THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

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// posted by montag @ 7:07 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

“The comments made by Limbaugh, I was just stunned,” she added. “In the end, I’m a little bit disappointed that there hasn’t been greater condemnation of his words by people in leadership positions.” Including Republicans? “Everybody,” she responded. “What he said was just wrong. Just wrong.”

// posted by montag @ 5:08 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

Since the president’s address was announced on Saturday, students have deluged popular forums — notably the Web sites of The Columbia Spectator, the campus newspaper, and Bwog, a student-run blog — with hundreds of anonymous comments, which range from gracious acceptance to gratuitous venom.

To sum up: Either Barnard College is academically inferior to Columbia, or those who say so are misguided or misogynist; either Mr. Obama has snubbed Columbia, or this is great news and everyone in Morningside Heights should revel in it.

// posted by montag @ 1:10 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

People from a nearby village were the first to reach the site. They were joined on Tuesday by rescue workers from Darwaz district, who walked for two days to reach the remote area.

About 100 rescuers equipped only with shovels were digging through mounds of snow looking for anyone who might have survived, Rahman said. He said initial reports were that only three women and one child survived the avalanche. They were not in the village of Dasty at the time.

Mohammad Daim Kakar, general director of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, said authorities were trying to find two helicopters that can be sent to ferry blankets, food and medicine to the site, which is close to the Tajikistan border.

The U.S. Embassy Kabul expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the avalanche. USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance is planning to send supplies, such as tents and plastic sheeting, through a partner in Tajikistan to assist people in the area.

// posted by montag @ 12:52 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

Before you can join the Laurens County Republican Party in South Carolina and get on the primary ballot, they ask that you pledge that you’ve never ever had pre-marital sex — and that you will never ever look at porn again.

Last Tuesday, the LCGOP unanimously adopted a resolution that would ask all candidates who want to get on the primary ballot to sign a pledge with 28 principles, because the party “does not want to associate with candidates who do not act and speak in a manner that is consistent with the SC Republican Party Platform.”

Among the principles, according to Vic MacDonald & Larry Franklin of the Clinton Chronicle, is standard fare like opposition to abortion and upholding gun rights, as well as “a compassionate and moral approach to Teen Pregnancy” and “a high regard for United States Sovereignty.”

But then they get even more specific. From the Chronicle:

You must favor, and live up to, abstinence before marriage.

You must be faithful to your spouse. Your spouse cannot be a person of the same gender, and you are not allowed to favor any government action that would allow for civil unions of people of the same sex.

You cannot now, from the moment you sign this pledge, look at pornography.

// posted by montag @ 5:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

The Obama administration believes that executive branch reviews of evidence against suspected al-Qaeda leaders before they are targeted for killing meet the constitution’s “due process” requirement and that American citizenship alone doesn’t protect individuals from being killed, Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech Monday.

“Due process and judicial process are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security,” Holder said. “The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.”

Broadly outlining the guidelines the Obama administration has used to conduct lethal drone stikes overseas, Holder said the U.S. government could legally target a senior operational al Qaeda leader who is actively engaged in planning to kill Americans if the individual (1) posed an imminent threat of violence; (2) could not feasibly be captured; and (3) if the operation was conducted in line with war principles.

Such a use of lethal force against that type of individual, Holder said, wouldn’t violate the executive order banning assassinations or criminal statues because such an act would be in “self defense.” In remarks delivered at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, Holder also said that targeted killings are not “assassinations,” adding that the “use of that loaded term is misplaced” because assassinations are “unlawful killings” while targeted strikes are conducted lawfully.

// posted by montag @ 4:52 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Why did government spending rise so much under Reagan, with his small-government rhetoric, while shrinking under the president so many Republicans insist is a secret socialist? In Reagan’s case, it’s partly about the arms race, but mainly about state and local governments doing what they are supposed to do: educate a growing population of children, invest in infrastructure for a growing economy.

Under President Obama, however, the dire fiscal condition of state and local governments — the result of a sustained slump, which in turn was caused largely by that private debt explosion before 2008 — has led to forced spending cuts. The fiscal straits of lower-level governments could and should have been alleviated by aid from Washington, which remains able to borrow at incredibly low interest rates. But this aid was never provided on a remotely adequate scale.

This policy malpractice is doing double damage to America. On one side, it’s helping lose the future — because that’s what happens when you neglect education and public investment. At the same time, it’s hurting us right now, by helping keep growth low and unemployment high.

We’re talking big numbers here. If government employment under Mr. Obama had grown at Reagan-era rates, 1.3 million more Americans would be working as schoolteachers, firefighters, police officers, etc., than are currently employed in such jobs.

And once you take the effects of public spending on private employment into account, a rough estimate is that the unemployment rate would be 1.5 percentage points lower than it is, or below 7 percent — significantly better than the Reagan economy at this stage.

One implication of this comparison is that conservatives who love to compare Reagan’s record with Mr. Obama’s should think twice. Aside from the fact that recoveries from financial crises are almost always slower than ordinary recoveries, in reality Reagan was much more Keynesian than Mr. Obama, faced with an obstructionist G.O.P., has ever managed to be.

// posted by montag @ 8:00 AM 1 Comments Links to this post

A Pentagon commander announced a few days ago that the US has special forces teams in Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and, more significantly, India.

BBC News reports there are teams currently “deployed to help India with their counter-terrorism” operations, according to US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Robert Willard.

Willard says the US and India are working to “contain” a Pakistan-based militant group known as Lashkar-e-Taiba, that is believed to be responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The development is not surprising. If one looks at US State Embassy cables released by WikiLeaks, there are details in the cables that show US interest in providing “assistance” to South Asian countries, like India, so that militant groups, such as LeT can be neutralized.

// posted by montag @ 5:38 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

"It would've been nice if they had shared that with the larger public, the Republican leaders. Instead, Mr. Boehner comes out and says, Rush's language was inappropriate. Using a salad fork for your entree, that's inappropriate. Not this stuff. I mean, and Rick Santorum says well, what he says was absurd, but an entertainer is allowed to be absurd. No. It is the responsibility of conservatives to police the right in its excesses. And it was depressing, because what it indicates is that the Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb Iran, but they're afraid of Rush Limbaugh."

// posted by montag @ 5:13 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Western reporters keep saying that the parliamentary results have no implication for Iran’s nuclear program. But they only say this because they either don’t pay attention to what Iranian leaders actually say, or discount their statements as lies (treating them much less respectfully than they treated notorious fraud Andrew Breitbart in their fluffy obituaries last week).

A week and a half ago, Khamenei gave a major foreign policy speech in which he said,

““The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons. There is no doubt that the decision makers in the countries opposing us know well that Iran is not after nuclear weapons because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically, considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and dangerous.”

Now, you could maintain that Khamenei is lying when he says he holds that possessing nuclear weapons is a grave sin. (You could also maintain that the Popes are lying when they say using birth control is a grave matter, but you’d have to explain why they put their papal authority on the line for a lie they weren’t forced to utter). But even if you think it is a lie, you have at least to report what he says. I guarantee you that Khamenei’s speech opposing nukes was not so much as mentioned on any of the major American news broadcasts.

Khamenei has also repeatedly said that Iran has a ‘no first strike’ policy, that it will not fire the first shot in any conflict.

And if you hold that Khamenei, as a leading clerical authority, is being dishonest on this issue, then surely you should offer some proof. Perhaps he has flip-flopped over time? But no. Here is Khamenei in 2010:

““We have said repeatedly that our religious beliefs and principles prohibit such weapons as they are the symbol of destruction of generations. And for this reason we do not believe in weapons and atomic bombs and do not seek them.”

// posted by montag @ 5:07 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R) endorsed Mitt Romney for president on Sunday, becoming the first member of GOP leadership to back the GOP frontrunner.

Cantor announced his endorsement two days before his home state, Virginia, is set to hold its primary. Romney is a strong favorite in the state, because Ron Paul is the only other candidate who managed to qualify for the ballot.

“I cast my vote already in Virginia for Mitt Romney and I’m here today to tell you that I’m endorsing Mitt Romney in his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States,” Cantor said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning.

// posted by montag @ 1:19 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Japanese equestrian Hiroshi Hoketsu qualified for the London Olympics at age 70, although it's not yet clear if he will actually compete.

The oldest Olympian in history is Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn. He won a silver medal at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics at 72, his sixth medal in three games.

Hoketsu qualified by winning an international dressage meet in France on Thursday. Japanese equestrian officials said Sunday an announcement will be made soon on whether he will ride in London. Hoketsu will turn 71 on March 28.

// posted by montag @ 12:34 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

The group American Atheists has begun a new campaign posting billboards in Hebrew and Arabic that say, “God is a myth…and you have a choice.” The New York Daily News reports that according to their website, the group says the billboards aren’t meant to offend, but rather as outreach to atheists who may “feel particularly alone.”

The Hebrew language sign will be erected in Brooklyn, New York, close to the Williamsburg Bridge. The location was chosen because of the large orthodox Jewish community in the area. The Arabic language sign will be in Paterson, New Jersey, a site chosen for its proximity to the Islamic Center of Passaic County.

CNN spoke to Mohammed Elfilali, director of the Islamic Center, who seemed nonplussed by the billboards’ message. “It is not the first and won’t be the last time people have said things about God or religion. I respect people’s opinion about God; obviously they are entitled to it. I don’t think God is a myth, but that doesn’t exclude people to have a different opinion.”

Rabbi Kenneth Brander, dean of Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future, was not so sanguine, particularly with regards to the fact that the billboards spell out the name of God, a practice eschewed by Orthodox Jews. “It is an emotional word,” he said, “There will be an emotional response.”

// posted by montag @ 12:22 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.

// posted by montag @ 5:41 PM 2 Comments Links to this post

Over the last three years, Idaho, like most states across the country, has had to slash its budget in the wake of the Great Recession. The state has gutted education and health care spending, slicing its higher education budget below 2001 levels, while cutting millions from its mental health funding.

But as the same time that they felt the need to cut funding for these important areas, Idaho Republicans managed to find tens of millions of dollars to cut the state’s top tax rate and corporate tax:

A $36 million tax cut for Idaho’s top earners is roaring through the Idaho Legislature, backed by Gov. Butch Otter and co-sponsored by a majority of the members of the Idaho House.

The move comes even as Idaho’s reeling from three years of deep budget cuts to everything from schools to Medicaid, very few of which are being restored. [...]

The bill would lower Idaho’s top individual income tax rate from 7.8 percent to 7.4 percent, and lower the corporate tax rate from 7.6 percent to 7.4 percent; that would take $35.7 million out of the state’s tax revenue stream next year and every year thereafter.

// posted by montag @ 12:23 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

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// posted by montag @ 7:40 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

LAST week, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. proclaimed in a speech that when it comes to fighting financial fraud, the Obama administration’s “record of success has been nothing less than historic.” Such self-congratulation is not only premature, but it also reveals a troubling lack of understanding about what is required to win the war against financial wrongdoing.

Four years after the disintegration of the financial system, Americans have, rightfully, a gnawing feeling that justice has not been served. Claims of financial fraud against companies like Citigroup and Bank of America have been settled for pennies on the dollar, with no admission of wrongdoing. Executives who ran companies that made, packaged and sold trillions of dollars in toxic mortgages and mortgage-backed securities remain largely unscathed...

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s report contains evidence about Clayton Holdings, a company hired by more than 20 major financial institutions to perform “due diligence” on mortgage loans those companies were buying, bundling and selling. Clayton sampled 2 to 3 percent of those mortgages and found a significant number of defective loans. Yet the other 97 percent were not sampled, and that fact and the information about loan defects were never disclosed to investors — “raising the question,” the report noted, “of whether the disclosures were materially misleading, in violation of securities laws.”

In numerous court cases, plaintiffs, including the Federal Housing Finance Agency, have cited this evidence to support their claims of fraud and misrepresentation. But, inexplicably, there is no indication that the Justice Department promptly convened a high-level investigation to thoroughly examine who knew what when at these banks. In contrast, after the savings-and-loan debacle of the late 1980s, more than 1,000 bank and thrift executives were convicted of felonies. But today the rate of federal prosecutions for financial fraud is less than half of what it was then.

// posted by montag @ 5:53 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

True to form, Limbaugh responded to Fluke’s testimony by calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute.” And a few of his sponsors aren’t happy about it. In the wake of criticism, Sleep Train Mattress Centers is pulling its ads from the radio show. “Thank you for your concern. We are currently pulling all our ads with Rush Limbaugh,” the company tweeted.

Sleep Number beds also announced that it is pulling ads from the program. “Recent comments by Rush Limbaugh do not align w/our values, so we made decision to immediately suspend all advertising on that program,” an employee of the company tweeted. Quicken Loans later on Friday followed suit, pulling ads over Limbaugh’s “inflammatory comments.”

Business Insider rounded up several other companies that have fielded complaints and responded to Limbaugh’s comments. A spokesperson for Limbaugh’s show did not respond to TPM’s request for comment.

It’s not just advertisers who are upset with Limbaugh. House Speaker John Boehner’s spokesman called the comments “inappropriate.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called Limbaugh’s remarks “obnoxious” and asked House Republicans to repudiate Rush’s tirade. Georgetown University President John DeGioia praised Fluke’s testimony and called Limbaugh’s comments misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student.”

// posted by montag @ 5:48 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Mitt Romney is very concerned about budget deficits. Or at least that’s what he says; he likes to warn that President Obama’s deficits are leading us toward a “Greece-style collapse.”

So why is Mr. Romney offering a budget proposal that would lead to much larger debt and deficits than the corresponding proposal from the Obama administration?

Of course, Mr. Romney isn’t alone in his hypocrisy. In fact, all four significant Republican presidential candidates still standing are fiscal phonies. They issue apocalyptic warnings about the dangers of government debt and, in the name of deficit reduction, demand savage cuts in programs that protect the middle class and the poor. But then they propose squandering all the money thereby saved — and much, much more — on tax cuts for the rich.

And nobody should be surprised. It has been obvious all along, to anyone paying attention, that the politicians shouting loudest about deficits are actually using deficit hysteria as a cover story for their real agenda, which is top-down class warfare. To put it in Romneyesque terms, it’s all about finding an excuse to slash programs that help people who like to watch Nascar events, even while lavishing tax cuts on people who like to own Nascar teams.

// posted by montag @ 1:30 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

As he presses for the conservative votes he needs to overtake GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum is hammering away at the role state and federal governments play in running schools.

Santorum plays up how he and his wife have home-schooled their seven children and says parents should be the ones responsible for educating their kids.

Yet back when Santorum was a senator from Pennsylvania, he got a Pittsburgh-area school district to help pay tens of thousands of dollars in tuition for his children to receive online schooling.

// posted by montag @ 1:14 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

A U.S. Justice Department inquiry into the packaging and sale of home loans by the biggest U.S. banks casts a wide net and appears to significantly overlap with other enforcement efforts, according to people who have viewed subpoenas sent to the firms.

The civil subpoenas that were sent in January ask for documents related to every offering between 2006 and 2008, including bonds backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, three people familiar with the matter said.

An older investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission focused on the first two years, and limited its scope to private offerings, the people said.

The general nature of the subpoenas and the overlap with SEC inquiries suggest investigations related to the financial crisis could drag on for years.

// posted by montag @ 12:42 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

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// posted by montag @ 7:09 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Hundreds of women protested Oklahoma's extreme Personhood bill at the State Capitol yesterday, but the most memorable moment at the rally was held by an elected official.

District 11 State Senator Judy Eason McIntyre had some choice words for men attempting to legislate the very deep insides of women's bodies by carrying a sign that read "If I Wanted the Government in my Womb, I'd Fuck a Senator."

// posted by montag @ 1:43 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Another two United States soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday when an Afghan soldier in league with a civilian Afghan literacy instructor killed a tower guard and attacked with gunfire and a rocket the barracks where American soldiers were sleeping at a joint base in the south of the country, officials said.

The killings follow the shooting deaths of four American soldiers last week, including two at the Afghan Interior Ministry, after the outbreak of nationwide protests in reaction to the burning of Korans at a NATO base in Afghanistan.

Four other Americans were injured in the attack on Thursday, which took place in pre-dawn hours around 2.30 a.m. local time at a joint Afghan-NATO base in Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan.

The two shooters fled but American forces called in air support, and the two men were killed by helicopter gunfire more than a mile from the base, said Masoom Khan, the chief of police of the Zhari district in Kandahar Province where the attack took place.

// posted by montag @ 1:22 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Less than a year after a tsunami devastated Japan, killing almost 16,000 people and causing nuclear accidents, the Obama administration is proposing to cut $4.6 million from tsunami early warning and education programs.

The cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 2013 budget have been fiercely criticized by scientists who say they harm the agency's ability to keep the public safe. The cuts would affect the operation and maintenance of high-tech buoys that can detect tsunamis. Already about 25 percent of NOAA's early warning stations covering the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico are inoperative.

"Reducing support for tsunami warning is like removing the smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector in your house," John Orcutt, a professor of geophysics at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, told the Watchdog. "It's increasing the risk of death and destruction."

// posted by montag @ 1:05 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

The Senate voted on Thursday 51 to 48 to reject a controversial amendment sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) that would have overridden the Obama Administration's new contraception coverage rule and allowed any employer to refuse to cover any kind of health care service by citing "moral reasons." Three Democrats, Sens. Bob Casey (Pa.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.) voted with Republicans in favor of the amendment, and only one Republican, Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine), voted against it.

// posted by montag @ 12:37 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Conservative media publisher and activist Andrew Breitbart, who was behind investigations that led to the resignations of former Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York and former U.S. Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod, has died in Los Angeles. He was 43.

Breitbart's website, bigjournalism.com, announced Thursday he died of natural causes in Los Angeles. His death was confirmed by breitbart.com editor-in-chief Joel Pollak, who said he was at the hospital, and by the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

Breitbart was walking near his house in the Brentwood neighborhood on Thursday, shortly after midnight, when he collapsed, said his father-in-law, Orson Bean, a movie, TV and Broadway actor.

// posted by montag @ 12:03 PM 3 Comments Links to this post

As part of an all-hands meeting with DISA employees, Hawkins apparently showed a power point presentation that contained two slides titled “Ronnie’s Rules” that outline 18 priorites, the first and last of which are “Always put God first, and stay within His will” and “Always remember God is good — all the time!”

Hawkins said in a response to a query from Air Force Times that he stated at the all-hands meeting that “Ronnie’s Rules” were his personal road map for living and he has used it since he was a captain. He said he tries to live by these rules every day.

“Those two slides, in particular ...were in no way a directive or expectation I have for our dedicated men and women,” said Hawkins, who previously served as deputy director of command control, communications and computer systems, Joint Staff at the Pentagon. “The rules are my own personal guide posts, or moral compass.”

All DISA employees apparently didn’t see the presentation the same way.

A DISA employee who witnessed the presentation spoke with Air Force Times under condition of anonymity. He said he was shocked that a senior leader would include such direct references to God in a commander’s call that in his opinion was held to say “I’m your new commander and this is what I expect of you.”

// posted by montag @ 7:32 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

Capitol Hill Republicans mounted an all-out offensive against President Obama's energy initiatives Tuesday, even mocking him for an idea many of them used to like: using algae to create biofuel.

"Over the past few weeks the American people have begun to feel the painful effects of President Obama's energy policy," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared in a Senate floor speech that ridiculed an energy plan Obama detailed last week, which included the use of biofuel sources such as algae. "As millions of Americans groaned at the rising cost of a gallon of gasoline, the president took algae as a substitute for gas. Algae as a substitute for gas," McConnell said in apparent disbelief.

In September, 2009, Nebraska Republican Sen. Mike Johanns lobbied for funding for the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, a project that only offered the hope that such technology could be brought to his state.

"The center will not only accelerate the development of sustainable alternative transportation fuels from algae, but will also create new jobs in the green energy industry," Johanns wrote to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, arguing also that the technology would "reduce our dependence on imported oil."

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), now one of Obama's fiercest alternative energy critics over the failure of solar firm Solyndra, also sought support for the project in an October 2009 letter. "Development of algae as a viable and sustainable source of transportation fuel is critical to decreasing America's dependence on imported oil, while creating new sources of meaningful green collar jobs."

Similarly, former House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) argued that algae was a near-magic bullet to solve American energy problems in a July 2009 letter that supported a grant for a company called Stellarwind BioEnergy.

"Algae production directly addresses all the significant challenges being faced by the U.S., namely domestic energy security, greenhouse gas emissions, scientific leadership in a variety of industries, and broad-based green job creation," Pence wrote to the Department of Energy.

// posted by montag @ 12:43 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

A congressional candidate running as a Republican in the upcoming Illinois primary says the “Holocaust never happened.”

Arthur Jones, 64, a Lyons, IL, insurance salesman who organizes family-friendly, neo-Nazi events around Adolf Hitler’s birthday, hopes to be the Republican candidate chosen to run against Democratic Congressman Dan Lipinski in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Holocaust is nothing more than an international extortion racket by the Jews,” Jones said. “It’s the blackest lie in history. Millions of dollars are being made by Jews telling this tale of woe and misfortune in books, movies, plays and TV.

"The more survivors, the more lies that are told."

A member of the Nationalist Socialist Party in his younger days, Jones took part in the Nazis’ march on Chicago’s Marquette Park in 1978. While he doesn’t deny nor repudiate his “past affiliations,” he says he votes Republican “90 percent of the time.”

// posted by montag @ 12:29 PM 0 Comments Links to this post