Archive for November, 2010

The Fed – Doing It Again

Paul Krugtman

Eight years ago Ben Bernanke, already a governor at the Federal Reserve although not yet chairman, spoke at a conference honoring Milton Friedman. He closed his talk by addressing Friedman’s famous claim that the Fed was responsible for the Great Depression, because it failed to do what was necessary to save the economy.

You’re right,” said Mr. Bernanke, “we did it. We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we won’t do it again.”

Famous last words. For we are, in fact, doing it again.

It’s true that things aren’t as bad as they were during the worst of the Depression. But that’s not saying much. And as in the 1930s, every proposal to do something to improve the situation is met with a firestorm of opposition and criticism. As a result, by the time the actual policy emerges, it’s watered down to such an extent that it’s almost guaranteed to fail.

Full Story: The Fed – Doing It Again – NYTimes.com.

Criminal DEA Provides Material Support to Terrorists

D.E.A. Deployed Mumbai Plotter Despite Warning

American authorities sent David C. Headley, a small-time drug dealer and sometime informant, to work for them in Pakistan months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, despite a warning that he sympathized with radical Islamic groups, according to court records and interviews. Not long after Mr. Headley arrived there, he began training with terrorists, eventually playing a key role in the 2008 attacks that left 164 people dead in Mumbai.

The October 2001 warning was dismissed, the authorities said, as the ire of a jilted girlfriend and for lack of proof. Less than a month later, those concerns did not come up when a federal court in New York granted Mr. Headley an early release from probation so that he could be sent to work for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in Pakistan. It is unclear what Mr. Headley was supposed to do in Pakistan for the Americans.

“All I knew was the D.E.A. wanted him in Pakistan as fast as possible because they said they were close to making some big cases,” said Luis Caso, Mr. Headley’s former probation officer.

Full Story: D.E.A. Deployed Mumbai Plotter Despite Warning – NYTimes.com.

Sanders Cites Olbermann Suspension in Bid to Block NBC-Comcast Merger

A prominent progressive senator is citing MSNBC’s decision to suspend on-air personality Keith Olbermann as grounds to put the breaks on a merger between the network’s parent company and cable giant Comcast Corp.

MSNBC brass late last week suspended Olbermann, the host of the network’s flagship “Countdown” program, for making political donations to Democratic candidates in violation of NBC News policy. That suspension will end Tuesday, when Olbermann is expected to return to the airwaves.

“I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the hundreds of thousands of progressives and others who demanded that Keith Olbermann be reinstated to his position at MSNBC,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders, the left-leaning independent from Vermont. “These people understand the enormously important role that the media play in contemporary American politics. They know the recent ascendancy of the Republican Party and right-wing politics had less to do with the leadership skills of Mitch McConnell or John Boehner and far more to do with the enormously powerful role played by Rupert Murdoch, Fox News and right-wing talk radio.

Full Story: On The Hill: Sanders Cites Olbermann Suspension in Bid to Block NBC-Comcast Merger.

This is the End of the Republican Party

by Thom Hartmann:

Whoever is saying that last night was the demise of the Democratic party – they’re wrong! In reality, it’s the end of the Republican party. As the money in this election points out, the party of (old republicans) is now the party of (CEOs). So how much does it cost to buy the House of Representatives? Try over $300 million dollars – $123 million of which came from anonymous donors. That’s how much money was funneled into this year’s elections by outside groups. In a full assault on our democracy, the Chamber of Commerce and its big business associates rained down millions in hit pieces to knock off Democrats around the country. Also in the game, Super PACs – or front groups for billionaires – like Karl Rove’s “American Crossroads” and Norm Coleman’s “American Action Network” tossed in over a hundred million dollars to ensure that Republican corporate puppets are elected to Congress.

The puppets now control the House with a likely 50-seat majority. And now in power, they have to live up to their end of the deal – legislate on behalf of billionaires like the Koch brother who want massive tax breaks, freedom to ship jobs overseas, and freedom to irreparably pollute our environment – in other words, freedom to finish off the dismantling of the middle class. Corporations were successful in knocking out good guys like Russ Feingold in Wisconsin, Alan Grayson in Florida, and Tom Perriello in Virginia – replacing them in each case with millionaires who adamantly oppose middle class policies like raising the minimum wage and extending unemployment insurance – millionaires who have promised to sell their votes in Congress to the highest bidder.

Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: This is the End of the Republican Party.

Former Reagan Budget Director Says Wall St. Doesn’t Need Another Tax Cut: ‘They Don’t Deserve It’

This morning on ABC’s This Week, host Christiane Amanpour asked Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) whether he considers it “fair” that the richest Americans should get an extra tax cut. “What’s not fair,” Pence responded in defense of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, “is that you would actually allow a tax increase on job creators.” Former Reagan Budget Director David Stockman, who ushered in one of the most sweeping tax cuts in history, rejected Pence’s argument:

Two years after the crisis on Wall Street, it has been announced that bonuses this year will be $144 billion — the highest in history. That’s who’s gonna get this tax cut on the top, you know, 2 percent of the population. They don’t need a tax cut. They don’t deserve it. And therefore, what we have to do is focus on Main Street.

Watch it:

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Former Reagan Budget Director Says Wall St. Doesn’t Need Another Tax Cut: ‘They Don’t Deserve It’.

Morgan Stanley financial adviser escapes felony charges for hit-and-run ‘because it could jeopardise his job’

A financial manager for wealthy clients will not face charges for a hit-and-run because it could jeopardise his job, it has been revealed.

Martin Joel Erzinger, 52, was set to face felony charges for running over a doctor who he hit from behind in his 2010 Mercedes Benz, and then speeding off.

But now he will simply face two misdemeanour traffic charges from the July 3 incident in Eagle, Colorado.

Full Story: Morgan Stanley financial adviser escapes felony charges for hit-and-run ‘because it could jeopardise his job’ | Mail Online.

All Diebold Touch-screen Voting Systems Fail on Election Day at 110 Polls Across Utah County, UT

The BRAD BLOG :

Voters forced to an hour to vote, some simply left…

Well, it’s a good thing last Tuesday wasn’t a Presidential Election with really huge crowds of voters in Utah County, UT. As polls opened at 7am, digitally encoded cards used by voters to begin the voting process on the state’s oft-failed, easily-manipulated, 100% unverifiable Diebold AccuVote touch-screen voting systems didn’t work at all 110 polling locations across the county. A programming error was blamed.

Voters were forced to wait in line for up to an hour while technicians struggled to figure out how to correct the failure. Many voters simply gave up, walking away and becoming disenfranchised in the bargain when they couldn’t hang around to wait that long to vote on a work day. As usual, the wide-spread failure (county-wide, in this case) was marginalized by the media as little more than a “glitch”. Of course, had the county used paper ballots, nobody would have been disenfranchised, or had to wait on line for an hour to cast their vote. Voters across the entire state are now forced to vote on the Diebold touch-screen systems on Election Day.

Separately, and to make matters worse, the Vote.Utah.gov website for looking up voter polling locations crashed, multiple times, throughout the day. Here’s Tuesday’s report on those “glitches” from KSL TV 5:

Full Story: The BRAD BLOG : All Diebold Touch-screen Voting Systems Fail on Election Day at 110 Polls Across Utah County, UT.

Harley-Davidson to build bikes in India

Harley-Davidson, the iconic American motorcycle brand with a cult-like following, has announced it has chosen to build its second assembly plant ever outside the United States in India.

The “complete knock down” plant or CKD is expected to be up and running in the northern Indian state of Haryana in first half of 2011. Parts made in America will be put together for the Indian market in Haryana.

“What we are doing is made in USA, assembled in India, which will have a positive job effect back home which is why we are driving this investment as quickly as we are,” Anoop Prakash managing director for Harley Davidson India told CNN.

Full Story: Harley-Davidson to build bikes in India – CNN.

Our Banana Republic

In my reporting, I regularly travel to banana republics notorious for their inequality. In some of these plutocracies, the richest 1 percent of the population gobbles up 20 percent of the national pie.

But guess what? You no longer need to travel to distant and dangerous countries to observe such rapacious inequality. We now have it right here at home — and in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, it may get worse.

The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana.

Full Story: Our Banana Republic – NYTimes.com.

Barack Obama, Phone Home

Frank Rich:

AFTER his “shellacking,” President Obama had to do something. But who had the bright idea of scheduling his visit to India for right after this election? The Democrats’ failure to create jobs was at the heart of the shellacking. Nothing says “outsourcing” to the American public more succinctly than India. But the White House didn’t figure this out until the eve of Obama’s Friday departure, when it hastily rebranded his trip as a jobs mission. Perhaps the president should visit one of the Indian call centers policing Americans’ credit-card debts to feel our pain.

Optics matter. If Washington is tumbling into a political crisis as the recovery continues to lag, maybe the president shouldn’t get out of Dodge. If the White House couldn’t fill a 13,000-seat arena in blue Cleveland the weekend before the midterms, maybe it shouldn’t have sent the president there. If an administration charged with confronting a Great Recession knew that its nominee for secretary of the Treasury serially cut corners on his taxes, maybe it should have considered other options. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Well, here we are.

True, the big things matter more than the optics. Unfortunately, they are a mess too.

Full Story: Barack Obama, Phone Home – NYTimes.com.

New Ways Bankers Are Spying on You

Big Banker is watching you—more closely than ever.

With lenders still skittish about making new loans, credit bureaus and others are hawking services that help banks probe deeply into your financial closet. The new offerings include ways to look at your rent and utility payments, figure out your income, gauge your home’s value and even rate your banking habits based on details like whether your direct deposits have stopped.

All of this could influence your financial freedom—not to mention the number of junk-mail solicitations you receive.

Ken Lin, CEO of Credit Karma, a credit-score information website, knew he had a good credit score. But when he recently applied for a new credit card, he was rejected: The lender had flagged him as a higher credit risk because the value of his California home had declined and his mortgage principal wasn’t declining—giving away that he has an interest-only mortgage.

“It’s a lot more than just your credit score today,” he says.

Full Story: Personal Finance Tips: How Bankers Spy on You – WSJ.com.

Zapping the Brain Improves Math Skills

By applying electrical current to the brain, researchers can enhance a person’s mathematical ability for up to six months.

It’s barely enough to light a light bulb, but passing a very mild current of electricity through the brain can turn on a metaphorical light bulb in a person’s brain.

Scientists from the University of Oxford have shown that they can improve a person’s math abilities for up to six months. The research could help treat the nearly 20 percent of the population with moderate to severe dyscalculia (math disability), and could probably aid students in other subjects as well.

“I am certainly not advising people to go around giving themselves electric shocks,” said Roi Cohen Kadosh, a scientist at the University of Oxford and a co-author of a new paper. “But we are extremely excited by the potential of our findings.”

Full Story: Zapping the Brain Improves Math Skills : Discovery News.

Mid-term election results not a mandate for GOP, poll shows

‘Voters are looking for change — but not what the Republicans are offering’

It’s the economy, stupid.

That catchphrase from the 1992 election — which saw Bill Clinton propelled to the Oval Office on a wave of discontent over unemployment — applies just as strongly in 2010, a new poll indicates.

The exit poll (PDF) from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research suggests that while voters gave control of the House to the Republicans, it was not out of a desire to return to Republican policies, but rather out of a lack of other options.

The poll shows voters largely rejected the narrative put forward by Republicans: That the American public rebelled against the liberal-minded over-reaching of the Obama administration.

Full Story: Mid-term election results not a mandate for GOP, poll shows | Raw Story.

Scientists find mass coral die-off near BP oil spill site

For the first time, federal scientists have found damage to deep sea coral and other marine life on the ocean floor several miles from the blown-out BP well — a strong indication that damage from the spill could be significantly greater than officials had previously acknowledged.

Tests are needed to verify that the coral died from oil that spewed into the Gulf of Mexicoafter the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, but the chief scientist who led the government-funded expedition said Friday he was convinced it was related.

“What we have at this point is the smoking gun,” said Charles Fisher, a biologist with Penn State University who led the expedition aboard the Ronald Brown, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationresearch vessel.

Full Story: Scientists find mass coral die-off near BP oil spill site | Raw Story.

MSNBC should back Keith Olbermann, not sack him

MSNBC’s suspension of one of their stars is symptomatic of the liberal media running scared and second-guessing their critics

Senator McCarthy would be proud of the journalistic witchhunt taking place in America right now.

At least three major – and very talented – journalists have now been reprimanded or summarily dismissed for seemingly small infractions: Rick Sanchez, fired by CNN for saying many Jewish people are leaders in the media world; Juan Williams, dismissed from National Public Radio for remarking on his nervousness about terrorism on planes; and now Keith Olbermann, “suspended indefinitely” by MSNBC for privately contributing to political candidates.

The latest incident is the biggest and most important yet. Keith Olbermann is one of the MSNBC television network’s most lucrative, popular and talented journalists, anchor of the Keith Olbermann show. His offence was to have donated a reported $7,200 – a relatively small amount in political fundraising terms – to a small number of Democratic candidates.

Full Story: MSNBC should back Keith Olbermann, not sack him | Alex Slater | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

McConnell Discredits CBO Analysis Of Affordable Care Act, Despite Previously Citing CBO As Leading Authority

Yesterday, the Wonk Room argued that Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) pledge to repeal the health care law undermined his goal of reducing the deficit and slowing government spending. Last night, CNN’s John King asked McConnell about this contradiction and the Senate minority leader conveniently dismissed the notion, claiming that nobody believes that the health care law will save money:

KING: So answer somebody out there, whether they’re a Democrat or an Independent, or maybe even just some Republican who is doing the math, who says, ‘okay, this Republican leadership says they want to reduce the deficit. But if you extend the Bush tax cuts, I understand your policy argument, people can agree or disagree with it, that would, in the short-term at least, maybe if the economy roars back it would change it, but in the short-term that would add to the deficit, somewhere in the ballpark of $700, $800 billion. The Congressional Budget Office says, the Obama health care bill, for all the policy disagreements that you have with it, reduces the deficit by $143 billion over the next ten years or so. Are those inconsistent?

Full Story: ThinkProgress » McConnell Discredits CBO Analysis Of Affordable Care Act, Despite Previously Citing CBO As Leading Authority.

Shareholders Demand To Know If The Chamber of Commerce Is Using Their Money To Buy Elections

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as ThinkProgress has repeatedly noted, does not disclose the donors to its aggressive political activities. Insiders have revealed certain contributions — like the lobbyists who revealed that health insurance companies pumped money into ads to defeat health care reform — and reporters can sometimes use tax filings and other public records to deduce some contributions, but the Chamber by and large remains a black box — unnamed corporate money comes in, and political attack ads come out.

The Chamber’s finances are so opaque, in fact, that shareholders in companies that are known to contribute to the Chamber don’t actually know if their money is being used to attack political candidates. But following an election season where the Chamber contributed $32.1 million to defeating mostly Democratic candidates — with a high degree of success — some shareholders are demanding disclosure. Walden Asset Management in Boston and Domini Social Investments in New York said this week they filed resolutions calling for independent directors to review political spending at Pfizer and Pepsi, along with IBM and Accenture.

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Shareholders Demand To Know If The Chamber of Commerce Is Using Their Money To Buy Elections.

Before Bush Donor Takeover Of MSNBC, Network Selectively Applies Rules To Suspend Olbermann

UPDATED: We have been notified that Comcast has not yet officially taken over MSNBC/NBC Universal. Although Comcast has tentatively finalized a deal to purchase a majority stake in NBC, Comcast awaits final approval of the takeover from the Justice Department and from the Federal Communications Commission. A statement from Comcast reads: “The joint venture between Comcast and GE has not yet received regulatory approval. Comcast is not in any way involved with decisions made currently by NBC News.” However, once Comcast gains final approval from federal regulators to move forward, Comcast COO Steve Burke, a Bush fundraiser, will be placed at the helm of MSNBC and other NBC companies. Our original post inaccurately asserted that Comcast’s Burke was involved in the decision to fire Olbermann. We apologize for the error.

Earlier today, MSNBC declared that it would be suspending progressive host Keith Olbermann because he violated NBC’s ethics rules by donating to three Democratic candidates for Congress. As many bloggers have noted, conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has donated to Republican candidates for Congress while promoting the same candidate on air, but has never been disciplined. Moreover, Gawker notes that MSNBC has been exempt from the formal NBC ethics rules for years. It is still a mystery why MSNBC selectively applied NBC’s ethics rules to Olbermann. However, it important to realize that MSNBC has undergone a fundamental change in leadership in the last two months.

Full Story: ThinkProgress » UPDATED: Before Bush Donor Takeover Of MSNBC, Network Selectively Applies Rules To Suspend Olbermann.

Oklahoma Voters May Have Accidentally Voted Against Ten Commandments, Too

Last year, radical right-wing politicians in Oklahoma passed the Ten Commandments Monument Display Act, which ordered “the placement of a monument displaying and honoring the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Oklahoma State Capitol.” The bill authors noted that “the Ten Commandments found in the Bible, Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, are an important component of the moral foundation of the laws and legal system of the United States of America and of the State of Oklahoma.”

As ThinkProgress noted, many of these same legislators voted to put a proposal on this week’s ballot, the “Save Our State” constitutional amendment, that bans Sharia from being considered in Oklahoma courts. The ballot states that Oklahoma courts must “rely on federal and state law when deciding cases” and forbids them from “considering or using international law” and “from considering or using Sharia Law.” The measure passed with 70 percent of the vote.

As a law professor noted to CNN, however, the religious zealotry of these lawmakers may now be in serious self-conflict:

Rick Tepker, the first member of the University of Oklahoma School of Law faculty to try a case before the U.S. Supreme Court…called the passage of the measure “a mess” with implications unknown until a case that challenges it arises.

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Oklahoma Voters May Have Accidentally Voted Against Ten Commandments, Too.

New GOP Governors Kill $1.2 Billion In High-Speed Rail Jobs

Republicans who were elected on Tuesday are beginning to deliver on their campaign promises to kill America’s future. Within hours of declaring victory, the incoming tea-party governors of Wisconsin and Ohio stood fast on pledges to kill $1.2 billion in funding for high-speed rail in their states. The funding, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will revert to the federal government for investment in other states — unless Republicans in Congress are able to kill that, too. Walker warned he would fight President Obama to keep the Milwaukee-Madison link killed “if he tries to force this down the throats of the taxpayers.” Kasich — who called the high-speed rail project linking Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati “one of the dumbest ideas” he’s ever heard — used his victory speech to announce, “That train is dead“:

Scott Walker, the incoming governor of Wisconsin, for instance, vowed on Wednesday to carry out a campaign pledge to kill a proposed high-speed rail link between Milwaukee and Madison, part of a larger project to create a high-speed rail corridor across the upper Midwest, from Minneapolis to Chicago. The project was to be fully paid for with $810 million in federal stimulus funds. Mr. Walker said he wanted the money spent on roads, although under the terms of the grants, such a use of the funds is prohibited.

Full Story: ThinkProgress » New GOP Governors Kill $1.2 Billion In High-Speed Rail Jobs.

Consumers’ right to file class actions is in danger

If AT&T has its way before the Supreme Court, any business that issues a contract to customers would be able to prevent them from joining class-action lawsuits, taking away arguably the most powerful legal tool available to the little guy.

It hasn’t gotten a lot of press, but a case involving AT&T that goes before the U.S. Supreme Court next week has sweeping ramifications for potentially millions of consumers.

If a majority of the nine justices vote the telecom giant’s way, any business that issues a contract to customers — such as for credit cards, cellphones or cable TV — would be able to prevent them from joining class-action lawsuits.

Full Story: David Lazarus: Consumers’ right to file class actions is in danger – latimes.com.

Americans On Foodstamps Hits New Record In August, Increase By Over Half A Million To 42.4 Million, 17% Increase Year Over Year

Another highlight you may not hear in the President’s address from this morning: according to the last Department of Agriculture update, Americans on foodstamps has increased by over half a million in August, hitting a fresh all time high of 42.4 million people relying on the government for basis sustenance. At least now we know where that labor force is going. The August number is a 17% rise from the same time a year ago. That number is up 58.5% from August 2007, before the recession began.

As the WSJ reports:

By population, Washington, D.C. had the largest share of residents receiving food stamps: More than a fifth, 21.1%, of its residents collected assistance in August. Washington was followed by Mississippi, where 20.1% of residents received food stamps, and Tennessee, where 20% tapped into the government nutrition program.

Idaho posted the largest jump in recipients in the past year. The number of people receiving food stamps climbed 38.8% but their rolls are still fairly low. Just 211,883 Idaho residents collected food stamps in August.

The average benefit size per person nationwide in August was $133.90. Per household it was $287.82.

Full Story: Americans On Foodstamps Hits New Record In August, Increase By Over Half A Million To 42.4 Million, 17% Increase Year Over Year | zero hedge.

Election Postmortem: A Picture of Dorian Gray

Len Hart,

It is said that insanity is repeating a failed strategy in the expectation of one day getting a different result. Because that never happens, the nation is nuts! Just enough people always vote against their own interests to guarantee that wealth will continue to ‘trickle up’, that wars benefiting ONLY the very wealthy will continue to be waged, that everyone else will suffer declines in education, the environment, living standards, and the plague of fascist law enforcement taser fetishists and/or authoritarian perverts.

Like a vain Dorian Gray, a huge chunk of the U.S. electorate has sold its soul for a temporary feel good. Keep it up! There will be a reckoning. If I were living in a posh suburb and voting GOP, I would be well advised to check on that oil portrait collecting dust, out of sight, down in the basement.

Full Story: The Existentialist Cowboy: Election Postmortem: A Picture of Dorian Gray.

America’s Two Economies

Robert Reich:

America’s Two Economies, and Why One Is Recovering and the Other Isn’t.

Next time you hear an economist or denizen of Wall Street talk about how the “American economy” is doing these days, watch your wallet.

There are two American economies. One is on the mend. The other is still coming apart.

The one that’s mending is America’s Big Money economy. It’s comprised of Wall Street traders, big investors, and top professionals and corporate executives.

The Big Money economy is doing well these days. That’s partly thanks to Ben Bernanke, whose Fed is keeping interest rates near zero by printing money as fast as it dare. It’s essentially free money to America’s Big Money economy.

Free money can almost always be put to uses that create more of it. Big corporations are buying back their shares of stock, thereby boosting corporate earnings. They’re merging and acquiring other companies.

And they’re going abroad in search of customers.

Full Story: America’s Two Economies.

The Republican Recipe for An Anemic Economy Through Election Day 2012

Robert Reich:

The real message from voters was “Fix this stinking economy.” But Republicans have no intention of doing so.

With Republicans in control of the House, forget spending increases or tax cuts to stimulate the economy.

Republicans don’t believe in stimulating economies. They think markets eventually clear — once the pain is sufficient. Or in the immortal words of Herbert Hoover’s treasury secretary, millionaire industrialist Andrew Mellon: “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmer, liquidate real estate. It will purge the rottenness out of the system. People will work harder, lead a more moral life.”

Of course, Mellon was dead wrong. Nothing was purged. Instead, the economy sunk into deeper and deeper depression.

So how do we get out of this bog?

Full Story: Robert Reich (The Republican Recipe for An Anemic Economy Through Election Day 2012).

Media Misreading Midterms

As usual, press urge a move to the right

With the Democrats suffering substantial losses in Tuesday’s midterms, many journalists and pundits were offering a familiar diagnosis (Extra!, 7-8/06; FAIR Media Advisory, 2/3/09): The Democrats had misread their mandate and governed too far to the left. The solution, as always, is for Democrats to move to the right and reclaim “the center.” But this conventional wisdom falls apart under scrutiny.

For months, the problem for Democrats was correctly identified as the “enthusiasm gap”–the idea that the progressive base of the party was not excited about voting. The exit polls from Tuesday’s vote confirm that many Democratic-tending voters failed to show up. How, then, does one square this fact with the idea that Obama and Democrats were pushing policies that were considered too left-wing? If that were the case, then presumably more of those base voters would have voted to support that agenda. It is difficult to fathom how both things could be true.

But reporting and commentary preferred a narrative that declared that Obama’s “days of muscling through an ambitious legislative agenda on [the] strength of Democratic votes [are] over” (Washington Post, 11/3/10). “The verdict delivered by voters on Tuesday effectively put an end to his transformational ambitions,” announced Peter Baker of the New York Times (11/3/10).

Full Story: Media Misreading Midterms.

OPS: NOT just the Media misreading the midterms. Reid, Obama, and the Democratic Leadership are making the same ‘mistake’

New Report Refutes Industry Argument that Genetically Modified Salmon will Feed Hungry World Populations

Food & Water Europe released a report today outlining why the genetically engineered (GE) salmon currently being considered by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval as a human food will not alleviate global hunger.

GE Salmon Will Not Feed the World outlines several reasons why this transgenic fish is likely to be more expensive to produce than perceived, as well as problematic for the environment, fishing communities and consumers. The report was released a day after Scottish MP Rob Gibson motioned to petition the Scottish Government to monitor the FDA’s approval process, noting that escapees are likely to occur through time and could easily reach the shores of Scotland, “altering forever the genetic integrity of wild Atlantic salmon and of quality Scottish farmed salmon.”

“The company producing this experimental fish, AquaBounty, is the only one who will be profiting from it, despite misleading claims that this product could be a means to feed growing populations around the world,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Europe.

Since GE salmon can require large amounts of food, display deformities and likely have higher oxygen demands, they can be costly to produce. These projected costs, combined with the various potential human health and ecological concerns associated with GE fish, will not likely add up to a more financially advantageous product for growers or consumers.

Full Story: New Report Refutes Industry Argument that Genetically Modified Salmon will Feed Hungry World Populations | Food & Water Watch.

Is Death the End? Experiments Suggest You Create Time

When I was young, I stayed at my neighbor’s house. They had a grandfather clock. Between the tick and the tock of the pendulum, I lay awake thinking about the perverse nature of time. Mr. O’Donnell is gone now. His wife Barbara, now in her nineties, greets me with her cane when I go back to visit.

We watch our loved ones age and die, and we assume that an external entity called time is responsible for the crime. But experiments increasingly cast doubt on the existence of time as we know it. In fact, the reality of time has long been questioned by philosophers and physicists. When we speak of time, we’re usually referring to change. But change isn’t the same thing as time.

To measure anything’s position precisely is to “lock in” on one static frame of its motion, as in a film. Conversely, as soon as you observe movement, you can’t isolate a frame, because motion is the summation of many frames. Sharpness in one parameter induces blurriness in the other. Consider a film of a flying arrow that stops on a single frame. The pause enables you to know the position of the arrow with great accuracy: it’s 20 feet above the grandstand. But you’ve lost all information about its momentum. It’s going nowhere; its path is uncertain.

Full Story: Robert Lanza, M.D.: Is Death the End? Experiments Suggest You Create Time.

Consumers’ right to file class actions is in danger

If AT&T has its way before the Supreme Court, any business that issues a contract to customers would be able to prevent them from joining class-action lawsuits, taking away arguably the most powerful legal tool available to the little guy.

It hasn’t gotten a lot of press, but a case involving AT&T that goes before the U.S. Supreme Court next week has sweeping ramifications for potentially millions of consumers.

If a majority of the nine justices vote the telecom giant’s way, any business that issues a contract to customers — such as for credit cards, cellphones or cable TV — would be able to prevent them from joining class-action lawsuits.

This would take away in such cases arguably the most powerful legal tool available to the little guy, particularly in cases involving relatively small amounts of money. Class-action suits allow plaintiffs to band together in seeking compensation or redress, thus giving substantially more heft to their claims.

Full Story: David Lazarus: Consumers’ right to file class actions is in danger – latimes.com.

Chamber’s War On Obama Just Getting Started

President Barack Obama’s apparent hopes to the contrary, the head of the nation’s flagship business lobby has made it clear that the corporate campaign against the White House’s agenda is far from over.

In a newly-published BusinessWeek cover story worth reading for the gloating alone, Devin Leonard reports that U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue is gearing up for more fights, and is more than willing to inject unprecedented amounts of Chamber money directly into electoral politics. Donohue’s priorities, as reported by Leonard, are unsurprising: tax cuts, deficit cuts, foreign trade pacts, and deregulation — meaning he wants to tear down the health care and financial reform laws passed earlier this year.

Full Story: Chamber’s War On Obama Just Getting Started.

Turnout among young voters: 20 percent

Only about one in five people under the age of 30 voted in the mid-term elections Tuesday, says a study based on exit polls.

The poor turnout among youth likely had some effect on the outcome of most races, but nowhere was this more dramatically highlighted than in the California ballot initiative to legalize marijuana. Political observers on Wednesday said the poor youth turnout in California accounted for the defeat of Proposition 19.

“Pot legalization defeated thanks to the elderly,” reads the headline of a Justin Elliott article at Salon.com. Elliott points to a report that while six in 10 youth voters supported the measure, it was opposed by seven in 10 senior citizens.

Full Story: Turnout among young voters: 20 percent | Raw Story.

Justice Stevens voices support for NYC mosque

Justice Stevens says Americans should accept mosque near Ground Zero in spirit of tolerance

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said Thursday that Americans should be tolerant of plans to build an Islamic center and mosque near the site of the World Trade Center in New York.

The 90-year-old Stevens said it is wrong to lump all Muslims with the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks that killed 3,000 people. “Guilt by association is unfair,” he told a Japanese-American group in Washington.

Full Story: Justice Stevens voices support for NYC mosque | Raw Story.

Exposed: Pentagon awards $630M fuel contract to secretive corporation whose ownership is unknown

‘Mina Corp’ refuses to reveal locations of its offices

The Pentagon awarded a secretive corporation that is under investigation by the United States Congress with a $630 million contract to supply the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan with jet fuel Wednesday.

The contract was awarded despite the request of Kyrgyzstan’s president, Roza Otunbayeva, to stop using contractors and work through state-owned Kyrgyz firms instead.

Mina Corporation, which has been awarded over $3 billion dollars in contracts to supply Manas and Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan since 2003, has repeatedly refused to disclose its ownership.

Full Story: Exposed: Pentagon awards $630M fuel contract to secretive corporation whose ownership is unknown | Raw Story.

SocialMiner: New software allows employers to spy on Twitter, Facebook, social networks

Now, it seems, you have nowhere to hide.

New software released by Cisco Systems Inc. on Wednesday makes it much easier for banks, retailers, and other businesses — including your employer — to monitor the mountain of data on social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The new SocialMiner software tracks the status updates, forum posts, and blog posts of customers and potential customers in real-time, giving businesses immediate information about consumers’ opinions and preferences. It’s pretty cheap, too: “It can also be purchased for use with a non-Cisco contact center system, Cisco officials say. In each case, SocialMiner costs $1,000 for the server and $1,500 per agent license.”

“With more and more Web-based conversations taking place over these social platforms, it’s now more critical than ever that businesses are aware of what their customers are saying about them and are able to respond to general inquiries or rectify customer service issues so as to enhance and protect brand reputation,” Cisco states in its SocialMiner press release.

Full Story: SocialMiner: New software allows employers to spy on Twitter, Facebook, social networks | Raw Story.

Grayson: Democratic ‘appeasement’ cost us the election

‘There is no center left,’ iconoclastic politician says

Alan Grayson, the defeated Democratic congressman of “die quickly” fame, went on the offensive Thursday, telling reporters that the Democrats’ “appeasement” of Republicans cost them the election.

In an appearance on MSNBC and an interview with Salon.com, Grayson argued that the “enthusiasm gap” that prompted millions of liberal voters to stay home Tuesday happened because the Obama administration and congressional Democrats did not fight hard enough for progressive values.

Full Story: Grayson: Democratic ‘appeasement’ cost us the election | Raw Story.

Meet The Corporate Chairmen: Incoming Committee Chairs Have Deep Ties To Lobbyists And Big Business

One of the results of Tuesday’s Republican takeover of the House of Representatives is the future installation of new chairmen in the chamber’s various committees. While none of the upcoming chairmanships are set in stone — members have to run and be elected to chair committees — it is generally true that ranking members of these committees are the ones most likely to take over.

Today, the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity (CPI) released a report titled “The Chairmen: New House Leaders Have Familiar Ties to Business, Revolving Door,” which takes a close look at the likely incoming chairmen of the various House committees. The CPI report finds that most of the likely incoming chairs “have deep ties to the business community or the industries they will soon oversee.” Here are some of the highlights of these possible chairmen with “deep ties” to lobbyists and big business:

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Meet The Corporate Chairmen: Incoming Committee Chairs Have Deep Ties To Lobbyists And Big Business.

McConnell’s Efforts To Repeal Health Law Undermine GOP ‘Top Priority’ To Reduce Deficit And Spending

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) brushed aside President Obama’s offer to work in a bipartisan manner to tweak or modify parts of the Affordable Care Act this morning, doubling down on the party’s commitment to repeal the law in its entirety.

During an address at the Heritage Foundation, McConnell laid out what could be described as a three-pronged approach for rescinding the law: (1) Senate Republicans will “propose and vote on straight repeal, repeatedly,” (2) Republicans will hold votes “against its most egregious provisions,” (3) and House Republicans will work “on denying funds for implementation.” He admitted that “straight repeal” was unlikely, given Democratic control of the Senate and the White House, but promised to use oversight to continue his political grandstanding. “We may not be able to bring a repeal within the next two years and we may not win every vote against targeted provisions,” McConnell said, “but we can compel administration officials to defend this indefensible health spending bill and other costly government measures like the stimulus and financial reform.”

Ironically, McConnell’s plan to repeal the health law — in part or in whole — would have the effect of increasing the deficit and government spending, undermining what he described as the voters’ top priorities:

Full Story: ThinkProgress » McConnell’s Efforts To Repeal Health Law Undermine GOP ‘Top Priority’ To Reduce Deficit And Spending.

Pawlenty Inadvertently Explains How House Republicans Are ‘Lying To You’ About Spending Cuts

As ThinkProgress has repeatedly noted, despite their professed commitment to cut government spending, most Republicans in Congress refuse to propose specifics that would actually cut spending in any significant way. Recognizing the extreme unpopularity of cutting Social Security and Medicare, and the aversion of their base to military cuts, these self-styled fiscal conservatives often take entitlement and defense spending off the table, removing nearly 60 percent of the federal budget from scrutiny. Of the remaining spending, another sizable portion goes to debt payments — which are untouchable — and most Republicans also take homeland security and other security spending off the table, leaving only a small fraction of the total federal budget from which to find cuts.

Despite this stark reality, Republicans still try to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility, and are forced to fumble, hem and haw when pressed on how they would actually cut spending. But at least one Republican leader is willing to be honest. Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) essentially called his party’s congressional leaders liars, saying anybody says they want to cut spending but won’t touch entitlements or defesne is “lying to you”:

HOST: What are you going to cut?

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Pawlenty Inadvertently Explains How House Republicans Are ‘Lying To You’ About Spending Cuts.

Pence: Voters Don’t Want Democrats And Republicans ‘To Work Better Together’

Days before the Republicans won control of the House and made gains in the Senate, GOP leaders made clear that there will be “no compromise” with Democrats and President Obama. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell even said his priority will not be to solve problems, but to defeat Obama in 2012.

After the GOP victories this week, Democratic leaders said they want to work with Republicans to get things done. Obama said there are a “whole bunch” of areas where Democrats could work with the GOP. “We’ve got to start working together. … Legislation’s the art of compromise,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said. Yet, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) doesn’t think so. On a local radio show today, not only did Pence reiterate his “no compromise” pledge, but he upped the ante, saying voters don’t want Republicans and Democrats to work together:

PENCE: I’m going to ensure that Republicans come out of the gate and seize this moment, we’ve really been given a second chance at a first impression and I’m going to tell them that we have to rise to the challenge with principle and conviction and not with this attitude that you saw coming from the White House yesterday and from some other quarters on the establishment left in Washington which was that somehow the message of the election was that they want Democrats and Republicans to work better together, to get along — good heavens.

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Pence: Voters Don’t Want Democrats And Republicans ‘To Work Better Together’.

OPS: Holy Crap! We agree with Pence on something.

Where do we go from here?

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont):

The Republicans won big on Tuesday. Not only have they taken over the U.S. House of Representatives and made major gains in the Senate – but many of the newly-elected Republican members are extremely right-wing. I want to take this opportunity to discuss a few of the major issues that will surface in the near future, what the debate will be about, and what my views are.

First, it is imperative that all of us, those of us in Washington and those at the grass-roots level, continue to do everything we can to keep America moving forward. Too many working families are hurting and too many children are living in poverty for us to simply throw up our hands in despair and retreat.  We know what the Republican agenda will be, and we’ve got to vigorously oppose it.

Despite all of their rhetoric, the Republican policies are designed to make the wealthy and larger corporations even richer.  This means tax breaks for those who don’t need them, and policies making it easier for corporate America to outsource jobs to low-wage states.  There will also be efforts to rescind the law that will extend health care insurance to millions of uninsured Americans. They will seek to generate opposition to President Obama’s pledge to begin reducing our troops in Afghanistan next summer. While the military budget will see no cuts, social programs – from education to Medicaid and Medicare to unemployment compensation – will be slated for large cuts. The Republicans will push legislation to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and they will try to stop every effort to halt and reverse global warming if it interferes with the profits of their friends in the oil and coal industries.

Full Story: Where do we go from here? – Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont).

Pot Advocates To Push For Legalization In 2012

Proponents of Proposition 19, the California ballot initiative that would have legalized recreational use and possession of small amounts of marijuana, have vowed they will get pot back on the ballot in 2012.

“We have a debate that was just heard around the world and the conversation has only begun,” Dale Jones, a spokeswoman for Prop 19, said at a Wednesday news conference. “There’s a seat at the table for 2012,” she added. “This is not a matter of if, but when, and our leaders are already working on how to move this issue forward.”

Although the measure went down to defeat on Election Day, Richard Lee, a medical marijuana entrepreneur and the author of Prop 19, noted that the effort “got more votes than Meg Whitman.”

Full Story: Pot Advocates To Push For Legalization In 2012.

 Bush says in memoir he approved waterboarding. It’s time to prosecute.

Human rights experts have long pressed the administration of former president George W. Bush for details of who bore ultimate responsibility for approving the simulated drownings of CIA detainees, a practice that many international legal experts say was illicit torture.

In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.

In his book, titled “Decision Points,” Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about still-pending terrorist plots against the United States. Bush writes that his reply was “Damn right” and states that he would make the same decision again to save lives, according to a someone close to Bush who has read the book.

Full Story: Green Change : Bush says in memoir he approved waterboarding. It’s time to prosecute..

Business Group Wants a U.S.-India FTA

The U.S.-India Business Council released their Partners in Prosperity report Monday, which calls for greater cooperation on defense, education, agriculture, infrastructure and, of course, trade

Ahead of the president’s trip to India later this week, an advocacy group for American businesses operating in India released a report on strengthening economic ties between the two nations.

The U.S.-India Business Council released their Partners in Prosperity report Monday, which calls for greater cooperation on defense, education, agriculture, infrastructure and, of course, trade.

“It is high time we begin treating one another as genuine partners – both in terms of our strategic relationship – in defense, security, and in space, as well as in our very special knowledge partnership,” said USIBC president Ron Somers.

Full Story: Business Group Wants a U.S.-India FTA | Economy In Crisis.

OPS; Say good-bye to the remaining decent paying Jobs in this country

Job-Killing Trade Pacts Likely to Be At Top of Republican’s Agenda

Beyond extending budget-busting tax cuts for the richest Americans, both repealing health care reform and Wall Street reform and opposing a raise in the national debt ceiling, Republicans are likely to have more free trade at the top of their agenda.

American voters, fed up with an economy that seems to be stagnant, directed their ire at Democrats and voted to change direction Tuesday, sweeping Republicans into power in the House and narrowing the Democratic majority in the House. But, that is likely to do more harm than good to the economy.

Beyond extending budget-busting tax cuts for the richest Americans, both repealing health care reform and Wall Street reform and opposing a raise in the national debt ceiling, Republicans are likely to have more free trade at the top of their agenda.

On trade, Republicans are likely to press for passage of stalled trade pacts with South Korea, Columbia and Panama. Legislators may also have to vote on Russia’s ascension into the World Trade Organization next year. And Congressional hearings in the House on trade issues such as currency manipulation and China’s other illegal trade-distorting practices are likely to grind to a halt.

Full Story: Job-Killing Trade Pacts Likely to Be At Top of Republican’s Agenda | Economy In Crisis.

Republicans Sweep Elections

More than half of the voting public thought they were voting for economic concerns, but sweeping numbers of those voters opted for a Republican platform that has offered zero solutions for our economy.

Millions of Americans headed out to the polls yesterday to decide the fate of the mid-term elections. It is not entirely uncommon for the mid-term season to result in losses for the president’s party, but this year the election has taken on a life of its own.

Republicans have been portraying this election as a make or break point for the Democratic Party and the President of the United States. Their expressed intention has been, and will continue to be, to block any and every action proposed by Democrats in Congress or by the White House. Regardless of the proposal, or its merits, the Republicans are against it if the Democrats are for it.

Unfortunately the rest of America is caught in the cross-fire. According to

href=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/pollcenter/>CNN

exit data, at the time that polls in the United States were starting to close the overwhelming proportion of voters were concerned about the general economy (52 percent). The deficit, wars, health care, education, and illegal immigration garnered 8 percent apiece.

Full Story: Republicans Sweep Elections | Economy In Crisis.

Paul Krugman: Blame The Whiny Center

Paul Krugman:

So, we’re already getting the expected punditry: Obama needs to end his leftist policies, which consist of … well, there weren’t any, but he should stop them anyway.

What actually happened, of course, was that Obama failed to do enough to boost the economy, plus totally failing to tap into populist outrage at Wall Street. And now we’re in the trap I worried about from the beginning: by failing to do enough when he had political capital, he lost that capital, and now we’re stuck.

But he did have help in getting it wrong: at every stage there was a faction of Democrats standing in the way of strong action, demanding that Obama do less, avoid spending money, and so on. In so doing, they shot themselves in the face: half of the Blue Dogs lost their seats.

Full Story: Blame The Whiny Center – NYTimes.com.

Feds Sue To Close Massey’s Freedom Energy Mine No. 1 In Kentucky

The U.S. Department of Labor filed an unprecedented federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to close a mine operated by troubled coal producer Massey Energy Co. for continually violating safety laws.

The Labor Department has never sought an injunction to protect coal miners before, but is considering several more lawsuits, Patricia Smith, the agency’s solicitor, said during a conference call.

Wednesday’s lawsuit marks the latest step by the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration to crack down on dangerous mines. Massey has 21 days to respond.

The agency has been targeting mines with poor safety records since an explosion killed 29 miners at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia on April 5. The blast was the deadliest at a U.S. coal mine in 40 years and is the subject of criminal and civil investigations.

Full Story: Feds Sue To Close Massey’s Freedom Energy Mine No. 1 In Kentucky.

Unprecedented Outside Spending Boosted Candidates To Victory

Tuesday’s election will be remembered not only for the historic losses by the Democratic Party in the House, but also the unprecedented amount of outside spending that poured into races, thanks to the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizen United decision. Indeed, Democratic Congressional Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen attributed the GOP wave in part to the “record amount of secret money spent by right-wing outside groups turned this political storm into a category 3 political hurricane.”

A new report from watchdog group Public Citizen largely bears out this observation that powerful independent expenditures may have played a significant role. Out of 74 contests in which power changed hands on Tuesday, outside spending benefited the winner in 58 races. Just 14 of the losing candidates received more help than their opponents from these groups.

“Outside undisclosed money provided a real advantage to successful candidates in this election,” said Lisa Gilbert, deputy director of CongressWatch, a division of Public Citizen. “Secret contributions in political campaigns are a recipe for influence-buying corruption. The public deserves more information, and renewed battle to increase this sort of disclosure lies ahead in the next Congress.”

Winning candidates in these races where power changed hands received, on average, $764,326 from outside groups (not including party committees), compared to $273,268 for the losing candidates.

Full Story: Unprecedented Outside Spending Boosted Candidates To Victory.

Federal Reserve Rains Money On Corporate America — But Main Street Left High And Dry

Bill Gross will be one of the few to benefit from the Federal Reserve’s announcement this afternoon.

The legendary money manager, who oversees more than $1.2 trillion at Pacific Investment Management Co., stands to profit off the plan hatched by the nation’s central bank. The Fed announced that it will buy between $850 to $900 billion of U.S. government debt, also known as Treasuries, through June to spur the recovery. Over the coming months, the Fed will then communicate its specific plans well ahead of any such purchases, allowing wealthy investors and firms a chance to buy those assets first so they can sell it back to the Fed at a profit. Folks like Gross will be the biggest beneficiaries.

When it comes to helping Wall Street and corporate America, the Federal Reserve spares no expense.

It expanded its authority and bailed out securities and insurance firms. It tethered the main interest rate to zero. It more than doubled its balance sheet to $2.3 trillion by purchasing mortgage-linked securities and U.S. government debt. To arrest the free-falling economy and jolt it back to life, the nation’s central bank has engaged in an unprecedented campaign to ensure banks have cash and corporations access to credit.

Full Story: Federal Reserve Rains Money On Corporate America — But Main Street Left High And Dry.

New hologram technology brings 3-D to life

Executives may not be able to beam a full three-dimensional image of themselves across the world just yet but researchers are a step closer to 3-D real-time images, an advance in holographic technology that could make video conferencing far more lifelike.

Nasser Peyghambarian of the University of Arizona and colleagues said on Wednesday their new holographic technology can project a near 360-degree image to another location that updates every two seconds.

Known as three-dimensional telepresence, the technology addresses shortcomings of current holograms, which give the illusion of 3-D but leave out the rear view, said Peyghambarian, whose study appears in the journal Nature.

Full Story: New hologram technology brings 3-D to life | Raw Story.

Revealed: BP rates 148 of its own Alaska pipelines ‘F’ for safety

The extensive pipeline system that moves oil, gas and waste throughout BP’s operations in Alaska is plagued by severe corrosion, according to an internal maintenance report generated four weeks ago.

The document, obtained by ProPublica, shows that as of Oct. 1, 2010 at least 148 BP pipelines on Alaska’s North Slope received an “F-rank” from the company. According to BP oilworkers, that means inspections have determined that more than 80 percent of the pipe wall is corroded and could rupture. Most of those lines carry toxic or flammable substances. Many of the metal walls of the F-ranked pipes are worn to within a few thousandths of an inch of bursting, according to the document, risking an explosion or spills.

BP oil workers also say that the company’s fire- and gas-warning systems are unreliable, that the giant turbines that pump oil and gas through the system are aging, and that some oil and waste holding tanks are on the verge of collapse.

Full Story: Revealed: BP rates 148 of its own Alaska pipelines ‘F’ for safety | Raw Story.

Federal Reserve to print billions of dollars in massive shadow stimulus

The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting panel began a crucial two-day meeting Tuesday, poised to cast aside its long-held reluctance to micro-manage the economy in a bid to avoid a lost decade of growth.

The central bank’s open market committee (FOMC) is expected to approve massive stimulus spending not seen since the depths of the economic crisis.

At the conclusion of the meeting Wednesday, the Fed is expected to announce it will resume the large-scale purchase of long-term US bonds — essentially printing billions of dollars — in the hope of boosting a weak recovery.

Full Story: Federal Reserve to print billions of dollars in massive shadow stimulus | Raw Story.

Obama signals he may allow rich to keep tax cuts, kill chance of climate bill

Chastened Obama signals compromise on tax cuts, emissions controls — not on gays in military

A chastened President Barack Obama signaled a willingness to compromise with Republicans on tax cuts and energy policy Wednesday, one day after his party lost control of the House and suffered deep Senate losses in midterm elections.

Obama ruefully called the Republican victories “a shellacking.”

At a White House news conference, the president said that when Congress returns, “my goal is to make sure we don’t have a huge spike in taxes for middle class families.” He made no mention of his campaign-long insistence that tax cuts be permitted to expire on upper-income families, a position he said would avoid swelling the deficit but put him in conflict with Republicans.

Full Story: Obama signals he may allow rich to keep tax cuts, kill chance of climate bill | Raw Story.

OPS:  …and the cowardly capitulation begins….

GOP to investigate ‘scientific fraud’ of global warming: report

Fresh off a dramatic victory in which it retook the House leadership, the Republican Party intends to hold major hearings probing the supposed “scientific fraud” behind global warming.

The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder related the news in a little-noticed article Wednesday morning.

The effort is a likely attempt to out-step the White House on energy policy moving forward. Legislation on energy and climate change reform, one of President Barack Obama campaign promises, has yet to materialize, though Obama’s EPA recently classified carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

Full Story: GOP to investigate ‘scientific fraud’ of global warming: report | Raw Story.

Lawmaker who apologized to BP may chair House energy panel

The Texas lawmaker who apologized to BP for the US government’s insistence that the oil giant set up a fund to compensate oil spill victims may soon be the most powerful voice in the House on US energy policy.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) is a leading contender for the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a position he held once before, during the 2004-2006 congressional session.

Barton brought attention to himself in June, when the Obama administration announced that BP would set up a $20-billion escrow fund to compensate businesses and households affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Full Story: Lawmaker who apologized to BP may chair House energy panel | Raw Story.

REPORT: Meet The 2010 GOP Freshman Class

Following last night’s election, over 100 freshmen Republicans will take their seats in the 112th Congress. These GOPers come from disparate backgrounds, but they are united by their adherence to the extreme wing of conservative ideology.

A new ThinkProgress investigation has found that the incoming GOP freshman class is rife with legislators who not only oppose climate change legislation, but deny that manmade global warming even exists. They are pushing not just to end birthright citizenship, but also demand that the United States reduce the number of legal immigrants.

Here is a snapshot of the GOP Class of 2010’s extremism:

Full Story: ThinkProgress » REPORT: Meet The 2010 GOP Freshman Class.

Chamber’s Money Well Spent: 63 Percent of Races Won; 20 Incumbent Democrats Defeated

For months, Think Progress has been chronicling the “U.S.” Chamber of Commerce’s $75 million campaign to put its interests over working- and middle-class families. It uses its substantial war chest to protect companies that outsource, oppose health reform, oppose Wall Street reform, and oppose clean energy. The Chamber will not disclose who is financing this campaign, fearing a public backlash. But we know the results: The 112th Congress will have more members to protect its pro-outsourcing, anti-middle class agenda.

So far, the Chamber’s spending contributed to the defeat of 20 incumbent Democrats. In all, the Chamber spent $31.8 million on ads or independent expenditures in 62 races. Six of those races are too close to call as of this afternoon. Of the remaining 57, the Chamber’s candidate won 36 of them — or 63 percent. The cost of those 36 wins: nearly $17 million.

Here is a list of races the Chamber won:

Full Story: ThinkProgress » Chamber’s Money Well Spent: 63 Percent of Races Won; 20 Incumbent Democrats Defeated.

Why Democrats Lost for Complete Idiots

The Democrats gained control of both Congress and the Presidency in 2008. They then pursued ineffective policies which didn’t fix the economy. They increased deportations of Hispanics. They restricted abortion rights for women. They spat on gays repeatedly. They betrayed unions. They gutted civil rights, going even further than George W. Bush (who never said he had the right to assassinate Americans.) They saved bankers who then rewarded themselves with record bonuses and salaries while average American wages actually declined.

The base was demoralized, not because the Dems went too far left, but because they went too far right. The non-Democratic voters were angered because they elected Democrats to fix the goddamn economy and to not be George Bush, who they were sick of. Dems didn’t do what they were elected to do.

That’s why Dems are losing – because they demoralized their own base in a base election year, because they didn’t fix the economy, and because they thought Americans wanted them to be George Bush, just a bit smarter.

This isn’t a repudiation of liberalism or progressivism or socialism (Americans wouldn’t recognize a socialist if he gave them real universal healthcare) it is a repudiation of a Democratic party which failed to fix the economy and which became identified with bailouts for the rich.

Anyone who doesn’t understand this, is, forgive me, a complete idiot.

Full Story: Why Democrats Lost for Complete Idiots | Ian Welsh.

Ralph Nader: Corporate socialism runs US government

Video:

With midterm elections in the US about to begin, RT has spoken with 4-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader about the real powers that govern America. Ralph Nader does not belong to either of the two parties ruling Congress. Nader believes that Theodore Dreiser put it very well many years ago, when he said that “the corporations are the government”.

Do Positive People Live Longer?

Most people assume that positive thinking is just something that we do to help achieve our goals, or even to get through difficult times. But a host of exciting research has shown that attitude affects our health — so much so, in fact, that a positive attitude can add years to our lives.

Take the following study performed at Carnegie Mellon University, for instance. In the study, each of 193 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55 was given nasal drops containing a cold or flu virus.

Participants were also assessed for their emotional style — whether they tended to experience positive emotions, like happiness, liveliness and calmness, or whether they tended to experience negative emotions, like anxiousness, hostility, and depressive tendencies. Each person’s health was then monitored in quarantine.

Full Story: David R. Hamilton, Ph.D.: Do Positive People Live Longer?.

Exclusive: Business groups poised to turn judges into ‘politicians in robes’

Illinois is ground zero for new tactic underwritten by Chamber of Commerce, manufacturing lobby

Campaign donations to members of Congress from secret donors and foreign investors are grabbing headlines this election season.

But in a new twist in judicial elections this year, business groups are targeting judges over single-issue rulings – from overturning medical malpractice limits to upholding gay marriage – in retention races that were originally designed to limit the influence of special interest money

Full Story: Exclusive: Business groups poised to turn judges into ‘politicians in robes’ | Raw Story.

Federal Reserve to print billions of dollars in massive shadow stimulus | Raw Story

The Federal Reserve’s policy-setting panel began a crucial two-day meeting Tuesday, poised to cast aside its long-held reluctance to micro-manage the economy in a bid to avoid a lost decade of growth.

The central bank’s open market committee (FOMC) is expected to approve massive stimulus spending not seen since the depths of the economic crisis.

At the conclusion of the meeting Wednesday, the Fed is expected to announce it will resume the large-scale purchase of long-term US bonds — essentially printing billions of dollars — in the hope of boosting a weak recovery.

Full Story: Federal Reserve to print billions of dollars in massive shadow stimulus | Raw Story.

Regis accused of breaking federal labor laws

A complaint said the hair salon company bullied workers to keep them from joining a union.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) says it believes that Edina-based Regis Corp. violated federal labor laws when it asked salon employees to make a written pledge not to sign union authorization cards in the future.

The labor board’s regional office in Minneapolis, which issued the complaint late Friday, also took issue with a DVD in which it said Regis CEO Paul Finkelstein “threatened … it would close salons if employees selected a union to represent them” and that those who signed union authorization cards or supported a union “would be blacklisted in the industry.”

Regis placed posters at salons “exhorting employees not to sign union authorization cards and to call an information hotline if they observed any union activity by other employees,” according to the complaint.

Full Story: Regis accused of breaking federal labor laws | StarTribune.com.

Texas – DeLay Trial Opens

Opening arguments began Monday in Austin in the trial of Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, on state charges of money laundering, as prosecutors told a jury that Mr. DeLay had taken part in an illegal scheme to route $190,000 in corporate money to Republican candidates. A defense lawyer countered that none of the money was given directly to Texas politicians and asserted that Mr. DeLay was guilty only of being a better politician than his Democratic opponents. The contributions helped Republicans take over the Texas House in 2002, paving the way for the passage of a redistricting plan — designed by Mr. DeLay — that gave Republicans more control over the state’s Congressional delegation. In her opening statement, the prosecutor, Beverly Mathews, said: “There is nothing wrong with Republicans trying to dominate the political world. But the means to achieve that gain must be lawful.”

Full Story: Texas – DeLay Trial Opens – NYTimes.com.

Khodorkovsky: the entire fate of Russia depends on this verdict

In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the richest man in Russia. He was one of those oligarchs that had amassed a fortune estimated at US$15 billion. Then everything changed for him after he was arrested on charges of stealing 218 million tons of oil and of fraudulent activity as chief of the former Yukos oil concern. He was condemned to an eight-year prison term.

There are many, inside Russia as well as outside, who feel that his arrest had more to do with his criticism of Vladimir Putin than anything else. In fact, Earth Times reported that German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle criticized the Khodorkovsky trial in a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

Full Story: Khodorkovsky: the entire fate of Russia depends on this verdict – National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com.

Alcohol ‘more harmful than heroin or crack’

Sacked government drugs adviser David Nutt publishes investigation in Lancet reopening debate on classification

Alcohol is the most dangerous drug in the UK by a considerable margin, beating heroin and crack cocaine into second and third place, according to an authoritative study published today which will reopen calls for the drugs classification system to be scrapped and a concerted campaign launched against drink.

Led by the sacked government drugs adviser David Nutt with colleagues from the breakaway Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, the study says that if drugs were classified on the basis of the harm they do, alcohol would be class A, alongside heroin and crack cocaine.

Today’s paper, published by the respected Lancet medical journal, will be seen as a challenge to the government to take on the fraught issue of the relative harms of legal and illegal drugs, which proved politically damaging to Labour.

Full Story: Alcohol ‘more harmful than heroin or crack’ | Society | The Guardian.

Unemployment Offices To Add Armed Guards

Armed security guards will be on hand at 36 unemployment offices around Indiana in what state officials said is a step to improve safety and make branch security more consistent.

No specific incidents prompted the action, Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter told 6News’ Norman Cox.

Lotter said the agency is merely being cautious with the approach of an early-December deadline when thousands of Indiana residents could see their unemployment benefits end after exhausting the maximum 99 weeks provided through multiple federal extension periods.

Full Story: Unemployment Offices To Add Armed Guards – Indiana News Story – WRTV Indianapolis.

SEC Investigating Deal Between JPMorgan and Hedge Fund Magnetar

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether JPMorgan Chase allowed a hedge fund to improperly select assets for a $1.1 billion deal backed by subprime mortgages, according to people familiar with the probe.

Called “Squared” and completed in May 2007, the deal was a collateralized debt obligation, or CDO, made up of pieces of other CDOs. The hedge fund, Magnetar Capital, based in Evanston, Ill., purchased the riskiest slice of Squared as part of a strategy to bet against the mortgage market.

As we reported in April, together with Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life and NPR’s Planet Money, Magnetar often purchased the riskiest portion of CDOs, enabling the banks to complete the deals. Magnetar also frequently bet against those same CDOs, using side bets. Magnetar’s purchases ultimately spawned at least $40 billion worth of risky CDOs in 2006 and 2007.

While Magnetar bought the riskiest slices, the CDOs were created and marketed by investment banks. In the case of Squared, the SEC is examining whether JPMorgan adequately disclosed to the investors it marketed Squared to that Magnetar had a role in picking the securities that went into the deal while also betting against segments of the deal. The 294-page Squared prospectus, which was created by JPMorgan, has generic language warning that some investors and the CDO manager might have investments that conflict with the interests of other holders of the CDO. (Read the prospectus.)

Full Story: On The Hill: SEC Investigating Deal Between JPMorgan and Hedge Fund Magnetar.