Truthout 1/31

The President's Leadership Challenge: A Call for Bold Action
Rinaldo Brutoco, Truthout: "Mr. President, there has never been any doubt you are a brilliant orator. And it is also clear that nothing you have said will cause the Republicans in the Senate to break their stranglehold on progress, using threats of filibusters to destroy the majority rule that is the hallmark of every other democracy in the world. People are asking for results they can understand."
Read the Article

Government Executes Protesters in Iran
GlobalPost: "Iran hanged two opposition protesters on Thursday and sentenced nine more to death for taking part in widespread rallies against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following last June's presidential election."
Read the Article

Sundance Reveals the Dark Underside of Political Financing in the USA
Romain Raynaldy, Les Echos: "At the Sundance Festival, American documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney recounts the descent into hell of the former lobbyist with links to the Republican Party, Jack Abramoff, offering an indictment of the corruption that infects political financing in the United States."
Read the Article

Why the Tea Party Convention is Tea-tering on the Edge
Patrik Jonsson, The Christian Science Monitor: "With two major speakers throwing in the towel, the first-ever Tea Party convention is giving Americans a glimpse at internecine fighting over the direction of the libertarian movement ... so far, the first-ever Tea Party Nation Convention, slated for next weekend at Nashvilleís Opryland, has been anything but a show of unity."
Read the Article

Single-Payer Health Care Bill Advances to California State Assembly
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Despite a firm veto threat from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Senate on Thursday passed a measure along party lines to create a $200 billion state-run, single-payer health care system. The bill - SB 810 - now heads to the state Assembly for consideration."
Read the Article

Lawmakers, Veterans Groups Discuss Benefits Backlog
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "Last week, Democratic and Republican members of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs met with Chairman Bob Filner to talk with 40 veterans' service organizations to discuss priorities for Congress' second session."
Read the Article

Drifting Toward Catastrophe: A Seven-Headed Beast
Bernard Weiner, Truthout: "This country, humanity, the globe are rushing pell-mell to disaster, mostly by neglecting what needs to be done while we're diddling with the political minutiae. This tendency to avoid the obvious larger questions reminds one of the thrust of Albert Einstein's famous quote: 'The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.'"
Read the Article

(VIDEO) GRITtv: Rembering Howard Zinn
Laura Flanders of GRITtv interviews Howard Zinn in 2008.
Read the Article

Systemic Failures, by Design
Mark Montgomery, Truthout: "Over the past dozen years, the US has experienced a series of dangerous and costly systemic failures throughout our security and regulatory framework. The unfettered bubble in technology, missed opportunities to prevent 9/11 - leading to two ongoing wars, the tragic response to Katrina, the largest financial crisis in history, the Fort Hood massacre and the 'underwear bomber' incident on Christmas Day all share one commonality."
Read the Article

Truthout 1/30

Jason Leopold | Justice Department Clears Torture Memo Authors John Yoo, Jay Bybee of Misconduct
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "A long-awaited Department of Justice watchdog report that probed whether John Yoo and his former boss Jay Bybee violated professional standards when they provided the Bush White House with legal advice on torture has cleared both men of misconduct, according to Newsweek, citing unnamed sources who have seen the document."
Read the Article

Ellen Hodgson Brown J.D. | The Battle of the Titans: JPMorgan vs. Goldman Sachs
Ellen Hodgson Brown J.D., Truthout: "We are witnessing an epic battle between two banking giants, JPMorgan Chase (Paul Volcker) and Goldman Sachs (Geithner/Summers/Rubin). Left strewn on the battleground could be your pension fund and 401K."
Read the Article

Kerry Kennedy and Monika Kaira Varma | Human Rights and Haiti
Kerry Kennedy and Monika Kaira Varma, Truthout: "Overwhelmed by sadness, empathy and disbelief, the world's eyes and hearts are focused on the rescue and relief efforts resulting from the earthquake in Haiti. However, many who have worked in Haiti fear that a preventable and long term disaster lies on the horizon if international interventions do not break with past patterns. As international aid begins to pour into Haiti, we have a brief moment to break with past mistakes and bring real change to Haiti."
Read the Article

Obama Orders Cut in Federal Government's Greenhouse-Gas Emissions
Mark Clayton, The Christian Science Monitor: "President Obama Friday told federal agencies to cut energy use to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 28 percent by 2010. Agencies are taking measures ranging from using more solar energy to switching from gasoline vehicles to hybrid vehicles."
Read the Article

(VIDEO) Haiti Untold: Nonviolence and Humanization at the Grassroots
Amster J.D., PhD, t r u t h o u t: "A number of commentators have questioned the accepted logic that disasters bring out the worst in people, directly challenging the pervasive 'looters run amok' imagery often perpetuated by the media and held out by lawmakers as a rationale for military occupation. Having done relief work following Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, I have found that people are more likely to work together - even if only out of necessity - when severe hardship strikes. In fact, it is precisely the isolation and individualism of ordinary daily life that tap into our worst instincts, while the removal of these impediments can actually liberate our better qualities."
Read the Article

Senate Quietly Passes Iran Sanctions Bill
Grace Huang, Truthout: "The Senate quietly passed legislation Thursday implementing tough new sanctions against Iran that advocacy groups say will cause more pain for the citizens of the country than for the government it's intended to cripple."
Read the Article

It's Not Too Late to Limit or Reverse the Impact of the Supreme Court's Disastrous Decision in Citizens United v. FEC
Fran Korten, Yes! Magazine: "Pro-democracy groups, business leaders, and elected representatives are proposing mechanisms to prevent or counter the millions of dollars that corporations can now draw from their treasuries to push for government action favorable to their bottom line. The outrage ignited by the Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission extends to President Obama, who has promised that repairing the damage will be a priority for his administration."
Read the Article

Eugene Robinson | Outsider in Chief
Eugene Robinson, Truthout: "President Obama's first State of the Union address didn't signal a political shift to the left or the right. It sounded more like a shrewd attempt to move from the inside to the outside - to position himself alongside disaffected voters, peering through the windows of the den of iniquity called Washington and reacting with dismay at the depravity within."
Read the Article

Truthout 1/29

The Coal Ash Industry Manipulated EPA Data
Joshua Frank, Truthout: "The coal ash industry manipulated reports and publications about the dangers of coal combustion waste, reports Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The group stated that the Environmental Protection Agency allowed the multibillon-dollar coal ash industry to have virtually unfettered access to the EPA during the Bush administration and now under President Obama."
Read the Article

Senate Confirms Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to a Second Term
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "With just 72 hours left before his term ended, the Senate voted 70-30 Thursday to confirm beleagued Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to a second, four-year term."
Read the Article

Legislation to Counter Supreme Court's Campaign Finance Ruling Gaining Support
Kyle Berlin, Truthout: "In the wake of last week's sweeping 5-4 Supreme Court ruling, which struck down several longstanding prohibitions on corporate political contributions, Democratic lawmakers are proposing legislation to counter some of its effects."
Read the Article

Photo Essay: Homeless Often Hidden in Tennessee
John Mottern, Truthout: "'Tent City' is a place hidden out of sight and historically out of mind. It sprawls over a mud-rutted, brush-tangled acre of landscape nestled under a network of highway bridges along the Cumberland River on the outskirts of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. It is impossible to find unless one is directed or taken there. The camp is surrounded by a variety of chain-link fencing placed in different configurations that appear to have been installed in stages over many years."
Read the Article

Veterans' Agency Gets New Computers - and Complaints
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has a new computer system - the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS). VBA and the Office of Information and Technology are hoping the new system will help better manage the mountain of paper, electronic documents, correspondence and other content created and handled as part of their day-to-day business processes."
Read the Article

AWOL From the State of the Union: Peace, Reconciliation and Debt
Robert Naiman, Truthout: "On foreign policy, while the president said some good things, he missed key opportunities to say better things. In particular, he missed key opportunities to promote reconciliation as an essential way of ending our wars and promoting peace. In speaking about US domestic politics, the president is eloquent in his efforts to promote reconciliation, but he seems to have lost his voice in applying these ideas to our foreign policy."
Read the Article

Tony Blair Defends Iraq Invasion During Heated Testimony Before Inquiry Panel
Ben Quinn, The Christian Science Monitor: "Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair invoked the terror of 9/11 as he defended his support for the invasion of Iraq during an appearance Friday at Britain's inquiry into the war. With his legacy overshadowed by the 2003 intervention, Mr. Blair argued that while the 2001 attacks on the US had not changed the threat from Iraq, they completely shifted his perception of the risk posed from terrorists acquiring weapons of mass destruction."
Read the Article

US Jobless Claims Drop Less Than Expected
Grace Huang, Truthout: "The number of US workers who filed new claims for initial unemployment benefits declined slightly last week, though many economists expected a steeper drop. A Labor Department report released Thursday showed that initial claims fell from 478,000 in the week of January 23 to 470,000. According to Reuters, economists anticipated a drop to 450,000 instead."
Read the Article

"Dangerous Enemies and More Dangerous Friends: Why the US Needs a Holistic Approach to Yemen"
James R. King, Truthout: "Just a few short months ago, the Republic of Yemen was probably better known for its singular status as the only country that starts with the letter 'Y' than for anything substantive related to its history, culture or contemporary politics. Today, however, one can hardly turn on the television without being bombarded with some news on Yemen. But as media pundits, policymakers and average Americans rush to catch up on their knowledge of this once obscure country, nuance is often sacrificed at the altar of thirty-second sound bites and quick-fix solutions."
Read the Article

The Silent Destruction
Le Monde's Herve Kempf on biodiversity, "We shall weep over the fate of Brazil's manatee, Papua-Asia's forests, the Galapagos' hammerhead shark; we shall rush off to see 'Oceans' and 'Avatar.' But while we're looking elsewhere, the massacre continues here."
Read the Article

Evo's New Cabinet: Ten Men, Ten Women
EFE, Los Tiempos (Translation: Ryan Croken): "On Saturday, January 23, Bolivian President Evo Morales kicked off his second term as leader of the country by announcing the appointment of his new Cabinet. Morales has replaced more than half of the ministers from his previous administration, and brought gender parity to his new team by apportioning exactly half of the ministerial positions to women."
Read the Article

Robert Reich | Obama Needs to Teach the Public How to Get Out of the Mess We're In
Robert Reich, RobertReich.org: "The President wants businesses that hire new employees this year to get $5,000 per hire, in the form of a tax credit. That will come to about $33 billion. It's good step. He's also supporting a cut in the capital gains tax for small businesses. That makes sense; after all, small businesses generate most jobs."
Read the Article

Regardless of Polls, Afghans Say Mood in Country is Worsening
Jean MacKenzie, GlobalPost: "There is a loud sound of head-scratching in Kabul these days as Afghans and foreigners alike ponder the results of a poll conducted jointly by ABC News, the BBC and German television company ARD."
Read the Article

March of the Peacocks

PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times

Last week, the Center for American Progress, a think tank with close ties to the Obama administration, published an acerbic essay about the difference between true deficit hawks and showy “deficit peacocks.” You can identify deficit peacocks, readers were told, by the way they pretend that our budget problems can be solved with gimmicks like a temporary freeze in nondefense discretionary spending.

One week later, in the State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a temporary freeze in nondefense discretionary spending.

Wait, it gets worse. To justify the freeze, Mr. Obama used language that was almost identical to widely ridiculed remarks early last year by John Boehner, the House minority leader. Boehner then: “American families are tightening their belt, but they don’t see government tightening its belt.” Obama now: “Families across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions. The federal government should do the same.”

What’s going on here? The answer, presumably, is that Mr. Obama’s advisers believed he could score some political points by doing the deficit-peacock strut. I think they were wrong, that he did himself more harm than good. Either way, however, the fact that anyone thought such a dumb policy idea was politically smart is bad news because it’s an indication of the extent to which we’re failing to come to grips with our economic and fiscal problems.

The nature of America’s troubles is easy to state. We’re in the aftermath of a severe financial crisis, which has led to mass job destruction. The only thing that’s keeping us from sliding into a second Great Depression is deficit spending. And right now we need more of that deficit spending because millions of American lives are being blighted by high unemployment, and the government should be doing everything it can to bring unemployment down.

In the long run, however, even the U.S. government has to pay its way. And the long-run budget outlook was dire even before the recent surge in the deficit, mainly because of inexorably rising health care costs. Looking ahead, we’re going to have to find a way to run smaller, not larger, deficits.

How can this apparent conflict between short-run needs and long-run responsibilities be resolved? Intellectually, it’s not hard at all. We should combine actions that create jobs now with other actions that will reduce deficits later. And economic officials in the Obama administration understand that logic: for the past year they have been very clear that their vision involves combining fiscal stimulus to help the economy now with health care reform to help the budget later.

The sad truth, however, is that our political system doesn’t seem capable of doing what’s necessary.

On jobs, it’s now clear that the Obama stimulus wasn’t nearly big enough. No need now to resolve the question of whether the administration should or could have sought a bigger package early last year. Either way, the point is that the boost from the stimulus will start to fade out in around six months, yet we’re still facing years of mass unemployment. The latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office say that the average unemployment rate next year will be only slightly lower than the current, disastrous, 10 percent.

Yet there is little sentiment in Congress for any major new job-creation efforts.

Meanwhile, health care reform faces a troubled outlook. Congressional Democrats may yet manage to pass a bill; they’ll be committing political suicide if they don’t. But there’s no question that Republicans were very successful at demonizing the plan. And, crucially, what they demonized most effectively were the cost-control efforts: modest, totally reasonable measures to ensure that Medicare dollars are spent wisely became evil “death panels.”

So if health reform fails, you can forget about any serious effort to rein in rising Medicare costs. And even if it succeeds, many politicians will have learned a hard lesson: you don’t get any credit for doing the fiscally responsible thing. It’s better, for the sake of your career, to just pretend that you’re fiscally responsible — that is, to be a deficit peacock.

So we’re paralyzed in the face of mass unemployment and out-of-control health care costs. Don’t blame Mr. Obama. There’s only so much one man can do, even if he sits in the White House. Blame our political culture instead, a culture that rewards hypocrisy and irresponsibility rather than serious efforts to solve America’s problems. And blame the filibuster, under which 41 senators can make the country ungovernable, if they choose — and they have so chosen.

I’m sorry to say this, but the state of the union — not the speech, but the thing itself — isn’t looking very good.

Read All Comments (415) »

FP morning post 1/29

Haitian hospitals running low on medical supplies

---

Top story: With around 200,000 people in need of post-surgical care and countless more still with untreated injuries, doctors say that basic medical supplies are running out in Haiti's hospitals. While international aid continues to pour in, the hospitals are stilling treating hundreds of new patients a day, many of whom have gone without treatment since the earthquake on Jan. 12, and basic supplies like antibiotics and painkillers are running low in both Port-au-Prince and the countryside. Authorities worry about a looming public health disaster with thousands of Haitians still living in camps with poor sanitation.

The U.S. Navy hospital ship docked offshore has also been overwhelmed by patients and officials say it has reached its care limit. The Navy is planning to set up a 3,000 to 5,000 bed temporary hospital onshore to handle the overflow.

More than two weeks after the initial quake hit, Port-au-Prince continues to be rattled by daily aftershocks.

Philanthropy: Bill Gates pledged $10 billion over the next 10 years for vaccines for poor countries.

---

Middle East Hamas claim that Israeli agents assassinated one of its veteran operatives in Dubai. The U.S. Senate passed a bill allowing the president to expand sanctions against Iran. In a new audiotape, Osama bin Laden blames the United States and other industrialized nations for climate change. Asia Sri Lankan police raided the office of losing presidential candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's plan to engage senior Taliban members received a mixed reaction at the international Afghanistan conference in London. For a third day, North Korea continued to fire artillery at its sea border with South Korea. Americas Honduras's new government says the country is nearly bankrupt and will require international assistance. Peru hopes to evacuate the last flood-stranded tourists from Mach Picchu on Friday. Venezuela is denying accusations that it violated Colombian airspace. Europe Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair defended the reasoning between the Iraq war before a government review panel. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says his country will not send any more combat troops to Afghanistan. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in France where she will deliver a speech on European security. Africa At least 15 people were killed in a heavy day of fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia. A Nigerian court rejected a request for an interim president to be appointed while Umar Yar'adua is out of the country. Kenya's government will scrap the position of prime minister, which was created as part of a power-sharing agreement after the disputed election of 2007. -By Joshua Keating

I Want Andrew Ross Sorkin to Be My Rabbi Is This the Year the Burmese Junta Falls? The Humanitarian Crisis Obama Is Ignoring Is the Fake Chinese Google Any Good?

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images

McClatchy Washington report 1/29

Top Story

• Administration shifts gears on mortgage modifications

  Conceding that its initial mortgage relief program has been less than successful, the Treasury Department Thursday announced new rules to simplify and speed the decision-making process for struggling borrowers trying to modify the terms of their distressed mortgages.

Spotlight

• GOP: Obama must change if he wants bipartisanship

  President Barack Obama will speak Friday to Republicans from the House of Representatives, who voiced skepticism Thursday about his call for bipartisanship in his State of the Union address and vowed to continue opposing his agenda unless he - not they - changes course.

Latest Headlines

• Did Obama give high-speed rail projects enough funds?

  More than a dozen locales across the country got word Thursday that Washington had decided to help finance a new age in transportation as President Barack Obama unveiled $8 billion in federal money to begin the construction of high-speed rail lines. While the funds were substantial, most local officials note that completing the projects will cost far more than the initial federal contribution.

• Karl Rove gives his thoughts on 2010 elections during N.C. fundraiser

  Karl Rove, former President George W. Bush's chief political strategist, was in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday night to attend a fundraiser for Sen. Richard Burr. Rove, who now is an analyst for Fox News and other news outlets, sat down with The News & Observer to talk about politics before the event. Here are some of his answers to their questions.

• Senate approves tough new spending curbs without GOP

  The Senate bill would require that new spending in key parts of the budget be paid for with either budget cuts elsewhere or tax increases. But while that sounds like a Republican position, not one GOP senator voted for it. Republicans said pay-as-you-go would make it harder to cut taxes.

• Marijuana legalization petitions are filed in California

  California appears headed for a rollicking November ballot fight over whether to legalize and tax marijuana cultivation and use for adults 21 years and older. Already legalization proponents and opponents are gearing up for a fight. The election battle is expected to feature rival TV commercials that variously extol the tax benefits of a regulated marijuana market or warn of the threat mass legalization poses to communities.

• Obama and Biden address independent voters in Tampa

  Amid declining poll numbers and political fortunes, President Barack Obama on Thursday tried to reconnect with the fickle state that helped put him in the White House and urged voters to keep the faith despite Florida's withering recession. In the first joint appearance outside the Washington area by Obama and Vice President Joe Biden since last February, he aimed his message at the coveted independent voters clustered in this part of Florida who broke with tradition in 2008 and cast ballots for the Democratic nominee.

• Haiti begins tearing down Port-au-Prince without rebuilding plans in place

  More than two weeks after the Jan. 12 earthquake, the work of taking apart a ravaged city is slowly, and chaotically, beginning. Heavy machinery and old-fashioned elbow grease have begun to remove what's left of crumbled buildings in Port-au-Prince. The Haitian government estimates that 25,000 government offices and businesses either toppled or need to be demolished. In addition, there are 225,000 residences that are no longer habitable.

• Alaska VA office cited for 29% error rate in federal report

  Federal inspectors have given the Anchorage Veterans Administration Regional Office a poor review for its handling of Alaska veterans' disability claims, citing lack of quality control and a 29 percent error rate that in some cases resulted in veterans being underpaid, facing unnecessary delays in obtaining benefits, or being initially denied services they might be entitled to.

• Federal officials assure Treece, Kan., residents buyouts will happen

  Kansas and federal officials assured residents of the toxic town of Treece, Kansas, on Thursday that government efforts to buy their property and move them out will proceed somehow, even if state lawmakers don't approve $350,000 for the state's part of the buyout.

• Alaska's Game Board lobbied by exotic animal fans

  Alaskan fans of exotic pets are getting their chance to lobby the Board of Game this week with the hopes of changing some rules about animal ownership. The chance to amend Alaska's "clean list" of legal animals — which currently includes one-humped camels and chimpanzees — comes only once every four years, according to the Division of Wildlife Conservation. However, panel members are dubious about lifting state bans.

• Roeder jury can't consider manslaughter in Tiller killing

  Scott Roeder's defense in his trial for killing abortion doctor George Tiller suffered a huge blow Thursday when the judge ruled that the jury can't consider the less serious charge of voluntary manslaughter. Judge Warren Wilbert's ruling prevents Roeder from arguing that he used force to stop Tiller from performing abortions. "In the state of Kansas, abortions are legal," the judge said.

Truthout 1/28

Howard Zinn: A Public Intellectual Who Mattered
Henry A. Giroux, Truthout: "In 1977 I took my first job in higher education at Boston University. One reason I went there was because Howard Zinn was teaching there at the time. As a high school teacher, Howard's book, 'Vietnam: the Logic of Withdrawal,' published in 1968, had a profound effect on me."
Read the Article

Obama Shifts Priorities to Job Growth, While Calling for an End to Partisan Warfare
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "President Barack Obama resuscitated a theme that swept him into office a year ago - Hope and Change - in his first State of the Union address Wednesday night, vowing to create new jobs and work toward stifling the partisan warfare that continues to divide Democrats and Republicans."
Read the Article

Gloria Feldt | A Goldilocks State of the Union: Not Too Big, Not Too Small, Just Right
Gloria Feldt, Truthout: ""I am feeling so disempowered," the woman prefaced her question to me at a Passion to Action conference in Grass Valley, California, sponsored by the See Jane Do ... organization. But her face telegraphed very powerful emotions: anger, frustration, fear. It was a look we've seen on the faces of teabaggers as they shouted wild allegations and disrupted town halls across the nation."
Read the Article

Weak State Department Oversight Resulted in Mismanagement of Iraq Security Contract Fund
Grace Huang, Truthout: "Due to mismanagement, the State Department has left more than $2.5 billion vulnerable to waste and fraud and is unsure of where $1 billion of that has gone, according to a report from a federal watchdog agency released Monday."
Read the Article

Honduran Coup d'Etat a "Win" for the US?
Tom Loudon, Truthout: "Today, Pepe Lobo will be inaugurated as the new president of Honduras in what many consider to be an institutionalization of the coup d'etat, which took place seven months ago. Lobo comes to the presidency as a result of a highly disputed election process carried out by the coup regime. The elections, which have been widely condemned as illegitimate, were boycotted by a large percentage of the Honduran population."
Read the Article

UN Secret Detention Report Asks, "Where Are The CIA Ghost Prisoners?"
Andy Worthington, Truthout: "A major new report on secret detention policies around the world, conducted by four independent UN human rights experts, concludes that, 'On a global scale, secret detention in connection with counter-terrorist policies remains a serious problem,' and, 'If resorted to in a widespread and systematic manner, secret detention might reach the threshold of a crime against humanity.'"
Read the Article

Jim Hightower | The Supreme Coup
Jim Hightower, Truthout: "Despite 234 years of progress toward the American ideal of equality for all, we still have to battle unfairness. How happy, then, to learn that a handful of our leaders in Washington took bold and forceful action last week to lift another group of downtrodden Americans from the pits of injustice, helping them gain more political and governmental power. I refer, of course, to corporations."
Read the Article

Ray McGovern | President Put Politics First on Afghanistan
Ray McGovern, Consortium News: "Nothing highlights President Obama's abject surrender to Gen. David Petraeus on the 'way forward' in Afghanistan than two cables U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry sent to Washington on Nov. 6 and 9, 2009, the texts of which were released Tuesday by the New York Times."
Read the Article

Obama's Secret Prisons: Night Raids, Hidden Detention Centers, the "Black Jail" and the Dogs of War in Afghanistan
Anand Gopal, TomDispatch.com: "One quiet, wintry night last year in the eastern Afghan town of Khost, a young government employee named Ismatullah simply vanished. He had last been seen in the town's bazaar with a group of friends. Family members scoured Khost's dust-doused streets for days. Village elders contacted Taliban commanders in the area who were wont to kidnap government workers, but they had never heard of the young man. Even the governor got involved, ordering his police to round up nettlesome criminal gangs that sometimes preyed on young bazaar-goers for ransom."
Read the Article

GRITtv: Senator Sanders on Firing Fed Chairman Bernanke, Economy Fixes (Video)
Laura Flanders, GRITtv: "Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders has been an outspoken leader in the Senate on everything from the fight for single-payer health care reform to blocking Fed Chair Ben Bernanke's reappointment. The Vermont legislator has won election and re-election by continually communicating with and fighting for the people, and he offers his advice to progressives and to President Obama in this exclusive interview with GRITtv."
Read the Article

Bill Moyers Journal | Labor's State of the Union
Bill Moyers Journal: "America's workers need jobs, and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is calling on them to stand up and fight. Trumka joins Bill Moyers to offer his perspective on the State of the Union and explains why he thinks President's Obama's plans - and the Republicans' agenda alike - might mean a lost decade for America."
Read the Article

NOW | On the Ground in Haiti: Saving the Lives of Mothers During Childbirth
NOW: "Haiti's catastrophic earthquake, in addition to leaving lives and institutions in ruin, also exacerbated a much more common and lethal emergency in Haiti: dying during childbirth. Challenges in transportation, education and quality health care contribute to Haiti having the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere, a national crisis even before the earthquake struck."
Read the Article

FP morning post 1/28

Karzai sees foreign troops in Afghanistan for up to 15 years

---

Top story: Representatives from more than 60 countries are holding talks in London today to discuss the way forward in Afghanistan. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is co-hosting the conference with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, told the delegates that the had reached a "decisive time" and the “By the middle of next year, we have to turn the tide.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave a more longterm timetable for the international presence in his country, saying, "With regard to training and equipping the Afghan security forces, five to 10 years would be sufficient. With regard to sustaining them … the time period extends to 10 to 15 years."

Karzai plans to introduce a scheme to entice Taliban fighters back into mainstream society by offering money and jobs. U.S. commanders seem willing to accept some degree of cooperation with the Taliban with top U.S. military commander Staley Mcchrystal saying, "I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past." Neighboring Pakistan, which once supported the Afghan Taliban, is now increasingly seeking a role as a mediator in talks between various Taliban factions and the Kabul government.

In a statement on the conference, the Taliban seemed fairly uninterested in the solutions put forward. "They should accept the solution put forward by the Islamic Emirate, which is the full withdrawal of the invading forces from our country," the statement said.

Haiti: Haiti's government indefinitely postponed parliamentary elections, which were scheduled for March, and asked the international community for a larger and more coordinated aid effort. Businesses are increasingly reopening in Haiti's capital.

State of the Union: In his first State of the Union address, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to focus on job creation next year.

---

Asia North Korea has fired more artillery at its sea border with South Korea. Newly elected Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa plans to dissolve parliament and call for new legislative elections. A NATO convoy carrying supplies to Afghanistan came under attack near Karachi. Middle East Iran hanged two people in the first executions related to last year's post-election unrest. Yemen and its international partners signed a three-year agreement aimed at combating al Qaeda. Human Rights Watch has rejected Hamas's claim that it did not target civilians with rockets during the Gaza war. Europe Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a fundamental rethinking of global capitalism. Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was acquitted on charges of slander against Sarkozy. British and Irish Prime Ministers have left Belfast with Northern Ireland's power-sharing government still on the brink of collapse. Americas The Mexican federal government will attempt to overturn Mexico's gay marriage law. Almost 600 tourists were rescued from Machu Picchu but as many as 1,600 remain trapped by floods. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has left for the Dominican Republic. Africa Sudanese President Omar al Bashir is backing his former civil war enemy in South Sudan's presidential elections. Zimbabwe's high court rejected a ruling by the regional body SADC ordering Robert Mugabe's government to halt land seizures. The Egyptian and Algerian soccer teams face off today in a rivalry that has provoked rioting in recent months. By Joshua Keating

How to Save Haiti: Let Them Leave A World Without Bernanke Who's Up and Who's Down in Davos Why the Taliban Should Come to Gordon Brown's Party

Paul Rogers /WPA Pool/Getty Images

McClatchy Washington report 1/28

Top Story

• Analysis: Obama channels Ronald Reagan, 'Stay the course'

  Despite the stinging defeat his party suffered in Massachusetts, the erosion of his own political support and calls from Republicans and moderate Democrats to change his agenda, Obama signaled that he'll make no abrupt turn from the path he set more than a year ago.

Spotlight

• Geithner, predecessor and Fed defend AIG payments

  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, his predecessor Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke denied Wednesday any wrongdoing in secretive decisions surrounding the September 2008 bailout of failing insurance giant American International Group.

Latest Headlines

• Experts: Obama presidency shouldn't be judged on first year

  Expectations were high. He took office after a landslide election spurred by economic woes, international turmoil and a discouraged nation's concern that the luster was off the American dream. He was supposed to change the game, but his first year was largely a disappointment. Yet Ronald Reagan survived early difficulties to serve another seven years in the White House. Experts on politics and the presidency are cautioning an American public plagued with a short memory and shorter attention span not to judge the Obama administration based solely on its opening year.

• Afghan M.P.'s, insurgent leader's relative, seeking peace talks

  Afghan parliamentarians held an unannounced meeting last week with a relative of insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar that participants hope can lead to the start of peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, a participant in the meeting said Thursday.

• Texas Gov. Perry's job figures are exaggerated, says watchdog group

  A Texas watchdog group issued a scathing analysis Wednesday of Gov. Rick Perry's much-ballyhooed jobs program, saying the governor exaggerated its success and noting that a third of the 54,000 jobs he said have been created since 2003 are actually unfulfilled employment pledges.

• John, Elizabeth Edwards are legally separated

  John and Elizabeth Edwards have separated, severing a union that has been relentlessly scrutinized since the disclosure of the former presidential candidate's messy affair. Both acknowledged Wednesday what had been rumored for weeks: that they are living apart. The admission came on the day that sordid details emerged from a new book, "The Politician," by a former top aide, Andrew Young. It portrays a deeply troubled marriage behind a public image of marital bliss.

• Haiti's response to earthquake displeases Haitian-Americans

  In a poll that provides a unique &mdash and unprecedented &mdash glimpse of how Haitians living in the U.S. have been affected by their home country's devastating earthquake, a clear majority of Haitian Americans have lost faith in the Haitian government's ability to rebuild the shattered nation.

• Defendant Scott Roeder may testify today in Tiller murder trial

  The judge in the Scott Roeder murder trial will decide today whether former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline can be forced to testify. The judge also will decide how much Roeder will be allowed to say about abortion when he takes the stand — most likely today — in his own defense.

• California's Senators, House Reps split on Obama's spending freeze

  Republican Rep. Dan Lungren is glad that President Barack Obama is proposing a three-year spending freeze on most domestic programs, but he hopes Congress goes further and actually cuts spending. Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui of Sacramento said she applauds the president's desire to balance the budget but fears a spending freeze might not be the right approach.

• Alaska lawmakers may overturning 90-day session limit ballot initiative

  An Alaska legislative task force says the 90-day limit imposed by voters on how long the Legislature can be in session is too short and should be overturned by lawmakers. Alaska voters in 2006 narrowly passed a ballot initiative reducing the length of the Legislature's annual regular session from 121 days to 90 days. The initiative was sponsored by three legislators who argued lawmakers wasted a lot of time in Juneau and shortening it would be more efficient.

• Galloway: a farewell after 50 years of newspapering

  To quote Mr. Dickens, they were the best of times and the worst of times. This is Galloway writing "-30-" and a farewell to this weekly column after almost seven years and wrapping up half a century in the newspaper business.

• Commentary: Bauer's bad choices show he's not ready to be S.C. governor

  Since Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer compared providing benefits to poor people to feeding stray animals, encouraging them to breed, we've been inundated by liberals outraged nearly as much by the suggestion that there's any linkage between poverty and education as by the language, and a few angry conservatives who are applauding him for having the "courage" to speak up.

  Too bad we haven't heard much from moderates, and the more grounded (and more numerous) conservatives. People who would say: Yes, poor kids do perform much worse in school than middle- and upper-class kids, and we have to do something about that.

Common Dreams headlines 1/27

EPA Requests Feedback on Plan Analyzing Impact of Hazardous Waste on Disadvantaged Communities
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/27-7

House Progressives Push Reid to Put Public Option Back on Table
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/27-4

Scientists Warn Doing Nothing Will Likely Lock in Worst Consequences of Climate Change
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/27

Military Aid Puts Afghans' Lives at Risk - Report
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/27-2

Oregon Voters Pass Tax Increasing Measures by Big Margin
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/27-8

US Military Teams, Intelligence Deeply Involved in Aiding Yemen on Strikes
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/27-0

Kerry: Climate Change Supporters Must Match Tea Party Intensity
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/27-5

Honduras Swears in Porfirio Lobo as President
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/27-6

and more...

****************************************************

Truthout 1/27

William Rivers Pitt | Feelin' Alright
William Rivers Pitt, Truthout: "Calling the second half of January a catastrophe for the president, the Democrats and the country at large sells the word 'catastrophe' short. A health care 'reform' process that was already trailing smoke suddenly lost cabin pressure and spiraled into the sea when the single most unpoachable Senate seat in the history of the universe, held for 46 years by the late Ted Kennedy, flipped into Republican hands because Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley thought she could win without actually running a campaign."
Read the Article

Amateur Filmmaker Accused of Entrapping ACORN Employees Arrested by Federal Agents
Jason Leopold and Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "Federal law enforcement officials on Monday arrested conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe and three other men for allegedly trying to wiretap the phone system in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office."
Read the Article

Ted Glick | Upping the Ante on Climate
Ted Glick, Truthout: "Just about one year ago today, Barack Obama was inaugurated as president. Hopes were high among progressive-minded people, including climate activists. Finally, we had a president who got it on the need for action to address the deepening climate crisis."
Read the Article

Swine Flu Didn't Fly
Niko Kyriakou, Truthout: "Wow, what a year 2009 was for makers of the swine flu vaccine. CSL Limited's profits rose 63 percent above 2008 levels, while in the third quarter of 2009 - just about the time H1N1 contracts picked up steam - GlaxoSmithKine enjoyed a 30 percent jump in earnings to $2.19 billion. Roche, the maker of Tamiflu, which prevents H1N1, saw second quarter profits leap to 12 times what they were in that quarter of 2008. But in 2010, drug companies may get their comeuppance."
Read the Article

Tom Engelhardt | Pentagon Time Tick...Tick...Tick...
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com: "Back in 2007, when Gen. David Petraeus was the surge commander of US forces in Iraq, he had a penchant for clock imagery. In an interview in April of that year, he typically said: 'I'm conscious of a couple of things. One is that the Washington clock is moving more rapidly than the Baghdad clock, so we're obviously trying to speed up the Baghdad clock a bit and to produce some progress on the ground that can perhaps give hope to those in the coalition countries, in Washington, and perhaps put a little more time on the Washington clock.'"
Read the Article

Severo M. Ornstein | Some Voices Are More Equal Than Others
Severo M. Ornstein, Truthout: "By assigning the same rights to corporations as to individuals, the Supreme Court, on the pretext of honoring the First Amendment, has instead done precisely the opposite: contravened its intent."
Read the Article

The Hippocratic Oath Applied to Intelligence
Barry Eisler, Truthout: "I'm just about finished with Tim Weiner's phenomenal 'Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.' Two themes are at the heart of the book. First, the Agency has been incompetent from its inception."
Read the Article

Canada's Long Road to Mining Reform
Cyril Mychalejko, Truthout: "Rape. Murder. Corruption. Environmental contamination. Impunity. These are just some of the charges and incidents that have plagued Canadian mining operations abroad for years. Now one Canadian lawmaker has taken on the Herculean challenge of legislating mining reform in a country that has traditionally acted like a parent in denial."
Read the Article

Behind Cautious Signal, a Decision for Afghan Peace Talks
Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service: "Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's very cautiously worded support for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban leadership in an interview published Monday is only the first public signal of a policy decision by the Barack Obama administration to support a political settlement between the Hamid Karzai regime and the Taliban, an official of McChrystal's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) command has revealed in an interview with IPS."
Read the Article

The Antiwar Peace Movement Needs a Restart
Kevin Zeese, Truthout: "In his first year President Obama broke several war-making records of President George W. Bush. He passed the largest military budget in US history, the largest one-year war supplementals and fired the most drone attacks on the most countries. He began 2010 asking for another $30 billion war supplemental and with the White House indicating that the next military budget will be $708 billion, breaking Obama's previous record."
Read the Article

What Is to Be Done?
Jules Siegel, Truthout: "I have never been a great fan of Rahm Emanuel. In his clips, he seems to relish his image as a foul-mouthed, vengeful pit viper. He looks like one, too. Don't get me wrong. At least he's a vertebrate. Karl Rove is one of those poisonous Australian jellyfish. He sleeps in a jar of seawater at night."
Read the Article

Pentagon Budget Runs Rampant
Aris DeMarco, Truthout: "No matter how one looks at it, the United States has the strongest military in the world. Ever. Period. We have more weapons, more advanced technology, and spend more cash on our troops. Thus, the US military has the greatest ability to make war on other countries, the greatest ability to seek out, target and destroy any enemies of the state."
Read the Article

Obama to Announce High-Speed Rail Plan
Julie Pace, The Associated Press: "A day after delivering a State of the Union address aimed at showing recession-weary Americans he understands their struggles, President Barack Obama intends to award $8 billion in stimulus funds to develop high-speed rail corridors and sell the program as a jobs creator."
Read the Article

Two heroes stand up

Great news!

After members from Democracy for America, CREDO Action, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee made 3,595 calls to Congress since Friday asking House members to publicly support passing a public option through reconciliation, two Healthcare Heroes have stood up to work to make it happen:

Representatives Jared Polis from Colorado and Chellie Pingree from Maine

As we speak, these two fearless Democrats are gathering signatures of other House members on a letter to Senator Harry Reid asking the Majority Leader to use the budget reconciliation process, which only requires 51 Senate votes, to pass a public option.

Your calls are working. Now, we need to back these Healthcare Heroes up and help them find other House members who will sign on. Call your Democratic Representative in the House (if you have one) and Speaker Pelosi and ask them to sign on right now.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR CALL

It's not just your calls that are working. It's everything we're doing to make this happen. We've hit our goal of over 250,000 signatures on our petition calling for reconciliation. And our poll of MA swing voters was turning heads in Washington all last week.

Last night, the NYTimes broke the story on a new poll we did over the weekend in 10 freshmen Democratic districts to see what effect passing a public option would have on the Democrat's chance for reelection in 2010. Here's what the voters said:

FRESHMAN DEMOCRATS FACE TROUBLE IN 2010 IF CONGRESS DOESN'T PASS A PUBLIC OPTION

Polls in 10 frontline freshman districts show:

• 68% of voters want a public health insurance option
• By 5 to 1, voters want their Representative to fight to add the public option over passing the Senate bill
• By 3 to 1, persuadable voters are less likely to vote for the local Democrat if Congress doesn't pass a public option as part of reform
• 55% say Democrats need to do more to fight big corporations
• 56% say Democrats haven't done enough to fulfill Obama's 2008 campaign promises
• 52% of Democrats are less likely to vote in 2010 if Congress doesn't pass public option -- Republicans more likely

If Democrats in Washington don't listen and pass real reform, then freshmen Democrats in tough reelection battles may pay the price at the polls in 2010. We can't let that happen to leaders like Representatives Polis and Pingree. We must back them up and help get other House Democrats on board.

CALL NOW AND ASK HOUSE DEMOCRATS TO SIGN THE POLIS/PINGREE LETTER TODAY

Right now, the fight in Washington over healthcare boils down to two options: full retreat or bold leadership.

We know America wants bold leadership. Let's do everything we can to make sure Democrats in Washington get the message.

-Charles

Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
Democracy for America

FP morning post 1/27

Sri Lanka election results challenged

---

Top news: Sri Lanka's election authority has announced that incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa has won the country's first presidential election since the end of a 26-year civil war, but the results have been challenged by the runner-up, Gen. Sareth Fonseka.

According to the commission, Rajapaksa won 57.8 percent of the vote to Fonseka's 40 percent, but the challenger, the former commander of Sri Lanka's armed forces, says that Rajapaksa misappropriated funds, used state media to attack him and prevent ethnic Tamils from voting. Fonseka has promised a legal challenge to the results.

The election commissioner agreed, saying before he announced the results that he had been shamed by how the election was carried out and submitted his resignation. "I cannot bear this anymore," he said. Troops have surrounded the hotel in Colombo where Fonseka is staying.

While the campaign for the presidency had been acrimonious and occasionally violent, election day was mostly peaceful, though there were a series of explosions near camps set up for Tamil's displaced in last year's fighting which some feared could have been meant to discourage them from voting. Turnout was less that 30 percent in these areas compared to 70 percent in the country as a whole.

Haiti: With international aid still bogged down, the Haitian government has begun directly distributing food to earthquake victims. The country has also halted the airlifting of orphaned children to the U.S.

Tonight: U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

---

Middle East U.S. troops have been involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops over the past six weeks, reports the Washington Post. World leaders are meeting for talks on how best to assist Yemen. Iranian forces clashed with Kurdish rebels near the Turkish border. Asia North Korea and South Korea exchanged artillery fire near their disputed sea border. The U.N. has lifted sanctions on five key Taliban officials. A bombing in a village in northwest Pakistan killed three children. Americas Porfirio Lobo has been sworn in as the new president of Honduras after months of political turmoil. Guatemalan police arrested former president Alfonso Portillo, who is wanted on money-laundering charges in the U.S. Hundreds of tourists have been stranded by mudslides in Machu Picchu. Europe NATO and Russia formally resumed military ties. The World Economic Forum opened in Davos, Switzerland. Britain is setting out proposals for a crackdown on tax evasion. Africa Guinea swore in a new civilian prime minister, 13 months after a military junta seized power. Sudan former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi will run against President Omar al-Bashir -- who overthrew him in a 1989 coup -- in upcoming elections. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed the increasing radicalization of young Nigerians like the Christmas Day bomber on failures of the country's leaders. By Joshua Keating

America’s Evil Plot to Destroy Haiti Groundhog Day in Afghanistan The Internet Is About to Get More Chinese The Governator’s Wacky Plan to Ship Convicts to Mexico

INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images

Prop 8 witness says gay marriage undermines traditional marriage

By Susan Ferriss | The Sacramento Bee

The star witness for backers of Proposition 8 testified Tuesday that he's confident — but has no evidence — that same-sex marriage would increase divorce rates and lower the rate of heterosexual marriage.

David Blankenhorn, president of the New York-based Institute for American Values, said in federal court in San Francisco that he opposes gay marriage partly because of studies contending that children have better "outcomes" if raised by a biological mother and biological father.

While a "positive" outcome for a child is not guaranteed by this arrangement, Blankenhorn said heterosexual marriages serve as "seed beds from which come good citizens" who are more likely to make contributions to society.

Gay couples contend in their federal lawsuit challenging Proposition 8 that its gay marriage ban amounts to unconstitutional discrimination.

But the measure's defenders counter that voters had a fundamental social interest in limiting marriage to a man and a woman for child-rearing purposes.

David Boies, an attorney for the plaintiffs, questioned Blankenhorn's credentials and conclusions and noted that Blankenhorn had written in a book that "we would be more American" if gays were permitted to wed and their children would be better off.

Austin Nimocks, an attorney for Proposition 8 defenders, told reporters during a break in the proceedings that Blankenhorn's remark was based on a hypothetical presumption that same-sex marriage and heterosexual marriage were equal.

"He made it clear it was not," Nimocks said.

Nimocks called Blankenhorn a "renowned expert" in marriage. Blankenhorn has written books and articles, many of them arguing that fatherless families are harmful to children.

To read the complete article, visit www.sacbee.com.

McClatchy Washington report 1/27

Top Story

• Geithner to defend bank bailout — and maybe his job, too

  Facing a rising tempest and new investigations, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday will defend before Congress his 2008 decision to use taxpayer bailout money to pay major banks the full $62 billion face value of bets made on risky offshore securities.

Spotlight

• Is speaking 'gaelic' the sign of the new Irish elite?

  Visitors to Ireland have long been greeted with the words "cead míle failte," an Irish language phrase meaning "a hundred thousand welcomes." But should this old tourism slogan be changed to "cead míle dollars?"

Latest Headlines

• Obama to emphasize jobs, economy in State of the Union

  The Barack Obama who'll deliver the State of the Union address Wednesday night faces a grimmer, more dubious audience than the popular new president who was riding high when he first addressed Congress last February did.

• Haiti slows orphan flights over human trafficking concerns

  Acting on persistent fears that homeless and orphaned children will be victimized by human traffickers, the Haitian government in Port-au-Prince has put the brakes on the large-scale migration of orphans destined for adoptive families in the U.S. Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive said his country would not release children for adoption without his personal approval, and ordered nongovernmental organizations working in Port-au-Prince to stop collecting children found on the street.

• South Carolina's Wilson promises he'll be quiet this time

  When President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, there'll be no shout-out this time. At least, not from Rep. Joe Wilson. The South Carolina Republican yelled, "You lie!" at Obama on Sept. 9 as the president addressed Congress on live, prime-time television. Not this time, Wilson said Tuesday.

• Will Apple's tablet tranform the way we read?

  Today, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs walks onto a San Francisco stage to presumably announce an Apple tablet computer, the news will be arrive in real time with tweets and live blogs available on the now ever-present smart phone. That announcement, scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern time, has regular folks and techies buzzing not only about what features this supposed super e-reader might have, but what the technology might mean in our everyday lives. As consumers make the bumpy transition from print products to online, will a tablet be a new leap toward changing the way we read?

• Prop 8 witness says gay marriage undermines traditional marriage

  David Blankenhorn, the star witness for backers of Proposition 8, testified Tuesday that he's confident — but has no evidence — that same-sex marriage would increase divorce rates and lower the rate of heterosexual marriage.

• Poll: Rubio leads Crist in Florida's Senate race

  Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's campaign for U.S. Senate was hit with a one-two punch Tuesday as Republican rival Marco Rubio moved ahead of him in a public-opinion poll for the first time and almost matched him in fundraising for the quarter.

• Proposed 'tan tax' has salon owners concerned about health care overhaul

  Tanning salon owners are keeping an eye on Washington, wondering whether health care reform will include a tax increase for them. The Senate-passed bill includes a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning to help pay for extending health care coverage to those without it.

• Congress gets low job performance rating from Californians in poll

  Nearly seven in 10 Californians are dissatisfied with the way Congress has handled the issue of health care, and two-thirds of the state's voters say they disapprove of Congress' overall job performance, according to the latest Field Poll.

• In London speech, will Karzai bite the hand that feeds him?

  When 60 or more nations convene in London Thursday to discuss Afghanistan's future, the script calls for agreement on plans to split the Taliban insurgency, a process to reach an eventual political settlement, improvements in governance and the battle against corruption.

• Commentary: Jesus doesn't belong on a gun sight

  Have you heard about the Jesus rifles?

  ABC News broke the story last week. It seems there was this fellow named Glyn Bindon, who used weapons of war to speak for his faith.

Truthout 1/26

The Republican Health "Alternative": Empowering Ourselves to Death
Maya Schenwar, Truthout: "As Democratic Congress members fumble for the mythical health reform solution that will satisfy everyone and their insurance agent, many have accused Republicans of lacking a plan of their own."
Read the Article

Is White House Pressuring DOJ to Delay Torture Report Until Health Care Bill Passes?
Jason Leopold, Truthout: "Did the Obama administration pressure the Department of Justice (DOJ) to suppress a long-awaited report from one of the agency's watchdogs on issues revolving around torture until Congress passes a health care bill?"
Read the Article

When Scholars Join the Slaughter
Dahr Jamail, Truthout: "A core tenant of the Obama administration's plans for 'victory' in Iraq and Afghanistan is an increased reliance on counterinsurgency. As previously reported on this web site, the US military has sent shock troops - anthropologists, sociologists and social psychologists - with their own troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, who also donned helmets and flak jackets. By the end of 2007, American scholars in these fields were embedding with the military in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a Pentagon program called Human Terrain System (HTS), which evolved shortly thereafter into a $40 million program that embedded four or five person groups of scholars in the aforementioned fields in all 26 US combat brigades that were busily occupying Iraq and Afghanistan."
Read the Article

Massachusetts' Senate Election - A Beacon for the Democratic Party
Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III, Truthout: "A great deal of Massachusetts' history is tied to the sea. Because of this, Massachusetts is also known for its lighthouses. Lighthouses were once the trusted tool that guided navigators through treacherous waters, enabling them to avoid running aground on coastal rocks. Like a lighthouse, the election to fill the US Senate seat from Massachusetts should serve as a beacon to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Obama administration."
Read the Article

Obama's Tiny Jobs Ideas for Main Street, a Big Spending Freeze for Wall Street
Robert Reich, RobertReich.org: "President Obama today offered a set of proposals for helping America's troubled middle class. All are sensible and worthwhile. But none will bring jobs back. And Americans could be forgiven for wondering how the president plans to enact any of these ideas anyway, when he can no longer muster 60 votes in the Senate."
Read the Article

Dateline Cairo: A Letter to Obama
Pam Rasmussen, Truthout: "Dear President Obama: I have been told since I was old enough to read that I am privileged - and should feel proud - to be an American. Not only because I enjoy unparalleled freedom and opportunities, but also because I live in a superpower that is so beneficent it helps spread those same benefits to the less fortunate around the world."
Read the Article

Second Day of Major Bombings Shakes Iraq
Jane Arraf, The Christian Science Monitor: "A suicide car bomb detonated outside the Interior Ministry's forensics department in Baghdad Tuesday, killing more than 18 people and severely damaging the building in the second consecutive day of high-profile attacks."
Read the Article

Restore America to Its People: Revive the Civilian Conservation Corps
Julia Stein, Truthout: "In 1932 the United States was at an economic standstill, the country faced an environmental catastrophe, and the nation was crisscrossed with hunger marches. Within months after he was elected, Franklin Delano Roosevelt started the jobs program called 'The Civilian Conservation Corps' (CCC) to both create jobs and deal with the environmental disaster. The CCC gave jobs to 3 million men and lasted until 1940."
Read the Article

Eugene Robinson | Fighting Words, Winning Actions
Eugene Robinson: "It's ironic that President Obama could never be convincing as populist in chief. He had a modest upbringing - his family was on food stamps for a time - and he needed scholarships and loans to pay for his fancy education. He is no stranger to the struggles of everyday Americans."
Read the Article

Err-America
Walter Brasch, Truthout: "Air America, the liberal radio network, went down in flames January 21 when it filed for bankruptcy. It wasn't because of air-to-air combat with conservative talk shows and bloggers. It wasn't because of the Recession, although reduced advertising revenue, a reality of all media, also affected Air America. It wasn't even demographics, even though older, marginalized conservatives tend to listen to radio more than do younger liberal professionals. And media history was only part of the problem."
Read the Article

FP morning post 1/26

A second attack hits central Baghdad

---

Top story: Just a day after a coordinated suicide attack that killed 36 people at three Baghdad hotels, another blast hit the city center this morning, killing 17 outside the forensics department of the interior ministry.

Yesterday's blasts targeted hotels that cater to foreign businessmen and journalists and were to host international observers for the country's March 7 parliamentary elections. Today's bombing targeted one of the interior ministry's most exposed sites and many of the casualties were police officers. The two bombings seem to confirm authorities fears that insurgents are accelerating their campaign in order to undermine security ahead of the elections.

Haiti: Meeting in Montreal on Monday, international donors agreed on a 10-year commitment to rebuild earthquake-damaged Haiti's public institutions. Haitian Prime Minister Rene Preval, who has not formally addressed his country since the earthquake hit, wrote a written plea asking for 200,000 family-size tents and 1.5 million food rations.

Afghanistan: Representatives of more than 60 countries are meeting in London today to discuss new strategy's to win the war in Afghanistan. Britain and Japan have agreed on a plan to establish a fund for luring Taliban fighters away from the insurgency.

---

Asia * Sri Lankans head to the polls today for the first presidential election since the end of the country's 26-year civil war. * Five opposition lawmakers resigned in Hong Kong to pressure Beijing to allow direct elections. * Reports suggest North Korea may be planning a new missile launch. Middle East * Former Saddam aide "Chemical Ali" Hassan Majid was hanged for his role in the gassing of Kurdish towns in the late 1980s. * Iran's government has called for the extradition of those it says are responsible for the murder of nuclear scientist Massoud Ali-Mohammed. * Yemen says it will not allow foreign military operation against al Qaeda on its soil. Americas * Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez, who was also defense minister, has resigned over disagreements with President Hugo Chavez. * Thousands of leftist activists have gathered for the annual World Social Forum in Brazil. * Breaking from other Latin American governments, El Salvador plans to recognize Honduras's new government when Porfirio Lobo is sworn into office tomorrow. Europe * As a French government panel will recommend banning the wearing of burqas in public buildings. * The prime ministers of Britain and the Republic of Ireland are in talks with Northern Ireland's major political parties to preserve a fracturing unity government. * Germany plans to increase its force in Afghanistan by 500 troops. Africa * More than 300 people were arrested for involvement in last week's religious violence in Nigeria. * Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf plans to run for reelection despite an earlier pledge to only serve one term. * The EU has agreed to help train Somali troops to fight the country's insurgency. By Joshua Keating

ElBaradei: Don't Believe the Iran Nuke Hype Exclusive: Russia Scuttles New U.N. Taliban Plan Richard Haass's Recipe for War With Iran One More Try: How to Close Guantánamo

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

McClatchy Washington report 1/26

Top Story

• 

  Pakistan's former spymaster: U.S. must talk to Mullah Omar

  The U.S. must negotiate a political settlement to the Afghanistan war directly with Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar because any bid to split the insurgency through defections will fail, said the Pakistani former intelligence officer who trained the insurgent chief.

Spotlight

• It only gets worse this year for commercial real estate

  Commercial real estate is expected to remain a drag on the U.S. economy through 2010 and beyond. "You do see stress in the market. We've seen delinquency rates increasing; we've seen by a whole variety of measures increased stress in the commercial real estate market," said Jamie Woodwell, the vice president of commercial real estate research for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Latest Headlines

• S.C. Lt. Gov. Bauer regrets 'strays' analogy

  Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said Monday he regretted comments comparing people who take public assistance to stray animals, but the incident continued to draw fire. In a phone interview, Bauer said he regretted the remarks "because now it's being used as an analogy, not a metaphor."

• Congress looks to create jobs, but will it be enough?

  Democrats in Congress are furiously crafting legislation to spur job creation, but experts warn that the benefits could be too small to make much difference. Senate Democrats plan to meet Tuesday to discuss a package that could provide billions in help for strapped state and local governments, as well as infrastructure projects.

• Helping Haiti long-term is discussed by world leaders

  The United States and other allies of Haiti agreed Monday to a 10-year effort to rebuild Port-au-Prince and foster the long-term development that has eluded the Caribbean country despite decades of foreign assistance. The meeting of the Group of Friends of Haiti produced few details about the scope of the damage from the Jan. 12 earthquake, or the potential cost of the reconstruction.

• Officials: Obama will propose three-year spending freeze

  Looking to signal at least one step toward reining in huge federal budget deficits, President Barack Obama will propose a three-year freeze in non-security discretionary spending, senior administration officials said Monday.

• Oil industry pushes Alaska for tax overhaul

  The oil industry has launched a $100,000 ad campaign aimed at convincing the Legislature that Alaska needs to roll back its oil taxes. House Republicans have introduced a bill that could lower oil taxes by a billion dollars, and Gov. Sean Parnell wants tax rebates for companies that drill in Alaska. There's much less interest in the Senate in tax changes, though, and the result could be a stalemate.

• Schwarzenegger ponders building prisons in Mexico for illegal immigrants

  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday offered yet another way California can save on incarcerating illegal immigrants: pay to build prisons in Mexico. Schwarzenegger said in a Sacramento Press Club speech that rather than raise taxes, the state could find money by cutting pension costs, allowing offshore oil drilling and lowering prison expenditures.

• Tea Party, 'birthers' movements somewhat aligned, according to Field Poll

  Californians are pretty sure President Barack Obama was born in the U.S.A., but not at all sure about the tea party movement, according to a new Field Poll. Conversely, the survey found that those who identify strongly with tea partiers are not at all sure about the president's true nation of origin. The percentage of nonbelievers and not-sures climbs to 58 percent (20 percent no, 38 percent don't know) among Republicans and a hefty 71 percent (22 percent no, 49 percent don't know) among respondents who said they identify "a lot" with the tea party movement.

• Settlement to put limits on Ticketmaster, Live Nation merger

  A court settlement designed to protect concertgoers against monopoly ticket prices has been filed in federal court, detailing measures to create new ticketing outlets that would compete with a proposed merger of ticket giants Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

• Commentary: Citizens United is an egregious exercise of judicial activism

  The 5-4 conservative majority decision in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission that struck many decades of law and precedent will likely go down in history as one of the Supreme Court's most egregious exercises of judicial activism.

• Commentary: Sticking with the status quo on health care means disaster

  I took a little stroll down memory lane this week. Back to the glorious days of June.

  Polls then showed an American public that acknowledged its health care system was broken and wanted Congress to do something about it.

Ooh, this is too hard!

If my kids wanted to quit something after their first setback, I'd say, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." So what's with Congress? One unexpected election result in Massachusetts, a state that already has universal healthcare, is all it takes for some in Congress to throw up their hands and say we can't get this done? I don't think so. The moms and dads of America are not taking any excuses when the security of our families' healthcare is at risk.

This week your Congressional representatives will be making critical decisions about whether or not to push forward with comprehensive healthcare reform. With many in Congress nervous about losing their jobs, constituent input has never had more influence. Tell Congress: Get back to work and figure out how to pass comprehensive health reform.

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=979

This week is critical to make sure that Congress knows that we won't take, "Ooh, this is too hard" for an answer.

We all knew the fight for healthcare was going to be hard when we started. Seven presidents have tried and failed to pass healthcare reform. We can't wait any longer. Let's make sure that our children are not suffering with health costs that continually decreases earning power and with health insurance that evaporates just when you get sick. If we want a brighter future for our children, we need to act right now!

Tell Congress to act now to finish the job of getting comprehensive healthcare reform done.

And please pass along this message to your friends and family by forwarding this email now. The need for affordable and secure healthcare cuts across party lines. Together we are powerful.

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=979

Thank you for your work to pass healthcare reform! Your children will thank you too!

--Donna, Ashley, Anita, Julia, Kristin, Joan, and the MomsRising.org Team

With many in Congress nervous about losing their jobs, your input has never had more influence.

Tell Congress: Finish the job of getting comprehensive healthcare reform done!

Take Action

Truthout 1/25

George Lakoff | Freedom vs. the Public Option
George Lakoff, Truthout: "Which would you prefer, consumer choice or freedom? Extended coverage or freedom? Bending the cost curve or freedom? John Boehner, House minority leader, speaking of health care, said recently, 'This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I have seen in the 19 years I have been here in Washington.... It's going to lead to a government takeover of our health care system, with tens of thousands of new bureaucrats right down the street, making these decisions [choose your doctor, buy your own health insurance] for you.'"
Read the Article

William Fisher | Obama Administration's Use of Drones Responsible for Increase in Civilian Deaths
William Fisher, Truthout: "The Obama administration is ramping up its use of drone unmanned aircraft to execute targeted killings in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and perhaps in other locations - and, in the process, killing civilians along with insurgents, and risking the compromise of US moral imperatives and foreign policy goals."
Read the Article

Henry A. Giroux on His Book "Youth in a Suspect Society: Democracy or Disposability?"
Henry A. Giroux, rorotoko.com: "In many ways, Youth in a Suspect Society is motivated by a sense of outrage and a sense of hope. While youth have always represented an ambiguous category, they have within the last thirty years been under assault in unprecedented ways. The book identifies a number of forces - including unfettered free-market ideology, a dehumanizing mode of consumerism, the rise of the racially skewed punishing state, and the attack on public and higher education - that have come together to pose a threat to young people. The combined threat of these forces is so extreme it can be accurately described as a 'war on youth.'"
Read the Article

Leveling the Political and Economic Playing Field
Dean Baker, Truthout: "The Supreme Court ruled last week that corporations could spend as much money as they want in elections, thereby making most existing restrictions on corporate election spending unconstitutional. This raises the prospect of US politics becoming even more corrupt than it already is. It will now be totally legal for Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, or any other major corporation to spend endless amounts of money to elect politicians who will drain taxpayers' pockets to enhance their profits. This is not good for democracy."
Read the Article

Sri Lanka: The Battle After the War
J. Sri Raman, Truthout: "Can an election endanger democracy? Yes, if one takes seriously the alarm sounded by the main opposition candidate in Sri Lanka's forthcoming presidential election. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, former chief of the island-state's armed forces, has warned of the possibility of a military coup after the election scheduled for January 26. In a statement issued less than a week before the event, the general's spokesman Anura Kumara Dissanayaka voiced the fear that President Mahinda Rajapaksa, seeking a second term, would use the military to remain in power if he was defeated in the polls."
Read the Article

Labor's Big Election Loss
Dick Meister, Truthout: "The Senate Democrats' loss of a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority seems almost certain to doom attempts to revive the barely functioning National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the country's chief labor law administrator and enforcer."
Read the Article

Ozone From the East Poisoning Air Over Western US
Herve Morin, Le Monde: "We have long known that pollution is a globalized phenomenon: Isn't human-caused CO2 accused of ruining the planet's climate? Don't we find heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants produced in industrialized countries thousands of kilometers away in the bodies of the Arctic Inuit and polar bears? Are not whole regions of the Pacific colonized by an ocean of plastic debris? Ozone is but one striking example of these long-distance pollution exports."
Read the Article

Nick Turse | The Drone Surge: Today, Tomorrow and 2047
Nick Turse, TomDispatch.com: "One moment there was the hum of a motor in the sky above. The next, on a recent morning in Afghanistan's Helmand province, a missile blasted a home, killing 13 people. Days later, the same increasingly familiar mechanical whine preceded a two-missile salvo that slammed into a compound in Degan village in the tribal North Waziristan district of Pakistan, killing three."
Read the Article

Replacing International Oppression With International Aid
Lawrence S. Wittner, History News Network: "The outpouring of humanitarian aid from numerous nations for the suffering people of Haiti is truly extraordinary - particularly when set against the shabby record of the past."
Read the Article

Afghan Elections Delayed, but Even Later Date May Come Too Soon
Ben Arnoldy, The Christian Science Monitor: "The Afghan government has postponed upcoming parliamentary elections, but doubts are already surfacing as to whether the later date will be possible either."
Read the Article

Q&A: "US Should Invest in New UN Women's Agency"
Christine Ahn, Inter Press Service: "One year after U.S. President Barack Obama's inauguration, how has his administration fared in terms of advancing an agenda for women's rights around the world? Charlotte Bunch, founding director of the Center for Global Women's Leadership at Rutgers University and a longtime feminist scholar activist, as well as a board member of the Global Fund for Women, spoke with Christine Ahn about her assessment of the U.S. president's achievements, and what remains to be done."
Read the Article

RePower Amerca: Stop playing games

We wrote to you last week about a dangerous attempt to gut the Clean Air Act and let our biggest polluters off the hook. Thanks to intense pressure from supporters like you, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski couldn't get enough votes last week to pass her outrageous, lobbyist-penned proposal and was unable to bring it to the Senate floor as threatened.

But the fossil fuel lobby won't give up that easily. Senator Murkowski is now looking for support for a new version of her "Dirty Air Act" -- a resolution which would allow dangerous fossil fuel emissions to continue unchecked, polluting the air our children breathe. We need to put an end to these political games for once and for all.

If enough of us flood our Senators with phone calls now, we can send a message that messing with the Clean Air Act at the behest of fossil fuel lobbyists is simply unacceptable.

Please call your Senators and ask them to reject Senator Murkowski's disapproval resolution -- and any further attempts to gut the Clean Air Act.

Senator Bayh: (202) 224-5623
Senator Lugar: (202) 224-4814

Let them know you're a constituent and say:

"I want Senator _______ to oppose Senator Murkowski's disapproval resolution -- and any future attempts to gut the Clean Air Act. Instead of playing politics, I strongly urge the Senator to lead on passing comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation this year that creates jobs, reduces pollution and makes our nation more secure."

Then report your calls here.

Over 250,000 members of the climate movement already took action in the last two weeks to oppose Murkowski's "Dirty Air Act", flooding Senators' offices with phone calls and emails, writing thousands of letters to the editor, and much more.

We showed that ordinary folks can succeed in the face of well-funded special interests, and that we won't stand by while our laws and our future are sold. If we keep up the pressure, we can defeat this resolution and build momentum towards Senate passage of the comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation that we need in 2010.

Call your Senators and ask them to protect the Clean Air Act -- and then report your call here.

Thanks for everything you do,

Dave Boundy
Campaign Manager
Repower America

The Bernanke conumdrum

By PAUL KRUGMAN / New York Times

A Republican won in Massachusetts — and suddenly it’s not clear whether the Senate will confirm Ben Bernanke for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman. That’s not as strange as it sounds: Washington has suddenly noticed public rage over economic policies that bailed out big banks but failed to create jobs. And Mr. Bernanke has become a symbol of those policies.

Where do I stand? I deeply admire Mr. Bernanke, both as an economist and for his response to the financial crisis. (Full disclosure: before going to the Fed he headed Princeton’s economics department, and hired me for my current position there.) Yet his critics have a strong case. In the end, I favor his reappointment, but only because rejecting him could make the Fed’s policies worse, not better.

How did we get to the point where that’s the most I can say?

Mr. Bernanke is a superb research economist. And from the spring of 2008 to the spring of 2009 his academic expertise and his policy role meshed perfectly, as he used aggressive, unorthodox tactics to head off a second Great Depression.

Unfortunately, that’s not the whole story. Before the crisis struck, Mr. Bernanke was very much a conventional, mainstream Fed official, sharing fully in the institution’s complacency. Worse, after the acute phase of the crisis ended he slipped right back into that mainstream. Once again, the Fed is dangerously complacent — and once again, Mr. Bernanke seems to share that complacency.

Consider two issues: financial reform and unemployment.

Back in July, Mr. Bernanke spoke out against a key reform proposal: the creation of a new consumer financial protection agency. He urged Congress to maintain the current situation, in which protection of consumers from unfair financial practices is the Fed’s responsibility.

But here’s the thing: During the run-up to the crisis, as financial abuses proliferated, the Fed did nothing. In particular, it ignored warnings about subprime lending. So it was striking that in his testimony Mr. Bernanke didn’t acknowledge that failure, didn’t explain why it happened, and gave no reason to believe that the Fed would behave differently in the future. His message boiled down to “We know what we’re doing — trust us.”

As I said, the Fed has returned to a dangerous complacency.

And then there’s unemployment. The economy may not have collapsed, but it’s in terrible shape, with job-seekers outnumbering job openings six to one. Nor does Mr. Bernanke expect any quick improvement: last month, while predicting that unemployment will fall, he conceded that the rate of decline will be “slower than we would like.” So what does he propose doing to create jobs?

Nothing. Mr. Bernanke has offered no hint that he feels the need to adopt policies that might bring unemployment down faster. Instead, he has responded to suggestions for further Fed action with boilerplate about “the anchoring of inflation expectations.” It’s harsh but true to say that he’s acting as if it’s Mission Accomplished now that the big banks have been rescued.

What happened here? My sense is that Mr. Bernanke, like so many people who work closely with the financial sector, has ended up seeing the world through bankers’ eyes. The same can be said about Timothy Geithner, the Treasury secretary, and Larry Summers, the Obama administration’s top economist. But they’re not up before the Senate, while Mr. Bernanke is.

Given that, why not reject Mr. Bernanke? There are other people with the intellectual heft and policy savvy to take on his role: among the possible choices would be my Princeton colleague Alan Blinder, a former Fed vice chairman, and Janet Yellen, the president of the San Francisco Fed.

But — and here comes my defense of a Bernanke reappointment — any good alternative for the position would face a bruising fight in the Senate. And choosing a bad alternative would have truly dire consequences for the economy.

Furthermore, policy decisions at the Fed are made by committee vote. And while Mr. Bernanke seems insufficiently concerned about unemployment and too concerned about inflation, many of his colleagues are worse. Replacing him with someone less established, with less ability to sway the internal discussion, could end up strengthening the hands of the inflation hawks and doing even more damage to job creation.

That’s not a ringing endorsement, but it’s the best I can do.

If Mr. Bernanke is reappointed, he and his colleagues need to realize that what they consider a policy success is actually a policy failure. We have avoided a second Great Depression, but we are facing mass unemployment — unemployment that will blight the lives of millions of Americans — for years to come. And it’s the Fed’s responsibility to do all it can to end that blight.

FP morning brief 1/25

Haiti rescue effort winds down, tens of thousands left homeless

---

Top story: The search for survivors from the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake officially ended over the weekend and with a few exceptions, search-and-rescue efforts are winding down throughout the country. Aid groups' new priority is finding shelter for the estimated 600,000 people left homeless in Port-au-Prince, living in squalid makeshift camps.

“Tents, tents, tents,” said a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration. “That’s the word we want to get out.We need tents." The group says it currently has around 20,000 family-sized tents but needs 100,000 to shelter 500,000 people.

Canada is hosting an international meeting in Montreal today to discuss international support for Haiti's recovery. Attendees include Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Belerive and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Pressure is growing on Haiti's creditors to cancel Haiti's debt.

There is also a growing call for the U.S. to allow in more Haitian immigrants. The government has taken in children already on the cusp of adoption and granted a reprieve for Haitians already in the United States illegally, but 55,000 Haitians have been approved for U.S. visas but are currently on waiting lists because of quotas.

Summit watch: The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan meet for talks in Istanbul today.

---

Middle East Three large explosions hit Baghdad this morning. Osama bin Laden endorsed the Christmas Day plane bombing attempt in a new audio message. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that some West Bank settlement would always remain a part of Israel. Asia An opponent of relocating the U.S. military base on Okinawa won a closely watched mayor's race. A Burmese government minister said that democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be freed in November. Afghanistan postponed its parliamentary elections from May until September. Europe Northern Ireland's power-sharing government is teetering on the bring of collapse over a dispute about control over the justice system. A French parliamentary committee will recommend banning the wearing of face-covering veils in public facilities. Gunmen attacked the apartment of a militant Kurdish cleric in Oslo. Americas Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered a television taken off the air after it refused to show his speeches. Police were called to prevent the head of Argentina's central bank from returning to his office after a court ruling ordered him to step down. The United States is seeking to extradite the former president of Guatemala on money-laundering charges. Africa A Nigerian Anglican bishop was kidnapped after saying mass amidst worsening religious violence that killed hundreds last week. Sudan set a two-month deadline for negotiations with Darfur rebels. Two Algerians held at Guantanamo Bay have been transferred home. By Joshua Keating

The Stupidity of Crowds: Lame Haiti Tweets America's Credibility Takes Another Hit The 10 Worst Chinese Cyber Attacks Bling and Repression in Vietnam

McClatchy Washington report 1/25

Top Story

• 

  Goodbye, Africa: Reflections on a continent

  I was going home. McClatchy was closing the Africa bureau and diverting its resources to a new bureau in Afghanistan. But as I packed, I couldn't help but think that we were turning our backs on a continent that's always needed more media attention, not less.

Spotlight

• Lack of construction codes sealed Haitian capital's fate

  Most buildings in Haiti go up without engineers, standards or inspections. The earthquake is only the latest, and worst, tragedy to expose the largely unregulated and slapdash construction long accepted on the island — practices that structural engineers believe added to a staggering death toll that could reach 200,000.

Latest Headlines

• Senate Democrats ready to send more stimulus funds to states

  Stung by a Republican win in a special Senate election in Massachusetts and the loss of their critical 60-seat majority, Democrats are putting a new stimulus and jobs bill on the legislative front burner, temporarily bumping health care reform aside. Senate Democrats are expected to unveil their $170 billion or so package this week.

• S.C. Lt. Gov. Bauer likens people on public assistance to 'stray animals'

  South Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said Saturday he could have chosen his words more carefully when he compared people who take public assistance to stray animals. But Bauer, who's running for governor, said now is the time to start talking about something that others are unwilling to tackle.

• GOP takes aim at unseating Missouri Democrat Ike Skelton

  As last week's political shock wave from Massachusetts rolls across the country, Missouri's heartland could begin to feel the impact. Will it be strong enough to topple Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, one of the most senior lawmakers in Congress and a respected figure on both sides of the aisle?

• Lobbying, global warming portend nuclear comeback

  The Obama administration soon may guarantee as much as $18.5 billion in loans to build new nuclear reactors to generate electricity, and Congress is considering whether to add billions more to support an expansion of nuclear power. Nuclear power generates about 20 percent of America's electricity, but many existing reactors are aging and no new plant has been authorized in decades.

• Polluted Kansas town's residents may get buyouts this summer

  Residents in the polluted town of Treece could start seeing offers for their property as soon as this summer if the state can agree to fund one-tenth of a $3.5 million buyout and appoint trustees to oversee the relocation, officials said.

• Haitian amputees face uncertain future

  Airport lawn-care man Basaney Simon lost his right leg in last week's earthquake. He fears it will cost him his job. He will struggle to rehabilitate in a city that thrives on physical labor, and doctors are predicting that many amputees will languish or even die without proper follow-up care, or access to prosthetic limbs or crutches.

• California's prison population reduction plan begins

  California's controversial plan to reduce its prison population by 6,500 inmates over the next year begins today, with victims and law enforcement groups once again warning it will increase crime.

• Group wants more citizens monitoring trans-Alaska oil pipeline

  Environmentalists, fishermen and others in the Copper River region are spearheading a new effort to boost citizen monitoring of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

• Analyst: Texas voters' discontent growing

  Brooding discontent, fanned by the nation's economic woes, is emerging as a driving force in the 2010 elections as voters put incumbents and establishment politicians on notice that they will no longer tolerate business as usual. Political analysts believe that voter disenchantment among Republicans and conservative independents is fueling the candidacy of Debra Medina, the third contender in the GOP gubernatorial race dominated by Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

• Commentary: Two examples of anti-abortion extremism

  Just as the Scott Roeder murder trial gets under way in Wichita, Phil Kline surfaces again. So fate allows for putting him in his place — somewhere on the continuum of abortion opposition, from its reasonable and thoughtful opponents, to the unethical and righteous to the insane and violent.

  Roeder, the confessed killer of abortionist George Tiller, obviously sits at the most violent point on the spectrum.

Justice Stevens disagrees

The real issue in this case concerns how, not if, the appellant may finance its electioneering. Citizens United is a wealthy nonprofit corporation that runs a political action committee (PAC) with millions of dollars in assets. Under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), it could have used those assets to televise and promote Hillary: The Movie wherever and whenever it wanted to. It also could have spent unrestricted sums to broadcast Hillary at any time other than the 30 daysbefore the last primary election. Neither Citizens United’s nor any other corporation’s speech has been “banned,” ante, at 1. All that the parties dispute is whether Citizens United had a right to use the funds in its general treasury to pay for broadcasts during the 30-day period. The notion that the First Amendment dictates an affirmative answer to that question is, in my judgment, profoundly misguided. Even more misguided is the notion that the Court must rewrite the law relating to campaign expenditures by for-profit corporations and unions to decide this case.

Justice Stevens' full opinion

Truthout 1/24

Michael Winship | Progressives: Don't Mourn, Organize
Michael Winship, Truthout: "Tragic events continuing out of Haiti make all the bad news for progressives this week wither in comparison. Nonetheless, over these last few days, for liberals in particular, there has been no joy in Mudville - aka American politics."
Read the Article

Greg Palast | The Supreme Court Just Handed Anyone, Including bin Laden or the Chinese Government, Control of Our Democracy
Greg Palast, AlterNet: "The Court's decision is far, far more dangerous to US democracy. Think: Manchurian candidates."
Read the Article

Invasion of the Body Scanners
Randall Amster J.D., Ph.D., Truthout: "The concept of 'stimulus' may soon take on new connotations in the days ahead. The federal government is poised to emplace full-body scanners at airports across the nation, capable of peering under a person's garments. As noted by a former Cabinet member, this new technology 'will give us the ability to see what someone has concealed underneath their clothing.' The prurient implications of this startling revelation are obvious, and one can only marvel at the full cultural import of widely available 'x-ray vision' technology being deployed. Indeed, for those who remember the old X-ray Specs advertised on the back of comic books to see through women's clothes, it is apparently a longstanding boyhood fantasy now set to become national policy. This is essentially a form of high-tech voyeurism masking as security, and it portends more such incursions into liberty and privacy. How did it come to this, and so suddenly at that?"
Read the Article

William Astore | Corporations Are Citizens - What Are We?"
William Astore, Truthout: "This week's Supreme Court ruling that corporations are protected by 'free speech' rights and can contribute enormous sums of money to influence elections is a de jure endorsement of the de facto dominance of corporations over our lives. Indeed, corporations are the new citizens of this country, and ordinary Americans, who used to be known as 'citizens,' now fall into three categories: consumers, warriors and prisoners."
Read the Article

Marijuana in the Classroom? Sometimes It's Legal
Brad Knickerbocker, The Christian Science Monitor: "Medical marijuana legally prescribed to young people is showing up in classrooms. This is putting teachers and principals in a new and challenging position."
Read the Article

Stephen Crockett | No More Senate Super Majority Illusion
Stephen Crockett, Truthout: "There is very little upside to the election of a Republican far right senator to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) for Democrats, progressives and reformers. My list is very short: (1) everyone should now understand that we never had a real workable Senate Super Majority to begin with despite all the media hype, (2) watering down progressive legislation has now been shown to produce electoral defeat for Democrats and (3) Democratic candidates at all levels can now clearly see that they will suffer if Democratic House and Senate members do not start acting more aggressively in opposition to Republican actions and spin."
Read the Article

US Lends Firepower to Yemen Fight
Haley Sweetland Edwards, GlobalPost: "Yemeni policemen sprinted up a rocky dirt road, firing AK-47s, lobbing grenades and detonating explosives at a cinderblock house, a supposed Al Qaeda hideout."
Read the Article

Soldiers' Wives: Fighting Mental, Emotional Battles of Their Own
Brad Knickerbocker, The Christian Science Monitor: "A new study shows higher levels of depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders among Army wives whose husbands have had lengthy deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. New programs aim to help, but there's a stigma in a professional culture that values toughness."
Read the Article

GOP Hopeful: People on Public Assistance "Like Stray Animals"
Nathaniel Cary, McClatchy Newspapers: "Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has compared giving people government assistance to 'feeding stray animals.'"
Read the Article

Ruth Marcus | A Case of Shoddy Scholarship
Ruth Marcus, Truthout: "In opening the floodgates for corporate money in election campaigns, the Supreme Court did not simply engage in a brazen power grab. It did so in an opinion stunning in its intellectual dishonesty."
Read the Article

Time for Change
Le Monde: "Barack Obama was preparing to celebrate the first anniversary of his presidency with relative confidence and the feeling of a job fulfilled. Specifically, he was counting on getting the definitive Senate vote on the emblematic reform of the health care system in very short order, which was the great political battle of his first year in the White House."
Read the Article

Eugene Robinson | Will Obama Fight for Health Care Reform?
Eugene Robinson, Truthout: "If President Obama has decided to give up on health care reform, he should just come out and say so. Then we could all get on with our lives -- those of us with health insurance, that is. But I don't see how his talk about some sort of slimmed-down package, reduced to its "core elements," could possibly inspire Democrats in Congress to do anything but run for the hills."
Read the Article

Democrats on the verge of full-fledged retreat

After one bad Senate election, most Democrats in Washington are on the verge of full-fledged retreat and everything we've fought for together hangs in the balance.

President Obama has signaled he's open to dramatically scaling back health care reform. The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee says he might gut the financial reform bill to appease Republicans. And on top of all that, the Supreme Court just opened the floodgates of corporate cash on politics!

Retreat is exactly the wrong message for Democrats to take from recent election losses. The lesson from Massachusetts is that voters want more change -- not less. It's time for Democrats to stand up to corporate interests and fight for working families by passing healthcare reform and taking on Wall Street.

So Democracy for America members are joining with our friends at MoveOn in organizing emergency rallies nationwide on Tuesday to demand Democrats show backbone and leadership -- starting with passage of real healthcare reform.

FIND AN EMERGENCY RALLY NEAR YOU

We need a big turnout to show Democrats we're still waiting on them to deliver the change we voted for on healthcare and everything else.

Make no mistake; Democrats still have the ability to pass healthcare reform and other progressive legislation. Even after last Tuesday's election loss, Democrats still have larger majorities in Congress than Republicans ever did under George W. Bush.

All Democrats in Washington need is to show some backbone. It's up to us to demand they use it, becuase progressives don't retreat -- we lead.

ATTEND AN EMERGENCY RALLY ON TUESDAY

Thank you for everything you do,

-Charles

Charles Chamberlain, Political Director
Democracy for America

Truthout 1/23

Rubbing Salt in Guantanamo's Wounds: Task Force Announces Indefinite Detentions
"With a stunning lack of sensitivity, President Barack Obama's Guantanamo Review Task Force chose the anniversary of the president's failed promise to close the prison to announce its conclusions regarding the eventual fate of 196 prisoners ... the Task Force said, with no trace of irony, that 'nearly 50' of the men still imprisoned at Guantanamo 'should be held indefinitely without trial under the laws of war.'"
Read the Article

CIA and Intelligence Community Mythologies
Melvin A. Goodman, Truthout: "It is time for serious soul-searching regarding the role of the CIA and the intelligence community. Last month's operational and intelligence failures led to the deaths of seven CIA officers in Afghanistan and might have resulted in nearly 300 deaths on a Northwest Airlines plane headed for Detroit."
Read the Article

Funding Public Health Care With a Publicly Owned Bank: How Canada Did It
Ellen Hodgson Brown J.D., Truthout: "When Canada first launched its national health service, the funding came from money created by its own central bank. Canada's innovative funding model is one that could still be followed by a president committed to delivering on his promises."
Read the Article

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Confirms Blackwater in Pakistan
Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports: "In an interview with the Pakistani TV station Express TV, Defense Secretary Robert Gates confirmed that the private security firms Blackwater and DynCorp are operating inside Pakistan."
Read the Article

Facing Frustrated Voters, More Senators Oppose Bernanke
David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers: "Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke's prospects for a second term became shakier Friday as two Senate Democrats, furious at his stewardship during the nation's economic crisis, said they'd oppose him."
Read the Article

Clinton Bluntly Condemns China on Internet Censorship
Peter Ford, The Christian Science Monitor: "Hillary Clinton's fierce condemnation of Internet censorship in a speech Thursday, and her strong support for Google in its clash with Beijing, puts Washington on a collision course with China on a key issue of principle."
Read the Article

GRITtv: Is it Fair to Compare Haiti to New Orleans?
Laura Flanders, host of GRITtv, speaks with Monika Kalra Varma, Melissa Harris-Lacewell and James Perry.
Read the Article

Guantanamo Is Still Open: Obama's Unfinished Human Rights Agenda
Stephen Rohde, The Los Angeles Daily Journal: "One year ago today, President Barack Obama promised to close the Guantanamo detention camp, as soon as possible and in 'no later than 1 year.' Guantanamo is still open."
Read the Article

Facebook, Orkut and the Caste System
Hanna Ingber Win, GlobalPost: "The ancient Indian custom of caste has made its way into the modern world of social media."
Read the Article

ACORN Controversy: An Interview With CEO Bertha Lewis (Video)
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has been a prime target for conservative groups and politicians. Truthout sat down with Bertha Lewis, CEO and chief organizer for ACORN to discuss the recent events and the state of the organization.
Read the Article

----------

Join With Us to Stop Neuromarketing!

Advertisers and Politicians Hunt for the "Buy Button" in Your Brain

Video and Petition

Who's sorry now? or, The hubris of Edwards and Obama

Don Wheeler

Dustin Blythe and I were Co-Chairs of the local John Edwards 2008 volunteer service/campaign organization. Recently he wrote to me (and others):

Just when I thought that the alleged revelations about Elizabeth Edwards in the new book "Game Change" were bad enough, John Edwards comes out and tops them.

The latest bombshell, which really is not a bombshell as much as it is a confirmation of everyone's hunch, has given a hellish story new life.

I told a friend of mine that when this subject comes up, I sometimes wish I had been an Obama or Clinton supporter. If I were, I could read this stuff, shake my head and move on. Instead, revelations like this rip the stitches out of an old wound.

Now I'm not sure if some of this is tongue-in-cheek, but if it isn't I'm a bit surprised. Dustin and I each worked on the Iowa caucuses (separately), and I found a real difference in the camps of supporters of each of the three major primary candidates. For Hillary and especially Barack, supporters tended towards a worshipful attitude. There was a bit of that in the Edwards camp but more people (including me) were motivated by an aggressive, progressive agenda and in particular Edwards' effort to bring poverty issues to the forefront. Something that hadn't been done in major election since the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

I'm sure one aspect that bugs Dustin and others is the way that tidbits of the Edwards saga keep trickling out. It's in the interests of gossip columnists like Emily Miller and others to do so. But the real story is about two stupid, hubris-filled choices made by John Edwards. The first, to enter into an affair with Reille Hunter and the second to think he could keep that a secret. Everything that followed is the logical result of those two blunders. No matter what Edwards may or not have wanted to do he (as an attorney) knew he couldn't go public until formal agreements were made with Ms. Hunter about the financial support of their child. Finally he and we can move on.

I don't take any of this personally. I worked to further an agenda I believe in and it changed my life. I have become much more involved in social action campaigns and can point to a few small achievements along the way. It feels good and it wouldn't have happened if Edwards hadn't run for President.

People like to chide me by saying "Yeah, but what if he'd won the primary? Then McCain would have won! What about that?"

Edwards had pretty much no chance to win the primary and what little chance he had vanished when he failed to win Iowa. His campaign was designed to defeat Hillary Clinton and he probably had a decent shot at beating her one-on-one. But when Obama entered the race the Edwards campaign didn't have an answer. In one of the more curious tactics I have ever seen, the Obama campaign managed to wrest the label of change agent away from Edwards - even though their candidate was a bit more conservative than Clinton. Edwards had been flanked and had to end his campaign very early.

So when Dustin says he sometimes wishes he had been a Clinton or Obama supporter, I feel his pain. But I feel even sorrier for the starry-eyed Obama supporters at this point.

What's come to pass was pretty predictable. President Obama has indeed tried to be a change agent, but because he is actually a moderate things haven't gone so well. His stimulus plan was a help, but far less than what was needed. He failed to provide leadership on health care, and is now left holding the bag - the only one in power talking tough about implementing it. He's taken a run at addressing climate change, banking regulation, etc. He's redesigned the war in Afghanistan. In short, he's tried to address a huge array of issues foreign and domestic and has little to show for it - other than declining popularity.

This is also hubris. It's just not possible to make huge changes in so many things at once. The only effective approach is to focus on a very small number of challenges, put maximun effort into them and see it through to the end. That will build the confidence of the electorate and THEN the team can move on to other projects.

So I really feel for those people who put their souls into getting Obama elected. His inner circle needs to huddle with Congressional leaders and plot a new strategy. Otherwise, little he intends to accomplish may come to pass.

John Edwards has been quietly working on relief efforts overseas and now is in Haiti. Maybe his nightmare is ending. President Obama, I fear, may have tougher days ahead.

Common Dreams headlines 1/22

Lobbyists Get Potent Weapon in Campaign Finance Ruling
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/22-1

Last Decade Warmest Ever: NASA
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/22-5

RFK, Jr., Coal Baron Spar Over Mountaintop Removal, Climate Change
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/22-2

Judges Urge Congress to Act on Indefinite Terrorism Detentions
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/22-7

One Quarter of US Grain Crops Fed to Cars - Not People, New Figures Show
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/22-3

US Policy in Gaza Remains Unchanged
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/22-6

Truthout 1/22

Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, which allows corporate cash to flood into our electoral process and further infect our failing democracy, is an astounding wake-up call. We encourage you, our readers, to get involved and join the effort to fight back against the five justices who decided to throw away a century of precedent.

This ruling re-emphasizes the need for an independent, noncorporate media infrastructure, which can bring you reliable reporting on influence peddling and campaign finance. We at Truthout plan to make this a priority.

It is plain to see that 2010 is going to be a monumental year in politics, both domestic and international, and Truthout is prepared to take on the big issues. Next week, we will be asking you to join with us in this effort by contributing to our cause. We need your investment to bring you honest, trustworthy news and information in this critical new era.

Friday 22 January 2010

Supreme Court Shreds Campaign-Finance Laws, Lifts Corporate Spending Restrictions
Ferguson, Leopold and Berlin, Truthout: "In a sweeping 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down several longstanding prohibitions on corporate political contributions, saying legislative measures to control such spending infringed upon corporate First Amendment free speech rights."
Read the Article
Digg this Article

Advertisers and Politicians Hunt for the "Buy-Button" in Your Brain
World Business Academy, Truthout: "Guard your reptilian brain. Corporations and politicians are trying to tap into it to use the latest brain research and sales techniques to influence your buying and voting patterns."
Read the Article

Obama Proposes Tough New Restrictions for Nation's Top Banks
William Fisher, Truthout: "On the heels of a stinging defeat in the Massachusetts Senatorial race that dealt a major blow to passage of health care legislation, President Obama abruptly pivoted yesterday to change the subject to the state of the US economy and to back sweeping regulatory reforms on 'too big to fail' banks."
Read the Article

Prolonged Deployment Associated With More Mental Health Problems Among Army Wives
Mary Susan Littlepage, Truthout: "Prolonged deployment was associated with more mental health diagnoses among US Army wives, according to a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine."
Read the Article

Court Rules Ex-Guantanamo Prosecutor Likely Fired for Speaking Out About Military Commissions
Yana Kunichoff, Truthout: "In a final blow to the decision by the Library of Congress to fire the former Guantanamo prosecutor Col. Morris Davis, the 20th Federal Court has ruled Wednesday that the termination of Davis' employment following opinion articles he published in two national newspapers likely violated his rights."
Read the Article

Air America Shuts Down
Brian Stelter, The New York Times: "Air America, the progressive talk radio network, said Thursday that it would cease broadcasting immediately, bowing to what it called a 'very difficult economic environment.'"
Read the Article

Who's Activist Now? The Roberts Court
Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers: "During his 2005 Senate confirmation hearing, Roberts assured lawmakers that he would strive to achieve more unified court decisions. He further insisted that 'judges have to have the humility to recognize that they operate within a system of precedent' that binds the court."
Read the Article

Watchdog Says FBI Broke Law, Made Up Phony Terrorist Threats to Obtain Phone Records
Kyle Berlin, Truthout: "The FBI illegally obtained thousands of private phone records from telecommunications companies during the Bush administration's tenure in office, according to a report released Wednesday by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General."
Read the Article

After Massachusetts: Will Democrats Heed Call From Left, Unions for Populist Agenda?
Art Levine, In These Times: "From union leaders like the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka to progressive advocates at the Campaign for America's Future, the lessons from the Massachusetts shellacking are crystal clear: the need to push ahead with a strong populist agenda, including healthcare reform and jobs creation, instead of kow-towing to corporate interests and center-right Democrats with weak proposals that only fuel voter anger."
Read the Article

Roe v. Wade 30 Years Later: The Science on "Fetal Personhood" Hasn't Changed
Lynn Paltrow, RH Reality Check: "According to PersonhoodUSA, one of the reasons Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided is that the Court did not have available to it the 'well-known facts of fetal development.' ... Today, on the thirty-seventh anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we thought it would be valuable to fact check that claim."
Read the Article

Building Hope in the Time of Obama
Joseph Nevins, Truthout: "The mayor of my town just north of New York City lives one street away. He was - until last month - a visibly proud supporter of Barack Obama: more than a year after the presidential election, his front porch displayed a couple of Obama campaign posters with words like 'hope' and 'change' on them, along with an American flag with a peace sign in place of the fifty stars. For unknown reasons, the posters and the flag are no longer there."
Read the Article

Civil rights long overdue in America for LGBT

VIEWPOINT
South Bend Tribune

By MARTHA CARROLL

A civil rights bill currently before Congress will, if passed, protect citizens from discrimination. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act seeks to prohibit the discriminatory treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees in the workplace. In 29 states, including Indiana and Michigan, it is currently legal to fire, refuse to hire or deny a promotion to lesbian, gay and bisexual workers; discrimination based on a person's real or perceived gender identity is tolerated in 38 states.

Too many of us know firsthand the devastating effects the loss of a job can have on individuals, families and communities. Loss of a job because of discrimination against one's identity results in an even more devastating sense of personal loss and humiliation. This prejudice is not benign. I experienced such discrimination many years ago. I know personally what it is like to be unemployed and unable to care for my child financially. How frustrating that it wasn't because of anything other than discrimination based on my sexual orientation.

People in Michiana continue to experience such discrimination today. ENDA provides our nation with the opportunity to correct an injustice that has stained our moral conscience for too long. ENDA represents fundamentally American and Christian values.

Some religious voices would have you believe otherwise. They claim ENDA threatens religious freedom in America. That is simply not true.

ENDA explicitly exempts the employment practices of any religious organization. This means churches, including mine, do not fall under the jurisdiction of this law. Similarly, parochial schools and seminaries, religious corporations, federations, societies and most religious day care centers, bookstores and media outlets are also exempt from hiring LGBT employees if it violates the organization's doctrine. In so doing, this legislation deliberately defends the freedoms of faith and conscience afforded by the First Amendment. I do not agree with some of my colleagues' teachings regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, but I respect their right to the free exercise of religion, as I do my own.

My faith, moved by the teachings of Christ and the life of compassion he modeled, requires me to speak out for justice on behalf of all who are socially and economically marginalized in our society. Time and again the gospels remind us that whatever wrong we do to the "least of these" we do unto Christ. As Christians we are bound to one another, to God, and people of all faiths when we honor the commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself." As heirs to these prophetic traditions we must demand equality for all in the American work force.

It is through work that we express our basic humanity and are able to contribute to the common good of our nation. The government has an obligation to remove barriers, especially those that deny employees the ability to contribute fully to their job.

Judging workers on anything less than their merits and talents is unethical, un-American, and in direct contradiction to Christian values.

It's long past time that we expand employment non-discrimination laws to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. I urge my fellow residents in South Bend and all of Michiana to honor the value of work and the inherent dignity of all their neighbors by supporting LGBT equality and this vital legislation.

Call your legislators and express your support for ENDA today!

Martha Carroll is minister at Southside Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in South Bend.

FP morning post 1/22

With aid flowing, attention turns to Haiti's homeless

---

Top news: Several additional options have been added for bringing much-needed foreign aid into Haiti. The U.S. military has begun using two additional airfields to bring in aid, one in the neighboring Dominican Republic and one south of devastated Port-au-Prince. Additionally, Port-au-Prince's earthquake damaged seaport has been partially reopened and will be able to handle around 250 shipping containers of aid per day, starting today.

With aid now flowing more freely, attention is turning to the plight of Haiti's nearly 1 million new homeless. There are reports that the government plans to move as many as 400,000 people to tent villages being set up on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. The tents will not be habitable by May when Haiti's hurricane season starts, but aid groups say they have little choice at this point.

The U.S. Navy is also setting up tents at its base in Guantanamo Bay, preparing for a possible influx of Haitians. The base is currently being used as a staging ground for aid flights into the country.

Environment: The past decade was the warmest on record, according to NASA data.

---

Asia The United States will, for the first time, provide aerial spy drones to Pakistan. The Chinese government denounced Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech on internet freedom yesterday. A Filipino militant is believed to have been killed in a drone strike in Pakistan. Middle East Turkey arrested 120 people suspected of links to al Qaeda. Iraq plans to ban more candidates from upcoming parliamentary elections. Iran is denying reports that its tourism minister shook the hand of his Israeli counterpart at a conference. Americas Interim Honduran President Robert Micheletti has left office six days before his successor is sworn in. A deal has been reached to allow ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya leave for the Dominican Republic. Bolivian President Evo Morales has condemned the U.S. "occupation" of Haiti. Europe Poland is planning to deploy U.S.-made surface-to-air missiles near the Russian border. Just weeks before the general election, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will appear before a panel to discuss his role in planning for the Iraq war. 100 likely Kurdish refuges landed on the shore of Corsica. Africa Under a new law, Angola's president will be picked by the parliament rather than popular vote. A court has ordered Nigeria's cabinet to decide within 14 days whether President Umaru Yar'Adua is fit to lead. Nicolas Sarkozy will travel to Rwanda next month, the first visit by a French president since the 1994 genocide. -By Joshua Keating

Clinton Still Doesn’t Get the Internet Bling and Repression in Vietnam Did Israel Really Get It Wrong in Gaza? Why Gandhi's Hookworms Matter

Logan Abassi/MINUSTAH via Getty Images

Do the Right Thing

By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times

A message to House Democrats: This is your moment of truth. You can do the right thing and pass the Senate health care bill. Or you can look for an easy way out, make excuses and fail the test of history.

Tuesday’s Republican victory in the Massachusetts special election means that Democrats can’t send a modified health care bill back to the Senate. That’s a shame because the bill that would have emerged from House-Senate negotiations would have been better than the bill the Senate has already passed. But the Senate bill is much, much better than nothing. And all that has to happen to make it law is for the House to pass the same bill, and send it to President Obama’s desk.

Right now, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, says that she doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate bill. But there is no good alternative.

Some are urging Democrats to scale back their proposals in the hope of gaining Republican support. But anyone who thinks that would work must have spent the past year living on another planet.

The fact is that the Senate bill is a centrist document, which moderate Republicans should find entirely acceptable. In fact, it’s very similar to the plan Mitt Romney introduced in Massachusetts just a few years ago. Yet it has faced lock-step opposition from the G.O.P., which is determined to prevent Democrats from achieving any successes. Why would this change now that Republicans think they’re on a roll?

Alternatively, some call for breaking the health care plan into pieces so that the Senate can vote the popular pieces into law. But anyone who thinks that would work hasn’t paid attention to the actual policy issues.

Think of health care reform as being like a three-legged stool. You would, rightly, ridicule anyone who proposed saving money by leaving off one or two of the legs. Well, those who propose doing only the popular pieces of health care reform deserve the same kind of ridicule. Reform won’t work unless all the essential pieces are in place.

Suppose, for example, that Congress took the advice of those who want to ban insurance discrimination on the basis of medical history, and stopped there. What would happen next? The answer, as any health care economist will tell you, is that if Congress didn’t simultaneously require that healthy people buy insurance, there would be a “death spiral”: healthier Americans would choose not to buy insurance, leading to high premiums for those who remain, driving out more people, and so on.

And if Congress tried to avoid the death spiral by requiring that healthy Americans buy insurance, it would have to offer financial aid to lower-income families to make that insurance affordable — aid at least as generous as that in the Senate bill. There just isn’t any way to do reform on a smaller scale.

So reaching out to Republicans won’t work, and neither will trying to pass only the crowd-pleasing pieces of reform. What about the suggestion that Democrats use reconciliation — the Senate procedure for finalizing budget legislation, which bypasses the filibuster — to enact health reform?

That’s a real option, which may become necessary (and could be used to improve the Senate bill after the fact). But reconciliation, which is basically limited to matters of taxing and spending, probably can’t be used to enact many important aspects of reform. In fact, it’s not even clear if it could be used to ban discrimination based on medical history.

Finally, some Democrats want to just give up on the whole thing.

That would be an act of utter political folly. It wouldn’t protect Democrats from charges that they voted for “socialist” health care — remember, both houses of Congress have already passed reform. All it would do is solidify the public perception of Democrats as hapless and ineffectual.

And anyway, politics is supposed to be about achieving something more than your own re-election. America desperately needs health care reform; it would be a betrayal of trust if Democrats fold simply because they hope (wrongly) that this would slightly reduce their losses in the midterm elections.

Now, part of Democrats’ problem since Tuesday’s special election has been that they have been waiting in vain for leadership from the White House, where Mr. Obama has conspicuously failed to rise to the occasion.

But members of Congress, who were sent to Washington to serve the public, don’t have the right to hide behind the president’s passivity.

Bear in mind that the horrors of health insurance — outrageous premiums, coverage denied to those who need it most and dropped when you actually get sick — will get only worse if reform fails, and insurance companies know that they’re off the hook. And voters will blame politicians who, when they had a chance to do something, made excuses instead.

Ladies and gentlemen, the nation is waiting. Stop whining, and do what needs to be done.

Read All Comments (28) »

McClatchy Washington report 1/22

Top Story

• Ruling could magnify special interests' role in U.S. politics

  The Supreme Court's ruling Thursday lifting longtime limits on corporate and union campaign spending could ratchet up special-interest pressure on lawmakers dramatically and change the way campaigns are conducted. But corporations are already giving a lot: The Center for Responsive Politics reports that so far in the 2010 election cycle, business political action committees have given a total of $115.9 million, 57 percent of it to Democrats.

Spotlight

• Tough economy expected to spark surge in tax refund loans

  Liberty Tax Service, the nation's fastest-growing tax preparation chain, reports that sales of refund loans already are running 10 percent ahead of last season. But are the loans a good deal? They're very profitable for the companies that make them, but consumers may be better served to avoid the fees and wait the 10 days for their refund from the government.

Latest Headlines

• U.S. opens Haiti port as officials seek housing for survivors

  The United States has 20 ships off Haiti's coast and has been airlifting supplies to four central hubs established by the United Nations. The partial opening of Port-au-Prince's harbor will let the U.S. unload 100 to 150 containers a day, helping to speed aid to the country.

• Obama, Biden to tout economic recovery plans in Tampa Bay

  President Barack Obama is slated to appear in the Tampa Bay area on Thursday, one day after the State of the Union address and nearly one year after he pitched his economic stimulus plan in Florida. Vice President Joe Biden, who visited Miami Saturday to show the administration's commitment to Haiti's recovery, is scheduled to join the president.

• California's medical marijuana possession limits are dropped

  The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state cannot impose legal limits on the amount of pot that medical marijuana users can grow or possess. In a ruling certain to exacerbate debate over the governance of medical marijuana in California, the court threw out legislation that limited medical pot users to 8 ounces of dried marijuana and six mature or 12 immature marijuana plants.

• Who's activist now? In election spending case, conservatives

  The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision Thursday to lift long-standing limits on corporate campaign spending exposes how the court's stark ideological divide is stronger than Chief Justice John G. Roberts' stated fealty to precedence and consensus building. It's a markedly activist decision, going well beyond what the justices were asked to do.

• Ruffin Poole, aide to ex-N.C. Gov. Easley, indicted on 51 charges

  Ruffin Poole, a longtime senior aide to former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, corrupted his office by taking trips, liquor, money and other gifts from people he helped with state government action, a federal grand jury charged Thursday. Poole was charged with 51 counts that include extortion, bribery, racketeering, fraud, money laundering and engaging in transactions in "criminally derived" property. Many of the charges in the indictment from the grand jury flow from Poole's interference in environmental permits, in some cases for projects in which he had invested.

• Air Force's 1963 film may have been an answer to 'Dr. Strangelove'

  "SAC Command Post," an 18-minute film made in 1963 belittling the possibility of an unauthorized U.S. nuclear strike, has been unearthed at the National Archives in College Park, Md. There's no evidence that the film was ever released publicly. The film may have been produced to counter Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove," — a film about a rogue Air Force general, Jack Ripper, who is convinced that fluoridated water is a communist plot, and orders a nuclear attack on the Soviets, triggering Armageddon.

• Hutchison to get elder Bush's endorsement for Texas governor

  Former President George H.W. Bush is expected to endorse Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for Texas governor today in Houston, but his face was all over television statewide about 12 years ago stumping for the man Hutchison is challenging: incumbent Rick Perry, when he was running for lieutenant governor.

• Supreme Court's corporate campaign spending ruling draws praise, criticism

  The U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday allowing unlimited political campaign spending by corporations and labor unions is expected to affect state and local races and could mean immense amounts of money pouring into this year's race for governor, said key Alaska Republicans and Democrats, who had very different takes on whether the decision is good or bad.

• EPA indicates Chevron was aware it violated Clean Air Act

  Search warrants served on two Cook Inlet oil facilities in Alaska last week were based on federal environmental regulators' suspicions that Chevron Corp. had knowingly violated its air pollution permits and made false statements, court filings show.

• Commentary: Some conservatives have an 'obscene' view of Haiti's suffering

  As Haiti reeled and staggered and the rest of the world rushed to the aid of a humble, beleaguered people, two icons of American conservatism reared up last week and offered analyses of the earthquake that has devastated the impoverished island nation. It left me wondering, just for the briefest of seconds, whether conservatism has a conscience, whether conservatism has a soul.

  It has become routine that after disasters both natural and human, icons of conservatism spout hateful, hurtful, cynical words, words that belittle the victims and trivialize the suffering.

John Edwards Goes to Haiti, White House Silent

Michelle Levi
CBS News


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Former presidential candidate John Edwards, in the news today for his admission that he was the father of Rielle Hunter's daughter, is now in Haiti helping with earthquake relief efforts.

He said he had come with a group of 25 to 30 people, including doctors, and had brought supplies and medicine in an effort to "help in whatever way we can."

"We're going to do a variety of things, we're gonna get our intelligence, make sure we know where the medicine needs to go, which facilities can do the most good, where are other supplies – generators, food, water, water purifiers, where they can go and be distributed in the best way," Edwards said upon landing in the country. "And we're gonna figure out which places the physicians can provide the most help."

"Once we do all that, we're also gonna go to some places, for example, some of the street schools that we've been involved with in the past, that we understand have been destroyed, to see what rebuilding needs to start," he continued.

A senior administration official told CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder that Edwards, who visited Haiti a year ago, had informed the Obama White House that he wanted to go to Haiti and help out before the trip.

"I am told that this declaration was met with silence," Ambinder told CBSNews.com.

Asked about his admission of paternity, Edwards said, "I've said what I have to say for now and I'm here to help people."

Edwards' wife Elizabeth told the Charlotte Observer that "whatever the naysayers say is the truth is, John actually cares about poverty issues."

She said her husband had been working on such issues around the world since his presidential run ended.

"He's been doing work outside of this country where his errors in judgment don't have any bearing on work," she said.

Instead of reconciliation...

Don Wheeler

Like many of you I’ve received many entreaties to urge my Senators and Representative to pursue passage of health care reform through the tactic of reconciliation. It’s an interesting option and because it has impact on the budget it likely is viable. But I’d suggest a different approach.

Before Mr. Brown of Massachusetts is seated, the Senate should vote to eliminate filibusters.

I don’t propose this lightly. Filibusters are an important tool which can be used to mitigate tyranny by a majority. Tacit requirement of a super majority in the Senate was envisioned to enhance the deliberative process. The thinking was that the more time elapsed between introduction of a measure and the passage or defeat of it, the more time would be available for investigation and analysis. But it turns out not to work that way.

In practice, filibusters amount to political posturing and the threat of them creates opportunities for political extortion and bribery.

Faced with an opposition which only opposes – having no desire to govern in any responsible way – Democrats should reluctantly take their opponents' favorite toy away while they’re still able. Republicans say they love democracy – I say let’s give it to them. Let’s try government by majority rule for a while and see how it works.

Eliminating the filibuster would clear the way for affirmative action on many other progressive issues which don't lend themselves well to the reconciliation approach. That's the biggest advantage.

If you agree, that’s the call you should make to your Senators.

Truthout 1/21

ACORN Controversy: A Video Interview With CEO Bertha Lewis
Matt Renner, Truthout: "The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has been a prime target for conservative groups and politicians. I sat down with Bertha Lewis, CEO and chief organizer for ACORN to discuss the recent events and the state of the organization."
Read the Article
Digg this Article

Supreme Court Decision Radically Overhauls Campaign Finance Laws in Favor of Corporations
Kyle Berlin, Truthout: "In a 5-4 Supreme Court decision that portends massive changes in campaign finance, corporations will no longer be banned from spending money on presidential or Congressional elections."
Read the Article
Digg this Article

Robert Reich | Why Obama Is Now (Finally) Getting Tough on Wall Street
Robert Reich, RobertReich.org: "Obama is now, finally, getting tough on Wall Street. Today he's giving his support to two measures critically important for making sure the Street doesn't relapse into another financial crisis: (1) separating the functions of investment banking from commercial banking (basically, resurrecting the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act) so investment banks can't gamble with insured commercial deposits, and (2) giving regulatory authorities power to limit the size of big banks so they don't become 'too big to fail,' as antitrust laws do with every other capitalist entity."
Read the Article

Moving Beyond the Failed Consultancy Class
Joe Brewer, Truthout: "Are you one of the millions of progressives grieving about the catastrophic fiasco that happened in Massachusetts yesterday? Wondering why it is that a Republican took the Senate seat in one of our most beloved - and deeply blue - states? This event is a tremendous learning opportunity for us."
Read the Article

Will You Be a Victim of Killer Coal?
Joshua Frank, Truthout: "So, you thought inhaling glue or driving without a seatbelt was bad for your health? Try living next to a coal-fired power plant. That's the diagnosis that Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) relayed to the public in a comprehensive medical study released on November 18, 2009, called 'Coal's Assault of Human Health.'"
Read the Article
Digg this Article

Robert Scheer | What Massachusetts Got Right
Robert Scheer, Truthout: "The president got creamed in Massachusetts. No amount of blaming this disastrous outcome on the weaknesses of the local Democratic candidate or her Republican opponent's strengths can gainsay that fact."
Read the Article

Obama's Record on Civil Liberties Garners Mixed Results
Grace Huang, Truthout: "While the Obama administration has made progress in its first year on some civil liberties and civil rights issues, its record on others such as privacy and surveillance is mixed, according to a report prepared this week by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)."
Read the Article

Solidarity, Not Charity: Helping Haitians Help Themselves
Randall Amster J.D., Ph.D., Truthout: "In the wake of a disaster such as Haiti is experiencing right now, there's a strong impetus to help coming from people across a wide range of persuasions and perspectives. This is a good thing, of course, and yet even empathetic intentions can go awry when they foster conditions that can leave vulnerable people in a permanent state of dependency."
Read the Article

Tough Minds and Tender Hearts
Kathy Kelly, Truthout: "I spent Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday in Washington, DC, as part of the Witness Against Torture fast, which campaigns to end all forms of torture, and has worked steadily for an end to indefinite detention of people imprisoned in Guantanamo, Bagram, and other secret sites where the US has held and tortured prisoners."
Read the Article

When the Media Is the Disaster: Covering Haiti
Rebecca Solnit, TomDispatch.com: "Soon after almost every disaster the crimes begin: ruthless, selfish, indifferent to human suffering, and generating far more suffering. The perpetrators go unpunished and live to commit further crimes against humanity. They care less for human life than for property. They act without regard for consequences."
Read the Article

Froma Harrop | The Real Miracle Happened Four Years Ago
Froma Harrop, Truthout: "The miracle in Massachusetts was made possible through a bigger miracle four years ago. That's when the commonwealth became the first and so far only state to guarantee near-universal coverage."
Read the Article

The Voices of Participatory Democracy in Venezuela (Video)
Hans Bennett, UpsideDownWorld.org: "There are many different ways that the corporate media continues to misrepresent the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Many critics of this biased media coverage have directly challenged the demonization of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but very few critics, if any, have exposed the media's virtual erasure of the vibrant and growing participatory democracy in Venezuela."
Read the Article

Six Deadly Chemicals You're Carrying in Your Body
E. Huff, NaturalNews.com: "A recent biomonitoring study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, has revealed that out of 212 chemicals tested, all 212 were found to be in the blood and urine of most Americans. Six chemicals in particular, found in virtually every person, were identified by the CDC as probable health hazards."
Read the Article

Haiti: Aid or the Marines?
Bruno Odent, L'Humanite: "Although Haiti needs an exceptional international mobilization, Washington's assumption of military control there assumes some counterproductive aspects and is not without ulterior geo-strategic motives."
Read the Article

GRITtv: Resisting the Shock Doctrine in Haiti
GRITtv with Laura Flanders: "The Heritage Foundation didn't wait very long after the earthquake in Haiti to issue its recommendations for Shock Doctrine-style 'reforms,' and the IMF has already offered a conditional loan to help rebuild. Haiti has seen enough of this type of policy already, and is in need of a different type of thinking: one not imposed from without, but developed from within the country and its communities."
Read the Article

Bill Moyers Journal | America's Energy Challenge
Bill Moyers Journal: "Faced with the increasing global demand for oil and the threat of climate change, America needs a new energy policy - but what are our options? Bill Moyers sits down with Public Agenda analysts Jean Johnson and Scott Bittle to discuss how we can power America's future and why we should 'work the problem' rather than listening to extremes on either side."
Read the Article

FP morning post 1/21

Humanitarian crisis in Haiti continues

---

Top Story: The humanitarian crisis continues in Haiti after two large earthquakes struck near the population center of Port-au-Prince, one eight days ago, one yesterday. Aid workers are preparing mass graves as disease spreads, imperiling a broad swath of the population. More than two million are homeless.

Aid workers reported improvements in getting medicine, water, and food to the country, the poorest in the Western hemisphere. But they still reported difficulties dispensing the vital goods, clearing roads, and keeping the airport and seaports open. The United States announced it will send more troops to Haiti, bringing the total to 14,000; the U.S. military is controlling the airport and rescue missions.

Big Money: Banking giant Goldman Sachs earned $13.4 billion last year.

---

Americas With the loss of its senate supermajority, U.S. Democrats weighed how to pass health care reform. The Obama administration proposed limiting the size and leverage of banks. Former Democratic candidate for president John Edwards admitted paternity of a young child. Africa Kenya deported a radical cleric back to Jamaica. Fighting has quieted in central Nigeria. Angola abolished direct voting for president, who will now be the head of the majority party. Middle East 113 Saudis have died in the fight between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Yemen will stop issuing visas in its airport. Israel is demanding to keep troops on the West Bank's border with Jordan. Europe The trial of a Dutch far-right and anti-Muslim member of parliament started. A sign from the World War II concentration camp at Auschwitz has returned to the now museum. The Bulgarian candidate to the European Commission dropped out, delaying a confirmation vote on the whole European government. Asia The Chinese economy grew 8.7 percent last year. Pakistani military officials said the country would launch no new offensives for six months. A U.S. missile strike killed a Filipino militant in Pakistan. Chinese officials said the dispute with Google should not hurt relations with the United States By Annie Lowrey.

Why Marines Shouldn’t Bring iPods to War Obama's Year 2: Conservatives Weigh in With Advice Did Israel Really Get It Wrong in Gaza? 9 Things You Missed While Obsessing About Scott Brown

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

McClatchy Washington report 1/21

Top Story

• How will Obama adjust, and will it save his presidency?

  President Barack Obama grappled Wednesday with the fallout from the stunning Republican Senate election in Massachusetts, a stinging loss that could drive him to stay the course in tough times — a la Ronald Reagan in 1982 — or tack toward the center and work more with the Republicans — as Bill Clinton did after 1994.

Spotlight

• Are blue whales changing their tune to find love?

  Something curious is going on with the songs of blue whales in oceans all over the world. The whales are singing their same old songs, but year by year they're all shifting the frequency lower.

Latest Headlines

• John Edwards admits he's father of Hunter's daughter

  John Edwards admitted this morning to being the father of Frances Quinn Hunter, the two-year-old daughter of his former mistress Rielle Hunter. Edwards, former North Carolina senator and failed presidential candidate, has repeatedly denied being Quinn's father since August 2008.

• Security concerns still abound in Haiti

  With a growing presence of police, military and U.N. troops in Haiti, business leaders are hopeful they can reopen soon, though anxiety about security still permeates the capital of Port-au-Prince.

• Another mea culpa from Mark Sanford

  South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford offered one more apology to his state and family, and asked to put past differences with lawmakers aside to achieve a handful of goals in his eighth, and final, State of the State address as governor Wednesday.

• Obama tells Senate to wait on health care overhaul bill

  Obama said Senate Democrats should wait on health care until after Republican Scott Brown, the victor in Tuesday's Massachusetts election, takes his Senate seat. "The Senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through," he told ABC News. He also said leaders should sift through recently passed legislation and find those elements on which there is wide agreement.

• Prop 8, gay marriage supporters battle over logo parody

  The opposing forces in California's war over gay marriage have found something else to squabble about: the gay-marriage camp's mockery of the traditional-marriage camp's logo. A stylized silhouette of a man and a woman and a boy and a girl, all with raised arms beneath a banner reading, "Yes On 8 Protect Marriage," is the logo of Proposition 8. The Courage Campaign Institute began using an almost-identical logo — the adult figures both are wearing dresses and the banner reads "Prop 8 Trial Tracker" — last week on a Web site it launched for updates and commentary on the San Francisco trial of a federal constitutional challenge to the amendment. Proposition 8 promoters are crying foul.

• Texas GOP celebrates Obama's anniversary with thank you — to Massachusetts

  Texas Republicans marked the anniversary of President Barack Obama's inauguration Wednesday by saying thank you. Not to Obama and the Democratic-led Congress. To Massachusetts, where voters Tuesday elected Scott Brown — a Republican — to fill the U.S. Senate seat occupied for decades by Edward Kennedy, a staunch Democrat.

• Alaska's Parnell targets oil taxes, federal 'intrusion' in speech

  Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell used his first State of the State speech Wednesday night to criticize the federal government and defend his proposals for oil company tax breaks and a big new college scholarship program based on grades rather than need.

• Experts theorize about post-Castro Cuba

  Cuba's Raul Castro may try to "institutionalize the revolution" before he leaves power by strengthening the military and legislature and "revising" the communist ideology, according to one scenario crafted by a Cuba expert at the University of Miami. The scenario was developed for a U.S. intelligence community review of Cuba's possible future paths. U.S. agencies regularly conduct such exercises and invite academics to take part.

• South Florida's big snakes are target of new law

  Federal wildlife managers said Wednesday they will pursue a ban on the import of Burmese python and eight other giant exotic snakes that threaten the Everglades. The move, announced by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in New York, could make the snakes rarer in at least one place — pet stores.

• Report slams U.S. for building power plant Afghans can't run

  A $300 million power plant in Afghanistan paid for with U.S. tax dollars was an ill-conceived and mismanaged project that the Afghan government can't afford to switch on now that it's almost finished, a watchdog agency has found. It's the third report since November to fault U.S. efforts to expand the electrical grid in Afghanistan.

Truthout 1/20

President Obama, Remember Who Your Friends Are
Truthout, Editorial: "In the wake of a crushing Democratic defeat in the Massachusetts Senate race, we find ourselves faced with the one-year anniversary of a spirit-changing day in the history of the United States, the inauguration of President Barack Obama. This odd confluence of events provides an opening for a very timely warning: It is time to remember who your friends are, Mr. President."
Read the Article
Digg this Article

At San Isidro Air Base, a Missed Opportunity to Help Haiti
Emily Troutman, Truthout: "Last Wednesday, a team lead by the US State Department and the US Armed Forces, along with help from Dominican forces and the US Department of Homeland Security, quickly set up a receiving station for US citizen evacuees at San Isidro, a Dominican air base just outside of Santo Domingo. The facility is fully outfitted with the technology, space and equipment to support a complex, fast-moving aid operation to Haiti, but now sits empty, often fully staffed, nearly all of the time."
Read the Article

Strong Aftershock Rattles Haiti as Rescue Efforts Continue
Jacqueline Charles, David Ovalle, Trenton Daniel, Lesley Clark and Frances Robles, The Miami Herald: "Authorities in Haiti scrambled to assess the damage caused by a powerful aftershock that rocked Haiti Wednesday morning, shaking unstable buildings and sending panicked people running into the streets only eight days after the country's capital was devastated by a previous, stronger quake."
Read the Article

Right-Wing Populism Gets Help From Democrats
Norman Solomon, Truthout: "In his triumphant speech on election night, the next senator from Massachusetts should have thanked top Democrats in Washington for all they did to make his victory possible."
Read the Article

Profiting From Haiti's Crisis: Disaster Capitalism in Washington's Backyard
Benjamin Dangl, Toward Freedom: "US corporations, private mercenaries, Washington and the International Monetary fund are using the crisis in Haiti to make a profit, promote unpopular neoliberal policies, and extend military and economic control over the Haitian people."
Read the Article

Massachusetts Senate Race Results: Obama's Signal That All Is Changed
Peter Grier, The Christian Science Monitor: "Republican Scott Brown's upset victory in the Massachusetts Senate race results portends huge challenges ahead for President Obama and majority Democrats. National health care reform may well stall, and new carbon-emissions rules are now unlikely. What will be the revised agenda?"
Read the Article

J. Sri Raman | India and Pakistan: Cold Start for the Hottest War?
J. Sri Raman, Truthout: "We have all been witness to a long and continuing war of words between New Delhi and Islamabad ever since the Mumbai terrorist strike of November 2008 disrupted the India-Pakistan 'peace process' and 'composite dialogue' which had kept going until then despite smaller problems and provocations. These statements and counter-statements, however, do not constitute the exchange that should cause the most serious concern over peace in South Asia."
Read the Article

danah boyd: What Is Implied by Living in a World of Flow
Hubert Guillaud, InternetACTU.net: "At the Web 2.0 Expo held in New York in mid-November, sociologist danah boyd, as is her wont, made a brilliant presentation on the consequences of living in a world of flow, notably by starting to draw up a list of its limitations. [...] Then the backchannel responses to her speech served as a living example of some of those limitations...."
Read the Article

Ann Wright | Israel and Egypt Continue to Squeeze Gaza
Ann Wright, Truthout: "Two weeks ago, almost 2,000 internationals came to Egypt and Gaza in a massive show of civil society's support for the people of Gaza. Nearly 1,400 persons representing 44 countries in the Gaza Freedom March and over 500 persons with the Viva Palestina Convoy let the people of Gaza know of their concern for the tragic consequences of their governments' support of the Israeli and Egyptian blockade."
Read the Article

An Open Letter to David Brooks on Haiti
Tom F. Driver and Carl Lindskoog, Truthout: "In your January 15, 2010, opinion piece in The New York Times, 'The Underlying Tragedy,' you present what you seem to believe is a bold assessment of the situation in Haiti and what you certainly know is a provocative recommendation for Haiti's future. You also offer some advice to President Obama. In order to successfully keep his promise to the people of Haiti that they 'will not be forsaken' nor 'forgotten,' the president, you say, has to 'acknowledge a few difficult truths.' What follows, however, is so shockingly ignorant of Haitian history and culture and so saturated with the language and ideology of cultural imperialism that no valuable 'truths' remain. Please allow us, therefore, to present you with some more accurate truths."
Read the Article

William J. Astore | A Very American Coup: Coming Soon to a Hometown Near You
William J. Astore, TomDispatch.com: "The wars in distant lands were always going to come home, but not this way. It's September 2016, year 15 of America's 'Long War' against terror. As weary troops return to the homeland, a bitter reality assails them: despite their sacrifices, America is losing."
Read the Article

FP morning post 1/20

New earthquake hits Haiti

---

Top story: A new 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti this morning, the largest aftershock yet after last week's quake, which killed an estimated 200,000 people. The quake sent people fleeing into the streets in terror, but it's not yet clear what the extent of the damage to the country's already decimated infrastructure was.

Governments around the world have now pledged more than $1 billion in aid for the country, but the aid effort has been stymied by disorganization and the bottleneck at Port-au-Prince's one-runway airport. The world food program says it has only 16 million rations in the pipeline, with 100 million needed over the next 30 days.

With Haiti's main hospitals destroyed and field hospitals overwhelmed, many patients are dying for lack of supplies.

22,000 U.S. marines have established a beachhead to speed aid delivery, adding to 9,000 army soldiers already on the ground. The U.N. Security Council has also voted to add an additional 2,000 troops and 1,500 police to the international force in Haiti.

53 Haitian orphans were airlifted to the U.S. yesterday, the first wave of children being adopted under a special visa waiver program.

U.S. politics: Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's former seat in a special election in Massachusetts last night, dealing a significant blow to President Obama's domestic agenda.

---

Middle East Yemen launched an airstrike on the house of a leading al Qaeda militant. Iran formally rejected the IAEA's nuclear enrichment deal. Britain has suspended airline flights to Yemen over security fears. Asia Afghan President Hamid Karzai has given cabinet posts to ten nominees who were previously rejected by parliament. Vietnam convicted four democracy activists of trying to overthrow the government. Eight people were arrested in connection with the firebombing of Christian churches last month in Malaysia. Africa More than 63,000 people have been displaced from their homes by violence in Somalia in the last 19 days. More than 200 people have been killed in religious violence in Central Nigeria. Taking an unusually conciliatory tone, Sudanese President Omar al Bashir said he would accept the secession of South Sudan if it passes a referendum. Europe Controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders has gone on trial for inciting racial hatred. Pope Benedict summoned Irish bishops to Rome to discuss the fallout of a recent sex abuse scandal. Two policemen have gone on trial for the shooting of a teenager that sparked rioting throughout Greece in December, 2008. Americas A judge has ordered that the recently arrested Tijuana drug kingpin Teodoro "El Teo" Simental stand trial. A political opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been sentenced to two years in prison on graft chares. 22 Americans, including an executive at Smith and Wesson, were charged with money laundering and bribing foreign officials in connection gun sales . By Joshua Keating

Don’t Rebuild Haiti, Start from Scratch Will Haiti Ever Be the Same Again? Massachusetts Is the Hub of the Universe Where Do We Send Yemeni Detainees Now?

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

McClatchy Washington report 1/20

Top Story

• Republican Brown wins Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts

  Republican state Sen. Scott Brown became the first from his party to win a U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts since 1972 in what many analysts interpreted as a rebuke for the first year of Barack Obama's presidency. Turnout was heavy as Brown ran up a 52-47 margin over Democrat Martha Coakley, the state's attorney general.

Spotlight

• Rare IED success: MRAPs cut U.S. death rate in Afghanistan

  While MRAPs are far from a guarantee, American troops traveling in them have become far less likely to be killed in IED attacks than their Canadian and British counterparts traveling in other types of vehicles. In 2009, the percentage of American troops killed in IED attacks fell to 40 percent from 50 percent, while the odds of a successful IED attack against their two largest NATO partners increased dramatically.

Latest Headlines

• Haiti hit by another earthquake

  Haitians woke up to a 6.1-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday morning. The U.S. Geological survey is reporting the earthquake happened at 6:03 a.m., about 35 miles away from Port-au-Prince. People panicked and people started running as damaged buildings shook in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, said Luckner Laurent.

• Alaska Sen. Murkowski's attempt to curb EPA draws criticism

  Sen. Lisa Murkowski's controversial effort to curb the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of greenhouse gas emissions put her this week in the cross hairs of both the New York Times editorial board and environmentalists. The Alaska Republican is seeking a way to keep the EPA from drawing up regulations for large emitters, such as power plants and manufacturers.

• In eastern Afghan province, preview of upcoming surge strategy

  Although President Barack Obama's decision to send 30,000 or more additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan has captured headlines, the buildup that's beginning in this Taliban stronghold near the Pakistani border isn't just a combat operation.

• Florida AG McCollum threatens lawsuit over mandatory health care

  Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said Tuesday that Congress has no constitutional right to force people to buy health insurance — and he'll sue to stop the proposal if it becomes law. McCollum said the commerce clause of the Constitution doesn't allow Congress to tax or penalize someone for not doing something — in this case, not buying insurance.

• Medina's star is rising in Texas GOP gubernatorial race

  After months of being largely dismissed in a race dominated by the state's two Republican heavyweights, Debra Medina is making her presence felt with an anti-establishment message that has evidently struck a chord among a segment of Republican voters. Buoyed by her performance against Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in last week's televised debate, the conservative activist has climbed to 12 percent in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll.

• Sanford to give final State of the State address tonight

  South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford delivers his final State of the State address tonight with limited time left in office and politically limited after a bruising, unsuccessful fight over accepting federal stimulus money and the admission of an extramarital affair last year.

• Pedro Pan-style rescue of Haitian orphans is unlikely

  Florida is unlikely to see a wave of Haitian children orphaned by last week's killer earthquake, as Haitian and U.S. leaders do not favor a recreation of the famed 1960s Pedro Pan effort that rescued thousands of children from communist Cuba, the state's top social service administrator said Tuesday.

• California rule gives HMO patients timely health care access

  The wait may soon be over for California's 21 million HMO members, whose doctors must comply with first-in-the-nation rules prescribing how quickly they must see patients — and even how long they can leave them holding on the phone. The state's so-called timely access rules went into effect over the weekend after an eight-year delay during which doctors, health plans and consumer groups quibbled over details.

• Poverty rates across the Carolinas continue to grow

  More than one of every four Columbia, S.C., residents is now living in poverty. Columbia has been hit harder than other cities in the Carolinas, but Charleston, Charlotte and Raleigh are also home to a growing number of poor people. The new study by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, looked at Census Bureau data for the country's 95 largest urban areas, which are called Metropolitan Statistical Areas by the U.S. government.

• Commentary: After Obama's first year, blacks still more hopeful

  One year later.

  One year after that icy Washington day when Aretha Franklin sang and John Roberts muffed his lines and Barack Obama raised his hand and swore the oath that made him president of the United States, it turns out something fundamental has changed.

Truthout 1/19