The Argentinian

Ferfal may or may not have fallen for the fear-ridden flop-sweat oozing from the fingers of one Jeffey Kuhner writing for the *cough* Washington Times. As Phil Agre used to grumble, it takes a fair amount of time, effort and attention on the part of the listener to un-pack the lies and confusion that make up today's so-called conservatism.

I'm no expert and I'm kind of in a hurry since I do have other things that deserve my attention. Hence I took only a single paragraph and made an attempt to refute its errors, leaving nothing but the period at the end untouched. Like Phil said, it's a chore. I wish I got paid to do this so I could justify a more reasoned and well-rounded delivery. Until then....

Liberalism champions huge entitlements, expensive social programs and the regimentation of nearly every aspect of people's lives - from smoking bans and university admissions policies, to prayer in schools and how much right-wing talk-radio one can listen to. It seeks to dominate not only politics and the economy, but culture and the arts as well.

This description of the USA is merely a neocon's wet-dream. Take the smoking example: there are few who favor an outright ban on tobacco products. The no-smoking movement is undeniably libertarian in its opposition to *your* smoke getting into *my* lungs. And that's pretty much the entire smoking story here in Reality, U.S.A.

The hoary old "liberal media" joke doesn't hold up either. Are Rush, Hannity, et al still on the radio? Is Rupert Murdoch's global media conglomeration still bribing English phone company stooges for a license to "go fishing" in government's voice mail system? Okay, then listen all you want. Near as I can tell, the only right-winger to be taken off the air recently is Hal Turner and that because of his urging people to kill specific government officials. There's no history lesson since incitement to murder is a crime now and was a crime in the 1930s.

Religion in government schools? Sure. Which religions did you have in mind? Oh, just one? Sorry, that doesn't fit with the Constitution. Thanks for playing, though.

The author is carrying water for the segregationists nearly a half-century after George Wallace stood on the front steps to prevent "black" people from entering the front door of the University of Alabama. Nice. That's a class act we can all still enjoy.

And the war entitlement? All good conservatives tend to gloss over the fact that on average their U.S. Congressman has about 1.5 Billion U.S. dollars to spend in his district, building war toys. Of course it's not distributed evenly throughout the 435 districts but as near as I can tell there isn't a single congressional district that does *not* have at least one "defense" contractor. Isn't it odd that of the top three slices of the U.S. Budget pie chart, the author whines about smaller two and ignores the largest one?

Ferfal, you can read whomever you want and espouse pretty much anything you think is worthy but please, don't take this author's bitter ramblings as anything remotely related to reality in these United States. The sad fact is that there are a lot of two-dimensional, racist ideologues here in the U.S., who are having a hard time adjusting to the fact that they are a minority at best, and come the next election cycle, face the possibility of contracting even smaller into the lunatic fringe.

The trouble with setting the Argentinian back on the path is that I'm way overdue for a Fort Report. He's done things that deserve a verbal spanking and surprisingly one thing that actually deserves praise. Unless I've mis-understood his position. Sigh. Need more time; need more attention.

Mac to Mac on Iran Elections

Re-Tweeting Sara Robinson

Because eeeks is on summer holiday.

Memo to the Right Wing: Put Up or Shut Up

Dear Conservatives:

Your fellow Americans demand an answer -- and we want it now. Just one simple question:

Are you deliberately trying to start a civil war?

Just answer the question. Yes or no. Don't insult us with elisions, evasions, dithering, qualifications, or conditional answers. We need to know what your intentions are -- and we need to know NOW. People are being shot dead in the streets of America at the rate of several per month now. You may not want responsibility for this -- but the whackadoodles pulling the triggers make no bones about who put them up to this.

You did.

Update: PalMD weighs in with a memo of talking points. As the weekend simmers and the Fortstaffers prepare for another week of duelling pinheads, eeeks will be rehearsing her lines, she will. Eeeks likeses the telephoneses.

The Responsible Right (if such a thing still exists) needs to show itself, needs not to distance itself from hate, but to acknowledge it, then condemn it. Instead, the mouthpieces of conservatism are finding excuses.

But they don't get a pass for their excuses, for being "patriotic" or whatever else. They don't get to use tu quoque arguments to justify their own bigotry. They need to remember one of their favorite buzzwords: "responsibility". They will be held accountable for their words and actions one way or another, so they might as well own up to them.

If God doesn't matter to him, do you?

[R]eligion fails to provide a reasonable framework for morality, since it is so easily and regularly subverted to rationalize evil.

Biologist and Professor PZ Myers.

Is our school children learning?

Perhaps. But the minority party in Congress aren't: the rudderless Republicans doggedly continue piling up epic PR blunders such as this FAIL:

=================================================================
Recent House Votes:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act
Vote Passed (275-155, 3 Not Voting)

The House passed this bill that intends to modernize, renovate, and repair public school facilities.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry voted
NO

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Supplemental Appropriations, FY 2009
Vote Passed (368-60, 5 Not Voting)

The House approved this bill to provide funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, security improvements in Pakistan and the national pandemic flu response.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry voted
YES
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Plenty of money to fight torture-justified, wet-dream wars in Eurasia but no money to edjucate our childrens. Sad. Pathetic.

Won't somebody give this man a pineapple?

OMAHA — U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns visited the Navy’s prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and he says the conditions are more than adequate for the detainees held there.

He says facilities are modern and the detainees are given food, excellent medical care and time to pray daily.

Johanns says he fears pretty much anything that walks, talks and thinks for itself. Especially worrying to the freshman senator is the prospect of a U.S. foreign policy based on diplomacy instead of terror. Because Jebus is all about terror and brutality. Especially the brutality. And the terror.

Copied mostly from the Lincoln Journal-Star - thanks for the press release; sorry to hear about the recent negative income. Get back to me when there's a journalist on staff and the ad department is holding a bake sale.

I'm sure the good senator wasn't the least bit worried about the American citizen recently sentenced to eight years in an Iranian prison. I'm equally sure he's already preparing his annual Christ Mass gifts for American citizens still held in North Korea since, by his peculiar brand of justice, holding foreign citizens in prison indefinitely is okay as long as they have food, medical care and time to pray.

Where's Bernie?

...and where's Brownie? Not to mention Turd Blossom and leader of the Republican Party, Dick'n'Rush.

Mr. A, 39, 216 Street, was arrested on suspicion of four counts of felony theft by receiving stolen property and one misdemeanor theft charge.

Officer K.F. said on Tuesday police went to Mr. A.'s home and he consented to a search.

She said police found more than 29 items believed to have been stolen in residential and business burglaries, even a church, in the past two years. The stolen items included a computer, a MIG welder, a riding lawn mower stolen from a church, an all-terrain vehicle, a snowblower.

Flood alleged Mr. A. had bought the items far below their estimated value. A reasonable person should have known they'd been stolen, she said.

I guess that settles it then. If the reasonable person test is sufficient to send someone to jail....

But don't just take my word for it

Here's ultra-flaming-liberal Larry Wilkerson's take on the Party of No:

Less important but still busting my chops as a Republican, is the damage that the Sith Lord Cheney is doing to my political party.

He and Rush Limbaugh seem to be its leaders now. Lindsay Graham, John McCain, John Boehner, and all other Republicans of note seem to be either so enamored of Cheney-Limbaugh (or fearful of them?) or, on the other hand, so appalled by them, that the cat has their tongues. And meanwhile fewer Americans identify as Republicans than at any time since WWII. We're at 21% and falling--right in line with the number of cranks, reprobates, and loonies in the country.

When will we hear from those in my party who give a damn about their country and about the party of Lincoln?

When will someone of stature tell Dick Cheney that enough is enough? Go home. Spend your 70 million. Luxuriate in your Eastern Shore mansion. Shoot quail with your friends--and your friends.

Stay out of our way as we try to repair the extensive damage you've done--to the country and to its Republican Party.

-- Lawrence Wilkerson
Washington Note

Thunderbird's wry sense of humor

Hands on the wheel, head in the sand

This just in from Congress.org

Recent House Votes:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
Vote Passed (367-59, 1 Present, 6 Not Voting)

The House passed this fraud enforcement bill with an amendment to create a commission to investigate the causes of the financial crisis, sending the bill back to the Senate for its approval.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry voted
Not Voting


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act 
Vote Passed (300-114, 19 Not Voting)

The House approved this bill to reform mortgage lending practices.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry voted
Not Voting


=================================================================

Barack Obama has used a nautical metaphor to describe the slow, slow turning of the giant ship of State. Perhaps these two abstentions indicate Rep. Fortenberry's tentative turning away from the dead-ender Republican Party's march into history. A welcome sign, even if for the wrong reason: political survival is not quite the same as the noble, self-sacrificing actions of a principled statesman, but, for these two instances, at least he's stopped doing the wrong thing.

One of Twelve (percent)

In 1938, something between eight and 30% of the American radio listeners believed War of the Worlds was real. Even notorious practical joker Adolf Hitler cited the panic as "evidence of the decadence and corrupt condition of [American] democracy."


Hand, Richard J. (2006). Terror on the Air!: Horror Radio in America, 1931-1952. Jefferson, North Carolina: Macfarland & Company. p. 7. ISBN 0-786-42367-6. via Wikipedia

---

The minutes raced by. Wayne Williams was now fully prostrate, held up only by a trio of coaches, each of whom took part of his writhing body and propped it up. Another bald man in the front of the chapel was now freaking out in Linda Blair fashion, roaring and making horrific demon noises.

"Rum-balakasha-oom!" shouted Fortenberry in tongues, waving a hand in front of Linda Blair Man. "Cooom-balakasha-froom! In the name of Jesus Christ, I cast out the demon of philosophy!"

Philosophy?

...

The whole thing — the demonic expulsions, the trading of miraculous wives' tales, the crazy End Times theology based on dire predictions that come and go uneventfully once a year or so — it's all a con that is done with the consent of the conned. Which is what gives it strength. If everybody agrees to believe, it is real.

Jesus Made Me Puke Matt Taibbi / Rolling Stone

---

• Cantor: GOP Recovery Strategy is “Just Saying No.”
• Despite Bipartisan Outreach, Every Single House Republican Voted Against Bill to Create or Save 3.5 Million Jobs.
• RNC Chairman Threatens To Withhold RNC Funds From GOP Senators (including Arlen Specter) Who Backed Stimulus.
• Republicans Oppose SCHIP Expansion: Bill to Provide Health Care for 11 Million Children Passes “Largely Along Party Lines.”
• Republicans Opposed Equal Pay Act, Bill Passes in Party Line Vote.
• Leader of the GOP, Rush Limbaugh: “I Hope he Fails."
• RNC Chairman Apologizes for Criticizing Limbaugh.
• Congressional Republicans “Rally Against Obama On Stem Cells.”

These clowns are in Congress because we sent them there. Well, no, that's not right; not all of us: The True Believers, those War-of-the-Worlds Believers, plus many whom the Believers distract with TV-praying, tittylating sports-n-guns sent 'em there. The rest of us stand around asking, "what just happened?" while mostly good and decent people like Chuck Hagel head for the hills.

flogging the fetus

...continuing from the previous post, here's Fortenberry's spokesperson slamming the Obama administration for being 'anti-science' regarding stem cell research:
Inadvertently cut from the above video, Pence's preparation for the interview:

concentrate... concentrate... I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... Hello?... hello... hello... Echo... echo... echo... Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota...

And on an unrelated note, happy birthday, Weston!

embryonic stem cells cure blindness

(To Representative Jeff Fortenberry, R-NE)


Digression: What does it say about your values that the selection of "topics" for communication via the house.gov website lumps "Education and Labor" together whilst having no entry at all for Science?

--

In your recent "Bad Science" press release you assert "However, embryonic stem cell research has shown no clinical success." This easily falsified statement might well fool the Republican base here in Nebraska - there were apparently a village-full of people at the taxpayer-supported Lancaster Event Center for Teabagging on the 15th. Despite its popularity at home, a false statement about embryonic stem cell research is still false.

As articles such as this reach my attention, and if I'm not otherwise occupied, I'll be sending them in. While I honestly don't expect you to change your position anytime soon, at minimum you could stop telling this particular falsehood to your constituents.

----
www.timesonline.co.uk

From The Sunday Times
April 19, 2009
Blind to be cured with stem cells

BRITISH scientists have developed the world’s first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness. Surgeons predict it will become a routine, one-hour procedure that will be generally available in six or seven years’ time.

This week Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical research company, will announce its financial backing to bring the therapy to patients.
----

Pfizer. One of your local corporate sponsors, no doubt.

Don't often hear that

"I ask you to look it up for yourself; you will not find it" claims Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D., alpha male of NARTH, responding to a suggestion that the APA has a statement on their website that is somewhat critical of NARTH and its methods.

As the robust discussion between Nicolosi and a real scientist continued, the host of the interview busied himself with the Internet where he found, and subsequently read aloud, the highlighted section below:

American Psychological Association
Office of Public Communications
August 10, 2006

Statement of the American Psychological Association

For over three decades the consensus of the mental health community has been that homosexuality is not an illness and therefore not in need of a cure. The APA’s concern about the position’s espoused by NARTH and so-called conversion therapy is that they are not supported by the science. There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed. Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.
   Pamela Willenz
   Manager
   APA Public Affairs Office
   202-336 -5707
   pwillenz@apa.org
   ###


'Doctor' Nicolosi's response? "... I am very shocked. You got me on that one, you got me on that one" and with a chuckle, Owen Bennett Jones concluded the interview.

But. Notice the date on the Statement. One cannot read much on the NARTH website without recognizing their running battle with the APA. Google shows 299 instances of 'apa' on narth.com. It is simply inconceivable that in the past two-and-one-half years that Nicolosi hasn't been made aware of that APA Statement. Obvious conclusion: Nicolosi is a liar.

Much like the Republican Party motto: It's not Fascism when we do it, lying for Jesus is okay, especially if it's anti-gay.

Newshour, BBC World Service, 24 April, 2009.

The one-minute revelation (audio only):


The full nine-minute article (audio only):

Where the Money Does Go

"In fiscal year 2008, the federal government spent $3 trillion..." or you can just read their 4-page report. It's simple enough that even Gribbit or Grundel should have no further excuse for their flaming dog-poop-in-a-sack ignorance.

Scott, Sean, Adolph - BFF!

Nebraska radio boy has Hannity/Hitler hard-on, hopes for higher ratings. Thanks to PZ for the pointer to the goings-on in River City, but, really, this isn't exactly the attention we all had imagined.

Ya know, I try to be civil but the pressure to fling poo is strong.

UK scientists plan a major research project to see if synthetic human blood can be made from embryonic stem cells.

Led by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, the three year trial could provide an unlimited supply of blood for emergency transfusions.

BBC

Meanwhile, in the Great American Desert (it tends to be windy all year round), willful ignorance services ideology, as it has for millenia:

"...I oppose all forms of experimentation on human embryos, and do not believe that taxpayers should be fored to fund this type of activity. There is widespread evidence that such controversial and ethically divisive research, which requires the destruction of a human embryo, and therefore a human person, is ineffective. It also appears to be financially unsustainable absent generous federal subsidies. Unfortunately, many reports do not adequately distinguish among the different types of stem cell research, potentially contributing to significant public confusion on this important issue." - Fortenberry form letter, 3/16/2009

Yes, a report about "stem cells" might cause confusion - as opposed to reports by the Representative who goes out of his way to deliberately cause confusion. He conveniently lists shortcomings of scientific opposition versus the sublime success of The Good Life, buttressed by the occasional anti-science anecdote.

We could provide an unlimited supply of blood in this way

That's O-negative blood the Professor's talking about, the kind that can be transfused into anyone without fear of tissue rejection.
And where do these life-giving embryos originate? Petri dishes. They're from in-vitro fertilization procedures - the embryos that are not implanted. Unless used in research projects these embryos are destined for... the trash can.

Somewhere in this paragraph I would probably ask the Representative why he's not charging the fertility clinic operators with murder, but just this morning I saw a video clip of Representative Bat-shit crazy Bachmann questioning the Treasury Secretary of the United States of America. Given that context, my would-be rhetorical question becomes a disturbing prediction of future legislation coming from the Republican party. I'll just stop now.

In the gallows of paradox the scholars hunker, The Fortnight's festivities begin

Thanks, poetry muse, for a carefree title. Two weeks ago yesterday, this fella, friends, and extended family stopped by for a visit. We're still cleaning up around the house.

nobel prize games

Spycam

AND SO IT BEGINS.... As expected, the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure intended to make it easier for American workers to form unions, was introduced on the Hill today. The measure is often known as "card check," because it would give workers the right to form a union when a majority of employees sign cards saying they want one.

Huh? Seems like signing a card serves as invitation for later retaliation. I'd be worried about that if I signed a card at my job asking for a union... wait! That's right, I don't have a job - so employer reaction ain't going to be a problem. Senator Nelson (R_Lite-NE) tries to couch his opposition to the bill by invoking the word "worker"

Workers are “more concerned with keeping their jobs than organizing a union today,” the Democratic senator said

...which is as good a way as any to avoid real explanation explaining how being for the worker means to be against the worker. Heck, let's just go watch a football game, okay?

Carpetbaggin' Backlash

In United States history, carpetbaggers was the term southerners gave to northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877. They formed a coalition with freedmen (freed slaves), and scalawags (southern whites who supported Reconstruction) in the Republican Party. Together they politically controlled former Confederate states for varying periods, 1867–1877.

The term carpetbaggers was used to describe the white northern Republican politicians who came South, arriving with their travel carpetbags. Southerners considered them ready to loot and plunder the defeated South.[1] Although the term is still an insult in common usage, in histories and reference works it is now used without derogatory intent.

--Wikipedia

Funny how things turn around over time. Like how it's trendy in some circles to compare recent Israeli governments with mid-20th Century NAZI activities.

Over at the OpenCongress website they have a clever voting trends analysis section that reports:

Rep. Jeffrey Fortenberry Voting Trends Analysis
The information below is an initial analysis of voting trends for this Member of Congress, calculated by cross-referencing all of this member's votes from the 110th Congress (Jan. 2007 - Dec. 2008). The results are intended to offer some helpful context for the place that this Member of Congress occupies in the Congressional landscape. In the next steps of site development, OpenCongress will incorporate more detailed analyses of voting trends to give you a comprehensive snapshot of every Member of Congress.

# Most often votes with: Rep. Charles Boustany [R, LA-7]

Aww, isn't that cute; they're like brothers!

Remind me sometime to tell the story about how a young Louisiana Republican wannabe with nice hair moves North to join the Republican War on Science and Other Stuff. It's American Dream meets American Idol.

Stemming the tide of stoopid

To Jeff Fortenberry, R-NE

In case you somehow missed it, here's the President of the United States - your President and mine - on science:

"I am also signing a Presidential Memorandum directing the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making. To ensure that in this new Administration, we base our public policies on the soundest science; that we appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology; and that we are open and honest with the American people about the science behind our decisions. That is how we will harness the power of science to achieve our goals – to preserve our environment and protect our national security; to create the jobs of the future, and live longer, healthier lives."

As you mentioned in your recent press release, it seems that nowadays embryonic stem cells are inferior compared to induced pluripotent stem cells for human therapies. Maybe that situation will change over time; maybe not. Prayer will not answer that question. Scientific research will.

The larger point this issue raises, one far more appropriate for those people who are engaged in setting national policy, is that the ban on ES research was never based on science, rather, it was merely another Bush-era elevation of politics and ideology over reason and rational thinking. Kind of like torture. Or the jacked-up invasion of Iraq. Classifying legal advice as top secret. And so on.

Those days are thankfully behind us.

I urge you to chat with the good folks at UNMC in Omaha and see if their take on ES research is reasonable. They aren't generally regarded as kooks. Despite the apparent inferiority of embryonic stem cells, UNMC thinks this is a Good Thing. Perhaps they know something that we don't.

You can remain a faithful practitioner of your religion without pandering to fear, ignorance and hatred-of-the-other which, unfortunately, was a reliable vote-getter for the past few decades. For example, in this case you could have gotten out in front by finding and funding iPSC research right here in Nebraska. THAT would be something worthy of a press release.

I am looking forward with anticipation that day when you realize that obstruction, carping and denial are not helpful to the country, not helpful to the people of Nebraska and no longer sufficient to win an election.

Now. How about a press release showing what you're doing, not what you're not doing?

Retail Clerks Union

FAC

Sia | Soon We'll Be Found from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Guidance

I was looking for a snappy comeback, a blistering retort or even a simple, logical explanation for what's sometimes called serendipity but more often called blessed intervention or divine guidance. Yeah well, I was going about my daily chores when all of a sudden, there's a web page with this quiz:

11. Although you are new at golf, you have just hit a beautiful 200-yard drive and your ball has landed on a blade of grass near the cup at Hole 3. The green contains ten million blades of grass. The odds of your ball landing on that blade of grass are 10,000,000 to one against, too improbable to have happened by mere chance. What's the explanation?

1. The wind guided it
2. Your muscles guided it
3. There is no need for an explanation
4. You consciously designed your shot to land on that particular blade

How cool is that?

To do

...and not to do: for my Republican representatives in Congress.

Y'all can argue amongst yourselves finer points of economies and recoveries all you want. What you cannot do is alter facts to suit your ideology.

...[B]ecause once trapped inside a debt-deflationary spiral, it is very hard for an economy to emerge from it... confidence has to be restored; consumers have to be persuaded to spend and not hoard their precious savings; interest rates have to be very low; debts have to be written off. Getting all this done is really tough in the midst of a Depression - which is why no government should allow their economy to spin into a debt-deflationary spiral....[1]

That's from Ann Pettifor, one economist who predicted the economic events of today a long, long time ago when Greenspan et al were pumping the market bubble as best they could. But the Greenspan era was indeed a long, long time ago, in experience, if not in calendar years. Today:

“The American economy is facing serious challenges; families are hurting and businesses are struggling,” said Fortenberry. “I do not wish to see any American suffer unemployment or foreclosure, or see any business suffer a downturn. It is unfortunate that in the name of stimulus, the Washington process has resulted in a massive unrestrained and unsustainable spending bill that will be very difficult to reverse.

Let us parse that paragraph.

“The American economy is facing serious challenges; families are hurting and businesses are struggling,” said Fortenberry. “I do not wish to see any American suffer unemployment or foreclosure, or see any business suffer a downturn."

Yes, the economy is in trouble. Yet despite your wishes to the contrary, Americans are indeed suffering unemployment, foreclosure and business downturn. Even the mainstream media cannot avoid this reality. Right? You do realize that unemployment, foreclosures and business failures are all growing and expanding globally these days? Even in Nebraska. I could present a page full of charts and figures but surely that would be gilding the lily, so to speak. Any normal human, even our so-called enemies in the Axis of Evil wants jobs, housing and good health for their particular in-group.

Moving on to the second half...

"It is unfortunate that in the name of stimulus, the Washington process has resulted in a massive unrestrained and unsustainable spending bill that will be very difficult to reverse."

Working backwards from the end, what do you mean "difficult to reverse"? Nobody is going to reverse the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it's not remotely possible -- you guys just voted for and passed the ARRA in both houses and the President has signed the bill. It's the law. By the time you and the rest of the Republicans would have the remotest likelihood of "reversing" this act, it will be ancient history. What possible purpose could "reverse" serve unless, perhaps it's another dog whistle term, showing solidarity with CNBC’s Rick Santelli, perhaps? I dunno; on the face of it, "difficult to reverse" just doesn't make sense.

"[U]nsustainable spending bill" is a nice strawman argument. Nobody is calling for ARRA to be permanent; nobody ever claimed fiscal stimulus itself is sustainable. A stimulus, by definition, is a short-term measure designed to alleviate (or reverse) existing conditions that are -- wait for it -- unsustainable! It's not that the stimulus plan is unsustainable, it is the banks' leveraging their deposits 30, 40, 50 percent and more. That is unsustainable and, by the way, inherently un-self-regulatable if I may coin a phrase.

"[U]nrestrained spending bill" would mean what, exactly? That you weren't able to restrain it à la Grover Norquist? The bill hardly meets the defininition of unrestrained unless you choose to define the term as "more than what I'd prefer to spend", which is grammatically dishonest but does make the sentence fragment somewhat defensible. To be honestly unrestrained would indicate an ARRA with no dollar limitations at all; and that's just ridiculously false.

"[M]assive". Yes, by anyone's yardstick, $787 Billion is a lot of money. You go on to compare it with budgets from previous years and that's a sobering comparison. It's not quite so scary when compared with the U.S. Gross Domestic Product which, even in 2009, is predicted to be something North of $14 Trillion. Still, a trillion here, a trillion there....

But it is an exaggeration, at minimum, to say unrestrained spending. It is false, even dishonest to complain that the ARRA is unsustainable; you might as well criticise firearms because bullets fall to the ground.

"[T]he Washington process" is called voting. You, as a Representative, are in Congress to represent the people of Nebraska. If you so dislike the process, perhaps you should step aside and let someone else assume the mantle.

Finally, the central idea is all that remains: "It is unfortunate that in the name of stimulus". Are you seriously suggesting that economic stimulus is a bad idea? I have to ask because the weak presentation of your theme is plausibly deniable. (Reminds me of "what the definition of is is".) As a member of the opposition, I guess you're not actually required to stand for anything other than opposition, obstruction and delay but I want more.

I want to know if you have an economic recovery plan.

I'd like to see whether your recovery recipe differs significantly from "more of what got us into this mess": To wit. tax cuts and legal immunity for the wealthy while socializing the downside of pretty much any and all corporate activity.

I'd like to read your plan for fixing things. I'm especially interested in what you think needs fixing, even if you don't exactly have a cure for it.

I'd like to watch the development of a "Fort Report" so I could see how ideology and reality duke it out on paper, and how the result becomes a Reaganesque pastiche instead of, say, an actual policy statement.


[1] Ann Pettifor, Debtonation debtonation.org/2009/02/a-debt-deflationary-spiral/

FAC

There's a new EIB in town

President Obama and senior administration officials have begun receiving a daily CIA report on the global economic crisis in addition to briefings on terrorist threats and other national security issues, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta said Wednesday.

The CIA's role in producing the report underscores the level of anxiety within the administration over how rapidly the economic downturn is spreading, as well as its potential to hobble foreign governments and trigger instability overseas.

The report, called the Economic Intelligence Brief, was launched at the request of the White House and delivered for the first time Wednesday.

Panetta said the document would survey major economic developments internationally and focus on how plunging markets and credit pressures are driving the decisions in nations including Russia and China.

Taking back the country-- and the language, one abbreviation at a time. From L.A. Times via Energy Bulletin

Johanns befuddled by big numbers, going broke

“doesn’t make any sense,” Sen. Mike Johanns said Thursday

“doesn’t make any sense”

Don Walton's column in Thursday's Lincoln newspaper, parlays Johanns' tale of the neglected millionaire Nebraska farmers "going broke" into a solid trouncing of -- Johanns -- in the comments section. Srsly, one would think one is reading the SF Chronicle to hear the hammering from the peanut gallery:

• " Before bailing out, as Secretary of Agriculture, he had the opportunity fix this but apparently did not. Now he votes against one billion dollars of federal stimulus dollars while joblessness increases in Nebraska. His former lieutenant governor, now Governor, says Nebraska will take the money. Johann's once decried publicity mongering. Now he can't get enough."
• " Well Mike, maybe this is your opportunity to reach across the aisle, work with them, and create some improvement to the bill. OR.... you could continue the path that you're on, but using phrases like "non-sensical", anger, and disappointment to up the partisan bickering. Which path are you going to choose? ..."
• " Of course Mike's gonna support Big Ag, just like he and his GOP buddies support Big Pharma, Bil Oil, Big Everything Else. He will give the big guys the advantage over the family farmer every time. Why does this state keep voting for these Republicans? Can't you see they DO NOT represent the average voter in the state? Farmers who have adjusted gross income of $250,000 after writing off everything except the blue sky overhead are, to be sure, Big. Wake up, Nebraska voters!!!"
• " Conservatives whining about the government waste and handouts in the stimulus package, yet, whining again when someone wants to cut their welfare handout. This is a microcosm of what has got us to this place with our economy. Everybody wanting something from the government, when, the government can't do one thing without waste, fraud, greed, or on budget. GOD -- please help us to become self-reliant again and less reliant on the government handout."
• " Johanns has a point about gross vs. adjusted gross sales. Cost of production is pretty high and many times what a farmer gets in gross income isn't close to what he/she earns otherwise. Of course, if Congress hadn't let corporate farming run wild, farmers wouldn't have to farm over 1,000 acres just to earn a living."
• " Well Senator, you had your chance to do something as Ag. Sec, but you were too busy sucking up to the giant multi-national conglomerates that own agriculture today. The American people have for years seen the absurdity of government welfare money going to companies that make millions, but you and your Bush cohorts blocked every reform."

Just to share a few. Twenty-two comments in the first four hours and all of them, every pea-picking paragraph, giving Johanns a good drubbing. I'm no longer sure I'm living in Nebraska.

If this keeps up Mike's tradition of never finishing a job could repeat itself again! Do Senators have understudies? Vice-Senators? Not even a Lieutenant Senator? Ah, that's too bad. Being understudy to Mike Johanns can be a good thing.


Update: 31 comments and still no sign of support for Johann's plea for bailing out corporate farms.

Vocabulary builder

Dan Gardner gets it from Captain Obvious who quotes M.J. Akbar:

“Terrorism has no place in Islamic doctrine. The Koranic term for the killing of innocents is ‘fasad.’ Terrorists are fasadis, not jihadis.

American Hero

More links

Food Stamp Stimulus

USDA Economic Research Service
Kenneth Hanson and Elise Golan
Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report No. (FANRR26-6) 4 pp, August 2002
The Food Stamp Program (FSP) provides assistance to more households during recessions and to fewer households during times of economic expansion. These changes in FSP expenditures can have stabilizing effects on the economy, stimulating economic activity during recessions and slowing demand during expansions. This issues brief shows that the FSP provides an economic stimulus during recessions only if the Government funds the increase in program expenditures through emergency financing, rather than through increased taxes or other budget-neutral means.


Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com on Stimulus:
The boost to GDP from every dollar spent on public infrastructure is large - an estimated $1.59 - and there is little doubt that the nation has underinvested in infrastructure for some time, to the increasing detriment of the nation's long-term growth prospects.

Fiscal stimulus does carry substantial costs. The federal budget deficit, which topped $450 billion in fiscal year 2008, could reach $2 trillion in fiscal 2009 and remain as high in 2010. Borrowing by the Treasury will top $2 trillion this year. There will also be substantial long-term costs to extricate the government from the financial system. Unintended consequences of all the actions taken in such a short period will be considerable. These are problems for another day, however. The financial system is in disarray, and the economy's struggles are intensifying. Policymakers are working hard to quell the panic and shore up the economy; but considering the magnitude of the crisis and the continuing risks, policymakers must be aggressive. Whether from a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, or a financial calamity, crises end only with overwhelming government action.

Extending unemployment insurance and expanding food stamps are the most effective ways to prime the economy's pump. A $1 increase in UI benefits generates an estimated $1.64 in near-term GDP; increasing food stamp payments by $1 boosts GDP by $1.73 (see table). People who receive these benefits are very hard-pressed and will spend any financial aid they receive within a few weeks. These programs are also already operating, and a benefit increase can be quickly delivered to recipients.

Increasing food stamp benefits also has the added benefit of helping many low-income households ineligible for UI, such as part-time workers. It also helps those who do not pay income tax and thus will not receive a rebate.

Fiscal Economic Bang for the Buck
One year $ change in real GDP for a given $ increase in spending
$1.73 - Temporary Increase in Food Stamps
$1.64 - Extending Unemployment Insurance Benefits
$1.59 - Increased Infrastructure Spending
$1.36 - General Aid to State Governments

See FRAC's real stimulus page, also

We know it's the end of the world as we know

I want to emphasize that I generally do not read dailykos - I have standards. I was led to the following quote by a link that I have since lost so I'm left, here, holding a faded mimeograph from the A-list blogosphere. Sigh.

According to Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D) (PA-11), in mid-September of 2008, the United States of America came just three hours away from the collapse of the entire economy. In a span of 2 hours, $550 billion was drawn out of money market accounts in an electronic run on the banks.
Rep. Kanjorski: "It would have been the end of our economic system and our political system as we know it."

That's a bit dramatic. Is this guy for real? Where might one hear confirmation? Well, one could in fact watch the original at C-Span. The Leader of the GOP seemed to enjoy it, while the elite liberal media has totally ignored the Kanjorski meme. Did Paulson and Bernanke go to Congress to scare the bejezus out of - say, what committee was that, anyway?

Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
Led by Chairman Paul E. Kanjorski (PA), the subcommittee reviews laws and programs related to the U.S. capital markets, the securities industry, the insurance industry generally (except for health care), and government-sponsored enterprises, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It also oversees the Securities and Exchange Commission and self-regulatory organizations, such as the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD, that police the securities markets.

Kanjorski sounds like the go-to guy when there's a run on the capital markets. Do we have a nutbar in charge of that subcommittee or is he telling a mostly straight story, lightly embellished for TeeVee, that's pretty much getting ignored? What's the third option?

My Fortran Fail

I just got a call from the Representative's representative, gently chiding me for forgetting that the Fort has only been in Foggy Bottom since the 109th Congress - hence he was not there to vote for the Patriot Act.

Sheesh, what a cock-up! Color me red.

I resolve to do more research (actually any research would qualify as "more") before the next rant.

Statue of Limitations

Here are the concluding paragraphs from Hardin's Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor:

We Americans of non-Indian ancestry can look upon ourselves as the descendants of thieves who are guilty morally, if not legally, of stealing this land from its Indian owners. Should we then give back the land to the now living American descendants of those Indians? However morally or logically sound this proposal may be, I, for one, am unwilling to live by it and I know no one else who is. Besides, the logical consequence would be absurd. Suppose that, intoxicated with a sense of pure justice, we should decide to turn our land over to the Indians. Since all our other wealth has also been derived from the land, wouldn't we be morally obliged to give that back to the Indians too?

Clearly, the concept of pure justice produces an infinite regression to absurdity. Centuries ago, wise men invented statutes of limitations to justify the rejection of such pure justice, in the interest of preventing continual disorder. The law zealously defends property rights, but only relatively recent property rights. Drawing a line after an arbitrary time has elapsed may be unjust, but the alternatives are worse.

I heard some newsreader on BBC World Service state how many Gazans there are (~1.2 million) and in the very next sentence he quoted some percentage (I was too agitated to remember the number) of Gazans who "are" refugees from the original Israeli occupation.

The deceptive sleight-of-hand is using a percentage of the 1948 population just after stating the 2009 population, to imply that most of the Gazans have a legitimate home in Israel. (And despite this thumb-on-the-balance behaviour, BBC et al have a reputation for favoring Israel.)

Although I ain't no lawyer, it seems to me that the statute of limitations for right of return has reached and exceeded its limit. Even if it hasn't, though, it applies only to a fraction of today's residents of Gaza.


hat tip: The Oil Drum
photo: xinhuanet.com

Fortranberry

You said, "...yet there was less than 15 hours to actually read it. This is no way to legislate, and no way to run our country."

Funny, I don't remember you complaining about this method when you voted on the Patriot Act*. Maybe you did and I just missed it? Or is it the case that now you're in the minority, this is suddenly not The Way To Get Things Done In DC?

Seriously, though, do you actually have a proposal for fixing this broken economy? Some of us would like to read something with more substance than opposition posturing.

*Update: see My Fortran Fail