July 23, 2012

I am at Jackson Browne Concert

Did new song 'Standing at the Breech.' Something about "...nature knocking down our works" and "some living like paupers, some living like kings."
http://t.co/SExBrxFx

July 23, 2012

Media Matters: NBC's Chuck Todd Pushes False Equivalency That Obama Is "Swift Boating Romney"

http://mediamatters.org/mobile/video/2012/07/22/chuck-todd-pushes-false-equivalency-that-obama/187275

NBC's Chuck Todd Pushes False Equivalency That Obama Is "Swift Boating Romney"

VIDEO AT LINK[p]

July 22, 2012

Economists: U.S. Poverty on Track to Hit Highest Level Since 1960s

Source: Associated Press

ECONOMISTS: U.S. POVERTY ON TRACK TO HIT HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 1960S

According to economists and other experts surveyed by the Associated Press, the U.S. poverty rate is on track to hit its highest level since the 1960s. The consensus among those surveyed is that “the official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent.” Just a 0.1 percent increase would put the poverty rate at its highest since 1965.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/22/561671/poverty-highest-1960s

---

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-poverty-track-rise-highest-1960s

US POVERTY ON TRACK TO RISE TO HIGHEST SINCE 1960S

By HOPE YEN
— Jul. 22 11:26 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.

Census figures for 2011 will be released this fall in the critical weeks ahead of the November elections.

The Associated Press surveyed more than a dozen economists, think tanks and academics, both nonpartisan and those with known liberal or conservative leanings, and found a broad consensus: The official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent. Several predicted a more modest gain, but even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest since 1965.

Poverty is spreading at record levels across many groups, from underemployed workers and suburban families to the poorest poor. More discouraged workers are giving up on the job market, leaving them vulnerable as unemployment aid begins to run out. Suburbs are seeing increases in poverty, including in such political battlegrounds as Colorado, Florida and Nevada, where voters are coping with a new norm of living hand to mouth.

July 21, 2012

Two More Syrian Generals Flee to Turkey, Official Says

Source: Reuters

Two more Syrian generals flee to Turkey, official says

Sat Jul 21, 2012 7:42am EDT

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Two Syrian brigadier-generals fled to Turkey overnight, part of a group of about 10 people that included colonels and other military officers, a Turkish official told Reuters on Saturday.

The latest defections would bring the number of Syrian generals taking refuge in Turkey to 24.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE86K08Q20120721?irpc=932

July 21, 2012

Japan Firm ‘Told Workers to Lie’ About Radiation Dose

Source: Agence France-Presse

Japan firm ‘told workers to lie’ about radiation dose

By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, July 21, 2012 6:02 EDT

A subcontractor at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant told workers to lie about possible high radiation exposure in an apparent effort to keep its contract, reports said Saturday.

An executive at construction firm Build-Up in December told about 10 of its workers to cover their dosimeters, used to measure cumulative radiation exposure, with lead casings when working in areas with high radiation, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and other media said.

The action was apparently designed to under-report their exposure to allow the company to continue working at the site of the worst nuclear disaster in a generation, media reports said.

- snip -

Without faking the exposure level, the executive told the workers they would quickly reach the legally permissible annual exposure limit of 50 millisieverts, according to the Asahi.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/21/japan-firm-told-workers-to-lie-about-radiation-dose

July 20, 2012

This is a picture of James Holmes, suspected gunman in Aurora theater shooting

July 20, 2012

Former Penn State Board of Trustees Head Resigns Amid Sex-Abuse Scandal

Source: Reuters

Former Penn State board of trustees head resigns amid sex-abuse scandal

Thursday, Jul 19, 2012 9:26pm EDT

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Penn State University's board of trustees has accepted the resignation of Steven Garban, the man who chaired the board when the child sex abuse scandal involving ex-assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky first broke.

In a letter posted to the board's website on Thursday evening, PSU Trustees Chairwoman Karen Peetz said: "Earlier today I accepted Steve Garban's resignation from the Board of Trustees. I want to sincerely thank him for his many years of service to Penn State University and for the leadership he exhibited today."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE86J02E20120720?irpc=932

July 18, 2012

TPM: "A Blogger’s Failed Attempt To Sandbag Connie Schultz"

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/connie-schultz-sherrod-brown-reporter-email.php

A Blogger’s Failed Attempt To Sandbag Connie Schultz

SAHIL KAPUR JULY 18, 2012, 9:48 AM

A conservative blogger’s recent attempt to sandbag Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist Connie Schultz proved to be an epic failure — and the only thing saving him from public embarrassment is Schultz’s own grace.

The story begins on July 9, says Schultz, when she received an email from the inquiring blogger, who promptly misspelled the name of the author, former columnist for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, and winner of the 2004 Pulitzer for commentary:


Uh oh, you might think. Soon she’ll have to defend herself from allegations of being overly cozy with a subject she reports on. Well — not quite.

On July 10, she replied with this:


SEE LINK FOR PUNCHLINE[p]

July 18, 2012

Fucker.

No level of hell deep and horrible enough for this sociopath...



http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78606.html#ixzz20uB5Rnwy

[font size="8"]“Eight years was awesome and I was famous and I was powerful...”[/font]













































































































[p]

July 17, 2012

Bloomberg Business Week: What's Romney Hiding in His Tax Returns? (Paid No Taxes in 2009?)

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-17/whats-romney-hiding-in-his-tax-returns

What's Romney Hiding in His Tax Returns?

Posted by: Joshua Green on July 17, 2012

- snip -

Last night I had dinner with some (non-Bain) private equity executives, and I took the opportunity to quiz them on the topic and test my own theories about Romney’s tax returns. Let me emphasize that I have no idea what is in those returns, and neither did anyone I spoke with. What follows is unfounded, though not implausible, speculation. The most intriguing scenario that emerged about what could be lurking in those returns is as follows:

When the stock market collapsed in 2008, the wealthiest investors fared worse than everyone else. (See, for instance, this Merrill Lynch study.) The “ultra-rich”—those with fortunes of more than $30 million—fared worst of all, losing on average about 25 percent of their net worth. “There was really nowhere to hide as an investor in 2008,” Merrill Lynch’s president of global wealth management pointed out in 2009. “No region ended the year unscathed.”

As a member of the ultra-rich, Romney probably wasn’t spared major losses. And it’s possible he suffered a large enough capital loss that, carried forward and coupled with his various offshore tax havens, he wound up paying no U.S. federal taxes at all in 2009. If true, this would be politically deadly for him. Even assuming that his return was thoroughly clean and legal—a safe assumption, it seems to me—the fallout would dwarf the controversy that attended the news that Romney had paid a tax rate of just 14 percent in 2010 and that estimated he’d pay a similar rate in 2011.

The “zero tax in 2009” theory—again, this is sheer speculation—gains further sustenance when you consider it’s the only year for which nobody knows anything about Romney’s taxes. He’s revealed what’s in his 2010 and 2011 returns, and he reportedly submitted 20-some years’ worth of returns to the McCain campaign when he was being vetted for vice president in 2008. Steve Schmidt, McCain’s chief strategist in that campaign, said on MSNBC last night that while he didn’t examine Romney’s returns himself, nothing that McCain’s vetters found in them disqualified Romney from consideration.

MORE

Green is senior national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek in Washington. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaGreen.