Bipartisanship vs. Democracy: The President and the Third Way Fallacy

Richard (RJ) Eskow, Huffington Post

Posted: December 15, 2010 11:49 AM

Today the country’s real center — the commonly-held set of goals and aspirations shared by Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike — has never been farther from the narrow right-leaning viewpoint that’s still being peddled as a “centrism.” If the White House and other Democrats buy into that illusion, as they seem to be doing, they’ll lose the country.

…

I feel safe in predicting that “No Labels” will revolutionize American politics every bit as much as Unity08 did. That is, it’s going to be announced with great fanfare — fanfare that’s generated by the highly-paid efforts of Washington publicists. It will then be received enthusiastically by the David Broder crowd, and nobody else. Within six months it will have been forgotten by the few people who had ever even heard of it in the first place.

“No Labels” is the latest reflection of a deep-seated yearning among Washington insiders: the yearning to fuse the leadership of both parties into a unitary political order, one that can dispense with bothersome chores like justifying your actions to the public. Washington “centrists” are the One Worlders of American politics, dreaming of a Utopia governed by a Council of Elders.

…

There’s a real bipartisan consensus in the nation — to protect Social Security, tax the wealthy, preserve Medicare, improve banking regulations, and ban big bonuses at banks which were rescued by the taxpayers. The ersatz ‘centrism’ being peddled in Washington is on the wrong side of every single issue. It would turn the leadership of the country over to people on the red, rightmost side of the chart, restricting the debate to the best way of implementing these unpopular positions.

No wonder 70% of people surveyed are “somewhat” or “deeply dissatisfied” with the way Washington works. The political consensus doesn’t represent them, and these “solutions” would merely institutionalize that lack of representiation.

…

We saw the electoral fruits of the Third Way fallacy in November’s election. Democrats who embraced it were seen as representing nothing in particular, so they were judged by the status quo — a status quo that was made worse by “centrist” policies. Now we’re seeing an ever-widening gap between the public’s wishes and a Republican/Democratic/media elite that refuses to accept or acknowledge them. That’s a recipe for bad policy, and politically it’s a one way ticket for the Democratic Party to receive the Mother of All Shellackin’s in 2012.

There are a lot of sad things in this piece, but also some fundamental misconceptions one of which is that while this austerity asshole City Manager is allowed to cry poverty in order to break the police and fire unions.

Michigan has offered Hamtramck a variety of loans to keep it solvent, but Cooper has said he doesn’t want the city to take on more debt. It’s already paying $600,000 a year on bonds issued during another financial crisis a decade ago.

But with pressure building, City Hall was awash in speculation this week that Cooper would finally bend and accept a loan from the state. Still, even that would only postpone a day of reckoning, the city manager asserted.

…

For now, the well-meaning citizens of Hamtramck — police officers, firefighters, tree trimmers and trash collectors — are effectively draining the city’s finances, with nothing short of a potential collapse in sight.

You see, you’re just bloodsucking ticks on the tit of capitalism.

Ugh.  Even worse than usual.  A good night to write diaries.

Are they slow-moving, chief?

Yeah, they’re dead. They’re all messed up.

Chief, if I were surrounded by eight or ten of these things, would I stand a chance with them?

Well, there’s no problem. If you have a gun, shoot ’em in the head. That’s a sure way to kill ’em. If you don’t, get yourself a club or a torch. Beat ’em or burn ’em. They go up pretty easy.

• ABC Family– Disney Prep & Landing, Finding Nemo
• AMC– Independence Day
• Bravo– Top Chef (last week’s and new)
• Comedy– Futurama marathon
• Disney– Happy Feet
• Discovery– Mythbusters marathon (with premier)
• ESPN– Hoopies, Celtics @ Knicks, Trail Blazers @ Mavs
• FX– Deck the Halls x 2
• History– More Nazis (premier)
• Lifetime– Kate & Leopold
• Oxygen– Titanic
• Turner Classic– Night of the Living Dead
• TNT– Bones marathon
• Travel– Man v. Food marathon (with premier)
• USA– Elf, Psych x 2 (premiers)
• Vs.– Rangers @ Penguins

Later-

• Disney– Phineas and Ferb
• FX– Senseless
• Turner Classic– Bonnie and Clyde, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• USA– Burn Notice (this week’s), Psych x 2 (Instapeats)

Dave hosts Tom Dreesen and Ronnie Spector.  Jon has Paul Rudd, Stephen Laird Hamilton.  Conan hosts Amy Adams, Roger Waters, and Edward Sharpe and Magnetic Zeros.

Boondocks– Smokin’ With Cigarettes

Chief, do you think that we will be able to defeat these things?

Well, we killed nineteen of them today right in this area. The last three, we caught them trying to claw they’re way into an abandoned shed. They must of thought someone was in there, but there wasn’t though. We heard them making all kind of noises so we came over, beat ’em off and blasted them down.

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

I have said this a number of times, the filibuster as it is currently being used to obstruct the Senate is unconstitutional. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and cannot be abrogated by the Senate merely making a rule. The Vice President presides over the Senate and has a duty to make rulings on order and procedure when the Senate is in session. The Constitution provides for “one-person-one-vote” and “majority rules”, there is no mention of “filibuster”.

It is amazingly simple:

  1. During debate, a Republican Senator engages in a standard obstruction tactic, such as a hold, actual filibuster, or proposing numerous, non-germane Amendments.

  2. The Vice President, as Presiding Officer, rules that Senator’s hold, filibuster or spuriousamendments out of order.

  3. The Senator who holds the floor, and had attempted the hold (filibuster, or amendments), could then appeal the decision of the Presiding Officer to the Senate as a whole.

  4. A simple majority (51) can then vote to uphold the ruling of the Presiding Officer that the hold (filibuster or amendments) were out of order.

This mechanism is not without precedent:

In 1975 the filibuster issue was revived by post-Watergate Democrats frustrated in their efforts to enact popular reform legislation like campaign finance laws. Senator James Allen of Alabama, the most conservative Democrat in the Senate and a skillful parliamentary player, blocked them with a series of filibusters. Liberals were fed up with his delaying tactics. Senator Walter Mondale pushed a campaign to reduce the threshold from sixty-seven votes to a simple majority of fifty-one. In a parliamentary sleight of hand, the liberals broke Allen’s filibuster by a majority vote, thus evading the sixty-seven-vote rule. (Senate rules say you can’t change the rules without a cloture vote, but the Constitution says the Senate sets its own rules. As a practical matter, that means the majority can prevail whenever it decides to force the issue.) In 1975 the presiding officer during the debate, Vice President Rockefeller, first ruled with the liberals on a motion to declare Senator Allen out of order. When Allen appealed the “ruling of the chair” to the full Senate, the majority voted him down. Nervous Senate leaders, aware they were losing the precedent, offered a compromise. Henceforth, the cloture rule would require only sixty votes to stop a filibuster.

When the Republicans held the Senate majority during the previous administration, then Vice President Dick Cheney threatened to invoke the “nuclear option” ending filibuster if the Democrats continued to filibuster President Bush’s nominees. The Democrats backed off. So why hasn’t President Obama done just that? This is just another game of ‘Constitutional chicken” to excuse the President’s failure to get a liberal/progressive agenda passed.

It is high time the Vice President Biden took his seat and gaveled filibuster out of order.

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 EU ready to probe Thaci over organ trafficking claims

by Ismet Hajdari, AFP

20 mins ago

2 EU to probe Kosovo leader over ‘organ trafficking’

by Ismet Hajdari, AFP

Wed Dec 15, 11:28 am ET

3 ICC names suspects in Kenya’s killing spree

by Marie-Laure Michel, AFP

Wed Dec 15, 11:00 am ET

4 Kenya ICC suspects proclaim innocence

by Francois Ausseill, AFP

Wed Dec 15, 10:27 am ET

5 Suicide bomber kills 33 at Iran procession

by Jay Deshmukh, AFP

1 hr 4 mins ago

6 Iran mosque bombing kills at least 38

by Siavosh Ghazi, AFP

Wed Dec 15, 5:51 am ET

7 Stem cell transplant ‘cures’ HIV: study

by Kerry Sheridan, AFP

53 mins ago

8 Russian rocket with three crew blasts off into space

by Dmitry Kostyukov, AFP

1 hr 11 mins ago

9 Clashes as Berlusconi survives no-confidence vote

by Dario Thuburn, AFP

Tue Dec 14, 4:23 pm ET

10 Assange back in British jail after bail ruling challenged

by Danny Kemp, AFP

Tue Dec 14, 4:22 pm ET

11 Ivory Coast presidential rival pushes crisis to a head

by Evelyne Aka, AFP

Tue Dec 14, 3:24 pm ET

12 America’s poor face bleak Christmas

by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP

Wed Dec 15, 11:15 am ET

13 Rating agency warns of Spain credit downgrade

by Katell Abiven, AFP

Wed Dec 15, 9:35 am ET

14 Obama administration sues BP, others over Gulf spill

By Jeremy Pelofsky and James Vicini, Reuters

34 mins ago

15 Spain receives debt warning before EU summit

By Fiona Ortiz and Dave Graham, Reuters

Wed Dec 15, 1:45 pm ET

16 Senate passes Obama’s $858 billion tax-cut plan

By Kim Dixon and Richard Cowan, Reuters

2 hrs 36 mins ago

17 U.S. eyes "robust outcomes" in China trade talks

By Doug Palmer and Paul Eckert, Reuters

2 hrs 24 mins ago

18 WikiLeaks’ Assange bail appeal to be heard Thursday

By Keith Weir, Reuters

Wed Dec 15, 10:22 am ET

19 Iraq gets U.N. green light for civil nuclear program

By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

2 hrs 4 mins ago

20 Red Cross paints grim Afghan picture before review

By Jonathon Burch, Reuters

Wed Dec 15, 12:41 pm ET

21 U.S. at risk of rare earths supply disruptions

By Tom Doggett, Reuters

Wed Dec 15, 6:23 am ET

22 Ireland passes bailout package despite opposition

By Carmel Crimmins, Reuters

Wed Dec 15, 1:32 pm ET

Bullshit.  Iceland is kicking your ass.

23 U.S. leads rich-world recovery as Europe lags: Reuters poll

By Andy Bruce, Reuters

Wed Dec 15, 10:47 am ET

24 Fed cautious on recovery, sticks to bond plan

By Mark Felsenthal and Pedro da Costa, Reuters

Tue Dec 14, 7:05 pm ET

25 Analysis: No turning point yet in Obama relations with business

By Jeff Mason, Reuters

Wed Dec 15, 10:19 am ET

26 Moody’s says may cut Spain rating, sees no bailout

By Paul Day, Reuters

Wed Dec 15, 4:57 am ET

27 Bank regulators back new capital plan

By Dave Clarke, Reuters

Tue Dec 14, 5:40 pm ET

28 Best Buy overestimates holiday shoppers’ appetite

By Dhanya Skariachan, Reuters

Tue Dec 14, 4:55 pm ET

29 Govt sues BP, 8 other companies in Gulf oil spill

Associated Press

2 mins ago

30 1,000 detained in Russia to prevent ethnic clashes

By DAVID NOWAK, Associated Press

3 mins ago

31 UN lifts key sanctions against Iraq

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press

5 mins ago

32 Halfway home: Senate sends tax-rate bill to House

Associated Press

4 mins ago

33 Attacks from right take toll on Obama’s tax plan

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press

Wed Dec 15, 1:32 pm ET

34 Obama says he shares mission with business leaders

Assocated Press

1 hr 1 min ago

35 Obama’s new give-and-take: Common ground with CEOs

Associated Press

Wed Dec 15, 7:02 am ET

36 Senate kicks off debate over US-Russia arms treaty

Associated Press

8 mins ago

37 Scientists: It’s not too late yet for polar bears

Associated Press

Wed Dec 15, 1:11 pm ET

38 Suicide bombers kill at least 39 in southeast Iran

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press

Wed Dec 15, 1:14 pm ET

39 What’s a parent to do with a little Santa-phobe?

By The Associated Press

1 hr 48 mins ago

40 Explorer drops truckish platform

By ANN M. JOB, For The Associated Press

Wed Dec 15, 12:16 pm ET

41 Dogs show students: Exams’ bark is worse than bite

Wed Dec 15, 9:22 am ET

42 Winemakers introduce cheaper, artificial ice wines

By DINESH RAMDE, Associated Press

Wed Dec 15, 3:19 am ET

Well, it’s been longer coming than I expected but we finally have Part 2 of L. Randall Wray’s ‘Smoking Gun’ on Title Fraud available.  My treatment of the first part is here.

This one discusses the fatal flaws in the Securitization procedures for Mortgage Backed Securities and the multi-Trillion dollar exposure of the To Big To Fail Banks to defrauded holders of those worthless scraps of paper.

Worthless except for the fact that they are legally binding contracts which the Banks have agreed (legally) to buy back if there are flaws or fraud in the Banks’ representations of value.

The 2 things that give me some hope in this process is that the players holding the short end of the stick (the ones defrauded by the Banks) are financial heavy hitters who are just about as large as the Banks- PIMCO, Blackrock, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York; AND that the bulk of the action will take place in New York State Court instead of at the federal level where everyone in Washington seems to have been issued kneepads for Bankster Butt-licking.

Anatomy of Mortgage Fraud, Part II: The Mother of All Frauds

L. Randall Wray, Huffington Post

Posted: December 13, 2010 10:58 AM

By itself, all of this is a horrific scandal, involving up to 65 million mortgages — the number of mortgages registered at MERS, most of which presumably were subjected to MERS’s guidelines and extremely sloppy record-keeping. But like Shrek’s onion, it is much more complicated than that — with layer after layer of fraud piled on fraud. There are many angles to be explored, most of them too complex and arcane to be pursued in a short column. Here, in part two, I will discuss the implications for the securities that bundled the fraudulent mortgages registered at MERS. Not only did MERS defraud the counties out of their recording fees and the homeowners out of their homes, but it also helped to perpetrate securities fraud and federal tax fraud. Fortunately for the investors in these securities, the securitization process was fatally flawed, meaning that they can return to the issuing banks and demand their money back. But that implies, of course, that the banksters are hopelessly insolvent — on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars.

Inevitably, they will turn to Uncle Sam for more handouts. Get ready for more backroom deals made by the Fed and Treasury to rescue firms like Bank of America. If you loved the first three rounds of this financial crisis, you will love the next six rounds as markets pummel Wall Street banks, with Uncle Sam as referee applying the smelling salts to revive it for yet another round (whilst its CEOs skim more billions off the top in compensation). Ultimately, it will not work. Wall Street will go down for the count — but probably not until it drags Main Street through a great depression that your great grandkids will study in the history books. And, by the way, they will laugh at the misguided efforts of the thoroughly compromised one-term Obama administration that focused its efforts at budget-balancing in the face of the worst headwinds America had ever seen.

…

But, as always with the Wall Street onion, things are worse when we dig deeper. Almost all of the residential mortgage backed securitizations were done under New York state law — which is even stricter than the REMIC requirements. That law wanted to make the securities as safe as possible, “bankruptcy remote” so that if the issuing banks failed, bank creditors could not come after the securitized mortgages — to seize the notes and recover losses. This is why it was essential that the notes and mortgages be physically conveyed to the trustees. Remember that the major banks are also owners of the servicers — so if the servicers retain the notes and the bank fails, the bank’s creditors might be able to claim the notes and mortgages. So according to NY state law it is the “Pooling and Servicing Agreement” that governs the securizations. These require that the notes and mortgages are held by the REMIC trustee. Indeed, they require that the trustee check to make sure all notes are conveyed; if there are any mortgages included in the “pool” without proper paperwork, then they must be replaced by mortgages with notes. All of this is supposed to be certified by the trustee as completed — usually within about six months. (For an excellent explanation of the details, see Yves Smith)

We now know beyond question that the notes were not typically transferred — both MERS’s own document as well as court testimony by top management of servicers make it clear that the “customary” practice was for the servicers to retain the notes. We also know that almost all securitizations were done in NY. And we know that the PSAs required transfer of the notes to the trustees — who were required to certify that this was done. From this we can conclude that a) the trustees either did not perform the certification, or they lied, and b) the securities are no good. Probably most of them; maybe all of them. Fraudulent.

…

The servicers are now "misplacing" all the documents, including the notes, associated with the mortgages on which they are foreclosing. The hope is that MERS and the mortgage servicing banks can get the properties, dispose of them in firesales, and pay pennies on the dollar to securities holders before they discover they’ve been scammed from here to Pluto. Hence it would seem the notes were not really lost, but rather are being destroyed to cover the fraud. And if this is true, MERS and the big banks are conspiring to commit foreclosure fraud as they destroy documents and create new counterfeit paper trails.

…

To recap, MERS’s own documents demonstrate beyond question:

1. The notes were never transferred, as required by Federal and NY state law, to the trustees of the REMICs;
2. At best, the notes were retained by the mortgage servicers as directed by MERS (many never left the mortgage brokers, many of whom are now bankrupt);
3. MERS claims to own the notes and therefore the mortgages to speed foreclosure;
4. Actually, MERS does not hold the notes, which are held by servicers, but MERS instead “deputizes” employees of the servicers so that it can claim notes are transferred “in house” to avoid paying recording fees as well as avoiding maintenance of clear chains of title;
5. On foreclosure, the documents are “disappeared” because they demonstrate the notes were never endorsed and transferred as required by law, with MERS and the servicers filing “lost note affidavits” to dupe the judges into allowing illegal foreclosures to proceed and to dupe securities holders so that they do not demand restitution;
6. Servicers ensure homeowners default, as they “lose” mortgage payments, credit them to the wrong accounts, or helpfully recommend to homeowners that they stop making payments–all of this is to speed foreclosure to ensure securities holders do not realize they have been duped as they are paid pennies on the dollar for toxic securities;
7. This also ensures that the investment banks that originated the toxic securities win their credit default swap bets they placed against the homeowners, with favored hedge fund managers like Paulson also winning CDO bets on failures;
8. The faster the foreclosures can be processed through manufacture of fraudulent documents by Robo-signers, the lower the chance that MERS and all of its clients will be brought to justice.

There is a community of interests that can bring together the securities holders (including PIMCO and the NYFed) and the defrauded homeowners to stop the illegal foreclosures. The best thing for the investors is to demonstrate that the securities are fraudulent because the underlying mortgages did not meet the representations and because the notes were not legally transferred.

…

Since the securities investors will be able to force the banksters to take back the securities, the loss minimizing solution for banks is to stop the foreclosures that are depressing real estate prices. That can then buy time to modify the mortgages to ensure homeowners can stay in the homes and service their debt. Instead, the banks are pushing for Congress to retroactively legalize the frauds they perpetrated against counties, borrowers, and investors. As always, Wall Street wants someone else to pay for its crimes — and is willing to destroy the property rights that are fundamental to a system based on private property in order to protect CEO compensation on Wall Street.

Here is the alternative solution President Obama needs to consider.

• An immediate moratorium on foreclosures of any mortgages that are, or ever were, registered at MERS;
• Declare all outstanding fraudulent securities null and void, require securitizing banks to make restitution to investors, and sue the banks for restitution of the back taxes owed by REMICs;
• If this makes the banks insolvent, begin to resolve them, shutting them down;
• Prohibit Fannie and Freddie and any chartered bank from dealing with MERS, which is an organization formed to perpetrate fraud;
• Investigate MERS for fraudulent activity, require restitution of all county recording fees that were evaded, and punish the guilty;
• Formulate a policy to help homeowners who have been victims of lender fraud, with a goal of reducing mortgage payments to something they can afford; and
• Let Congress know he will veto any legislation that legalizes the fraud perpetrated by MERS, by mortgage servicers, and by originating and securitizing banks.

These actions will help to restore the rule of law, while punishing the guilty. And stopping (illegal) foreclosures will reduce the pressure on real estate prices. By itself this will not put the US on the road to recovery, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Wray promises a Part 3.

Is it Time for Democrats to Fight Obama?

Cenk Uygur, Huffington Post

Posted: December 15, 2010 10:43 AM

You want to hear something really depressing? If John McCain had won the presidency, there is almost no chance he could have gotten the Bush tax cuts extended for the rich. Think about it. How was a Republican president going to get an overwhelmingly Democratic Senate and House to pass those tax cuts that they hated under Bush?

No, only a Democratic president could get a Democratic Congress to agree to tax cuts for the rich. So, in this sense, progressives are worse off for having a Democratic president than a Republican one.

…

Democrats would certainly have fought a surge in Afghanistan if Bush was in charge. They would be complaining about warrantless wiretapping if Bush continued that program instead of Obama. They would have hated the monopoly that drug companies got in the health care legislation (because they went nuts over it when Bush made the same deal). And they would have gone apoplectic over these huge tax cuts for the rich. But under Obama, the defense contractors, the rich and the powerful have gotten almost everything they wanted and nary a peep was heard from the Democrats in Congress.

Here is the new memo – fight him, he’s not on your side.

As was shown in 2010 and will be again in 2012.

Anyone who claims to care about Electoral Victory is a LIAR!

Update:

‘Democrat’ Is No Longer A Brand

Howard Fineman, Huffington Post

Updated: 12-15-10 07:23 AM

As the lame duck tax debate slogs towards its inevitable conclusion — nearly $1 trillion worth of extended and new tax cuts over two years — I’m wondering: what does the brand “Democrat” mean?

…

The fact that extension is being touted by the White House as a major “get” is a sad commentary on how far to the right our politics is now moving, no matter how many times Tea Party types call Obama a socialist.

…

Isn’t a nearly $1 trillion bill full of tax cuts and industry giveaways what Republicans do? Isn’t a bill with an absurdly generous inheritance tax break what Republicans write? Aren’t Democrats the “party of the people?” Aren’t they the party that believes government programs and policies have a role to play in leveling the playing field, or at least giving everyone a fair chance? Aren’t the Democrats worried that all of this tax cutting now will starve the social programs they supposedly cherish? Do they know that they won’t be able to push through a change in taxes in 2012 over GOP objections if the economy in fact improves?

…

And if they do vote “yes” for the most part, what does it signify — other than a desperate desire for survival — about the meaning of “Democrat?”

It means “Coward”.

Thanks for nothing Barack.

“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”.

Robert Reich: Why America’s Two Economies Continue to Drift Apart, and What Washington Isn’t Doing About It

America’s two economies are getting wider apart.

The Big Money economy is booming. According to a new Commerce Department report, third-quarter profits of American businesses rose at an annual record-breaking $1.659 trillion – besting even the boom year of 2006 (in nominal dollars). Profits have soared for seven consecutive quarters now, matching or beating their fastest pace in history.

Executive pay is linked to profits, so top pay is soaring as well.

Higher profits are also translating into the nice gains in the stock market, which is a boon to everyone with lots of financial assets.

And Wall Street is back. Bonuses on the Street are expected to rise about 5 percent this year, according to a survey by compensation consultants Johnson Associates Inc.

But nothing is trickling down to the Average Worker economy. Job growth is still anemic. At October’s rate of only 50,000 new private-sector jobs, unemployment won’t get down to pre-recession levels for twenty years. And almost half of October’s new jobs were in temporary help.

Meanwhile, the median wage is barely rising, adjusted for inflation. And the value of the major asset of most Americans – their homes – continues to drop.

Why are America’s two economies going in opposite directions?

Eugene Robinson: A Wiki Hornets Nest

Washington – The most important legacy of the WikiLeaks affair will almost surely be the rapidly escalating cyberwar that the group’s renegade disclosures have sparked. If you think you’re unaffected by unseen “battles” fought with keystrokes instead of bullets, you’re wrong.

At stake are issues of free speech, censorship, privacy, piracy, sovereignty and corporate power. We may know what we think about these concepts, but applying real-world logic to the Internet leads to unacceptable conclusions — such as sympathy for the goons in Iran or China who suppress anti-government political speech. This is, of course, out of the question. Which means sympathy for WikiLeaks nihilists who don’t deserve it.

Megan Tady: Mere Hours Left to Save Net Neutrality

I don’t want to be overly dramatic here, but there are just hours left to save the Internet.

Tomorrow, the FCC stops taking meetings and accepting official comments on its proposed Net Neutrality rules. But until then, we’re using every minute we have to remind the FCC that the public overwhelmingly wants real Net Neutrality, not a fake compromise with the phone and cable companies that will effectively kill free speech and innovation online.

Earlier this month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski released a proposal that is Net Neutrality in name only. While details are still scarce, the Genachowski proposal reportedly would not offer the same protections to wireless Internet users as it would to those using wired connections.

John Nichols: Journalists Begin, Finally, to Stand Up in Defense of WikiLeaks and Freedom of Information

Leading Australian journalists have stepped up in a big way to defend WikiLeaks, with the head of the nation’s major media union arguing that “attacks on WikiLeaks can also be seen as attacks on the Australian media outlets which have worked with the organisation to publish leaked material.”In response to calls for the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (an Australian) and attempts to block the distribution of leaked US diplomatic cables, Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance federal secretary Christopher Warren says: “Allegations that the work of WikiLeaks is somehow illegal are yet to be proven in Australia, or in any other country. The Alliance and (the International Federation of Journalists Asia-Pacific section) calls on governments to refrain from prejudicial speculation that risks harming our democratic system.”

While most US journalists have been slow to defend WikiLeaks-and some have been openly critical of the website’s distribution of leaked US diplomatic cables-their Australian peers are pushing back against attempts to constrain freedom of information and the press.

David Weigel: Crisis Junkies

After the tax deal vote, get ready for another fiscal apocalypse.

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh are retiring from the Senate, handing over their desks next month. This might explain why both senators seem so thrilled about the coming fiscal Ragnarok.

In an interview on CNBC on Monday, live from the post-partisan launch of No Labels, Bayh said that Democrats and Republicans could come together to attack the debt if there was “a precipitating event of some kind.” Gregg jumped in. “The event`s going to be the debt ceiling,” he said. “We`re going to hit this debt ceiling sometime in April. I believe, genuinely believe that there is going to be significant action in discretionary control, in Social Security, in entitlement reform and in tax reform. … And it’s going to all occur and the forcing mechanism is going to be the debt ceiling.” Bayh nodded. “I agree with Judd 100 percent.”

Easy for them to say, since they won’t be around for the tough votes. But plenty of people who will be around for those votes are saying the same thing. The current tax cut deal moves us closer to hitting the current debt ceiling of $14.2 trillion, which moves the analysts at Moody’s closer to downgrading America’s bond rating.

Mark Hertsgaard: Reason for Optimism out of the Cancún Climate Summit?

“You have been negotiating all my life,” 21-year-old Mima Haider of Lebanon told delegates at the United Nations climate negotiations in Cancún. “You cannot tell me you need more time.” But that’s pretty much what they did tell her, and the rest of us. True, some important agreements were reached in Cancún. Rich countries reaffirmed their legal obligation to help poor countries fight climate change, and even promised sizable sums toward that end. The Cancún Agreements oblige rich countries to contribute $30 billion in new aid over the next three years-growing to $100 billion a year by 2020-to a Green Climate Fund. This fund will help developing countries both to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and install protections against the floods, droughts and other climate impacts that disproportionately punish the global poor.

Dahlia Lithwick and Sonja West: Unplugged

When do Supreme Court justices need to just sit down and be quiet?

During his 35-year career on the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens gained a reputation as the mild-mannered jurist who sought permission before asking questions of oral advocates. Over his decades on the bench, Stevens gave few interviews, rarely made controversial remarks in his speeches, and wrote no books.

Then he retired.

Now, mere months after hanging up his robe, Stevens has been traveling the country, letting us know what he really thinks on everything from his views on the opposition to the “Ground Zero Mosque” (“American Muslims should enjoy the freedom to build their places of worship wherever permitted by local zoning law”) to capital punishment (a system infected with racism, political exploitation, and “regrettable judicial activism”) to the merits of Bush v. Gore (“it had obviously no merit to it”).

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.

December 15 is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 16 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day 1791, Virginia becomes the last state to ratify the Bill of Rights, making the first ten amendments to the Constitution law and completing the revolutionary reforms begun by the Declaration of Independence. Before the Massachusetts ratifying convention would accept the Constitution, which they finally did in February 1788, the document’s Federalist supporters had to promise to create a Bill of Rights to be amended to the Constitution immediately upon the creation of a new government under the document.

After the Constitution was ratified in 1789, the 1st United States Congress met in Federal Hall in New York City. Most of the delegates agreed that a “bill of rights” was needed and most of them agreed on the rights they believed should be enumerated.

Madison, at the head of the Virginia delegation of the 1st Congress, had originally opposed a Bill of Rights but hoped to pre-empt a second Constitutional Convention that might have undone the difficult compromises of 1787: a second convention would open the entire Constitution to reconsideration and could undermine the work he and so many others had done in establishing the structure of the United States Government. Writing to Jefferson, he stated, “The friends of the Constitution…wish the revisal to be carried no farther than to supply additional guards for liberty…and are fixed in opposition to the risk of another Convention….It is equally certain that there are others who urge a second Convention with the insidious hope of throwing all things into Confusion, and of subverting the fabric just established, if not the Union itself.”

Madison based much of the Bill of Rights on George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), which itself had been written with Madison’s input. He carefully considered the state amendment recommendations as well. He looked for recommendations shared by many states to avoid controversy and reduce opposition to the ratification of the future amendments. Additionally, Madison’s work on the Bill of Rights reflected centuries of English law and philosophy, further modified by the principles of the American Revolution.

 533 – Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron.

1167 – Sicilian chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.

1256 – Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.

1467 – Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.

1791 – The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

1863 – In Romania the mountain railway from Anina to Oravita is used for the first time.

1864 – In the Battle of Nashville, Union forces under George H. Thomas almost completely destroy the Army of Tennessee under John B. Hood.

1868 – Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in Hokkaido.

1903 – The Wright brothers’ first attempt to launch the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, NC

1905 – The Pushkin House is established in St. Petersburg to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin

1906 – The London Underground’s Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway opens.

1913 – Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires Convention.

1914 – World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro-Hungarian Army.

1914 – A gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine, Kyushu, Japan, kills 687.

1917 – World War I: An armistice is reached between the new Bolshevik government and the Central Powers.

1933 – 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution becomes officially effective, legalizing alcohol.

1939 – Gone with the Wind receives its premiere at Loew’s Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

1941 – Holocaust: German troops execute over 15,000 Jews at Drobitsky Yar, a ravine southeast of the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine.

1941 – The American Federation of Labor adopts a no-strike policy in war industries.

1942 – The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse begins during the Guadalcanal campaign.

1945 – Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.

1954 – The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands was signed.

1955 – Jens Olsen’s World Clock is started by Danish King Frederick IX and Jens Olsen’s youngest grandchild Birgit.

1960 – Richard Paul Pavlick is arrested for attempting to blow up and assassinate the U.S. President-Elect, John F. Kennedy only four days earlier.

1961 – In Jerusalem, Adolph Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.

1965 – Gemini program: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieves the first space rendezvous, with Gemini 7.

1970 – The Illinois State Constitution is adopted at a special election.

1973 – John Paul Getty III, grandson of American billionaire J. Paul Getty, is found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10, 1973.

1973 – The American Psychiatric Association votes 13-0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the DSM-II.

1976 – Samoa becomes a member of the United Nations.

1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People’s Republic of China and cut off all relations with Taiwan

1993 – History of Northern Ireland: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

1994 – Palau becomes a member of the United Nations.

1997 – The Treaty of Bangkok is signed allowing the transformation of Southeast Asia into a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.

2000 – The 3rd reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is shut down.

2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.

2002 – The Capital Center (formerly US Airways Arena) is demolished.

2005 – Latvia amends its constitution to eliminate possibility of same-sex couples being entitled to marry.

2005 – Argentina’s president Nestor Kirchner announces the early repayment of its external debt to the IMF.

2005 – Introduction of the F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.

2005 – The 2005 Atlantic Power Outage began.

2006 – First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.

2009 – Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner makes its maiden flight from Seattle, Washington.

Holidays and observances

   * Bill of Rights Day, honors the United States Bill of Rights on the anniversary of its ratification. (United States)

   * Christian Feast Day

         o Drostan (Aberdeen Breviary)

         o Maria Crocifissa di Rosa

         o Mesmin

         o Nino

         o Valerian of Abbenza

         o Virginia Centurione Bracelli

   * Consualia, in honor of Consus. (Roman Empire)

   * Homecoming Day, celebrates the return of evacuated citizens to Alderney after World War II. (Alderney)

   * Kingdom Day or Koninkrijksdag, commemorates the signing of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1954. (Netherlands)

   * Zamenhof Day (International Esperanto Community)

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Moody’s Investors Service said in a Monday report that the tax-cut deal hammered out between President Obama and congressional Republicans jeopardizes the Aaa credit rating enjoyed by U.S. Treasury bonds. The package could add $900 billion to the national debt, if it is made permanent, and this increases the chances the U.S. would one day default on its debt.

“From a credit perspective, the negative effects on government finance are likely to outweigh the positive effects of higher economic growth. Unless there are offsetting measures, the package will be credit negative for the US and increase the likelihood of a negative outlook on the US government’s Aaa rating during the next two years,” Moody’s analyst Steven Hess writes.

Hess writes that the higher economic growth from the tax cuts and unemployment benefits might be substantial, but the effect of the growth on budget deficits will be less than the effect of the foregone revenue and increased spending.

He notes that the Congressional Budget Office has found that the package would raise the ratio of debt-to-gross domestic product from 61.6 percent to 68.5 percent by 2012.