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MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
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By Paul Richter and Lisa Mascaro, Los Angeles Times, December 21, 2010
Republican senators break ranks to end debate on the New START nuclear pact with Russia. Adoption is expected Wednesday
Minutes ago, the FCC passed new rules — written by corporations — that will end Net Neutrality. For the first time in history, the U.S. government approved corporate censorship of the Internet, putting the future of online free speech at risk. Unbelievably, the person leading the charge was Obama appointee Julius Genachowski (known in some circles as Judas GenaComcast for his historic sellout and notorious industry-friendly attitude).
These rules also violate President Obama’s campaign promise to protect Net Neutrality and appoint an FCC Commissioner who would do the same, but some media are reporting the corporate spin that this is a “Net Neutrality compromise.” The White House is trying to convince us this isn’t a sellout as well with their wholly supportive statement.
This is not a compromise and it doesn’t fulfill Obama’s campaign promise — not even close. There’s no such thing as half a First Amendment and no such thing as prohibiting “some” corporate censorship. In reality, these rules are what Senator Al Franken said they are:
The FCC’s action today is simply inadequate to protect consumers or preserve the free and open Internet. I am particularly disappointed to learn that the order will not specifically ban paid prioritization, allowing big companies to pay for a fast lane on the Internet and abandoning the foundation of net neutrality. The rule also contains almost no protections for mobile broadband service, remaining silent on the blocking of content, applications, and devices. Wireless technology is the future of the Internet, and for many rural Minnesotans, it’s often the only choice for broadband.
Today was another historic sellout to big corporations by the Obama administration, not some kind of “win.” We need to set the record straight.
There's more; this deserves an entire blog, and toward the end of this piece there is a How to Help section. I'm sure it will be taken to court, but this is a dark day for us and the internet. Tell the President what you think.
I posted this mostly to draw attention to a quote within the story which gives stark evidence to a problem with our media news coverage.
“There are like seven of us there,” remarked the correspondent, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to call into question his network’s commitment to the war.
A journalist, with all that is supposed to imply, speaks about the level of coverage of one of our wars and about the nature of that war. The journalist speaks anonymously for the purpose of protecting the identity and therefore the image of the corporation which he works for.
Alittle bit of comentary about the article is here.
Right now, the ball is in the hands of state corrections officials, and reports are that in some of the affected prisons, authorities are fumbling that ball ...
“They transferred some of the high Muslims here to max already,” one prisoner told Black Agenda Report this morning. “They want to break up the unity we have here. We have the Crips and the Bloods, we have the Muslims, we have the head Mexicans, and we have the Aryans all with a peaceful understanding, all on common ground. We all want to be paid for our work, and we all want education in here. There's people in here who can't even read...
“They're trying to provoke people to violence in here, but we're not letting that happen. We just want our human rights.”
The transfers are intended to deprive groups of leadership and demoralize them. In some cases they may be having the opposite effect, stiffening prisoner morale and making room for still more leaders to emerge.
I was talking to a fellow in the office about Social Security last night. He said that despite the new bill, the the 99ers are SOL. The Wall St Journal says he's right:
Last week Washington approved new funds for extended unemployment-insurance benefits as part of a larger tax package.
But that deal, which extends funds for special federal unemployment-insurance benefits through 2011, won't help Brown or others who have exhausted their benefits. That is, jobless workers in states with the worst labor markets will still only be able to collect benefits for up to 99 weeks.
Exasperating for [Deborah Brown, who has exhausted her benefits,] is that the benefits were part of a package of tax cuts. Obama had struck a deal with Republicans on the tax package -- a package that Democrats had criticized as too generous to the wealthy.
Call me dumb, but I thought part of the deal for prolonging tax cuts for the wealthy was to extend benefits for the 99ers, too.
By David Espo, Associated Press, December 20, 2010
WASHINGTON --After a monthslong blockade, Senate Republicans have agreed to let at least 19 of President Barack Obama's non-controversial judicial nominees win confirmation in the waning days of the congressional session in exchange for a commitment by Democrats not to seek votes on four others, according to officials familiar with the deal.....
Looks like another Obama compromise, but I can't tell from this article how good or bad it is. I'll let you who are more tech oriented sort it out.
I had hit on a link that showed Mississippi finally passing Civil Rights Legislation forty years after LBJ did. This guy is touted as the answer to Palin!!
Those of you who live in the North America* will be treated to a total lunar eclipse tomorrow night (Monday night/Tuesday morning)! The whole thing unfolds over about 3.5 hours, starting at 1:30 a.m. Eastern time.
[...] Sky and Telescope’s website has an excellent description of the timeline. The Earth’s dark shadow takes its first bite starting around 1:32 a.m. Eastern time (all times will be Eastern from here on out). Over the next 45 minutes or so, the Moon will plunge deeper into shadow, and the entire disk will be covered starting at 2:41 a.m. It’ll stay this way for over an hour, and then at 3:53 a.m. will begin to leave the shadow. An hour or so later, at 5:00 a.m., it’s all over, and the Moon will be restored to being full. Note that the farther west you are, the earlier this happens in the evening. For me, in Mountain time, it starts at the much more palatable 11:32 p.m. Monday night.
To someone viewing from the United States, you’ll see the eclipse start on the lower left part of the Moon. It really will look like a bite is taken out, and that dark bite will grow left to right. When the Moon begins to leave the shadow you’ll see the upper left part of the Moon becoming bright, with the illumination growing from left to right.
WASHINGTON — Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.) and Bobby Scott (Va.) introduced legislation Friday that would provide additional assistance to "99ers" — people who've exhausted 99 weeks of unemployment benefits without finding work.
"The economic downturn has been devastating for all of us — however, it has been particularly devastating for those who for the past two years have been out of work known as the 99ers," said Lee in a statement Friday, after the president signed legislation preserving the 99 weeks for an additional 13 months and tax cuts for the rich for two years.
"While the tax plan that was signed by the President today will provided additional unemployment benefits for many Americans, the 99ers were left out of that bill," Lee said. "That is why it is important that we put in place a safety net for those still looking for work. We cannot and will not allow our fellow Americans to fall by the wayside. Congressman Scott and I plan to continue to push for passage of this legislation because it is simply the right thing to do."
The Lee-Scott bill would add 14 weeks of benefits to the first "tier" of Emergency Unemployment Compensation, one of two programs that together give the unemployed up to 73 weeks of federally-funded benefits for workers who exhaust 26 weeks of state benefits. The full 73 weeks are available in states with unemployment above 8.5 percent.
"PolitiFact editors and reporters have chosen "government takeover of health care" as the 2010 Lie of the Year. Uttered by dozens of politicians and pundits, it played an important role in shaping public opinion about the health care plan and was a significant factor in the Democrats' shellacking in the November elections."
At last, now Bush's contention about Iraq seeking nucular capabilities is proven correct.
By Lyubov Probina, Bloomberg News, December 20, 2010
Russian authorities detained four men who arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on a flight from Istanbul with $20 million in cash.
Three Azeri citizens and one Iranian attempted to enter the country without declaring the $14.5 million and 4.1 million euros ($5.4 million) they carried in four suitcases and four backpacks....
By Amy Teibel, Associated Press, December 20, 2010
TEHRAN -- Iran's supreme leader has rejected any ruling by a U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri even before the verdict has been issued.
The tribunal based in the Netherlands is expected to imminently indict members of Lebanon's Hezbollah....
Space.com, December 20, 2010
A rare event not seen in 372 years will occur early Tuesday morning, when a total lunar eclipse coincides with the winter solstice. While you can't see the solstice, the eclipse promises to be an amazing spectacle.
And if that's not enough, a minor meteor shower is expected to send a few shooting stars through the darkened sky during the height of the eclipse....
By Alan Cowell and Ravi Somaiya, New York Times, December 20, 2010
The arrests are the latest of several European terrorism alerts, and the biggest operation of its kind for months..
More at BBC News.
By Kate Zernike, New York Times, December 20, 2010
The same people driving the lawsuits that seek to dismantle the Obama administration’s health care overhaul have set their sights on an even bigger target: a constitutional amendment that would allow a vote of the states to overturn any act of Congress.
As others have warned, the two-tiered system isn't the most important outrage of the leaked (ha ha) FCC plans: it's this:
"For many Americans -- particularly those who live in rural areas -- the future of the Internet lies in mobile services. But the draft Order would effectively permit Internet providers to block lawful content, applications, and devices on mobile Internet connections.
Mobile networks like AT&T and Verizon Wireless would be able to shut off your access to content or applications for any reason. For instance, Verizon could prevent you from accessing Google Maps on your phone, forcing you to use their own mapping program, Verizon Navigator, even if it costs money to use and isn't nearly as good. Or a mobile provider with a political agenda could prevent you from downloading an app that connects you with the Obama campaign (or, for that matter, a Tea Party group in your area).
It gets worse. The FCC has never before explicitly allowed discrimination on the Internet -- but the draft Order takes a step backwards, merely stating that so-called "paid prioritization" (the creation of a "fast lane" for big corporations who can afford to pay for it) is cause for concern.
It sure is -- but that's exactly why the FCC should ban it. Instead, the draft Order would have the effect of actually relaxing restrictions on this kind of discrimination.
What's more, even the protections that are established in the draft Order would be weak because it defines "broadband Internet access service" too narrowly, making it easy for powerful corporations to get around the rules.
Here's what's most troubling of all. Chairman Genachowski and President Obama -- who nominated him -- have argued convincingly that they support net neutrality."
Read more at the link; tomorrow the FCC will meet to discuss the proposal.
I'd love to eat some crow on this one. The iissue at hand is how the mortgage servicers conducted business, whether or not the loans were conveyed properly or not down the chain to the issuers of the bundled mortgages, and if the bundles were presented fraudulently.
Ted Kaufman raised the alarm not long ago; individual states have been taking the lead on investigations, and it's high time the federal regulators join in. Marcy Kaptur explained MERS on Ratigan's show.
http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/very-bad-honest-news-ted-kaufman-tarp-7501
http://dagblog.com/reader-blogs/great-mers-whitewash-kaptur-dylan-ratigan-7561
By Simon Tisdall, The Guardian, December 19, 2010
United Nations peacekeepers and French soldiers stationed in the Ivory Coast were today set on a dangerous course of confrontation with forces loyal to the renegade president, Laurent Gbagbo, after he ordered them out of the country. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, responded swiftly with a warning that violence against the 10,000-strong mission would incur serious consequences. "Any attack on UN forces will be an attack on the international community and those responsible for these actions will be held accountable," Ban said....
With the clock ticking toward the end of this year's Congress, the Senate on Saturday passed a new law which will enable community groups, churches and schools across the country to establish new non-commercial, low-power FM radio stations in their cities and towns.
The Local Community Radio Act, which will allow the FCC to issue possibly thousands of new noncommercial LPFM radio licenses, earned broad, bipartisan support after some ten years of organizing by grassroots media democracy advocates from coast to coast. Backers of the bill included a stupefying range of civil rights groups, religious organizations, musicians, unions and garage-bound radio dreamers around the country.
Washington State elected officials played a pivotal role in passing the bill into law; Senator Maria Cantwell championed the bill in the Senate, and House cosponsors included Washington Rep. Jay Inslee.
From the article: Potential jurors staged a "mutiny" during a felony drug case, a Missoula County prosecutor says, and authorities worry the result will be viewed as a game-changer when it comes to future attempts at prosecuting drug cases in Montana. This is a great read.