Archive for September, 2011

Japan – high levels of radiation found in remote areas

Video – -

Fukushima just gets worse

Democrats Fret Aloud Over Obama’s Chances

Democrats are expressing growing alarm about President Obama’s re-election prospects and, in interviews, are openly acknowledging anxiety about the White House’s ability to strengthen the president’s standing over the next 14 months.

Elected officials and party leaders at all levels said their worries have intensified as the economy has displayed new signs of weakness. They said the likelihood of a highly competitive 2012 race is increasing as the Republican field, once dismissed by many Democrats as too inexperienced and conservative to pose a serious threat, has started narrowing to two leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, who have executive experience and messages built around job creation.

And in a campaign cycle in which Democrats had entertained hopes of reversing losses from last year’s midterm elections, some in the party fear that Mr. Obama’s troubles could reverberate down the ballot into Congressional, state and local races.

Full Story Here: Democrats Fret Aloud Over Obama’s Chances – NYTimes.com.

U.S. endures hottest summer since 1936

Skeptics of climate change will have to deal with more evidence contrasting their disbelief.

The U.S. has experienced its hottest summer in 75 years, according to USA Today and the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. This latest summer season, with an average temperature of 74.5 degrees, has also been recorded as the second hottest ever. Only the Dust Bowl year of 1936, at 74.6 degrees, was warmer.

Full Story Here: U.S. endures hottest summer since 1936 | The Raw Story.

Two soldiers detained over missing Ft. Bragg ammunition

Two male soldiers have been taken into custody at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in connection with the disappearance of roughly 14,000 rounds of ammunition reported missing at the Army base on Wednesday morning, officials said on Saturday.

Military police would not release the names or ranks of the soldiers in custody.

The missing 5.56 millimeter ammunition is valued at about $3,600 and “can be purchased at any Wal-Mart,” according to an official familiar with the investigation who spoke to Reuters only on condition of anonymity.

Full Story Here: Two soldiers detained over missing Ft. Bragg ammunition | The Raw Story.

Ratigan guest: Is media’s ’9/11 nostalgia’ about selling fear? 

Cultural and political commentator Touré appeared on The Dylan Ratigan Show to discuss the media frenzy surrounding the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He says that he, like many people, finds the constant replay of tragic images from the day of the attacks and the attempt to orchestrate a national collective moment of grief to be a bit ghoulish and exploitive.

“I am a New Yorker. I smelled the smoke for days after,” he says, and asks whether the media are doing what they’re doing “because fear sells” and because “wallowing in the deep pool of 9/11 pain is good for business”.

Then comes the most interesting moment in the clip. Ratigan, who had just done an hour-long special about 9/11, is left virtually speechless. It’s rare to see one person provoke another person to actually think more about a topic on live TV. Generally it seems as if the purpose of televised political discussions is, in fact, the opposite.

Watch the video,

Full Story Here: Ratigan guest: Is media’s ’9/11 nostalgia’ about selling fear? | Raw Replay.

On Eve Of 9/11 Anniversary, Cantor Insists On Massive Cuts To First Responders In Exchange For Emergency Disaster Aid

Yesterday, President Obama requested $5.1 billion to provide disaster relief to communities struggling to recover from recent hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and wildfires. The request includes $500 million in emergency funds FEMA needs to continue to operate effectively through the end of September.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, whose home state of Virginia was hit by an earthquake and Hurricane Irene, is demanding more partisan spending cuts in exchange for approving the request. From Politico:

But a spokesperson for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) signaled late Friday that the GOP is likely to insist on offsets for the $500 million in emergency funds Obama requested for 2011…

“The House has passed $1 billion in disaster relief funds that is fully offset, which we will look to move as quickly as possible.”

Full Story Here: On Eve Of 9/11 Anniversary, Cantor Insists On Massive Cuts To First Responders In Exchange For Emergency Disaster Aid | ThinkProgress.

Terrorism Expert: Since 9/11, Only 33 Deaths From Muslim Terrorism Vs. 150,000 Deaths From Murders

Charles Kurzman, a University of North Carolina professor of sociology, is the author of a new book titled The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists. Seeking to “turn down the volume on terrorism debates,” Kurzman argues Al Qaeda and its affiliates have “failed so dismally” because they have been unable to attract large numbers — particularly Muslim American recruits — to their cause.

In an interview with ThinkProgress yesterday, Kurzman told us that “evidence so far over the last decade” is that the threat of terrorism committed by Muslims “has not been growing.” Kurzman’s comprehensive analysis of terrorist plots since 9/11 finds that 186 individuals of the Muslim faith had become radicalized towards violence. Thus, he finds that while “Muslim Americans are participating in terrorist plots at a proportion greater than their proportion to the population,” the overall threat of Muslim terrorism is “very, very low”:

Muslim American terrorist plots have killed since 9/11 — since the 3,000 killed on 9/11 — have killed 33 individuals in the United States since that time. Over that same period of time, there have been more than 150,000 murders in the United States, or 14 or 15,000 murders every year. Muslim American terrorism, then, has been a very small, very low percentage of the overall violence in the United States.

Full Story Here: Terrorism Expert: Since 9/11, Only 33 Deaths From Muslim Terrorism Vs. 150,000 Deaths From Murders | ThinkProgress.

While McConnell Opposes Infrastructure Investment, Major Kentucky Bridge Shuts Down Over Safety Concerns

Yesterday, ThinkProgress published a report detailing Republican Congressional leadership’s opposition to infrastructure investments even as structural deficiencies in bridges and roadways persist in their home states. Among those is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, where 34 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

The Sherman Minton Bridge, one of three major bridges spanning the Ohio River between Louisville, KY and southern Indiana, was among the Kentucky bridges listed as deficient. And last night, the Sherman Minton Bridge was closed after further deficiencies, including cracks, were found in a load-bearing part of its structure. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports:

Full Story Here: While McConnell Opposes Infrastructure Investment, Major Kentucky Bridge Shuts Down Over Safety Concerns | ThinkProgress.

OPS: proving yet again that the republican ‘leadership’ is suicidal and the sheep that support them are brain-dead lemmings.

$1.2 Trillion Trap: What America Gave Up For 10 Years Of War

Today is September 11th, the tenth anniversary of the horrific and inhumane Al Qaeda-led terrorist attacks that killed approximately 3,000 innocents. As Americans pause and reflect on how these attacks changed our country and the world, we should reflect upon one of deceased terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden’s primary goals: bankrupting America. In an audio tape from 2004, Bin Laden explained that Al Qaeda had adopted a “policy” of “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy” through provoking it into engaging in perpetual warfare in the Middle East and South Asia.

Nearly ten years after the United States sent our military forces into Afghanistan, our country has spent $1.2 trillion engaging in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the National Priorities Project (NPP). The wars are expected to cost much more than that by their conclusion, with some estimates ranging up to $3 trillion for the Iraq war alone.

By spending this much money on wars that ended up being America’s longest in history, the United States in some ways fell into Bin Laden’s trap. This money could’ve been used in ways that would’ve invested in America — securing access to health care, a decent education, and infrastructure for alternative energy. Using NPP metrics, ThinkProgress has assembled ten alternative policies that the United States could’ve pursued instead with this money that has been spent on the wars so far:

Full Story Here: The $1.2 Trillion Trap: What America Gave Up For 10 Years Of War Since 9/11 | ThinkProgress.

Cheney, Harper and the misuses of 9/11

Rather than being “the day that changed everything,” as the cliché goes, 9/11 was more like the day when a disgusting crime provided a new pretext for existing reactionary trends. And so followed military occupations or interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and beyond, as well as torture at Guantanamo, Bagram and Abu Ghraib (or in the dungeons of the Libyan, Syrian and Egyptian regimes after rendition by the U.S., U.K. and others).

War, torture, “extraordinary rendition” — this is what defines their post-9/11 legacy.

We can be proud of our post-9/11 legacy of activism against war, torture and rollbacks of civil liberties. Undoubtedly things could have been much worse if not for these collective efforts. Most poignant and symbolic of all, perhaps, was the work of 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, who grieved and demanded peace together with Afghan war mothers and widows.

The so-called “war on terror” was proclaimed in Washington, D.C., but its tropes were taken up by Moscow for use against Chechens, Tel Aviv against Palestinians, Beijing against the Uyghurs and Tibetans.

And so on, as every repressive and aggressive state exploited the tragedy to legitimize its systematic policies of domination — the Canadian government no exception.

Full Story Here: Cheney, Harper and the misuses of 9/11 | rabble.ca.

Empire of Chaos: How 9/11 Shaped the Politics of a Failing State

The neoconservative ideas that shaped the war on terror have evaporated as the United States is battered by an economic depression that shows no end.

The events made my mind reel. The angry plumes of smoke, office paper raining like confetti, tumbling windows flashing in the sunlight. I could make out jumpers and watched a jet fighter whoosh by the burning towers, bank and disappear. I thought, “This is like a movie.”

It upset me that my only way to comprehend the events was to reference the Hollywood imaginarium. But it was understandable. Where else would I have seen images resembling the war in my backyard – collapsing skyscrapers, gigantic fireballs and thousands of dead?

The need to make sense of the events of Sept. 11 – the plot by al-Qaeda, four hijacked airliners, the demolished twin towers and nearly 3,000 dead – is universal. It is why the state’s first task after 9/11 – before one bomb dropped, one soldier deployed – was to imprint the “war on terror” on the collective American mindset.

Full Story Here: Empire of Chaos: How 9/11 Shaped the Politics of a Failing State | | AlterNet.

Perry Tales: Rick Is Not Who He Says He Is

Jim Hightower :-:

Presidential wannabe Rick Perry is flitting all around the country — hither, thither and yon — spreading little “Perry Tales” about himself and the many wonders he has worked as governor of Texas.

His top Perry Tale is a creationist story about what he has modestly branded “The Texas Miracle.” While the rest of the country is mired in joblessness, says the miracle worker, his state has added 1.2 million jobs during his 10-year tenure.

I’ve built “a job-creating machine,” the governor gushed during one of his recent flits across Iowa, and a Perry PR aide smugly added, “The governor’s job creation record speaks for itself.”

Actually, it doesn’t. Far from having the best unemployment rate in the nation, the Lone Star State ranks a middling 26th, behind New York, Massachusetts and other states whose “liberal” governments he routinely mocks.

Full Story Here: Perry Tales: Rick Is Not Who He Says He Is by Jim Hightower on Creators.com – A Syndicate Of Talent.

FBI found direct ties between 9/11 hijackers and Saudis living in Florida; Congress kept in dark 

Just two weeks before the 9/11 hijackers slammed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center, members of a Saudi family abruptly left their luxury home near Sarasota, leaving a brand new car in the driveway, a refrigerator full of food, fruit on the counter — and an open safe in the master bedroom.

In the weeks to follow, law enforcement agents not only discovered the home was visited by vehicles used by the hijackers, but phone calls were linked between the home and those who carried out the death flights — including leader Mohamed Atta — in discoveries never before revealed to the public.

Ten years after the deadliest attack of terrorism on U.S. soil, new information has emerged that shows the FBI found troubling ties between the hijackers and residents in the upscale community in southwest Florida, but the investigation wasn’t reported to Congress or mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report.

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who cochaired the bipartisan congressional Joint Inquiry into the attacks, said he should have been told about the findings, saying it “opens the door to a new chapter of investigation as to the depth of the Saudi role in 9/11. … No information relative to the named people in Sarasota was disclosed.”

Full Story Here: FBI found direct ties between 9/11 hijackers and Saudis living in Florida; Congress kept in dark | Broward Bulldog.

Sarasota-9/11 link spurs call for new look into Saudis

The former U.S. senator responsible for investigating 9/11 called Friday for a renewed inquiry into links between Saudi Arabia and the hijackers in light of revelations this week that a Saudi family living in Sarasota was meeting with the terrorists.

Citing a similar case in California, former Florida Sen. Bob Graham said the previously undisclosed Sarasota case may be part of a pattern of families who were close to terrorists and fled the country before Sept. 11.

Graham called on President Barack Obama to conduct a full accounting of the “Saudi involvement” in supporting 9/11 hijackers and an explanation of why the U.S. government withheld information on the Sarasota family and others with ties to the hijackers from Congressional investigators.

Full Story Here: Sarasota-9/11 link spurs call for new look into Saudis | HeraldTribune.com.

OPS: And the Bush Crime Family allowed the Saudis to fly out of the country – WHEN ALL AIRPLANES WERE GROUNDED.  The 9-11/Bush link gets stronger.

Tar Sands Protest: ‘When Ordinary People do Extraordinary Things’

Crisis clarifies our deepest beliefs and affections, our spirituality. In turn, these moments of great clarity prompt ordinary people to do extraordinary things — and historic changes happen.

Fifty-some years ago the Freedom Riders defied Klu Klux Klan church bombings and bus burnings to end racial segregation in the Jim Crow South.

Today, the crisis is catastrophic climate change — carbon pollution that threatens all life on our planet — and a new generation of Freedom Riders is returning home from peaceful protests, and mass arrests, at the White House.

The sheer dignity and poise of the demonstrators is stunning as you view the photographs – wave after wave — day after day for two weeks — more than twelve hundred people stepped forward, peacefully sat down in front of the White House fence and were arrested. This was the largest act of civil disobedience on this continent during this century.

Full Story Here: Tar Sands Protest: ‘When Ordinary People do Extraordinary Things’ | Common Dreams.

TX Senator Demands That Air Force Answer to Him for Pulling “Jesus Loves Nukes” Training

This summer, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) scored a big victory, getting the Air Force to review all of its so-called “ethics” training. This decision by Air Force leadership was made after thirty-one Air Force officers decided to take a stand against what some officers had nicknamed the “Jesus Loves Nukes speech,” part of the Air Force’s missile launch officer training. These Air Force officers came to MRFF for help with getting this overtly Christian “ethics” training removed from the “Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare” class, a mandatory part of the first week of training for all officers in missile launch training at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

In late July, Truthout.org exposed the content of this training in an article titled “Air Force Cites New Testament, Ex-Nazi, to Train Officers on Ethics of Launching Nuclear Weapons.” The Air Force immediately suspended the training.

David Smith, the spokesman for the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command, made the following statements to Fox News Radio explaining the Air Force’s decision: “In an effort to serve all faiths, we try to introduce none in our briefings and our lectures. Once we heard there were concerns, we looked at the course and said we could do better,” and, “The military is made up of people from all walks of life, all faiths. It’s most appropriate to let folks practice their faith on their own and not try to introduce something else to them.” Nobody could have a problem with this, right? Wrong.

Full Story Here: | TX Senator Demands That Air Force Answer to Him for Pulling “Jesus Loves Nukes” Training.

Employers Diss Obama Job Plan

Wow, this is just embarrassing. A raspberry from businesses, the object of Obama’s tender ministrations. And the reason? Basically, too little demand, something that tax cuts won’t remedy.

From the New York Times:

The dismal state of the economy is the main reason many companies are reluctant to hire workers, and few executives are saying that President Obama’s jobs plan — while welcome — will change their minds any time soon.

That sentiment was echoed across numerous industries by executives in companies big and small on Friday….[M]any employers dismissed the notion that any particular tax break or incentive would be persuasive. Instead, they said they tended to hire more workers or expand when the economy improved.

Companies are focused on jittery consumer confidence, an unstable stock market, perceived obstacles to business….

Full Story Here: Employers Diss Obama Job Plan « naked capitalism.

The Lesson Not Learned From NAFTA Part 2

Just like NAFTA, KORUS promises to outsource even more American manufacturing to a country with inferior labor, safety and environmental laws. The minimum wage in South Korea is still under $4 per hour.

The pending South Korean-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) could very well be the most catastrophic treaty to date. This pact must not be allowed to pass.

Just like NAFTA, KORUS promises to outsource even more American manufacturing to a country with inferior labor, safety and environmental laws. The minimum wage in South Korea is still under $4 per hour (€2.80) – our companies will have no choice but to sell out overseas or go out of business when their competitors do the same.

The population in the United States is over 300 million people, while in South Korea, it is just under 50 million. How can we possibly hope to gain a trade surplus with such a lopsided difference in size? While President Obama has promised the deal would create 70,000 low-paying, insourced jobs, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that in the first seven years, KORUS could destroy nearly 160,000 American jobs. This is not a favorable exchange for the United States.

Full Story Here: The Lesson Not Learned From NAFTA Part 2 | Economy In Crisis.

Obama Tax Breaks Fail to Create Jobs

If the Obama administration is going to spend the money cutting taxes and hoping that the tax cuts will create jobs it might as well spend the money directly hiring people and putting them to work on things that the free market cannot do on its own.

President Obama revealed, as part of his plan to create thousands of jobs in our dilapidated economy, a proposal of 17 individual small business tax cuts and credits. The biggest problem with the idea of cutting taxes to create jobs is the dynamic of what employment truly means. When a business hires a worker they are taking on a long-term commitment to pay a productive member of their team on a time scale that can only be conceived in years or decades.

A tax credit is simply a one-time payment. At best it is a renewable one-time payment that can be brought in again and again each year. A tax credit is not a cash flow, and it is not a revenue stream that can sustain a job. Employers who get tax credits, and wealthy business owners who get tax breaks individually, are not going to take that money and spend it on a worker. They are only going to hire a worker if that position can create enough revenue to sustain itself.

McDonald’s does not hire line workers for charity, it hires them to deal with congestion at the store front. More cooks create more sandwiches. More cashiers serve more customers. If you have no customers, you need fewer cashiers and cooks. That is the basic premise that the tax break crowd on both sides of the aisle seems to miss.

Full Story Here: Obama Tax Breaks Fail to Create Jobs | Economy In Crisis.

How to Put America Back to Work

- Joseph E. Stiglitz -

The country is — or should be — focused on jobs. Some 25 million Americans who want a full-time job can’t get one. The youth unemployment rate is as much as twice that of the already unacceptable national average.

America has always thought of itself as a land of opportunity — but where is the opportunity for our youngsters who face such bleak prospects? Historically, those who lose their jobs quickly got another, but an increasingly large fraction of the unemployed — now more than 40 percent — have been out of work for more than six months.

President Barack Obama will deliver an address tonight outlining his vision of what can be done. Others should be doing the same.

Around the country there is growing pessimism. The rhetoric will be fine. But is there anything that anyone can really do — given the country’s looming debt and deficit?

The answer from economics is: There is plenty we can do to create jobs and promote growth.

Full Story Here: How to Put America Back to Work | Common Dreams.

Why schools need to teach 9/11

– David Sirota -

Kids must learn the complex truths about the attacks to combat the Islamophobic myths they’ve grown up with

Ten years ago this week, I, like many living in Washington at the time, was fleeing my office building. In those minutes of mayhem, I knew only what the police were screaming: Get out fast, because we’re being attacked by terrorists.

In the years since 9/11, we’ve learned a lot about that awful day — and about ourselves.

We’ve learned, for instance, about the attack’s mechanics — we know which particular terrorists orchestrated it and how many lives those mass murderers tragically destroyed. We also know about 9/11′s long-term legacy — we have healthcare data showing that it created a kind of mass post-traumatic stress disorder, and we have evidence that it generated a significant rise in anti-Muslim bigotry. And, of course, we’ve learned that our government can turn catastrophes like 9/11 into political weapons that successfully coerce America into supporting wars and relinquishing civil liberties.

Full Story Here: Why schools need to teach 9/11 – David Sirota – Salon.com.

Obama’s Job Jig: Pin-Up to GOP Voodoo

If America’s 14 million unemployed had their own state, The Economist tells us this week, they’d form the fifth-largest one in the union, right behind Florida and ahead of Illinois. If you include the underemployed and those who’ve dropped off the unemployment rolls altogether, that population would be bigger than that of Texas. You could call it the State of Flagler (hold the Perry sauce).

Ten years ago it took an unemployed person an average of 17 weeks to find work. It now takes 40 weeks, assuming that person keeps looking. Florida has discovered an innovative way to kick people off the unemployment rolls. It requires workers to submit to interrogations first, docks them whatever meager pay they may be earning that month, puts them on hold for about four weeks if they have a question and are dumb enough to call, then leaves them with unemployment checks smaller than some sub-Saharan wages, if they make it that far. Tens of thousands don’t, opting out along the way. Problem solved, and Rick Scott takes credit.

It’s now clear that the first stimulus bill did not work as it should have—not because the stimulus wasn’t needed, but because it was too small, too brief and too lopsidedly favoring tax cuts instead of actual stimulus. It stopped unemployment levels from heading toward the 1930s and brought down the rate a full point. But devoting a third of the stimulus to tax cuts was worse than useless: it added to the deficit instead of creating jobs, Giorgio Armani stores aside. And the frenzy of cost-cutting at every level of government in the last two years, state and local governments especially, has been plain mad: the stimulus was taken out back, shot and buried–then blamed for failing by its executioners as tea party hypocrites, a Social Security check in one hand and a Medicare card in the other, danced on its grave.

Full Story Here: Obama’s Job Jig: Pin-Up to GOP Voodoo | Common Dreams.

Imperial Delusions: Ignoring the Lessons of 9/11

Ten years ago, critics of America’s mad rush to war were right, but it didn’t matter.

Within hours after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it was clear that political leaders were going to use the attacks to justify war in Central Asia and the Middle East. And within hours, those of us critical of that policy began to offer principled and practical arguments against aggressive war as a response to the crimes.

It didn’t matter because neither the public nor policymakers were interested in principled or practical arguments. People wanted revenge, and the policymakers seized the opportunity to use U.S. military power. Critical thinking became a mark not of conscientious citizenship but of dangerous disloyalty.

We were right, but the wars came.

Full Story Here: Imperial Delusions: Ignoring the Lessons of 9/11 | Common Dreams.

Sea Radiation from Fukushima Seen Triple Tepco Estimate

Radioactive material released into the sea in the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis is more than triple the amount estimated by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co, Japanese researchers say.

Japan’s biggest utility estimated around 4,720 trillion becquerels of cesium-137 and iodine-131 was released into the Pacific Ocean between March 21 and April 30, but researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) put the amount 15,000 trillion becquerels, or terabecquerels.

Government regulations ban shipment of foodstuff containing over 500 becquerels of radioactive material per kg.

Takuya Kobayashi, a researcher at the agency, said on Friday the difference in figures was probably because his team measured airborne radioactive material that fell into the ocean in addition to material from contaminated water that leaked from the plant.

Full Story Here: Sea Radiation from Fukushima Seen Triple Tepco Estimate | Common Dreams.

9/11: Al Qaeda’s Project for Ending the American Century Succeeded

A decade after its spectacular Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City’s twin World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon and despite the killing earlier this year of its charismatic leader, Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda appears to have largely succeeded in its hopes of accelerating the decline of U.S. global power, if not bringing it to the brink of collapse

That appears to be the strong consensus of the foreign-policy elite which, with only a few exceptions, believes that the administration of President George W. Bush badly “over-reacted” to the attacks and that that over-reaction continues to this day.

That over-reaction was driven in major part by a close-knit group of neo-conservatives and other hawks who seized control of Bush’s foreign policy even before the dust had settled over Lower Manhattan and set it on a radical course designed to consolidate Washington’s dominance of the Greater Middle East and “shock and awe” any aspiring global or regional rival powers into acquiescing to a “unipolar” world.

Full Story Here: 9/11: Al Qaeda’s Project for Ending the American Century Succeeded | Common Dreams.

Natural Gas Bombshell: Switching From Coal to Gas Increases Warming for Decades, Has Minimal Benefit Even in 2100

A BRIDGE FUEL TO NOWHERE

A stunning new study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) concludes:

In summary, our results show that the substitution of gas for coal as an energy source results in increased rather than decreased global warming for many decades….

The fact that natural gas is a bridge fuel to nowhere was first shown by the International Energy Agency in its big June report on gas — see IEA’s “Golden Age of Gas Scenario” Leads to More Than 6°F Warming and Out-of-Control Climate Change.  That study — which had both coal and oil consumption peaking in 2020 — made abundantly clear that if we want to avoid catastrophic warming, we need to start getting off of all fossil fuels.

But what NCAR’s new study adds is more detailed modeling of all contributors to climate change from fossil fuel combustion — positive and negative.  The study is here [they just eliminated the subscription requirement], the news release is here. It’s by senior research associate Tom Wigley, one of the country’s leading experts on climate modeling.

Full Story Here: Natural Gas Bombshell: Switching From Coal to Gas Increases Warming for Decades, Has Minimal Benefit Even in 2100 | ThinkProgress.

JPMorgan Pays $88 Million in Fines for Trading with Enemies

In agreeing to pay the largest settlement by a bank to date involving sanctions violations, JPMorgan Chase will fork over $88.3 million to the Department of the Treasury.

Treasury officials went after JPMorgan for breaking U.S. embargo laws and trade sanctions, including Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations and Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions, in three incidents between 2005 and 2011 that involved Cuba, Iran and Sudan.

In the Cuban case, the bank violated embargo laws by processing $178.5 million in wire transfers for Cuban nationals.

Full Story Here: AllGov – News – JPMorgan Pays $88 Million in Fines for Trading with Enemies.

Keith Olbermann – Analysis of Obamas Speech, with Bernie Sanders – YouTube

Countdown with Keith Olbermann 09-08-2011 8 – Analysis, with Bernie Sanders

43 House Members Slam Justices Scalia, Thomas, And Alito For Ethics Scandals

As ThinkProgress previously reported, Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) circulated a letter calling upon the House Judiciary Committee’s leadership to hold a hearing his bill ending the Supreme Court’s immunity to key judicial ethics laws. Murphy’s bill is inspired by numerous recent ethics scandals involving the Court’s most conservative members:

There have been alarming reports of justices – most notably Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – attending political events and using their position to fundraise for organizations. These activities would be prohibited if the justices were required to abide by the Judicial Conference Code of Conduct, which currently applies to all other federal judges. [...]

Recent revelations about Justice Thomas accepting tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts from individuals and organizations who often have an interest in matters before the courts calls into question the Court’s impartiality. Canon 4D of the Code of Conduct incorporates regulations providing that “[a] judicial officer or employee shall not accept a gift from anyone who is seeking official action from or doing business with the court.” Yet Justice Thomas received a gift valued at $15,000 from an organization that had a brief pending before his Court at the very moment they gave him the gift. Incidents such as these undermine the integrity of the entire judiciary, and they should not be allowed to continue.

Full Story Here: 43 House Members Slam Justices Scalia, Thomas, And Alito For Ethics Scandals | ThinkProgress.

Wealth Gap: How Far Apart Are The Bottom 50 Percent And The Top 1 Percent?

Listening to Republicans on the campaign trail or the House floor, one might think the quickest way to eliminate the deficit is to make Americans who earn the least pay more in taxes. “Part of the problem is today only 53 percent pay any federal income tax at all; 47 percent pay nothing,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told a crowd in South Carolina, repeating a conservative meme. “We need to broaden the base so that everybody pays something, even if it’s a dollar.”

Beyond Bachmann, the idea has been spread by Republicans from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman to members of the House and Senate leadership. It was brought up again in Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate by other candidates.

“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart recently zinged the GOP for its relentless focus on the poor, noting that even if the government took absolutely everything the bottom 50 percent owned, it would still raise only about $700 billion (never mind the starvation that would result).

Full Story Here: Wealth Gap: How Far Apart Are The Bottom 50 Percent And The Top 1 Percent?.

Paul Krugman: 50 Percent Chance Global Economy Will Enter Recession

Even though Obama’s jobs plan is “bolder and better” than Paul Krugman expected, the Nobel-Prize winning economist still told Bloomberg Television on Friday that it might not be enough to stave off global recession.

The risk of global recession is “quite high, maybe 50 percent,” Krugman told Bloomberg. He added: “The risk of something that feels like a recession is much higher than that. My central belief is that we’re likely to have higher unemployment a year from now than we do today.”

Krugman said that while Obama’s plan “could make a noticeable difference to the economy,” Republican opposition to the President’s proposal, on top of the euro zone crisis, still makes recession a substantial possibility.

Speculation over the possibility of the U.S. entering back into recession, and likely bringing the global economy with it, has been a topic of frequent discussion among economists. While World Bank President Robert Zoellick, along with a recent poll of economists, said that a recession is unlikely, others are less optimistic.

Full Story Here: Paul Krugman: 50 Percent Chance Global Economy Will Enter Recession.

Whistleblower fired after revealing Wisconsin ‘voter suppression’

A Wisconsin state employee has been fired after he revealed that a Department of Transportation official had instructed workers to not notify citizens that IDs necessary for voting could be obtained for free.

State employee Chris Larsen told radio host John “Sly” Sylvester that his bosses at the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) had become upset because he sent an email to other employees Thursday to remind them that photo IDs were supposed to be available without charge.

“Do you know someone who votes that does not have a State ID that meets requirements to vote?” Larsen asked in his email, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Tell them they can go to the DMV/DOT and get a free ID card. However they must ask for the free ID. a memo was sent out by the 3rd in command of the DMV/DOT. The memo specifically told the employees at the DMV/DOT not to inform individuals that the ID’s are free. So if the individuals seeking to get the free ID does not ask for a free ID, they will have to pay for it!!”

Full Story Here: Whistleblower fired after revealing Wisconsin ‘voter suppression’ | The Raw Story.

British PM: Britain, U.S. ‘lost some’ moral authority after 9/11

Britain and the United States lost some of their moral authority through some of the measures they put in place after the September 11th attacks, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Some measures, such as the establishment of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, had been a mistake, Cameron told Al Jazeera television in an interview to mark the 10th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attacks on the United States.

“We can certainly see with hindsight and in some ways at the time, mistakes were made in that we lost some of our moral authority, which is vital to keep when you’re trying to make your case in the world,” Cameron said.

As he spoke, fresh allegations were emerging about the complicity of British intelligence agents in the illegal transfer of terror suspects following 9/11 to countries where they faced torture.

Full Story Here: British PM: Britain, U.S. ‘lost some’ moral authority after 9/11 | The Raw Story.

REPORT: As Their States’ Bridges And Roads Crumble, GOP Leaders Remain Opposed To Infrastructure Investment | ThinkProgress

President Obama’s plan to kickstart the economy and put the American people back to work includes investing in the nation’s rapidly deteriorating infrastructure, which, as studies have shown, is in need of as much as $2 trillion in immediate investment just to bring it up to date. In the past, Republicans have agreed that infrastructure improvements are needed, but in the context of economic stimulus and in their effort to remain opposed to anything Obama offers, they have chosen to ignore the nation’s infrastructure and jobs crises. Unfortunately, that approach doesn’t mean either crisis will go away.

Republican leadership has continually blocked efforts by Obama and Congressional Democrats to invest in infrastructure improvements, and as a result, bridges and roadways in their states are crumbling. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, about 12 percent of the nation’s bridges are considered “structurally deficient,” the same rating given to the Minneapolis bridge that collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people. Roughly another 12 percent are considered “functionally obsolete.” In four of the five states represented by Republican congressional leadership, the rate of structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges outpaces the national average. ThinkProgress compiled a breakdown of the status of roads and bridges in each of those five states and, where applicable, individual congressional districts:

Full Story Here: REPORT: As Their States’ Bridges And Roads Crumble, GOP Leaders Remain Opposed To Infrastructure Investment | ThinkProgress.

GOP Reps. Dismiss Tax Cut For Working Americans In Favor Of Giveaways To Corporations

Despite their professed devotion to tax cuts, a surprising number of Republican lawmakers are less than thrilled with President Obama’s proposed extension of temporary cuts to the payroll tax as part of his jobs package unveiled last night. While the tax holiday for middle- and working-class Americans is one of the most effective ways to stimulate the economy via tax policy, these conservative lawmakers prefer tax breaks go to those who need them least: corporations and the wealthy.

For instance, Tea Party firebrand Rep. Allen West (R-FL) rejected a payroll tax holiday completely on Fox Business last night, saying it has already been tried and that we should “cut this corporate tax rate” instead. Also on Fox Business, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) said he had a problem with the payroll tax holiday because it goes to “people who are already working.” But in the next breath, Gingrey called instead for a tax break for corporations who have kept money overseas. Watch it:

Full Story Here: GOP Reps. Dismiss Tax Cut For Working Americans In Favor Of Giveaways To Corporations | ThinkProgress.

Obama’s “21st Century Trade Deals” Look a Lot Like the Same Bad Policies He Campaigned Against

Starting this week in Chicago, the US will be hosting the first major trade negotiations since the “Battle in Seattle” World Trade Organisation talks came here in 1999.

 It is bad enough that President Obama is reversing his campaign pledge and supporting Bush-era trade deals with Korea, Colombia and Panama. Starting this week in Chicago, the US will be hosting the first major trade negotiations since the “Battle in Seattle” World Trade Organisation talks came here in 1999. This occasion is for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with a wide range of industrialised and developing Pacific Rim countries.

As part of his plan to revive the US economy and create jobs, Obama claims he will be unveiling “a trade agreement for the 21st century”. Ironically, though, he will be pushing the same “Nafta-style” trade pacts he campaigned against, and to howls of protest from his own electoral base. Let us not forget what he said:

“I voted against Cafta, never supported Nafta, and will not support Nafta-style trade agreements in the future,” Obama told Ohio voters (pdf) in 2008. “While Nafta gave broad rights to investors, it paid only lip service to the rights of labor and the importance of environmental protection.”

Full Story Here: Obama’s “21st Century Trade Deals” Look a Lot Like the Same Bad Policies He Campaigned Against | | AlterNet.

New Evidence Calls Into Question Claim that AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Will Create Jobs

Despite claims by T-Mobile and AT&T, job losses in the proposed merger could exceed job gains.

Sprint joined efforts to block the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA by filing a lawsuit of its own on Tuesday, presumably as a safeguard measure in case AT&T reaches a settlement with the government. The legal battle to prevent the $39 billion deal comes nearly a week after the Department of Justice filed a federal antitrust lawsuit over concerns that the merger would lessen competition and increase prices for consumers.

Unions and AT&T have defended the deal by arguing that the merger would create jobs, and have even set up an online campaign to rebuff critics like Sprint, which is non-union. But the lawsuits add to the growing number of voices from industry competitors, political officials, and media and consumer groups that view job creation promises with skepticism.

Shortly before the federal lawsuit last week, AT&T announced that the company would repatriate 5,000 wireless jobs to the United States as a way to entice regulators to approve the deal. It also added that U.S.-based employees at wireless call centers would not lose their jobs if they are on the payroll at the time of the completed merge

Full Story Here: New Evidence Calls Into Question Claim that AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Will Create Jobs | | AlterNet.

Less Work, More Living

Working fewer hours could save our economy, save our sanity, and help save our planet.

Millions of Americans have lost control over the basic rhythm of their daily lives. They work too much, eat too quickly, socialize too little, drive and sit in traffic for too many hours, don’t get enough sleep, and feel harried too much of the time. It’s a way of life that undermines basic sources of wealth and well-being—such as strong family and community ties, a deep sense of meaning, and physical health.

Imagining a world in which jobs take up much less of our time may seem utopian, especially now, when a scarcity mentality dominates the economic conversation. People who are employed often find it difficult to scale back their jobs. Costs of medical care, education, and child care are rising. It may be hard to find new sources of income when U.S. companies have been laying people off at a dizzying rate.

But fewer work hours for people with jobs is a key step toward solving the unemployment crisis—while giving Americans healthier lives. Fewer hours means more jobs are available to people who need them. Living on less pay usually means consuming less, making more of the things one needs at home, and living lighter, whether by design or by accident.

Full Story Here: Less Work, More Living by Juliet Schor — YES! Magazine.

How ‘Small Government’ Conservatives Raise Your Taxes Through Stealthy Back-Door Fees

From drivers’ licenses to public schools, state and local governments are raising money any way they can–all while cutting taxes on the rich.

Here’s a simple fact the Right would like you to ignore: cutting public spending doesn’t lead to fewer dollars being “taken out of your pocket” for the services government provides; it merely shifts those costs around, and often increases them.

When conservatives say, “I’m for lower taxes and fiscal responsibility,” what they really mean is that they favor cutting top marginal tax rates – those paid by a relatively wealthy few – capital gains taxes on investments, inheritance taxes and taxes on corporations. And to make up for those revenue losses, they are happy to run higher deficits and very quick to raise taxes on the rest of us.

At the federal level, they can and do finance some of the tax cuts they hand out to their patrons through deficit spending. That’s why Ronald Reagan increased the national debt by almost 14 percent per year, both Bushes upped it by around 10 percent annually and yet under Bill Clinton it increased by just 4.2 percent per year.

Full Story Here: How ‘Small Government’ Conservatives Raise Your Taxes Through Stealthy Back-Door Fees | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet.

On the Verge of a Double Dip Recession

If history is a guide, the odds that the American economy is falling into a double-dip recession have risen sharply in recent weeks and may even have reached 50 percent.

Economies have a strong self-reinforcing nature. When people are optimistic, they spend, which begets hiring and then more spending. When people are anxious, they pull back, which leads to a cycle of hiring freezes and further anxiety that often lasts for months.

The United States appears to have entered some version of the vicious cycle. Most ominously, job growth has slowed to a pace that typically signals the start of a recession.

Full Story Here: On the Verge of a Double Dip Recession – NYTimes.com.

DuPont’s herbicide goes rogue

Jim Hightower :-:

In the tortured language of CorporateWorld, workers are no longer fired, they’ve just experienced an “employment adjustment.” But the most twisted euphemism I’d heard in a long time comes from DuPont: “We are investigating the reports of these unfavorable tree symptoms,” the pesticide maker recently stated.

How unfavorable? Finito, flat-lined… the tree is dead. Not just one tree, but hundreds of thousands all across the country are suffering the final “symptom.” The culprit turns out to be Imprelis, a DuPont weed-killer widely applied to lawns, golf courses, and – ironically – cemeteries. Rather than just poisoning dandelions and other weeds, the herbicide also seems to be causing spruces, pines, willows, poplars, and other unintended victims to croak.

“It’s been devastating,” says a Michigan landscaper who applied Imprelis to about a thousand properties this spring and has already had more than a third of them suffer outbreaks of tree deaths. “It looks like someone took a flamethrower to them,” he says. At first, DuPont tried to dodge responsibility, claiming that landscape workers might be applying the herbicide improperly. The corporation even urged customers to be patient and leave the tree corpses on their lawns to see if they come back to life in a few years.

Full Story Here: Jim Hightower | DuPont’s herbicide goes rogue.

Obama Team Feared Coup If He Prosecuted War Crimes

President-Elect Obama’s advisers feared in 2008 that authorities would oust him in a coup and that Republicans would block his policy agenda if he prosecuted Bush-era war crimes, according to a law school dean who served as one of Obama’s top transition advisers.

University of California at Berkeley Law School Dean Christopher Edley, Jr., above, the sixth highest-ranking member of the 2008 post-election transition team preparing Obama’s administration, revealed the team’s thinking on Sept. 2 in moderating a forum on 9/11 held by his law school (also known as Boalt Hall). Edley was seeking to explain Obama’s “look forward” policy on suspected Bush-era law-breaking that the president-elect announced on a TV talk show in January 2009.

But Edley’s rationale implies that Obama, or at least his team, feared the military/national security forces that the president is supposed be commanding — and that Republicans have intimidated him right from the start of his presidency even after voters in 2008 rejected Republicans by the largest combined presidential-congressional mandate in recent U.S. history.

Edley responded to my request for additional information by providing a description of the transition team’s fears. Edley said that transition officials, not Obama, agreed that he faced the possibility of a “revolt.”

Full Story Here: OpEdNews – Article: Obama Team Feared Coup If He Prosecuted War Crimes.

The ACLU on Obama and core liberties

- Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com

The ACLU decided to use the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attack to comprehensively survey the severe erosion of civil liberties justified in the name of that event, an erosion that — as it documents — continues unabated, indeed often in accelerated form, under the Obama administration. The group today is issuing a report entitled A Call to Courage: Reclaiming Our Liberties Ten Years After 9/11; that title is intended to underscore the irony that political leaders who prance around as courageous warriors against Terrorism in fact rely on one primary weapon — fear-mongering: the absence of courage — to vest the government with ever-more power and the citizenry with ever-fewer rights. Domestically, the “War on Terror” has been, and continues to be, a war on basic political liberties more than it is anything else. The particulars identified in this new ACLU report will not be even remotely new to any readers here, but given the organization’s status among progressives as the preeminent rights-defending group in the country, and given the bird’s-eye-view the report takes of these issues, it is well worth highlighting some of its key findings.

Full Story Here: The ACLU on Obama and core liberties – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com.

Barbara Boxer: I hope greens sue President Obama

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer said she hopes green groups sue President Barack Obama over his decision to punt a regulation curbing smog-creating emissions until at least 2013.

Boxer — whose relatively mild reaction to Obama’s surprise announcement Friday was in contrast to heated rebukes by environmental groups — said she will stand by those groups in any litigation to force the administration to issue a final ozone rule that goes beyond what was enacted by President George W. Bush.

Environmental groups charged that Obama made a political calculus by punting on a rule that was a particular target of critics who charge his regulatory agenda has hurt the economy and jobs.

Full Story Here: Barbara Boxer: I hope greens sue President Obama – Darren Goode – POLITICO.com.

10 Things Conservatives Don’t Want You To Know About Ronald Reagan

Tomorrow will mark the 100th anniversary of President Reagan’s birth, and all week, conservatives have been trying to outdo each others’ remembrances of the great conservative icon. Senate Republicans spent much of Thursday singing Reagan’s praise from the Senate floor, while conservative publications have been running non-stop commemorations. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee and former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich are hoping to make a few bucks off the Gipper’s centennial.

But Reagan was not the man conservatives claim he was. This image of Reagan as a conservative superhero is myth, created to unite the various factions of the right behind a common leader. In reality, Reagan was no conservative ideologue or flawless commander-in-chief. Reagan regularly strayed from conservative dogma — he raised taxes eleven times as president while tripling the deficit — and he often ended up on the wrong side of history, like when he vetoed an Anti-Apartheid bill.

ThinkProgress has compiled a list of the top 10 things conservatives rarely mention when talking about President Reagan:

Full Story Here: 10 Things Conservatives Don’t Want You To Know About Ronald Reagan | ThinkProgress.

61 Percent of Americans Believe the U.S. “Too Often” Uses Its Military Forces in Foreign Conflicts

Americans are skeptical about the efficacy of the United States’ presence overseas. According to the latest Reason-Rupe poll 61 percent of Americans believe the U.S. uses its military force in foreign conflicts too often, while only 9 percent believe the U.S uses it not often enough. A quarter believes the U.S. uses its military force in foreign conflicts the right amount.

Americans are also unconvinced that keeping troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2014 will be particularly advantageous to the U.S. Instead 65 percent believe keeping troops in Afghanistan through 2014 will make “no difference.” Only 19 percent believe it will make the US safer and 12 percent believe it will make the U.S. less safe. Americans also do not believe that the war in Iraq has been worth it, with 62 percent saying it has not been worth it, compared to 32 percent who say it has.

Full Story Here: 61 Percent of Americans Believe the U.S. “Too Often” Uses Its Military Forces in Foreign Conflicts – Reason-Rupe Surveys : Reason Magazine.

Yes, We Need Jobs. But What Kind?

ON Thursday, President Obama will deliver a major speech on America’s employment crisis. But too often, what is lost in the call for job creation is a clear idea of what jobs we want to create.

I recently led a research team to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, has advertised his track record of creating jobs. From January 2000 to January 2010, employment in the Valley grew by a remarkable 42 percent, compared with our nation’s anemic 1 percent job growth.

But the median wage for adults in the Valley between 2005 and 2008 was a stunningly low $8.14 an hour (in 2008 dollars). One in four employed adults earned less than $6.19 an hour. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported that the per capita income in the two metropolitan statistical areas spanning the Valley ranked lowest and second lowest in the nation.

Full Story Here: Yes, We Need Jobs. But What Kind? – NYTimes.com.

Hartmann: Destroying the Postal Service – another Manufactured Crisis

The United States Post Office is on the verge of shutting down. According to the New York Times – the Post Office is quickly running out of cash and may be forced to shut down this winter. While the media story line is that the Post Office is dealing with the problem of trying to remain profitable in a world of decreasing paper mail – the real cause is actually something much, much different. Consider that this year – like every year since 2006 – the Post Office is legally required to make a $5 billion annual contribution to a retirement account to pay for future retirees who aren’t even born yet. For more on this Thom Hartmann is joined by Chuck Zlatkin – Legislative and Political Director of the New York Metro Area Postal Union.

Full Story Here: Hartmann: Destroying the Postal Service – another Manufactured Crisis – YouTube.

Bank of America ‘called grieving widow 48 times a day to remind her of husband’s debt’

Bank of America bombarded a grieving widow with calls up to 48 times a day to remind her that her recently deceased husband had missed a mortgage payment, it is claimed.

Deborah Crabtree, from Honolulu, Hawaii, is suing the bank after she said she was called by debt collectors as often as every 15 minutes including during the wake for her husband.

According to papers filed in Hawaii, Mrs Crabtree told the bank that she would pay the debt as soon as she received her husband’s life insurance pay out, but the bank continued to threaten to foreclose on her home.

Full Story Here: Bank of America ‘called grieving widow 48 times a day to remind her of husband’s debt’ | Mail Online.

Cancer among 9/11 workers sparks political storm

“Never forget!” was the motto of the first responders who rushed to the burning World Trade Center on 9/11, but 10 years on some say they have been abandoned by their country to fight cancer and mounting medical bills.

Once hailed as heroes, thousands now say they have fallen victim to a host of ailments — from asthma to cancer — due to their exposure to the toxic debris pile left by the Twin Towers’ collapse on September 11, 2001.

Compensation funds set up by the US government do not recognize cancer as a condition caused by exposure to the World Trade Center clean-up operation, and a political battle is brewing.

Full Story Here: Cancer among 9/11 workers sparks political storm | The Raw Story.

Cancer among 9/11 workers sparks political storm

“Never forget!” was the motto of the first responders who rushed to the burning World Trade Center on 9/11, but 10 years on some say they have been abandoned by their country to fight cancer and mounting medical bills.

Once hailed as heroes, thousands now say they have fallen victim to a host of ailments — from asthma to cancer — due to their exposure to the toxic debris pile left by the Twin Towers’ collapse on September 11, 2001.

Compensation funds set up by the US government do not recognize cancer as a condition caused by exposure to the World Trade Center clean-up operation, and a political battle is brewing.

Full Story Here: Cancer among 9/11 workers sparks political storm | The Raw Story.

More Bad News on Jobs: Stores Trim Holiday Hiring Plans

Don’t expect a big boost in hiring from the retail sector during the holiday season, according to the results of a survey released Tuesday.

Getty Images The vast majority of retailers — some 68 percent — plan on keeping holiday hiring at roughly the same level as last year, a survey from the Hay Group said.

Although the vast majority of retailers — some 68 percent — plan on keeping holiday hiring at roughly the same level as last year, a quarter expect to trim hiring plans for seasonal workers, according to an annual hiring survey conducted by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy.

That’s a greater number than last year, when 17 percent of the retailers Hay surveyed said they would scale back hiring.

“Three months ago… people were extremely optimistic about the holidays, but that mood has shifted to one that is cautiously optimistic,” said Maryam Morse, the national retail rewards practice leader at Hay Group.

Full Story Here: More Bad News on Jobs: Stores Trim Holiday Hiring Plans – CNBC.

Feds: Nuke plant among two worst

Federal regulators have downgraded the flood-idled nuclear power plant 20 miles north of Omaha, ranking it as one of the two poorest performing reactors in the United States.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in a letter to the Omaha Public Power District released Tuesday, faulted Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station for the performance of its safety systems — those needed to prevent potential problems from becoming potentially catastrophic.

The U.S. has 104 licensed nuclear reactors, and Fort Calhoun is now in a category with one other plant that in laymen’s terms could be considered a letter grade of “D.” No plants have an “F,” which requires a plant be shut down.

Fort Calhoun already was under heightened supervision as the Fukushima disaster unfolded in Japan because it was one of three reactors at the time being closely monitored by American regulators.

This move is a step below where the OPPD plant was then.

Officials with the utility say they realize they have issues to address.

Gary Gates, president and chief executive officer, and David Bannister, chief nuclear officer, said they are committed to getting Fort Calhoun back to a higher grade and are confident in the utility’s ability to do so.

Full Story Here: Feds: Nuke plant among two worst – Omaha.com.

Texas cut fire department funding by 75 percent this year 

Under Gov. Rick Perry (R) this year, Texas slashed state funding for the volunteer fire departments that protect most of the state from wildfires like the ones that have recently destroyed more than 700 homes.

Volunteer departments that were already facing financial strain were slated to have their funding cut from $30 million to $7 million, according to KVUE.

The majority of Texas is protected by volunteer fire departments. There are 879 volunteer fire departments in Texas and only 114 paid fire departments. Another 187 departments are a combination of volunteer and paid.

For that reason, aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could be more important than ever to the state where wildfires have recently been raging.

Full Story Here: Texas cut fire department funding by 75 percent this year | Raw Replay.

OPS: Short sighted, dumbass republicans

The “Shock Doctrine” comes to your neighborhood classroom

Corporate reformers use the fiscal crisis and campaign contributions to hype an unproven school agenda

Let’s hope the fiscal crisis doesn’t get better too soon. It’ll slow down reform.” – Tom Watkins, a consultant, summarizes the corporate education reform movement’s current strategy to the Sunday New York Times.

The Shock Doctrine, as articulated by journalist Naomi Klein, describes the process by which corporate interests use catastrophes as instruments to maximize their profit. Sometimes the events they use are natural (earthquakes), sometimes they are human-created (the 9/11 attacks) and sometimes they are a bit of both (hurricanes made stronger by human-intensified global climate change). Regardless of the particular cataclysm, though, the Shock Doctrine suggests that in the aftermath of a calamity, there is always corporate method in the smoldering madness – a method based in Disaster Capitalism.

Though Klein’s book provides much evidence of the Shock Doctrine, the Disaster Capitalists rarely come out and acknowledge their strategy. That’s why Watkins’ outburst of candor, buried in this front-page New York Times article yesterday, is so important: It shows that the recession and its corresponding shock to school budgets is being  used by corporations to maximize revenues, all under the gauzy banner of “reform.”

Full Story Here: The “Shock Doctrine” comes to your neighborhood classroom – Education – Salon.com.

Tons of radioactive sewage in Japan is latest crisis

Growing piles of contaminated sewage, located hundreds of kilometers from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown, are loaded with high levels of radiactive cesium, and the government has yet to come up with a policy for the country’s latest crisis.

Tons of alarmingly high levels of radioactive cesium are being reported at a sewage treatment facility in Saitama, located more than 150 miles southwest of Fukushima, site of the triple nuclear meltdown last March after a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

According to Al Jazeera English (AJE), workers at the plant have been told to store the sewage, but none are qualified in dealing with the hazardous waste. Under normal conditions, the treated sewage is passed along to fertilizer and cement companies, but the radioactive sewage currently has no takers.

Full Story Here: Tons of radioactive sewage in Japan is latest crisis.

Exclusive Audio: Inside the Koch Brothers’ Secret Seminar

Don’t miss Gavin Aronsen’s breakdown of the Kochs’ million-dollar donor club.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of this report, on the GOP superstar who rocked the Koch seminar crowd.

“We have Saddam Hussein,” declared billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, apparently referring to President Barack Obama as he welcomed hundreds of wealthy guests to the latest of the secret fundraising and strategy seminars he and his brother host twice a year. The 2012 elections, he warned, will be “the mother of all wars.”

Charles Koch would probably not publicly compare the president of the United States to a murderous dictator. (As a general rule, he and his brother don’t do much politicking or speechifying in public at all.) But Mother Jones has obtained exclusive audio recordings from the Koch seminar, a private event that took place in June at a resort near Vail, Colorado.

Full Story Here: Exclusive Audio: Inside the Koch Brothers’ Secret Seminar | Mother Jones.

GM Feed Toxic, New Meta-Analysis Confirms

A meta-analysis on 19 studies confirms kidney and liver toxicity in rats and mice fed on GM soybean and maize, representing more than 80 percent of all commercially available GM food; it also exposes gross inadequacies of current risk assessment Dr Eva Sirinathsinghji

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A team of independent scientists led by Gilles-Eric Séralini at Caen University in France carried out a meta-analysis combining the results of 19 previous studies [1], and their report concluded: “From the regulatory tests performed today, it is unacceptable to submit 500 million Europeans and several billions of consumers worldwide to the new pesticide GM-derived foods or feed, this being done without more controls (if any) than the only 3-month-long toxicological tests and using only one mammalian species, especially since there is growing evidence of concern.”

Full Story Here: GM Feed Toxic, New Meta-Analysis Confirms.

Save the Post Office

Leave it to the New York Times to ignore the story on the post office for months, and then to put out a front-page piece that gets most of the story wrong. Actually, the piece is fine, but it’s in the wrong part of the paper — it belongs on the Op-Ed page. It’s not news. It’s rife with opinion, slant, and misinformation, and its viewpoint is not too far from that of Darrell Issa.

Over the past six months, the Times has published one story about the bills before Congress (July 21), a really lovely piece about a cute post office closing (August 16), a short editorial a few days ago (Aug. 29), and that’s about it.

The August editorial repeated the usual talking points from the Postal Service. It was wrong about why the Postal Service is having problems, and it presented the issues in a slanted way, but it was an editorial, and the Times is entitled to its opinion. But yesterday’s piece appeared as front-page news (for a while, it was even the lead), and it sounds like it was written by the same editorial staff that wrote the Op-Ed piece. It doesn’t help to publish such “news” just as the Senate Homeland Security Committee is about to hold an “emergency hearing” on Tuesday.

Full Story Here: Save the Post Office | Closures, Consolidations, Suspensions: Stories, Analysis, Opinion.

Tick-borne parasite infecting blood supply: CDC

A tick-borne infection known as Babesiosis, which can cause severe disease and even death, is becoming a growing threat to the U.S. blood supply, government researchers said on Monday.

There are currently no diagnostic tests approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that can detect the infection before people donate blood.

A 31-year study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now suggests the parasitic infection may be increasing.

Babesia infections are marked by anemia, fever, chills and fatigue, but they can also cause organ failure and death.

Full Story Here: Tick-borne parasite infecting blood supply: CDC | Reuters.

Why Banks Think Their Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card Isn’t Good Enough

Attorneys general from 46 states have offered a settlement to major banks over improper mortgage practices — even though those practices are still going on. Believe it or not, the banks rejected the Get Out Of Jail Free card because it wasn’t generous enough.

It’s not just finance they’re bad at.

The proposed deal (aka The Great Bank Robbery) would let banks – including Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C) and Ally Financial (ALLY) – off the hook for seizing the homes of delinquent borrowers by employing so-called “robosigners,” workers who signed off on foreclosure documents en masse without reviewing the paperwork.

According to the Financial Times, which broke the story:

Full Story Here: Why Banks Think Their Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card Isn’t Good Enough | BNET.

4 Ways Government Policy Favors the Rich and Keeps the Rest of Us Poor

While most Americans struggle in the face of the recession, the rich are enjoying the benefits of policies that redistribute wealth upward–and crying class war if we complain.

It was a little over a month ago that the Norwegian Islamophobic Christian fundamentalist Anders Behring Breivik, wreaked havoc in Norway, killing 77 and injuring many more, and more than seven months since a bomb planted along the route of a march honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was discovered.

After the initial flurry of reportage, analysis, commentary and punditry, for all intents and purposes the Breivik story has disappeared into the ether that is the American mainstream media.

Maybe it is thus because it happened in far off Norway, maybe it is because our attention span is disastrously truncated, maybe it is because – like in so many of these cases — he has been too easily dismissed as a madman acting alone.

Perhaps, too, the connective tissue between Breivik and homegrown Islamophobes is too hot to handle.

Interrupting the ‘March of Time’

Full Story Here: 4 Ways Government Policy Favors the Rich and Keeps the Rest of Us Poor | | AlterNet.

Why Are the Corporate Media In Denial About the Right-Wing Terrorist Threat?

A series of right-wing-initiated violent actions in the U.S., including bombings, plans for bombings, and assassinations, have not gotten the attention they deserve.

It was a little over a month ago that the Norwegian Islamophobic Christian fundamentalist Anders Behring Breivik, wreaked havoc in Norway, killing 77 and injuring many more, and more than seven months since a bomb planted along the route of a march honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was discovered.

After the initial flurry of reportage, analysis, commentary and punditry, for all intents and purposes the Breivik story has disappeared into the ether that is the American mainstream media.

Maybe it is thus because it happened in far off Norway, maybe it is because our attention span is disastrously truncated, maybe it is because – like in so many of these cases — he has been too easily dismissed as a madman acting alone.

Perhaps, too, the connective tissue between Breivik and homegrown Islamophobes is too hot to handle.

Interrupting the ‘March of Time’

Full Story Here: Why Are the Corporate Media In Denial About the Right-Wing Terrorist Threat? | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet.

This Labor Day, As Unions Face Historic Attacks, It’s Time to Stand Together and Fight for Jobs

Jobs are on everyone’s mind and labor has been front-page news a lot this year; we need to remember to fight like the unions that brought us good jobs in the first place.

If there was ever a year to think about the meaning of Labor Day, this would be it.

Organized labor has rocketed to the forefront of America’s political consciousness, with conservative governors attacking the right to form a union, historic strikes, and a few unexpected victories along the way.

And while the right attacks unions and labor organizes to fight back, unemployment remains high, jobs tenuous, wages depressed and the economy slumping. No new jobs were created in August—that’s right, none. The overall unemployment rate held steady, but the labor department also revised downward its jobs growth numbers for the previous two months, so the economy has actually been worse than we thought for most of the summer. Dean Baker also points out that the number of people underemployed, or “involuntarily working part-time jumped up by 430,000, to 8.8 million.”

Full Story Here: This Labor Day, As Unions Face Historic Attacks, It’s Time to Stand Together and Fight for Jobs | | AlterNet.

China’s Making Everything in the US From Bridges to Civil Rights Memorials: That’s a Huge Problem and China’s Not to Blame

The Chinese invasion tells us the true problem is that America is no longer willing or able to invest in its own future.

Many economic Nostradamuses have long predicted that the epitaph on America’s tombstone will ultimately read, “Made In China.” But casual observers probably didn’t think the funeral procession would happen this fast. In the last year, though, most have wised up. Thanks to a spate of mind-blowing headlines, we are learning that the Chinese invasion isn’t just a distant possibility — it’s happening right now.

First, in February, ABC News reported that almost every Americana-themed trinket sold in the Smithsonian Institute is made in China. Then news hit that San Francisco is importing its new bay bridge from China. Then came the New York Times dispatch about the Big Apple awarding Chinese state-subsidized firms huge taxpayer-funded contracts to “renovate the subway system, refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River and build a new Metro-North train platform near Yankee Stadium.”

Astounding as all of that is, it was quickly topped by news last week reminding us that the new Martin Luther King monument in Washington was designed by a Chinese government sculptor and assembled by low-wage Chinese workers.

Full Story Here: China’s Making Everything in the US From Bridges to Civil Rights Memorials: That’s a Huge Problem and China’s Not to Blame | Economy | AlterNet.

NAFTA Pipeline Would Hurt U.S. Long-Term

Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline have been protesting outside the White House, with many aiming to be arrested. Some proponents of the pipeline say it would be beneficial to an ailing economy, but in reality the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline would only mean the perpetuation of the idea that the solution to our oil problem is more oil.

The pipeline, if approved, would carry oil from tar sands in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Proponents of the pipeline say that it will create jobs and reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Opponents of the pipeline say that it creates a hazard to the U.S. given the possibility of spills and encourages the use of an extremely dirty fuel source.

The best estimates for the number of jobs created by the pipeline are in the 100,000 jobs range. This is certainly no small number of jobs, but it is far from a solution to our economic problems. The pipeline would also bring in 510,000 new barrels of oil per day, but this increase would represent only about 2.5 percent of average daily oil usage in the U.S., making it too small of an amount to make a noticeable difference in gas prices

Full Story Here: NAFTA Pipeline Would Hurt U.S. Long-Term | Economy In Crisis.

The Solution to Our Jobs Crisis

The private economy cannot support the American recovery on its own. If the August jobs report (combined with reports for the last three years) are any indication the private economy cannot support the recovery at all on its own. The government must have the courage and fortitude to act.

The American economy created zero net jobs in August 2011, the worst monthly reporting since last September. The government lost jobs while the private economy created jobs and the two canceled one another out.

The small government enthusiasts will likely key in on the drop in government employment as a good thing. What they ignore is that regardless of who your employer is we are still one America. If the government sheds jobs, those are a net loss for the economy unless every one of them is picked up by some private program waiting in the wings. We all eagerly await what the free market has in store for educators, law enforcement, regulators, and the fine people who clock in every day at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Government payrolls fell by 17,000 at the same time that non-government payrolls rose by 17,000. The government lost jobs because it was forced to do so by the so-called “conservatives” who are trying to take over a sinking ship in our nation’s capital.

Meanwhile, the much beloved private economy failed yet again to provide any boost to growth

Full Story Here: The Solution to Our Jobs Crisis | Economy In Crisis.

National Clean Energy Summit – live streaming video

CAP and partners hosted the National Clean Energy Conference 4.0 in Las Vegas, with featured speakers Sen. Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and Steven Chu.

Full Story Here: National Clean Energy Summit – live streaming video powered by Livestream.

Rolling Stone Details Latest Fronts (& Successes) in ‘The GOP War on Voting’

New Republican-passed voting restrictions for 2012 lead experts to warn there could be ‘chaos in a dozen states as voters find themselves barred from the polls’…

While readers of The BRAD BLOG may be familiar with many of the items covered in Ari Berman’s fine new article “The GOP War on Voting” at Rolling Stone today (and in its Sept 15, 2011 issue on newsstands), it’s great to have a summary of all of the latest state-based assaults on voting rights instituted to date, in the wake of last year’s Republican wave election, all in one place.

Berman covers all of these and more in his piece on the “unprecedented, centrally coordinated campaign to suppress the elements of the Democratic vote that elected Barack Obama in 2008,” described by one civil rights advocate as “the most significant setback to voting rights in this country in a century”…

Full Story Here: The BRAD BLOG : Rolling Stone Details Latest Fronts (& Successes) in ‘The GOP War on Voting’.

Why Matthew Vadum Hates Democracy

While Brad Friedman recently exposed Matthew Vadum to be but the latest in a long line of fraudulent right-wing propagandists who flat-out lie about “voter fraud” as part of the billionaire-funded assault on the right of the those who would be inclined to vote against the GOP, no one could have done more to demolish Vadum’s credibility than Matthew Vadum.

“Why are left-wing activist groups so keen on registering the poor to vote?,” asks Vadum in the latest of his series of wingnut welfare op-eds/commercials for his laughable new anti-ACORN book:

Full Story Here: The BRAD BLOG : Why Matthew Vadum Hates Democracy.

No Doubting Thomas at Los Angeles Times

Paper ignores calls for criminal investigations of Supreme Court Justice, growing record of judicial lawlessness…

However historically inaccurate the phrase may have been, the idea that Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned seems apropos the appearance of a David G. Savage fawning Clarence Thomas puff piece on the front page of the Sunday, July 3 edition of Los Angeles Times.

On March 7, as part of our coverage of a Daily Beast article, in which Univ. of Colorado Law Professor Paul Campos called for Thomas to be thrown off the bench, we noted:

Full Story Here: The BRAD BLOG : No Doubting Thomas at Los Angeles Times.

10 Eye-Popping Labor Day Stats

Labor Day was created more than 100 years ago to celebrate the might, ingenuity, and achievements of American workers. But for many, this year’s holiday is a painful reminder of how few good jobs are out there. To mark this Labor Day weekend, here’s a roundup of 10 eye-popping statistics on the American jobs crisis. It’s a sobering snapshot of the issue that worries Americans more than any other—and which hangs over President Obama as he gears up for his big jobs speech on Thursday (not to mention his reelection campaign).

25.3 million Americans: The true size of the unemployment crisis. This figure includes people who are out of work, forced to work part-time, or unable to find a full-time job, as well as those who want to work but have given up searching for a job in the past month, most likely out of frustration.

6.9 million jobs: How many fewer jobs there are today than in December 2007.

Full Story Here: 10 Eye-Popping Labor Day Stats | Mother Jones.

A Privately Owned Nuclear Weapons Plant in…Kansas City?

In a last-ditch court hearing, activists seek to block a new Honeywell project.

In Kansas City, Missouri, a local zoning fight is going nuclear, literally: A Monday-morning courtroom showdown between activists and politicians could determine whether the city becomes host to the world’s first privately owned nuclear weapons plant.

The proposed plant, a 1.5 million-square-foot, $673 million behemoth, would replace an aging facility, also in KC, where 85 percent (PDF) of the components for nation’s nuclear arms are produced. The new plant would be run by the same government contractor as the old one—Honeywell—and proponents say the only major change will be more jobs and city infrastructure. But there will be another big difference: The federal government will sublease the property from a private developer, who in turn will lease it from the city for 20 years…after which the developer will own it outright.

Full Story Here: A Privately Owned Nuclear Weapons Plant in…Kansas City? | Mother Jones.

OPS: A REALLY, REALLY BAD idea!

All-American, Floor to Roof? Not So Simple

Anders Lewendal, a general contractor who managed to survive the housing collapse, has hit upon a plan that he thinks will revive the construction industry and help lead the nation out of the economic wilderness: build houses using only American-made materials.

He is trying to do just that with a new home here on a side street a few blocks from downtown. But it is not as easy as it sounds.

Some things are simple enough. Wood literally grows on trees, of course, especially here in forested western Montana. And no one ships cement or concrete mix any farther than needed.

After that it can get tough. In a global economy, even American-assembled appliances probably have at least some foreign made or mined components, Mr. Lewendal said.

Full Story Here: All-American, Floor to Roof? Not So Simple – NYTimes.com.

Somalia famine: UN warns of 750,000 deaths

Up to 750,000 people could die as Somalia’s drought worsens in the coming months, the UN has warned, declaring a famine in a new area

The UN says tens of thousands of people have died after what is said to be East Africa’s worst drought for 60 years.

Bay becomes the sixth area to be officially declared a famine zone – mostly in parts of southern Somalia controlled by the Islamist al-Shabab.

Some 12 million people across the region need food aid, the UN says.

A sixth region of Somalia has been declared a famine area by the UN, which warns the situation will only worsen in the coming months.

Full Story Here: BBC News – Somalia famine: UN warns of 750,000 deaths.

Since 2009, 88 Percent Of Income Growth Went To Corporate Profits, Just One Percent Went To Wages

After the longest recession since WWII, many Americans are still struggling while S&P 500 corporations are sitting on $800 billion in cash and making massive profits. Now, economists from Northeastern University have released a study that finds our sluggish economic recovery has almost solely benefited corporations. According to the study:

“Between the second quarter of 2009 and the fourth quarter of 2010, real national income in the U.S. increased by $528 billion. Pre-tax corporate profits by themselves had increased by $464 billion while aggregate real wages and salaries rose by only $7 billion or only .1%. Over this six quarter period, corporate profits captured 88% of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1% of the growth in real national income. …The absence of any positive share of national income growth due to wages and salaries received by American workers during the current economic recovery is historically unprecedented.”

The New York Times adds, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, average real hourly earnings for all employees actually declined by 1.1 percent from June 2009, when the recovery began, to May 2011, the month for which the most recent earnings numbers are available.”

Full Story Here: Since 2009, 88 Percent Of Income Growth Went To Corporate Profits, Just One Percent Went To Wages | ThinkProgress.

REPORT: Five Things Unions Have Done For All Americans

Over the past few weeks, right-wing legislators have unleashed a torrent of radical legislation upon the American electorate designed to gut collective bargaining rights and attack the middle class. As these conservatives have launched their assault, a Main Street Movement consisting of ordinary Americans fed up with living in such an unequal country has fought back.

Conservatives have sought to malign this movement by claiming that it is simply defending the parochial interests of labor unions, who they claim are imposing huge costs on taxpayers with little benefit. Yet the truth is that America’s public and private unions have been one of the major forces in building a robust and vibrant middle class and have fought over the past century to improve the lives of all Americans in a variety of ways. ThinkProgress has assembled just five of the many things that Americans can thank the nation’s unions for giving us all:

Full Story Here: ThinkProgress » REPORT: Five Things Unions Have Done For All Americans.

The Fatal Distraction

Paul Krugman :-:

Friday brought two numbers that should have everyone in Washington saying, “My God, what have we done?”

One of these numbers was zero — the number of jobs created in August. The other was two — the interest rate on 10-year U.S. bonds, almost as low as this rate has ever gone. Taken together, these numbers almost scream that the inside-the-Beltway crowd has been worrying about the wrong things, and inflicting grievous harm as a result.

Ever since the acute phase of the financial crisis ended, policy discussion in Washington has been dominated not by unemployment, but by the alleged dangers posed by budget deficits. Pundits and media organizations insisted that the biggest risk facing America was the threat that investors would pull the plug on U.S. debt. For example, in May 2009 The Wall Street Journal declared that the “bond vigilantes” were “returning with a vengeance,” telling readers that the Obama administration’s “epic spending spree” would send interest rates soaring.

The interest rate when that editorial was published was 3.7 percent. As of Friday, as I’ve already mentioned, it was only 2 percent.

Full Story Here: The Fatal Distraction – NYTimes.com.

Economist: Poor Jobs Growth ‘Cries Out’ For Economic Boost

Although the federal government reported zero net job growth in August, the dismal unemployment picture extends beyond poor month-to-month news, according to a top Washington economist. The nation’s unemployment rate is not expected to fall below 8 percent until mid-2014, and that will require serious attention of Washington policymakers, says Chad Stone, chief economist at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, an independent think tank.

The Labor Department on Friday reported that U.S. employers added no net new jobs and the unemployment rate remained locked at 9.1 percent. Economists see the U.S. economy having now essentially flatlined to the point where it could well tip back into recession.

“To date, policymakers have focused far more on the budget deficit than the jobs deficit. Today’s report demands that they shift their attention more to the jobs deficit even while they continue working on policies that will address the long-term fiscal challenge,” says Stone.

Full Story Here: The Washington Current: Economist: Poor Jobs Growth ‘Cries Out’ For Economic Boost.

Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch’s daughter

The former prime minister was reportedly present in March last year when Murdoch’s two daughters by his third wife were baptised on the banks of the Jordan.

The information was not made public and its disclosure in an interview with Mrs Murdoch in Vogue will prove highly embarrassing for Mr Blair.

His close ties to the Murdochs could explain his reluctance to condemn the News International phone hacking scandal.

In July, it was reported that he asked Gordon Brown to put pressure on Tom Watson, the Labour MP who helped expose the scandal, to drop his investigation.

Mr Blair’s spokesman categorically denied the allegation.

Full Story Here: Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch’s daughter – Telegraph.

Senator Sanders on Social Security

“There has been too much discussion in this country — not just from Republicans, but from Democrats alike — that we should be making cuts in Social Security. That is wrong,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said to a standing ovation from more than 3,000 labor leaders who attended the United Steelworkers convention in Las Vegas in August 2011.

Full Story Here: Senator Sanders on Social Security – YouTube.

WikiLeaks Ron Paul Reveals Secret Baghdad Embassy Cable to Congress

Ron Paul addressing congress regarding leaked cables between Bagdad and the Bush Sr. Adm. prior to the invasion of Kawait.

Full Story Here: WikiLeaks Ron Paul Reveals Secret Baghdad Embassy Cable to Congress – YouTube.

24-Year-Old Dad Dies Of Tooth Infection

Aunt: Unemployed Nephew Couldn’t Afford Antibiotics

Doctors at University Hospital in Cincinnati said a 24-year-old father died Wednesday from a tooth infection.

Patti Collins, wife of famed local musician Bootsy Collins, said she couldn’t believe what happened to her nephew, Kyle Willis, who left behind a 6-year-old daughter.

“I said, ‘What do you mean they’re calling the family?’ (My daughter) said, ‘Mom, the infection (Willis) had in his tooth has gone to his brain,” Collins said.

Full Story Here: 24-Year-Old Dad Dies Of Tooth Infection – Cincinnati News Story – WLWT Cincinnati.

What Democrats can do about Obama

A liberal argues that the 2012 Democratic nomination should be debated — with all options open

From the debt ceiling fiasco to the recent rescheduling of a jobs speech at the behest of Speaker Boehner, it has not been a good summer for President Obama. Like Chinese water torture, Gallup’s daily tracking poll has shown a steady and unrelenting drip of bad news. He has been in and out of the high 30s for his approval, and in the low to mid-50s for his disapproval.

George W. Bush’s approval rating didn’t drop this low until Katrina hit. And on the economy, 71 percent of Americans disapprove of how Obama is doing his job. Even among reliably Democratic groups — union households, women and young people — he’s now unpopular.

No one, not even the president’s defenders, expect his coming jobs speech to mean anything. When the president spoke during a recent market swoon, the market dropped another 100 points. Democrats may soon have to confront an uncomfortable truth, and ask whether Obama is a suitable choice at the top of the ticket in 2012. They may then have to ask themselves if there’s any way they can push him off the top of the ticket.

Full Story Here: What Democrats can do about Obama – War Room – Salon.com.

Toxic Soup Takes Its Toll on 9/11 Firefighters

Unsurprisingly, firefighters who responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks are 19% more likely to develop cancer than their unexposed colleagues, says a new study by New York’s Fire Department published in The Lancet. Appallingly, cancer is not on the list of illnessess covered by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. What the?! Shame, unending, on those in power here.

Full Story Here: Toxic Soup Takes Its Toll on 9/11 Firefighters | Common Dreams.

Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street: As Reality Finally Hits The Financial Elite, They Start Turning On Each Other

Finally, after trillions in fraudulent activity, trillions in bailouts, trillions in printed money, billions in political bribing and billions in bonuses, the criminal cartel members on Wall Street are beginning to get what they deserve. As the Eurozone is coming apart at the seams and as the US economy grinds to a halt, the financial elite are starting to turn on each other. The lawsuits are piling up fast. Here’s an extensive roundup:

As I reported last week:

Collapse Roundup #5: Goliath On The Ropes, Big Banks Getting Hit Hard, It’s A “Bloodbath” As Wall Street’s Crimes Blow Up In Their Face

Time to put your Big Bank shorts on! Get ready for a run… The chickens are coming home to roost… The Global Banking Cartel’s crimes are being exposed left & right… Prepare for Shock & Awe…

Well, well… here’s your Shock & Awe:

Full Story Here: Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street: As Reality Finally Hits The Financial Elite, They Start Turning On Each Other | AmpedStatus.

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult

Those lines of dialogue from a classic film noir sum up the state of the two political parties in contemporary America. Both parties are rotten – how could they not be, given the complete infestation of the political system by corporate money on a scale that now requires a presidential candidate to raise upwards of a billion dollars to be competitive in the general election? Both parties are captives to corporate loot. The main reason the Democrats’ health care bill will be a budget buster once it fully phases in is the Democrats’ rank capitulation to corporate interests – no single-payer system, in order to mollify the insurers; and no negotiation of drug prices, a craven surrender to Big Pharma.

But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP.

To those millions of Americans who have finally begun paying attention to politics and watched with exasperation the tragicomedy of the debt ceiling extension, it may have come as a shock that the Republican Party is so full of lunatics. To be sure, the party, like any political party on earth, has always had its share of crackpots, like Robert K. Dornan or William E. Dannemeyer. But the crackpot outliers of two decades ago have become the vital center today: Steve King, Michele Bachman (now a leading presidential candidate as well), Paul Broun, Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, Louie Gohmert, Allen West. The Congressional directory now reads like a casebook of lunacy.

Full Story Here: Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult | Truthout.

Max Keiser & Paul Craig Roberts (Inflationary Depression)

In this episode of PressTV’s On the Edge, Max Keiser interviews economist & author Paul Craig Roberts.

They discuss the current state of the US & Global Economies; ongoing illegal wars being supported by the Obama administration; fraudulent markets worldwide; & how we are spiralling into an inflationary depression.

“There are two ways to conquer & enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” — John Adams, 1826

Full Story Here: On the Edge: Max Keiser & Paul Craig Roberts (Inflationary Depression) – YouTube.

FDA Creating New Nutrition Facts Label

Uncle Sam wants you to know more about what you’re eating.

The Food and Drug Administration wants to revise the nutrition facts label – that breakdown of fats, salts, sugars and nutrients on packaging – to give consumers more useful information and help fight the national obesity epidemic.

A proposal is in the works to change several parts of the label, including more accurate serving sizes, a greater emphasis on calories and a diminished role in the daily percent values for substances like fat, sodium and carbohydrates.

It’s the latest attempt to improve the way Americans view food and make choices about what they eat, and comes in the wake of major advances in nutrition regulations by the Obama administration.

Calorie counts are popping up on menus of chain restaurants across the country and the longstanding food pyramid was toppled this year by the U.S. government in favor of a plate that gives a picture of what a healthy daily diet looks like.

Full Story Here: FDA Creating New Nutrition Facts Label.

Right-wing commentator: Poor people voting is ‘un-American’

Many conservatives appear to think badly of poor people, but Matthew Vadum of the Capital Research Center takes it a step further. According to the title of his latest article for American Thinker, he believes that “registering the poor to vote is un-American.”

“Why are left-wing activist groups so keen on registering the poor to vote?” Vadum asks. “Because they know the poor can be counted on to vote themselves more benefits by electing redistributionist politicians. Welfare recipients are particularly open to demagoguery and bribery.”

“Registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals,” he continues. “It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country– which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote. … Encouraging those who burden society to participate in elections isn’t about helping the poor. It’s about helping the poor to help themselves to others’ money.”

Full Story Here: Right-wing commentator: Poor people voting is ‘un-American’ | The Raw Story.

WikiLeaks Revelation Damages U.S.-Iraq Talks On Keeping American Troops Past 2011

McClatchy reported earlier this week that a recently released U.S. diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks shows evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians in 2006, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, and “then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence.” The Iraqi government said today that it will revive the stalled investigation into the allegations. The AP also reports that “some officials said that the document was reason enough for Iraq to force the American military to leave instead of signing a deal allowing troops to stay beyond a year-end departure deadline.” “The new report about this crime will have its impact on signing any new agreement,” said Sunni lawmaker Aliya Nusayif.

Full Story Here: WikiLeaks Revelation Damages U.S.-Iraq Talks On Keeping American Troops Past 2011 | ThinkProgress.

Rick Perry’s Execution Record Includes The Deaths Of Juveniles And The Mentally Disabled

The amount of executions held in Texas during Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) 11 years in office has come under scrutiny in the early stages of his presidential campaign, most notably for the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted of murdering his three daughters and put to death despite evidence showing that he was likely innocent of the crimes. But even as the Willingham case receives the most notice, many of Perry’s decisions regarding execution have begun to garner attention.

Texas has held 234 executions on Perry’s watch, more than the next two states combined have executed since the death penalty was restored 35 years ago. While Perry can only grant clemency from death sentences if it is recommended by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, he has rarely used that power. According to the Texas Tribune, Perry has commuted only 31 death sentences, and 28 of those resulted from a 2005 Supreme Court case outlawing the execution of juveniles. Meanwhile, he has allowed a host of controversial executions to go forward, the Tribune reported today:

Full Story Here: Rick Perry’s Execution Record Includes The Deaths Of Juveniles And The Mentally Disabled | ThinkProgress.

Contrary To GOP Claims, Small Businesses Say Taxes And Regulation Aren’t Holding Back Hiring

Predictably, Republicans reacted to today’s dismal jobs number — which showed that zero net jobs were created in August — by blaming the supposed avalanche of taxes and regulations put in place by the Obama administration. “Private-sector job growth continues to be undermined by the triple threat of higher taxes, more failed ‘stimulus’ spending, and excessive federal regulations. Together, these Washington policies have created a fog of uncertainty that’s left small businesses unable to hire and American families worried about the future,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) in a statement today.

However, McClatchy conducted a survey of small business and found that they don’t blame taxes or regulations for their hesitancy to hire:

Politicians and business groups often blame excessive regulation and fear of higher taxes for tepid hiring in the economy. However, little evidence of that emerged when McClatchy canvassed a random sample of small business owners across the nation. [...]

Full Story Here: Contrary To GOP Claims, Small Businesses Say Taxes And Regulation Aren’t Holding Back Hiring | ThinkProgress.

Religious Freedom: Tenn. Court Affirms That Isn’t Just For Christians Any More

Guess what, folks? Muslims have the right to build houses of worship in America!

Shocking, isn’t it?

Apparently it is to some people in Murfreesboro, Tenn. They’ve been in state court trying to stop some Muslims from expanding a mosque there.

Why? Well, they just don’t much like Muslims.

As a legal argument, that leaves a little to be desired. And on Monday Chancellor Robert Corlew III of the Sixteenth Judicial District reaffirmed an earlier ruling and shot it down in flames.

“Those who are adherents to Islam are entitled to pursue their worship in the United States just as are those who are adherents to more universally established faiths (in our community),” ruled Chancellor Corlew. (“Chancellor” is a title applied to some judges in Tennessee state courts.)

Full Story Here: | Religious Freedom: Tenn. Court Affirms That Isn’t Just For Christians Any More.

New CBO Report Finds Up to 2.9 Million People Owe Their Jobs to the Recovery Act

A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased the number of people employed by between 1.0 million and 2.9 million jobs as of June. [1]

In other words, between 1.0 million and 2.9 million people employed in June owed their jobs to the Recovery Act. This estimate, by Congress’ non-partisan economic and budget analysts, is more comprehensive than the 550,000 jobs that ARRA recipients reported in July, CBO explains.

While the report focuses primarily on the second quarter of 2011, CBO also includes new projections of the Recovery Act’s jobs impact through 2012. It finds that in the current quarter (the third quarter of 2011), there are 0.8 million to 2.5 million more people employed because of ARRA.

The CBO report indicates that ARRA succeeded in its primary goal of protecting the economy during the worst of the recession. As the economy recovers, ARRA’s effects will continue to decrease. CBO estimates that ARRA’s impact on employment peaked in the third quarter of 2010, when between 1.4 million and 3.6 million people owed their jobs to the Recovery Act.

Full Story Here: New CBO Report Finds Up to 2.9 Million People Owe Their Jobs to the Recovery Act — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Documents show links between CIA, Libya spy unit

Documents found in Tripoli detail close ties between the CIA and Libya’s intelligence service and suggest the United States sent terrorism suspects for questioning in Libya despite that country’s reputation for torture, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

The Times reported that the files cover the time from 2002 to 2007, when Moussa Koussa headed Libya’s External Security Organization. Koussa most recently had been Libya’s foreign minister but defected from now-fugitive leader Muammar Gaddafi’s government and flew to Britain on March 30 amid this year’s rebel uprising.

The newspaper reported that the documents — including some English-language files concerning the CIA and Britain’s MI-6 intelligence agency — were found on Friday at the abandoned office of Libya’s former spy chief by journalists and the group Human Rights Watch.

Full Story Here: Documents show links between CIA, Libya spy unit | Top News | Reuters.

The AFL-CIO Jobs Plan

Republicans keep saying that there have been no jobs plans coming from the left. Nothing could be further from the truth. Obama has proposed several job producing measures, but Republicans have opposed them all, even the ones he based on their own earlier proposals, The Peoples’ Budget is an excellent jobs plan, because it includes stimulus. These are just two among several. Now The AFL-CIO has offered a jobs plan, and it’s a good one.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is very active in advance of the Labor Day holiday. In addition to releasing the video above (and another video, see below), the organization released it’s “America Wants To Work Action Plan.” The plan (which can be read in detail here) includes six planks:

1. Rebuild America’s schools and transportation and energy systems: The plan argues that reinvesting in this critical, but crumbling, infrastructure will create millions of new jobs.

2. Revive U.S. manufacturing and stop exporting good jobs overseas: A number of policy proposals are included in this section, including strong opposition to free trade deals.

3. Put people to work doing work that needs to be done: This one is largely a repeat of No. 1 above, but also includes other policy options proposed by progressive members of Congress.

Full Story Here: The AFL-CIO Jobs Plan » Politics Plus.

House Majority Doesn’t Have a Jobs Plan—Just More Attacks on Workers

Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) memo released on August 29 takes aim at unions and would do nothing to create jobs.

The new “jobs agenda” outlined in an August 29 memo from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to House Republicans is laughable as a jobs plan. But the joke is on us if this plan passes because it doesn’t do a thing to actually create jobs.

The memo—a “pre-buttal” to President Barack Obama’s scheduled jobs speech on September 8 —lays out the House schedule of votes for the remainder of the year on the “10 most harmful job-destroying regulations.” The first and last votes on the schedule are on regulations that protect workers’ basic union rights, which indicates that the House Majority thinks workers having too many rights is a core problem causing current joblessness in our economy.

Even people skeptical toward unions should recognize this agenda for what it is: a shameful blaming of workers for problems they didn’t create that proposes solutions that only help the rich and the powerful.

Full Story Here: House Majority Doesn’t Have a Jobs Plan—Just More Attacks on Workers.

Olbermann Excoriates Obama’s Reversal On Smog Regulation (VIDEO)

Keith Olbermann excoriated President Obama on his Friday show for halting the impending toughening of environmental regulations against smog.

The announcement from the White House that it would keep widely criticized 2006 regulations in place until at least 2013 did not sit well with Olbermann. In the voiceover introduction to his show, he thundered, “what the hell is going on in the White House?”

Olbermann said that Obama had given a huge gift to polluters and corporations, and had delivered an equally large “whack across the knees” to his base.

“It seems, in short, to reduce his campaign logic to ‘what are you going to do, vote for Rick Perry?’” Olbermann said. He noted that Obama’s EPA administrator had called the 2006 standards “not legally defensible,” and scoffed at the president’s stated excuse for not updating them — that, since the standards were going to be reviewed in 2013, he did not want to ask states and businesses to undergo two rounds of tinkering with their environmental policies.

Full Story Here: Olbermann Excoriates Obama’s Reversal On Smog Regulation (VIDEO).

New evidence of a massive oil slick near Deepwater Horizon site

A California nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and preservation of wildlife has discovered what seems to be a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico near the area of the original Deepwater Horizon spill.

In a flight over the Gulf Tuesday, OnWingsOfCare.org founder and pilot Dr. Bonny Schumaker spotted an oil slick that stretched for nearly 10 miles.

Last week, two Louisiana State University men took a boat into the Gulf and returned with video evidence of large blooms of crude oil swelling up to the water’s surface where the doomed oil rig once hovered.

Full Story Here: New evidence of a massive oil slick near Deepwater Horizon site | Raw Replay.