Housing prices fall for 7th straight month, DC & San Diego rise

I thought DC was doing better. I even saw two condo complexes going up the other day (always a sign, in my mind at least, of confidence in the housing market). You also see things selling here, they go on the market and get sold. It would be nice to see this turnaround nationwide. Read the rest of this post...

Video: Freaky sand storm in Kuwait engulfs neighborhood

Kind of terrifying.


(H/t HuffPost Hill) Read the rest of this post...

Will Wisc. Supreme Ct. candidate David Prosser prejudge cases?

Sure looks like it. David Nir at Daily Kos has done a fine job of assembling the evidence. I'll try to add to his good work.

It's worth noting, by the way, that the question comes up because his opponent, JoAnn Kloppenberg, asserted just that point — that Prosser will prejudge cases — in several of her campaign statements, for example, in that March 22 candidate forum (which we commented on here):

Kloppenberg: "I, unlike my opponent, will approach cases with an open mind and without having prejudged the matters that come before the court."

Nir's point is that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is wrong in critiquing Kloppenberg for making that statement, since Kloppenberg is easily and demonstrably right.

So let's go to the videotape. Has David Prosser prejudged future cases? (All emphasis below is mine.)

1. Prosser has indeed announced, out-loudly and proudly, that he will act as "a complement" to the Republican legislature and hard-right Governor (and David Koch wannabe-fanboy) Scott Walker. From an earlier article in that same paper, the Journal Sentinel:

Kloppenburg was responding to a news release issued Wednesday by Prosser's campaign announcing he had hired Brian Nemoir as his campaign director.

Nemoir was quoted in that release as saying: "Our campaign efforts will include building an organization that will return Justice Prosser to the bench, protecting the conservative judicial majority and acting as a common sense complement to both the new administration and Legislature."

Is he promising to hand a trifecta to "conservatives" — all three branches of Wisconsin government, all controlled by a coordinated cadre of Movement operatives? Sure sounds like it to me.

2. That same campaign director says that Prosser's ideology "closely mirrors" that of Gov. Walker (pdf):

When his top aide was asked to explain his statement since judges are supposed to be independent, he said Prosser's ideology "closely mirrors" Walker's. Not surprisingly, when Prosser and Walker served in the state legislature together, David Prosser and Scott Walker voted the same way 95% of the time.

3. Prosser has already made up his mind on challenges to Republican redistricting, in addition to Walker's budget bill. From Uppity Wisconsin:

In a video interview for the Dane County Republican Party, Prosser, a former GOP legislator, also warns that redistricting is likely to come before the court, and he and his conservative colleagues "don't want any part of legislative redistricting."

If you click the embedded link, you get a pretty funny YouTube clip in which Prosser says he's a "stabilizing source on the Court" who is often "the person who is turned to [by other justices] to compromise differences." Right; just the opposite of what we know to be true. But the money quote on redistricting is this one:

Prosser: "[P]art of the motivation for the candidates running against me is to have a block of four people who will reapportion the legislature along more liberal lines whereas the conservative members of the Court don’t want any part of [challenges to] legislative redistricting."

So the "conservative members" of the Wisconsin Supreme Court have already made up their shared collective mind about Republican redistricting. How is that not prejudgment? Uppity Wisconsin again:

Prosser, of course, has no idea what the grounds for a redistricting case might be, [and] he seems to be prejudging any redistricting case that might be brought before the court, regardless of the merits.

4. About abortion rulings, Prosser practices what Uppity Wisconsin calls the "wink and a nod" school of campaign promises. As in, "I can't tell you what I'll do, but if you think I'll do the obvious, you'd be right." Speaking to "Northwoods Patriot Radio" (from Eagle River; they are what you think they are):

STEVE: It is for sure and another thing that I’d like to point out that’s quite interesting, in the upcoming race for Supreme Court is that Justice Prosser is a pro-life candidate and the three opponents that he’s running against are not pro-life, so … I take it, Justice Prosser, that you hold life dearly and you believe that that is not something that is not [sic] to be messed with.

PROSSER: Well, Steve, I have to be very careful what I say because I cannot commit myself, I, as a judge …

STEVE: I understand.

KIM: Yeah.

PROSSER: In deciding a case in a particular way. On the other hand, people can look at what I’ve done over a lifetime and kind of read between the lines.

Prosser's whole sell is that he's an out-loudly proud (and anti-gay) Republican who can deliver a Supreme Court majority for Walker, David Koch, and all those hungry angry "sex-loving sex-hating abortion-killing über-Christians" (my phrasing) hiding in Wisconsin's dark places.

How is that not grounds for dismissal before he walks in the door?

By the way, on the subject of playing to win — if Prosser does succeed, he's a walking and constant lawsuit every time he rules. How about it, progressives? All it takes is a will; the way is well trod.

You can volunteer to help JoAnn Kloppenberg here. Please do. The election is April 5. Organize and vote.

GP Read the rest of this post...

EU working on plans to ban gas and diesel by 2050

It all sounds pretty interesting. Of course, at least one industry analyst sees oil running out in fifty years, so someone better find a solution quickly.

According to new reports, the European Union will announce plans to ban all fossil fuel-powered cars in Europe by 2050. The detailed plan will be outlined in the European Union's Roadmap on Transport, which will come out on Monday. By 2030, the EU plans to have reduced fossil fuel traffic by half, particularly in urban areas.

The EU hopes to achieve its goal by ramping up focus on hybrid technology in the next couple decades to make a smooth transition to all-electric power by the middle of the century. A big part of the shift seems to be moving away from personal transportation and toward public conveyances wherever possible.

Read the rest of this post...

EPA measuring radiation in rainwater

It has been detected in a few states and not yet measured in others. As I say this, I'm looking out my own window at the rain falling. They say that it's still safe, but it's hardly a comforting thought. Either way, what the heck is anyone supposed to do? Forbes:

The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday reported finding elevated levels of iodine-131, a product of nuclear fission, in rainwater in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The levels exceed the maximum contaminant level (MCL) permitted in drinking water, but EPA continues to assure the public there is no need for alarm:

“It is important to note that the corresponding MCL for iodine-131 was calculated based on long-term chronic exposures over the course of a lifetime – 70 years. The levels seen in rainwater are expected to be relatively short in duration,” the agency states in a FAQ that accompanied yesterday’s brief news release.

“In both cases these are levels above the normal background levels historically reported in these areas.”

Read the rest of this post...

Core of Japanese nuke plant may have melted through containment vessel

Bad news. I'm not finding this reported by much other media, though not sure how to interpret that. From the Guardian:

The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site.

The warning follows an analysis by a leading US expert of radiation levels at the plant. Readings from reactor two at the site have been made public by the Japanese authorities and Tepco, the utility that operates it.

Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian workers at the site appeared to have "lost the race" to save the reactor, but said there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe.

More from the German press:

Findings of plutonium traces outside Japan's stricken Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant have reinforced the view that there has been a partial reactor meltdown, Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tuesday.

And a brief mention this morning from Reuters here. Read the rest of this post...

Only 3 members of Congress willing to sacrifice a portion of their paycheck to help lower the deficit

They're the ones claiming it's a national emergency. They're the ones claiming government is bloated. Hey Bloated, unbloat thyself. From David Fahrenthold at the Washington Post:

It sounds like the perfect political gesture for the moment. Congress is getting ready for an epic fight over the national debt, and House rules allow members to give back a portion of their salaries for debt reduction.

Two of them do.

Sometimes, up to three.

Read the rest of this post...

Gingrich, Breitbart and Walker: Soviets for a new millenium?

(My photo from West Berlin looking into the East, armed E. German guards still on patrol, Dec 3-ish, 1989)

Interesting piece from Lorelei Kelly, who actually lived in West Berlin at the time the wall fell. (I visited Berlin, east and west, a few weeks after things went nuts in November of 89.) In order to appreciate the Soviet comparison she makes between Gingrich, Breitbart and Wisconsin Governor Walker - and not just write it off as hyperbole - I think it helps to have actually known the Soviets and personally witnessed what they did to their own country and to Eastern Europe.

At the age of 20, I watched new-found Russian friends carted away by the secret police simply for palling around Moscow with us in February of 1984. (Fortunately they were released later, but we were royally ticked, and told our tour guide/overlord/spy as much.) It was a creepy society the Soviets had created. One in which strangers would suddenly whisper in my ear on a crowded Moscow public bus, "Does Reagan want nuclear war?" The man was afraid to be seen talking to me, an obvious westerner, in public, so he took a risk and whispered while pressed up against me in public.

It was a society in which a cute young stereotypically blonde Russian soldier, all of 19, in full uniform on a scary as hell Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Leningrad, refused to accept a piece of French "Hollywood Chewing Gum" from the enemy American sitting across the aisle. Then, as everyone on the plane made a simultaneous mad rush to get their overhead baggage, I felt a hand suddenly press into mine. The soldier, standing just in front of me, his back to my face, reached backward into my hand and took the gum, quickly pocketing his prize and walking away. He never even looked at me.

It was a nasty place for the human spirit.

No one is saying that Gingrich, Breitbart and Walker are literally Soviets. What I think is a given is that the Russians didn't have the patent on abusive government behavior, and on using propaganda lies to influence the masses.

(PS Just in case it really is a small world, the Russian kids (black market traders) we met in 1984 in Moscow were deaf mutes, and one of them was named Evgeney Morozov (or Mozorov) - I'm pretty sure his father was a decently important guy in the Party at the time. If by chance anyone knows them, I'd love to track Evgeney down.) Read the rest of this post...

Accused Libyan rapists sue victim

You remember this story from the other day. The Libyan woman who was forcibly hauled off by state security when she tried to tell western journalists that she was kidnaped and raped by government thugs. (Note to Libyan government: When battling a rape charge don't physically assault the woman making the charge, it tends to support her case.) In the latest twist, the men she accused of raping her are now suing her.

As much as I'm not a fan of this intervention, I'd really like to see a cruise missile dropped on those guys. Read the rest of this post...

Teabaggers are coming to DC to protest GOP leaders

Republican leaders promised to cut $100 billion from the federal budget -- and haven't. That's not sitting well with the teabagging crowd that takes full credit for electing them. So, they're coming to DC to protest. Via press release:

Tea Party Patriots, the nation’s largest grassroots organization, today announced that it will hold its first “Continuing Revolution Rally” outside of the U.S. Capitol challenging Congress and the members it helped sweep into power to take swift action on the budget. Tea Party stars in Congress such as Reps. Mike Pence and Michele Bachmann will join thousands of Tea Party activists to send a message to the rest of Washington. Thursday’s rally is co-sponsored by Let Freedom Ring, the Institute for Liberty, and Smart Girl Politics.

“Members of Congress have abandoned their service to the people by passing continuing resolutions instead of cutting the $100 billion they pledged,” said Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinators of the Tea Party Patriots. “Is it lack or leadership? Is it a lack of courage? A real budget will spark a national debate on the role of government, and that’s what the American people want.”

Let's be clear here: If the teabaggers are coming to DC to protest against the Members of Congress who pledged to cut $100 billion, this protest is aimed at Boehner, Cantor and the other Republican leaders. And, yes, we do need a debate about what the American people really want. I think jobs and a better economy are on the top of the agenda, but we're not seeing anything like that coming from the GOPers in Congress.

So, who is the star-studded lineup of speakers at the big rally? Several GOP members of Congress, including one potential presidential candidate:

Mark Meckler, National Coordinator, Tea Party Patriots
Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator, Tea Party Patriots
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
Dick Morris, Conservative Commentator
Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring
Andrew Langer, President, Institute for Liberty

Doesn't get more out there than Bachmann, King and Gohmert.

And, Dick Morris? Wonder if he'll be stopping by the Jefferson Hotel?

The rally is scheduled for Thursday at noon ET. Given that it's a tea party event, there will undoubtedly be wall-to-wall coverage on all the cable networks. Read the rest of this post...

Government shutdown, here we come!

The Republicans are proposing, seriously, that we immediately cut agencies' budgets by 30%, and immediately defund health care reform, taking insurance away from scores of Americans with pre-existing conditions.

Of course, the administration's counter-offer, while "better," is still proposing $30bn in immediate cuts. I'd be curious to see what CBO says the impact is going to be on the economy of such an immediate cut when our economic situation is still so fragile - likely, it's going to hurt growth and raise unemployment - both rather idiotic ideas, but who cares about jobs, the public voted to cut the budget regardless of whether it risks another recession or increases the ranks of the unemployed. What? You mean people did not vote to increase unemployment? Funny that.

For some reason we still can't fathom, the President simply joined the Hoover Economics bandwagon (as Krugman calls it), risking our economic recovery, in addition to a lot of good government services. Anyone who complained about the President's poor negotiating skills during health care reform, or during the recent cave on the Bush tax cuts, will recognize the pattern. This is why Joe, Chris and I said early on in this administration that the President's weakness on any one issue shouldn't be ignored or written off as a one-time thing. It's the way he operates, and it will affect every single deal he ever makes on every single issue you care about.

I do love how the Republicans keep saying $60bn in cuts, and the Dems keep inching towards the Republicans, while the GOP holds firm. Same old same old. It's not a negotiation, it's a conquest. Business as usual. What I fear even more than a shutdown is the President's refusal to ever not-blink during a negotiation. He'll never let it to come that - he doesn't let hostage takers kill the hostages, and will do almost anything to make it stop - and the Republicans know it. Read the rest of this post...

Rachel and Amanda Terkel expose the GOP's Anti-union agenda in Congress

Despite the backlash growing around the country, Republicans in DC are gearing up to strip union rights at the federal, starting with rail and air workers. Huff Post's Amanda Terkel discussed their strategy with Rachel last night.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

On Thursday, the House will vote on H.R. 658, FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011, sponsored by Rep. Mica (R-FL). This legislation contains the anti-union provisions discussed by Amanda Terkel. Steve Benen has more here. There's a good chance it will pass. Last week, John wrote how Delta Airlines is apparently bumping paying passengers to fly union-busters to DC to lobby for the Mica bill.

Will the Senate stop the anti-union effort if it passes the House? Will Obama veto it? Read the rest of this post...

Krugman: We can't count on Obama not to surrender on Social Security

UPDATE: Call your senators at 1-866-251-4044. Tell them (both) to support the Sanders/Reid Social Security Protection Amendment. Act now to have an effect.

More here: StrengthenSocialSecurity.org/callcongress.
_____

That headline is pretty straight-forward. It's what many already believe is the case. And now the Professor is on board:

[B]y negotiating with himself, Obama seems to have ensured that the eventual budget “compromise” will give Republicans more than they ever imagined in the way of harsh cuts. ... [If genuflecting] to the right was supposed to help Dems in the midterms, well, it didn’t; and it has meant that there is no effective counter-argument to the cut cut cut people.

So, can we now count on Obama, at least, not to preemptively surrender to the right by proposing Social Security cuts — cuts that we know will be a starting point, not an end to the discussion?

No, we can’t.

One more voice. Social Security defense will be a battle, folks. The man still wants to take it down a notch, the first in its history. Whether he's doing that to raise himself up on its crippled frame, or just wants to cripple it for fun, is not at all the point.

Progressives can win this battle, just like we won in 2005. But we have to look past our blind spot — we have to deal with Obama like any other enemy of Social Security.

We don't win on this if we don't treat Obama like we treated Bush. Our reluctance to do that is his strongest weapon. Period.

GP Read the rest of this post...

30% of US nuclear plants fail to report serious problems - sayonara safety

There is probably a lot more happening in this industry that we should know about, but don't. WSJ:

Nearly 30% of U.S. nuclear-power plants fail to report equipment defects that could pose substantial safety risks, a flaw in federal oversight that could make it harder for regulators to spot troublesome trends across the industry, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspector general said Thursday.

The Office of Inspector General said nuclear-plant operators were confused about what they were required to report to regulators about manufacturing defects. One section of federal law, known as Part 21, requires them to report defective equipment that could cause a safety risk, while another section calls for them to report only defects that compromise safety.

Read the rest of this post...

BP execs may face manslaughter charges for oil rig explosion

This is potentially big news. It's hard to see the Obama administration being so forceful and then there is the issue of the pro-oil spill Republicans in Congress. You can count on them to side with Big Oil regardless of the number of deaths or environmental disaster. Bloomberg:

Federal prosecutors are considering whether to pursue manslaughter charges against BP Plc (BP/) managers for decisions made before the Gulf of Mexico oil well explosion last year that killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history, according to three people familiar with the matter.

U.S. investigators also are examining statements made by leaders of the companies involved in the spill -- including former BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward -- during congressional hearings last year to determine whether their testimony was at odds with what they knew, one of the people said. All three spoke on condition they not be named because they weren’t authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Charging individuals would be significant to environmental-safety cases because it might change behavior, said Jane Barrett, a law professor at the University of Maryland.

Read the rest of this post...

Rupert Murdoch's phone-hacking newspaper 'lost email archives'

This would be the corporate equivalent of "my dog ate my homework." How convenient.

The News of the World has revealed that its computers have retained an archive of potentially damning emails, which hitherto it had claimed had been lost.

The millions of emails, amounting to half a terabyte of data, could expose executives and reporters involved in hacking the voicemail of public figures, including former deputy prime minister John Prescott, actor Sienna Miller, and former culture secretary Tessa Jowell.

The archived data is likely to include email exchanges between the most senior executives, including former editor Andy Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron's media adviser in January, as well as three former news editors – Ian Edmondson, Greg Miskiw, and Neville Thurlbeck – implicated in the affair by paperwork seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was on the News of the World's books. Edmondson was sacked in January. Miskiw and Thurlbeck were interviewed by police last autumn. No charge has been brought against any of them. Coulson and the three former news editors have all denied all involvement in criminal activity.

Read the rest of this post...

British voters fear another Iraq following Libya action

There are only so many troops and so much money to go around. There may be a moral obligation to prevent the slaughter of civilians but there's also a moral obligation to think about the people back home that are shouldering a heavy economic burden. The economy stinks in the US and UK and that's not likely to change any time soon. If the US was prepared to unload the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan it might be a lot easier to accept this latest war effort, but that does not appear likely. Looking at the direction of other countries in the region, one can see the potential for more Libya-like scenarios.

The military industrial complex always loves more war, because they profit from it. For everyone else? Not so much. The Independent:

David Cameron has insisted that Libya is "not another Iraq", but voters are not convinced and appear scarred by the long, bloody aftermath of the 2003 invasion. Seven out of ten people (71 per cent) are concerned that the action in Libya could result in Britain being "dragged into a prolonged conflict like the Iraq war", while 24 per cent are not. The fears are greater among Labour supporters, 77 per cent of whom are worried that Libya could turn into another Iraq. That view is shared by 67 per cent of Conservative supporters and 70 per cent of Liberal Democrat supporters.

The findings chime with the private views of many MPs who support the intervention in Libya but want to see an "early exit strategy". Mr Cameron may come under pressure to spell out an "end game" when he addresses the private weekly meeting of Tory MPs at Westminster tomorrow. One senior Tory said: "Our MPs are supportive of going in but there is anxiety about being stuck there for a long time."

By a margin of 47 to 43 per cent, people do not believe the Government was right to commit British forces to action in Libya. A majority of Conservative voters (58 per cent) back the intervention, compared to 46 per cent of Labour and 45 per cent of Liberal Democrat supporters. Despite that, 46 per cent think the operation would be justified in targeting Colonel Muammar Gaddafi himself; 40 per cent do not.

Read the rest of this post...