After 30 years, five presidents and $13 billion dollars, the Obama administration is pulling the plug on Yucca Mountain, the federal government's proposed storage facility for America's nuclear waste.
For a candidate who said he wanted to get politics out of science, critics find the president's decision hypocritical and shortsighted, at a time when nuclear energy is making a comeback.
"They have no solution to the problem. They've taken tens of billions of dollars from rate-payers and now they are talking about scraping the whole thing," said Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste.
But what made for good campaign politics in Nevada leaves the U.S. with nowhere to store a growing stockpile of radioactive waste. Roughly 70,000 tons of waste sits in temporary pools and dry storage canisters in 100 reactor sites around the U.S. -- each one requiring an army of guards and millions in electronic surveillance.
The federal government agreed in 1982 to build a permanent storage site for radioactive waste and signed contracts to begin accepting it by 1998.
Failure to meet that obligation has already cost the government $565 million in settlements and the Department of Energy estimates it will cost another $11 billion over the next decade in court costs and judgments.
06 November 2009
Yucca Mountain And $13 Billion Sacrificed To Help Harry Reid Get Re-elected
Divided Democrats
Democrats on Capitol Hill began a nervous debate Wednesday about the course President Obama has set for their party, with some questioning whether they should emphasize job creation over some of the more ambitious items on the president's agenda.
But moderate and conservative Democrats took a clear signal from Tuesday's voting, warning that the results prove that independent voters are wary of Obama's far-reaching proposals and mounting spending, as well as the growing federal debt.
Liberal lawmakers, meanwhile, said the party's shortcoming came in moving too slowly on health-care reform and other items that would satisfy a base becoming disenchanted with the failure to deliver rapid change in government.
Divided Republicans
Republicans emerged from Tuesday’s elections energized by victories in Virginia and New Jersey, but their leaders immediately began maneuvering to avoid a prolonged battle with conservative activists over what the party stands for and how to regain power.
The debate has been fueled by a somewhat inchoate populist anger that has taken hold among grass-roots conservatives, encouraged in part by political leaders like Sarah Palin, the party’s vice-presidential nominee last year, and commentators like Glenn Beck of Fox News. In that sense, the divisions within the party extend beyond the traditional strains between the shrinking ranks of Republican moderates and the social and economic conservatives who have dominated the party in recent years.
The situation is all the more complicated because, after the party’s defeats in 2008, it has no dominant leaders or cohesive establishment to bridge the divides and help articulate a positive agenda. In that vacuum, the conservative activists and party leaders were both jockeying for advantage on Wednesday.
Discussion On The Rise Of A Viable Third Party
Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer some insight into the biggest question burning up the blogosphere today.
Today's question:
Independents and third parties have been playing a bigger role in recent elections. With poll numbers for both parties on the decline, is there a real opening for independent/third party candidates?
David Boaz, executive vice president of The Cato Institute, said:
There's a lot of dissatisfaction out there. David Broder quotes a Peter Hart memo to Democrats about "the disappointment and disgust the American public feels toward Washington. It is as strongly negative as the period of 1979-80 and 1973-74." So it seems like the time might be right for outsider candidates or even parties.
Sadly, however, the two parties have pretty well locked up the political system. The noted political scientist Theodore Lowi wrote back in 1992, "One of the best-kept secrets in American politics is that the two-party system has long been brain dead -- kept alive by support systems such as state electoral laws that protect the established parties from rivals and by federal subsidies and so-called campaign reform. The two-party system would collapse in an instant if the tubes were pulled and the IVs were cut."
But those tubes are firmly locked in place. Ballot access rules, campaign finance regulations, the ban on party cross-endorsements, direct government subsidies to the major parties, and other election rules make it very difficult to launch an independent candidacy or a third party. It's no accident that the only really successful independent presidential candidate in memory, Ross Perot, was both a celebrity and a billionaire. That's what it takes to get on the ballot and get a hearing.
Hope springs eternal, and I'd certainly like to see some outsider energy in politics. There are at least two groups with reason to be looking for options right now -- conservatives who are outraged at Obama's big-government plans and pretty ticked off at George W. Bush and the Republican establishment, too; and the large group of Americans who are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. And of course there's some overlap there.
The conservatives are likely to keep their revolt within the GOP. But what about the fiscally conservative/socially tolerant voters? Where do they go? Sometimes they swing between parties, as David Kirby and I wrote in "The Libertarian Vote." They might be happier with a party of their own.
But the obstacles to creating a viable alternative party are great. Perhaps even greater than the obstacles that would face a fiscally conservative, socially liberal candidate in either major party.
The Rise of Free-Market Populism
Free-market populism is a political movement with staying power
Like Democrats, I, too, hope Republicans suffer. By focusing on needless culture wars, nurturing government centralization and growth, and spending without restraint, the GOP has downgraded fiscal conservatism to nothing more than election-time rhetoric over the past decade. And not surprisingly, Republican identification is also at an all-time low.
So how is it, some wonder, that a recent Gallup Poll claims that "conservative" remains the dominant ideological group in this nation—with between 39 and 41 percent of voters identifying themselves as either "very conservative" or "conservative"?
The percentage of independents describing their views as "conservative" has also grown, to 35 percent from 29 percent in just one year.
What does it mean to be conservative these days? I mean, "conservative" happens to be the default self-identifying ideological designation of nearly every Republican politician (and some Democrats, too); so in Washington, at least, we know it means very little.
In the real world, I imagine many non-ideologically inclined voters tend to see themselves as conservative, as well. And with a president who has yet to meet an industry he doesn't believe needs to be managed by the loving but firm hands of Washington, this increasingly must mean fiscal conservatism.
The rise of free-market populism in this country finally has manifested in an election. And judging from the hyperbolic reactions, you know it's a political movement with staying power.
Voters Hate Red Light Cameras
Put these cyborgs on a ballot, and the voters beat them to the pavement.
Three cities Tuesday — two in Ohio, one in Texas — voted to rip the things down. In College Station, Tex., the camera manufacturer and their subcontractors reportedly spent $60,000 campaigning to keep them in place, more than five times the amount raised by the opposition, and lost anyway. Voters in Chillicothe, Ohio, went against the cameras at a rate of 72 percent. In Heath, Ohio, the mayor got caught removing anti-camera campaign signs from an intersection. He, and the cameras, got sent packing.
"I'm ecstatic," Jim Ash, the guy in College Station who led the anti-camera campaign.
Nationwide, there have been something like 11 elections on automated enforcement. Your vote total: Revolting Peasants 11, Machines 0.Ash, the College Station activist, started his campaign because he said they were a violation of due process, that there was no appeal beyond a municipal hearing. Red-light or speed cameras or both are banned in all or part of 14 states. The Republican governor of Mississippi kicked them out of the Magnolia State earlier this year. The Democratic governor of Montana did the same in July. Sulphur, La., put the issue to a vote in April — and 86 percent of the populace voted to get rid of them.
In Somalia, Ringtones Banned As Tool Of The Devil
But civil war, female genital mutilation, and stoning adulterers are permitted.
Somali Insurgent Group Bans Cell Phone Ringtones
Ever since Al Shabaab insurgents seized the southern Somali port of Kismayu, Sacdiyo Sheeq, 25, can no longer listen to her favorite Bollywood songs on her cell phone, Reuters reported.
"Al Shabaab wants our ringtones to be only a Muslim cleric reading the Hadith or Koranic verse," Sheeq told Reuters.
"I used to listen to my favorite Indian songs on my cell phone, but now I have just thrown that memory away."
The U.S. government refers to Al Shabaab as Al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, Reuters reported.
The heavily armed group controls areas of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.
Al Shabaab hasn't only banned ring tones. It has forbidden residents from watching movies, dancing at weddings and playing soccer.
"We do not tolerate anything that may corrupt the people," al Shabaab's spokesman in Kismayu, Sheikh Hassan Yaqub, reportedly told Reuters.
"We don't allow anything that goes against our religion, especially music and sexy videos," he said.
Fort Hood Murderer Caught Alive
Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot at least four times. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said, adding that Hasan was in custody at a hospital.
It initially was reported that Hasan had been killed at the scene. But Cone said at the press conference that Hasan had been in custody since the incident occurred, and there was no explanation of the earlier report.
05 November 2009
Eminent Domain Powers in Texas Curtailed
Dallas Morning News: Texans vote to limit state's eminent domain powers
Texas voters overwhelmingly chose Tuesday to strengthen their private property rights as enshrined in the state constitution — one of eleven constitutional amendments approved in the poll.
With 98 percent of the votes counted, some 81 percent of voters supported Proposition 11 to limit eminent domain powers.
The proposition will state in the constitution that governments in Texas are prevented from seizing private property and giving it to private developers to boost the tax base.
Cookie Monster: Deranged, Undeviating, Fanatic
Cookie Monster took over Google today, to celebrate Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary.Cookie is a fanatic, undeviating in the quality of his obsession. He eats things. Many lessons on Sesame Street are terminated when something eats them. But Cookie, who has of late been eating mainly cookies, is a junkie. "To me, your nose is a cookie," he once said to another Muppet in a desperate moment. When cookies arrive, he tends to eat the entire shipment, but he is moved to empathy at the sight of a human being temporarily deprived of a cookie.
The most monstrous of Sesame Street's monsters, he is desire turned comic-grotesque. In an important sign of his derangement, Cookie Monster is the only core character to sport bobbling pupils in his eyes. His signature song, "C Is for Cookie," is a pub song invested with rousing grandeur, an anthem to monomania. "Let's think of other things that starts with C," he growls, before entertaining second thoughts. "Ah, who cares about the other things!" His lack of interest in much other than eating extends even to grammar. Him wants proper declension.
Japan: I Have To Wash My Hair That Day
Obama Administration gets dissed by Japan.BBC: Japan 'has no time' to meet US
Plans for a Washington meeting this week between Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been dropped.
Japan's government said the talks had been cancelled because of an inability to co-ordinate schedules.The meeting had been planned to take place before US President Barack Obama visits Tokyo next week.
Ties between the countries have been strained by a row over a US military base on Japan's Okinawa island.
Number on Unemployment Benefits Highest in Forty Years
With jobless benefits expiring for a record number of workers, some 7,000 a day, Congress is sending the president legislation to expand a popular homebuyers tax credit and extend unemployment benefits. The $24 billion economic package seeks both to propel a sluggish economic recovery and help out the millions who have lost jobs and have been unable to rejoin the workforce.
The extension would help head off financial suffering for the hundreds of thousands who face the loss of benefits by year's end. It also would help shore up a frail economy in the very early stages of a recovery from the worst contraction since the Great Depression.
For millions of households, the outlook remains bleak. Roughly 6,600 new foreclosures are filed every day, or about one every 13 seconds. As of the end of September, some 2.6 million mortgages were in some stage of foreclosure and another 1.6 million loans were 90 days late and headed there. Another 6 million families could lose their homes over the next three years, according to the Treasury Department.
Voters aren't putting Republicans back in power, they're just putting a check on Obama
What Election Results Say About The Obama Effect
The question for Republicans is whether they can capitalize on this. The Republican base is fired up and ready to go, just like the Democrats were last year.
But the Republican brand is still damaged: Less than 25 percent of voters identify themselves as Republicans, says former Rep. Tom Davis, who used to lead the party's congressional campaign committee.
"The other thing you have to remember — and this is going to apply to the midterms as much as anything else: Voters aren't putting Republicans back in power, they're just putting a check on Obama," he says. "They've already rendered their verdict on Republicans: They don't like them. Any gains the Republicans make aren't because the Republicans have changed. It's just because maybe voters feel maybe the Democrats have gone too far, and they want to send them a message."
Republicans learned other lessons Tuesday evening. In Virginia, Cook says, where Bob McDonnell won the governor's race, they may have found a model for how committed social conservatives can win in swing states.
"They nominated a conservative — a staunch conservative — but one who projected a very moderate, mainstream, nonthreatening image and stylistically [is] a moderate," Cook says.
Fort Hood Killer: "Muslims Should Rise Up Against The Aggressors"
Eleven people have been killed and at least 31 wounded when a soldier with two guns went on a rampage at America's biggest military base.
The gunman, named as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, was cut down in a shootout with authorities at the Fort Hood base in Texas.
The Virginia-born soldier was a Muslim convert and was furious over the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. and allied troops to the extent that he was being investigated by military officials as he was about to be deployed to a war zone.
Army colleagues said Hasan had fervently expressed his opposition to the war.
Retired Colonel Terry Lee who worked with the major said: 'He was so outspoken I once said to him, "Look, you got to cool it".
'He was reacting with open glee at the death of some soldiers by a suicide bomber. I told him, "You might not agree with this but this is the army and we are here to serve the country.'
Mr Lee said Hasan repeatedly said: 'Muslims should rise up against the aggressors.'
Two soldiers who were apprehended as suspects were released.
More Iranian Protests
Security forces have used batons and tear gas to disperse opposition supporters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, witnesses and state media say.
Unconfirmed reports said the authorities had also opened fire.
Video footage and photos showed what appeared to be large crowds of opposition supporters being chased by security forces in riot gear.
Cue The Ominous Music: Health Care Bill To Be Voted On Saturday
Washington Post: House expected to vote on health bill Saturday
House leaders put in motion the machinery to hold a rare Saturday vote on the most far-reaching expansion of the health-care system in more than 40 years.
Many Democrats said passing the measure has become even more crucial politically after Republicans won governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey this week.
House leaders said that they were confident of reaching their goal in time for a Saturday debate on the most significant changes to the nation's health-care system since the creation of Medicare in 1965.
They released 42 pages of amendments to the 1,990-page health package unveiled last week, a move that started the clock ticking on their pledge to make the legislation publicly available for 72 hours before lawmakers are asked to pass judgment.
Way to go Republicans! Your wins in NJ and Virginia only served to spur the Democrats on, and to pass the bill before they run any chance of losing their majority.
And Lord knows that your sorry Republican butts won't have the gumption to repeal it if you ever retake Congress.
Social Conservatism Not A Winning Issue
North and South in the Republican Party
I have a lot of relatives in NY-23. They are all Republicans, and that affiliation has been passed down through the generations (along with Catholic church membership and a tendency to dress like the pictures in the LL Bean catalog).
And few things get them angrier than how the Republican party has been taken over by "the Texans." This is shorthand for the southern-oriented, Protestant-oriented religious right. They hate that crowd more than any Democrat could.
As long as social issues dominate the Republican Party, they will continue losing their north--I had a lot of relatives who at least considered voting for Obama.
04 November 2009
Leaked Secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and the Pirate Party
More here from Poli-Tea: Secret Treaties and the Supercession of Domestic LawThe internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to "national security" concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:
* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
* That the whole world must adopt US-style "notice-and-takedown" rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.
* Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)
Never heard of the Pirate Party? It is the US arm of a movement that started in Europe committed to copyright reform and freedom of speech. More about the Pirate Party here: The United States Pirate PartyThe platform of the US Pirate Party is becoming more attractive almost by the day. The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that leaks of the multi-lateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement have surfaced ahead of the next round of negotiations on the proposal.
Effectively, this would be the equivalent of holding Blackberry and telecommunications corporations responsible for the criminal conspiracies of politicians and lobbyists coordinated by phone, email and instant message. Unlike the Unites States government under the leadership of the Democratic and Republican Parties, the US Pirate Party stands for the freedom of information, communication and speech.
made international headlines last June, when it successfully won a seat in the European Parliament. In Germany's federal elections late last month, the nation's fledgling Pirate Party received over three-quarters of a million votes, enough to qualify for future federal campaign funds.Sweden's Pirate Party
Among the issues on the US Pirate Party's platform, we find a rejection of the concept of online piracy, demands for the abolition of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as well as for the reform of copyright, patent and trade mark law, in addition to an emphasis on the right to privacy, a free press, freedom of assembly, and the right to government transparency.
The US Pirate Party is even already fielding a candidate for office, Stephen Collings, who is running for the US Congress in Tennessee's 5 district in 2010 on a platform of small, smart and accountable government.
Votes in Maine and Houston Compared
WSJ: Maine Rejects Same-Sex Marriage
Same-sex marriage has yet to win a popular vote in any state, despite a recent string of wins in the New England region. The other states that grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont -- have done so via legislative vote or judicial ruling, and New Hampshire will grant such marriages starting in January after a vote by its legislature. The federal government and most other states don't recognize same-sex marriages.
Maine currently grants domestic-partnership status to same-sex couples, along with about seven other states. The state's legislature voted in May to allow gays to marry each other, but an opposition petition campaign led the measure's implementation to be delayed and submitted to a popular referendum Tuesday.
In Washington state, voters appeared poised to approve the expansion of rights granted to gay couples under the state's domestic-partnership registry.
Earlier this year, the state passed a law to expand domestic partnerships to have the same rights as marriages under state law. Early returns showed 51% approving of the expanded status, compared with 49% who voted to reduce the rights of same-sex domestic partners.
Also Tuesday, Mainers approved a measure to broaden the state's medical-marijuana law to allow nonprofit organizations to dispense marijuana to the sick.
So the same electorate in Maine that voted down same-sex marriage voted in easier access to marijuana. Interesting.
Also on the same day here in Houston, a lesbian made the mayoral run-off with the highest vote totals, and could win election next month.
Why did this happen in Texas, while same-sex marriage failed in California and Maine when put to a vote? One, Annise Parker, the Houston candidate for Mayor, is pretty matter of fact about it. She has worked her way up, and has done a good job. She doesn't make it an issue. She focused on financial issues, and attracted a lot of support from fiscally conservative voters. Two, the groups behind the vote in Maine were from California, were seen as outsiders, and are a bit "in your face" about it.
I read today that 31 states have voted in same-sex marriage bans and the issue has lost every time it has come up for a vote.
People are either just not ready for same-sex marriage, or just think that the word marriage should retain its traditional definition.
I suspect that in the next generation, attitudes towards same-sex marriage will continue to shift. Perhaps civil unions are the best answer for now. That will not satisfy impatient gay activists, but there has been a huge change on this issue since the late 80s/early 90s, and acceptance of civil unions continues to grow.
Republicans Promise More Of The Same
But you would be wrong.
Republicans talk one way, and then once the cameras are off, act in a contrary manner. Yesterday I heard bloviation about how the Republicans are the "party of freedom, of smaller government, of reform." Except they are not.
Here's an example.
Politico: Panel goes AWOL in GOP earmark war
This is what is driving everyone crazy. If you really want anything to change, the Republicans are not the answer. Oh, sure, they will do what they can to teach creationism in schools, or to lambast gays for -- well, being gay -- but if you are looking for freedom, economic opportunity, or less corruption, keep looking.On Nov. 19, 2008, House GOP leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor created a select committee on earmark reform to bring “meaningful change to the process by which Washington spends taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”
Nearly a year later, the committee has done virtually nothing about earmarks — except to request more of them.
When Boehner and Cantor announced the creation of the committee last November, they proposed that Republicans in the House refrain from requesting any additional earmarks until the committee reported back with its recommendations for reform.
That report was to be delivered “no later than Feb. 16, 2009,” but it still hasn’t come. While a Republican aide said earlier this month that the report is a “work in progress,” committee members acknowledge that they haven’t met once since their February deadline came and went.
In the meantime, the vast majority of House Republicans — including eight of the 10 on the committee — have continued to seek earmarks.
For example, lawmakers can still request earmarks for campaign donors, as at least one member of the earmark reform panel — Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) — has done this year.
Among the committee’s members, only Flake and Hensarling have refrained from seeking earmarks this year. The other eight members — McMorris Rodgers, Hastings and Reps. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Kevin Brady (R-Texas), Randy Forbes (R-Va.), John Mica (R-Fla.), Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) — have all requested earmarks.
So now they are crowing about winning two governor's races. But what choice do people have? It's one or the other. They claim that Obama is now on the hook for the economy. But does anyone really think the Republicans would have done anything effective?
Your choice is between those who caused the economic problem, and those who don't know how to fix it.
Democrat Ahead In NY 23rd
This was a safe Republican seat. I would think that Hoffman would get the blame for losing it to the Democrats. But he'll probably be lauded as some kind of martyr. The fallout from this will be interesting.
Dem takes narrow lead in House race in northern NY
I understand Fox has called it for Owens.
Constantly updated: The Hill's New York 23rd district live results blog
The Onion Reveals Congressional Spending Plans
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said of the expensive and ill-advised monument:
"My deepest hope is that future generations of Americans will one day look upon this pointless edifice and be filled with a sense of awe and wonder at mankind's utter lack of foresight."
"To think of all the ways our time and money could have been better spent," Pelosi continued. "I can imagine no more fitting tribute."
Democrats To Move To Center?
The Hill: Blue Dog says Dem losses would strengthen centrists' policy positionsCentrist Blue Dog Democrats might see their position strengthened if Democrats suffer broader electoral losses, one Blue Dog member suggested Tuesday.
Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) argued that an Election Day rebuke for Democratic candidates across the nation could lead some in the party to rethink their plans on healthcare reform and other issues.
Locke and Parker Make Houston Mayoral Runoff
With 92 percent of precincts reporting in Houston, the candidates remain in roughly the same positions. City Controller Annise Parker maintained 30.5 percent of the vote, followed by former City Attorney Gene Locke with 25.6 percent, City Councilman Peter Brown with 22.6 percent and Harris County Board of Education Trustee Roy Morales with 20.3 percent.
Criticism of the "Public Option" in Health Care Reform
Unfortunately, a government-run insurance policy is on the table again
First, it is not necessary. The purpose of a public plan is to expand coverage to the uninsured. But the system of insurance exchanges and generous subsidies that both Republicans and Democrats broadly agree on ought to do that.
For while public plans could do some good, in the context of America’s health system they could also do damage.
A public plan is likely to damage competition. A government insurer has some big advantages over a private one; its financing costs would be lower because the government can borrow cheaply; it would not have to worry too much about future liabilities since it could never go bust; and its economies of scale would be larger than those of the competition. Those using the public plan would benefit in the short term, but the scheme might very well squeeze private insurers out of business, which would be bad news for the other half of Americans that have them—and, according to opinion polls, are generally happy about that.
The next big problem is that a public plan will not do anything to drive down the overall cost of healthcare. Current government programmes like Medicare have not done much better than private ones in resisting cost inflation, even though the government sets the rates at which it pays out.
What is needed, as The Economist has repeatedly argued, is a fierce assault on the distortions that keep health costs so high, not the shifting of a large unreformed lump of spending from the private to the public sector. So far, there have been precious few moves in that direction. This means that a public plan will be expensive—either for the government or for private policy holders. If doctors and hospitals are obliged to hold their prices down when treating people on the public plan, they will recoup their losses elsewhere: from private patients. This already happens in the case of Medicare.
Iranian Government To Retreat From Tehran
Tehran is a sprawling metropolis at the foot of the Alborz mountain range. It is home to some 12 million people, and is the largest city in the Middle East.
Not only is it the political and economic heart of the country, the city has a cosmopolitan air with its museums, art galleries, parks and universities. It has been Iran's capital since 1795.
But now a powerful state body, the expediency council, has approved plans by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to end Tehran's days as a capital.
But the timing of this decision - coming as it does months after some of the worst anti-government riots Tehran has ever seen - is interesting, says Dominic Dudley, deputy editor of the London-based Middle East Economic Digest.
Tehran is very much a liberal enclave in Iran, he says - and it was many of those liberals who took to the streets complaining of fraud when conservative incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared winner of June's presidential election.
The Company Obama Keeps
Hat Tip: InstapunditWhat are we to make of a White House visitors list that includes 22 swiftly scheduled appointments with a union boss at a time when Gen. Stanley McChrystal can't get face time with the commander in chief?
The list reveals visits from activists, left-wing foundations, the feminist lobby, union bosses and noted anti-capitalists whose ideas would put the U.S. economy into the ground. The list also shows the White House had little exposure to policymakers on the frontlines of some of the most important decisions the president must make.
In the former category, there's Service Employees International Union boss Andy Stern, who told the Wall Street Journal that if the power of persuasion didn't work, then the persuasion of power would have to do. The records show Stern had 22 meetings, many face-to-face with the president, more than anyone else known so far. Stern might as well borrow a White House bedroom.
What a Trillion Dollars Could Have Gotten Us
One estimate is that 500 nuclear power plants would make America energy independent. I think that is optimistic in that an abundance of electricity doesn't mean we won't need to import oil for transportation needs, but it would certainly take us a long way toward independence. The cost would be in the order of 2 billion per plant (I would think less; that is the first one might be 4 billion, but the 400th would be considerably less than a billion; but call it 2 billion). That is one trillion dollars, comparable to the TARP or stimulus -- and for once a deficit would be financing something real.
It is less than the cost of the war, and less than the war is going to cost if we continue. Cheap reliable energy would be one major step toward economic recovery. Low cost energy plus freedom will bring prosperity. If we have the energy we can work on the freedom. The whole thing could be accomplished in four years. Of course the ravening wolves in the Congress won't do it -- but then it's not likely that this is the kind of hope and change we can believe in from the current White House.
But it would work. France knows the value of nuclear power. Why can't we learn it?
These numbers are amazing. For what we spent on the Stimulus, we could have been far down the road of energy independence. Think of the jobs that this would have created, and the technological advance. For the environmentalists, think of all the carbon-free electricity we would be generating.
Instead, nearly a trillion dollars has been spent, and what do we have to show for it? Some teaching and local government jobs saved for a year. And the rest? Gone, who knows where ...
This also makes you aware of just what could be been accomplished with a trillion dollars. Instead, we will have nothing to show for it, except a burden for our children.
Why Debt in 2009 Is Not Like Debt In 1946
A recent Post editorial took on progressive economists and pundits who argue that the United States’ World War II experience proves massive deficit spending is the best cure for a depressed economy -- and that the same treatment should work today. For these analysts, the problem with today’s $1.4 trillion deficit is that it’s too small.
World War II was financed out of domestic resources. Some $185 billion came from selling low-interest war bonds to the public. Post-war inflation then eliminated much of this debt. Today, by contrast, we depend on foreigners who hold almost half of its $7.5 trillion public debt. Anybody think we can play the same borrow-and-inflate game with the Chinese central bank? Our foreign creditors are tolerant for now. But if the federal government offers no prospect of near-term fiscal discipline, they will demand higher interest, which could bring our economy to a screeching halt.
Today’s deficit, unlike the one we ran up in World War II, is not only discretionary but also structural. It includes mandatory spending on entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare for an aging population.
In 1946, the U.S. was much more deeply indebted than it is now. Yet it was also a nation on the rise, triumphant in global war, dominant in world markets. The government owed its own citizens, and could pay them back on its own terms. Potential competitors abroad lay literally in ruins. Sixty-three years later, we are still the richest and most powerful country in the world, but less in control of our own fate -- burdened by huge legacy costs at home and dependent on creditors abroad.
To make fiscal policy as if this were not the case would be a dangerous mistake.
03 November 2009
Republican Wins To Slow Obama Agenda
President Barack Obama's political clout was on the line Tuesday as Virginia and New Jersey chose governors in contests that could serve as warning signs for Democrats about the public's mood heading into an important midterm election year.
One year after Obama won the White House in an electoral landslide and Democrats expanded their majorities in Congress, much of the focus was on Virginia and New Jersey, where Democratic control was in danger despite hefty campaigning by Obama himself.
As if on cue, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid indicated Tuesday that lawmakers may not complete health care legislation this year, missing Obama's deadline on his signature issue and pushing debate into a congressional election year.
A Second Stimulus?
Melting Pot Project: Yeah, That Seems to Add Up Fine
Rumors of a second stimulus are beginning to swirl inside the Beltway, with the Obama administration worried that there will be approximately eight jobs left in the entire country when midterm elections roll around. But there's legitimate question as to whether or not President Obama has enough political capital left to push more stimulation through Congress; the first package has become increasingly unpopular, and there's the little matter of how to pay for Round Two.Reason Online: Nobody Said "Stimulus 2." The Words "Stimulus" and "Two" Have Not Been Said In That Order By Anybody.
Business Insider: Obama "Seriously Considering" Second Stimulus As Unemployment Blasts Through 10%
Wall Street Pit: Second Stimulus Here We Come
As I wrote last night one of the problems with the entire approach to stimulus has been targeting and making it specific. What that means in English is that we’re going to make sure that the money goes to our friends and we get the maximum political boost from the expenditures.
That sort of targeting is why we get artificial boosts in home and auto sales with marginal long-term stimulus. So far the administration has proven itself adept at lining the pockets of bankers, auto workers and real estate agents while failing woefully to truly move the economy out of recession.
Make no mistake, absent a miraculous reversal of the unemployment numbers a second stimulus is already baked in the cake. No one in the administration is going to be “mindful of the deficit.” Their only thing they are mindful of is the debacle that will result if the unemployment rate isn’t down substantially by mid to late-spring.
You’ll see desperation legislation, not anything resembling a rational approach to the problem. The usual economists will tout rationales to give the administration cover, but at its base it’s going to be good old Chicago vote buying.
Paul McKain's Grassroots Campaign Gives Voters A Choice In Florida 2nd District
Almost everyone can agree that honesty, credibility and accountability are sorely lacking in Washington D.C. Year after year, the American people are promised reform and transparency, but year after year, the hidden earmarks, mind-numbing rhetoric and back-room dealings persist. Votes are purchased by special interest groups that can shell out more political capital in a day than most people can earn in a lifetime. Name-calling, finger-pointing and personal feuds dominate discussion on the House floor.
Complacency has so deeply taken root that many politicians are literally comfortable passing thousand-page, billion-dollar, paradigm-shifting bills they haven’t even read. For the most part, Americans are willing to overlook Washington’s hypocrisy, but as unemployment and deficit spending skyrocket, so does the dissatisfaction of American voters.
It is no surprise that more and more people are feeling abandoned by the two-party system. Where this existing framework deteriorates, Middle America’s movement for appropriate representation establishes its foundation. Grassroots campaigns are emerging across the country, giving a voice to the no-longer-silent majority of American citizens.
Paul McKain is determined to inspire true citizen participation in the constituents of his district. His position is simple: People have a right to be consulted openly and honestly by their representatives on important issues.Once Americans experience the “real” transparency he outlines in his platform, no candidate will ever be able to get elected without earning the public’s full trust. Coercion, duress and half-truths have no place in the democratic process.
While some people may not agree with McKain on every issue, at least they’ll know where he stands — with the voters. Having already turned down multiple PACs and special-interest contributions, McKain has vowed to only accept individual donations. In a recent interview with True Politics USA, McKain stated, “I will be owned by no one but the people. If elected, I consider myself ‘public property’ for the course of my term in office.”
This effort to break Washington’s debilitating partisan stranglehold over the American electorate might sound lofty, but McKain is no stranger to confrontation.
Many people have reservations about voting for a third party, wondering whether or not their voice will be heard amidst the overbearing partisan bickering that dominates modern political discussion.
The city of Tallahassee has a unique opportunity to singlehandedly change the tone of American politics.
By supporting and researching our own third-party dark horse, Paul McKain, we can help break the caustic cycle of corruption that has consumed our nation’s political system.
Time For A Third Party
True, the Virginia governor’s race looks increasingly like a Republican cakewalk. But tomorrow’s other two noteworthy elections, in New Jersey and far upstate New York, have become fascinating free-for-alls.
And in both cases, a third-party candidate provided the spark.
It’s a shame that this doesn’t happen more often. Gerrymandered districts, the power of incumbency and our tendency to self-segregate along ideological lines all help make American elections uncompetitive. But so does the absence of third-party entrepreneurship.
It’s at the state and local level where an independent politician or party can actually hope to get things done. (In this regard, the cranks and idealists in your local Green Party have more sense than the pundits who fantasized about a Bloomberg-for-President campaign.) And it’s at the state and local level where we could use a lot more of them.
They could provide a counterweight to the corruption associated with one-party rule, whether in solidly red states or deep-blue cities. They could get unorthodox candidates elected, and win hearings for unorthodox ideas. And they could help fulfill the promise of federalism, by organizing themselves around local particularities, rather than the national political divide.
These aren’t just idle fantasies. The Internet has democratized political organizing in ways that ought to weaken the two-party duopoly. Howard Dean and Ron Paul have proved that you can fund a presidential campaign with a laptop. Where Hoffmann and Daggett have gone, others should be able to follow.
For anyone who wants to try, the time is now. This year has been a good year for independent candidates. Given the public mood these days, 2010 could be an even better one — and there will be a lot more than three offices up for grabs next fall.
More On The Texas vs. California Tax/Benefit Model
What happened? According to Voegeli, two things.
One is that scarce tax dollars in Texas are spent on priorities that have broad appeal, while California spends far more of its tax dollars on transfer payments to particular groups with political clout.
Second (and a subset of the first, really) is that the tax dollars in California go to public employees, public employee pensions, public sector unions — nominally to the service providers of the “high benefits” received in exchange for high taxes.
Voegeli reports that they soak up the additional revenue but provide increasingly poor services at an ever increasing cost.
According to a report issued earlier this year by McKinsey & Company, Texas students “are, on average, one to two years of learning ahead of California students of the same age,” though expenditures per public school student are 12 percent higher in California.
State and local government expenditures as a whole were 46.8 percent higher in California than in Texas in 2005–06—$10,070 per person compared with $6,858. And Texas not only spends its citizens’ dollars more effectively; it emphasizes priorities that are more broadly beneficial.
In 2005-06, per-capita spending on transportation was 5.9 percent lower in California than in Texas, and highway expenditures in particular were 9.5 percent lower, a discovery both plausible and infuriating to any Los Angeles commuter losing the will to live while sitting in yet another freeway traffic jam.
I Wonder The Same Thing
Previously: Proposed Financial Reform is More of the SameSen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said that she's "not sure" why Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner still has a job as of Monday morning.
Cantwell ripped into the financial reforms put forth by Geithner and the Obama administration as "appalling" for including alleged loopholes and exemptions for large financial institutions in legislation overhauling the regulatory framework for the nation's top firms.
"What the Treasury secretary basically said was that, yes, banks should take more risks and we should continue the loopholes," she said. "And that's really appalling because right now, we know that lack of transparency has caused this problem with the U.S. economy, and Wall Street is continuing, one year later, with the same loopholes."
Cantwell's friendly fire marks an uptick in rhetoric against Geithner from liberal Democrats, who earlier this year had questioned the former New York Fed chairman's closeness to Wall Street and are now ramping up their questions for the Treasury secretary as Congress prepares to take up the Obama administration's financial overhaul plans in earnest.
Architect Of Shameful U.S. Policy On Honduras
If there is one person in Honduras who is more despised these days than deposed president Manuel Zelaya it is a foreigner who goes by the name of Hugo. We refer here not to the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez but to U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.
Many Hondurans, including, rumor has it, President Roberto Micheletti, see Mr. Llorens as the principal architect of a U.S. policy that has caused enormous Honduran hardship.
Mr. Llorens anointed himself colonial viceroy in charge of imposing U.S. will. Plenty of Molotov-hurling leftists also took Mr. Zelaya's side. But Mr. Llorens staked out a position for the U.S., defending the legitimacy of the erratic former president. The U.S. ambassador used every weapon he could lay his hands on to try to force the country to restore Mr. Zelaya to power.
This violated Honduran sovereignty. But Mr. Llorens's boss back home, Barack Obama, seemed more interested in appeasing U.S. enemies than standing by friends, or even sticking to his pledge not to meddle in other countries' affairs. Mr. Chávez and Fidel Castro were supporting Mr. Zelaya, and Mr. Obama apparently wanted to be part of the gang.
Upgrading the Electric Grid
In addition to making our electrical grid more efficient, upgrading the system will prevent hacker attacks that could paralyze the country.
Republicans Forget How To Do Politics
Conservatives seem to be mystified that these liberals hold the reins of power even though they make up a small minority of the country. Most polls show that only about 20 percent of the American people consider themselves to be liberal.
But it shouldn't be any mystery. It is all about building a majority coalition, and the Democrats for the last two elections have been better at it than Republicans.
In order to build a governing coalition, the Republican Party must exhibit one over-riding philosophical trait: flexibility.What makes sense in New York and New England may not make as much sense in South Carolina and Texas. I know this is blasphemy to hard-right activists. But it shouldn't be. Building coalitions is an essential party of any democracy.
Having political flexibility doesn't mean becoming a sell-out or a squish. It does, however, mean having an understanding of our unique political system, where sometimes it is better to vote with the head and the heart rather than just the heart.
That means that conservatives, in order to get a majority in the House or the Senate, have to build their coalitions before the elections. Call it broadening the base, call it a big tent, call it practical politics, but without a certain amount of pragmatism, the conservative party is destined to be a large but largely powerless minority.
The Sublime Nigella Lawson
She combines my two favorite things:
a woman with a great figure, and
a woman with a great figure that can cook.
02 November 2009
Voters Discontented With Traditional Choices
An independent candidate stressing New Jersey's economic woes is attracting surprising voter support in the governor's race, which features an unpopular Democratic incumbent and a Republican challenger with ties to former President George W. Bush.
Daggett said at a campaign appearance this week he has found unhappy voters across New Jersey, the nation's most densely populated state.
"It's a lousy economy. It's a stimulus package that hasn't stimulated. It is jobs that are lost. It is homes foreclosed," Daggett told Reuters. "It's all added up to this anger that is really widespread and, I think, national in scope."
Governor Jon Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs chief executive, is running for a second term and only last week pulled ahead in polls against Republican Chris Christie, a former U.S. Attorney appointed by Bush.
Republicans Adopt "Small Tent" Approach
Against all evidence to the contrary, the Senate Republican Leader says the Republicans want moderates.Right wing purists egged on by Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin fought to capture an upstate House seat today and electrify their drive to purge moderates from the Republican Party.
With Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman jumping to the lead in a new poll, the hard-core right smelled a chance to remold the GOP in the image of raucous town hall protests and "tea party" rallies of the summer.
"Moderates by definition have no principles," Limbaugh huffed on his radio show yesterday. He predicted that "RINOs" - a putdown acronym of "Republicans In Name Only" - "may become extinct."
Looking For A Larger Political Meaning in NY 23rd
There are three national political races everyone will have their eyes on Tuesday night – the high-profile governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey and a special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District.
After the election, the media will sort through the votes and look for a larger political meaning, probably focusing most intently on the gubernatorial outcomes. But it may be the results from the congressional race near the Canadian border that actually mean the most.
The conservative support and money that have poured into the district are signs that the right of the Republican Party is trying to send a message. And Scozzafava’s departure might be read as: “message received.”
Before Scozzafava’s departure, the race was a dead heat between Mr. Owens and Hoffman. Though Sozzafava endorsed Owens, it’s not yet clear where her votes will go. But the stakes are pretty big.
A Hoffman victory will be characterized as a big win for the conservative wing of the GOP – and rightfully so – but it might also be a sign of a turbulent year for the Republicans in 2010.
There are community types in Patchwork Nation that will welcome a conservative victory – the socially conservative “Evangelical Epicenters” and rural, agricultural “Tractor Country” among them.
But there are also big districts around the country like the 23rd full of “Service Worker Centers” that are less ideological when they cast their votes. With lower incomes than most communities and higher unemployment, they tend to be focused short term on economic concerns. And they may be less interested in casting votes for the conservative movement than they are in casting protest votes against the party in power.
Keep in mind, the 2009 election in the 23rd is a special election (not part of the regular two-year cycle), and special elections tend to bring out the most politically active – the most liberal and the most conservative. That will probably be a big help to Hoffman Tuesday.
But 2010 will offer more of a standard-looking electorate.
If Hoffman wins in New York’s 23rd, expect to see a lot more candidates like him in 2010, though that might not be a good thing for the GOP in moderate districts.
They Are All RINOs Now
But if the far right abandons the GOP to support a "Conservative Party" candidate, then aren't they really RINOs themselves? I mean, they abandoned the GOP pretty quickly didn't they? They didn't seem too dedicated to the party did they?
So if moderates are RINOs, and the right wing are also RINOs, then who exactly is left?
It seems that no one wants to be a Republican any more.
Don't blame them.
Natural Gas In Shale Formations Could Change National Energy Outlook
Louisiana shale could change fate of U.S. energy supply
The gas found in the area's Haynesville shale and in other shale formations throughout the country has changed the nation's energy outlook in just a few short years.
Some see abundant North American natural gas as the gateway to reduced dependence on foreign oil and a bridge toward carbon-free energy sources since gas is the lowest-emission fossil fuel.
The natural gas industry is using this boom as ammunition in the debate over climate change and energy security. They say the fuel is ideal for replacing coal to run power plants because it produces half as much carbon dioxide and note it also can run cars and trucks with modified fuel tanks and engines.
CIT Bankruptcy To Hurt Small Business
CIT Group Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday in New York after months of struggling to avoid collapse. The company provides badly needed credit to thousands of small and mid-sized businesses, and is a critical part of the flow of capital in the retail sector.
But retail groups and analysts warn that the case will likely add to the instability in the retail sector. CIT is an important source of capital, working with 2,000 vendors that supply merchandise to more than 300,000 stores. About 60 percent of the apparel industry depends on CIT for financing.
Anti-Incumbency Mood Growing
"I see no particular harbingers for 2010," says Purdue University's Bert Rockman. "While people are deeply unhappy about current conditions, they are also keenly suspicious of Republicans."
Perhaps so. But however these races turn out for both parties, the anti-incumbency mood is growing across the country.
A sour mood exists among people, with close-to-10-percent unemployment, decreasing health-care benefits and rising taxes - and a view that the well-heeled get bailed-out but John and Joan Q. Citizen do not.
Because our political system was designed to be slow and laborious and to do little, that sour mood grows rather than dissipates.
One thing is certain: Wednesday morning will pose a hangover for both parties as they assess going forward.
Former GOP Candidate Endorses Democrat
The gulf between the moderate and conservative factions of the Republican Party appeared to spread Sunday when the Republican former candidate in a contentious congressional race endorsed the Democrat.
New York State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava's decision was essentially a rebuke of conservative activists who had mounted a wildcat effort to ensure her defeat.
On Sunday, before Scozzafava's announcement, senior Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett said on ABC's "This Week" that the administration "would love to have her support."Jarrett painted the GOP as drifting from the mainstream.
"It's rather telling when the Republican Party forces out a moderate Republican, and it says, I think, a great deal about where the Republican Party leadership is right now," she said.
But Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that Scozzafava is "not just a liberal Republican, she's more liberal than many of the Democrats."Scozzafava's decision infuriated Republicans who had stuck with her, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
He told the AP that he was disappointed and "deeply upset."
America's Public Debt Crisis
America’s debt crisis will be chronic, not acute
Publicly held debt, just 37% of GDP two years ago, has already jumped to 56%. How much further it rises depends crucially on how fast the economy grows: higher growth leads to narrower deficits and a larger GDP to support the debt. The White House sees deficits stuck at around 4% of GDP and the debt ratio reaching 77% by 2019. The IMF, which forecasts lower growth, sees the deficit rising to around 7% of GDP and the debt ratio to 100%. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is in between.
Debts of that magnitude elevate interest rates, crowd out private investment and damp growth.
The CBO estimates that by 2019 interest on the national debt will consume 3.8% of GDP, more than twice its share earlier this decade.
Bigger deficits raise interest rates not just by competing for savings, but by raising doubts about America’s ability to repay the money. Moody’s Investors Service notes that, including what states owe, America’s government debt will hit 100% of GDP in 2010 ...
The Broad Approach of the Modern Whigs
This might seem obvious to you, but to some it is not. The problem of an ideological based political organization like the Greens or the Libertarians is the demand of the ideology. Unless the ideology has the support of the majority, then the appeal of such a group is limited. Attempts to broaden the appeal will be met with horror by those activists who signed up because of the appeal of the purity of the vision. So the ideological based group remains limited in its popularity. The political group can engage in attempts to change minds and educate the population, but that will prove to be a challenge when the resources are low because of the initial limited appeal of the group.
This approach has hampered the Libertarian Party. It will hobble the Republicans, as they continue on the path to becoming a political party based on a narrow ideology. Contrast their approaches to the Democrats, who allow a broad spread of ideas, and win elections. Or the past GOP "big tent" approach back when they were winning elections. Purity is fine in religion, but in politics, you have to win. If you come in second, you lose, and have no more influence.
The great appeal of the Modern Whigs was the lack of an ideological approach, rare in a attempt to start a new political party. While there are certain beliefs and issues, the appeal of the attempt would not be limited by those who are demanding purity of thought.
Of course, there are certain core beliefs that the party represents, and these should not be compromised. But there remains a broad, rather than a specific approach. The appeal can therefore be made to a broad spectrum of the population.
For example, I think of myself as a "classic liberal." But I know that approach alone would not attract a majority of the population at this time. Still, I can advocate my opinions, issues and beliefs within a larger context of a group of people, hope to advance causes that are near and dear to me, and to promote the common good.
There are some in the Modern Whig Party who may be further to the right of me, and some that are further to the left. An online survey last year showed an almost even division between those who were previously Republican and Democratic, with plenty of former Libertarians, some Greens, and some pure Independents. That result always heartened me. I took it to mean that the Modern Whigs were doing something right, and that the desire for real change, honesty in politics, and for regular people to take back control of our country from our incompetent elites is broader and more comprehensive that the media will ever allow to be known.
I do not expect every Modern Whig to agree with me. Maybe even most do not, I don't know. I offer only my own opinion here. But I do know that a small start up attempt like ours needs help where it can find it. And that there needs to be a home for those who are fed up, left out, and disregarded by our decision-makers.
No two people are ever going to have the same beliefs or perspective on every issue. But by reaching for common ground, and by engaging with each other in the spirit of good will and compromise -- dirty words elsewhere, unfortunately -- maybe we can accomplish something.
But to accomplish anything, coalitions must be made, allies must be found, and a majority must be assembled. In that majority must be a broad cross section of the electorate, working together, but all calling themselves Whigs.
Texas As A Low-Tax Model
Our high-benefit/high-tax model no longer works, especially compared with low-tax states like Texas.
31 October 2009
AP Article Notes That Third Parties Exist, Have An Impact
Some argue against new political parties simply by stating that no new party has been able to overcome the two main parties since 1856. That is true only until someone does it.Third party candidates could upend two major races in elections Tuesday, and the success of those candidacies is a warning shot fired at both major parties by voters angry at government and disillusioned by politics as usual.
But the impact of those candidacies on the high-profile contests points to an anti-incumbent, anti-establishment sentiment that could be a prevailing theme in the 2010 congressional elections and beyond.
"What it says is the public is looking for less self-interested parties and candidates who can reflect the needs of a very frustrated public," said Douglas Astolfi, a history professor at Florida's St. Leo University. "We have two wars and we're in a recession that neither party seems to address in any positive way. There's a deep sense that government has abandoned the common man. People are frustrated and angry."
Indeed, a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll released last week found that trust in government is at a 12-year low, and half of all Americans now support the creation of a new political party.
Both parties ignore such sentiment at their peril in 2010 and perhaps into the 2012 presidential race.
Politics is just about what people think. There is nothing more to it. If everyone woke up tomorrow and decided that the Dems or the GOP were over, then that would be it. There is nothing physical there, no obstacle, nothing other than people's perceptions.
Admittedly that is hard to change, but the powers-that-be seem hell bent on making sure that it happens.
Modern Whig Party Continues to Gain Momentum
Modern Whig Party: Gaining MomentumThe Modern Whig Party continues to experience another surge in membership. Initially revived by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, this national grassroots movement is attracting mainstream Americans from all political stripes who value common sense, rational solutions ahead of partisan bickering and ideology.
In addition, the credibility of our leaders and the quality/viability of our candidates is creating numerous opportunities for our national membership. At the same time, various people from both the entrenched partisan groups as well as the fringe groups have begun to lash out as they begin to view our development as a threat to their agendas.
But the Modern Whig Party and the Whig National Committee is pushing back with nothing more than our message of common sense rationality, along with our viable and credible approach, and this in turn is building this organization even faster than the founding members could have imagined.
Scozzafava Drops Out of Congressional Race
Well, hell. I had been working for two days on a post about how the Republican Party was about to split in two, etc, etc. I was continuing to research it when I saw the above story was just recently posted by Fox News.Republican state Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava has suspended her campaign for upstate New York's 23rd Congressional seat, leaving Democratic nominee Bill Owens and Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in the race that will conclude Tuesday, Fox News has confirmed.
The move comes on the heels of a new poll that showed Scozzafava had fallen behind her two competitors in a race too close.
So here you go. I have heard that Hoffman has said he would re-join the Republican Party after the election, so they avoided a show down.
However, the larger issue remains of the direction of the Republican Party. Will they go down the path of purity, or a broad coalition? I believe that the drive and the energy of activists will continue to move the party further to the right, alienating moderates.
Attention alienated moderates! The Modern Whig Party welcomes you with open arms.
Some Suprising Optical Illusions
Rather, neuroscience research tells us that we only ever see what proved useful to see in the past. Illusions are a simple but powerful example of this point. Like all our perceptions, we see illusions because the brain evolved not to see the retinal image, but to resolve the inherent "meaninglessness" of that image by continually redefining normality, a normality that is necessarily grounded in relationships, history and ecology.
Leak Reveals Far Larger Number of Ethics Investigations Than Previously Disclosed
The accidental leak of a congressional ethics watchdog's report offers a rare glimpse into the internal workings of one of the most secretive bodies on Capitol Hill, revealing that the panel has dealt with a far larger number of lawmakers than previously publicly disclosed.
A confidential report disclosed by the Washington Post suggests the panel either spoke with, or examined behavior by, at least 30 lawmakers in July as part of several inquiries into whether lawmakers violated congressional rules.
The committee has long been criticized for being too secretive, and critics ask whether lawmakers can be sufficiently aggressive about investigating their own colleagues. "The record of the ethics committee is not one of transparency," said Lisa Gilbert, a spokeswoman for U.S. PIRG, a consumer-advocacy group that has pressed the panel to make more information about its operations public.
Critics of the congressional ethics process say the panel is a toothless internal watchdog. They say it rarely sanctions lawmakers and airs little information about its activities.
"The fact that they are considering so many people doesn't mean that they are going to do anything ," said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor and now executive director of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "The ethics committee doesn't have a very strong track record."
Paris Eco Bike Program Meets Reality
Just as Le Corbusier’s white cruciform towers once excited visions of the industrial-age city of the future, so Vélib’, Paris’s bicycle rental system, inspired a new urban ethos for the era of climate change.Media Reports on Health Care Reform Costs Are Misleading and Incomplete
Reason Online: CBO Health-Care Score Assumes Congress Sticks to Its Promises, Which Probably Won't Happen, Says CBO
More analysis from the American Spectator:The House released its health-care reform bill yesterday morning, and by afternoon, the Congressional Budget Office had released a score. The big headline estimate is that the bill would result in a net reduction of the federal deficit by $104 billion by 2019, and that the bill would continue to slightly reduce the deficit over the following decade. But as always, the real story is the passage at the end of the CBO's summary:
Those longer-term projections assume that the provisions of H.R. 3962 are enacted and remain unchanged throughout the next two decades, which is often not the case for major legislation. For example, the “sustainable growth rate” mechanism governing Medicare’s payments to physicians has frequently been modified to avoid reductions in those payments, and legislation to do so again is currently under consideration in the Congress.The bill would put into effect (or leave in effect) a number of procedures that might be difficult to maintain over a long period of time. It would leave in place the 21 percent reduction in the payment rates for physicians currently scheduled for 2010. At the same time, the bill includes a number of provisions that would constrain payment rates for other providers of Medicare services. In particular, increases in payment rates for many providers would be held below the rate of inflation (in expectation of ongoing productivity improvements in the delivery of health care).
This is about as strong a warning as I can imagine coming from the extremely reserved and cautious CBO, and it essentially amounts to the office saying (once again) that the only way this bill might prove deficit neutral is if it's followed to the letter—and that's unlikely to happen.
The CBO estimate doesn't include the more than $200 billion it will cost to prevent scheduled cuts to doctors' payments under Medicare, which Democrats intend to pass through separate legislation.
The bill would also add 15 million people to the Medicaid rolls, costing states an additional $34 billion over 10 years.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the CBO report doesn't say anything about whether the bill actually bends the health care cost curve. To be clear, while it estimates -- with caveats -- that the bill will reduce deficits, that isn't the same thing as reducing national health care expenditures, which is how people derive all those statistics about how high of a percentage of GDP we spend on health care compared with other countries. If you hike taxes high enough, you can get the CBO to say it reduces deficits on paper, but that's a lot different from bringing down the actual costs of health care to our nation.
30 October 2009
Our Political Class Is Unimaginative, Stupid, Callous
Americans feel increasingly disheartened, and our leaders don't even notice.
The most sophisticated Americans, experienced in how the country works on the ground, can't figure a way out. Have you heard, "If only we follow Obama and the Democrats, it will all get better"? Or, "If only we follow the Republicans, they'll make it all work again"? I bet you haven't, or not much.
This is historic. This is something new in modern political history, and I'm not sure we're fully noticing it. Americans are starting to think the problems we are facing cannot be solved.
Part of the reason is that the problems—debt, spending, war—seem too big. But a larger part is that our government, from the White House through Congress and so many state and local governments, seems to be demonstrating every day that they cannot make things better. They are not offering a new path, they are only offering old paths—spend more, regulate more, tax more in an attempt to make us more healthy locally and nationally. And in the long term everyone—well, not those in government, but most everyone else—seems to know that won't work. It's not a way out. It's not a path through.
It is a curious thing that those who feel most mistily affectionate toward America, and most protective toward it, are the most aware of its vulnerabilities, the most aware that it can be harmed. They don't see it as all-powerful, impregnable, unharmable. The loving have a sense of its limits.
When I see those in government, both locally and in Washington, spend and tax and come up each day with new ways to spend and tax—health care, cap and trade, etc.—I think: Why aren't they worried about the impact of what they're doing? Why do they think America is so strong it can take endless abuse?
I think I know part of the answer. It is that they've never seen things go dark. They came of age during the great abundance, circa 1980-2008 (or 1950-2008, take your pick), and they don't have the habit of worry. They talk about their "concerns"—they're big on that word. But they're not really concerned. They think America is the goose that lays the golden egg. Why not? She laid it in their laps. She laid it in grandpa's lap.
They don't feel anxious, because they never had anything to be anxious about. They grew up in an America surrounded by phrases—"strongest nation in the world," "indispensable nation," "unipolar power," "highest standard of living"—and are not bright enough, or serious enough, to imagine that they can damage that, hurt it, even fatally.
We are governed at all levels by America's luckiest children, sons and daughters of the abundance, and they call themselves optimists but they're not optimists—they're unimaginative. They don't have faith, they've just never been foreclosed on. They are stupid and they are callous, and they don't mind it when people become disheartened.
They don't even notice.
Stimulus Jobs
Wow!
If you believe the Obama numbers, that's only $1,229,055.68 per job! How many jobs do you think an entrepreneur could create with $1.2 mil? Maybe more than 1?
Call To Expand Size of Congress
Previously:Growth in the nation's population is resulting in ever larger Congressional districts that reduce minority voices, increase the power of the wealthy, and pose a problem for members of Congress to truly represent the people of their district.
The Constitution created 65 seats in the House of Representatives, set a minimum size of 30,000 residents for a Congressional district, and mandated a reapportionment after each census. As new states entered the union and the nation's population grew, the size of the House increased every decade until 1912, when it reached the current size of 435 and the average district had 210,000 residents. Today the average district has a startling 650,000 people. The largest district – Nevada's Third – has 960,000 residents, and the smallest – Wyoming's single district – has 493,000.
These disparities will continue to grow. By 2040 the average district will have more than 900,000 residents. Districts could range from as few as 500,000 residents to more than 1.7 million. Almost one-third of the states in the "People's House" could have only one or two representatives. How can one person adequately represent the diversity encompassed in such a large district?
Congress might also consider a system that increases the size of the House by the growth of the population each decade (or, half of the growth to start slowly) and continue to leave the actual allocation among the states to the Census Bureau, as is now the case.
Given current population projections, there would be about 44 new seats in 2010 and 41 more in 2020. The House would increase gradually as our population grew. Another option is to determine the number of members based on the size of the smallest district – using this system we would have about 600 members today.
We can and must debate the size of the "People's House." The equity and effectiveness of a "government of the people, by the people and for the people" is at stake.
10 October 2009: Increase The Size Of Congress
18 September 2009: Expand the House of Representatives
8 July 2009: What To Do About Our Distant And Unresponsive Representatives?
8 June 2008: Increase the Size of Congress
Obama Administration Runs Spoils System
More than 40% of President Obama's top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama's campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to government positions, the analysis found.
Overall, about 600 individuals and couples raised money from their friends, family members and business associates to help fund Obama's presidential campaign. USA TODAY's analysis found that 54 have been named to government positions, ranging from Cabinet and White House posts to advisory roles, such as serving on the economic recovery board charged with helping guide the country out of recession.
Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships, drawing protests from groups representing career diplomats.
Culture of Corruption: Congressional Ethics Probe Expands
Separate probes focus on ties to lobbying firm founded by Hill aide
Nearly half the members of a powerful House subcommittee in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, who have trained their lens on the relationships between seven panel members and an influential lobbying firm founded by a former Capitol Hill aide.
The investigations by two separate ethics offices include an examination of the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on defense, John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), as well as others who helped steer federal funds to clients of the PMA Group. The lawmakers received campaign contributions from the firm and its clients.
A document obtained by The Washington Post shows that the subcommittee members under scrutiny also include Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.), James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) , C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.).
Together, the seven legislators have personally steered more than $200 million in earmarks to clients of the PMA Group in the past two years, and received more than $6.2 million in campaign contributions from PMA and its clients in the past decade, according to an analysis by Congressional Quarterly and Taxpayers for Common Sense.
The Post reviewed earmark and campaign records and found that the seven had each supported funding for PMA clients and also received donations.
North Korea, Hell On Earth
The Economist: Hell on EarthThe first report is a blunt and bleak assessment of North Korea's human rights situation prepared by Vitit Muntarbhorn, a Bangkok law professor who works pro bono as the U.N.'s special rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as North Korea is known.
Forbidden by North Korea from visiting the country, he relies on refugee and local human rights reports to paint a grim picture of the country's "stifling political environment and stultifying developmental process, compounded by a range of stupefying cruelties."
Among them:
• "Citizens who fail to turn up for work allocated to them by the State are sent to labor camps."
• "There are reports of public executions and secret executions in political detention camps."
• "Although torture is prohibited by law, it is extensively practiced."
• The role of lawyers "is to pressure the accused to confess to a crime rather than to defend his client."
• There are plenty of crimes to confess to: citing human rights legal sources, Muntarbhorn says there are "14 types of anti-State crime; 16 types of crime disruptive of national defense systems; 104 types of crime injurious to the socialist economy; 26 types of crime injurious to socialist culture; 39 types of crime injurious to administrative systems; 20 types of crime harmful to collective life; and 26 types of crime injuring life and damaging property of citizens."
• Punishment is collective: "Where the parents are seen as antithetical to the regime, the child and the rest of the family are discriminated against in their access to schools, hospitals and other necessities."
• Forcible child labor, sometimes on state poppy farms, and forcible separation of children from their parents is far from uncommon.On an even more sinister front, Muntarbhorn notes the regime's practice of "kidnapping a number of foreign nationals," sometimes to steal their identities for use by North Korean spies. Many remain unaccounted for. The report says over 10 countries have been affected by DPRK's extraterritorial crimes (at a press conference, Muntarbhorn later raised the precise number of countries where DPRK kidnappers operate to 12).
When it comes to such basics as food, the regime's strategy is brutally direct: provide it only through state distribution where possible, after the ruling elite takes as much as it wants. Muntarbhorn refers to the regime's stance as a "military first strategy," as opposed to a "people first" strategy in which civilian needs matter.
The West still turns a blind eye to the world's most brutal and systematic abuse of human rights
Yet the focus on nukes comes at the cost of other things worth noting about North Korea. Human rights, for instance. In recent years the outlines of daily life, and the state’s miserable part in it, have become plain.
So long out of sight, out of mind. Yet the emerging picture is horrendous, especially for ordinary people in the lesser cities and hardscrabble northern provinces. Take a slice of daily life from the bulletin of a South Korean aid outfit, Good Friends. It is plausibly consistent if unverifiable. Around Wonsan city, more than 70% of residents survive on a corn porridge mixed with grass.
It is known that the state ranks the population by its loyalty to the dictator, Kim Jong Il, and about half are “wavering”. Some 150,000-200,000 political criminals (including whole families branded as counter-revolutionaries) are reckoned to be incarcerated in five huge camps. Many do not come out alive.
At some point the West will need to address its shame of not facing up to the abuse sooner and more viscerally. In the meantime President Barack Obama hardly sent the right message by taking eight months to appoint his special representative for human rights in North Korea. Still, the question is what to do about the place.
Government Solution Stuck in the Past
People thought something small, agile and smart was coming to government, but so far it's turning out to be just big-box politics.
The article rang true with me, as it is something I have mentioned before. The technological changes that have affected all of us in our personal lives and in our jobs have not reached our politics.In a world defined by nearly 100,000 iPhone apps, a world of seemingly limitless, self-defined choice, the Democrats are pushing the biggest, fattest, one-size-fits all legislation since 1965. And they brag this will complete the dream Franklin D. Roosevelt had in 1939.
The culture still believes the U.S. has a hipster for president. But the Obama health-care bill, and maybe this whole administration, is starting to look totally out of sync with the new zeitgeist, the spirit of the age.
The health-care bill is big, complex, incomprehensible and coercive—all the things people hate nowadays.
It's easy to make jokes about how insubstantial the millions of people seem to be who are constantly using technologies like Twitter. But these new digital and Web-based technologies, which have decentralized virtually everything, now occupy most of the average person's waking hours at work or at home. Mass media is struggling to stay massive in a world whose people want to break up into many discrete markets.
The one lump that won't change is government. Government in our time is looking out of it. It'd be one thing if government were almost cool in an old-fashioned way, but it's not. When everyone else's job gets measured by performance, its hallmark is malperformance—whether in Congress, California or New York.
We define the past 25 years in terms of entrepreneurs and visionaries in places like Silicon Valley who took a small idea and ran with it. Congress does the opposite. It take something already big . . . and make it bigger.
We've got Medicare for the elderly, with spending claims out to Mars, so let's create Medicare for All! One of the least noticed parts of the health-care legislation is its intention to make Medicaid even bigger, when Medicaid's cost is arguably the main thing destroying California.
If we were really living in the world of leading-edge politics that many people thought they were getting with Barack Obama, he would have proposed an iPhone for health care—a flexible system for which all sorts of users could create or choose health-care apps that suited their needs. Over time, with trial and error, a better system would emerge.
No chance of that. Our outdated political software can't recognize trial and error. What ObamaCare is doing with health care—the "public option"—may be fine with the activist left, but I suspect it's starting to strike many younger Americans as at odds with their lives, as not somewhere they want to go.
People thought something small, agile and smart was coming to government, but so far it's turning out to be just big-box politics.
The easy flow of information, the flattening of hierarchies, the flexibility, the reduction of pretension found elsewhere in our society just hasn't registered yet. And it's high time.
A Lot Of Money For Not Very Many Jobs
AP: STIMULUS WATCH: Stimulus jobs overstated in report
29 October 2009
The Coming Republican Party Crackup Delayed
The GOP’s Generational Time Bomb
HuffPo: Present at the Cremation: The Long, Slow Death of the GOP?The youth vote won’t be a big problem for the GOP in 2010 because chances are very few young people will bother going to the polls. But in the decades to come, the cohort that voted strongly for Obama in 2008 is likely to continue to vote Democratic, which will have larger consequences once they start going to the polls more regularly as they age.
The GOP won’t be able to offset that trend by rallying around the dead-end politics of George W. Bush, even repackaged in the shape of Sarah Palin. Any success the party enjoys in the near term only postpones the reckoning that must come.
Nowhere is it written that major political parties will live forever.
We are witnessing today, however, an unmistakable emergence of deep fissures within the Republican Party. These are serious indications of a momentous, generational shift underway in the American political landscape not seen in almost a century. It begs the question, are we watching the beginning of the end of the Republican Party--the long, slow death of the GOP?
What should have been a low-visibility, off-cycle special election to fill a vacant Congressional seat has erupted into full-fledged Republican civil warfare--with serious national implications for the future of the GOP.
All of this infighting currently revolves around ideological warfare, but when you dive even deeper into the cross-currents of American politics, the structural signs of the future viability of the Republican Party are equally as bad.
Vaccine Shortage Undermining Confidence In Government?
Now, despite months of planning and preparation, a vaccine shortage is threatening to undermine public confidence in government, creating a very public test of Mr. Obama’s competence.
Republican Purges Begin!
The push for ideological purity has tied the Libertarian Party into knots over the years, and the Republicans are headed into the same place. When they are done, they can have fun sitting in a box and agreeing with each other.
Gingrich calls GOP support for Hoffman a 'purge'
Yes, Newt, the GOP should be “purged” of left-wing saboteurs
Voters Get It Right -- Stimulus Helped Large Banks, No Help To Regular Folks
A paltry 13 percent of those interviewed for the September 2009 survey said that the average Joe and Jill have been "helped a lot or a fair amount" -- compared to 65 percent who think regular folks have gotten little or no assistance from the government. Fully 54 percent of respondents said Wall Street investment companies have been helped - and nearly two-thirds said the large banks have been taken care of.
The voters seem to have gotten it about right.
"In relative terms, the perceptions are dead-on: the big winners so far are the bailed-out bankers. Meanwhile on the jobs and housing front, things get worse," says University of Texas economist James Galbraith. "You can make an argument that everyone has been helped by the fact that the economy hasn't collapsed even more completely," Galbraith added, but that does not "cut any ice with the population at the moment. What they see is that a top-down bailout works on the top and doesn't go very far down. And they are right."
The stimulus has not kept the unemployment rate at or under 8 percent, as Obama officials originally claimed it would. Instead, last month it reached 9.8 percent, and would have broken 10 percent except for the fact that hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers -- 571,000 in September alone -- have given up looking for jobs altogether. Applications for Social Security were 23 percent higher last month than a year ago, suggesting growing numbers of workers are taking early retirement. Disability claims have risen by roughly 20 percent.
And there are reports that some key programs to help struggling working and middle class Americans are not working out as well as expected. The Washington Post on October 24 reported that the federal program to help homeowners whose property is substantially "underwater" - worth less than the mortgage - refinance under more favorable terms "has so far reached fewer than 3 percent of those targeted, with many struggling borrowers deciding that the benefits of a new loan aren't worth the closing costs."
Nationwide, ProPublica, the investigative news website, found that stimulus money has been distributed with little or no regard for unemployment and poverty concentrations. "Stimulus spending is literally all over the map," the authors of the study wrote. "Some battered counties are hauling in large amounts, while others that are just as hard hit have received little."
While the benefits flowing to the average worker, including those down and out of work, have been haphazard, the same cannot be said about aid to the nation's large banks and other "too big to fail" institutions, along with many smaller banks.
Palin Supporters A Vocal Minority
Sarah Palin may be rich, thanks to her book deal, but she's not popular, according to an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll conducted Oct. 22-25 and a CNN poll conducted Oct. 16-18.
CNN's poll found that a whopping seven in 10 Americans surveyed don't think that the Republican Party's 2008 vice presidential nominee is qualified to be president.
The NBC-Wall Street Journal poll tracks Palin's general popularity, and found that at a new low, with 11 percent of those surveyed having very positive feelings toward her and another 16 percent having somewhat positive feelings about her.
Cheap Chinese Imports Endanger Health and Safety
MSNBC: With Chinese tires, it's buyer bewareAlong the Gulf Coast and across the country, it's being called a "silent hurricane." Between 2004 and 2007, an estimated 100,000 homes in more than 20 states were built with toxic drywall imported from China.
Emissions from the drywall corrode plumbing and electrical systems. Homeowners also blame them for headaches and respiratory ailments. Replacing Chinese drywall in the United States could cost $15 billion to $25 billion, according to National Underwriter, an insurance industry publication.
That discoloration of copper, brass and other metal surfaces is one of the telltale signs of toxic drywall.
The problem began to emerge about a year ago. Tests found that Chinese drywall imported during the peak years of the building boom emits sulfide gases. The gases corrode copper coils in air conditioning systems and wiring in appliances and electrical outlets.
Those are the known effects. Federal and state health officials are trying to determine what the health effects might be for people who live in houses with the toxic drywall.
Amid trade tiff over Chinese tire imports, some concerns about quality
NY Times: Recalls of Chinese Auto Parts Are a Mounting Concern[T]here have been some safety blips in Chinese-made tires.
Last year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation into defective tire valve stems produced by a subsidiary of Shanghai Baolong Automotive Corp. The company sold 300 million valve stems which were susceptible to cracking, potentially causing the tire to deflate, a problem which led to one fatality, according to NHTSA.
Two fatalities were attributed to defective tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. because of tread separation. The tire importer issued a recall for the 450,000 tires it had sold.
But with tires, as with many other products, it's buyer beware — you get what you pay for.
“Chinese-branded tires are a whole different world,” reported Car and Driver technical director Dave VanderWerp. “You absolutely get what you pay for, which, as we found in our test, is capability that is nothing short of scary. The Ling Longs in our test scored less than half the performance-based points than even the next-best, eighth-place tire. That’s how far they are off the pace.”
Child restraints that may come apart in an impact. Fuses that could catch fire when overloaded. Tires susceptible to tread separation.
Those are some of the dangers American consumers face as Chinese manufacturers increase the number of automotive parts they are sending to the United States, according to consumer and safety advocates. They parallel problems with some other products from China ranging from medicine to pet food to children’s toys.
[T]oo many Chinese companies are unfamiliar with — or don’t care about — safety standards in the United States and thus don’t meet them.
For consumers, that means automotive equipment made in China is less likely to comply with safety standards than the same product made in the United States, Mr. Ditlow said.
Don't forget, nearly all of our prescription drugs and vitamins come from China, where standards are lax and they are not inspected very often by the FDA.
And, just in time for Halloween: Chinese candy recalled due to excessive leadYou Knew This Was Going To Happen
The government will never get rid of GM now. They can use it for a piggy-bank, a job bank, whatever they need.Mixing business and politics is almost as bad as mixing religion and politics. The temptation of corruption is just too great to resist. Politics corrupts everything it touches.
WSJ: Politicians Butt In at Bailed-Out GM
I don't think GM's going to make it. I feel no rancor towards GM. In fact, I always hoped they would make it. But if this keeps up for very long, they are done for.Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg was no fan of the $58 billion federal rescue of General Motors Co., saying he worried taxpayer money would be wasted and the restructuring process would be vulnerable to "political pressure." Now the lawmaker says it's his "patriotic duty" to wade into GM's affairs.
Along with Montana's two Democratic senators, the Republican congressman is battling to get GM to reinstate a contract with a Montana palladium mine nullified in bankruptcy court. "The simple fact is, when GM took federal dollars, they lost some of their autonomy," Mr. Rehberg says.
Federal support for companies such as GM, Chrysler Group LLC and Bank of America Corp. has come with baggage: Companies in hock to Washington now have the equivalent of 535 new board members -- 100 U.S. senators and 435 House members.
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota persuaded GM to rescind a closure order for a large dealership in Bloomington, Minn. In Tucson, Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords did the same for Don Mackey, owner of a longstanding Cadillac dealership with 80 employees. Rep. Giffords argues it made sense, even for GM, to keep the Mackey dealership, which sold 750 cars last year. "All I did was to help get GM to focus on his case," she says.
In addition to the dealership issue, lawmakers have jumped into a union fight that pits GM and Chrysler against two trucking companies that haul new cars around the country. The auto makers want to give some of the work to cheaper nonunion contractors. But that raised the ire of lawmakers who support the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Meanwhile, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, is spearheading a push within the Senate to get GM to rejoin an environmental program that removes mercury from cars headed to the scrap heap.
You know how it is with these promises/Made in the heat of the moment/They're made to be broken in two/Sometimes the only thing to do
Candidate Barack Obama: “When I’m elected president you’re going to see this health care legislation written in the open. It’s going to be on C-SPAN, and you’ll be able to see all the different people arguing to see whether they’re on your side or they’re on the side of the drug companies and the insurance companies and so on. But you’ll be able to see that process on C-SPAN.”
The Folly of Budget and Trade Deficits, and How to Avoid the Next Crisis
Even as efforts to recover from the current crisis go forward, the United States should launch new policies to avoid large external deficits, balance the budget, and adapt to a global currency system less centered on the dollar. Although it will take a number of years to fully implement these measures, they should be initiated promptly both to bolster confidence in the recovery and to build the foundation for a sustainable U.S. economy over the long haul. This is not just an economic imperative but a foreign policy and national security one as well.
If the rest of the world again finances the United States' large external deficits, the conditions that brought on the current crisis will be replicated and the risk of calamity renewed. ... And even if the United States were lucky enough to avoid future crises, the steadily rising transfer of U.S. income to the rest of the world to service foreign debt would seriously erode Americans' standards of living.
As soon as the U.S. economy recovers from the current crisis, it is imperative that U.S. policymakers restore a budget that is balanced over the economic cycle and, in fact, runs surpluses during boom years. Measures that could be adopted now and phased in as growth is restored include containing the cost of medical care, reforming Social Security, and enacting new taxes on consumption.
The U.S. government's continued failure to responsibly address the fiscal future of the United States will imperil its global position as well as its future prosperity. The country's fate is already largely in the hands of its foreign creditors, starting with China but also including Japan, Russia, and a number of oil-exporting countries. Unless the United States quickly achieves and maintains a sustainable economic position, its ability to pursue autonomous economic and foreign policies will become increasingly compromised.
The only healthy way to reduce the United States' external deficits to a sustainable level is to raise the rate of national saving by several percentage points. Such an increase could be achieved with a combination of increased private saving and a reduced federal budget deficit.
This would seem to leave two plausible policy tools. The first is to shift the focus of U.S. taxation from income to consumption; this might not only generate sizable budget revenues but also create incentives for private saving. The second option is to create a mandatory savings scheme, a measure that has proved effective in countries such as Australia and Singapore and is now being launched in the United Kingdom.
There are at least three reforms that fall under the category of "decide now and implement later." The most important is containing long-term medical costs, an integral component of overall health-care reform that could save several percentage points' worth of GDP. The second is comprehensive Social Security reform, including gradual increases in the retirement age and an alteration of the benefits formula to reflect increases in prices rather than in wages. When fully phased in over a couple of decades, such changes could take another one to two percent of GDP off the deficit. The third measure is raising taxes on consumption, which would both generate needed revenue and provide new incentives for private saving.
Major procedural reforms will be needed as well. One essential step is the implementation of "pay-as-you-go" rules, which require that all increases in spending or tax cuts be financed by savings elsewhere in the budget.
It might even be time to reconsider passing a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a provision that exists in nearly all U.S. states and is now being pursued in a somewhat analogous form by the European Union. Whatever the specific policy approach, the underlying objective should be to create a system that will achieve a balanced budget over the course of the economic cycle.
In trade negotiations, the United States should seek to reduce foreign barriers to its exports, especially in its highly competitive service sector. U.S. tax policy must create incentives for both U.S. and foreign firms to locate their production in the United States by cutting corporate tax rates and treating offshore income no less favorably than do many other major countries.
28 October 2009
FBI In Detroit Mosque Shootout
The African-American leader of a Detroit mosque was fatally shot Wednesday during a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on what authorities called a criminal gang run by U.S. converts to Islam.
An FBI spokeswoman said six men were arrested in the raid on a suburban warehouse and two Detroit homes. The men were arrested on suspicion of a variety of offenses, including illegal possession of firearms, trafficking in stolen goods and altering vehicle identification numbers. Three suspects remain at large.
Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53 years old, who had previously been known as Christopher Thomas, refused to surrender. He shot a police dog before he was fatally shot by authorities, the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit said in a statement.
Mr. Abdullah was imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque and was connected to a group known as "Ummah," a brotherhood that seeks to establish a separate state within the U.S. that would be ruled by strict Islamic or Sharia law, the U.S. attorney's office said.
FDA Tells Small Business To Go Shuck Themselves: Raw Oysters To Be Banned
FDA to ban sale of raw oysters from Gulf of MexicoFederal officials plan to ban sales of raw oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico unless the shellfish are treated to destroy potentially deadly bacteria — a requirement that opponents say could deprive diners of a delicacy cherished for generations.
The plan has also raised concern among oystermen that they could be pushed out of business.
The Gulf region supplies about two-thirds of U.S. oysters, and some people in the $500 million industry argue that the anti-bacterial procedures are too costly. They insist adequate measures are already being taken to battle germs, including increased refrigeration on oyster boats and warnings posted in restaurants.
About 15 people die each year in the United States from raw oysters infected with Vibrio vulnificus, which typically is found in warm coastal waters between April and October. Most of the deaths occur among people with weak immune systems caused by health problems like liver or kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, or AIDS.
Some oyster sellers say the FDA rule smacks of government meddling. The sales ban would take effect in 2011 for oysters harvested in the Gulf during warm months.
The anti-bacterial process treats oysters with a method similar to pasteurization, using mild heat, freezing temperatures, high pressure and low-dose gamma radiation. But doing so "kills the taste, the texture," DeFelice said. "For our local connoisseurs, people who've grown up eating oysters all their lives, there's no comparison" between salty raw oysters and the treated kind.
A Gulf Coast oyster — or better still, a plate of a dozen oysters on the half-shell — is a delicacy savored for its salty, refreshing, slightly slimy taste. Some people add a drop of horseradish, lemon or hot sauce on top for extra zest.
Treated oysters are "not as bright, the texture seems different," said Donald Link, head chef and owner of the Herbsaint Bar and Restaurant in New Orleans. "This is an area the government shouldn't meddle in," Link said. "What's next? They're going to tell us we can't eat our beef rare?"
The FDA is promoting a ban because high-risk groups are not heeding warnings about raw oysters, and millions of other people may not know they are vulnerable.
If federal officials require post-harvest treatment, they "will be ruining an industry that has been around for centuries," said Sal Sunseri, co-owner of P&J Oyster Co., a French Quarter oyster wholesaler."We've been doing this the same way since the 1920s," said his brother, Al Sunseri, as shuckers in rubber gloves worked their way through piles of raw oysters destined for oyster bars and restaurants. "We're located in the French Quarter. We're not going to get the permits we need to do post-harvest processing. We don't have the space for it."
In Plaquemines Parish, the Louisiana "boot" that juts into the Gulf south of New Orleans, 49-year-old oyster harvester Peter Vujnovich Jr. said the FDA was "totally out of its mind."
Anita Grove, executive director of the Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce in Florida, said a ban would be crushing. She said oyster harvesters, shuckers, truckers and dealers are "the backbone to our economy. It's always been that way."
Avery Bates, vice president of the Organized Seafood Association-Alabama, predicted two-thirds of Alabama's 50 "mom-and-pop oyster shops" would close, mostly because of the cost of treating oysters.
"We see more people die each year from peanuts, chicken, E. coli, beef," he said. "It's like singling out a certain section of the food industry."
Like a High School Football Coach, You Want Politicians Smart Enough To Do A Good Job, And Dumb Enough To Think It's Important
During the 1952 presidential election, Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson in part because Stevenson was labeled as "too intellectual." It always struck me as odd as to what exactly is wrong with being "too intellectual" for the White House.
Unfortunately, I am now seeing the problem with having an ultra intellectual in the oval office. Case in point is Afghanistan. The past few days have been absolutely brutal as October becomes by far the deadliest month since the 2001 invasion. Prior to the recent death toll, we saw the brazen assault of the isolated Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan, among other attacks.
Meanwhile, Obama has been prudent and thoughtful. Those are all good enough, but one important word is missing. That word is action. I'll also throw in decisiveness. This lack of conviction and decisiveness has effectively neutered any benefits we could gain from Obama's intellectualism.
Short Term Solutions Forever!
Just like our deficit (and the cash-for-clunkers giveaway) it is an attempt to shove today's problems into the future.
Ah, sure, tomorrow will never come, will it?
Breaking News: First-Time Homeowners Can Only Own Their First Home Once
The only alternative is to continuously dole out larger and larger tax credits to more and more people, artificially propping up demand until doing so isn't artificially propping up demand anymore. If this sounds like a bit of a shaky plan, worry not - our fearless leaders in Congress support it, and when it comes to housing, they're never, ever wrong.Congress is the one group that would welcome a zombie virus outbreak to divert attention.'
UPDATE: I wouldn't call it a surprise:
New home sales take surprise tumble
Effect of the soon-to-expire, first-time buyer tax credit begins to fade
Harris County Stands Up To Houston On Collecting Red Light Fines
For the second time in a month, Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday postponed a vote on an agreement with the city to block vehicle registrations for red-light camera violators who do not pay their fines.
Court members said they would not consider the $36,000-a-year contract until it is approved by City Council, and even then made no guarantees they would OK the arrangement.
State law gives the county the power to deny vehicle registrations and renewals to red-light camera violators until they pay the $75 civil fines.
County Judge Ed Emmett said he also would like to see evidence that cameras do not incorrectly record right turns on red lights as violations.
Commissioner Jerry Eversole wanted assurance that the money would cover the cost of checking for fines and placing holds on scofflaws.
The city's red-light camera program began in May 2006 and includes 70 cameras. To date, the city has issued 607,000 violations and collected $21.3 million in fines...
Political Pandering To Cost $14 Billion
If you wanted to help the economy and you had $14 billion to bestow on any group of people, which group would you choose:
a) Teenagers and young adults, who have an 18 percent unemployment rate.
b) All the middle-age long-term jobless who, for various reasons, are not eligible for unemployment benefits.
c) The taxpayers of the future (by using the $14 billion to pay down the deficit).
d) The group that has survived the Great Recession probably better than any other, with stronger income growth, fewer job cuts and little loss of health insurance.The Obama administration has chosen option d — people in their 60s and beyond.
Indeed, the politics are attractive. People over 65 vote in large numbers. Saying no to them is never easy.
And therein lies a problem that’s much larger than one misguided $14 billion proposal.
With the economy gradually improving, members of Congress and White House officials are just starting to think more seriously about the budget deficit. Fifty-three senators voted down a narrow health care bill last week, with many citing its potential impact on the budget. On Monday, Christina Romer, the chairwoman of Mr. Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, gave a speech in which she said the deficit was “simply not a problem that can be kicked down the road indefinitely.”
Just about everybody agrees that solving the deficit depends on reducing the benefits that current law has promised to retirees, via Medicare and Social Security. That’s not how people usually put it, of course. They tend to use the more soothing phrase “entitlement reform.” But entitlement reform is just another way of saying that we can’t pay more in benefits than we collect in taxes.
“If the long-term issue is entitlement reform,” says Joel Slemrod, a University of Michigan economist, “the fact that the political system cannot say no to $250 checks to elderly people is a bad sign.”
In the 1930s, [the elderly] had little safety net and frequently struggled to meet their basic needs. Four decades later, they were the only group of Americans with guaranteed health care and a guaranteed income.
Just consider: The real median income of over-65 households rose 3 percent from 2000 to 2008. For households headed by somebody age 25 to 44, it fell about 7 percent.
Economic policy, like most everything else, is about making choices. Mr. Obama is choosing the elderly, rich and poor, to be more worthy of $14 billion in government checks than struggling workers or schoolchildren. Republicans have pandered in their own ways, choosing to oppose just about any cut in Medicare and, in effect, to stick your grandchildren with an enormous tax bill.
In a way, I understand where the politicians are coming from. We voters may say that we are in favor of cutting the deficit, but usually mean it in only the theoretical sense. Who wants their own benefits cut? For that matter, who is even willing to have their Social Security checks hold steady?
Don't Let Your Kids Find Out About This
It is possible, it seems, to live on candy.
Mr. Rudnick is the living proof. At 51, 5-foot-10 and an enviably lean 150 pounds, Mr. Rudnick does not square with the inevitable mental image of a man who has barely touched a vegetable other than candy corn in nearly a half-century.
An invitation to take him to lunch hit a wall. He does not really eat meals, he said, more of a so-called grazer.
For example, what he ate over the course of a recent, typical day was this: a plain bagel, a three-pack of Yodels, a small can of dry-roasted peanuts, some Hershey’s Kisses, and some breakfast cereal, which he eats by the handful, dry, out of the box.
Stoning Adulterers: Sharia Law Introduced in Aceh, Indonesia
Under Islamic law, or Shariah, the religious police have administered public canings for such things as gambling, prostitution and illicit affairs. But under a new Islamic criminal code that goes into effect this month, the Shariah police will be wielding a new and more potent threat: death by stoning for adulterers.
Most of Indonesia still lives up to its reputation for a moderate, easygoing brand of Islam, and Islamist parties suffered heavy losses in this year’s national elections. But how Aceh went from basic Islamic law to endorsing stoning in a few short years shows how a small, radical minority has successfully pushed its agenda, locally and nationally, by cowing political and religious moderates.
Poll Reveals Economic, Political Gloom
The Republicans cannot benefit because they have no credibility on the economy.Americans are growing increasingly pessimistic about the economy after a mild upswing of attitudes in September. But Republicans haven't been able to profit politically from the economic gloom, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
The survey found a country in a decidedly negative mood, nearly a year after the election of President Barack Obama. For the first time during the Obama presidency, a majority of Americans sees the country as being on the wrong track.
But a dark national view of how everybody in Washington is conducting the public's business appears to be preventing Republicans from benefiting from concerns about the direction of the country or the Democrat-led government's handling of the economy, as the minority party often does.
In fact, disapproval of the Republican Party actually has ticked upward, along with the public's general pessimism. Asked which political party should control Congress after next year's midterm elections, Democrats now hold a clear edge over the GOP, 46% to 38%, a month after the Republicans were nearly as popular. In September, the Democratic edge was 43% to 40%.
"The mood in America may be blue, but attitudes toward Washington are just jet black," [pollster] Mr. Hart said.
Just 42% said the economy will get better in the next 12 months, down from 47% in September. In contrast, 22% said things would get worse, up from 20%, and 33% said the economy would stay in the same condition, up from 30%.
That pessimism has fed into what Mr. Hart called "total disgust" with Washington. Just 23% said they trust Washington to do what is right most of the time or just about always, a level not seen since 1997, 1995 and before that 1982, the last time unemployment reached the current level.
The two main political parties present us with a choice between those that caused the problem, and those who are unable to solve it. No wonder people are unhappy.
What we need are more viable political choices.
Proposed Financial Reform is More of the Same
Proposed system to regulate firms too big to fail features council that looks remarkably similar to existing advisory group.
More than a year after the U.S. government began bailing out the nation's biggest financial firms, a key congressional committee has unveiled a bill to prevent companies from becoming too big to fail.
The draft of the bill, released by the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, is designed to minimize the threats from firms that are so big or interconnected that they pose a "systemic risk" to the overall economy. It also sets forth a plan to wind down troubled non-financial firms, blunting the impact that the failure of those companies can have on the economy.
As proposed, at the pinnacle of the new system would be a panel of top regulators dubbed the Financial Services Oversight Council. The membership would be a who's who of Washington's regulators (take a deep breath before reading the list out loud):
- The Treasury secretary,
- the chairman of the Federal Reserve and
- the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as
- the heads of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,
- the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
- the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,
- the Federal Housing Finance Agency and
- the National Credit Union Administration.
Only one regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, is getting the ax in this proposal.
The Treasury Secretary would chair the council. One state insurance regulator and one state bank regulator will also get non-voting seats.The council of regulators is remarkably similar to an advisory council that already exists: the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, which includes the Treasury secretary, Fed chair, and the heads of the SEC and CFTC.
Putting all these regulators in a room didn't provide much early warning about the crisis in 2008. In the 1990s, Brooksley Born, then the chair of the CFTC, sounded an alarm about the unregulated derivatives market, but the other regulators in the working group disagreed with her and so her efforts went nowhere--the sort of mistake a new council could easily repeat.
Moderate Democrats Not Supportive Of Public Option In Healthcare Bill
Citing principle and pragmatism, moderate Democrats stay on fence
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid's risky decision to bring to the chamber's floor a health-care bill containing a government insurance plan was met with skepticism by moderate Democrats, who said they still do not know whether they could support a public option on a final vote.
Reid said he will take things one step at a time. "There are a lot of senators, Democrat and Republicans, who don't like part of what's in this bill," he told reporters. "We're going to see what the final product is. We're not there yet."
He also played down Lieberman's comments. "I'm sure he'll have some interesting things to do in the way of an amendment," Reid said. "But Joe Lieberman is the least of Harry Reid's problems."Indeed, Reid's more immediate concern may be Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who, unlike Lieberman, has not pledged to vote for debate to begin. Nelson told reporters that he wants to see the bill and a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office before deciding. Although he has not ruled out supporting a public option, Nelson said he wants to make sure it would not become a "government-run, big-government insurance" company.
In addition to the proposed public plan, Nelson said he is concerned about tax provisions and a separate proposal to create a new public insurance program for long-term care, known as the CLASS Act (short for Community Living Assistance and Support Services).
Ethics Showdown Over Charges Against Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)
The House ethics committee and a new entity created to help it police lawmakers are engaged in the first major showdown in an ongoing turf war. Board members and staff of the quasi-independent Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) laid down the gauntlet this week and challenged the ethics committee to meet a Friday deadline or face the consequences.
Watchdogs also joined the OCE in demanding that the ethics committee on Friday release the OCE’s original report on ethics charges against two members: Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
They called it a critical test of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) commitment to raising ethical standards in Congress.
“Friday is the first benchmark of the new transparency that was promised in the creation of the OCE on the heels of Speaker Pelosi’s commitment to ‘the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history,’ ” the groups said. “We look forward to this milestone in the OCE’s brief history.”
Neither the OCE nor the ethics committee indicated what allegations had surfaced against Graves. He has said it focuses on testimony before the Small Business Committee, and media reports have focused on charges that Graves invited a friend and neighbor, Brooks Hurst, to testify at a hearing on renewable fuels without disclosing that his wife and Hurst are investors in renewable fuels plans in Missouri.
The New York Times and other newspapers questioned Waters’s role in directing up to $50 million in special bailout money to BankOne when her husband had served on the bank’s board of directors until early last year and has owned at least $250,000 in stock in the institution.
The Relentless Demand Of Fundraising
Yes, Mr. Obama is embroiled in a health care debate. He is also moving closer to saying whether he intends to send more troops to Afghanistan. But despite those tasks, other challenges weigh on the White House: protecting Democrats in Congress and fighting the curse of history, where the party in power traditionally loses seats in the midterm elections.
In his own presidential race, particularly during the primary fight, money began flowing in through his campaign Web site, sharply reducing the number of audiences he had to appear before to ask for money. Yet in his new role as the leader of the Democratic Party, Mr. Obama’s advisers have come to the conclusion that the benefits of raising money — and keeping his Congressional majorities — outweigh any negative optics of attending so many fund-raisers.
Back in March, when he raised money for the first time in office, the White House was peppered with questions about the propriety of such an event, given the country’s unemployment rate and bleak economy.
Now, it has just become part of Mr. Obama’s routine, even though critics say it stands in contrast to his campaign pledge to change the ways of Washington. While he does not personally accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees, the party’s House and Senate committees do, so some of his rules have little practical effect.
27 October 2009
Reid, Democrats Go For It: Public Option Part of Health Care Reform
The hard left has fantasies of the rich sitting in a public waiting room at a decrepit public clinic, waiting their turn with the poor and unwashed, and seized with this idea, their brains, fevered with majorities in both houses of Congress, can find solace only in the realization of their delirium.So the Democrats in Congress, with Harry Reid leading the charge, are going for the "public option." At one time, I had high hopes that Congress would address our health care crisis in a responsible and reasonable manner. But they have this notion in their heads of the National Health Service in the U.K., and they can't let it go.
Never mind that most countries do not use that approach, and still cover everyone at reasonable expense. It is a failure of imagination. Sigh. So they want the government to run it.
First, despite all the money the proposed system will cost, it still will not cover everyone. Other options would cause more universal coverage, at a more reasonable cost, and with less disruption to the health care industry.
Second, the public option is expensive and personally instusive. The current Medicare/Medicaid system is unaffordable and unviable. In effect, even more will be placed into a similar system. How can we afford this? The usual "remove waste and inefficiency" argument will not make up for the hundreds of billions that will need to be found.
Third, the proposal still connects health care with your place of employment. Employers, instead of being relieved of their burden, are now being saddled with even greater obligations. All this during a severe recession, while we are facing higher taxes to pay for the huge deficits. Employees need to be freed from reliance on their employers for health care. Individuals should be empowered to make their own decisions, not forced into a government plan.
Fourth, it is unclear how the growth of medical expenses will be countered. Health insurance premiums will increase nearly 15% next year. What provisions are there for slowing this rate of growth?
Fifth, state opt outs? Huh? If the Democrats had the courage of their convictions, they would not have included this provision. One can only suppose that the Democrats have so little faith in their proposal that they had to make an out in case it leads to disaster. There is a logical inconsistency here. They are not interested in universal coverage if they let states opt out!
AP: Health care issues: Penalties for no insurance
AP: Senate moderates voice concern over public option
MSNBC: Behind Harry Reid's Bid for a Public Option
Bloomberg: Reid Gambles on Democratic Unity With Public Option
Previous posts from THE WHIG on health care reform:
Swiss Healthcare System: Part III
Do You Want The Same Health Care That Congress Gets?
Houston Mayoral Race: Taking A Look At The Four Leading Candidates
Roy Morales -- the only candidate who advocates lower taxes and lower spending. In the debate, he gave a good performance. Unfortunately for him, he has the least experience in city government, has raised the least money, and it is doubtful he will make the runoff. Interestingly as the only Hispanic candidate, he took the strongest stance against illegal immigration, specifically stating that he supported efforts to screen prisoners at the city jail for their immigration status.
Gene Locke -- former black nationalist student radical (long ago and far behind him), he became a noted attorney, and served as City Attorney. He is tied in with Houston's legal and business elite, who have donated to his campaign. Think of him as the establishment candidate, who has a reputation for getting things done. He gave an excellent performance at the debate, and appears very knowledgeable about city government. If you like the way the city is working now -- and let's face it, it works better than a lot of big cities -- then here is your candidate.
Annise Parker -- is the current City Comptroller, where by all accounts, she has done a good job. In the debate, she did very well, as she emphasized fiscal responsibility and demonstrated her knowledge of city finances. Although she is openly a lesbian, she stated in the debate that she was not interested in reversing City of Houston policy of not extending benefits to gay partners, citing financial implications. As a candidate, she appears focused on the practical, and keeping the city on a sound financial footing. She doesn't have a lot of campaign cash for TV ads, but her yard signs are legion, showing a lot of support.
Peter Brown -- has a lot of support because he is using his wife's money to buy a lot of ads. He has been accused of trying to buy the race, (notably by Gene Locke) and he is. His ads present him as a practical businessman, but in reality he is far to the left and is outside of Houston's mainstream. As people learn more about him, I expect his support to drop. The question is, how many of the few who will bother to vote will also bother to learn more about him?
He would seek to throttle Houston's growth, and is interested in implementing land-use restrictions (code for zoning). The lack of zoning in Houston, and it's lax attitude towards development, is largely responsible for Houston's affordability and dynamic and flexible economy.
In the debate I watched last weekend, his performance was the weakest, and he did not seem very knowledgeable about city operations. His put-out attitude seem annoyed that he had to run to obtain what he has bought and paid for.
Who am I voting for? I haven't decided yet. I go back and forth between two of the candidates. But in the runoff, I will be voting for whoever is running against Peter Brown.
Whig Candidate Paul McKain "has gained a great deal of support among the Republican base as well as the conservative wing of the Democratic Party."
As President Obama’s approval rating continues to slip, it is clear that he will face a much tougher race for re-election in 2012 than he ran last year. It’s like an overdue pregnancy; it’s been nine months, but he has yet to deliver. The markets are still fragile, and the dollar is going down while unemployment numbers are going up. Toss in our sky-rocketing debt and indecisive action in Afghanistan, and it starts to look like Obama isn’t the savior he was made out to be.
Such a difficult time for Obama, and one might be under the impression that support for Republicans is on the rise. This isn’t exactly the case; CNN reported that approval for the GOP has hit 36%, down nearly 5% from the last poll taken in the summer, and almost at the same point it was in the last few months of Bush’s time in office.
Discontent with the major parties seems to be a growing phenomenon. Millions have attended “tea parties” all over the country, and the philosophy and wisdom of the Founding Fathers is a recurring theme in today’s political arena. Ordinary people are demanding that something be done; they demand accountability, fiscal responsibility and the protection of our most basic freedoms. Partisan bickering and the corruption that plagues Washington has made the American people feel alienated.As a result, there has been a re-emergence of third candidates. Not long shots like Ralph Nader or Pat Buchanan, whose presidential runs seem futile, but viable and credible candidates with a fair share of support.
The press has taken notice. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman is running for New York’s 23rd Congressional District, a seat up for grabs since Rep. John McHugh was appointed Secretary of the Army.
Hoffman isn’t the only third-party candidate to raise eyebrows; in Florida’s 2nd Congressional District, Modern Whig Party candidate Paul C. McKain has entered the arena in a bid for the seat occupied by Democrat Allen Boyd. McKain, a former firefighter and businessman, has gained a great deal of support among the Republican base as well as the conservative wing of the Democratic Party.
McKain promises to restore true citizen participation in government, pledging to act as a representative of the people, as intended by the Constitution, not as a mouthpiece for special interest groups. In a district where Democrats are a powerful majority, McKain fights an uphill battle, but it’s a battle that he believes he can win.
And with the growing discontent among American voters, it’s possible that he will.
Incumbent in Florida's 2nd District Opposed
Unemployment is high, their job performance ratings are low and there’s unrest in the hinterlands. Is it any wonder there are more people stepping forward to take on U.S. Reps. Jeff Miller and Allen Boyd in 2010?
“If you look at the polls, pretty much across the board people are getting so disgusted with Congress,” said Wendell Griffith, a political science and history teacher at Northwest Florida State College. “A lot of people out there are saying ‘even our guys got to go.’ ”
Boyd, D-Monticello, is not only facing a big-time opponent next year in fellow Democrat and state Sen. Al Lawson, he’s drawn Republican opposition as well.
William Fisher has pre-filed to run. Two other men, Eddie Hendry and Steve Southerland, have announced their intentions to run on the GOP ticket.There’s a Whig after Boyd’s seat too.
Paul Crandall McKain, a resident of Lloyd, lays claim to being the first Whig candidate to run for federal office since Abraham Lincoln.
McKain, the Whig candidate in District 2, said Boyd has ignored the viewpoints his constituents have expressed in recent town hall meetings.
“If the representative does not represent the wishes of the people, the people’s vote means nothing,” he said. “They have no representation.”
Although the desire to run off incumbents may be as strong as it has been in years, office holders have the resources to help them fend off challengers. That’s why between 90 and 98 percent of all incumbents win re-election, even in the most turbulent of political cycles, Griffith said.
The most powerful weapon the incumbents have is ability to raise money. Boyd presently has $1.7 million in his campaign war chest, according to the Federal Elections Commission. More than $850,000 of that had been raised this year, with almost $600,000 coming from political action committees.
McKain is one of three candidates this year running for office as representatives of the Florida Whig party.
He said his primary political motivation is “to give the vote for this office back to the people.”
Russian Motives On Iran Explained
Moscow views the prospect of a nuclear Iran as a threat to Israel and Saudi Arabia in particular, and less of a threat to itself. And while a nuclear Iran would create tension in the Middle East and likely lead to the nuclearization of the region, Russia would use the opportunity to reemerge as the major mediator between the various countries — i.e., Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Russia would then enjoy replacing the U.S. as the primary mediator in the Middle East.
In the near future, Russia will seek additional American concessions, while here and there it releases a statement supporting tougher measures against Iran. But in the end, if the U.S. or Israel seek to prevent the Iranian ayatollahs from acquiring nuclear weapons, they cannot look to Russia for meaningful support.
Republicans Not Only Ones With Infighting
House liberals use outside muscle to bolster 2010 position against Blue DogsThe head of a not-for-profit organization affiliated with House Democratic liberals plans to raise $1 million next year to give liberals an edge in public policy battles with the conservative Blue Dog Coalition.
With Barack Obama in the White House, the stakes in the ideological battles within the Democratic Party have increased. When it became increasingly apparent last year that Democrats would win the White House, liberals inside and outside of Congress decided to bolster their influence on the Hill.
That decision has proved prescient as liberals and centrist Democrats battle this year over the policy provisions of climate change and healthcare reform legislation.
Uncertainty Hampers Small Business
The economy remains unsteady 22 months after the recession began, with banks restricting credit and consumers hunkering down. For these small businesses, and many others across the country, there's an additional dark cloud: uncertainty created by Washington's bid to reorganize a wide swath of the U.S. economy.
The economic contraction is of course the prime force driving companies to lay off workers. But a health-care overhaul grinding through Congress could bring unknown new obligations to insure employees. Bush-era tax cuts are set to end next year, and their fate is unclear. Legislation aimed at tackling climate change might raise businesses' energy costs. Meanwhile, a bill aimed at increasing transportation spending is stalled.
Many companies say they have responded by freezing hiring, cutting benefits and delaying expansion plans. With at least 60% of job growth historically coming out of the small-business sector, according to the government's Small Business Administration, that kind of inertia could impede an economic recovery.
Already, 7.2 million jobs have been lost during the recession, and forecasts show little or no job growth expected for the rest of the year.
Afghan Opposition Candidate Abdullah Abdullah Backs McChrystal Recommendations
Afghanistan's opposition candidate backed Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recommendations for more troops Sunday, saying "the future of the country is at risk" without a "dramatic increase" in troop levels.
An ideal strategy would lead to decreases in the number of troops "a few years down the road," Abdullah said on Fox, but action is needed in the country to stabilize the security situation.
"The future of this country will be at risk and the future of enagagement of the international community will be at risk," Abdullah said."This situation requires a sort of dramatic increase in the number of troops in order to stop it from further deteriorating and reversing it."
Christians Hunted and Killed in Somalia
Even Somalia’s supposedly moderate government is loth to protect them
WHERE is the hardest place in the world to be a Christian citizen? North Korea, perhaps? Saudi Arabia? Try Somalia. There are thought to be no more than a thousand Christians in a resident population of 8m people, with perhaps a few thousand more in the diaspora. The Islamist Shabab militia, which controls most of southern Somalia, is dedicated to hunting them down.
Christian men attend mosques on Fridays, so as not to arouse suspicion. Bibles are kept hidden. There are no public meetings, let alone a church. Catholic churches and cemeteries have been destroyed. The last nuns in the smashed capital, Mogadishu, were chased out in 2007. The year before, an elderly nun working in a hospital there was murdered. The only Christian believers left are local Somalis.
Catching and killing them is useful propaganda for the Shabab, not least for indoctrinating its young fighters and suicide-bombers in the belief that America, Britain, Italy, the Vatican, along with Ethiopia and Kenya, are all “crusaders” trying to convert Somalis to Christianity. The UN lurks nefariously behind. Israel, of course, is also doing its bit to undermine Islam.
The shaky transitional government led by Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, whose writ runs weakly across the territory the Shabab does not yet run, is unlikely to speak up for any of its citizens caught with a bible. Though professing moderation, he promotes a version of sharia law whereby every citizen of Somalia is born a Muslim and anyone who converts to another religion is guilty of apostasy, which is punishable by death.
Every month several Somalis are killed for being Christian.
Well, Spank Me Silly! Alabama Judge Acquitted!
I know, I know.
CNN: Alabama judge not guilty of sexual abuse of inmates
A former Alabama judge accused of checking male inmates out of jail and forcing them to engage in sexual activity was found not guilty Monday on charges of sexual abuse, attempted sodomy and assault, his lawyer said.
Attorney Robert Clark said former Judge Herman Thomas was found not guilty on several charges and the judge in the case granted a directed verdict of acquittal on all the other counts.
Is NY 23rd A Bellweather Race?
Slate: Soul Search
What next week's congressional election in New York won't tell us about the Republican Party.
More on the NY 23rd here: Pawlenty bucks GOP, endorses Hoffman
Reading The Whig On Their Laptops, Obviously
How did those Northwest pilots manage to ignore an hour of radio calls?
26 October 2009
On Being A Whig
Since the first Whigs developed in England, we have pursued this great and simple idea. We Whigs believe in a society in which every individual is free to do their best. For Americans today, it means each citizen living his or her own life, and doing the best for himself and herself. The one idea which has united Whigs for nearly four hundred years is that of freedom. While staying true to our legacy, we must address old problems with a fresh mind, as well as addressing new challenges unencumbered by the weight of old prejudices and certitudes. The central task of a Whig, from which all else follows and upon which all else depends, is to maximize the freedom of the individual.
"We have realised that men and women are not just ciphers in a calculation, but are individual human beings whose individual welfare and development must be the main concern of government … We have learned that the right answer is to set the individual free, to aim at equality of opportunity, to protect the individual against oppression, to create a society in which rights and duties are recognized and made effective.” -- Robert Menzies
Likewise, Whigs must be "a progressive party, willing to make experiments, in no sense reactionary, but believing in the individual, his rights and enterprise, and rejecting the Socialist panacea."
So are Whigs liberal or conservative? These two terms are overused so much that their original meanings are obscured. Here, by liberal I am referring to what in American we now call "classical liberalism." Aside from the confusion of language, there is a deeper reason why classical liberalism and conservatism are so often confused.
Our public values – personal freedom, toleration of diversity, equality of opportunity, the rule of law – are classically liberal values. In striving to preserve them, the Whigs share the conservative’s instinctive suspicion of change – but not his reasons.
Defence of a classically liberal society is the defence of liberalism, not conservatism, but in that endeavour, Whigs and conservatives will find common cause. This is the point made by F. A. Hayek in his superb essay, “Why I Am Not a Conservative”, which forms the postscript to The Constitution of Liberty, quoted at length below:
What Hayek captures is the central ethical problem of conservatism: its relativistic nature. As one of conservatism’s most articulate contemporary exponents, Andrew Sullivan, says “We see the world from where we are, and our understanding of the universe is intrinsically rooted in time and place.”At a time when most movements that are thought to be progressive advocate further encroachments on individual liberty, those who cherish freedom are likely to expend their energies in opposition. In this they find themselves much of the time on the same side as those who habitually resist change
… But, though the position I have tried to define is … often described as ‘conservative’, it is very different to that to which this name has been traditionally attached. There is danger in the confused condition which brings the defenders of liberty and the true conservatives together in common opposition to developments which threaten their different ideals equally.
…Let me … state what seems to me the decisive objection to any conservatism which deserves to be called such. It is that by its very nature it cannot offer an alternative to the direction in which we are moving. It may succeed by its resistance to current tendencies in slowing down undesirable developments, but, since it does not indicate another direction, it cannot prevent their continuance. It has, for this reason, invariably been the fate of conservatism to be dragged along a path not of its own choosing.
…Since the development during the last decades has been generally in a socialist direction, it may seem that both conservatives and liberals have been mainly intent on retarding that movement. But the main point about liberalism is that it wants to go elsewhere, not to stand still.
… (I)t has never been a backward-looking doctrine. There has never been a time when liberal ideals were fully realized and when liberalism did not look forward to further improvement of institutions.
… The difference between liberalism and conservatism must not be obscured by the fact that … it is still possible to defend individual liberty by defending long-established institutions. To the liberal they are valuable not mainly because they are long established … but because they correspond to the ideals which he cherishes.
The American scholar Samuel P Huntington described conservatism as a “positional ideology” which may be “employed to justify any established social order, no matter where or when it exists, against fundamental challenge to its nature or being … The essence of conservatism is the passionate affirmation of the value of existing institutions.” It was thus possible, as Huntington points out, for conservatism’s most eloquent exponent, Edmund Burke, simultaneously to “defend Whig institutions in England, democratic institutions in America, autocratic institutions in France, and Hindu institutions in India”, because “(h)e was concerned not with the substance of institutions but with their preservation.”
Elevating to a virtue its distrust of what it commonly calls dogmatism, and favouring scepticism about social change over the question of the desirability of change, conservatism lacks a set of a priori principles against which to assess the justness of a society; the fitness of its legal, economic and social arrangements; and the direction of reform. Conservatism has a deeply sophisticated, and in many ways attractive, theory of the nature of society but, in its hostility to what Sullivan calls “the arrogant Reason of the Enlightenment”, it lacks the moral clarity to make the most fundamental judgments about right and wrong.
Classical liberalism, recently described as “the Enlightenment’s most authentic political creation”, has such a central guiding principle – respect for the freedom of the individual, his dignity and his autonomy; his right, so far as is consistent with the equal rights of others, to make his own choices and be the architect of his own life.
But the essentially ambulatory nature of conservatism means that, while in one era it may share territory with those whose political beliefs spring from a profound respect for the freedom of the individual, in a different place or time it may set its face against those very same values. In the words of Huntington:
“Just as the aristocrats were the conservatives in Prussia in 1820 and slaveowners were the conservatives in 1850, so the liberals must be the conservatives in America today … In preserving the achievements of American liberalism, American liberals have no recourse but to turn to conservatism.”
And so it must be for the modern day heirs of classical liberalism, the Whigs. While today Whigs and conservatives may adopt common positions, the very reason that we are now united in defending a society whose fundamental values are classically liberal is because of the victories won over conservatives in decades and centuries past in the cause of advancing the freedom of the individual.
Despite their differences, there is one thing about which Whigs and conservatives will always be in agreement: their shared hostility to ideologies which seek to impose a pattern on human conduct, and seek to bend human beings into shape in the service of a determinist theory of history or some rationalist notion of perfectibility.
The one political philosophy – or ideology, if you will – which is not susceptible to the criticism that it is willing to crush human beings by seeking to impose a pattern upon history, is classical liberalism. For the very point of the Whigs is to promote the freedom of every individual, to liberate them from whatever threatens their autonomy or inhibits their freedom of choice, whether it be the pattern of existing social customs - which a conservative would generally support - or the patterns in the minds of metaphysicians, utopians and historical determinists - in opposition to which conservatives and liberals unite. And so we come back to the essential flaw of conservatism – its ethical relativism. A conservative, no less than a liberal, is horrified by the thought that human beings might be crushed in the name of an abstraction, yet we often find him indifferent, or even an apologist, when human beings are actually being crushed by an existing political system or social order.
There usually is not a conflict between Whigs and conservatives. But there are points of tension when there is and, as we know, in politics it is the points of tension that matter. The points of tension occur when the rights of individuals or minorities come into conflict with existing laws and prevailing social customs. When this occurs, merely weighing the rights of the individual in a balance against the mainstream attitudes of society is not an adequate response for a Whig. For as John Stuart Mill said:
“It is not by wearing down into uniformity all that is individual in themselves, but by cultivating it and calling it forth, within the limits imposed by the rights and interests of others, that human beings become a noble and beautiful object of contemplation. … To give any fair play to the nature of each, it is essential that different persons should be allowed to lead different lives. In proportion as this latitude has been exercised in any age, has that age been noteworthy to posterity … (W)hatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.”
It is these beliefs that set us apart as Whigs. It is time once again to renew our commitment to the values of our Revolution, which made us Americans. That is our legacy. That is our purpose as a political movement.
This post is paraphrased and adapted from a speech by Senator George Brandis, entitled "We believe" for the 2009 Alfred Deakin Lecture, at The University of Melbourne, Thursday 22 October 2009, published in The Australian, October 26, 2009.
Ideas and Money At The Department of Energy
The federal Energy Department will make good on a pledge for a bolder technology strategy on Monday, awarding research grants for ideas like bacteria that will make gasoline, enzymes that will capture carbon dioxide to counter global warming and batteries so cheap that they will allow the use of solar power all night long.
A new agency within the department will nurture these and other radical proposals, most of which will probably fail but a few of which could have “a transformative impact,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in an interview on Friday. The money will go for projects at all stages of development, including some that exist simply as a smart idea, Dr. Chu said.
The department will announce 37 grants totaling $151 million, mostly going to small businesses and educational institutions but also to a few corporations. Some of the ideas may be supported until they are picked up by venture capitalists or major companies, he said.
The new effort, directed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or Arpa-e, is modeled on a Defense Department program known as Darpa that helped commercialize microchips and the Internet and helped develop body armor and other high-tech products. Darpa is known for quick decisions and long-shot bets, an approach seldom associated with the Energy Department.
Independent Voters Get Fed Up
A poll of opinion polls shows Americans' attitudes are changing rapidly. They are less and less thrilled about the country's direction and Congress, according to Tom Bevan, executive editor of national polling aggregator RealClearPolitics. He says independent voters are shifting away from the polices of the Obama administration and Democrats.
"Independents have flipped negative," warns Bevan. "That's not a good thing for any party."
The first gubernatorial races since Democrats took control of Washington, in New Jersey and Virginia, show voter angst and ire. Those races appear to be heading in different directions but are two sides of the same coin.
"What do these phenomena have in common? In two words: disillusionment and disgust," says Lara Brown, Villanova University political science professor.
Registered and likely voters, in particular, are disillusioned and disgusted with both parties and their candidates, who seem to over-promise, under-deliver, ask for too much and take advantage of their positions, explains Brown.
Americans are worn out by inflated rhetoric and Washington insiders who just months ago said they were outsiders.
Voters wonder what happened to candidates they elected to clean up Washington, stop partisan bickering and remove Wall Street titans who retained fat bonuses only because taxpayers bailed out their companies.
Then there are tax problems for Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y.; questionable loans for Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.; and adulterous liaisons for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.
Further, only 39 percent of Republicans have a favorable impression of Michael Steele, GOP chairman. Other polls suggest Americans feel Republicans are merely "obstructionists."
The White House added insult to injury with its fight with Fox News. Most wonder how the White House even bothers with this "issue" with so many other important matters at hand.
What does all this portend? Very possibly a Ross Perot moment -- the emergence of someone with serious charts and serious language that angry Americans will see as more authentic than "hope and change."
Chances Of Military Strike By Israel Against Iran Increasing
The deal put forward in Vienna would not have ended Iran's nuclear programme, even if Tehran had given a prompt "yes"
Its announcement on Friday will raise suspicions it just wants to bog down the limited deal on offer in further delay and, although more talks are likely, attention will turn east.
Given that Israeli government has made a nuclear-free Iran its prime international goal, a military strike to try to achieve that is now correspondingly more likely.
The deal would ease pressure for more sanctions on Iran, since the removal of most of its low-enriched uranium would delay its ability to build a nuclear weapon.
Mr Obama envisaged that longer negotiations, in the raised atmosphere of trust the deal would create, would then focus on ending its enrichment programme altogether.
But in its first response to the proposed deal, Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, demanded "the cessation of enrichment by Iran, and not just the removal of the enriched material".Mr Obama's worry now will be that as his preference for diplomacy runs into a quagmire, America's longstanding allies may start to take matters into their own hands.
Health Care Bill By Tuesday
Measure With Stiffer Penalties on Employers and Public Plan Could Come This Week
Top Senate Democrats are close to finalizing their health bill and could unveil a measure as soon as early this week that would include stiffer penalties on employers who fail to provide health coverage.
Senate leaders plan to submit the bill to the Congressional Budget Office for a cost estimate as soon as Monday, and make the legislation public as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
Details of the legislation could change, but its broad outlines are becoming clear. Employers with more than 50 workers wouldn't be required to provide health insurance, but they would face fines of up to $750 per employee if even part of their work force received a government subsidy to buy health insurance, this person said. A bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee had a lower fine of up to $400 per employee.
The bill to be brought to the Senate floor would create a new public health-insurance plan, but would give states the choice of opting out of participating in it, a proposal that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada backed last week.
The bill is expected to expand health coverage to tens of millions of Americans by giving low- and middle-income Americans subsidies to offset the cost of insurance, and expanding the Medicaid federal-state insurance program to cover a broader swath of the poor. Most people would be required to buy insurance or pay a fine, though exceptions would be made for those deemed unable to afford it.
Also expected are new rules on insurers to prevent them from denying coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions and from dropping customers' insurance once they become ill.
Senator McConnell (R- State of Denial)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) dismissed on Sunday a recent poll claiming that a large majority of Americans distrust Republicans, saying that more Americans would vote for the GOP in next year's midterm elections.
ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked McConnell about the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll that found only 20 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans, the fewest in 26 years. It also found that just 19 percent trust congressional Republicans to make the right decisions for the country's future.
Time To End "Too Big To Fail"
Busting up the banking trusts is essential for the following reasons:
-It eliminates the too-big-to-fail issue, which puts entire economies at risk.
-Excessively large banks destroy democracies, like the United States, through inordinate influence on policy, politicians and regulators.
-Oligopolies and monopolies are economically inefficient and charge excessive fees, earn excessive profits and pay excessive salaries and bonuses.
-Oligopolies and monopolies don't innovate because they don't have to.
-Oligopolies and monopolies are risky because they indulge in groupthink mistakes that are too large for economies and the business community to bear.
-Oligopolies and monopolies fossilize markets by dealing with big entities, cronies, politically connected clients and nepotism.
-Oligopolies and monopolies hurt economies because of overcharging and gouging.
The world's concentrated financial sector has been grabbing more than its fair share of wealth because it has been able to and this must stop.
Despite the obvious benefits of busting up the bank trusts, the U.S. and other governments resist a Glass Steagall restructuring.
Washington's intransigence flies in the face of the anti-trust tradition in the United States.
Glass Steagall is the only reform that will work, which is why Bank of England governor Mervyn King and former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker came out last week in support of a global Glass Steagall.
But Washington, London, Ottawa and others are counting on regulation instead, even though that didn't work. Their position is even less justifiable given the fact that the meltdown has increased concentration of banking power, with even more accompanying problems.
For instance, monopoly profits are why months after Goldman Sachs was given US$10-billion in taxpayer bailout funds it has amassed US$23-billion for bonuses this year -- an amount equivalent in size to the economies of Trinidad and Tobago, Estonia, Lebanon or Congo and Mongolia combined.
Goldman Sachs should be the first to be broken up. The firm would have disappeared without its US$10-billion bailout (which it paid back) and is still at the taxpayer trough, thanks to its conversion of part of its business into a deposit-taking institution to get US$26-billion taxpayer deposit insurance.
Japanese Reviewing Okinawa
Japan's foreign minister signaled Friday that the new Japanese government may be willing to compromise with the U.S. on a contentious plan to reorganize American military deployments in Okinawa.
The two nations agreed in 2006 to close the Futenma airfield and move some of its facilities to a rural part of Okinawa, but some politicians within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan have called for moving the facilities entirely off the island.
The DPJ, which took power in September following a landslide election victory in August, campaigned in part on reviewing the Okinawa plan, though its platform didn't offer a specific alternative. The review is part of party's overall rethink of parts of the decades-old Japan-U.S. alliance.
25 October 2009
Fighting Over the Carcass of the Republican Party
People interested in something new in politics are closely following the special election to fill the vacany in New York's 23rd Congressional district. Some are intrigued by the three way race there, between the Democratic candidate Bill Owens, the Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, and the Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.Republicans Are More Historians Than Politicians
Last week I was listening to a Republican host on a radio talk show. The caller talked about his frustration with politics, and asked why a third party shouldn't be considered. The host went through the usual litany against third parties, and then started talking about Republican accomplishments. He talked about 1980, about the tax law passed in 1986, about the Contract with American back in 1994, and then stopped.
Give me a break. The Contract with America was 15 years ago! If you are under the age of 30 you probably don't even remember it! And the constant carrying on about 1980! Give it a rest. Nearly thirty years ago!
Funny how nothing was said about the six recent years in which Republicans were in charge of all three branches of government. Talk about living in the past.
Article About Modern Whig Candidate Gene Baldassari
Hamiltonian runs for Assembly in modernized Whig Party
Gene Baldassari, a Hamilton resident and lifelong Republican, said New Jersey has been ruined by the partisan political battles between the GOP and Democratic Party. In fact, Baldassari said things have gotten so bad that he decided to run as a Modern Whig Party candidate for a seat in the New Jersey Assembly.
“The reason for ending the political bickering is so we can have fiscal responsibility,” said Baldassari, who blames both the Democratic and Republican parties for New Jersey having the highest property taxes in the nation.
“We have to break this two-party paralysis. They have been working across party lines — and this is what we’ve gotten,” Baldassari said of the GOP and Democratic Party. “They are not representing the citizens.”
The Modern Whig Party was founded in 2007 by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Baldassari, 58, is not a veteran, but he said he lobbied the third party to endorse him as a Modern Whig Assembly candidate in New Jersey’s 14th Legislative District.
His proposed solution for lowering taxes in New Jersey is to institute a “cap” on revenues and then “argue how we’re going to spend it.” Baldassari said the most important thing is to “make the business climate better for small business.”
23 October 2009
Government Control Expands
BAILED-OUT FIRMS ARE FIRST
Measures aim to cut risk to companies, economy
So now the government can decide how much you can get paid.The Federal Reserve joined the Treasury Department on Thursday in imposing new limits on executive pay, extending the government's control over compensation at taxpayer-owned companies to institutions that are merely government regulated.
The restrictions were the latest in more than a year's worth of government intercession into matters once considered inviolable aspects of the country's free-market economy and represent a signal moment in the history of the American economic experiment.
After years of setting minimum wages, the government is now telling some companies how they should structure pay for the men and women who run them. European governments, particularly Germany and France, have pressed for international standards capping executive pay, a move that the United States and Britain have resisted, and these are the first steps that the United States has made in that direction.
Anyone but me find that a bit alarming?
Anyone?
You had better hope that Obama & Co don't decide you are making too much money.
Obama's Meandering Afghan Policy Review
President Obama is presiding over a slow-motion civil-military crash occasioned by his meandering Afghanistan strategy review. The crash has not yet happened and is avoidable, but it also foreseeable. Of concern, the latest reports out of the White House suggest that Obama's team is not yet fully aware of the dangers. If it happens, it will be a problem entirely of Obama's own making and it could have a lasting impact on the way his administration unfolds.
As Rich Lowry has observed, President Obama rarely misses a chance to blame a challenge he is confronting on his predecessor. This rhetorical tic served Obama well during the campaign and probably still resonates with partisans who post anonymous comments on blogs or who suffer from chronic Bush Derangement Syndrome. But it gives the impression that the Administration never left the campaign bubble and may even encourage self-defeating campaign-like behavior such as picking feuds with news organizations.
Junior Democrats in Congress Push for Ethics Probe
There is probably a law that the longer they remain in Congress, the less interested politicians are in ethics. An equation for an inverse relationship, like y=a/x.
Two Democrats buck Rep. Towns, call for Countrywide VIP mortgage probe
Two junior Democrats are urging their leaders to open an investigation into the Countrywide VIP mortgage program.
Rep. Paul Hodes (N.H.), who is in his second House term, and freshman Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.) called on the House Oversight and Government Reform panel to initiate an investigation into Countrywide Financial’s “Friends of Angelo” VIP program and whether it was used to gain influence over federal officials.
“The American people deserve to know the truth about these lending practices, and if they had undue influence on federal housing or financial policy based on awarding VIP loans to federal officials,” wrote Hodes and Quigley. “We look forward to working with you to undertake a thorough investigation of this program and provide transparency and answers for our constituents.”
Democratic Infighting: Some Want To Keep Using The China Express Card, Some Say Their Fiscal Recklessness Has Reached Their Limit For Now
The Hill: Centrists vs. Pelosi: Blue Dog Democrats beginning to show spending fatigue The reservoir of Democratic support for legislation to stimulate the economy — while adding to the deficit — is drying up.
Already faced with what many economists are labeling a jobless recovery, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are considering passing more measures to lower the nation’s highest unemployment rate in 26 years.Most of the fixes Democrats are eyeing would add to the budget deficit, which was recently estimated at $1.4 trillion.
But fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats and the Democratic freshman class of 2008 are raising objections. Some members of these two factions reluctantly went along with the $787 billion stimulus package earlier this year, but they are not ready for a sequel.
Stimulus A Misdirected Waste: Money Going To Areas With Low Unemployment
When it comes to securing highway funds from the federal stimulus package, there is one clear winner thus far: rural, agricultural America.
The 287 counties identified as “Tractor Country” in Patchwork Nation have received an average of $144 per capita in stimulus highway dollars, according to a new analysis by the Patchwork Nation project and ProPublica, an independent nonprofit news organization. That is by far the largest per capita amount.
The next closest, at $21 per capita, are the 362 counties of “Minority Central” (places with many African-Americans or native Americans). Bringing up the rear are America’s 41 big-city counties – the “Industrial Metropolis.” They have secured only 41 cents per capita.
As we have noted often, “Tractor Country” has weathered the recession relatively easily – so far anyway. While the national unemployment figure hovers near 10 percent, in “Tractor Country” it is roughly half that – just a bit more than 5 percent.
But if the focus of the transportation stimulus is to create jobs – Congress said that transportation projects would create more than half of the envisioned 3.5 million jobs from the stimulus – then “Tractor Country” might not be the best choice for funds. Other places could probably use a more direct infusion of aid.
The “Industrial Metropolis,” however, stands out for how little it is set to receive: not even $4 per person.
The recession may linger in “Industrial Metropolis” counties, which have large numbers of people living in poverty who may need assistance from strapped city governments.
Spanking Judge Case Goes To Jury
Jurors this afternoon began deliberating the case of former Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas, who is accused of paddling young men for sexual gratification.
The 5-man, 7-woman panel began deliberations at about 3 p.m.
Prosecutors said Thomas whipped or paddled young men who were defendants on his docket in exchange for leniency in his court.
The former judge faces more than 20 felony charges including sodomy, attempted sodomy, sex abuse and assault.
