FTC to ban robocalls starting September 1*

*Except politicians, banks, insurance companies, phone companies, surveys, some health care messages. It started with a good idea and then the same people who have blown the economy and are blocking health care get exceptions. At least the exceptions to the rule have to proactively find consumers who will agree to being bothered.

The ban is part of the amendments to the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule unveiled a year ago.

But there are exceptions. Calls that are not trying to sell goods and services to consumers will be exempt, such as those that provide information like flight cancellations and delivery notices and those from debt collectors.

Other calls not covered by the Telemarketing Sales Rule include those from politicians, charities that contact consumers directly, banks, insurers, phone companies, survey calls and certain health care messages such as prescription notifications. These don't fall under the jurisdiction of the FTC, a commission spokesman said.

Before the ban, consumers had to specifically join a do-not-call list to avoid prerecorded telemarketing calls. But after Sept. 1, consumers shouldn't get most of these calls anymore. If they do get one, they can file a complaint with the commission online through FTC.gov or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP.

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Idaho GOP gubernatorial candidate jokes about hunting Obama (But, it was just a joke)

Via my favorite Idahoan, McJoan comes a disturbing piece about a GOP candidate for Governor, Rex Rammell, who made a joke about treating the President of the United States like a hunted game animal:

After an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags" during a discussion on wolves, Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."

Rammell, a veterinarian and former elk rancher from Idaho Falls, said his comment was a joke and he would never seriously talk about President Obama that way, although he doesn't support anything Obama's done as president.

"I was just being sarcastic. That was just a joke," Rammell said. "I would never support him being assassinated.

A joke? Rammell had just blasted the incumbent governor for not getting a "wolf tag," which would have allowed the Governor to hunt and kill a wolf. Yeah, that's the context for the joke about "Obama tags."

This is insane. I've never heard this kind of talk tolerated before. It's not a joke. It's not funny. And, GOP leaders should be speaking out about this appalling behavior. But, it's coming from the GOP base -- and GOP leaders will never challenge their base. Read the rest of this post...

Sarah Palin cancels again on a speech she claims she was never invited to

Anyone else starting to think that this behavior is a tad too manic?

Organizers of an Anchorage event that has been billing Sarah Palin for weeks as a star speaker were left scrambling Wednesday after learning that the former governor won't be there for tonight's event and claims to have never been asked.

It would be at least the fourth time in recent months that an anticipated Palin speech has fallen through after Palin and her camp disputed they had ever confirmed it. That includes the brouhaha over whether she'd speak at the annual congressional Republican fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., this summer.

Even better, it's a religious right anti-abortion gathering:

This time it's an event promoting an Alaska ballot measure aimed at making it illegal for teens to get an abortion without telling their parents. The Alaska Family Council has been advertising that Palin would give a speech and become the first official signer of the ballot petition tonight at ChangePoint, the Anchorage megachurch.

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Newsweek: Bernanke victim of identify fraud

Maybe there's something to this little problem after all. Newsweek:

If ever there were living proof that identity theft can strike the mighty and powerful as well as hapless consumers, look no further than the nation's chief banker: Ben Bernanke. The Federal Reserve Board chairman was one of hundreds of victims of an elaborate identity-fraud ring, headed by a convicted scam artist known as "Big Head," that stole more than $2.1 million from unsuspecting consumers and at least 10 financial institutions around the country, according to recently filed court records reviewed by NEWSWEEK.

Last summer, just as he was dealing with the first rumblings of the financial crisis on Wall Street, Bernanke learned that a thief had swiped his wife's purse—including the couple's joint check book. Days later, someone started cashing checks on the Bernanke family bank account, the documents show. "It's fair to say he was not pleased," said one close associate of Bernanke, who asked not to be identified discussing what the Fed chairman considers a private matter.

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Heat waves worsening due to climate change

The problem is becoming more serious and deadlier by the day. LiveScience:

One example: From mid July to early August 2006, a heat wave swept through the southwestern United States. Temperature records were broken at many locations and unusually high humidity levels were recorded.

The event included extreme muggy heat that is part of a trend of increasing nighttime heat wave activity observed over the last six decades, the researchers said in a statement today. This trend has accelerated since the 1980s and has become especially prevalent in this decade, they conclude.

The results are not isolated, and they fit with predictions that a warmer world will produce greater extremes.

A study in 2007 found European heat waves are nearly twice as long as they were a century ago and the number of hot summer days there have tripled.

Why it matters: Other studies show heat waves are deadlier than hurricanes or tornadoes, and they have been so throughout modern history. Climate experts have warned that the sort of serious heat wave that is now possible given current climate conditions, but which has not struck yet, could kill thousands of U.S. residents.

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CREW calls on MSNBC to pull delusional health care ad

I've watched the ad. It's beyond the kind of garbage the Republicans usually put out there. It doesn't even make an effort to stretch the truth. It's simply fiction. And MSNBC has no problem with it. Which violates FCC regs and MSNBC's own advertising policies. Here is CREW's release about MSNBC.

Then again, if MSNBC has decided its rules no longer matter, and anything goes, then perhaps it's time we ran a few ads about closeted Republican members of Congress... Read the rest of this post...

On "The mirage of U.S. healthcare"

An excellent explanation of health insurance as it really is in this country:

Americans, as they contemplate change, have suffered a weakness of nerve. The main reason is that nearly two thirds of Americans are apparently happy with their healthcare coverage, for all its deficiencies. Repeated reassurances from President Obama that those who like the existing set-up will not be forced to change, have had little effect.

A change of tactics may be in order. The administration must do a better job of underlining the glaring defects of the existing system. The genius of the U.S. healthcare is in providing the illusion of value and security. For their own sake, Americans must be encouraged to set aside jingoistic claims about having the best care system in the world and look more honestly at its short-comings.

Let’s start with value. Most Americans are blissfully unaware that their healthcare system provides appallingly little value for their money. This is because when it comes to costs, they see only the tip of the iceberg. While companies typically pay about three-quarters of an employee’s family premium — on average $12,680 a year — individuals ultimately bear the burden. In a free market, companies do not hand over to their workers more than they absolutely have to. Money spent on healthcare is carved out of take-home pay or other benefits.

“We pay for healthcare in considerably lower salaries,” Uwe Reinhardt, a Princeton University economics professor, said in a telephone interview. “The system seduces people into thinking care is pretty cheap. We are kidding ourselves if we think that the shareholder pays.”

We all suffer from the current system, which rations care and costs all of us a lot of money. When I see the poll numbers that find Americans are happy with their current health insurance, I wonder how that can be. I know so many people who have had issues with their health insurers -- almost anyone who has had to use their insurance has an issue, whether it's a doctor not in the system or a bill not being paid or hitting an unknown cap on coverage. To be satisfied, Americans have either been programmed to be happy with bad coverage or they haven't had to use their insurance (or be like those protesters at the town hall meetings and just really hate Obama and their government, which apparently outweighs bad health insurance.) Read the rest of this post...

Limbaugh blasts Kennedy

The Republicans seem to fear Kennedy more in death than it life. They're really going all out to make sure they can somehow discredit him, lest Kennedy's dream of universal health care somehow be aided his memory. Democrats take notice. When the GOP starts preemptively trying to undercut something, their speaks speaks volumes about the true value of the thing they're trying to undermine.

The point in writing about this isn't to give Limbaugh his jollies, rather it's to put every Republican on notice that if they dare touch Kennedy's legacy, and try to take advantage of his death for some sick political ploy, like they did with Paul Wellstone's funeral, they're going to be very sorry. We didn't have the blogosphere when Wellstone died. We do now. You want to be tied to Limbaugh? Make our day.

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Name the public option, not the bill, after Kennedy

David is right. If you name the legislation after Kennedy, then whatever piece of crap the Democrats end up agreeing to - and it will be crap - will be "the Kennedy bill," and no one can vote against that. But, if the Kennedy Option is up for a vote, good luck getting the votes to take that down. What would the Republicans do in our stead? They'd have the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tax Cuts to "reform" health care. Here's David Waldman at Dkos:

The temptation to name the health care reform bill after fallen health care champion Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) is as understandable as it is overwhelming. But with the bill currently still at the mercy of players who are, shall we say, not as clearly dedicated to a product that offers the kind of help Kennedy envisioned, I suggest that we not offer them the opportunity to attach his name to anything less than a bill he would have fought for.

So while it's undoubtedly in that spirit that the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and others have begun their drive to honor Kennedy's memory by demanding that the HELP Committee's bill be passed and named after him, I suggest that it serves us and the Senator's memory better if our essential element -- a strong public option -- carries his name instead.

I suggest this because I expect the temptation will be equally overwhelming to attach Kennedy's name to a bill that's been significantly weakened in the process of merging competing versions in each house, and then again in conference between the House and Senate, even if that bill might not have met with his approval.

Put Kennedy's name on a weakened bill, and you'll likely be able to break the progressive bloc in the House in two seconds flat when "the Kennedy bill" comes out of conference with the individual mandate but no public option, and progressives are faced with having to oppose "the Kennedy bill."

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GOP congressman praises, defends, man for calling himself a "proud right wing terrorist"

Imagine a Democratic House member praising a liberal for calling himself a terrorist, then defending it. You really have to hear this guy, it's not clear what country Republicans think they live in anymore. Huff Post has the video.



Wow:

It was a comment from the crowd that may have gone unnoticed. A Redding man, identified as Bert Stead of Redding told a town hall meeting in Redding last week, "I"m a proud right wing terrorist."

Congressman Wally Herger, who represents the district, didn't interrupt or condemn the comment. In response, Herger said, "Amen. God bless you. There's a great American."

Now democrats are calling for an apology from Herger.

Apologize? The House should be censuring him. What would do the Republicans do if a Democrat had done this? We keep thinking the Democratic side of our brain - that would be the anemic side - and it has to stop. These outbursts need to be used against the GOP in a huge manner. Not just by getting the blogs to blast them, but senior members of our government need to weigh in, just as the GOP would do. Read the rest of this post...

"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope"

Doh! Read the rest of this post...

Reich: Pass real health care reform for Kennedy

And if any Republican complains, then let's talk about the weird deification of Ronald Reagan that we've had to bear ever since his death. From Robert Reich:

Most Americans will never know how many things Ted Kennedy did to make their lives better, how many things he prevented that would have hurt them, and how tenaciously he fought on their behalf. In 1969, for example, he introduced a bill in the Senate calling for universal health insurance, and then, for the next forty years, pushed and prodded colleagues and presidents to get on with it. If and when we ever achieve that goal it will be in no small measure due to the dedication and perseverance of this one remarkable man. We owe it to him and his memory to do it soon and do it well.

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Cynthia Tucker: Pass REAL health care reform as a tribute to Kennedy

Not the garbage we're talking about today, but real health care reform. Read the rest of this post...

GOP now playing politics with Kennedy's funeral

You see, they're terribly afraid that Kennedy's death will aid passage of health care reform since it was his dream. So the GOP will destroy that dream by politicizing Kennedy's funeral.

Will the Democrats preemptively fight back, will they blow the Republicans out of the water on this one? Or will we all sit back and scratch our heads in a week and say "gosh, how did we lose that one?" Paul Wellstone II - where the GOP accuses of us doing what they're actually doing, and we get the blame. Let's not forget - we still have Hitler references and gun-toting GOP constituents out there who have yet to be fully taken advantage of by the Democrats. What do I mean? Well imagine had the top progressive bloggers, during a debate on key legislation, published photos of George Bush as Hitler. Do you think the Republicans would come up with all sorts of great ideas on how to bash us and, even better, use us to destroy Democrats? There'd be a resolution condemning us on the floor of the US House and Senate faster than you can sing "proud to be an American."

What's to believe that things will be any different when the GOP tries to spin Ted Kennedy's death? We have taught the Republicans that nothing is too low, and that the dirtier they get the more we flinch. Unless the Democrats, and the White House, figure out how to stop this cycle, it's just going to get worse and worse. Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's really been fascinating and moving to watch the on-going discussion about Ted Kennedy. The man really did make this country a better place. He was involved in so many important issues. It seems like everyone has a Ted Kennedy story or two. A couple years ago, in April of 2005, I was at a fundraiser for him when the Republicans were threatening to use the "nuclear option." Kennedy was railing against that latest power grab by the Bush administration. But, was fun for me was that in early 2005, the Senator was a fan of the progressive blogs and wanted to conspire about fighting the "nuclear option." Then, I have to get my sister to tell us the story about how she ended up holding his underwear at a DSCC fundraiser in Maine back in the fall of 1985 (nothing tawdry, the fundraiser was at the beach and while people were having snacks and drinks, he snuck out to take a swim.)

Let's roll... Read the rest of this post...

New AIG CEO starts work on vacation

It's good to be da' king. Since AIG is owned by the US government, who let this one pass through? Was it really that difficult to see the public relations issue with this? As enthusiastic as I am about taking vacations, in this circumstance he should have simply waited until after his time at his villa to avoid any new controversy. It does leave you wondering what's next with this mess.

First came an $85bn government bailout. Then a storm over bonuses of $165m for senior executives. Now insurance firm AIG is in hot water again – because its newly appointed boss is spending most of his first month working from his sprawling villa overlooking Croatia's Adriatic coast.

Robert Benmosche, ex-head of the US insurer MetLife, became chief executive of AIG on 10 August but went on holiday just days later, to oversee the grape harvest at his vineyards to the north of Dubrovnik.

The 65-year-old executive's absence from the insurer's headquarters so early in his tenure has surprised Wall Street. But tracked down by a Reuters reporter yesterday, Benmosche was unapologetic.

Dressed in flip-flops and shorts, he insisted he was getting a good deal of work done: "People criticise me for being on vacation. I actually started work a week before I was actually supposed to."

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UK discussing tax against 'socially useless' banks

A good plan but like other proposals out there, this needs to be coordinated around the world or else it will go nowhere. There's a distinct lack of interest in many capitals to change the destructive dynamics of the banks. Plenty of talk but very little action. The surprise here is that so much talk like this is coming out of London which is the European capital for banking. It would be good to hear such talk out of Washington but that doesn't appear to be coming any time soon.

The government's top financial regulator last night backed radical plans for a multibillion-pound tax on banks as a way to tackle the City's persistent bonus culture.

Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, warned bankers that he would support a new wave of taxes on the City to prevent excessive profiteering if they continue to take excessive risks.

In a searing critique of the industry, Lord Turner described much of the City's activities as "socially useless" and questioned whether it has grown too large.

His comments, in an interview published by current affairs magazine Prospect, mark a shift in the debate on bonuses, which Turner characterised as a symptom rather than a cause of the financial crisis.

The FSA chairman, who has faced criticism for "going soft" on bankers' pay and would see his empire abolished by an incoming Tory government, said a tax on the millions of transactions in the Square Mile would cut banks' profits and reduce the pool of money available for bonuses.

A brief comment too on taxing transactions. Wall Street and the City will of course go ballistic over such a tax though they're also the same people who find it acceptable to tax their customers for doing the same. They love transactions - lots of them - because they make money each time. Heaven forbid they live with their own rules. Read the rest of this post...

France proposes new banker bonus rules

This is a start though the more important issue here is whether all countries will participate in a unified plan or if the banks will continue to dictate their pay. Without a consistent plan across the EU (and Switzerland) plus the US, there's little hope that any pressure will work. Reuters:

Amid growing international concern over bank bonus payments that have been creeping up to levels seen before last year's financial market meltdown, Sarkozy called in the heads of France's biggest banks to announce tougher controls.

"I was scandalized to see the lessons of the crisis being forgotten so quickly by some people at a time when the page has not even been turned on the crisis," Sarkozy said after the meeting the Elysee Palace.

Outrage over bonuses in France has been stoked by concern that banks have been tight-fisted in lending to small companies, despite the massive injections of public support made available to the financial sector.

He said banks would henceforth be required to defer two thirds of bonuses paid to traders over three years and make a third of the payout in bank stock.

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Beer prices to go up

Sounds strange to increase prices at the same time as volumes are dropping and the recession is trimming budgets but maybe it will work out for them. As long as Beerlao doesn't change I won't notice, though maybe they can stop the sound on their website. CNNMoney:

Brewers across the globe are hiking prices to compensate for lower sales volumes and higher commodity costs.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer and maker of Budweiser, announced plans to raise prices Tuesday.

"We plan on taking price increases on a majority of volume and in a majority of markets this fall," Anheuser-Busch InBev said in a statement. "The increase helps cover some input costs."

The U.S.-Belgian brewer said prices will go up "across different price tiers," including its high and low-end brands.

MillerCoors - the maker of popular beers Miller Lite, Coors Lite and Blue Moon - is also raising prices, according to Benj Steinman, the editor of industry trade group "Beer Marketer's Insights."

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Fighting fire with fire

Anti-teabagger protester (i.e., one of the good guys) packing heat. Your thoughts? (From TPM Muckraker via Huff Post.)
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