The Economist — a conservative publication — editorialized the following about the congressional Republicans and their grabassery on the debt ceiling. (I still can't believe we're debating this!)
And the closer you look, the more unprincipled the Republicans look…. Both parties have in recent months been guilty of fiscal recklessness. Right now, though, the blame falls clearly on the Republicans.
Of course I disagree about the "both sides" meme but the fact remains: the Republicans are gambling with our individual livelihoods and the well-being of the world economy, and they've admitted their desire for economic failure.
Investigations? Anyone?
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Here's a handy graphic published by Reuters, which provides a quick reference for all things Murdoch. After looking it over, all I can say is, "Hulu? Who knew?"
We applaud Newsweek on the headline "I Can Win" for their cover story about Sarah Palin, a person who is not actually in competition for anything and does not care to change out of her jogging outfit for a cover story photo shoot. If only there were something for Sarah Palin to compete at, to win? Palin said this "I can win" line to the reporter in Iowa, where there are certainly no competitions happening, so that's too bad, but Sarah Palin would win if she were in Iowa, competing at something. So, thanks Newsweek for that breaking update. Here is the rest of the interview in one sentence: Sarah Palin is upset the price of beef jerky has gotten so high, she does not want Piper to get her hair cut, and she cannot show up for one single thing on time or tell anybody where she is. Hooray, we knew all those things. READ MORE »
Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President
- Crazyeyes "Robot" Michele Bachmann, Legitimate Presidential Candidate, failing to consider that parents of a child who were slaves pretty much had to be together. You know, because they were slaves. Like, owned by someone. Human commodities with no civil rights. With no free will to make any decisions at all, especially whether or not they wanted to spend time together. For the love of God, lady, think before you generate soundbites with your robot synthesizer mouth.
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"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." ~P.J. O'Rourke
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Try this quiz. I was surprised by my results.
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The Democrats really need to start making noise about a full investigation of News Corp in the USA. News Corp allegedly tried to bribe a NYC police officer and last night, Keith Olberman finished his show by mentioning he was blackmailed by News Corp. There is too much that suggests this scandal was only limited to the UK. It would be fair and balanced to investigate. If they have nothing to hide, there should be no need for concern, as they so often like to say:
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp could face probes by U.S. authorities for possibly violating bribery laws, compounding the media mogul's problems after a phone-hacking scandal in Britain.
The Obama administration has significantly stepped up enforcement of anti-bribery laws in the last two years, winning big settlements from the likes of Daimler AG and BAE Systems Plc by focusing on bribes they paid to foreign officials to win lucrative contracts.
Bribes for business have represented the bulk of these anti-bribery cases brought by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is unclear whether U.S. authorities would use scarce resources to probe News Corp over bribes allegedly paid to British police and other officials for information that became news scoops.
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From Sam Stein's Huffington Post article:
In his press conference on Monday morning, President Barack Obama repeatedly insisted that he was willing to tackle some sacred cows as part of a larger package to raise the debt ceiling. Just how sacred, however, may surprise political observers.
According to five separate sources with knowledge of negotiations -- including both Republicans and Democrats -- the president offered an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare, from 65 to 67, in exchange for Republican movement on increasing tax revenues.
The proposal, as discussed, would not go into effect immediately, but rather would be implemented down the road (likely in 2013).
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I'm completely fascinated by the rampant criminality within the Murdoch empire, and I think this is a good, brief summation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law I had never heard of prior to two days ago:
The scandal embroiling the empire of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News International might extend from London to Washington, legal experts not personally involved in the unfolding matter said Monday.
The potential liability flows from journalists at individual newspapers, such as the recently defunct News of the World, to its parent, News International, to its parent, News Corp., which is a publicly held company in the United States.
If true, that might violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which Koehler described as "a U.S. law that generally prohibits the payment of money or anything of value to a foreign official for a business purpose.
And, with that, look who's back in the news:
Still, as things now stand, the nearly 4,000 miles that separate Washington from London won't put off U.S. investigators. "Of the 10 largest fines in FCPA history, eight have been against foreign companies," Tillen said.
But that may change. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, has criticized the act as putting U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage and held hearings last month intended to water it down, A spokeswoman for Sensenbrenner provided CNN with a statement Monday from the congressman.
"I plan to introduce a bill that would reform the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and bring it up-to-date with the changing world," Sensenbrenner said in the statement. "We need to bring clarity to what is and what is not illegal. My intent is to make sure that the stop signs and red lights are clearly visible for American companies doing commerce internationally.
"Right now, there is confusion regarding who qualifies as a foreign official. Foreign law enforcement officers are clearly foreign officials and it is absolutely absurd to imply that any changes to the FCPA would change that status or permit U.S. businesses to bribe policemen," he added.
Touchy, touchy. Mr. Sensenbrenner is a little irritable, I guess.
I'd just like to add that it is in keeping with conservative dogma that Sensenbrenner is busy watering down a law that has been used successfully to sanction white collar criminals, so we shouldn't draw any conclusions. As you know, nothing and no one may get in the way of powerful people making a buck, ever, off of anything, because they're job creators.
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I've been wondering how long it would be until someone who hates Wikileaks decided to defend Murdoch. It look longer than I thought, but the often odious Roger Cohen is on it today:
The guy's a force of nature and his restless innovations have, on balance and with caveats, been good for the media and a more open world.
Julian Assange, the thin-skinned founder of WikiLeaks, has hurt U.S. interests across a broad but probably shallow spectrum. That will satisfy him in that he's a self-styled foe of the United States. The guy makes me queasy.
In other words, deleting the voicemail of abducted children and publishing medical records of sick children, that's good for the media, on balance. Attempting to hold powerful government interests to account, that makes him queasy.
Here's a thought experiment: imagine that Wikileaks had hacked into an abducted child's voicemail and deleted some of the messages. Suppose that Assange claimed that he had no idea this had happened, that he was on vacation that week. What do you think the reaction would be from establishment media?
If Wikileaks somehow became a huge company and Assange a billionaire, this would be all different of course. Murdoch's techniques are condoned in many quarters simply because when a Galtian overlord does it, it's not a crime that means it is not illegal.
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Big Fan of the Military-Industry Complex Applauds the House GOP's Refusal to Cut Defense Spending
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Only More LIberals Can Fix This Clusterfuck
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In case you suffer under the delusion that Israel still values democratic dissent. "The Israeli parliament has passed a controversial law that will punish any Israeli individual or organisation boycotting West Bank settlements. Rights groups say the legislation stifles freedom of speech and compromises Israeli democracy. After failed attempts to delay debate, it was voted through 47-36. It follows several Israeli calls to boycott institutions or individuals linked to Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land."
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Socialized medicine in action: Spanish surgeons successfully perform double leg transplant. "Spanish surgeons Monday performed the world's first double-leg transplant on a man whose legs were amputated above the knee after an accident, officials said. ... Surgeons operated through the night on the man, who had faced life in a wheelchair because prosthetic limbs were unsuitable, said the health authority for the eastern region of Valencia. ... "It is the first time in the world that such a transplant has been carried out," it said in a statement after the surgery, carried out in the La Fe hospital in the city of Valencia. ... Neither donors nor the patient were identified but the health authority promised to give further details later, depending on his condition."
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Of course they will. "The (tax free) Westboro Baptists Church has announced plans to picket the funeral services in California and Michigan for former First Lady Betty Ford. ... The Westboro Baptist Church has gained infamy for picketing the funerals of military families with offensive signs such as "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates America." ... The church believes that God is punishing the United States because of America's acceptance of homosexuality. ... Ford died Friday evening at the age of 93. Her husband, former President Gerald R. Ford, passed away in 2006. ... The Westboro Baptist Church condemned Ford for divorcing her first husband, claiming that she "lived in adultery for 58 years." The church also said she "urged all the women of this doomed foul nation to engage in extra-marital sex.""
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Here is what a Teabagger stream-of-consciousness novel looks like self-published on the back of a camper, like all major wingnut tomes. Tea Party, meet your T. S. Eliot. READ MORE »
Iraq "has quietly started negotiations to buy U.S. fighter jets and air-defense systems worth billions of dollars," a major move in the region. Senior Iraqi and American officials told the New York Times that "Iraq is considering raising its purchase to as many as 36 of the jets."
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This past Friday, Brookings Institution scholars Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney released new research on the Up Front Blog detailing how Americans are working longer hours than ever, but not netting higher wages for hours worked.
The researchers shockingly found that "although median wages for two-parent families have increased 23 percent since 1975, the evidence suggests that this is not the result of higher wages. Rather, these families are just working more. In 2009, for instance, the typical two-parent family worked 26 percent longer than the typical family in 1975." They illustrate this with the following graph:
The authors also note that while wages have increased over time, those increases do not come from higher wages for time worked. Rather, they are a result of overtime. As an addendum to this Brookings research, it's important to note that while median wages for most Americans have not grown with productivity, the wealthiest Americans continue to eat up more and more of the nation's wealth.
Income inequality is currently higher than it has been at any other time since the 1920s. At an event ThinkProgress attended today about how to re-focus the nation's political agenda on job growth, Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) took note of this growing income inequality:
LEVIN: These are the figures about income growth from 1976 to 2007. 58 percent of the income growth in those 30 years went to the top 10 percent. 58 percent. A third went to the top five percent. 20 percent of income growth those 30 years went to the top 1 percent. And nearly 10 percent went to the top one-tenth of one percent. And so we need to talk to our fellow sister citizens, this is the land of opportunity. When income growth is so tilted in favor of a small minority, it really challenges the growth of the middle class in the United States of America.
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