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The Incompetent Party by Michael Tomasky, thedailybeast.com | January 8, 2013
Over the weekend, I wrote about how Barack Obama can win the upcoming debt-ceiling fight. I left out one important element of a winning strategy, which I’ll get to further down. But the main point of the piece, which I want to reinforce today, is to flip the current conventional wisdom on its head. The c.w. says the Republicans hold the cards here. But they don’t. And some of them are throwing whatever cards they do have on the bonfire with a lot of loose talk that weakens what I think is their already weak position. What all this adds up to is the following revolutionary proposition, which I invite you to consider: it may be that the Republicans just aren’t very good at politics anymore. read more »Freedom To Live In Fear by Leonard Pitts Jr., mcclatchydc.com | January 8, 2013
Here we are, a little over three weeks after the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., a little over two weeks after the National Rifle Association said there should henceforth be armed guards at every school, and at least one school system, Marlboro Township in New Jersey, is taking its advice. Under a pilot program in partnership with local police, students who returned to school last week found their campuses patrolled by armed officers. But here's the thing. If this is truly a good idea - "The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre in a news conference - then why stop there? After all, it is not just our schools that are being shot up. So let us follow this advice to its logical end. read more »The 113th Congress and the Tyranny of the Minority by Sally Kohn, colorlines.com | January 8, 2013
Eighty-one women were sworn into the House of Representatives this year and 20 women in the Senate. There are now 42 African Americans in the House and one in the Senate—Tim Scott, the first black Republican in the Senate since 1979. There are 29 Latinos in the House and three in the Senate. The Senate also has its first Buddhist and the House now has its first Hindu and its first openly bisexual woman. Which is great. Really. But let’s look at the flip side. Of the 535 voting members of the 113th Congress, 359 are still white men. In other words, white men—who comprised 34 percent of voters in the 2012 election—still occupy 67 percent of the seats in Congress. Legacies of oppression in America are still paying handsome dividends in yielding disproportionate power for white men. At best, the increase in diversity among the 113th Congress is a sign white patriarchy is now shaky in America. But it has not toppled. read more »The Hoax of Entitlement Reform by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | January 7, 2013
It has become accepted economic wisdom, uttered with deadpan certainty by policy pundits and budget scolds on both sides of the aisle, that the only way to get control over America’s looming deficits is to “reform entitlements.” The accepted wisdom is wrong. f anything, America’s safety nets have been too small and shot through with holes. That’s why the number and percentage of Americans in poverty has increased dramatically, including 22 percent of our children. “Entitlement reform” sounds like a noble endeavor. But it has little or nothing to do with reducing future budget deficits. Taming future deficits requires three steps having nothing to do with entitlements: Limiting the growth of overall healthcare costs, cutting our bloated military, and ending corporate welfare (tax breaks and subsidies targeted to particular firms and industries). Obsessing about “entitlement reform” only serves to distract us from these more important endeavors. read more »The Real Reason Republicans Hate Hagel by Fred Kaplan, slate.com | January 7, 2013
It’s good news that President Obama will nominate Chuck Hagel as his secretary of defense, despite the frantic campaign against him that’s been mounted by certain Republicans. I don’t think that he chose Hagel because of the opposition. It’s generally not Obama’s style to pick a fight for its own sake. He’s an issues man, and he faces many fights on other pressing matters. If he thought that someone less controversial could do the job at the Pentagon, he’d have gone with that person in a flash. The real question is what kind of job Obama wants his next secretary of defense to do. I have no inside knowledge on this, but judging from some of his actions and remarks on matters of national defense, Hagel seems to be the right choice. And that’s what disturbs the most outspoken Hagel-resisters. read more »The Conservative Movement Is Still An Elaborate Moneymaking Venture by Alex Pareene, salon.com | January 7, 2013
The conservative media movement exists primarily as a moneymaking venture. As Rick Perlstein explained in the Baffler, some of the largest conservative media organs are essentially massive email lists of suckers rented to snake oil salesmen. The con isn’t limited to a couple of newsletters and websites: The most prominent conservative organizations in the nation are primarily dedicated to separating conservatives from their money. FreedomWorks, which is funded primarily by very rich people, solicits donations from non-rich conservative people. And what are people who donate to this grass-roots conservative organization funded mostly by a few very rich people getting for their hard-earned money? As Armey admitted to Media Matters, FreedomWorks at this point essentially raises money for the sake of raising money. It exists to bilk “activists.” Armey at least has the courtesy to be embarrassed by this: read more »Calling McConnell’s Bluff by Robert Kuttner, prospect.org | January 7, 2013
The budget deal that just averted the supposed fiscal cliff was only a warm up. The next fiscal cliff is the $110 billion in automatic budget cuts (sequesters) that last week’s budget deal deferred only until March. But, as long as we are using topographic metaphors, this is less a cliff than a bluff. On the Sunday talk shows, Republican leaders were full of bravado and swagger. Representative Matt Salmon of Arizona, on CBS “Face the Nation” said it was about time “for another government shutdown.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, ruled out any further tax increases, declaring that “the tax issue is finished, over, completed.” He insisted, “Now it’s time to pivot and turn to the real issue, which is our spending addiction.” But is spending really the problem? read more »The GOP's Dangerous Debt-Ceiling Threat by Jamelle Bouie, prospect.org | January 4, 2013
Even for someone unmoved by hyper-ideological, right-wing rhetoric, Senator John Cornyn’s most recent op-ed for the Houston Chronicle is astounding in its mendacity and utter disregard for responsible governance. To wit, after engaging in a little bizarro history—where he blames the president for brinksmanship on the debt ceiling and the fiscal cliff, as if Obama has an obligation to implement the GOP agenda—the two-term Texas lawmaker presents a government shutdown as a responsible way to force spending cuts. Ignoring, for now, Cornyn’s assertion that the United States will end up like Greece—which, as I noted a few days ago, is ridiculous given our ability to print money—it’s worth elaborating on what Cornyn means when he says “shutdown.” read more »Congress: Worst reality TV show ever by David Sirota, salon.com | January 4, 2013
During the halcyon 1990s, we labeled annual congressional temper tantrums for what they were: standard, if boring, budget impasses. Now, though, in a hilariously non-ironic flail for ratings, news outlets have taken Nigel Tufnel’s famous line from “Spinal Tap” seriously, turning the volume up to 11 by portraying the latest standoff as a harrowing “fiscal cliff,” replete with doomsday countdown clocks, gaudy NFL-quality graphics, and endless Twitter hashtags. If anyone outside the Beltway was paying attention (a big “if”), they probably thought the title referred to an old episode of “Cheers” in which the goofy mailman does his taxes. After all, replaying reruns would have been more compelling content than this latest installment of “Real World: U.S. Capitol.” Reality TV, of course, is this moment’s perfect metaphor. That schlocky format’s foundational oxymoron — it is “real” but not real — also defines contemporary politics. read more »Our Clown-Around Congress by Eugene Robinson, truthdig.com | January 4, 2013
To say that Congress looked like a clown show this week is an insult to self-respecting clowns. Painful though it may be, let’s review what just happened. Our august legislators—aided and abetted by President Obama—manufactured a fake crisis. They then proceeded to handle it so incompetently that they turned it into a real one. read more »
The Latest
Federal Aid Finally Reaches New Orleans, USA Today | March 18, 2009
More than $700 million worth of public projects will start to emerge in this embattled city this year, as New Orleans' recovery enters one of its busiest stages since the devastating floods of Hurricane Katrina, the city's mayor said. read more »
Obama Targets Food Safety, | March 15, 2009
Describing the U.S. government’s failure to inspect 95 percent of food-processing plants as ‘‘a hazard to the public health,’’ President Barack Obama promised to bolster and reorganize the nation’s fractured food-safety system. ‘‘In the end, food safety is something I take seriously, not just as your president, but as a parent,’’ Mr. read more »
FDA Issues Peanut Safety Guidelines, Reuters | March 11, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued safety guidelines for companies that use peanut products and said it may seize products that test positive for salmonella bacteria. While heat-sensitive, salmonella bacteria become heat-resistant in high-fat environments such as peanut butter, the FDA guidance advises. read more »
Food Problems Elude Private Inspectors, The New York Times | March 6, 2009
With government inspectors overwhelmed by the task of guarding the nation’s food supply, the job of monitoring food plants has in large part fallen to an army of private auditors. An examination of the largest food poisoning outbreaks in recent years shows that auditors failed to detect problems at plants whose contaminated products later sickened consumers. read more »
Supreme Court: Patients Can Sue Drug Makers, Los Angeles Times | March 5, 2009
The Supreme Court dealt a defeat to the pharmaceutical industry and the Bush administration, ruling that federal approval of a prescription drug does not provide a shield against lawsuits from injured patients. The 6-3 decision upholds the traditional right of American consumers to sue the manufacturer if they are harmed by a defective product. read more »
Dead Mice, Dropping Found at Peanut Plant, Reuters | March 4, 2009
Dead mice and rodent droppings were found throughout a Texas plant run by a company whose peanut products caused one of the biggest food recalls in U.S. history, food inspectors reported. Effective measures are not being taken to exclude pests from the processing areas and protect against the contamination of food on the premises by pests," the report reads. The U.S. read more »
Senate to Investigate CIA Under Bush, Los Angeles Times | February 27, 2009
The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing to launch an investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation programs under President George W. Bush, setting the stage for a sweeping examination of some of most secretive and controversial operations in recent agency history. read more »
Wall Street Gets Low Marks for Ethics, Honesty, Reuters | February 27, 2009
Americans hold a dim view of business executives, giving them poor grades for honesty and ethics and blaming them for business failures, according to a survey. Nearly 60 percent gave the worst grades to Wall Street executives for honesty and ethical practices, according to research. The poll questioned 2,071 U.S. adults and 110 business executives. read more »
Firms Defraud Government, Get New Contracts, Associated Press | February 27, 2009
Companies that defrauded the United States and jeopardized American lives received new government work despite rulings designed to stop them from receiving federal contracts, government investigators report. The companies were on a government database of 70,000 individuals and businesses suspended or barred from receiving government contract work. read more »
Salmonella Sickens 666, Reuters | February 25, 2009
An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning traced to peanut products has sickened 666 people and is continuing despite one of the biggest food recalls in U.S. history, health officials said. But the outbreak of salmonella is still only linked to nine deaths, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. read more »
