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Getting Back Together 5 Signs to Look Out For In Your Ex
Your ex still show that they care for you, both of you have no idea how each feel at the moment, but check out the 5 things to look for sure that they still haven't given up wanting the chance of getting back againRead more...
5 Tell Tale Signs Your Ex Still Loves You
Though you both have broken up but still having feelings for your ex, how can you can tell if they still love you? Look out for the 5 tell-tale signs; don't squander time and work on to get back togetherRead more...
South American Cultural Backgrounds Jewish History in Argentina
Cultural background on an important part of Argentina's immigration historyRead more...
Training In National Security Programs Can Help Repair Intelligence Operation...
Perhaps a new generation of intelligence management can come from the few good national security programs of studyRead more...
Utilize A Resume Builder Online To Write An Attention Grabbing Resume
You need to write a resume to help you get a job, right? If you want to write a resume that is going to be an attention grabber with all employers, then you need to use a resume builder onlineRead more...
Quality Over Quantity With Edox Watches And Other Luxury Brands
Brand name watches, such as Edox watches, are worth the extra money for the qualityRead more...
A Rundown Of Popular Nursing Salaries By Specialty
While there is no such thing as a truly recession-proof industry, nursing is a career that seems to always be in demand In a market economy, higher demand means higher compensation, so the average salary for nurses is high and getting higher Students who have decided to pursue nursing studies have got to be excited about their prospects, but with so many specialties to choose from, how does one know which type of nursing is right for them?Read more...
The Value Of A Person With An Anti Terrorism Degree Or A Counterterrorism Degree
In the midst of what has happened recently, the immense value from someone with an anti terrorism degree or a degree in counter terrorism should become all the more apparentRead more...
3 Things Every Veteran In College Needs To Know
Veterans are a special population that is growing on college campuses today The G I Bill has been in place since 1944, and marked the beginning of the rise of "The Greatest Generation " It stayed relatively unchanged until very recently In 2008, Congress made significant changes to the bill, and updated it as the Post 9/11 G I Bill The changes made access to college easier and the benefits of attendance much greaterRead more...
Resume Tips To Write A Resume That Will Make A Big Impression
Writing a resume is one of the most important tasks you will need to do in your life The resume is the only way you have to make a big first impression on an employer and there are some resume tips that will make writing your own impressive resume simpleRead more...
This week in the War on Workers: Cablevision technicians in New York vote union
28 Jan 2012 at 6:55pm Cablevision technicians in Brooklyn voted to join the Communications Workers of America by a margin of 180 to 86. Cablevision management had run a classic anti-union campaign, hiring anti-union consultants and subjecting workers to captive audience meetings to pressure them to oppose the union?obviously unsuccessfully. Workers wanted a union not only to address pay and benefits questions but, according to Daniel Massey of Crain's, "to codify disciplinary procedures." Congratulations to the new CWA members at Cablevision!
And more:
Dave Johnson and Scott Paul look at aspects of President Obama's emphasis on American manufacturing in his State of the Union address. By contrast with his discussion of manufacturing, the education section of President Obama's State of the Union was quite weak. Though Obama said he did not want teachers teaching to the test, diarist StarbuckAGTM points to the outcome of Obama's education policies: I?m a huge supporter of President Obama, but last night in his State of the Union speech, he heralded the fact that he has taken a page from his conservative couterparts and promoted competition in education. What he neglected to say was that this competition will be based on test scores. In fact, President Obama's Race to the Top program emphasizes linking teacher pay and evaluation to student data (read: test scores). Apparently, this will hold me accountable to spending every moment of my time teaching to the test.Related, The Answer Sheet's invaluable Valerie Strauss takes a close look at the recent study finding long-lasting benefits for students of effective teachers, pointing out that the testing data the study relied on dated from before the high-stakes era of No Child Left Behind and that the much-quoted (including by the president) figure that a good teacher can increase a class's lifetime earnings by more than $250,000 works out to around $250 per student per year. Assuming full-time employment, that's about $4.80 a week or 12 cents an hour. It's not nothing, but it's a lot less impressive sounding than "more than $250,000."
The five biggest lies about the right-wing corporate-backed war on our schools. Kansas is attacking Project Labor Agreements and some building safety standards. Josh Eidelson reports on the $10 million anti-union ad campaign being run by Rick Berman's "Center for Union Facts." That's the same Rick Berman "who as a food and beverage industry lobbyist famously denied that high soda consumption is a cause of diabetes." Safety violation of the month? MSHA issued an imminent danger order when an inspector observed a coal pile, 5 feet high and 10 feet in diameter, on fire approximately 23 feet from an explosives storage magazine outside the mine. Additionally, the storage magazine, which contained two cases of explosives, had not been secured against unauthorized entry. A clearly identified key was lying on top of the magazine. Furthermore, a 5-gallon oil bucket full of burning coal and other materials was discovered near the intake portals of the mine.Those weren't the only violations at that mine, but they sure are ones you don't have to know a thing about coal mining to appreciate.
I can't think of another way to introduce this item beyond to say fuck New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg: Seven of the 33 schools where the city is seeking to fire half the staff were rated an A or B on their latest city-issued report cards, a review by The Post found.That means roughly 260 teachers are slated to be cleared out from schools that were just celebrated in the fall for making significant gains.
The mayor plans to close and reopen the schools this summer.
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This week in the War on Women: Public hangings, rape is a gift from God, and ...
28 Jan 2012 at 5:00pm 
To laugh or cry? Sometimes, that is the question. This week, for example, Oklahoma Republican State Sen. Ralph Shortey is pushing a bill to ban the use of aborted human fetuses in food. Not that this is an actual problem, mind you; even Sen. Shortey's "research" did not turn up any "examples" of this being a "problem." But hey, just in case it ever does become a problem, he's preemptively putting a stop to it because apparently, Oklahoma has already solved all of its existing problems and now has the time to invent hypothetical problems to address.
You have to laugh, right? Because the notion of Oklahomans inadvertently enjoying deep fried fetus on a stick is so absurd that the only appropriate response is outright mockery and laughter. Exhibit A: Gawker contacted a number of food manufacturers to find out whether aborted fetus is in fact a commonly used ingredient. If you enjoy the occasional Big Mac, you'll be happy to know that according to Ashlee Yingling, media relations spokesperson for McDonalds, "The answer is no. McDonald's does not use aborted human fetuses in its food." Whew!
But then, via Think Progress, there's this not-quite-so-laughable proposal from North Carolina Republican Rep. Larry Pittman, in an email to every member of the state's General Assembly:
We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. [...] If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well.Yeah! Let's string up doctors and hang them in the public square to deter them from practicing medicine. That'll learn 'em!
Rep. Pittman later admitted that he "got a bit carried away" and regretted sending the email. Not because hanging doctors is a bad idea, you see, but because he'd intended to send the email to his buddy instead of the whole House, but, being tired, he accidentally hit "Reply all." Because, on the long List Of Things At Which Republicans Suck, "using technology" ranks near the top.
You might be able to dismiss one ill-advised email from a random state legislator if that's all it was. But it's not. "Pro-lifers" have long advocated for the killing of abortion providers because?and brace yourselves, because this might shock you?they don't actually care about life.
In 2004, for example, "pro-life" Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said, "I favor the death penalty for abortionists." Very "pro-life" of him, no?
Last year, legislators in South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa took this idea to the next logical step: legalizing the murder "justifiable homicide" of abortion providers. That didn't go over too well, when the national collective response was something along the lines of, Are you fucking kidding us? So those bills have been shelved?for now.
So do you laugh or cry at the absurdity of people who claim to care oh-so-much about the "sanctity of life," lecturing us that all life is sacred while advocating killing people? For me, it's a coin toss.
And then there was this laugh-or-cry moment from Rick "Don't Google Me" Santorum, whose entire reason for being is to hate women, gays, black "blah" people, brown people, college-educated people, sex and Dan Savage. In this interview, Santorum was bestowing his fatherly advice to rape victims who are impregnated by their rapists:
As horrible as the way that that son or daughter and son was created, it still is her child. [...] I believe and I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created -- in the sense of rape -- but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you.As you know, we have to, in lots of different aspects of our life. We have horrible things happen. I can't think of anything more horrible. But, nevertheless, we have to make the best out of a bad situation.
It's not like this is a new argument either. The menfolk have been offering their advice to us poor little ladies with our feeble little lady brains on all sorts of matters, including how we should feel about rape. Like notorious college basketball coach Bobby Knight advising that "if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it." Or former John McCain fundraiser Clayton Williams, who compared rape to the weather and, stealing a line from Coach Knight, advised women to "lie back and enjoy it."
Specifically advising women who are impregnated by their rapists to make lemonade out of lemons isn't new either; the "Conceived in Rape" tour last summer featured the children of rape victims who insisted that because their mothers did not abort them, no rape victim should be allowed to terminate her pregnancy.
Do you laugh or cry at Santorum's claim that "we" should just "make the best out of a bad situation"? Only a real sourpuss thinks about the downside of being raped instead of turning that frown upside down and joyfully proclaiming, "But hey, I get a baby out of the whole deal! Hooray! Thanks, God!"
I don't know how to reason with people whose response to rape is, "But on the plus side ... " Should we even bother? Maybe instead of crying, we should just lie back and relax and enjoy it and laugh it off and have a bowl of cream of fetus while we still have the chance.
More reasons to laugh and/or cry below the fold.
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Open thread and Sunday preview: Newt Gingrich, psychiatry and outrage
28 Jan 2012 at 4:00pm What's coming up on Sunday Kos ...
A Fox News "psychiatrist" suggests that Newt Gingrich's multiple affairs might make him a "strong president." Hunter isn't buying it. Mark Sumner will say: Meet George Jetson ... the future isn't what it used to be. Armando will consider whether Occupy has changed the political narrative by reviewing President Obama's State of the Union speeches and the news coverage they generated. Prompted by the box office success of George Lucas' Red Tails portraying the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps (Tuskegee Airmen), Denise Oliver-Velez will discuss the dearth of Hollywood films on the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (Nisei) and their families?many of whom were sent to "relocation" camps for the duration of WWII. Laurence Lewis will express his appreciation for the Republicans having chosen Mitch Daniels to rebut President Obama's State of the Union speech. Barack Obama's speech on Sunday has placed him in the sweet spot for his general election campaign. But Mitt Romney's primary campaign has put him in an untenable position. In a descriptive essay with a lot of moving parts, brooklynbadboy describes the contours of the general election. Dante Atkins will muse on his ongoing battle with the case of outrage fatigue he has contracted as a result of prolonged exposure to the Republican primary.
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PolitiFact devolves into absurdity
28 Jan 2012 at 3:00pm 
I'm going to call it: PolitiFact has now devolved into farce. Sure, maybe some things are tough calls. It can be difficult to tease out facts, or find the most accurate statistics, or look something up from the old-timey days of the 1990s. But this one reads like an Onion piece making fun of PolitiFact?that's how ridiculous it is. Here's the statement being fact checked. During Thursday's debate, Mitt Romney said:
"I've never voted for a Democrat when there was a Republican on the ballot."Now, people had a wee bit of a problem with this, because the context was Romney's vote for Democrat Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Democratic presidential primary. The Republicans certainly were having a primary that day as well: The incumbent president, George H.W. Bush, was running against Pat Buchanan. Now we can all look back now and have a good laugh at permanent cable news fixture Pat Buchanan taking on the incumbent president, but they both were certainly "on the ballot" in the 1992 primaries. So Mitt's completely making stuff up on this one?his critics have got him dead to rights. In the past, he's argued that he voted for Paul Tsongas for various strategic reasons, but this time around, in front of a national audience, he flatly claimed there was no Republican on the ballot. That statement is absolutely false. There were two!
Can't wait for the fact-checkers' ruling on this one, can you? Well, here's PolitiFact's decision:
In the Jacksonville debate, Romney said, "I've never voted for a Democrat when there was a Republican on the ballot." Romney has been open about the strategy behind his decision, and we expect many voters would have done the same thing. We see two contrary interpretations as having merit. Romney has a point that the ballot he was handed didn?t include any Republicans. On the other hand, Romney had a right to request a GOP ballot that day and opted not to. We rate the statement Half True.Got that? They're giving this one to Mitt Romney, because Mitt Romney asked for a Democratic ballot, and there were no Republicans on the Democratic ballot.
No, seriously. Let's just all absorb that wisdom for a moment. The statement "I've never voted for a Democrat when there was a Republican on the ballot" is declared "half true" because there were no Republicans on the Democratic ballot Mitt requested.
Freaking. Genius.
As ostensible checkers of facts, PolitiFact devotes most of its analysis to a long explanation of how back in 2007, Romney said he was voting for Paul Tsongas because he thought Tsongas was the weakest candidate, i.e., casting a strategic vote, and how as an independent he certainly could have done such a thing (and PolitiFact even points out, in the body of its analysis, how Mitt Romney in 1994 used his vote for Tsongas to burnish his moderate, independent credentials, which conflicts with that more recent explanation that he was only voting Democratic to choose a weak candidate. As usual, Mitt Romney has offered a whole host of explanations over the years.) And that's great, if PolitiFact was fact-checking things Mitt Romney said in 2007, or in 1994. But the statement they were supposedly fact-checking, the quote right there in the nice big box, is the one where Mitt Romney claimed there were no Republicans on the ballot.
To acknowledge that there were Republicans on the ballot, but call Mitt Romney's claim "half true" because there weren't Republicans on the Democratic ballot Romney specifically asked for? That may be the single most ridiculous ruling among PolitiFact's growing history of ridiculous rulings.
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This week in the War on Voting: No, Virginia, there's no such thing as zombie...
28 Jan 2012 at 2:00pm The highlight of last week's War on Voting was South Carolina's Attorney General Alan Wilson claiming that 900 dead people voted in "recent" elections in his state based on data from the DMV. The South Carolina legislature, of course, jumped on the claim. Remember, the Department of Justice has blocked South Carolina from implementing a voter ID bill passed last year under the Voting Rights Act, arguing that the new law would create an unconstitutional impediment to voting by certain groups. The state is fighting back, hence this hearing. Which didn't go exactly as planned.
State Election Commission director Marci Andino testified that some of the voters the DMV data said were dead are very much alive ? and were eligible to cast a ballot. [...]In a news release that election agency spokesman Chris Whitmire handed out prior to the hearing, the agency disputed the claim that dead people had voted. One allegedly dead voter on the DMV's list cast an absentee ballot before dying; another was the result of a poll worker mistakenly marking the voter as his deceased father; two were clerical errors resulting from stray marks on voter registration lists detected by a scanner; two others resulted from poll managers incorrectly marking the name of the voter in question instead of the voter above or below on the list.
The attorney general's office had only given the State Election Commission six names off its list of 950 or so names to examine. The agency found every one of them to be alive and otherwise eligible to vote, except for the one who had voted before dying.
They were only able to examine six names, because that's all the AG's office would give them. In fact, they appear to be trying to keep the list a big secret. State Senate Democratic Caucus Director Phil Bailey told the reporter "that only Republicans so far have been able to view it." Even better, the updates to that story:
UPDATE:Mark Plowden, spokesman for the S.C. Attorney General's Office, says the six names checked by the S.C. Election Commission did not come from the list obtained by the State Law Enforcment Division.
S.C. Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire, however, says the names came from the list in question.
UPDATE II:
Free Times has confirmed that the six names examined by the State Election Commission came from the list SLED is investigating.
True to Republican form, Nikki Haley and her underlings will do or say anything.
Take the jump to see the rest of the news.
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Midday open thread
28 Jan 2012 at 1:00pm It is midday. That means that the sun has, at least on the West Coast of the United States, half completed is trajectory across the sky before it yields to the moon, which still does not have a Gingrich base and is still not our 51st state.
Netroots Nation needs your help in developing and organizing the sessions (panels, trainings and screening series sessions) you want to see at Netroots Nation this June 7-10 in Providence. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 31. Guidelines and the submission form are here. Not political at all, but some nerd did the research to find out exactly on what day it was that Ice Cube had a good day. The answer: Jan. 20, 1992. President Obama is reiterating his call for colleges to keep tuition costs down: "You can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down," Obama said on the final stop of a three-day post-State of the Union trip to promote components of his economic agenda. Rick Santorum is not very happy about the California Supreme Court decision to use the new maps of the independent redistricting commission, despite an impending referendum to put the maps on the ballot. the only reason to put the maps on the ballot in the first place is because the Republican Party didn't like them because they actually represent California better than the old ones, and California just doesn't like Republicans. The multiplayer online game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic allows players to have their characters develop same-sex relationships. This is too much for gay-haters out there, like Tony Perkins of the Family Reearch Council: FRC: 'Rebel Fleet Surrenders to Gay Empire'In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! Hello, I'm Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it's launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints. That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that "gay" and "lesbian" don't exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren't. On the game's website, there are more than 300 pages of comments--a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It's time to show companies who the Force is really with!
On the bright side, plaudits for spicing up your putrid homophobia with some attempt at humor, Tony.
Via digby, here's Elizabeth Warren destroying Mitt Romney.
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Saturday hate mail-a-palooza: Hitler this, Hitler that ...
28 Jan 2012 at 11:30am 
Hitler Hitler Nazi Hitler Stalin Hitler Nazi Obamahitler Nazi blah blah blah It looks like conservatives have settled on their 2012 talking points.
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President Obama calls for an end to 'gridlock and games'
28 Jan 2012 at 8:30am President Obama used today's weekly address to revisit his recent State of the Union Address, where he:
... laid out a blueprint for an economy built to last ? an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.... while acknowledging that many Americans are rightfully skeptical that anything will be accomplished in Washington this year.
Decrying the obstructionist tactics by Congress (while inexplicably placing blame on both parties), the President said that it wasn't about him, that the country deserves "better than gridlock and games," reiterated his call for up-or-down votes on various nominees, on ending the "corrosive influence of money in politics," the reining in of lobbyists in Washington, and to:
Tell your Member of Congress that it?s time to end the gridlock, and start tackling the issues that really matter ? an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, American skills and education, and a return to American values. An economy built to last.Complete transcript below the fold.
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Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Why Newt lost his groove
28 Jan 2012 at 5:47am 
Visual source: Newseum
Have you seen this true story of heroism on 9/11 in lower Manhattan? The spontaneously organized boatlift evacuation rescued a half a million people in 9 hours - more than Dunkirk in WW II over 9 days. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
And then there are the clowns who purport to deserve our, and their, support:
The American Prospect:
Has Newt Gingrich floundered in Florida because he doesn?t understand his own appeal to GOP voters? In South Carolina, the former house speaker hit upon an anti-elite message that goes straight to the heart of the Tea Party?and the political moment. It was nothing new: the kind of silent-majority red meat that white conservatives have eagerly consumed since the days of Wallace and Nixon (not to mention Bush and Palin)... He stopped hitting Romney on his 1-percentism even as more damning evidence piled up. He failed to rouse the rabble in this week?s debates. And he may end up blowing it on Tuesday?and eventually losing the Republican nomination?because he didn?t grasp what gave him a chance to win it in the first place. Rings true. Of course, it also reinforces everything we don't like about the GOP base, Nixon and Palin.Gail Collins:
The far right seems to be particularly indifferent to bad-behavior issues. Maybe this is because their supporters know that sinning social conservatives operate at a disadvantage. It is way easier to avoid the hypocrisy label if you?re a straying civil libertarian whose family values speeches mainly involve encouraging kids to donate money to feed impoverished people in Africa. You?re not going to be charged with speaking out of both sides of your mouth when the first side is talking about supporting Doctors Without Borders.Conservative voters also like expressions of remorse and promises to reform. When all else fails, they have even been known to argue that everybody does it. ?I?m just saying, they all have stinky feet,? former Congressman J. C. Watts, a Baptist preacher, said while he was campaigning for Newt in South Carolina.
Although actually, when you?re talking about 1) Committing adultery, 2) Divorcing your wife while she?s sick to marry your mistress, 3) Committing adultery, 4) Allegedly asking your wife to let you keep the mistress on the side and 5) Divorcing your wife while she?s sick to marry your mistress ... it?s pretty clear everybody doesn?t do it.
Eugene Robinson:
?The issue I think that?s going to play out this election is that question of Warren Buffett?s secretary,? House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Wednesday on CNN. ?We want her to make more money, we want her to have more hope for the future. .?.?. [But] this notion that somehow the income that Warren Buffett makes is the same as a wage income for his secretary, we know that?s not the same.?In other words, it?s not just that the rich are better than the rest of us but also that their money is better than our money.
Is this really an argument the Republican presidential nominee is going to make? Not in so many words, surely. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum seem to understand that taking Cantor?s line would constitute political malpractice.
You mean the same political malpractice that had Romney releasing his taxes on SOTU day?John Pitney Jr.:
It?s easy to dismiss Gingrich?s challenge as a gimmick, just some red meat to excite GOP primary voters, and not a challenge Obama would ever accept. But what if he did? What if the president and the former House speaker dueled in a series of open, nationally televised debates? An honest look at Gingrich?s record suggests that the results could differ markedly from the fantasies of Team Newt. Obama would not collapse in a heap, Gingrich would not emerge triumphant ? and the whole thing would go down as the biggest campaign blunder since Richard Nixon figured he could out-debate John F. Kennedy on television. Alas, we won't get the chance, it seems, not if the polls are correct.Adam Clymer:
Those raucous Republicans thrilled by hearing Newt Gingrich denounce the ?destructive, vicious, negative nature? of what he often calls the ?elite media? during debates might be shocked to watch him on other occasions. He enjoys consorting with the enemy. Stephen Dworkin on the Keystone XL pipeline and green messaging: The problem is that supporters of Keystone XL and other polluting resource extraction initiatives have effectively framed the debate for voters and politicians alike around jobs and short-term economic gains instead of long-term damage to the planet and profiting off of technological stagnation or rampant consumerism. When Americans see a blueprint for an oil pipeline, they see energy and infrastructure progress. And when they see the president denying a permit for such a plan, no matter what the context, they often fall for the right-wing squawking (this time from GOP presidential hopefuls) about liberals being destructive to the economy and catering to extremist environmental groups.So what can we environmentalists do to change the way this debate is unfolding within the chaotic presidential race? I propose that we would do well to stick to our guns on the most potent weapon in our arsenal: scientific and demonstrable truth. Not only are the details surrounding Obama?s decision important?he was legally bound to ensure the appropriate impact assessments were undergone and was pressured by Canadian officials to ignore environmental impacts they de facto acknowledged?but the details about the pipeline itself must be cleared up.
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Open Thread for Night Owls: Austerity plans right-wingers want for here make ...
27 Jan 2012 at 9:30pm 
While the U.S. economy continues to make modest improvements but tens of millions of Americans still suffer from extremely grim employment figures, the situation in Britain shows no signs of any improvement whatsoever. In fact, Brad DeLong writes, the British economy is now doing worse than it did in the Great Depression:
Yep. This many months after the start of the Great Depression, the British economy was rapidly converging back to its pre-depression level of production under Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain's policy of using stimulative policies to restore the price level to its pre-Great Depression trajectory. [...]In less than a year, if current forecasts come true, the Cameron-Osborne Depression will not be the worst depression in Britain since the Great Depression, but the worst depression in Britain ? probably ever.
That is quite an accomplishment. [...]
Here's a chart showing Britain's gross domestic product performance in the Great Depression and three recessions prior to the current one. In case you're afflicted by a bit of colorblindness, as I am, that line which flattens out at minus 4 percent on the far right of the chart is where the U.K. is now:
(National Institute of Economic and Social Research—U.K.) What went wrong? DeLong cites Guardian economics correspondent Philip Inman, who wrote earlier this week:
Much of the UK's plan for recovery from the financial crisis was based on a full-throttle recovery in 2012. This was going to be the year that a return of consumer confidence, business investment and general spending would converge to send the economy on a trajectory of above-average growth. Maybe we would even get back some of the output we lost in the crash. [...]Business investment has already slumped and confidence indexes show few consumers are ready to spend outside key periods such as Christmas. [...]
And the lack of investment will perplex ministers. They have done what the right-wing economists told them to do and moved out of the way ? the theory being that public sector spending and investment was "crowding out" the private sector.
That's the theory of right-wing economists and politicians in the United States, too. Kill as much government spending as possible and get out of the way so the private sector can "do its job." We'll be hearing a lot of that kind of talk in the coming months as the Republicans whittle down the bevy of candidates to the one who will meet Barack Obama come November.
Unfortunately, many Americans will buy their argument because of the economy's weak performance, only 1.6 percent growth in gross domestic product for all of 2011, and forecasts of even less than that for the first quarter of 2012. Their call for lower taxes on the wealthy and fewer regulations on the the financial sector is exactly the wrong approach. Don't believe it? Ask your working-class friends across the pond.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2006:
In a series of cases, many decided in the last few weeks, the federal courts have upheld the controversial "stop-loss" policy, which requires soldiers to remain in the military beyond their contracted term.On Tuesday , a federal judge threw out a claim brought by two soldiers, David Qualls and Rafael Perez. Qualls' case was dismissed as moot because he voluntarily re-enlisted after filing suit in 2004. Qualls said he re-enlisted to get the $15,000 to avoid bankruptcy and provide for his family and children. As for Perez's claim, the judge ruled there was no evidence that his recruiter misled him, nor was their a contractual breach on the part of the government. There were initially eight soldiers in the lawsuit, but six dropped out after the judge refused to grant their request to stay anonymous.
Meanwhile, in Doe v. Rumsfeld (2006 WL 62337), the Ninth Circuit also upheld the military's stop-loss policy, ruling that the policy is a "valid exercise of presidential power authorized by 10 U.S.C. § 12305(a)."
Tweet of the Day:
High Impact Posts are here. Top Comments are here.
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Enforcement of Compulsory Insurances Starts in Enugu - THISDAY Live
27 Jan 2012 at 7:10pm The products being enforced, according to the commission, are motor third party insurance, occupiers? liability insurance ... stressing that the regulatory body had consistently embarked on public enlightenment of the need to obtain insurance policy ...Read more...
Daily Kos Elections Polling Wrap: New polls offer mixed messages in the Mitt-...
27 Jan 2012 at 6:45pm 
Mitt Romney is resurgent!
(Unless he's not.)
Even if he's not, though, the schedule favors Mitt Romney. After all, he is coming up on a series of contests in places like Arizona and Michigan, where he should have a real advantage.
(Unless he doesn't.)
There are two very contradictory themes developing as we head into the weekend before the Florida primaries. On one hand, it is becoming more and more likely that Newt Gingrich will lose Florida, by what looks like it will be a margin in the high single digits. On the other hand, Gingrich's hand seems to still be strengthening elsewhere, especially in national polling.
The evidence lies, as it often does, in the numbers:
NATIONAL (Gallup Tracking): Gingrich 32, Romney 24, Paul 14, Santorum 13ARIZONA (American Research Group): Gingrich 32, Romney 32, Paul 12, Santorum 10
FLORIDA (Dixie Strategies/First Coast News): Gingrich 35, Romney 35, Santorum 9, Paul 7
FLORIDA (Quinnipiac): Romney 38, Gingrich 29, Paul 14, Santorum 12
FLORIDA (VSS/Sunshine State News): Romney 42, Gingrich 32, Santorum 12, Paul 9
MICHIGAN (EPIC-MRA): Romney 31, Gingrich 26, Paul 14, Santorum 10
On the general election front, the president still has an edge, and perhaps more importantly, a new poll showed Obama reclaiming the lead from Mitt Romney in a blue-leaning state with special ties to the GOP challenger.
NATIONAL (Rasmussen Tracking): Obama d. Romney (45-42); Obama d. Gingrich (48-41)MICHIGAN (EPIC-MRA): Obama d. Romney (48-40); Obama d. Gingrich (51-38)
How to explain Romney's Florida renaissance with his softening numbers elsewhere? Actually, I suspect that there is a very simple explanation, which I will explore after the jump.
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Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Coke FRIDAY!
27 Jan 2012 at 5:02pm 
From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE?
Oh, Rachel. You had me at "PolitiFact, you are fired."
From Wednesday night's show:
"PolitiFact, you are fired. You are a mess. You are fired. You are undermining the definition of the word "fact" in the English language by pretending to it in your name. The English language wants its word back.You are an embarrassment. You sully the reputation of anyone who cites you as an authority on fact-ishness, let alone fact. You are fired."
That was the warm-up. Last night she launched a second barrage when she caught PolitiFact playing fast and loose with the you-know-whats yet again:
"I hereby implore all of us who have interest in the word "fact" continuing to mean something---all of us, left, right and center---to stop playing the bullpucky lottery.If PolitiFact rates you "True," it's no more a badge of honor than if they rate you "Pants On Fire." If you want to assert the truth or falseness of something else that somebody else did in politics, a citation from PolitiFact can not help you with that. If PolitiFact could be stripped of the word "fact," they should be. In the meantime, let their derision be a source of pride. Let their support be a source of anxiety."
Trust me, that won?t be difficult.
Oh, and speaking of pants on fire: as I head downstairs to open the kiddie pool, please enjoy this flashback from the days when Republicans swore on Bibles that history would judge this guy as one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen:
"We will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents, and other generations."---George W. Bush, State of the Union address, Jan. 28, 2003
Sorry, tea partiers. You bought him, you own him. He'll always be your crazy uncle in the attic. The fuzzy green beef log in the back of your fridge. The skunk smell on your dog that no amount of tomato juice can get rid of. The straight F's on your report card. The needle pointing to 'E' on your gas gauge. The "heckuva job" tattoo on your tuckus. Enjoy your weekend.
Your west coast-friendly edition of Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
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Open thread: Newt Gingrich, psychiatry and outrage
27 Jan 2012 at 4:00pm A Fox News "psychiatrist" suggests that Newt Gingrich's multiple affairs might make him a "strong president." Hunter isn't buying it. Mark Sumner will say: Meet George Jetson ... the future isn't what it used to be. Armando will consider whether Occupy has changed the political narrative by reviewing President Obama's State of the Union speeches and the news coverage they generated. Prompted by the box office success of George Lucas' Red Tails portraying the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps (Tuskegee Airmen), Denise Oliver-Velez will discuss the dearth of Hollywood films on the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (Nisei) and their families?many of whom were sent to "relocation" camps for the duration of WWII. Laurence Lewis will express his appreciation for the Republicans having chosen Mitch Daniels to rebut President Obama's State of the Union speech. Barack Obama's speech on Sunday has placed him in the sweet spot for his general election campaign. But Mitt Romney's primary campaign has put him in an untenable position. In a descriptive essay with a lot of moving parts, brooklynbadboy describes the contours of the general election. Dante Atkins will muse on his ongoing battle with the case of outrage fatigue he has contracted as a result of prolonged exposure to the Republican primary.
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Mitt Romney turning off independents
27 Jan 2012 at 3:48pm 
Mitt Romney measures his ... support from independents (Brian Snyder/Reuters)Via Greg Sargent, check out these numbers for Mitt Romney among independents: November:
Romney viewed somewhat or very negatively by 22% of independents
Romney led Obama by 13 points?47% to 34%.
Today:
Romney viewed somewhat or very negatively by 42% of independents
Romney trails Obama by 8 points?36% to 44%
Perhaps the Republican establishment is right when they say that Newt Gingrich would be an electoral disaster for Republicans. But with these kinds of trends, it's looking like Mitt Romney might not be all that much better.
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Union membership edged up by 49,000 in 2011
27 Jan 2012 at 1:15pm 
(DonkeyHotey based on a WWII poster) The 49,000-worker increase in overall union membership in the U.S. in 2011 isn't much. It's not much in raw numbers, and despite it the union membership rate edged down from 11.9 percent in 2010 to 11.8 percent in 2011. But in a year that saw an all-out assault on unions, union members, and the right to organize and bargain collectively, we'll take it. Despite the very public assaults on public workers in particular, the union membership rate among public-sector workers increased slightly from 36.2 percent to 37 percent, while private-sector union membership, which has been under a less publicized assault for years, remained at 6.9 percent. Full-time workers were just over twice as likely as part-time workers to be union members, another of the negative outcomes of the part-time economy.
Each end of the age spectrum saw increases in overall union membership: 15,000 more 16 to 24 year olds were union members in 2011 than in 2010, and ages 55 and over saw an increase as well. Black workers were most likely to be union members, followed by whites, Asians and Hispanic workers.
In the wage data we find some of the reasons corporations and Republican politicians are so hell-bent on destroying unions. In health care support occupations, union members have a median weekly income of $519, compared with $484 for non-members. In protective service occupations, union members have a median weekly income of $1,008, while non-members earn a median $627. In retail, it's $591 for union members to $577 for non-members. In food services, it's $585 to $424.
When the powerful are waging war on you with every tool at their disposal, a small gain is worth a celebration?and a redoubling of your efforts to gain yet more ground.
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Rick Santorum wants to limit medical malpractice payments, except for his own...
27 Jan 2012 at 11:31am 
Rick Santorum probably shouldn't be preaching about tort reform. (Bryan Snyder/Reuters) Isn't the whole idea of "do as I say, not as I do" in the Bible? For a devout Catholic like Rick Santorum, it should be one of the key tenets for life. But he's also a Republican, so it's not. Santorum is pushing a cap on medical malpractice awards in his campaign, and in fact had legislation to do so when in office But Santorum testified in support of his wife when she filed a medical malpractice suit in 1999 that sought $500,000, twice the cap in his original legislative proposal. Karen Santorum claimed that a Fairfax chiropractor had left her with a permanent back injury that probably would result in a lifetime of pain medication and restricted mobility. [...] Although the lawsuit did not seek a specific figure for pain and suffering, the former senator testified in the case about the emotional and physical toll on his wife and how that justified a sizable monetary award, transcripts show. The judge in the case also made clear that the majority of the $350,000 the jury awarded the family was largely for unspecific losses and pain and suffering, which he concluded was ?excessive.?
The Bible has a lot to say about hypocrites, too.
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The 'Gay Soldiers Marrying Is Double-Plus Ungood' act
27 Jan 2012 at 11:27am 
House Republicans are wrapping yet another pointless gay-bashing bill in the Orwellian-speak of "religious freedom." Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) has introduced H.R. 3828: Military Religious Freedom Protection Act.
Not because there is actually any danger to anyone's religious freedom.
There is a danger people will wonder what this House is doing about jobs and the economy. And with this bill Republicans are demonstrating that really isn't a pressing concern relative to the grave (but imaginary) threat to "religious freedom" in America (pity the oppressed Christians).
The bill purports to protect military chaplains from having to marry gay servicemembers. (Oh noes!)
But, for the record, the current Department of Defense directives already allow chaplains full discretion over what religious ceremonies they are comfortable with and willing to officiate. The memo reads:
A military chaplain may participate in or officiate any private ceremony, whether on or off a military installation, provided that the ceremony is not prohibited by applicable state and local law. Further, a chaplain is not required to participate in or officiate a private ceremony if doing so would be in variance with the tenets of his or her religion or personal beliefs. Finally, a military chaplain?s participation does not constitute an endorsement of the ceremony by DoD.So this pointless bill just restates what is already existing DOD policy. Which begs the question, do House Republicans not trust DOD leadership to run the military?
As Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis says:
"There is no need for the so-called 'protections' in this bill or the proposed regulations. No chaplain today is being required or pressured to marry anyone, straight or gay. Period. The bill's ban on use of military facilities and chaplains officiating at ceremonies for gay and lesbian service members is nothing more than plain, old-fashion discrimination. There is no place for that prejudice in our armed forces or in our country."How's the working on jobs and economy coming along, Speaker Boehner?
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Verizon workers are still fighting for middle-class jobs. Help make tax-dodgi...
27 Jan 2012 at 11:09am It's been five months since striking Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers members went back to work at Verizon, and they're still waiting and fighting for Verizon to agree to a fair contract that protects middle-class jobs. Instead of bargaining in good faith, though, Verizon has focused on things like sending workers a condescending video calling on them to give in. Here's a company that paid a negative federal income tax rate from 2008 to 2010, dodged state taxes, raked in enormous state and local subsidies, paid its top executives more than a quarter of a billion dollars over four years, cut jobs and is engaged in a long battle with its union workers over Verizon's demands for things like eliminating their job security and disability benefits, freezing their pensions and downgrading their health insurance.
Verizon has repeatedly made it clear that they agree with the union members that this is a battle over middle-class jobs. Specifically, Verizon thinks middle-class jobs shouldn't be good jobs, that lousy health care and benefits and no job security are good enough for people in the middle class and that working people shouldn't fight for better?job security and good health care should be the province of the 1 percent.
"We need to get their attention," one of the workers in the video above says. "There are 45,000 of us waiting for a fair contract, and they're not listening." Another adds: "We need all of you to be out there and fighting with us. It's not the next guy's job to go out there and he'll cover it."
Help get Verizon's attention. Tell them to stop trying to destroy middle class jobs and stop using corporate tax loopholes and dodges to avoid paying a fair share. Sign the petition.
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Senate Democrats to push new strategy for tax reform
27 Jan 2012 at 10:46am 
Sen. Chuck Schumer (Jason Reed/Reuters) Senate Democrats intend to push a new strategy of tax reform based on the proposals outlined in President Obama's State of the Union. Rather than using the basic foundation of the 1986 tax reform with some tweaking, a handful of lawmakers have been talking tax reform using the template of the current system. But that's changing. ?Tax reform after the president's speech now has a different definition,? Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday. ?We intend to pursue a different kind of tax reform that borrows from the president's proposals," Schumer, a leader in crafting Democratic messaging, told reporters. [...]
?Don't underestimate the chances of Congress to enact parts of the president's blueprint,? Schumer also said Wednesday. ?Republicans will not go along out of a desire to cooperate, but they may find they have to out of political necessity.?
The "Buffett Rule" proposed by Obama?that anyone making $1 million or more pay at least 30 percent in taxes?and setting a minimum amount of taxes that multinational corporations have to pay will likely be cornerstones of the proposal. They will also target the "carried interest" tax break on capital gains, the tax break that allows Mitt Romney to pay just 14 percent of his income in taxes.
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