Archive for March, 2011

NY’s Political Crime Wave: Green’ Party’s Hawkins Says Start Leg. Sessions With Lie Detector Test Not Pledge of Allegiance!

Green Party Decries Crime Wave at State Capitol — Call for Lawmakers to Submit to Lie Detector Tests to Root Out Corruption

The Green Party of New York said today that state Democratic and Republican Parties have become an organized crime family at the State Capitol.

“Rather than starting the legislation session with the pledge of allegiance, state legislators and the Governor should submit to a lie detector test as to whether or not they have solicited any bribes or kickbacks that day. The indictment rate of state legislators exceeds that of the mafia, but instead of hearing lawmakers demand investigations and reforms to clean up the corruption, they make poor people get fingerprinted to get a few crumbs,” said Howie Hawkins, the recent Green Party candidate for Governor.

Full Story Here: NY’s Political Crime Wave: Green’s Hawkins Says Start Leg. Sessions With Lie Detector Test Not Pledge of Allegiance! | Corrente.

Senator Harkin calls anti-union supporters ‘enemies of working families’

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin had no kind words for Wisconsin elected officials who voted this week to limit the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers. He does, however, remain hopeful that a similar situation will not come to fruition in Iowa.

“[A] handful of Republican senators in Wisconsin trampled over the Democratic process, ramming through legislation that took away a fundamental right of Wisconsin’s public servants — the right to collective bargaining,” Harkin told reporters on a conference call Thursday. “After losing the public debate, they resorted to procedural tricks. And, in the end, over 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin went down the drain in 20 minutes. It’s appalling the content that was shown for working families by this kangaroo legislature. They are using public sector workers — our friends and neighbors — as a procedural scapegoat.”

Harkin said it’s important to remember the people impacted by the Wisconsin legislation.

“We are talking about the police officers and firefighters who put their lives on the line to keep our families safe,” he said. “We’re talking about the elementary school teachers who make sure our kids are safe and know their ABCs. Our public servants deserve respect, especially from our elected officials. They did not cause the recession and they do not deserve to be treated this way.”

Full Story Here: Senator Harkin calls anti-union supporters ‘enemies of working families’ | The American Independent.

Wisconsin GOP Leader Admits The Truth About Assault on Unions — It’s All About Stopping Obama in 2012

It’s not like we didn’t know it – but who would have thought they would be so brazen as to voice it out loud?

Appearing on Fox News, Wisconsin Sen. Majority Leader, Scott Fitzgerald had this to say-

If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you’re going to find is President Obama is going to have a much difficult, much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin.

Via Rawstory

With bills similar -or worse- pending in many states led by GOP governors with legislative majorities, it is becoming increasingly clear that doing away with public employee unions or outlawing dues paying for all members is just a bonus for these forces – the real target is wiping out the union treasure chests to deny the president the benefit of their assistance in the 2012 election.

If you are having difficulty believing that Sen. Fitzgerald could possibly be so stupid as he appears to be, watch this-

Full Story Here: Wisconsin GOP Leader Admits The Truth — It’s All About Obama – Rick Ungar – The Policy Page – Forbes.

NPR Emails Show CEO Refusing Donation from Phony O’Keefe Group

Responding to a report that NPR was closer to accepting a $5 million donation from a phony Muslim group than previously acknowledged, NPR released e-mails to TPM backing up their claim that they had refused the money.

In their initial statement after hidden camera footage of their executives lunching with the fake foundation, NPR said that “The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept.” The Daily Caller reported Thursday evening on emails in which NPR executives said they were “awaiting a draft agreement” from their legal counsel on the donation, raising the question of how far down the line negotiations had proceeded.

NPR spokeswoman Anna Christopher told TPM via e-mail that the agreement “never got beyond the internal drafting stage – and was never sent. Period.” To back up her claim, Christopher provided TPM with four pages pages of emails in which CEO Vivan Schiller, who resigned Wednesday, and her staff discuss a potential donation from MEAC, the fake Muslim group created by James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas to infiltrate NPR.

Full Story Here: NPR Emails Show CEO Refusing Donation from Phony O’Keefe Group | TPMMuckraker.

Dumbing Deficits Down

Paul Krugman: :

Like anyone who writes regularly about what passes for economic and fiscal debate in American politics, I’ve developed a strong tolerance for nonsense. After all, if I got upset every time powerful people were illogical and/or dishonest, I’d spend every waking hour in a state of raging despair.

Yet there are still moments when I find myself saying, “They can’t really be that stupid,” or maybe, “They can’t really think the rest of us are that stupid.” And I had one of those moments reading about a recent conference on national health policy, which featured a bipartisan dialogue among Congressional staffers.

According to a column in Kaiser Health News, Republican staffers jeered at any and all proposals to use Medicare and Medicaid funds better. Spending money on prevention was no more than a “slush fund.” Research on innovation was “an oxymoron.” And there was no reason to pay for “so-called effectiveness research.”

Full Story Here: Dumbing Deficits Down – NYTimes.com.

How the US Press Corps Lost Its Way

By Robert Parry

The eulogies for Washington Post columnist David Broder and the chaos surrounding National Public Radio have coincided as an unintended commentary on what went wrong with the U.S. news media.

For different reasons, Broder, who died Wednesday at the age of 81, and NPR, which is scrambling to save its federal funding, came to reflect the timidity of American mainstream journalism, unwilling or unable to challenge the corruption of the status quo.

Broder personified the cult of centrism, a faith in “The System” that ignored how hollowed out its institutions had become, at least in terms of any moral or democratic values.

NPR, with its endless attempts to mollify conservatives, demonstrated how slippery the slope can be when a price tag is put on journalism. As NPR slides ever downward in its frantic attempts to appease the Republican House majority — most recently with a cascade of resignations — it’s hard not to conclude that the radio network may not be worth saving.

Full Story Here: How the US Press Corps Lost Its Way.

Japan earthquake and tsunami: State of emergency after nuclear power plant crippled

* 2,800 residents already evacuated within two-mile radius of the plant

* Pressure rises to 2.1 times normal level

* Experts warn the situation ‘could turn grave’

There has been an explosion at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Several workers have been injured by the blast as they continue the struggle to contain radiation leaks at the crippled reactor.

Thousands of people within a six-mile radius of the Fukushima facility were evacuated as radiation rose to 1,000 times the safe level and pressure grew, fueling fears of an explosion.

With growing tension at the plant 150 miles north of Tokyo, a second state of emergency was declared as pressure rose in two reactors at the facility.

Earlier officials had proposed releasing radioactive vapour into the atmosphere in a bid to prevent an explosion after its cooling system failed.

Full Story Here: Japan earthquake and tsunami: State of emergency after nuclear power plant crippled | Mail Online.

How Unions Make a Nation Competitive

Like Rodney Dangerfield, unions in America have long struggled to gain respect, especially since 1980. I’ve long been amazed at all the workers I’ve talked to over the years who are reluctant to support the union movement.

“Maybe unions were needed back in the 19th century era of Robber Barons,” union foes argue. “But these days, unions are a dinosaur. They’re no longer needed.”

I’ve heard variants of the above argument repeatedly over the years, from both Republicans and even some Democrats. Of course, it makes no sense. It’s like saying, “We already have Free Speech in America, so we no longer need the First Amendment.”

Indeed, unions tend to get blamed for all kinds of ills facing present-day America. After all, wasn’t it “greedy, overpaid” union members that resulted in America losing its manufacturing base?

That seems to be the Conventional Wisdom these days.

But there’s only one problem. It’s not only bullsh*t—it’s the total opposite of the truth.

Unions, in fact, help make a nation more competitive.

Don’t believe me?

Full Story Here: BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com: How Unions Make a Nation Competitive.

Walker’s Big Bank Donors Take a Hit

The Nation –

The blowback from Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s union-busting crusade has only just begun—and it may soon hit the governor where it really hurts: in the deep pockets of his biggest donors. Workers have begun organizing a “Move Your Money Campaign” against M&I Bank, whose employees are among his chief financial backers.

M&I Bank is the largest bank in Wisconsin, and was the recipient of $1.7 billion in TARP bailout money from the federal government. The bundled contributions from M&I executives were Walker’s second largest source of campaign funds. According to records provided by the Sunlight Foundation, executives at M&I Bank gave $46,308 to Walker’s campaign. And now, a group of local unions in Wisconsin have threatened to pull their money from M&I Bank unless it denounces Scott Walker’s attack on workers’ rights.

“Walker and his henchmen in the GOP have chosen to ignore the people of Wisconsin, but we all know now that they will listen to their big money donors,” says factory worker David Goodspeed, union member of Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 565.”This is an opportunity for donors like M&I to be good corporate citizens and do what’s right for the citizens who bailed them out.”

Full Story Here: Walker’s Big Bank Donors Take a Hit – Yahoo! News.

Wisconsin’s Dane County Sues Walker & State to Block Budget Bill

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk is suing legislative leaders and the state in an attempt to block the enactment of the budget repair bill passed Thursday night and signed by Gov. Scott Walker Friday morning.

The lawsuit was filed by Corporation Counsel Marcia MacKenzie in Dane County Circuit Court.

Dane County Circuit Judge Amy Smith is expected to rule on a temporary restraining order sought by Dane County that would bar Secretary of State Douglas LaFollette from publishing the bill until the legality of a meeting of the legislative conference committee can be determined.

The county also wants the bill to be declared unconstitutional.

Full Story Here: Dane County sues state to block budget bill.

Demanding cheaper oil is disastrous

The most popular cry in politics today is a pledge to deny reality and cut petrol prices. Give us our fix! Make it cheap! Make it now!

Johann Hari: :

My name is Johann Hari, and I am an addict. If you restrict the supply of my drug, as has happened over the past month, I become panicky and angry. If you cut it off entirely, my life will fall apart. I want my fix, I want it cheap, and I want it now. My drug is called oil. I eat it: my food is driven to me. I wear it: my clothing is shipped and flown to me. I travel with it: on every bus, train and plane. But if I don’t go to rehab soon, this addiction is going to ruin me. This is the inaugural meeting of Petroleum Anonymous. We’re all going to need it now. There are four major symptoms to my addiction and yours, and in 2011 they are all getting worse.

Symptom one: unpredictable convulsions. There is a revolution happening all around the world’s biggest oil-fields, and it is getting closer to the deepest pools every day. For 60 years our governments have armed, funded and fuelled tyrants in return for them pointing the petrol pump in our direction. Just as junkies will rob their mothers and mug their grannies, we have abandoned the most basic values of our societies in pursuit of cheap oil. Initially, this created the virus of jihadism. Now some of the local populations are finally rising up in a democratic spirit against their tyrants. They are being shot at by soldiers trained at Sandhurst and with weapons stamped Made in America.

Full Story Here: Johann Hari: Demanding cheaper oil is disastrous – Johann Hari, Commentators – The Independent.

Miami police buy military drone that can see into houses

Police in Miami-Dada County have a new tool in their arsenal: a military aerial drone that, if flown low enough, can actually see into people’s houses.

Sgt. Andrew Cohen assured members of the press that would not be the device’s main use, but civil liberties advocates were still wary of the claim. Police said they were still awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use the drone.

This video is from CBS 4 in Miami, broadcast March 9, 2011.

Full Story Here: Miami police buy military drone that can see into houses | Raw Replay.

Lost in evolution: a hairy penis, a tiny brain

Some defining human traits — a penis bereft of the stiff sensory hairs common to many male mammals, a bulging brain — come less from new genes than genetic material lost through evolution, according to a study published Thursday.

The findings suggest a new way of thinking about what sets Homo sapiens sapiens, or modern man, apart from our close evolutionary cousins, especially the chimpanzee, whose DNA overlaps with ours by 97 percent, the authors said.

Most research on this question has looked for what is genetically novel in humans, and focused on the genes themselves rather than the regulatory mechanisms that drive them.

“But we asked, ‘are there functional, highly-conserved genetic elements in the chimpanzee genome that are completely missing in humans?’,” said Gill Bejerano, an assistant professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and co-leader of the study.

Full Story Here: Lost in evolution: a hairy penis, a tiny brain | The Raw Story.

Europe Takes the Lead in Drive to Tax Speculators – IPS

There are still places in the world where folks from across the political spectrum can have a rational discussion about fair taxation.

High-speed rail, universal health care, quality cheese. Let’s face it — the Europeans often leave us Yanks way behind. And now they appear on track again, with solid progress this week towards adopting an innovative proposal to pay for the costs of the global economic crisis.

On March 8, the European Parliament voted 360-299 in favor of introducing financial transactions taxes, tiny levies on trades of stocks, derivatives, currency, and other financial instruments. The proposal could generate an estimated $200 billion per year in revenue for European governments to channel into job creation and other urgent needs. At the same time, it would discourage the type of risky, short-term speculation that got us into this economic mess in the first place.

What’s most astounding is that the tax proposal sailed through despite the European Parliament’s strong right-wing majority. Yes, there are still places in the world where folks from across the political spectrum can have a rational discussion about fair taxation.

Full Story Here: Europe Takes the Lead in Drive to Tax Speculators – IPS.

Wisconsin GOP State Senator Admits Union Fight Is ‘Absolutely’ About 2012

For weeks, Wisconsin Republicans have been insisting that the anti-union bill they abruptly passed through the state Senate last night has nothing to do with busting unions or politics, but is all about doing what is necessary to balance the state’s budget. But as ThinkProgress reported, Wisconsin state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) admitted yesterday that he sees an electoral payoff, telling Fox News that by breaking the state’s public employee unions, the GOP can make it “much more difficult” for President Obama to win Wisconsin in 2012. On Fox & Friends this morning, his fellow Republican state Sen. Randy Hopper also tipped his hand a bit, saying the White House must be behind in the pro-union protests because everyone knows this is about 2012:

HOST: If the White House is involved and big labor is involved, would that say to you that they’re trying to make this an issue for 2012?

HOPPER: I think there’s absolutely no question that this is an issue for 2012. People from Organizing for America have been running the protests in Madison for quite some time now. And I think that there’s no question that the president has some involvement in this, I don’t know what. But listen, we need what’s in the best interest for the working people of Wisconsin, and that’s what we’ve done.

Watch it:

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Wisconsin GOP State Senator Admits Union Fight Is ‘Absolutely’ About 2012.

Wisconsin Can Repeal Walker’s Anti-Union Bill In 2012 And Amend The State Constitution In 2013

Last night, Wisconsin Senate Republicans abandoned any remaining pretenses that a bill stripping state workers of their collective bargaining rights has anything whatsoever to do with the state’s finances, and rammed the bill through the senate without any Democrats present. Yet even if Gov. Scott Walker (R) succeeds in signing this bill into law, Wisconsin voters have the power to ensure that his victory is short lived.

First, a broad coalition of these voters are circulating petitions to recall the eight GOP state senators who are currently eligible to be removed from office. If just three of these seats are flipped to the Democrats, the GOP will lose control of the state’s upper house.

Second, because Wisconsin law allows any elected official to be recalled after they have served one full year of their term in office, all remaining state legislators and Gov. Walker will be eligible for a recall election next January. If Wisconsin voters wage a successful campaign to fire the state’s anti-worker lawmakers, this bill could be repealed as soon as the snow starts to melt in spring of 2012.

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Wisconsin Can Repeal Walker’s Anti-Union Bill In 2012 And Amend The State Constitution In 2013.

Subprime Schools Throw Fundraiser For Rep. Kline After He Blocks Funding For Proposed Regulation

For-profit colleges — which, as ThinkProgress has been documenting, make the vast majority of their revenue from the federal government, pay their CEOs huge salaries, and leave their students with crippling debt and bleak job prospects — have declared a lobbying “WAR” in order to block new regulations from the Education Department and preserve their almost limitless access to federal dollars. They have hired a bipartisan phalanx of lobbyists and are astroturfing on Capitol Hill, supplying students with their industry-approved talking points.

In the last election cycle, the for-profit college industry also donated millions to congressional candidates, including $100,000 to House Education Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN). Kline dutifully inserted a provision into the House Republicans’ 2011 spending bill that scuttled the Education Department’s regulations. And Tuesday night, as Higher Ed Watch reported, the industry threw Kline a personal fundraiser:

The Political Action Committee connected to the group formerly known as the Career College Association hosted a dinner reception for Rep. John Kline (R-MN) at “the refined and elegant” Capitol Hill Club, which is the premiere social club and restaurant for Republicans in the nation’s capital.

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Subprime Schools Throw Fundraiser For Rep. Kline After He Blocks Funding For Proposed Regulation.

Woman Forced To Watch Her Baby Die Because Nebraska Anti-Abortion Law Prohibited Doctor From Acting

Since the start of the year, Republican lawmakers on the federal and state level have charged headlong into a comprehensive assault on a woman’s right to choose.

In Nebraska, one law already in existence heaped needless trauma on a mother’s tragedy. Thirty-four-year-old Danielle Deaver was 23 weeks pregnant when she faced a fate “worse than your own death” — her baby would not make it. Her water broke early and, without amniotic fluid, the fetus would not develop lungs to survive outside the womb. Deaver and her husband decided they wanted to let “nature take it’s course” and would not risk harming the child further, so they asked their doctor to help “put an end to this nightmare.”

But because of Nebraska’s law prohibiting any abortion after 20 weeks, the doctor could not assist or he would “face criminal charges, jail time, and lose his medical license.” Her doctors told her “she’d just have to wait.” So she did, in “torture,” and gave birth to Elizabeth at 3pm, watched her gasp for breath, and then watched her die at 3:15pm on December 8, 2010. “The outcome of my pregnancy, that choice was made by God,” said Deaver, but “how to handle the end of my pregnancy, that choice should’ve been mine.”

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Woman Forced To Watch Her Baby Die Because Nebraska Anti-Abortion Law Prohibited Doctor From Acting.

Study Shows Gov’t Spending Preferences of Americans; Health And Education On Top

As Republicans and Democrats go back and forth with competing lists of federal programs to subject to a budget ax, a new study provides lawmakers an insight into how the American people would like to see their tax dollars spent.

In its 27th survey of American spending priorities since 1973 conducted as part of its General Social Survey (GSS), NORC at the University of Chicago Wednesday released a report on its most recent findings. By a notable margin, education and health care were the top two spending priorities of Americans. And Americans are consistent in that: those two categories have finished in the top two in each of the 10 surveys since 1990.

The spending priorities report is derived from recently released data of the 2010 General Social Survey which NORC, an independent research organization, has conducted for 40 years. The GSS is a biennial survey that gathers data on contemporary American society in order to monitor and explain trends and constants in attitudes, behaviors, and attributes. The GSS is supported by the National Science Foundation and is the second most-referenced survey in America after the U.S. Census, according to NORC.

Full Story Here: The Washington Current: Study Shows Gov’t Spending Preferences of Americans; Health And Education On Top.

Governor Walker’s Coup D’Etat

Robert Reich : :

Governor Scott Walker and his Wisconsin senate Republicans have laid bare the motives for their coup d’etat. By severing the financial part of the bill (which couldn’t be passed without absent Democrats) from the part eliminating the collective bargaining rights of public employees (which could be), and then doing the latter, Wisconsin Republicans have made it crystal clear that their goal has had nothing whatever to do with the state budget. It’s been to bust the unions.

That’s no surprise to most people who have watched this conflict from the start, but like any coup its ultimate outcome will depend on the public. If most citizens of Wisconsin are now convinced that Walker and his cohorts are extremists willing to go to any lengths for their big-business patrons (including the billionaire Koch brothers), those citizens will recall enough Republican senators to right this wrong.

But it’s critically important at this stage that Walker’s opponents maintain the self-discipline they have shown until this critical point. Walker would like nothing better than disorder to break out in Madison. Like the leader of any coup d’etat, he wants to show the public his strong-arm methods are made necessary by adversaries whose behavior can be characterized on the media as even more extreme.

Full Story Here: Robert Reich (Governor Walker’s Coup D’Etat).

General Strike Called in Wisconsin

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker appears to be unconcerned about the looming general strike and continues to push his program forward vigorously.

A general strike against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s program to eviscerate unions and social services is now a certainty. The only questions remaining about the strike are the timing and extent. The only possibility of avoiding this historic event would be a retreat on the part of of the sponsors of the draconian reform bill

Talk about a general strike has been going on in Wisconsin for nearly two weeks with several labor and political groups involved. A number of labor organizations have proposed a general strike on the day that the reform bill passes the Wisconsin legislature, but there have been more recent rumblings on twitter and facebook proposing an earlier date and making Governor Walker’s resignation the end date of a strike with comments like, “General Strike! Until Walker out! Stay united. Say goodbye to the many with the bully attitude.”

Unions and other labor advocates have taken a soft position on a general strike due to no-strike provisions in many of today’s labor contracts. As early as Februrary 21, the Wisconsin South Central Federation of Labor backed, but did not actually call a strike stating “The SCFL endorses a general strike, possibly for the day Walker signs his ‘budget repair bill.” Thus, labor organizations appear to have signaled early that any general strike call will have to be leaderless, but will be honored by the unions when it comes about. One observer at the daily protests canvassed opinions among protesters about the prospects for a general strike and came to the conclusion that while “There is no organization capable of orchestrating a strike at this time, If the bill passes, something will happen.”

Full Story Here: General Strike Called in Wisconsin – Salem-News.Com.

Wisconsin shocker: Anti-union bill slips through

Collective bargaining rights have apparently fallen victim to a sneaky GOP legislative maneuver

Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted Wednesday night to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers after discovering a way to bypass the chamber’s missing Democrats.

All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker’s so-called “budget repair bill” — a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.

The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday split from the legislation the proposal to curtail union rights, which spends no money, and a special conference committee of state lawmakers approved the bill a short time later.

Full Story Here: Wisconsin shocker: Anti-union bill slips through – Wisconsin – Salon.com.

The Principles of the People’s Party

Robert Reich : :

The following was sent to me by someone in Madison, Wisconsin, who found it in the Capitol building last week. It was obviously written in a hurry, and it carries the label “first draft.”

It’s emerging from the heartland – from Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa — and it is spreading across the nation. It doesn’t have a formal organization or Washington lobbyists beyond it, but it’s gaining strength nonetheless. Like the Tea Party did with Republicans in 2010, the People’s Party will pressure Democrats in primaries and general elections leading up to 2012 and beyond to have the courage of the party’s core convictions. But unlike the Tea Party, which has been coopted by the super-rich, the People’s Party represents the needs and aspirations of America’s vast working middle class, along with the less fortunate.

The People’s Party is dedicated to the truth that America is a rich nation – richer by far than any other, richer than it’s ever been. The People’s Party rejects the claims of plutocrats who want us to believe we can no longer afford to live decently – who are cutting the wages and benefits of most people, attacking unions, and squeezing public budgets. The People’s Party will not allow them to turn us against one another – unionized against non-unionized, public employee against private employee, immigrant against native born. Nor will the People’s Party allow the privileged and powerful to distract us from the explosive concentration of income and wealth at the top, the decline in taxes paid by the top, and their increasing and untrammeled political power.

We have joined together to reverse these trends and to promote a working people’s bill of rights. We are committed to:

Full Story Here: Robert Reich (The Principles of the People’s Party).

Obama Makes Indefinite Detention and Military Commissions His Own

President Obama yesterday formalized indefinite detention for dozens of men held at Guantanamo Bay and announced that the Pentagon would move ahead with military trials for a handful of other detainees.

In an executive order [1], which we first reported on in June 2009 [2], the White House created a board to periodically review the dangerousness of prisoners being held without charge or trial. The order says the new process will allow detainees — some in custody for nearly a decade — to challenge the government’s determination that they pose a threat if released.

While the order is new, most of the ideas [3] it contains are not. This is the third time such a board has been created for nearly the same purpose. Two similar processes to review detainee cases were in place during the Bush administration. Like its predecessors, the Obama administration’s review process will operate outside the courts and will be subject to no independent review. Also like the Bush White House, the Obama administration alone will choose all members of the review board and appoint a “personal representative” to advocate on behalf of the detainees.

Full Story Here: Obama Makes Indefinite Detention and Military Commissions His Own – ProPublica.

Kochs Want Massive US Trade Deficit

I know many of you read the title to this diary and asked yourself “Why?” Why would the Koch Brothers have an interest in maintaining huge trade imbalances? Well read on and you’ll learn why, and trust me the answer isn’t that hard to guess.

Many Republicans and conservatives astroturf groups like Americans for Prosperity to blame the causes of our massive (HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of US DOLLARS each year) trade deficit in goods and services on (1) China, or the (2) The Federal Debt and/or Budget Deficit, or (3) President Obama and his liberalsocialistfascist allies in the Democratic Party and all their evil socialist policies like health care reform, or (4) I suppose, these days, even on those well known greedy union thugs otherwise known as “Teachers.” Yet, the largest and most consistent over the last 2 decades in our growing trade imbalance is (and I know this will shock you) imported oil as even hard headed business types acknowledge.

Full Story Here: Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community.

Poll: Public prefers cutting defense spending

Americans show greater reluctance to take money from entitlements, according to new survey

A majority of Americans prefer cutting defense spending to reduce the federal deficit rather than taking money from public retirement and health programs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed.

The poll found 51 percent of Americans support reducing defense spending, and only 28 percent want to cut Medicare and Medicaid health programs for the elderly and poor. A mere 18 percent back cuts in the Social Security retirement program.

Video: Federal budget: Where do we go from here? (on this page)

The Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs, known as entitlements, and defense spending together account for about two-thirds of the $3.7 trillion federal budget, but they are not a major part of the debate in Congress over spending cuts.

Full Story Here: Poll: Public prefers cutting defense spending – Politics – More politics – msnbc.com.

Decline of honey bees now a global phenomenon, says United Nations

The mysterious collapse of honey-bee colonies is becoming a global phenomenon, scientists working for the United Nations have revealed.

Declines in managed bee colonies, seen increasingly in Europe and the US in the past decade, are also now being observed in China and Japan and there are the first signs of African collapses from Egypt, according to the report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The authors, who include some of the world’s leading honey-bee experts, issue a stark warning about the disappearance of bees, which are increasingly important as crop pollinators around the globe. Without profound changes to the way human beings manage the planet, they say, declines in pollinators needed to feed a growing global population are likely to continue. The scientists warn that a number of factors may now be coming together to hit bee colonies around the world, ranging from declines in flowering plants and the use of damaging insecticides, to the worldwide spread of pests and air pollution. They call for farmers and landowners to be offered incentives to restore pollinator-friendly habitats, including key flowering plants near crop-producing fields and stress that more care needs to be taken in the choice, timing and application of insecticides and other chemicals. While managed hives can be moved out of harm’s way, “wild populations (of pollinators) are completely vulnerable”, says the report.

Full Story Here: Decline of honey bees now a global phenomenon, says United Nations – Nature, Environment – The Independent.

Matt Damon – Obama “Rolled Over To Wall Street” (Analysis)

Matt Damon clarified his criticism of President Barack Obama in an interview with The Independent, explaining that the president “rolled over to Wall Street completely”.

Two-thirds of states cut mental healthcare funds: advocacy group

Two-thirds of states cut mental health funding from their general fund budgets over the last two years, according to a report released by a mental illness advocacy group on Wednesday.

Kentucky with 47 percent, Alaska with 35 percent, and South Carolina and Arizona both with 23 percent made the largest percentage cuts to mental health spending in their general fund budgets, which do not include federal Medicaid funding, the study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found.

“Cutting mental health means that costs only get shifted to emergency rooms, schools, police, local courts, jails and prisons,” said NAMI executive director Michael Fitzpatrick. “The taxpayer still pays the bill.”

Full Story Here: Two-thirds of states cut mental healthcare funds: advocacy group | The Raw Story.

Pentagon accounting problems ‘serious’: Treasury

The US administration is taking a hard look at problems in the Defense Department’s accounting, after a report called its books unauditable, the Treasury said Wednesday.

Treasury assistant secretary Richard Gregg told a Congressional panel there were “serious financial reporting issues” at the Pentagon, which in the current proposed budget before the Congress receives $553 billion, or some 15% of all US annual spending.

The remarks came after the US government watchdog the General Accounting Office (GAO) named problematic defense accounting standards as the primary reason it could not produce a full assessment of government spending in fiscal 2010.

Full Story Here: Pentagon accounting problems ‘serious’: Treasury | The Raw Story.

Education Secretary: 82% of US public schools may ‘fail’ this year

In testimony to Congress Wednesday, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan made a startling claim: This year, up to 82 percent of public schools could “fail” the government’s “No Child Left Behind” standards.

“No Child Left Behind is broken and we need to fix it now,” he said, according to a transcript provided by the Department of Education.

“This law has created dozens of ways for schools to fail and very few ways to help them succeed,” Duncan added. “We should get out of the business of labeling schools as failures and create a new law that is fair and flexible, and focused on the schools and students most at risk.”

Full Story Here: Education Secretary: 82% of US public schools may ‘fail’ this year | The Raw Story.

‘US Uncut’ crashes Bank of America ‘Tax Dodger Conference’

Several demonstrators crashed Bank or America’s Investor Conference Tuesday to make the point that when corporations don’t pay taxes, governments are forced to lay off public workers.

A blog posting by the anti-austerity group U.S. Uncut called for protesters to gather Tuesday morning at what they called Bank of America’s “Tax Dodger Conference.”

“Call your broker- if you have any shares in BofA, you’re free to come inside to the conference and tell everyone you see about BofA’s tax dodging,” the statement said.

Full Story Here: ‘US Uncut’ crashes Bank of America ‘Tax Dodger Conference’ | The Raw Story.

Republicans push to overturn ‘net neutrality’ rules

During a Communications and Technology Subcommittee Hearing on Wednesday, House Republicans pushed for a resolution to eliminate ‘net neutrality’ rules recently adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The committee passed the resolution, with all 15 Republicans voting to repeal the rules and all 9 Democrats voting against it.

The ‘net neutrality’ regulations, approved by the FCC in December 2010, require internet service providers (ISPs) to allow their customers to have access all legal online content, applications and services over their wired networks and prohibit unreasonable network discrimination.

The new rules are meant to “preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet” but Republican critics have said the regulations amount to a “government takeover of the Internet.”

Full Story Here: Republicans push to overturn ‘net neutrality’ rules | The Raw Story.

Gingrich says he cheated on his wives because he felt so ‘passionately’ for ‘this country’

Newt Gingrich (R-GA) loves the country so much that it has caused him to stray from his marriages.

At least, that what the former House speaker seemed to be saying in a recent interview with CBN’s David Brody.

“There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” Gingrich said.

“What I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn’t trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them,” he said.

Gingrich has been married three times and divorced twice.

Full Story Here: Gingrich says he cheated on his wives because he felt so ‘passionately’ for ‘this country’ | The Raw Story.

As King Targets Muslims, There Have Been Almost Twice As Many Plots Since 9/11 From Non-Muslim Terrorists

Tomorrow, Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, will hold hearings singling out the Muslim American community for supposedly aiding and abetting domestic radicalization and terrorism.

When asked why he is singling out the Muslim American community and refusing to investigate other forms of terrorism, King has responded by saying that “it makes no sense to talk about other types of extremism, when the main threat to the United States today is talking about al Qaida.”

Yet as a January 2011 terrorism statistics report — compiled using publicly available data from the FBI and other crime agencies — from the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) shows, terrorism by Muslim Americans has only accounted for a minority of terror plots since 9/11. Since the attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, Muslims have been involved in 45 domestic terrorist plots. Meanwhile, non-Muslims have been involved in 80 terrorist plots.

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » As King Targets Muslims, There Have Been Almost Twice As Many Plots Since 9/11 From Non-Muslim Terrorists.

Naomi Klein on Anti-Union Bills a Corporate Coup D’Etat”

Naomi Klein on Anti-Union Bills and Shock Doctrine American-Style: “This is a Frontal Assault on Democracy, It’s a Kind of a Corporate Coup D’Etat”

As a wave of anti-union bills are introduced across the country following the wake of Wall Street financial crisis, many analysts are picking up on the theory that award-winning journalist and author Naomi Klein first argued in her 2007 bestselling book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. In the book, she reveals how those in power use times of crisis to push through undemocratic and extreme free market economic policies. “The Wisconsin protests are an incredible example of how to resist the shock doctrine,” Klein says.

VIdeo:  [includes rush transcript]

Full Story Here: Naomi Klein on Anti-Union Bills and Shock Doctrine American-Style: “This is a Frontal Assault on Democracy, It’s a Kind of a Corporate Coup D’Etat”.

Indiana’s New Republican Sec. of State Charged With Three Counts of Felony Voter Fraud

The GOP ‘voter fraud epidemic’ continues…

What do GOP superstar Ann Coulter, the head of the GOP’s California voter registration firm Mark Anthony Jacoby, and, as of yesterday, Indiana’s newly elected GOP Secretary of State Charlie White all have in common? Unlike the four-decade old community organization ACORN, each of the Republicans appear to have committed voter fraud and/or voter registration fraud.

Coulter’s well-documented acts of voter fraud and voter registration fraud took place in 2005 in Palm Beach County, FL, and were preceded by likely acts of voter fraud in Connecticut in 2002 and 2004 as well. Jacoby’s voter registration fraud in CA led to his 2008 arrest and subsequent guilty plea. And now White, the new chief election official in IN, the state with one of the most draconian voter suppression polling-place Photo ID restriction laws in the nation, has been charged with three counts of voter fraud (as well as additional counts of perjury, financial institution fraud, and theft), just two months after being sworn in last January, for having lied about his address when he voted in last year’s GOP primary…

Full Story Here: The BRAD BLOG : Indiana’s New Republican Sec. of State Charged With Three Counts of Felony Voter Fraud.

Irony/Déjà Vu Alert: Sensenbrenner Shuts Down WI Town Hall In Response to Citizen Protesters

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) is clearly not a fan of opposition view points. At least not when they are in opposition to his own. Last night wouldn’t be the first time he simply gavelled a meeting to a close in order to shut out the voices of those who disagreed with him.

At a Town Hall meeting in a library in Wauwatosa, WI, on Monday night, as TPM reports, Sensenbrenner suddenly adjourned the event after just 27 minutes as citizens expressed their disagreement with the speaker, state Sen. Leah Vukmir (R), concerning the state GOP’s attempt to legislate away their freedom to collectively bargain as public employees.

After Sensenbrenner abruptly shut down the event — something he has done before, but in the U.S. House — the crowd on hand erupted into cries of “Shame! Shame! Shame!”, echoing Democratic law makers in the state Assembly a week and a half ago after Republican members suddenly opened a vote on the “Budget Repair Bill” without warning at 1am, and closed it seconds later before nearly a third of the chamber had even had a chance to cast their vote.

Full Story Here: The BRAD BLOG : Irony/Déjà Vu Alert: Sensenbrenner Shuts Down WI Town Hall In Response to Citizen Protesters.

Ground Shift: Are Wis. Republicans Now Getting Worn Down?

The narrative in the Wisconsin political standoff over Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal and its anti-public employee union provisions seems to have shifted very quickly. Just two days ago, the media was abuzz with talk that the state Senate Democrats who had fled the state in order to block budget quorum might come back — and now, the chatter is about how some key Republican legislators could derail the bill.

On Sunday night, Dems were knocking back a Wall Street Journal report that they were soon to return. Instead, Minority Leader Mark Miller (D) called for a meeting with Walker at the state line.

In response, Walker and state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) blasted the Dems for the negotiations that had already gone on, and claimed that some of the Dems were on the verge of coming back — which only led to those same key Dems making clear that they weren’t splitting from the caucus.

Full Story Here: Ground Shift: Are Wis. Republicans Now Getting Worn Down? | TPMDC.

Eco-farming can double food output by poor: U.N.

Many farmers in developing nations can double food production within a decade by shifting to ecological agriculture from use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, a U.N. report showed on Tuesday.

Insect-trapping plants in Kenya and Bangladesh’s use of ducks to eat weeds in rice paddies are among examples of steps taken to increase food for a world population that the United Nations says will be 7 billion this year and 9 billion by 2050.

“Agriculture is at a crossroads,” according to the study by Olivier de Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, in a drive to depress record food prices and avoid the costly oil-dependent model of industrial farming.

“Agroecology” could also make farms more resilient to the projected impact of climate change including floods, droughts and a rise in sea levels that the report said was already making fresh water near some coasts too salty for use in irrigation.

Full Story Here: Eco-farming can double food output by poor: U.N. | Reuters.

Do Ideas Matter in Economic Policy, or Just Special Interests?

Ian Fletcher: :

It’s a depressing thought, familiar to everyone who has ever argued with anyone else about economics: do ideas about what’s true and false, right and wrong, in economics even matter for policy-making in Washington?  Or is everything just sewn up by the power of special interests before anyone even starts to think?

To take one currently important example, some people believe that free-trade economics is irrelevant, and that free trade is American policy simply because big corporations and other vested interests have the political muscle to impose it.

I actually believe this is false, which gives me hope for this country.

For a start, without economics, vested interests can’t tell whether free trade benefits them or not, just as a company can’t know whether or not it is profitable without resort to accounting principles. Vested interests can indeed see money piling up in their bank accounts under free trade. But is this more or less money than what they would have gotten without free trade? Without economics, they can’t tell.

When a policy has complex effects, it is not obvious who wins and loses from it—even to the winners and losers themselves, and especially in the long run. They have to analyze trade policy to know this, and one can’t analyze any economic policy without theories about how the economy works. This is why the British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), arguably the greatest economist of the 20th century, wrote that:

The ideas of economists and philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist…I am sure the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas…But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.

Furthermore, vested interests are not infinitely powerful. They have to persuade the rest of the country, especially Congress, to go along with the policies they want. Despite political corruption, all the money in the world couldn’t bribe Congress to pass a law requiring people to roller-skate to work; legislation always requires some non-laughable justification.

This is why lobbying successfully for free trade requires credible economic ideas that support it.

To give another example, the famous liberal economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for his work on trade (although rather timid in applying his own insights to critiquing present U.S trade policy), wrote of his own stint in government:

What was more surprising was the way that even strong political considerations could sometimes be held at bay when a proposal seemed clearly without a good analytical foundation. I know of one corporation that had a demand widely supported by other businesses and highly placed friends in the government, yet got nowhere for more than a year, largely because the company’s arguments were so easily torn apart by government economists. In the end the corporation hired some high-quality economists to help produce a well-argued report, and for that or other reasons finally got some action.

So even if free trade economics is largely a bundle of rationalizations, these are still rationalizations the system needs in order to function. It follows that if opponents of free trade can debunk these rationalizations, these opponents can deprive free traders of camouflage, credibility, and self-confidence they can ill afford to lose.

This is why it is so important to keep relentlessly c hipping away at the myth that free trade has been proven by economic science to be the best policy.  It hasn’t, and the reasons why are not that hard to understand, if one will only make the effort to investigate.

Ian Fletcher is Senior Economist of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a nationwide grass-roots organization dedicated to fixing America’s trade policies and comprising representatives from business, agriculture, and labor. He was previously Research Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a Washington think tank founded in 1933 and before that, an economist in private practice serving mainly hedge funds and private equity firms. Educated at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, he lives in San Francisco. He is the author of Free Trade Doesn’t Work: What Should Replace It and Why.

The Birth of the People’s Party

Robert Reich : :

Look at the outrage in Madison, Wisconsin. Look at the crowds in DesMoines, Iowa. Look at the demonstrations in Indiana and Ohio and elswhere around America.

Hear what they’re saying: Stop attacking unions. Stop making scapegoats out of public employees. Stop protecting the super-rich from paying their fair share of the taxes needed to keep our schools running.

Stop gutting the working middle class.

Are we finally seeing average Americans stand up and demand a fair shake in an economy now grotesquely tilted toward the wealthy and the privileged? Are Americans beginning to awake to the fact that our economy now delivers a larger share of total income to the very top than at any time in living memory? That big corporations are making more money and creating more jobs abroad than in the United States?

Full Story Here: Robert Reich (The Birth of the People’s Party).

RFK, Jr.: Science Shows That Autism — Mercury Link Exists – PT. 1/2

Studies show that autism rates have increased by more than 300% over the last few years, with as many as one in every 110 children now being diagnosed as autistic. But even as the rates are reaching epidemic proportions, doctors and scientists are still completely oblivious as to the cause of this disease. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discusses the causes that the pharmaceutical industry wants us to believe are not true with Dr. Boyd Haley, Professor Emeritus at the University of Kentucky.

Michigan firefighters, union members storm capitol in protest of anti-union legislation

With hundreds of union supporters loudly protesting outside their doors, Senate Republicans set up a final vote for Wednesday to give state-appointed emergency managers much greater power to overhaul city or school finances, including termination of employee union contracts.

The legislation drew more than 1,000 protesters to the Capitol, and many swarmed into the rotunda chanting “Kill the bill” and distracting the Senate during its regular session. Dozens packed the gallery above the Senate floor and were mostly quiet but admonished at one point for clapping and cheering.

Senate sergeants-at-arms watched crowd warily to assure it did not attempt to enter the chamber, where decorum is strictly enforced.

Full Story Here: Amid shouts from protesters, Michigan Senate sets vote on emergency manager bill | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.

Wyoming Air Pollution Worse Than Los Angeles Due To Gas Drilling

Wyoming, famous for its crisp mountain air and breathtaking, far-as-the-eye-can-see vistas, is looking a lot like smoggy Los Angeles these days because of a boom in natural gas drilling.

Folks who live near the gas fields in the western part of this outdoorsy state are complaining of watery eyes, shortness of breath and bloody noses because of ozone levels that have exceeded what people in L.A. and other major cities wheeze through on their worst pollution days.

“It is scary to me personally. I never would have guessed in a million years you would have that kind of danger here,” Debbee Miller, a manager at a Pinedale snowmobile dealership, said Monday.

Full Story Here: Wyoming Air Pollution Worse Than Los Angeles Due To Gas Drilling.

Philadelphia Priests Suspended: Archdiocese Removes 21 Catholic Priests Suspected Of Sex Abuse

The Philadelphia archdiocese suspended 21 Roman Catholic priests Tuesday who were named as child molestation suspects in a scathing grand jury report last month, a move that comes more than eight years after U.S. bishops pledged swift action to keep potential abusers away from young people.

The priests have been removed from ministry while their cases are reviewed, Cardinal Justin Rigali said. The names of the priests were not being released, a spokesman for the archdiocese said.

“These have been difficult weeks since the release of the grand jury report,” Rigali said in a statement. “Difficult most of all for victims of sexual abuse but also for all Catholics and for everyone in our community.”

Full Story Here: Philadelphia Priests Suspended: Archdiocese Removes 21 Catholic Priests Suspected Of Sex Abuse.

11 Million Americans Owe More Than Their Home Is Worth

The number of Americans who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth rose at the end of last year, preventing many people from selling their homes in an already weak housing market.

About 11.1 million households, or 23.1 percent of all mortgaged homes, were underwater in the October-December quarter, according to report released Tuesday by housing data firm CoreLogic. That’s up from 22.5 percent, or 10.8 million households, in the July-September quarter.

The number of underwater mortgages had fallen in the previous three quarters. But that was mostly because more homes had fallen into foreclosure.

Full Story Here: Number Of Underwater Mortgages Rises As More Homeowners Fall Behind.

Pew poll: Clear majority of Americans support legal abortion

A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that a comfortable majority of Americans support keeping abortion legal — posing a challenge for Republicans pushing aggressive measures aimed at curtailing abortion rights.

Fifty-four percent of the public supports legal abortion in all or most cases, while 42 percent believe it should be illegal in all or most cases, the poll found. The figures reflect a rise in support for abortion rights over the last two years.

In 2009, the same Pew survey found the general public much more evenly divided, supporting abortion rights by a margin of 46 to 44 percent. Last summer, the gap was 50 to 44 percent in favor of legal abortion.

Polling by Gallup found in 2009 and 2010 that a plurality, if not a majority, of Americans considered themselves “pro-life” as opposed to “pro-choice.” Gallup last year labeled pro-life “the new normal” on abortion.

Full Story Here: Pew poll: Clear majority of Americans support legal abortion | The Raw Story.

Scientists warn of ‘dangerous over-reliance’ on GPS

Developed nations have become “dangerously over-reliant” on satellite navigation systems such as GPS, which could break down or be attacked with devastating results, British engineers said Tuesday.

The Royal Academy of Engineering said the application of the technology was now so broad — from car sat-navs to the time stamp on financial transactions — that without adequate backup, any disruption could have a major impact.

It cited a recent European Commission study showing that six to seven percent of economic growth in western countries — about 800 billion euros ($1,100 billion) in the EU — is already dependent on such navigation.

Full Story Here: Scientists warn of ‘dangerous over-reliance’ on GPS | The Raw Story.

Hundreds of thousands of dead fish surface in Redondo Beach, Calif. 

Hundreds of thousands of dead fish were found floating at the water’s surface in Redondo Beach, California on Tuesday, sparking widespread concerns about pollution.

It was unclear what killed the creatures, thought to be anchovies, but authorities speculated the mass quantity of teeming life may have simply absorbed all the oxygen in waters around King Harbor. An investigation was ongoing.

This video is from Fox News, broadcast Tuesday, March 8, 2011.

Full Story Here: Hundreds of thousands of dead fish surface in Redondo Beach, Calif. | Raw Replay.

Internet and cell phones the ‘best weapons against dictatorships’

Decentralized communication technologies, such as cell phones and the Internet, are the best way to ensure the spread of democracy around the globe, according to an study published in the International Journal of Human Rights.

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have become an important tool for democracy and human rights activists in the Middle East and North Africa, where it has played a pivotal role in helping organize protests against repressive governments.

“TV is especially bad for human rights, because the government can feed propaganda to the population,” said the study’s author, Indra de Soysa, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). “The Internet and mobile phones have the opposite effect. And social media is different because it gives people free access to a channel of communication.”

Full Story Here: Internet and cell phones the ‘best weapons against dictatorships’ | The Raw Story.

Georgia GOP Raising Taxes On Girl Scout Cookies While Cutting Taxes On Foreign Corporations

Like many states, Georgia is facing a budget shortfall. To address the problem, the legislature is considering a bill that would expand the tax base by doing things like reinstating a sales tax on food and raising the tax on gasoline.

Many Georgians would be adversely affected by the tax hikes on basic commodities, including the Girl Scouts, who are worried about the “significant financial impact” the bill would have on the revenue they raise through cookie sales, which would now be subject to sales tax. Over the weekend, Marilyn Midyette, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, sent an email to supporters warning them that the new tax on their cookies “would take money away from Girl Scout programs“:

This significant financial impact would take money away from Girl Scout programs, camp support, financial aid and proceeds from the sale that support troop activities and community service projects.

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Georgia GOP Raising Taxes On Girl Scout Cookies While Cutting Taxes On Foreign Corporations.

Ohio GOP Replaces Another Committee Member To Game Vote On Anti-Union Bill

Last week, ThinkProgress reported on a highly unusual move in the Ohio state Senate in which the GOP leadership yanked Republican Sen. Bill Seitz off the Labor Committee just a half hour before a key vote on a GOP anti-union bill there. Seitz didn’t support the bill, so he was replaced with another Republican who did in order to ensure the measure passed. Today, Ohio progressive blog Plunderbund reports that Republicans in the state House have now taken a page from their Senate colleagues and are abruptly replacing a Republican on the House Labor Committee in order to game the outcome of a vote on the same anti-union bill:

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Ohio GOP Replaces Another Committee Member To Game Vote On Anti-Union Bill.

Wisconsin workers will not surrender, protest set for March 12

The people of Wisconsin will not give up. The fight against Governor Scott Walker’s plan to destroy public sector unions, public schools and social services is a daily theme in all parts of this state. Protests are ongoing, some numbering in the thousands. Last Saturday, March 5, tens of thousands march here.

From Appleton to Eau Claire, pickets, town halls and recall petitioning consume people’s daily lives. This weekend, Gov. Walker’s dinner in Columbus was interrupted by 800 angry citizens. Thousands protested as well In Eau Claire, Grafton, Hudson, La Crosse and Steven’s Point.

Rumors buzz through Milwaukee taverns about the 14 Democratic State Senators who are still in Illinois. People speculate whether the bill will pass and what effects it will have on state employee salaries, public schools, low-income mothers and the environment.

Full Story Here: Wisconsin workers will not surrender, protest set for March 12 | Fight Back!.

Scott Walker Believes He’s Following Orders from the Lord

Matthew Rothschild,  : :

The dogmatic unwillingness of Wis. Gov. Scott Walker to negotiate or to compromise with Democrats or unions has surprised many people in the state. One explanation for his attitude may be found in his religious convictions.

In a talk to the Christian Businessmen’s Committee in Madison on November 13, 2009, Walker, who was raised by a Baptist preacher, spoke about his personal relationship with God, his “walk to Christ,” and his belief in the need to “trust and obey” the Lord.

He told the group that when he was thirteen, he committed himself to Jesus. “I said, ‘Lord, I’m ready . . . not just in front of my Church and the world but most importantly at the foot of your Throne, I’m ready to follow you each and every day. . . . I have just full out there said, ‘I’m going to trust in you Christ to tell me where to go. And to the best of my ability I’m going to obey where you lead me,’ and that has made all the difference in the world to me, for good times and bad.”

Full Story Here: Scott Walker Believes He’s Following Orders from the Lord | The Progressive.

David Koch: Lamenting Cancer Research Cuts—and Bankrolling the GOPers Behind Them | Mother Jones

On Friday, conservative billionaire David Koch lamented the deep federal cuts that are expected to impact both the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute—and, by extension, MIT’s new David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. “If the cutbacks happen, it will significantly diminish the level of research that can be carried on at the Koch Institute,” he said, speaking at the opening of the research center. Koch, the executive vice president of Koch Industries, implored the deep-pocketed attendees of the ceremony to fill the gap with personal donations: “I earnestly ask you to do all you can to help maintain the superb research at the Koch Institute at its maximum level.”

But who’s responsible for making these crippling cutbacks? Some of the very Republicans that David Koch and his brother, Charles, have bankrolled in their deep-pocketed—and successful—effort to help the GOP win back the House.

Full Story Here: David Koch: Lamenting Cancer Research Cuts—and Bankrolling the GOPers Behind Them | Mother Jones.

Damage Continuing to Pile Up

What if the economy had always operated as it does today with companies being sold abroad whereby they divert wealth, jobs and production to other countries?

America’s ability to competitively manufacture on a global scale is waning fast. Over the past 20 years, America has lost millions of manufacturing jobs, 3 million of them since 1998. Our manufacturing trade deficit contributed to almost 60 percent, or 1.78 million, of those manufacturing jobs lost.

It didn’t happen because we were less qualified manufacturers, or because the world would have no use for our goods. It happened simply because we made it happen. We gave businesses the go-ahead to move jobs overseas, (i.e. to China where hourly pay rates barely make it over 50 cents, and in some cases are as low as 33 cents) and we flatly abandoned capital and knowledge intensive industries.

Due to these low wages offered in China, and many other places, American businesses have left the domestic arena to save money. This is supposed to be mutually beneficial, because Americans theoretically would see reduced prices for goods produced overseas, and therefore enjoy a better standard of living, but as we know in the real world savings are rarely passed onto the consumer, and certainly not to the extent that will allow it to make up for losing our manufacturing infrastructure.

Full Story Here: Damage Continuing to Pile Up | Economy In Crisis.

The Social Snobbery of Free Trade

Ian Fletcher

Skepticism about free trade is often stigmatized with ad hominem attacks. These mostly come down to variations on the following:

“Protectionists are dummies, losers, incompetents, hippies, rednecks, dinosaurs, closet socialists, or crypto-fascists.”

Thomas Friedman’s version in The World is Flat (the Das Kapital of Globalism) runs thus:

Let’s face it: Republican cultural conservatives have much more in common with the steelworkers of Youngstown, Ohio, the farmers of rural China, and the mullahs of central Saudi Arabia, who would also like more walls, than they do with investment bankers on Wall Street or service workers linked to the global economy in Palo Alto, who have been enriched by the flattening of the world.

And here’s free trader Barack Obama’s version, delivered to an audience of campaign donors in the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, a few blocks from where this book was written, while seeking the Democratic nomination in April 2008:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And it’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. (Emphasis added.)

God forbid the unemployed of an old-line industrial state should think trade has anything to do with their problems! How silly of them.

The media are saturated with these patronizing attitudes. Thus magazine articles on trade problems focus on the unemployed, implying that only life’s losers oppose free trade (and that their unemployment is probably their own fault, anyway). The careers of people whose jobs are being lost to offshoring? Mere “drudgery.” Their lives are obviously nothing worth worrying about. They’re not like us here in Pacific Heights.

Ultimately, economic logic isn’t even really the issue here, as these arguments are really aimed at people who don’t even try to understand economics, but do care immensely about their social status.  Free trade is chic, global, modern, classy.

Free traders have been playing this game for a very long time. The  protectionist author Giles Stebbins complained in 1883:

It is the fashion in many of our colleges to assume that free trade is the ideal of the noblest persons and the best minds in the Old World, while protection is a vulgar and selfish matter advocated by those of lesser note and narrower culture.

Luckily for America, in 1883 such ridiculous arguments were not taken seriously, at least on the trade issue, and the country was protectionist—even under the rule of such genuine American aristocrats as Teddy Roosevelt.

A lot of this is just a tasteful gloss on raw class bias. Despite the doc­u­mented center-left preferences of most journalists on social and cultural issues, on economic issues, including trade, they lean right. A late-1990s survey by the watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting found, for example, that only on environment-related economic issues were they to the left of the public. But on trade, they were well to the right. (“Right” defined as per usual in contemporary American politics; 100 years ago, protectionism was the rightist position.) For example, 71 percent of editors and reporters supported Fast Track negotiating authority for the North American Free Trade Agreement, while 56 percent of the public opposed it. As 95 percent of these editors and reporters had incomes over $50,000, and more than half over $100,000, this comes as no surprise.

But there is no good reason for the rest of us to be intellectually intimidated by these people, no matter how complete their mastery of social posturing and media innuendo.  It is high time people stopped forming their opinions about free trade based on what they think people will think of them at cocktail parties.  If they will make even a moderate stab at inquiring into its underlying economics, they will find out very quickly that it is an exceedingly dubious policy.

Ian Fletcher is Senior Economist of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a nationwide grass-roots organization dedicated to fixing America’s trade policies and comprising representatives from business, agriculture, and labor. He was previously Research Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a Washington think tank founded in 1933 and before that, an economist in private practice serving mainly hedge funds and private equity firms. Educated at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, he lives in San Francisco. He is the author of Free Trade Doesn’t Work: What Should Replace It and Why.

How Wisconsin Could Turn Austerity into Prosperity: Own a State Bank

by Ellen Brown: :

An answer to state budget woes that doesn’t need to involve sacrificing workers’ rights.

As states struggle to meet their budgets, public pensions are on the chopping block, but they needn’t be. States can keep their pension funds intact while leveraging them into many times their worth in loans, just as Wall Street banks do. They can do this by forming their own public banks, following the lead of North Dakota—a state that currently has a budget surplus.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, whose recently proposed bill to gut benefits, wages, and bargaining rights for unionized public workers inspired weeks of protests in Madison, has justified the move as necessary for balancing the state’s budget. But is it?

After three weeks of demonstrations in Wisconsin, protesters report no plans to back down. Fourteen Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers—who left the state so that a quorum to vote on the bill could not be reached—said Friday that they are not deterred by threats of possible arrest and of 1,500 layoffs if they don’t return to work. President Obama has charged Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker with attempting to bust the unions. But Walker’s defense is:

“We’re broke. Like nearly every state across the country, we don’t have any more money.”

Full Story Here: How Wisconsin Could Turn Austerity into Prosperity: Own a State Bank by Ellen Brown.

Thom Hartmann: Conversations with Great Minds – US Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Part 1

US Rep. Dennis Kucinich has been a mayor – is currently a United States Congressman – and has run for President of the United States twice. As a servant of the people – he’s spoken out FOR working families across our nation – and spoken out AGAINST foreign wars and corporate power.

xxx

WTC Attack September 11, 2001 from New York Police Helicopter

WTC Attack September 11, 2001 from New York Police Helicopter

Video obtained by FOIA to NIST by an anonymous person who directed it be sent to Cryptome. Excerpt of the NIST letter.

Quote: These electronic files image were provided to NIST by the New York Police Department. The City of New York has provided NIST with the following notice:

“Please take notice that the City of New York (“City”) has asserted that the contents of the enclosed DVD-ROM is protected under tbe Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. sections 101 et seq. Tbe City expressly reserves its rights in these materials, and requires that you obtain the City’s permission prior to any reproduction, modification, adaptation, recompilation, or other derivative use of each DVD-ROM or portion thereof, including any still image extracted or derived therefrom, and that the City’s permission be obtained prior to the commercial distribution of any video footage and of still or moving images extracted or derived therefrom in any medium, by sale, rental, lease, lending or other means. The City requires that the instant notice accompany any moving or still images that you disseminate for any reason, including dissemination that complies with the fair use authorized by section 107 of the Copyright Act, and requires that each recipient of these materials comply with the instant Notice. Moreover, the City requires that a summary statement of its copyright be embedded in any moving or still images extracted from the enclosed DVD-ROM that are broadcast in any medium for any purpose. This summary statement shall read as follows: “Copyright (c) NYPD.” Please write to the New York City Police Department, Legal Bureau, 1 Police Plaza, Room 1406, New York, N. Y. 10038, for information about obtaining an appropriate license.” Unquote

The video has been uploaded as provided by NIST without modification. Original in VOB format, 700MB.

A related collection of 153 still photos from another NYPD helicopter:

Senate Dems Consider Health Care Fix That Could Hit Poor Consumers The Hardest

Democrats on the Hill are growing increasingly convinced and, in some cases, concerned that in an effort to offset the cost of repealing a tax requirement in the president’s health care bill, the party will settle on a policy that jacks up insurance prices for low-income Americans.

The policy prescription, known as a “true-up,” and well-outlined by Talking Points Memo’s Brian Beutler, is the favored approach of House Republicans. Under the true-up, individuals who receive subsidies to help purchase insurance would be subject to heightened penalty from (or payback to) the IRS, starting in 2014, should they move up income brackets.

Up until last weekend, it seemed likely that Senate Democrats would balk at such an approach, wary that it would come off as penalizing the poor and discouraging those in need from taking subsidies to purchase insurance. But now, sources with knowledge of the conversations say, the party is leaning toward adopting the House GOP language in an effort to pay for the repeal of the law’s 1099 provision — an unpopular requirement that requires small business owners to make excessive tax-reporting requirements.

Full Story Here: Senate Dems Consider Health Care Fix That Could Hit Poor Consumers The Hardest.

Rick Scott Proposes Cutting Annual Teacher Pay By $2,335 To Fund Corporate And Property Tax Breaks

Last month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) “unveiled his first budget proposal to make sweeping changes to state government by slashing billions in taxes and spending.” Although the budget — which would lead to thousands of layoffs and gut the state’s infrastructure and education spending — “was cheered by conservative activists and businesses…it provoked a lukewarm response from fellow Republicans in the state Capitol.”

In terms of taxes, Scott plans to “cut $1 billion in property taxes over two years and nearly $1.5 billion in corporate income taxes in the same time frame,” which would involve cutting the corporate income tax rate from 5.5 percent to 3 percent and phasing it out by 2018, among other things.

Of course, these tax breaks are not cheap and Florida is required to balance its budget. So in addition to slashing billions of dollars in Medicaid assistance to the poor, gutting the budget of the Department of Children and Families, and cutting the education budget by $4.8 billion over several years, Scott’s proposal would mean an average annual pay cut for Floridan teachers of $2,335:

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Rick Scott Proposes Cutting Annual Teacher Pay By $2,335 To Fund Corporate And Property Tax Breaks.

Show Me The Money: As Colorado Slashes Funds For Education, Tom Cruise Pays $400 In Property Taxes

In Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) is proposing a massive $375 million cut to education funding and proposing to close four state parks. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise, whose net worth exceeds $250 million, pays Colorado just $400 a year in property taxes for a 248 -acre property outside of Telluride that he purchased for $18 million.

How does he do it? By manipulating a tax break designed to help struggling farmers. The Denver Post reports:

Actors, captains of industry, an Ivy League astrologer, sports figures, politicians… All these are also considered farmers or ranchers for tax purposes in Colorado. They have secured low property taxes through agricultural designations on land they own even though they personally have little or nothing to do with producing food — the reason state legislators originally created a low property-tax rate for the agriculture sector.

Actor Tom Cruise owns five parcels of land on a scenic mesa northwest of Telluride that has become an enclave of high-end vacation homes. Sheep graze around the mansions for brief periods each year, according to the assessor’s office.

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Show Me The Money: As Colorado Slashes Funds For Education, Tom Cruise Pays $400 In Property Taxes.

Michael Steele: ‘There’s Nothing Wrong With A Government Shutdown’

While the prospect of a government shutdown has been averted for the moment, Republicans have been trying to convince Americans that “there’s been no talk about shutting the government down on our side” — despite the fact that plenty of prominent GOPers have said the exact opposite. Asked about this doublespeak today on ABC News’ Topline, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele said, “There’s nothing wrong with a government shutdown.” He even noted that he’s been “an advocate for it for six, seven months now”:

HOST: What’s your take on this? Is this something that Republicans should really fear? … What’s wrong with a government shutdown?

STEELE: Well I think there’s — I personally, I think there’s nothing wrong with a government shutdown. I’ve been an advocate for it for six, seven months now. For the simple reason that it is the shocker. It is the reality check that the spenders need to have, that those who are trying to chart a different course need to have.

Watch it:

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » Michael Steele: ‘There’s Nothing Wrong With A Government Shutdown’.

If Banks Paid Their Full Taxes, We Could Rehire All 132,000 Teachers Laid Off During The Recession — Twice

Today, hundreds of people from Make Wall Street Pay, one member of a larger Main Street Movement that seeks to defend the American middle class, shut down a Bank of America branch in Washington, D.C. over the bank’s tax dodging. In 2009, the bank used loopholes in the tax code to avoid paying a penny of taxes. The protesters, many of them homeowners who had been abused by the bank’s mortgage policies, were outraged that the nation’s biggest bank was paying less taxes than they were in 2009.

Last week, National People’s Action and the Public Accountability Initiative, both of whom are organizing the Make Wall Street Pay protests, put out a report, “Big Bank Tax Drain.” The report lays out the costs that average Americans — who are being asked to sacrifice their education, their health, and their pensions — incur from the egregious tax dodging by the big banks.

In one particularly shocking statistic, the report notes that the six biggest banks in the United States together paid “income tax at an approximate rate of 11″ percent in 2009 and 2010. If they had paid 35 percent, which is the legally mandated rate without loopholes, the federal government would have received “$13 billion in tax revenue” — a sum which would cover the salaries, for two years, of every single one of the 132,000 teachers laid off since the beginning of the economic recession:

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » If Banks Paid Their Full Taxes, We Could Rehire All 132,000 Teachers Laid Off During The Recession — Twice.

VIDEO: Rep. Louie Gohmert Enthusiastically Defends Corporate Tax Cheats

At the Tea Party Patriots Policy Summit in Phoenix last Saturday, ThinkProgress spoke to several Republicans about their views behind efforts by US-UnCut to make tax-dodging corporations pay their fair share. As we have reported, Bank of America, CitiGroup, ExxonMobil, GE, Boeing, and other highly profitable American companies have found ways to avoid paying a single dime in corporate income taxes.

One of the lawmakers we spoke to, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), gave a robust defense of corporate tax dodgers. Asked why so many corporations avoid paying any taxes, Gohmert refused to believe the well-documented phenomenon. He later said that some businesses gain favorable tax treatment using political donations. We pressed Gohmert on that point, asking if he would open a congressional inquiry into the subject. He demurred, and repeatedly explained that he would “rather” just “get rid” of corporate income taxes altogether:

FANG: This weekend is actually the start of what some liberals are calling the progressive Tea Party [...] one of their key concerns is that corporations, in this time of austerity, aren’t paying their fair share. What they’re saying is, ExxonMobil, Bank of America, CitiGroup, GE, they aren’t paying any corporate income taxes. They’re using offshore bank accounts. Like for example, Bank of America in 2009 paid nothing in corporate income taxes. What do you think of that?

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » VIDEO: Rep. Louie Gohmert Enthusiastically Defends Corporate Tax Cheats.

THE CORPORATE/GOP ATTACK ON AMERICA’S MIDDLE CLASS

Jim Hightower | :

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s autocratic attempt to abrogate the democratic right of public employees to bargain with their governmental bosses is not wearing well with the public. Recent polls show that a mere one-third of Wisconsinites favor his blatantly-political power play, and that if he had told voters in the last year’s election that he intended to do this, he would’ve lost. After only one month in office, Walker’s approval rating has plummeted, and he’s become a national poster boy for right-wing anti-union extremism – indeed, he’s so out of step that he’s even being jeered by democracy fighters in Egypt!

Yet, Walker is but one of a flock of far-right, corporate-crested Republican governors and congress critters who’re waging an all-out class war on unionized workers. It’s a shameful effort to bust the wage structure and legal protections that support America’s already-endangered middle class.

Full Story Here: Jim Hightower | THE CORPORATE/GOP ATTACK ON AMERICA’S MIDDLE CLASS.

Infographic: Tax Breaks vs. Budget Cuts

House leaders are unfortunately restricting their proposed budget cuts for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 to nonsecurity discretionary spending in an attempt to tame a $1.3 trillion deficit. This approach is especially shortsighted since the Federal Treasury loses twice as much revenue due to tax breaks than Congress appropriates on all nonsecurity discretionary spending.

The chart below compares the 10 safety-net programs slated for deep cuts with the cost of the tax breaks that should also be considered for reduction or elimination to bring the budget into balance. The column on the left is a list of safety-net programs that have already been targets of the House leadership’s budget ax. The column on the right is the cost to specified tax breaks (see bottom of page for sources).

Most Americans would be surprised to learn that tax breaks are not on the table during any budget negotiations. In fact, Congress has the Congressional Budget Office prepare an official spending estimate for the cost of all programs or their expansions. Meanwhile, Congress enacts and continues tax breaks without any requirement that the cost of tax breaks be calculated and shared with members before a vote.

Full Story Here: Infographic: Tax Breaks vs. Budget Cuts.

Supporters of Wisconsin anti-union bill hold rally- only 700 show up

About 700 people rallied Sunday in support of Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his anti-union plan to balance the budget – a demonstration meant to counter three weeks of large anti-Walker protests in and around the state Capitol.

The rally was the culmination of a 10-stop bus tour sponsored by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity that started Thursday in Kenosha. It took place at the Aliant Energy Center in Madison, which is a couple of miles from the Capitol, where thousands of pro-union demonstrators rallied Saturday and Sunday.

Hundreds of pro-union counter-protesters lined up outside the arena entrance and parking lot carrying placards and chanting “Shame!” at the Walker supporters. The governor’s backers held their own signs with messages such as “I Stand with Walker” and “Dems Serve Unions not ‘The People.’”

Full Story Here: Supporters of Wisconsin anti-union bill hold rally.

Senator Suggests New Millionaire Tax

With the Senate preparing this week to vote on competing sets of cuts to an array of federal programs, one senator is proposing a new surtax on U.S. millionaires to raise additional revenue.

As lawmakers race to find a budget solution by March 18, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will hold test votes on Democratic and Republican alternatives. Each would trim billions from federal spending, with the GOP proposal cutting more deeply.

Congress must decide on a budget both Democrats and Republicans can agree to by March 18 in order to avoid a shutdown of the federal government.

Full Story Here: The Washington Current: Senator Suggests New Millionaire Tax.

The Washington Current: Scientists Call For A ‘Swifter And Sounder’ Testing of Chemicals

Scientific societies representing 40,000 researchers and clinicians are asking that federal regulators tap a broader range of expertise when evaluating the risks of chemicals to which Americans are being increasingly exposed.

Writing in a letter in the journal Science, eight societies from the fields of genetics, reproductive medicine, endocrinology, developmental biology and others note that some 12,000 new substances are being registered with the American Chemical Society on a daily basis. Few make it into the environment, but the top federal regulators, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), often lack information about the hazards of chemicals produced in high volumes.

“The need for swifter and sounder testing and review procedures cannot be overstated,” the letter says.

Full Story Here: The Washington Current: Scientists Call For A ‘Swifter And Sounder’ Testing of Chemicals.

Under Obama, Better to Commit a War Crime Than Expose One

Bradley Manning is accused of humiliating the political establishment by revealing the complicity of top U.S. officials in carrying out and covering up war crimes. In return for his act of conscience, the U.S. government is holding him in abusive solitary confinement, humiliating him and trying to keep him behind bars for life.

The lesson is clear, and soldiers take note: You’re better off committing a war crime than exposing one.

An Army intelligence officer stationed in Kuwait, the 23-year-old Manning – outraged at what he saw – allegedly leaked tens of thousands of State Department cables to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. These cables show U.S. officials covering up everything from U.S. tax dollars funding child rape in Afghanistan to illegal, unauthorized bombings in Yemen. Manning is also accused of leaking video evidence of U.S. pilots gunning down more than a dozen Iraqis in Baghdad, including two journalists for Reuters, and then killing a father of two who stopped to help them. The father’s two young children were also severely wounded.

“Well, it’s their fault for bringing kids into a battle,” a not-terribly-remorseful U.S. pilot can be heard remarking in the July 2007 “Collateral Murder” video.

Full Story Here: Under Obama, Better to Commit a War Crime Than Expose One | Common Dreams.

Supreme Court: Clarence Thomas, a walking conflict of interest

The Supreme Court justice argues that criticism of him is an attack on the court itself. But a single justice doesn’t define the institution.

Louis XIV of France was infamous for his view that there was no distinction between himself and the state, allegedly proclaiming “L’État, c’est moi” (“I am the State”). That notorious merging of personality with an institution was again on display in a February speech by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas before the conservative Federalist Society.

Thomas used the friendly audience to finally address a chorus of criticism over his alleged conflicts of interest and violation of federal disclosure rules concerning his wife’s income. Rather than answer these questions, however, Thomas denounced his critics as “undermining” the court and endangering the country by weakening core institutions.

In January, Common Cause released documents showing that Thomas had attended events funded by conservative billionaires David and Charles Koch. Thomas was even featured in Koch promotional material — along with Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and others — for events that sought financial and political support for conservative political causes.

Full Story Here: Supreme Court: Clarence Thomas, a walking conflict of interest – latimes.com.

This Time We’re Taking the Whole Planet With Us

Chris Hedges:  :

I have walked through the barren remains of Babylon in Iraq and the ancient Roman city of Antioch, the capital of Roman Syria, which now lies buried in silt deposits. I have visited the marble ruins of Leptis Magna, once one of the most important agricultural centers in the Roman Empire, now isolated in the desolate drifts of sand southeast of Tripoli. I have climbed at dawn up the ancient temples in Tikal, while flocks of brightly colored toucans leapt through the jungle foliage below. I have stood amid the remains of the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor along the Nile, looking at the statue of the great Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II lying broken on the ground, with Percy Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias” running through my head:

“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Civilizations rise, decay and die. Time, as the ancient Greeks argued, for individuals and for states is cyclical. As societies become more complex they become inevitably more precarious. They become increasingly vulnerable. And as they begin to break down there is a strange retreat by a terrified and confused population from reality, an inability to acknowledge the self-evident fragility and impending collapse. The elites at the end speak in phrases and jargon that do not correlate to reality. They retreat into isolated compounds, whether at the court at Versailles, the Forbidden City or modern palatial estates. The elites indulge in unchecked hedonism, the accumulation of vaster wealth and extravagant consumption. They are deaf to the suffering of the masses who are repressed with greater and greater ferocity. Resources are more ruthlessly depleted until they are exhausted. And then the hollowed-out edifice collapses. The Roman and Sumerian empires fell this way. The Mayan elites, after clearing their forests and polluting their streams with silt and acids, retreated backward into primitivism.

Full Story Here: Chris Hedges: This Time We’re Taking the Whole Planet With Us – Chris Hedges’ Columns – Truthdig.

VIDEO: America Is NOT Broke

Michael Moore: :

Contrary to what those in power would like you to believe so that you’ll give up your pension, cut your wages, and settle for the life your great-grandparents had, America is not broke. Not by a long shot. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It’s just that it’s not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Today just 400 Americans have the same wealth as half of all Americans combined.

Let me say that again. 400 obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer “bailout” of 2008, now have as much loot, stock and property as the assets of 155 million Americans combined. If you can’t bring yourself to call that a financial coup d’état, then you are simply not being honest about what you know in your heart to be true.

Full Story Here: VIDEO: America Is NOT Broke | MichaelMoore.com.

Democratic Party of Wisconsin files complaint against Walker

The State Democratic Party of Wisconsin on Monday filed a complaint with the state’s Government Accountability Board, accusing Gov. Scott Walker of violating ethics and campaign finance laws.

In a teleconference with reporters, Mike Tate, the chairman of the Democratic Party, said the allegations against Walker deserved further scrutiny.

The complaint stems from a phone call a prankster, posing as billionaire conservative activist David Koch, made to Walker on or around Feb. 22.

According to the complaint, Walker is alleged to:

Full Story Here: Democratic Party of Wisconsin files complaint against Walker – JSOnline.

Wis. Dems File Ethics Complaint Over Walker’s Comments On ‘Koch’ Call

Wisconsin Democrats are continuing their fire on Gov. Scott Walker’s infamous phone call with blogger Ian Murphy, who was posing as Republican financier David Koch, in which Walker spoke of his passion for busting the public employee unions. And in their latest move, the Dems have announced that they are filing an ethics complaint with the state’s Government Accountability Board — accusing Walker of serious violations of the law.

“It [the call] showed Scott Walker as a grandiose plotter who thinks of himself as a national figure in the effort to distort the balance of power between working people and big corporations who seek to transform Wisconsin into a low-wage, low-benefits backwater,” state Dem chairman Mike Tate said on a conference call with reporters on Monday. “But I’ll leave it to you to discuss the political damage it has done to Walker and his corporate masters.

“What we are here to discuss is the fact that in his phone call, Scott Walker clearly violated campaign finance and ethics laws meant precisely to prevent the kind of shameful activity in which Walker was engaged.”

Full Story Here: Wis. Dems File Ethics Complaint Over Walker’s Comments On ‘Koch’ Call | TPMDC.

Recall drives could make history

Rarely have multiple lawmakers faced such action

As improbable as the last three weeks have been in state politics, Wisconsin is about to embark on another wild ride into the political unknown – a series of legislative recall campaigns on a scale the nation has rarely, if ever, seen.

“I don’t think there’s a precedent for what’s going on in Wisconsin,” said Gary Moncrief of Boise State University, an expert on legislative politics. “I don’t think there’s ever been a case where pretty much everyone has been subject to a recall attempt at one time on both sides. That’s really amazing.”

Formal recall campaigns have now been launched against 16 state senators – eight Republicans and eight Democrats. That’s everyone in the 33-member Wisconsin Senate who is legally eligible to be recalled this year.

Even though s

Full Story Here: Recall drives could make history – JSOnline.

Toxic Waters – Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Hampering E.P.A.

Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators.

As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.

Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years.

The Clean Water Act was intended to end dangerous water pollution by regulating every major polluter. But today, regulators may be unable to prosecute as many as half of the nation’s largest known polluters because officials lack jurisdiction or because proving jurisdiction would be overwhelmingly difficult or time consuming, according to midlevel officials.

Full Story Here: Toxic Waters – Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Hampering E.P.A. – NYTimes.com.

Invest in America’s Clean Energy Future

Congress Should Embrace the DOE Loan Guarantee Program

The United States stands at a crossroads between two clean energy futures.

In one future scenario several dozen companies will develop clean energy projects in more than 30 states. These projects will create thousands of jobs in manufacturing, technology research, construction, and operations. They will put America back to work and help us meet President Barack Obama’s goal of “winning the future.” They also will help maintain America’s status as the world’s scientific leader, ensure our future global competitiveness, and protect our national security—all while reducing harmful pollution from fossil-fuel-based energy that’s dirtying our air and water.

But in the other scenario—the one the House of Representatives is embracing in their budget proposal of February 17—we lose our technological edge to other countries, valuable jobs, and new energy infrastructure that could make this country stronger and more secure.

The House budget takes us down this dark path by dramatically cutting funding for the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program. This program provides an essential financing tool for bringing emerging technologies to market scale. If the budget passes with these cuts, all the projects currently within the application process will be in jeopardy along with any future energy projects.

Full Story Here: Invest in America’s Clean Energy Future.

‘Nonsecurity’ Spending Cuts Could Be Hazardous to Your Health

Rep. John Boehner’s spending plans will place you at risk regardless of who you are, says Scott Lilly.

Reckless Budgeting Puts Americans at Risk

One great irony in the current debate over cutting federal spending is the label House Republicans have placed on the tiny sliver of federal spending they’ve targeted for cuts in their budget proposal for the remainder of fiscal year 2011: “nonsecurity discretionary programs.” Despite that label many of the cuts they are proposing in this group of programs will reduce our security in a variety of ways.

They will increase our chances of getting sick from unsafe meat and poultry products, contaminated drinking water, and impure food additives. Our streets will be less safe. Efforts to insure safety on our ports, highways, railroads, and commercial airlines will be reduced. The prospect of developing more effective treatments for cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and other dread diseases will be diminished.

Most of the proposed cuts target poor people but many significantly jeopardize the safety and security of Americans at all income levels.

Full Story Here: ‘Nonsecurity’ Spending Cuts Could Be Hazardous to Your Health.

S.C. Union Leader Calls for Possible Nationwide General Workers Strike

A high-profile South Carolina union leader said Wednesday that he doesn’t see any other way for the labor movement to win the battle against an anti-union bill in Wisconsin than to call for a general workers strike if such legislation passes.

Kenny Riley, who heads up the Charleston local 1422 of the International Longshoremen’s Association – the largest and most powerful union in the Palmetto State – is a bright star among the national union leadership.

He’s heading to Cleveland today for the Emergency Labor Meeting.

Riley will speak in Cleveland on a panel titled “How Can We Help Mobilize the Labor Movement to Fight the Attacks Against Working People?”

Full Story Here: Corey Hutchins: S.C. Union Leader Calls for Possible Nationwide General Workers Strike.

Why Creative People Are So Complex

After the Show: The Many Faces of the Performer

Recounting his recording sessions with the young Michael Jackson, famed record producer Quincy Jones remembers that “Michael was so shy, he’d sit down and sing behind the couch with his back to me while I sat with my hands over my eyes — and the lights off.” What a contrast from his onstage extroverted, charismatic and bold performance!

In the CNN.com article “The confusing legacy of Michael Jackson,” Todd Leopold discusses the perplexing combination of seemingly contradictory traits displayed by Michael Jackson. In explaining his many sides, Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborelli essentially throws his hands up in the air in exasperation as he tries to make sense of the apparent contradictions:

I think that when you’re talking about Michael Jackson and you try to analyze him, it’s like analyzing electricity, you know? It exists, but you don’t have a clue as to how it works.

Full Story Here: Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D.: After the Show: The Many Faces of the Performer.

Privatized Meat Inspection: An Import U.S. Consumers Can’t Afford

National consumer organization Food & Water Watch today objected to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) Federal Register Notice (76-FR- 11752 — 11755) that gives a green light to a privatized inspection system for all Australian beef, sheep, and goat products exported to the United States. The Australian inspection system, devised in the late 1990s and called the Meat Safety Enhancement Program (MSEP), removes most government inspectors from the slaughter line and replaces them with company-paid inspectors. The objection stems in part from concern that FSIS is confused about what they are approving, since it claims that Australia has simply renamed MSEP to the Australian Export Meat Inspection System (AEMIS). But in fact, AEMIS is an entirely different inspection system designed for meat exports to countries that do not recognize MSEP.

“Rather than approving this system for what it is—a departure from government inspectors to privatized inspectors—the Australians and the USDA are arguing that the new system is simply new in name only, which we believe is a way to obfuscate its problematic nature,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “Food safety is a government public health function. As such, consumers expect a food inspection system that is free from industry influence and employs independent government inspectors who are well-trained and can protect the public without industry intimidation. We fear that MSEP will compromise those consumer expectations. That is why Food & Water Watch has been opposed to MSEP and the pilot project currently being conducted by FSIS here in the U.S. and we will strongly oppose its expansion.”

Full Story Here: Privatized Meat Inspection: An Import U.S. Consumers Can’t Afford | Food & Water Watch.

Illinois Postal Carriers Head North to Wisconsin,

Protests show no signs of stopping in Wisconsin’s capitol, and support for union workers show no signs of fading – as the battle over the budget continues.

More than 150 chicago area letter carriers will board buses bound for Madison Sunday to join a protest against Governor Walker’s collective bargaining proposal. This will be their second trip in recent weeks to rally in support of public workers.

The president of their local union says the battle going on there isn’t just about Wisconsin, its about workers and their families across the country.

Full Story Here: Illinois Postal Carriers Head North to Wisconsin, two WI senators meet with Rev. Jackson – WGN.

Jobs Report: Don’t Break Out the Champagne Just Yet

Hopefully, at some point, the facts will catch up with thinking in the White House. We have to address the world as we find it, not as we wish it would be.

Finally, the U.S. economy appears to be delivering jobs — adding 222,000 private sector jobs and 192,000, after losses in government are subtracted, overall in February.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent, even as the labor force expanded with normal population growth and a steady, albeit low by historical standards, labor force participation rate. Counting those who have left the labor force and taken part-time work but would prefer full time employment, the true unemployment rate remains about 16 percent.

It is still too early to break out the champagne, because the February surge came after a weak January when only 63,000 jobs were added. March data will tell much as to whether the economy is on a sustainable path for growing jobs.

Full Story Here: Jobs Report: Don’t Break Out the Champagne Just Yet | Economy In Crisis.

U.S. Manufacturing “Red Hot”? Dream On

Ian Fletcher : :

There is an article in the Huffington Post today which, before apparently being retitled, asserted in its headline that U.S. manufacturing is now “red hot,” and whose text quotes a financial analyst (apparently approvingly) who asserts that it is.

This is based on a report from the respected Institute for Supply-Chain Management which reports that manufacturing output in the U.S. has expanded for 19 months straight.

Sounds like things are looking up, no?

Well, no.

As I explained in detail in this article, upticks in American manufacturing output, or even the fact that manufacturing output is at record levels (as it is), do not prove we have a healthy manufacturing sector.

The reason is that the appropriate standard for how much manufacturing output America should have is not “more than yesterday,” which is what all the joy over reported increases implies.

Instead, the right standard is defined by the simple fact that Americans must either produce what they wish to consume, or produce something we can exchange with other nations that do produce it.

If we don’t, we can only finance consumption by either a) selling of existing assets or b) going into debt. That’s what a trade deficit is.

This implies that if America runs a trade deficit in manufactured goods (we do, and it’s huge) and our exports of raw materials and services aren’t big enough to cover the gap (they aren’t), then our manufacturing output isn’t large enough.

Forget raw-materials exports saving us. That idea drowns in the ocean of foreign crude oil we suck in every year–which causes us to run a deficit, not a surplus, in this sector.

Granted, we could hypothetically export more soybeans to pay for our imports without loitering around the global pawn shop. But our agricultural exports are a tiny fraction of the size of our deficit, so that’s unlikely.

Our situation in services is a bit better, but our surplus in services is going down, not up, thanks to offshoring, which isn’t going away.

Therefore, it’s pretty much up to manufacturing to balance our trade, which gives us two choices: either export more Boeings and Caterpillars in return for all those Hyundais and BMWs, or produce more Fords and Chryslers here so we don’t need to import so many Hyundais and BMWs.

Either choice would requires more American manufacturing output, so no, our manufacturing output isn’t high enough.

And it certainly isn’t “red hot.”

Ian Fletcher is Senior Economist of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a nationwide grass-roots organization dedicated to fixing America’s trade policies and comprising representatives from business, agriculture, and labor. He was previously Research Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a Washington think tank founded in 1933 and before that, an economist in private practice serving mainly hedge funds and private equity firms. Educated at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, he lives in San Francisco. He is the author of Free Trade Doesn’t Work: What Should Replace It and Why.

Exports Won’t Solve America’s Many Trade Woes

Even if America did experience an export boom, it would do little to cut into the nation’s massive trade deficit.

Proponents of unfettered free trade have long claimed that lowering trade barriers will allow America to export more and more goods, eventually leading to trade surpluses and economic prosperity.

That, however, has not come to fruition, and it never will, trade expert Ian Fletcher writes at Huffington Post.

Even if America did experience an export boom, it would do little to cut into the nation’s massive trade deficit.

“Our deficit is now so large that our exports would have to outgrow our imports by two percent a year for over a decade just to eliminate the deficit — let alone run the surplus we need to start digging ourselves out from under our now-massive foreign debt,” Fletcher writes. “This doesn’t sound like much, but it is, in fact, a very strong export performance for a developed country, and unlikely in the present international economic environment, where every other nation is also trying to expand its exports.”

Full Story Here: Exports Won’t Solve America’s Many Trade Woes | Economy In Crisis.

The Consequences of Defeat in an Economic War

We would never apologize for protectionism militarily, yet we do for choices that would save our economy – which is being destroyed.

If the U.S. was attacked in a military war, we would do everything imaginable to defend ourselves, as losing a war could ultimately end in the enslavement of ourselves and future generations. History has shown us what happens to losers in a military conflict – the losers work for the benefit of the conquerors under their new ruler’s conditions.

When the British militarily controlled America, many patriots emerged. Most famously Patrick Henry is remembered for shouting, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

In recent years, the U.S. has been in an economic war imposed on us by countries like China, Japan and Mexico – our constant balance of trade deficit will attest to this. Thanks to the very damaging agreements our leaders signed like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and our treaty with the World Trade Organization (WTO), we are unable to protect ourselves in this economic war.

Full Story Here: The Consequences of Defeat in an Economic War | Economy In Crisis.

The Great “Budget Repair” Swindle

Deficit Reduction and the War on the Working Class

By ANTHONY DiMAGGIO

It’s certainly clichéd to claim that “those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” This dictum, however, remains as relevant today as ever, particular with regard to the state budget “crises.” Conservative claims that tax cuts for the rich are the only way of ensuring economic recovery have been tested in the past; this policy approach has failed miserably. Sadly, in the United States of Amnesia, few are aware of their own country’s basic political-economic history. Furthermore, few possess the policy expertise or knowledge needed to challenge the specifics undergirding the bi-partisan attack on state unions – undertaken in the name of promoting “balanced budgets.”

On the one hand, the public (and protestors I’ve spoken with in Madison, Wisconsin) deserve credit for rejecting claims that the “repair” of state budgets can only be achieved by eviscerating unions, public pensions, and basic health care services. On the other hand, few throughout the country seem to be aware of the specific problems with the policy arguments made by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (and other political leaders) with regard to the economic crisis.

Most Americans seem to share a vague distrust of conservative public policies (and of the political system more generally), understanding that they, as members of the working class, serve to lose in the latest neoliberal policy wave that targets any programs serving the poor and middle class. A more thorough exploration of the absurdities of conservative propaganda, however, is clearly in order. I’m thinking most specifically of the claims that collective bargaining is bankrupting the states, and promises that tax cuts (targeted at business elites and the rich) are the only effective or acceptable means of promoting economic recovery. Neither claim is even remotely grounded in available empirical evidence.

Full Story Here: Anthony DiMaggio: The Great “Budget Repair” Swindle.

2011 is 1848 Redux. But Worse

“Gentlemen, I warn you. Though the violence is not yet upon us, we are sleeping on a volcano.”

~ Alexis de Tocqueville, addressing the French parliament, January, 1848

In 1848, a series of revolutions convulsed Europe. From Berlin to Budapest, Venice to Vienna, Paris to Prague, people rose up and overthrew the authoritarian monarchies that Metternich had installed in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. It was these revolutions that prompted Karl Marx’s opening words of The Communist Manifesto: “A specter is haunting Europe. It is the specter of communism.”

Of course, Marx was wrong. The specter of rebellion was more one of nationalism, and to a lesser extent, liberalism. More importantly, all the revolutions ultimately failed. They were all defeated by monarchical forces which mounted counter-revolutions and routed the insurrectionists. Though many governments made token concessions to the rebels, all maintained, and in some cases strengthened, their authoritarian rule until finally, decades later, they could no longer suppress the impetus for change.

Full Story Here: 2011 is 1848 Redux. But Worse | Common Dreams.

Religious Congregations & Membership Study 2010

The maps below are all created from data based on the Religious Congregations and Membership Study: 2000. The maps that are specific to a denomination or faith group represent those groups that participated in RCMS 2000 who have at least on 1,000,000 adherents or have congregations in at least 50% of US counties. If you would like a map for another group that participated in RCMS 2000 but is not listed below, you may request the map here.

These maps are copyright material of ASARB. They may be used in presentations or papers for educational purposes, but they may not be sold or used in publications or products that are for sale. In such cases, permission to use these maps may be obtained from the publisher–the Glenmary Research Center.

Full Story Here: RCMS – Maps.

Interior appeals oil drilling ruling

The Obama administration late Friday appealed a judge’s orders directing the Interior Department to act on several Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling permits.

The appeal is the latest salvo in the ongoing fight over the speed with which Interior is – or isn’t – letting oil drillers get back to work after last year’s BP oil spill.

Gulf state lawmakers and the oil industry have accused the department of enacting a “de facto” moratorium against new drilling, while Interior says it needs to ensure safety and environmental protections are in place.

Full Story Here: Interior appeals oil drilling ruling – Dan Berman and Darren Goode – POLITICO.com.

21 airlines fined for fixing passenger, cargo fees

Massive Justice Dept probe of airline price-fixing nets $1.7 billion in fines from 21 airlines

When the airline industry took a nose dive a decade ago, executives at global carriers scrambled to find a quick fix to avoid financial ruin.

What they came up with, according to federal prosecutors, was a massive price-fixing scheme among airlines that artificially inflated passenger and cargo fuel surcharges between 2000 and 2006 to make up for lost profits.

The airlines’ crimes cost U.S. consumers and businesses — mostly international passengers and cargo shippers — hundreds of millions of dollars, prosecutors say.

But the airlines caught by the Justice Department have paid a hefty price in the five years since the government’s widespread investigation became public.

Full Story Here: 21 airlines fined for fixing passenger, cargo fees – Yahoo! Finance.

‘Each US citizen pays $5,000 per year for US defense spending’

Video : :

American citizens are paying large amounts of money each year for U.S. defense spending, which can be used for domestic spending, Steve Breyman, assistant professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute said.

“Each and every citizen in the United States – man, woman and child – pays some $5,000 or so per year for U.S. defense spending much of which is associated now with the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan”, he told Press TV’s U.S. Desk.

If the federal government had not spent some $1 trillion on the wars, that money would have been available for “domestic spending including the balance in the budget,” Breyman said. “You can have healthy public finances or you can have war but you can’t have both,” he added.

Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and the spotlight-chasing candidates of 2012

George F. Will : :

If pessimism is not creeping on little cat’s feet into Republicans’ thinking about their 2012 presidential prospects, that is another reason for pessimism. This is because it indicates they do not understand that sensible Americans, who pay scant attention to presidential politics at this point in the electoral cycle, must nevertheless be detecting vibrations of weirdness emanating from people associated with the party.

The most recent vibrator is Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas who won the 2008 Republican caucuses in Iowa and reached that year’s national convention with more delegates than Mitt Romney, and who might run again. Huckabee, now a Fox News host, was asked by Steve Malzberg, a talk radio host, this:

“Don’t you think it’s fair also to ask [Barack Obama] . . . how come we don’t have a health record, we don’t have a college record, we don’t have a birth cer – why, Mr. Obama, did you spend millions of dollars in courts all over this country to defend against having to present a birth certificate. It’s one thing to say, I’ve – you’ve seen it, goodbye. But why go to court and send lawyers to defend against having to show it? Don’t you think we deserve to know more about this man?”

Full Story Here: George F. Will – Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich and the spotlight-chasing candidates of 2012.

“A Healthy Financial System Cannot Be Built on the Expectation of Bailouts”

Testimony submitted to the Congressional Oversight Panel, “Hearing on the TARP’s Impact on Financial Stability,” Friday, March 4, 2011.

I. Summary

1) The financial crisis is not over, in the sense that its impact persists and even continues to spread. Employment remains more than 5 percent below its pre-crisis peak, millions of homeowners are still underwater on their mortgages, and the negative fiscal consequences – at national, state, and local level – remain profound.

2) To the extent that a full evaluation is possible today, the financial crisis produced a pattern of rapid economic decline and slow employment recovery quite unlike any post-war recession – it looks much more like a mini-depression of the kind the US economy used to experience in the 19th century. In addition, the fiscal costs of the disaster in our banking system so far amount to roughly a 40 percentage point increase in net federal government debt held by the private sector, i.e., roughly a doubling of outstanding debt.

Full Story Here: Simon Johnson: “A Healthy Financial System Cannot Be Built on the Expectation of Bailouts”.

OPS: Problem is that the goal of the Oligarchy is not a ‘Healthy Financial System’.  The goal is a System they can control. Any hope of regaining Public control of the US Financial System cannot ignore this.

Painkiller Could Stave Off Degenerative Brain Disease

The best protection against Parkinson’s disease may already be in your medicine cabinet.

A new study, published in the March 2 online edition of the journal Neurology, showed that people who took ibuprofen two or more times per week were 38 percent less likely to develop the debilitating disease, according to CBS News. The comprehensive study used questionnaires to determine the ibuprofen use habits of 98,892 female nurses and 37,305 male health professionals.

Six years later, 291 participants developed Parkinson’s, and the risk was noticeably lower in ibuprofen users.

Scientists found that people who took ibuprofen regularly had a 38 percent lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease compared to those who did not take ibuprofen. After a larger analysis that combined several other studies on ibuprofen and other NSAID use, the researchers found that ibuprofen users had a 27 percent lower risk of developing the disease compared to non-users.

Full Story Here: Ibuprofen Parkinson’s Risk Link? Painkiller Could Stave Off Degenerative Brain Disease.

Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns to Drug Therapy

Alone with his psychiatrist, the patient confided that his newborn had serious health problems, his distraught wife was screaming at him and he had started drinking again. With his life and second marriage falling apart, the man said he needed help.

But the psychiatrist, Dr. Donald Levin, stopped him and said: “Hold it. I’m not your therapist. I could adjust your medications, but I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

Like many of the nation’s 48,000 psychiatrists, Dr. Levin, in large part because of changes in how much insurance will pay, no longer provides talk therapy, the form of psychiatry popularized by Sigmund Freud that dominated the profession for decades. Instead, he prescribes medication, usually after a brief consultation with each patient. So Dr. Levin sent the man away with a referral to a less costly therapist and a personal crisis unexplored and unresolved.

Full Story Here: Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns to Drug Therapy – NYTimes.com.