Another large jump in carbon dioxide

Start the countdown for the Republican extremists to dismiss science, again.

The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.

"The more we talk about the need to control emissions, the more they are growing," said John Reilly, co-director of MIT's Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.

The world pumped about 564 million more tons (512 million metric tons) of carbon into the air in 2010 than it did in 2009. That's an increase of 6 percent. That amount of extra pollution eclipses the individual emissions of all but three countries — China, the United States and India, the world's top producers of greenhouse gases.

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A wonderful music video produced by deaf kids

It's neat, watch it. Read the rest of this post...

Cain allegedly invited employee to his hotel room; left NRA early and under unclear circumstances

Politico is on a serious roll:

The sources say the woman told them Cain invited her to his hotel room at the event, and that both the context and the way Cain phrased the invitation made her feel extremely uncomfortable, even incensed.

After her complaint, Kilgore – who is still serving as the association’s legal counsel today – found out about it and looked into it, according to someone familiar with the association.

Yet, about 10 association board members serving at the time said they were never told of any investigation – or even complaints against Cain.

He resigned as president of the NRA effective June 30, 1999, before his three-year term was up, yet these board members say they were never fully informed as to why. None said they believed his departure had anything to do with the allegations made by the women.

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Tammy Baldwin introducing resolution against weak foreclosure fraud settlement

Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Senate candidate and current member of the House of Representatives, is going to introduce a resolution on foreclosure fraud and the ongoing negotiations between the nation's five largest banks, fifty forty-four state Attorneys General, and the Obama administration. Amanda Terkel of Huffington Post reports:

Baldwin's resolution states that any settlement should follow three guidelines: 1) Banks that engaged in fraudulent behavior "should not be granted criminal or civil immunity for potential wrongdoing related to illegal mortgage and foreclosure practices," 2) the federal government and state AGs should "proceed with full investigations into claims of fraudulent behavior by mortgage servicers" and 3) any monetary sum paid by the banks should "appropriately compensate for, and accurately reflect, the extent of harm to all victims."

"We have to do the best we can to make innocent victims whole. But secondly, especially in light of the taxpayer bailout of the biggest banks, we owe taxpayers a solemn effort to do everything we can do to uncover what went wrong and whether laws were broken," Baldwin said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "Part of that is to make certain this won't happen again. That, to me, is one of the most basic responsibilities we have."

David Dayen at FireDogLake has a copy of Baldwin's proposed legislation. It's simple and powerful, while including a stinging indictment of the big banks who have systematically been stealing peoples' homes.

I don't know that this resolution has much hope of passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, but it's a strong statement that the anger we see around the country in the Occupy movement has made its way into the Capitol building. Good for Tammy Baldwin, a new member of the Justice Democrats. Read the rest of this post...

Rachel Maddow on Oakland general strikes — The police started both of them

This first segment from last Wednesday's Rachel Maddow Show is excellent for many reasons.

One of the best aspects is the history lesson. There's never a wrong time for resistance to connect with its history.

If you already know how visually stunning the Bay Area is, skip to 2:30 and watch from there. The information about general strikes (a whole different beast) and the 1946 Oakland general strike, starts around 3:15.

The part about the cops starts at 4:00. Ugly, important, never-changing stuff. Click to launch in a new tab:


The cry:

"Strike, occupy, shut it down,
Oakland is the People's town."

Resistance always looks like this, from Women's Rights to numerous labor battles and massacres (usually strikers vs. police and Pinkerton men). Elites always link arms; they always have to be forced to give in.

Best to learn the history, know what to expect. Also, best to know how to win (the secret is always action).

What can you do? Move your money on November 5.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Religious right leaders admit Romney’s Mormonism matters to evangelical electorate

In a long article in which the leadership of the religious right claims, repeatedly, that far right Christian voters don't care if Romney is a Mormon, suddenly two of them let slip that, yeah, they care. From HuffPo:

In fact, the problem for Romney with many conservatives and evangelicals, [Souther Baptist leader Richard] Land said, is that they do not think he has been "Mormon enough" because of his flip-flops on abortion and gay marriage in particular.

"That's what's more of a challenge for Mitt Romney," said [hate group Family Research Council head Tony] Perkins. "His past positions on many of these issues are not where most Mormons are. That's more of a level of discomfort."

Hallelujah, they finally admitted it. The Mormons have been wooing religious right political activists for years (in a large part via their profligate spending in anti-gay civil rights advocacy). And part of the reason - hell, probably most of the reason - has been to aid Romney's eventual presidential run. And clearly Romney hopes to convince evangelical Christians that his Mormonism is right in line with their conservative evangelical world view.

So, if you agree with Romney's Mormonism then it's okay to vote for him based on that (which is what both Land and Perkins admit - it is Romney's Mormonism, and his adherence to it, that will swing evangelical voters). But if you have issues with Romney's Mormonism it's not okay to consider it come election time.

Fabulous double standard the far right is creating here. Romney's Mormonism is relevant if you vote for him, it's irrelevant and downright bigoted if you vote against him.

And I'll say it again: If Romney were a Scientologist or a Muslim you'd better believe the religious right, and much of America, would have a problem with it. Hell, even Romney himself said he'd use a religious test for his own administration, by excluding Muslims. So I guess that means Romney thinks it would be okay if another presidential candidate wanted to exclude Mormons from the cabinet? Someone should ask him. Read the rest of this post...

Third Way’s racist advice to the Tea Party about the Super Committee

The conservative Democratic think tank Third Way has written a policy memo as to why the Tea Party should support the Super Committee making big budget cuts, as opposed to the sequestration that would happen if the Super Committee can't come to agreement. Some examples of Third Way's reasoning:

Sequestration will lead to:
• 12,000 Criminals Evading Incarceration
• Possible Prison Furloughs
• A More Porous Southern Border
• Gun Purchase Delays

Basically Third Way is saying that unless the Super Committee gets to make big cuts to the federal budget, the automatic cuts will make it harder for Tea Partiers to buy guns to defend themselves against all the dangerous brown people who will come rampaging across the Mexican-American border.

Remind me again why any Democrat would listen to Third Way's advice? Read the rest of this post...

Tea Party heckler calls Elizabeth Warren "socialist whore," Obama "foreign born"

Democratic Senate candidate from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren engaged with a Tea Party heckler today at a community forum when he suddenly went nuts.  At 1:45 in to the video you can just hear him say: "You're a socialist whore, and your boss is a foreign-born..."  This is reminiscent of the time the Tea Partiers called African-American member of Congress, and civil rights hero, John Lewis a "n*gger," spat on another member, and then called Barney Frank a "f*ggot." Read the rest of this post...

Video shows Milwaukee cops lied: Knew they were arresting reporter covering Occupy Milwaukee

New video shows that the Milwaukee police lied when they said they weren't informed, and had no idea, that they were arresting a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel photojournalist yesterday while she was in the midst of covering the Occupy Milwaukee (#OccupyMKE) protests.

The video shows the photojournalist's employee ID tags dangling from her neck as the police arrest her, but far more damning is at 0:50 seconds into the video when the crowd yells "she's a journalist," and one of the arresting officers responds "it doesn't matter."

But look what Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said last night:

In a statement hours later, Milwaukee Police Spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said those arrested off-campus ignored repeated commands to clear the street and were arrested near the intersection of N. Oakland Ave. and E. Linnwood Ave.

"I can tell you that no one at MPD had any idea (Wentz-Graff) was a journalist until she arrived here at the police station," Schwartz said. "She never identified herself as a journalist to officers."

And that's a lie.  They had an idea.  They didn't care.  And then they lied about it to the public and to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

So either Anne Schwartz is a liar, or the cops on the scene lied to Anne Schwartz.  Either way, the Milwaukee police department lied.

The bottom line is that the police knew this woman was a journalist with the local Milwaukee paper, they arrested her anyway for taking photos, and they intentionally lied to the public yesterday when they said they didn't realize she was a journalist.  They knew.  They admitted it on the scene.  And they chose to lie to the people of Wisconsin. Read the rest of this post...

GOP consultant: I saw Cain sexually harass young woman

Toast.  At some point the Republicans need to worry about this Cain affairs tarnishing their brand overall.  How many more stories do we have to see about Iowa Republicans not caring if Cain sexually harassed multiple woman under his tutelage, or about GOP members of the House of Representatives suggesting that everyone sexually harasses women so who cares (especially when the is behind on paying his child support to the tune of $100,000).  At some point the public is going to clue in to the fact that all of those rumors about the Republicans being heartless are true. Read the rest of this post...

Another list of profitable corporations that did not pay taxes

Since the Republicans love slobbering over all things Reagan, shouldn't they support corporate tax increases like he did? Or are they being selective (again) about which Reagan decision they support? Something has to give with the current tax model.

Thirty large and profitable U.S. corporations paid no income taxes in 2008 through 2010, said a study on Thursday that arrives as Congress faces rising demands for tax reform, but seems unable or unwilling to act.

Pepco Holdings, a Washington, D.C.-area power company, had the lowest effective tax rate, at negative 57.6 percent, among the 280 Fortune 500 companies studied.

The statutory U.S. corporate income tax rate is 35 percent, one of the highest in the world, but over the 2008-2010 period, very few of the companies studied paid it, said the report.

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Milkwaukee cops arrest photojournalist with local paper... to stop her from covering OWS arrests?

UPDATE: Video shows the cops lied about not knowing she was a journalist.

First we have the cops' completely non-credible story, from the Milkwaukee Journal Sentinel:

In a statement hours later, Milwaukee Police Spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said those arrested off-campus ignored repeated commands to clear the street and were arrested near the intersection of N. Oakland Ave. and E. Linnwood Ave.

"I can tell you that no one at MPD had any idea (Wentz-Graff) was a journalist until she arrived here at the police station," Schwartz said. "She never identified herself as a journalist to officers."

Yes, I'm sure a reporter with the big local paper wouldn't tell the cops that she's a reporter with the big local paper. Uh huh. In fact, she was also wearing her press credentials from the very well known local paper:

Journal Sentinel Editor Martin Kaiser disputed the police account as it pertained to photojournalist Wentz-Graff's arrest.

"At no time did Kristyna Wentz-Graff ignore any commands by any officer," Kaiser said. "She came upon the scene to do her job as a photojournalist. She was clearly not part of the protest. She was wearing her Journal Sentinel photo press credential. She was carrying photography equipment while taking photographs of police making arrests when she was grabbed by a police officer and handcuffed. Her arrest was completely uncalled for and violates the First Amendment. No reason for her arrest has been provided."

The Milwaukee police knew exactly who she was and they decided to shut down the First Amendment like a bunch of Russian or Chinese secret police. That's what happened.  There's a larger story here about how the American police, nationwide, have really tarnished their own image throughout these protests. Read the rest of this post...

Is Israel planning to attack Iran?

The Israeli press seem to think that an attack on Iran's nuclear program is imminent. The front page of Ha'aretz is filled with pictures of jets and missiles. Israel just tested a missile capable of hitting Iran.

Israel has no common border with Iran and so Israeli jets would have to fly over Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Turkey. However much the House of Saud may wish to see an attack on Iran take place, allowing Israel to fly through Saudi airspace would delegitimize the regime in the eyes of its people. Turkey has a much larger and more capable air force and would likely shoot the Israeli planes down. So any attack on Tehran is almost certain to take the route over Syria and Iraq.

As the occupying force, the US would have faced a catastrophe had they permitted Israel to attack during the occupation. Netanyahu may believe that the US withdrawal from Iraq and in particular the return of Iraqi airspace to government control gives them more scope for independent action.

If there is an attack, Ahmedinejad will almost certainly emerge as the winner. His ambition to build a bomb and become a declared nuclear power is clear, whether the Supreme Leader and the clerics would allow him to do so is less clear. The clerics maintain their influence in the Iranian regime through ambiguity. If Iran acquires a nuclear weapon there can be no ambiguity as to who is in control of it.

Israel can only bomb the uranium production facilities that it knows about. It is highly unlikely that the uranium produced to date will be stored in the same place. Israel can destroy the Bushehr civilian reactor but not prevent Iran constructing a fast breeder pile for producing plutonium. The difficulty of constructing a nuclear reactor for military purposes can be judged from the fact that Fermi's grad students built one in a rackets court.

Ahmedinejad would use the attack as an excuse to exercise Iran's right to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and then perform a nuclear test as soon as possible afterward. All internal opposition to the program would be quashed, including from the clerics.

More seriously, Ahmedinejad would use the attack to paint the pro-democracy demonstrators as tools of the Zionists and murder more of his opponents than he has done so to date. Read the rest of this post...

UK military building plan for attack on Iran

Haven't we been here before and don't we already know how this works out? The public is fed up with expensive wars and no matter how much governments try to create distractions, it still won't cure the economic problems back home. The Guardian:

Britain's armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern about Tehran's nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned.

The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans for targeted missile strikes at some key Iranian facilities. British officials say that if Washington presses ahead it will seek, and receive, UK military help for any mission, despite some deep reservations within the coalition government.

In anticipation of a potential attack, British military planners are examining where best to deploy Royal Navy ships and submarines equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles over the coming months as part of what would be an air and sea campaign.

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Greek Finance Minister contradicts PM on referendum

As one might expect, since this is the topic of the upcoming European Union meeting, this is triggering some new chaos and concern. That said, the euro is losing some strength but it's not as dramatic as one might expect. Is a referendum really so bad? Having the full consent (or dissent) of the voters is not unreasonable since the voters have already been routed by the political class who created this mess. Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos isn't wrong to be panicked over what may or may not happen, but all of the choices are hard to like. More from Venizelos.

Having an immediate picture of the situation in Europe and around the world, I have a duty to tell the Greek people the full and simple truth: If we want to protect the country we must, under conditions of national unity and political seriousness and consensus, implement without any delay the decision of October 26.

Now, as soon as possible.” Defending the decision to hold a referendum as his government seeks a mandate from the people, he called for an end to internal battles between Greece’s main parties.

“Internal political balances and the future of individuals and political parties of this country is not what matters.

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Glenn Beck’s favorite advertiser faces 19 fraud charges

Executives at Glenn Beck's favorite advertiser face 19 counts of fraud relating to alleged 'bait and switch' tactics the firm used to peddle overpriced gold coins with a much lower gold content in place of the gold bullion the customers were calling to buy.

The coins were priced at roughly twice the market value of the gold. Tricks used to make the switch included warning that the government might confiscate bullion but gold coins would be immune. This is of course a nonsensical fear since the US dollar has not been pegged to the gold price since the 1970s. Confiscating gold as FDR did in 1933 would have no effect on the dollar today, and in any case the 'numismatic' coins sold by Goldline are not rare and would likely have been included in the 1933 confiscation order.

The price of gold is trending upwards again but remains below its peak of a few months ago, and well below its 1980 peak in the wake of the Iranian election and the invasion of Afghanistan. Investors in gold futures may have made some money, but even with the tremendous run that gold has had in the past five years, almost no Goldline customers have seen a profit on their 'investment' yet.

Demand for the yellow shiny metal may enjoy another spike as disturbances spread to Syria and Iran, or it may collapse as the various stashes built up by Gadaffi and his henchmen are discovered and quietly liquidated. In either case gold is pure speculation, it is not an investment. People create wealth, machinery creates wealth, corporations create wealth -- gold creates nothing. Read the rest of this post...

This just in... Conservative radio host: Cain recently made "awkward, inappropriate" comments to two female staffers

A bit too much smoke here for there not to be at least some fire. Read the rest of this post...

Oakland Police let driver leave after allegedly running over two protesters, crowd irate

From CBS' Chris Filippi's Twitter feed.

#Occupyoakland protester hit by car at 11th and Broadway.

Ambulance has arrived. Protester on ground in pain pic.twitter.com/11ummDaf

2nd victim of crash, a woman, being treated for a leg injury. Witnesses say she was hit when driver backed up after initial collision.

Police take drivers information and allow him to leave. Crowd irate. They were chanting for his arrest.

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VIDEO: Happy Cookie Monster Day

Today, November 2nd is International Cookie Monster Day.  (At least is still is in Chicago and out west.) Read the rest of this post...