– Another reason to Pass Prop 1.
– Um, GOP, just no.
– Shorter Michael Bloomberg: How dare you blame the banks for anything bad when the federal government exists?
– Kenmore Products Are Garbage, and Sears Is Terrible to Its Customers and Employees (and a follow up)
– Good news for Washington State’s working women, but there’s still further to go.
– I love this proposal. But what I love even more is when sports writers suggest a fundamental change to the game, and then are flexible about certain parts of it.
– The Rachel Maddow Show: the name to trust for the latest in meat-based technology (h/t).
Ha! I’ve got a Kenmore fridge and the things a POS. I try not to think about how many times repair guys have come out to work on it (it’s under warranty). I once innocently asked a repair guy how he like working for Sears and after stalling for a minute or two he said that before Sears was bought by Kmart it was a great place to work & now its awful.
Book club selection:
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/.....liberalism
Scroll to the bottom of the page for the pdf link (or format of your choice).
TERRIBLE TITLE but I’m a few chapters into it and if you absorb what it says then you’ll melt any right idiot into a puddle of candle wax.
I wish I’d skipped over watching part of the video, but here you go.
The LA Times is wrong to start the article with a question.
This is just abuse. There’s no “revenge” in doing what you have to do to get abuse to stop. I’m glad she posted the video, this guy has no business being a judge.
It should be interesting in Spokane over the next couple of days. A Yakima-based jury has convicted a Spokane police officer of needlessly beating Otto Zehm in 2006 (Zehm died), and then lying about it to cover up his actions.
The case will potentially impact the Spokane mayoral race (incumbent Mary Verner has been accused by the challenger of mishandling the city’s management of the police department) as well as the race for city council president (candidate Dennis Hession was mayor at the time of the incident).
***
More from Dean Baker:
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/.....perstition
@5 China’s savings rate is 50%. Greece’s net worth is less than your kid’s. It isn’t your GDP, it’s what you do with it, that counts.
The Occupy protests just keep swelling. In Oakland protesters shut down the port. In Seattle police used pepper spray and arrests to break up a demonstration against banker Jamie Dimon.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45.....news-life/
http://today.seattletimes.com/.....ceo-visit/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Clearly, these protests are striking a chord among many people. A selfish elite has spent the 30 years of Republican rule over America dispossessing the other 99%. The reallocation of wealth in our country doesn’t reflect merit, innovation, entrepreneurship, job creation, or anything else of merit; it merely reflects the maneuvering of a cunning few to take anything and everything that isn’t bolted to the ground and guarded by junkyard dogs. The kleptomania fostered by rightwing ideology has just about run its course.
Over on Stefan’s sucky little blog, Stefan is calling Darcy Burner a “lunatic” for running for Congress in a district that hasn’t elected a Republican since the time of Moses, and Jim Miller is fretting about whether Pluto is a planet.
Meanwhile, in the real world, tens of thousands of ordinary citizens have shut down the Port of Oakland because they’re fed up with the kleptocracy ruling our country.
“A new analysis from consulting firm Towers Watson finds that three-fourths of companies that had stopped providing matching 401(k) contributions during the height of the recession have since reinstated them.”
http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.....he-rebound
Roger Rabbit Commentary: The corporatists throw workers a bone. Probably in hopes their workforce won’t torch the plant when the next round of pink slips goes out. As I’ve said before 401(k)s are a bad deal unless there’s an employer match, in which case you should take it. But a 401(k) is no substitute for a real pension.
Meanwhile The Poor Freeze …
“Last year Carolyn Brackett and her family received $700 to help pay their gas bills from a federal program for low-income families — enough to heat their home for six weeks during New Hampshire’s long, cold winter. But this year the Brackett family may get nothing as federal cuts to heating assistance to low-income families have jeopardized aid to thousands of households. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has allotted $1.7 billion for the program so far this year, down from $4.5 billion last year and $5 billion the year before.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45.....news-life/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is the real-life impact of Republican parsimony. GOPers refuse to cut one penny from warmongering but they’re unwilling to let American kids in American homes have winter heat. What a bunch of assholes. If you vote Republican this is what you’re voting for. How could you??! GOP control of the House is bringing Dickens’ “Bleak House” back to life in the 21st century. I thought we were done with that 150 years ago. Next time you see a troll making fun of Darcy Burner, remind yourself of what they stand for. They’re the folks who would tell Carolyn Brackett to shut up and throw another blanket over her kids.
I’ve posted about this before, but it’s worth reiterating, that the most heroic and most decorated soldiers in all American history where the Japanese-Americans whose families were trundled off to concentration camps because their neighbors didn’t trust their loyalty.
Today, the Nisei veterans were collectively awarded America’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal.
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Why did they have to wait 66 years?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45.....news-life/
Oh Shit Dep’t, Part 1
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to persuade his Cabinet to authorize a military strike against Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program … as Israel successfully tests a missile … capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to Iran.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45....._n_africa/
I’ve read that the neighbors who screamed the loudest were somehow the same ones who ended up with their property.
Oh Shit Dep’t, Part 2
Chinese students study 12 hours a day and start learning English at age 6.
U.S. students study a couple hours a day outside class and don’t learn Chinese at any age.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44.....htly_news/
@13 Yeah, that’s how it worked out. The J-A menfolk bled and died in Italy to preserve the freedom of white devils to help themselves to their homes, farms, and businesses and imprison their families.
There’s not enough justice in this world, is there? I’ve spent my whole life working to make the world a little fairer for a few more people. I’m proud to have served Washington state as a judge. I believe I was a good one.
Earlier this week I retrieved my law school application from the registrar’s office. Here’s what I wrote 43 years ago:
“I wish to study law because I believe the legal profession best challenges me to use my intellectual, moral, and personal qualities to fulfill a role at once satisfying to myself and beneficial to my community.
“My experience as a working student, newspaper reporter and serviceman in a combat zone has given me a perspective upon life and particularly human relationships, and has caused me to place a high priority upon personal efforts which go beyond purely self-serving ends to include active concern about the problems and welfare of my fellow men.
“I believe law is a most suitable occupation for myself because I desire personal independence in my work life, the opportunity to make my own decisions upon important matters and the freedom to exercise my own moral judgment in my personal work conduct. On the other hand, I believe I am well suited to carry out a lawyer’s work because of my personal aggressiveness, my ability to comprehend abstract issues and to argue myself effectively on them, and my broad social and educational background.
“My education has made me aware of the power and importance of ideas, and motivates me to continually seek to expand my knowledge and improve my judgment to increase my capacity to deal with ideas and to promote and defend those ideas which serve men’s noble aspirations.
“I hope through study of law not only to acquire the technical skills required to enter the legal profession, but also to further broaden my perspective and refine my sense of civic responsibility that I may become the most productive and useful citizen that I can become within the limits of my talents and abilities.”
Let the trolls attack this screed, if they want to. They haven’t done what I’ve done, so they haven’t earned the right to shout me down. After law school, I opted for a low-paying public service career (of the type maligned by Republican shouters); and although I’m retired from paid employment now, in a real and important sense, I’m serving still.
@4
Yeah, I haven’t queried my Spokane peps about that. As far as I know all of them are Pro-verner and wanted to see Thompson convicted.
It’s interesting times we’re living in.
Tainted cantalope from a single farm has now killed 29 people and sickened another 139.
But Republicans believe government regulation is “interfering with business.” The Bush administration wanted to privatize federal meat inspection by firing the federal inspectors and giving taxpayer money to private companies to hire their own “inspectors,” who would be supervised by the companies themselves.
Unless you hate your family and are trying to kill them with tained foodstuffs, why would you vote Republican?
My Guess Is The Stock Market Will Tank Tomorrow
Here’s why:
“Greece will receive no more European bailout aid until it has put an end to uncertainty and agreed to meet its commitments to the eurozone, the leaders of France and Germany said on Wednesday after heaping pressure on Greece’s prime minister at emergency talks.
“European leaders were angered by George Papandreou’s surprise unilateral announcement on Monday of a referendum on a bailout deal reached with eurozone leaders at a summit last week.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45.....ws-europe/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Whether to impose cruel tax increases and crippling austerity on the Greek people is, of course, a domestic matter. Greek politician chickenshits who don’t want to be lynched from lampposts have understandably decided to let their constituents decide whether to do this to themselves. (Polls indicate they won’t.) It’s nobody’s else’s business.
Of course, whether to loan more money to a bankrupt country is the lenders’ business. Presumably they do so in their own self-interest, and their self-interest is served only if the Greek people vote to fuck themselves.
Obviously, Merckel and Sarkozy don’t trust Greek voters to give themselves the shaft. They want Greek politicians to do it to them, so it’ll be more of a sure thing. They want their money back.
Well, I’m just a dumb rabbit, but all of these people are playing right into my hands. I’m sitting on a pile of cash that’s earning no interest that I want to spend on cheap stocks. The problem is, stocks aren’t cheap. The solution is, between cowardly Greek politicians and self-serving German and French politicians, I can count on American stocks getting cheaper. Soon.
This unfolding fiasco in Europe can’t possibly have a good ending for bankers, investors in European debt, American banks and corporations, or leveraged hedge funds long in U.S. stocks. I knew that all along. That’s why I sold off my shit stocks for a pretty penny and sat on my cash hoard waiting for the Euromess (TM) to hatch golden eggs for me.
Who says we don’t have great journalists anymore? Read these two stories. This is good writing.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45.....verett_wa/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45.....verett_wa/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I know good journalism when I see it. Pop Rabbit was a legendary journalist in the midwest. I went to one of America’s top journalism schools. I was a newspaper reporter before I became a lawyer. I edited a college newspaper. I learned how to write by reading E. B. White. Take my word for it, the folks who wrote these crime-blotter stories have learned their craft well. My kudos.
What’s the point of this comment? Simply this. The economic model that has sustained print newspapers for two centuries is in trouble. But people still want news, and we still have great journalists. The only thing missing is a 21st-century business model for delivering it. The front-office boys need to get to work figuring one out. That’s their job.
Do ya hear me, Frank Blethen? You get to live in a $4 million lakefront mansion. The $50k-a-year writers are doing their jobs. It’s time for you to do yours.
# 14: Yea, I’ve been trying to warn people about that for years. It’s not just China, Japan and Korea both have schools which expect an awful lot more of their students, and get it.
Lots of people retain their world-view from the 1950’s, and proudly proclaim the U.S. educational system to be the best in the world. The world has changed in the past half-century, and those folks obviously don’t get out much – at least, not beyond the U.S. borders and tourist spots.
What kind of industrialized country continues to wait until high school to teach foreign languages? We’ve known for decades that is the worst possible way to teach a foreign language.
When my own kids were in elementary school, I heard teachers say they couldn’t expect the kids to memorize the multiplication tables, they just don’t have the attention span to devote to the task. Then I asked my fourth-grade son about the “cheat codes” for his favorite video game, and he proceeded to tell me all about the hundred or so cheat codes he had learned so far, some of them rather elaborate.
It’s mostly a question of expectations, motivation, and opportunity. We don’t expect much so we don’t motivate, and therefore never get around to providing the opportunity to students.
Of course, lots of the educational establishment (and others) will throw stones at this report. They will argue it’s cruel to not give students more time off. They will argue that China, Japan, and Korea only test the “elite” students (not true for Japan and Korea, and Shanghai students were all tested). They will argue that they are “teaching to the test (true). They will argue that “critical reasoning” is ignored, and kids need more “play time” to develop their creativity.
But it seems to me there’s a balance to be maintained, and we are currently so weighted against using proven methods of learning science and math, and instead focusing on “creativity”, that we need to address the balance.
Both liberals and conservatives bear some responsibility. Liberals have opposed standardized testing in schools, and have generally supported the emphasis on “creativity”. Conservatives have also resisted any national standards or controls, insisting that school systems be purely local instruments. Other conservatives have pretty much sabotoged the system entirely by starving it of resources, so they could push an agenda of using existing tax funds for privatization and home-schooling.
Both sides have fought bitterly over peripheral issues: teacher’s unions and tenure, reciting the pledge of allegiance or morning prayer in school, etc. Some conservatives smuggly refuse to discuss education reform, dismissing it by saying “nothing is going to work until you bring back the Bible into the public schools”.
You would have thought that when the Chinese started a successful manned space program, at a time when the U.S. “cannot afford” to venture into space on it’s own, that we would wake up. Apparantly not.
# 11: A slight correction. Although many of the Japanese-Americans who enlisted in the U.S. Army came from west-coast relocation camps, not all of them did.
Quite a few Japanese-Americans who enlisted in the U.S. armed forces came from Hawaii. Strangly enough, Hawaii was never affected by the relocation effort, despite it’s strategic importance. The reasons? (a) Hawaii wasn’t under the command of a virulently racist general who commanded the West Coast defences, it had it’s own independent commander; (b) the Japanese-American population of Hawaii was so large that it would have meant shipping off one-third to one-half of the population of the territory, a logistics burden on shipping which the U.S. couldn’t bear in the early stages of the war; and (c) the Hawaian economy would quickly come to a halt in the absence of those Japanese-Americans, which the military didn’t want to have to deal with at it’s primary Pacific base.
The Oakland Anarchist Fleabaggers are at it.
Here is a quote from an idiot who took out $60,000 in student loans to get a useless masters..
Young people are avoiding entering the workplace somehow believing a Masters Degree is a ticket to success. Masters in what? Don’t any of these students open their eyes to changes in the economy? Why invest in a Masters with tons of debt??
No one forced this person into debt. It was a clear choice. Now they want “rich people” to pay for their mistake.
18. Roger Rabbit spews:
My Guess Is The Stock Market Will Tank Tomorrow
When you posted this last night at 11PM, the Dow futures were already down substantially…over 100 points. So your prediction was pretty reasonable based on conditions at that point in time. I mean, when the Futures are down over 100 points, it’s easy to predict a down market the next day.
But your points are well taken. That’s why I’m out and so is cynical. Too crazy. Again, the market may rise to 13,000, but it’s quite risky, isn’t it?
# 22: You dind’t mention his field. If it’s Art History, you might have a point.
But the fact is that few college degrees really prepare you for a specific career – if you target a career when you declare your major as a freshman, it’s quite likely that by the time you get your undergraduate degree the economy will have shifted enough, or others will have moved into that field, that the option you selected is no longer a good one. So in the long term you just have to choose a degree which has the maximum “portability” into a wide range of fields. Graduating from college doesn’t specifically train you for a field, it just shows that you have the discipline and learning ability to complete a multi-year program successfully. (Graduate school, admittedly, is a different discussion entirely).
But I’m betting that if he didn’t go to college, or if he had an undergraduate degree but not a graduate degree, your post would e something like this:
“Why does this lazy guy think we owe him a living! If he can’t find a job right away, he should go to college and educate himself! There are plenty of school loan programs available, so lack of money is not an barrier! Why does he think we owe him a living if he is too lazy to take advantage of the educational opportunities available to him!”
Funny how the GOP’s were campaigned on the lack of jobs eight months ago, but now are telling the Occupy folks they should just go out and get a job.
RR @ #18: Listening to the BBC World Service last night, it seems that Britain and Germany are not going to wait for a Greek election. They are telling Greece to either go along, or get out of the Euro system altogether. The BBC was already speculating about how the Greek economy and the Euro could be disentangled from one another.
In the meantime, all plans for a cash infusion are on hold, making it quite possible that Greece could default on it’s government obligations within a matter of days, if not weeks. European politicians are saying that Greece has to decide, but it’s really no decision at all – it’s a shotgun wedding, and Merkle is holding the gun.
So the news this morning was that the vote on the austerity measures might likely be scrapped, and the Greek government is about to face a no-confidence vote, throwing everything back up in the air.
Given the stock market’s wild ride over the past few months depending primarily on rumors of what is happening in Greece, those choosing to hold onto stocks should be prepaired for a real roller-coaster over the next few weeks.
It’s been known for a while that Cain’s “9-9-9” plan would lower Herman Cain’s own tax bills to close to nothing.
His income, at 1.5 million or so for last year, is nothing compared to Wall Street and Oil CEOs, or to Romney’s income. But note that most of it comes from his positions as director of various corporate boards from the 1990’s onward. Apparantly he continues to receive income from those board positions, even after having left them. The amount of continued compensation is rather staggering – over 300K per year, in the case of Whirlpool. Since he was on multiple boards at the same time, those types of figures create a hefty sum. Many directors, both current and “alumni”, receive continued perks, including the use of corporate jets (when they are not otherwise engaged), etc.
So what does an “outside” director do for such money? Typically, they attend quarterly meetings, and belong to one or two committees which meet more frequently (typically on conference calls). They attend the annual board meeting and retreats. They approve general policies of the corporation, the annual dividends, the hiring and firing of corporate officers, and the amount of executive pay.
The amount of effort might vary. In the case of a corporation undergoing a major crisis, it could become in effect a full-time job, at least temporarily. But more often it’s about two days of meetings a month, with few more days tacked around the annual meetings. After all, most of the real work is done by the corporate executives or corporate staff assigned to assist the directors.
So why do they get paid so much? It’s simply a case of mutual back-scratching. As long as they keep the directors “fat and happy”, the Chairman and CEO keeps his job and his own generous pay and benefits package. He is also an outside director on the corporations led by many of his own outside directors, so the treatment is mutual.
Herman Cain has tried to pass himself off as an “outsider”. He may be a political novice, but he’s certainly NOT an “outsider”.
@22 Too many MAs can’t write a grammatical sentence or spell common words. The MBAs are even worse, which may explain some things.
@23 I didn’t check the futures before posting that, but as you point out, it’s a no-brainer.
So why is the market up 200 Dow points at this moment? Because things changed overnight. The Greek PM now says there may not be a referendum after all.
It’s just plain silly that stocks move back and forth by several dollars a share on nothing more than innuendoes from inferences drawn from the headline-of-the-moment. Someone is making a hell of a lot of money from this volatility.
Which makes you wonder whether the volatility is being engineered by someone.
@26 I’m still holding onto a few stocks that aren’t quite ripe for dumping yet. Chevron, for example, which I bought at 70.
Looks like this cartoonist has Romney’s strategy pegged:
I will look a lot better near closing time
The Herm’s done.
@28
I’ve met a lot of MSW’s (Masters in Social Work) though my jobs over the years. I’ve never met one that was any good at what they’re doing.
Check it out:
Half of Floridians believe the Republicans are sabotaging the economy:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.c.....033252.php
Even a quarter of Republicans believe it. They think its a good thing if it boots that uppity black guy out of the Oval Office.
Now where were those people when that criminal Rick Scott was lying his way to the Governor’s mansion?
Deportations Break Up Families
“An unprecedented increase in the deportation of undocumented immigrants has left an estimated 5,100 children languishing in U.S. foster homes …, according to a … New York-based advocacy group. …
“The Obama administration deported 46,000 parents of children who are U.S. citizens in the first six months of 2011 ….
“[O]nce separated … the children face enormous obstacles to rejoining their parents …. After parents are deported, the … families remain separated for long periods, with child welfare agencies and juvenile courts often moving to terminate the parental rights of deported immigrants. Children … are then put up for adoption.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....d=webmail3
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Isn’t forcible separation of children from their parents considered an atrocity under international law?
Republicans say they want to reduce taxes on corporations. But how can they do that for companies already paying “less than zero”?
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.co.....cent-years
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Isn’t forcible separation of children from their parents considered an atrocity under international law?
Not to conservatives.
Dishonest Businesses, Hotel Division
Businesses are in business to make money. That’s fine, as far as it goes. But today many, if not most, businesses try to get money from customers not by out-competing with better products, services, or prices, but through sneaky tactics designed to deceive consumers.
Examples include food processers using overlarge packages to conceal small portions; using fine print in contracts to hit customers with hidden charges; and tactics to force people to buy products or services they don’t use and/or don’t want. It seems that wherever you go nowadays you have to be wary and suspicious. The hotel industry is no exception:
http://travelkit.msnbc.msn.com.....dd-on-fees
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I just naturally distrust businesses. This comes from a lifetime of being hustled by sharps. In popular imagination, the business world is populated by circling sharks waiting for a chance to eat you alive, and for good reason, because that’s exactly how businesses behave. With distrust of businesses at an all-time high, why do Republicans think they can sell their nominee (whoever it is) by touting him as a “successful businessman” who will “run government like a business”? That’s the last thing I want — I want our government to be run like a government, i.e. one that serves the citizens. We’ve already tried running government for the private profit of business hustlers (see 8 years of George W. Bush) and I’ve had my fill of that.
Global warming deniers are full of CO2.
“The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45.....vironment/
Boehner disavows Norquist.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com.....dom-person
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Interesting. Is this the first crack in the wall of the GOP’s no-tax-hikes edifice?
@40
That’s AMAZING.
I’ve always been stunned and impressed with the magnitude of the control that that schmuck held over the Republican elected lemmings.
That that is cracking I think supports the notion that something big is happening – if they start running away from tax-cut as religion, then we have a glimmer of hope.
I sincerely hope that this turns into a feeding frenzy, as the ‘realists’ are savaged by a dwindling corps of true believers. Maybe it will all end like the Heaven’s Gate folks, with all of them ‘going Galt’ as Hale-Bopp pilots.
Dare to dream.
40, 41 – Oh c’mon. That was NOT a disavowal at all. That was dodging the question..
Norquist may have a little less influence than in the past but no way is that super committee going to agree on higher taxes.
Congress is full to the gills with little Norquists.
Ooo… Fight, fight!
Hi I’m looking to join some lively conservative blogs, to be a liberal counterpoint in the midst of their dark right wing trollish echo chamber.
Any suggestions on which ones I should join or check out?
@44
sure, try
http://www.getalife.com
44 – You think OUR trolls are bad? Just go visit any right wing blog with some brisk traffic.
Only right wing trolls “cursed” with a couple of firing synapses venture onto blogs like HA.
That said you can’t mean you haven’t heard of (un) soundpolitics.com ???
It’s gone a little quiet lately kind of in tandem with moldering right wing radio in Seattle but it kicks into zombie walking dead life once in a while.
The Party of No killed the infrastructure portion of President Obama’s jobs bill tonight. The PONs must like unemployment. It makes labor cheaper, you know, and the only thing they like better than cheap labor is free labor.
http://school.discoveryeducati.....s/slavery/
@46
well its a damn good thing you are here to monitor the seattle radio scene and blogsphere….ALL….DAY….LONG……
48 – Heh. Yeah it’s been a damned pathetic thing that you’ve been a know-nothing asshat all…your…miserable…life…long..