China economic growth to slow down this year

When a government economist says this, it must be bad because China has often struggled with giving the full details. The reduced growth presents a number of problems for China, including social unrest. The country needs to maintain a very high growth rate to keep up with new workers and this year, the numbers may not add up.

China may set its lowest annual growth target in eight years as authorities place less emphasis on the pace of expansion and the global economy remains weak, Fan Jianping, chief economist at the government-run State Information Center, said. Premier Wen Jiabao may announce a 7 percent or 7.5 percent target for economic growth this year at the annual National People’s Congress meetings that convene in March, Fan said in an interview today. The last time China set a growth target below 8 percent was in 2004, when the goal was 7 percent. “A lower target will act as a guidance for local authorities to not focus on chasing speed,” said Fan, who is head of the Economic Forecasting Department at the center which is controlled by China’s top economic planning agency. “Growth will slow because the world outlook remains weak while a lot of things also need to be done domestically in terms of economic rebalancing,” he said.

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Pat Buchanan is gone from MSNBC

Here's Buchanan's announcement/tirade.

Media Matters put out a statement:

Washington, DC -- Today, Media Matters for America released the following statement in reaction to Pat Buchanan announcing that he is "departing" MSNBC. In January, network president Phil Griffin spoke to Deadline about the controversy surrounding Buchanan's book, Suicide Of A Superpower, and his status as a contributor, saying he had not made a decision on whether Buchanan would be allowed back on air.

"The ideas Pat Buchanan put forward in Suicide of a Superpower had no place in the national dialogue," said Ari Rabin-Havt, Executive Vice President of Media Matters for America. "But Buchanan's book was not his first, nor his worst offense. He's been making the same racially insensitive, anti-Semitic, and homophobic statements for the past 50 years. MSNBC made the right decision in letting him go."

Rabin-Havt added: "We congratulate Color of Change, Human Rights Campaign, the Anti-Defamation League, Courage Campaign, the National Jewish Democratic Council, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Jewish Funds For Justice, Progressive Jewish Alliance, CREDO Action, and everyone else who joined in calling out Buchanan's bigotry."

BACKGROUND:

For more information on Pat Buchanan's history of bigotry:

The Bigotry Of Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan's History Of Anti-LGBT Bigotry

Pat Buchanan's Worst MSNBC Moments

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"Is birth control the GOP's Terri Schiavo moment?"

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post asks if the current birth control debate, pitting the Republican party and the Catholic bishops against President Obama, most Americans, and even most Catholics (including Republican Catholics), is the GOP's "Terri Schiavo" moment.

The respected Dem firm Democracy Corps has just published an important polling memo that gets right to the heart of why the birth control battle could matter so much in this year’s elections.

The firm’s poll finds that one of the most important factors powering Obama’s gains against likely GOP nominee Mitt Romney has been the President’s improving numbers among unmarried women, a key pillar of the present and future Democratic coalition.

Among this group, Obama now leads Romney by 65-30 — and there’s been a net 18-point swing towards the President among them.

After unmarried women dropped off for Dems in 2010 and were slow to return to the Dem fold in 2011, Obama is now approaching the 70 percent he won among them in 2008.

Yeah, nothing scares unmarried women quite as much as a bunch of old men telling them what to do with their bodies. Read the rest of this post...

Evening News accidentally catches woman tripping and falling while texting

I'm not sure I'd put this in the "funny" category. Still, people need to pay more attention.

Drivers are the worst. I had a guy tell me, after he nearly hit me making a right turn with no turn signal on, that he was in the right because the traffic light had given him the green arrow to turn right. He just couldn't understand the concept of just because the traffic light turn arrow is green doesn't mean you don't have to use your own turn signal on your car (this was on Dupont Circle, where without a signal he could have simply kept driving along the circle, so without his signal on you'd have no way of knowing until the last second that he was turning into you). And sure, I shouldn't have walked against the light.  But that doesn't really explain why the guy doesn't use his turn signal - you can tell I'm walking, you can't tell that he's turning until the last second.

No one uses their turn signal anymore, and I have no idea why. Cities ought to raise the ticket for a second infraction to $500, then see if they start using their signal.

/JohnMcCainRant

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NJ passes gay marriage. GOP governor Christie says he’ll veto.

And that is why even the "good" Republicans are bad. Read the rest of this post...

Santorum’s funder says to use aspirin as contraceptive

First, if anyone is obsessed with sex, it's Rick Santorum and his fellow theocrats. The gays have known that for a long, long time. But, this exchange is stunning nonetheless. It actually left Andrea Mitchell a bit speechless. For years, we've been warning that the theocratic GOPers were coming after birth control. No one believed it. It just seemed too absurd. Well, between this interview and that hearing on the Hill today, no one should be doubting it anymore.

Here's the clip from Santorum funder Foster Friess, and a quick quote:

"This contraceptive thing, my gosh it's so inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put them between their knees and it wasn't that costly."

H/T Think Progress for the video.

Here's the photo, tweeted by Nancy Pelosi with the hashtag #WhereAreTheWomen?, of the witnesses at today's House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on birth control, (that's not what the hearing was billed as, but that's what it was).

Men testifying about women's contraception.

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How is Virginia's "transvaginal ultrasound" anti-abortion bill not rape-by-instruments?

The Godly Republicans in the Virginia state legislature have introduced a bill requiring ... well, here's Democratic Delegate David Elgin's description:

This bill will require many women in Virginia to undergo vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent in order to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion, even for nonsurgical, noninvasive, pharmaceutical abortions.

I don't want to focus on the abortion, or the political pushback, or even the Constitution. I want to focus on the act.

"Vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe against their consent" ... How is that not Rape with Instruments?

What's "rape with instruments"? It's when someone shows up and shoves things inside of you without your consent — except that the things aren't his body parts. One definition:

Rape by Instrumentation
Rape by instrumentation is an act of forced sexual aggression against an individual that does not involve sexual intercourse.

Specifically, it is:
"an act within or without the bonds of matrimony, in which any inanimate object or any part of the human body ... not amounting to sexual intercourse, is used in the carnal knowledge of another person, without his or her consent and penetration of the anus or vagina occurs to that person."

Your Godly Right Wing at work, sado-masochists all. Rapists for the Lord.

I'll give Digby the analysis, since she says it best (my emphasis):

No Virginia, it's not really about the fetus. It's all about the probe. ... Republicans insisted that doctors put an instrument inside the woman's vagina. Why? Well, since there's no medical reason for it, the only possible explanation is that they want to "send a message." You know. About who's boss[.]

Or, as my old Uncle Straight Talk always reminds me: "It's not about the sex; they're rutting like pigs at their hate-fest. It's about the power. All they want is the Power."

More from John Celock at the Huffington Post:

While addressing the debate, Gilbert, the House's deputy majority leader, took to the floor to support the bill. The Shenandoah Valley lawmaker used his floor statement to describe most abortions as a "lifestyle convenience" for women. Witnesses said that Gilbert did not clarify which abortions he does not consider to be "lifestyle conveniences."

Democrats have criticized Gilbert's floor statement, and Englin said that the statement is in line with previous Republican comments on the issue. He noted he had a conversation with one GOP lawmaker regarding his amendment where the lawmaker had told him that women had already made the decision to be "vaginally penetrated when they got pregnant."

It's not the hand in his shorts I'm worried about; it's the other one, the one with the knife. Republicans.

Update: According to Rachel Maddow, VA Gov. Bob McDonnell is Mitt Romney's smart-money pick for VP. Thought you should know. (By the way, Delegate Englin's amendment failed 2-1.)

Instrument Rape Republicans. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

GP Read the rest of this post...

Wash Post: "Elie Wiesel calls on Mitt Romney to make Mormon Church stop proxy baptisms of Jews"

Famed Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel took exception this week to the fact that the Mormons were about to secretly baptize his dead parents into Mormonism without his knowledge or consent. It's something they've been doing for years to everyone of all faiths, with a particular focus on Jewish victims of the Holocaust.  The Jewish leadership had a problem with this practice, and got the Mormons to promise in 1995 that they would stop.

Guess what, they didn't stop.  And now keep getting caught again, and again, and again.

Anyone who has a child knows that by the tenth time they break their promise, they never really intended to keep the promise in the first place.

Wiesel was particularly upset that the Mormons lump Jews killed in the Holocaust, and their ancestors, in with Hitler and Stalin - all are equal prospects for secret forced posthumous baptism. Wiesel told MSNBC in the video below: "But really, to put us in the same category as Stalin and Hitler... really?" In addition to having posthumously converted Stalin and Hitler to Mormonism (boy, imagine that "I'm a Mormon" ad campaign), they also secretly converted Anne Frank, Barack Obama's mother (and possibly his ancestors), and they were planning to take Wiesel's parents until he went public.

In their defense, the Mormons say the dead are free to reject the forced secret baptism.  I wonder how many dead have sat up and told the Mormons, "No means no."  Heck, I'd like to the Mormons to give us a list of all the dead who said "no," since they're pretending that this is a viable option.  The list should be illuminating.

The Washington Post quotes Wiesel calling on Mitt Romney, who has himself conducted posthumous baptisms of God knows who (he can't, or won't, say whether he ever secretly converted Holocaust victims, or for that matter, Stalin or Hitler), to speak out against the practice:

Romney “is now the most famous and important Mormon in the country,” Wiesel said. “I’m not saying it’s his fault, but once he knows, morally he must respond. . . . He should come out and say, ‘Stop it.’ ”

Interestingly, Romney was asked about the practice a few years ago and refused to speak out against it.

Here's Wiesel on MSNBC:

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

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GM posted record profit in 2011 - thank you, President Obama. No thank you, Mitt Romney.

And the GOP presidential candidates are bashing the rescue of GM? The fourth quarter results suggest some problems still need to be addressed, but it's still an impressive year, all things considered.

The 103-year-old company made $7.6 billion in 2011, up 62 percent from 2010. Full-year revenue rose 11 percent to $105 billion. North America led the way with a $7.2 billion pretax profit. But problems surfaced that could hurt future earnings. GM lost $700 million before taxes in Europe, and lost $100 million in South America. GM’s fourth-quarter profit was flat with 2010. GM earned $500 million, or 28 cents per share. Revenue rose 3 percent to $38 billion. Before one-time items, GM earned 40 cents per share.

You know who's not responsible for saving the auto industry and millions of jobs?

Mitt Romney bet against America, and he lost.



More on Mitt Romney's proposal to let Detroit go Bankrupt here. Read the rest of this post...

(Updated) Leaked docs reveal $8.6 million "anonymous donor" to climate-denier Heartland Institute

Update: According to Slate, "Heartland Institute won't confirm the authenticity of the documents but nonetheless is apologizing to donors" while still claiming "fraud." According to Politico, Heartland is claiming that at least some of the documents were "stolen." Stay tuned; this could get interesting. –GP
________

A series of articles at The Guardian is examining and interpreting leaked documents allegedly obtained from an insider at the Heartland Institute, a leading funder of global warming denial "research" and high-profile denialist "conferences."

There are many revelations in the documents, including plans for a K-12 "re-education program" designed to "teach the controversy" (my terminology in both cases, but see below) as opposed to the very alarming facts.

But the bombshell among the mortar blasts is this (h/t Digby, my emphasis and paragraphing):

Most eyes will probably fall first on the "Anonymous Donor" who, the documents show, personally funded Heartland's "climate change projects" to the tune of $8,602,267 between 2007 and 2011.

The largest donation came in 2008 when "he" donated $3.3m – the same year that Heartland began its annual climate change conferences which have attracted just about every prominent climate sceptic since. This mystery donor has apparently pledged a further $1m for "climate change projects" during 2012.

Heartland admits in the documents that this wealthy individual sometimes provides as much as half of its entire funding from donations in a year, but there are few clues about his identity other than he has also personally funded a couple of Heartland's non-climate projects in Illinois and Wisconsin which might suggest a personal, local interest.

There are other indications in the articles about named donors, including a man named Koch, Charles Koch:

The document entitled "2012 Climate Strategy" (pdf) is also already getting lots of attention. It shows that Heartland will "increase climate project fundraising" by "pursuing additional support from the Charles G. Koch Foundation" who "returned as a Heartland donor in 2011 with a contribution of $200,000".

It adds: "Other contributions will be pursued for this [climate] work, especially from corporations whose interests are threatened by climate policies." The funding of climate sceptic [sic] thinktanks in the US by corporate vested interests such as the Koch brothers has almost become a cliché, but here we have cast-iron proof of its influence, intent and extent.

As the article says elsewhere, this "takes your breath away." The documents were obtained by DeSmogBlog:

DeSmogBlog, which broke the story, said it had received the confidential documents from an "insider" at the Heartland Institute, which is based in Chicago. The blog monitors industry efforts to discredit climate science.

See the articles (here and here) for efforts to verify them.

Is one of the Koch Bros the high-dollar "Anonymous Donor"? It's not clear, though both articles feature the Kochs prominently elsewhere. It's certain they have the money, as well as the crazed intentions.

Of special interest in the documents is the decision to disrupt the teaching of global-warming in grade school and high school (so-called "K-12" schools). The Guardian quotes the Heartland source document — "Global Warming Curriculum for K-12 Classrooms" (again my emphasis and paragraphing):

Principals and teachers are heavily biased toward the alarmist perspective. To counter this we are considering launching an effort to develop alternative materials for K-12 classrooms.

We are pursuing a proposal from Dr. David Wojick to produce a global warming curriculum for K-12 schools. Dr. Wojick is a consultant with the Office of Scientific and Technical Information at the U.S. Department of Energy in the area of information and communication science.

His effort will focus on providing curriculum that shows that the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain - two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science.

We tentatively plan to pay Dr. Wojick $100,000 for 20 modules in 2012, with funding pledged by the Anonymous Donor.

As I said, "teach the controversy" — the same playbook as tobacco-denialism and creationism. This is Dr. David Wojick, by the way. Note the faux-government cred in the quote above.

Think there are side deals to sweeten that $100,000 he's getting? Loans to the wife at very low interest to help with some special project (like next year's vacation)? Speaking gigs? A word in the ear at a "Welcome to the Upper Class" academy for the wee ones?

How would we ever know? And how foolish would we be not to suspect, given the millions floating around that joint? Your call on the answers, but ever the realist, I have my thoughts. (By the way, with his background I could write those "20 modules" in six weeks; seriously.)

Global warming denialism — if you don't have a conscience, the pay is certainly excellent. There's no question the big-dollar funding is available from some interested parties.

Think they'll personally benefit? They think they will. Me, I wonder where they'll hide when it all comes crashing home.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Sam Arora’s chance to be a statesman

You may be familiar with Sam Arora. He ran for the Maryland House of Delegates a few years ago as a progressive Netroots candidate, promising, among other things, to be a strong voice for the gay community, including supporting marriage equality. But something happened after Arora got elected and he changed his vote. With today's marriage equality vote, expected as early as 11am Thursday, in the House of Delegates, Arora has a chance to turn back time and re-cast himself as a hero.

The lastest vote count shows that we have 70 votes in the state House, and need 71. Arora is a key, if not the key, vote. He hasn't said what he'll do. I'd argue that the smart thing politically, and obviously the right thing morally, is for Arora to return to his roots and support the full and equal civil rights of all of his constituents.

The moral argument is easy, and Arora already knows it, or he wouldn't have supported our full civil rights when running for office in the first place. He knows many gays and lesbians personally, and he knows his vote will have a profound effect on the lives and families of friends and colleagues across the state of Maryland and beyond.

But let's talk politics. I can think of little better for a young politician looking to his future in Maryland Democratic politics (what other politics is there in Maryland?) than to ingratiate himself to the Democratic governor and party, and to one of the most powerful and tenacious constituencies in the Democratic base, the gay community.

Sam Arora has been given a rare gift in politics - the chance to do it all over again and wipe the slate clean.

I'm sure there's a lot of bad blood all around on this issue, and understandably so. But politics is the art of the possible. Some days you're at each other's throats, and the next you find a way to put aside your differences and move forward to everyone's benefit.

Sam Arora has been given the opportunity to fulfill his promise to his constituents, his party, his friends and his governor, to put a year of strained relations behind him, and to quite literally be a hero.

Sam Arora has the chance to do something few politicians at his age, or any age, can do - make history with one vote.

The question is, will he? Read the rest of this post...

Michigan has budget surplus thanks to Big Auto bailout

Raise your hand if you think Romney now regrets his bashing of the auto bailout. The Wall Street bailout was all about continuing the lifestyle of the 1% but the Big Auto bailout was about rescuing a state and the 99%. It may have been expensive, but people have jobs, which means tax dollars. Why are the GOP presidential candidates so offended by the middle class having jobs? ABC News:

"Since the depths of the recession, we've seen manufacturing stabilize and start to come back," said Robert Dye, chief economist for Comerica Bank. "What we've seen in the auto industry lately has been good news for the state." In fact, it's been very good news: Tax revenues have jumped so dramatically that Michigan now enjoys a $457 million budget surplus. The auto industry is driving the nascent recovery in Michigan, where manufacturing accounts for more than 20 percent of the state's economy. Indeed, U.S. car sales are revving up at the fastest rate in nearly four years, rising 11 percent in January over a year ago. The state's unemployment rate, while still higher than the national average,has dropped from 12.6 percent, in March 2009, to 9.3 percent in December.

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DOJ requests millions in 2013 budget to fight for recording industry

What surprising news on the day Obama is headed to Hollywood to raise money for his campaign. Handing over millions to the Justice Department to fight for the 1% is painfully out of touch in these times. It may not be a lot of money in the big picture, but it's also the last issue taxpayers should be funding while we're in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression. It's all part of the program in this era of the billion dollar campaign. TechDirt:

While the proposed Obama 2013 budget for the federal government is supposed to be about cutting extraneous expenditures, one area where it's seeking more money is to expand the Justice Department's copyright enforcement efforts. You see, this is what happens when you hand the Justice Department over to the RIAA and MPAA. DOJ is seeking an extra $5 million to focus on these kinds of efforts, to hire 14 new employees, including nine lawyers, claiming that it's "had an increase in the number of cases that we're dealing with in IP."

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