Archive for September, 2010
Critics Still Wrong on What’s Driving Deficits in Coming Years
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Some critics continue to assert that President George W. Bush’s policies bear little responsibility for the deficits the nation faces over the coming decade — that, instead, the new policies of President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress are to blame. Most recently, a Heritage Foundation paper downplayed the role of Bush-era policies (for more on that paper, see p. 4). Nevertheless, the fact remains: Together with the economic downturn, the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years (see Figure 1).
The deficit for fiscal year 2009 was $1.4 trillion and, at nearly 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was the largest deficit relative to the size of the economy since the end of World War II. If current policies are continued without changes, deficits will likely approach those figures in 2010 and remain near $1 trillion a year for the next decade.
Full Story: Critics Still Wrong on What’s Driving Deficits in Coming Years — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
America’s CEOs Are doing Just Fine
CEOs in America are routinely rewarded on the basis of their bottom lines. The one goal of CEOs is to reduce costs and increase profits. And what is the best way for CEOs to reduce costs? By firing their employees, of course.
The incentive, for the CEO of a company experiencing reduced profits, to fire workers is high. By managing costs through the level of employed workers, a CEO can mitigate the fallout from excessively risky investments while maintaining high profits for the company and a high salary for himself.
Americans are so ingrained with this approach that it is almost laughable when one of us discusses an alternative. But we need only look to Germany to see the benefit of disincentivizing mass layoffs. The German government provides incentives to firms and actually pays them not to lay people off in an economic downturn.
Full Story: America’s CEOs Are doing Just Fine | Economy In Crisis.
The Proudest Collapsing Country
Americans have become so oblivious or apathetic to our country’s peril, that they are unaware of how far gone the U.S. already is.
The United States must stop fooling itself. We are riding on the wealthy coattails of the elite who came before us, squandering away their wealth and faking the good life.
We no longer have the industrial productive capacity to sustain ourselves. In September alone industrial production plummeted to astounding lows that haven’t been witnessed in almost 34 years, according to Bloomberg.
In America, imported products dominate the purchases of U.S. households and businesses. Over 92 percent of the money Americans spend on footwear goes overseas. Americans purchase 90 percent of their audio and video equipment from foreign produced entities and 90 percent of the money Americans spend on leather travels back overseas.
Full Story: The Proudest Collapsing Country | Economy In Crisis.
Welcome to the New Economy. Would You Like Fries with That?
A study by The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, which looked at the trend line of the same numbers over the past ten years, found that millions of manufacturing jobs were disappearing, as fast food workers increased by 43 percent.
Unemployed Americans hoping for a return to normalcy once the economy “recovers” and they return to work may be in for a rude awakening as four of the five fastest growing occupations in the U.S. pay well below the median wage, according to The Economic Policy Institute.
Of the nation’s fastest growing occupations, the only one that pays above the May 2009 median wage of $15.95 per hour, is that of a registered nurse. They make, on average, $30.65 per hour.
All the other occupations most readily available not only pay below the median wage, but oftentimes are hovering just above the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
Full Story: Welcome to the New Economy. Would You Like Fries with That? | Economy In Crisis.
Resignations follow California Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of Whitman for governor
UC President Mark Yudof and the chancellor of the state community college system quit their positions on the board of directors, saying they will not participate in a partisan operation.
The president of the University of California and the chancellor of the California community college system have quit the California Chamber of Commerce board of directors after the group voted to endorse Republican Meg Whitman for governor.
The endorsement is the latest example of the state’s largest business organization increasing its political profile.
Jack Scott, a former Democratic state senator from Pasadena who was appointed as community college chancellor by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, announced his resignation Friday in a letter to chamber President Allan Zaremberg after the endorsement vote.
Full Story: Resignations follow California Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of Whitman for governor – latimes.com.
Security stepped up at Kabul Bank
Armed police in pick-up trucks have been stationed outside the main branch of Kabul Bank as customers continue to withdraw money amid fears the Afghan bank may collapse.
Barbed wire has also been placed across the road to hold back the crowds.
The run on the bank began earlier this week after allegations of corruption and mismanagement, although officials have maintained the bank will not fail.
Meanwhile the US Treasury has denied it is preparing to bail out the bank.
“While we are providing technical assistance to the Afghan government, no American taxpayer funds will be used to support Kabul Bank,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said.
Full Story: BBC News – Security stepped up at Kabul Bank.
Our Long National Nightmare Isn’t Over, It’s Just Beginning
In the 1930s, the only thing we had to fear was fear, itself.
Today, the main thing we have to fear is us, ourselves.
Looking out over the horizon, I’m starting to wonder just how many shades of dark there are on the pallette. Lately, I get the feeling that we’re about to find out.
I wish I could say that this society did our best to fight our demons, but that the odds were simply insurmountable. You know. Like we were just sitting there by ourselves on our remote little Pacific island, a thousand years before telephones and radar when – bang – the tsunami hit, no fault of our own. And we bravely struggled heroically, doing our mightiest to save as many lives as we could.
I mean, if you’ve got to crash and burn, better to go down with a little dignity and honor, eh?
Full Story: Our Long National Nightmare Isn’t Over, It’s Just Beginning | CommonDreams.org.
Mozambique’s food riots – the true face of global warming
It has been a summer of record temperatures – Japan had its hottest summer on record, as did South Florida and New York. Meanwhile, Pakistan and Niger are flooded and the eastern US is mopping up after hurricane Earl. None of these individual events can definitively be attributed to global warming. But to see how climate change will play out in the 21st century, you needn’t look to the Met Office. Look, instead, to the deaths and burning tyres in Mozambique‘s “food riots” to see what happens when extreme natural phenomena interact with our unjust economic systems.
The immediate causes of the protests in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, and Chimoio about 500 miles north, are a 30% price increase for bread, compounding a recent double-digit increase for water and energy. When nearly three-quarters of the household budget is spent on food, that’s a hike few Mozambicans can afford.
Deeper reasons for Mozambique’s price hike can be found a continent away. Wheat prices have soared on global markets over the summer in large part because Russia, the world’s third largest exporter, has suffered catastrophic fires in its main production areas. These blazes, in turn, find their origin both in poor firefighting infrastructure and Russia’s worst heatwave in over a century. On Thursday, Vladimir Putin extended an export ban in response to a new wave of wildfires in its grain belt, sending further signals to the markets that Russian wheat wouldn’t be available outside the country. With Mozambique importing over 60% of the wheat its people needs, the country has been held hostage by international markets.
Full Story: Mozambique’s food riots – the true face of global warming | Raj Patel | Comment is free | The Observer.
Rabbi Sid Schwarz: Genesis 22: Abraham’s “Return” and the Binding of Isaac
“Take your son, your only [yechidcha] son, the one that you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah and offer him up there as a sacrifice.” – Genesis 22:2
It’s no secret that services on the first day of Rosh Hashanah are much better attended than those on its second day. But what the second day of the Jewish New Year lacks in attendance, it makes up for in narrative drama. In synagogue that day, we read Genesis 22, which recounts the binding of Isaac, a chapter that shapes the way we understand our relationship with God and, potentially, with one another.
Many commentators focus on the way that Abraham’s faith is tested when God asks him to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. Abraham gets to the very moment of killing his son before being stopped by an angel. The school of religious thought that celebrates blind faith hails Abraham for his willingness to put obedience to God ahead of filial love.
Full Story: Rabbi Sid Schwarz: Genesis 22: Abraham’s “Return” and the Binding of Isaac.
Deepwater Horizon’s Blowout Preventer Pulled From Gulf, FBI Present
A crane hoisted a key piece of oil spill evidence to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, giving investigators their first chance to personally scrutinize the blowout preventer, the massive piece of equipment that failed to stop the gusher four months ago.
It took 29 1/2 hours to lift the 50-foot, 300-ton blowout preventer from a mile beneath the sea to the surface. The five-story high device breached the water’s surface at 6:54 p.m. CDT, and looked largely intact with black stains on the yellow metal.
FBI agents were among the 137 people aboard the Helix Q4000 vessel, taking photos and video of the device. They will escort it back to a NASA facility in Louisiana for analysis.
Full Story: Deepwater Horizon’s Blowout Preventer Pulled From Gulf, FBI Present.
Four Trends We WON’T Be Celebrating This Labor Day
Labor Day, of course, was intended to celebrate the American worker. But, for those of us lucky enough to be employed, the labor market still isn’t pretty.
In the first report of a new series ‘State of Working America’ from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), entitled ‘Recession Hits Workers’ Paychecks: Wage Growth Has Collapsed,’ the EPI charts how wage growth has been suppressed despite huge increases in productivity.
This goes against traditional economic thinking which says that as productivity increases, so does compensation. After all, in healthy economic times, employers need to raise wages and fringe benefits to attract and keep their most productive workers. Clearly, reality tells a different story.
Between 2002-2007, a period of recovery from the dot-com bust, productivity went up 11 percent while nominal hourly wages decreased. Furthermore, since the summer of 2008, wage growth has slowed: wages grew at a 2 percent annualized rate over the past three months, versus 2.6 percent during the same period in 2009 and 4.2 percent in 2008.
Full Story: Four Trends We WON’T Be Celebrating This Labor Day (CHARTS).
The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond
Writing in these pages in early 2008, we put the total cost to the United States of the Iraq war at $3 trillion. This price tag dwarfed previous estimates, including the Bush administration’s 2003 projections of a $50 billion to $60 billion war.
But today, as the United States ends combat in Iraq, it appears that our $3 trillion estimate (which accounted for both government expenses and the war’s broader impact on the U.S. economy) was, if anything, too low. For example, the cost of diagnosing, treating and compensating disabled veterans has proved higher than we expected.
Moreover, two years on, it has become clear to us that our estimate did not capture what may have been the conflict’s most sobering expenses: those in the category of “might have beens,” or what economists call opportunity costs. For instance, many have wondered aloud whether, absent the Iraq invasion, we would still be stuck in Afghanistan. And this is not the only “what if” worth contemplating. We might also ask: If not for the war in Iraq, would oil prices have risen so rapidly? Would the federal debt be so high? Would the economic crisis have been so severe?
Full Story: The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond.
Broader U-6 Jobless Rate up to 16.7%: Why the Jump?
The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.6% in August, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment rose even more to 16.7%, the highest rate since April.
The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs.
Both rates increased despite a rise of 290,000 in the number of people who are employed. The number of unemployed people in the U.S. also rose, but by a smaller amount — 261,000. The unemployment rates moved up as more unemployed people moved back into the labor force to look for jobs. More than half a million people re-entered the job market last month, as the overall labor force rose 550,000.
Full Story: Broader U-6 Jobless Rate up to 16.7%: Why the Jump? – Real Time Economics – WSJ.
OPS: Keep in mind that the WSJ never talked about the U6 during the Bush years. Now that Obama in in the White House they will talk about it. Sadly, the U6 is at almost 17% and, it is the more accurate number regarding Unemployment
Democrats Plan Political Triage to Retain House
As Democrats brace for a November wave that threatens their control of the House, party leaders are preparing a brutal triage of their own members in hopes of saving enough seats to keep a slim grip on the majority.
In the next two weeks, Democratic leaders will review new polls and other data that show whether vulnerable incumbents have a path to victory. If not, the party is poised to redirect money to concentrate on trying to protect up to two dozen lawmakers who appear to be in the strongest position to fend off their challengers.
“We are going to have to win these races one by one,” said Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, conceding that the party would ultimately cut loose members who had not gained ground.
Full Story: Democrats Plan Political Triage to Retain House – NYTimes.com.
Powell tells Mainichi Iraq invasion was avoidable, regrets false WMD intelligence
Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has told the Mainichi he believes the Iraq War — which began while he was in office in 2003 — could have been averted. [OPS: yeah asshole! BY NOT LYING!]
Powell also stated during an Aug. 24 telephone interview that he regretted the false intelligence that led the United States to claim the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which Powell presented to the United Nations and which underpinned the U.S. case to invade Iraq.
“I will always be seen as the one who made the major public presentation of that intelligence. I regret that it was wrong but, at the same time, we had every reason to believe it was correct,” Powell said of the false WMD evidence.
Full Story: Powell tells Mainichi Iraq invasion was avoidable, regrets false WMD intelligence – The Mainichi Daily News.
No lie: Ethics probe of Joe Wilson’s travel wider than disclosed
The congressional ethics investigation of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., is broader than previously disclosed and goes well beyond his use of $12 in per diem expense money to buy six decorative goblets in Afghanistan last year.
Congressional staff members with detailed knowledge of the probe said ethics investigators are examining Wilson’s unusually high number of foreign trips — at least 30 in the past eight years — and his use of per diem expense money while traveling abroad.
Wilson, a relatively unknown lawmaker until he shouted “You lie!” as President Barack Obama addressed Congress last year, has a reputation among his peers as a frequent foreign traveler, these staff members said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the investigation.
Full Story: No lie: Ethics probe of Joe Wilson’s travel wider than disclosed | McClatchy.
EU austerity policies risk civil war in Greece, warns top German economist Dr Sinn
Greece’s austerity measures cannot prevent default and will lead to a breakdown of the political order if continued for long, a leading German economist has warned.
This tragedy does not have a solution,” said Hans-Werner Sinn, head of the prestigious IFO Institute in Munich.
“The policy of forced ‘internal devaluation’, deflation, and depression could risk driving Greece to the edge of a civil war. It is impossible to cut wages and prices by 30pc without major riots,” he said, speaking at the elite European House Ambrosetti forum at Lake Como.
Full Story: EU austerity policies risk civil war in Greece, warns top German economist Dr Sinn – Telegraph.
White House: No taxpayer cash to bail out Afghan bank
The US Treasury Department denied media reports Saturday that American taxpayer funds would be put towards bailing out Afghanistan’s beleaguered Kabul Bank.
The White House said the allegations were not true and pointed to a statement from Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin that said the bank’s troubles were “an Afghan issue.”
“They are taking immediate steps to ensure the stability of Kabul Bank and to protect the financial assets of the Afghan people,” Wolin said.
Full Story: White House: No taxpayer cash to bail out Afghan bank | Raw Story.
OPS: just another fascist lie started by Drudge
GOP Establishment Derides Delaware Tea Party Candidate As ‘Reckless,’ ‘Hypocritical,’ And ‘Dishonest’
Fresh off its victory over Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the Tea Party Express is setting its sights on taking down Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) in Delaware’s Republican Senate primary. Castle, regarded as the moderate in the race, is facing a spirited challenge from Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell. A new poll shows the race within single digits and the Tea Party Express is committing over $250,000 on O’Donnell’s behalf.
As with Tea Party candidates Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Mike Lee in Utah, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Ken Buck in Colorado, Joe Miller in Alaska, and Marco Rubio in Florida, the Republican establishment is trying to fend off O’Donnell’s primary candidacy. However, rather than learn from these defeats and take a more muted approach in future contested primaries, the Republican establishment is doubling down on its anti-Tea Party strategy.
Yesterday, the Republican Party of Delaware released a statement, calling O’Donnell “reckless,” “hypocritical,” and “dishonest”:
OPS: LOL – The Reich gets all testy when THEIR tactics get used against THEM.
Former Republican Congressional Committee Treasurer Pleads Guilty to Theft
A former treasurer of the National Republican Congressional Committee pleaded guilty today in Washington federal district court to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the political committee and business clients.
Christopher Ward, a Maryland resident, worked in the NRCC’s accounting department before he became treasurer in 2003, according to court records. Ward, prosecutors said in court papers, also ran an accounting and consultant business that specialized in compliance with Federal Election Commission regulations.
Prosecutors said Ward stole more than $844,000 from March 2001 to December 2007 by issuing unauthorized checks and wire transfers from the NRCC and political committees that were clients of his business.
Full Story: Former Republican Congressional Committee Treasurer Pleads Guilty to Theft – The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
No Safe Harbor on Gulf Coast; Human Blood Tests Show Dangerous Levels of Toxic Exposure
Even as BP and US government officials continue to declare the oil spill over at Mississippi Canyon 252 and the cleanup operation an unqualified success, for the first time blood tests on sickened humans have shown signs of exposure to high levels of toxic chemicals related to crude oil and dispersants. Some of the individuals tested have not been on the beaches, were not involved in any cleanup operations or in the Gulf water — they simply live along the Gulf Coast. Several of them are now leaving the area due to a combination of illness and economic hardship. As the media’s attention has moved on and the public interest wanes, the suffering and hardship for people along the entire Gulf Coast of the United States from Louisiana to Florida continues to worsen. While BP and the government are scaling back cleanup operations and distancing themselves from legal liability for the environmental destruction, economic hardship, sickness and death resulting from the largest environmental disaster in our nation’s history, the situation continues to deteriorate.
The use of the Corexit dispersant 9500 and the highly toxic 9527 by BP, with the approval and assistance of the US Coast Guard and EPA, has been the subject of intense scrutiny and criticism. Never before has such a huge quantity of the toxic compound been used anywhere on the planet. Most countries including NATO allies ban it’s use and will only grant approval as a last resort after other methods have failed. Britain has banned its use altogether. The NOAA provided extensive information summarizing other nation’s policies in regards to Corexit after Senator Barbara Mikulski demanded the information from EPA administrator Lisa Jackson during congressional hearings in July. While the dispersant serves to break down crude oil on the surface and thus makes the oil invisible from the air, it is highly toxic and bioaccumulates in the marine food chain. In humans it is a known carcinogen and its use was widely condemned after Exxon/Valdez and the horrifying health effects on the populations exposed to it there. As it evaporates and becomes airborne, the toxic compounds have moved on shore, creating health impacts that, although apparently large from the numbers of people affected, the full extent is unknown. BP and the US government have effectively been performing the largest chemical experiment in history on a civilian population without their knowledge or consent.
Full Story: Jerry Cope: No Safe Harbor on Gulf Coast; Human Blood Tests Show Dangerous Levels of Toxic Exposure.
Freedom’s Just Another Word
Frank Rich:
AMONG the few scraps of news to emerge from Barack Obama’s vacation was the anecdote of a Martha’s Vineyard bookseller handing him an advance copy of Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, “Freedom.” The book has since rocketed up the Amazon best-seller list, powered by reviews even more ecstatic than those for Franzen’s last novel, “The Corrections.” But I doubt that the president, a fine writer who draws sustenance from great American writers, has read “Freedom” yet. If he had, he never would have delivered that bloodless speech on Tuesday night.
What was so grievously missing from Obama’s address was any feeling for what has happened to our country during the seven-and-a-half-year war whose “end” he was marking. That legacy of anger and grief is what “Freedom” mainlines to its readers. In chronicling one Midwestern family as it migrates from St. Paul to Washington during the 9/11 decade, Franzen does for our traumatic time what Tom Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities” did for the cartoonish go-go 1980s. Or perhaps, more pertinently, what “The Great Gatsby” did for the ominous boom of the 1920s. The heady intoxication of freedom is everywhere in “Freedom,” from extramarital sexual couplings to the consumer nirvana of the iPod to Operation Iraqi Freedom itself. Yet most everyone, regardless of age or calling or politics, is at war — not with terrorists, but with depression, with their consciences and with one another.
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Freedom’s Just Another Word – NYTimes.com.
Labor Day: Labor Got It Right — Who Could Have Known?
“Who could have known?” That’s the cry from the big-corporate and DC elite as the economy and the environment and so many important things crash around us. (Around us, not them, they’re doing just fine and taking good care of each other.)
Who could have known that 25%-per-year house price increases was a bubble?
Who could have known that a housing bubble could burst?
Who could have known that deregulating the financial industry could lead to a financial meltdown?
Who could have known that concentration of wealth could cause consumer demand to dry up?
Who could have known that huge tax cuts for the rich combined with huge military spending increases could cause massive budget deficits?
Who could have known that the Social Security trust fund needed a “lockbox” so it wouldn’t be given away as tax cuts?
Who could have known a deregulated deep-water well could cause a massive, destructive, uncontrolled underwater gusher?
Who could have known that continuing to put carbon into the air would cause problems for the climate?
Who could have known that moving our factories out of the country would lead to high unemployment and structural trade deficits?
Who could have known that invading Iraq was wrong and a deadly, disastrous, costly, long-term mistake?
Who could have known that a too-small stimulus that focused on tax cuts wouldn’t turn the economy completely around and then conservatives would claim that the stimulus “killed the recovery?”
Full Story: Labor Day: Labor Got It Right — Who Could Have Known? | OurFuture.org.
Does Our Economy Really Have to Run on Fraud?
The Angelides Commission Squints Back at the Bank Bailout and the Fall of Lehman
What is the difference between today’s economy and Lehman Brothers just before it collapsed in September 2008? Should Lehman, the economy, Wall Street – or none of the above – be bailed out of bad mortgage debt? How did the Fed and Treasury decide which Wall Street firms to save – and how do they decide whether or not to save U.S. companies, personal mortgage debtors, states and cities from bankruptcy and insolvency today? Why did it start by saving the richest financial institutions, leaving the “real” economy locked in debt deflation?
Stated another way, why was Lehman the only Wall Street firm permitted to go under? How does the logic that Washington used in its case compare to how it is treating the economy at large? Why bail out Wall Street – whose managers are rich enough not to need to spend their gains – and not the quarter of U.S. homeowners unfortunate enough also to suffer “negative equity” but not qualify for the help that the officials they elect gave to Wall Street’s winners by enabling Bear Stearns, A.I.G., Countrywide Financial and other gamblers to pay their bad debts?
There was disagreement last Wednesday at the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission now plodding along through its post mortem hearings on the causes of Wall Street’s autumn 2008 collapse and ensuing bailout. Federal Reserve economists argue that the economy – and Wall Street firms apart from Lehman – merely had a liquidity problem, a temporary failure to find buyers for its junk mortgages. By contrast, Lehman had a more deep-seated “balance sheet” problem: negative equity. A taxpayer bailout would have been an utter waste, not recoverable.
Full Story: CounterPunch: Tells the Fact, Names the Names.
Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography
The cases turned up during a 2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn payments. As part of the probe, ICE investigators gained access to the names and credit card information of more than 5,000 Americans who had subscribed to websites offering images of child pornography. Many of those individuals provided military email addresses or physical addresses with Army or fleet ZIP codes when they purchased the subscriptions.
In a related inquiry, the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) cross-checked the ICE list against military databases to come up with a list of Defense employees and contractors who appeared to be guilty of purchasing child pornography. The names included staffers for the secretary of defense, contractors for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency, and a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the DCIS opened investigations into only 20 percent of the individuals identified, and succeeded in prosecuting just a handful.
Full Story: Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography | The Upshot Yahoo! News – Yahoo! News.
Millions Die Due to Withheld Medical Treatment
Imagine we found the cure for heart disease or diabetes, but as a society chose to withhold that treatment from those who need it most. Would it be ethical to withhold effective treatments when the result is unnecessary suffering and death that costs our health care system hundreds of billions of dollars a year?
The answer is obvious, yet that is exactly what occurs today in America. We know the most effective treatments for some of the deadliest diseases of our time, but millions are denied access to them. In effect, we are conducting a large experiment on our population without their consent. This happened in America once before. It is a dark stain on our scientific history that most of us would rather forget. It was the Tuskegee experiment.
Full Story: Mark Hyman, MD: Millions Die Due to Withheld Medical Treatment.
Cosmic ‘Ghost’: “Evidence of a supermassive black hole equal in power to a billion supernovas.”
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory located a cosmic “ghost” that scientists think is evidence of a huge eruption produced by a supermassive black hole equal in power to a billion supernovas. The source, HDF 130, is over 10 billion light years away and existed at a time 3 billion years after the Big Bang, when galaxies and black holes were forming at a high rate. The X-ray ghost, so-called because a diffuse X-ray source has remained after other radiation from the outburst has died away, is in the Chandra Deep Field-North, one of the deepest X-ray images ever taken.
“We’d seen this fuzzy object a few years ago, but didn’t realize until now that we were seeing a ghost”, said Andy Fabian of the Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. “It’s not out there to haunt us, rather it’s telling us something – in this case what was happening in this galaxy billions of year ago.”
Full Story: Cosmic ‘Ghost’: “Evidence of a supermassive black hole equal in power to a billion supernovas.”.
White House to Deploy Broader Mortgage Aid
The Obama administration on Tuesday will launch its most ambitious effort at reducing mortgage balances for homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth.
Officials say between 500,000 and 1.5 million so-called underwater loans could be modified through the program, the first initiative to target homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments but are at risk of default because they have no equity in their homes. Some experts are warning, however, that the same knots that tied up prior initiatives could do so again.
Under the new “short refinance” program, banks and other creditors that write down mortgages to less than the value of the property can essentially hand off the reduced loan to the government. The process involves refinancing borrowers into loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration.
While the program puts taxpayers at risk—officials estimate one in five loans in the program could default—the government has set aside $14 billion previously earmarked for housing aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to cover losses.
Full Story: White House to Deploy Broader Mortgage Aid – WSJ.com.
Google Search Rankings Investigated By Texas Attorney General
Google Inc.’s methods for recommending websites are being reviewed by Texas’ attorney general in an investigation spurred by complaints that the company has abused its power as the Internet’s dominant search engine.
The antitrust inquiry disclosed by Google late Friday is just the latest sign of the intensifying scrutiny facing the company as it enters its adolescence. Since its inception in a Silicon Valley garage 12 years ago, Google has gone from a quirky startup to one of the world’s most influential businesses with annual revenue approaching $30 billion.
A spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott confirmed the investigation, but declined further comment.
Full Story: Google Search Rankings Investigated By Texas Attorney General.
Billionaire Koch Brothers Back Suspension Of California Climate Law
Oil billionaires David and Charles Koch have jumped on board an effort to suspend California’s global warming law by making a million-dollar contribution this week.
A subsidiary of Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries, the nation’s second-largest private company with oil refineries and pipelines, made a $1 million contribution Thursday to the campaign for Proposition 23. They join two Texas-based companies, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a spokeswoman for Flint Hills Resources said the company “may consider additional support.”
Full Story: Billionaire Koch Brothers Back Suspension Of California Climate Law.
Court tells Skilling he can’t get out on bail
Ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling was denied a request to be released from prison on bail while he appeals his 2006 fraud convictions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans Friday denied Skilling’s request in a one-sentence ruling that didn’t provide an explanation.
Skilling, 56, is serving a 24-year sentence after a Houston jury convicted him for leading what prosecutors said was a widespread accounting fraud that deceived investors about Enron’s true financial condition.
Skilling has asked that his convictions be reversed and that he be retried by a jury that isn’t allowed to consider so-called “honest-services” fraud in weighing his guilt or innocence.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Skilling’s favor, saying he was prosecuted under a law regarding honest services fraud that doesn’t apply to his case. The justices said the law, which covers fraud schemes to “deprive another of the intangible right to honest services,” could be constitutionally applied only to cases involving bribery or kickbacks. Skilling’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Full Story: Court tells Skilling he can’t get out on bail | Business | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.
OPS: Sit down and shut up you evil fascist bastard
Pilot Carreers and Salary, line pilots association, air line pilots
Question
I am very interested in a carreer in piloting and was curious as to the different types of piloting jobs and their salaries. Also, could you possibly tell me about the availability of these jobs? Thanks.
Answer
Matt,
I can only tell you about airline pilot careers.
Starting out in this career flying for a regional new hire pilots often qualify for food stamps. Seriously. Only after a few years in the business does the income move into the high $20K range.
In the civilian career path progression, a pilot will usually work at a regional carrier before moving on to a major airline. While some regionals pay close to $30K after 3 years or so, it takes several years at other to make that much. Starting out in this career one must expect to make some very low wages until they begin to build seniority with their airline and move up the pay scale.
Largest connection carrier, “Express” or regional affiliate airlines starting gross monthly pay:
Full Story: Aviation/Flying: Pilot Carreers and Salary, line pilots association, air line pilots.
Flight Attendant Gets Fired For Saying She Qualifies For Food Stamps
A Compass Airlines flight attendant, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), was terminated on Thursday after publicly revealing she qualified for foods stamps. Despite a full-time schedule, flight attendant Kirsten Arianejad was recently featured in a local television interview announcing that she had been approved for food stamps in order compensate for her low wages.
“Poverty is not a crime and it is despicable that Compass Airlines would fire an employee for speaking the truth,” said Patricia Friend, AFA-CWA International President. “Unfortunately, there are flight attendants across the country who have to rely on federal and state assistance to make ends meet.
Instead of paying hardworking flight attendants a living wage, airline management would rather shame them and make them fear for their jobs. We call on Compass to immediately reinstate Kirsten Arianejad.”
Full Story: Flight Attendant Gets Fired For Saying She Qualifies For Food Stamps.
Cenk In Funny Pot Ad!
Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) filling in for Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC stars in a funny pot ad spoof after the first medical marijuana commercial in the US airs.
10 Ways to Solve the Jobs Problem
Imagine a no-holds-barred “summit” that comes up with ideas to solve both our job and environmental problems. What might it come up with?
As the midterm political season heats up, one word on every politician’s lips is “jobs.” And for good reason. People are hurting—they can’t pay their mortgages, send their kids to college, pay their dental bills. Young people are wondering if they have a place in the work world.
So the economic pundits cheer when car sales go up, housing starts rise, consumer confidence strengthens. But as the oily ooze in the Gulf tars yet another beach, we all sense something is terribly wrong. We can’t keep tearing up the planet to keep ourselves employed. There must be another way.
So—imagine a no-holds-barred “summit” that comes up with ideas to solve both our job and environmental problems. What might it come up with?
Here is my starter list. You can add your own ideas in the comments to this article on the YES! website.
Full Story: 10 Ways to Solve the Jobs Problem by Fran Korten —.
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill’s 30-Year Legacy
A surprisingly small number of scientists have studied the impacts of the oil spill resulting from the 1979 blowout at the Ixtoc I oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Wes Tunnell, who first studied the spill’s effects in July and August of 1980 and has returned many times since, is one of the few exceptions.
Days after speaking to IPS in June, he flew back to Veracruz to see what remnants, if any, are still present from the disaster – the largest accidental oil spill in history before the spill resulting from the Apr. 20 blowout at the Deepwater Horizon rig eclipsed that record this summer.
“We’re going to do a really good search to see if there’s any [oil remnants] left or if they’re all gone, just to fill in the story,” Tunnel, a biologist at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, said in June.
Full Story: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill’s 30-Year Legacy | CommonDreams.org.
E. Coli Outbreak Puts Focus On Meat Oversight
The first known U.S. outbreak linked to a rare strain of E. coli in ground beef is prompting a fresh look at tougher regulations to protect the nation’s meat supply.
Three people in Maine and New York became ill this summer after eating ground beef traced back to a Cargill plant in Wyalusing, Pa. Cargill Meat Solutions, a subsidiary of Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc., recalled about 8,500 pounds of ground beef on Saturday, and regulators warned consumers to throw out frozen meat purchased at BJ’s Wholesale Clubs in eight eastern states. The ground beef had a use-by-or-freeze-by date of July 1.
Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, who was appointed undersecretary of food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture nine days before the recall, has signaled interest in expanding federal oversight of meat beyond the most prevalent strain of E. coli.
Full Story: E. Coli Outbreak Puts Focus On Meat Oversight.
Glenn Beck Admits Lying: ‘I Thought It Would Be A Little Easier’ (VIDEO)
After being called on a white lie he told during his Restoring Honor rally, Glenn Beck admitted Thursday that he stretched the truth because he “thought it would be a little easier.”
Beck had claimed that he held George Washington’s handwritten first Inaugural Address in his hands at the National Archives, but a spokeswoman at the institution said he did no such thing. Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz and others called him out for the fabrication.
Thursday on his radio show, Beck copped to the lie. (RELATED: Lies By Prominent Americans.)
“I thought it would be a little easier in the speech,” Beck said, than to go into the following elaborate explanation (via Mediaite):
Full Story: Glenn Beck Admits Lying: ‘I Thought It Would Be A Little Easier’ (VIDEO).
OPS: Lying always is easier Glenn – until you get called on it.
Richest lawmakers grew wealthier as economy faltered
The rest of the country is still struggling with high unemployment amid a sluggish-at-best economic recovery — but the wealthiest members of Congress are in high cotton. Indeed, the top 50 wealthiest lawmakers saw their combined net worths increase last year, according to the Hill’s annual analysis of financial disclosure documents.
Combined, the 50 lawmakers were worth $1.4 billion in 2009 — an $85.1 million increase over their 2008 total — the Hill reports. The members’ total combined assets depreciated by nearly $36 million last year — but Congress’ well-to-do set also reduced their debts by a combined $120 million.
The list of 50 lawmakers spans both parties (27 Democrats and 23 Republicans) and both chambers of Congress (30 House members, 20 senators), the Hill reports.
Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts topped the list for the second year in a row; Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas made his debut in the top 10.
Here are profiles for the 10 most flush Hill power-and-money brokers:
Full Story: Richest lawmakers grew wealthier as economy faltered | The Upshot Yahoo! News – Yahoo! News.
World’s ‘oldest beer’ found in shipwreck
First there was the discovery of dozens of bottles of 200-year-old champagne, but now salvage divers have recovered what they believe to be the world’s oldest beer, taking advertisers’ notion of ‘drinkability’ to another level.
Though the effort to lift the reserve of champagne had just ended, researchers uncovered a small collection of bottled beer on Wednesday from the same shipwreck south of the autonomous Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea.
“At the moment, we believe that these are by far the world’s oldest bottles of beer,” Rainer Juslin, permanent secretary of the island’s ministry of education, science and culture, told CNN on Friday via telephone from Mariehamn, the capital of the Aland Islands.
Full Story: World’s ‘oldest beer’ found in shipwreck – CNN.com.
BP ultimatum: Let us drill or funds will dry up
Oil giant BP is telling lawmakers that if it isn’t allowed to get new offshore drilling permits in the Gulf, it will not be able to afford to pay for the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the New York Times reported in its Friday edition.
The Times reports the UK-based oil giant is on the warpath against a drilling reform bill passed by the House earlier this summer that would effectively bar BP from getting new drilling permits in the US.
The CLEAR Act, passed by the House in July, includes an amendment (PDF) that states any oil company that has received more than $10 million in safety fines, or has seen more than 10 workers killed in the past seven years, is barred from being granted new drilling permits. The Times notes that, currently, only BP fits that criteria.
Full Story: BP ultimatum: Let us drill or funds will dry up | Raw Story.
OPS: round up all BP exec’s in one night and lock them “for their own safety”
Poll: 71 Percent Of Americans Still Blame Bush For The Current Economic Woes
In recent weeks, former White House adviser Karl Rove has been strongly advising President Obama to not blame President Bush for the current economic troubles, writing in his Wall Street Journal column, “it won’t work.” “For Mr. Obama and his party, all the escape hatches are shutting at the same time. Blaming Bush and harping on the GOP’s driving abilities is not a good strategy,” Rove continued. While the sincerity of any piece of counsel Rove offers to his political rivals should be suspect, especially when that prescription would help rehabilitate his own image, Rove’s latest bit of unsolicited advice also appears to be wrong. According to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll, over two-thirds of Americans still blame Bush for the economy’s woes:
The 71% saying Bush should get blamed was a modest decline from the 80% who felt that way about a year ago, in July 2009. [...]
Full Story: Think Progress » Poll: 71 Percent Of Americans Still Blame Bush For The Current Economic Woes.
OPS: …and yet other polls tell us that the Republicans are going to take the House in November? What’s wrong with this picture?
Ryan Knocks GOP Tax Cut Fantasy: ‘I’m Not One Of These People Who Says That All Tax Cuts Pay For Themselves’
In their quest to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans, many leading Republicans have invented a fantasy world in which tax cuts always pay for themselves through increased economic growth. Extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich would cost $830 billion in lost revenue over the next ten years, but nonetheless, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) claimed, “You should never have to offset cost” of tax cuts, while Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) said, “tax cuts should not have to be offset.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) went a step further, falsely claiming that the Bush tax cuts have actually “increased revenue.”
But on CNBC today, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the ranking GOP member on the House Budget Committee, splashed some cold water on that delusion, saying dismissively, “I’m not one of these people who says that say that all tax cuts pay for themselves”:
GOP Candidate Ken Buck Falsely Blames Federal Government For Imaginary Decline in Schools
In a statement reminiscent of Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle’s call to abolish the federal Department of Education, Colorado GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck falsely claimed at a Q&A session with College Republicans that American schools have declined since the 1950s because of increased federal involvement in education:
…snip…
First of all, Buck’s claim that American schools are worse now than they were in the 1950s is laughably wrong. In 1957, less than half of white Americans and fewer than one in five African-Americans graduated from high school. By 2002, however, almost nine in ten white children and eight in ten black children earned their diploma. Likewise, college graduation rates more than tripled during the same time period for both racial groups. Our country has a long way to go before we build the education system Americans deserve, but Buck is simply wrong to claim that American schools haven’t made massive strides since the 1950s.
More importantly, although Buck was probably referring to the federal Department of Education, which was created in 1980, when he attacked federal involvement in education. His blanket attack on federal education policy ignores the single most significant example of federal intervention in public schools:
Full Story: Think Progress » GOP Candidate Ken Buck Falsely Blames Federal Government For Imaginary Decline in Schools.
Hagel Says GOP Is Not ‘Presenting Any Alternatives, Any New Options Or Any New Thinking’
Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), the chairman of the Atlantic Council, recently sat down for an interview with the Washington Diplomat. In the interview, the former senator touched on a variety of topics, including what he feels is the need for the United States to “unwind” from the war in Afghanistan. Towards the end of the interview, Hagel says that while he has “no plans to renounce his membership in the party,” he finds that the Republican Party of which he is a part is not “presenting any new alternatives, any new options, or any new thinking“:
“I don’t see them presenting any alternatives, any new options or any new thinking,” Hagel said. “If the Republicans get back in power, what are they going to do? There is no articulation. It’s just a ‘no no no, I’m against Obama because he’s a socialist and he’s taking America in the wrong direction.’ That’s certainly an opinion, but what about you, Mr. Republican? What would you do?”
Full Story: Think Progress » Hagel Says GOP Is Not ‘Presenting Any Alternatives, Any New Options Or Any New Thinking’.
GOP Congressional Candidate Says He Wants To ‘Choke Off’ Funding To Health Care Legislation
Since Congress passed its health care legislation expanding health insurance to tens of millions of Americans earlier this year, leading conservatives have debated about the best way to oppose it. Some have advocated for simply repealing the entire bill wholesale, while others have argued for a “repeal and replace” strategy that would replace the legislation with a yet-to-be-determined conservative plan for health care.
Scott Tipton, the Republican candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, is advocating for a third option: rather than repealing the legislation or replacing it with something else, he wants to “choke off funding” for the legislation, effectively stifling its effectiveness without doing anything to improve the U.S. health care system:
The Republican candidate for the 3rd Congressional District called for reductions in the size of the federal government and said he would vote to “choke off funding” for health-care legislation passed by the current Congress. Scott Tipton spoke to about 110 people, most of them supporters, Thursday night in a town-hall meeting in the Grand Junction City Council chambers. [...]
Full Story: Think Progress » GOP Congressional Candidate Says He Wants To ‘Choke Off’ Funding To Health Care Legislation.
One More Reason to Boycott Nike: Exploiting Mountaintop Removal and Dead Coal Miners
Leave it to Nike to make an ad for football gear so incredibly offensive.
Nike is again embroiled in a controversy it may not easily shake, and this time around it has nothing to do with sweatshop labor practices. An ad spot for the company’s new Pro-Combat football apparel line has hit prime time and not everyone is thrilled with what they’re seeing.
The setting is West Virginia and the backdrop is a decapitated, blackened landscape with coal pouring out onto the football field. The focal point, an avatar version of a West Virginia University football player, is holding a ball up high as if to announce that he is now king of the dead mountain.
West Virginians certainly know a dead mountain when they see one. The state has hundreds that no longer have peaks, as they have been blown apart only to expose tiny seams of black coal, the remnants of which have been polluting watersheds all across Appalachia. Groundwater is tainted and the poor folks who live in the shadows of the blast zones are terrorized every time an explosive is detonated.
Meanwhile, Nike’s narrator chimes in as the player does a victory dance, announcing that, like West Virginia coal miners, football players too put their lives at risk every time they step onto the field.
It’s combat baby.
Full Story: One More Reason to Boycott Nike: Exploiting Mountaintop Removal and Dead Coal Miners | Environment | AlterNet.
Note to Jay Leno: Marijuana Is Not “Essentially Legal” — More Than 800,000 People a Year Are Arrested for It
Leno demonstrates his lack of familiarity with the enormous number arrests in this country tied to marijuana.
Rep. Barney Frank appeared on “The Tonight Show” Tuesday night and, among other issues, strongly reiterated his support for reforming our failed marijuana laws. Jay Leno countered that “Smoking marijuana is essentially legal now. You can get it anywhere, and if you get caught, it’s the most minimum [consequences]…”
Leno articulated a common misperception about marijuana enforcement in the United States, that it may be technically illegal, but as he put it, “Anyone that wants to smoke can smoke.” In fact, enforcement of marijuana laws is at an all-time high in this country, especially in California.
The Republican Who Dared Tell the Truth About Oil
Matt Simmons understood the wages of addiction and wasn’t afraid to sound warnings, even to George W. Bush.
“A call to arms may be wrong. We may not even know who the enemy is. And maybe the enemy is us.” — Matt Simmons
After criticizing the reckless conduct of BP in the Gulf of Mexico most of the summer, 67-year-old Matt Simmons eased into his hot tub at his home in North Haven, Maine on Aug. 8. For a short while the famous oil analyst might have pondered his grandiose plans for the world’s largest $25-billion offshore wind farm. But Simmons then suffered a heart attack and drowned.
The New York Times duly observed the passing of “the noted energy banker” while Forbes called him “the crazy uncle of the oil patch.” And that he was. Gadfly. Visionary. Contrarian. Educator. “Crude Cassandra.” Conservative. Together with millions of Americans and Europeans, I dearly miss the life-long Republican and let me tell you why.
Full Story: The Tyee – The Republican Who Dared Tell the Truth About Oil.
If You Don’t Fight for the Middle Class, Kiss It Good-Bye
Jim Hightower:
America’s corporate chieftains must love poor people, for they’re doing all they can to create millions more of them. Let’s put a stop to this.
America’s corporate chieftains must love poor people, for they’re doing all they can to create millions more of them.
They’re knocking down wages, offshoring everything from manufacturing jobs to high tech, reducing full-time work to part-time, downsizing our workplaces, busting unions, cutting health care coverage and canceling pensions — while also lobbying in Washington to privatize Social Security, eliminate job safety protections, restrict unemployment benefits, kill job-creating programs and increase corporate control of our elections.
It’s said that the poor and the rich will always be among us. But nowhere is it written that the middle-class will always be there. In fact, it is a very recent creation in our society (and an unavailable dream for most people in the world). America’s great middle class literally arose with the rise of labor unions and populist political movements in the 1800s, finally culminating in democratic economic reforms implemented from the 1930s into the 1960s.
Full Story: Hightower: If You Don’t Fight for the Middle Class, Kiss It Good-Bye | Economy | AlterNet.
We’re Being Conned on Social Security — How We Could Easily Raise Benefits or Allow People to Retire Earlier
They just want to steal our money.
Allow me to take a moment to fix that whole “Social Security crisis” that has everyone in Washington gnashing their teeth. When you see how easily it’s done, you may begin to realize that whenever our elites start chattering about “tax-gaps,” they’re almost certainly trying to rip you off — making a slick grab for something to which you are, ultimately, “entitled.”
But why stop there? Why play defense? After we fix the program, why don’t we increase Social Security benefits? Why not lower the age of retirement? With unemployment hovering around 10 percent, and some economists, like James Galbraith, arguing that at least some of those lost jobs are never to return, why not open up some jobs for the young ‘uns and put a dent in the number of Americans who are out of work? Maybe with more demand for workers, employers would see their way to raising wages a bit, bucking the long-term trend of stagnation that the majority of Americans have endured over the past 30 years. Think about it: if you enter the labor market at age 20, isn’t busting your ass for four decades long enough to merit a dignified retirement? We are a wealthy country — we can afford it.
More than 400 US Banks Will Fail: Roubini
Even if the US and European economies manage to avoid a double dip, it will still feel like a recession, while more than half of the 800-plus US banks on the “critical list” are likely to go bust, according to renowned economist Nouriel Roubini of Roubini Global Economics.
The second half of the year will remain weak as tailwinds become headwinds, Roubini told CNBC on the shores of Lake Como, Italy at the Ambrosetti Forum economics conference.
“In the second half, fiscal policy becomes a headwind, no more cash for clunkers,” Roubini said. “The positive scenario is that growth will be below par.”
Roubini recently said the chance of a double-dip recession in the US was now more than 40 percent.
Full Story: More than 400 US Banks Will Fail: Roubini – CNBC.
OPS: Roubini is generally correct – unfortunately
The Great Jobs Depression Worsens, and the Choice Ahead Grows Starker
Robert Reich:
The Great Jobs Depression continues to worsen.
The Labor Department reports this morning that companies created ony 67,000 new jobs in August. That’s down from the 107,000 they created in July. And because the government laid off temporary Census workers, the economy as a whole lost 54,000 jobs.
To put this into perspective, we need 125,000 net new jobs a month just to keep up with the growth of the population and the potential workforce.
Think of it this way. The number of Americans willing and able to work but who cannot find a job hasn’t stopped growing since the start of 2008. All told, about 22 million Americans are now jobless. Add in those who are working part-time who’d rather be working full time, and we’re up to 25 million.
Full Story: Robert Reich (The Great Jobs Depression Worsens, and the Choice Ahead Grows Starker).
What Will Become of Dick Cheney’s Vice Presidential Records?
John Dean:
As the Bush/Cheney Administration headed toward its final days, with President George W. Bush busy planning his future presidential library, the story surfaced that Vice President Dick Cheney was not planning to send his Vice Presidential papers and records to the future Bush II archive. To the contrary, based on an Executive Order that Bush (or was it really Cheney?) had issued in November 2001, the Vice President was taking the position that his papers were largely his, not Bush’s, so that he did not plan to send most of his office files to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) which administers presidential libraries, where historians were sure to nose about in Cheney’s material.
Because historians find Cheney a fascinating and important historical figure, particularly given his outsized influence on the first five years of the Bush II presidency, and because archivists are serious about collecting and preserving the uncooked records of history, there was understandable alarm that these materials might disappear and never be available. Thus, Cheney’s proposed action, which was in clear violation of a federal statute, prompted a federal lawsuit in the final years of the Bush/Cheney presidency in an effort to force the Vice President to comply with the law. Unfortunately, the plaintiffs lost the lawsuit, and no one knows what Cheney will or will not do with his records.
This story has received only sporadic media attention, at best. Congress, at present, is considering amending the presidential records law. Inexplicably, however, Congress is ignoring the very shortcomings in the existing law that are highlighted by Cheney’s actions. In this column, I’ll explain the situation.
Full Story: What Will Become of Dick Cheney’s Vice Presidential Records?.
Exclusive: Major human trafficker is huge GOP donor who fought illegal immigration | Raw Story
A business owner indicted for the human trafficking of 400 laborers from Thailand is a frequent donor to the Republican Party and recently waged war against other companies involved with hiring illegal immigrants.
The Associated Press reports that according to the allegations, “the recruiters lured the workers with false promises of lucrative jobs, then confiscated their passports, failed to honor their employment contracts and threatened to deport them.”
The FBI considers this the largest human-trafficking case in US history, and those indicted face maximum sentences of five to 70 years in prison, the Justice Department confirmed to AP.
Full Story: Exclusive: Major human trafficker is huge GOP donor who fought illegal immigration | Raw Story.
Elizabeth Warren drops a class, spurs speculation
Consumer advocate and Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren has made a last-minute adjustment to her fall schedule, dropping a class she was set to teach just days before the semester began and fueling speculation that she may soon be nominated for the head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to The Washington Post.
“Professor Warren regrets that she will not be able to teach you this fall and we regret the last minute change,” law school dean Martha Minow wrote to students, according to an e-mail obtained by WaPo.
Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel that oversees TARP funds, is perhaps the most high-profile candidate for the position, with prominent members of Congress, Representative Barney Frank and Senator John Kerry among them, voicing their support for her nomination throughout the summer.
Koch Industries Fought the Health Care Law, But Sought Funds From It
In a post last week, we noted that David Koch, an American businessman and philanthropist, has given millions to cancer research while his company, Koch Industries, lobbied against formal recognition of formaldehyde as a carcinogen.
In a post today, Think Progress’ Wonk Room pointed out another seeming contradiction:
Today, the Department of Health and Human Services announced the “first round of applicants accepted into the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program,” a $5 billion program established by the new health care law to help employers and states “maintain coverage for early retirees age 55 and older who are not yet eligible for Medicare.” According to the agency, “nearly 2,000 employers, representing large and small businesses, State and local governments, educational institutions, non-profits, and unions” applied and have been accepted into the program and “will begin to receive reimbursements for employee claims this fall.”Ironically, one of those employers is the oil, chemicals, and manufacturing conglomerate Koch Industries.
Full Story: On The Hill: Koch Industries Fought the Health Care Law, But Sought Funds From It.
The Real Story
Paul Krugman:
Next week, President Obama is scheduled to propose new measures to boost the economy. I hope they’re bold and substantive, since the Republicans will oppose him regardless — if he came out for motherhood, the G.O.P. would declare motherhood un-American. So he should put them on the spot for standing in the way of real action
But let’s put politics aside and talk about what we’ve actually learned about economic policy over the past 20 months.
When Mr. Obama first proposed $800 billion in fiscal stimulus, there were two groups of critics. Both argued that unemployment would stay high — but for very different reasons.
Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – The Real Story – NYTimes.com.
The Dems Need to Speak to Progressive Values, or Else Lose Badly Come November
George Lakoff:
Only moral leadership backed by actions effective communication can excite the Obama base once more. Without it, the Democrats will lose big.
If you have not read Drew Westen’s outstanding piece, “What Created the Populist Explosion and How Democrats Can Avoid the Shrapnel in November“, on the Huffington Post, AlterNet, and other venues, read it immediately. Westen states as eloquently and forcefully as anyone what he, I, and other progressives have been saying from the beginning of the Obama administration. I agree fully with everything he says. But …
Westen’s piece is incomplete in crucial ways. His piece can be read as saying that this election is about kitchen table economics (right) and only kitchen table economics (wrong).
This election is about more than just jobs, and mortgages, and adequate health care. All politics is moral. All political leaders say to do what they propose because it is right. No political leaders say to do what they say because it is wrong. Morality is behind everything in politics — and progressives and conservatives have different moral systems.
Full Story: The Dems Need to Speak to Progressive Values, or Else Lose Badly Come November | News & Politics | AlterNet.
Another Oil Rig Explodes in the Gulf
The Coast Guard is saying there are no immediate signs of a spill from an oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast.
All 13 crew members were rescued from the water in the second such disaster in the Gulf in less than five months.
The Coast Guard initially reported an oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet wide had begun to spread from the site of the fire, about 200 miles west of the site of BP’s massive spill. But officials said at a Thursday afternoon news conference that boats at the platform have not seen any oil sheen.
Full Story: No sign of oil spill after Gulf platform fire.
Feds Warn Residents Near Wyoming Gas Drilling Sites Not to Drink Their Water
The federal government is warning residents in a small Wyoming town with extensive natural gas development not to drink their water, and to use fans and ventilation when showering or washing clothes in order to avoid the risk of an explosion.
The announcement accompanied results from a second round of testing and analysis in the town of Pavillion by Superfund investigators for the Environmental Protection Agency. Researchers found benzene, metals, naphthalene, phenols and methane in wells and in groundwater. They also confirmed the presence of other compounds that they had tentatively identified last summer and that may be linked to drilling activities.
article article-full “Last week it became clear to us that the information that we had gathered” “was going to potentially result in a hazard — result in a recommendation to some of you that you not continue to drink your water,” Martin Hestmark, deputy assistant regional administrator for ecosystems protection and remediation with the EPA in Denver, told a crowd of about 100 gathered at a community center in Pavillion Tuesday night. “We understand the gravity of that.”
Full Story: Feds Warn Residents Near Wyoming Gas Drilling Sites Not to Drink Their Water :.
OPS: what about feeding that water to the crops, and livestock? Cycling back into the food chain.
The Stock Market Rally Versus the World’s Economic Fundamentals
What passes for business reporting in the United States is too often a series of breathless reports about the stock market. When the Dow rises precipitously, as it did today (Wednesday), the business press predicts an end to the Great Recession. When the stock market plummets, as it did last week, the Great Recession is said to be worsening.
Pay no attention. The stock market has as much to do with the real economy as the weather has to do with geology. Day by day there’s no relationship at all. Over time, weather and geology interact but the results aren’t evident for many years. The biggest impact of the weather is on peoples’ moods, as are the daily ups and downs of the market.
The real economy is jobs and paychecks, what people buy and what they sell. And the real economy — even viewed from a worldwide perspective — is as precarious as ever, perhaps more so.
Full Story: Robert Reich (The Stock Market Rally Versus the World’s Economic Fundamentals).
BP spent $93M on advertising after Gulf spill
Oil giant BP says it has spent more than $5 million a week on advertising since the Gulf Coast oil spill – more than three times the amount it spent on ads during the same period last year.
BP PLC told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that it spent a total of $93 million on advertising from April to the end of July. The company says the money was intended to keep Gulf Coast residents informed on issues related to the oil spill and to ensure transparency about its actions. The increased spending was largely targeted at TV, newspapers and magazines. A small portion was directed to the Internet.
BP says it aired fewer TV spots from April to July than during a similar period last year, but a greater percentage were on national TV and for 60 seconds instead of 30 seconds.
Full Story: BP spent $93M on advertising after Gulf spill – KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock |.
Temporary cap that stopped oil gusher removed
Engineers removed a temporary cap Thursday that stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s blown-out well in mid-July. No more oil was expected to leak into the sea, but crews were standing by with collection vessels just in case.
The cap was removed as a prelude to raising the massive piece of equipment underneath that failed to prevent the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The government wants to replace the failed blowout preventer first to deal with any pressure that is caused when a relief well BP has been drilling intersects the blown-out well.
Full Story: Temporary cap that stopped oil gusher removed – KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock |.
The 10 Highest-Paid CEOs Who Laid Off The Most Workers: Institute For Policy Studies (PHOTOS)
A grim fact of the recession is that it pays to lay people off.
The CEOs who laid off the most employees during the recession are also the CEOs who took home the biggest pay checks, according to a study released last week.
CEOs of the 50 U.S. firms that slashed the most jobs between November 2008 and April 2010 took in 42 percent more than the average CEO at an S&P 500 firm, according to the 17th annual Executive Excess study by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive Washington think tank.
The study (PDF) also found that 36 of the 50 layoff leaders “announced their mass layoffs at a time of positive earnings reports,” suggesting a trend of “squeezing workers to boost profits and maintain high CEO pay.”
The 10 “highest-paid CEO layoff leaders” ranked in the report include the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Mark Hurd, who earned $24.2 million in 2009 as the company laid off 6,400 workers and Walmart CEO Michael Duke, who earned $19.2 million as the company laid off 13,350 workers. No Wall Street banks were included in this list, but three banks — Citigroup, Bank Of America and JP Morgan — showed up on the study’s list of the 50 firms that laid off the most employees.
Full Story: The 10 Highest-Paid CEOs Who Laid Off The Most Workers: Institute For Policy Studies (PHOTOS).
U.S. planned layoffs in Aug hit 10-year low
The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell 17 percent in August from the prior month and hit the lowest level in 10 years, a report on Wednesday showed.
Employers announced 34,768 planned job cuts last month, down from 41,676 in July, outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. said.
It was the first month-on-month decline since April, when planned job losses had hit a seven-year low, and the lowest level since June 2000.
Although unemployment remains high, at 9.5 percent in July, job security appears to be strong, the report said.
“To put this in perspective, job cuts never fell to these levels following the 2001 recession, not even when the economy was reaping the rewards of the housing boom,” John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.
Full Story: U.S. planned layoffs in Aug hit 10-year low – Yahoo! Finance.
Numerous Lab Results Contradict Feds Data
For weeks now, researchers Dr. William Sawyer and Marco Kaltofen, P.E., have been collecting powerful evidence that refutes two of the most controversial federal government assertions about the Deepwater Horizon spill. First, that the “vast majority” of the spill is gone, and second, that seafood from oil-impacted waters is not compromised. The research of Sawyer and Kaltofen is impeccable and the methodology sound. And we’d like to share it with everybody – and we’ve come up with a way to do just that.
It’s been suggested to me, frequently, that these sorts of findings be posted online somewhere so people can easily examine results for themselves – the opposite of the non-transparency of the BP “research.” We’ve taken those repeated suggestions to heart. So, now, research compiled by Gulf Oil Disaster Recovery and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) is available at a public website maintained by Mr. Kaltofen’s company, Boston Chemical Data. You may especially like the mapping function, which shows where samples are being taken.
Indeed, we are finding that oil is showing up all over the Gulf both underwater in the form of plumes and on our beaches and coastlines. Our research indicates that PAHs (polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons) are present in shrimp from the impacted areas. And the PAHs in the waters off Florida are at levels 43 times the levels of shrimp from inland, low-impact areas sampled in Louisiana. In our estimation, it may take eight months before the toxic soup BP left in the Gulf has had substantial enough biodegradation to announce an ‘all clear’ on seafood.
EXCLUSIVE: Tests find sickened family has 50.3 ppm of Corexit’s 2
“Our heads are still swimming,” stated Barbara Schebler of Homosassa, Florida, who received word last Friday that test results on the water from her family’s swimming pool showed 50.3 ppm of 2-butoxyethanol, a marker for the dispersant Corexit 9527A used to break up and sink BP’s oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
The problems began for the Scheblers a few weeks after the April 20 blow-out. “Our first clue were rashes we both got early in May. Both my husband and I couldn’t get rid of the rashes and had to get cream from our doctor,” Schebler noted, “I never had a rash in my life.”
Then, on “July [23], my husband Warren mowed the lawn. It was hot so he got in the pool to cool off afterward. That afternoon he had severe diarrhea and very dark urine. This lasted about 2 days,” she revealed.
Hurricanes Could Carry Gulf “Oil” Inland
As Atlantic hurricane season heats up, storms could send toxic hydrocarbons lingering from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill surging inland, scientists say.
Could pollutants from the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico end up as far north as New England?
That could happen if a hurricane or tropical storm hits the Gulf region and moves northward.
Siddhartha Mitra, Geochemist, East Carolina University
“On land, no one’s really though about the effect of material coming over from the ocean, marine areas onto land.”
Geochemist Sid Mitra, from East Carolina University, is studying how far hydrocarbons, released as the oil breaks apart — and some of them toxic–, can reach inland.
Mitra was in the Gulf region recently, taking baseline readings for a long-term study.
Full Story: Hurricanes Could Carry Gulf “Oil” Inland.
Democrats unlikely to repeal tax cuts for the rich
Democrats in Congress are poised to play a leading role this month in thwarting their party’s effort to raise income tax rates on the wealthy.
Tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 expire at the end of this year. President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders have been eager to extend the breaks for individuals who earn less than $200,000 annually and joint filers who make less than $250,000. Those who earn more would pay higher, pre-2001 rates starting next year.
However, a small but growing number of moderate Democrats are balking at boosting taxes on the rich. Many face electorates that recoil at the mention of any tax increase. Some represent areas that are loaded with wealthier taxpayers. Further, some incumbent senators who don’t face voters this fall are reluctant to increase taxes on anyone while the economy remains sluggish.
Full Story: Democrats unlikely to repeal tax cuts for the rich | McClatchy.
5 Things the Corporate Media and Government Don’t Want You to Know About Marijuana
News outlets continue to ignore research that belies government anti-pot propaganda.
Last September I penned an essay for Alternet entitled Five Things the Corporate Media Don’t Want You to Know About Cannabis. In it I proposed, “[N]ews outlets continue to, at best, underreport the publication of scientific studies that undermine the federal government’s longstanding pot propaganda and, at worst, ignore them all together.” Nearly one year later little has changed.
Here are five additional stories the mainstream media doesn’t want you to know about cannabis.
1. Long-term marijuana use is associated with lower risks of certain cancers, including head and neck cancer.
Full Story: 5 Things the Corporate Media and Government Don’t Want You to Know About Marijuana | Drugs | AlterNet.
After Saddam, America’s Next Fake Enemy: Deficits
Paul Krugman:
Were Americans misled into the Iraq war? Yes.
But Karl Rove, who served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, argued in the Wall Street Journal in July that his “biggest mistake” was not fighting back in 2004 when the story began to spread that the Bush administration had lied to Americans during the run-up to the Iraq war.
“That was wrong and my mistake: I should have insisted to the president that this was a dagger aimed at his administration’s heart,” he wrote. His main evidence that there was no deception? The fact that a governmental commission on the war found no wrongdoing. But that investigation took place when Mr. Bush was riding high, and intelligence officials feared retaliation if they spoke out.
So what would a real investigation look like? The government inquiry on the Iraq war currently taking place in Britain. Following months of evidence collection and interviews, the inquiry has shown that Mr. Bush and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, wanted a war, exaggerated intelligence to get it, and disregarded warnings that the war would help, not hurt, Al Qaeda.
Full Story: t r u t h o u t | After Saddam, America’s Next Fake Enemy: Deficits.
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Republicans Don't Care about Voter Fraud....owa Republicans are trying to dismiss claims that the vote count in Tuesday's Iowa Caucus was wrong. An Iowa voter told a local TV station yesterday that he noticed a 20-vote discrepancy in the count - and that Rick Santorum was the real winner of the Caucuses. Republican Party officials, though, are sticking to their first count - showing Mitt Romney as the winner by 8-votes - and there will be no recount.The Republican Party has launched a war on voters around the nation this year with strict new laws that will disenfranchise over 5 million Americans. They claim these laws are necessary to combat so-called voter fraud. Yet in Iowa - where there are no such laws - and where a very, very close and questionable election was just held - Republicans don't seem to care at all about getting it right.Clearly - the war on voters isn't about making sure the people's voices are represented accurately - it's about making sure poor people, young people, and minorities who tend to vote for Democrats - can't vote at all.-Thom(Who do you think won? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
