Today's edition of quick hits:
* The debt crisis in Spain continues to roil markets around the globe. There are ample reasons for concern.
* Coordinated car bombs in Iraq delivered the nation's deadliest attacks so far this year.
* Syria confirmed it has stockpiles of chemical weapons, but said claimed they would only be used "in the case of exterior aggression," not against Syrian rebels.
* The NCAA imposed some brutal penalties on Penn State's football program.
* LIBOR: "U.S. prosecutors and European regulators are close to arresting individual traders and charging them with colluding to manipulate global benchmark interest rates, according to people familiar with a sweeping investigation into the rate-rigging scandal."
* Maybe we shouldn't have given up on the war on poverty.
* The Affordable Care Act extends coverage to young adults until age 26, allowing them to say on their family plans. As of Friday, the Obama administration includes families with same-sex partners.
* Some states want to approve their own law to prohibit animal cruelty in the food industry. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) wants to pass a law to prohibit states from even having that option. (Republicans love states' rights, except when they hate states' rights.)
* Former Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce (R) isn't above blaming the victims in Aurora.
* And it's a beautiful sight to see Gabrielle Giffords traveling high up into the French Alps.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
Thank you! Thank you for giving former senator Russell Pearce the national attention he so deserves! Blaming the victims for not taking out a fully body armored shooter armed with an assault rifle and a 100 round magazine, in a darkened theater filled with panicked people and gas/smoke to further hamper vision. There are just not enough words to express the disgust!
And for those who aren't familiar with Mr. Pearce's background, during his time as a deputy sheriff, he was shot in the hand and chest with his own gun.
Jail sentences for corporate thieves, what a novel approach. At the very minimum the corporate bottom line needs to be significantly effected. I am sure some economists can figure the damage to the struggling countries effected. Fines can be used to help to alleviate the crippling European debt. I know it is not a total answer but it is a start. The same can be done in the U S to support social programs that are being cut.
It takes a world to make a self-made man. Writer John Scalzi on how he made it and why he doesn't mind paying a boatload of taxes. Read this:
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/07/23/a-self-made-man-looks-at-how-he-made-it/
The GOP might want to use the recent tragedy to distract us with the gun control issue. Let's just say no.
Republicans love states' rights, except when they hate states' rights.
Exactly.
Let's be clear. Republicans are not for low taxes, small government, states' rights,... These arguments are frequently contradicted by their positions and actions on a number of issues and are meant as a smokescreen to hide the fact that they have one simple mission: Enrich the rich.
CJ this republican is for smaller government, less government spending, lower taxes and states rights notwithstanding CA's ban on the sale of foie gras. However I must be the only republican left in CA according to the NY Times. So CJ, let's use a smaller brush when you are making broad sweeping statements.
RIP Sally Ride; a true hero and gentlewomen. I hope TRMS does a bit on her tonight....
California keeps track of every ammunition purchase since 2009 because too many felons are buying ammunition without getting caught. This send felons back to jail if they try to buy ammo, and this can tip-off police when someone is stockpiling large amounts of ammunition.
The Ammunition Accountability Act applies a serial number to each round of ammunition so that bullets recovered from dead bodies can be traced back to the purchaser.
Estimates indicate it costs between $0.05 and $0.15 each to add serial numbers to every round, so this adds 1% to 4% for a box of ammo.
There is a high degree of likelihood that tracking ammunition sales like California would have allowed police to interview Holmes before the massacre.
There are 8,000+ murders committed with firearms every year, and ammunition accountability will allow almost all of those to be solved quickly.
Chris Rock says we should charge $5,000 per bullet and that would end bystander shootings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDAPtQpUMXQ
It's not funny. Maybe that could work to some degree.
I believe republicans think Chris Rock is like Michael Steel for the Democrat party.
C'mon do you really think the police depart. would have enough resources to interview this kid after he had his ammo sent by FedEx? It wouldn't have made a bit of difference.
So eight years of Bush/Cheney and unrestricted Trickle Down, unregulated markets set the country and the middle class way back to the poverty before Kennedy/Johnson. Just goes to prove that Republicans can do more harm with a few years of unlimited greed than Dems (and moderate Republicans) could do of good with 40 years of sanity.
Who could have known? Wouldn't it be insane to try Bush/Cheney again?
The key thing is that GDP has been going up healthily since the 1970s and "we" are far richer in real dollars than we ever were. So whereTF is the wealth going? Right.
Steadily since the 1970s, middle class income has flatlined even though we doubled family income when women joined the workforce in large numbers. Wages in real dollars have declined, especially at the low end(see table 1 of this MIT study).
If workers were making the same percentage of GDP that we were in 1970, then there would be an additional $135 billion in purchasing power per year to fuel the consumer economy. In their wisdom, the trickle downers have reduced the middle class's share of the GDP. Consider this graph for example at the Federal Reserve site: (graph of gdp to compensation for workers)
I overlayed the graph on top of a charming photo of Romney and Gov. Haley here. You may find it amusing. They think the whole thing is hilarious.
@John
I love FRED!
You can find just about any data you are looking for up there!!
It would be even more amazing if the Fed governors looked at what is plain as day in their database and embraced their mission of seeing that unemployment be kept low.
For any of you that want to see the breakdowns between the lower fifths of the income scale, Mojo had a good article a month ago.
I got a taste of Obamacare today! My daughter had a physical, and when I got ready to write the copay, they told me there was no charge -- it was preventative care! Whoopee!
There is a cost to everything. There is no free lunch! Look at your premium cost!
Does anyone want to talk about the fact that we have no control where we are born at , and that could be you or me ??
You mean "There but the Grace of God go I?"
Finished reading R. Maddow book called : Drift. I will now give away the surprise ending.
Don’t Give Up Hope in Humanities Ability to Care.
sorry Rachel.
maybe on your next book, I will be able to keep my mouth shut.
Foot note: at times I was not sure if I was reading a documentary or a framework for a play. Honestly, at times Drift began to read more like a letter home. Other parts read like a poem, even thou, it really only rhymed philosophically ! ? All in all, it was ok reading. However, I do not know why I kept double reading some pages ? And , for some reason , I thought I should memorize certain parts ? ! But, that is probably just me, being me . . So . ..
I'm about half-way through, but sometimes it is nice to know there is something positive at the end. :)
I've gotten far enough to know - in my heart - 100% - that anyone who Dick Cheney wants for President is NOT! NOT! NOT! anyone who should be President. No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!
Wait a minute !! maphi ? how did you know Cheney did it !!?? You looked in the back of the book !! cheater !!!
Read enough to detect the pattern.
Dear maphi , it’s all good , yes ?? . . .
The Republicans want limited Federal Government, States Rights - all of that.
OK - well - I have a question.
When you look at the electoral map (you know - red / blue / swing states), the center of the country is solid Red. Many of these states are in the grip of the severe drought.
Will the Governors of these states be asking for Federal Government assistance?
And if they do ask for assistance - who is going to pay for it?
Oh I know this one .. . .The Tooth Fairy ???
Good point , so . . let’s watch for the chameleon play ?
That wasn’t me ?? Flat tire ? I don’t see no flat tire ! ?
They wouldn’t !! Would they ?? dumb question ?
I am almost certain, had Fierce Pearce been there that night, he would have taken the shooter out. You can tell by the way he talks that he's a man of action, a man's man.
If the shooter had possessed a weakness for hypocrisy and a grown man pissing himself, maybe.
I once thought I could fix anything too. Then something evil happened and I then spend twenty years reliving it, and “fixing-on-it “. But no, Superman just sat in his sit , just as confused as everyone else that day. That’s what really happened.
Hey , Grumpy !! I like the thought. And if the next time my mother-in-law acts funny I am taking her down ! . . .or maybe not . . .
Question about Penn State:
Where will the $60 Million come for to pay the fine?
If it comes from funds that go toward stuff like - I don't know - ACADEMICS and scholarships for STUDENTS - that would just be wrong!!
The athletics program is the guilty party, so it should come out of their budget. But, knowing how much college football is a cult, they'll probably cut everything BUT sports.
Penn State gets $120 million a year for their athletic department. Much of that is from tv revenue.
Here is something that is just plain awful.
Early Sunday morning, in Lincoln, NE, the home of a gay woman was invaded by two or three men who...OK, I'm just going to link to some things, because I can't make myself describe what happened.
Towleroad
10/11
Lincoln Journal-Star
There may be a political context to this attack. Not long ago the Lincoln, NE city council enacted a new anti-discrimination ordinance that included sexual orientation and gender identity. The local right-wing initiated a petition drive to put the matter up for a vote in the next election. Considering the sense of false grievance right-wingers habitually nurse, I suppose it's just possible that the so-far unidentified attackers' bigotry was inflamed and let loose by the passage of the ordinance and the hate-fueled campaign against it. I'm just guessing, obviously, looking for sense in the senseless.
OMG, some of the comments are saying they think it is a fake hate crime!
WTF?
I wonder if voters will ever get the fact that we democratically elect representatives who are supposed to make laws that are consistent with our constitutional laws. Voters do not have rights to restrict others' rights.
Yes, the false grievances/victimhood is just sad.
The brutality of people is… just… sick
It did make it better knowing the vigil was large and supportive though. I keep battling myself over the hate and the support. The supportiveness helps and I hope some day the supporters will overwhelm the hate.
Yeah, I was surprised by the whole fake attack thing, too. And, over at HuffPo, the dominant theme is that all Christians everywhere are to blame for this. That's just plain nuts, since the Lincoln police don't even have suspects yet. Also, in the public debate over the tolerance ordinance, there were local religious figures on both sides, so the whole Christians-as-homophobes-always thing doesn't stand the test of reality. It's a muddied picture. And for all any one of us know, maybe the victim is Christian herself. It's way too early to start pronouncing on the motivations of the attackers.
As for the idea that it's a fake, the Lincoln police have said that they're keeping from the public some of the facts of the case. That's normal and prudent, but it means that people who are drawing conclusions are doing so on the basis of incomplete information. For instance, I saw one comment on Towleroad saying that it's easy to zip-cuff yourself using your teeth, but that only works if your hands are bound in front of you, and all we know at this point is that her hands were zip-cuffed; we don't know whether they were bound in front of her or behind her, because the reporting is silent on that point. Also, another thing the news sources are silent on is the matter of whether or not sexual assault was a component of the attack. If it was, then bang goes any ideas of this being a fake. The Lincoln police are calling this a hate crime, so they must know something that the rest of us don't. At least, I'm supposing that's the case, rather than one of the police just jumping to conclusions like the rest of us idiots.
Jumping back to the Christian thing, the woman is said to live in a house at 22nd and E Streets. If you look at Google Earth, there is a church called First Plymouth two blocks away. Turns out, it's an accepting church and it's senior pastor, Jim Keck, is one of those who spoke up in favor of the tolerance ordinance. The same church is listed among the LGBT-friendly resources on the web page of Outlinc, the Lincoln LGBT organization mentioned in at least one of the news reports. Some people are assuming that all Christians in that part of the country are right-wing. That's clearly not the case, but it is sadly ironic that such an incident took place two blocks away from an accepting church.
There needs to be showcasing and amplification that when we talk about religion and Christianity, there are congregations that include LGBTQ people.
It is very important to try to correct that notion that all Christians are "the problem". I've seen it over and over again, people outraged by actions that are done by some and attribute that to all Christians.
I understand the anger. I saw first hand how someone was so enraged by some Christians that showed up at a Pride event with a preachy sign and leaflets. Knowing it would probably provoke such a reaction. Trying to affirm themselves as the victims (they were just practicing their rights as they saw fit). A man could not contain his rage and reacted badly.
People can start singing or chanting something that answers (or turns the attention from them) with civility. Not taking property, yelling, cursing… sing. The others apologized and began to sing, causing the disarming of provocation. This is common practice, trying to go to "hostile territory" to try to provoke and show victimhood.
Many are only provoking negativity with their intimidation, creating anti gay patterns and other things that exclude people.
It is extremely sad and awful that these people cannot allow acceptance and resort to violence to intimidate, going into the "turf", like burning a cross on someone's yard.
I think of the scene in Brokeback Mountain where Ennis remembers his Dad showing him what happens to a man living with a man.
We can't say all Christians (or whatever religion) are anti gay because of some of those people, because that is totally untrue. Stereotyping?
And you're right, we don't know all the facts… so yeah we are quick to jump to conclusions.
There are congregations led by non-heteronormal people, too. All Christians are not the problem, as you say, but some are. It must be a tricky thing for those who are trying to be a part of the solution. I mentioned that this Jim Keck spoke out in favor of the ordinance, but there were also clergy who were on the other side, and it's the other side that gets all the attention. Kind of the same problem that non-radical Muslims have. People outside whatever group we happen to be talking about don't like to acknowledge the diversity within the group, because that just gets in the way of the stereotyping I guess.
Reagan Zone? Jeez those Conservative wackos are shameless...
I remember when Reagan was President the Rastas (Reggae music) were convinced Reagan was the Anti-Christ Ronald 6 Wilson 6 Reagan 6
(lol) See song "Too much bull in the pen" by Black Uhuru
I heard prophecies they keep Reagan's head in the bowels of the USS Ronald Reagan and it will be the tool used to hurry along Armageddon
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