Archive for May, 2010
Hume Acknowledges Oil Spill Disaster ‘Verifies’ The Concern Of Environmentalists
Today’s Sunday morning news shows were dedicated, in large part, to the unfolding oil spill disaster in the Gulf Coast, as efforts continue to contain the 210,000 gallons of oil a day that are still leaking. The leak has reignited debate over offshore oil drilling, with the Obama administration saying that “further commitments for offshore drilling must await an investigation of the causes of the rig explosion and leak.” Even conservative darling and drilling proponent Marco Rubio said that the spill should make us “rethink” our drilling technologies.
Today, on Fox News Sunday, Fox’s Brit Hume said that, while his pro-drilling stance has not been changed by the disaster, the spill validates the concern of environmentalists who warned that such a disaster was inevitable:
Think about what the environmentalists have always said about this. Is it’s not a matter of if there’ll be a disaster of this kind resulting in this kind of offshore drilling, it’s only a matter of when. This verifies that argument, and becomes a powerful factor in the debate over what to do next. I don’t see any way around the political reality that this will set back the cause of offshore drilling in the United States.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » Hume Acknowledges Oil Spill Disaster ‘Verifies’ The Concern Of Environmentalists.
Hume Acknowledges Oil Spill Disaster ‘Verifies’ The Concern Of Environmentalists
Today’s Sunday morning news shows were dedicated, in large part, to the unfolding oil spill disaster in the Gulf Coast, as efforts continue to contain the 210,000 gallons of oil a day that are still leaking. The leak has reignited debate over offshore oil drilling, with the Obama administration saying that “further commitments for offshore drilling must await an investigation of the causes of the rig explosion and leak.” Even conservative darling and drilling proponent Marco Rubio said that the spill should make us “rethink” our drilling technologies.
Today, on Fox News Sunday, Fox’s Brit Hume said that, while his pro-drilling stance has not been changed by the disaster, the spill validates the concern of environmentalists who warned that such a disaster was inevitable:
Think about what the environmentalists have always said about this. Is it’s not a matter of if there’ll be a disaster of this kind resulting in this kind of offshore drilling, it’s only a matter of when. This verifies that argument, and becomes a powerful factor in the debate over what to do next. I don’t see any way around the political reality that this will set back the cause of offshore drilling in the United States.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » Hume Acknowledges Oil Spill Disaster ‘Verifies’ The Concern Of Environmentalists.
Rep. Taylor Downplays Gulf Oil Disaster By Comparing It To Spilt ‘Chocolate Milk’
As emergency responders scramble to respond to the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) is claiming that the public is overreacting to the catastrophe. The spill, which may be pouring up to one million gallons of oil per day into the Gulf, being called perhaps America’s “worst environmental disaster in decades.”
During an interview with Biloxi’s WLOX-TV, Taylor said that the massive oil spill is “not nearly as bad” as he thought it would be and that it “isn’t Katrina. It’s not Armageddon. … A lot of people are scared and I don’t think they should be.” He went on to compare the spill to chocolate milk and said that the oil is “tending to break up naturally.” The host, surprised by Taylor’s optimism, responded by saying the congressman’s viewpoint is “inconsistent…with some of the doomsday reports that we’ve been hearing,” to which Taylor responded, “David, that’s why I’m here”:
TAYLOR: What I want people to know is this isn’t Katrina. This is not Armageddon. I did this for the Coast Guard many years ago. Yeah, it’s bad. And it’s terrible that there’s a spill out there. But I would remind people that the oil is twenty miles from any marsh. … That chocolate milk looking spill starts breaking up in smaller pieces … It is tending to break up naturally.
Full Story: Think Progress » Rep. Taylor Downplays Gulf Oil Disaster By Comparing It To Spilt ‘Chocolate Milk’.
GOP House Candidate Who Served In The Military: Gays ‘Were Taken Care Of In Ways I Can’t Describe To You’
Last week, Republican candidates in Tennessee’s “8th Congressional District made candid comments about gays at a “Tea Party forum that included discussion about the military’s ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy,” the Associated Press reports. Ron Kirkland, George Flinn and Randy Smith criticized President Obama for trying to lift the ban, arguing that it would add “unnecessary” stress the military. Then, Kirkland re-called how gay servicemembers were treated during his time in the military:
Kirkland, a Vietnam veteran, said of his time in the military: “I can tell you if there were any homosexuals in that group, they were taken care of in ways I can’t describe to you.”
Smith, who served in the first Iraqi war, added: “I definitely wouldn’t want to share a shower with a homosexual. We took care of that kind of stuff, just like (Kirkland) said.”
Fox And Friends Pushes ‘Conspiracy Theory’ That Massive Oil Spill Was ‘Deliberate’ ‘Sabotage’
As the scale of the disaster caused by the explosion at an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana became more apparent last week, right-wing radio talker Rush Limbaugh unleashed a conspiracy theory suggesting that someone intentionally blew up the rig in order to “head off more oil drilling”:
LIMBAUGH: I want to get back to the timing of the blowing up, the explosion out there in the Gulf of Mexico of this oil rig….Now, lest we forget, ladies and gentlemen, the carbon tax bill, cap and trade that was scheduled to be announced on Earth Day. I remember that. And then it was postponed for a couple of days later after Earth Day, and then of course immigration has now moved in front of it. But this bill, the cap-and-trade bill, was strongly criticized by hardcore environmentalist wackos because it supposedly allowed more offshore drilling and nuclear plants, nuclear plant investment. So, since they’re sending SWAT teams down there, folks, since they’re sending SWAT teams to inspect the other rigs, what better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I’m just noting the timing here.
As part of their inquiry into the explosion, federal investigators are not ruling out any possible causes, including the possibility of criminal acts or negligence. But other than Limbaugh’s rant last week, oil spill truther theories initially appeared only on fringe websites. That is…until today.
Full Story: Think Progress » Fox And Friends Pushes ‘Conspiracy Theory’ That Massive Oil Spill Was ‘Deliberate’ ‘Sabotage’.
REPORT: At least 15 states opt out of high risk insurance pools.
On July 1st, the Affordable Care Act will begin providing temporary health care coverage to Americans who can’t find affordable insurance in the individual health care market through high-risk insurance pools. The law allows states to decide whether they will 1) participate in a new high-risk health-insurance pool, 2) build on an existing program (if they have one), 3) establish a separate state-based high risk pool with federal funding, or 4) do nothing at all, in which case, the federal government would come in and administer the program. Last month, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote states to ask how they plan to implement the high-risk insurance pool provision. Last Friday, most of the states responded:
Full Story: Think Progress » REPORT: At least 15 states opt out of high risk insurance pools..
Speaking At Trade Association Funded By BP, Gov. Perry Claims Rig Disaster Is An ‘Act Of God’
Earlier today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is funded by dues-paying corporations like BP and Halliburton, hosted a “Free Enterprise” conference to push deregulation and anti-tax policies. During a press availability after the morning session, a reporter raised the point that the oil rig disaster, the Massey mine disaster, and the overall financial crisis seemed to have all occurred as a result of too much free enterprise and not enough regulations. Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), one of several governors in attendance, lashed out at the reporter and said regulations would not have prevented the economic collapse.
Later in his response, Perry said he feared a “knee-jerk reaction” to the oil spill, and said the oil spill could be just another “act of God that cannot be prevented“:
“We don’t know what the event that has allowed for this massive oil to be released,” Perry said alongside several other governors on a panel Monday. “And until we know that, I hope we don’t see a knee-jerk reaction across this country that says we’re going to shut down drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, because the cost to this country will be staggering.” Perry questioned whether the spill was “just an act of God that occurred” and said that any “politically driven” decisions could put the U.S. in further economic peril. “From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented,” Perry said.
Full Story: Think Progress » Speaking At Trade Association Funded By BP, Gov. Perry Claims Rig Disaster Is An ‘Act Of God’.
OPS: Amazing.
Poll: Majority of Americans approve of Arizona law that they believe will result in racial profiling.
The new anti-immigrant Arizona law allows law enforcement officials to engage in a dragnet against people suspected of looking like undocumented immigrants. The law had to be amended because its original version was almost certainly unconstitutional. The revised law authorizes local and state law enforcement authorities — including the campus police — “to question those they suspect to be illegal immigrants and ask that they produce verification of their status.” A new NYT/CBS poll shows that “the public broadly agrees that the Arizona law will result in racial profiling, overburden local and state law enforcement agencies, and decrease illegal immigrants’ willingness to report crimes for fear of deportation.” Nevertheless, a slim majority of Americans still supports it:
How China Holds the American Economy by the Balls
In May 1, China popped the cork on Expo 2010 in Shanghai, a months-long international celebration signifying the ascension of the city, and thereby its parent nation, as a global economic and cultural powerhouse. Meanwhile, in the United States, China’s economic and cultural power has come under mounting fire.
Short-happy hedge funder Jim Chanos, who prophesied the fall of Enron, argued in April that the country’s heated property market was on a “treadmill to hell.” Foreign Policy followed suit by more or less blaming China’s alleged currency manipulation, rather than America’s own corporate and economic malfeasance, for exporting unemployment to the United States. Even our President Barack Obama jumped on the dogpile, expressing concern that China has not moved its currency to a “more market-oriented exchange rate,” during an April meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington. His administration stopped short, however, of releasing an April 15 report to Congress expressing this disapproval in concrete terms, choosing instead to trot out the disgraced deregulationist Larry Summers to soothe the Chinese that such matters will be taken up at future gatherings.
For its part, China has responded to the finger-pointing by the United States with its own middle digit.
Full Story: How China Holds the American Economy by the Balls | Economy | AlterNet.
Why Is God Smiting the Deep South?
When cataclysmic disasters strike, it usually doesn’t take long for TV prophets like Pat Robertson, John Hagee and the late, unlamented Jerry Falwell to pronounce them portentous signs of God’s wrath. Equally predictable: God’s punishments are always closely aligned with the prophets’ right-wing political views.
It’s notable then that with the biggest-ever oil slick bearing down on Gulf Coast beaches and a spate of deadly tornadoes and floods across the South over the past few weeks, interpreters of divine vengeance have been eerily quiet.
Their silence is atypical. For example, within about 48 hours after 9/11, Robertson and Falwell were on the air expressing what appeared to be inside knowledge about who was really to blame for the terror attacks:
Full Story: Pensito Review » Why Is God Smiting the Deep South?.
BP Oil Spill Worsens With No Solution in Sight, 210,000 Gallons a Day Spew into Gulf of Mexico
Democracy NOW!
Federal authorities have banned commercial and recreational fishing in a large stretch of water in the Gulf of Mexico due to the massive oil spill caused by a BP-operated rig that exploded nearly two weeks ago. An estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day is pouring into the Gulf in what might turn out to be the worst industrial environmental disaster in U.S. history. We speak with Riki Ott, a marine toxicologist and a former commercial salmon fisherma’am from Alaska who experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
[Includes rush transcript and video]
Full Story: BP Oil Spill Worsens With No Solution in Sight, 210,000 Gallons a Day Spew into Gulf of Mexico.
NOAA Warned Interior It Was Underestimating Threat Of Serious Spill
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration officials last fall warned the Department of Interior, which regulates offshore oil drilling, that it was dramatically underestimating the frequency of offshore oil spills and was dangerously understating the risk and impacts a major spill would have on coastal residents.
NOAA is the nation’s lead ocean resource agency, and the warnings came in its response to a draft of the Obama Administration’s offshore oil drilling plans. The comments were Web-published in October by the whistle-blowing group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
But NOAA’s views were largely brushed aside as Obama went ahead and announced on March 31 that he would open vast swaths of American coastal waters to offshore drilling — a plan now very much in doubt as a blown-out BP well in the Gulf of Mexico spews out an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil daily, for the 13th straight day.
Full Story: NOAA Warned Interior It Was Underestimating Threat Of Serious Spill.
West Coast of Florida could be spared; East Coast could get the brunt of oil spill
A University of Florida professor and oceanographic expert says he believes the east coast of Florida might see the worst of the impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
At the same time, state health officials say the chemical-like smell reported to be wafting occasionally across parts of the state, including Alachua and Marion counties, has not been definitively linked to the oil spill but that they continue to monitor the reports.
Y. Peter Sheng, coastal and oceanographic engineer at UF, said the six-day ocean current models released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveal that the western coast of Florida, from the Big Bend to Cedar Key, could be spared.
Full Story: West Coast of Florida could be spared; East Coast could get the brunt of oil spill | Gainesville.com.
Oil Drilling, Disaster and Denial
It took futuristic technology to achieve one of the worst ecological disasters on record. Without such technology, after all, BP couldn’t have drilled the Deepwater Horizon well in the first place. Yet for those who remember their environmental history, the catastrophe in the gulf has a strangely old-fashioned feel, reminiscent of the events that led to the first Earth Day, four decades ago.
And maybe, just maybe, the disaster will help reverse environmentalism’s long political slide — a slide largely caused by our very success in alleviating highly visible pollution. If so, there may be a small silver lining to a very dark cloud.
Environmentalism began as a response to pollution that everyone could see. The spill in the gulf recalls the 1969 blowout that coated the beaches of Santa Barbara in oil. But 1969 was also the year the Cuyahoga River, which flows through Cleveland, caught fire. Meanwhile, Lake Erie was widely declared “dead,” its waters contaminated by algal blooms. And major U.S. cities — especially, but by no means only, Los Angeles — were often cloaked in thick, acrid smog.
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Oil Drilling, Disaster and Denial – NYTimes.com.
Campaign Contribution Records Are Open, but Hardly Transparent
In January, the United States Supreme Court overturned limits on corporate election spending (PDF), basing its decision, in part, on the assertion that campaign finance records are more open and accessible than ever before.
“With the advent of the Internet, disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the court’s majority opinion.
ProPublica decided to test this premise as we pored over campaign contribution filings to tell the story, co-published on April 16 in the Washington Post, of 16 lawmakers who held fundraisers at two Bruce Springsteen concerts last year, many of them in sky boxes rented from companies and special interests. We wanted to know if the records the court had referenced could show us who was getting face time with lawmakers at these pricey events, information that’s key to determining whether special access was influencing legislative decisions.
Full Story: On The Hill: Campaign Contribution Records Are Open, but Hardly Transparent.
Dick Cheney and the oil spill
As we know from our own comment threads right here on this very blog, right-wingers are expert at taking a few facts from situations that appear to be superficially similar but really aren’t upon reflection or closer examination and using them to attack liberals.
And so, in the last few days, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has become Obama’s Katrina. Um…look, I’m as pro-pelican as the next guy, and obviously I don’t mean to gainsay the scope of this environmental catastrophe, which will end up being staggering.
But Katrina killed about 1,500 humans. And no, it’s not George Bush’s personal fault that they died, either. But I still rate Katrina a far bigger tragedy for that reason.
Full Story: Michael Tomasky: Dick Cheney and the oil spill | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.
Tax on Oil May Help Pay for Gulf Spill Cleanup
The federal government has a large rainy day fund on hand to help mitigate the expanding damage on the Gulf Coast, generated by a tax on oil for use in cases like the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Up to $1 billion of the $1.6 billion reserve could be used to compensate for losses from the accident, as much as half of it for what is sometimes a major category of costs: damage to natural resources like fisheries and other wildlife habitats.
Under the law that established the reserve, called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies or the government.
Full Story: Tax on Oil May Help Pay for Gulf Spill Cleanup – NYTimes.com.
Whirlpool Will Close US Plant in June; Send Jobs to Mexico
Whirlpool plans to close a U.S. refrigerator plant in June to ship more American jobs to Mexico. Doug Cunningham has more.
By Doug Cunningham
Whirlpool Corporation is shutting down a refrigerator plant in Evansville, Indiana that will put 1100 people out of work. Are they having trouble selling refrigerators in these bad economic times? No. Whirlpool is profitable and still selling plenty of refrigerators here. But they want to ship these jobs to Mexico where they can produce them cheaper and without having to respect U.S. labor and environmental regulations. Whirlpool took $19 million in economic recovery money and now instead of helping our economy recover, it’s destroying 1100 good American jobs. The AFL-CIO has started an online petition drive telling Whirlpool to “Keep It Made In America” to save our jobs. You can find it at unionvoice.org/campaign/Evansville The AFL-CIO says Whirlpool should reverse its decision to keep these 1100 jobs in the U.S. and help our economic recovery. The labor federation says taxpayer economic recovery money should be used to create jobs in America, not ship them to cheap labor markets in other countries.
Full Story: Whirlpool Will Close US Plant in June; Send Jobs to Mexico | Workers Independent News.
AND!!!!! from Bloomberg…..
Earnings roundup: Humana, Whirlpool
Among the earnings stories for Monday, April 26, from AP Financial News:
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal rebates for energy-efficient appliances pulled shoppers back into stores, helping Whirlpool Corp.’s revenue rise and its first-quarter profit more than double, the company said.
Dead turtles wash up in Pass Christian
Dead turtles found at the water’s edge in Pass Christian on Saturday will be studied for a cause of death.
Moby Solangi, head of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, said workers searched for 10 turtles reported to have washed ashore, but could recover only six before dusk.
The turtles were taken to the freezer at the Center for Marine Education and Research in Gulfport and would be necropsied Monday to determine what killed them. Solangi said a visual inspection of the turtles did not reveal oily residue.
Full Story: Dead turtles wash up in Pass Christian – Pass Christian – SunHerald.com.
OPS: And so it begins…..
G.M., Repaying Taxpayers With Their Own Cash
AS we inch closer to a clearer understanding of the products and practices that unleashed the credit crisis of 2008, it’s becoming apparent that those seeking the whole truth are still outnumbered by those aiming to obscure it. This is the case not only on Wall Street but also in Washington.
Truth seekers the nation over, therefore, are indebted to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who in recent days uncovered what he called a government-enabled “TARP money shuffle.” It relates to General Motors, which on April 21 paid the balance of its $6.7 billion loan under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
G.M. trumpeted its escape from the program as evidence that it had turned the corner in its operations. “G.M. is able to repay the taxpayers in full, with interest, ahead of schedule, because more customers are buying vehicles like the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse,” boasted Edward E. Whitacre Jr., its chief executive.
Full Story: Fair Game – At G.M., Repaying Taxpayers With Their Own Cash – NYTimes.com.
Who Are We? Experiments Suggest You’re Not Who You Think
“Who in the world am I?” asked Alice (in Wonderland). “Ah, that’s the great puzzle!” The question may make you wonder about taking time to ponder such philosophical babble. The answer is usually defined by what you can control. A reply might be, “I can wiggle my toes but I can’t move the legs of the table.” The dividing line between self and nonself is taken to be the skin. This is reinforced every day of our lives — every time you fill out a form: I am ___ (your name here). It’s such an integral part of our lives that the question is as unnatural as scrutinizing breathing.
Years ago I published an experiment (Science, 212, 695, 1981) with Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner (the “father” of modern behaviorism) showing that like us, animals are capable of ‘self-awareness.’ We taught pigeons to use a mirror to locate a spot on their body which they couldn’t see directly. Although similar behavior in primates is attributed to a self-concept, it’s clear there are different degrees of self-awareness. For instance, we didn’t report in our paper that the pigeons attacked their own reflection in the mirror. Biocentrism suggests we humans may be as oblivious to certain aspects of who we are as the pigeons.
We are more than we’ve been taught in biology class. Everyday life makes this obvious. Last weekend I set out on a walk. There was a roar of dirt bikes from the nearby sandpit, but as I went further into the forest the sound gradually disappeared. In a clearing I noticed sprays of tiny flowers (Houstonia caerulea) dotting the ground. I squatted down to examine them. They were about a quarter-of-an-inch in diameter with yellow centers and petals ranging in color from white to deep purple. I was wondering why these flowers had such bright coloring, when I saw a fuzzy little creature with a body the size of a BB darting in and out of the flowers. Its wings were awkwardly large and beating so fast I could hardly see their outline. This tiny world was as wondrous as Pandora in Avatar. It took my breath away.
Full Story: Robert Lanza, M.D.: Who Are We? Experiments Suggest You’re Not Who You Think.
Mutant cows die in GM trial
Genetically modified cows were born with ovaries that grew so large they caused ruptures and killed the animals.
The bungled experiment happened during a study by AgResearch scientists at Ruakura, Hamilton, to find human fertility treatments through GM cows’ milk.
AgResearch is studying tissue from one of three dead calves to try to find out what made the ovaries grow up to the size of tennis balls rather than the usual thumbnail-size.
Details of the deaths – in veterinary reports released to the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act – have reignited debate over the ethics of GM trials on animals.
Full Story: Mutant cows die in GM trial « Wake-up Call.
Fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe
The world may be on the brink of biological disaster after news that a third of US bee colonies did not survive the winter
Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.
The decline of the country’s estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers.
The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
Full Story: Fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe | Environment | The Observer.
The trillion-dollar fraud
Why is the Fed so opposed to being audited, and what does it have to hide?
Commercial banks, by law, have to hold a certain percentage of their deposits as cash at the Federal Reserve. From January 1959 until August 2008, the total of these reserves held by the commercial banks at the Fed grew from $11.1 billion to $46.2 billion. At no time during this almost 50-year period did the total bank reserves held at the Fed exceed the minimum required by law by more than $2 billion.
But since August 2008, these bank reserves held at the Fed have exploded to more than $1.2 trillion (as of March 2010), even though only $65.6 billion was required to be deposited by law.
This increase in excess reserves resulted directly from the Fed’s policy of dramatically increasing the quantity (and lowering the quality threshold) of assets it bought in the marketplace. During the past 20 months, the Fed has tripled the size of its balance sheet by acquiring more than $1.5 trillion of new assets, more than $1 trillion of which are mortgage-backed securities.
Full Story: The trillion-dollar fraud – Bank Reform News | Obama Bank Reform Bill – Salon.com.
OPS: “Why is the Fed so opposed to being audited, and what does it have to hide?” We probably couldn’t handle the truth
Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher
‘The following is not public’ document states
A confidential government report on the unfolding spill disaster in the Gulf makes clear the Coast Guard now fears the well could become an unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf.
“The following is not public,” reads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Emergency Response document dated April 28. “Two additional release points were found today in the tangled riser. If the riser pipe deteriorates further, the flow could become unchecked resulting in a release volume an order of magnitude higher than previously thought.”
Asked Friday to comment on the document, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said that the additional leaks described were reported to the public late Wednesday night. Regarding the possibility of the spill becoming an order of magnitude larger, Smullen said, “I’m letting the document you have speak for itself.”
Full Story: Leaked report: Government fears Deepwater Horizon well could become unchecked gusher | al.com.
REMEMBERING HAYMARKET: May Day and the fight for eight hours
Interview with James Green, author of Death in the Haymarket
On May 1, 1886, 340,000 workers were involved in strikes and protests across the country for the eight-hour day. Chicago was the hub—65,000 workers struck there. The employers counter-attacked. On May 3, 200 police attacked a group of strikers at Chicago’s McCormick Reaper works, killing four. In protest, 3,000 workers gathered in Haymarket Square the following day. As the protest was breaking up, someone, a police agent or an angry individual, tossed a bomb into the police ranks, killing one (several more were later killed by their own cross-fire).
Police then went on another rampage, killing four workers and injuring hundreds. Eight working-class radicals were arrested and tried. All but one (Oscar Neebe) were sentenced to death. One, Louis Lingg, committed suicide in his cell, one served some prison time, and three (Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, and Oscar Neebe) were later pardoned. Four—August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, and George Engel—were executed in 1887, even though there was no evidence connecting them to it, and only Spies and Fielden attended the event.
But that didn’t matter to the employers, politicians, and their press. As leaders in the labor movement, anarchists and socialists all, an example had to be made of them. “Anarchy is on trial,” declared prosecutor Julius Grinnell. “These men have been selected, picked out…and indicted because they are the leaders. They are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Convict these men, make examples of them, hang them, and you save our institutions, our society.”
Full Story: International Socialist Review.
Unification Church will put Washington Times up for sale
Washington Times executives are negotiating to sell the newspaper, after the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s family cut off most of the annual subsidy of about $35 million that has kept the Unification Church-backed paper afloat, company officials said.
Nicholas Chiaia, a member of the paper’s two-man board of directors and president of the church-supported United Press International wire service, confirmed that the paper is actively on the market: “We recently entered into discussions with a number of parties interested in either purchasing or partnering with the Washington Times,” he said in a statement to The Washington Post
Full Story: Unification Church will put Washington Times up for sale.
8 Words That Could Save Our Country
“Corporations are not people. Money is not speech.” These are fundamental truths that our nation needs to remember — and add to the Constitution.
A rogue Supreme Court seems hellbent on establishing a corporate oligarchy. Congress can’t stop it. Every time Congress or state legislatures tries to curb the power of billionaires or mega corporations the Court slaps them down.
Citizens United v. FEC, the recent Supreme Court decision that allowed corporations to spend unlimited sums of money to influence elections is only the most recent step in this process. There will be more. But the shocking decision may be sufficient to galvanize a political movement that can change the rules and ensure our democracy.
We can save our country by adding eight words to the fundamental law of the land, the US Constitution. “Corporations are not persons.” “Money is not speech.”
Such a development is not without precedent. Once before a political movement has changed the Constitution to nurture democracy. The populist uprising of the late 20th century led to the passage, in rapid succession of the 16th Amendment in 1913 that allowed for an income tax, the 17th Amendment, ratified the same year that required the direct election of Senators and in 1920 the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote.
Full Story: 8 Words That Could Save Our Country | Vision | AlterNet.
Observer Latest Paper To Abandon Labour (For The Liberal Democrats)
Several national UK newspapers have announced their political allegiances in an attempt to sway their readership ahead of the General Election.
Most of the announcements spell bad news for Gordon Brown as Labour loses the support of at least three newspapers.
The Observer, which has traditionally supported Labour, is the latest to announce it is switching to back the Liberal Democrats.
In an editorial, it praises Mr Brown for “reversing a generation of Tory under-investment” but concludes he “failed to inspire”.
Dismissive of the Conservatives’ claims it offers something new, it argues only the Lib Dems represent a “radical, positive change in politics”.
Sister-paper the Guardian has also endorsed the Lib Dems.
Where Are You Now, Scum?
Mike Malloy : Major Rant.
Mike rants furiously about the disappearance of the republicans and teabaggers, now that financial reform blocking, a racist bill in Arizona and oil spills are on the table for them to shout against. Yeah, right…
British Judge: Christian Beliefs Have No Legal Standing
“religious faith is necessarily subjective, being incommunicable by any kind of proof or evidence.”
A top British judge has ruled that Christian beliefs have no standing under secular law because they lack evidence and cannot be proven.
Lord Justice John Grant McKenzie Laws made the declaration on Thursday (April 29) in throwing out a defamation suit by Christian relationship counselor who refused to offer sex therapy to gay couples.
Gary McFarlane protested that he was fired because offering sex therapy to same-gender couples violates his Christian principles.
But Laws said “religious faith is necessarily subjective, being incommunicable by any kind of proof or evidence.” He added that to use the law to protect “a position held purely on religious grounds cannot therefore be justified.”
Full Story: British Judge: Christian Beliefs Have No Legal Standing.
Is Supreme Court’s Cross Ruling Good For Christians?
Evangelicals cheered when a Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday (April 28) allowed a cross to remain as a war memorial in California’s Mojave Desert.
Some Christians, however, caution that a celebration may not be in order.
The high court’s decision was largely based on Justice Anthony Kennedy’s determination that “one Latin cross in the desert evokes far more than religion.” Rather, he said, it “evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles.”
In other words, the cross is more than a Christian symbol.
Full Story: Is Supreme Court’s Cross Ruling Good For Christians?.
Times Square Bomb Investigation [UPDATE]
Police found an “amateurish” but potentially powerful bomb that apparently began to detonate but did not explode in a smoking sport utility vehicle in Times Square, authorities said Sunday.
Thousands of tourists were cleared from the streets for 10 hours after two vendors alerted police to the suspicious vehicle, which contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
“We avoided what we could have been a very deadly event,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact.”
Full Story: Times Square Bomb Investigation [UPDATE: 'It Appears To Be A Car Bomb,' Police Say].
Suicide by Regressivism
David Michael Green : Sometimes bad things happen to countries, and people suffer. Other times, people suffer because countries are stupid and bring bad things upon themselves.
Sometimes bad things happen to countries, and people suffer.
Other times, people suffer because countries are stupid and bring bad things upon themselves.
No country in the history of the world has ever been as rich and powerful as the United States. Regrettably, few have demonstrated the level of stupidity we have and brought so much grief upon our own heads (not to mention treating so many other people in the world to an even worse fate).
To watch the Wall Street hearings in Congress this week is to witness this folly in full flower. To ask, “What two greater sets of organized criminals are there in America than Wall Street bankers and the United States Congress?” is actually to make the fundamental mistake of being too charitable. The question assumes that they are indeed distinguishable entities, when in fact this is arguably nonsense.
That distinction is actually quite critical, for our public sector has in many ways more or less ceased to exist in this country. And that in turn is critical for what it signifies, in addition to the very tangible effects felt every day.
Full Story: Suicide by Regressivism | CommonDreams.org.
Louisiana oil spill may be five times bigger than previously thought
Oil from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon rig is feared to be gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at five times the latest estimate of the US Coastguard, according to satellite imagery studied by industry experts.
The view from space indicates that the oil may be leaking at a rate of 25,000 barrels a day, dwarfing the figure of 5,000 barrels that US officials and the British oil giant BP have used in recent days.
That would mean that some nine million gallons may already have escaped from the underwater well following the April 20 explosion that killed 11 rig workers. It suggests the disaster will almost certainly prove greater than the Exxon Valdez tanker spill off Alaska in 1989, which released 11 million gallons and was the worst previous spill at sea.
Full Story: Louisiana oil spill may be five times bigger than previously thought – Telegraph.
OPS: ‘Official’ estimates are ALWAYS low and wrong. Anyone want to bet that this turns out to be 10x or 15x ‘bigger than previously thought’? Keep in mind that this is the beginning of Hurricane season… That oil will be out there all summer. The current predictions are 90 days just to STOP THE FLOW. What happens when a Cat2 or 3 or 4 stirs the pot?
Additional Note: Here’s an intersting point from Mike5000 over at BF:
Thousands protest neo-Nazis on May Day
More than ten thousand demonstrators demonstrated against neo-Nazi marches on Saturday across Germany. Around 200 extreme right wingers were detained.
Fearing riots, police across Germany made efforts to separate leftist and neo-Nazi demonstrators in several cities across Germany.
In Berlin, neo-Nazis and people from the far-left spent hours vying for control of May Day demonstration routes through the German capital, although by early evening on Saturday, confrontations had mostly ended peacefully.
Violence, with brawls between leftists and rightists, burning barricades and damage to banks and shops, has been an annual ritual on May Day for more than two decades in Berlin, Hamburg and other German cities.
In Berlin, about 500 of the far-rightists marched through a northern district of the capital, although they were outnumbered by thousands of opponents.
Full Story: Thousands protest neo-Nazis on May Day – The Local.
Police, protesters clash as unrest grips Athens over IMF cutbacks | Raw Story
Greek police fired tear gas on youths Saturday as marchers swarmed through central Athens to protest unprecedented austerity cuts needed for EU and IMF loans worth as much as 120 billion euros.
Thousands of protestors used traditional May Day marches to vent popular anger against deep budget cuts the government has promised in the face of a debt crisis that pushed the country to the brink of default.
Anti-riot forces used tear gas to contain several isolated clashes on the margins of the marches, which police said drew 15,000 people.
Full Story: Police, protesters clash as unrest grips Athens over IMF cutbacks | Raw Story.
3,000 European Jewish intellectuals urge end to Israeli settlements
A new leftist European Jewish group, JCall, has written a letter to be delivered Sunday to the European Parliament calling for a cessation of what it calls systematic support for Israeli government decisions.
JCall, which describes itself as “the European J Street” and is to be officially launched Sunday with the presentation of the letter, has raised a storm with its call to stop construction in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem.
The letter is signed by some 3,000 Jewish intellectuals, among them philosophers Bernard Henri-Levy and Alain Finkielkraut, considered some of Israel's strongest defenders among French intellectuals. Signatories also include Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the student protests in the 1960s and now a member of the European Parliament, as well as other Jewish members of the European Parliament.
Full Story: 3,000 European Jewish intellectuals urge end to Israeli settlements – Haaretz – Israel News.
Dems’ immigration proposal creates national ID card, ‘fingerprints every worker’
Democrat: Public more comfortable with idea of national ID card
Civil liberties groups and even some die-hard supporters of the Democratic Party are raising the alarm over the Democrats’ proposed immigration overhaul, which would see the creation of a national biometric ID card.
“If the biometric national ID card provision of the draft bill becomes law, every worker in America would have to be fingerprinted and a new federal bureaucracy – one that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars – would have to be created to issue cards,” the ACLU said in a statement Thursday, following the release of Senate Democrat’s 28-page proposal (PDF) for comprehensive immigration reform.
“Creating a biometric national ID will not only be astronomically expensive, it will usher government into the very center of our lives. Every worker in America will need a government permission slip in order to work. And all of this will come with a new federal bureaucracy – one that combines the worst elements of the DMV and the TSA,” said Christopher Calabrese, ACLU Legislative Counsel.
Full Story: Dems’ immigration proposal creates national ID card, ‘fingerprints every worker’ | Raw Story.
OPS: So the Dems will be the ones to ‘officially’ launch the US Police State?
‘Boil-water’ order issued for nearly 2 million in Mass
A major pipe bringing water to the Boston area has sprung a “catastrophic” leak and is dumping eight million gallons of water per hour into the Charles River. Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency and issued a “boil-water” order for Boston and dozens of other communities.
“The water is not suitable for drinking. … All residents in impacted communities should boil drinking water before consuming it,” he said at a news conference this afternoon.
Patrick said the state had asked bottled water companies to make more water available in the state and emergency drinking water supplies could also be made available to the affected communities through the National Guard.
Full Story: ‘Boil-water’ order issued for nearly 2 million in Mass. – Local News Updates – MetroDesk – The Boston Globe.
Obama calls for legislation to restrict lobbyist influence on elections
US President Barack Obama called on Congress on Saturday to pass reforms limiting the influence of special interest groups on US elections, saying the integrity of US democracy needed to be protected.
“What we are facing is no less than a potential corporate takeover of our elections,” Obama said in his weekly radio address. “And what is at stake is no less than the integrity of our democracy.”
The appeal came after a recent US Supreme Court ruling that gave corporations, lobbyists, other special interest groups — foreign and domestic — the power to spend unlimited money to influence the outcome of US elections.
Full Story: Obama calls for legislation to restrict lobbyist influence on elections | Raw Story.
Europe’s central bank president: To prevent crisis, ‘global governance’ is needed
Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of Europe’s central bank, said to a recent meeting of the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations that in order to prevent another dramatic economic crisis, a new type of “global governance” must bring accounting practices on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean into sync with one another.
“It is his belief that through global governance, the resiliency of the global financial system can be assured, noting that ultimately it was governments’ use of taxpayer’s money, equivalent to around 25% of GDP on both sides of the Atlantic, that prevented another catastrophic great depression from occurring,” wrote Forbes reporter Mina Sanini, who captured the remarks.
“After mid-September the intensification of the crisis, it was really a question of half-days to measure the rapidity of the consummation,” he said, adding that it had spread “all over the world, [to] all of the different sectors.”
“This is something which I had not observed before,” Trichet explained.
Full Story: Europe’s central bank president: To prevent crisis, ‘global governance’ is needed | Raw Story.
OPS: Reagan’s New World Order, coming soon…..
US likely to disclose size of nuclear stockpile: report
US President Barack Obama will likely reveal the size of the US nuclear stockpile at a major UN nuclear disarmament summit next week in New York, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Citing unnamed officials, the newspaper said various factions in the Obama administration had debated for months whether to declassify the numbers.
But now the administration is seeking a dramatic announcement that will further enhance its nuclear credentials as it tries to bolster the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the paper noted.
Full Story: US likely to disclose size of nuclear stockpile: report – Yahoo! News.
OPS: This will drive the Reich, and their propaganda arms, out of their Fascist little minds. And provide them with fodder, in this election year, that will be non-stop.
Secretive Right-Wing Plutocrats Use Front Groups To Attack New Campaign Finance Disclosure Bill
On Thursday, Senate Democrats, along with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE), unveiled sweeping campaign finance reform aimed at curbing campaign abuses in the wake of the conservative Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, which struck down decades of campaign finance law. The main focus of the DISCLOSE Act (Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections) is to increase disclosure requirements on corporations, labor unions, trade associations, and nonprofit advocacy groups that spend money on ads to influence federal elections. The DISCLOSE Act forces the CEO of a corporation or head of an advocacy group to personally appear in the organization’s ads and take responsibility, and for the top funder of the ad to appear in the ad and take responsibility.
The status quo of electioneering allows corporate powers, billionaires, and even domestic subsidiaries of foreign corporations to essentially manipulate American elections without ever revealing themselves. The DISCLOSE Act is a tremendous start at addressing this crisis of open democracy. But predictably, secretive right-wing power brokers are pushing back. As soon as Van Hollen’s bill was introduced, front groups funded by the most elusive conservative elite fired back, swiftly criticizing the new transparency requirements as a so-called threat to their First Amendment rights:
Full Story: Think Progress » Secretive Right-Wing Plutocrats Use Front Groups To Attack New Campaign Finance Disclosure Bill.
Cuccinelli channels John Ashcroft, censors Roman goddess’ clothing on the Virginia seal.
the 'before' image
The “Great Seal” of the Commonwealth of Virginia depicts the Roman goddess Virtus standing over the defeated Tyranny and has been in use since 1776. Virtus is holding a spear and a sheathed sword, and the garb she is wearing exposes her left breast. (An earlier rendition of the seal traced back to Thomas Jefferson shows the goddess wearing even less clothing.) However, far-right Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) is now tinkering with the historic seal:
The seal depicts the Roman goddess Virtus, or virtue, wearing a blue tunic draped over one shoulder, her left breast exposed. But on the new lapel pins Cuccinelli recently handed out to his staff, Virtus’ bosom is covered by an armored breastplate.
When the new design came up at a staff meeting, workers in attendance said Cuccinelli joked that it converts a risqué image into a PG one.
Full Story: Think Progress » Cuccinelli channels John Ashcroft, censors Roman goddess’ clothing on the Virginia seal..
Ex Monsanto Lawyer Clarence Thomas to Hear Major Monsanto Case
In Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, No. 09-475, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case which could have an enormous effect on the future of the American food industry. This is Monsanto’s third appeal of the case, and if they win a favorable ruling from the high court, a deregulated Monsanto may find itself in position to corner the markets of numerous U.S. crops, and to litigate conventional farmers into oblivion.
Here’s where it gets a bit dicier. Two Supreme Court justices have what appear to be direct conflicts of interest.
Stephen Breyer
Charles Breyer, the judge who ruled in the original decision of 2007 which is being appealed, is Stephen Breyer’s brother, who apparently views this as a conflict of interest and has recused himself.
Clarence Thomas
From the years 1976 – 1979, Thomas worked as an attorney for Monsanto. Thomas apparently does not see this as a conflict of interest and has not recused himself.
Fox, meet henhouse.
Full Story: Ex Monsanto Lawyer Clarence Thomas to Hear Major Monsanto Case | Use Celsias.com – reduce global °Celsius.
In Aftermath Of Massive Oil Spill, Who In Washington Would Feel Beholden To Defend BP?
The ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico certainly will be one for the history books in terms of environmental impact. If BP comes under scrutiny for its role in the disaster, it appears destined also to become a textbook case in the power of corporate influence in Washington.
Coastal Louisiana appears destined for ecological catastrophe as a result of a massive oil slick coming ashore, caused by an April 20 explosion on an offshore oil rig leased by BP.
The world’s fourth-largest corporation, BP has long donated to U.S. elected officials, and spent millions to influence American policymaking.
Full Story: On The Hill: In Aftermath Of Massive Oil Spill, Who In Washington Would Feel Beholden To Defend BP?.
Sniffing Out Tea Party Corporatism
By Michael Winship
Editor’s Note: The Tea Party movement has generated a lot of media talk about “populism,” which gets defined as the battle between Big Government and the Common Folk, but what gets ignored is that the only feasible check on unlimited corporate power would be a democratized and energized federal government.
So, by targeting government, not corporatism, the Tea Partiers serve essentially as “faux populist” front-men for corporate interests, a reality noted by longtime populist Jim Hightower and cited in this guest essay by Michael Winship:
I first became aware of Jim Hightower more than 20 years ago, during the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. The Democrats were nominating Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis to run for president against Reagan's vice president, George H.W. Bush, and at the time Dukakis looked like he had a pretty good chance at the White House
This was before a series of events did him in, including the notorious Willie Horton ad that attacked Dukakis for a Massachusetts weekend furlough prison program that allowed a convicted murderer back on the street, where he robbed and raped.
And it was before Dukakis bobbled a harsh debate question about what he would do if his own wife Kitty was raped and murdered. And it was before he was photographed atop an Abrams tank wearing a helmet that made him look like he was starring in Snoopy III: This Time It’s Personal.
Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.
If Only Arizona Were the Real Problem
Frank Rich :
DON’T blame it all on Arizona. The Grand Canyon State simply happened to be in the right place at the right time to tilt over to the dark side. Its hysteria is but another symptom of a political virus that can’t be quarantined and whose cure is as yet unknown.
If many of Arizona’s defenders and critics hold one belief in common, it’s that the new “show me your papers” law is sui generis: it’s seen as one angry border state’s response to its outsized share of America’s illegal immigration crisis. But to label this development “Arizona’s folly” trivializes its import and reach. The more you examine the law’s provisions and proponents, the more you realize that it’s the latest and (so far) most vicious battle in a far broader movement that is not just about illegal immigrants — and that is steadily increasing its annexation of one of America’s two major political parties.
Arizonans, like all Americans, have every right to be furious about Washington’s protracted and bipartisan failure to address the immigration stalemate. To be angry about illegal immigration is hardly tantamount to being a bigot. But the Arizona law expressing that anger is bigoted, and in a very particular way. The law dovetails seamlessly with the national “Take Back America” crusade that has attended the rise of Barack Obama and the accelerating demographic shift our first African-American president represents.
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – If Only Arizona Were the Real Problem – NYTimes.com.
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Shows Disastrous Legacy of Halliburton and the Real Cost of the Oil Era
click to enlarge
Oil is a dirty business. It’s not just the politics of oil, which are dirty enough by themselves — it’s also the environmental toll of the substance. Even when used correctly, its chemical byproducts cause air pollution and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But the real mess comes when things go terribly wrong — much like what happened recently when the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank to the ocean floor off the coast of Louisiana. This set in motion a chain of disastrous events that are only now beginning to unfold.
Nearly 50% of the seafood consumed by Americans comes from the Gulf of Mexico, by the way. That explains why seafood contains such an alarmingly high concentration of mercury as well as industrial chemicals — because the Gulf of Mexico is America’s toilet where every toxic chemical, heavy metal and pharmaceutical that’s flushed down the drain ends up getting dumped. No wonder the Gulf of Mexico is home to one of the planet’s largest ocean “dead zones” — over 6,000 square miles of dead water where fish can’t even survive.
And that was before the oil spill. Now, thanks to a creeping oil slick that’s approaching shorelines throughout the gulf, the breeding grounds for a huge number of marine species is now threatened. Species from pelicans to shrimp are likely to be devastated by this oil slick.
Founding Fathers did NOT want USA to be Christian nation
Thom Hartmann debunks one of the things that Right Wing Fundamentalists use to claim wrongly that Thomas Jefferson wanted the nation to be a Christian nation. The clincher comes at the very end of this video in that Republicans try to tie religion into politics so they can avoid the fact that they do not wish to talk about economic equality.
Reaganomics threw labor supply and demand out of whack
Thom Hartmann:
If labor Supply and Demand were back in sync as they were prior to Reaganomics this would be a far better nation. Thom Hartmann explains how Reaganomics and Bushonomics really hurt the nation when they allowed this to be out of balance.
Connecticut Senate Votes To Impose Extra Tax On TARP Bonuses For Investment Bank Employees
A bill that would impose an extra tax on bonuses paid to Connecticut employees of investment banks and insurers that received federal bailout aid during the economic crisis has passed the state Senate.
The proposal was approved on a 21-14 vote on Friday and now moves to the House of Representatives. Even if it passes the House, Gov. M. Jodi Rell is expected to veto the bill.
The legislation calls for a two-year, 2.47 percent surcharge on any bonus totaling $1 million or more, for a total tax liability of 8.97 percent. Lawmakers want to use the money to exempt about 46,000 small businesses from the annual $250 business entity tax.
Full Story: Connecticut Senate Votes To Impose Extra Tax On TARP Bonuses For Investment Bank Employees.
FDIC Head Sheila Bair: Let Banks Keep Derivatives
A top government banking regulator wants Senate Democrats to let banks keep most of their business in complex – and profitable – securities known as derivatives.
A sweeping overhaul of banking regulations pending in the Senate would require banks to spin off their derivatives business.
Sheila Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said that provision could shift the creation of derivatives contracts outside the reach of regulators.
Full Story: FDIC Head Sheila Bair: Let Banks Keep Derivatives.
OPS: We will never hold on to democracy with Fascist idiots like this in positions of responsibility.
Blizzard On Saturn Is So Massive It’s Visible From Earth
Thanks to NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which is currently orbiting Saturn, scientists have a front row seat to the massive blizzard raging on the planet. The storm is so large that it’s visible from Earth, much to the delight of amateur stargazers.
“We were so excited to get a heads-up from the amateurs,” said Cassini scientist Gordon Bjoraker, a composite infrared spectrometer team member based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
The data showed a large, turbulent storm, dredging up a lot of material from the deep atmosphere and covering an area at least five times larger than the biggest blizzard that hit Earth so far this year — the “Snowmageddon” storm that blanketed the Washington, D.C. area in snow in February.
Full Story: Blizzard On Saturn Is So Massive It’s Visible From Earth.
Warren Buffett Defends Goldman Sachs As Berkshire Posts A Profit
OMAHA, Nebraska — Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett declared his support for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein Saturday, and said he has no plans to sell his company’s stake in the bank.
Buffett and Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger praised Goldman before a crowd of about 40,000 at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting. Both executives said they’re happy with Blankfein’s leadership and said they don’t view the Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil fraud charges against Goldman as a strike against him.
“There’s really no reason to think about somebody else running Goldman,” Buffett said when asked whether someone besides Blankfein should be leading the investment bank. The charges filed April 16 have raised questions about Blankfein’s tenure.
Full Story: Warren Buffett Defends Goldman Sachs As Berkshire Posts A Profit.
OPS: The oligarchy, protecting it’s own
Times Square Bomb Investigation:
Car Fire Prompts Emergency Response After Suspicious Package Found In Back Seat
Times Square has been shut down and the NYPD bomb squad is investigating a suspicious package, reports WCBS.
Car and pedestrian traffic has been blocked off between 44th and 46th Streets, from Broadway to Seventh Avenue while police use a robot to inspect the package found in the backseat of a burning car.
The square was evacuated around 8 pm.
No injuries were reported.
For live footage from the scene, click HERE.
Keep checking back for more…
Full Story: Times Square Bomb Investigation: Car Fire Prompts Emergency Response After Suspicious Package Found In Back Seat.
Oil Spill Worse Than Exxon Valdez: Oceanographer
The Gulf Coast spill will have eclipsed the Exxon Valdez in terms of total gallons of oil before the weekend is over — making it the largest oil spill in U.S. history — according to calculations made by oceanographer Ian MacDonald after studying aerial Coast Guard photos taken earlier in the week.
MacDonald, a professor at Florida State University who counts “oil and gas development” among his areas of expertise, stopped short of comparing the Deepwater Horizon spill to that of the Alaskan oil tanker, but said Saturday, “The spill is growing. I’m comfortable saying that the size and extent of this slick is 10 million gallons.”
Given that just over a million barrels are leaking into the Gulf per day, according to MacDonald’s calculations, the spill will shortly top the Exxon Valdez’s estimated 11-million-barrel spill. It is almost certain to cost more than the Exxon spill, which cost $3.5 billion for cleanup and another $5 billion worth of lawsuits and other settlements.
Full Story: Oil Spill Worse Than Exxon Valdez: Oceanographer.
Chemicals Meant To Break Up BP Oil Spill Present New Environmental Concerns
The chemicals BP is now relying on to break up the steady flow of leaking oil from deep below the Gulf of Mexico could create a new set of environmental problems.
Even if the materials, called dispersants, are effective, BP has already bought up more than a third of the world’s supply. If the leak from 5,000 feet beneath the surface continues for weeks, or months, that stockpile could run out.
On Thursday BP began using the chemical compounds to dissolve the crude oil, both on the surface and deep below, deploying an estimated 100,000 gallons. Dispersing the oil is considered one of the best ways to protect birds and keep the slick from making landfall. But the dispersants contain harmful toxins of their own and can concentrate leftover oil toxins in the water, where they can kill fish and migrate great distances.
Full Story: t r u t h o u t | Chemicals Meant To Break Up BP Oil Spill Present New Environmental Concerns.
Bob Rubin Cuddles
Matt Taibbi -
So that’s what this is about. For a moment I was totally speechless and had to dig into my Harvard trained PhD brain to figure out what the hell he meant by “cuddling”! What can I say; once a teetotaling math geek, always a bit slow to pick up on signals from the menfolk. So the former Treasury Secretary had a “crush” on me! And not long afterward the former Treasury Secretary had his tongue down my throat and hands everywhere sort of like an octopus. But as soon as the thought entered my mind — the former Treasury Secretary has his tongue down my throat?! — I came to my senses a bit and awkwardly went back home before we both got too carried away. This is to say, I said to myself that there would be no other former Treasury Secretary appendages entering any other of my orifices.
via Iris Mack: Bob Rubin Just Wants to Be Cuddled.
No man’s behavior looks attractive when he’s cheating on his wife, but this little tell-all by a woman who had a sort-of fling with former Goldman chief and Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin is more than unusually embarrassing. It’s all coming out now — Goldman is officially the new Tiger Woods. The next revelation has to be something involving Gary Cohn and Ted Haggard.
The most disgusting (and revealing) part of the story is, to me, this part of Iris Mack’s narrative:
Full Story: Bob Rubin Cuddles – Matt Taibbi – Taibblog – True/Slant.
How Rev. Moon’s ‘Snakes’ Infested US
By Robert Parry (A Special Report)
As an investigative journalist, I’m not much for catchy political metaphors, but the revelation that snakes and rodents are infesting the Washington Times building as the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s newspaper sinks into a financial swamp does have some poetic justice about it.
After all, for 28 years, the right-wing Washington Times has sent disinformation slithering through the U.S. political system while creating a nest for propagandists who have befouled American democracy with irrationality and dirty tricks.
Indeed, one could say that Moon’s newspaper pioneered the modern style of deceptive “journalism” that is the daily fare on Fox News, angry talk radio and right-wing blogs.
The immediate cause of the Washington Times’ financial collapse is said to be the bitter succession fight among children of the 90-year-old Unification Church founder who is no longer capable of maintaining personal control over his global religious-political-business empire.
Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.
BP, Transocean Lawsuits Surge as Oil Spill Spreads in Gulf
BP Plc and Transocean Ltd. face at least 36 lawsuits, including group cases with potentially thousands of plaintiffs, over environmental damage and personal injuries caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
At least 31 proposed class-action suits have been filed in courthouses from Texas to Florida. Commercial fishermen, shrimpers, charter-boat operators and beachfront-property owners asked to represent anyone whose livelihood depends on coastal waters imperiled by the drifting oil. At least 24 cases were filed yesterday.
BP has the primary liability for damage caused by the spill, said Keith Hall, an attorney in New Orleans, who isn’t involved in the litigation. He cited a U.S. law passed after the Exxon Valdez oil spill at Alaska in 1989.
Full Story: BP, Transocean Lawsuits Surge as Oil Spill Spreads in Gulf – Bloomberg.com.
OPS: The 5 Fascists on the SCOTUS just let EXXON off the hook for the Valdez. What do you think will happen here?
Bill Moyers on Retiring from the JOURNAL
Thanks to all of you who wrote to express your disappointment and dismay at hearing me say last week that the JOURNAL will be coming to an end with the April 30th broadcast. My team and I were touched by your messages, but I want to disabuse those of you who fear that we are being pushed off the air by higher-ups at PBS pointing to the door and demanding that we go. Not so. PBS doesn’t fund the JOURNAL; our support comes from foundations and our sole corporate funder, Mutual of America. Together they’ve given me an independence rare for broadcast journalists. Our reporting and analysis trigger controversy from many quarters, as any strong journalism will, but not one – not one! – of my funders has ever mentioned to me the complaints directed their way. They would continue their support if I were to stick around.
I’m leaving for one reason alone: It’s time to go. I’ll be 76 in a few weeks, and while I don’t consider myself old (my father lived into his 80s, my mother into her 90s) there are some things left to do that the deadlines and demands of a weekly broadcast don’t permit. At 76, it’s now or never. I actually informed my friends at PBS of my decision over a year ago, and planned to leave at the end of last December. But they asked me to continue another four more months while they prepare a new series for Friday night broadcast. I agreed, but said at the time – April 30 and not a week longer.
It wasn’t easy deciding to close the JOURNAL. I like what I do, I cherish my colleagues, and my viewers remain loyal and engaged. I will miss the virtual community that has grown up around the broadcast – kindred spirits across the country whose unseen but felt presence reminds me of why I have kept at this work so long. But it has indeed been a long time (almost 40 years since I launched the original JOURNAL in 1971), and that’s why I can assure you that my departure is entirely voluntary. “Time brings everything,” an ancient wise man said. Including new beginnings.
Full Story: Bill Moyers Journal: Bill Moyers on Retiring from the JOURNAL.
OPS: A sad day for democracy, and , America
Bill Moyers & Jim Hightower
Bill Moyers Journal
Bill Moyers sits down with populist Jim Hightower to look at the history and legacy of people’s movements and discuss how ordinary people can reclaim political power.
BILL MOYERS: I don’t know anyone who embodies that old-time, populist gospel, the high spirits and fierce commitment to justice that you just witnessed among the good people of Iowa more than my longtime friend, Jim Hightower.
With a down home wit and a finely honed outrage, Hightower pins the tail on the plutocrats.
A recovering politician, one time commissioner of agriculture in Texas, he now broadcasts daily radio commentaries and publishes this indispensable monthly newsletter, “The Hightower Lowdown.” I admire the journalism in “The Lowdown” so much I helped raise money to raise its profile some years ago. In the spirit of fair trade, Jim has allowed me to borrow some of his best lines, including that rousing populist cry from deep in our native East Texas, “the water won’t clear up until we get the hogs out of the creek.”
Video & transcript at link:
Full Story: Bill Moyers Journal . Watch & Listen | PBS.
BP Enjoys Lobbying Strength, Close Ties to Lawmakers as Federal Investigation Looms
On Thursday, oil giant BP asked for U.S. government assistance in cleaning up massive amounts of crude oil ominously approaching the coast of Louisiana — the messy results of a recent oil rig explosion 40 miles off-shore.
In response, the Obama administration promised support in both clean up and containment of the environmental crisis. The president also sent clear signals indicating a potential federal investigation to determine cause and responsibility for the accident.
If BP faces heavy federal scrutiny, it’s well-positioned to fight back: The London-based company has consistently spent top dollar to influence legislative and regulatory activity in Washington, D.C., the Center for Responsive Politics finds.
Full Story: BP Enjoys Lobbying Strength, Close Ties to Lawmakers as Federal Investigation Looms – OpenSecrets Blog | OpenSecrets.
Obama Calls for Reforms in Election Funding
US President Barack Obama called on Congress on Saturday to pass reforms limiting the influence of special interest groups on US elections, saying the integrity of US democracy needed to be protected.
“What we are facing is no less than a potential corporate takeover of our elections,” Obama said in his weekly radio address. “And what is at stake is no less than the integrity of our democracy.”
The appeal came after a recent US Supreme Court ruling that gave corporations, lobbyists, other special interest groups — foreign and domestic — the power to spend unlimited money to influence the outcome of US elections.
The ruling meant that corporations would be allowed to run political television advertisements ahead of national and local elections without telling voters who was paying for them, said Obama.
Full Story: Obama Calls for Reforms in Election Funding | CommonDreams.org.
Leviticus Loses: The Inevitability of Equal Rights for Homosexuals
Rabbi Irwin Kula :
This past week in synagogues throughout the world, the weekly portion of Scripture included the following verse from the book of Leviticus: “Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination.” This proscription has obviously been the source of heated and often vicious debate over the past decades as homosexuals have courageously come out of the closet and forced our culture to wrestle with its full humanity. My colleague Rabbi Brad Hirschfield posted an important and nuanced post on Huffington Post — “Is Homosexuality an Abomination? Wrestling with Leviticus 18:22″ — suggesting that because this cultural change in attitude towards homosexuals is very complex, the debate would be far more productive if people hid less behind Scripture and ideology and focused more on why this particular issue is so important to them personally. In Rabbi Hirschfield's words, “compassion for an idea is hard to generate, but compassion for a real person is less so.”
It strikes me that the way human rights issues have played out since the beginning of modernity — which, not surprisingly, coincides with the separation of church and state — should give us all reason to take a deep breath. There is a sort of humbling inevitability to the process of inclusion and to where we place ourselves along the continuum of human rights debate. One of the many ways to characterize the modern experience is the ongoing expansion of human rights and the increasing inclusion of marginal populations. The modern political and social dynamic in both general society and within religious communities has been the same: Marginal classes of people are brought inside legal frameworks and given equal rights. Whether recognizing the full humanity of Jews, African Americans, other ethnic and religious groups, women, the physically challenged, and now homosexuals, the process has been the same. First, a small group within the marginal group realizes they are in fact oppressed, that in profoundly unjust ways they are not treated as full human beings equal before the law. This small group begins to “cry” out for freedom. The initial reaction within the marginal group is usually fear of rocking the boat while the reaction of the dominant class is dismissive if not often brutal. But injustice once realized and freedom once tasted, even if only in one's heart and mind, is very hard to put back into a box, and so a process begins within the marginal class, educating its own people to see their plight and organizing increasing numbers of people ready to fight for inclusion and fairness. At some point very small numbers of people from the dominant class begin to see the light and realize that fellow human beings just like them have been denied equal rights simply because they are different. If the modern period is of any evidence, once this movement perceived as one of human rights begins — though it may entail great struggle, sacrifice, and bitterness — it inexorably results in the marginal population being given the same legal rights as the majority population. So America of 2010 is far more inclusive than America of 1810; classes of people denied equal rights and barely seen as human in 1810 have gained their rights by 2010.
Full Story: Rabbi Irwin Kula: Leviticus Loses: The Inevitability of Equal Rights for Homosexuals.
Why Do Senators Corker And Dodd Really Think We Need Big Banks?
On Friday, Senator Bob Corker (R, TN) took to the Senate floor to rebut critics of big banks. His language was not entirely senatorial: “I hope we’ll all come to our senses”, while listing the reasons we need big banks. And Senator Chris Dodd (D, CT) rose to agree that (in Corker’s words) reducing the size of our largest banks would be “cutting our nose off to spite our face” and that by taking on Wall Street, “we may be taking on the heartland.”
Unfortunately, all of their arguments in favor of our largest banks remaining at or near (or above) their current scale are completely at odds with the facts (e.g., as documented in our book, 13 Bankers).
The senators led with the idea that our nonfinancial sector needs huge, complex, global banks in order to remain competitive internationally. But this is completely untrue – in fact, Senator Dodd conceded as much to Ezra Klein recently when he said that he had heard the arguments of 13 Bankers against big banks also from “CEOs” (presumably of nonfinancial companies).
Full Story: Why Do Senators Corker And Dodd Really Think We Need Big Banks? « The Baseline Scenario.
Wall Street Reportedly Circulates Class Warfare Email
The Reformed Broker and FT Alphaville have gotten a hold of an email that is reportedly making its way through inboxes on Wall Street.
For anyone with even a scintilla of knowledge of Wall Street’s excesses in the past decade or so, the email itself is hard to stomach. By turns, it takes shot at unionized teachers, the Obama administration and “average Joes.”
In fact, this screed is so idiotic it’s a an unintentional argument for Wall Street reform. As The Reformed Broker puts it, it’s a “hideous little piece of class warfare:
“We are Wall Street. It’s our job to make money. Whether it’s a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn’t matter. We would trade baseball cards if it were profitable. I didn’t hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and everyone’s 401k doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, its not a problem until you lose. I’ve never heard of anyone going to Gamblers Anonymous because they won too much in Vegas…
Here’s more:
Full Story: Wall Street Reportedly Circulates Class Warfare Email.
Stop Robert Rubin Before He Kills Again
Robert Rubin is poisoning Washington again.
The former Treasury Secretary who presided over the nearly-fatal deregulation of the financial industry — then made $126 million nearly killing Citigroup — had been keeping an appropriately low profile in the nation’s capital ever since everything he wrought went pear-shaped.
But now he’s back, and once again trying to influence public policy.
On Friday he made his third major (and apology-free) Washington appearance in two weeks, delivering opening remarks at a conference that his pet think tank, the Hamilton Project, co-sponsored with the liberal Center for American Progress.
Full Story: Stop Robert Rubin Before He Kills Again.
Dairy: 6 Reasons You Should Avoid It at All Costs or Why Following the USDA Food Pyramid Guidelines is Bad for Your Health (VIDEO)
Got milk?
These days, it seems like almost everybody does. Celebrities, athletes, and even former president Clinton’s head of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, are all proud to wear the white “milk mustache.” After all, everyone knows that you need milk to be healthy …
Dairy is nature’s perfect food — but only if you’re a calf.
If that sounds shocking to you, it’s because very few people are willing to tell the truth about dairy. In fact, criticizing milk in America is like taking on motherhood, apple pie, or baseball. But that’s just what I’m about to do.
Based on the research and my experience practicing medicine, I typically advise most of my patients to avoid dairy products completely. I like ice cream just as much as the next person, but as a scientist I have to look honestly at what we know. In today’s blog I will explore many of the documented ill-effects of dairy, and give you six reasons you should avoid dairy at all costs.
Children’s Liquid Cold, Allergy Medicine Recalled
The Food and Drug Administration said Saturday it was investigating a health-care company for possible other problems following its recall of more than 40 over-the-counter infant’s and children’s liquid medications.
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, based in Fort Washington, Pa., issued the voluntary recall late Friday in the United States and 11 other countries after consulting with the FDA. The recall involves children’s versions of Tylenol, Tylenol Plus, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl, because they don’t meet quality standards.
The FDA said it was reviewing procedures at McNeil, which appears to be the sole source of the problems. “We are following through with the facility to make certain that everything has been checked,” said FDA spokeswoman Elaine Gansz Bobo.
Full Story: Children’s Liquid Cold, Allergy Medicine Recalled.
US, Canada, Australia Warn Of ‘Imminent’ Terror Attacks In India’s Capital
The U.S., Australia and Canada warned Saturday that terror groups were likely planning “imminent attacks” in India’s capital and foreigners there should be vigilant.
The U.S. Embassy’s alert, adding the word “imminent,” appeared to be more urgent than an advisory last month that cited increased indications of attacks in New Delhi.
The warnings noted that markets and other areas frequented by Westerners in New Delhi have been targeted in past attacks.
Full Story: US, Canada, Australia Warn Of ‘Imminent’ Terror Attacks In India’s Capital.
Bill Maher Slams Obama, Oil Companies After Gulf Coast Oil Spill (VIDEO)
Bill Maher slammed President Obama Friday for supporting a repeal of the moratorium on offshore oil drilling.
During the panel segment on “Real Time,” Maher pointed to the Gulf Coast oil spill and wondered why less than a month ago, President Obama proposed lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling along much of the East Coast.
While the president's proposal was part of a larger climate bill, for Maher, it was an unecessary concession to Republicans.
“I understand politics is the art of the compromise and all that,” Maher said. “But you know, when you compromise on something like that, that's a bridge too far to me, as a supporter.”
He went on to compare oil companies to banks that were too big to fail and suggested higher taxes for oil companies that will reflect the real cost of oil.
Full Story: Bill Maher Slams Obama, Oil Companies After Gulf Coast Oil Spill (VIDEO).
Manufacturing: Decades of Decline
Before the official recession even began those who worked in productive industry and manufacturing had already been battered by their own downturn.
Throughout this recession the pains of our economic decline have hit virtually every American family and every individual American worker. Before the official recession even began those who worked in productive industry and manufacturing had already been battered by their own downturn.
The downturn in manufacturing didn’t begin in December 2007 when the financial markets began to crumble. The downturn of manufacturing began perhaps two decades earlier when the United States stopped focusing on its own economic strategies.
Both Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree that establishing a real manufacturing and industrial policy in the United States is the only way of making up for these two decades of decline. Unfortunately, with so much partisan squabbling in the halls on Capitol Hill, there is almost no bipartisan consensus about how we can climb out of this hole.
Full Story: Manufacturing: Decades of Decline | Economy In Crisis.
Moricci: An anti-middle-class recovery
This recovery is decidedly anti-middle class. Wages won’t keep up with rising prices, healthcare premiums and taxes. A good deal of the gains, so far, are going to Wall Street and the medical and intellectual property industries.
Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department will report estimated first quarter gross domestic product growth. The consensus forecast is for a 3.5 percent increase, a figure that would further confirm the end of the recession but also that the recovery is moderate and disappointing.
Unemployment will hang at more than 8 or 9 percent well into 2011 and most workers will continue to face a tough job market and declining living standards.
This recovery is decidedly anti-middle class. Wages won't keep up with rising prices, healthcare premiums and taxes. A good deal of the gains, so far, are going to Wall Street and the medical and intellectual property industries.
Full Story: Outside View: An anti-middle-class recovery – UPI.com.
The Jobs Problem
The latest polls indicate that if the mid-term elections were held today, Democrats would lose seats in Congress because of dissatisfaction about the economy, particularly high rates of unemployment. Over the next six months, what should the Obama Administration do to solve the jobs problem?
For several months, the unemployment rate has lingered around ten percent. Sadly, the last report noted, “44.1 percent of unemployed persons were jobless for 27 weeks or more.” In addition to 15 million unemployed there are 9.1 million “involuntary part-time workers” plus another 1 million “discouraged workers, who have given up looking; in other words, 1 out of every six US workers that wants a full-time job does not have one.
While most voters blame former President Bush for the collapse of the economy, President Obama has borne the brunt of anger over unemployment. Fortunately, there are many indications the economy is getting better. The GDP forecast is positive for the first quarter and the year. And widely watched economic indicators such as thecBloomberg Personal Finance Index and the TED spread care positive. But it’s unclear how quickly employment will follow.
Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: The Jobs Problem.
Restoring Leadership in U.S. Solar Manufacturing
The U.S. has done little to maintain its place of prominence in manufacturing as the rest of the world caught up and eventually surpassed us. Now, we may add solar manufacturing to our growing list of losses.
After the end of the Second World War virtually anything produced anywhere in the world could and would be produced in the United States. American corporations founded many industries that are ubiquitous around the world today. We not only created the nuclear weapon, but its peaceful counterpart nuclear energy.
We created the first telephone systems, and then the first mobile phone systems.
We created the automobile and were once major champions of passenger rail.
We created the personal computer as well as the Internet, which has perhaps done more to integrate the world than any other product or system in existence today.
Full Story: Restoring Leadership in U.S. Solar Manufacturing | Economy In Crisis.
Tensions Rising Between U.S. and China
Economic tensions between the U.S. and China continued to escalate on Thursday after the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that it would impose anti-subsidy duties on U.S. imports of poultry products.
The tariffs will range from 3.8 percent to 31.4 percent and will be added on top of anti-dumping duties that China imposed on poultry products just two months ago. Beijing alleges that feed for chicken in the U.S. is highly subsidized, putting Chinese competitors at a severe disadvantage.
“The US government has provided subsidies to poultry farmers for forage crops like maize and soybeans which are used as feed for broiler chickens, which is raised specifically for meat production. This has not only given the US companies an unfair advantage in the Chinese market, but also hurt the interests of domestic companies,” the ministry said in a statement.
Full Story: Tensions Rising Between U.S. and China | Economy In Crisis.
How the Trade Deficit Affects You
Trade Deficit: The means through which foreign countries are able to own and control our consumption.
Trade deficits are just like other debts in many respects. They must be repaid. When our country buys more than it sells from other countries, these other countries accept our dollars. These dollars must eventually return to the U.S. and be exchanged for something of value. Since we are producing less and less, in all likelihood, the trillions of dollars will come back to buy our assets and wealth producing companies. This has resulted in many of our core industries now being controlled and managed for the benefit of foreign companies and countries.
These loans by foreign governments have given them leverage over our decisions, forcing us to enter into agreements with them to allow them to control our key assets (technology, ports, natural resources, etc.). In fact, these loans place us in a disadvantageous position in all our negotiations abroad. Witness our inability to offset China’s currency manipulation that is making it nearly impossible for American exporters to compete.
Full Story: How the Trade Deficit Affects You | Economy In Crisis.
Is the Auto Industry Recovering?
Ford Motor Company, the only of the Big Three automakers that did not receive a government bailout, earlier this week announced that it earned $2.1 billion in the first quarter of the year. Just one year earlier, Ford lost $1.4 billion in the same period. The company said it expects that momentum to carry it through for a successful year.
“We remain cautiously optimistic about positive signs emerging in the global economy while knowing the recovery is fragile and the global auto industry continues to deal with excess capacity,” Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said in a statement.
Full Story: Is the Auto Industry Recovering? | Economy In Crisis.
What Cuba Can Teach Us About Health Care
Just a morning’s boat ride from the tip of Florida is a place where medical costs are low and doctors plentiful. It’s Cuba, and Stanford University physician Paul Drain says it’s time for the United States to pay attention to our neighbor’s shoestring success.
Despite a 50-year trade embargo by the United States and a post-Soviet collapse in international support, the impoverished nation has developed a world-class health care system. Average life expectancy is 77.5 years, compared to 78.1 years in the United States, and infant and child mortality rates match or beat our own. There’s one doctor for every 170 people, more than twice the per-capita U.S. average.
Not everything is perfect in Cuba. There are shortages of medicines, and the best care is reserved for elites. But it’s still a powerful feat. “In Cuba, a little over $300 per person is spent on health care each year. In the U.S., we’re spending over $7,000 per person,” said Drain, co-author of Caring for the World and an essay published April 29 in Science. “They’re able to achieve great health outcomes on a modest budget.”
Full Story: What Cuba Can Teach Us About Health Care | Wired Science | Wired.com.
Goldman Sachs under criminal investigation: WSJ
Embattled Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs is under criminal investigation by US federal prosecutors, the online edition of The Wall Street Journal has reported.
In its preliminary stage, the investigation by the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office is focusing on whether the financial giant or its employees committed securities fraud in connection with its mortgage trading, people familiar with the probe told the daily.
They said the criminal investigation stems from a referral from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Full Story: Goldman Sachs under criminal investigation: WSJ – Yahoo! News.
Profs now outsourcing marking to India
A veteran university professor frustrated with the tedium and time of grading papers has created a company that outsources the job to India.
With a dozen clients in academia and a thick skin, Dr. Chandru Rajam is prepared to weather the outrage EduMetry Inc. of Herndon, Va., has set off.
Virtual-TA, which hires offshore university-educated staff to assess, grade and comment on student assignments, is only one of the EduMetry services. But it is by far the most controversial.
Full Story: Profs now outsourcing marking to India – thestar.com.
OPS: The lazy bastard should be fired.
Madoff sons, brother may face charges
Federal authorities will charge at least two employees from disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s former firm in the coming weeks — and Madoff’s brother and two sons could be next, two people familiar with the probe into Madoff’s financial fraud told The Associated Press.
Madoff’s brother, Peter, and sons Andrew and Mark — executives in the Madoff firm’s legitimate market-making and proprietary-trading business — are likely to face tax fraud charges later this year, but may escape more serious securities fraud charges if authorities fail to come up with solid evidence they knowingly participated in the massive fraud, the people said.
The people, who asked not to be identified because the investigation hasn’t been completed, declined to name the two employees or specify possible charges.
Full Story: The Associated Press: AP sources: Madoff sons, brother may face charges.
Greece paves way for IMF rescue deal by agreeing savage cuts
Greece and the wider eurozone scrambled back from the brink of disaster again yesterday as the outline of an IMF/eurozone rescue package emerged.
The Greek prime minister, George Papandreou, told his nation’s parliament that it must accept the main condition of the emergency loans – which would mean a further €24bn (£20.8bn) austerity package of tax rises and reductions in public spending. The spectre of a Greek default has retreated, if only temporarily.
Mr Papandreou told Greek MPs: “The measures we must take, which are economic measures, are necessary for the protection of our country. For our survival, for our future. So we can stand firmly on our feet. It is a patriotic duty to undertake this, with whatever political cost, which is tiny faced with the national cost of inaction and indecision.”
Full Story: Greece paves way for IMF rescue deal by agreeing savage cuts – Europe, World – The Independent.
OPS: …and another country gets the NeoCon agenda rammed down it’s throat
Oil Spill Requires $4B Emergency Spending Response, Environmental Group Says
President Obama and Congress should enact a $4 billion emergency spending bill to limit the damage and recover from the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to a Washington-based environmental advocacy group.
Overall, the government should undertake a five-point plan to deal with the unfolding disaster lapping at the Louisiana coast, caused by an explosion at an offshore oil rig, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) says in a statement.
“The Obama administration is doing everything in its power to contain this spill, but history indicates that it is likely to be weeks before the spill ends. In the meantime, we face mass destruction of the wetlands that harbor hundreds of wildlife species and protect two million local residents from deadly hurricanes,” says Paul Harrison, senior director for the Mississippi River and East Coast at the EDF Center for Rivers and Deltas. “In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has confirmed that the oil spill toxins are a threat to the grasses that keep the sediment from the Mississippi River Delta — which replenishes and rebuilds the wetlands — from washing away into the sea. The stakes couldn’t be much higher: coastal Louisiana plays a critical role in the nation’s economy, fishing industry and wildlife support system.”
Full Story: On The Hill: Oil Spill Requires $4B Emergency Spending Response, Environmental Group Says.
Document: BP didn’t plan for major oil spill
British Petroleum once downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident at an offshore rig that exploded, causing the worst U.S. oil spill in decades along the Gulf Coast and endangering shoreline habitat.
In its 2009 exploration plan and environmental impact analysis for the well, BP suggested it was unlikely, or virtually impossible, for an accident to occur that would lead to a giant crude oil spill and serious damage to beaches, fish and mammals.
At least 1.6 million gallons of oil have spilled so far since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers, according to Coast Guard estimates. One expert said Friday that the volume of oil leaking from the well nearly 5,000 feet below the surface could actually be much higher, and that even more may escape if the drilling equipment continues to erode.
Full Story: Document: BP didn’t plan for major oil spill – Yahoo! News.
Dems’ immigration proposal creates national ID card, ‘fingerprints every worker’
Democrat: Public more comfortable with idea of national ID card
Civil liberties groups and even some die-hard supporters of the Democratic Party are raising the alarm over the Democrats’ proposed immigration overhaul, which would see the creation of a national biometric ID card.
“If the biometric national ID card provision of the draft bill becomes law, every worker in America would have to be fingerprinted and a new federal bureaucracy – one that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars – would have to be created to issue cards,” the ACLU said in a statement Thursday, following the release of Senate Democrat’s 28-page proposal (PDF) for comprehensive immigration reform.
“Creating a biometric national ID will not only be astronomically expensive, it will usher government into the very center of our lives. Every worker in America will need a government permission slip in order to work. And all of this will come with a new federal bureaucracy – one that combines the worst elements of the DMV and the TSA,” said Christopher Calabrese, ACLU Legislative Counsel.
Full Story: Dems’ immigration proposal creates national ID card, ‘fingerprints every worker’ | Raw Story.
Right wingers fuel outlandish Obama, SWAT takeover theories
Perhaps the right is rattled by the SWAT team they believed had been called up to disperse a tea party demonstration in Quincy, IL, but which turned out to be local police in body armor clearing the street to enable President Obama’s motorcade to pass through. But whatever the cause, they’re now seeing the specter of SWAT teams everything.
On Friday afternoon, for example, a headline at the Drudge Report proclaimed, “Obama Sends SWAT Teams to Oil Rigs…”
It linked to a CBS News story from the previous day which reported, “Mr. Obama, speaking at an event for the 2010 National Teacher of the Year, said he had been receiving frequent briefings on the situation and that he is prepared to use the resources of the Department of Defense if necessary to deal with the oil spill. … Mr. Obama said SWAT teams were being dispatched to the Gulf to investigate oil rigs and said his administration is now working to determine the cause of the disaster.”
Full Story: Right wingers fuel outlandish Obama, SWAT takeover theories | Raw Story.
Gingrich’s ‘Drill Here, Drill Now’ campaign continues as oil rig disaster grows.
The Earth Day oil rig disaster that began with an explosion that claimed 11 lives is becoming an ecological catastrophe. The Coast Guard has set some of the West-Virginia-sized oil slick ablaze, even as it grows by thousands of barrels a day. Although this deadly catastrophe calls into question the pro-drilling campaigns by the oil industry and its conservative allies, the propaganda continues. In 2008, Newt Gingrich began American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF), the casino-funded 527 that used the slogan “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” to promote the false idea that new offshore drilling could lower gas prices. On its website, Gingrich’s ASWF is continuing its petition while reporting on the inevitable consequences of dependence on dirty oil:
Full Story: Think Progress » Gingrich’s ‘Drill Here, Drill Now’ campaign continues as oil rig disaster grows..
Boehner takes credit for ideas in health law, then calls for its repeal.
Earlier this year, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) took credit for parts of the health care law he opposes and today, during an interview with NPR, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) also highlighted the Republican ideas in the bill, while promising to repeal it:
INSKEEP: As you know, Democrats are already pointing to things that are changing in America because of this bill. They will point to the fact that college seniors, who would have been kicked off their families’ insurance plans when they graduated, will get to stay on. Insurance companies are now saying they’re going to end the practice of “rescission,” where they take, or at least modify…
BOEHNER: Both of those ideas, by the way, came from Republicans, and are part of the common sense ideas that we ought to have in the law.
INSKEEP: Well, are you going to repeal those two specific things?
BOEHNER Uh, what I want to repeal are the other 158 mandates, commissions, boards that set up all the infrastructure for the government to take control of our health care system.
Listen:
Full Story: Think Progress » Boehner takes credit for ideas in health law, then calls for its repeal..
Sen. Bill Nelson Urges Investigation Of Safety Regulators Who Were Charged With Overseeing Oil Rigs
At a press conference held this morning, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), who represents a major coastal state that could be harmed by the Gulf oil disaster at a BP rig, slammed federal regulators at the Minerals Management Service (MMS), which is in charge of regulating oil rigs.
Nelson demanded to know just “how lax…the regulations and the regulators” had become and referenced the revelations two years ago that the Bush-era MMS had engaged in wild drinking parties on the job. The senator went on to compare the agency to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which failed to properly enforce regulations leading up to the financial crisis, and vowed an investigation into the agency:
NELSON: Just how lax did the regulations and the regulators become? You remember several years ago the very heart of the federal government that does the regulation, called the MMS, the Minerals Management Service, you can remember the stories that they had had all kinds of booze parties, all kinds of marijuana parties, and all kinds of sex parties. And this came out in a number of congressional investigations. Well, is this another regulatory system that’s gone on the blink? Compared to the Securities and Exchange Commission that went on the blink and wasn’t watching the home front on Wall Street that we’re now reaping the results from. So, this is what an investigation is going to be about.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » Sen. Bill Nelson Urges Investigation Of Safety Regulators Who Were Charged With Overseeing Oil Rigs.
Major League Baseball Players Association calls for ‘repeal’ or prompt modification of Arizona law.
In a statement released today, the Major League Baseball Players Association has issued its opposition to the Arizona’s new anti-immigrant law:
“The recent passage by Arizona of a new immigration law could have a negative impact on hundreds of Major League players who are citizens of countries other than the United States. These international players are very much a part of our national pastime and are important members of our Association. Their contributions to our sport have been invaluable, and their exploits have been witnessed, enjoyed and applauded by millions of Americans. All of them, as well as the Clubs for whom they play, have gone to great lengths to ensure full compliance with federal immigration law.
“The impact of the bill signed into law in Arizona last Friday is not limited to the players on one team. The international players on the Diamondbacks work and, with their families, reside in Arizona from April through September or October. In addition, during the season, hundreds of international players on opposing Major League teams travel to Arizona to play the Diamondbacks. And, the spring training homes of half of the 30 Major League teams are now in Arizona. All of these players, as well as their families, could be adversely affected, even though their presence in the United States is legal. Each of them must be ready to prove, at any time, his identity and the legality of his being in Arizona to any state or local official with suspicion of his immigration status. This law also may affect players who are U.S. citizens but are suspected by law enforcement of being of foreign descent.
Full Story: Think Progress » Major League Baseball Players Association calls for ‘repeal’ or prompt modification of Arizona law..
Gates To Congress: Don’t Repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell This Year
As part of the Obama administration’s plan to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), the Pentagon has convened a “Working Group” that is meeting with servicemembers, chaplains, and others individuals about how to repeal the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the military. The process is going to take until at least Dec. 1, 2010, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has said that the President is committed to letting the group complete its work before moving forward. Some members of Congress have raised the possibility of passing DADT repeal legislation this year — before the review process is complete — and delaying implementation until next year.
However, today Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) a letter (in response to an inquiry from Skelton) telling him that he doesn’t want Congress to take any action at all on DADT this year. From the letter obtained by ThinkProgress:
I believe in the strongest possible terms that the Department must, prior to any legislative action, be allowed the opportunity to conduct a thorough, objective, and systematic assessment of the impact of such a policy change; develop an attentive comprehensive implementation plan, and provide the President and the Congress with the results of this effort in order to ensure that this step is taken in the most informed and effective matter. [...]
Therefore, I strongly oppose any legislation that seeks to change this policy prior to the completion of this vital assessment process.
Full Story: Think Progress » Gates To Congress: Don’t Repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell This Year.
FLASHBACK: BP exec testified that offshore drilling is ‘safe and protective of the environment.’
Five months and one day before its Deepwater Horizon rig exploded while exploring the Macondo Prospect off the coast of Louisiana, BP’s top Gulf of Mexico official testified its practices were “both safe and protective of the environment.” In June, the U.S. Minerals Management Service proposed stricter safety and environmental rules, opposed by BP and the rest of the offshore drilling industry as unnecessary. In a Senate hearing on offshore drilling “environmental stewardship policies” on November 19, 2009, BP America’s vice president of Gulf of Mexico exploration, David Rainey, opposed the proposed MMS rules and defended the existing regulatory system. Rainey claimed that drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has been shown to be “both safe and protective of the environment“:
I think we should remember that scientific knowledge is always moving forward. And actually using the best available and the most up-to-date scientific information is part of the current regulatory system. And it supports the OCS leasing, exploration, and development program. And I think we need to remember that OCS has been going on for the last 50 years, and it has been going on in a way that is both safe and protective of the environment.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » FLASHBACK: BP exec testified that offshore drilling is ‘safe and protective of the environment.’.
Former GOP Lawmaker Rips Boehner And Cantor For Their Crass Partisanship, Political Gimmicks
Former Maryland congressman Wayne Gilchrest, a moderate Republican who served from 1990-2008, left Congress after losing in the 2008 Republican primary to State Sen. Andy Harris (R-MD). Last weekend, Gilchrest offered his “straight shooter” views on the Republican Party to the Chestertown Spy.
Gilchrest delivered blunt criticism of his former colleagues in the House GOP leadership. He mocked House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) refusal to engage in the substance of the health reform debate. Instead of offering ideas, Gilchrest noted that Cantor brought a copy of the health care legislation to President Obama’s health reform summit to demonstrate its size and complexity. Gilchrest, clearly incensed by Cantor’s gimmicks, said complaining about the health bill’s size was “really a waste of time” and that the tactic was designed to merely “disrupt” the summit.
Gilchrest also said he observed an increasing level of partisanship from Republican Party leaders as he left Congress. In one incident, Gilchrest recalls Bush Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson coming to a meeting of lawmakers to caution about “potential economic calamity,” only to be ignored by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), whom Gilchrest said was more interested in partisan games to undermine the Democrats. “Boehner dismissed Mr. Paulson because we had to get to…how to disrupt the Democrats from the subcommittee to the House floor, and how to raise money for the next election”:
Full Story: Think Progress » Former GOP Lawmaker Rips Boehner And Cantor For Their Crass Partisanship, Political Gimmicks.
Coral Ridge Ministries Socialism Special
Is socialism biblical? Is life better when Washington runs Wall Street and Main Street? A stunning new documentary from Coral Ridge Ministries offers answers at a time when socialism is on the march in America with business bailouts and government-run health care. Featuring footage from Cuba and Venezuela, and experts who once toed the socialist line, Socialism: A Clear and Present Danger gives you an illuminating look at the real-world results of Marx and his many followers and why their failed ideas violate God’s Word.
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Republicans Don't Care about Voter Fraud....owa Republicans are trying to dismiss claims that the vote count in Tuesday's Iowa Caucus was wrong. An Iowa voter told a local TV station yesterday that he noticed a 20-vote discrepancy in the count - and that Rick Santorum was the real winner of the Caucuses. Republican Party officials, though, are sticking to their first count - showing Mitt Romney as the winner by 8-votes - and there will be no recount.The Republican Party has launched a war on voters around the nation this year with strict new laws that will disenfranchise over 5 million Americans. They claim these laws are necessary to combat so-called voter fraud. Yet in Iowa - where there are no such laws - and where a very, very close and questionable election was just held - Republicans don't seem to care at all about getting it right.Clearly - the war on voters isn't about making sure the people's voices are represented accurately - it's about making sure poor people, young people, and minorities who tend to vote for Democrats - can't vote at all.-Thom(Who do you think won? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
Let us focus on the important fact: THE SPILL IS TWENTY FIVE TIMES WORSE THAN ORIGINALLY ADMITTED.