Archive for March, 2010

Secret Service Paid TJX Hacker $75,000 a Year

Convicted TJX hacker Albert Gonzalez earned $75,000 a year working undercover for the U.S. Secret Service, informing on bank card thieves before he was arrested in 2008 for running his own multimillion-dollar card-hacking operation.

The information comes from one of Gonzalez’s best friends and convicted accomplices, Stephen Watt. Watt pleaded guilty last year to creating a sniffer program that Gonzalez used to siphon millions of credit and debit card numbers from the TJX corporate network while he was working undercover for the government.

Watt told Threat Level that Gonzalez was paid in cash, which is generally done to protect someone’s status as a confidential informant. The Secret Service said it would not comment on payments made to informants. Gonzalez’s attorney did not respond to a call for comment.

Full Story: Secret Service Paid TJX Hacker $75,000 a Year | Threat Level | Wired.com.

China recycles cooking oil… from raw sewage

Chinese consumed millions of gallons of toxic sewage oil: study

Chinese cooking oil siphoned from restaurants’ waste tanks and stripped out of raw sewage is being resold on the cheap and has for years tainted approximately one out of every ten meals cooked in the eastern nation, according to a recent study.

The revelation, first noted by state media, sent Chinese health inspectors into a snit as they scrambled to reassure the public that the claims were being investigated.

“He Dongping, a professor at the Wuhan Polytechnic University, has been studying the problem for seven years,” newspaper Epoch Times noted. “According to China Youth Daily, he found that China recycles an estimated two million to three million tons of waste oil per year. Combining that figure with the estimated 22.5 million tons of total vegetable oil and animal fat consumed by the Chinese per year, it is estimated that 10 percent is returning to people’s dining tables.”

Full Story: Chinese consumed millions of gallons of toxic sewage oil: study | Raw Story.

OPS: Is there something ELSE here that we are not being told.  If the Chinese are doing this – how much of a stretch would it be for them to use this toxic waste in the preparation of food they export to America, or anywhere else?  Really think they’re only doing this to their own people?

Grayson: Palin ‘an inspiration to quitters all over the country’

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) isn’t one to back down from a fight. In fact, he seems to be cherishing his ongoing spat with Fox News contributor Sarah Palin.

It began with a recent appearance Palin made in Grayson’s Orlando-area district, where she discussed 2010 candidates who “want to take out” Grayson. She added, “Piper is with me tonight, so I won’t say anything about Alan Grayson that can’t be said around children.”

Appearing on CNN Monday, Grayson smiled the moment host Rick Sanchez mentioned Palin’s name, fully armed and with fresh zingers following his humorous and scathing attack last week on the divisive former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor

Full Story: Grayson: Palin ‘an inspiration to quitters all over the country’ | Raw Story.

Republicans propose dozens of frivolous amendments to Dodd’s financial reform bill. (Updated)

This evening, the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to begin markup of Chairman Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) financial regulatory reform legislation. A total of 473 amendments have been proposed, with Republicans accounting for the bulk of them. And many of the GOP’s amendments are seemingly aimed at running out the clock until the Senate adjourns for a two week recess on Friday. For instance, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) — the same senator who ground the senate to a halt to prevent the extension of unemployment benefits — has proposed 25 different amendments to change the effective date of the legislation’s implementation. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) have 25 and 14 different amendments, respectively, also delaying the legislation’s effective start date. Here is part of Bunning’s list of amendments:

Full Story: Think Progress » Republicans propose dozens of frivolous amendments to Dodd’s financial reform bill. (Updated).

Extreme Right Wing Of GOP Leads Health Reform Repeal Effort, Pledges To Repeal ‘The Whole Thing’

The House of Representatives passed the Senate health reform bill, clearing the way for President Obama to enact a law that will provide health insurance to over 30 million Americans. The bill will also cut costs of the health system and effectively end insurance company abuses for all Americans. While the GOP fought bitterly to kill the bill, they are now refocusing their efforts on repealing reform.

Over the weekend, GOP lawmakers addressed tea party protesters and promised explicitly to repeal not “part of the bill,” but “the whole thing.” ThinkProgress compiled clips of several lawmakers — including Reps. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and Zach Wamp (R-TN) — pledging to fight enactment of the bill and repeal it:

HOEKSTRA: On January 3, we’ll start working on repeal, and we’ll do it with all of you. And we’re not going to repeal a part of the bill, we’re going to repeal the whole thing with your help.

BACHMANN: We are putting the marker down now. We are going to continue to fight to repeal this thing and we’re filing it tomorrow.

Full Story: Think Progress » Extreme Right Wing Of GOP Leads Health Reform Repeal Effort, Pledges To Repeal ‘The Whole Thing’.

An Emerging Global Threat

China’s under- valued yuan provides a subsidy for Chinese exporters, while effectively levying a tax on U.S. exports to China. This currency manipulation, combined with China’s export subsidies, has resulted in chronic U.S. trade deficits.

The following article by Dan DiMicco and Peter Navarro appeared in Barron’s Online here. DAN DIMICCO is the chairman, CEO and president of Nucor Steel. PETER NAVARRO, a professor at the Merage School of Business, University of California/Irvine, is the author of The Coming China Wars.

Let’s get tough with China.

A U.S.-CHINA TRADE WAR IS RAPIDLY brewing, as President Barack Obama pushes China to adopt a “market-oriented exchange-rate policy” and Premier Wen Jiabao sharply retorts that the yuan isn’t undervalued. Meanwhile, 130 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are pressing the Treasury Department to brand China a “currency manipulator” and to impose countervailing duties, while China promises swift retaliation.

China’s fixed exchange-rate policy isn’t harming just the U.S. It is also threatening the global economic recovery, even as an artificially weak yuan has given rise to what Premier Wen has branded Public Enemy No. 1 in China — rapidly rising inflation.

Full Story: An Emerging Global Threat | Economy In Crisis.

Why GDP Figures Are Fooling And Misleading Us

GDP (Gross Domestic Product – goods and services produced in the United State in one year) an accepted indicator of our economic health is distorting the true picture of our economy – it makes no distinction between mere exchange of money in a gambling casino or production in a car factory.

The gross domestic product (GDP) is a brushstroke, a thin layer of paint that is just one part of a complex economic picture. It is an abstract figure used to judge our economic progress and regarded by many as the tell-all indicator of a country’s economic health and overall well-being. But the GDP isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and fails as an economic indicator in several different areas:

First, it doesn’t measure the quality and sustainability of economic development; it makes no distinction between unproductive money transfers as opposed to wealth creating endeavors. A dollar spent at a blackjack table where money disappears like candy in an elementary school counts the same towards a nation’s GDP as a dollar spent to maintain an oil refinery, school district or car manufacturing plant. Money invested in the educational system or industry of a nation is much more beneficial to its economy than cash spent gambling, however the GDP does not measure this; instead all money transactions, regardless of economic usefulness is added to GDP.

Full Story: Why GDP Figures Are Fooling And Misleading Us | Economy In Crisis.

How the Health Care Bill Will Save Us Money

After months of heated debate and partisan rhetoric, the time has finally come for health care reform.

After months of heated debate and partisan rhetoric, the time has finally come. Nobody is completely happy with the health care reform bill, and many people still have their doubts even if they voiced support for the plan.

Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) had been voicing strong opposition because the bill lacked a public option, in the end however, he changed his stance in order to fight for something, anything, which looks remotely like reform.

According to the CBO, a non-partisan body organized to provide cost estimates on pending legislation, the health reform package would cost $940 billion over a ten-year span. It should be noted that this averages out to just $94 billion annually, and the program fits completely within the U.S. budget.

Full Story: How the Health Care Bill Will Save Us Money | Economy In Crisis.

Foreign Banks Capitalizing on Struggles of U.S. Financial Institutions

According to CNNMoney.com, many foreign financial institutions are preparing to expand their market-share in the U.S. by capitalizing on the weakness in the banking sector by purchasing struggling financial institutions at bargain prices.

Americans have seen many of their industries gutted by foreign mergers and acquisitions over the past three decades, and the latest victim of America’s openness may be the struggling financial industry.

According to CNNMoney.com, many foreign financial institutions are preparing to expand their market-share in the U.S. by capitalizing on the weakness in the banking sector by purchasing struggling financial institutions at bargain prices.

Canadian banks Toronto Dominion Bank and Royal Bank of Canada have expressed interest in merging with or acquiring a U.S. financial institution. And for months there has been speculation that Barclays, a British bank, is looking to purchase a U.S. financial firm.

Full Story: Foreign Banks Capitalizing on Struggles of U.S. Financial Institutions | Economy In Crisis.

Are Americans Too Broken by Corporate Power to Resist?

Are Americans a Broken People? Why We’ve Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression.

Discussing American Ennui with Clinical Psychologist Bruce Levine

My guest today is clinical psychologist and author, Bruce Levine. Welcome to OpEdNews, Bruce. Back in December, you wrote “Are Americans a Broken People? Why We’ve Stopped Fighting Back Against the Forces of Oppression.” Could you tell our readers about your theory?

There are times when human beings can become so broken that truths of how they are being victimized do not “set them free.” This is certainly the case for many victims of parental and spousal abuse. They are not helped by people explaining to them that they are being battered, exploited, uncared about and disrespected. They know it already and somebody pointing it out is not helpful.

So, it seems to me that it is also possible that human beings can become so broken by the abuse of the corporate elite that they also are no longer set free by truth.

While certainly the corporate-controlled mainstream media does not report many important truths, the majority of the American people do know enough to oppose the war in Afghanistan, but they do almost nothing in response to recent troop surges.

Polls show that the majority of Americans actually support single-payer, Medicare-for all plan and even a larger majority support a public option, yet there are relatively few people on the streets protesting the Democratic party betrayal of them.

Full Story: OpEdNews – PART 1: Discussing American Ennui with Clinical Psychologist Bruce Levine.

Part Two: Discussing American Ennui with Clinical Psychologist Bruce Levine

Consider the Germans: Co-determination and Works Councils

Harpers -

Come on: Is the West really in such decline? Yes, we can sit here on our island continent and gloom about the rise of China, as our elite now like to do. Or we can go out into the world and start competing like the Europeans. For here’s a strange fact: since 2003, it’s not China but Germany, that colossus of European socialism, that has either led the world in export sales or at least been tied for first. Even as we in the United States fall more deeply into the clutches of our foreign creditors—China foremost among them—Germany has somehow managed to create a high-wage, unionized economy without shipping all its jobs abroad or creating a massive trade deficit, or any trade deficit at all. Sure, China just pulled slightly ahead of Germany, but that’s mostly because the euro has soared, making German goods even more expensive, and world trade has slumped. Meanwhile, the dollar is dropping, and we still can’t compete with either nation. And even as the Germans outsell the United States, they manage to take six weeks of vacation every year. They’re beating us with one hand tied behind their back.

Why is Germany beating us? It’s tempting to say it’s because we beat them. After all, we helped put a major component of the German model in place, which is the role that German workers have in running their firms. After World War II, we had a problem: Who would keep watch over all the German businessmen who had supported Hitler? We couldn’t put them all in jail. Back in that New Deal era, we and our allies were quite willing to put workers on the boards to keep an eye on businessmen. Still, the idea of works councils was not invented by Americans. In fact, it had its origins in Weimar Germany. And now Germany is the country, out of all countries, including Communist China, in which workers have the greatest amount of control over (dare I say it) the means of production.

Full Story: Consider the Germans: Co-determination and Works Councils « COTO Report.

Obama’s New Banking Nominees Have Surprisingly Progressive Creds

After a series of poor economic appointments, Obama is considering three strong candidates for posts at the Fed.

After a string of bad calls on major economic appointments, President Barack Obama is seriously considering three strong candidates to fill vacancies on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. The Fed is positioned to significantly expand its power under the financial reforms proposed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., making the news a rare and welcome surprise on economic policy from the administration.

“If anything close to what Chairman Dodd has proposed is enacted, we’ll have a lot more riding on Fed competence and governance,” says Raj Date, a former Capital One executive who now heads the Cambridge Winter Center for Financial Institutions think tank. “It better have a team of Fed governors who have a demonstrably better handle on bank regulation than the previous Fed governors have had.”

The Fed Board is already an extraordinarily powerful body, with the authority to set interest rates, write bank regulations and bail out just about any company it wants to. Obama flubbed badly last year when he re-appointed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to another term as head of the board—like many of Obama’s other economic appointees (Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, etc.) Bernanke implemented truly destructive policies that helped create the financial crisis. To this day, he opposes sensible reforms like breaking up too-big-to-fail banks and establishing an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Full Story: Obama’s New Banking Nominees Have Surprisingly Progressive Creds | Economy | AlterNet.

Fear of FEMA

Aided by Glenn Beck, Conspiracy Theories Bloom Over FEMA ‘Concentration Camps’

Southern Poverty Law Center -

It looks like nothing more than a 2,500-acre military complex, but sinister plans are afoot. One day soon — if it hasn’t happened already — law-abiding U.S. citizens will be rounded up and imprisoned here by their oppressive federal government. It’s perfectly obvious to anyone with eyes to see the traffic signs that direct FEMA trucks this way and that: This is one of the 800 or more detention camps being built by a government gone mad.

At least that’s what more and more Americans believe. A fear that the federal government will concoct a pretense for declaring martial law and confine patriotic dissidents to concentration camps — a conspiracy theory that goes back decades and was especially prevalent during the militia movement of the 1990s — is spreading as the country experiences a surge in groups on the radical right.

In the last year, FOX News personality Glenn Beck devoted airtime on three shows to the theory, saying he “wanted to debunk it” but could not. (He eventually did, but only after much criticism.) Oath Keepers, a conspiracy-minded police and military organization formed last spring, listed the 10 “Orders We Will Not Obey,” including any command to enforce martial law or herd Americans into concentration camps. And in September, William Lewis Films and Gary Franchi Productions released “Camp FEMA: American Lockdown,” a video that alleges the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency is behind the camps. Lewis is a veteran maker of conspiracy-minded videos; Franchi heads Restore the Republic, an antigovernment “Patriot” group with militia-like beliefs.

Full Story: Fear of FEMA | Southern Poverty Law Center.

Health Care Bill Throws Women Under the Bus on Reproductive Rights

Despite the many good elements in the health care bill, it deals a heavy blow to the pro-choice movement.

Less than 24 hours after the House passed its historic health care reform bill, the mixed reaction from feminists and women’s groups provides a taste of the bitter pill it forces them to swallow, even as political allies celebrate a momentous legislative victory.

Despite the many good elements in the health care bill, it deals a heavy blow to those who hoped that healthcare reform might pass without throwing women — particularly poor women — under the bus when it came to reproductive rights.

“The final health-care reform bill represents a huge loss for the pro-choice movement, and one largely dealt by Democrats,” writes Dana Goldstein at The Daily Beast.

It’s difficult not to be moved by the figure 31 million — the number of uninsured people who will have access to less-expensive coverage after reform. But we should all understand that the bill was passed at the expense of poor women’s reproductive rights. Middle-class and rich women — the wives, daughters, and mistresses of politicians — can always travel to get an abortion or pay out of pocket if they have to.

Full Story: Health Care Bill Throws Women Under the Bus on Reproductive Rights | Reproductive Justice | AlterNet.

Behind the Shady World of Marketing Junk Food to Children

Marketers spend billions attracting kids to junk food they hope will become a lifelong brand attachment. But the effect on kids’s; health can be costly.

Seven-year-old Marley loves Happy Meals from McDonald’s. She used to get Chicken McNuggets, but now she chooses a cheeseburger to go with her fries and Sprite. Her father, Patrick, is a chef, trained at the Culinary Institute of America, but Marley prefers McDonald’s to his cooking. After a trip to McDonald’s, Marley eagerly surfs onto McWorld.com, where she can enter a code from her meal to get a “behind-the-scenes look at iCarly,” a kids’ TV show (boys can use their code for a Star Wars promotion).

Patrick pulled the plug on his television a few months ago, in part to shield his two young daughters from advertising, but the McDonald’s marketing execs have reached Marley all the same. Because he’s health- and environmentally-conscious, Patrick does not take her to McDonald’s often, but after a long day of school and extra-curricular activities, sometimes a little nagging is all it takes for Marley to convince her dad that she’s hungry now and only food served at a drive-thru will do.

Full Story: Behind the Shady World of Marketing Junk Food to Children | Food | AlterNet.

The Looming Water Disaster That Could Destroy California, and Enrich Its Billionaire Farmers

There’s a disaster waiting to happen in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and a handful of wealthy farmers seem to like it that way.

“That, in your own backyard there, is the scariest place after New Orleans.” — Geologist Nicholas Pinder’s description of the precarious situation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta after the hurricane Katrina disaster.

Imagine the devastating flooding of Hurricane Katrina multiplied by epic sandstorms, drought and economic collapse of the Dust Bowl. Now picture it happening an hour east of Apple’s headquarters in Silicon Valley and spreading all the way down to the Mexican border. It’s not as far-fetched as you think. A routine 6.7-magnitude earthquake would be enough to set it off, liquefying the decrepit levee system that walls off California’s main source of drinking water from the Pacific Ocean and triggering a deadly flood that would submerge roads, destroy homes, wipe out thousands of acres of farmland, kill countless numbers and possibly cut over 20 million Californians off from their water supply for a year or more.

California’s politicians have known about this looming catastrophe for decades. They also have had the power to neutralize the threat. But no one has done anything to prevent it.

Full Story: The Looming Water Disaster That Could Destroy California, and Enrich Its Billionaire Farmers | Water | AlterNet.

Whole Foods, United Natural Foods Muscle Suppliers to Boycott Consumer Group

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) carries a big public interest stick.

It can mobilize the 850,000 people in its network to pressure corporations and governments.

The goal – clean, safe, organic foods and products for America.

One way that OCA raises money – it charges for ads on the group’s popular web site – organicconsumers.org.

Two companies had purchased logo space on the OCA web site – Organic Valley and Nature’s Path.

Until last year.

That’s when the groups dropped their sponsorship.

Under pressure from Whole Foods Market and United Natural Foods – the two companies that dominate the organics market in the United States.

That’s according to OCA’s national director Ronnie Cummins.

“National sponsors like Organic Valley and Nature’s Path have been threatened by Whole Foods and United Natural Foods that if they continue to support the Organic Consumers Association they will suffer repercussions in the marketplace,” Cummins told Corporate Crime Reporter in an interview last week.

Full Story: wholefoods032110.

Pro-single-payer doctors: Health bill leaves 23 million uninsured

As much as we would like to join the celebration of the House’s passage of the health bill last night, in good conscience we cannot. We take no comfort in seeing aspirin dispensed for the treatment of cancer.

Instead of eliminating the root of the problem – the profit-driven, private health insurance industry – this costly new legislation will enrich and further entrench these firms. The bill would require millions of Americans to buy private insurers’ defective products, and turn over to them vast amounts of public money.

The hype surrounding the new health bill is belied by the facts:

Full Story: Pro-single-payer doctors: Health bill leaves 23 million uninsured « Wake-up Call.

People in power make better liars, study shows

Findings suggest that dishonesty comes more easily to those on top

New York Gov. David Paterson is embroiled in a scandal over whether he used his power and influence to intimidate a woman pursuing a domestic violence case against one of his top aides.

As a result, the governor said last month that he would not seek a second term, and his communications director quit earlier this month, citing “integrity” issues.

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who went to prison after the spectacular collapse of the company, is appealing to the Supreme Court his 2006 conviction on 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying.

Full Story: People in power make better liars, study shows – Careers- msnbc.com.

An Absence of Class in the G.O.P

Some of the images from the run-up to Sunday’s landmark health care vote in the House of Representatives should be seared into the nation’s consciousness. We are so far, in so many ways, from being a class act.

A group of lowlifes at a Tea Party rally in Columbus, Ohio, last week taunted and humiliated a man who was sitting on the ground with a sign that said he had Parkinson’s disease. The disgusting behavior was captured on a widely circulated videotape. One of the Tea Party protesters leaned over the man and sneered: “If you’re looking for a handout, you’re in the wrong end of town.”

Another threw money at the man, first one bill and then another, and said contemptuously, “I’ll pay for this guy. Here you go. Start a pot.”

In Washington on Saturday, opponents of the health care legislation spit on a black congressman and shouted racial slurs at two others, including John Lewis, one of the great heroes of the civil rights movement. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, was taunted because he is gay.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – An Absence of Class in the G.O.P. – NYTimes.com.

Tipping Point: Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production – Part 1

Recently, a 55 page paper called Tipping Point: Near-Term Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production (PDF warning) was published as the joint effort of two organizations:

Feasta, a leading international think-tank exploring the interactions between human welfare, the structure and operation of human systems, and the ecosystem which supports both, and,

The Risk/Resilience Network, an initiative which was established in order to understand energy induced systemic risk, the scope for risk management, and general and emergency planning.

This paper talks about the likely systemic impacts of peak oil, including the possibility of collapse. With a long publication such as this, it is difficult to know how to present a reasonable subset of the material. In this post, we are publishing the Summary as Part 1. Our tentative plan is to publish three additional excerpts from the paper later. Those who wish to read the paper now can download it from the link above.

The lead author of this publication is David Korowicz. You may remember him for his talk at the Oil Drum/ASPO Conference at Alkatraz, Italy last summer called Things Fall Apart: Complexity, Supply Chains, Infrastructure & Collapse.

Full Story: The Oil Drum | Tipping Point: Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production – Part 1 – Summary.

GOP Senator May Block Unemployment Benefits Extension AGAIN

Jim Bunning To Get Another Chance To Block An Unemployment Benefits Extension: Will He Take It?

Sen. Jim Bunning, the Kentucky Republican who single-handedly blocked a 30-day extension of the stimulus bill’s provisions for enhanced unemployment benefits in February, may get a chance to reprise his spoiler role.

On Tuesday, Senate Democrats plan to ask for unanimous consent for yet another temporary extension. All it takes is one senator to object to prevent the Senate from moving forward without have to go through an onerous and time-consuming parliamentary process.

“I think there’s concern that we may be in the same situation we were in before, except we don’t have the floor time for fighting back against Republicans,” said a Senate Democratic aide.

Full Story: Jim Bunning To Get Another Chance To Block An Unemployment Benefits Extension: Will He Take It?.

Why Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Continue To Cost US Taxpayers Billions

Of all the companies bailed out by the federal government, mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are shaping up as the deepest money pits. A close look at their past and recent financial filings shows why their losses continue to mount.

Fannie and Freddie effectively became wards of the government in 2008. The Obama administration had promised to reveal its plans for the agencies last month, but Washington’s focus on reforming the banking system pushed them to the bottom of the to-do list. Fannie and Freddie aren’t mentioned in either the Senate or House financial regulatory reform bills.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner may reveal some of the administration’s ideas on Tuesday when he testifies before Congress about Fannie and Freddie. But in general, the companies’ troubles have drawn less attention than the rest of the financial industry. For example, unlike bonus announcements made on Wall Street, Fannie and Freddie’s recent disclosures of about $40 million in executive compensation and bonuses for 2009 caused little stir on Main Street.

Full Story: Why Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Continue To Cost US Taxpayers Billions.

Wall Street Reform Flies Through Committee, Headed For Floor Fight

The Senate Banking Committee, after months of negotiations, finally came to bipartisan agreement on Monday evening, but it wasn’t over the contents of financial reform legislation: The two parties agreed to skip the committee process and head straight for the Senate floor.

Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) brought an amended version of the Democratic bill to the committee, where it faced hundreds of amendments from both sides. The debate that was expected last week — a protracted affair in which Republicans and Democrats slugged it out over issues like consumer protection, derivatives and ending Too Big To Fail — fizzled within 18 minutes of Dodd beginning his opening statement. The senators who assembled outside the hearing room to answer questions from reporters gathered for about 10 minutes. The bill — which touches on nearly every facet of finance — passed out of the committee by a 13-10, strictly party-line vote.

Now that the bill is headed to the floor, Dodd said later on Monday, before heading to the White House for a health care meeting, he’ll reach out to Republicans off the committee such as Sens. Olympia Snowe (Maine) and George Voinovich (Ohio), who are more likely to cut a deal. “Absolutely,” he said when asked of those two members. “It’s a broader audience that’s going to be interested in it.”

Full Story: Wall Street Reform Flies Through Committee, Headed For Floor Fight.

The Top 18 Immediate Effects Of The Health Care Bill

After months of fierce debate in Washington and around the country and after an intense day of voting on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill and it’s on its way to President Obama’s desk.

Once Obama signs the bill into law, as he is expected to do on Tuesday, it will mean an end to the current health care system as we know it.

Pundits on the right and left have been reacting to passage of the legislation, but what does the bill actually mean for the average American?

The Huffington Post has compiled a list of the top 18 immediate effects of the health care bill as well as some that will take effect in the first year of implementation:

Full Story: The Top 18 Immediate Effects Of The Health Care Bill.

Democratic Offices Vandalized In Days Surrounding Health Care Vote

Rhetoric surrounding the health care debate has often been very violent, with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) just yesterday promising to “beat that other side to a pulp” and at least one Tea Party sign threatening gun violence if health care reform passes.

In recent days, several Democratic offices around the nation have also been vandalized. Although it’s unclear who the perpetrators are, all the incidents took place shortly before or after the House’s vote on health care yesterday:

– The glass front door of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (D-AZ) Tuscon office was  “smashed out” a “few hours after she voted in favor of health care reform.” Giffords’ spokesman C.J. Karamargin “said it was unclear if the glass had been shot out with a kind of pellet gun, if it had been kicked or smashed with an object. The door has been covered with plywood.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Democratic Offices Vandalized In Days Surrounding Health Care Vote.

OPS: Just like in the  early 1930′s in Germany, the hatred of the Brown Shirts is growing

BREAKING: Google Pulls Search Engine Out Of China

Google’s China domain, Google.cn, now redirects to Google.com.hk.

The new site reads, “Welcome to the new home of Google China search.”

The switch means Google is no longer censoring search results for its Chinese visitors. Whether Chinese Internet can actually access Google.com.hk is another matter. It may be blocked by the Chinese government.

The move follows months of negotiations and threats between Google (GOOG) and the Chinese government. Those talks began in January, when Google announced that it and its users had been attacked by Chinese government hackers.

Full Story: BREAKING: Google Pulls Search Engine Out Of China.

New York Fed Warehousing Junk Loans On Its Books: Examiner’s Report

As Lehman Brothers careened toward bankruptcy in 2008, the New York Federal Reserve Bank came to its rescue, sopping up junk loans that the investment bank couldn’t sell in the market, according to a report from court-appointed examiner Anton R. Valukas.

The New York Fed, under the direction of now-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, knowingly allowed itself to be used as a “warehouse” for junk loans, the report says, even though Fed guidelines say it can only accept investment grade bonds.

Meanwhile, the Fed and Geithner both strongly oppose a congressional measure to authorize an independent audit of the central bank and its lending facilities. The provision passed the House but is under attack in the Senate, where Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) says he hopes to stop it.

Full Story: New York Fed Warehousing Junk Loans On Its Books: Examiner’s Report.

BREAKING: ACORN Announces Intentions to ‘Bring Operations to a Close’

‘Mission Accomplished’ for anti-democracy GOP scam artists…

Just one day after the New York Time’s Public Editor Clark Hoyt finally admitted that both he and his paper were “wrong” in the way, for the last six months, they unskeptically and inaccurately covered the Rightwing hoaxsters who released doctored-up, heavily-overdubbed, secretly-taped hit videos targeting the national community organization ACORN, largely for their work in legally registering hundreds of thousands of low-income voters so they could have their voice heard in their own democracy, the group is announcing that it will be “bringing its operations to a close”.

We should take the time to note here, since the corporate mainstream media likely will not, that there is no evidence that any vote has ever been cast illegally in any election vis a vis an improper registration by an ACORN worker. Of the very few ACORN workers found to have submitted illegal registrations, almost every one of them was turned in to officials by ACORN themselves. Again: no voter ever registered improperly by an ACORN worker has ever cast a single vote in any election.

The following statement has just been sent to The BRAD BLOG by ACORN spokesperson Kevin Whelan concerning the group’s plan to shut down:

Full Story: The BRAD BLOG : BREAKING: ACORN Announces Intentions to ‘Bring Operations to a Close’.

U.S. Ranks in Top 5 in Worst Food Safety Culprits

A new international food safety monitoring tool has been developed to track food safety offenses by country, and the results don’t look good for the U.S. It joins China, Turkey, Iran, and Spain as the five countries with the worst records of food safety.

The new tool uses massive amounts of food recall data collected from 2003 to 2008 to make it’s calculations, and it’s all available online in a user-friendly format for anyone to see, even if it is still obviously geared towards researchers. According to one of the tool’s developers, D. P. Naughton, “No other system can reflect the complexity of this information in a snapshot form.” This advanced level of food safety analysis should prove particularly useful to developing countries, many of which still don’t have comprehensive food safety programs.

This is perhaps the first time such a massive amount of food recall data has been compiled and analyzed in this way, and the results should wake America up. Why is the richest nation in the world doing such a terrible job protecting its citizens from food contamination?

Full Story: U.S. Ranks in Top 5 in Worst Food Safety Culprits « Wake-up Call.

Las Vegas Radiation Monitors Going Haywire

Is an ‘area of haze of unknown composition’ that crossed into California & Oregon last week the remnants of a radioactive dust storm from China? Is another on the way?

On March 17 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) noted that “an area of haze of unknown composition and origin has entered the US along the central California coast and stretched northeastward across southeast Oregon and into southwest Montana.’ The next day, the NOAA tracked the progress of this alien air mass to southwest Nevada: ‘Areas of blowing dust are spreading S[outh] across parts of the western US….In Nevada blowing dust can be seen moving S[outh]across the counties of Mineral, Lyon and Churchill.” As you keep going east from Lyon and Churchill counties to Mineral county, and then over two more counties, you get to the city of Las Vegas where at 10:00 A.M. that day (March 18) a radiation monitoring station outside the Atomic Testing Museum began to go haywire.

Average airborne gamma radiation levels rarely ever fluctuate in the city of Las Vegas from the background level of about 10 microRem/hr but last Thursday that monitoring station began recording increases in gamma radiation of eight times background radiation levels. Radiation levels since then have kept climbing but mysteriously the data is also increasingly disappearing from a website that streams the data for the public to see (or not to see).

What could it be? Is the equipment malfunctioning? Or is the government censoring something?

Full Story: OpEdNews – Diary: Las Vegas Radiation Monitors Going Haywire.

Why Boehner is angry — and Republicans should worry

- Joe Conason -

Passage may clear away the propaganda and let voters understand healthcare reform — a scary prospect

What is the reward for acting with courage and principle, confronting the worst slurs, threats of violence, waves of falsehood, major monied interests, and widespread predictions of electoral defeat? As President Obama said in his remarks to the House Democrats on the eve of their vote for healthcare reform, the only certain compensation for doing what is right will be history’s judgment. Yet perhaps all the forecasts of doom will prove wrong — as they so often do in Washington — and voters will honor lawmakers who finally stood up for the core values of their party.

A few days before Sunday night’s vote, Dan Balz noted in the Washington Post that the electorate sounds even angrier at Congress than usual — a threatening portent for incumbents in November. Even in that poll, however, the lowest status was reserved not for the Democratic congressional leadership, whose numbers have indeed dropped, but for the Republican leaders.

Full Story: Why Boehner is angry — and Republicans should worry – Joe Conason – Salon.com.

Supreme Court Again Rejects Injunction in Asian Carp Case

The Supreme Court denied today for the second time a request to temporarily close Chicago-area waterways as the justices decide whether to dive into the interstate lawsuit over invasive Asian carp.

The decision to reject Michigan’s renewed injunction request was announced without comment this morning as part of the court’s first set of orders since returning from recess. The justices considered the request at a private conference Friday.

Michigan’s request, submitted last month after new test results detected Asian carp in Lake Michigan for the first time, was a last-ditch effort to force the closure of the locks after the Obama administration declined to take that action. In an Asian carp response framework released last month, the administration pledged to spend $78.5 million preventing the fish from entering the Great Lakes but did not commit to lock closures, which have been fiercely opposed by Illinois’ shipping industry.

Full Story: Supreme Court Again Rejects Injunction in Asian Carp Case – NYTimes.com.

Beyond Orwell: The Electronic Police State, 2010

A truism perhaps, but before resorting to brute force and open repression to halt the “barbarians at the gates,” that would be us, the masters of declining empires (and the chattering classes who polish their boots) regale us with tales of “democracy on the march,” “hope” and other banalities before the mailed fist comes crashing down.

Putting it another way, as the late, great Situationist malcontent, Guy Debord did decades ago in his relentless call for revolt, The Society of the Spectacle:

“The reigning economic system is a vicious circle of isolation. Its technologies are based on isolation, and they contribute to that same isolation. From automobiles to television, the goods that the spectacular system chooses to produce also serve it as weapons for constantly reinforcing the conditions that engender ‘lonely crowds.’ With ever-increasing concreteness the spectacle recreates its own presuppositions.”

Full Story: Beyond Orwell:   : Information Clearing House -  ICH.

The Perks of Being a Goldman Kid

Working for Goldman Sachs remains a well-paid family affair.

Last month, the blogosphere was atwitter with reports that Jonathan Blankfein, the son of Goldman chief Lloyd C. Blankfein, would be joining the firm when he graduates from Harvard this spring and that older son Alex was working at the company in a “capacity that isn’t clear.”

Gawker said that its item was based on a tipster, but the preliminary proxy that Goldman filed on Friday afternoon seems to confirm the tip.

Under the section titled “Certain Relationships and Other Transactions,” the filing notes that “a child” of Mr. Blankfein — the filing does not give any other details, including the child’s name or a role at the company — was a nonexecutive employee last year who made $155,000.

Full Story: The Perks of Being a Goldman Kid – DealBook Blog – NYTimes.com.

Ari Fleischer quits PR job for Tiger Woods because his legacy was so bad it harmed Tiger’s rehabilitation.

Earlier this month, the New York Post reported that Tiger Woods had hired former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer to help plot his strategy for returning to golf. Since his time as President Bush’s top spinmeister, Fleischer has become a consultant for the sports industry, advising Mark McGwire and the Green Bay Packers. Woods gave his first interviews since his scandals to the Golf Channel and ESPN yesterday, limiting the chats “to an almost impossible-to-maneuver five minutes.” Fleischer, however, wasn’t by Woods’ side during these interviews:

Meanwhile, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer acknowledged in an e-mail to the AP that he had been working for Woods and had decided to withdraw.

Full Story: Think Progress » Ari Fleischer quits PR job for Tiger Woods because his legacy was so bad it harmed Tiger’s rehabilitation..

Bennett: Racial Epithet Yelled At Rep. John Lewis Is Proof That ‘Racism In America Is Dead’

On Saturday, conservative anger over the imminent passage of health care reform manifested itself in a series of bigoted exchanges with Democratic members of Congress. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) was spit on by a protester, openly gay Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) was called a “faggot” and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called the n-word. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) called the incidents “absolutely shocking.” “I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus,” said Clyburn.

Though leaders of the Republican Party have sought to distance themselves from the outbursts, some conservatives are dismissing the incidents as no big deal. National Review’s Jay Nordlinger posted a letter yesterday claiming that the incidents proved that “Racism in America is dead.” Nordlinger called the argument “thought-provoking”:

As everyone sweats out the final Obamacare tallies, I’m struck by a couple of other stories. In one case, someone reported hearing an anti-black epithet used at a political rally. In another case, dogged police finally arrested the perpetrator of an intolerable crime. The perp is a 16-year-old kid who made a potentially offensive comment on a Wal-Mart overhead speaker. That these things are even remotely newsworthy leads me to one conclusion: Racism in America is dead. We had slavery, then we had Jim Crow — and now we have the occasional public utterance of a bad word. Real racism has been reduced to de minimis levels, while charges of racism seem to increase. I’ll vote for the first politician with the brass to say that “racism” should be dropped from our national dialogue. We’re a good nation, among the least racist on earth . . .

Full Story: Think Progress » Bennett: Racial Epithet Yelled At Rep. John Lewis Is Proof That ‘Racism In America Is Dead’.

Rep. Steve King floats secession as possible response to health care reform.

Yesterday as the House passed historic health care reform legislation, groups of Tea Party activists were still amassed on Capitol Hill protesting the bill. When word reached them that they had lost their battle, they began singing the national anthem and reciting the pledge of allegiance. “The most important thing to remember,” said Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots, “is that the fight for freedom, it never ends!” Reps. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Steve King (R-IA) then went out and spoke to the protesters, with King floating the possibility of secession (even though he said they should “hope” it doesn’t come to that):

KING: I just came down here so I could say to you, God bless you. … You are the awesome American people. [...]

If I could start a country with a bunch of people, they’d be the folks who were standing with us the last few days. Let’s hope we don’t have to do that! Let’s beat that other side to a pulp! Let’s take them out. Let’s chase them down. There’s going to be a reckoning!

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Rep. Steve King floats secession as possible response to health care reform..

Confirmed: Virginia suing to block health care reform

Can’t block health care reform in Congress? Sue.

That’s the strategy that’s been outlined by Virginia state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who confirmed Sunday that he will sue to block health care reform from becoming law. Reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Virgina will file suit against the federal government charging that the health-care reform legislation is unconstitutional, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s office confirmed last night.

Full Story: Confirmed: Virginia suing to block health care reform | Raw Story.

Mike’s Open Letter to Republicans

The Great Thing About the Health Care Law That Has Passed? It Will Save Republican Lives, Too

by Michael Moore

To My Fellow Citizens, the Republicans:

Thanks to last night’s vote, that child of yours who has had asthma since birth will now be covered after suffering for her first nine years as an American child with a pre-existing condition.

Thanks to last night’s vote, that 23-year-old of yours who will be hit one day by a drunk driver and spend six months recovering in the hospital will now not go bankrupt because you will be able to keep him on your insurance policy.

Thanks to last night’s vote, after your cancer returns for the third time — racking up another $200,000 in costs to keep you alive — your insurance company will have to commit a criminal act if they even think of dropping you from their rolls.

Yes, my Republican friends, even though you have opposed this health care bill, we’ve made sure it is going to cover you, too, in your time of need. I know you’re upset right now. I know you probably think that if you did get wiped out by an illness, or thrown out of your home because of a medical bankruptcy, that you would somehow pull yourself up by your bootstraps and survive. I know that’s a comforting story to tell yourself, and if John Wayne were still alive I’m sure he could make that into a movie for you.

Full Story: Mike’s Open Letter to Republicans — Michael Moore, Director of Sicko, on Healthcare Reform

Taking action for World Water Day

There are still 900 million people who don’t have a safe water supply – and not always in the places you expect

This is a tale of two countries – one landlocked, with two-thirds of its harsh environment given over to desert and where rainfall is thought to be reducing; the other low lying, with millions of inhabitants squeezed onto narrow spits of land prone to severe monsoon flooding.

They may be continents apart, each with their own set of problems, but in both, girls miss out on school because they spend hours fetching water. Mothers give birth with no access to clean water. Children are dying from chronic diarrhoea. Livelihoods are put on hold through illness and hospital beds are full.

Water is life. That might sound hackneyed, but believe me there has never been a more potent truism – especially when today, World Water Day, there are still nearly 900 million people across the world who don’t have access to a safe water supply.

Full Story: Taking action for World Water Day | Barbara Frost | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

Massive Change in US Student Loans Slipped in to Bill

The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Sunday approved President Barack Obama’s bid to implement what would be the biggest overhaul in decades of the federal student loan program.

Under the legislation, federal subsidies to private student loan lenders would stop and the government’s role in lending would increase – creating billions of dollars in projected savings that would go largely in grants to needy students.

The measure, opposed by private lenders and critics of an expanding federal government, was included in a package of proposed changes to an overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

Full Story: Massive Change in US Student Loans Slipped in to Bill | CommonDreams.org.

The Story of Bottled Water: Fear, Manufactured Demand and a $10,000 Sandwich

Imagine I was trying to sell you a sandwich. It’s shrink wrapped in plastic that may leach toxic chemicals, but don’t worry about that. Mine’s still healthier than a sandwich you could make at home, what with all those impurities in your fridge. Now, I’ve got no proof of that, and actually, some people have tested my sandwiches and found that sometimes they have more bad stuff in them than the ones from your own kitchen. But never mind that. Mine’s more convenient. Tastes better too. I swear.

So here you go: one plastic-wrapped, waste-producing sandwich that isn’t any healthier and doesn’t taste any better than the one from your own kitchen. That’ll be $10,000, please.

That preposterous pitch is the truth behind the marketing campaigns that turned bottled water into a $5 billion-a-year industry in the United States alone. Today is World Water Day–a good day to pause and consider the insanity of a global economy where 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water while other people spend billions on a bottled product that’s no cleaner, harms people and the environment and costs up to 2,000 times the price of tap water.

Full Story: Annie Leonard: The Story of Bottled Water: Fear, Manufactured Demand and a $10,000 Sandwich.

Waterloo

David Frum: Former Bush Speech writer

Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:

(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs.

(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.

So far, I think a lot of conservatives will agree with me. Now comes the hard lesson:

A huge part of the blame for today’s disaster attaches to conservatives and Republicans ourselves.

Full Story: Waterloo | FrumForum.

David Frum: Republicans’ ‘Most Crushing Legislative Defeat’ Since The ’60s

David Frum, former speechwriter to President George W. Bush:

Congress passed sweeping health care reform on Sunday evening and the reactions are streaming in.

Have a look at some of the key reactions (we'll be adding more so keep checking back) and share your thoughts on whether or not you agree with them.

“No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.”

Full Story: Health Care REACTION: Bill Passes, Analysts Weigh In.

The Top Ten Immediate Benefits You’ll Get When Health Care Reform Passes

As soon as health care passes, the American people will see immediate benefits. The legislation will:

* Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;

* Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;

* Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;

* Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;

* Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;

* Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;

* Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;

* Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;

* Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;

* Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

By enacting these provisions right away, and others over time, we will be able to lower costs for everyone and give all Americans and small businesses more control over their health care choices.

Full Story: The Top Ten Immediate Benefits You’ll Get When Health Care Reform Passes | House Democrats.

Nanotech robots deliver gene therapy through blood

U.S. researchers have developed tiny nanoparticle robots that can travel through a patient’s blood and into tumors where they deliver a therapy that turns off an important cancer gene.

The finding, reported in the journal Nature on Sunday, offers early proof that a new treatment approach called RNA interference or RNAi might work in people.

RNA stands for ribonucleic acid — a chemical messenger that is emerging as a key player in the disease process.

Full Story: Nanotech robots deliver gene therapy through blood – Yahoo! News.

Leftists defeat Sarkozy’s conservatives

Sarkozy’s party only won 1 out of 22 regions

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party took a severe drubbing from French voters Sunday in nationwide regional elections that were his last big national test before he seeks re-election in 2012.

As polling stations closed, initial estimates gave Socialist-led opposition electoral alliances some 54 percent of the vote, Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP 36 percent and the far-right National Front just under nine percent.

“It was obviously for us, a real defeat,” said lawmaker Jean-Francois Cope, head of the UMP group in the French parliament.

If confirmed, the estimates — based on samples of cast ballots by polling agencies — leave Sarkozy’s supporters in control of only one of France’s 22 mainland regions, their right-wing stronghold of Alsace.

Full Story: Leftists defeat Sarkozy’s conservatives | Raw Story.

Health care reform bill dooms America to Pharma-dominated sickness and suffering

Today the medical mafia struck another devastating blow to the health and freedom of all Americans. With the support of an in-arguably corrupt Congress that has simply abandoned the real needs of the American people, the sick-care industry has locked in a high-profit scheme of disease and monopoly-priced pharmaceuticals in a nation that can ill afford either one.

And this Pharma-funded betrayal, it turns out, was led by the Democrats. Passed on a 219-212 vote that was only accomplished thanks to closed-door, last-minute secret meetings among the last holdouts, this new legislation puts America under the stranglehold of the medical mafia while doing absolutely nothing to address real health care reform. There is no mention in the bill, for example, of vitamin D for preventing cancer, or orthomolecular medicine for preventing degenerative disease. There’s not even a word about protecting health freedom or ending the century of oppression that has been waged against naturopathic practitioners by the AMA, FDA and FTC.

The new legislation does, however, lock in billions of dollars in monopoly profits for the pharmaceutical companies — the same companies who spent millions of dollars pushing for its passage and who depend on the continuation of sickness and disease for their future profits

Full Story: Health care reform bill dooms America to Pharma-dominated sickness and suffering.

$1 Million Doesn’t Cut It for Retirement

Conventional wisdom says you need to save $1 million for retirement.

That target may be easy to remember, but it falls short of the true cost of what’s required for post-career comfort. Longer life spans, the threat of inflation and the uncertain future of Social Security benefits make this long-touted savings advice inadequate for most, advisers say.

Scottrade recently polled 226 registered investment advisers on the topic and found that 71% don’t believe $1 million is enough for the average American family. Most said families need to save double, or more than triple, the amount.

“Younger generations, especially, need to set their retirement goals higher than other generations and start saving as early as possible,” says Craig Hogan, Scottrade’s director of customer-relationship management and reporting.

Full Story: 1-million-doesnt-cut-it-for-retirement: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance.

Israeli warplanes bomb Gaza over night

Israeli warplanes struck the southern part of the Gaza Strip in an overnight raid following Palestinian rocket fire, Palestinian witnesses and the Israeli military said Monday.

The aircraft attacked a tunnel on the Rafah sector on the border with Egypt, but no one was injured, said witnesses.

A military spokesman confirmed the raid, saying they had hit a tunnel used for arms smuggling and in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian side.

One rocket was fired into southern Israel late Sunday from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip though it landed without causing any injuries or damage, the Israeli army said earlier.

Full Story: Israeli warplanes bomb Gaza: officials – Yahoo! News.

Iceland volcano eruption intensifies

Fears Of Second, Larger Eruption

Icelandic authorities warned Monday of increased disturbance in the area of the volcanic eruption that forced more than 600 people to flee their homes on Sunday.

“Police have increased surveillance in the whole area around the Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull glaciers because of increased disturbance this morning in the volcanic eruption,” the police and civil protection department said in a statement.

Police warned there could be danger in travelling or driving in the vicinity of the volcanic area and closed some of the area’s roads.

Full Story: Iceland volcano eruption intensifies.

British inquiry into Iraq war turns toward Bush, officials: report

Senior Bush administration officials, including former President George W. Bush himself, have been asked to give testimony before a British committee investigating the basis for the invasion of Iraq, according to a published report.

Other officials contacted by the panel include former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Bush adviser Stephen Hadley, among others.

“Members of Sir John Chilcot’s panel are believed to be willing to travel to the US to take evidence – almost certainly in private – on the administration’s policies between the 2003 invasion of Iraq and 2009,” The Telegraph reported on Sunday.

Full Story: British inquiry into Iraq war turns toward Bush, officials: report | Raw Story.

Iraq Inquiry asks to question George Bush’s senior officials

The Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War could take an explosive new twist after it emerged that leading figures in George Bush’s administration have been asked to give evidence to it.

Sources in Washington said the inquiry sent out emails “about three weeks ago” to senior officials in Mr Bush’s government including, it is believed, the former president himself.

Other requests are understood to have been made to Dick Cheney, Mr Bush’s vice-president, Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, Donald Rumsfeld, the former US defence secretary, and Stephen Hadley, an ex-national security adviser – as well as to their deputies and senior assistants

Full Story: Iraq Inquiry asks to question George Bush’s senior officials – Telegraph.

While Giving Obsessive Coverage To The Tea Parties, Media Ignored Larger Anti-War Rally

As congressional debate on health care reform comes to a close and the House of Representatives is nearing a vote on the Senate’s health care legislation, one group that has been getting more than its fair share of media attention has been the far-right tea party. As a small number of protesters gathered on Capitol Hill yesterday to demonstrate against the passage of health care legislation, the major media outlets gave obsessive coverage to the group:

- In an article titled “Raucous Tea Partiers Protest Bill,” the Politico reported that “Thousands of Tea Party protesters filled Upper Senate park” to voice their opposition to Democrats’ health care plan. [3/20/10]

- Fox News.com trumpeted the protesters in a piece titled “Tea Party Activists Make Last Stand Against Health Care Vote,” where it even uncritically reported the claim of one activist that 25,000 demonstrators attended the event. [3/20/10]

- In an article titled “GOP Leaders, Tea Party Activists Pledge to Fight On” CQ Politics noted that “House Republican leaders received a rock star’s welcome” from tea partiers. [3/20/10]

Full Story: Think Progress » While Giving Obsessive Coverage To The Tea Parties, Media Ignored Larger Anti-War Rally.

Fox News coverage of health care protests

on day of health care vote

House approves health care reform by vote of 219-212.

Moments ago, the House of Representatives passed the Senate health care reform bill by a vote of 219-212, approving the most sweeping domestic legislation since Medicare. “Senator Kennedy wrote that access to health care was the great unfinished business of our society – that is, until today,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Once the bill reached 215 votes, members began chanting “one more vote” and the chamber erupted in applause. Members excitedly counted down the last few seconds of the vote and started began chanting “yes we can.” Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » House approves health care reform by vote of 219-212..

Attack of the Cheneys

Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney Fearmonger in a Desperate Neocons Plot to Take Over Washington

I’m sure not many fathers think about whether their children will defend them one day from accusations that they ordered torture. Dick Cheney would probably be one of the few who has–and how nice that he got that lucky. Since her father left office, Liz Cheney has been his most visible and effective advocate. She’s given speeches at conservative gatherings, written op-eds for publications like the Wall Street Journal and made dozens of television appearances, all aimed at defending her father’s record and carrying his standard. And occasionally she finds herself having to claim that a technique developed by torturers as a method of torture (waterboarding) was not really torture when her father approved it.

To a lesser extent than his daughter, but still at an unprecedented level for a former vice president, Dick Cheney has also taken a highly public role, popping up regularly to attack the Obama administration’s national security decisions. This past May, explaining her father’s inordinately high profile, Liz said on MSNBC, “I don’t think he planned to be doing this, you know, when they left office in January,” but the administration’s policy shifts, as well as the concern that “perhaps [Obama] would even be prosecuting former members of the Bush administration,” had necessitated the former VP’s re-emergence. During this period, the Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen counted “12 appearances, in nine and a half days, spanning four networks” for the younger Cheney.

The right’s most famous father-daughter act has also been active behind the scenes. Liz has allied with neoconservative mover Bill Kristol to found Keep America Safe, infamous of late for its ads attacking as traitorous Justice Department lawyers who once “represented or advocated for terrorist detainees.” The ad was so scurrilous that even Republican lawyers and Bush administration officials like former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former Solicitor General Ted Olson condemned it. But whatever blowback the neocon attack machine may suffer for this particular overreach, the “Department of Jihad” smear is nonetheless a startling declaration that they just don’t give a damn. (After all, what’s a bit of rank dishonesty in an effort to head off almost certain Islamofascist doom?) With the Cheneys on board, neocons have become increasingly brazen in their accusations that President Obama is “inviting the next attack” by not sufficiently embracing the fact that “we are at war.”

Full Story: Attack of the Cheneys.

The Future of Drug Reform Is Bright

The Students for a Sensible Drug Policy conference in San Francisco was a major demonstration of youthful, activist energy to change the drug paradigm.

In mid-March, Students for a Sensible Drug Policy organized a conference attended by 470 campus activists in San Francisco to network, strategize, party and share updates on the War on Drugs and the widening range of youth resistance efforts.

SSDP was founded in 1998 in response to a provision in the Higher Education Act that cut off loans and grants to students with drug convictions–even misdemeanors dating back to high school. Some 200,000 students have lost their financial aid in the years since. In 2007 SSDP pushed Congress to limit the Act’s applicability to students whose convictions occurred after they sought financial aid. “Now our effort,” says SSDP acting executive director Matt Palevsky, “is to limit [applicability of] the Act to students convicted of felonies.”

SSDP now has chapters on almost 200 campuses and is receiving 40 inquiries a month from students interested in starting chapters at their schools. There are 10 overseas chapters and this year’s conference –which was billed as “international”–included speakers from the UK, Canada, Nigeria, Colombia and the Mexican border (El Paso, Texas). A satellite meeting held simultaneously in Lagos, Nigeria, drew 70 students from universities, teachers’ colleges and high schools. (A planned video feed of select panels from S.F. was canceled due to technical problems.)

Full Story: The Future of Drug Reform Is Bright | Drugs | AlterNet.

Are Greedy Water Bottlers Siphoning Your City’s Drinking Water?

It took six years for residents of tiny McCloud, California, to give Nestle Waters North America its walking papers. The water bottler had hoped to build a 1 million square-foot facility in the town of less than 2,000 and was given a backroom 50-year contract (renewable for an additional 50 years) to annually take 1,250 gallons per minute of delicious spring water from the town, hunkered in the shadow of Mount Shasta, and unlimited groundwater. But after years of opposition from community and environmental groups, Nestle scrapped its plans and left with its tail between its legs.

However, the bottling giant didn’t have to look very far for its next target. Last summer as Gov. Schwarzenegger was warning that parched California was in its third year of drought, and residents of the capital city of Sacramento were facing water restrictions, Nestle was getting a behind-the-scenes welcome mat rolled out and the keys to the city’s water pipes.

Full Story: Are Greedy Water Bottlers Siphoning Your City’s Drinking Water? | Water | AlterNet.

10 Ways Mother Earth Will Strike Back If We Don’t Stop Our Wanton Destruction of the Environment

Deniers are dancing on the graves of their reputations, to say nothing of reality itself. But Earth will still get the last laugh on all of them, and us for that matter.

And if the ground’s not cold/Everything is gonna burn/We’ll all take turns/I’ll get mine too. — Pixies, “Monkey Gone to Heaven.”

Bad news. Thanks to perfectly timed, premeditated reality assassinations like so-called ClimateGate, nearly half of Americans may now believe that the various threats of climate change are exaggerated. That’s the highest quotient ever since polling on the issue commenced. But there is good news: They’re on the wrong side of history and science, and Earth will still get the last laugh on all of them, and us for that matter.

Welcome to our existential nightmare. From rising seas and runaway droughts and storms to the outer limits of dystopian catastrophes like the fart apocalypse — I’ll explain later — our planet has no shortage of ways to bitch-slap us back into our dangerous reality, whether we want it to or not.

Full Story: 10 Ways Mother Earth Will Strike Back If We Don’t Stop Our Wanton Destruction of the Environment | Environment | AlterNet.

200,000 March For Immigration Reform in Massive D.C. Rally

The message was clear: fix our broken immigration system, stop the deportations that split up families, and allow immigrants to come to the US legally and to earn legal status.

With many eyes focused on the health care debate seven blocks away at the U.S. Capitol, an estimated 200,000 people rallied for immigration reform on the National Mall. They came from California and Florida and the neighborhoods around Florida Avenue in Washington, DC. Like the “mega-marches” that exploded on the American political scene in the spring of 2006 – and remain the largest series of demonstrations in American history – the message at this massive rally was clear and loud: fix our broken immigration system, stop the deportations that are splitting up families, and allow immigrants to come to the U.S. legally and to earn legal status if they are already here illegally.

The President, who by all reports, was feverishly working the phones with Democratic House Members on health care, delivered a video address to affirm his commitment to passing immigration reform and added the magic words “this year” that the crowd and organizers were hoping to hear.

Full Story: 200,000 March For Immigration Reform in Massive D.C. Rally | Immigration | AlterNet.

High stakes gamble after US health vote

House Democrats passed historic legislation on Sunday to revamp the US healthcare system, but it presents President Barack Obama and his Democratic party a whole new set of challenges in the coming months, the BBC’s Jane O’Brien reports from Washington.

The vast bulk of the healthcare reforms will not take effect until 2014 – but the legislation will start a new round of political fighting almost immediately.

The measure remains deeply unpopular among many Americans and Republicans have vowed to continue their attempts to challenge it.

Although the bill has been passed by the House, the package of amendments still needs to go back to the Senate for approval.

Full Story: BBC News – High stakes gamble after US health vote.

The Health Care Hindenburg Has Landed

Chris Hedges – OpEd -

Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s decision to vote “yes” in Sunday’s House action on the health care bill, although he had sworn to oppose the legislation unless there was a public option, is a perfect example of why I would never be a politician. I respect Kucinich. As politicians go, he is about as good as they get, but he is still a politician. He has to run for office. He has to raise money. He has to placate the Democratic machine or risk retaliation and defeat. And so he signed on to a bill that will do nothing to ameliorate the suffering of many Americans, will force tens of millions of people to fork over a lot of money for a defective product and, in the end, will add to the ranks of our uninsured.

The claims made by the proponents of the bill are the usual deceptive corporate advertising. The bill will not expand coverage to 30 million uninsured, especially since government subsidies will not take effect until 2014. Families who cannot pay the high premiums, deductibles and co-payments, estimated to be between 15 and 18 percent of most family incomes, will have to default, increasing the number of uninsured. Insurance companies can unilaterally raise prices without ceilings or caps and monopolize local markets to shut out competitors. The $1.055 trillion spent over the next decade will add new layers of bureaucratic red tape to what is an unmanageable and ultimately unsustainable system.

The mendacity of the Democratic leadership in the face of this reality is staggering. Howard Dean, who is a doctor, said recently: “This is a vote about one thing: Are you for the insurance companies or are you for the American people?” Here is a man who once championed the public option and now has sold his soul. What is the point in supporting him or any of the other Democrats? How much more craven can they get?

Full Story: Chris Hedges: The Health Care Hindenburg Has Landed – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig.

Fear Strikes Out

Paul Krugman -

The day before Sunday’s health care vote, President Obama gave an unscripted talk to House Democrats. Near the end, he spoke about why his party should pass reform: “Every once in a while a moment comes where you have a chance to vindicate all those best hopes that you had about yourself, about this country, where you have a chance to make good on those promises that you made … And this is the time to make true on that promise. We are not bound to win, but we are bound to be true. We are not bound to succeed, but we are bound to let whatever light we have shine.”

And on the other side, here’s what Newt Gingrich, the Republican former speaker of the House — a man celebrated by many in his party as an intellectual leader — had to say: If Democrats pass health reform, “They will have destroyed their party much as Lyndon Johnson shattered the Democratic Party for 40 years” by passing civil rights legislation.

I’d argue that Mr. Gingrich is wrong about that: proposals to guarantee health insurance are often controversial before they go into effect — Ronald Reagan famously argued that Medicare would mean the end of American freedom — but always popular once enacted.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Fear Strikes Out – NYTimes.com.

UA Astronomers Discover Most Primitive Supermassive Holes Known

Astronomers have come across what appear to be two of the earliest and most primitive supermassive black holes known. The discovery, based largely on observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, will provide a better understanding of the roots of our universe, and how the very first black holes, galaxies and stars all came to be. “We have found what are likely first-generation quasars, born in a dust-free medium and at the earliest stages of evolution,” said Linhua Jiang, a research associate at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory. Jiang is the lead author on a paper announcing the findings in the March 18 issue of Nature.

Black holes are beastly distortions of space and time. The most massive and active ones lurk at the cores of galaxies, and are usually surrounded by doughnut-shaped structures of dust and gas that feed and sustain the growing black holes. These hungry supermassive black holes are called quasars.

As grimy and unkempt as our present-day universe is today, scientists believe the very early universe didn’t have any dust – which tells them that the most primitive quasars should also be dust-free. But nobody had seen such pristine quasars – until now. Spitzer has identified two such immaculate quasars – the smallest quasars on record – about 13 billion light-years away from Earth.

Full Story: Make A History.

The Final Health Care Vote and What it Really Means

Robert Reich -

It’s not nearly as momentous as the passage of Medicare in 1965 and won’t fundamentally alter how Americans think about social safety nets. But the likely passage of Obama’s health care reform bill is the biggest thing Congress has done in decades, and has enormous political significance for the future.

Medicare directly changed the life of every senior in America, giving them health security and dramatically reducing their rates of poverty. By contrast, most Americans won’t be affected by Obama’s health care legislation. Most of us will continue to receive health insurance through our employers. (Only a comparatively small minority will be required to buy insurance who don’t want it, or be subsidized in order to afford it. Only a relatively few companies will be required to provide it who don’t now.)

Medicare built on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal notion of government as insurer, with citizens making payments to government, and government paying out benefits. That was the central idea of Social Security, and Medicare piggybacked on Social Security.

Full Story: Robert Reich (The Final Health Care Vote and What it Really Means).

Now Is the Time to Act

Sen. Bernie Sanders

The American people are angry — and for good reason.

About 17 percent of our workforce is unemployed or under-employed, health insurance premiums are soaring while more and more people lose their coverage, we are looking at record-breaking deficits, global warming threatens the planet, young people can’t afford a college education and we are fighting two wars.

In the midst of all of this, facing the greatest set of crises since the Great Depression, the Republican Party has become the “Party of No.” Senate Republicans have engaged in a record number of filibusters and other obstructionist tactics. More than 280 bills passed by the House have not yet been considered in the Senate. Day after day they slow down legislation and use the arcane rules of the Senate to make sure that nothing is accomplished. One senator called for the complete reading of a 700-page amendment. Another put a “hold” on all of President Obama’s nominees. Another recently delayed hundreds of thousands of American workers from receiving extended unemployment and health insurance benefits. On and on it goes!

Full Story: Sen. Bernie Sanders: Now Is the Time to Act.

Yale professor: Growing divide between Holder, Obama could end with AG’s resignation

US Attorney General Eric Holder took office pledging a sharp shift away from the last administration’s policies, but an apparent change of heart in the White House could see the top lawyer leave his job.

Holder, 59, is the first African-American to hold the top legal post, and was generally regarded with bipartisan respect when he took office.

But a series of gaffes, fights with both Republicans and Democrats, and apparent disagreements between him and the White House have left Holder looking increasingly embattled.

He came under renewed fire when he told lawmakers Tuesday that Osama bin Laden would not be captured alive, and that US officials would read legal rights to the Al-Qaeda leader’s corpse.

Full Story: Yale professor: Growing divide between Holder, Obama could end with AG’s resignation | Raw Story.

Five for One – H1-B Program Fails to Benefit American Economy

Not long ago, we took another psychological blow to our economy when Microsoft made the never-before announcement of layoffs. Having been in litigation as many times as they have, it is really amazing they haven’t escorted more en masse out the doors. “Microsued” might have been a better name.

Microsoft is one of the biggest proponents of the H1-B program, so it is no wonder they top the technology industry in H1-B hiring. Bill Gates is fond of repeating an article from the National Foundation of American Policy (NFAP) stating that for every one H1-B hired, five new American jobs are created.

Does that mean for every five Americans finding themselves in an unemployment line there is only one H1-B going home?- Microsoft recently laid off 5000 workers.– Does that mean 833 H1-B’s are buying plane tickets? Senator Charles Grassley, a republican from Iowa, wants to know the same thing.

Full Story: Five for One – H1-B Program Fails to Benefit American Economy | Economy In Crisis.

United States: Next empire on the precipice of collapse?

After generations of ignoring the future for the sake of immediate gains, the United States is at a crossroads. Our government has to start voting for the future, instead of trying to build up the status quo.

We have heard for months that the sky is falling and the American economy is on the verge of collapse. The Bush administration warned of an economic Armageddon if its Wall Street bailout wasn’t approved immediately. The Obama administration has talked about saving us from the “verge of collapse.”

The fact is more nuanced than that; America may well be collapsing before our eyes, but it is happening more slowly than some would believe. A country like the United States is not going to go away over night, but it could very well be a shell of its former self a decade or more from now.

British historian Niall Ferguson, writing for Foreign Affairs, outlines the decline of the American empire as a result of its inability to squash desires for international commercial, military and political dominance. As our leadership struggles with the day-to-day problems of political sausage making, the seams of this nation could be coming apart.

Full Story: United States: Next empire on the precipice of collapse? | Economy In Crisis.

The False Promises of Free Trade

It is clear that “free trade” has left a bad taste in the mouths of many Americans.

Even without the benefit of scientific survey and analysis, it is clear that “free trade” has left a bad taste in the mouths of many Americans.

Organizations like Public Citizen have done a great deal of evangelizing on the trade front since the beginning of the economic downturn. They hope to educate people as the hidden costs of our “free” approach to international commerce. With high unemployment and a continuing economic malaise, the message against “free trade” is starting to take root in America.

Full Story: The False Promises of Free Trade | Economy In Crisis.

China Threatens To Cripple U.S. Economy

China now has accumulated trillions of U.S. dollars of currency reserves, of which nearly $800 billion are in U.S. treasury bonds. This condition has been building up for a long time and puts America in a precarious and vulnerable position.

China now has accumulated trillions of U.S. dollars of currency reserves, of which nearly $800 billion are in U.S. treasury bonds. This has happened through their escalating balance of trade surpluses with America – they sell to us much more than we sell to them. In the process, China has been instrumental in putting many of our American manufacturers out of business.

Now with this huge stockpile of money and the leverage it gives them, they are threatening to dump these bonds and our U.S. dollar on the market. If they take this irresponsible action, it would immeasurably devalue the worth of our money, send the cost of goods skyrocketing, and cripple our economy.

This condition has been building up for a long time and puts America in a precarious and vulnerable position, as we have been producing less each year and have increasingly been surviving on imports.

Full Story: China Threatens To Cripple U.S. Economy | Economy In Crisis.

High Tech Research from U.S. Going to China

American companies have been trying, and failing, to compete against state-subsidized companies all around the world. No company or industry can stand against the national champions of Europe and Asia.

American companies have been trying, and failing, to compete against state-subsidized companies all around the world. No company or industry can stand against the national champions of Europe and Asia. They often face only two possible choices; American companies can either be put out of business, or they can relocate to compete.

Increasingly, according to The New York Times, those relocations are ending up in China.

China offers a wealth of opportunities for productive industries. It has 1.4 billion consumers who have more collective purchasing power with each passing day. It has a government willing, and able, to pay a premium in exchange for new facilities. More importantly, China has almost no worker protections, wage standards, or environmental regulations.

When faced with the possibility of paying an American $20 per hour to do a job cleanly and safely, or paying a Chinese worker a fraction of that cost with no other cost considerations, a firm would be foolish to stay here.

Full Story: High Tech Research from U.S. Going to China | Economy In Crisis.

OPS: When it comes to high-tech RESEARCH is the future.   The future of the US is being sold out

American Icons Not Made in the U.S.A.

Some of the most iconic products from their childhood, quintessential American things like Levi jeans and Chuck Taylor sneakers, are no longer made in the U.S.A.

Even the most casual observer would have to take notice that much of what he or she buys each and every day is made outside of the U.S. Without even looking for a label, this should be evident by the numerous closed factories in every city across America. But what many Americans may not realize is that some of the most iconic products from their childhood, quintessential American things like Levi jeans and Chuck Taylor sneakers, are no longer made in the U.S.A. either.

Newsweek details a slew of once-American made products that are at once recognizable and conjure up thoughts of a simpler time. A time when America was a manufacturing powerhouse, making nearly all the products its citizens needed domestically and employing millions with well-paying jobs that afforded workers the luxury to purchase the products they had just made.

With the era of globalization and all the free trade agreements that it ushered in, America's manufacturing prowess is no more. Instead, America now relies on Third World nations for manufacturing. That reliance, however, costs a heavy price in terms of jobs, wealth, prestige and, as Newsweek points out, a bit of history.

Full Story: American Icons Not Made in the U.S.A. | Economy In Crisis.

Woman was told by a public defender to plead guilty to a felony that wasn’t even a felonyThe Right to Counsel – A Woman Becomes a Test Case

The Right to Counsel – A Woman Becomes a Test Case

SHE was poor and in trouble. He was the public defender appointed to represent her.

She was Kimberly Hurell-Harring, a nobody in the courts, a nursing home worker and a mother of two who had done something stupid. He was Patrick E. Barber, a lawyer with a silver stubble of a beard, paid by the county and state to help make the criminal justice system as fair to the poor as it is to the rich.

At his urging, she pleaded guilty and went to jail for a felony that turned out not to be a felony at all. “It seemed like he was on the D.A.’s side,” she said later.

Full Story: The Right to Counsel – A Woman Becomes a Test Case – NYTimes.com.

Is Any Illness Covered by Insurance?

NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF -

Health care is etched on my mind these days not only because of the Capitol Cacophony but also because a husband and wife I know, my former neighbors, are undergoing the kind of heartbreak no family should endure.

Zack Liu and Jan Li, along with their two young daughters, lived a few doors away from me. Then a couple of years ago they moved to Hong Kong, and paid $4,500 per year for a health insurance policy for Jan and the girls (Zack was covered through his job).

Last April 24, their world collapsed: Jan was diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer.

Opponents of the reform proposals argue: If you like the Department of Motor Vehicles, you’ll love Obamacare. But as the drama of Zack and Jan shows, the only bureaucrats more obdurate than those at the D.M.V. are the ones working for insurance companies. The existing system is preposterous: we rely on insurance companies whose business model is based on accepting premiums from healthy people and devising ways to exclude from coverage those who most desperately need medical care.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Is Any Illness Covered by Insurance? – NYTimes.com.

The myth of tax cuts that pay for themselves poses a threat

Don’t believe the hype: Tax cuts mean reduced tax revenues.

Self-paying tax cuts are a popular delusion, except among economists.

University of Michigan economist Joel Slemrod is adamant on one of the key economic issues of our day: “Tax cuts don’t pay for themselves! Period!”

Hardly any economist would disagree. This is true for Republicans as well as Democrats. It is also true regardless of whether they describe themselves as NeoClassical, New Classical, Rational Expectations, Monetarist, Keynesian, Austrian or New Institutional economists.

But for a substantial portion of the general public, the idea that cutting tax rates will increase tax revenues has become an article of faith. The following anonymous comment to an online Associated Press story is typical: “The only way our government can create jobs is to cut taxes. It’s been proven over and over again. Cutting taxes also increases government revenue.”

Full Story: Lotterman: The myth of tax cuts that pay for themselves poses a threat | Edward Lotterman’s columns | Idaho Statesman.

Don’t Tell Me Republicans Are The Great Defenders Of Veterans!

Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) on the Floor

NYT Public Editor Finally Admits ACORN ‘PIMP’ HOAX REPORTING Failure:

‘Times Was WRONG, I Have Been WRONG Defending Paper’

Clark Hoyt says in Sunday column ‘editors considering correction’

Also concedes paper ‘should have’ covered former MA AG’s early-December report finding no criminality in ‘heavily edited’ sting videos

“The Times was wrong…and I have been wrong in defending the paper’s phrasing.”

Even as the New York Times once again misreported the ACORN “Pimp” Hoax on its pages in a report on the community organization’s possible declaration of bankruptcy in Saturday’s paper, their Public Editor (ombudsman) Clark Hoyt finally admits in his column tonight, for tomorrow’s paper, that both he and the paper were “wrong” in their reports about rightwing dirty trickster James O’Keefe’s “pimp” costume, adding that “editors say they are considering a correction.”

Considering?! What exactly would be the hold up?

Full Story: The BRAD BLOG : NYT PUBLIC EDITOR FINALLY ADMITS ACORN ‘PIMP’ HOAX REPORTING FAILURE: ‘TIMES WAS WRONG, I HAVE BEEN WRONG DEFENDING PAPER’.

Large-Scale Public Investment-Employment: A New Deal For Our Times

On March 17 Congress passed the “Hire Now Tax Cut” giving companies a break from paying Social Security taxes for the remainder of the year on any new workers hired who have been unemployed for at least 60 days.

The legislation is a token response to the emerging consensus in both the mainstream and independent media that the economy’s unemployment problem is cumulative, structural and long term. But the prescription is entirely inadequate to the diagnosis. Let’s have a look at the patient.

The Overall Employment Picture and the Handwriting on the Wall

The most telling indicator of the economy’s sickness is that job losses continue to be cumulative. The pace of job loss has slowed down in recent months, i.e. things continue to get worse at a slower rate. This should be no comfort in the context of an economy that has lost 8.4 million jobs since December 2007, including more than 4 million in the last 12 months alone.

Full Story: Large-Scale Public Investment-Employment: A New Deal For Our Times | CommonDreams.org.

Glenn Greenwald: Industry interests are not in their “twilight”

PhRMA is so in favor of this bill that, over the last week, they’ve spent $6 million on an ad campaign aimed at undecided House Democrats to try to pressure them to vote for the bill.

The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein has an amazing post in which he trumpets what he calls the “Twilight of the Interest Groups” reflected by likely passage of the health care bill (h/t). Why are Interest Groups — once so powerful in Washington — now banished to their “twilight”? Because, says Ezra, “the Obama administration succeeded at neutralizing every single industry.” If, by “neutralizing,” Ezra means “bribing and accommodating them to such an extreme degree that they ended up affirmatively supporting a bill that lavishes them with massive benefits,” then he’s absolutely right. He himself notes what he calls the “remarkable level of industry consensus” in support of the bill:

Pharma supports the bill. Insurers are incoherent on it, but there’s not a ferocious and united campaign to kill the proposal. The American Medical Association has endorsed the Senate bill. The hospitals have endorsed the bill. Labor has endorsed the bill. The business community is split, with larger employers holding their fire.

Full Story: Industry interests are not in their “twilight” – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Cash-Strapped State Governments Hike Traffic Fees

Shomari Jennings was willing to pay the $70 ticket he received for driving without a seatbelt, but not the slew of tacked-on fees and penalties that ballooned the cost more than tenfold.

Every $10 of his base fine triggered a $26 “penalty assessment” for courthouse construction, a DNA identification program, emergency medical services and other programs. Other fees ranged from $1 to $35.

“It’s the new tax,” Jennings, 30, complained while waiting in traffic court to contest a staggering bill compounded by a $500 fine for missing a court date.

Full Story: Cash-Strapped State Governments Hike Traffic Fees.

OPS: We are liable to start seeing more traffic stops for more obscure reasons. It’s nothing personal, it’s just business

Under Panetta, a more aggressive CIA

The plan was a standard one in the CIA’s war against extremists in Pakistan: The agency was using a Predator drone to monitor a residential compound; a Taliban leader was expected to arrive shortly; a CIA missile would kill him.

On the morning of Aug. 5, CIA Director Leon Panetta was informed that Baitullah Mehsud was about to reach his father-in-law’s home. Mehsud would be in the open, minimizing the risk that civilians would be injured or killed. Panetta authorized the strike, according to a senior intelligence official who described the sequence of events.

Some hours later, officials at CIA headquarters in Langley identified Mehsud on a feed from the Predator’s camera. He was seen resting on the roof of the house, hooked up to a drip to palliate a kidney problem. He was not alone.

Full Story: Under Panetta, a more aggressive CIA.

With Cheap Food Imports, Haiti Can’t Feed Itself

The earthquake not only smashed markets, collapsed warehouses and left more than 2.5 million people without enough to eat. It may also have shaken up the way the developing world gets food.

Decades of inexpensive imports – especially rice from the U.S. – punctuated with abundant aid in various crises have destroyed local agriculture and left impoverished countries such as Haiti unable to feed themselves.

While those policies have been criticized for years in aid worker circles, world leaders focused on fixing Haiti are admitting for the first time that loosening trade barriers has only exacerbated hunger in Haiti and elsewhere.

Full Story: With Cheap Food Imports, Haiti Can’t Feed Itself.

Gashaw Tahir Fights Deforestation, Plants One Million Trees In Ethiopia

Ethiopian-born American citizen Gashaw Tahir traveled back to his homeland several years ago and was shocked at the massive deforestation that had taken place since his departure.

Rivers have dried, mountains have been deforested, and rising temperatures due to climate change are making plant life more difficult to maintain. Tahir decided that something had to be done. His story is told in a new video from America.gov.

“My ultimate vision is making Africa green again,” he says. “That inspires me, touches me, and moves me into action.”

Full Story: Gashaw Tahir Fights Deforestation, Plants One Million Trees In Ethiopia.

Thousands Protest In D.C. For Withdrawal From Iraq, Afghanistan

Thousands of protesters – many directing their anger squarely at President Barack Obama – marched through the nation's capital Saturday to urge immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

At least eight people, including activist Cindy Sheehan, were arrested by U.S. Park Police at the end of the march, after laying coffins at a fence outside the White House. Friday marked the seventh anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

“Arrest that war criminal!” Sheehan shouted outside the White House before her arrest, referring to Obama.

Full Story: Thousands Protest In D.C. For Withdrawal From Iraq, Afghanistan.

Crackdown Fails: There’s Still Hash In Copenhagen

Six years later, an expensive and brutal crackdown has only produced one real change in the hash district: Now the dealers use tables instead of booths.

It was six years ago this week that Danish police held their first full-scale raid on Pusher Street, the world famous road in Copenhagen’s hippie district, Christiania, where people openly buy hashish.

The hash raids were the result of the government’s decision to crack down hard on the area’s hash trade. But today, both police and politicians admit the trade still thrives on the street, if in a slightly more discreet way.

Full Story: Crackdown Fails: There’s Still Hash In Copenhagen | NEWS JUNKIE POST.

Bibi Is Undermining Israel’s Security

Fareed Zakaria -

The Israeli Prime Minister says his nation’s security is his top priority. Too bad he’s undermining it.

In international relations, whenever you hear the term “confidence-building measures,” you can be sure that someone is trying to kick a can down the road. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has now promised to offer such measures to the Palestinians. He has also urged that everyone “calm down” about the diplomatic row between his government and the United States.

But this crisis hasn’t been caused by just one event—the announcement, while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel, to approve new Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem. It caps a year of increasingly strained relations between Washington and Tel Aviv. And while he’s apologized for the ill-timed announcement, Netanyahu remains unyielding. In fact, the Israeli press has reported plans to build not merely the 1,600 units announced last week, but 50,000. “We will act according to the vital interests of the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said last week.

Full Story: Zakaria: Bibi Is Undermining Israel’s Security – Newsweek.com.

Baldness ‘could be good for your health’ say scientists

A receding hairline can be a good thing, according to US scientists, who say men who go bald by 30 appear to be less likely to develop prostate cancer.

Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine studied 2,000 men aged between 40 and 47.

They were able to link high levels of the male hormone testosterone in those who lose their hair earlier with a lower risk of tumours.

The findings are published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology.

Half of the men in this study had suffered prostate cancer.

Researchers compared the rate of tumours in those who said their hair had thinned by the age of 30 with those who did not suffer hair loss.

Full Story: BBC News – Baldness ‘could be good for your health’ say scientists.

OPS: Life’s full of trade-offs and compromise

BA calls up 5,000 strike-breakers

BRITISH AIRWAYS is training 5,000 more staff to work as cabin crew after it claimed victory in the first round of its bitter industrial dispute yesterday.

The airline said it put almost 50,000 passengers into the skies in the first 24 hours of the strike. Many were served tea and sandwiches from trolleys by off-duty pilots and engineering staff, part of a volunteer force of 1,030 BA workers scrambled to help those who refused to join the strike.

BA claimed it was operating 60% of its scheduled flights. The airline said that by last night more cabin crew had turned up than expected — 1,157 out of the 1,700 due to work, including 97% of Gatwick crews — and the numbers were “above the levels needed to operate our published schedule”. Plans were under way last night to reopen previously cancelled flights to Los Angeles, Miami, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Full Story: BA calls up 5,000 strike-breakers – Times Online.

OPS: 5000 under-qualified people responsible for your life?  A good reason to consider a different carrier

Texas Church Bans Child’s Photograph of Passion

Houston church bans 10-year-old photographer’s controversial depiction of Christ’s Passion

Some find Jackson Potts II’s photograph of a nightstick-wielding policeman beating a fallen, bleeding child violent and offensive, conjuring images of police brutality and child abuse.

But to Jackson, a talented 10-year-old Houston photographer, and a cadre of art lovers, the disturbing image has religious symbolism.

Jackson shot the photograph for an exhibit depicting the Stations of the Cross, but the show’s organizers rejected it, sparking a controversy some say is overshadowing remembrance of Jesus’ final hours during the season of Lent.

Full Story: Texas Church Bans Child’s Photograph of Passion – ABC News.

Another Gulf War Syndrome?

Burning trash on bases is sickening soldiers, but the Army refuses to extinguish the burn pits.

Before her last deployment, 31-year-old Staff Sergeant Danielle Nienajadlo passed her Army physical with flying colors. So when she started having health problems several weeks after arriving at Balad Air Base in Iraq, no one knew what to make of her symptoms: headaches that kept her awake; unexplained bruises all over her body; an open sore on her back that wouldn’t heal; vomiting and weight loss. In July 2008, after three miserable months, Nienajadlo checked into the base emergency room with a 104-degree fever.

She was sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and learned she had been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-progressing form of the disease. She told her doctors and her family she had felt fine until she started inhaling the oily black smoke that spewed out of the base’s open-air trash-burning facility day and night. At times, the plume contained dioxins, some of which can cause the kind of cancer Nienajadlo had.

“She breathed in this gunk,” says her mother, Lindsay Weidman. “She’d go back to the hooch at night to go to bed and cough up these black chunks.”

Full Story: Another Gulf War Syndrome? | Mother Jones.

Swiss Catholic Church investigating 10 abuse cases

The Swiss Catholic Church is investigating around 10 allegations of abuse by clergy, including some acts committed since 2001, making Switzerland the latest country to be hit by a wave of scandal sweeping Europe.

In a pastoral letter on Saturday, Pope Benedict apologized to victims of child sex abuse by clergy in Ireland and ordered an official inquiry there.

The Swiss Bishops’ Conference said the Pope’s letter confirmed the church in Switzerland had acted correctly in dealing with cases of abuse, and added that it had already worked together with victims to report abuse to the authorities.

“The letter supports the guidelines that the Church introduced for cases of sexual abuse in 2002,” said Conference spokesman Walter Mueller.

Full Story: Swiss Catholic Church investigating 10 abuse cases | Reuters.

Tea Party protesters reportedly spit on one lawmaker, call others ‘faggot’ and the n-word.

Today’s Code Red rally appears to be one of the most raucous Tea Party gatherings on Capitol Hill yet. In addition to protesters shouting with rage at federal lawmakers, Sam Stein reports on some more disturbing incidents:

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-M.D.) had been spit on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-G.A.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a ‘ni–er.’ And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a “faggot,” as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president’s speech, shrugged off the incident.

But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

Full Story: Think Progress » Tea Party protesters reportedly spit on one lawmaker, call others ‘faggot’ and the n-word..

‘The Enemy of My Enemy’

– In These Times –

The troubling history of Tea Party leader Dick Armey

As the Tea Party movement has gained momentum during the last 12 months, it seems few Tea Partiers have caught on to the troubling past of the man at the center of their movement: FreedomWorks chairman, former House Majority Leader and recently-retired lobbyist extraordinaire, Dick Armey.

As chairman of FreedomWorks, the group credited with mobilizing the Tea Party movement, Armey is the movement’s de facto leader. Yet Armey’s years spent lobbying for a group recognized by the State Department as being a terrorist organization—should give Tea Partiers pause.

In the weeks before April 15, 2009, local newspapers began reporting that groups calling themselves TEA, or Taxed Enough Already, were planning rallies to protest wasteful government spending. By the time Tax Day rolled around, over 300 protests were under way in all 50 states. More than 100,000 people took to the streets, gathered in parks and city centers with signs, slogans and costumes evoking America’s revolutionary past.

Full Story: ‘The Enemy of My Enemy’ — In These Times.

Rep. Barney Frank distributes ‘Little Punk Staffer’ buttons to Capitol Hill aides.

At an American Bankers Association summit last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) urged the bankers to fight financial reform. To make his point, he bashed people who work in Congress and called them “little punk staffers“:

“Don’t let those little punk staffers take advantage of you and stand up for yourselves,” Boehner said. “All of us are hearing from our friends and constituents on lack of credit, you can’t get a loan, the more your government takes and taxes, the more regulations you have to comply with the more cost you have there and less amount you are going to have available to loan to customers.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Rep. Barney Frank distributes ‘Little Punk Staffer’ buttons to Capitol Hill aides..

Bishops Dismiss Other Catholic Groups: We’re The Only Ones Able To Understand Health Care Policy

Yesterday, the Family Research Council, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and National Right to Life hosted a public press call explaining their opposition to the Senate health care legislation. Their press release said that they wanted to “showcase a united pro-life movement opposed to the abortion funding and mandate provisions as well as the lack of conscience protections within the health care bill.”

The pro-life movement certainly isn’t united on the side of these three organizations though. If anything, it’s united on the side of passing health care reform. In the past couple weeks, the Catholic Health Association, prominent Catholic theologians, and “60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns” broke with the bishops and called for the passage of the Senate legislation, decrying the “false” information on the abortion provisions being spread by health care opponents.

Full Story: Think Progress » Bishops Dismiss Other Catholic Groups: We’re The Only Ones Able To Understand Health Care Policy.

OPS; These guys are still upset that services  and the Bible aren’t still in Latin.

Justice Roberts Gets Denied as a Commencement Speaker and Justice Thomas Gets Debated Regarding his Wife’s Tea Party Links

It was a headline weekend for two Supreme Court justices as the popular and ethical limitations of sitting on the High Court became newsworthy.

Justice Roberts was rejected as a commencement speaker for being too political. A student proposal to bring the Justice to Butler University, where Justice Roberts’ niece is a senior, was nixed by the faculty.

Indianapolis Star: “We try to steer clear of political divides if possible,” said pharmacy school Professor Jeanne VanTyle, president of Butler’s faculty senate….”Last year, I watched half of the audience cheer and half of the audience frown,” she said. “That’s not what someone’s commencement ought to be.”

Full Story: Justice Roberts Gets Denied as a Commencement Speaker and Justice Thomas Gets Debated Regarding his Wife’s Tea Party Links — Signs of the Times News.

Temple Bomb Suspects: The Feds Put Us Up to It!

Defense attorneys say an alleged plot to bomb New York synagogues was hatched and directed by a federal informant.

Lawyers for four men from Newburgh have filed a motion to dismiss the terror indictment against them.

They said the informant badgered the defendants until they got involved in the plot.

They said the informant chose the targets, supplied fake bombs for the synagogues and a fake missile to shoot down planes. The motion said he also offered to pay the defendants, who attorneys alleged weren’t inclined toward any crime until the informant began recruiting them.

Full Story: Temple Bomb Suspects: The Feds Put Us Up to It! | NBC New York.