Category: Power to the People

Wikileaks

~ susie

The U.S., of course, will try to shut it down again:

A French nonprofit group said Wednesday that it has established a fund enables the whistleblower website WikiLeaks to begin accepting credit card donations again for the first time in nearly two years.


“The announcement comes just days after WikiLeaks partner Datacell won a key legal battle against the Icelandic credit card processing company Valitor, which had agreed in 2010 to cut off all payments to WikiLeaks. Although Valitor plans to appeal the judge’s decision, the outcome of that case might not matter to WikiLeaks.


Thanks to the assistance of the French nonprofit group Fonds de Défense de la Net Neutralité (Fund for the Defense of Net Neutrality, or FDNN), France’s Carte Bleue smart card system will provide a safe harbor for WikiLeaks donations from Visa and Mastercard holders.

Yay

~ susie

So women won’t lose long-time, high-quality abortion services:

Abington Health and Holy Redeemer Health System have called off the plans for a merger, after controversy over the decision to end abortions at Abington Memorial Hospital.


The two institutions released a brief joint statement Wednesday afternoon.


It reads:

“Abington Health and Holy Redeemer Health System have decided to end discussions regarding a potential partnership to create a larger health system. Together we had a bold vision that we believe would have served our community well. While we are disappointed, we believe this decision is in the best interest of both organizations. Abington Health and Holy Redeemer Health System will continue to seek opportunities to enhance the health of the communities we serve.”

Homeopathic politics

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

The son of George Soros, who is also a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, will use a super PAC to hopefully put itself out of business by targeting House lawmakers who oppose campaign finance reform:

Jonathan Soros, son of a prominent liberal financier, is helping to launch an independent advocacy group with hopes of spending up to $8 million targeting House lawmakers, primarily Republicans, who oppose public matching funds for elections and other campaign finance reforms.

The new super PAC, called Friends of Democracy, will file its first disclosures with the Federal Election Commission later this month and plans to zero in on 10 to 15 House races with television ads, mailings and Web messaging, Soros and other organizers said Thursday.

Like all super PACs, Friends of Democracy will be able to raise unlimited funds from wealthy individuals, corporations or unions–precisely the kind of system that the group is fighting against.

[…] “We openly acknowledge the irony of being a super PAC trying to address money in politics,” Soros said in an interview in Washington. “But our goal is to eventually decrease the influence of this kind of group…We don’t see any other path to real legislative change.”

Shopping at Urban Outfitters — how ironic

~ odd man out

Never underestimate the apathy, ignorance or sheer stupidity of young American consumers, especially the “hip” ones:

…There are a few reasonable explanations for why the Urban Outfitters Romney tees exist, actually. For one thing, Urban Outfitters (which also owns Anthropologie and Free People) is owned by a far-right conservative, Richard Hayne. All that youthful, vaguely hippie-feeling merchandise in his stores? That’s just a way to make some dough – dough that Hayne, in turn, gives to right-wing politicians like Rick Santorum. For Hayne, the young people and lefties who shop in his stores are just chumps to whom he can sell $69 peace-sign tank tops while supporting conservative politics.


Now the company is selling shirts that represent Hayne’s political perspective while appealing to hipsters’ penchant for irony, with slogans like “Mitt Is the Shit” and “2 Legit 2 Mitt.” Ironic conservatism: hilarious(ly stupid)! As Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams put it:

What’s revolting about the latest Urban Outfitters gambit is its sneaky ploy of making conservatism seem so uncool it’s cool, all funny and retro and Kelly Kapowski. Which, in turn, is how some doofus winds up using his chest as free advertising for a candidate he’d otherwise never in a million years vote for…

Heartening news

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

I’d like to see more stories like these. After all, we have no trouble stealing pension funds to pay for tax cuts for millionaires, so why does everyone have a problem with this? Assuming they actually use the money for schools, that is:

Out of nowhere, Santa Clara County officials have yanked $30 million in tax funds promised for the San Francisco 49ers’ new Santa Clara stadium, saying they would rather spend the money on teachers than install “little televisions in the back of stadium seats.”


The 49ers and Santa Clara city leaders strongly and passionately object to the move, saying voters had specifically earmarked redevelopment funds to the stadium and that the county has no right to keep it. Lengthy court battles are likely, launching a rare soap opera in a stadium debate that has been mostly peaceful — and supposedly long over.


[…] The 49ers and Santa Clara officials will be busy this week reviewing how to respond.


The funding grab came Friday by a new board that oversees property tax from redevelopment zones. It was so unexpected that Santa Clara leaders argued it was done in violation of public notice laws.

Andrew Kohut doesn’t know how to read his own data

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

Dean Baker points out that the Villagers see what they want to see in a new poll:

That arguably should have been the headline of a Post segment discussing the release of new polling data from the Pew Research Center, which Kohut heads. The Center’s poll asked people a series of questions about the budget, taxes, and various programs. Most people answered that they viewed the deficit as a major concern. They were also strongly supportive of all major areas of federal spending with the exception of the military. In the case of military spending, there were almost equal numbers of people favoring cuts as increases. In the case of Medicare and Social Security, those favoring increases outnumbered those supporting cuts by more than 3 to 1.

In the case of Social Security, an overwhelming majority of respondents said that they supported raising the cap on taxable wages (currently $110,000). In addition, an overwhelming majority also said that they would rather see the tax rate increased than face a cut in benefits.

The conclusion of the Post piece tells readers:

“But ultimately, despite listing the deficit as a priority, most Americans — about 60 percent in a 2011 poll — would prefer to maintain benefits than take steps to reduce federal spending. As Kohut explains, this puts legislators in a real bind: ‘They are dealing with a public that is demanding solution to a problem which it has declared to be a major priority, but at the same time Americans are resistant, or divided at best, on the sacrifices that would be required to achieve a solution.'”

Contrary to what Kohut asserted, legislators are not in a bind if they want to follow public opinion. They can easily deal with the problems facing Social Security by raising the cap on taxable wages and phasing in an increase in tax rates over many decades in the future. If ordinary workers again share in the economy’s productivity growth, as the Social Security trustees projections assume, these tax increases would be a small fraction of future wage gains.

The public didn’t “demand” solutions to the deficit — a carefully orchestrated campaign by conservative interests and the media convinced them the sky was falling. The media is just as capable of reversing that as they were of creating it – but that, of course, isn’t what they and their corporate owners want.