Click here to view this media Why do Republicans insist on using this sort of language when trying to scare the crap out of everyone about a problem they created? “Bond vigilantes” Tom Coburn… really? This is nothing but an excuse to starve the beast and get rid of every social program that Republicans have hated for decades now. Rather than raise taxes on the rich, they’ll use this as an excuse to go after Social Security or other programs that help ordinary working people. Chuck Schumer laid out pretty plainly the dangers of not raising the debt ceiling this spring. He also talked about Eric Cantor admitting that it was going to have to be done. So if the Democrats give in to the Republicans on this, I agree with what Dibgy wrote the other day, it’s because they want to and not because they have to. GREGORY: All right, final question here about– what Eric Cantor in the House, a Republican leader, called a “leverage moment” for the Republicans on the debt ceiling. SCHUMER: Yeah. GREGORY: It has to be raised. We have to keep borrowing money, even though we’re so deep in debt. Republicans, Senator Schumer, to exact a promise on a certain amount of spending cuts before they vote to raise that ceiling. Do you think that agreement can be reached? SCHUMER: Well first, I think using the threat of not renewing the debt ceiling is like playing with fire. If we didn’t renew the debt ceiling, our soldiers and veterans wouldn’t be paid, Social Security checks wouldn’t go out, and worst of all, we might permanently threaten confidence– of the credit markets and the dollar, which could create a recession worse than the one we have now, or even a depression. So that is playing with fire. And I was glad to see that both Speaker Boehner and Eric Cantor said they’re not gonna use that as a threat. We have– are gonna have to come together on spending. There is no question about it. And we Democrats agree there oughta be spending cuts. And the appropriation that came up last year– late last year, the McCaskill-Sessions Proposal, bipartisan, to cut spending considerably lower– than was originally proposed in the budget– GREGORY: Right. SCHUMER: –was supported. But you can’t just do it willy nilly across the board. There are some things that changed since 2008 and need to be funded. GREGORY: Senator Coburn, does it have to be a specific amount– in cuts before you vote to raise the ceiling? COBURN: I think for me it does. I’ve had conversations with the President. Look– the debt ceiling, we had warnings last week from the rating agencies that we’re gonna get a downgrade in our bonds. A debt ceiling non-increase– is nothing compared to what’s gonna happen to us if we don’t address the real issues facing our country. The CBS poll out this morning, 77 percent of the people in this country believe we need to cut the spending significantly. Only nine percent– say we need to raise taxes. The fact is, is I believe the President and the– bipartisan majority in both houses know that we can come together before the debt ceiling and– reach an agreement that says, “Here’s where we’re gonna be and– here’s what we must do to send the signal to the international financial community.” If, in fact, we don’t raise the debt ceiling, that won’t be near the catastrophe that, if, in fact, the– the– the bond vigilantes come after the U.S. government bonds in the next two to three years– COBURN: –we will have such bigger pain than not raising the debt limit. GREGORY: I will let– make that the last word. Senators, thank you both very much.
Continue reading …After a weeklong referendum ended Saturday, early results show that voters in southern Sudan have overwhelmingly decided to secede from their northern neighbors, a move that will split the African country in two. The vote comes five years after the end of a two-decade civil war between the north and south in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed. —JCL The Associated Press: Southern Sudan’s president on Sunday offered a prayer of forgiveness for northern Sudan and the killings that occurred during a two-decade civil war, as the first results from a weeklong independence referendum showed an overwhelming vote for secession. Exhausted poll workers who counted ballots overnight and deep into Sunday morning posted returns at individual stations, and an Associated Press count of a small sample showed a 96 percent vote for secession. Sudan’s south ended its independence vote Saturday, a vote most believe will split the large country in two at the divide between Sudan’s Muslim north and Christian and animist south. The two sides ended a more than two decade civil war in 2005 in a peace deal that provided for last week’s vote. Read more Related Entries January 4, 2011 Gag Me With a Banker January 3, 2011 The Information Technology Roller Coaster
Continue reading …Three young women have died in a stampede at a Hungarian nightclub according to police. (Jan. 16)
Continue reading …More good news on the Gabrielle-Giffords-recovery front : She’s now able to move both sides of her body. Speaking on Meet the Press today, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said she had spoken with Giffords’ husband last night, and the update was a good one: “She’s using both sides of her body. She’s…
Continue reading …Iran’s basically executing people left and right, says a US-based human rights group. With 47 people hanged since the beginning of the year, Tehran’s averaging a staggering pace of one every eight hours. “The Iranian Judiciary is on an execution binge orchestrated by the intelligence and security agencies,” says a…
Continue reading …Here’s a thought provoking video from National Geographic about our global population growth.
Continue reading …What’s going to spin the tires in your car of the future? Will it even have tires? Right now it looks like either hydrogen fuel cells or pure EVs will be dominating the streets in a few decades, and thankfully they share enough technology for us to think they can peacefully co-exist — just like Apple and Microsoft fanboys and girls have been known to host really great parties together where they engage in long, respectful discussions regarding their differing opinions. However, while EVs are already well on their way, for fuel cells to take off we’re going to need more hydrogen filling stations and more cooperation between auto manufacturers. That’s happening now in Japan, with 13 companies — Toyota , Nissan , and Honda along with a number of gas and utilities companies — joining forces to enable a “smooth domestic launch” of fuel cell vehicles as soon as 2015. They hope to create about 100 hydrogen stations across the country, work to form a broader hydrogen supply network, and also educate people about FCVs in general. We’ll give them a head start by letting you know that stands for “Fuel Cell Vehicle,” though they’re also often called FCEVs, or “Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles.” Bam! Two items off the to-do list. Continue reading 13 Japanese companies join to further fuel cell adoption, also plan to ride bikes together 13 Japanese companies join to further fuel cell adoption, also plan to ride bikes together originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …NewsBusters asked Saturday if ABC's “This Week” would fully report a Tucson shooting survivor issuing a death threat to a Tea Party leader at a special town hall meeting taped earlier that day. Although host Christiane Amanpour, in a brief, 30 second after-thought at the close of Sunday's program, told viewers J. Eric Fuller's threat was directed at a Tea Party member, she omitted Fuller saying “You're dead” to Trent Humphries (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: As our town hall concluded, one of the victims of the shooting in our audience became agitated and was detained by security. James Eric Fuller, who was shot twice last Saturday, appeared to direct a threat towards a member of the Tea Party in our audience when he spoke. Fuller was charged with a misdemeanor and involuntarily committed according to the Pima County Sheriff's office. And that was it. No mention that Fuller allegedly took a picture of Humphries while he was speaking and said, “You're dead!” Why did Amanpour and Company omit this detail, especially since “This Week” included a rather lengthy, unrelated statement from Humphries in Sunday's program: TRENT HUMPHRIES: Well, I mean, we talk about the other things too is we talk about how come nobody could be aware this man had a medical history of — of that. But HIPAA laws would prevent that. It's not just gun laws that are standing in the way of this happening. There are all kinds of laws that Congress needs to look at and — and I think there is a time for this debate. But for what we saw and felt right now, I'm not sure that applause and things going on are appropriate right now until we've had actually, maybe had the funerals finished for the people that have –that were (sic) suffered and died. My neighbor is one of those people. And — and I loved that man. And — and I want to see — I want to see some introspection maybe from the people before the national debate happens. You know, and those — and — and it's very well to have those things. But something's going to have to happen with — with everybody. And — and I just — I mean, it's — it's something that where as a country, we talk about political discourse and what's appropriate and what's not. I think that — that applies to everybody including the media who's — who's — you know, and not in this — this — this has been a very, very cathartic thing for everybody. Immediately after the shooting to see people jump to political angles. I just don't want to see that right now and I'm a very political person. So I — I would ask that maybe we — we have that discussion and it's a larger discussion and that — and that we have that just a little bit later. This therefore makes it twice in the past two installments of “This Week” that key elements involving the Tucson shootings were intentionally omitted. As NewsBusters reported last Sunday, when ABC's Pierre Thomas interviewed a friend of the assailant, he completely ignored that Caitlin Parker had told people via Twitter Jared Lee Loughner was a liberal. This raises an important question: exactly what kind of credibility does ABC News strive for its flagship Sunday political program if producers feel they can omit pertinent details from stories whenever they're inconvenient to the message? Consider that the transcript of Sunday's “This Week” available at ABCNews.com not only failed to mention the specifics of the death threat, but also ignored the Tea Party component: AMANPOUR: As our town hall concluded, one of the victims of the shooting, who was in our audience because agitated and was detained by security. James Eric Fuller, who was shot twice last Saturday, took offices at what another audience member had said and mumbled what seemed to be a threat. He was charged with a misdemeanor and involuntarily committed according to the Pima County Sheriff's office. To be sure, transcripts are often rushed. But this bears little resemblance to what Amanpour actuallly said. Also curious were changes made to an article about the town hall meeting posted at ABCNews.com Saturday. As NewsBusters reported , the following two paragraphs were at the end of a piece on this subject: Towards the end of an otherwise thoughtful town hall, there was a single incident: James Eric Fuller, who was shot at the Safeway last week, allegedly made a threatening comment to another audience member, Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries. It is unclear whether Humphries heard Fuller and the two never engaged. According to the Pima County Sheriff's Department, Fuller used a cell phone to take a picture of Humphries and allegedly said, “You're dead.” Fifteen seconds after the conclusion of the town hall, law enforcement officials approached Fuller and led him to a side entrance. A moment later, Fuller could heard yelling, “What's the matter–with you–whores!” Fuller was charged with disorderly conduct and threatening and intimidation and taken to a local mental health facility, according to the Sheriff's Department. That is now followed by these paragraphs added some time after NewsBusters filed its report: In a statement Humphries said, “I was asked to give my thoughts on gun control laws and perhaps the passage of new laws. … A gentleman in the audience who I had never met before began booing and made the comment 'you're dead' while taking my picture. I was escorted from the location of the filming and spoken to by several deputies about the incident. I told them I was very hesitant to press any charges against this gentleman, but after they urged me to do so based on the gravity of the situation, and the lessons learned from the recent tragedy. I allowed them to proceed as recommended,” he said. “This is another sad piece to add to an already tragic set of events,” Humphries added in the statement. “My hope continues to remain that we as a community be allowed the ability to heal and focus on those things that will best help our city and its citizens recover from this deadly tragedy,” he said. With all this additional information at her disposal, why did Amanpour give “This Week” viewers such a brief, incomplete description of what happened at the end of her town hall meeting? Would Amanpour have made the same omission if Fuller was the Tea Party leader and Humphries the shooting survivor? Quite the contrary, it seems a metaphysical certitude that if a Tea Partier had issued exactly the same threat to a shooting survivor during this gathering, it would have been a huge focus of Sunday's program, and would likely have been reported by every other news agency in America. Unfortunately, a liberal threatening a Tea Partier just doesn't fit the agenda so-called journalists are advancing today.
Continue reading …A break in near-constant rain today allowed Brazilian rescue helicopters to deliver desperately needed food and water to neighborhoods buried under tons of earth in mudslides that have killed more than 600. Rain clouds lifted, allowing about a dozen helicopters to buzz around the craggy peaks of the emerald-green mountains…
Continue reading …John Kerry gave a speech last week at the Center for American Progress that should become the marching song for every liberal in this country. He was clear: The last 10 years have cost us too much, and if the hyper-partisan tone doesn’t change to one of true concern for the direction of this country, we will cede any chance to lead to others. He hits it all: Infrastructure, energy, debt, climate change. Every point. The one that hit home for me was when he talked about where we might have been, had Bush and the Republicans not unwound progress made during the Clinton administration. Here’s an example. We talk about how the Clinton tax rates generated a surplus, but we stop there. We don’t talk about the fact that if the Clinton tax rates had remained in effect, the entire national debt would have been paid off by 2012. Imagine what a difference that would have made in today’s dialogue. And more importantly, why aren’t we hammering this home every single time one of those self-righteous Republican buffoons stands up and talks about how our national debt is killing the country? Kerry points out that we would be at a point where our financial position would be at it’s strongest point ever. What would that have meant when (or if) the bottom fell out of the economy? Most assuredly, we wouldn’t have to be speaking of debt retirement and austerity. We need to start going there. This shouldn’t be swept under the rug. I can’t recommend this highly enough. Take an hour out of your day and watch Kerry’s speech. He really hits hard on the cost of NOT investing in the country and how it puts us behind on a global basis every single day. Check out this headline from January 26, 2000, just 11 years ago: Consumer Confidence Hits an All-Time High; Jobs Called ‘Plentiful’ : Clinton Sees An Early Payoff of U.S. Debt Compare it to today’s headlines ( this one, from the Wall Street Journal , one of the biggest tax-cut pimps): U.S. Ran $80 Billion Budget Deficit in December I think we need to give Republicans full credit for everything they did for to us. We should be at least as loud as the anti-hcr folks are, and we should repeat it every single day in public, especially to anyone who still thinks Republicans are fiscally responsible. (Aside: Here’s a giggle for you…check out the names on the Sunday news shows at the bottom of this Google news clipping . Even then, McCain was front and center.)
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