Archive for September, 2010

Austan Goolsbee Trashes GOP Tax Plan Using White Board (VIDEO)

Austan Goolsbee, the new chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, is the star of a new video which outlines the administration’s view on the increasingly contentious tax cut debate. In the first edition of the “White House White Board,” Goolsbee borrows a page from the graphical presentation styles of NPR and even, it seems, from Glenn Beck.

From Goolsbee’s presentation:

“Obama’s [tax plan] would preserve a couple thousand dollars per year for virtually all Americans. And even for people who make a lot they get to keep the tax cut on the first $250,000 of their income. Under the Republican plan however, people making over $1 million per year are going to be getting a tax cut of more than $100,000. That’s expensive…”

On the White House’s blog, Jesse Lee added this talking point: “We simply can’t afford to give the wealthiest Americans these big tax cuts that would add to our deficit and, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, be just about the least effective way to grow our economy and help create jobs.”

WATCH the video:

Full Story: Austan Goolsbee Trashes GOP Tax Plan Using White Board (VIDEO).

Federal Reserve ‘Will Be Gone’ In 25 Years, Top Financial Mind Predicts, Despite Geithner’s Vote Of Confidence

A mere half-hour after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner praised the “necessary” and “very substantial” actions of the Bush and Obama administrations to “break the back of the financial crisis,” one of the world’s leading financial minds said Thursday that the United States is in the same economic predicament today as it was in 2007, predicting that within 25 years the Federal Reserve “will be gone.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, renowned derivatives trader, university professor and author of “The Black Swan,” warned a gathering in Washington of the growing risk the nation has taken on as a result of poor decisions by the Fed and policymakers, including trillions of dollars in taxpayer money funneled into bailouts of private industry.

“This transformation from private debt … to public debt” is “bad” from a risk standpoint and “immoral” from an ethical standpoint, Taleb — a member of the Derivatives Hall of Fame whose book became a bestseller — told a crowd at the Washington Ideas Forum, an event held by The Atlantic and The Aspen Institute. Deficits “will break the Fed” and it will be replaced, he predicted.

“The Romans had a saying,” Taleb added: “The grandchildren should not bear the debt of the grandparents.”

Full Story: Federal Reserve ‘Will Be Gone’ In 25 Years, Top Financial Mind Predicts, Despite Geithner’s Vote Of Confidence.

No Recess Appointments For Obama During Election Season

With Louisiana Sens. Mary Landrieu (D) and David Vitter (R) blocking a vote on the confirmation of Jack Lew, President Obama’s pick to lead the White House budget team, speculation ran rampant this week that Obama might offer Lew a recess appointment.

Well, that won’t be happening.

Last night, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided he’d hold multiple weekly pro-forma Senate sessions during the election-season recess, which will prevent Obama from legally recess appointing his stalled nominees. The reason, according to top Democratic and Republican aides has nothing to do with recess appointments per se, but rather with protecting the rest of Obama’s executive and judicial nominees.

All presidential nominees expire when Congress adjourns for recess, unless the entire Senate agrees they can be carried over to the next session. Obama’s had to renominate several of his picks after recent recesses because of this obscure rule, and with Republicans, and even some Democrats, objecting to so much these days, Reid’s decision will allow all of Obama’s nominees to remain valid when the Senate returns in November.

Full Story: No Recess Appointments For Obama During Election Season | TPMDC.

OPS: Reid is either a coward right down to his socks , or, a Fascist

House Votes for Greater Tariff Powers

The House of Representatives sent an unusually confrontational signal to the Chinese leadership on Wednesday, voting overwhelmingly to give the Obama administration expanded authority to impose tariffs on virtually all Chinese imports to the United States.

The move, which could affect more than $300 billion in goods this year, was made in retaliation for the country’s refusal to revalue its currency.

The bill passed by 348 to 79 and included the support of 99 Republicans, a highly unusual bipartisan vote at a time when large numbers of House Republicans have rarely joined Democrats on an economic issue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has long pressed China trade issues, personally gaveled the vote closed. Nonetheless, prospects for Senate approval are unclear.

The action was intended to hand President Obama new leverage in what has become a major flashpoint between the world’s two largest economies. While tariffs have been placed on specific products, from steel to tires, because of evidence of unfair export subsidies, the threat of putting sizable tariffs on a country’s entire line of exports to the United States is highly unusual — and, some argue, of dubious legality under international trade law.

Full Story: House Votes for Greater Tariff Powers – NYTimes.com.

All four members of Project Gulf Impact were in hospital after “chemical poisoning”

Project Gulf Impact interview (Matt Smith), Intel Hub Radio, September 28, 2010

Oilsands need more regulation: Cameron

Alberta should put a moratorium on approving new tailings ponds until the science evolves to better handle the waste from oilsands mining, Avatar director James Cameron suggested Wednesday after a three-day tour of the controversial oil deposits.

Reclamation of tailings ponds isn’t yet sufficiently viable — either economically or scientifically — to offset the environmental impact of oilsands mining, and the province needs to regulate the industry more closely, he added.

“[Oilsands companies] are allowed to proceed on a promise. A promise that they will make good down the line, probably after some of us are already dead. Our children and our grandchildren are going to inherit this,” he told a news conference in Edmonton.

Full Story: CBC News – Edmonton – Oilsands need more regulation: Cameron.

Citizens For A Working America, Shadowy GOP Group With Roots In Virginia, Ohio, And Kentucky, Targets S.C. Democrat

This week, a unknown Virginia-based conservative group founded by an operative with ties to Ohio and run by an official with roots in Kentucky will begin airing a major television ad campaign targeting a Democratic lawmaker based in South Carolina.

Few people in politics, beyond a tight cadre of Republican strategists, have ever heard of the outfit Citizens for a Working America. That’s because the benignly-titled political action committee didn’t formally exist until this September. Even if you were compelled to learn more about the organization, there wasn’t much you would find. The group’s no-thrills website describes it as “an unwavering advocate of those principles that together form the bedrock of American prosperity: free markets, economic growth, and job creation.” There is, quite literally, nothing else.

The group’s federal forms manage to reveal only slightly more. According to the Federal Election Commission, Citizens for a Working America filed its statement of organization on September 10, 2010. Because it occurred so recently, the group has not been obligated to list donors or expenses. Those will come with the next filing in mid-October, two weeks before the November elections.

Full Story: Citizens For A Working America, Shadowy GOP Group With Roots In Virginia, Ohio, And Kentucky, Targets S.C. Democrat.

JPMorgan Suspends Certain Foreclosures As Doubts Grow Over Legality

Even as August saw more Americans lose their homes to foreclosure than in any other month on record, there are growing concerns over the legality of many of those proceedings.

JPMorgan Chase has suspended legal proceedings on “certain” foreclosures, due to concerns about the validity of the foreclosure documents, a spokesman for the bank told CNBC Wednesday (hat tip to Zero Hedge).

JPMorgan spokesman Tom Kelly confirmed to the AP Wednesday that “employees signed some affidavits about loan documents without personally verifying the files.”

Full Story: JPMorgan Suspends Certain Foreclosures As Doubts Grow Over Legality.

Unemployment, Economy Forcing Savers To Give Up $5 Billion A Year

Savers are giving up $5 billion in annual income as concerns about the dampening recovery and increasing unemployment push the prudent to keep their money in cash and away from investments, new research shows.

Over the past year, consumers moved $542 billion from certificates of deposit to money market deposit accounts, according to Market Rates Insight, a San Anselmo, Calif.-based data provider. Representing about one-fifth of the $2.6 trillion savers have in CDs, the shift from investments that offer a fixed rate of return over a specific time period to near-zero-yielding money market accounts is a reflection of the dour economy and the fear and uncertainty that it breeds, analysts said.

The average CD yielded 1.15 percent in August. The average money market account yielded 0.31 percent, or about a quarter of the average CD, according to the California-based researcher. Applied to $542 billion, the difference in interest over the course of a year equals about $5 billion in lost annual income.

Full Story: Unemployment, Economy Forcing Savers To Give Up $5 Billion A Year.

Water map shows billions at risk of ‘water insecurity’

About 80% of the world’s population lives in areas where the fresh water supply is not secure, according to a new global analysis.

Researchers compiled a composite index of “water threats” that includes issues such as scarcity and pollution.

The most severe threat category encompasses 3.4 billion people.

Writing in the journal Nature, they say that in western countries, conserving water for people through reservoirs and dams works for people, but not nature.

They urge developing countries not to follow the same path.

Full Story: BBC News – Water map shows billions at risk of ‘water insecurity’.

One in 28 US kids has a parent in prison: study

The US’s exceptionally high rate of incarceration is causing economic damage not only to the people behind bars but to their children and taxpayers as a whole, a new study finds.

The study (PDF) from the Pew Research Center’s Economic Mobility Project, released Tuesday, reports that the US prison population has more than quadrupled since 1980, from 500,000 to 2.3 million, making the US’s incarceration rate the highest in the world, beating former champions like Russia and South Africa.

This means more than one in 100 Americans is in prison, and the cost of prisons to states now exceeds $50 billion per year, or one in every 15 state dollars spent — a figure the study describes as “staggering.”

Full Story: One in 28 US kids has a parent in prison: study | Raw Story.

Richest House Member Darrell Issa Wants Tax Rates For The Rich Lowered From Bush Rates

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) went on Fox News last night to promote the GOP line that the government must not let the Bush tax cuts expire for the rich, repeating his charge that the House should hold a vote on the Bush tax cuts “or resign.” Issa dismissed the cost of extending those cuts for the rich (more than $800 billion over the next decade). “It isn’t that much,” he said.

Incredibly, Issa later argued that the tax cuts should be extended for the rich because those making less than $250,000 per year might one day win the lottery. “One of the things that you lose in the debate is most people don’t make over a quarter million dollars a year. But a great many people once in their lifetime will sort of win the lottery,” he said. But not only does Issa want to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, he actually wants the tax rates that the rich pay to be lowered:

ISSA: We were better off at 28 percent under Reagan than we’ve been since. And we are going to be at 39 percent come January. And in my state that is over and above over another 10 percent. You are looking at 50 percent of every dollar of every California business is being taken before they get to reinvestment.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Richest House Member Darrell Issa Wants Tax Rates For The Rich Lowered From Bush Rates.

Cornyn Bows To DeMint’s Unilateral Control Of Senate Legislation: ‘I Think It’s A Good Idea’

Yesterday, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) made the extraordinary demand that every single piece of legislation in the Senate would be blocked by his office unless it had been preapproved by his own staffers. As Roll Call reported, “Democratic and Republican aides alike were stunned, arguing that DeMint had essentially made a unilateral decision to end legislative activity in the Senate.”

At a fundraiser for Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck yesterday afternoon, ThinkProgress interviewed several GOP Senators about DeMint’s move to singlehandedly take control of the chamber. DeMint himself told us that his crop of candidates, like Buck, would support his efforts if they are elected to the Senate. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the chairman of the GOP committee tasked with electing more Republican Senators, did not find anything wrong with DeMint’s undemocratic move to seize control of Congress. Asked about DeMint’s unilateral power grab, Cornyn simply smiled and said that he “certainly think[s] it’s a good idea” because it would give more time for lawmakers to review bills:

TP: I have a quick question about Senator DeMint. What do you think about his unilateral hold of all the bills in the Senate before they’re reviewed by a member of his staff.

Full Story: Think Progress » Cornyn Bows To DeMint’s Unilateral Control Of Senate Legislation: ‘I Think It’s A Good Idea’.

Public Funding Of Congressional Campaigns Widely Favored

Voters in battleground districts strongly favor legislation that would let congressional campaigns be funded by the public, according to a new survey released Tuesday by Lake Research Partners. The margin of support was 65 percent to 18 percent.

“These are very, very strong numbers,” Democratic pollster and political strategist Celinda Lake told reporters on a conference call Tuesday afternoon. “Every single demographic showed more than 2 to 1 support for the proposal.”

Among Democrats 76 percent supported the legislation while only 11 percent opposed it. Republicans supported it 56 percent to 25 percent.

Full Story: Public Funding Of Congressional Campaigns Widely Favored.

How Tax Brackets Work — $250,001 Income Pays Five Cents More Tax

This discussion of whether to get rid of the Bush tax cuts for the rich has been a learning experience. I have been listening on the radio and reading the comments at blogs. The main thing I am concluding is that people just do not understand how tax brackets work.

When people talk about raising taxes on people “who make more than” a certain income they really mean that they are going to raise it ONLY on the income that comes in after a certain income is received, not on the person’t entire income.

Here is what I mean. Suppose they say they are going to raise taxes on incomes above $250K. People seem to think that this means if you earn $250K plus a dollar, that you owe an additional tax on the entire $250K. This is not correct. I actually hear stories about people who give away money, and do other things to avoid going “into a higher bracket” because they think they have to pay additional taxes on their entire earnings.

Full Story: How Tax Brackets Work — $250,001 Income Pays Five Cents More Tax | OurFuture.org.

Corporate Mortgage Scams Threaten to Crash an Already Shaky Housing Market

The Great Recession may have ended in June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner isn’t buying it. Neither are recently revealed foreclosure and eviction scams at GMAC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other too-big-to-fail financial firms swimming in both American taxpayer cash and the Federal Reserve Bank’s divine intervention.

“I’m not an economist, and I’m not an academic,” Geithner ducked when asked last week during a Financial Services Committee hearing to agree with NBER’s suspicious assessment. “I would just say the following: This is still a very tough economy.”

Full Story: Corporate Mortgage Scams Threaten to Crash an Already Shaky Housing Market | Economy | AlterNet.

Alan Grayson: ‘You Can’t Beat A Republican By Being One’

Florida’s Alan Grayson is one of a handful of House Democrats representing swing districts who is flouting the conventional wisdom that the way to win over such a constituency is to run as a moderate. Instead, he’s running as a strong progressive.

“I’ve been saying for years now, you can’t beat a Republican by being one,” Grayson said in an interview with The Huffington Post, adding that Democracy for America has recognized his bold liberalism by naming him their “top hero.”

Although Grayson is categorized as a moderate Democrat according to GovTrack.us, a site that records legislative voting records, he has not shied away from casting deciding votes that would put him at odds with Blue Dogs. His was a loud voice advocating for a full audit of the Federal Reserve, which Democrats passed over the objection of the Obama administration.

“There’s no ‘enthusiasm gap’ for Democrats who stand up and lead,” said DFA chair Jim Dean in a statement announcing Grayson as one of their top picks.

Full Story: Alan Grayson: ‘You Can’t Beat A Republican By Being One’.

CBO Chief Says Tax Cut Extension Would Hurt Economy

A permanent extension of Bush-era tax cuts would provide a temporary boost to the U.S. economy and then become a drag on growth by pushing up interest rates, the head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said.

Douglas Elmendorf said extending breaks due to expire at year’s end would increase demand in the next few years by putting more money in consumers’ pockets.

Over the long term, he said, the tax cuts would hurt the economy because the government would have to borrow so much money to finance them that it would begin competing with private companies seeking loans. That, in turn, would drive up interest rates, Elmendorf said.

Full Story: CBO Chief Says Tax Cut Extension Would Hurt Economy – Bloomberg.

A CONVENIENT TRUTH: Gearing Up For Climate Change Could Supercharge The Job Market

Could one major crisis be solved…. by solving another?

If we’re talking about the nation’s desperately poor job market on the one hand, and the dire threat of climate change on the other, then the answer is: Quite possibly, yes.

The solution to both would be an enormous investment in green technology and green jobs — creating a robust “clean energy economy” while reducing carbon emissions; putting millions of Americans back to work while increasing our energy independence; rebuilding our manufacturing base while saving consumers money on their energy bills; and saving the planet.

Full Story: A CONVENIENT TRUTH: Gearing Up For Climate Change Could Supercharge The Job Market.

Fort Hood Suicides Hit Record Numbers

Fort Hood officials are investigating a rash of suicides in recent days, including what evidently was a murder-suicide involving a soldier and his wife.

The incidents came as the central Texas Army post reported a record number of soldier suicides.

According to figures released Tuesday, 14 suicides and six more suspected suicides have been reported so far this year involving soldiers stationed at Fort Hood.

Full Story: Fort Hood Suicides Hit Record Numbers.

After committing to ‘Net Neutrality’, Rep. Waxman pushes bill to kill it

Legislative text put forward by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) under the banner of mandating network neutrality would instead prevent the government from requiring broadband providers to treat all Internet traffic equally.

Waxman, who has vowed that he would support the so-called ‘Net Neutrality’ policy proposals favored by most Democrats and progressives, has instead put forward an as-yet-unsettled legislative framework that explicitly prohibits the Federal Communications Commission from regulating broadband Internet under Title II of the Communications Act: a caveat key to implementation of what’s been called the Internet’s First Amendment.

Should the president sign a bill containing Waxman’s language, it would effectively kill ‘Net Neutrality’ efforts and make key parts of a hotly contested proposal by Google and Verizon the law of the land.

Full Story: After committing to ‘Net Neutrality’, Rep. Waxman pushes bill to kill it | Raw Story.

US court lifts ban on stem cell funding, pending full appeal

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday agreed to permit federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research to continue pending a full appeal, lifting an injunction issued by a federal judge and handing the Obama administration a victory.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed to stay an injunction set by a district court judge who found the administration’s policy on the research violated the law.

The Obama administration has appealed that judge’s ruling.

Full Story: US court lifts ban on stem cell funding, pending full appeal | Raw Story.

Progressive political forum fights lawsuit over five sentence news excerpt

he practice of excerpting news and linking to its source is what drives the blogosphere, engages millions in political discussion and aides the dissemination of information the world over.

However, if the so-called “copyright troll” company Righthaven LLC is successful, a vibrant political forum for American progressives could be shut down, all thanks to a five sentence excerpt from the Las Vegas Review-Journal that caught the paper’s attention.

The forum Democratic Underground (DU) which frequently reposts news excerpts for users to discuss, was sued in August for quoting and linking to the Nevada paper. Backed by Internet freedom advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Foundation (EFF), DU filed a counter-suit on Monday, accusing the paper and Righthaven of engaging in copyright fraud.

Full Story: Progressive political forum fights lawsuit over five sentence news excerpt | Raw Story.

Ron Johnson Opposed Child Abuse Legislation Because It Would Hold Businesses Accountable

Wisconsin GOP U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson often touts the fact that he comes from outside the political system and has spent his life building busineses in the private sector.

Yet before running for Senate, Johnson did have one prominent act of political participation. In January 2010, Johnson testified before the Wisconsin state legislature in opposition to the bipartisan Wisconsin Child Victims Act. The legislation, if passed, would alter Wisconsin law to eliminate the statute of limitations on civil suits for child abuse and allow a three-year window to bring suit for victims who were victimized before the bill. The legislation also specifies that the entities that can be sued would include not just individuals, but also a “corporation, business trust, limited liability company,” and other formal organizations that could be held accountable for the illegal behavior of their employees. As the bill’s authors write, “We believe that there should be no deadline on justice for child sexual abuse victims.”

But Johnson did not place protecting victims as his highest priority. In his testimony before the Wisconsin legislature, he said it was “extremely important to consider the economic havoc…and the other victims” that the new law would “likely create” — ridiculously comparing child abuse victims to the economic damages faced by employers being sued. Johnson warned that the Child Victims Act would lead to businesses or other organizations that work with children to be “damaged or destroyed” by civil suits and that it would “send a chilling signal” to civic-minded organizations like the Boy Scouts to not work with children in the future. He then opined that if the bill were passed, “I have no doubt trial lawyers would benefit, I’m not so sure that the actual victims would“:

Full Story: Think Progress » Ron Johnson Opposed Child Abuse Legislation Because It Would Hold Businesses Accountable.

Sanders: Chamber Would Rather Have Companies Pay Vietnamese 20 Cents An Hour Than Hire Americans

Today, Senate Democrats tried to bring the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act, which would give “companies…that shift overseas jobs to the U.S.” a special payroll tax holiday, to the floor for a full vote. Yet thanks to a united Republican filibuster and the defection of a handful of Democratic caucus senators — Max Baucus (MT), Ben Nelson (NE), Jon Tester (MT), Mark Warner (VA), and Joe Lieberman (CT) — the Democrats failed to achieve cloture and were unable to bring the bill up for a vote.

Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce declared its opposition to the bill, claiming that “replacing a job that is based in another country with a domestic job does not stimulate economic growth.” The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) also came out against the bill, arguing it would “jeapordize” American job creation.

Today, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) answered questions from reporters about the legislation’s demise. He told them that, “of course,” NAM and the Chamber opposed the offshoring bill because they “much prefer paying people in Vietnam 20 cents an hour than American workers a living wage“:

Full Story: Think Progress » Sanders: Chamber Would Rather Have Companies Pay Vietnamese 20 Cents An Hour Than Hire Americans.

EXCLUSIVE: Corporate Execs, GOP Firm Launch Stealth Ballot Campaign Against Georgia Workers’ Rights

When Georgia voters go to the polls this November, they will not only be voting for candidates for local, state, and federal office, but they will also be faced with five ballot amendments. The first amendment on the ballot is phrased innocuously enough:

Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to make Georgia more economically competitive by authorizing legislation to uphold reasonable competitive agreements?”

Who wouldn’t want to make the state more “economically competitive” by simply upholding “reasonable” competitive agreements? Yet, what voters may not know when they read their ballot is that it was put there by a campaign being backed by some of the state’s biggest corporate entities and strikes at the heart of the ability for workers to freely choose where, when, and how they work.

Currently, the state’s constitution prohibits employers within the state from making contracts that have the effect of “defeating or lessening competition.” This is essentially the purpose that non-compete clauses within employment contracts serve. Employers that utilize these provisions to prevent employees from freely working where, how, and when they choose after they switch employers. For example, a hardware store could use a non-compete agreement to ensure that any employee that leaves does not work for any of its competitors or even within the same industry for a number of years of its choosing. The hardware store would use the threat of lawsuits to enforce the contract.

Full Story: Think Progress » EXCLUSIVE: Corporate Execs, GOP Firm Launch Stealth Ballot Campaign Against Georgia Workers’ Rights.

Ohio Business Drops State Chamber Of Commerce For Unprecedented Endorsement Of GOP Candidates

Last Thursday, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce deserted its 117-year tradition of neutrality in statewide campaigns by endorsing former Lehman Brothers executive and Republican candidate John Kasich in Ohio’s gubernatorial race. Despite standing behind current Gov. Ted Strickland (D) on certain issues during his first term, the Chamber decided to overturn its policy because “it detected an anti-business message” in Strickland’s campaign commercials “attacking Kasich and his ties to Wall Street.”

But not all businesses see the unprecedented step as a pro-business move. A day after the endorsement, one of Ohio’s largest electric utilities American Electric Power (AEP) decided to drop its membership because the Chamber’s break with its long-held tradition “creates division” among member businesses and “pits candidates potentially against businesses”:

American Electric Power isn’t taking the action because the chamber endorsed Kasich over Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, but because it broke a 117-year tradition of not endorsing anyone in the race, spokeswoman Melissa McHenry said.

Full Story: Think Progress » Ohio Business Drops State Chamber Of Commerce For Unprecedented Endorsement Of GOP Candidates.

U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey

Executive Summary

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.

On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.

Full Story: U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey – Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Melting ice cap clears path for further destruction

As shipping lanes in the Arctic open up, transporting and accessing fossil fuels gets easier and quicker

Our addled world. Der Spiegel headlines a story about melting Artic ice: “Boon to Global Shipping.” The transit time between Northern European and Russian ports to China has been cut in half. This is great if you are involved in global trade.

And judging by what is being shipped, the sea lanes will just get wider.

Just a few weeks ago, the Russian tanker Baltika, laden with 70,000 tons of gas condensate, sailed without problems from the Russian port of Murmansk, through the Arctic and on to the Chinese city of Ningbo. Shipping via the polar route is gradually becoming routine.

Beautiful. Russia can get natural gas to China faster than ever, where it wll quickly be consumed, resulting in increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and even faster rates of polar ice melt.

Full Story: Melting ice cap clears path for further destruction – How the World Works – Salon.com.

Republicans vote to continue outsourcing jobs overseas

Republicans today stopped a vote that would end the tax breaks for corporations who outsource jobs to other countries. With the economy and jobs being the number one concern for Americans, the Republican obstructionists in Congress continue to support Wall Street and say no to Main Street.

For several years, we the Tax payer have been giving tax breaks to corporations for shipping American jobs to other countries. The Democrats had proposed a Bill that would end that tax break and give a tax credit to those who create jobs here in the USA, but the Republicans said, “no”.

Yesterday, the Republicans in Washington prevented Congress from getting subpoena power to investigate BP’s oil spill. They obviously do not care that 11 people were killed on the oil rig or care about the oil spill itself. Rep. Joe Barton even apologized to BP earlier this year, and several Republicans have gone after President Obama for making BP pay for the spill and clean up with a $20 billion fund for those affected by the spill.

Full Story: Republicans vote to continue outsourcing jobs overseas – Las Vegas Democrat | Examiner.com.

Public banned from Reid-Angle debate because of Tea Party Violence

Last week at a town hall/non-debate debate event between Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and candidate Sharron Angle (R-NV), a fight broke out near the end of the event with audience members.

A Sharron Angle supporter punched one woman in the face and pushed another over some chairs.

Now, thanks to Sharron Angle and her Tea Party thug supporter, the public will be banned from the October 14, 2010 debate between Reid and Angle, the only planned debate between the two.

The Nevada Broadcasters Association’s President Bob Fisher told the candidates that they can only invite twelve guests each, and each must submit a guest list in advance.

I can already see the list for Angle, eleven DC handlers and one get away driver.

Reid, his list will have family and advisers and also one get away driver..

Full Story: Public banned from Reid-Angle debate because of Tea Party Violence – Las Vegas Democrat | Examiner.com.

Chart Shows Task Facing Dems to Keep House – Good News Is Two-Thirds of Voters Still Hate GOP

In case you’re in a great mood — bluebirds chirping on your shoulder, etc. — and were looking for something to completely bum you out, this chart from Nate Silver’s

FiveThirtyEight.com showing the sheer volume of seats that the GOP appears set to pick up on Nov. 2 ought to do the trick.

All those blue squares represent vulnerable Dem House seats that will flip to red if the GOP wins in those districts. The GOP has about 179 seats now. They need at least 218 to take the House, which means they must take at least 39 of the 76 blue squares (or fewer if they retain a couple of the red squares) to get the majority.

Is a turnaround for the Democrats possible? Yes, and here’s why: As unpopular as the Democrats are right now, voters still revile their Republican counterparts in Congress.

Full Story: Pensito Review » Chart Shows Task Facing Dems to Keep House – Good News Is Two-Thirds of Voters Still Hate GOP.

Editor: UFOs aren’t as ‘scary’ as ex-military men who believe in them

A story that most would probably call silly has more serious implications, the Strategic Events Editor for a UK paper writes.

“The story that senior US military personnel claim aliens have landed on British nuclear bases and tampered with the weapons is genuinely scary,” Tom Chivers — a self-confessed “science nerd” — who writes for the Telegraph in a “bit-of-fun blog” about the “scary news of the day.”

Not, I hasten to add, because there is even the smallest likelihood that they are correct. But because it means that serious people with access to even more serious weaponry have been seeing ET.

Full Story: Editor: UFOs aren’t as ‘scary’ as ex-military men who believe in them | Raw Story.

Scientist: At least half of spilled Gulf oil embedded in sediment and ‘highly durable’

More than half the oil released from a busted BP well remains in the Gulf of Mexico, a presidential panel was told Monday, as the US pointman lamented a “dysfunctional” response to the disaster.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar meanwhile told the bipartisan commission that the spill had bolstered a drive to reform federal regulations for offshore drilling, promising that lessons were learnt.

In an ominous sign for Gulf residents, however, oceanographer Ian MacDonald told the probe that while much of the oil was dispersed, evaporated or removed by burning and skimming, the “remaining fraction — over 50 percent of the total discharge — is a highly durable material that resists further dissipation.”

Full Story: Scientist: At least half of spilled Gulf oil embedded in sediment and ‘highly durable’ | Raw Story.

Report: US would make Internet wiretaps easier

The Obama administration is pushing to make it easier for the government to tap into internet and e-mail communications. But the plan has already drawn condemnation from privacy groups and communications firms may be wary of its costs and scope.

Frustrated by sophisticated and often encrypted phone and e-mail technologies, U.S. officials say that law enforcement needs to improve its ability to eavesdrop on conversations involving terrorism, crimes or other public safety issues.

Critics worry the changes are an unnecessary invasion of privacy and would only make citizens and businesses more vulnerable to identity theft and espionage.

Full Story: Report: US would make Internet wiretaps easier – Yahoo! News.

New York Times Actually Announces A Mass Progressive Demonstration in DC! Better Late Than Never!

From The New York Times:

September 26, 2010

Liberal Groups Planning to Rally on National Mall

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Hoping to overshadow last month’s large rally led by Glenn Beck that drew many Tea Party advocates and other conservatives, a coalition of liberal groups plan to descend on Washington on Saturday to make the case that they, and not the ascendant right, speak for America’s embattled middle class.

Predicting a crowd of more than 100,000, some 300 liberal groups — including the N.A.A.C.P., the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the National Council of La Raza and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force — are sponsoring a march on Saturday in the hope of transforming the national conversation so it focuses less on the Tea Party. The groups sponsoring the rally, which is called “One Nation Working Together,” say they hope to supplant what they say is the Tea Party’s divisiveness with a message of unity to promote jobs, justice and education.

“The Tea Party has been getting much more media attention than it deserves, and it’s been saying it represents the voice of middle-class America,” said George Gresham, president of 1199 S.E.I.U., a New York health care union local, who says his union has chartered 500 buses to carry 25,000 union members to the rally. “A lot of us feel we have to get a different voice out there speaking for working people, one respecting the diversity of this country, which the Tea Party does not.”

Full Story: New York Times Actually Announces A Mass Progressive Demonstration in DC! Better Late Than Never! | War Is A Crime .org.

The Obama administration’s war on privacy

- Glenn Greenwald -

In early August, two dictatorial (and U.S.-allied) Gulf states — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — announced a ban on the use of Blackberries because, as the BBC put it, “[b]oth nations are unhappy that they are unable to monitor such communications via the handsets.” Those two governments demand the power to intercept and monitor every single form of communication. No human interaction may take place beyond their prying ears. Since Blackberry communication data are sent directly to servers in Canada and the company which operates Blackberry — Research in Motion — refused to turn the data over to those governments, “authorities [] decided to ban Blackberry services rather than continue to allow an uncontrolled and unmonitored flow of electronic information within their borders.” That’s the core mindset of the Omnipotent Surveillance State: above all else, what is strictly prohibited is the ability of citizens to communicate in private; we can’t have any “uncontrolled and unmonitored flow of electronic information.”

That controversy generated substantial coverage in the U.S. media, which depicted it as reflective of the censorship and all-consuming surveillance powers of those undemocratic states. But the following week, The New York Times published an Op-Ed by Richard Falkenrath — a top-level Homeland Security official in the Bush administration and current principal in the private firm of former Bush DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff — expressing support for the UAE’s Blackberry ban. Falkenrath asserted that “[a]mong law enforcement investigators and intelligence officers [in the U.S.], the Emirates’ decision met with approval, admiration and perhaps even a touch of envy.” New Internet technologies — including voice-over-Internet calls (such as Skype) and text messaging — are increasingly difficult for governments to monitor, and Falkenrath noted, correctly, that the UAE “is in no way unique in wanting a back door into the telecommunications services used inside its borders to allow officials to eavesdrop on users.” The U.S. Government is every bit as eager as the UAE and Saudi Arabia to ensure full and unfettered access to everyone’s communications:

Full Story: The Obama administration’s war on privacy – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

France braces for day of strikes Thursday

Protesters are counting on people power to pressure the government to back down on its plan to up the retirement age from 60 to 62, with a second round of September strikes expected to hobble public transport, air traffic and schools across France.

Workers at the state-run train system, the SNCF, started their strike Wednesday evening, at 1700 GMT, getting an overnight headstart on other sectors that plan to walk off the job Thursday.

Union organizers hope to put more people in the streets — and off the job — than on Sept. 7, when at least 1.1 million people turned out to oppose President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to increase the retirement age in order to save the deficit-ridden pension system. As many as 231 protest marches are planned nationwide.

Full Story: France braces for day of strikes Thursday – Yahoo! News.

Structure of Excuses

Paul Krugman:

What can be done about mass unemployment? All the wise heads agree: there are no quick or easy answers. There is work to be done, but workers aren’t ready to do it — they’re in the wrong places, or they have the wrong skills. Our problems are “structural,” and will take many years to solve.

But don’t bother asking for evidence that justifies this bleak view. There isn’t any. On the contrary, all the facts suggest that high unemployment in America is the result of inadequate demand — full stop. Saying that there are no easy answers sounds wise, but it’s actually foolish: our unemployment crisis could be cured very quickly if we had the intellectual clarity and political will to act.

In other words, structural unemployment is a fake problem, which mainly serves as an excuse for not pursuing real solutions.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Structure of Excuses – NYTimes.com.

FactChecking ‘The Pledge’

FactCheck.org:

Republicans’ ‘Pledge to America’ falls short on some of its facts.

Summary

The Republican “Pledge to America,” released Sept. 23, contains some dubious factual claims:

• It declares that “the only parts of the economy expanding are government and our national debt.” Not true. So far this year government employment has declined slightly, while private sector employment has increased by 763,000 jobs.
• It says that “jobless claims continue to soar,” when in fact they are down eight percent from their worst levels.
• It repeats a bogus assertion that the Internal Revenue Service may need to expand by 16,500 positions, an inflated estimate based on false assumptions and guesswork.
• It claims the stimulus bill is costing $1 trillion, considerably more than the $814 billion, 10-year price tag currently estimated by nonpartisan congressional budget experts.
• It says Obama’s tax proposals would raise taxes on “roughly half the small business income in America,” an exaggeration. Much of the income the GOP is counting actually comes from big businesses making over $50 million a year.

For details on these and other examples please read on to the Analysis section.

Full Story: FactChecking ‘The Pledge’ | FactCheck.org.

The Super Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Gets Poorer, and the Democrats Punt

Robert Reich:

The super-rich got even wealthier this year, and yet most of them are paying even fewer taxes to support the eduction, job training, and job creation of the rest of us. According to Forbes magazine’s annual survey, just released, the combined net worth of the 400 richest Americans climbed 8% this year, to $1.37 trillion. Wealth rose for 217 members of the list, while 85 saw a decline.

For example, Charles and David Koch, the energy magnates who are pouring vast sums of money into Republican coffers and sponsoring tea partiers all over America, each gained $5.5 billion of wealth over the past year. Each is now worth $21.5 billion.

Wall Street continued to dominate the list; 109 of the richest 400 are in finance or investments.

Full Story: Robert Reich (The Super Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Gets Poorer, and the Democrats Punt).

Catholic Monks In Wyoming Face Opposition Over Monastery Plans

Plans by a group of Roman Catholic hermit monks to erect an outsized monastery in northern Wyoming have pitted neighbor against neighbor and aroused debate with religious undertones.

At the center of the Wyoming controversy is a remote ranch where the Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel want to build a 144,000-square-foot French Gothic-style monastery and coffee roasting barn. The monastery will feature a church that seats 150, with one spire rising 150 feet.

The proposal triggered a clash between ranchers who live miles apart, trying to protect their quiet, rural open spaces, and the hermit monks who live a secluded, Spartan life of prayer and meditation and are looking for more room to meet their expanding order and maintain their privacy.

Full Story: Catholic Monks In Wyoming Face Opposition Over Monastery Plans.

5 Steps to Kill Hidden Bugs in Your Gut That Make You Sick

Doctors are trained to identify diseases by where they are located. If you have asthma, it’s considered a lung problem; if you have rheumatoid arthritis, it must be a joint problem; if you have acne, doctors see it as a skin problem; if you are overweight, you must have a metabolism problem; if you have allergies, immune imbalance is blamed. Doctors who understand health this way are both right and wrong. Sometimes the causes of your symptoms do have some relationship to their location, but that’s far from the whole story.

As we come to understand disease in the 21st century, our old ways of defining illness based on symptoms is not very useful. Instead by understanding the origins of disease and the way in which the body operates as one whole, integrated ecosystem we now know that symptoms appearing in one area of the body may be caused by imbalances in an entirely different system.

If your skin is bad or you have allergies, can’t seem to lose weight, suffer from an autoimmune disease or allergies, struggle with fibromyalgia, or have recurring headaches, the real reason may be that your gut is unhealthy. This may be true even if you have NEVER had any digestive complaints.

Full Story: Mark Hyman, MD: 5 Steps to Kill Hidden Bugs in Your Gut That Make You Sick.

Job Loss Looms as Part of Stimulus Act Expires

Tens of thousands of people will lose their jobs within weeks unless Congress extends one of the more effective job-creating programs in the $787 billion stimulus act: a $1 billion New Deal-style program that directly paid the salaries of unemployed people so they could get jobs in government, at nonprofit organizations and at many small businesses.

In rural Perry County, Tenn., the program helped pay for roughly 400 new jobs in the public and private sectors. But in a county of 7,600 people, those jobs had a big impact: they reduced Perry County’s unemployment rate to less than 14 percent this August, from the Depression-like levels of more than 25 percent that it hit last year after its biggest employer, an auto parts factory, moved to Mexico.

If the stimulus program ends on schedule next week, Perry County officials said, an estimated 300 people there will lose their jobs — the equivalent of another factory closing.

Full Story: Job Loss Looms as Part of Stimulus Act Expires – NYTimes.com.

Defiant Pastors Take on IRS in Pulpit Freedom Sunday

Pastors Across the U.S. Say They Will Defy Law and Talk Politics

Nearly 100 pastors across the country planned to take part in Pulpit Freedom Sunday, an in-your-face challenge on Sunday to what the government says can and cannot be said in church.

The pastors, along with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based nonprofit Alliance Defense Fund, are reacting to a law stating that churches are not allowed to support politicians from the pulpit, according to the ADF.

The growing trend is a challenge to the IRS from the churches, and may jeopardize their all-important tax-exempt status. But some pastors and church leaders said they are willing to defy the law to defending their right to freedom of speech.

Full Story: Defiant Pastors Take on IRS in Pulpit Freedom Sunday – ABC News.

New Proof Wall Street Knew Its Mortgage Securities Were Subpar: Clayton Execs Testify

During a little-noticed hearing this week in Sacramento, Calif., a firm hired by Wall Street to analyze mortgages given to borrowers with poor credit, which were then packaged and sold to investors during the boom years, revealed that as much as 28 percent of those loans failed to meet basic underwriting standards — and Wall Street knew all along.

Worse, when the firm flagged those loans for potential issues, Wall Street banks ignored its recommendation nearly half the time and likely purchased those loans anyway — selling them to unwitting investors who were never told that the biggest home loan due diligence firm in the country had found potential defects in these mortgages.

The revelations give a better picture of what many have likely known for years: Wall Street firms knew they were buying lead yet passed it off as gold to investors who had no knowledge of the alchemy behind the scenes. But it also has real-world implications: the data released Thursday could bolster pension funds and other investors in their pursuit to force Wall Street banks to take back the bogus mortgages they peddled. An untold number of lawsuits have been filed in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent housing market collapse. Thus far, Wall Street has been winning that battle.

Full Story: New Proof Wall Street Knew Its Mortgage Securities Were Subpar: Clayton Execs Testify.

Tech Awards 2010: 15 Breakthroughs That Could Save The World

The annual Tech Awards honor technology applications and innovations that benefit humanity.

Launched in 2000 by theTech Museum of Innovation, the Tech Awards recognize individuals, for-profit companies, and nonprofit organizations from around the world. An international panel of judges nominate three Laureates in each of the following five categories: Environment, Economic Development, Education, Equality and Health. All fifteen Laureates will be inducted into the Tech Awards Network during the Tech Awards 10th Anniversary Gala on November 6. Five winners, one from each category, will also be awarded $50,000.

The 2010 Laureates were announced on September 21. View our slideshow (below) to see who was nominated and how their breakthroughs are changing the world.

Full Story: Tech Awards 2010: 15 Breakthroughs That Could Save The World (PHOTOS).

Republican Economics as Social Darwinism

Robert Reich:

John Boehner, the Republican House leader who will become Speaker if Democrats lose control of the House in the upcoming midterms, recently offered his solution to the current economic crisis: “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmer, liquidate real estate. It will purge the rottenness out of the system. People will work harder, lead a more moral life.”

Actually, those weren’t Boehner’s words. They were uttered by Herbert Hoover’s treasury secretary, millionaire industrialist Andrew Mellon, after the Great Crash of 1929.

But they might as well have been Boehner’s because Hoover’s and Mellon’s means of purging the rottenness was by doing exactly what Boehner and his colleagues are now calling for: shrink government, cut the federal deficit, reduce the national debt, and balance the budget.

Full Story: Robert Reich: Republican Economics as Social Darwinism.

THE NEW HOUSING CRISIS SWEEPING THE U.S.

Walking away with less

A new wave of distressed home sales is rippling, more quietly this time, through American cities and suburbs.

Its unsettling effects are playing out here in Manassas, along Brewer Creek Place, a modest, horseshoe-shaped street lined with 98 brick townhouses. Several years after the U.S. foreclosure crisis erupted, the U-Hauls are back.

The last time, banks seized nearly every fourth house on the street through foreclosure. This time, homeowners are going another route: a short sale.

“I love this house, but I just have to leave,” said Leanna Harris, 27, the owner of a corner unit that used to be the builder’s model, with a stone path in the yard and a gourmet kitchen. “I’m at peace with it now.”

Full Story: Walking away with less.

Poll: Dems have chance to win Texas

Rick Perry has a solid but not insurmountable lead over Democrat Bill White in a new poll that indicates the Republican governor has yet to win over a majority of Texas voters.

Perry is benefiting from an economy that’s better in Texas than in other states and from an energized, anti-Washington fervor that forms a central theme of his re-election campaign, according to the survey by The Dallas Morning News.

“He certainly looks like he’s headed for another term,” said pollster Mickey Blum.

Full Story: Poll finds Perry has the numbers, but White has a shot | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas News on Yahoo! | The Dallas Morning News.

Study: Most Americans want wealth distribution similar to Sweden

92 percent prefer Swedish model to US model when given a choice

Americans generally underestimate the degree of income inequality in the United States, and if given a choice, would distribute wealth in a similar way to the social democracies of Scandinavia, a new study finds.

For decades, polls have shown that a plurality of Americans — around 40 percent — consider themselves conservative, while only around 20 percent self-identify as liberals. But a new study from two noted economists casts doubt on what values lie beneath those political labels.

According to research (PDF) carried out by Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School and Dan Ariely of Duke University, and flagged by Paul Kedrosky at the Infectious Greed blog, 92 percent of Americans would choose to live in a society with far less income disparity than the US, choosing Sweden’s model over that of the US.

Full Story: Study: Most Americans want wealth distribution similar to Sweden | Raw Story.

Grayson ad compares Florida religious fundamentalists to Taliban

Alan Grayson, the Democratic firebrand from Florida’s 8th District, made himself a nationwide household name — and angered conservatives — last year with his declaration that the Republican plan for health care amounts to hoping sick people “die quickly.”

Now his latest move could prove equally infuriating to his political opponents. In a new election campaign ad, Grayson compares Florida’s Christian politicians to the Islamist fundamentalists of the Middle East.

“Religious fanatics are trying to take away our freedom in Afghanistan, in Iraq and right here in central Florida,” declares a female voice-over.

Full Story: Grayson ad compares Florida religious fundamentalists to Taliban | Raw Story.

Grayson ad compares Florida religious fundamentalists to Taliban

Alan Grayson, the Democratic firebrand from Florida’s 8th District, made himself a nationwide household name — and angered conservatives — last year with his declaration that the Republican plan for health care amounts to hoping sick people “die quickly.”

Now his latest move could prove equally infuriating to his political opponents. In a new election campaign ad, Grayson compares Florida’s Christian politicians to the Islamist fundamentalists of the Middle East.

“Religious fanatics are trying to take away our freedom in Afghanistan, in Iraq and right here in central Florida,” declares a female voice-over.

Full Story: Grayson ad compares Florida religious fundamentalists to Taliban | Raw Story.

Raese Wants To Go Back To ‘Capitalism The Way It Should Be’ — Before Child Labor Laws

Millionaire businessman John Raese is running on a hard-right “pro-business, anti-regulation and anti-tax platform” as the GOP nominee for a Senate seat from West Virginia. Despite having been rejected by the state’s voters three times — including once for the same Senate seat just four years ago — Raese is hoping to capitalize on the right’s current anti-government hysteria.

A self-described “flamboyant businessman,” Raese enjoys the finer things, owning over 15 cars, boats and motorcycles, and a home in Florida where his family lives full-time. But Raese is humble too, acknowledging that he didn’t earn all of that: “I made my money the old-fashioned way. I Inherited it,” he joked in a recent interview. “I think that’s a great thing to do,” he added.

Indeed, in a separate interview with right-wing radio host Laura Ingrham, Raese credited his grandmother with starting Greer Industries, the steel and limestone producer that he now runs. Raese looks back on the business climate of her era at the turn of the century with great fondness, saying he wishes we had the “opportunity in this country to bring back capitalism in the way my grandmother had” it. Raese bemoans that current regulations mean it “would take a lot more effort” to start his grandmother’s business today than it did at the “turn of the century”:

Full Story: Think Progress » Raese Wants To Go Back To ‘Capitalism The Way It Should Be’ — Before Child Labor Laws.

Boehner: The ‘Pledge’ Is Just To ‘Lay Out The Size Of The Problem,’ Americans Aren’t Ready For Solutions

Since its release last week, House Republicans have been touting their “Pledge To America” as a bold policy vision to solve the nation’s problems, which they would enact if they gain a majority after the November elections. However, revealing the pledge to be nothing more than regurgitated rhetoric that ignores critical issues, even conservative critics have slammed it as “meaningless stuff” that fails on “advocacy of long term sound public policy.”

Today on Fox News Sunday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) seemed to concede this point. When host Chris Wallace noted that the Pledge does not even address entitlement spending such as Social Security and Medicare, Boehner countered by saying that its purpose is only to “lay out the size of the problem,” rather than “to get to potential solutions.” This, of course, flies in the face of GOP branding of the proposal, but Boehner explained that he doesn’t think the American people can handle his ideas right now, saying, “Once Americans understand how big the problem is, then we can begin to talk about potential solutions”:

Full Story: Think Progress » Boehner: The ‘Pledge’ Is Just To ‘Lay Out The Size Of The Problem,’ Americans Aren’t Ready For Solutions.

Why the Rich Don’t Need a Tax-Cut Extension

WANT to give affluent households a present worth $700 billion over the next decade? In a period of high unemployment and fiscal austerity, this idea may seem laughable. Amazingly, though, it is getting traction in Washington.

I am referring, of course, to the current debate about whether to extend all, or just some, of the tax cuts of President George W. Bush — cuts that are due to expire at year-end. They’re expiring because the only way they could be enacted initially was by pretending that they were temporary.

In this situation, it’s not clear what should be called a tax “cut.” If the temporary law is allowed to expire as planned, does that represent a return to normal, or a tax increase? Conversely, if some parts of the current rates are extended, should those count as a tax cut?

Psychologists call these descriptive choices “framing.” No one is proposing that tax rates be lower than they are now, so the question is whether some people should pay more, and, if so, who.

Full Story: Economic View – Why the Rich Don’t Need a Tax-Cut Extension – NYTimes.com.

Accomplishments of Obama Administration

In less than two years in office, the Obama Administration has made some incredible progress, from passing historic health reform to reining in Wall Street and fighting to create new jobs.

Even so, sometimes it can feel like all of the day-to-day news is focused on the negative, without much emphasis on the real changes the President has made with the help of supporters around the country.

For a look at some of the great accomplishments in just the past few weeks—including troops leaving Iraq, bringing the auto industry back from the brink of collapse, and containing the oil spill in the Gulf—check out Eugene Robinson’s column in today’s Washington Post.

Full Story: Accomplishments of Obama Administration | NowPublic News Coverage.

A Crack In Wall Street’s Foreclosure Pipeline?

Could one bank’s admission about dubious foreclosure documents cast doubt over millions of foreclosures filed by Wall Street banks in the past few years?

A quick recap: On Monday, a brief news item appeared saying that GMAC Mortgage, a multibillion-dollar housing subsidiary of Ally Financial, may “need to take corrective action in connection with some foreclosures” and had halted parts of the foreclosure process in 23 states, including Florida, a foreclosure hotspot. The news immediately took the housing industry by surprise and set the foreclosure blogosphere abuzz. Soon after, GMAC clarified its position to say there was no moratorium. But the company did say it had temporarily halted numerous evictions and foreclosure sales in those 23 states. A GMAC spokeswoman told Bloomberg News that the move resulted from a “defect” in the company’s foreclosure paperwork that was merely “technical.”

The way GMAC put it, some minor, non-factual errors caused a hiccup in their foreclosure pipeline. According to a company statement, “a new process has already been developed and implemented so that though some existing foreclosures may experience delays while corrective action is taken, there will be no interruption in new foreclosures.” But state officials, experts, and foreclosure defense attorneys say there’s a lot more going on—and that the ramifications of GMAC’s decision could send shockwaves throughout other big banks, mortgage servicers, and possibly the entire foreclosure industry.

Full Story: A Crack In Wall Street’s Foreclosure Pipeline? | Mother Jones.

France pension plans threaten to make Sarkozy one-term president

It was the second national strike in France in a fortnight, closing schools, grounding planes, shutting railways and even stopping the presses of Le Monde.

The unions said 3 million workers turned out in protest last Thursday, while the government insisted fewer than a million had bothered to take to the streets.

Whatever the truth, Nicolas Sarkozy is facing a defining moment in his presidency.

Full Story: France pension plans threaten to make Sarkozy one-term president.

The Waning of America

This has been the week of American decline at TomDispatch. On Sunday, Michael Klare considered that decline in the context of the rise of China as an energy superpower. I gave a muted cheer-and-a-half for it on Tuesday. Today, Dilip Hiro, who has been following the subject for this site, lays out what our power outage means in geopolitical terms. The last time Hiro (author most recently of After Empire: The Birth of a Multi-Polar World) appeared at TomDispatch, he noticed a striking stylistic sign of American decline in action, what might be called the Obama flip-flop. In one case after another, from Central America to China, Israel to Afghanistan, the Obama administration would pressure a foreign leader to bend to Washington’s will, threaten dire consequences, and then, when he refused to back off, move into a placatory mode. Strangely — a sign of domestic power outages as well — it hasn’t been hard to spot a similar style in action at home.

This was evident recently in the case of the “mosque at Ground Zero” (even if it’s neither a mosque nor at Ground Zero). If you remember, the administration’s position on this, when it was still a simmering controversy, was clear enough and enunciated by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs more than once: it was “a local matter” and not appropriate for the president to weigh in on. That was a perfectly reasonable, even understandable, political decision.

Then, on Friday August 13th at a traditional White House Ramadan Iftar dinner, President Obama shifted course and offered a strong statement of support for the Park 51 center. (“But let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.”) Again, fine. This seemed to be another kind of decision (described by Washington insiders as “a willingness to jettison calculation when core beliefs are in play”). The only thing it couldn’t have been was a decision taken without knowing that, as the first “Muslim” president, you would be roundly attacked by all the usual suspects.

Full Story: Tomgram: Dilip Hiro, The Waning of America | TomDispatch.

What the pot legalization campaign really threatens – Drugs – Salon.com

By David Sirota:

A far more harmful drug that causes hundreds of annual deaths and contributes to violent crime is already legal

Here’s a fact that even drug policy reform advocates can acknowledge: California’s 2010 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana does, indeed, pose a real threat, as conservative culture warriors insist. But not to public health, as those conservatives claim.

According to most physicians, pot is less toxic — and has more medicinal applications — than a legal and more pervasive drug like alcohol. Whereas alcohol causes hundreds of annual overdose deaths, contributes to untold numbers of illnesses and is a major factor in violent crime, the use of marijuana has never resulted in a fatal overdose and has not been systemically linked to major illness or violent behavior.

So this ballot measure is no public health threat. If anything, it would give the millions of citizens who want to use inebriating substances a safer alternative to alcohol. Which, of course, gets to what this ballot initiative really endangers: alcohol industry profits.

Full Story: What the pot legalization campaign really threatens – Drugs – Salon.com.

Capitol Idea: Conservatives, Fancy A Splash Of E. Coli In Your Tea?

Food safety isn’t some abstract concept up for debate, particularly after we all weathered the recent egg recall that left millions fearing if their breakfasts would make them sick.

Foodborne pathogens cause 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and kill 5,000 annually in this country — and may contribute to long-term disease in more than 1 million Americans, according to estimates by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Furthermore, the total economic impact of foodborne illness across the nation is estimated to be $152 billion annually, according to the Pew Charitable Trust, which maintains a program advocating for improved food safety.

Full Story: On The Hill: Capitol Idea: Conservatives, Fancy A Splash Of E. Coli In Your Tea?.

Tax Rates for Top 400 Earners Fall as Income Soars, IRS Data

David Cay Johnston :

The incomes of the top 400 American households soared to a new record high in dollars and as a share of all income in 2007, while the income tax rates they paid fell to a record low, newly disclosed tax data show.

In 2007 the top 400 taxpayers had an average income of $344.8 million, up 31 percent from their average $263.3 million income in 2006, according to figures in a report that the IRS posted to its Web site without announcement that were discovered February 16. (For the report, see Tax Analysts Doc 2010-3372 .)

The figures came at the peak of the last economic cycle and show that widely published reports in major newspapers asserting that the richest Americans are losing relative ground and “becoming poorer” are not supported by the official income data.

Full Story: tax.com: Featured Articles: Tax Rates for Top 400 Earners Fall as Income Soars, IRS Data.

Nigeria Flooding Displaces 2 Million People

Rising Waters Have Affected about 5,000 Villages in Typically Arid Region Approaching Sahara Desert

Nigerian authorities opened the gates at two swollen dams in the country’s rain-soaked north, sending a flood into a neighboring state that has displaced 2 million people, officials said Friday.

Water from the Challawa and Tiga dams has swept through rural Jigawa state, bordering the nation of Niger, said Umar Kyari, a spokesman for the state governor. Kyari said the rising waters have affected about 5,000 villages in the typically arid region approaching the Sahara Desert.

“They released water indiscriminately,” Kyari said.

Full Story: Nigeria Flooding Displaces 2 Million People – CBS News.

What Colbert said at the end of the hearing that the media isn’t showing you

Video:  Stephen Colbert cites Matthew 25 in answering Congresswoman Chu’s question as to why he’s interested in advocating for immigrant rights. Colbert was testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security.

WATCH: Congressman Ambushes Shadowy Conservative Group

Rep. Peter DeFazio Turns The Tables, Confronts Shadowy Conservative Group Running Attack Ads Against Him

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) is turning the tables on a political group launching attack ads against him in an attempt to bring its shadowy practices to light. On Friday, he went to the Capitol Hill headquarters of the Concerned Taxpayers of America to deliver a letter and speak with members of the organization about making its donors public. But the person who answered the door misrepresented himself and lied, saying he had never heard of Concerned Taxpayers, even though subsequent information shows that he is affiliated with the group.

According to Federal Elections Commission (FEC) filings, Concerned Taxpayers is spending $86,000 for ads to help DeFazio’s opponent, Art Robinson. The ads being broadcast in southern Oregon try to portray DeFazio as a puppet of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali.). The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon calls this association “a reach”:

Full Story: Rep. Peter DeFazio Turns The Tables, Confronts Shadowy Conservative Group Running Attack Ads Against Him (VIDEO).

John Boehner ‘Affair’ To Be Focus Of New York Times Expose, NY Post Reports

House Minority Leader John Boehner was asked by a liberal blogger Thursday to answer questions about an affair with a lobbyist, an allegation that will reportedly be the focus of an upcoming New York Times expose. Boehner ignored the question outright.

The Post sees a journalistic plot to drop a bombshell on the upcoming midterm elections by smearing a high-profile GOP leader:

Insiders on Capitol Hill are buzzing about an upcoming New York Times exposé that will detail an alleged Boehner affair. Sources say the Times is looking for the right time to drop the story in October to sway the election, similar to how the Times reported during the 2008 presidential campaign on an alleged John McCain affair that supposedly had taken place many years before and that was flatly denied by the woman in question.

Mike Stark, an activist and blogger, intercepted Leader Boehner after his highly publicized “Pledge to America” unveiling to ask him about the accusation:

“Speaker Boehner, have you been cheating with Lisbeth Lyons, the lobbyist for the American Printing Association?” Stark asks. Boehner did not respond.

Full Story: John Boehner ‘Affair’ To Be Focus Of New York Times Expose, NY Post Reports.

Stephen Colbert Hearing (VIDEO): Updates From Colbert’s Visit To Congress

Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert testified before Congress today about immigration during a hearing called “Protecting America’s Harvest.”

Colbert appeared with United Farm Workers (UFW) President Arturo S. Rodriguez before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. In August, the comedian spent a day working at a corn and vegetable farm in New York state after Rodriguez appeared on his show to discuss UFW’s “Take Our Jobs” campaign.

The effort is intended to debunk the theory that undocumented immigrants are taking jobs away from American citizens and highlight the fact the nation’s food supply is dependent on these farm workers.

Watch Colbert’s opening testimony today:

Full Story: Stephen Colbert Hearing (VIDEO): Updates From Colbert’s Visit To Congress.

5 Gadgets The iPad Kills (VIDEO)

If you’re an iPad user, you may notice the rest of your gadgets looking dusty with disuse.

CNET TV counts down the top 5 gadgets that iPad owners say they no longer need. The following statistics come from a poll of iPad owners, 37% of whom “were totally new to Apple,” says CNET Executive Editor Molly Wood.

Only a few of the iPad users in this study said they could live without a gaming console, which is last on the iPad’s kill list. At number 4 on the list are iPods and MP3 players, which 29% of the polled users said they could live without. (Interestingly, nearly half the participants already owned an iPod.) The number 3 spot went to laptops and netbooks, both deemed unnecessary by 32% of iPad users. Portable gaming devices came in at number 2 with 38%.

Full Story: 5 Gadgets The iPad Kills (VIDEO).

EU Set a Secret Group to Save the Euro

Two months after Lehman Brothers collapsed in the fall of 2008, a small group of European leaders set up a secret task force—one so secret that they dubbed it “the group that doesn’t exist.”

Its mission: Devise a plan to head off a default by a country in the 16-nation euro zone.

When Greece ran into trouble a year later, the conclave, whose existence has never before been reported, had yet to agree on a strategy. In a prelude to a cantankerous public debate that would later delay Europe’s response to the euro-zone debt crisis until the eleventh hour, the task force struggled to surmount broad disagreement over whether and how the euro zone should rescue one of its own. It never found the answer.

Full Story: EU Set a Secret Group to Save the Euro – WSJ.com.

Downhill With the GOP: Banana republic, here we come.

Paul Krugman:

Once upon a time, a Latin American political party promised to help motorists save money on gasoline. How? By building highways that ran only downhill.

I’ve always liked that story, but the truth is that the party received hardly any votes. And that means that the joke is really on us. For these days one of America’s two great political parties routinely makes equally nonsensical promises. Never mind the war on terror, the party’s main concern seems to be the war on arithmetic. And this party has a better than even chance of retaking at least one house of Congress this November.

Banana republic, here we come.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Downhill With the G.O.P. – NYTimes.com.

So How Did the Bush Tax Cuts Work Out for the Economy?

David Cay Johnston:

BUSH TAX CUTS REDUCED TOTAL INCOME BY $2.7 TRILLION

The 2008 income tax data are now in, so we can assess the fulfillment of the Republican promise that tax cuts would produce widespread prosperity by looking at all the years of the George W. Bush presidency.

Just as they did in 2000, the Republicans are running this year on an economic platform of tax cuts, especially making the tax cuts permanent for the richest among us. So how did the tax cuts work out? My analysis of the new data, with all figures in 2008 dollars:

Total income was $2.74 trillion less during the eight Bush years than if incomes had stayed at 2000 levels.

That much additional income would have more than made up for the lack of demand that keeps us mired in the Great Recession. That would mean no need for a stimulus, although it would not have affected the last administration’s interfering with market capitalism by bailing out irresponsible Wall Streeters instead of letting the market determine their fortunes.

Full Story: tax.com: So How Did the Bush Tax Cuts Work Out for the Economy?.

Colbert testifies to House, ‘in character’

Colbert tells GOP questioner ‘one day of me studying anything makes me an expert’

GOP lawmaker blasts Democrats over Colbert testimony

The plan for Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert to testify “in character” before a House of Representatives immigration subcommittee on Friday did not initially go as planned.

By 10 am, the hearing had become such a spectacle that Rep. John Conyers asked Colbert to “leave the committee room completely and submit your statement [in writing] instead.” The comedian did, however, return a few minutes later at the insistence of committee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who had originally invited him.

Full Story: Colbert tells GOP questioner ‘one day of me studying anything makes me an expert’ | Raw Story.

U.S. Bails Out Major Credit Unions

U.S. Backs $30 Billion in Bonds to Stabilize Key Institutions; Subprime Legacy

Two years after the peak of the financial crisis, the federal government swooped in to stabilize a crucial part of the credit-union sector battered by losses on subprime mortgages.

Regulators announced Friday a rescue and revamping of the nation’s wholesale credit union system, underpinned by a federal guarantee valued at $30 billion or more. Wholesale credit unions don’t deal with the general public but provide essential back-office services to thousands of other credit unions across the U.S. The majority of retail credit unions are sound, but they will have to shoulder the losses through special assessments over the next decade

Full Story: U.S. Bails Out Major Credit Unions – WSJ.com.

Exclusive: Gulf oil dispersant contained extremely toxic carcinogen

A major potential long-term health concern left in the wake of BP’s catastrophic oil spill is the nearly two million gallons of dispersant sprayed over and pumped into the Gulf, scientists say. Much of it was injected into the sea beneath its surface, which made both the amount used, and its use, unprecedented.

In interviews, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FDA officials repeatedly told Raw Story that dispersant “does not bioaccumulate” in seafood and therefore is not toxic to humans. The two dispersants used during the oil spill, Corexit 9527 and Corexit 9500, contain many ingredients “found in common household products.” And even though there is still no chemical test to detect dispersant in Gulf seafood – though officials said one is coming very soon – sensory tests are effective down to one part per million.

rsilogo Exclusive: Gulf oil dispersant contained extremely toxic carcinogenYet when questioned further by Raw Story, both NOAA and FDA officials admitted that the science behind how dispersants used on this scale will actually impact the Gulf ecosystem and food chain is extremely thin.

Full Story: Exclusive: Gulf oil dispersant contained extremely toxic carcinogen | Raw Story.

(Read Part I: Gulf seafood poses long-term health risks and Part II: Heavy metals go untested in Gulf.)

Update: Bishop in alleged gay sex scandal to step down

Update: The website Black Spin reported on Friday afternoon that the bishop at the center of allegations of a gay sex scandal plans to step down as the pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church after he delivers his sermon on Sunday. According to the same story, as many as 30 young men may now be considering suing Bishop Eddie Long.

The Georgia bishop at the center of a slew of underage gay sex allegations told his congregation that gays “deserve death” during sermons in the 1990s.

Audio of a sermon by Bishop Eddie Long exhorting the death penalty for gays was broadcast by The Michelangelo Signorile Show on Friday, the same day that a fourth person came forward with allegations of sex abuse against the bishop.

Full Story: Update: Bishop in alleged gay sex scandal to step down | Raw Story.

Repeal? Most Americans think health reform did not go far enough, poll finds

Poll: Just 1 in 5 oppose health reform

President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul has divided the nation, and Republicans believe their call for repeal will help them win elections in November. But the picture’s not that clear cut.

A new AP poll finds that Americans who think the law should have done more outnumber those who think the government should stay out of health care by 2-to-1.

“I was disappointed that it didn’t provide universal coverage,” said Bronwyn Bleakley, 35, a biology professor from Easton, Mass.

More than 30 million people would gain coverage in 2019 when the law is fully phased in, but another 20 million or so would remain uninsured. Bleakley, who was uninsured early in her career, views the overhaul as a work in progress.

Full Story: Repeal? Most Americans think health reform did not go far enough, poll finds | Raw Story.

OPS: There’s that  brain-dead 20% again.

CIA used pirated, inaccurate software to target drone attacks: lawsuit

‘They want to kill people with my software that doesn’t work,’ software exec tells court

The CIA used illegally pirated software to direct Predator drone attacks, despite apparently knowing the software was inaccurate, according to documents in an intellectual property lawsuit.

The lawsuit, working its way through a Massachusetts court, alleges that the CIA purchased a pirated and inaccurate version of a location analysis program, which may have incorrectly located targets by as much as 42 feet.

The allegation raises fresh questions about the CIA’s execution of drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are believed to have killed hundreds of civilians in the past four years.

Full Story: CIA used pirated, inaccurate software to target drone attacks: lawsuit | Raw Story.

GOP Pledge Architect McCarthy Can’t Name A Single Program He’d Cut From The Federal Budget

Yesterday, House Republicans rolled out their “Pledge to America,” which is supposedly a series of ideas that the GOP would enact tomorrow, if given the chance. At the top of the list, of course, is a full extension of the Bush tax cuts — at a cost of almost $4 trillion — and a promise to allow no tax increases.

At the same time, though, the Pledge claims to put the country “on a path to a balanced budget.” But when it comes to spending cuts, it is incredibly vague, including only a promise to reduce non-defense discretionary spending to the 2008 level and to “set benchmarks” for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Today, in fact, the lead architect of the Pledge, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), couldn’t name a single program that he’d cut from the federal budget when pressed by MSNBC’s Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd:

Full Story: Think Progress » GOP Pledge Architect McCarthy Can’t Name A Single Program He’d Cut From The Federal Budget.

Desperate For Support, Republicans Tout Colbert’s Fake Endorsement Of ‘Pledge To America’

House Republicans have had a tough time getting anyone — even fellow conservatives and Republicans — to endorse their new gimmicky “Pledge to America” they rolled out yesterday. Newt Gingrich, David Frum, Erick Erickson, the Club for Growth, conservative radio hosts, and even some GOP House candidates aren’t too thrilled with the recycled Republican pledges.

It seems Republicans are so desperate for someone to endorse the Pledge that they are now touting the fake support from a fictional character. Today, Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert testified — in character — before Congress on migrant labor issues. During the hearing, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) noted that Colbert supports giving lawmakers 72 hours to read bills before they’re voted on and extrapolated that Colbert must support the entire Pledge because that “idea” is within it. Later, Colbert reassured Smith with this satirical response:

COLBERT: By the way I do endorse your policies. I do endorse your policies. You asked me if I endorse Republican policies. I endorse all Republican policies without question.

SMITH: Okay, including the requirement that members have 72 hours to read a bill before we vote on it?

COLBERT: Absolutely.

SMITH: Thank you for your endorsement of the “Pledge to America.”

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Desperate For Support, Republicans Tout Colbert’s Fake Endorsement Of ‘Pledge To America’.

Republicans Ludicrously Assert That Their ‘Pledge’ Will Lead To Smaller Deficits And Less Federal Debt

Yesterday, House Republicans released their “Pledge to America,” which contains the policy steps they would supposedly take immediately, were they so empowered. The document is chock-full of lofty rhetoric about reducing the size of government, but while it lays out plenty of budget-busting tax cuts — to the tune of $4 trillion — it has precious little in terms of actual spending cuts.

In fact, its lead author, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), couldn’t identify a single program he’d cut from the federal budget during a cable television appearance today. And Republicans like House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and the Republican budget chief, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), have been careful not to explicitly say that the Pledge, by itself, will eliminate the deficit or balance the budget. Other Republicans though, have seen nothing wrong with asserting that the plan would cause the deficit to disappear and lead to a smaller federal debt:

Full Story: Think Progress » Republicans Ludicrously Assert That Their ‘Pledge’ Will Lead To Smaller Deficits And Less Federal Debt.

Family Research Council Violating 9th Commandment By Suggesting Obama Is Muslim

Earlier this week, Tony Perkins, CEO of the Family Research Council, a highly influential Christian right organization, questioned President Obama’s faith. Perkins furthered the myth that Obama is a Muslim by saying that Obama “claims to be a Christian,” but is actually “advancing the idea of the Islamic religion.” On Wednesday, ThinkProgress caught up with Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), a very conservative lawmaker who lost his primary to a Tea Party candidate largely because he spoke out against Glenn Beck’s hate speech. Asked about how to deal with right-wing groups like the Family Research Council that have taken complete control of the Republican Party and the conservative movement, Inglis advised that Perkins and his associates should “try to stick to the Ten Commandments” and should not “bear false witness”:

TP: But at the same time, Tony Perkins just said a couple of days ago, he doesn’t think Obama’s a Christian, he questions his faith, said he’s “advancing the Muslim religion.” How do we change that because obviously there are a lot of strong, respectful Christian groups, but with Family Research Council leading the evangelical community, how do you change that dynamic when they’re spreading these fears?

INGLIS: Well I think what we should do is stick to the Ten Commandments and especially the Ninth Commandment here, which is thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Rep. Inglis: Family Research Council Violating 9th Commandment By Suggesting Obama Is Muslim.

Bill Maher’s New Clip Of O’Donnell: ‘Why Aren’t Monkeys Still Evolving Into Humans?’

For the second week in a row, HBO’s Real Time host Bill Maher revealed a previously-unaired clip of Christine O’Donnell on Politically Incorrect. Recall, last week Maher showed a clip of O’Donnell professing to dabble into witchcraft, and pledged to show a new clip of O’Donnell every week until O’Donnell agrees to appear once again on his show.

So tonight, Maher played a clip from O’Donnell’s appearance on Politically Incorrect on Oct. 15, 1998, in which she professed her view that “evolution is a myth”:

O’DONNELL: You know what, evolution is a myth. And even Darwin himself –

MAHER: Evolution is a myth?!? Have you ever looked at a monkey!

O’DONNELL: Well then, why they — why aren’t monkeys still evolving into humans?

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Bill Maher’s New Clip Of O’Donnell: ‘Why Aren’t Monkeys Still Evolving Into Humans?’.

FBI Launching Mass Raids of Antiwar Activists’ Homes

Insists Raids Are Related to ‘Material Support for Terrorism’

The FBI is confirming that this morning they began a number of “raids” against the homes of antiwar activists, claiming that they are “seeking evidence relating to activities concerning the material support of terrorism.”

So far there do not appear to have been any arrests related to the raids nor, according to FBI spokesman Steve Warfield, are there any expected. He also insisted that there was “no imminent threat” related to the antiwar organization targeted. Some of the activists say they were ordered to appear before a grand jury, however.

The warrant against antiwar activist Mick Kelly’s home cited efforts to look into his ability to “pay for his own travel” to Palestine and Colombia and appeared to have been little more than a fishing expedition looking for possible links to “foreign terrorist organizations including but not limited to FARC, PFLP, and Hezbollah.” Kelly insists that the raids were about harassing antiwar organizers.

Full Story: FBI Launching Mass Raids of Antiwar Activists’ Homes — News from Antiwar.com.

UN warned of major new food crisis at emergency meeting in Rome

Environmental disasters and speculative investors are to blame for volatile food commodities markets, says UN’s special adviser

The world may be on the brink of a major new food crisis caused by environmental disasters and rampant market speculators, the UN was warned today at an emergency meeting on food price inflation.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) meeting in Rome today was called last month after a heatwave and wildfires in Russia led to a draconian wheat export ban and food riots broke out in Mozambique, killing 13 people. But UN experts heard that pension and hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and large banks who speculate on commodity markets may also be responsible for inflation in food prices being seen across all continents.

In a new paper released this week, Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on food, says that the increases in price and the volatility of food commodities can only be explained by the emergence of a “speculative bubble” which he traces back to the early noughties.

Full Story: UN warned of major new food crisis at emergency meeting in Rome | Environment | The Guardian.

19 Facts About The Deindustrialization Of America That Will Blow Your Mind

The following are 19 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind….

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.

#2 Dell Inc., one of America’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.

#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.

#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero.

Full Story: 19 Facts About The Deindustrialization Of America That Will Blow Your Mind.

The Super-Rich Get Richer, and Everyone Else Is Going Down the Drain

Only twice before in American history has so much been held by so few, yet they’re going to keep their fat tax cuts.

he super-rich got even wealthier this year, and yet most of them are paying even fewer taxes to support the eduction, job training, and job creation of the rest of us. According to Forbes magazine’s annual survey, just released, the combined net worth of the 400 richest Americans climbed 8% this year, to $1.37 trillion. Wealth rose for 217 members of the list, while 85 saw a decline.

For example, Charles and David Koch, the energy magnates who are pouring vast sums of money into Republican coffers and sponsoring tea partiers all over America, each gained $5.5 billion of wealth over the past year. Each is now worth $21.5 billion.

Wall Street continued to dominate the list; 109 of the richest 400 are in finance or investments.

From another survey we learn that the 25 top hedge-fund managers got an average of $1 billion each, but paid an average of 17 percent in taxes (because so much of their income is considered capital gains, taxed at 15 percent thanks to the Bush tax cuts).

Full Story: The Super-Rich Get Richer, and Everyone Else Is Going Down the Drain | Economy | AlterNet.

We Haven’t Hit Bottom Yet

BOB HERBERT:

Marcus Vogt is 20 years old and homeless. Or, as he puts it, “I’m going through a couch-surfing phase.”

Mr. Vogt is a Wal-Mart employee but he was injured in a car accident and was unable to work for a couple of months. With no income and no health insurance, he quickly found himself unable to pay the rent. Even meals were hard to come by.

(His situation is quite a statement about real life in the United States in the 21st century. On the same day that I spoke with Mr. Vogt, Forbes magazine came out with its list of the 400 most outrageously rich Americans.)

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – We Haven’t Hit Bottom Yet – NYTimes.com.

GMAC’s Errors Leave Foreclosures in Question

The recent admission by a major mortgage lender that it had filed dubious foreclosure documents is likely to fuel a furor against hasty foreclosures, which have prompted complaints nationwide since housing prices collapsed.

Lawyers for distressed homeowners and law enforcement officials in several states on Friday seized on revelations by GMAC Mortgage, the country’s fourth-largest home loan lender, that it had violated legal rules in its rush to file many foreclosures as quickly as possible.

Attorneys general in Iowa and North Carolina said they were beginning separate investigations of the lender, and the attorney general in California directed the company to suspend all foreclosures in that state until it “proves that it’s following the letter of the law.”

Full Story: GMAC’s Errors Leave Foreclosures in Question – NYTimes.com.

FRC Staffer Says Americans Who Fail To Toe The Religious Right Line Are Serving Satan

Are you an agent of Satan?

Kenyn Cureton is worried that you might be. Cureton is vice president for church ministries for the Family Research Council. During the FRC’s recent “Values Voter Summit,” he warned attendees at a breakout session on churches and politics to be ready for some intense action.

“The battle that we’re fighting,” he said, “is not just a political and cultural battle, it’s a spiritual battle.”

And when a battle is spiritual, you can be sure that some people are serving the wrong side.

“When you think about it, you know, the real enemy is not the poor, deluded souls who are advancing these evil agendas,” Cureton said. “Really, they’re just simply pawns in the hands of their malevolent master. They’re simply doing the bidding of the devil, OK?”

Full Story: Talk To Action | FRC Staffer Says Americans Who Fail To Toe The Religious Right Line Are Serving Satan.

The GOP “Pledge”: What’s Not In It

Mother Jones:

The House Republicans on Thursday released a manifesto outlining what they intend to do should they triumph in the coming congressional elections. The glossy document, which is adorned with photographs of the Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, and cowboys, is high-mindedly titled “A Pledge to America: A New Governing Agenda Built on the Priorities of Our Nation, the Principles We Stand For & America’s Founding Values.” And it offers few surprises: tax cuts for all (including the super-rich), slashing federal spending (without specifying actual targets), downsizing government, more money for the military (especially missile defense), and repealing the health care bill. It decries deficits—though it advocates proposals that will add trillions of dollars to the deficit. It calls for reforming Congress—but in non-significant ways (such as forcing legislators to place a sentence in every bill attesting that the legislation is connected to a principle in the Constitution). It’s full of Hallmark-style patriotism: “America is more than a country.” It’s infused with tea party anger: Washington has plotted “to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values.” It is likely to have little impact on the elections.

You can read it yourself. Or peruse the reviews: liberal Ezra Klein dissects its internal contradictions; tea partier Erick Erickson decries the “Pledge” as a sell-out of the tea party movement; Republican curmudgeon David Frum finds it retro and short on “modern” and “affirmative” ideas for governing during a recessionary year. But here’s a short-cut for you. Below is a list of words and phrases and the number of times they are each mentioned in the 45-page “Pledge.”

Full Story: The GOP “Pledge”: What’s Not In It | Mother Jones.

Russ Feingold, the Senate’s True Maverick

The Nation:

When Russ Feingold jogs onto the stage of the Barrymore Theatre on a Friday night in Madison, Wisconsin, a thousand old-school progressives—not liberals avoiding the L-word but heart-and-soul believers in a political ethic that traces back to the trustbusters and anti-imperialists of a century ago—rise to cheer the living embodiment of their faith. The three-term senator speaks to them in the language of another time in America, when populists shouted from the backs of farm wagons and urban radicals mounted soapboxes to spread the social gospel. “There is no institution in our society that is safe from the power and greed and corruption of these corporations,” rages Feingold, who speaks against the warping of foreign policy by military contractors, the molding of the national debate by consolidated media and the pay-to-play politics of business interests, before lowering his voice for a dramatic declaration: “Now, after they attacked the media, the Congress and the executive branch, they have managed to corrupt the US Supreme Court.”

Full Story: Russ Feingold, the Senate’s True Maverick | The Nation.

GOP ‘Pledge to America’ infuriates some conservatives

The Republican Party’s new “Pledge to America,” already battered by liberals, is now facing criticism from an unlikely source — some conservatives, who say it doesn’t go far enough to rein in big government.

“This is the most fiscally irresponsible document ever offered by the GOP,” blogger and columnist Andrew Sullivan wrote Thursday. “It is an act of vandalism against the fiscal balance of the U.S. … It is the opposite of responsible conservatism.”

Other conservative bloggers called it “milquetoast” and “smoke and mirrors.”

Full Story: GOP ‘Pledge to America’ infuriates some conservatives – KansasCity.com.

Reid Continues Press For Food Safety Vote

For the second time in a week, the top Senate Democrat is continuing to push Republicans to allow a vote on pending legislation to reform the way the nation protects its food supply.

The Senate GOP, led by Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, is blocking consideration of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510), designed to better protect consumers from falling prey to tainted food, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

“America has one of the safest and most abundant food supplies in the world. But it’s not perfect: Food-borne illnesses sicken one in four people every year. As many as 5,000 Americans die from food poisoning,” Reid says in a Wednesday floor statement.

Full Story: On The Hill: Reid Continues Press For Food Safety Vote.

Republican Obstruction is Holding the Judicial System Hostage

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent seven more of President Obama’s judicial nominees to the full Senate for a final vote. They are joining 16 others currently stuck in procedural quicksand, blocked from confirmation by an intractable and shameless Republican minority.

The clock is ticking, though, on breaking the logjam and getting a vote on any of them before the Senate heads for the exits to go home and campaign. Sadly, it’s our badly overburdened judicial system that’s getting trampled as Congress rushes out the door.

There has always been a political aspect to the nomination of judges, especially at the appellate level. It’s a natural consequence of a process that requires Senate confirmation. But today we are facing unprecedented obstruction from Republicans that crosses the boundary from the acceptably political to an outright assault on long-standing traditions and, more importantly, on the functioning of the federal judiciary itself.

Full Story: Nan Aron: Republican Obstruction is Holding the Judicial System Hostage.

The GOP’s Hooey to America

Eugene Robinson -

The Republicans were doing pretty well as the Party of No. So why did they decide to rebrand themselves as the Party of Nonsense?

All right, I’m being slightly disingenuous. Inquiring minds demanded to know just what the GOP proposed to do if voters entrusted it with control of one or both houses of Congress. But if the “Pledge to America” unveiled Thursday is the best that House Republicans can come up with, they’d have been better off continuing to froth and foam about “creeping socialism” while stonewalling on specifics.

The problem with the pledge is that the numbers don’t remotely add up. The document is such a jumble of contradictions that it’s hard to imagine how it could possibly pass muster with anyone who survived eighth-grade arithmetic — unless, perhaps, the Republicans have something in mind that they’re not prepared to talk about quite yet.

Full Story: Eugene Robinson – The GOP’s Hooey to America.

Video: Jon Stewart, Postcards From the Pledge

Republicans do some soul-searching and come back with fresh new ideas that sound exactly like their old ones.

21 expert climate scientists refute Monckton’s House testimony

On May 6, 2010, Christopher Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, was invited by the Republican members of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to present testimony that contradicted over 100 years of established chemistry, physics, and climatology. Monckton, a non-scientist who has a long history of making erroneous claims, was seated as and equal beside four scientists with PhDs in their respective climate-related fields.

Earlier this month, a group of climate scientists submitted a detailed rebuttal of Monckton’s testimony to the House.

The rebuttal was organized by five scientists (two of whom are members of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences) who broke Monckton’s testimony down into nine different assertions and invited 21 scientists who are experts in their climate-related fields to respond to the assertions. The nine assertions fit into three broad categories: carbon dioxide (CO2) doesn’t cause warming, CO2 is not bad for us, and we can afford to wait even if CO2 does cause warming and it turns out to be bad.

Full Story: Scholars and Rogues » 21 expert climate scientists refute Monckton’s House testimony.

Petraeus Cons Obama on Afghan War

By Ray McGovern

One thing that comes through clearly in Bob Woodward’s new book, Obama’s Wars, is the contempt felt by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, toward President Barack Obama.

One of Woodward’s more telling vignettes has Petraeus, after quaffing a glass of wine during a flight in May, telling some of his staff that the administration was “[expletive] with the wrong guy.”

No need to divine precisely what may be the “expletive deleted.” Petraeus’s Douglas-MacArthur-style contempt for the commander-in-chief comes through clearly enough. But Obama is no Harry Truman, facing down a popular general who may fancy himself a future president.

Pity poor Obama. Journalists favored with an advance peek at Woodward’s new book, like Peter Baker of the New York Times, report that Obama last year pressed his advisers to come up with ways to avoid a major escalation in Afghanistan.

Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.

GOP Senate Nominee John Raese: ‘I Made My Money The Old-Fashioned Way: I Inherited It’

Following the death of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) this summer, a special election was called to serve out the remainder of his term in the Senate. The November contest will pit Gov. Joe Manchin (D) against perennial candidate John Raese (R). Recent polling has shown a competitive race in the Mountain State.

Yesterday, Raese appeared on the Matt Lewis show, a conservative talk radio program. When Lewis asked Raese about his background and his life experience, Raese offered this straight-faced response:

LEWIS: Tell us a little bit about you and your business experience and how you got here.

RAESE: I made my money the old-fashioned way, I inherited it. I think that’s a great thing to do. I hope more people in this country have that opportunity as soon as we abolish inheritance tax in this country, which is a key part of my program.

Listen here:

Full Story: Think Progress » GOP Senate Nominee John Raese: ‘I Made My Money The Old-Fashioned Way: I Inherited It’.