Archive for March, 2010

Israel Lands in Public Relations Nightmare

Israeli riot police and soldiers have, since Friday, sealed off the Al Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, restricting entry to women and Palestinian men over 50.

Outside the walled Old City, where the Al Aqsa mosque is situated, and in several West Bank villages, clashes were reported between Palestinian protestors, their Israeli and international supporters, and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), leaving at least 20 Palestinians wounded.

Following a security assessment Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak ordered security forces to stop tens of thousands of Palestinians from entering Jerusalem.

Full Story: MIDEAST: Israel Lands in Public Relations Nightmare – IPS ipsnews.net.

Food Sunday: Five Simple Ways To Fight Corporate Power

Sadly, it appears that Barack Obama is unwilling or unable to take on corporate America. He talks tough, but accommodates when the chips are really on the table – as the health care debate has conveniently demonstrated. More and more Americans are waking up to the fact that with a few notable exceptions, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington are basically employees of corporate lobbyists.

Perhaps one of the best ways to counter the stranglehold large corporations have on our economy and our government is to go underground. We can take the legs out from under the Wal-Marts, Exxons, Monsantos, and Coca-Colas of the world by finding alternatives to the corporate-consumer culture we have been raised in. Here’s a quick list of 5 ways we can get started:

1) Refuse to purchase anything from the three largest companies in any industry. This would eliminate the incentive to glean maximum profit no matter what the cost to human lives or the environment. For example, imagine how the oil business would change if all of a sudden Exxon, Shell, and BP were trying to be #4 instead of #1. If you’re feeling really daring, you can refuse to buy anything sold by a Fortune 500 company.

Full Story: Food Sunday: Five Simple Ways To Fight Corporate Power | The Seminal.

Impending Environmental Disaster: Uranium Mining Begins Near Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon, AZ — In defiance of legal challenges and a U.S. Government moratorium, Canadian company Denison Mines has started mining uranium on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. According to the Arizona Daily Sun the mine has been operating since December 2009.

Denison plans on extracting 335 tons of uranium ore per day out of the “Arizona 1 Mine”, which is set to operate four days per week. The hazardous ore will be hauled by truck more than 300 miles through towns and communities to the company’s White Mesa mill located near Blanding, Utah.

After being pressured by environmental groups, U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar initially called for a two-year moratorium on new mining claims in a buffer zone of 1 million acres around Grand Canyon National Park, but the moratorium doesn’t include existing claims such as Denison’s. The moratorium also doesn’t address mining claims outside of the buffer zone.

The Grand Canyon is ancestral homeland to the Havasupai and Hualapai Nations. Although both Indigenous Nations have banned uranium mining on their reservations the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management may permit thousands of mining claims on surrounding lands.

Full Story: Impending Environmental Disaster: Uranium Mining Begins Near Grand Canyon.

Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam’s IOUs

The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.

It’s time to start cashing them in.

For more than two decades, Social Security collected more money in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits — billions more each year.

Not anymore. This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes — nearly $29 billion more.

Full Story: Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam’s IOUs – Yahoo! News.

James K. Galbraith – In Defense of Deficits

there are two ways to get the increase in total spending that we call “economic growth.” One way is for government to spend. The other is for banks to lend.

The Simpson-Bowles Commission, just established by the president, will no doubt deliver an attack on Social Security and Medicare dressed up in the sanctimonious rhetoric of deficit reduction. (Back in his salad days, former Senator Alan Simpson was a regular schemer to cut Social Security.) The Obama spending freeze is another symbolic sacrifice to the deficit gods. Most observers believe neither will amount to much, and one can hope that they are right. But what would be the economic consequences if they did? The answer is that a big deficit-reduction program would destroy the economy, or what remains of it, two years into the Great Crisis.

For this reason, the deficit phobia of Wall Street, the press, some economists and practically all politicians is one of the deepest dangers that we face. It’s not just the old and the sick who are threatened; we all are. To cut current deficits without first rebuilding the economic engine of the private credit system is a sure path to stagnation, to a double-dip recession–even to a second Great Depression. To focus obsessively on cutting future deficits is also a path that will obstruct, not assist, what we need to do to re-establish strong growth and high employment.

To put things crudely, there are two ways to get the increase in total spending that we call “economic growth.” One way is for government to spend. The other is for banks to lend. Leaving aside short-term adjustments like increased net exports or financial innovation, that’s basically all there is. Governments and banks are the two entities with the power to create something from nothing. If total spending power is to grow, one or the other of these two great financial motors–public deficits or private loans–has to be in action.

Full Story: In Defense of Deficits.

Pensioners say they are targets of a backlash

Thomas Tevlin had worked some solid jobs — salesman for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, driver for a uniform company — when he and his wife had twins.

As the main breadwinner for a family of seven, Tevlin knew something had to change. So in 1965 he took a 15 percent pay cut to become a Maplewood firefighter.

“I took the job for the benefits, because if you have that many people to look out for, you need your benefits,” he said. Tevlin augmented his salary by taking a second job as an encyclopedia salesman. It was enough for him and wife Carolyn to forge a lifestyle she jokingly calls that of “lower-middle-class, working-class slobs.”

Full Story: Pensioners say they are targets of a backlash | – NJ.com.

Comment on DU from DJ13: First they came for the pensions, and I said nothing. Then they came for Social Security, and………

AP Exclusive: Pentagon gun was from Tenn. police

Two guns used in high-profile shootings this year at the Pentagon and a Las Vegas courthouse both came from the same unlikely place: the police and court system of Memphis, Tenn.

Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that both guns were once seized in criminal cases in Memphis. The officials described how the weapons made their separate ways from an evidence vault to gun dealers and to the shooters.

The use of guns that once were in police custody and were later involved in attacks on police officers highlights a little-known divide in gun policy in the United States: Many cities and states destroy guns gathered in criminal probes, but others sell or trade the weapons in order to get other guns or buy equipment such as bulletproof vest

Full Story: AP Exclusive: Pentagon gun was from Tenn. police – Yahoo! News.

Gibbs: By next Sunday, healthcare reform will be ‘law of the land’

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the healthcare bill will pass by next weekend.

“We’ll have the votes when the House votes, I think, within the next week,” Gibbs said on “Fox News Sunday.

Gibbs added that those on next week’s Sunday talk shows “will be talking about healthcare not as a presidential proposal but I think as the law of the land.”

President Barack Obama will look to campaign on the new healthcare law in midterm elections, Gibbs said.

“We believe healthcare reform is going to pass, and once it passes we’re happy to have the 2010 elections be about the achievement of healthcare reform,” Gibbs said.

But Republicans on Fox said there’s no guarantee the bill passes and that Democrats will benefit from it.

Full Story: Gibbs: By next Sunday, healthcare reform will be ‘law of the land’ – TheHill.com.

OPS: Then can you tell us now what it’s really going to be?

When Patients Own the System

A Progressively Financed, Single Standard of Care for All

The national legislative healthcare fix that may be passed by the 111^th Congress and then signed by President Obama will do little to relieve the stresses felt by most patients in this country.  The steady decline most of us have seen in the kind of quality medical services we need is not likely to be mitigated.  Insurance companies will grow ever stronger and more deeply ensconced, and the patient voice will fade more quickly from prominence than it has in recent years.

Patients have been props in this discussion.  Patients are widgets in an economic system.  Patients are an annoyance to insurance companies who worry about the medical losses (claims) as a loss of profit and often even to providers who must carefully screen patients to make sure they come with profit potential via their insurance coverage or very deep pockets full of cash for payment. Pesky patients.

And nothing – nothing – in the current legislation disrupts this process from deepening.

Full Story: When Patients Own the System | CommonDreams.org.

New Fraud Cases Point to Lapses in Iraq Projects

Investigators looking into corruption involving reconstruction in Iraq say they have opened more than 50 new cases in six months by scrutinizing large cash transactions — involving banks, land deals, loan payments, casinos and even plastic surgery — made by some of the Americans involved in the nearly $150 billion program.

Some of the cases involve people who are suspected of having mailed tens of thousands of dollars to themselves from Iraq, or of having stuffed the money into duffel bags and suitcases when leaving the country, the federal investigators said. In other cases, millions of dollars were moved through wire transfers. Suspects then used cash to buy BMWs, Humvees and expensive jewelry, or to pay off enormous casino debts.

Some suspects also tried to conceal foreign bank accounts in Ghana, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Britain, the investigators said, while in other cases, cash was simply found stacked in home safes.

Full Story: New Fraud Cases Point to Lapses in Iraq Projects – NYTimes.com.

China Defends Trade Policy, Blames U.S. For Tensions

China sought Sunday to deflate rising pressure from the U.S. and other powers over Chinese economic policies and growing assertiveness in world affairs, with its prime minister promising cooperation to bolster the global recovery.

Premier Wen Jiabao took on critics in the West who say Chinese policies lift China while keeping global growth anemic. He defended China’s currency against charges that it is undervalued to boost Chinese exports. He promised that Beijing would import more and urged countries to resist protectionism, saying one country should not seek to disadvantage others during the fragile economic recovery.

“We are opposed to the position of engaging in mutual finger-pointing or taking strong measures to force other countries to adjust exchange rates,” Wen said in a more than two-hour news conference

Full Story: China Defends Trade Policy, Blames U.S. For Tensions.

IRS visits Sacramento carwash in pursuit of 4 cents

It was every businessperson’s nightmare.

Arriving at Harv’s Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. “They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending,” says Harv’s owner, Aaron Zeff.

The really odd part of this: The letter that was hand-delivered to Zeff’s on-site manager showed the amount of money owed to the feds was … 4 cents.

Inexplicably, penalties and taxes accruing on the debt – stemming from the 2006 tax year – were listed as $202.31, leaving Harv’s with an obligation of $202.35.

Full Story: Bob Shallit: IRS visits Sacramento carwash in pursuit of 4 cents – Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee.

Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Jesus?

When Glenn Beck told listeners of his radio show on March 2 that they should “run as fast as you can” from any church that preached “social or economic justice” because those were code words for Communism and Nazism, he probably thought he was tweaking a few crunchy religious liberals who didn’t listen to the show anyway. Instead he managed to outrage Christians in most mainline Protestant denominations, African-American congregations, Hispanic churches, and Catholics–who first heard the term “social justice” in papal encyclicals and have a little something in their tradition called “Catholic social teaching.” (Not to mention the teaching of a certain fellow from Nazareth who was always blathering on about justice…)

He also managed to bring the National Council of Churches–once a powerful umbrella organization for Christian churches–out from hibernation, in the form of a withering response from leader Peg Chemberlin. Progressive evangelical leader Jim Wallis, taking a page from his conservative counterparts, is calling for Christians to boycott Beck’s shows. And Beck has given the folks who come up with slogans every week for church signs plenty of material to work with.After initially doubling-down on his statements, Beck is now trying to walk them back somewhat, making a distinction between religious injunctions for individuals to help the poor and the broader notion that society has an obligation to care for the “least of these.” But as religious scholar and blogger Mark Silk points out, that’s not what Beck’s own tradition–the Latter-Day Saints–believes:

Full Story: Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Jesus? – Swampland – TIME.com.

OPS: It’s not just Glenn Beck – It’s all rightwing nuts. If they loved Jesus as they pretend to, they would practice his teachings – rather than use him as a front for their Corporatist agenda.

David Axelrod: Health Care Lobbyists Descending Like ‘Locusts’ On Congress

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod warned on Sunday that health care industry lobbyists were descending on skeptical Democratic lawmakers “like locusts” in an effort to scuttle the final vote on a reform bill.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Axelrod rationalized the difficulties of getting a majority vote behind a final health care package by pointing to the pressures these lawmakers face.

“It has been a long and arduous debate,” he said. “It is a tough issue for members of congress because there is an enormous lobbying campaign going on, on the other side. Lobbyists from the insurance industry descending on Capital Hill like locusts and trying to pressure people to vote against this bill. There is a lot of pressure on people, but I believe we will be there at the end of the day.”

Full Story: David Axelrod: Health Care Lobbyists Descending Like ‘Locusts’ On Congress.

Dodd May Toughen CFPA In Financial Regulatory Reform Bill

To consumer advocates, it’s essential that an agency charged with protecting borrowers is able not just to write rules for industries that extend credit, but also able to enforce those rules.

It’s an intuitive concept, to say the least. To make its advantages more clear, the Consumer Federation of America put together a chart that shows the current relationship between different federal laws and the agencies with rulemaking and enforcement authority under those laws.

Click HERE for a full size image of the chart.

The current regulation of consumer financial products is a tangled web that allows businesses and banks to shop around for the most lenient cop. The idea of the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency would be to centralize rulemaking and enforcement authority in one place.

Full Story: Dodd May Toughen CFPA In Financial Regulatory Reform Bill.

The World’s First Co-operative Brewpub

Austin has a reputation for fitness: great weather, great hike and bike trails and a zillion healthy food options. But Austin’s rep as a party spot is even larger. Steve Earle famously said he couldn’t live in the city because “the weather was too good, the girls were too pretty and the dope was too cheap.” Now some young entrepreneurs are launching a new option for partying with your thinking cap on. They are building a brewery and restaurant with a totally alternative business model.

Full Story: The World’s First Co-operative Brewpub | Cobweb | Boise Weekly.

Unions disappointed by Education bill

Even before President Barack Obama’s plans for a major overhaul of education legislation officially appear Saturday evening, the heads of the two largest teachers unions are signaling their opposition to a bill that calls for increasing federal education spending by more than $3 billion in the new 2011 fiscal year.

In a draft document provided by the administration entitled “ESEA Reauthorization: Before and After NCLB, the administration says it will end the “’race to the bottom’ for state standards,” introduce “real rewards for high-poverty schools, districts and states showing real progress,” and end “exclusive focus on tests, narrowing of curriculum.” It also says the new bill will “include teacher perspective,” “invest in expanded learning time programs,” and introduce a “greater focus on getting great teachers where they are needed most.”

A second Department of Education draft on ESEA reauthorization says the changes mean the system will “treat teachers like the professionals they are,” which is one way of saying it will try to roll back collectively bargained rights the teachers unions are loathe to surrender.

Full Story: Unions disappointed by ed. bill – Harry Siegel and Nia-Malika Henderson – POLITICO.com.

Florida on guard against giant snails

Efforts are underway to prevent the reestablishment of African mollusks, which threaten crops and public health.

They’re not as menacing as Burmese pythons proliferating in the Everglades, but giant African snails are targets of the government too.

The invasive mollusks are considered a major plant pest and a potential public health threat because they can spread diseases, including meningitis. Now federal and state authorities are seeking to prevent the large, slimy, shell-toting snails from reestablishing themselves in Florida.

Once established, agricultural officials said, the mollusks “can create a giant swath of destruction.”

“The idea is that these are prolific breeders,” said Mark Fagan, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “Our primary concern is the potential harm it can do to agricultural crops, as well as [public] health concerns.”

Full Story: Florida on guard against giant snails – latimes.com.

Texas approves radical right-wing history books | Raw Story

Change will impact students across country

Texas approves radical right wing history books For the next ten years, millions of students in Texas and across the country will read history textbooks suggesting that the actions of witch-hunt instigator Joseph McCarthy were justified. They will read about religious icon John Calvin instead of Thomas Jefferson. They will read a description of the US government that includes the words “constitutional republic” but not the word “democratic.”

These are just a few of the changes an ultra right-wing Texas Education Board has tentatively approved for the state’s history curriculum. There is one more stage for approval, but the board voted yes to the changes in a 10-5 vote. That’s 10 Republicans voting yes and 5 Democrats voting no, making the chances for reevaluation almost negligible.

Once fully approved, it will be a decade before the board reviews the curriculum again.

…snip…

Most of the board’s members make no secret of their intent to instill their own religious and political ideologies into public schools, and the consequences of their activism have far-reaching consequences.

Full Story: Texas approves radical right-wing history books | Raw Story.

Podesta Responds To Roberts’ ‘Troubling’ Comment With Call For Supreme Court To Be Televised

At the State of the Union earlier this year, President Obama denounced the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that invalidated a sixty-three year-old ban on corporate money in federal elections as the members of the court looked on. “I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests or, worse, by foreign entities,” said Obama. “They should be decided by the American people.”

At the University of Alabama this week, Chief Justice John Roberts called the scene at the State of the Union “very troubling.” “To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I’m not sure why we’re there,” said Roberts. On Fox News Sunday today, Center for American Progress President and CEO John Podesta said Roberts’ complaint was “a little disingenuous” and suggested that the Supreme Court open its hearings to television cameras:

PODESTA: Well, look, I think it’s a little disingenuous. I don’t think Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts, felt too bad when he was at President Bush’s pep rallies. But I would actually offer him a compromise, which is the Supreme Court stop going to the State of the Union and in exchange they start broadcasting, on C-SPAN or otherwise, their decisions. So that when they issue a decision reversing a hundred years of precedent, let all this corporate money flow into the political system, do it on television so the American people can see it.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Podesta Responds To Roberts’ ‘Troubling’ Comment With Call For Supreme Court To Be Televised.

Avoiding the Coming Wave of Economic Collapse

Nearly all manufactured goods now coming from overseas. The labor force is being quietly redeployed into lower-paying service, retail, hospitality, assembly, or distribution jobs that are transient, do not support communities, careers, or provide benefits.

America is sailing into dangerous economic waters, chiefly due to our massive debts and inability to manufacture competitively. The months ahead could determine the success or failure of the nation’s economic course; will we right the ship- or sink into the history books as another former superpower.

Vanishing Industrial Base

Opportunities to produce goods in America have all but vanished; nearly all manufactured goods now coming from overseas. The labor force is being quietly redeployed into lower-paying service, retail, hospitality, assembly, or distribution jobs that are transient, do not support communities, careers, or provide benefits.

Even vaunted finance, high-tech, medical, and academia jobs are being pressured by the surfeit of talented college graduates who are dumping their elected disciplines to “follow the money” into these few remaining propitious fields.

Full Story: Avoiding the Coming Wave of Economic Collapse | Economy In Crisis.

Obama’s Export Plan Pushing More Free Trade: a Continuing Disaster

Can’t we learn from our past mistakes?

Many members of Obama’s party simply do not believe that increased “free trade” will do much more than add to an already exploding trade deficit, ultimately resulting in massive job loss.

President Barack Obama Thursday laid out his plans for a National Export Initiative, which he says would double America’s exports in five years, create two million news jobs and allow the nation to remain the world’s top exporter.

In a speech at the annual Export-Import Bank conference, Obama said that his plan would rebuild “an economy where we generate more American jobs in more American industries by producing and exporting more goods and services to other nations.”

To achieve that goal, the president announced the creation of two new panels that would advise him on matters pertaining to trade and export promotion. The first is an informal export advisory panel. The president announced that Jim McNerney, president and CEO of Boeing, along with Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, would be the first two members appointed to the panel. Obama also announced the revival of the president’s Export Promotion Cabinet. It will be made up of Secretaries of State, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Labor and other relevant agencies.

Full Story: Obama’s Export Plan Pushing More Free Trade: a Continuing Disaster | Economy In Crisis.

Conservatives: Legislation To Block Federal Healthcare Reform Mandates Spreads To 38 States

With Democrats moving ever-closer to moving healthcare reform across the legislative finish line, initiatives to block that reform on the state-level have expanded to 38 states, according to a conservative organization promoting the so-called Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act.

Virginia earlier this month became the first state in the nation to enact legislation that would block a federal mandate that all Americans purchase health coverage. Such a mandate is a key component of the reform legislation now in the final stages of the legislative process on Capitol Hill. The federal healthcare reform legislation would widen Medicaid enrollment and offer subsidies to help Americans comply with the coverage requirement.

The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) says it has identified 37 states in addition to Virginia that have similar bills pending or have announced that they will introduce legislation to block the proposed federal coverage mandate.

Full Story: On The Hill: Conservatives: Legislation To Block Federal Healthcare Reform Mandates Spreads To 38 States.

OPS:   You know the track here – it will end up with the Supremes and SCROTUS will kill the whole thing. End of story.  The Dems will say they are off the hook because, after all they tried and the big bad SCROTUS shot us down.

The video that will put Geithner behind bars

by Mike Whitney

You gotta see this! -  VIDEO

If this doesn’t convince you that the Timothy Geithner knew about the securities shenanigans that were going on at Lehman, than I don’t know what will.

Keep in mind, that Geithner ran Lehman through 3 “stress tests” prior to bankruptcy; all of which Lehman failed, and yet, nothing was done. Anton R. Valukas–the examiner who wrote the 2,200 page investigative-report which was released on Thursday– has provided plenty of information detailing Lehman’s “materially misleading” accounting and “actionable balance sheet manipulation.”

In other words, they cooked the books.

Full Story: The video that will put Geithner behind bars | The Smirking Chimp.

Association of Catholic Hospitals breaks with Catholic Bishops on healthcare

Since the beginning of the healthcare debate the Conference of Catholic Bishops speaking through Rep. Bart Stupak have threatend to do all they can to kill the healthcare legislation if it does not contain an abortion amendment with language authored by the Catholic Bishops.

The Catholic Conference of Bishops through their official spokesman had made it clear on a number of ocassions that the abortion language in the senate bill was, in their words, “not acceptable”.

Nancy Pelosi rejected the demands of the so called “Stupak 12″ which consisted of 12 Democratic congressmen threatening to vote against the bill if it didnt contain the strict anti-abortion language, confident she could get the votes to pass the bill without them.

Full Story: Association of Catholic Hospitals breaks with Catholic Bishops on healthcare.

Citibank exposes 600,000 customers’ Social Security numbers

Ralph Remakel received a Citibank letter postmarked Feb. 16 that notified him of a recent Citibank error. It turns out he wasn’t the only one.

In late January, Citibank mailed year-end tax statements to 600,000 Citi customers via the U.S. Postal Service that included the customers’ Social Security numbers … on the outside of the envelope.

Citi called the mistake a “processing error.”

Although the nine-digit numbers were not identified as Social Security numbers (they were printed at the lower edge of the envelope with other numbers and letters and resembled a mail routing number), Citi still reacted to the mistake. EVP and Director of Citibank Client Services Norman White sent customer notification letters to every affected Citi customer during the week of Feb. 15, apologizing for the error.

Full Story: Citibank exposes 600,000 customers’ Social Security numbers – The Problem Solver.

The New Rove-Cheney Assault on Reality

Frank Rich -

THE opening salvo, fired on Fox News during Thanksgiving week, aroused little notice: Dana Perino, the former White House press secretary, declared that “we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.” Rudy Giuliani upped the ante on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in January. “We had no domestic attacks under Bush,” he said. “We’ve had one under Obama.” (He apparently meant the Fort Hood shootings.)

Now the revisionist floodgates have opened with the simultaneous arrival of Karl Rove’s memoir and Keep America Safe, a new right-wing noise machine invented by Dick Cheney’s daughter Liz and the inevitable William Kristol. This gang’s rewriting of history knows few bounds. To hear them tell it, 9/11 was so completely Bill Clinton’s fault that it retroactively happened while he was still in office. The Bush White House is equally blameless for the post-9/11 resurgence of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Iran. Instead it’s President Obama who is endangering America by coddling terrorists and stopping torture.

Could any of this non-reality-based shtick stick? So far the answer is No. Rove’s book and Keep America Safe could be the best political news for the White House in some time. This new eruption of misinformation and rancor vividly reminds Americans why they couldn’t wait for Bush and Cheney to leave Washington.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – The New Rove-Cheney Assault on Reality – NYTimes.com.

TEXAS LEGISLATURE VOTES TO REWRITE BIBLE

* Satire *

“The good Lord has smiled on us,” said Carlton Bolton, the president and CEO of Hallelujah Press, a subsidiary of Halliburton, which received an exclusive no-bid contract to manufacture the new Bibles.

Fresh from their recent success in passing laws to rewrite school history textbooks to drop discussions of FDR and unions in favor of what they called conservative intellectuals such as George W. Bush, Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber, the Texas Legislature passed a law that all Bibles in the state must be updated.

“The Bible was obviously written by Jewish liberals from New York,” said Candace Sue Burnham (R-Plano). “So it’s time we Christians take our Bible back to stress true family values such as hating gays, illegal Mexicans, Muslims and especially hating illegal gay Mexican Muslims.”

“The current version of the Bible is riddled with communist propaganda about Jesus helping the poor,” said Wayne Plugg (R-San Angelo).”That’s obviously hogwash because if Jesus loved those poor people so much, he would have made them rich.”

Full Story: Citizens For Legitimate Government.

Blacks Get Special Nudge to Support Healthcare Reform

There’s a new twist in the prolonged push in Washington for healthcare reform. The pro-Obama group Americans United for Change is spending about $500,000 to encourage blacks to back up their House representatives who vote for healthcare reform. Click here to find out more!”We’re officially announcing nearly half a million dollars in TV and radio ads as part of a major coalitional, homestretch ad blitz urging Congress to pass health insurance reform,” says a group spokesman. “For our part, we’re encouraging predominantly African-American listeners across the country let their members of Congress know that if they stand with them and not the big insurance companies, they will have their backs. “There are a number of members of Congress that can use some encouragement in the homestretch that have significant African-American communities in their districts and media markets,” he adds. “Also, I’m sure you saw the recent polling finding that about two thirds of black adults in four states say they are closely following news about the upcoming midterm elections, and between 74 percent and 80 percent say they are very likely to vote, according to the poll, conducted by the nonpartisan Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and that the poll found that the economy and healthcare reform are the top two issues on black voters’ minds heading into the midterm election.”

Full Story: Blacks Get Special Nudge to Support Healthcare Reform – US News and World Report.

SAFRA First Major Step in Meaningful Ed Reform

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) is by far the greatest step ever taken in Washington to combat the control of giant banking moguls over our country’s youth. Consistently, we have seen the cost of higher education climb pricing many young people out of the opportunity for a better future. At the same time assistance available to young people has actually gone down.

Twenty years ago, 60% of young people who were able to pay for college on Pell Grants today that number has dipped to half of that. The bill is the first meaningful step in a long-term solution to the predatory private lenders who take advantage of students.

Among other things, the bill will

* Invest $40 billion to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship to $5,550 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019. Starting in 2011, the scholarship will be linked to match rising costs-of-living by indexing it to the Consumer Price Index plus 1 percent.

* Strengthen the Perkins Loan program, a campus-based program that provides low-cost federal loans to students, by providing the program with more reliable forms of credit from the federal government and expanding the program to include significantly more college campuses.

* Keep interest rates low on need-based – or subsidized – federal student loans by making the interest rates on these loans variable beginning in 2012. These interest rates are currently set to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in 2012. (This compares to loans that Courtney mentioned whose loans can have a 7.2 percent or even 10 percent interest rate).

* Provide loan forgiveness for members of the military who are called up to duty in the middle of the academic year.

* Convert all new federal student lending to the stable, effective and cost-efficient Direct Loan program. Beginning July 1, 2010, all new federal student loans will be originated through the Direct Loan program, instead of through lenders like Sallie Mae that are subsidized by taxpayers in the federally-guaranteed student loan program. Unlike the current lender-based program, the Direct Loan program is entirely insulated from market swings and can therefore guarantee students access to low-cost federal college loans, in any economy.

Full Story: SAFRA First Major Step in Meaningful Ed Reform | The Seminal.

Antiwar Activists Plan Nationwide Protests to Mark Seventh Anniversary of Iraq Invasion

Antiwar activists are gearing up to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq with a weeklong series of events to protest the ongoing occupation of the country.

The US invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003. Then-President George W. Bush and top administration officials told the American people Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the US, had concealed weapons of mass destruction and helped plan the 9/11 attacks.

But that was a lie. Former Bush administration officials have said publicly that the Iraq war was planned weeks after the Bush was sworn into office and that intelligence reports that claimed Iraq was a threat that intelligence reports that claimed Iraq was a threat were cooked up by analysts under pressure by Vice President Dick Cheney and his senior staffers. And government reports have been released since the invasion documenting the nearly 1,000 lies the Bush administration used to sell the war to the American public.

Full Story: t r u t h o u t | Antiwar Activists Plan Nationwide Protests to Mark Seventh Anniversary of Iraq Invasion.

Health is the Tipping Point to Identify and Eliminate GMOs

Are Americans willing to jeopardize their health with GMO foods?

Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You Are Eating (2003), is convinced that they are not, so he started the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America, which calls for the elimination of GMO foods altogether.

He spoke recently at the annual Michigan Organic Farm and Food Association conference held at Michigan State University and provided participants with resources and inspiration for joining the movement to eliminate genetically-engineered (GM) foods.

Smith figures that it will take only 15 million Americans or 5 percent of the population, to pressure food companies not to use GMO ingredients or products and thus establish a tipping point for change.

Full Story: Health is the Tipping Point to Identify and Eliminate GMOs | CommonDreams.org.

51 senators will vote for a public option in reconciliation if it’s sent over by the House

24 have signed a letter to Harry Reid asking for a public option in reconciliation. 19 have given statements to us, reporters, or their constituents. 4 more have made statements on video. And 4 are extremely likely based on their previous support for the public option and Senate leadership, even though they haven’t made an official statement yet.

“I want to be crystal clear: Sen. Durbin and the rest of the Senate Leadership will be aggressively whipping FOR the public option if it is included in the reconciliation bill the House sends over.”

—Senate Whip Durbin’s spokesman, Joe Shoemaker

Full Story: Whip Congress for a Public Option.

Evidence Big Pharma Owns The U.S. Government

March 12, 2010 CNN

CNN?  This must be a fluke

HR 4789 and The Public Option: The Way Forward

Rep. Alan Grayson: -

Health care reform — here’s where we are. The House of Representatives is about to vote on a Senate bill without a public option. It looks like the reconciliation amendment will not have a public option. The House bill had a public option, but once the House passes the Senate bill, that’s history.

Which is why I introduced H.R. 4789, the Public Option Act. This simple four-page bill lets any American buy into Medicare at cost. You want it, you pay for it, you’re in. It adds nothing to the deficit; you pay what it costs.

Let’s face it. Health insurance companies charge as much money as possible, and they provide as little care as possible. The difference is called profit. You can’t blame them for it; that’s what a corporation does. Birds got to fly, fish got to swim, health insurers got to rip you off. And if you get really expensive, they’ve got to pull the plug on you. So for those of us who would like to stay alive, we need a public option.

Full Story: Rep. Alan Grayson: HR 4789 and The Public Option: The Way Forward.

Scientologists Try To Block Highly Critical Film

The Church Of Scientology has expressed anger at a German TV film that is reported to be critical of the controversial organization.

Germany’s state broadcaster, ARD, is planning to broadcast the film, titled Bis Nichts Mehr Bleibt, which translates as Until Nothing Remains.

The 90-minute drama tells the story of Heiner von Ronns, a German man who leaves the organization after donating a large amount of money, and ends up losing contact with his daughter and wife, who remain members. The film is based on a true story.

Full Story: Scientologists Try To Block Highly Critical Film.

Texas Education Board Approves Conservative Curriculum Changes By Far-Right

New Curriculum: ‘Democratic’ No More, Gold Standard, MORE Christianity

A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.

Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a “constitutional republic,” rather than “democratic,” and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.

“We have been about conservatism versus liberalism,” said Democrat Mavis Knight of Dallas, explaining her vote against the standards. “We have manipulated strands to insert what we want it to be in the document, regardless as to whether or not it's appropriate.”

Full Story: Texas Education Board Approves Conservative Curriculum Changes By Far-Right.

How to Rid Your Body of Mercury and Other Heavy Metals: A 3-Step Plan to Recover Your Health

After my recent blog on mercury, I’m sure many of you are depressed and discouraged about mercury and its toxic effects. The bad news is today I am going to review more of mercury’s toxic effects and expand on what I learned at the medical conference on mercury I mentioned in my last blog …

But the good news is I will provide you with a clear, three-step plan to help your body detoxify from mercury and other heavy metals and recover your health. I have used this same plan successfully and safely with hundreds and hundreds of patients over the last 10 years — and it’s the same process I used myself to overcome mercury toxicity!

But first, let’s look at the data presented at “The Impact of Mercury on Human Health and the Environment” conference.

Full Story: Mark Hyman, MD: How to Rid Your Body of Mercury and Other Heavy Metals: A 3-Step Plan to Recover Your Health.

Let Rainforest Action Network Know Global Ecological Sustainability Depends Upon Ending Old Forest Logging

Rainforest Action Network is a key supporter of failed Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) efforts to “sustainably” log tens of millions of hectares of primary and old-growth forests for lawn furniture, toilet paper and other throw-away consumer items. As RAN celebrates its 25th anniversary, let them know old forests will never be fully protected as long as they and others unquestioningly support “certified” yet ecologically unsustainable first-time industrial primary rainforest logging. Demand RAN vigorously defend their support for first-time primary rainforest logging over an area two times as large as Texas, or resign from FSC immediately. Encourage RAN to spend the next 25 years working to protect and expand old forests to maintain a habitable Earth.

Old forests including tropical rainforests are the ultimate expression of life, evolution and ecology. The term “old forests” is used to describe primary unlogged forests, regenerating late successional natural old-growth, and planted mixed-species forests regaining old-growth characteristics. Here untold co-evolved species and genetic diversity exist and interact with each other and their environment to provide ecosystem services – water, nutrient and energy cycling – required for a habitable Earth. Forests logged industrially for the first time are permanently ecologically damaged in terms of composition, structure, function and dynamics. When primary forests are lost or diminished, it is inevitable that local ecological and social conditions deteriorate, regional weather and species distributions deviate, and the global biosphere and its ability to maintain conditions for life are weakened.

Full Story: Let Rainforest Action Network Know Global Ecological Sustainability Depends Upon Ending Old Forest Logging « Wake-up Call.

Is the Pope Toast Over Church Sex Abuse Revelations?

This isn’t getting much attention in the US, but it’s a big one: The Pope’s in trouble.

Trouble, trouble. Not-going-away trouble. Run-out-of-office trouble. It’s a potentially transformative moment in matters of religion and of power, wherein even the infallible turns out to be vulnerable. Some of us live for such moments.

It’s the priest sex story, the same one we’ve already done — and done. But now it’s popping up in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, all markets which make the American news media yawn. But come on. The priest sex story is one of the best we’ve had. It’s one of the ones that the media of our time is going to be remembered for. It’s the ultimate destruction of façade; the giving of voice to silence; the catching of deer and hypocrites in the headlights. It’s our triumph.

Full Story: Michael Wolff: Is the Pope Toast?.

Michael Lewis 60 Minutes Interview: Wall Street Bonuses ‘A Very Elegant Form Of Theft’ (VIDEO)

Michael Lewis, author of one of the defining books about Wall Street excess, “Liar’s Poker,” told 60 Minutes that bonuses at banks bailed out by the government are akin to “a very elegant form of theft.”

[The big banks] have access to a zero percent loan in virtually unlimited quantities from the Federal Reserve. You can take that money and reinvest it in Treasury bonds or government agency securities and you will get the spread and you could do it over and over. You’re essentially borrowing from the government … and taking a cut.

Really what’s going on is the people on the top of the firm want to make a lot of money and if they’re going to make a lot of money, they have got to pay the people under them a lot of money

WATCH:

Full Story: Michael Lewis 60 Minutes Interview: Wall Street Bonuses ‘A Very Elegant Form Of Theft’ (VIDEO).

Google to shut China search engine

Google has drawn up detailed plans for the closure of its Chinese search engine and is now “99.9 per cent” certain to go ahead as talks over censorship with the Chinese authorities have reached an apparent impasse, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking.

In a hardening of positions on both sides, the Chinese government also on Friday threw down a direct public challenge to the US search company, with a warning that it was not prepared to compromise on internet censorship to stop Google leaving.

The signs that Google was on the brink of closing Google.cn, its local search service in China, came two months after it promised to stop bowing to censorship there. But while a decision could be made very soon, the company is likely to take some time to follow through with the plan as it seeks an orderly closure and takes steps to protect local employees from retaliation by the authorities, the person familiar with its position said.

Full Story: FT.com / Technology – Google to shut China search engine.

Vast F.C.C. Plan Would Bring Net to More in U.S.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.

The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.

The blueprint reflects the government’s view that broadband Internet is becoming the common medium of the United States, gradually displacing the telephone and broadcast television industries. It also signals a shift at the F.C.C., which under the administration of President George W. Bush gained more attention for policing indecency on the television airwaves than for promoting Internet access.

Full Story: Vast F.C.C. Plan Would Bring Net to More in U.S. – NYTimes.com.

Catholic Church Child Abuse Claims Sweep Across Europe

It often starts as a voice in the wilderness, but can swell into an entire nation’s demand for truth. From Ireland to Germany, Europe’s many victims of child abuse in the Roman Catholic church are finally breaking social taboos and confronting the clergy to face its demons.

Ireland was the first in Europe to confront the church’s worldwide custom of shielding pedophile priests from the law and public scandal. Now that legacy of suppressed childhood horror is being confronted in other parts of the Continent – nowhere more poignantly than in Germany, the homeland of Pope Benedict XVI.

The recent spread of claims into the Netherlands, Austria and Italy has analysts and churchmen wondering how deep the scandal runs, which nation will be touched next, and whether a tide of lawsuits will force European dioceses to declare bankruptcy like their American cousins.

Full Story: Catholic Church Child Abuse Claims Sweep Across Europe.

Japan Acknowledges Kept Secret Deposit With The Fed

The Japanese government’s probe into a confidential post- war agreements with the U.S. not only confirmed the existence of a secret deposit that Japan kept with the Federal Reserve for nearly three decades, but also uncovered Tokyo’s lax management of information related to its foreign reserves.

Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan said Friday the ministry’s recent investigation into a 1969 bilateral accord confirmed that the financial settlement Japan made with the U.S. to end its occupation of Okinawa was larger and more complex than previously acknowledged and included a secret non-interest deposit the government and the Bank of Japan kept at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The deposit totaled $103 million during much of its life before the two nations agreed to lower it to an unsubstantial sum of $3 million in 1999. The deposit was counted as part of Japan’s official foreign reserves and consisted of dollars the Japanese government received from the Okinawans in exchange for yen in 1972 when the U.S. ended its post-war occupation of the southern Japanese island. The non-interest deposit amounted to a de-facto financial payment, as the U.S. was free to manage the money to generate returns. U.S. embassy press officers couldn’t be reached for comment

Full Story: Japan Acknowledges Kept Secret Deposit With The Fed.

Corporate entity becomes ‘candidate’, kicks off bid for Congress

When the Supreme Court decided the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, henceforth allowing corporate soft money to influence U.S. elections, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) cynically opined that it would lead to the election of the “congressman from Wal-Mart.”

Turns out, he may be right.

Meet , the first corporation to run for Congress in the United States.

“Until now, corporations only influenced politics with high-paid lobbyists and backroom deals,” the company’s YouTube account declares. “But today, thanks to an enlightened supreme court, corporations now have all the rights the founding fathers meant for us. That’s why Murray Hill Incorporated is taking democracy’s next step– running for Congress.”

Full Story: Corporate entity becomes ‘candidate’, kicks off bid for Congress | Raw Story.

‘EU may push Israel into peace talks’

EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton: We may use trade ties as leverage.

The European Union might use its trade ties with Israel as leverage to pressure it into renewing peace talks with the Palestinians, Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy at the EU said on Saturday.

Ashton was speaking at an EU foreign minister conference held in Finland. Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, said that Israel’s announcement on building in east Jerusalem during United States Vice President Joe Biden’s visit last week was intentional and not coincidental.

Bildt said there were “no guarantees” that Israel was committed to peace.

Ashton is on the verge of a Middle East tour where she will visit Egypt, Israel, Syria and Lebanon.

Full Story: ‘EU may push Israel into peace talks’.

King’s Cross to Beijing in two days on new high-speed rail network

Passengers will be able to travel by train from King’s Cross to Beijing in just two days on trains that travel almost as fast as aeroplanes under ambitious new plans from the Chinese.

China is in negotiations to build a high-speed rail network to India and Europe with trains that capable of running at over 200mph within the next ten years.

The network would eventually carry passengers from London to Beijing and then to Singapore. It would also run to India and Pakistan, according to Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a senior consultant on China’s domestic high-speed rail project.

A second project would see trains heading north through Russia to Germany and into the European railway system, and a third line will extend south to connect Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia.

Full Story: King’s Cross to Beijing in two days on new high-speed rail network – Telegraph.

California sues Toyota for hiding defects

A California prosecutor has filed a civil lawsuit against Toyota, accusing the Japanese carmaker of intentionally hiding deadly defects from consumers.

“We’ll be alleging in court on behalf of the people of Orange County that Toyota knowingly sold cars and trucks with defects that caused Toyotas to accelerate suddenly and uncontrollably,” Orange Country District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told reporters on Friday.

“We intend to prove that Toyota ignored, omitted, obfuscated, and misrepresented the evidence that was amassing for many years regarding serious safety defects in their cars.”

Full Story: California sues Toyota for hiding defects – Yahoo! News.

Obama plans to overhaul ‘No Child Left Behind’

President Barack Obama announced Saturday he will be sending to Congress a new education initiative designed to better prepare high school graduates for college and a professional career.

The proposal, addressing the needs of the elementary and secondary education systems, will overhaul the so-called “No Child Left Behind” Act, an education reform adopted under former president George W. Bush.

In his weekly radio address, Obama said his administration will be submitting to Congress a blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act on Monday.

Full Story: Obama plans to overhaul ‘No Child Left Behind’ | Raw Story.

Study: Single black women have median net worth of only $5

A new study from the Center for Community Economic Development indicates that single black women, even in their peak earning years, have a median net worth of only $5.

As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the study also found that single white women between 36 and 49 have a median wealth of $42,600 — well below the figure for single white men. But the finding that black women have virtually no assets at all stunned even the study’s participants.

Meizhu Lui, who contributed to the report, told the Post-Gazette, “Even for those of us who have been looking at the wealth gap for a while, we were shocked and amazed at how little women of color have.”

“If wealth was based on hard work, African-Americans would be the wealthiest people in our nation,” Lui continued. “It’s not about behavior. It’s about government policies. Who does the government help and who is it not helping?

Full Story: Study: Single black women have median net worth of only $5 | Raw Story.

Top Insurance Lobbyist Says Industry Won’t Point Fingers, Then Blames Hospitals For Higher Premiums

During the AHIP’s insurance conference on Tuesday, AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni claimed that health insurers were “very concerned about insurance premiums and the trajectory” of health care spending and promised that the industry remained committed to controlling costs. “We understand that begins also with us. So we are fully committed to cost containment,” Ignagni said.

But just several hours later, on Fox Business’ Neil Cavuto, Ignagni blamed hospitals, doctors, and the pharmaceutical industry for rising costs. Ignangni also falsely claimed that insurers cannot negotiate prices with providers:

IGNAGNI AT 10 AM: “So we are fully committed to cost containment, not finger pointing to other sectors.”

IGNAGNI AT 6PM: “Health care costs are surging. We have our health plans Neil, that are getting quotes from hospitals of up to, they want 40% increases, we see pharmaceutical prices surging. We see tests increasing, exploding…we’ve had consolidation of the hospital arena.”

Watch a compilation:

Full Story: Think Progress » Top Insurance Lobbyist Says Industry Won’t Point Fingers, Then Blames Hospitals For Higher Premiums.

Church Uses Marquee To Speak Out Against Beck:

‘Sorry Mr Beck, Jesus Preached Social Justice’

This week, Christian religious leaders have been criticizing Fox News host Glenn Beck for his controversial remarks that churches that promote social and economic justice are somehow dangerous. “If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish,” said Beck. Progressive Christian group Sojourners has even launched a campaign calling on Christians to speak out against Beck.

A story posted on CNN today has a photo of a United Church of Christ congregation in Wantagh, NY that took its message right to the community:

Today, ThinkProgress spoke with Wantagh Memorial Congregational Church Pastor Ronald Garner, who explained that he put the sign up yesterday when he decided that he had to do something more public than just e-mailing Beck:

Full Story: Think Progress » Church Uses Marquee To Speak Out Against Beck: ‘Sorry Mr Beck, Jesus Preached Social Justice’.

Sen. Tom Udall Calls Reid’s Promise To ‘Take A Look At The Filibuster’ A ‘Warning Shot’ To Republicans

Motivated by unprecedented GOP obstruction this year in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) recently announced a proposal to revamp the Senate’s filibuster rules at the start of the next Congress. Citing Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution, Udall would like to revamp the 60-vote requirement for cloture and other procedural issues, where the Senate could “legally draft new rules for action,” which could then “only be overturned by a simple majority vote, rather than the 67-vote threshold that accompanies rule change proposals during an ongoing congressional session.”

Yesterday, Udall spoke at the Center for American Progress in a discussion on “Deliberation, Obstruction or Dysfunction? Evaluating the Modern U.S. Senate and its Contribution to American Governance.” Afterward, he spoke to ThinkProgress and described what he thinks drives the GOP to obstruct the majority’s agenda:

UDALL: It would appear to me that this is an attempt to deny the President and the party that has the majority any accomplishments. … It looks to me like a strategy to just say, “if they don’t accomplish anything” meaning the majority don’t accomplish anything “then they can’t go to the next election talking about specific things that they’ve done.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Sen. Tom Udall Calls Reid’s Promise To ‘Take A Look At The Filibuster’ A ‘Warning Shot’ To Republicans.

Christian leaders urge Congress to ignore misinformation on abortion provisions and pass health reform.

In recent weeks, the number of Democratic lawmakers willing to join Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-MI) crusade to bring down health care reform unless Congress amends the Senate bill’s abortion language keeps shrinking. Stupak began the debate with that 15 to 20 supporters; that number is down to fewer than a dozen now. As Igor Volsky notes, “it’s become difficult for Stupak and his gang of four (or five) to perpetuate the fundamentally dishonest claim that the Senate bill spends federal dollars to fund abortions.” Underscoring this point, this week, a group of 25 “pro-life Catholic theologians and Evangelical leaders” sent a letter to Congress urging them to look past the misinformation on abortion and pass health care reform. From their letter:

As Christians committed to a consistent ethic of life, and deeply concerned with the health and well-being of all people, we want to see health care reform enacted. [...]

We are writing because of our concern about the lack of clear and accurate information regarding abortion provisions in the health care reform bill passed by the Senate on December 24, 2009.

Full Story: Think Progress » Christian leaders urge Congress to ignore misinformation on abortion provisions and pass health reform..

Why ‘Life Had To Have Been Designed’ Is a Terrible Justification for God’s Existence

This is the most common justification people have for why god exists. To those people, I say: You really need to study evolution a little more carefully.

“Just look around you. Look at life, and the universe, and everything. Doesn’t it seem like it had to have been designed?”

A lot of arguments for religion are very bad indeed. A lot of arguments for religion aren’t even arguments: they’re deflections, excuses for why the believer isn’t making an argument, bigoted insults, expressions of wishful thinking, complaints that atheists are mean bad people to even ask for an argument, heartfelt wishes that atheists would just shut up.

But some believers do take the question “Why do you believe in God?” seriously. Some believers don’t want to believe just out of blind faith or wishful thinking; they care about whether the things they believe are true, and they think the question “What evidence do you have to support this belief?” is a valid one. They think they have good answers for it. They think they have positive evidence for their spiritual beliefs, and they’re happy to explain that evidence and defend it.

The argument from design — that life had to have been designed, because it just looks so much like it was designed — leads the list of these answers. According to Michael Shermer’s How We Believe, the argument from design is the single most common reason religious believers give for why they believe.

Full Story: Why ‘Life Had To Have Been Designed’ Is a Terrible Justification for God’s Existence | Belief | AlterNet.

Sealing in the Palestinians: The Story of the Most Controversial Border Wall in the World

An excerpt from Rene Backman’s book, “A Wall in Palestine,” which lays bare an international human rights controversy.

The following is an excerpt from A Wall in Palestine by Rene Backmann (Picador, 2010).

Who invented the wall? Who came up with the idea for it? “Maybe it was me,” Dany Tirza says half-jokingly as he weaves his car through Gilo morning traffic. Adjacent to the southern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, this truly “new” city of thirty-seven thousand people, which dominates the nearby Palestinian enclaves of Bethlehem and Beit Jala, is considered by the Israelis to be a natural extension of the Holy City. In fact, Gilo was built on the outskirts of “Greater Jerusalem,” as it was redefined by Israel in 1967 after the Six-Day War, on approximately seven thousand acres of annexed Palestinian land. But Gilo is on the Palestinian side of the “Green Line,” which, since 1949, separates the State of Israel from the present- day West Bank. Thus, it is a settlement, one of twelve built by Israel since 1967 at the periphery of Greater Jerusalem.

Full Story: Sealing in the Palestinians: The Story of the Most Controversial Border Wall in the World | World | AlterNet.

Unhappy With Your Birth Control? 10 Methods You May Want to Try

Birth control can be a pain, but in this day and age every woman should love her method. Here are 10 you ought to consider.

Of all the relationships in my life, the one with my birth control has been one of the most tumultuous. Over the years I’ve tried five different kinds, and while I am happy to report that I’ve finally found one that works for me, it was a bumpy path getting here.

My most devastating birth control experiment was one of my first, which lasted nearly four years. It wasn’t until I was off that particular method that I realized I’d just stepped out of a four-year haze that had been characterized by angry, irrational outbursts book-ended by episodes of equally irrational, very weepy sadness. (Apologies to my incredibly supportive college boyfriend.) Indeed, it wasn’t until I was off that birth control that I elatedly discovered I wasn’t the terrifying ball of fury and tears I thought I’d become. It was the birth control.

Full Story: Unhappy With Your Birth Control? 10 Methods You May Want to Try | Sex & Relationships | AlterNet.

Why Are We Afraid to Tax the Super-Rich?

We are told that we’re already living well beyond our means we’ve got to cut back on government programs at all levels. Meanwhile, the super-rich are still having a ball.

Our nation is already deeply in debt. How can we possibly afford to invest in our infrastructure, renewable energy, health care, our schools — and create the millions of jobs that our unemployed desperately need?

We are told that we’re already living well beyond our means — that entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security will bankrupt us. Forget the solar panels, the smaller classes and the new jobs — we’ve got to cut back on government programs at all levels.

Meanwhile, the super-rich are still having a ball. In his annual shareholder letter, mega-investor Warren Buffett wrote, “We’ve put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. When it’s raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble.” And Forbes Magazine adds, “Many plutocrats did just that. Indeed, last year’s wealth wasteland has become a billionaire bonanza. Most of the richest people on the planet have seen their fortunes soar in the past year.”

Which brings us back to the federal budget. There are two sides to every ledger: the expenses…and the income. We need to start looking at the income side. With a fairer tax system, we could retrieve some of that money downpour that the elite has been siphoning away from us for decades.

Full Story: Why Are We Afraid to Tax the Super-Rich? | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.

The Disemboweling of America

Pat Buchanan –

Though Bush 41 and Bush 43 often disagreed, one issue did unite them both with Bill Clinton: protectionism.

Globalists all, they rejected any federal measure to protect America's industrial base, economic independence or the wages of U.S. workers.

Together they rammed through NAFTA, brought America under the World Trade Organization, abolished tariffs and granted Chinese-made goods unrestricted access to the immense U.S. market.

Charles McMillion of MBG Information Services has compiled, in 44 pages of charts and graphs, the results of two decades of this Bush-Clinton experiment in globalization. His compilation might be titled, “Indices of the Industrial Decline and Fall of the United States.”

From 2000 to 2009, industrial production declined here for the first time since the 1930s. Gross domestic product also fell, and we actually lost jobs.

In traded goods alone, we ran up $6.2 trillion in deficits — $3.8 trillion of that in manufactured goods.

Full Story: The Disemboweling of America – Yahoo! News.

OPS:  Well, he’s a racist and corporatist on some subjects -and correct about one or two issues. This is one where he is correct.

“Peak Oil Period” to Be Attained By 2014, Alarm Scientists

This is serious issue of concern because as the definition of the term “peak oil” suggests, peak oil is the period when the oil production after mounting to its maximum, starts to turn down. Therefore according to the study, the highest oil production will be seen in 2014 followed by a further decrease in production. This will pose a serious threat to the human comfort as we are very much reliant on the petroleum and related products in almost everything, majorly our transporting system.

It has also been revealed that total of 54% of fuel has been used by now and the remaining will be reached within four years 2014 i. e. the highest of 79 million stock tank barrels per day. Scientists are terming this conclusion as “alarming” and are saying that their warnings are resulted only after considering “best available information”.

Full Story: “Peak Oil Period” to Be Attained By 2014, Alarm Scientists | TopNews United States.

More Layoffs in America: No Letup in Attack on Jobs

A rash of new layoff announcements and government reports on job losses give the lie to the claims of the Obama administration and the media that the employment situation is “stabilizing.” Last Friday, the administration hailed the Labor Department’s report that US payrolls shrank by “only” 36,000 jobs in February and the official jobless rate remained at 9.7 percent as proof that its policies are working and the economy is recovering.

In fact, the so-called “recovery” is limited to the big banks and major corporations, which are profiting from trillions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts, virtually unlimited and cheap credit, and the use of mass unemployment to drive down wages and increase the exploitation of the working class. An unprecedented assault on the living standards of the vast majority of the American people is being carried out under the direction of the Obama administration, creating a social crisis without parallel since the Great Depression.

On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported that the official unemployment rate in January rose in 30 states. Sixteen states had jobless rates higher than the national average of 9.7 percent, including Michigan (14.3 percent), Nevada (13 percent), Rhode Island (12.7 percent), South Carolina (12.6 percent) and California (12.5 percent).

Unemployment in California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington DC rose to the highest levels since records began in 1976.

A separate Labor Department report showed that mass layoffs (50 or more positions) increased nationally in January to 1,761, leading to at least 182,261 workers losing their jobs.

Full Story: More Layoffs in America: No Letup in Attack on Jobs.

9/11 truthers find home in New Hampshire

9/11 is on the ballot this spring in 12 towns in New Hampshire. People throughout the region are encouraging their neighbors to “vote for answers.” They want the federal government to launch a new inquiry into what happened on that day now nearly 9 years ago.

Largest Private Refinery Discovers Gold-Plated Tungsten Bar

Recently, the German television station ProSieben ran a news story covering W. C. Heraeus in Hanau, Germany, the world’s largest privately owned refinery. In the story, Wilfried Hörner, the head of the gold foundry, shows a 500 gram bar (16.0755 troy ounces) received from an unidentified bank. The bar had the right physical dimensions to be an authentic gold bar, but one of the Heraeus employees suspected something funny. After the bar was cut in half, you can see that the inside is tungsten, with only a coating of gold on the outside.You can watch this news story on You Tube, where it was posted February 28, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKczs-7BFRI.Last fall, Rob Kirby of Kirby Analytics in Toronto reported that China’s central bank had discovered some 400-ounce gold-plated tungsten bars among those it had recently received from bonded warehouses. It was later learned that at least four counterfeit bars were found and that all had come from sources in the United States. As suspicions grow about counterfeit bars among those held in bonded warehouses for delivery against either COMEX or London Bullion Market Association contracts or shares of exchange traded funds, investors could panic. So, you can understand that there has been almost a total blackout on news coverage on this story.

Full Story: Largest Private Refinery Discovers Gold-Plated Tungsten Bar | Coin Update News.

Slick Barry and the $100 Billion Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Claim

Dave Lindorff -

President Barack Obama is out and abroad stumping like mad for his embattled health insurance “reform” plan, claiming now that his administration will “crack down” on $100 billion in annual “waste and fraud” in the Medicare and Medicaid systems.

This new tough rhetoric is meant to win over some of the conservative opposition that sees all government programs as inherently wasteful, inefficient and corrupt.

But the claim itself is bogus.

The figure comes from a study done annually by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and that study makes it clear that it is not looking at fraud, but at errors. And there are two things that can be said about those errors, most of which appear to involve problems like illegible signatures on doctors’ orders, or lost paperwork needed to document that a treatment being billed for actually happened.

Full Story: Slick Barry and the $100 Billion Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Claim | The Smirking Chimp.

Understanding Capitalism versus Socialism

Maybe you are a casual Agonist reader or an Agonista at heart but in any case you are probably asking yourself: what’s the deal with socialism and why do I like capitalism?

OK, lets get started by defining socialism: socialism is, by definition, something you don’t want. Its that simple and all you really need to remember but, of course, there is a complex academic explanation which goes like this: Americans don’t want socialism because the government does it.

Now that you understand socialism, its really very easy to understand capitalism. The definition of capitalism is something that you do want. Again its that simple, Occam’s Razor! Again, this being an academic sort of paper, I should add that capitalism is something that you want because the government doesn’t do it. It’s so simple isn’t it?

Here’s a trick for remembering the difference between socialism and capitalism: S is for Socialism and Satan and C is for Capitalism and Christ; Satan was a socialist and Christ was a capitalist or would have been if he wasn’t under the thumb of that heathen Roman empire run by oligarchs.

Now, with such powerful definitions you may be asking: what else do I need to know? However, it is incumbent on me, this being a scientific paper and all, to provide some background data and some examples of what I’m saying.

Full Story: Understanding Capitalism versus Socialism | The Agonist.

… sarcasm, or reductio ad absurdum to be precise. The argument draws the opposing viewpoint to its valid, if extreme, conclusion in order to point out the logical flaws

Pelosi blames Obama for demise of the public option

In perhaps the first honest acknowledgment by a Democratic leader on President Obama’s dishonesty, weakness and lack of leadership on healthcare reform, Nancy Pelosi in her Friday press briefing, pointed out that one of the reasons the public option wasn’t included in the House reconciliation bill is because Obama never pushed for it in either the House or senate bill.

Obama’s dishonesty on the public option,pledging to back it publicly, then reneging on his public promises when it came time to act, not once or twice but from the beginning, has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks for Democrats in passing the one piece of healthcare legislation that has the largest public support. When old fashioned political arm twisting was needed by a president to get Joe Lieberman on board to pass it in the senate, Obama instead, showing no leadership, asked the 59 other senators to capitulate to Lieberman.

Going back to last June when a CBS News poll showed 72% said they wanted the public option, to as recently as this January when both a Washington Post poll and a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed 58% support for the public option it was the one aspect of reform that the public made clear that wanted. And overwhelmingly.

Full Story: Pelosi blames Obama for demise of the public option.

The Democrats’ scam becomes more transparent

Glenn Greenwald -

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about what seemed to be a glaring (and quite typical) scam perpetrated by Congressional Democrats: all year long, they insisted that the White House and a majority of Democratic Senators vigorously supported a public option, but the only thing oh-so-unfortunately preventing its enactment was the filibuster: sadly, we have 50 but not 60 votes for it, they insisted. Democratic pundits used that claim to push for “filibuster reform,” arguing that if only majority rule were required in the Senate, then the noble Democrats would be able to deliver all sorts of wonderful progressive reforms that they were truly eager to enact but which the evil filibuster now prevents. In response, advocates of the public option kept arguing that the public option could be accomplished by reconciliation — where only 50 votes, not 60, would be required — but Obama loyalists scorned that reconciliation proposal, insisting (at least before the Senate passed a bill with 60 votes) that using reconciliation was Unserious, naive, procedurally impossible, and politically disastrous.

But all those claims were put to the test — all those bluffs were called — once the White House decided that it had to use reconciliation to pass a final health care reform bill. That meant that any changes to the Senate bill (which had passed with 60 votes) — including the addition of the public option — would only require 50 votes, which Democrats assured progressives all year long that they had. Great news for the public option, right? Wrong. As soon as it actually became possible to pass it, the 50 votes magically vanished. Senate Democrats (and the White House) were willing to pretend they supported a public option only as long as it was impossible to pass it. Once reconciliation gave them the opportunity they claimed all year long they needed — a “majority rule” system — they began concocting ways to ensure that it lacked 50 votes.

Full Story: The Democrats’ scam becomes more transparent – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Robert Reich: The Sham Recovery

So what happens when the stimulus is over and the Fed begins to tighten again? Where will demand come from to get Main Street back, create jobs, raise middle class wages?

Are we finally in a recovery? Who’s “we,” kemosabe?  Big global companies, Wall Street, and high-income Americans who hold their savings in financial instruments are clearly doing better. As to the rest of us – small businesses along Main Streets, and middle and lower-income Americans – forget it.

Business cheerleaders naturally want to emphasize the positive. They assume the economy runs on optimism and that if average consumers think the economy is getting better, they’ll empty their wallets more readily and – presto! – the economy will get better. The cheerleaders fail to understand that regardless of how people feel, they won’t spend if they don’t have the money.

The US economy grew at a 5.9 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2009. That sounds good until you realize GDP figures are badly distorted by structural changes in the economy. For example, part of the increase is due to rising health care costs. When WellPoint ratchets up premiums, that enlarges the GDP. But you’d have to be out of your mind to consider this evidence of a recovery.

Full Story: Robert Reich (The Sham Recovery).

Ventura: ‘You’re not allowed to ask’ about 9/11

Former Minnesota governor and one-time professional wrestler Jesse Ventura has run afoul of the Huffington Post’s no-conspiracy-theory policy, and he’s not happy about it.

“I can’t believe the Huffington Post today will practice censorship,” Ventura says in astonishment. “I’ve got news for them. … I won’t ever write for ‘em again.”

Ventura had posted an item on Tuesday which took note of a recent conference at which “more than one thousand architects and engineers signed a petition demanding that Congress begin a new investigation into the destruction of the World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9/11.” He also quoted a few paragraphs from his new book, American Conspiracies, to explain why some of those experts see signs of controlled demolition.

Full Story: Ventura: ‘You’re not allowed to ask’ about 9/11 | Raw Story.

Rift Growing Between Al Qaeda And The Taliban?

We are blogging the latest news about America’s war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Email us at AfPak [at] huffingtonpost.com. Follow Nico on Twitter; follow Nicholas on Twitter. See archives of ‘At War’ here.

With reporting by Faiz Lalani.

Al Qaeda-Taliban split? David Cloud and Julian Barnes of the Los Angeles Times report that the Afghan Taliban have begun disassociating themselves from Al Qaeda, fearing that links to the international terrorist network threaten the Taliban’s long-term survival and the group’s efforts to moderate its image. Pakistan’s stepped up military campaign, along with intensified U.S. drone strikes, in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions have made it riskier for the Taliban to harbor Al Qaeda fighters. Al Qaeda’s utility to the Taliban may have also run out: “In the past, Al Qaeda was able to offer the Taliban bomb-making experts, experienced fighters and large amounts of cash for operations in Afghanistan in return for haven in Taliban-controlled areas near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border,” but, with Al Qaeda’s resources and operational capacity dwindling, it is perhaps too risky for the Taliban to cooperate with them. However, the Pakistan-based Haqqani network–a group that is active in the Afghan insurgency–maintains links to Al Qaeda, despite suffering heavy casualties from drone strikes.

Full Story: AT WAR: Rift Growing Between Al Qaeda And The Taliban?.

China’s oil demand increase ‘astonishing’, says IEA

China’s demand for oil jumped by an “astonishing” 28% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says.

The body added that demand for oil in 2010 would be underpinned by rising demand from emerging markets, with half of all growth coming from Asia.

But the IEA predicted demand in developed countries would fall by 0.3%.

The IEA has increased its global oil demand forecast for 2010 by 1.8% to 86.6 million barrels a day.

Oil prices were above $83 a barrel earlier today, the highest in two months, but dropped back to closer to $80 in late afternoon trading.

The IEA said the high price level was due to “heightening of geopolitical tensions affecting some producing countries”, but that this had been balanced by “ample physical oil supplies”

Full Story: BBC News – China’s oil demand increase ‘astonishing’, says IEA.

Pelosi: Say Goodbye To The Public Option

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the public option dead during a press briefing moments ago.

“We’re talking about something that’s not going to be part of the legislation,” she said.

I’m quite sad that a public option isn’t in there. But it isn’t a case of it’s not in there because the Senate is whipping against it. It’s not in there because they don’t have the votes to have it in there.

“We had it,” Pelosi said. “We wanted it. They didn’t have it. It’s not in the reconciliation.”

Full Story: Pelosi: Say Goodbye To The Public Option | TPM LiveWire.

What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

Finland’s teens score extraordinarily high on an international test. American educators are trying to figure out why.

High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don’t start school until age 7.

Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old students who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the world’s C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards and rules. Finnish youth, like their U.S. counterparts, also waste hours online. They dye their hair, love sarcasm and listen to rap and heavy metal. But by ninth grade they’re way ahead in math, science and reading — on track to keeping Finns among the world’s most productive workers.

The Finns won attention with their performances in triennial tests sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group funded by 30 countries that monitors social and economic trends. In the most recent test, which focused on science, Finland’s students placed first in science and near the top in math and reading, according to results released late last year. An unofficial tally of Finland’s combined scores puts it in first place overall, says Andreas Schleicher, who directs the OECD’s test, known as the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA. The U.S. placed in the middle of the pack in math and science; its reading scores were tossed because of a glitch. About 400,000 students around the world answered multiple-choice questions and essays on the test that measured critical thinking and the application of knowledge. A typical subject: Discuss the artistic value of graffiti.

Full Story: What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart? – WSJ.com.

As Polls Show Increasing Support For Health Care Reform, Cavuto Claims ‘Polls Are Increasingly Looking Worse’

On Fox News yesterday, Neil Cavuto argued that Democrats want to get health care reform done before the Easter break because “they sure as heck don’t want to see those town hallers.” Cavuto, who was interviewing Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), then claimed that Democrats “agree the polls are increasingly looking worse for health care support.”

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » As Polls Show Increasing Support For Health Care Reform, Cavuto Claims ‘Polls Are Increasingly Looking Worse’.

Revisiting 9/11

An ancient Chinese curse says, “May you live in interesting times.” In their college years, Baby Boomers reacted to the Vietnam war. The Civil Rights movement; high profile political assassinations; and Watergate also made a big impression. In my GenX college years, we reacted to President Reagan; Tiananmen Square; watched the Cold War end; and noted the first Gulf War as the U.S. military kicked the forces of Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.

Some number of people in Generation Y (the Millenials, who are now 28 and younger) can say, “I went to college, and what I learned was that 9/11 was an inside job.” Several influences are contending for the attention of that generation: the 9/11 Truth movement; the pro-Constitution and end-the-Fed movements (call it the Ron Paul movement); and the Tea Party movement. And, GenY is making its own movement against budget cuts to higher education.

Most of the matters above are outside the scope of this article, but when the 9/11 Truth movement holds sway, there is need to correct the national narrative. That national narrative has been hijacked by the faces of “Old Media,” rendering stories that are bought, paid for, and/or dictated by those who hold undue sway in the public discourse.

Brass tacks about 9/11

The 9/11 truth movement, if not conclusive, is at least persuasive. Most readers should be aware that they are out there, with evidence that “9/11 was an inside job,” or as I prefer to phrase it, 9/11 had inside help.

Full Story: Revisiting 9/11 « COTO Report.

Christians Urged to Boycott Glenn Beck

Updated Last week, the conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck called on Christians to leave their churches if they heard any preaching about social or economic justice because, he claimed, those were slogans affiliated with Nazism and Communism.

This week, the Rev. Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical leader in Washington, D.C., called on Christians to leave Glenn Beck.

“What he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show,” Mr. Wallis, who heads the antipoverty group Sojourners, wrote on his “God’s Politics” blog. “His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern.”

Full Story: Christians Urged to Boycott Glenn Beck – The Caucus Blog – NYTimes.com.

Under New Utah Law, Miscarriage Could Get You Life in Prison

If you’re thinking of getting pregnant in Utah, I’d suggest moving immediately, since a miscarriage could land you in jail for 15 years to life.

A storm of controversy against the original version of the law criminalizing miscarriages led lawmakers to submit a revised version. Unfortunately, all they did was drop the word “reckless,” re-passed the legislation, and had the governor sign into law a bill under which miscarriages caused by “intentional or knowing acts” could get a woman locked away for the rest of her life for murder.

Now, every time a woman in Utah miscarries — which happens in 10-25% of pregnancies — not only does she have to deal with the disappointment of losing a pregnancy she perhaps deeply wanted, she has to worry about getting thrown in prison for 15 years to life. While the new language is slightly narrower, it still leaves the door wide open for women becoming murder suspects and being investigated simply for being among the one in four pregnant women who suffer a miscarriage. And “knowing or intentional acts” isn’t the most precise language: what if you’re a smoker who can’t manage to quit — is that a knowing or intentional act? What if you’re stuck in what you know is an abusive relationship and miscarry after getting beaten up? It’s a slippery slope to legislating total control over a pregnant woman’s body

Full Story: Under New Utah Law, Miscarriage Could Get You Life in Prison | Women’s Rights | Change.org.

United States of Foreclosures:

How ‘Bankquakes’ Shake People from Their Homes -

Danny Schechter -

The financial crisis started as a housing bubble with the financial industry convinced that home values never fall. How wrong they were even as they leveraged and securitized their investments to create a global crisis.

Now, brace yourself because not only is it not over, but in some respects it’s just begun. There will be more foreclosures this year than last and as a result more suffering for American families.

Ed Harrison who monitors this industry for a website called Credit Write Downs sees a “second wave coming”–like a new tsunami in a industry that All of Obama’s horses and all of Obama’s Men have not been able to do anything about. The idea of challenging fraud and deception with a debt relief plan goes a bit too far for these self-styled centrists. Writes Harrison:

Full Story: United States of Foreclosures: How ‘Bankquakes’ Shake People from Their Homes | CommonDreams.org.

Citizens take on DC Government over Tax Giveaways to Defense Contractor Northrop Grumman

“I originally supported the $25 million offer to Northrop Grumman, but I have since had second thoughts. With the city facing a $200-300 million deficit, I see no reason to subsidize a multi-billion-dollar war machine.”

–DC City Councilman Marion Barry, March 10 in a telephone interview

A major struggle is brewing in the nation’s capitol about the city’s proposal to offer of $25 million in subsidies and grants to the mammoth defense contractor Northrop Grumman. The legislation was originally sponsored by seven of the City Council’s 13 members and supported by Mayor Adrian Fenty, but now that the DC community is mobilizing against the corporate giveaway, council members are having second thoughts.

On January 4 newly-hired CEO Wesley Bush announced that Northrop Grumman would move its headquarters from the Century City area of Los Angeles to the Washington metropolitan area by 2011. Bush wants his executives closer to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and to officials in the military and intelligence communities that make up the vast majority of Northrop’s business. The company has already has been buying influence in Washington through an army of lobbyists, outspending its larger rivals Lockheed Martin and Boeing by more than $25 million between 1998 and 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The move will only increase its ability to land lucrative defense contracts.

Full Story: Citizens take on DC Government over Tax Giveaways to Defense Contractor Northrop Grumman | CommonDreams.org.

Ask the Chamber of Commerce: Why Is Too Much Not Enough?

by Bill Moyers & Michael Winship -

Living in these United States, there comes a point at which you throw your hands up in exasperation and despair and ask a fundamental question or two: how much excess profit does corporate America really need? How much bigger do executive salaries and bonuses have to be, how many houses or jets or artworks can be crammed into a life?

After all, as billionaire movie director Steven Spielberg is reported to have said, when all is said and done, “How much better can lunch get?”

But since greed is not self-governing, hardly anyone raking in the dough ever stops to say, “That’s it. Enough’s enough! How do we prevent it from sweeping up everything in its path, including us?”

Full Story: Ask the Chamber of Commerce: Why Is Too Much Not Enough? | CommonDreams.org.

Holland proposes giving over-70s who ‘consider their lives complete’ the right to die

Assisted suicide for anyone over 70 who has simply had enough of life is being considered in Holland.

Non-doctors would be trained to administer a lethal potion to elderly people who ‘consider their lives complete’.

The radical move would be a world first and push the boundaries even further in the country that first legalized euthanasia.

Full Story: Holland proposes giving over-70s who ‘consider their lives complete’ the right to die | Mail Online.

Ending the Hidden Agenda Behind Tax Cuts

Something as simple as a metaphor can mean the difference between shared prosperity and widespread suffering.

It’s time to tell the truth about tax cuts. This phrase dominates political discourse and is coughed out every time a conservative public figure opens his mouth. It is treated like the basis of sound reasoning, yet no one points out what should be obvious – that “tax relief” and “tax cuts” are just code words for destroying the capacity of government to serve the public.

We’ve heard over and over again that the source of society’s problems is the government. The solution that follows is to “trim the fat”, “cut out the waste”, “shrink the government”, and provide “relief” to millions of citizens who suffer the burden of exploitation by Washington elites. This story flies in the face of the facts, yet it makes sense to a significant portion of the U.S. population. How can this be?

The answer has to do with how we make sense of things in the world. Our experiences shape what seems legitimate by reinforcing (or undermining) our ideas about the way things work. So, for example, a progressive politician may speak honestly and forcefully about the positive role of government in our lives. But this will fall on deaf ears if our typical experience is at odds with such claims. This observation demonstrates a key element of what George Lakoff and I have dubbed the Cognitive Criterion for Public Support:

Full Story: Ending the Hidden Agenda Behind Tax Cuts | Cognitive Policy Works.

Rachel Maddow – Speaker Pelosi & BushCo accountability

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow – Speaker Pelosi & BushCo accountability: still 'unclear'

The entire Pelosi interview can be found here:

Visit: http://firedoglake.com

OPS: Pelosi is saying that they aren’t going to do anything about it.

In one day, Grayson piles up another 40 [50 total] co-sponsors for Medicare buy-in bill

In just two days, Alan Grayson has piled up 50 co-sponsors to his Medicare buy-in bill, which is designed as a stand-alone bill rather than as an amendment to the health reform bill. Here is the complete list of 50 co-sponsors:

50 CURRENT COSPONSORS : Bob Filner, Jan Schakowsky, Barney Frank, Dennis Kucinich, Donna Edwards, Jared Polis, Chellie Pingree, Sheila Jackson Lee, Carol Shea-Porter, Diane Watson, John Lewis, Anthony Weiner, Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velazquez, Keith Ellison, Loretta Sanchez, Hank Johnson, Maxine Waters, Luis Gutierrez, Lynn Woolsey, Marcy Kaptur, Charles Rangel, Patrick Kennedy, Raul Grijalva, Donna Christian-Christensen, John Olver, Corrine Brown, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Marcia L. Fudge, Danny K. Davis, Pedro Pierluisi, Grace Napolitano, Alcee Hastings, John Hall, Shelley Berkley, John Conyers, Jim McGovern, Phil Hare, Betty Sutton, Jim McDermott, Gregorio Sablan, Maurice Hinchey, Carolyn Maloney, Barbara Lee, Elijah Cummings, Gregory Meeks, Edolphus Towns, Al Green, David Wu, and Rush Holt.

Every indication has always been that there is overwhelming support for a Medicare buy-in among Congressional Democrats. This could very well pass as a stand alone bill, especially in 2011 once filibuster reform has taken place. This is definitely one of the ways that progressives can viably continue the fight for real health reform no matter what happens to the current bill.

Full Story: Open Left:: In one day, Grayson piles up another 40 co-sponsors for Medicare buy-in bill.

Hurricane Season Could Be ‘Extreme,’ AccuWeather Forecaster Says

AccuWeather.com, which just issued its early hurricane season forecast, not only believes that the 2010 season will be more active than last year, but the private company sees the potential for an “extreme season” with an above-normal threat all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

The forecast was led by chief long-range meteorologist and hurricane forecaster Joe Bastardi, who believes that this year will be more like the 2008 hurricane season than the much quieter 2009 season. In 2008, there were 16 named storms, eight of which were hurricanes, including the major hurricane Ike that ravaged the upper Texas coast. In 2009, only two storms (one of which was a hurricane) made landfall, both along the Gulf Coast, making it the least active Atlantic hurricane season since 1997.

The forecast mirrors other early-season prognostications in terms of more tropical activity than last year. It projects 16 to 18 storms (hurricanes and tropical storms), 15 of which are expected to occur in the western Atlantic and in the Gulf of Mexico, potentially posing a threat to U.S. coastlines. Seven hurricanes are forecast by AccuWeather, five of them major (Category 3 or stronger). Two or three major hurricanes are projected to make landfall, with seven total storms making landfall.

Full Story: Hurricane Season Could Be ‘Extreme,’ AccuWeather Forecaster Says – AOL News.

Pelosi: Stupak Wants Health Care Reform (VIDEO)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Thursday and weighed in on everything from Bart Stupak’s threats to derail health care reform, to Eric Massa’s resignation, and Republican obstructionism in the Senate.

While agreeing with Maddow that Rep. Bart Stupak is wrong — there is no language in either health care reform bill that would allow federally funded abortions — Pelosi told Maddow that she believes the Michigan Democrat wants health care reform and that he wold vote for the final legislation. “Bart Stupak wants health care reform. This is something he understands. He’s on the committee of jurisdiction for it. I don’t think that he’s part… that he himself would be one to say that ‘I’m taking down health care reform because of it.’ But I think others who are part of that, who have stronger connections to the Republican party do want to bring down the bill.”

Pelosi told Maddow “I cannot let the good intentions of some be hijacked by those who do not want health care reform.”

Watch: Pelosi on the plan for health care reform, Bart Stupak

Full Story: Pelosi: Stupak Wants Health Care Reform (VIDEO).

OPS:  What Pelosi seems to be saying here is that it’s not guns that kill people it’s bullets

The Public Option’s Last Stand: A Matter Of Will, Not Votes

The public option faces its last stand. With more than 40 senators publicly willing to vote for a health care reform reconciliation package that includes the option, the opportunity to reinsert it into the final bill has never been greater, though the battle is nearly over without having been fought.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democrat in charge of rounding up votes for the health care reconciliation bill, said on Thursday that he will whip support for whatever package comes through the House. With 50 Democratic votes, Vice President Joe Biden could then break the tie and send the bill directly to the White House. If any amendments are adopted, it slows the process down by requiring the House to vote once again.

That balance of power gives House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) extraordinary leverage of a historical nature. Pelosi, however, has yet to concede in negotiations that it is the obligation of the House to go first. And the deal that is being reached is driven largely by the White House. But both the Senate and the White House need Pelosi. And the House, of course, has already passed a health care bill with a public option.

Full Story: The Public Option’s Last Stand: A Matter Of Will, Not Votes.

House votes to impeach federal judge from Louisiana

The House of Representatives voted unanimously Thursday to impeach Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, making him the nation’s 15th federal judge ever impeached.

“Our investigation found that Judge Porteous participated in a pattern of corrupt conduct for years,” said U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Task Force on Judicial Impeachment.

“Litigants have the right to expect a judge hearing their case will be fair and impartial, and avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Regrettably, no one can have that expectation in Judge Porteous’ courtroom.”
Full Story: House votes to impeach federal judge from Louisiana – CNN.com.

Price of Lockheed’s F-35 fighter soars by 50%

Cost/plane seen over 50 pct higher than nine years ago

• * Cost growth comes despite efforts to reform program
• * Air Force to formally notify Congress, begin review (Adds ‘too big to fail’ in 3rd paragraph, Lockheed and GAO comments)

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) – The average cost of Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon’s costliest arms purchase yet, will soar more than 50 percent above what was projected when its development began nine years ago, the Pentagon’s top arms buyer told Congress.

The U.S. Air Force is set to formally notify Congress that the program has crashed through a key cost-containment threshold that will force a thorough review, Ashton Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, said on Thursday.

But the net impact of such a notification may be minimal since the program is widely said by U.S. officials to be too big to fail. Washington has no other way to replace aging warplanes like Lockheed’s F-16 and the program is a linchpin of fighter modernization for several U.S. allies.

Full Story: UPDATE 2-Price of Lockheed’s F-35 fighter soars | Reuters.

Rove ‘never set the record straight’ about CIA leak case

Isikoff: -

Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame call Rove book ‘a hoax’

Former Bush senior adviser Karl Rove has a new book out, Courage and Consequence, in which he attempts to justify his years in the White House. Longtime investigative journalist Michael Isikoff, however, is not impressed.

“It is a selective cherry-picking of history,” Isikoff told MSNBC’s David Shuster on Thursday. “Rove picks out various parts of the record that make him and the Bush White House look great and omits and distorts everything that contradicts him.”

Isikoff is particularly irate over the “highly skewed” way in which Rove “portrays himself as an improbable Jean Valjean—an innocent man who, like the persecuted hero of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, is relentlessly hounded by an obsessed lawman determined to put him behind bars.”

Full Story: Isikoff: Rove ‘never set the record straight’ about CIA leak case | Raw Story.

Recession is fueling a boom in insurance fraud

The sour economy is producing a bumper crop of cash-strapped consumers, business owners and shady agents who’re fueling a wave of insurance fraud that’s keeping regulators and law enforcement officials busy from coast to coast.

Whether it’s worthless health plans peddled by fax, staged auto accidents, arson or slip-and-fall accidents at the local mall, insurance fraud of all kinds is booming in the recession and consumers are paying the price in higher premiums.

To keep it in perspective, roughly 48 million insurance claims are made each year in the U.S. and less than one-quarter of 1 percent are referred to the nonprofit National Insurance Crime Bureau for investigation of possible fraud.

Full Story: Recession is fueling a boom in insurance fraud | McClatchy.

Obama’s ambitious export plan may rekindle free-trade battle

President Obama unveiled plans Thursday to double U.S. exports over the next five years in hopes of spurring job growth, an ambitious goal that may rekindle the battle over free-trade policy.

The president acknowledged the formidable barriers to his goal: doubts in Congress over new free-trade agreements, misaligned currencies that make Chinese products cheaper on global markets, and continued weakness in global demand, all problems that could dwarf efforts to promote U.S. products and services abroad.

But, Obama said in a speech, “in a time when millions of Americans are out of work, boosting our exports is a short-term imperative.”

Full Story: Obama’s ambitious export plan may rekindle free-trade battle – washingtonpost.com.

OPS:  He’s doing nothing but re inflating bubbles – might as we re inflate the Free-trade bubble too

New round of foreclosures threatens housing market

The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.

About 5 million to 7 million properties are potentially eligible for foreclosure but have not yet been repossessed and put up for sale. Some economists project it could take nearly three years before all these homes have been put on the market and purchased by new owners. And the number of pending foreclosures could grow much bigger over the coming year as more distressed borrowers become delinquent and then, if they can’t obtain mortgage relief, wade through the foreclosure process, which often takes more than a year to complete.

As these foreclosed properties add to the supply of homes for sale, they could undercut housing prices, which have increased modestly through December, according to the most recent figures in the S&P/Case-Shiller home prices index. That rise partly reflected a slowdown in the flow of foreclosed homes onto the market.

Full Story: New round of foreclosures threatens housing market – washingtonpost.com.

Suspected suicides increased in February

As many as 14 active-duty soldiers killed themselves in February, a slight increase from the month before, the Army announced March 11.

Of the 14 deaths, one has been confirmed as suicide and the others remain under investigation.

Army officials have said that about 90 percent of these cases typically are ruled to be suicide.

Officials reported 12 suspected suicides in January.

Full Story: Suspected suicides increased in February – Army News, news from Iraq, – Army Times.

Brain scan can read people’s thoughts: researchers

A scan of brain activity can effectively read a person’s mind, researchers said Thursday.

British scientists from University College London found they could differentiate brain activity linked to different memories and thereby identify thought patterns by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

The evidence suggests researchers can tell which memory of a past event a person is recalling from the pattern of their brain activity alone.

“We’ve been able to look at brain activity for a specific episodic memory — to look at actual memory traces,” said senior author of the study, Eleanor Maguire.

“We found that our memories are definitely represented in the hippocampus. Now that we’ve seen where they are, we have an opportunity to understand how memories are stored and how they may change through time.”

Full Story: Brain scan can read people’s thoughts: researchers – Yahoo! News.

Conservatives target ‘human kiddie shield’ whose mom died from lack of insurance

An 11-year-old boy whose mother died after losing her health insurance has become an advocate for health care reform — and opponents of reform are gunning for him.

Marcelas Owens of Seattle lost his mother in 2006 after the 27-year-old woman was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, a condition that can lead to heart failure if left untreated. Due to missed work, Tiffany Owens lost her job, and with it her health insurance. Not long after, she died of her disorder.

Owens appeared at a Capitol Hill press conference flanked by the Democratic leadership on Thursday, the day after he turned 11 years old.

“I don't want any other kids to go through the pain that our family has gone through,” Owens said. “My grandma and I want Barack Obama and Congress and everybody to come together and to help get the health care bill passed.”

Full Story: Conservatives target ‘human kiddie shield’ whose mom died from lack of insurance | Raw Story.

New York City settles with 9/11 heroes for up to $657.5 million

After years of fighting in court, lawyers representing the city, construction companies and more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers have agreed to a settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to responders sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center.

The settlement was announced Thursday evening by the WTC Captive Insurance Co., a special entity established to indemnify the city and its contractors against potential legal action as they moved to clean up the site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The deal, which still must be approved by a judge and the workers themselves, would make the city and other companies represented by the insurer liable for a minimum of $575 million, with more money available to the sick if certain conditions are met.

Full Story: New York City settles with 9/11 heroes for up to $657.5 million | Raw Story.

Utah House GOP leader says he paid off woman

Utah House GOP leader says he paid off woman

Utah state House GOP leader Garn says he paid woman to keep silent about hot tub incident

Utah’s House majority leader said late Thursday he paid a woman $150,000 to keep silent about going nude “hot-tubbing” with her when she was minor a quarter century ago.

In a shocking statement on the House floor, Kevin Garn, 55, of Layton said he paid her to keep quiet about the incident during his unsuccessful U.S. congressional bid in 2002, but did not have sexual contact with her.

Garn said the woman, who he didn’t identify on the floor, has been calling news outlets and that he wanted to be open about the incident that occurred when he was 28 years old, before any stories appeared.

Full Story: Utah House GOP leader says he paid off woman | Raw Story.

The wealthiest nation in the world? Wrong!

We are living in a new world in which America is just trying to survive.

I am so weary of hearing this same old, worn out phrase “we are the wealthiest nation in the world.” On what planet do the people who utter that non-factual statement live? While that was once a fact, we need to accept reality; those days are over, we are living in a new world in which America is just trying to survive. The once largest creditor nation in the world has become the largest debtor nation. And we have only ourselves to blame.

If you measure nations by the largest total gross national product, the United States still comes out on top. But when the measurement is done based on the largest per capita gross national product, the U.S. ranks 4th (IMF) or 6th (World Bank). That is clear proof that we are not the wealthiest nation in the world; but that is not the worst of it.

It should be understood that “gross” national product does not reflect the actual wealth of a nation, just as gross income is not indicative of an individual's actual financial condition.

Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: The wealthiest nation in the world? Wrong!.