Author Archive for OPS_admin

China Becomes Second Biggest World Economy – CNBC

China has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy, the fruit of three decades of rapid growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

Depending on how fast its exchange rate rises, China is on course to overtake the United States and vault into the No.1 spot sometime around 2025, according to projections by the World Bank, Goldman Sachs and others.

China came close to surpassing Japan in 2009 and the disclosure by a senior official that it had now done so comes as no surprise. Indeed, Yi Gang, China’s chief currency regulator, mentioned the milestone in passing in remarks published on Friday.

“China, in fact, is now already the world’s second-largest economy,” he said in an interview with China Reform magazine posted on the website of his agency, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Cruising past Japan might give China bragging rights, but its per-capita income of about $3,800 a year is a fraction of Japan’s or America’s. (Check the latest US GDP report here)

“China is still a developing country, and we should be wise enough to know ourselves,” Yi said, when asked whether the time was ripe for the yuan to become an international currency.

Full Story: Economic growth – China Becomes Second Biggest World Economy – CNBC.

What will Congress do about the Bush tax cuts?

Howard Gleckman on the likely end game for the Bush tax cuts:

Unlike most recent congressional debates, the Democrats may have the procedural upper hand this time. With health care, for instance, Republicans would have “won” by blocking congressional action. Gridlock would have preserved the status quo, an outcome favored by about half of voters — and overwhelmingly supported by the GOP base.

But this time, stalemate means the Bush tax cuts expire for everyone. For most households, that will feel like a tax increase — an outcome favored by a handful of budget wonks but very few real people. Democrats believe this will give them the leverage they need to force the GOP to deal. Republicans, by contrast, feel they’d be able to blame the ruling Democrats for failing to tackle the pending tax hike.

Full Story: Ezra Klein – What will Congress do about the Bush tax cuts?.

Michigan Oil Spill Damages Wildlife, Forces Residents To Evacuate

On Monday, a disastrous leak in one of the world’s largest pipeline systems gushed over 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River, located in southwest Michigan. Already, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has declared the area a disaster zone, quickly activating State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) to ensure all state resources are devoted to oil spill response. “From my perspective, the response has been anemic,” Granholm said. Spill workers and volunteers have been hard at work, cleaning the horrifyingly oily water:

This is not the first failure of Enbridge Inc., the Canadian energy company responsible for the spill. Michigan Messenger’s Todd Heywood reports that, “documents from the agency show that Enbridge Energy pipelines have leaked oil on 12 different occasions in Michigan since 2002.” Furthermore, documents obtained by the Detroit Free Press and other news outlets indicate Enbridge Inc. was “notified twice this year of potential problems involving old pipe prone to rupturing and an inadequate system for monitoring internal corrosion.” While this is one of the biggest threats to a pipeline, it is currently unclear whether Enbridge addressed the notices or if “the concerns played any role in the leak.”

Video at link:

Full Story: Think Progress » Michigan Oil Spill Damages Wildlife, Forces Residents To Evacuate.

Self-Styled Budget Hawk Mike Pence Defends Spending $560 Million On Unnecessary Weapons Program

Recognizing the need to cut spending in light of record budget deficits, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced major cuts to a number of big-ticket weapons programs last year that the Pentagon concluded it no longer needed. Gates — who was first appointed by President Bush — is so serious about the need to eliminate these programs that he has called on President Obama to veto any defense spending bill that contains funding for further development of these wasteful, unnecessary systems. Chief among the cuts is an extra engine for the F-35 fighter jet, of which Gates has said, “Every dollar additional to the budget that we have to put into the F-35 is a dollar taken from something else that the troops may need.”

One would think that self-styled budget hawks like Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) would herald Gates’ proposed cuts. He has said “if we are going to put our fiscal house in order, everything has to be on the table. We have to be willing to look at domestic spending, we have to be able to look at entitlements, and we have to look at defense.”

But in an interview with Bloomberg’s Al Hunt yesterday, Pence defended spending hundreds of millions more on an extra engine, despite having said moments earlier that one of his top priorities is “to get federal spending under control.” Pence attempts to make a national security argument for the engine, before quickly revealing his true motives:

Full Story: Think Progress » Self-Styled Budget Hawk Mike Pence Defends Spending $560 Million On Unnecessary Weapons Program.

NAE Urges Church to Cancel “International Burn a Quran Day”

Dove World Outreach Center has been featured on Talk2Action before for their visible anti-Islamic protests. (Photo is Rifqa Bary rally in Ohio, 2009.) In an ironic twist, their pastor, Terry Jones, testified in 1997 U.S. congressional hearings on religious freedom in Europe, where he complained of intolerance and revocation of the tax-free status of his charismatic church in Cologne, Germany.

In a press release the National Association of Evangelicals has urged Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, led by Terry and Sylvia Jones, to cancel their International Burn a Quran Day to be held on September 11. The NEA encouraged “increased understanding and reconciliation.”

Terry Jones is an apostle in the “apostolic and prophetic” movement which teaches the “five-fold ministry” preparing the church for the end times. (Jones is not one of C. Peter Wagner’s International Coalition of Apostles members.) Jones is also author of the book Islam is of the Devil which can be purchased along with matching coffee mugs. The church provides instructions by Pastor Wayne Sapp on how Christians should go about burning the Quran, complete with a test run.

Full Story: Talk To Action | NAE Urges Church to Cancel “International Burn a Quran Day”.

Deflation, Not Deficit, Is the Real Threat

|William Greider – The Nation|:

The economic specter stalking Barack Obama is not the nonsense debate that captivates deficit hawks and witless political reporters. It is the threat of a full-blown monetary deflation that would truly put the US economy in ruin. In a general deflation, everything falls—prices, output, wages, profits. Unchecked, this can lead to another Big D—the Depression Obama claims he has avoided.

Depression was the fate that befell Herbert Hoover after 1929 and the outlines of this larger catastrophe are present again. It is easy to dismiss deflation warnings from curbstone critics, including from me. But it is more significant—and truly scary—when senior policy makers of the Federal Reserve begin to express the same fear, as the New York Times reported today. The Fed has done quite a lot in the last two years to prevent this disaster from unfolding, but some officials are now worried the Fed hasn’t done enough.

The central bank understands this danger far better than the over-confident technicians of the Obama administration because deflation led to the Federal Reserve’s historic disgrace after 1929. Fed officials then did not understand their wrong-headed policy moves were directly driving the economy into the Great Depression of the 1930s. Today’s central bankers do not wish to experience the same shame again.

The Times story reveals a rump group of decision makers within the Fed who are focused on the threat and urging their colleagues to consider more dramatic measures to reverse the deflationary pressures.

Full Story: Deflation, Not Deficit, Is the Real Threat | The Nation.

Do Our Personalities Pilot the Way We Live Our Lives?

The idea that our inborn predispositions dictate how we live our lives was once seen as antiquated and even reactionary. No more.

One afternoon not long ago, my body mocked my pretensions, toppled my carefully constructed persona, and forced me to rethink who I am.

I was lounging at the dining room table late on a Sunday afternoon, perusing the local newspaper and wearing my favorite home-alone attire — faded linen capris, a baggy yellow T-shirt, and ancient bedroom slippers. I had a cup of ginger tea going; somewhere in the background, NPR’s American Routes played a bluesy riff by John Prine. As far as I was concerned, life didn’t get much better than this.

Just then, I heard slapping footsteps on the stairs leading up to our front porch. The screen door whined open. Voices. Muffled laughter. Youthful. Female. More than one.

Full Story: Do Our Personalities Pilot the Way We Live Our Lives? | Personal Health | AlterNet.

Thousands in Gulf Suffer from Misdiagnosed Skin Lesions

Lesions, like those featured [in photo] are being experienced

by adults and children in Louisiana.

Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana—Area residents have begun to show up at clinics and hospitals with mysterious scabs and pustules covering their extremities, as reported from residents to non-profit relief organizations in the Gulf.

One thirty-three year-old woman, who wished to remain anonymous, has disclosed to Project Gulf Impact that upon seeking medical advice at a clinic, she was told she had scabies. Hours later, she was told by an area hospital that she had a staph infection. The woman was treated with a shot of penicillin and Elimite cream, a topical agent for the treatment of scabies mite infestations, and an oral antibiotic. In addition to the lesions, the woman reported aching bones, weight loss, stomach pains, inflammation in her leg and sties developing in her eyes.

Full Story: Thousands in Gulf Suffer from Misdiagnosed Skin Lesions | Project Gulf Impact.

Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Abu Ghraib Torture Case

|Center for Constitutional Rights|:

A group of 72 Iraqi citizens who allege they were tortured while imprisoned at detention facilities across Iraq can continue with their lawsuit against military contractor L-3 Services, Inc. and a former employee, a federal judge in Maryland ruled Thursday.

In a 92-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Peter J. Messitte denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss the Iraqis’ federal and state court claims. He wrote, “On the facts alleged, Defendants’ actions arguably violated the laws of war such that they are not immune from suit under the laws of war.” The court also rejected claims of government contractor immunity defense.

“During wartime,” the court wrote, “‘many things are lawful in that season, which would not be permitted in a time of peace.’ Some actions, however, have been deemed so repulsive to mankind, or so disconnected from prosecuting and winning a war, that they are universally condemned. The law of war attempts to rein in these behaviors. …One such universally recognized rule is that torture is prohibited.”

Full Story: Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Abu Ghraib Torture Case | Center for Constitutional Rights.

Handy Google Search Tips: 19 Simple Tricks You Need To Know

Google may be expanding into cell phones, operating systems, and tablet PCs, but it’s still known best for search.

Google’s engineers have tricked out the search engine with a number of tools, shortcuts, and features that can help you better access the information you’re after–whether it’s finding out how many Euros to the dollar, when your favorite team is playing next, or whether to leave home with an umbrella.

We’ve compiled our favorite Google search tricks. Got others to add? Let us know in the comments below, or add one to our list using the “Add a Slide” button.

Full Story: Handy Google Search Tips: 19 Simple Tricks You Need To Know.

Dwindling Retirement Savings ‘Undiscussed Explosive Bomb’ Of Recession

After working in executive management for over ten years with a steadily increasing salary, Rick Stephens, 51, was laid off from his job in June 2008. Two years of steady unemployment later, he has sold his car, moved in with his 75-year-old father and blown through all his retirement savings to stay afloat.

“I pay my bills with what is left of the savings I accumulated by being frugal all my life, but I’m going through that pretty fast,” he said. “I have tapped my IRA, and the result of that is I will be heavily taxed on it next April. I honestly believe that there will be no recovery from this. If there is a recovery, it will be too late for me, as I will have exhausted my savings and my retirement that I had socked away by not living the high life.”

Stephens’ predicament is an increasingly common one. Aside from stagnant wages, soaring unemployment and plummeting home values, the major tragedy of this recession is the havoc it has wreaked on the retirement incomes of millions of Americans who have planned and saved their entire lives, only to watch that money drain out of their accounts much sooner than they anticipated.

Full Story: Dwindling Retirement Savings ‘Undiscussed Explosive Bomb’ Of Recession.

Newt Gingrich Suggests Attacking Rest Of ‘Axis Of Evil’ (VIDEO)

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich twice called on the United States to attack North Korea and Iran Thursday because the United States has only attacked “one out of three” of so-called “Axis of Evil” members by invading Iraq. He also claimed that Muslims are trying to install Sharia law on America and said that the “War on Terror” should have been a war on “radical Islamists” instead.

Speaking at an American Enterprise Institute event yesterday, Gingrich compared not following through on President George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil” agenda with not fully engaging the Axis power in World War II.

“If Franklin Roosevelt had done that in ’41, either the Japanese or the Germans would have won,” Gingrich said, adding that Americans should “over-match the problem.”

Full Story: Newt Gingrich Suggests Attacking Rest Of ‘Axis Of Evil’ (VIDEO).

Recession was deeper than gov’t previously thought

The recession was deeper than the government previously thought.

The Commerce Department, in revisions issued Friday, estimates the economy shrank 2.6 percent last year – the steepest drop since 1946. That’s worse than the 2.4 percent decline originally estimated.

The economy’s plunge underscores why the unemployment rate surged to 10.1 percent in October, a 26-year high.

The revisions in gross domestic product, or GDP, now show zero growth in 2008. That compares with a 0.4 percent gain previously estimated.The economy also grew less in 2007 (1.9 percent) than earlier thought (2.1 percent).

Full Story: Business & Technology | Recession was deeper than gov’t previously thought | Seattle Times Newspaper.

California Storing DNA of Innocent People

Reports from Great Britain suggest police make arrests without cause simply to obtain a DNA sample to put in the country’s database.

Forcing people to provide a DNA sample without any judicial oversight, just because a single police officer has arrested them, violates the Constitution. That’s why California’s law mandating that DNA samples be taken from all felony arrestees is facing a legal challenge from the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC).

At issue is Proposition 69, a voter-enacted law which mandates that anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony in California has to hand over a DNA sample, regardless of whether or not they are ever charged or convicted. As a result, tens of thousands of innocent Californians will be subject to a lifetime of genetic surveillance because a single police officer suspected them of a crime.

Full Story: California Storing DNA of Innocent People | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.

World Population Forecast to Top 7 Billion in 2011 – NYTimes.com

With 267 people being born every minute and 108 dying, the world’s population will top seven billion next year, a research group projects, while the ratio of working-age adults to support the elderly in developed countries declines precipitously because of lower birthrates and longer life spans.

In a sobering assessment of those two trends, William P. Butz, president of the Population Reference Bureau, said that “chronically low birthrates in developed countries are beginning to challenge the health and financial security of the elderly” at the same time that “developing countries are adding over 80 million to the population each year and the poorest of those countries are adding 20 million, exacerbating poverty and threatening the environment.”

Projections, especially over decades, are vulnerable to changes in immigration, retirement ages, birthrates, health care and other variables, but in releasing the bureau’s 2010 population data sheet, Carl Haub, its senior demographer, estimated this week that by 2050 the planet will be home to more than nine billion people.

Full Story: World Population Forecast to Top 7 Billion in 2011 – NYTimes.com.

Pastor Hosting ‘International Burn A Quran Day’: ‘We Have Nothing Against Muslims’

On September 11, 2010, the extremist evangelical Dove World Church — whose pastor, Terry Jones, has written a book called “Islam Is Of The Devil” — plans to host “International Burn A Quran Day,” when it will burn Muslims’ sacred text and encourage others across the world to do so as well. Churchmember Wayne Sapp has even posted an instructional video that explains how and why to burn the Islamic text.

CNN host Rick Sanchez invited Jones on his show yesterday to ask him about the inflammatory action. When Sanchez pressed Jones about why he would try to anger the world’s Muslims by burning their sacred text, the evangelical pastor replied, “Well, for one thing, to us, the book is not sacred,” provoking laughter from the CNN host.

Jones later went on to explain, “What we are also doing by the burning of the Quran, we’re saying stop, stop to Islam, stop to Islamic law, stop to brutality. We have nothing against Muslims, they are welcome in our country.” When Sanchez asked him how he would feel if Muslims burned the Bible, Jones admitted he wouldn’t like it but emphasized that it was his “right” to burn the Islamic text because “we live in America”:

Full Story: Think Progress » Pastor Hosting ‘International Burn A Quran Day’: ‘We Have Nothing Against Muslims’.

Fracking With Food: How the Natural Gas Industry Poisons Cows and Crops

Natural gas drilling operations have mucked up food from Colorado to Pennsylvania. So why is no one paying attention?

On the morning of May 5, 2010, nobody could say for sure how much fluid had leaked from the 650,000-gallon disposal pit near a natural gas drill pad in Shippen Township, Penn. — not the employees on site; not the farmers who own the property; not the DEP rep who came to investigate.

But there were signs of trouble: Vegetation had died in a 30’ by 40’ patch of pasture nearby. A “wet area” of indeterminate toxicity had crept out about 200 feet, its puddles shimmering with an oily iridescence. And the cattle: 16 cows, four heifers and eight calves were all found near water containing the heavy metal strontium. Strontium is preferentially deposited in cows’ bones at varying levels depending on things like age and growth rates. Since slaughtering 28 cattle on mere suspicion can devastate a farmer financially, nobody knows what, if anything, the cows ingested. They’re now sitting in quarantine.

The Shippen Township incident isn’t the first time hydraulic fracturing, a controversial gas extraction technique that involves shooting water, sand and a mix of chemicals into the ground to release gas, has been blamed for livestock damage. But for farmers in the northeast whose land sits atop the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation, it is a wake-up call – an event that raises questions about fracking’s compatibility with food production.

Full Story: Fracking With Food: How the Natural Gas Industry Poisons Cows and Crops | Food | AlterNet.

Will California Legalize Pot?

With only a few months to go until the election, the campaign to legalize marijuana in California has only $50,000 in cash on hand. The question now is: How can it win?

Today, at least a third of Americans say they’ve tried smoking weed. Is it possible that after half a century of increasingly mainstreamed pot use the public is ready for marijuana to be legal? We may soon find out.

California has long been on the front lines of marijuana policy. In 1996, it became the first state to legalize medical cannabis. This year, the Tax Cannabis initiative — now officially baptized Proposition 19 — may very well be the best chance any state has ever had at legalizing the consumption, possession and cultivation of marijuana for anyone over 21.

Drug reformers are particularly excited about Prop. 19′s prospects because the pot reform stars seem to be as aligned as ever here. Consider the current state of marijuana in California. For one, medical cannabis has normalized the idea of pot as a legitimate industry to many of the state’s residents. At least 300,000 and as many as 400,000 Californians are card-carrying medical marijuana patients, and the medical pot industry brings in around $100 million in sales tax revenue each year, according to Americans for Safe Access

Full Story: Will California Legalize Pot? | Drugs | AlterNet.

NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – NOAA: Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries

The 2009 State of the Climate report released today draws on data for 10 key climate indicators that all point to the same finding: the scientific evidence that our world is warming is unmistakable. More than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries contributed to the report, which confirms that the past decade was the warmest on record and that the Earth has been growing warmer over the last 50 years.

Based on comprehensive data from multiple sources, the report defines 10 measurable planet-wide features used to gauge global temperature changes. The relative movement of each of these indicators proves consistent with a warming world. Seven indicators are rising: air temperature over land, sea-surface temperature, air temperature over oceans, sea level, ocean heat, humidity and tropospheric temperature in the “active-weather” layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface. Three indicators are declining: Arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the Northern hemisphere.

“For the first time, and in a single compelling comparison, the analysis brings together multiple observational records from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the ocean,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The records come from many institutions worldwide. They use data collected from diverse sources, including satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ships, buoys and field surveys. These independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same conclusion: our planet is warming,”

Full Story: NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – NOAA: Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries.

Anthony Weiner Goes Ballistic At GOP For Killing 9/11 Responders Health Care Bill (VIDEO)

House Republicans late Thursday were able to corral enough votes to defeat a bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to those sickened by toxins resulting from the 9/11 attacks.

In the process, they set off a host of fiery speeches and denunciations from their Democratic colleagues and produced a veritable YouTube moment from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y), whose district includes many of the affected.

At the heart of the debate was a procedural maneuver made by Democrats to suspend the rules before consideration of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. The move allowed leadership to block potential GOP amendments to the measure (there was worry that Republicans would attach something overtly partisan in hopes that it could pass on the otherwise widely-popular measure). It also meant that the party needed a two-thirds majority vote.

Full Story: Anthony Weiner Goes Ballistic At GOP For Killing 9/11 Responders Health Care Bill (VIDEO).

Oklahoma fathers of dead service members rally against war funding

Fathers of two military personnel killed in Iraq rallied Thursday against a $37 billion U.S. military funding bill.

The fathers of two fallen service members criticized the U.S. House‘s approval of $37 billion in spending on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The fathers called for a troop reduction and a renewed focus on fighting terrorism.

Full Story: Oklahoma fathers of dead service members rally against war funding | NewsOK.com.

House Republicans Block Bill To Pay The Healthcare For Ill 9/11 Responders

More common to the Senate, GOP obstruction spread to the House Thursday as Republicans blocked legislation to pay to care for those who have fallen ill due to their exposure to debris during the clean-up after the nation’s worst terrorist attack.

The House voted 255 to 159 for H.R. 847, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, short of the two-thirds margin needed for passage for this bill. Some 155 Republicans voted against the legislation, which would provide medical monitoring and treatment to World Trade Center responders and survivors who were exposed to the toxins at Ground Zero following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Nearly 16,000 responders and 2,700 others are currently sick and receiving treatment, according to estimates released by the lawmakers who introduced the measure. More than 40,000 responders are in medical monitoring and 71,000 individuals are enrolled in a World Trade Center health registry.

Full Story: On The Hill: House Republicans Block Bill To Pay The Healthcare For Ill 9/11 Responders.

EPA: 1M gallons of oil may be in Mich. river

EPA says 1 million gallons of oil may have spilled in Mich. river, governor criticizes cleanup.

Federal officials now estimate that more than 1 million gallons of oil may have spilled into a major river in southern Michigan, and the governor is sharply criticizing clean-up efforts as “wholly inadequate.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the update Wednesday night, shortly after Gov. Jennifer Granholm lambasted attempts to contain the oil flowing down the Kalamazoo River. She warned of a “tragedy of historic proportions” if the oil reaches Lake Michigan, which is still at least 80 miles downstream from where oil has been seen.

Granholm called on the federal government for more help, saying resources being marshaled by the EPA and Enbridge Inc., which owns the pipeline that leaked the oil, were “wholly inadequate.”

Full Story: EPA: 1M gallons of oil may be in Mich. river | Raw Story.

Michigan Oil Spill: Oil Halfway To Lake Michigan, Mayor Daley Responds

Oil from a pipeline spill in Michigan early this week has been on the move through area waterways in recent days–and some fear that it could enter Lake Michigan.

The trouble began about 9 p.m. Sunday, when an oil pipeline owned by Enbridge Liquids Pipelines sprung a leak in Marshall Township. The pipeline was shut down–but not before it leaked an estimated one million gallons of oil that began flowing down the Kalamazoo River.

The oil is now about 80 miles from Lake Michigan and moving toward the lake, the Chicago Tribune reports. During a Thursday press conference, Mayor Daley said the oil spill threatens the Midwest’s drinking water. The Tribune reports:

Full Story: Michigan Oil Spill: Oil Halfway To Lake Michigan, Mayor Daley Responds.

Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way Into The Foodchain

Scientists have found signs of an oil-and-dispersant mix under the shells of tiny blue crab larvae in the Gulf of Mexico, the first clear indication that the unprecedented use of dispersants in the BP oil spill has broken up the oil into toxic droplets so tiny that they can easily enter the foodchain.

Marine biologists started finding orange blobs under the translucent shells of crab larvae in May, and have continued to find them “in almost all” of the larvae they collect, all the way from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Fla. — more than 300 miles of coastline — said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.

And now, a team of researchers from Tulane University using infrared spectrometry to determine the chemical makeup of the blobs has detected the signature for Corexit, the dispersant BP used so widely in the Deepwater Horizon

Full Story: Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way Into The Foodchain.

SEC Accuses Sam And Charles Wyly, Billionaire Dallas Investors, Of Insider Trading Yielding $550 MILLION

Famed Dallas billionaire investors Sam and Charles Wyly made $550 million in undisclosed profits through 13 years of insider trading in the shares of companies on whose boards they served, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday.

In a 78-page complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court in New York, the SEC said the Wylys held and traded tens of millions of securities in the companies and “defrauded the investing public” by misrepresenting the Wylys’ ownership and trading of those shares.

“The apparatus of the fraud was an elaborate sham system of trusts and subsidiary companies located in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands … created by and at the direction of the Wylys,” the SEC complaint stated.

Full Story: SEC Accuses Sam And Charles Wyly, Billionaire Dallas Investors, Of Insider Trading Yielding $550 MILLION.

SEC Accuses Sam And Charles Wyly, Billionaire Dallas Investors, Of Insider Trading Yielding $550 MILLION

Famed Dallas billionaire investors Sam and Charles Wyly made $550 million in undisclosed profits through 13 years of insider trading in the shares of companies on whose boards they served, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday.

In a 78-page complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court in New York, the SEC said the Wylys held and traded tens of millions of securities in the companies and “defrauded the investing public” by misrepresenting the Wylys’ ownership and trading of those shares.

“The apparatus of the fraud was an elaborate sham system of trusts and subsidiary companies located in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands … created by and at the direction of the Wylys,” the SEC complaint stated.

Full Story: SEC Accuses Sam And Charles Wyly, Billionaire Dallas Investors, Of Insider Trading Yielding $550 MILLION.

Biden tags economy ‘Bush recession’

Vice President Biden trotted out a new line of attack against Republicans, terming the nation’s economic difficulties the “Bush recession.”

Vice President Joe Biden trotted out a new line of attack against Republicans on Thursday, terming the nation’s economic difficulties the “Bush recession.”

The vice president sought to explicitly link the recession plaguing many Americans to President George W. Bush as Democrats ramp up their attacks on the previous administration.

“There’s never enough until we’ve restored the 8 million jobs lost in the Bush recession,” Biden said on NBC’s “Today” show when asked if the administration had done enough to address unemployment. “Until that happens it doesn’t matter — it matters, but it’s not enough.”

Full Story: Biden tags economy ‘Bush recession’ – The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

OPS: He’s a year late, but better late than never I guess

IBM scientists create most comprehensive map of the brain’s network

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published Tuesday a landmark paper entitled “Network architecture of the long-distance pathways in the macaque brain” (an open-access paper) by Dharmendra S. Modha (IBM Almaden) and Raghavendra Singh (IBM Research-India) with major implications for reverse-engineering the brain and developing a network of cognitive-computing chips.

“We have successfully uncovered and mapped the most comprehensive long-distance network of the Macaque monkey brain, which is essential for understanding the brain’s behavior, complexity, dynamics and computation,” Dr. Modha says. “We can now gain unprecedented insight into how information travels and is processed across the brain.

“We have collated a comprehensive, consistent, concise, coherent, and colossal network spanning the entire brain and grounded in anatomical tracing studies that is a stepping stone to both fundamental and applied research in neuroscience and cognitive computing.”

Full Story: IBM scientists create most comprehensive map of the brain’s network | KurzweilAI.

Foreclosures Up In 75 Percent Of Top U.S. Metro Areas

Foreclosures rose in 3 of every four large U.S. metro areas in this year’s first half, likely ruling out sustained home price gains until 2013, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

Unemployment was the main culprit driving foreclosure actions on more than 1.6 million properties, the company said.

“We’re not going to see meaningful, sustainable home price appreciation while we’re seeing 75 percent of the markets have increases in foreclosures,” RealtyTrac senior vice president Rick Sharga said in an interview.

Foreclosure actions — which include notice of default, scheduled auction and repossession — in the first half rose in 154 of the 206 metro areas with populations 200,000 or more.

Full Story: Foreclosures Up In 75 Percent Of Top U.S. Metro Areas – NYTimes.com.

Poll: Nearly 6 in 10 Pakistanis view US as enemy

Despite billions in aid from Washington and a shared threat from extremists, Pakistanis have an overwhelmingly negative view of the United States, according to results of a Pew Research Center poll released Thursday.

The survey also found that Pakistanis have grown less fearful of extremists seizing control of their country, perhaps reflecting gains that government troops have made against militants since early 2009.

Most Pakistanis want improved relations with the United States, according to the poll. But most view the U.S. with suspicion, support for American involvement in the fight against extremists has declined, and nearly two-thirds want U.S. troops out of neighboring Afghanistan.

Full Story: Poll: Nearly 6 in 10 Pakistanis view US as enemy | Raw Story.

GOP Lawmaker Slips Up, Admits Tax Cuts Will ‘Increase The Debt’

At the end of the year, President Bush’s tax cuts are set to expire. President Obama and many Democrats in Congress favor extending those tax cuts for the middle class. But Republicans — seemingly not worried about the $700 billion cost — want tax cuts for the rich included as well.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) seems to be one of those Republicans. But when C-Span host Steve Scully asked the California Republican about the tax cuts issue on Washington Journal this morning, Nunes went slightly off message:

SCULLY: Tax cuts, do they increase the debt or do they spur economic growth?

NUNES: Well, I think that they increase the debt. If you let them expire at the end of the year we’re going to have a huge, the largest tax increase in American history.

Nunes drifted back on message later, saying that the deficit is “going to grow” if all the Bush tax cuts expire. But when asked why, he couldn’t provide any specifics. “Because it’s going to throw the economy into a tailspin,” he said. Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » GOP Lawmaker Slips Up, Admits Tax Cuts Will ‘Increase The Debt’.

Lindsey Graham considering overturning the 14th amendment to end ‘birthright citizenship.’

Politico reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who many previously thought would co-sponsor comprehensive immigration reform this year, is considering radically changing the 14th amendment. Graham may introduce a constitutional amendment that would overturn the portion of the Constitution which states “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” In other words, Graham wants to end the practice of granting citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants born on U.S. soil. Politico reports:

“I may introduce a constitutional amendment that changes the rules if you have a child here,” Graham said during an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. “Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake, that we should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.” [...]

“I’m a practical guy, but when you go forward, I don’t want 20 million more 20 years from now,” he said. “I want to be fair. I want to be humane. We need immigration policy, but it should be on our terms, not someone else’s. I don’t know how to fix it all. But I do know what makes people mad, that 12 million people came here and there seems to be no system to deal with stopping 20 million 20 years from now.”

Full Story: Think Progress » Lindsey Graham considering overturning the 14th amendment to end ‘birthright citizenship.’.

As Tennesseans Desperately Search For Work, Wamp Suggests Unemployed Are ‘Just Sitting Back Waiting’

This past Tuesday, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), who is also a leading candidate for the GOP nomination for governor, joined a conference call with the right-wing National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). When the subject of extending unemployment benefits arose, Wamp complained that giving people unemployment insurance was “creating a culture of dependence which we do not need.” He then said that he wants “people out there scraping and clawing and looking for work and not just sitting back waiting”:

Wamp [...] said small business, the NFIB and he as governor “must resist… any more mandates to small business to help the unemployed — that we have continued to extend on a federal level, I think, unemployment compensation so long that there’s disincentives for people to actually re-enter the workforce or go out and look for a job.

“And this is creating a culture of dependence which we do not need. We want people out there scraping and clawing and looking for work and not just sitting back waiting. And so we’ve got to not allow any more mandates.”

Full Story: Think Progress » As Tennesseans Desperately Search For Work, Wamp Suggests Unemployed Are ‘Just Sitting Back Waiting’.

Watch: What a Legal Pot Economy Would Look Like

How everyone stands to benefit from ending the war on weed.

This fall Californians will go the polls with a chance to make history. They will be able to cast a vote to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol or cigarettes. California’s Proposition 19 is one of many similar initiatives cropping up on state ballots across the country.

Whether it’s calls for decriminalization or medical marijuana the end of cannabis prohibition has never seemed closer. In this short animated parable, “The Flower,” award winning artist Haik Hoisington contrasts a legal marijuana economy with an illegal one, to show how everyone stands to benefit from ending the war on weed.

“The Flower” contrasts a utopian society that freely farms and consumes a pleasure giving flower with a society where the same flower is illegal and its consumption is prohibited. The animation is a meditation on the social and economic costs of marijuana prohibition.

Full Story: Watch: What a Legal Pot Economy Would Look Like | Drugs | AlterNet.

Documentary Reveals the Price Paid in Blood for the Senseless War in Afghanistan

Sean Smith’s brutal, uncompromising film from the Helmand frontline shows the horrific chaos of a 10 year old war.

Video at link

Full Story: Documentary Reveals the Price Paid in Blood for the Senseless War in Afghanistan | World | AlterNet.

Dems Take on Supreme Court’s Giant Sell-Out of Our Democracy to Corporations

The Supreme Court handed over our political system to corporate power, and now some lawmakers are fighting to get it back.

Democrats in Congress are fighting to undo, or at least mitigate, the potential damage wrought by the Supreme Court in its Citizens United decision, an example of right-wing judicial activism that has the potential to put the final nail in the coffin of American self-governance and turn over our elections to multinational corporations.

Speaking at last week’s Netroots Nation conference, a gathering of liberal activists, Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, put the threat posed by Citizens United in simple-to-understand terms. “We’re now in a situation,” he told the crowd, “where a lobbyist can walk into my office…and say, ‘I’ve got five million dollars to spend, and I can spend it for you or against you. Which do you prefer?’” That’s power.

Full Story: Dems Take on Supreme Court’s Giant Sell-Out of Our Democracy to Corporations | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.

Top 5 Social Security Myths

Rumors of Social Security’s demise are greatly exaggerated. But some powerful people keep spreading lies about the program to scare people into accepting benefit cuts. Can you check out this list of Social Security myths and share it with your friends, family and coworkers?

Full Story: MoveOn.org Political Action: Democracy in Action.

White House proposal would ease FBI access to records of Internet activity

The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual’s Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.

The administration wants to add just four words — “electronic communication transactional records” — to a list of items that the law says the FBI may demand without a judge’s approval. Government lawyers say this category of information includes the addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user’s browser history. It does not include, the lawyers hasten to point out, the “content” of e-mail or other Internet communication.

But what officials portray as a technical clarification designed to remedy a legal ambiguity strikes industry lawyers and privacy advocates as an expansion of the power the government wields through so-called national security letters. These missives, which can be issued by an FBI field office on its own authority, require the recipient to provide the requested information and to keep the request secret. They are the mechanism the government would use to obtain the electronic records.

Full Story: White House proposal would ease FBI access to records of Internet activity.

Assault on America: A Decade of Petroleum Company Disaster, Pollution, and Profit

New report shows how today’s oil and gas industry threatens Americans in countless ways.

Introduction

The BP catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, with its tragic loss of life and devastating impact on the Gulf Coast economy, has brought the risk and high cost of oil development to the public’s attention. Predictably a round of oil industry executives have testified before Congress offering countless apologies and empty assurances that such an incident will never happen again. But this is the fourth major oil spill in 33 years on North America.

Full Story: Assault on America: A Decade of Petroleum Company Disaster, Pollution, and Profit – National Wildlife Federation.

Army report: Service is failing suicidal soldiers

Record number of deaths the result of brass not seeing or doing nothing about signs of stress such as drug abuse

An Army report on the record number of soldier suicides says the trend reflects a rise in risky behavior including drunken driving and drug abuse in a military stretched to the breaking point by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The report says the Army is failing its soldiers by missing signs of trouble, or by looking the other way as commanders try to keep to tight schedules required to meet deployment schedules.

The Army vice chief of staff, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, said Thursday that statistics on levels of drug and alcohol abuse, car accidents and crime suggests that soldiers are taking more risks while discipline has slipped.

Full Story: Army report: Service is failing suicidal soldiers – Military Suicides – Salon.com.

Unintelligent By Design: Louisiana School District Considers Teaching Creationism

Members of the Livingston Parish School Board in Louisiana may be on the verge of making a huge mistake – one that could cost their community a lot of money.

During a recent meeting, several board members went off on a tangent about teaching creationism. During this public session, they openly discussed their desire to bring religion into the classroom. It was not a wise move.

The trouble began when Jan Benton, director of curriculum for the parish schools, noted that a new law in Louisiana allows schools to present “critical thinking and creationism” in science classes.

Board Member David Tate got excited and said, “We let them teach evolution to our children, but I think all of us sitting up here on this school board believe in creationism. Why can’t we get someone with religious beliefs to teach creationism?”

Full Story: Talk To Action | Unintelligent By Design: Louisiana School District Considers Teaching Creationism.

Met Office report: global warming evidence is ‘unmistakable’

A new climate change report from the Met Office and its US equivalent has provided the “greatest evidence we have ever had” that the world is warming.

Full Story: Met Office report: global warming evidence is ‘unmistakable’ – Telegraph.

Republicans block small business lending bill

Senate Republicans have blocked a bill to increase small business lending, dealing a setback to President Barack Obama’s jobs agenda.

The bill would have created a $30 billion government fund to help community banks increase lending to small businesses, combining it with about $12 billion in tax breaks aimed at small businesses. Some Republicans, however, likened it to the unpopular bailout of the financial industry.

Democrats and Republicans will continue to negotiate amendments to the bill. But Thursday’s vote will make it difficult for Congress to pass the bill before lawmakers go on their summer vacation.

Full Story: Republicans block small business lending bill – Yahoo! News.

Should Shirley Sherrod Sue Andrew Breitbart and Fox News?

John Dean:

Shirley Sherrod’s story was big news this week. If you missed it, the story went like this: Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted a video clip of Sherrod — a kindly African-American woman who was the Georgia State Director for Rural Development of the U.S. Department of Agriculture — giving what appeared to be a racist, anti-white speech to an NAACP audience in March.

In the speech, Sherrod appeared to be openly discriminating against a white farmer. Fox News ran large with the story, with prime-time hosts O’Reillyand Hannity in red-faced rage over Sherrod’s remarks, calling for her head. The Obama Administration quickly, and thoughtlessly, fired Sherrod, and the NAACP foolishly embraced her firing.

Turns out everyone except Sherrod got it wrong. Now, many are asking, Should Sherrod sue Breitbart, Fox News, or both?

Full Story: Should Shirley Sherrod Sue Andrew Breitbart and Fox News?.

Republicans Block Measure to Ban Foreign Meddling in U.S. Elections

Previously, foreign corporations could legally spending on American elections only through their political action committees. Now, however, U.S. subsidiaries of multinational corporations can spend directly on advertising for and against candidates and issues, although foreign individuals are barred from being involved in the spending decisions.

Despite the near certainty of its defeat because of unanimous Republican opposition, Senate Democrats forged ahead yesterday with a piece of legislation that would enact spending limits on the U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations in American elections.

The Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections, or DISCLOSE Act, is a response to the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission. In that case the door was opened for foreign corporations to engage in electioneering through independent expenditures funneled through U.S. subsidiaries.

Previously, foreign corporations could legally spend money on American elections only through their political action committees. Now, however, U.S. subsidiaries of multinational corporations can spend directly on advertising for and against candidates and issues, although foreign individuals are barred from being involved in the spending decisions.

Full Story: Republicans Block Measure to Ban Foreign Meddling in U.S. Elections | Economy In Crisis.

More Evidence That BPA Laces Store Receipts

Science & the Public Blog: Problem is, you can’t tell which ones host the hormone mimic

People interested in limiting exposure to bisphenol A — a hormone-mimicking environmental contaminant — might want to consider wearing gloves the next time a store clerk hands over a cash-register receipt. A July 27 report by a public-interest research group has now confirmed many of these receipts have a BPA-rich powdery residue on their surface. But you can’t tell which ones on the basis of a visual inspection.

A building block of polycarbonate plastics, bisphenol A is also a biologically active estrogen mimic. Less well known, many thermal- and carbonless-copy papers also employ BPA to print images, generally store receipts.

In animals, fetal exposures to BPA can be especially risky, sometimes fostering brain, behavioral or reproductive problems. Canada and some states are moving to ban polycarbonate plastic in baby bottles for that reason. And heart data suggest that even adult exposures to BPA might cause harm.

A vexing question has been where people are acquiring the BPA that taints nearly everyone’s body. Last year, green chemist John Warner argued that his data suggested store receipts could be a — if not the — leading source.

Full Story: More Evidence That BPA Laces Store Receipts – US News and World Report.

UN declares access to clean water a human right

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday recognized access to clean water and sanitation as a human right, a move hailed by water advocates as a momentous step toward a future treaty.

After more than 15 years of contentious debate on the issue, 122 countries voted in favor of a compromise Bolivian resolution enshrining the right, while the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and 37 other nations abstained.

The non-binding text “declares the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life.”

It expresses deep concern that 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and that more 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation.

It notes that roughly two million people die every year from diseases caused by unsafe water and sanitation, most of them small children.

Full Story: AFP: UN declares access to clean water a human right.

Deficit Hawk Survey Falsely Claimed People Support Cutting Social Security

A high-profile survey funded by anti-Social Security advocates falsely reported that Americans favor raising the age of retirement to 69, according to a subsequent correction made by the organization.

On June 26, results were released of a nationwide survey of participants in town hall events dedicated to discussing ways to reduce the deficit. The events were organized by AmericaSpeaks and largely funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Peterson is a hedge-fund billionaire dedicated to cutting Social Security in the name of deficit reduction.

According to the group, the only across-the-board cut that the participants favored was raising the retirement age to 69. Increasing the age is a dramatic cut, because those who choose early retirement receive significantly less every year they receive benefits. Even if a recipient waits until 69, he or she would begin receiving benefits at a lower rate.

Full Story: Deficit Hawk Survey Falsely Claimed People Support Cutting Social Security.

Fallen Soldiers’ Families Denied Cash as Insurers Profit

The package arrived at Cindy Lohman’s home in Great Mills, Maryland, just two weeks after she learned that her son, Ryan, a 24-year-old Army sergeant, had been killed by a bomb in Afghanistan. It was a thick, 9-inch-by- 12-inch envelope from Prudential Financial Inc., which handles life insurance for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Inside was a letter from Prudential about Ryan’s $400,000 policy. And there was something else, which looked like a checkbook. The letter told Lohman that the full amount of her payout would be placed in a convenient interest-bearing account, allowing her time to decide how to use the benefit.

“You can hold the money in the account for safekeeping for as long as you like,” the letter said. In tiny print, in a disclaimer that Lohman says she didn’t notice, Prudential disclosed that what it called its Alliance Account was not guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its September issue.

Full Story: Fallen Soldiers’ Families Denied Cash as Insurers Profit – Bloomberg.

Schumer Promises Legislation To Help The 99ers

After Senate Democrats broke a 50-day filibuster and restored unemployment benefits to the long-term jobless, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed to do more.

“There are a number of people who have maxed out, they’ve been looking and looking for work and haven’t found it, and there is a separate act that would extend the unemployment benefits to them,” Schumer told New York’s WENY-TV. “Extending this was really important. There are some people who go beyond the 99 weeks and we’re going to try to do that next.”

Last year, Congress enacted several pieces of legislation that ultimately gave the unemployed in some states 99 weeks of benefits. With nearly 15 million unemployed competing for just three million jobs available, 99 weeks isn’t enough time for some people to find work. Hundreds of thousands had already joined the ranks of the “99ers” in April. The Washington Post reported recently that the total had reached 1.4 million.

Full Story: Tier 5: Schumer Promises Legislation To Help The 99ers.

Tim Lahaye, Evangelical Christian Minister, Warns Obama Bringing Us Closer To ‘The Apocalypse’ (VIDEO)

Evangelical Christian minister Tim LaHaye says that the policy initiatives put forth by the Obama administration are bringing the country “closer to the apocalypse.”

LaHaye issued the dire warning in an appearance this week on Mike Huckabee’s talk show on Fox News.

“Our present president doesn’t seem to get it,” LaHaye explained. “He doesn’t understand that some of the things he’s introducing that many of us call ‘raw socialism’ — it’s a different name, but it’s essentially government control and government domination of everything.”

The evangelical voice said of the political platform maintained by the Obama administration, “It’s going to work against our country and bringing us closer to the apocalypse.”

Full Story: Tim Lahaye, Evangelical Christian Minister, Warns Obama Bringing Us Closer To ‘The Apocalypse’ (VIDEO).

Extending Bush Tax Cuts WON’T Create Jobs, Says Leading Economist

As Congress debates whether to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans at least one prominent U.S. economist has already cast his negative vote.

“Not all budgetary dollars are created equal,” said Alan Blinder, professor and co-director of Princeton University’s Center for Economic Policy Studies, in a conference Wednesday morning. “Some have a lot of bang for the buck, and some have very little. The GDP increase per dollar of budgetary cost is in the range of 1.6, 1.7 for things like food stamps and unemployment benefits, and in the range of .35 for extending the Bush tax cuts. We could get some substantial job creation by simply reprogramming the $75 billion that would be saved over the next two years by not extending the upper-bracket Bush tax cuts and spending it instead on unemployment benefits, food stamps, and the like.”

Blinder’s economic advice supports the tax policy of President Obama and the Democrats, who would like to maintain tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans, while letting the cuts for those with incomes above $250,000 expire. Letting the tax cuts lapse is projected to trim approximately $675 billion from the deficit over 10 years, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

Full Story: Extending Bush Tax Cuts WON’T Create Jobs, Says Leading Economist.

OPS: No Shit! Do you really need an economist to tell you this or can you just take a look at how many jobs the Bush Tax Cuts for Millionaires and Billionaires created SINCE THEY WERE FIRST PASSED?  By the Time Obama took over we were loosing almost 800,000 jobs PER MONTH largely and in part due to the Bush insanity.

Bush Memoir Release Has Republicans Concerned

With the 2010 election season underway, Republicans are reportedly concerned about how the impending release of former President George W. Bush’s memoir, Decision Points, may affect the party’s success at the polls come November.

While the widely-anticipated book from Bush isn’t set to be released until November 9 — one week after votes are cast across the country — details from the text have already begun to leak out.

Moreover, the unpopular Republican leader and contentious policy initiatives put forth by his administration have already resurfaced to shake-up this year’s heated midterm match-ups.

Matt Latimer at the Daily Beast reports:

Full Story: Bush Memoir Release Has Republicans Concerned.

High-Speed Laser Chips Move Data at 50 Gbps

A new research breakthrough from Intel combines silicon chips and lasers to transmit data at 50 gigabits per second — and someday, maybe as fast as a terabit per second.

The 50-Gbps speed is enough to download an HD movie from iTunes, or up to 100 hours of digital music, in less than a second.

The technology, known as silicon photonics, can be used as a replacement for copper wires to connect components within computers, or between computers in data centers.

“The fundamental issue is that electronic signaling relying on copper wires is reaching its physical limits,” says Justin Rattner, chief technology officer for Intel, which announced the breakthrough Tuesday. “Photonics gives us the ability to move vast quantities of data across the room or planet at extremely high speeds and in a cost-effective manner.”

Photonics refers to the generation, modulation, switching and transmission of light, and can be done using lasers or light-emitting diodes.

Full Story: High-Speed Laser Chips Move Data at 50 Gbps | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.

Israel linked to exiled sheikh’s bid for ‘coup’ in Gulf emirate of RAK

• UK ambassador advising Sheikh Khalid of Ras al-Khaimeh

• Tiny UAE state ‘aids trafficking of nuclear parts’ to Iran

Israel is aiding an exiled Arab sheikh who is vying to seize control of a strategically important Gulf emirate only 40 miles from Iran.

The Israeli ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, has met Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qasimi, the exiled crown prince of Ras al-Khaimeh (RAK), who asked him to help with his campaign to oust the leadership of the northernmost state in the United Arab Emirates.

The meeting took place in London in March and has been followed by phone calls and wider assistance and advice, according to records of the relationship seen by the Guardian.

Khalid, who has been based in London and has hired a solicitor from Ickenham as his agent, is bidding to replace his ailing father, Sheikh Saqr, and half brother, Sheikh Saud, to take control of RAK.

Full Story: Israel linked to exiled sheikh’s bid for ‘coup’ in Gulf emirate of RAK | World news | The Guardian.

Income of very richest shot up by 281% since 1979

In the wake of BP’s calamitous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, CEO Tony Hayward is stepping down, but he will be receiving a severance package amounting to an estimated $18 million.

“That’s what he gets for presiding over a record oil disaster and massive losses,” commented Chris Hayes, Washington editor of The Nation, who was guest hosting MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show on Tuesday.

Hayes went on to note, however, that “Tony Hayward’s $18 million payoff is an absolute pittance compared to the kind of cash top CEO’s are raking in.” He cited a recent Wall Street Journal story which revealed that over the past decade, the two highest-paid CEOs at public companies each took in over a billion dollars in compensation, while others in the top 25 received compensation in the hundreds of millions.

Full Story: Income of very richest shot up by 281% since 1979 | Raw Story.

Taking Advantage Of Citizens United, Dirty Coal Groups Form 527 To Elect Industry-Friendly Republicans

Yesterday, ThinkProgress reported on coal baron Don Blankenship’s foray into the 2010 congressional elections in West Virginia, where he has contributed thousands of dollars to help elect coal-friendly Republicans. One of the candidates, Spike Maynard, previously served as chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and vacationed with Blankenship on the French Riviera while his company, Massey Energy, had millions of dollars in cases pending before Maynard’s court.

But Blankenship isn’t the only one with chips in the game. The Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky reports that several coal executives, including Blankenship, are pooling their money to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision loosening corporate campaign finance laws by forming a 527 group to help elect coal-friendly Republicans. Why a 527? Because according to the IRS, they can hide their activities until “next year, long after the Nov. 2 election.” From the report:

“With the recent Supreme Court ruling, we are in a position to be able to take corporate positions that were not previously available in allowing our voices to be heard,” wrote Roger Nicholson, senior vice president and general counsel at International Coal Group of Scott Depot, W.Va., in an undated letter he sent to other coal companies. [...]

Full Story: Think Progress » Taking Advantage Of Citizens United, Dirty Coal Groups Form 527 To Elect Industry-Friendly Republicans.

Rep. Steve King Joins Deficit Fraud Caucus: There’s No Need To Pay For The Bush Tax Cuts

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who spends a lot of time stoking fear about deficits under President Obama, explained on MSNBC this morning that the “difference” between President Bush and Obama is that Obama is spending far too much.

However, later in the very same interview, King threw concern for the deficit out the window, saying Congress should extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and that there is no need to pay for the $678 billion in lost revenue they represent. “You don’t have to ask for a paid-for” to offset tax cuts, King said, before making the ludicrous claim that Bush’s cuts “increased revenues”:

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Since you are, I’m presume, support extending the Bush tax cuts, do you think that you guys should figure out a way to pay for them, since it will add to the deficit, decreasing government revenues?

KING: [...] They have stimulated the economy. It is not paid for with offsets, those tax cuts have been in place as you characterized them, since May 28th of 2003. This is a continuation of a tax policy, so I would say you don’t have to ask for a paid-for continued tax policy. This is a tax increase if we let this happen without doing something happen about it. They have also demonstrated they increase in revenue with the capital gains as a part of that.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Rep. Steve King Joins Deficit Fraud Caucus: There’s No Need To Pay For The Bush Tax Cuts.

ANALYSIS: Both Regular And ‘Shadow’ RNCs Brought To You By Big Oil

Following scandal after scandal, many donors have abandoned the Michael Steele-led Republican National Committee in favor of other right-wing groups preparing to attack Democratic candidates in this fall’s elections. The two biggest beneficiaries of the RNC’s woes appear to be American Crossroads, the “shadow RNC” setup by Bush operatives Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, and the Republican Governors Association, currently chaired by Mississippi Governor and former RNC Chairman Haley Barbour. Despite their apparent strategic differences, these three groups still have one thing in common: massive infusions of cash from Big Oil. Over $4 million of oil-related cash has spewed into the three groups in the second quarter alone.

AMERICAN CROSSROADS: American Crossroads, the shadowy 527 group setup by Rove and Gillespie as a supposed “grassroots” alternative to the RNC, and whose stated goal is to distort the facts in order to brand the BP oil disaster as “Obama’s Katrina,” has received 97 percent of its funding from just four right-wing billionaires. Of these, two made their fortunes in the oil and gas industry, according to a report by Salon. The two Dallas-based oil billionaires, Trevor Rees-Jones and Robert Rowling, each contributed $1 million to the group, which recently began airing misleading attack ads against Senator Harry Reid. Rove and Gillespie have also explicitly taken advantage of the recent Citizens United Supreme Court decision to setup a related 501(c)4 organization, American Crossroads GPS, in order to conceal the identity of some of their donors. The public will likely never know where the $5.1 million the group raised in June came from because of “the value of confidentiality to some donors,” but it could have come from other right-wing oil billionaires like tea party-funder David Koch to major corporations like BP America and Goldman Sachs.

RGA: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has moved aggressively to promote the RGA as an alternative to the RNC. In addition to setting up “victory funds” across the country that have long been “the province of the RNC,” Barbour recently told a private audience that “[he] had to raise the RGA budget by $10 million because the RNC is in such bad shape.” Barbour, who has made something of a recent career out of downplaying the severity of the BP oil disaster, has indeed driven RGA fundraising to new heights during his tenure as chairman. As we previously reported, the oil and gas industry appears to have shown its appreciation for Barbour’s Big Oil apologism by contributing more than $2 million to the RGA’s coffers in the last quarter alone.

Full Story: Think Progress » ANALYSIS: Both Regular And ‘Shadow’ RNCs Brought To You By Big Oil.

Conrad And Lieberman Come Out In Favor Of Allowing Wealthy To Keep Their Massive Bush Tax Cuts

Currently, the Bush tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 are set to expire at the end of this year. Progressives have long planned to allow the tax cuts for the richest Americans to expire, which would help ease the U.S. debt burden. Unfortunately, a number of Democratic senators have come out for extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Last week, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, called for a temporary extension of all the Bush tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest two percent of Americans, which the Obama administration would like to see expire. Conrad even suggested waiving pay-go rules (which apply to those cuts for the richest two percent) in order to extend the cuts without paying for them. Conrad quickly clarified that he wasn’t embracing the Republican approach, which is simply extending all of the tax cuts forever, calling that a “formula for the decline of the United States.” Today on CNBC, Conrad argued that now just isn’t the time to raise taxes on the wealthy:

We’ve got to be very careful with the timing of what we do. There’s no question in my mind that taxes have to go up on the wealthiest among us. The question is when. I don’t think this is the moment.

Watch it:

Full Story: Think Progress » Conrad And Lieberman Come Out In Favor Of Allowing Wealthy To Keep Their Massive Bush Tax Cuts.

U.S.-China Super-Power Collision Looming in South China Sea

Reports of untapped oil and gas reserves have kept tensions up around the waters of the South China Sea.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent passage through South-east Asia saw Washington close ranks with its former adversary Vietnam, sending a warning to Asian heavyweight China that its assertive foreign policy in the region will be challenged.

he diplomatic battleground is the South China Sea, a stretch of ocean that has a spread of reefs, coral atolls and slender slivers of land that hardly qualify as habitable islands but for decades have been the subject of a territorial dispute in the region.

This stretch of sea washes the coasts of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and China, which have overlapping territorial claims in the area. Over the years, China has used military force to have a toehold on the often-submerged spits of land.

Reports of untapped oil and gas reserves have kept tensions up around the waters of the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands archipelago and the Spratly Islands, which are also key shipping lanes.

Full Story: U.S.-China Super-Power Collision Looming in South China Sea | World | AlterNet.

Is Wall Street Making Life or Death Decisions on Your Behalf?

In the last thirty years, the values of Wall Street have so infiltrated American society that seemingly all aspects of life are impacted, even medical care.

Is your health insurance company traded on Wall Street?

If so, is Wall Street deciding your medical care?

It’s hard to recall that for-profit corporations were once kept out of health care — in fact, for most of the 20th century. During this time, the nation’s medical system was built largely by non-profit and charitable organizations, which is why so many hospitals are named for saints. Courts across the country ruled that for corporations to profit from medical care was simply “against sound public policy.” In the early 1980′s, however, when the financial and airline industries were deregulated, a similar process occurred for American medicine. For-profit corporations became newly encouraged to take leadership of health care. Deregulating health care into the free market was intended to drive down costs and to improve care. After all, medical care in 1980 consumed a whopping 9.1 percent of the nation’s GDP.

Never mind that after 30 years in the free market, health care costs have doubled to consume 18 percent of the GDP (with a third of these precious dollars wasted on bureaucracy). Never mind that health care has gotten increasingly inaccessible to the uninsured and even the insured, or that American health care has become an international poster child for reform

Full Story: Is Wall Street Making Life or Death Decisions on Your Behalf? | Economy | AlterNet.

American Soldiers Brainwashed with “Positive Thinking”

The U.S. military has become increasingly excited about positive psychology techniques. Maybe a better route would be to offer soldiers respect for their critical thinking

While U.S. military psychiatrists are prescribing increasing amounts of chill pills, America’s psychologists are teaching soldiers how to think more positively about their tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and wherever else they are next ordered to kill the bad guys and win the hearts and minds of everyone else.

The U.S. Army is planning to require that all 1.1 million of its soldiers take intensive training in positive psychology and emotional resiliency. Army Research Psychologist Capt. Paul Lester, who leads the assessment of the program, told the National Psychologist (“Army to Train its Own in Positive Psychology,” July/August 2010), “As far as I can tell this is the largest, deliberate, psychological intervention in human history. . . . We don’t know when the global war on terrorism is going to end so we’re preparing to have to be engaged for a long period of time.”

Lester said the program would develop “communication skills, cognitive reforming skills and help soldiers not to catastrophize — don’t think of the worse case scenario about every potential problem.” The program also teaches soldiers to focus on “expressing appreciation” and “correcting negative views of ambiguous events.”

Full Story: American Soldiers Brainwashed with “Positive Thinking” | World | AlterNet.

The Great Decoupling of Corporate Profits from Jobs

Robert Reich:

Second-quarter earnings reports are coming in, and they’re making Wall Street smile. Corporate profits are up. And big American companies are sitting on a gigantic pile of money. The 500 largest non-financial firms held almost a trillion dollars in the second quarter, and that money pile is growing larger this quarter. Profits that plummeted in the recession have bounced back. Big businesses have recovered almost 90 percent of what they lost.

So with all this money and profit, they’ll start hiring again, right? Wrong – for three reasons.

First, lots of their profits are coming from their overseas operations. So that’s where they’re investing and expanding production.

GM now sells more cars in China than it does in the US, but makes most of them there. The company now employs 32,000 hourly workers in China. But only 52,000 GM hourly workers remain in the United States – down from 468,000 in 1970.

Full Story: Robert Reich (The Great Decoupling of Corporate Profits from Jobs).

Has the Most Common Marijuana Test Resulted in Tens of Thousands of Wrongful Convictions?

More than 800,000 people are arrested on marijuana charges each year in the United States, many on the basis of an error-prone test.

Raised in Montana and a resident of Alaska for 18 years, Robin Rae Brown, 48, always made time to explore in the wilderness. On March 20, 2009, she parked her pickup truck outside Weston, Florida, and hiked off the beaten path along a remote canal and into the woods to bird watch and commune with nature. “I saw a bobcat and an osprey,” she recalls. “I stopped once in a nice spot beneath a tree, sat down and gave prayers of thanksgiving to God.” For that purpose, Robin had packed a clay bowl and a “smudge stick,” a stalk-like bundle of sage, sweet grass, and lavender that she had bought at an airport gift shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Under the tree, she lit the end of the smudge stick and nestled it inside the bowl. She waved the smoke up toward her heart and over her head and prayed. Spiritual people from many cultures, including Native Americans, consider smoke to be sacred, she told me, and believe that it can carry their prayers to the heavens.

As darkness approached, she returned to her pickup truck to find Broward County’s Deputy Sheriff Dominic Raimondi and Florida Fish and Wildlife’s Lieutenant David Bingham looking inside the cab. The two men asked what she was doing and when she said she had been bird watching, Bingham asked whether she had binoculars. As she opened her knapsack, Officer Raimondi spotted her incense and asked if he could see it. He took the bowl and incense, asking whether it was marijuana. “No,” she recalls saying. “It’s my smudge, which is a blend of sage, sweet grass, and lavender.” “Smells like marijuana to me,” said Raimondi, who admitted he had never heard of a smudge stick. He then ordered Robin to stand by her truck, while he took the incense back to his car and conducted a common field test, known as a Duquenois-Levine, or D-L, test. The result was positive for marijuana.

Full Story: Has the Most Common Marijuana Test Resulted in Tens of Thousands of Wrongful Convictions? | Investigations | AlterNet.

GOLDMAN’S GOLDEN DEAL

Jim Hightower:

That’ll teach ‘em, won’t it?

The SEC, Wall Street’s top regulator, has whacked the mighty Goldman Sachs with one of the largest penalties in financial history. The high-strutting banking conglomerate will pay more than half-a-billion bucks for selling a complex investment scheme that was designed to fail. “This settlement is a stark lesson to Wall Street firms,” a stern SEC official stated. They will pay “a heavy price,” he warned, if they violate “the fundamental principles of honest treatment and fair dealing.”

Atta boy – go get those self-serving, narcissistic banksters!

But, wait – on the day that SEC officials imposed this supposed “humbling” penalty, Goldman’s stock price went up by five percent. Far from being deterred by the penalty, high-rolling speculators saw it as a vindication of Wall Street’s casino ethic. “It looks like a big win for Goldman,” gloated one financial analyst, adding that SEC’s $550 million assessment “seems like a paltry sum.”

audio & transcript at link:

Full Story: Jim Hightower | GOLDMAN’S GOLDEN DEAL.

Fox News Audience Just 1.38% Black

…..Majority Are the ‘Absolute Oldest’ Viewers on Cable

Fox News may be the undisputed ratings champion in cable news, but not among black viewers.

The New York Times’ Brian Stelter tweeted that, according to Nielsen Media Research, Fox News has averaged just 29,000 black viewers in primetime so far this television season (9/09-7/10). That represents just 1.38% of its 2.102 million total viewer audience.

CNN and MSNBC, meanwhile, both have far more black viewers, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of their overall audiences.

MSNBC has averaged 145,000 black viewers, representing 19.3% of its 751,000 total viewer audience.

CNN has averaged 134,000 black viewers, representing 20.7% of its 648,000 total viewer audience.

Full Story: Fox News Audience Just 1.38% Black.

Toxic Black Rain Falling In The Gulf

A toxic black rain is now falling in the Gulf and the EPA and BP are doing everything to deny its existence but the truth is slowly emerging as millions of GulfCoast residents are now becoming sick because of the lethal effects of oil and dispersants: Allen L Roland

It’s day 96 of the toxic Gulfdeep water oil gusher ( not spill ). The huge toxic slow-moving plumes beneath the surface have finally been confirmed but the toxic airplumesare still being denied by the Government and BP ~ but there is plenty of evidence thatthey arenot only there but causing significant health and environmental damage.

Full Story: OpEdNews – Article: Toxic Black Rain Falling In The Gulf.

Psychic Animals

We know that animals can be extremely intuitive creatures. Whether you think that snakes can sense impending natural disasters, or that a cat predicted 50 deaths at a single nursing home or that a chicken typed out winning lottery numbers on a calculator, humans invest a lot of trust in animals and increasingly acknowledge bizarre animal behavior as forecasts of the future.

Check out our slideshow of seven impressive animals that may have predicted the future. Don’t forget to vote on your favorite and, as always, tell us about your favorite animals that make predictions in the comments.

Full Story: Psychic Animals (PHOTOS).

A Decade of Declining Home Prices Ahead

The housing depression will last for a decade or more. This is by design. The Fed has been working with the banks to withhold inventory so prices do not fall too fast or too far. That way the banks can manage their write-downs without slipping into insolvency. But what’s good for the banks is bad for the country. Capital impairment at the banks, means no credit expansion in the near-term. It means the economy will continue to contract, unemployment will remain high, and deflation will push down wages and prices. Everyone will pay for the mortgage-backed securities scam that was engineered by the banks.

Typically, personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and real estate lead the way out of recession. But not this time. Both PCE and RE will stay depressed and act as a drag on employment and growth. Last week, in testimony before the congress, Fed chair Ben Bernanke made it clear that the Central Bank has no intention of providing extra monetary stimulus to make up for rapidly-dissipating fiscal stimulus or the winding down of government subsidies for auto, home, and appliance purchases. The economy must muddle through on its own. But without additional pump-priming, disinflation will turn to outright deflation and the economy will sink into negative territory. Bernanke knows this, but he’s absolved himself of any further responsibility. It’s just a matter of time before the next slump.

Look at housing. The facts are grim. This is from Charles Hugh Smith:

About two-thirds of U.S. households own a house (75 million); 51 million have a mortgage and 24 million own homes free and clear (no mortgage). Most of the other 36 million households are moderate/low income and have limited or no access to credit and limited or no assets.

If we look up all the gory details in the fed Flow of Funds, we find that household real estate fell from $23 trillion in 2006 to $16.5 trillion at the end of 2009. That is a decline of $6.5 trillion, more than half the total $11 trillion lost in the credit/housing bust. Home mortgages have fallen a negligible amount, from $10.48 trillion in 2007 to $10.26 trillion at the end of 2009. As of the end of 2009, total equity in household real estate was a paltry $6.24 trillion of which about $5.25 trillion was held in free-and-clear homes (32% of all household real estate, i.e. 32% of $16.5 trillion).

Full Story: A Decade of Declining Home Prices Ahead.

Global warming: NASA says it’s the hottest year on record

Worldwide, 2010 is on track to become the warmest year on record.

Scientists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies reported recently that the average global temperature was higher over the past 12 months than during any other 12-month period in history. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released corroborating data, adding that the past four months, including June, have each individually been the hottest on record as well.

The NASA findings were based on data from 5,000 weather stations around the world, said scientist Reto Ruedy, co-author of the study. Scientists used temperature anomalies, or departures from the baseline, rather than absolute measurements to account for differences in the instruments of individual stations.

The average global temperature, computed over a 12-month period, reached a new record in May and held steady for the month of June, he said. This was despite the recent minimum in solar activity, which should have had a cooling effect on Earth.

Full Story: Global warming: NASA says it’s the hottest year on record | McClatchy.

Sen. Franken: Stop the Corporate Takeover of the Media

Sen. Al Franken (D.-Minn.) told more than 2,000 bloggers and organizers attending the Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas on July 24, 2010, that our media system is at risk everywhere we turn – from our free speech online to the growing power of companies who own a massive number of media outlets.

Join the fight at: www.SavetheInternet.com and www.FreePress.net/comcast.

Disputed chemical bisphenol-A found in paper receipts

As lawmakers and health experts wrestle over whether a controversial chemical, bisphenol-A, should be banned from food and beverage containers, a new analysis by an environmental group suggests Americans are being exposed to BPA through another, surprising route: paper receipts.

The Environmental Working Group found BPA on 40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical.

Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the environmental group, says BPA’s prevalence on receipts could help explain why the chemical can be detected in the urine of an estimated 93 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Full Story: Disputed chemical bisphenol-A found in paper receipts.

Oakland Authorizes Large-Scale Pot Farms, First Major City To Do So

The City Council gave final approval Tuesday to a plan that makes Oakland the first city in the country to authorize large-scale industrial pot cultivation.

The city intends to license four production plants where marijuana would be grown, packaged and processed for medical use.

Under the plan, which would take effect in January, license recipients would be heavily taxed and regulated. They would have to pay the city $211,000 in annual permit fees, carry $2 million in liability insurance and be prepared to devote up to 8 percent of gross sales to taxes.

The measure also would require bidders to meet certain labor, environmental and product safety standards.

However, there would be no size restrictions on the facilities.

Two of the eight City Council members abstained from the vote.

Full Story: Oakland Authorizes Large-Scale Pot Farms, First Major City To Do So.

Rendell: Obama Could Face Primary Challenge Over Afghanistan (VIDEO)

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell predicted on Tuesday that if the president escalates America’s military involvement in Afghanistan he could very well face a primary challenger in 2012.

In an overlooked “Morning Joe” segment on Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Democrat offered his distinct brand of eccentric, conversation-driving political foresight. He couched his statement about the possibility of a primary challenge by stressing that if Obama sticks to his current plans for Afghanistan — a reduced military presence beginning in July of 2011 — there would not be political insurrection within the party.

But Rendell clearly opened up the conversation as to how much capital Obama is working with when it comes to foreign wars. And for perhaps the first time in the course of the Afghanistan debate, the specter was raised that Democrats will really take the president to task for a military commitment that is too long, too costly, or too heavy.

Full Story: Rendell: Obama Could Face Primary Challenge Over Afghanistan (VIDEO).

War Bill PASSES Congress

Democrats Fail To Strike Down War Funding Bill

Antiwar Democrats have a rare opportunity to knock down a war funding bill, just days after Wikileaks released more than 90,000 documents confirming their worst fears about the direction of the conflict.

The House is bringing the bill up under a suspension of the rules, which require a two-thirds vote. Only 144 votes would be needed to to stop the war funding. The vote is expected to occur mid-afternoon. [UPDATE: So much for that. Only 102 Democrats joined a dozen Republicans and the war money passed, 308-114.]

The most recent vote on war money came July 1 and included an amendment to create a timetable for withdrawal. That measure drew 162 votes of support. A tougher amendment — to fund the occupation only for the purpose of withdrawing — garnered but a hundred votes.

Full Story: War Bill PASSES Congress.

Renewable energy: Wind farm ‘mega-project’ is underway in California

The Alta Wind Energy Center — with plans for thousands of acres of turbines to generate electricity for 600,000 Southern California homes — officially breaks ground Tuesday.

It’s being called the largest wind power project in the country, with plans for thousands of acres of towering turbines in the Mojave Desert foothills generating electricity for 600,000 homes in Southern California.

And now it’s finally kicking into gear.

The multibillion-dollar Alta Wind Energy Center has had a tortured history, stretching across nearly a decade of ownership changes, opposition from local residents and transmission infrastructure delays.

Full Story: Renewable energy: Wind farm ‘mega-project’ is underway in California – latimes.com.

Officials: Battle Creek oil spill among largest in Midwest history

As much as 1 million gallons of oil may have leaked into the Kalamazoo River near Battle Creek in what could be one of the largest oil spills in Midwest history, officials say.

U.S. Rep Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, called it the “largest oil spill in the history of the Midwest” in a description to President Barack Obama this afternoon prior to a conference call with the media.

“According to EPA officials, this is the largest oil spill ever in the Midwest,” he said. “The EPA is estimating 1 million gallons (spilled). … This feels like déjÀ vu all over again with regard to what happened in the Gulf.”

The oil spilled into Talmadge Creek, which flows northwest into the Kalamazoo River. The site is in Calhoun County’s Marshall Township near Battle Creek and about 60 miles southeast of Grand Rapids. The pipe may have been leaking for many hours before it was originally reported to have burst Monday morning. Marshall Township fire officials responded to complaints of an oily smell from residents.

More than 20 homes have been evacuated

Full Story: Officials: Battle Creek oil spill among largest in Midwest history | detnews.com | The Detroit News.

Department of Defense can’t account for 96 percent of money administered in Iraq reconstruction fund.

Yesterday, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) released its findings on how the money was spent from a special Iraq reconstruction fund set up by the Department of Defense (DOD) between 2003-2007. The account used Iraqi oil money to fund the reconstruction of Iraq. SIGIR concluded that 96 percent of the $9.1 billion the reconstruction program cannot be accounted for by the DOD:

A US federal watchdog has criticised the US military for failing to account properly for billions of dollars it received to help rebuild Iraq. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says the US Department of Defence is unable to account properly for 96% of the money. Out of just over $9bn (£5.8bn), $8.7bn is unaccounted for, the inspector says. [...]

The funds in question were administered by the US Department of Defence between 2004 and 2007, and were earmarked for reconstruction projects. But, the report says, a lack of proper accounting makes it impossible to say exactly what happened to most of the money.

Full Story: Think Progress » Department of Defense can’t account for 96 percent of money administered in Iraq reconstruction fund..

Target Donates $150K To Group Supporting Candidate Who Wants To Cut Waiters’ Minimum Wage

Earlier this year, Republicans were overjoyed when the Supreme Court overturned “a 63-year-old law designed to restrain the influence of big business and unions on elections.” As Common Cause noted, January’s Citizens United decision enhanced “the ability of the deepest-pocketed special interests to influence elections and the U.S. Congress.”

Thanks to Citizens United, Target is now a major Republican donor, giving $150,000 to MN Forward, a “Republican-friendly political fund staffed by insiders from departing GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s administration.” The AP reports on the retail chain’s new activism:

A Target spokeswoman said the company supports causes and candidates “based strictly on issues that affect our retail and business objectives.” Spokeswoman Lena Michaud said Target has a history of giving in state and local races where allowed, but wouldn’t provide detail on those donations.

Full Story: Think Progress » Target Donates $150K To Group Supporting Candidate Who Wants To Cut Waiters’ Minimum Wage.

Big Oil Apologist Haley Barbour Raises More Than $2 Million In Oil Money For RGA

Thanks to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s (R) prodigious fundraising, which continued apace even the very same day the oil slick reached Mississippi, the Republican Governors Association was able to raise an astonishing $19 million last quarter. A ThinkProgress review of RGA documents recently filed with the Internal Revenue Service reveals that a significant portion of last quarter’s haul—more than $2,000,000—came from oil and gas industry interests, including:

# $1,000,000 from infamous right-wing oil billionaire and tea party-funder David Koch.

# $250,000 from Devon Energy

# $150,000 from Chevron

# $100,000 from ExxonMobil

# $100,000 from Hunt Oil

# $25,000 from Marathon Oil

# $25,000 each from Bollinger Shipyards and the president of Gilbert Cheramie Boat, both of which provide support services to the offshore oil drilling industry.

Full Story: Think Progress » Big Oil Apologist Haley Barbour Raises More Than $2 Million In Oil Money For RGA.

Poll: Public favors Obama’s economic policies over Bush’s by wide margin.

As congressional Republicans double down on President Bush’s failed economic policies, a new National Journal/Pew Research poll finds that Americans believe President Obama’s “policies offer a better chance at improving the economy over the policies of his predecessor.” Interestingly, more Democrats favor Obama’s policies than Republicans favor Bush’s, while independents overwhelming side with Obama. Overall, despite continued tough economic times, 46 percent of Americans say Obama’s policies will do more to improve the economy, compared to just 29 percent who say the same of Bush’s:

Full Story: Think Progress » Poll: Public favors Obama’s economic policies over Bush’s by wide margin..

Hayward: I’m ‘too busy’ to testify to the Senate about the Lockerbie bomber’s release.

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be holding a hearing on the release of Lockerbie airliner bomb Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, and the role that BP may have played. Today, however, ousted BP CEO Tony Hayward told reporters that he wouldn’t be attending the hearing because he’s “too busy”:

Speaking to journalists at the company’s London headquarters, Hayward claimed that he had been unfairly “demonised and vilified” in the US where Barack Obama and other politicians have been severely critical of BP’s actions and taken exception to some of Hayward’s public comments. [...]

But Hayward said today he could not go [to the hearing] because “I have got a busy week [in the office]“. BP said it would send another representative to testify at the hearing.

Full Story: Think Progress » Hayward: I’m ‘too busy’ to testify to the Senate about the Lockerbie bomber’s release..

Afghan War Leaks Expose Costly Folly

WikiLeaks Bombshell Docs Paint Afghan War as Utter Disaster — Will We Finally Stop Throwing Money and Lives at This Catastrophe?

By Ray McGovern:

The brutality and fecklessness of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan have been laid bare in an undisputable way just days before the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on whether to throw $33.5 billion more into the Afghan quagmire, when that money is badly needed at home.

On Sunday, the Web site Wikileaks released some 92,000 documents written mostly by U.S. forces in Afghanistan during a six-year period from January 2004 to December 2009. The authenticity of the material – published under the title “Afghan War Diaries” – is not in doubt.

The New York Times, which received an embargoed version of the documents from Wikileaks, devoted six pages of its Monday editions to several articles on the disclosures, which reveal how the Afghan War slid into its current morass while the Bush administration concentrated U.S. military efforts on Iraq.

Wikileaks also gave advanced copies to the British newspaper, The Guardian, and the German newsmagazine, Der Spiegel, thus guaranteeing that the U.S. Fawning Corporate Media could not ignore these classified cables the way it did five years ago with the “Downing Street Memo,” a leaked British document which described how intelligence was “fixed” around President George W. Bush’s determination to invade Iraq.

Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.

Momentum Builds In Congress To Overhaul U.S. Chemicals Regulation

Paralleling a process begun in the Senate, two senior House Democrats have introduced legislation to update a federal law dating to 1976 that governs the use of potentially hazardous chemicals in consumer products.

Reps. Bobby Rush, of Illinois, and Rep. Henry Waxman, of California, introduced H.R. 5820, the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010, aimed at strengthening and updating the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the primary statute regulating chemical safety.

Waxman is the powerful chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, while Rush chairs the committee’s Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection subcommittee.

Full Story: On The Hill: Momentum Builds In Congress To Overhaul U.S. Chemicals Regulation.

The Great Decoupling of Corporate Profits from Jobs

Robert Reich :

Second-quarter earnings reports are coming in, and they’re making Wall Street smile. Corporate profits are up. And big American companies are sitting on a gigantic pile of money. The 500 largest non-financial firms held almost a trillion dollars in the second quarter, and that money pile is growing larger this quarter. Profits that plummeted in the recession have bounced back. Big businesses have recovered almost 90 percent of what they lost.

So with all this money and profit, they’ll start hiring again, right? Wrong – for three reasons.

First, lots of their profits are coming from their overseas operations. So that’s where they’re investing and expanding production.

GM now sells more cars in China than it does in the US, but makes most of them there. The company now employs 32,000 hourly workers in China. But only 52,000 GM hourly workers remain in the United States – down from 468,000 in 1970

Full Story: Robert Reich (The Great Decoupling of Corporate Profits from Jobs).

US scrambles emergency teams to new Gulf oil leak

The US Coast Guard dispatched emergency teams Tuesday after a boat crashed into an oil well off the coast of New Orleans, spilling crude into the Gulf of Mexico.

The well, located about 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of New Orleans, was ruptured when it was struck by a dredge barge called Captain Buford pulled by a tug, Pere Ana C.

Reports of a giant fountain of oil were downplayed by US authorities who said only a light sheen was visible on the surface, some six feet (1.8 meters) above the damaged wellhead.

Unrelated to the massive gusher recently capped by BP deep down on the seabed, the incident did occur in a nearby part of the Gulf of Mexico and clean-up vessels were redeployed to surround it with 6,000 feet of boom.

Full Story: AFP: US scrambles emergency teams to new Gulf oil leak.

U.S. audit finds Pentagon can’t account for $8 billion in Iraqi funds

The reconstruction money was from oil revenue it was entrusted with between 2004 and 2007, according to a newly released audit that underscores a pattern of poor record-keeping.

The Defense Department is unable to properly account for $8.7 billion out of $9.1 billion in Iraqi oil revenue entrusted to it between 2004 and 2007, according to a newly released audit that underscores a pattern of poor record-keeping during the war.

Of that amount, the military failed to provide any records at all for $2.6 billion in purported reconstruction expenditure, says the report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, which is responsible for monitoring U.S. spending in Iraq. The rest of the money was not properly deposited in special accounts as required under Treasury Department rules, making it difficult to trace how it was spent.

Though there is no apparent evidence of fraud, the improper accounting practices add to the pattern of mismanagement, reckless spending and, in some instances, corruption uncovered by the agency since 2004, when it was created to oversee the total of $53 billion in U.S. taxpayer money appropriated by Congress for the reconstruction effort.

Full Story: U.S. audit finds Pentagon can’t account for $8 billion in Iraqi funds – latimes.com.

OPS: This is in addition to the $8.5 Billion (IN CASH, ON PALLETS) that Brenner disappeared.

We Are in Real Trouble

Frm Senator Ernest F. Hollings:

The trouble with the President and Congress is that there are all imbued with reelection, i.e. the money for reelection.

Now we are in real trouble. We’ve lost the markets for textiles, cameras, radios, TVs, steel, electronics, computers, communications equipment, machine tools, advance technology, robots, steppers, etc. The little that we produce has now been bought up by foreigners. Big Blue, IBM and the Hummer went to China; Westinghouse Nuclear and all of its patents went to Japan; Bell labs and all of its discoveries went to France; Bethlehem Steel to is now Russian; Genentech went to Switzerland. And we can’t prepare for war. Boeing’s fighter planes depend on parts from India and Sikorsky for its helicopter must get its tail motor from Turkey.

We begin a program to stimulate American production and American jobs. But in April President Obama signs a declaration against protectionism at the summit of the big nations. And now The New York Times editorializes “’Buy American’ is a terrible idea.” You would think that having to get a Mexican loan to keep The New York Times going would have sobered them up from their mantra of “free trade” and “protectionism.” Our trouble is most people in the Congress believe The New York Times. Yet Congress is our only hope.

The United States of America began a trade war against the Mother Country’s protectionism. Under the Navigation Act of 1632, England required all production in the colony shipped back to England to be transported in English bottoms. Furthering protectionism, England enacted the Townsend Act with discriminatory tariffs causing the Boston Tea Party, igniting the Revolution. Once we had won our freedom, adopted a Constitution, and adopted a national seal, the first Congress in history, on July 4, 1789, pursuant to Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, assigning the duty of competing in international trade to Congress, enacted a protectionist tariff on numerous articles. We financed and built the industrial giant, U.S.A., with protectionism. Now, the President, the Congress, the press, and the think tanks, all think that protectionism or “Buy American” is a terrible idea.

Full Story: We Are in Real Trouble | Economy In Crisis.

Goldman Sachs Gave Billions of Taxpayer Money to Foreign Companies

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. documents, released by Senator Chuck Grassley, show that the investment banking and securities firm paid out $4.3 billion of American taxpayer money to foreign companies.

The foreign companies received the money as a reimbursement from Goldman Sachs for losses on investments in credit default swaps. These swaps were initially sold by AIG to Goldman Sachs, who in turn sold them to customers including foreign banks and companies. When the government, to the tune of $182.5 billion, bailed out AIG, Goldman Sachs was the recipient of $12.9 billion of that money indirectly. Much of the bailout money “given” to AIG consisted of funds used to pay its obligations to its Wall Street trading partners on credit default swaps, with Goldman Sachs being the biggest recipient.

Well, what is a credit default swap? A credit default swap is a contract in which party A agrees to pay party B a series of payments, and in return party B gives insurance on the default of a credit instrument, whereby if the credit instrument (such as a loan) were to go into default, party B would pay party A the value of the loan.

Full Story: Goldman Sachs Gave Billions of Taxpayer Money to Foreign Companies | Economy In Crisis.

Multinationals Costing U.S. Billions

Large American multinational corporations are evading their domestic tax obligations through a variety of schemes costing the U.S. Treasury billions of dollars each year, according to a report released last week by the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Companies are shifting profits to nations with lower tax rates, sometimes cutting their tax U.S. tax obligations in half each year, the report found.

“I always find it impossible to explain why a pharmacist in Bastrop, Texas, or a small retail store in San Marcos is having to pay higher rates on the income that their hard-working small business owners are earning than some multinational that can duck and dodge taxes in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) said, according to The Kansas City Star.

Full Story: Multinationals Costing U.S. Billions | Economy In Crisis.

Good news gives Dow 3rd straight triple digit gain

The Dow Jones industrial average gained more than 100 points for the third straight day Monday after traders got some unexpected good news about the economy.

A report on the housing market came in better than traders anticipated. And shipping giant FedEx Corp. released a forecast that was more upbeat than the prediction it made just six weeks ago.

The news pulled stocks out of a slow start and sent the Dow up 100 points by the close for a three-day gain of 405. Traders who a week ago were selling on a pessimistic view of companies’ earnings and the economy are now buying on the belief that the economic recovery, while slow, is proceeding.

Full Story: Good news gives Dow 3rd straight triple digit gain – Yahoo! News.

Polls: Americans Are Progressive On Most Issues

Note: Sources for the polling data include Pew Research Center, Gallup, and several other respected groups.

PDF: Non-Partisan Polling Data 1

PDF: Non-Partisan Polling Data 2

Momentum For Senate Filibuster Reform Builds

Momentum is building to reform Senate rules that allow silent filibusters and force a 60-vote requirement for virtually any action, interviews with Democratic candidates and sitting senators indicate.

Democratic candidates said that they hear regularly from voters about abuse of the parliamentary tactic, which is likely to come up as the first vote new senators face in 2011. The supermajority requirement in the Senate has become such an obstacle to reform that it infiltrates policy discussions at every step. Last week at the Netroots Nation political conference, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) gathered environmental writers to discuss energy legislation; the first few questions were related to energy, the rest of the conversation was dominated by the filibuster.

“The use of the filibuster and the way it’s led to backroom deals has created the impression in the heartland that the Senate is dysfunctional,” said Jack Conway, a Democratic candidate facing Republican Rand Paul in Kentucky. “They don’t understand why Washington can’t address the issues people care about. People in Kentucky wanted people focused on jobs — 14 months [of the health care debate] laid bare how broken the system was.”

Full Story: Momentum For Senate Filibuster Reform Builds.

Exclusive: Eager for new ‘Curveball,’ CIA may have been duped by Iranian double agent

Despite an Iranian claim that scientist Shahram Amiri was a double agent who gave Iran an “intelligence victory” over the CIA, US officials continue to maintain the line that Amiri had been a valuable long-term US intelligence asset who had provided valuable intelligence on the Iranian nuclear program before he returned to Iran out of concern for the family he had left behind.

A change of heart by a defector is far from unknown in the history of US espionage, but some former intelligence officials wonder if the CIA’s failure to exercise normal caution in its handling of Amiri could have led them to fall for a “dangle” — someone who offers to spy on his own government but who is actually working for that government’s intelligence service.

rsilogo Exclusive: Eager for new Curveball, CIA may have been duped by Iranian double agentFormer CIA official Philip Giraldi, who was briefed on the case last week by CIA officials with direct knowledge of it, said those who had been responsible for handling Amiri still did not regard him as a double agent. But he said an investigation had been opened by the CIA on the procedures that had been used in the case, indicating a serious concern that Amiri might have been deceiving the agency all along.

The Sunday Telegraph reported last week that a former CIA operative said the CIA was indeed investigating whether Amiri had been a double agent. The Washington Post’s Greg Miller quoted a “former high-ranking CIA official” as saying, “They have to go over everything he did provide and put a big caveat on it.”

Full Story: Exclusive: Eager for new ‘Curveball,’ CIA may have been duped by Iranian double agent | Raw Story.

Study: 10 pct. of Mexicans may “emigrate” to US due to climate change, decreased crop yields

Global warming could drive millions more Mexicans into the United States in search of work by 2080 due to diminishing crop yields in Mexico, a study released Monday showed.

“Depending on the warming scenarios used and adaptation levels assumed… climate change is estimated to induce 1.4 to 6.7 million adult Mexicans (or two percent to 10 percent of the current population aged 15-65 years) to emigrate as a result of declines in agricultural productivity alone,” the study said.

Researchers led by Michael Oppenheimer of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University estimated the sensitivity of migration to climate change and predicted the number of Mexicans who would migrate under a range of different climate and crop yield scenarios.

Full Story: Study: 10 pct. of Mexicans may emigrate to US due to climate change, decreased crop yields | Raw Story.

Franken: Republicans ‘Don’t Want People To Get Jobs Before The Election’

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) fired up progressive activists as the closing speaker at the fifth annual Netroots Nation conference on Saturday evening. He jokingly called the gathering “the most exciting political gathering of the year without guns” and told the gathering to keep fighting and pushing elected officials.

A few hours before the event, ThinkProgress sat down with Franken and asked him about the public’s frustration with the Senate’s gridlock. Franken told us that the new Senate will likely take up filibuster reform next year, an effort that he supports. He also discussed the need for other procedural reforms:

TP: Is there any other ideas that aren’t being talked about as much that you think would help the Senate be more productive?

FRANKEN: Well, I think there are, you know, a lot of this is procedural reform on how you offer amendments, and again, obviously, on cloture, and filibusters, and how many hours you have to have of debate even after cloture. One easy idea is, you have to wait 30 hours after a cloture vote to vote, because there’s supposedly 30 hours of debate. Well, sometimes they’ve had cloture votes where it’s — we’ve had to vote cloture on something that isn’t controversial at all, like a nominee who ends up passing 98-nothing. There’s no debate over the next 30 hours. So, you could say, I mean, one easy reform would be, say, either side or both sides can give up 15 hours. So, instead of it being 30 hours, it’s 15 hours. I mean, a lot of all of this was just to slow-foot, to slow things down.

Full Story: Think Progress » Franken: Republicans ‘Don’t Want People To Get Jobs Before The Election’.

Rubio’s Spending Cuts Plan: End Tax Benefits For The Middle Class While Extending Them For The Rich

Earlier this month, Florida GOP U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio unveiled his economic plan which is basically just a double-down on the Bush tax cuts with, as the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo noted, “an unspecified corporate tax cut thrown on top for good measure.” How does Rubio plan to pay for all these tax cuts? His campaign “couldn’t give an answer.”

Today, Rubio laid out a new plan to cut spending — “12 Simple Ways To Cut Spending,” his campaign calls it. The plan contains many ideas that would do very little in terms of paying down the debt and reducing the deficit — including eliminating earmarks, reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy, and cutting Congressional and White House budgets. Others are outright gimmicks, such as allowing taxpayers to allocate taxes to the debt and calling for a balanced budget amendment.

But also, Rubio — like some of his colleagues on the right — wants to end the stimulus program:

• IDEA #4: End The Stimulus Program And Use The Savings To Cut The Debt. We must end the wasteful stimulus program that has failed to create jobs. Stimulus money that has not been spent should be used for something that will actually help the economy and create jobs, or to pay down the debt. Canceling unspent stimulus funds could save over $300 billion.

Full Story: Think Progress » Rubio’s Spending Cuts Plan: End Tax Benefits For The Middle Class While Extending Them For The Rich.

6 Reasons Nuclear Energy Advocate Stewart Brand Is Wrong

Nuclear energy is a Dark Age technology, defined by unsustainable costs, inefficiencies, eco-destruction, radiation releases and much more.

Stewart Brand has become a poster boy for a “nuclear renaissance” that has just suffered a quiet but stunning defeat. Despite $645 million spent in lobbying over the past decade, the reactor industry has thus far failed to gouge out major new taxpayer funding for new commercial reactors.

In an exceedingly complex series of twists and turns, no legislation now pending in Congress contains firm commitments to the tens of billions reactor builders have been demanding. They could still come by the end of the session. But the radioactive cake walk many expected the industry to take through the budget process has thus far failed to happen.

The full story is excruciatingly complicated. But the core reasons are simple: atomic power can’t compete, and makes global warming worse.

Full Story: 6 Reasons Nuclear Energy Advocate Stewart Brand Is Wrong | Environment | AlterNet.