Jason Leopold Cheney Could Not Recall Key Events About His Role in CIA Leak
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "A month before Valerie Plame Wilson's covert status as a CIA operative was revealed, Vice President Dick Cheney told his then-chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, and his press secretary, Cathie Martin, that Plame Wilson worked at the CIA. But according to a 28-page summary of Cheney’s May 8, 2004 interview with the special prosecutor probing the leak, Cheney did not recall having that conversation." Read the Article
William Rivers Pitt Hilarious Halloween
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "Everyone expects to see and hear some strange stuff whenever Halloween comes around. The costumes, the parties, the old ghost stories that always make the rounds and that ever-present breed of individual who takes the season a little too seriously and decides they'll actually try to be a vampire for a night. 'Tis the season. The definition of 'strange,' however, tends to get bent into all sorts of bizarre new shapes whenever the GOP gets into the game, and several of that party's members have apparently decided to make this Halloween something truly special for the rest of us." Read the Article
Bill Moyers Interview with James Galbraith
Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal. Bill Moyers interviews James Galbraith on the economy. Read the Article
White House: Economic Stimulus Accounts for 640,000 Jobs.
Mark Trumbull, The Christian Science Monitor: "The White House says the economic stimulus accounts for 640,000 jobs. But the picture is mixed across the US." Read the Article
Obama Scores Regional Points with Zelaya's Return
Matthew Berger, Inter Press Service: "Following months of dithering on the part of the US, a delegation from the US State Department brokered a deal Thursday between the ousted and interim governments of Honduras... – the restoration of ousted president Manuel Zelaya to the presidency for the remaining two plus months of his term." Read the Article
Pakistanis to Clinton: War on Terror Is Not Our War
Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers: "After three days of encounters with America-bashing Pakistanis - who rejected her contention that the US and Pakistan face a common enemy - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that 'we're not getting through.'" Read the Article
Mark Weisbrot Ecuador, Bolivia Show That Even Small Developing Countries Can Pursue Independent Economic Policies, Stand Up for Their Rights, and Win
Mark Weisbrot, The Center for Economic and Policy Research: "Among the conventional wisdom that we hear every day in the business press is that developing countries should bend over backwards to create a friendly climate for foreign corporations, follow orthodox (neo-liberal) macro-economic policy advice, strive to achieve an investment-grade sovereign credit rating so as to attract more foreign capital... Guess what country is expected to have the fastest economic growth in the Americas this year? Bolivia." Read the Article
Luers and Luers It's Liberty at Stake in a Warming World
William H. Luers and Amy L. Luers, GlobalPost, "President Barack Obama opened a new chapter in America’s role in solving global problems in his speech to the UN General Assembly. By calling for the US to re-engage in the global community, he has set us on a new course to preserve American liberty. The preservation of liberty has been the most powerful unifying political commitment for generations of Americans. With global warming, the threats to our liberty are now tied more than ever before to the actions of all nations. The climate change negotiations in Copenhagen this December and in DC provide a critical opportunity for the US to start down this new path." Read the Article
Ellen Hodgson Brown J.D. Cut Wall Street Out! How States Can Finance Their Own Economic Recovery
Ellen Hodgson Brown J.D., Truthout: "Pouring money into the private banking system has only fixed the economy for bankers and the wealthy; it has not done much to address either the fundamental problem of unemployment or the debt trap so many Americans find themselves in." Read the Article
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
State school superintendent not on track to help students
South Bend Tribune
VIEWPOINT
By DON WHEELER
In a pretty stunning Tribune story Oct. 7, reporter Joseph Dits summarized presentations made by state education officials and their consultants at a Chamber of Conference of St. Joseph County summit.
I call it stunning because, though Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett revealed he had some quibbles with state policy, he chiefly laid the blame for poor results at the feet of local schools and their boards. And this exchange reported by Dits was very troubling:
"Businessman Perry Watson III told the leaders they failed to speak of the importance of preschool and primary education. He also said he believed they need to talk about educating parents, saying, 'There's a disproportionate burden on the system, and parents always get a pass.'
Bennett said he is a proponent of preschool but doesn't think it's a cure for what's ailing education in kindergarten through 12th grade."
If Bennett really believes that, then he needs to be introduced to the vast number of studies which will pretty much unanimously confirm he has no idea what he's talking about. He can start with the National Institute of Early Education at Rutgers University. They routinely cover the results of state-sponsored universal pre-kindergarten programs, which invariably provide measurably improved outcomes. The states of Oklahoma, New Mexico and others have had such programs in place for years. And Indiana?
This state won't even fund universal full-day kindergarten. Heck, kindergarten attendance in Indiana is optional. Don't feel like enrolling your kid? No problem.
Additionally, Indiana cuts off admittance to grade level (by birth date) earlier than any other state. This means children in Indiana begin their state-provided education later than in anywhere else in the country. Add this all up, and it's clear that one of the hardest jobs in the world is being a first-grade teacher in Indiana. In your classroom you'll find children with two years of pre-school — plus kindergarten — under their belts and children who possibly are in a school setting for the first time in their lives. There will be at least 20 of them altogether.
I wonder how Bennett figures these children who start late will make up these deficits. Does he think that it's the job of these valiant first grade teachers to even the odds by the year's end? Does he think these kids need to pull themselves up by their book straps? Neither will happen.
And this wisdom comes from a man who proposes that it isn't that important to know how to teach in order to teach. His claim is that people who major in the subject area they plan to teach will learn more about the subject than an education major will. (I guess he thinks folks will figure out that teaching stuff on the job.) This was neatly refuted by the dean of the School of Education of Indiana University who pointed out that it is often the case that education majors are required to take more hours on the given subject than is required of students majoring in the subject.
And, of course, Bennett has tried to be helpful in so many other ways. Like insisting that school corporations can no longer have any half days in lieu of full days. This effectively eliminated the twice-a-year parent teacher conferences, because it would have required renegotiating teacher contracts in order to add days to the school calendar. As my daughter's first-grade teacher pointed out, if what he wanted was to make sure children received a minimum time period in classes in a given year, he could have instituted an hour requirement — as Michigan uses. All a school system would need to do is lengthen the school day by a few minutes — not subject to contract amendment.
And you'd think if Bennett were looking for success for students, he'd advocate that all school systems use programs with proven track records — and admonish the legislature to fund such programs. Wouldn't you?
The Wilson/LiPS reading program, which focuses on the decoding and encoding of English words and stimulating phonemic awareness, has a stunning record of success. Introduced to the South Bend Community School Corp. by Hay Primary Center Principal Craig Haenes through private donations, it has become available in three other schools — but the school corporation has no money to take it systemwide. On the other hand, Wilson LiPS might be useful to our high schoolers if we ignore early education.
In short, Bennett inspires little confidence that he's up to the task of improving our schools.
VIEWPOINT
By DON WHEELER
In a pretty stunning Tribune story Oct. 7, reporter Joseph Dits summarized presentations made by state education officials and their consultants at a Chamber of Conference of St. Joseph County summit.
I call it stunning because, though Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett revealed he had some quibbles with state policy, he chiefly laid the blame for poor results at the feet of local schools and their boards. And this exchange reported by Dits was very troubling:
"Businessman Perry Watson III told the leaders they failed to speak of the importance of preschool and primary education. He also said he believed they need to talk about educating parents, saying, 'There's a disproportionate burden on the system, and parents always get a pass.'
Bennett said he is a proponent of preschool but doesn't think it's a cure for what's ailing education in kindergarten through 12th grade."
If Bennett really believes that, then he needs to be introduced to the vast number of studies which will pretty much unanimously confirm he has no idea what he's talking about. He can start with the National Institute of Early Education at Rutgers University. They routinely cover the results of state-sponsored universal pre-kindergarten programs, which invariably provide measurably improved outcomes. The states of Oklahoma, New Mexico and others have had such programs in place for years. And Indiana?
This state won't even fund universal full-day kindergarten. Heck, kindergarten attendance in Indiana is optional. Don't feel like enrolling your kid? No problem.
Additionally, Indiana cuts off admittance to grade level (by birth date) earlier than any other state. This means children in Indiana begin their state-provided education later than in anywhere else in the country. Add this all up, and it's clear that one of the hardest jobs in the world is being a first-grade teacher in Indiana. In your classroom you'll find children with two years of pre-school — plus kindergarten — under their belts and children who possibly are in a school setting for the first time in their lives. There will be at least 20 of them altogether.
I wonder how Bennett figures these children who start late will make up these deficits. Does he think that it's the job of these valiant first grade teachers to even the odds by the year's end? Does he think these kids need to pull themselves up by their book straps? Neither will happen.
And this wisdom comes from a man who proposes that it isn't that important to know how to teach in order to teach. His claim is that people who major in the subject area they plan to teach will learn more about the subject than an education major will. (I guess he thinks folks will figure out that teaching stuff on the job.) This was neatly refuted by the dean of the School of Education of Indiana University who pointed out that it is often the case that education majors are required to take more hours on the given subject than is required of students majoring in the subject.
And, of course, Bennett has tried to be helpful in so many other ways. Like insisting that school corporations can no longer have any half days in lieu of full days. This effectively eliminated the twice-a-year parent teacher conferences, because it would have required renegotiating teacher contracts in order to add days to the school calendar. As my daughter's first-grade teacher pointed out, if what he wanted was to make sure children received a minimum time period in classes in a given year, he could have instituted an hour requirement — as Michigan uses. All a school system would need to do is lengthen the school day by a few minutes — not subject to contract amendment.
And you'd think if Bennett were looking for success for students, he'd advocate that all school systems use programs with proven track records — and admonish the legislature to fund such programs. Wouldn't you?
The Wilson/LiPS reading program, which focuses on the decoding and encoding of English words and stimulating phonemic awareness, has a stunning record of success. Introduced to the South Bend Community School Corp. by Hay Primary Center Principal Craig Haenes through private donations, it has become available in three other schools — but the school corporation has no money to take it systemwide. On the other hand, Wilson LiPS might be useful to our high schoolers if we ignore early education.
In short, Bennett inspires little confidence that he's up to the task of improving our schools.
Forrest Church: Five things I've learned about the ministry
I found these videos recently of a sermon given by the late Forrest Church of All Souls Church in New York City, sometime in early 2008. We lost Dr. Church late last month, and it was a bad loss indeed for Unitarian Universalists as well as many other people - both famous and unknown.
What I found remarkable about this particular work was the way it not only provided a guide for faith leaders, it also translates well for the rest of us who try to do good works - large and small. I hope you enjoy it half as much as I do.
What I found remarkable about this particular work was the way it not only provided a guide for faith leaders, it also translates well for the rest of us who try to do good works - large and small. I hope you enjoy it half as much as I do.
FP morning post 10/30
Top story:
Manuel Zelaya to return to power. The interim government of Roberto Micheletti signed an agreement with Zelaya that would put Zelaya's fate into the hands of Honduras's Congress, which is largely filled with Micheletti loyalists. If Zelaya can win over the congress, he would hold the presidency until election on Nov. 29.
"We are optimistic that my reinstatement is imminent," said Zelaya. The embattled leader said he now has no plans to run for president, which would be prohibited by Honduras's constitution. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has supported Zelaya's reinstatement, praised the deal.
No deal with Iran?
U.S. and EU officials tell the New York Times that Iran has rejected the international deal negotiated last week, that would involve sending the countries uranium abroad for enrichment. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday praised the international community's cooperation on the nuclear issue, but negotiators say Iran has refused to accept the central feature of the agreement.
"The key issue is that Iran does not agree to export its lightly enriched uranium," one official said. "That’s not a minor detail. That’s the whole point of the deal."
Middle East
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
An al Qaeda-linked Lebanese group claimed responsibility for this week's rocket attack on Israel.
Israel marked the fourteenth anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination.
Asia
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Pakistani journalist she believes the country is still doing too little to fight al Qaeda.
South Korea announced plans to send troops to Afghanistan to protect its civilian aid workers.
China has invited North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il for a visit.
Africa
The African Union is planning to impose sanctions on Guinea's leaders.
A Liberian Government investigation has concluded that the Firestone Rubber Company polluted local water sources.
At least 47 policemen were killed after trying to intervene in an ethnic clash in the D.R. Congo.
Americas
Haiti's Prime Minister has been fired by the senate.
The U.S. and Colombia signed a controversial agreement to increase the U.S. military
Buenos Aires have been paralyzed by strikes of teachers, doctors and, transit employees.
Europe
Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial for embezzlement.
On the last day of their summit, EU leaders are working to reach an agreement on climate change funding.
A U.N. Human Rights Council report condemned Russia's failure to protect its journalists.
Manuel Zelaya to return to power. The interim government of Roberto Micheletti signed an agreement with Zelaya that would put Zelaya's fate into the hands of Honduras's Congress, which is largely filled with Micheletti loyalists. If Zelaya can win over the congress, he would hold the presidency until election on Nov. 29.
"We are optimistic that my reinstatement is imminent," said Zelaya. The embattled leader said he now has no plans to run for president, which would be prohibited by Honduras's constitution. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has supported Zelaya's reinstatement, praised the deal.
No deal with Iran?
U.S. and EU officials tell the New York Times that Iran has rejected the international deal negotiated last week, that would involve sending the countries uranium abroad for enrichment. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday praised the international community's cooperation on the nuclear issue, but negotiators say Iran has refused to accept the central feature of the agreement.
"The key issue is that Iran does not agree to export its lightly enriched uranium," one official said. "That’s not a minor detail. That’s the whole point of the deal."
Middle East
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
An al Qaeda-linked Lebanese group claimed responsibility for this week's rocket attack on Israel.
Israel marked the fourteenth anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination.
Asia
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Pakistani journalist she believes the country is still doing too little to fight al Qaeda.
South Korea announced plans to send troops to Afghanistan to protect its civilian aid workers.
China has invited North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il for a visit.
Africa
The African Union is planning to impose sanctions on Guinea's leaders.
A Liberian Government investigation has concluded that the Firestone Rubber Company polluted local water sources.
At least 47 policemen were killed after trying to intervene in an ethnic clash in the D.R. Congo.
Americas
Haiti's Prime Minister has been fired by the senate.
The U.S. and Colombia signed a controversial agreement to increase the U.S. military
Buenos Aires have been paralyzed by strikes of teachers, doctors and, transit employees.
Europe
Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial for embezzlement.
On the last day of their summit, EU leaders are working to reach an agreement on climate change funding.
A U.N. Human Rights Council report condemned Russia's failure to protect its journalists.
Truthout 10/30
William Fisher Psychologist Accused of Complicity in Torture
William Fisher, Truthout: "The state board responsible for licensing - and disciplining - psychologists in Louisiana is 'fighting awfully hard to turn a blind eye to serious allegations of abuse' brought against one of its members, who is being accused of complicity in beatings, religious and sexual humiliation, rape threats and painful body positions during his service as a senior adviser on interrogations for the US military in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Read the Article Digg! This Story
Honduras Deal: Ousted President Zelaya Can Return to Office
Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor: "The deal would include the creation of a powersharing government and the promise on both sides that presidential elections slated for November 29 will be respected. It also would establish a truth commission and signal an end to international sanctions - slapped on Honduras by countries, including the US - in protest of Zelaya's removal from office." Read the Article
UN Can't Account for Millions Sent to Afghan Election Board
T. Christian Miller and Dafna Linzer, ProPublica: "The United Nations cannot account for tens of millions of dollars provided to the troubled Afghan election commission, according to two confidential UN audits and interviews with current and former senior diplomats. As Afghanistan prepares for a second round of national voting, the documents and interviews paint the fullest picture to date of the finances of the election commission, which has been accused of facilitating election fraud and operating ghost polling places. The new disclosures also deepen the questions about the UN's oversight of money provided by the United States and other nations to ensure a fair election in Afghanistan." Read the Article
Stephen Rohde Habeas Corpus: Vessel to Safe Harbor
Stephen Rohde, The Los Angeles Daily Journal: "Setting the stage for the next major challenge to the power of the president, this time Barack Obama rather than George W. Bush, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a federal judge can order the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees into the United States. The case involves 13 Chinese Uighurs, captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan and imprisoned since 2002, whom American officials determined four years ago were not a threat to the United States. They cannot be safely returned to China because they are members of a Muslim separatist minority, who have been repressed by the central Chinese government." Read the Article
Dean Baker Cash for Clunkers Drives Third-Quarter GDP Growth
Dean Baker The Center for Economic and Policy Research: "GDP grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, driven by a 22.4 percent jump in car sales, the result of the Cash for Clunkers (C4C) program. This increase in car sales accounted for 42.0 percent of the growth in the quarter. Consumption as a whole, which grew at a 3.4 percent annual rate, added 2.36 percentage points to growth. Other components making large contributions to growth were inventories, which added 0.94 percentage points; national defense, which added 0.45 percentage points; and residential construction, which added 0.53 percentage points, its first positive number since the fourth quarter of 2005. The surge in car buying will be reversed in the current quarter, as the main effect of the C4C was to pull car purchases forward. As a result, the auto sector will be a substantial drag on growth in the current quarter. Apart from the auto sector, consumption grew at a 1.0 percent annual rate." Read the Article
Lack of Health Care Led to 17,000 US Child Deaths
Agence France-Presse: "Lack of adequate health care may have contributed to the deaths of some 17,000 US children over the past two decades, according to a study released by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. The research, to be published Friday in the Journal of Public Health, was compiled from more than 23 million hospital records from 37 states between 1988 and 2005. The study concluded that children without health insurance are far more likely to succumb to their illnesses than those with medical coverage." Read the Article
Robert Scheer Lieberman Twists the Knife
Robert Scheer, Truthout: "Is there a more hypocritical figure in American politics than Joe Lieberman? The Connecticut senator declared Tuesday that he would support a filibuster of any health care reform bill that has a public option - even the version with the 'trigger' compromise accepted by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe - because it might cost money. 'I think that a lot of people may think that the public option is free,' said Lieberman, one of the Senate's big spenders, in a suddenly frugal mood. 'It's not. It's going to cost the taxpayers and people that have health insurance now, and if it doesn't, it's going to add terribly to our national debt.'" Read the Article
Lawrence S. Wittner What Savvy Leaders Could Do to Move Toward a Nuclear-Free World
Lawrence S. Wittner, Truthout: "Addressing a UN Security Council Summit on September 24, 2009, President Barack Obama observed that the resolution unanimously adopted by the Security Council earlier that day 'enshrines our shared commitment to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.' But the enthusiasm for this measure among the representatives of major nations should not obscure the fact that securing their commitment to a nuclear-free world was for years an uphill struggle - one that began, with some political sleight-of-hand, in a nuclear superpower, the Soviet Union." Read the Article Digg! This Story
El Pais (Spain) "A" for Abortion: Latin America's Scarlet Letter
El Pais (Translation: Ryan Croken): "The political projects currently underway in Latin America come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing that most all of the governments have in common is their flat-out refusal to even discuss the legalization of abortion. In spite of the silence, the statistics are alarming: four million back-alley abortions a year, and 4,000 women who die (in appallingly unsanitary conditions) trying to get one. Aside from Cuba and the Federal District in Mexico, where abortion is legal upon request within the first several months of pregnancy, many countries in Latin America only provide legal abortions in cases of rape, incest and serious fetal defects, and these limited exceptions are only available in countries with the most progressive - relatively speaking - laws. For the most part, punishment is not enforced only when the mother's life is in danger." Read the Article
Herve Kempf Climate Change a Distant Problem for Americans
Herve Kempf, Le Monde (Translation: Leslie Thatcher): "What do Americans think about climate change? The success of Al Gore's film, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' may have allowed us to imagine this phenomenon had become a major concern. However, at the same time, the strength of 'climate skeptics' and of the opposition to the proposed climate change law in Congress show that the question is far from settled. A team of sociologists has been studying American attitudes on the subject for several years. Their final report ... is based on an in-depth questionnaire submitted to 2,189 citizens at the end of 2008." Read the Article
William Fisher, Truthout: "The state board responsible for licensing - and disciplining - psychologists in Louisiana is 'fighting awfully hard to turn a blind eye to serious allegations of abuse' brought against one of its members, who is being accused of complicity in beatings, religious and sexual humiliation, rape threats and painful body positions during his service as a senior adviser on interrogations for the US military in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Read the Article Digg! This Story
Honduras Deal: Ousted President Zelaya Can Return to Office
Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor: "The deal would include the creation of a powersharing government and the promise on both sides that presidential elections slated for November 29 will be respected. It also would establish a truth commission and signal an end to international sanctions - slapped on Honduras by countries, including the US - in protest of Zelaya's removal from office." Read the Article
UN Can't Account for Millions Sent to Afghan Election Board
T. Christian Miller and Dafna Linzer, ProPublica: "The United Nations cannot account for tens of millions of dollars provided to the troubled Afghan election commission, according to two confidential UN audits and interviews with current and former senior diplomats. As Afghanistan prepares for a second round of national voting, the documents and interviews paint the fullest picture to date of the finances of the election commission, which has been accused of facilitating election fraud and operating ghost polling places. The new disclosures also deepen the questions about the UN's oversight of money provided by the United States and other nations to ensure a fair election in Afghanistan." Read the Article
Stephen Rohde Habeas Corpus: Vessel to Safe Harbor
Stephen Rohde, The Los Angeles Daily Journal: "Setting the stage for the next major challenge to the power of the president, this time Barack Obama rather than George W. Bush, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a federal judge can order the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees into the United States. The case involves 13 Chinese Uighurs, captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan and imprisoned since 2002, whom American officials determined four years ago were not a threat to the United States. They cannot be safely returned to China because they are members of a Muslim separatist minority, who have been repressed by the central Chinese government." Read the Article
Dean Baker Cash for Clunkers Drives Third-Quarter GDP Growth
Dean Baker The Center for Economic and Policy Research: "GDP grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, driven by a 22.4 percent jump in car sales, the result of the Cash for Clunkers (C4C) program. This increase in car sales accounted for 42.0 percent of the growth in the quarter. Consumption as a whole, which grew at a 3.4 percent annual rate, added 2.36 percentage points to growth. Other components making large contributions to growth were inventories, which added 0.94 percentage points; national defense, which added 0.45 percentage points; and residential construction, which added 0.53 percentage points, its first positive number since the fourth quarter of 2005. The surge in car buying will be reversed in the current quarter, as the main effect of the C4C was to pull car purchases forward. As a result, the auto sector will be a substantial drag on growth in the current quarter. Apart from the auto sector, consumption grew at a 1.0 percent annual rate." Read the Article
Lack of Health Care Led to 17,000 US Child Deaths
Agence France-Presse: "Lack of adequate health care may have contributed to the deaths of some 17,000 US children over the past two decades, according to a study released by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. The research, to be published Friday in the Journal of Public Health, was compiled from more than 23 million hospital records from 37 states between 1988 and 2005. The study concluded that children without health insurance are far more likely to succumb to their illnesses than those with medical coverage." Read the Article
Robert Scheer Lieberman Twists the Knife
Robert Scheer, Truthout: "Is there a more hypocritical figure in American politics than Joe Lieberman? The Connecticut senator declared Tuesday that he would support a filibuster of any health care reform bill that has a public option - even the version with the 'trigger' compromise accepted by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe - because it might cost money. 'I think that a lot of people may think that the public option is free,' said Lieberman, one of the Senate's big spenders, in a suddenly frugal mood. 'It's not. It's going to cost the taxpayers and people that have health insurance now, and if it doesn't, it's going to add terribly to our national debt.'" Read the Article
Lawrence S. Wittner What Savvy Leaders Could Do to Move Toward a Nuclear-Free World
Lawrence S. Wittner, Truthout: "Addressing a UN Security Council Summit on September 24, 2009, President Barack Obama observed that the resolution unanimously adopted by the Security Council earlier that day 'enshrines our shared commitment to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.' But the enthusiasm for this measure among the representatives of major nations should not obscure the fact that securing their commitment to a nuclear-free world was for years an uphill struggle - one that began, with some political sleight-of-hand, in a nuclear superpower, the Soviet Union." Read the Article Digg! This Story
El Pais (Spain) "A" for Abortion: Latin America's Scarlet Letter
El Pais (Translation: Ryan Croken): "The political projects currently underway in Latin America come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing that most all of the governments have in common is their flat-out refusal to even discuss the legalization of abortion. In spite of the silence, the statistics are alarming: four million back-alley abortions a year, and 4,000 women who die (in appallingly unsanitary conditions) trying to get one. Aside from Cuba and the Federal District in Mexico, where abortion is legal upon request within the first several months of pregnancy, many countries in Latin America only provide legal abortions in cases of rape, incest and serious fetal defects, and these limited exceptions are only available in countries with the most progressive - relatively speaking - laws. For the most part, punishment is not enforced only when the mother's life is in danger." Read the Article
Herve Kempf Climate Change a Distant Problem for Americans
Herve Kempf, Le Monde (Translation: Leslie Thatcher): "What do Americans think about climate change? The success of Al Gore's film, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' may have allowed us to imagine this phenomenon had become a major concern. However, at the same time, the strength of 'climate skeptics' and of the opposition to the proposed climate change law in Congress show that the question is far from settled. A team of sociologists has been studying American attitudes on the subject for several years. Their final report ... is based on an in-depth questionnaire submitted to 2,189 citizens at the end of 2008." Read the Article
The defining moment
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
O.K., folks, this is it. It’s the defining moment for health care reform.
Past efforts to give Americans what citizens of every other advanced nation already have — guaranteed access to essential care — have ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, usually dying in committee without ever making it to a vote.
But this time, broadly similar health-care bills have made it through multiple committees in both houses of Congress. And on Thursday, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, unveiled the legislation that she will send to the House floor, where it will almost surely pass. It’s not a perfect bill, by a long shot, but it’s a much stronger bill than almost anyone expected to emerge even a few weeks ago. And it would lead to near-universal coverage.
As a result, everyone in the political class — by which I mean politicians, people in the news media, and so on, basically whoever is in a position to influence the final stage of this legislative marathon — now has to make a choice. The seemingly impossible dream of fundamental health reform is just a few steps away from becoming reality, and each player has to decide whether he or she is going to help it across the finish line or stand in its way.
For conservatives, of course, it’s an easy decision: They don’t want Americans to have universal coverage, and they don’t want President Obama to succeed.
For progressives, it’s a slightly more difficult decision: They want universal care, and they want the president to succeed — but the proposed legislation falls far short of their ideal. There are still some reform advocates who won’t accept anything short of a full transition to Medicare for all as opposed to a hybrid, compromise system that relies heavily on private insurers. And even those who have reconciled themselves to the political realities are disappointed that the bill doesn’t include a “strong” public option, with payment rates linked to those set by Medicare.
But the bill does include a “medium-strength” public option, in which the public plan would negotiate payment rates — defying the predictions of pundits who have repeatedly declared any kind of public-option plan dead. It also includes more generous subsidies than expected, making it easier for lower-income families to afford coverage. And according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, almost everyone — 96 percent of legal residents too young to receive Medicare — would get health insurance.
So should progressives get behind this plan? Yes. And they probably will.
The people who really have to make up their minds, then, are those in between, the self-proclaimed centrists.
The odd thing about this group is that while its members are clearly uncomfortable with the idea of passing health care reform, they’re having a hard time explaining exactly what their problem is. Or to be more precise and less polite, they have been attacking proposed legislation for doing things it doesn’t and for not doing things it does.
Thus, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut says, “I want to be able to vote for a health bill, but my top concern is the deficit.” That would be a serious objection to the proposals currently on the table if they would, in fact, increase the deficit. But they wouldn’t, at least according to the Congressional Budget Office, which estimates that the House bill, in particular, would actually reduce the deficit by $100 billion over the next decade.
Or consider the remarkable exchange that took place this week between Peter Orszag, the White House budget director, and Fred Hiatt, The Washington Post’s opinion editor. Mr. Hiatt had criticized Congress for not taking what he considers the necessary steps to control health-care costs — namely, taxing high-cost insurance plans and establishing an independent Medicare commission. Writing on the budget office blog — yes, there is one, and it’s essential reading — Mr. Orszag pointed out, not too gently, that the Senate Finance Committee’s bill actually includes both of the allegedly missing measures.
I won’t try to psychoanalyze the “naysayers,” as Mr. Orszag describes them. I’d just urge them to take a good hard look in the mirror. If they really want to align themselves with the hard-line conservatives, if they just want to kill health reform, so be it. But they shouldn’t hide behind claims that they really, truly would support health care reform if only it were better designed.
For this is the moment of truth. The political environment is as favorable for reform as it’s likely to get. The legislation on the table isn’t perfect, but it’s as good as anyone could reasonably have expected. History is about to be made — and everyone has to decide which side they’re on.
New York Times
O.K., folks, this is it. It’s the defining moment for health care reform.
Past efforts to give Americans what citizens of every other advanced nation already have — guaranteed access to essential care — have ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, usually dying in committee without ever making it to a vote.
But this time, broadly similar health-care bills have made it through multiple committees in both houses of Congress. And on Thursday, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, unveiled the legislation that she will send to the House floor, where it will almost surely pass. It’s not a perfect bill, by a long shot, but it’s a much stronger bill than almost anyone expected to emerge even a few weeks ago. And it would lead to near-universal coverage.
As a result, everyone in the political class — by which I mean politicians, people in the news media, and so on, basically whoever is in a position to influence the final stage of this legislative marathon — now has to make a choice. The seemingly impossible dream of fundamental health reform is just a few steps away from becoming reality, and each player has to decide whether he or she is going to help it across the finish line or stand in its way.
For conservatives, of course, it’s an easy decision: They don’t want Americans to have universal coverage, and they don’t want President Obama to succeed.
For progressives, it’s a slightly more difficult decision: They want universal care, and they want the president to succeed — but the proposed legislation falls far short of their ideal. There are still some reform advocates who won’t accept anything short of a full transition to Medicare for all as opposed to a hybrid, compromise system that relies heavily on private insurers. And even those who have reconciled themselves to the political realities are disappointed that the bill doesn’t include a “strong” public option, with payment rates linked to those set by Medicare.
But the bill does include a “medium-strength” public option, in which the public plan would negotiate payment rates — defying the predictions of pundits who have repeatedly declared any kind of public-option plan dead. It also includes more generous subsidies than expected, making it easier for lower-income families to afford coverage. And according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, almost everyone — 96 percent of legal residents too young to receive Medicare — would get health insurance.
So should progressives get behind this plan? Yes. And they probably will.
The people who really have to make up their minds, then, are those in between, the self-proclaimed centrists.
The odd thing about this group is that while its members are clearly uncomfortable with the idea of passing health care reform, they’re having a hard time explaining exactly what their problem is. Or to be more precise and less polite, they have been attacking proposed legislation for doing things it doesn’t and for not doing things it does.
Thus, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut says, “I want to be able to vote for a health bill, but my top concern is the deficit.” That would be a serious objection to the proposals currently on the table if they would, in fact, increase the deficit. But they wouldn’t, at least according to the Congressional Budget Office, which estimates that the House bill, in particular, would actually reduce the deficit by $100 billion over the next decade.
Or consider the remarkable exchange that took place this week between Peter Orszag, the White House budget director, and Fred Hiatt, The Washington Post’s opinion editor. Mr. Hiatt had criticized Congress for not taking what he considers the necessary steps to control health-care costs — namely, taxing high-cost insurance plans and establishing an independent Medicare commission. Writing on the budget office blog — yes, there is one, and it’s essential reading — Mr. Orszag pointed out, not too gently, that the Senate Finance Committee’s bill actually includes both of the allegedly missing measures.
I won’t try to psychoanalyze the “naysayers,” as Mr. Orszag describes them. I’d just urge them to take a good hard look in the mirror. If they really want to align themselves with the hard-line conservatives, if they just want to kill health reform, so be it. But they shouldn’t hide behind claims that they really, truly would support health care reform if only it were better designed.
For this is the moment of truth. The political environment is as favorable for reform as it’s likely to get. The legislation on the table isn’t perfect, but it’s as good as anyone could reasonably have expected. History is about to be made — and everyone has to decide which side they’re on.
The tenacity question
By DAVID BROOKS
New York Times
Today, President Obama will lead another meeting to debate strategy in Afghanistan. He will presumably discuss the questions that have divided his advisers: How many troops to commit? How to define plausible goals? Should troops be deployed broadly or just in the cities and towns?
For the past few days I have tried to do what journalists are supposed to do.
I’ve called around to several of the smartest military experts I know to get their views on these controversies. I called retired officers, analysts who have written books about counterinsurgency warfare, people who have spent years in Afghanistan. I tried to get them to talk about the strategic choices facing the president. To my surprise, I found them largely uninterested.
Most of them have no doubt that the president is conducting an intelligent policy review. They have no doubt that he will come up with some plausible troop level.
They are not worried about his policy choices. Their concerns are more fundamental. They are worried about his determination.
These people, who follow the war for a living, who spend their days in military circles both here and in Afghanistan, have no idea if President Obama is committed to this effort. They have no idea if he is willing to stick by his decisions, explain the war to the American people and persevere through good times and bad.
Their first concerns are about Obama the man. They know he is intellectually sophisticated. They know he is capable of processing complicated arguments and weighing nuanced evidence.
But they do not know if he possesses the trait that is more important than intellectual sophistication and, in fact, stands in tension with it. They do not know if he possesses tenacity, the ability to fixate on a simple conviction and grip it, viscerally and unflinchingly, through complexity and confusion. They do not know if he possesses the obstinacy that guided Lincoln and Churchill, and which must guide all war presidents to some degree.
Their second concern is political. They do not know if President Obama regards Afghanistan as a distraction from the matters he really cares about: health care, energy and education. Some of them suspect that Obama talked himself into supporting the Afghan effort so he could sound hawkish during the campaign. They suspect he is making a show of commitment now so he can let the matter drop at a politically opportune moment down the road.
Finally, they do not understand the president’s fundamental read on the situation. Most of them, like most people who have spent a lot of time in Afghanistan, believe this war is winnable. They do not think it will be easy or quick. But they do have a bedrock conviction that the Taliban can be stymied and that the governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan can be strengthened. But they do not know if Obama shares this gut conviction or possesses any gut conviction on this subject at all.
The experts I spoke with describe a vacuum at the heart of the war effort — a determination vacuum. And if these experts do not know the state of President Obama’s resolve, neither do the Afghan villagers. They are now hedging their bets, refusing to inform on Taliban force movements because they are aware that these Taliban fighters would be their masters if the U.S. withdraws. Nor does President Hamid Karzai know. He’s cutting deals with the Afghan warlords he would need if NATO leaves his country.
Nor do the Pakistanis or the Iranians or the Russians know. They are maintaining ties with the Taliban elements that would represent their interests in the event of a U.S. withdrawal.
The determination vacuum affects the debate in this country, too. Every argument about troop levels is really a proxy argument for whether the U.S. should stay or go. The administration is so divided because the fundamental issue of commitment has not been settled.
Some of the experts asked what I thought of Obama’s commitment level. I had to confess I’m not sure either.
So I guess the president’s most important meeting is not the one with the Joint Chiefs and the cabinet secretaries. It’s the one with the mirror, in which he looks for some firm conviction about whether Afghanistan is worthy of his full and unshakable commitment. If the president cannot find that core conviction, we should get out now. It would be shameful to deploy more troops only to withdraw them later. If he does find that conviction, then he should let us know, and fill the vacuum that is eroding the chances of success.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal has said that counterinsurgency is “an argument to win the support of the people.” But it’s not an argument won through sophisticated analysis. It’s an argument won through the display of raw determination.
New York Times
Today, President Obama will lead another meeting to debate strategy in Afghanistan. He will presumably discuss the questions that have divided his advisers: How many troops to commit? How to define plausible goals? Should troops be deployed broadly or just in the cities and towns?
For the past few days I have tried to do what journalists are supposed to do.
I’ve called around to several of the smartest military experts I know to get their views on these controversies. I called retired officers, analysts who have written books about counterinsurgency warfare, people who have spent years in Afghanistan. I tried to get them to talk about the strategic choices facing the president. To my surprise, I found them largely uninterested.
Most of them have no doubt that the president is conducting an intelligent policy review. They have no doubt that he will come up with some plausible troop level.
They are not worried about his policy choices. Their concerns are more fundamental. They are worried about his determination.
These people, who follow the war for a living, who spend their days in military circles both here and in Afghanistan, have no idea if President Obama is committed to this effort. They have no idea if he is willing to stick by his decisions, explain the war to the American people and persevere through good times and bad.
Their first concerns are about Obama the man. They know he is intellectually sophisticated. They know he is capable of processing complicated arguments and weighing nuanced evidence.
But they do not know if he possesses the trait that is more important than intellectual sophistication and, in fact, stands in tension with it. They do not know if he possesses tenacity, the ability to fixate on a simple conviction and grip it, viscerally and unflinchingly, through complexity and confusion. They do not know if he possesses the obstinacy that guided Lincoln and Churchill, and which must guide all war presidents to some degree.
Their second concern is political. They do not know if President Obama regards Afghanistan as a distraction from the matters he really cares about: health care, energy and education. Some of them suspect that Obama talked himself into supporting the Afghan effort so he could sound hawkish during the campaign. They suspect he is making a show of commitment now so he can let the matter drop at a politically opportune moment down the road.
Finally, they do not understand the president’s fundamental read on the situation. Most of them, like most people who have spent a lot of time in Afghanistan, believe this war is winnable. They do not think it will be easy or quick. But they do have a bedrock conviction that the Taliban can be stymied and that the governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan can be strengthened. But they do not know if Obama shares this gut conviction or possesses any gut conviction on this subject at all.
The experts I spoke with describe a vacuum at the heart of the war effort — a determination vacuum. And if these experts do not know the state of President Obama’s resolve, neither do the Afghan villagers. They are now hedging their bets, refusing to inform on Taliban force movements because they are aware that these Taliban fighters would be their masters if the U.S. withdraws. Nor does President Hamid Karzai know. He’s cutting deals with the Afghan warlords he would need if NATO leaves his country.
Nor do the Pakistanis or the Iranians or the Russians know. They are maintaining ties with the Taliban elements that would represent their interests in the event of a U.S. withdrawal.
The determination vacuum affects the debate in this country, too. Every argument about troop levels is really a proxy argument for whether the U.S. should stay or go. The administration is so divided because the fundamental issue of commitment has not been settled.
Some of the experts asked what I thought of Obama’s commitment level. I had to confess I’m not sure either.
So I guess the president’s most important meeting is not the one with the Joint Chiefs and the cabinet secretaries. It’s the one with the mirror, in which he looks for some firm conviction about whether Afghanistan is worthy of his full and unshakable commitment. If the president cannot find that core conviction, we should get out now. It would be shameful to deploy more troops only to withdraw them later. If he does find that conviction, then he should let us know, and fill the vacuum that is eroding the chances of success.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal has said that counterinsurgency is “an argument to win the support of the people.” But it’s not an argument won through sophisticated analysis. It’s an argument won through the display of raw determination.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Truthout 10/29
William Fisher Secrets Claim Faces Another Review in Torture Case
William Fisher, Truthout: "The long road to the proverbial 'day in court' just got longer for five men who claim they were 'disappeared' and tortured by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency." Read the Article
Jason Leopold Pelosi Unveils Historic Health Care Reform Bill, Touts Public Option
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled an $894 billion health-care reform bill Thursday that includes a government-run insurance program, otherwise known as a 'public option,' that is far stronger than the public plan unveiled earlier this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid." Read the Article Digg this story
Robert Corsini Reinventing Paradise; New Orleans and the Invisible Coast
Robert Corsini, Truthout: "The great and growing global angst among all peoples has everything to do with how we build and maintain our paradise on earth. And today as we live in an era of profound uncertainty, strange and complex states of war, climatic flux and economic dystopia, how different locales wealthy or not, rethink, redesign and rebuild their lives with an eye toward a different future is the issue before all humanity. Can a greener, less greedy, less angst-filled world be reinvented? Can we learn from our mistakes and live with compassion for all, or do we descend further into chaos and ultimate irrelevancy?" Read the Article
Yana Kunichoff Significant Changes to Bush-Era Military Commissions Signed Into Law
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "President Barack Obama signed a Defense Department spending bill into law Wednesday, which includes a provision that will change the way military commissions are structured. Human rights organizations and legal advocacy groups believe these controversial Bush-Era commissions primarily deny defendants the protections that federal courts provide and have responded with disappointment to their inclusion in defense legislation by a president who, during his presidential campaign, was quoted as saying he would 'reject the Military Commissions Act.'" Read the Article
Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski When Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib Come Home
Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski, Truthout: "The Louisiana board that licenses psychologists is facing a growing 1legal fight over torture and medical care at the infamous Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons. In 2003, Louisiana psychologist and retired Col. Larry James watched behind a one-way mirror in a US prison camp while an interrogator and three prison guards wrestled a screaming, near-naked man on the floor." Read the Article
Dilip Hiro Why Obama's Iran Policy Will Fail: Stuck in Bush Mode in a Changed World
Dilip Hiro, TomDispatch.com: "While the tone of the Obama administration is different from that of its predecessor, and some of its foreign policies diverge from those of George W. Bush, at their core both administrations subscribe to the same doctrine: Whatever the White House perceives as a threat -- whether it be Iran, North Korea, or the proliferation of long-range missiles -- must be viewed as such by Moscow and Beijing." Read the Article
America's Real Death Panels
Diana Novak, In These Times: "Next spring, Texas will decide whether or not to become the first state to admit it executed an innocent man." Read the Article
Vigilante Justice Spreads Across Mexico
Ioan Grillo, GlobalPost: "The torture video of the five alleged house burglars was posted on the internet last week. It is the latest sign of brutal vigilante justice spreading across Mexico. As kidnappings, muggings and car jackings spiral out of control, and the authorities appear increasingly impotent, shadowy groups have been advocating justice by the sword." Read the Article
Subverting Evaluation?
Vacarme: "How do you judge the procedures that have made possible a fair evaluation of your professional competencies, of your children's future, of your chances of being accepted in a health care cooperative, of your investments? Cruel, but necessary, first-rate because they are demanding?" Read the Article
Bahe Rock Ceremony Is More Than a Self-Help Session
Bahe Rock, Truthout: "When I first read about the deaths in a hotel parking lot sweat lodge in Arizona a couple of weeks ago I was saddened, but not surprised. I was dismayed over the abuse of Native American sacred ceremony in such a dreadful and destructive way. As a Dine raised to respect and participate in our spiritual teachings and ceremonies, and as a person who has observed an increase in the co-optation of our religion, I am compelled to speak out." Read the Article
Bill Moyers Journal Economic Recovery in Review
Bill Moyers Journal: "The Dow's up, but why are Main Street Americans still reeling from last year's economic collapse? With Americans still facing rising unemployment, foreclosures and declining property values, renowned economist James K. Galbraith speaks on whether we've averted another crisis and how to get help for the middle class." Read the Article
As Honduran Elections Near, US Diplomats Seek End to Leadership Crisis
Sara Miller llana, The Christian Science Monitor: "US envoys are in Honduras trying to broker a last-minute deal between ousted President Manuel Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti ahead of presidential elections Nov. 29. Many nations have threatened not to recognize the results of the Nov. 29 race if constitutional order is not first restored. On Tuesday, 16 members of the US Congress sent a letter to President Obama urging him to do the same - which could indefinitely prolong Central America's worst political crisis in decades." Read the Article
William Fisher, Truthout: "The long road to the proverbial 'day in court' just got longer for five men who claim they were 'disappeared' and tortured by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency." Read the Article
Jason Leopold Pelosi Unveils Historic Health Care Reform Bill, Touts Public Option
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled an $894 billion health-care reform bill Thursday that includes a government-run insurance program, otherwise known as a 'public option,' that is far stronger than the public plan unveiled earlier this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid." Read the Article Digg this story
Robert Corsini Reinventing Paradise; New Orleans and the Invisible Coast
Robert Corsini, Truthout: "The great and growing global angst among all peoples has everything to do with how we build and maintain our paradise on earth. And today as we live in an era of profound uncertainty, strange and complex states of war, climatic flux and economic dystopia, how different locales wealthy or not, rethink, redesign and rebuild their lives with an eye toward a different future is the issue before all humanity. Can a greener, less greedy, less angst-filled world be reinvented? Can we learn from our mistakes and live with compassion for all, or do we descend further into chaos and ultimate irrelevancy?" Read the Article
Yana Kunichoff Significant Changes to Bush-Era Military Commissions Signed Into Law
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "President Barack Obama signed a Defense Department spending bill into law Wednesday, which includes a provision that will change the way military commissions are structured. Human rights organizations and legal advocacy groups believe these controversial Bush-Era commissions primarily deny defendants the protections that federal courts provide and have responded with disappointment to their inclusion in defense legislation by a president who, during his presidential campaign, was quoted as saying he would 'reject the Military Commissions Act.'" Read the Article
Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski When Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib Come Home
Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski, Truthout: "The Louisiana board that licenses psychologists is facing a growing 1legal fight over torture and medical care at the infamous Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons. In 2003, Louisiana psychologist and retired Col. Larry James watched behind a one-way mirror in a US prison camp while an interrogator and three prison guards wrestled a screaming, near-naked man on the floor." Read the Article
Dilip Hiro Why Obama's Iran Policy Will Fail: Stuck in Bush Mode in a Changed World
Dilip Hiro, TomDispatch.com: "While the tone of the Obama administration is different from that of its predecessor, and some of its foreign policies diverge from those of George W. Bush, at their core both administrations subscribe to the same doctrine: Whatever the White House perceives as a threat -- whether it be Iran, North Korea, or the proliferation of long-range missiles -- must be viewed as such by Moscow and Beijing." Read the Article
America's Real Death Panels
Diana Novak, In These Times: "Next spring, Texas will decide whether or not to become the first state to admit it executed an innocent man." Read the Article
Vigilante Justice Spreads Across Mexico
Ioan Grillo, GlobalPost: "The torture video of the five alleged house burglars was posted on the internet last week. It is the latest sign of brutal vigilante justice spreading across Mexico. As kidnappings, muggings and car jackings spiral out of control, and the authorities appear increasingly impotent, shadowy groups have been advocating justice by the sword." Read the Article
Subverting Evaluation?
Vacarme: "How do you judge the procedures that have made possible a fair evaluation of your professional competencies, of your children's future, of your chances of being accepted in a health care cooperative, of your investments? Cruel, but necessary, first-rate because they are demanding?" Read the Article
Bahe Rock Ceremony Is More Than a Self-Help Session
Bahe Rock, Truthout: "When I first read about the deaths in a hotel parking lot sweat lodge in Arizona a couple of weeks ago I was saddened, but not surprised. I was dismayed over the abuse of Native American sacred ceremony in such a dreadful and destructive way. As a Dine raised to respect and participate in our spiritual teachings and ceremonies, and as a person who has observed an increase in the co-optation of our religion, I am compelled to speak out." Read the Article
Bill Moyers Journal Economic Recovery in Review
Bill Moyers Journal: "The Dow's up, but why are Main Street Americans still reeling from last year's economic collapse? With Americans still facing rising unemployment, foreclosures and declining property values, renowned economist James K. Galbraith speaks on whether we've averted another crisis and how to get help for the middle class." Read the Article
As Honduran Elections Near, US Diplomats Seek End to Leadership Crisis
Sara Miller llana, The Christian Science Monitor: "US envoys are in Honduras trying to broker a last-minute deal between ousted President Manuel Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti ahead of presidential elections Nov. 29. Many nations have threatened not to recognize the results of the Nov. 29 race if constitutional order is not first restored. On Tuesday, 16 members of the US Congress sent a letter to President Obama urging him to do the same - which could indefinitely prolong Central America's worst political crisis in decades." Read the Article
FP morning post 10/29
Top story:
In a speech today, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seemed to suggest that Iran is open to cooperation on a U.N.-backed nuclear enrichment plan, taking a far more positive tone toward the West than he has in the past. Some accounts suggest that Iran has already delivered its formal response to the International Atomic Energy Agency, but this cannot yet be confirmed.
“Fortunately, the conditions for international nuclear cooperation have been met,” Ahmadinejad said. "We are currently moving in the right direction and we have no fear of legal cooperation, under which all of Iran’s national rights will be preserved, and we will continue our work."
However, state-run newspapers report that Iran will seek changes to the U.N. plan, which involves Iran shipping its low-enriched uranium to Russia for processing. It has been reported that Iran will insist that the uranium be delivered gradually, rather than all at once. France's government has already stated that such a change would be unacceptable, and undermine the entire agreement.
The cost:
President Barack Obama visited Delaware's Dover Air Force Base last night to view the returning coffins of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan.
Asia
Afghanistan is planning to open more polling stations in for the Nov. 7 runoff than were open during the original election, against the advice of the U.N.
U.S. and Chinese officials are holding talks in China on climate change and recent trade disputes.
Mongolia's parliament confirmed a new prime minister.
Middle East
Iraq has made dozens of arrests in connection with the recent bombings in Baghdad.
An employee of the British embassy in Iran has reportedly been sentenced to four years in jail.
Kuwait's supreme court ruled that female lawmakers are not required to wear a head scarf.
Africa
Zimbabwe has expelled a U.N. human rights investigator.
Kenya will carry out a controversial census of its gay population.
A French court threw out a lawsuit by Transparency International against three former African leaders.
Europe
E.U. leaders are meeting for a two-day summit in Brussels to discuss climate change and the Lisbon treaty.
U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss nuclear disarmament and Iran.
Germany's unemployment rate fell, prompting hopes of an economic recovery.
Americas
Nicaragua's congress decided not to discuss a controversial court ruling allowing President Daniel Ortega to run for another term.
The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
A visiting U.S. mission urged both sides in Honduras's ongoing political standoff to show more "flexibility".
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Truthout 10/28
William Rivers Pitt Motivation
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "George W. Bush made his debut as a motivational speaker to a packed house of adoring fans in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday. Mr. Bush, who has been all but invisible since last January's inauguration of Barack Obama, is apparently trying to raise his profile before the release of his book. He spoke about prayer, challenges and walking his dog. 'I can tell you that one of the most amazing surprises of the presidency was the fact that people's prayers affected me. I can't prove it to you. But I can tell you some days were great, some days not so great. But every day was joyous.'" Read the Article
Jason Leopold Democrats: CIA Lied to or Misled Congress at Least Five Times Since 2001
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday that the CIA misled and/or lied to Congress at least five times since 2001 about it's intelligence programs, including one previously alleged instance in which the agency failed to disclose to top members of the House and Senate intelligence committees that the CIA tortured war on terror detainees." Read the Article Digg this story
Melvin A. Goodman Defense Secretary Gates Is Not a Diplomat
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates has played the 'ugly American' in Tokyo, cast in a role he should not be given. This performance speaks to the need for a demilitarized national security policy. It is the role of the secretary of state to conduct delicate overseas missions. Japan is experiencing extreme economic pressures, and the new Japanese government is preparing to withdraw from its commitment to refuel Western warships in the Indian Ocean and to become less active in positioning military forces against China." Read the Article
Sam Ferguson Uruguayan Voters Reject Chance to Prosecute Dictators
Sam Ferguson, Truthout: "During Uruguay's last dictatorship, which ruled from 1973 to 1985, approximately 200 Uruguayans were forcibly disappeared. Thousands more were held as political prisoners and tortured. In this small country of 3.5 million people, hundreds of thousands fled into exile. Last Sunday, October 25, voters here had the chance to repeal a controversial amnesty law, which has shielded many officials from prosecution for these crimes. The measure failed, garnering only 48 percent support." Read the Article Digg this story
Yana Kunichoff Congress Expands Hate Crime Bill Despite Right-Wing Opposition
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "In a landmark decision coming on the tail of decades of fierce debate, Congress passed a bill to widen federal protection against hate crimes to those victimized because of their sex or sexual orientation. This broadening of the hate crimes definition to lesbian, gay and transgender people has been a long time coming, according to gay rights advocates who saw several hate crime provisions fail due to strong Republican opposition in the last decade." Read the Article
Jim Hightower Health Care Hypocrites
Jim Hightower, Truthout: "How do you spell 'hypocrisy'? Try this: 'H-Y-P-O-C-O-N-G-R-E-S-S.' The hypocongress consists of those Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats who have risen up on their hind legs in recent weeks to snarl and howl at any mention of a government role in meeting America's health care needs. 'Socialism,' they bark -- we won't allow Barack Obama and the liberals to create a Washington-run, big-government intrusion into the hallowed private market. Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, even pledged to fight so ferociously that the health care battle would be Obama's 'Waterloo.'" Read the Article
Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on CIA Payroll Dexter Filkins, Mark Mazzetti and James Risen, The New York Times: "Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials. The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.'s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai's home." Read the Article
Martha Rosenberg What's So Scary About Michael Pollan? Why Corporate Agriculture Tried to Censor His University Speech
Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet: "Even if agribusiness could shut Michael Pollan up, the outspoken author of Omnivore's Dilemma and a journalism professor at University of California, Berkeley, it still has the Los Angeles Times to contend with. Last week, the Times blasted California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo for downgrading a scheduled Pollan lecture because it received pressure from David E. Wood, a university donor who happens to be chairman of the Harris Ranch Beef Co." Read the Article
Pakistan Hit by Car Bomb Hours After Clinton's Arrival
Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers: "A devastating bomb ripped through a busy market in the north western city of Peshawar Wednesday, just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan. Officials put the death toll at more than 80, with over 200 wounded. Many of the victims thought to be women and children who were out shopping in the bazaar. Dozens of people were feared to be buried under the rubble." Read the Article
Gilles Chantraine and Ariane Chottin Irregular Childhood
In Vacarme, Gilles Chantraine and Ariane Chottin track the French government's last five years' legal proposals to deal with childhood 'irregularity' and lay bear the underlying tendencies that 'reduce childhood to the risk or the danger that it bears or incurs.'" Read the Article
NOW Green Energy and Electric Cars
NOW Programing Note: "On Friday, October 30, at 8:30 PM (check local listings), 'NOW' investigates how the Danish government and Better Place are working together to put electric cars into the hands of as many Danish families as possible. The idea is still having trouble getting out of the garage here in America, but Denmark could be an inspiration. Will so much green enthusiasm bring about a 'Copenhagen Protocol'? This show is part of a series on social entrepreneurs at work that we call 'Enterprising Ideas.'" Read the Article
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "George W. Bush made his debut as a motivational speaker to a packed house of adoring fans in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday. Mr. Bush, who has been all but invisible since last January's inauguration of Barack Obama, is apparently trying to raise his profile before the release of his book. He spoke about prayer, challenges and walking his dog. 'I can tell you that one of the most amazing surprises of the presidency was the fact that people's prayers affected me. I can't prove it to you. But I can tell you some days were great, some days not so great. But every day was joyous.'" Read the Article
Jason Leopold Democrats: CIA Lied to or Misled Congress at Least Five Times Since 2001
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday that the CIA misled and/or lied to Congress at least five times since 2001 about it's intelligence programs, including one previously alleged instance in which the agency failed to disclose to top members of the House and Senate intelligence committees that the CIA tortured war on terror detainees." Read the Article Digg this story
Melvin A. Goodman Defense Secretary Gates Is Not a Diplomat
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates has played the 'ugly American' in Tokyo, cast in a role he should not be given. This performance speaks to the need for a demilitarized national security policy. It is the role of the secretary of state to conduct delicate overseas missions. Japan is experiencing extreme economic pressures, and the new Japanese government is preparing to withdraw from its commitment to refuel Western warships in the Indian Ocean and to become less active in positioning military forces against China." Read the Article
Sam Ferguson Uruguayan Voters Reject Chance to Prosecute Dictators
Sam Ferguson, Truthout: "During Uruguay's last dictatorship, which ruled from 1973 to 1985, approximately 200 Uruguayans were forcibly disappeared. Thousands more were held as political prisoners and tortured. In this small country of 3.5 million people, hundreds of thousands fled into exile. Last Sunday, October 25, voters here had the chance to repeal a controversial amnesty law, which has shielded many officials from prosecution for these crimes. The measure failed, garnering only 48 percent support." Read the Article Digg this story
Yana Kunichoff Congress Expands Hate Crime Bill Despite Right-Wing Opposition
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "In a landmark decision coming on the tail of decades of fierce debate, Congress passed a bill to widen federal protection against hate crimes to those victimized because of their sex or sexual orientation. This broadening of the hate crimes definition to lesbian, gay and transgender people has been a long time coming, according to gay rights advocates who saw several hate crime provisions fail due to strong Republican opposition in the last decade." Read the Article
Jim Hightower Health Care Hypocrites
Jim Hightower, Truthout: "How do you spell 'hypocrisy'? Try this: 'H-Y-P-O-C-O-N-G-R-E-S-S.' The hypocongress consists of those Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats who have risen up on their hind legs in recent weeks to snarl and howl at any mention of a government role in meeting America's health care needs. 'Socialism,' they bark -- we won't allow Barack Obama and the liberals to create a Washington-run, big-government intrusion into the hallowed private market. Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican, even pledged to fight so ferociously that the health care battle would be Obama's 'Waterloo.'" Read the Article
Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on CIA Payroll Dexter Filkins, Mark Mazzetti and James Risen, The New York Times: "Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials. The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.'s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai's home." Read the Article
Martha Rosenberg What's So Scary About Michael Pollan? Why Corporate Agriculture Tried to Censor His University Speech
Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet: "Even if agribusiness could shut Michael Pollan up, the outspoken author of Omnivore's Dilemma and a journalism professor at University of California, Berkeley, it still has the Los Angeles Times to contend with. Last week, the Times blasted California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo for downgrading a scheduled Pollan lecture because it received pressure from David E. Wood, a university donor who happens to be chairman of the Harris Ranch Beef Co." Read the Article
Pakistan Hit by Car Bomb Hours After Clinton's Arrival
Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers: "A devastating bomb ripped through a busy market in the north western city of Peshawar Wednesday, just hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Pakistan. Officials put the death toll at more than 80, with over 200 wounded. Many of the victims thought to be women and children who were out shopping in the bazaar. Dozens of people were feared to be buried under the rubble." Read the Article
Gilles Chantraine and Ariane Chottin Irregular Childhood
In Vacarme, Gilles Chantraine and Ariane Chottin track the French government's last five years' legal proposals to deal with childhood 'irregularity' and lay bear the underlying tendencies that 'reduce childhood to the risk or the danger that it bears or incurs.'" Read the Article
NOW Green Energy and Electric Cars
NOW Programing Note: "On Friday, October 30, at 8:30 PM (check local listings), 'NOW' investigates how the Danish government and Better Place are working together to put electric cars into the hands of as many Danish families as possible. The idea is still having trouble getting out of the garage here in America, but Denmark could be an inspiration. Will so much green enthusiasm bring about a 'Copenhagen Protocol'? This show is part of a series on social entrepreneurs at work that we call 'Enterprising Ideas.'" Read the Article
FP morning post 10/28
Top story:
A pair of brutal terrorist attacks on Wednesday highlighted the increasing ability of Taliban militants to carry out major operations, despite crackdowns in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A car bomb tore through a crowded market in Peshawar, killing at least 80 people. The bombing was in roughly the same area as another that killed dozens earlier this month, but today's attack involved three times the amount of explosives as the earlier attack. Intelligence officials say that there had been rumors of two cars packed with explosives being the in city the day before.
The attack came just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Islamabad to reaffirm U.S. support for Pakistan's crackdown on the Taliban, particularly the recent offensive in South Waziristan. Referring to the planners of the Peshawar bombing, Clinton said, "They know they are on the losing side of history. But they are determined to take as many lives with them as their movement is finally exposed for the nihilistic, empty effort it is."
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, Taliban gunmen broke into a guesthouse in central Kabul killing six U.N. employees and two Afghan security guards. Many of the U.N. employees staying in the guesthouse were working to prepare for Afghanistan's presidential runoff on Nov. 7. In taking responsibility for the attack, a Taliban spokesman said, "We have already informed that anyone who works for the second round will be targeted."
EU Presidency:
The race to be EU president is heating up with Luxembourg's prime minister joining the race as well as Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy planning to discuss Tony Blair's candidacy.
Middle East
Lebanese militants fired rockets into Israel but the attack was stopped by the Lebanese military.
Yemen's government says it has intercepted an Iranian ship carrying arms to its Shiite rebels.
Relatives of imprisoned Iranian opposition activists held a rally in Tehran.
Asia
The New York Times reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother -- a suspected narco-trafficker -- is on the payroll of the CIA.
Australia has refused to accept dozens of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka.
China's government says it has rescued 2,000 children from kidnapping in the last six months.
Africa
Mozambique holds presidential elections today.
Zimbabwe's government blocked a visit from a U.N. torture investigator.
A Washington lobbyist allegedly worked secretly for Sudan's government, in violation of an embargo.
Europe
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was formally reelected by parliament.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has opened a libel case against one of Russia's most prominent human rights campaigners.
An attack by gunmen wounded six Greek police officers.
Americas
Honduras's interim president Roberto Micheletti wants to end talks on his country's political crisis until after Nov. 29 elections.
Venezuela claims to have captured two Colombian spies.
The U.N. General Assembly will vote, as it does every year, to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba today.
A pair of brutal terrorist attacks on Wednesday highlighted the increasing ability of Taliban militants to carry out major operations, despite crackdowns in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A car bomb tore through a crowded market in Peshawar, killing at least 80 people. The bombing was in roughly the same area as another that killed dozens earlier this month, but today's attack involved three times the amount of explosives as the earlier attack. Intelligence officials say that there had been rumors of two cars packed with explosives being the in city the day before.
The attack came just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Islamabad to reaffirm U.S. support for Pakistan's crackdown on the Taliban, particularly the recent offensive in South Waziristan. Referring to the planners of the Peshawar bombing, Clinton said, "They know they are on the losing side of history. But they are determined to take as many lives with them as their movement is finally exposed for the nihilistic, empty effort it is."
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, Taliban gunmen broke into a guesthouse in central Kabul killing six U.N. employees and two Afghan security guards. Many of the U.N. employees staying in the guesthouse were working to prepare for Afghanistan's presidential runoff on Nov. 7. In taking responsibility for the attack, a Taliban spokesman said, "We have already informed that anyone who works for the second round will be targeted."
EU Presidency:
The race to be EU president is heating up with Luxembourg's prime minister joining the race as well as Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy planning to discuss Tony Blair's candidacy.
Middle East
Lebanese militants fired rockets into Israel but the attack was stopped by the Lebanese military.
Yemen's government says it has intercepted an Iranian ship carrying arms to its Shiite rebels.
Relatives of imprisoned Iranian opposition activists held a rally in Tehran.
Asia
The New York Times reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother -- a suspected narco-trafficker -- is on the payroll of the CIA.
Australia has refused to accept dozens of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka.
China's government says it has rescued 2,000 children from kidnapping in the last six months.
Africa
Mozambique holds presidential elections today.
Zimbabwe's government blocked a visit from a U.N. torture investigator.
A Washington lobbyist allegedly worked secretly for Sudan's government, in violation of an embargo.
Europe
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was formally reelected by parliament.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has opened a libel case against one of Russia's most prominent human rights campaigners.
An attack by gunmen wounded six Greek police officers.
Americas
Honduras's interim president Roberto Micheletti wants to end talks on his country's political crisis until after Nov. 29 elections.
Venezuela claims to have captured two Colombian spies.
The U.N. General Assembly will vote, as it does every year, to condemn the U.S. embargo on Cuba today.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
FP morning post 10/27
Top story:
Iran's state-controlled al-Alam TV channel reported on Tuesday that Iran will accept a UN brokered deal on uranium enrichment with some "very important changes" and would deliver its official response within 48 hours. Under the original deal, Iran would ship its low-enriched uranium to Russia for higher processing.
It is not known what changes the regime may insist on. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has suggested that Iran may ship some of its uranium abroad in addition to purchasing processed nuclear fuel from other countries.
Iran missed a Friday deadline for responding to the initial proposal. French Foreign Minsiter Bernard Kouchner accused the Iranians, Mottaki in particular, of wasting times, warning, "One day it will be too late."
In a meeting with Turkish Prime Minsiter Recep Tayyip Erdogan today, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad avoided specific reference to the enrichment proposal but reiterated his country's right to pursue nuclear power.
Bye bye big mac:
McDonald's is pulling out of Iceland due to slumping business since the country's economic collapse.
Middle East
An al Qaeda-linked group known as the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombing in Baghdad.
Israel ruled out setting up an independent body to investigate allegations of war crimes by the IDF in Gaza.
Amnesty International accused Israel of withholding water from the West Bank.
Asia
China executed two Tibetans for their role in organizing last year's deadly riots.
Pakistan claims to have killed 42 Taliban in a major offensive in South Waziristan.
The foreign ministers of China, India, and Russia held talks on trade, security and climate change.
Europe
A Czech constitutional court is hearing a legal challenge to the Lisbon treaty, possibly the last obstacle to the integration treaty's ratification.
The European Union dropped its last remaining sanctions against Uzbekistan.
The Church of Scientology was convicted of fraud France, but will still be allowed to operate in the country.
Americas
Ecuador's president is in Europe to propose that his country be paid not to drill for oil in the Amazon.
Hugo Chavez's government accused Colombia of spying on Venezuela.
Haitian senators are demanding the ouster of the country's prime minister over his handling of government finances.
Africa
The EU imposed an arms embargo on Guinea.
Opposition parties walked out of Sudan's parliament to protest a measure giving expanded powers to security forces.
Nigeria signed an $875 million pipeline deal with China.
Iran's state-controlled al-Alam TV channel reported on Tuesday that Iran will accept a UN brokered deal on uranium enrichment with some "very important changes" and would deliver its official response within 48 hours. Under the original deal, Iran would ship its low-enriched uranium to Russia for higher processing.
It is not known what changes the regime may insist on. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has suggested that Iran may ship some of its uranium abroad in addition to purchasing processed nuclear fuel from other countries.
Iran missed a Friday deadline for responding to the initial proposal. French Foreign Minsiter Bernard Kouchner accused the Iranians, Mottaki in particular, of wasting times, warning, "One day it will be too late."
In a meeting with Turkish Prime Minsiter Recep Tayyip Erdogan today, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad avoided specific reference to the enrichment proposal but reiterated his country's right to pursue nuclear power.
Bye bye big mac:
McDonald's is pulling out of Iceland due to slumping business since the country's economic collapse.
Middle East
An al Qaeda-linked group known as the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombing in Baghdad.
Israel ruled out setting up an independent body to investigate allegations of war crimes by the IDF in Gaza.
Amnesty International accused Israel of withholding water from the West Bank.
Asia
China executed two Tibetans for their role in organizing last year's deadly riots.
Pakistan claims to have killed 42 Taliban in a major offensive in South Waziristan.
The foreign ministers of China, India, and Russia held talks on trade, security and climate change.
Europe
A Czech constitutional court is hearing a legal challenge to the Lisbon treaty, possibly the last obstacle to the integration treaty's ratification.
The European Union dropped its last remaining sanctions against Uzbekistan.
The Church of Scientology was convicted of fraud France, but will still be allowed to operate in the country.
Americas
Ecuador's president is in Europe to propose that his country be paid not to drill for oil in the Amazon.
Hugo Chavez's government accused Colombia of spying on Venezuela.
Haitian senators are demanding the ouster of the country's prime minister over his handling of government finances.
Africa
The EU imposed an arms embargo on Guinea.
Opposition parties walked out of Sudan's parliament to protest a measure giving expanded powers to security forces.
Nigeria signed an $875 million pipeline deal with China.
Truthout 10/27
Lieberman Pulls the Brakes on the Public Option
Scott Galindez, Truthout NewsWire: "Liberal and progressive Democrats were ecstatic yesterday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced there would be a public option in the Senate version of health care reform legislation. Reid said he was confident that he could hold his caucus together and get the 60 votes needed to clear procedural hurdles in the Senate." Read the Article
Bill Moyers Amy Goodman: Breaking the Sound Barrier
Bill Moyers, Truthout: "You can learn more of the truth about Washington and the world from one week of Amy Goodman's 'Democracy Now!' than from a month of Sunday morning talk shows. Make that a year of Sunday morning talk shows. That's because Amy, as you will discover on every page of her new book, 'Breaking the Sound Barrier,' knows the critical question for journalists is how close they are to the truth, not how close they are to power." Read the Article
Steve Weissman Obama's AfPak War: "It's the Mission, Creep"
Steve Weissman, Truthout: "Dick Cheney and his neoconservative fringe are showing true gall and no grit in accusing President Obama of 'dithering' and 'waffling' on Afghanistan. They are, after all, the deep thinkers who rushed the Bush administration into Iraq, which diverted troops and other resources from their earlier mission to defeat the Afghan Taliban and catch or kill Osama bin Laden. Still, the shameless critics raise an intriguing question. Why has the president taken so much time to announce how many more troops he will send?" Read the Article
US Official Resigns Over Afghan War
Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post: "When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan. A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed. But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency." Read the Article
Tolu Olorunda The Death of Privacy
Tolu Olorunda, Truthout: "There is something immeasurably insidious about a government that spies on its citizens. And if there is one universal truth, it is that no country has a monopoly on such activities. Whenever a ruling class, from whatever region, begins to feel threatened by the unforeseen, emerging independence of the underclass, one of the next steps taken is to monitor conversations, document strategies and invade privacies. It's an inevitable impulse that bears witness to the fierce determination of Struggle." Read the Article
Mary Susan Littlepage Hundreds Gather to Talk About Foreclosures, Financial Struggles
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "Hundreds of people from around the country gathered in Chicago for three days of events dubbed 'Showdown in Chicago,' intended to draw attention to the foreclosure crisis and related financial problems and to call for more regulation in the financial industry. While some protesters waved signs that read 'Put people first' and 'Wanted: Wall Street bankers,' others chanted, 'Bust up big banks!' and 'Bailout? No thanks!'" Read the Article
Eight More US Troops Die in Afghanistan as America Suffers Deadliest Month
Jerome Starkey and Tim Reid, The Times UK: "Eight American servicemen were killed in a series of explosions today, making October the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. Officials said that several soldiers were injured in 'multiple, complex' bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, just a day after 14 Americans were killed in two separate helicopter crashes in the south and west of the country. An Afghan civilian working with the military was also killed." Read the Article
Dan Bacher Cultural Genocide Disguised as Marine "Protection" - From the Colorado River Delta to the North Coast
Dan Bacher, Truthout: "I wrote the following article for Counterpunch in April 2007 when I covered La Otra Campana (the Other Campaign) of the Zapatistas in Mexico. Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatistas organized a 'peace camp' from February to May of 2007 to defend Cucapa Tribe members on the Colorado River Delta against a Marine Protected Area (MPA) like the ones Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's head oil industry lobbyist and corporate 'environmentalists' are installing on California's North Coast through the corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process." Read the Article
Obama Urged to Fully Comply With Anti-Torture Treaty
William Fisher, Inter Press Service: "The fifteenth anniversary of the U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture passed last week with little fanfare and virtually no press attention from the mainstream media here. But according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 'U.S. policy continues to fall short of ensuring full compliance with the treaty.'" Read the Article
Robert Reich Why the Big Banks Should Be Broken Up, but Why the White House and Congress Don't Want to
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "And now there are five - five Wall Street behemoths, bigger than they were before the Great Meltdown, paying fatter salaries and bonuses to retain their so-called 'talent,' and raking in huge profits. The biggest difference between now and last October is these biggies didn't know then that they were too big to fail and the government would bail them out if they got into trouble. Now they do. And like a giant, gawking adolescent who's just discovered he can crash the Lexus convertible his rich dad gave him and the next morning have a new one waiting in his driveway courtesy of a dad who can't say no, the biggies will drive even faster now, taking even bigger risks." Read the Article
Scott Galindez, Truthout NewsWire: "Liberal and progressive Democrats were ecstatic yesterday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced there would be a public option in the Senate version of health care reform legislation. Reid said he was confident that he could hold his caucus together and get the 60 votes needed to clear procedural hurdles in the Senate." Read the Article
Bill Moyers Amy Goodman: Breaking the Sound Barrier
Bill Moyers, Truthout: "You can learn more of the truth about Washington and the world from one week of Amy Goodman's 'Democracy Now!' than from a month of Sunday morning talk shows. Make that a year of Sunday morning talk shows. That's because Amy, as you will discover on every page of her new book, 'Breaking the Sound Barrier,' knows the critical question for journalists is how close they are to the truth, not how close they are to power." Read the Article
Steve Weissman Obama's AfPak War: "It's the Mission, Creep"
Steve Weissman, Truthout: "Dick Cheney and his neoconservative fringe are showing true gall and no grit in accusing President Obama of 'dithering' and 'waffling' on Afghanistan. They are, after all, the deep thinkers who rushed the Bush administration into Iraq, which diverted troops and other resources from their earlier mission to defeat the Afghan Taliban and catch or kill Osama bin Laden. Still, the shameless critics raise an intriguing question. Why has the president taken so much time to announce how many more troops he will send?" Read the Article
US Official Resigns Over Afghan War
Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post: "When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan. A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed. But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency." Read the Article
Tolu Olorunda The Death of Privacy
Tolu Olorunda, Truthout: "There is something immeasurably insidious about a government that spies on its citizens. And if there is one universal truth, it is that no country has a monopoly on such activities. Whenever a ruling class, from whatever region, begins to feel threatened by the unforeseen, emerging independence of the underclass, one of the next steps taken is to monitor conversations, document strategies and invade privacies. It's an inevitable impulse that bears witness to the fierce determination of Struggle." Read the Article
Mary Susan Littlepage Hundreds Gather to Talk About Foreclosures, Financial Struggles
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "Hundreds of people from around the country gathered in Chicago for three days of events dubbed 'Showdown in Chicago,' intended to draw attention to the foreclosure crisis and related financial problems and to call for more regulation in the financial industry. While some protesters waved signs that read 'Put people first' and 'Wanted: Wall Street bankers,' others chanted, 'Bust up big banks!' and 'Bailout? No thanks!'" Read the Article
Eight More US Troops Die in Afghanistan as America Suffers Deadliest Month
Jerome Starkey and Tim Reid, The Times UK: "Eight American servicemen were killed in a series of explosions today, making October the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion. Officials said that several soldiers were injured in 'multiple, complex' bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, just a day after 14 Americans were killed in two separate helicopter crashes in the south and west of the country. An Afghan civilian working with the military was also killed." Read the Article
Dan Bacher Cultural Genocide Disguised as Marine "Protection" - From the Colorado River Delta to the North Coast
Dan Bacher, Truthout: "I wrote the following article for Counterpunch in April 2007 when I covered La Otra Campana (the Other Campaign) of the Zapatistas in Mexico. Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatistas organized a 'peace camp' from February to May of 2007 to defend Cucapa Tribe members on the Colorado River Delta against a Marine Protected Area (MPA) like the ones Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's head oil industry lobbyist and corporate 'environmentalists' are installing on California's North Coast through the corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process." Read the Article
Obama Urged to Fully Comply With Anti-Torture Treaty
William Fisher, Inter Press Service: "The fifteenth anniversary of the U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture passed last week with little fanfare and virtually no press attention from the mainstream media here. But according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 'U.S. policy continues to fall short of ensuring full compliance with the treaty.'" Read the Article
Robert Reich Why the Big Banks Should Be Broken Up, but Why the White House and Congress Don't Want to
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "And now there are five - five Wall Street behemoths, bigger than they were before the Great Meltdown, paying fatter salaries and bonuses to retain their so-called 'talent,' and raking in huge profits. The biggest difference between now and last October is these biggies didn't know then that they were too big to fail and the government would bail them out if they got into trouble. Now they do. And like a giant, gawking adolescent who's just discovered he can crash the Lexus convertible his rich dad gave him and the next morning have a new one waiting in his driveway courtesy of a dad who can't say no, the biggies will drive even faster now, taking even bigger risks." Read the Article
Frank proposes death panels for banks
By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The chairman of a key congressional panel Monday scaled back important parts of the Obama administration's plan to dismantle financial institutions that are deemed "too big to fail."
Lawmakers won't give the independent Federal Reserve as many powers as President Barack Obama had proposed, according to a senior congressional staffer, sharing details with McClatchy on the condition of anonymity because the emerging bill hasn't been made public. The measure, which tackles some of the thorniest issues of bank oversight, is intended to rewrite seven decades of financial regulation.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, worked over the weekend and throughout Monday to draft the legislation. It would provide the government with first-ever authority to shut down large globally interconnected financial institutions.
Full story
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The chairman of a key congressional panel Monday scaled back important parts of the Obama administration's plan to dismantle financial institutions that are deemed "too big to fail."
Lawmakers won't give the independent Federal Reserve as many powers as President Barack Obama had proposed, according to a senior congressional staffer, sharing details with McClatchy on the condition of anonymity because the emerging bill hasn't been made public. The measure, which tackles some of the thorniest issues of bank oversight, is intended to rewrite seven decades of financial regulation.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, worked over the weekend and throughout Monday to draft the legislation. It would provide the government with first-ever authority to shut down large globally interconnected financial institutions.
Full story
Monday, October 26, 2009
Truthout 10/26
Health Care for All
Truthout: "We at Truthout don’t think health care should be so confusing. We believe it is a human right and should be available to everyone. We also believe the same level of care should be available across the board, regardless of ability to pay for treatment. What if the fire department decided to not send its newest equipment to a particular house because the homeowner didn't have 'Cadillac' insurance?" Read the Article
Discovering the World With Sy Montgomery
Sy Montgomery talks with Truthout: "I write about the relationship between people and the rest of animate creation and I write about it because I think things have gone askew ... I try to offer different models of how to love and honor the rest of the animate world." Read the Article
Dean Baker People Power Matters: The Public Option Lives!
Dean Baker, Truthout: "In spite of the best efforts of the insurance industry and their followers in Congress and the media, it is still very possible that the health reform bill passed by Congress will include a robust public plan. This is a case where the simple facts and persistent grassroots pressure may overcome the political power of a major industry." Read the Article
Winslow Myers The Middle East: Victory Is Obsolete
Winslow Meyers, Truthout: "In his October 14 op-ed piece in the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby affirms his agreement with Daniel Pipes that 'wars end not through good will but through victory, defining victory as one side compelling the other to give up its war goals. Since 1948, the Arabs' goal has been the elimination of Israel; the Israelis' to win their neighbors' acceptance of a Jewish state in the Middle East. If the conflict is to end, one side must lose and one side win.' This way of putting the dilemma has the virtue of clarity. But there virtue ends." Read the Article
In Afghanistan, NATO Helicopter Crashes Kill 14 Americans
Jonathan Adams, The Christian Science Monitor: "Fourteen Americans were killed and more injured in two separate incidents of helicopter crashes Monday in Afghanistan, underscoring the risks of the increasingly controversial US-led war." Read the Article
Bill McKibben Mr. Obama, Be Tough on Climate Change
Bill McKibben, The Boston Globe: "The negotiation that really counts is not between Republicans and Democrats or industry and the greens, or even between the United States and China. The real bargaining is happening between human beings and physics and chemistry, and that's a tough negotiation." Read the Article
Michael T. Klare Welcome to 2025: American Pre-Eminence Is Disappearing 15 Years Early
Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch.com: "Memo to the CIA: You may not be prepared for time-travel, but welcome to 2025 anyway! Your rooms may be a little small, your ability to demand better accommodations may have gone out the window, and the amenities may not be to your taste, but get used to it. It's going to be your reality from now on." Read the Article
Fareed Zakaria A Third Surge? The Troops Need a Smarter Vision
Fareed Zakaria: "Dick Cheney has accused Barack Obama of 'dithering' over Afghanistan. I suppose if the president were to quickly invade a country on the basis of half-baked intelligence, that would demonstrate his courage and decisiveness to Mr. Cheney." Read the Article
More Spending on Afghan War Could Hurt the Dollar
David R. Francis, The Christian Science Monitor: "Could an expanded war in Afghanistan be the costly straw that breaks the dollar's back, exacerbating already high concerns around the world over its value and damaging its central role in global commerce?" Read the Article
Jonathan Alter The PDQ Presidency the Oath of Office Notwithstanding, the Obama Presidency Began November 4 - Not January 20
Jonathan Alter: "Normally a new presidency begins with the inauguration in January. But Barack Obama's tenure really started in November, a full year ago, when he became the de facto co-president of the United States. Obama couldn't yet sign bills or issue executive orders. He and his family couldn't sleep in the White House. Having resigned from the Senate, he was technically a private citizen- a man with no constitutional authority. But these were formalities. For the first time in modern American history, an incoming president made some of the most important decisions of his term-about the economy, mainly, but also about energy, education, and health care-before taking office." Read the Article
Eli Clifton Pro-Israel Group's Money Trail Veers Hard Right
Eli Clifton, Inter Press Service: "StandWithUs - an 'organization that ensures that Israel's side of the story is told' - has become increasingly aggressive in challenging the 'pro-Israel' credentials of moderate Jewish-American groups, going so far as to suggest that receiving money from Arab donors and supporters of Human Rights Watch undermines a group's commitment to Israel and peace .. But an IPS investigation into the tax records of the donors to StandWithUs, which professes to be ideologically neutral, found a web of funders who support organisations that have been accused of anti-Muslim propaganda and encouraging a militant Israeli and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East." Read the Article
Truthout: "We at Truthout don’t think health care should be so confusing. We believe it is a human right and should be available to everyone. We also believe the same level of care should be available across the board, regardless of ability to pay for treatment. What if the fire department decided to not send its newest equipment to a particular house because the homeowner didn't have 'Cadillac' insurance?" Read the Article
Discovering the World With Sy Montgomery
Sy Montgomery talks with Truthout: "I write about the relationship between people and the rest of animate creation and I write about it because I think things have gone askew ... I try to offer different models of how to love and honor the rest of the animate world." Read the Article
Dean Baker People Power Matters: The Public Option Lives!
Dean Baker, Truthout: "In spite of the best efforts of the insurance industry and their followers in Congress and the media, it is still very possible that the health reform bill passed by Congress will include a robust public plan. This is a case where the simple facts and persistent grassroots pressure may overcome the political power of a major industry." Read the Article
Winslow Myers The Middle East: Victory Is Obsolete
Winslow Meyers, Truthout: "In his October 14 op-ed piece in the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby affirms his agreement with Daniel Pipes that 'wars end not through good will but through victory, defining victory as one side compelling the other to give up its war goals. Since 1948, the Arabs' goal has been the elimination of Israel; the Israelis' to win their neighbors' acceptance of a Jewish state in the Middle East. If the conflict is to end, one side must lose and one side win.' This way of putting the dilemma has the virtue of clarity. But there virtue ends." Read the Article
In Afghanistan, NATO Helicopter Crashes Kill 14 Americans
Jonathan Adams, The Christian Science Monitor: "Fourteen Americans were killed and more injured in two separate incidents of helicopter crashes Monday in Afghanistan, underscoring the risks of the increasingly controversial US-led war." Read the Article
Bill McKibben Mr. Obama, Be Tough on Climate Change
Bill McKibben, The Boston Globe: "The negotiation that really counts is not between Republicans and Democrats or industry and the greens, or even between the United States and China. The real bargaining is happening between human beings and physics and chemistry, and that's a tough negotiation." Read the Article
Michael T. Klare Welcome to 2025: American Pre-Eminence Is Disappearing 15 Years Early
Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch.com: "Memo to the CIA: You may not be prepared for time-travel, but welcome to 2025 anyway! Your rooms may be a little small, your ability to demand better accommodations may have gone out the window, and the amenities may not be to your taste, but get used to it. It's going to be your reality from now on." Read the Article
Fareed Zakaria A Third Surge? The Troops Need a Smarter Vision
Fareed Zakaria: "Dick Cheney has accused Barack Obama of 'dithering' over Afghanistan. I suppose if the president were to quickly invade a country on the basis of half-baked intelligence, that would demonstrate his courage and decisiveness to Mr. Cheney." Read the Article
More Spending on Afghan War Could Hurt the Dollar
David R. Francis, The Christian Science Monitor: "Could an expanded war in Afghanistan be the costly straw that breaks the dollar's back, exacerbating already high concerns around the world over its value and damaging its central role in global commerce?" Read the Article
Jonathan Alter The PDQ Presidency the Oath of Office Notwithstanding, the Obama Presidency Began November 4 - Not January 20
Jonathan Alter: "Normally a new presidency begins with the inauguration in January. But Barack Obama's tenure really started in November, a full year ago, when he became the de facto co-president of the United States. Obama couldn't yet sign bills or issue executive orders. He and his family couldn't sleep in the White House. Having resigned from the Senate, he was technically a private citizen- a man with no constitutional authority. But these were formalities. For the first time in modern American history, an incoming president made some of the most important decisions of his term-about the economy, mainly, but also about energy, education, and health care-before taking office." Read the Article
Eli Clifton Pro-Israel Group's Money Trail Veers Hard Right
Eli Clifton, Inter Press Service: "StandWithUs - an 'organization that ensures that Israel's side of the story is told' - has become increasingly aggressive in challenging the 'pro-Israel' credentials of moderate Jewish-American groups, going so far as to suggest that receiving money from Arab donors and supporters of Human Rights Watch undermines a group's commitment to Israel and peace .. But an IPS investigation into the tax records of the donors to StandWithUs, which professes to be ideologically neutral, found a web of funders who support organisations that have been accused of anti-Muslim propaganda and encouraging a militant Israeli and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East." Read the Article
FP morning post 10/26
Top story:
A day after their country's deadliest terrorist attacks in over two years, Iraqis mourned the more than 155 dead and raised questions about the government's ability to keep the country safe with elections approaching and U.S. troops continuing to pull out.
Two synchronized suicide car bombings on Sunday targeted Justice Ministry and the Provincial Administration building, injuring more than 500. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed the attacks on Al Qaeda and remnants of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
Maliki has largely staked his political reputation on his ability to keep Iraq safe and his claims that Iraqi forces can provide security without U.S. help. There are now widespread fears of more attacks like Sunday's in the run-up to national elections in January.
Clone king:
Controversial South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk was convicted of embezzling research funds, but given a suspended sentence. James Card profiled Hwang's attempts to reinvent himself through pet-cloning for FP last February.
Asia
Four U.S. troops were killed in a helicopter collision in Afghanistan.
South Korea has agreed to give a small amount of food aid to North Korea for the first time in two years.
Mongolia's prime minister wants to resign for health reasons.
Middle East
IAEA inspectors reportedly visited the recently disclosed Iranian nuclear plant at Qom.
More than 18 people were arrested after rioting at Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
The Palestinian chief negotiator says no talks with Israel are likely in the near term.
Europe
The war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has begun, despite his refusal to appear.
A prominent opposition leader was murdered in Ingushetia.
Scottish police have opened a new investigation of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Africa
Nigeria's MEND rebels declared an indefinite ceasefire.
Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overwhelmingly reelected, and threatened legal action against anyone who said the vote was unfair.
Human Rights NGOs are criticizing Nigeria's decision to invite President Omar al Bashir of Sudan to an African Union meeting.
Americas
Uruguay's presidential election will go to a runoff after neither candidate earned over 50 percent of the vote.
Venezuela has increased security on the Colombian border after a series of murders.
President Barack Obama reportedly asked Spain's prime minister to pass along a message to Cuba's government, urging democratic reform.
A day after their country's deadliest terrorist attacks in over two years, Iraqis mourned the more than 155 dead and raised questions about the government's ability to keep the country safe with elections approaching and U.S. troops continuing to pull out.
Two synchronized suicide car bombings on Sunday targeted Justice Ministry and the Provincial Administration building, injuring more than 500. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed the attacks on Al Qaeda and remnants of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
Maliki has largely staked his political reputation on his ability to keep Iraq safe and his claims that Iraqi forces can provide security without U.S. help. There are now widespread fears of more attacks like Sunday's in the run-up to national elections in January.
Clone king:
Controversial South Korean cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk was convicted of embezzling research funds, but given a suspended sentence. James Card profiled Hwang's attempts to reinvent himself through pet-cloning for FP last February.
Asia
Four U.S. troops were killed in a helicopter collision in Afghanistan.
South Korea has agreed to give a small amount of food aid to North Korea for the first time in two years.
Mongolia's prime minister wants to resign for health reasons.
Middle East
IAEA inspectors reportedly visited the recently disclosed Iranian nuclear plant at Qom.
More than 18 people were arrested after rioting at Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
The Palestinian chief negotiator says no talks with Israel are likely in the near term.
Europe
The war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has begun, despite his refusal to appear.
A prominent opposition leader was murdered in Ingushetia.
Scottish police have opened a new investigation of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Africa
Nigeria's MEND rebels declared an indefinite ceasefire.
Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overwhelmingly reelected, and threatened legal action against anyone who said the vote was unfair.
Human Rights NGOs are criticizing Nigeria's decision to invite President Omar al Bashir of Sudan to an African Union meeting.
Americas
Uruguay's presidential election will go to a runoff after neither candidate earned over 50 percent of the vote.
Venezuela has increased security on the Colombian border after a series of murders.
President Barack Obama reportedly asked Spain's prime minister to pass along a message to Cuba's government, urging democratic reform.
On A New System (Sort Of), Or, Referendum 71 And Mail-In Voting
We are now about two weeks away from the November election in Washington State, and one item on the ballot that has national attention is Referendum 71, the so-called "everything but marriage" proposal that would give same-sex couples more rights and protections than they have today.
There has been a lot of conversation about whether it will or won't pass--and a lot of conversation about whether it should pass.
I hope it does, and if you live here I encourage you to vote "yes" November 3rd.
But that said, you may not be aware that Washington has an electoral system in transition, and that as a result of the transition Washington has some idiosyncrasies that will make forecasting the results a bit tougher, and determining the results a bit slower.
We'll talk about that today, and by the time we're done you should have an appreciation of the odd way in which things can work out--and that, absent a landslide, we aren't likely to know the results on Election Day.
These Are Not Normal Times
We have the strangest weather here: it is not quite 50 degrees F. as I write this, in midafternoon; but by tonight it’s expected to get warmer as the rain moves in.
In normal times, this is the kind of thing experts would be considering as they tried to estimate what turnout might be in the upcoming election—but these are not normal times. After the November ’08 election, Washington, following Oregon’s lead, became the second “vote-by-mail” state, and now the question has become not whether weather will impact the turnout…but if it will matter at all.
The first unusual thing about Election Day in Washington is that there no longer is an Election Day. Voting now begins when the ballots begin to arrive in voters’ homes (20 days before Election Day), and as of Sunday, October 25th, King County Elections (Washington’s largest county; the county that includes Seattle and almost 1/3 of the State’s population) reports that 8.59% of the ballots are already in. All ballots with a postmark before November 4th will be counted, which means there will be new ballots arriving for several days after the “polls close”.
(As you may have guessed, each county operates their own elections office. All elections in the State are regulated by the Washington Secretary of State, which is also the office that handles paperwork for State-level candidates, initiatives, and referenda.)
This is driving the professional political community nuts, because it means every day there is a smaller pool of voters to influence, even though the cost of advertising time isn’t going down. Additionally, it is at the moment unclear exactly who has voted and how; over time, I think we’ll begin to see patterns emerge.
For example, in King County in this election cycle, the locations most likely to have already voted are, for the most part, the wealthiest regions of the county. A group of six communities clustered around Bill Gates’ house all have “in” rates above 10.5%, including three above 13%. The Town of Beaux Arts Village is at the top of that pack, running almost double the countywide rate at 16.74%.
The other communities most likely to have already voted are among the most rural in the County. Skykomish has 16.31% in, Enumclaw 12%. Unincorporated rural King County, however, is only running 8.49%, suggesting that the trend to vote early among the wealthy is more predictable than that same trend among the rural voters.
Among the many communities with average “in rates”, however, are clusters of low- and upper-income housing—and that’s where it is impossible to determine precisely who’s voted already and who is left to influence. With polling reports on Election Day you can track by precinct (and that type of tracking will be available after November 3rd), but for now an effective method of tracking has not emerged.
We assume that over time we’ll see the development of some form of “exit polling” of those who have already voted…but this is the first significant election since all-mail voting began, and prediction tools are as of yet untested.
“Message, We Have A Problem”
All of this is affecting advertising—after all, if you don’t know what portion of the electorate has already voted, how do you target your message to the remaining voters? When we get a week out, if we have 20% or more of the ballots in, this question will begin to loom very large as campaigns have to decide whether they have spent enough campaign dollars to buy airtime…or not…and whether the target audience they seek to influence is actually responding to the message…or not.
This all becomes even tougher to figure out because it’s a series of state and local races that are being contested in this election; as a result there is no daily tracking poll data available from which we might draw some near real-time conclusions.
Speaking of polling data: here’s some. A Survey USA poll conducted October 3rd and released October 6th of 548 likely voters suggests R-71 was winning 45%-42%. Women were both more likely to vote for the measure and more unsure as to how they would vote, relative to men (48% yes, 36% no, 16% unsure for females; 42% yes, 46% no, 12% unsure for males).
Voters 35-49 were simultaneously the least supportive of the measure and the most unsure as to how they’ll vote (35% approve, 49% reject, with 20% unsure). Voters over 65, the group most likely to vote, were supporting the measure (44%-40%, 16% unsure) as of October 6th.
The poll has a 4% margin of error, and some of these results are within that range, so as of October 6th this was still a race that’s very much up for grabs.
There are no Federal or State offices being contested in this election, and the only other statewide ballot issue, Initiative 1033, seeks to limit the growth of State income. The presence of the two ballot measures is likely to increase voting by 3% to 8%. It is suggested that a lower turnout will help the anti-71 crowd, a higher turnout, the pro-71 crowd.
All of this has had a major impact on “get out the vote” efforts as well—for example, no one volunteers to drive voters to polling places anymore…because there aren’t any polling places left. (There are a few exceptions for the disabled.) Instead, the effort here is to make sure those ballots get in mailboxes before Election Day.
It is possible to construct ads that attempt to “close the deal”: suggesting, in the last 20 days, that voters vote right now for or against the candidate or issue, but I haven’t seen ads of that type yet.
Finally, a few words about the “after Election Day” action. If this election is close, the number of votes that are in the mail in the days following the close of voting (and where they’re from) will be critical—and in the ‘08 cycle 50% of the total votes cast were in that “in the mail” category.
(Washington has been moving to voting by mail for some time, and in the 2008 cycle more than 90% of the votes cast were mail-in ballots. At that time 37 of the State’s 39 counties were voting entirely by mail.)
The bad news: it could take anywhere from several days to several weeks before we absolutely know the results. This process may include “reevaluation” of votes after Election Day and efforts by either party to disallow votes based on what they think they can get away with, and the result could be litigation.
The good news: there are no electronic voting machines in this system, and every ballot is a paper ballot. This means we can determine, eventually, exactly how the votes were cast—and if it takes a few recounts before we know the results, well, that’s what it will take.
So as of right now, that’s where we’re at: it’s the first major election since mail-in voting was adopted statewide, we are not sure of exactly how the impact of early voting is being felt, even though we know that almost 10% of the votes are in, professionals are still not exactly sure of what’s going on, and there should be a higher turnout due to the fact that we have two questions on the ballot for the entire voting public to consider.
Don’t expect a final result on Election Night, and if we do have to go to a recount, there won’t be any electronic voting machines to screw things up. Instead, every vote will be on a paper ballot. Most importantly of all: this ain’t Florida, we’ve been through recent close elections and recounts before—and we were able to work things out just fine.
There has been a lot of conversation about whether it will or won't pass--and a lot of conversation about whether it should pass.
I hope it does, and if you live here I encourage you to vote "yes" November 3rd.
But that said, you may not be aware that Washington has an electoral system in transition, and that as a result of the transition Washington has some idiosyncrasies that will make forecasting the results a bit tougher, and determining the results a bit slower.
We'll talk about that today, and by the time we're done you should have an appreciation of the odd way in which things can work out--and that, absent a landslide, we aren't likely to know the results on Election Day.
These Are Not Normal Times
We have the strangest weather here: it is not quite 50 degrees F. as I write this, in midafternoon; but by tonight it’s expected to get warmer as the rain moves in.
In normal times, this is the kind of thing experts would be considering as they tried to estimate what turnout might be in the upcoming election—but these are not normal times. After the November ’08 election, Washington, following Oregon’s lead, became the second “vote-by-mail” state, and now the question has become not whether weather will impact the turnout…but if it will matter at all.
“Democracy is only an experiment in government, and it has the obvious disadvantage of merely counting votes instead of weighing them.”
--Dean William Ralph Inge, “Possible Recovery?”
The first unusual thing about Election Day in Washington is that there no longer is an Election Day. Voting now begins when the ballots begin to arrive in voters’ homes (20 days before Election Day), and as of Sunday, October 25th, King County Elections (Washington’s largest county; the county that includes Seattle and almost 1/3 of the State’s population) reports that 8.59% of the ballots are already in. All ballots with a postmark before November 4th will be counted, which means there will be new ballots arriving for several days after the “polls close”.
(As you may have guessed, each county operates their own elections office. All elections in the State are regulated by the Washington Secretary of State, which is also the office that handles paperwork for State-level candidates, initiatives, and referenda.)
This is driving the professional political community nuts, because it means every day there is a smaller pool of voters to influence, even though the cost of advertising time isn’t going down. Additionally, it is at the moment unclear exactly who has voted and how; over time, I think we’ll begin to see patterns emerge.
For example, in King County in this election cycle, the locations most likely to have already voted are, for the most part, the wealthiest regions of the county. A group of six communities clustered around Bill Gates’ house all have “in” rates above 10.5%, including three above 13%. The Town of Beaux Arts Village is at the top of that pack, running almost double the countywide rate at 16.74%.
The other communities most likely to have already voted are among the most rural in the County. Skykomish has 16.31% in, Enumclaw 12%. Unincorporated rural King County, however, is only running 8.49%, suggesting that the trend to vote early among the wealthy is more predictable than that same trend among the rural voters.
Among the many communities with average “in rates”, however, are clusters of low- and upper-income housing—and that’s where it is impossible to determine precisely who’s voted already and who is left to influence. With polling reports on Election Day you can track by precinct (and that type of tracking will be available after November 3rd), but for now an effective method of tracking has not emerged.
We assume that over time we’ll see the development of some form of “exit polling” of those who have already voted…but this is the first significant election since all-mail voting began, and prediction tools are as of yet untested.
“Message, We Have A Problem”
All of this is affecting advertising—after all, if you don’t know what portion of the electorate has already voted, how do you target your message to the remaining voters? When we get a week out, if we have 20% or more of the ballots in, this question will begin to loom very large as campaigns have to decide whether they have spent enough campaign dollars to buy airtime…or not…and whether the target audience they seek to influence is actually responding to the message…or not.
This all becomes even tougher to figure out because it’s a series of state and local races that are being contested in this election; as a result there is no daily tracking poll data available from which we might draw some near real-time conclusions.
Speaking of polling data: here’s some. A Survey USA poll conducted October 3rd and released October 6th of 548 likely voters suggests R-71 was winning 45%-42%. Women were both more likely to vote for the measure and more unsure as to how they would vote, relative to men (48% yes, 36% no, 16% unsure for females; 42% yes, 46% no, 12% unsure for males).
Voters 35-49 were simultaneously the least supportive of the measure and the most unsure as to how they’ll vote (35% approve, 49% reject, with 20% unsure). Voters over 65, the group most likely to vote, were supporting the measure (44%-40%, 16% unsure) as of October 6th.
The poll has a 4% margin of error, and some of these results are within that range, so as of October 6th this was still a race that’s very much up for grabs.
There are no Federal or State offices being contested in this election, and the only other statewide ballot issue, Initiative 1033, seeks to limit the growth of State income. The presence of the two ballot measures is likely to increase voting by 3% to 8%. It is suggested that a lower turnout will help the anti-71 crowd, a higher turnout, the pro-71 crowd.
All of this has had a major impact on “get out the vote” efforts as well—for example, no one volunteers to drive voters to polling places anymore…because there aren’t any polling places left. (There are a few exceptions for the disabled.) Instead, the effort here is to make sure those ballots get in mailboxes before Election Day.
It is possible to construct ads that attempt to “close the deal”: suggesting, in the last 20 days, that voters vote right now for or against the candidate or issue, but I haven’t seen ads of that type yet.
Finally, a few words about the “after Election Day” action. If this election is close, the number of votes that are in the mail in the days following the close of voting (and where they’re from) will be critical—and in the ‘08 cycle 50% of the total votes cast were in that “in the mail” category.
(Washington has been moving to voting by mail for some time, and in the 2008 cycle more than 90% of the votes cast were mail-in ballots. At that time 37 of the State’s 39 counties were voting entirely by mail.)
The bad news: it could take anywhere from several days to several weeks before we absolutely know the results. This process may include “reevaluation” of votes after Election Day and efforts by either party to disallow votes based on what they think they can get away with, and the result could be litigation.
The good news: there are no electronic voting machines in this system, and every ballot is a paper ballot. This means we can determine, eventually, exactly how the votes were cast—and if it takes a few recounts before we know the results, well, that’s what it will take.
So as of right now, that’s where we’re at: it’s the first major election since mail-in voting was adopted statewide, we are not sure of exactly how the impact of early voting is being felt, even though we know that almost 10% of the votes are in, professionals are still not exactly sure of what’s going on, and there should be a higher turnout due to the fact that we have two questions on the ballot for the entire voting public to consider.
Don’t expect a final result on Election Night, and if we do have to go to a recount, there won’t be any electronic voting machines to screw things up. Instead, every vote will be on a paper ballot. Most importantly of all: this ain’t Florida, we’ve been through recent close elections and recounts before—and we were able to work things out just fine.
After reform passes
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
So, how well will health reform work after it passes?
There’s a part of me that can’t believe I’m asking that question. After all, serious health reform has long seemed like an impossible dream. And it could yet go all wrong.
But the teabaggers have come and gone, as have the cries of “death panels” and the demonstrations by Medicare recipients demanding that the government stay out of health care. And reform is still on track. Right now it looks highly likely that Congress will, indeed, send a health care bill to the president’s desk. Then what?
Conservatives insist (and hope) that reform will fail, and that there will be a huge popular backlash. Some progressives worry that they might be right, that the imperfections of reform — what we’re about to get will be far from ideal — will be so severe as to undermine public support. And many critics complain, with some justice, that the planned reform won’t do much to contain rising costs.
But the experience in Massachusetts, which passed major health reform back in 2006, should dampen conservative hopes and soothe progressive fears.
Like the bill that will probably emerge from Congress, the Massachusetts reform mainly relies on a combination of regulation and subsidies to chivy a mostly private system into providing near-universal coverage. It is, to be frank, a bit of a Rube Goldberg device — a complicated way of achieving something that could have been done much more simply with a Medicare-type program. Yet it has gone a long way toward achieving the goal of health insurance for all, although it’s not quite there: according to state estimates, only 2.6 percent of residents remain uninsured.
This expansion of coverage has tremendous significance in human terms. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured recently did a focus-group study of Massachusetts residents and reported that “Health reform enabled many of these individuals to take care of their medical needs, to start seeing a doctor, and in some cases to regain their health and control over their lives.” Even those who probably would have been insured without reform felt “peace of mind knowing they could obtain health coverage if they lost access to their employer-sponsored coverage.”
And reform remains popular. Earlier this year, many conservatives, citing misleading poll results, claimed that public support for the Massachusetts reform had plunged. Newer, more careful polling paints a very different picture. The key finding: an overwhelming 79 percent of the public think the reform should be continued, while only 11 percent think it should be repealed.
Interestingly, another recent poll shows similar support among the state’s physicians: 75 percent want to continue the policies; only 7 percent want to see them reversed.
There are, of course, major problems remaining in Massachusetts. In particular, while employers are required to provide a minimum standard of coverage, in a number of cases this standard seems to be too low, with lower-income workers still unable to afford necessary care. And the Massachusetts plan hasn’t yet done anything significant to contain costs.
But just as reform advocates predicted, the move to more or less universal care seems to have helped prepare the ground for further reform, with a special state commission recommending changes in the payment system that could contain costs by reducing the incentives for excessive care. And it should be noted that Hawaii, which doesn’t have universal coverage but does have a long-standing employer mandate, has been far more successful than the rest of the nation at cost control.
So what does this say about national health reform?
To be sure, Massachusetts isn’t fully representative of America as a whole. Even before reform, it had relatively broad insurance coverage, in part because of a large union movement. And the state has a tradition of strong insurance regulation, which has probably made it easier to run a system that depends crucially on having regulators ride herd on insurers.
So national reform’s chances will be better if it contains elements lacking in Massachusetts — in particular, a real public option to keep insurers honest (and fend off charges that the individual mandate is just an insurance-industry profit grab). We can only hope that reports that the Obama administration is trying to block a public option are overblown.
Still, if the Massachusetts experience is any guide, health care reform will have broad public support once it’s in place and the scare stories are proved false. The new health care system will be criticized; people will demand changes and improvements; but only a small minority will want reform reversed.
This thing is going to work.
New York Times
So, how well will health reform work after it passes?
There’s a part of me that can’t believe I’m asking that question. After all, serious health reform has long seemed like an impossible dream. And it could yet go all wrong.
But the teabaggers have come and gone, as have the cries of “death panels” and the demonstrations by Medicare recipients demanding that the government stay out of health care. And reform is still on track. Right now it looks highly likely that Congress will, indeed, send a health care bill to the president’s desk. Then what?
Conservatives insist (and hope) that reform will fail, and that there will be a huge popular backlash. Some progressives worry that they might be right, that the imperfections of reform — what we’re about to get will be far from ideal — will be so severe as to undermine public support. And many critics complain, with some justice, that the planned reform won’t do much to contain rising costs.
But the experience in Massachusetts, which passed major health reform back in 2006, should dampen conservative hopes and soothe progressive fears.
Like the bill that will probably emerge from Congress, the Massachusetts reform mainly relies on a combination of regulation and subsidies to chivy a mostly private system into providing near-universal coverage. It is, to be frank, a bit of a Rube Goldberg device — a complicated way of achieving something that could have been done much more simply with a Medicare-type program. Yet it has gone a long way toward achieving the goal of health insurance for all, although it’s not quite there: according to state estimates, only 2.6 percent of residents remain uninsured.
This expansion of coverage has tremendous significance in human terms. The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured recently did a focus-group study of Massachusetts residents and reported that “Health reform enabled many of these individuals to take care of their medical needs, to start seeing a doctor, and in some cases to regain their health and control over their lives.” Even those who probably would have been insured without reform felt “peace of mind knowing they could obtain health coverage if they lost access to their employer-sponsored coverage.”
And reform remains popular. Earlier this year, many conservatives, citing misleading poll results, claimed that public support for the Massachusetts reform had plunged. Newer, more careful polling paints a very different picture. The key finding: an overwhelming 79 percent of the public think the reform should be continued, while only 11 percent think it should be repealed.
Interestingly, another recent poll shows similar support among the state’s physicians: 75 percent want to continue the policies; only 7 percent want to see them reversed.
There are, of course, major problems remaining in Massachusetts. In particular, while employers are required to provide a minimum standard of coverage, in a number of cases this standard seems to be too low, with lower-income workers still unable to afford necessary care. And the Massachusetts plan hasn’t yet done anything significant to contain costs.
But just as reform advocates predicted, the move to more or less universal care seems to have helped prepare the ground for further reform, with a special state commission recommending changes in the payment system that could contain costs by reducing the incentives for excessive care. And it should be noted that Hawaii, which doesn’t have universal coverage but does have a long-standing employer mandate, has been far more successful than the rest of the nation at cost control.
So what does this say about national health reform?
To be sure, Massachusetts isn’t fully representative of America as a whole. Even before reform, it had relatively broad insurance coverage, in part because of a large union movement. And the state has a tradition of strong insurance regulation, which has probably made it easier to run a system that depends crucially on having regulators ride herd on insurers.
So national reform’s chances will be better if it contains elements lacking in Massachusetts — in particular, a real public option to keep insurers honest (and fend off charges that the individual mandate is just an insurance-industry profit grab). We can only hope that reports that the Obama administration is trying to block a public option are overblown.
Still, if the Massachusetts experience is any guide, health care reform will have broad public support once it’s in place and the scare stories are proved false. The new health care system will be criticized; people will demand changes and improvements; but only a small minority will want reform reversed.
This thing is going to work.
Report shows income inadequacy of Hoosiers growing
Indianapolis, IN - The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Indiana 2009 released by the Indiana Institute for Working Families (Institute), a program of the Indiana Community Action Association (IN-CAA), shows that more Hoosiers are lacking the resources needed to meet their basic needs. The Self-Sufficiency Standard measures how much income is needed for a family of a certain composition in a specific geographic location to adequately meet their basic needs without public or private assistance.
The Self-Sufficiency Standard is a more accurate measure of income adequacy compared to the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG). According to the FPG, families are characterized as "poor" if their income is below the FPG and "not poor" if their incomes are above them. The most significant shortcoming of the FPG is that for most families, in most places, they are simply not high enough. The Self-Sufficiency Standard varies by both family type and by geographic location because the amount of money families need to be economically self-sufficient depends on family size, composition, children's ages, and the state and county of residence.
For example, the FPG for a family of three in 2009 is $18,310 annually, the equivalent of earning or $8.80 an hour for full-time employment. According to the 2009 Self-Sufficiency Standard, a family of three - consisting of one adult, one preschooler, and one schoolage child - is $42,117 annually - the equivalent of earning $19.94 an hour and approximately 230 percent of the FPG. This Standard Wage incorporates the cost of a two bedroom housing unit, the cost of full-time child care, food, health care, transportation, and taxes in Marion County. For this family type in Marion County, they must earn wages that are almost three times the current Federal Minimum Wage of $7.25 per hour.
Earlier this month the U.S. Census Bureau released 2008 American Community Survey data showing that Indiana's median household income has declined to $47,699 and is lower than it was in 2000. Additionally, the number of Hoosiers living in poverty has increased as reflected in the state's poverty rate of 13.1 percent. "However, if a more accurate measure of the amount of income needed by families was used, as opposed to the FPG, we would find even more Hoosiers are not earning enough to meet their basic needs," said Lisa Travis, with the Institute.
The Self-Sufficiency Standard shows family earnings that are well above the official FPG are nevertheless far below what is needed for families to meet their basic needs. The 2009 Self-Sufficiency Standard is a tool intended to be used in a wide variety of ways to benchmark, evaluate, educate, and illuminate. It is currently being used throughout the nation to better understand issues of income adequacy, to analyze social and economic policy, and to help individuals create pathways to economic self-sufficiency.
Self-Sufficiency Standard Wages are available on an hourly, monthly, and annual basis for over 70 different family types in all 92 counties in Indiana. Hamilton County has the highest Self-Sufficiency Standard in the state at $49,407 (one adult, one preschooler, and one schoolage), due to the highest housing and child care costs in the state for this family type. Vermillion County has the lowest Self-Sufficiency Standard at $26,348 for this same family type.
This report was made possible with generous support from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and the Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF affiliate. This is the fourth edition of the Standard, which was previously released in 1999, 2002, and 2005. To view the full report, please visit the News and Update section on IN-CAA's homepage at www.incap.org.
The Self-Sufficiency Standard is a more accurate measure of income adequacy compared to the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG). According to the FPG, families are characterized as "poor" if their income is below the FPG and "not poor" if their incomes are above them. The most significant shortcoming of the FPG is that for most families, in most places, they are simply not high enough. The Self-Sufficiency Standard varies by both family type and by geographic location because the amount of money families need to be economically self-sufficient depends on family size, composition, children's ages, and the state and county of residence.
For example, the FPG for a family of three in 2009 is $18,310 annually, the equivalent of earning or $8.80 an hour for full-time employment. According to the 2009 Self-Sufficiency Standard, a family of three - consisting of one adult, one preschooler, and one schoolage child - is $42,117 annually - the equivalent of earning $19.94 an hour and approximately 230 percent of the FPG. This Standard Wage incorporates the cost of a two bedroom housing unit, the cost of full-time child care, food, health care, transportation, and taxes in Marion County. For this family type in Marion County, they must earn wages that are almost three times the current Federal Minimum Wage of $7.25 per hour.
Earlier this month the U.S. Census Bureau released 2008 American Community Survey data showing that Indiana's median household income has declined to $47,699 and is lower than it was in 2000. Additionally, the number of Hoosiers living in poverty has increased as reflected in the state's poverty rate of 13.1 percent. "However, if a more accurate measure of the amount of income needed by families was used, as opposed to the FPG, we would find even more Hoosiers are not earning enough to meet their basic needs," said Lisa Travis, with the Institute.
The Self-Sufficiency Standard shows family earnings that are well above the official FPG are nevertheless far below what is needed for families to meet their basic needs. The 2009 Self-Sufficiency Standard is a tool intended to be used in a wide variety of ways to benchmark, evaluate, educate, and illuminate. It is currently being used throughout the nation to better understand issues of income adequacy, to analyze social and economic policy, and to help individuals create pathways to economic self-sufficiency.
Self-Sufficiency Standard Wages are available on an hourly, monthly, and annual basis for over 70 different family types in all 92 counties in Indiana. Hamilton County has the highest Self-Sufficiency Standard in the state at $49,407 (one adult, one preschooler, and one schoolage), due to the highest housing and child care costs in the state for this family type. Vermillion County has the lowest Self-Sufficiency Standard at $26,348 for this same family type.
This report was made possible with generous support from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and the Indianapolis Foundation, a CICF affiliate. This is the fourth edition of the Standard, which was previously released in 1999, 2002, and 2005. To view the full report, please visit the News and Update section on IN-CAA's homepage at www.incap.org.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Truthout 10/25
Kelpie Wilson Genesis Gets the Crumb Treatment
Kelpie Wilson, Truthout: "I confess that I am one of those feminists who finds a lot to like in the work of Robert Crumb. If his early work in the underground comics movement expressed a 'sexual rage' as he calls it, well those were the times to get it all out of your system.... So, it came as a surprise to learn that this warrior of the id and defender of the flesh has produced an illustrated version of Genesis. That's right, the Bible. What would he do with it?" Read the Article
Death Toll Reaches 132 in Baghdad Bombings
Reuters: "Twin car bombs targeting two government buildings killed at least 132 people and wounded more than 500 in Baghdad Sunday, police and health officials said, in one of the bloodiest days in the Iraqi capital this year." Read the Article
Latinos to CNN: Are You With Us or Against Us?
Manuel Avendaño, El Diario La Prensa (Translated by Ryan Croken): "New York - Dozens of angry demonstrators gathered in Manhattan on Wednesday to demand that the cable news network CNN fire its prime-time anchor Lou Dobbs for his denigration of Hispanic immigrants. Similar protests took place in 18 other cities across the country Wednesday afternoon, shortly before CNN aired its first installment of the four-hour series 'Latino in America,' a documentary intended to highlight the accomplishments of Latinos and to illustrate some of the challenges that they face here in the United States." Read the Article
Pelosi Disputes Reports She’ll Drop Public Option
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "The debate to fix the health care ills of the nation took a subtle turn Friday, with Nancy Pelosi disputing reports that she will drop the strongest public option in favor of a weaker one she hopes will garner more support when the Senate votes on the health care bill later this year." Read the Article
Iran Nuclear Deal: How Serious Is Tehran's Balk?
Howard LaFranchi, The Christian Science Monitor: "Is Iran doing its customary diplomatic haggling - or preparing to slam the door on the international community? By balking at a Friday deadline for a decision on a plan to move much of its enriched-uranium stockpile out of the country, Iran may be playing for better terms in a deal it will ultimately accept. But by standing up the three world powers - the United States, Russia, and France - that had already accepted the deal negotiated with Iranian officials earlier this week, Iran may be unwittingly laying the groundwork for tougher international sanctions aimed at its nuclear program." Read the Article
William Fisher A Simpleton Tries to Understand the Health Care Debate
William Fisher, Truthout: "Over these past months, I have been drowning in seas of data and analysis and opinions and lies and spin about health. But very little of it has actually been about health. A lot of it has been about process, such as the process in the sausage factory through which legislation gets crafted. But mostly it has been about money - money headed for so-called health insurance companies. Now, maybe I have a simplistic mind, but frankly I don't understand why health care and insurance companies keep appearing in the same sentences." Read the Article
Robert Reich Why Wall Street Reform Is Stuck in Reverse
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Eight months ago it looked as if Wall Street was in store for strong financial regulation - oversight of derivative trading, pay linked to long-term performance, much higher capital requirements, an end to conflicts of interest (i.e. credit rating agencies being paid by the very companies whose securities they're rating), and even resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial from investment banking. Today, Congress is struggling to produce the tiniest shards of regulation that would at least give the appearance of doing something to rein in the Street. What happened in the intervening months?" Read the Article
Kelpie Wilson, Truthout: "I confess that I am one of those feminists who finds a lot to like in the work of Robert Crumb. If his early work in the underground comics movement expressed a 'sexual rage' as he calls it, well those were the times to get it all out of your system.... So, it came as a surprise to learn that this warrior of the id and defender of the flesh has produced an illustrated version of Genesis. That's right, the Bible. What would he do with it?" Read the Article
Death Toll Reaches 132 in Baghdad Bombings
Reuters: "Twin car bombs targeting two government buildings killed at least 132 people and wounded more than 500 in Baghdad Sunday, police and health officials said, in one of the bloodiest days in the Iraqi capital this year." Read the Article
Latinos to CNN: Are You With Us or Against Us?
Manuel Avendaño, El Diario La Prensa (Translated by Ryan Croken): "New York - Dozens of angry demonstrators gathered in Manhattan on Wednesday to demand that the cable news network CNN fire its prime-time anchor Lou Dobbs for his denigration of Hispanic immigrants. Similar protests took place in 18 other cities across the country Wednesday afternoon, shortly before CNN aired its first installment of the four-hour series 'Latino in America,' a documentary intended to highlight the accomplishments of Latinos and to illustrate some of the challenges that they face here in the United States." Read the Article
Pelosi Disputes Reports She’ll Drop Public Option
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "The debate to fix the health care ills of the nation took a subtle turn Friday, with Nancy Pelosi disputing reports that she will drop the strongest public option in favor of a weaker one she hopes will garner more support when the Senate votes on the health care bill later this year." Read the Article
Iran Nuclear Deal: How Serious Is Tehran's Balk?
Howard LaFranchi, The Christian Science Monitor: "Is Iran doing its customary diplomatic haggling - or preparing to slam the door on the international community? By balking at a Friday deadline for a decision on a plan to move much of its enriched-uranium stockpile out of the country, Iran may be playing for better terms in a deal it will ultimately accept. But by standing up the three world powers - the United States, Russia, and France - that had already accepted the deal negotiated with Iranian officials earlier this week, Iran may be unwittingly laying the groundwork for tougher international sanctions aimed at its nuclear program." Read the Article
William Fisher A Simpleton Tries to Understand the Health Care Debate
William Fisher, Truthout: "Over these past months, I have been drowning in seas of data and analysis and opinions and lies and spin about health. But very little of it has actually been about health. A lot of it has been about process, such as the process in the sausage factory through which legislation gets crafted. But mostly it has been about money - money headed for so-called health insurance companies. Now, maybe I have a simplistic mind, but frankly I don't understand why health care and insurance companies keep appearing in the same sentences." Read the Article
Robert Reich Why Wall Street Reform Is Stuck in Reverse
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Eight months ago it looked as if Wall Street was in store for strong financial regulation - oversight of derivative trading, pay linked to long-term performance, much higher capital requirements, an end to conflicts of interest (i.e. credit rating agencies being paid by the very companies whose securities they're rating), and even resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial from investment banking. Today, Congress is struggling to produce the tiniest shards of regulation that would at least give the appearance of doing something to rein in the Street. What happened in the intervening months?" Read the Article
Saturday, October 24, 2009
On Being A Government DJ, Or, “Torture? You Call That Torture?”
It's become more or less common knowledge that US forces have been using music as an operational tool for some time now, and I've begun seeing lists of the songs that are being used either to inflict pain, to demoralize, or to just generally disorient various people in various sorts of situations.
There are others, wiser than I, who will opine as to the questions of efficacy and the moral issues surrounding these kinds of operations; I will opine, instead, as to the quality of the songs used.
Frankly, had anyone asked, I could have put the torturers onto much better musical choices, just by selecting from my own "My Music" folder--which left me thinking: "hey, it's the weekend...why not do exactly that?"
Got any psychological warfare mission planned for the weekend? Expecting to have to direct amplified sound at an angry mob in a defensive maneuver Saturday night? Planning a Halloween haunted house that goes a bit...fuurther?
Come along with me then, soldier, and I'll provide you a playlist that should do the trick in almost any foreseeable emergency.
Before we go any further, a word of warning: some of the links in this story will lead to material that is extraordinarily offensive and, in some cases, exceptionally distressing in nature.
If you are reading this, and you're, say, eleven years old, go get your parents and make them read this with you so that they can also learn about some sweet death metal; later on you can all listen to better music in the car on family outings.
What's On Guantanamo's iPod?
So the obvious first question: what songs are the government using?
If the lists that I've been seeing can be believed, there is a fair collection of songs being used to create "environmental manipulation", including songs like Eminem's "White America" and "Kim", the obvious choices like "Born in the USA", songs from the super-patriotic county song genre like that "boot in your ass" song, sexually suggestive songs like Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" (which has a waaaay dirtier video than lyrics...), and a heavy diet of heavy metal. (According to Justine Sharrock's reporting at Mother Jones, MPs on duty in the detention facilities would often be making the choices about what detainees would hear.)
The odd thing about the metal: most of the songs seem to be far more tame than what they could have found--and a lot of the songs are actually among my "Rocktober" favorites...although at least one song was new to me, and I liked it, too.
Examples included Nine Inch Nail's "March of the Pigs", AC~DC's "Hell's Bells", Drowning Pool's "Bodies", Mettalica's "Enter Sandman", and a song by Deicide that I had never heard before...but, to borrow from "American Bandstand", it had a great death metal beat and you could mosh to it.
Now if it had been me in there, I would have suggested, for starters, some good old New Orleans Goatwhore, like "Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult", or maybe some delightful Cannibal Corpse ("Barbaric Bludgeonings" being a good place to start), or perhaps something that draws from Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" concept, like "Upper Decker", by The Red Chord.
One of my friends suggested I consider a Norwegian Black Metal band (which is a good choice due to the Satanic messages that are literally at the core of the music); and you can't go wrong with either Gorgoroth's most excellent "Carving a Giant" or a selection from Emperor's "The Nightside Eclipse" (which should also be mandatory for any haunted house soundtrack anywhere).
Did You Say Sex?
Songs with gay-oriented themes work in both PsyOps and "friendly" haunted house environments; my suggestions would include two long-time favorites: The Mike Flowers Pops' rendition of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (which actually manages to be amazingly perky, unabashedly "pop", samples "The Macarena", and, despite all that, doesn't suck), or, when you're ready for the big guns, the Keta-Men's super-masculine, give-it-a-beat, four-part-harmony reworking of Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough"; which should be effective, as I said, for any PsyOps you may have planned--or any friendly haunting.
As for other songs with a sexual connection: well, you could do a lot better than Christina Aguilera. How about, just to get things rolling, 20 Fingers and Gilette's "Short Dick Man" ...and then, after midnight, you gotta dig up the impotent sea snakes' "Kangaroos (Up the Butt)" (which is, indeed, about an Australian lifestyle choice gone horribly, horribly, wrong).
Apparently songs like "Wind Beneath My Wings", "Mandy", Air Supply's "Lost in Love", the entire Celine Dion catalog, and Morris Albert's unforgettable "Feelings" (unforgettable? After you hear it, you wish you could forget it...) did not make the list (although the public record is incomplete, and that may yet prove to be incorrect). The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack apparently did make the cut, which confirms some theories I've had about the Brothers Gibb and torture that date back to the 1970s...but that's a subject for another day.
It also appears that no one went for the industrial/dance bands, and as far as I'm concerned, no serious haunted house (or PsyOps mission) is complete until the Negativland comes out to play--but there's a lot of other top-quality disorienting and jarring music available, including music from :wumpscut: and ohGr and Einstürzende Neubauten...or even Twink's "Pussy Cat".
Finally, a few words about what might be the cruelest songs to make it on the list.
The theme from the Meow Mix commercials made the list.
The Sesame Street theme song made the list.
And, finally, in what might be the most barbaric act ever perpetrated by the American Government...Barney the purple dinosaur's "I Love You", a song you always said was torture to have to listen to, has now actually been used to soften up detainees for interrogation at Guantanamo Bay.
Amazingly, the song that might be the worst ever to have deployed against you in any PsyOps operation--or any haunted house, for that matter--is not on any list I've seen so far: the theme from the Disney ride "It's a Small World". I can testify to this personally: as a kid at Disneyland I was stuck on the ride, one summer day, for about an hour-and-a-half.
All I can say...is that it changes you.
Check out the link. It's almost 11 minutes long, and I challenge you to sit through the whole thing. If you do make it, I challenge you to get that song out of your head...ever...again. Good luck.
There are others, wiser than I, who will opine as to the questions of efficacy and the moral issues surrounding these kinds of operations; I will opine, instead, as to the quality of the songs used.
Frankly, had anyone asked, I could have put the torturers onto much better musical choices, just by selecting from my own "My Music" folder--which left me thinking: "hey, it's the weekend...why not do exactly that?"
Got any psychological warfare mission planned for the weekend? Expecting to have to direct amplified sound at an angry mob in a defensive maneuver Saturday night? Planning a Halloween haunted house that goes a bit...fuurther?
Come along with me then, soldier, and I'll provide you a playlist that should do the trick in almost any foreseeable emergency.
Before we go any further, a word of warning: some of the links in this story will lead to material that is extraordinarily offensive and, in some cases, exceptionally distressing in nature.
If you are reading this, and you're, say, eleven years old, go get your parents and make them read this with you so that they can also learn about some sweet death metal; later on you can all listen to better music in the car on family outings.
What's On Guantanamo's iPod?
So the obvious first question: what songs are the government using?
If the lists that I've been seeing can be believed, there is a fair collection of songs being used to create "environmental manipulation", including songs like Eminem's "White America" and "Kim", the obvious choices like "Born in the USA", songs from the super-patriotic county song genre like that "boot in your ass" song, sexually suggestive songs like Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" (which has a waaaay dirtier video than lyrics...), and a heavy diet of heavy metal. (According to Justine Sharrock's reporting at Mother Jones, MPs on duty in the detention facilities would often be making the choices about what detainees would hear.)
"The healthy man does not torture others -- generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers."
--Carl Jung
The odd thing about the metal: most of the songs seem to be far more tame than what they could have found--and a lot of the songs are actually among my "Rocktober" favorites...although at least one song was new to me, and I liked it, too.
Examples included Nine Inch Nail's "March of the Pigs", AC~DC's "Hell's Bells", Drowning Pool's "Bodies", Mettalica's "Enter Sandman", and a song by Deicide that I had never heard before...but, to borrow from "American Bandstand", it had a great death metal beat and you could mosh to it.
Now if it had been me in there, I would have suggested, for starters, some good old New Orleans Goatwhore, like "Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult", or maybe some delightful Cannibal Corpse ("Barbaric Bludgeonings" being a good place to start), or perhaps something that draws from Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" concept, like "Upper Decker", by The Red Chord.
One of my friends suggested I consider a Norwegian Black Metal band (which is a good choice due to the Satanic messages that are literally at the core of the music); and you can't go wrong with either Gorgoroth's most excellent "Carving a Giant" or a selection from Emperor's "The Nightside Eclipse" (which should also be mandatory for any haunted house soundtrack anywhere).
Did You Say Sex?
Songs with gay-oriented themes work in both PsyOps and "friendly" haunted house environments; my suggestions would include two long-time favorites: The Mike Flowers Pops' rendition of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (which actually manages to be amazingly perky, unabashedly "pop", samples "The Macarena", and, despite all that, doesn't suck), or, when you're ready for the big guns, the Keta-Men's super-masculine, give-it-a-beat, four-part-harmony reworking of Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough"; which should be effective, as I said, for any PsyOps you may have planned--or any friendly haunting.
As for other songs with a sexual connection: well, you could do a lot better than Christina Aguilera. How about, just to get things rolling, 20 Fingers and Gilette's "Short Dick Man" ...and then, after midnight, you gotta dig up the impotent sea snakes' "Kangaroos (Up the Butt)" (which is, indeed, about an Australian lifestyle choice gone horribly, horribly, wrong).
Apparently songs like "Wind Beneath My Wings", "Mandy", Air Supply's "Lost in Love", the entire Celine Dion catalog, and Morris Albert's unforgettable "Feelings" (unforgettable? After you hear it, you wish you could forget it...) did not make the list (although the public record is incomplete, and that may yet prove to be incorrect). The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack apparently did make the cut, which confirms some theories I've had about the Brothers Gibb and torture that date back to the 1970s...but that's a subject for another day.
It also appears that no one went for the industrial/dance bands, and as far as I'm concerned, no serious haunted house (or PsyOps mission) is complete until the Negativland comes out to play--but there's a lot of other top-quality disorienting and jarring music available, including music from :wumpscut: and ohGr and Einstürzende Neubauten...or even Twink's "Pussy Cat".
Finally, a few words about what might be the cruelest songs to make it on the list.
The theme from the Meow Mix commercials made the list.
The Sesame Street theme song made the list.
And, finally, in what might be the most barbaric act ever perpetrated by the American Government...Barney the purple dinosaur's "I Love You", a song you always said was torture to have to listen to, has now actually been used to soften up detainees for interrogation at Guantanamo Bay.
Amazingly, the song that might be the worst ever to have deployed against you in any PsyOps operation--or any haunted house, for that matter--is not on any list I've seen so far: the theme from the Disney ride "It's a Small World". I can testify to this personally: as a kid at Disneyland I was stuck on the ride, one summer day, for about an hour-and-a-half.
All I can say...is that it changes you.
Check out the link. It's almost 11 minutes long, and I challenge you to sit through the whole thing. If you do make it, I challenge you to get that song out of your head...ever...again. Good luck.
Truthout 10/24
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship Texas, the Eyes of Justice Are Upon You
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Truthout: "On October 13, we lost a resolute champion of the law, a man who left his impact on the lives of untold numbers of Americans. His very name made his life's work almost inevitable, a matter of destiny. William Wayne Justice was a federal judge for the Eastern District of Texas. That's right, he was 'Justice Justice.' And he spent a distinguished legal career making sure that everyone - no matter their color or income or class - got a fair shake. As a former Texas lieutenant governor put it last week, 'Judge Justice dragged Texas into the 20th century, God bless him.'" Read the Article
Multiple Deployments May Raise Risk of Military Spouse Suicide
Stacy Bannerman, Truthout: "As the effects of eight years of war accumulate in Army families, a growing number of military spouses suffering stress, depression and thoughts of suicide can't get the care they need. There is 'a severe shortage of mental-health-care facilities for families, both on post and off, especially as post-behavioral health centers are already filled to capacity with soldiers,' according to Army psychiatrist Col. Kris Peterson." Read the Article
Pentagon Speeding Up Production of Bunker Busters
Scott Canon, The Kansas City Star: "Even as Washington emphasizes walking softly to pry Iran away from its nuclear ambitions, the Pentagon is speeding the manufacture of its own big stick. This month, the Defense Department awarded $51.9 million to McDonnell Douglas to more quickly adapt a 30,000-pound bunker buster to the B-2 stealth bomber. The GBU-57 bomb and the fleet of B-2s - stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base with occasional deployments to Guam and an outpost in the Indian Ocean - are widely seen as the likeliest U.S. military option for setting back Tehran's hopes for building nuclear weapons." Read the Article
NoEscalation.org: Can the Peace Movement Reach President Obama?
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "If there were ever a time when the peace movement should be able to have an impact on US foreign policy, that time should be now. If there were ever a time for extraordinary effort to achieve such an impact, that time is now.... Such a time calls for extraordinary efforts to mobilize public opinion to move policy." Read the Article
Freddie Mac, Given Oversight of Mortgage Mod Program, Falls Down on
Job Paul Kiel, ProPublica: "Since its March launch, the government's $50 billion program to prevent foreclosures has been marked by confusion, delays and doubts. A little-noticed conclusion in a government report released on Wednesday reveals that the program's auditor is no different: Freddie Mac - yes, that Freddie Mac - has been given responsibility for auditing the program. And it turns out, Freddie is stuck at square one." Read the Article
Eugene Robinson Stop the Getaway Car
Eugene Robinson: "Slashing executive salaries, bonuses and perks at the seven bailed-out companies that gorged most gluttonously at the public trough is emotionally satisfying, but it shouldn't be. It's like arresting jaywalkers while ignoring the bank robbery that's happening in broad daylight down the block.... All this is just a sideshow. The main event is the limited, far-too-modest attempt by the Obama administration and Congress to curb the irresponsible Wall Street practices that led to the financial meltdown -- and, if unaddressed, will lead inexorably to the next crisis." Read the Article
Trade Your Job
Valerie Saturen, Yes! Magazine: "In the last 30 years, wages have dropped for people without college degrees. But in Pierce County, Washington, high school students who aren't headed for college are learning to retrofit houses; they stand to make up to $50 an hour once they're experienced journeymen. In Lansing, Michigan, unemployed auto workers can get up to $10,000 to train for new careers in renewable energy. These people, and others nationwide, are part of a rapidly expanding market for green-collar workers." Read the Article
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Truthout: "On October 13, we lost a resolute champion of the law, a man who left his impact on the lives of untold numbers of Americans. His very name made his life's work almost inevitable, a matter of destiny. William Wayne Justice was a federal judge for the Eastern District of Texas. That's right, he was 'Justice Justice.' And he spent a distinguished legal career making sure that everyone - no matter their color or income or class - got a fair shake. As a former Texas lieutenant governor put it last week, 'Judge Justice dragged Texas into the 20th century, God bless him.'" Read the Article
Multiple Deployments May Raise Risk of Military Spouse Suicide
Stacy Bannerman, Truthout: "As the effects of eight years of war accumulate in Army families, a growing number of military spouses suffering stress, depression and thoughts of suicide can't get the care they need. There is 'a severe shortage of mental-health-care facilities for families, both on post and off, especially as post-behavioral health centers are already filled to capacity with soldiers,' according to Army psychiatrist Col. Kris Peterson." Read the Article
Pentagon Speeding Up Production of Bunker Busters
Scott Canon, The Kansas City Star: "Even as Washington emphasizes walking softly to pry Iran away from its nuclear ambitions, the Pentagon is speeding the manufacture of its own big stick. This month, the Defense Department awarded $51.9 million to McDonnell Douglas to more quickly adapt a 30,000-pound bunker buster to the B-2 stealth bomber. The GBU-57 bomb and the fleet of B-2s - stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base with occasional deployments to Guam and an outpost in the Indian Ocean - are widely seen as the likeliest U.S. military option for setting back Tehran's hopes for building nuclear weapons." Read the Article
NoEscalation.org: Can the Peace Movement Reach President Obama?
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "If there were ever a time when the peace movement should be able to have an impact on US foreign policy, that time should be now. If there were ever a time for extraordinary effort to achieve such an impact, that time is now.... Such a time calls for extraordinary efforts to mobilize public opinion to move policy." Read the Article
Freddie Mac, Given Oversight of Mortgage Mod Program, Falls Down on
Job Paul Kiel, ProPublica: "Since its March launch, the government's $50 billion program to prevent foreclosures has been marked by confusion, delays and doubts. A little-noticed conclusion in a government report released on Wednesday reveals that the program's auditor is no different: Freddie Mac - yes, that Freddie Mac - has been given responsibility for auditing the program. And it turns out, Freddie is stuck at square one." Read the Article
Eugene Robinson Stop the Getaway Car
Eugene Robinson: "Slashing executive salaries, bonuses and perks at the seven bailed-out companies that gorged most gluttonously at the public trough is emotionally satisfying, but it shouldn't be. It's like arresting jaywalkers while ignoring the bank robbery that's happening in broad daylight down the block.... All this is just a sideshow. The main event is the limited, far-too-modest attempt by the Obama administration and Congress to curb the irresponsible Wall Street practices that led to the financial meltdown -- and, if unaddressed, will lead inexorably to the next crisis." Read the Article
Trade Your Job
Valerie Saturen, Yes! Magazine: "In the last 30 years, wages have dropped for people without college degrees. But in Pierce County, Washington, high school students who aren't headed for college are learning to retrofit houses; they stand to make up to $50 an hour once they're experienced journeymen. In Lansing, Michigan, unemployed auto workers can get up to $10,000 to train for new careers in renewable energy. These people, and others nationwide, are part of a rapidly expanding market for green-collar workers." Read the Article
The Chinese disconnect
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
Senior monetary officials usually talk in code. So when Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, spoke recently about Asia, international imbalances and the financial crisis, he didn’t specifically criticize China’s outrageous currency policy.
But he didn’t have to: everyone got the subtext. China’s bad behavior is posing a growing threat to the rest of the world economy. The only question now is what the world — and, in particular, the United States — will do about it.
Some background: The value of China’s currency, unlike, say, the value of the British pound, isn’t determined by supply and demand. Instead, Chinese authorities enforced that target by buying or selling their currency in the foreign exchange market — a policy made possible by restrictions on the ability of private investors to move their money either into or out of the country.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with such a policy, especially in a still poor country whose financial system might all too easily be destabilized by volatile flows of hot money. In fact, the system served China well during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. The crucial question, however, is whether the target value of the yuan is reasonable.
Until around 2001, you could argue that it was: China’s overall trade position wasn’t too far out of balance. From then onward, however, the policy of keeping the yuan-dollar rate fixed came to look increasingly bizarre. First of all, the dollar slid in value, especially against the euro, so that by keeping the yuan/dollar rate fixed, Chinese officials were, in effect, devaluing their currency against everyone else’s. Meanwhile, productivity in China’s export industries soared; combined with the de facto devaluation, this made Chinese goods extremely cheap on world markets.
The result was a huge Chinese trade surplus. If supply and demand had been allowed to prevail, the value of China’s currency would have risen sharply. But Chinese authorities didn’t let it rise. They kept it down by selling vast quantities of the currency, acquiring in return an enormous hoard of foreign assets, mostly in dollars, currently worth about $2.1 trillion.
Many economists, myself included, believe that China’s asset-buying spree helped inflate the housing bubble, setting the stage for the global financial crisis. But China’s insistence on keeping the yuan/dollar rate fixed, even when the dollar declines, may be doing even more harm now.
Although there has been a lot of doomsaying about the falling dollar, that decline is actually both natural and desirable. America needs a weaker dollar to help reduce its trade deficit, and it’s getting that weaker dollar as nervous investors, who flocked into the presumed safety of U.S. debt at the peak of the crisis, have started putting their money to work elsewhere.
But China has been keeping its currency pegged to the dollar — which means that a country with a huge trade surplus and a rapidly recovering economy, a country whose currency should be rising in value, is in effect engineering a large devaluation instead.
And that’s a particularly bad thing to do at a time when the world economy remains deeply depressed due to inadequate overall demand. By pursuing a weak-currency policy, China is siphoning some of that inadequate demand away from other nations, which is hurting growth almost everywhere. The biggest victims, by the way, are probably workers in other poor countries. In normal times, I’d be among the first to reject claims that China is stealing other peoples’ jobs, but right now it’s the simple truth.
So what are we going to do?
U.S. officials have been extremely cautious about confronting the China problem, to such an extent that last week the Treasury Department, while expressing “concerns,” certified in a required report to Congress that China is not — repeat not — manipulating its currency. They’re kidding, right?
The thing is, right now this caution makes little sense. Suppose the Chinese were to do what Wall Street and Washington seem to fear and start selling some of their dollar hoard. Under current conditions, this would actually help the U.S. economy by making our exports more competitive.
In fact, some countries, most notably Switzerland, have been trying to support their economies by selling their own currencies on the foreign exchange market. The United States, mainly for diplomatic reasons, can’t do this; but if the Chinese decide to do it on our behalf, we should send them a thank-you note.
The point is that with the world economy still in a precarious state, beggar-thy-neighbor policies by major players can’t be tolerated. Something must be done about China’s currency.
New York Times
Senior monetary officials usually talk in code. So when Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, spoke recently about Asia, international imbalances and the financial crisis, he didn’t specifically criticize China’s outrageous currency policy.
But he didn’t have to: everyone got the subtext. China’s bad behavior is posing a growing threat to the rest of the world economy. The only question now is what the world — and, in particular, the United States — will do about it.
Some background: The value of China’s currency, unlike, say, the value of the British pound, isn’t determined by supply and demand. Instead, Chinese authorities enforced that target by buying or selling their currency in the foreign exchange market — a policy made possible by restrictions on the ability of private investors to move their money either into or out of the country.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with such a policy, especially in a still poor country whose financial system might all too easily be destabilized by volatile flows of hot money. In fact, the system served China well during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. The crucial question, however, is whether the target value of the yuan is reasonable.
Until around 2001, you could argue that it was: China’s overall trade position wasn’t too far out of balance. From then onward, however, the policy of keeping the yuan-dollar rate fixed came to look increasingly bizarre. First of all, the dollar slid in value, especially against the euro, so that by keeping the yuan/dollar rate fixed, Chinese officials were, in effect, devaluing their currency against everyone else’s. Meanwhile, productivity in China’s export industries soared; combined with the de facto devaluation, this made Chinese goods extremely cheap on world markets.
The result was a huge Chinese trade surplus. If supply and demand had been allowed to prevail, the value of China’s currency would have risen sharply. But Chinese authorities didn’t let it rise. They kept it down by selling vast quantities of the currency, acquiring in return an enormous hoard of foreign assets, mostly in dollars, currently worth about $2.1 trillion.
Many economists, myself included, believe that China’s asset-buying spree helped inflate the housing bubble, setting the stage for the global financial crisis. But China’s insistence on keeping the yuan/dollar rate fixed, even when the dollar declines, may be doing even more harm now.
Although there has been a lot of doomsaying about the falling dollar, that decline is actually both natural and desirable. America needs a weaker dollar to help reduce its trade deficit, and it’s getting that weaker dollar as nervous investors, who flocked into the presumed safety of U.S. debt at the peak of the crisis, have started putting their money to work elsewhere.
But China has been keeping its currency pegged to the dollar — which means that a country with a huge trade surplus and a rapidly recovering economy, a country whose currency should be rising in value, is in effect engineering a large devaluation instead.
And that’s a particularly bad thing to do at a time when the world economy remains deeply depressed due to inadequate overall demand. By pursuing a weak-currency policy, China is siphoning some of that inadequate demand away from other nations, which is hurting growth almost everywhere. The biggest victims, by the way, are probably workers in other poor countries. In normal times, I’d be among the first to reject claims that China is stealing other peoples’ jobs, but right now it’s the simple truth.
So what are we going to do?
U.S. officials have been extremely cautious about confronting the China problem, to such an extent that last week the Treasury Department, while expressing “concerns,” certified in a required report to Congress that China is not — repeat not — manipulating its currency. They’re kidding, right?
The thing is, right now this caution makes little sense. Suppose the Chinese were to do what Wall Street and Washington seem to fear and start selling some of their dollar hoard. Under current conditions, this would actually help the U.S. economy by making our exports more competitive.
In fact, some countries, most notably Switzerland, have been trying to support their economies by selling their own currencies on the foreign exchange market. The United States, mainly for diplomatic reasons, can’t do this; but if the Chinese decide to do it on our behalf, we should send them a thank-you note.
The point is that with the world economy still in a precarious state, beggar-thy-neighbor policies by major players can’t be tolerated. Something must be done about China’s currency.
The quiet revolution
By DAVID BROOKS
New York Times
A few weeks ago, “Saturday Night Live” teased President Obama for delivering great speeches but not actually bringing change. There’s at least one area where that jibe is unfair: education.
When Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to office, they created a $4.3 billion Race to the Top fund. The idea was to use money to leverage change. The administration would put a pile of federal money on the table and award it to a few states that most aggressively embraced reform.
Their ideas were good, and their speeches were beautiful. But that was never the problem. The real challenge was going to be standing up to the teachers’ unions and the other groups that have undermined nearly every other reform effort.
The real questions were these: Would the administration water down their reform criteria in the face of political pressure? Would the Race to the Top money end up getting doled out like any other federal spending program, and thus end up subsidizing the status quo? Would the administration hold the line and demand real reform in exchange for the money?
There were many reasons to be skeptical. At the behest of the teachers’ unions, the Democrats had just shut down a successful District of Columbia voucher program. Moreover, state legislatures around the country were moving backward. They were passing laws prohibiting schools from using student performance as a criterion in setting teacher pay.
But, so far, those fears are unjustified. The news is good. In fact, it’s very good. Over the past few days I’ve spoken to people ranging from Bill Gates to Jeb Bush and various education reformers. They are all impressed by how gritty and effective the Obama administration has been in holding the line and inciting real education reform.
Over the summer, the Department of Education indicated that most states would not qualify for Race to the Top money. Now states across the country are changing their laws: California, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Tennessee, among others.
It’s not only the promise of money that is motivating change. There seems to be some sort of status contest as states compete to prove they, too, can meet the criteria. Governors who have been bragging about how great their schools are don’t want to be left off the list.
These changes mean that states are raising their caps on the number of charter schools. When charters got going, there was a “let a thousand flowers bloom” mentality that sometimes led to bad schools. Now reformers know more about how to build charters and the research is showing solid results. Caroline Hoxby of Stanford University recently concluded a rigorous study of New York’s charter schools and found that they substantially narrowed the achievement gap between suburban and inner-city students.
The changes also will mean student performance will increasingly be a factor in how much teachers get paid and whether they keep their jobs. There is no consensus on exactly how to do this, but there is clear evidence that good teachers produce consistently better student test scores, and that teachers who do not need to be identified and counseled. Cracking the barrier that has been erected between student outcomes and teacher pay would be a huge gain.
Duncan even seems to have made some progress in persuading the unions that they can’t just stonewall, they have to get involved in the reform process. The American Federation of Teachers recently announced innovation grants for performance pay ideas. The New Haven school district has just completed a new teacher contract, with union support, that includes many of the best reform ideas.
There are still many places, like Washington, where the unions are dogmatically trying to keep bad teachers in the classrooms. But if implemented well, the New Haven contract could be a sign of perestroika even within the education establishment.
“I’ve been deeply disturbed by a lot that’s going on in Washington,” Jeb Bush said on Thursday, “but this is not one of them. President Obama has been supporting a reform secretary, and this is deserving of Republican support.” Bush’s sentiment is echoed across the spectrum, from Newt Gingrich to Al Sharpton.
Over the next months, there will be more efforts to water down reform. Some groups are offering to get behind health care reform in exchange for gutting education reform. Politicians from both parties are going to lobby fiercely to ensure that their state gets money, regardless of the merits. So will governors who figure they’re going to lose out in the award process.
But President Obama understood from the start that this would only work if the awards remain fiercely competitive. He has not wavered. We’re not close to reaching the educational Promised Land, but we may be at the start of what Rahm Emanuel calls The Quiet Revolution.
New York Times
A few weeks ago, “Saturday Night Live” teased President Obama for delivering great speeches but not actually bringing change. There’s at least one area where that jibe is unfair: education.
When Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to office, they created a $4.3 billion Race to the Top fund. The idea was to use money to leverage change. The administration would put a pile of federal money on the table and award it to a few states that most aggressively embraced reform.
Their ideas were good, and their speeches were beautiful. But that was never the problem. The real challenge was going to be standing up to the teachers’ unions and the other groups that have undermined nearly every other reform effort.
The real questions were these: Would the administration water down their reform criteria in the face of political pressure? Would the Race to the Top money end up getting doled out like any other federal spending program, and thus end up subsidizing the status quo? Would the administration hold the line and demand real reform in exchange for the money?
There were many reasons to be skeptical. At the behest of the teachers’ unions, the Democrats had just shut down a successful District of Columbia voucher program. Moreover, state legislatures around the country were moving backward. They were passing laws prohibiting schools from using student performance as a criterion in setting teacher pay.
But, so far, those fears are unjustified. The news is good. In fact, it’s very good. Over the past few days I’ve spoken to people ranging from Bill Gates to Jeb Bush and various education reformers. They are all impressed by how gritty and effective the Obama administration has been in holding the line and inciting real education reform.
Over the summer, the Department of Education indicated that most states would not qualify for Race to the Top money. Now states across the country are changing their laws: California, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Tennessee, among others.
It’s not only the promise of money that is motivating change. There seems to be some sort of status contest as states compete to prove they, too, can meet the criteria. Governors who have been bragging about how great their schools are don’t want to be left off the list.
These changes mean that states are raising their caps on the number of charter schools. When charters got going, there was a “let a thousand flowers bloom” mentality that sometimes led to bad schools. Now reformers know more about how to build charters and the research is showing solid results. Caroline Hoxby of Stanford University recently concluded a rigorous study of New York’s charter schools and found that they substantially narrowed the achievement gap between suburban and inner-city students.
The changes also will mean student performance will increasingly be a factor in how much teachers get paid and whether they keep their jobs. There is no consensus on exactly how to do this, but there is clear evidence that good teachers produce consistently better student test scores, and that teachers who do not need to be identified and counseled. Cracking the barrier that has been erected between student outcomes and teacher pay would be a huge gain.
Duncan even seems to have made some progress in persuading the unions that they can’t just stonewall, they have to get involved in the reform process. The American Federation of Teachers recently announced innovation grants for performance pay ideas. The New Haven school district has just completed a new teacher contract, with union support, that includes many of the best reform ideas.
There are still many places, like Washington, where the unions are dogmatically trying to keep bad teachers in the classrooms. But if implemented well, the New Haven contract could be a sign of perestroika even within the education establishment.
“I’ve been deeply disturbed by a lot that’s going on in Washington,” Jeb Bush said on Thursday, “but this is not one of them. President Obama has been supporting a reform secretary, and this is deserving of Republican support.” Bush’s sentiment is echoed across the spectrum, from Newt Gingrich to Al Sharpton.
Over the next months, there will be more efforts to water down reform. Some groups are offering to get behind health care reform in exchange for gutting education reform. Politicians from both parties are going to lobby fiercely to ensure that their state gets money, regardless of the merits. So will governors who figure they’re going to lose out in the award process.
But President Obama understood from the start that this would only work if the awards remain fiercely competitive. He has not wavered. We’re not close to reaching the educational Promised Land, but we may be at the start of what Rahm Emanuel calls The Quiet Revolution.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Commentary: Limbaugh reaps what he has sown
By Leonard Pitts Jr.
The Miami Herald
We are gathered here today in sympathy with our brother, Rush Limbaugh.
As you are no doubt aware, these have been difficult days for Brother Limbaugh. There he was, happily revealing that he was part of an investment group that had submitted a bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. Next thing you know, Al Sharpton is on him like ugly on King Kong, urging the NFL to reject him.
And NFL players, not previously known for commenting on or even visibly caring, who owns a team so long as the paychecks clear, are saying they would not play for him.
And owners, who must vote to approve him, are telling reporters they will not.
It all came to a head last week as the talk show host was dumped by his fellow investors. Whose heart is so stony that it does not weep for Brother Limbaugh to find himself humiliated so? Put yourself in his shoes.
You're a college dropout and OxyContin junkie who somehow managed to climb to the top of the media pile. You've made yourself one of the most popular and influential voices in the national dialogue and that, in turn, has made you rich beyond dreams of avarice. How satisfying must that be.
And you're an avid sports fan, too, so naturally you jump at a chance to fulfill every sports fan's dream — to buy yourself a team. You picture yourself watching games from the luxury box with a babe or two on your arm, evaluating talent and signing off on trades, partying in the locker room, champagne stinging your eyes, at the end of a championship game.
How cruel to have it all snatched away from you. And why? Because a bunch of black African-American Negroes start making noise? What reason do they have to be upset with you?
Just because you once called Philadelphia Eagles star Donovan McNabb overrated, the victim of media too eager to see a black quarterback do well?
Just because you referred to Barack Obama and Halle Berry as "Halfrican Americans"?
Just because you told your listeners Obama's economic program is "reparations"?
Just because you called Obama "the little black man-child"?
Just because you said the NFL "all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips"?
Just because you once told a black caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back"?
For those trifles the sensitive pansies of the NFL don't want to have anything to do with you? Why do they even care? Just because 65 percent of their players are black African-American Negroes? Oh, the shame! Oh, the humanity!
So yes, the rest of us should rally around Brother Limbaugh. If they can deny one rich, racially inflammatory media lout his constitutional right to own a football team, what's to stop them from denying another? This is a clear and present danger. Pat Buchanan, Glenn Beck . . . none of us are safe while this injustice stands.
And besides, what lesson does this teach our children?
That there are things (like respectability) even money can't buy? That there are doors (like the one to the owner's box) even fame can't open? That you only have one reputation and it's not stain-resistant, so you'd better not soil it? That karma is a female dog?
Do you really want your children to learn that sort of socialist claptrap? I don't. How dare the high and mighty NFL act like the things we say carry consequences?
So let's stand up for Brother Limbaugh. Indeed, here and now, I am starting a legal fund to help him carry on the fight. I will make the first contribution — a shiny new Franklin Roosevelt dime.
What about you? Wouldn't you like to see poor Rush get what he deserves?
Please give generously.
The Miami Herald
We are gathered here today in sympathy with our brother, Rush Limbaugh.
As you are no doubt aware, these have been difficult days for Brother Limbaugh. There he was, happily revealing that he was part of an investment group that had submitted a bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. Next thing you know, Al Sharpton is on him like ugly on King Kong, urging the NFL to reject him.
And NFL players, not previously known for commenting on or even visibly caring, who owns a team so long as the paychecks clear, are saying they would not play for him.
And owners, who must vote to approve him, are telling reporters they will not.
It all came to a head last week as the talk show host was dumped by his fellow investors. Whose heart is so stony that it does not weep for Brother Limbaugh to find himself humiliated so? Put yourself in his shoes.
You're a college dropout and OxyContin junkie who somehow managed to climb to the top of the media pile. You've made yourself one of the most popular and influential voices in the national dialogue and that, in turn, has made you rich beyond dreams of avarice. How satisfying must that be.
And you're an avid sports fan, too, so naturally you jump at a chance to fulfill every sports fan's dream — to buy yourself a team. You picture yourself watching games from the luxury box with a babe or two on your arm, evaluating talent and signing off on trades, partying in the locker room, champagne stinging your eyes, at the end of a championship game.
How cruel to have it all snatched away from you. And why? Because a bunch of black African-American Negroes start making noise? What reason do they have to be upset with you?
Just because you once called Philadelphia Eagles star Donovan McNabb overrated, the victim of media too eager to see a black quarterback do well?
Just because you referred to Barack Obama and Halle Berry as "Halfrican Americans"?
Just because you told your listeners Obama's economic program is "reparations"?
Just because you called Obama "the little black man-child"?
Just because you said the NFL "all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips"?
Just because you once told a black caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back"?
For those trifles the sensitive pansies of the NFL don't want to have anything to do with you? Why do they even care? Just because 65 percent of their players are black African-American Negroes? Oh, the shame! Oh, the humanity!
So yes, the rest of us should rally around Brother Limbaugh. If they can deny one rich, racially inflammatory media lout his constitutional right to own a football team, what's to stop them from denying another? This is a clear and present danger. Pat Buchanan, Glenn Beck . . . none of us are safe while this injustice stands.
And besides, what lesson does this teach our children?
That there are things (like respectability) even money can't buy? That there are doors (like the one to the owner's box) even fame can't open? That you only have one reputation and it's not stain-resistant, so you'd better not soil it? That karma is a female dog?
Do you really want your children to learn that sort of socialist claptrap? I don't. How dare the high and mighty NFL act like the things we say carry consequences?
So let's stand up for Brother Limbaugh. Indeed, here and now, I am starting a legal fund to help him carry on the fight. I will make the first contribution — a shiny new Franklin Roosevelt dime.
What about you? Wouldn't you like to see poor Rush get what he deserves?
Please give generously.
Truthout 10/23
William Rivers Pitt Not Dead Yet
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "For the last several weeks, politicians, political action groups and pundits have been declaring the 'Public Option' portion of President Obama's health care reform push all but dead. Republicans, with typical shoulder-to-shoulder unanimity, have been shouting it down with bull-throated ferocity. Well-heeled interest groups have been spraying the airways with anti-public-option propaganda." Read the Article
US Strikes at Mexican Cartel's Drug-and-Gun Trade
Warren Richey, The Christian Science Monitor: "Federal agents have launched a massive assault on the US-based distribution network of a major Mexican drug cartel in an effort to disrupt the flow of drugs into the US and the counter-flow of military-grade firearms to Mexico." Read the Article
Dahr Jamail Cyber Resistance
Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "If technology has transformed warfare into a spectacle of shock and awe, its contribution to the cause of dissent has been no less remarkable. It has enabled solidarities across borders and facilitated networks and forums dedicated to impartial communication of ground realities beyond the sanitized projection of mainstream news. True, technological advances have not brought an end to either occupation, but it has certainly helped alternative voices and views to be heard." Read the Article
Daniel Gewertz BS at BU: The O'Reilly Factor
Daniel Gewertz, In These Times: "Last month I received an e-mail from my alma mater, Boston University, containing the following invitation: 'Save the Date! Alumni Weekend! October 23. A Conversation with Bill O'Reilly: A Bold Fresh Look at the Future of News.' The BU college hosting the event? The College of Communication (COM), home to the university's Department of Journalism." Read the Article
What Might Derail the Iran Nuclear Deal?
Robert Marquand, The Christian Science Monitor: "Negotiators for President Barack Obama and other powers may have a breakthrough deal on Iran's nuclear program. But while they wait for Tehran's Friday answer, some worry that Iran won't deliver." Read the Article
Republicans Oppose Franken on Rape Legislation
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "After Minnesota Sen. Al Franken's amendment to the 2010 defense appropriations bill passed by a 68-30 vote, rape victim Jamie Leigh Jones thanked Franken and said, 'It means the world to me.' That's because the amendment calls for withholding defense contracts from companies like KBR (a former Halliburton subsidiary) if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." Read the Article
Dan Pearson and Kathy Kelly The Rotten Fruits of War
Dan Pearson and Kathy Kelly, Truthout: "Five months ago, shortly after the Pakistani government had begun a military offensive against suspected Taliban fighters in the northernmost area of the country, we arrived in Islamabad, the capital, as part of a small delegation organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org). Our initial travel plans had focused on learning more about civilian suffering caused by US drone attacks." Read the Article
J. Sri Raman Trading on Sino-Indian Tensions
J. Sri Raman, Truthout: "As President Barack Obama prepares for a major Asian diplomatic offensive away from the Middle East, manufacturers and merchants of arms are preparing to make the occasion profitable for themselves." Read the Article
Jim Hightower A Corporate Monster vs. "the Vermonster"
Jim Hightower, Truthout: "Chance are that you've seen ads, letters-to-the-editor, op-ed pieces and other materials put out by outfits with such civic-sounding names on Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. By whatever name, the message is always the same, usually delivered in a sort of urgent, basso profundo voice saying something like this: 'Bloodsucking lawyers are constantly filing frivolous lawsuits against beleaguered corporations. Stop these lawyers and their loser clients -- demand that your lawmakers cut them off from the courthouse.'" Read the Article
An Unprecedented Number of Death Threats Against Obama
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout NewsWire: "A recent Boston Globe article stated that an unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, an increase in racist hate groups, and more antigovernment passion have put much pressure on the US Secret Service. On the other hand, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said there hasn't been an unusually large number of death threats against the president." Read the Article
Senate Passes Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act
Ben Pershing, The Washington Post: "The Senate cleared a historic hate crimes bill Thursday for President Obama's signature, approving new federal penalties for attacks on gay men and lesbians." Read the Article
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "For the last several weeks, politicians, political action groups and pundits have been declaring the 'Public Option' portion of President Obama's health care reform push all but dead. Republicans, with typical shoulder-to-shoulder unanimity, have been shouting it down with bull-throated ferocity. Well-heeled interest groups have been spraying the airways with anti-public-option propaganda." Read the Article
US Strikes at Mexican Cartel's Drug-and-Gun Trade
Warren Richey, The Christian Science Monitor: "Federal agents have launched a massive assault on the US-based distribution network of a major Mexican drug cartel in an effort to disrupt the flow of drugs into the US and the counter-flow of military-grade firearms to Mexico." Read the Article
Dahr Jamail Cyber Resistance
Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "If technology has transformed warfare into a spectacle of shock and awe, its contribution to the cause of dissent has been no less remarkable. It has enabled solidarities across borders and facilitated networks and forums dedicated to impartial communication of ground realities beyond the sanitized projection of mainstream news. True, technological advances have not brought an end to either occupation, but it has certainly helped alternative voices and views to be heard." Read the Article
Daniel Gewertz BS at BU: The O'Reilly Factor
Daniel Gewertz, In These Times: "Last month I received an e-mail from my alma mater, Boston University, containing the following invitation: 'Save the Date! Alumni Weekend! October 23. A Conversation with Bill O'Reilly: A Bold Fresh Look at the Future of News.' The BU college hosting the event? The College of Communication (COM), home to the university's Department of Journalism." Read the Article
What Might Derail the Iran Nuclear Deal?
Robert Marquand, The Christian Science Monitor: "Negotiators for President Barack Obama and other powers may have a breakthrough deal on Iran's nuclear program. But while they wait for Tehran's Friday answer, some worry that Iran won't deliver." Read the Article
Republicans Oppose Franken on Rape Legislation
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "After Minnesota Sen. Al Franken's amendment to the 2010 defense appropriations bill passed by a 68-30 vote, rape victim Jamie Leigh Jones thanked Franken and said, 'It means the world to me.' That's because the amendment calls for withholding defense contracts from companies like KBR (a former Halliburton subsidiary) if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." Read the Article
Dan Pearson and Kathy Kelly The Rotten Fruits of War
Dan Pearson and Kathy Kelly, Truthout: "Five months ago, shortly after the Pakistani government had begun a military offensive against suspected Taliban fighters in the northernmost area of the country, we arrived in Islamabad, the capital, as part of a small delegation organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org). Our initial travel plans had focused on learning more about civilian suffering caused by US drone attacks." Read the Article
J. Sri Raman Trading on Sino-Indian Tensions
J. Sri Raman, Truthout: "As President Barack Obama prepares for a major Asian diplomatic offensive away from the Middle East, manufacturers and merchants of arms are preparing to make the occasion profitable for themselves." Read the Article
Jim Hightower A Corporate Monster vs. "the Vermonster"
Jim Hightower, Truthout: "Chance are that you've seen ads, letters-to-the-editor, op-ed pieces and other materials put out by outfits with such civic-sounding names on Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. By whatever name, the message is always the same, usually delivered in a sort of urgent, basso profundo voice saying something like this: 'Bloodsucking lawyers are constantly filing frivolous lawsuits against beleaguered corporations. Stop these lawyers and their loser clients -- demand that your lawmakers cut them off from the courthouse.'" Read the Article
An Unprecedented Number of Death Threats Against Obama
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout NewsWire: "A recent Boston Globe article stated that an unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, an increase in racist hate groups, and more antigovernment passion have put much pressure on the US Secret Service. On the other hand, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said there hasn't been an unusually large number of death threats against the president." Read the Article
Senate Passes Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act
Ben Pershing, The Washington Post: "The Senate cleared a historic hate crimes bill Thursday for President Obama's signature, approving new federal penalties for attacks on gay men and lesbians." Read the Article
FP morning post 10/23
Top story:
Meeting in Slovakia, NATO defense ministers agreed to support the broader counterinsurgency strategy laid out by U.S. Gen Stanley McChrystal, though they largely side-stepped the issue of committing more troops to Afghanistan.
"There is a support of this counter-insurgency strategy which means that ministers agree that it does not solve the problems of Afghanistan just to hunt down and kill individual terrorists," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that NATO countries are moving toward sending more troops to Afghanistan. "There were a number of allies who indicated they were thinking about, or were moving toward, increasing either their military or their civilian contributions, or both," Gates said.
An estimated 104,000 NATO troops -- two thirds of them American -- are expected to be in Afghanistan by the end of the year. Gates also assured allies that the U.S. would remain in the fight. "We're not pulling out," he said. "I think that any reduction is very unlikely." He said that a specific decision on troop levels was coming up in the next several weeks.
NATO countries seem, for the most party, to be waiting for a decision from Washington before making any troop commitments. "I think most countries are waiting for the Americans," said Dutch Defense Minister Eimert Van Middelkoop.
Coming up:
Iran's decision on a proposed nuclear enrichment compromise is expected today.
Asia
Japan's foreign minister said his government supports keeping a U.S. military base in Okinawa.
A suicide bomber attacked a Pakistani air force facility, killing seven.
Despite protests from Beijing, the Dalai Lama is planning on visiting an Indian border district claimed by China.
Middle East
Thousands of schools have been closed in Iraq due to fears of swine flu.
Israel and the United States began a combined air defense drill.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to quash the Goldstone report.
Europe
After meeting with Vice President Joe Biden, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fisher said the Czech Republic supports the new U.S. missile defense plan.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus says he is satisfied with a Lisbon treaty compromise proposed by the EU.
Defusing a growing nepotism scandal, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's son withdrew his bid to run a Paris business district.
Africa
Somalia's Shabaab rebels threatened to attack the capitals of Uganda and Burundi in retaliation for actions by AU peacekeepers.
Two more women in Sudan have been arrested for wearing pants.
A French aid worker was kidnapped by gunmen in Darfur.
Americas
Uruguay's last dictator, Gregorio Alvarez, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killings carried out under his regime.
Talks to resolve Honduras' political crisis collapsed again, as the two sides failed to reach agreement over the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
Hundreds of members of the Mexican La Familia cartel were arrested throughout the United States in a two-day raid.
Meeting in Slovakia, NATO defense ministers agreed to support the broader counterinsurgency strategy laid out by U.S. Gen Stanley McChrystal, though they largely side-stepped the issue of committing more troops to Afghanistan.
"There is a support of this counter-insurgency strategy which means that ministers agree that it does not solve the problems of Afghanistan just to hunt down and kill individual terrorists," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that NATO countries are moving toward sending more troops to Afghanistan. "There were a number of allies who indicated they were thinking about, or were moving toward, increasing either their military or their civilian contributions, or both," Gates said.
An estimated 104,000 NATO troops -- two thirds of them American -- are expected to be in Afghanistan by the end of the year. Gates also assured allies that the U.S. would remain in the fight. "We're not pulling out," he said. "I think that any reduction is very unlikely." He said that a specific decision on troop levels was coming up in the next several weeks.
NATO countries seem, for the most party, to be waiting for a decision from Washington before making any troop commitments. "I think most countries are waiting for the Americans," said Dutch Defense Minister Eimert Van Middelkoop.
Coming up:
Iran's decision on a proposed nuclear enrichment compromise is expected today.
Asia
Japan's foreign minister said his government supports keeping a U.S. military base in Okinawa.
A suicide bomber attacked a Pakistani air force facility, killing seven.
Despite protests from Beijing, the Dalai Lama is planning on visiting an Indian border district claimed by China.
Middle East
Thousands of schools have been closed in Iraq due to fears of swine flu.
Israel and the United States began a combined air defense drill.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to quash the Goldstone report.
Europe
After meeting with Vice President Joe Biden, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fisher said the Czech Republic supports the new U.S. missile defense plan.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus says he is satisfied with a Lisbon treaty compromise proposed by the EU.
Defusing a growing nepotism scandal, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's son withdrew his bid to run a Paris business district.
Africa
Somalia's Shabaab rebels threatened to attack the capitals of Uganda and Burundi in retaliation for actions by AU peacekeepers.
Two more women in Sudan have been arrested for wearing pants.
A French aid worker was kidnapped by gunmen in Darfur.
Americas
Uruguay's last dictator, Gregorio Alvarez, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for killings carried out under his regime.
Talks to resolve Honduras' political crisis collapsed again, as the two sides failed to reach agreement over the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
Hundreds of members of the Mexican La Familia cartel were arrested throughout the United States in a two-day raid.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Truthout 10/22
William Rivers Pitt Catching Up With the Crazy
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "So, I got married two weekends ago, and spent all of last week honeymooning with my wife in front of a stone fireplace in a tiny cabin by a tiny lake in the woods of New Hampshire. No cell phone reception; no TV channels because the tube was still hooked up to an analog antenna on the roof that looked to have been there since the Truman administration; no Internet access whatsoever; the only newspapers to be found were at the end of several miles of a rutted, rock-strewn, dirt road, and since neither of us felt particularly compelled to deal with anything except each other, my wife and I pretty much fell completely off the planet." Read the Article
Bill That Would Block Release of Torture Photos Expected to Be Signed Into Law
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "In an unprecedented move, Congress passed legislation Tuesday including an amendment which would maintain one of the most contentious hangovers of the Bush administration, allowing the Department of Defense to exempt torture photos of US detainees overseas from public access under Freedom of Information Act requests." Read the Article
Nick Mottern A Letter to Members of the US Military on Their Way to Afghanistan
Nick Mottern, Truthout: "When you lace up your boots and head for the plane that will carry you to Afghanistan, you will be joining Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, ExxonMobil chief Rex Tillerson and Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov in what has been described in the US Congress as 'the new great game'." Read the Article
Norman Solomon Uncle Sam in Afghanistan: Good Help Is Hard to Find
Norman Solomon, Truthout: "Almost eight years after choosing Hamid Karzai to head the Afghan government, Uncle Sam would like to give him a pink slip. But it's not easy. And the grim fiasco of Afghanistan's last election is shadowing the next." Read the Article
Documents in Bank of America Probe Show CEO Apparently Misled Federal Officials
Sue Reisinger, Law.com: "New documents in the Bank of America Corp. investigation show that chief executive Ken Lewis apparently misled federal officials when he asked them to cough up $20 billion and other financial incentives to keep him from canceling the bank's merger with Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc." Read the Article
Melvin A. Goodman The Washington Post Creates Its Own Facts to Support Afghan Nation-Building
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "The Washington Post is creating its own facts in order to support its argument for US nation-building in Afghanistan. In its lead editorial on Saturday, the Post asserted that the United States is capable of building a strong government in Afghanistan at the national and local levels. The Post claimed that Afghanistan had had a 'working national government through most of the 1970s and 1980s.' This is simply not so." Read the Article
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case of Wrongfully Detained Guantanamo Prisoners
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout NewsWire: "The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will hear the case of 13 men who still are imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay despite being cleared for release since 2004. The court also will address the issue of whether a court can order the men released into the United States when there is no other remedy. The men, Uighurs from China, are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Bingham McCutchen LLP, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, Miller & Chevalier, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Reprieve, and Elizabeth Gilson." Read the Article
Nick Turse Obama's Choice: Failed War President or the Prince of Peace?
Nick Turse, Tomdispatch.com: "When the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize to President Barack Obama, it afforded him a golden opportunity seldom offered to American war presidents: the possibility of success. Should he decide to go the peace-maker route, Obama stands a chance of really accomplishing something significant. On the other hand, history suggests that the path of war is a surefire loser. As president after president has discovered, especially since World War II, the US military simply can't seal the deal on winning a war." Read the Article
La Jornada How to Stop Violence in Brazil's Favelas
La Jornada (Translated by Ryan Croken): "Last weekend, a clash between two drug-trafficking gangs led to an escalation of violence in the Morro dos Macacos favela, just north of Rio de Janeiro. The fighting, which lasted several hours, left 17 dead, two police officers among them. In light of the seriousness of the situation, this past Sunday, local authorities ordered the deployment of 4,500 additional officers to provide surveillance support in the area." Read the Article
Investigating the Attacks in Gaza
Bill Moyers Journal: "A damning report from the UN Human Rights Council on the violence in Gaza late last year has put Israel on the defensive. Bill Moyers talks with the man at the center of the storm, Justice Richard Goldstone, who, despite working with many pro-Israel groups and Israeli institutions in the past, has drawn intense criticism from some of Israel's supporters for his report, which said Israel's Defense Forces, as well as Hamas, may have committed war crimes in Gaza earlier this year." Read the Article
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "So, I got married two weekends ago, and spent all of last week honeymooning with my wife in front of a stone fireplace in a tiny cabin by a tiny lake in the woods of New Hampshire. No cell phone reception; no TV channels because the tube was still hooked up to an analog antenna on the roof that looked to have been there since the Truman administration; no Internet access whatsoever; the only newspapers to be found were at the end of several miles of a rutted, rock-strewn, dirt road, and since neither of us felt particularly compelled to deal with anything except each other, my wife and I pretty much fell completely off the planet." Read the Article
Bill That Would Block Release of Torture Photos Expected to Be Signed Into Law
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "In an unprecedented move, Congress passed legislation Tuesday including an amendment which would maintain one of the most contentious hangovers of the Bush administration, allowing the Department of Defense to exempt torture photos of US detainees overseas from public access under Freedom of Information Act requests." Read the Article
Nick Mottern A Letter to Members of the US Military on Their Way to Afghanistan
Nick Mottern, Truthout: "When you lace up your boots and head for the plane that will carry you to Afghanistan, you will be joining Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, ExxonMobil chief Rex Tillerson and Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov in what has been described in the US Congress as 'the new great game'." Read the Article
Norman Solomon Uncle Sam in Afghanistan: Good Help Is Hard to Find
Norman Solomon, Truthout: "Almost eight years after choosing Hamid Karzai to head the Afghan government, Uncle Sam would like to give him a pink slip. But it's not easy. And the grim fiasco of Afghanistan's last election is shadowing the next." Read the Article
Documents in Bank of America Probe Show CEO Apparently Misled Federal Officials
Sue Reisinger, Law.com: "New documents in the Bank of America Corp. investigation show that chief executive Ken Lewis apparently misled federal officials when he asked them to cough up $20 billion and other financial incentives to keep him from canceling the bank's merger with Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc." Read the Article
Melvin A. Goodman The Washington Post Creates Its Own Facts to Support Afghan Nation-Building
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "The Washington Post is creating its own facts in order to support its argument for US nation-building in Afghanistan. In its lead editorial on Saturday, the Post asserted that the United States is capable of building a strong government in Afghanistan at the national and local levels. The Post claimed that Afghanistan had had a 'working national government through most of the 1970s and 1980s.' This is simply not so." Read the Article
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case of Wrongfully Detained Guantanamo Prisoners
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout NewsWire: "The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will hear the case of 13 men who still are imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay despite being cleared for release since 2004. The court also will address the issue of whether a court can order the men released into the United States when there is no other remedy. The men, Uighurs from China, are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Bingham McCutchen LLP, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, Miller & Chevalier, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Reprieve, and Elizabeth Gilson." Read the Article
Nick Turse Obama's Choice: Failed War President or the Prince of Peace?
Nick Turse, Tomdispatch.com: "When the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize to President Barack Obama, it afforded him a golden opportunity seldom offered to American war presidents: the possibility of success. Should he decide to go the peace-maker route, Obama stands a chance of really accomplishing something significant. On the other hand, history suggests that the path of war is a surefire loser. As president after president has discovered, especially since World War II, the US military simply can't seal the deal on winning a war." Read the Article
La Jornada How to Stop Violence in Brazil's Favelas
La Jornada (Translated by Ryan Croken): "Last weekend, a clash between two drug-trafficking gangs led to an escalation of violence in the Morro dos Macacos favela, just north of Rio de Janeiro. The fighting, which lasted several hours, left 17 dead, two police officers among them. In light of the seriousness of the situation, this past Sunday, local authorities ordered the deployment of 4,500 additional officers to provide surveillance support in the area." Read the Article
Investigating the Attacks in Gaza
Bill Moyers Journal: "A damning report from the UN Human Rights Council on the violence in Gaza late last year has put Israel on the defensive. Bill Moyers talks with the man at the center of the storm, Justice Richard Goldstone, who, despite working with many pro-Israel groups and Israeli institutions in the past, has drawn intense criticism from some of Israel's supporters for his report, which said Israel's Defense Forces, as well as Hamas, may have committed war crimes in Gaza earlier this year." Read the Article
FP morning post 10/22
Top story:
Somali pirates attacked two ships within minutes of each other off the coast of East Africa today. A group of pirates took control of a Panamanian-flagged vessel near the Seychelles. Shortly after that pirates began firing on an Italian ship off the Kenyan coast, though that attack was thwarted by a nearby Belgian warship.
A foreign ministry spokesman said that China would make "all-out efforts" to rescue the crew of a Chinese ship captured by pirates on Monday, though experts said the government would likely negotiate for the ship's release. The attack -- over 700 miles off the Somali coast -- may show that pirates are traveling farther afield to avoid the growing international naval fleet in the Gulf of Aden, their traditional hunting ground.
A report released Wednesday by the International Maritime Bureau shows more pirate attacks in the first nine months of this year than all of last year. However, thanks to the increased military presence in the area, the number of successful attacks has gone down.
Growing hunger:
The number hungry people in the world rose this year to 10.2 billion -- or 1 in 7 people -- according to the United Nations.
Asia
The United Nations began distributing ballots in Afghanistan for the Nov. 7 runoff election.
Japan's government said it will not sign off on a new military basing agreement with the U.S. until President Obama visits next month.
The U.S. is planning to send a delegation on a fact-finding mission to Burma.
Middle East
Israeli and Iranian negotiators briefly spoke at a regional nuclear disarmament conference.
Six suspected al Qaeda members were arrested in Iraq.
Iran's deputy parliament speaker rejected the internationally-brokered agreement to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia.
Africa
Ethiopia is requesting emergency food aid for 6.2 million people.
An artillery battle in downtown Mogadishu killed at least 30 people yesterday.
The EU voted to impose sanctions and an arms embargo on Guinea's military junta.
Europe
Vice President Joe Biden visited Romania and discussed Afghanistan and missile defense with President Traian Basescu.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic plans to boycott his war crimes trial next week.
Britain's postal workers have gone on strike.
Americas
New polls show Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's popularity beginning to slip.
Rio De Janeiro police are expanding their crackdown on the city's out of control gang violence.
More than 18,000 gallons of oil was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico after a ship collision on Tuesday night.
Somali pirates attacked two ships within minutes of each other off the coast of East Africa today. A group of pirates took control of a Panamanian-flagged vessel near the Seychelles. Shortly after that pirates began firing on an Italian ship off the Kenyan coast, though that attack was thwarted by a nearby Belgian warship.
A foreign ministry spokesman said that China would make "all-out efforts" to rescue the crew of a Chinese ship captured by pirates on Monday, though experts said the government would likely negotiate for the ship's release. The attack -- over 700 miles off the Somali coast -- may show that pirates are traveling farther afield to avoid the growing international naval fleet in the Gulf of Aden, their traditional hunting ground.
A report released Wednesday by the International Maritime Bureau shows more pirate attacks in the first nine months of this year than all of last year. However, thanks to the increased military presence in the area, the number of successful attacks has gone down.
Growing hunger:
The number hungry people in the world rose this year to 10.2 billion -- or 1 in 7 people -- according to the United Nations.
Asia
The United Nations began distributing ballots in Afghanistan for the Nov. 7 runoff election.
Japan's government said it will not sign off on a new military basing agreement with the U.S. until President Obama visits next month.
The U.S. is planning to send a delegation on a fact-finding mission to Burma.
Middle East
Israeli and Iranian negotiators briefly spoke at a regional nuclear disarmament conference.
Six suspected al Qaeda members were arrested in Iraq.
Iran's deputy parliament speaker rejected the internationally-brokered agreement to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia.
Africa
Ethiopia is requesting emergency food aid for 6.2 million people.
An artillery battle in downtown Mogadishu killed at least 30 people yesterday.
The EU voted to impose sanctions and an arms embargo on Guinea's military junta.
Europe
Vice President Joe Biden visited Romania and discussed Afghanistan and missile defense with President Traian Basescu.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic plans to boycott his war crimes trial next week.
Britain's postal workers have gone on strike.
Americas
New polls show Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's popularity beginning to slip.
Rio De Janeiro police are expanding their crackdown on the city's out of control gang violence.
More than 18,000 gallons of oil was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico after a ship collision on Tuesday night.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Truthout 10/21
Leslie Thatcher It Begins in Wonder: Sy Montgomery's World
Truthout's Leslie Thatcher discovers the work of journalist ethologist Sy Montgomery: "'Science and Adventure' captures the ostensible subjects of these four books, each of which involve journeys to what most of us would consider remote and dangerous locations on missions of scientific research and discovery. But they might equally well be classified with works of 'religion,' 'anthropology' or 'philosophy,' so deeply does that primary religious impulse - wonder - run through these four and all of Ms. Montgomery's books, so profound is her respect for all the living beings she encounters: the scientists, photographers and guides she works with, the government officials and indigenous people she comes to know in her travels, members of her community at home, the creatures she studies, the creatures she lives among - both domesticated and wild - and life forms in all their imbricated complexity and wild individuality." Read the Article
Jason Leopold Diaries Recounting Zubaydah's Torture Should Be Given to Defense Attorneys, Judge Rules
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubaydah is expected to finally gain access to diaries he wrote during the years while he was being tortured by CIA interrogators. A federal court judge has ordered the government to turn over unredacted volumes of the diaries and other 'specified' writings to defense attorneys representing Zubaydah. Zubaydah was the first high-value detainee captured after 9/11. He was repeatedly waterboarded and subjected to brutal torture techniques by CIA interrogators at secret black-site prisons. Although the order issued by US District Court Judge Richard Roberts on September 30 was filed under seal, Zubaydah's attorney, Brent Mickum, said in a Truthout interview that while he could not discuss the substance of the ruling, it was his opinion that the order 'should have been made public from the get-go' because 'there's nothing in [the order] that should be considered classified.'" Read the Article
Scott Galindez Obama Flexes Political Muscle
Scott Galindez, Truthout: "Congressional switchboards were bombarded on Tuesday with over 300,000 calls from supporters of Barack Obama's plan for health care reform. After the day of calls, Obama addressed his supporters in a webcast from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Obama reminded his supporters that it has only been nine months since he took office; he then forcefully defended his accomplishments, and called on those on the sidelines to stop rooting for failure and pick up a mop and help clean up the mess that he inherited." Read the Article
Tom Loudon A Time of No Time
Tom Loudon, Truthout: "For the last week and a half, negotiations between President Manuel Zelaya and the coup government have dominated the news in Honduras. Last week, it appeared that a negotiated solution might emerge. However, Zelaya's 'absolute deadline' of midnight October 15 came and went and absolutely nothing changed. The 'negotiations' have the entire country suspended in a sort of time warp. Everyone waits for an outcome from the talks, which never emerges." Read the Article
John O'Connor The Value of Life
John O'Connor, Truthout: "Have you ever wondered what value government agencies place on your life? You may be flattered to learn that up to now, as an average US citizen, you have generally been considered pretty valuable. That may be changing. The Environmental Protection Agency has long assigned a dollar value to the life of a US citizen as a means for estimating the costs of disease or loss of life due to exposure to pollution. The agency routinely conducts cost-benefit analyses based on the estimated impacts of pollutants on life and health (e.g., is it worth the additional cost of treatment to regulate arsenic in drinking water at 10 - rather than 50?)." Read the Article
Senators Ask Obama to Review Personality-Disorder Discharges
David Goldstein, McClatchy Newspapers: "In the Senate, Barack Obama fought for better mental-health care for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that he's president, some of his former colleagues want him to pick up the gauntlet once more and make sure troops are getting the benefits they deserve. 'In 2007, we were partners in the fight against the military's misuse of personality disorder discharges,' four senators - Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Republicans Charles Grassley of Iowa, Kit Bond of Missouri and Sam Brownback of Kansas - wrote in a letter this week asking Obama for a report to Congress on the current use of the discharges. 'Today we urge you to renew your commitment to address this critical issue facing thousands of returning service members.'" Read the Article
Democrats Go After Antitrust Exemption for Insurers
David Espo, The Associated Press: "Democrats launched a drive at both ends of the Capitol on Wednesday to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws, part of an increasingly bare-knuckled struggle over landmark health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama. If enacted, the change would put an end to 'price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation in the health and medical malpractice' insurance areas, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy said he would seek a vote on the plan when the Senate debates health care legislation in the next few weeks." Read the Article
Support For "Robust" Public Option Builds Among House Dems
Jennifer Lubell, Modern Health Care: "Congressional Democrats are leaning in the direction of including a "Robust" public insurance option that would set reimbursement rates at 5 percent above what Medicare pays, members of the House Democratic Caucus told reporters. Emerging from a caucus meeting late Tuesday, Rep. Robert Andrews (D-New Jersey) said the 'chemistry was there' to support the robust option in the House health reform bill. Many in the caucus believe it would be the most fiscally responsible approach to a government-run insurance plan." Read the Article
US Congress Votes to Allow Guantanamo Transfers to US
Agence France-Presse: "The US Congress on Tuesday gave President Barack Obama the green light to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to US soil for trial, in a boost to his efforts to close the notorious facility. The legislation, part of a $42.7 billion bill to fund the US Department of Homeland Security in 2010, cleared the Senate 79-19 after sailing through the House of Representatives last week. Obama vowed on his second day in office to shutter the facility, a magnet for global criticism of US tactics in the 'war on terrorism,' by January 22, though White House aides say they face an uphill fight to keep that promise." Read the Article
Jo Comerford Cashing In the War Dividend: The Joys of Perpetual War
Jo Comerford, TomDispatch.com: "So you thought the Pentagon was already big enough? Well, what do you know, especially with the price of the American military slated to grow by at least 25 percent over the next decade? Forget about the butter. It's bad for you anyway. And sheer military power, as well as the money behind it, assures the country of a thick waistline without the cholesterol. So, let's sing the praises of perpetual war. We better, since right now every forecast in sight tells us that it's our future." Read the Article /font>
Art Levine The Battle Against Letting Wall Street Continue to Make a Killing on Derivatives
Art Levine, AlterNet: "Early in the morning, outside the House Financial Services Committee hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building last week, there were scruffy ex-homeless and other low-income folks, wearing their dreadlocks or sloppy jeans, mixed in with the pinstriped reps for the financial industry. They all seemed to be lining up to see what $223 million in financial lobbying in the first six months of this year could buy in thwarting real reform on Capitol Hill. And they were hoping to get the few dozen of the public seats available inside the room, for a critical 10 a.m. hearing marking up a bill that was supposed to regulate the now-private market in complex 'derivatives.'" Read the Article
Truthout's Leslie Thatcher discovers the work of journalist ethologist Sy Montgomery: "'Science and Adventure' captures the ostensible subjects of these four books, each of which involve journeys to what most of us would consider remote and dangerous locations on missions of scientific research and discovery. But they might equally well be classified with works of 'religion,' 'anthropology' or 'philosophy,' so deeply does that primary religious impulse - wonder - run through these four and all of Ms. Montgomery's books, so profound is her respect for all the living beings she encounters: the scientists, photographers and guides she works with, the government officials and indigenous people she comes to know in her travels, members of her community at home, the creatures she studies, the creatures she lives among - both domesticated and wild - and life forms in all their imbricated complexity and wild individuality." Read the Article
Jason Leopold Diaries Recounting Zubaydah's Torture Should Be Given to Defense Attorneys, Judge Rules
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubaydah is expected to finally gain access to diaries he wrote during the years while he was being tortured by CIA interrogators. A federal court judge has ordered the government to turn over unredacted volumes of the diaries and other 'specified' writings to defense attorneys representing Zubaydah. Zubaydah was the first high-value detainee captured after 9/11. He was repeatedly waterboarded and subjected to brutal torture techniques by CIA interrogators at secret black-site prisons. Although the order issued by US District Court Judge Richard Roberts on September 30 was filed under seal, Zubaydah's attorney, Brent Mickum, said in a Truthout interview that while he could not discuss the substance of the ruling, it was his opinion that the order 'should have been made public from the get-go' because 'there's nothing in [the order] that should be considered classified.'" Read the Article
Scott Galindez Obama Flexes Political Muscle
Scott Galindez, Truthout: "Congressional switchboards were bombarded on Tuesday with over 300,000 calls from supporters of Barack Obama's plan for health care reform. After the day of calls, Obama addressed his supporters in a webcast from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Obama reminded his supporters that it has only been nine months since he took office; he then forcefully defended his accomplishments, and called on those on the sidelines to stop rooting for failure and pick up a mop and help clean up the mess that he inherited." Read the Article
Tom Loudon A Time of No Time
Tom Loudon, Truthout: "For the last week and a half, negotiations between President Manuel Zelaya and the coup government have dominated the news in Honduras. Last week, it appeared that a negotiated solution might emerge. However, Zelaya's 'absolute deadline' of midnight October 15 came and went and absolutely nothing changed. The 'negotiations' have the entire country suspended in a sort of time warp. Everyone waits for an outcome from the talks, which never emerges." Read the Article
John O'Connor The Value of Life
John O'Connor, Truthout: "Have you ever wondered what value government agencies place on your life? You may be flattered to learn that up to now, as an average US citizen, you have generally been considered pretty valuable. That may be changing. The Environmental Protection Agency has long assigned a dollar value to the life of a US citizen as a means for estimating the costs of disease or loss of life due to exposure to pollution. The agency routinely conducts cost-benefit analyses based on the estimated impacts of pollutants on life and health (e.g., is it worth the additional cost of treatment to regulate arsenic in drinking water at 10 - rather than 50?)." Read the Article
Senators Ask Obama to Review Personality-Disorder Discharges
David Goldstein, McClatchy Newspapers: "In the Senate, Barack Obama fought for better mental-health care for troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that he's president, some of his former colleagues want him to pick up the gauntlet once more and make sure troops are getting the benefits they deserve. 'In 2007, we were partners in the fight against the military's misuse of personality disorder discharges,' four senators - Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Republicans Charles Grassley of Iowa, Kit Bond of Missouri and Sam Brownback of Kansas - wrote in a letter this week asking Obama for a report to Congress on the current use of the discharges. 'Today we urge you to renew your commitment to address this critical issue facing thousands of returning service members.'" Read the Article
Democrats Go After Antitrust Exemption for Insurers
David Espo, The Associated Press: "Democrats launched a drive at both ends of the Capitol on Wednesday to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws, part of an increasingly bare-knuckled struggle over landmark health care legislation sought by President Barack Obama. If enacted, the change would put an end to 'price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation in the health and medical malpractice' insurance areas, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy said he would seek a vote on the plan when the Senate debates health care legislation in the next few weeks." Read the Article
Support For "Robust" Public Option Builds Among House Dems
Jennifer Lubell, Modern Health Care: "Congressional Democrats are leaning in the direction of including a "Robust" public insurance option that would set reimbursement rates at 5 percent above what Medicare pays, members of the House Democratic Caucus told reporters. Emerging from a caucus meeting late Tuesday, Rep. Robert Andrews (D-New Jersey) said the 'chemistry was there' to support the robust option in the House health reform bill. Many in the caucus believe it would be the most fiscally responsible approach to a government-run insurance plan." Read the Article
US Congress Votes to Allow Guantanamo Transfers to US
Agence France-Presse: "The US Congress on Tuesday gave President Barack Obama the green light to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to US soil for trial, in a boost to his efforts to close the notorious facility. The legislation, part of a $42.7 billion bill to fund the US Department of Homeland Security in 2010, cleared the Senate 79-19 after sailing through the House of Representatives last week. Obama vowed on his second day in office to shutter the facility, a magnet for global criticism of US tactics in the 'war on terrorism,' by January 22, though White House aides say they face an uphill fight to keep that promise." Read the Article
Jo Comerford Cashing In the War Dividend: The Joys of Perpetual War
Jo Comerford, TomDispatch.com: "So you thought the Pentagon was already big enough? Well, what do you know, especially with the price of the American military slated to grow by at least 25 percent over the next decade? Forget about the butter. It's bad for you anyway. And sheer military power, as well as the money behind it, assures the country of a thick waistline without the cholesterol. So, let's sing the praises of perpetual war. We better, since right now every forecast in sight tells us that it's our future." Read the Article /font>
Art Levine The Battle Against Letting Wall Street Continue to Make a Killing on Derivatives
Art Levine, AlterNet: "Early in the morning, outside the House Financial Services Committee hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building last week, there were scruffy ex-homeless and other low-income folks, wearing their dreadlocks or sloppy jeans, mixed in with the pinstriped reps for the financial industry. They all seemed to be lining up to see what $223 million in financial lobbying in the first six months of this year could buy in thwarting real reform on Capitol Hill. And they were hoping to get the few dozen of the public seats available inside the room, for a critical 10 a.m. hearing marking up a bill that was supposed to regulate the now-private market in complex 'derivatives.'" Read the Article
FP morning post
Top story:
The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iranian negotiators have agreed to a draft proposal to ship most of its uranium to Russia for enrichment. The deal must still be accepted by Tehran, as well as the government of France, Russia, and the United States.
Details have not been released, but the agreement likely involves Iran shipping 75 percent of its enriched uranium stockpile to Russia for further enrichment. If Iran followed through, this would reduce its stockpile to below what would be required to create a nuclear weapon. However, Iran could likely replace that stockpile "in little over a year," according to David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security.
"I very much hope that people see the big picture, see that this agreement could open the way for a complete normalization of relations between Iran and the International community," said IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei
Toxic site:
Italian investigators are investigating a possible organized crime conspiracy to dump nuclear waste in the Mediterranean.
Asia
Afghan election runner-up Abdullah Abdullah has accepted a Nov. 7 runoff with Hamid Karzai.
All school and universities in Pakistan have been shut down after an attack on an Islamic University in Islamabad.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is pressuring the Japanese government to accept a reorganization of the U.S. troop presence.
Middle East
Iran sentenced an Iranian-American academic to 12 years in jail for his alleged role in anti-government protests.
President Mahmoud Abbas set a Jan. 24 date for the next Palestinian elections.
Kuwait has granted women the right to obtain a passport without spousal consent.
Europe
Polish Prime minister Donald Tusk says his country is ready to participate in the United States' new missile defense arrangement as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in the country.
Bosnia has rejected a package of constitutional reforms proposed by U.S. and EU leaders.
Prosecutors have requested a $67,300 fine in the trial of former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin but no jail time.
Africa
Riots have broken out in response to high unemployment and housing shortages in Algiers.
The U.S. is providing more than $5 million in military aid to Mali.
The U.S. is providing drone spy planes to the Seychelles to help in the fight against piracy.
Americas
Honduras has lifted a broadcast ban on opposition TV and radio stations.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a group of Uighur prisoners from Guantanamo Bay seeking to be released into the United States.
Nicaragua's Supreme Court granted President Daniel Ortega the right to run for another term in office.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iranian negotiators have agreed to a draft proposal to ship most of its uranium to Russia for enrichment. The deal must still be accepted by Tehran, as well as the government of France, Russia, and the United States.
Details have not been released, but the agreement likely involves Iran shipping 75 percent of its enriched uranium stockpile to Russia for further enrichment. If Iran followed through, this would reduce its stockpile to below what would be required to create a nuclear weapon. However, Iran could likely replace that stockpile "in little over a year," according to David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security.
"I very much hope that people see the big picture, see that this agreement could open the way for a complete normalization of relations between Iran and the International community," said IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei
Toxic site:
Italian investigators are investigating a possible organized crime conspiracy to dump nuclear waste in the Mediterranean.
Asia
Afghan election runner-up Abdullah Abdullah has accepted a Nov. 7 runoff with Hamid Karzai.
All school and universities in Pakistan have been shut down after an attack on an Islamic University in Islamabad.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is pressuring the Japanese government to accept a reorganization of the U.S. troop presence.
Middle East
Iran sentenced an Iranian-American academic to 12 years in jail for his alleged role in anti-government protests.
President Mahmoud Abbas set a Jan. 24 date for the next Palestinian elections.
Kuwait has granted women the right to obtain a passport without spousal consent.
Europe
Polish Prime minister Donald Tusk says his country is ready to participate in the United States' new missile defense arrangement as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in the country.
Bosnia has rejected a package of constitutional reforms proposed by U.S. and EU leaders.
Prosecutors have requested a $67,300 fine in the trial of former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin but no jail time.
Africa
Riots have broken out in response to high unemployment and housing shortages in Algiers.
The U.S. is providing more than $5 million in military aid to Mali.
The U.S. is providing drone spy planes to the Seychelles to help in the fight against piracy.
Americas
Honduras has lifted a broadcast ban on opposition TV and radio stations.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a group of Uighur prisoners from Guantanamo Bay seeking to be released into the United States.
Nicaragua's Supreme Court granted President Daniel Ortega the right to run for another term in office.
On Using Mr. Bullhorn, Or, DC Health Summit Thursday: Come Say Hi...Loudly
It was a long hot August for those who would like to see health care reform, as rabid "Town Hall" protesters proffered visions of public options that would lead to death panels and socialism and government tax collectors with special alien mind control powers that would use sex education and child indoctrination and black helicopters as the means for gay people to impose their dangerous agenda on the innocent, God-fearing citizens of someplace in Mississippi that I'm not likely to ever visit.
Part of the reason that opposition was so rabid was because health care interests were spending millions upon millions of dollars doing...well, doing whatever the opposite of giving a distemper shot to the angry mob might be, anyway.
So wouldn't it be great if all the CEOs of all those health care interests were to gather at one time and place so you could, shall we say, gently express your own thoughts regarding the issues of reform and public options?
By an amazing coincidence, that's exactly what's going to happen Thursday in Washington, DC, as the Patient Centered Primary Care Cooperative (PCPCC) holds its Annual Summit.
Follow along, and I'll tell you everything you need to know.
The Who, The What
There are two important bits of setting up that are required to make this story work; and the first is to explain who the PCPCC is, exactly. To quote their website:
The "patient centered medical home"?
Is that anything like "precious bodily fluids"?
Actually, the original idea was to create a "home" where a patient's scattered medical records could be gathered. Forty years later, the concept has evolved to a "home doctor" who coordinates all your health and wellness care from all your providers.
This is a huge shift in how care is delivered (and how healthcare dollars would be distributed), which is why the Collaborative has so many members...including seven of the top ten health insurers in the country.
The Why
I've been getting emails that tell me CEOs such as Stephen Helmsley of UnitedHealth and Angela Braly of WellPoint (insert booing and hissing here) will be present--and these are the exact people that you should be giving a "Town Hall-like" welcome of their own when they hit Washington.
Groups such as Democracy for America and TrueMajority will be working together to bring people who have been personally affected by the insurance crisis to the meeting--even though we're not invited inside to support something like, oh, I don't know...maybe a public option?
They want you to attend as well, to make lots of noise, and to send the message that we won't be ignored. It's a critical time in the debate, as there are Democrats yet to be convinced, and if you can be at this meeting it will capture media attention that could help move those Democrats to our positions.
The Where, The When
The event takes place in Washington DC all day Thursday (from 9-4:30) at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, conveniently located at 801 Mount Vernon Place NW; just six blocks from the Executive Office Building and the White House complex...and, on its south side, just 50 feet from K Street, the "Glitter Gulch" of lobbying.
There's a handy Metro station, and if you walk to the south end of the Convention Center (the Mt. Vernon Square end of the building) you'll find that the American Federation of Labor occupies a building across the street from the Square on the west side--and National Public Radio occupies a building diagonally across the Square on the east side.
So if you're planning to be in Washington Thursday--or you've been looking for an excuse to visit--make a day of it: stroll by the White House, see lobbyists and unions and National Public Radio at work...and most importantly of all, make sure the CEOs of the health insurers in attendance get the same kind of rousing "Town Hall" welcome at the Convention Center that they spent millions of dollars to create in our own home towns.
In other words, bring Mr. Bullhorn--and the extra batteries.
Of course, I don't want to make this too much of a hard sell.
After all, it's not as if your life depends on you attending some--hey, wait a minute...actually, I guess it kind of does.
Part of the reason that opposition was so rabid was because health care interests were spending millions upon millions of dollars doing...well, doing whatever the opposite of giving a distemper shot to the angry mob might be, anyway.
So wouldn't it be great if all the CEOs of all those health care interests were to gather at one time and place so you could, shall we say, gently express your own thoughts regarding the issues of reform and public options?
By an amazing coincidence, that's exactly what's going to happen Thursday in Washington, DC, as the Patient Centered Primary Care Cooperative (PCPCC) holds its Annual Summit.
Follow along, and I'll tell you everything you need to know.
The Who, The What
There are two important bits of setting up that are required to make this story work; and the first is to explain who the PCPCC is, exactly. To quote their website:
"The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative is a coalition of major employers, consumer groups, patient quality organizations, health plans, labor unions, hospitals, clinicians and many others who have joined together to develop and advance the patient centered medical home. The Collaborative has well over 500 members.
The Collaborative believes that, if implemented, the patient centered medical home will improve the health of patients and the viability of the health care delivery system. In order to accomplish our goal, employers, consumers, patients, clinicians and payers have agreed that it is essential to support a better model of compensating clinicians."
The "patient centered medical home"?
Is that anything like "precious bodily fluids"?
Actually, the original idea was to create a "home" where a patient's scattered medical records could be gathered. Forty years later, the concept has evolved to a "home doctor" who coordinates all your health and wellness care from all your providers.
This is a huge shift in how care is delivered (and how healthcare dollars would be distributed), which is why the Collaborative has so many members...including seven of the top ten health insurers in the country.
The Why
I've been getting emails that tell me CEOs such as Stephen Helmsley of UnitedHealth and Angela Braly of WellPoint (insert booing and hissing here) will be present--and these are the exact people that you should be giving a "Town Hall-like" welcome of their own when they hit Washington.
Groups such as Democracy for America and TrueMajority will be working together to bring people who have been personally affected by the insurance crisis to the meeting--even though we're not invited inside to support something like, oh, I don't know...maybe a public option?
They want you to attend as well, to make lots of noise, and to send the message that we won't be ignored. It's a critical time in the debate, as there are Democrats yet to be convinced, and if you can be at this meeting it will capture media attention that could help move those Democrats to our positions.
The Where, The When
The event takes place in Washington DC all day Thursday (from 9-4:30) at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, conveniently located at 801 Mount Vernon Place NW; just six blocks from the Executive Office Building and the White House complex...and, on its south side, just 50 feet from K Street, the "Glitter Gulch" of lobbying.
There's a handy Metro station, and if you walk to the south end of the Convention Center (the Mt. Vernon Square end of the building) you'll find that the American Federation of Labor occupies a building across the street from the Square on the west side--and National Public Radio occupies a building diagonally across the Square on the east side.
So if you're planning to be in Washington Thursday--or you've been looking for an excuse to visit--make a day of it: stroll by the White House, see lobbyists and unions and National Public Radio at work...and most importantly of all, make sure the CEOs of the health insurers in attendance get the same kind of rousing "Town Hall" welcome at the Convention Center that they spent millions of dollars to create in our own home towns.
In other words, bring Mr. Bullhorn--and the extra batteries.
Of course, I don't want to make this too much of a hard sell.
After all, it's not as if your life depends on you attending some--hey, wait a minute...actually, I guess it kind of does.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Truthout 10/20
Henry A. Giroux Schools and the Pedagogy of Punishment
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "The shift to a society now governed through crime, market-driven values and the politics of disposability has radically transformed the public school as a site for a civic and critical education. One major effect can be seen in the increasingly popular practice of organizing schools through disciplinary practices that closely resemble the culture of prisons." Read the Article
Anne Elizabeth Moore Women Are Diamonds: A Brilliant Future for Cambodia Means Creating Female Employment Opportunities Now
Anne Elizabeth Moore, Truthout: "Women, according to the Cambodian maxim, are rice. Men, however, are diamonds. In a country in which 75 percent of residents farm rice for subsistence, this would seem a positive sign." Read the Article
Melvin A. Goodman The Urgent Need to Demilitarize the National Security State
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "The president has addressed the problem incrementally, reducing growth in spending in his first defense budget, establishing a timeline for withdrawal of American military forces in Iraq, returning to arms control negotiations with Russia and supporting international diplomacy in dealing with such problems as Iran's nuclear program." Read the Article
Discriminatory Housing Lockouts Amid Post-Katrina Rebuilding
Jordan Flaherty, ColorLines: "Rebuilding efforts in St. Bernard Parish, a small community just outside New Orleans, have recently gotten a major boost. One nonprofit focused on rebuilding in the area has received the endorsement of CNN, Alice Walker, the touring production of the play The Color Purple, and even President Obama. But an alliance of Gulf Coast and national organizations is now raising questions about the cause these high-profile names are supporting." Read the Article
Max Fraser Labor's Love Lost: Is the Battle for EFCA a Quixotic Crusade?
Max Fraser, New Labor Forum: "After eight disastrous years of Republican rule, it was no wonder that union members voted for Barack Obama by a two-to-one margin last November. And during the first months of his presidency, Obama did much to repay organized labor for its impressive electoral support. He made compelling public statements about the role of unions in improving the lives of working people; issued a quick flurry of pro-labor executive orders on federal contracts; and, in the first major bill he signed into law after taking office, reversed a 2007 Supreme Court decision that imposed onerous restrictions on workers attempting to sue for pay discrimination." Read the Article
Karzai Accepts New Election; Pakistan Battle Intensifies
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Newswire: "Afghanistan and Pakistan, two nations that share both a long border and a long and troubled history, are braced for the outcome of two very different kinds of battles. In Afghanistan, the resolution of a disputed presidential election may be close at hand even as the outcome remains deeply uncertain. In Pakistan, a fierce fight between government forces and Taliban militants appears to be reaching a crescendo in the southern portion of that country." Read the Article
Public Option Gains Support
Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, The Washington Post: "A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health-care plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and wins clear majority support from the public." Read the Article
Le Monde Bad Vibes
Le Monde's editorialist (French Translation: Leslie Thatcher): "Is cell phone usage dangerous to health? Worrying public health signals already exist, absent irrefutable proof. Do mobile phone relay tower antennae cause disturbances? Mapping the dark spots where the density of their emissions is worrying would, in any event, be worth the effort. In the face of the official report and the 'uncertainties' it reveals, the experts at the French Agency for Health, Environmental and Workplace Security have opted for caution: they recommend research be continued and that, as of now, 'the public's exposure to radiofrequencies be reduced.'" Read the Article
US Gives Shell Green Light for Offshore Oil Drilling in the Arctic
Ed Pilkington, The Guardian UK: "Conservation groups based in Alaska have accused the Obama administration of repeating the mistakes of George Bush after it gave the conditional go-ahead for Shell to begin drilling offshore for oil and natural gas in the environmentally sensitive Beaufort Sea." Read the Article
Good Health Care Policy Makes Good Politics - And Vice Versa
David Sirota, Truthout: "I don't get it. I know that's the simplistic refrain of every 10-year-old, but I'm 33 and I mean it: I just don't get it. Specifically, I don't get why Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) - or any Republican senator, for that matter - is attracting so much attention." Read the Article
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "The shift to a society now governed through crime, market-driven values and the politics of disposability has radically transformed the public school as a site for a civic and critical education. One major effect can be seen in the increasingly popular practice of organizing schools through disciplinary practices that closely resemble the culture of prisons." Read the Article
Anne Elizabeth Moore Women Are Diamonds: A Brilliant Future for Cambodia Means Creating Female Employment Opportunities Now
Anne Elizabeth Moore, Truthout: "Women, according to the Cambodian maxim, are rice. Men, however, are diamonds. In a country in which 75 percent of residents farm rice for subsistence, this would seem a positive sign." Read the Article
Melvin A. Goodman The Urgent Need to Demilitarize the National Security State
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "The president has addressed the problem incrementally, reducing growth in spending in his first defense budget, establishing a timeline for withdrawal of American military forces in Iraq, returning to arms control negotiations with Russia and supporting international diplomacy in dealing with such problems as Iran's nuclear program." Read the Article
Discriminatory Housing Lockouts Amid Post-Katrina Rebuilding
Jordan Flaherty, ColorLines: "Rebuilding efforts in St. Bernard Parish, a small community just outside New Orleans, have recently gotten a major boost. One nonprofit focused on rebuilding in the area has received the endorsement of CNN, Alice Walker, the touring production of the play The Color Purple, and even President Obama. But an alliance of Gulf Coast and national organizations is now raising questions about the cause these high-profile names are supporting." Read the Article
Max Fraser Labor's Love Lost: Is the Battle for EFCA a Quixotic Crusade?
Max Fraser, New Labor Forum: "After eight disastrous years of Republican rule, it was no wonder that union members voted for Barack Obama by a two-to-one margin last November. And during the first months of his presidency, Obama did much to repay organized labor for its impressive electoral support. He made compelling public statements about the role of unions in improving the lives of working people; issued a quick flurry of pro-labor executive orders on federal contracts; and, in the first major bill he signed into law after taking office, reversed a 2007 Supreme Court decision that imposed onerous restrictions on workers attempting to sue for pay discrimination." Read the Article
Karzai Accepts New Election; Pakistan Battle Intensifies
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout Newswire: "Afghanistan and Pakistan, two nations that share both a long border and a long and troubled history, are braced for the outcome of two very different kinds of battles. In Afghanistan, the resolution of a disputed presidential election may be close at hand even as the outcome remains deeply uncertain. In Pakistan, a fierce fight between government forces and Taliban militants appears to be reaching a crescendo in the southern portion of that country." Read the Article
Public Option Gains Support
Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, The Washington Post: "A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health-care plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and wins clear majority support from the public." Read the Article
Le Monde Bad Vibes
Le Monde's editorialist (French Translation: Leslie Thatcher): "Is cell phone usage dangerous to health? Worrying public health signals already exist, absent irrefutable proof. Do mobile phone relay tower antennae cause disturbances? Mapping the dark spots where the density of their emissions is worrying would, in any event, be worth the effort. In the face of the official report and the 'uncertainties' it reveals, the experts at the French Agency for Health, Environmental and Workplace Security have opted for caution: they recommend research be continued and that, as of now, 'the public's exposure to radiofrequencies be reduced.'" Read the Article
US Gives Shell Green Light for Offshore Oil Drilling in the Arctic
Ed Pilkington, The Guardian UK: "Conservation groups based in Alaska have accused the Obama administration of repeating the mistakes of George Bush after it gave the conditional go-ahead for Shell to begin drilling offshore for oil and natural gas in the environmentally sensitive Beaufort Sea." Read the Article
Good Health Care Policy Makes Good Politics - And Vice Versa
David Sirota, Truthout: "I don't get it. I know that's the simplistic refrain of every 10-year-old, but I'm 33 and I mean it: I just don't get it. Specifically, I don't get why Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) - or any Republican senator, for that matter - is attracting so much attention." Read the Article
FP morning post 10/20
Top story:
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to announce today that he will concede to holding a runoff in Afghanistan's disputed election. Karzai's government had initially rejected the findings of an internationally-backed panel that stripped him of nearly a third of his votes due to fraud, leaving him below the 50 percent mark required for outright victory. Second-place finisher Abdullah Abdullah will challenge Karzai in the runoff.
Karzai's reversal came after a round of intense lobbying from his international allies. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry and Amb. Karl Eikenberry met with Karzai on Monday and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly put in a phone call as well.
With winter approaching, it will be difficult to hold an election soon and a government may not be in place until spring, further complicating the U.S. administration's decision on troop levels.
Religion:
The Pope has created a new church structure for disaffected Anglicans who wish to join the Catholic Church.
Asia
Suicide bombers attacked a university in Islamabad as Pakistan's military offensive in South Waziristan continued.
Eight South Asian nations agreed not to be part of any climate agreement that includes binding emissions cuts.
Kyrgyzstan's government resigned over proposed reforms by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Middle East
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is meeting with Barack Obama at the White House today.
Iran is threatening to pull out of international nuclear talks if France is not excluded from plans to enrich its uranium.
Eight Kurdish rebels crossed over the border from Iraq to give themselves up to Turkish authorities.
Europe
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Serbia, bringing a $1 billion loan.
France arrested a senior Eta political leader.
A Swiss court denied bail to jailed director Roman Polanski.
Africa
Somali pirates seized a Chinese ship 700 miles off the coast, the farthest from shore they have ever struck.
Peacekeepers are warning of a new military buildup in Sudan's Darfur region.
Niger is holding parliamentary elections today, but the opposition is boycotting the proceedings.
Americas
A deadline for resolving Honduras's political standoff passed on Monday with no agreement on reinstating ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
The Brazilian government has allocated $60 million for Rio De Janeiro to increase security.
Uruguay's government ruled out amnesty for those accused of human rights violations during the country's dictatorship.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to announce today that he will concede to holding a runoff in Afghanistan's disputed election. Karzai's government had initially rejected the findings of an internationally-backed panel that stripped him of nearly a third of his votes due to fraud, leaving him below the 50 percent mark required for outright victory. Second-place finisher Abdullah Abdullah will challenge Karzai in the runoff.
Karzai's reversal came after a round of intense lobbying from his international allies. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry and Amb. Karl Eikenberry met with Karzai on Monday and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly put in a phone call as well.
With winter approaching, it will be difficult to hold an election soon and a government may not be in place until spring, further complicating the U.S. administration's decision on troop levels.
Religion:
The Pope has created a new church structure for disaffected Anglicans who wish to join the Catholic Church.
Asia
Suicide bombers attacked a university in Islamabad as Pakistan's military offensive in South Waziristan continued.
Eight South Asian nations agreed not to be part of any climate agreement that includes binding emissions cuts.
Kyrgyzstan's government resigned over proposed reforms by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Middle East
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is meeting with Barack Obama at the White House today.
Iran is threatening to pull out of international nuclear talks if France is not excluded from plans to enrich its uranium.
Eight Kurdish rebels crossed over the border from Iraq to give themselves up to Turkish authorities.
Europe
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Serbia, bringing a $1 billion loan.
France arrested a senior Eta political leader.
A Swiss court denied bail to jailed director Roman Polanski.
Africa
Somali pirates seized a Chinese ship 700 miles off the coast, the farthest from shore they have ever struck.
Peacekeepers are warning of a new military buildup in Sudan's Darfur region.
Niger is holding parliamentary elections today, but the opposition is boycotting the proceedings.
Americas
A deadline for resolving Honduras's political standoff passed on Monday with no agreement on reinstating ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
The Brazilian government has allocated $60 million for Rio De Janeiro to increase security.
Uruguay's government ruled out amnesty for those accused of human rights violations during the country's dictatorship.
Monday, October 19, 2009
FP morning brief 10/19
Top story:
A suicide bombing by a Sunni militant group killed six commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard plus 36 others in southeastern Iran on Sunday. The bomber disguised himself in tribal dress and detonated the explosion at a meeting of local tribal leaders. The attack highlighted the growing instability of the Sistan-Baluchistan region on the Pakistani border.
Revolutionary Guard Chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said that members of the Sunni group Jundallah -- which claimed responsibility for the attack and has targeted the Iranian military for years -- were likely hiding across the border. He also blamed foreign powers for playing a role in the attack.
"Evidence shows that U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence supported the group," he said, claiming that the Iranian government would present the evidence soon.
Oil:
U.S. crude reached a year-high $79 per barrel in early trading before receding.
Asia
Pakistani ground forces are moving deeper into South Waziristan.
Afghan electoral authorities are refusing to accept the findings of an investigative panel that widespread was committed, necessitating a runoff.
China plans to relocate 15,000 people from their homes near a lead smelter after thousands of children tested positive for lead poisoning.
Middle East
Jordan's King Abdullah II warned the Obama administration against ignoring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Iran released Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari almost four months after his arrest.
Iraq's parliament ratified deals with Britain's BP and China's CNPC to developed the giant Rumaila oil field.
Africa
No one will be given this year's Ibrahim prize for good governance in Africa, as the backers say they can't find a suitable candidate.
Botswana's long-ruling Democratic Party was returned to power in this weekend's elections.
The first Darfur-related trial to reach in the International Criminal Court at the Hague has begun.
Americas
Two thousands police have been deployed to the streets of Rio De Janeiro after a gang shootout that left 14 dead.
El Salvador got its first Cuban ambassador since the 1960s as the two countries restored diplomatic relations.
The internationally-backed crisis talks in Honduras remain deadlocked.
Europe
The E.U. has boosted aid to dairy farmers after weeks of protest.
Ukraine has begun campaigning for next year's presidential election.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus may be wavering in his opposition to the Lisbon treaty.
A suicide bombing by a Sunni militant group killed six commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard plus 36 others in southeastern Iran on Sunday. The bomber disguised himself in tribal dress and detonated the explosion at a meeting of local tribal leaders. The attack highlighted the growing instability of the Sistan-Baluchistan region on the Pakistani border.
Revolutionary Guard Chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said that members of the Sunni group Jundallah -- which claimed responsibility for the attack and has targeted the Iranian military for years -- were likely hiding across the border. He also blamed foreign powers for playing a role in the attack.
"Evidence shows that U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence supported the group," he said, claiming that the Iranian government would present the evidence soon.
Oil:
U.S. crude reached a year-high $79 per barrel in early trading before receding.
Asia
Pakistani ground forces are moving deeper into South Waziristan.
Afghan electoral authorities are refusing to accept the findings of an investigative panel that widespread was committed, necessitating a runoff.
China plans to relocate 15,000 people from their homes near a lead smelter after thousands of children tested positive for lead poisoning.
Middle East
Jordan's King Abdullah II warned the Obama administration against ignoring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Iran released Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari almost four months after his arrest.
Iraq's parliament ratified deals with Britain's BP and China's CNPC to developed the giant Rumaila oil field.
Africa
No one will be given this year's Ibrahim prize for good governance in Africa, as the backers say they can't find a suitable candidate.
Botswana's long-ruling Democratic Party was returned to power in this weekend's elections.
The first Darfur-related trial to reach in the International Criminal Court at the Hague has begun.
Americas
Two thousands police have been deployed to the streets of Rio De Janeiro after a gang shootout that left 14 dead.
El Salvador got its first Cuban ambassador since the 1960s as the two countries restored diplomatic relations.
The internationally-backed crisis talks in Honduras remain deadlocked.
Europe
The E.U. has boosted aid to dairy farmers after weeks of protest.
Ukraine has begun campaigning for next year's presidential election.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus may be wavering in his opposition to the Lisbon treaty.
Truthout 10/19
Scott Galindez Republicans Are Irrelevant to Health Care Reform
Scott Galindez, Truthout: "Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) voted for the weakest of the five health care bills passed by Congressional committees. Big deal. If the bill that goes to the Senate floor is weak enough for her to vote for, then the insurance companies will win and the American people will lose." Read the Article
Andy Worthington UK Judges Order Release of Details About the Torture of Binyam Mohamed by US Agents
Andy Worthington, Truthout: "In August 2008, while British resident Binyam Mohamed still languished in a prison cell in Guantanamo, two British High Court judges attempted to inform the public about what, in May 2002, the CIA had told their British counterparts about how they had treated him while he was being held in Pakistani custody, shortly before a British agent interrogated him." Read the Article
Dean Baker Insurers Argue for Public Option
Dean Baker, Truthout: "The insurance industry trade association put out a study last week that emphasized the need for a strong Medicare-type public plan if insurance is to be affordable. The study predicted that the plans being debated by Congress would lead insurers to raise their prices by an additional 18 percent over the next decade. This would put the cost of an average family plan at $25,900 in 2019. There were several important flaws in the industry's study." Read the Article
Tensions, Violence Rise in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "A series of bombings in Iran over the weekend has rekindled long-standing resentments between that nation and the West. With a nuclear deal hanging in the balance, the Obama administration may hold off on sending more troops to Afghanistan until that nation's disputed election is settled, and Pakistan's military has opened a major offensive against militants after a series of deadly suicide attacks that left scores dead and wounded." Read the Article
Tom Engelhardt Who's Next? Lessons From the Long War and a Blowback World
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com: "Is it too early - or already too late - to begin drawing lessons from 'the Long War'? That phrase, coined in 2002 and, by 2005, being championed by Centcom Commander General John Abizaid, was meant to be a catchier name for George W. Bush's 'Global War on Terror.' That was back in the days when inside-the-Beltway types were still dreaming about a global Pax Americana and its domestic partner, a Pax Republicana, and imagining that both, once firmly established, might last forever." Read the Article
CodePink Founder Jodie Evans Challenges Obama Up Close and Personal on His Afghanistan Policy
Don Hazen, AlterNet: "Everyone in the universe by now knows that the progressive anti-war group CodePink has plenty of chutzpah. But co-founder Jodie Evans really doesn't mess around. She went straight to the top and challenged Barack Obama face-to-face on his visit to San Francisco on Thursday night at a high-priced fund raiser at the Westin St. Francis hotel." Read the Article
Jonathan Alter Post-Bush Stress Disorder
Jonathan Alter, Newsweek: "In 'The Godfather,' Sonny talks about going 'to the mattresses,' meaning war with rival Mafia families. Now President Obama and the Democrats are holing up together on their Posturepedics as they work out battle plans on health care, banking reform, and Afghanistan. The question is whether they'll be daring soldiers of the future or content to fight the last war." Read the Article
Suicide Bomber Kills 31 in Attack on Iran Guards
Fredrik Dahl and Reza Derakhshi, Reuters: "A suicide bomber killed six senior Revolutionary Guards commanders, including two of its top officers, and 25 other people on Sunday in one of the boldest attacks against Iran's most powerful military institution." Read the Article
El Diario La Prensa Fire Lou Dobbs
El Diario La Prensa (Spanish Translation: Ryan Croken): "Latinos, immigrants, and others have, for a long time now, put up with the hateful lies of Lou Dobbs. Using the platform that CNN provides him every night, Dobbs has crossed the line far too many times. His actions have now triggered a backlash that is growing in the United States and throughout Latin America." Read the Article
Iraq: US Diplomatic Adviser's Troubling Role in Oil Politics
Helena Cobban, Inter Press Service: "In 2003, U.S. diplomatist Peter Galbraith resigned at the end of a distinguished, 24-year government career. Over the years that followed, he worked as a contract-based adviser to leaders in Iraq's Kurdish community, while also arguing passionately in public media that Iraq's Kurds should be given maximum independence from Baghdad - including full control over any new sources of oil. But in June 2004, more quietly, Galbraith also established a small, U.S.-registered company, Porcupine, that held a five percent stake in a newly exploited oilfield in Iraqi Kurdistan, a Norwegian daily revealed last Saturday." Read the Article
Scott Galindez, Truthout: "Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) voted for the weakest of the five health care bills passed by Congressional committees. Big deal. If the bill that goes to the Senate floor is weak enough for her to vote for, then the insurance companies will win and the American people will lose." Read the Article
Andy Worthington UK Judges Order Release of Details About the Torture of Binyam Mohamed by US Agents
Andy Worthington, Truthout: "In August 2008, while British resident Binyam Mohamed still languished in a prison cell in Guantanamo, two British High Court judges attempted to inform the public about what, in May 2002, the CIA had told their British counterparts about how they had treated him while he was being held in Pakistani custody, shortly before a British agent interrogated him." Read the Article
Dean Baker Insurers Argue for Public Option
Dean Baker, Truthout: "The insurance industry trade association put out a study last week that emphasized the need for a strong Medicare-type public plan if insurance is to be affordable. The study predicted that the plans being debated by Congress would lead insurers to raise their prices by an additional 18 percent over the next decade. This would put the cost of an average family plan at $25,900 in 2019. There were several important flaws in the industry's study." Read the Article
Tensions, Violence Rise in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "A series of bombings in Iran over the weekend has rekindled long-standing resentments between that nation and the West. With a nuclear deal hanging in the balance, the Obama administration may hold off on sending more troops to Afghanistan until that nation's disputed election is settled, and Pakistan's military has opened a major offensive against militants after a series of deadly suicide attacks that left scores dead and wounded." Read the Article
Tom Engelhardt Who's Next? Lessons From the Long War and a Blowback World
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com: "Is it too early - or already too late - to begin drawing lessons from 'the Long War'? That phrase, coined in 2002 and, by 2005, being championed by Centcom Commander General John Abizaid, was meant to be a catchier name for George W. Bush's 'Global War on Terror.' That was back in the days when inside-the-Beltway types were still dreaming about a global Pax Americana and its domestic partner, a Pax Republicana, and imagining that both, once firmly established, might last forever." Read the Article
CodePink Founder Jodie Evans Challenges Obama Up Close and Personal on His Afghanistan Policy
Don Hazen, AlterNet: "Everyone in the universe by now knows that the progressive anti-war group CodePink has plenty of chutzpah. But co-founder Jodie Evans really doesn't mess around. She went straight to the top and challenged Barack Obama face-to-face on his visit to San Francisco on Thursday night at a high-priced fund raiser at the Westin St. Francis hotel." Read the Article
Jonathan Alter Post-Bush Stress Disorder
Jonathan Alter, Newsweek: "In 'The Godfather,' Sonny talks about going 'to the mattresses,' meaning war with rival Mafia families. Now President Obama and the Democrats are holing up together on their Posturepedics as they work out battle plans on health care, banking reform, and Afghanistan. The question is whether they'll be daring soldiers of the future or content to fight the last war." Read the Article
Suicide Bomber Kills 31 in Attack on Iran Guards
Fredrik Dahl and Reza Derakhshi, Reuters: "A suicide bomber killed six senior Revolutionary Guards commanders, including two of its top officers, and 25 other people on Sunday in one of the boldest attacks against Iran's most powerful military institution." Read the Article
El Diario La Prensa Fire Lou Dobbs
El Diario La Prensa (Spanish Translation: Ryan Croken): "Latinos, immigrants, and others have, for a long time now, put up with the hateful lies of Lou Dobbs. Using the platform that CNN provides him every night, Dobbs has crossed the line far too many times. His actions have now triggered a backlash that is growing in the United States and throughout Latin America." Read the Article
Iraq: US Diplomatic Adviser's Troubling Role in Oil Politics
Helena Cobban, Inter Press Service: "In 2003, U.S. diplomatist Peter Galbraith resigned at the end of a distinguished, 24-year government career. Over the years that followed, he worked as a contract-based adviser to leaders in Iraq's Kurdish community, while also arguing passionately in public media that Iraq's Kurds should be given maximum independence from Baghdad - including full control over any new sources of oil. But in June 2004, more quietly, Galbraith also established a small, U.S.-registered company, Porcupine, that held a five percent stake in a newly exploited oilfield in Iraqi Kurdistan, a Norwegian daily revealed last Saturday." Read the Article
The banks are not alright
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. O.K., maybe not literally the worst, but definitely bad. And the contrast between the immense good fortune of a few and the continuing suffering of all too many boded ill for the future.
The lucky few garnered most of the headlines, as many reacted with fury to the spectacle of Goldman Sachs making record profits and paying huge bonuses even as the rest of America, the victim of a slump made on Wall Street, continues to bleed jobs.
But it’s not a simple case of flourishing banks versus ailing workers: banks that are actually in the business of lending, as opposed to trading, are still in trouble. Most notably, Citigroup and Bank of America, which silenced talk of nationalization earlier this year by claiming that they had returned to profitability, are now — you guessed it — back to reporting losses.
Ask the people at Goldman, and they’ll tell you that it’s nobody’s business but their own how much they earn. But as one critic recently put it: “There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system.” Indeed: Goldman has made a lot of money in its trading operations, but it was only able to stay in that game thanks to policies that put vast amounts of public money at risk, from the bailout of A.I.G. to the guarantees extended to many of Goldman’s bonds.
So who was this thundering bank critic? None other than Lawrence Summers, the Obama administration’s chief economist — and one of the architects of the administration’s bank policy, which up until now has been to go easy on financial institutions and hope that they mend themselves.
Why the change in tone? Administration officials are furious at the way the financial industry, just months after receiving a gigantic taxpayer bailout, is lobbying fiercely against serious reform. But you have to wonder what they expected to happen. They followed a softly, softly policy, providing aid with few strings, back when all of Wall Street was on the ropes; this left them with very little leverage over firms like Goldman that are now, once again, making a lot of money.
But there’s an even bigger problem: while the wheeler-dealer side of the financial industry, a k a trading operations, is highly profitable again, the part of banking that really matters — lending, which fuels investment and job creation — is not. Key banks remain financially weak, and their weakness is hurting the economy as a whole.
You may recall that earlier this year there was a big debate about how to get the banks lending again. Some analysts, myself included, argued that at least some major banks needed a large injection of capital from taxpayers, and that the only way to do this was to temporarily nationalize the most troubled banks. The debate faded out, however, after Citigroup and Bank of America, the banking system’s weakest links, announced surprise profits. All was well, we were told, now that the banks were profitable again.
But a funny thing happened on the way back to a sound banking system: last week both Citi and BofA announced losses in the third quarter. What happened?
Part of the answer is that those earlier profits were in part a figment of the accountants’ imaginations. More broadly, however, we’re looking at payback from the real economy. In the first phase of the crisis, Main Street was punished for Wall Street’s misdeeds; now broad economic distress, especially persistent high unemployment, is leading to big losses on mortgage loans and credit cards.
And here’s the thing: The continuing weakness of many banks is helping to perpetuate that economic distress. Banks remain reluctant to lend, and tight credit, especially for small businesses, stands in the way of the strong recovery we need.
So now what? Mr. Summers still insists that the administration did the right thing: more government provision of capital, he says, would not “have been an availing strategy for solving problems.” Whatever. In any case, as a political matter the moment for radical action on banks has clearly passed.
The main thing for the time being is probably to do as much as possible to support job growth. With luck, this will produce a virtuous circle in which an improving economy strengthens the banks, which then become more willing to lend.
Beyond that, we desperately need to pass effective financial reform. For if we don’t, bankers will soon be taking even bigger risks than they did in the run-up to this crisis. After all, the lesson from the last few months has been very clear: When bankers gamble with other people’s money, it’s heads they win, tails the rest of us lose.
New York Times
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. O.K., maybe not literally the worst, but definitely bad. And the contrast between the immense good fortune of a few and the continuing suffering of all too many boded ill for the future.
The lucky few garnered most of the headlines, as many reacted with fury to the spectacle of Goldman Sachs making record profits and paying huge bonuses even as the rest of America, the victim of a slump made on Wall Street, continues to bleed jobs.
But it’s not a simple case of flourishing banks versus ailing workers: banks that are actually in the business of lending, as opposed to trading, are still in trouble. Most notably, Citigroup and Bank of America, which silenced talk of nationalization earlier this year by claiming that they had returned to profitability, are now — you guessed it — back to reporting losses.
Ask the people at Goldman, and they’ll tell you that it’s nobody’s business but their own how much they earn. But as one critic recently put it: “There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system.” Indeed: Goldman has made a lot of money in its trading operations, but it was only able to stay in that game thanks to policies that put vast amounts of public money at risk, from the bailout of A.I.G. to the guarantees extended to many of Goldman’s bonds.
So who was this thundering bank critic? None other than Lawrence Summers, the Obama administration’s chief economist — and one of the architects of the administration’s bank policy, which up until now has been to go easy on financial institutions and hope that they mend themselves.
Why the change in tone? Administration officials are furious at the way the financial industry, just months after receiving a gigantic taxpayer bailout, is lobbying fiercely against serious reform. But you have to wonder what they expected to happen. They followed a softly, softly policy, providing aid with few strings, back when all of Wall Street was on the ropes; this left them with very little leverage over firms like Goldman that are now, once again, making a lot of money.
But there’s an even bigger problem: while the wheeler-dealer side of the financial industry, a k a trading operations, is highly profitable again, the part of banking that really matters — lending, which fuels investment and job creation — is not. Key banks remain financially weak, and their weakness is hurting the economy as a whole.
You may recall that earlier this year there was a big debate about how to get the banks lending again. Some analysts, myself included, argued that at least some major banks needed a large injection of capital from taxpayers, and that the only way to do this was to temporarily nationalize the most troubled banks. The debate faded out, however, after Citigroup and Bank of America, the banking system’s weakest links, announced surprise profits. All was well, we were told, now that the banks were profitable again.
But a funny thing happened on the way back to a sound banking system: last week both Citi and BofA announced losses in the third quarter. What happened?
Part of the answer is that those earlier profits were in part a figment of the accountants’ imaginations. More broadly, however, we’re looking at payback from the real economy. In the first phase of the crisis, Main Street was punished for Wall Street’s misdeeds; now broad economic distress, especially persistent high unemployment, is leading to big losses on mortgage loans and credit cards.
And here’s the thing: The continuing weakness of many banks is helping to perpetuate that economic distress. Banks remain reluctant to lend, and tight credit, especially for small businesses, stands in the way of the strong recovery we need.
So now what? Mr. Summers still insists that the administration did the right thing: more government provision of capital, he says, would not “have been an availing strategy for solving problems.” Whatever. In any case, as a political matter the moment for radical action on banks has clearly passed.
The main thing for the time being is probably to do as much as possible to support job growth. With luck, this will produce a virtuous circle in which an improving economy strengthens the banks, which then become more willing to lend.
Beyond that, we desperately need to pass effective financial reform. For if we don’t, bankers will soon be taking even bigger risks than they did in the run-up to this crisis. After all, the lesson from the last few months has been very clear: When bankers gamble with other people’s money, it’s heads they win, tails the rest of us lose.
Much to learn from state's FSSA mistake
The Editors
South Bend Tribune
October 18, 2009
There have been many concerns voiced throughout Gov. Mitch Daniels' experiment in privatizing the Family and Social Services Administration intake process. Undoubtedly there will be many more in the months to come.
But now, as Indiana pulls the plug on its $1.34 billion, 10-year contract with IBM to deliver crucial welfare services, the top priority must be the transition back to a state-operated system. It must go smoothly. The 1.2 million Hoosiers who rely on the FSSA to meet life-sustaining needs must not suffer any more than they already have.
Daniels has announced a plan for a "hybrid" FSSA. It will be subject to state management, will restore face-to-face caseworker-client relationships on the county level, but also will utilize the paperless computerized record system operated by Affiliated Computer Services, a Dallas-based company that partnered with IBM in the 2006 contract.
There is no doubt that Indiana's Medicaid, food stamps and welfare application process was in serious need of modernization when Daniels took office in 2005. The fact that the wholesale privatization experiment has failed does not mean that some of the changes made over the last two years aren't worth keeping.
Above all, we're glad there is a transition plan in place — even one that has come together very quickly. We also believe that it is important that the
transition be reviewed by experts on state welfare administration outside the FSSA team. An oversight commission should include authorities on state assistance distribution from past administrations and members of the General Assembly who have been monitoring the problem-plagued privatization process.
After all, the possibility of scrapping the IBM deal was raised only a few months ago. The seriousness of the giant retooled agency's problems wasn't acknowledged by the Daniels administration until well after former FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob was replaced in January by his deputy, Anne Murphy.
Disentangling FSSA from the IBM-managed operation in just two more months, when the contract will cease to exist, and returning 1,500 privatized welfare caseworkers to state supervision is bound to be challenging. The administration ought to get all the help it needs.
In general, it is a relief that the governor finally has so frankly admitted that the experiment "just did not work" — that it was a "failed concept." It was a plan based on a theory, not on any successful model. Indiana now has become one more state to attempt highly automated welfare privatization and give it up. There is much to be learned from this experience — possibly by other states, and most definitely by Indiana.
South Bend Tribune
October 18, 2009
There have been many concerns voiced throughout Gov. Mitch Daniels' experiment in privatizing the Family and Social Services Administration intake process. Undoubtedly there will be many more in the months to come.
But now, as Indiana pulls the plug on its $1.34 billion, 10-year contract with IBM to deliver crucial welfare services, the top priority must be the transition back to a state-operated system. It must go smoothly. The 1.2 million Hoosiers who rely on the FSSA to meet life-sustaining needs must not suffer any more than they already have.
Daniels has announced a plan for a "hybrid" FSSA. It will be subject to state management, will restore face-to-face caseworker-client relationships on the county level, but also will utilize the paperless computerized record system operated by Affiliated Computer Services, a Dallas-based company that partnered with IBM in the 2006 contract.
There is no doubt that Indiana's Medicaid, food stamps and welfare application process was in serious need of modernization when Daniels took office in 2005. The fact that the wholesale privatization experiment has failed does not mean that some of the changes made over the last two years aren't worth keeping.
Above all, we're glad there is a transition plan in place — even one that has come together very quickly. We also believe that it is important that the
transition be reviewed by experts on state welfare administration outside the FSSA team. An oversight commission should include authorities on state assistance distribution from past administrations and members of the General Assembly who have been monitoring the problem-plagued privatization process.
After all, the possibility of scrapping the IBM deal was raised only a few months ago. The seriousness of the giant retooled agency's problems wasn't acknowledged by the Daniels administration until well after former FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob was replaced in January by his deputy, Anne Murphy.
Disentangling FSSA from the IBM-managed operation in just two more months, when the contract will cease to exist, and returning 1,500 privatized welfare caseworkers to state supervision is bound to be challenging. The administration ought to get all the help it needs.
In general, it is a relief that the governor finally has so frankly admitted that the experiment "just did not work" — that it was a "failed concept." It was a plan based on a theory, not on any successful model. Indiana now has become one more state to attempt highly automated welfare privatization and give it up. There is much to be learned from this experience — possibly by other states, and most definitely by Indiana.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Truthout 10/18
Sam Ferguson In Pursuing Human Rights, Argentina Displays a Broken Justice System
Sam Ferguson, Truthout: "Buenos Aires' Comodoro Py judicial building is situated far from the city's municipal core, sandwiched between the city's busy bus terminal and the country's main port. Long distance buses and semis go rumbling by on a 12-lane road outside. The building is a nine-story, concrete behemoth surrounded by seven-foot high, temporary, riot-control fencing. It is about three times as wide as it is high, with rickety, rusting air conditioners dotting the gray, imposing facade. Behind closed doors lining the dirty corridors of this house of justice, the largest human rights case against Argentina's dictatorship is being investigated." Read the Article
Roberto Rodriguez Health, War, Hypocrisy & Taxes
Roberto Rodriguez, Truthout: "Over the past several months, conservatives seemingly made headway convincing a good portion of the US public that Congress may not be able to produce a national health care plan that will not bust the budget - something that President Barack Obama has promised not to sign. And then came Afghanistan." Read the Article
Gordon P. Erspamer The Stain of Dishonor and the Prerequisites for Redemption
Gordon P. Erspamer, Truthout: "Despite the passage of four decades, America and its military have never come to grips with its own ghastly programs of using soldiers as guinea pigs to test chemical or biological weapons such as LSD, sarin, nerve gases, plague, mescaline, anthrax and hundreds of others. At the same time, they also conducted mind-control experiments, as soldiers and others were administered drugs, and septal implants were inserted in the sinus cavities a la 'The Manchurian Candidate.'" Read the Article
US-Iran: Congress Begins Pressing Sanctions Legislation
Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service: " As the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama prepares for a critical series of talks about the fate of Iran's nuclear programme, Congress has begun moving long-pending legislation to impose new unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic." Read the Article
2010 Census Faces Challenges on Immigrants, Undercounted Groups
Desiree Evans, Facing South: "Lawmakers and community advocates continue to work to ensure accuracy in the rapidly approaching 2010 Census. The count will play an important role in determining the amount of dollars flowing to communities across the nation and in the South over the next decade, as well as political representation. But the Census continues to face challenges on several fronts." Read the Article
Advocates Say Being a Woman Is Not a "Pre-Existing Condition"
Tresa Baldas, Law.com: "Is having a uterus a pre-existing condition? The insurance companies seem to think so, says the National Women's Law Center, an advocacy group for women's legal rights that is on a mission to end unfair insurance company practices toward women. And it believes it's making some headway." Read the Article
India: The Next Detroit?
Saritha Rai, GlobalPost: "Late last month, Ford Motor, the lone major U.S. carmaker to fend off bankruptcy, announced it will make and sell its first small car in India - the Figo, or Italian for 'cool.' Unveiling the Figo in New Delhi, Ford's CEO Alan Mulally said the company's Chennai factory would produce the Figo next year for both domestic and export markets." Read the Article
Robert Parry Obama and the Left's Old Schism
Robert Parry, Consortium News: "My article mildly defending Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize drew a number of critical comments from readers who felt I was letting the President off too easily, essentially excusing his reluctance to fully reverse George W. Bush's wars and crimes. Some readers thought I was giving Obama a pass, too, when I faulted the American Left for its lack of an effective media infrastructure to challenge the Right in making a case with the American people - and thus making it easier for politicians (like Obama) to act more courageously." Read the Article
Sam Ferguson, Truthout: "Buenos Aires' Comodoro Py judicial building is situated far from the city's municipal core, sandwiched between the city's busy bus terminal and the country's main port. Long distance buses and semis go rumbling by on a 12-lane road outside. The building is a nine-story, concrete behemoth surrounded by seven-foot high, temporary, riot-control fencing. It is about three times as wide as it is high, with rickety, rusting air conditioners dotting the gray, imposing facade. Behind closed doors lining the dirty corridors of this house of justice, the largest human rights case against Argentina's dictatorship is being investigated." Read the Article
Roberto Rodriguez Health, War, Hypocrisy & Taxes
Roberto Rodriguez, Truthout: "Over the past several months, conservatives seemingly made headway convincing a good portion of the US public that Congress may not be able to produce a national health care plan that will not bust the budget - something that President Barack Obama has promised not to sign. And then came Afghanistan." Read the Article
Gordon P. Erspamer The Stain of Dishonor and the Prerequisites for Redemption
Gordon P. Erspamer, Truthout: "Despite the passage of four decades, America and its military have never come to grips with its own ghastly programs of using soldiers as guinea pigs to test chemical or biological weapons such as LSD, sarin, nerve gases, plague, mescaline, anthrax and hundreds of others. At the same time, they also conducted mind-control experiments, as soldiers and others were administered drugs, and septal implants were inserted in the sinus cavities a la 'The Manchurian Candidate.'" Read the Article
US-Iran: Congress Begins Pressing Sanctions Legislation
Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service: " As the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama prepares for a critical series of talks about the fate of Iran's nuclear programme, Congress has begun moving long-pending legislation to impose new unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic." Read the Article
2010 Census Faces Challenges on Immigrants, Undercounted Groups
Desiree Evans, Facing South: "Lawmakers and community advocates continue to work to ensure accuracy in the rapidly approaching 2010 Census. The count will play an important role in determining the amount of dollars flowing to communities across the nation and in the South over the next decade, as well as political representation. But the Census continues to face challenges on several fronts." Read the Article
Advocates Say Being a Woman Is Not a "Pre-Existing Condition"
Tresa Baldas, Law.com: "Is having a uterus a pre-existing condition? The insurance companies seem to think so, says the National Women's Law Center, an advocacy group for women's legal rights that is on a mission to end unfair insurance company practices toward women. And it believes it's making some headway." Read the Article
India: The Next Detroit?
Saritha Rai, GlobalPost: "Late last month, Ford Motor, the lone major U.S. carmaker to fend off bankruptcy, announced it will make and sell its first small car in India - the Figo, or Italian for 'cool.' Unveiling the Figo in New Delhi, Ford's CEO Alan Mulally said the company's Chennai factory would produce the Figo next year for both domestic and export markets." Read the Article
Robert Parry Obama and the Left's Old Schism
Robert Parry, Consortium News: "My article mildly defending Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize drew a number of critical comments from readers who felt I was letting the President off too easily, essentially excusing his reluctance to fully reverse George W. Bush's wars and crimes. Some readers thought I was giving Obama a pass, too, when I faulted the American Left for its lack of an effective media infrastructure to challenge the Right in making a case with the American people - and thus making it easier for politicians (like Obama) to act more courageously." Read the Article
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Truthout 10/17
Jason Leopold White House "Ordered" Lawmakers to Amend FOIA in Order to Conceal Torture Photos
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "The Obama administration will likely drop its Supreme Court petition challenging the release of photographs showing US soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan now that lawmakers are set to pass legislation authorizing the government to continue to keep the images under wraps." Read the Article
Healthcare Reform "Public Option" Still Alive in Senate?
Peter Grier, The Christian Science Monitor: "Is the public option still alive? Sen. Tom Harkin insists that it is. The Iowa Democrat, chairman of the Senate health committee, told reporters Friday that his chamber's final version of health reform legislation will include a government-run insurance plan intended to compete with private insurers - the so-called 'public option.'" Read the Article
Stacy Bannerman Military Children in Crisis
Stacy Bannerman, Truthout: "A seven-year-old second-grader attempted suicide while his father was serving yet another tour in Iraq. Seven years old. Seven. His mother was one of half a dozen military spouses I have spoken with about soldiers' kids who have attempted suicide during their fathers' deployments. She trembled when she told me." Read the Article
Afghan Economy Stumbles Amid Election Uncertainty
Hal Bernton and Hashim Shukoor, McClatchy Newspapers: "Gulbuddian Arabzada has a small factory that turns scrap aluminum into shiny new pans that Afghan families use for washing clothes, making bread and other tasks. His products are hardly luxury items, yet amid all the uncertainty surrounding this country's presidential election, even these pans are a hard sell. Since the Aug. 20 vote, Arabzada has slashed his daily production in half and laid off 15 of his 50 workers." Read the Article
Michael Winship The Nobel Prize With an Asterisk
Michael Winship, Truthout: "Despite the graciousness of his speech at the White House last Friday, President Obama's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize did have an air slightly reminiscent of Lincoln's story about the man who was tarred, feathered and ridden out of town on a rail - if it wasn't for the honor of the thing, he'd just as soon walk." Read the Article
UN Vote to Endorse Goldstone Report Increases Pressure on Israel
Joshua Mitnick, The Christian Science Monitor: "The United Nations Human Rights Council's decision Friday to adopt the controversial Goldstone report on the Gaza war increases the pressure on Israel to conduct its own investigation into alleged war crimes." Read the Article
Harvey Wasserman Is the Climate Bill Being Fossil/Nuked?
Harvey Wasserman, The Free Press: "Is the Climate Bill morphing into an excuse to promote fossil fuels and new nuclear power plants? Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) recent promotion of a pro-nuke/pro-drilling/pro-coal agenda in the name of Climate Protection has been highlighted in a New York Times op ed co-authored with Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC). The piece brands nuke power 'our single largest contributor of emissions-free power.' It advocates abolishing 'cumbersome regulations' so utilities can 'secure financing for more plants.' And it wants 'serious investment' to 'find solutions to our nuclear waste problem.'" Read the Article
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "The Obama administration will likely drop its Supreme Court petition challenging the release of photographs showing US soldiers abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan now that lawmakers are set to pass legislation authorizing the government to continue to keep the images under wraps." Read the Article
Healthcare Reform "Public Option" Still Alive in Senate?
Peter Grier, The Christian Science Monitor: "Is the public option still alive? Sen. Tom Harkin insists that it is. The Iowa Democrat, chairman of the Senate health committee, told reporters Friday that his chamber's final version of health reform legislation will include a government-run insurance plan intended to compete with private insurers - the so-called 'public option.'" Read the Article
Stacy Bannerman Military Children in Crisis
Stacy Bannerman, Truthout: "A seven-year-old second-grader attempted suicide while his father was serving yet another tour in Iraq. Seven years old. Seven. His mother was one of half a dozen military spouses I have spoken with about soldiers' kids who have attempted suicide during their fathers' deployments. She trembled when she told me." Read the Article
Afghan Economy Stumbles Amid Election Uncertainty
Hal Bernton and Hashim Shukoor, McClatchy Newspapers: "Gulbuddian Arabzada has a small factory that turns scrap aluminum into shiny new pans that Afghan families use for washing clothes, making bread and other tasks. His products are hardly luxury items, yet amid all the uncertainty surrounding this country's presidential election, even these pans are a hard sell. Since the Aug. 20 vote, Arabzada has slashed his daily production in half and laid off 15 of his 50 workers." Read the Article
Michael Winship The Nobel Prize With an Asterisk
Michael Winship, Truthout: "Despite the graciousness of his speech at the White House last Friday, President Obama's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize did have an air slightly reminiscent of Lincoln's story about the man who was tarred, feathered and ridden out of town on a rail - if it wasn't for the honor of the thing, he'd just as soon walk." Read the Article
UN Vote to Endorse Goldstone Report Increases Pressure on Israel
Joshua Mitnick, The Christian Science Monitor: "The United Nations Human Rights Council's decision Friday to adopt the controversial Goldstone report on the Gaza war increases the pressure on Israel to conduct its own investigation into alleged war crimes." Read the Article
Harvey Wasserman Is the Climate Bill Being Fossil/Nuked?
Harvey Wasserman, The Free Press: "Is the Climate Bill morphing into an excuse to promote fossil fuels and new nuclear power plants? Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) recent promotion of a pro-nuke/pro-drilling/pro-coal agenda in the name of Climate Protection has been highlighted in a New York Times op ed co-authored with Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC). The piece brands nuke power 'our single largest contributor of emissions-free power.' It advocates abolishing 'cumbersome regulations' so utilities can 'secure financing for more plants.' And it wants 'serious investment' to 'find solutions to our nuclear waste problem.'" Read the Article
A hatchet job so bad, it's good
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
In the past, the insurance industry’s power has been a major barrier to health-care reform. Most notably, the industry paid for the infamous “Harry and Louise” ads that helped kill the Clinton plan. But times have changed.
Last weekend, the lobbying organization America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, released a report attacking the reform plan just passed by the Senate Finance Committee. Some news organizations gave the report prominent, uncritical coverage. But health-care experts quickly, and correctly, dismissed it as a hatchet job. And the end result of AHIP’s blunder may be a better bill than we would otherwise have had.
For 2009, it turns out, is not 1993. Once again, Republicans have tried to kill reform with smears and scare stories. But all they seem to have killed with their cries of “socialism” and warnings about “death panels” is their own credibility. Some form of health-care reform is highly likely to pass.
So it’s a different game than it was 16 years ago. And it’s a game that the insurance industry apparently doesn’t know how to play.
The motivation for the AHIP report seems to have been the decision by the Finance Committee to weaken the penalties for individuals who don’t sign up for insurance, even as it retains regulations requiring that insurers offer the same policies to everyone, regardless of medical history. The industry worries that some people will game the system, remaining uninsured as long as they’re healthy, then signing up when they get sick.
This is, believe it or not, a valid concern. Many health-care economists believe that a strong individual mandate, requiring that almost everyone sign up, will be needed to make health reform work. And the Finance Committee probably did weaken the mandate too much.
But AHIP, apparently unable to help itself, didn’t stop there. Instead, the report threw every anti-reform argument the authors could think of at the wall, hoping that something would stick.
One argument was particularly striking: the claim that attempts to limit Medicare spending would lead to higher insurance premiums. In fact, the report assumes that 100 percent of any reduction in Medicare payments to hospitals will translate into higher costs for patients with private insurance.
The only way to justify this claim is to assume that all hospitals are purely charitable institutions, charging as little as they possibly can. Now, some hospitals may fit this description. But all of them?
What’s more, this argument stands the usual logic of markets on its head: if you believe AHIP’s story, competition raises prices instead of reducing them. And it doesn’t matter where the competition comes from: anyone who gets a better deal, whether it’s Medicare or a private insurer, makes life worse for everyone else. I don’t believe that, and neither should you.
Of course, the report doesn’t mention these implications. The only bad competition it talks about is competition from the government. Specifically, it claims that a public insurance option would be a bad thing — not because it would be inefficient, but because the public plan would negotiate better prices. Isn’t that an argument for, not against, such a plan?
Which brings us to the ways in which AHIP may have done health reform a favor.
As I said, the individual mandate probably should be stronger than it is in the Finance Committee’s bill. But there’s a reason the mandate was weakened: fear that too many people would balk at the cost of insurance, even with the subsidies provided to lower-income individuals and families. So why not address that cost?
Aside from making the subsidies larger, which they should be, there are at least two changes to the legislation that would help limit costs. First, health exchanges — special, regulated markets in which individuals and small businesses can buy insurance — can be made stronger, in effect giving small buyers a better bargaining position. Second, the public option — missing from the Finance Committee’s bill — can be brought back in, giving private insurers some real competition.
The insurance industry won’t like these changes, but that matters less than it did a week ago.
There’s also another point, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stressed. Part of the opposition to a strong individual mandate comes from the sense that Americans will be forced to buy policies from a greedy insurance industry. Giving people, literally, another option — the right to buy into a public plan instead — would defuse that opposition.
Even with stronger exchanges and a public option, health reform would probably increase, not reduce, insurance industry profits. But the insurers wanted it all. The good news is that by overreaching, they may have ensured that they won’t get it.
New York Times
In the past, the insurance industry’s power has been a major barrier to health-care reform. Most notably, the industry paid for the infamous “Harry and Louise” ads that helped kill the Clinton plan. But times have changed.
Last weekend, the lobbying organization America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP, released a report attacking the reform plan just passed by the Senate Finance Committee. Some news organizations gave the report prominent, uncritical coverage. But health-care experts quickly, and correctly, dismissed it as a hatchet job. And the end result of AHIP’s blunder may be a better bill than we would otherwise have had.
For 2009, it turns out, is not 1993. Once again, Republicans have tried to kill reform with smears and scare stories. But all they seem to have killed with their cries of “socialism” and warnings about “death panels” is their own credibility. Some form of health-care reform is highly likely to pass.
So it’s a different game than it was 16 years ago. And it’s a game that the insurance industry apparently doesn’t know how to play.
The motivation for the AHIP report seems to have been the decision by the Finance Committee to weaken the penalties for individuals who don’t sign up for insurance, even as it retains regulations requiring that insurers offer the same policies to everyone, regardless of medical history. The industry worries that some people will game the system, remaining uninsured as long as they’re healthy, then signing up when they get sick.
This is, believe it or not, a valid concern. Many health-care economists believe that a strong individual mandate, requiring that almost everyone sign up, will be needed to make health reform work. And the Finance Committee probably did weaken the mandate too much.
But AHIP, apparently unable to help itself, didn’t stop there. Instead, the report threw every anti-reform argument the authors could think of at the wall, hoping that something would stick.
One argument was particularly striking: the claim that attempts to limit Medicare spending would lead to higher insurance premiums. In fact, the report assumes that 100 percent of any reduction in Medicare payments to hospitals will translate into higher costs for patients with private insurance.
The only way to justify this claim is to assume that all hospitals are purely charitable institutions, charging as little as they possibly can. Now, some hospitals may fit this description. But all of them?
What’s more, this argument stands the usual logic of markets on its head: if you believe AHIP’s story, competition raises prices instead of reducing them. And it doesn’t matter where the competition comes from: anyone who gets a better deal, whether it’s Medicare or a private insurer, makes life worse for everyone else. I don’t believe that, and neither should you.
Of course, the report doesn’t mention these implications. The only bad competition it talks about is competition from the government. Specifically, it claims that a public insurance option would be a bad thing — not because it would be inefficient, but because the public plan would negotiate better prices. Isn’t that an argument for, not against, such a plan?
Which brings us to the ways in which AHIP may have done health reform a favor.
As I said, the individual mandate probably should be stronger than it is in the Finance Committee’s bill. But there’s a reason the mandate was weakened: fear that too many people would balk at the cost of insurance, even with the subsidies provided to lower-income individuals and families. So why not address that cost?
Aside from making the subsidies larger, which they should be, there are at least two changes to the legislation that would help limit costs. First, health exchanges — special, regulated markets in which individuals and small businesses can buy insurance — can be made stronger, in effect giving small buyers a better bargaining position. Second, the public option — missing from the Finance Committee’s bill — can be brought back in, giving private insurers some real competition.
The insurance industry won’t like these changes, but that matters less than it did a week ago.
There’s also another point, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stressed. Part of the opposition to a strong individual mandate comes from the sense that Americans will be forced to buy policies from a greedy insurance industry. Giving people, literally, another option — the right to buy into a public plan instead — would defuse that opposition.
Even with stronger exchanges and a public option, health reform would probably increase, not reduce, insurance industry profits. But the insurers wanted it all. The good news is that by overreaching, they may have ensured that they won’t get it.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Truthout 10/16
N.O. Sanity, No Peace: Hurricane Katrina and the Mental Health Care Crisis
Rob Corsini, Truthout: "The impact of Hurricane Katrina and subsequent human failures instead of engineering and disaster relief four years ago are vast and far-reaching. The only way anyone can begin to grapple with what has occurred along the Gulf Coast is to go there. See it. Feel it. Live a little bit side by side with those fellow Americans who have literally endured hell on earth." Read the Article
Resisting Injustice in Guantanamo: The Story of Fayiz Al-Kandari
Andy Worthington, Truthout: "Fouad al-Rabiah was a humanitarian aid worker caught up in the chaos of Afghanistan following the US-led invasion in October 2001, and his own protestations of innocence came to an end when he was subjected to some of the notorious 'enhanced interrogation techniques' used in Guantanamo. These were torture techniques reverse engineered from those taught in US military schools to train US personnel to resist interrogation if captured, and were modeled on techniques used on captured US pilots during the Korean War to produce false confessions." Read the Article
Ira Chernus What's Obama's Score on Mideast Peace?
Ira Chernus, Truthout: "Barack Obama: a. Deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for pointing the world toward peace b. Hardly deserves the Prize, since he has no concrete achievements yet to merit it. The right answer? Take your pick." Read the Article
Veteran Army Officer Urges Afghan Troop Drawdown
Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service: "A veteran Army officer who has served in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars warns in an analysis now circulating in Washington that the counterinsurgency strategy urged by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is likely to strengthen the Afghan insurgency, and calls for withdrawal of the bulk of US combat forces from the country over 18 months." Read the Article
Financial Regulation Bill Passed Despite Financial Lobbying
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "The Obama administration achieved one small step Thursday, successfully passing legislation that would guarantee oversight of the financial derivatives market. This bill, passed by the House Financial Services Committee on a 43-26 vote, would be the first time the market would be forced to rein in this multi-trillion-dollar industry." Read the Article
Worker at Kansas Company Claims He Was Fired for Supporting Obama
Diane Stafford, The Kansas City Star / McClatchey News: "Elliot Snell believes he was fired from KK Office Solutions in Kansas City, Kansas, because he voted for Barack Obama. As evidence, in a lawsuit filed this month in Wyandotte County District Court, is an e-mail sent by the company's president and CEO, Matt Brandt." Read the Article
David Swanson Presidential Power Grows
David Swanson, TomDispatch.com: "Presidential power has been on a pathway of expansion beyond what the Constitution outlined, and what a government of, by, and for the people requires, since George Washington was president. That expansion, which hit the highway after World War II, got a turbo boost during the co-presidency of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney." Read the Article
Next Nuclear Worry for US: Kazakhstan?
Peter Grier, The Christian Science Monitor: "Does Kazakhstan want to increase its nuclear commerce - doing deals with other nations that have mixed records when it comes to weapons proliferation? That is a sensitive issue which US intelligence appears to be following closely." Read the Article
Unclean Energy
Laurent Joffrin, Liberation: "The cult of secrecy is decided inscribed in the genes of the nuclear industry. Certainly, much progress has been accomplished in that domain under militant and democratic pressure. Certainly, the facts that we reveal were not the object of any organized and absolute deceit, but rather of a lie by omission. However, finally, thanks to the investigation by Laure Noualhat, to director Eric Gueret and to the film that Arte is devoting to the subject, we learn that France is subcontracting the storage of nuclear waste to Russia, waste that is supposed to be recycled and reused, but is not." Read the Article
Sri Lankan Refugees: Victims or Pawns?
J. Sri Raman, Truthout: "They form the single biggest mass of refugees today, and they face an uncertain fate as a factor in a geopolitical game involving two Asian giants and allied players. For the about 400,000 fugitives from tiny Sri Lanka's Tamil-speaking areas of less than 18,000 square kilometers together, the outlook has only become more unsettling over the past few weeks." Read the Article
Rob Corsini, Truthout: "The impact of Hurricane Katrina and subsequent human failures instead of engineering and disaster relief four years ago are vast and far-reaching. The only way anyone can begin to grapple with what has occurred along the Gulf Coast is to go there. See it. Feel it. Live a little bit side by side with those fellow Americans who have literally endured hell on earth." Read the Article
Resisting Injustice in Guantanamo: The Story of Fayiz Al-Kandari
Andy Worthington, Truthout: "Fouad al-Rabiah was a humanitarian aid worker caught up in the chaos of Afghanistan following the US-led invasion in October 2001, and his own protestations of innocence came to an end when he was subjected to some of the notorious 'enhanced interrogation techniques' used in Guantanamo. These were torture techniques reverse engineered from those taught in US military schools to train US personnel to resist interrogation if captured, and were modeled on techniques used on captured US pilots during the Korean War to produce false confessions." Read the Article
Ira Chernus What's Obama's Score on Mideast Peace?
Ira Chernus, Truthout: "Barack Obama: a. Deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for pointing the world toward peace b. Hardly deserves the Prize, since he has no concrete achievements yet to merit it. The right answer? Take your pick." Read the Article
Veteran Army Officer Urges Afghan Troop Drawdown
Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service: "A veteran Army officer who has served in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars warns in an analysis now circulating in Washington that the counterinsurgency strategy urged by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is likely to strengthen the Afghan insurgency, and calls for withdrawal of the bulk of US combat forces from the country over 18 months." Read the Article
Financial Regulation Bill Passed Despite Financial Lobbying
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "The Obama administration achieved one small step Thursday, successfully passing legislation that would guarantee oversight of the financial derivatives market. This bill, passed by the House Financial Services Committee on a 43-26 vote, would be the first time the market would be forced to rein in this multi-trillion-dollar industry." Read the Article
Worker at Kansas Company Claims He Was Fired for Supporting Obama
Diane Stafford, The Kansas City Star / McClatchey News: "Elliot Snell believes he was fired from KK Office Solutions in Kansas City, Kansas, because he voted for Barack Obama. As evidence, in a lawsuit filed this month in Wyandotte County District Court, is an e-mail sent by the company's president and CEO, Matt Brandt." Read the Article
David Swanson Presidential Power Grows
David Swanson, TomDispatch.com: "Presidential power has been on a pathway of expansion beyond what the Constitution outlined, and what a government of, by, and for the people requires, since George Washington was president. That expansion, which hit the highway after World War II, got a turbo boost during the co-presidency of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney." Read the Article
Next Nuclear Worry for US: Kazakhstan?
Peter Grier, The Christian Science Monitor: "Does Kazakhstan want to increase its nuclear commerce - doing deals with other nations that have mixed records when it comes to weapons proliferation? That is a sensitive issue which US intelligence appears to be following closely." Read the Article
Unclean Energy
Laurent Joffrin, Liberation: "The cult of secrecy is decided inscribed in the genes of the nuclear industry. Certainly, much progress has been accomplished in that domain under militant and democratic pressure. Certainly, the facts that we reveal were not the object of any organized and absolute deceit, but rather of a lie by omission. However, finally, thanks to the investigation by Laure Noualhat, to director Eric Gueret and to the film that Arte is devoting to the subject, we learn that France is subcontracting the storage of nuclear waste to Russia, waste that is supposed to be recycled and reused, but is not." Read the Article
Sri Lankan Refugees: Victims or Pawns?
J. Sri Raman, Truthout: "They form the single biggest mass of refugees today, and they face an uncertain fate as a factor in a geopolitical game involving two Asian giants and allied players. For the about 400,000 fugitives from tiny Sri Lanka's Tamil-speaking areas of less than 18,000 square kilometers together, the outlook has only become more unsettling over the past few weeks." Read the Article
FP morning post 10/16
Top story:
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced that his Movement for Democratic Change will boycott Zimbabwe's unity government over the jailing of one of his top allies. Tsvangirai has been working in an unstable coalition government with President Robert Mugabe since February.
Tsvangirai says the MDC is "not really pulling out officially," but would not attend cabinet meetings or collaborate on any work with Mugabe's Zanu-PF. "We don't have a problem with that," remarked a Zanu-PF spokesman.
Tsvangirai is protesting terrorism charges against his political ally Roy Bennett, who was released on bail seven months ago but then ordered back to jail this week, the day he was sworn in as deputy agriculture minister. "Roy Bennett is not being prosecuted, he is being persecuted," Tsvangirai said Friday. The United States and European Union have both condemned Bennett's arrest as politically motivated.
"Until confidence has been restored we can't continue to pretend that everything is well," Tsvangirai said.
Aid:
Bill Gates says his foundation will shift its focus from health issues to agriculture and malnutrition.
Asia
Afghanistan's U.S. ambassador said that his government is preparing for a runoff election.
Maoist rebels in the Philippines have declared a truce in the wake of devastating typhoon.
Another bomb targeting a police station was detonated in Pakistan, this time in Peshawar.
Middle East
The U.N. Human Rights Council voted to refer the Goldstone report on Gaza war crimes to the Security Council.
A suicide attack killed 8 and wounded 30 at a mosque is Iraq's restive Nineveh province.
Iraqi parliamentary elections could be delayed after parliament missed a deadline to pass an election law.
Africa
A hardline faction of Nigeria's MEND rebels says it is ending a three-month ceasefire.
Botswana's ruling party -- which has been in power for over four decades -- appears set to win today's election.
Madagascar's political factions have agreed to meet in Geneva to form a new power-sharing government.
Europe
Anti-Islamic Dutch politician Geert Wilders has been allowed to enter Britain.
French farmers shut down Paris' Champs Elysees to demand government aid.
Former Czech President Vaclav Havel attacked his successor Vaclav Klaus for refusing to sign the Lisbon treaty.
Americas
A negotiator for ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said a deal to resolve the country's political crisis appeared closer.
Tens of thousands marched in Mexico City to protest the closure of a state electric company.
A drought is causing widespread malnutrition in Guatemala.
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced that his Movement for Democratic Change will boycott Zimbabwe's unity government over the jailing of one of his top allies. Tsvangirai has been working in an unstable coalition government with President Robert Mugabe since February.
Tsvangirai says the MDC is "not really pulling out officially," but would not attend cabinet meetings or collaborate on any work with Mugabe's Zanu-PF. "We don't have a problem with that," remarked a Zanu-PF spokesman.
Tsvangirai is protesting terrorism charges against his political ally Roy Bennett, who was released on bail seven months ago but then ordered back to jail this week, the day he was sworn in as deputy agriculture minister. "Roy Bennett is not being prosecuted, he is being persecuted," Tsvangirai said Friday. The United States and European Union have both condemned Bennett's arrest as politically motivated.
"Until confidence has been restored we can't continue to pretend that everything is well," Tsvangirai said.
Aid:
Bill Gates says his foundation will shift its focus from health issues to agriculture and malnutrition.
Asia
Afghanistan's U.S. ambassador said that his government is preparing for a runoff election.
Maoist rebels in the Philippines have declared a truce in the wake of devastating typhoon.
Another bomb targeting a police station was detonated in Pakistan, this time in Peshawar.
Middle East
The U.N. Human Rights Council voted to refer the Goldstone report on Gaza war crimes to the Security Council.
A suicide attack killed 8 and wounded 30 at a mosque is Iraq's restive Nineveh province.
Iraqi parliamentary elections could be delayed after parliament missed a deadline to pass an election law.
Africa
A hardline faction of Nigeria's MEND rebels says it is ending a three-month ceasefire.
Botswana's ruling party -- which has been in power for over four decades -- appears set to win today's election.
Madagascar's political factions have agreed to meet in Geneva to form a new power-sharing government.
Europe
Anti-Islamic Dutch politician Geert Wilders has been allowed to enter Britain.
French farmers shut down Paris' Champs Elysees to demand government aid.
Former Czech President Vaclav Havel attacked his successor Vaclav Klaus for refusing to sign the Lisbon treaty.
Americas
A negotiator for ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said a deal to resolve the country's political crisis appeared closer.
Tens of thousands marched in Mexico City to protest the closure of a state electric company.
A drought is causing widespread malnutrition in Guatemala.
Moms Rising campaign for kid care
Today--right now--MomsRising is delivering a pacifier lapel pin to each and every member of Congress, along with healthcare stories from members. Why a pacifier on the pin? Well, we're asking every member of Congress to join us in not being pacified until our broken healthcare system is fixed for kids and families! I just sent a letter to my Congressional Representatives telling them to look on their desks for their pin today, to pin it on their lapel, and to send MomsRising a photo of themselves wearing it so they can post the photo on their website. Can you send a letter, too?
http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27311
Wouldn't it be great to see members of Congress in the halls of the Capitol wearing patriotic pacifiers along with flags on their lapels will undoubtedly generate some great discussions about how health reform will impact kids? I'd ask why they are wearing a pacifier pin. Wouldn't you? And by collecting photos of members of Congress wearing their pacifier pin, we'll have their public commitment to make sure that the needs of kids are not forgotten in health reform.
Moms and dads across the country know how important children's health insurance coverage is for their families -- wonderful moms like Natalie from Oklahoma who almost made the tragic mistake of not taking her critically ill daughter, Sophie, to the emergency room because her insurer refused to cover Sophie's "pre-existing" pulmonary/respiratory issues until she could show that she had gone two years without needing medication.
Natalie writes: "We almost didn't take our baby girl, Sophie, who was in severe respiratory distress, to the doctor because we knew that it would hurt her chances of getting insurance. I'm going to ask you to sit for a moment and imagine being in our shoes in that situation. Imagine the shame and guilt of almost keeping your child home from the hospital until it was too late. Now imagine the horror of seeing your child naked in ICU, hooked up to a variety of machines. There is no way to describe how this felt."
No parent should be faced with this kind of heartbreaking decision. Thanks to healthcare coverage provided by Oklahoma's Medicaid program for kids, Sophie is now thriving. With all of our voices, we can make sure that every child and family has the promise of healthcare.
Send a quick note now to tell your Congressional Representatives that we're pinning our hopes on them to keep kids and families at the top of their priority list--and ask them to wear the pin we're delivering today to show that they are standing up for our children and families:
http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27311
Thanks! Don
P.S. To see more of Sophie's story, check out this wonderful PBS special on health reform. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec09/pbshealth_09-23.html
http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27311
Wouldn't it be great to see members of Congress in the halls of the Capitol wearing patriotic pacifiers along with flags on their lapels will undoubtedly generate some great discussions about how health reform will impact kids? I'd ask why they are wearing a pacifier pin. Wouldn't you? And by collecting photos of members of Congress wearing their pacifier pin, we'll have their public commitment to make sure that the needs of kids are not forgotten in health reform.
Moms and dads across the country know how important children's health insurance coverage is for their families -- wonderful moms like Natalie from Oklahoma who almost made the tragic mistake of not taking her critically ill daughter, Sophie, to the emergency room because her insurer refused to cover Sophie's "pre-existing" pulmonary/respiratory issues until she could show that she had gone two years without needing medication.
Natalie writes: "We almost didn't take our baby girl, Sophie, who was in severe respiratory distress, to the doctor because we knew that it would hurt her chances of getting insurance. I'm going to ask you to sit for a moment and imagine being in our shoes in that situation. Imagine the shame and guilt of almost keeping your child home from the hospital until it was too late. Now imagine the horror of seeing your child naked in ICU, hooked up to a variety of machines. There is no way to describe how this felt."
No parent should be faced with this kind of heartbreaking decision. Thanks to healthcare coverage provided by Oklahoma's Medicaid program for kids, Sophie is now thriving. With all of our voices, we can make sure that every child and family has the promise of healthcare.
Send a quick note now to tell your Congressional Representatives that we're pinning our hopes on them to keep kids and families at the top of their priority list--and ask them to wear the pin we're delivering today to show that they are standing up for our children and families:
http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27311
Thanks! Don
P.S. To see more of Sophie's story, check out this wonderful PBS special on health reform. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec09/pbshealth_09-23.html
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Truthout 10/15
Greg Palast The S-Word and Dr. Kevorkian's Accountant
Greg Palast, Truthout: "Until the 1990s, insurers skimmed only about a nickel on the dollar for their 'service,' Wendell Potter told me. Potter is the CIGNA insurance company PR man who came in from the cold to tell us about what goes down inside the health insurance gold mine. Today, Potter notes (and I've checked his accuracy), porky operators like AIG have kicked up their Loss Ratio by nearly 500 percent." Read the Article
Special to Truthout:
Listen to Greg Palast interview health insurance company whistleblower Wendell Potter about the "public option," Olympia Snowe and the recent Senate Finance Committee vote, by clicking here.Robert Naiman McChrystal's 40,000 Troop Hoax Robert Naiman, Truthout: "General McChrystal says that if President Obama does not approve 40,000 more US troops for Afghanistan, and approve them right away, 'our mission' - whatever that is - will likely 'fail' - whatever that is. But even if President Obama were to approve General McChrystal's request, the 40,000 troops wouldn't arrive in time to significantly affect the 12-month window McChrystal says will be decisive." Read the Article
E.J. Dionne Jr. The President and the Senator
E.J. Dionne Jr.: "However policy experts judge the final product, reform will be sustainable only if beleaguered citizens feel more secure, not less, and more confident than they are now that health insurance will be priced within their reach. Obama has said he will own this thing in the end. He's right, and he has to make clear what kind of system he wants to buy. So does Olympia Snowe." Read the Article
Still a Long Way to Go Before Health Bill Becomes Law
David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers: "Now comes the hard part of crafting a new health care system - hard not just because a lot of corporate, consumer and political interests want to be satisfied, but because the next steps will proceed in secret." Read the Article
Sheila Samples Charge of the Beckerheads ...
Sheila Samples, Truthout: "I didn't know Van Jones. I didn't know Van Jones was a friend of mine - at least not until the stench billowing from the Fox Hate Channel became so foul I was forced to take a closer look at this terrifying creature. No - not Jones, whom President Obama wisely had hired as special adviser for green jobs at the Council on Environmental Quality - but the sobbing, lying, deliriously insane Glenn Beck." Read the Article Did a US "Hit" Create an Afghan Hero? Jean MacKenzie and Mustafa Saber, GlobalPost: "Yahya was killed in a raid by U.S. and Afghan forces on Oct. 8. For the past year he had been the target of numerous American efforts to neutralize him and his fighters, who, by most accounts, never numbered more than 200. But until he found himself firmly in U.S. sights, Yahya was just one of many rebel commanders in western Afghanistan, little known outside his native Gozara district. Repeated U.S. assassination attempts conferred upon him a certain notoriety." Read the Article
Calderon Tries to Turn Out the Lights on Mexico's Unions
Michael E. Miller, Truthout: "Late Saturday night, as Mexicans celebrated their national soccer team's qualification for the World Cup, President Felipe Calderon sent hundreds of federal police to surround Luz y Fuerza. Hours later, he ordered the liquidation of the state-run company, claiming it was financially 'unsustainable' due to corruption and waste." Read the Article
Why Pakistanis Would Reject $7.5 Billion in US Aid
Ben Arnoldy, The Christian Science Monitor: "The United States is offering $7.5 billion to Pakistan for development - but only 15 percent of Pakistanis support accepting it, according to a Gallup Pakistan survey released Wednesday." Read the Article
Marie-Noelle Lienemann, David Cayla and Paul Quiles The Banks Have Learned They Can Do Anything
Marie-Noelle Lienemann, David Cayla and Paul Quiles, Liberation: "If bank profits had any connection to the activity of the real economy, it would be good news. Instead, with unemployment growing (the American private sector destroyed another 250,000 more jobs in September), companies are not investing and households strangled by debt are legion. In such a context, in which banking practices have not changed, it is illusory to hope, as the government does, for lending that would be likely to relaunch production and consumption to resume." Read the Article
Bill Moyers Redefining the United States
Bill Moyers Journal: "Barack Obama was elected on a message of change, promising a new era of diplomacy and international cooperation - but can the president deliver a new vision of America?" Read the Article
Michael Hittleman The New Confederacy of Republicans
Michael Hittleman, Truthout: "South Carolina Sen. Jim Demint travels to Honduras to endorse the military coup. Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk tells China not to believe our government's figures. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe will tell the upcoming Copenhagen climate summit that global warming is a hoax as he shadows President Obama. South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson shouts, 'You lie!' at the president at a joint session of Congress. What do these events have in common?" Read the Article
Foreign Policy Hawks Launch New Campaign Against Obama
Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service: "Just days after the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded Barack Obama its coveted peace prize, two of Washington's most prominent foreign policy hawks launched a new group and ad campaign designed to depict the president as weak and defend the more aggressive policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush." Read the Article
Greg Palast, Truthout: "Until the 1990s, insurers skimmed only about a nickel on the dollar for their 'service,' Wendell Potter told me. Potter is the CIGNA insurance company PR man who came in from the cold to tell us about what goes down inside the health insurance gold mine. Today, Potter notes (and I've checked his accuracy), porky operators like AIG have kicked up their Loss Ratio by nearly 500 percent." Read the Article
Special to Truthout:
Listen to Greg Palast interview health insurance company whistleblower Wendell Potter about the "public option," Olympia Snowe and the recent Senate Finance Committee vote, by clicking here.Robert Naiman McChrystal's 40,000 Troop Hoax Robert Naiman, Truthout: "General McChrystal says that if President Obama does not approve 40,000 more US troops for Afghanistan, and approve them right away, 'our mission' - whatever that is - will likely 'fail' - whatever that is. But even if President Obama were to approve General McChrystal's request, the 40,000 troops wouldn't arrive in time to significantly affect the 12-month window McChrystal says will be decisive." Read the Article
E.J. Dionne Jr. The President and the Senator
E.J. Dionne Jr.: "However policy experts judge the final product, reform will be sustainable only if beleaguered citizens feel more secure, not less, and more confident than they are now that health insurance will be priced within their reach. Obama has said he will own this thing in the end. He's right, and he has to make clear what kind of system he wants to buy. So does Olympia Snowe." Read the Article
Still a Long Way to Go Before Health Bill Becomes Law
David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers: "Now comes the hard part of crafting a new health care system - hard not just because a lot of corporate, consumer and political interests want to be satisfied, but because the next steps will proceed in secret." Read the Article
Sheila Samples Charge of the Beckerheads ...
Sheila Samples, Truthout: "I didn't know Van Jones. I didn't know Van Jones was a friend of mine - at least not until the stench billowing from the Fox Hate Channel became so foul I was forced to take a closer look at this terrifying creature. No - not Jones, whom President Obama wisely had hired as special adviser for green jobs at the Council on Environmental Quality - but the sobbing, lying, deliriously insane Glenn Beck." Read the Article Did a US "Hit" Create an Afghan Hero? Jean MacKenzie and Mustafa Saber, GlobalPost: "Yahya was killed in a raid by U.S. and Afghan forces on Oct. 8. For the past year he had been the target of numerous American efforts to neutralize him and his fighters, who, by most accounts, never numbered more than 200. But until he found himself firmly in U.S. sights, Yahya was just one of many rebel commanders in western Afghanistan, little known outside his native Gozara district. Repeated U.S. assassination attempts conferred upon him a certain notoriety." Read the Article
Calderon Tries to Turn Out the Lights on Mexico's Unions
Michael E. Miller, Truthout: "Late Saturday night, as Mexicans celebrated their national soccer team's qualification for the World Cup, President Felipe Calderon sent hundreds of federal police to surround Luz y Fuerza. Hours later, he ordered the liquidation of the state-run company, claiming it was financially 'unsustainable' due to corruption and waste." Read the Article
Why Pakistanis Would Reject $7.5 Billion in US Aid
Ben Arnoldy, The Christian Science Monitor: "The United States is offering $7.5 billion to Pakistan for development - but only 15 percent of Pakistanis support accepting it, according to a Gallup Pakistan survey released Wednesday." Read the Article
Marie-Noelle Lienemann, David Cayla and Paul Quiles The Banks Have Learned They Can Do Anything
Marie-Noelle Lienemann, David Cayla and Paul Quiles, Liberation: "If bank profits had any connection to the activity of the real economy, it would be good news. Instead, with unemployment growing (the American private sector destroyed another 250,000 more jobs in September), companies are not investing and households strangled by debt are legion. In such a context, in which banking practices have not changed, it is illusory to hope, as the government does, for lending that would be likely to relaunch production and consumption to resume." Read the Article
Bill Moyers Redefining the United States
Bill Moyers Journal: "Barack Obama was elected on a message of change, promising a new era of diplomacy and international cooperation - but can the president deliver a new vision of America?" Read the Article
Michael Hittleman The New Confederacy of Republicans
Michael Hittleman, Truthout: "South Carolina Sen. Jim Demint travels to Honduras to endorse the military coup. Illinois Congressman Mark Kirk tells China not to believe our government's figures. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe will tell the upcoming Copenhagen climate summit that global warming is a hoax as he shadows President Obama. South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson shouts, 'You lie!' at the president at a joint session of Congress. What do these events have in common?" Read the Article
Foreign Policy Hawks Launch New Campaign Against Obama
Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service: "Just days after the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded Barack Obama its coveted peace prize, two of Washington's most prominent foreign policy hawks launched a new group and ad campaign designed to depict the president as weak and defend the more aggressive policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush." Read the Article
FP morning post 10/15
Top story:
In the latest in a string of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, militants dressed as police officers simultaneously attacked three law enforcement agencies in Lahore. Over 30 people were killed in the attacks, which combined gunmen and suicide bombers.
Pakistan's latest wave of violence appears to be in response to preparations for a military assault on the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan. Pakistani authorities say the sophistication of the latest attacks suggests that new Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is, like his predecessor Baithullah Mehsud, receiving training from al Qaeda.
Just prior to the Lahore attacks, a car bomber attacked a police station in Kohat killing 10. The Pakistani air force and U.S. drones also continued to strike targets in Waziristan on Thursday.
United Nations:
The U.N. General Assembly is expected to elect Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Bosnia to seats on the Security Council today.
Asia
China has sentenced six more people to death for instigating last summer's rioting in Xinjiang.
North Korea accused the South Korean navy of entering its territorial waters and warned of possible naval confrontation.
South Korea and the European Union have signed a multibillion dollar trade deal.
Middle East
Hamas rejected a Fatah reconciliation proposal.
Around 85,000 Iraqis were killed between 2004 and 2008 according to the country's Human Rights Ministry.
The United Arab Emirates is tightening immigration controls over fears of Iranian infiltrations.
Africa
The International Criminal Court has launched an investigation into last month's massacre of protesters in Guinea.
Zimbabwean opposition politician Roy Bennett has been imprisoned again.
South African policy fired rubber bullets at antigovernment protesters.
Europe
A grenade attack in Moldova wounded over 40 people. Authorities are calling it terrorism.
In a speech at Moscow State University, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Russia's human rights record.
As a diplomatic gesture, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian joined Turkish President Abdullah Gul at a World Cup qualifying soccer game in Turkey.
Americas
Despite reports of a breakthrough, rivals remain pessimistic about reaching a political compromise in Honduras.
Honduran police say drug smuggling has increased since the crisis began.
Cuba is allowing U.S. representatives to visit with jailed U.S.-Cuban citizens.
In the latest in a string of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, militants dressed as police officers simultaneously attacked three law enforcement agencies in Lahore. Over 30 people were killed in the attacks, which combined gunmen and suicide bombers.
Pakistan's latest wave of violence appears to be in response to preparations for a military assault on the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan. Pakistani authorities say the sophistication of the latest attacks suggests that new Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is, like his predecessor Baithullah Mehsud, receiving training from al Qaeda.
Just prior to the Lahore attacks, a car bomber attacked a police station in Kohat killing 10. The Pakistani air force and U.S. drones also continued to strike targets in Waziristan on Thursday.
United Nations:
The U.N. General Assembly is expected to elect Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Bosnia to seats on the Security Council today.
Asia
China has sentenced six more people to death for instigating last summer's rioting in Xinjiang.
North Korea accused the South Korean navy of entering its territorial waters and warned of possible naval confrontation.
South Korea and the European Union have signed a multibillion dollar trade deal.
Middle East
Hamas rejected a Fatah reconciliation proposal.
Around 85,000 Iraqis were killed between 2004 and 2008 according to the country's Human Rights Ministry.
The United Arab Emirates is tightening immigration controls over fears of Iranian infiltrations.
Africa
The International Criminal Court has launched an investigation into last month's massacre of protesters in Guinea.
Zimbabwean opposition politician Roy Bennett has been imprisoned again.
South African policy fired rubber bullets at antigovernment protesters.
Europe
A grenade attack in Moldova wounded over 40 people. Authorities are calling it terrorism.
In a speech at Moscow State University, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Russia's human rights record.
As a diplomatic gesture, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian joined Turkish President Abdullah Gul at a World Cup qualifying soccer game in Turkey.
Americas
Despite reports of a breakthrough, rivals remain pessimistic about reaching a political compromise in Honduras.
Honduran police say drug smuggling has increased since the crisis began.
Cuba is allowing U.S. representatives to visit with jailed U.S.-Cuban citizens.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Truthout 10/14
Truthout Video Interview Ralph Nader: "Only the Rich Can Save Us"
Truthout reporter Jason Leopold interviews Ralph Nader to discuss his latest book, "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us," a fictional account involving real-life public figures, including Warren Buffet, Ted Turner, Yoko Ono and Phil Donahue, who set off to start a progressive revolution using their enormous wealth. In addition, Nader gives analysis on President Obama's job performance thus far and on the debate surrounding health care reform. Watch the Interview and Digg this Story!
Andy Worthington Judge Confirms Detainee Tortured to Make False Confessions
Andy Worthington, Truthout: "A declassified ruling by a federal court judge reveals that Fouad al-Rabiah, an innocent Kuwaiti prisoner who was ordered released from Guantanamo last week, was brutally tortured into making false confessions by US interrogators and repeatedly threatened until he confessed to terrorist activities in which he was not involved. In the summer of 2002, a CIA analyst interviewed al-Rabiah at Guantanamo and concluded that he was an innocent man caught at the wrong time and in the wrong place. Although al-Rabiah had said that he had met bin Laden and had been present in the Tora Bora mountains, he had provided an acceptable explanation." Read the Article
Steve Weissman Let's Get Real About Israel and Iran
Steve Weissman, Truthout: "The military option for dealing with Iran remains on the table, President Obama repeatedly reminds us. The Pentagon hustles to modify our B-2 stealth bombers to carry a newly developed bunker-busting bomb that can destroy hardened underground targets, such as Iran's newly acknowledged enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom. Israeli President Netanyahu promises that 'Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out.'" Read the Article
Jason Leopold US Supreme Court to Hear Appeal by Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "The US Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling's appeal of his conviction on securities fraud, conspiracy and insider trading stemming from the high-flying energy company's implosion in late 2001. In his petition filed with the high court, Skilling claims he received an unfair trial due to searing media attacks and the negative publicity surrounding Enron's demise, which resulted in a Houston jury that was hostile and biased. Enron's headquarters was based in the city and when the company collapsed in a wave of accounting scandals it took a severe economic toll on the city." Read the Article
Robert Scheer A War of Absurdity
Robert Scheer, Truthout: "There is no indication that any of the contending forces in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, are interested in bringing al-Qaeda back. On the contrary, all the available evidence indicates that the Arab fighters are unwelcome and that it is their isolation from their former patrons that has led to their demise. Every once in a while, a statistic just jumps out at you in a way that makes everything else you hear on a subject seem beside the point, if not downright absurd." Read the Article
Barbara Ehrenreich Do Women Have the Blues?
Barbara Ehrenreich, TomDispatch.com: "Feminism made women miserable. This, anyway, seems to be the most popular takeaway from 'The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,' a recent study by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers that purports to show that women have become steadily unhappier since 1972. Maureen Dowd and Arianna Huffington greeted the news with somber perplexity, but the more common response has been a triumphant: I told you so." Read the Article
US Rep. Robert Wexler to Step Down
Beth Beinhardt, The Miami Herald: "US House of Representatives member Robert Wexler of Boca Raton, a self-described "fire-breathing liberal," defender of Israel and friend of both President Barack Obama and Gov. Charlie Crist, is quitting Congress to head a think tank seeking peace in the Middle East. In a conference call Tuesday night with Democratic leaders, Wexler said he will become director of the Washington-based Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation." Read the Article
Bush-Era EPA Document on Climate Change Released
Jim Tankersley and Alexander C. Hart, The Los Angeles Times: "The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released a long-suppressed report by George W. Bush administration officials who had concluded - based on science - that the government should begin regulating greenhouse gas emissions because global warming posed serious risks to the country. The report, known as an 'endangerment finding,' was done in 2007. The Bush White House refused to make it public because it opposed new government efforts to regulate the gases most scientists see as the major cause of global warming." Read the Article
Philippe Brochen A Decent Job Allows You to Earn a Living Without Losing Your Life
For Liberation, Philippe Brochen interviews a variety of demonstrators about what constitutes a decent job, while in L'Humanite, Doctor of Psychology Marie Peze writes about "the centrality of work in the individual construction of identity." Read the Article
Seniors and Their Doctors On Friday, October 16, at 8:30 PM (check local listings), learn how private discussions between seniors and their doctors about end-of-life choices for the very ill or dying become a flash point in the national health care debate. Read the Article
Truthout reporter Jason Leopold interviews Ralph Nader to discuss his latest book, "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us," a fictional account involving real-life public figures, including Warren Buffet, Ted Turner, Yoko Ono and Phil Donahue, who set off to start a progressive revolution using their enormous wealth. In addition, Nader gives analysis on President Obama's job performance thus far and on the debate surrounding health care reform. Watch the Interview and Digg this Story!
Andy Worthington Judge Confirms Detainee Tortured to Make False Confessions
Andy Worthington, Truthout: "A declassified ruling by a federal court judge reveals that Fouad al-Rabiah, an innocent Kuwaiti prisoner who was ordered released from Guantanamo last week, was brutally tortured into making false confessions by US interrogators and repeatedly threatened until he confessed to terrorist activities in which he was not involved. In the summer of 2002, a CIA analyst interviewed al-Rabiah at Guantanamo and concluded that he was an innocent man caught at the wrong time and in the wrong place. Although al-Rabiah had said that he had met bin Laden and had been present in the Tora Bora mountains, he had provided an acceptable explanation." Read the Article
Steve Weissman Let's Get Real About Israel and Iran
Steve Weissman, Truthout: "The military option for dealing with Iran remains on the table, President Obama repeatedly reminds us. The Pentagon hustles to modify our B-2 stealth bombers to carry a newly developed bunker-busting bomb that can destroy hardened underground targets, such as Iran's newly acknowledged enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom. Israeli President Netanyahu promises that 'Iran will not acquire nuclear arms, and this implies everything necessary to carry this out.'" Read the Article
Jason Leopold US Supreme Court to Hear Appeal by Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "The US Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling's appeal of his conviction on securities fraud, conspiracy and insider trading stemming from the high-flying energy company's implosion in late 2001. In his petition filed with the high court, Skilling claims he received an unfair trial due to searing media attacks and the negative publicity surrounding Enron's demise, which resulted in a Houston jury that was hostile and biased. Enron's headquarters was based in the city and when the company collapsed in a wave of accounting scandals it took a severe economic toll on the city." Read the Article
Robert Scheer A War of Absurdity
Robert Scheer, Truthout: "There is no indication that any of the contending forces in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, are interested in bringing al-Qaeda back. On the contrary, all the available evidence indicates that the Arab fighters are unwelcome and that it is their isolation from their former patrons that has led to their demise. Every once in a while, a statistic just jumps out at you in a way that makes everything else you hear on a subject seem beside the point, if not downright absurd." Read the Article
Barbara Ehrenreich Do Women Have the Blues?
Barbara Ehrenreich, TomDispatch.com: "Feminism made women miserable. This, anyway, seems to be the most popular takeaway from 'The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,' a recent study by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers that purports to show that women have become steadily unhappier since 1972. Maureen Dowd and Arianna Huffington greeted the news with somber perplexity, but the more common response has been a triumphant: I told you so." Read the Article
US Rep. Robert Wexler to Step Down
Beth Beinhardt, The Miami Herald: "US House of Representatives member Robert Wexler of Boca Raton, a self-described "fire-breathing liberal," defender of Israel and friend of both President Barack Obama and Gov. Charlie Crist, is quitting Congress to head a think tank seeking peace in the Middle East. In a conference call Tuesday night with Democratic leaders, Wexler said he will become director of the Washington-based Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation." Read the Article
Bush-Era EPA Document on Climate Change Released
Jim Tankersley and Alexander C. Hart, The Los Angeles Times: "The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released a long-suppressed report by George W. Bush administration officials who had concluded - based on science - that the government should begin regulating greenhouse gas emissions because global warming posed serious risks to the country. The report, known as an 'endangerment finding,' was done in 2007. The Bush White House refused to make it public because it opposed new government efforts to regulate the gases most scientists see as the major cause of global warming." Read the Article
Philippe Brochen A Decent Job Allows You to Earn a Living Without Losing Your Life
For Liberation, Philippe Brochen interviews a variety of demonstrators about what constitutes a decent job, while in L'Humanite, Doctor of Psychology Marie Peze writes about "the centrality of work in the individual construction of identity." Read the Article
Seniors and Their Doctors On Friday, October 16, at 8:30 PM (check local listings), learn how private discussions between seniors and their doctors about end-of-life choices for the very ill or dying become a flash point in the national health care debate. Read the Article
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
On Same-Sex Inheritance, Or, "'Til Death Do We Part" Comes To Boyzone
There was a time, in the 1990s, when “boy bands” walked tall in the musical world. New stars with names like “BoyzIIMen” and “Backstreet Boys” and “*NSYNC” were everywhere to be seen, and positioned prominently within this firmament of stars was an Irish band, “Boyzone”.
One of the five members of Boyzone’s most famous lineup, Stephen Gately, died over the weekend in Mallorca, aged 33, much to the dismay of the group’s fans and friends.
Because Gately came out at the height of his career, and at considerable risk to his (and the group’s) “brand” prospects, the LBGT community is experiencing considerable dismay over the loss as well.
Today’s story, however, isn’t about any of that.
Instead, we’ll consider what’s likely to happen to Gately’s estate.
The point of the exercise? With this being one of the most prominent deaths of a gay celebrity to occur since civil commitment came to pass, and with Mr. Gately being legally committed to husband Andrew Cowles at the time of his death, it seems like a good time to examine how the law responds to these situations in the UK—and how it could work in the United States.
To get things started, a quick acknowledgement: I was unaware of Stephen Gately’s death until I saw Prince Gomolvilas’ story at the Bilerico Project (“daily experiments in LBGTQ”) describing the event. His story covers topics we won’t be covering here; I would encourage you to stop by and have a look. (Full disclosure: I’m also a continuing contributor to the Bilerico Project site.)
For those completely unaware of Boyzone’s body of work, you might wish to start with the song for which they are probably the most famous, “No Matter What”, an Andrew Lloyd Weber composition.
“You’re ‘committed’? How’s that work, exactly?”
The preliminaries out of the way, let’s talk law:
In the UK, same-sex civil commitments are already enshrined in national law and the process is fairly simple. Before either a marriage or a civil commitment can take place, advance notice must be given by both parties, in person, at the register office (analogous to a city or county clerk’s office) where the couple resides.
The notice will be displayed for fifteen days, after which the grant of authority for the union can be issued by a minister or some comparable official at the wedding. (If you’re to be married in a Church of England or Church in Wales facility this requirement is waived.)
If one of the partners dies, UK law treats marriages and civil commitments identically. I won’t go into every nuance of the law here, but basically, it works like this:
There is an inheritance tax, and if you died this year it would be triggered if you were passing an estate larger than £325,000 (at today’s exchange rates, that’s about $514,000). You would be taxed 40% for anything over that threshold, and the amount you can pass without paying the tax goes up over time. (Gifts above £3000 per year that you gave in the past seven years are considered part of the estate, except gifts given to spouses and for other purposes, such as charitable giving.) Under certain circumstances it is possible to double the amount that can be passed, tax-free, to the next generation or to unrelated individuals.
The tax normally does not apply at all, regardless of the size of the estate, if the assets are passing from one spouse to another or to charity.
Love, American Style
So how do we contrast all this to the American experience?
Right off the bat, in the UK the law applies nationwide, unlike in the US, where states like Virginia have introduced bills that, if enacted, would void any same-sex civil unions granted by any other state, and relatives try to use the courts to prevent enforcement of arrangements entered into by same-sex partners.
This means Mr. Cowles can at least sleep under his own roof without fear that a lawsuit will emerge forcing him to either vacate his home or mount a costly legal defense to keep it—or worse yet, to have to mount a costly defense...and lose his home in the process, something that happens in the US on a regular basis.
Additionally, should Mr. Gately have chosen to direct his assets to Mr. Cowles, that decision will likely be carried out; and there would be no special legal hoops (other than the civil commitment process) through which anyone would have to jump to make such a decision carry the force of law.
It is also highly likely that Mr. Cowles will be given full authority to make any decisions about funeral arrangements that are required, and that he won’t have to fight the relatives for the physical custody of the body of his deceased partner.
There are two other interesting contrasts of which you should be aware: the divorce rate in England and Wales today, nearly 4 years after gay weddings first began in England and Wales, is at a 26 year low, and there is evidence to suggest that allowing same-sex marriages actually leads to those who marry living longer lives than those who want to marry today, but can’t.
And that’s where we’re going to end this for today: in the UK, a family like Stephen Gately’s and Andrew Cowles’ may suffer from an unexpected tragedy, but the law doesn’t conspire to make a bad situation a thousand times worse for the surviving member of the same-sex couple—unlike in the US.
Disgruntled relatives aren’t able to challenge the union, the spouse can be confident that the decisions they make will be protected in law, and no one’s being thrown out into the street solely because of the nature of their marriage.
Oh, and I almost forgot the math part of the deal: same-sex unions not only help the spouses live longer, it’s apparently helping to reduce the UK divorce rate for all couples at the same time.
And if you add all that up, aren’t we really saying that legalizing same-sex marriages equals nothing less than legalizing Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness?
So the next time someone claims gay marriage would somehow be threatening to the Nation...ask them: “why do you hate America, the Founding Fathers, the Constitution—and heterosexual marriages?”
Then stand back and let the stammering begin.
One of the five members of Boyzone’s most famous lineup, Stephen Gately, died over the weekend in Mallorca, aged 33, much to the dismay of the group’s fans and friends.
Because Gately came out at the height of his career, and at considerable risk to his (and the group’s) “brand” prospects, the LBGT community is experiencing considerable dismay over the loss as well.
Today’s story, however, isn’t about any of that.
Instead, we’ll consider what’s likely to happen to Gately’s estate.
The point of the exercise? With this being one of the most prominent deaths of a gay celebrity to occur since civil commitment came to pass, and with Mr. Gately being legally committed to husband Andrew Cowles at the time of his death, it seems like a good time to examine how the law responds to these situations in the UK—and how it could work in the United States.
To get things started, a quick acknowledgement: I was unaware of Stephen Gately’s death until I saw Prince Gomolvilas’ story at the Bilerico Project (“daily experiments in LBGTQ”) describing the event. His story covers topics we won’t be covering here; I would encourage you to stop by and have a look. (Full disclosure: I’m also a continuing contributor to the Bilerico Project site.)
For those completely unaware of Boyzone’s body of work, you might wish to start with the song for which they are probably the most famous, “No Matter What”, an Andrew Lloyd Weber composition.
“You’re ‘committed’? How’s that work, exactly?”
The preliminaries out of the way, let’s talk law:
In the UK, same-sex civil commitments are already enshrined in national law and the process is fairly simple. Before either a marriage or a civil commitment can take place, advance notice must be given by both parties, in person, at the register office (analogous to a city or county clerk’s office) where the couple resides.
The notice will be displayed for fifteen days, after which the grant of authority for the union can be issued by a minister or some comparable official at the wedding. (If you’re to be married in a Church of England or Church in Wales facility this requirement is waived.)
If one of the partners dies, UK law treats marriages and civil commitments identically. I won’t go into every nuance of the law here, but basically, it works like this:
There is an inheritance tax, and if you died this year it would be triggered if you were passing an estate larger than £325,000 (at today’s exchange rates, that’s about $514,000). You would be taxed 40% for anything over that threshold, and the amount you can pass without paying the tax goes up over time. (Gifts above £3000 per year that you gave in the past seven years are considered part of the estate, except gifts given to spouses and for other purposes, such as charitable giving.) Under certain circumstances it is possible to double the amount that can be passed, tax-free, to the next generation or to unrelated individuals.
The tax normally does not apply at all, regardless of the size of the estate, if the assets are passing from one spouse to another or to charity.
Love, American Style
So how do we contrast all this to the American experience?
Right off the bat, in the UK the law applies nationwide, unlike in the US, where states like Virginia have introduced bills that, if enacted, would void any same-sex civil unions granted by any other state, and relatives try to use the courts to prevent enforcement of arrangements entered into by same-sex partners.
This means Mr. Cowles can at least sleep under his own roof without fear that a lawsuit will emerge forcing him to either vacate his home or mount a costly legal defense to keep it—or worse yet, to have to mount a costly defense...and lose his home in the process, something that happens in the US on a regular basis.
Additionally, should Mr. Gately have chosen to direct his assets to Mr. Cowles, that decision will likely be carried out; and there would be no special legal hoops (other than the civil commitment process) through which anyone would have to jump to make such a decision carry the force of law.
It is also highly likely that Mr. Cowles will be given full authority to make any decisions about funeral arrangements that are required, and that he won’t have to fight the relatives for the physical custody of the body of his deceased partner.
There are two other interesting contrasts of which you should be aware: the divorce rate in England and Wales today, nearly 4 years after gay weddings first began in England and Wales, is at a 26 year low, and there is evidence to suggest that allowing same-sex marriages actually leads to those who marry living longer lives than those who want to marry today, but can’t.
And that’s where we’re going to end this for today: in the UK, a family like Stephen Gately’s and Andrew Cowles’ may suffer from an unexpected tragedy, but the law doesn’t conspire to make a bad situation a thousand times worse for the surviving member of the same-sex couple—unlike in the US.
Disgruntled relatives aren’t able to challenge the union, the spouse can be confident that the decisions they make will be protected in law, and no one’s being thrown out into the street solely because of the nature of their marriage.
Oh, and I almost forgot the math part of the deal: same-sex unions not only help the spouses live longer, it’s apparently helping to reduce the UK divorce rate for all couples at the same time.
And if you add all that up, aren’t we really saying that legalizing same-sex marriages equals nothing less than legalizing Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness?
So the next time someone claims gay marriage would somehow be threatening to the Nation...ask them: “why do you hate America, the Founding Fathers, the Constitution—and heterosexual marriages?”
Then stand back and let the stammering begin.
Henry A. Giroux Youth Beyond the Politics of Hope
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "As the counterrevolution that has gripped the United States since the late 1980s appears to be somewhat modified in the emerging presidency of Barack Obama, the dark times that befell us under the second Bush administration have far from disappeared. The assault that the second Bush administration waged on practically every vestige of the public good - from the Constitution to the environment to public education - appears to have lessened its grip as the Obama regime inches towards its first year in power." Read the Article
Jason Leopold Obama's DOJ May Appeal Ruling Ordering Release of Cheney's CIA
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "The Obama administration is weighing an appeal of a federal judge's ruling ordering the Justice Department to release portions of the transcribed interview between former Vice President Dick Cheney and Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor appointed to probe the roles Bush administration officials played in the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson six years ago." Read the Article
Snowe Votes Yes on Finance Committee Health Care Bill
Truthout Newswire: "Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) bucked her party and voted for the Senate Finance Committee version of health care reform. In a statement to the committee prior to the vote, Snowe said: 'Is this bill all that it can be? No, but when history calls, history calls.' Snowe stressed that her vote on the Committee's bill does not mean she will vote yes when the modified version comes up for a vote on the Senate floor." Read the Article
Dahr Jamail Attorney Reports Human Rights Abuses of GI Resisters
Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "Attorneys and veteran's groups are alarmed by recent reports that two US Army soldiers imprisoned at the Fort Lewis Regional Correctional Facility (RCF) have been subjected to human rights abuses and violations of their constitutional rights." Read the Article
Scott Galindez Insurance Companies Make Case for Public Option
Scott Galindez, Truthout: "The insurance industry is back in the game, fighting against the health care reform proposals emerging from Congress. They are playing their final card, threatening to raise everyone's premiums if the current bills prevail. They might actually be right about at least one committee's plan, but are dead wrong about the others. In fact, they are making a strong case for why the final version needs a strong public option." Read the Article
Obama Quietly Deploying 13,000 More US Troops to Afghanistan
Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian UK: "President Barack Obama is quietly deploying an extra 13,000 troops to Afghanistan, an unannounced move that is separate from a request by the US commander in the country for even more reinforcements." Read the Article
Europeans Press the US to End the Death Penalty
Howard LaFranchi, The Christian Science Monitor: "The United States does not often find itself in a league with China, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. But as international human rights groups and a number of countries, particularly in the European Union [EU], prepare to mark World Day Against the Death Penalty Saturday, that list of the five countries where nearly all of 2008's executions were carried out is where the US finds itself." Read the Article
Herve Kempf The Crisis Is Beginning
Herve Kempf, Le Monde (French Translation: Leslie Thatcher): "In the phantasmagoric world of officials and economic analysts, good and evil boil down to the quivering of a totem: gross domestic product (GDP). It falls 2 percent; that's a catastrophe; it climbs - trembling - some 0.3 percent; the recovery is brewing. And the obsession is to return to the 'normal' 2-3-4 percent rates of growth, so that life may revert to its former splendor. This is no caricature: Dozens of statements and articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Economist, Les Echos, La Tribune - and, of course, our own dear Monde - ratiocinate around this theme." Read the Article
Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III What the Neocons Can Learn From the Norwegian Nobel Committee
Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III, Truthout: "With a decision that has shocked many around the world, on Friday, October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that President Barack Hussein Obama is the 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace. This announcement not only recognizes extraordinary accomplishments, but also brings with it extraordinary expectations." Read the Article
First Woman Wins Nobel Prize for Economics
David Usborne and Sean O'Grady, The Independent UK: "The grip enjoyed by men on the Nobel Prize for Economics was broken at last yesterday when Elinor Ostrom, a professor at the University of Indiana, became the first woman to be honoured with the award." Read the Article
La Jornada A Vaccination Campaign Without Vaccinations
La Jornada (Spanish Translation: Ryan Croken): "Amid an atmosphere of social unrest caused by the resurgence of the swine flu epidemic (the antigen for which is presently being administered in first world countries), the Mexican Health Department has recently launched what is being called the National Vaccination Campaign. There is, unfortunately, one small problem with a campaign of this name and nature: We don't have any swine flu vaccines in this country, and we don't even have a sufficient quantity of vaccines for the seasonal flu, the more benign and familiar strain of the virus." Read the Article
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "As the counterrevolution that has gripped the United States since the late 1980s appears to be somewhat modified in the emerging presidency of Barack Obama, the dark times that befell us under the second Bush administration have far from disappeared. The assault that the second Bush administration waged on practically every vestige of the public good - from the Constitution to the environment to public education - appears to have lessened its grip as the Obama regime inches towards its first year in power." Read the Article
Jason Leopold Obama's DOJ May Appeal Ruling Ordering Release of Cheney's CIA
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "The Obama administration is weighing an appeal of a federal judge's ruling ordering the Justice Department to release portions of the transcribed interview between former Vice President Dick Cheney and Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor appointed to probe the roles Bush administration officials played in the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson six years ago." Read the Article
Snowe Votes Yes on Finance Committee Health Care Bill
Truthout Newswire: "Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) bucked her party and voted for the Senate Finance Committee version of health care reform. In a statement to the committee prior to the vote, Snowe said: 'Is this bill all that it can be? No, but when history calls, history calls.' Snowe stressed that her vote on the Committee's bill does not mean she will vote yes when the modified version comes up for a vote on the Senate floor." Read the Article
Dahr Jamail Attorney Reports Human Rights Abuses of GI Resisters
Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "Attorneys and veteran's groups are alarmed by recent reports that two US Army soldiers imprisoned at the Fort Lewis Regional Correctional Facility (RCF) have been subjected to human rights abuses and violations of their constitutional rights." Read the Article
Scott Galindez Insurance Companies Make Case for Public Option
Scott Galindez, Truthout: "The insurance industry is back in the game, fighting against the health care reform proposals emerging from Congress. They are playing their final card, threatening to raise everyone's premiums if the current bills prevail. They might actually be right about at least one committee's plan, but are dead wrong about the others. In fact, they are making a strong case for why the final version needs a strong public option." Read the Article
Obama Quietly Deploying 13,000 More US Troops to Afghanistan
Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian UK: "President Barack Obama is quietly deploying an extra 13,000 troops to Afghanistan, an unannounced move that is separate from a request by the US commander in the country for even more reinforcements." Read the Article
Europeans Press the US to End the Death Penalty
Howard LaFranchi, The Christian Science Monitor: "The United States does not often find itself in a league with China, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. But as international human rights groups and a number of countries, particularly in the European Union [EU], prepare to mark World Day Against the Death Penalty Saturday, that list of the five countries where nearly all of 2008's executions were carried out is where the US finds itself." Read the Article
Herve Kempf The Crisis Is Beginning
Herve Kempf, Le Monde (French Translation: Leslie Thatcher): "In the phantasmagoric world of officials and economic analysts, good and evil boil down to the quivering of a totem: gross domestic product (GDP). It falls 2 percent; that's a catastrophe; it climbs - trembling - some 0.3 percent; the recovery is brewing. And the obsession is to return to the 'normal' 2-3-4 percent rates of growth, so that life may revert to its former splendor. This is no caricature: Dozens of statements and articles in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Economist, Les Echos, La Tribune - and, of course, our own dear Monde - ratiocinate around this theme." Read the Article
Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III What the Neocons Can Learn From the Norwegian Nobel Committee
Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III, Truthout: "With a decision that has shocked many around the world, on Friday, October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that President Barack Hussein Obama is the 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace. This announcement not only recognizes extraordinary accomplishments, but also brings with it extraordinary expectations." Read the Article
First Woman Wins Nobel Prize for Economics
David Usborne and Sean O'Grady, The Independent UK: "The grip enjoyed by men on the Nobel Prize for Economics was broken at last yesterday when Elinor Ostrom, a professor at the University of Indiana, became the first woman to be honoured with the award." Read the Article
La Jornada A Vaccination Campaign Without Vaccinations
La Jornada (Spanish Translation: Ryan Croken): "Amid an atmosphere of social unrest caused by the resurgence of the swine flu epidemic (the antigen for which is presently being administered in first world countries), the Mexican Health Department has recently launched what is being called the National Vaccination Campaign. There is, unfortunately, one small problem with a campaign of this name and nature: We don't have any swine flu vaccines in this country, and we don't even have a sufficient quantity of vaccines for the seasonal flu, the more benign and familiar strain of the virus." Read the Article
FP morning post 10/13
Top story:
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks on Iran's nuclear program. It is Clinton's first visit to Russia as secretary of state. While Lavrov insisted "our positions coincide," on the issue, but there were some differences in tone between the two.
Clinton agreed ruled out immediate sanctions, she said they may be inevitable "in the absence of significant progress and assurance that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons". Lavrov meanwhile dismissed threats of sanctions as counterproductive. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested last month, that further sanctions on Iran may be inevitable after the discovery of a previously unknown nuclear reactor near Qom.
Missile Defense was also on the agenda. Lavrov said that Russia had reviewed the United States' revamped missile defense plans but was noncommittal on proposals that the two countries cooperate. Lavrov and Clinton also reportedly discussed Afghanistan, NATO enlargement, and Georgia.
Nepotism scandal:
Nicolas Sarkozy's son Jean has caused an uproar in France after announcing he would take control of a powerful government agency.
Asia
China and Russia signed trade deals with $3.5 million.
North Korea has agreed to talks with South Korea on flood control even as it continues to test-fire missiles.
Pakistani planes bombed militant targets in South Waziristan in preparation for a planned ground assault.
Middle East
Iranian authorities have opened an investigation of former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi.
Kurdistan has halted oil exports in a dispute with the Baghdad government.
Iraq's parliament has approved the return of a small number of British troops.
Europe
Britian is considering privatizing a range of government services in order to raise funds.
An appeals panel rejected former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's claim that he was granted immunity by U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke.
Italian police have arrested three in connection with Monday's bombing of a Milan army barracks.
Africa
A new report says over 1,000 civilians have been killed in eastern Congo this year.
Guinea's military junta confirmed that it has signed a massive energy and mining deal with China.
Gabon's constitutional court upheld Ali Ben Bongo's victory in August's disputed election.
Americas
Amnesty International accused Honduras's interim government of a litany of human rights abuses.
Mexican workers are holding protests in response to the government's decision to close a state-owned power utility.
A tropical storm is likely to hit the Western Coast of Mexico today or tomorrow.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks on Iran's nuclear program. It is Clinton's first visit to Russia as secretary of state. While Lavrov insisted "our positions coincide," on the issue, but there were some differences in tone between the two.
Clinton agreed ruled out immediate sanctions, she said they may be inevitable "in the absence of significant progress and assurance that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons". Lavrov meanwhile dismissed threats of sanctions as counterproductive. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested last month, that further sanctions on Iran may be inevitable after the discovery of a previously unknown nuclear reactor near Qom.
Missile Defense was also on the agenda. Lavrov said that Russia had reviewed the United States' revamped missile defense plans but was noncommittal on proposals that the two countries cooperate. Lavrov and Clinton also reportedly discussed Afghanistan, NATO enlargement, and Georgia.
Nepotism scandal:
Nicolas Sarkozy's son Jean has caused an uproar in France after announcing he would take control of a powerful government agency.
Asia
China and Russia signed trade deals with $3.5 million.
North Korea has agreed to talks with South Korea on flood control even as it continues to test-fire missiles.
Pakistani planes bombed militant targets in South Waziristan in preparation for a planned ground assault.
Middle East
Iranian authorities have opened an investigation of former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi.
Kurdistan has halted oil exports in a dispute with the Baghdad government.
Iraq's parliament has approved the return of a small number of British troops.
Europe
Britian is considering privatizing a range of government services in order to raise funds.
An appeals panel rejected former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's claim that he was granted immunity by U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke.
Italian police have arrested three in connection with Monday's bombing of a Milan army barracks.
Africa
A new report says over 1,000 civilians have been killed in eastern Congo this year.
Guinea's military junta confirmed that it has signed a massive energy and mining deal with China.
Gabon's constitutional court upheld Ali Ben Bongo's victory in August's disputed election.
Americas
Amnesty International accused Honduras's interim government of a litany of human rights abuses.
Mexican workers are holding protests in response to the government's decision to close a state-owned power utility.
A tropical storm is likely to hit the Western Coast of Mexico today or tomorrow.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Truthout 10/12
Matt Renner Obama Administration Accused Again of Concealing Bush-Era Crimes
Matt Renner, Truthout: "On January 21, Obama signed an executive order instructing all federal agencies and departments to 'adopt a presumption in favor' of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and promised to make the federal government more transparent ... But since that time, the Obama administration has sought to conceal information in several high-profile court cases, in an effort that civil libertarians say amounts to covering up crimes committed by the Bush administration." Read the Article
Dean Baker Trade in Health Care: When "Free Traders" Become Protectionists
Dean Baker, Truthout: "In Washington policy circles, being called a 'protectionist' is only slightly better than being called a criminal. Everyone agrees that protectionists are uneducated people who would do harm to the economy by reducing international trade. And everyone in Washington policy circles knows that trade is good, except when it comes to health care." Read the Article
Dahr Jamail and Jason Coppola The Myth of "America"
Dahr Jamail and Jason Coppola, Truthout: "In 1892, the National Council of Churches, the largest ecumenical body in the United States, is known to have exhorted Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, 'What represented newness of freedom, hope, and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others.' Yet America continues to celebrate 'Columbus Day.'" Read the Article
Bombings Kill 23, Wound 80 in Iraq's Anbar Province
Mohammad al Dulaimy and Jamal Naji, McClatchy Newspapers: "The bombers who attacked the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday seemed determined to make sure that none of their targets survived. First, they bombed a crowded parking lot outside the Anbar provincial government's headquarters. Seven minutes later, they detonated a car bomb aimed at the rescue workers. An hour later, a third bomb exploded outside the hospital where survivors were receiving treatment." Read the Article
Willian Astore Obama at the Precipice: Tough Guys Don't Need to Dance in Afghanistan
Willian Astore, TomDispatch.com: "It's early in 1965, and President Lyndon B. Johnson faces a critical decision. Should he escalate in Vietnam? Should he say 'yes' to the request from U.S. commanders for more troops? Or should he change strategy, downsize the American commitment, even withdraw completely, a decision that would help him focus on his top domestic priority, 'The Great Society' he hopes to build?" Read the Article
Climate Change: New Financial Scheme Turns Heat on Rich Nations
Marwaan Macan-Markar, Inter Press Service: "A new financial mechanism to help the developing world deal with the challenges posed by climate change looms as a major hurdle on the road leading up to a United Nations summit in Copenhagen in mid-December." Read the Article
Evidence of Fraud Could Force Afghan Runoff Election
Hal Bernton, McClatchy Newspapers: "An Afghan member of the panel investigating the widespread allegations of fraud in Afghanistan's August 20 presidential election resigned Monday and charged that United Nations officials have interfered in the probe, a possible indication that Afghan Pres. Hamid Karzai may be forced into a runoff against his former foreign minister." Read the Article
Jerica Arents The Price of Peace
Jerica Arents, Truthout: "While waiting to be processed at the Anacostia Park Police Station, I was drawn to a mounted, post-9/11, Bush-era FBI reward poster. 'The Cost of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance,' propagated the sign. The unrestrained madness is as prevalent today as it was eight years ago: Obama is continuing Bush's war folly." Read the Article
Obama to Visit New Orleans for a Post-Katrina Survey
Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers: "When President Barack Obama visits New Orleans next week to survey how its recovery is going four years after Hurricane Katrina, he'll have a lot to tout about the help his administration's given -- and plenty to worry about as the nation's top Democrat in a city quaking with political change." Read the Article
John Dodds Another Take on Solving the Foreclosure Crisis: Loans to Jobless Homeowners
John Dodds, Truthout: "The mortgage crisis remains a major problem for the US economy. Foreclosure rates are still at record levels and Making Home Affordable, the new Obama plan which requires lenders to modify mortgages, is off to a slow start as lenders have yet to gear up to do modifications. Foreclosures caused by unemployment are becoming a greater and greater portion of the foreclosure problem." Read the Article
Brigitte Perucca "Training Citizens Who Are Well-Informed About Scientific Choices"
Brigitte Perucca, Le Monde: "An astonishing convergence: A great number of countries, from China to India by way of Europe, worried by the decrease in scientific vocations, have undertaken an overhaul of their teaching of the sciences. With a change in perspective, however. The primary reason invoked to justify these reforms is no longer economic competitiveness, but the necessity of recreating a sort of democratic contract between citizens and scientific development." Read the Article
Andrew Stelzer He Won Because He Speaks of Peace
Andrew Stelzer, Truthout: "He won because he spoke about peace and people listened. That is rare. The whole world listened, and is still listening to this man who speaks of peace, who clearly believes in it, although his actions don't always seem to move towards that goal. Think of how few people have spoken about peace, from the heart, and had the world pay attention. It happens rarely. And it's part of why we fall so short of peace." Read the Article
Matt Renner, Truthout: "On January 21, Obama signed an executive order instructing all federal agencies and departments to 'adopt a presumption in favor' of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and promised to make the federal government more transparent ... But since that time, the Obama administration has sought to conceal information in several high-profile court cases, in an effort that civil libertarians say amounts to covering up crimes committed by the Bush administration." Read the Article
Dean Baker Trade in Health Care: When "Free Traders" Become Protectionists
Dean Baker, Truthout: "In Washington policy circles, being called a 'protectionist' is only slightly better than being called a criminal. Everyone agrees that protectionists are uneducated people who would do harm to the economy by reducing international trade. And everyone in Washington policy circles knows that trade is good, except when it comes to health care." Read the Article
Dahr Jamail and Jason Coppola The Myth of "America"
Dahr Jamail and Jason Coppola, Truthout: "In 1892, the National Council of Churches, the largest ecumenical body in the United States, is known to have exhorted Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, 'What represented newness of freedom, hope, and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others.' Yet America continues to celebrate 'Columbus Day.'" Read the Article
Bombings Kill 23, Wound 80 in Iraq's Anbar Province
Mohammad al Dulaimy and Jamal Naji, McClatchy Newspapers: "The bombers who attacked the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday seemed determined to make sure that none of their targets survived. First, they bombed a crowded parking lot outside the Anbar provincial government's headquarters. Seven minutes later, they detonated a car bomb aimed at the rescue workers. An hour later, a third bomb exploded outside the hospital where survivors were receiving treatment." Read the Article
Willian Astore Obama at the Precipice: Tough Guys Don't Need to Dance in Afghanistan
Willian Astore, TomDispatch.com: "It's early in 1965, and President Lyndon B. Johnson faces a critical decision. Should he escalate in Vietnam? Should he say 'yes' to the request from U.S. commanders for more troops? Or should he change strategy, downsize the American commitment, even withdraw completely, a decision that would help him focus on his top domestic priority, 'The Great Society' he hopes to build?" Read the Article
Climate Change: New Financial Scheme Turns Heat on Rich Nations
Marwaan Macan-Markar, Inter Press Service: "A new financial mechanism to help the developing world deal with the challenges posed by climate change looms as a major hurdle on the road leading up to a United Nations summit in Copenhagen in mid-December." Read the Article
Evidence of Fraud Could Force Afghan Runoff Election
Hal Bernton, McClatchy Newspapers: "An Afghan member of the panel investigating the widespread allegations of fraud in Afghanistan's August 20 presidential election resigned Monday and charged that United Nations officials have interfered in the probe, a possible indication that Afghan Pres. Hamid Karzai may be forced into a runoff against his former foreign minister." Read the Article
Jerica Arents The Price of Peace
Jerica Arents, Truthout: "While waiting to be processed at the Anacostia Park Police Station, I was drawn to a mounted, post-9/11, Bush-era FBI reward poster. 'The Cost of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance,' propagated the sign. The unrestrained madness is as prevalent today as it was eight years ago: Obama is continuing Bush's war folly." Read the Article
Obama to Visit New Orleans for a Post-Katrina Survey
Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers: "When President Barack Obama visits New Orleans next week to survey how its recovery is going four years after Hurricane Katrina, he'll have a lot to tout about the help his administration's given -- and plenty to worry about as the nation's top Democrat in a city quaking with political change." Read the Article
John Dodds Another Take on Solving the Foreclosure Crisis: Loans to Jobless Homeowners
John Dodds, Truthout: "The mortgage crisis remains a major problem for the US economy. Foreclosure rates are still at record levels and Making Home Affordable, the new Obama plan which requires lenders to modify mortgages, is off to a slow start as lenders have yet to gear up to do modifications. Foreclosures caused by unemployment are becoming a greater and greater portion of the foreclosure problem." Read the Article
Brigitte Perucca "Training Citizens Who Are Well-Informed About Scientific Choices"
Brigitte Perucca, Le Monde: "An astonishing convergence: A great number of countries, from China to India by way of Europe, worried by the decrease in scientific vocations, have undertaken an overhaul of their teaching of the sciences. With a change in perspective, however. The primary reason invoked to justify these reforms is no longer economic competitiveness, but the necessity of recreating a sort of democratic contract between citizens and scientific development." Read the Article
Andrew Stelzer He Won Because He Speaks of Peace
Andrew Stelzer, Truthout: "He won because he spoke about peace and people listened. That is rare. The whole world listened, and is still listening to this man who speaks of peace, who clearly believes in it, although his actions don't always seem to move towards that goal. Think of how few people have spoken about peace, from the heart, and had the world pay attention. It happens rarely. And it's part of why we fall so short of peace." Read the Article
BPA in plastics linked to female aggression
The first study to examine the effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on children's behavior found that girls whose mothers had the highest levels of the chemical during pregnancy were more aggressive at age 2 than other girls. BPA is commonly used to make plastic bottles durable and reusable. The findings closely match previous animal studies.
Neurobiologist Louann Brizendine told USA Today she fears small amounts of BPA, which mimics estrogen, contribute to "masculinizing" the female brain at a critical point in its development.
Neurobiologist Louann Brizendine told USA Today she fears small amounts of BPA, which mimics estrogen, contribute to "masculinizing" the female brain at a critical point in its development.
Be careful at this crossing!
New invasive species threatening Canucks? Check the link.
Google Street View confirms Elephantitis strikes deer population in Canada ? Autoblog
Google Street View confirms Elephantitis strikes deer population in Canada ? Autoblog
FP morning post 10/12
Top story:
Despite Saturday's historic signing of an accord to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia, signs emerged over the weekend that the nearly century-old hostility between the two countries remains far from resolved.
Saturday's signing in Zurich nearly didn't happen due to a disagreement over language, but was salvaged by last minute intervention from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The agreement restores normal diplomatic relations between the two countries and commits them to opening up their border and "begin dialogue" over the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
On Sunday, however, Turkish Prime Minister said that the treaty would not be ratified unless Armenia withdrew its troops from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. "As long as Armenia does not withdraw from occupied territories in Azerbaijan, Turkey cannot take up a positive position," he said. Major disagreements also remain over how the historical record will be examined to determine whether the 1915 killings were, in fact, a genocide.
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan will visit Turkey this week to watch a World Cup qualifying match. "Soccer diplomacy" has been a regular feature in the lead-up to Saturday's accord.
Nobels:
U.S. economists Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the economics prize.
Asia
More than 40 people were killed in a bombing at a checkpoint in Pakistan's Swat Valley.
China sentenced six Uighur men to death for their role in July's riots in Xinjiang.
North Korea reportedly test-fired five shot-range rockets.
Middle East
Dozens were killed in a bombing targeting a sectarian reconciliation meeting in Iraq's Anbar province.
In a reversal, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will push for a U.N. vote on the Goldstone report.
A U.A.E. court convicted a U.S. citizen on terrorism charges.
Europe
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Belfast to address the Northern Irish parliament.
Pope Benedict canonized five new saints on Sunday.
A Libyan man attempted to blow up an Italian Army barracks in Milan but caused little damage.
Africa
A strike has been called in Guinea to protest the killing of dozens of demonstrators by the military two weeks ago.
The Zimbabwean state has renounced several of Robert Mugabe's top officials who have been accused of torture.
A Sudanese court upheld the death sentences of four men convicted of murdering a U.S. envoy and his driver in January.
Americas
Mexico is shutting down a major state-run energy company in the midst of a labor dispute.
Hundreds were left homeless by slum fires in Sao Paulo.
A Cuban man was arrested by U.S. authorities for a 1968 plane hijacking at Kennedy airport.
Despite Saturday's historic signing of an accord to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia, signs emerged over the weekend that the nearly century-old hostility between the two countries remains far from resolved.
Saturday's signing in Zurich nearly didn't happen due to a disagreement over language, but was salvaged by last minute intervention from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The agreement restores normal diplomatic relations between the two countries and commits them to opening up their border and "begin dialogue" over the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
On Sunday, however, Turkish Prime Minister said that the treaty would not be ratified unless Armenia withdrew its troops from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. "As long as Armenia does not withdraw from occupied territories in Azerbaijan, Turkey cannot take up a positive position," he said. Major disagreements also remain over how the historical record will be examined to determine whether the 1915 killings were, in fact, a genocide.
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan will visit Turkey this week to watch a World Cup qualifying match. "Soccer diplomacy" has been a regular feature in the lead-up to Saturday's accord.
Nobels:
U.S. economists Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the economics prize.
Asia
More than 40 people were killed in a bombing at a checkpoint in Pakistan's Swat Valley.
China sentenced six Uighur men to death for their role in July's riots in Xinjiang.
North Korea reportedly test-fired five shot-range rockets.
Middle East
Dozens were killed in a bombing targeting a sectarian reconciliation meeting in Iraq's Anbar province.
In a reversal, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will push for a U.N. vote on the Goldstone report.
A U.A.E. court convicted a U.S. citizen on terrorism charges.
Europe
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Belfast to address the Northern Irish parliament.
Pope Benedict canonized five new saints on Sunday.
A Libyan man attempted to blow up an Italian Army barracks in Milan but caused little damage.
Africa
A strike has been called in Guinea to protest the killing of dozens of demonstrators by the military two weeks ago.
The Zimbabwean state has renounced several of Robert Mugabe's top officials who have been accused of torture.
A Sudanese court upheld the death sentences of four men convicted of murdering a U.S. envoy and his driver in January.
Americas
Mexico is shutting down a major state-run energy company in the midst of a labor dispute.
Hundreds were left homeless by slum fires in Sao Paulo.
A Cuban man was arrested by U.S. authorities for a 1968 plane hijacking at Kennedy airport.
October early education news round-up
October 7, 2009 Pre-K'ers Are Stepping Out
This year Georgia will see the enrollment of its one-millionth pre-k student and the entire state is celebrating. This year, the Georgia pre-k program will serve 82,000 children in approximately 4,100 classrooms in Georgia, according to information provided by Dade Elementary School counselor Tinena Bice.
October 7, 2009 Commentary: Fund Early Childhood Education
Despite the impressive funding gains, though, less than 30% of the nation's 3- and 4-year-olds are served by publicly funded early education. Federal action is needed urgently to reinforce states' progress and accelerate the growth of early learning programs.
October 6, 2009 Tax shortfall means cut in Denver preschool tuition aid
A tax-supported program that helps Denver families pay for preschool will cut its tuition reimbursements by 25 percent next fall — another victim of the economy. Early-childhood education advocates also fear greater cuts to the statewide Colorado Preschool Program that pays for preschool for the state's neediest children.
October 6, 2009 Governor Jim Doyle signs mandatory kindergarten into law
It's a law that some hope will put more teeth into the effort to get kids in school, and get them there early. Supporters says early education pays off by not only preparing kids [for] the first grade, but higher graduation rates later.
October 5, 2009 Educators start children on computers as early as pre-school
For these 5- and 6-year-olds, technology is a way of life, no different than using a crayon for their writing lessons. Technology has become increasingly prominent in classrooms and ever more important for the young generation.
October 4, 2009 Initiatives promote reading skills
In August, nearly 200 kits in the "Reading for All: Born Learning Lending Library" program were provided to local child care providers. The purpose of the Lending Library kit is to encourage early literacy among the children in child care and to promote literacy within the child's home.
October 1, 2009 Teachers stand by early education
A joint House-Senate committee recommended last week to keep funding that is designated for Great Start Readiness and other specific programs, but if the proposal passes, school districts may eliminate or downsize these programs to make up for a $218 per pupil cut.
October 1, 2009 Panel: Early child care, education remains key
Early child care and education is a growing concern for people across the nation. Two local groups recently undertook a survey that identified various issues and needs surrounding early child care in the Yankton area.
September 29, 2009 Official: Preschool could be provided to all at same cost
Preschool programs could be made available to all of Arkansas' 3- and 4-year-olds without additional state funding, the state's new education commissioner said Monday.
September 27, 2009 It's never too young to learn, advocates say
Debra Lore, a nurse with the state Nurse-Family Partnership program, brought the book. Lore worked with [LaSarah] Todd through her pregnancy, helped her graduate from high school, and is now showing her how to give her daughter an early start on learning.
This year Georgia will see the enrollment of its one-millionth pre-k student and the entire state is celebrating. This year, the Georgia pre-k program will serve 82,000 children in approximately 4,100 classrooms in Georgia, according to information provided by Dade Elementary School counselor Tinena Bice.
October 7, 2009 Commentary: Fund Early Childhood Education
Despite the impressive funding gains, though, less than 30% of the nation's 3- and 4-year-olds are served by publicly funded early education. Federal action is needed urgently to reinforce states' progress and accelerate the growth of early learning programs.
October 6, 2009 Tax shortfall means cut in Denver preschool tuition aid
A tax-supported program that helps Denver families pay for preschool will cut its tuition reimbursements by 25 percent next fall — another victim of the economy. Early-childhood education advocates also fear greater cuts to the statewide Colorado Preschool Program that pays for preschool for the state's neediest children.
October 6, 2009 Governor Jim Doyle signs mandatory kindergarten into law
It's a law that some hope will put more teeth into the effort to get kids in school, and get them there early. Supporters says early education pays off by not only preparing kids [for] the first grade, but higher graduation rates later.
October 5, 2009 Educators start children on computers as early as pre-school
For these 5- and 6-year-olds, technology is a way of life, no different than using a crayon for their writing lessons. Technology has become increasingly prominent in classrooms and ever more important for the young generation.
October 4, 2009 Initiatives promote reading skills
In August, nearly 200 kits in the "Reading for All: Born Learning Lending Library" program were provided to local child care providers. The purpose of the Lending Library kit is to encourage early literacy among the children in child care and to promote literacy within the child's home.
October 1, 2009 Teachers stand by early education
A joint House-Senate committee recommended last week to keep funding that is designated for Great Start Readiness and other specific programs, but if the proposal passes, school districts may eliminate or downsize these programs to make up for a $218 per pupil cut.
October 1, 2009 Panel: Early child care, education remains key
Early child care and education is a growing concern for people across the nation. Two local groups recently undertook a survey that identified various issues and needs surrounding early child care in the Yankton area.
September 29, 2009 Official: Preschool could be provided to all at same cost
Preschool programs could be made available to all of Arkansas' 3- and 4-year-olds without additional state funding, the state's new education commissioner said Monday.
September 27, 2009 It's never too young to learn, advocates say
Debra Lore, a nurse with the state Nurse-Family Partnership program, brought the book. Lore worked with [LaSarah] Todd through her pregnancy, helped her graduate from high school, and is now showing her how to give her daughter an early start on learning.
Pre-K works in New Mexico
from the Nation Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER) - Rutgers University
Continued Impacts of New Mexico PreK on Children's Readiness for Kindergarten: Results from the Third Year of Implementation
By Jason T. Hustedt, W. Steven Barnett, Kwanghee Jung, Alexandra Figueras-Daniel September 2009
The third report in NIEER's multi-year study of New Mexico's prekindergarten program shows that children who attended the New Mexico PreK initiative scored higher in early math, language, and literacy than children who did not attend the program.
The authors of the report found that:
Children who attended New Mexico PreK during the 2007-2008 school year scored higher on assessments of early math and literacy skills in comparison to children who did not attend. These skills include addition and subtraction, telling time, knowledge of letters, and familiarity with words and book concepts. Gains in early math and literacy at kindergarten entry can be attributed to participating in New Mexico PreK programs the previous year.
Separate sets of analyses conducted for PreK programs offered by the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) and the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) show that PED and CYFD PreK programs produce similar results.
When the researchers combined child assessment data from the first three years of the New Mexico PreK program, they found further evidence that New Mexico PreK produces positive impacts on children's early math, language, and literacy skills.
Read the complete report
Continued Impacts of New Mexico PreK on Children's Readiness for Kindergarten: Results from the Third Year of Implementation
By Jason T. Hustedt, W. Steven Barnett, Kwanghee Jung, Alexandra Figueras-Daniel September 2009
The third report in NIEER's multi-year study of New Mexico's prekindergarten program shows that children who attended the New Mexico PreK initiative scored higher in early math, language, and literacy than children who did not attend the program.
The authors of the report found that:
Children who attended New Mexico PreK during the 2007-2008 school year scored higher on assessments of early math and literacy skills in comparison to children who did not attend. These skills include addition and subtraction, telling time, knowledge of letters, and familiarity with words and book concepts. Gains in early math and literacy at kindergarten entry can be attributed to participating in New Mexico PreK programs the previous year.
Separate sets of analyses conducted for PreK programs offered by the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) and the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) show that PED and CYFD PreK programs produce similar results.
When the researchers combined child assessment data from the first three years of the New Mexico PreK program, they found further evidence that New Mexico PreK produces positive impacts on children's early math, language, and literacy skills.
Read the complete report
Misguided monetary mentalities
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
One lesson from the Great Depression is that you should never underestimate the destructive power of bad ideas. And some of the bad ideas that helped cause the Depression have, alas, proved all too durable: in modified form, they continue to influence economic debate today.
What ideas am I talking about? The economic historian Peter Temin has argued that a key cause of the Depression was what he calls the “gold-standard mentality.” By this he means not just belief in the sacred importance of maintaining the gold value of one’s currency, but a set of associated attitudes: obsessive fear of inflation even in the face of deflation; opposition to easy credit, even when the economy desperately needs it, on the grounds that it would be somehow corrupting; assertions that even if the government can create jobs it shouldn’t, because this would only be an “artificial” recovery.
In the early 1930s this mentality led governments to raise interest rates and slash spending, despite mass unemployment, in an attempt to defend their gold reserves. And even when countries went off gold, the prevailing mentality made them reluctant to cut rates and create jobs.
But we’re past all that now. Or are we?
America isn’t about to go back on the gold standard. But a modern version of the gold standard mentality is nonetheless exerting a growing influence on our economic discourse. And this new version of a bad old idea could undermine our chances for full recovery.
Consider first the current uproar over the declining international value of the dollar.
The truth is that the falling dollar is good news. For one thing, it’s mainly the result of rising confidence: the dollar rose at the height of the financial crisis as panicked investors sought safe haven in America, and it’s falling again now that the fear is subsiding. And a lower dollar is good for U.S. exporters, helping us make the transition away from huge trade deficits to a more sustainable international position.
But if you get your opinions from, say, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, you’re told that the falling dollar is a terrible thing, a sign that the world is losing faith in America (and especially, of course, in President Obama). Something, you believe, must be done to stop the dollar’s slide. And in practice the dollar’s decline has become a stick with which conservative members of Congress beat the Federal Reserve, pressuring the Fed to scale back its efforts to support the economy.
We can only hope that the Fed stands up to this pressure. But there are worrying signs of a misguided monetary mentality within the Federal Reserve system itself.
In recent weeks there have been a number of statements from Fed officials, mainly but not only presidents of regional Federal Reserve banks, calling for an early return to tighter money, including higher interest rates. Now, people in the Federal Reserve system are normally extremely circumspect when making statements about future monetary policy, so as not to step on the efforts of the Fed’s Open Market Committee, which actually sets those rates, to shape expectations. So it’s extraordinary to see all these officials suddenly breaking the implicit rules, in effect lecturing the Open Market Committee about what it should do.
What’s even more extraordinary, however, is the idea that raising rates would make sense any time soon. After all, the unemployment rate is a horrifying 9.8 percent and still rising, while inflation is running well below the Fed’s long-term target. This suggests that the Fed should be in no hurry to tighten — in fact, standard policy rules of thumb suggest that interest rates should be left on hold for the next two years or more, or until the unemployment rate has fallen to around 7 percent.
Yet some Fed officials want to pull the trigger on rates much sooner. To avoid a “Great Inflation,” says Charles Plosser of the Philadelphia Fed, “we will need to act well before unemployment rates and other measures of resource utilization have returned to acceptable levels.” Jeffrey Lacker of the Richmond Fed says that rates may need to rise even if “the unemployment rate hasn’t started falling yet.”
I don’t know what analysis lies behind these itchy trigger fingers. But it probably isn’t about analysis, anyway — it’s about mentality, the sense that central banks are supposed to act tough, not provide easy credit.
And it’s crucial that we don’t let this mentality guide policy. We do seem to have avoided a second Great Depression. But giving in to a modern version of our grandfathers’ prejudices would be a very good way to ensure the next worst thing: a prolonged era of sluggish growth and very high unemployment.
New York Times
One lesson from the Great Depression is that you should never underestimate the destructive power of bad ideas. And some of the bad ideas that helped cause the Depression have, alas, proved all too durable: in modified form, they continue to influence economic debate today.
What ideas am I talking about? The economic historian Peter Temin has argued that a key cause of the Depression was what he calls the “gold-standard mentality.” By this he means not just belief in the sacred importance of maintaining the gold value of one’s currency, but a set of associated attitudes: obsessive fear of inflation even in the face of deflation; opposition to easy credit, even when the economy desperately needs it, on the grounds that it would be somehow corrupting; assertions that even if the government can create jobs it shouldn’t, because this would only be an “artificial” recovery.
In the early 1930s this mentality led governments to raise interest rates and slash spending, despite mass unemployment, in an attempt to defend their gold reserves. And even when countries went off gold, the prevailing mentality made them reluctant to cut rates and create jobs.
But we’re past all that now. Or are we?
America isn’t about to go back on the gold standard. But a modern version of the gold standard mentality is nonetheless exerting a growing influence on our economic discourse. And this new version of a bad old idea could undermine our chances for full recovery.
Consider first the current uproar over the declining international value of the dollar.
The truth is that the falling dollar is good news. For one thing, it’s mainly the result of rising confidence: the dollar rose at the height of the financial crisis as panicked investors sought safe haven in America, and it’s falling again now that the fear is subsiding. And a lower dollar is good for U.S. exporters, helping us make the transition away from huge trade deficits to a more sustainable international position.
But if you get your opinions from, say, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, you’re told that the falling dollar is a terrible thing, a sign that the world is losing faith in America (and especially, of course, in President Obama). Something, you believe, must be done to stop the dollar’s slide. And in practice the dollar’s decline has become a stick with which conservative members of Congress beat the Federal Reserve, pressuring the Fed to scale back its efforts to support the economy.
We can only hope that the Fed stands up to this pressure. But there are worrying signs of a misguided monetary mentality within the Federal Reserve system itself.
In recent weeks there have been a number of statements from Fed officials, mainly but not only presidents of regional Federal Reserve banks, calling for an early return to tighter money, including higher interest rates. Now, people in the Federal Reserve system are normally extremely circumspect when making statements about future monetary policy, so as not to step on the efforts of the Fed’s Open Market Committee, which actually sets those rates, to shape expectations. So it’s extraordinary to see all these officials suddenly breaking the implicit rules, in effect lecturing the Open Market Committee about what it should do.
What’s even more extraordinary, however, is the idea that raising rates would make sense any time soon. After all, the unemployment rate is a horrifying 9.8 percent and still rising, while inflation is running well below the Fed’s long-term target. This suggests that the Fed should be in no hurry to tighten — in fact, standard policy rules of thumb suggest that interest rates should be left on hold for the next two years or more, or until the unemployment rate has fallen to around 7 percent.
Yet some Fed officials want to pull the trigger on rates much sooner. To avoid a “Great Inflation,” says Charles Plosser of the Philadelphia Fed, “we will need to act well before unemployment rates and other measures of resource utilization have returned to acceptable levels.” Jeffrey Lacker of the Richmond Fed says that rates may need to rise even if “the unemployment rate hasn’t started falling yet.”
I don’t know what analysis lies behind these itchy trigger fingers. But it probably isn’t about analysis, anyway — it’s about mentality, the sense that central banks are supposed to act tough, not provide easy credit.
And it’s crucial that we don’t let this mentality guide policy. We do seem to have avoided a second Great Depression. But giving in to a modern version of our grandfathers’ prejudices would be a very good way to ensure the next worst thing: a prolonged era of sluggish growth and very high unemployment.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Truthout 10/11
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship In Washington, The Revolving Door Is Hazardous to Your Health
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Truthout: "On Tuesday, October 13, the Senate Finance Committee finally is scheduled to vote on its version of health care insurance reform. And therein lies yet another story in the endless saga of money and politics." Read the Article
Obama Vows Unqualified Support for Gay-Rights Agenda
Steven Thomma, McClatchy Newspapers: "President Barack Obama vowed his unwavering support for the full gay rights agenda Saturday night, saying that he'll push Congress to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military." Read the Article
Bombings Kill 14 in Iraq's Anbar Province
The Associated Press: "A series of bombings killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more today in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, said police and hospital officials, a worrying sign that violence may be on the rise in this former hotbed of the insurgency." Read the Article
Doctored Information
Erik Hayden, Miller-McCune: "A new study concludes that carefully crafted informed consent laws, rather than discouraging women to forgo an abortion, have zero impact on the amount of abortions performed in the states that choose to mandate these 'scary briefings.'" Read the Article
Why France Telecom Employees Are Killing Themselves
Mildrade Cherfils, GlobalPost: "The men and women who committed suicide while employed by communications giant France Telecom sent a clear message in the letters they left behind: They unequivocally blame the company for their demise. The deaths have provoked outrage over the firm's management practices and have led to the resignation of the company's deputy CEO." Read the Article
Biodiversity: Dwindling Fish Catch Could Leave a Billion Hungry
Stephen Leahy, Inter Press Service: "Fish catches are expected to decline dramatically in the world's tropical regions because of climate change, but may increase in the north, said a new study published Thursday. This mega-shift in ocean productivity from south to north over the next three to four decades will leave those most reliant on fish for both food and income high and dry." Read the Article
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Truthout: "On Tuesday, October 13, the Senate Finance Committee finally is scheduled to vote on its version of health care insurance reform. And therein lies yet another story in the endless saga of money and politics." Read the Article
Obama Vows Unqualified Support for Gay-Rights Agenda
Steven Thomma, McClatchy Newspapers: "President Barack Obama vowed his unwavering support for the full gay rights agenda Saturday night, saying that he'll push Congress to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military." Read the Article
Bombings Kill 14 in Iraq's Anbar Province
The Associated Press: "A series of bombings killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens more today in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, said police and hospital officials, a worrying sign that violence may be on the rise in this former hotbed of the insurgency." Read the Article
Doctored Information
Erik Hayden, Miller-McCune: "A new study concludes that carefully crafted informed consent laws, rather than discouraging women to forgo an abortion, have zero impact on the amount of abortions performed in the states that choose to mandate these 'scary briefings.'" Read the Article
Why France Telecom Employees Are Killing Themselves
Mildrade Cherfils, GlobalPost: "The men and women who committed suicide while employed by communications giant France Telecom sent a clear message in the letters they left behind: They unequivocally blame the company for their demise. The deaths have provoked outrage over the firm's management practices and have led to the resignation of the company's deputy CEO." Read the Article
Biodiversity: Dwindling Fish Catch Could Leave a Billion Hungry
Stephen Leahy, Inter Press Service: "Fish catches are expected to decline dramatically in the world's tropical regions because of climate change, but may increase in the north, said a new study published Thursday. This mega-shift in ocean productivity from south to north over the next three to four decades will leave those most reliant on fish for both food and income high and dry." Read the Article
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Truthout 10/10
Howard Zinn Nobel Prize for Promises?
Howard Zinn, Truthout: "I was dismayed when I heard Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on wars in two countries and launching military action in a third country (Pakistan), would be given a peace prize. But then I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel Peace Prizes. The Nobel Committee is famous for its superficial estimates and for its susceptibility to rhetoric and empty gestures, while ignoring blatant violations of world peace." Read the Article
Civilian Contractor Toll in Iraq and Afghanistan Ignored by Defense Department
T. Christian Miller, ProPublica: "As the war in Afghanistan entered its ninth year, the Labor Department recently released new figures [1] for the number of civilian contract workers who have died in war zones since 9/11. Although acknowledged as incomplete, the figures show that at least 1,688 civilians have died and more than 37,000 have reported injuries while working for U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan." Read the Article
Health Insurers Threaten Rate Hikes
Robert Parry, Consortium News: "Industry representatives put Congress and the Obama administration on notice that if health-reform legislation doesn't send even more new customers the industry's way or if a windfall profits tax is included, the industry would hit businesses, individuals and the government with higher premiums, effectively defeating one of the initiative's top goals, reining in ever-rising costs." Read the Article
Gunmen Assault Pakistan Army Headquarters, at Least 6 Troops Dead
Shaiq Hussain and Haq Nawaz Khan, The Washington Post: "Gunmen disguised as soldiers staged a bold attack on Pakistan's army headquarters Saturday morning, sparking a shootout that left at least six soldiers and four militants dead, Pakistani authorities said." Read the Article
World Leaders, Nobel Laureates Offer Obama Praise, Skepticism
Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers: "Some reactions to President Barack Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize ... " Read the Article
Mark Weisbrot A New Role For the IMF?
Mark Weisbrot, The Center for Economic and Policy Research: "Rescued from a state of near-irrelevance by the world recession and an infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars (mostly from the U.S., Europe, and Japan), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is now thinking of expanding its role into previously uncharted territory. In Istanbul for the fall meetings of the IMF, Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said: 'Given the costs associated with reserves accumulation, there is clearly a need for reliable emergency financing and hence for a global lender of last resort. The fund has the potential to serve as an effective and reliable provider of such insurance.'" Read the Article
The Economic Revolution Is Already Happening - It's Just Not on Wall St.
Maria Armoudian, AlterNet: "America is in the midst of a new revolution. But this revolution is quiet, incremental, nonviolent and traveling beneath the mainstream media's radar. The new American revolution challenges the current notions of dog-eat-dog capitalism - through the building of a parallel economic system that shares, co-operates, empowers and benefits fellow workers and community members." Read the Article
Howard Zinn, Truthout: "I was dismayed when I heard Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on wars in two countries and launching military action in a third country (Pakistan), would be given a peace prize. But then I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel Peace Prizes. The Nobel Committee is famous for its superficial estimates and for its susceptibility to rhetoric and empty gestures, while ignoring blatant violations of world peace." Read the Article
Civilian Contractor Toll in Iraq and Afghanistan Ignored by Defense Department
T. Christian Miller, ProPublica: "As the war in Afghanistan entered its ninth year, the Labor Department recently released new figures [1] for the number of civilian contract workers who have died in war zones since 9/11. Although acknowledged as incomplete, the figures show that at least 1,688 civilians have died and more than 37,000 have reported injuries while working for U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan." Read the Article
Health Insurers Threaten Rate Hikes
Robert Parry, Consortium News: "Industry representatives put Congress and the Obama administration on notice that if health-reform legislation doesn't send even more new customers the industry's way or if a windfall profits tax is included, the industry would hit businesses, individuals and the government with higher premiums, effectively defeating one of the initiative's top goals, reining in ever-rising costs." Read the Article
Gunmen Assault Pakistan Army Headquarters, at Least 6 Troops Dead
Shaiq Hussain and Haq Nawaz Khan, The Washington Post: "Gunmen disguised as soldiers staged a bold attack on Pakistan's army headquarters Saturday morning, sparking a shootout that left at least six soldiers and four militants dead, Pakistani authorities said." Read the Article
World Leaders, Nobel Laureates Offer Obama Praise, Skepticism
Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers: "Some reactions to President Barack Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize ... " Read the Article
Mark Weisbrot A New Role For the IMF?
Mark Weisbrot, The Center for Economic and Policy Research: "Rescued from a state of near-irrelevance by the world recession and an infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars (mostly from the U.S., Europe, and Japan), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is now thinking of expanding its role into previously uncharted territory. In Istanbul for the fall meetings of the IMF, Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said: 'Given the costs associated with reserves accumulation, there is clearly a need for reliable emergency financing and hence for a global lender of last resort. The fund has the potential to serve as an effective and reliable provider of such insurance.'" Read the Article
The Economic Revolution Is Already Happening - It's Just Not on Wall St.
Maria Armoudian, AlterNet: "America is in the midst of a new revolution. But this revolution is quiet, incremental, nonviolent and traveling beneath the mainstream media's radar. The new American revolution challenges the current notions of dog-eat-dog capitalism - through the building of a parallel economic system that shares, co-operates, empowers and benefits fellow workers and community members." Read the Article
Friday, October 9, 2009
FP morning post
Top story:
In a stunning upset, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded U.S. President Barack Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, only nine months into his presidency. The committee cited Obama's efforts at nuclear nonproliferation, his outreach to the Muslim world, and emphasis on multilateralism saying, “Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics.”
The choice of Obama is even more surprising given that he had assumed office only two weeks before the Feb. 1 deadline for nominations. When asked whether the award was, perhaps, premature, Norwegian Nobel Committee
Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland compared Obama to Willy Brandt and and Mikhail Gorbachev, two leaders whose reforms had not come to fruition when they had received the prize.
“The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world,” Jagland said. “And who has done more than Barack Obama?”
All the same, even the White House seemed shocked by the decision with Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel saying “There has been no discussion, nothing at all.” Though he couldn't help later quipping, "Oslo beats Copenhagen."
Environment:
The latest round of U.N. climate change talks ended with no deal on the table.
Asia
Around 50 people were killed in a car bombing in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
South Korea and Japan say North Korea
In a stunning upset, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded U.S. President Barack Obama the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, only nine months into his presidency. The committee cited Obama's efforts at nuclear nonproliferation, his outreach to the Muslim world, and emphasis on multilateralism saying, “Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics.”
The choice of Obama is even more surprising given that he had assumed office only two weeks before the Feb. 1 deadline for nominations. When asked whether the award was, perhaps, premature, Norwegian Nobel Committee
Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland compared Obama to Willy Brandt and and Mikhail Gorbachev, two leaders whose reforms had not come to fruition when they had received the prize.
“The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world,” Jagland said. “And who has done more than Barack Obama?”
All the same, even the White House seemed shocked by the decision with Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel saying “There has been no discussion, nothing at all.” Though he couldn't help later quipping, "Oslo beats Copenhagen."
Environment:
The latest round of U.N. climate change talks ended with no deal on the table.
Asia
Around 50 people were killed in a car bombing in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
South Korea and Japan say North Korea