January 9, 2009 archive

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1. Congressional Democrats are looking to right a wrong perpetrated by a 2007 Supreme Court decision. The LA Times reports Democrats focus on workplace bias. The Supreme Court tossed out a workplace discrimination suit brought by Lilly Ledbetter against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Ledbetter said “she was paid less than comparable male employees for years, won at trial, but the justices ruled she had sued too late.”

   The legislation, sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez), would force judges to adopt Ledbetter’s position that each paycheck constituted a separate act of discrimination that extended the statutory time limit for filing suit. Supporters think such a rule is necessary because victims of pay disparity often have difficulty finding out the salaries of other workers.

   The legislation passed the House today on a 247-171 vote.

2. The NY Times has the latest from Afghanistan where a series of Bombings kill 9 Afghans and 5 American soldiers. Today, three U.S. soldiers were killed when their armored Humvee hit a large roadside bomb near the border of Zabul Province near Kandahar Province. A separate attack, a suicide bomber also killed Gul Mohammed, a police commander in Zaranj, and five others.

   Yesterday, “two American soldiers and three Afghan civilians were killed near Kandahar when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-packed car into a crowded bazaar… The blast wounded 21 civilians.”

3. Bloomberg reports that 2008 Payrolls Drop Biggest Since 1945. “The U.S. lost more jobs in 2008 than in any year since 1945 as employers fired another 524,000 people in December, indicating a free-fall in the economy just days before President-elect Barack Obama takes office.”

   The Labor Department reported that the nation lost 2.589 million jobs in 2008, just shy of the 2.75 million decline at the end of World War II…

   During President George W. Bush’s two terms in office, the economy generated a net 3 million jobs, compared with 22.8 million created during the eight years when Bill Clinton was president.

   Bush leaves office with unemployment at 7.2 percent, compared with the 4.2 percent rate he inherited from Clinton in January 2001. Unemployment was 7.3 percent when Clinton took office in January 1993, the last month that the jobless rate was higher than now.

   Atrios notes the “U6, a broader measure of unemployment, is up to 13.5%“.

4. The Guardian reports Climate change may ruin farming in tropics by 2100 and half the world’s population could face food shortages. “Harvests of staple food crops such as rice and maize could fall by between 20% and 40% as a result of higher temperatures during the growing season in the tropics and subtropics.”

   The study published in Science “found there was a 90% chance that by the end of the century, the coolest temperatures in the tropics during the crop growing season would exceed the hottest temperatures recorded between 1900 and 2006.”

Looks like we have the conclusion, coming sometime today, of a bush administration justice? department trial for ‘Torture’ and ‘Human Rights Violations’ committed by an American Citizen, Overseas, as laid out in Our Laws, under Our Constitution!

Son of Liberian despot to be sentenced in US after torture trial

American citizen “Chucky Taylor” facing 147years on Human Rights Violations Committed Abroad, today, 1-09-09!!

The Two Santa Claus Theory is a political theory and strategy developed by Jude Wanniski in 1976, which he promoted within the U.S. Republican Party. –snip

The theory states that, in democratic elections, if one party appeals to voters by proposing more spending, then a competing party cannot gain broader appeal by proposing less spending. The “Santa Claus” of the theory title refers to the political party that promises spending. Instead, “Two Santa Claus Theory” recommends that the competing party must assume the role of a second Santa Claus by offering other appealing options.

This theory is a response to the belief of monetarists, and especially Milton Friedman, that the government must be starved of revenue in order to control the growth of spending (since, in the view of the monetarists, spending cannot be reduced by elected bodies as the political pressure to spend is too great). Monetarism is a set of views concerning the determination of national income and monetary economics. … Milton Friedman (born July 31, 1912) is a U.S. economist, known primarily for his work on macroeconomics and for his advocacy of laissez-faire capitalism. …

“Two Santa Claus Theory” does not argue against this belief, but holds that such arguments cannot be espoused in an effort to win democratic elections. In Wanniski’s view, the Laffer curve and supply-side economics provide an attractive alternative rationale for revenue reduction: that the economy will grow, not merely that the government will be starved of revenue. Wanniski argued that Republicans must become the tax-cutting Santa Claus to the Democrats spending Santa Claus.

And the beat goes on….  

Mitch McConnell Thinks The

Stimulus  Package Should Be Targeted Towards

The Rich And Corporations As Usual  

Obama camp ‘prepared to talk to Hamas’

Incoming administration will abandon Bush’s isolation of Islamist group to initiate low-level diplomacy, say transition sources

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 January 2009 03.18 GMT

The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush’s doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency’s ostracising of the group. The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006 Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group.

The Guardian has spoken to three people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp. There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive.

War in Gaza: Israel accused of shelling house full of children

From Times Online

January 9, 2009

Times Online

The United Nations has cited witnesses accusing Israeli troops of evacuating scores of Palestinians – including children – into a house in Gaza on Sunday and then shelling the property 24 hours later, killing approximately 30 people.

Just hours after calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the UN cited witnesses of the alleged attack in the house in Zeitun, an eastern Gaza city neighbourhood.

The UN said that “according to several testimonies, on January 4, Israeli foot soldiers evacuated approximately 110 Palestinians into a single-residence house in Zeitun (half of whom were children) warning them to stay indoors. 24 hours later, Israeli forces shelled the home repeatedly, killing approximately 30”.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described it as “one of the gravest incidents since the beginning of operations” by Israeli forces in Gaza on December 27.

USA

Senate Allies Fault Obama on Stimulus



By PETER BAKER and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Published: January 8, 2009

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan ran into crossfire from his own party in Congress on Thursday, suggesting that quick passage of spending programs and tax cuts could require more time and negotiation than Democrats once hoped.

Senate Democrats complained that major components of his plan were not bold enough and urged more focus on creating jobs and rebuilding the nation’s energy infrastructure rather than cutting taxes.

Just hours earlier, Mr. Obama called for speedy passage of the stimulus measure, warning that the recession “could linger for years” if Congress did not pass his plan within weeks.

Just Pretend Your In A Sunny Exotic Location

Murray Head – One Night In Bangkok

Crossposted at Rainbow Mittens.

I don’t know how many of my friends are gay.  I have a lot of them.

Me?  Not so much.  No fantasies or childhood experimentation, except the hetero kind.

In fact sex is kind of icky, if only because it fools with your emotions.  Makes you irrational.

I hate that.

I’m constantly surprised by the sexual lives of my friends, many seem to choose the most inappropriate people who bring out their worst characteristics.

My life is certainly like that.  My fiance gave me unconditional love, but I am Captain of the Enterprise and she was not it.

So maybe it wasn’t that unconditional after all.

But that’s not the story I want to tell.  

I’ve quoted Kai at the blog Zuky several times here at Docudharma.

He’s a blogger who I’ve learned a great deal from, who has changed the way I write, we’ve all experienced that, here on the tubez.

Well Kai has been nominated for a 2008 Weblog Award in the “Hidden Gem” category, one that describes his blog pretty well, imo.

Stuff like his Time to Throw the Traders Out of the Temple series, written right after the financial collapse.

He and Nezua from The Unapologetic Mexican went to Denver for the Democratic Convention, after which Kai wrote his own homage to Hunter Thompson with “Fear and Loathing in Denver.”

Anyway, if you want to show support to a great blogger, go on over to this post over at Zuky, the voting widget is embedded beneath the fold of that post.

You can vote every day through January 12.

And if you do vote for Kai, thanks from me.