Archive for March, 2010

Why Our Economy is Collapsing

This country imports consumer goods that could and should otherwise be made at home.

The United States is in open competition with the same countries from which we buy our goods and finance our government. These countries supply our consumption while simultaneously competing fiercely against our companies in international markets. Nations like India, Japan, and China, along with trade blocs like the European Union, rail against the U.S. when we use “protectionism” because they do not want to have their unfettered access to our market tampered with.

Other countries, like China and Japan, protect their companies by putting limits and restrictions on the amount of American-made goods flowing into the markets. The United States puts up no such regulations, and is thus flooded with foreign-made goods.

NAFTA, and other “free trade” agreements, favor the foreign producers. We are told by the WTO and the EU that we cannot and should not protect our own economy. Through “free trade” the U.S. must open itself to all foreign interests.

Full Story: Why Our Economy is Collapsing | Economy In Crisis.

Unfair China Trade Costing U.S. Jobs, Wealth and Prestige

Through mercantilism, China has managed to grow its trade surplus with the U.S. from $84 billion in 2001, to $270 billion in 2008.

Since China’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001, enormous trade deficits with the Asian nation have resulted in the loss of millions of jobs and precious export capacity, decidedly lower wages and less bargaining power for American workers and the accumulation of massive amounts of foreign debt, according to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute.

“We have allowed the Chinese government to game the system for far too long, with serious consequences for the U.S. economy,” said the report’s author, EPI economist Robert Scott.

From 2001, the year China entered the WTO, until 2008, persistent trade deficits with China resulted in the loss of 2.4 million American jobs, or roughly 345,500 jobs per year. Well over half of those jobs were in the manufacturing sector, where total employment fell by 1.6 million jobs during that period.

Full Story: Unfair China Trade Costing U.S. Jobs, Wealth and Prestige | Economy In Crisis.

TOXIC SEAFOOD WARNING

Beware of imported seafoods… many cannot pass minimum food standards

80% of all U.S. seafood is imported.  80%.  Imagine the coastal economic development that would occur but for the unfair trade practices?

“We’re At a Ground Zero Moment to Save Real Journalism”

Izzy Award Winner Jeremy Scahill:

independent media and this critical moment in journalism.

The winner of the second annual Izzy Award, named after muckraking journalist I.F. Stone, discusses independent media and this critical moment in journalism.

On March 24, 2010, the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, in Ithaca, NY announced that award-winning independent journalist Jeremy Scahill would receive the second annual “Izzy Award.” The Izzy, which is named after the legendary muckraker I.F. Stone, celebrates outstanding achievement in independent media. Last year’s winners were Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com.

Scahill is a two-time Polk Award winner, and a regular contributor to The Nation, Democracy Now! and AlterNet. His book, Blackwater: the Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, is an international bestseller. In 2009, he published dozens of stories detailing Blackwater’s secret presence in Pakistan; its involvement in 2007′s Nisour Square massacre; and its CEO’s alleged complicity in murder.

“The judges chose Scahill for his relentless efforts in 2009 to push these issues into mainstream debate,” said Jeff Cohen, director of the Park Center for Independent Media. “We are awed by Scahill’s success, and also by the sheer number of outstanding candidates for the award this year; both reflect the growing importance of independent media in our country.”

Full Story: Izzy Award Winner Jeremy Scahill: “We’re At a Ground Zero Moment to Save Real Journalism” | World | AlterNet.

George Lakoff’s 14 Words That Could Fix California

The minority rules in the California Legislature and is responsible for the state’s budget logjam — linguist George Lakoff has an elegant solution to fix it.

Here’s the little-known truth about California: Since 1978, the state has been subject to what is essentially minority rule. Proposition 13 — mostly packaged as a property tax law change — was passed that year, altering the state constitution to read that a two-thirds super-majority is needed in the state legislature to pass any revenue increases. But what this has turned out to really mean is that one-third plus one vote, or 34 percent, of the state legislature can control all legislative decisions.

You thought filibustering on Capitol Hill was bad? This is worse. And California is the only state with such a rule in place, now or ever.

As the state faces a growing budget deficit — now estimated to be $20 billion — the tyranny of the minority has grown more apparent to voters who have hardly noticed the two-thirds requirement all these years, but who now see public programs and schools being shut down or underfunded left and right in order to close the widening budgetary gap.

Full Story: George Lakoff’s 14 Words That Could Fix California | News & Politics | AlterNet.

Stop Hand-Wringing About Peak Oil and Climate Change and Do Something

A movement aimed at tackling the energy crisis with aplomb has been stepping on the gas since its formation.

ou may or may not have heard of the Transition movement — described by its founder, Rob Hopkins, as “an exercise in engaged optimism”— yet Transition’s ideas are informing and even guiding the conversation of how communities confront the twin crises of peak oil and climate change.

The movement is driven by one simple idea: Rather than hand-wringing and lamenting dwindling energy reserves and climate change, Transition wants people to envision and create models for that future — and find much to be cheerful about.

A variety of activities take place under the Transition banner. Scroll around — the movement has had a strong Web presence from the start — and you’ll find numerous farm and food events, tree-planting get-togethers, launching a local currency, campaigns to install Smart Meters (through British Gas’ Green Streets Energy Challenge), and a program in which teenagers interview elderly people to learn about daily life before the era of cheap oil.

Full Story: Stop Hand-Wringing About Peak Oil and Climate Change and Do Something | Vision | AlterNet.

The Mystery of Electronic Identity

No sooner are new electronic identification methods out on the street than do electronic tricksters (and presumably cyber bad guys) hack them.

When America and the EU introduced “ePassports” in the mid-2000s, the documents had no security, not even basic encryption, which meant that the holder’s details were being offered up to the world at large.

The passports had RFID chips to let machines read basic information, including photos and fingerprints, and for the first time in history, a traveler — at least in theory — could have his identity details “skimmed” by any hacker wielding a fairly cheap RFID receiver.

Use of RFID, or radio-frequency identification, has exploded over the last few years. The chips turn up in everything from retail items to house pets to electronic toll passes (EZPass, FasTrak). “We can use RFID to identify something or someone,” says Gildas Avoine, a computer scientist in Belgium who has criticized the new European ePassports, “or we can use RFID to authenticate – meaning to identify with proof of identity. If we use RFID for a supply chain, or for cattle, or for pets, and so on, what we want is just to identify. Not proof, just to identify.”

Full Story: The Mystery of Electronic Identity | Smart Journalism. Real Solutions. | Miller-McCune Online Magazine.

Will Americans Reward the Party of “Hell No?”

House Republican leader John Boehner’s final rant against health care reform, featuring the refrain of “hell no,” aptly summarized the temper and the substance of the general Republican position as the run up to the fall elections begins.

(Rumors that the normally phlegmatic Boehner was incensed because a tax on tanning salons is the only tax in the health care bill that will kick in this year are unfounded. Democratic aides gleefully dismiss allegations that the tax was aimed personally at the perpetually tanned Boehner, a congressman from Ohio. )

Republicans pivoted immediately from “kill the bill” to “repeal the deal.” Reacting to defeat in the manner of a spoiled child taking away the ball after losing a game, Senator John McCain, once known for his independence, led a chorus of Republicans vowing “no cooperation” on any future issue. It will be hard to tell the difference.

Full Story: Will Americans Reward the Party of “Hell No?” | OurFuture.org.

Have You Heard the One About the Optimist and the Pessimist?

How can we be creative, bold and determined if we are not optimistic? That is our challenge.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? And what does our attitude have to do with making change? Well, to do the work needed to change the world for the better requires a belief that a better world is possible. Sounds like a job for an optimist.

At AlterNet, we recently polled our editorial staff and found that we could all use an optimism booster shot. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most optimistic, our average was below 4. What score would you give yourself?

We’re not alone, of course. Across the country, pessimism is beating optimism by quite a margin. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, “Americans have lost faith in both political parties; do not feel confident about the present or the future; 61% feel as though the country is in the midst of a severe decline, while 35% don’t, a whopping 26% spread.”

Full Story: Have You Heard the One About the Optimist and the Pessimist? | Vision | AlterNet.

Resource: Credit Card Connection

Credit Card Connection is your link to the most fair and ethical credit card programs in the United States.

Full Story: Credit Card Connection.

OPS: Thinking about Moving Your Money? This is an interesting website for locating Credit Unions in your area, that you can join. Credit Unions operate under a different set of laws than Banks do.

German social dems will vote down constitution

The German Social Dems will vote with the conservatives and lib dems to allow mix-administrations in Germany. That means that federal level and municipalities can administer one institution in common.

The German constitutional court decided one year ago that it is unconstitutional to have federal level and municipalities administer social welfare in common. A task force was founded thus. After the social dems undertook sweeping changes to German welfare called Hartz IV they are now preparing for the constitutional overkill.

Full Story: ccokzsblog: German social dems will vote down constitution.

Senate will have to return health bill to House

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the bill making changes in President Barack Obama’s newly enacted health care overhaul will have to go back to the House for final congressional approval, something top Democrats were trying to avoid.

Spokesman Jim Manley said Republicans consulting with the Senate parliamentarian had found “two minor provisions” that violate budget rules. The two provisions, dealing with Pell grants for low-income college students, will have to be removed from the bill.

Once those provisions are deleted and the Senate passes the measure, the House will have to approve the legislation before sending it to Obama for his signature. Manley said he was confident the House would do so with no problems.

Full Story: Senate will have to return health bill to House.

The Public Costs of Not Regulating Products

Pam Gilbert of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca speaks at OMB Watch’s February 4, 2010, public protections webcast. Visit http://www.ombwatch.org/webcasts and http://www.ombwatch.org/webcastarchive to watch more!

Senate Dems defeat initial GOP attacks on health care ‘fixes’ bill – CNN.com

Senate Republicans on Wednesday launched an attempt to amend or kill legislation expanding the recently enacted health care reform law — part of a GOP pledge to use every parliamentary tool available to undermine the measure.

The amendments also are designed to force Democrats to cast unpopular votes in the run-up to this November’s midterm elections.

Senate Democrats easily defeated the first of the amendments, which challenged provisions in the bill involving changes to Medicare funding.

Also defeated were attempts to send the measure to committee for reconsideration — which would effectively kill it — and other amendments intended to strip provisions from the bill. There were at least 11 other motions or amendments to be considered.

Full Story: Senate Dems defeat initial GOP attacks on health care ‘fixes’ bill – CNN.com.

Senator Sanders on Health Insurance Reform

SENATOR BERNARD SANDERS (I-VT) — When GOP Controlled White House, Senate, and House, Seven Million More Americans Lost Health Insurance and Health Care Costs Soared. Senate floor speech on 3/24/10 (0:43).

Full Story: DPC Video.

Good-Bye

by Paul Craig Roberts: -

Truth Has Fallen and Taken Liberty With It…....I am signing off.

There was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest.

Today Americans are ruled by propaganda. Americans have little regard for truth, little access to it, and little ability to recognize it.

Truth is an unwelcome entity. It is disturbing. It is off limits. Those who speak it run the risk of being branded “anti-American,” “anti-semite” or “conspiracy theorist.”

Truth is an inconvenience for government and for the interest groups whose campaign contributions control government.

Truth is an inconvenience for prosecutors who want convictions, not the discovery of innocence or guilt.

Truth is inconvenient for ideologues.

Full Story: Paul Craig Roberts: Good-Bye.

Dennis Kucinich on Health Care Bill – What Obama Didn’t Say by Dennis Kucinich – Esquire

The meeting that took place on Air Force One was the fourth in a series of meetings that I had attended with the president in the last few months. There was a meeting on March 4 where the president called nine members to the Roosevelt Room at the White House, and eight of the members had voted for the bill when it passed the House last fall. I was the only one who voted against the bill. I thanked the president for inviting me even though I was a “no” vote. And in the more than hour-long meeting, the president covered a lot of territory about what he thought was important to consider. I sat quietly and listened carefully and took some notes. And at the end of the meeting, you know, we thanked each other, and I left.

When I arrived home that evening — March 4 — I still had this deep sense of compassion for the president for what he was struggling with in trying to pass the bill. And it was very clear to me that there was a lot on the line here — that he didn’t say. I was just thinking about the scope of American history, and here’s a president who’s trying to do something, even if I don’t agree with him. I told my wife, “You know I kinda feel bad about the situation he’s in here. This is really a tough situation — his presidency is on the line.” And I had a sense of sadness about what I saw him grappling with. I still maintained my position, still went forward in debates, arguing in meetings, arguing against the bill because it didn’t have a public option, didn’t have an opening for the states to pursue single-payer in a free manner. But at the same time I kinda remember the feeling that I had about watching him as he was dealing with this and, you know, trying to do what he felt was best for the nation.

Full Story: Dennis Kucinich on Health Care Bill – What Obama Didn’t Say by Dennis Kucinich – Esquire.

GOP Senators Refusing To Work Past 2PM, Invoking Obscure Rule

Senate Republicans fuming over the passage of health care reform are now refusing to work past 2 p.m. — a tactic they can employ by invoking a little-known Senate rule.

On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee was forced to cancel a hearing as was the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) tweeted today : “Disappointed. Rs refusing to allow hearings today. Had to cancel my oversight hearing on police training contracts in Afghanistan.”

Sen. Mark Udall also complained that he had to delay a hearing on the cause of Western forest fires.

Full Story: GOP Senators Refusing To Work Past 2PM, Invoking Obscure Rule.

Bottled Water Industry Combats Anti-Green Perceptions With Pretend Journalism (VIDEO)

The bottled water industry, fighting back against accusations that they are a significant contributor to environmental degradation, has released this magical video of glorious greenwashing, redolent of the famous video news releases in which Karen Ryan pretended to a journalist while promoting the Bush White House’s “No Child Left Behind” Act.

The New York Times’s Sindya N. Bhanoo reports that this video, sent out by the International Bottled Water Association, is a direct response to Annie Leonard’s The Story of Bottled Water (which you can read more about here). In the video, the IBWA touts the manufacturers of bottled water as “good stewards of the environment.” It features blissed-out coffeehouse acoustic guitar music, bucolic scenes of nature and a pretend reporter from pretend outfit “BWM Reports” pretending to pose pretend questions in pretend journalistic settings. The unnamed interlocutor serves up softballs, and happily nods along, like the Liz Glover Of Corporate Evil.

WATCH:

Full Story: Bottled Water Industry Combats Anti-Green Perceptions With Pretend Journalism (VIDEO).

David Shuster Pleads With Congressmen: Stop The Incendiary Rhetoric! (VIDEO)

David Shuster issued a rare commentary Wednesday afternoon, calling on members of Congress — in particular Senator Tom Coburn — to cut the sort of incendiary rhetoric that could inspire violence.

In particular, Shuster reacted to Coburn’s statement that the health care reform legislation is

“the greatest assault on liberty this country has ever had.”

“Health care reform is a greater assault on liberty than slavery? Good grief!” Shuster said. “Coburn is a medical doctor, he’s not just some right-wing radio host or paid political provocateur….America’s greatest freedoms include the right to free speech, a right we are all blessed to enjoy. However, incendiary rhetoric from members of Congress, while intended to energize the base, can also have an unintended reaction. And that reaction could endanger members of our society, including the President of the United States.”

Full Story: David Shuster Pleads With Congressmen: Stop The Incendiary Rhetoric! (VIDEO).

Nation’s Largest Private Water Utility Joins Lawsuit Against Herbicide Maker

The nation’s largest private water utility company has joined a federal lawsuit that aims to force the manufacturer of atrazine, a widely-used herbicide, to pay for its removal from drinking water.

As the Investigative Fund reported two weeks ago, the class action lawsuit was originally filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois by 16 cities in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa. The communities are alleging that Swiss corporation Syngenta AG and its Delaware counterpart Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. made billions of dollars selling atrazine while local taxpayers were left “the ever-growing bill for filtering the toxic product from the public’s drinking water.”

American Water Company joined the lawsuit in five of those states yesterday, representing 28 additional Midwestern communities.

Full Story: Nation’s Largest Private Water Utility Joins Lawsuit Against Herbicide Maker | The Huffington Post Investigative Fund.

Obama, Netanyahu Meeting: Neither Side Will Discuss Details

The United States and Israel engaged in overtime talks Wednesday trying to win agreement on gestures Israel can take to restore confidence among Palestinians and the Obama administration and salvaging a diplomatic visit marred by the worst U.S.-Israeli breach in years.

U.S. and Israeli officials told The Associated Press that the closed-door talks were aimed at getting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track. The talks ended at about 8 p.m. without any announcements, one official said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential session, said the administration’s special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, met late Wednesday afternoon with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who extended his stay by hours to work on a deal.

Full Story: Obama, Netanyahu Meeting: Neither Side Will Discuss Details.

Bank Of America To Start Reducing Principal On ‘Underwater’ Mortgages

Bank of America Corp. is giving some of its most troubled mortgage borrowers relief from the threat of foreclosure.

The bank, the largest mortgage servicer in the country, said Wednesday it will forgive up to 30 percent of some customers’ total mortgage balances. The homeowners must have missed at least two months of mortgage payments and owe at least 20 percent more than their home is currently worth.

The plan is the newest provision of an agreement the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank reached 18 months ago with state attorneys general to settle charges over high-risk loans made by Countrywide Financial Corp.

Full Story: Bank Of America To Start Reducing Principal On ‘Underwater’ Mortgages.

The Most Ridiculous Amendments To The Health Care Reconciliation Bill

Republicans know that the health care reform process could be derailed if the Senate decides to adopt any changes in reconciling the bill passed by the House on Sunday.

So, GOP Senators have introduced a variety of provocative — and occasionally outrageous amendments — that Democrats who support the health care bill will be forced to vote against in order to get the reconciliation bill through.

A total of 32 amendments have been filed — all by Republicans — here are the 10 most outrageous:

Full Story: The Most Ridiculous Amendments To The Health Care Reconciliation Bill.

POPE IMPLICATED IN COVER-UP OF WISCONSIN SEX ABUSE CASE

Warned About Abuse, Vatican Failed to Defrock Priest

Top Vatican officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit.

The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal.

The documents emerge as Pope Benedict is facing other accusations that he and direct subordinates often did not alert civilian authorities or discipline priests involved in sexual abuse when he served as an archbishop in Germany and as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer.

Full Story: Warned About Abuse, Vatican Failed to Defrock Priest – NYTimes.com.

FBI Investigating Cut Gas Line At Home Of Dem Rep’s Brother

After a tea party organizer published the address of the brother of Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) in a blog post urging anti-health reform activists to “drop by,” someone cut a propane gas line at the house, Politico is reporting.

Now the FBI is investigating what happened at the home near Charlottesville, according to Politico.

The development comes on the heels of at least five instances of vandalism — mainly in the form of smashed doors and windows — at Democratic offices around the country in the days around the House health care vote Sunday night.

Full Story: FBI Investigating Cut Gas Line At Home Of Dem Rep’s Brother | TPMMuckraker.

Rove: ‘Largely novices … unsophisticated people’ at Tea Party rallies

Suggests civil rights protesters in early days said equally ‘unfortunate and unnecessary’ things

Democrats are sometimes accused of being elitists who look down on honest working folk, but former White House senior adviser Karl Rove appears to harbor a certain condescension of his own towards “unsophisticated” Tea Partiers.

MSBC’s Savannah Guthrie questioned Rove on Wednesday about the “unfortunate language used this weekend at some of the rallies that one of the Tea Party founders apologized for.”

“To the extent that the Tea Party is equated with the Republican Party, is that a concern for you?” she asked.

Full Story: Rove: ‘Largely novices … unsophisticated people’ at Tea Party rallies | Raw Story.

Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder Finally Explained: Too Many Chemicals

A combination of toxic chemicals and pathogens are probably to blame for colony collapse disorder in honeybees, according to a study conducted by researchers at Washington State University.

Researchers conducted careful studies to uncover contributors to the disorder, in which seemingly healthy bees simply vanish from a hive, leaving the queen and a handful of newly hatched adults behind.

“One of the first things we looked at was the pesticide levels in the wax of older honeycombs,” researcher Steve Sheppard said.

The researchers acquired used hives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, finding that they had “fairly high levels of pesticide residue.” When bees were raised in these hives, they had “significantly reduced longevity,” the researchers said.

Full Story: Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder Finally Explained: Too Many Chemicals.

GOP ‘Temper Tantrum’ Brings Senate Committees To Halt

On one end of Pennsylvania Ave., jubilant Democrats packed the East Room of the White House to watch President Obama sign long-hoped-for healthcare reform into law. At the other, seething Republicans let their anger over the achievement boil over and bring their campaign of obstruction to an even higher level as they used Senate rules to bring work in the chamber’s committees to a standstill.

That’s what happened Tuesday along what is known as “America’s Main Street,” as Republican after Republican also issued statements denouncing the new reform law in dire terms.

“Senator McCain’s promised obstruction comes to reality just a day later,” says Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), referring to former Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s Monday declaration that “there would be no cooperation for the rest of the year” from members of the GOP. “‘The Party of No’ wouldn’t even agree to let Senate committees meet today. Ironically, as they make false claims about transparency regarding health reform, they’re shutting down a committee hearing today on transparency in government.”

Full Story: On The Hill: GOP ‘Temper Tantrum’ Brings Senate Committees To Halt.

Chicago Public School Students Stand up for Healthy Eating, Become Role Models for Adult Activism

The collective giggle-fest over Vice President Joe Biden’s true but censorable comment at the president’s signing of healthcare reform struck me as pretty sophomoric. But then again, that’s not very fair to sophomores.

Meanwhile, right in my own backyard, real sophomores (and other high schoolers) have successfully organized to change the way more than 400,000 individual stomachs are treated each day.

Thanks to the actions of student protesters at a Chicago Public School (CPS) Board meeting this week, “a major nutritional overhaul of menus” is planned, according to the Chicago Tribune. The students who are forced to feed themselves from these “menus” were quoted as calling the current food available “sickening.”

Now, I’m glad to see the Chicago Tribune covering education whenever it deems the subject worthy enough. But their article published today is replete with the egotistical trumpet sounds of undeserved accolades. Just take a look (emphasis mine):

Full Story: Chicago Public School Students Stand up for Healthy Eating, Become Role Models for Adult Activism | BuzzFlash.org.

Virginia Tea Partiers Endorse Posting Periello’s Home Address, Insist They’re Not ‘A Violent Group Of People’

On Monday, Lynchburg Tea Party member Mike Troxel posted what he believed to be the home address of Rep. Tom Periello (D-VA), encouraging people to drop by for a “good face-to-face chat”:

Just in case any of his friends and neighbors want to drop by and say hi and express their thanks regarding his vote for healthcare. I personally believe it’s so important for representatives to remain fully grounded and to remember exactly what it is their constituents are saying and how they are telling them to vote. Nothing quite does that like a good face-to-face chat. It has a much more personal touch to it.

As Politico explained, the address Troxel posted was actually the address of Periello’s brother, who lives with his wife and four children under the age of eight. “If they [Periello's staff] would like to provide me with the address of Tom, then I’d be more than happy to take it down,” he said. “I have no reason to believe it’s not his house.”

However, yesterday, after receiving evidence from a commenter that the address did indeed belong to Periello’s brother, Troxel erased it, even though he didn’t yet have the congressman’s address. (The site is currently down because the “bandwidth limit” has been exceeded.)

Full Story: Think Progress » Virginia Tea Partiers Endorse Posting Periello’s Home Address, Insist They’re Not ‘A Violent Group Of People’.

7 New Tax Credits Now Available Through the Recovery Act

Tax cuts were the biggest individual component of the Recovery Act. Even though only half of taxpayers have filed so far this year, tax refunds are already up nearly 10% from last year due to the Recovery Act.

As you file your 2009 income taxes, you may qualify for a series of new tax cuts that were established through the Recovery Act. You could, for example, save money for attending college, making energy-saving home improvements, purchasing a home for the first time, or buying a new car.

Here are some of the new tax credits available through the Recovery Act that you may be eligible for:

Full Story: Rep. John B. Larson: 7 New Tax Credits Now Available Through the Recovery Act.

Do You Only Live Once? Experiments Suggest Life Not One-Time Deal

We think we die and rot into the ground, and thus must squeeze everything in before it’s too late. If life — yours, mine — is a just a one-time deal, then we’re as likely to be screwed as pampered. But experiments suggest this view of the world may be wrong.

The results of quantum physics confirm that observations can’t be predicted absolutely. Instead, there’s a range of possible observations each with a different probability. One mainstream explanation, the “many-worlds” interpretation, states that there are an infinite number of universes (the “multiverse”). Everything that can possibly happen occurs in some universe. The old mechanical — “we’re just a bunch of atoms” −- view of life loses its grip in these scenarios.

Biocentrism extends this idea, suggesting that life is a flowering and adventure that transcends our ordinary linear way of thinking. Although our individual bodies are destined to self-destruct, the “me” feeling is just energy operating in the brain. But this energy doesn’t go away at death. One of the surest principles of science is that energy never dies; it can neither be created nor destroyed. When we die, we do so not in the random billiard ball matrix but in the inescapable life matrix. Life has a non-linear dimensionality −- it’s like a perennial flower that returns to bloom in the multiverse.

Full Story: Robert Lanza, M.D.: Do You Only Live Once? Experiments Suggest Life Not One-Time Deal.

Even The Cows Have Cancer: EPA Weighs Tougher Regulation of Toxic Coal Ash

Elisa Young says she has lost at least six neighbors to cancer in the last ten years.

“I’ve lost neighbors to lung cancer who have never smoked,” she said. “I’ve lost them to brain cancer, breast, throat, colon, multiple myeloma, pre-leukemia, arsenic poisoning. When my son, who’s in his 20s, came home to visit, he said, ‘Mom, is it normal for your mouth to taste like metal?’ We pulled over and he coughed until he got sick.”

Young has no doubt about what she believes is causing all the cancer: coal. For the past 10 years she’s lived in Meigs County, Ohio, home to four coal-fired power plants within an 11-mile radius, and has become an environmental activist.

“There isn’t a house on this road that hasn’t been touched by cancer… I had melanoma and I currently have two more precancerous conditions for breast and thyroid cancer, none of which are in my family,” said Young, 47. “My dog died of cancer, my best friend died of cancer and her dog died of lymphoma. I just gave up a dog because I couldn’t afford to take him into the vet.

Full Story: Even The Cows Have Cancer: EPA Weighs Tougher Regulation of Toxic Coal Ash.

Bush wipes his hand on Clinton’s shirt after shaking hands with Haitian residents.

After the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in January, President Obama asked former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead the U.S. relief effort in that country. The two men viewed one of Haiti’s “massive tent cities” yesterday, in a trip — their first one to the country together — to “remind donors of the immense needs facing the recovery effort.” BBC aired video of Bush and Clinton’s visit, and Mediate noticed that at one point, Bush appeared to wipe his hand off on Clinton’s shirt after shaking hands with a crowd of Haitians. Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Bush wipes his hand on Clinton’s shirt after shaking hands with Haitian residents..

Health bill included big Republican idea: individual mandate

The lawsuit against the health care overhaul filed Tuesday by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is focused on a provision that has long been advocated by conservatives, big business and the insurance industry.

The lawsuit by McCollum, a candidate for governor, and 12 other attorneys general, focuses on the provision that virtually all Americans will need to have health insurance by 2014 or face penalties.

The lawsuit calls this an “unprecedented encroachment on the liberty of individuals.” It states the Constitution doesn’t authorize such a mandate, the proposed tax penalty is unlawful and is an “unprecedented encroachment on the sovereignty of the states.”

Full Story: Health bill included big Republican idea: individual mandate | McClatchy.

Bush speechwriter: Republicans ‘now work for Fox’

Conservative columnist and former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum made waves earlier this week when he announced that the Democrats’ passage of health reform amounts to the GOP’s “Waterloo.”

On ABC’s Nightline Monday night, Frum showed that he is clearly not happy with the direction that American conservatism — at least as embodied in the Republican Party — has taken.

“Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we’re discovering we work for Fox,” Frum told ABC’s Terry Moran. “And this balance here has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican party.”

Frum laid the blame for the anger of anti-health reform protesters not with the GOP, but with talk radio and Fox News, which he said was the “real leadership” in setting the terms of the political debate on health care.

“The anger trapped the [Republican] leadership,” Frum said, and “the leadership discovered they have no room to maneuver as a result of the anger.”

Full Story: Bush speechwriter: Republicans ‘work for Fox’ | Raw Story.

Capitalist Anarchy and Lobbyist Bubble

Paul B. Farrell – Mareketwatch

261,000 lobbyists signal death of ‘invisible hand,’ America’s moral compass

Anarchy? Yes, America is descending into anarchy. No leadership in anarchy, just endless battles, warring fiefdoms competing for power — shifting power.

That’s our new America. Democracy’s dead. Texans rebranded us a “constitutional republic” for their textbooks. But either way, voting’s irrelevant.

Full Story: Capitalist Anarchy and Lobbyist Bubble Paul B. Farrell – MarketWatch.

Giant Ethiopian dam to make 200,000 go hungry: NGO

More than 200,000 Ethiopians who rely on fishing and farming could become reliant on aid to survive if the government goes ahead with building Africa’s biggest hydropower dam, an advocacy group said.

Ethiopia is building the 1.4 billion euro dam as part of a campaign to beat power shortages and become a power exporter.

The dam – Gibe III — is expected to generate 1,800MW, almost doubling Ethiopia’s current capacity of just under 2,000MW.

Full Story: Giant Ethiopian dam to make 200,000 go hungry: NGO – washingtonpost.com.

Durable-goods orders rise for 3rd straight month Economic Report

Demand for U.S.-made durable goods rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% to $178.1 billion in February, the third straight increase in the key forward-looking economic indicator, according to Commerce Department data released Wednesday.

Orders for machinery and civilian aircraft were strong in February, while orders for autos, defense goods and electronics declined. Orders for core capital goods excluding aircraft and defense increased 1.1%, a sign of rising capital spending by businesses.

Excluding a 0.7% drop in transportation goods, orders rose 0.9% to $132.1 billion, the third increase in the past four months. Read the full report on the government website.

Full Story: Durable-goods orders rise for 3rd straight month Economic Report – MarketWatch.

The Key to Solving the Energy Crisis: A Leaf?

Professor Nate Lewis is working on a process to mimic photosynthesis and create a fuel that provides energy in a convenient form.

Full Story: The Key to Solving the Energy Crisis: A Leaf? | CommonDreams.orgV.

Turning “Texas Education” Into an Oxymoron

Jim Hightower -

In the good-and-good-for-you department, food scientists are now touting the health benefits of enjoying a handful of nuts every day.

I, for one, am glad, because I love nuts — pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, you-name-’em. But my favorite nuts, by far, are the homegrown natives that have taken root in one particularly fertile area of my state: the Texas Board of Education. You just can’t get any nuttier than this bunch!

This board, little-known even to us Texans, has lately risen to national notoriety, making our state’s educational system a punch line for comedians everywhere. That’s because a handful of ultra-right-wing nutcases have taken over this elected overseer of Texas educational policy, and they’re hell-bent to supplant classroom education with their own brand of ideological indoctrination.

Full Story: Turning “Texas Education” Into an Oxymoron by Jim Hightower on Creators.com – A Syndicate Of Talent.

Students push for aid overhaul; lenders lobby against it

College students swarmed Capitol Hill on Tuesday to plead for more financial aid as private lenders made a last push to preserve their endangered role in making federal student loans.

The dueling messages sought to influence potential Senate action this week on a proposal to expand direct government lending by cutting funding for private firms that make federally guaranteed loans. Tens of billions of dollars in projected savings would flow to grants for needy students.

The proposal is attached to a bill approved Sunday by the House — separate from the comprehensive health legislation President Obama signed into law Tuesday — that resolves various differences among congressional Democrats over health-care reform. If the Senate approves the bill without amendment, it also would go to Obama for his signature. But opponents of the student lending overhaul are seeking to revise it in the Senate, which would force another vote in the House.

Full Story: Students push for aid overhaul; lenders lobby against it – washingtonpost.com.

The Moderate Republican: An Endangered Species

Boy, the Republicans know how to make Barack Obama look good. What are they going to do now, threaten to repeal a law that forces insurance companies to cover the sick? Or block the provision that allows you to keep your out-of-work kids on your policy until they are 26? Whatever the failings of the bill–and they are real, especially in the area of cost control–its proponents will clearly have an advantage over those left bemoaning the loss of the untenable status quo. Particularly so during the first years, when its very sensible restraints on the insurance industry go into effect.

The bill that the president signed into law is limited and hardly provocative, but it unquestionably gets us over the first huge hurdle, already surmounted by every other economically advanced nation, to finally regard health coverage as a societal obligation. We already do with the rules governing admittance to hospital emergency rooms, but now that obviously humane assurance carries the majesty of landmark law. For that achievement, Obama and the Democrats who supported him have secured their marker in the nation's history, and the Republicans, without exception, should be remembered only as wannabe spoilers.

As Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, observed correctly in holding his nose and casting a vote for a bill that is at best a work in need of much progress, it is “castor oil,” which may not do much to improve our health but certainly won't make it worse. It's also pro-business; that's why the stock market boomed Tuesday in a 17-month-high rally led by a 4.1 percent rise in the value of Caterpillar, the company that claimed the bill would hurt business interests.

Full Story: Robert Scheer: The Moderate Republican: An Endangered Species.

Average Homeowner In Obama Foreclosure Program Underwater, Yet Principal Cuts Rare

The average homeowner in the Obama administration’s signature foreclosure-prevention program owes more on their mortgage than their home is worth, yet the program does virtually nothing to address this problem, according to a scathing new report by a government watchdog, casting doubt on the effectiveness of the $50 billion effort.

The average homeowner may owe their lender as much as two-and-a-half times more than the home is worth, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program states in its new report examining the administration’s year-old Home Affordable Modification Program, citing November data from Fannie Mae. The Treasury Department told government investigators that the average homeowner likely owes their lender about $1.14 for every $1 of the home’s current market value, the report notes.

Yet the program doesn’t address this problem of negative equity — commonly referred to as being “underwater” — according to the report. The administration’s effort has been touted as a way to stem the rising tide of foreclosures by reducing monthly payments for up to four million troubled borrowers.

Full Story: Average Homeowner In Obama Foreclosure Program Underwater, Yet Principal Cuts Rare.

Wall Street Despised in Poll Showing Majority Want Regulation

Americans are leery about creating a new federal agency to make consumer-protection rules for mortgages and credit cards and would prefer to enhance the existing powers of banking regulators.

Most people interviewed in the Bloomberg National Poll say they don’t like Wall Street, banks or insurance companies and favor letting the government punish bankers who helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Almost seven out of 10 people surveyed support using current bank regulators for consumer protection, backing positions held by the financial industry and Republicans over President Barack Obama’s proposal to establish an independent agency.

Full Story: Wall Street Despised in Poll Showing Majority Want Regulation – Bloomberg.com.

Ambitious High-Speed Rail Projects

High-speed rails are appearing more frequently in government agendas, as it’s a more economical form of transportation that stimulates job growth, not to mention the numerous environmental benefits. The rails remove millions of passengers from the road and use only a fifth the energy of an automobile trip, while improving air quality and significantly lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

While the U.S. has been lagging in this department for some time, President Obama recently allocated $8 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grants for high-speed rails across the country, the full list of which you can find here. China, who is miles ahead of us when it comes to high-speed rails, announced plans this month to bid for contracts to build developing high-speed rails in the U.S., deputy railway minister Wang Zhiguo said. According to Wang, “China is willing to share its mature and advanced technology with other countries to promote development of the world’s high-speed railways.”

We’re highlighting some noteworthy projects in the U.S. that have received federal funding, as well as some plans slated abroad. Take a look, and vote for your favorite rail plan!

Full Story: Ambitious High-Speed Rail Projects (PHOTOS).

‘The Male Brain’: Ladies, He’s Not A Pervert Just Because He Wants More Sex Than You Do

Okay, it’s time to talk to you about The Male Brain — woman to woman.

It’s a lot more like the female brain than you might have guessed. We both have the same brain areas and we make the same hormones. But the size of brain areas and the amount of certain hormones can differ quite a bit. You may not be surprised to hear that the male brain area for sexual pursuit is 2.5 times larger than the one in the female brain. But if you could spend a day experiencing things through “male-colored” glasses, you’d probably be amazed by how men see the world.

Small differences between men and women can make or break a relationship. If you’ve ever complained that your man doesn’t “get” you, it may surprise you to find out that you don’t “get” him either. And much as you may want him to be more like your best girlfriend, it’s time to let go of that pipe dream and cozy up to the truth. He’s different from you, but if you give him a chance to be himself, you’re going to like what you see.

Celebrate your man for being a man and stop trying to make him act more like you. It can’t be done and it will only add tension to your relationship. Vote on what you might be able to forgive him for.

Full Story: Louann Brizendine, M.D.: ‘The Male Brain’: Ladies, He’s Not A Pervert Just Because He Wants More Sex Than You Do (PHOTOS, POLL).

Drone Wars, Without Any Rules

The CIA’s extensive use of unmanned drones to kill alleged terrorists in Pakistan and elsewhere is arguably against international law and raises the possibility that top U.S. officials will someday be tried at the Hague for war crimes, a law professor told a congressional oversight panel on Tuesday.

Despite the rapidly increasing use of drones in warfare and anti-terrorism — and the legal and ethical issues their use raises — the U.S. government has never publicly advanced a legal justification for sending its drones on targeted killing runs overseas; up until Tuesday, Congress hadn’t even held a single hearing into the question.

Kenneth Anderson, an American University law professor, told the panel he believes there is legal justification for the U.S.’s use of drones, not just by the military but by the CIA, under the doctrine of self-defense.

Full Story: Drone Wars, Without Any Rules.

Obama, Democrats Begin Reaping Political Benefits Of Reform

That Was Fast: Americans Now Glad Health Care Bill Passed, USA Today Poll Finds

Only hours after the president signed health care reform legislation into law on Tuesday, the immediate political benefits for the Democratic Party are already coming into focus.

According to a Gallup/USA Today poll conducted the day after health care legislation passed the House of Representatives, 49 percent of the respondents think the passage of reform is a “good thing,” compared to the 40 percent who think it is bad. The numbers are a welcome relief for a party and a presidency that had been bleeding popular support over the course of the past six months.

Democrats didn’t just get a health-care-related boost in the realm of public opinion. The Democratic National Committee reported raising more than $1 million in donations on Tuesday even without making a direct ask. The money is expected to pour in for other campaign committees as well.

Full Story: Obama, Democrats Begin Reaping Political Benefits Of Reform.

Disputed Bay of Bengal island ‘vanishes’ say scientists

A tiny island claimed for years by India and Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal has disappeared beneath the rising seas, scientists in India say.

The uninhabited territory south of the Hariabhanga river was known as New Moore Island to the Indians and South Talpatti Island to the Bangladeshis.

Recent satellites images show the whole island under water, says the School of Oceanographic Studies in Calcutta.

Its scientists say other nearby islands could also vanish as sea levels rise.

Full Story: BBC News – Disputed Bay of Bengal island ‘vanishes’ say scientists.

Kentucky AG Refuses To Join Lawsuit

KY AG Jack Conway (D) is wading into the health care debate, announcing Tuesday he will not file a lawsuit against the federal government in trying to refuse the legislation.

“I do not intend to use my authority as Kentucky Attorney General to sign our Commonwealth onto a health care lawsuit against the federal government, because I will not waste taxpayer dollars on a political stunt,” Conway said in a statement provided to Hotline OnCall.

Earlier today, Sec/State Trey Grayson blasted Dems in Congress for passing health care, “despite overwhelming and bipartisan opposition.”

Grayson continued, “Fortunately, there is still an opportunity to prevent this intrusion into our lives as more than a dozen states have declared their intent to challenge this law in court. Today I call on Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway to join in this effort and file suit against the federal government for the unconstitutional overreach of its authority with the passage of this health care legislation.”

Full Story: Conway Refuses To Join Lawsuit – Hotline On Call.

Pay czar orders 15 percent pay cut for bosses at bailed-out firms

President Barack Obama’s pay czar on Tuesday ordered executive compensation at prominent bailed-out firms to be cut by 15 percent, amid voter anger over Wall Street pay.

Kenneth Feinberg said 119 executives at AIG, Chrysler, Chrysler Financial, General Motors and its troubled former finance arm GMAC would see their cash rewards slashed by a third and their total pay cut by 15 percent versus last year.

All five firms received taxpayer money to stay afloat during the financial crisis, which continues to weigh on US economic recovery.

Full Story: Pay czar orders 15 percent pay cut for bosses at bailed-out firms | Raw Story.

Gates orders ’study’ of private contractors’ spy operations

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a study of US “information operations” after a Pentagon official allegedly set up a spy network with private contractors, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

A small team of senior military and defense officials will “conduct a quick look assessment” and report their findings within 15 days, press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference.

He said the assessment would look at the role of private contractors in what the military calls information operations, which covers a range of efforts including psychological warfare and public relations.

Full Story: Gates orders ’study’ of private contractors’ spy operations | Rawstory.

Protesting Health Reform, GOP Attempts To Bring Senate Hearings To A Standstill By Blocking All Proceedings

There is a little-known rule in the Senate stating that hearings can’t happen after 2:00 p.m. each day without unanimous consent. However, every day, at the start of business, the Senate generally agrees, by unanimous consent, to waive this rule and continue with the necessary business of holding hearings. Here is the rule:

5. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of the rules, when the Senate is in session, no committee of the Senate or any subcommittee thereof may meet, without special leave, after the conclusion of the first two hours after the meeting of the Senate commenced and in no case after two o’clock postmeridian unless consent therefor has been obtained from the majority leader and the minority leader (or in the event of the absence of either of such leaders, from his designee). The prohibition contained in the preceding sentence shall not apply to the Committee on Appropriations or the Committee on the Budget. The majority leader or his designee shall announce to the Senate whenever consent has been given under this subparagraph and shall state the time and place of such meeting. The right to make such announcement of consent shall have the same priority as the filing of a cloture motion.

Republicans, however, are now refusing to give unanimous consent and are blocking the hearings. Today, during a Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on transparency, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) announced that he had to stop the proceedings because of Republican blocks:

Full Story: Think Progress » Protesting Health Reform, GOP Attempts To Bring Senate Hearings To A Standstill By Blocking All Proceedings.

Why George Washington would disagree with the right wing about health care’s constitutionality.

Yesterday, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced that he would join a growing list of right-wing attorneys general who are suing to have health reform declared unconstitutional. According to Cuccinelli, the new law’s provisions that require individuals to carry health insurance violate the Constitution because “at no time in our history has the government mandated its citizens buy a good or service.” The truth, however, is that the Second Militia Act of 1792, required a significant percentage of the U.S. civilian population to purchase a long list of military equipment:

gilberts[E]very citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges

Full Story: Think Progress » Why George Washington would disagree with the right wing about health care’s constitutionality..

Why George Washington would disagree with the right wing about health care’s constitutionality.

Yesterday, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced that he would join a growing list of right-wing attorneys general who are suing to have health reform declared unconstitutional. According to Cuccinelli, the new law’s provisions that require individuals to carry health insurance violate the Constitution because “at no time in our history has the government mandated its citizens buy a good or service.” The truth, however, is that the Second Militia Act of 1792, required a significant percentage of the U.S. civilian population to purchase a long list of military equipment:

gilberts[E]very citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges

Full Story: Think Progress » Why George Washington would disagree with the right wing about health care’s constitutionality..

The Consequences of Defeat in an Economic War

We would never apologize for protectionist military means, yet we do for choices that might have saved us economically.

If the U.S. was attacked in a military war, we would do everything imaginable to defend ourselves as losing a war could ultimately end in the enslavement of ourselves and future generations. History has shown us what happens to losers in a military conflict – the losers work for the benefit of the conquerors under their new ruler’s conditions.

When the British militarily controlled America, many patriots emerged. Most famously Patrick Henry is remembered for shouting, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

In recent years, the U.S. has been in an economic war imposed on us by countries like China, Japan and Mexico – our constant balance of trade deficit will attest to this. Thanks to the agreements our leaders signed like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and our treaty with the World Trade Organization (WTO), we are unable to protect ourselves.

We are thus inexplicably heading toward colonial status. We may have already lost this economic war.

Full Story: The Consequences of Defeat in an Economic War | Economy In Crisis.

Outsourcing U.S. Jobs and Recruiting Cheap Temporary Labor

Employers will sometimes forgo seeking out a qualified American worker and instead immediately seek to hire a foreign worker that can be hired at less than the prevailing wage.

For foreign workers in America on H-1B or L-1B visas, their guest worker status is more likely to put them on a path toward exploitation than permanent residency, a new report on the programs says.

According to the Ron Hira of the Economic Policy Institute, the fact that the H-1B and L-1B visa programs are temporary and under restrictive terms puts “workers in a precarious position that invites their exploitation, creates insecurity for them, and undermines the integrity of the labor market.”

One of the main problems with the program is the fact that guest workers need their employers to sponsor them for permanent immigration status. More often than not, this does not occur. Not only must an employer sponsor the guest worker for residency, except for special circumstances, the worker must also remain with the company that sponsored him or her for the guest worker status. If not, the guest worker’s status is immediately terminated.

Full Story: Outsourcing U.S. Jobs and Recruiting Cheap Temporary Labor | Economy In Crisis.

How Safe is Food From China?

This year the Food and Drug Administration has already stopped 260 shipments of foods from China contaminated with bad pesticides, bacteria or filth

ABC investigates the quality and safety of organic foods imported from China, and how organic foods are tracked. This year the Food and Drug Administration has already stopped 260 shipments of foods from China contaminated with bad pesticides, bacteria or filth.

Full Story: How Safe is Food From China? | Economy In Crisis.

ALSO SEE:
China recycles cooking oil… from raw sewage

TPP Could Cost U.S. Dairy Farmers Billions

One estimate by the National Milk Producers Federation predicts that U.S. dairy producers could lose as much as $20 billion over the first 10 years of the deal.

Just days into the first round of negotiations for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the U.S. is already at the center of a trade dispute that could derail the entire process.

[In the United States alone ... ] The rift began earlier this month when, at the behest of concerned U.S. dairy farmers, 30 senators sent U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk a letter asking him to exclude dairy trade from the proposed trade pact.

U.S. dairy farmers claim that if restrictions on dairy imports are fully phased out during negotiations, they will be hard-pressed to compete with industry giant Fronterra, a co-operative owned by 13,000 New Zealand farmers.

The letter says that Fronterra controls 90 percent of New Zealand’s domestic milk production market and holds over a 40 percent market share in key internationally traded dairy commodities.

“In light of this market power, the Administration should consider whether genuine competition is possible as it proceeds with the TPP,” the letter read.

Full Story: TPP Could Cost U.S. Dairy Farmers Billions | Economy In Crisis.

Lessons Learned from a Vegan Diet

Like just about everyone in America, I was hankering to go on a slimming detox diet after New Year’s. But based on previous experiences with just about every form of cleanse, I knew I wanted a food-based diet. Eliminating everything but organic, natural foods seemed like the clear choice. Mission: Eat exclusively vegan for a month.

This diet wasn’t all that new to me. I was raised vegan—yes, really—and have followed some version of a vegetarian diet for most of my life. But I had been a happy fish-and-poultry eater for a few years and just felt like I needed a break. I yearned for a “cleaner” diet; something that made me feel good rather than too-full after each meal.

The initial motivation of an internal cleanse quickly turned into a mission to experience responsible eating at its finest. Even though I’ve always been a conscious consumer—organic, free-range, pasteurized only, thanks, and NO, don’t you dare put it in a plastic bag!—as I researched vegan cuisine, I was reminded of the personal and political reasons why so many choose to eat this way all the time. Then I watched this “Oprah,” read these books and watched this movie. The mission was so go for launch.

Full Story: Lessons Learned from a Vegan Diet | Sirens Magazine.

Not Feeling Well? Perhaps You’re ‘Marijuana Deficient’

Scientists have begun speculating that the root cause of disease conditions such as migraines and irritable bowel syndrome may be endocannabinoid deficiency.

For several years I have postulated that marijuana is not, in the strict sense of the word, an intoxicant.

As I wrote in the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009), the word ‘intoxicant’ is derived from the Latin noun toxicum (poison). It’s an appropriate term for alcohol, as ethanol (the psychoactive ingredient in booze) in moderate to high doses is toxic (read: poisonous) to healthy cells and organs.

Of course, booze is hardly the only commonly ingested intoxicant. Take the over-the-counter painkiller acetaminophen (Tylenol). According to the Merck online medical library, acetaminophen poisoning and overdose is “common,” and can result in gastroenteritis (inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract) “within hours” and hepatotoxicity (liver damage) “within one to three days after ingestion.” In fact, less than one year ago the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called for tougher standards and warnings governing the drug’s use because “recent studies indicate that unintentional and intentional overdoses leading to severe hepatotoxicity continue to occur.”

Full Story: Not Feeling Well? Perhaps You’re ‘Marijuana Deficient’ | Economy | AlterNet.

The 10 Most Outrageous Right-Wing Freakouts Over the Health Care Bill

The day after the bill passed, right-wingers took to the airwaves to make outrageous, wildly offensive comparisons to 9/11 and Nazis. Some called for violence.

The Monday after Congress passed historic health care legislation was a dark day for the right wing. Wouldn’t you be upset if you were doomed to live in a communist dystopia? Is there even a point in living once Nancy Pelosi kills every baby in America and your grandmother?

And by “upset,” we mean certifiably insane. Here are the 10 most awesomely overwrought right-wing freakouts spurred by the passage of a bill that promises to extend coverage to tens of millions of the uninsured and curb some of the most inhumane abuses of the insurance industry.

1. Last week, Rush Limbaugh swore he would move to Costa Rica if health reform passed. Instead, he heroically decided to stay behind and fight for freedom, by telling his listeners they’re in a death match with Hitler. “America is hanging by a thread. So we have to see what we can do with a thread. At the end of the day, our freedom has been assaulted. This is the kind of change that people did not think they were going to get when they voted for Barack Obama. Freedom must win the day.”

Limbaugh goes on to slam Rep. Bart Stupak, whose decision to vote yes on the bill after squeezing an anti-abortion executive order from Obama helped Dems clinch the needed votes. “Stupak is no different than Neville Chamberlain, who came back with that little letter from Hitler: ‘Oh, yeah, Hitler says no war between his country and ours.’”

Full Story: The 10 Most Outrageous Right-Wing Freakouts Over the Health Care Bill | | AlterNet.

Is Toyota’s Brakes Disaster Tied to How It Treats Workers Like Profit-Oriented Robots?

Toyota’s boasts about having a workplace democracy, but its production model seems more interested in worker control.

A century ago, Frederick W. Taylor, the mechanical engineer whose book The Principles of Scientific Management influenced generations of business owners and managers, had this to say about American working people:

“Underworking  constitutes the greatest evil with which the working people are now afflicted.  Instead of using every effort to turn out the largest possible amount of work, (a worker) deliberately plans to do as little as he safely can, to turn out far less work than he is well able to do; in many instances to do not more than one-third to one-half of a proper day’s work.”

With that contemptuous attitude at a time of sweatshop abuse and rampant child labor, Taylor proceeded to propose that every second and every movement at the workplace be monitored and scientifically managed to eliminate waste, inefficiency, and labor costs in the cause of high productivity and company profits.

Proponents of the so-called “Toyota Way” — the production philosophy employed by the same Japanese giant now reeling from the recall of 8.5 million cars since November — say it’s a “democratic Taylorism” that values workers even as it pushes them constantly toward “continuous improvement,” known in Toyota-speak as kaizen.

Full Story: Is Toyota’s Brakes Disaster Tied to How It Treats Workers Like Profit-Oriented Robots? | Economy | AlterNet.

Have You Caught Gold Fever? The Value of That Shiny Metal Is as Artificial as Paper Money

The economic doomsters and investment advisers are engaged in a collective hallucination when they see growing value in gold.

Quick, check out this hot investment tip! For decades now, the Federal Reserve has been suppressing the true value of gold to keep its prodigious impact out of the market, which is currently dominated by fiat currencies like the dollar and light-speed binary code transactions like high-frequency trading. If you stripped away the Fed’s continuing manipulation, gold’s free-market value, currently hovering around $1,000 per ounce, would increase by multiples. Wait, are you yawning? Why are you leaving?

Here’s why: This isn’t news. The Federal Reserve, along with investment banks, hedge funds, governments and even you (yes, you), have not been just manipulating the so-called real value of gold and other financial instruments for decades, you’ve also been manipulating reality itself for centuries. Because gold is just chemical element, or a precious metal as it is called in the business, which means you can’t eat, grow or use it to power your house or car.

But what gold is good for, and admittedly has been since the beginning of recorded history, is storing notional value: It is simply an idea made shiny, attractive, and up until our recent Great Depression rerun, pretty lucrative. In other words, it is a hyperreality, a consensual hallucination to borrow a term from novelist William Gibson. It has value as a currency because we decide it does, just like the fiat currency system that replaced it, not because of anything it can actually do on its own.

Full Story: Have You Caught Gold Fever? The Value of That Shiny Metal Is as Artificial as Paper Money | Economy | AlterNet.

Clean Water and Dirty Coal Don’t Mix

Dark Secret of World Water Day: Coal-Fired Plants Drink 1.5 Trillion Gallons, Then We Drink Backwash

Here’s a sobering fact on World Water Day: Coal-fired power plants use approximately 1.5 trillion gallons of water a year in the US.

In many respects, some folks might use more water flicking on their lights, than chugging back a glass of that wondrous stuff.

Makes you wonder: Has the EPA ever tabulated the external costs of coal on our water resources?

And then, after that refreshing drink of desperately needed water, the 600-odd coal-fired plants typically throw up their chemically enhanced processed wastewater into our rivers and waterways, poisoning our own drinking water.

According to a recent analysis of EPA data, the NY Times concluded:

Full Story: Clean Water and Dirty Coal Don’t Mix | CommonDreams.org.

Charges eyed for ex-Blackwater chief

Federal prosecutors are considering filing weapons charges against former top officials of the Blackwater Worldwide private security company over allegations they illegally stockpiled automatic rifles at the company’s North Carolina headquarters, The Associated Press has learned.

Senior Justice Department officials are reviewing a draft indictment against former president Gary Jackson, former Blackwater lawyer Andrew Howell, and a third man who used to work at the firm’s armory, people close to the case told the AP. A decision is not expected until at least next month.

Any indictment, even of former executives, would be unwelcome news at a company beleaguered since a 2007 shooting involving Blackwater guards in Baghdad left 17 people dead. Under a new name, Xe, the firm is trying to win Defense Department approval to train police in Afghanistan. The contract could be worth up to $1 billion but has drawn the ire of some in Congress.

Full Story: The Associated Press: AP Exclusive: Charges eyed for ex-Blackwater chief.

Millions in Taxpayer Dollars Flow to Bottled Water

Millions in Taxpayer Dollars Flow to Bottled Water

New report, film call for reducing waste, funding public water this World Water Day

BOSTON, MA – March 23 – Of five states surveyed, taxpayers are footing the bill for between $78,000 and $475,000 a year in bottled water, according to a report released today by Corporate Accountability International. The findings come on the heels of World Water Day and the release of the animated short, Story of Bottled Water. The states surveyed were Minnesota, Maryland, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon. The Connecticut governor’s office also announced today that it is considering various approaches that could help agencies cut back on bottled water spending.

Connecticut was among the four northeastern states featured in the first edition of the report, Getting States Off the Bottle. The second edition analyzes the problem with such spending, especially given tightening state budgets and the $22 billion annual shortfall currently facing public water systems nationwide.

A major cause of the gap in funding has been the marketing and promotion of bottled water. Marketing campaigns, like Nestlé’s Born Better, have convinced one in five people to believe the only place to get clean drinking water is from a bottle. And as public

Full Story: Millions in Taxpayer Dollars Flow to Bottled Water | CommonDreams.org.

Depleted Uranium: A War Crime Within a War Crime

As if destroying a country and its culture ain’t bad enough, how about destroying its future, its children? I want to scream it from the rooftops! We are complicit in crimes of such enormity that I find it difficult to find the words to describe how I feel about this crime committed in my name! In the name of the ‘civilized’ world?

Even the BBC was forced to acknowledge the reality (Listen: ‘Child deformities ‘increasing’ in Falluja’ 4 March, 2010). True to form I searched the BBC Website in vain for the video clip I watched last week, so you are spared the horrific scenes I witnessed, recorded in Fallujah’s main hospital. Had this been Saddam’s legacy, we would have seen images like the one above endlessly repeated in the mass media, complete with UN resolutions and the like.

The short piece posted on the BBC Website ends thus:

“In a statement, the Pentagon said that “No studies to date have indicated environmental issues resulting in specific health issues. Unexploded ordinance, including improvised explosive devises, are a recognised hazard.””

End of story as far as the BBC is concerned. So how come this isn’t a headline? Even Stop the War Coalition barely mentions it, more concerned it seems with the plight of imperialism’s warriors, Britain’s warriors who have shooting this foul stuff at not only Iraq’s innocents but at the innocents of the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. But then we are the citizens of Empire which explains why Stop the War has little or nothing to say on the subject.

Full Story: Creative-i / Depleted Uranium: A War Crime Within a War Crime By William Bowles.

U.S. drinking water pollution causes drastic overhaul of EPA policy

American drinking water has become polluted with a cocktail of new chemicals over the last 50 years, including some that are known to cause cancer and others that are suspected of it.

In a speech Monday night, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that her agency will overhaul U.S. drinking-water policy in an effort to corral more of these chemicals – and to do it more quickly than in the past.

“To confront emerging health threats, strained budgets and increased needs – today’s and tomorrow’s drinking-water challenges – we must use the law more effectively and promote new technologies,” Jackson said. “To make our drinking-water systems work harder, we have to work smarter.”

Full Story: U.S. drinking water pollution causes drastic overhaul of EPA policy.

UK Expels Israeli Diplomat Over Dubai Murder Case

Britain took the extraordinary step Tuesday of expelling an Israeli diplomat for the first time in more than 20 years, after concluding there was compelling evidence that Israel was responsible for the use of forged British passports in the plot to slay a senior Hamas operative in Dubai.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said trust between the two countries had been badly dented, demanded formal assurances it never happen again and – in an unusual step – issued travel advice to U.K. citizens warning their identity details may be at risk if they visit Israel.

Miliband told the House of Commons that the expelled diplomat, who has not been named, was removed following an investigation into the use of 12 fake U.K. passports in the Jan 20. slaying in Dubai.

Full Story: UK Expels Israeli Diplomat Over Dubai Murder Case.

Calorie Count Disclosure And The Health Care Bill: Will This Lead To A Food Revolution?

One aspect of the health care bill that is taking effect immediately is that chain restaurants will be required to prominently display nutrition information. This could be a significant step in changing the food landscape in America.

The AP Reports:

More than 200,000 fast food and other chain restaurants will have to include calorie counts on menus, menu boards and even drive-throughs.

The new law, which applies to any restaurant with 20 or more locations, directs the Food and Drug Administration to create a new national standard for menu labeling, superseding a growing number of state and city laws. President Barack Obama signed the health care legislation Tuesday.

The idea is to make sure that customers process the calorie information as they are ordering. Many restaurants currently post nutritional information in a hallway, on a hamburger wrapper or on their Web site. The new law will make calories immediately available for most items.

Full Story: Calorie Count Disclosure And The Health Care Bill: Will This Lead To A Food Revolution?.

First Corporate Campaign Ads Appear After Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision

A Texas company recently took out a political ad in several local newspapers, making it one of the first corporations to do so in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling that lifted restrictions on corporate political spending.

The Texas Tribune reports that the company, KDR Development, paid for an ad challenging state Rep. Chuck Hopson, a Democratic member of the state legislature who switched parties and ran in the Republican primary for re-election.

The ad headline reads: “Vote for a REAL Republican,” and at the bottom says: “Political advertisement paid for by KDR Development, Inc.” The ads ran in the Jacksonville Daily Progress, the Tyler Morning Telegram and the Panola Watchman, small newspaper in East Texas.

According to the Texas Tribune:

Full Story: First Corporate Campaign Ads Appear After Supreme Court’s Citizens United Decision.

Nebraska’s Attorney General Suing To Stop Reform Is Clueless About Existing Federal Law

“Seven minutes after” President Obama signed into law historic health care legislation that will extend health insurance to tens of millions of Americans, 13 GOP state Attorneys General sued the federal government on grounds that the health care bill is unconstitutional.

Shortly after the bill’s signing, MSNBC host Chris Matthews brought on one of these Attorneys General, Nebraska’s Jon Bruning (R), to explain why he is suing the U.S. government. At the start of their discussion, Matthews asked Bruning why, if the health care bill is unconstitutional because it mandates that all Americans purchase health insurance, the federal government is allowed to require all hospital emergency rooms to care for all patients they recieve, regardless of their ability to pay. Bruning responded that this requirement exists because of “state laws“:

MATTHEWS: On this question, what constitutional ruling requires hospitals to admit people who come in to emergency rooms, whether they were in a highway accident, or a stroke, or a heart attack, and those hospital laws are required to treat them effectively, not just second-rate treatment, but treat them as long as they need treatment. What law requires that? And then I want to go to why you think its unconstitutional to require a person to insure themselves against that possibility.

BRUNING: Well, it’s various state laws that require that. But ultimately this is a constitutional question, this is a commerce clause issue.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Nebraska’s Attorney General Suing To Stop Reform Is Clueless About Existing Federal Law.

NPA Welcomes Senate Deal on S.3002

Officials at the Natural Products Association (NPA), the leading U.S. trade organization for manufacturers, retailers and distributors of natural products, are “pleased” with the recent agreement between industry proponents Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Byron Dorgan (D- ND) regarding McCain and Dorgan’s recently co-sponsored Dietary Safety Supplement Act (S.3002).

“The NPA is pleased that industry champions Hatch and Harkin have reached an agreement with McCain and Dorgan on reasonable measures to strengthen the regulation of dietary supplements without opening up DSHEA,” said John Gay, NPA’s CEO and executive director. “The original McCain-Dorgan bill would have radically altered the existing regulatory framework [in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act], and threatened an entire industry in an ineffective attempt to combat a relatively few bad actors.”

Full Story: Natural Products Association – NPA Welcomes Senate Deal on S.3002.

Conservatives Sue the Government. They’ll be Damned if the Poor get Healthcare!

Once again conservatives seek to circumvent Federal Law to get their greedy, selfish way the same as they did after the Civil War. The beat goes on as they seek to sue the Federal Government today over the passage of the Healthcare reform bill.

John Kenneth Galbraith said, “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”I wouldn’t limit this statement to, “Modern conservatives”.Conservatives have always taken a strong stance against anything that prevents an individual from making a profit, even if making that profit ruins the lives of other people. Conservatives are the true capitalists of the world because not only does succeeding at the expense and detriment of others not bother the conservative, the conservative believes that this is the natural order of life.Therefore, life’s “Greater good” is anything that helps the individual succeed; anything.

The Civil War, the emancipation proclamation and amendments to the constitution were no match for the Conservative Capitalist of the Southern States. The Southern Capitalists needed cheap labor to build railroads and dig mines in inhumane conditions.The Southern Capitalists needed their slave force back and no stupid Federal Government proclamation or laws were going to stand in their way of using blacks for cheap labor.

These Southern Capitalists violently threw-out the blacks who been elected to local government positions.They passed laws to outlaw vagrancy and defined vagrancy as “any freed slave not under the protection of a white man” (1). After being arrested for vagrancy a black man was hit with fines that he had no means to pay back. The punishment for not paying the fines was more years in prison and more fines. These vagrancy laws helped whites to easily re-enslave the black work force.

Full Story: Conservatives Sue the Government. They’ll be Damned if the Poor get Healthcare!.

Heinous Claims Regarding Sean Hannity’s ‘Scam’ Charity

Viewers can expect a certain amount of ridiculousness from Sean Hannity, such as giving voice to a congressman who tried to rationalize racist and homophobic comments toward Reps. John Lewis and Barney Frank, respectively. Still, Hannity’s partnership with a particular charity may ultimately prove more reprehensible than his usual.

Hannity has a long-held association with Freedom Alliance, ostensibly intended to help veterans and the children of veterans. In reviewing the tax return forms for the charity, though, some have suggested that the charity operates as an elaborate scam. Possibly the most surprising aspect of the recent allegations, though, comes from its main source: a fellow conservative.

Freedom Alliance, founded by Oliver North of Iran-Contra infamy, puts on “Freedom Concerts” across the nation with Sean Hannity often listed as the presenter for said concerts. In so doing, Freedom Alliance has brought in millions of dollars toward its cause. According to conservative Debbie Schlussel’s analysis of the charity’s tax returns, however, very little of that money ever reaches the veterans or their children. More specifically, Schlussel contends that in 2006, for example, “Freedom Alliance reported revenue of $10,822,785, but only $397,900 -– or a beyond-measly 3.68% -– of that was given to the children of fallen troops as scholarships or as aid to severely injured soldiers.”

Full Story: Heinous Claims Regarding Sean Hannity’s ‘Scam’ Charity | BuzzFlash.org.

Recall petitions hit the street – target Nelson D-NE

Signature-gathering began Monday on an initiative petition drive that organizers say was provoked by Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson’s vote for the health care overhaul.

The petition aims to let Nebraskans recall any elected official, including a member of Congress.

But constitutional questions and financial considerations could put the goal out of reach.

Drive supporters said they were dismayed at Nelson's December vote and at the Medicaid provision that helped secure it.

Full Story: Recall petitions hit the street – Omaha.com.

Rep. Gohmert introduces resolution endorsing an Israeli military strike on Iran.

As the Obama administration continues to attempt to productively engage Iran over its nuclear program, while also forging an international coalition to pressure Iran, many on the right, many on the right have been agitating for military action by the United States or Israel. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) has introduced a resolution to endorse an Israeli military strike against Iran, supporting “Israel’s right to use all means necessary” to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program:

A draft resolution is circulating among members of the House of Representatives that endorses an Israeli military attack on Iran “if no other peaceful solution can be found within reasonable time.” The resolution, written by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and currently being circulated for cosponsors prior to its introduction, does not clarify what is meant by a “reasonable time.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Rep. Gohmert introduces resolution endorsing an Israeli military strike on Iran..

Getting into Massa’s Drawers:

Greg Palast -

The Truly Creepy Details of the Congressman’s Behavior Centers Around Vulture Funds

For the two weeks before tickle-and-grope charges busted open on him, and before his resignation from Congress, our BBC Television investigations team was hunting for Representative Eric Massa.

We wanted to know what he had hidden in his drawers. Not his knickers, which have captivated America’s peep-show media, but Massa’s file drawers where he keeps his dirtier secrets.

Frankly, I don’t give a rat’s ass about Massa’s creepy little peccadilloes. But I care an awful lot about creeps that quietly backed him.

Massa plays himself as a two-fisted Progressive Democrat, telling the President to jam his fake health care bill where the Rahm don’t shine, and he gave the Iraq war his middle finger. I mean, the guy was on Rachel Maddow.

Full Story: Getting into Massa’s Drawers: The Truly Creepy Details of the Congressman’s Behavior Centers Around Vulture Funds | BuzzFlash.org.

Move to Legalize Marijuana in California Sparks Fears About Drop in Prices

A proposal to put the legalization of marijuana in California to a vote this November is causing some growers of the plant in the state to worry about a sharp drop in the value of their crop if the measure succeeds.

As The Los Angeles Times explained in January, when supporters of the proposed Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 turned in more than enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot, the initiative “would make it legal for anyone 21 and older to possess an ounce of marijuana and grow plants in an area no larger than 25 square feet for personal use. It would also allow cities and counties to permit marijuana to be grown and sold, and to impose taxes on marijuana production and sales.”

On Monday, The Times-Standard newspaper in Humboldt County, a part of Northern California known as the “Emerald Triangle” for the density of its marijuana crop, reported:

Full Story: Move to Legalize Marijuana in California Sparks Fears About Drop in Prices – The Lede Blog – NYTimes.com.

Antibiotics & Industrial Farming: The Threat To Human Health

Antibiotics are one of the pillars of public health in the 21st century. These drugs can literally mean the difference between life and death when we contract a bacterial infection-from Staph to salmonella to bacterial pneumonia. But overuse of these drugs is making bacteria resistant to essential antibiotics. As a result, these vital drugs are becoming ineffective.

The American public is largely doing its part to prevent overuse by following the advice of our doctors. We are getting better about not taking antibiotics when we don’t need them and using prescriptions as directed. Unfortunately, some industrial farms are not so prudent.

Experts estimate that up to 70 percent of the antibiotics sold in the United States are given to healthy food animals on industrial farms to grow the animals faster and compensate for often crowded, unsanitary conditions. Of course antibiotics should be administered to food animals when they are sick. We should always administer antibiotics judiciously — to humans as well as animals — since any use diminishes the effectiveness of the drugs.

Full Story: Shelley A. Hearne: Save Lives, Save Animals by Saving Antibiotics.

Document: Toyota warned dealers of throttle surging in 2002

Auto manufacturer Toyota warned dealerships in 2002 that Camry owners were complaining about throttles surging and recommended adjustments in an electronic control unit to fix the problem, according to a document obtained by CNN.

The technical service bulletin went to every U.S. Toyota dealership in late August 2002 after some customers reported their vehicles were speeding up unexpectedly.

“Some 2002 model year Camry vehicles may exhibit a surging during light throttle input at speeds between 38-42 mph,” the bulletin states. “The Engine Control Module (ECM) calibration has been revised to correct this condition.”

Full Story: Document: Toyota warned dealers of throttle surging in 2002 – CNN.com.

Injection could cure phobias

Fear of spiders, sharks, snakes, heights and other phobias could be cured by a simple injection which prevents people from learning to be afraid, claim scientists.

A team of researchers have found that the brain may be able to be ‘re-programmed’ to overcome some of our most basic fears.

Scientists claim that because fear is a learned habit, they could be able to switch off the part of the brain that generates those emotions with a simple jab.

Early tests showed that goldfish given a dose of the drug lidocaine were unable to be scared.

Full Story: Injection could cure phobias – Telegraph.

U.S. Set to Expand Role in Protecting Air Travelers

The federal government is about to take a larger role in protecting airline passengers, starting with a new rule allowing travelers to get off a plane stuck on the tarmac for more than three hours.

That rule, which passenger advocates have long wanted, and others adopted by the Transportation Department signal a shift from a grass-roots fight for passenger rights to an era of stronger government-enforced consumer protections. The rules, officially labeled Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections, take effect April 29.

Although tarmac delays of three or more hours are increasingly rare, they still occur and leave misery in their wake, as a diverted Virgin America flight demonstrated on March 13, when passengers were stuck on a plane for more than four hours at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh/New Windsor, N.Y.

Full Story: U.S. Set to Expand Role in Protecting Air Travelers – NYTimes.com.

‘Scary’ Harris poll: 24% of Republicans think Obama ‘may be the Antichrist’

Birthers, deathers, now, apparently, there are Antichristers on the Obama warpath.

The Daily Beast’s John Avlon writes, “On the heels of health care, a new Harris poll reveals Republican attitudes about Obama: Two-thirds think he’s a socialist, 57 percent a Muslim—and 24 percent say ‘he may be the Antichrist.’”

Avlon, author of the book Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America, offers the poll as proof that “Obama Derangement Syndrome—pathological hatred of the president posing as patriotism—has infected the Republican Party.”

Full Story: ‘Scary’ Harris poll: 24% of Republicans think Obama ‘may be the Antichrist’ | Raw Story.

OPS; Do these people REALLY believe this or are they simple responding to their programing and  responding like this because they think they are suppose to?

Palin Supports Creation Of Third Party: ‘That Can Be Part Of A Healthy Process’

For months, Republicans have been trying to co-opt the tea party movement, supporting its activities and pandering to activists while discouraging them from forming a third party. RNC Chairman Michael Steele met with tea party leaders in January to encourage them to join the GOP, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) warned the movement not to “fractionalize the Republican Party.” Even tea party favorites like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) have come out against an official tea party, saying that he wants to “avoid a third party by giving Republicans and independents good choices in Republican primaries.”

But appearing on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show last night, contributor Sarah Palin had surprising take, seemingly endorsing the idea of third party to keep Republicans honest:

HANNITY: If it’s a strong conservative that gets the Republican nomination and then a tea party member runs as a third party candidate, do you have any worry about that?

Full Story: Think Progress » Palin Supports Creation Of Third Party: ‘That Can Be Part Of A Healthy Process’.

The Party of Cruelty

James Howard Kunstler  -

It was amusing to see the Republican party inveigh against health insurance reform as if they were a synod of Presbyterian necromancers girding the nation for a takeover by the spawn of hell.

This was the same gang, by the way, who championed the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, then regarded as the most reckless giveaway of public funds in human history. Along the way, they enlisted an army of nay-sayers representing everything dark, disgraceful, and ignorant in the American character. If the Republicans keep going this way, they'll end up with something worse than Naziism: a party that hates everything but believes in absolutely nothing.

The most striking elements of so-called health care in America these days is how cruel and unjust it is, and in taking a stand against reforming it the Republican party appeared to be firmly in support of cruelty and injustice. This would be well within the historical tradition of other religious crusades that turned political — such as the Spanish Inquisition and the seventeenth century war against witchcraft. Whatever else the Democratic party has stood for in recent history, it has tended to oppose institutional cruelty and injustice, and notice that it has also been the party for keeping religion out of government.

Full Story: Commentary — WNT Reports – The Party of Cruelty (James Howard Kunstler) – World News Trust — Defining The New Mainstream.

OPEC seeks crackdown on speculators

The market must be regulated to avoid excessive price volatility, said Mohamed al-Hamli of the United Arab Emirates.

Oil speculators, including traders at hedge funds and investment banks, intensify crude price volatility and need to be regulated, ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said yesterday.

Full Story: OPEC seeks crackdown on speculators – The Boston Globe.

Civil servants to strike Tuesday in France

A strike Tuesday in France is expected to disrupt trains, transport, postal services and schools as unions aim a new blow at President Nicolas Sarkozy following his party’s drubbing in regional elections.

Train workers launched their action Monday evening. The strike was expected to cancel about a third of France’s TGV fast trains, the SNCF rail network said. Eurostar trains to Britain and Thalys trains to Belgium and the Netherlands would not be affected, the rail network said.

Unions say Sarkozy’s conservative government hasn’t offered satisfactory plans on jobs, salaries, purchasing power and working conditions – and they hope to hammer home that message in the wake of Sunday’s runoff elections.

Full Story: Civil servants to strike Tuesday in France – washingtonpost.com.

Obama signs health bill ‘that generations of Americans have fought for’

A jubilant President Obama signed the health care bill into law today, calling its historic expansion of insurance coverage “reforms that generations of Americans have fought for and marched for and hungered to see.”

“Today, after almost a century of trying — today, after over a year of debate — today, after all the votes have been tallied, health insurance reform becomes law in the United States of America,” Obama said at a White House ceremony packed with ecstatic supporters.

The law expands health insurance coverage for some 32 million Americans, in part by preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to people who are sick or have pre-existing conditions. The new law provides subsidies for some Americans to purchase insurance.

Full Story: Obama signs health bill ‘that generations of Americans have fought for’ – The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency.

Guerrilla Gardening: Giving New Life To Neglected Land

Guerrilla gardening is the practice of reclaiming abandoned land (which the gardeners do not own) and “bombing” it with plants, fruits and vegetables. Some do it under the cover of night, while others prefer doing it in broad daylight. There are different motives for why people do it, whether it be to beautify a neglected area, provide food, be part of the urban agriculture revolution, or to feel a sense of community with those around them.

While the practice has been around since the 1970s, London-based Richard Reynolds is currently the most well-known guerrilla gardener out there, and he’s done a lot to expand the worldwide community of guerrilla gardeners. He has a helpful blog, guerrillagardening.org, has written the gospel on guerrilla gardening, and takes the time to spread the message everywhere he goes, from London to Botswana.

Technically, and ridiculously, guerrilla gardening is illegal, but it doesn’t look like there have been many garden-related arrests, so we’re going to assume it’s a low priority for cops. We’ve compiled some tips from the master guerrilla gardener himself, along with videos of guerrilla gardeners in action. Take a look, and start your own rogue gardening group!

Full Story: Guerrilla Gardening: Giving New Life To Neglected Land (PHOTOS, VIDEOS).

Could The Public Option Sneak Back In?

As the Senate gears up for an epic parliamentary duel over the health care reconciliation package this week, Republicans are vowing to attack every weakness they can find. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) told reporters Monday night that he’d been thoroughly studying the bill and planned to raise a number of points of order. He was working with Senate leadership, he said, to craft a strategy to oppose reconciliation.

The point of order would object that a certain line or provision can not be passed using the reconciliation process.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) met with Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin Monday and told reporters that he was confident the bill would evade the GOP tactics, but he had not finished going through the full bill.

Full Story: Could The Public Option Sneak Back In?.

After health, Obama allies zero in on climate

After a hard-fought victory on health care reform, President Barack Obama’s allies in Congress are pledging to move forward on climate change — but some environmentalists are skeptical.

Twenty-two Democratic senators have signed a letter calling for climate legislation within the year, although some observers question if the White House will want another divisive vote as November midterm elections approach.

Senator John Kerry, the chief architect of climate legislation, said Monday that White House officials can now “pour their energy and attention” into the issue after Sunday’s down-to-the-wire vote on expanding health care coverage.

Full Story: After health, Obama allies zero in on climate – Yahoo! News.

New Gift Card Rules: Fed Cracks Down On Unfair Fees And Restrictions

And as usage has gone up, so too have complaints from people taken by surprise by fees that eat into the value of the cards as well restrictions on how long they’ll be good for.

Under the rules, consumers must have at least five years to use the gift cards before they expire. The Fed also says service or inactivity fees can be imposed only under certain conditions.

Such fees can be charged if the consumer hasn’t used the card for at least a year, if the consumer is given clear disclosures about them and no more than one fee is charged a month.

The rules take effect Aug. 22.

Full Story: New Gift Card Rules: Fed Cracks Down On Unfair Fees And Restrictions.

Haiti: Why Ground Reports Still Matter

Haiti is still there. Shattered, starving and suffering, the Haitian people endure despite the media’s most recent retreat in coverage. And slowly, a rebuilt nation is rising from the rubble.

During the next ten weeks, members of the Huffington Post Citizen Reporting unit will chronicle these efforts on this blog. The team includes relief workers both on the ground in Haiti, members of international support teams like UNICEF and Oxfam as well as supporters dispatching help from their hometowns across the country.

It was ten weeks ago to the day that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people in the Caribbean nation. In the days following the initial quake — aftershocks continued for weeks — over a million people were left homeless and hundreds of thousands needed medical treatment. During those days, stories of tragedy and heroism in Haiti blanketed cable news coverage and newspaper front pages. Celebrity anchors like Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper rushed to Port-au-Prince to dive into recovery efforts. At one point, the latter even stole the stage by pulling a blood-covered child out of harm’s way while filming on location.

Full Story: Adam Clark Estes: Haiti: Why Ground Reports Still Matter.

Republicans Scoff At Frum’s Thesis, Demand More Obama Opposition

A failed effort by Republican lawmakers to unite behind the defeat of health care legislation has done little to dissuade GOP leadership from offering unbending opposition to the president’s agenda.

In a brief interview with the Huffington Post following the House’s passage of the health care reform bill, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cali.) scoffed at the idea that his party misstepped by going all in against Obama’s health care proposal. Asked about a widely circulated column by former Bush speechwriter David Frum, which argued that the GOP would have benefited in the long run by having traded support for more conservative legislative language, the California Republican attacked the messenger.

“A former staffer, and you’re calling it credible?” Issa said. “We have an obligation to vote, at the end of the day, based on whether we believe it’s the right direction, the wrong direction, not withstanding some former Bush staffer. Remember, President Bush was the administration that got us voted out of office. They were the big spenders. So the credibility of the Bush administration on domestic economic policy ain’t so good, period. And this is an unaccountable person.”

Full Story: Republicans Scoff At Frum’s Thesis, Demand More Obama Opposition.

Keith Olbermann Returns: ‘GOP Self-Destruction Imminent’

Special Comment:

“… he and his cronies and the manufactured outrage of the Tea Party failed to derail Health Care Reform. Failed Mr. Boehner. You lost. You blew it. … American political parties have disappeared before. They are never forced out by their rivals. They die by their own hands, because they did not know that the hatred or the myopia or the monomania they thought was still okay wasn’t okay, any more. … You are rapidly moving from ‘The Party of No,’ past ‘The Party Of No Conscience,’ towards ‘The Party of No Relevancy.’ You are behind the wheel of a political Toyota. And before the mid-terms, you will have been reduced to only bein this generation’s home for the nuts.” — Keith Olbermann’s special comment, Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Existing home sales fall in February

Sales of existing homes fell slightly in February, according to an industry report released Tuesday, a sign that the housing market’s recovery remains fragile.

The National Association of Realtors reported that home resales fell 0.6% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.02 million units. That’s down from a rate of 5.05 million in January. Still, sales are 7% higher than in February 2009, when homes were going into contract at an annual rate of 4.69 million units.

Last month’s figures came in slightly above analyst expectations, which had been forecast to fall to an annual rate of 5 million units, according to Briefing.com consensus estimates.

Full Story: Existing home sales fall in February – Mar. 23, 2010.