Month: November 2010

Give Thanks

by digby

… today for Elizabeth Warren:

Elizabeth Warren was the first senior Obama administration official to recognize the potentially incendiary impact of a bill that would have made it significantly easier for mortgage companies to foreclose on homes, and her subsequent warnings played a crucial role in persuading the President to veto the measure, according to freshly released documents and people familiar with the deliberations.

The disclosure that Warren was instrumental in halting a bill that would have streamlined the foreclosure process comes as she confronts fierce criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill for the way she was appointed to construct a new consumer financial protection bureau, and characterizations that she is inclined to take an overly punitive tack with Wall Street.

It’s fairly shocking that everyone didn’t automatically understand that the bill would be incendiary, much less cruel and indecent, but it’s par for the course as is the whining and sniveling from Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe.

Warren is a rare bird in our public life, particularly in this moment. I’m thankful she’s out there doing this work and I hope that liberals will all do whatever we can to get her back as the Corporate Powers go after her. I don’t know if it will be enough, but it’s important to try.

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Telling Stories

by digby

If you’re like me you are the designated “liberal” facing a week-end of arguing politics with certain cranky conservative relatives who listen to waaay to much hate radio. It can be exhausting just trying to keep from laughing out loud at some of the ridiculous Beckian nonsense that’s being spread these days.

But if you’ve a mind to try to educate somebody about Social security, I’ve found over the years that it’s best not to get into details, but rather tell the story. Open Left has come up with a good primer if you’d care to refresh your memory and these quotes are a good place to start:

It began in 1982 at the “Rebuilding Social Security” Conference at the radical-right Heritage Foundation, but the plot against Social Security was fleshed out by Butler (a Cato director) and Germanis (an analyst at Heritage) in the Fall 1983 issue of Cato’s journal, summarized through quotes here: [Emphasis added.]

“Lenin recognized that fundamental change is contingent upon … its success in isolating and weakening its opponents. … we would do well to draw a few lessons from the Leninist strategy. (p. 547)

“we must recognize that we need more than a manifesto … we must … construct … a coalition that will … reap benefits from the IRA-based private system Ferrara has proposed but also the banks, insurance companies, and other institutions that will gain from providing such plans to the public.” (p. 548)

“By approaching the problem in this way, we may be ready for the next crisis in Social Security.” (p. 548)

“From a purely political standpoint, it should be remembered that the elderly represent a very powerful and vocal interest group.” (p. 549)

A Plan of Action

“The first element consists of a campaign to achieve small legislative changes that embellish the present IRA system, making it in practice a small-scale private Social Security system. … the natural constituency for an enlarged IRA system must be … welded into a coalition for political change.” (p. 551)

“The second main element … involves what one might crudely call guerrilla warfare against both the current Social Security system and the coalition that supports it.” (p. 552)

Indeed, that was just the first time they had laid out a “plan” in detail. In reality, the enemies of old age dignity have been fighting it since it was first proposed.

Here’s a very famous fellow arguing for its privatization 45 years ago — due its imminent bankruptcy:

We’re against those entrusted with this program when they practice deception regarding its fiscal shortcomings, when they charge that any criticism of the program means that we want to end payments to those people who depend on them for a livelihood.

They’ve called it “insurance” to us in a hundred million pieces of literature. But then they appeared before the Supreme Court and they testified it was a welfare program. They only use the term “insurance” to sell it to the people.

And they said Social Security dues are a tax for the general use of the government, and the government has used that tax. There is no fund, because Robert Byers, the actuarial head, appeared before a congressional committee and admitted that Social Security as of this moment is 298 billion dollars in the hole. But he said there should be no cause for worry because as long as they have the power to tax, they could always take away from the people whatever they needed to bail them out of trouble. And they’re doing just that.

A young man, 21 years of age, working at an average salary — his Social Security contribution would, in the open market, buy him an insurance policy that would guarantee 220 dollars a month at age 65. The government promises 127. He could live it up until he’s 31 and then take out a policy that would pay more than Social Security. Now are we so lacking in business sense that we can’t put this program on a sound basis, so that people who do require those payments will find they can get them when they’re due — that the cupboard isn’t bare?

At the same time, can’t we introduce voluntary features that would permit a citizen who can do better on his own to be excused upon presentation of evidence that he had made provision for the non-earning years? Should we not allow a widow with children to work, and not lose the benefits supposedly paid for by her deceased husband? Shouldn’t you and I be allowed to declare who our beneficiaries will be under this program, which we cannot do?

I think we’re for telling our senior citizens that no one in this country should be denied medical care because of a lack of funds. But I think we’re against forcing all citizens, regardless of need, into a compulsory government program, especially when we have such examples, as was announced last week, when France admitted that their Medicare program is now bankrupt. They’ve come to the end of the road.

That was Reagan, of course.

They have been lying and fearmongering from the beginning. But by the time the Cato Institute put together that plan in the early 80s, they had realized that they needed to be prepared for the right opportunity to implement the destruction of the program. Pete Peterson and the Concord Coalition and various other fronts have been used over the years (with many willing Democrats, I might add)to prepare the ground. With irrational Shock Doctrine “austerity” being the new fad throughout the western world, they figure this may be the moment they’ve been waiting for.(They have thought so before, but this time may actually be different — we do have a global economic crisis going on.)

The facts are what they are. You can read all about it all over the internet. Even the Catfood Commission draft admitted that SS is not in danger of bankruptcy and has no effect on the deficit and you can argue with your cranky uncle about that stuff all day long. But what most people don’t know is the story of how all this came to be and I’ve found it quite useful to tell it. You probably won’t convince the uncle, but the kids who overhear the discussion and the quiet members of the family who usually only hear one side will have a way to think about this besides the conventional wisdom.

On the other hand, it’s often the better part of valor to just start arguing about sports or gossiping about the people who aren’t there and let the whole thing go. Hate radio has made this type of argument far more crazy and incoherent lately than it used to be.

Update: Sam Seder had an entertaining show with Matt Taibbi yesterday on the same subject of how to talk to your right wing relatives. You can listen to the podcast here.

Update II: By the way, this is the racist swill that your right wing relatives are all listening to:

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid (and it was a long time ago, long before “political correctness” was even thought of) the story of the Indians helping the Pilgrims was standard school age American storytelling. And way back then many kids claimed Indian heritage and took pride in the native American contribution to our shared culture. This racist screed doesn’t go back to the 1950s, it goes back to the 1850s.

At this point it’s clear that according to Rush, there’s literally nothing good you can say about a racial minority in America (unless they are dutifully serving as right wing poster children.)

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Thanksgiving Word Salad

by digby

The good news is that Bush proved we don’t need our presidents to be articulate or even make sense, so this won’t harm her chances for the presidency:

That’s what’s known among the Tea party as common sense.

But it’s clear that the village is beginning to take her seriously. Check out the way ABC reported the gaffe:

Was it a simple blunder or did a possible 2012 presidential contender really get her geography wrong?

That’s the question being debated after Sarah Palin said in an interview with Glenn Beck Wednesday that North Korea was a U.S. ally.

When asked by Beck how she would handle a situation like the one that was developing in North Korea, Palin responded: “This is stemming from, I think, a greater problem when we’re all sitting around asking, ‘Oh no, what are we going to do,’ and we’re not having a lot of faith that the White House is going to come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea is going to do.”

It is unclear whether Palin is talking about sanctions against North Korea, or U.S. sanctioning — i.e. approving or supporting — its actions.

Palin continued: “Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies,” when Beck interrupted and corrected her to say “South Korea.”

“And we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes,” she responded.

Palin’s gaffe immediately caught fire on the blogosphere. Liberals jumped to show her response as evidence of Palin’s lack of foreign policy expertise. Conservatives came to her defense, pointing to her response immediately before the gaffe where she discusses sanctions.

I’ve seen them reach for a he said/she said in my day, but using the right and left blogosphere as a way to avoid taking a position is a pip.

Regardless of what anyone thinks she meant (who could know?) it’s gibberish. But news organizations are clearly so afraid of being hit from the right for being unfair to Palin they are pretending that there is a question about that.

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Please Welcome Our New Ally In The War On Christmas

by digby

Via Kos, I see that the GOP is following Sharia Law:

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Your Future President

by digby

If you have five minutes, take a few minutes to watch it all the way through if you haven’t seen it in a while. The symbolism is amazing.

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Easy Pot Luck Contribution

by digby

If you are supposed to bring dessert to Thanksgiving dinner and you don’t have the vaguest idea how to bake, rather than bringing some plastic store bought pie, try this:

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

* 1 cup heavy cream
* 3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
* 1/2 cup whole milk
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
* Pinch of ground cloves
* 5 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old baguette or crusty bread
* 3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

*
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
*
Whisk together cream, pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, yolk, salt, and spices in a bowl.
*
Toss bread cubes with butter in another bowl, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.

It couldn’t be easier. You can make it tonight or in the morning and then heat it up in the oven before serving. Serve with whipped cream or, better yet, some Dulce de leche ice cream.

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Tasering The Frogs

by digby

Many of you will probably recall that story of the police who tasered the 86 year old bedridden woman, but it appears they’ve filed the lawsuit and the details are just … awful:

Hearing the 911 call made by her grandson, Lonnie Tinsley, he said he was unsure what medication his grandmother had taken and that he feared she “wanted to end her life.” He requested that an emergency medical technician come to her apartment to evaluate her. Yet according the lawsuit (PDF) that was filed in an Oklahoma federal court, it was not the paramedics or an ambulance that responded. Instead, “as many as 10 El Reno police” arrived and “pushed their way through the door.” The grandmother, Lona Varner, who was lying in bed hooked up to an oxygen machine, responded by telling police to get out of her home. Police admitted tasering the suicidal 86-yr-old woman in her-hospital type bed to incapacitate her after she told the police to get out. According to The Oklahoman, Officer Duran wrote in a police report that Lona Varner pulled a kitchen knife from under her pillow and threatened to kill him. The officer added she raised the knife above her head and said, “If you come any closer, you’re getting the knife.” The cop allegedly tried talking to her to calm her down but “nothing would work.” Leaving the room must not have occurred to the ten cops since the lawsuit states, “The police then proceeded to approach Ms. Varner in her bed and stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation.” Because the bedridden grandmother sat up a bit straighter, Officer Duran stated that she “took a more aggressive posture in her bed,” and that he was fearful for his safety and the safety of others. Tinsley said, “Don’t taze my Granny!” But the cops said they would taser him instead. Tinsley was wrestled to the floor, handcuffed and forcibly removed from his grandmother’s apartment to wait in the back of a police car. The lawsuit states that officers fired tasers at the bedridden woman, hitting her twice, “causing burns to her chest, extreme pain and to pass out. The police then grabbed Ms. Varner by her forearms and jerked hands together, causing her soft flesh to tear and bleed on her bed; they then handcuffed” and arrested her. That’s when the cops freed the grandson from the back of police car to ride in the ambulance with his granny. She went from the emergency room to a psychiatric ward “at the direction of the El Reno police; she was held there for six days and released.”

I suppose the total loss of common sense in situations like this is inevitable when tasers are seen by just about everyone as a joke at worst and as “harmless devices that make people be reasonable good citizens” at best. This took it to the next level, however. Anyone who is able to inflict that kind of pain to gain compliance from a bedridden old woman is a cruel sadist. There’s just no other way to look at it.

Those of you who have insisted over the last few days that all this caterwauling about civil liberties is silly should stop for a moment and think about all the little acts of public humiliation and pain at the hands of authorities that have been reported at in the last few years. I think we’re the proverbial frogs in boiling water. (And yes, I know that frogs would jump out. I suspect they are smarter than humans in this way.)

Ok, it’s time to take a break. It’s recipes and trivia for the rest of the day.

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Crackpot Class

by digby

This freshman class of the new congress is going to be one for the books. Here’s the latest Tea Party member, via Kyle at Right Wing Watch:

After a contentious recount, Rep. Dan Maffei has conceded to Republican Ann Marie Buerkle, who led the Upstate New York Democrat by just 567 votes. While Buerkle ran as a Tea Party conservative, she has her political roots in the anti-choice movement. Buerkle formerly served as her region’s spokesperson for Operation Rescue, the militant anti-choice and anti-gay organization founded by Randall Terry. Terry, like Buerkle, is from Upstate New York where he made a run for Congress and started his career of attacking “murderous abortionists and demonic homosexual sodomites.”

According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Buerkle “was the local spokeswoman for Operation Rescue when the group demonstrated outside of a gynecologist’s office in 1989. In that protest, 44 abortion protesters who blocked the entrance to the office were charged with trespassing. Earlier that year, she was with a group that carried a blackened fetus named ‘Baby Choice’ to a protest at Planned Parenthood in Syracuse, where 14 protesters were arrested.”

Buerkle told a Tea Party rally that under Democratic leadership “we lose more and more freedoms every day” and that if Republicans don’t win the election, “by 2012 we’re not going to recognize the United States of America.” One threat to freedom that Buerkle falsely alleges is that “the Obama Health and Human Services Department is planning to compile a federal health record on all U.S. citizens by 2014, and will include information on each individual’s Body Mass Index in the files.”

(Sadly, these idiotic, useless airport scanners play right into this delusion.)

There have always been cranks and crackpots in politics. But has there ever been this many at one time, all under the influence of the same paranoid rantings of the far right? I would be surprised. This woman is fairly indicative of “Tea Party” candidates. Her roots are in the far right, in this case the anti-choice terroristic side, which trained a fair number of the Tea party politicians. But the health care fear mongering is Tea party all the way.

It’s democracy. They won fair and square. But man, this is one cracked group of legislators we have coming in, with a small army of cracked followers who don’t even know they are working in service of the wealthiest people in America. Not that they would care if they did know — they’re fine with that as long these billionaires hate the same people they do. Unfortunately, what the Tea Partiers don’t realize is that the billionaires hate them too.

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Disgusting

by digby

Gerald McAntee president of AFSCME has a few choice words for the Republicans (and 12 cruel Democrats) in congress:

The U.S. Commerce Department reports today that corporate profits are at a record high, at a time when corporations are sitting on $1.8 trillion in cash reserves. At the same time, 15 million Americans are still looking for work.

Two years after the financial collapse caused by right-wing deregulation and corporate greed, Wall Street is handing out its biggest bonuses in history — more than $144 billion. At the same time, millions of working Americans are struggling to feed their families, pay their bills and keep a roof over their heads.

And the situation is set to get even more painful in the months ahead. Millions of Americans — 2 million in December alone — will be cut off from unemployment insurance. Republicans in Congress blocked an extension of this emergency lifeline just before leaving Washington, DC, for their Thanksgiving recess.

Most laid-off workers desperately want to get back to work. But the jobs are just not there. Yet, while families are struggling, the U.S. House failed to pass a much-needed extension in unemployment benefits. The members who voted to make life more difficult for the unemployed should hang their heads in shame. Their vote, one week before Thanksgiving, was disgusting.

Disgusting is the word.

And by the way, this extension affects everyone who has exhausted their 26 weeks, which is a hell of a lot of people.

Currently, when an unemployed individual exhausts his or her 26 weeks of state benefits, he or she can claim federal emergency benefits for up to 73 weeks or 99 weeks, depending on his or her state’s UI rules. After Nov. 30, funds will not be available for the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program and the Extended Benefits (EB) program, which were enhanced and created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), respectively. Without these funds, new exhausters of state benefits will not be able to join the programs, and those already claiming federal benefits will only be allowed to collect through completion of their current “tier,” which means they will not be able to stay in the program for much longer than a month.

To stop federal benefits from expiring, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI) introduced a three-month funding extension of emergency federal unemployment insurance. Even though the bill had more than a majority supporting it, it came up short, 258-154, since it was introduced under special rules requiring a two-thirds majority to pass. Eleven moderate Democrats, along with most of the Republican caucus, balked at the $12.5 billion cost of the extension.

Aside from the cruelty, there is a sound economic reason to extend them — namely to keep the money flowing in this fragile economy. Republicans are adamant that the economy desperately need to give millionaires low taxes, lest they stop buying ancient art and taking foreign vacations, but unemployed people spending money on bread and rent is unaffordable and unnecessary. Keynesianism for chumps.

But perhaps the most disgusting aspect of this story is that it’s almost certainly a political ploy to hold unemployment benefits at Christmas time hostage to these tax cuts for the wealthy which the entire Village apparently thinks is just a dandy gambit and that Democrats would be wise to make such a smart deal. Is there nothing from which these greedheads won’t insist on getting a cut now? It’s sick … and disgusting.

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Gate Rape

by tristero

Phrase of the month.

UPDATE: Bonus link to the great Adam Savage.