Attention, voters.
'Over and over again, America's seniors are being
told they must foot the bill for fiscal failures which
have already left them facing a weakened and
tenuous retirement. In Detroit, a bankruptcy judge
has ruled the city can cut pension payments to
thousands of retirees, despite a state law stating
otherwise. In Washington, the latest Congressional
budget deal targets retirees with $12 billion in
pension changes, including cutting pensions for
military personnel who retire in 2015 and requiring
new federal workers to contribute more to their
retirement. All of this couldn't come at a worse time.
Three decades of stagnant middle-class incomes,
disappearing pensions, limited ability to start and
maintain personal savings, and the failure of the
401K experiment lay the foundation for a retirement
crisis that could further threaten millions of older
Americans and their families.' -- Max Richtman,
President and CEO, National Committee to Preserve
Social Security and Medicare Social Security and Medicare
The country is going to pot
Cannabis prohibition has always been absurd, and over many decades it has caused grievous harm to many, many hundreds of thousands of Americans. Now that marijuana is legal, Colorado should move immediately to clear the record of anyone who would not be guilty of a crime under current law. And California, and any other precinct headed for legalization, should include amnesty and clean records in the legislation. In addition to the relief it would bring to many thousands of individual Californians and their families, amnesty would bring to an end the problem of overcrowding in California's prison system.
This is important.
Right wing idiocy is one thing, but when residents of usually fact-based precincts embrace ooga-booga science, it bodes ill for future progress.
Vaccines have had an immeasurable positive impact on our quality of life; here are some of the benefits they have produced.
Vaccines have had an immeasurable positive impact on our quality of life; here are some of the benefits they have produced.
L.A. Blues Again
What's the goal here?
I expect the planners convince themselves this is about safety: "The city of Los Angeles is cracking down on pedestrians who sneak across streets when the traffic signal says 'don’t walk.' But when you put a price on bad behavior, like being in a public street illegally, you see clearly what a city values. The cheapest parking ticket in Los Angeles is $58, and the one most commonly issued for parking in a prohibited zone is $73. Jaywalking—the term of art for a pedestrian crossing against the light—will cost you $197."
As long as the car is king, Los Angeles will never succeed as a walking and biking town.
In Los Angeles, Walking Illegally Is More Than Twice as Expensive as Parking Illegally by Tim Fernholz (Citylab)
Tidings
"Jingle Fart," a pétomaniacal version of "Jingle Bells" offered for free as a seasonal download on Amazon, is a sacrilege. On the other hand, "The Little Drummer Boy," if similarly arranged, would be no more gaseous than usual.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013)
The guardians of the American empire once labeled this man a terrorist. Take their lamentations at his passing with a pinch of salt.
 |
| Photo: © Eli Weinberg |
Zinn Education Project: Nelson Mandela, Madiba.
End corporate whining
The campaigns to raise the minimum wage and to organize fast-food and grocery workers deserve support.
America's largest employer, Wal-Mart, for example, pays such low wages that its employees are the largest group of food stamp and Medicaid recipients. A report from Congressman Alan Grayson estimated that Wal-Mart employees receive $1,000/month on average in public assistance payments. Another example of how sorry Wal-Mart's wages are: This week a Wal-Mart in Ohio held a food drive for its own employees.
America's second-largest employer, McDonald's, tried to produce a budget showing how its employees could live on the minimum wage -- and failed. A study this year found that "52% of families of fast food workers receive assistance from a public program."
Don't believe corporate shills whining and puling that these profitable companies can't afford to pay a living wage (Canada, UK, New Zealand, Belgium, Australia, France, Netherlands, Ireland and Luxembourg all have higher minimum wage settings than the US -- some countries, like Sweden and Germany, that don't legislate wage minimums, encourage collective bargaining instead). Elizabeth Warren calculates that if the US minimum wage had kept pace with inflation it would now be $22/hr. The activists campaigning for an increase are asking for a $15/hr minimum. Meanwhile, the White House's embrace of a $9/hr minimum is shameful and pathetic, designed more to head off a meaningful increase than to solve the problem.
America's largest employer, Wal-Mart, for example, pays such low wages that its employees are the largest group of food stamp and Medicaid recipients. A report from Congressman Alan Grayson estimated that Wal-Mart employees receive $1,000/month on average in public assistance payments. Another example of how sorry Wal-Mart's wages are: This week a Wal-Mart in Ohio held a food drive for its own employees.
America's second-largest employer, McDonald's, tried to produce a budget showing how its employees could live on the minimum wage -- and failed. A study this year found that "52% of families of fast food workers receive assistance from a public program."
Don't believe corporate shills whining and puling that these profitable companies can't afford to pay a living wage (Canada, UK, New Zealand, Belgium, Australia, France, Netherlands, Ireland and Luxembourg all have higher minimum wage settings than the US -- some countries, like Sweden and Germany, that don't legislate wage minimums, encourage collective bargaining instead). Elizabeth Warren calculates that if the US minimum wage had kept pace with inflation it would now be $22/hr. The activists campaigning for an increase are asking for a $15/hr minimum. Meanwhile, the White House's embrace of a $9/hr minimum is shameful and pathetic, designed more to head off a meaningful increase than to solve the problem.
Impractical Proposal #2,567,043
If white men over 50 are so angry and bitter about not being employable that they're willing to ruin the country, how about this?
Draft them into the military and dispatch them to the 700 U.S. military garrisons around the world where they can keep busy shooting at people unlike themselves.
Bring home the able-bodied youth now in uniform, give them educations, and put them to work.
Good for everybody.
Win win.
Faux News
"Having failed electorally and failed in the courts, Republicans are hell-bent on destroying the Affordable Care Act in Americans' minds. A document circulated among House Republicans (revealed in today's NY Times) contains talking points to be repeated continuously: 'Because of Obamacare, I Lost My Insurance.' 'Obamacare Increases Health Care Costs.' 'The Exchanges May Not Be Secure, Putting Personal Information at Risk.' Fox News and right-wing radio amplify them. The mainstream media reports them as news.
"Admittedly, Obama played into their hands by botching the roll-out of the Act. But keep in mind the larger reality: Private for-profit insurers have wrecked the American healthcare system. Ours has been the only system in the world designed to avoid sick people. A single-payer system would have been preferable, and we'll eventually get there. But the Affordable Care Act at least sets minimum standards, requires insurers to take people with preexisting conditions, bars them from dropping coverage of people who get sick, and extends insurance to the poor and working class. These are huge accomplishments relative to where we've been. Initial problems with the website, and cancellations of some policies by insurance companies that can't meet the standards, are small potatoes." -- Robert Reich
Watch the feet not the mouth
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Sen. Brown to Neoliberals
The situation for seniors is only going to get worse, because the assault on pensions and wages is making it more and more difficult for a worker to save for the future. Why are we having a debate over how much we are going to hurt seniors? The debate should be over how we should structure a pension for seniors that will help them. Why would we play on their playing field? Democrats need to play offense here. Force Republicans to say what it is they really want to do. Republicans just don’t like social insurance. -- Senator Sherrod Brown (Washington Post, 2013-11-5)
Correction
The Times, keeping it real: "An earlier version of this post misidentified Boniface VIII as Boniface VII."
From the Watch the Feet Not the Mouth Desk:
"In his journey to the White House, Barack Obama made much hay railing against his predecessor’s supposedly go-it-alone mindset and penchant for foreign policy unilateralism. With memories still fresh of the
spectacular rupture between Washington and its traditional European allies over the Iraq war, Obama’s claim to be the 'anti-Bush' garnered him a euphoric welcome in Berlin in July 2008. Speaking before a massive crowd assembled in the 'Tiergarten' (speech text here; video here), he grandly vowed to 'remake the world once again,' this time in a way that allies would 'listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.' A year later, this sort of rhetoric earned him the Nobel peace prize for single-handedly creating 'a new climate in international politics' and restoring multilateral diplomacy to 'a central position.'
The rest of the story:
U.S. Smart Power is Taking a Beating by David J. Karl (Foreign Policy blogs)
The rest of the story:
U.S. Smart Power is Taking a Beating by David J. Karl (Foreign Policy blogs)
For President: D. Warbucks vs S. McDuck
It's ridiculous to limit our choice for president to a handful of rich senators and governors. Independent organizations should be actively recruiting, training and promoting qualified candidates from business, labor, academia, NGOs and anywhere else they may lurk. As the last two presidents have demonstrated, being a governor or senator doesn't in any way assure that you're deserving of a promotion. There ought to be more to running for POTUS than that you have a few bucks and really, really want to.
And then there are the mice
Years of research is going down the drain because readings can't be made in timely fashion. And if you don't approve of lab research involving animals in the first place, this is doubly senseless. "The government shutdown is likely to mean an early death for thousands of mice used in research on diseases such as diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's. Federal research centers including the National Institutes of Health will have to kill some mice to avoid overcrowding, researchers say. Others will die because it is impossible to maintain certain lines of genetically altered mice without constant monitoring by scientists. And most federal scientists have been banned from their own labs since Oct. 1." -- NPR
You can't make this stuff up:
Glenn Beck says he is pondering a move to Canada because of impending U.S. socialism.
Note to @BarackObama and @JohnKerry
Adherance to "international norms" means no more cluster bombs, no more landmines, no more it's-not-napalm, no more kids under arms, no more wars of choice, and no more death penalty.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more
Coming out of a classified briefing on Thursday, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) said that she was opposed to a strike on Syria "now more than ever." So much for the administration's "irrefutable" and "overwhelming" case for a bombing campaign.
The Times doesn't like Larry Summers any more than you do
"Mr. Summers has also shown an indifference to the effects of economic decisions on ordinary people — the opposite of what is needed in a Fed leader at a time of high unemployment. He advised the president to support a stimulus that other economists correctly warned was too small. He resisted bankruptcy relief for underwater homeowners that would have forced banks into mortgage modifications — even as the administration spared no expense to bail out the banks. Senators who have endorsed Ms. Yellen would do well to let Mr. Obama know, either publicly or through back channels, that their endorsement translates into a no vote for Mr. Summers."
The rest of the story:
The Federal Reserve Nomination by the New York Times Editorial Board (New York Times).
Good night. And good luck.
Today I was listening to All Things Considered and, as it closed and they read the interesting names of all the producers and editors and writers and engineers and others who make the show happen, I thought how respectful it is of NPR to give these folks the credit they deserve.
Turns out it was the last time. Another courtesy removed from our impoverished culture.
The rest of the story:
NPR And On-Air Credits: The End Of A Thank You by Jim Wildman (NPR)
Managing a scarce resource.
Or gouging citizens with with a hidden and regressive tax?
I'm walking on Ocean Ave this morning. A patron runs out of the Loews Hotel, heads for his car parked across the street. A meterperson (his vehicle blocking the bike path -- unnecessarily, since since no one is parked on either side of the offending car) is writing him a ticket. It's 9:02. No grace period. Just then, two cars blow through the red light at the pedestrian crossing, going fast.
What are the priorities here?
#eternaltruths
Sack dresses seem to be enjoying a revival among teenagers here on the West Coast.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
Away, Segway!
I tweeted the other day: "Why are bicycles hassled on sidewalks but Segways, usually piloted by inexperienced renters w/o a clue, can go anywhere?"
Came this reply: "I'm gonna guess because there's a law against riding a bike on the sidewalk and there aren't any laws about Segways."
Wrong guess. Beach regulations specifically prohibit motorized vehicles on the bike path -- but they're there. And the CA Vehicle Code section 407.5 defines a motorized scooter as any two-wheeled device that has handle bars, is designed to be stood or sat upon by the operator and is powered by an electric or gas motor. Drivers must be over 16 and wear proper head gear.
Children are put at the controls of Segways routinely in Santa Monica. In general, Segway riders seem to have helmets; pedestrians, skaters and cyclists they endanger, not so much.
More to the point, "Operator shall not operate motorized scooter upon sidewalk." [CVC 21235(g)].
So the real question is, why does the City of Santa Monica, whose police department is targeting bicyclists and chases other types of motor scooter off the bike path, make an exception for Segways? One reason might be as simple as class; Segways are a toy of people with money. Speaking of money, another reason might be that the City makes dough off Segway rentals. Or -- money again -- the City is afraid of a lawsuit by Segway, an aggressive national company, if Segway Inc is inconvenienced. The cops say that the city attorney has redefined Segways as wheelchairs, thus exempting them from vehicle rules, but that legal fig leaf defies common sense and common usage and was adopted only after other bike path users insisted that the motorized vehicle rule be enforced (by the way, Segway Inc. calls its scooters "personal electric balancing transportation," "robotic mobility platforms" and "Personal Transporters" -- no mention of wheelchairs).
Not to make a mountain out of a molehill (oh, heck, why not): there is little argument that police and prosecutors have discretionary authority to selectively enforce laws, to make exceptions in the interest of justice, compassion or public safety; but selective enforcement with regard to entire classes of offenders or offenses is a symptom of tyranny. A government that routinely applies arbitrary standards to the question of who can operate outside the rule of law in one area will soon find it easier to afford the same favor to friends, political allies and anyone with a pile of cash. Even where favoritism doesn't lead to corruption, it undermines respect for law. There are so many ways today in which respect for law is being undermined by selective enforcement big (banksterism, for example) and small (putting your tongue in your cheek and calling a Segway a wheelchair) that citizens must push back where they can.
Segway can make a valuable contribution to traffic gridlock. The vision of a throng of Segways ferrying commuters who have abandoned their cumbrous, polluting, gas guzzlers for the freedom and frugality of scooters is exciting. Factoring cost, size and weight, emissions, and so on, Segways are far cheaper and safer to operate than cars weighing more a ton and in most cases spewing air pollutants (even a Prius weighs 2900 lbs). The City of Santa Monica has banished bikes from sidewalks (arbitrarily, it seems to me -- Los Angeles doesn't do so, and state law doesn't require it), but once you've made the decision that bikes are unsafe on sidewalks, it makes no sense at all not to hold the faster, heavier Segways to the same standards.
quote unquote
Guy sitting next to me at a Santa Monica Starbucks wearing a Dodgers cap with a big "LA" on the front.
Another guy (American, apparently) walking out with coffee: "Cool hat, man. What's that stand for?" Not kidding.
First guy: "Los Angeles."
Coffee guy: "Oh, yeah. Cool."
quote unquote: John Stuart Mill
"I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it." -- John Stuart Mill
quote unquote: Henry Ford
"What good is industry if it be so unskillfully managed as not to return a living to everyone concerned? No question is more important than that of wages -- most of the people of the country live on wages. The scale of their living -- the rate of their wages -- determines the prosperity of the country." -- Henry Ford, born 150 years ago today.
Arab Sprung
Liberals are barely more tolerant of democracy than conservatives. John Kerry didn't screw up in praising the Egyptian military; he spoke the truth. Democracy is okay only in so far as it delivers desired outcomes. Generals and dictators are useful for making sure electorates don't make what their betters regard as wrong choices.
Time to get organized
The major unions should pony up a few dollars to underwrite a new organization, the Union of Unemployed Workers. The UUW would have two functions: to fight for the rights of and improved benefits for citizens who happen to be unemployed or underemployed; and to train a new generation of workers on the history of and reasons for labor organizations, so that eventually, when they return to fulltime employment in crappy jobs in the service sector, they'll be ready, willing and able to organize and join workplace unions.
It's not just Obama.
It's going to be important in 2014 -- in terms of manpower; donations; Green, Peace & Freedom and independent challenges; etc. -- to remember who is responsible for what.
Apparently, House Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi influenced Democratic members of whom we can usually expect better, such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), Luis Gutierrez (IL), Jan Schakowsky (IL), Marcy Kaptur (OH), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Steve Israel (NY), Ami Bera (CA), Joaquin Castro (TX), Joe Kennedy (MA), Annie Kuster (NH), Nita Lowey (NY) and Louise Slaughter (NY), to vote to protect NSA's power. If only 12 of them had opposed the program, some spying would have been stopped.
That the vote was close is good news, however: it offers hope that opponents will be encouraged to keep fighting.
How Nancy Pelosi Saved the NSA Surveillance Program: "The obituary of Rep. Justin Amash's amendment to claw back the sweeping powers of the National Security Agency has largely been written as a victory for the White House and NSA chief Keith Alexander, who lobbied the Hill aggressively in the days and hours ahead of Wednesday's shockingly close vote. But Hill sources say most of the credit for the amendment's defeat goes to someone else: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It's an odd turn, considering that Pelosi has been, on many occasions, a vocal surveillance critic...."
The rest of the story: http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/25/how_nancy_pelosi_saved_the_nsa_surveillance_program
More on possible congressional resistance to domestic spying: Six Ways Congress May Reform NSA Snooping
Apparently, House Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi influenced Democratic members of whom we can usually expect better, such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), Luis Gutierrez (IL), Jan Schakowsky (IL), Marcy Kaptur (OH), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Steve Israel (NY), Ami Bera (CA), Joaquin Castro (TX), Joe Kennedy (MA), Annie Kuster (NH), Nita Lowey (NY) and Louise Slaughter (NY), to vote to protect NSA's power. If only 12 of them had opposed the program, some spying would have been stopped.
That the vote was close is good news, however: it offers hope that opponents will be encouraged to keep fighting.
How Nancy Pelosi Saved the NSA Surveillance Program: "The obituary of Rep. Justin Amash's amendment to claw back the sweeping powers of the National Security Agency has largely been written as a victory for the White House and NSA chief Keith Alexander, who lobbied the Hill aggressively in the days and hours ahead of Wednesday's shockingly close vote. But Hill sources say most of the credit for the amendment's defeat goes to someone else: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It's an odd turn, considering that Pelosi has been, on many occasions, a vocal surveillance critic...."
The rest of the story: http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/25/how_nancy_pelosi_saved_the_nsa_surveillance_program
More on possible congressional resistance to domestic spying: Six Ways Congress May Reform NSA Snooping
1) Raise the standard for what records are considered “relevant.”
2) Require NSA analysts to obtain court approval before searching metadata.
3) Declassify Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions.
4) Change the way Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges are appointed.
5) Appoint a public advocate to argue before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
6) End phone metadata collection on constitutional grounds.
Move along. Nothing to see here,
Don't read too much into the administration's "impatience" with Pres. Karzai. Even if the combat troops are pulled out earlier than the end of next year, "advisers" will stay and you can count on billions of your dollars going to Afghanistan into the distant future, even as our own infrastructure problems continue to fester.
Billions for Kabul; nothing for Detroit.
Privacy notes from all over
A government’s first job is to protect its citizens, but it should do that job with the public's informed consent, not demand blind trust; we should thank Edward Snowden for making public the awesome extent of the NSA's surveillance of our electronic communications, because now we can have a proper debate about whether we think a ramped-up level of surveillance is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. But if we decide that we're not willing to trade some of our privacy for security, what do we do about Google and its cohort? If we decide it isn't okay for the government to invade our privacy to make us safe, why would we continue to permit Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, et al to build digital dossiers on us just to sell us stuff?
Tonkin in the Desert
US intelligence now has “high confidence” that 100-150 have been killed in Syria so far by chemical weapons (aka WMDs), thus crossing POTUS' "line in the sand." Ninety-trhree thousand have been killed by other means in the course of the civil war. Surely, it's only coincidental that this finding follows on the heels of Hezbollah's arrival on the scene last week. Welcome to our latest war of choice.
Truth
"From our use of drones to the detention of terrorist suspects, the decisions we are making will define the type of nation and world that we leave to our children." -- President Barack Obama, 2013-05-23
quote unquote Dorothy Parker
In 1939, Dorothy Parker wrote about her social conscience in an essay called "Not Enough." Here's the opening ...
I think I knew first what side I was on when I was about five years old, at which time nobody was safe from buffaloes. It was in a brownstone house in New York, and there was a blizzard, and my rich aunt--a horrible woman then and now--had come to visit. I remember going to the window and seeing the street with the men shoveling snow; their hands were purple on their shovels, and their feet were wrapped with burlap. And my aunt, looking over her shoulder, said, "Now isn't this nice that there's this blizzard. Now all those men have work." And I knew then that it was not nice that men could work for their lives only in desperate weather, that there was no work for them in fair. That was when I became anti-fascist, at the silky tones of my rich and comfortable aunt.
I think I knew first what side I was on when I was about five years old, at which time nobody was safe from buffaloes. It was in a brownstone house in New York, and there was a blizzard, and my rich aunt--a horrible woman then and now--had come to visit. I remember going to the window and seeing the street with the men shoveling snow; their hands were purple on their shovels, and their feet were wrapped with burlap. And my aunt, looking over her shoulder, said, "Now isn't this nice that there's this blizzard. Now all those men have work." And I knew then that it was not nice that men could work for their lives only in desperate weather, that there was no work for them in fair. That was when I became anti-fascist, at the silky tones of my rich and comfortable aunt.
A story with 140 characters
Fiction on Twitter: From short short story to endless stream
It is said that Ernest Hemingway once bet that he could write a complete short story in six words. He was Twitter-ready a half century before anyone conceived of tweeting.
Last week Twitter announced that at the end of November the company will host a five-day Twitter Fiction Festival (#twitterfiction), “a virtual storytelling celebration held entirely on Twitter,” inviting creative experiments in storytelling from authors around the world.
According to Twitter, it has hosted great experiments in fiction already, from Jennifer Egan’s “Black Box” to Teju Cole’s “Small Fates” to Dan Sinker’s @mayoremanuel. And Twitter notes it has even inspired some literary criticism.
To get into the spirit of things, and without getting into the whole business of streaming and interaction as components of twitter-fiction (working within the limitations of the classic tweet, you could say), I came up with this tweet-length short short story:
On the desiccated, recalescent planet, barren at last, the desolated creature, a cockroach, grief-maddened, devoured the corpse of its mate.
Hemingway won the bet, by the way. As the story goes (and the anecdote itself may be fiction), he scribbled “For sale: baby shoes, never used” to take home the pot.
It is said that Ernest Hemingway once bet that he could write a complete short story in six words. He was Twitter-ready a half century before anyone conceived of tweeting.
Last week Twitter announced that at the end of November the company will host a five-day Twitter Fiction Festival (#twitterfiction), “a virtual storytelling celebration held entirely on Twitter,” inviting creative experiments in storytelling from authors around the world.
According to Twitter, it has hosted great experiments in fiction already, from Jennifer Egan’s “Black Box” to Teju Cole’s “Small Fates” to Dan Sinker’s @mayoremanuel. And Twitter notes it has even inspired some literary criticism.
To get into the spirit of things, and without getting into the whole business of streaming and interaction as components of twitter-fiction (working within the limitations of the classic tweet, you could say), I came up with this tweet-length short short story:
On the desiccated, recalescent planet, barren at last, the desolated creature, a cockroach, grief-maddened, devoured the corpse of its mate.
Hemingway won the bet, by the way. As the story goes (and the anecdote itself may be fiction), he scribbled “For sale: baby shoes, never used” to take home the pot.
Unintended consequence #2,475,693
If guns are outlawed, only people with 3D printers will have guns.
Brian McFadden takes on America’s D+ infrastructure
US economic progress in the 20th century was based on having first rate infrastructure. Our decline is a direct result of our failure to maintain and improve it.
Where is Eugene V. Debs when you need him?
In Kentucky, where evil clown Mitch McConnell is up for reelection, " … there is some concern that [probable candidate Ashley] Judd’s more liberal positions would cause problems for down ballot Democrats … making some some Democrats nervous … prominent local Democrats and national Democrats, including the Clintons, are working hard to find an alternative … "
The Democrats are irremediably the party of the Center (while it would be satisfying to see the backside of McConnell, a blue dog Democrat won't be much of an improvement).
The Right has a lock on the GOP.
The country needs a party of the Left.
The Democrats are irremediably the party of the Center (while it would be satisfying to see the backside of McConnell, a blue dog Democrat won't be much of an improvement).
The Right has a lock on the GOP.
The country needs a party of the Left.
"John Gabree was at The Tree House."
Really Facebook?
John Gabree doesn't even know what The Tree House is.
Fact vs Fiction
Whether or not its Satan has been made deliberately remindful of Barack Obama, I can't understand why something called the History Channel is dramatizing ooga booga from the Judeo-Christian bible. I can understand why they might want to undertake a historical look at the book's long and troubled history. But won't a dramatization likely be taken by many of the viewership's slower members to be "history"?
Back story
"Mr. Katz has had previous troubles. A veterinarian by trade, he was once accused of illegally disposing of a dead German shepherd, and another time of allegedly attacking a Chihuahua he was treating. Both times, he said, he was exonerated." -- From an article in the Times Friday about New York Republican assemblyman Stephen M. Katz's arrest for marijuana possession during a traffic stop for speeding.
By the way, the assemblyman, who is a member of the chamber’s Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, voted last year against a bill that would have legalized medical pot.
By the way, the assemblyman, who is a member of the chamber’s Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, voted last year against a bill that would have legalized medical pot.
Rational but impractical
We will never have a truly representative democracy as long as 350,000 people in one state have the same voting power as 35,000,000 people in another state. Here's what the states would like if they had equal populations. Note that some states are drawn to take account of socioeconomic factors; for example, western PA and western NY are joined together because they have they have more in common with each other than with the other parts of their current states.
Fifteen or Fight!
For someone so ept at electoral politics, Barack Obama has repeatedly shown himself to be artless when it comes to the political side of governance. Over and over again the president has entered policy negotiations with low-ball proposals that set-up compromises that, in real terms, hand victory to his opponents.
Take the $9 minimum wage proposal. A person making $9 an hour will earn, before deductions, $360 a week. That's working a full week, but many retail and service jobs offer much shorter hours. Even a worker lucky enough to land two full-time jobs -- 80 hours a week -- would take home less than $720 a week after deductions. Clearly, a minimum wage of $9 is insufficient if the goal is to assure that, as the president said, no one with a full time job should have to live in poverty.
The problem with Obama's maladroit handling of negotiations with the conservatives is that he establishes benchmarks that, while they may achieve "compromise," not only don't fix the problem being addressed but make it more unlikely that a better result can be achieved in the future (think of health care reform).
As politics, $9 barely makes sense; as policy, it's ridiculous. Labor and liberals should have nothing to do with it.
Take the $9 minimum wage proposal. A person making $9 an hour will earn, before deductions, $360 a week. That's working a full week, but many retail and service jobs offer much shorter hours. Even a worker lucky enough to land two full-time jobs -- 80 hours a week -- would take home less than $720 a week after deductions. Clearly, a minimum wage of $9 is insufficient if the goal is to assure that, as the president said, no one with a full time job should have to live in poverty.
The problem with Obama's maladroit handling of negotiations with the conservatives is that he establishes benchmarks that, while they may achieve "compromise," not only don't fix the problem being addressed but make it more unlikely that a better result can be achieved in the future (think of health care reform).
As politics, $9 barely makes sense; as policy, it's ridiculous. Labor and liberals should have nothing to do with it.
Is there anyone in Congress or the White House, elected official or staff member, who would work for $9 an hour?
For someone so ept at electoral politics, President Obama has repeatedly shown himself to be artless when it comes to the political side of governance. On issue after issue, he has entered policy negotiations with low-ball proposals that set-up compromises that, in real terms, hand victory to his opponents.
Take the $9 minimum wage proposal. A person making $9 an hour will earn, before deductions, $360 a week. That's working a full 40-hour week, but many retail and service jobs offer much shorter hours. Even a worker lucky enough to land two full-time jobs -- 80 hours a week -- would take home less than $720 a week after deductions. Clearly, a minimum wage of $9 is not sufficient if the goal is to assure that, as the president said Tuesday in his address to Congress, no one with a full time job should have to live in poverty.
The problem with Obama's maladroit handling of negotiations with the conservatives is that he establishes benchmarks that, while they may achieve "compromise," not only don't fix the problem being addressed but make it less likely that a better result can be achieved in the future (think of health care reform). If a deal at all cost is your goal, $9 may make some sense; as policy, it's ridiculous.
Labor and liberals should have nothing to do with it.
Take the $9 minimum wage proposal. A person making $9 an hour will earn, before deductions, $360 a week. That's working a full 40-hour week, but many retail and service jobs offer much shorter hours. Even a worker lucky enough to land two full-time jobs -- 80 hours a week -- would take home less than $720 a week after deductions. Clearly, a minimum wage of $9 is not sufficient if the goal is to assure that, as the president said Tuesday in his address to Congress, no one with a full time job should have to live in poverty.
The problem with Obama's maladroit handling of negotiations with the conservatives is that he establishes benchmarks that, while they may achieve "compromise," not only don't fix the problem being addressed but make it less likely that a better result can be achieved in the future (think of health care reform). If a deal at all cost is your goal, $9 may make some sense; as policy, it's ridiculous.
Labor and liberals should have nothing to do with it.
Return of Medicare For All
Single-payer national health insurance is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health financing, but delivery of care remains largely private.
Although Obamacare is an improvement over what existed before, it was clear from the beginning of the health care debate that the compromised plan would deliver neither truly universal nor truly affordable access to health care. The greatest fear of liberals who opposed it was that, by embedding the insurance industry in the health care infrastructure, it would prevent either of these goals from ever being achieved. As the deficiencies of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have become more recognized, however, a new opportunity has opened up for Congress to do what should have been done in the first place: establish a single-payer system.
The insurance industry will oppose single-payer with scalpels and skull saws, of course, but the fight will be somewhat fairer because the industry's reputation is even lower than that of Congress. Still, with little or no help to be expected from the White House, it promises to be a hell of a battle, one that will be won only if ordinary citizens are mobilized. You can help right
Rep. John Conyers will reintroduce national, single-payer healthcare legislation sometime this week. Before he introduces the bill, Conyers would like to have as many original cosponsors as possible. Please call your rep today and let them know you want them to cosponsor H.R. 676. Help them out by mentioning that in order to become an original cosponsor of H.R. 676 your member will need to contact Michael Darner from Rep. Conyers' office at michael.darner@mail.house.gov or 202-225-5126.
Already on board (thank them if you're in their district): Nadler, Schakowsky, Pingree, Grijalva, Ellison, Hank Johnson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Takano, Holmes-Norton, Lofgren, Rangel, Moore, Chu, Al Green, Farr, McGovern, Welch, Clarke, Lee, Nolan, Pocan, Doyle, Engel, Gutierrez, Frederica Wilson, Cohen, Edwards, McDermott, Clay, Huffman, Roybal-Allard, Cummings, Yarmuth, George Miller, Honda, Christensen, Rush.
If you live on the liberal west side of Los Angeles, note the following absences from this list: Waxman, Hahn, Sherman and Bass (Capitol switchboard: 866-220-0044).
Resources: PNHP.org: Physicians for a National Health Program is a non-profit research and education organization of 18,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance
Healthcare-Now!: Organizing for a National Single-Payer Healthcare System
PublicCitizen: the Health Research Group of one of the country's most effective citizen's organizations
Welfare states
Red indicates states that get more than a dollar back from the federal government for every dollar paid in federal taxes.
Bailing
The reliably feckless David Brooks has this to say about the domination of the GOP by radicals:
"It's probably futile to try to change current Republicans. It's smarter to build a new wing of the Republican Party, one that can compete in the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic states, in the upper Midwest and along the West Coast. It's smarter to build a new division that is different the way the Westin is different than the Sheraton..."
"Would a coastal and Midwestern G.O.P. sit easily with the Southern and Western one? No, but majority parties are usually coalitions of the incompatible. This is really the only chance Republicans have. The question is: Who's going to build a second G.O.P.?"
Representative democracy would benefit from such a development, but here's an easier way to do it than by trying to recapture the GOP. Stragglers from the moderate wing of the Republicans, if joined by the neoliberals, now a declining and reviled minority among Democrats, would form a new centrist, corporatist, neoliberal party (the New Whigs?). The Republican Party under this scenario would continue to represent fundamentalists, reactionaries and rightist libertarians. The Democratic Party would take on its proper role as the champion of the middle and working classes. And a green party, maybe the Green Party, would carry on with an agenda focused climate change. A House with four or five parties could only function by building coalitions, making it far more likely that rational, practical and more representative political outcomes would prevail.
All parties in the legislature have an interest in reining in the executive branch. The Founders envisioned ours as a legislative democracy, and it would serve us all to return to that model. The assignment of power through winner-take-all contests has proven itself to be dangerous to democracy as well as to wise stewardship.
"It's probably futile to try to change current Republicans. It's smarter to build a new wing of the Republican Party, one that can compete in the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic states, in the upper Midwest and along the West Coast. It's smarter to build a new division that is different the way the Westin is different than the Sheraton..."
"Would a coastal and Midwestern G.O.P. sit easily with the Southern and Western one? No, but majority parties are usually coalitions of the incompatible. This is really the only chance Republicans have. The question is: Who's going to build a second G.O.P.?"
Representative democracy would benefit from such a development, but here's an easier way to do it than by trying to recapture the GOP. Stragglers from the moderate wing of the Republicans, if joined by the neoliberals, now a declining and reviled minority among Democrats, would form a new centrist, corporatist, neoliberal party (the New Whigs?). The Republican Party under this scenario would continue to represent fundamentalists, reactionaries and rightist libertarians. The Democratic Party would take on its proper role as the champion of the middle and working classes. And a green party, maybe the Green Party, would carry on with an agenda focused climate change. A House with four or five parties could only function by building coalitions, making it far more likely that rational, practical and more representative political outcomes would prevail.
All parties in the legislature have an interest in reining in the executive branch. The Founders envisioned ours as a legislative democracy, and it would serve us all to return to that model. The assignment of power through winner-take-all contests has proven itself to be dangerous to democracy as well as to wise stewardship.
Headway
Though what they do will always trump what they say, it is a sign of progress that Stonewall is in a major presidential speech in the same sentence with Selma and that climate change is acknowledged there to require action.
Oligarchy
Not to say we have a ruling class in this country, but according to Ancestry.com, Mitt Romney’s family tree connects him to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Pierce, Herbert Hoover, and George H.W. and George W. Bush.
It's all just a show, folks.
Former Ohio Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich, the House radical, has signed on as a regular contributor to Fox News, the AP reports. Fox News chairman Roger Ailes said he's "always been impressed with Kucinich's fearlessness and thoughtfulness on the issues."
Sound advice
Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it. -- Will Rogers
Guns don't kill people; people who are ticked off kill people
Places, people, situations, other than public schools, that would benefit from more guns: the DMV; rude waiters; tardy Warner Cable installers; anyone who quotes Faux News; digital media wannabes on cell phones in public spaces; Jehovah's Witnesses at the door; bicyclists on the sidewalk; Segways; Republicans; the DNC; texters -- in traffic, on the sidewalk, bicycling; drivers faking disabilities to park for free; dog walkers without plastic bags; tiny, fidgety "service" dogs in restaurants...
Water, water everywhere...
I'd bet the word I use most often in political discussions is "infrastructure." Along with education, it was infrastructure that gave us our biggest advantage over economic rivals in the 20th century. Natural resources are abundant in North America, of course, but it was government infrastructure spending in the form of railroads, electric grids, highways, port facilities, and so on (and a work force trained and educated in publicly financed schools) that enabled us to convert resources into wealth. Forty years of feckless leadership has squandered this advantage; a succession of Democratic and Republican regimes has presided over the transfer of public wealth into private hands, leaving virtually nothing to spend on the commons.
The penalty for allowing our government to devolve into kleptocracy is coming due, however.
Take water as an example. Even though it is more important to life than any other factor, we treat it with about as much consciousness as goldfish in a bowl. Even now, with two-thirds of the country in severe drought, with aquifers, lakes, reservoirs and rivers drying up -- even the Mississippi is close to being unnavigable for lack of water -- we routinely waste unconscionable quantities of H2O. And the crumbling infrastructure is making a bad situation worse. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, we "lose" 1.7 trillion gallons of water each year -- enough to supply 68 million people -- to aging, leaky pipes (650 water mains burst on the average day). As the population grows and the supply of water declines, we will be forced to make changes in everything from agriculture to personal hygiene. And security planners say international tensions caused by water disputes will be a further burden on our ability to be the World's Policeman. Upgrading our water infrastructure will cost a bundle, at least $1 trillion, probably a lot more, but the costs of not doing anything -- in disease, productivity, unrest, and so on, are sure to be far greater. If we fail to act, and access to clean water dries up, we won't last much longer than goldfish flopping next to a broken bowl.
As with all our infrastructure problems, we have to resources to set this right, but doing so would require two seemingly impossible changes in our politics: we would need to raise taxes significantly and we would have to reorient our national priorities away from militarism and corporate welfare and toward spending for the common good. Neither of these outcomes is possible unless there is a radical updating of our political system to make it more democratic. Constitution 2.0 is long past due.
The penalty for allowing our government to devolve into kleptocracy is coming due, however.
Take water as an example. Even though it is more important to life than any other factor, we treat it with about as much consciousness as goldfish in a bowl. Even now, with two-thirds of the country in severe drought, with aquifers, lakes, reservoirs and rivers drying up -- even the Mississippi is close to being unnavigable for lack of water -- we routinely waste unconscionable quantities of H2O. And the crumbling infrastructure is making a bad situation worse. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, we "lose" 1.7 trillion gallons of water each year -- enough to supply 68 million people -- to aging, leaky pipes (650 water mains burst on the average day). As the population grows and the supply of water declines, we will be forced to make changes in everything from agriculture to personal hygiene. And security planners say international tensions caused by water disputes will be a further burden on our ability to be the World's Policeman. Upgrading our water infrastructure will cost a bundle, at least $1 trillion, probably a lot more, but the costs of not doing anything -- in disease, productivity, unrest, and so on, are sure to be far greater. If we fail to act, and access to clean water dries up, we won't last much longer than goldfish flopping next to a broken bowl.
As with all our infrastructure problems, we have to resources to set this right, but doing so would require two seemingly impossible changes in our politics: we would need to raise taxes significantly and we would have to reorient our national priorities away from militarism and corporate welfare and toward spending for the common good. Neither of these outcomes is possible unless there is a radical updating of our political system to make it more democratic. Constitution 2.0 is long past due.
Tax Fraud
The primary justification for the negotiations b/t the WH and the GOP was the need to reduce the federal budget. However, the CBO estimates the budgetary impact of the fiscal-cliff deal will be that the debt will be nearly $4 trillion higher over the next ten years as compared with current policy.
The Hill: “The extension of lower tax rates for a bulk of the nation’s taxpayers and the addition of a permanent patch to the alternative minimum tax would add roughly $3.6 trillion to the deficit over the next decade… Other individual, business, and energy tax extenders would add another $76 billion.
“The extension of unemployment benefits would cost roughly $30 billion, and the so-called ‘doc fix’ would tally another $25 billion through fiscal 2022… the budget agreement will lead to an overall increase in spending of about $330 billion.”
The Hill: “The extension of lower tax rates for a bulk of the nation’s taxpayers and the addition of a permanent patch to the alternative minimum tax would add roughly $3.6 trillion to the deficit over the next decade… Other individual, business, and energy tax extenders would add another $76 billion.
“The extension of unemployment benefits would cost roughly $30 billion, and the so-called ‘doc fix’ would tally another $25 billion through fiscal 2022… the budget agreement will lead to an overall increase in spending of about $330 billion.”
Worse is yet to come
In the opening volley of his campaign to unseat John Boehner as Speaker, "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) came out against the fiscal cliff deal passed by the Senate, according to Republican members in attendance at a closed-door meeting of the House GOP conference Tuesday afternoon." If you think you hated Boehner as Speaker....
Maybe we should stop electing Democrats to the White House and start electing democrats.
It looks like the new deal (an expression I am using ironically) will define -- absurdly -- "middle class" as any family making up to $450,000/yr or individual bringing in $400,000. The median household income is about $50,000/yr. Four out of five U.S. families make less than $100,000/yr. Fewer than 1% earn more than $450,000/yr. We've got to stop electing Democrats to the White House and start electing democrats.
On not knowing when to hold 'em
"I think the president made a huge mistake by negotiating over what he'd previously said was non-negotiable (namely, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts on income over $250,000). Then the White House compounded that mistake by sending Biden to 'close' the deal when Harry Reid appeared to give up on it. As a practical matter, this signaled to Republicans that the White House wouldn't walk away from the bargaining table, allowing the GOP to keep extracting concessions into the absolute final hours before the deadline." -- Noam Scheiber
"Anyone looking at these negotiations, especially given Obama's previous behavior, can't help but reach one main conclusion: whenever the president says that there's an issue on which he absolutely, positively won't give ground, you can count on him, you know, giving way -- and soon, too. The idea that you should only make promises and threats you intend to make good on doesn't seem to be one that this particular president can grasp." -- Paul Krugman
"Anyone looking at these negotiations, especially given Obama's previous behavior, can't help but reach one main conclusion: whenever the president says that there's an issue on which he absolutely, positively won't give ground, you can count on him, you know, giving way -- and soon, too. The idea that you should only make promises and threats you intend to make good on doesn't seem to be one that this particular president can grasp." -- Paul Krugman
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