Krugman Sounds Alarm: Simpson Calls for Blood

OP-ED COLUMNIST
There Will Be Blood
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
Published: November 22, 2010

 Former Senator Alan Simpson is a Very Serious Person. He must be — after all, President Obama appointed him as co-chairman of a special commission on deficit reduction.

So here’s what the very serious Mr. Simpson said on Friday: “I can’t wait for the blood bath in April. ... When debt limit time comes, they’re going to look around and say, ‘What in the hell do we do now? We’ve got guys who will not approve the debt limit extension unless we give ’em a piece of meat, real meat,’ ” meaning spending cuts. “And boy, the blood bath will be extraordinary,” he continued.

Think of Mr. Simpson’s blood lust as one more piece of evidence that our nation is in much worse shape, much closer to a political breakdown, than most people realize. 
Continue reading here.

D-Day in the Class War

By Joseph A. Palermo,
Associate Professor, American History, California State University, Sacramento
Huffington Post
Posted: November 17, 2010 08:52 PM


After a decade of stagnant or declining real wages, "bipartisan" schemes are proliferating to shift the burden of Washington policymakers' own catastrophic mismanagement of the nation's fiscal policies right onto the shoulders of working people. The press commentary has been abysmal. All "serious" thinkers out there on television or in print are in full agreement that "entitlements" must take a big hit, along with education and health care.

President Obama's "bipartisan" deficit commission, co-chaired by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, (sometimes referred to as the "Cat Food Commission" because of the likely dietary changes some senior citizens will have to make if its prescriptions are implemented), wants to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations. Another high-profile group, headed by Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin, (which might be called the "Kibble Commission"), wants to strip $650 billion out of the Social Security trust fund with a payroll tax holiday (to be paid back later!) that they believe will create economic growth. So the Cat Food Commission views Social Security in crisis and bordering on insolvency, while the Kibble Commission believes that Social Security can absorb a $650 billion hit. And these are the best and the brightest.

Both "bipartisan" bodies claim that "tough decisions" must be made. Yet their policies are only really tough if you happen to belong to America's struggling working middle class. They want to inflict the "pain" on the government programs that have traditionally given working people a slight leg up. In these "bipartisan" schemes the financial services crooks who wrecked the economy come away smelling like roses. 

Are we forgetting that it was working- and middle-class taxpayers who bailed out Wall Street's biggest investment banks in what could be the greatest gesture of working-class benevolence toward the super-rich in American history? Working-class taxpayers also paid for the unemployment insurance and infrastructure projects that were needed following the pillaging of America's housing sector. Working-class taxpayers continue to foot the bill for the bloated military budget and two wars. (They've also sent their sons and daughters off to fight.) And about eight million of them who had jobs in 2005 didn't have them anymore by the middle of 2009.

Continue reading here.

Poll: Most don't know what GOP won

Fewer than half of Americans know that Republicans have majority only in the House next year. 

By MEREDITH SHINER | 
Politico
11/19/10 7:45 AM EST Updated: 11/19/10 12:11 PM EST

Fewer than half of all Americans know that Republicans will have a majority in the House next year but not the Senate, according to a new poll.

Only 46 percent of respondents in a Pew Research poll released Thursday knew that the GOP had taken over only the House, while a mere 38 percent can identify Ohio Republican John Boehner as the incoming speaker. Three times as many young people, under age 30, could properly identify Google's new phone software, Android, as could identify Boehner.


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Think tank: 92% of Afghans never heard of 9/11

By Daniel Tencer

Rawstory
Friday, November 19th, 2010 -- 5:06 pm

Fewer than one in 10 Afghans are aware of the 9/11 attacks and their precipitation of the war in Afghanistan, says a study from an international think tank.

A report (PDF) from the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) shows that 92 percent of those surveyed had never heard of the coordinated multiple attacks on US soil on September 11, 2001. It also shows that four in 10 Afghans believe the US is on their soil in order to "destroy Islam or occupy Afghanistan."

To be sure, the survey can't claim to be definitive: It only canvassed men, and relied primarily on respondents from Helmand and Kandahar, the two most war-torn provinces in the country. But the results nonetheless show that Western forces fighting insurgents in Afghanistan have largely failed to connect with the local population.  

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The Billionaires Want More, More, More

By Sen. Bernie Sanders,
Independent U.S. Senator from Vermont
Huffington Post
Posted: November 19, 2010 04:27 PM

The billionaires are on the warpath. They want more, more, more.

In 2007, the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income -- more than the bottom 50 percent. Not enough! The percentage of income going to the top 1 percent nearly tripled since the mid-1970s. Not enough! Eighty percent of all new income earned from 1980 to 2005 has gone to the top 1 percent. Not enough! The top 1 percent now owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. Not enough! The Wall Street executives with their obscene compensation packages now earn more than they did before we bailed them out. Not enough! With the middle class collapsing and the rich getting much richer, the United States now has, by far, the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country on earth. Not enough!

The very rich want more, more and more and they are prepared to dismantle the existing political and social order to get it. During the last campaign, as a result of the (Republican) Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, billionaires were able to pour hundreds of millions of dollars of secret money into the campaign -- helping to elect dozens of members of Congress. Now, having made their investment, they want their congressional employees to produce.

Republicans in Congress, needless to say, are all on board. The key question is whether a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate go along to get along, or whether they draw a clear line at protecting the interests of the middle class and vulnerable populations of our country while tackling our economic and budgetary problems in earnest.

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Now That He's Been Elected, KS Sec. of State-Elect Kris Kobach Can't Find Any 'Voter Fraud'

26Dems Editorial Comment: Kris Kobach is one of the authors of SB1070. He was hired by Russell Pearce.  According to KansasWatchDog.com Sheriff Joe Arpaio appeared at a rally for Kobach's campaign for Secretary of State. The rally was moved to  Overland Park Ritz Charles convention center after MidAmerican Nazarene University withdrew permission.

By Brad Friedman
Bradblog
1/19/2010 4:45pm 

Now That He's Been Elected, KS Sec. of State-Elect Kris Kobach Can't Find Any 'Voter Fraud'
"Our campaign had an undeniable, unmistakable message," he told his supporters during his victory speech on Election Night, "and that message could be summed up in three words, three words which were on every one of our 4 billion highway signs: 'stop voter fraud'."

"And now that clear message becomes transformed into a clear mandate," Kansas' Secretary of State-elect Kris Kobach (R) told his fans that night, promising "significant reforms" to the state's election system. Answered with cheers in the Topeka ballroom Kobach promised: "We are gonna have Photo ID at the polls."

As he stated himself, Kobach's campaign was almost entirely built on the promise of putting a stop to the state's out-of-control (and also, non-existent, but ssshhh, don't tell anybody) "voter fraud" epidemic. But now that the election's over, he's having trouble identifying any actual instances of the horrible scourge he helped tricked Republican voters into believing actually existed.

Talking Points Memo, who has done a bang-up job of keeping tabs on Kobach's duplicity over the past year, caught up with the SoS-elect yesterday after he spoke on a "civil rights" panel at the Federalist Society's National Lawyers Convention and asked him how the hunt is going.

He, um, had trouble actually citing any evidence of voter fraud since, as of now, he "hadn't heard of any". "There have been a few cases where I've heard allegations of voter fraud," he says, "but we're just a few weeks out from the election."

No doubt, the evidence will come rolling in soon. The only question is will it come in before or after Kobach and his anti-democracy GOP cronies enact disenfranchising Photo ID restrictions at the polling place, as promised, despite the fact that such laws have been shown time and again to keep millions of legal minority, elderly & student (read: Democratic-leaning) voters from being able to cast their ballot.

Here's TPM's short video interview with Kobach in which --- just in case you hadn't any doubt about the bankruptcy of his claims --- he also alludes to the long-discredited Rightwing scam-artist/"voter fraud" fraudster John Fund, whose book on "voter fraud" has, itself, been debunked as a fraud over and again...





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SIGN AFL-CIO Petition: House Republicans Block Unemployment Benefits Extension

by James Parks
AFL-CIO Blog
Nov 18, 2010
   
     Last week, members of Working America delivered thousands of job applications and signatures on jobs petitions to incoming House Speaker John Boehner’s district office, urging him to extend crucial jobless benefits for millions.        
    
House Republicans today blocked an effort to maintain federal unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, making a lapse in benefits all but certain when they expire at the end of the month.

House Democrats tried to speed the extension through by calling for a suspension of the rules, a procedure which requires a two-thirds majority. Although 258 members—a significant majority—supported the bill, the final vote fell short of the needed margin. The bill, H.R.6419, would have extended UI through February 2011 for those who have exhausted 26 weeks of insurance provided by states. It also would provide 100 percent federal funding to state unemployment programs to cover additional costs.

A total of 143 Republicans and 11 Democrats voted against suspending the rules. Twenty-one Republicans voted for it. Check out the roll call vote here.


Democratic leaders could bring the bill back to the floor under a rule requiring only a simple majority. (Sign the petition here to tell Congress to maintain UI for long-term jobless workers.)


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A Mighty Wind

By Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm
Governor of Michigan
Huffington Post
November 19, 2010


Last century, Michigan led the automotive revolution, putting the world on wheels. This century, Michigan will lead the green industrial revolution, making wind turbines, solar panels, advanced batteries, and other technologies to power our nation's 21st-century progress. The investments from the federal Recovery Act complemented state policies we enacted three years ago to diversify our economy. The result: Since the passage of Michigan's renewable energy standard in 2008, Michigan has attracted 48 clean-energy companies that are projected to create 89,918 jobs and $9.4 billion of investment in Michigan.
Our big, hairy, audacious goal is to make Michigan the international hub of the clean-energy industry, creating jobs by transforming our state from rust belt to green belt. I've written here before about Michigan's leadership in advanced batteries, solar energy, and the electrification of the automobile. We've also worked to build Michigan's wind-energy sector. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Michigan is one of only four states projected to create more than 30,000 jobs in the wind manufacturing sector alone. Michigan's offshore wind capacity is estimated to be more than 320,000 megawatts -- nearly 12 times our peak electricity demand -- meaning that we have the potential to create even more jobs for Michigan workers installing and maintaining wind turbines to power our nation. Wind energy is a perfect fit for Michigan.
Let me share with you some of our recent wind successes:

• In Saginaw, the first utility-scale wind turbine manufactured in Michigan just rolled off the line. Merrill Technology Group, a family-owned Michigan company that previously machined parts for General Motors, partnered with Vermont-based Northern Power to produce a utility-scale wind turbine expected to go into full-scale production in 2011. Thanks to the Recovery Act, Merrill is able to diversify into a growing field like wind energy, creating jobs and producing products that will lead our nation toward energy independence. Merrill says it has already saved or created 40 jobs, and expects to add another 125 workers in 2011 as production ramps up.
• In Eaton Rapids, URV USA, LLC is planning to build the largest specialized foundry for wind turbine castings in the world, which would supply two-thirds of the North American large casting market. Following a recent meeting I had with the managing director of URV USA in Sweden, the company announced it will double its initial plans for the Eaton Rapids foundry -- with a possibility of even quadrupling the initial foundry plans through support from the U.S. Department of Energy! Right now, there is a major shortage of large-cast wind turbine components in North America, with most supplies coming from foundries in Asia and Europe. URV USA's Eaton Rapids facility has the potential to revolutionize the way wind turbines are made through their next-generation casting process, which could create even more jobs in Michigan supplying superior quality castings that are priced to be globally competitive.
• In Holland, S2 Yachts used its core expertise in composite manufacturing from boat building to form Energetx Composites, a company that makes wind turbine parts. The company plans to hire 700 workers to build large turbine blades and other wind-energy components.

Continue reading here.

Kyl Makes Political Sport of National Security: A Dangerous Game

CONTACT: Jennifer Johnson
jjohnson@azdem.org, 602-298-4200

NEWS SUMMARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 19, 2010

In case you missed it:
Kyl makes political sport of national security

Obstructionism is nothing new for Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, but he's managed to take it to new heights: the upper echelons of national security. Kyl is now aiming to block the lame-duck Senate from ratifying the New Start arms control treaty.

This important treaty between the United States and Russia would call for both countries to reduce the number of deployed nuclear warheads and would restore verification inspections of each other's arsenals.

Why would Kyl stand in the way of this effort? A Nov. 17 New York Times editorial put it this way:

The treaty is so central to this country’s national security, and the objections from Mr. Kyl — and apparently the whole Republican leadership — are so absurd that the only explanation is their limitless desire to deny President Obama any legislative success.

In other words, Kyl is making political sport of national security issues.

The Times is just one of many news sources calling out Kyl. Here are a couple more examples:

The Hill -- The story notes that even Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, disagrees with Kyl.

"We’re talking about the national security of the United States of America," Lugar said. "This treaty must be ratified, and it must be ratified in this session of Congress. … This is very serious. We are at a point where we are unlikely to have either the treaty or modernization unless we get real.”

Politico -- The op-ed notes that the majority of Republicans are likely to support the treaty if it comes to a vote.

The Republican leadership, however, appears to be stalling -- perhaps to extort as much as possible out of the Obama administration, or maybe just to make the president look ineffective and weak.

These articles also note something that Kyl conveniently does not: The treaty is supported by six former secretaries of State, five former secretaries of Defense, three former national security advisers and seven former commanders of the U.S. Strategic Command. The entire U.S. military leadership also supports the treaty.

What does Kyl know that they don't? Nothing, except for how to play a dangerous game.

Do Airport Screenings Really Make Us Safer?

Submitted by Anne Landman on November 17, 2010 - 3:30pm.
PRWatch.org


The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been taking a beating lately over its new, full-body X-Ray imaging scanners that show people naked. People are concerned about both the humiliation of the procedure and the extra doses of X-rays they get from these scanners, but travelers who refuse to be scanned must submit to a TSA "enhanced pat-down," which now involves a newer, more aggressive policy: frisking with the front of the hand instead of the back of the hand, and feeling people's crotches and women's bras. These more invasive practices are leading the public from skepticism to rage and outright resistance to the new procedures, and for good reason, since TSA's track record of facilitating crime against travelers arguably far outstrips the amount of crime the agency has prevented.

A Pat Down Confrontation Goes Viral

A traveler at the San Diego airport recently made news after he used his cell phone to record an incident that involved the new airport security measures. The man had heard about the new X-Ray scanners and wanted to avoid them, so prior to leaving for his flight he checked the airport's Web site to see if the facility was using one of these devices. According to the site they were not, and he went to catch his flight.

But the traveler soon found the airport's Web site was out of date. As he stood in a security line awaiting his turn to go through a metal detector, a TSA agent pulled him out and ordered to submit to a backscatter/full-body X-Ray scanning machine -- the very type of machine he was trying to avoid. When the traveler refused the scan, TSA agents informed him that he would have to submit to a pat-down search that would include someone touching his groin. The traveler said he considered a stranger touching his groin to be a sexual assault, and pointed out that in any other venue such a touch would be illegal. He agreed to submit to the metal detector -- as about 80% of the other people in line were doing -- but told TSA agents he didn't want to be "groped." After refusing both the invasive pat-down search and the X-ray scan, TSA agents told him he would be prevented from flying. They escorted him back out to the ticketing area, where he got his airline ticket refunded. As the traveler was leaving the airport, a man in slacks and a sport coat approached him and told him that since he had initiated a screening in the secure area, he was not allowed to leave the airport until the screening was completed. The man informed the traveler that he was would get a $10,000 fine and a civil lawsuit -- even though TSA officers had escorted him out of the screening area.

The traveler recorded the entire incident on his cell phone, and uploaded it onto YouTube, where it has gone viral. The recording obviously hit a nerve with people who, like him, are fed up with the degradation of airport screenings.

Questionable TSA Activities

TSA's activities provide substantial fodder for both citizen and professional journalists. YouTube is full of citizen-made videos of TSA agents engaging in questionable activities, like aggressively patting down a three year old child or pulling the pants off a wheelchair-bound, 71 year-old man to examine his knee implant. A surveillance video shows a mother getting harassed by TSA over her baby's sippy cup. People report that their prosthetic limbs or body piercings routinely make them subject to degrading TSA searches whenever they travel. One woman says she was ordered to get out of a security line and undergo additional frisking because she was wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey. After being subjected to a embarrassing public body search in a clear, Plexiglas enclosure, the TSA agent then asked her "How does it feel to be a Dallas Cowboys fan in Philadelphia?" The woman sought an apology from TSA. Another video shows a TSA Supervisor asleep at work. 

Continue reading here.

Immigration law has cost Arizona millions: study

By Agence France-Presse
Rawstory
Thursday, November 18th, 2010 -- 10:47 pm
  

WASHINGTON — In the four months since Arizona passed a harsh immigration law the southwestern state has lost an estimated $141 million in visitor spending, a study said Thursday.

Meetings and conferences canceled in protest at what critics considered draconian, anti-immigrant measures would also cost the state nearly 2,800 jobs over the next two to three years, The Center for American Progress (CAP) said in its report.

It said the job losses would trigger over a quarter billion dollars in lost economic output and more than 86 million in lost wages.


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Mother Jones: Is the Deficit Commission Serious?

By Kevin Drum

Mother Jones

We. Nov. 10 2010 8:46 PM PST

— President Barack Obama meets with Erskine Bowles and Sen. Alan Simpson, co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. | © Christy Bowe/Globe Photos/ZUMApress.com.

I've been trying to figure out whether I have anything to say about the "chairman's mark" of the deficit commission report that was released today. In a sense, I don't. This is not a piece of legislation, after all. Or a proposed piece of legislation. Or even a report from the deficit commission itself. It's just a draft presentation put together by two guys. Do you know how many deficit reduction proposals are out there that have the backing of two guys? Thousands. Another one just doesn't matter.
But the iron law of the news business is that if people are talking about it, then it matters. So this report matters, even though it's really nothing more than the opinion of Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles. So here's what I think of it, all contained in one handy chart from the Congressional Budget Office:

Here's what the chart means:

Discretionary spending (the light blue bottom chunk) isn't a long-term deficit problem. It takes up about 10% of GDP forever. What's more, pretending that it can be capped is just game playing: anything one Congress can do, another can undo. So if you want to recommend a few discretionary cuts, that's fine. Beyond that, though, the discretionary budget should be left to Congress since it can be cut or expanded easily via the ordinary political process. That's why it's called "discretionary."
Social Security (the dark blue middle chunk) isn't a long-term deficit problem. It goes up very slightly between now and 2030 and then flattens out forever. If Republicans were willing to get serious and knock off their puerile anti-tax jihad, it could be fixed easily with a combination of tiny tax increases and tiny benefit cuts phased in over 20 years that the public would barely notice. It deserves about a week of deliberation.
Medicare, and healthcare in general, is a huge problem. It is, in fact, our only real long-term spending problem.

Continue reading here.
 And here is the rest of it.