January 24, 2013

Low-fat filibuster reform?

Published on Thursday, January 24, 2013 by Common Dreams

Mr. Reid Goes to Washington... Makes Backroom Deal for Meager Filibuster Reform
"Talking Filibuster" appears too noble an option for current Senate as compromise expected

- Jon Queally, staff writer


According to reports on negotiations between Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), advocates of strong filibuster reforms that would bring back the "talking filibuster" in the US Senate—made famous in the film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and which forces Senators to actually speak on the Senate floor to put a hold on legislation they object to—will be disappointed to discover that such a change has been excluded from a deal that could be announced as early as Thursday.

A more "meager" agreement may be reached, but it appears that Reid's threats earlier this week to use the so-called "nuclear option" by setting new rules for the Senate at the outset of the term were more bluster than hard-nosed attempts to get the changes that many say are needed to truly free the Senate from the gridlock of recent years.

Word of the compromise was met with scorn by those pushing for a return of the "talking filibuster" and stronger reforms overall.

Common Cause, a citizens advocacy group in Washington, said if reports of the agreement between Reid and McConnell were true the deal would only continue the Senate’s march toward irrelevance. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/24

January 24, 2013

World’s fastest elevator: In Taiwan, skyscraper’s lift travels at 60 km/h

from the Toronto Star:



World’s fastest elevator: In Taiwan, skyscraper’s lift travels at 60 km/h

Curtis Rush
Staff Reporter


[font size="1"]The world's fastest skyscraper elevator is in the 509-metre high Taipei 101 building in Taiwan, shown here welcoming in the New Year 2013[/font]


As skyscrapers get taller, elevators are getting faster.

The new ones travel as fast as a car on a city street at over 60 km/h.

In the race to develop the world’s fastest elevator, Asian cities are winning, according to new data released by Hamburg-based Emporis, which tracks building and construction data.

Only one building in North America, the 344-metre-high John Hancock Center in Chicago, broke into the top five.

Canada did not crop up in the research for the fastest elevators. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1318972--world-s-fastest-elevator-in-taiwan-skyscraper-s-lift-travels-at-60-km-h

January 24, 2013

Amtrak has record 2012 ridership in Michigan

http://www.freep.com/article/20130124/BUSINESS07/130124021/Amtrak-has-record-2012-ridership-in-Michigan?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s


PORT HURON — The state Department of Transportation says a record number of people rode Amtrak trains in Michigan last year.

Nearly 800,000 passengers traveled on Amtrak in the state in 2012. That's a ridership record on the state's three routes.

MDOT also announced this week that revenues of $27.8 million were at an all-time high.

In a statement, the transportation department said reasons for the record numbers include "increased awareness of train service and a positive focus on the future of rail travel."

January 24, 2013

Joe Arpaio's latest chart-topper

CAVE CREEK, Ariz., Jan 23 (Reuters) - Retired salesman David Bennett sits in a patrol car, armed with a semi-automatic Glock pistol and a shotgun, watching as parents drop off their children at a kindergarten in a desert community a few miles north of Phoenix.

Bennett is volunteering his time to join a posse organized by controversial lawman Joe Arpaio, who styles himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff."

The mission: to deter a repeat of last month's school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

"Hopefully we are letting the bad guy know that this school is being watched," said Bennett, peering through the windshield as a mother led her daughter by the hand through the school gate. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/joe-arpaio_n_2537561.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

January 24, 2013

Steve Stockman Is the Nuttiest Freshman in Congress—Again

from Mother Jones:





On Monday of last week, Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) announced that if President Barack Obama attempted to enact new gun violence prevention measures through executive order, he would have no choice but to file articles of impeachment. By Tuesday, he was comparing Obama to Saddam Hussein for using children as props at a speech introducing a gun control package. By Wednesday, he had stepped back from the precipice, asserting that "impeachment is not something to be taken lightly." After all, where did anyone get that idea?

This is the way it has always been with Steve Stockman: Light a fire; add some potassium nitrate; then stand back and gawk at the crater.

The Texas congressman, who is three weeks into his second term after a 16-year hiatus from the House, is almost certainly the only member of Congress to have been caught with 30 mg of valium hidden in a cellophane wrapper in his underwear. He's defended militia groups; accused an attorney general of "premeditated murder"; appeared on a Holocaust-denying radio program; waged a one-man war against Alfred Kinsey; compared his constituents—favorably—to Branch Davidians; and traveled to Denmark to protest climate change while wearing a red blindfold. The man who bested his 2012 opponent by 44 points isn't the most ballyhooed of incoming lawmakers. He's just the nuttiest.

Stockman's first congressional victory, a 1994 upset of 42-year incumbent Jack Brooks, may have been the closest his state ever came to electing a gun. In the preceding years, Stockman had experienced a personal purgatory—the aforementioned Wisconsin drug bust, which he blamed on his girlfriend; a brief period as a "studerino" (his words) surrounded by "hot-looking babes"; myriad bounced checks; a falling out with his brother; and a year living in a Forth Worth park with another homeless man he compared to Lennie from Of Mice and Man. Then Stockman discovered Christ and Ronald Reagan in East Texas. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/steve-stockman-nuttiest-freshman-congress-again

January 24, 2013

Report: Gov't Is Watching You More Than Ever, Often Without A Warrant

Law enforcement is asking Google for its users' data more than ever -- and most of the time, they aren't getting a warrant first.

That's the takeaway from a Wednesday update to the Google Transparency Report with information that breaks down for the first time how often the FBI and local cops use a subpoena, as opposed to a warrant, to snoop on Google users' information.

From July to December 2012, Google revealed, the company received 8,438 total requests for information about 14,791 users or accounts in the United States. Requests were up 34 percent from 2011 to 2012.

Google has been disclosing requests from law enforcement for the past three years, making it one of the few email providers to do so. In that time, the number of requests has steadily ticked up -- no huge surprise, according to the company, since it has more users and more data. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/google-transparency-report_n_2537153.html

January 24, 2013

Facebook Friends Fronting Debt Collectors Draw U.S. Regulation

(Bloomberg) Kathryn Haralson had already fielded calls from debt collectors at her home and work. They even phoned her daughter at college.

So when Haralson, 47, logged into her Facebook account one day, she was surprised by an unwelcome inbox message: a request to call “Mr. Rice” about her debt.

“It’s not like they needed to go on Facebook to find me,” Haralson said. “I was in contact with them all the time. That crossed the line.”

Federal regulators could wind up agreeing with Haralson as the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission weigh new restrictions on how debt collectors may use social media websites like those run by Facebook Inc. (FB) and Twitter Inc. to contact potential debtors. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-24/facebook-friends-fronting-debt-collectors-draw-u-s-regulation.html

January 24, 2013

Apple Sales Gain Slowest Since ’09 as Competition Climbs

(Bloomberg) Apple Inc. (AAPL) plunged in European trading after posting the slowest profit growth since 2003 and the weakest sales increase in 14 quarters, as higher costs and rising competition made it harder to sustain revenue expansion.

The company dropped 8 percent to 352.34 euros ($469.39) in Germany after saying that profit rose less than 1 percent to $13.1 billion, or $13.81 a share, in the period that ended Dec. 29. Sales rose 18 percent to $54.5 billion, falling short of $54.9 billion, the average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg. Analysts had predicted profit of $13.53 a share.

Apple also fell as much as 11 percent in late New York trading yesterday as the results underscored the rising costs of product overhauls amid competition from Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) in the saturating smartphone market. Even as Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook guided Apple to record revenue and iPad and iPhone sales, investors worry about management’s ability to keep producing hit products more than a year after the death of co- founder Steve Jobs.

“People are concerned about how quickly sales are falling off after the initial product launches and whether the company can deliver new and interesting products to reignite growth,” said Walter Piecyk, co-head of research at BTIG LLC in New York. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-23/apple-s-holiday-sales-miss-predictions.html

January 24, 2013

Boeing 787 to Stay Grounded as U.S. Can’t Explain Fires

(Bloomberg) The top two U.S. aviation regulators said they don’t know what led to battery flaws that prompted them to ground Boeing Co. (BA)’s 787, and defended their decision to not let the plane fly until the cause is found.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta gave no indication yesterday that the Dreamliner will return to service soon, as regulators around the world try to figure out what triggered smoke and fire earlier this month on two Japanese airliners, one of which made an emergency landing.

“Our goal is to get this done as quickly as possible, but we must be confident that the problems are corrected before we can move forward,” LaHood said at a meeting of the Aero Club of Washington. The Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration “are working diligently with Boeing” to find a solution, LaHood said.

“We don’t know what caused these incidents yet,” Huerta told reporters at a briefing after LaHood’s remarks. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-23/boeing-787-batteries-must-be-safe-to-resume-flights-lahood-says.html

January 24, 2013

Kiriakou Defenders Hope to Get Whistle-Blower’s Prison Sentence Commuted

from truthdig:


Kiriakou Defenders Hope to Get Whistle-Blower’s Prison Sentence Commuted

Posted on Jan 23, 2013
By Thomas Hedges, Center for Study of Responsive Law


High-profile defenders of John Kiriakou have written President Barack Obama to request that he commute the whistle-blower’s sentence or pardon him.

Kiriakou was charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, allegedly disclosing classified information to members of the news media after speaking out against waterboarding in 2007. He pleaded guilty in October as part of an agreement that would sentence him to 30 months in prison.

Those who have signed the letters in support of Kiriakou are politically varied. Among them are constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, former Public Citizen president Joan Claybrook, former senior official from the departments of State, Defense and National Security Council Morton Halperin, CNN senior political analyst David Gergen and retired CIA officer Raymond McGovern. Others include 10 former CIA agents and five professors from Liberty University in Virginia.

“Mr. Kiriakou is a highly decorated, 14-year CIA counterterrorism veteran who has spent his entire adult life in public service,” the letters read. He “is an anti-torture whistleblower who spoke out against torture because he believed it violated his oath to the Constitution. He never tortured anyone, yet he is the only individual to be prosecuted in relation to the torture program of the past decade. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/kiriakou_defenders_hope_to_commute_whistle-blowers_prison_sentence_20130123/