U.S. gets some love, and hate, in Tehran

Officials praise Washington for placing an Iranian insurgent group on its terrorism list even as crowds mark the anniversary of the U.S. Embassy hostage-taking in 1979 with chants of ‘Death to America.’

By Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Beirut and Tehran – Supporters of Iran’s government took to the streets of the capital Thursday to denounce the United States on the 31st anniversary of the takeover of the American Embassy compound, even as the nation’s Foreign Ministry praised Washington for placing an Iranian militant group on a list of outlawed terrorist organizations.

In a rare moment of accord between the two nations, ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast praised the announcement Wednesday that the Obama administration had placed the ethnic Baluchi group Jundallah on its terrorism list. Iran executed the group’s leader,Abdulmalak Rigi, in June.

100 objects of desire: The story of the radio series of the year – from the man who made it

His History of the World in 100 Objects made for the most enlightening radio series – and now book – of recent times. They’re far more than just ancient curios, Neil MacGregor tells Boyd Tonkin

Friday, 5 November 2010  

Let’s begin with a clunkingly obvious question. Neil MacGregor reports that his favourite object, among the 100 chosen from the collection he guards to convey his “history of the world” via the BBC Radio 4 series and now in a bestselling book, “keeps moving around”. Still, the director of the British Museum does pick one thing that “in a sense stands for the whole venture”. And, for a British public intellectual whose influence just now might tempt him into hubris, it teaches a lesson in humility.

Chapter 90 in MacGregor’s A History of the World in 100 Objects concerns an ancient jade disc, or bi: a sort of plate-sized CD or frisbee made in China around 1200BC but inscribed with a poem written in 1790AD.

USA

Johann Hari: America is now officially for sale

It’s the Tea Party spirit distilled: pose as the champion of Joe America, while actually ripping him off

Friday, 5 November 2010

The laws and policies of the legislature of the United States of America are now effectively on e-Bay, for sale to the highest bidder. Are you a Wall Street boss who wants to party like it’s 2007? Are you a Big Coal baron who wants to burn, baby, burn? Are you an insurance company that wants to be able to kick sick people off your rolls? Meet John Boehner, the most powerful Republican and soon-to-be Speaker of the House. But – of course! – you already have.

Here’s an example of how you have worked together. In 1995, the House was going to finally repeal subsidies for growing tobacco, because an addictive cancer-causing drug didn’t seem like the most deserving recipient of tax-payers’ cash – until Boehner walked the floor of the House handing out checks from tobacco lobbyists to his fellow elected representatives. They changed their minds. The subsidy stayed. Explaining his check-dispensing, Boehner says: “It’s gone on here for a long time.” So get your bids in: the House is open for business.

For G.O.P., Big Ambitions Face Daunting Obstacles



By JACKIE CALMES Published: November 4, 2010  

WASHINGTON – Republican leaders in Congress are preparing to take power in two months with ambitious and sometimes contradictory goals for economic and fiscal policies, leaving little common ground with President Obama and much uncertainty about the potential impact on the nation’s problems.

Republicans are standing by their campaign vows to slash spending for domestic programs immediately by at least one-fifth – $100 billion in a single year – even as many mainstream economists say such deep cuts could further strain the economy and should await its full recovery.

Europe

‘Right to be forgotten’ proposed by European Commission

The European Commission has proposed a legal “right to be forgotten” allowing internet users to ensure that shameful pictures or other embarrassing online content is deleted from Facebook or other social networking websites.  

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels

Published: 1:38AM GMT 05 Nov 2010

EU data protection rules are to be updated to take into account the growing popularity of digital networking sites where people share photographs or personal details that can come back to haunt them in later life or when they become widely distributed on the internet.

There are growing fears about the negative influence of social networking sites on people’s careers, social and private lives after personal information, available to anyone using internet search engines, has led to failed job interviews, divorces and public disgrace.

Fear Darkens Czech Uranium Mining Town



By JAMES KANTER

Published: November 4, 2010

STRAZ POD RALSKEM, CZECH REPUBLIC – The national uranium company in the Czech Republic, Diamo, has been working for years to keep toxic waste left by decades of uranium mining from poisoning some of the country’s largest underground stocks of fresh water or reaching the Elbe River.

The cleanup, which began in 1996, is expected to last 30 more years, with a total cost of around $2.75 billion.

Middle East

Iraqis take fight for ‘torture’ inquiry to the High court

The Iraqi civilians will complain that their treatment occurred in British-controlled detention facilities in Iraq in the aftermath of the war

Press Association guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 November 2010 03.40 GMT

Lawyers acting for more than 140 Iraqi civilians who allege they suffered torture and inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of British soldiers and interrogators go to the High Court today seeking a wide-ranging public inquiry.

They will complain their ill treatment occurred during the period from March 2003 to December 2008 in British-controlled detention facilities in Iraq in the aftermath of the war to topple Saddam Hussein.

Their lawyers are challenging a refusal by Defence Secretary Liam Fox to order the sort of investigation they say is now necessary “to bring the full facts to light.”

Abbas accuses Iran of trying to derail talks in Middle East  

The Irish Times – Friday, November 5, 2010

MICHAEL JANSEN

PRESIDENT MAHMOUD Abbas yesterday accused Iran of encouraging Muslim militants to try to sabotage Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, stalled over the issue of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

He said that the US, Arab officials and representatives of the EU, UN and Russia were trying to secure a halt to Israeli settlement building. He indicated that he might step down if Israel continued to pursue its policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton plans to meet Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Washington next week.

Asia

Papuan tells of torture by Indonesian soldiers



Tom Allard November 5, 2010  

A PAPUAN man depicted in a video being burnt, suffocated and hit by Indonesian troops says he was tortured for two days, according to his testimony recorded and translated by Papuan activists.

Tunaliwor Kiwo was shown in agony as the soldiers burnt his penis in the video, which was filmed in May and revealed exclusively in the Herald last month. It prompted a horrified response in Indonesia and around the world, and led to the rapid arrest of five Indonesian soldiers, who face a military tribunal today.

Dozens die in new Mount Merapi eruption in Indonesia  

At least 49 people have been killed in the latest eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano – more than doubling the death toll since it became active again last week.

The BBC 5 November 2010  

Dozens are being treated for burns and respiratory problems after a gas cloud hit villages with even greater force than the previous eruptions.

More than 90 people are now said to have been killed.

An estimated 75,000 residents have been evacuated from the area.

Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, is located in a densely populated area in central Java.

The latest eruption began late on Thursday, sending residents streaming down the mountain with ash-covered faces.

Rescue workers said villages in the area were in flames and bodies burnt beyond recognition.

 

Africa

Spanish Wages Keep African Island Afloat  

The Second Niodior

By Dialika Krahe  

The sentence is still there, written on the dusty wall of his room in Niodior. It’s a little faded by now, but the letters are still as curved and rounded as ever: “The strength of a man does not lie in his freedom, but in the ability to fulfill his duty.”

The old women sit outside in the courtyard, nodding as they shell mussels and spread the yellow meat out to dry. Yes, Mamadou Ndour, they say, they remember him. He’s a good boy. He wrote the sentence on the wall with a piece of white chalk. Then he got into a wooden boat and headed out into the ocean.

Any of the boys from this island could have written the same sentence. It’s what they believe in, the young men of Niodior, a speck of land off the coast of Senegal.

Sudan peacekeepers probe Darfur clash



By David McKenzie, CNN

A battle between rebels and government forces in Sudan’s South Darfur is raising concern about further conflict in the restive region.

The government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) give conflicting accounts of a firefight that happened Wednesday morning at a village called Khor Ta’an.

On its website, Sudan’s Interior Ministry said JEM attacked a caravan carrying goods and fuel on the road between De’ain and Nyala inSouth Darfur state.

Latin America

Haiti ‘unprepared’ as hurricane approaches  

A powerful tropical storm is threatening to unleash lethal landslides in Haiti where hundreds of thousands of survivors of January’s devastating earthquake still live in exposed tent cities as aid workers warned the country is ‘unprepared’.  

By Philip Sherwell in New York

Published: 12:33AM GMT 05 Nov 2010

Haitian leaders urged many displaced in the tent cities to evacuate as the storm bore down, but thousands clung to their makeshift homes.

“My sisters and brothers, leave the zones that are at risk, I beg of you,” Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said in a television address.

Tropical Storm Tomas is forecast to regain hurricane strength today as it barrels past the coastline of the impoverished Caribbean country.

Ignoring Asia A Blog  

(4 PM – promoted by TheMomCat)

One of the problems, post-election, will be the Democrats’ reaction to the mid-term blowout. In past elections where Democrats have lost seats, there was a rush to emulate the conventional wisdom of why the other side prevailed. This time, aided by the corporate media that proclaims the country has moved solidly to the center- right, it is very conceivable that the Democrats will overreact to the small government, roll back spending, cut taxes, and reduce the deficit ‘mandate’ that the American people supposedly gave the Republicans in the recent election.

We all know that is nonsense. However, the Democratic Party has never been known to be the most astute when it comes to playing political hardball.

The freshmen House Republicans are not considered to be moderate by anyone’s measure. It is expected by many (but not all) that these newly elected representatives will not only join their caucus in lock step voting, but may end up pushing the GOP toward a more extreme position. While the House Democratic caucus will be a truer reflection of the ideology of the left now that the number of Blue Dogs has been drastically reduced, nevertheless it will be a minority without any meaningful voice in shaping legislation. In the long term, a more aligned left will provide more desirable results, but in the short term it will be powerless in the next congress.

As the House is traditionally responsible for the origin of revenue/expenditure legislation, it is unfathomable to expect anything coming from that body in the 112th Congress that calls for increased federal expenditures other than for national security and defense; rather it is anticipated to see much in the form of legislation that reduces expenditures. In short, there will be no additional federal stimulus to the economy and funding for liberal/progressive programs already in place will be eliminated or drastically reduced. Additionally, one could reasonably expect a stream of bills that are intended to deregulate the business community, to the detriment of society in general. Fortunately, all House legislation must be ratified or consensually amended by the Senate before it can be sent to the President for signature and become law.

Given that the House rules allow the Republican majority to do as they see fit, without the need of any Democrats to pass legislation, the Senate is now the Democratic firewall to stop an extremist House; or is it?

The Senate will remain under the control of the Democratic Party but with a very slim majority caucus of just 6 seats. When one looks at the difficulty that a 59 member Democratic caucus (+18 seats) experienced in passing liberal/progressive legislation, it isn’t logical to assume that a much smaller Senate majority in the 112th Congress (still consisting of ConservaDems) shall have any greater success. The Senate should attempt to pass liberal legislation, such as Immigration Reform, the Dream Act, etc if only to show the public that it has tried. Of course, any liberal legislation must be ratified by the House and that just isn’t going to happen.

Still, there are various proposals to reform the 60 vote requirement for cloture in the Senate with the intent of ending the gridlock in the Senate. However, ending gridlock as a noble objective depends upon which side of the majority/minority you sit on. While the Democrats remain in the majority, the caucus is not near as unified as their Republican counterpart. It goes without saying that the GOP has successfully capitalized on their obstructionist strategy. In fact they were, and continue to be, blatant about it. What we all believed early in 2009 to be their political suicide has proven to be just the opposite. So why reward Republicans by surrendering our use of a tool that has shown to be so effective when used against us?

As next senate will continue to include many centrist Democrats while the Republicans are effectively purging their caucus of moderates, it is worth noting there will be 23 Democratic caucus-held Senate seats up for re-election in 2012. Many of them will believe it necessary to ‘work’ with Republicans so as to be seen as ‘bi-partisan’ in the hope that they can appeal to the swing voter (taking the base for granted) and be re-elected. It is extremely likely that several of these senators, such as Ben Nelson, Claire McCaskill, Joe Lieberman, Bob Casey, Jim Webb, Jon Tester, Kent Conrad, Tom Carper, and newly elected Joe Manchin would break with the Democrats and join the Republicans on some draconian legislation. Under a simple majority rule, the chances of that happening are dramatically increased; it only takes 4 defectors to give the Republicans 51 votes. Reforming the filibuster to allow a simple majority vote on cloture will only end up handing the keys to our national policy to the likes of the ConservaDems, who, as it stands now under current cloture rules, have now been rendered irrelevant.

The president has voiced his support for reforming the way a filibuster is used without committing to specifics, as has Harry Reid. While I once agreed that such reform is necessary for the long term good of the country, the timing could not be worse for liberals/progressives on policy issues. And given the deep ideological divide that exists, the time may never come.  Perhaps an extremely limited reform of the rules that would prohibit all Executive Branch nominations (except SCOTUS) from being subject to a filibuster would be an acceptable change.

So as I see it, what we have to look forward to is the Democrats in congress playing what little offense they can and faced with two strategic options:

1. Compromise on extreme Republican legislation with the intent of watering it down so that the affect will not be as bad as it could be but still unacceptable. In other words, be Republican-lite. This appears to be the initial strategy emanating from the WH and Democratic leadership. It seems that they have learned nothing from the Blue Dog slaughter on Tuesday.

Or…

2. Counter all extreme House Republican revenue legislation in the Senate with liberal alternatives of economic stimulus bills(knowing they won’t pass) and at the same time not allow any extreme Republican legislation to become law in any way, shape, or form, including any deficit reduction legislation that adversely affects entitlement programs. This would provide the Democrats with an energized platform to run on in 2012. A side benefit to this strategy would be the frustration of the Tea Party activists who are expecting big policy changes from the Republicans. Perhaps they will find even more extreme candidates to back in 2012.

The one hugely variable component in the Democrats’ posture during the 112th Congress will be President Obama. He is the de facto leader of the party. Contrary to what is being discussed on the blogs and cable news outlets, he did say in his press conference yesterday that there are differences between the parties that will not be able to be reconciled. My hope is that he discovers sooner than later that the differences, not to mention the consequences, far outweigh any benefit he might realize in search of common ground.  

Mostly premiers.  Not much to pick from and nothing worth writing about.  A good night for a nap.

• AMC– Cujo, Sleepwalkers
• Bravo– Real Housewives marathon (with premier)
• Disney– Princess Protection Program
• Discovery– Oddities (Series Premier)
• ESPN– College Throwball, Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech
• Food– Food Feuds (premier)
• FX– It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League x 3 (premiers)
• History– Aliens! (one a premier)
• TBS– Hitch
• Turner Classic– The Killers, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (Ava Gardner night)
• TNT– Hoopies, Knicks @ Bulls, Thunder @ Trail Blazers
• Toon– Total Drama World Tour, Regular Show, MAD (this week’s)
• Travel– First Ascent marathon (Series Premier)

Later-

• AMC– Mad Men (10/17), Virus
• Turner Classic– Showboat (more Ava, not the good 1936 version)
• Toon– Delocated (Season Finale)

Dave hosts Edison Peña and Tracy Morgan.  Jon has David Sedaris, Stephen Elvis Costello.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 ECB, Britain hold rates steady as Fed pumps up funds

by William Ickes, AFP

Thu Nov 4, 1:15 pm ET

2 Fed resumes massive spending to spur recovery

by Andrew Beatty, AFP

Wed Nov 3, 7:28 pm ET

3 China, France sign major energy, aviation deals

by Roland Lloyd Parry, AFP

1 hr 6 mins ago

4 Norway the best place to live: UN

AFP

Thu Nov 4, 1:13 pm ET

5 Greece charges two as 14th parcel bomb surfaces

by Helene Colliopoulou, AFP

Thu Nov 4, 10:30 am ET

6 Republicans, Democrats talk of compromise after US vote

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Thu Nov 4, 9:54 am ET

7 NASA greenlights shuttle Discovery launch

by Jean-Louis Santini, AFP

Thu Nov 4, 5:11 am ET

8 Serbian leader apologises at Croatia massacre site

by Lajla Veselica, AFP

Thu Nov 4, 11:11 am ET

9 Myanmar’s Internet ‘under attack’ ahead of election

AFP

Thu Nov 4, 8:56 am ET

10 Cholera-hit Haiti braces for looming storm

AFP

Thu Nov 4, 7:08 am ET

11 Obama rues election ‘shellacking’

by Stephen Collinson, AFP

Thu Nov 4, 6:00 am ET

12 Two airlines ground A380s after emergency landing

By Harry Suhartono and Sanjeev Miglani, Reuters

Thu Nov 4, 12:55 pm ET

13 Republicans to attack healthcare law funding

By Richard Cowan, Reuters

2 hrs 2 mins ago

14 In book, Bush strongly defends use of waterboarding

By Steve Holland, Reuters

1 hr 17 mins ago

15 GM $13 billion IPO to cut Treasury stake to 43 percent

By Soyoung Kim and Clare Baldwin, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 11:47 pm ET

16 "Spiral" CT scans reduce smoker deaths: U.S. study

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters

1 hr 49 mins ago

17 WikiLeaks urges U.S. to fully examine abuses

By Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters

Thu Nov 4, 10:23 am ET

18 Fed takes bold, risky step to bolster weak economy

By Pedro da Costa and Mark Felsenthal, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 11:28 pm ET

19 Obama’s India visit may be more style than substance

By Alistair Scrutton, Reuters

Thu Nov 4, 10:51 am ET

20 Republicans vow to roll back Obama agenda

By John Whitesides, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 9:23 pm ET

21 Special Report: Frappuccino flippers?

By Lisa Baertlein, Reuters

Thu Nov 4, 8:56 am ET

22 Subdued Obama says suffered a voter "shellacking"

By Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 10:28 pm ET

23 ECB to maintain exit focus after Fed stimulus push

By Marc Jones, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 8:07 pm ET

24 Emerging market policymakers slam Federal Reserve move

By Ana Nicolaci da Costa and David Chance, Reuters

Thu Nov 4, 12:52 pm ET

25 U.S. dollar printing is huge risk: China central bank adviser

AFP

Thu Nov 4, 7:12 am ET

26 Navy seeks to buy warships from both bidders

By Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters

Wed Nov 3, 7:51 pm ET

27 Election doesn’t end major discord for GOP, Obama

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press

11 mins ago

28 Haiti homeless caught between eviction and storm

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press

27 mins ago

29 Obama heads to Asia after rebuke by voters

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press

16 mins ago

30 Cantor says House will focus on overseeing govt

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press

3 mins ago

31 Conn. election official says vote count incomplete

By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press

4 mins ago

32 Delaware politicians bury the hatchet — really

By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press

12 mins ago

33 Haiti homeless caught between eviction and storm

By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press

34 mins ago

34 Study: CT scans modestly cut lung cancer deaths

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

30 mins ago

35 EU wants tighter online privacy

By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER, AP Business Writer

1 hr 35 mins ago

36 No clear path for GOP on health care repeal

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

Thu Nov 4, 12:31 pm ET

37 Obama challenges Cabinet, sets bipartisan talks

By JULIE PACE, Associated Press

2 hrs 59 mins ago

38 Applications for jobless aid rise sharply

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

Thu Nov 4, 11:33 am ET

39 Retailers’ modest October may spur holiday deals

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer

2 hrs 16 mins ago

40 Top-ranked Westwood, Woods near lead in Shanghai

By DOUG FERGUSON, AP Golf Writer

Thu Nov 4, 1:14 pm ET

41 ‘Hobbit’ money sought as MGM files for bankruptcy

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer

Thu Nov 4, 7:37 am ET

42 GM expects to earn up to $2.1B as IPO approaches

By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

Thu Nov 4, 7:35 am ET

43 ACLU sues over ‘stop and frisk’ searches in Philly

By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press

1 hr 28 mins ago

44 Prosecutors imply DeLay PAC had funding problems

By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press

Thu Nov 4, 2:12 pm ET

45 CAPITAL CULTURE: Valerie Plame, in spotlight again

By JOCELYN NOVECK, AP National Writer

Thu Nov 4, 11:33 am ET

46 Victories in hand, governors face vast deficits

By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer

Thu Nov 4, 9:03 am ET

47 Report: Flight delays in NYC region bad as ever

By CHRIS HAWLEY, Associated Press

Thu Nov 4, 4:18 am ET

( – promoted by TheMomCat)

Rob Johnson is the Director of the Economic Policy Initiative at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and is a regular contributor to the Institute’s blog NewDeal2.0. He serves on the UN Commission of Experts on Finance and International Monetary Reform. Previously, Dr. Johnson was a Managing Director at Soros Fund Management where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. He was also a Managing Director at the Bankers Trust Company. Dr. Johnson has served as Chief Economist of the US Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire and was Senior Economist of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete Domenici. Dr. Johnson was an Executive Producer of Taxi to the Dark Side, an Oscar Winning documentary produced and directed by Alex Gibney.

Here, Johnson talks with Paul Jay of The Real News Network about the economic fallout from the past couple of years and the 2010 mid term elections, and concludes that…

…the baseline scenario now is one of prolonged stagnation, gridlock in the government, unless Obama essentially capitulates to the agenda of the right. But will we go into a deep downturn similar to 2007, ’08, early 2009? Not necessarily. We may just remain stagnant. Perhaps the best model is the so-called lost decade in Japan, where you have negligible growth, negligible inflation, or even modest deflation, and you just kind of bump along the bottom. The danger of that, as I alluded to previously, is the long-term, persistent unemployment allows the skills of many people in society to atrophy. And the United States, unlike Europe and Japan, does not have a strong safety net, so it probably foments more social unrest, kind of like what we saw in the formation of the protest movements and Tea Party as we approach this election.

Transcript

PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Paul Jay in Washington. And in Tuesday night elections, the Republicans had a blowout in the House, up 57 seats; they’re-made big gains in the Senate, although as far as things stand at the moment I’m talking, it looks like the Democrats will keep control of the Senate; and massacres in different parts of the country, places like Ohio, where the Republicans now have 13-to-5 control of Ohio’s House seats. Now joining us to talk about the issue of the day that everyone knows decided this election is Rob Johnson. Rob was formerly chief economist for the Senate Banking Committee, he’s been a hedge fund manager, and he’s now a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. Thanks for joining us, Rob.

ROB JOHNSON, ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE: My pleasure.

JAY: So it was all about jobs and the economy, and people made a choice. How do you account for what went on Tuesday night?

JOHNSON: I think it’s what you might call standard political business cycle theory. When unemployment is very high, when people don’t have a sense that we’ll come back any time soon, they’re going to look-how do I say it?-look at the despair and register it at the voting booth. I think it’s no mystery when you look at Pennsylvania, when you look at Ohio. These places have just been in pain, and too much pain, for far too long, and it was reflected in the results tonight.

JAY: But do you think it had to be that there was nothing that President Obama could have done? Or is it really more about his policies, that he was seen to be, you know, not the fighter for the middle class. When he first-when-days after the inauguration, I remember that Vice President Biden was put in charge of a commission whose mission was to work for the middle class. I myself never heard of that commission again, and certainly he didn’t come into this election looking like the man who fought for the middle class.

JOHNSON: No. I think you must admit that he was dealt a very bad hand at the outset. After eight years of Bush and Cheney, people asked for great change. The economy was collapsing, the financial sector was on the edge of going over the cliff. But to refer to your question, the stimulus programs were not well designed in terms of composition. There was nothing tangible or long-term that resulted from the stimulus, where people could look up and say, that’s new, I see that bridge, my life is different, it’s getting better. Secondly, the stimulus program wasn’t big enough and didn’t last long enough, so that essentially the economy started to decelerate and stagnate right into the election. And that’s a recipe for disaster.

JAY: Now, you would have thought that in this kind of situation the bad guys would have been Wall Street. But when you hear the kind of things people are saying that are supporting the Tea Party and many of the Republican candidates, it’s all about government and essentially letting Wall Street off the hook, which is really hard to compute, given that there was so much anger about the kind of size of the bonuses executives were getting. It’s really hard to understand how this message gets converted the way it did, quite successfully.

JOHNSON: It is somewhat difficult, though at the end of July, Pew Research had a big poll which said to the American people, what do you think happened with the stimulus money? They said, in that poll result, large corporations, powerful people, and large financial institutions benefited; the middle class did not, and the poor did not. And when you looked at the kind of context of these surveys, what people in essence were saying is, I would rather shut off government if it will only back the rich and powerful than put a tax burden on my future or my children’s future, because the benefits in this broken political system do not transmit to the people in need. And I think in that context it’s not so much left or right, Republican or Democrat; it’s incumbents are out, challengers are in.

JAY: Now, President Obama gathered around him a pretty old guard Wall Street team of advisors. Does he not have to make some radical rupture with that team? And if he called you tomorrow morning and say, “Rob, what should I do?” what would you tell him?

JOHNSON: I think he does need to shake things up. On the other hand, Rahm Emanuel and Larry Summers have already left. It’s open to interpretation, though. Many will say, well, since the Republicans did well, Obama needs to turn to the right. Others will say, he deserted his base, the young people who brought him into office. Those young people cannot find jobs now. Those young people are looking for something to believe in. They’re looking for that hope. They’re looking for a kind of change that they didn’t see materialize in the first two years. So I think you’re right. They may need to do something drastic. We need to [bring] major changes in. But they may also do things like accelerate foreign policy conflict, going back to the time of Bismarck. Whenever things aren’t working right at home, we try to redirect the public’s energy abroad.

JAY: Well, they’ve got a built-in ally with that, with the Republicans coming in, controlling the House, and wanting very much to make Iran the issue. If that’s the way Obama wants to go, he’ll have some help. But, again, if he asked you then, “If I was to do something dramatic,” says President Obama to you, “what should I do? Even if I have to get into a war with the Republican House, what should I be pushing?”

JOHNSON: I think he should be pushing a very, very strong domestic infrastructure plan. A couple of months ago he talked about a $50 billion plan. That’s maybe one-fifteenth of the size of what he needs, maybe one-twentieth. The United States is now falling way behind in research and development spending compared to the Chinese on clean energy, many parts of information technology, even biomedical engineering. We’re seeing more and more R&D spent in Asia and not in the United States. Education spending. Early-stage capital markets could be invigorated, ’cause those early-stage capital markets are what bring new firms and new jobs to the market. We need to transform and we need to believe that we’re going to transform this economy. My father is a physician, retired physician, and he often says, when people are in pain, the way you heal them is, first and foremost, convince them it’s transient. President Obama needs to step forward now and start fighting for a vision that will convince the American people that this pain and this dislocation that we’re mired in right now will come to an end in the not-too-distant future.

JAY: Well, you’d think the time to have really put out a vision was in ’09 when he had some clout to do it with. The pressure now is going to be, is the Republicans are going to say, well, we’ve got a mandate for no taxes, less taxes, smaller government, no stimulus. I mean, he has to go out and wage a war against what essentially the elections supposedly just told him.

JOHNSON: Well, he’s in a situation where what you might call the philosophy of the New Deal versus the economic philosophy of the time before that, with very little government involvement, is what’s at issue. At some level, people arguing about stimulus and its impact and so forth is all a sidebar. What they’re really arguing about is the scale and the scope of the role of government. Franklin Roosevelt convinced people that government could make a difference and could be a positive influence in their life to large portions of the population. The bailouts convinced people that Ronald Reagan was right when he said government is the problem, not the solution.

JAY: Well, the biggest argument is the deficit and the debt is the biggest problem, and if you deal with that, employment will come back. President Obama does not seem to have really taken that on, at least not in a way that’s effective. How would you take that on?

JOHNSON: I would say, when you look at debt or deficits, it’s always in relation to GDP growth. And when you have 10 percent unemployment, you’re not collecting tax revenue. When you’re allowing persistent unemployment, you’re allowing the skills of the American people to atrophy. That’s going to put you into deeper debt and deeper slump. You have to start a process of growing your way out and transforming the economy to again attract private investment and perhaps engage in some kind of readjustment-I’d say pretty substantial readjustment-of the US exchange rate vis-à-vis Asia. Right now, when you look at the campaign ads in Ohio, the demonization of China, which at some level is quite unfair, is getting traction. The US economy is struggling, and the Chinese are doing very, very well. But the Chinese are reinvesting in themselves, in their infrastructure, in high-speed trains, in education, and the United States is allowing these things to wither, in large part so that wealthy people don’t have to pay more taxes.

JAY: How concerned are you that what’s going to happen now is two years of paralysis in Washington? And then, if that’s the case, what are the possibilities we head into a very deep or deeper recession/depression?

JOHNSON: What I would say is, first of all, I’m very concerned. I think the baseline scenario now is one of prolonged stagnation, gridlock in the government, unless Obama essentially capitulates to the agenda of the right. But will we go into a deep downturn similar to 2007, ’08, early 2009? Not necessarily. We may just remain stagnant. Perhaps the best model is the so-called lost decade in Japan, where you have negligible growth, negligible inflation, or even modest deflation, and you just kind of bump along the bottom. The danger of that, as I alluded to previously, is the long-term, persistent unemployment allows the skills of many people in society to atrophy. And the United States, unlike Europe and Japan, does not have a strong safety net, so it probably foments more social unrest, kind of like what we saw in the formation of the protest movements and Tea Party as we approach this election.

JAY: Thanks very much for joining us, Rob.

JOHNSON: My pleasure.

JAY: And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.

Is it time to primary Obama?

Nov. 2: The Death Knell of Corporate Liberalism

Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive

(But) Obama didn’t help himself by trying to placate the Republicans and by muddling his messaging.

He didn’t help himself by lowballing the stimulus and by rejecting a moratorium on foreclosures.

He didn’t help himself by playing a Washington insider game, by trying to buy off a couple of Republicans in Congress and by playing footie with huge industries, like the banks and the pharmaceutical companies. . .

He didn’t call people to march on Washington for universal health care, or at least Medicare for all who want it.

You can’t tell an unemployed person that you’d have been twice as unemployed without my help. You need to give that person a job now.

You can’t tell an elderly person you’re closing the donut hole on prescription drugs-by the year 2020. You need to close it now.

You can’t tell an adult with a pre-existing condition that you’ll force insurance companies to cover you-by the year 2014, when you may be dead. You need to cover people now.

You can’t tell families being foreclosed upon that you’re trying hard to keep them in their homes. You need to keep them in their homes now.

h/t lambert @ Corrente

How’d That Bipartisanship Thing Work Out For You?

Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks

I’d like to ask all of the people who thought trying to reach out to Republicans in a bipartisan manner would be a good idea — Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama in particular — how’d that work out for you?

h/t Hecate

This has to be my favorite rant

What Athenae said

Here’s the problem, you gutless fucks. You had majorities. And I KNOW, okay, but all America sees is that you had majorities and you wasted them. Because that’s what the GOP told them, and you said, “buh buh buh” and couldn’t point to anything you did right, not even with the unwashed hippies holding your arm up for you. You had majorities, and you had Harry Reid, refusing to be mean to Republicans by shoving stuff through. You had majorities, and you had Barack Obama acting like he was already an ex-president and could be gracious and social with these pricks. You had majorities, used them to do some stuff, and then sat back and acted like we should be grateful when we can fucking count.

We can fucking count, out here. We know what 51 means. We know what 257 means. We’re not morons. And all the procedural whatsit you argue today, about ConservaDems and Blue Dogs, doesn’t mean shit. You had it, and we worked hard to give it to you, and we see you calling things impossible which are just very hard, and we get fucking annoyed, because we don’t get to get away with that shit. Not at our jobs and not in our lives. . . .

You had majorities. You had power and you told us you were powerless. Why would anyone reward that with more power? Why would anyone think that’s a good idea?

Schmucks.

From Starhawke at Dirt Worship

Remember that the real work of change is always going on-if not in Washington, then in thousands of towns and neighborhoods and communities, if not in the halls of power, then in the streets.  Don’t be complacent, but don’t despair.  All around us are allies working for more justice, more freedom, more ecological balance, more peace.    This is not a time to fall back, but to step up, to be bolder, braver, louder, funnier, more inventive, more outrageous, more committed.  Political winds blow back and forth-hold to your deepest values, and we’ll stay the course.

And finally what digby said what Hillary said what Harriet said:

I thought that Hillary Clinton had it right when she said at the Democratic Convention in 2008:

“My mother was born before women could vote, my daughter got to vote for her mother for President. This is the story of America, of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.

So how do we give this country back to them? By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her li[fe] to bring slaves to freedom along the underground railroad.

On that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice:

‘If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If they’re shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop, keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.’

And even in the darkest moments. That is what Americans have done. We have found the faith to keep going.”

“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.

Gail Collins: The Day After the Day After

O.K., you poor little Democrats. Stop sobbing. Lift up your little liberal heads and shout. There’s gonna be. …

Umm.

Harry Reid! There’s gonna be more Harry Reid! Nobody thought it could happen, but the charisma-challenged Senate majority leader won another term, decisively defeating Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite who had claimed that American cities were run by Sharia law and who had ingratiated herself to a roomful of Hispanic teenagers by telling them that they looked Asian to her.

Yes, the Titanic went down, but Harry Reid got a lifeboat. I know you were hoping for someone more Leonardo DiCaprio, but right now you’d better take what you can get.

Arianna Huffington: In 2009 the White House Underestimated the Economic Devastation, in 2010 Democrats Paid the Price

For all the hours of pre-election predictions and post-vote analysis, the 2010 midterms came down to a very simple truth: If unemployment were near double digits come November, Democrats would take a beating.

It is, and they have.

Exit polls found that nearly nine in ten voters believe the economy is in bad shape. The same percentage said they feel pessimistic about America’s economic future. That’s practically everyone!

And while a large majority of voters still believe that George Bush is to blame for getting us into this mess, they are clearly holding Obama accountable for not fixing it.

Amanda Marcotte: The Real Reason Sharron Angle Lost

It’s the curse of the Mama Grizzly.

Sharron Angle had all the breaks that should have allowed her to take the Senate seat in Nevada. She was running against a wildly unpopular incumbent in a state that leads the nation in unemployment. She raised and spent a record amount of money for a Senate race. She ran a race-baiting campaign in a style that almost always works for Republicans. She had the Mama Grizzly hype behind her. Despite all this, she managed to lose the race for Senate by virtue of her inability to stop saying crazy things, talking about “Second Amendment remedies,” calling the unemployed “spoiled,” and telling a group of Latino students that they look Asian to her.

Still, it all seems a little unfair. Angle, for all her hard-right views, was no worse and often better than some of her more successful male colleagues running in swing states, such as Pat Toomey and Marco Rubio. In the world of gaffes, she fell short of Rand Paul, who called for the repeal of the Civil Rights Act before backing off and who kept having to let go of volunteers and employees for doing things like celebrating lynching and stomping on the head of a MoveOn activist.

David Sirota: Ignore the Media Conflictinator: 2010 Vote Was Turning Point Against Conservative Doctrine

There is no shortage of disturbing/depressing meta-messages from last night’s election results. . . .

All of that said, though, there is one very positive meta-message that — arguably — trumps all of the negative ones — a meta-message that will be inevitably ignored by what Jon Stewart so aptly called the national media’s D.C.-obsessed “conflictinator.” You can see this deeper, far more important story in the ballot measures.

Ballot measures get ignored by the media because they don’t involve personality — but that’s exactly why they are so good at telling us what an election is all about. Precisely because they are exclusively about issues and stripped of all the personality/side issues that come with specific candidates, ballot measures tell us what voters are thinking. And when you look at what happened to the ballot measures here that exemplify the most pure form of conservative doctrine, you see an overwhelming rejection of that doctrine.

Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson: Giving the Keys Back to the Folks Who Crashed the Car

After Tuesday’s drubbing, Democrats will search for the hidden message of the election. But the message isn’t hidden: The decisive blocs of voters that switched from Democrats in 2008 to Republicans in 2010 were angry and disillusioned — with the economy, with a political system they see as helping banks and CEOs, not ordinary working families, and with both parties, Republicans (exit-poll favorability rating: 41 percent) as well as Democrats (43 percent). They want action to rebalance the economy so it produces jobs and gains for the middle class, not just Wall Street. Unfortunately, they’re not going to get it.

That’s because these voters have just handed Congress back to a party least likely to heed their call: the party that spent the last two years saying no to Wall Street reform, to an economic recovery package that included major tax cuts, to expanded health insurance and medical cost control, and to extension of the 2001 tax cuts for the middle class; the party that shamelessly courted lobbyists and corporate donors while claiming they were only against reform because it represented a “bailout” of these very same interests.

Dahlia Lithwick: Standing Down

The Supreme Court wonders whether your non-money can fund non-religion.

his morning’s oral argument over the constitutionality of an Arizona tax credit revealed that even when the justices are peering down at a murky mud puddle of doctrine, they can still see precisely what they want to see. Arizona v. Winn is about a suicide pact between two doomed lines of First Amendment jurisprudence: The rule that grants taxpayers “standing” to bring lawsuits in cases that may have the effect of “establishing religion” and the rule that holds that government shouldn’t be in the business of establishing religion in the first place.

The standing question sounds trickier than it is. Usually taxpayers can’t even get into courtrooms with the claim that they don’t like how the state is spending their tax dollars (on, say, wars or highways). But in the narrow area of the Establishment Clause, the Supreme Court allows taxpayers to sue the government based on the idea that there is no other mechanism to stop the government from promoting religion, since presumably it’s only the taxpayer who is harmed. In a 1968 case, Flast v. Cohen, the court determined that taxpayers could sue when government expenditures are unconstitutional. There is a real question looming today about whether the Establishment Clause can be policed in any other way if Flast is overturned.

John Dickerson: I Don’t Feel Your Pain

At his news conference, Obama struggles to show that he “gets it.”

Every year the president’s doctor gives him a physical. In the second year of his term, the voters give him a colonic. Or, as President Obama put it at his news conference Wednesday, “a shellacking.”

n the post-election press conference that has now become a White House tradition, Obama’s goal was to show that he “got it.” This was the big charge of the campaign, lobbed liberally by both sides. But the election results shifted the burden on the president. Republicans didn’t just take over the House and win six seats in the Senate. They picked up a slew of governor’s offices and flipped 19 statehouses from Democratic to Republican.

There is a formula for these press conferences after the president’s party suffers a big electoral defeat. Bill Clinton in 1994, George W. Bush in 2006, and Obama today all acknowledged that voters wanted an end to partisan bickering and called for a new era of cooperation. This may be true, but it’s not the point. All took responsibility for the slow pace of “progress”-a word each put into heavy rotation-but went no further. All refused to admit that the election said anything about their course for the country.

My particular family is the Corleones, not as big and powerful as the Barzinis, but respected because we believe and practice the old ways.

Not that we don’t have our problems.  A while back we had 2 consecutive bad leaders.  The first one stopped running the business and played favorites so we threatened them with impeachment and they had the good grace to resign.

The second one ran the business but stole from it, which is not acceptable, so we had Tom Hagen explain to them just what would happen in prison.

After this we took a long hard look at our procedures for changing leadership and decided on some new ones.

The Don can be voted out at any meeting of the capos by a simple majority.  The reasoning behind that is if you’re so unpopular that people want to get rid of you, and you’re too stupid to realize that and make sure you have a majority at the meeting…

Well, then you’re just too stupid to be Don.

Consider this a parable.

(inspired by paradox @ The Left Coaster)

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

November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 57 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen discover a step leading to the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

The British Egyptologist Howard Carter (employed by Lord Carnarvon) discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb (since designated KV62) in the Valley of the Kings on November 4, 1922, near the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI, thereby setting off a renewed interest in all things Egyptian in the modern world. Carter contacted his patron, and on November 26 that year, both men became the first people to enter Tutankhamun’s tomb in over 3000 years. After many weeks of careful excavation, on February 16, 1923, Carter opened the inner chamber and first saw the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun. All of this was conveyed to the public by H. V. Morton, the only journalist allowed on the scene.

The first step to the stairs was found on November 4, 1922. The following day saw the exposure of a complete staircase. The end of November saw access to the Antechamber and the discovery of the Annex, and then the Burial Chamber and Treasury.

On November 29, the tomb was officially opened, and the first announcement and press conference followed the next day. The first item was removed from the tomb on December 27.

February 16, 1923 saw the official opening of the Burial Chamber, and April 5 saw the death of Lord Carnarvon.

On February 12, 1924, the granite lid of the sarcophagus was raised In April, Carter argued with the Antiquities Service, and left the excavation for the United States.

In January 1925, Carter resumed activities in the tomb, and on October 13, he removed the cover of the first sarcophagus; on October 23, he removed the cover of the second sarcophagus; on October 28, the team removed the cover of the final sarcophagus and exposed the mummy; and on November 11, the examination of the remains of Tutankhamun started.

Work started in the Treasury on October 24, 1926, and between October 30 and December 15, 1927, the Annex was emptied and examined.

On November 10, 1930, eight years after the discovery, the last objects were finally removed from the tomb of the long lost Pharaoh.

 1333 – The River Arno flooding causing massive damage in Florence as recorded by the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani.

1429 – Joan of Arc liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier.

1501 – Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII’s first wife) meets Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII’s older brother – they would later marry.

1576 – Eighty Years’ War: In Flanders, Spain captures Antwerp (after three days the city is nearly destroyed).

1677 – The future Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange. They would later jointly reign as William and Mary.

1737 – The Teatro di San Carlo is inaugurated.

1783 – W.A. Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.

1791 – The Western Confederacy of American Indians wins a major victory over the United States in the Battle of the Wabash.

1825 – The Erie Canal is completed with Governor DeWitt Clinton performing the Wedding of The Waters ceremony in New York Harbour.

1839 – The Newport Rising: the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain.

1852 – Count Camillo Benso di Cavour becomes the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expands to become Italy.

1861 – The University of Washington opens in Seattle, Washington as the Territorial University.

1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Johnsonville – Confederate troops bombard a Union supply base and destroy millions of dollars in material.

1889 – Menelek of Shoa obtains the allegiance of a large majority of the Ethiopian nobility, paving the way for him to be crowned emperor.

1890 – City & South London Railway: London’s first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell.

1903 – Panama adopts its flag one day after it separated from Colombia

1918 – World War I: Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy.

1918 – The German Revolution begins when 40,000 sailors take over the port in Kiel.

1921 – The Sturmabteilung or SA is formed by Adolf Hitler

1921 – Japanese Prime Minister Hara Takashi is assassinated in Tokyo.

1921 – The Italian unknown soldier is buried in the Altare della Patria (Fatherland Altar) in Rome.

1922 – In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

1924 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is elected the first female governor in the United States.

1939 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.

1942 – World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein – Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat.

1944 – World War II: Bitola Liberation Day

1952 – The United States government establishes the National Security Agency.

1955 – After being totally destroyed in World War II, the rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio.

1956 – Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union, that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country.

1962 – In a test of the Nike-Hercules air defense missile, Shot Dominic-Tightrope is successfully detonated 69,000 feet above Johnston Island. It would also be the last atmospheric nuclear test conducted by the United States.

1966 – Two-thirds of Florence, Italy is submerged as the River Arno floods; together with the contemporaneous flood of the Po River in northern Italy, this leads to 113 deaths, 30,000 made homeless, and the destruction of numerous Renaissance artworks and books.

1970 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – The United States turns control of the Binh Thuy Air Base in the Mekong Delta over to South Vietnam.

1970 – Genie, a 13-year-old feral child is found in Los Angeles, California having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.

1973 – The Netherlands experiences the first Car Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are deserted and are used only by cyclists and roller skaters.

1979 – Iran hostage crisis begins: a group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).

1993 – A China Airlines Boeing 747 overruns Runway 13 at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak International Airport while landing during a typhoon, injuring 22 people.

1994 – San Francisco: First conference that focuses exclusively on the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web.

1995 – Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an extremist Orthodox Israeli.

2002 – Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress.

2008 – Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States.

2008 – Proposition 8 passes in California, representing the first ever elimination of an existing right to marry for LGBT couples.

H/T lambert @ Corrente

Why Democrats Lost the House to Republicans

Posted by Samuel J. Best, CBS News

November 3, 2010 2:38 AM

Preliminary CBS News exit polls show that these results were fueled primarily by a depressed turnout among Democratic base groups…

…

Core Democratic groups stayed away in droves Tuesday, costing Democratic House candidates dearly at the polls.

Hispanics, African Americans, union members and young people were among the many core Democratic groups that turned out in large numbers in the 2008 elections, propelling Mr. Obama and Democratic House candidates to sizable victories. In 2010, turnout among these groups dropped off substantially, even below their previous midterm levels.

Group	2010	2006	2008
Under 30	11%	13% (-2)	18% (-7)
Union Households	17%	23% (-6)	21% (-4)
African Americans	10%	–	13% (-3)

You should really click on lambert’s link because while some of it is stuff you’ve already seen here, he also links many commentaries I haven’t highlighted.