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Tuesday Reads

Posted: January 18, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: morning reads, Social Security, Team Obama, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , , , , , , |52 Comments

Good Morning!!!

It’s the end of a long weekend that celebrates the life of an American with vision, purpose, and fortitude in the pursuit of principle.   The news at the moment is as glum as the weather.  I will try to end the morning reads on higher and lighter ground.  I promise.

With that, I start with Glenn Greenwald at Salon and ‘The U.S. role in Gulet Mohamed’s detention’.  Thought we were done torturing people and denying them due process?  Dream on!  This is the story of a young American held in extraordinary conditions in the extraordinary country of Kuwait that basically still owes us their oil fields and freedom from the occupation by Saddam Hussein.  Gulet’s been held in some horrible situations that beg the question of who is responsible?  Is it some Sultan or President Obama?  Yes, this is change you can believe in if you’re Dick Cheney. Gulet and his family were led to believe that he would be released and sent home.  Home is the U.S. because he is a US citizen.  He deserves a lawyer and due process.  Now, he’s on the no-fly list and you know what that means.

As an American citizen, Gulet has the absolute right to return to and re-enter his country.  But by secretly placing him on the no-fly list while he was halfway around the world — and providing no information about why he was so placed — the U.S. Government is denying him his right to return.  Worse, they know that this action is not only preventing him from returning, but is keeping the 19-year-old in a state of absolute legal limbo, where’s he imprisoned by a country that admits it has no cause for holding him and does not want to hold him, yet which cannot release him.  The U.S. government has the obligation to assist its citizens when they end up detained without cause; here, they are doing the opposite:  they’re deliberately ensuring it continues.

If there’s any evidence that he has has done anything wrong, he should be charged, indicted, and brought back to the U.S. for trial.  What the Obama administration is doing instead is accomplishing what they could not do if he were in the U.S.:  holding him without a shred of due process, interrogating him without a lawyer present, and — if his credible claims are to believed — using beatings and torture to get the information it wants (or false information:  Gulet told me he was very tempted to falsely confess to make the beatings stop).  This abuse of the no-fly list is a common tactic used by the U.S. Government to circumvent all legal and constitutional constraints when it comes to its own citizens; this case just happens to be extra viscerally repellent.

Let’s see what our Secretary of State can do about this.

Not too long ago, our intrepid frontpager BostonBoomer took us down memory lane in pursuit of the vast criminal background that fills the resume of our head Inquisitor, Darrell Issa.  Now, it appears The New Yorker does the same. Just remember, your read it here first.  Skip the first two pages, those read like some blah blah blah  American Fairy Tale.  When you hit the rest, look for the pattern of insurance scams, crime, and a fortune that appears to be based in car theft.  The justice system is likely the force behind young Issa going into the military.   The unraveling of the Fairy Tale begins in 1998–like so many do–with a political tall tale that reflects the spin and not the facts.  Some one fact checked Issa’s campaign material.

In May of 1998, Lance Williams, of the San Francisco Examiner, reported that Issa had not always received the “highest possible” ratings in the Army. In fact, at one point he “received unsatisfactory conduct and efficiency ratings and was transferred to a supply depot.” Williams also discovered that Issa didn’t provide security for Nixon at the 1971 World Series, because Nixon didn’t attend any of the games.

A member of Issa’s Army unit, Jay Bergey, told Williams that his most vivid recollection of the young Issa was that in December, 1971, Issa stole his car, a yellow Dodge Charger. “I confronted Issa,” Bergey said in 1998. “I got in his face and threatened to kill him, and magically my car reappeared the next day, abandoned on the turnpike.”

Bergey died of lung cancer in 2002, but his widow, Joyce, recently said to me that she remembered her husband telling the story of the stolen Dodge Charger. She laughed when she heard that Issa is now a prominent member of Congress. “Well, he probably figured he was borrowing it from a friend,” she said. “But now we’re discussing politicians, so we all know how honest they are. When I meet a good one, I’ll let you know.”

Issa was transferred to a supply depot in the military.  That explains a lot.  For example, how does a guy coming out of the army find the funds for a really expensive sports car?   Only in America can this sort’ve  fractured fairy tale occur and play out in success.  Issa is bad news.   This is the second time I’ve linked to BB’s expose and it will not be the last.  We can muckrake with the best of them here and we intend to keep it up.

Now we move on to the next unsavory Republican Congressman.  Choice is fine for Boehner as long as the decision maker is not a woman.

After suspending normal business to honor the victims of the Arizona shootings, the House will vote to repeal the health care legislation Wednesday as the GOP’s first step toward achieving the “common-sense reforms that will lower health care costs and protect jobs.”

Boehner said repealing the legislation will eliminate “job destroying taxes” and cut government spending, paving the way for Congress to pass “common-sense reforms.”

“No act of violence is going to keep us from doing our jobs and representing the will of our constituents,” Boehner said. “The American people have made it clear they want us to focus on cutting spending and removing barriers to job creation, and repealing the health care law is critical to fulfilling these priorities.”

If Boehner is truly interested in choice, perhaps he’ll give us a public option or the ability to to sign on to medicare if we’ve reached the age of 55.  I still can’t believe that the current crop of Republicans won’t own up to “Obamacare” which essentially equals “Dole Care” and “Romney Care”.

Listen to Dick Cheney, he thinks that Obama has found that the Bush policies are right.  He’s given a speech on it. Does this worry you at all? (Notice I said worry and not surprise.)

“I think he’s learned that what we did was far more appropriate than he ever gave us credit for while he was a candidate. So I think he’s learned from experience. And part of that experience was the Democrats having a terrible showing last election.”

Cheney also asserted that Obama has learned that the prison at Guantanamo Bay simply cannot be closed, despite the promises he made while campaigning for the White House.

Let me tell you, if Cheney’s embracing Obama’s policy, something is really rotten in Denmark errr Washington, D.C.

“I think he’s learned that he’s not going to be able to close Guantanamo,” Cheney said. “That it’s — if you didn’t have it, you’d have to create one like that. You’ve got to have some place to put terrorists who are combatants who are bound and determined to try to kill Americans.”

Mark Thoma has a new column up called “Reinforcing America’s Social Safety Net” at the Fiscal Times. Thoma explains many of the themes that I’ve tried to talk about over the years that I’ve been blogging.  This includes Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection.  The topics explain why the Invisible Hand frequently turns into a fist that decks us.

Insurance markets are plagued by market failures such as adverse selection and moral hazard, and when these problems are severe enough the private sector will provide much too little of the insurance. In such cases, there is a role for government to play in resolving the problem. Efficiency is defined, in part, as the economy providing the goods and services that people want and are willing to pay for. Hence, when the government intervenes and makes up for the failure of private markets to provide these goods and services in sufficient quantity, it doesn’t reduce efficiency, it increases it.

We cannot fully insulate people from every inequity or run of bad luck, and it is possible for governments to provide more than the optimal amount of insurance against life’s ups and downs. But even if social insurance programs are not executed perfectly by government, the important question is whether the benefits exceed the costs. One only has to look at our history – what happened to the elderly, the sick, and the unemployed before we had such insurance – to see its great value. We were much worse off, on net, before social insurance existed, and we would certainly be worse off without it today.

Government can overregulate, true, but business operates on the maximize profit motive and that doesn’t always include pure means to that end. Many businesses create social costs that they won’t pay unless forced.   When that happens, the only cop on the beat is the government.  When the government itself becomes corrupt and self serving, then the cop on the beat is the press.  It’s a beautiful system if only it worked as intended.  The problem is that mega corporations have their tentacles wrapped around everything.  Money changes everything.

Run Aussies Run!  BP’s got some New Offshore Permits and you better start moving those koalas and the kids to the high ground if they do to you what they did to us.

Although BP has been granted four offshore oil exploration permits from the Australian Federal Government, many fear the petroleum giant hasn’t learned from mistakes made from the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, which occurred from an April explosion that killed 11 workers and dumped 5 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, has been a PR nightmare for BP. The company has been accused and sued for a plethora of reasons, including slow response time, covering up details and possessing faulty equipment at the site of the oil rig.

Despite this, BP will begin its offshore exploration in the Ceduna Sub-basin within the Bight Basin off South Australia. The exploration work programs proposed by BP Exploration include over 11,400 square kilometers of 3D seismic surveying within the first two operational years along. Drilling could begin as soon as 2013, but further environmental approvals would be required to begin this.

Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said the most stringent of environmental and safety standards will be placed on BP to avoid another Gulf Oil disaster. “The safety of our workers and environment is fundamental and will remain the priority as we progress the responsible development of our natural resources – both on and offshore,” Ferguson said.

Part of the push to get BP into Australia is that it will bring millions of dollars of investment to the Australia, which could tackle the nation’s $16 billion trade deficit in petroleum products.

So, I promised to end with good news.  Here’s some good news on Women Entrepreneurs in Baghdad.

Seven years of war and occupation have taken a heavy toll — there are 2 million war widows in Iraq, and now-independent women with families to feed have become an economic driving force out of necessity.

And when women get money, it tends to take a much quicker route to their families and local communities. As the old saying goes, “Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime. Teach a woman to fish, and everyone eats.”

It was vital to Chand and her partner, Ted Barber, that what they started was not a charity but a for-profit entity with a mission.

“In moments of sheer devastation, it’s critical that we have relief efforts to support the people,” she says. “But at the end of the day, people need dignity, and dignity comes from creating your own destiny.”

They chose candles because they represent a sort of craftsmanship common denominator — they were simple to make, required few supplies, could be made in any kitchen and were easily scalable.

Yup, it’s my favorite economics topic: micro-financing women entrepreneurs. If you have a few dollars to lend to help a village around the world, google WOMEN, google Micro Finance, google help and get to it!

“Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime. Teach a woman to fish, and everyone eats.”

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

52 Comments on “Tuesday Reads”

  1. minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:
    January 18, 2011 at 6:39 am

    Let me tell you, if Cheney’s embracing Obama’s policy, something is really rotten in Denmark errr Washington, D.C.

    Wow, you got that right! I saw this last night and was thinking WTH…Darth Vader himself, approving of teh One.

  2. minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:
    January 18, 2011 at 7:01 am

    Barack Obama: Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System – WSJ.com

    When I first saw the by line, I have to admit…I had to think what the date was, it surely was not April 1st.

    Sometimes, those rules have gotten out of balance, placing unreasonable burdens on business—burdens that have stifled innovation and have had a chilling effect on growth and jobs. At other times, we have failed to meet our basic responsibility to protect the public interest, leading to disastrous consequences. Such was the case in the run-up to the financial crisis from which we are still recovering. There, a lack of proper oversight and transparency nearly led to the collapse of the financial markets and a full-scale Depression.

    Over the past two years, the goal of my administration has been to strike the right balance. And today, I am signing an executive order that makes clear that this is the operating principle of our government.

  3. Delphyne's avatar Delphyne says:
    January 18, 2011 at 7:40 am

    This is the second time I’ve linked to BB’s expose and it will not be the last. We can muckrake with the best of them here and we intend to keep it up.

    Good! The Fourth Estate is dead – long live this real Fourth Estate!

  4. Pilgrim's avatar Pilgrim says:
    January 18, 2011 at 9:29 am

    As a matter of fact, I did realize when I saw the New Yorker piece on Issa that I had first read the details in a piece here by BB.

    • Woman Voter's avatar Woman Voter says:
      January 18, 2011 at 10:09 am

      The good news is, that it is out there and hopefully Bill Maher will stop fawning over Issa as he does, and continually presenting him as a kin to Mc Cain’s, ‘Hero Veteran,’ status when Issa isn’t.

      • Pilgrim's avatar Pilgrim says:
        January 18, 2011 at 11:42 am

        Yes, it’s good that “the news is out there.” Last night on one of the MSNBC shows, I think Ed Schultz, it was similarly detailed. So, as you suggest, Issa’s power will perhaps be somewhat enervated.

  5. Woman Voter's avatar Woman Voter says:
    January 18, 2011 at 10:13 am

    democracynow Democracy Now!
    Study: 129 Million Americans Under Age of 65 Suffer Pre-Existing Medical Conditions. NEWS: http://ow.ly/3FOhK #hcr #health

    129 Million Americans, wonder how many vote, or if we could get them to vote if they clearly understood their lives depend on it, because the Republicans don’t care about care, they care about profits and bonuses.

  6. CWALTZ's avatar CWALTZ says:
    January 18, 2011 at 10:55 am

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47738.html

    Buh-bye Kent. Hopefully your bestie Ben Nelson can join you and we can be rid of 2 DINOs

    • dakinikat's avatar dakinikat says:
      January 18, 2011 at 11:32 am

      I saw that. I wish Ben Nelson would go. Problem is the Democratic Party in the middle of the country is just a withered, unfunded mess.

      • CWALTZ's avatar CWALTZ says:
        January 18, 2011 at 11:41 am

        Better to start from scratch then to deal with the Kent Conrad’s and the Ben Nelsons IMO. They offer cover for the Republicans by making tax cuts for the rich “bipartisan.” Then again I’d rather lose an ideological debate honestly then pretend I’m something I’m not for the sake of popularity. It’s one of the reasons I never embraced Obamatopia.

  7. Woman Voter's avatar Woman Voter says:
    January 18, 2011 at 11:11 am

    txtbks Nicole Allen
    by uspirg
    Open resources and improving education: A panel discussion with five open education leaders http://bit.ly/hJZ38P Today at 1 EST!

    Now, this is an interesting event.

  8. dakinikat's avatar dakinikat says:
    January 18, 2011 at 11:31 am

    BreakingNews: Haitian police take ex-dictator ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier into custody and lead him out of his hotel – NBC

    They need to reopen Devil’s island for these ex dictators. Air drop stuff to them and give them no chance of getting off.

  9. paper doll's avatar paper doll says:
    January 18, 2011 at 11:38 am

    I’m glad Glenn Greenwald and you are not forgetting Gulet Mohamed and his situation…appalling. Legal and political limbo in Kuwait…. Reminds me of how it came out in the first Iraq war that in Kuwait thousands of of Filipino domestics had been made slaves because their passports were confiscated upon arrival . This was when we were selling the idea returning a king to his throne was a freedom fight …whatever

    kudos to BB! I have often seen ideas and directions started on blogs such as this one get to the main stream, and quickly ….they would be fools not to read the blogs. The best thinking is there!

    The rise of Issa is about the normalizing…correction, the on going celebration of the criminal. If you have connections, is a criminal act a crime? kind of like the question : if a tree falls and no one is near…does it make a sound?

  10. minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:
    January 18, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    The vindication of Dick Cheney – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com

    Greenwald’s take on all the GOP/conservatives fawning over Obama…

  11. minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:
    January 18, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    There are lots of interesting reads out there today, here are a few I thought I would link y’all to:

    Big health bucks roll in for K St. – TheHill.com
    (And the Repubs think the health care bill is a “job killer.”)

    The US Prevented BabyDoc from Returning in 2006, Why Not Now? | Emptywheel

    Interestingly, the Guardian provides some background of these efforts in 2006. But they focus entirely on one cable recording discussions with Dominican Republic (the rest of the cables were made available by Aftenposten, the Norwegian paper that somehow got its own set of cables). This has the effect of making it appear that US objections were equally to Duvalier and Aristide (both are mentioned in the cable, though it is clear Duvalier is the worry). Yet the rest of the cables make it clear that the US was panicked about Duvalier’s return.

    Charles Gasparino: Meredith Whitney Should Show Her Cards

    Obama’s Bogus Explanation For Troubles: Too Much Regulation

    While Americans lose their homes and face 10% nominal (20% real) DISemployment, Obama sucks up to Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal | Corrente

    Scientists warn California could be struck by winter ‘superstorm’ – Yahoo! News

    The Associated Press: Vatican warned Irish bishops not to report abuse

    Child-abuse activists in Ireland said the 1997 letter should demonstrate, once and for all, that the protection of pedophile priests from criminal investigation was not only sanctioned by Vatican leaders but ordered by them.

    This last one about the Vatican is really something that I think should get some press…

    • purplefinn's avatar purplefinn says:
      January 18, 2011 at 3:11 pm

      “This last one about the Vatican is really something that I think should get some press…”

      Agreed. Amazing that the Vatican can have any credibility left.

    • paper doll's avatar paper doll says:
      January 18, 2011 at 5:02 pm

      Child-abuse activists in Ireland said the 1997 letter should demonstrate, once and for all, that the protection of pedophile priests from criminal investigation was not only sanctioned by Vatican leaders but ordered by them.

      Wasn’t the current Pope in charge of this? I seem to remember he was John Paul’s go-to guy to keep a lid on this at the time.

  12. RSM's avatar RSM says:
    January 18, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    The FCC has approved the Comcast/NBC merger. It’s so nice to see that the FCC board members have apparently never had to deal with Comcast as customers.

    • purplefinn's avatar purplefinn says:
      January 18, 2011 at 3:08 pm

      “Democratic Commissioner Michael J. Copps, the sole dissenting vote, said the concentration of media under Comcast’s control would put too much power into one company that controls the access consumers have to entertainment and news. He said in the end that the venture would have too many potential conflicts.”

      I’ve avoided being a Comcast customer by not subscribing to cable. I still passionately dislike Comcast as it is a monopoly in our area.

      I receive NBC free over the air. The local news is fairly good. I wonder whether Comcast will mess that up.

      • paper doll's avatar paper doll says:
        January 18, 2011 at 5:19 pm

        You are getting something for free?

        Expect that to change ASAP

        My husband and I decided to pull the comcast /TV plug recently and only because TV is so awful. I’m tired of cooking / home shows that are Survivor knock offs and sporting events where the announcers never shut up …. what passes for “news” programing is a joke…Anything of note can be seen online or rented .I have spent my last evening going up and down the channels searching for somehing to watch.

        Thanks TV!

      • purplefinn's avatar purplefinn says:
        January 18, 2011 at 5:36 pm

        Hi Paper Doll. Yes, free TV over the air. It’s limited, and I still watch a lot of TV. Of course, I do contribute to PBS – it’s only fair. You may be right that somewhere out there is a plan to shut down anything that’s free. But until then….

        Enjoy your decision!

  13. WomanVoter's avatar WomanVoter says:
    January 18, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    BREAKING VIDEO: Rudolf Elmer physically hands two CD disks to Wikileaks’ Julian Assange.
    Julian Assange vows to reveal tax details of 2,000 wealthy people Media The Guardian.mp4

    • paper doll's avatar paper doll says:
      January 18, 2011 at 5:09 pm

      I guarantee the CD’s don’t have the info on most important wealthy… In other words : It will have the likes of Al Gore…but not Dick Cheney .

      • Woman Voter's avatar Woman Voter says:
        January 19, 2011 at 1:10 am

        Nah, I don’t believe they would do that to their loyal workers, especially since those are the ones that have their talking heads asking for Assange’s head on a platter. .

  14. dakinikat's avatar dakinikat says:
    January 18, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    Breaking: ABC News has confirmed with family sources that Sargent Shriver has died.

    • minkoffminx's avatar Minkoff Minx says:
      January 18, 2011 at 5:34 pm

      From the article:

      Shriver married John F. Kennedy’s sister, Eunice Kennedy, in 1953. The two started the Special Olympics, which became a worldwide movement. She died at age of 88 in 2009.

      He sure did good things for a lot of people didn’t he…

  15. Jadzia's avatar Jadzia says:
    January 18, 2011 at 9:58 pm

    I love that “everyone eats” quote. We are going through something in our very own little family proving (once again, ugh) the truth of that one.

    And on another topic, Cheney also said that the Big O will be a one-termer: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2011117302_apuscheneyconservatives.html

  16. Jadzia's avatar Jadzia says:
    January 18, 2011 at 10:03 pm

    Also — I have been verybusy for the last couple of weeks (if I posted here under my real name, you could probably Google me and see why), and am just now seeing the new design. It’s gorgeous! So elegant!

  17. Woman Voter's avatar Woman Voter says:
    January 19, 2011 at 1:06 am

    Published on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
    Revolution of Values: From MLK, Jr. to Bradley Manning

    by Margaret Flowers

    …
    Many of us held photos of Manning and signs that said, “I am Bradley Manning.” In essence, each of us who love our country and who speak out for the betterment of the United States are brothers and sisters of young Manning. And sadly, each of us who does speak out risks consequences of imprisonment like Manning.

    We started the day at the FBI headquarters in Washington to protest the treatment of peace and justice activists who have had their homes raided, their private property stolen and who are facing an investigation by a Grand Jury. In some cases, these social justice groups had been infiltrated by undercover FBI agents for as long as 2 ½ years. This is what our tax dollars fund: domestic spying on peaceful social justice activists.

    It takes courage to speak out against the great corporate interests in this nation be they the military-industrial complex, the financial institutions or the healthcare-industrial complex. Not everyone has the courage to do so. I am driven by the words of Dr. King when he said “to be silent is to be complicit.” …
    Read more:
    http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/18

    Amen, to the closing quote.

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