http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ An outside-the-Beltway perspective on current events, politics, media, and the arts. We are proud to be part of the Reality-Based Community. en-us mratclif@aracnet.com 2010-03-15T00:00:53-08:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014877.php Paul Krugman advises that the US take a tough stand on the China unvalued currency which is major factor in keeping the global economy in the dumps.... 14877@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Miscellaneous 2010-03-15T00:00:53-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014876.php So what makes someone (the) anti-Christ? Perhaps a wee bit of anti-social justice. 'Cause according to the religion of Beck, if you read the Bible you must believe the poor and the weak brought their condition onto themselves and it ain't anyone's problem but their own.... 14876@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Miscellaneous 2010-03-14T00:00:36-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014875.php 14875@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Healthcare 2010-03-13T15:37:04-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014874.php 14874@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Healthcare 2010-03-13T10:19:14-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014873.php Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy (h/t The Big Picture)... 14873@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Financial Reform 2010-03-13T10:01:13-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014872.php Any time you see a Democrat or any Republican rant about federal spending and the deficit, and not offer full-throated support for an immediate and strong jobs bill, ingore that person. They don't care about Main Street, and only want to give the appearance of caring about the problems of families when in fact all they care about is creating a false narrative that we're about to become a banana republic if we don't tighten spending and worry about deficits and higher interest rates. Yes, we can argue that Obama was too timid with the first stimulus package, and gave too much ground on tax cuts and didn't insist enough on more direct spending on infrastructure. He didn't, and he and Larry Summers were wrong on that and the likes of Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, and Joseph Stiglitz were right. But as James Carville said two decades ago, it's the economy stupid, and kitchen table issues are the best guide on how the party in power can stay in power. For the GOP, they lure voters with tax cuts that never produce jobs, but the misdirection keeps working anyway. For Democrats, it has and always should be about jobs and rebuilding communities here at home, and not offshoring the middle class into poverty. Gallup's latest poll only proves this point, and every Democrat running this fall, and the White House need to plaster this on their War Room walls. Unemployment now stands alone as the top issue in Gallup's latest update on the most important problem facing the country. Thirty-one percent of Americans mention jobs or unemployment, significantly more than say the economy in general (24%), healthcare (20%), or dissatisfaction with government (10%). Note from this poll that concern over unemployment has doubled since last August. In fact, specific concerns over unemployment and more general concerns about the economy dwarf everything else. Only eight (8) percent of respondents named the deficit as their biggest concern now, but it was so far down the list as to be an afterthought for most Americans at this time. Let the GOP rant about spending; Democrats should immediately pin them down on what their plan is on jobs, and then force them to offer up more deficit-inducing tax cuts, which do nothing to create demand and only enrich the usual suspects. Any candidate who prioritizes cutting spending instead of a second stimulus bill is more in touch with their donors than Main Street, and any media outlet or think tank that does so isn't in the real world. For Democrats, no matter what happens on health care, the path to success in 2010 runs through job creation and putting Main Street ahead of Wall Street.... 14872@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Polls 2010-03-13T07:14:54-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014871.php Digby links to an article by Eric Alterman and Danny Goldman discussing the toxic nature of talk radio and how broad of an audience is following the shock jocks. One way to follow the poison is to track the creepy lies and propaganda on Media Matters where they have a running clip of what's being said. Here is what they caught Glenn Beck saying today in under three hours. Just think of the impact on our politics when you consider that the 48 million people are listening to this every day.... 14871@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Media 2010-03-12T18:01:18-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014870.php Senator Dick Durbin’s office now is saying that if House Dems pass a public option as part of their reconciliation fix, he will whip for it in the Senate. Greg Sargent has Durbin's response to critics who have lambasted him for saying he would oppose a public option reconciliation fix: But Durbin’s spokesman, Joe Shoemaker, emails to clarify: Sen. Durbin and the rest of the Senate Leadership will be aggressively whipping FOR the public option if it is included in the reconciliation bill the House sends over. Here’s how the chronology would unfold: House passes Senate bill. It becomes law. House then initiates reconciliation fix, including public option. Senate leadership whips to pass reconciliation fix in Senate. Reconciliation fix — including public option — becomes law. Seems pretty straightforward. Sam Stein:... 14870@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Healthcare 2010-03-12T10:13:04-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014869.php Paul Krugman addresses 3 myths about the Democratic health care reform. And his conclusion? Time to get this thing passed now. Update from paradox 03/12/10 0629: I've been sick, I'm afraid, I'll be back tomorrow or Sunday.... 14869@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Miscellaneous 2010-03-12T00:00:24-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014868.php After attempting to reach a bipartisan agreement with a new GOP dance partner, only to see the GOP try and run the clock out to prevent a new consumer protection agency on financial products, Chris Dodd announced this morning that he's going ahead with his own financial reform bill. Dodd got nowhere with GOP dinosaur Richard Shelby and felt he could do business instead with Tennessee GOP senator Bob Corker, only to find that Corker was giving on small stuff but stalling on the big piece, which was to establish a new agency to protect Main Street from Wall Street. With the legislative clock running out, Dodd finally took back control of the bill today and will go forward with a Democratic bill that will have the consumer protections in it that Wall Street and their GOP sluts have fought since Day One, as if the meltdown never happened. The GOP and Wall Street want the status quo, and yet for some reason Democrats have been afraid to make the GOP filibuster this bill, which is a perfect defining issue for the 2010 midterms. Note how the LA Times reporter buys into the right wing spin that any Democratic bill without GOP support "spells trouble" for the Democrats, even though they won the last election and have a solid majority in both houses. Dodd said he will unveil his latest draft of the legislation Monday and wants his committee to begin considering a bill the week of March 22. But with Republicans holding enough seats to block any legislation, the failure to produce a bipartisan bill spells trouble for Democrats hoping to push through a regulatory overhaul that is one of President Obama's top priorities. Corker said he was disappointed, but would continue to work with Dodd. Corker said that with a push coming by Democrats to pass healthcare overhaul using a controversial Senate procedure, Dodd "felt the need to go ahead regardless of where we are in the negotiations to put forth a bill on Monday." That's right; majority rule and reconciliation, two things that the GOP used freely during their time in power, are now suddenly "trouble" and "controversial" when the Democrats use them, according to this reporter. If the Democrats knew what they were doing, they would: 1) Have an aggressive media pushback operation to deal with garbage like this; and 2) Force the GOP to filibuster this bill. But then, that would require them to know what they are doing. Yet Harry Reid may be getting a clue.... 14868@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Economy/Finance 2010-03-11T11:13:31-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014867.php I guess it shouldn't be surprising that in the midst of a bad economy, a very cold and wet winter, an unrigorous scientific community, and a persistent and Pollution Lobby-funded corporate denial campaign that more Americans than ever doubt the seriousness of global warming. Gallup's annual update on Americans' attitudes toward the environment shows a public that over the last two years has become less worried about the threat of global warming, less convinced that its effects are already happening, and more likely to believe that scientists themselves are uncertain about its occurrence. In response to one key question, 48% of Americans now believe that the seriousness of global warming is generally exaggerated, up from 41% in 2009 and 31% in 1997, when Gallup first asked the question. [snip] Roughly half of Americans now say that "most scientists believe that global warming is occurring," down from 65% in recent years. The dominant opposing thesis, held by 36% of Americans, is that scientists are unsure about global warming. An additional 10% say most scientists believe global warming is not occurring. Which is flatly not true, and a product of the conservative media telling its sheeple of great divisions within the scientific community. Also, do you wonder why Gallup has been asking these global warming-related questions all these years at the end of winter, instead of at the end of summer?... 14867@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Environment 2010-03-11T06:47:57-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014866.php Granny D, who at the age of 90 walked 3200 miles across the United States to bring attention to the need of campaign finance reform, has died at the age of 100. She truly was an inspiring example for all of us. May she rest in peace. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy... 14866@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Miscellaneous 2010-03-11T00:00:23-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014865.php At a time when Obama's troubles are being attributed to an insular, small Chicago cabal running the White House, his opponent for the Democratic nomination is being credited with re-energizing the State Department by broadening her circle and giving more people access to the top at Foggy Bottom. But of course she would have made a bad president . . . .... 14865@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Foreign Policy/War 2010-03-10T21:21:16-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014864.php So SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts, he who lied at his confirmation hearing about his views on previous court rulings, is now mouthing off about Obama's SOTU slap at the Citizens United travesty. It seems that Johnnie Boy is a little sensitive to being called out as a corporate whore masquerading as a judge. F*ck him and the fascist horses that he and the other four rode in on. It's long past time for Democrats to call out the right wing judiciary for trying to undermine personal rights and elevate Corporate America to supremacy in this alleged democracy. I'm just mad that it took a ruinous court decision for Democrats to finally run against a right-wing judiciary, yet they need to hammer this each and every day as an example of what happens when Main Street lets the GOP take over the courts and deliver the country into the greedy embrace of Wall Street. The GOP is well-versed in misdirection politics, whereby they distract voters from GOP weaknesses and instead gin up issues that harm their opponents. Rove made his bones this way for years. Democrats need to do the same for the 2010 election, and get voters to focus on the Citizens United case, and build upon the large public opinion against this decision. Update: The right wing pushback has begun, with both Orrin Hatch and Jeff Sessions complaining that it was wrong for Obama to confront The Five Hacks with their decision to their faces, because they are a separate branch of government (and the Congress isn't also?), and because Obama is wrong on what The Five Hacks ruled. First off, presidents have routinely used SOTU's to score political points against the congressional branch of government, but with the SCOTUS since Bush v. Gore now also an openly partisan branch, it also merits political jabbing. Secondly, it's fine for Hatch and Sessions (a whack job who flamed out as a federal court nominee himself) to claim that Obama's interpretation of Citizens United is wrong, just as much as it's OK for me to claim that Hatch and Sessions are right wing hacks who are also wrong in their analysis.... 14864@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ Law/Courts 2010-03-10T12:54:51-08:00 http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014863.php For once a shallow, obtuse, gossip-driven, no-memory corporate-toadie American journalism corps is of enormous benefit to the Democratic Party, for if the truth about how the US government has bailed out two strange, semi-private mortgage companies—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—in these viciously Great Recession tough times the Democrats would get absolutely blasted out of office this Fall. Succinctly define Fannie Mae. Even the most soaked of public policy geeks can barely do it, and I’m positive my own understanding of what these companies allegedly do is woefully short. Fannie Mae was created in the Depression to subsidize home mortgages of for the little people, “freeing money” from banks by buying a 30 year mortgage at 5% (say) and then letting a little person use that mortgage at 3%, taking a loss but still capable of making money. I think that’s the bare-bones idea behind Fannie Mae.... 14863@http://www.theleftcoaster.com/ 2010 Election 2010-03-10T07:42:46-08:00