September 2011 archive

9/11 anniversary: US marks 10 years since attacks

The US has started to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The BBC 11 September 2011

Security is tight following warnings of a possible al-Qaeda attack.

The US embassy in Afghanistan has begun the ceremonies, with events due later in the sites where four hijacked planes struck, killing nearly 3,000 people.

An official memorial to those who died is to be unveiled at the site of the World Trade Center, whose twin towers were destroyed in the attacks.

Metal barriers have been erected on roads near the World Trade Center, while police in New York and Washington are stopping and searching large vehicles entering bridges and tunnels.

Burning the Midnight Oil for Progressive Populism

First off, the thing to do with the BS about gutting the safety net on the excuse that the Take Everything Away Party wants to kill it is to take the idea of gutting the safety programs behind the farmhouse to the mint bed and apply a sharp ax.

How to do that, I don’t know.

But if it can be done, then there’s still the question of whether and how to sell the “Jobs Policy”

In a Nutshell

Without the specifics, the broad outline (pdf) of the policy is about $240b in tax cuts and $200b in spending. Of the $200b in spending, about $50b is unemployment insurance extension, which is maintaining what we presently have, and $35b is offsetting state and local cuts in teacher and first responder employment, so about $115b in new spending stimulus.

Economically, the alternative is not status quo, the alternative is ongoing cuts, so you could argue that its a useful $200b increase in spending in economic terms ~ but in political terms, “it could have been worse” is a sharp an argument as a plastic knife, so I’ll count it as $115b in stimulus.

Can that work? Well, it depends on what you mean by work. To the extent that the $115b in spending can be done over the next year, it is more “Stimulus” than we had last year, and almost as much as we had in the Fiscal Year from October 2009 to September 2010 ~ when unemployment did, in fact, noticably decline.

So in terms of “will unemployment noticeably decline?” as working (as low a bar as that may be), yes, it’s likely to work.

Over the long haul, if that worth the promised future spending cuts over the next decade to “pay for” the payroll tax cuts that will have such weak effect? …

… well, that’s the question.

In policy terms, we need employment now. When we set the damage to be done in the future against whatever fights we lose in the future based on the “baseline” including absurd cuts …. against the damage that will be done by a second recession if we allow the economy to continue heading into a second recession … the recession is more total damage.

And in political terms, I was here in Ohio when Governor Strickland was facing re-election against a heavily corporate backed and heavily attacked for his corporate background rival, and the heavy attacks on his corporate background had a serious impact … but Kasich still won by 2%. If the economy slips into a recession next year, the Citizen’s United money is going to get that to use to continue attacking the half measures taken in 2009, and could quite conceivably lay the foundation for policies that extend the current Depression into something to rival the Great Depression.

Fighting to preserve the safety net is complex enough: I argue for simplifying everything else.

But HOW to support the Jobs Bill

The problem is, based on past performance, we would expect the Obama administration to cave on the useful parts of the Job Bill and accept a “compromise” consisting of only the useless parts. After all, the Republicans would happily accept the useless parts, as advancing their interests while still tilting the playing field to their advantage as they choose between nominating a bad candidate or several worse ones.

So support needs to be both simple, and to be support for the spending plus tax cuts as a package deal.

I reckon the message is:

The real job creators are customers. All the tax cuts in the world are useless unless businesses have orders to fill. Pulling out the spending makes the tax cuts useless, so no spending, no jobs. And no jobs, no deal.

No spending, no jobs. And no jobs, no deal.

Regular Features

• Late Night Karaoke by: mishima
• Cartnoon by: ek hornbeck

Featured Essays-

• On This Day In History September 10 by: TheMomCat
• This Week In The Dream Antilles by: davidseth
• Primary Teachers and Their Pedagogy by: Betsy L. Angert
• Obama’s Plan: Cut the Safety Net by: Archangel M
• The Gold Bug by: ek hornbeck

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Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Nude Blacks’ bare all for rugby fun

By Gael Favennec, AFP

12 hrs ago

YEAH, THAT’LL HAPPEN

The former director of the US government’s Japan Affairs Office demanded that Kyodo News retract an article that quoted him as saying the Japanese are “masters of manipulation and extortion.”

The agriculture ministry said Japan will seek UNESCO World Heritage status for kaiseki cuisine.

The government is considering an across-the-board pay cut of 5-10 percent for nationally elected politicians. The scheme would net ¥290 billion, to be used for disaster relief.

Headline of the Week: “Mosses and Sea Slugs Offer Comfort in Difficult Times” (via The Asahi Shimbun)

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

New York Times Editorial: A New Start for Libya

After 42 years of erratic dictatorship, it would be unrealistic to expect a smooth transition in the early days of Libya’s post-Qaddafi era. There have been water and fuel shortages, episodes of vigilante justice, and power struggles among the victorious rebel forces. There are also signs of progress on military, diplomatic, economic and political fronts.

The last bastions of the regime are under assault, while Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi remains unaccounted for. Foreign governments have begun releasing billions of dollars of Libyan assets that were frozen during the fighting. Plans have been drafted for electing a constitutional assembly by early next year. Technicians are assessing damage to the oil wells and pipelines that account for 98 percent of the country’s annual revenues, though full production may not be restored for months or even longer. Considering the situation six months ago, there is reason to be encouraged.

Jon Walker: Obama is Coming to Cut Medicare

I don’t want to be entirely cynical about President Obama’s jobs speech yesterday. Some of the ideas in his proposal, like the money to fix up old schools, are great. He is finally at least putting his rhetorical focus on the issue the American people actually wanted him to be talking about this whole time. If the package Obama outlined last night was actually a compromise that Obama got the Republican Congressional leadership to agree to, I might even consider this fairly poorly designed plan a decent deal.

The problem, though, is that this jobs package isn’t going to pass, so this speech wasn’t about policy, it was about messaging. Seen from that perspective, the speech was very scary to me as a progressive, because in the middle of what should have been a speech about getting Americans back to work, Obama very publicly endorsed putting Medicare and Medicaid on the deficit-reduction chopping block. Most important, Obama signaled he supports reducing Medicare spending that “some in his party” won’t like.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 112 days remaining until the end of the year

On this day in 1776, Nathan Hale volunteers to spy behind British lines

On this day in 1776, General George Washington asks for a volunteer for an extremely dangerous mission: to gather intelligence behind enemy lines before the coming Battle of Harlem Heights. Captain Nathan Hale of the 19th Regiment of the Continental Army stepped forward and subsequently become one of the first known American spies of the Revolutionary War.

the Battle of Long Island, which led to British victory and the capture of New York City, via a flanking move from Staten Island across Long Island, Hale volunteered on September 8, 1776, to go behind enemy lines and report on British troop movements. He was ferried across on September 12. It was an act of spying that was immediately punishable by death, and posed a great risk to Hale.

An account of Nathan Hale’s capture was written by Consider Tiffany, a Connecticut shopkeeper and Loyalist, and obtained by the Library of Congress. In Tiffany’s account, Major Robert Rogers of the Queen’s Rangers saw Hale in a tavern and recognized him despite his disguise. After luring Hale into betraying himself by pretending to be a patriot himself, Rogers and his Rangers apprehended Hale near Flushing Bay, in Queens, New York. Another story was that his Loyalist cousin, Samuel Hale, was the one who revealed his true identity.

British General William Howe had established his headquarters in the Beekman House in a rural part of Manhattan, on a rise between 50th and 51st Streets between First and Second Avenues Hale reportedly was questioned by Howe, and physical evidence was found on him. Rogers provided information about the case. According to tradition, Hale spent the night in a greenhouse at the mansion. He requested a Bible; his request was denied. Sometime later, he requested a clergyman. Again, the request was denied.

According to the standards of the time, spies were hanged as illegal combatants. On the morning of September 22, 1776, Hale was marched along Post Road to the Park of Artillery, which was next to a public house called the Dove Tavern (at modern day 66th Street and Third Avenue), and hanged. He was 21 years old. Bill Richmond, a 13-year-old former slave and Loyalist who later became famous as an African American boxer in Europe, was reportedly one of the hangmen, “his responsibility being that of fastening the rope to a strong tree branch and securing the knot and noose.”

By all accounts, Hale comported himself eloquently before the hanging. Over the years, there has been some speculation as to whether he specifically uttered the famous line:

I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.

But may be a revision of:

I am so satisfied with the cause in which I have engaged that my only regret is that I have not more lives than one to offer in its service.

The story of Hale’s famous speech began with John Montresor, a British soldier who witnessed the hanging. Soon after the execution, Montresor spoke with the American officer William Hull about Hale’s death. Later, it was Hull who widely publicized Hale’s use of the phrase. Because Hull was not an eyewitness to Hale’s speech, some historians have questioned the reliability of the account

So what’s been happening these last two weeks?  I mean other than the commentators creaming their jeans over the new Senna and sucking up to Red Bull and Scuderia Marlboro and bad mouthing Hamilton and McLaren?

Not much, so this will be a short one.

Button is not moving to Marlboro Country.  Who wants a slower ride anyway?

India on October 30th may be canceled due to a tax dispute.  Seems India wants to collect taxes on 1/19th of team and driver yearly incomes.

Scuderia Marlboro is struggling in desperation, hyping the prospects of a 12 year old (A Twelve Year Old!) as a future driver, unable to master aerodynamics and whining for simpler and cheaper rules.

The rules committee will be enforcing a camber (tire slant) limit from Pirelli, but the Softs are still expected to wear quite quickly especially under full (heavy) fuel.

Why?  The Autodromo Nazionale is very straight and very fast which means that when you do have to slow down for corners you put a lot of stress on your brakes and tires.  The speed of the course also stresses engines (we had a Cosworth blow up in practice).  Teams will be running their lowest drag configurations and there are two, two, two Drag Reduction System zones.

This is supposed to make the teams more evenly matched.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

Surprises, not that I expect any, below.

Regular Features

• Late Night Karaoke by: mishima
• Muse in the Morning by: Robyn
• Cartnoon by: ek hornbeck

Featured Essays-

• Obama’s Jobs Plan: by: wilberforce
• US auto workers face historic struggle by: rjones2818
• US Sup Ct Sticks it to Individuals and Small Business again by: David G. Mills
• Shorting LGBT People on Medical Care by: Robyn
• Popular Culture (Music): The Who, Quadrophenia Part II of II by: Translator
• Random Japan by: mishima

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