3 Charts To Email To Your Right-Wing Relative - Nation of Change

Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about "Obama spending" and "Obama deficits" and how the "Stimulus" just made things worse.

Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about "Obama spending" and "Obama deficits" and how the "Stimulus" just made things worse.

Problem: Your right-wing relative is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about "Obama spending" and "Obama deficits" and how the "Stimulus" just made things worse.

Solution: Here are three "reality-based" charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened.

We all want to fix the terrible problems the country has. But it is so important to know just what the problems are before you decide how to fix them. Otherwise the things you do to try to solve those problems might just make them worse.

If you get tricked into thinking that Obama has made things worse and that we should go back to what we were doing before Obama -- tax cuts for the rich, giving giant corporations and Wall Street everything they want -- when those are the things that caused the problems in the first place, then we will be in real trouble.

We all want to fix the terrible problems the country has. But it is so important to know just what the problems are before you decide how to fix them. Otherwise the things you do to try to solve those problems might just make them worse. If you get tricked into thinking that Obama has made things worse and that we should go back to what we were doing before Obama -- tax cuts for the rich, giving giant corporations and Wall Street everything they want -- when those are the things that caused the problems in the first place, then we will be in real trouble.

The full article is available here

Never-Wrong Pundit Picks Obama to Win in 2012 - Paul Bedard

Allan Lichtman, the American University professor whose election formula has correctly called every president since Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election, has a belated birthday present for Barack Obama: Rest easy, your re-election is in the bag.

“Even if I am being conservative, I don’t see how Obama can lose,” says Lichtman, the brains behind The Keys to the White House.

Lichtman developed his 13 Keys in 1981. They test the performance of the party that holds the presidency. If six or more of the 13 keys go against the party in power, then the opposing party wins.“The keys have figured into popular politics a bit,” Lichtman says. “They’ve never missed. They’ve been right seven elections in a row. A number that goes way beyond statistical significance in a record no other system even comes close to.”

The full article is available here

Braid: Closer To Closed - AV Club

Last year, Braid discussed recording a single for Record Store Day, which eventually turned into the new four-song EP Closer To Closed. Recorded by frequent collaborator J. Robbins (who also helmed the band’s 1998 swan song, Frame And Canvas), Closer To Closed let the members of Braid re-indulge in their songwriting chemistry without the pressures of being in a band.

The subtitle might as well be This Is A Fun Hobby For Us When We Have Time, Just Don’t Expect A Tour.

Singer-guitarist Bob Nanna wrote the three originals on the EP—the other is a cover of Jeff Hanson’s “You Are The Reason”—with singer-guitarist Chris Broach taking lead vocals on the opener, “The Right Time.” Broach’s voice sounds thin, but his and Nanna’s guitars easily slip into their knotty interplay, building to an excellent chorus. The same follows on “Do Over,” with Nanna taking over lead vocals.

The EP comes and goes in 16 minutes, but it’s nice to see Braid picking up as if 10 years hadn’t passed. Here’s hoping more music follows.

The full review is here

Fear, Inc.: America's Islamophobia Network - Center for American Progress

A small group of donors fund a cluster of think tanks that promote rank Islamophobia.

As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, a new report details the right-wing donors behind a network of "experts" who promote xenophobic fear of Islam.

In extensive detail, the report describes how a small group of donors fund a cluster of think tanks that promote rank Islamophobia, and how their misinformation is spread through a network of conservative media.

The important context here is that anti-Islam sentiment is growing in the decade since the September 11 attacks: an ABC News taken last year in the wake of the Ground Zero mosque debate showed 49 percent of Americans had a negative view of Islam, compared with just 39 percent in October 2002.

These efforts recall some of the darkest episodes in American history, in which religious, ethnic, and racial minorities were discriminated against and persecuted.

From Catholics, Mormons, Japanese Americans, European immigrants, Jews, and African Americans, the story of America is one of struggle to achieve in practice our founding ideals.

Unfortunately, American Muslims and Islam are the latest chapter in a long American struggle against scapegoating based on religion, race, or creed.

The full article is available here

Our Current Model of Economic Growth Is Driving Us Over The Cliff - Paul Gilding

I have come to the conclusion that our human society and economy is now so large that we have passed the limits of our planet’s capacity to support us. 

This means things are going to change. Not because we will choose change out of philosophical or political preference, but because if we don’t transform our society and economy, we risk social and economic collapse and the descent into chaos.

In all this though, there is a surprising case for optimism. As a species, we are good in a crisis, and passing the limits will certainly be the biggest crisis our species has ever faced.

We have the opportunity to build a society that represents our highest capacities, with extreme poverty eliminated; great technology that works with rather than against nature and provides us with abundant energy and resources; a closed-loop economy with no waste; communities that work and support one another.

The full article is available here

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich - Warren Buffett

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks.  These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species.

Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off.

And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

The full article is available here

Not Trickling Down: The Percentage Of Americans In Poverty Now Equals China - Politics USA

In a recent report, experts said the number of poor in America is nearly identical by percentage to China where more than half the population are peasant farmers who barely subsist from day to day.

America is said to be the wealthiest country on the planet and it has its fair share of extremely wealthy citizens who enjoy special privileges based on their financial worth. However, for all the wealth in America there are still a disproportionate number of people living in dire poverty with no hope of ever exceeding their present condition and it should be a cause of shame for the nation.

It is unfortunate, but regardless of the amount of wealth in America, there are at least 31 million children living in poverty which is approximately one in five of all children.

Researchers at Cornell University discovered that children who grow up in poverty are deeply affected in their educational and psychological development. The researchers found that the instability of children who grow up in poverty are affected by their home lives and that environmental stressors hinder their education and there is a direct correlation between a family’s income and success in school.

The full article is available here

Leaked Documents Show Speculators Drove 2008 Oil Price Spike - Public Citizen

The growing controversy over the leaking of trading documents naming 219 investors in oil futures positions during the 2008 oil price spike shows two things.

First, the data reveals that excessive speculation by banks and others is the driving force in oil markets, pushing prices beyond the supply-demand fundamentals. Who wins when prices rise? Wall Street traders that are engaged in speculating. Who loses? Every consumer who fills up at the pump.

Second, this data shows that we need this information to be made public on a regular basis. The companies named – including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – were significant players in the 2008 price run-up. The public should know who is responsible for high gas prices. It should get this information not just now, three years later, but on a regular basis, within two weeks.

The President's Bold Jobs Bill (Maybe) - Robert Reich

Some of the Presidents political advisers have been pushing for small-bore initiatives that they believe might have a chance of getting through the Republican just-say-no House. They also figure policy miniatures wont give aspiring GOP candidates more ammunition to tar Obama as a big-government liberal. But the President is sounding as if he's rejected their advice. That's good policy and good politics.

Good policy because any jobs bill has to be big enough to give the economy the boost it needs to get out of the gravitational pull of the Great Recession.

A bold jobs plan is also good politics. With more than 25 million Americans looking for full-time jobs, the wages of people with jobs falling, and an economy on the verge of a double dip, the President has to come out fighting on the side of average people.

Remember: Faster growth means a more manageable debt in the long term. Which means the President could tie this (or any other jobs bill of similar magnitude) to an even more ambitious long-term debt-reduction plan than hes already proposed.

The full article is available here

The Truth about the So-Called "Light Bulb Ban" - Republican Jim DiPeso

A group of congressmen, including one Michelle Bachmann, are backing legislation to repeal what they call the "light bulb ban." Which is sort of like proposing legislation to repeal the flying spaghetti monster. Like the "bulb ban," it exists only as the figment of vivid imaginations.

The rhetoric of the "bulb ban" crowd departs sharply from reality.  The legislation did not ban incandescent light bulbs. It set efficiency standards for general-purpose lighting.  Bachmann and her like-minded allies argue that the 2007 law restricts freedom of choice.

That's exactly the opposite of what's been happening in the lighting market. Philips, GE, and Sylvania beat the law's deadline and have introduced incandescent products that meet the law's requirements. There are more lighting choices than ever before. That's the case today and will be the case next year and the years following.

If anything deserves scorn, it's not the 2007 energy law. It's politicians who seem to have enough time on their hands for political posturing and pointless legislative capers.

The full article is available here

The Hopeless Politics of 2011 - Steve Kornacki

The best case scenario for Obama and his supporters — gut it out for the next 15 months, eke out a small but impressive-seeming win, then hope the Republicans of the 113th Congress decide its in their interests to be just a little bit more open to collaboration.  If that doesn't sound like much to hope for, well, welcome to the politics of 2011.

The current majority party in the House is at the mercy of rank-and-file members who, either because they believe it themselves or because the constituents they will answer to in their next primary election do (or both), approach every issue with the assumption that President Obama, even if what he is saying or doing actually meshes with what once passed for Republican orthodoxy, is totally and completely wrong.

They have convinced themselves that these deficits are mainly the product of a spending binge that Obama and the Democratic Congress embarked on in 2009 and 2010 — and that they can only be arrested through aggressive, immediate spending cuts. Tax hikes, of course, are off the table.

You can point out — over and over again — all of the logical flaws in this reasoning, but don't assume it will change anyone's mind. That would assume that the GOP's deficit dogma is coming from a logical place. But it isn't. Instead, it's best understood as a primarily emotional phenomenon, the product of the intense resentment of and resistance to Obama that has defined the party's base (and its opinion-shaping commentators) since even before the 2008 election.

There's no reason to think that the current Wall Street meltdown, no matter how long it lasts and now matter how clearly the market expresses its disdain for austerity, will prompt Republicans to give an inch — not when they can simply claim that because something bad happened on Obama's watch, it's a direct result of his policies and that he needs to be opposed even more fiercely going forward.

The full article is available here

Obama In An Era Of Decline: How Will He Manage Debt Crisis, Tea Party, GOP? - Peter Beinart

The decision by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade America’s credit rating marks the clearest sign yet that we have entered a new era in American politics.  Today's political environment is like the deeply pessimistic 1970s. President Obama, like presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter, will be defined by how he manages the politics of decline.

Even if Obama can win reelection, the crucial question is, Can he win big enough to change the GOP? The single factor most contributing to American decline is the Republican Party’s theological opposition to raising taxes, a theology with Ronald Reagan as its patron saint, even though Reagan himself raised taxes several times as president.

Obama’s real challenge, therefore, is not merely to win, but to win convincingly enough that he provokes a reassessment on the other side of the aisle, a Republican version of the Democratic Leadership Council that challenged liberal orthodoxies in the wake of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush’s victories in the 1980s. Unless that happens, Americans may be living with the politics of decline for a very long time.

The full article is available here

Nuclear Power Losing Favor in Much of the World - Amitabh Pal

A number of countries have recently rethought their romance with nuclear energy.

In Germany, the government has been compelled by a galvanized mass movement to announce an end to nuclear power.  The Italian people delivered a similarly resounding message to their government in June.  The Swiss government has also seen the light, pledging in May to shut down the country’s nuclear plants by 2034.

And even China, that energy-consuming colossus, paused new nuclear plant construction.

Unfortunately, some other prominent countries are way behind the curve. Even after Fukushima, the United States is still refusing to go a different route. In fact, Senate Republicans, instead of being sobered by Fukushima, are even holding up new safety recommendations issued by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission task force, calling them "more Washington red tape."

The full article is available here

5 Governance Problems That Contributed to U.S. Credit Rating Downgrade - Darrell West

The recent decision by Standard & Poor's to downgrade its credit rating of U.S. government debt from AAA to AA+ resulted not from lack of money, but poor governance performance by federal officials. A number of long-term trends has paralyzed policymakers and made it difficult to address pressing problems. Unless these conditions improve, it will be difficult for elected leaders to address the budget deficit.

(1) Super-Majority Requirements in the U.S. Senate: The dramatic increase in real or threatened filibusters in the U.S. Senate has moved American democracy from majority to super-majority rule.

(2) Extreme Politics in the U.S. House of Representatives: The American public has expressed its support for sacrifice on the part of all Americans to close the budget deficit and is open to a range of policy proposals. But House extremists block action and keep Congress from taking reasonable steps to address the deficit and debt.

(3) Excessive Political Polarization Across the Country: The United States has the most polarized politics that we have seen in a number of decades.

(4) Partisan Redistricting in American Elections: The rise of extremist politics arises from legislative redistricting that creates homogenous districts which are not politically competitive.

(5) Low Voter Turnout Encourages Political Leaders to Play to the Base: Only around 40 percent of eligible Americans vote in congressional elections and 60 percent vote in presidential races. These low turnout rates create incentives for Republicans to play to conservatives and Democrats to focus on liberals.

The full article is available here

‘Crazy, Stupid, Love.’ Is Surprisingly Good - Pop Matters

In a summer littered with big-budget sequels, second-tier superheroes, and the usual animated fare, it is a bit of a shock to find a studio comedy aimed at adults. Crazy, Stupid, Love. has an even bigger surprise going for it. It’s really good. 

Crazy, Stupid, Love. could have easily been a low-brow comedy. The set-up of a promiscuous ladies’ man becoming the wingman to a newly single sad sack could easily have devolved into sex and diarrhea jokes. Instead, it shoots for much higher ground, exploring the ways that well-drawn characters look at love.

The unifying theme is that love is equally raw and potentially frightening for all of them. The title may call it crazy and stupid, but the film delves into how love makes us, in equal parts, angry and sad, nervous and intoxicated.

The full article is available here

Reality is Calling... The Problem Isn't Deficits, It's Jobs - Robert Creamer

The only surprise is that it happened so fast. The cacophony of right-wing talk about how we need to "cut spending" to create jobs reached a fever pitch in the debate over the deficit ceiling that culminated just days ago. Now the world economy is sending a stark message that makes such talk sound stupider and stupider by the minute. The "conventional wisdom" is getting whiplash.

As markets tumble and job reports show no growth, it is crystal clear to anyone with even a passing acquaintance with economics that Republican budget cutters are completely, utterly wrong. In fact they are 180 degrees off course. They are trying to do exactly the opposite of what the economy needs in order to grow and create jobs.

History will remember them the same way it views their ideological progenitors that in 1937 decided Roosevelt's New Deal had gone too far and needed "fiscal discipline." That led to a sharp end of the economic recovery and a renewed downward plunge into joblessness. We've seen this movie. It's a disaster film.

The full article is available here

Former George W Bush speechwriter: Krugman was right - Salon

When David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush, says nice things about Paul Krugman it's worth taking notice. Krugman was one of Bush's toughest critics; to suggest that he was correct in his savage evisceration of Bush's economic policies is apostasy of the highest order.

But Frum goes even further than that in his post "Were Our Enemies Right?" Frum suggests that the entire conservative movement has fundamentally misunderstood how to manage the economy.  There is precious little evidence that the conservative camp -- outside of a few ostracized-and-excommunicated conservatives like Frum or Bruce Bartlett -- has changed its views on economic issues one whit.

Far from it -- they've doubled down! The federal tax burden has reached a 60-year low -- and they are still pushing for further tax cuts. A deregulated financial sector contributed to the excesses that caused the financial crisis, and they're still fighting, tooth-and-nail, every attempt at reregulation. History and economics tell us that cutting government spending in a period of low or negative economic growth runs a severe risk of slowing growth even further, and yet they've made deficit reduction their primary political goal.

The full article is available here

New Tool Maps How Badly Climate Change Affects You - Grist

A new web tool from the Natural Resources Defense Council lets you map climate change threats -- excessive heat, disease risk, pollution, drought, and flooding -- anywhere in the United States.

It's not just designed to depress you, either; each state's map includes information about how to address climate change impacts, and details the state's preparedness plan.

Based on an analysis of data gathered from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other resources, NRDC’s new “Climate Change Threatens Health” webpage lets users see the effects of climate change at a regional and state level.

The full article is available here

Right's 'Madness' and Standard & Poor's Ineptitude Conjure Downgrade - Paul Krugman

On one hand, there is a case to be made that the madness of the right has made America a fundamentally unsound nation. And yes, it is the madness of the right: if not for the extremism of anti-tax Republicans, we would have no trouble reaching an agreement that would ensure long-run solvency.

On the other hand, it’s hard to think of anyone less qualified to pass judgment on America than the rating agencies. The people who rated subprime-backed securities are now declaring that they are the judges of fiscal policy? Really?


Just to make it perfect, it turns out that S&P got the math wrong by $2 trillion, and after much discussion conceded the point — then went ahead with the downgrade.  More than that, everything I’ve heard about S&P’s demands suggests that it’s talking nonsense about the US fiscal situation.

In short, S&P is just making stuff up — and after the mortgage debacle, they really don’t have that right.  So this is an outrage — not because America is A-OK, but because these people are in no position to pass judgment. 


The full article is available here

Obama’s Unhealthy Obsession With Independents - The New Republic

The debt ceiling deal has been struck and the score looks to be in the neighborhood of Republicans: a zillion, Democrats: zero. It is perhaps the inevitable outcome of a process in which Obama treated GOP default-threatening tactics as legitimate and accepted the GOP framework that cutting debt, not creating jobs, was the country’s central problem.

As a result, we have a deal that severely undercuts Democratic policy priorities and cuts government spending just as the economic recovery is showing signs of tanking. Just how, exactly, did it come to this? The most plausible explanation is that Obama and his political advisors are convinced that striking a bipartisan compromise on debt reduction is the way to the hearts of America’s political independents, who famously abandoned the Democrats in 2010.

The administration’s chimerical search for the independents of their dreams has not served the country, nor the president, well. Obama has stumbled ever further into a political heart of darkness, hemmed in on all sides by radical GOP views on government and governance. And he can’t expect independents to bail him out.

The full article is available here

They Might Be Giants: Join Us - AV Club

The weird, eclectic Join Us serves as a refreshing corrective to years of kiddie albums and so-so grown-up discs, and reestablishes Linnell and John Flansburgh as geek-rock explorers of the highest order.

The sparkling “Can’t Keep Johnny Down” kicks things off in winning fashion, showcasing Linnell’s surprising late-career ability to craft a slick pop tune. But aside from a few more ringers, the rest of the album resembles the grab-bag goodness of 1990’s Flood.

Left-field arrangements and instrumentations abound, and even the flat-out rockers (“Judy Is Your Viet Nam”) and straight-up throwbacks (“Old Pine Box”) are shot through with a newfound sense of kitchen-sink experimentation.  The busy, upbeat highlight “When Will You Die” revels in TMBG’s giddy black humor, and ends up being one of the group’s most jubilant, life-affirming songs.

The full article is available here

Democracy and Caring About Each Other - George Lakoff

The democracy of care, shared responsibility, and trust is the democracy of the American Dream.

Democracy, in the American tradition, has been defined by a simple morality: We Americans care about our fellow citizens, we act on that care and build trust, and we do our best not just for ourselves, our families, and our friends and neighbors, but for our country, for each other, for people we have never seen and never will see.

We are now faced with a nontraditional, radical view of “democracy” coming from the Republican party. It says that “democracy” means that nobody should care about anybody else, that “democracy” means only personal responsibility, not responsibility for anyone else, and it means no trust.

If America accepts this radical view of “democracy,” then all that we have given each other in the past under traditional democracy will be lost: all that we have called public. Public roads and bridges: gone. Public schools: gone. Publicly funded police and firemen: gone. Safe food, air, and water: gone. Public health: gone. Everything that made America America, the crucial things that you and your family and your friends have taken for granted: gone.

The democracy of care, shared responsibility, and trust is the democracy of the American Dream. The “democracy” of no care, no shared responsibility, and no trust has produced the American Nightmare that so many of our citizens are living through.

The full article is available here

Why I Voted Against the Budget Control Act of 2011 - Dennis Kucinich

The wealth of America is being accelerated to the top and this bill pushes that acceleration.

The Budget Control Act of 2011, is a landmark in American history, but for the wrong reasons. It is a fake solution to a phony crisis. It provides for a radical transformation of the structure of government. It is an attack on the principle of government of the people. All this in the name of fiscal accountability.

This bill fails on its own terms, which are allegedly about fiscal accountability. The debt has three main drivers. The first is the recession, the second reason is the Bush tax cuts and the third reason is the wars. 

It is inexplicable that we are creating more space for war and less space for jobs, housing, education, caring for our elderly, home heating assistance and a wide range of activities of any government which truly cares for its people.  A policy of no limits for war and hard limits on domestic spending, coupled with hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the rich, disproportionately affects the poor and middle class.

Main Street has suffered a massive loss of retirement savings, housing security, access to affordable health care, real wages and benefits, full employment and massive loss of small businesses. The wealth of America is being accelerated to the top and this bill pushes that acceleration.

The full article is available here

The Moral Default - Jim Wallis

If the wealthy are not asked to share in the sacrifice, then cuts will undoubtedly come from those who can least afford it.

The debate we have just witnessed has shown Washington, D.C. not just to be broken, but corrupt. The American people are disgusted watching politicians play political chicken with the nation’s economy and future.

In such a bitter and unprincipled atmosphere, whoever has the political clout to enforce their self-interest and retain their privileges wins the battles. But there are two casualties in such political warfare: the common good and the most vulnerable.

The most glaring problem with the deal is that it doesn’t, at this point, include revenues. There is no balancing between spending cuts and tax increases, and this deal, so far, falls completely on the side of spending cuts. It is possible that revenues will be revisited in the new super committee, but given the insistence of a cuts only approach by the Republican leaders, it is not clear how likely a more balanced approach will be.

Corporate tax loop holes for the very rich were protected, while the core safety net for the most vulnerable is still in great jeopardy. The private jet industry mobilized to protect its tax deductions; the most profitable oil companies in the country will continue to get their public money for offshore drilling subsidies.

But programs like WIC and SNAP — providing critical nutrition help for low-income mothers and their kids, or malaria bed nets and vaccinations for children in Africa are threatened. If the wealthy are not asked to share in the sacrifice, then cuts will undoubtedly come from those who can least afford it.

The full article is available here