Archive for October, 2010

GOP Candidate Bob Gibbs Calls On FEC To Audit The Chamber Of Commerce

Last week, a ThinkProgress investigation revealed that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been using foreign money to fund its partisan attack ads this election. The very same day, the Chamber endorsed Bob Gibbs (R) in his campaign against Rep. Zack Space (D) in Ohio’s 18th congressional district. Gibbs said it was “an honor” to have the group’s support. In the nine days since, the Chamber has already pumped nearly $30,000 into the race.

Last night, the topic of anonymous donors to outside groups came up in a debate between Gibbs and Space. ThinkProgress caught up with Gibbs afterward to get his thoughts. He noted that organizations are required by law to segregate their foreign and domestic money and said the Chamber “absolutely” has a firewall in place. We pressed him on whether he just trusts them to enforce their own secret system. Gibbs conceded that he “wouldn’t have a problem with the Federal Election Commission having the ability…to go in and audit them and make sure that they had the firewall.” However, he stopped short of calling for groups like the Chamber to disclose their donors to the public:

TP: One of the interesting things that was discussed in the debate was third-party spending, particularly with the Chamber of Commerce. They’ve been putting up tens of thousands of advertising dollars in the district on your behalf. Are you comfortable with the fact that they refuse to disclose their donors and that many of those are foreign companies and state-backed foreign companies?

Full Story: ThinkProgress » GOP Candidate Bob Gibbs Calls On FEC To Audit The Chamber Of Commerce.

Rep. Steve King Blames President Obama For The Government Shutdown The GOP Wants To Orchestrate

In the absence of any tangible or new policy solutions, Republicans are promising one concrete action should they win a majority in Congress: government shutdown. Picking up on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s two-tiered strategy, many Republicans are supporting Gingrich’s call to defund “every radical bill passed by the [Democratic] machine,” particularly the health care reform law.

Government shutdown would seriously jeopardize aid to vulnerable populations like veterans, Social Security and Medicare recipients, and 33 million Americans in need of health insurance. To defend such a disastrous strategy, Republicans are now shifting the blame on to President Obama.

In April, Gingrich insisted that is a shutdown occurred this year, it’d be because “President Obama wants to force a crisis.” Yesterday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) picked up the blame Obama mantra. In an interview with King, national radio host Thom Hartmann pushed King to clarify his shutdown position, citing ThinkProgress’s report on the “blood oath” King demanded House Minority Leader John Boehner take to ensure the House would include defunding the health care law in every appropriations bill next year. While reiterating his plan to “shut off all funding” for the health care law, King insisted that President Obama’s actions, not his, that would cause the shutdown:

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Rep. Steve King Blames President Obama For The Government Shutdown The GOP Wants To Orchestrate.

‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Funded By Top Offshoring Companies

While it tells the American public it cares about American jobs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce actually works to send jobs overseas on behalf of its corporate members, which include some of Asia’s top offshoring companies. Its secretly-funded $75 million political ad campaign attacks the “anti-jobs record” of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jerry Brown (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Alexi Giannoulias (D-IL), Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), and others.

As ThinkProgress previously noted, the Chamber has repeatedly sent out issue alerts attacking Democratic efforts to encourage businesses to hire locally rather than outsource to foreign counties. The Chamber has also bitterly fought Democrats for opposing unfettered free trade deals. The Chamber’s anti-American jobs agenda serves not only the profit-seeking of right-wing corporate executives in the United States, but also works to send jobs overseas to the following outsourcing companies, who are some of the dozens of foreign corporations that pay member dues to the Chamber of Commerce’s 501c(6) account, which is used to fund its political ads:

Full Story: ThinkProgress » ‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Funded By Top Offshoring Companies.

Chamber’s Latest Lie: Our Foreign Fundraising Program Isn’t Part Of The Chamber

Last week, ThinkProgress published an exclusive story about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s foreign fundraising operation. We noted the Chamber raises money from foreign-owned businesses for its 501(c)(6) entity, the same account that finances its unprecedented $75 million dollar partisan attack ad campaign. While the Chamber is notoriously secretive, the thrust of our story involved the disclosure of fundraising documents U.S. Chamber staffers had been distributing to solicit foreign (even state-owned) companies to donate directly to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6). We updated our investigation with a chart showing over 80 foreign companies giving at least $885,000 to the Chamber.

We documented three different ways the Chamber fundraises from foreign corporations: (1) An internal fundraising program called “Business Councils” used to solicit direct, largely foreign contributions to the Chamber, (2) Direct contributions from foreign multinationals like BP, Siemens, and Shell Oil, and (3) From the Chamber’s network of AmCham affiliates, which are foreign chambers of the Chamber composed of American and foreign companies. The Chamber quickly acknowledged that it receives direct, foreign money, but simply replied, “We are not obligated to discuss our internal procedures.” Instead of providing any documentation or proof to demonstrate foreign money is not being used for electioneering purposes, the Chamber launched an aggressive media strategy to first, attack ThinkProgress with petty name-calling and second, to confuse the media by highlighting the Chamber’s relatively minor AmCham fundraising, which the Chamber says (also without documentation) totals “approximately $100,000” from all 115 international AmCham chapters. The media largely ignored ThinkProgress’ revelation about the Chamber’s large, direct foreign fundraising to its 501(c)(6) used for attack ads, and helped the Chamber bury our scoop with misinformation.

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Chamber’s Latest Lie: Our Foreign Fundraising Program Isn’t Part Of The Chamber.

Navy suspended exercises over Gulf after consulting with doctor about how “bad” the situation is in the water (VIDEO)

Orange Beach Public Health Forum

A Public Health Forum on the Gulf Coast featuring Dr. Riki Ott in Orange Beach, Alabama. Copyright Glynn Wilson, The Locust Fork News-Journal, LocustFork.Net

Foreclosure Fraud: 6 Things You Need To Know About The Crisis That Could Potentially Rip The U.S. Economy To Shreds

The foreclosure fraud crisis seems to escalate with each passing now. It is being reported that all 50 U.S. states have launched a joint investigation into alleged fraud in the mortgage industry. This is a huge story that is not going to go away any time soon. The truth is that it would be hard to understate the amount of fraud that has gone on in the U.S. mortgage industry, and we are watching events unfold that could potentially rip the U.S. economy to shreds. Many are now referring to this crisis as “Foreclosure-Gate”, and already it is shaping up to be the worst thing that has ever happened to the U.S. mortgage industry. At this point, it seems inevitable that some financial institutions will go under as a result of this mess. In fact, by the end of this thing we might see a whole bunch of lending institutions crash and burn. This crisis is very hard to describe because it is just so darn complicated, but it is worth it to try to dig into this thing and understand what is going on because it has the potential to absolutely decimate the entire U.S. mortgage industry.

The truth is that there was fraud going on in every segment of the mortgage industry over the past decade. Predatory lending institutions were aggressively signing consumers up for mortgages that they knew they could never repay. Many consumers were also committing fraud because a lot of them also knew that they could never possibly repay the mortgages. These bad mortgages were fraudulently bundled up and securitized, and these securitized financial instruments were fraudulently marketed as solid investments. Those who certified that these junk securities were “AAA rated” also committed fraud. Then these securities were traded at lightning speed all over the globe and a ton of mortgage paperwork became “lost” or “missing”.

Full Story: Foreclosure Fraud: 6 Things You Need To Know About The Crisis That Could Potentially Rip The U.S. Economy To Shreds.

6 Reasons to Avoid GMOs

When was the last time you thought about how food was made, where it came from, whether and if it was chemically treated? With the first ever Non GMO Month around the corner, an awareness campaign launched by the Non GMO Project, perhaps now is a good time to pay attention. As you look at each food item and its ingredients, consider these fundamental unanswered questions concerning genetically modified (GM) foods — which are most foods that you eat today. Disturbingly, while we are force-fed “wholesome” messages about the alleged benefits of GM foods, a decade and a half after the first GM crops went commercial many of the same concerns persist.

Read on and find out whether you want frankenfood to be your next meal.

1. Human Health Concerns

Many scientists, doctors and health advocates raise concerns about the unintended impact of GMOs on human health. Yes, because there is no independent research (and in fact, seed companies’ agreements forbid the use of seeds for independent research), nobody can say with any degree of certainty that GMOs are safe. And so it is not surprising that there are unresolved questions concerning the potential alteration in human genome, allergenicity of introduced genes and high toxin production in plants and animals that may lead to long-term health effects.

Full Story: 6 Reasons to Avoid GMOs « Wake-up Call.

Online Tool Exposes Corporate Outsourcing in Town Near You

AFL-CIO’s ‘Job Tracker’ Continues Electoral Season Attention to Corporate Offshoring

The loss of jobs resulting from U.S. corporations outsourcing production to foreign countries is emerging as a key issue in many elections this fall.

Democrats–and some Republicans–are especially criticizing opponents for favoring policies that shift jobs to China, and Democratic pollsters/advisors Stanley Greenberg and James Carville find from their surveys that fair trade arguments effectively persuade voters to support Democratic candidates.

Even cursory conversations in working-class neighborhoods shows high concern about offshoring jobs. But it’s a top concern of moderately affluent professionals as well, as a striking recent Wall Street Journal poll revealed. Since 1999, the percentage of Americans who think free-trade agreements have hurt the country has risen dramatically, from 32 percent to 53 percent (while only about 18 percent currently think they’ve helped).

Full Story: AFL-CIO’s ‘Job Tracker’ Continues Electoral Season Attention to Corporate Offshoring – Working In These Times.

The Eternal Life Of A Happy (If Lethal) Meal

Artist and photographer Sally Davies bought a McDonald’s burger and fries on April 26. She left it on a table, uncovered, for six months. Through a New York City summer. After 180 days, it looked exactly the same – no mold, no bugs, no decomposition – except for a slight “acrylic sheen.” We report. You decide if you want to eat this stuff.

Full Story: The Eternal Life Of A Happy (If Lethal) Meal | CommonDreams.org.

Public Citizen: FEC Should Investigate Crossroads GPS for Campaign Finance Law Violations,

FEC Should Investigate Crossroads GPS for Campaign Finance Law Violations, Watchdogs Say in Complaint to FEC

Rove Group Appears to Operate As a Political Committee But Is Not Registered As One, Says Public Citizen and Protect Our Elections

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies, an organization created by Republican strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie to influence the midterm elections with huge expenditures of money, appears to be violating federal campaign law, Public Citizen and Protect Our Elections told the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in a complaint filed today.

The complaint explains that there is ample reason to believe that Crossroads GPS, which is registered as a nonprofit 501c(4) organization, is in fact a political committee and should be subject to the restrictions and disclosure rules for political committees, the groups say.

Full Story: Public Citizen Press Room.

US Doom: ‘The nation is killing itself’

Max Keiser:

Watch full episode 86 of Keiser Report on Thursday. Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, look at hard assets versus high assets, Hu Jintao bonds, political witches and more bank bailouts.

Banks’ Foreclosure ‘Robo-Signers’ Were Hair Stylists, Teens, Walmart Workers: Lawsuit

In an effort to rush through thousands of home foreclosures since 2007, financial institutions and their mortgage servicing departments hired hair stylists, Walmart floor workers and people who had worked on assembly lines and installed them in “foreclosure expert” jobs with no formal training, a Florida lawyer says.

In depositions released Tuesday, many of those workers testified that they barely knew what a mortgage was. Some couldn’t define the word “affidavit.” Others didn’t know what a complaint was, or even what was meant by personal property. Most troubling, several said they knew they were lying when they signed the foreclosure affidavits and that they agreed with the defense lawyers’ accusations about document fraud.

“The mortgage servicers hired people who would never question authority,” said Peter Ticktin, a Deerfield Beach, Fla., lawyer who is defending 3,000 homeowners in foreclosure cases. As part of his work, Ticktin gathered 150 depositions from bank employees who say they signed foreclosure affidavits without reviewing the documents or ever laying eyes on them — earning them the name “robo-signers.”

The deposed employees worked for the mortgage service divisions of banks such as Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, as well as for mortgage servicers like Litton Loan Servicing, a division of Goldman Sachs.

Full Story: Banks’ Foreclosure ‘Robo-Signers’ Were Hair Stylists, Teens, Walmart Workers: Lawsuit.

JPMorgan Profit Jumps 23%, But Foreclosure Scandal Looms

JPMorgan Chase, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, reported a 23 percent increase in profit Wednesday, thanks to a significant drop in provisions set aside to cover losses on home mortgages and credit cards.

But the joy that comes from $4.4 billion in earnings and from beating Wall Street’s expectations could be short-lived as the New York-based lender faces mounting investigations and likely lawsuits over its admitted sloppiness in handling home foreclosures. Regulators from all 50 states announced a coordinated investigation today into big banks’ foreclosure practices. Expected losses industry-wide could reach into the tens of billions, if not more.

The megabank, which kicked off earnings season for large financial firms, decreased its provisions for losses by more than $5 billion compared to the same period last year, allowing the firm to book its increased profit despite a $3 billion drop in revenue. Analysts and investors are poring over JPMorgan’s earnings report to gauge the coming announcements by lenders like Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo

Full Story: JPMorgan Profit Jumps 23%, But Foreclosure Scandal Looms.

Backdoor Draft Winding Down — For Now

Don’t call it an all-volunteer army.

Over the nine years and counting that the United States has been at war, about 145,000 members of the military have had their service extended against their will. About 4,000 are still serving involuntarily, mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon’s “stop-loss” authority lets the armed services extend the enlistment of service members beyond their contractually agreed-to separation date during wartime. Its use became common after former president George W. Bush dramatically over-extended the nation’s armed forces by choosing to invade Iraq when he wasn’t even done in Afghanistan yet.

Stop loss is now winding down. Of the three services, only the Army is still using it and the last soldiers held back against their will are scheduled to finally go home in March 2011. The Pentagon now uses the Deployment Extension Incentive Pay program to encourages soldiers to voluntarily extend their deployments.

Full Story: Backdoor Draft Winding Down — For Now.

Secret Donations Could Haunt 2012

Howard Fineman

Republicans, buoyed this fall by freelance groups spending secret donations on TV ads, should fear what comes next: an especially vicious GOP presidential race in 2012 fueled, ironically, by that same kind of cash.

In other words, the Swift Boaters of ’04 could be back in ’12 — this time torpedoing potential Republican nominees — while President Obama can stay safely ashore.

Hard-core conservative “independent” money, roaming the landscape for contenders to attack, could play havoc; so, too, could hidden money from the left, moving by stealth to cripple electable candidates.

Full Story: Secret Donations Could Haunt 2012.

Mystery shiny objects floating over Manhattan spark UFO frenzy

A mysterious shiny object floating high over Manhattan’s West Side set off a flurry of reports and wild speculation Wednesday that a UFO was flying over the city.

Police and the FAA said they began getting flooded with calls starting at 1:30 p.m. from people reporting a silvery object hovering high over Chelsea.

Law enforcement sources said they believed the object was likely some sort of balloon, but as of late Wednesday they had not confirmed exactly what it is.

Full Story: Mystery shiny objects floating over Manhattan spark UFO frenzy.

Jesse Ventura: US should abolish inherently corrupt political parties

Relishes hosting conspiracy show because I love to attack our government’; ABC host: Ventura’s most ‘out there’ theory is US was warned about 9/11

A dozen years after shocking the nation with an upset win as an Independent candidate in the 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election, former wrestler Jesse Ventura doesn’t support third parties anymore.

“Win if you can, lose if you must, but ALWAYS cheat,” Jesse “The Body” Ventura infamously said in his days as a wrestling villain, but Tuesday night he blasted such Machiavellian philosophies.

Full Story: Jesse Ventura: US should abolish inherently corrupt political parties | Raw Story.

Tom Coburn Predicts The End Of Private Health Insurance

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) — a vocal opponent of health care reform — made several apocalyptic predictions about the U.S. health care system during an appearance at the Republican Women’s Club of Tulsa County on Tuesday:

“There will be no insurance industry left in three years,” Coburn told the Republican Women’s Club of Tulsa County.

“That is by design. You’re going to make insurance unaffordable for everyone — which is what they want. Because if there’s no private insurance left, what’s left? Government-centered, government-run, single-payer health care.”

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Tom Coburn Predicts The End Of Private Health Insurance.

OPS: GOOD!

Exclusive: Chamber Receives At Least $885,000 From Over 80 Foreign Companies In Disclosed Donations Alone

Last week, ThinkProgress published an exclusive story about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s foreign fundraising operation. We noted the Chamber raises money from foreign-owned businesses for its 501(c)(6) entity, the same account that finances its unprecedented $75 million dollar partisan attack ad campaign. While the Chamber is notoriously secretive, the thrust of our story involved the disclosure of fundraising documents U.S. Chamber staffers had been distributing to solicit foreign (even state-owned) companies to donate directly to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6).

We documented three different ways the Chamber fundraises from foreign corporations: (1) An internal fundraising program called “Business Councils” used to solicit direct, largely foreign contributions to the Chamber, (2) Direct contributions from foreign multinationals like BP, Siemens, and Shell Oil, and (3) From the Chamber’s network of AmCham affiliates, which are foreign chambers of the Chamber composed of American and foreign companies. The Chamber quickly acknowledged that it receives direct, foreign money, but simply replied, “We are not obligated to discuss our internal procedures.” Instead of providing any documentation or proof to demonstrate foreign money is not being used for electioneering purposes, the Chamber launched an aggressive media strategy to first, attack ThinkProgress with petty name-calling and second, to confuse the media by highlighting the Chamber’s relatively minor AmCham fundraising, which the Chamber says (also without documentation) totals “approximately $100,000” from all 115 international AmCham chapters. The Chamber and the media largely ignored ThinkProgress’ revelation about the Chamber’s direct foreign fundraising to its 501(c)(6) used for attack ads.

Yesterday, the Chamber’s chief lobbyist Bruce Josten, who has been spoon-feeding much of the media distortions about our report, went on Fox News (whose parent company donated $1 million to the Chamber recently for its ad campaign) to again try to dilute the issue by dissembling about the Chamber’s fundraising and membership. “We have probably 60 or so foreign multi-national companies in our membership that we have had for decades, many of which have been in the United States for half a century or a century,” said Josten.

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Exclusive: Chamber Receives At Least $885,000 From Over 80 Foreign Companies In Disclosed Donations Alone.

Over A Million Jobs Lost In Districts Where Pro-Outsourcing Chamber Advertises

Two simple facts remain irrefutable when it comes to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s election spending. First, the Chamber accepts foreign money, which by its own admission goes into a general 501(c)(6) account. Second, the Chamber is buying massive amounts of political advertising from that account — just this week, the Chamber spent an unprecedented $10 million on advertising in competitive House and Senate districts.

The Chamber has yet to reveal who, exactly, is funding these attack ads, though they claim we should trust them that foreign money is not being used. While that remains an open question, the Chamber’s political agenda is not: it has long advocated for policies that outsource American jobs to foreign countries. The Chamber’s CEO, Tom Donohue, frequently defends outsourcing: for example, in 2004, he said “there are legitimate values in outsourcing — not only jobs, but work.” Recently, the Chamber came out against a Senate bill that would have discouraged outsourcing.

Today, a new report by the nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog Campaign Money Watch found that more than 1.4 million jobs were outsourced since 1994 in the nine states in which the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending significant money. The group also found that more than 184,000 jobs were lost to outsourcing in the 22 congressional districts in which the Chamber has spent $4.8 million on political ads in the same time period.

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Over A Million Jobs Lost In Districts Where Pro-Outsourcing Chamber Advertises.

News Corporation Shareholders Rebel Against Company’s Political Donations

In August, News Corporation — the media company owned by right-wing tycoon Rupert Murdoch and the operator of Fox News — gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. Several weeks later, it donated another $1 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

When asked about the RGA donation, Rupert Murdoch explained: “It had nothing to do with Fox News. The RGA [gift] was actually [a result of] my friendship with John Kasich.” As ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser reported, there are laws against corporate managers treating a publicly-traded corporation as if it were their own personal bank account. The Supreme Court in Delaware, where News Corp. is incorporated, has made it clear that “[c]orporate officers and directors are not permitted to use their position of trust and confidence to further their private interests.”

Now, shareholders may be taking notice of the potential illegality outlined by Millhiser. The New York Times reported today that The Nathan Cummings Foundation, a shareholder of News Corp., wrote a letter to the company’s board objecting to the company’s political donations, and warned against the use of “corporate treasury funds to further the personal political agendas of corporate management.” This afternoon, Media Matters obtained a statement from another investor, F&C Investments, which says it will oppose the re-election of the Chairman of the Audit Committee at News Corp.’s annual meeting this Friday in response to the donation controversy. F&C says it, too, is concerned about shareholder money being used to further the political goals of “individuals” within the company:

Full Story: ThinkProgress » News Corporation Shareholders Rebel Against Company’s Political Donations.

More Tea Party Hilarity

Matt Taibbi ;

Quelle surprise! So it turns out that one after another of the Tea Party candidates is in one way or another mooching off the government. The latest series of hilarious disclosures center around Alaska’s GI-Joe-bearded windbag Senatorial candidate, Joe Miller, who appears to have run virtually the entire gamut of government aid en route to becoming a staunch, fist-shaking opponent of the welfare state.

Miller’s pomposity and piety with regard to government aid programs has all along been in line with the usual screechingly hysterical self-righteousness Tea Party candidates bring to such matters, railing against Obamacare and other “entitlement” programs and promising to end the “welfare state.” That makes it all the more delicious now that he and his family have been exposed for taking state medical aid, unemployment insurance, farm subsidies, hell, even for using state equipment to run a private political campaign.

Back in June, Miller was saying this about his Republican primary opponent Lisa Murkowski, blasting her for supporting a state health care program:

Full Story: More Tea Party Hilarity — RollingStone.com.

How Democracy Dies: Lessons From a Master – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig

Chris Hedges

The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes spent his life battling the assault on democracy by tyrants. It is disheartening to be reminded that he lost. But he understood that the hardest struggle for humankind is often stating and understanding the obvious. Aristophanes, who had the temerity to portray the ruling Greek tyrant, Cleon, as a dog, is the perfect playwright to turn to in trying to grasp the danger posed to us by movements from the tea party to militias to the Christian right, as well as the bankrupt and corrupt power elite that no longer concerns itself with the needs of its citizens. He saw the same corruption 2,400 years ago. He feared correctly that it would extinguish Athenian democracy. And he struggled in vain to rouse Athenians from their slumber.

There is a yearning by tens of millions of Americans, lumped into a diffuse and fractious movement, to destroy the intellectual and scientific rigor of the Enlightenment. They seek out of ignorance and desperation to create a utopian society based on “biblical law.” They want to transform America’s secular state into a tyrannical theocracy. These radicals, rather than the terrorists who oppose us, are the gravest threat to our open society. They have, with the backing of hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate money, gained tremendous power. They peddle pseudoscience such as “Intelligent Design” in our schools. They keep us locked into endless and futile wars of imperialism. They mount bigoted crusades against gays, immigrants, liberals and Muslims. They turn our judiciary, in the name of conservative values, over to corporations. They have transformed our liberal class into hand puppets for corporate power. And we remain meek and supine.

Full Story: Chris Hedges: How Democracy Dies: Lessons From a Master – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig.

The Foreclosure Game

Tricks and Traps in the Fine Print

By RALPH NADER

This time the big banks and mortgage servicing companies, with their long, one-sided fine print contracts, may have outsmarted themselves. The newspaper headlines and the network television news are blazing news of the erupting fraudulent foreclosure process. This long-overdue coverage is generating public visibility and suddenly hundreds of thousands of foreclosures may be questioned due to what one commentator delicately called “flawed paperwork.”

That is a euphemism for fraudulently executed contracts violative of state laws regarding home title changes.

As usual, the jig was up only after some lawsuits were filed by foreclosed homeowners asserting that there was no proof of ownership of the mortgage which is necessary to evict and take back the house or apartment building.

Full Story: CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names.

Insurers Denied Health Coverage to 1 in 7 People, Citing Pre-Existing Conditions

The nation’s four largest for-profit health insurers denied coverage to more than 651,000 people over a three-year period, citing pre-existing conditions, according to an analysis of insurer data detailed in a Congressional investigation.

Between Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group, and WellPoint, that averages out to a denial of coverage for one out of every seven applicants, according to an Energy and Commerce Committee memo about the investigation.

The memo, released by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak, both Democrats, touts provisions in the health care reform bill that address pre-existing condition denials.

Full Story: On The Hill: Insurers Denied Health Coverage to 1 in 7 People, Citing Pre-Existing Conditions.

America´s Shadow Class War and the 2010 Elections. The Rich are Getting Richer.

The 2010 election is turning into a class war. The wealthy and the powerful started it.

This is a strange development. President Obama, after all, has been working overtime to save capitalism. Wall Street is doing just fine and the rich are getting richer again. The financial reform bill passed by Congress was moderate, not radical.

Nonetheless, corporations and affluent individuals are pouring tens of millions of dollars into attack ads aimed almost exclusively at Democrats. One of the biggest political players, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, accepts money from foreign sources.

The chamber piously insists that none of the cash from abroad is going into its ad campaigns. But without full disclosure, there’s no way of knowing if that’s true or simply an accounting trick. And the chamber is just one of many groups engaged in an election-year spending spree

Full Story: America´s Shadow Class War and the 2010 Elections. The Rich are Getting Richer..

Illegal Global Honey trade discovered: U.S. Honey groups furious

Federal officials have indicted and named 17 defendants including companies and individuals ranging from German import companies and Chinese nationals for “acting in concert” to import honey from China into the United States by illegal means which avoided the payment of duties and allowed product adulterated with antibiotics to enter the country. U.S. v. Wolff was filed in the U.S. District Court of Illinois on August 31, 2010.

ALW Food group operated out of Hamburg and had its honey operations within Europe, a U.S. operation in Chicago, Illinois as well as a company in Beijing, China where it obtained Chinese-origin honey from various suppliers for sale in the U.S.

Between 2002 and 2009, 606 entries of mislabeled and adulterated honey were shipped to the United States through many countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Russia to avoid declaring China as the country of origin and thereby avoiding approximately $78 million in antidumping duties applicable to Chinese-origin honey.

Full Story: Illegal Global Honey trade discovered: U.S. Honey groups furious – Santa Ana food | Examiner.com.

Collapsing empire watch

Glenn Greenwald:

It’s easy to say and easy to document, but quite difficult to really internalize, that the United States is in the process of imperial collapse. Every now and then, however, one encounters certain facts which compellingly and viscerally highlight how real that is. Here’s the latest such fact, from a new study in Health Affairs by Columbia Health Policy Professors Peter A. Muennig and Sherry A. Glied (h/t):

In 1950, the United States was fifth among the leading industrialized nations with respect to female life expectancy at birth, surpassed only by Sweden, Norway, Australia, and the Netherlands. The last available measure of female life expectancy had the United States ranked at forty-sixth in the world. As of September 23, 2010, the United States ranked forty-ninth for both male and female life expectancy combined.

Just to underscore the rapidity of the decline, as recently as 1999, the U.S. was ranked by the World Health Organization as 24th in life expectancy. It’s now 49th. There are other similarly potent indicators. In 2009, the National Center for Health Statistics ranked the U.S. in 30th place in global infant mortality rates. Out of 20 “rich countries” measured by UNICEF, the U.S. ranks 19th in “child well-being.” Out of 33 nations measured by the OECD, the U.S. ranks 27th for student math literacy and 22nd for student science literacy. In 2009, the World Economic Forum ranked 133 nations in terms of “soundness” of their banks, and the U.S. was ranked in 108th place, just behind Tanzania and just ahead of Venezuela.

Full Story: Collapsing empire watch – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

US bankers set for record pay and bonuses for second year

Pay and bonuses at US banks and hedge funds are set to rise 4% this year – outpacing the growth in revenues – study finds

US bankers are set for record compensation for a second consecutive year, shattering both the illusion of pay-reform and the expectation that bank bonuses would be tempered while the US economy remains weak.

With third-quarter figures from JP Morgan expected to begin a bumper profit reporting season tomorrow, a study of more than three dozen banks, hedge funds, money-management and securities firms estimates they will pay $144bn (£90bn) in salary and benefits this year, a 4% increase on 2009.

The research, by the Wall Street Journal, found pay was rising faster than revenue, which gained 3% to $433bn, despite a slowdown in stock trading.

And while profits have fallen from their 2007 peak, the percentage directed to compensation has increased by 23%.

Full Story: US bankers set for record pay and bonuses for second year | Business | The Guardian.

Rand Paul And Jack Conway Face Off On Spending Cuts, Education (VIDEO)

Kentucky Senate hopefuls Jack Conway and Rand Paul faced off in their second debate Monday night, sparring on spending cuts, education, tax cuts and the role of the federal government in general. Approximately 600 people gathered in a Northern Kentucky University auditorium for the hour-long event, during which each candidate frequently accused the other of distorting his record.

SPENDING CUTS: Democrats have frequently challenged Republicans to name spending cuts to match their slash-the-deficit rhetoric, and one of the first questions of the debate challenged Paul and Conway to name three specific ways they would cut spending if elected. Paul said he supported a balanced-budget amendment, a “compromise from Republicans and Democrats that the entire budget is open” — meaning all programs are on the table for potential cuts — repealing the unspent TARP and stimulus funds, and eliminating waste from earmarks.

Conway countered that Paul’s solutions “won’t help us in the short term,” pointing out that passing a balanced-budget amendment could take years. “We have to get about the business of actually balancing budgets,” said Conway. “Now here’s an area where Rand Paul talks the talk, but he hasn’t walked the walk.” Conway said he would allow Medicare to purchase in bulk, work to close “offshore tax loopholes and special interest provisions” that allow corporations to ship jobs overseas, and institute pay-as-you-go rules.

Full Story: Rand Paul And Jack Conway Face Off On Spending Cuts, Education (VIDEO).

Wind Power Backbone Sought Off Atlantic Coast – NYTimes.com

Google and a New York financial firm have each agreed to invest heavily in a proposed $5 billion transmission backbone for future offshore wind farms along the Atlantic Seaboard that could ultimately transform the region’s electrical map.

The 350-mile underwater spine, which could remove some critical obstacles to wind power development, has stirred excitement among investors, government officials and environmentalists who have been briefed on it.

Google and Good Energies, an investment firm specializing in renewable energy, have each agreed to take 37.5 percent of the equity portion of the project. They are likely to bring in additional investors, which would reduce their stakes.

If they hold on to their stakes, that would come to an initial investment of about $200 million apiece in the first phase of construction alone, said Robert L. Mitchell, the chief executive of Trans-Elect, the Maryland-based transmission-line company that proposed the venture.

Full Story: Wind Power Backbone Sought Off Atlantic Coast – NYTimes.com.

How to Save American Capitalism, in 809 Words

American capitalism is broken. So is the Democratic-Republican duopoly that supports it. Neither can be fixed. The system is collapsing. A power vacuum is beginning to open.

As murderous as our dying system is, it still features a veneer of sanity. What comes next will certainly be worse. It will probably be Very Bad. Dictatorship? A 21st century po-mo variant of fascism? Warlordism? A Christianist Taliban-style terror state, as depicted in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”?

Before moronic right-wing tyrants seize power, I urge in my new book “The Anti-American Manifesto,” the left should do it first. Well, first they have to become a big-L Left: organized, and with a program the people of the Soon-to-be Former United States of America can get behind.

Full Story: How to Save American Capitalism, in 809 Words | CommonDreams.org.

U.S. Economy Is 11.5 Million Jobs Short, EPI Says

Even though the unemployment rate remained flat at 9.6 percent in September, the labor market would now need to add a total of about 11.5 million jobs to restore the pre-recession rate, according to analysis from Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

The economy lost about 95,000 jobs last month, including temporary Census workers. Not including Census positions, roughly 18,000 jobs were lost, as the private sector addition of 64,000 jobs couldn’t offset the 83,000 jobs cut by state and local governments, whose unusually severe deficits have lead analyst Meredith Whitney to predict that the next major financial crisis will come from municipal debt defaults. The state and local cuts included 58,000 teaching jobs.

The true numbers could be even worse. As HuffPost’s Shahien Nasiripour notes, the reported numbers of jobs lost in July and August were revised up after the initial reports.

According to Shierholz’s analysis, the economy is down about 8.1 million jobs from where it was when the recession began, in December 2007. Considering population growth, the economy should have added 3.4 million jobs during the recession, Shierholz notes. To fully recover, the country would need to add 11.5 million jobs. Check out the EPI’s chart:

Full Story: U.S. Economy Is 11.5 Million Jobs Short, EPI Says (CHART).

Chamber Argued That Public Skepticism Was Proper Price To Pay For Donor Secrecy

As it withstands withering attacks from Democrats for failing to disclose its donors, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is responding by accusing its critics of launching a partisan witch-hunt. It’s been effective pushback, echoed largely by conservatives who see the debate as further evidence of a White House hostile to the business community.

But if the Chamber is surprised at the treatment it’s received, it shouldn’t be. When the business lobby was arguing the very idea that donor disclosure isn’t necessary, it made the point that balance already exists: those who fail to name donors face an intrinsic if not justified punishment in the form of public skepticism.

In the amicus brief it filed in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission — which allows corporate expenditures in political campaigns — the Chamber appears to have predicted the backlash it is now facing:

Full Story: Chamber Argued That Public Skepticism Was Proper Price To Pay For Donor Secrecy.

How GM “Lied” About The Electric Car

The Chevy Volt has been hailed as General Motors’ electric savior. Now, as GM officially rolls out the Volt this week for public consumption, we’re told the much-touted fuel economy was misstated and GM “lied” about the car being all-electric.

In the past, and based on GM’s claims, we’ve gone so far as to call the Volt GM’s “Jesus Car.” And why wouldn’t we call it that? We were told the Volt would achieve 230 MPG fuel economy and would always use the electric drivetrain to motivate the wheels — only using the onboard gasoline engine as a “range extender” for charging the batteries. It now turns out that not only were those fuel economy claims misleading, but the gasoline engine is actually used to motivate the wheels — making the Volt potentially nothing more than a very advanced hybrid car and pushing some automotive journalists like Scott Oldham at Edmunds.com to claim “GM lied to the world” about it.

Full Story: How GM “Lied” About The Electric Car.

Iranian, Chinese Computers Also Discovered to Have Been Hacking D.C. Internet Voting System

Startling testimony offered by the U. of Michigan computer science professor whose team penetrated D.C.’s ‘pilot program’ server for what was to have been a live election beginning in just days…

A University of Michigan computer scientist and his team were not the only ones attempting to hack the Internet Vote scheme that Washington D.C. had planned to roll out for actual use with military and overseas voters in this November’s mid-term election.

According to testimony given to a D.C. City Council committee last Friday by J. Alex Halderman, asst. professor of electrical engineering and computer science at University of Michigan, hackers from Iran and China were also attempting to access the very same network infrastructure, even as his own team of students had successfully done so, taking over the entirety of the Internet Voting system which had been opened for a first-of-its-kind live test.

Full Story: The BRAD BLOG : Iranian, Chinese Computers Also Discovered to Have Been Hacking D.C. Internet Voting System.

72 Hill staffers traded stocks in companies their bosses oversee: WSJ

The perception among many Americans is that there’s no shortage of corruption in Washington or on Wall Street, and a new report finds possibly unseemly activities between dozens of Capitol Hill staffers and the businesses their offices tasked with keeping honest.

At least seventy-two Congressional staffers traded stock shares of companies their bosses were involved with overseeing and writing laws for in 2008 and 2009, a Wall Street Journal investigation found Monday.

Although the aides in question denied that they were involved with unethical activity, their positions afford them access to information that individuals who are trading could profit from. “Even if they had done so,” the Journal notes, “it would be legal, because insider-trading laws don’t apply to Congress.”

Full Story: 72 Hill staffers traded stocks in companies their bosses oversee: WSJ | Raw Story.

British media scrambles to prevent Murdoch takeover of Sky Broadcasting

UK’s largest newspaper publisher, television network may soon be under one roof

rupertmurdochsmiles British media scrambles to prevent Murdoch takeover of Sky BroadcastingAn unprecedented coalition of British media outlets have banded together in recent weeks, insisting the government intervene in a planned buyout of British Sky Broadcasting by American media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

Murdoch, owner of Fox News Channel parent company News Corporation, already has a 39 percent stake in Sky, but he’s looking to up that to 100. The broadcaster’s total value is estimated at around 12.3 billion euros, according to The Financial Times.

Raising objections to the takeover were the heads of the BBC; Associated Newspapers, which owns The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail; The Guardian Media Group; The Telegraph Media Group and Trinity Mirror, which owns The Daily Mirror: they and other all signed a petition directed toward UK Business Secretary Vince Cable, asking that he consider halting the proposed 8 billion euro buyout.

Full Story: British media scrambles to prevent Murdoch takeover of Sky Broadcasting | Raw Story.

Oregon county decriminalizes heroin, meth, cocaine and shoplifting, among others

It’s crunch-time for many municipalities across the United States, but for one county in Oregon, that means a little more than in most.

The district attorney in Multnomah County, the state’s most populous area with over 710,000 residents, announced recently that it can no longer prosecute dozens of crimes thanks to an ever-shrinking budget.

Caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine? It’s a ticket. So’s a hit-and-run accident. Small-time shoplifting? You’ll still get arrested, but it’s still just a violation.

Full Story: Oregon county decriminalizes heroin, meth, cocaine and shoplifting, among others | Raw Story.

Nine Months After the Quake – a Million Haitians Slowly Dying

“If it gets any worse,” said Wilda, a homeless Haitian mother, “we’re not going to survive.” Mothers and grandmothers surrounding her nodded solemnly.

We are in a broiling “tent” with a group of women trying to raise their families in a public park. Around the back of the Haitian National Palace, the park hosts a regal statute of Alexandre Petion in its middle. It is now home to 5,000 people displaced by the January 2010 earthquake.

Nine months after the quake, over a million people are still homeless in Haiti.

Full Story: t r u t h o u t | Nine Months After the Quake – a Million Haitians Slowly Dying.

BP Contract Worker “Trenches Dug To Bury Oil On Beaches”

This man I am interviewing contacted me because he had some things he needed to get out to clear his conscience. I was even surprised at some of the things he said .

I know this video is longer than any I have ever done before but it is critical that

this information get out please spread it everywhere and help me do this. THIS is NEVER BEFORE HEARD information from a recently released BP Contract Worker who worked from Panama City to The Florida Alabama Line

UFOs: US Air Force Officers Testify on UFO Sightings at National Press Club – National US Intelligence | Examiner.com

Six courageous U.S. Air Force officers and one passionate researcher assembled at the prestigious National Press Club in Washington, DC on Sept. 27th to give their intriguing testimony of personal involvement in a major UFO cover-up. For an excellent 18-minute video summary of this landmark event on the MSNBC website, click here.

Below are key excerpts of numerous fascinating articles in the mainstream media which covered this historic event. Each excerpt is taken verbatim from the major media website listed at the link provided. The most important sentences are highlighted for those with limited time.

The exciting news is that several of these Air Force officers related events in which nuclear missiles were deactivated in their silos as a result of UFO interference. The message from these incidents seems to be that humanity should stop playing with nuclear bombs. Could it be that those responsible for these UFOs don’t want us to destroy ourselves and are discreetly sending messages to those who manage these lethal weapons? Other Air Force officers have given similar testimony, which you can read here.

Full Story: UFOs: US Air Force Officers Testify on UFO Sightings at National Press Club – National US Intelligence | Examiner.com.

Hey, Small Spender

Paul Krugman

Here’s the narrative you hear everywhere: President Obama has presided over a huge expansion of government, but unemployment has remained high. And this proves that government spending can’t create jobs.

Here’s what you need to know: The whole story is a myth. There never was a big expansion of government spending. In fact, that has been the key problem with economic policy in the Obama years: we never had the kind of fiscal expansion that might have created the millions of jobs we need.

Ask yourself: What major new federal programs have started up since Mr. Obama took office? Health care reform, for the most part, hasn’t kicked in yet, so that can’t be it. So are there giant infrastructure projects under way? No. Are there huge new benefits for low-income workers or the poor? No. Where’s all that spending we keep hearing about? It never happened.

To be fair, spending on safety-net programs, mainly unemployment insurance and Medicaid, has risen — because, in case you haven’t noticed, there has been a surge in the number of Americans without jobs and badly in need of help. And there were also substantial outlays to rescue troubled financial institutions, although it appears that the government will get most of its money back. But when people denounce big government, they usually have in mind the creation of big bureaucracies and major new programs. And that just hasn’t taken place.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Hey, Small Spender – NYTimes.com.

Mad (as Hell) Doctors Push Universal Health Care

Ever since President Barak Obama’s health care overhaul was passed by Congress in March, health care reform has been moved off the front pages, and discussion has died away.

But next week it’s coming back, to Sacramento at least.

A group of doctors is touring the state, visiting 22 cities and holding informational colloquies to push for a single-payer system that would provide medical coverage for all.

They call themselves the Mad as Hell Doctors, and they are calling themselves that in earnest. They say they are mad because the discussion of reform of the health care system has been co-opted by industry: insurance companies, drug companies and for-profit health care systems. The industry has prevented any serious discussion of a government-run program providing coverage for all Americans, like the systems in Canada and Great Britain, they said.

“Our public policy is being hijacked by the industry to manipulate public policy so that we have health care policy that is more about profits than about health,” said Dr. Paul Hockfeld, an Oregon-based, emergency room physician who founded the group.

The Mad as Hell Doctors Tour of California comes to the steps of the Capitol for a rally and information session at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The group is going to be in Davis on Sunday.

The tour’s motto is: “This fall the rubber glove meets the road.”

Full Story: Mad Doctors Push Universal Health Care – Progressive Democrats of America.

Axelrod: Chamber must prove foreign money allegations false – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has the burden of proving false the charge by Democrats that the business group is funneling foreign money to Republican campaigns.

Axelrod was pressed by CBS’ Bob Schieffer on Sunday for evidence that the foreign campaign contributions benefiting the GOP is more than “peanuts.”

“Do you have any evidence that it’s not, Bob?” Axelrod said on “Face the Nation.” “The fact is that the Chamber has asserted that, but they won’t release any information about where their campaign money is coming from. And that’s at the core of the problem.”

Full Story: Axelrod: Chamber must prove foreign money allegations false – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

Status change means Dutch Antilles no longer exists

The Dutch Caribbean dependency the Netherlands Antilles has ceased to exist with a change of the five islands’ constitutional status.

Curacao and St Maarten have become autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, joining Aruba, which gained the status in 1986.

Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba are now autonomous special municipalities of the kingdom.

The Netherlands retains responsibility for defence and foreign policy.

The Dutch government will also have initial oversight over Curacao’s finances under a debt-relief arrangement.

Full Story: BBC News – Status change means Dutch Antilles no longer exists.

“Saying you’re a fiscal hawk doesn’t necessarily make it true”

Alexi Giannoulias demolishes Mark Kirk’s lies about being a “fiscal hawk” during a debate on Meet the Press

“Stealing Democracy”

DNC Ad: “Stealing Democracy”

Does Your Food Contain Genetically Modified Organisms?

Okay, here’s your chance, with a new way for you to know that your food does not contain genetically modified organisms. The Non-GMO Project, a collection of top suppliers and advocates in the organic industry, and the only no-GMO certifier in North America, has kicked off a GM-free month.

Ruh-roh — October includes Halloween. Since half of the refined sugar in the US is genetically modified, coming from GM sugar beets, finding GM-free candy might be a little hard. Though GM beets are now illegal until further notice, what’s on the shelves today is most likely made from last year’s crops.

The NGP product page lets you see what’s already verified as being GMO-free and what’s under review. You could pass out candy bars made by:

Full Story: Does Your Food Contain Genetically Modified Organisms?.

Currency wars loom as finance talks fail

Global finance leaders failed yesterday to resolve deep differences that threaten the outbreak of a full-blown currency war.

Various nations are seeking to devalue their currencies as a way to boost exports and jobs during hard economic times. The concern is that such efforts could trigger a repeat of the trade wars that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s as country after country raises protectionist barriers to imported goods.

The International Monetary Fund wrapped up two days of talks with a communique that pledged to “deepen” its work in the area of currency movements, including conducting studies on the issue.

Full Story: Currency wars loom as finance talks fail – World – NZ Herald News.

How to Fix the Economy, Experts Ignore the U.S. Trade Deficit

Foreigners now own between 15 to 20 percent of all U.S. businesses and only employ about 3.5 percent of the workforce. American businesses and jobs are for sale and the U.S. will continue on this destructive path until U.S. economists can see the rug being pulled from under them.

On September 7th, 2010, a highly distinguished Bloomberg Businessweek panel of experts discussed How to Fix the U.S. Economy [1]. These out-of-touch experts failed to discuss what most Americans know the key problem is, the U.S. $7.85 Trillion Trade Deficit which causes outsourcing and off-shoring job losses. In addition, due to constant trade deficit, job losses equate to serious loss of tax revenues putting the U.S. in more debt and [2] threatening our future. This goes to show how out-of-touch with reality distinguished experts can be in the U.S.A. We need experts who not only can think outside the box but can relate to the Millions of Americans who can’t find work. For example, they at least could have acknowledged the trade deficit and how it has affected the economy. They might look at some out of the box type proposals such as The Balance of Trade Restoration Act of 2006 [3, 4] which would not violate the WTO. America’s trade deficit is nearly 10 times worse than any other trade deficit country! Pretending that China’s currency manipulation will be solved and cure our trade deficit problems is another fantasy economists wrapped up in “free trade” ideology have, rather than understanding that global economic greed can’t be stopped without a proper trade policy.

We need a trade policy that stops cheating such as a balance of trade proposal that will help bring back U.S. manufacturing jobs. Until then, the trade deficit will just keep empowering foreigners to cheat, make huge profits, and buy up American businesses with their reinvested U.S. dollars they earn. Foreigners now own between 15 to 20 percent of all U.S. businesses and only employ about 3.5 percent of the workforce [5]. American businesses and jobs are for sale and the U.S. will continue on this destructive path until U.S. economists can see the rug being pulled from under them.

Full Story: How to Fix the Economy, Experts Ignore the U.S. Trade Deficit | Economy In Crisis.

The High Cost of Neglecting Manufacturing

As our American owned companies produce less, they become inefficient, uncompetitive, and ultimately go out of business.

The United States is considered to be a rich country. We have accumulated much abundance through most of the twentieth century, as we were a very productive country whose wealth derived to a great extent from manufacturing. Our companies invented and produced many of the things we needed plus much of what the rest of the world needed.

Today, American owned corporations manufacture less and less each year and import more each year. This difference between the amount we import and export has created a huge balance of trade deficit. This has caused us to lose over 1 million high paying manufacturing jobs this year alone.

As our American owned companies produce less, they become inefficient, uncompetitive, and ultimately go out of business or are easily taken over by foreign owned corporations with huge supplies of our cash generated through their trade surplus with us.

Full Story: The High Cost of Neglecting Manufacturing | Economy In Crisis.

Video: Arianna Debates WSJ Columnist About Jobs Crisis, Economy On CNN (VIDEO)

Arianna debated Wall Street Journal columnist Stephen Moore about the continuing jobs crisis and the state of the economy. Arianna argued that the initial stimulus had not been big enough, and we’re seeing that play out now with persistently high unemployment. She also said it’s imperative that we begin rebuilding our nation’s aging infrastructure.

For more on the how the middle class is being battered and abandoned and what we can do about it, check out Arianna’s new book, “Third World America.”

WATCH:

Full Story: HuffPost TV: Arianna Debates WSJ Columnist About Jobs Crisis, Economy On CNN (VIDEO).

Dana Milbank: Glenn Beck ‘Giving Legitimacy To The Violent Fringe’

Glenn Beck has a friend in California.

“I would’ve never started watching Fox News if it wasn’t for the fact that Beck was on there,” says this friend, Byron Williams. “And it was the things he did, it was the things he exposed, that blew my mind.”

“I do enjoy Glenn Beck,” Williams also says, “and the reason why I enjoy that is because… no other channel will speak about the same things that he’s talking about, and if you go and investigate those things you’ll find out that they’re true.”

Unfortunately for Beck, this satisfied viewer currently resides at the Santa Rita Jail near Oakland and stands accused of a freeway shootout with police. Williams pleaded not guilty to four counts of attempted murder of a police officer. But according to court documents, he said he had been on a mission to kill people at the liberal Tides Foundation, which happens to be a favorite Beck target.

Full Story: Conspiracy theorists find validation from Glenn Beck.

Government had been warned for months about troubles in mortgage servicer industry

Consumer advocates and lawyers warned federal officials in recent years that the U.S. foreclosure system was designed to seize people’s homes as fast as possible, often without regard to the rights of homeowners.

In recent days, amid reports that major lenders have used improper procedures and fraudulent paperwork to seize properties, some Obama administration officials have acknowledged they had been aware of flaws in how the mortgage industry pursues foreclosures.

But the officials said they could take only limited action to address the danger. In part, this was because they wanted lenders’ help carrying out federal programs to modify mortgages that had fallen into default or were poised to do so.

Full Story: Government had been warned for months about troubles in mortgage servicer industry.

Is There a Cure for Autoimmune Disease?

Isabel, a cute 10-year-old girl from Texas who loved riding horses, walked into my office a year and a half ago with one of the most severe cases of autoimmune disease I had ever seen. Her face was swollen, her skin was inflamed, her joints were swollen, her immune system was attacking her entire body–her muscles, her skin, her joints, her blood vessels, her liver, and her white and red blood cells. Isabel couldn’t squeeze her hand or make a fist. The tips of her fingers and toes were always cold from Raynaud’s disease that inflammed her blood vessels. She was tired and miserable and was losing her hair. Isabel was on elephant doses of intravenous steroids every three weeks just to keep her alive, and she was taking prednisone, aspirin, acid blockers, and methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug used to shut down the immune system daily.

Full Story: Mark Hyman, MD: Is There a Cure for Autoimmune Disease?.

10,000 wait in line at Cal Expo in bid to save their homes – Sacramento Business, Housing Market News

They came by the thousands, transforming normally festive Cal Expo into a venue emblematic of California’s nightmarish housing meltdown.

An estimated 10,000 people were in line Friday morning when the Cal Expo Pavilion’s doors opened on a five-day event aimed at helping distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The line for the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America’s “Save the Dream” event stretched from the Pavilion, through Cal Expo’s east parking lot, onto Exposition Boulevard and nearly to Ethan Way – a distance of half a mile.

Full Story: 10,000 wait in line at Cal Expo in bid to save their homes – Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee.

George W. Bush ‘Holed Up’ in Texas: Not Much Demand For Former President

Former President Bill Clinton is busy on the campaign trail, helping candidates in races from Florida to Washington state. His successor, George W. Bush? Holed up in Texas.

Bush left office deeply unpopular and sour on domestic politics. After leaving Washington and returning to Texas, he has kept a low profile, working on his memoir and appearing only occasionally at paid speeches. Aides say he has no plans to be a figure in this year’s elections, which could see major gains for the GOP.

Republicans, who paid electoral costs in 2006 and 2008 for Bush’s unpopularity, are hardly clamoring for the 43rd president to join them on the campaign trail. After all, an Associated Press-GfK poll last month found 55 percent of all Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Bush and 51 percent blame him for the economic crisis that began on his watch.

Full Story: George W. Bush ‘Holed Up’ in Texas: Not Much Demand For Former President.

How Hank Paulson’s inaction helped Goldman Sachs

Henry Paulson has received widespread acclaim for his bare-knuckled decision-making as the treasury secretary at the peak of the 2008 financial crisis, but former federal regulators say he missed multiple chances to contain the disaster.

Among the prime beneficiaries of Paulson’s inaction in 2006 and 2007 was Goldman Sachs, the investment banking behemoth he ran before he was named to former President George W. Bush’s Cabinet.

Paulson’s failure to take steps to curb risky mortgage lending also enabled top executives of other Wall Street firms to continue cashing big bonus checks, while less privileged Americans lost their jobs, their homes and their retirement savings in the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.

Full Story: How Hank Paulson’s inaction helped Goldman Sachs | McClatchy.

DNC Makes Major Ad Buy Accusing Chamber Of Potentially ‘Stealing’ Election

Ratcheting up the debate over the influence of outside groups in congressional elections, the Democratic National Committee has made a major ad purchase pushing the case that the November elections could very well be “stolen” by foreign influences.

The committee is airing a spot on national cable this coming week that turns an already harsh spotlight on the roles being played by former Bush strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie in addition to the Chamber of Commerce. Pivoting off reports that the business lobby has used foreign donations for its campaign activities, the spot ends with fairly conspicuous if not ominous shot of Chinese currency being stacked up — ostensibly for use against Democratic candidates.

“Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie: They’re Bush cronies. The US Chamber of Commerce: They’re shills for big business,” the ad goes. “And they’re stealing our democracy. Spending Millions from secret donors to elect Republicans to do their bidding in Congress. It appears they’re even taking secret foreign money to influence our elections. It’s incredible, Republicans benefiting from secret foreign money. Tell the Bush Crowd and the Chamber of Commerce – stop stealing our democracy.”

Full Story: DNC Makes Major Ad Buy Accusing Chamber Of Potentially ‘Stealing’ Election.

Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic

Anyone driving the twists of Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles recently may have glimpsed a Toyota Prius with a curious funnel-like cylinder on the roof. Harder to notice was that the person at the wheel was not actually driving.

The car is a project of Google, which has been working in secret but in plain view on vehicles that can drive themselves, using artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and mimic the decisions made by a human driver.

With someone behind the wheel to take control if something goes awry and a technician in the passenger seat to monitor the navigation system, seven test cars have driven 1,000 miles without human intervention and more than 140,000 miles with only occasional human control. One even drove itself down Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the steepest and curviest streets in the nation. The only accident, engineers said, was when one Google car was rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light.

Full Story: Smarter Than You Think – Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic – NYTimes.com.

Inside the Senate’s battle over climate change

The New Yorker:

How the Senate and the White House missed their best chance to deal with climate change.

Full Story: Inside the Senate’s battle over climate change : The New Yorker.

AP: Abortion doc’s murder may be linked to broader campaign

A federal grand jury is investigating whether the murder last year of Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation’s few late-term abortion providers, was connected to a broader case involving radical anti-abortion activists, according to a federal law enforcement official familiar with the case.

The official spoke Friday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation. The official said federal civil rights prosecutors were holding grand jury proceedings in Kansas City, looking into whether a broader case surrounded Tiller’s death.

Tiller was fatally shot in his Wichita church in May 2009 by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder, who admitted to the shooting and is serving a life prison sentence.

Full Story: AP: Abortion doc’s murder may be linked to broader campaign | Raw Story.

Report: Ohio Republican played Nazi dress-up games, allegedly to bond with son

An Ohio Republican and tea party favorite running for congress in the state’s 9th district used to spend weekends dressing up as a Nazi soldier, running around in the woods simulating combat with other SS-impersonators … And he says he did it to get closer to his son.

The story was broken by Atlantic editor Joshua Green, who appeared on a Friday broadcast of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher with revealing photos showing millionaire businessman Rich Iott in full Nazi regalia.

He was part of a group called Wiking, which still operates today and even has a web site. While their site specifically shuns the ideals behind the rise of the Nazi legions, it goes on to explain, “we are only interested in recreating [the soldier's] daily life, furthering our understanding of what it took to be a soldier, and at the same time having fun reliving history. We honor the men (and women) who really experienced the war, and we salute their courage and loyalty to put their lives on the line in defense of their native soil, no matter what nationality or government.”

Full Story: Report: Ohio Republican played Nazi dress-up games, allegedly to bond with son | Raw Story.

S&P: 60% of countries will be bankrupt within 50 years

Predicts US will have a debt of 415% of GDP by 2050

Some sixty percent of the world’s economies will be so in debt by 2060 that their debt will be downgraded to “junk” status, effectively bankrupting the countries, says a report from Standard & Poor’s ratings agency, which also warns that attempts to deal with the problem could cause social instability.

The report (PDF) — entitled Global Aging 2010: An Irreversible Truth — says that the proportion of the world’s population that is elderly is set to explode to such a degree that many countries will simply not be able to keep up with the ballooning costs of health care and other services.

Full Story: S&P: 60% of countries will be bankrupt within 50 years | Raw Story.

Major shift: California leans toward marijuana legalization

A new Field Poll highlighted Sunday in The San Francisco Chronicle (whose site has crashed as of this writing) suggests that the tide has turned in favor of medical marijuana legalization.

“In a dramatic shift of sentiment, nearly half of California’s likely voters now want to legalize marijuana use in the state, according to a new Field Poll,” the site’s authors write.

“The numbers have flipped (on Proposition 19) since our July poll,” Mark DiCamillo, the poll’s director, told the Chronicle. “That’s a major change in the direction of public feelings on legalizing marijuana.”

Full Story: Major shift: California leans toward marijuana legalization | Raw Story.

GOP Congressional Candidate Dan Webster’s Really Bad Math: The Entire World’s GDP Couldn’t Sustain U.S. Debt

Despite their history of running up the national debt when they are actually in power, leading conservatives have made complaining about the national debt a central theme of their political campaigns.

It was this theme that GOP candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Dan Webster was touting at a meeting with voters late last month. While fearmongering about the amount of public debt the United States now holds, the congressional candidate went as far as to say that “you could combine all the economies of the world and you could not sustain the borrowing that we’re doing”:

WEBSTER: We’re borrowing 4 billion dollars a day, that’s impossible. We are in trouble. We’re in big trouble. Even Hillary Clinton said two weeks ago that if the borrowing continues it will be a threat to national security. That’s not us. That’s them saying that. Even the congressional budget office has said that is unsustainable. You could combine all the economies of the world and you could not sustain the borrowing that we’re doing. So we have to turn off the faucet.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » GOP Congressional Candidate Dan Webster’s Really Bad Math: The Entire World’s GDP Couldn’t Sustain U.S. Debt.

Bolton: Democracy Is Not ‘Always The Answer’

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that “[m]embers of Pakistan’s spy agency [ISI] are pressing Taliban field commanders to fight the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan.” Referring to the story Thursday night on Fox News, war hawk John Bolton — potential GOP presidential candidate in 2012 — made an astonishing claim regarding the type of government that should be in control of Pakistan: that the country was better off under military authoritarian rule, which (allegedly) would have been easier to “lean” on to prevent the ISI from helping the Taliban:

BOLTON: [D]emocracy and civilian governments in Pakistan have been so discredited because of incompetence and corruption. I thought the Musharraf government, military, authoritarian rule that it was, was the most likely kind of government to be able to make the changes we made. [...] I would have kept Musharraf in power. I think the Bush administration made a mistake in pushing him out. In Pakistan they call the military the “steel skeleton” because it really is the only thing that holds the country together. That offends some people who think democracy is always the answer. Personally, I would put American interests above that. I wouldn’t have gotten rid of Musharraf.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Bolton: Democracy Is Not ‘Always The Answer’.

Activism of Thomas’s Wife Could Raise Judicial Issues

As one of the keynote speakers here Friday at a state convention billed as the largest Tea Party event ever, Virginia Thomas gave the throng of more than 2,000 activists a full-throated call to arms for conservative principles.

For three decades, Mrs. Thomas has been a familiar figure among conservative activists in Washington — since before she met her husband of 23 years, Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court. But this year she has emerged in her most politically prominent role yet: Mrs. Thomas is the founder and head of a new nonprofit group, Liberty Central, dedicated to opposing what she characterizes as the leftist “tyranny” of President Obama and Democrats in Congress and to “protecting the core founding principles” of the nation.

It is the most partisan role ever for a spouse of a justice on the nation’s highest court, and Mrs. Thomas is just getting started. “Liberty Central will be bigger than the Tea Party movement,” she told Fox News in April, at a Tea Party rally in Atlanta.

Full Story: Activism of Thomas’s Wife Could Raise Judicial Issues – NYTimes.com.

American Conspiracies

Jesse Ventura Interview about his new book:  American Conspiracies

Full Transcript: http://tinyurl.com/ybxtj8v

Kucinich probes whether FBI informant triggered Kent State massacre

Following the revelation that an FBI informant may have opened fire just before the 1970 massacre of four anti-war students by members of the US National Guard, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has opened a probe into the events, requesting key documents from the FBI in a letter delivered Saturday morning.

A Friday report by The Cleveland Plain Dealer cites audio forensics experts in claiming that shots matching the acoustic signature of a .38 caliber pistol rang out some 70 seconds before Ohio Guardsmen opened fire on the crowd of students protesting the Vietnam war.

The discovery could finally solve the mystery of who fired first that fateful day — and why.

Full Story: Kucinich probes whether FBI informant triggered Kent State massacre | Raw Story.

Facebook Politicians Are Not Your Friends

Frank Rich:

“THE Social Network,” you’re understandably sick of hearing, is a brilliant movie about the Harvard upstart Mark Zuckerberg and the messy birth of his fabulous start-up, Facebook, circa 2004. From the noisy debate over its harsh portrait of Zuckerberg, you’d think it’s a documentary. It’s not. Its genre is historical fiction — with a sardonic undertow. The director David Fincher and the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin are after bigger ironies than the riddle of Zuckerberg, a disconnected geek destined to spawn a virtual community of 500 million “friends.” You leave the movie with the sinking feeling that the democratic utopia breathlessly promised by Facebook and its Web brethren is already gone with the wind.

Nowhere, perhaps, is the gap between the romance and the reality of the Internet more evident than in our politics. In the idealized narrative of digital democracy, greater connectivity has bequeathed more governmental transparency, more grass-roots participation and even a more efficient rendering of political justice. Thanks to YouTube, which arrived just a year after Facebook, a senatorial candidate (George Allen of Virginia) caught on camera delivering a racial slur was brought down swiftly in 2006. Not long after, it was the miracle of social networking that helped enable Barack Obama’s small donors to overwhelm Hillary Clinton’s fat cats, and his online activists to out-organize her fearsome establishment pros.

Full Story: Op-Ed Columnist – Facebook Politicians Are Not Your Friends – NYTimes.com.

Sherrod Brown on Progressives

Progressives are an impatient bunch. We fight for people who have waited too long already — for health care, for educational opportunity, for jobs to keep them in the middle class.

But for generations, conservatives have appealed to fear to protect the privileged and preserve the status quo — fear of immigrants, fear of diversity, fear of big government. For conservatives in 2010, it’s easy:

“Stop.”

“No.”

“Repeal.”

Meanwhile, for more than a century — in churches and temples, in union halls and neighborhood centers, in the streets and at the ballot box — progressives have moved the country forward. Progressives brought us minimum wage and Social Security in the 1930s, civil rights and Medicare in the 1960s, and health care and Wall Street reform in 2010.

…snip…

History tells us that rage on the right should not be confused with populism. The far right attacks government regulation as it feeds Wall Street and the insurance companies. It rails against government spending for the least privileged as it lavishes tax cuts favoring the most privileged.

Full Story: Sherrod Brown on Progressives » Politics Plus.

It’s Official: More Private Sector Jobs Created In 2010 Than During Entire Bush Years

The September jobs report was just released and demonstrates that America is on a far slower path to recovery than anyone originally predicted. Despite this, the shedding of government jobs cloaks a glimmer of hope: more private sector jobs have been created this year than during the entire Bush administration. Read that again: 2010 has had more private job creation than during the entire 8 year tenure of George W. Bush.

This is the 9th straight month of private sector job growth in the midst of a devastating recession that has put a serious strain mostly on the poor and middle class. There has been a total of 863,000 private sector jobs created in 2010, exceeding the total created under the Bush/Cheney regime.

The numbers are not all good however. Companies added 64,000 jobs last month, but after the loss of 159,000 government jobs at all levels, there was a net shedding of ~95,000. The fading influence of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or the economic stimulus) is causing much of the strain on the job market, as state and local governments still strained by poor revenue are cutting positions, particularly in education.

Full Story: It’s Official: More Private Sector Jobs Created In 2010 Than During Entire Bush Years | NEWS JUNKIE POST.

China’s Growing Independence and the New World Order

Noam Chomsky:

Of all the “threats” to world order, the most consistent is democracy, unless it is under imperial control, and more generally, the assertion of independence. These fears have guided imperial power throughout history.

In South America, Washington’s traditional backyard, the subjects are increasingly disobedient. Their steps toward independence advanced further in February with the formation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, which includes all states in the hemisphere apart from the U.S. and Canada.

For the first time since the Spanish and Portuguese conquests 500 years ago, South America is moving toward integration, a prerequisite to independence. It is also beginning to address the internal scandal of a continent that is endowed with rich resources but dominated by tiny islands of wealthy elites in a sea of misery.

Full Story: China’s Growing Independence and the New World Order — In These Times.

How The Chamber Gets Its Foreign Money

After consulting with the Chamber of Commerce’s chief lobbyist Bruce Josten, the New York Times and the Washington Post publish articles today largely dismissing concerns about the Chamber’s foreign sources of funding as a means to raise money to air political attack ads.

Both the Times and the Post articles fail to appreciate the scope of the Chamber’s foreign sources of funding, focusing instead too narrowly on independently-run, foreign-based “AmChams.” The Times casually disregards our report as part of a “Washington spin cycle” (which apparently also involves the New York Times editorial board). Eric Lichtblau writes:

“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” said Bruce Josten, chief lobbyist for the chamber, as he recalled the 2008 allegations.

He accused Mr. Obama of using “smear tactics” in bringing up the issue at two separate campaign stops this week in order to deflect attention from his own record as the midterm elections approach. “This is a White House that seems to like to pick an enemy and use it as a foil to advance an agenda,” he said.

Full Story: Think Progress » GRAPHIC: How The Chamber Gets Its Foreign Money.

More Bad News: 10 Things You Should Know About The Latest Economic Numbers

Are You Prepared For The Coming Economic Collapse And The Next Great Depression?

On Friday, headlines across the United States declared that “unemployment remains unchanged at 9.6%”.  Many analysts rejoiced and heralded this announcement as a sign that we have hit bottom and that things will be turning around soon.  But is that the truth?  A closer look at the unemployment numbers reveals some disturbing facts.  For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a broader measure of unemployment that includes workers that have stopped looking for work rose sharply to 17.1%.  But that is not the only troubling sign from this past week.  Agricultural commodities continue to skyrocket, which means that food price increases are on the way.  The foreclosure ”robo-signing” crisis continues to escalate, and that threatens to throw the entire mortgage industry into a state of absolute turmoil.  Meanwhile, the U.S. national debt continues to grow and wealth continues to leave the United States at a dizzying rate.

So is there reason for optimism?

No, not really.

Even if the unemployment numbers had improved slightly, the longer-term trends for unemployment are extremely troubling as you will see from the statistics and the chart below.

Full Story: More Bad News: 10 Things You Should Know About The Latest Economic Numbers.

OPS:  Whether you buy this or not, it would be smart to just follow the Boy Scout motto…..

Uh, Wee Problem Here On Grains…..

That’s bad news – those are all lock-limit up.

For those who have never traded commodities, there is a maximum daily price move. When that limit is hit trading stops.

What this means is that it is entirely possible for exactly one trade to go off at the limit price and lock trading. You’re stuck with whatever position you have at that point.

If you’re short and you lock-limit up the good news is that the damage stops (for that day) there.

The bad news is that there’s nothing you can do about the damage, up to and including being driven into a margin call, which can bankrupt you.

Full Story: Uh, Wee Problem Here On Grains….. in [Market-Ticker].

Top Dem: Congress will investigate Chamber’s funding

Congress will launch an investigation into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s financing, the third-ranking House Democrat said Thursday night.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) opened the door to a congressional inquiry into the Chamber and whether it’s used foreign dollars to fund its political activities.

“Oh, sure,” Clyburn said of the possibility of an investigation into the Chamber, during an appearance on MSNBC. “But not between now and Nov. 2.”

Full Story: Top Dem: Congress will investigate Chamber’s funding – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

Top Dem: Congress will investigate Chamber’s funding – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room

Congress will launch an investigation into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s financing, the third-ranking House Democrat said Thursday night.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) opened the door to a congressional inquiry into the Chamber and whether it’s used foreign dollars to fund its political activities.

“Oh, sure,” Clyburn said of the possibility of an investigation into the Chamber, during an appearance on MSNBC. “But not between now and Nov. 2.”

Full Story: Top Dem: Congress will investigate Chamber’s funding – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

NASA releases new Mars photos

Melas Chasma on Mars: as low as one can go

There are few places on Mars lower than this. The floor of Melas Chasma sinks nine kilometres below the surrounding plains. New images from the German Aerospace Centre (Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) operated High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter highlight the complex history of this enormous martian canyon.

Full Story: DLR Portal – Melas Chasma on Mars: as low as one can go.

Student finds tracking device on his car; FBI demands it back

A Silicon Valley college student says the FBI confronted him and threatened to “make things difficult” for him if he didn’t hand over a GPS tracking device he found on his car, says a report at Wired.com.

Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old marketing student at Mission College who is partially of Egyptian extraction, said he found the device last Sunday when he took his car to a mechanic, and saw wires sticking out of the underside, near the exhaust pipe.

He told Wired he had “done nothing to merit attention from authorities.”

Full Story: Student finds tracking device on his car; FBI demands it back | Raw Story.

Joe Miller Endorses Government Shutdown, Says McConnell Has Put It ‘On The Table’

A significant number of Republicans are beginning to rally around the idea of shutting down the government if they control Congress next year. Reps. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) and Steve King (R-IA) have openly called for a shutdown, while Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and RNC Chairman Michael Steele have given their tacit endorsements. The last time Republicans shut down the government, right after taking power in 1995, the government lost $800 million and millions of Americans were denied or delayed access to Medicare, Social Security, national parks, and other federally-funded programs.

Undaunted, Tea Party darling Joe Miller is pitching his tent in the government-shutdown camp. Miller, currently locked in a three-way Alaska Senate race, has already generated significant controversy after it was revealed that his wife received unemployment benefits that he believes are unconstitutional and he personally received Medicaid benefits that he believes are unconstitutional. Now, Miller is not only endorsing a government shutdown if he is elected, but also told National Review Online’s Robert Costa that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has put the option “on the table”:

Full Story: Think Progress » Joe Miller Endorses Government Shutdown, Says McConnell Has Put It ‘On The Table’.

Clueless Rick Santorum: ‘Bush Policies Worked’ To Reduce Poverty To ‘The Lowest Rate Ever’

Former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum appeared on Fox News yesterday to defend former House Speaker Newt Gignrich’s absurd war on food stamps, and threw in a factually-challenged defense of the Bush administration as well for good measure. Speaking of increased poverty rates during the recession, Santorum boldly stated that “Bush polices worked,” and resulted in the lowest poverty rates “ever in the history of this country” for African Americans and single women:

SANTORUM: Yeah, remember, under the Bush administration, welfare — I mean, excuse me, poverty among African Americans and among single unmarried women, poverty was at the lowest rate ever in the history of this country. So Obama’s policies are not working, Bush polices worked! For long a time as a matter of fact.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Clueless Rick Santorum: ‘Bush Policies Worked’ To Reduce Poverty To ‘The Lowest Rate Ever’.

OPS: Not ‘clueless’ but rather, pathological liar

Alan Grayson’s GOP Opponent Directly Tied to Christian Group That Wants Permanent Subordination of Women

So how close is Republican Congressional candidate Daniel Webster, running against Democratic Representative Alan Grayson for Florida’s 8th Congressional District, to evangelist Bill Gothard? That question is now politically salient because of Gothard’s participation in a radical Christian political movement called Christian Reconstructionism that seeks to impose stoning as a form of capital punishment for crimes including murder, adultery, “heresy,” and “witchcraft.” (for more on Christian Reconstructionism, see story appendix)

The answer to that question would be, very close. The first section of this story documents Daniel Webster’s relationship with Bill Gothard, so close that the religious leader could reasonably be described as a mentor or spiritual guru to the Republican congressional candidate. The second section describes Bill Gothard’s affinity for Christian Reconstructionist ideas.

Full Story: Alan Grayson’s GOP Opponent Directly Tied to Christian Group That Wants Permanent Subordination of Women « SpeakEasy.

Oil Spill Commission Hits Feds on Flow Rate, Dispersant, How Much Oil Is Left

After the release of four reports by the presidential commission investigating BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, much of the attention has been paid to criticism that the administration had inaccurately estimated the amount of oil involved — both in gauging flow rate early in the crisis and in assessing how much oil was left over after the well was capped.

But that’s not the only issue on which the panel focused. For example, as Mother Jones has pointed out, another report focused entirely on dispersant use.

We’ve read through the reports and pulled out the commission’s findings in several key areas.

On the much-criticized flow rate, the commission noted that the government had taken “an overly casual approach to the calculation.”

Full Story: On The Hill: Oil Spill Commission Hits Feds on Flow Rate, Dispersant, How Much Oil Is Left.

The Republican, Anti-American Chamber of Horrors

It has become increasingly clear that the US Chamber of Commerce, the biggest purveyor of attack ads on behalf of Republicans, is not only accepting contributions from foreign corporations and governments, but also soliciting such contributions for the stated purpose of influencing US politics, mixing the money in the same 501(c)(6) account that pays for the attack ads, and asking us to trust them that no foreign money is being used for that purpose.

For at least 44 years, it has been illegal for foreign corporations, countries and individuals to make political contributions in the United States for any election, either directly or indirectly. It is even against the law to solicit such contributions. But in this Wild West year of political money, that longstanding ban is being set aside. The United States Chamber of Commerce — one of the biggest advertisers in midterm races around the country — is actively soliciting foreign money, and government enforcers seem to be doing nothing to stop it.

According to a report issued Tuesday by the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy group in Washington, the chamber is getting “dues” payments of tens of thousands of dollars from foreign companies in countries such as Bahrain, India and Egypt, and then mingling the money with its fund to advocate for or against candidates in the midterm races.

The chamber firmly denies the charge, saying its internal accounting rules prevent any foreign money from being used for political purposes. Money, however, is fungible, and it is impossible for an outsider to know whether the group is following its rules…

Full Story: The Republican, Anti-American Chamber of Horrors » Politics Plus.

Analysis: Rebound in M&A won’t help U.S. lower unemployment

Corporate America has opened its wallet again, with companies launching a wave of takeovers in recent weeks, but the surge in spending may be bad news for the economy as it signals more job cuts ahead.

Two trends have held back the U.S. economy’s recovery from the longest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s this year: With unemployment holding high at 9.6 percent, consumers have been unable to spend as they once did, and big companies, while flush with cash, were afraid to part with it.

Their recent wave of deal-making — including General Electric Co’s (GE.N) $3 billion buy of privately held Dresser Inc, France’s Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA)’ hostile bid for U.S. biotech company Genzyme Corp (GENZ.O) and the merger of two top U.S. airlines into a new entity called United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N) — shows they are ready to spend again.

But that will do nothing to lower unemployment.

Full Story: Analysis: Rebound in M&A won’t help U.S. lower unemployment | Reuters.

US healthcare ‘to blame’ for poor life expectancy rates

The US healthcare system is to blame for declines in the country’s life expectancy ranking, a study suggests

The Columbia University report rejects claims that factors such as obesity have shortened life-spans for Americans relative to other wealthy nations.

The study blames reliance on costly and fragmented specialised care, and calls for systemic reform.

Its release comes as President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform remains a key issue in upcoming mid-term elections.

Full Story: BBC News – US healthcare ‘to blame’ for poor life expectancy rates.

Dean Baker: Economics 101 for deficit hawks

Dean Baker:

The same Washington policymakers who inveigh against the deficit want a strong dollar – clueless about the contradiction

There are few areas of economics more boring than accounting identities. This is really unfortunate, since it is virtually impossible to have a clear understanding of economic policy without a solid knowledge of the underlying identities.

Most of the people in Washington policy debates were apparently overcome by boredom before they could get this knowledge. As a result, we see some really silly policy debates.

The debate over the value of the dollar against the Chinese yuan is the latest episode in this silliness. The Washington tribal elite has been on the warpath against budget deficits in recent months. They have worked themselves into such a frenzy that nothing will stand in their way: neither concerns about unemployment, nor concerns about the well being of our elderly, nor even concerns about basic economic logic.

Full Story: Economics 101 for deficit hawks | Dean Baker | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

The Secret Big-Money Takeover of America

Robert Reich:

Not only is income and wealth in America more concentrated in fewer hands than it’s been in 80 years, but those hands are buying our democracy as never before — and they’re doing it behind closed doors.

Hundreds of millions of secret dollars are pouring into congressional and state races in this election cycle. The Koch brothers (whose personal fortunes grew by $5 billion last year) appear to be behind some of it, Karl Rove has rounded up other multimillionaires to fund right-wing candidates, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is funneling corporate dollars from around the world into congressional races, and Rupert Murdoch is evidently spending heavily.

No one knows for sure where this flood of money is coming from because it’s all secret.

Full Story: Robert Reich: The Secret Big-Money Takeover of America.

Michigan Federal Judge Rejects Challenge To Health Care Overhaul

A federal judge on Thursday upheld the authority of the federal government to require everyone to have health insurance, dealing a setback to groups seeking to block the new national health care plan.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in Michigan by a Christian legal group and four people who claimed lawmakers exceeded their power under the Constitution’s commerce clause, which authorizes Congress to regulate trade.

But Judge George Caram Steeh in Detroit said the mandate to get insurance by 2014 and the financial penalty for skipping coverage are legal. He said Congress was trying to lower the overall cost of insurance by requiring participation.

Full Story: Michigan Federal Judge Rejects Challenge To Health Care Overhaul.

Government withholding key data on Gulf seafood testing, scientists say | Raw Story

Gulf states not following consistent protocol, despite government claims

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FDA officials maintain they’ve provided results of ongoing Gulf seafood safety tests with the utmost transparency. But outside scientists, eager to perform independent evaluations of the government’s findings, complain the information released contains far too many unknown variables that preclude peer review.

In recent interviews, FDA and NOAA officials told Raw Story that they’ve been completely transparent in sharing ongoing Gulf seafood testing data, protocol and methodologies.

Full Story: Government withholding key data on Gulf seafood testing, scientists say | Raw Story.

House GOP Website Promising To Let ‘Sunshine’ Into Earmarking Process Goes Dark

Last month, when House Republican leaders unveiled their much-anticipated “Pledge to America,” conservative activists were nearly universally disappointed by the “milquetoast” agenda, especially for its failure to include a ban on earmarks. “There is definitely someone playing out of tune by not talking about earmarks,” said David Keating, the executive director of the far-right anti-tax group Club for Growth.

Republicans countered by noting that they have already implemented a temporary moratorium on earmarks, and say they plan to extend it after it expires. “Republicans, we’re going to continue this earmark ban. We’ve already done the earmark ban. That’s why it’s not in the pledge,” Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told Good Morning America late last month.

But Roll Call reports today that House GOP leaders may not be as committed to earmark transparency as they are letting on. A House GOP website set up early this year to provide a searchable database of federal earmark requests “has disappeared.” Sunshine.gop.gov now links only to a March press release which trumpets the House GOP’s supposed commitment to transparency:

Full Story: Think Progress » House GOP Website Promising To Let ‘Sunshine’ Into Earmarking Process Goes Dark.

Missouri Tea Partiers Campaigning Against Proposition Mandating Humane Conditions At Puppy Mills

The main philosophical principle of the conservative-led tea party movement is an “aversion to big government,” with tea party organizers turning their ire on comprehensive health reform, clean energy legislation, and even mandatory trash collection.

Now, a group of Missouri tea partiers have found a new target: regulations that would mandate more humane conditions in the state’s puppy mills. This November, Missouri voters will go to the polls and decide the fate of Missouri’s Proposition B, which would place new regulations on puppy mills, including mandating that they provide “sufficient food and clean water, necessary veterinary care, sufficient housing, including protection from the elements, sufficient space to turn and stretch freely, lie down, and fully extend his or her limbs, regular exercise, and adequate rest between breeding cycles.”

As TPM Muckraker’s Jillian Rayfield reports, the Missouri Tea Party and the Tea Party Patriots have begun organizing meetings against the proposition. One tea party activist described the measure as being about the “government or the big company trying to tell people what to do“

Full Story: Think Progress » Missouri Tea Partiers Campaigning Against Proposition Mandating Humane Conditions At Puppy Mills.

Could News Corp’s $1 Million Donation Be Legal Trouble For CEO Rupert Murdoch?

An offhand comment by right-wing media tycoon Rupert Murdoch could land him in hot water with his company’s shareholders. Last June, News Corporation, which Murdoch leads, gave a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association. Yet in a recent interview, Murdoch claimed that News Corp. made this donation solely because of Murdoch’s personal friendship with a GOP gubernatorial candidate:

Murdoch, who was in Washington to receive an award from The Media Institute, brushed aside concerns that the gift, which was unusually large and one-sided for a media company, might hurt Fox’s credibility as a news organization that reports on politics.

“It doesn’t reflect on Fox News,” he said. “It had nothing to do with Fox News. The RGA [gift] was actually [a result of] my friendship with John Kasich.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Could News Corp’s $1 Million Donation Be Legal Trouble For CEO Rupert Murdoch?.

First Ever Decision On Constitutionality Of Health Reform Upholds The Law

Today was a victory for the Affordable Care Act. The first court decision to render a verdict on the constitutionality of the landmark health reform package upheld a key portion of law. Earlier today, Judge George Caram Steeh of the Eastern District of Michigan handed down a twenty page order dismissing a challenge to the Act’s minimum coverage provision on the merits:

“In assessing the scope of Congress’ authority under the Commerce Clause,” the court’s task “is a modest one.” The court need not itself determine whether the regulated activities, “taken in the aggregate, substantially affect interstate commerce in fact, but only whether a ‘rational basis’ exists for so concluding.”

Full Story: Think Progress » First Ever Decision On Constitutionality Of Health Reform Upholds The Law.

Chamber Avoids Questions About Foreign Funding, Hosts Event With Its Foreign Bank Members Tomorrow

Tomorrow, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to hold a reception for the Bahrain Banks Association, a trade group for banks operating in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Bahrain Minister of Finance, Central Bank, and Bahrain Ambassador will be attending, and the event listing invites “banks and investment firms” to attend.

The Bahrain Banks Association includes many foreign investment firms that, as ThinkProgress reported this week, have been sending funds to the Chamber. The funds are deposited in the same 501(c)(6) account that the Chamber is using to run an unprecedented $75 million dollar attack campaign, mostly against Democrats like Jack Conway in Kentucky and Robin Carnahan in Missouri. ThinkProgress has documented at least $300,000 in foreign money to the Chamber from two countries alone. Below are a list of Bahrain Bank Association members which the Chamber has indicated are dues-paying members:

– Bahrain Financial Harbour Holding Company (based in Bahrain)

– ICICI Bank (based in India)

– TAIB Bank (based in Bahrain)

– State Bank of India (state-owned and based in India)

Full Story: Think Progress » Chamber Avoids Questions About Foreign Funding, Hosts Event With Its Foreign Bank Members Tomorrow.

Killing Each Taliban Soldier Costs $50 Million

Killing 20 Taliban costs $1 Billion / Killing all the Taliban would cost $1.7 Trillion

The Pentagon will not tell the public what it costs to locate, target and kill a single Taliban soldier because the price-tag is so scandalously high that it makes the Taliban appear to be Super-Soldiers. As set out in this article, the estimated cost to kill each Taliban is as high as $100 million, with a conservative estimate being $50 million. A public discussion should be taking place in the United States regarding whether the Taliban have become too expensive an enemy to defeat.

Each month the Pentagon generates a ream of dubious statistics designed to create the illusion of progress in Afghanistan. In response this author decided to compile his own statistics. As the goal of any war is to kill the enemy, the idea was to calculate what it actually costs to kill just one of the enemy. The obstacles encountered in generating such a statistic are formidable. The problem is that the Pentagon continues to illegally classify all negative war news and embarrassing information. Regardless, some information has been collected from independent sources. Here is what we know in summary and round numbers:

Full Story: poorrichard’s blog: Killing Each Taliban Soldier Costs $50 Million.

The Long Road to the Hague: Prosecuting Blair

Ex-Prime Minister and post-Downing Street millionaire Tony Blair, to celebrate the publication of his book “A Journey,” was to have held “signing” session at Waterstones, Piccadilly on September 8 that he cancelled at the last minute. That this man, responsible for taking us into an illegal war, playing his part in the ruination of an ancient country because he “believed he was right,” should advertise himself in this way has caused outrage. Time, I think, to look at where we – and Blair – actually stand in terms of what we can and cannot do to call him to account.

What hope for international law?

We have spent years constructing that body of treaties, statutes and conventions known as international law, only to ignore it when it is most needed. How often has any state – or rather, any powerful Western state – been brought to account for breaching international law? And how many exempt themselves from the laws while insisting others abide by them?

Full Story: t r u t h o u t | The Long Road to the Hague: Prosecuting Blair.

OPS: Hague ‘em high