Archive for October, 2011

Bishops Are Behind the ‘Let Women Die’ Act and the Push Against Birth Control–Even As They’re Under Fire for Sex Abuse Scandals

The first bishop in the US is indicted for child sex-abuse coverup; meanwhile, his colleagues push for laws that will intrude on our sexual freedom.

Last week, the House’s passage of the now-notorious H.R. 358 — also known as the “Let Women Die” bill — caused deserved outrage. But the bill’s connection to the high-ranking Catholic group that fought for its passage, even while the American church is fighting a horrific new sex abuse scandal, hasn’t been given the attention it deserves.

The new bill (which the president has vowed to veto) would essentially obliterate abortion coverage by both public and private insurers, and most egregiously get hospitals off the hook for refusing to perform abortions for women whose lives are in immediate danger. It would literally allow hospitals to let women die with impunity.

H.R. 358′s easy passage by a majority in Congress (with some defecting Democrats in the ranks) delivered another shock of sexism in a political landscape that has been assaulted by one anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-women’s health measure after another, all firing in a succession of rapid shots from statehouses across the nation as well as from DC. Helping to man the artillery is a largely disgraced Catholic hierarchy.

Full Story Here: Bishops Are Behind the ‘Let Women Die’ Act and the Push Against Birth Control–Even As They’re Under Fire for Sex Abuse Scandals | | AlterNet.

Wall Street’s Second Occupation: The Rise of the NYPD’s Homeland Security State

Are drones above New York City next as the police militarize Lower Manhattan?

These last weeks, there have been two “occupations” in lower Manhattan, one of which has been getting almost all the coverage — that of the demonstrators camping out in Zuccotti Park. The other, in the shadows, has been hardly less massive, sustained, or in its own way impressive — the police occupation of the Wall Street area.

On a recent visit to the park, I found the streets around the Stock Exchange barricaded and blocked off to traffic, and police everywhere in every form (in and out of uniform) — on foot, on scooters, on motorcycles, in squad cars with lights flashing, on horses, in paddy wagons or minivans, you name it. At the park’s edge, there is a police observation tower capable of being raised and lowered hydraulically and literally hundreds of police are stationed in the vicinity. I counted more than 50 of them on just one of its sides at a moment when next to nothing was going on — and many more can be seen almost anywhere in the Wall Street area, lolling in doorways, idling in the subway, ambling on the plazas of banks, and chatting in the middle of traffic-less streets.

This might be seen as massive overkill. After all, the New York police have already shelled out an extra $1.9 million, largely in overtime pay at a budget-cutting moment in the city. When, as on Thursday, 100 to 150 marchers suddenly headed out from Zuccotti Park to circle Chase Bank several blocks away, close to the same number of police — some with ominous clumps of flexi-cuffs dangling from their belts — calved off with them. It’s as if the Occupy Wall Street movement has an eternal dark shadow that follows it everywhere.

Full Story Here: Wall Street’s Second Occupation: The Rise of the NYPD’s Homeland Security State | Occupy Wall Street | AlterNet.

Protesters Confront Rep. Barletta At Town Hall: ‘Stop Treating People Like We’re The Dogs’

Freshman Tea Party Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) was one of several Republicans who refused to hold free and open town hall meetings this summer, choosing to meet only with those who were willing to pay a fee. After a contentious town hall meeting in Hazleton yesterday, it’s not hard to understand why Barletta wanted to avoid his angry constituents.

The Standard Speaker reports that protesters grilled Barletta on everything from jobs to Social Security:

Emotions ran high during Barletta’s fifth stop on his “Home to House” town hall tour at Hazleton City Hall, with a handful of attendees who packed Council Chambers questioning the congressman’s voting record on free trade, health care and jobs.

“You’re not doing your job, Mr. Lou,” said Stroudsburg resident Jennie Schaefer. “Stop treating people like we’re the dogs waiting under the table for some scraps.”

Full Story Here: Protesters Confront Rep. Barletta At Town Hall: ‘Stop Treating People Like We’re The Dogs’ | ThinkProgress.

CHART: Thanks To The 99 Percent Movement, Media Finally Covering Jobs Crisis And Marginalizing Deficit Hysteria

Part of the reason economic policymakers have failed to properly address the poor economy is because the nation’s news media has not properly covered the unemployment crisis. For example, at the beginning of August, when Washington, DC was debating the debt ceiling crisis, the national debt dominated the airwaves. While it was appropriate for the media then to be covering the deficit due to the debt ceiling debate at the time, there was a stunning lack of coverage of the jobs crisis. A ThinkProgress review of the media coverage of the last week of July found that the word “debt” was mentioned more than 7,000 times on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, and “unemployed” was only mentioned 75 times:

Full Story Here: CHART: Thanks To The 99 Percent Movement, Media Finally Covering Jobs Crisis And Marginalizing Deficit Hysteria | ThinkProgress.

How Medicare Fails the Elderly

HERE is the dirty little secret of health care in America for the elderly, the one group we all assume has universal coverage thanks to the 1965 Medicare law: what Medicare paid for then is no longer what recipients need or want today.

No one then envisioned the stunning advances in medicine that now keep people alive into advanced old age, often with unintended and unwelcome consequences. Indeed, scientific reports have showed the dangers, not merely the pointlessness and expense, of much of the care Medicare is providing.

Of course, some may actually want everything medical science has to offer. But overwhelmingly, I’ve concluded in a decade of studying America’s elderly, it is fee-for-service doctors and Big Pharma who stand to gain the most, and adult children, with too much emotion and too little information, driving those decisions.

Full Story Here: How Medicare Fails the Elderly – NYTimes.com.

Credit Union Pays You to Use Debit Card

As Bank of America(BAC_) prepares to implement a $5 monthly debit card fee and Wells Fargo(WFC_) flirts with doing the same, the idea of a bank actually paying its customers to use a debit card seems almost laughable. But that’s exactly what’s happening at the Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union in Texas.

The credit union ordinarily pays free checking account customers 10 cents for every purchase they make with their Freedom Check Card. But last week the credit union upped the ante by bumping that reward up to 15 cents. The increase will last through Dec. 31.

While the promotion may seem perfectly timed to take advantage of the publicity surrounding Bank of America’s fee increase, Sonya McDonald, RBFC’s senior vice president of marketing, says plans had been in the works before Bank of America’s announcement.

Full Story Here: Credit Union Pays You to Use Debit Card – TheStreet.

America’s Secret Empire of Drone Bases: Its Full Extent Revealed for the First Time

A ground-breaking investigation examines the most secret aspect of America’s shadowy drone wars and maps out a world of hidden bases dotting the globe.

They increasingly dot the planet.  There’s a facility outside Las Vegas where “pilots” work in climate-controlled trailers, another at a dusty camp in Africa formerly used by the French Foreign Legion, a third at a big air base in Afghanistan where Air Force personnel sit in front of multiple computer screens, and a fourth that almost no one talks about at an air base in the United Arab Emirates. 

And that leaves at least 56 more such facilities to mention in an expanding American empire of unmanned drone bases being set up worldwide.  Despite frequent news reports on the drone assassination campaign launched in support of America’s ever-widening undeclared wars and a spate of stories on drone bases in Africa and the Middle East, most of these facilities have remained unnoted, uncounted, and remarkably anonymous — until now. 

Run by the military, the Central Intelligence Agency, and their proxies, these bases — some little more than desolate airstrips, others sophisticated command and control centers filled with computer screens and high-tech electronic equipment — are the backbone of a new American robotic way of war.  They are also the latest development in a long-evolving saga of American power projection abroad — in this case, remote-controlled strikes anywhere on the planet with a minimal foreign “footprint” and little accountability.

Full Story Here: America’s Secret Empire of Drone Bases: Its Full Extent Revealed for the First Time | World | AlterNet.

Study finds harsh media coverage for Obama

President Obama “has suffered the most unrelentingly negative treatment” of all presidential candidates over the past five months, according to a study released Monday from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Pew found that Mr. Obama was the subject of negative assessments nearly four times as often as he was the subject of positive assessments. It found he received “positive” coverage nine percent of the time, “neutral” coverage 57 percent of the time and “negative” coverage 34 percent of the time.

The study, which was conducted using a combination of “traditional media research methods [and] computer algorithms to track the level and tone of coverage,” cuts against the widespread conservative claim that the “liberal media” aides Mr. Obama and other Democrats while attacking Republicans.

Full Story Here: Study finds harsh media coverage for Obama – Political Hotsheet – CBS News.

Climate change poses immediate threat to health: experts

Climate change poses an immediate and serious threat to global health and stability, as floods and droughts destroy people’s homes and food supplies and increase mass migration, experts warned Monday.

In a statement issued at a meeting in London, they urged tougher action to reduce climate change including upping the EU target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from 20 percent by 2020 to 30 percent from 1990 levels.

“It is not enough for politicians to deal with climate change as some abstract academic concept,” said a signatory, Hugh Montgomery, director of the University College London (UCL) Institute for Human Health and Performance.

Full Story Here: Climate change poses immediate threat to health: experts | The Raw Story.

Romney adviser: Women ‘aren’t discriminated against anymore’ | The Raw Story

A legal adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign recently told Newsweek that women are no longer discriminated against in the United States.

Romney announced the formation of his “Justice Advisory Committee” in August. The group is co-chaired by former District of Columbia federal appeals judge Robert Bork.

Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, but the Senate rejected his nomination because of his controversial political philosophy. He had claimed that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment should apply only to racial and not gender discrimination, among other things.

Full Story Here: Romney adviser: Women ‘aren’t discriminated against anymore’ | The Raw Story.

Support For Marijuana Legalization Reaches Historic High | ThinkProgress

New polling released by Gallup today finds that 50 percent of Americans now support marijuana legalization, while 46 percent of Americans oppose it. This support for legalizing marijuana is actually a record high, as Gallup illustrates in the following chart:

Full Story Here: Support For Marijuana Legalization Reaches Historic High | ThinkProgress.

Over 1,000 Americans Have Been Arrested Protesting Wall Street, While Bankers Have Dodged Major Prosecutions

One of the major complaints made against the financial sector by demonstrators who began their occupation of Wall Street one month ago today is that there have been few major prosecutions of banking executives and other financial actors for financial frauds and other crimes related to the economic crisis. The handful of serious enforcement actions that have been made include an 11-year sentence against Goldman executive Raj Rajaratnam for insider trading and the conviction of the chairman of Florida-based mortgage-lender firm Taylor, Bean & Whitaker for $3 billion in fraud. Major players at the upper echelon of most banks remain untouched for their role in the crisis.

Yet while state and federal law enforcement officials — with a handful of exceptions, like New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — have largely strayed away from major lawsuits prosecutions in the financial sector, thousands of Americans have faced arrest for misdemeanors — including simply staying in a public park overnight — they committed while protesting Wall Street and corporate greed. ThinkProgress has assembled a short summary of just some of the well over a thousand arrests that have taken place across the country during occupations and other protest actions over just the past month:

Full Story Here: Over 1,000 Americans Have Been Arrested Protesting Wall Street, While Bankers Have Dodged Major Prosecutions | ThinkProgress.

Cantor To Give Speech On Income Inequality And ‘How We Make Sure The People At The Top Stay There’

As the 99 percent movement protests spread across the globe, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) finally agreed yesterday that “there is too much income disparity” in the U.S. and determined that the government should rely on America’s wealthy to take care of this “complaint.” Continuing this theme, Cantor announced today that he will give an address on income disparity “and how Republicans believe the government could help fix it” on Friday. According to his aide, Cantor will specifically focus on how Washington can help “a single working mom…a small business owner..and how we make sure the people at the top stay there.” Of course, with the continued preferential tax treatment the nation’s wealthy are receiving from House Republicans, it doesn’t seem like they’ll have a problem staying at the top at the expense of the middle class.

Full Story Here: Cantor To Give Speech On Income Inequality And ‘How We Make Sure The People At The Top Stay There’ | ThinkProgress.

While Corporate Profits Are At 60-Year High, Main Street Businesses Continue To Struggle

Even as the economy struggles, corporate profits continue to rise. Wells Fargo, the largest consumer lender in America, announced today that its third-quarter earnings rose 21 percent, to $4.1 billion. Citigroup, the nation’s third-largest bank, also released its earnings statement today, announcing that its third-quarter earnings rose 73 percent over last year, with $3.8 billion in profits. Even though JP Morgan Chase saw its earnings fall from a year ago, it still raked in more than $3 billion in profits.

Corporate profits as a share of the nation’s gross domestic product, in fact, are at their highest point since 1950. Recent snapshots, however, tell a much different story on Main Street, where small businesses are limping through an economic recovery that treated corporations much more kindly. According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses’ September report, two out of every five small businesses reported that profits are falling:

Full Story Here: While Corporate Profits Are At 60-Year High, Main Street Businesses Continue To Struggle | ThinkProgress.

Michael P. McDonald: Ohio Democrats Move to Block Republican Congressional Gerrymander

Cincinnati.com reports that Friday evening, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision that Democrats can proceed with a petition gathering drive to place a referendum on the November 2012 ballot that would overturn the state’s Republican congressional gerrymander. (The Court is composed of 6 Republicans and 1 Democrat.) If the petition drive is successful, it would be up to a court to decide if the state government’s adopted Republican gerrymander will be used for the 2012 congressional elections.

Ohio Democratic Party actions have important consequences for the battle to control the House of Representatives in 2012. Working with Draw the Line Ohio, I enabled an analysis of the partisan consequences of the Republican map indicating that Republicans would be favored to win in 12 of the 16 congressional districts. The Ohio Republican gerrymander is of similar caliber to those adopted by Republicans who control the redistricting process in other key states by virtue of their 2010 victories in state government elections. For the most part, these Republican gerrymanders seek to lock in Republican gains in the 2012 election. Blocking the Ohio Republican gerrymander will move the needle in the Democratic direction for control of the House of Representatives, perhaps by as much as four seats if a court institutes a fair map.

Full Story Here: Michael P. McDonald: Ohio Democrats Move to Block Republican Congressional Gerrymander.

California’s Doctors Back Legalization Of Marijuana

California’s largest industry group for doctors is calling for the legalization of marijuana even as it maintains that the drug has few proven health benefits.

Trustees of the California Medical Association adopted the new stance at its annual meeting Friday in Anaheim, according to a Los Angeles Times report ( ). http://lat.ms/qR96hb

Dr. Donald Lyman, the Sacramento physician who wrote the group’s new policy, said doctors are increasingly frustrated by the state’s medical marijuana law, which allows use with a doctor’s recommendation. Physicians are put in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether to recommend a drug that’s illegal under federal law, Lyman said.

Full Story Here: California’s Doctors Back Legalization Of Marijuana.

XL Pipeline warning dismissed

When a university professor with expertise in hazardous waste sounds alarms about a proposed oil pipeline in Nebraska, the federal agency overseeing the project should pay attention.

That’s the view of State Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm, who questions whether the U.S. State Department has ignored a warning that the Keystone XL pipeline could pollute Nebraska groundwater much worse than predicted.

One line from the government’s environmental impact statement raised the senator’s ire, he said, because it struck him as out of place in a serious analysis.

Referring to the professor’s report, the government document said, “This is simply the latest case of opportunistic fear-mongering, dressed up as an academic study.”

“I am very offended by this unprofessional dismissal of a Nebraska scholar and his important work,” Haar wrote last week to an official with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Full Story Here: Pipeline warning dismissed – Omaha.com.

Why do men and women talk differently?

A new book argues that guys argue and girls overshare for a reason: Evolution. The author explains

Over the past few decades, linguists have shown that, when it comes to speech, many gender stereotypes hold remarkably true: Men tend to speak loudly, while women whisper; men talk over each other, while women conspire behind each other’s backs; men hold back their feelings, while women lay them out to strangers they meet on the subway. According to some critics, these differences are merely a reflection of our cultural presuppositions about gender. But, according to a new book, there’s a far simpler reason for these linguistic differences: biology.

In “Duels and Duets,” John L. Locke, a professor of linguistics at Lehman College and the author of “Eavesdropping: An Intimate History,” argues that men and women have radically different ways of speaking not because of their upbringing, but because they have radically different evolutionary needs. Men, he argues, use antagonistic speech, or “duels,” to show off their strength and prove themselves to women. Women, meanwhile, use quieter speech patterns to bond with each other — and help protect themselves against aggressive men. And, according to Locke, this is a pattern that has been going on for thousands and thousands of years.

Salon spoke with Locke over the phone about sexual stereotypes, the “Real Housewives” franchise and the future of speech in the digital age.

Full Story Here: Why do men and women talk differently? – Love and Sex – Salon.com.

Four US banks hold a staggering 95.9% of U.S. derivatives: The $600 Trillion Time Bomb That’s Set to Explode

Do you want to know the real reason banks aren’t lending and the PIIGS have control of the barnyard in Europe?

It’s because risk in the $600 trillion derivatives market isn’t evening out. To the contrary, it’s growing increasingly concentrated among a select few banks, especially here in the United States.

In 2009, five banks held 80% of derivatives in America. Now, just four banks hold a staggering 95.9% of U.S. derivatives, according to a recent report from the Office of the Currency Comptroller.

The four banks in question: JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS).

Derivatives played a crucial role in bringing down the global economy, so you would think that the world’s top policymakers would have reined these things in by now – but they haven’t.

Instead of attacking the problem, regulators have let it spiral out of control, and the result is a $600 trillion time bomb called the derivatives market.

Think I’m exaggerating?

Full Story Here: Four US banks hold a staggering 95.9% of U.S. derivatives: The $600 Trillion Time Bomb That’s Set to Explode.

About 175 arrested overnight in Chicago protest

Chicago police said on Sunday they arrested about 175 protesters in a downtown plaza where some had set up tents and sleeping bags in a protest inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York.

The protests attracted more than 2,000 people to a march from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to Grant Park, which had been the site of anti-war protests during the 1968 Democratic convention.

The protesters were arrested for allegedly violating a city ordinance by being in the park after it closed and ignoring repeated warnings from police to leave, police said.

Full Story Here: UPDATE 1-About 175 arrested overnight in Chicago protest | Reuters.

In conversation with: Prof. Steve Keen

Steve Keen On Keynes And The Failings Of The Neoclassical School

“They have a model of capitalism which is almost but not quite, completely unlike actual capitalism.”

Ross Ashcroft from Renegade Economist speaks with Steve Keen whilst he was in London to launch his new book ‘ Debunking Economics: The Emperor Dethroned?’

Full Story Here: In conversation with: Prof. Steve Keen – YouTube.

The Legitimate Gripes of the Other 99 Percent

Amid the Cacophony of Protest Emerges a Coherent Set of Valid Complaints

The Occupy Wall Street protests spreading Arab Spring-style across the land are an inspiring display of civic engagement, finally giving popular voice to the entirely valid complaints of ordinary Americans frustrated as their quality of life stagnates or declines while the prosperity of the superwealthy metastasizes beyond all proportion. Like any major rally, these have also attracted elements reminiscent of the extreme Tea Party variety (the guy wielding an “Osama bin Bernanke” poster). But there’s no question that the bottom 99 percent have something to complain about and that this movement is giving voice to their valid grievances.

“No job, no healthcare, no savings, no retirement fund,” reads the sign held up by an unemployed and disabled art teacher from Rochester, New York, on the “We Are the 99 Percent” Tumblr blog that chronicles these voices. Scroll through the hundreds of photos on the blog and a coherent set of legitimate gripes emerges from the tapestry of words and faces: accelerating income inequality, shrinking income mobility, a tax code that favors the wealthy, a democracy corrupted by money, and a government unwilling or unable to protect the middle class even as it bails out Wall Street.

These are the concerns of the vast majority of Americans. They demand our attention and deserve Washington’s immediate action.

Full Story Here: The Legitimate Gripes of the Other 99 Percent.

Clinton vs Obama: All About The Money

Melissa Harris-Perry says that whatever complaints progressives may have against Barack Obama, he’s certainly not a less progressive president than Bill Clinton. And yet Obama is less popular than Clinton, a situation she attributes to racial bias:

President Obama has experienced a swift and steep decline in support among white Americans—from 61 percent in 2009 to 33 percent now. I believe much of that decline can be attributed to their disappointment that choosing a black man for president did not prove to be salvific for them or the nation. His record is, at the very least, comparable to that of President Clinton, who was enthusiastically re-elected. The 2012 election is a test of whether Obama will be held to standards never before imposed on an incumbent. If he is, it may be possible to read that result as the triumph of a more subtle form of racism.

I really don’t think that’s right. The salient difference between Clinton and Obama is that the economy did much better under Bill Clinton:

Full Story Here: Clinton vs Obama: All About The Money | ThinkProgress.

No Federal Help For Virginia Town After 3 Disasters

Residents of this rural community just outside Richmond know they may be lucky, seeing as how no one died in the earthquake, hurricane and tornado that have hit back-to-back-to-back in the past few months. That doesn’t mean they aren’t bitter: “Louisa cares: Because the feds don’t,” read Friday’s headline atop the local newspaper.

The federal government has refused to help foot the $18 million tab for the damage from the disaster trifecta, most of which was caused by the earthquake, leaving people to host fundraisers and help out neighbors because few homes and businesses had insurance. But they say they can’t do it alone.

Many look at how bad things could have been and note no one was killed in any of the disasters that began when the 5.8-magnitude earthquake began in Louisa County on Aug. 23 and rumbled all along the East Coast. The hurricane and tornado were far less destructive – the former bringing mostly heavy rain and wind gusts, the latter damaging only a plantation home dating to the 18th century. Still, they hope they’re in the clear for a while.

Full Story Here: No Federal Help For Virginia Town After 3 Disasters.

Newt Gingrich Campaign Debt Tops $1.1 Million

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s presidential bid is more than $1.1 million in debt.

The Georgia Republican on Saturday said he had about $350,000 in the bank and brought in more than $800,000 during the last three months. The presidential contender says the average donation was $76.

Gingrich’s presidential bid has faced serious challenges, including the resignation of his top aides earlier this year. He spent heavily in the first weeks of his campaign and racked up bills. In the last three months, he paid down $346,000 of that. But he continues to spend; of the roughly $808,000 he raised from July to October, he spent almost $777,000.

Full Story Here: Newt Gingrich Campaign Debt Tops $1.1 Million.

Filthy Phones: 1 In 6 Cell Phones Have Traces Of E. Coli Bacteria

About one in six cellphones tested in the U.K. had traces of E. coli bacteria from fecal matter, a new study released for Global Handwashing Day suggests.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Queen Mary, University of London travelled to 12 cities in Britain, took 390 samples from cellphones and hands and then analyzed the samples in the lab to record the type and number of germs.

The findings included:

- Although 95 per cent of people said they washed their hands with soap where possible, 92 per cent of phones and 82 per cent of hands had bacteria on them.

- 16 per cent of hands and 16 per cent of phones were found to harbour E. coli bacteria that are associated with stomach upsets.

Full Story Here: Filthy Phones: 1 In 6 Cell Phones Have Traces Of E. Coli Bacteria.

Hey! Supercommittee! Here’s the Smart Plan to Save $7 Trillion, Create Jobs, Save Social Security

John Nichols :-:

America is not broke. But America does have broken priorities.

Americans are waking up to this reality. That’s why they are occupying Wall Street, that’s why they are protesting in Madison, Columbus, Lansing and other state capitals, that’s why thousands marched Saturday in Washington and other cities on behalf of “Jobs and Justice.”

“We are in the midst of a major economic crisis. Millions of Americans are jobless, our schools and infrastructure are under-resourced, our kids are being denied real educational opportunities and their futures are at risk. It’s no wonder that people are frustrated,” says American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, a featured speaker at the Washington rally that honored the social and economic justice legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. while highlighting the ongoing nature of the civil rights icon’s struggle. “The march and rally are about hitting the streets and taking concrete action to change our nation to once again become the place where everyone has a shot at the American dream.”

The people get it, and unions and activist groups such as Progressive Democrats of America have been stepping up this weekend with dozens of events to the highlight the the issues from coast to coast.

Full Story Here: Hey! Supercommittee! Here’s the Smart Plan to Save $7 Trillion, Create Jobs, Save Social Security | The Nation.

The Rise of the Regressive Right and the Reawakening of America

Robert Reich :-:

A fundamental war has been waged in this nation since its founding, between progressive forces pushing us forward and regressive forces pulling us backward.

We are going to battle once again.

Progressives believe in openness, equal opportunity, and tolerance. Progressives assume we’re all in it together: We all benefit from public investments in schools and health care and infrastructure. And we all do better with strong safety nets, reasonable constraints on Wall Street and big business, and a truly progressive tax system. Progressives worry when the rich and privileged become powerful enough to undermine democracy.

Regressives take the opposite positions.

Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and the other tribunes of today’s Republican right aren’t really conservatives. Their goal isn’t to conserve what we have. It’s to take us backwards.

Full Story Here: Robert Reich (The Rise of the Regressive Right and the Reawakening of America).

10 Ways to Support the Occupy Movement

There are many things you can do to be part of this growing movement—and only some of them involve sleeping outside.

The #OccupyWallStreet movement continues to spread with more than 1,500 sites. More and more people are speaking up for a society that works for the 99 percent, not just the 1 percent.

Here are 10 recommendations from the YES! Magazine staff for ways to build the power and momentum of this movement. Only two of them involve sleeping outside:

Full Story Here: Sarah van Gelder: 10 Ways to Support the Occupy Movement.

Global protests: Occupy the London Stock Exchange takes over the City

• Occupy London follows occupation movements from across the world
• Police ask Julian Assange ‘to remove mask’ he was wearing
• Protesters had wanted to ‘take’ Paternoster Square – but it has been closed
• Tents now being put up in the Square Mile
• Protests contained within City area and currently not spreading
• Two arrests made for ‘assaults on police officers’

Protesters inspired by the growing ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement in the U.S have today taken over the City of London.

Thousands have descended on the area known as the Square Mile – under the banner ‘Occupy the Stock Exchange’ – for a ‘peaceful protest’ against the global financial system.

They had planned to take Paternoster Square, where the Stock Exchange is located, but police cordoned off the area prior to the protest.

A notice was put up stating the square is private property and access would be restricted. Police sources said a High Court injunction had been taken out to prevent members of the public from accessing the square.

Full Story Here: Global protests: Occupy the London Stock Exchange takes over the City | Mail Online.

Matt Taibbi: Break Up the ‘Too-Big-to-Fail’ Financial Behemoths that Destroyed the Economy

Taibbi and Keith Olbermann discuss whether it’s possible to break apart “too-big-to-fail” institutions.

Video at link:

Taibbi: First of all, nobody asked my advice on any of this and they’re doing great without the advice of people like me. But …

Olbermann: It’s a democracy, everybody has a voice, take your platform.

Taibbi: Everybody has a voice. But there are a lot of people who have been following this whole issue of Wall Street corruption for years. There’s a small community of those people and we’ve been talking amongst each other for the past few weeks — trying to think about, what would the demands be? What would a good demand be if it came time to make one?

And the one thing everybody can agree on is that you have to break up the too-big-to-fail companies. You gotta go in and get rid of those companies because they’re above the law and above the market. They have the implicit support of the United States government, which is a disastrous, deadly situation for everybody. So that’s thing one, and that’s something they could actually get to –

Olbermann: How?

Full Story Here: Matt Taibbi: Break Up the ‘Too-Big-to-Fail’ Financial Behemoths that Destroyed the Economy | Economy | AlterNet.

Did Tenet Fail to Share Information That Could Have Prevented the 9/11 Attacks? Insiders Voice Doubts About the CIA’s 9/11 story

Former FBI agents say the agency’s bin Laden unit misled them about two hijackers.

A growing number of former government insiders — all responsible officials who served in a number of federal posts — are now on record as doubting ex-CIA director George Tenet’s account of events leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Among them are several special agents of the FBI, the former counterterrorism head in the Clinton and Bush administrations, and the chairman of the 9/11 Commission, who told us the CIA chief had been “obviously not forthcoming” in his testimony and had misled the commissioners.

These doubts about the CIA first emerged among a group of 9/11 victims’ families whose struggle to force the government to investigate the causes of the attacks, we chronicled in our 2006 documentary film “Press for Truth.” At that time, we thought we were done with the subject. But tantalizing information unearthed by the 9/11 Commission’s final report and spotted by the families (Chapter 6, footnote 44) raised a question too important to be put aside:

Did Tenet fail to share intelligence with the White House and the FBI in 2000 and 2001 that could have prevented the attacks? Specifically, did a group in the CIA’s al-Qaida office engage in a domestic covert action operation involving two of the 9/11 hijackers, that — however legitimate the agency’s goals may have been — hindered the type of intelligence-sharing that could have prevented the attacks? And if not, then what would explain seemingly inexplicable actions by CIA employees?

Full Story Here: Did Tenet Fail to Share Information That Could Have Prevented the 9/11 Attacks? Insiders Voice Doubts About the CIA’s 9/11 story | World | AlterNet.

How Christian Fundamentalism Helped Empower the Top 1% to Exploit the 99%

Deference to religion masquerading as politics must end.

As the Occupy Wall street movement spreads across the country and the world, we must bring attention to the enablers of the top 1 percent exploiting the 99. Fundamentalist religion made this exploitation possible.

Full Story Here: How Christian Fundamentalism Helped Empower the Top 1% to Exploit the 99% | Occupy Wall Street | AlterNet.

Occupy Wall Street Has Already Won

Eliot Spitzer :-:

How the movement has already shaken up American politics, and where it should go from here.

Full Story Here: Occupy Wall Street’s Victory: It has shaken up American politics. Here’s what it should do next. – Slate Magazine.

Texas agency censors climate change references in key scientific report

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) doesn’t want to say who’s responsible for deleting all mentions of climate change from part of a forthcoming scientific report, and that’s got at least one scientist hopping mad.

Dr. John B. Anderson (pictured, left), an oceanographer at Rice University, told Raw Story that his report on the Galveston Bay estuary, and the effects of rising sea levels on its fragile ecosystem, was censored for purely “political” reasons.

“This is a clear-cut case of censorship,” he said in an exclusive interview. “It’s not scientific editing. It was strictly deletion of virtually any information that related to global change.”

Full Story Here: Texas agency censors climate change references in key scientific report | The Raw Story.

Doctors recommend evaluating children for ADHD at age four

The American Academy of Pediatrics this weekend expanded its guidelines for diagnosing and treating kids with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, recommending that doctors evaluate all patients aged four to 18 who show signs of the condition.

The new guidelines update decade-old recommendations that focused on diagnosing and managing ADHD in kids aged six to 12. But behavior problems, over-activity and trouble paying attention can show up earlier, researchers said, and ADHD often persists into adolescence or even adulthood.

Pediatricians should also look out for learning disabilities, anxiety and other issues that can go hand-in-hand with ADHD. And, they should tailor treatment with behavior therapy and medication based on kids’ age and severity of symptoms, says a statement published in Pediatrics.

Full Story Here: Doctors recommend evaluating children for ADHD at age four | The Raw Story.

Bill Maher On Mormons

As a bookend to his top-of-the-show interview with Robert Jeffress, Bill Maher simultaneously bashed Mormonism for promoting cult-like beliefs while acknowledging that Mormonism is just as radical a belief as any other mainstream religion. Maher used the opportunity to suggest that candidates like Mitt Romney should be asked about their religious beliefs because a president’s faith definitely influences their decision-making process.

How screwed up does Maher think Mormonism is? “Tom Cruise would not join it, and Glenn Beck did.”

Maher took note of Romney’s GOP rivals finally playing the Mormon card, and suggested that their outrage was unjustified because of how certain Christian beliefs can be seen (depending on who you ask) as being just as bizarre as Mormon beliefs. However, Maher did concede that Mormonism “takes crazy to a whole new level,” suggesting that while all religions are “magic tricks,” Mormonism is a lower-quality, “intelligence-insulting” magic trick.

Video at link:

Full Story Here: Bill Maher Mormons | Bill Maher Religion | Video | Mediaite.

Bill Maher & Robert Jeffress : Mormonism Is A Cult

The first guest on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight was none other than Pastor Robert Jeffress, who caught a lot of flack after telling reporters at the Values Voters Summit that Mormonism is a “cult” and shared his reservations about voting for Mitt Romney. On Real Time, Jeffress sat down for a surprisingly cordial interview with Maher, which addressed not just Jeffress’ comments, but also Maher’s personal religious skepticism.

The interview began with Maher giving Jeffress a copy of his 2008 documentary Religulous, and as an immediate sign this was going to be a unique interview, Maher began by quipping that they have common ground on their hatred of Catholics. Jeffress denied hating Catholics, saying he has many Catholic friends, but did admit he have a few problems with the faith.

Full Story Here: Bill Maher Robert Jeffress | Bill Maher Religion | Video | Mediaite.

Amtrak Ridership Hits Record High, As GOP Proposes Cutting Its Funding By 60 Percent

Amtrak officials announced yesterday that “Amtrak trains carried more than 30 million passengers in the past 12 months, the most in one year since the passenger railroad was created four decades ago.” Ridership is up 5 percent over a year ago, and ticket revenue is up 8 percent.

“Amtrak is fulfilling its national mission and is part of the solution to meet America’s growing transportation and energy needs,” said Joseph Boardman, Amtrak’s CEO. However, Republicans in Congress are ready to take Amtrak out at the knees:

A House appropriations subcommittee passed a bill [in September] that provides Amtrak with $227 million for operations in 2012, down from $563 million in each of the past two years. Amtrak also would get $899 million for capital expenditures, down $25 million.

Full Story Here: Amtrak Ridership Hits Record High, As GOP Proposes Cutting Its Funding By 60 Percent | ThinkProgress.

AIPAC Gives Koch A Pass For Flouting Iran Sanctions

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Koch Industries had been flouting U.S. sanctions with Iran when the company sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to the Islamic Republic over several years. But the powerful pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC — which has for years been one of the most vocal proponents of tougher sanctions on Iran — has given the conservative mega-corporation a pass for dealing with the country.

As Politico’s Ben Smith reports, in a memo AIPAC sent to members of Congress with suggested questions for Obama administration officials, the Israel lobby suggests it is uninterested in holding Koch accountable (the memo presents questions lawmakers could use, so “I” represents the congressman):

Full Story Here: AIPAC Gives Koch A Pass For Flouting Iran Sanctions | ThinkProgress.

The Global 99 Percent March In Hundreds Of Cities Worldwide For Social And Economic Justice

Ever since protesters inspired by the Arab Spring took over Zuccotti Park in New York City to protest Wall Street’s greed, people nationwide have been inspired to take part in their own protests and occupations, taking aim at corporate greed and economic injustice. Thus, the 99 Percent Movement was born, aimed at seeking social justice for the bottom 99 percent of Americans and taking aim the greed of the top one percent.

Today, this movement went global as there were planned demonstrations in in 951 cities in 82 countries. The protests, which were built partly on the foundation of demonstrations in Spain that began on May 15th, included hundreds of thousands of people worldwide taking part in protests and occupations. Although their causes varied — they ranged from everything from protests against European austerity programs to Japanese nuclear power regimes — their demand had one global aim: to seek justice for the vast majority of the world’s population being left out of the dominant global economic and political systems.

ThinkProgress has assembled a collage of photos from these demonstrations taking place across the world:

Full Story Here: PHOTOS: The Global 99 Percent March In Hundreds Of Cities Worldwide For Social And Economic Justice | ThinkProgress.

Extensive ties to a powerful Koch group boost Cain

KochCain?

Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation’s capital. But Cain’s economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity.

Cain’s campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his plan to rewrite the nation’s tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.

The little-known businessman’s political activities are getting fresh scrutiny these days since he soared to the top of some national polls.

Full Story Here: Extensive ties to a powerful Koch group boost Cain – Yahoo! News.

Liam Fox resignation exposes Tory links to US radical right

Labour and Lib Dem politicians have stepped up demands for the PM to explain ministers’ involvement with Atlantic Bridge

David Cameron has been accused of allowing a secret rightwing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party, as fallout from the resignation of Liam Fox exposed its close links with a US network of lobbyists, climate change deniers and defence hawks.

In a sign that Fox’s decision to fall on his sword will not mark the end of the furore engulfing the Tories, both Liberal Democrat and Labour politicians stepped up their demands for the prime minister to explain why several senior members of his cabinet were involved in an Anglo-American organisation apparently at odds with his party’s environmental commitments and pledge to defend free healthcare.

At the heart of the complex web linking Fox and his friend Adam Werritty to a raft of businessmen, lobbyists and US neocons is the former defence secretary’s defunct charity, Atlantic Bridge, which was set up with the purported aim of “strengthening the special relationship” but is now mired in controversy.

Full Story Here: Liam Fox resignation exposes Tory links to US radical right | Politics | The Observer.

Romney’s Emerging Economic Strategy: Blame China

Ian Fletcher :-:

I’ve just seen one of Mitt Romney’s new campaign commercials, here, or watch it below.

Romney’s emerging economic strategy is clear: blame China. Not only does this get the heat off of GOP-linked (yes, I know) constituencies like Wall Street, it also skewers the administration, which has played appeaser to Beijing.

Some might call this a cynical case of scapegoating. Comparisons to the old red scare and yellow peril will doubtless be forthcoming.

But this raises an interesting question: Is scapegoating still scapegoating when the scapegoat is guilty? The Chinese economic threat is hardly imaginary, unless one still believes in the Pollyanna “free” (as if!) trade economic fantasies of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Cato Institute, and the Wall Street Journal.

I wrote before about what Romney and the Republican establishment may be up to here: pivoting to economic nationalism as the only rightist economic ideology that is still viable in this country.  On some level, I think that this establishment knows that it’s either that or be swept away in some leftist deluge, even if not an immediate one.

As I noted in this article and this one, the datapoints on Romney’s true intentions are unclear. But the picture does seem to be firming a little, as the more he stays on this trope, the harder it will be to walk away from it if elected.

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

Army of unemployed is now entrenched in U.S.

Slowly, over the last year, it’s begun to dawn on us: The economic recovery isn’t really making a dent in unemployment.

The public knew this much earlier than economists or pundits did, and as for politicians — don’t ask!

Survey after survey showed Americans didn’t believe the economy was recovering. And people who commented on MarketWatch articles have been downright hostile to any notion that either the markets or the economy were getting better.

But economists need hard data before changing their minds. And over the past few months, more and more of them have concluded that indeed the depth of this particular recession and its roots in the financial crisis have combined with structural changes in the economy to push the so-called “natural” unemployment rate in the U.S. permanently higher.

Full Story Here: Army of unemployed is now entrenched in U.S. – Howard Gold’s No-Nonsense Investing – MarketWatch.

Boss Told Me To Stop Giving Dying Co-Worker CP: Worker Dies

Last month, a Time Warner Cable customer service rep died at her desk. After any unexpected death, people searched for answers, explanations, someone to blame. But in this case, there may have actually been something foul afoot. A local news station reports that after a co-worker began giving CPR to 67-year-old Julia Nelson, a supervisor allegedly told her to stop and “get back on the phone and take care of customers.”

Nelson slumped at her desk at the Time Warner Call Center in Garfield Heights, Ohio, and wasn’t breathing by the time paramedics arrived. But before that happened, a co-worker rushed over and began administering CPR, the woman told WOIO, only to be asked to stop. Employees at the scene have confirmed this report.

The woman was also told later by another supervisor that she could be “held liable if something goes wrong.”

Full Story Here: Boss Told Me To Stop Giving Dying Co-Worker CPR, Says Service Rep – Careers Articles.

Bosses Four Times As Likely To Be ‘Psychopaths’: Survey Says

What’s the key to business success? Well, being a psychopath might actually give you an edge. While most workers would prefer not to have a crazy boss, their attitudes toward female bosses are changing. And it’s possible the high percentage of crazy bosses explains the average worker’s weight gain. (Or maybe it’s just the donuts in the break room). Here’s a closer look at some of the latest small-business surveys.

Crazy Talk

A study of more than 200 executives by researcher Paul Babiak found that almost 4 percent were considered psychopaths when ranked on the Psychopathy Checklist, a tool therapists use to assess this personality disorder. Babiak, whose findings were reported in his book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work, found that in comparison, only 1 percent of the general population shows psychopathic tendencies.

In other words, those who are successful in business could be four times more likely to be psychopaths than the average person. What exactly does that mean? Psychopaths lack empathy and don’t feel remorse for their actions. That makes them great at manipulating their way to the top.

Full Story Here: Bosses Four Times As Likely To Be ‘Psychopaths’: Survey Says.

The Woman Who Knew Too Much

Millions of Americans hoped President Obama would nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the consumer financial watchdog agency she had created. Instead, she was pushed aside. As Warren kicks off her run for Scott Brown’s Senate seat in Massachusetts, Suzanna Andrews charts the Harvard professor’s emergence as a champion of the beleaguered middle class, and her fight against a powerful alliance of bankers, lobbyists, and politicians.

n the afternoon of July 18, in remarks from the Rose Garden amid the bruising showdown with congressional Republicans over the debt ceiling, President Obama made what the White House billed as a simple “personnel announcement.” In a brief speech, the president announced that he was nominating Richard Cordray, the former attorney general of Ohio, to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the new government agency set up to protect consumers from abusive lending practices. In his remarks he described the agency, part of the massive 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, as creating “the strongest consumer protections in history,” set up “so ordinary people were dealt with fairly.” After which he turned to thank the woman standing to his right, Elizabeth Warren.

A Harvard law professor, one of the nation’s leading bankruptcy experts and consumer advocates, the 62-year-old Warren had come up with the idea for the agency in 2007. She had advised the Obama administration on its creation in the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse and helped to push it through Congress. Warren had also spent the last 10 months working tirelessly to build the agency from scratch—hiring its staff of 500, including Richard Cordray, organizing its management structure, and getting the C.F.P.B. up and running for its opening on July 21.

Full Story Here: The Woman Who Knew Too Much | Politics | Vanity Fair.

Breaking: 30 Citibank customers arrested for closing their account

Was just watching Global Revolution live stream where they were live at a Citibank in LaGuardia watching the police holding 30 customers in a Citibank branch where they were in line to close their bank accounts. There was a large group of protesters outside chanting various rejoinders to the bank officals and the police, who seemed to be their in force. The livestream chat is still buzzing about the arrests and you can see various Citibank numbers passing by to call in protest, especially the Citibank customer relations number.

Full Story Here: Daily Kos: Breaking: 30 Citibank customers arrested for closing their account [With Citibank Statement Update].

this is strange considering the number of people outside with video recorders and this live stream.
Video Here:

Defense Secretary Panetta: Wrong on Military Spending

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is flagrantly advocating for war profiteers at the expense of real security for the American people. He’s trying to browbeat Congress and other officials into continuing to send huge sums of our money to war profiteers who are killing jobs and ripping off the taxpayer. Our new video busts Panetta’s scare tactics and talking points–share it with your friends.

Full Story Here: Defense Secretary Panetta: Wrong on Military Spending – YouTube.

Dean Baker on How We Can Make the ‘Free Market’ Work for the 99%

The right has been working for years to rig the market to the disadvantage of most of the population. Why can’t we rig it in the other direction?

In the post-War era, as a large American middle class emerged, the top 1 percent of households took in 10.02 percent of the nation’s pre-tax income. In only eight of the years between 1946 and 1980 did they grab 11 percent or more, and only in one year — 1946 — did they consume more than 13 percent of the pie.

After Ronald Reagan arrived on the scene, things began to change. In his final year in office, those in the top 1 percent grabbed 15.5 percent of our pre-tax income.  And in the 10 years before the Great Recession hit, households at the top of the pile grabbed 20.3 percent — twice as large a share as they’d enjoyed when the “Greatest Generation” were making their mark on the world.

So the reality is that the “other 99 percent” have been sharing an ever smaller piece of our economic output. Was this shift an accident? Did the wealthy get smarter or start working harder? Was it an act of God?

Full Story Here: Dean Baker on How We Can Make the ‘Free Market’ Work for the 99% | Books | AlterNet.

Lake Erie’s Toxic Algae Bloom Seen From Space: Green Scum Rampant In The Great Lakes (PHOTOS)

Toxic algae is sucking the oxygen out of Lake Erie.

The lake is currently undergoing one of the worst algae blooms in decades, turning the water a scummy bright green. According to NASA, blooms like this did occur in the 1950′s and 60′s, but now phosphorus from farms, sewage, and industry have fertilized the waters.

After the 60′s, increased regulations and improvements in agriculture and sewage treatment limited the phosphorus and helped to control the blooms. However, the shallower Western basin near Detroit has been more susceptible to the algae than other deeper areas.

The exact reason behind the bloom is a bit unclear, but scientists believe it could be linked to increased rainfall and, believe it or not, mussels. It seems the types of mussel, zebra and quagga that have invaded the lake feed on phytoplankton instead of algae, making it even easier for the blooms to occur, according to NASA.

Full Story Here: Lake Erie’s Toxic Algae Bloom Seen From Space: Green Scum Rampant In The Great Lakes (PHOTOS).

Hundreds of people protest in Martin Place against corruption and corporate greed

HUNDREDS of people inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests in the US took to the streets in Sydney’s CBD last night to protest against corruption and corporate greed.

The organisers, relying heavily on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, said their demonstration would continue with a permanent campsite to be set up outside the Reserve Bank in Martin Place until early next week.

Around 500 protestors held banners reading “you can’t eat money” and “we are the 99 per cent” while others wore face masks and cloaks.

A NSW Police spokeswoman said protestors were in breach of council orders and would be charged if they did not follow police directions.

Full Story Here: Hundreds of people protest in Martin Place against corruption and corporate greed | thetelegraph.com.au.

US abandons plans to keep troops in Iraq next year

The U.S. is abandoning plans to keep U.S. troops in Iraq past a year-end withdrawal deadline, The Associated Press has learned. The decision to pull out fully by January will effectively end more than eight years of U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, despite ongoing concerns about its security forces and the potential for instability.

The decision ends months of hand-wringing by U.S. officials over whether to stick to a Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline that was set in 2008 or negotiate a new security agreement to ensure that gains made and more than 4,400 American military lives lost since March 2003 do not go to waste.

In recent months, Washington has been discussing with Iraqi leaders the possibility of several thousand American troops remaining to continue training Iraqi security forces.

But a senior Obama administration official in Washington confirmed Saturday that all American troops will leave Iraq except for about 160 active-duty soldiers attached to the U.S. Embassy.

Full Story Here: US abandons plans to keep troops in Iraq next year – World news – Mideast/N. Africa – Conflict in Iraq – msnbc.com.

The 9/11 Conspiracists: Vindicated After All These Years?

We’re homing in on the tenth anniversary of the destruction of the Wall Street Trade Towers and the attack on the Pentagon. One in seven Americans and one in four among those aged 16-24, (so a recent poll commissioned by the BBC tells us) believe that there was a vast conspiracy in which the U.S. government was involved. But across those ten years have the charges that it was an “inside job” –– a favored phrase of the self-styled “truthers” — received any serious buttress?

The answer is no.

Did the Trade Towers fall because they were badly built as a consequence of corruption, incompetence, regulatory evasions by the Port Authority, and because they were struck by huge planes loaded with jet fuel. No, shout the conspiracists, they “pancaked” because Dick Cheney’s agents–scores of them–methodically planted demolition charges in the preceding days inserting the explosives in the relevant floors of three vast buildings, (moving day after day among the unsuspecting office workers), then on 9/11 activating the detonators. It was a conspiracy of thousands, all of whom–party to mass murder–have held their tongues ever since.

What has been the goal of the 9/11 conspiracists? They ask questions, yes, but they never answer them. They never put forward an overall scenario of the alleged conspiracy. They say that’s not up to them. So who is it up to? Whom do they expect to answer their questions? When answers are put forward, they are dismissed as fabrications or they simply rebound with another question. Like most cultic persuasions they excitedly invoke important converts to their faith and the “1500 architects and engineers in the USA” who say the NIST official report is not thorough and needs another investigation. It’s a tiny proportion of the overall members of their profession. At least 80 per cent of faculty economists in the US believe stoutly in long-discredited theories that have blighted the lives of millions around the world for decades. Their numbers don’t equate with intelligence, let along conclusive analysis.

Full Story Here: The 9/11 Conspiracists: Vindicated After All These Years? » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names.

Women Over 50 Enjoying Healthy, Active Sex Lives: Study

A new study from the Women’s Health Initiative has found that, contrary to popular belief, older women are generally satisfied with their sex lives — and if they do have a problem, it’s because they’d like to be having more sex.

The study, released this month and featured in the Menopause journal, asked 27,347 women aged 50 to 79 a series of questions about how they perceive sexual activity and their own sex lives. Results from the study indicated sexual activity among 50 to 59-, 60 to 69-, and 70 to 79-year-old age groups to be 60.7 percent, 44.9 percent and 28.2 percent, respectively.

Most of the study’s participants were satisfied with their current sex lives (63.2 percent). Of those dissatisfied, 57 percent responded that they would like to be having more sex, not less. The most common reasons sited by participants who said they were not sexually active were poor health, depression and loss of a partner.

“This is the first study that indicates that [older] women would actually like to have more sex,” Gisele Wolf-Klein, MD, director of geriatric education at the North Shore-LIJ Health System in New Hyde Park, N.Y., told WebMD. Though she was not involved in the study, she went on to note, “We know sexual activity decreases with age, and we do attribute that to lack of a partner, but we thought that women were kind of happy with this. That it didn’t represent a major problem. Well, that does not seem to be the case.”

Full Story Here: Women Over 50 Enjoying Healthy, Active Sex Lives: Study.

U.S. Economy Needs More Federal Spending, Yale Economists Say

As Yale University economists gathered on Thursday evening to discuss job growth strategies, many warned that a failure to act aggressively risks the increasing possibility of many years of economic stagnation, elevated joblessness and declining living standards.

Some suggested that the government must act quickly to put millions of Americans back to work with large-scale public projects, while warning that an inadequate response risks a U.S. fate similar to Japan’s so-called lost decade.

After a collapse in housing prices and the stock market, Japan in the 1990s suffered from a deflationary spiral that the government and central bank enabled by not substantially increasing spending or lowering borrowing costs. Unemployment remained elevated as consumer spending declined, and both people’s debt and goods and services became more expensive.

Full Story Here: U.S. Economy Needs More Federal Spending, Yale Economists Say.

New Kind Of Company Is An ‘Economic Bright Spot’

Menlo Innovations Shows A New Kind Of Michigan

When Rich Sheridan lost his job in the dot-com bubble about a decade ago and decided to start his own company, he had some trouble explaining the idea to his wife.

“I came home and told Carol I had lost my job and she went, ‘So you’re unemployed,’” he said. “And I said, ‘No, I’m an entrepreneur now.’”

Even after weeks of working in his basement with friends on the business plan, when it came time to invest some $15,000 of the family’s money in the nascent firm, Carol was confused.

“I was just thinking, what business?” she recalled, adding that she thou

Full Story Here: Menlo Innovations Shows A New Kind Of Michigan.

The ‘Terrible 10′: The Worst Aspects Of America’s Food Scene

The first annual Food Day is October 24; it aims to bring Americans from all walks of life together to “push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way,” according to the Food Day website. In anticipation of the day, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has released its “Terrible Ten,” a list of the 10 worst aspects of American’s food scene. Although the list is not necessarily a cohesive one — there’s no obvious connection between lobbyists and vending machines — it does highlight some of the biggest threats to a healthy food system.

Check out the “Terrible Ten” slideshow below.

Full Story Here: The ‘Terrible 10′: The Worst Aspects Of America’s Food Scene.

Joe Miklosi Looks To Redistricting For Takeover Of Conservative Colorado District

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is banking on a mix of good recruitment and a little bit of luck to win back the House in 2012. And in the case of Joe Miklosi, they’re leaning on luck.

Miklosi, a liberal Colorado state representative in the running to unseat Tea Party-backed Rep. Mike Coffman, is anticipating a federal district court ruling in the coming weeks that will redraw his district to include more Democrats. The courts had to step in to resolve the state’s redistricting efforts after the legislature failed to reach an agreement following the 2010 census.

Under Democrats’ proposed map, Miklosi’s 6th congressional district would be nudged into a more progressive area outside of Denver. While it remains to be seen how the court will rule on a final redistricting plan, Miklosi notes the judge overseeing the case was appointed by a Democrat and many of the lead lawyers in the case are Democrats who have argued before the judge for years. And in the likely event the GOP appeals a ruling in favor of a map drawn by Democrats to the state Supreme Court, Miklosi says that court is also heavily Democratic and expected to side with the district judge.

Full Story Here: Joe Miklosi Looks To Redistricting For Takeover Of Conservative Colorado District.

Obama Administration Cuts Major Part Of Health Care Reform Law: CLASS Long-Term Insurance Program Canceled

The Obama administration Friday pulled the plug on a major program in the president’s signature health overhaul law – a long-term care insurance plan dogged from the beginning by doubts over its financial solvency.

Targeted by congressional Republicans for repeal, the program became the first casualty in the political and policy wars over the health care law. It had been expected to launch in 2013.

“This is a victory for the American taxpayer and future generations,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., spearheading opposition in the Senate. “The administration is finally admitting (the long-term care plan) is unsustainable and cannot be implemented.”

Full Story Here: Obama Administration Cuts Major Part Of Health Care Reform Law: CLASS Long-Term Insurance Program Canceled.

Police stage mass eviction of ‘Occupy Denver’ activists; 23 arrested

Colorado state police arrested 23 people early this morning, hours after officers began forcibly evicting protesters from the “Occupy Denver” camp in front of the state’s capitol.

Individuals arrested were facing likely charges of “unlawful conduct on public land,” according to The Denver Post. Several others were being charged with assault and impeding traffic.

The video below shows the scene from the early hours of Friday morning.

Full Story Here: Police stage mass eviction of ‘Occupy Denver’ activists; 23 arrested | The Raw Story.

‘Rapture’ preacher makes fourth end-of-the-world forecast

In an recent audio message, Family Radio’s Harold Camping told his followers that the end of the world will “probably” happen on Oct. 21.

Camping has wrongly predicted the Rapture on at least three occasions, in 1992, 1994 and on May 21 of this year.

“I do believe we are getting very near the very end,” Camping said in audio posted on his website. “We’ve learned that there is a lot of things we didn’t have quite right and that’s God’s good provision. If he had not kept us from knowing everything that we didn’t know, we would not have been able to be used of him to bring about the tremendous event that occurred on May 21 of this year which will probably be finished out on Oct. 21. That’s coming very shortly. That looks like at this point, it looks like it will be the final end of everything.”

Full Story Here: ‘Rapture’ preacher makes fourth end-of-the-world forecast | The Raw Story.

Group planning by bacteria may affect Earth’s climate

The type of consensus decision-making carried on at the Occupy Wall Street protest may go back almost to the origin of life on Earth. Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have discovered that bacteria make group decisions as well.

Not only that, but these collective decisions appear to influence how much carbon is taken out of the planet’s atmosphere by ocean bacteria and thereby affect the global climate.

According to a study reported by Science Daily, “In the ocean, bacteria coalesce on tiny particles of carbon-rich detritus sinking through the depths.” These bacteria send out chemical signals that, in effect, say, “Hey! Is there anybody else out there?” — and if enough responses come back, the entire group starts secreting enzymes that break up the carbon-containing molecules into handy snack-sized chunks.

Full Story Here: Group planning by bacteria may affect Earth’s climate | The Raw Story.

Why the Elites Are in Trouble

Chris Hedges :-:

Ketchup, a petite 22-year-old from Chicago with wavy red hair and glasses with bright red frames, arrived in Zuccotti Park in New York on Sept. 17. She had a tent, a rolling suitcase, 40 dollars’ worth of food, the graphic version of Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and a sleeping bag. She had no return ticket, no idea what she was undertaking, and no acquaintances among the stragglers who joined her that afternoon to begin the Wall Street occupation. She decided to go to New York after reading the Canadian magazine Adbusters, which called for the occupation, although she noted that when she got to the park Adbusters had no discernable presence.

The lords of finance in the looming towers surrounding the park, who toy with money and lives, who make the political class, the press and the judiciary jump at their demands, who destroy the ecosystem for profit and drain the U.S. Treasury to gamble and speculate, took little notice of Ketchup or any of the other scruffy activists on the street below them. The elites consider everyone outside their sphere marginal or invisible. And what significance could an artist who paid her bills by working as a waitress have for the powerful? What could she and the others in Zuccotti Park do to them? What threat can the weak pose to the strong? Those who worship money believe their buckets of cash, like the $4.6 million JPMorgan Chase gave a few days ago to the New York City Police Foundation, can buy them perpetual power and security. Masters all, kneeling before the idols of the marketplace, blinded by their self-importance, impervious to human suffering, bloated from unchecked greed and privilege, they were about to be taught a lesson in the folly of hubris.

Even now, three weeks later, elites, and their mouthpieces in the press, continue to puzzle over what people like Ketchup want. Where is the list of demands? Why don’t they present us with specific goals? Why can’t they articulate an agenda?

Full Story Here: Why the Elites Are in Trouble | Common Dreams.

Panic of the Plutocrats

Paul Krugman :-:

It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America’s direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent.

And this reaction tells you something important — namely, that the extremists threatening American values are what F.D.R. called “economic royalists,” not the people camping in Zuccotti Park.

Consider first how Republican politicians have portrayed the modest-sized if growing demonstrations, which have involved some confrontations with the police — confrontations that seem to have involved a lot of police overreaction — but nothing one could call a riot. And there has in fact been nothing so far to match the behavior of Tea Party crowds in the summer of 2009.

Full Story Here: Panic of the Plutocrats – NYTimes.com.

Are we just going to talk our way to oblivion?

At Durban in eight weeks’ time, the world’s gaping split over climate change will be clear

Did it stir something in the memory, by any chance, the extraordinary heat of a fortnight ago, when Britain met with its hottest-ever October day, and numerous places experienced their hottest day of the whole year? Did the sheer, seasonal abnormality of its glare give pause, and revive a concern which has faded almost completely, in the face of scepticism and the economic crisis – the concern that the climate might be drastically changing, with potentially deadly consequences?

If so, I suspect that the revival was brief, and that most people have gone back to worrying about their jobs. Global warming is an issue which has dropped off the pubic agenda almost completely. Yet in less than eight weeks’ time it will dominate the headlines once again, when, at the UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa, the gaping split in the world community over how to tackle climate change will come to a crunch.

The essence of this split is simple; developing countries (like India, say) think the rich, developed countries should do it; the rich developed countries (like us) think that everyone should do it. The first position was enshrined in the current climate treaty, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, in which the rich world agreed to cut its carbon emissions, while the developing countries were obliged to do nothing; and now Kyoto, which in its present version runs out on 31 December 2012, is up for renewal.

Full Story Here: Nature Studies by Michael McCarthy: Are we just going to talk our way to oblivion? – Nature Studies, Nature – The Independent.

The Untimely Death of Long-Term Health Insurance

Robert Reich :-:

The Administration’s decision to pull the plug on long-term health insurance in the new healthcare law (so-called Community Living Assistance Services and Support or, as it was known by healthcare insiders, CLASS) offers an important lesson.

As written, the law had three incompatible parts.

First, it required beneficiaries to receive at least $50 a day if they had a long-term illness or disability (to pay a caregiver or provide other forms of maintenance). That $50 was an absolute minimum. No flexibility on the downside.

Second, insurance premiums had to fully cover these costs. In budget-speak, the program was to be self-financing. Given the minimum benefit, that meant fairly hefty premiums.

Full Story Here: Robert Reich (The Untimely Death of Long-Term Health Insurance).

The Cost Of Bush Tax Cuts For The Richest 5 Percent: $11.6 Million Per Hour

The Cost Of Bush Tax Cuts For The Richest 5 Percent: $11.6 Million Per Hour | The National Priorities Project, in partnership with Citizens for Tax Justice, has released a new site tracking the ever-growing cost of the Bush tax cuts. They found that the tax cuts for only the richest 5 percent of Americans “cost the U.S. Treasury $11.6 million every hour of every day.”

Full Story Here: The Cost Of Bush Tax Cuts For The Richest 5 Percent: $11.6 Million Per Hour | ThinkProgress.

Activist Who Reagan Called ‘One Of The World’s Greatest Labor Leaders’ Coming To Support Occupy Wall Street

As ThinkProgress reported earlier this week, former Polish anti-Soviet activist, union leader, and president Lech Wałęsa announced that he supports the occupation of Wall Street by demonstrators upset about economic injustice.

Now, Wałęsa has announced that he will be joining the protests in New York city in person:

Solidarity hero Lech Walesa [sic] is flying to New York to show his support for the Occupy Wall Street protesters. “How could I not respond,” Walesa told a Polish newspaper Wednesday. “The thousands of people gathered near Wall Street are worried about the fate of their future, the fate of their country. This is something I understand.”

Full Story Here: Activist Who Reagan Called ‘One Of The World’s Greatest Labor Leaders’ Coming To Support Occupy Wall Street | ThinkProgress.

Video: Joel Klein Refuses To Say If There Is A Firewall Between Fox News And News Corp’s New K-12 Education Business

Last year, just as Republicans swept state legislatures across the country and became poised to implement an education privatization agenda, New York City school chancellor Joel Klein announced he was moving to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. As the New York Times reported, his move signaled News Corp.’s aggressive bid to enter the for-profit education business. The company even purchased a digital learning company called Wireless Generation to buttress its K-12 product line.

This worried some education advocates, who are concerned that the conservative politics of News Corp. will bleed into its education services. For instance, News Corp.’s Fox News subsidiary is well known for its revisionist history, smears campaigns against scientists, and ignorance of basic math.

So, at former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s education privatization conference, held today and yesterday in the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, ThinkProgress approached Klein to ask if there are any internal firewalls between the executives at Fox News and News Corp’s education business.

Full Story Here: Video: Joel Klein Refuses To Say If There Is A Firewall Between Fox News And News Corp’s New K-12 Education Business | ThinkProgress.

Romney’s ‘Middle Class Tax Cut’ Would Provide No Benefits To Most Of The Middle Class

During this week’s GOP primary debate, Newt Gingrich asked Mitt Romney why he has proposed eliminating capital gains taxes for only those making less than $200,000 annually (which is a key component of Romney’s economic plan). “If I’m going to use precious dollars to reduce taxes, I want to focus on where the people are hurting the most, and that’s the middle class,” Romney said. “The people in the middle, the hard-working Americans, are the people who need a break, and that is why I focused my tax cut right there.”

Romney may think he focused his tax cut on the middle-class, but according to a ThinkProgress analysis of Tax Policy Center data*, nearly three-fourths of households that make $200,000 or less annually would get literally nothing from Romney’s tax cut, due to the simple fact that most of those households have no capital gains income

To be exact, 73.9 percent of the households upon which Romney “focused” his tax cut will see zero benefit from it. The table below shows how few households in each income bracket would be affected by Romney’s cut:

Full Story Here: Romney’s ‘Middle Class Tax Cut’ Would Provide No Benefits To Most Of The Middle Class | ThinkProgress.

Oct. 15 Global Protests Now Planned In 951 Cities And 82 Countries

Tomorrow, the 99 percent movement will go global as hundreds of protests are planned in a worldwide outpouring of democracy. There are now demonstrations planned in 951 cities and 82 countries. The goal of the protests is to elevate local social justice issues into one worldwide demonstration.

Full Story Here: Oct. 15 Global Protests Now Planned In 951 Cities And 82 Countries | ThinkProgress.

VIDEO: Republicans Change Their Tune On The 99 Percent Movement

ThinkProgress has already reported on the disdainful reaction the 99 Percent Movement initially received from the mainstream corporate media, as well as the notable double standard in the right-wing media’s coverage of the movement versus the Tea Parties.

But as the protests have demonstrated their staying power, and polls have shown Americans support the movement, a number of Republican politicians have come around on the 99 percent. After leading the denigration and belittling of the movement, some softened their tone, offering understanding and compassion for those in the 99 percent movement. ThinkProgress has the video report. Watch it:

Full Story Here: VIDEO: Republicans Change Their Tune On The 99 Percent Movement | ThinkProgress.

Anti-Abortion Groups Push ‘Heartbeat’ Bills In All 50 States

Earlier this month, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) introduced The Heartbeat Informed Consent Act which would require all abortion providers to “make the heartbeat of the unborn child visible and audible to its mother as part of her informed consent.” Bachmann’s bill may be a shameless pander to evangelical voters, but abortion foes are already planning a much more ambitious campaign to propose Bachmann-style “heartbeat” bills in all 50 states:

A nationwide coalition of anti-abortion groups said Wednesday it is preparing to push legislation in all 50 states requiring that pregnant women see and hear the fetal heartbeat before having an abortion.

The effort follows the introduction of similar legislation at the federal level by Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. [...]

Full Story Here: Anti-Abortion Groups Push ‘Heartbeat’ Bills In All 50 States | ThinkProgress.

Moody’s Economist Says GOP Jobs Bill Would ‘Likely Push The Economy Back Into Recession’

Yesterday, Senate Republicans unveiled their much-hyped alternative to President Obama’s jobs plan. The “Jobs Through Growth Act” is heavy on Republicans’ favorite policies like cutting corporate taxes and reducing regulation, but light on details. Nevertheless, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) declared that it would create 5 million jobs.

Moody’s Analytics estimated that Obama’s American Jobs Act would create 1.9 million jobs, grow the economy by 2 percent and cut unemployment by a percentage point. Their review of the Republicans’ plan is not nearly as favorable. In fact, the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent reports that one Moody’s economist thinks it may damage the economy even more:

But an economist I spoke to just now said there isn’t enough information in the plan to evaluate whether it could even achieve its goals as Republicans themselves have defined them. He said it won’t help the economy in the short term, and could even make matters worse.

“I don’t have enough detail to evaluate how many jobs this would create,” Gus Faucher, the director of macroeconomics at Moody’s Analytics, told me. [...]

Full Story Here: Moody’s Economist Says GOP Jobs Bill Would ‘Likely Push The Economy Back Into Recession’ | ThinkProgress.

Tea Party Profiteer Visibly Concerned About Losing Influence & Cash Because Of Occupy Wall Street

October 14, 2011 CNN

Full Story Here: Tea Party Profiteer Visibly Concerned About Losing Influence & Cash Because Of Occupy Wall Street – YouTube.

Keiser Report: Pirates & Protesters

This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, talk about pirates and protesters and about ponzi schemes operated by Brooks Brothers Bolsheviks. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser interviews Michael W. Hudson about Countrywide’s role in the subprime mortgage fraud that Obama’s Justice Department refuses to prosecute.

Full Story Here: Keiser Report: Pirates & Protesters (E197) – YouTube.

Rick Perry officials spark revolt after doctoring environment report

Scientists ask for names to be removed after mentions of climate change and sea-level rise taken out by Texas officials

Officials in Rick Perry‘s home state of Texas have set off a scientists’ revolt after purging mentions of climate change and sea-level rise from what was supposed to be a landmark environmental report. The scientists said they were disowning the report on the state of Galveston Bay because of political interference and censorship from Perry appointees at the state’s environmental agency.

By academic standards, the protest amounts to the beginnings of a rebellion: every single scientist associated with the 200-page report has demanded their names be struck from the document. “None of us can be party to scientific censorship so we would all have our names removed,” said Jim Lester, a co-author of the report and vice-president of the Houston Advanced Research Centre.

“To me it is simply a question of maintaining scientific credibility. This is simply antithetical to what a scientist does,” Lester said. “We can’t be censored.” Scientists see Texas as at high risk because of climate change, from the increased exposure to hurricanes and extreme weather on its long coastline to this summer’s season of wildfires and drought.

However, Perry, in his run for the Republican nomination, has elevated denial of science, from climate change to evolution, to an art form. He opposes any regulation of industry, and has repeatedly challenged the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Full Story Here: Rick Perry officials spark revolt after doctoring environment report | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

Top 5 Reasons Why The OWS Protests Embody Values Of The Real Boston Tea Party

In recent years, the Boston Tea Party has been associated with a right-wing movement that supports policies favoring powerful corporations and the wealthy. As ThinkProgress has reported, lobbyists and Republican front groups have driven the current manifestation of the Tea Party to push for giveaways to oil companies and big businesses.

However, the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations picking up momentum across the country better embody the values of the original Boston Tea Party. In the late 18th century, the British government became deeply entwined with the interests of the East India Trading Company, a massive conglomerate that counted British aristocracy as shareholders. Americans, upset with a government that used the colonies to enrich the East India Trading Company, donned Native American costumes and boarded the ships belonging to the company and destroyed the company’s tea. In the last two weeks, as protesters have gathered from New York to Los Angeles to protest corporate domination over American politics, a true Tea Party movement may be brewing:

Full Story Here: Top 5 Reasons Why The Occupy Wall Street Protests Embody Values Of The Real Boston Tea Party | ThinkProgress.

Occupy Wall Street: Why So Many Demands for Demands?

Everybody has a piece of advice for the protesters at Occupy Wall Street. They should put their clothes on. They should stop raising their fists. They should fact-check their handwritten signs. They should appoint leaders who can give pithy quotes to reporters. They should get with an electoral program. Nicholas Kristof even offered to help them out with a neat list of demands, in case those holding signs saying “We Are the 99%” just needed to have the unfairness of the carried interest rule explained to them.

Indeed, their failure to present demands is the most frequently heard criticism of the OWS protesters, not just in the mainstream press but from veteran leftists as well. What do these wan, angry young people want, anyway?

If you spend an hour or two down at Liberty Plaza, as I did with my 8-year-old daughter this past weekend, it’s clear enough. She got the point, at least: especially from the signs that read, “You should teach your kids to share,” and, “Give my mom her money back!! A single working mom…not fair!”

Full Story Here: Occupy Wall Street: Why So Many Demands for Demands? | The Nation.

Top North Carolina Republican: We Must ‘Divide And Conquer’ Welfare Recipients, Deny Assistance To Single Moms

Speaking to a crowd at Mars Hill College last week, North Carolina state House Speaker Thom Tillis (R) extolled the virtues of drug testing low-income people who need welfare benefits, declaring that they need to be “conquer[ed]” because “the money’s not getting to the right people.” “You go in and you see a woman in a wheelchair — she’s from here, she’s from Asheville — who’s on the brink of losing her benefits, and you know that Health and Human Services is sending checks to a woman who has chosen to have three or four kids out of wedlock,” he said. Aghast at such decisions, he declared that government must “find a way to divide and conquer the people who are on assistance”:

TILLIS: At some point, we’ll say, ‘First kid, we’ll give you a pass. Second, third or fourth kid, you’re on your own. But what we have to do is find a way to divide and conquer the people who are on [public] assistance. We have to show respect that woman who has cerebral palsy and had no choice in her condition, that needs help, and we should help.

Full Story Here: Top North Carolina Republican: We Must ‘Divide And Conquer’ Welfare Recipients, Deny Assistance To Single Moms | ThinkProgress.

NEW ANALYSIS: The Three Things You Need To Know About Herman Cain’s 999 Plan

Our guest blogger is Michael Linden, Director of Tax and Budget Policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Herman Cain’s 999 plan was the star of the GOP’s primary debate this week, and with the increased attention has come increased scrutiny. Cain has been slow to let the details of his plan dribble out, but in an attempt to back up his claims that the plan is revenue-neutral and not regressive, his campaign finally revealed some specifics yesterday. With those new details, here is an updated analysis, with the three main things you need to know about 999:

1) 999 Will Raise Taxes On Middle- And Low-Income Americans, By A Lot:

Cain’s tax plan consists of three different 9 percent taxes — one on wage income (investment income is exempt), one on sales of goods and services (including food, housing, and medicine), and one on business income (investments and purchases from other businesses are deductible; wages, however, are not). But most Americans will end up paying all three of those taxes, for a combined tax rate of 27 percent of their income.

Full Story Here: NEW ANALYSIS: The Three Things You Need To Know About Herman Cain’s 999 Plan | ThinkProgress.

Gap To Close A Fifth Of All Namesake Stores In United States

Gap Inc. plans to close stores in the U.S., while expanding in China.

The struggling retailer, which runs the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains, detailed plans on Thursday to close 189 locations, or 21 percent of its namesake Gap stores in the U.S., by the end of 2013. At the same time, the largest U.S. clothing chain said it plans to triple the number of Gap stores in China from about 15 by the end of the year to roughly 45 by the end of next year.

The moves are related to the company’s previously stated goal of reducing its overall square footage in the U.S. by 10 percent from 2007 to the end of 2013, while roughly doubling revenue from outside of the U.S. to 30 percent by the end of the same year.

“The combination of our global strategy and formidable growth platform puts us in a strong position to expand our reach into the top 10 apparel markets worldwide,” said Glenn Murphy, Gap’s CEO, in a statement. “In North America, we’re taking a number of steps to improve sales in the near-term, and I’m confident that with a strong management team in place, we’re well positioned for sustained growth across the business.”

Full Story Here: Gap To Close A Fifth Of All Namesake Stores In United States.

Occupy Wall Street movement is twice as popular as the Tea Party: Time poll

In the protest movement popularity contest, Occupy Wall Street is whupping the Tea Party.

The demonstrations against big banks has a 54% favorability rating compared to the conservative group’s 27%, according to a new Time magazine poll.

A sizable number – 23% – said they didn’t know enough about the Wall St. protesters to make a decision.

In contrast, 23% said they had a negative opinion of Occupy Wall Street compared to 65% who said the Tea Party’s influence has been negative or negligible.

Full Story Here: Occupy Wall Street movement is twice as popular as the Tea Party: Time poll.

Panetta: Cutting too deep would devastate military

Defense leaders and members of Congress drew a line in the sand Thursday, saying the Pentagon must be spared from any budget cuts beyond an initial plan to slash at least $450 billion over the next 10 years.

The military, they said, must not take even deeper cuts – a looming threat if lawmakers fail to agree on $1.2 trillion in federal budget savings by Thanksgiving and instead allow automatic cuts to kick in.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said President Barack Obama shares his view that the Pentagon should be shielded from any additional budget cutting.

Appearing before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pounded home their message that further cuts would create national security risks and devastate the military.

Full Story Here: News from The Associated Press.

OPS: Well, isn’t that too damn bad!

House Passes Abortion Bill

The House passed a controversial abortion bill Thursday on a near party-line vote, reigniting the chamber’s political battle over women’s health.

The bill, which passed 251-172, would prevent coverage of abortion services by insurance plans on state exchanges that receive federal subsidies. It would also strengthen conscience protections for hospitals and medical providers. At least 15 Democrats voted in support of the bill.

It’s no surprise the bill from Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., easily passed the House, but it isn’t likely to get much further in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Republicans in the upper chamber have not forced a floor vote on any abortion legislation passed by the House this year. President Obama also threatened on Wednesday to veto the legislation, saying that it “intrudes on women’s reproductive freedom and access to health care.”

That hasn’t dissuaded Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who sponsored a bill earlier this year to make a federal ban on funding abortion permanent law.

Full Story Here: House Passes Abortion Bill – Meghan McCarthy – NationalJournal.com.

Justice JP Stevens (Ret.): Bush’s presidency was first step toward fascism

And now comes retired Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens to assure the nation that what we thought happened in 2000 really did happen: Five justices kowtowed to the obscene request of an over-reaching mob of democracy molesters to hand the presidency of the United States and leadership of the world as we then knew it to the least son of a family that made its fortune supporting Hitler, and acquired its US political currency when the pater familias worked as second-banana to the most banal leader in modern history, Ronald Reagan.

Huffington Post has reported that Stevens wrote, regarding the stay that allowed the execrable Florida recount/revision to take place, “What I still regard as a frivolous stay application kept the court extremely busy for four days.” Stevens also noted that “no justice has ever cited the opinions that provided the basis for their ruling.”

Fascism at its best―by, for and in aid of the most lucrative heist in American history. A government was stolen, the wealth of the nation transferred into the hands of a very few ill-meaning men and women, and the noble experiment once known as the United States of America, and regaled as the first truly workable nominal democracy in history, was flung on the dung-heap of unbridled ambition by those of minimal intellect and even less ability.

Full Story Here: Justice JP Stevens (Ret.) explains it all: Bush’s presidency was first step toward fascism | The Smirking Chimp.

We fabricated drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas, former detective testifies

A former NYPD narcotics detective snared in a corruption scandal testified it was common practice to fabricate drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas.

The bombshell testimony from Stephen Anderson is the first public account of the twisted culture behind the false arrests in the Brooklyn South and Queens narc squads, which led to the arrests of eight cops and a massive shakeup.

Anderson, testifying under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, was busted for planting cocaine, a practice known as “flaking,” on four men in a Queens bar in 2008 to help out fellow cop Henry Tavarez, whose buy-and-bust activity had been low.

Full Story Here: We fabricated drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas, former detective testifies.

Failed Terror Plot Too Strange To Be True?

Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller held a press conference about a foiled terror plot involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Israeli Embassy, a Mexican drug cartel and more. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

Full Story Here: Failed Terror Plot Too Strange To Be True? – YouTube.

It’s time to put down the Free Trade Kool-Aid…

Free Trade, Free Trade, Free Trade. Congress passed three so-called Free Trade agreements last night – meaning transnational corporations now have new pools of cheap labor in Colombia, South Korea, and Panama. All three trade deals were passed with bipartisan support in both Chambers of Congress despite the face that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was against them – and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi expressed skepticism about the Colombia deal.

Over the last two decades – we’ve seen the effects of these so-called Free Trade deals on our economy. We’ve seen trade surpluses turn into massive trade deficits. We’ve seen millions of factories and manufacturing jobs shipped overseas. And we’ve seen the wealth and power of transnational corporations explode while small businesses collapse.

Yet – our lawmakers – continue to buy into this gimmick year after year. It’s time to put down the Free Trade Kool-Aid.

Full Story Here: It’s time to put down the Free Trade Kool-Aid… | Thom Hartmann – News & info from the #1 progressive radio show.

Trade Votes Blur Line Between Democrats and Republicans

Congress is unfortunately expected to pass the pending free trade agreements with Korea (KORUS), Panama and Colombia today. While many Democrats are expected to vote against the deals, some will vote for them, along with their Republican counterparts. With President Obama’s support of the deals added in, this blurs the line between what constitutes Democratic and Republican policies and offers voters little choice on matters of trade.

Democrats have traditionally been the party that has looked out for the American worker. This is why unions have traditionally supported Democratic candidates. But in recent years Democrats have begun to act more like Republicans on trade issues. NAFTA was the first major example of this, with Democratic President Bill Clinton taking up the Republican negotiated bill as his own and shepherding it through Congress for approval. Now President Obama has followed suit by taking up KORUS along with the Panama and Colombia deals.

Full Story Here: Trade Votes Blur Line Between Democrats and Republicans | Economy In Crisis.

Current and Pending FTA’s Will Destroy the American Economy

We are currently in one-sided “free” trade pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which have put us at a major disadvantage in both the global economy and our economy at home. Few are aware that NAFTA has rendered us uncompetitive in the world economy, destroyed our industrial base, caused us to outsource most of our production and killed most of our manufacturing jobs.

Imagine if Congress decided that a single state, such as California or Michigan, was in desperate need of jobs and investment and made dramatic changes to boost that state’s economy.

Imagine Congress did the following for only one American state:

- Dropped the minimum wage to $3 per hour

- Exempted them from child labor laws

- Expanded the work week

- Reduced health and work place safety laws

- Banned unions

- Reduced protection for the environment

Full Story Here: Current and Pending FTA’s Will Destroy the American Economy | Economy In Crisis.

Economist blasts GOP’s ‘seven biggest economic lies’

Robert Reich :-:

The President’s Jobs Bill doesn’t have a chance in Congress — and the Occupiers on Wall Street and elsewhere can’t become a national movement for a more equitable society – unless more Americans know the truth about the economy.

Below is a short (2 minute 30 second) effort to rebut the seven biggest whoppers now being told by those who want to take America backwards. The major points:

1. Tax cuts for the rich trickle down to everyone else.

Baloney. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both sliced taxes on the rich and what happened? Most Americans’ wages (measured by the real median wage) began flattening under Reagan and has dropped since George W. Bush. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke.

2. Higher taxes on the rich would hurt the economy and slow job growth.

False. From the end of World War II until 1981, the richest Americans faced a top marginal tax rate of 70 percent or above. Under Dwight Eisenhower it was 91 percent. Even after all deductions and credits, the top taxes on the very rich were far higher than they’ve been since. Yet the economy grew faster during those years than it has since. (Don’t believe small businesses would be hurt by a higher marginal tax; fewer than 2 percent of small business owners are in the highest tax bracket.)

Full Story Here: Economist blasts GOP’s ‘seven biggest economic lies’ | The Raw Story.

Wisconsin Republican Proposes Changing State’s Electoral College Law

A Wisconsin Republican lawmaker is proposing that the state switch its distribution of electoral votes to district-based awards.

State Rep. Dan LeMathieu (R-Sheboygan County) emailed legislators Wednesday morning asking for support for a bill he filed to switch the state from winner-take-all electoral votes to distribution based on presidential candidates winning congressional districts, with only two electoral votes going to the statewide winner. The move follows the introduction of a similar proposal in Pennsylvania.

“This method would better protect the votes in each congressional district,” LeMathieu wrote. “If I live in a congressional district that votes for a candidate that loses the statewide vote this method would allow my district to cast a vote for the candidate the majority of the voters in that district supported. This method would also decrease the incentive for fraud because you would only be affecting the outcome of one congressional district and the two at large votes, instead of all ten votes.”

The Pennsylvania proposal was introduced last month by a Republican state legislator and has won support in the Republican-controlled legislature and from Gov. Tom Corbett (R). Eighteen of the state’s electoral votes would be allocated based on votes in congressional districts and two would be based on statewide votes. An analysis in Mother Jones indicated that a switch in Pennsylvania could tip 12 electoral votes to the Republican presidential nominee with eight going Democratic, if the Democratic nominee captures the statewide popular vote.

Full Story Here: Wisconsin Republican Proposes Changing State’s Electoral College Law.

Florida AG Pam Bondi Pressured By Targets Of Investigations To Soften Approach, Critics Say

Last December, when she was still investigating foreclosure fraud as a top lawyer in the Florida attorney general’s office, June Clarkson gave a PowerPoint presentation to a legal association.

Her presentation amounted to an indictment of Lender Processing Services, or LPS, a company near the center of ongoing state investigations into claims that foreclosures have been rushed en masse through the legal machinery, without proper documentation. She flashed images of paperwork on a screen under the heading “forgeries,” asserting that LPS’ former subsidiary, Docx, had produced phony documents to justify unlawful foreclosures.

The legal association later sent Clarkson a thank-you note, calling her tutorial “invaluable.” Word of her presentation reached New York, where a state Supreme Court judge cited it in a harshly-worded ruling that a bank lacked the right to foreclose on a Brooklyn home.

Full Story Here: Florida AG Pam Bondi Pressured By Targets Of Investigations To Soften Approach, Critics Say.

Obama Has One Last Chance to Redeem Himself — Will He Sell Out to Big Oil?

To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com here.

For connoisseurs, Barack Obama’s fundraising emails for the 2012 election campaign seem just a tad forlorn — slightly limp reminders of the last time ‘round.

Four years ago at this time, the early adopters among us were just starting to get used to the regular flow of email from the Obama campaign. The missives were actually exciting to get, because they seemed less like appeals for money than a chance to join a movement.

Sometimes they came with inspirational videos from Camp Obama, especially the volunteer training sessions staged by organizing guru Marshall Ganz. Here’s a favorite of mine, where a woman invokes Bobby Kennedy and Cesar Chavez and says that, as the weekend went on, she “felt her heart softening,” her cynicism “melting,” her determination building. I remember that feeling, and I remember clicking time and again to send another $50 off to fund that people-powered mission. (And I recall knocking on a lot of New Hampshire doors, too, with my 14-year-old daughter.)

Full Story Here: Obama Has One Last Chance to Redeem Himself — Will He Sell Out to Big Oil? | AlterNet.

One of the Worst Meals You Can Possibly Eat Has Just Been Banned in California

It’s a particularly choppy morning here in the Central Pacific, and everyone aboard Greenpeace’s flagship, Esperanza, is on high alert. We are here to document, expose, and take action against illegal and unsustainable fishing practices, and only an hour ago, we encountered a Korean longline vessel, Oryong 335, that has refused to let us board their ship and is steaming away from us. It’s too late for them to hide their secret, though: Even from half a mile off, one can see dozens of shark fins hung to dry in the tropical sun.

Out here in the high seas, it’s only too obvious that the barbaric and wasteful practice of shark finning is alive and well. Current estimates on how many sharks are killed every year for their fins vary widely, but the average figure is somewhere around 50 million. Given this level of carnage, it’s no wonder that many shark populations around the world are in severe decline. As I’ve written before, we need sharks in our oceans. Without sharks and other top-level carnivores to keep populations of sub-predators in check, we run the risk of losing productive and well-balanced marine ecosystems to trophic collapse.

Full Story Here: One of the Worst Meals You Can Possibly Eat Has Just Been Banned in California | Food | AlterNet.

5 Reasons To Move Your Money From Bank Of America

As hundreds of people remain encamped on Wall Street in New York City, and thousands of people across the country are taking part in a 99 Percent Movement aimed at battling economic inequality spurred on by enormous income gains by the richest one percent of Americans.

One of the financial institutions being targeted by protesters is foreclosure mill and government bailout recipient Bank of America (BOA). In Boston, thousands of people marched against BOA’s greed and in Los Angeles, numerous people were arrested while staging a sit-in at a local branch.

While many Americans may feel powerless against this banking behemoth, the truth is that Americans have a simple way to protest its greed and corporate malfeasance: simply move your money out of the bank to one of its competitors, such as a local credit union. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently encouraged Americans to do just that.

Full Story Here: 5 Reasons To Move Your Money From Bank Of America | AlterNet.

Florida GOP Rep. Wants To Bring Back Electrocution And Firing Squads: ‘I’m So Tired Of Being Humane’

Considering the case of Florida death row inmate Manuel Valle in August, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the state’s use of its lethal injection drug is constitutional and lifted his temporary stay of execution. The 61-year-old Cuban was executed in September after 33 years on death row for killing a police officer.

Florida state Rep. Brad Drake (R) is angry that Valle’s execution took so long. So angry, in fact, that he introduced a bill yesterday to eliminate lethal injection as a execution method altogether in favor of electrocution or the firing squad. “I’m sick and tired of this sensitivity movement for criminals,” Drake declared.

Drake got this ingenious idea to bring back electrocution and firing squads from an equally ingenious place: a Waffle House. Overhearing a constituent call for such methods, Drake said he decided to file the bill. After all, “if it were up to me we would just throw them off the Sunshine Skyway bridge,” he said:

Full Story Here: Florida GOP Rep. Wants To Bring Back Electrocution And Firing Squads: ‘I’m So Tired Of Being Humane’ | ThinkProgress.