Last Week's Budget Crisis: Reality Check

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 14 April 2011 11:53:56 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow GazetteThe House and Senate will put the finishing touches on last week's budget crisis over the budget for 2011. While the President and the Republicans were busy in front of the cameras praising themselves for[...]

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Open thread for night owls:
Harper's Index

post from Daily Kos on 14 April 2011 11:30:01 PM. © Daily Kos

Here are excerpts from the monthly Harper's Index, not yet on line:

? Minimum number of people killed by CIA drone attacks on Pakistan last year: 607
? Number of those who appeared on a U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists: 2
? Percentage of federal revenue that will be taken as federal revenue this year: 14.8
? Last year in which the percentage was this low: 1950
? Age of the youngest person facing life without parole in the United States: 13
? Average salary difference between a starting New York public school teacher and a first-year private lawyer in 1970: $2000
? Today: $106,000

? ? ? ? ?

At Daily Kos on this date in 2003:

The fear created by 9/11 has already cost the lives of several Iraqi women and children. The car bomber has managed to turn the US troops deeply suspcious of the Iraqis, who were actually [grateful] Saddam has been set running.
Having lived through 9/11, and believe me, there is nothing like seeing an F-15 fly over Central Park at 3,000 feet armed, I'm mystified at the sense of fear which has gripped this country. The whole freedom fries debacle and the boycott of French food is not a rational reaction.
Americans have simply refused to come to grips with two things: one, the intense hatred for our policies around the world, only made more intense by the Iraq war, two, the paranoia which has swept across suburban America. The whole idea of plastic sheeting and duct tape was as logical as duck and cover and a future generation will laugh heartily at images of Tom Ridge telling us to buy things most people would have under their kitchen sink.
Dr. Phil was talking to some subur[b]an woman frightened to death of terrorism and I had to laugh. I have friends who survived 9/11, there isn't a firehouse which didn't lose a member that day, I smelled the burning remains of human beings for days, living five miles away from WTC, my friend swept "ash"-really human remains and paper-from her apartment for days, since, at the time she lived in downtown Brooklyn. We are all getting on with our lives. No Al Qaeda team is coming to wreak havoc on her subdivision.

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-owls:-Â -Â -Â -Â -Â Â -Â -Â Â Harpers-Index

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Open thread for night owls: Harper's Index

post from Daily Kos on 14 April 2011 11:30:01 PM. © Daily Kos

Here are excerpts from the monthly Harper's Index, not yet on line:

? Minimum number of people killed by CIA drone attacks on Pakistan last year: 607
? Number of those who appeared on a U.S. list of most-wanted terrorists: 2
? Percentage of the GDP that will be taken as federal revenue this year: 14.8
? Last year in which the percentage was this low: 1950
? Age of the youngest person facing life without parole in the United States: 13
? Average salary difference between a starting New York public school teacher and a first-year private lawyer in 1970: $2000
? Today: $106,000

? ? ? ? ?

At Daily Kos on this date in 2003:

The fear created by 9/11 has already cost the lives of several Iraqi women and children. The car bomber has managed to turn the US troops deeply suspcious of the Iraqis, who were actually [grateful] Saddam has been set running.
Having lived through 9/11, and believe me, there is nothing like seeing an F-15 fly over Central Park at 3,000 feet armed, I'm mystified at the sense of fear which has gripped this country. The whole freedom fries debacle and the boycott of French food is not a rational reaction.
Americans have simply refused to come to grips with two things: one, the intense hatred for our policies around the world, only made more intense by the Iraq war, two, the paranoia which has swept across suburban America. The whole idea of plastic sheeting and duct tape was as logical as duck and cover and a future generation will laugh heartily at images of Tom Ridge telling us to buy things most people would have under their kitchen sink.
Dr. Phil was talking to some subur[b]an woman frightened to death of terrorism and I had to laugh. I have friends who survived 9/11, there isn't a firehouse which didn't lose a member that day, I smelled the burning remains of human beings for days, living five miles away from WTC, my friend swept "ash"-really human remains and paper-from her apartment for days, since, at the time she lived in downtown Brooklyn. We are all getting on with our lives. No Al Qaeda team is coming to wreak havoc on her subdivision.

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-owls:-Harpers-Index

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Late Night: Pouting Baby Asks What Scottdemort is
Trying to Hide

post from Firedoglake on 14 April 2011 11:00:23 PM. © Firedoglake

What is Scottdemort trying to hide?[...]

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2011 budget zeroes out housing counseling, in
midst of foreclosure crisis

post from Daily Kos on 14 April 2011 11:00:01 PM. © Daily Kos

foreclosure sign
This seems a bit bone-headed.

The recent budget deal struck between Republicans and Democrats would slash funding for housing counseling, a move that advocates say would force counseling agencies to lay off staff amid the foreclosure crisis.
One of the primary sources of money for counseling agencies is a program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The budget agreement would reduce that program's funding from $88 million to zero. The effect on agencies would be "absolutely devastating," said Judy Hunter of the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, a non-profit based in Sacramento, Calif....
Counseling agencies offer traditional services such as financial reviews and budgeting, but they also increasingly have been called upon to help homeowners navigate the often-bewildering maze they face when trying to avoid foreclosure. The Treasury Department has relied on the infrastructure of agencies in running the administration's mortgage modification program, referring homeowners to HUD-approved counselors through a national hotline.
The cuts would go into effect later this year. Agencies could seek other private or public funds to try to avoid layoffs, but some are already scrambling to make ends meet, advocates said. "What we're seeing across the market is that both on the foreclosure front as well as with first-time homebuyers, funds to support housing counseling agencies are drying up," said Bernell Grier, chief executive officer of Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City.

According to HUD, about half of the counseling sessions provided in the program in 2010 were with homeowners facing foreclosure. About a quarter of all mortgages are now underwater, so if anything, the need for housing counseling services is going to grow.

Another lamb sacrificed to the gods of austerity: a chunk of the U.S. housing market.

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C&L's Late Night Music Club With Judas Priest

post from Crooks and Liars on 14 April 2011 11:00:00 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Title: Living After MidnightArtist: Judas Priest

Owww! Don't stay up too late. What's your favorite song about the night?

British Steel (Exp)

Artist: Judas Priest Price: $4.34 (As of 04/14/11 04:55 pm details)

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White House finding few takers for CFPB chief job

post from Daily Kos on 14 April 2011 10:30:02 PM. © Daily Kos

Elizabeth Warren (Mike Theiler/REUTERS)
Elizabeth Warren might end up being the nominee to be permanent head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as the White House can't find anyone willing to take the job. Warren has been spearheading the effort to get the new agency up and running, but is generally not expected to be Obama's permanent nominee because of strong congressional opposition to her, specifically.

White House officials seeking someone to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have so far failed to find a nominee, with several candidates rebuffing the administration's overtures, according to people familiar with the process.
One concern of some: That accepting would undercut Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor and consumer advocate who is currently a special adviser to the president charged with setting up the bureau. She remains a hugely popular figure among many Democrats and anathema to many Republicans.
Many on the left want Ms. Warren, a longtime critic of the financial industry who pushed to create the consumer protection agency, to become its director.
The nascent bureau must have a director in place by July 21 in order to get a slate of broad powers to attack fraudulent and abusive financial practices....
A White House spokeswoman said Mr. Obama "will consider a number of candidates for the position of director. The President believes Elizabeth Warren is a powerful voice for American consumers and that she has been extraordinarily effective at standing up the agency thus far. We are not going to get ahead of the President's process by commenting on whether specific individuals are under consideration for specific personnel openings."
Ms. Warren, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Another issue for potential candidates must be the unrelenting efforts of the GOP to dismantle the CFPB, since they have lined up on the side of fraudulent and abusive financial practices against consumers. It's not hard to imagine that few people would want to become the new target in place of Warren, in addition to an unwillingness to try to fill her shoes.

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What Do We Want Jobs! When Do We Want Them Now!

post from Firedoglake on 14 April 2011 10:16:22 PM. © Firedoglake

I guess things are getting better, except for the long term Un and Underemployed, who are seemingly being forgotten by most of the people in power.[...]

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Deficit 'Salem Witch' Trials

This is very cool.

Digby has crashed the beltway party again and wrote another great op-ed for The Hill

DC?s deficit frenzy

The entire political world has descended into a deficit frenzy that rivals the mass hysteria of the Salem witch trials. The mania has been growing for months, but exploded last week when D.C. heartthrob Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin (R) unveiled what was widely received as the most important document since the Emancipation Proclamation and the entire political establishment started babbling about ?brio? and ?courage.? Nothing else matters at this point ? not anemic economic growth, not sustained, shockingly high unemployment, not a Middle East uprising of world-changing consequence ? not even an epic nuclear catastrophe...read on

Click through and read it. We need to support our own who write so brilliantly.

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GOP is Caught in a Web of Absurdities: Most
Congressional Republicans Are a Rag-tag, Loony Tunes Collection of Scoundrels

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 14 April 2011 10:13:14 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

Body

Okay, it's clear at last that most congressional Republicans are a rag-tag, loony tunes collection of scoundrels incapable of being truthful about almost anything. We may have suspected this was true before, but Paul Ryan's budget plan and Arizona Senator Jon Kyl's recent floor speech have strengthened perceptions of a Tea Party and far right legislative component off on a tangent that bodes ill for the democratic process.

Ryan's plan often characterized as being "bold" and "courageous" is a collection of unproven theories and overblown conclusions. It is distressing that even among the more or less solid mainstream media mavens these words are used repeatedly. I have long suspected that some pundits who should know better aren't just being fair and allowing both sides to have a say, but are protecting their access to newsmakers, even when those headliners are mostly just talking-point automatons. The group of pseudo intellects who appear on an endless string of talk shows and interviews provide the public with a staple of positions that bears only the faintest resemblance to sound policy and shows no sign of a willingness to engage in meaningful dialogue with 'the other side.'

Are we to believe Ryan's contentions that venture decades hence? Can we possibly rely on projections that claim his particular vision will create thousands of jobs and bring unemployment down to four percent? What assurance other than the sound of his voice makes such assertions in any way believable? After all our recent past would seem to indicate exactly the opposite as far as job creation and a stable economy are concerned.

But Republicans in Congress are prepared to go to the mat defending issues about which they are so poorly informed, their positions so intellectually weak. Marsha Blackburn (R. Tennessee) is a prime example of how members of our legislative bodies are trained to repeat their party's mantra whether or not it makes sense to people outside the charmed circle of believers. Sometimes it almost seems as if people like Blackburn keep making partisan points even when they aren't quite sure what they're talking about.

If, as they like to claim, many of these partisan hacks have heard 'the voice of the people' who spoke in November we are in for a bumpy ride. Like the children's game played around a table at birthday parties the quote that gets things started ends up in an unrecognizable muddle and everyone is amazed that a simple statement could become so twisted in the space of such a short time. The voters in November did not speak with one voice no matter how the right wing would like that to be the case. But Republicans are back on familiar ground as they seek to shape opinion to suit their political vision.

The thing is that if the rest of us pay attention we can actually change the direction of the debate and catch the 'conscience of the kingmakers.' Are political leaders like Jon Kyl so delusional they think they can spew hogwash on the floor of the Senate and no-one will notice or hold them accountable? Perhaps because they've gotten away with their absurd posturing for so long and attacked Democrats in general and the president so relentlessly from the moment he took office they have come to believe they can continue their duplicitous ways forever.

But wouldn't you know, people began to notice after all. Kyl pushed the envelope just a bit too far the other day and Stephen Colbert shattered the composure of what is sometimes referred to as the "august" chamber of Congress by pointing out just how ridiculous Kyl's remarks were and how especially absurd the explanation his staff offered in response to Colbert's questions. How could an experienced politician state on the Senate floor that 90% of Planned Parenthood's activity was devoted to providing abortion services, a complete fiction. Is he really that poorly informed or was he just trying to hammer home a partisan point regardless of whether it was true or not?

One can't be quite sure, but his staff's explanation for the inaccuracy was even more absurd. To assert that Kyl's remark about Planned Parenthood wasn't meant to be a "factual statement" made his position even more ridiculous but clarified or should have, for the rest of us that the right wing will say anything to make a point and proves that it shouldn't be trusted with the leadership of our country. Colbert's not-meant-to-be-factual statements provide hilarious rejoinders to Kyl's irrational disclaimer and advise his audience that you can say just about anything if you follow with the proviso that it is not meant to be taken as a factual statement.

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