AFGHANISTAN - This Does Not Bode Well

"Showcase Afghan Army Mission Turns Into Debacle" by ROD NORDLAND, New York Times 8/12/2010

Excerpt

An ambitious military operation that Afghan officials had expected to be a sign of their growing military capacity instead turned into an embarrassment, with Taliban fighters battering an Afghan battalion in a remote eastern area until NATO sent in French and American rescue teams.

The fighting has continued so intensely for the past week that the Red Cross has been unable to reach the battlefield to remove the dead and wounded.

The operation, east of Kabul, was extraordinary in that it was not coordinated in advance with NATO forces and did not at first include coalition forces or air support. The Afghans called for help after 10 of their soldiers were killed and perhaps twice as many captured at the opening of the operation nine days ago.

HEALTH - Data-Sharing and Alzheimer's Detection

"Sharing of Data Leads to Progress on Alzheimer’s" by GINA KOLATA, New York Times 8/12/2010

Excerpt

In 2003, a group of scientists and executives from the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the drug and medical-imaging industries, universities and nonprofit groups joined in a project that experts say had no precedent: a collaborative effort to find the biological markers that show the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in the human brain.

Now, the effort is bearing fruit with a wealth of recent scientific papers on the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s using methods like PET scans and tests of spinal fluid. More than 100 studies are under way to test drugs that might slow or stop the disease.

And the collaboration is already serving as a model for similar efforts against Parkinson’s disease. A $40 million project to look for biomarkers for Parkinson’s, sponsored by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, plans to enroll 600 study subjects in the United States and Europe.

POLITICS - GOP's Lesson on How to Paint All Muslims Black

"'Ground Zero Mosque' Imam Was A Bush-Era Partner For Mideast Peace" by Megan Carpentier, TPM 8/12/2010

Tuesday, Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) called Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf -- best known for his work with multicultural Cordoba Initiative to build a mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan -- a "radical" and criticized the Obama Administration for including him on a Middle East speaking tour. That tour, which includes stops in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is designed by the public diplomacy office to explain to Muslims abroad what it's like to be a Muslim in America.

Outside of how getting constantly called a radical by American politicians busy flacking the proposed "Ground Zero mosque" for political purposes might affect Rauf's view of what it's like to be a Muslim in America, there's one other big problem with King's and Ros-Lehtinen's accusation: Rauf already represented America in this way, under the Bush Administration.

State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley responded to the accusations Tuesday:

"His work on tolerance and religious diversity is well-known and he brings a moderate perspective to foreign audiences on what it's like to be a practicing Muslim in the United States," State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley said Tuesday. He added that the department's public-diplomacy offices "have a long-term relationship with" Rauf - including during the past Bush administration, when the religious leader undertook a similar speaking tour.

If one were to hearken back to the halcyon days of the Bush Administration, one would remember that, when Bush adviser Karen Hughes was appointed Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, the Bush Administration saw improving America's standing among Muslims abroad as a part of its national security strategy. And, as such, Hughes set up listening tours, attended meetings and worked with interfaith groups that -- shocking, by today's Republican standards -- included actual Muslims.

One of those people was Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

Contemporary press accounts indicate that Rauf and Hughes were part of the February 2006 U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar. He was part of a delegation that met with her in March 2006 and held a joint press conference. A letter to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in November 2007 indicates that contacts with Hughes and Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns had continued apace.

And, of course, an interview with Foreign Policy in 2007 explored both the depths of his ongoing contact with the Administration and his so-called radical views.

I have had meetings with Karen Hughes. However, I would welcome the opportunity to have further, deeper, and more nuanced discussions with other members of the Bush administration on how they need to understand religion and how it intersects with political affairs. To not understand the role of Islam and faith as a motivator is to be incapacitated in shaping a foreign policy that achieves the objectives of the United States.

The perception in the Muslim world is that the West wants to impose a secularism upon it, which to them is equivalent to the erasure of religion in society. As an American, I know that is not the intent of the United States at all. But that's the perception. The perception in America is that when people say they want an Islamic state, they want something like the Taliban. And that is not true at all.

Rauf added that, during Ramadan, it was important to remember the love that Jews, Muslims and Christians agree that their gods preach, adding, "It also means do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you." Guess that's one thing Rauf's critics forgot.

POLITICS - Another Report Exposes GOP Wrong-Headed Thinking

"GOP plan to extend tax cuts for rich adds $36 billion to deficit, panel finds" by Lori Montgomery, Washington Post 8/12/2010

A Republican plan to extend tax cuts for the rich would add more than $36 billion to the federal deficit next year -- and transfer the bulk of that cash into the pockets of the nation's millionaires, according to a congressional analysis released Wednesday.

New data from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation show that households earning more than $1 million a year would reap nearly $31 billion in tax breaks under the GOP plan in 2011, for an average tax cut per household of about $100,000.

The analysis, requested by Democrats on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, comes as debate heats up over tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration, most of which are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Republicans want to extend all the cuts, which would cost the Treasury Department $238 billion in 2011, according to the taxation committee. President Obama and congressional Democrats have vowed to extend the cuts only for families making less than $250,000 a year and individuals making less than $200,000 -- 98 percent of American taxpayers -- in a plan that would add about $202 billion to next year's deficit.

Given the soaring national debt, many economists deem both proposals unaffordable. Even some Republicans, including Reagan administration budget chief David Stockman and former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, have urged lawmakers to let them expire and allow income tax rates to pop back up to their levels during the Clinton administration.

Obama campaigned on a pledge not to raise taxes for the middle class, however. And with midterm congressional elections in November, few politicians in either party are calling for full repeal. Instead, lawmakers are gearing up for a battle when they return to Washington in September over the small fraction of the tax breaks that benefit the nation's richest families.

Both sides are eager to engage that fight on the eve of the election. Democrats see a political advantage in accusing Republicans of holding tax breaks for the middle class "hostage" in order to get tax cuts for the wealthy, though it's not clear that GOP lawmakers would in fact block extension of the middle-class cuts if they were offered alone.

Republicans accuse Democrats of plotting one of the biggest tax hikes in American history, arguing that raising taxes on wealthy households would punish the very people capable of creating jobs, spurring economic growth and reducing the 9.5 percent unemployment rate. About half of all small-business income is reported on the individual returns of people making over $250,000 a year, according to the taxation committee's data, though those taxpayers represent only about 3 percent of small businesses.

"We cannot forget that a lot of those people are small businesses," said Sage Eastman, a spokesman for Rep. Dave Camp (Mich.), the senior Republican on Ways and Means. "The American people don't want them paying higher taxes -- they want them hiring more people."

Democrats counter that wealthy households would receive a tax benefit under their plan. The joint committee analysis shows that million-dollar households would continue to receive an average tax break of about $6,300 next year compared with full repeal -- significantly more than the average break of about $1,100 that would go to families making less than $200,000 a year, according to the taxation committee.

Despite that bit of news, the nation's 315,000 millionaires are unlikely to feel grateful; the joint committee said their overall federal tax rate would jump to about 29.9 percent under the Democratic plan, compared with 24.6 percent if all the tax cuts were extended.

Wait, God's Own Party can't be wrong?! (sarcasm off)

IMMIGRATION - Border Bill

"U.S. Congress approves border bill; sends to Obama" by Susan Cornwell, Reuters 8/12/2010

Money to fund more border agents and unmanned "drones"

The U.S. Congress on Thursday passed legislation to strengthen security along the border with Mexico, trying to tackle the politically sensitive issue of illegal immigrants ahead of November congressional elections.

Final legislative action came as the Senate passed the bill on a voice vote, one day after the House of Representatives interrupted a six-week recess to pass the bill.

It now goes to President Barack Obama, who had requested the $600 million the measure provides and is expected to sign it into law.

Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat and one of only two senators present for debate of the bill in the 100-member chamber, said the measure would give the Obama administration the resources it needs to "combat drug smugglers, gun runners, human traffickers, money launderers and other organized criminals that seek to do harm" along the border.

The money will fund some 1,500 new border patrol agents, customs inspectors and other law enforcement officials along the southwestern border, as well as two more unmanned aerial "drones" to monitor border activities.

Congress' speedy approval of the border security funds marked a rare display of bipartisanship in the hot-button immigration debate.

Schumer said he hoped passage of the bill would help break a deadlock in the Senate over broader immigration reforms. But that appeared unlikely in the increasingly partisan atmosphere ahead of the November congressional elections.

All 435 House seats and 37 Senate seats are up for grabs on Nov. 2 in an election that will determine whether Obama's fellow Democrats maintain their majority control in Congress.

With the measure's passage, members of Congress who are running for re-election will be able to spend the next several weeks boasting that they acted to reinforce the border.

INDIA PROTESTS

The plan is financed by imposing higher visa fees on some Indian technology companies operating in the United States, prompting a protest from the government of India.

Senate aides said the Indian companies had been targeted because they take advantage of a U.S. law to import a high percentage of their workers from abroad. They said four Indian companies would be affected: Tata (TCS.BO), Infosys (INFY.BO), Wipro (WIPR.BO) and Mahindra Satyam (SATY.BO).

"Though the need of the U.S. government to strengthen their border security is understandable, it is inexplicable to our companies to bear the cost of such a highly discriminatory law," India's Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk this week.

The $600 million will fund 1,000 new border patrol agents and 250 customs and border protection officers at points of entry. It will also pay for more than 250 new special immigration enforcement agents, investigators, and intelligence analysts.

The money would also expand the use of unmanned drones to monitor border activities, improve communications among federal agencies and help fund investigations of illegal drug activity at the border.

Officials in southwestern states have asked for more help from the federal government to stem the flow of illegal immigrants, weapons and narcotics. Obama already has ordered more National Guard troops to the border for a year.

But immigration advocates say Republicans have inflated concerns about illegal immigration to put Democrats on the defensive ahead of the elections.

Violence along the border has escalated in recent years, but Alan Bersin, commissioner for the Customs and Border Protection agency, said recently illegal crossings have begun to decline while seizures of weapons and drugs have gone up.

There are about 11 million illegal immigrants believed to be living in the United States.

I wonder which side of the fence the GOP will stand on this bill's passage?

OOPS, forgot, this is a win for Obama so the GOP knee-jerk reaction will be to shout loudly, NO!

SCIENCE - Hubble's NGC 4911 Spiral Galaxy

"Hubble Space Telescope: NASA's stunning new image of 'spiral galaxy'" by Andrew Hough, Telegraph UK 8/10/2010

The galaxy, titled NGC 4911, lies more than 320 million light-years away in the "Coma Cluster" of about 1,000 galaxies and islands of stars similar to the Milky Way.

NASA said the stunning long-exposure picture, titled “Island Universe”, shows the “majestic face-on spiral galaxy” in the northern constellation Coma Berenices amid a sea of stars.

The galaxy contains “rich lanes of dust and gas near its center” and is silhouetted against glowing newborn star clusters and iridescent pink clouds of hydrogen, which indicates ongoing star formation.

NASA scientists say the cluster is one of the densest collections of galaxies in a nearby universe and as a result this proximity means the galaxies often interact violently.

The "natural-color" image, released by the space agency combines data from 2006, 2007, and 2009. A high resolution copy of the image has also been released.

Using Hubble’s brand new Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys, it required 28 hours of exposure time.

The long wispy formations, seen along the “arms” of the main galaxy, are a result of the nearby galaxy passing "perilously close to each other".

“The high resolution of Hubble’s cameras, paired with considerably long exposures, made it possible to observe these faint details”, a NASA spokesman said.

“(The galaxy) and other spirals near the center of the cluster are being transformed by the gravitational tug of their neighbors.

“In the case … wispy arcs of the galaxy’s outer spiral arms are being pulled and distorted by forces from a companion galaxy.”

One light year is the equivalent of 5.9 trillion miles.

It is the latest in a series of spectacular images taken by the telescope and released by NASA.

In April Hubble celebrated its 20th anniversary with an image of a space constellation.

More than half a million pictures have been amassed in its extensive archive from about 30,000 space celestial targets.

POLITICS - Tuesday Primaries 8/10/2010

"Primary night yields good news for Obama, Dems" by John F. Harris, Politico 8/11/2010

Excerpt

President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party, who have been starved for good news through much of 2010, finally received a generous helping Tuesday night.

Republicans, meanwhile, were left with several new reasons to wonder whether all the favorable national trends showing in the polls are enough to overcome local candidates who are inspiring little confidence about their readiness for the general election 12 weeks from now.

In each of the four states that held primaries Tuesday, the GOP either nominated or gave an overnight lead to candidates tarnished by scandal, gaffes or some other significant vulnerability.

The headline victory belonged to Sen. Michael Bennet, the Colorado Democrat who, with extensive help from Obama and the party establishment in Washington, galloped to a surprisingly wide 9-point victory over challenger Andrew Romanoff. A former state House speaker, Romanoff once looked well-positioned to rally liberal discontent and give the White House a very visible black eye.

But the party establishment showed it still has some fight, even in an anti-establishment year. And Democrats, in an assessment that many independent analysts tend to agree with, said the most favorable news for them may have come from the results on the Republican side.

The GOP nominee will be Ken Buck, a county prosecutor and insurgent conservative who Democrats will try to paint as a Colorado version of Sharron Angle — the Nevada Republican whose rhetorical stubbed toes and strident ideological profile have weakened GOP prospects there.

The Colorado results, combined with Tuesday's returns in Connecticut, Georgia and Minnesota and other recent primaries, suggest it may be time to scrutinize a treasured 2010 story line — about an angry electorate, determined to punish insiders and professional pols of all stripes, rushing to embrace ideological insurgents.

It’s not that this narrative is all wrong. But it appears to be significantly more true among Republicans than Democrats.

Translation, "throw the bums out" applies MORE to Republicans.

POLITICS - More Prof That Conservatives are Kooks

"Conservapedia: E=mc² Is A Liberal Conspiracy" by Megan Carpentier, TMP 8/9/2010

To many conservatives, almost everything is a secret liberal plot: from fluoride in the water to medicare reimbursements for end-of-life planning with your doctor to efforts to teach evolution in schools. But Conservapedia founder and Eagle Forum University instructor Andy Schlafly -- Phyllis Schlafly's son -- has found one more liberal plot: the theory of relativity.

If you're behind on your physics, the Theory of Relativity was Albert Einstein's formulation in the early 20th century that gave rise to the famous theorem that E=mc2, otherwise stated as energy is equal to mass times the square of the speed of light. Why does Andy Schlafly hate the theory of relativity? We're pretty sure it's because he's decided it doesn't square with the Bible.

In the entry, "Counterexamples to Relativity," the authors (including Schlafly) write:

The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world.

To what does that reference lead? Why, a note by Schlafly:

See, e.g., historian Paul Johnson's book about the 20th century, and the article written by liberal law professor Laurence Tribe as allegedly assisted by Barack Obama. Virtually no one who is taught and believes relativity continues to read the Bible, a book that outsells New York Times bestsellers by a hundred-fold

In other words, reading a theory about physics is correlated to a decrease in people's interest in reading the Bible, which means that it causes people to stop reading the Bible.

Schlafly also points to the Bible as a reason that Einstein's theory must be wrong:

9. The action-at-a-distance by Jesus, described in John 4:46-54.

Conservapedia defines "action-at-a-distance" as "Action at a distance consists of affecting a distant body instantaneously. At the atom level, this is known as "non-locality." In non-confusing terms, that indicates the ability to cause something to happen instantaneously in another location (i.e., faster than the speed of light). Since Jesus could, reportedly, do this, thus Einstein is wrong. Schlafly's evidence is John 4:46-54, in which Jesus reportedly cured someone's son just by saying it had happened.

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.

When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."

The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."The man took Jesus at his word and departed.

While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living.

When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

Schlafly brags on Conservapedia that he has homeschooled 185 children, all of whom do exceptionally well on standardized tests.

As with Wikipedia and other online crowd-sourced resources, Conservapedia is a collaborative effort of its users and any registered user can post to the site. Schlafly is a frequent contributor to the site, and is identified as the initial author of the entry and well as the editor of the note identified above. Schlafly did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

ON THE LITE SIDE - Re-education, Conservative World Map

(click for larger view)

HEALTH - New Superbug

"Scientists Find New Superbug Spreading From India" from Reuters, CNBC 8/11/2010

Excerpt

A new superbug could spread around the world after reaching Britain from India—in part because of medical tourism—and scientists say there are almost no drugs to treat it.

Researchers said on Wednesday they had found a new gene called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, in patients in South Asia and in Britain.

NDM-1 makes bacteria highly resistant to almost all antibiotics, including the most powerful class called carbapenems, and experts say there are no new drugs on the horizon to tackle it.

With international travel in search of cheaper healthcare increasing, particularly for procedures such as cosmetic surgery, Timothy Walsh, who led the study, said he feared the new superbug could soon spread across the globe.

"At a global level, this is a real concern," Walsh, from Britain's Cardiff University, said in telephone interview.

"Because of medical tourism and international travel in general, resistance to these types of bacteria has the potential to spread around the world very, very quickly. And there is nothing in the (drug development) pipeline to tackle it."

AMERICA - A Ground-Zero Debate

"Should Mosque, Islamic Center Be Built Near Ground Zero?" PBS Newshour 8/10/2010

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): And finally tonight: once again, a Ground Zero debate.

The controversy involves a proposed Islamic center slated to be built where a vacant clothing store now sits, just two blocks from the World Trade Center site.

The Cordoba Initiative, a group that says it aims to promote positive interaction between the Muslim world and the West, plans to build a 13-story community center, including a mosque, on Park Place in Lower Manhattan.

Opposition has come from several quarters, including some families of 9/11 victims.

JIM RICHES, former deputy chief, FDNY: They can have their mosque, but have it somewhere else. I don't want it overlooking the site where my son was murdered that day by 19 Muslim terrorists.

JEFFREY BROWN: A prominent Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League, also came out against the mosque, as have some politicians, including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who sent a message on Twitter asking peaceful Muslims to, as she wrote, "repudiate" the mosque.

But the project has also received strong support from many other civic groups and leaders, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), Mayor of New York: Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here.

JEFFREY BROWN: And, last week, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to allow the construction.

MAN: All in favor.

COMMISSION MEMBERS: Aye.

JEFFREY BROWN: The Ground Zero mosque debate is the most high-profile of several similar battles around the country. In Nashville, for example, a proposal for a large Islamic center has met with angry opposition.

WOMAN: They're taking Christ out of everything. And, you know, with the mosque coming here, and right next door to a Baptist church, I'm afraid this is going to get worse.

JEFFREY BROWN: At the same time, at the Pentagon, another site of 9/11 attacks, the Department of Defense has regularly held Muslim worship services.

The next one will be this Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, the New York City fight isn't over, with lawsuits possible. And, just today, the city's transit agency approved a new ad proposing the mosque that will soon greet commuters on some New York City buses.

And New York's Governor David Paterson offered state assistance to Cordoba if it does decide to move the site further from the World Trade Center.

Many voices have weighed in on this in recent days. We hear from four, including two who lost relatives in the 9/11 attacks. Charles Wolf is a commercial pilot who lives in Lower Manhattan. His wife was at work in an office in the towers. Neda Bolourchi is an Iranian-born American citizen who lives in California. Her mother was on one of the planes that struck the World Trade Center.

Also joining us is Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization in the United States, and Michael Medved, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host whose show reaches some four million listeners weekly.

Charles Wolf, I will start with you. You have spoken out in favor of building the mosque as an example of American tolerance. Explain.

CHARLES WOLF, Lost Wife in September 11 Attacks: Exactly.

First of all, I should say I'm not a commercial pilot. I'm a private pilot, but that's not my profession.

JEFFREY BROWN: Sorry.

CHARLES WOLF: I firmly believe in two things. Number one is, I will not paint all Muslims with a broad brush. These were extremist terrorists that did this. And I know many very, very good, upstanding citizen Muslims. And there are millions of them around the country.

So, I will not cast -- I will not stain all of them with what they call guilt by affiliation.

Number two is that we were attacked on this -- on September 11 because of all the tenets in the First Amendment, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom -- freedom of speech. And for us to then roll back the freedom of religion, to me, is just falling right into their hands.

I concur with Mr. Wolf's comment. If we believe in our Constitution, the principles in our Declaration of Independence, and freedom in general, we cannot allow fear to degenerate our beliefs.

I most strongly disagree with the "woman" who says, "They're taking Christ out of everything," just because the location is next to a Baptist church. She is essentially saying having a non-Christian place of worship next door is anti-Christian. This is NOT freedom of religion. She is also, in my opinion, demonstrating that she does NOT have true faith in her religion, or she would not fear other religions.

As to the actual location, this is a debate that should be left to those who have a direct stake on this issue.

SECURITY - Cyber Wars Today

"Governments Battle to Stay Ahead of Threats on Internet, 'The Great Leveler'"
PBS Newshour 8/10/2010

"Hayden: Hackers Force Internet Users to Learn Self-Defense"
PBS Newshour 8/11/2010

POLITICS - Predictions Ignored

"Huffington Post: 11 Books Predicting The Collapse Of The Middle Class" Rightardia 8/9/2010

"Third World America": as Arianna Huffington says in her video about the book, it's a tough phrase to swallow when it comes to how we perceive America's powerful economy. But one of the characteristics of a third world country is that there is no middle class, and that's what's happening here.

It's been a long time coming and probably began during the Reagan years. The 90s saw a steep decline--when we look at how many kids who went off to college only to return home to live with their parents because they couldn't find jobs, or their work didn't pay well enough for them to live on their own.

Then came the precipitous decline of this decade, the credit crisis, the housing bubble, the extreme unemployment.

As usual, there were visionaries who saw this coming and wrote about it. Here are eleven books that predicted the situation we're in now.

Let us know what you think. Is a "Third World America" the new normal, or is there something we can do about it?

Paul Krugman also notes that Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff have an alarming paper on parallels between the United States and countries that have experienced financial crises in the past. The bottom line of the paper, which has already gotten a lot of attention, is that we look an awful lot like those other countries — and that if their experience is any guide, things could get really, really bad.

Rightardia has been discussing the cause for this economic collapse for along time. Essentially the Democrats under FDR financed the recovery after the depression and world War 2 with a 90 per cent tax rate on the affluent.


After World War 2, only one in thirty Americans was wealthy, but a vast middle class developed due to VA home mortgage loans and VA education benefits that sent many veterans to college. For many American families, this was the first family member to complete college.


When Reagan was president, he used discredited Supply Side economics to lower taxes for the most affluent Americans to the 28 per cent level. According to the Federal Reserve, this fractured the middle class.


Bush cut the Income Tax on the most affluent Americans to 35 per cent. Bush also cut the capital gains tax to 15 per cent and suspended the Estate Tax. The Estate Tax only affects the top 5000 American families.


Some Americans don't understand that regressive tax policies increase the national deb and the deficit. During the Bush administration, the national debt went up $4 trillion and Bush also doubled the deficit.


The regressive tax policies coupled, the two middle Eastern wars and the Bush Ownership Society tanked the economy. When the SEC let five of the biggest investment banks off the hook for maintaining reserves for failed mortgages in 2004, a rapid decline of the middle class started.


Many middle class Americans don't understand how taxes work. When the federal government collects taxes is a specific fiscal year, it is obligated to put every dollar back into the economy before the end of the fiscal year (September 30).


This means if the government has revenue shortfalls, the deficit and the national debt will go up or the government has to raise taxes to pay for shortfalls or eliminate government programs in subsequent years. If the affluent get a tax break, then taxes may go up for the middle calls which is what happened when Bush was president.


The question is what government program will be eliminated: school lunches, defense procurement, funds to build roads and bridges, subsidies to farmers and so forth. Most people don't mind cutbacks to government programs except when it is one of their programs.


Should a middle calls person support tax cuts for the affluent? No, not unless you are brain dead. The top one per cent of the affluent suck up 50 per cent of the income in the US and own 90 per cent of the wealth. The US has the economics of a banana republic due to GOP misinformation and the Republican noise machines like talk radio and fox News.

Bold emphasis mine

ECONOMY - Government Workers

"How Many Workers in the United States are Employed By the Federal, State, or Local Government?" Rightardia 8/8/2010

How many workers in the United States are employed by the federal, state, or local government? According to a new Gallup poll 17 percent of workers.

Washington, DC has the highest number of government workers with 38 percent. The vast state of Alaska came in second with government workers making up 31 percent of the state’s workforce.

Ohio has the least amount of government workers at 12 percent.

The top federal employer is the U.S. Postal Service with 23 percent of government jobs. The states with the highest number of state workers are Alaska, Hawaii, and South Carolina, each with 11 percent.

According to Gallup most state and local government jobs are in the single digits. The lowest number of government workers is concentrated in the Midwestern states.

The conservatives will undoubtedly suggest these numbers are too high, but without a reference to other countries, it would be hard to make such a call. Rightardia would expect these number are modest compared to other developed nations.

Rightardia also wonders how Sarah Palin will explain that nearly one in three workers in Alaska works for the government?

Something to think about when you complain about Federal Income Tax. Where do you think these American workers get their paycheck?

IRAN - Iranian Students in America

"New Wave of Iranians Seek U.S. Studies" by YEGANEH JUNE TORBATI, New York Times 8/9/2010

Excerpt

Even as a teenager in Iran, Atefeh Fathi knew she would eventually study abroad. Now 30 and studying engineering at the University of Oklahoma, Ms. Fathi said that although she had applied to universities in Sweden and Canada, her first choice was the United States.

“Everyone says the U.S. is easier for foreigners” to acclimate to, she said while on a break from working in her university’s laboratory. As children, Iranians are taught English in school, making it easier for them to blend in immediately in the United States.

Ms. Fathi is part of a wave of Iranians studying in the United States in numbers not seen in more than a decade. Since 1979, when tens of thousands of Iranians studied in the United States, the number of Iranian students in the United States has taken an almost uninterrupted nosedive, bottoming out at fewer than 1,700 students in 1999. Since then, the number of students has begun a slow but steady rise, with more Iranians in the country now than at any other point since 1994, says the Institute of International Education in New York.

Iranian students said they chose to come to the United States because of its superior schools and generous research financing. These students believe that despite rising political tensions between the United States and Iran, their American educations will put them in line for the best jobs when the return home.

This is a reminder that Iran has always been more American-friendly than other Muslim nations, at least at the citizen level.

Despite our battle with the Iran government, we need to remember that engagement is always better. Every student that returns to Iran will have a better view of American than what Iran government propaganda espouses.

WORLD ECONOMY - Reminder, America is Not the Only One

"Britain Reels as Austerity Cuts Begin" by SARAH LYALL, New York Times 8/9/2010

Excerpt

Last month, the British government abolished the U.K. Film Council, the Health Protection Agency and dozens of other groups that regulate, advise and distribute money in the arts, health care, industry and other areas.

It seemed shockingly abrupt, a mass execution without appeal. But it was just a tiny taste of what was to come.

Like a shipwrecked sailor on a starvation diet, the new British coalition government is preparing to shrink down to its bare bones as it cuts expenditures by $130 billion over the next five years and drastically scales back its responsibilities. The result, said the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a research group, will be “the longest, deepest sustained period of cuts to public services spending” since World War II.

We need to take the world economic woes into account BEFORE we go blaming Obama or Democrats for America's woes.

Personally, I cannot forgive the GOP for 8yrs of digging the financial hole America is in today. AND 2yrs is NOT enough time to fill that hole.

HEALTH - 100% Accurate Alzheimer's Test

Being a senior, this is of special interest to me. This should be of interest to my readers, seniors and those who are approaching "that age."

"Spinal-Fluid Test Is Found to Predict Alzheimer’s" by GINA KOLATA, New York Times 8/9/2010

Excerpt

Researchers report that a spinal fluid test can be 100 percent accurate in identifying patients with significant memory loss who are on their way to developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Although there has been increasing evidence of the value of this and other tests in finding signs of Alzheimer’s, the study, which will appear Tuesday in the Archives of Neurology, shows how accurate they can be. The new result is one of a number of remarkable recent findings about Alzheimer’s.

Bold emphasis mine

ECONOMY - Pentagon Budget Reduction

"Pentagon Plans Steps to Reduce Budget and Jobs" by THOM SHANKER, New York Times 8/9/2010

Excerpt

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that he would close a military command, restrict the use of outside contractors and reduce the number of generals and admirals across the armed forces as part of a broad effort to rein in Pentagon spending.

Mr. Gates did not place a dollar figure on the total savings from the cutbacks, some of which are likely to be challenged by members of Congress intent on retaining jobs in their states and districts. But they appear to be Mr. Gates’s most concrete proposals to cut current spending as he tries to fend off calls from many Democrats for even deeper budget reductions, and they reflect his strategy of first trying to squeeze money out of the vast Pentagon bureaucracy.

While large headquarters have been combined and realigned over the years, Pentagon officials could not recall a time when a major command was shut down and vanished off the books, even though some jobs will probably be added elsewhere to carry on essential parts of the mission.

ECONOMY - China and "Green Energy"

"Clean energy: China charges ahead of world" by Kristi Heim, Seattle Times 8/7/2010

Excerpt

Inside China's massive, $220 million pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, exhibits charting that nation's path toward modernization start with the humble transistor radio and end with electric cars and homegrown technology powered by sun, wind and algae.

The largest Expo in history has drawn more than 30 million visitors. It showcases the country's ambitions to become not just factory to the world but a global leader in technologies of the future — particularly green energy.

Green Energy is an arena that is America's to LOOSE.

ENVIRONMENT - Climate Change, Form Australia

"Climate change whips up floods, fire and ice" by BRIAN SULLIVAN & MADELENE PEARSON , Sydney Morning Herald 8/8/2010

Excerpt

CLIMATE change has been blamed for floods that have killed thousands and left millions homeless from Pakistan to North Korea, fires and a heatwave in Russia that have left 5000 dead and disrupted global food markets, and a severe tropical storm threatening Bermuda.

In Greenland, a giant ice island four times the size of Manhattan - about 225 square kilometers - has broken off the Petermann Glacier. It is the largest chunk of ice to calve in the Arctic since 1962.

Governments fear the devastation in Asia may stretch aid efforts as crops are destroyed amid soaring wheat prices, caused in part by Russia's decision to ban grain exports until December 31.

"Mother Nature is playing a very evil hand," Peter McGuire, managing director at CWA Global Markets, said in Sydney yesterday. "It's always the poor that suffer."

The weather drew comment from officials and activists at international climate change talks in Bonn.

One US delegate said Russia's heatwave and the recent floods that have devastated Pakistan are ''consistent with the kind of changes we would expect to see from climate change and they will only get worse unless we act quickly".

POLITICS - The GOP Shaft, Up Yours Seniors

"Boehner, Pence: Raising Social Security Retirement Age An Option" by Sam Stein. Huffington Post 8/9/2010

Top Republican leaders in the House offered a fairly strong signal on Sunday that they would favor a down-the-road raising of the Social Security retirement age as part of an effort to revamp the entitlement program.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said it was time "for the American people to have an adult conversation about the problems that we face" with respect to Social Security's solvency.

"We also know these programs are unsustainable in their current form," said the Ohio Republican. Asked specifically if he supports raising the retirement age to, say, 70, Boehner replied: "There are a lot of options on how you solve these, but I don't want to put the cart before the horse."

This wasn't the first time Boehner had broached the idea of raising Social Security's retirement age. The Minority Leader offered the same suggestion in an interview in late June. Back then, Democrats jumped on the remark, arguing that it was (one) not based in a realistic assessment of Social Security's solvency and (two) insensitive to those people who worked all their lives with an eye towards having a financially-stable retirement. It would be far from surprising if the same arguments are made in the days ahead.

Indeed, a platform of raising of the retirement age presents tricky politics for Republicans. Later during the "Meet the Press" program, Boehner's deputy, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind), was asked if he supported the idea. The Indiana Republican stammered around for a bit, echoing the same talking point concerning the need for "an adult conversation about domestic spending and entitlements."

Pinned down by host David Gregory, he ultimately replied: "I am for reforming our public entitlements for Americans who are far away from retirement. We need to keep promises to seniors that have been made, make sure that people who are counting on Medicare, Social Security have the benefits that they have. But for younger Americans, absolutely yes, we ought to bring real reform for the sake of future generations of Americans to get spending under control."

"Myth #1: Social Security is going broke"

Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.6 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a 'T'). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever.1 After 2037, it'll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits—and again, that's without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers' retirement decades ago.2 Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.

What you hear in the background is the GOP Chant: "Kill Social Security, Kill Social Security, ........" which is what they have wanted for over 40yrs.

POLITICS - Special Message for Conservative Americans

(thanks Rightardia)
(Conservative Brown-Shirts)

POLITICS - Guardian UK, Uncovers Conservative Propaganda Site

"Digg investigates claims of conservative Internet 'censorship'" Rightardia 8/6/2010

The popular link-sharing website Digg is investigating claims that a group of the site's "influential conservative" members are systematically downgrading thousands of stories deemed to be "liberal".

Online magazine AlterNet claimed to have uncovered a group of Digg members – dubbed "Digg Patriots" – who have "censored hundreds of users, dozens of websites, and thousands of stories" from the site. Alternet alleged that the Digg Patriots, thought to number nearly 100 members, are "able to bury over 90% of articles by certain users and websites submitted within 1-3 hours".

Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, said via Twitter: "We're looking into this."

The six-year-old social bookmarking website ranks submitted web content by the number of times they are ranked up or down. Popular items, those receiving the most "Diggs" and least attempts to "Bury", are voted onto the Digg homepage, and can generate significant amounts of traffic for external websites.

AlterNet claimed the group of Digg Patriots, whose political affiliations are described as "conservative", work to "censor" the prominence of articles "even slightly critical of the GOP/Tea Party/FoxNews/corporations".

A posting said by AlterNet to be by the alleged founder of the Digg Patriots, "phoenixtx", reads:

The more liberal stories that were buried the better chance conservative stories have to get to the front page. I'll continue to bury their submissions until they change their ways and become conservatives.

AlterNet also claimed "dozens of duplicate or previously banned" Digg users have set up alternate accounts.

Digg, currently undergoing a transition to a new website, may be free from the coercion of groups of users when it launches its next version, a preliminary analysis by AlterNet is said to have shown.

Rightardia has noted attempts to bury or discredit Usenet posts by Usenet avatars Patriot games, Eddie Haskell and Soft Sofa. These people continually counter-post Rightardia articles with cut and paste Spam.

These 'Digg Patriots" have also attempted to forge Rightardia posts to suggest we are posting incendiary and pornographic material or directing readers to pornographic web sites. It is clear these people don't understand the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

These 'Digg Patriots' are fascists, not patriots.

A tool used by the GOP

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will
eventually come to believe it."

- Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels

ALSO SEE

"Massive Censorship Of Digg Uncovered" by oleoleolson, AlterNet 8/5/2010

PAKISTAN - Dangerous Voids

"Hard-Line Islam Fills Void in Flooded Pakistan" by ADAM B. ELLICK & PIR ZUBAIR SHAH, New York Times 8/6/2010

Excerpt

As public anger rises over the government’s slow and chaotic response to Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years, hard-line Islamic charities have stepped into the breach with a grass-roots efficiency that is earning them new support among Pakistan’s beleaguered masses.

Victims of the floods and political observers say the disaster has provided yet another deeply painful reminder of the anemic health of the civilian government as it teeters between the ineffectual and neglectful.

The floods have opened a fresh opportunity for the Islamic charities to demonstrate that they can provide what the government cannot, much as the Islamists did during the earthquake in Kashmir in 2005, which helped them lure new recruits to banned militant groups through the charity wings that front for them.

We Americans, and Western governments, should be very concerned for obvious reasons. Hard-line Islamist are the one's advocating killing to meet their ends, attacking America and "the West."

POLITICS - What Today's Conservative Really Are

ULTRA CONSERVATIVE THEME SONG 2010

We're gonna find out where you fans really stand.

Are there any queers in the theater tonight?

Get 'em up against the wall.
-- 'Gainst the wall!

And that one in the spotlight, he don't look right to me.

Get him up against the wall.
-- 'Gainst the wall!

And that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon.

Who let all this riffraff into the room?

There's one smoking a joint, and another with spots!

If I had MY way I'd have all of ya shot!

From "In the Flesh!"
By: Pink Floyd

ON THE LITE SIDE - Double Dip Recession

Humor Times

(click for better view)

POLITICS - The Rape of Denver School Board and Tax Payers

"Exotic Deals Put Denver Schools Deeper in Debt" by GRETCHEN MORGENSON, New York Times 8/5/2010

Excerpt

In the spring of 2008, the Denver public school system needed to plug a $400 million hole in its pension fund. Bankers at JPMorgan Chase offered what seemed to be a perfect solution.

The bankers said that the school system could raise $750 million in an exotic transaction that would eliminate the pension gap and save tens of millions of dollars annually in debt costs — money that could be plowed back into Denver’s classrooms, starved in recent years for funds.

To members of the Denver Board of Education, it sounded ideal. It was complex, involving several different financial institutions and transactions. But Michael F. Bennet, now a United States senator from Colorado who was superintendent of the school system at the time, and Thomas Boasberg, then the system’s chief operating officer, persuaded the seven-person board of the deal’s advantages, according to interviews with its members.

Rather than issue a plain-vanilla bond with a fixed interest rate, Denver followed its bankers’ suggestions and issued so-called pension certificates with a derivative attached; the debt carried a lower rate but it could also fluctuate if economic conditions changed.

The Denver schools essentially made the same choice some homeowners make: opting for a variable-rate mortgage that offered lower monthly payments, with the risk that they could rise, instead of a conventional, fixed-rate mortgage that offered larger, but unchanging, monthly payments.

The Denver school board unanimously approved the JPMorgan deal and it closed in April 2008, just weeks after a major investment bank, Bear Stearns, failed. In short order, the transaction went awry because of stress in the credit markets, problems with the bond insurer and plummeting interest rates.

Since it struck the deal, the school system has paid $115 million in interest and other fees, at least $25 million more than it originally anticipated.

To avoid mounting expenses, the Denver schools are looking to renegotiate the deal. But to unwind it all, the schools would have to pay the banks $81 million in termination fees, or about 19 percent of its $420 million payroll.

Yap. Typical snake-oil sales pitch that looked SO GOOD.

Want to bet the GOP would take their old "buyer beware" position and put FULL blame on the Denver school board? That JPMorgan Chase had absolutely no responsibility to give clear and precise warnings, nor protections, for this deal?

GOP's "NO Regulation" (their opposition to Financial Reform bill) mental delusion. JPMorgan Chase has the RIGHT to rape the Denver school board and Denver tax payers.

PERSONAL OBSERVATION:

Variable-rate Mortgages are a sucker's trap. This "thinking" is also what Sub-Prime Loans were based on, and we are all paying for that faulty thinking.

SCIENCE - Moon, Wet vs Dry

"Moon's shell may be wet, but inside is bone dry" by Denise Chow, MSNBC 8/5/2010

Excerpt

Recent studies have found vast amounts of water ice at or near the lunar surface. But the inside of the moon is bone dry, a new study finds.

A recent study of lunar rock samples from NASA's Apollo missions could mean the moon's interior harbors less water than thought. In fact, a new examination of the lunar rocks' chlorine composition indicates that the moon is essentially dry without any water deep inside at all.

"Lots of publications about water being found on the moon talk about ice that resides on the lunar surface," Zachary Sharp, a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M., and the study's lead researcher, told Space.com. "This is not what we're talking about. We're talking about water that was initially in the moon as it formed."

HEALTHCARE - IBM's Collaborative Care

"Solution for Collaborative Care" FPS Newswire 8/5/2010

San Diego, CA -- Dr. Kenneth Roth, left, and Dr. John Jenrette of Sharp Community Medical Group in San Diego examine a patient file. The medical group announced today it is working with IBM and ActiveHealth Management (a subsidiary of Aetna) to deploy the Solution for Collaborative Care. The new cloud computing and clinical decision support solution gives physicians and patients access to the information they need to improve the overall quality of care, without the need to invest in new infrastructure.

POLITICS - Kagan Confirmed

"Senate Confirms Kagan to Supreme Court" by Laura Litvan, Bloomberg 8/5/2010

Excerpt

The Senate confirmed Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court, giving President Barack Obama his second appointment to the high court in two years while leaving its ideological balance unchanged.

The vote of 63-37 today was largely along party lines, with five Republicans supporting the nominee and one Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, opposing her.

Kagan, 50, a former Harvard Law School dean, will be the nation’s 112th justice, fourth woman and just the sixth member of the court who isn’t a white male. For the first time, the nine-member court will have three women as she joins Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s first appointee, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“No one can question the intelligence or achievements of this woman,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat. “No one should question her character either.”

Opponents described her as a political activist who lacks judicial experience. The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, said she “does not have the gifts and the qualities of mind or temperament” to be a justice.

Kagan is the first woman to be U.S. solicitor general, representing the Obama administration before the Supreme Court. Her nomination to the high court underscores Obama’s support of diversity on the federal bench. Sotomayor is the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court.

CONSERVATIVE CODE WORD DICTIONARY:

• "Sound Jurisprudence" = court rulings conservatives like


• "Judicial Activism" = court rulings conservatives hate

-----

• "Special Interests" = lobbyists who don't donate enough to GOP


• "Industry Spokesmen" = lobbyists who swamp the GOP with money

-----

• "Law and Order" = government enforcing laws conservatives like (Constitutional or NOT)
  


• "Government Interference" = government enforcing laws conservatives don't like (also, Constitution can be ignored)
  

WAR ON TERROR - Indictments Unsealed

"Americans indicted for aiding Somali terrorists" by Joseph Picard, International Business Times US 8/5/2010

Excerpt

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 14 individuals in three states, at least 7 of whom are U.S. citizens, with offenses relating to providing money, personnel and services to a terrorist organization based in Somalia.

"The indictments unsealed today shed further light on a deadly pipeline that has routed funding and fighters to the al-Shabaab terror organization from cities across the United States," Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Four separate indictments were handed down in federal district courts in California, Alabama and Minnesota. Two of the 14 people charged were arrested.

"These arrests and charges should serve as an unmistakable warning to others considering joining terrorist groups like al-Shabaab - if you choose this route you can expect to find yourself in a U.S. jail cell or a casualty on the battlefield in Somalia," Holder said.

Holder called it a "disturbing trend" that "an increasing number of individuals - including U.S. citizens" have become "captivated by extremist ideology and have taken steps to carry out terrorist objectives, either at home or abroad."

Al-Shabaab is an insurgent Somali group fighting that nation's government and its African Union allies in southern and central Somalia. Al-Shabaab's leaders have expressed solidarity with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.

The group has claimed responsibility for many bombings -- including various types of suicide attacks -- in Mogadishu and in central and northern Somalia, typically targeting Somali government officials

Al-Shabaab is responsible for the assassination of Somali peace activists, international aid workers, numerous civil society figures and journalists, according to U.S. officials.

In February 2008, the U.S. government designated al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

POLITICS - What the GOP Wants to Repeal

"Wave of health reform provisions coming next month" by TOM MURPHY, AP 8/4/2010

Health care reform hits another milestone next month, with new provisions that include a coverage expansion for young adults and restrictions on an insurer's ability to impose annual coverage limits or to reject children with pre-existing medical conditions.

Insurance coverage that starts on or after Sept. 23 will have to comply with these changes and others that were put in place when President Barack Obama signed the health overhaul into law March 23. For most people, the changes won't affect their plans until coverage renews in the weeks or months that follow. Here are the highlights:

_ Adult children up to age 26 will be able to receive dependent coverage with all individual and group policies.

_ Lifetime limits on the dollar value of insurance coverage will be prohibited. This refers to how much your insurance coverage pays out to cover claims.

_ Restrictions will be placed on annual limits for coverage, a practice that will prohibited in 2014.

_ Insurers will be prohibited from rescinding or canceling coverage except in cases where the customer commits fraud.

_ Insurers will not be able to exclude children from coverage because of a pre-existing condition, but they can require parents to sign up kids only during a fixed annual enrollment period to ensure they don't wait until a child gets sick to buy coverage.

_ Insurers will be required to provide preventive care like immunizations or mammograms without charging co-pays or other forms of cost sharing. Some may not have to comply with this element if their coverage existed March 23 and has not changed substantially.

Individual plans that have so-called "grandfathered status" like this also will not have to immediately follow the new restrictions on annual coverage limits or eliminate their lifetime caps. Over time, most plans will lose their grandfathered status as they make changes in benefit designs, said Jennifer Tolbert, a health policy analyst with the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Tolbert said these early provisions of the new law focus in part on consumer protections.

"It's basically improving the quality of coverage that people have," she said.

However, insurers and benefits analysts have cautioned that these restrictions and coverage expansions will raise the cost of insurance for some customers.

Several provisions of the complex law started unfolding in the weeks after President Obama signed it. For instance, people with Medicare prescription drug coverage are receiving $250 rebates once they reach a gap in their coverage known as the "doughnut hole."

Enrollment has started in some states for temporary insurance that will cover people with pre-existing medical conditions who have been uninsured for at least six months. Some small businesses that offer employee health coverage can seek tax credits that will apply for this year.

The law will continue to develop over the next several years. In 2011, insurers will be required to offer rebates if they don't spend a minimum percentage of their premiums on medical costs. Details of that provision are still being worked out.

Some of the biggest reform provisions start in 2014.

By then, Medicaid will be expanded to reach more people. Most citizens and legal residents will be required to have health care coverage, and many will receive help from the government through income-based tax credits when they shop for coverage on health insurance exchanges.

The issue of "requiring health care coverage" a REMINDER...

What allows stores like COSTCO or WalMart to offer low price products is THEY BUY IN BULK. This means they get a discount from suppliers on goods they put on their shelves, which they pass on to shoppers as lower prices.

Requiring health care coverage (more people) will do the same thing for the Health Insurance market, they will have to offer lower prices because of more people buying health care insurance.

OIL SPILL - Static Kill

"Browner: Static Kill 'Good News' for Gulf, But Relief Wells Still Needed"
PBS Newshour 8/4/2010

SECURITY - WikiLeaks Documents

"WikiLeaks Documents: What War Info Can Be Verified?"
PBS Newshour 6/26/2010

CONSTITUTION - Equal Rights Wins Again

"California Same-Sex Marriage Ban Overturned, But Appeal Likely"
PBS Newshour 8/4/2010

HISTORY - UK UFO Study

"British X-Files reveal secret UFO study" by Maria Golovnina, Reuters 8/4/2010

Britain released hundreds of previously secret "UFO files" on Thursday, including a letter saying that Winston Churchill had ordered a 50-year cover-up of a wartime encounter between an unidentified flying object and military pilot.

The files, published by the National Archives, span decades and contain scores of witness accounts, sketches and classified briefing notes documenting mysterious sightings across Britain.

One Ministry of Defense note refers to a 1999 letter stating that a Royal Air Force plane returning from a mission in Europe during World War II was "approached by a metallic UFO."

The unidentified author of the letter says his grandfather attended a wartime meeting between Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower during which the two expressed concern over the incident and "decided to keep it secret."

The Ministry of Defense subsequently investigated the case but found no written record of the incident, the files say. In a 1999 note, the ministry said it "does not have any expertise or role in respect of 'UFO/flying saucer' matters or to the question of the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms, about which it remains totally open-minded."

Latest in a series of releases

Britain has been slowly releasing long-classified files related to sightings of mysterious craft in the skies above its cities, compiled and investigated by the Ministry of Defense over past decades.

ON THE LITE SIDE - Russian Off-Road Vehicle

"RIA Novosti: Russians invent amphibian off-road vehicle a Red State red neck would love"
Rightardia 8/3/2010

CONSTITUTION - Essential Liberty

"Mosque Plan Clears Hurdle in New York" by MICHAEL BARBARO & JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ, New York Times 8/3/2010

Excerpt

As New York City removed the final hurdle for a controversial mosque near ground zero, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg forcefully defended the project on Tuesday as a symbol of America’s religious tolerance and sought to reframe a fiery national debate over the project.

With the Statue of Liberty as his backdrop, the mayor pleaded with New Yorkers to reject suspicions about the planned 13-story complex, to be located two blocks north of the World Trade Center site, saying that “we would betray our values if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else.”

“To cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists — and we should not stand for that,” the mayor said.

Grappling with one of the more delicate aspects of the debate, Mr. Bloomberg said that the families of Sept. 11 victims — some of whom have vocally opposed the project — should welcome it.

“The attack was an act of war — and our first responders defended not only our city but also our country and our Constitution,” he said, becoming slightly choked up at one point in his speech, which he delivered on Governors Island. “We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending those rights — and the freedoms the terrorists attacked.”

Well said Mr. Mayor.

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

- Benjamin Franklin's motto in the "Historical Review Of Pennsylvania" (1759)

OIL SPILL - Update 8/4/2010

"U.S. Finds Most Oil From Spill Poses Little Additional Risk" by JUSTIN GILLIS, New York Times 8/4/2010

Excerpt

The government is expected to announce on Wednesday that three-quarters of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated — and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk of harm.

A government report finds that about 26 percent of the oil released from BP’s runaway well is still in the water or onshore in a form that could, in principle, cause new problems. But most is light sheen at the ocean surface or in a dispersed form below the surface, and federal scientists believe that it is breaking down rapidly in both places.

On Tuesday, BP began pumping drilling mud into the well in an attempt to seal it for good. Since the flow of oil was stopped with a cap on July 15, people on the Gulf Coast have been wondering if another shoe was going to drop — a huge underwater glob of oil emerging to damage more shorelines, for instance.

Assuming that the government’s calculations stand scrutiny, that looks increasingly unlikely. “There’s absolutely no evidence that there’s any significant concentration of oil that’s out there that we haven’t accounted for,” said Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the lead agency in producing the new report.

She emphasized, however, that the government remained concerned about the ecological damage that has already occurred and the potential for more, and said it would continue monitoring the gulf.

Lets all cross our fingers.

POLITICS - Truth be Said

"Obama invokes Bush to attack Republicans" by Alan Elsner, Reuters 8/2/2010

Excerpt

At a fund-raising lunch for the Democratic National Committee, Obama tried to energize Democrats who are likely to lose seats in both chambers of the U.S. Congress in the November 2 elections.

U.S. voters will elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and fill 37 of the 100 seats in the Senate.

Obama said that after losing control of Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008, Republicans did not engage in new thinking but stuck to the same policies that led the United States into the worst recession since the Great Depression.

"It's not like they engaged in some heavy reflection. They have not come up with a single, solitary new idea to address the challenges of the American people. They don't have a single idea that is different from George Bush's," he said.

Republicans, he said, are betting that Americans had forgotten recent history.

As I've said previously, the GOP dug our economic hole for 8yrs and STILL want to blame Obama (and Democrats) for not filling that hole in under 2yrs.

POLITICS - GOP and Social Security

"Granny get your gun!" Rightartia 8/2/2010

Nancy Pelosi on Social Security:

Just five years ago, President Bush and his Republican allies pushed a risky plan to privatize and cut Social Security,” she said. “If they had succeeded, seniors would have lost trillions more in the financial crisis. At the time, Democrats and the American people said ‘no.’ And no one lost a penny in Social Security, even as America’s households lost more than $17 trillion in wealth.

Under Bush, congressional Republicans sought to allow individuals to invest a percentage of their social security benefits in investment instruments. They claimed the rate of return for these vehicles would be greater than keeping benefits in the trust fund.

Republicans never got enough momentum behind their initiative to pass it out of Congress.

A similar proposal has been advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee. It allows workers to invest their Social Security benefits in personal saving accounts, which would provide a higher yield than the trust fund but also contain greater risk.

“This year, Republicans are charting a course right back to the failed ideas of the past,” Pelosi said. “Again, Democrats and the American people are saying ‘no.’ We are not going back to the exact same agenda of the Bush years.”

Democrats got Social Security benefits after the Great Depression started. The UK experimented with privatization of its version of Social Security and UK pensioners lost half of their pensions.

Don't let pimply faced Wall Streeters or christo-fascists confuse you about Social Security.

Throughout the Federalist Papers both Hamilton and Madison expressed concern to secure both the public good and the rights of private citizens.

However, they were disturbed by the possibility that factions and special interests might misuse the power of government for their own welfare at the expense of the general welfare.

The Social Security Card is evidence that the welfare of the middle class and the poor are essential to a healthy democracy.

Herein lies one of the most misunderstood and misconstrued passages in the Constitution. The general welfare clause was interpreted by the Supreme Court early in the twentieth century represent a virtually unlimited grant of power to the federal government to spend money for any welfare program it desired.

The Biblical Approach to Welfare

Thus, justice has come to refer not to adjudication in the courtroom sense of determining right and wrong, but to a fair distribution of scarce resources.

However, in Scripture the Hebrew word for justice in nearly all cases is “shapat.” The primary sense of this word is to exercise the processes of government.

It means to judge with righteous justice or to determine right and wrong or to rule as God would rule. The same word can also mean "to rule" as in Psalm 96:13 and Genesis 18:25.

Taxation is authorized only for God-ordained functions. Certainly, Jesus would have approved of the FICA tax to help the poor.

What did Jesus say:

Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 6:20
And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

Jesus would call Social Security a blessing to the middle calls and the poor. Of course, when Jesus lived, there wasn't any middle class: just the rich and the impoverished.

So if a fast talking Wall Streeter or a Christo-fascist shows up at you door and asks you for you Social security check, go get your rifle, lack and load, and say:

You have to pry this Social Security check from my cold dead hands.

Can you imagine what the status Social Security would be today IF any of the GOP stock market dependent ideas would be law?! Just look at what the current (and on going) depressed economic situation has done to retirement funds (401k, etc).

The GOP dug our economic hole for 8yrs and are STILL trying to blame Obama for not filling the hole in under 2yrs.

POLITICS - Hay, It is Just About Gun Rights, Correct? NOT!

"Threats flood into Arizona judge’s office after SB-1070 ruling" Think Progress 7/30/2010

In a long-awaited decision, federal district court judge Susan Bolton blocked several key provisions of Arizona’s controversial immigration law Wednesday. Since preliminary injunction, reports Arizona’s U.S. Marshal David Gonzales, Bolton has been “inundated” “with hundreds of threats” at her court offices:

“She has been inundated,” said U.S. Marshal David Gonzales, indicating his agents are taking some seriously. “About 99.9 percent of the inappropriate comments are people venting. They are exercising their First Amendment rights and a lot of it is perverted. But it’s that 0.1 percent that goes over the line that we are taking extra seriously.”

Bolton is not the only official facing hostility following Wednesday’s ruling. Yesterday, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) was forced to close his district office in Yuma, AZ, after “finding a window shattered and a bullet inside.” In April, when SB-1070 was signed into law, Grijalva — an outspoken opponent of the legislation — closed two district offices after death threats to his staff.

(sarcasm on) It's just Gun Rights. Lets all go buy guns and shot anybody we don't like, it's our RIGHT!

IRAQ - non-Progress Report

"A Benchmark of Progress, Electrical Grid Fails Iraqis" by STEVEN LEE MYERS, New York Times 8/1/2010

Excerpt

Ikbal Ali, a bureaucrat in a beaded head scarf, accompanied by a phalanx of police officers, quickly found what she was out looking for in the summer swelter: electricity thieves. Six black cables stretched from a power pole to a row of auto-repair shops, siphoning what few hours of power Iraq’s straining system provides.

“Take them all down,” Ms. Ali ordered, sending a worker up in a crane’s bucket to disentangle the connections. A shop owner, Haitham Farhan, responded mockingly, using the words now uttered across Iraq as a curse, “Maku kahraba” — “There is no electricity.”

From the beginning of the war more than seven years ago, the state of electricity has been one of the most closely watched benchmarks of Iraq’s progress, and of the American effort to transform a dictatorship into a democracy.

And yet, as the American combat mission — Operation Iraqi Freedom, in the Pentagon’s argot — officially ends this month, Iraq’s government still struggles to provide one of the most basic services.

Ms. Ali’s campaign against electricity theft — a belated bandage on a broken body — makes starkly clear the mixed legacy that America leaves behind as Iraq begins to truly govern itself, for better and worse.

Iraq now has elections, a functioning, if imperfect, army and an oil industry on the cusp of a potential boom. Yet Baghdad, the capital, had five hours of electricity a day in July.

The chronic power shortages are the result of myriad factors, including war, drought and corruption, but ultimately they reflect a dysfunctional government that remains deadlocked and unresponsive to popular will. That has generated disillusionment and dissent, including protests this summer that, while violent in two cases, were a different measure of Iraq’s new freedoms.

While I do sympathize whit their plight, we need to remember that after Saddam Hussein's fall it was Iraqi citizens who tore apart the working (somewhat) electrical system and militants who destroyed what was left.

They created the problem and they have to fix it.

AFGHANISTAN - Insurgent Mobsters

"For Insurgents, IEDS a 'Smart,' But Indiscriminate, Weapon" PBS Newshour Transcript 7/30/2010

Excerpt

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): For more on the IED challenges facing American troops in Afghanistan, we get the views of two veterans who have extensive experience dealing with them. Todd Bowers is a staff sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserves. He served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan last year. He's the deputy executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. And retired Army Colonel Peter Mansoor was a brigade commander in Iraq and wrote a book about his experience, "Baghdad at Sunrise." He served as executive officer to General Petraeus during the surge in 2007 and '08. He now teaches military history at Ohio State University.

And, Peter Mansoor, in the recent news, you haven't heard much about pitched battles with individual fighters. Has the IED become the weapon of choice for the Afghan insurgency?

COL. PETER MANSOOR (RET.), U.S. Army: Well, it is. It's a smart weapon for the insurgents to use. They don't have to put their troops at risk.

But it is also a fairly indiscriminate weapon, killing civilians and military forces alike. So, the enemy clearly is willing to use those kind of weapons and take the fallout as it occurs.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, what makes it, as you say, smart? What makes it an attractive, useful weapon for them?

COL. PETER MANSOOR: Well, again, they don't have to put their troops at risk in using the devices. They don't have to get into pitched battles with U.S. forces, which tend to go against the Taliban whenever they try that tactic.

Instead, they can plant these devices, put a pressure plate switch on it, which will detonate whenever a vehicle rolls over it, and then they can disappear into the hills and the villages.

RAY SUAREZ: Todd Bowers, does that level the technological field, when -- when you are dealing with one of the best-equipped sets of armies in the world in NATO?

STAFF SGT. TODD BOWERS, U.S. Marine Corps Reserves: It does, but what it highlights as well is the importance of focus on the civilian populace.

These pressure plates have to be hooked up prior to driving over them, because the batteries don't last that long. So, it requires the civilians or someone in that village to be there to connect these IEDs up beforehand. So, it's not like a sort of set-it-and-forget-it mentality. It's one that has some involvement that really requires the U.S. military to focus on the civilians to make them not want to connect those wires.

RAY SUAREZ: So, you are not just fighting against a weapon; you're fighting against a whole system of relationships?

STAFF SGT. TODD BOWERS: You are.

And the other pieces that these IEDs, as was mentioned, are indiscriminate, killing many, many civilians. These are very good opportunities for us to be able to highlight how the Taliban is not focused on taking care of Afghanis, but more or less indiscriminately killing them, while targeting us.

While correct, the insurgents show their disregard for Afghans by using IEDS, but they know the mentality of Afghans. They know, for the most part, Afghans will blame American/NATO presents.

The insurgents are using typical Mobster tactics of intimidation, kill the "family" member to scare the "family" into compliance.