Robert Reich:

Even Social Security’s current inflation adjustment understates the true impact of inflation on the elderly. That’s because they spend 20 to 40 percent of their incomes on health care, and health-care costs have been rising faster than inflation. So why adopt a new inflation
adjustment that’s even stingier than the current one?

Social Security benefits are already meager for most recipients. The median income of Americans over 65 is less than $20,000 a year. Nearly
70 percent of them depend on Social Security for more than half of this.
The average Social Security benefit is less than $15,000 a year.

Besides, Social Security isn’t in serious trouble. The Social
Security trust fund is flush for at least two decades. If we want to
ensure it’s there beyond that, there’s an easy fix — just lift the
ceiling on income subject to Social Security taxes, which is now
$113,700.

Why are Democrats even suggesting the inflation adjustment be
reduced? Republicans aren’t asking for it. Not even Paul Ryan’s
draconian budget includes it.

Democrats invented Social Security and have been protecting it for
almost 80 years. They shouldn’t be leading the charge against it.

 

And the people at Strengthen Social Security,

The Infeasibility of Protecting Vulnerable Populations from the Chained CPI:

Background
Some policymakers are considering accepting a grand bargain that includes the chained CPI for Social Security. This is no minor technical change – it is a benefit cut that compounds to become very large over time. The chained CPI would cut the annual benefit of the average earner (someone making $43,518) by $658 at age 75, $1,147 at age 85, and $1,622 at age 95.¹ The cumulative cut for that individual would be $4,631 – more than three months of benefits – by age 75; $13,910 – nearly a year of benefits – by age 85; and $28,004 – more than a year and a half of benefits – by age 95.²

Given the severity of the chained CPI benefit cut, many have proposed exempting segments of the beneficiary population from its impact. According to the Director of the National Economic Council, Gene Sperling:
“[A]ny agreement to make this change to the CPI must include a dedication of a portion of the savings to protections for low-income Americans, certain veterans, and older Social Security beneficiaries.”³
While exempting these groups sounds good, one discovers, upon closer examination, that the goal is unworkable in reality.

Groups the Administration Recommends Exempting
Poor beneficiaries. The Administration has recommended shielding from the chained CPI benefit cut the lowest-income seniors and people with disabilities, but it proposes shielding only the benefits they receive from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. However, there are 2.8 million so-called dual eligibles – poor aged or disabled who receive modest Social Security benefits in addition to SSI. And there are at least 9.4 million poor or near-poor people who receive Social Security, but not SSI. Indeed, around one out of five Social Security beneficiaries is poor or near-poor.⁴ Exempting SSI does not shield these poor and near poor seniors and people with disabilities dependent on Social Security benefits.

Veterans. The Administration has suggested that veterans be shielded from the chained CPI benefit cut. Because of the number of programs that would be subject to the chained CPI, veterans could receive double, triple, or more hits from the chained CPI. Military and veterans benefits that are indexed in the same manner as Social Security include Military Retirement pensions, for which many veterans are eligible; Veterans Pension benefits; Veterans Disability Compensation; and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.⁵ But most of those receiving these benefits are also receiving Social Security and indeed other benefits not limited to veterans but vitally important to them. All of these other benefits would be cut by the chained CPI. About 9.3 million veterans received Social Security benefits in 2009 – just over one in five Social Security beneficiaries.⁶ It is not surprising that numerous groups representing veterans, including the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, oppose the chained CPI – not just for narrowly-defined veterans programs, but also for Social Security and other programs crucially important to those who have served our nation in uniform.

The oldest old. The third group the Administration has explicitly discussed shielding from the chained CPI cut is “older Social Security beneficiaries.” Those 85 and over numbered 5.8 million in 2010, are projected to increase to 7.6 million in 2030, and to 19 million in 2050.⁷ Some have proposed a so-called “20th-year birthday bump,”⁸ which, to compensate for 20 years of receipt of a lower cost of living adjustment (COLA), would provide a small increase in benefits⁹ from age 82 to 86.¹⁰ As other fact sheets reveal in detail,¹¹ those over age 85, who are primarily women, would not be made whole by proposed birthday bumps; rather, they would have to get by, even with the birthday bump, on greatly reduced incomes as they age. For those who live to age 95, for example, even with the birthday bump the chained CPI would cut their benefits cumulatively by a total of $16,663, and in their 95th year, by over 9 percent, or around $1,600, on average.¹²

Savings Lost from Exempting These Groups
Most Americans who receive Social Security live on modest means. Half of elderly Americans live on less than $19,939/year and have Social Security benefits of less than $13,376/year.¹³ Of the $725 billion in total benefits paid in 2011,¹⁴ Social Security paid:

•  $58.3 billion to people who are poor or near-poor (excluding those aged 85 and older);¹⁵
•  $131 billion to those who are aged 85 or above (including veterans);¹⁶ and
•  $176.4 billion to veterans and their families¹⁷ (net of the above two groups).¹⁸

Together, this amounts to $356.8 billion, or 50.5% of total benefits. In other words, if Congress truly wanted to protect these groups, it would in essence have to use the current COLA for half of Social Security’s beneficiaries and the chained CPI for the other – and the groups are not static. People’s overall income shifts from month to month; married couples who are different ages could have one partner subject to one COLA, the other subject to another. These are only some of the complexities which would result from efforts to shield vulnerable groups and veterans.

Others Who Should be Exempted
People with long-term disabilities. The circle of economically vulnerable Social Security beneficiaries extends well beyond the above groups. The Disability Insurance component of Social Security is a lifeline to 8.6 million Americans with disabilities and their 2 million dependents.¹⁹ Those who are disabled at a young age could be subject to the chained CPI cut for 30, 40 years or more. The effect of the COLA cut compounds over time, so people with disabilities would see a
much larger benefit cut from the change in the COLA than any other group of beneficiaries. The so-called birthday bump could be applied to them, but, as discussed above, the proposed bump up is inadequate and insufficient – and, of course, does nothing at all for those in their 19th year or earlier of benefit receipt.

People currently 55 and over. Many in Congress have pledged to shield all Americans aged 55 and over from Social Security cuts; this principle was repeated most recently in the FY 2014 Budget Resolution introduced in the House by Rep. Paul Ryan.²⁰ If Congress were to honor this principle, any change to the Social Security COLA would have to be delayed until today’s 54 year olds reached retirement age, and then the change would have to be phased in. Keeping this pledge would forgo virtually all of the projected Social Security savings from the chained CPI over the coming decade, which is the focus of today’s budget negotiations.

Conclusion
The idea of adopting the chained CPI for Social Security as part of deficit reduction efforts is bad policy because the program does not contribute to the deficit, because the claim that the current COLA overestimates inflation experienced by seniors and people with disabilities is not empirically justified, because Social Security benefits are modest by virtually any measure, and because the nation is facing a retirement income crisis and cutting Social Security will make that crisis worse.²¹ Exempting the poor and near-poor, veterans, and the oldest-old sounds good but is unworkable. Even if it could be done, it would require foregoing most of the savings generated from Social Security by the chained CPI. Perhaps most important, the vast majority of beneficiaries – far more than the circle of the poor and near-poor, oldest old, and veterans – lives on modest means, and cannot easily absorb such a large cut to their benefits. In short, the notion that one could humanely implement the chained CPI cut by carving out certain needy and worthy groups – and still achieve considerable budget savings – is false.

1
Based on analysis by Social Security Works, “Social Security COLA Cut: a Benefit Cut Affecting Everyone,” February 2013. http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/sites/default/files/Chained_CPI_Fact_Sheet_FINAL_Feb-2013_0.pdf Percent benefit reduction under chained CPI from SSA Chief Actuary, “Effects on Social Security Financial Status and on Benefit
Levels of Two Potential Modifications to the Automatic Annual Cost of Living Adjustment Requested by Representative Xavier Becerra,” June 21, 2011. http://ssa.gov/oact/solvency/XBecerra_20110621.pdf Projected wage-indexed benefits for a worker with average earnings claiming benefits at age 65 from SSA, Table 2.A26, “Monthly benefit
amount for selected beneficiary families with first eligibility in 2011, by average indexed monthly earnings for stipulated yearly wage levels, effective December 2011 (in dollars),” Annual Statistical Supplement, 2012, 2012. http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/2012/2a20-2a28.html#table2.a26

2
Social Security Works, Ibid.

3
Reddit “Ask Me Anything” with Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to President Obama for Economic Policy, March 13, 2013.

I’m Gene Sperling, Assistant to President Obama for Economic Policy. AMA.
byu/GeneSperling inIAmA

4
There are 2,780,000 people who receive both Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Meanwhile, 12.2 million (12,188,042) Social Security beneficiaries have incomes below 125% of the poverty line, which for single households is $14,628 for individuals under age 65 and $13,485 for individuals aged 65 or older—over 1 out of 5 (22
percent) total Social Security beneficiaries. These figures include people aged 85 or older and people on Supplemental Security Income. Since the 2,780,000 dual-eligible individuals must have incomes at or below the poverty level, they are included among the 12,188,042 Social Security beneficiaries with incomes under 125% of poverty. Thus the number of Social Security beneficiaries with incomes under 125% of poverty who are not on SSI is 9,436,005. SSA, Table 1, “Monthly Statistical Snapshot, January 2013,” February 2013.
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/ US Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, “POV27. Source of Income by Ratio of Poverty Thresholds for Families and Unrelated Individuals,” 2012 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, March 2012.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstables/032012/pov/POV27_000.htm

5
For a more detailed discussion, see Alison Shelton, “Inflation Indexation in Major Federal Benefit Programs: Impact of the Chained CPI,” AARP Public Policy Institute, March 2013.

6
SSA, Anya Olsen and Samantha O’Leary, “Military Veterans and Social Security: 2010 Update,” Social Security Bulletin Vol. 71, No. 2, May 2011.

7
Grayson K. Vincent and Victoria A. Velkoff, “The Next Four Decades. The Older Population in the United States: 2010 to 2050,” Current Population Reports, U.S. Census Bureau, May 2010.

Click to access p25-1138.pdf

8
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairs of the President’s 2010 Fiscal Commission, proposed a 20th-year bump, as did the Domenici-Rivlin Debt Reduction Task Force. The latter applies it only to retirement benefits.

9
The 20th-year bump-up would increase benefits by 1% of the benefit of a worker with average lifetime earnings, each year for 5 years, starting after 20 years of eligibility (age 82 for retirees).

10
For disabled workers, the 20th-year bump up would kick in 20 years after initial determination of disability.

11
Joan Entmacher and Katherine Gallagher Robbins, “Chained CPI Imposes Painful Social Security Benefit Cuts and a Benefit Bump-Up Provides Only Limited Relief,” National Women’s Law Center, December 2012.
http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/chainedcpibirthdaybumpup.pdf; and Social Security Works, “The Chained CPI is a Bad Idea – Even with a 20th-Year Benefit ‘Bump Up’,” forthcoming.

12
The chained CPI would cut benefits of the average worker retiring at 65 by $28,004 by age 95; the 20th-year birthday bump would provide a benefit bump-up of $11,341 over 5 years (age 82-86). The net cut: $16,663.

13
March 2012 Current Population Survey, PINC-08.

14
SSA, “Estimated total annual benefits paid, by state or other area and program, 2011 (in millions of dollars),” Annual Statistical Supplement, 2012, 2012, Table 5J1.
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/2012/5j.html#table5.j1

15
Figure reflects combination of Social Security income for people with incomes under 125% of the poverty threshold including unrelated individuals under age 65, individuals in families under age 65, unrelated individuals aged 65 or older, and individuals in families aged 65 or older. (Poverty thresholds in 2011 were as follows: for one-person households $10,788 for age 65 and over, $11,702 for those under 65; for two-person households: $13,609 for age 65 and over, $15,139 for those under 65.) An estimate of those benefits that went to people aged 85 or older with incomes under 125% of poverty was then subtracted from the total. US Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, “POV27. Source of Income by Ratio of Poverty Thresholds for Families and Unrelated Individuals,” 2012 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, March 2012.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstables/032012/pov/POV27_000.htm

16
For purposes of analysis, it was assumed all people aged 85 or older with incomes under 125% of poverty receive Social Security. Social Security benefits were calculated by multiplying total benefits for people aged 65 or older by the percentage people aged 85 or older represent of people 65 or older. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, “POV01. Age and Sex of All People, Family Members and Unrelated Individuals Iterated by Income-to-Poverty Ratio and Race,” 2012 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, March 2012.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstables/032012/pov/POV01_125.htm

17
Calculated by multiplying number of veterans by one-and-a-half times the average veteran’s benefit, in order to account for the benefits received by veterans’ family members. Thirty-five percent of Social Security beneficiaries are veterans or their family members. Estimates of benefits received by veterans with incomes under 125% of poverty and aged 85 or older were subtracted from the total figure. SSA, Anya Olsen and Samantha O’Leary, “Military Veterans and Social Security: 2010 Update,” Social Security Bulletin Vol. 71, No. 2, May 2011.
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v71n2/v71n2p1.html

18
Benefits for people with severe disabilities are a significant part of benefits in every category examined. After people with severe disabilities reach the full retirement age – currently 66 – they no longer receive benefits from the Disability Insurance trust fund. As a result, benefits to, for example, people aged 85 or older, may go to people with
disabilities, but they are not technically disability benefits.

19
SSA, “Disabled Workers and Dependents: Average Monthly Benefit, by Type of Benefit, Sex, and Age, December 1957-2011, Selected Years,” Annual Statistical Supplement, 2012, 2012: Table 5.E2.

20
“Concurrent Resolution establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2014 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2015 through 2023,” submitted March 11, 2013.

Click to access 2014_budget_resolution.pdf

21
Economic Policy Institute, No empirical basis for reducing Social Security COLA, November 20, 2012.

Click to access EPI_COLA_Letter.pdf

News Roundup, April 3

National News:

NRA Task Force Recommends Training School Personnel Who Want To Be Armed

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/02/187546/nra-paid-study-calls-for-armed.html

www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/02/176024971/nra-task-force-recommends-training-school-personnel-who-want-to-be-armed

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/04/asa-hutchinson-cops-schools-criminal-records

What are the states doing about gun control?

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/04/02/what-are-the-states-doing-about-gun-control/

Quietly and behind the scenes, gun research and regulation has been stymied

www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/02/187543/quietly-and-behind-the-scenes.html

Background Checks Are Still Stumbling Block in Gun Law Overhaul

www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/us/background-checks-still-stumbling-block-in-gun-law-overhaul.html

NRA’s School Security Plan Cites Phony Shooting

The gun lobby’s report on safeguarding America’s school kids cites a terrible massacre—that didn’t actually happen.

www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/nra-phony-school-shooting

Marian Wright Edelman: What the NRA Doesn’t Want You to Know

readersupportednews.org/opinion2/416-gun-control-/16752-what-the-nra-doesnt-want-you-to-know

Crazy Gun-Toting Insurrectionists

consortiumnews.com/2013/03/31/crazy-gun-toting-insurrectionists/

A Gun In Every Home? Nelson, Georgia Residents Debate New Law Mandating Forced Ownership of Firearms

www.democracynow.org/2013/4/3/a_gun_in_every_home_nelson

Educators begin surrendering in alleged Atlanta cheating scandal

www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57577414/educators-begin-surrendering-in-alleged-atlanta-cheating-scandal/

Outsiders Should Evaluate Teachers as Well as Students

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-02/outsiders-should-evaluate-students-and-teachers.html

❖ GOPers in ND, AR and TX are “pushing bills that would defund comprehensive sex education programs for at-risk teenagers.” Don’t want to jeopardize our claim to having the  “highest teen pregnancy rate in the developed world.”

❖ NC GOPers now want to further relax requirements for charter schools (which are already “very relaxed” when compared to those for public schools).

Investments in Education May Be Misdirected

www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/business/studies-highlight-benefits-of-early-education.html?ref=business&_r=0

 Abortion clinic to open in Wichita, the first in four years

www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/02/187517/abortion-clinic-to-open-in-wichita.html

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/04/wichita-has-abortion-clinic-again

Trans-Pacific Partnership Targets Internet And Labor Rights

news.firedoglake.com/2013/04/01/trans-pacific-paternship-targets-internet-and-labor-rights/

 Can Worker-Owners Make a Big Factory Run?

www.labornotes.org/2013/04/can-worker-owners-make-big-factory-run

Whistle-Blowers Tell Stories of Fear and Vindication

www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/whistle-blowers-tell-stories-of-fear-and-vindication-372136.html

Who Polices Prosecutors Who Abuse Their Authority? Usually Nobody

www.propublica.org/article/who-polices-prosecutors-who-abuse-their-authority-usually-nobody

 New York needs the NYPD to stop stop-and-frisk – and stop it now …. This discriminatory police tactic is costing us dear, both in tax dollars and community relations. New Yorkers want rid of it

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/02/new-york-nypd-stop-and-frisk

Suddenly, NYPD doesn’t love surveillance anymore — Law enforcement agencies monitor our most basic acts. But try assigning them a watchdog and they resist with fury

www.salon.com/2013/04/02/big_brother_is_a_big_hypocrite/

National Politics:

Wonkbook: Gay marriage hasn’t won, but its opponents have lost.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/03/wonkbook-gay-marriage-hasnt-won-but-its-opponents-have-lost

The Koch Bros., ALEC and the Power of the State

www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/02/the-koch-bros-alec-and-the-power-of-the-state/

❖ GOPers’ anti-labor temper tantrum continues in MI: they want to repeal a 1965 law guaranteeing “workers on state and public school projects are not paid below the prevailing hourly rate or benefits for construction projects” in local communities.

GAO report:  Observations on Lobbyists’ Compliance with Disclosure Requirements

www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-437

http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653471.pdf

The curious case of the vanishing lobbyists
More on “vanishing” lobbyists, those who have deregistered but are still working at the same firm and doing similar work. New GAO report on LDA compliance.

 

Lobbyist de-registration: Be careful what you wish for

thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/291635-lobbyist-de-registration-be-careful-what-you-wish-for

As Obama begins fundraising swing, campaign finance watchdogs growl

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-obama-begins-fundraising-swing-campaign-finance-watchdogs-growl/2013/04/02/a4af5020-9bbb-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_print.html
 CNN on the trip ;  Reuters.

Democrats fear Obama group will siphon money from them

www.kentucky.com/2013/04/01/2583223/democrats-fear-obama-group-will.html#storylink=cpy

Rand Paul-backed group attacks Republicans

Sen. Rand Paul, the tea party favorite and possible 2016 presidential candidate, is raising money for a conservative gun rights group that’s targeting fellow Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=8DBD5647-8B5C-4A75-9DDF-FF3AD53E97AC

 Hawaii advances public financing bill to fix outdated system

Efforts in Hawaii to pass a public financing upgrade, featuring quotes from Voter-Owned Hawaii’s Kory Payne and stare Reps. Della Au Belatti and Karl Rhoads. Belatti: “It’s a good way to amplify the smaller donors’ voice and it requires candidates to really, kind of, get into the community and connect with the voters.”

Felony Charges Dropped Against Colin Small, Republican Accused Of Destroying Voter Registration Forms

www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/colin-small-voter-fraud_n_3001802.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Can Obama’s new panel defuse the voting wars?

tv.msnbc.com/2013/04/02/can-obamas-new-panel-defuse-the-voting-wars/

WaPo editorial: Open Justice Department’s legal interpretations to the public

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/open-justice-departments-legal-interpretations-to-the-public/2013/04/01/9384041c-9b11-11e2-9bda-edd1a7fb557d_story.html?hpid=z3

Drone Legislation: What’s Being Proposed in the States?

www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-national-security/drone-legislation-whats-being-proposed-states

An Urgent Proposal to Protect People From Domestic Drones

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/an-urgent-proposal-to-protect-people-from-domestic-drones/274602/

There are four vacancies on the D.C. Circuit Court, out of 11 seats, and why that matters.

A rare Republican, Sen. Collins remains optimistic

“They don’t tolerate dissent within the party,” Snowe, who retired out of frustration last year, said in an interview with the AP. “That’s why they find themselves in trouble.”

bigstory.ap.org/article/rare-republican-sen-collins-remains-optimistic

“Good governance requires political leaders who are prepared to threaten the interests of their own class”:  The African Century The unlucky continent finally seems to be on a real path to growth, but is democracy essential to sustain Africa’s rise?

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/node/1423838?page=full

 Liz Cheney Is Even More Bonkers Than We Suspected

nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/03/liz-cheney-even-more-bonkers-than-we-suspected.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324105204578384692398126294.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

News Roundup, April 2nd

My apologies for any screwy formatting, WordPress likes to buck spacing easily.

National News:

Weekly Review — The Supreme Court considers skim-milk marriage, a hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay expands, and Egyptian scuba divers sabotage SEA-ME-WE-4

         harpers.org/blog/2013/04/weeklyreview2013-04-02/

Median Household Income Down 7.3% Since Start of Recessioneconomix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/median-household-income-down-7-3-since-start-of-recession

S&P 500 closes at record nominal high

  “The S&P 500, a bellwether for the US economy and professional investors, closed at a record high on Thursday, completing a strong recovery from the depths of the financial crisis….Since hitting an intraday low of 666.79 in March 2009, the S&P has rallied 135 per cent, boosted by aggressive monetary easing by the Federal Reserve and record US profits from the index’s 500 constituents.”

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/947300b6-8c12-11e2-8fcf-00144feabdc0.html

 

Help shrinks as poverty spikes in the U.S.

news.yahoo.com/help-shrinks-poverty-spikes-us-000341470.html

Wages stink at America’s most common jobs

money.cnn.com/2013/04/01/news/economy/jobs-wages/index.html

There’s a reason your food server or retail salesperson seems disgruntled, and it’s not just because you’re asking about gluten-free options or return policies. New BLS data shows that seven of the 10 most common occupations pay less than $30,000 a year.

 

America is raising a generation of interns
“People my age expect to start at the bottom,” says one 25-year-old. “But in this economy the bottom keeps getting lower and lower.”

theweek.com/article/index/242065/america-is-raising-a-generation-of-interns

 

 More on Devolution and the Walmartization of Our Economy

www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/04/more-on-devolution-and-the-walmartization-of-our-economy.html

 The Walmartization of the American food chain is making communities poor and poorly fed

www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/28/1197622/-The-Walmartization-of-the-American-food-chain-is-making-communities-poor-and-poorly-fed
http://www.alternet.org/food/walmarts-death-grip-groceries-making-life-worse-millions-people-hard-times-usa?page=0%2C0&paging=off

 

 How Big Corporations are Unpatriotic

www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/29/how-big-corporations-are-unpatriotic/

 

Recession Redux (TNR)

John Judis is pessimistic given that we’ve opted not to pursue the New Deal-era approach to reform and investment that built a stronger, more stable economy, but are instead repeating the mistakes that led to the recession to see if we can really nail it this time.

 

Thousands Protest the UK Government’s Brutal Austerity

www.thenation.com/blog/173602/thousands-protest-uk-governments-brutal-austerity

 

“The Labour party has failed us. We need a new party of the left,” by Ken Loach, Kate Hudson and Gilbert Achcar. The Guardian, March 25, 2013.

This week’s article complements the selection from last week on the defections from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a factional split that has resulted in productive efforts to form a new broad front social democratic party—or shall we say— a British Syriza.

 

 For Unionists, Iraq’s Oil War Rages On — The leader of Iraq’s oil union is being threatened with prison – again.

inthesetimes.com/article/14808/for_unionists_iraqs_oil_war_rages_on/

 

Why We Tax: A Timely Reminder for Tax Day

blog.ourfuture.org/20130401/why-we-tax-a-timely-reminder-for-tax-day

 

 

 Inside the NRA’s Koch-Funded Dark-Money Campaign — How the National Rifle Association sold its grassroots firepower to the Kochs, Karl Rove, and conservative donors.

www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/nra-koch-brothers-karl-rove

 “Your Fight Has Become Our Fight”: A brief history of the NRA’s transformation from a gunowners’ group to the voice of the gun industry.

www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/nra-gun-companies-timeline

 

Connecticut lawmakers reach deal on tough gun law

www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-connecticut-gun-law-20130401,0,4439221.story
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/conn-lawmakers-unveil-bipartisan-gun-control-plan

Gun Control Moves to the States – For now, that’s where the momentum is.

prospect.org/article/gun-control-moves-states

Georgia Town Passes Mandatory Gun Bill

thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/04/02/1808001/georgia-mandatory-gun/

Firearms advocates target gun-control measures

“Gun-control measures that seemed destined to become law after the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., are in jeopardy amid a fierce lobbying campaign by firearms advocates. Despite months of negotiations, key senators have been unable to find a workable plan for near-universal background checks on gun purchases — an idea that polls show nine in 10 Americans support.”

 

 Great Gun Gobbledygook: The Paradox of Second Amendment
Hardliners Conservatives say armed citizens are an essential guard against government tyranny. They also support massive military spending. How is that supposed to work?

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/great-gun-gobbledygook-the-paradox-of-second-amendment-hardliners/274523/

 

 

 The White Supremacist Group That May Be Targeting Law Enforcement For Revenge

thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/04/01/1803691/the-white-supremacist-group-that-may-be-targeting-law-enforcement-for-revenge/
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/4/1/texas_da_killed_two_months_after

 

 “National School Shield” a Radical Proposal

www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/national-school-shield-radical-proposal
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/04/nra-asa-hutchinson-school-gun.php?ref=fpb

“The proposal includes potentially radical elements, including getting the federal government in the business of supplying arms to teachers, without any evidence that doing so would make children safer.”

 

Tennessee Advances Legislation That Would Tie Welfare To Children’s Grades

thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/04/01/1802811/tennessee-advances-legislation-that-would-tie-welfare-to-childrens-grades/?mobile=nc
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/mar/31/bill-tying-student-performance-to-welfare-in/

 

A Good Old-Fashioned Education
As some districts experiment with charters, vouchers, and high-stakes testing, educators in Union City are finding that time-tested, traditional approaches to teaching students work best.

prospect.org/article/good-old-fashioned-education

 

Ex-Schools Chief in Atlanta Is Indicted in Testing Scandal

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/30/us/former-school-chief-in-atlanta-indicted-in-cheating-scandal.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/atlanta-school-reform-scam-040113

 

 

 Creeping Privatization of Justice

www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2013/03/privatized-justice.html

 

How insurers flipped a Medicare pay cut into a pay raise

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/02/how-insurers-flipped-a-medicare-pay-cut-into-a-pay-raise/

 

The confused debate over Obamacare and insurance premiums

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/02/the-confused-debate-over-obamacare-and-insurance-premiums
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/us/politics/option-for-small-business-health-plan-delayed.html?_r=0

White House Trial-Balloons Medicare Cost Increases

my.firedoglake.com/tomthumb/2013/04/01/white-house-trial-balloons-medicare-cost-increases/

 

 

The Dark Side of DNA Evidence — Collecting DNA upon arrest can identify the guilty and exonerate the innocent. But it also amounts to an expanding racial dragnet

www.thenation.com/article/173554/dark-side-dna-evidence

 

  Fetal-Heartbeat Abortion Laws Are Dangerous Even If Judges Reject Them

www.newrepublic.com/article/112787/fetal-heartbeat-abortion-laws-dangerous-even-if-judges-reject-them

 

North Dakota’s only abortion clinic isn’t going anywhere

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/02/north-dakotas-only-abortion-clinic-isnt-going-anywhere

 

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, an opponent of Obamacare, pushes controversial plan to expand Medicaid

www.indystar.com/article/20130331/NEWS05/303310041/An-opponent-Obamacare-Gov-Pence-pushes-controversial-plan-expand-Medicaid

 

Newly released data reveal extent of veterans’ backlog

cironline.org/blog/post/newly-released-data-reveal-extent-veterans-backlog-4324
http://cironline.org/reports/va%E2%80%99s-ability-quickly-provide-benefits-plummets-under-obama-4241

 John Stanton talks to a soldier who’s going back to war because the 27 percent pay cut of sequestration ruined his finances.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/the-sequester-isnt-a-joke-for-jeff-maryak

 

 

 Sequestration Effects: Cuts Sting Communities Nationwide

www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/sequestration-effects_n_2996101.html?1364903667
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/03/29/the-gops-fiscal-farce/

 

 

Risk and reward at the dawn of civilian drone age
The dawn of the age of aerial civilian drones is rich with possibilities for people far from the war zones where they made their devastating mark as a weapon of choice against terrorists.

http://host.madison.com/news/national/government-and-politics/risk-and-reward-at-the-dawn-of-civilian-drone-age/article_4f2a4c4f-c10b-5ed0-86ff-a30e90568717.html

 Government Pain = Drone Makers’ Gain — “We are not darkening the skies yet,” says executive at SoCal civilian drones conference, “but we are poised.”

www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/drones-industry-uav-market-budget-cuts

❖ Have US drones actually produced more terrorists in Pakistan?  That’s important to assess, but so are other factors:  lack of balance in “hard and soft power”; the sharp decline in schools in tribal area regions saturated with drones; displacement of and deep fear among children.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/03/are-drone-strikes-killing-terrorists-or-creating-them/274499/

 Cartels dispatch agents deep inside U.S.

hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CARTELS_COMING_TO_AMERICA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-01-11-42-29

Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Shame of Three Strikes Laws
     While Wall Street crooks walk, thousands sit in California prisons for life over crimes as trivial as stealing socks

www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/cruel-and-unusual-punishment-the-shame-of-three-strikes-laws-20130327?print=true

Bank of America Finds Profit in Foreign Tax Credit Moves

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-02/bank-of-america-finds-profit-in-foreign-tax-credit-moves.html

Bank of America Corp. more than doubled its profits in 2012 — with some help from the tax code. What the bank calls “restructuring” of its non-U.S. operations yielded $1.7 billion in foreign tax credits, or 41 percent of the $4.2 billion the company reported in 2012 earnings

Counterparties: Hoard of directors

blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/04/01/counterparties-hoard-of-directors/

It’s still a lovefest between Wall Street and regulators (Guardian)

Heidi Moore notes that recent copouts in an SEC investigation and the Libor manipulation case show banks are still allowed to get away with “neither admitting nor denying” their crimes, introducing an element of quantum physics into financial regulation.

Who will be the next Fed chair? Here are Wonkblog’s odds.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/02/who-will-be-the-next-fed-chair-here-are-wonkblogs-odds/

 Could the Banksters Grab Your Bank Deposits?

jonathanturley.org/2013/03/31/could-the-banksters-grab-your-bank-deposits/#more-62375

 Wells Fargo’s “Reprehensible” Foreclosure Abuses Prove Incompetence and Collusion of OCC

www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/04/wells-fargos-reprehensible-foreclosure-abuses-prove-incompetence-and-collusion-of-occ.html

 “The Violent Disorder of Our Public Mind,” by Richard Lichtman. Truthout, March 25, 2013.

The proliferation of random violence in American society is not simply a public health concern, a technocratic problem solvable by laws and regulations. Nor is the “insanity” driving such bloodshed an individual malady. As philosopher Richard Lichtman powerfully articulates, profound alienation is endemic to capitalism, particularly in this hyperactive and potentially terminal phase. Violence and hatred is a mode of “reconstruction.” “To destroy is to remake the universe, to eliminate from it something—not necessarily what confronts one—but what that fragile presence before us symbolizes,” Lichtman writes. “Violence contracts what cannot be embraced or even expanded; it minimizes what cannot be enlarged or shared: one’s powers, one’s love, one’s creative affirmation of the humanity of life in a world that bears the possibility of transcendence in beauty.”

Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA Teaching Science in NYC Schools

colorlines.com/archives/2013/04/wu_tang_clans_gza_teaching_science_in_nyc_schools.html
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news.htm?articleID=8923

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National Politics:

Playing around even in the slightest with the interactive chart shows how insane it is that Congress will ignore the Progressive Caucus’s budget:
   Six lessons from the Post’s awesome budget charts

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/01/six-lessons-from-the-posts-awesome-budget-charts/

 Obama’s new budget will reportedly include GOP’s beloved entitlement cuts. Why he’s overlooking the real solution

www.salon.com/2013/04/01/bad_ideas_that_just_won’t_die/

Why Wouldn’t the President Cut Social Security and Medicare? That’s Up to You.

blog.ourfuture.org/20130402/why-wouldnt-the-president-cut-social-security-and-medicare-thats-up-to-you

One day we may look back with regret on the Great Medicare and Social Security Cuts of 2013. And we won’t be asking ourselves why Obama did it. We’ll be asking ourselves why we didn’t stop it. It’s time to stop wondering about the president’s motives and take a good look at our own.

‘Consider the Source’ e-book tells story of how money dominated Election 2012

www.publicintegrity.org/2013/04/02/12416/consider-source-e-book-tells-story-how-money-dominated-election-2012
http://iw-files.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/pdfs/Consider_the_Source.pdf

Lee Fang:   The Right Leans In
     Media-savvy conservative think tanks take aim and fire at progressive power bases in the states.   

www.thenation.com/article/173528/right-leans?page=full

Flip-Flopping Federalists: On Obamacare, conservative judges were glad to limit Congress’ power. To uphold DOMA, they’ll need to do the opposite.

www.newrepublic.com/article/112800/supreme-court-doma-case-federalism-comes-back-haunt-conservatives

Arkansas’ GOP-led Legislature passes voter ID law

bigstory.ap.org/article/ark-house-finishes-veto-override-voter-id-bill

Supreme Court rejects call to change voting district head counts

www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-supreme-court-voting-district-counts-20130401,0,4268573.story

Tennessee’s Colossally Bad Plan to Change Its Primary System

www.nationaljournal.com/daily/tennessee-s-colossally-bad-plan-to-change-its-primary-system-20130401

Obama picks Brian Deese as deputy budget director nominee

www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-picks-brian-deese-as-deputy-budget-director-nominee/2013/04/01/e68fedc2-9b13-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_story.html

Obama Shouldn’t Buy The Lower-Corporate-Taxes Line

blog.ourfuture.org/20130401/obama-shouldnt-buy-the-lower-corporate-taxes-line

K Street Files: CEOs Lobby for Tax Reform

www.rollcall.com/news/k_street_files_ceos_lobby_for_tax_reform-223526-1.html

 In a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, the executives noted the United States’ 35 percent top statutory rate for corporate taxes puts it at the top of the industrialized world “as the country with the highest statutory corporate rate.”

This “Reforming America’s Taxes Equitably” coalition = AT&T, Altria, Boeing, FedEx, Ford, Disney, CVS…

The nihilism of David Stockman

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/01/the-nihilism-of-david-stockman
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/were-going-to-have-a-crisis-david-stockmans-stark-warning-for-america/274554/

“Stockman and I seem to be direct antagonists on this fundamental question: Should government, in particular central banks, endeavor to corral the ups and downs of capitalism to try to steer their nation toward prosperity? [P]ause for a minute to consider how fundamentally nihilistic Stockman’s view of the economy seems to be: that basically anything the state does to try to fix things is undermining some elegant capitalist order and will inevitably lead to chaos.”

 The anatomy of a misleading fundraising email — Democrats’ pitch rife with curious, questionable statements

www.publicintegrity.org/2013/03/29/12405/anatomy-misleading-fundraising-email

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Environment:

 Coal miners call April 1 rally to protest pension, health cuts — Patriot Coal uses bankruptcy to tear up union contracts          www.themilitant.com/2013/7713/771362.htmlFor anyone who missed this two weeks ago, it really is an appalling scam by Peabody Energy & other coal giants:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-17/america-s-dirtiest-coal-company.html
Oooops.  EPA uses tactics similar to Wisconsin ALEC members:
   Lawsuit against EPA seeks evidence of hidden messageshttp://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/1/lawsuit-accuses-epa-using-instant-messages-avoid-s/?page=all#pagebreakWenonah Hauter on Democracy Now! today:
   The Monsanto Protection Act? A Debate on Controversial New Measure Over Genetically Modified Crops

www.democracynow.org/2013/4/2/the_monsanto_protection_act_a_debate

  Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America from Monsanto to Wal-Mart

www.democracynow.org/2013/4/2/foodopoly_the_battle_over_the_future

Top Senator Apologizes for Monsanto Protection Act

http://www.mikulski.senate.gov/media/pressrelease/3-28-2013.cfm
naturalsociety.com/top-senator-apologizes-for-monsanto-protection-act

Seven things you learn driving the length of the Keystone XL pipeline

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/01/seven-things-you-learn-driving-the-length-of-the-keystone-xl-pipeline/

 Keystone XL: The Science, Stakes, and Strategy Behind the Fight Over the Tar Sands Pipeline

www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/04/keystone-xl-pipeline-bad-youve-heard

Pipelines Can’t Handle North American Oil Boom

oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Pipelines-Cant-Handle-North-American-Oil-Boom.html

Everything You Need to Know About the Exxon Pegasus Tar Sands Spill

www.desmogblog.com/2013/04/01/everything-you-need-know-about-exxon-pegasus-tar-sands-spill

 Why Won’t Exxon Come Clean on the Arkansas Oil Spill Details?

www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/04/exxon-tar-sands-arkansas-pipeline

Arkansas Is What Happens When Powers Behind Oil Spills Get Together Again

www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/arkansas-oil-spill-exxonmobile-enbridge/63759/
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Is-There-Any-Way-to-Win-the-Tar-Sands-Debate-Given-all-These-Spills.html

Everything’s Worked Fine Since The Last Catastrophe

www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/pipeline-problem-040213
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Exxon-Mobil-Oil-Spill-Turns-Residential-Roads-into-Rivers-of-Oil.html

Bill McKibben:  The Methane Beneath Our Feet

www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/apr/01/gas-leaks-methane-beneath-our-feet/

Dr. James Hansen:  Doubling Down on Our Faustian Bargain

readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/16757-doubling-down-on-our-faustian-bargain

Cooling on Warming

   Congressional stalwarts are working new carbon-tax legislation, but don’t hold your breath. This month, during a free-for-all of amendments in the Senate budget debate, Whitehouse actually did propose a nonbinding resolution establishing “a fee on carbon pollution.” The amendment failed, 41 to 58.

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/opinion/collins-cooling-on-warming.html

Multi-Toxin Biotech Crops Not Silver Bullets, Scientists Warn

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130330130838.htm

 Private sector cannot ignore small-scale farmers

www.thebrokeronline.eu/Blogs/Towards-a-food-secure-world/Private-sector-cannot-ignore-small-scale-farmers

Halliburton worker testifies at Gulf spill trial

bigstory.ap.org/article/trial-over-gulf-oil-spill-resumes-halliburton

Oil industry complains that billions in Alaska tax cuts aren’t enough
(…two decades after Exxon’s 11-million gallon oil spill is still causing damage.)

www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130329/senate-oil-tax-cut-not-enough-alaska-lawmakers-told
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/04/01/1807001/alaska-lawmaker-tells-exxon-valdez-spill-not-its-fault-as-state-considers-giving-oil-industry-huge-tax-cut/

Hands Off Yoko! Oil and Gas Drillers Complain About Anti-Fracking Campaign

www.thenation.com/blog/173612/hands-yoko-oil-and-gas-drillers-complain-about-anti-fracking-campaign

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Media:

The Koch brothers’ media investment  They are rumored to want the Tribune chain. A look at Watchdog.org gives some clues about what that might mean.

www.cjr.org/transparency/the_koch_brothers_media_invest.php?page=all

The Issue Groups Taking to TV So Far in 2013

sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/04/02/the-issue-groups-taking-to-tv-so-far-in-2013/

The Transformation of American Journalism Is Unavoidable

towcenter.org/research/post-industrial-journalism/introduction/
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/201039631.html

The real scam: Don’t let broadcasters shut down FCC political ad database over online ripoff

sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/04/02/the-real-scam-dont-let-broadcasters-shut-down-fcc-political-ad-database-over-online-ripoff/

CISPA Explainer #1: What Information Can Be Shared?

www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/cispa-explainer-1-what-information-can-be-shared

Google and privacy: 6 E.U. countries take action

bigstory.ap.org/article/google-and-privacy-6-eu-countries-take-action

 Cruelest month for sequester-related cuts?  Layoffs and furloughs are going into effect—coverage needs to keep up

www.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_cruelest_month_for_sequester-related_cuts.php?page=all

 National Magazine Awards 2013 Finalists Announced

www.magazine.org/about-asme/pressroom/asme-press-releases/asme/national-magazine-awards-2013-finalists-announced
http://longform.org/tags/4367

Columbia & Steve Coll Look Ahead in an Age of Disruption

www.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/business/media/columbias-new-journalism-dean-looks-ahead-in-a-digital-era.html?src=dayp

‘Connect with everyone, even the devil’

www.icij.org/blog/2013/03/connect-everyone-even-devil

Listening Post? Assignment Desk? Explore Investigative Reporting on Reddit

www.propublica.org/getinvolved/item/listening-post-working-group-assignment-desk-exploring-investigative-report

Thomas Friedman Invented His Own Job, Why Shouldn’t You?

www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/thomas-friedman-invented-his-own-job-why-shouldnt-you?

After the Newspaper Building: Struggling dailies are abandoning their grand old buildings.

www.newrepublic.com/article/112795

Can Vice Save the Media from the Business Insider?

www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2013/04/can-vice-save-media-business-insider/63740/
http://www.theawl.com/2013/04/online-journalism-a-bad-business-so-far-say-slideshow-manufacturers

What False Equivalence Looked Like in the Civil War Era

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/what-false-equivalence-looked-like-in-the-civil-war-era/274516/

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Wisconsin:

   If you are in Wisconsin, or know anyone who lives here, please make sure they vote today!

Today is Election Day: Tuesday, April 2, 2013

        gab.wi.gov/node/2702
http://gab.wi.gov/elections-voting/elections

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Low turnout predicted for Tuesday’s elections.

GOP senators on proposed budget deficit: No way!
   Owing to a projected shortfall of $664 million, Gov. Scott Walker’s budget is getting a cool reception among lawmakers, including Neenah’s Mike Ellis (pictured), in his own party.

           http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/gop-senators-on-proposed-budget-deficit-no-way/article_75cb91ee-9b05-11e2-b32f-0019bb2963f4.html
Budget hearings get under way this week          www.wrn.com/2013/04/budget-hearings-get-under-way-this-week/
Scott Walker:   Budget allocates money to help move Wisconsin forwardJob slump is Walker’s fault

         www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/job-slump-is-walkers-fault-ci9cmke-200967701.html

Evangelical conservative confirms Ryan-esque GOP agenda is slashing social programs and giving the savings to billionaires

uppitywis.org/blogarticle/evangelical-conservative-confirms-ryan-esque-gop-agenda-slashing

Kathleen Vinehout:  State budget decisions affect you

uppitywis.org/blogarticle/state-budget-decisions-affect-you

Sen. Shilling. Column: The state budget is no joke.

 

Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Rising state debt concerns some lawmakers.

Lawmakers Might Reduce Cuts To Court Sytem In Walker Budget

news.wpr.org/post/lawmakers-might-reduce-cuts-court-sytem-walker-budget

Fallone campaign says Roggensack flip-flopped on recusals

www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/mar/29/patience-roggensack/fallone-campaign-says-roggensack-flip-flopped-recu/

We need to start somewhere in getting control of our election spending, the Appleton Post-Crescent writes on election eve. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizen United that opened the floodgates to unlimited spending, at least let’s pass laws that require full disclosure of who’s doing the spending, the paper pleads.

Bill proposes to make it harder to launch local recall effort
   It would be harder to launch a local recall effort under a bill to allow it only against officials charged with criminal or ethics law violations.

                http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/bill-proposes-to-make-it-harder-to-launch-local-recall/article_c78f05d2-9b24-11e2-bf8c-0019bb2963f4.html

    Frac Sand Companies Skirt Regulation Through Annexation

news.wpr.org/post/frac-sand-companies-skirt-regulation-through-annexation

Coalition Aims To End Tar Sands Pipelines In Great Lakes Region

news.wpr.org/post/coalition-aims-end-tar-sands-pipelines-great-lakes-region

 Walker’s Act 10 leads to downfall of Milwaukee labor publication

gazettextra.com/weblogs/latest-news/2013/apr/01/walkers-act-10-elads-downfall-labor-publication/

Why Labor Press publishes final edition
There were some – still are — who tolerated Walker’s policies as an effort to cut the fat. He has now cut into the heart muscle. What used to be the lifeblood of democracy – the freedom to communicate and organize – has become a punctured artery.

www.milwaukeelabor.org/in_the_news/article.cfm?n_id=00337

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Milwaukee Labor Press publishes final issue.

Nine aldermen urge vote on same-day voter question

www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/201034411.html

Wisconsin elections board hopes to fill vacancy

www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/wisconsin-elections-board-hopes-to-fill-vacancy-k79cv3l-201023041.html

Which companies will offer plans on the state health care exchange?

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/jessica_vanegeren/which-companies-will-offer-plans-on-the-state-health-care/article_4dbc5cfa-9b01-11e2-a95f-0019bb2963f4.html

Sen. Lasse, Rep. Knodl: Propose common sense UI reform package to the Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council

In an in-depth post, Political Environment blogger James Rowen traces what he calls Scott Walker’s “fateful decision” to scuttle the passenger rail plan to connect Madison with Milwaukee and eventually the Twin Cities. Rowen recounts Walker’s actions and how they have left the Milwaukee-Madison corridor unconnected in a world of advancing technology. Just one of the reasons Wisconsin is lagging other states in job creation, he notes.

Governor Walker needs to get a grip

www.jsonline.com/blogs/purple-wisconsin/200917471.html

Madison School Board election media roundup.

On FightingBob, David Giffey today writes about “vouchering ourselves to death,” in which he uses comments by educator Barbara Miner who talks about the false facade that’s being created by the push for vouchers and charter schools. It’s all an effort to siphon public money for private purposes, he suggests.

Sen. Grothman, Rep. Kaufert. Unveil tax credit for private school tuition.

Beloit Daily News. Editorial: Don’t discourage options in school.

Report Paints Grim Picture Of Wisconsin’s, And Nation’s, Infrastructure

news.wpr.org/post/report-paints-grim-picture-wisconsins-and-nations-infrastructure

Appleton Post Crescent. State cashes in on selling voter rolls.

Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. Creates Conservation Leadership Corps.

Green Bay Press Gazette. Let’s make it easier to sue over wind turbines, Lasee says.

Wisconsin Supreme Court. Accepts six new cases.

Madison-Kipp asked governor’s office to interfere in lawsuit, DNR official says

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/madison-kipp-asked-governor-s-office-to-interfere-in-lawsuit/article_40c4d1de-9b2a-11e2-adfd-0019bb2963f4.html

WFoIC:  Child-care, elder records easier to get

wisfoic.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=264:april-child-care-elder-records-easier-to-get&catid=58:2013&Itemid=55

Rightwing Watch:

RW’s Key Reads

www.rightwisconsin.com/keyreads/201023091.html

 Same Day Registration Referendum is Liberal Turnout Gimmick

www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/200941601.html

Wisconsin tax climate among the worst in the country (Media Trackers)

Unemployment fraud in Wisconsin (MacIver Institute)

Records request: What’s going on with vacant Milwaukee school buildings?

watchdog.org/77499/records-request-whats-going-on-with-vacant-milwaukee-school-buildings/

News Roundup, March 18th

National News:

 Iraq 10 Years Later: The Deadly Consequences of Spin

www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/iraq-war-spin-bush-david-corn

Krugman:  Marches of Folly

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/opinion/krugman-marches-of-folly.html

Tim Price: Ten years after the invasion of Iraq, Paul Krugman looks back on how the U.S. was persuaded to act against its best interests by a deceitful and manipulative political elite and a compliant media. Thank goodness we all learned our lesson that time.

 

 Ever More Shocked, Never Yet Awed

warisacrime.org/iraq

Bush Speechwriter: I Met Ahmed Chalabi At Christopher Hitchens’s Apartment

www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/03/18/the-speechwriter-inside-the-bush-administration-during-the-iraq-war.html

A decade later, veterans weigh in on “A War, Before and After”

opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/a-war-before-and-after/?partner=rss&emc=rss

VA’s ability to quickly provide benefits plummets under Obama

cironline.org/reports/va’s-ability-quickly-provide-benefits-plummets-under-obama-4241

A war’s misleading anniversary

www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/03/17/the-iraq-war-has-bookends/fv4sq0Lw1393k8dZZhwDXJ/story.html

NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake on the US Secrecy State as Predator of the First Amendment

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4389857
dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/03/17/nsa-whistleblower-thomas-drake-on-the-us-secrecy-state-as-predator-of-the-first-amendment/

Rupert Murdoch Wins Contract to Develop Common Core Tests

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2013/03/amplify_insight_wins_contract_from_common_core_testing_consortium.html
dianeravitch.net/2013/03/17/rupert-murdoch-wins-contract-to-develop-common-core-tests/

A Tough Road for Charter Proposal
Dan Patrick, the Texas Senate education chairman, has plans to expand the state’s charter school system, but they will have to pass a Legislature that defeated more modest proposals just two years ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/education/a-tough-road-for-charter-proposal.html?ref=education

Alabama: Governor Signs Law Granting Private School Tax Credits
Gov. Robert Bentley signed a law on Thursday granting tax credits to families who want to send their children to private schools or better-performing public schools.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/education/alabama-governor-signs-law-granting-private-school-tax-credits.html?ref=education

 

Most low-income students who have top test scores and grades do not even apply to the nation’s best colleges

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/education/scholarly-poor-often-overlook-better-colleges.html

Justice official Thomas Perez to be nominated to top Labor slot

http://host.madison.com/news/national/government-and-politics/justice-official-to-be-nominated-to-top-labor-slot/article_4f980bfb-81f5-54f5-b149-337423be3aae.html
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=5DA7EDF1-E02E-4A71-A450-7EBB28F3D3A4

Get ready to hear a lot about this from the GOP when they surely move to block him:
 Obama to nominate Justice official cited in negative report for Cabinet

blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/2013/03/obama-to-nominate-justice-official-cited-in-negative-report-for-cabinet.html

Gideon’s Muted Trumpet
“A poor person has a much greater chance of being incarcerated now than when Gideon was decided, 50 years ago today [This is] because of prosecutorial policies that essentially target the poor and relegate their lawyers to negotiating guilty pleas, rather than mounting a defense.”

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/opinion/gideons-muted-trumpet.html

Bill in North Dakota Bans Abortion After Heartbeat Is Found
Shortly after Arkansas adopted the country’s most stringent abortion limits, North Dakota’s Legislature approved a bill blocking the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/us/north-dakota-approves-bill-to-ban-abortions-after-heartbeat-is-found.html?ref=health
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/15/1724911/north-dakota-six-week-heartbeat-ban/

 

 Ohio Teenagers Guilty in Rape That Social Media Brought to Light

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/us/teenagers-found-guilty-in-rape-in-steubenville-ohio.html?ref=us&_r=0&pagewanted=all
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/17/steubenville-football-players-guilty-rape

Steubenville Rape Guilty Verdict: The Case That Social Media Won

ideas.time.com/2013/03/17/steubenville-rape-guilty-verdict-the-case-that-social-media-won/

In Some States, Gun Rights Trump Orders of Protection — Facing Protective Orders for Abuse, yet Allowed to Keep Guns

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/us/facing-protective-orders-and-allowed-to-keep-guns.html?pagewanted=1&src=twr&pagewanted=all&_r=0

In the mid-1990s, Wisconsin became one of the first states to require the surrender of firearms with full protective orders. But in 2010, seeking to strengthen enforcement, advocates for domestic violence victims pushed for the statewide adoption of procedures that had been successful in a few counties. Among a host of provisions, people subject to protective orders would have been required to list their firearms and surrender them to the county sheriff or a third party within 48 hours.
The N.R.A. mobilized, calling the measure “a blatant violation of Americans’ Fifth Amendment rights” in an alert to its members. Jordan Austin, an N.R.A. lobbyist, expanded in his testimony on the bill before an Assembly committee: “Once a person has an injunction issued against him, he is already a prohibited person. He cannot, under the Fifth Amendment, be forced to disclose whether he is in possession of firearms, because that would be tantamount to forcing him to admit a crime.”
The bill died in the State Senate.

 

Weld County, Colorado Sheriff  Cooke won’t enforce new state gun laws

www.greeleytribune.com/news/5575283-113/gun-state-background-colorado

 

Drones: A Booming Business?
Unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones, may soon become commercialized. In Grand Forks, N.D., people are preparing for a coming boom in drones-related business.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/03/17/business/100000002115828/drones-a-booming-business.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/keller-smart-drones.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Court Orders the C.I.A. to Disclose Drone Data

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/us/court-says-cia-must-yield-some-data-on-drones.html

 

For the second year in a row the Justice Department has been given the not-so-prestigious Rosemary Award by the National Security Archive. The group gives the award annually to a public agency with a bad track record of transparency and openness over the past year.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/post/justice-department-wins-award-for-secrecy/2013/03/14/c8be97f0-8cd9-11e2-9f54-f3fdd70acad2_blog.html?wprss=rss_congress

 

Obama Inc.: What businesses want to learn from the president’s campaign
The president raised a billion dollars for his reelection campaign, but the staffers who engineered his victory may be worth even more to corporations and other groups that are eager to unlock the trade secrets that made the Obama brand so successful.
www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/17/obama-inc-what-businesses-want-to-learn-from-the-presidents-campaign

 

A Look Behind the Curtain at Wall Street’s 24/7 Effort to Gut Finance Reform

www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/03/wall-streets-247-effort-gut-dodd-frank

{about this huge article:}
He Who Makes the Rules — Barack Obama’s biggest second-term challenge isn’t guns or immigration. It’s saving his biggest first-term achievements, like the Dodd-Frank law, from being dismembered by lobbyists and conservative jurists in the shadowy, Byzantine “rule-making” process.

www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2013/features/he_who_makes_the_rules043315.php?page=all&print=true

 

Records show Detroit’s emergency manager has tax liens on Maryland home

www.detroitnews.com/article/20130316/METRO01/303160352#ixzz2NquplNdk

 

More Work and No Play Puts Today’s Moms in a Tough Bind (Forbes)

Bryce Covert notes that a study finds men have stepped up their presence at home since the ’60s (in that they no longer behave like visitors from out of town), but women still shoulder the burden of work whether they’re at home or, well, work.

 

Still true after 40 years: Voters prefer cuts in theory, spending in practice

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/18/voters-prefer-cuts-in-theory-spending-in-practice

 

NYT editorial board:  The Real Spending Problem (is $1.1 trillion in tax breaks annually)

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/the-real-spending-problem.html?hp

 

Generational wealth in decline:
❖ “People in their 30s and younger currently have a net worth half of what” their parents had at the same age.

www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/03/15/new-reality-generational-wealth-on-decline/

 

Wall Street Execs Should Face Criminal Consequences

www.progressive.org/wall-street-execs-should-face-criminal-consequences

President of Dallas Fed Says Too-Big-To-Fail Banks Need To Be Broken Up

www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/16/fisher-too-big-to-fail_n_2891452.html

Steve Cohen’s SAC will pay more than $600 million to settle insider trading allegations

http://reuters.com/article/2013/03/15/us-sec-insidertrading-idUSBRE92E0V720130315
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2013/2013-41.htm

 JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon showed too much hubris and too little humility: The JP Morgan debacle was not a momentary lapse. It was an issue of culture – and it reflects badly on its charismatic CEO

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/15/jp-morgan-jamie-dimon-heidi-moore

Counterparties: Ina the belly of the London whale

blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/03/15/counterparties-ina-the-belly-of-the-whale/

Trading Hearings Put Focus Back on JPMorgan’s Chief

dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/trading-hearings-put-focus-back-on-jpmorgans-chief/?ref=business&pagewanted=print

Elizabeth Warren: St. Patrick drove snakes out of Ireland…to Wall Street

www.necn.com/03/17/13/Elizabeth-Warren-St-Patrick-drove-snakes/landing_politics.html?blockID=834951&feedID=11106

 

White House Urged to Fire a Housing Regulator
Edward J. DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has been at odds with the White House over a proposal to reduce the principal on underwater mortgages.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/business/economy/attorneys-general-press-white-house-to-fire-fhfa-chief.html?ref=politics

Yet Another Bank Fined for a Magnetar Deal, With Yet More Revealing Emails

www.propublica.org/article/yet-another-bank-fined-for-a-magnetar-deal-with-yet-more-revealing-emails
http://www.propublica.org/article/the-magnetar-trade-how-one-hedge-fund-helped-keep-the-housing-bubble-going

Number of Cases Filed by SEC Slows

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324392804578360521650790966.html?mod=rss_US_News

“The Securities and Exchange Commission is filing significantly fewer civil fraud cases this year, as its efforts to punish misconduct related to the financial crisis start to ebb. The agency is likely to fall short this fiscal year of its record-breaking number of enforcement actions in the previous two years, said people familiar with the matter But the new chairman may have to explain later this year how her tough rhetoric dovetails with a fall in the annual level of enforcement actions.”

 

 

Resistance in Cyprus Grows to Europe’s Bailout Plan
President Nicos Anastasiades delayed a vote on a $13 billion bailout that set off outrage for calling on bank depositors in Cyprus to bear part of the cost, while stocks markets faltered on concerns over the plan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/business/global/asian-markets-drop-on-latest-euro-concerns.html?hp

Things to know about the Cyprus bailout, in one FAQ

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/18/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-cyprus-bailout-in-one-faq-2

 Cyprus: The next blunder

www.voxeu.org/article/cyprus-next-blunder
www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/03/will-cyprus-become-creditanstalt-2-0.html
http://www.theautomaticearth.com/Finance/the-cyprus-deal-is-already-under-threat-of-course.html

 

 

 

 

 

National Politics:

How Republican consultants launched Tea Party Express & much more by repeatedly raising money to fight “Obama’s socialist agenda”:
 Inside Game: Creating PACs and then Spending Their Money

www.propublica.org/article/inside-game-creating-pacs-and-then-spending-their-money

Obama-Republican Budget Battle Isn’t Only Taxes and Cuts
“The wrangling of President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over the federal budget underscores a clash of core philosophies about how the economy works that supersedes any skirmish on taxes or spending cuts.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/obama-republican-budget-battle-isn-t-only-taxes-and-cuts.html

Speaker Boehner Admits ‘We Do Not Have An Immediate Debt Crisis’

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/03/17/1731881/boehner-agrees-with-obama-the-debt-crisis-is-not-immediate/
news.firedoglake.com/2013/03/18/speaker-boehner-admits-we-do-not-have-an-immediate-debt-crisis/

Even Paul Ryan Admits That America Isn’t Facing A Debt Crisis

thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/03/13/1712141/paul-ryan-debt-crisis/?mobile=nc

House Appropriations Chair Takes Down Republican Budget: It ‘Cuts Too Much’

thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/03/15/1724941/rogers-republican-budget/
http://mycn2.com/politics/congressman-hal-rogers-says-paul-ryan-s-budget-cuts-too-much-but-would-vote-for-it

Competing Visions: Rep. Paul Ryan, Sen. Patty Murray, and House Progressives Release Budget Proposals for 2014

nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2013/budget-proposals-2014/
http://nationalpriorities.org/media/uploads/publications/competingvisions2014.final.pdf

NYT editorial:  Senate Democrats Finally Take a Stand

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/opinion/senate-democrats-finally-take-a-stand.html?hp&_r=1&

The Budget Wars: An Outbreak of Sanity or the Foundations for a New Offensive?

www.nextnewdeal.net/budget-wars-outbreak-sanity-or-foundations-new-offensive

Nun wishes Pope Francis would write to Paul Ryan about his ‘extremely unjust’ budget

www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/15/nun-wishes-pope-francis-would-write-to-paul-ryan-about-his-extremely-unjust-budget
www.nextnewdeal.net/price-point/new-pope-brings-new-hope-ending-austerity

Chris van Hollen: House budget ‘Romney plan on steroids’

http://host.madison.com/news/democrat-house-budget-romney-plan-on-steroids/article_ff99d9b4-f01b-580f-8697-d7cc8fecac5f.html

The Congress-Does-Nothing Deficit Reduction Plan — How “bracket creep” (the good kind) could make the long-term fiscal outlook better than everyone thinks.

www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/march_april_2013/ten_miles_square/the_congressdoesnothing_defici043310.php

In its much-awaited “autopsy” report of the GOP’s problems and path forward, the Republican National Committee on Monday endorsed comprehensive immigration reform, committed to a $10 million outreach effort primarily in minority communities, and proposed major reforms to its digital operations to catch up with Democrats. The committee also suggests shortening the Republican presidential primary process and moving up its nominating convention several months, among dozens of recommendations.

The full report can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/142VzYL
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/us/politics/republicans-plan-overhaul-for-2016-primary-season.html?hp

It’s The Policy, Stupid: 4 Policies That Undermine The GOP’s New Voter Outreach Strategy

thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/03/18/1732711/the-gops-growth-and-opportunity-project-debunked-in-one-table/

Conflicts of interest run rampant in state legislatures — Rules are few, oversight weak so lawmakers vote regularly on bills that affect their outside interests

www.publicintegrity.org/2013/03/18/12313/conflicts-interest-run-rampant-state-legislatures

 Obama’s support group OFA off to sluggish start

thehill.com/homenews/administration/288305-obama-support-group-off-to-sluggish-start

 Club for Growth targets look to John Boehner for help

dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=F3CAD5FF-6294-4A05-94D5-8572C397DAEA

Gingrich’s American Solutions Reborn as Nonprofit

www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/03/gringrichs-american-solutions-rebor.html

 Mitch McConnell Will Fundraise With Billionaires After Saying the GOP Is Not The Party of Billionaires

www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/03/mitch-mcconnell-republican-party-billionaires-fundraising-senate

Game on: Early GOP auditions for 2016 election

http://host.madison.com/news/game-on-early-gop-auditions-for-election/article_ade12e69-5ec7-5f4e-9d72-bd420e506fdb.html

How could that be?
 RNC: Voters see GOP as ‘scary’ and ‘out of touch’

dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=780D5921-8ABC-4954-ADC1-6C6A522AC300

Anyone who may’ve missed this over the weekend, this is a disturbing must-read:
CPAC’s ‘Trump the Race Card’ Panel Derailed by Actual Segregationist

www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/03/cpacs-trump-race-card-panel-derailed-actual-segregationist/63173/
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rnc-chair-asked-about-chaotic-race-panel-at

CPAC Event On Racial Tolerance Turns To Chaos As ‘Disenfranchised’ Whites Arrive

tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/tea-party-event-on-racial-tolerance-turns-to-chaos-as-white-supremacists-arrive.php?ref=fpb

At CPAC, Hunger for New Leadership

www.rollcall.com/news/at_cpac_hunger_for_new_leadership-223193-1.html?zkPrintable=true

Marxists Infiltrated The Catholic Church, And Four Other Crazy Things We Learned At CPAC

thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/03/16/1720361/marxists-infiltrated-the-catholic-church-and-four-other-crazy-things-we-learned-at-cpac/

Priebus Announces Minority Outreach Initiative at RNC

atr.rollcall.com/priebus-announces-minority-outreach-initiative-at-rnc/

Dallas Fed’s Fisher And CPAC’s Fishy Too-Big-To-Fail Event

www.openmarket.org/2013/03/16/dallas-feds-fisher-and-cpacs-fishy-too-big-to-fail-event/

 

 

 

 

 

Environment:

 How Monsanto Outfoxed the Obama Administration — The inside story of how the government let one company squash biotech innovation, and dominate an entire industry   www.alternet.org/how-monsanto-outfoxed-obama-administration?paging=off

New ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ Gives Monsanto Power Over US Government

naturalsociety.com/new-monsanto-protection-act-gives-monsanto-power-over-us-government

Bills seek end to farm animal abuse videos

www.wlns.com/story/21663986/bills-seek-end-to-farm-animal-abuse-videos

How to Force Ethics on the Food Industry

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/how-to-force-ethics-on-the-food-industry.html?pagewanted=all

 University of Tennessee Wins Approval for Hydraulic Fracturing Plan
  The university says leasing land to a gas company to conduct hydraulic fracturing would allow researchers to study the impact in a closed environment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/science/earth/university-of-tennessees-fracking-plan-wins-approval-and-stirs-protests.html?ref=education

Shale formation in Montana frustrates oil drillers
“What we haven’t been able to crack the code on is how to make these wells produce economically”

billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/shale-formation-in-montana-frustrates-oil-drillers/article_14e20e2f-fa60-5eb3-9b86-e7d8d3cb8870.html

Bill McKibben:  America’s Dirtiest Coal Company

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-17/america-s-dirtiest-coal-company.html

In the fall of 2007, Peabody Energy Corp., the coal-mining giant, spun off all its unionized mines into a new company, Patriot Coal Corp.  In the process, it got rid of the promises it had made over generations to coal miners and their families.
Or, as Peabody’s chief executive officer put it, “We’re reducing our legacy liabilities roughly $1 billion.” This was such a good idea that another coal giant, Arch Coal Inc. (ACI), unloaded its union mines on Patriot as well, though it cycled them first through yet another front. All totted up, Patriot now had 10,000 retirees and their health-care benefits on its books.
This company was designed to fail. Patriot is almost certainly the only five-year-old company on earth with three times as many retirees as employees, 90 percent of whom never worked for the company. And fail it did, declaring bankruptcy last summer. Now it’s going through Chapter 11 reorganization and hoping to emerge freed of its obligations for the pensions and medical care of those miners.

 

Oil giant BP is taking legal action in the US to limit payouts by a fund set up to compensate those affected by the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21814732

How Vernal, Utah, Learned to Love Big Oil

www.onearth.org/article/how-vernal-utah-learned-to-love-big-oil

Cars in the U.S. are more fuel-efficient than ever. Here’s why.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/16/cars-in-the-u-s-are-more-fuel-efficient-than-ever-heres-why/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/vehicle-fuel-economy-has-biggest-u-s-gain-since-1975.html

“Modern chicken has no flavor” — let’s make it in a lab.  KFC, Chipotle and other chains know natural flavors don’t survive mass production. Here’s how they fake it

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/17/modern_chicken_has_no_flavor_lets_make_it_in_a_lab/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/vehicle-fuel-economy-has-biggest-u-s-gain-since-1975.html

Research Finds Wind Farm Health Concerns Probably Caused By Anti-Wind Scare Campaigns

www.desmogblog.com/2013/03/14/research-finds-wind-farm-health-concerns-probably-caused-anti-wind-scare-campaigns

Spring Rain, Then Foul Algae in Ailing Lake Erie

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/science/earth/algae-blooms-threaten-lake-erie.html?pagewanted=all

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media:

Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism The State of the News Media 2013 – An Annual Report on American Journalism

stateofthemedia.org

Nearly one-third of U.S. adults have abandoned a news outlet due to dissatisfaction

www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/207392/nearly-one-third-of-u-s-adults-have-abandoned-a-news-outlet-due-to-dissatisfaction/
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/207396/state-of-the-news-media-2013-shows-advertising-declines-promising-rise-of-new-business-models/

U.S. Looked at Wall Street Journal Over Claims of Bribery

www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/business/media/us-looked-at-bribery-claims-involving-wall-street-journal.html#h[]

Alberta lobbies for Keystone XL in New York Times ad — Influential newspaper ran editorial last week urging Obama to reject pipeline

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/03/17/alberta-lobbies-keystone-xl-new-york-times.html

 Could Twitter Have Stopped The Media’s Rush To War In Iraq?

mediamatters.org/blog/2013/03/18/could-twitter-have-stopped-the-medias-rush-to-w/193074

Kochtopus Tentacles Reaching For Media Outlets

www.desmogblog.com/2013/03/17/kochtopus-tentacles-reaching-media-outlets

Lawsuit tests bloggers’ freedom of speech rights
A colleague of the late conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart is asking a federal court of appeals to throw out a defamation case brought against him by former government employee Shirley Sherrod, saying the lawsuit violates the blogger’s right to freedom of speech.

http://host.madison.com/news/national/government-and-politics/lawsuit-tests-bloggers-freedom-of-speech-rights/article_0117e3fa-02bb-57da-97b3-eb15c0356136.html
The Cyprus bailout fiasco  Get ready for a week (if we’re lucky) of euro crisis news

www.cjr.org/the_audit/the_cyprus_bailout.php

Security reporter speaks about hacked 911 call that sent SWAT team to his house

arstechnica.com/security/2013/03/security-reporter-tells-ars-about-hacked-911-call-that-sent-swat-team-to-his-house/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/blind_hacker/

 Bizarre New York Times Article on Lousy Finances of the Young Gives Undue Prominence to Housing as an Investment

www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/03/bizarre-new-york-times-article-on-lousy-finances-of-the-young-gives-undue-prominence-to-housing-as-an-investment.html

Insult to injury: stolen wages, weak enforcement

www.cjr.org/united_states_project/insult_to_injury_stolen_wages.php?page=all
http://inthesetimes.com/article/14595/wage_theft_epidemic/

CNN’s Steubenville coverage called too sympathetic to teens found guilty

www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/207477/cnns-steubenville-coverage-called-too-sympathetic-to-teens-found-guilty/

How the media took sides in the Steubenville rape case

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/03/18/1732701/media-steubenville/

This Week in Review: The lessons of Google Reader’s death, and the free labor of news sources

www.niemanlab.org/2013/03/this-week-in-review-the-lessons-of-google-readers-death-and-the-free-labor-of-news-sources/
http://gigaom.com/2013/03/15/why-the-death-of-google-reader-doesnt-bother-me-that-much-social-news-has-won/

Dean Baker:  Capitalism, Steven Pearlstein, and Morality

       www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/capitalism-steven-pearlstein-and-morality

Circulation down, challenges up at alt-weeklies

www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/207525/circulation-down-challenges-up-at-alt-weeklies/

The Boston Phoenix closing is another sign that glossing up print doesn’t work miracles
 The alt weekly, one of the nation’s best, announced its closure Thursday after nearly 50 years of publishing.

www.niemanlab.org/2013/03/the-boston-phoenix-closing-is-another-sign-that-glossing-up-print-doesnt-work-miracles

 

 

¡!¡Wisconsin!¡!:

Scott Walker opens up about White House ambitions      www.politico.com/story/2013/03/walker-opens-up-about-white-house-ambitions-88938.html?hp=l15
http://www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/198621831.html

Washington Post. Scott Walker says he would consider run for president. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Tennessean. DPW.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/on-politics/on-politics-gov-scott-walker-mulls-run-for-president/article_d9f8bccc-8e77-11e2-8613-0019bb2963f4.html 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/198695851.html

Wis. governor thrills gathering of conservatives

 Don Pridemore: No more interviews with you

host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/jack_craver/don-pridemore-no-more-interviews-with-you/article_cb0566c2-8dc6-11e2-ab16-0019bb2963f4.html

Janesville Gazette. GOP superintendent’s campaign blacklists news reporters.

LFB. Summary of Governor’s 2013-15 budget recommendations.

 DOA could sell off state property in governor’s budget proposal

host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/doa-could-sell-off-state-property-in-governor-s-budget/article_624deef6-8fc9-11e2-a713-001a4bcf887a.html

Appleton Post Crescent. Budget language over land sales raise concerns.

The state would have much broader power to sell or lease state-owned properties — including buildings overseen by the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents — under Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed 2013-15 budget, according to a newly released budget summary by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The state Department of Administration could sell those and other properties with or without the approval of the agency having jurisdiction over them.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Paul Ryan, Scott Walker tout conservative views on TV talk shows.

 Paul Ryan Warns of Debt Crisis on ‘Face The Nation’

www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/198699101.html

 Reince Priebus: “We’ve Got To Win The Heart War”

www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/198699701.html

Reince Priebus says Republican Party will spend $10 million to connect with (brown-skinned) voters at community level

www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/198693251.html

U.S. Rep. Ryan. Remarks on the passage of the SKILLS Act.

Sheboygan Press. Dems see Ryan budget as campaign sledgehammer.

How the Social Security issue exemplifies the politics of deceit — Sure, the program needs tweaking, but Wisconsin Republicans like Paul Ryan ‘star’ in a misleading political dialogue that prevents it.

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/paul_fanlund/paul-fanlund-how-the-social-security-issue-exemplifies-the-politics/article_2cb965c2-8ce0-11e2-96b7-001a4bcf887a.html

Feingold finds a ‘cancer on our democracy’

host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-feingold-finds-a-cancer-on-our-democracy/article_d9c8a0bc-8d93-11e2-8de0-0019bb2963f4.html

 

On BloggingBlue, blogger James Richard Bailey compares today’s corporate power to that of King George in pre-revolutionary America. He blames the U.S. Supreme Court for creating this anomaly and recommends two actions to overcome it: an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that spells out corporations aren’t citizens and one that provides public financing for all elections.

 Roll Call: Key votes from the Wisconsin congressional delegation this week

host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/roll-call-key-votes-from-the-wisconsin-congressional-delegation-this/article_55243c86-8db6-11e2-bcad-001a4bcf887a.html

Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. Bill denies purchase of unhealthy foods with food stamps.

La Crosse Tribune. Bill would change retirement age for Wisconsin public employees.

Will a New Mining Law Erode the Quality of Life and Water in the Northwoods?  Metallic mining in Wisconsin used to be tightly regulated. Mining Bill SB 1, signed into law by Scott Walker on Monday, is changing that.

http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/adventure-ethics/Will-a-New-Mining-Law-Erode-the-Quality-of-Life-and-Water-in-the-Northwoods.html?page=all

Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. Editorial: Boon or disaster? Let mining experts study and report.

Green Bay Press Gazette. After decades of mining, industry remains unpredictable.

http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/article/20130317/MNH0101/303170387/Loyalty-culture-run-deep-Midwest-s-iron-mining-territory?nclick_check=1

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Challenges to iron-ore mine likely to wind up in Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Enbridge seeks to pipe more Canada oil to Superior 

http://host.madison.com/news/state-and-regional/enbridge-seeks-to-pipe-more-canada-oil-to-superior/article_b7a5519a-6bdd-599a-887b-fdeafb07f436.html

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/company-could-nearly-double-pipeline-capacity-829669b-198647351.html

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Conflict region mineral rule could prove costly for manufacturers.

The Chief and The Sheriff: Two views of Milwaukee’s homicide picture

www.politifact.com/wisconsin/article/2013/mar/17/chief-and-sheriff-two-views-milwaukees-homicide-pi/

• Public-private pay comparison mired in uncertainty

Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter. Jobs outlook in Wisconsin a ‘mixed bag.’

WJFW. Jobless benefits affected by sequester.

In her Isthmus column, Ruth Conniff of the Progressive writes that federal budget cuts are having serious consequences in Wisconsin, impacting everything from school funding to Head Start.

DFER Wisconsin, American Federation for Children, Milwaukee Charter School Advocates, Wisconsin Charter Schools Association.  Letter to Joint Finance Co-Chairs in support of independent charter school expansion.

 

Let the sunshine on the Legislature, the Beloit Daily News editorializes, pointing out that the Assembly and Senate make rules for everyone else, but then exempt themselves.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Walker proposal to end residency rule opposed by municipalities’ board.

Canada questions Waukesha’s bid for Great Lakes water

 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Proposed bill looks to light up Wisconsin’s solar sector.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Roggensack gets backing of police union.

As if the corporate media isn’t biased enough, contends  blogger Chris Liebenthal, now the news that the Koch brothers may be buying the Chicago Tribune newspapers. Apparently Charlie Sykes isn’t effective enough, he chortles. On FightingBob, Ed Garvey notes that the Koch news is a reason to start worrying.

Madison  blogger Brenda Konkel contends that she was harassed by the cops when she and others helped move the homeless from their temporary shelter at Token Creek Park.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. J.B. Van Hollen wants to appoint solicitor general.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Botched signature on paratransit bid takes taxpayers for $8.6 million ride.

DWD. Lt. Gov. Kleefisch Sec. Newson praise Second Chance Partners as model for educating, training new generation of skilled workers.

Right-wing:

Right Wisconsin’s “Key Reads”

       www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/198757081.html

Week In Review: Wisconsin could use a little more sunshine

      watchdog.org/74901/week-in-review-wisconsin-could-use-a-little-more-sunshine/

Wisconsin Reporter. Workforce Development calls bull on BLS’ Wisconsin employment numbers.

Rep. John Jagler:   School Choice Opponents Should Be Careful What They Wish For

       www.rightwisconsin.com/perspectives/198527641.html

 You Can Join the Fight for Educational Freedom

      http://federationforchildren.org/articles/761

Also is a sponsored post at Right Wisconsin:     www.rightwisconsin.com/dailytakes/198691551.html

Van Hollen Says Tuesday’s Decision Doesn’t Matter

       www.maciverinstitute.com/2013/03/van-hollen-says-tuesdays-decision-doesnt-matter/

ALEC and Koch Front Groups Attack Kansas Clean Energy Standard

By Connor Gibson

Crossposted from Greenpeace USA. 

A recent flood of Koch-supported think tanks, junk scientists and astroturf groups from inside and outside of Kansas are awaiting the outcome of a bill this week that could stall progress on the growth of clean energy in Kansas.

States around the country, including Texas, Ohio, Missouri and North Carolina are poised to cut back on government support for clean energy jobs using model legislation from the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, which brings companies together with state lawmakers to forge a wish list of corporate state laws behind closed doors, is coordinating this year’s assault on state laws that require a gradual increase of electricity generated by clean energy sources.

ALEC and a hoard of other Koch-funded interests operating under the umbrella of the State Policy Network have hit Kansas legislators hard with junk economic studies, junk science and a junk vision of more polluting energy in Kansas’ future. Koch Industries lobbyist Jonathan Small has added direct pressure on Kansas lawmakers to rollback support for clean energy.

This fossil fuel-funded attack ignores the good that wind energy has done for Kansas, a state known for its bipartisan support for its growing wind industry (see key report by Polsinelli Shughart). The state now has 19 operating wind farms that have brought millions to farmers leasing their land and millions more to the state, county and local levels (NRDC). The American Wind Energy Association says that Kansas wind industry jobs have grown to 13,000 with the help of incentives like the renewable portfolio standard.

Unfortunately, clean energy is not palatable to the billionaire Koch brothers or the influence peddlers they finance.

All of the following State Policy Network affiliates (except the Kansas Policy Institute) are directly funded by the Koch brothers, while most of the groups get secretive grants through the Koch-affiliated “Dark Money ATM,” Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, which have distributed over $120,000,000 to 100 groups involved in climate denial since 2002.

Beacon Hill Institute

• $53,500 grant from Donors Trust in 2007
• Koch-funded (Washington Post)
• State Policy Network member

Based out of Suffolk University’s economics department, the Beacon Hill Institute wrote the fundamentally flawed analysis that ALEC is using to scare legislators into thinking that renewable portfolio standards will destroy the economy. In reality, electricity prices do not correlate with state RPS laws (see also Kansas Corporation Commission).

An extensive debunk of the Beacon Hill report was done by Synapse Energy Economics, and similar critiques can be read in the Portland Press Herald and the Maine Morning Sentinel, the Union of Concerned  Scientists, the Nature Resources Defense Council and the Washington Post.

The definitive Post article confirms that the Beacon Hill Institute is Koch-funded. This may be through $729,826 in recent grants (2008-2011) from the Charles G. Koch Foundation to Suffolk University. The Kochs tend to send grants to economics departments, causing controversy at Florida State University and other schools over professor hiring processes.

Beacon Hill’s Michael Head co-authored the reports that ALEC and the State Policy Network are using in several states. Mr. Head specializes in STAMP modeling, a form of economic analysis that has been criticized for its limitations and poor assumptions in the case of energy analysis. Michael Head testified before the Kansas legislature on February 14th to promote the flawed findings of his report. Mr. Head testified alongside members of the Heartland Institute, Americans for Prosperity and the Kansas Policy Institute (see more on each, below), all of which are members of ALEC and SPN.

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC): 

• State Policy Network member (and vice-versa)
• $858,858 from Koch foundations since 1997
• Ongoing funding from Koch Industries and numerous coal, oil & gas interests
• $45,000 grant from Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund since 2010
• Koch lobbyist Mike Morgan sits on ALEC’s corporate board

ALEC is leading the nationally-coordinated attack on state renewable portfolio standards as part of an ambitious dirty energy agenda for the members of its anti-environmental task force, like Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Peabody Energy, Duke Energy and other major oil, gas and coal interests.

ALEC’s “Electricity Freedom Act” is a full repeal of state laws requiring increasing electricity generation from clean sources, although in some states the model has morphed into a freeze of those targets rather than a full repeal. Kansas is one of those states.

The bills running through Kansas’ House and Senate are co-sponsored by legislators who are members of ALEC. The Senate Utilities committee sponsoring SB 82 has at least three ALEC members and the House Energy & Environment committee that introduced HB 2241 has at least three ALEC members:

• Senators Forrest Knox, Ty Masterson and Mike Petersen.
• Representatives Phil Hermanson, Scott Schwab, and Larry Powell (a member of ALEC’s anti-environmental task force that created the Electricity Freedom Act)

While it’s unclear if the lead House sponsor Rep. Dennis Hedke is directly affiliated with ALEC, he spoke directly with a Koch Industries lobbyist about the bill and has a close relationship with the Heartland Institute, which promoted one of his books.

 

The Heartland Institute:

• State Policy Network member; ALEC anti-environmental task force member
• $55,000 from Koch foundations since 1997
• $14.5 million from Donors Trust since 2002

Heartland is based in Chicago and perhaps best known for its billboard comparing those who recognize climate change with the Unabomber (for which they lost over $1.4 million in corporate sponsorship along with the “mutiny” of their entire Insurance department, now the R Street Institute).

The Washington Post reports that ALEC’s “Electricity Freedom Act” was created by the Heartland Institute. Heartland has long been a paying member of ALEC’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture task force along with Koch, Exxon and others. Citing the flawed Beacon Hill reports, Heartland has encouraged a repeal of Kansas’ clean energy incentives on its website.

Heartland lawyer James Taylor testified before the Kansas legislature in February, opining that the growth of Kansas’ clean energy sector is “punishing the state’s economy and environment.” James Taylor was flown into Kansas City for an Americans for Prosperity Foundation event intended to undermine the Kansas RPS law. The AFP Foundation is chaired by David Koch.

Americans for Prosperity:

 

• State Policy Network member; ALEC anti-environmental task force member
• Chaired by David Koch, founded by Koch executives
• $5.7 million from Koch foundations since 1997
• $12.2 million from Donors Trust since 2002

Americans for Prosperity was created by the Kochs with help from Koch Industries executive Richard Fink after the demise of their previous organization, Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), which split into AFP and FreedomWorks in 2004.

In addition to hosting an event against the Kansas RPS law featuring Heartland’s James Taylor, AFP’s Kansas director Derrick Sontag testified before the Kansas House committee on Energy and Environment. AFP’s Sontag urged for a full repeal rather than a simple RPS target freeze:

“We believe that HB 2241 is a step in the right direction, but that it doesn’t go far enough. Instead, AFP supports a full repeal of the renewable energy mandate in Kansas.”

Derrick Sontag apparently only cited a range of debunked studies (the “Spanish” study and the flawed Beacon Hill report) and information from Koch-funded interests like the Institute for Energy Research and “State Budget Solutions,” a project of several State Policy Network groups including ALEC and the Mercatus Center, a think tank founded and heavily-funded by the Kochs.

Kansas Policy Institute

• $534,500 from Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, 2009-2011
  • $340,000 in 2010–49% of 2010 budget
  • $125,000 in 2011–20% of 2011 budget
• Member of ALEC; member of the State Policy Network
• KPI Trustee George Pearson is a Koch family friend who “worked for nearly three decades for the Koch family as manager of various Koch Foundations and for Koch Industries.” Pearson helped Charles Koch start the Cato Institute as one of Cato’s original shareholders and worked for the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University, one of Charles Koch’s most heavily-financed projects.

The Kansas Policy Institute (KPI) has been the central coordinating think tank within Kansas as outside interests have backed ALEC’s attack clean energy laws. KPI co-published the debunked Beacon Hill Institute report that ALEC has used for its clean energy standard repeal in Kansas (see sources in Beacon Hill section above for debunking).

Kansas Policy Institute Vice President & Policy Director James Franko testified in the Kansas legislature alongside representatives of Heartland Institute, Americans for Prosperity and Beacon Hill Institute on Feb. 14 to weaken Kansas’s renewable portfolio standard.

Reasserting the false premise that clean energy standards substantially increase electricity prices, James Franko told the legislature’s Energy & Environment committee:

We have no objection to the production of renewable energy. […] Our objection is to government intervention that forces utility companies to purchase more expensive renewable energy and pass those costs on to consumers.

James Franko’s free market logic comes with the usual holes–no mention of the “costs” of coal and other polluting forms of energy that taint our air, water and bodies, nor any mention of how the government spends billions each year propping up the coal and oil industries.

After KPI’s Franko testified before Kansas legislators on February 14, KPI hosted a luncheon for legislators at noon on the same day. The luncheon, hosted at the Topeka Capital Plaza Hotel, featured Beacon Hill’s Michael Head. From KPI’s email invitation:

“Given the importance of this issue, we would like to invite you to join us for lunch on Thursday 14 February to hear from the author of a study we published last year exploring the costs and benefits of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Not only will we be discussing KPI’s study but offering a review of different studies that have been presented to the Legislature.”

KPI has served as the glue for other State Policy Network affiliates entering Kansas to amplify the opposition to clean energy.

Chris Horner — Competitive Enterprise Institute & American Tradition Institute

• Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI):
  • $530,146 from Koch foundations since 1997
  • $423,444 from Donors Trust since 2006
  • Member of the State Policy Network 
• American Tradition Institute (ATI):
  • Member of the State Policy Network
  • 75% of 2010 funding from oil businessman Doug Lair

Chris Horner is a senior fellow at CEI and the lead lawyer at ATI, a close CEI affiliate known for its litigious harassment of climate scientist Michael Mann alongside Virginia attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who just worked with coal utility companies to kill Virginia’s renewable energy law. ATI was behind a leaked memo encouraging “subversion” among local groups opposed to wind energy projects.

Horner testified before the Kansas legislature on February 12 to encourage the false notion that the renewable energy portfolio standard is going to make consumer electricity bills skyrocket (again, there is no correlation between state RPS laws and electricity prices). He cited the long-debunked “Spanish” study, which Koch front groups have cited for years in attempts to undermine clean energy.

Chris Horner is affiliated with several other Koch- and Exxon-funded State Policy Network affiliates such as the National Center for Policy Analysis and Tech Central Station (set up by DCI Group).

Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform:

• $60,000 from Koch foundations since 1997
• $172,100 from Donors Trust since 2004
• Member of the State Policy Network

ATR president Grover Norquist wrote a Feb. 27, 2013 letter supporting the Rep. Dennis Hedke’s House bill shortly before the bill was kicked back into the House Utilities commission. This Kansas letter followed an ATR op-ed in Politico encouraging rollbacks of state clean energy incentives, claiming they are a “tax,” which is Norquist’s consistent tactic against anything the financiers of ATR don’t feel like supporting.

Junk scientists with Koch and Exxon ties:

Disgraced scientists Willie Soon and John Christy were flown in by Americans for Prosperity to assure state legislators that global warming isn’t a problem (it’s already a $1.2 trillion problem annually). Doctor’s Soon and Christy themselves directly funded by Koch or directly affiliated with several Koch-funded interests like the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Heartland.

Willie Soon in particular has a habit of conducting climate “research” on the exclusive dime of coal and oil interests over the last decade:

• ExxonMobil ($335,106)
• American Petroleum Institute ($273,611 since 2001)
• Charles G. Koch Foundation ($230,000)
• Southern Company ($240,000)

Dr. Soon’s questionable climate research now receives funding through the Donors Trust network–$115,000 in 2011 and 2012.

See Skeptical Science’s profile of John Christy for a through explanation of why he is not a credible voice in the scientific community studying climate change, using peer-reviewed climate research as refutation.

State Policy Network

• Umbrella organization to all groups listed above
  • See SPN members with Koch funding involved in climate science denial
• $49,000 from Koch foundations since 1997
• Over $10 million from Donors Trust & Donors Capital Fund since 2002
  • Donors Trust provided over 36% of SPN’s 2010 budget and over 40% of SPN’s 2011 budget (budgets for both years listed in their 2011 IRS filing).

KOCH INDUSTRIES

• Based in Wichita, Kansas
• Operations in oil refining, oil and gas pipelines, fossil fuel commodity & derivatives trading, petrochemical manufacturing, fertilizers, textiles, wood and paper products, consumer tissue products, cattle ranching, and other ventures.
• $115 billion in estimated annual revenue
• 84% private owned between brothers Charles Koch and David Koch, each worth an estimated $34 billion (Forbes) to $44.7 billion (Bloomberg).
• Member of ALEC’s anti-environmental task force
• Associated foundations fund State Policy Network, ALEC, Heartland Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Beacon Hill Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Americans for Tax Reform and Dr. Willie Soon.
• Koch brothers founded Americans for Prosperity and helped establish the Heartland Institute.

The money trail of the out-of-state groups inundating Kansas with their sudden interest in killing the state’s incentives for wind energy leads back to the Koch brothers. While Koch Industries has deployed its own lobbyists to compliment the effort, the brothers who lead the company have tapped into their broader national network to aid the fight against clean energy in Kansas.

Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who own Koch Industries, have spent over $67,000,000 from their family foundations on groups who have denied the existence or extent of global climate change, promote fossil fuel use and block policies that promote clean energy development.

The Kochs obscure millions more in annual giving through Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, which collect money from the Kochs and other wealthy corporate interests and pass it on to State Policy Network groups. 

News Roundup, February 13th :|: S.O.T.U edition

Flip The Debt campaigns to *truly* fix the debt

National Politics:

 Analysis: Minimum wage plan a new test for Obama

          host.madison.com/news/analysis-minimum-wage-plan-a-new-test-for-obama/article_6def9ccc-1cf6-567e-a691-d813a18b2ae2.html
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/12/1583381/obama-raise-minimum-wage/

Bid on Minimum Wage Revives Issue That Has Divided Economistsonline.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323511804578300702588937498.html#printMode

The Minimum Wage and Economic Growth

www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/the-minimum-wage-and-economic-growth

Obama Urges Minimum Wage Increase and First-Ever Indexing

www.thenation.com/blog/172859/obama-urges-minimum-wage-increase-and-first-ever-indexing

Raising Minimum Wage Would Ease Income Gap but Carries Political Risks

www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/politics/obama-pushes-for-increase-in-federal-minimum-wage.html?_r=0

Top Republicans Oppose Obama’s Call To Raise The Minimum Wage

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/13/1587381/top-republicans-oppose-minimum-wage

Raise the Minimum Wage! And make it higher than what Obama just proposed

www.newrepublic.com/article/112402

 Obama Retrades Broken First Term Campaign Minimum Wage Promise in State of the Union Address

www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/obama-retrades-unmet-first-term-campaign-minimum-wage-promise-in-state-of-the-union-address.html

The Minimum Wage: Time to Start Working On the Next Increase

jaredbernsteinblog.com/the-minimum-wage-time-to-start-working-on-the-next-increase/

FACT CHECK: State of the Union

www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/13/12201/fact-check-state-union

6 Game-Changing Ideas In The State Of The Union

thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/02/13/1587031/6-game-changing-ideas-in-the-state-of-the-union/
http://prospect.org/article/presidents-dream-state

Wonkbook: All about the policies of the State of the Union

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/13/wonkbook-all-about-the-policies-of-the-state-of-the-union
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/02/12/obama-state-of-the-union-we-can-fix-thi/

 What Obama Said – and what he meant – about Climate Change, War & Civil Liberties

www.nationofchange.org/what-obama-said-and-what-he-meant-about-climate-change-war-and-civil-liberties-1360772856

Rand Paul’s State of the Union tea party response full of red meat

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/02/13/182928/sen-rand-paul-gives-tea-party.html
www.politico.com/story/2013/02/paul-to-embrace-sequester-immigrants-87537.html
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/13/16948919-rand-paul-goes-through-the-motions

Where were Marco Rubio’s new ideas?

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/13/where-were-marco-rubios-new-ideas
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/marco-rubio-has-learned-nothing/

Let’s All Watch Marco Rubio’s Panicked Drink Of Water In Extreme Slow Motion

deadspin.com/5983866/lets-all-watch-marco-rubios-panicked-drink-of-water-in-extreme-slow-motion
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/02/13/182901/sen-marco-rubios-swig-of-water.html

The end of western civilization:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/everyone-on-twitter-made-the-exact-same-joke-about-marco-rub

What Do Republicans, Rubio And Rand Have If They Don’t Have Deficits?

blog.ourfuture.org/20130213/what-do-republicans-rubio-and-rand-have-if-they-dont-have-deficits

The GOP’s renewed (and dangerous) push to reform Medicare and Social Security

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/02/13/the-gops-renewed-and-dangerous-push-to-reform-medicare-and-social-security/
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/282741-rubio-plugs-gop-medicare-plan

Three ways Obama wants to cut Medicare

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/13/three-ways-obama-wants-to-cut-medicare

Fact Sheet: Examples of How the Sequester Would Impact Middle Class Families, Jobs and Economic Security

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/08/fact-sheet-examples-how-sequester-would-impact-middle-class-families-job

We Can Fix This? In SOTU, Obama Shoves Voting Reform into ‘Sock Drawer,’ Leaving Many Disappointed

www.prwatch.org/news/2013/02/11980/we-can-fix-sotu-obama-shoves-voting-reform-sock-drawer-leaving-many-disappointed

Will the Bauer-Ginsberg Election Reform Commission Improve Our Dismal Election System?

electionlawblog.org/?p=47191
http://www.policyshop.net/home/2013/2/13/the-presidents-call-for-election-reform.html

More Reactions to the Bauer-Ginsberg Commission

electionlawblog.org/?p=47195

Obama Appoints a Controversial GOP Lawyer to His Voting Commission

www.thenation.com/blog/172853/obama-appoints-controversial-gop-lawyer-his-voting-commission

Boxer And Nelson To Co-Sponsor Election Reform Bill

livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boxer-nelson-to-co-sponsor-election-reform-bill
http://boxer.senate.gov/en/press/releases/120612.cfm

Obama Administration Defends Detention Power in Appeals Court Hearing 

   (here’s unfortunate justification of Obama-loathing rightwing reactionaries’ paranoia)www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/14486-obama-administration-defends-detention-power-in-appeals-court-hearingTransparency in the State of the Union 2013, not much to celebratesunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/02/13/transparency-in-the-state-of-the-union-2013/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/02/12/state-of-the-union-president-obama-pledges-counterterrorism-transparency-sure/
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/obamas-empty-promises-transparency-national-security

 Obama gift-wraps the SEC — Mary Jo White isn’t just a semi-compromised corporate crony. She’s the embodiment of a corrupt Wall Street culture

www.salon.com/2013/02/11/obama_gift_wraps_the_sec/

The staff memo for Thursday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing on the implementation of Wall Street reform

http://bit.ly/V4Qr3O

Will Ron Johnson and Elizabeth Warren Pair Up to End ‘Too Big to Fail’?

www.nationalreview.com/corner/340570/will-johnson-and-warren-pair-end-too-big-fail-katrina-trinko

State of the Union: Four worrisome issues for 2014 Democrats

dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=FF9EEF15-8319-4AE7-A537-192BECFACBD6

Obama’s Record On Political Money One Of Ambivalence

www.npr.org/2013/02/12/171837297/obamas-record-on-political-money-one-of-ambivalence

 Ron Wyden: Campaign Disclosure Reform Chances ‘Greater Than Ever Before’

www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/11/ron-wyden-campaign-disclosure_n_2663981.html?1360619843

Capital Eye Opener, Feb. 13: Obama Donors Picked for Plum Slots, and GOP Tweets Bilingually

www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/02/capital-eye-opener-feb-13.html

NRA Responds To ‘Connecticut Effect’ Controversy, Falsely Claims No Association With Wisconsin Lobbyist

thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/12/1581421/nra-responds-connecticut-effect/
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/connecticut-effect-nra-bob-welch.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

K Street Files: Giffords PAC Hires Seasoned Strategists

www.rollcall.com/news/k_street_files_giffords_pac_hires_seasoned_strategists-222346-1.html

This headline makes me respect Dave Weigel all the more:
  The Biz vs. the Nuge

www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/02/13/the_biz_vs_the_nuge.html
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nugent-i-will-be-taking-on-media-orgy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/02/11/the-problem-runs-a-lot-deeper-than-ted-nugent/

Tea Party super-PAC girds for coming primary clashes with Karl Rove group

thehill.com/homenews/campaign/282407-tea-party-pac-girds-for-coming-primary-clashes-with-rove-group

 The GOP “civil war” is going to make both sides rich — Karl Rove and the conservative movement’s never-ending gravy train

www.salon.com/2013/02/11/the_gop_civil_war_is_going_to_make_both_sides_rich/

Club for Growth Bites Back at Barbour’s Critique

atr.rollcall.com/club-for-growth-bites-back-at-haley-barbours-critique/
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/340464/barbour-goes-war-club-growth-robert-costa

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Wisconsining:

Daily Reporter. Tribe threatens state’s mining plans.

Ashland Listening Session Sends Strong Message: “There Will Be No Mine”

      wcmcoop.com/2013/02/12/ashland-listening-session-sends-strong-message-there-will-be-no-mine/

WJFW. Medford Rep. Williams hopes to keep mining costs to towns in check.

 Riverway sand mine applicant cited for DNR violations

      host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/mike_ivey/riverway-sand-mine-applicant-cited-for-dnr-violations/article_9f502cae-7559-11e2-815b-001a4bcf887a.html

MPS board committee to consider contract with non-union charter operator

www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190875541.html

The politics of Wisconsin’s declining union membership

www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190545131.html

Has Paul Ryan remained consistent in talking about what he calls society’s “takers” and “makers?”   Nope.

www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/feb/13/paul-ryan/has-ryan-remained-consistent-talking-about-what-h-/

Walker Administration Sued over Free Speech in the Capitol

www.progressive.org/walker-admin-sued-over-free-speech

 Judge’s offer to recuse himself because of own protest past delays Capitol sing-along case

host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/judge-s-offer-to-recuse-himself-because-of-own-protest/article_94772ec8-755d-11e2-9d96-001a4bcf887a.html

Ultrasound bill a ‘priority’ for anti-abortion lawmakers: The proposed bill would require all women to have an ultrasound and be told of the image details prior to an abortion.

host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/jessica_vanegeren/ultrasound-bill-a-priority-for-anti-abortion-lawmakers/article_2b0b20aa-755f-11e2-98f2-001a4bcf887a.html

The Wisconsin Capitol is a friendly place right now for those who oppose abortion.

That’s the message Wisconsin Right to Life Legislative Conference attendees repeatedly heard Tuesday from the state’s top two Republican lawmakers, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

“We are in a very good place in Wisconsin,” Vos said. “We have a pro-life Legislature, pro-life governor in Scott Walker and a pro-life attorney general (J.B. Van Hollen). We can all wrap our arms around this agenda.”

And it sounds like the first bill to get a warm reception from Republicans will be what’s being dubbed the “Woman’s Right to Know her Unborn Child Act.”

Wisconsin NRA lobbyist’s remarks rile gun-control advocates

              www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190881341.html

              http://www.salon.com/2013/02/11/nra_dismisses_push_for_gun_control_as_the_connecticut_effect/

In Wausau, An NRA Convention Helps Distribute Literature Calling For Secession And Civil War

     thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/12/1568991/nra-civil-war

DPW. Secession? More Scott Walker Tea Party distractions.

Former Police Officer: “We Are Not At War”

www.progressive.org/former-police-officer-we-are-not-at-war

Medical examiner advised assistant to leave after Derek Williams ruling

www.jsonline.com/news/crime/anger-from-politicians-led-to-exit-me-official-testifies-at-derek-williams-inquest-n98ogtk-190864491.html

Gov. Walker. Investing $14 million in Wisconsin: Protecting the innocent and seeking justice for victims.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Walker proposes boost in state budget for DNA collection. Wisconsin State Journal.

Wausau Daily Herald. Editorial: It’s not too late to accept Medicaid expansion.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Gov. Scott Walker to announces a middle path on BadgerCare expansion under health law.

Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Media reports on Walker BadgerCare plans disturbing.

 Conflict of interest rules vary among state Medicaid drug programs

www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190687731.html

 Wisconsin Assembly backs amendment to protect transportation fund

host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/wisconsin-assembly-backs-amendment-to-protect-transportation-fund/article_292cf17e-7554-11e2-994d-001a4bcf887a.html
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/assembly-expected-to-back-constitutional-amendment-on-transportation-fund-raids-es8og5c-190863431.html

Julie Lassa: Bills will help Wisconsin get in on manufacturing boom

bizopinion.wisbusiness.com/2013/02/julie-lassa-bills-will-help-wisconsin.html

DNR Sec. Stepp. Statement on lawsuit to re-list Western Great Lakes wolves

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. U.S. Sen. Johnson links Democrats to Marxists.

State of the Union responses: U.S. Rep. Ribble. U.S. Rep. Moore. U.S. Rep. Ryan.

Fox 11. Wisconsin lawmakers react to president’s speech.

White House. President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address – as prepared for delivery. Excerpts. U.S. Sen. Baldwin. U.S. Rep. Kind.

Blogger Jeff Simpson pounces on the Scott Walker administration over the news that a cleaning company it hired to clean marble at the Capitol caused considerable damage to the surface. Another example of privatization not working, he says, noting that an out-of-state crew did the job. He also notes the irony of the now-damaged Capitol given the supposed damage inflicted by protesters over Act 10.

 Wisconsin scientists help search for alien life

       host.madison.com/news/state-and-regional/wisconsin-scientists-help-search-for-alien-life/article_6c7a22fe-af8e-5e44-b228-f30835048808.html

Right-wing:

Media Trackers:

Wisconsin Physicians and Privately Insured Subsidize Medicaid

       mediatrackers.org/2013/02/12/wisconsin-physicians-and-privately-insured-subsidize-medicaid/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MediaTrackers+(Media+Trackers)

Medicaid Patients Get Terrible Care, Democrats Overlook Facts

      mediatrackers.org/2013/02/12/medicaid-patients-get-terrible-care-democrats-overlook-facts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MediaTrackers+(Media+Trackers)

Left Side of Medicaid Debate Becomes Fact-Free Zone

     mediatrackers.org/2013/02/12/left-side-of-medicaid-debate-becomes-fact-free-zone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MediaTrackers+(Media+Trackers)

Far-Left Flocks to Supreme Court candidate Fallone

     mediatrackers.org/2013/02/13/far-left-flocks-to-supreme-court-candidate-fallone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MediaTrackers+(Media+Trackers)

MacIver:

Chart of the Day – Is The President’s New Spending Based On Faulty Assumptions?

      www.maciverinstitute.com/2013/02/chart-of-the-day-1/

Generous Federal FoodShare Eligibility Could Neutralize Work Requirements

       www.maciverinstitute.com/2013/02/generous-foodshare-eligibility-could-neutralize-work-requirements/

Wisconsin Reporter:

Walker wants money for DNA testing, GPS tracking

       watchdog.org/69142/walker-wants-money-for-dna-testing-gps-tracking/

 

12 things the president won’t say

       watchdog.org/69096/12-things-the-president-wont-say/

Is WI’s Walker kicking around a hybrid Medicaid expansion plan?

       watchdog.org/69120/is-wis-walker-kicking-around-a-hybrid-medicaid-expansion-plan

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National News:

The Rich Continue to Get Richer: the Top 1% Got 121% of Income Gains Since 2009

www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/yes-virginia-the-rich-continue-to-get-richer-the-1-got-121-of-income-gains-since-2009.html

Git ’em!   Where The US Top 5% Live

globalsociology.com/2013/02/12/where-the-us-top-5-live/

“Flip The Debt” Protesters Confront CEO and “Fix the Debt” Leader over Corporate Tax Breaks

truth-out.org/news/item/14487-protesters-confront-ceo-and-fix-the-debt-leader-over-corporate-tax-breaks

Another Study Confirms That Taxes And Regulations Aren’t Holding Back Job Creation

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2013/el2013-04.html
thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/11/1573441/no-regulations-and-taxes-aren039t-holding-back-the-economy/

New report details how unemployed workers are hit with one-two punch: as states cut weeks off unemployment programs, losses in federal aid follow.

http://www.nelp.org/page/-/UI/2013/Policy-Brief-States-Cut-UI-Weeks.pdf?nocdn=1

 State Tax Systems Need to Become More Progressive, Not Less

www.policyshop.net/home/2013/2/13/state-tax-systems-need-to-become-more-progressive-not-less.html

 Mr. Lew: How Would You Run the Financial Stability Oversight Council?

www.sifma.org/news/blog.aspx?id=8589941984&blogid=8589936046

8 Subjects Senators Should Bring Up At Jack Lew’s Confirmation Hearing

blog.ourfuture.org/20130212/8-subjects-senators-should-bring-up-at-lew-hearing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/13/five-questions-for-treasury-nominee-jack-lew/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/02/12/182844/cayman-account-dogs-jacob-lew.html

Hey Congress: Pre-K is a better investment than the stock market

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/13/hey-congress-pre-k-is-a-better-investment-than-the-stock-market/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/sarameads_policy_notebook/2013/02/state_of_the_union_calls_for_universal_pre-k.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW

The State of the Kindergarteners Should Be Strong

prospect.org/article/state-kindergarteners-should-be-strong
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112403/state-union-2013-obamas-universal-pre-kindergarten-plan

How Head Start Can Make a Difference

economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/how-head-start-can-make-a-difference/?scp=37&sq=&st=nyt

Michelle Rhee And The Relentless Marketing Of Education ‘Reform’

blog.ourfuture.org/20130212/michelle-rhee-and-the-relentless-marketing-of-education-reform

Public schools lose millions to crooks, cheaters

www.tampabay.com/news/education/public-schools-lose-millions-to-crooks-and-cheaters/1274614

Attorney-client meeting room was bugged, Navy lawyer testifies at Guantánamo

www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/12/3230370/tech-talk-whos-listening-in-guantanamo.html

Unusual Moves in Confronting Apple’s Huge Pile of $140 Billion in Cash

dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/unusual-moves-in-confronting-apples-mountain-of-cash/

IRS Wins Big Tax Ruling against Bank of New York Mellon

www.propublica.org/article/irs-wins-big-tax-ruling-against-bank-of-new-york-mellon

Big Banks Are Told to Review Their Own Foreclosures

dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/big-banks-are-told-to-review-their-own-foreclosures/?hpw

SAC Probe Said to Be Hampered by Auto-Deleted E-Mails

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-13/sac-probe-said-to-be-hampered-by-auto-deleted-e-mails.html

Disparate Impact and Fair Housing: Seven Cases You Should Know

www.propublica.org/article/disparate-impact-and-fair-housing-seven-cases-you-should-know

Counterparties: A minimal vision at Barclays

blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/02/12/counterparties-a-minimal-vision-at-barclays/

States Gear Up to Pitch Health Exchange Plans

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323511804578300532327035860.html?mod=rss_US_News

*Remember that 6-week ban turned 12-week ban making its way through the Arkansas state legislature? It’s being further delayed while more changes are considered.

*Also in Arkansas, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe has signed into a law a bill to ban insurance exchanges created under Obamacare from covering abortion.

*In Virginia, Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell is working to make sure that the insurance exchanges created in that state are banned from covering abortion, but the Virginian-Pilot is reporting that even some Republicans are skeptical of the move.

*In Colorado, Democrats defeated in committee a Republican-backed bill that would have required doctors to investigate why a woman was seeking an abortion.

*A similar bill has been proposed in Kansas this year, too and is seen as likely to be passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

*Lawmakers in Oklahoma are considering a bill that would tighten the state’s existing parental notification law for girls under age 18 seeking abortion.

*In Arizona, a federal judge has overturned the state’s effort to defund Planned Parenthood. The measure had already been blocked, pending this week’s ruling.

Gun Lobby Helps Block Data Collection by Crimefighters

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-13/gun-lobby-helps-block-data-collection-by-crimefighters.html

The Stronger the Outrage After Bloodshed, the Greater the Gun Surge

www.nationofchange.org/stronger-outrage-after-bloodshed-greater-gun-surge-1360771641

The faces behind the numbers: Six victims of long weekend’s gun violence

openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/11/16928534-the-faces-behind-the-numbers-six-victims-of-long-weekends-gun-violence

Greek Factory Under Workers Control

www.thenation.com/blog/172852/greek-factory-under-workers-control

The Breach of Security that Revealed the Secret World of the Vatican

www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201303/spy-in-the-house-of-lords-march-2013?printable=true

 Price for a New Hip? Many Hospitals Are Stumped

well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/price-for-a-new-hip-many-hospitals-are-stumped/

Jaime Rosenthal, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, called more than 100 hospitals in every state last summer, seeking prices for a hip replacement for a 62-year-old grandmother who was uninsured but had the means to pay herself.
The quotes she received might surprise even hardened health care economists: only about half of the hospitals, including top-ranked orthopedic centers and community hospitals, could provide any sort of price estimate, despite repeated calls. Those that could gave quotes that varied by a factor of more than 10, from $11,100 to $125,798.

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Environment:

State Of Denial: More Dirty Energy Policies Expected From Koch-Fueled Marco Rubio

thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/02/12/1575041/marco-rubio-sotu-response/

EPA unaware of industry ties on cancer review panel

www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/13/12184/epa-unaware-industry-ties-cancer-review-panel

Ouster of scientist from EPA panel shows industry clout

www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/13/12199/ouster-scientist-epa-panel-shows-industry-clout

Obama gives Congress a climate change ultimatum

www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/13/us-obama-speech-climate-idUSBRE91C09T20130213
http://grist.org/politics/obama-if-congress-wont-act-on-climate-change-i-will/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/02/12/cap_and_trade_obama_proposes_bipartisan_market_based_solution_to_climate.html

 In address, a pledge to fight global warming

thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/282697-obama-vows-executive-climate-push-but-many-specifics-remain-absent
http://grist.org/politics/from-obamas-speech-four-ambitious-climate-and-energy-proposals/

Obama wants to double U.S. energy efficiency by 2030. Is that possible?

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/13/obama-wants-to-double-u-s-energy-efficiency-by-2030-how-is-that-possible
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/02/12/energy-efficiency-stressed/?wprss=rss_politics

Huge Climate Change Rally Targets Keystone XL Pipeline

news.yahoo.com/huge-climate-change-rally-targets-keystone-xl-pipeline-200500820.html
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=forwardonclimate_solidarityrallies

Why Organized Labor Must Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline

www.occupy.com/article/why-organized-labor-must-stand-against-keystone-xl-pipeline

 Sierra Club chief & others to risk arrest over oil pipeline

host.madison.com/news/national/government-and-politics/sierra-club-chief-to-risk-arrest-over-oil-pipeline/article_60e42dc0-04b3-596f-b797-b02de1059b14.html
http://ecowatch.org/2013/kennedy-mckibben-risk-arrest/

Fracking Threatens OPEC as U.S. Output at 20-Year High

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-13/fracking-threatens-opec-as-u-s-output-at-20-year-high.html

Exporting U.S. Natural Gas Show Senate Leaders’ Split

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-12/exporting-u-s-natural-gas-show-senate-leaders-split.html

Toxic sludge, polluted water can be byproducts of making solar panels

www.djc.com/news/en/12049909.html

 Do GMO Crops Really Have Higher Yields?

www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/02/do-gmo-crops-have-lower-yields

Genetic Roulette is a 2012 documentary on Monsanto & GMOs

http://geneticroulettemovie.com
http://www.willamettelive.com/2013/wellness/are-you-a-guinea-pig-film-suggests-you-just-might-be/

 States have varying success with GM labeling bills

www.agprofessional.com/news/States-have-varying-success-with-GM-labeling-bills-190435681.html

Connecticut will again try passing a GMO food-labeling bill

www.digitaljournal.com/article/343131

Report Confirms Food Corps Using Junk, Misleading Science to Protect Profits

naturalsociety.com/report-confirms-food-corps-using-junk-misleading-science-profits

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Media:

After Instagram controversy, a watchdog site tracks shifting Terms of Service — Docracy tracks changes across thousands of Terms of Service agreements, with surprising resultswww.theverge.com/2013/2/6/3951050/tracking-terms-of-service-changes-to-catch-the-next-instagramOkay. Weird.  Twitter and Amex to let you pay with a hashtagwww.cnn.com/2013/02/11/tech/social-media/twitter-hashtag-purchases/
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/02/raise-your-hand-if-you-think-buying-stuff-hashtags-good-idea/62025/

How Fear of a Cyber Pearl Harbor Is Uniting Washington

www.nationaljournal.com//tech/how-fear-of-a-cyber-pearl-harbor-is-uniting-washington-20130212
http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obama-signs-executive-order-to-protect-against-cyber-attack

5 reasons mobile will disrupt journalism like the Internet did a decade ago

www.poynter.org/latest-news/media-lab/mobile-media/204107/5-reasons-mobile-will-disrupt-journalism-like-the-internet-did-a-decade-ago/

Glenn Kessler and the Neverending End of ‘Fact-Checking’

www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/02/glen-kessler-state-of-the-union/62097/

 A fresh view of George Orwell: Honoring the reissue of several works, a reevaluation of Politics and the English Language

www.salon.com/2013/02/10/lets_take_another_look_at_george_orwell_shall_we_partner/

 Al Jazeera hires lobby firm DLA Piper

thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/282533-al-jazeera-hires-lobby-firm-dla-piper-

Kabletown purchases the last 49% of NBC they didn’t already own

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/comcast-buying-g-e-s-stake-in-nbcuniversal-for-16-7-billion
dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/comcasts-nbcuniversal-deal/

Jonah Lehrer apologizes, makes everyone angrier

www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/204136/jonah-lehrer-apologizes-makes-everyone-angrier/
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-the-error/204097/lehrer-falls-into-familiar-pattern-fails-to-face-his-reckoning/

Your Governor Cares

Never forget when he bravely banded together with our Attorney General and the Waukesha County Sheriffs to budget for your pubic safety.

Newzes

National News:

And that’s the way it was: February 11, 1990 — South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela is freed from prison after 27 years

       www.cjr.org/the_kicker/and_thats_the_way_it_was_febru.php

 Federal Prison Population Spiked 790 Percent Since 1980

      thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/07/1552751/federal-prison-population-spiked-790-percent-since-1980

 Police seeking Dorner opened fire in a second case of mistaken identity
 Torrance police say the man was driving a pickup resembling the fugitive’s. The incident happened just after the LAPD fired on women delivering newspapers nearby.

      www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-torrance-shooting-20130210,0,3955268.story
      http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/02/lapd_had_no_idea_who_they_were_shooting_at_in_dorner_pursuit_says_victims_attorney.html

 UN group says US attacks, air strikes kill hundreds of Afghan children in recent years

      www.washingtonpost.com/national/un-group-says-us-attacks-air-strikes-kill-hundreds-of-afghan-children-in-recent-years/2013/02/07/11457bb4-716a-11e2-b3f3-b263d708ca37_story.html

9/11 Case Is Delayed as Defense Voices Fears on Eavesdropping
 Lawyers in the case against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others said they worry that their communications may be subject to government monitoring.

         www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/us/9-11-case-is-delayed-as-defense-voices-fears-on-eavesdropping.html?ref=us&gwh=9AED77341B7F4A88B5DCA9B5BE56153B

Petition from Public Citizen:
 Don’t Let Wall Street Offshore Its Recklessness — Urge the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to Keep Risky Derivatives Trades in Check, No Matter Where They Occur

       action.citizen.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12123

Why the U.S. Could Use a Financial Transaction Tax

     www.nextnewdeal.net/why-us-could-use-financial-transaction-tax

AARP’s petition:  Tell Pres. Obama: Keep Your Promise! (don’t link Social Security to chained CPI)

   https://action.aarp.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2697&intcmp=HPBB1E

AARP is ramping up efforts against chained CPI with the State of the Union around the corner. The group has sent 4 million emails asking supporters to sign a petition, urging the president to “strengthen Social Security without cutting the benefits of current retirees.” AARP will also be running six weeks of national and in-district ads and launching an online widget where people can enter their information and find out how the chained CPI would affect them.

10 great points from David Leonhardt’s ‘Here’s the Deal’

        www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/11/10-great-points-from-david-leonhardts-heres-the-deal/
        http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/02/08/david_leonhardt_s_here_s_the_deal_how_washington_can_solve_the_deficit_and.html#article_comment_box

❖ Bob Diamond, former CEO of Barclays, had a Tax Avoidance Unit. It’s being closed now, having  “been accused of orchestrating tax avoidance on an ‘industrial’ scale and has generated vast profits for the bank”.  Staff bonuses of  £2bn, however, will continue.

   http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/09/barclays-closes-tax-avoidance-unit
   

❖ Tom Hayes, “the former [UBS] senior trader charged by the US Department of Justice in connection with interest rate-rigging, says the scandal goes “much, much higher than me” . . . and warns “senior bank executives” could be implicated.
  
       www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/libor-scandal/9857118/Libor-scandal-This-goes-much-much-higher-than-me-says-trader-Tom-Hayes-at-centre-of-probe.html
       http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324445904578285810706107442.html?mg=reno64-wsj&mod=ITP_pageone_0
  

S&P Suit Shows DOJ Knows about Wall Street Corruption

     my.firedoglake.com/masaccio/2013/02/09/sp-suit-shows-doj-knows-about-wall-street-corruption/

❖ Those two “big lawsuits brought by federal and state governments” against credit agency Standard & Poor’s “don’t point the finger at any particular person who was responsible for these dastardly doings.”  Why?  The “best and brightest were diverted to anti-terrorism cases [after 9/11] and not replaced.” 

    http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130208,0,1163345.column

Why the Government’s Lawsuit Against Standard & Poor’s Matters (Our Future)

Richard Eskow writes that taking S&P to court for its mortgage practices is a good idea not just because there’s a mountain of evidence that the agency committed serious fraud, but because their overall job performance is barely worthy of a junk rating.

Rating Victims Didn’t Know S&P’s Toxic AAA Born of Greed

      www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-11/credit-rating-victims-didn-t-know-s-p-s-toxic-aaa-born-of-greed.html

Sen. Kaufman On JPMorgan Chase: Private Lawsuit Found Evidence the Feds Didn’t

      blog.ourfuture.org/20130207/sen-kaufman-on-jpmorgan-chase-private-lawsuit-found-evidence-the-feds-didnt

Report: Hundreds of former SEC employees representing clients before agency —  UBS, JPMorgan Chase among prominent companies potentially benefiting

      www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/11/12178/report-hundreds-former-sec-employees-representing-clients-agency

Counterparties: When two mandates aren’t enough

      blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/02/08/counterparties-when-two-mandates-arent-enough/

TREASURY TAKES TARP LOSS — Per SNL Financial: “The U.S. Treasury is starting to realize heavier losses as it continues to auction its CPP investments in banks, many of which are behind on their dividend payments. Last week, the Treasury sold $295.8 million in CPP securities, taking a loss of $104.5 million before fees, a hit amounting to over a third of the principal amount auctioned. The 35 percent aggregate discount is the steepest seen thus far in the multibank auction process by a long shot. Seven out of the 11 auctioned banks are well behind on their dividend payments, further crippling the Treasury’s overall return.”

Sherrod Brown op-ed:  An end to ‘too big to fail’

       www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-end-to-too-big-to-fail/2012/06/06/gJQAi7lbJV_story.html

George Will!  Time to break up the big banks

     www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-break-up-the-big-banks/2013/02/08/2379498a-714e-11e2-8b8d-e0b59a1b8e2a_print.html

Banks Should Defer Bonuses for Up to 10 Years, Bank of England committee member says

      www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-08/banks-should-defer-bonuses-up-to-10-years-boe-s-jenkins-says.html

The Scruffy and the Stuffy Agree: Cap CEO Pay

     blog.ourfuture.org/20130210/the-scruffy-and-the-stuffy-agree-cap-ceo-pay

 Ban the credit ratings agencies! Firms like Standard & Poor, charged with fraud by the DOJ, are criminally incompetent and serve no public purpose

      www.salon.com/2013/02/08/ban_the_credit_ratings_agencies_partner/

Lew to face questions over Cayman fund & Citi bonus

     www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/lew-to-face-questions-over-cayman-fund/2013/02/08/5a87a042-723f-11e2-ac36-3d8d9dcaa2e2_story.html
     http://www.cnbc.com/id/100448763
     http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/02/11/cayman-islands-investment-becomes-obstacle-for-tres-sec-nominee/

Honeywell’s Dave Cote:
 Super Wealthy CEO Admits Spending Cuts Will Hurt The Economy, Wants Them To Happen Anyway

       thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/07/1557261/honeywell-ceo-cut-spending/
       http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/06/us-honeywell-cote-idUSBRE91514U20130206

❖ As union membership declined–from around 36% of workers in the late ’50s to 6.6% today–the share of US income taken by the top 1% rose–from around 10% to 23.5%.  The “assault on unions has been deliberate and merciless”.  What can be done to “claw back middle class wealth”.

       www.alternet.org/economy/what-its-going-take-claw-back-middle-class-wealth-1

Thought debtor prison ended in the 18th century? Think again.

       www.alternet.org/miss-traffic-ticket-go-jail-return-debtor-prison-hard-times-usa?paging=off

 

 Rings of Unemployment (NYT)

Catherine Rampell highlights research showing that four out of five Americans were either laid off themselves or have friends and relatives who were laid off during the last few years. The other one out of five don’t have very many friends, for obvious reasons.

 This Week in Poverty: Revealing the Real TANF (The Nation)

Greg Kaufmann argues that the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program can only be counted as a bipartisan success if the goal was to minimize the amount of assistance those needy families get rather than the amount of assistance that they need.

 

 Paul Krugman: Global Austerity ‘An Unethical Experimentation On Human Beings’

     www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/08/paul-krugman-austerity_n_2648039.html?utm_hp_ref=business

Austerity’s Unintended Consequences:  In Spain and Italy, fiscal belt-tightening has improved public finances, but it’s wreaking havoc on national politics

        prospect.org/article/austeritys-unintended-consequences

 Greeks forgo winter heating after jump in fuel tax

      www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/07/us-greece-fuel-idUSBRE9160R220130207

  Factory in Greece starts production under workers’ control

       libcom.org/news/factory-greece-starts-production-under-workers-control-11022013

 How to Better Mobilize Citizen Volunteers for Disasters

      www.policyshop.net/home/2013/2/11/how-to-better-mobilize-citizen-volunteers-for-disasters.html

Pro-gun demonstrators bring their message and weapons inside Oregon Capitol

       www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/pro-gun_demonstrators_bring_th.html
       http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/02/hundreds_of_gun_advocates_rall.html#incart_river_default

 Current gun debate may not help beleaguered ATF — Agency crippled by weak laws, paltry budgets and Congressional restrictions

      www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/11/12155/current-gun-debate-may-not-help-beleaguered-atf
      http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/atf-gun-laws-nra

NYPD Surveillance Operation Goes Too Far

      www.brennancenter.org/analysis/nypd-muslim-spying-operation-takes-security-unjustified-extreme

 Is U.S. Considering Expansion of Targeted Kill List Into North Africa?

      www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/02/09/u_s_considering_expansion_of_targeted_kill_list_into_north_africa.html

  “We’re Not Going To Be Pushed Around by the Antis”  Julie Burkhart is working to bring abortion care back to Wichita

        www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/trust-women-foundation-julie-burkhart-george-tiller

Venture Capital’s Massive, Terrible Idea For The Future Of College

       www.theawl.com/2013/01/venture-capitals-massive-terrible-idea-for-the-future-of-college

National Politics:

Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Big Tobacco and Billionaires

      www.desmogblog.com/2013/02/11/study-confirms-tea-party-was-created-big-tobacco-and-billionaires
      http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.abstract

Watchdog Finds Well-Oiled Revolving Door Linking SEC and Industry

     http://www.pogo.org/blog/2013/02/secs-revolving-door-blurs-line-between-regulator-and-industry.html
     http://www.pogo.org/tools-and-data/sec-revolving-door-database/

     www.nationaljournal.com//domesticpolicy/watchdog-finds-well-oiled-revolving-door-linking-sec-and-industry-20130211

Quietly Killing a Consumer Watchdog (NYT)

An editorial argues that the changes to the CFPB that Republicans are demanding before they’ll allow Richard Cordray’s nomination to go through are just another excuse for them to water down financial reform like they’re tending bar at the worst dive in town.

 Exclusive: Donors Trust, The Right’s Dark-Money ATM, Paid Out $30 Million in 2011

     www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/donors-trust-2011-dark-money-heritage-cato-unions

FEC chairwoman warns of super PAC corruption

       www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/09/12176/fec-chairwoman-warns-super-pac-corruption

Nate Silver:  New Rove Group Could Backfire on G.O.P.

      fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/new-rove-group-could-backfire-on-g-o-p

The Tea Party has made the latest move in its budding war with Karl Rove. The Tea Party Patriots, one of the most prominent groups, launched a new super PAC to target “‘big spending’ politicians of both parties”

      www.politico.com/story/2013/02/tea-party-patriots-launches-super-pac-87386.html

The Republican Civil War Starts in Iowa — Can Karl Rove keep Steve King out of the Senate?

      http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112380/steve-king-senate-unless-karl-rove-stops-him#
      www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/02/rove_s_conservative_victory_project_the_republican_strategist_s_bold_campaign.html

 Virginia Republicans Advance Voter ID Legislation

     www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/virginia-republicans-advance-voter-id-legislation-85899448672

 Amicus Brief, Shelby County, Alabama, v. Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States of America, et al

      www.demos.org/publication/amicus-brief-shelby-county-alabama-v-eric-h-holder-jr-attorney-general-united-states-ame

Gun groups extend influence battle to state houses

      reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2013/gun-groups-active-states

Ohio Governor’s Tax Plan Would Cut Taxes For Wealthy, Raise Them On The Poor

     thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/02/08/1559921/kasich-tax-the-poor/

How The White House Inadvertently Blasted Paul Ryan’s Budget To His Face

      tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/frontline-obama-ryan-budget-speech.php

What’s Now Happening On Federal Budget is Worse Than The Fiscal Cliff

      capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/stan-collender/2708/whats-now-happening-federal-budget-worse-fiscal-cliff

Obama’s Turn in Bush’s Bind
 If President Obama tuned in to the past week’s bracing debate on Capitol Hill about terrorism, executive power, secrecy and due process, he might have recognized the arguments his critics were making: He once made some of them himself.

      www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/world/obamas-turn-in-bushs-bind-with-defense-policies.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Chris Hedges:  The NDAA and the Death of the Democratic State

      www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_ndaa_and_the_death_of_the_democratic_state_20130211/

Chris Hedges on Challenging NDAA Indefinite Detention and the “Corporate Coup d’etat”

       www.democracynow.org/2013/2/11/michael_moore_chris_hedges_on_challenging

❖ Former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on extra-judicial killing by drone: Set up something similar to the foreign intelligence surveillance court to “review targeted killings of Americans”, with a Congressional committee kept informed.

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i55W6CXlYyU45CTD7dSj1XqEMccg?docId=CNG.9917593c12f0d715ad1c31f1c3b79f7e.4b1

 Senator Angus King: Let’s Have a Targeted Killing Court

      www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/senator-lets-have-targeted-killing-court

The Nominee the Senate Won’t Obstruct — Unpacking John Brennan’s confirmation hearing

      prospect.org/article/nominee-senate-wont-obstruct

“He Was The Agency”: Ex-CIA Analyst Questions Brennan Claim He Couldn’t Stop Waterboarding, Torture

     www.democracynow.org/2013/2/8/he_was_the_agency_ex_cia?autostart=true
     http://www.democracynow.org/2013/2/8/jeremy_scahill_assassinations_of_us_citizens

The law of war does not shield the CIA and John Brennan’s drone kill list — The US prosecuted Omar Khadr in Guantánamo for not being a lawful combatant. Exactly the same applies to the civilian CIA

      www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/08/law-war-cia-john-brennan-drone-kill-list

The Drone Makers And Their Friends In Washington

      www.kpbs.org/news/2012/jul/05/drone-makers-friends-washington/

Drones: Despite Problems, A Push to Expand Domestic Use

      www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/11/drones-despite-problems-a-push-to-e.html

Seattle grounds police drone program — Mayor Mike McGinn ordered the Seattle Police Department to abandon its plan to use drones after residents and privacy advocates protested

      seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020312864_spddronesxml.html
      http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/02/capital-eye-opener-feb-11.html

To catch a leak — Does the US government have a monopoly on transparency?

       stream.aljazeera.com/story/201301240124-0022502

 “Most Transparent Administration Ever” Is Still Not

     www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/darrell-issa-elijah-cummings-foia-transparency-department-of-justice

Wonkbook: A policy primer for the 2013 SOTU

        www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/11/wonkbook-a-policy-primer-for-the-2013-sotu

 South Dakota Tribes Accuse State Of Violating Indian Welfare Act

       www.npr.org/2013/02/06/171310945/south-dakota-tribes-accuse-state-of-violating-indian-welfare-act

Michele Bachmann uses liberal super PAC attack to raise funds

      www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/07/12161/michele-bachmann-uses-liberal-super-pac-attack-raise-funds

Bachmann campaign’s use of contact list comes under more fire

      firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/09/16910765-bachmann-campaigns-use-of-contact-list-comes-under-more-fire?ocid=twitter

 Bush, Jr.’s Paintings and the Art of Projecting Guilt — The former president hates being on the couch, but hacking has put him there.

      www.nationaljournal.com//whitehouse/bush-s-paintings-and-the-art-of-projecting-guilt-20130208

Environment:

 Billionaire fracking brothers donated most to successful state legislative candidates   (…them Wilks brothers are up to no good again)

       helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/billionaire-fracking-brothers-top-donors-to-montana-political-campaigns/article_a883ea1a-73c7-11e2-9139-001a4bcf887a.html

The Gradual Selling of America the Beautiful

     www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/the-gradual-selling-of-america-the-beautiful.html

U.S. ‘Divestment’ Movement Gaining Momentum

      www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/u-s-divestment-movement-gaining-momentum/

❖  Coal companies “pay 25 cents a ton for coal from public lands and then can  turn around and sell it for $35 a ton”.  Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is supposed to be checking to see if, in addition, the coal companies are low-balling “the value of coal excavated from federal lands” in order to pay lower fees to the government.

     http://grist.org/news/have-coal-companies-been-ripping-americans-off-even-more-than-we-already-knew/

    
Boosted By Methane Releases, Oil And Gas Sector Is Number Two in Global Warming Pollution

      thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/02/08/1561571/oil-gas-number-two/

Pipeline critics: Nebraska Gov. Heineman lacks authority to push Keystone through

      journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/pipeline-critics-heineman-lacks-authority/article_e641ec4a-bfb4-569f-90c2-22c78fff5a54.html

Will the Keystone XL Pipeline Go Down?

       www.tomdispatch.com/post/175648/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_will_the_keystone_xl_pipeline_go_down/

 Koch Brothers Driving Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Cut Out Venezuelan Oil

     www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/02/koch-brothers-driving-keystone-xl-pipeline-from-canada-to-cut-out-venezuelan-oil.html

In North Carolina, fracking rights rise to surface

      blogs.reuters.com/events/2013/02/08/in-north-carolina-fracking-rights-rise-to-surface/
      www.youtube.com/watch?v=eph0kUgHUNg 

The boom in U.S. oil drilling hasn’t lowered gas prices

      www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/11/the-boom-in-u-s-oil-drilling-hasnt-lowered-gas-prices

Attention investors: Climate policy could knock off half the value of fossil fuel companies

       grist.org/business-technology/attention-investors-climate-policy-could-knock-off-half-the-value-of-fossil-fuel-companies/

Ethanol Plants Idled Since Drought Began

      abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ethanol-plants-idled-drought-began-18457341

Safety Group Blows Lid on ‘Secret Virus’ Hidden in GMO Crops

       naturalsociety.com/safety-group-blows-lid-on-secret-virus-hidden-in-gmo-crops/

Media:

As Brennan ‘Escapes,’ Criticism of Media ‘Self-Censorship’ on Drone Program Grows

      www.thenation.com/blog/172760/brennan-escapes-criticism-media-self-censorship-drone-program-grows

Sheldon Adelson takes exception with Center blog post

      www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/08/12170/adelson-takes-exception-center-blog-post

Voter Disenfranchisement Efforts Hit Desperate New Low In NRO Hit Piece

       www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/02/10/voter-disenfranchisement-efforts-hit-desperate-new-low-in-nro-hit-piece/print/

Susan Crawford on Why U.S. Internet Access is Slow, Costly and Unfair

      billmoyers.com/segment/susan-crawford-on-why-u-s-internet-access-is-slow-costly-and-unfair/

 An Insider’s View of the Progressive Talk Radio Devolution

      truth-out.org/news/item/14355-an-insiders-view-of-the-progressive-talk-radio-devolution

 Notes on the media on the media

       www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2013/02/7565790/notes-media-media

The International Anti-Corruption Academy is offering a new Master’s program in Anti-Corruption Studies. The degree is aimed at professionals working in corporate compliance, internal oversight, law enforcement, investigative journalism, and more

       blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2013/02/07/the-admissions-desk-grad-school-for-corruption-studies

Media Ethics and Those Hacked Bush Family E-mails

      www.thenation.com/blog/172820/media-ethics-and-those-hacked-bush-family-e-mails

How Media Outlets Are Using Vine To Deliver The News — Some Better Than Others

     www.businessinsider.com/how-news-is-delivered-through-vine-2013-2

Why the quants won’t take over Hollywood

      blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/02/09/why-the-quants-wont-take-over-hollywood

Wisconsin:

Scott Walker Dropped the Bomb Two Years Ago Today and Wisconsin’s Economy is Still Shattered

      www.prwatch.org/news/2013/02/11977/scott-walker-dropped-bomb-two-years-ago-today-and-wisconsin’s-economy-still-shatt

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel‘s Dan Bice:   Vos finds a new way to hit up lobbyists.

 

 On the Capitol: Robin Vos at a loss with governor

    host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/on-the-capitol-robin-vos-at-a-loss-with-governor/article_28c85642-724d-11e2-a318-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz2KPqDIDhe

 Priebus: Wisconsin a ‘great model’ for national GOP

      wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=289530

Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter. 200 attend listening session on Wis. mining bill.

 Eau Claire Leader Telegram.  Most at Ashland hearing oppose open pit iron ore mine

 Anti-mine sentiment dominates public forum in northern Wisconsin

      host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/mining-hearing-draws-in-northern-wisconsin/article_aac5ca4e-72de-11e2-a338-001a4bcf887a.html 

      http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/live-blog-replay-north-woods-residents-speak-out-on-mining/html_25bf63c0-722d-11e2-8da9-0019bb2963f4.html

      http://www.wrn.com/2013/02/hundreds-speak-up-about-mining

 

On his Political Environment blog, James Rowen uses history to show the sordid record mining companies have compiled over the years with their disregard for the environment.  But the state’s power brokers are leading the charge to place the future of northern Wisconsin in their hands.

 

Grothman to Mellen Residents: “Trust the Company”

     wcmcoop.com/2013/02/09/grothman-to-mellen-residents-trust-the-company/

 Candidate profiles: Wisconsin Supreme Court

       host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/candidate-profiles-wisconsin-supreme-court/article_3644d578-72e5-11e2-a583-001a4bcf887a.html

Green Bay Press Gazette. 3 contend for spot on Wisconsin Supreme Court.

 

 Supreme Court candidates to report spending

       host.madison.com/news/state-and-regional/supreme-court-candidates-to-report-spending/article_159158e9-a072-5117-9dc3-ea19a24026f6.html

 

 

Walker administration stays on sidelines as feds set up Wisconsin’s health insurance exchange

      www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=39030

 

 

The case for accepting federal money to fill holes in BadgerCare is overwhelming

      www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/the-case-for-accepting-federal-money-to-fill-holes-in-badgercare-is-overwhelming-2b8mk9c-190403521.html

 

 

Lt. Gov. Kleefisch’s spouse backs three Republicans in race

     www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/189441701.html

 

Racine Journal Times editorial: Don’t change electoral vote process

       journaltimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/journal-times-editorial-don-t-change-electoral-vote-process/article_75bb73fa-73d1-11e2-916d-0019bb2963f4.html

The Appleton Post-Crescent weighs in on Gov. Walker’s proposals to expand the school voucher program. That’s wrong, the paper says, and another assault on public schools.

Gov. Walker. Developing Wisconsin’s workforce: $100 million investment in our future.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Scott Walker seeks $100 million for job training, data tracking. 

 

League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Network. Letter to Gov. Walker regarding state budget.

 

Forbes Names Wisconsin to Dubious List of “Top Ten States People are Fleeing”

       www.forbes.com/pictures/lmj45mhle/wisconsin/

 

Janesville Gazette. Editorial: Fundamentals must be focus for job creation.

Chippewa Herald. Employers complain about unfair unemployment system.

 

WEDC. Continues push for business growth in Wisconsin

 

 Addressing damage done by U.S. Chamber and WMC

     host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/addressing-damage-done-by-u-s-chamber-and-wmc/article_58a05126-73f6-11e2-85d7-0019bb2963f4.html

 

 

 Madison Chamber of Commerce allies with labor

       host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/jack_craver/madison-chamber-of-commerce-allies-with-labor/article_56886fc6-723a-11e2-8066-0019bb2963f4.html

The New York Times reports the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are working together in support of immigration reform.

A similar dynamic is forming locally, with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce forming an apparent political alliance with a group of unions to support candidates for the Madison City Council.

 Three reforms nobody seems to care enough about

        www.fightingbob.com/guestblog.cfm?postID=4711

Walker campaign a 50-state proposition

      www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/190449021.html

Sen. Tammy Baldwin says before Obamacare, 17 million kids with health conditions were “uninsurable”

        www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/feb/11/tammy-baldwin/sen-tammy-baldwin-says-obamacare-17-million-kids-h/

Chris Matthews says Sen. Ron Johnson was elected in ‘very low turnout’ contest

       www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/feb/10/chris-matthews/chris-matthews-says-sen-ron-johnson-was-elected-ve/

Attacks on open records never end

     host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/dave_zweifel/plain-talk-attacks-on-open-records-never-end/article_6a360774-7242-11e2-bd46-001a4bcf887a.html

La Crosse Tribune. Planned Parenthood to refile challenge to Wis. law.

Sheboygan Press. Midwest firms coupled to high-speed rail.

Some News

The Gaping Hole in the Conservative Case Against the Voting Rights Act

“Where Did All those Super PAC Dollars Go? 1/3 of All Outside Money Moved Through Handful of Media Firms,” by Will Dooling

Political war profiteers: 20 consulting firms churn 80 percent of super PAC cash

The Great Austerity Swindle!

Buying “Political Intelligence” Can Pay Off Big for Wall Street

 “The political-intelligence business has expanded rapidly over a decade as government decisions have come to play a growing role for some on Wall Street. Investors spend more than $400 million a year for such intelligence, according to Integrity Research Associates, which follows the research industry. Its founder, Michael Mayhew, said hedge funds tell him the ‘single largest source of gains for them has been what’s going on in Washington.’ Political-intelligence specialists, unlike lobbyists, don’t have to disclose anything about their clients, activities or fees.”

Corporate Profits Have Soared By 171 Percent Under ‘Anti-Business’ Obama

Gun laws in the U.S., state by state  ::  a nice interactive by The Guardian

Federal Offshore Drilling Safety Committee May Disband Even as Concerns Mount — An advisory committee formed after 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster could be meeting for the last time this week, because its charter is set to expire.

As Shell’s Arctic Drilling Hopes “Hit Snags,” Its Rivals Watch

Tonight, part of my state just nominated this guy to be their Republican nominee for the United States Senate. He served as Governor here for fourteen years, then left that post to spend the first four years of George Bush, Jr.’s presidency as head of Health & Human Services. In 2008, he spent nearly four and a half months as a Republican candidate for President, before getting 7% of the vote in Iowa’s Ames Straw Poll, and dropping out of the race the next day.

   Most interestingly, he was a key member of ALEC before really anyone know what it is. “Myself, I always loved going to these meetings because I always found new ideas. Then I’d take them back to Wisconsin, disguise them a little bit, and declare that ‘It’s mine,’” he told an ALEC conference in 2002.

  He’s 70 years old, and his mortality would never allow him to gain any influence or traction in the Senate. Which is all well and good, because Tammy Baldwin will be a great Senator repping Wisconsinites in D.C. once she’s elected in November.

   Replacing Tammy in her seat will be Mark Pocan, a perfectly fine legislator, but a bittersweet choice, since his victory tonight was at the expense of my friend Kelda Roys, who faced him in the Democratic primary. She was elected to the state Assembly in 2008, rapidly became caucus chair, and did a fantastic job of being the people’s representative in our statehouse. I don’t know what’s immediately next for her, but whatever it is, she’ll be fucking great at it.

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)