Monday Morning Reads

Good Morning!  It’s a New Year! It’s a new day!

It’s also the start of the election season.  Here are the dates of the Republican caucus and primaries scheduled for this month:

As you can see, there are four contests up for grabs in four very distinct states. Remember that there are “no winner take all” events so any splits will actually count and this could drag on for some time.  We will be live blogging the Iowa caucuses tomorrow night.  What may end some of these candidates dreams could be the lack of funds if they don’t win, place or show.

The Des Moines Register ‘s last poll shows:

… Mitt Romney in the lead (but not above 25%), Ron Paul a close second, and Rick Santorum surging in third place. The numbers from the poll conducted Dec. 27-30 of 602 likely caucus-goers: Romney 24%, Paul 22%, Santorum 15%, Gingrich 12%, Perry 11%, and Bachmann 7%. But get this about Santorum’s surge: In the Des Moines Register’s final two days in the field, he jumped into second place and was running neck and neck with Romney. “[Santorum] averaged 10 points after the first two nights of polling, but doubled that during the second two nights. Looking just at the final day of polling, he was just one point down from Romney’s 23 percent on Friday.”

Just so you know, Santorum is itching to start a war with Iran.  Santorum’s appearance Sunday on ABC was an eyebrow raiser.  Let’s home this man gets no where near Washington power circles ever again.

Rick Santorum said today that would be in favor of launching airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.

“We will degrade those facilities through airstrikes, and make it very public that we are doing that,” Santorum said on “Meet the Press.”

Iran announced today that it had created the country’s first nuclear fuel rod, a key component in a reactor that can also be used to produce weapons grade uranium.

Several of the GOP candidates have expressed increased concerns over Iran’s nuclear program after the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report that says Iran is making progress.

The Obama administration hasn’t responded to Iran’s latest claim but it has already levied coordinated economic sanction against Iran.

Newt Gingrich is only other candidate in the race who has said he is would support bombing Iran, although he said he would only do it as a last resort and as part of a plan to replace the leadership in Iran.

Well, it’s official.  Approximately half of Americans are poor.

While it’s no surprise that nearly 50 million Americans live below the poverty line, new statistics from the US Census show that almost 100 million others are counted as low-income citizens, making half of the population of America officially poor.

The latest figures out of the US Census Bureau show that in addition to the 49.1 million Americans who fall below the official poverty line, those that rake in enough to be between that level and the income equitable to double it fall into a new “low-income” category, which counts an additional 97.3 million people. Altogether, that clump of nearly 150 million Americans living in dire economic standing accounts for around 48 percent of the US population.

American officials have deemed the current poverty line to be at around $22,000 for a family of four, but the new category just about doubles that figure to $45,000 and places those that fall between the numbers as low-income. The Associated Press reports that for families that fit in that range, often half of the household income is spent on child-care costs and housing bills.

The New Republic has a list up of the most overlooked stories of 2011.  Here’s one that I found interesting.

John Judis: The Subversion of the Do Not Call Registry

The great under- or, better, un-covered story of the year: Cardholder Services and the Do Not Call Registry. You don’t know what I’m talking about? That’s because you don’t work at home. George W. Bush’s administration invaded Iraq and let Bernie Madoff run wild; but to its credit, it established the Do Not Call Registry to block telemarketers from flooding our telephones with unwanted offers. After I registered my phone number on the Federal Trade Commission’s web site in 2004, the phone calls virtually stopped. But guess what? Under the Obama administration, which claims to understand the power and wisdom of government regulation, they’ve begun again. I get seven or eight a day now (mostly I don’t answer them), including to my cell phone, where I get charged for them. Many of them have been from an outfit called “Cardholder Services.” And it’s not just me. Google “cardholder services” and you’ll find a plethora of complaints. I have already filed complaints with the FTC twice this year, and the second time I asked for an acknowledgement. But I never heard back, and the phone calls continue. A little while ago, I got a call on my cellphone from a number in Salem, Oregon. 503-902-8252. Complaints about this number are all over the web. So the Obama administration has not followed through on the one thing that the Bush administration did right.

George Monbiot’s latest is a must read.  It’s called “How Freedom Became Tyranny” and it’s all thanks to those zany libertarians.  Read the arguments.  Here’s the punchline.

Modern libertarianism is the disguise adopted by those who wish to exploit without restraint. It pretends that only the state intrudes on our liberties. It ignores the role of banks, corporations and the rich in making us less free. It denies the need for the state to curb them in order to protect the freedoms of weaker people. This bastardised, one-eyed philosophy is a con trick, whose promoters attempt to wrongfoot justice by pitching it against liberty. By this means they have turned “freedom” into an instrument of oppression.

So, that’s it for me this morning.  It’s been quiet around here so hopefully, things will liven up tomorrow. What’s your reading and blogging list today?