Friday Reads
Posted: September 16, 2011 Filed under: morning reads | Tags: bigotry, Elizabeth Warren, Isalmaphobia, religious indoctrination at the FBI and in the Air Force, Social Security 28 Comments
Good Morning!
It’s one of those mornings where I could really use room service. I’m getting to that age where rush deadlines do me in. Fortunately, Bostonboomer helped me with some great links so I’m going to share them with you! This first one is from Boston as well as Bostonboomer and it’s about the Elizabeth Warren campaign and some interesting local dynamics. Senator John Kerry has committed to supporting another candidate in the primary.
In the video announcing her candidacy released this morning, Warren eschews the ivory tower in favor of a populist pitch.
“I’m going to do this,” she declares. Middle-class families, says Warren, have been “chipped at, hacked at, squeezed and hammered for a generation now, and I don’t think Washington gets it.”
She adds: “The pressures on middle class families are worse than ever, but it is the big corporations that get their way in Washington. I want to change that. I will work my heart out to earn the trust of the people of Massachusetts.”
Not since the Weld-Kerry race in 1996 could Massachusetts see a general election campaign like this.
As in that battle royale between two bluebloods, then-Governor William F. Weld and still-Senator John Kerry, the candidates would be well-financed, nationally supported, and adept at debating.
Like Brown, Weld had tremendous personal appeal, with voters seemingly entranced by his devil-may-care attitude and his decidedly non-Cantabrigian persona.
And like Warren, Kerry was viewed as too stiff to connect, especially in contrast with Weld.
But Kerry ended up besting Weld on the strength of his personal campaigning, the experience of the large cadre of Democratic operatives, and an electorate that still tilted to the left despite being in the outset of electing Republican governors for 16 consecutive years.
Warren’s first challenge, though, is to overcome a field of a half-dozen challengers who are incensed the party establishments in both Washington and Boston have largely pooh-poohed campaigns in which they have put their lives on hold to stump around the state and beg for money to finance their travels.
Here’s an item from Wired that’s bound to make you mad. It seems the FBI is profiling all muslim believers as radicals and terrorists. What on earth has the last ten years done to our civil liberties?
The FBI is teaching its counterterrorism agents that “main stream” [sic] American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers; that the Prophet Mohammed was a “cult leader”; and that the Islamic practice of giving charity is no more than a “funding mechanism for combat.”
At the Bureau’s training ground in Quantico, Virginia, agents are shown a chart contending that the more “devout” a Muslim, the more likely he is to be “violent.” Those destructive tendencies cannot be reversed, an FBI instructional presentation adds: “Any war against non-believers is justified” under Muslim law; a “moderating process cannot happen if the Koran continues to be regarded as theunalterable word of Allah.”
These are excerpts from dozens of pages of recent FBI training material on Islam that Danger Room has acquired. In them, the Constitutionally protected religious faith of millions of Americans is portrayed as an indicator of terrorist activity.“There may not be a ‘radical’ threat as much as it is simply a normal assertion of the orthodox ideology,” one FBI presentation notes. “The strategic themes animating these Islamic values are not fringe; they are main stream.”
The FBI isn’t just treading on thin legal ice by portraying ordinary, observant Americans as terrorists-in-waiting, former counterterrorism agents say. It’s also playing into al-Qaida’s hands.
Focusing on the religious behavior of American citizens instead of proven indicators of criminal activity like stockpiling guns or using shady financing makes it more likely that the FBI will miss the real warning signs of terrorism. And depicting Islam as inseparable from political violence is exactly the narrative al-Qaida spins — as is the related idea that America and Islam are necessarily in conflict. That’s why FBI whistleblowers provided Danger Room with these materials.
Over the past few years, American Muslim civil rights groups have raised alarm about increased FBI and police presence in Islamic community centers and mosques, fearing that their lawful behavior is being targeted under the broad brush of counterterrorism. The documents may help explain the heavy scrutiny.
Sam Stein at HuffPo thinks that Obama won’t include social security in the list of program cuts in the catfood commision redux movement.
Jilted by Republican leadership during the deficit-reduction talks that accompanied the debt ceiling debate, the Obama administration is now pulling back an offer to put Social Security reform on the negotiating table.
The president will not include changes to that program in the series of deficit reduction measures that he will offer to the congressional super committee next Monday, administration officials confirm.
During talks with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) this past summer, President Barack Obama had discussed changing the way that Social Security benefits were paid so that a lower level of benefits were paid over time. Boehner walked away from that deal, which was part of a much broader package, because of concern over a corresponding tax increase. Now, Obama is putting off support for that idea of changing the inflation formula of Social Security to chained consumer price index (CPI).
“The president’s recommendation for deficit reduction will not include any changes to Social Security because, as the president has consistently said, he does not believe that Social Security is a driver of our near and medium term deficits,” said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage. “He believes that both parties need to work together on a parallel track to strengthen Social Security for future generations rather than taking a piecemeal approach as part of a deficit reduction plan.”
“There will be no Social Security in the recommendations,” Brundage added.
The White House’s decision to take Social Security reform off the table for the time being, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is largely consistent with the president’s viewpoint that the program is not a contributor to the deficit and should be dealt with in separate discussions. The administration brought it in to the “grand bargain” talks with Boehner, an official relayed, because the president was a party to those talks. With respect to the super committee’s negotiations, he will have no seat at the table and is merely outlining his preferences for reform.
The move also makes obvious political sense. Democrats have long worried that they would upset their base should they be seen as the ones chipping away at retirement benefits, certainly after House Republicans took heat for passing a budget that would convert Medicare into a voucher-based program.
Many radical christianists have infiltrated places like the armed services and law enforcement in hopes of gathering steam come the great war against whatever the end war is supposed to be. I’ve never been much for fiction reading and the left behind series seems like as bad as fiction can get. There’s been complaints at the Air Force academy for years. One of my cousins who is a devote catholic was told be students in her math class that she needed to come to prayer services and become a real christian. That was back in the early 90s and I don’t think it’s got much better. Evidently, one top air force general is switching the air force back to neutral.
A top US Air Force official, in an attempt to ensure the Air Force adheres to the Constitution as well as its own regulations and policies, issued guidelines that calls on “leaders at all levels” to take immediate steps to maintain “government neutrality regarding religion.”
In his policy memorandum dated September 1, but sent Tuesday to all major commands, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz said, “Leaders … must balance Constitutional protections for an individual’s free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and its prohibition against governmental establishment of religion.”
The First Amendment establishes a wall of separation between church and state and Clause 3, Article 6 of the Constitution specifically prohibits a “religious test.”
The memo was issued a month after Truthout published an exclusive report revealing how, for two decades, the Air Force used numerous Bible passages and religious imagery to teach nuclear missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons, a decision that one senior Air Force officer told Truthout last month should have “instantly” resulted in the firing of the commanders who allowed it to take place.
The Air Force immediately suspended the mandatory Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare training immediately following the publication of Truthout’s report. David Smith, a spokesman for the Air Education and Training Command told Truthout last month the ethics training “has been taken out of the curriculum and is being reviewed.”
“The commander reviewed it and decided we needed to have a good hard look at it and make sure it reflected views of modern society,” Smith said.
The decison angered Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) who fired off an angry letter to Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley criticizing the move and demanding Donley provide him with a report detailing “actions taken” by the Air Force that led to the suspension of the ethics training.
One more interesting political piece via the Christian Science Monitor that says that Romney may actually be a “tougher foe” than Governor Goodhair for Obama. My guess is because he sounds sane compared to Perry, but here’s what the CSM says.
Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, frames Obama’s prospects this way: “He’s eminently beatable, and Republicans smell this. But in electoral politics, it’s always compared to whom.”
As of now, the GOP race seems to have boiled down to a choice between Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. That, of course, could change, especially if a major new prospect enters the race. But for the sake of argument, let’s say either Governor Perry or Mr. Romney will get the nod.
Polls show that GOP voters believe Perry is electable, but polls of general election voters show Romney faring better than Perry against Obama. The Real Clear Politics average gives Obama a four-point lead over Perry but just a one-point lead over Romney.
Among independent voters, Romney has the clear advantage. In the latest survey by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling (PPP), Perry’s favorability with independents is just 23 percent (with 51 percent seeing him unfavorably). Romney is seen favorably by 44 percent of independents, and unfavorably by 39 percent.
I’ve just got a bad case of noodley brain today, so do let us know what’s on your reading and blogging list this morning and I’ll head back to the coffee pot?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Nice round up!
and some interesting local dynamics. Senator John Kerry has committed to supporting another candidate in the primary.
imo Liz should thank John! lol!
30,000 children face destitution from welfare cut in Michigan
http://tinyurl.com/3qbgktz
.……The overall shift in the Michigan policy is breathtakingly crude—the keys to the state treasury are being handed over to business interests. As of 2012, Michigan business taxes are due to be reduced by a whopping $1.7 billion. The changes amount to a sweeping revision of tax code and state policy that directly transfers wealth to the state’s elite.
The Michigan Business Tax (MBT), just three years old, has been precipitously eliminated and is being replaced by a far less onerous income tax, which will only be levied on certain types of corporations. This fall, the state legislature will debate the elimination of the personal property tax, another business tax, which provides between $800 million and $1.4 billion to local government and libraries.
……To pay for this handout to business, Michigan residents are facing cuts in every social service. For the first time pensions will be taxed, costing seniors an estimated $300 million. Education is being reduced by $908 million, a 15 percent reduction across the board to universities and devastating funding cuts between $470 and $1,000 per pupil depending upon the district…….
Dak, you’ve been working your ass off! Here are some links I found this morning:
Another article for the “no shit” department:
Poll: 1/3 say U.S. would be better off with Hillary Clinton – Mackenzie Weinger – POLITICO.com
Another Obama excuse dude (Suskind):
Latest Lame Obama Excuse: “Geithner Blew Me Off” « naked capitalism
And another Obama excuse dude (Drum) “how to” article:
How to Talk About Solyndra | Mother Jones
Another President living in a bubble of denile…btw, check out the picture of Obama at the link and tell me if you don’t get that GW heh..heh feeling. (You know what I’m talking about, the smirk and goofy laugh…)
Obama says reelection odds are better now than 2008 – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs
And finally, a goddamn good post today from Madamab: Feminist Friday: A Woman of an Uncertain Age « The Widdershins
One more goddamn good post:
Free to Die – NYTimes.com
Just go read the whole thing!
nice round up within a round up!
The Naked Capitalism post is a must read!!
Thanks. I read it. That’s Obama for ya….always blaming someone else, anyone but his own wonderful self.
Heart You, Minx!
Ugh, I have been getting that Bubble Boy feeling from Obama since the campaign. He always seems completely gobsmacked when someone doesn’t Adore Him. He dithers until the last minute, then punts. Such “leadership!”
Poor poor Obama. Insubordinate advisers all around him. What’s a poor beleaguered “pwesident” to do. I hope people can stop wringing their hands long enough to vote for him in 2012. o_o
Here’s another article: “Ron Suskind on Obama’s Weakness”
http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/obamas_weakness.php
It ends with “Obama was last seen asking Geithner, who had been considering leaving, to stay on as Treasury secretary.”
Thanks for this. It’s afternoon here and already feel like a cranky kindergartner in need of a nap.I have about one month to go and then I’ll be full speed ahead on finding a new job and getting the house ready for market.
The number of people living below the poverty line is growing.
But listening to that repugnant group of GOP presidential contenders, it has no bearing on their desire to “lead”.
Just keep giving more tax breaks to the rich and the corporations and that should do the trick! Deregulate everything in sight and we’ll all be living on Miracle Road listening to recordings of Joel Osteen.
Something is missing from the narrative. Could it be empathy, compassion, a sense of caring for those who may not have the means to catch up?
In what Bible is that theory coming from?
Has anyone seen the Drudge Report?
I listen to Bloomberg radio a lot because a fair view is presented of all sides. One of thier guests declared that Keynes was not working. Of course he did not state: compared to what.
My thought is: can any economic theory work in the face of the government ignoring fraud and the corruption in Washington being bought off with money?
The Obama justice dept and sec have been fed a lot of information. They only go after the small fry.
They haven’t tried anything truly Keynesian as far as I know.
HuffPo is reporting that Romney told a townhall group that, if he were president, he’d like to have a vice-president like Dick Cheney. I wonder how acceptable he’d be to independents who hear that?
that should do him in. 😆
Don’t forget–if Mitt loses, we’ll probably get President Perry.
This morning I watched a short segment of Morning Joe. They were talking about the possibility of Hillary becoming President, based on a new poll showing that 1/3 of Americans think she would have done a better job than Obama.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-16/clinton-popularity-prompts-some-remorse-poll.html
It was truly disgusting to hear the responses from the the three male panelists, “no” “no” “no” and to see the snotty look on Mika B.’s face as she half-heartedly read the cue cards. Why on earth is that woman on TV? Oh yeah … a famous and powerful father.
Emptywheel says that according to Ron Suskind’s book, Obama didn’t want Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff either, but got talked into it by someone.
Politico has an article about how horrible Daley has been as Rahm’s replacement.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63648.html
Why in the hell did any of those Obots believe that someone with even less experience than GW Bush would be a competent President??
I’m reading all the stuff on that book right now. It’s very weird gossip.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hRQmWzUf9KNzjifi8dsrmn8odO7w
This one blows me away. The last thing I would ever call Barrack Obama is a policy wonk.
Obama a policy wonk? That is preposterous. The man has never created a policy in his life.
He knows how to speechify, bask in adoration, and delegate all the work of policymaking to others. Those are his skills as far as I can see. None rise to the level of wonk. I’d say “wank” was more apropos, actually. 😉
This one makes sense.
From the Bloomberg article on Hillary buyer’s remorse:
“More fawning?” That seems like a pretty biased comment for a news story. Even Independents like her. Well, what do you know? But back in 2008, we were stupid and racist.
“More fawning” jumped out at me too. I’d say those 65 and older are basing it on greater knowledge.
Yes, that is a really nasty little comment to make. They would never EVER put that in a poll about Obama, even though “fawning” describes his thoughtless worshipers to a T.
devastating figure from Hamilton Project’s Greenstone & Looney: male median full-time earnings lowest since 1950s
Click to access 08-16MR51.pdf
The middle class is just completely disappearing.
Wow, but we sure don’t have 1950s prices, do we?
It’s hard to believe male median full time earnings are lowest since the 50s. In the 50s, my father made $7000/yr. (full time) and we were considered middle class. Our rent was $48 per month. My mom told me that when I was 4.
Great links from everyone. I’ve just sprinkled a few over at Corrente. Thnx for the finds, all.