Click here to view this media Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said Sunday that it was a mistake to argue that it is unconstitutional not to raise the debt ceiling. Section 4 of the 14th Amendment reads : “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.” On a conference call last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters that the idea that the 14th Amendment requires the debt ceiling to be raised was “certainly worth exploring.” “That’s crazy talk,” Cornyn told Fox News’ Shannon Bream. “It’s not acceptable for Congress and the president not to do their job and the say somehow the president has the authority to then basically do this by himself.” “We ought to sit down and work together, and it shouldn’t take the form of press conferences like the president gave last week, where he was essentially the schoolmarm, scolding Congress for not getting its job done when, in fact, he is the one who has not stepped up and given us a proposal,” he continued. In May, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner pulled out a copy of the Constitution and read the 14th Amendment during a discussion with Politico about raising the debt ceiling. “This is the important thing -’shall not be questioned,’” Geithner said. For his part, President Barack Obama has sidestepped the question . “I’m not a Supreme Court justice so I’m not going to put my constitutional law professor hat on,” the president told NBC’s Chuck Todd at a press conference last week.
Continue reading …Liz Trotta: Bachmann and Palin Both Took the Same American History Class at ‘Fleabag U’
July 3, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media What’s the world coming to when a Fox commentator like Liz Trotta is quoting Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi (even though she got his name wrong) and the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein? From Raw Story — Fox commentator: Bachmann and Palin took history at ‘Fleabag U’ : Liz Trotta, a commentator on Fox Saturday, remarked that two top conservative females, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, would inevitably be compared: “it’s almost preordained because it seems to be they both took the same American history course, and it may have been at Fleabag U.” Trotta was playfully quoting Rolling Stone‘s Matt Taibbi and Ezra Klein, but she didn’t refute the fact that Palin and Bachmann have each had their share of flubs, between Palin’s Revere gaffe and Bachmann’s insistence that John Quincy Adams is a founding father, among others. More like Teabagger U if you ask me. Look out Liz, Palin will be coming after you on her Facebook page for being mean to her and her buddy Michele.
Continue reading …Temperatures in Phoenix hit a new high for the day yesterday, reaching a brutal 118 degrees, reports the AP . It was so hot that a local prison ordered thousands of bags of ice for inmates. Nearby storms toppled powerlines, knocking out power—and air conditioning—to some 4,000 homes…
Continue reading …The meltdown of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case is shining a spotlight on Cyrus Vance Jr, the Manhattan district attorney, and the results aren’t pretty. In the 18 months Vance has been DA, the Manhattan office has gone from being the pre-eminent DA’s office in the country to being ridden with…
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We have a gut feeling this is the video that’ll be playing when ‘the hive’ takes over — a sentimental, ‘look how far we’ve come’ victory reel for the Quadrotor nation. But for now, let’s just keep the focus on the softer side of our future nemesis’ training-room foibles. Playing like an
Continue reading …American Productivity At Record Levels — With Income And Wages In The Basement
July 3, 2011 No Comment
enlarge First, go look at these charts. Now read this , and then this Mother Jones piece: Webster’s defines speedup as “an employer’s demand for accelerated output without increased pay,” and it used to be a household word. Bosses would speed up the line to fill a big order, to goose profits, or to punish a restive workforce. Workers recognized it, unions (remember those?) watched for and negotiated over it—and, if necessary, walked out over it. But now we no longer even acknowledge it—not in blue-collar work, not in white-collar or pink-collar work, not in economics texts, and certainly not in the media (except when journalists gripe about the staff-compacted-job-expanded newsroom). Now the word we use is “productivity,” a term insidious in both its usage and creep. The not-so-subtle implication is always: Don’t you want to be a productive member of society? Pundits across the political spectrum revel in the fact that US productivity (a.k.a. economic output per hour worked) consistently leads the world. Yes, year after year, Americans wring even more value out of each minute on the job than we did the year before. U-S-A! U-S-A! Except what’s good for American business isn’t necessarily good for Americans. We’re not just working smarter, but harder. And harder. And harder, to the point where the driver is no longer American industriousness, but something much more predatory. Productivity has surged, but income and wages have stagnated for most Americans. If the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000. SOUND FAMILIAR: Mind racing at 4 a.m.? Guiltily realizing you’ve been only half-listening to your child for the past hour? Checking work email at a stoplight, at the dinner table, in bed? Dreading once-pleasant diversions, like dinner with friends, as just one more thing on your to-do list? Guess what: It’s not you. These might seem like personal problems—and certainly, the pharmaceutical industry is happy to perpetuate that notion—but they’re really economic problems. Just counting work that’s on the books (never mind those 11 p.m. emails), Americans now put in an average of 122 more hours per year than Brits, and 378 hours (nearly 10 weeks!) more than Germans. The differential isn’t solely accounted for by longer hours, of course—worldwide, almost everyone except us has, at least on paper, a right to weekends off, paid vacation time (PDF), and paid maternity leave. (The only other countries that don’t mandate paid time off for new moms are Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Samoa, and Swaziland. U-S…A?) To understand how we got here, first let’s consider the Ben Franklin-Horatio Alger-Henry Ford ur-myth: To balk at working hard—really, really hard—brands you as profoundly un-American . Who besides the archetypical Japanese salaryman derives so much of his self-image from self-sacrifice on the job? Slacker is one of the most biting insults available in polite company. And so we kowtow to—nay, embrace— a cultural maxim that just happens to be enormously convenient to corporate America. “Our culture has encouraged me to only feel valuable if I’m barely hanging on to my sanity,” one friend emailed as we were working on this article. In fact, each time we mentioned this topic to someone—reader, source, friend—they first took pains to say: I’m not lazy. I love my job. I come from a long line of hard workers. But then it would pour out of them—the fatigue, the isolation, the guilt. I think I was ahead of the curve on this one, because back in the 1980s, during the Age of Reagan, I lost every shred of anything resembling company loyalty and started telling my friends: If you’re not paid for it, don’t do it. Even today, I’m amazed at the number of people who refuse to go out for lunch, instead eating at their desks while checking their email and working. I also told my friends, “Don’t have higher standards for your work than your boss does.” Meaning, if your boss doesn’t think strongly enough about getting something done to hire additional people or pay overtime to get it done, why should you break your back trying to do it? Because if there’s one thing I know, it’s that bosses rarely appreciate all that extra effort. Instead, they nod and say to themselves, “See, I knew they could do it.” And then the next thought: “So why don’t they work that hard for me all the time?” It’s a no-win game. I can understand why people feel they have to do that now, because we’re back in the Gilded Age and we’re supposed to be grateful to have a job. But really, why should you be? They should be grateful you’re still vulnerable enough to be exploited while they make record profits.
Continue reading …ABC’s ‘This Week’: Founding Fathers Were ‘Guys Who Didn’t Give Women the Vote and Let Slavery Stand’
July 3, 2011 No Comment
ABC's “This Week” began its Independence Day weekend program with a segment that echoed Time magazine's cover story questioning whether the Constitution matters anymore. After historian Douglas Brinkley said, “We shouldn't act like [the Founding Fathers] were somehow omnipotent,” ABC's John Donvan responded, “They were not gods, they were guys – guys who didn't give women the vote and let slavery stand” (video follows with transcript and commentary): DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, HISTORIAN: It's a very slippery slope to start cherry-picking your favorite golden oldie from the Founding Fathers and slapping it on to political speeches today. Democrats and Republicans quote from the Founding Fathers, but we shouldn't act like they were somehow omnipotent. JOHN DONVAN, ABC: The reality is that the framers – posed in paintings as though frozen on an American Olympus – they were not gods, they were guys – guys who didn't give women the vote and let slavery stand for the time being and who, by the way, were trying to create at the time a stronger central government, of course not too strong, leaving to us a Constitution that we could fix, as needed, – sorry, make that amend – which we've now done 27 times. BRINKLEY: When you look at the founding documents of our country, they are elastic, they’re meant to be pulled and bent in different directions as each era dictates. I guess the liberal media believe it will be easier for our nation to depart from the Constitution's tenets if they can diminish the reverence people have for its authors. Nice discussion to be having as our nation celebrates its birth.
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Highlights of this day in history: Union forces win the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War; George Washington takes charge of the Continental Army; Algeria gains independence; Actor Tom Cruise born; Singer Jim Morrison dies. (July 3)
Continue reading …Ark Music Factory’s Lexi St. George Is Star Struck In “Dancing To The Rhythm”
July 3, 2011 No Comment
Ark Music Factory’s CEO Patrice Wilson, tween music’s equivalent to Berry Gordy, hopes to continue riding the success of Rebecca Black’s infectious (though lyrically atrocious) hit “Friday” with the Factory’s latest victim, er, artist Lexi St. George. Hop below to watch the fresh-faced pop star hopeful bop around in her debut music video (or JC … More » Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Idolator Discovery Date : 01/07/2011 20:25 Number of articles : 3
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Yingluck Shinawatra set to be country’s first female leader as prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva prepares for opposition Thailand’s Democrat government has conceded defeat in Sunday’s election – putting Yingluck Shinawatra on course to become the country’s first female leader, five years after her brother Thaksin was toppled as prime minister in a coup. Preliminary results suggest a remarkable turnaround for Thaksin, a billionaire now living as a fugitive in Dubai. Although Yingluck is putatively leader of the Puea Thai party, she is regarded as his proxy. Yingluck, a 44-year-old businesswoman who entered politics just six weeks ago, cautioned that she was waiting to see the results on Monday. But she added that she had already spoken to the Chart Thai Pattana party, whom she said would take a coalition past the halfway mark in the 500-seat parliament. “We have tough days ahead and all of this is just the beginning,” she said. “I’ll do my best and will not disappoint you.” Five hours after polls closed , the election commission projected Puea Thai would win 261 seats with prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s Democrats taking just 162. An absolute majority would prevent the weeks of horse-trading to form a coalition that many had expected. Hundreds of redshirt supporters squeezed into the party’s Bangkok headquarters and crowded outside – chanting, cheering and applauding as results came in. Many waved pictures of Yingluck and Thaksin and some let off firecrackers to celebrate. Moments before Yingluck spoke, Abhisit congratulated the opposition “for the right to form a government”. He said he wanted to see unity and reconciliation, and added that the Democrats were ready for opposition. Analysts have warned that the election could lead to further turmoil in Thailand, after years of intense political conflict. Last year more than 90 people died in clashes as the military cracked down on Thaksin-supporting redshirt protesters in the centre of the capital. Exit polls had predicted a landslide for Puea Thai, but Dr Andrew Walker, an expert on south-east Asian politics at the Australian National University, said even an absolute majority would be remarkable. “If they get [one] they will be only the second government in Thailand’s history to do so, the first being Thaksin Shinawatra’s [in 2005]. It shows this is still a very strong electoral brand,” he said. Earlier, Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University said: “If they win at all it’s a big statement. “[It means] the ideas and policies that made [Thaksin's] original Thai Rak Thai party so electable are unstoppable and indestructible … This is a party that has been dissolved twice; its leading politicians have been banned twice; it’s being led by a deposed exile and former prime minister a six-hour flight away.” Redshirt leaders have warned they will take to the streets again if Yingluck wins the vote but does not become prime minister. They have said they fear that opponents could attempt to mount a legal challenge to her, or even another coup. Analyst Chris Baker said it was likely that opponents of Thaksin had a plan B. “[Most] likely, I think, is that it will look calm for a short time. But there have been several things said in the last week that suggest the Democrats and their supporters will accept this result – but not what it means,” he said. “If Puea Thai do what they say they will – bring Thaksin back and change the constitution – [opponents] will resist that in the same way as before, with street demonstrations and so on. I don’t think we can avoid it … We are in a changing political society and there’s big resistance from the old institutions: the bureaucracy, monarchy, military and a lot of the middle class.” Thaksin told the Thai PBS television station: “I have wanted to come back since yesterday, but I do not want to create problems.” He spoke in a telephone interview from Dubai, where he lives to avoid a two-year prison sentence for abuse of power, which he says was politically motivated. Puea Thai leaders have repeatedly indicated they plan an amnesty allowing Thaksin to return to Thailand, though his sister has said it is not a priority and that an amnesty would not be about one person. The billionaire has polarised Thai politics. He draws his support largely from poorer residents in the north and north-east – who see him as a champion – while the Democrats are dependent on the urban upper and middle classes in central Thailand and the south. They regard the former prime minister as corrupt and autocratic. “I have been waiting five years [since the coup] for this moment,” said Sompoon Tamakaew as he watched the results at Puea Thai’s headquarters. “Bangkok is full of the elites and upper classes, so they don’t really understand how much of an impact Thaksin had.” Sompoon, a 50-year-old gardener from the north-eastern province of Ubon Ratchathani, added that he was not worried that elites would seek to interfere again. “I don’t think [another coup] will happen, but if it does I will keep fighting,” he added. Police said more than 170,000 officers were on duty throughout the country on Sunday to monitor voting by 47 million eligible Thais. Britain was among the countries warning its nationals of potential violence, urging visitors to avoid demonstrations. Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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