Bring back the wall?

When you have crazy people like the teabaggers running around, sometimes it's good to see how nutty people are in other countries. They're everywhere.

One in seven Germans want the Berlin Wall back because they were better off when the country was divided, according to an opinion poll published on Wednesday ahead of the 20th anniversary of its collapse on November 9, 1989.

The survey of 1,002 Germans by the Forsa institute published in Stern magazine said 15 percent of the country's 82 million long for the days when there were two Germanys. Some 16 percent pining for the Wall were westerners and 10 percent easterners.

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Net worth increases for first time in two years

Obviously there is still far to go before Americans break even with the previous highs. Interesting how Wall Street has already recovered as though nothing happened yet the customers haven't. What impressive customer service. Then again, why would anyone care about the folks that generate 70% of the US economy?

U.S. households' net worth rose by $2 trillion to $53.1 trillion in the second quarter, the first increase since before the recession began in 2007, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

The increase in wealth, the first since the third quarter of 2007, came in a period that saw stabilization in the housing market and huge gains in global financial markets. However, even with the $2 trillion rise, household net worth was still well below 2007's level of $63.9 trillion.

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Health Insurers Consider A Caesarean-Section Pregnancy A Pre-Existing Condition

From ThinkProgress. And remember, being a victim of domestic violence is also a pre-existing condition. Read More......

Insurance Company Must Pay $10 Million For Revoking Policy Of Teen With HIV

Sick story. Read More......

Max Baucus has lost his legitimacy

Ezra Klein:

Baucus now has a legitimacy problem. A dealmaker needs credibility and respect on both sides, and Baucus has lost it. The Democrats on his committee don't trust his instincts or his core commitments or his legislative skill. Nor do the Democrats outside his committee. They feel he gave away too much in return for not just too little, but nothing at all. That means the Republicans on his committee have further reason to distrust his ability to make a deal, because restive Democrats are going to want to change his bill. Meanwhile, House Democrats are enraged that he left them to suffer through August, and have little interest in passing a bipartisan compromise that doesn't come with any Republican votes.

Attacking Baucus, in fact, has become an applause line for liberals: Gerald McEntee, president of the powerful AFCSME union, responded to Baucus's proposal by leading delegates at the AFL-CIO's annual convention in a chant of "bulls**t." The blog response hasn't been much better.

Indeed, the only group that does seem happy with Baucus, or at least relatively forgiving of him, is the White House.

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Obama booed for mentioning Max Baucus, cheered for mentioning Public Option

Enough said.


Jed at DKos has more. Read More......

Pelosi: House bill will include Public Option

From Huff Post. Read More......

CBO says that Baucus' co-ops won't work

That's a rather huge story that got buried today:

Amid the coverage of the boost the CBO's scoring (.pdf) gave to Max Baucus's bill yesterday, an element of the CBO report appears to have gone mostly unnoticed, a wonky friend points out: The report paints co-ops — the leading alternative to a true public option — as basically irrelevant to the plan's cost.

The co-ops are dealt with, in fact, in a passing parenthetical remark:

(The proposed co-ops had very little effect on the estimates of total enrollment in the exchanges or federal costs because, as they are described in the specifications, they seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country or to noticeably affect federal subsi

dy payments.)The CBO confirms what liberal co-op critics have charged: That they will neither cover many people nor put downward pressure on costs, the two supposed benefits of the public option.

This is the alternative to the public option, we keep being told. Now the experts are telling us that co-ops won't achieve what they're supposed to. So they're not an acceptable alternative to the president's campaign promises at all. They're apparently a lot of nothing. Read More......

Speaker Pelosi warns against "climate of violence"

UPDATE: Huff Post has the video from ABC. Her words are absolutely brilliant, and right.

It's finally been said. She'll be eviscerated for it by FOX News and by the Republicans. And when some crazy Republican picks up a gun and shoots someone, or blows something up, remember Pelosi's warning, and remember how the Republicans spurned it. The cat is now out of the bag. There will be no more chance for Republicans to say "we had no idea any of our supporters would become violent." Now they do. Let's see how they react to the warning. Will they try to calm things down, or will they shoot the messenger? Read More......

"That is not racism" - GOP chair Michael Steele

"Voicing opposition to the president’s policy proposals is not being a racist. It is being an American.... As an African American, I know what racism is and that is not racism." - GOP chair Michael Steele, 9/17/09














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New jobless claims slightly better than expected

There's no getting around the fact that the numbers are painfully high and a sign of a weak job market. However, better than expected is always a welcome surprise. Just imagine how ugly the numbers would have been if the GOP failed to do anything as they all wanted. We would be in a much deeper hole. Sure the bailout of Detroit was pricey and yes, the stimulus is hurting the dollar today. It's easy to live with both - or at least possible to tolerate them, for now - because things could have been considerably worse without action.

The number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since early July, evidence that job cuts are slowing.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to a seasonally adjusted 545,000 from an upwardly revised 557,000 the previous week. Wall Street economists expected claims to rise by 5,000, according to Thomson Reuters.

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Glenn Beck walks us through the 47 Bush czars

Well, actually, Beck was complaining about the number of czars in the Obama administration - he says Obama has too many. Too bad then that George W. Bush had more czars than Obama. Funny that Beck didn't mention that fact to his viewer. Then again, FOX isn't known for giving its viewers all the facts if they go against the Republican agenda. Here's a video that the DNC took some liberties with - Beck complaining about Obama's czars, and the DNC decided to show you photos of Bush's czars in the same positions. Oops.

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GOP Rep. Steve King: Obama ‘threw the first punch’ against Joe "You Lie!" Wilson

Class act. And of course, CNN's Lou Dobb's was there, along with a hate group:

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) announced last night that President Obama “threw the first punch” at the “honorable” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) who had no choice but to fight back by calling the president a liar. King’s comments were made at a reception featuring Lou Dobbs and hosted by the nativist hate group, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), as part of their “Hold Their Feet To The Fire” annual anti-immigration lobbying campaign.

Yes, CNN's Lou Dobbs, and top GOP members of Congress, attended an event hosted by a known hate group. The Southern Poverty Law Center has more on the hate group:

The founder, chief ideologue and long-time funder of FAIR is a racist. Key staff members have ties to white supremacist groups, some are members, and some have spoken at hate group functions. FAIR has accepted more than $1 million from a racist foundation devoted to studies of race and IQ, and to eugenics — the pseudo-science of breeding a better human race that was utterly discredited by the Nazi euthanasia program. It spreads racist conspiracy theories. Its political ads have caused numerous politicians, Democratic and Republican, to denounce it.

What is a CNN on-the-air host doing attending an event hosted by a hate group? If he wasn't covering it - and he wasn't - then what was he doing there? Are there no morals clauses, or anything anymore, in broadcast contracts? Read More......

What if you threw a bipartisan bill and nobody came?

Ezra Klein notes a fact that we talked about yesterday. Why include so many Republican ideas in the Baucus bill if no Republicans are joining on board?

At this time, Baucus has no Republican votes for his legislation. Olympia Snowe is a maybe, and Enzi and Grassley are pretty certain to vote against it. Conceding so much in return for so little isn't just bad politics -- it's bad precedent. Why should Republicans sign onto Baucus's proposals in the future if they can simply adjust the bill to their liking and then withhold their support at the end?

If Baucus's Republican colleagues want to support this bill and give him some cover, their presence should be welcomed. But if not, Baucus should loudly and publicly allow the Democrats on his committee to strengthen the bill, as it will be a Democratic majority that passes the bill. A bipartisan group should shape a bipartisan bill. But a bipartisan group should not get to shape a partisan bill, particularly if that bill becomes partisan because they have abandoned it.

I'd go further than Ezra. Regardless of the level of GOP support, Democrats on the committee, and in the Senate more generally, should have the ability to shape the bill as they see fit. Max Baucus doesn't run the Senate, and he isn't the only committee chair involved in this process. Considering the amount of money the insurance industry has given Baucus, it's rather obscene that he even has a role in this debate - especially since President Obama promised us during the campaign that he was not going to let special interests and lobbyists craft his policies and legislation. Suddenly, a man bought off by the very industry we're trying to regulate has been appointed by the president as chief regulator. OpenLeft did a search of Baucus' top ten donors - here they are. Anything look familiar?



I worked in the Senate for five years. Don't think for a moment that members of Congress aren't acutely aware of who gives them the most money, and don't think for a moment that it doesn't buy influence, because it does. Read More......

Conservative commentator: Limbaugh's attacks on Obama are racist

Rod Dreher used to write for the NY Post (perhaps he still does). He's a pretty big conservative writer - even a tad Christian conservative, as I recall - who sometimes ventures off the reservation when things get too out of hand on the right. This is one of those times.

[N]ow we have Rush Limbaugh blaming Obama for black kids beating up a white kid on a school bus. This is what happens in "Obama's America," he said today on his radio show.

How low will these people go? Look, I think it's important to talk about black male violence, or at least as important as it is to talk about any other important social trend. I don't think we should be squeamish about discussing it in a responsible and fair-minded way, despite what the politically correct say. But good grief, Limbaugh is up to something wicked. He's plainly trying to rally white conservatives into thinking that now that we have a black president, blacks are rising up to attack white kids! Christ have mercy, what is wrong with these people?

I won't have anything to do with it, not even tangentially, which is why I took down the post. I can't see this as anything other than Limbaugh deliberately trying to whip up racial fear and loathing of the president. This goes far, far beyond tough criticism of Obama. Does that man Limbaugh have any idea what rough beast he's calling forth?

If the White House gets asked about Limbaugh's comment, they need to just shut up. Stop denying this stuff. Tell the media to go talk to civil rights experts if they want an opinion on what is and isn't discriminatory. But don't freaking deny it. Read More......

Wash Post couldn't find any liberals, or even Democrats, to praise Baucus bill

It's telling that a Washington Post story, claiming how great a breakthrough the Baucus health care reform bill is, only quotes business lobbyists praising the bill. Yes, it's quite a breakthrough when Congress offers legislation that only big business likes. Plus ça change... Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The thud from the Baucus health reform bill is still reverberating through DC. But watch Rahm Emanuel and his crew try to make it THE bill to rally around. Just to pass a bill. And, speaking of rallying around, the President will be holding a health insurance reform rally in College Park, Maryland today.

The First Lady is opening a farmers market today down by the White House. Can't have enough accessible farmers markets. After seeing the documentary, Food, Inc., I've been buying more food from my local farmer's market.

But, the really big news of the day: Jenna Bush starts this week as a TODAY Show correspondent this morning. Yeah. Big news.

Let's get started.. Read More......

Gold hits 18 month high as dollar wilts, again

The dollar is creeping back to the catastrophe it was under Bush. It's a sign from the market that many problems exist in the US economy. The weakening value comes from many current problems including slow growth, high spending, general belief in the market direction. Obama is in a tough position with the spending - it has to be done - but at the same time, there's nothing out there that suggests any great movement in the economy. It's a "more of the same" feeling.

Maybe the market is looking too often for miracle cures and the false growth numbers of the past, but still, there is nothing in view that suggests Obama has any grand plan with the direction of the economy. We all know it's flat, but people (and the market) want to see much more forward thinking. It's not even close to being there today.

Gold hit an 18-month high Wednesday as the dollar slid near one-year lows against the euro, sparking buying of the yellow metal as an alternative asset and helping lift silver and platinum to multi-month peaks.

Spot gold remained sharply higher at $1,017.65 an ounce into late New York dealings, compared with $1,005.90 on Tuesday. Wednesday's high of $1,020.50 an ounce was last reached in March 2008.

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Teen birth rates higher in religious conservative states

Shocking, isn't it? Besides everyone outside of these backwards communities, who ever would have imagined such results?

U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests.

The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise.

Mississippi topped the list for conservative religious beliefs and teen birth rates, according to the study results, which will be detailed in a forthcoming issue of the journal Reproductive Health.

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UK oil company agrees to compensate African pollution victims

Maybe one day large businesses will stop using Africa and poor countries as dumping grounds. At least they came around and compensated the victims of their toxic dumping. Will it have any impact on the future? Doubtful, but there's always a chance. In the end it was their email trail that exposed the truth. The Guardian:

Internal emails show that Trafigura, which yesterday suddenly announced an offer to pay compensation to 31,000 west African victims, was fully aware that its waste dumped in Ivory Coast was so toxic that it was banned in Europe.

Thousands of west Africans besieged local hospitals in 2006, and a number died, after the dumping of hundreds of tonnes of highly toxic oil waste around the country's capital, Abidjan. Official local autopsy reports on 12 alleged victims appeared to show fatal levels of the poisonous gas hydrogen sulphide, one of the waste's lethal byproducts.

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Cuomo subpoenas Bank of America directors

And they're not the same as the previously mentioned action. Cuomo would never make it in Washington though because he bothers to act instead of talk. That is *so* old fashioned. CNBC:

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued subpoenas to at least five board members at Bank of America demanding their testimony under oath about their knowledge of mounting losses and bonus payments at Merrill Lynch prior to BofA's takeover of the firm on January 1, according to a source close to the investigation.

The move ratchets up the pressure on Bank of America as Cuomo's office presses its probe.

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