Category: Politics As Usual

‘Trust me’

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

http://youtu.be/02ea3dBJAuI

The real problem continues to be that secret programs leave the American public out of the conversation, and many of us would gladly trade a little less security for a little less intrusion. But how would we know? In a speech today, Obama defended the latest surveillance news:

SAN JOSE, Calif. – President Obama strongly defended the government’s secret surveillance of people’s phone records and Internet activities, saying there are “a whole bunch of safeguards involved” and that Congress has repeatedly authorized the programs.

“You could complain about big brother and how this is a potential program run amok,” Obama said, “but when you actually look at the details, I think we strike the right balance.”

He thinks we trust contribution-addicted members of Congress? Really?

Commenting on the surveillance for the first time since news organizations revealed the sweeping National Security Agency programs this week, Obama highlighted limits to the programs to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens and said the surveillance has helped the government anticipate and prevent terrorist attacks.

“They make a difference in our capacity to anticipate and prevent possible terrorist activity,” Obama said. He added that the programs are “under very strict supervision by all three branches of government and they do not involve listening to people’s phone calls, do not involve reading the e-mails of U.S. citizens and U.S. residents.”
Continue reading “‘Trust me’” →

Beauty tips for the FDA

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

So how much do unregulated cosmetics have to do with cancer? Might be more than you’d think.

By law, cosmetics companies are supposed to do some kind of research into the safety of their products before putting them on the market. “If the safety of an ingredient as used in a cosmetic product has not been established by CIR,” a PCPC spokesman stated, “a company must possess other information to substantiate the safety of the ingredient for its intended use and make that information available for inspection by FDA upon request.” But the FDA’s review of industry-sponsored research, if it happens at all, won’t occur until the product is already on the market.

For example, in recent years, a substantial controversy has arisen over the use of lead in lipstick. Lead can be a pretty serious substance. The Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the use of lead in house paint in 1977, due to the brain damage it has been proven to cause in children. Because of its neurotoxicity, leaded gasoline has been entirely banned in the U.S. since 1995. The FDA also bans the presence of lead in candy bars in concentrations greater than 0.1 part per million.

Yet the FDA never got around to even testing lead in lipstick until 2010. When it did, it found concentrations as high as 3.06 parts per million—or more than thirty times the maximum allowed in candy bars. Whether this is an unsafe level for lipstick users I’ll leave to others to dispute, but the point is, under the current regulatory regime, lipstick users were exposed to these concentrations of lead for decades without their knowing it and without the FDA ever conducting so much as one test. For now, at least, the FDA says the lead in lipstick is safe, though if I were a woman, I wouldn’t be licking my lips.

Just one example, go read the rest.

Virtually Speaking Thursday

~ susie

Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd 6p PT 9p ET

David Brin explores transparency, security, privacy & openness in The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? (Winner of the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association). Jay Ackroyd hosts.

Listen live or later: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking/2013/06/07/david-brin-virtually-speaking-w-jay-ackroyd

Links http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/fftransparent_pr.html

Losing the fig leaf

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Support from CAP was critical to “grand bargain” credibility, so it’s great news that they’re walking away:

WASHINGTON — The Center for American Progress, a pillar of the Democratic establishment in Washington is walking away from the broad negotiations aimed at reaching a “grand bargain,” the pursuit of a deficit-reduction deal that has dominated the political agenda since mid-2010.

The idea of a grand bargain had little backing from organized labor and the progressive flank to begin with, but maintained institutional support from establishment forces in the party. CAP’s exit from the stage sends a powerful signal to the White House, leaving the president to craft a deal largely on his own, should he continue to pursue it.

The move has been in the works for some time, say senior CAP officials, and emerged publicly Wednesday in the form of a report by Michael Linden, the center’s managing director for economic policy.

“It’s time we reset economic policy in Washington to focus on growth instead of deficit reduction,” CAP President Neera Tanden told HuffPost.

Via Karin Porter.

Someone tried to report dangerous conditions at demo site

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

A Reddit reader reported that he’d made a complaint to the city’s 311 call center on Tuesday to report unsafe conditions at the demo site, but the city didn’t check into it because he didn’t know the property’s exact address. He contacted the center again after the collapse, saying they didn’t stop that tragedy but that similar conditions existed at another nearby demolition site.

The intake worker’s response? They needed the exact address.

Of course, even if this worker hadn’t been dangerously indifferent, the city probably doesn’t have enough building inspectors left that they would have sent someone, anyway.

The video below shows demolition work on the building Sunday afternoon. That’s a subway entrance in front of the building:

Why I heart Daylin Leach

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Here are Senator Daylin Leach’s remarks on the Vance Amendment to HB818. This is why I really, really want to see him elected to Congress:

I rise to indicate that I will be voting “no” on the Vance Amendment.

I will not be voting “no” for what I consider to be the irrational reasons some of my colleagues are voting “no.” I am voting “no” because this bill codifies in law the idea, which is already part of other laws, that taxpayer funds should not be used for abortion services.

I disagree with that premise. I believe that taxpayer dollars should be used for abortion services.

Abortion is a legal, constitutionally protected right, and it is health care that women do not just want – as we see by 40,000 abortions in Pennsylvania last year – but very often need. Need in order to protect their life. Need in order to protect their health.

When we say no taxpayer money – no Medicaid, no Medicare, no taxpayer money of any kind – will go to pay for abortion services, what we are saying is, “We are going to make abortion services unaffordable for poor women.”
Continue reading “Why I heart Daylin Leach” →

A very good question

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

This was a pleasure to hear. Listen to the whole thing as Jim McDermott asks why teabaggers wanted taxpayer subsidies!

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) on Tuesday questioned why tea party groups were seeking to be subsidized by the government.

At a House hearing on IRS misconduct, McDermott acknowledged the federal tax agency had inappropriately used political criteria to locate nonprofit applications that needed extra review.

“But as I listen to this discussion, I’d like to remind everyone what we are talking about here,” he continued. “None of your organizations were kept from organizing or silenced. We are talking about whether or not the American taxpayers would subsidize your work. We are talking about a tax break.”

The tea party groups in question were applying to become tax exempt 501(c)4 groups, also known as social welfare organizations. McDermott noted the purpose of such groups was to advance the common good and general welfare a community. Political organizations, on the other hand, are categorized under section 527 of the federal tax code.

“Each of your groups is highly political,” the congressman said. “From opposing the President’s healthcare reform, to abortion restrictions, to gay marriage, you’re all entrenched in some of the most controversial political issues in this country – and with your applications you are asking the American public to pay for that work. Many of you host and endorse candidates. The line between permitted political activity and non-permitted political activity can be very fine, and it’s important that tax payers know which side you fall on.”

McDermott’s remarks angered Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who accused the congressman of blaming the victim.

North Carolina’s real patriots

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

http://youtu.be/n86zK9wLzvs

I am so proud of these people:

RALEIGH “Jennifer Ferrell stopped so her husband could take her picture. Then she waved goodbye to her 3-year-old twins and marched into the Legislative Building to get handcuffed.

“I’m excited. I’m not nervous,” the 34-year-old Raleigh resident said as she walked in a line of demonstrators. “I’m passionate. I’m not crazy.”

For weeks now, Ferrell heard about protesters getting arrested at the statehouse to demonstrate against the Republican majority’s legislative agenda. And like many Monday, she felt compelled to add her voice to the chants and her wrists to the handcuffs. “I knew it was time to stop watching and do it myself,” she said.

Authorities arrested 151 people in the rotunda between the legislative chambers during the latest “Moral Monday” protest – the largest mass arrest since the N.C. NAACP began organizing the weekly civil disobedience events in late April.

The number is nearly the equivalent to the arrests at the four prior protests combined and brings the total above 300 this session.

The crowd of spectators also exploded, with hundreds rallying on the mall outside the legislative building, listening to speakers condemn Republican legislative leaders. “That’s extreme,” shouted the Rev. William Barber, the N.C. NAACP president, into a loud speaker as he listed legislation Republicans have approved this year. “That’s immoral, and we must stand up and wake up right here, right now.”

Police estimated the crowd at 1,000 – about five times more than the last protest – but organizers counted 1,600.

Thanks to Price Benowitz LLP, Maryland.

IRS ‘scandal’ central

~ susie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Qbm0rN-lc&feature=player_embedded

Just in case you’re not up to date on the latest in GOP outrage over the manufactured IRS “scandal”!

Fabulist Bob Woodward asks questions about the IRS “scandal” that have already been answered. But whatever!

Dana Milbank makes actual sense:

A third House committee joined the stampede to examine the IRS on Monday, and its chairman did exactly what you would expect somebody to do before launching a fair and impartial investigation: He went on Fox News Channel and implicated the White House.

Asked by Fox’s Bill Hemmer what he hoped to learn at Monday afternoon’s hearing, Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) offered this bit of pre-hearing analysis:

“Of course, the enemies list out of the White House that IRS was engaged in shutting down or trying to shut down the conservative political viewpoint across the country — an enemies list that rivals that of another president some time ago.”

It was a sentence in need of a verb but packed with innuendo. And it is part of an approach by House Republicans that seems to follow the Lewis Carroll school of jurisprudence. Not only are they placing the sentence before the verdict, they’re putting the verdict before the trial.

The Associated Press writes about the whole thing as if it was something to be taken seriously. Which is why most people no longer take the AP seriously.

Even Lindsey Graham admits there’s no evidence. Every once in a while, he actually tells the truth.