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International Developments
❖ This is turning out really well: “Rebel groups across Syria are defying the United States by pledging their allegiance to a group that Washington will designate today a terrorist organization for its alleged links to al-Qaeda.” Update: It’s now blacklisted.
❖ “Thousands of demonstrators are on the streets of the Egyptian capital Cairo”. Several hundred people were able to breach the concrete barrier around the Presidential Palace, with the military making no arrests, though Egyptian President Muhammed Morsi empowered them to do so. Huge protests are planned in Cairo, Alexandria and Assiut.
❖ According to “a bleak new Pentagon report . . . only one of the Afghan National Army’s 23 brigades is able to operate independently without” US and NATO support.
❖ US UN Ambassador Susan Rice has been “at the forefront of trying to shield the Rwandan government, and [President Paul] Kagame in particular, from international censure” for his role in the bloody DR Congo conflict. Kagame was Rice’s “client when she worked at Intellibridge, a strategic analysis firm in Washington” (since bought by Eurasia Group). Update: 15 organizations have signed a letter asking the US impose sanctions on Rwanda “over human rights abuses in DR Congo”.
❖ Israeli soldiers raided the Women’s Union, Palestinian NGO Network and Addameer (aimed at Palestinians in Israeli jails), seizing computers and such, before dawn today in Palestine. Why? Because they “were associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine”.
❖ Good news: “Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates have withdrawn their proposal . . . to expand a 1988 [UN] treaty to allow governments more control over Internet issues.”
International Finance
❖ “US, EU Considering World’s Biggest Free Trade Pact” “in an attempt to boost their struggling economies.” If the past is any indication, many difficulties lie ahead.
❖ Fears after Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi pulled political support from Prime Minister Mario Monti: “News sees Italy’s borrowing costs rise and share prices fall, and EU leaders worry about possible spillover into Spain.” And Berlusconi? He “has a pretty great line of attack on Monti” who emphasizes “yield spread” rather than “actual economic indicators that affect people.”
❖ Three males have been arrested by “British police and investigators . . . on suspicion of manipulating the interbank lending rate Libor, the Serious Fraud Office said.”
❖ Oh, noooos. “Cayman Islands prime minister arrested on suspicion of ‘financial irregularities’.”
Money Matters USA
❖ Very cool data base, showing taxpayer $s cities, counties and states spend trying to lure businesses. $s are shown in per capita and % of state budget dollars, too. TX is tops, with MI , NE, WV and OK following. 2012 poverty stats for comparison.
❖ The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced there are fewer than 700 “problem” banks now, “for the first time in three years.” 50 banks have failed so far this year, compared to 90 last year. Failed bank list.
Political Matters USA
❖ New poll: “60% of likely American voters favor raising taxes on households making more than $250,000 a year”–and 58% don’t believe that raising taxes on the $250,000+ households will “hurt the economy” as Republicans claim.
❖ Who’s not signed Grover’s pledge in the House and Senate and who in the Senate and House are bashing the pledge? Lists are right here.
❖ Norquist won’t punish Republicans for having “impure thoughts” about raising taxes; such thoughts actually are not treasonous, he opines.
❖ Democrat Mark Schauer, former US House of Representatives member from MI, and strong supporter of labor, was pepper-sprayed today in Lansing, MI as he participated in the “right-to-work” protests.
❖ SC Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has narrowed the list from which she will select the new senator from her state, replacing the departing Sen. Jim DeMint. Stephen Colbert is not on it, which is too bad since his contract does allow him to have a part-time job. Video.
❖ The Kochs need time to review election data in order to understand the results. Therefore, their semi-annual meeting will be held in April this year, rather than in January as usual.
❖ “Scott Tranter, Republican Consultant: Voter ID And Long Lines Help Our Side”.
❖ “Things in Politico That Make Me Want to Guzzle Antifreeze, Point of No Return Edition”. How’re you going to turn down a read with a headline like that?
Health, Homelessness & Hunger
❖ UT Republican Gov. Gary Herbert has affirmed his state’s intent to continue operating their own health insurance exchange as part of the Affordable Care Act.
❖ TN Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has declined to create a health care exchange under the Affordable Care Act.
❖ A 3-year fee “buried in a recent regulation” adds $63/person for approximately 190 million Americans covered under Obamacare. It’s a cushion against “initial hard-to-predict costs of covering uninsured people”.
❖ Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Kay Hagan (NC) want to “delay a new tax on medical devices” under Obamacare. The medical device industry has a “large presence” in their states.
❖ Three years following her surgery, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield informed Lisa Dowden they made an overpayment “by more than $9,000″ to an assistant surgeon. She’s a lawyer and she’s fighting it.
Women & Children
❖ The Marianna, FL School for Boys was a notorious hell-hole for youths locked up there by juvenile courts. A couple of years ago, the FL Dept of Law Enforcement allowed as how there were 31 grave sites, but survivors knew there were many more. A team of anthropologists and archaeologists announced finding twice as many more, for a total of 98 so far.
❖ Colin Powell was among “dozens of military leaders” signing a letter to House and Senate leaders urging approval of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)’s amendment to “extend the insurance coverage of abortion to military rape survivors.” The Senate has passed the Shaheen amendment.
Education Directions
❖ Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, a lawyer and teacher, proposes a national bar exam for teachers using the bar exam for lawyers as a model.
❖ “How Does Your Child’s School Rank Against the Rest of the World?” Interactive map showing individual school districts’ rankings on math and reading. (It’s from the GWBush Institute, btw.)
Working for A Living
❖ A US District Court judge in Dallas, TX has ruled that Verizon’s “plan to convert pension obligations to an annuity” would not cause harm to retirees.
❖ Hostess Brands “diverted workers’ pension money for other company uses”–and they have no idea how much money was involved. Nonetheless, a judge last month ruled that Hostess could “pay $1.8 million in bonuses to 19 executives”.
Heads Up!
❖ More thorough update on yesterday’s article about plans in the Senate, led by Ron Wyden (D-OR), to amend FISA so that our electronic communications are better protected from the feds.
Planet Earth News
❖ No more hunting wolves in MT on land that borders the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park. MT’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission established the ban after eight unarmed Yellowstone wolves wearing only tracking devices for research were killed by gun-totin’ humans.
❖ A Nacogdoches County, TX judge has halted TransCanada’s work on one piece of private property until a hearing on Dec 19th. The landowner filing the lawsuit states “TransCanada lied to Texans when it said it would be using the Keystone XL pipeline to transport crude oil”; tarsands oil does not meet the TX definition of crude oil.
❖ NJ’s coastal land-use regulations are so lenient that everything Superstorm Sandy destroyed can be rebuilt to be destroyed again. Negligible chances of appropriate regulations emerging since “several credentialed experts in environmental science and coastal management” at the state’s Dept of Environmental Protection were replaced “with people drawn from the business world.”
❖ Scientists “have unlocked the genetic secrets of honey bees’ high sensitivity to environmental change” which offers hope in ensuring their survival despite what’s been done to the environment.
Mixed Bag
❖ Yes, people name babies after presidents. But this? Yale and Harvard scientists have named an ancient lizard they’ve recently discovered Obamadon gracilis.
❖ Porcupine quills have tiny backwards-facing barbs that make removing them very difficult–and reduces their penetrative force. (Scientists have figured that out; speaking to First Nations people might have saved some time.) They have a wonderful name for this: “polar-opposite dual functionality”. Good medical applications should result.
Break Time
❖ Cindy Sherman Retrospective at MOMA and SFMoMA. Pictures from the exhibition.
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About FDL News Desk
Energy interests lie all the time. The model is the same as Big Tobacco. Repeat a lie enough times and lies become truth. Misinform the public and capitalize on the misinformation.
Even the SJC has embraced the same type of misinformation, such as “…negros are inferior…” to reinforce lies for the advantage of “entrenched monied interests,” to profit. Didn’t work to well for the slave owners, or the rest of the republic, did it?
thanks fatster, very interesting things here.
You’re most welcome, mafr–and Good Evening to you!
Credit unions have surpassed BofA in Seattle
In terms of percentage of households with deposits there, that is,
not in terms of number of fraudulent foreclosures.
You have such a delightful sense of humor, allan. LOL. Really good news about the credit unions, though. Seattle’s always been one of my favorite places, and the credit union news is an example of why. (Others include the Wobblies and Jimi Hendrix.)
North Korea successfully launched a satellite. Can some one explain why that received intl condemnation? Seems like DPRK should be praised.
Xmas cheer at the maul.
U.S. formally announces AQ as legit govt of Syria.
It’s about time U.S. outed itself.
Chiquita might have had ties to death squads.
Color me surprised. When I tried to point that out after announcement of Holder (Chiquita’s lawyer) as AG, my comment was denounced bc Holder was just acting as advocate in adversarial system and no conclusions as to where his real interests are should be inferred.
‘This is turning out really well: “Rebel groups across Syria are defying the United States by pledging their allegiance to a group that Washington will designate today a terrorist organization for its alleged links to al-Qaeda.” Update: It’s now blacklisted’
I’m not sure what you’re referring to when you say “this.” Does that refer to the rebellion or the way the Obama White House reacted to developments? According to one of the articles linked to, Obama is criticized as a sort of Johnny come lately by the rebels, awkwardly and inappropriately trying to muscle in on things now that the conflict is working out in ways that he wasn’t betting on.
It’s been noted in other articles that it was pretty much inevitable that some al Qaeda types would end up helping more and getting more influence, given how the Obama people decided to stand back to see what would happen. Now that the rebellion is starting to gain the upper hand, it will probably continue to look awkward and inappropriate for the United States to seek out more influence; because usually you get more influence with people who need help when you help them when the chips are down.
More: “Read the Governor’s Proposed Special Nike-Tax-Deal Plan,” Portland Mercury, by Sarah Mirk, Dec 11, 2012.
Tell the Oregon Legislature #NoDeal4Nike! (call your legislators in Salem, OR) and Rally Against Oregon Austerity, Thursday night, Dec. 13, 2012, 6:30pm Pioneer Square, Portland, Oregon. Hashtag: #NoDeal4Nike !
Update: “In All Its Glory – The Draft Nike Tax Bill,” BlueOregon.Com, by Nicholas Caleb, Dec. 12, 2012.
: “Rebel groups across Syria are defying the United States by pledging their allegiance to a group that Washington will designate today a terrorist organization for its alleged links to al-Qaeda.” Update: It’s now blacklisted.
Good coverage of this today on russian television headline news.
USA making more enemies, for future wars and new/old boogie men.
Is it intentional, careless, or just stupid.
According to “a bleak new Pentagon report . . . only one of the Afghan National Army’s 23 brigades is able to operate independently without” US and NATO support.
How many billions did we spend training them? Can we get a refund?
Re: 3 yrs. after an alleged insurance overpayment of $9000.
I had emergency surgery 12 yrs ago, after which the hospital piled all bills together and had me sign off so they could be submitted to my insurer, BC/BS. 2 yrs later, I got a bill from the anasthesiologist (??) for $6000.
I don’t know if it was an out-of-network provider, don’t know why that bill was not included in the pile, but the provider did its job to help save my life. So I offered to help all I could but did not have $6000, nor did I feel I owed that since I was insured.
BC/BS essentially laughed in my face, the bill not paid, and the provider destroyed my credit for the rest of my life. Fortunately, I learned how to successfully live without credit, and regard it as a blessing. But had I been a younger man with family, now unable to buy a home or decent car for the rest of my life, the story would have ended differently.
Obviously, the best answer is a single payer system like civilized countries have.
If it’s their mistake, you could write to your attorney general and ask them to look into it. Insurance company might ignore you, but might have a harder time ignoring your AG.
The israeli govt and the idf continue to overstep their bounds. Things may be getting a little warm for them, however. Norman Finkelstein has a new book out, Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance with Israel is Coming to an End. This book is the basis for a presentation and discussion with Finkelstein and Anna Baltzer who is a proponent of BDS(boycott, divestment, and sanction) against israel. You can see the whole thing on C-SPAN. It is about 1:45 long and it is here.
As far as NJ coastal building is concerned, I understand that areas on the coast that did not level their sand dunes for a better view of the ocean survived Sandy very well. Those that took down the sand dunes suffered the consequence of having no buffer. Past performance etc, etc, but given the severity of the storm, there might be some sort of lesson there.
Your comment reminded me of the Banana Wars; during which the US engaged in a long series of interventions to protect US commercial ventures in the Caribbean and Central America. Most notable of the US commercial interests being protected was United Fruit Company, now known as Chiquita.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars
It appears United/Chiquita no longer has to rely solely on the US military.
By ‘this’, cal222, I simply meant US involvement. Very complex situation, as you note, shifting constantly with no guaranteed outcome. Hope you saw mafr’s response @ 12, also.
Your comments are much appreciated, cal222. Pardon my letting slip my fears (I’m a member of the Vietnam generation).
Go, Oregon! I’ve got lots of faith. Thnx so much for the link, mischief!
That was wrenching enough to read, Bro Tom, let alone imagining having to live through it. Single payor is the way to go to make sure no one ever has to repeat what you’ve been through. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.
Hate to tell you, GeorgeJohnston, but there’s more in today’s Roundup. Do check it out. Thnx.
Very interesting info about the dunes, BearCountry. Good to know–thank you!