China Moves Toward Carbon Tax

It looks like the Chinese have learned a lesson from their recent near lethal smog incidents in Beijing:

China’s Ministry of Finance has announced that the country will levy a tax on carbon emissions, reports Xinhua. Policy experts in the United States and Europe have long argued that a carbon tax is the most effective way to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, but implementing one in most large industrialized countries has always seemed politically infeasible.

In the same announcement, China’s Ministry of Finance said that direct taxes on resources, including coal and water, will also be forthcoming.

Details on the carbon tax are scant, but previous reports indicated that it would come into force by 2015 and might start at 10 yuan ($1.60) per tonne of carbon, rising to 50 yuan ($8) per tonne by 2020. Notably, the tax would be collected by local tax authorities, and not municipal environmental protection bureaus.

BTW, I did some quick back of the envelope calculations.

If you look at the weight of carbon in a gallon of gasoline (4.2 lbs of carbon per gallon based on a chemical formula of C₈H₁₈), 10 yuan per gallon is a bit less than ⅓ of a penny a gallon, and 50 yuan, about 1⅔ cents a gallon.

It's not a whole bunch of money, though it's probably about twice that per BTU for coal, but it's a start, which puts it ahead of the United States.

Also I approve of a carbon tax, because, unlike cap and trade, it does not prevent Wall Street from using "financial innovation" to rip the rest of society off.

We Are Doomed

It appears that data from the Large Hadron Collider shows that we will be swallowed up by an alternate reality in the next 10 billion years or so:

Scientists are still sorting out the details of last year's discovery of the Higgs boson particle, but add up the numbers and it's not looking good for the future of the universe, scientists said Monday.

"If you use all the physics that we know now and you do what you think is a straightforward calculation, it's bad news," Joseph Lykken, a theoretical physicist with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, told reporters.

Lykeen spoke before presenting his research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston.

"It may be that the universe we live in is inherently unstable and at some point billions of years from now it's all going to get wiped out," said Lykken, who is also on the science team at Europe's Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator.

………

"This calculation tells you that many tens of billions of years from now, there'll be a catastrophe," Lykken said.

"A little bubble of what you might think of as an ‘alternative' universe will appear somewhere and then it will expand out and destroy us," Lykken said, adding that the event will unfold at the speed of light.

Scientists had grappled with the idea of the universe's long-term stability before the Higgs discovery, but stepped up calculations once its mass began settling in at around 126 billion electron volts - a critical number it turns out for figuring out the fate of the universe.

The calculation requires knowing the mass of the Higgs to within one percent, as well as the precise mass of other related subatomic particles.

"You change any of these parameters to the Standard Model (of particle physics) by a tiny bit and you get a different end of the universe," Lyyken said.

Or maybe not.

It's kind of irrelevant to most of us, except perhaps theologians.

Another Day………

Another mass shooting, this time California.

4 Dead.

This is a Good Thing

Map courtesy of the Kaiser Family Foundation

Notwithstanding the statements of the Obama administration that it was essential that the states should run their own health insurance exchanges, it's good news that the Federal Government will run 26 of 50 of the exchanges:

Friday was a very important day for health policy days. It was the last day for states to tell the federal government whether they wanted any part in running the Affordable Care Act health exchanges come 2014.

The federal government did not get many takers. Some of the most closely watched states, including Florida and New Jersey, decided to leave the entire task to the federal government. All told, the federal government will run 26 of the state health exchanges. It also will partner with seven states, where state and federal officials take joint responsibility for the marketplace. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia will take on the task themselves. Here’s what that looks like in map form, via the Kaiser Family Foundation.

………

The big question moving forward is: Does this split matter? Is it better or worse for the federal government to be running the majority of the state health exchanges?

In the health policy world, there are essentially two schools of thought on this. The first is that states opting out of the exchanges is horrible for the Obama administration. All along, Health and Human Services has urged states to move forward on their own. Now, HHS has the massive task of setting up 26 separate state exchanges.

………

That is the pessimist’s take on the federal government’s very big workload. But there’s also an optimist’s take, one that suggests that federal oversight of most Affordable Care Act marketplaces will ultimately strengthen the health overhaul.

Remember, House Democrats originally wanted one national health exchange, where everyone in all 50 states could purchase coverage. That idea was nixed in the Senate bill, which aimed to give states a larger role in setting up the Affordable Care Act.

In a way, all these states turning over their exchanges to the federal government brings Obamacare a little closer to the more liberal House bill, which had the federal government running one big marketplace. It allows the White House to have more control over setting up its signature legislative accomplishment. It also creates some economies of scale, as HHS can develop one template exchange that all 26 states it handles will use.

I'm not sure why the Obama administration was so big on the state run exchanges.

My guess was that they are worried about the inevitable teething problems, and wanted as many opportunities as possible to spread the blame around.

The state based insurance system has resulted in a lot of oligopolies in healthcare, and has allowed the insurance corporations to purchase legislators and regulators, so I see this as an unalloyed good.

It moves us away from the inevitable race to the bottom that will occur in state based systems.

When Charles F%$#ing Krauthammer is the Voice of Reason, You Have Jumped the Shark

Jumping C. Megalodon^*


This is one big shark that he jumped.
With Frikken Lasers!

The White House press corps(e) is mad as hell and they are not going to take it any more.

They have been stonewalled by the Obama administration for the last time?

What was it? The secret kill list? The use of the CIA and the NSA to spy on US citizens? The secret negotiations for the the Trans-Pacific Partnership?

Nope. The press is livid that they did not get a press availability when Obama played a round of golf with Tiger Woods:

The White House pushed back Tuesday against complaints from the press corps that the administration was too restrictive last weekend in denying reporters and photographers a glimpse of President Obama playing golf with Tiger Woods during his vacation in Florida.

Press secretary Jay Carney said he sympathizes with the press corps’ bid for greater access, but he disputed suggestions that Obama has been more off-limits than his recent predecessors.

Carney said Obama has held 35 news conferences in which reporters were permitted to ask questions, compared to 19 by George W. Bush to this point in his presidency. And Obama has granted 591 interviews, including 104 with television networks, Carney added.

………

Later that afternoon, the White House confirmed that Woods was among Obama’s foursome after a reporter for Golf World Magazine and the Golf Channel had published the news on his Twitter feed hours earlier.

After several reporters, including Fox News correspondent Ed Henry, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, complained about the lack of access, Obama spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday evening on the way back to Washington. But that conversation was off the record.

Do you know how stupid this is?

It's so stupid and over the top that lunatic and long distance psychotherapist Charles Krauthammer thinks that this is whiny inconsequential bullsh%$:

Charles Krauthammer is blasting the media for complaining about a lack of access to President Barack Obama over the weekend while he golfed with Tiger Woods, calling it “the biggest non-story” since the Kardashian weddings.

“If the guy wants to play golf, the guy deserves a couple of days off. He wants privacy — big deal. This is the biggest non-story that the media have created since the Kardashian weddings,” Krauthammer said on Fox News on Monday. “I don’t understand what the story is and what the outrage is.”

Seriously, Charles Krauthammer is correct.

I cannot f%$#ing believe that I f%$#ing just f%$#ing said f%$#ing that.

^*The largest shark, and likely largest predator fish ever. It died out some 1.5 million years ago. The Genus is still in dispute, between either Carcharodon (Great White) or Carcharocles (broad toothed Mako). But in either case, you are jumping C. Megalodon, you have jumped the biggest shark ever.

Can Police Be Trusted With Drones?

This has been another episode of simple answers to simple questions.

If you want context, you merely need to Google the abuses by police departments of thermal scanners, access to utility bills, and the 4^th amendment in general.

But of Course

Senate Minority Leader Fooled by Report in Military Version of The Onion

Well turtles are not known for their intellect.

It's a Start

In the primary to replace Jesse Jackson, Jr. in Congress, a leading candidate has been forced out largely because of her high ratings from the NRA:

Illinois State Sen. Toi Hutchinson dropped her bid to fill the Congressional seat of former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on Sunday after her moderate views on gun safety made her a target of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s political action committee, Independence USA.

In what will be the first election since the shooting in Newton, Connecticut, the $2 million ad buy criticized Hutchison and another candidate for receiving an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA). “In the race for Congress, the big issue? Fighting gun violence. Debbie Halvorson and Toi Hutchinson both earned an A from the NRA, they can’t be trusted,” the ad began before endorsing former state Rep. Robin Kelly who supports background checks and banning assault weapons.

Guns have become a central issue in the primary, as Kelly attacked her opponents’ views on gun safety and “pointed out that Hutchinson received a 92 percent rating from the NRA” and does not support a statewide concealed carry ban. She also urged all candidates to “sign on to a five-point pledge to reduce gun violence: banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines, closing the gun show loophole, supporting Illinois’ conceal carry ban, and refusing support from ‘organizations that oppose reasonable gun safety legislation.’”

A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable that a high rating from the NRA would be used against a candidate, but the recent behavior of the organization, in particular the batsh%$ insane pronouncements of their CEO, Wayne LaPierre, have, when juxtaposed with the Newtown shootings, made the organization increasingly toxic.

This is good.

The New York Times Notices that the Bank Settlements are Bullsh%$

You see, they are making modifications to 2^nd mortgages while continuing to foreclose on 1^st mortgages.

This might sound like a meaningless difference, but banks are given credit for modifying a 2^nd mortgage, but in the event of a foreclosure, they are subordinate to 1^st mortgages, and so are wiped out.

This means that the foreclosure modification means nothing, though the banks get credit for it anyway:

In January, federal regulators announced an $8.5 billion agreement with 10 mortgage servicers to settle claims of foreclosure abuses, including bungled loan modifications and the wrongful evictions of borrowers who were either current on their payments or making reduced monthly payments.

Under the deal, announced by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the mortgage servicers will pay $3.3 billion to borrowers who went through foreclosure in 2009 and 2010 and an additional $5.2 billion to reduce the principal or the monthly payments of borrowers in danger of losing their homes.

………

The problem involves second mortgages, which millions of homeowners took out during the housing bubble. It’s estimated that as much as a quarter of all mortgage debt in the United States is in the form of second mortgages. Some of these loans were taken out to finance home improvements; others were part of a subprime product known as an “80/20 mortgage,” in which 80 percent of the purchase price was covered by a first, adjustable-rate mortgage, and the remainder by a second mortgage, often with a much higher interest rate.

The second mortgages have given the banks a loophole: each dollar a bank forgives goes toward fulfilling its obligation under last year’s settlement. But many lenders have made it a point to almost exclusively modify secondary loans while all but ignoring the troubled, larger primary mortgages.

It’s a real problem: when it comes to keeping your home, it’s the first mortgage that counts.

………

Why would a bank forgive a second mortgage completely but move forward with foreclosure on the first mortgage?

Surprisingly, such a tactic often makes sense for banks. When a lender forecloses on a first mortgage, the house in question is typically sold at auction. If the house is worth less than the loan amount, the bank gets only part of its money back. But after the sale, of course, there’s no asset left to pay off any of the second loan. The holder of that second loan — which has lower priority than the holder of the first — gets nothing.

So a lender can forgive a second mortgage — which in the event of foreclosure would be worthless anyway — and under the settlement claim credits for “modifying” the mortgage, while at the same time it or another bank forecloses on the first loan. The upshot, of course, is that the people the settlement was designed to protect keep losing their homes.

I would note here that the author, Elizabeth M. Lynch who is a lawyer who provides free civil legal aid,is being rather charitable:  she thinks that the banksters are taking advantage of loopholes in the settlement.

I believe that the intention of the deal on the part of the Fed and the OCC was to create a meaningless "Potemkin Agreement".  They never intended to create better behavior.

Their goal was to indemnify the banks and to generate some propaganda to deflect moves toward real accountability.

Speculation About the Pope's Abdication Gains Mainstream Currency

The speculation about why the Pope is stepping down has hit Reuters:

Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.

"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn't have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else," said one Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It is absolutely necessary" that he stays in the Vatican, said the source, adding that Benedict should have a "dignified existence" in his remaining years.

Vatican sources said officials had three main considerations in deciding that Benedict should live in a convent in the Vatican after he resigns on February 28.

Vatican police, who already know the pope and his habits, will be able to guarantee his privacy and security and not have to entrust it to a foreign police force, which would be necessary if he moved to another country.

"I see a big problem if he would go anywhere else. I'm thinking in terms of his personal security, his safety. We don't have a secret service that can devote huge resources (like they do) to ex-presidents," the official said.

It could be nothing, but my guess is that we are going to hear the drip, drip, drip of all of this for months.

I actually have a bit of sympathy for him.  Benedict was left with the mess that John Paul created.  (It's pretty clear that JPII gave then Cardinal Ratzinger instructions to cover up the allegations when he was head of the Inquisition Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.)

An Interesting Take on Mali

It turns out that north Mali has something in common with the antebellum South, a pervasive and systematic system of slavery:

The insurgents who have fled from invading French troops in Mali have been taking with them some of their most important possessions — slaves.

The Tuareg tribes that overran Mali's military with the help of Arab extremist groups aligned with al-Qaeda have long held slaves and many of the captives are from families that have been enslaved for generations.

"It's no way to live, without your freedom," said Mohammed Yattara, a former slave who ran away from his Tuareg masters years ago.

"You depend on them for everything. If they tell you to do something, you have to do it, or they will beat you," he said as he sat with the chief of the village of Toya and among men and women who were descendants of slaves or former slaves.

One of the artifacts of slavery is that its abolition has the effect of destroying a lot of wealth held by the elites, and the elites tend not to view this favorably.

For some historical perspective, note that the first war in North America over the issue of slavery was the War of Texas Independence, and the slave holders won.  (Yes, this was the primary causus belli was slavery, so the Mexicans were the good guys, but they lost, so the Texans wrote the history.)

H/t DownWithTyranny.

This is the Best Dungeons and Dragons Hack I've Seen

As near as I can figure out, it was originally discussed here:

Just When You Thought that the JSF Could Not Get Any More f%$#ed………

We now find out that they bought into Lithium Ion batteries for the fighter, the technology that has grounded the 787:

The Pentagon said it plans to continue using lithium-ion batteries on the new F-35 fighter jet despite problems with similar batteries that have grounded Boeing Co’s new 787 airliner and are causing Airbus to rethink their use on its A350 jet.

Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagon’s $396 billion F-35 program office, said on Tuesday that the lithium-ion batteries used on the new radar-evading fighter were made by different manufacturers than those used on the 787, and the jet’s battery systems had been rigorously tested.

“The bottom line is the lithium-ion batteries used on the F-35s have been through extensive tests and have redundant systems to protect the aircraft and battery compartments; they are considered safe,” DellaVedova said.

DellaVedova said there had been some irregularities with the lithium-ion batteries not starting properly in cold temperatures that were being addressed, but no issues affecting flight safety had come up during years of testing.

All 50 Boeing Dreamliners in commercial service were grounded worldwide on January 16 after a series of battery-related incidents, including a fire on board a parked 787 at Boston’s Logan International Airport and an in-flight problem on another airplane in Japan.

The groundings have cost airlines tens of millions of dollars, with no solution yet in sight, and have sparked growing concerns among aerospace industry executives about whether the powerful but delicate backup energy systems are technically “mature”, or predictable.

Why am I not surprised?

When you cross reference "advance technology", "unproven", and "risky", the Venn diagram of the intersection is the JSF.

Un-Dirtyword Believable

OK, I get the fact that the military needs for some sort of citation for excellence in playing video games operating drones, but the idea that such a citation would outrank a bronze star, which is awarded for personal courage on the battlefield, is beyond stupid:

The Pentagon is creating a new high-level military medal that will recognize drone pilots and, in a controversial twist, giving it added clout by placing it above some traditional combat valor medals in the military’s “order of precedence.”

The Distinguished Warfare Medal will be awarded to pilots of unmanned aircraft, offensive cyber war experts or others who are directly involved in combat operations but who are not physically in theater and facing the physical risks that warfare historically entails.

The new medal will rank just below the Distinguished Flying Cross. It will have precedence over — and be worn on a uniform above — the Bronze Star with Valor device, a medal awarded to troops for specific heroic acts performed under fire in combat.

………

The new medal will be awarded for specific acts, such as the successful targeting of a particular individual at a critical time.

“Our military reserves its highest decorations obviously for those who display gallantry and valor in actions when their lives are on the line and we will continue to do so,” Panetta said.

This is screamingly stupid.

It speaks to a culture in the Pentagon that sees itself as an officer corps that increasingly resembles strutting peacocks.

Moving in the Wrong Direction

So, the recession lowered the salaries of the 99%, and raised them for the 1%:

Incomes rose more than 11 percent for the top 1 percent of earners during the economic recovery, but not at all for everybody else, according to new data.

The numbers, produced by Emmanuel Saez, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, show overall income growing by just 1.7 percent over the period. But there was a wide gap between the top 1 percent, whose earnings rose by 11.2 percent, and the other 99 percent, whose earnings declined by 0.4 percent.

Mr. Saez, a winner of the John Bates Clark Medal, an economic laurel considered second only to the Nobel, concluded that “the Great Recession has only depressed top income shares temporarily and will not undo any of the dramatic increase in top income shares that has taken place since the 1970s.”

We need to raise the minimum wage, raise taxes on the rich, and reign in the financial industry, and we need to do that right now.

Or maybe guillotines.  I could go for  then too,

It's Bank Failure Friday!!!

And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.

3. Covenant Bank, Chicago, IL

Full FDIC list

We are seeing a lot less action this year.

So, here is the graph pr0n with last years numbers for comparison (FDIC only):

How is Responding to the State of the Union Like Being a Member of Star ship Security?

Seriously, do I need to explain this one?



For those of you don't get the reference, you should watch Star Trek, but I will direct I will direct you to this picture for context, courtesy of DC at the Stellar Parthenon BBS:

Stay Classy, Teabaggers

Yes, the fine folks at Freedomworks, produced a video with two female staffers playing Hillary Clinton and a Panda having sex:

An internal investigation of FreedomWorks—the prominent conservative advocacy group and super-PAC—has focused on president Matt Kibbe's management of the organization, his use of its resources, and a controversial book deal he signed, according to former FreedomWorks officials who have met with the private lawyers conducting the probe. One potential topic for the inquiry is a promotional video produced last year under the supervision of Adam Brandon, executive vice president of the group and a Kibbe loyalist. The video included a scene in which a female intern wearing a panda suit simulates performing oral sex on Hillary Clinton. [Author's note: The previous sentence contains no typos.]

………

In one segment of the film, according to a former official who saw it, Brandon is seen waking from a nap at his desk. In what appears to be a dream or a nightmare, he wanders down a hallway and spots a giant panda on its knees with its head in the lap of a seated Hillary Clinton and apparently performing oral sex on the then-secretary of state. Two female interns at FreedomWorks were recruited to play the panda and Clinton. One intern wore a Hillary Clinton mask. The other wore a giant panda suit that FreedomWorks had used at protests to denounce progressives as panderers. (See here, here, and here.) Placing the panda in the video, a former FreedomWorks staffer says, was "an inside joke."

Another FreedomWorks staffer who worked there at the time confirms that "Yes, this video was created."

Seriously, these guys are showing less maturity than your average 13 year old boys in a locker room in a farting contest.

It's Jobless Thursday?

The numbers were better than forecast, with initial claims falling by 27K to 340,000, though the less volatile 4-week moving average rose slightly to 352,500, with continuing claims falling to 3.11 million.

Not too shabby.

WE NED MOAR GUNS CUZ OV TEH BLAHS*

I am of course referring to National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre's OP/ED on the right wing cesspool known as The Daily Caller, where he said that we all need more guns because of scary dark people:

Following President Obama’s call for a vote on proposed gun safety legislation in his State of the Union speech, Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association, on Wednesday issued a call-to-action for gun owners to prepare for post-apocolyptic-style scenarios and rally against the gun control movement.

………

“Latin American drug gangs”:

Latin American drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States. Phoenix is already one of the kidnapping capitals of the world, and though the states on the U.S./Mexico border may be the first places in the nation to suffer from cartel violence, by no means are they the last.

(Emphasis Original)

Seriously, does the radical right do anything but find exciting new ways to scream the "N-Word".

^*This refers to an iundident with Rick Santorum said that, "I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.," and then claimed that he had said "blah people."

I'm Conflicted about Christopher Dorner

Basically, I'm inclined to believe his accusations about his firing, you are rarely going to go wrong by overestimating the venality and corruption of the Los Angeles police force^*, but his victims were innocent, and at best only vaguely rated related to the specifics of his complaint, and he was f%$#ing murdering people.

I will leave you with the conclusion of Ta-Nehisi Coates:

I don't really know how anyone, with any sort of coherence, adopts Christopher Dorner as a symbol in the fight against police brutality, given how he brutalized those two human beings. I cannot understand, except to say that sometimes our own anger, our pain, becomes so blinding that we fail to see the pain of others. This is the seed of inhumanity, and inhumanity is the seed of the very police brutality which we all deplore.

In my time here I have blogged relentlessly about police brutality. It's an important and legit issue. When cops brutalize innocent black people, they erode the contract between citizen and country. But the case against police brutality enjoys more eloquent, and more moral, voices than a coward who ambushes innocent people in a parking garage. We don't need a Jesse James. No one needs a Jesse James.

I'm still hoping that there will be an independent investigation of the circumstances of his firing though.

If there is any truth to his accusations, it is an indication of deep and systematic problems with the LAPD.

^*The LAPD of Jack Webb never really existed.

Surrender Your Privacy for the Good of the State Comrade

The good folks at the Orwellian named Department of Homeland security has decided that they can seize and search your electronics without cause:

The Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights watchdog has concluded that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any reason whatsoever — all in the name of national security.

The DHS, which secures the nation’s border, in 2009 announced that it would conduct a “Civil Liberties Impact Assessment” of its suspicionless search-and-seizure policy pertaining to electronic devices “within 120 days.” More than three years later, the DHS office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties published a two-page executive summary of its findings.

“We also conclude that imposing a requirement that officers have reasonable suspicion in order to conduct a border search of an electronic device would be operationally harmful without concomitant civil rights/civil liberties benefits,” the executive summary said.

The memo highlights the friction between today’s reality that electronic devices have become virtual extensions of ourselves housing everything from e-mail to instant-message chats to photos and our papers and effects — juxtaposed against the government’s stated quest for national security.

Civil rights? How September 10^th of you.

I do not like what our country is becoming.

Unsurprising

Click for full size

---

This screen shot is from 2002!

Someone took a look at the record, and confirmed that the Tea Party was created by the Koch brothers and big tobacco:

A new academic study confirms that front groups with longstanding ties to the tobacco industry and the billionaire Koch brothers planned the formation of the Tea Party movement more than a decade before it exploded onto the U.S. political scene.

Far from a genuine grassroots uprising, this astroturf effort was curated by wealthy industrialists years in advance. Many of the anti-science operatives who defended cigarettes are currently deploying their tobacco-inspired playbook internationally to evade accountability for the fossil fuel industry's role in driving climate disruption.

The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institute of Health, traces the roots of the Tea Party's anti-tax movement back to the early 1980s when tobacco companies began to invest in third party groups to fight excise taxes on cigarettes, as well as health studies finding a link between cancer and secondhand cigarette smoke.

You can see a link to the old web page at the Wayback machine, but I don't recommend it. It's flash hell.

So the Teabaggers are both Koch suckers, and stooges for big tobacco.

Heady brew.

Where Losers Go to Decompose

Former half term Senator Scotty Brown has joined Fox News.

Dick Cheney Pissed off Jon Stewart………

Daym!

Recently, Dick Cheney was interviewed, and Jon Stewart and his writers had the stomache to listen to listen to him go on and on about how Barack Obama has weakened America.

I now know what that sound I heard earlier, it was the staff of The Daily Show licking their chops.

He notes that Cheney was a sh%$#y vice president, and he was wrong on everything, and followed this by a video medley Grand Moff Cheney's greatest hits, like, "We'll be welcomed as liberators", "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction," and the ever popular favorite "I think that they are in the last throes of the insurgency."

Even if Obama wanted to take our standing in the world down a peg, he couldn’t, ’cause the Bush-Cheney administration left him with no peg room… the previous administration had left us in a bit of a cash crunch, and by ‘previous administration,’ I mean these motherf%$#ers.

Ouch.

No, I Did Not Watch the State of the Union

I just don't like listening to him, so I read the official transcript.

Rather unsurprisingly, he wants to throw mama from the train put forward "entitlement reform", and he is patting himself on the back about the successes Obamacare (time will tell, but I doubt it), and killing bin Laden.

He also waxes eloquent over lowering the deficit, because austerity has worked so well where it has been tried. (Not)

He also proposed infrastructure repair, but that's not going to go anywhere.

I think that the most substantive proposal he made was to raise the minimum wage to $9.00/hour in stages through 2015.

As compared to his promise from the 2008 campaign, raising the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011, this barely keeps up with inflation.

At least he is proposing an automatic inflation adjustment.

The real problem is that the minimum wage has plummeted relative to median and mean wages over the past 40 years



Source of data.

Based on this chart, it would appear that the minimum wage needs to increase by about 20% immediately to hit the trend (mid to upper 40% range), but the reality is that boosting the minimum wage has a big effect on boosting the lower half of the wage scale, so it probably needs to go up by about 40% to return to trend in the longer term.

Note also how the lines for median (50^th percentile) and mean (average) have diverged.  This is an artifact of the increasingly inequality in our society.

I call this the "Bill Gates walked into the room, so we are now all millionaires" effect.  It makes the mean and the median diverge.

Setting the minimum wage to slowly, and automatically, converge to 45% of the minimum wage over the next half decade or so would serve to do a lot to reverse the income inequality .

Facepalm

In its infinite wisdom, the International Olympic Committee has dropped wrestling from its sports:

For wrestling, this may have been the ultimate body slam: getting tossed out of the Olympic rings.

The vote Tuesday by the IOC's executive board stunned the world's wrestlers, who see their sport as popular in many countries and steeped in history as old as the Olympics themselves.

While wrestling will be included at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it was cut from the games in 2020, which have yet to be awarded to a host city.

Wrestling has been a part of the Olympics since the Greeks held the original ones starting in 776 BCE.

So, they will keep Dressage (horse dancing) and beach volleyball but they will dump wrestling.

Boom

The DPRK conducts a 3^rd nuclear weapons test:

At the United Nations, the desire to impose ever harsher sanctions on North Korea to try to curb its development of nuclear arms and ballistic missiles has long stalled in the face of Chinese opposition — the standard chain of events playing out here again on Tuesday after North Korea said it had carried out its third nuclear test.

Security Council diplomats and the experts who track sanctions enforcement are quick to tick off the contents of a deeper toolbox that could be used to try to corral Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

They include banning specific, high-tech items used in the nuclear program like epoxy paste for centrifuges; limiting or outlawing some banking transactions; and a far more stringent inspection of ships bound to and from North Korea.

But the sanctions in place are almost exclusively focused on nuclear and ballistic missile activity.

The problem is that we have way too much posturing on both side.

They need to stop setting off nukes, and we need to make a formal exchange of ambassadors.

Least Surprising Study Discovery Ever

I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has completed a study that shows that the revolving door at the SEC may have short circuited effective regulation:

Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staffers who now work in the private sector may have helped derail last year's effort to reform the $2.6 trillion money market fund industry, according to a report released on Monday.

The case study on money market fund lobbying is part of a 60-page report by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). It is one example within a broader review by the non-profit government watchdog that examines in detail how the "revolving door" at the SEC may have impacted policy and enforcement decisions over a 10-year period.

The publication of the report comes a few weeks after President Barack Obama nominated Mary Jo White, a former prosecutor and high-profile white collar defense lawyer, to lead the SEC.

While White's nomination has generated little controversy so far, some have questioned whether her past defense of Wall Street executives could impact how she does on the job.

"The revolving door is deeply embedded at the SEC and throughout the federal government," the report said.

"The close linkage between the regulators and the regulated can influence the culture, the values and the mindset of the agency - not to mention its regulatory and enforcement policies."

Well, duh.

But this is not an unfortunate linkage, it is bribery.  If you are a regulator, you know for a fact that when you leave public service, if you have played nicely with the finance industry, and haven't murdered a prostitute, that you will get a job that would make you set for life in just a couple of years.

I'm not sure how to put an end to this, but a way needs to be found to stop this.

George F%$# ing Will??!?!?!!?

George Will is not just a partisan hack. He's the guy who prepped Ronald Reagan for the 1980s debate while knowingly using Jimmy Carter's stolen briefing books.

So, it is with some surprise that I note that he is calling for a breakup of the big banks:

With his chronically gravelly voice and relentlessly liberal agenda, Sherrod Brown seems to have stepped out of “Les Miserables,” hoarse from singing revolutionary anthems at the barricades. Today, Ohio’s senior senator has a project worthy of Victor Hugo — and of conservatives’ support. He wants to break up the biggest banks.

He would advocate this even if he thought such banks would never have a crisis sufficient to threaten the financial system. He believes they are unhealthy for the financial system even when they are healthy. This is because there is a silent subsidy — an unfair competitive advantage relative to community banks — inherent in being deemed by the government, implicitly but clearly, too big to fail.

The Senate has unanimously passed a bill offered by Brown and Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, directing the Government Accountability Office to study whether banks with more than $500 billion in assets acquire an “economic benefit” because of their dangerous scale. Is their debt priced favorably because, being TBTF, they are considered especially creditworthy? Brown believes the 20 largest banks pay less when borrowing — 50 to 80 basis points less — than community banks must pay.

In a sense, TBTF began under Ronald Reagan with the 1984 rescue of Continental Illinois, then the seventh-largest bank. In 2011, the four biggest U.S. banks (JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo) had 40 percent of all federally insured deposits. Today, the 5,500 community banks have 12 percent of the banking industry’s assets. The 12 banks with $250 billion to $2.3 trillion in assets total 69 percent. The 20 largest banks’ assets total 84.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.

………

By breaking up the biggest banks, conservatives will not be putting asunder what the free market has joined together. Government nurtured these behemoths by weaving an improvident safety net and by practicing crony capitalism. Dismantling them would be a blow against government that has become too big not to fail. Aux barricades!

(Emphasis original)

This is not what I expect from Will, and there is a part of me that is wondering whether this is more of a political tactic than a recognition of reality.

If the Republicans want an effective line of attack, they could do a lot worse than saying that Obama is determined to protect and defend the too big to fail banks.

It is something that would undermine any populist cred that Obama might seek to achieve, and as a bonus, it's true.

So, either Will is late to this game, or he's the the first volley in a Republican attack.

If I were a betting man, I'd call it even money.

Not the Onion

Heart Attack Grill spokesman dies from heart attack

This is Your Moment of Schadenfreude

For the past 7 years, fans of the libertarian icon Congressman Ron Paul have run RonPaul.com, and now the batsh%$ insane iconoclastic politico has decided that he wants the domain.

So, is he offering to buy the site?  Nope, he is appealing to the United Nations to seize the domain:

Ron Paul is feuding with his rabid fan base over the ownership of RonPaul.com. Paul wants it, but his fans own it. They're willing to sell it to him... for a price Paul doesn't agree with. So now he's taken the dispute all the way to the United Nations.

………

The proprietors of RonPaul.com say they reached out to the retired politicain and offered him RonPaul.org as a free gift, but if he "insisted" on owning RonPaul.com then they would sell it to him. There was a catch, though. It would be part of a "liberty package" with the site's 170,000 person mailing list for... wait for it... $250,000. They think the price is totally worth it:

The value we put on the deal was $250k; we are getting our mailing list appraised right now but we are confident it is easily worth more than $250k all by itself. Claims that we tried to sell Ron Paul “his name” for $250k or even $800k are completely untrue, and there is little doubt that our mailing list would have enabled Ron Paul to raise several million dollars for the liberty movement this year. It would have been a win/win/win situation for everyone involved.

But Paul did not respond to their generous offer. Instead, he went to the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization to file a 13 page complaint asking for control of both domains. Oops! Paul's opting for legal action is notable because he's spoken out against the U.N. in the past. They generally aren't very popular among libertarians. They aren't so bad now that he wants control of his own name's website.

(Emphasis mine)

The United f%$#ing Nations????? Seriously?

I guess that it's Libertarianism for thee, and not for me.

I think that Ron Paul has officially entered into the world of the "leeches", as Ayn Rand would put it.

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss………

It appears that we will get fooled again

Jack Lew, who has been nominated by Barack Obama as Timothy Geithner's replacement as Secretary of the Treasury.

Well, if you think back to Geithner's confirmation hearings, it turned out that he simply did not pay his Social Security taxes for a few years while working at the IMF.

Well Jack Lew does one better, he squirreled away funds in the Cayman Islands:

Jack Lew, President Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary nominee, previously held up to $100,000 in investments in an offshore hedge fund located in the Cayman Islands, according to financial disclosure forms.

Lew’s financial disclosure forms, filed in 2009 and 2011, showed that Lew had invested between $50,000 and $100,000 in a fund called Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership (Employee) II, L.P. -- the very type of fund President Obama has repeatedly criticized.

The fund is an international venture capital fund for employees of Citigroup. According to his official White House biography, Lew served as managing director and chief operating officer of Citi Global Wealth Management and then Citi Alternative Investments (CAI) from 2006 to 2008.

Yeah, he is so not going to be the guy who cleans up Wall Street


H/t AmericaBlog.

Too Much Free Time Example of the Millennium

I give you Ryan Werber, who created the world's most amusing traceroute:

6 Episode.IV (206.214.251.1) 68.642 ms 67.307 ms 67.005 ms
7 A.NEW.HOPE (206.214.251.6) 65.986 ms 68.502 ms 68.708 ms
8 It.is.a.period.of.civil.war (206.214.251.9) 67.067 ms 70.139 ms 66.52
9 Rebel.spaceships (206.214.251.14) 70.214 ms 70.192 ms 71.622 ms
10 striking.from.a.hidden.base (206.214.251.17) 71.427 ms 74.206 ms
11 have.won.their.first.victory (206.214.251.22) 71.665 ms 70.434 ms 7
12 against.the.evil.Galactic.Empire (206.214.251.25) 69.218 ms 70.621
13 During.the.battle (206.214.251.30) 69.059 ms 68.931 ms 69.981 ms
14 Rebel.spies.managed (206.214.251.33) 77.247 ms 72.757 ms 77.61
15 to.steal.secret.plans (206.214.251.38) 71.224 ms 71.164 ms 69.543
16 to.the.Empires.ultimate.weapon (206.214.251.41) 68.744 ms 68.824
17 the.DEATH.STAR (206.214.251.46) 72.316 ms 74.551 ms 66.354 ms
18 an.armored.space.station (206.214.251.49) 69.413 ms 70.334 ms 6
19 with.enough.power.to (206.214.251.54) 66.182 ms 66.627 ms 71.23
20 destroy.an.entire.planet (206.214.251.57) 71.926 ms 71.266 ms 70.
21 Pursued.by.the.Empires (206.214.251.62) 67.298 ms 65.956 ms 66.
22 sinister.agents (206.214.251.65) 65.020 ms 67.806 ms 70.508 ms
23 Princess.Leia.races.home (206.214.251.70) 68.894 ms 71.147 ms 71
24 aboard.her.starship (206.214.251.73) 72.130 ms 71.093 ms 74.026
25 custodian.of.the.stolen.plans (206.214.251.78) 68.568 ms 67.939 ms
26 that.can.save.her (206.214.251.81) 67.063 ms 69.874 ms 68.889 m
27 people.and.restore (206.214.251.86) 70.395 ms 70.144 ms
28 freedom.to.the.galaxy (206.214.251.89) 66.098 ms 65.432 ms
29 0-------------------0 (206.214.251.94) 75.931 ms 74.159 ms 80.012
30 0------------------0 (206.214.251.97) 73.026 ms 73.403 ms 73.256
31 0-----------------0 (206.214.251.102) 83.602 ms 82.079 ms 70.743
32 0----------------0 (206.214.251.105) 70.459 ms 69.403 ms 68.782 m
33 0---------------0 (206.214.251.110) 68.516 ms 72.472 ms 71.811 ms
34 0--------------0 (206.214.251.113) 69.056 ms 65.981 ms 68.202 ms
35 0-------------0 (206.214.251.118) 66.790 ms 71.556 ms 74.292 ms
36 0------------0 (206.214.251.121) 68.286 ms 71.042 ms 71.587 ms
37 0-----------0 (206.214.251.126) 72.702 ms 71.785 ms 72.442 ms
38 0----------0 (206.214.251.129) 78.143 ms 74.411 ms 72.828 ms
39 0---------0 (206.214.251.134) 69.692 ms 66.187 ms 67.369 ms
40 0--------0 (206.214.251.137) 69.184 ms 70.678 ms 67.445 ms
41 0-------0 (206.214.251.142) 70.383 ms 68.220 ms 67.543 ms
42 0------0 (206.214.251.145) 67.593 ms 72.970 ms 73.220 ms
43 0-----0 (206.214.251.150) 70.964 ms 69.082 ms 70.831 ms
44 0----0 (206.214.251.153) 73.856 ms 71.848 ms 70.311 ms
45 0---0 (206.214.251.158) 71.517 ms 69.204 ms 69.538 ms
46 0--0 (206.214.251.161) 68.076 ms 68.179 ms 67.620 ms
47 0-0 (206.214.251.166) 68.738 ms 70.518 ms 68.757 ms
48 00 (206.214.251.169) 68.281 ms 70.225 ms 74.811 ms
49 I (206.214.251.174) 70.203 ms 71.668 ms 71.672 ms
50 By.Ryan.Werber (206.214.251.177) 68.900 ms 71.461 ms 72.297 ms
51 When.CCIEs.Get.Bored (206.214.251.182) 75.816 ms 73.957 ms 71.333 ms
52 read.more.at.beaglenetworks.net (206.214.251.185) 70.254 ms 73.799 ms

Unfortunately, his little trick went viral, and then the script kiddies decided to DDOS the site, so the traceroute no longer works.

H/t DC at the Stellar Parthenon BBS.

Holy Crap

The Meat Industry Now Consumes Four-Fifths of All Antibiotics.

FWIW, this implies that agriculture is not responsible for something like 80% of all the antibiotic resistance.

Just so you know, they banned antibiotics in Denmark, and it added less than a nickel a pound to the cost of meat.

Here's Hoping that The Farmer Wins

An Indiana soybean farmer, bought seeds from the local elevator and replanted them, and was promptly sued by the axis of evil Monsanto, and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case:

As David versus Goliath battles go it is hard to imagine a more uneven fight than the one about to play out in front of the US supreme court between Vernon Hugh Bowman and Monsanto.

On the one side is Bowman, a single 75-year-old Indiana soybean farmer who is still tending the same acres of land as his father before him in rural south-western Indiana. On the other is a gigantic multibillion dollar agricultural business famed for its zealous protection of its commercial rights.

Not that Bowman sees it that way. "I really don't consider it as David and Goliath. I don't think of it in those terms. I think of it in terms of right and wrong," Bowman told The Guardian in an interview.

Either way, in the next few weeks Bowman and Monsanto's opposing legal teams will face off in front of America's most powerful legal body, weighing in on a case that deals with one of the most fundamental questions of modern industrial farming: who controls the rights to the seeds planted in the ground.

………

As David versus Goliath battles go it is hard to imagine a more uneven fight than the one about to play out in front of the US supreme court between Vernon Hugh Bowman and Monsanto.

On the one side is Bowman, a single 75-year-old Indiana soybean farmer who is still tending the same acres of land as his father before him in rural south-western Indiana. On the other is a gigantic multibillion dollar agricultural business famed for its zealous protection of its commercial rights.

Not that Bowman sees it that way. "I really don't consider it as David and Goliath. I don't think of it in those terms. I think of it in terms of right and wrong," Bowman told The Guardian in an interview.

Either way, in the next few weeks Bowman and Monsanto's opposing legal teams will face off in front of America's most powerful legal body, weighing in on a case that deals with one of the most fundamental questions of modern industrial farming: who controls the rights to the seeds planted in the ground.

I really, really, hope that Bowman cleans their clock in the Supreme Court.

The idea that the right of farmers to replant seeds, a right that is literally thousands of years old, and this right should not be, to paraphrase William Jennings Bryan, "Crucified on a cross of patent law."

My guess is that it is likely that Bowman will prevail, as Monsanto prevailed at the district court, and then at the patent court, and these days, the Supreme Court only takes these cases when it wants to throw a brush back pitch at the patent court being nuts.

The case is Vernon Hugh Bowman v. Monsanto.

Another Day, Another Shooting

This time, it's a Delaware courthouse.

Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat!

For the first time since 1415, the Pope Benedict has announced that he will be abdicating:

Citing failing strength of “mind and body,” Pope Benedict XVI stunned his closest aides and more than 1 billion Catholics by resigning on Monday, becoming the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years and ending the tenure of a formidable theologian who preached a gospel of conservative faith to a fast-changing world.

Keeping with his reputation as a traditionalist, Pope Benedict delivered his resignation — effective Feb. 28 — in Latin, to a private church body in Vatican City. “I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me,” he said. “For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of bishop of Rome, successor of Saint Peter.”

The decision by the 85-year-old German pontiff sets up a pivotal leadership contest in the marbled halls of the Vatican that is coming sooner than observers expected. Although questions about the pope’s health have long swirled — he was occasionally filmed nodding off during mass — he seemed committed to continuing a papacy that has divided Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

The question is whether it's about his health, or whether, as as Digby suggests, that revelations from the case of former Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, where Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (it used to be called the Inquisition) was directing the (non) response to the church's sexual abuse scandal.

I'll look forward to seeing Jon Stewart's take on all this.

5 Principals for Modern Communications Technology

Harold Feld, Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge, telco policy wonk extraordinaire, and friend with whom I do medieval recreation with, has a must read essay on what a modern IP based telephone system should be like.

Basically, and unsurprisingly, it comes down to the same 5 principals that current switch based phone system has:

• Universal service for all Americans. (Lifeline service for the poor)
• Guaranteed interconnection, so that a Verizon user can make a call to a Comcast user.
• Meaningful consumer protections. (i.e. "truth in billing", which is lacking in cell phone service right now)
• Reliability (4 "9"s of reliability, something that is lacking in cell phone service right now, as well as various IP telephony services like AT&T's UVerse)
• Emergency calls that work. (911 standards)

As is clear to anyone who spent even a few years under Ma Bell, these are not new concepts.  Our phone system has run under this for the past 80 years, since the New Deal.

Unfortunately, with the urging of what I call the "free market mousketeers", these principals have been slowly been rolled back, and this is not a good thing, as the people and first responders who were left without communications following super-storm Sandy can attest to.

As Mr. Feld notes, the real solutions to many of these problems is to separate the service (voice telephone) from the underlying technology (PSTN vs. IP, or whatever might succeed IP) from a regulatory perspective.

Watch the video.  It is both clear, and does a good job of making what is ordinarily a very dry subject accessible.

I'm Back From am SCA Event, I'm Tired, and I've Felt Queasy all Day

So no posting tonight.

That kids all.

Posted via mobile.

Why I Call Him the Worst Constitutional Law Professor Ever.

Just in case your wondering how bad Obama's assertions of the right to kill anyone, at any time, are, note that not only are they dubious constitutionally, they directly conflict with the black letter text of the Magna Carta, meaning that he's not just ignoring 230 years of law, he's ignoring 798 years of law:

Two provisions of Magna Carta deserve our attention today, a gift to us from the Barons of 13th century England.

38. No bailiff for the future shall, upon his own unsupported complaint, put anyone to his “law”, without credible witnesses brought for this purposes. {This was replaced by improved legislation in 1863}

39. No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised {deprived of land} or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. {This remains in force for the people of England, but no longer in the USA}

Our ancestors spent much blood, sweat, and tears between that day at Runnymede and the meeting in 1878 at Philadelphia. The liberties provided by the Constitution were won over those 30 generations, by the unruly Saxons and Normans of Medieval England — and the Founders, jealous of their liberties and willing to fight for them. In the decade since 9-11 we’ve thoughtlessly thrown away political structures that took centuries to build.

This country in general, and the Obama administration in general, is going in a profoundly wrong directions.

They Blinked

Just a day after some wingnuts in Michigan proposed a transvaginal ultrasound bill, Michigan's House Speaker has said it's not gonna happen:

Michigan's House Speaker Jase Bolger (R) on Thursday categorically ruled out legislation introduced by his Republican colleagues to mandate transvaginal ultrasounds for women before having an abortion.

"While I want to be sure women have access to the best technology available, I have absolutely no interest in forcing a woman to have a transvaginal ultrasound," Bolger said in a statement. "This House of Representatives will not pass a bill mandating transvaginal ultrasounds."

Mr. Bolger is aware of how toxic the teabaggers in his caucus are, even as he has made his bed with them.

New England Battens Down for Major Weather Event

H/t Crooks and Liars.

It's Back!!!!

A transvaginal ultrasound abortion bill has been submitted in the Michigan state house:

Michigan Republicans have introduced a bill requiring all women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before obtaining an abortion, a move that rekindles last year’s firestorm when other GOP-led states were considering similar measures.

The legislation introduced Tuesday in the state House ensures the “performance of a diagnostic ultrasound examination of the fetus at least two hours before an abortion is performed” and requires her to sign a consent form prior to the abortion. The bill was introduced by state Rep. Joel Johnson (R) and cosponsored by 22 fellow lawmakers.

Johnson was not available for comment Wednesday, but his legislative aide, Ben Frederick, confirmed to TPM that, while the legislation does not specifically mention transvaginal ultrasounds, the bill aims to require women to undergo an ultrasound prior to receiving an abortion.

Katie Carey, a spokeswoman for Michigan’s House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel, categorically said the bill would mandate transvaginal ultrasounds for women before an abortion.

Because, as the vice presidential hopes of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell last year so clearly  showed, it's such a political winner.

Attention Greece: You Now Have the Chance to Screw the Germans, Do IT!

I was listening to NPR this morning, and discovered that the privatization/fire sale of Greek owned state assets that the IMF and the EU (really, the Germans) is not going as as quickly as expected, and one of the reasons is that some of the privatization deals actually effect the Germans and the rest as well, and they are objecting:

European governments, as well as Washington, are reportedly concerned over Russia's possible expansion into Europe. Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas monopoly, has made a high bid for the Greek gas utility company. Media reports suggest the privatization agency has delayed choosing a buyer — under international pressure.

There are also other strategic concerns, such as conflict with China over Greek ports.

George Stathakis, an economist and lawmaker for the opposition leftist party Syriza, says China wants to expand its current control of a part of the Port of Piraeus and also buy the south-north railway link, raising fears China will flood the European markets with its inexpensive products.

"German and Dutch interests are opposing the idea of using Greece as the primary source of Chinese trade with Europe," Stathakis says.

(emphasis mine)

It's not like the cheap Chinese crap will put Greek manufacturers out of business.  The Germans and the Dutch already did that.

Someone Greek will unload the ships, and someone Greek will fuel the ships, and someone Greek will operate the locomotives.

If some Germans lose their jobs over this, why should Greeks care?

Sauce for the gander.  The EU austerity caucus, with the Germans at the lead, had demanded, and got the dismantlement of the Greek public health insurance system.

Share the misery.

Obama agrees to release legal memos on Awlaki drone strike - latimes.com

So, now that Michale Isikoff has released a leaked Department of Justice memo which summarized their legal opinion on drone strikes, it basically said that Obama can kill anyone he wants at any time, the White House has agreed top release the actual legal opinion to Congress:

President Obama, who has championed lethal drone strikes as a major part of U.S. counter-terrorism efforts, bowed to pressure Wednesday and agreed to allow the Senate and House intelligence committees to review classified legal memos used to justify a drone strike against a U.S. citizen in Yemen in 2011.

Senators had demanded for months to see the Justice Department opinions that provided the White House legal authority to order the targeted killing of Anwar Awlaki, a New Mexico native who became an Al Qaeda leader.

Complaints by several Democrats over not receiving the documents had cast a shadow on the Senate confirmation hearing Thursday of John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism advisor tapped to be CIA director.

An administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified material, described the decision to release the classified Office of Legal Counsel material as "part of the president's ongoing commitment to consult with Congress on national security matters."

"I think this is an encouraging first step," said Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who sits on the Intelligence Committee and was among those who had publicly complained about being denied access to the material. He said Americans must "understand the rules under which a president may make these consequential decisions."

Wyden said Obama had "assured me that all of the documents concerning the legal opinions on the targeted killing of Americans will immediately be made available" to the intelligence committees.

By "made available" I'm sure that they mean that the Congressmen can look at it in a locked room, take no notes, and not discuss it with their staff.

That's how they roll.

This is Called a Back Loaded Bribe

The soon to be ex-Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner plans to write a book:

Timothy Geithner, who played a lead role battling the global financial crisis both at the U.S. Treasury and New York Federal Reserve, is planning to write a book on the U.S. response, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Geithner, who was the longest-serving member of President Barack Obama's economic team when he stepped down as secretary of the Treasury last month, is credited with helping to calm the financial storm that swept through Wall Street in 2007-2009.

But his support for bailing out big banks was controversial and many critics have accused him of doing too little for Main Street. In 2009, some lawmakers called for his resignation.

His spokeswoman said he had not started writing the book and will meet with publishers soon.

Any guess as to the size of his advance?

I'm guessing that it will be 7 figures.

Say what you will about the banksters, but they do tend to throw a few crumbs to their evil minions.

It's Jobless Thursday!

366,000 initial claims, down 5000 from last week, and the 4 week moving average fell to a 5 year low, though continuing claims rose. Extended claims were down.

Good, but I'd like to see things a bit better.

Stupidest Idea in Maryland

While Maryland is not generally considered a good government state, witness the regular indictments of Maryland politicos, but the Prince George's County Board of Education takes the cake:

There are some absolutely ridiculous situations created by the fact that all creative works are automatically granted a copyright on being put into a fixed form. Mostly, we just ignore these situations, because the vast majority of them never matter. But, as copyright has become more and more ridiculous, some people are beginning to start to make use of the stupid fact that all kinds of things can be "owned" that probably shouldn't be "ownable." Take, for example, school work. If a student creates something, it is covered by copyright, though most people never really consider or care about that. However, the board of education for Prince George [sic] County in Maryland is apparently considering a new "copyright policy" in which all students and staff would have to assign all of those copyrights over to the school system itself.

(emphasis original)

I don't see how they have a leg to stand on with the children, who are not employees, and so could not be seen as producing work for hire.

This is nucking futs.

Facepalm

Yes, considering the disaster that was the Israeli rump state in Lebanon, the idea that Israel is planning to establish a "buffer zone" in Syria does not bode well:

ISRAEL is considering creating a buffer zone reaching up to 10 miles inside Syria to protect itself from fundamentalist rebels on the other side of the border.

The proposal, which has been drawn up by the military and presented to Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, is intended to secure the 47-mile border against a growing Islamist threat if President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime loses control of the area.

The buffer would be modelled on the Lebanese security zone, in which the Israeli defence forces patrolled jointly with the South Lebanon army, a militia, up to 16 miles inside Lebanon from 1985 to 2000.

Yeah, and that whole Lebanese buffer zone worked so f%$#ing well.  derf

This is insanity.

Considering the Privacy Agreement They Have for Me

I have no sympathy for all for the bank executives who had their personal data posted online:

Following attacks on U.S. government websites last weekend, Anonymous seems to have made a new "Operation Last Resort" .gov website strike Sunday night.

Anonymous appears to have published login and private information from over 4,000 American bank executive accounts in the name of its new Operation Last Resort campaign, demanding U.S. computer crime law reform.

A spreadsheet has been published on a .gov website allegedly containing login information and credentials, IP addresses, and contact information of American bank executives.

If true, it could be that Anonymous has released banker information that could be connected to Federal Reserve computers, including contact information and cell phone numbers for U.S. bank Presidents, Vice Presidents, COO's Branch Managers, VP's and more.

This has been your moment of schadenfreude.

I wonder what Blankfein's home phone number is.

Back in Baltimore

Been traveling most of the day, and I am wicked tired.

Good night.

Posted via mobile.

All Things Considered, I'd Rather be in.....

Never mind, I AM in Philadelphia.

Waiting for the 3rd, and final leg of my trip back from Boise.

Posted via mobile.

Good

Jenny McCarthy has been has been dropped from a cancer fundraiser because of her anti-vaccine bullsh%$:

The Ottawa Cancer Foundation has reversed its decision to hire actress and model Jenny McCarthy to headline its one-day fitness fundraiser Bust A Move.

In a statement released late Friday afternoon, the foundation said McCarthy would be replaced by Canadian celebrity fitness instructor and former CFL player Tommy Europe.

The statement said that since the announcement of McCarthy's appearance, "...attention has shifted away from breast cancer awareness and fundraising."

On Tuesday, McCarthy was revealed as Bust A Move's guest fitness instructor, which caused many to question why an organization supporting cancer research would invite someone with a history of promoting erroneous ideas about health and disease.

Despite reams of scientific research to the contrary, McCarthy writes and speaks publicly about the supposed link between child vaccination and autism. The former Playboy Playmate also blames her son's autism on vaccinations.

Word of McCarthy's appearance at a charity cancer event sparked a #dropjenny hashtag on Twitter, which generated many comments about whether the actress was a credible choice. Similar online debate occurred on Bust A Move's Facebook page.

I'm not saying that Jenny McCarthy should not be able to work because of her beliefs, but allowing her to be a spokesperson for anything remotely medical is like having António Egas Moniz (the inventor of the prefrontal lobotomy) as a spokesman for psychological counseling.

Deep Thought

As I won't through the scanner at the airport security check point, I had to hold my hands above my head and together, making a letter"A".

I was REALLY tempted to start with the hand symbols for "Y", "M". and "C", but I didn't.

I figured that my homage to the Village People result in a strip search.

Posted via mobile.

Light Posting for the Next Few Days

I'm heading out to Boise, Idaho tomorrow for a 2 day business trip.

Hopefully I will have the opportunity to sample some Basque cuisine.

Packing right now.

Posted via mobile.

Buh Bye Scotty

Scott Brown will not be running for Senate in the special election.

My guess is that he decided that the Republican Party is just too damn radioactive in Massachusetts this year.

It looks like the Republicans may try to convince former Governor William Weld, the only Republican I ever voted for,^* but I cannot imagine that the Club for Growth crowd would not end up subverting a campaign of his.

He is an old-line New England liberal Republican, and there are significant elements of the Republican base that would support a Democrat against him, just as the did with Lieberman over Weiker in the 1980s.

^*He was running against BU President John Silber, who was a f%$#ing lunatic. Even though I still believe that it was the right thing, but I felt dirty afterward.

You Tell Them to Go Cheney Themselves

Another Cave

Obama tries to split the baby again, offering a compromise on birth control:

The Obama administration proposed yet another compromise on Friday in an effort to address the concerns of religious organizations that object to its policy requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives for women at no charge.

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said the proposal would guarantee free coverage of birth control “while respecting religious concerns.”

Churches and religious organizations that object to providing birth control coverage on religious grounds would not have to pay for it.

Under the proposal, female employees could get free birth control coverage through a separate plan that would be provided by a health insurer. The institution objecting to the coverage would not pay for the contraceptives. The costs would instead be paid by the insurance company, with the possibility of recouping the costs through lower health care expenses resulting in part from fewer births.

Obama does not get it.

The Catholic Church, and its Talibaptist allies, are want the right to enforce their religious beliefs on others.

This is all about a naked assertion of power, and the proper response is "F%$# You", not fence mending.

Why Unions are In Decline

Kris Warner compares union penetration of the labor market in the United States, and compares it to that of Canada, and rather observes that there are some real reasons for this, and that they exist because labor rights have been under legislative assault in the United States since the passage of Taft-Hartley:

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual summary of unionization in the U.S. It reports that in 2012, the union-membership rate of wage and salary workers was 11.3 percent, compared with 11.8 percent in 2011. The trend has been downward for some time: Fifty years ago, the figure was almost 30 percent.

It’s conventional wisdom that the post-industrial workforce doesn’t want to be unionized. But survey data show that workers’ desire to join unions has been growing since the 1980s, and a majority of nonunion workers would now vote for union representation if given the opportunity. So if workers want unions, why is unionization falling?

Commentators have also blamed the decline on everything from globalization to technological advances to the hollowing-out of American manufacturing. But those factors are only part of the story.

Canada’s experience offers another answer. Canada has gone through many of the same economic and social changes as the U.S. since the middle of the 20th century, yet it hasn’t seen the same precipitous decline in unionization. The unionization rate in the U.S. and Canada followed fairly similar paths from 1920 to the mid-1960s, at which point they began to diverge drastically.

Differences in labor law and public policy are at the root of this disparity.

No so-called "right to work" laws in Canada, card check, or elections that are conducted in 1-3 weeks, instead of months, or possibly years, the right to first contract arbitration, so that employers cannot simply stonewall negotiations to a new union for years.

I want us to be more like Canada.

Meh

No Return to Baseline Until 2022


More optimistic scenarios from The Hamilton Project

The labor force grew by 157000 jobs in January:

American employers added 157,000 jobs in January compared with a revised 196,000 jobs the previous month, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The unemployment rate was little changed at 7.9 percent, about where it has been stuck since September.

On the bright side, revised government data showed that the economy added 335,000 more jobs than originally estimated during all of 2012, including an additional 150,000 in the last quarter of the year. That was on top of the previously reported fourth-quarter job growth of 603,000 and 2012 growth of 2.2 million.

The higher revisions, in particular, encouraged traders on Wall Street, sending the Dow Jones industrial average over the 14,000-point mark for the first time since 2007.

Still, job growth has been modest compared with previous recoveries, and economists saw little in January’s report to suggest that hiring would pick up soon.

Look at the graph.

The current rate has jobs remaining below trend for over a decade, the best realistic case we see is still a lost decade.

Like I said, "Meh".

These employment numbers Kung Fu is weak.