September 27, 2010 archive

Open Winters

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Unemployed Presidents and “Structural Unemployment”

Bill Clinton is prominently quoted in Paul Krugman’s recent column about “structural unemployment.”

For example, former President Bill Clinton recently told an interviewer that unemployment remained high because “people don’t have the job skills for the jobs that are open.”

Krugman refutes this nonsense in one line.

Unemployment has surged in every major occupational category.

So there is no category of “job skills” that would equip millions of workers for millions of jobs that don’t exist.

But debating sold-out hures like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama about public policy is beside the point.

Neither of those narcissists ever gave a damn about the public, and the bottom line was always “What’s good for me is good enough for the country.”

Since Bill Clinton left the White House, he has collected more than $100 million in deferred bribes from his grateful corporate clientele, after eight years of nonstop de-regulation and runaway mergers and acquisitions.

More than $100 million in earnings!

And the really important question isn’t “How did he “earn” all all the money?”

The really important question is “When did he earn it?”

And it should be obvious even to a hockey-puck that Bill Clinton earned all that money in the White House, and his fantastic income is nothing but a huge deferred bribe.

So if you want to impress Barack Obama…

If you want Barack Obama to take an interest in the public good instead of always and only what’s good for Barack Obama…

Forget about Krugman’s arguments and any other variety of “public policy debate,” because all of it would pass right through Obama’s empty head like static on a radio, and instead of debating, slam Bill Clinton into prison for public corruption.

Send Obama this message!

“If you ever collect a dime from your corporate buddies, you’re going to prison, sucker!”

“You’re working for us now, you’re working for the public from now on, or you’re working for nobody!”

On Fence-Straddling, Or, And Now, A Few Words From Blanche Lincoln

Those of you who’ve followed my work over a period of time know that I’m usually the one suggesting moderation and keeping everyone in the big tent, and, even in this most difficult year, I’m the one telling folks that sometimes you just have to hold your nose and vote for the candidate that sucks less.

And even though the last thing I’d ever want is a Speaker Boehner or a Leader McConnell (or even worse yet, DeMint), the fact remains that there are two Democratic Senators I would actually vote against, even if the candidate that sucks more does win…and those two are Arkansas’ Blanche Lincoln and Nebraska’s Ben Nelson.

One of those two is up for re-election this year, and thanks to a particularly ridiculous vote by Senator Lincoln, we found ourselves in a bit of an email exchange, which is what we’ll be talking about today.  

S01E05: H.R. 2521 – National Infrastructure Development Bank Act

Cross-posted from Main Street Insider

Check back on Wednesday for our first Sponsor Special with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT3). One-page summary below the fold…

Want Progress? Try Eric Schneiderman

Note: from Progressive Blue and cross-posted at DailyKos.

In the quest to maintain a Democrat majority it seems easy to overlook the race for New York State Attorney General. Considering a powerful social and economic justice policy position where the jurisdiction includes Wall Street and the traditional influence this office has had over media and talk shows it’s not about majority but justice vs. injustice.

Now Eric Schneiderman who is committed to “protecting homeowners and consumers from bad actors on Wall Street” faces a Republican who has suggested that he would “de-emphasize the high-profile securities fraud cases that defined the tenures of Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer.” In a nation where the banking lobbyist induced false claim that “sound economics means hands off Wall St.” is too often heard, think back the early 1990’s when nobody seemed interested in the big money crimes and Eliot Spitzer did much to change the national focus.

But Senator Schneiderman represents so much more that that. Not just a politician but a public servant with the energy and willpower to fight for the people. Looking at what this man has to offer in this high profile office with the power to steer the national debate, it seems obvious that a NY loss would be a setback for all Americans.

Docudharma Times Monday September 27




Monday’s Headlines:

Military thwarted president seeking choice in Afghanistan

A new shelf life for treasures of nature

USA

U.S. Is Working to Ease Wiretaps on the Internet

Politicians’ money woes strike a chord with voters

Europe

Russia digs up woolly mammoth remains for guilt-free ivory  

Basque group may call permanent, verifiable ceasefire  

Middle East

Netanyahu urges Jewish settlers not to provoke collapse of peace talks

Palestinian rivals close to reconciliation deal

Asia

Afghan stringers are the bedrock of our reporting

North Korea waits to hear that Kim Jong-il’s youngest son will take over

Africa

Central Africa’s Only Orchestra

France ready for Mali hostage talks

Latin America

Rescue capsule arrives for trapped miners

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

An Opened Mind XXXII

Einstein does not remain attached to the classical principles, and when presented with a problem in physics he quickly envisages all of its possibilities. This leads immediately in his mind to the prediction of new phenomena which may one day be verified by experiment.

– Henri PoincarĂ©

Separation Point

Poor Weather Friend

You tell me

it is not the right time

for fairness and justice

that generations must pass

until there is peace

for such as me

until we become

an honored part

of the whole

The truth is

that it could

happen now

if it weren’t

for people

just like you

You call yourself

a progressive

and tell me you are

on my side?

Who are you?

Where do you stand?

–Robyn Serven

–January 8, 2007

Late Night Karaoke

The Holder Raids: The Reaction Begins

I’ve been reading around the Left web for the past couple of hours, and it is heartening to see the quick solidarity toward the Freedom Road Socialist Organization comrades being subjected to police raids and the confiscation of vast quantities of their personal papers, records, mementos, and even money.  

Left activists from across the spectrum are organizing a series of emergency protest rallies around the country over the next few days, using Facebook and other social media to spread the word.  A list of those rallies and various related items on the flip.

Project Censored Censored over 911

Pentagon Lobbyists Begin Campaign Harvest Season For Defense Budget FY 2011


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09…

Here in Arghandab, the inflow of troops has made it possible to begin trying to pacify an area where thick vegetation, irrigation canals and pomegranate orchards provide good cover for Taliban insurgents, according to Col. Joe Krebs, the 2nd Brigade Combat team’s deputy commander.

No sooner had the 1st Battalion of the 22nd Armored Regiment of the United States Army arrived here than five of its soldiers were killed, in a roadside bomb directed at their convoy. The dead included the first army chaplain to be killed in active duty during the Afghan conflict.

While no official casualty totals have been released for the recent operations in the Kandahar districts, a count by iCasualties.org, which tracks coalition deaths, showed 14 American fatalities in Kandahar between Aug. 30 and Sept. 23, the latest date for which details are available. At least six of them were in Arghandab and two in Zhari district. That compares to 10 American personnel lost during that same period in Helmand Province, where the United States Marines have been struggling to suppress the Taliban in and around Marja, scene of the year’s first major offensive, Operation Mustarak, which began Feb. 14.

   Pomegranates are an important crop in traditional Mediterranean and southwest Asian culture.  

I couldn’t live with myself if my companies were doing damage to the planet.

  – Linda Resnick

Pique the Geek 20100926: Sustainability (and Connexions) Part the First

I have been thinking about sustainability for a long, long time.  Unfortunately, in my scientific analysis, it not possible if we continue on the route that we have chosen.  This is an extremely complex topic, and might even deserve its own, new, date.  I am thinking that Wednesdays might be a good time for it.  This is more speculation than science, so it does not properly belong on Pique the Geek for the long term.

This will be the most controversial topic that I have ever tackled.  I may be dead wrong in some of my speculations, but a lot of thought has gone into them.  I offer no easy remedies but do ask the hard, horrible questions and illustrate them with facts.  I will ask that you, my readers, tell me whether this deserves a new series, uncoupled from Pique the Geek. Please read further.