January 2010
67 posts
“A month after changing the definition, with just 144 people dead from H1N1, the...”
– “Swine Flu Didn’t Fly” from The Huffington Post.
“The New York Fed is in the hot seat for its decision in November 2008 to buy...”
– “Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From AIG Shadows” from Bloomberg.
“We have been focusing on supply-side economics for years now. You give more and...”
– Democratic State Senator Craig Pridemore, who is running for Congress in the 3rd District, on how the American economy got to this point.
California Senate Passes Medicare for All... →
“The bill would establish a single-payer system in California, modeled on the healthcare systems flourishing in virtually all other industrialized nations, where better patient outcomes are achieved at a fraction of the cost of the U.S. system.”
“After this video was finished, Cesar and Edwin began traveling around to the...”
– “Repression in Honduras” from The Quixote Center.
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“If the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate...”
– President Barack Obama’s warning to the Party of No (or is it the Graveyard of Progress?) during the 2010 State of the Union Address.
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“Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in...”
– President Barack Obama, urging members of his party not to get panicky and forget about the work of remaking America.
Banks monitoring social networks to make loan... →
Need to apply for some credit or a loan? Be aware that your bank may be watching your social networks to determine whether or not you get it.
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“But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is...”
– President Barack Obama, calling for unity and cohesiveness during the 2010 State of the Union address to Congress and the American people.
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“Here’s what I ask of Congress, though: Do not walk away from reform. Not now....”
– President Barack Obama, urging Congress to “get the job done” and move the healthcare reform bill forward.
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Spending freeze must include defense →
Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow for the Center for American Progress, says the President can’t claim to be serious about freezing spending if the Pentagon is exempted. He notes that the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq are funded through supplemental appropriations, so they wouldn’t be affected.
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“I’m proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have...”
– President Barack Obama, pledging to finally do something to help improve economic security on Main Street, a year after taking office.
Food or Fuel? →
The Earth Policy Institute has released data that shows how many hungry people could have been fed in the U.S. just solely with the grain used to fuel cars last year.
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“Despite our hardships, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not quit....”
– President Barack Obama, calling for unity and cohesiveness during the 2010 State of the Union address to Congress and the American people.
“My concern is that if reconciliation is used, that will really destroy any...”
– Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) channeling his colleague Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), while discussing the health care reform bill.
“the Serbian Police Union said in its press release that it received “with...”
– Police union say they “won’t beat hungry workers” from B92.
“It amazes me how some Republican politicians claim a monopoly on Christianity...”
– Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod, responding to South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, who, in a revealing Freudian slip, likened those dependent on the state’s social safety net to stray animals.
Udall: Time to change the Senate's rules →
New Mexico Tom Udall offers a powerful argument in favor of changing Senate rules so that Republicans (many of whom represent sparsely populated states) can’t block the will of the chamber’s majority.
New Mexico State Legislator Introduces Bill To... →
“Egolf said the account, which is essentially the state’s checking account, holds $1.4 billion and is managed by Bank of America. Egolf’s bill directs state officials to study the feasibility of dividing up the account and distributing it between community banks and credit unions throughout the state.”
Veterans for American Power Tour visits Colorado
This week a group of OIF/OEF vets are touring the beautiful mountainous regions of Colorado educating the public about fossil fuel pollution and climate change as national security issues.
Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security groups, is sponsoring our bus tour through twelve states over the next five weeks.
We’ll be meeting with citizen groups, legislators and...
“witnesses to the killings insisted in interviews to The Hindu that the police...”
– “In Chhattisgarh, jail is the cost of filing a public interest litigation plea” from The Hindu.
NASA says 2009 tied for second warmest year on... →
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies announced earlier this week that 2009 was tied with 2005 as the second warmest year since modern records began in 1880. The last ten years have also been the warmest decade on record.
“American citizens have repeatedly amended the Constitution to defend democracy...”
– Jamin Raskin, constitutional law, American University. From Free Speech for People.
“To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me...”
– Conan O’Brien, in his closing remarks to fans during the final episode of the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.
Love him or hate him, Bill Gates understands the... →
[1] Blog post by “Mr. Microsoft” himself in which he articulates the difference between 2025 and 2050 CO2 reduction goals better than anybody I’ve seen in the traditional media. Links:
“We hide in the jungles during the day and come to the village at night. We don’t...”
– “The After Kill Of Narayanpatna” from Tehelka.
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“Essentially, five Justices were unhappy with the limited nature of the case...”
– An excerpt from Justice John Paul Stevens’ sharply worded dissent in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, joined by his colleagues Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer.
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Mother Jones analyzes Corporations United →
Mother Jones’ Nick Baumann provides a concise rundown of the Corporations United decision, highlighting the themes of John Paul Stevens’ dissenting opinion, and suggests that John Roberts and his pals have proved that the “activist judges” label belongs to conservative jurists.
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“The will of the people should never be thwarted by the corporate bottom line and...”
– Washington’s own senior United States Senator Patty Murray, blasting the conservative Supreme Court majority’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Murray noted that it would be unlikely that her own first campaign could have succeeded under this decision.
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“The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions...”
– An excerpt from Justice John Paul Stevens’ sharply worded dissent in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, joined by his colleagues Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer.
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Public Citizen says Supreme Court has undone... →
The president of one of the organizations on the losing side of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Robert Weissman of Public Citizen, vowed that a large grassroots movement, including public interest groups, would immediately seek to mitigate the damage from the decision and then reverse it.
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“Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic...”
– An excerpt from Justice John Paul Stevens’ sharply worded dissent in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, joined by his colleagues Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer.
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PFAW suggests constitutional amendment needed to... →
In its response to the Supreme Court’s “Corporations United” decision, People for the American Way calls for a new constitutional amendment to redefine corporations and prevent John Roberts’ gang from destroying free speech in America.
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“In the context of election to public office, the distinction between corporate...”
– An excerpt from Justice John Paul Stevens’ sharply worded dissent in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, joined by his colleagues Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer.
“Remember that estate tax debate? Most of us have heard of it but this turns out...”
– “Coping while the Ultra Rich Pull Away” from My Budget 360.
Satan responds to Pat Robertson →
Apparently, the devil is none too happy with theocon Pat Robertson’s assertion that Haiti’s suffering is due to a pact that its founding fathers made with him. Says Satan in his letter which ran in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style.”
“Chinese audiences were quick to see Avatar as an “allusion to the...”
– “Chinese stamp on Avatar” from The Register.
Leno: Conan and I didn't make this mess, NBC did →
Jay Leno provides straightforward account of how NBC executives made a complete mess of primetime and tried to have it both ways by keeping both he and Conan O’Brien in the Peacock Stables. “Conan O’Brien has been a gentleman. He’s a good guy,” Leno declared on his MLK Day show.
“New rules to be introduced by government decree will require people who upload...”
– “Proposed Web video restrictions cause outrage in Italy” from The Industry Standard.
Meet the Hypocrites: Janea Holmquist
Working families just aren’t suffering enough. Well, that’s how extremist Republican Janea Holmquist (R-Ardent Tea Partier) sees it, anyway. She’s prime sponsored a bill (SB 6534) to lower - yes, you read that right - lower Washington’s minimum wage.
Holqmuist’s bill would modify Initiative 688, passed by voters in 1998, which automatically raises the minimum wage to...
“[The Chinese government’s] end game is to extract as much technology out...”
– Dan Slane, Chair of the federal U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, commenting on the recent cyberattack on Google and other companies based in Silicon Valley.
Visa, American Express waive fees for Haiti... →
For a limited time only, two of the nation’s major credit card processing exchanges are waiving or refunding fees for donations made to a USAID-approved charity if those donations are in support of earthquake reliefs for Haiti. It’s nice that they’re doing this, but they should make the change permanent, so that any charitable donations made to a 501(c)(3) are exempt from credit...
“I’ve faced financial hardship, but I’ve never balanced my budget by...”
– Unnamed citizen advocate who testified in front of the Washington State Senate’s Ways & Means Committee this week on the state budget. (Thanks to Senator Eric Oemig for sharing).
Seeking a consumer culture revolution →
A new report from the Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2010, subtitled Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability, explains that in much of the world, people find contentment in what they consume, which doesn’t seem to be the case in the United States. We Americans consume more each day than we weigh in mass.
WA-08 on DCCC watchlist →
Some more good news for Suzan DelBene. According to the Democratic Congressional Coordinated Campaign, her race is one of the top Congressional races to watch in 2010.
Citizen-owned cooperatives seeing job growth →
A story on AlterNet highlights the vibrancy of cooperatives, which don’t outsource jobs because they are owned by their own customers.
“I have been in Oregon, I’ve only talked to a few people on the phone. But there...”
– U.S. Representative Pete DeFazio of Oregon, rejecting the conventional notion that the House is just going to accept the Senate’s version of the healthcare reform legislation without putting up a fight for a more progressive bill.
“with the issue of climate change becoming ever more urgent and a growing...”
– “Economists start to consider that money can’t buy happiness” from The Guardian.