play and adherence to principle. We’ve become global pariahs and domestic piranhas. Awash in a sea of surfaces, distractions, and palliatives, we unsurprisingly have failed to notice that the sun has already started to set on our adolescent empire.

Full Story Empire of the Sunset | CommonDreams.org.

Dietary formula that maintains youthful function into old age

Researchers at McMaster University have developed a cocktail of ingredients that forestalls major aspects of the aging process.

The findings are published in the current issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine.

“As we all eventually learn, ageing diminishes our mind, fades our perception of the world and compromises our physical capacity,” says David Rollo, associate professor of biology at McMaster. “Declining physical activity — think of grandparents versus toddlers — is one of the most reliable expressions of ageing and is also a good indicator of obesity and general mortality risk.”

The study found that a complex dietary supplement powerfully offsets this key symptom of ageing in old mice by increasing the activity of the cellular furnaces that supply energy — or mitochondria — and by reducing emissions from these furnaces — or free radicals — that are thought to be the basic cause of ageing itself.

Full Story Dietary formula that maintains youthful function into old age.

Credit Suisse Declares the U.S. a Riskier Investment Than Indonesia

Handy sovereign risk table

Looks like Credit Suisse has jonied the conspiracy trying to undermine Spain.

Here’s a ranking of countries by perceived risk, taking into account things like current account balances, public and private debt, and CDS spreads. It comes from a note on the impact of sovereign risk on European banks, published on Wednesday by Jagdeep Kalsi, which you will find in the usual place.

Somehow the CS man has managed to rank Spain above the likes of Latvia, Ireland, Ukraine, Romania and Turkey in terms of riskiness.

Poor show.

Full Story FT Alphaville » Handy sovereign risk table.

Alex Jones interviews Max Keiser

As you would expect, Max drives Alex crazy (even crazier that he already was).

Economic Perspectives from Kansas City: Why Do Progressives Claim that Deficits Today Mean More Pain Tomorrow?

Yesterday I posted a blog here arguing that we should not conflate a sovereign government's balance sheet with that of a household. One is the issuer of the currency, the other is a user. That makes a big difference. The currency issuer can spend by “financing” its purchases through credits to bank accounts, issues of new currency, or new issues of sovereign interest-paying debt that is considered to be the safest dollar-denominated asset in existence. Households cannot do that. I also argued that there is no “piper-paying” due date on which government needs to repay its debts, hence, no financial imperative to ever run a budget surplus (or even a balanced budget). Further, even if the government were to try to run surpluses to repay debt, that would (based on historical experience) throw the economy into a depression that would only increase budget deficits. Empirically, budget deficits are correlated with growth; budget surpluses precede depressions. Based solely on the historical record, only a fool would recommend budget surpluses as a policy goal. Yes, that implies that Robert Rubin and Pete Peterson advocate foolish policy.

Somewhat ironically (at least from my point of view) the shrillest critics come from the left. When I try to explain how government “really” spends, or why government is not like a household, or why the focus on budget deficits is misplaced, the loudest objections come from those who claim to be progressives. Indeed, on the matter of deficits, the only discernable difference between the “progressive” position and the “deficit hawk” position of a Pete Peterson is over the short run. Both agree that deficits today mean higher taxes and less government spending in the future—more burdens for our grandkids. Both agree that spending more now to relieve the pain of unemployment only means more pain in the future. The only difference of opinion comes down to the willingness to “party now” and “pay later”. Conservatives would forego the party to avoid the hangover; “progressives” would party like it is 1999, then deal with the migraines and stomach upsets later. I must say that if I had to choose between the two strategies, I would go with the conservatives: take the pain now and enjoy lower taxes later. Indeed, I cannot think of any justification for taking the party now and putting the burden of the aftermath on our children in the future—if that is what the choice really involved.

Full Story Economic Perspectives from Kansas City: Why Do Progressives Claim that Deficits Today Mean More Pain Tomorrow?.

Max Keiser – Exposing Corruption

Hollywood filmmaker Oliver Stone has said Western bankers enabled Hitler to carry out his atrocities during World War two. Keiser report reveals that similar schemes still go on today with U.S. banks financing terrorists as well as Wall Street bonuses. Watch the full 13th episode later on RT.

Budget Lies Aren’t Helping the Deficit

David Sirota -

Last month, President Barack Obama proposed to freeze government spending on everything other than defense, veterans’ benefits, homeland security, Medicare and Social Security. The New York Times reported that administration officials depicted the initiative as proof of the president’s “seriousness about cutting the budget deficit.”

Such spin may fly in Orwell’s Oceania or Washington, D.C., but if you happen to live in the real world, basic arithmetic tells a far more accurate tale about what is “serious”—and what is not.

The nondefense discretionary spending that Obama aims to reduce now totals $477 billion a year—or just 14 percent of the federal budget. Freezing this outlay would save $25 billion a year, or about 2 percent of the annual $1.4 trillion deficit.

Full Story David Sirota: Budget Lies Aren’t Helping the Deficit – Truthdig.

Burn Up the Biosphere and Call It Renewable Energy: The New Taxpayer Bailout That Will Make You Sick AND Poor

Just when you thought the biofuels bad dream was about over along comes the nightmare of “biomass.”

Last week President Obama announced his plans to ensure that the mandate for biofuels, 36 billion gallons by 2022, voted into law in the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007, is met, and to provide huge new supports through the USDA for the cutting, harvesting and transport of biomass (aka forests, plants) to be delivered to incinerators and burned as “renewable” electricity and heat.

The transportation biofuel mandate was adopted without clear consideration of the impacts of production on food, public health, direct and indirect land use, greenhouse gas emissions, soils, water or biodiversity. Since being passed into law, the critique of biofuels, particularly corn ethanol, has only grown deeper and more damning. Cellulosic fuels, not much available yet, will, according to mythology, avert these concerns because they are made from the inedible parts of plants. True, we do not eat forests, but creating huge new demands for wood is a recipe for disaster.

Lucky, technological hurdles have slowed the development of cellulosic fuels, but no such hurdles lie in the way of burning biomass for electricity and heat. Across the country, communities are being offered “green jobs” cutting, hauling and chipping their forests to feed the gaping maws of a new generation of “green energy” utilities being constructed or retrofitted in their neighborhoods. At least 200 new burners are proposed around the country. Further, many facilities that burn coal are seeking to co-fire biomass under the assumption that burning trees is a step up from burning coal. It’s not.

Full Story Burn Up the Biosphere and Call It Renewable Energy: The New Taxpayer Bailout That Will Make You Sick AND Poor | CommonDreams.org.

75% back letting gays serve openly

Three-quarters of Americans say that they support openly gay people serving in the U.S. military, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, a finding that could lend momentum to the Obama administration’s effort to dismantle the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The level of public support for allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly far outpaces that in the spring of 1993, when Congress and the Clinton administration established the policy.

Civilian and military officials held their first meetings this week to begin a year-long review of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which forbids commanders to ask about service members’ sexuality and requires the discharge of openly gay men and women. President Obama called for the policy’s repeal last month in his State of the Union address, and the military’s top civilian and military leadership has also expressed personal support for a repeal

Full Story 75% back letting gays serve openly – washingtonpost.com.

Poll: Bush still blamed for economy

More than a year after President George W. Bush left office, more Americans continue to blame his administration over any other entity for the nation’s economic woes, according to a new poll.

In a New York Times/CBS News survey out Friday, 31 percent of Americans said the Bush administration is at fault for the current state of the economy while only 7 percent pointed their finger at President Obama and his team.

An additional 23 percent said the fault lies with Wall Street institutions while 13 percent assign the blame to Congress. Nearly 10 percent said the blame lies with all of them.

Full Story CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – Poll: Bush still blamed for economy « – Blogs from CNN.com.

Calling Obama’s Healthcare Bluff

Dr. Margaret Flowers has the healthcare answers (and then some) that Barack Obama called for in his State of the Union Speech. So why is he ignoring them? Time to put your money where your mouth is, Mr. President.

Full Story YouTube – Calling Obama’s Healthcare Bluff.

Lawrence O’Donnell-Gets Bush Speechwriter Thiessen To Admit Bush-”Invited The 1st (9/11) Attack”

Report: Top five insurers made $12 billion in profits last year, dropped 2.7 million people

With health reform floundering, Democrats have renewed their attacks on the insurance industry and a new report out today hopes to bolster their case that insurance company practices need to be reigned in. The report finds that the top five largest for-profit insurance companies increased their profits by $12.2 billion last year while dropping coverage for 2.7 million Americans.

As a group, WellPoint, Aetna, UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Cigna saw their profits jump 56 percent in 2009 up $4.4 billion over the previous year, according to the report. Four out of five companies saw profits increase while insuring fewer people. Cigna increased earnings by 346 percent while UnitedHealth shed 1.7 million beneficiaries. Aetna, which increased its membership and percentage of premiums spent on medical care, was the only company to see less income in 2009 than 2008.

“Increasing your profits, dropping people is a specific corporate strategy,” said Richard Kirsch of Health Care for America Now, the progressive coalition that prepared the report. “What the big health insurance companies do to please Wall Street denies affordable health insurance to millions of Americans, millions more Americans every year.”

Full Story Report: Top five insurers made $12 billion in profits last year, dropped 2.7 million people – Live Pulse – POLITICO.com.

Webb Wants Banker Tax As Amendment To Jobs Bill

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who rarely gets into battles he thinks he can’t win, said on Friday that he’ll push to include a windfall bonus tax as an amendment to the upcoming jobs bill.

Webb’s proposal, which is joined by California Democrat Barbara Boxer, would exempt the first $400,000 of bonuses — the amount of the president’s salary, Webb notes. Any bonus money above the president’s paycheck would be taxed at 50 percent.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has also proposed a tax on bailed-out bankers, though his would only exempt the first $25,000. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) has a similar proposal in the House, which also passed windfall tax legislation in March that the Senate could build on.

Full Story Webb Wants Banker Tax As Amendment To Jobs Bill.

Sen. Tom Harkin: Fixing the Filibuster

After the recent blizzard, a newspaper columnist noted that Washington had been “immobilized by snow.” “This is highly unusual,” she quipped. “Normally, Washington is immobilized by Senators.”

It’s a funny line. But the unprecedented abuse of the filibuster by Republicans is no joke.

When many people think of the filibuster, it brings to mind the classic 1939 film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But Senator Smith — Jimmy Stewart’s character — was a little guy using the filibuster to stop the special interests. Today, that has been turned upside-down. It is the special interests using the filibuster to stop legislation that would benefit the little guy.

Full Story Sen. Tom Harkin: Fixing the Filibuster.

Adviser to Detained Americans in Haiti Is Investigated

The police in El Salvador have begun an investigation into whether a man suspected of leading a trafficking ring involving Central American and Caribbean women and girls is also a legal adviser to the Americans charged with trying to take 33 children out of Haiti without permission.

When the judge presiding over the Haitian case learned on Thursday of the investigation in El Salvador, he said he would begin his own inquiry of the adviser, a Dominican man who was in the judge’s chambers days before.

The inquiries are the latest twist in a politically charged case that is unfolding in the middle of an earthquake disaster zone. A lawyer for the group has already been dismissed after being accused of trying to offer bribes to get the 10 Americans out of jail.

Full Story Adviser to Detained Americans in Haiti Is Investigated – NYTimes.com.

One Month Later, Haiti’s Humanitarian Crisis Remains

One month ago, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti.

In the hours that followed, President Obama gathered his senior leadership and gave a clear directive: respond quickly and overcome any obstacles that stand in the way. We used the lessons we learned from past disasters, and we did not allow red tape to be an excuse for inaction. With the unparalleled mobility of assets of the U.S. military to support them, countless civilian government agencies began working around the clock through USAID, with the United Nations and in partnership with the Government of Haiti and more than 400 non-governmental organizations to reach as many people as humanly possible with food, water, shelter, and medical help.

The President's mandate has not been easy to fulfill and Haiti 's humanitarian crisis is far from over. The devastation wreaked by the earthquake is horrific. What infrastructure existed before the earthquake has been badly damaged — roads, ports and power grids were either buried or destroyed. The Government of Haiti's capacity, in terms of both human resources and physical infrastructure, cannot be rebuilt over night. Their losses are too great, but in spite of the circumstances they face, Haitians have taken the lead in determining the future of their nation. The greatest loss, the human toll of this disaster, will never leave the memories of the families and aid workers who have struggled to save them.

Full Story Dr. Rajiv Shah: One Month Later, Haiti’s Humanitarian Crisis Remains.

Lawrence O’Donnell Rages On Bush Speechwriter Marc Thiessen: ‘Your Administration Invited The First Attack’ (VIDEO)

Fireworks erupted on the set of “Morning Joe” Friday, after MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell took umbrage with former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen’s claim that President Obama is inviting a domestic terrorist attack.

Things started off rocky after Thiessen — in the process of justifying the coercive counter-terrorism techniques used under the Bush administration and condemning Obama for “eliminating the CIA’s interrogation program” — insisted that his former boss was required to essentially start from scratch.

“You gotta think back to the period after 9/11,” he said. “We didn’t even know who hit us. We didn’t know that Khalid Sheik Mohammad was the mastermind of 9/11 or the operational commander of al Qaeda. And then we started rounding up these terrorists…”

Full Story Lawrence O’Donnell Rages On Bush Speechwriter Marc Thiessen: ‘Your Administration Invited The First Attack’ (VIDEO).

Santa Cruz County Investors Think Local

Everyone loves to hate the big banks these days. So much so that a national movement called Move Your Money, which encourages individuals to take their money out of our nation’s biggest banks and place it with community banks and credit unions, has enjoyed a groundswell of support since it came out a month ago. Even local banks have noticed.

“We’ve seen the number of accounts [go up] as a result of Move Your Money,” says Mary Anne Carson, marketing director for Santa Cruz County Bank. “It is really making a difference for us, and I think people can feel good about the fact that their funds are going to local banks that will be reinvested in their community’s economy.”

Armed with the old It’s A Wonderful Life parable on local banking, MYM has caught the attention of state government officials in New Mexico and Oregon, but clearly something’s in the air; Santa Cruz County Treasurer Fred Keeley says he hadn’t even heard of it when he presented a new idea to the county’s Treasury Oversight Commission earlier this month.

Full Story Santa Cruz County Investors Think Local – Santa Cruz News.