Archive for July, 2010
Free Trade is a Failure
No other country loses so many jobs, so much productive, and so much investment capital to international trade. No country can even come close to losing so much money.
Universities in the United States produce some of the best economists, engineers, historians, scientists, and political theorists in the world. The quality of education up the high school level has fallen off precipitously in the past few decades, but for those who strive for higher education there is virtually no better place to do it than here in the U.S.
Unfortunately, while the brain trust of academia has largely been unable to breech the ivory tower that is Washington politics. Our politicians have to deal with issues on a daily basis that affect every sector of the economy, and ever sector of everyday life in America. Yet the vast majority of them are attorneys. Their professional training is in litigation; not civil engineering, economics, or hard sciences.
After sprinkling in a few medical doctors and former military service members, and a growing number of former corporate executives, you have accounted for nearly every elected official in our nation’s capital.
Full Story: Free Trade is a Failure | Economy In Crisis.
APEC and America’s Dangerous Free Trade Deception
We know for a fact that America’s listless pursuit of “free trade at all costs” has resulted in lost jobs, reduced GDP, and weakened national security. The figures are undeniable.
On July 14 the National Center for APEC (NCAPEC) held a private get together just inches from the White House at the Willard Intercontinental hotel. Aside from the various businesses and trade groups in attendance, the private party also played host to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and Representative Kevin Brady (R-Texas). Senator Max Baucus (Montana), after a long delay, arrived just in time to provide the keynote.
The room erupted into a congratulatory cacophony when the ambassador from the Republic of Korea was introduced and thanked for his hard work on forging ahead with the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. According to both Senator Baucus and Representative Brady, ratifying this treaty in Congress will be the most important thing our national legislature accomplishes in the next year.
In the avenue of international commerce, our political leadership has no goals. They have empty ideals and failed methodology. They ingratiate themselves with organizations like APEC in order to forward their own positions, but they provide nothing substantive and lasting to the people they represent.
Full Story: APEC and America’s Dangerous Free Trade Deception | Economy In Crisis.
Avoiding the Coming Wave of Economic Collapse
Nearly all manufactured goods now coming from overseas. The labor force is being quietly redeployed into lower-paying service, retail, hospitality, assembly, or distribution jobs that are transient, do not support communities, careers, or provide benefits.
America is sailing into dangerous economic waters, chiefly due to our massive debts and inability to manufacture competitively. The months ahead could determine the success or failure of the nation’s economic course; will we right the ship- or sink into the history books as another former superpower.
Vanishing Industrial Base
Opportunities to produce goods in America have all but vanished; nearly all manufactured goods now coming from overseas. The labor force is being quietly redeployed into lower-paying service, retail, hospitality, assembly, or distribution jobs that are transient, do not support communities, careers, or provide benefits.
Even vaunted finance, high-tech, medical, and academia jobs are being pressured by the surfeit of talented college graduates who are dumping their elected disciplines to “follow the money” into these few remaining propitious fields.
Full Story: Avoiding the Coming Wave of Economic Collapse | Economy In Crisis.
Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money and Getting Away with It
Wall Street has been caught laundering massive amounts of drug money. So why isn’t anybody being punished?
Too-big-to-fail is a much bigger problem than you thought. We’ve all read damning accounts of the government saving banks from their risky subprime bets, but it turns out that the Wall Street privilege problem is far more deeply ingrained in the U.S. legal system than the simple bailouts witnessed in 2008. America’s largest banks can engage in flagrantly criminal activity on a massive scale and emerge almost completely unscathed. The latest sickening example comes from Wachovia Bank: Accused of laundering $380 billion in Mexican drug cartel money, the financial behemoth is expected to emerge with nothing more than a slap on the wrist thanks to an official government policy which protects megabanks from criminal charges.
Bloomberg’s Michael Smith has penned a devastating expose detailing Wachovia’s drug-money operations and the government’s twisted response. The bank was moving money behind literally tons of cocaine from violent drug cartels. It wasn’t an accident. Internal whistleblowers at Wachovia warned that the bank was laundering drug money, higher-ups at the bank actively looked the other way in order to score bigger profits, and the U.S. government is about to let everyone involved get off scott free. The bank will not be indicted, because it is official government policy not to prosecute megabanks. From Smith’s story:
Full Story: Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money and Getting Away with It | Economy | AlterNet.
Yes, There Is Racism in the Tea Party
In passing a resolution condemning the racist elements within the Tea Party this week, the NAACP set off a media firestorm over the merits of its charge against the right-wing movement. As the Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates notes, critics bemoaned the resolution as a silly stunt that “heightened division” and implied that racist extremists define the membership of the Tea Party. Such a wholesale charge would certainly be exaggerated and inaccurate, but that was not the charge the NAACP made. “The resolution was amended during the debate to specifically ask the Tea Party itself to repudiate the racist elements and activities of the Tea Party.” As NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous said, “We’re simply asking them to repudiate racist acts and bigotry in their ranks or accept responsibility.” But instead of acknowledging and disassociating themselves from the more radical actions of their membership, Tea Party leaders have said that racist elements are non existent. In hurling accusations of racism back at the NAACP, Tea Party leaders have wielded a professed desire for colorblindness as a whitewashing tool. But Tea Party members are employing a defense that only perpetuates the racism they are desperately trying to refute.
Yes, There Is Racism in the Tea Party | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.
The Economic Crunch We’re in: Corporations Want Fewer Workers, But They Still Need Everyone to Be Consumers
Some Hard Truths about America
By Robert Parry:
A hard truth about the U.S. economy is that corporations don’t need as many of us as workers but still need us as consumers. That dilemma helps explain why unemployment is stuck near 10 percent and why the economic recovery is stumbling toward a double dip.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that nonfinancial companies are sitting on $1.8 trillion – about one-fourth more than at the start of the recession – but won’t add personnel in part because they’re waiting for consumer demand to pick up, which isn’t happening because many Americans don’t have jobs or are afraid of losing theirs.
Yet, even if that vicious cycle could be broken, there’s another reason for the lack of hiring: companies have found they can make do with a lot fewer American workers. The recession has been a way to cull payrolls – and to discover that many jobs don’t have to be filled again, either because of new technologies or because the jobs have been shifted overseas.
Both these trends predated the recession but the rapid shedding of jobs since the Wall Street financial crash in 2008 – some eight million jobs lost – has spotlighted this structural change. Further, corporate determination to remain “lean” has turned the worker-surplus issue from a personal crisis for many American families into a systemic one for the country’s economy.
Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.
Keith Olbermann Nominated For Emmy Award
New York, N.Y. – July 15, 2010 – Nominations for the 31st Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards were announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). The News & Documentary Emmy® Awards will be presented on Monday, September 27 at a ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City. The event will be attended by more than 1,000 television and news media industry executives, news and documentary producers and journalists. Emmy® Awards will be presented in 41 categories, including Breaking News, Investigative Reporting, Outstanding Interview, and Best Documentary, among others.
“From the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the struggling American economy, to the inauguration of Barack Obama, 2009 was a significant year for major news stories,” said Bill Small, Chairman of the News & Documentary Emmy® Awards. “The journalists and documentary filmmakers nominated this year have educated viewers in understanding some of the most compelling issues of our time, and we salute them for their efforts.”
The Emmy Awards – - 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations.
At Long Last, Pentagon Spending on the Chopping Block: The Impact of the Sustainable Defense Task Force
For the first time in years, there’s serious discussion about the size of our military budget.
The current economic crisis, coupled with concerns about spiraling deficits and our staggering national debt, is, at long last, bringing military spending to the forefront of the budget debate. Not since the end of the Cold War and the discussion of a “peace dividend” has the Pentagon budget—generally considered sacrosanct—received such scrutiny.
In January 2010, President Obama’s formed the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to advise the administration on options for addressing the U.S. national debt. In response, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) convened a bi-partisan panel of national security experts to generate a series of recommendations on how to cut the defense budget while preserving U.S. national security. The Sustainable Defense Task Force released its report, “Debt, Deficits and Defense: A Way Forward,” on June 11, in Washington, D.C.
The Task Force report does not include any recommendations related to the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It looks only at the Pentagon’s annual “base” budget. The report’s combined recommendations would cut $960 billion over ten years, an average annual reduction of roughly 17 percent below current spending levels.
Full Story: At Long Last, Pentagon Spending on the Chopping Block: The Impact of the Sustainable Defense Task Force.
Conservatism’s Death Gusher
George Lakoff:
Conservatism is an ideology of death. It was conservative laissez-faire free market ideology – that maximizing profit comes first – that led to:………………………………………….
The issue is death – death gushing at ten thousand pounds per square inch from a mile below the sea, tens of thousands of barrels of death a day. Not just death to eleven human beings. Death to sea birds, sea turtles, dolphins, fish, oyster beds, shrimp, beaches; death to the fishing industry, tourism, jobs; and death to a way of life based on the beauty and bounty of the Gulf.
Many, perhaps a majority, of the Gulf residents affected are conservatives, strong right-wing Republicans, following extremist Governors Bobby Jindal and Haley Barbour. What those conservatives are not saying, and may be incapable of seeing, is that conservatism itself is largely responsible for what happened, and that conservatism is a continuing disaster for conservatives who live along the Gulf.
Conservatism is an ideology of death. It was conservative laissez-faire free market ideology – that maximizing profit comes first – that led to:
Full Story: Conservatism’s Death Gusher | CommonDreams.org.
The New Finance Bill: A Mountain of Legislative Paper, a Molehill of Reform
Robert Reich:
Thursday the President pronounced that “because of this [financial reform] bill the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes.”
As if to prove him wrong, Goldman Sachs simultaneously announced it had struck a deal with federal prosecutors to pay $550 million to settle federal claims it misled investor — a sum representing a mere 15 days profit for the firm based on its 2009 earnings. Goldman’s share price immediately jumped 4.3 percent, and the Street proclaimed its chair and CEO, Lloyd (“Goldman is doing God’s work”) Blankfein, a winner. Financial analysts rushed to affirm a glowing outlook for Goldman stock.
Blankfein, you may recall, was at the meeting in late 2008 when Tim Geithner and Hank Paulson decided to bail out AIG, and thereby deliver through AIG a $13 billion no-strings-attached taxpayer windfall to Goldman. In a world where money is the measure of everything, Blankfein’s power and influence have grown. Presumably, Goldman can expect more windfalls in future years.
Full Story: Robert Reich.
Last month was the hottest June recorded worldwide, figures show
US government climate data suggests 2010 on course to be warmest year since records began
Last month was the hottest June ever recorded worldwide and the fourth consecutive month that the combined global land and sea temperature records have been broken, according to the US government’s climate data centre.
The figures released last night by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggest that 2010 is now on course to be the warmest year since records began in 1880.
The trend to a warmer world is now incontrovertible. According to NOAA, June was the 304th consecutive month with a combined global land and surface temperature above the 20th-century average. The last month with below-average temperatures was February 1985. Each of the 10 warmest average global temperatures recorded since 1880 have occurred in the last 15 years with the previous warmest first half of a year in 1998.
Full Story: Last month was the hottest June recorded worldwide, figures show | Environment | guardian.co.uk.
Nine CEOs Who Need To Be Fired In 2010
By 24/7 Wall Street: Public companies dismiss CEOs all the time. The firings can be due to incompetence, malfeasance, or tensions with boards of directors or founders. 24/7 Wall St. has chosen nine sitting CEOs who should be let go by their boards.
All the CEOs are on this list for simple reasons. The first is that many have presided over ethical or legal lapses. This is certainly an issue at Goldman Sachs, Dell, and Moody’s. It is easy for observers to say that the chief executive of a large firm cannot be responsible for every action of every employee. But when the trouble is repeated and widespread, it is senior management that must be blamed for refusing to set a strong moral tone.
Some candidates are on this list is because they have made strategic decisions that have cost their companies dearly. Sprint-Nextel has decided to adopt a 4G format that is different from the one that AT&T and Verizon Wireless will use. In coming to the market first, it hopes to steal subscribers from its two larger rivals. Unfortunately for Sprint, both AT&T and Verizon have very strong products and competitive pricing to keep their customers where they are. Sprint probably painted itself into a box – a box in which its technology is unsustainably in the minority.
Full Story: Nine CEOs Who Need To Be Fired In 2010: 24/7 Wall Street.
OPS: These people should be in jail
You Don’t Have to Live with PMS!
Confused about hormones? Beset by PMS or menopausal symptoms? Wondering about HRT versus herbal remedies? Dr. Cass explains what’s going on in your body, and gives you healthy solutions that work.
–Uzzi Reiss MD, author of Natural Hormone Balance for Women
Our mothers once called them “women’s problems.” Now we know that these mood swings and physical changes, from PMS to menopause, are all part of a delicate balance among our various hormones. In my years of practicing integrative medicine, I have helped hundreds of women overcome PMS and menopausal symptoms naturally, and here’s how.
Let’s start by defining hormones. They are chemical messengers secreted by any one of the body’s endocrine (ductless) glands. They travel through the bloodstream, telling various systems what to do. Besides reproductive functions, hormones affect virtually every body system from digestion to metabolism to hair growth.
Full Story: Hyla Cass, M.D.: You Don’t Have to Live with PMS!.
Obama Adm. Defends Hiring Of Ex-Health Insurance Exec To Oversee Reform
The Obama administration is defending its hiring of a high-ranking Capitol Hill aide and former private health insurance vice president to oversee the implementation of health care reform after good government groups complained it violated the spirit of the president’s own ethics rules.
This week, the White House hired Liz Fowler to serve as deputy director of the Office of Consumer Information and Oversight at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The post gives Fowler broad power to implement the recently-passed health care law, a piece of legislation with which she is intimately familiar since she helped write it in her previous post as chief health counsel for the Senate Finance Committee.
But her appointment was greeted with jeers in some circles of the progressive community. Fowler’s former boss, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), oversaw the Gang-of-Six negotiating process that scaled back the reform bill without securing Republican support. More to the point, however, is the job Fowler held before she worked for Baucus.
Full Story: Obama Adm. Defends Hiring Of Ex-Health Insurance Exec To Oversee Reform.
OPS: This is no different than Bush making Bolton the UN ‘Ambassador’
Netanyahu In 2001: ‘America Is A Thing You Can Move Very Easily’
A newly released video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could add some additional strain to the sometimes tense relationship between him and President Obama.
In the video, which is from 2001, Netanyahu — who reportedly did not know his speech was being recorded — speaks frankly in Hebrew about relations with the Clinton White House and the peace process.
As noted in Haaretz, Netanyahu seems to boast of his knowledge of the US by saying, “I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in their way.”
He also boasts of manipulating the U.S. in the ongoing peace process, as the Washington Post points out:
Full Story: Netanyahu In 2001: ‘America Is A Thing You Can Move Very Easily’.
BP Spending Big To Acquire An Army Of Expert Witnesses
In the latest salvo of BP’s War On Everything, the company is deploying its deep pockets in an attempt to buy up every single scientist it can get its hands on, in order to create an army of expert witnesses to take up its side in court. I guess the legacy of George Steinbrenner lives on!
Ben Raines of Mobile, Alabama’s Press-Register captures it, in gobsmacking fashion:
BP PLC attempted to hire the entire marine sciences department at one Alabama university, according to scientists involved in discussions with the company’s lawyers. The university declined because of confidentiality restrictions that the company sought on any research.
Emphasis mine, because: wow! Fortunately, for a wide variety of reasons, some of the scientists BP is approaching are balking at the overtures. For example, the contracts that BP is offering place substantial restrictions on what research scientists under their employ can publish, share, or even discuss. Also: some of the scientists approached apparently have that thing you often hear people talk about… what is that called again? Oh, yeah! A moral compass.
Full Story: Oil Spill Lawsuits: BP Spending Big To Acquire An Army Of Expert Witnesses.
China UFO Sightings, Back-To-Back, Alarm Residents
A second China UFO sighting has residents on edge, just seven days after an unidentified flying object shut down a Chinese airport.
The new UFO sighting took place in Chongqing in eastern China on July 15. Witnesses told Shanghai Daily they saw the same thing: “four lantern-like objects forming a diamond shape that hovered over the city’s Shaping Park for over an hour.”
Like the one before it, there has been no official explanation to date for this latest incident.
Last week, flights were diverted in Hangzhou — also in eastern China — after a mysterious object was seen hovering in the sky, People’s Daily reports.
Full Story: China UFO Sightings, Back-To-Back, Alarm Residents (VIDEO, POLL).
The Highlights Of The Financial Reform Bill
The financial bill cleared the Senate by a vote of 60 to 39, and is to be signed into law by President Obama next week.
Among its other provisions, the 2,300-page piece of legislation creates a consumer protection office housed within the Fed, it establishes a registered derivatives exchange that will shed light on an otherwise opaque market, and it expands regulators’ authority to limit risk-taking and break up ailing financial firms and institutions that threaten the economy. But that’s not all.
The bill contains a plethora of regulatory repairs. For those of us who don’t have time to read the entire 2,300-page document, here’s the Associated Press has put together some of the main highlights from the new-born bill.
Full Story: The Highlights Of The Financial Reform Bill (PHOTOS).
Rachel Maddow: The hard choice in Afghanistan
‘Each Additional American Life Sacrificed To A Goal We Know We Won’t Reach Is A Moral Outrage’
U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke: We’re in Afghanistan because it really matters. We’re in Afghanistan because if we fail in Afghanistan, it will have a direct, immediate danger to us. It will increase al-Qaeda’s worldwide reach. They will come back with the Taliban in all likelihood, and they will gain a worldwide success which will be very dangerous for our national security interests. So we have to be clear. The American public needs to be clear on why we’re in Afghanistan. This is not Vietnam, a war which I participated in as a State Department civilian in the lower Mekong Delta when I entered the government. This is not the Balkans. It’s not Iraq. This is quite different, and this one relates directly to our safety at home.
RM: But we tried to do counterinsurgency in Vietnam, too, pretty explicitly. … When you look back at those efforts, all those years ago, do you really have confidence that a foreign country can help create a state somewhere else, that we really can stand up an Afghan government?
Holbrooke: I think we can if we do it right. . . . The fundamental difference is the one you and I just already mentioned. It matters to our homeland security. Vietnam did not, although at the time, the administrations in power did say it did, but they were wrong. … It’s a process which is not easy, and you only embark on it if you decide that it is absolutely critical for the U.S. national interests, which it is.
That’s the argument. That’s the case that the Obama Administration makes for the war in Afghanistan now,
Full Story: The Rachel Maddow Show – Maddow: The hard choice in Afghanistan.
Top House Republican wants ban on [ALL] new federal regulations
House GOP Leader John Boehner said he supports a ban on all new federal regulations, after meeting Friday with business lobbyists who complained about uncertain economic conditions.
“I think having a moratorium on new federal regulations is a great idea. It sends a wonderful signal to the private sector they may have some breathing room,” Boehner said.
He said any ban would include an exemption for “emergency regulations” for some agencies and suggested it could last a year.
A House Republican leadership aide noted that Boehner and House GOP Whip Eric Cantor, in a proposal to President Barack Obama last year, suggested a similar halt to any new regulations that could cause new costs to small businesses.
Full Story: Top House Republican wants ban on new federal regulations – CNN.com.
Expert suspects BP has ulterior motive behind oil well cap
Since a blowout preventer cap was placed over BP’s damaged oil well in the Gulf of Mexico last weekend, there have been repeated delays in the so-called “well integrity tests” to determine whether the cap can be effective in holding back the oil.
On Tuesday, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen delayed the tests for 24 hours out of fears that they would lead to “irreversible leakage” if it was found that the well bore had been damaged below the sea floor. After a White House review, BP was told on Wednesday that it could proceed with the test, but a leak in a line leading from the cap then forced an additional one-day delay for repairs.
Oil industry expert Bob Cavnar isn’t buying the official story. He told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Wednesday that the repeated missteps cast doubt on BP’s explanation for why the cap was necessary in the first place.
Full Story: Expert suspects BP has ulterior motive behind oil well cap | Raw Story.
Rangel again calls for military draft
Rangel again calls for military draft to highlight disparities in service
Rep. Charles Rangel is again calling for a military draft to highlight the fact that relatively few families are bearing a disproportionate burden in fighting the nation’s wars.
The New York Democrat introduced a bill Thursday to reinstate the draft, a symbolic gesture that has no chance of becoming law. Rangel previously introduced similar legislation in 2003 and 2007.
Rangel said lawmakers who support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should require “all who enjoy the benefits of our democracy to contribute to the defense of the country.”
Rangel said he supports President Barack Obama’s efforts to eventually bring troops home, but he wants it to happen faster.
Full Story: Rangel again calls for military draft | Raw Story.
New York races to uncover Ground Zero ‘mystery ship’
New Yorkers raced against time Friday to reveal the secrets of a mostly intact, 18th century sailing ship found in the muddy foundations of the World Trade Center reconstruction site.
The ghostly vessel emerged from the mud earlier this week, its hull and deck virtually complete and still equipped with an anchor. But with sudden exposure to air wreaking havoc on the wood, archaeologists are hurrying to examine their find.
“Once water logged, it preserves well, but once exposed to the air, as it dries out, it starts to disintegrate. It loses its structure,” New York State parks department archaeologist Doug Mackey told AFP.
Full Story: New York races to uncover Ground Zero ‘mystery ship’ | Raw Story.
Peter King: Republicans Shouldn’t ‘Lay Out A Complete Agenda,’ Because It Might Become ‘A Campaign Issue’
For the past year, Republicans have been desperately trying to show Americans that they have substantive policy ideas, and that they are not just “the party of no” that reflexively opposes anything President Obama supports in order to score cheap political points. “House Republicans have engaged with the American people to develop innovative solutions that meet the serious challenges facing our country,” House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) declared on the flimsy “GOP Solutions” website.
But Rep. Peter King (R-NY) was perhaps a little too honest yesterday, explaining to radio host Bill Bennett that Republicans shouldn’t “lay out a complete agenda,” because then people would be able to scrutinize it and make it “a campaign issue”:
BENNETT: Is it enough for Republicans to say we are opposed to what [Obama's] doing — stimulus, health care, we don’t like what he’s doing with the government, and look at the job situation — or do we need to have meat on the bones? And say, this is what we are for? Do we have to have positive proposals? […
Still Looking Out For Wall Street, Leading Republicans Are Already Calling To Repeal Financial Reform
Earlier this week, the Senate voted 60-39 to pass Congress’s financial regulatory reform bill, setting the stage for President Obama to sign it into law next week. The bill installs new safeguards and protections for consumers in their interactions with financial institutions and is a response to the economic crisis started in 2008 largely due to bad behavior by the world’s most powerful financial institutions.
Yet, just as they did for the health care bill earlier in the year, leading Republicans have already started calling for a repeal of the bill, this time before it has even been signed into law:
– Even before the bill passed the Senate, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters on the day of the vote, “I think it ought to be repealed.” [7/15/10]
– “If we were in a position to do something, maybe [Boehner] is right,” said GOP Policy Chairman Sen. John Thune (ND), endorsing Boehner’s call for repeal. [7/15/10]
– Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-AL) said he’d “love for it to be repealed.” [7/16/10]
– Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told Good Morning America that he and other Republicans would “like to repeal it.” [7/16/10]
BP Launches Effort To Control Scientific Research Of Oil Disaster
Foreign oil giant BP is on a spending spree, buying Gulf Coast scientists for its private contractor army. Scientists from Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University and Texas A&M have “signed contracts with BP to work on their behalf in the Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) process” that determines how much ecological damage the Gulf of Mexico region is suffering from BP’s toxic black tide. The contract, the Mobile Press-Register has learned, “prohibits the scientists from publishing their research, sharing it with other scientists or speaking about the data that they collect for at least the next three years.” Bob Shipp, head of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama — whose entire department BP wished to hire — refused to sign over their integrity to the corporate criminal:
We told them there was no way we would agree to any kind of restrictions on the data we collect. It was pretty clear we wouldn’t be hearing from them again after that. We didn’t like the perception of the university representing BP in any fashion.
The lucrative $250-an-hour deal “buys silence,” said Robert Wiygul, an Ocean Springs environmental lawyer who analyzed the contract. “It makes me feel like they were more interested in making sure we couldn’t testify against them than in having us testify for them,” said George Crozier, head of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, who was approached by BP.
Full Story: Think Progress » BP Launches Effort To Control Scientific Research Of Oil Disaster.
Congress Passes Financial Reform
There was more than enough in the financial reform bill — now on its way to President Obama — to merit broad support. Yet, for Thursday’s final Senate vote on the bill, 60 to 39, just three Republicans joined 57 Democrats to support reform. In the House, only three Republicans voted for the bill when it passed that chamber in June, 237 to 192.
Republican opponents would have you believe that lack of bipartisanship was evidence of the bill’s unworthiness, but the margin of victory was really about partisan politics and not the bill’s content. That made the vote an even greater victory for Mr. Obama, who has had to fight for every inch of progress against entrenched Republicans (who have been willing to deny unemployment benefits to millions of Americans rather than cooperate with Democrats on anything).
As was the case with last year’s economic stimulus and this year’s health care overhaul, Republican opposition to the bill was primarily an attempt to drag down Mr. Obama by killing any legislative accomplishment.
Full Story: Editorial – Congress Passes Financial Reform – NYTimes.com.
Not Dead Yet: Democratic Campaigns See 62% Increase in Online Fundraising
Democrats worried they face certain wipeout in the November elections take heart: campaign donations keep pouring in. In fact, Democrats have seen the percentage of overall contributions coming through online increase by 62 percent, comparing the second quarter of 2008 with the second quarter of 2010, according to a company that provides fundraising and compliance software for Democratic campaigns.
The rise in Internet-based donations runs counter to what has become a pervasive theme that Democrats enter the 2010 midterm elections as the decided underdogs. Defending the majority they established in the 2006 and 2008 cycles, Democrats are seen as having much more to lose by this year’s deep anti-incumbent mood among the electorate.
The difficulty of the political terrain Democrats must overcome was thrown into sharp relief this week, as White House press secretary Robert Gibbs experienced serious blowback for acknowledging House Democrats could well lose their majority this year.
Full Story: On The Hill: Not Dead Yet: Democratic Campaigns See 62% Increase in Online Fundraising.
Redo That Voodoo
Paul Krugman:
Republicans are feeling good about the midterms — so good that they’ve started saying what they really think. This week the party’s Senate leadership stopped pretending that it cares about deficits, stating explicitly that while we can’t afford to aid the unemployed or prevent mass layoffs of schoolteachers, cost is literally no object when it comes to tax cuts for the affluent.
And that’s one reason — there are others — why you should fear the consequences if the G.O.P. actually does as well in November as it hopes.
For a while, leading Republicans posed as stern foes of federal red ink. Two weeks ago, in the official G.O.P. response to President Obama’s weekly radio address, Senator Saxby Chambliss devoted his entire time to the evils of government debt, “one of the most dangerous threats confronting America today.” He went on, “At some point we have to say ‘enough is enough.’ ”
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Redo That Voodoo – NYTimes.com.
The Lonely, Dangerous Fight Against Christian Supremacists Inside the Armed Forces
In his fight against British imperialism, Mahatma Gandhi described the life cycle of successful civil disobedience: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Mikey Weinstein, the 55-year-old founder of the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), likes to quote it, knowing full well he’s crossed the line into a bloody-knuckle brawl. Over the past year, Weinstein and his organization have recorded a tremendous string of victories in the fight against Christian supremacists inside the armed forces.
In January, the MRFF broke the story on the Pentagon’s Jesus Rifles, where rifle scopes used in Afghanistan and Iraq were embossed with New Testament verses. In April, he got the military to rescind its invitation to the Reverend Franklin Graham to speak at May’s National Prayer Day because of Islamophobic remarks. Most shockingly, MRFF received its second nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in late October. These high-profile victories have earned him the enmity of the hardcore Christian Right and the mentally unstable. And the crazies are getting crazier. Weinstein and his family are bombarded with hate mail, from the grammatically incorrect and easy to dismiss – “I hope all your kids turn out gay as hell, take it in the ass, and get aids and die!!!!” – to the kind of threats that immediately make you leap out of your chair and double-check that the doors and windows are locked. (MRFF has referred multiple death threats on Mikey, his family, and MRFF employees to the FBI.)
Unlike Gandhi, Mikey’s no pacifist. Aggression rises up in his voice like a white shark’s fin breaks the waves. In a recent conversation, Mikey bragged how a punk wouldn’t shut up in a movie. When a confrontation ensued and the man took a wild swing, Mikey put him down. None of this is surprising. Weinstein boxed during his Air Force days, his face marked by a strong jawline sitting below a bald head on top of a stocky body – a cross between Rocky Marciano and Butter Bean. Simply put: Mikey Weinstein can be a brute and a zealot. He knows this and admits it freely. But he believes it’s the only position a reasonable person can take when confronted with a faction dedicated to mutating the U.S. military into “a weaponized Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Full Story: t r u t h o u t | The Lonely, Dangerous Fight Against Christian Supremacists Inside the Armed Forces.
Greenspan Calls for Congress to Let All Bush Tax Cuts Expire
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, whose backing of George W. Bush’s 2001 tax cuts helped persuade Congress to pass them, said lawmakers should allow the reductions to expire at the end of this year.
“They should follow the law and let them lapse,” Greenspan said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Conversations with Judy Woodruff,” citing a need for the tax revenue to reduce the federal budget deficit.
The former U.S. central bank chairman also said the economy is in “a temporary slump” and would emerge with a “sluggish” 3 percent growth rate in the second half of the year. He said banks’ lending will remain constrained because financial markets are pressing them to maintain higher capital levels and predicted the Wall Street regulatory measure the Senate passed yesterday will reduce credit available for low- income consumers.
Full Story: Greenspan Calls for Congress to Let All Bush Tax Cuts Expire – BusinessWeek.
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Here’s another story on subject – it’s a TWOFER:
Greenspan Calls For Full Expiration Of The Bush Tax Cuts That He Helped Enact
With the legislative calendar starting to dwindle, lawmakers are paying more and more attention to the scheduled expiration of the Bush tax cuts at the end of the year. Republicans across the board are advocating for the extension of all the cuts, and have explicitly said that extending the cuts for the richest 2 percent of Americans (which would cost $678 billion) does not have to be paid for.
President Obama has called for letting the cuts for the very richest expire, allowing the rates to reset to where they were under the Clinton administration. In an interview with Bloomberg News’ Judy Woodruff, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan went a step further, calling for all of the tax cuts to expire, essentially sending the tax code back to 2001:
WOODRUFF: On those tax cuts, they are due to expire at the end of this year. Should they be extended? What should Congress do?
GREENSPAN: I should say they should follow the law and let them lapse.
WOODRUFF: Meaning what happens?
GREENSPAN: Taxes go up. The problem is, unless we start to come to grips with this long-term outlook, we are going to have major problems. I think we misunderstand the momentum of this deficit going forward.
Full Story: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/16/greenspan-bush-expire/
GOP: No more help for jobless, but rich must keep tax cuts
Republicans almost unanimously oppose spending $33.9 billion for extended unemployment benefits for some 2.5 million people who’ve lost them, because they say it would increase federal budget deficits.
At the same time, they’re pushing a permanent extension of Bush administration tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, which could increase federal budget deficits by trillions of dollars over the next 10 years.
How do they justify this?
“Tax policy is dynamic. If you have the right kind of tax reform, it helps generate a more dynamic economy,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which writes tax law. While that may be true, even the Bush Treasury Department concluded that its tax cuts increase budget deficits.
Full Story: GOP: No more help for jobless, but rich must keep tax cuts – Politics AP – MiamiHerald.com.
22 Statistics That Prove The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America
The 22 statistics that you are about to read prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.
See proof of the Middle Class extermination –>
So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and “free trade” that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn’t tell us that the “global economy” would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.
Full Story: 22 Statistics That Prove The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America.
Coburn: New Tax Cuts Cost Money But Extending The Bush Tax Cuts ‘Isn’t A Cost’
Last Sunday, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) caused quite a stir when he claimed that the government should “never” offset tax cuts, yet unemployment insurance extensions must be paid for. “You should never have to offset cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans,” he said.
Today on C-Span, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) circled the wagons around his Senate colleague. When host Greta Brawner asked Coburn about a Washington Post editorial mocking Kyl’s statement, Coburn conceded that tax cuts cost money, but he claimed that extending the Bush tax cuts won’t cost anything, because, according to Coburn’s logic, they’ve already been enacted at one point in the past:
COBURN: Continuing the [Bush] tax cuts isn’t a cost, if you added new taxes, new tax cuts, I would agree that’s a cost. It’s not a cost. That’s where we are today. That’s the baseline. It doesn’t score anything to continue them. It costs money if we increase, which I would be willing to do. I think we ought to cut corporate taxes.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » Coburn: New Tax Cuts Cost Money But Extending The Bush Tax Cuts ‘Isn’t A Cost’.
DIRE REALITIES OF THE METHANE PREDICAMENT IN THE GULF OF MEXICO
Methane Gas, Methane Hydrate & Methane Clathrate Formations and Behavior
There has been a spate of articles recently throughout the MSM and alternative media depicting the methane gas predicament associated with the BP Gulf Oil Spill. Many of these perspectives portray an alarming state of affairs concerning extremely high concentrations of methane that have accumulated in numerous areas in the Gulf of Mexico. The two primary issues of concern are the methane effects in the aquatic environment and the methane gas accumulations in the atmosphere above the Gulf and within contiguous land masses. In regard to the latter, the weather patterns will reign supreme. Once methane rises above the surface of the Gulf, where it goes, how it accumulates and what its toxic effects on life will be, is going to be dictated to a great extent by the weather.
“How’s the weather down there?” When we ask each other this question, aren’t we really asking, “How are the elements (elementals) treating us?” Well this question will never be more important to the residents rimming the Gulf of Mexico as we gear up for a long, hot, deep south summer with its likely share of hurricanes
, tropical storms and depressions. Which, by the way, can be a good or bad thing for “natural” oil spill remediation depending on a numerous factors and circumstances.
Back to the methane issue and the volumes of gas that are currently pouring into the Gulf by way of the gushing well, as well as the many leaks and seeps, cracks and fissures, which have provided entry into the water from a growing area around the wellhead. Some who are privy to authoritative info have pointed directly to a large gash, as well as other smaller gashes, which have opened up in the seafloor throughout the area since the wellhead first blew. The current flow of oil out of the riser is approximately 35% of the total volume of outflow. Much of the remaining composition is methane, some of which may be burned off by the flames which appear on a screenshot from the live feed. Click on link below:
Full Story: DIRE REALITIES OF THE METHANE PREDICAMENT IN THE GULF OF MEXICO by Dr. Tom Termotto | Before It’s News.
Weed killer kills human cells. Study intensifies debate over ‘inert’ ingredients.
Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. The new findings intensify a debate about so-called “inerts” — the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup’s inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells.
The new findings intensify a debate about so-called “inerts” — the solvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, is the most widely used herbicide in the United States. About 100 million pounds are applied to U.S. farms and lawns every year, according to the EPA.
Until now, most health studies have focused on the safety of glyphosate, rather than the mixture of ingredients found in Roundup. But in the new study, scientists found that Roundup’s inert ingredients amplified the toxic effect on human cells—even at concentrations much more diluted than those used on farms and lawns.
Full Story: Weed killer kills human cells. Study intensifies debate over ‘inert’ ingredients. — Environmental Health News.
Extremist Christians Aim to Create Armed Militias Against “Godless” Federal Government
Christian Reconstructionists believe civil government should be reformed according to the dictates of biblical law. Some advocate for followers to take up arms.
Herb Titus, a lawyer for the far-right Gun Owners of America, is jubilant over last week’s Supreme Court decision in the case McDonald v. City of Chicago, finding that state and local regulation of gun ownership must comport with the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The decision has also pleased the National Rifle Association, which sees it as ammunition for challenging gun control laws across the country. But for Titus, who thinks the NRA “compromises” on gun rights, the Second Amendment isn’t solely about “firepower,” he says. “You have to see it in its spiritual and providential perspective.”
That perspective is about far more than hunting and self-defense. For Titus, the Court’s 2008 recognition of an individual right to bear arms, and its application of that principle to the states in the McDonald case, are crucial steps toward arming Americans against their own government. Titus cites the “totalitarian threat” posed by “Obamacare” and “what Sarah Palin said about death panels.” People need to be armed, he said, “because ultimately it may come to the point where it’s a life and death situation.”
A human right Canada rejects: Access to clean water – thestar.com
Contary to what Ottawa says, UN convention would not compel exports to U.S.
On June 17, Pablo Solon, the Bolivian ambassador to the United Nations, presented a draft resolution declaring the human right to “available, safe, acceptable, accessible and affordable water and sanitation” to a closed-door consultation at the UN General Assembly that will be dealt with over the next several weeks. This is the first time the General Assembly has been asked directly to deal with this issue and it presents a huge test for the world and for Canada.
When the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights was written, no one could foresee a day when water would be a contested area. But in 2010, it is not an exaggeration to say that the lack of access to clean water is the greatest human rights violation in the world.
Nearly 2 billion people live in water-stressed areas of the world and 3 billion have no running water within a kilometre of their homes. Every eight seconds, a child dies of water-borne disease, in every case preventable if their parents had money to pay for water.
Full Story: A human right Canada rejects: Access to clean water – thestar.com.
The Root Of Economic Fragility And Political Anger
Robert Reich – -
Americans are keeping their jobs or finding new ones only by accepting lower wages.
Missing from almost all discussion of America’s dizzying rate of unemployment is the brute fact that hourly wages of people with jobs have been dropping, adjusted for inflation. Average weekly earnings rose a bit this spring only because the typical worker put in more hours, but June’s decline in average hours pushed weekly paychecks down at an annualized rate of 4.5 percent.
In other words, Americans are keeping their jobs or finding new ones only by accepting lower wages.
Meanwhile, a much smaller group of Americans’ earnings are back in the stratosphere: Wall Street traders and executives, hedge-fund and private-equity fund managers, and top corporate executives. As hiring has picked up on the Street, fat salaries are reappearing. Richard Stein, president of Global Sage, an executive search firm, tells the New York Times corporate clients have offered compensation packages of more than $1 million annually to a dozen candidates in just the last few weeks.
We’re back to the same ominous trend as before the Great Recession: a larger and larger share of total income going to the very top while the vast middle class continues to lose ground.
Full Story: The Root Of Economic Fragility And Political Anger | TPMCafe.
Elizabeth Warren To Head Consumer Protection Bureau?
Once President Obama signs Wall Street reform into law, the battle will move off the front pages, but it’ll be far from over. Who the president picks to lead key agencies and commissions will determine the course and strength of those regulatory bodies, much as Joe Kennedy shaped a half century of tough financial industry regulations by setting the tone as the first head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Two positions are being watched closely by both sides: A new head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Regardless of the regulator Obama picks to run OCC, banks will be losing one of their best friends. John Dugan consistently fought to protect banks from regulation, compiling a record of fealty to Wall Street impressive even by Bush-era standards. His term expires in August
Full Story: Elizabeth Warren To Head Consumer Protection Bureau?.
Dylan Ratigan Rips GOP Congressman Kevin Brady Over Wall Street Greed
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) looked uncomfortable when MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan introduced him Tuesday afternoon to talk about unemployment benefits and Wall Street greed. Brady’s discomfort proved well-founded.
Ratigan tore into the Texas Republican, who voted against the extension of unemployment benefits but for the Wall Street bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Brady repeatedly attempted to deflect Ratigan’s harsh line of questioning on the nature of Wall Street by arguing that potential — not actual — tax increases are stifling capital investment and thus job creation, but the MSNBC host didn’t let up.
“I know you have an issue with the government, but I’ve got an issue with a private industry that’s using the government to rape my country of its money, and I’d like to try to put a stop to that,” Ratigan said.
Full Story: Dylan Ratigan Rips GOP Congressman Kevin Brady Over Wall Street Greed.
Unemployed Woman Applies To Over 1,000 Jobs: ‘Interviews Are Like Seeking Unicorns’
When Laurie-Ellen Shumaker, 59, was laid off from her job as a lawyer for a shopping center in January of 2009, she assumed she would be hired again in no time. In addition to her impressive resume, which includes a degree from a top-tier law school and 23 years of legal experience, she has always been actively recruited for positions.
But in the past year-and-a-half, Shumaker says she has applied to over a thousand jobs — everything from secretary to file clerk to daycare worker — and she has yet to be called for an interview.
“It’s frightening,” she told HuffPost. “Interviews are like seeking unicorns. I’ve even gotten a status update on two different jobs saying I’m the best qualified, but then I never hear anything after that. It’s hard not to rake through one’s brain trying to figure out why. Is it my age or my gender holding me back?”
Full Story: Frustrated Unemployed Woman: ‘Interviews Are Like Seeking Unicorns’.
NOAA Hoarding Key Data On Oil Spill Damage
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hoarding vast amounts of raw data that independent marine researchers say could help both the public and scientists better understand the extent of the damage being caused by the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In most cases, NOAA insists on putting the data through a ponderous, many-weeks-long vetting process before making it public.
In other cases, NOAA actually intended to keep the data secret indefinitely. But officials told the Huffington Post on Tuesday that they have now decided to release it — though when remains unclear.
Full Story: NOAA Hoarding Key Data On Oil Spill Damage.
Megyn Kelly Flips Out At Fox Contributor In Effort To Push Faux Scandal About New Black Panther Party
Today on Fox News’ America Live, host Megyn Kelly discussed the manufactured right-wing “scandal” surrounding the New Black Panther Party, and whether the Department of Justice is being insufficiently tough against black defendants. As Media Matters has documented, the “scandal” surfaced on Fox News and has slowly migrated to more mainstream networks. (Read background on the issue here.)
This afternoon, Kelly invited New York Post columnist — and regular Fox contributor — Kirsten Powers to debate the importance of this story. Kelly bemoaned that “no one seems to give a darn” about the allegations promulgated by former Bush DoJ lawyer J. Christian Adams. The conservative activist claims that the Obama Justice Department dropped voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party due to racial considerations. Contrary to the claims, the Obama DoJ has issued an injunction against the member of the NBPP who was seen engaging in voter intimidation tactics, prohibiting him “from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of any Philadelphia polling place through 2012.”
Powers effectively dismantled the faux scandal for what it is, telling Kelly, “You can put me in the same category of people who don’t really give a darn.” “You don’t seem to know what you’re talking about,” Kelly immediately responded, growing more enraged as the two wrestled, jabbed, and bickered over the facts:
Cantor Says Federal Spending Doesn’t ‘Create Jobs’ — At Job Fair With Companies Funded By The Stimulus
House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) has been one of the loudest critics of the Recovery Act, insisting that it hasn’t created any non-government jobs and proposing that it be canceled in order to “pay off the debt and deficit so we can get our fiscal house back in order.”
Today, Cantor held a job fair at Deep Run High School in Glen Allen, VA. As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, employers scheduled to attend the event have received more than $52 million in federal stimulus funds. ThinkProgress attended today’s job fair and asked the congressman during a press conference whether he would support repealing the stimulus (as several of his colleagues have advocated) and making businesses and state/local governments return the funds in order to help pay down the national debt:
TP: Congressman, you’ve been an outspoken opponent of the stimulus. Do you think it should be repealed?
CANTOR: The stimulus money ought to go back — that which is unallocated — to go and repay the debt that we’ve incurred, yes.
Rubio Unveils His Economic Strategy: Tax Cuts For The Wealthy And Corporations
Today, Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R-FL) released his economic platform, which he claims is a “a clear alternative to the anti-growth, anti-job creation economic policies coming out of Washington.” “We have reached a point in our history when we must decide if we are to continue on the free market, limited government path that has made us exceptional, or if we are prepared to follow the rest of the world down the road of government dependency,” he said.
However, as the Orlando Sentinel’s Jim Stratton pointed out, “after perusing the list, the sharp-eyed reader will likely notice a recurring theme: This Rubio guy appears to be a big supporter of tax cuts. The proposals are sure to please his conservative base, many of whom see tax cuts as a magical elixir, good for pretty much anything that ails you.” Indeed, of the 12 steps that Rubio proposed, six are tax cuts, and another three are directives to stop regulations or taxes from being implemented. Here are some highlights:
– IDEA #1: Permanently Extend The 2001 And 2003 Tax Cuts
– IDEA #2: Cut Taxes On American Businesses
– IDEA #3: Permanently End The Estate
Tax
Full Story: Think Progress » Rubio Unveils His Economic Strategy: Tax Cuts For The Wealthy And Corporations.
HOW BROKERS BECAME BOOKIES: THE INSIDIOUS TRANSFORMATION OF MARKETS INTO CASINOS
“You all are the house, you’re the bookie. [Your clients] are booking their bets with you. I don’t know why we need to dress it up. It’s a bet.”
- Senator Claire McCaskill, Senate Subcommittee investigating Goldman Sachs (Washington Post, April 27, 2010)
Ellen Brown:
Ever since December 2008, the Federal Reserve has held short-term interest rates near zero. This was not only to try to stimulate the housing and credit markets but also to allow the federal government to increase its debt levels without increasing the interest tab picked up by the taxpayers. The total public U.S. debt increased by nearly 50% from 2006 to the end of 2009 (from about $8.5 trillion to $12.3 trillion), but the interest bill on the debt actually dropped (from $406 billion to $383 billion), because of this reduction in interest rates.
One of the dire unintended consequences of that maneuver, however, was that municipal governments across the country have been saddled with very costly bad derivatives bets. They were persuaded by their Wall Street advisers to buy credit default swaps to protect their loans against interest rates shooting up. Instead, rates proceeded to drop through the floor, a wholly unforeseeable and unnatural market condition caused by rate manipulations by the Fed. Instead of the banks bearing the losses in return for premiums paid by municipal governments, the governments have had to pay massive sums to the banks – to the point of bankrupting at least one city (Montgomery, Alabama).
Another unintended consequence of the plunge in interest rates has been that “savers” have been forced to become “speculators” or gamblers. When interest rates on safe corporate bonds were around 8%, a couple could aim for saving half a million dollars in their working careers and count on reaping $40,000 yearly in investment income, a sum that, along with social security, could make for a comfortable retirement. But very low interest rates on bonds have forced these once-prudent savers into the riskier and less predictable stock market, and the collapse of the stock market has forced them into even more speculative ventures in the form of derivatives, a glorified form of gambling. Pension funds, which have binding pension contracts entered into when interest was at much higher levels, need an 8% investment return to meet their commitments. In today’s market, they cannot make that sort of return without taking on higher risk, which means taking major losses when the risks materialize.
Full Story: HOW BROKERS BECAME BOOKIES: THE INSIDIOUS TRANSFORMATION OF MARKETS INTO CASINOS.
Eco warrior’s Pacific journey shows how ‘dumb plastic’ is killing our seas
David de Rothschild set out on a mammoth ocean crossing aboard his recycled yacht to highlight pollution of Earth’s waters – but even he was shocked by what he found
“After 100 days at sea,” David de Rothschild suggests, “you realise that it should be called planet Ocean rather than planet Earth.” De Rothschild is speaking from the island of New Caledonia – “an odd little bit of France in the South Seas” – the night before his boat, the Plastiki, embarks on the final leg of a voyage that should finish in Sydney harbour in a fortnight.
The Plastiki, a revolutionary catamaran, is kept afloat by 12,500 plastic bottles in its hulls; the “eco-adventure” has been designed to draw attention to our systematic pollution and over-fishing of oceans. In the three and a half months since De Rothschild, the refusenik 31-year-old son of the banking dynasty, and his crew of five set out from San Francisco they have discovered many things, but mainly, he says, they have learned about the sea, about its power and about its fragility.
The power was amply demonstrated on the leg of the journey just completed, the 1,700 miles from Samoa, during which the vessel’s unconventional construction was rigorously tested by 13ft swells and 35-knot winds for days on end. It is hard not to be reminded of your insignificance in the universe, De Rothschild says, when hanging off the side of a yacht made partly of plastic bottles, 1,000 miles from land in the pitch dark, while the Pacific breaks over you.
Full Story: Eco warrior’s Pacific journey shows how ‘dumb plastic’ is killing our seas | Environment | The Observer.
Burmese Junta Funded By Chevron, Total, And PTTEP
The Burmese junta are using massive gas revenues from Chevron (US), Total (France) and PTTEP (Thailand) to fund it’s fledgling nuclear weapons programme, according to a report published this week by the Paris-based human rights watchdog EarthRights International (ERI).
The report relies on recent photographic evidence and other top-secret material smuggled out of Burma by defecting army Major Sai Thein Win, a former deputy commander of a top-secret military facility, based deep inside Burma.
It seems that Burma’s nuclear program is at an early stage, with scientists experimenting with laser isotope separation and gas centrifuge technology for uranium enrichment. Despite the fact that the program is still years away from achieving weapons capability, the growing threat of this rogue state is now coming to the attention of the international community.
Full Story: Scoop: Burmese Junta Funded By Chevron, Total, And PTTEP.
Diabetes Drug Maker Hid Test Data, Files Indicate
In the fall of 1999, the drug giant SmithKline Beecham secretly began a study to find out if its diabetes medicine, Avandia, was safer for the heart than a competing pill, Actos, made by Takeda.
Avandia’s success was crucial to SmithKline, whose labs were otherwise all but barren of new products. But the study’s results, completed that same year, were disastrous. Not only was Avandia no better than Actos, but the study also provided clear signs that it was riskier to the heart.
But instead of publishing the results, the company spent the next 11 years trying to cover them up, according to documents recently obtained by The New York Times. The company did not post the results on its Web site or submit them to federal drug regulators, as is required in most cases by law.
“This was done for the U.S. business, way under the radar,” Dr. Martin I. Freed, a SmithKline executive, wrote in an e-mail message dated March 29, 2001, about the study results that was obtained by The Times. “Per Sr. Mgmt request, these data should not see the light of day to anyone outside of GSK,” the corporate successor to SmithKline.
Full Story: Diabetes Drug Maker Hid Test Data, Files Indicate – NYTimes.com.
Jon Kyl: Extend Bush Tax Cuts For Wealthy Even If They Add To Deficit
Top Senate Republican Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) insisted on Sunday that Congress should extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans regardless of their impact on the deficit, even as he and other Republicans are blocking unemployment insurance extensions over deficit concerns.
“[Y]ou should never raise taxes in order to cut taxes,” said the Arizona Senator during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. “Surely Congress has the authority, and it would be right to — if we decide we want to cut taxes to spur the economy, not to have to raise taxes in order to offset those costs. You do need to offset the cost of increased spending, and that’s what Republicans object to. But you should never have to offset cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.”
White House aides immediately seized on the comments. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs wrote on Twitter, “Kyl says wealthy need big Bush tax cuts while middle class families are on their own to fend for themselves as a result of Bush economy.”
Full Story: Jon Kyl: Extend Bush Tax Cuts For Wealthy Even If They Add To Deficit.
Henry Paulson Buys Aspen Lakes Ranch For $24.5 Million (PHOTOS)
Bush Treasury Secretary Who Presided Over Financial Meltdown Drops $25 MILLION On Aspen Ranch
In early July, the sale of the Aspen Lakes Ranch for $24.5 million deal made headlines in the Colorado High Country for being the most expensive single-family real estate transaction in Aspen since the summer of 2009. Just weeks later, the sale is back in the news. This time, the home is drawing attention after reports surfaced that its buyer is none other than former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry “Hank” Paulson.
Real Aspen reports that Paulson was represented through Brian Hazen of Mason Morse Real Estate, though Hazen would neither confirm nor deny the identity of the ranch’s buyer.
Paulson faced criticism in late 2008 for skiing in Aspen and conducting business over the phone as Wall Street and the economy crumbled.
The ranch, which sits on 8.9 acres, has seven bedrooms, 81⁄2 baths and a 35-foot glass wall with panoramic views.
Full Story: Henry Paulson Buys Aspen Lakes Ranch For $24.5 Million (PHOTOS).
Kucinich Pushes To End Tax Subsidies For Junk Food Advertising
As First Lady Michelle Obama spoke to the NAACP convention in Kansas City about childhood obesity Monday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) continued his work behind the scenes to stem junk food advertising to kids. A new bill introduced by Kucinich could raise billions of dollars in revenue to fund child nutrition and anti-obesity initiatives by preventing companies from writing off advertising of junk food targeted at kids.
Taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the spread of the obesity epidemic, Kucinich says, since under current federal law marketing expenses for the junk- and fast-food industries are tax-deductible. The legislation offers an easy win for increasingly hysterical deficit hawks, and would provide much-needed funds for Democrats looking to pass more aid programs, such as renewed unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless.
“I commend the First Lady for her dedication to stopping the epidemic of childhood obesity and for shedding light on the problem of food marketing to children,” Kucinich wrote in a letter to colleagues. His measure, HR 4310, would prohibit any company from claiming a tax deduction for expenses derived from advertising to children any fast food or food of limited nutritional value. He cites a study suggesting that eliminating the federal subsidies of food advertising directed at youth could significantly reduce obesity rates.
Full Story: Kucinich Pushes To End Tax Subsidies For Junk Food Advertising.
Olympia Snowe Says She’ll Vote For Financial Reform
Sens. Olympia Snowe and Scott Brown pushed sweeping financial legislation to the edge of final passage Monday, both announcing they intend to support the regulatory overhaul despite initial misgivings.
Snowe of Maine and Brown of Massachusetts join Susan Collins of Maine as three crucial Republican votes for the legislation.
“While not perfect, the legislation takes necessary steps to implement meaningful regulatory reforms, create strong consumer protections and restore confidence in the American financial system,” Snowe said in a statement Monday evening.
Full Story: Olympia Snowe Says She’ll Vote For Financial Reform.
Fox legal analyst: Bush should have been indicted
Fox News’ senior judicial analyst made some surprising remarks Saturday that may go against the grain at his conservative network.
In a interview with Ralph Nader on C-SPAN’s Book TV to promote his book Lies the Government Told You, Judge Andrew Napolitano said that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should have been indicted for “torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrant.”
The judge believes that it is a fallacy to say that the US treats suspects as innocent until proven guilty. “The government acts as if a defendant is guilty merely on the basis of an accusation,” said Napolitano.
Full Story: Fox legal analyst: Bush should have been indicted | Raw Story.
Former Contractor: ‘Cutthroat’ BP ‘Not Worried About Cleaning Up That Spill’
A former contractor has come forward to denounce foreign oil giant BP and the “cutthroat individuals” running the oil disaster response. On Friday, contractor-turned-whistleblower Adam Dillon told New Orleans television station WDSU he was fired “after taking photos that he believes were related to the use of dispersants and to the cleanup of the oil.” As a BP liaison, he had rebuffed reporters’ attempts to observe cleanup operations in Grand Isle, LA, in June, before being promoted to the BP Command Center near Houma, LA. At the command center BP manages the private contractors running practically every aspect of the spill response. Dillon, a former U.S. Army Special Operations soldier, “has lost faith in the company in charge”:
There are some very great, hardworking individuals in there. But the bottom line is just about money. There are some very cutthroat individuals. They’re not worried about cleaning up that spill as it is. . . .
I will never have loyalty to this company. I will always have loyalty to my country. And my country comes first. What this company is doing to this country right now is just wrong.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » Former Contractor: ‘Cutthroat’ BP ‘Not Worried About Cleaning Up That Spill’.
Bachmann Hints At Bid To Overthrow GOP Leadership With True ‘Constitutional Conservatives’
Last weekend, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) helped headline the Western Conservative Summit in Denver. Bachmann fired up attendees with an anger-filled speech repeatedly comparing America under President Obama to slavery, reports the Colorado Independent. “We will talk a little bit about what has transpired in the last 18 months and would we count what has transpired into turning our country into a nation of slaves,” thundered Bachmann at one point.
After her speech, Bachmann took questions from the audience, including one from a woman concerned that the Republican leadership does not share Bachmann’s dedication to “spreading the word.” Bachmann agreed that “Republicans need to have one voice on all of this.” She then argued that although she is “not in leadership,” it is “extremely important” that the Republican “leadership is made up of constitutional conservatives” if the GOP takes back Congress:
Q: Your colleagues are not out there spreading the word, not out there saying, ‘yes it’s going to be tough, we have to give up a lot that we have right now to move forward to do what we need to save this country.’ And, you’re good at it. There a couple of other people who are good about it, but there are an awful lot that are just quiet out there, especially on the state level. [...]
Full Story: Think Progress » Bachmann Hints At Bid To Overthrow GOP Leadership With True ‘Constitutional Conservatives’.
Fox News promoted Tea Party town halls because they made ‘better television.’
Bill Hemmer, a co-anchor of Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” program, revealed in a profile of him published today why his network decided to highlight last August’s violent, tumultuous congressional town halls. In an interview with Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, Hemmer discussed how his show’s ratings have grown over the past year and suggested that the program’s decision to promote Tea Party town hall antics was based on attracting viewers:
A turning point, in Hemmer’s view, came during the health care debate in the summer of 2009: “We covered those town hall meetings with greater vigor than our competition, and we were rewarded with viewers. It was better television.”
Another view is that Fox seized upon the footage of angry constituents shouting at Democratic members of Congress because it undermined the president’s push for health care reform. Hemmer begs to differ. “I don’t think it was anger toward the Obama administration,” he says. “It was an honest insecurity on the part of average Americans.”
Full Story: Think Progress » Fox News promoted Tea Party town halls because they made ‘better television.’.
Obama officially throws Democrats under the bus
Robert Gibbs, Obama’s White House press secretary went on Meet the Press on Sunday and said blithely that ” there is no doubt that Republicans could take control of the House”.
For both Democratic members of the House up for re-election and those charged with raising money for Democratic candidates, if this isn’t the last straw in supporting Obama it should be.
Gibbs statement was not just politically inept,but coming from the spokesman for the president about his own party, undermines everything the Democrats need to do in order to retain control of congress. If they thought they were sounding “honest” a trait sorely missing from Obama’s lifetime political resume, they were mistaken. They just sounded stupid.
Full Story: Tom In Paine: Obama officially throws Democrats under the bus.
The IMF Is Coming for Your Social Security
A few years back, there was a fear in some parts about black UN helicopters that were supposedly taking part in the planning of an invasion of the United States. While there was no foundation for this fear, there is basis for concern about the attack of another international organization, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Last week, the IMF told the United States that it needs to start getting its budget deficit down. It put cutting Social Security at the top of the steps that the country should take to achieve deficit reduction. This one is more than a bit outrageous for two reasons.
First, the IMF deserves a substantial share of the blame for the economic crisis that gave us big deficits in the first place. The IMF is supposed to oversee the operations of the international financial system. According to standard economic theory, capital is supposed to flow from rich countries like the United States to poor countries to finance their development. In other words, the United States should be having a trade surplus, which would correspond to the money that we are investing in poor countries to finance their development.
Full Story: t r u t h o u t | The IMF Is Coming for Your Social Security.
Female Veterans Struggle To Stay Off Streets
More than 240,000 female service members have been deployed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but for many, reintegrating into civilian life and trying to find employment is not within their reach.
The Department of Veteran Affairs has acknowledged that women are nearly four times as likely as men to end up homeless.
In Los Angeles, outreach efforts are under way to get them off the streets and into the VA’s transition assistance program.
Full Story: Female Veterans Struggle To Stay Off Streets : NPR.
Britain facing food crisis as world’s soil ‘vanishes in 60 years’
British farming soil could run out within 60 years, leading to a catastrophic food crisis and drastically higher prices for consumers, scientists warn.
Fertile soil is being lost faster than it can be replenished and will eventually lead to the “topsoil bank” becoming empty, an Australian conference heard.
Chronic soil mismanagement and over farming causing erosion, climate change and increasing populations were to blame for the dramatic global decline in suitable farming soil, scientists said.
An estimated 75 billion tonnes of soil is lost annually with more than 80 per cent of the world’s farming land “moderately or severely eroded”, the Carbon Farming conference heard.
Full Story: Britain facing food crisis as world’s soil ‘vanishes in 60 years’ – Telegraph.
America Builds an Aristocracy
AMERICANS have always assumed that wealth comes and goes. A poor person can work hard, become rich and pass his money on to his children and grandchildren. But then, if those descendants do not manage it wisely, they may lose it. “Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations,” the saying goes, and it conforms to our preference for meritocracy over aristocracy.
This assumption is now being undermined, however, through the increasing use of so-called dynasty trusts. These estate-planning instruments enable affluent people to provide their heirs with money and property largely free from taxes and immune to the claims of creditors. And rather than benefit only children and grandchildren, dynasty trusts provide for generations in perpetuity — truly creating an American aristocracy.
Congress is feeling pressure to deal with taxes on inherited wealth, which have fallen to zero this year thanks to lawmakers’ inaction. In the process, it should address the more pernicious problem of dynasty trusts.
This type of trust is new because until very recently most states had a “rule against perpetuities,” which limited the term of any family trust to about 90 years, after which time the family members would own the property outright. This rule derived from the idea that property is best controlled by the living.
Full Story: Op-Ed Contributor – America Builds an Aristocracy – NYTimes.com.
The Feckless Fed
Paul Krugman
Back in 2002, a professor turned Federal Reserve official by the name of Ben Bernanke gave a widely quoted speech titled “Deflation: Making Sure ‘It’ Doesn’t Happen Here.” Like other economists, myself included, Mr. Bernanke was deeply disturbed by Japan’s stubborn, seemingly incurable deflation, which in turn was “associated with years of painfully slow growth, rising joblessness, and apparently intractable financial problems.” This sort of thing wasn’t supposed to happen to an advanced nation with sophisticated policy makers. Could something similar happen to the United States?
Not to worry, said Mr. Bernanke: the Fed had the tools required to head off an American version of the Japan syndrome, and it would use them if necessary.
Today, Mr. Bernanke is the Fed’s chairman — and his 2002 speech reads like famous last words. We aren’t literally suffering deflation (yet). But inflation is far below the Fed’s preferred rate of 1.7 to 2 percent, and trending steadily lower; it’s a good bet that by some measures we’ll be seeing deflation by sometime next year. Meanwhile, we already have painfully slow growth, very high joblessness, and intractable financial problems. And what is the Fed’s response? It’s debating — with ponderous slowness — whether maybe, possibly, it should consider trying to do something about the situation, one of these days.
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – The Feckless Fed – NYTimes.com.
‘Star Trek’ Warp Speed? Physicists Have New Idea That Could Make It So
With the new movie ‘Star Trek’ opening in theaters across the nation, one thing movie goers will undoubtedly see is the Starship Enterprise racing across the galaxy at the speed of light. But can traveling at warp speed ever become a reality?
Two Baylor University physicists believe they have an idea that can turn traveling at the speed of light from science fiction to science, and their idea does not break any laws of physics.
Dr. Gerald Cleaver, associate professor of physics at Baylor, and Dr. Richard Obousy, a Baylor post-doctoral student, theorize that by manipulating the space-time dimensions around the spaceship with a massive amount of energy, it would create a “bubble” that could push the ship faster than the speed of light. To create this bubble, the Baylor physicists believe manipulating the 11-dimension would create dark energy. Cleaver said positive dark energy is responsible for speeding up the universe as time moves on, just like it did after the Big Bang, when the universe expanded faster than the speed of light.
Full Story: ‘Star Trek’ Warp Speed? Physicists Have New Idea That Could Make It So.
Miami Herald Invents a “Consensus Among Economists” to Push Social Security Cuts
Dean Baker: CEPR
The Miami Herald took first place in the contest to have the most inaccurate article on Social Security when it printed without challenge an assertion that: “For awhile, there’s been a consensus among economists that raising the retirement age makes a lot of sense.” This is obviously not true, since there is no shortage of economists who do not agree with this view and it is quite possible that a majority of economists do not agree with this position. Any reporter who had researched this topic at all would know that the assertion is not true and would not present it to readers as being true.
Instead the article presented almost exclusively the views of people calling for cuts in Social Security. Remarkably, the article included no discussion at all of the likely financial situation of the retirees who would see their benefits cuts as a result of an increase in the retirement age. These workers have seen most of their savings wiped out by the collapse of the housing bubble and the plunge in the stock market. No “adult discussion” [a term used in the article] of Social Security can occur with assessing the situation of the people who would be affected by proposed benefit cuts.
The article also never once mentions the possibility of addressing the projected long-term shortfalls in Social Security by raising the cap on income subject to the Social Security tax or by raising the tax rate. Polls consistently show that these positions are far more popular than the raising the retirement age.
Full Story: Miami Herald Invents a “Consensus Among Economists” to Push Social Security Cuts | Beat the Press.
The EU Banking System Is In Big Trouble
The EU banking system is in big trouble. Many of the Union’s largest banks are sitting on hundreds of billions of euros in dodgy sovereign bonds and non performing real estate loans. But writing down their losses will deplete their capital and force them to restructure their debt. So the banks are concealing their losses through accounting sleight-of-hand and by borrowing money from the European Central Bank. This has helped to hide the rot at the heart of the system.
Presently, 170 banks are having difficulty accessing the wholesale markets where they get their funding,. Financial institutions are wary of lending to each other because they’re not sure who is solvent or not. It’s a question of trust.
ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet has tried to keep the problems under wraps, but markets aren’t easily fooled. Stress gauges, like euribor, have been rising for the last two months. Investors smell a rat. They know the banks are playing hide-n-seek with downgraded assets and they know that Trichet is helping them out.
A week ago, stocks rallied on news that EU banks would repay most of the €442bn one-year emergency loan from the ECB. The news was mainly a publicity stunt designed to hide what was really going on. Yes, the banks borrowed significantly less that analysts had predicted (another €132bn), but just two days later, 78 banks borrowed another €111bn. The additional loans makes it look like Trichet cooked up the whole thing to trick investors.
Full Story: The EU Banking System Is In Big Trouble.
Rising sea drives Panama islanders to mainland
- Long-settled islands in Panama to be abandoned
- Climate change, coral mining blamed
- Many low-lying islands around the world threatened
CARTI SUGDUB, Panama, June 12 (Reuters) – Rising seas from global warming, coming after years of coral reef destruction, are forcing thousands of indigenous Panamanians to leave their ancestral homes on low-lying Caribbean islands.
Seasonal winds, storms and high tides combine to submerge the tiny islands, crowded with huts of yellow cane and faded palm fronds, leaving them ankle-deep in emerald water for days on end.
Pablo Preciado, leader of the island of Carti Sugdub, remembers that in his childhood floods were rare, brief and barely wetted his toes. “Now it’s something else. It’s serious,” he said.
The increase of a few inches in flood depth is consistent with a global sea level rise over Preciado’s 64 years of life and has been made worse by coral mining by the islanders that reduced a buffer against the waves
Full Story: FEATURE-Rising sea drives Panama islanders to mainland | Energy & Oil | Reuters.
2010 midterms will be most expensive in history with more than $1 billion in play
More than $1 billion has already been spent on the 2010 battle for Congress, which is expected to be the most expensive midterm election in history.
Interest groups riled up by the Obama administration’s far-reaching legislative agenda of healthcare and Wall Street reform are pledging massive expenditures. Democratic strategists have been circulating a four-page memo that chronicles how Republican-leaning independent groups are set to spent $301.5 million this cycle.
Rich candidates are also fueling the political spending spree. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (R) has already funneled $5.5 million from her personal fortune into her Senate campaign and in Florida billionaire Jeff Greene (D) is expected to do the same in his race for the Democratic Senate nomination
Full Story: 2010 midterms will be most expensive in history with more than $1 billion in play – The Hill’s Ballot Box.
Liberals analyze their Obama ‘despair
‘Time of Reckoning’? Liberals Assess ‘Disappointing’ Obama Presidency
For many liberals, this is the summer of their discontent.
Already disappointed with President Barack Obama’s ability to deliver on campaign promises, they now contemplate a slowing economic recovery and a good chance of Republican gains in November — two developments that could make enacting Obama’s agenda even more difficult.
Two recent essays framed the debate raging within the progressive community over why the promise of Obama’s candidacy has not lived up to their expectations — and how liberals should proceed in what they fear will be difficult months ahead.
In a 17,000-plus-word piece published in The Nation on Thursday, journalist Eric Alterman calls the Obama presidency “a big disappointment” for progressives and blames a broken system in Washington that he says allows the minority party to rule with impunity — and special interests and big money to dictate legislative policy.
Full Story: Liberals analyze their Obama ‘despair’ – Abby Phillip – POLITICO.com.
Superdelegates’ Clout CURBED? Democrats Propose Less Influence For VIP Delegates
Democrats have taken an initial step toward limiting the influence of so-called independent superdelegates in choosing the party’s presidential nominee in 2012.
A Democratic National Committee panel is recommending a reduction in the number of superdelegates, from 20 percent of the total number of delegates to 15 percent.
The full DNC must approve the change at a meeting later this summer.
Full Story: Superdelegates’ Clout CURBED? Democrats Propose Less Influence For VIP Delegates.
Paul Volcker: ‘People Are Nervous.. And They Should Be’
Paul Volcker Pushes for Reform, and Regrets His Past Silence
JUST before the Fourth of July weekend, Paul A. Volcker packed his fishing gear and set off for his annual outing to the Canadian wilds to cast for Atlantic salmon.
He left behind a group of legislators in Washington still trying to nail down a controversial attempt to overhaul the nation’s financial regulations in the wake of the country’s most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression.
A well-regarded lion of the regulatory world, Mr. Volcker had endorsed the legislation before he went fishing, but unenthusiastically. If he were a teacher, and not a senior White House adviser and the towering former chairman of the Federal Reserve, he says, he would have given the new rules just an ordinary B — not even a B-plus.
Full Story: Paul Volcker Pushes for Reform, and Regrets His Past Silence – NYTimes.com.
July The Deadliest Month For Hospitals?
Each year, thousands of medical students become doctors. However, instead of simply saving lives, the influx of recent graduates entering the workplace in July in may be the cause of rising death rates, according to a new study out of the University of California, San Diego.
CNN has more on the study:
..Deaths from medication errors increase by 10 percent during July, a so-called July effect as students graduate from medical school and enter residency programs.
Full Story: July The Deadliest Month For Hospitals?.
Scientists expected Obama administration to be friendlier
A culture of politics trumping science, many say, persists despite the president’s promises. The use of potentially toxic dispersants to fight the gulf oil spill is cited as just one example.
When he ran for president, Barack Obama attacked the George W. Bush administration for putting political concerns ahead of science on such issues as climate change and public health. And during his first weeks in the White House, President Obama ordered his advisors to develop rules to “guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch.”
Many government scientists hailed the president’s pronouncement. But a year and a half later, no such rules have been issued. Now scientists charge that the Obama administration is not doing enough to reverse a culture that they contend allowed officials to interfere with their work and limit their ability to speak out.
“We are getting complaints from government scientists now at the same rate we were during the Bush administration,” said Jeffrey Ruch, an activist lawyer who heads an organization representing scientific whistle-blowers.
Full Story: Scientists expected Obama administration to be friendlier – latimes.com.
Bank of America Says $10.7 Billion of Trades Wrongly Classified
Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank by assets, said it wrongly classified as much as $10.7 billion of short-term repurchase and lending transactions as sales from 2007 to 2009 to reduce its end-of-quarter assets.
Bank of America said the inaccuracies aren’t material and “don’t stem from any intentional misstatement of the Corporation’s financial statements and was not related to any fraud or deliberate error,” according to a May 13 letter released yesterday from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“A $10.7 billion accounting error would be a material event for about 99.9 percent” of U.S. banks, said Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law at Boston University School of Law. “It’s hard to see how the SEC can accept BofA’s rejoinder as being sufficient.”
Full Story: Bank of America Says $10.7 Billion of Trades Wrongly Classified – Bloomberg.
End Of The Cheap ‘Made-In-China’ Era Sends Companies Scrambling For Options
Factory workers demanding better wages and working conditions are hastening the eventual end of an era of cheap costs that helped make southern coastal China the world’s factory floor.
A series of strikes over the past two months have been a rude wakeup call for the many foreign companies that depend on China’s low costs to compete overseas, from makers of Christmas trees to manufacturers of gadgets like the iPad.
Where once low-tech factories and scant wages were welcomed in a China eager to escape isolation and poverty, workers are now demanding a bigger share of the profits. The government, meanwhile, is pushing foreign companies to make investments in areas it believes will create greater wealth for China, like high technology.
Full Story: End Of The Cheap ‘Made-In-China’ Era Sends Companies Scrambling For Options.
More and more Americans preparing for social unrest
From the outside, Jerry Erwin’s home in the northwestern US state of Oregon is a nondescript house with a manicured front lawn and little to differentiate it from those of his neighbors.
But tucked away out of sight in his backyard are the signs of his preparations for doomsday, a catastrophic societal collapse that Erwin, 45, now believes is likely within his lifetime.
“I’ve got, under an awning, stacks of firewood, rain catching in barrels, I’ve got a shed with barbed concertina wire, like the military uses,” he told AFP.
He and his wife also have also stockpiled thousands of rounds of ammunition and enough food for about six months.
“Several years ago I worked on paying off the house, replacing all the windows, and just very recently, I’m proud to say, we’ve replaced all our exterior doors with more energy-efficient ones, with as much built-in security features as I could get,” he told AFP
Full Story: More and more Americans preparing for social unrest | Raw Story.
Gulf toxicologist: Shrimpers exposed to Corexit “bleeding from the rectum”
CNN, July 9. 2010: Rush Transcript Excerpt Susan Shaw, Marine Toxicologist: If I can tell you what happens — because i was in the oil — to people… Shrimpers throwing their nets into water… [then] water from the nets splashed on his skin. … [He experienced a] headache that lasted 3 weeks… heart palpitations… muscle spasms… bleeding from the rectum… And that’s what that Corexit does, it ruptures red blood cells, causes internal bleeding, and liver and kidney damage. … This stuff is so toxic combined… not the oil or dispersants alone. … Very, very toxic and goes right through skin.
WI GOP congressman supporting Ron Johnson surprised that Johnson supports Great Lakes oil drilling.
Ron Johnson, a wealthy business executive and leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin this year, is beginning to receive scrutiny for his far right views. He has been criticized recently for opposing an anti-sex offenders bill, the Child Victim Act, and for saying that he is “glad there’s global warming.” Last month, when asked if he would support drilling for oil in the Great Lakes, Johnson — who owns more than $100,000 in BP stock — replied, “I think we have to, get the oil where it is.” At a town hall on Wednesday in Howards Grove, Wisconsin, ThinkProgress asked Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI) — who was sporting a Ron Johnson for Senate bumper sticker — if he agreed with Johnson’s support for Great Lakes oil drilling. Petri said he personally hasn’t supported Great Lakes drilling, but seemed genuinely baffled by Johnson’s radical views, and refused to comment:
TP: Ron Johnson, the Senate candidate here in Wisconsin, says he opposes the drilling moratorium and he even goes as far as saying he wants drilling everywhere, even possibly the Great Lakes. Would you support that kind of position?
PETRI: Well I haven’t but I don’t know the details of what exactly is being talked about and I sort of hate to respond to someone else’s characterization of an individual’s position without knowing what they actually said myself.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » WI GOP congressman supporting Ron Johnson surprised that Johnson supports Great Lakes oil drilling..
OPS: Conservatives are insane and here is more proof. SO kids, how about letting BP drill for oil in our FRESH WATER SUPPLY?!
Major BP Shareholder Rep. Sensenbrenner Says BP Doesn’t ‘Deserve Any Type Of Executive Bonuses’
In June, the AP reported that Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) owns hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of BP stock, according to financial disclosures. Shortly after the spill, Sensenbrenner focused his criticism on President Obama, attacking him for “publicly chastising and threatening BP” when BP “likely wants this resolved more than anyone.”
At a town hall in Saukville, Wisconsin on Tuesday, Sensenbrenner told ThinkProgress that he would not recuse himself from BP-related votes, despite his financial ties to the company. However, Sensenbrenner said BP executives “don’t deserve any type of executive bonuses,” and if he were on the BP corporate board, he would vote against using shareholder money for bonuses this year:
Full Story: Think Progress » Major BP Shareholder Rep. Sensenbrenner Says BP Doesn’t ‘Deserve Any Type Of Executive Bonuses’.
OPS: BP doesn’t deserve to exist. It’s time to use the Corporate Death Penalty again
GOP Reps Push Conspiracy Theories: BP Oil Spill Was An Inside Job, Obama Wants Poor Response
Following BP’s oil disaster, Republican lawmakers lined up to attack President Obama’s response to the spill, particularly efforts to rein in dangerous oil drilling and to create an escrow account to help expedite payments for BP’s victims. After a wave of Republicans attacked the escrow account as a “shakedown,” Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) went as far as formally apologizing to BP executives for how the Obama administration had treated them.
However, after rushing to the defense of a criminal multinational corporation like BP, now GOP lawmakers are ginning up conspiracy theories that Obama actually wants the oil disaster to be destructive. At a town hall yesterday in Athens, Georgia, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) said “maybe” Obama is “purposeful[ly]” giving a “poor response to this oil spill” so he “could promote his energy tax”:
BROUN: Our President he is utilizing this crisis of this oil spill to try to promote this energy tax. And I’ve had numerous people, all over the district, question whether his poor response to this oil spill was purposeful so that he could promote his energy tax. I don’t know, maybe.
Watch it:
Full Story: Think Progress » GOP Reps Push Conspiracy Theories: BP Oil Spill Was An Inside Job, Obama Wants Poor Response.
BP Hiding Workers’ Blood Panels?
Today Michael Whitney has a story up about an OSHA official’s comment about clean up workers getting sick. What did they get sick from? “almost all have been heat related,” according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jordan Barab. As I read that my heart sank. I fell into “What’s the pointism” and threw the covers over my head. “What can I do?” I thought. “Experts have spoken! I’m just a brain in a box with pointy ears and a fedora.”
Then I got mad and posted a comment about the story (here).
The media have covered all aspects of this story. From the impact of regulatory capture to the mechanics of blind shear rams. But sometimes journalists get mislead by the same regulators that the industry captured. And when they do they fail the public.
And when the public is failed we need to respond. What to do? My first impulse was despair, then anger. Next I started researching, writing and then I’ll act.
“Almost all have been heat related” Really? My first question would be: “Could I please see your evidence and look at the medical information that you are relying on to tell you this?”
Full Story: BP Hiding Workers’ Blood Panels? | The Seminal.
San Diego ACORN Worker Suing ‘Undercover Pimp’ James O’Keefe and Pals
As was widely predicted, a former employee at the San Diego ACORN office has brought a lawsuit against right-wing activist journalists James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles who surreptitiously recorded him while posing as a pimp and a half-naked hooker seeking accomplices in the commission of crimes of prostitution, statutory rape and kidnapping.
Juan Carlos Vera was fired after O’Keefe’s San Diego ACORN exposé was released. The segment seemed to show Vera discussing crimes agreeably. Called ‘undercover reporting’, the sting was shown to the world in exclusives given to hyper partisan Fox TV host Sean Hannity who wholly tarred ACORN for condoning underage prostitution and human trafficking.
After informing an unprecedented vote by Congress to defund ACORN (later found unconstitutional), ACORN was cleared of all criminal wrongdoing in the videos, and in particular the footage showing Vera was ordered investigated by California Attorney General Jerry Brown who cut a strange backroom deal with O’Keefe in exchange for access to the full unedited San Diego tapes.
Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: San Diego ACORN Worker Suing ‘Undercover Pimp’ James O’Keefe and Pals.
Bilderberg are terrified!
There’s a powerful organization holding a meeting in Spain, that features some of the world’s most-influential politicians, bankers and even military chiefs. But you won’t know what they’re up to because the Bilderberg Club gets together under a veil of secrecy. Critics say it’s making big, world-changing decisions behind people’s backs. RT is covering the meeting near Barcelona and has spoken to Daniel Estulin, author and investigative journalist, who recently revealed his findings about the Bilderbergs to the European Parliament.
Petraeus for McChrystal: Lipstick on a Pig
The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Gen. David Petraeus to replace fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal to lead the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. General Petraeus stepped down as the head of US Central Command and will continue with General McChrystal’s counterinsurgency strategy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Many view President Obama’s decision to replace McChrystal with Petraeus as a bold and brilliant political strategy. President Obama was able to shift the focus away from McChrystal and the Rolling Stone article by demonstrating a level of leadership that, up to this point, many wondered if he had.
If the issue were simply a political one, all would be better at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but it’s not. In his June 23 statement in the Rose Garden introducing General Petraeus, President Obama said, “… this is a change in personnel but it is not a change in policy.” Mr. President, the policy is the problem. Replacing McChrystal with Petraeus is a new face on a failed strategy. Without a clear and substantive change in policy, a change in leadership is simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic or putting lipstick on a pig.
Full Story: t r u t h o u t | Petraeus for McChrystal: Lipstick on a Pig.
‘Well-Oiled’ 5th Circuit Panel Rejects Emergency Stay of Injunction Against Drilling Moratorium
The BRAD BLOG :
Government ‘irreparable harm’ argument fails to gain traction before majority Republican-appointed appellate court…
A three judge panel of the heavily-Republican 5th Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans rejected the Department of Interior’s request for an emergency stay of Judge Martin Feldman’s June 22, 2010 preliminary injunction [PDF], which prevents enforcement of the Department of Interior’s six month moratorium on exploratory drilling on only 33 “of the approximately 3,600 structures in the Gulf dedicated to offshore oil exploration and production.”
The panel’s two Reagan appointees, Judge Jerry E. Smith, joined by Judge W.Eugene Davis, ruled that the government had failed to demonstrate that it would be irreparably harmed if a decision on whether to vacate Judge Feldman’s injunction was deferred until after the appeal was heard sometime around the end of August or early September. Judge James L. Dennis, a Clinton appointee, dissented, noting that he did not believe Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar had abused his discretion in ordering a moratorium, which, per the government’s motion is limited to those drilling operations that apply “the same technologies employed by Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon…only to waters over 500 feet deep…” Since, under the Administrative Procedures Act, a court cannot overturn an agency decision absent an abuse of discretion, Judge Dennis appears to have concluded that Judge Feldman erred in issuing the preliminary injunction.
Judge Dennis did have a question, however, about the six month length of the moratorium.
Full Story: The BRAD BLOG : ‘Well-Oiled’ 5th Circuit Panel Rejects Emergency Stay of Injunction Against Drilling Moratorium.
Torture Non-Accountability: Obama and Congress Choose to Leave U.S. Constitution in Bush’s Wastebasket
I am going to share some quotes from a book I just began reading entitled Getting Away with Torture by Christopher Pyle. It was published in 2009. Pyle teaches constitutional law and civil liberties at Mount Holyoke College. In 1970 as a former captain in army intelligence he helped Senators Sam Ervin and Frank Church with evidence to support constitutional protections of citizens and rein in Intelligence breaches of law.
I will do a series of these blogs as I make my way through this enlightening and horrifying book. The U.S. has participated in war criminality and human rights atrocities at certain periods during its life. The torture issue looms for us as citizens today. If it is not dealt with, if our citizenry and leadership do not restore the rule of humane law and prosecute those who engineered the torture atrocities committed during the Bush regime and those still being carried out by the Obama regime, which regime continues to use state secrecy and executive privilege to avoid its own future accountability, then our democracy is truly dead. We are a rogue nation without respect for law, honor, and the sanctity of human life.
This is not to be swept under the rug no matter how much President Obama wants it to be. The “looking forward” whitewash makes me question if this president has a “moral will” at all. If he does not, like obviously so many in our Congress, we are as a society at the mercy of more and more human and civil violations against ourselves, our fellow citizens and citizens of other nations at the hands of these unworthy and untrustworthy sociopathic leaders. We are being led by a violence-generating, power and control-addicted patriarchy. We as citizens must rally to call forth a paradigm shift to partnership and cooperation, globally, to save ourselves and our planet.
Len Hart: Let Them Eat the “Higher Pie”
The U.S. right wing consistently mistakes bigger slices of a smaller pie for growth!
In fact, wealth is the product of labor. Therefore, real growth creates larger pies, larger slices. Real growth is, by definition, egalitarian or not at all! America’s ruling elite amounts to just one percent of the total population and they own more than the rest of us combined. When I am charitable, I suspect that their perspective is myopic in the extreme. More realistically, I suspect that they just don’t care.
Since 1900 the U.S. has ‘experimented’ with ‘robber baron economics’, ‘supply-side economics’, ‘trickle down theory’ and assorted ‘stimuli’ that also put the fat cats and so-called ‘investor’ class at the top of the pecking order with often tragic results –the Panic of the late 1800s, Hoover’s Great Depression, Ike’s ‘Recession’, Reagan’s ‘Tent City’ Depression of over 2 years! Anyone not seeing the pattern is just not paying attention.
My thoughts along these lines are inspired by the following article by my good friend, Communications expert, Doug Drenkow.
Full Story: The Existentialist Cowboy: Let Them Eat the “Higher Pie”.
Hagee Markets New Prophecy Book While Claiming CUFI Not Motivated by End Times
Glenn Beck promotes Hagee’s latest prophecy book, which is currently #2 on the Wall Street Journal’s list of best selling “non-fiction.”
On Tuesday the New York Times published a front page article titled “Tax Exempt Funds Aid Settlements in the West Bank,” describing American financial support for Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories, by groups such as John Hagee Ministries, Inc. (See note below.) Responses to the article have included the claims that the authors were wrong to represent Christian Zionists as motivated by end times prophecy. The ridiculous claim that prophecy plays little role in Christian Zionist activism is one of the major talking points now being used across the country to market and maintain partnerships between Christian Zionists and Jewish organizations. For the benefit of Jewish audiences, these leaders present their lobbying efforts as reality-based, not prophecy-based, as John Hagee did in recent op-ed articles in the Jewish Daily Forward and Ha’aretz. Meanwhile, Hagee and other Christian Zionist leaders continue to solicit support through the marketing of apocalyptic end times prophecy.
[Authors note: The NY Times article lists financing by John Hagee Ministries, Inc., Hagee's personal ministry, not his Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Other CUFI directors have also raised funds for West Bank settlements in their own name or through their church ministries.]
Full Story: Talk To Action | Hagee Markets New Prophecy Book While Claiming CUFI Not Motivated by End Times.
What Eisenhower Could Teach Obama
No president since Eisenhower has fully understood the Pentagon’s dominant position in military and security policy.
Fifty years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told his senior advisers in the Oval Office of the White House, “God help this country when someone sits in this chair who doesn’t know the military as well as I do.” Several months later, he issued his famous warning about the military-industrial complex.
Now the United States finds itself in a cul-de-sac, with no way out of increased military deployments and expenditures, and no evidence that President Obama has a firm hand on the national security tiller.
A central problem for the nation is the increased power and influence of the Pentagon over the foreign and national security policies of the United States.
No president since Eisenhower has fully understood the Pentagon’s dominant position in military and security policy. Armed with his knowledge and experience as World War II’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Eisenhower made sure that he could not be outmaneuvered by his military advisers, particularly on such key issues as the Vietnam War and tensions with the Soviet Union.
Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.
Casey: U.S. Could be at War Another Decade – Political Hotsheet – CBS News
General George Casey, the Chief of Staff of the Army, said today the United States could face another “decade or so” of persistent conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In two months, the U.S. will have been at war in Afghanistan for nine years.
The four-star general said the U.S. military moved beyond conventional warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan “long ago,” and that the focus is now on the people. Casey highlighted job, education and economic growth as essential to success in Iraq and Afghanistan.
When asked if enemies of the U.S. have to be a part of the reconciliation process for it to be considered a success, Casey said that is a “matter of debate,” but that enemies have to be convinced they will lose.
Full Story: Casey: U.S. Could be at War Another Decade – Political Hotsheet – CBS News.
The European right is capitalising on a crisis
Eurozone governments and European authorities are using the economy to justify pushing through rightwing policy changes
One thing should be made clear about the situation in the eurozone economies that is not clear at all if we rely on most of the news reports. This is not a situation where countries face a “dilemma” because they have overspent and piled up too much public debt. They do not face “tough choices” that will force them to cut spending and raise taxes while the economy is weak or in recession, in order to “satisfy financial markets”.
What is really going on is that powerful interests within these countries – including Spain, Greece, Ireland and Portugal – are taking advantage of the situation to make the changes that they want. Perhaps even more importantly, the European authorities – including the European commission, the European central bank and the IMF – who are holding the purse strings of any bailout funds, are even more committed than the national governments to rightwing policy changes. And they are further removed from any accountability to any electorate.
In 13 Bankers, by Simon Johnson (a former chief economist at the IMF) and James Kwak, the authors describe the emerging market crises of the 1990s and note that Washington used them to promote changes that it wanted: “When an existing economic elite has led a country into a deep crisis, it is time for a change. And the crisis itself presents a unique, but short-lived opportunity for change.” Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, provides an excellent history of how crises have been used to introduce or consolidate regressive and unpopular economic “reforms”
Full Story: The European right is capitalising on a crisis | Mark Weisbrot | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.
OPS: The Subtitle of this article should have been: A Crisis that they created
Max Keiser: ‘Lets impose trade sanctions on Britain until they clean up BP’s mess’
On the edge with Max Keiser:
Max Keiser talking to Damon Vrabel on World Debt and the International Banking Cartel
Max Keiser is on the edge of the financial news where future financial scandals, market crashes and monetary crisis begin, be there before it happens.
Arizona Payday Lenders Leave State After Voters, Legislature Let High-Interest Loans Expire
Another payday lending company’s decision to leave the state shows the expiration of a law that allowed high-interest loans is working, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.
Advance America Cash Advance Centers Inc. announced plans this week to close all 47 of its locations in Arizona, along with 75 locations in several other states.
The Spartanburg, S.C., company made millions “off of a business model that preyed on vulnerable borrowers,” Goddard said in a news release Friday.
Full Story: Arizona Payday Lenders Leave State After Voters, Legislature Let High-Interest Loans Expire.
Wells Fargo Ends Free Checking Before New Bank Rules
Wells Fargo & Co., the U.S. bank with the largest branch network, eliminated free checking accounts for new customers as firms prepare for stricter consumer- protection measures.
New basic checking accounts carry a $5 monthly fee as of July 1, said Julia Tunis Bernard, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based bank. Wells Fargo also established minimum deposit requirements for waiving the fee, she said.
“We’re no longer offering free checking as a new product or new account,” Bernard said in an interview yesterday. In addition to evaluating best practices, the lender considers “industry trends and changes in the economic and regulatory environment,” she said.
Full Story: Wells Fargo Ends Free Checking Before New Bank Rules – Bloomberg.
Presbyterians: End U.S.-Israel Aid Over Settlements In Palestinian Land
Presbyterian leaders strongly backed a proposal Friday that included a call to end U.S. aid to Israel unless the country stops settlement expansions in disputed Palestinian territories.
But they said the 172-page report, which details their church’s approach to issues in the Middle East, was a sincere effort to mend long-standing fractures between the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Jewish groups.
It earned qualified praise but also criticism from pro-Israel organizations, which have long taken issue with various Presbyterian statements on Middle East peace.
Full Story: Presbyterians: End U.S.-Israel Aid Over Settlements In Palestinian Land.
Liquid armour ‘can stop bullets’
A liquid armour has been shown to stop bullets in tests carried out by UK scientists at BAE systems in Bristol.
The researchers have combined this “shear-thickening” liquid with Kevlar to create a new bullet-proof material.
The company is keeping the chemical formula of the liquid a secret, but it works by absorbing the force of the bullet strike and responding to it by becoming much thicker and more sticky.
The BAE scientists describe it as “bullet-proof custard”.
“It’s very similar to custard in the sense that the molecules lock together when it’s struck,” explained Stewart Penny, business development manager in charge of materials development at the company.
Full Story: BBC News – Liquid armour ‘can stop bullets’.
The growing buzz on ‘spice’ — the marijuana alternative
In the small backroom of Capitol Hemp, a head shop in Adams Morgan, a worker dutifully arranges an array of ceramic pipes displayed in a well-lit glass case. Another clerk helps a couple of customers as they peruse a selection of bongs and vaporizers.
Stored behind the counter is another amply stocked product whose popularity is booming: “spice,” the generic name for a legal “synthetic marijuana.” Capitol Hemp owner Adam Eidinger said that in the 18 months since he began stocking spice, demand has doubled each month, and its sales now represent a third of his revenue. On some Fridays, he said, his two District stores can bring in $10,000 from the sale of spice alone.
In the District and most states across the country, it is legal to buy and sell spice, whose crushed green leaves are sprayed with various man-made chemicals. When smoked, the treated leaves can produce a marijuana-like high.
Full Story: The growing buzz on ‘spice’ — the marijuana alternative.
Biden on spy swap: ‘I thought they’d take Rush Limbaugh’
Vice President Joe Biden assures Jay Leno US getting 4 `really good` spies in Russian swap
Vice President Joe Biden had to convince a skeptical Jay Leno on Friday that the United States didn’t get a raw deal from Russia in the biggest spy swap since the Cold War.
Leno asked Biden during a taping of “The Tonight Show” why the U.S. was sending 10 accused spies back to Russia while getting only four in return.
“That doesn’t seem fair,” Leno said.
“We got back four really good ones,” Biden reassured Leno. “And the 10, they’ve been here a long time, but they hadn’t done much.”
Leno then showed a sultry photo of alleged Russian agent Anna Chapman and asked: “Are our spies this hot?”
Full Story: Biden on spy swap: ‘I thought they’d take Rush Limbaugh’ | Raw Story.
‘Shadow RNC’ chairman Ed Gillespie still owns the deed to the RNC.
Republican insiders and donors have, for months, tried to diminish Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele to a mere figurehead. Afters a months of gaffes and other missteps, Republicans like Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie formulated a plan to establish what has been called a “shadow RNC” of Republican attack groups, policy centers, and state outreach organizations to work around the normal RNC. Facing mounting criticism and a drain of resources to the RNC, Steele has harshly rebuked his detractors, declaring again, “I ain’t going anywhere.” But according to property disclosures filed with the D.C. government, the RNC building is still registered to Gillespie, a former RNC chair. View a screenshot below:
Full Story: Think Progress » ‘Shadow RNC’ chairman Ed Gillespie still owns the deed to the RNC..
OPS: The White guys put a Black guy on the box for promotional reasons. Whoda Thunk?
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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. 
