Amazon BLOCKED From Filming Union Voting
4 years ago
Friday, August 30, 2013
rachel maddows, arkansas, exxon, profits and costs
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200
Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200
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Claim: Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.Partly true. Page 102 says certain Medicaid-eligible persons will be “automatically enrolled” in Medicaid (which is the state-federal program to provide insurance to low-income workers and families) IF they are not already covered by private insurance. That would happen only if they had “not elected to enroll” in one of the private plans offered through the new insurance exchanges, however. So on paper at least, they would have a choice. Also, it’s estimated that one in four persons who lacks health insurance is already eligible for Medicaid or its offshoot, the state Children’s Health Insurance Program, but simply haven’t signed up or been enrolled by their parents.
Claim: Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No “judicial review” is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.Half true. It’s true that page 124 forbids any review by the courts of rates the government would pay to doctors and hospitals under the new “public option” insurance plan. But there’s no mention of “price fixing” in the bill; that’s the e-mail author’s phrase. It also remains to be seen if the “public option” plan would grow to become a “government monopoly,” as the author predicts.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
The 5 factors fueling the Rim Fire
The 5 factors fueling the Rim Fire
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“A century’s worth of fuel” was left in the Rim Fire’s path, federal forest ecologists told the Associated Press. Beginning around the 1900s, forest managers suppressed smaller, natural fires, which are able to clear brush while moving quickly enough to avoid killing trees. Partially as a result of this, the “megafires” we see today are a different beast entirely, and far more destructive. “California’s mountain flora is designed to burn and even flourish and regenerate healthier after a fast-moving fire,” the AP explains. “Instead, the Rim Fire is killing everything in its path.”
This policy has been rethought since the late 1980s, to promising effect: Only when the Rim Fire hit areas that had been allowed to burn over the past 20 years, one ecologist explained, did it show signs of slowing.
The U.S. Forest Service rain out of firefighting funds in early August, before the Rim Fire even ignited. Budget cuts, mainly due to sequestration, left them down 500 firefighters, 50 fire trucks and two planes, according to Bill Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. Limited resources also reduced their ability to pre-treat forest areas, Dougan told Government Executive, leaving plenty of brush for the fire to blaze through.
The Los Angeles Times editorial board penned an Op-Ed yesterday calling attention to “the folly of sequestration” that’s left a basic public safety service underfunded. “This isn’t a sane fire policy for an era of climate change,” they wrote.
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“A century’s worth of fuel” was left in the Rim Fire’s path, federal forest ecologists told the Associated Press. Beginning around the 1900s, forest managers suppressed smaller, natural fires, which are able to clear brush while moving quickly enough to avoid killing trees. Partially as a result of this, the “megafires” we see today are a different beast entirely, and far more destructive. “California’s mountain flora is designed to burn and even flourish and regenerate healthier after a fast-moving fire,” the AP explains. “Instead, the Rim Fire is killing everything in its path.”
This policy has been rethought since the late 1980s, to promising effect: Only when the Rim Fire hit areas that had been allowed to burn over the past 20 years, one ecologist explained, did it show signs of slowing.
The U.S. Forest Service rain out of firefighting funds in early August, before the Rim Fire even ignited. Budget cuts, mainly due to sequestration, left them down 500 firefighters, 50 fire trucks and two planes, according to Bill Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. Limited resources also reduced their ability to pre-treat forest areas, Dougan told Government Executive, leaving plenty of brush for the fire to blaze through.
The Los Angeles Times editorial board penned an Op-Ed yesterday calling attention to “the folly of sequestration” that’s left a basic public safety service underfunded. “This isn’t a sane fire policy for an era of climate change,” they wrote.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
School is a prison — and damaging our kids
School is a prison — and damaging our kids
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School is a place where children are compelled to be, and where their freedom is greatly restricted — far more restricted than most adults would tolerate in their workplaces. In recent decades, we have been compelling our children to spend ever more time in this kind of setting, and there is strong evidence (summarized in my recent book) that this is causing serious psychological damage to many of them. Moreover, the more scientists have learned about how children naturally learn, the more we have come to realize that children learn most deeply and fully, and with greatest enthusiasm, in conditions that are almost opposite to those of school.
Compulsory schooling has been a fixture of our culture now for several generations. It’s hard today for most people to even imagine how children would learn what they must for success in our culture without it. President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are so enamored with schooling that they want even longer school days and school years. Most people assume that the basic design of schools, as we know them today, emerged from scientific evidence about how children learn best. But, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth.
Schools as we know them today are a product of history, not of research into how children learn. The blueprint still used for today’s schools was developed during the Protestant Reformation, when schools were created to teach children to read the Bible, to believe scripture without questioning it, and to obey authority figures without questioning them. The early founders of schools were quite clear about this in their writings. The idea that schools might be places for nurturing critical thought, creativity, self-initiative or ability to learn on one’s own — the kinds of skills most needed for success in today’s economy — was the furthest thing from their minds. To them, willfulness was sinfulness, to be drilled or beaten out of children, not encouraged.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
mineworker action this tuesday, august 27th in saint louis
Rally in St. Louis
Kiener Plaza in Saint Louis, Missouri
10am, same place
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
UMWA ratifies new contract with Patriot Coal : Business
UMWA ratifies new contract with Patriot Coal : Business
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ST. LOUIS • Union mine workers ratified a new contract Friday with Creve Coeur-based Patriot Coal, a key step toward the company’s effort to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
The final tally was 85 percent in favor and 15 percent opposed, the United Mine Workers of America said. The union represents about 1,800 Patriot workers.
“The membership has made it clear that they are willing to do their part to keep Patriot operating, keep their jobs and ensure that thousands of retirees continue getting the health care they depend on and deserve,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said in a statement.
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ST. LOUIS • Union mine workers ratified a new contract Friday with Creve Coeur-based Patriot Coal, a key step toward the company’s effort to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
The final tally was 85 percent in favor and 15 percent opposed, the United Mine Workers of America said. The union represents about 1,800 Patriot workers.
“The membership has made it clear that they are willing to do their part to keep Patriot operating, keep their jobs and ensure that thousands of retirees continue getting the health care they depend on and deserve,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said in a statement.
The “Cadillac” health plan is a myth
The “Cadillac” health plan is a myth
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Alas, that appears to be far from the case. As the New York Times reported last week, municipal unions across the country are facing pressure to accept worse health care plans, before the so-called “Cadillac tax” on expensive health care plans kicks in in 2018. Not surprisingly, workers are displeased with the prospect of being downgraded to inferior plans with more out-of-pocket spending.
Before concluding that such luxurious plans are the sole preserve of supposedly greedy city workers, keep in mind that by the estimate of one health economist, as many as 75 percent of employer health plans could fall under the “Cadillac” umbrella over the next decade. Reasonably good insurance – you know, the kind that covers all of your medical needs, without making you pay an arm and leg out-of-pocket every time you need to use it – has stealthily become the new Cadillac. However much the reputation of General Motors may have fallen in recent years, this seems like a bit of a stretch.
A reasonable observer might be enticed to ask: What on earth is going on here? From whence came this health care Cadillac?
To begin, the nationwide trend towards lower-value health insurance – now enshrined in law in the form of the Cadillac tax – is not, contrary to appearances, some newfangled, desperate cost-saving measure. On the contrary, limiting the scope of employer-based health insurance has been a dream of health policy wonks for decades.
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Alas, that appears to be far from the case. As the New York Times reported last week, municipal unions across the country are facing pressure to accept worse health care plans, before the so-called “Cadillac tax” on expensive health care plans kicks in in 2018. Not surprisingly, workers are displeased with the prospect of being downgraded to inferior plans with more out-of-pocket spending.
Before concluding that such luxurious plans are the sole preserve of supposedly greedy city workers, keep in mind that by the estimate of one health economist, as many as 75 percent of employer health plans could fall under the “Cadillac” umbrella over the next decade. Reasonably good insurance – you know, the kind that covers all of your medical needs, without making you pay an arm and leg out-of-pocket every time you need to use it – has stealthily become the new Cadillac. However much the reputation of General Motors may have fallen in recent years, this seems like a bit of a stretch.
A reasonable observer might be enticed to ask: What on earth is going on here? From whence came this health care Cadillac?
To begin, the nationwide trend towards lower-value health insurance – now enshrined in law in the form of the Cadillac tax – is not, contrary to appearances, some newfangled, desperate cost-saving measure. On the contrary, limiting the scope of employer-based health insurance has been a dream of health policy wonks for decades.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
"Keystone Clones" | Cartoons, What Matters Today | BillMoyers.com
"Keystone Clones" | Cartoons, What Matters Today | BillMoyers.com
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http://vimeo.com/fiorecartoons/keystone-clones
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http://vimeo.com/fiorecartoons/keystone-clones
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
obamacare, burn your card===crooks and liars
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/freedomworks-tells-outright-lies-about-obam
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You can just say NO to ObamaCare.
Just say NO to bureaucrats making your health care decisions. Say NO to unconstitutional mandates. Say NO to socialized medicine.
Just say NO by burning your ObamaCare card here!
The truth is, ObamaCare needs millions of people like you to sign up. If you don't, it collapses. The law needs your money to work. If you refuse to sign up, you are “burning your ObamaCare card.” You are doing your part to make sure ObamaCare crumbles. Forever.
If you do sign up for ObamaCare, the Progressives win. The program gets the money it needs. The lobbyists and bureaucrats get the power they want.
You lose your freedom. You may lose your doctor. And you certainly lose your money.
Just say NO. Burn your ObamaCare card right now.
Time is running out to stop the health care takeover.
How many lies are there in this short bit of text? Well, at least eight that I see right off the top.
Bureaucrats make health decisions now. Insurance bureaucrats, not to mention the likes of the AMA "secret panel" that price fixes fees for services.
The mandate is not unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has said it's not unconstitutional.
Health insurance is not socialized medicine.
mineworker action in st. louis, 8-13
Video streaming by Ustream I was there and good turnout. another downtown demonstration planned for two weeks from today my understanding. will update
Monday, August 12, 2013
ObamaCare by the Numbers
ObamaCare by the Numbers:
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The Republican National Committee claims that 8.2 million Americans can’t find full-time jobs “partly due to ObamaCare.” But that figure is the total number of part-time workers in the U.S. seeking full-time work. The RNC also claims 6 million retirees “will lose prescription drug coverage” under the health care law. But 6 million aren’t expected to go without drug coverage. Instead, they are expected to lose employer-sponsored drug plans and join other Medicare Part D plans instead.
These are just two of a list of 57 figures the RNC calls “ObamaCare By the Numbers,” a compilation the GOP has promoted in years past as well. Several items repeat old claims we’ve seen many times before. For instance, the RNC claims the law “cuts” Medicare by $716 billion, but that’s a reduction in the future growth of Medicare spending over 10 years, not a slashing of the current budget. And the RNC repeats the well-worn distortionthat 800,000 “Will Be Cut Out Of The Workforce By ObamaCare,” a twisting of the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis that actually said there would be a reduction in labor primarily because people would choose to work less.
Other numbers in the list are true: The gross cost of insurance coverage provisions in the law do add up to $1.8 trillion for 2014 to 2023, according to the nonpartisan CBO, and the law’s 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services would amount to $1.5 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
FOUL: Loss of Florida nuke plant is big news in Missouri : Stltoday
FOUL: Loss of Florida nuke plant is big news in Missouri : Stltoday
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Lawmakers in Missouri would do well to read up on the latest development with Duke Energy Corp.’s planned $24 billion nuclear plant in Florida. On Thursday, the largest utility in the U.S. scuttled plans for the plant, even after Florida consumers had already been charged more than $1.5 billion in fees to pay for it.
That the plant won’t be built shouldn’t be a huge surprise. Utility executives, the honest ones, at least, knew even before the natural gas fracking boom that it makes no financial sense to build huge new nuclear power plants.
Why does this matter in Missouri? Ameren Missouri tried to get Missouri lawmakers to do exactly what Duke got Florida lawmakers to do: Bilk consumers into financing risky
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Lawmakers in Missouri would do well to read up on the latest development with Duke Energy Corp.’s planned $24 billion nuclear plant in Florida. On Thursday, the largest utility in the U.S. scuttled plans for the plant, even after Florida consumers had already been charged more than $1.5 billion in fees to pay for it.
That the plant won’t be built shouldn’t be a huge surprise. Utility executives, the honest ones, at least, knew even before the natural gas fracking boom that it makes no financial sense to build huge new nuclear power plants.
Why does this matter in Missouri? Ameren Missouri tried to get Missouri lawmakers to do exactly what Duke got Florida lawmakers to do: Bilk consumers into financing risky
Huntleigh ranks as richest U.S. community : missouri
Huntleigh ranks as richest U.S. community : Lifestyles
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According to the "Wall Street Cheat Sheet," our fair burgh has the fairest of them all when it comes to the richest communities in the U.S., based on the annual income of the top five percent of earners in the community.
Huntleigh, conveniently tucked between poor neighbors Ladue and Frontenac, has a median income of about $2.7 million for those five-percenters. This put the community of less than 400 ahead of Mill Neck, N.Y., where the annual residents' income is a paltry $2.5 million.
A decent piece of Huntleigh's pie could be from its most famous denizen, August A. Busch IV. Other citizens include Carnival Cruise Lines topper Arnold Donald and Busch-related kinfolks like the Orthweins and Von Gontards.
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According to the "Wall Street Cheat Sheet," our fair burgh has the fairest of them all when it comes to the richest communities in the U.S., based on the annual income of the top five percent of earners in the community.
Huntleigh, conveniently tucked between poor neighbors Ladue and Frontenac, has a median income of about $2.7 million for those five-percenters. This put the community of less than 400 ahead of Mill Neck, N.Y., where the annual residents' income is a paltry $2.5 million.
A decent piece of Huntleigh's pie could be from its most famous denizen, August A. Busch IV. Other citizens include Carnival Cruise Lines topper Arnold Donald and Busch-related kinfolks like the Orthweins and Von Gontards.
Holder proposes changes in criminal justice system : Stltoday
Holder proposes changes in criminal justice system : Stltoday
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Federal prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent above capacity and hold more than 219,000 inmates _ with almost half of them serving time for drug-related crimes and many of them with substance use disorders. In addition, 9 million to 10 million prisoners go through local jails each year. Holder praised state and local law enforcement officials for already instituting some of the types of changes Holder says must be made at the federal level.
Aggressive enforcement of federal criminal laws is necessary, but "we cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation," Holder said. "Today, a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. However, many aspects of our criminal justice system may actually exacerbate this problem, rather than alleviate it."
Holder said mandatory minimum sentences "breed disrespect for the system. When applied indiscriminately, they do not serve public safety. They have had a disabling effect on communities. And they are ultimately counterproductive."
Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., have introduced legislation aimed at giving federal judges more discretion in applying mandatory minimums to certain drug offenders.
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Federal prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent above capacity and hold more than 219,000 inmates _ with almost half of them serving time for drug-related crimes and many of them with substance use disorders. In addition, 9 million to 10 million prisoners go through local jails each year. Holder praised state and local law enforcement officials for already instituting some of the types of changes Holder says must be made at the federal level.
Aggressive enforcement of federal criminal laws is necessary, but "we cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation," Holder said. "Today, a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. However, many aspects of our criminal justice system may actually exacerbate this problem, rather than alleviate it."
Holder said mandatory minimum sentences "breed disrespect for the system. When applied indiscriminately, they do not serve public safety. They have had a disabling effect on communities. And they are ultimately counterproductive."
Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., have introduced legislation aimed at giving federal judges more discretion in applying mandatory minimums to certain drug offenders.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
UMW, supporters to protest at Peabody HQ in St. Louis - Business, Government Legal News from throughout WV
UMW, supporters to protest at Peabody HQ in St. Louis - Business, Government Legal News from throughout WV
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Active and retired members of the United Mine Workers of America, along with labor and community supporters, will protest in front of Peabody Energy headquarters on Tuesday morning, Aug. 13.
"We are in ongoing talks with Patriot Coal to lessen the impact of severe cutbacks on active and retired miners, but nobody should forget who really caused this problem," said UMWA President Cecil Roberts in a prepared statement. "Executives at Peabody Energy created Patriot, they failed to give it enough assets to meet its obligations, and we're not going to sit idly by and let miners and their families pay the price for their failure."
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note will be a kiener plaza downtown. i will attend
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Active and retired members of the United Mine Workers of America, along with labor and community supporters, will protest in front of Peabody Energy headquarters on Tuesday morning, Aug. 13.
"We are in ongoing talks with Patriot Coal to lessen the impact of severe cutbacks on active and retired miners, but nobody should forget who really caused this problem," said UMWA President Cecil Roberts in a prepared statement. "Executives at Peabody Energy created Patriot, they failed to give it enough assets to meet its obligations, and we're not going to sit idly by and let miners and their families pay the price for their failure."
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note will be a kiener plaza downtown. i will attend
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Automatic Weapons & Guards in Camo: Welcome to Mining Country, Wis. - ICTMN.com
Automatic Weapons & Guards in Camo: Welcome to Mining Country, Wis. - ICTMN.com:
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Ojibwe mining opponents have built a Harvest Camp to protest plans by Gogebic Taconite to dig a giant open pit iron ore mine adjacent to the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin. Local tribes, environmentalists and concerned citizens say that the mine will pollute water in the Bad River watershed, home to several rivers that drain into Lake Superior. This pollution, they say, will damage fish, wildlife and wild rice and contribute to decline in quality of life in the region. Harvest camp occupants and supporters are making regular trips to the various exploratory drilling sites in the Penokee Hills in order to document work that GTAC is doing. (Related story: Fighting Mines in Wisconsin: A Radical New Way to Be Radical)
Ganson and his friends had walked about three-quarters of a mile from the Penokee Harvest Camp site to take a look at the most recent site where GTAC is conducting exploratory drilling. “We were just a group of middle-aged folks—we weren’t engaged in any activism. We just wanted to see where GTAC was drilling,” he recalls.
Walking slowly because of his emphysema, Ganson, 55, says he was surprised when he and his four friends approached the drill site and encountered a man dressed head to foot in camouflage, and carrying an assault rifle. Ganson was even more surprised when a second man suddenly appeared behind them in a similar outfit, also carrying an assault rifle. “I was kind of concerned for my wife,” he says. “I didn’t much like her walking into the midst of men carrying machine guns.”
Despite this unexpected display of firepower, Ganson focused on the job he had come to do: documenting what was happening at the drilling site. He also took some photos of the men.
Chicago could be the next Detroit
Chicago could be the next Detroit
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CHICAGO — Much like the city of Detroit’s epic economic saga, this story took me on a wild goose chase. I’m an art journalist reporting on Detroit from Chicago — or, if you would prefer, the Motor City from the Windy City — and that seems odd. The media craze around Detroit just won’t quit, and Chicago is increasingly finding itself implicated in it all. Perhaps the artists are to blame.
Since March 2012, artists from the Chicago Artists’ Coalition’s BOLT Residency Program have been working on an ongoing exchange with Detroit artists. After visiting each others’ respective cities, exhibition dates were set; in January 2013, Detroit artists exhibited in Chicago, and in February, Chicago artists journeyed up to Detroit for exhibitions at locales CAVE and Public Pool. The cities have henceforth begun building up some motor winds, and ties have grown stronger. Chicago is not “obsessed with Detroit’s ruin porn” as certain local critics would have us believe.
The manufacturing industries are vital to both Detroit and Chicago, yielding jobs that are typically thought of as blue-collar and working-class. Detroit receives far more national media coverage because of its highly publicized sharp motor industry decline over the past 40 years. In 1960, Detroit was the richest city in America; by 2010, Michigan had lost 48% of its manufacturing jobs. Chicago’s manufacturing industry is focused moreso in machinery and fabricated metal rather than the auto industry.
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This article originally appeared on Hyperallergic.
CHICAGO — Much like the city of Detroit’s epic economic saga, this story took me on a wild goose chase. I’m an art journalist reporting on Detroit from Chicago — or, if you would prefer, the Motor City from the Windy City — and that seems odd. The media craze around Detroit just won’t quit, and Chicago is increasingly finding itself implicated in it all. Perhaps the artists are to blame.Since March 2012, artists from the Chicago Artists’ Coalition’s BOLT Residency Program have been working on an ongoing exchange with Detroit artists. After visiting each others’ respective cities, exhibition dates were set; in January 2013, Detroit artists exhibited in Chicago, and in February, Chicago artists journeyed up to Detroit for exhibitions at locales CAVE and Public Pool. The cities have henceforth begun building up some motor winds, and ties have grown stronger. Chicago is not “obsessed with Detroit’s ruin porn” as certain local critics would have us believe.
The manufacturing industries are vital to both Detroit and Chicago, yielding jobs that are typically thought of as blue-collar and working-class. Detroit receives far more national media coverage because of its highly publicized sharp motor industry decline over the past 40 years. In 1960, Detroit was the richest city in America; by 2010, Michigan had lost 48% of its manufacturing jobs. Chicago’s manufacturing industry is focused moreso in machinery and fabricated metal rather than the auto industry.
How Obama turned Obamacare into a weapon
How Obama turned Obamacare into a weapon
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I think the really interesting question is why it is that my friends in the other party have made the idea of preventing these people from getting healthcare their holy grail,” he said. “Their No. 1 priority. The one unifying principle in the Republican Party at the moment is making sure that 30 million people don’t have healthcare and repealing all those benefits I just mentioned: kids staying on their parents’ plan; seniors getting discounts on their prescription drugs; I guess a return to lifetime limits on insurance; people with preexisting conditions continuing to be blocked from being able to get health insurance.”
NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd called it the “most passionate defense I’ve seen from POTUS on health care law since he signed bill.”
I think that’s about right. But that observation could easily be misconstrued as a testament to Obama’s rhetorical laziness, when the reality is the law’s long implementation process pretty much assured he and other Democrats would have a hard time selling it until now.
The ongoing conservative government shutdown freakout and Obama’s seemingly newfound confidence in the ACA are two sides of the same coin. A year ago, two years ago, the law’s core benefits were abstractions. There wasn’t a lot of margin in defending them because they weren’t a part of people’s lived experiences.
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I think the really interesting question is why it is that my friends in the other party have made the idea of preventing these people from getting healthcare their holy grail,” he said. “Their No. 1 priority. The one unifying principle in the Republican Party at the moment is making sure that 30 million people don’t have healthcare and repealing all those benefits I just mentioned: kids staying on their parents’ plan; seniors getting discounts on their prescription drugs; I guess a return to lifetime limits on insurance; people with preexisting conditions continuing to be blocked from being able to get health insurance.”
NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd called it the “most passionate defense I’ve seen from POTUS on health care law since he signed bill.”
I think that’s about right. But that observation could easily be misconstrued as a testament to Obama’s rhetorical laziness, when the reality is the law’s long implementation process pretty much assured he and other Democrats would have a hard time selling it until now.
The ongoing conservative government shutdown freakout and Obama’s seemingly newfound confidence in the ACA are two sides of the same coin. A year ago, two years ago, the law’s core benefits were abstractions. There wasn’t a lot of margin in defending them because they weren’t a part of people’s lived experiences.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Large oil spill spreads in Manila Bay
Large oil spill spreads in Manila Bay: "MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A large oil spill from an underwater pipe has contaminated waters in Manila Bay near the Philippine capital and prompted authorities on Friday to ban fishing.
The coast guard said about 500,000 liters (132,000 gallons) of diesel fuel formed a red slick stretching some 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) near four coastal towns in Cavite province.
The leak apparently originated from an underwater pipe owned by oil company Petron Corp., or from a pipeline that was connected from the pipe to a tanker that unloaded the diesel at a Cavite terminal on Thursday, Commodore Joel Garcia said.
He said the oil slick covered a 20-kilometer (12.5-mile) stretch of shoreline and was about 15 kilometers (9 miles) wide close to the mouth of the bay."
'via Blog this'
The coast guard said about 500,000 liters (132,000 gallons) of diesel fuel formed a red slick stretching some 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) near four coastal towns in Cavite province.
The leak apparently originated from an underwater pipe owned by oil company Petron Corp., or from a pipeline that was connected from the pipe to a tanker that unloaded the diesel at a Cavite terminal on Thursday, Commodore Joel Garcia said.
He said the oil slick covered a 20-kilometer (12.5-mile) stretch of shoreline and was about 15 kilometers (9 miles) wide close to the mouth of the bay."
'via Blog this'
Bitcoin to be declared a real currency - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video
Bitcoin to be declared a real currency - News - World - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video
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Trendon Shavers, a 30-year-old businessman recently charged with running a Ponzi scheme using Bitcoin, tried to get his case thrown out by claiming that Bitcoin isn’t real money and therefore is not subject to regulation by the U.S. government.
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Trendon Shavers, a 30-year-old businessman recently charged with running a Ponzi scheme using Bitcoin, tried to get his case thrown out by claiming that Bitcoin isn’t real money and therefore is not subject to regulation by the U.S. government.
The court rejected Shavers’ claim yesterday stating that Bitocin is real money, and that the Bitcoins invested in Bitcoin Savings and Trust - Shavers’ hedge fund - count as securities that are subject to SEC regulation.
In his ruling, Judge Amos Mazzant said that Bitcoin is a security because people exchange it for real goods and services: “It is clear that Bitcoin can be used as money. It can be used to purchase goods or services, and as Shavers stated, used to pay for individual living expenses. The only limitation of Bitcoin is that it is limited to those places that accept it as currency. However, it can also be exchanged for conventional currencies, such as the US dollar, Euro, Yen, and Yuan. Therefore, Bitcoin is a currency or form of money, and investors wishing to invest in BTCST provided an investment of money”.
Bitcoin is a virtual currency that doesn't have any type of physical asset or government to back it up. The value of an individual Bitcoin can rise and fall, just like other financial investments, and a Bitcoin can be traded for traditional forms of money.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_09/Bitcoin-to-be-declared-a-real-currency-3279/
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_09/Bitcoin-to-be-declared-a-real-currency-3279/
Thursday, August 8, 2013
JPMorgan faces criminal and civil investigations
JPMorgan faces criminal and civil investigations
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JP Morgan has disclosed it faces criminal and civil investigations into the sale of mortgage-backed securities ahead of the financial crisis.
The bank faces parallel investigations by the civil and criminal divisions of the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of California, according to a regulatory filing made late Wednesday. The attorney’s civil division has already “preliminarily concluded” that the bank broke civil securities laws in selling the securities between 2005 to 2007, according to the filing.
JP Morgan also disclosed that it has received requests concerning mortgage securities from the US attorney for Connecticut, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) enforcement division and the inspector general for the government’s bank bailout programme relating to “among other matters, communications with counterparties in connection with certain mortgage-backed securities transactions.”
The investigations come amid a battery of other probes into the banking giant’s business from federal and state regulators. The bank also faces class action lawsuits over its $6bn losses related to the so-called “London whale” trader.
JP Morgan is not alone in facing ongoing investigations into the sale of mortgage securities. The bank’s disclosure comes in the same week that the justice department and the SEC filed separate suits charging Bank of America of understating the risks associated with the sale of $850m of mortgage-backed securities in 2008.
According to the SEC, Bank of America’s then-CEO had described the type of assets for sale as “toxic waste” and failed to inform investors about their “vastly greater risks of severe delinquencies, early defaults, underwriting defects, and prepayment.”
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JP Morgan has disclosed it faces criminal and civil investigations into the sale of mortgage-backed securities ahead of the financial crisis.
The bank faces parallel investigations by the civil and criminal divisions of the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of California, according to a regulatory filing made late Wednesday. The attorney’s civil division has already “preliminarily concluded” that the bank broke civil securities laws in selling the securities between 2005 to 2007, according to the filing.
JP Morgan also disclosed that it has received requests concerning mortgage securities from the US attorney for Connecticut, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) enforcement division and the inspector general for the government’s bank bailout programme relating to “among other matters, communications with counterparties in connection with certain mortgage-backed securities transactions.”
The investigations come amid a battery of other probes into the banking giant’s business from federal and state regulators. The bank also faces class action lawsuits over its $6bn losses related to the so-called “London whale” trader.
JP Morgan is not alone in facing ongoing investigations into the sale of mortgage securities. The bank’s disclosure comes in the same week that the justice department and the SEC filed separate suits charging Bank of America of understating the risks associated with the sale of $850m of mortgage-backed securities in 2008.
According to the SEC, Bank of America’s then-CEO had described the type of assets for sale as “toxic waste” and failed to inform investors about their “vastly greater risks of severe delinquencies, early defaults, underwriting defects, and prepayment.”
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Republicans won’t (and probably can’t) shut down the government
Republicans won’t (and probably can’t) shut down the government
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A few things are for sure: At some point in the near future Congress will pass legislation to fund the government; it won’t defund Obamacare or make sequestration-level spending semi-permanent; and some Republicans will vote for it.
It’s possible there will be a government shutdown between now and then — I wouldn’t bet on it, but it’s possible. And even if a shutdown happens, the impasse will break when Republicans agree to government spending legislation that neither cripples Obamacare nor bakes sequestration into the budget for the coming year and years beyond.
It’s also a good bet that the same group of Senate Republicans who voted for immigration reform and helped confirm President Obama’s top executive nominees will be instrumental in avoiding or ending a government shutdown.
And yet the Senate’s governing coalition is fledgling enough that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was able to overpower it last week when he organized a successful filibuster of bipartisan legislation to fund the Departments of Transportation and Housing & Urban Development for a full year — precisely because it was drafted under the premise that sequestration will probably, eventually, be lifted.
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A few things are for sure: At some point in the near future Congress will pass legislation to fund the government; it won’t defund Obamacare or make sequestration-level spending semi-permanent; and some Republicans will vote for it.
It’s possible there will be a government shutdown between now and then — I wouldn’t bet on it, but it’s possible. And even if a shutdown happens, the impasse will break when Republicans agree to government spending legislation that neither cripples Obamacare nor bakes sequestration into the budget for the coming year and years beyond.
It’s also a good bet that the same group of Senate Republicans who voted for immigration reform and helped confirm President Obama’s top executive nominees will be instrumental in avoiding or ending a government shutdown.
And yet the Senate’s governing coalition is fledgling enough that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was able to overpower it last week when he organized a successful filibuster of bipartisan legislation to fund the Departments of Transportation and Housing & Urban Development for a full year — precisely because it was drafted under the premise that sequestration will probably, eventually, be lifted.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Big Pharma’s placebo problem
Big Pharma’s placebo problem
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The pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly makes Sarafem. Its name is a rework of “seraphim,” a Hebrew word meaning “angel,” a word with obvious female overtones. Its packaging also conjures up stereotypical female associations. The pill is encased in a pretty pink-and-lavender shell, and is heralded by Lilly as a wonder cure for this distinctly female premenstrual disorder. So far so good.
Now here comes the interesting bit. What Eli Lilly initially concealed from the millions of women taking the pill is that the pill is actually Prozac. Chemically, Sarafem and Prozac are exactly the same. The only difference between them is that their names and packaging are different. Sarah, like thousands of other women up and down the country, was taking Prozac and didn’t know it.
***
There are a lot of possible interpretations for why Eli Lilly engaged in what you or I may be tempted to see as corporate deception. The first is that it obviously saved the company a great deal of money. It is cheaper to repackage existing pills than it is to develop new ones. In addition, Eli Lilly’s patent protections on Prozac were running out a year after Sarafem would be released, so marketing Prozac under the new trade name would effectively extend patent protections for many more years. Money matters.
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The pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly makes Sarafem. Its name is a rework of “seraphim,” a Hebrew word meaning “angel,” a word with obvious female overtones. Its packaging also conjures up stereotypical female associations. The pill is encased in a pretty pink-and-lavender shell, and is heralded by Lilly as a wonder cure for this distinctly female premenstrual disorder. So far so good.
Now here comes the interesting bit. What Eli Lilly initially concealed from the millions of women taking the pill is that the pill is actually Prozac. Chemically, Sarafem and Prozac are exactly the same. The only difference between them is that their names and packaging are different. Sarah, like thousands of other women up and down the country, was taking Prozac and didn’t know it.
***
There are a lot of possible interpretations for why Eli Lilly engaged in what you or I may be tempted to see as corporate deception. The first is that it obviously saved the company a great deal of money. It is cheaper to repackage existing pills than it is to develop new ones. In addition, Eli Lilly’s patent protections on Prozac were running out a year after Sarafem would be released, so marketing Prozac under the new trade name would effectively extend patent protections for many more years. Money matters.
Rebuffed by public TV, 'Citizen Koch' filmmakers turn to Kickstarter : Ct
Rebuffed by public TV, 'Citizen Koch' filmmakers turn to Kickstarter : Ct
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But shortly after the Wisconsin festival, filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin learned that Independent Television Service (ITVS), an arm of PBS that funds and distributes independent films, decided not to pay $150,000 to fund the film.
ITVS officials have said that money was never a guarantee, but a New Yorker article supports the filmmakers’ belief that the organization feared angering David Koch, who had already pulled his support for WNET, New York’s public television station, following the airing of a different, unflattering documentary.
““Just as powerful campaign spenders expect something in return from the politicians they support, so, too, do public television’s high-dollar donors,” Lessin said. “It’s ironic that our film about the undue influence of money in politics was subject to undue influence of money in public broadcasting.”
Instead, Lessin and Deal are hoping to raise $75,000 from small donors through Kickstarter, which will be used to pay for post-production costs to get the film ready for distribution, including music and archival footage licensing rights and editing costs.
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But shortly after the Wisconsin festival, filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin learned that Independent Television Service (ITVS), an arm of PBS that funds and distributes independent films, decided not to pay $150,000 to fund the film.
ITVS officials have said that money was never a guarantee, but a New Yorker article supports the filmmakers’ belief that the organization feared angering David Koch, who had already pulled his support for WNET, New York’s public television station, following the airing of a different, unflattering documentary.
““Just as powerful campaign spenders expect something in return from the politicians they support, so, too, do public television’s high-dollar donors,” Lessin said. “It’s ironic that our film about the undue influence of money in politics was subject to undue influence of money in public broadcasting.”
Instead, Lessin and Deal are hoping to raise $75,000 from small donors through Kickstarter, which will be used to pay for post-production costs to get the film ready for distribution, including music and archival footage licensing rights and editing costs.
Friday, August 2, 2013
House Science Committee wants the EPA to change its fracking study
House Science Committee wants the EPA to change its fracking study
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A bill being taken up by the House Science Committee would force the EPA to include language in its years-long study on fracking that adds “objective estimates of the probability, uncertainty and consequence of each identified impact, taking into account the risk management practices of states and industry.”
The bill, which is scheduled for mark-up on Thursday, was introduced by the Committee’s Chair, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. As The Hill reported, in a hearing last week Smith accused the EPA of being “complicit” in a push to cut down on hydraulic fracturing, a process that uses chemicals to extract natural gas from rock.
From The Hill:
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A bill being taken up by the House Science Committee would force the EPA to include language in its years-long study on fracking that adds “objective estimates of the probability, uncertainty and consequence of each identified impact, taking into account the risk management practices of states and industry.”
The bill, which is scheduled for mark-up on Thursday, was introduced by the Committee’s Chair, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. As The Hill reported, in a hearing last week Smith accused the EPA of being “complicit” in a push to cut down on hydraulic fracturing, a process that uses chemicals to extract natural gas from rock.
From The Hill:
“The agency should base its work on sound science rather than regulatory ambition. However, if the agency fails to do this, a legislative remedy may be warranted to address the study’s deficiencies,” Smith added.
David Dzombak, who heads a hydraulic fracturing panel of the EPA’s outside Science Advisory Board, said while the study is not providing a broad “quantitative risk assessment,” the entire thing is nonetheless in a “risk framework.”
China is fracking in a fault zone
China is fracking in a fault zone
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Oil companies that have begun drilling in Sichuan anticipate hitting shale gas reserves that could be double those found in the U.S., reports Bloomberg. The fault in their plan (excuse the pun) is that those reserves are located under China’s most seismically active province, and geologists fear that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, there could trigger earthquakes.
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Oil companies that have begun drilling in Sichuan anticipate hitting shale gas reserves that could be double those found in the U.S., reports Bloomberg. The fault in their plan (excuse the pun) is that those reserves are located under China’s most seismically active province, and geologists fear that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, there could trigger earthquakes.
“The Sichuan basin is at the edge of the biggest continental collision in the world, India smashing into Asia,” said Julio Friedmann, chief energy technologist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and former research scientist at Exxon Mobil Corp. “That’s stressing the continental crust.”
More than 2,700 quakes of varying magnitude were recorded around an underground injection well in Zigong, Sichuan, during a three-and-a-half year study by the Earthquake Administration Bureaux of Sichuan, Hebei and Zigong Municipality.
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