This just in... Rick Perry challenges Nancy Pelosi to presidential debate, but she’s not running

He thinks Nancy Pelosi is running for President? He's out of his mind. (More from The Hill.)

Not to mention, yeah, Rick Perry's biggest problem is not having enough debates. Read the rest of this post...

Rick Perry: Obama, whose father abandoned him with little money, grew up privileged and wealthy

You mean he grew up privileged in Kenya?

Yes, very privileged, except that Barack Obama actually grew up as a middle class (at best) black kid in 1960s America to a single mom who had to rely on her mother because Obama's dad deserted them at an early age.  Other than that, yeah real privileged.

There is one serious error in this National Journal story by Rebecca Kaplan.  She claims, wrongly, that President Obama said that "Americans" are lazy.  No he did not say that.  The President was talking about past administrations, the US government, being lazy by not sufficiently selling America to foreign investors, and he explained how his administration was trying to turn that around.  Does National Journal really think the President set up "SelectUSA" to help the American people overcome their laziness?  (What, is SelectUSA giving out free Red Bulls?) Seriously?

That's one hell of a difference.  In fact, National Journal is repeating, and validating, the GOP lie that underlies the entire story she's writing.  Hopefully someone at National Journal will catch this, but more importantly, the media needs to be a better job on this story. MSNBC did something similar - they quoted Romney falsely accusing Obama of saying Americans are lazy, then MSNBC simply quoted the President, without noting that Romney was wrong.  If you didn't read carefully you wouldn't know that Romney lied, that the President did not say that Americans are lazy.

Come on folks.  We're not asking you to lie.  We're asking you, when you know something is patently false on its face, to say it.  Don't hint at it by putting Obama's quote and hoping that the reader will get it.   Say it. Or at the very least admit that the President's words were ambiguous and that it's not at all clear who he was referring to. But you can't read that quote and say for sure that he meant the American people. Read the rest of this post...

Reporter roughed up at Cain event

And of course the police defended the actions of the officer.  Let's hear a little bit about what the Coral Springs Police Department thinks is appropriate behavior for its officers.  From National Journal:

The incident happened when several journalists who have been covering Cain regularly tried to film the candidate as he was returning to his campaign bus after an event here. As the journalists trailed Cain, the officer, who was in plain clothes, blindsided National Journal/CBS News reporter Lindsey Boerma into the side of the campaign bus. Moments later, as journalists circled around the bus toward Cain, the same man stuck his arm out and clotheslined Boerma.

The man refused to identify himself. He implied he was a police officer when he suggested that one of his “buddies” in uniform could give the reporter a ride in the back of a police car. When other journalists began videotaping him, he pulled out his cell phone and started recording the press. “I’m an independent reporter,” he said.

Unless the cop is 12, this sure doesn't sound like appropriate behavior from someone who's supposed to be mature enough, well trained enough, and mentally stable enough to carry a weapon. Read the rest of this post...

Video: Cat flips boy

Okay not quite.  But practically. Read the rest of this post...

Ultra-orthodox extremists defacing billboards that display women in Israel

Religious extremists doing what religious extremists do. It doesn't matter what religion they are, because the extremism is the same.

Over recent months, women's faces have disappeared from billboards across the city amid mounting pressure applied by the powerful ultra-orthodox lobby, who find the female image offensive.

Several advertisers have erased female models from their posters in Jerusalem. Elsewhere in Israel, the winter campaign of Israeli clothing brand Honigman features a model cosily dressed in winter knits. In the capital, the woman's head has been removed from the image, leaving just her arm and a handbag.

Companies that do not fall in line with the standards of the extreme ultra-orthodox have frequently fallen victim to direct action. Across Jerusalem, female figures have been blacked out of billboards with spray-paint, or vandalised with graffiti branding the image "illegal". Other posters are simply torn down.

Read the rest of this post...

Multi-millionaire, elitist and Mormon Romney says Obama doesn’t understand Americans

Good ol' Joe-Six-Pack-Mitt is now deciding who really understands America. Right. Because we all know how well integrated Mormons are with the rest of America. One would think that a leading Mormon might shy away from what sure sounds like a racial slur against Obama considering the infamous problems Mormons have had accepting non-white people.

NOTE FROM JOHN: In addition, Romney is outright lying, below.  The quote he attributes to the President, supposedly calling Americans "lazy" -- President Obama never said it.  What the President said, and it's clear from the transcript, is that past administrations have been lazy in promoting America as a home for business investment.  So Romney is outright lying (the Mormons call it "Lying for the Lord" - it's a religious tenet used to justify lying). And shame on MSNBC, below, for not even bothering to call Romney on the lie - they think if they just quote Obama too, people will get that it's a lie.  Why be so subtle about it? If the man is lying, explain that to your readers, don't just do a he said/she said.

"Sometimes, I just don't think that President Obama understands America," Romney said. "I say that because this week -- Or was it last week? -- he said that Americans are lazy. I don't think that describes America. Before that I think it was in October, he was saying we have lost our inventiveness, and our ambition. Before that he was saying other disparaging things about Americans. I just don't think he understands -- he was saying we just weren't working hard enough. I don't think he gets what's happening in this country."

Romney was referencing remarks made by the president at Saturday's APEC summit in Hawaii, where he was asked about government policies that serve as impediments to foreign investment in the United States, not about Americans generally.

"I think it’s important to remember that the United States is still the largest recipient of foreign investment in the world. And there are a lot of things that make foreign investors see the U.S. as a great opportunity -- our stability, our openness, our innovative free market culture," Obama said. "But we’ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted -- well, people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America."

It hasn't helped that Congress - both sides - have been keen to collect campaign money, which means helping the richest and the largest businesses. Helping those least in need does little to help the broader economy expand.

PS This is also Romney nodding to the birthers, which is interesting since his own family history is a bit grey in terms of exactly what country the Romneys hail from (hint: they call it America, but it's pronounced "Mexico"). Read the rest of this post...

EU bans X-ray scanners at airports, citing health risks

But there are profits to be made and security theater to implement. How is this possible?

The European Union on Monday prohibited the use of X-ray body scanners [1] in European airports, parting ways with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which has deployed hundreds of the scanners as a way to screen millions of airline passengers for explosives hidden under clothing.

The European Commission, which enforces common policies of the EU's 27 member countries, adopted the rule “in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens’ health and safety.”

As a ProPublica/PBS NewsHour investigation detailed earlier this month [2] , X-ray body scanners use ionizing radiation, a form of energy that has been shown to damage DNA and cause cancer. Although the amount of radiation is extremely low, equivalent to the radiation a person would receive in a few minutes of flying, several research studies have concluded that a small number of cancer cases would result from scanning hundreds of millions of passengers a year.

Read the rest of this post...

Fox News host says Rep. Gabrielle Giffords should step down while undergoing rehabilitiation

It was an interesting discussion, with both sides (stay or go) presented clearly.

Bolling called the interview "heart-warming," but suggested that now may be time to vacate Giffords' seat in Congress. "In the risk of sounding very callous -- these are tough times, the economy's on its ear, we really need all hands on deck," he said. "For me, it seems like forget next year, maybe even now say 'Hey look, maybe they should hold a special election right away to see if he we can get someone who is really capable and able to make the right decisions.'"

After saying that the interview made him "well up," co-host Bob Beckel also asked if running for re-election would be in her best interest.

Meanwhile, co-host Brian Kilmeade came out strongly in favor of Giffords keeping her seat, noting that a capable staff is a worthy substitute while she is in rehabilitation. He remarked, "If she formed a staff in her likeness, people that she believes what she believes, if they can do a lot of the work for her while she rehabs, if that is something she wants, she took a bullet to the head for this country! At least she can finish her job if she chooses!"

I suspect it's considered crass to suggest what the Fox host did, and he did present his views in a rather direct manner, but putting all that aside for a moment, does he have a point?

When I saw Rep. Giffords interviewed on TV yesterday I was heartened to see her alive and recovering. But I have to admit I wondered if she was up for the job. Congress seems to be the only job where no matter what happens to you, or what condition you're in, it's considered poor form to ask whether it's time for you to move on.  Which is interesting, since it's such an important job.

Strom Thurmond comes to mind. Not exactly on the ball in his final years in the Senate, which isn't surprising since he was 100 years old. It was considered impolitic to suggest that a 100 year old man just might be ready for retirement. I remember the time I met Thurmond at a reception in the Senate that G.H.W. Bush was attending, around 1990 or so. I was standing next to a blonde female staffer from my office and next to her was Thurmond, we were all shoulder to shoulder. Suddenly I felt a hand massaging my elbow. It was Strom. He apparently thought I was the blonde.

I can't remember if it was Thurmond, or another Senator, but I do clearly remember being told that one particularly infirm Senator was no longer doing his job, and his chief of staff had taken over the position entirely.  And for some reason, that unconstitutional power grab was okay because it wouldn't have been impolitic to suggest that being a United States Senator is a tad more important than ceremonial.

It is never considered acceptable to suggest that a member of Congress ever step down for health reasons. But in regular employment there's no such expectation of life tenure on the job.  As for the other Fox host who said her staff can do her job, well, we didn't vote for her staff.  There are some fundamental democratic questions involved in voting for one person and having someone else replace them de facto rather than de jure.

I hesitated to even post this post, which goes to my point that, for some reason, we don't like suggesting that members of Congress be held to the same standard the rest of us face, namely that when we become incapable of doing our job, we leave. Read the rest of this post...

Olbermann to Bloomberg—Take your place with Mayor Daley; Occupy needs you

This is a very smart comment. Olbermann uses the phrase "critical mass" — achieving enough momentum to be self-sustaining.

I've written about that before — the Occupy Movement is at a critical juncture and the gods who make men mad have handed the Movement a critical ingredient.

People like Bloomberg and Oakland's Mayor Quan are close to becoming this Movement's Mayor Richard J. Daley (hizzoner, the real one) or Ohio Governor James Rhodes of "Kent State massacre" fame.

Great catch by Olbermann and a needed walk though history.



"Who else but a putz like Bloomberg" indeed.

And about Kent State . . . No, Mr. Day; the whole of the last generation did not fail you. Just the criminals in it. Same as it always was.

Bottom line? Occupy, of course. Critical mass. Your country needs you, it's a rising tide, and there has not been a better time to press.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Video lunch break: 7 week old lab puppies set to Chariots of Fire theme

What's not to love. Read the rest of this post...

"To protect public safety" Seattle PD pepper-sprayed 84 y.o. woman?

This is from Max Blumenthal's Twitter feed:

While "protecting public safety," @SeattlePD maced this 84 year old woman in the face https://twitter.com/?photo_id=1#!/OccupySeattle/status/136678233583255552/photo/1 via @occupyseattle

It's an unverified report, but there is a picture.

The Occupy Movement, I think, is entering a new phase. It's on the rise, and the reaction is stiffening. The Movement does not have critical mass yet — enough momentum to be self-feeding, self-sustaining. But it's close. (Think Mario Savio and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement.) It's near that point.

In my opinion, now is the time to press, and not just on the Occupy front (taking over spaces) but on the media and legal front as well. The indications of widespread mayoral coordination (while not at all illegal) is a godsend, as it sends the message of the 1% linking arms. Evidence of DoJ or DHS involvement in those meetings would be manna.

As I've said before, their hubris is your friend — and believe me, they've got hubris in spades. Use it, while you have the attention of the world.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Rick Perry only permitting "US citizens" to cover town hall in NH

WTF?  Rick Perry's problem isn't the Italian press.  From the Twitter feed of AP's Steve Peoples:

At press check in for Rick Perry NH town hall, we're asked if we're US citizens. Told only citizens allowed. #2012

Read the rest of this post...

Newt Gingrich earned $1.6m+ from Freddie Mac

Originally posted at AMERICAblog Elections: The Right's Field

Rut-roh. Bloomberg is reporting that Newt Gingrich "made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac." Gingrich worked with Freddie Mac from 1999 to 2002, as the housing bubble was beginning to rapidly expand.

What's remarkable about this is that Gingrich viewed Freddie Mac as a vehicle for the Republican Party to gain support from the Hispanic community.

“I spent about three hours with him talking about the substance of the issues and the politics of the issues, and he really got it,” said Delk, adding that the two discussed “what the benefits are to communities, what the benefits could be for Republicans and particularly their relationship with Hispanics.”

This pretty strongly undercuts some of the political arguments waged by pro-bank Republicans who seek to blame the GSEs for inflating the housing bubble. Gingrich was pushing them to do it to help Republicans! It makes Gingrich's call for Barney Frank to be jailed - instead of banksters - for the financial collapse even more insane.

And while Gingrich has claimed that he advised Freddie Mac that they were creating a housing bubble, Bloomberg reports, "None of the former Freddie Mac officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Gingrich raised the issue of the housing bubble or was critical of Freddie Mac’s business model."

Oh Newt, I have a feeling that it's going to be fun having you near the top of the polls. Read the rest of this post...

GOP members of Congress involved in O’Keefe NPR sting

In Howie Kurtz's new piece on the Daily Beast, one of James O'Keefe's former colleagues in deception suggests that O'Keefe was coordinating his NPR undercover sting with members of Congress, as it was intended to influence NPR's budget battle on the Hill:

But Templar says O’Keefe told him the video had to be released within three days because he was in touch with sources in Congress and a vote was about to be taken on a budget resolution that could eliminate federal funding of NPR. O’Keefe said he had been assured that "this story would push it over the edge,” according to Templar.

Which members of Congress were involved in something this dirty? Read the rest of this post...

Eurozone bonds hit by mass sell-off, crisis may be entering "dangerous phase"

Update: Krugman adds, quoting Edward Harrison at Naked Capitalism:

If the ECB writes the check, the economic and market outcomes are vastly different than if they do not. Your personal outlook as an investor, business person or worker will change dramatically for decades to come based upon this one policy choice[.]

Not to put too fine a point on it, if the European Central Bank guarantees Europe's sovereign debt (after all, that's what central banks do), this crisis reduces to a problem. Watch the bank; it's all in their hands. Quoting Krugman again: "Crunch time."
________

This is news as of Tuesday evening EST. Financial Times (h/t Paul Krugman; my emphasis):

Eurozone bond markets suffered a mass sell-off on Tuesday as investor fears spread beyond Italy and Spain to triple A-rated France, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands.

The premium that France and Austria pay over Germany to borrow rose to euro-era records of 192 basis points and 184bp respectively, levels investors say are no longer consistent with top credit ratings.

“Markets are losing patience so they are going for the jugular, which is the core countries and not the periphery,” said Neil Williams, chief economist at Hermes, the UK fund manager. ... Mike Riddell of M&G, one of Europe’s biggest fund managers, called it “probably the most worrying day” of the crisis so far.

The rise in bond yields affected all main eurozone countries apart from Germany, and suggests that the two-year-old sovereign debt saga could be entering a dangerous phase.

There's more in the article if you're following this stuff closely.

190 basis points is almost 2% — that means that France (not just Italy, France) must now offer investors 2% more in interest than Germany offers for bonds with identical maturities.

Paul Krugman has a handy chart that shows you, historically, what a spread of 189 basis points between (known-safe) German sovereign bonds and French bonds looks like.

Time for more austerity, don't you think?

GP Read the rest of this post...

Report: Syrian defectors attack intelligence base

This takes some serious guts to do this. Assad is still holding onto power, but this has to be a blow to his image inside Syria. Al Jazeera:

Syrian activists say that army defectors have attacked an intelligence complex in the Damascus suburbs in what appears to be one of their boldest assaults so far against government security forces.

Members of the Free Syrian Army fired rockets and machine guns at a large air force intelligence complex situated in Harasta on the northern edge of the capital along the Damascus-Aleppo highway on Wednesday at about 2:30 am (0030 GMT), sources told Reuters.

A gunfight ensued and helicopters circled the area, sources said.

"I heard several explosions, the sound of machine-gun fire being exchanged," said a resident of the suburb of Harasta, who declined to be named.

Read the rest of this post...

City of London to restart legal action to evict Occupy protesters

Curiously enough, they are citing "worrying trends" which for some reason, fail to include plundering of taxpayer money or the destruction of lives through irresponsible actions by City bankers. What selective memories, but they are bankers after all.

Stuart Fraser, Policy Chairman of the City of London Corporation, said after the meeting: “We paused legal action for two weeks for talks with those in the camp on how to shrink the extent of the tents and to set a departure date – but got nowhere.

“So, sadly, now they have rejected a reasonable offer to let them stay until the New Year, it’s got to be the courts. We’d still like to sort this without court action but from now on we will have to have any talks in parallel with court action – not instead.”

The Corporation claimed it was receiving reports about vulnerable people, cases of late-night drinking and “other worrying trends,”

Read the rest of this post...

Panetta warns on defense budget cuts

For a department that has been living high on the hog for a decade, it's hard to feel too sympathetic. The DoD had the luxury is ignoring contractors who wasted billions yet continued to do business with them, so maybe it's time Panetta and the Pentagon figure out a way to care more about taxpayer money. Panetta can cry all he wants but he's ignoring the belt tightening across America by families who are struggling. People are tired of a decade of war and the eagerness to get involved in more wars.

Maybe it's time Panetta visits a few working families who don't have deep links into defense contractors. He may have not noticed it while in the comfy confines of his office, but the wars are killing the budget and are responsible for many of the economic problems that the country is facing these days.

Panetta, who has used apocalyptic terms such as "doomsday," ''hollow force" and "paper tiger" to describe the cuts, said the military would have to rethink its strategy.

"We would have to formulate a new security strategy that accepted substantial risk of not meeting our defense needs. A sequestration budget is not one that I could recommend," said Panetta, a former California congressman and one-time head of the House Budget Committee.

At least two of the potential cuts outlined by Panetta would strike at the heart of U.S. defense strategy.

Read the rest of this post...