Month: January 2012

Running on empty

by digby

It sounds as though the Republicans have come up with a new education plan:

Last week, Arkansas constituent Kelly Eubanks, a college student who has two jobs and two children, confronted her Congressman, Rep. Steve Womack (R), at a town hall meeting over his attack on the program she now relies on. But instead of any explanation, Womack lashed out at Eubanks, telling her to pay her own way by “joining the military” like he did. After refusing to answer her question, he finally just asked her to “be quiet and listen.”

I’m all for the GI bill. But I think it’s a bit much to expect every American to join the military if they aren’t lucky enough to be born wealthy in order to pay for college.

Why is this happening? A little remarked upon piece of the budget deal last December:

Congressional leaders last night agreed to a $1 trillion bill to fund the government, averting a shutdown that would have started at midnight tonight. The bill reportedly dropped many of the unrelated policy riders that House Republicans had tried to insert into it.

However, the bill does include a cut to the Pell Grant program that could affect up to 100,000 low-income students. Republicans have been pushing for months to slash the Pell Grant program — which provides low-income students with money for higher education — and to limit it’s eligibility requirements. Though the maximum grant will be preserved under the spending deal, students on the edges of eligibility will be out of luck next year

“Pell Grant” is one of those euphemisms like “ACORN.” Republicans always believe hardworking Real Americans are getting scammed by the undeserving you-know-whos who are taking their hard earned money to buy their drugs and listen to their jungle music. It’s a reflex with them. They’ve been at it so long they don’t even think about it anymore. Along comes this nice young Real American mom and he literally has nothing to say to her except that she should join the military like he did.

Has there ever been a more useless ideology in an economic crisis than reactionary, neo-confederate conservatism?

You can contribute to Womack’s opponent, Blue America candidate Ken Aden.

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More proof the system is broken, bee colony collapse edition

by David Atkins

That the panicked news stories about it have died down doesn’t mean that the honeybee die-offs due to “colony collapse disorder” have gone away. It’s still happening with a vengeance, and it’s almost certain that pesticides are to blame:

Although news about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has died down, commercial beekeepers have seen average population losses of about 30 percent each year since 2006, said Paul Towers, of the Pesticide Action Network. Towers was one of the organizers of a conference that brought together beekeepers and environmental groups this week to tackle the challenges facing the beekeeping industry and the agricultural economy by proxy.

“We are inching our way toward a critical tipping point,” said Steve Ellis, secretary of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board (NHBAB) and a beekeeper for 35 years. Last year he had so many abnormal bee die-offs that he’ll qualify for disaster relief from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In addition to continued reports of CCD — a still somewhat mysterious phenomenon in which entire bee colonies literally disappear, alien-abduction style, leaving not even their dead bodies behind — bee populations are suffering poor health in general, and experiencing shorter life spans and diminished vitality. And while parasites, pathogens, and habitat loss can deal blows to bee health, research increasingly points to pesticides as the primary culprit.

“In the industry we believe pesticides play an important role in what’s going on,” said Dave Hackenberg, co-chair of the NHBAB and a beekeeper in Pennsylvania.

Of particular concern is a group of pesticides, chemically similar to nicotine, called neonicotinoids (neonics for short), and one in particular called clothianidin. Instead of being sprayed, neonics are used to treat seeds, so that they’re absorbed by the plant’s vascular system, and then end up attacking the central nervous systems of bees that come to collect pollen. Virtually all of today’s genetically engineered Bt corn is treated with neonics. The chemical industry alleges that bees don’t like to collect corn pollen, but new research shows that not only do bees indeed forage in corn, but they also have multiple other routes of exposure to neonics.

So obviously something must be done. It’s one thing for the fossil fuel industry to get in the way of doing something about a problem as lacking in immediate impact as climate change. It’s quite another when the problem has not only immediate urgency, but immediate impact that people can easily get their heads around.

But will something be done this year? Not likely. Too much legalized bribery in the system during an election year:

Since this is an election year — a time when no one wants to make Big Ag (and its money) mad — beekeepers may have to suffer another season of losses before there’s any hope of action on the EPA’s part. But when one out of every three bites of food on Americans’ plates results directly from honey bee pollination, there’s no question that the fate of these insects will determine our own as eaters.

Ellis, for his part, thinks that figuring out a way to solve the bee crisis could be a catalyst for larger reform within our agriculture system. “If we can protect that pollinator base, it’s going to have ripple effects … for wildlife, for human health,” he said. “It will bring up subjects that need to be looked at, of groundwater and surface water — all the connected subjects associated [with] chemical use and agriculture.”

Future generations will look back at this country and its system of legalized bribery of politicians one day in the same way that they look back on slavery and say: “why did people not revolt in moral outrage?“

The answer is the same today as it was then: power, money, and a whole lot of regular people who just don’t give a damn or think they can’t do anything about it.

Also, the people like Scalia and Roberts who perpetuate and glorify the system know that by the time the public is ready to scorn them as much as they scorn the authors of the Dred Scott decision, they’ll be long gone from this world, and their comfortable progeny will be safe from the consequences of their rulings.

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Letters of Marque and Reprisal

It’s an interesting end-run around using state power, for sure. But I’m not sure how it comports with the liberal value of sparing the lives of innocent Muslims or how bounty hunting comports with our reflexive recoil at the idea of assassinations.

I’m sure Blackwater would have been happy to take the job though and I’m sure it would have been much less expensive. As we know, private contracting always saves money.

“Our national debt is something shocking!”

by digby

I wrote about this before, but occurred to me today that the Republican candidates literally sound more and more like that banker from John Ford’s 1939 classic Stagecoach:

Henry Gatewood:

I don’t know what the government is coming to. Instead of protecting businessmen, it pokes its nose into business! Why, they’re even talking now about having *bank* examiners. As if we bankers don’t know how to run our own banks! Why, at home I have a letter from a popinjay official saying they were going to inspect my books.

I have a slogan that should be blazoned on every newspaper in this country: America for the Americans! The government must not interfere with business! Reduce taxes! Our national debt is something shocking. Over one billion dollars a year! What this country needs is a businessman for president!

It’s a testament to their persistence that they’ve stuck with their program for nearly 75 years.

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Signatures gathered to recall WI Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald

by David Atkins

Here’s some good news:

The committee to recall [Wisconsin] Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald announced Friday it has the signatures to force an election.

Lori Compas, the recall committee’s chairwoman, said in a news conference the group had gathered more than the 16,742 signatures needed, but declined to say how many. She said volunteers would continue to gather signatures to recall the Juneau Republican through Saturday. That’s to provide a cushion because Fitzgerald will be able to knock some signatures off the petitions if he can show they belong to people who don’t live in the district or aren’t eligible to vote.

The petitions will be turned in Tuesday, along with those to recall Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and three other Republican senators.

Fitzgerald filed a complaint with election officials Thursday arguing the collection of signatures must end Friday, rather than Saturday, because recall organizers have just 60 days to gather signatures.

Election officials — backed by the state Department of Justice — believe signatures can be collected through Saturday because the 60-day clock did not start to tick until Nov. 16, a day after Compas registered her committee with the state and began collecting signatures.

Recall officials said they were not worried about Fitzgerald’s complaint.

“That’s a kid not winning Monopoly throwing the board up at the end of the game,” said recall volunteer Sarah Hammer, a Fort Atkinson nurse.

Fitzgerald has been a loyal footsoldier for the odious Scott Walker. Here’s more on why organizers are pushing for his recall.

The energy on the ground in Wisconsin is amazing, and a good sign for the revitalization of America.

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Having trouble sleeping in the bed they made

by digby

I would really be enjoying this if it wasn’t such a hideously dangerous attack on democracy:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

I’m fairly sure that Newtie will shortly be extolling the virtues of unfettered capitalism once again. But it’s nice to see him get a snootfull of his own negativity. This is, after all, the guy who created the modern GOP language of character assassination.

Update: This is too good. If Newt gets away with this I think there’s a possibility that Colbert could win the nomination. Things have gotten that surreal.

Unwilling Isolationism

by digby

The world may be getting smaller for some important war criminals. First there was this from last year:

Former President George W. Bush has canceled a visit to Switzerland, where he was to address a Jewish charity gala, due to the risk of legal action against him for alleged torture, rights groups said on Saturday.

Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod’s annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.

Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say.

And now this:

A Spanish judge says he is proceeding with a probe into human rights abuses at the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, after Washington failed to respond to requests for information.

The probe stems from torture complaints filed by four Muslims who are either citizens or residents of Spain and were once held at the prison.

The probe had been on hold while Judge Pablo Ruz awaited a response from the United States. Ruz said Friday he had received no answer from the U.S. and had thus decided to continue the case.

The judge asked prosecutors to report back to him with the names of U.S. officials who should be targeted in the probe.

The way we’re going, no American official will ever be allowed to leave the country once they are out of office. You’d think that prospect would alarm them. Or at least make them responsive to requests from foreign courts, even if it’s just to keep up appearances.

In the end Ron Paul may win on foreign policy without ever winning. The rest of the world may not give the US the choice — they may isolate us whether we want it or not. Unfortunately, it’s what comes right before that that’s worrying.

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The wrong guy at the worst time

by digby

I was watching Mitt make a speech somewhere yesterday on TV and I was struck by just how ridiculous it was that the Republicans were going to nominate an obscenely wealthy vulture capitalist scion of a political dynasty at a time like this. It’s not as if they don’t have a plethora of good ole boys and up from the bootstraps types. Or plenty of true believers who can carry on the flame. Instead they are going to nominate a guy who perfectly represents the most unpopular group of people in America. He’s a person who literally says he likes to fire people who provide services to him.

Here’s some data from the Monkey Cage:

David writes below that we have five more years of crazy to contend with because the GOP is going to blame their loss on Mitt’s lack of wingnut credentials, assured that they only need to nominate a real conservative for one to win. This is often how it works, for sure. But if things go according to the normal pattern, and things have improved in a measurable way so that the Democrats are taking credit, it’s just as likely that they’ll be hungry for a win and begin to tack back to the middle.

The way this usually works is that the party that goes batshit has to lose for a while before they understand that they aren’t mainstream. But we are in a very polarized partisan environment with a whole lot of left/right assumptions turning into up/down assumptions. The normal lines are blurring. It’s impossible to know if this is a paradigm shift or a slight upheaval before adjustment, but it could be. If that happens all bets are off.

On the other hand, it’s possible that the lines are hardening in ways they haven’t been before and we will come out even more polarized. It’s impossible to know. In the middle of a period of social stress and global change you cannot know which way it’s going to turn out.

If I had to guess I’d think that David is probably right and we’ll get five more years of crazy. If that happens, I’m not so sanguine that everything’s going to come out the way we might want it to. Peak crazy leads to bad outcomes. But it’s at least possible that another loss will force the GOP to take a break from tea partying and regroup. I’m not holding my breath.

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“I think you’re pretty terrific too”

by digby

Surely you have seen the various stories by now about the 2006 Fed transcripts, in which our most powerful central bankers cut up like teenagers and completely miss the housing slump. It reminds me of the dialog from ‘Two and a half Men” (The 10 minutes of it that I watched that one time while I was sick anyway.)

And to think our entire economic strategy has been based on “confidence” with these bozos running the show. This particular excerpt is particularly enjoyable, I think:

“I’d like the record to show that I think you’re pretty terrific,
too,” Geithner, who was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, told Greenspan amid laughter on Jan. 31, 2006. “And thinking in
terms of probabilities, I think the risk that we decide in the future
that you’re even better than we think is higher than the alternative.”

The only time I’ve seen that level of sycophancy and adolescent worship was at the premier of Justin Bieber’s movie here in Hollywood. (And sadly, I’m not talking about the swooning little girls who were fainting and speaking in tongues, but his adult handlers.) Greenspan’s godlike stature was always somewhat alarming to me, even back in the go-go years, but he reached such untouchable status that it had become a form of heresy to gainsay him. From these transcripts, it’s fairly clear that these people were all courtiers in Greenspan’s Palace. It’s pathetic.

The fact is that there were some people outside the inner circle jerk who saw things differently. Brad DeLong pointed it out yesterday:

September 2006:

Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher: Mr. Chairman, the Eleventh District economy remains strong and continues to grow at a stronger pace than the rest of the country, with employment growth continuing at roughly twice the nation’s pace. Incidentally, home sales have not turned down in our District, so we haven’t been singing yet what we call the “coastal blues” as far as the homebuilding market is concerned. I think that’s enough said about Texas and the Eleventh District…. According to these business contacts, the outlook for economic growth is better than it sounds, whereas the dynamic of inflation is worse than it sounds. Just a few anecdotes here for, if not similitude, verisimilitude. By the way, all the interlocutors are fully aware of the shape of the yield curve—these individuals are sophisticated— and they are especially aware of what is happening in the housing market. As one CEO told me, the only subject that has been more analyzed than the housing situation is the birth of Brad Pitt’s baby. [Laughter] According to this view, if we have not discounted what has been happening in the housing market, we have been living on Mars, and I think that is an important point to take into account…

June 2006:

Paul Krugman: Over the last few weeks monetary officials have sounded increasingly worried about rising prices. On Wednesday, Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, declared that inflation “is running at a rate that is just too corrosive to be accepted by a virtuous central banker.”… [T]he real issue is whether there’s a serious risk that inflation will become embedded in the economy…. [I]s that a realistic fear? Only if you think we can have a wage-price spiral without, you know, the wages part. The point is that wage increases can be a major driver of inflation only if workers consistently receive raises that substantially exceed productivity growth. And that just hasn’t been happening….

It would be an exaggeration to say that there’s no inflation threat at all. I can think of ways in which inflation could become a problem. But it’s much easier to think of ways in which the Federal Reserve, wrongly focused on the phantom menace of a new wage-price spiral, could be slow to respond to bigger threats, like a rapidly deflating housing bubble…

As Delong quipped: “We listen to Paul Krugman because he looks at what is around him and says what he sees.” I’m sure he doesn’t always see it all, no one can, but his track record is far, far better than these bankers who were so busy congratulating themselves on their own brilliance that they were blind to the iceberg they were steering the global economy into.

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Five more years of crazy

by David Atkins

One of the worst things about Romney’s impending lockup of the GOP nomination is that it ensures a minimum of five more years of increasing Republican extremism. It’s no secret that the conservative base despises Romney with a passion. He will limp to “victory” in the GOP primary despite a consistent 60-65% of primary voters opposing him as an elitist liberal Massachusetts flip-flopper in the mold of John Kerry.

While I think that speculation about depressed Republican turnout in November as a consequence of Romney’s nomination is overblown, what is certain is that win or lose, Republicans will blame their own failures on having nominated an insufficiently conservative standard bearer. If Romney loses to Obama, there will be recriminations galore. In the wake of 2004 where only a small cadre of progressives like myself believed that Howard Dean would have succeeded in beating Dubya where the more careful and conservative-leaning John Kerry failed, most Democrats figured that their loss in 2004 meant that they need to move even farther to the right. The only factor that mitigated that trend was the colossal failure of the Bush Administration, particularly in the wake of hurricane Katrina, that put the wind back in progressive sails in advance of 2006.

The opposite dynamic will play out amongst conservatives. The narrative will take hold that if the GOP had only nominated an honest-to-goodness fire-breathing conservative, they would have beaten in President Obama in 2012. They’ll see no reason to concede even an inch, and will assume that their loss was a result of being too liberal.

If Romney does take the White House in 2012, the inevitable failure of his Administration will be laid at the feet of his supposedly liberal, big government leanings, in much the same way that George W. Bush has been recast as a bleeding heart, big spending compassionate conservative liberal.

The best thing that could happen to the country is for the GOP to nominate an arch-conservative, and then watch that candidate get obliterated in a crushing defeat. That would theoretically lead to a soul-searching retreat from the brink of Objectivist madness. But that’s not going to happen, sadly. No matter the result in November, conservatives are going to careen even farther over the ideological cliff all the way through November 2016. Romney’s inevitable nomination this year all but assures that.

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