Sep 20 2010

How to feel poor on $500,000 a year

Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

The Angry Rich

By PAUL KRUGMAN, The New York Times

Published: September 19, 2010

(I)f you want to find real political rage – the kind of rage that makes people compare President Obama to Hitler, or accuse him of treason – … (y)ou’ll find it … among the very privileged, people who don’t have to worry about losing their jobs, their homes, or their health insurance, but who are outraged, outraged, at the thought of paying modestly higher taxes.

…

(W)hen Forbes magazine runs a cover story alleging that the president of the United States is deliberately trying to bring America down as part of his Kenyan, “anticolonialist” agenda, that “the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s.” When it comes to defending the interests of the rich, it seems, the normal rules of civilized (and rational) discourse no longer apply.

…

Tax-cut advocates used to pretend that they were mainly concerned about helping typical American families. Even tax breaks for the rich were justified in terms of trickle-down economics, the claim that lower taxes at the top would make the economy stronger for everyone.

These days, however, tax-cutters are hardly even trying to make the trickle-down case. Yes, Republicans are pushing the line that raising taxes at the top would hurt small businesses, but their hearts don’t really seem in it. Instead, it has become common to hear vehement denials that people making $400,000 or $500,000 a year are rich. I mean, look at the expenses of people in that income class – the property taxes they have to pay on their expensive houses, the cost of sending their kids to elite private schools, and so on. Why, they can barely make ends meet.

And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: it’s their money, and they have the right to keep it.

In Which Mr. Deling Responds to Someone Who Might Be Professor Todd Henderson

J. Bradford DeLong, Department of Economics, U.C. Berkeley

September 18, 2010

As best as Michael O’Hare could determine (and Professor Henderson or whoever it is does not challenge him), the Henderson annual family budget is this:

$455,000 a year of income, of which:

  • $60,000 in student loan payments
  • $40,000 is employer contributions to 401(k) and similar retirement savings vehicles
  • $15,000 is employer contributions to health insurance
  • $60,000 is untaxed employee contributions to tax-favored retirement savings vehicles
  • $25,000 building equity in their house
  • $80,000 in state and federal income taxes
  • $15,000 in property taxes
  • $10,000 for automobiles
  • $55,000 in housing costs for a $1M house (three times the average price in the Hyde Park neighborhood
  • $60,000 in private school costs for three children
  • $35,000 in other living expenses

And of this budget, Professor Henderson (or whoever) writes:

Like most working Americans, insurance, doctors’ bills, utilities, two cars, daycare, groceries, gasoline, cell phones, and cable TV (no movie channels) round out our monthly expenses. We also have someone who cuts our grass, cleans our house, and watches our new baby…. [W]e have less than a few hundred dollars per month of discretionary income. We occasionally eat out but with a baby sitter, these nights take a toll on our budget. Life in America is wonderful, but expensive. If our taxes rise significantly… the (legal) immigrant from Mexico who owns the lawn service we employ will suffer, as will the (legal) immigrant from Poland who cleans our house a few times a month. We can cancel our cell phones and some cable channels, as well as take our daughter from her art class at the community art center…

Now it is time for a reality check on this “most working Americans.” The median household income in the United States today is $50,000. Half of all households make more than this. Half of all households make less. The big expenses in the Henderson family budget–their $60,000 a year in contributions to tax-favored retirement savings vehicles, their $25,000 a year savings building home equity, their $55,000 for housing, their $60,000 in private school costs, even their $10,000 a year for new cars–are simply out of reach for the overwhelming majority of Americans. Half of all households make less than $50,000 a year–the Hendersons make nine times that. 90% of households make less than $100,000 a year–the Henderson’s make 4.5 times that. The Henderson’s are solidly in the top 1% of American households, in the select 1% group that receives more than $350,000 a year.

By any standard, they are really rich.

But they don’t feel rich. They have a cash flow problem. When the bills are paid at the end of the month, the money is gone–and they feel that they have to scrimp.

…

Professor Henderson’s problem is that he thinks that he ought to be able to pay off student loans, contribute to retirement savings vehicles, build equity, drive new cars, live in a big expensive house, send his children to private school, and still have plenty of cash at the end of the month for the $200 restaurant meals, the $1000 a night resort hotel rooms, and the $75,000 automobiles. And even half a million dollars a year cannot (get) you all of that.

…

(W)hy does he think that that is the way things should be? … (H)ere is the dirty secret: Professor Henderson thinks that that is the way things should be because he knows people for whom that is the way it is.

…

Professor Henderson in 1980 would have known who the really rich were, and they would on average have had about four times his income–more, considerably more, but not a huge gulf. He would have known people who were truly rich, and he would have seen himself as one of them–or as almost one of them.

…

Now fast forward to today.

…

Of the 100 people richer than he is, fully ten have more than four times his income. And he knows of one person with 20 times his income. He knows who the really rich are, and they have ten times his income: They have not $450,000 a year. They have $4.5 million a year. And, to him, they are in a different world.

And so he is sad. He and his wife deserve to be successful. And he knows people who are successful. But he is not one of them–widening income inequality over the past generation has excluded him from the rich who truly have money.

And this makes him sad. And angry. But, curiously enough, not angry at the senior law firm partners who extract surplus value from their associates and their clients, or angry at the financiers, but angry at… Barack Obama, who dares to suggest that the U.S. government’s funding gap should be closed partly by taxing him, and angry at the great hordes of the unwashed who will receive the Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security payments that the government will make over the next several generations.

And in the real world-

Poverty stats show the damage

By Carol Morello, Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, September 17, 2010

In the second year of a brutal recession, the ranks of the American poor soared to their highest level in half a century and millions more are barely avoiding falling below the poverty line, the Census Bureau reported Thursday.

About 44 million Americans – one in seven – lived last year in homes in which the income was below the poverty level, which is about $22,000 for a family of four. That is the largest number of people since the census began tracking poverty 51 years ago.

Business News below the fold.

From Yahoo News Business

1 BP’s broken well in Gulf of Mexico is ‘dead’

AFP

Mon Sep 20, 12:41 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US officials have finally declared BP’s broken well in the Gulf of Mexico “dead”, five months after a deadly oil rig explosion set off one of the costliest and largest environmental disasters ever.

Although the troublesome well may have been killed once and for all, BP still faces a long uphill battle to clean up the Gulf, a litany of lawsuits, billions of dollars in fines and shareholders angered by the firm’s instability after its share price more than halved.

Retired admiral Thad Allen, the US pointman for the government’s response to the disaster, said the operation to intersect and cement the deepwater well had been successfully completed.

2 Faded dreams for Mozambican labours in East Germany

by Johannes Myburgh, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 2:04 pm ET

MAPUTO (AFP) – A handful of tattered photos are all that remain of Mozambican Anacleto Amade’s two years in East Germany, where he worked in the 1980s under a labour scheme between the then-communist allies.

But his memories of friendships abroad and walking in the snow are scant comfort now. Like most of the 15,000 Mozambicans sent to work in East German factories, Amade said he was never been paid his full wages.

“When I see those pictures, the emotion is enormous, it is big. It is the size of the world. Because no one’s story is the same,” the 41-year-old said.

3 Global brands face growing labour militancy in Asia

by Cat Barton, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 3:03 am ET

DHAKA (AFP) – Global retailers fleeing China’s rising labour costs now find themselves facing growing pressure for higher wages in countries from Bangladesh to Cambodia, Vietnam, India and Indonesia.

The latest sign that workers are becoming more militant in their demands for a larger share of the region’s economic success came in Cambodia last week, when tens of thousands of workers went on strike.

The mass protest rejecting a proposed 20 percent pay increase crippled Cambodia’s export-orientated garment industry, which produces items for renowned brands including Gap, Benetton, Adidas and Puma.

4 Microsoft, Yahoo! jostle for US search share

by Chris Lefkow, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 1:23 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Google is the undisputed king of search in the United States, but the question remains, who’s number two?

Yahoo! has long held that position but Microsoft has been creeping up and may even have leapfrogged the Sunnyvale, California, company in a competition whose goal is to turn more Internet searches into more advertising dollars.

According to The Nielsen Co., Microsoft, led by new Web search engine Bing, overtook Yahoo! for the first time in August to make it the number two search service in the United States.

5 Nissan to double China capacity

By Fang Yan and Alison Leung, Reuters

23 mins ago

ZHENGZHOU, China/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Japan’s Nissan Motor (7201.T) plans to double its capacity in China by 2012, joining a host of peers that have made similar recent moves to capture a bigger slice of the world’s biggest auto market.

Nissan’s new plan, which would see its annual capacity rise to 1.2 million units, exceeds the company’s earlier target by 20 percent, underscoring its strong interest in China — a rare bright spot for automakers as the global industry struggles to emerge from a sharp downturn.

Japan’s third-largest automaker and its 44 percent owner Renault SA of France (RENA.PA) are also steering clear of General Motors’ (GM.UL) upcoming initial public offering and won’t subscribe to its shares.

6 Bailout cop expands staff as TARP expires

By David Lawder, Reuters

1 hr 12 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Treasury’s $700 billion bailout fund officially expires in two weeks, but not for Neil Barofsky, the top cop for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

He’s hiring new staff and opening four regional branch offices to pursue TARP-related fraud cases and monitor remaining taxpayer investments for years to come.

Barofsky, the TARP Special Inspector General, said his office staff, now numbering around 140, is expected to reach a previously stated goal of 160 in coming months and may go beyond that.

7 Slowing recovery a policy headache

By Kristina Cooke, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 3:02 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The sputtering global economy is complicating life for policymakers from Washington to Tokyo.

When the financial crisis erupted in 2007, authorities around the world began throwing nearly everything they had at the problem to avoid a re-run of the Great Depression.

Three years later, with the global recovery losing momentum, they find themselves in a tough spot yet again.

8 Google defends shrinking China market share

By JOE McDONALD, AP Business Writer

52 mins ago

BEIJING – Google is hiring dozens of marketing and technical employees in China to defend a shrinking market share against local rivals after closing its Chinese search engine six months ago this Wednesday in a dispute over censorship.

Mainland users usually can reach Google’s Chinese-language site in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory with no Internet filtering. That has helped Google retain its rank as China’s second-most-popular search engine but Hong Kong access is occasionally blocked and some users have defected to local alternatives, mostly to market leader Baidu.com.

Google Inc. has kept a research and development center and advertising sales offices in China and is promoting its Android operating system for mobile phones. It launched what it says is a “large-scale recruiting campaign” for at least 40 posts this summer, from national marketing manager to software designer.

9 China’s SAIC noncommittal on stake in GM IPO

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer

Mon Sep 20, 2:27 am ET

SHANGHAI – Chinese automaker and General Motors Co. partner SAIC said Monday it is paying close attention to GM’s upcoming stock sale, but gave no hint over whether it plans to take a stake itself.

GM executives in the U.S. and China likewise refused comment on reports that the automaker is in talks with its state-owned joint venture partner SAIC about buying a stake in the Detroit company through its initial public offering.

But a U.S. Treasury Department statement said investors in GM would be sought across “multiple geographies,” with a focus on North America.

10 Government could seek foreign investors for GM

By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

Sun Sep 19, 8:10 pm ET

DETROIT – Investment bankers handling the upcoming General Motors Co. stock sale are expected to court foreign investors as well as those in North America, according to a U.S. Treasury Department statement.

GM and the Treasury Department would not comment Sunday on reports that the automaker is in talks with its current partner in China, SAIC, about buying a stake in the Detroit company. SAIC is owned by the Chinese government.

The Treasury Department, in a statement issued late Friday, said investors in GM would be sought across “multiple geographies,” with a focus on North America.

11 Gulf oil well is dead but the pain will remain

By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 37 mins ago

The well that spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is finally dead, but residents will be feeling the pain for years to come.

A permanent cement plug sealed BP’s well nearly 2.5 miles below the sea floor, five agonizing months after an explosion sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government’s point man on the disaster, said Sunday that BP’s well “is effectively dead” and posed no further threat to the Gulf. Allen said a pressure test to ensure the cement plug would hold was completed at 5:54 a.m. CDT.

12 Emerging markets offer growth, and fishmeal

By MATTHEW CRAFT, AP Business Writer

Sun Sep 19, 5:52 pm ET

NEW YORK – You can boil down the appeal of emerging markets for investors to three words: growth, debt and fishmeal.

For more than a decade, industrializing countries like Brazil and China have drawn investors seeking to ride their rapid economic growth. Now, money managers are looking to places that feed these emerging giants – like Peru, the world’s top source for fishmeal, a key ingredient in animal feeds.

Since the financial crisis hit two years ago, cash has flooded into the developing world from those seeking better returns and safety. Unlike the U.S. and other developed countries whose governments borrowed heavily for stimulus spending, countries in South America and Asia have smaller debt burdens along with higher bond yields.

13 Pinera: We’ve done all to rescue Chile’s miners

By MICHAEL WARREN, Associated Press Writer

Sun Sep 19, 4:57 pm ET

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – Chile’s president said Sunday that his government has done all within its power to rescue 33 miners trapped underground for 47 days and counting, but wouldn’t venture a guess as to when they will be pulled out.

Sebastian Pinera spoke as a huge oil industry drill began carving a third escape tunnel that could potentially provide the first way to extricate the men through a half-mile of solid rock.

“Today for the first time we have three machines working simultaneously. We don’t know when they will reach them. But we know one thing – with the help of God, they will reach them,” Pinera declared after touring the drilling operation and meeting with the miners’ families.

14 The well is dead, but Gulf challenges live on

By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer

Sun Sep 19, 3:22 pm ET

The “nightmare well” is dead. But the Gulf coast’s bad dream is far from over.

Federal officials declared Sunday that the well where the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded had finally been killed. Workers drilled a relief well into the damaged one and drove a cement stake deep into its oily, black heart.

Its official end came 11 years after Texaco first sank an exploratory well near that same spot 50 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, then moved on after finding it unprofitable. When BP PLC purchased the rights to explore for oil there in 2008, it held an in-house well-naming contest. The winning team chose the name Macondo, after the mythical town from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”

15 GOP divided on how to replace health overhaul law

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer

Sun Sep 19, 9:55 am ET

WASHINGTON – Republicans are promising to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul if they win control of Congress. But with what?

Not even they know.

Some have proposed major changes to workplace coverage, even turning Medicare into a voucher plan. Many prefer small steps that tiptoe around political land mines. Others want a clean start.

16 Will edgier college marketing get a failing grade?

By ERIC GORSKI, AP Education Writer

Sun Sep 19, 12:12 am ET

Drake University hoped a bold, blue “D+” on a direct-mail piece and its admissions website would grab the attention of high school kids inundated with same-old, same-old college recruitment material.

What looked like a pretty bad grade was supposed to entice teenagers to take a closer look at the pluses of attending the school in Des Moines, Iowa.

Drake officials didn’t anticipate their daring idea getting ridiculed on advertising blogs, angering alumni who complained on Facebook that their degrees had been devalued, or inspiring a local store to market “D+ student” T-shirts to amused Drake students and underachievers alike.

17 Inside Washington: Millions made in GOP mailings

BY DENNIS CONRAD, Associated Press Writer

Sat Sep 18, 7:47 pm ET

WASHINGTON – When Republican members of Congress need literature to send out to constituents on their doings in office, dozens turn to a Utah firm that churns out slick, full-color mailers at taxpayer expense.

When they need political mailers designed to get them re-elected, some of them turn to the same people.

In theory, policy and politics are separate enterprises in Washington. In practice, they are joined at the hip.

Sep 20 2010

Morning Shinbun Monday September 20




Monday’s Headlines:

The well is dead, but Gulf challenges live on

New footage shows tigers can thrive in Himalayas

USA

Sickle cell testing of athletes stirs discrimination fears

Investors seeing farmland as safer bet than stocks

Europe

Sweden’s ruling coalition heads for minority government

Across Europe, support for populist parties is on the rise

Middle East

Netanyahu’s ‘catastrophic success’

US troops still forced to bolster Iraqi forces in battle

Asia

Japanese Playing a New Video Game: Catch-Up

Prostitutes of god

Africa

World leaders warned that approach to African aid needs a total rethink

Obama amps up intervention to prevent Sudan war

The well is dead, but Gulf challenges live on

Long-term environmental, industry and legal impacts from BP spill unknown

By ALLEN G. BREED, DINA CAPPIELLO, HARRY R. WEBER, SETH BORENSTEIN, CURT ANDERSON, BRIAN SKOLOFF

The “nightmare well” is dead. But the Gulf coast’s bad dream is far from over.

Federal officials declared Sunday that the well where the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded had finally been killed. Workers drilled a relief well into the damaged one and sealed it with cement.

Its official end came 11 years after Texaco first sank an exploratory well near that same spot 50 miles (80 kilometers) out in the Gulf of Mexico, then moved on after finding it unprofitable. When BP PLC purchased the rights to explore for oil there in 2008, it held an in-house well-naming contest. The winning team chose the name Macondo, after the mythical town from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”

New footage shows tigers can thrive in Himalayas

A few seconds of film showing tigers roaming wild in the foothills of the Himalayas could provide the ”missing link” to an ambitious plan to try to save them from extinction  

Published: 7:30AM BST 20 Sep 2010  

The film is the first real evidence that tigers can thrive – and breed – in the hills which are more than 13,000 feet above sea level.

A team from the BBC Natural History Unit captured the images using hidden cameras wedged into gullies and trees over six weeks during an expedition to Bhutan.

Wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan said he was reduced to tears the first time he saw the footage.

He said: ”It was beyond words, pretty overwhelming.

”We were there about six weeks. For me the whole purpose of the expedition was to film evidence of the tigers living in Bhutan so all the effort and everything we did came down to a few seconds of footage.”

USA

Sickle cell testing of athletes stirs discrimination fear



By Rob Stein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, September 20, 2010; 12:19 AM  

U.S. colleges and universities for the first time are requiring top student athletes to submit to testing for the gene for sickle cell anemia, a mandate aimed at preventing sudden deaths of promising young players but stirring deep fears about reviving dangerous old prejudices.

The screening hopes to identify athletes at high risk for life-threatening complications from intense physical exertion. That way, those with the gene could be monitored more closely and their training could be modified by, for example, allowing more time for rest and drinking more water.

Investors seeing farmland as safer bet than stocks

Wary of fluctuations on Wall Street, more wealthy Americans, private funds and foreigners are putting money into parcels of cornfields, fruit orchards and other U.S. agricultural products.

By P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Kern County, Calif. – As investors tire of Wall Street’s roller coaster, more of them are plowing their money into land – farmland.

Few people understand this shift better than farm manager Carl Evers.

On a recent morning, Evers steered his pickup truck through a Central California almond grove, his drawling sales pitch at the ready. Evers is co-founder of Farmland Management Services, which runs about 30,000 acres of nut groves, fruit orchards and wine grape vines for a Boston investment firm.

Europe

Sweden’s ruling coalition heads for minority government

Prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt becomes first non-socialist to win re-election since 1930s

Julian Borger

The Guardian, Monday 20 September 2010

Sweden’s ruling centre-right coalition beat the Social Democrat opposition in yesterday’s election but failed to win an outright majority and the far-right Sweden Democrats won seats in parliament for the first time.

Early results showed Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s four-party Alliance coalition winning 173 seats in the 349-seat parliament, just three short of a majority. The result makes Reinfeldt, the Moderate party leader, the first non-socialist to win re-election since the 1930s. The Social Democrat-led opposition bloc won 156 seats while the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats got 20 seats, entering parliament for the first time.

Across Europe, support for populist parties is on the rise

In recent months, extreme right-wing and populist parties have won significant gains in regional and parliamentary elections in Europe. For them, times of crisis are a boon.  

20.09.2010

As Europe grows together, expanding its visa-free zone toward Iceland and the Ukrainian border, many citizens are beginning to see themselves firstly as Europeans rather than as citizens of their individual countries.

But not everyone supports the breaking down of national barriers. In recent months, xenophobic and right-wing parties have made spectacular political gains across Europe.  

In Hungary on Sunday, the far-right Jobbik party won well over 16 percent of votes in parliamentary elections. With the country hard-hit by recession, Jobbik capitalized on rising nationalism and a resurgence of anti-Semitism and anti-Gypsy sentiment to win votes.

Middle East

Netanyahu’s ‘catastrophic success’

The ongoing colonisation of the West Bank may have unintended and unwanted consequences for Israel.

Robert Grenier

The George W. Bush administration had a phrase for it: “Catastrophic success.” As part of the planning process before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, a comprehensive list of potentially disastrous unintended consequences of a successful military campaign was drawn up. Though initially there was considerable relief when none of the developments on the list came to pass, it eventually became apparent that the list – which failed to anticipate a string of supremely unwise post-invasion decisions – was far too short.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, may soon be wishing he had drawn up such a list – and paid attention to it – many years ago. For the consequences of his own – and his party’s – catastrophic success are becoming manifest.

A ‘Jewish state’

I have thought previously that Netanyahu, whatever he may be saying to the contrary, is really not interested in direct negotiations with the Palestinians – that his avowed interest in a viable settlement is a sham. I now think that

US troops still forced to bolster Iraqi forces in battle

Far from merely ‘advising and assisting’ Iraqi forces, as the Obama administration has described their new role, US troops are still needed to battle insurgents, as evidenced in three recent incidents in different parts of Iraq.

By Shashank Bengali and Mohammed al Dulaimy, McClatchy Newspapers / September 19, 2010

Baghdad, Iraq

In the two weeks since President Obama declared the end of the US combat mission in Iraq, a series of bloody skirmishes has sharpened the questions about the Iraqi security forces’ ability to protect the country.

In three incidents in different parts of Iraq, American forces stepped in with ground troops and air support when their Iraqi counterparts were threatened by suicide attackers or well-armed gunmen, according to US and Iraqi military accounts.

Asia

 Japanese Playing a New Video Game: Catch-Up

 

By HIROKO TABUCHI

Published: September 19, 2010

CHIBA, Japan – A supersonic hedgehog and a plumber named Mario may have been unlikely heroes, but they once dominated video games. Only the Japanese could make innovative games like those, developers here used to boast. The West just didn’t get it.

Warp ahead 20 years, though, and much of Japan’s game industry is in a rut.

Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario still sell games. But more recent Japanese attempts to establish franchises, like White Knight Chronicles from Sony or Monster Hunter from Capcom, have not made a mark in the United States and Europe. Instead, the blockbuster hits now come from the West: Call of Duty and Guitar Hero from Activision Blizzard, for example, and Grand Theft Auto  from Take-Two Interactive.

Prostitutes of god  

Journalist Sarah Harris has made a documentary about temple prostitutes in south India – girls dedicated to the Hindu goddess Devadasi before puberty who spend their lives selling sex.  

Interview by Matilda Battersby Monday, 20 September 2010

Former Independent journalist Sarah Harris has made a documentary about India’s temple prostitutes – young girls who are dedicated to the Hindu goddess Devadasi at a young age and support their families as sex workers.

The first instalment of the four-part exclusively online documentary ‘Prostitutes of God’ goes live today on VBS.tv.

I first went to India after I left The Independent three years ago. I wanted to run away and do something really different, so I went to volunteer with a charity in southern India which rescues victims of sex trafficking.

Africa

World leaders warned that approach to African aid needs a total rethink

As key summit on Millennium Development Goals begins, experts cast doubt on conventional approach to poverty reduction

By Daniel Howden, Africa Correspondent Monday, 20 September 2010

As world leaders gather in New York today to decide the future of aid, an influential new lobby has emerged calling for a total rethink of foreign assistance. At the end of a decade dominated by slogans such as “Make Poverty History”, in which development has been defined by a series of sweeping targets – known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – experts are warning heads of state at the global poverty summit not to sign up blindly to more of the same.

A draft declaration being circulated by the UN deplores the lack of progress and calls for “redoubling of efforts” towards 2015 targets such as slashing poverty and improving access to education. International NGOs concerned at “aid fatigue” are demanding a “rescue package” to save the goals.

Obama amps up intervention to prevent Sudan war

President Obama’s meeting with Sudanese leaders this week will set the stage for whether this US administration is seen as a credible arbiter between rivals in the North and South of Sudan.

By Laura Heaton, Guest blogger / September 19, 2010

After coming under intense pressure from Sudan advocates – from grassroots across the US, to Sudan watchers in Congress, to proponents within the Obama administration of a tougher stance – administration officials laid out a series of incentives to entice Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party to allow a credible referendum in the South and make post-referendum arrangements with the southern semi-autonomous government. If preparations stall or if the NCP meddles in the referendum or its aftermath, Khartoum could face additional sanctions.

The substance of the offer may not be much different from what the Obama administration has put forth all along; the incentives and pressures alluded to by State Department officials at the unveiling of the new Sudan policy last year were never made public. And again, the incentives part of the package has been emphasized over the pressures. But who is doing the  offering is significant.

Ignoring Asia A Blog

Sep 20 2010

There Is No Reason, And The Truth Is Plain To See

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

The truth is plain to see. It doesn’t happen quite so much here, but all across the blogosphere people sit in front of their computers all day and argue about which national political party is “better”. Which one is more likely to give the people what they want.

On the “left” blogs people talk about one party being tools of multinational corporations and the ultra rich, and say the other party is somehow “better” because it promises “hope” for the future somewhat in the same way religion promises salvation in some heaven, but only after death and only if you’ll “believe” (clap) hard enough, and don’t ask questions.

On the “right” blogs people talk about one party being tools of evil socialists and sex fiends and dopers who hate “freedom”, and say the other party is somehow “better” because it promises “freedom” someday in the future somewhat in the same way religion promises salvation in some heaven, but only after death and only if you’ll “believe” (clap) hard enough, don’t ask questions, and kill anyone who gets in your way.

The truth is plain to see. Big money did not take over any one party at all. Big money took over politics and the media so they could carry on happily while people unwittingly play their game by choosing between between coke or pepsi – and like a Vegas casino, the house always wins in the long run. Always.

There is no ‘reason’. This is not a ‘reasonable’ choice, and it is not ‘reasonable’ to get sucked into making it.

We skipped the light Fandango

Turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor

I was feeling kind of seasick

But the crowd called out for more

The room was humming harder

As the ceiling flew away

When we called out for another drink

The waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later

As the Miller told his tale

That her face, at first just ghostly

Turned a whiter shade of pale

She said there is no reason

And the truth is plain to see

As I wandered through my playing cards

And I would not let her be

One of the sixteen vestal virgins

Who were leaving for the coast

And although my eyes were open

They might just as well’ve been closed

And so it was that later

As the Miller told his tale

That her face, at first just ghostly

Turned a whiter shade of pale

Sep 20 2010

Prime Time

Professional Throwball- Giants @ Traitors.  You know how to root.  Miss something last night?  See it tonight.  Not a lot of original programming.

Later-

The Venture Brothers Episode 2 of Season 4 and a half (premier), Pomp & Circuitry (last week’s episode summary).  Childrens Hospital, Joke Overload (premier).  Frankenhole, Heal Hitler (Episode 4).

How do you go about writing a detective story?

Well, you forget detection and concentrate on crime. Crime’s the thing. And then you imagine you’re going to steal something or murder somebody.

Oh, is that how you do it? It’s interesting.

Yes, I usually put myself in the criminal’s shoes and then I keep asking myself, uh, what do I do next?

Do you really believe in the perfect murder?

Mmm, yes, absolutely. On paper, that is. And I think I could, uh, plan one better than most people; but I doubt if I could carry it out.

Oh? Why not?

Well, because in stories things usually turn out the way the author wants them to; and in real life they don’t… always.

Hmm.

No, I’m afraid my murders would be something like my bridge: I’d make some stupid mistake and never realize it until I found everybody was looking at me.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Sep 20 2010

Evening Edition

From Yahoo News Top Stories

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Twin Baghdad car bombs kill 29

by Sabah Arar, AFP

1 hr 46 mins ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Two near-simultaneous car bombs rocked the Iraqi capital on Sunday, killing at least 29 people and wounding 111 in the city’s deadliest day in a month.

The violence, which saw 38 people killed across the country, was the worst to hit Iraq since US troops declared an official end to combat operations on September 1, and comes with no new government yet formed since a March poll.

The twin blasts struck near the Aden junction in north Baghdad and in the residential district of Mansur in the west at around 10:10 am (0710 GMT), AFP journalists and security officials said.

2 China suspends senior bilateral exchanges with Japan

by Marianne Barriaux, AFP

48 mins ago

BEIJING (AFP) – China said Sunday it had suspended senior bilateral exchanges with Japan over an incident in disputed waters and warned relations with Tokyo had been “severely hurt”.

The announcement comes after a Japanese court authorised prosecutors to extend by 10 days the detention of a Chinese captain accused of ramming his trawler against Japanese patrol boats in the East China Sea.

It also comes as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his counterpart Naoto Kan prepare to fly to New York to attend a UN gathering where they will meet US President Barack Obama in separate talks.

3 Pope beatifies convert in climax of British visit

by Gildas Le Roux, AFP

41 mins ago

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI beatified a 19th century Catholic convert on Sunday in the finale of his historic visit to Britain.

The pope told 55,000 pilgrims gathered in a park in Birmingham, central England, that Cardinal John Henry Newman was a man of “outstanding holiness” whose teachings were as relevant today as they were more than a century ago.

The beatification mass — elevating the late cardinal towards sainthood — was the crowning moment of a four-day trip which the Vatican hailed as a “spiritual success”.

4 Pope expresses ‘shame’ as meets abuse victims

by Gildas Le Roux, AFP

Sat Sep 18, 4:07 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI expressed his “shame” and “deep sorrow” in a meeting with victims of clerical abuse on Saturday as thousands of protesters demonstrated against his state visit to Britain.

Earlier, in a homily at Westminster Cathedral the pontiff condemned the “unspeakable crimes” committed by paedophile priests and said they had brought “shame and humiliation” on the Catholic Church and caused “immense suffering”.

The Vatican said the pope met the five victims, four women and a man, in London and was “moved by what they had to say and expressed his deep sorrow and shame over what victims and their families had suffered”.

5 BP’s disastrous broken well in Gulf of Mexico is ‘dead’

AFP

36 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US officials finally declared BP’s broken well in the Gulf of Mexico “dead” on Sunday, five months after the deadly oil rig explosion that set off one of the costliest and largest environmental disasters ever.

Retired admiral Thad Allen, the US pointman for the response to the disaster, said the operation to intersect and cement the deepwater well had been successfully completed.

“With this development, which has been confirmed by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, we can finally announce that the Macondo 252 well is effectively dead,” Allen said.

6 Swedes re-elect government, vote in far-right: exit polls

by Nina Larson, AFP

1 hr 6 mins ago

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Sweden’s ruling centre-right coalition is heading for a second term after Sunday’s election, exit polls showed, and an emerging far-right party is set to enter parliament for the first time.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, 45, should see his four-party Alliance become the first right-leaning government to win a second term in nearly a century.

But with just 49.1 percent of the vote, according to exit polls broadcast on Swedish public television, Reinfeldt’s coalition is likely to fall narrowly short of a majority of seats in parliament.

7 Afghans praised for voting in shadow of violence

by Lynne O’Donnell, AFP

Sat Sep 18, 11:59 pm ET

KABUL (AFP) – The United Nations and NATO praised Afghans for their courage in turning out to vote in parliamentary elections despite the threat of extremist violence amid fears over poll irregularities.

At least 14 civilians were killed in the second parliamentary vote since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban but more than 3.5 million Afghans took part in the election.

Insurgents fired rockets in several cities and set off bombs at a polling station and beside a convoy carrying the governor of Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold in the south, but officials said several more attacks were foiled.

8 Three more protesters die in Indian Kashmir

by Izhar Wani, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 3:06 am ET

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) – Three more protesters died on Sunday in Indian-administered Kashmir, sparking a new cycle of demonstrations against rule from New Delhi and the tactics of the security forces.

The protesters died in two separate hospitals Sunday after being injured last week in clashes in the disputed Himalayan region, where protests began in June and have escalated in the past week.

Thirty-four civilians have been killed in the last seven days, with a total of 105 protesters and bystanders dead — most of them young men and teenagers — in three and a half months of unrest.

9 Afghanistan vote count begins amid fears of fraud

by Waheedullah Massoud, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 9:42 am ET

KABUL (AFP) – Allegations of fraud and a low voter turnout overshadowed vote counting in Afghanistan’s parliamentary election Sunday after widespread and deadly Taliban violence targeted the key poll.

Western supporters praised the more than four million Afghans who, according to preliminary figures, took part in Saturday’s election, compared with the 4.8 million valid votes cast in last year’s presidential poll.

The bodies of three election workers were found Sunday in northern Balkh province, the head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said, following the country’s second parliamentary polls since the Taliban was overthrown in 2001.

10 Germany’s beer fest deploys stench-eating bacteria

by Anne Padieu, AFP

Sun Sep 19, 7:15 am ET

MUNICH, Germany (AFP) – Germany’s giant Oktoberfest beer party, now celebrating its 200th birthday, is rising to a new challenge — stinky drinking halls — with a new weapon: stench-eating bacteria.

In past years, olfactory offences in the giant tents emanating from stale beer, sweat and bratwurst could simply be masked with cigarette smoke.

But now smokers hoping to enjoy a puff with their brew were advised to leave their packets at home after the southern state of Bavaria decided to ban smoking across the state in all pubs, cafes and beer tents.

11 Fraud and turnout weigh on "miracle" Afghan poll

By Paul Tait and Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 10:25 am ET

KABUL (Reuters) – The top United Nations diplomat in Afghanistan said on Sunday it was too early to describe a parliamentary election as a success, with an expected 4,000 complaints to be heard and turnout figures not yet established.

Afghan election officials declared Saturday’s result a success despite widespread reports of fraud, worryingly low voter turnout and attacks across the country that killed at least 17 people after the Taliban vowed to disrupt the poll.

“I think that that is premature, with all due respect,” Staffan de Mistura, special representative for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Reuters in an interview.

12 U.S. says BP permanently "kills" Gulf of Mexico well

By Kristen Hays, Reuters

51 mins ago

HOUSTON (Reuters) – With a final shot of cement, BP Plc permanently “killed” its deep-sea well in the Gulf of Mexico that ruptured in April and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the top U.S. spill official said on Sunday.

Some 153 days after the Macondo well ruptured, the U.S. government confirmed that BP had succeeded in drilling a relief well nearly 18,000 feet below the ocean surface and permanently sealing the well with cement.

“The Macondo 252 well is effectively dead,” retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who has overseen the U.S. government’s response, said in a statement. “We can now state, definitively, that the Macondo well poses no continuing threat to the Gulf of Mexico.”

13 Swedish government leads vote but may lose majority

By Patrick Lannin and Niklas Pollard, Reuters

41 mins ago

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden may be set for a hung parliament after an election on Sunday, TV polls showed, with a the center-right government re-elected but losing its majority as an anti-immigrant party wins its first parliamentary seats.

However, as a knife-edge vote count continued, Swedish state TV forecast the governing coalition would win a one-seat majority, based on districts counted two hours after the polls closed.

A hung parliament would unsettle investors, and analysts have predicted a sharp fall in the crown currency against the euro and rising bond yields should the far right Sweden Democrats deprive the government of its outright majority.

14 China suspends contacts as Japan boat row deepens

By Ben Blanchard and Linda Sieg, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 11:06 am ET

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) – China suspended high-level exchanges with Japan on Sunday and promised tough countermeasures after a Japanese court extended the detention of a Chinese captain whose trawler collided with two Japanese coastguard ships.

The spat between Asia’s two largest economies has flared since Japan arrested the captain, accusing him of deliberately striking a patrol ship and obstructing public officers near uninhabited islets in the East China Sea claimed by both sides.

“China demands that Japan immediately release the captain without any preconditions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement on the ministry’s website (www.mfa.gov.cn), repeating that Beijing viewed the detention as illegal and invalid.

15 Pope, ending his trip, recalls Nazi terror in WW2

By Philip Pullella and Avril Ormsby, Reuters

2 hrs 48 mins ago

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) – Pope Benedict on Sunday expressed “shame and horror” over the wartime suffering caused by his German homeland and said he was moved to mark the 70th anniversary of a key air victory with Britons.

On the last day of a four-day visit to Britain that drew the biggest protest march of any of his foreign trips, the pope also beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, one of the most prominent English converts from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism.

The pope was seen off from the airport by Prime Minister David Cameron who said Benedict had challenged the “whole of the country to sit up and think” about issues such as social responsibility during his four-day state visit.

16 Three bombs kill 18, wound scores in Iraq

By Muhanad Mohammed, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 11:49 am ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Three car bombs killed at least 18 people and wounded scores in Iraq on Sunday as tension runs high six months after an election that no one won outright and weeks after U.S. troops ended combat operations.

One blast targeting a national security office killed at least six people and wounded 15, bringing down the facades of nearby houses, the Baghdad security command said.

Interior Ministry sources put the death toll from the blast as high as 19, but other government agencies denied that.

17 Diplomats see little hope in reviving arms talks

By Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters

Sun Sep 19, 5:35 am ET

GENEVA (Reuters) – Nuclear powers and non-nuclear nations are unlikely to ease the deadlock in global disarmament talks next week at a U.N. forum that has failed to achieve any breakthrough for over a decade, diplomats said on Sunday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the ministerial session in New York on September 24 to give political impetus to the Conference on Disarmament, the world’s sole multilateral negotiating body which is known as the “CD.”

But few people expect the 65-member Geneva forum to move forward on nuclear disarmament, despite endorsements from U.S. President Barack Obama and others for a move toward a nuclear-free world.

18 Blown-out BP well finally killed at bottom of Gulf

By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 36 mins ago

The well is dead. Finally.

A permanent cement plug sealed BP’s well nearly 2.5 miles below the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico, five agonizing months after an explosion sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the federal government’s point man on the disaster, said Sunday BP’s well “is effectively dead” and posed no further threat to the Gulf. Allen said a pressure test to ensure the cement plug would hold was completed at 5:54 a.m. CDT.

19 ‘Serious concern’ over fraud at Afghan elections

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writers

Sun Sep 19, 12:59 pm ET

KABUL, Afghanistan – The main Afghan election observer group said Sunday it had serious concerns about the legitimacy of this weekend’s parliamentary vote because of reported fraud, even as President Hamid Karzai commended the balloting as a solid success.

The conflicting statements underscored the difficulty of determining the credibility of the vote also hit by militant attacks that hurt the turnout. Afghan officials started gathering and tallying results Sunday in a process that could take weeks if not months to complete.

The country’s international backers offered praise for those who voted Saturday despite bomb and rocket attacks, and voiced hoped for a democratic result. A repeat of the pervasive fraud that tainted a presidential election a year ago would only erode further the standing of Karzai administration – both at home and abroad – as it struggles against a Taliban insurgency.

20 Car Bombs tear through Baghdad, Fallujah; 36 dead

By BARBARA SURK, Associated Press Writer

40 mins ago

BAGHDAD – Three car bombs tore through Baghdad and the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah Sunday, killing at least 36 people. The blasts in the capital were so powerful they sheared the sides off buildings and left streets choked with chunks of rubble.

It was the worst violence since the U.S. military dropped to 50,000 troops in Iraq and formally declared an end to combat operations on Sept. 1, saying Iraqi forces were up to the task of protecting their own country.

Insurgents have hammered Iraqi forces and government buildings, capitalizing on gaps in security as the U.S. scales back its military mission and Iraqi politicians fail to overcome divisions and form a new government after national elections in March.

21 Spiriva as good as Serevent in asthma study

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer

1 hr 53 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Researchers say they’ve found a possible new treatment for adults with hard-to-control asthma. Their discovery, however, came at a price.

Scientists of a U.S. government-funded asthma study had to spend nearly $1 million of taxpayers’ money after British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC declined to donate its asthma drug and look-alike dummy medicine for the study, which compared two other treatments.

Editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, which published the study, chastised Glaxo, saying its actions made the research harder and more expensive to do. Drug companies aren’t required to supply their medicines for study, but they often do.

22 Michigan St moves in, Arizona moves up AP poll

By RALPH D. RUSSO, AP College Football Writer

1 hr 19 mins ago

NEW YORK – Michigan State moved into The Associated Press college football poll after its thrilling victory against Notre Dame, while No. 14 Arizona received its best regular-season ranking in 12 years after the Wildcats knocked off Iowa.

There was no movement at the top of the rankings Sunday. The top five of Alabama, Ohio State, Boise State, TCU and Oregon was unchanged from last week.

The Crimson Tide received 53 first-place votes, Ohio State got five and Boise State and Texas each received one.

23 Vatican declares Pope’s visit to Britain a success

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer

42 mins ago

BIRMINGHAM, England – The Vatican declared Pope Benedict XVI’s four-day visit to Britain a “great success” Sunday, saying the pontiff was able to reach out to a nation wary of his message and angry at his church’s sex abuse scandal.

On his final day, Benedict praised British heroics against the Nazis to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and moved an Englishman a step closer to possible sainthood.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the important thing wasn’t so much the turnout – crowds were much smaller than when Pope John Paul II visited in 1982 – but that Benedict’s warning about the dangers of an increasingly secularized society had been received “with profound interest” from Britons as a whole.

24 GOP divided on how to replace health overhaul law

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer

Sun Sep 19, 9:55 am ET

WASHINGTON – Republicans are promising to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul if they win control of Congress. But with what?

Not even they know.

Some have proposed major changes to workplace coverage, even turning Medicare into a voucher plan. Many prefer small steps that tiptoe around political land mines. Others want a clean start.

25 Obama: Black lawmakers must rally voters back home

By MARK S. SMITH, Associated Press Writer

Sun Sep 19, 2:55 am ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama implored black voters on Saturday to rekindle the passion they felt for his groundbreaking campaign and turn out in force this fall to repel Republicans who are ready to “turn back the clock.”

In a fiery speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, Obama warned that Republicans hoping to seize control of Congress want “to do what’s right politically, instead of what’s right – period.”

“I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, to go back to your workplaces, to go to the churches, and go to the barbershops and go to the beauty shops. And tell them we’ve got more work to do,” Obama said to cheers from a black-tie audience at the Washington Convention Center. “Tell them we can’t wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is now.”

“His speech acknowledged what pollsters have been warning Democrats for months – that blacks are among the key Democratic groups who right now seem unlikely to turn out in large numbers in November.”

26 Swedish election too close to call

By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer

29 mins ago

STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s election was heading for a nail-biting finish Sunday with a TV exit poll and partial results showing a far-right party challenging the center-right government’s majority in Parliament.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was seeking to become the first center-right leader to win re-election after serving a full term in a Scandinavian welfare nation dominated for decades by the left-wing Social Democrats.

But the Islam-bashing Sweden Democrats appeared set to enter Parliament for the first time, potentially spoiling the governing coalition’s majority in the 349-seat legislature.

27 Ed Dept: Lift a community, raise a school

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 32 mins ago

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Tesheda Mansfield grew up in the protective walls of Sunland Park Elementary, participating in beauty pageants and field day, and walking home from school in the afternoons.

Now when she looks around the South Florida community she and her four daughters call home, she sees teenage boys hanging out at all hours in a nearby park, homes in battered condition, some with wood covering the windows, and groups of men and children sitting listlessly on their front porches.

“There’s a lot of parents over here that don’t have a job,” Mansfield, a hospital receptionist said. “Some of them don’t even know how to put together a resume.”

28 Daley mentored others as he reshaped Chicago

By TAMMY WEBBER, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 54 mins ago

CHICAGO – When Boeing Co. relocated its headquarters to Chicago from Seattle in 2001, delegations from Las Vegas to Boston came calling to ask how Mayor Richard M. Daley’s city pulled it off. One former Miami mayor says adopting Daley’s school reform ideas helped get him elected. A New Jersey mayor has sought Daley’s advice on assisting ex-convicts.

“He really is sort of like an uncle for mayors, a godfather around the country,” said Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J. “Whatever the issue … you can count on Daley to have created a record on the issue and tried new ideas.”

Daley has been called the best mayor in America, even when criticized by constituents. He has forged strong alliances with the business community, then traveled to promote his city as a global business and tourism destination. He’s mentored leaders from cities large and small.

29 World leaders to spotlight goals to help poor

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

Sun Sep 19, 12:24 am ET

UNITED NATIONS – At the dawn of the new millennium, world leaders pledged to tackle poverty, disease, ignorance and inequality – and went beyond generalities to commit themselves to specific goals. Progress has been made over the past decade, but many countries are still struggling to meet the 2015 target.

On Monday, another summit will open in New York to review what has, and hasn’t, been done.

“These Millennium Development Goals are a promise of world leaders,” says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who invited leaders of the 192 U.N. member nations to the three-day summit. “They’re a blueprint to help those most vulnerable and poorest people, to lift them out of poverty. This promise must be met,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

30 Will edgier college marketing get a failing grade?

By ERIC GORSKI, AP Education Writer

Sun Sep 19, 12:12 am ET

Drake University hoped a bold, blue “D+” on a direct-mail piece and its admissions website would grab the attention of high school kids inundated with same-old, same-old college recruitment material.

What looked like a pretty bad grade was supposed to entice teenagers to take a closer look at the pluses of attending the school in Des Moines, Iowa.

Drake officials didn’t anticipate their daring idea getting ridiculed on advertising blogs, angering alumni who complained on Facebook that their degrees had been devalued, or inspiring a local store to market “D+ student” T-shirts to amused Drake students and underachievers alike.

31 Los Angeles activists protest police shooting

Associated Press

Sat Sep 18, 4:54 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Demonstrators are dispersing after a peaceful rally that began near the spot where a Los Angeles Police officer shot a Guatemalan immigrant who was carrying a knife.

Authorities say there were no arrests and no confrontations during the march Saturday that drew about 250 people to the Rampart area west of downtown. Many carried flags from Central American countries and placards decrying the Sept. 5 shooting death of Manuel Jaminez.

Most of the protesters marched past the Rampart police station before winding their way to MacArthur Park. A smaller group took their demonstration to LAPD headquarters downtown.

Sep 19 2010

Rant of the Week: Stephen Colbert : Libertea

The Colbert Report
Libertea
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Sep 19 2010

Liberal Democrats Set Terms for Torture Inquiry

(4 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Sounds great only problem is that headline is from England. It seems that Liberal Democrats in Britain have far less problem “looking back” in order to “look forward” than the US.

The Liberal Democrats today set out what they think the terms of the government’s upcoming inquiry into torture should be.

In July David Cameron announced a judicial inquiry into Britain’s role in torture and rendition since the al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington, DC, in September 2001.

The three-person inquiry panel will be headed by Sir Peter Gibson, a former appeal court judge who is currently commissioner for the intelligence services. He will be assisted by Dame Janet Paraskeva, the head of the civil service commissioners, and Peter Riddell, the former Times political commentator who is now a senior fellow at the Institute for Government.

Most of the inquiry will be held in secret, but victims of torture and their representatives will be able to give evidence during open sessions, as will representatives of human rights groups.

In a letter to Gibson, Cameron set out the “parameters” of the inquiry, but the final terms have yet to be made public. These parameters included the changing attitude of “other countries” towards counterterrorism detainees, although it makes clear that “this is an inquiry into the actions of the UK, not any other state”.

Meanwhile despite all his campaign rhetoric, Pres Barack Obama defends torture, rendition, indefinite detention and denies detainees habeus corpus, claiming national security concerns and using state secrets to cover up war crimes.

The President has used the courts and the power of his office to not only defend these horrific policies of the Bush/Cheney administration but has expanded them to include targeting American citizens for assassination and manipulating the law to prevent the courts from reviewing the legality of this practice that denies the victim not only his rights as a US citizen under the Constitution but the victim’s human rights .

The administration’s legal team is debating how aggressive it should be in a brief responding to the lawsuit, which is due Sept. 24. The suit, filed last month, seeks an injunction that would prevent the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric who is accused of playing a leading role for Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.

Justice Department lawyers are circulating a draft brief with several potential arguments for dismissing the case, and lawyers from national security agencies have met to discuss what should go into the final version. But they have not reached a consensus, according to officials familiar with the discussions, because the arguments seen as strongest also carry significant political and legal risks.

“There are a lot of cross-cutting things going on here, and they have to be very careful about how they litigate this,” said Jack Goldsmith, who was a senior Justice Department lawyer in the Bush administration. “It’s not just a question of winning the case. There is the public diplomacy side, and there are implications for everything else they are doing in the war on terrorism: detention and targeting and other things, too, I imagine.”

The US is still in the shadows and descending even deeper into the darkness.

Sep 19 2010

It Be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Ahoy matey!

Wikipedia, which as we know can be trusted in all things (especially Colbert Elephants), tells us that in the modern era celebration of Talk Like a Pirate Day started in 1995.  Those who accept Our Noodly Savior know that Pirates were the Original Apostles of Pastafarianism.  Unfortunately the Revealed Scripture (known as The Ramen Texts) is unavailable for modern study as it was consumed during a particularly long calm in the Doldrums.

Still it is accepted as an article of faith proven by the historical record that decline in Piracy is direcly correlated with Global Warming and many choose to spend this day in Worship at Church in addition to emulating the manners, customs, and language of their Pirate forbearers.  I myself have the good fortune to be 1/4 full blooded Pirate through my Viking ancestors (indeed Viking is a noun which means ‘Pirate’).

I generally celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day by telling the 3 Pirate Jokes.  There are only 3, all the others are just variations.  As Cap’n Slappy says:

Thar be only three pirate jokes in the world. The biggest one is the one that ends with someone usin’ “Arrr” in the punchline. Oh, sure, thar be plenty o’ these, but they’re all the same damn joke.

“What’s the pirate movie rated? – Arrr!”

“What kind o’ socks does a pirate wear? – Arrrrgyle!”

“What’s the problem with the way a pirate speaks? – Arrrrticulation!”

…and so forth.

The second joke is the one wear the pirate walks into the bar with a ships wheel attached to the front o’ his trousers. The bartender asks, “What the hell is that ships wheel for?” The pirate says, “I don’t know, but it’s drivin’ me nuts!”

And finally. A little boy is trick or treatin’ on Halloween by himself. He is dressed as a pirate. At one house, a friendly man asks him, “Where are your buccaneers?” The little boy responds, “On either side o’ me ‘buccan’ head!”

And there ye have it. A symposium on pirate humor that’ll last ye a lifetime – so long as life is violent and short.

And singing some Pirate Carols, for which you can join me below the fold.

Are you ready kids?

Aye, aye captain.

I can’t hear you…

Aye, aye captain!

Ohhh……

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

Sponge Bob square pants.

Absorbent and yellow and porous is he.

Sponge Bob square pants.

If nautical nonsense be something you wish.

Sponge Bob square pants.

Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish.

Sponge Bob square pants.

Ready?

Sponge Bob square pants, Sponge Bob square pants,

Sponge Bob square pants, Sponge Bob…… square paaaaaants.

Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hack, cough, cough.  Arrgh.

Ballad of Badbeard

Arg, arg, arg, arg, this is the Ballad of Badbeard!

Arg, arg, arg, arg, this is the Ballad of Badbeard!

Avast, me ‘arties!

We’re sailing for the Isle of Spleen,

To search for the Treasure of Badbeard!

I’m feeling sick.  You’re looking green.

We search for the Treasure of Badbeard!

We’ll plunder, and pillage.  And do some math!

And all refuse to take a bath.

We seek adventure, and romance!

I’m running out of underpants.

There’s ghosts who haunt the cave, and worse:

It’s guarded by a pirate’s curse!

Why do my nostrils whisper to me?

Arg, arg, arg, arg, This is the Ballad of Badbeard!

Arg, arg, arg, arg, This is the Ballad of Badbeard!

Sep 19 2010

Jon, You Blew This One: False Equivalencies

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Oops. Glen Greenwald points out a major flaw in Jon Stewart’s premise for his rally in Washington DC on 10/30/10 to counter the extremism on either side. While Jon has always been fair in his criticism of both Democrats and Republicans, left and right, his comparison of those the left saying that Bush is a war criminal as opposed to the right saying that Obama is a socialist, Muslim, non-American is a false equivalence since there is ample evidence to the former but not the latter.

The perils of false equivalencies and self-proclaimed centrism

I think Jon Stewart is one of the most incisive and effective commentators in the country, and he reaches an audience that would otherwise be politically disengaged.  I don’t have any objection if he really wants to hold a rally in favor of rhetorical moderation, and it’s also fine if, as seems to be the case, he’s eager to target rhetorical excesses on both the left and right in order to demonstrate his non-ideological centrism.  But the example he chose to prove that the left is guilty, too — the proposition that Bush is a “war criminal” — is an extremely poor one given that the General in charge of formally investigating detainee abuse (not exactly someone with a history of Leftist advocacy) has declared this to be the case, and core Nuremberg principles compel the same conclusion.

Leave aside the fact that, as Steve Benen correctly notes, Stewart’s examples of right-wing rhetorical excesses (Obama is a socialist who wasn’t born in the U.S. and hates America) are pervasive in the GOP, while his examples of left-wing excesses (Code Pink and 9/11 Truthers) have no currency (for better or worse) in the Democratic Party.  The claim that Bush is “a war criminal” has ample basis, and it’s deeply irresponsible to try to declare this discussion off-limits, or lump it in with a whole slew of baseless right-wing accusatory rhetoric, in order to establish one’s centrist bona fides.

However, Mr. Greenwald gives Jon’s co-rally partner, Stephen Colbert, credit for being “extremely well-focused and on-point.”

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Sep 19 2010

Punting the Pundits

“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.

Robert Reich: The Crackpot Gap

After the victories of many of the insurgent primary candidates she’s sponsored, Sarah Palin is off to Iowa today (Friday) for a high-profile series of political events. Is it possible she’s looking to make a run in 2012? Do birds fly?

Republicans are being fueled by a so-called “enthusiasm gap” but their biggest worry leading up to the midterms should be the “crackpot gap.”

In Delaware, Palin-endorsed tea partier Christine O’Donnell is called “delusional” by Delaware’s GOP leader. In Kentucky, Palin-favored Rand Paul says the Civil Rights Act of 1964 shouldn’t apply to businesses. In Colorado, tea partier Ken Buck talks of getting rid of the 17th amendement, which provides for the direct election of senators. In Arizona, Palin-favored Sharon Angle has called for “2nd Amendment remedies” if Congress doesn’t change hands.

Many Americans these days don’t like Congress and are cynical about government. The lousy economy has made almost all incumbents targets of the public’s anger and anxiety.

But if there’s one thing Americans like even less it’s people pretending to be legitimate politicians whose views are so far removed from those of ordinary Americans that they pose a danger to our system of governance.

David Michael Green: Tea With Frankenstein: Please, No Masturbation

Not everybody quite gets how perilous is the moment, however. Democratic pundits who are rejoicing over the tea party primary victories, thinking that they are good for the Democratic Party, are stupid slugs who ought to have the living shit kicked out of them, just for brainlessly taking up space on the planet. First of all, who could possibly care in the slightest about the fate of the Democratic Party? Am I really supposed to be so filled with motivating joy about the prospects of electing slightly less regressive agents of the American oligarchy to Congress that I will run down to party headquarters and start phone banking for my local Democrat? Are we really supposed get electrified and rally around our president and the inspirational likes of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, simply because they are marginally less obnoxious than the alternative? Golly, I just don’t think so.

But more importantly, Democrats are the very reason for the tea party, this latest episode of American idiocy. Had the party done something with the grand historic opportunity handed to them two years ago, none of this would be happening. Had they not booted so badly a rare alignment of the stars that gave them crises allowing real, serious solutions, along with a despised opposition allowing the final crushing of the conservative disease for a generation or more, we wouldn’t be sitting here today laughing at serious candidates for the United States Senate who have staked out firm positions on the societal perils of onanism.

Nickolas D. Kristoff: Message to Muslims: I’m Sorry

Many Americans have suggested  that more moderate Muslims should stand up to extremists, speak out for tolerance, and apologize for sins committed by their brethren.

That’s reasonable advice, and as a moderate myself, I’m going to take it. (Throat clearing.) I hereby apologize to Muslims for the wave of bigotry and simple nuttiness that has lately been directed at you. The venom on the airwaves, equating Muslims with terrorists, should embarrass us more than you. Muslims are one of the last minorities in the United States that it is still possible to demean openly, and I apologize for the slurs.

I’m inspired by another journalistic apology. The Portland Press Herald in Maine published an innocuous front-page article and photo a week ago about 3,000 local Muslims praying together to mark the end of Ramadan. Readers were upset, because publication coincided with the ninth anniversary of 9/11, and they deluged the paper with protests.

So the newspaper published a groveling front-page apology for being too respectful of Muslims. “We sincerely apologize,” wrote the editor and publisher, Richard Connor, and he added: “we erred by at least not offering balance to the story and its prominent position on the front page.” As a blog by James Poniewozik of Time paraphrased it: “Sorry for Portraying Muslims as Human.”

Thomas L. Friedman: Aren’t We Clever?

What a contrast. In a year that’s on track to be our planet’s hottest on record, America turned “climate change” into a four-letter word that many U.S. politicians won’t even dare utter in public. If this were just some parlor game, it wouldn’t matter. But the totally bogus “discrediting” of climate science has had serious implications. For starters, it helped scuttle Senate passage of the energy-climate bill needed to scale U.S.-made clean technologies, leaving America at a distinct disadvantage in the next great global industry. And that brings me to the contrast: While American Republicans were turning climate change into a wedge issue, the Chinese Communists were turning it into a work issue. . . .

(So) while America’s Republicans turned “climate change” into a four-letter word – J-O-K-E – China’s Communists also turned it into a four-letter word – J-O-B-S.

Matthew Rothschild: Feingold Slams Supreme Court over “Citizens United,” Implies Roberts and Alito Lied Under Oath

Sen. Russ Feingold recently slammed the Supreme Court and strongly implied that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito lied, under oath, to the Senate during their confirmation hearings.

In a speech on Sept. 10, Feingold, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, denounced the “Citizens United” decision that the Court handed down earlier this year.

Feingold called it “a lawless decision.”

That decision allows corporations to give unlimited contributions in favor of, or in opposition to, a candidate so long as those contributions aren’t coordinated with a candidate’s campaign. It treats corporations the same way it treats individuals. (See http://www.progressive.org/mra…

But, said Feingold, “they are not the same as us. They do not have the same rights as all of us. And that decision is wrong on the law, and wrong for America, and an enormous danger for the political process.”

Without naming any names, Feingold said that George W. Bush’s Supreme Court nominees “came before the Judiciary Committee and promised me, under oath, that they would follow precedent, that they would be neutral umpires calling balls and strikes. Well, of course, they did the opposite.”

He was clearly referring to Chief Justice Roberts, who famously said at his confirmation hearing on September 12, 2005: “I will remember that it’s my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat.”

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