Morning Coffee Reads - the F-cked Edition

File under 'Republican Transparency'

Today's Progress Report email has a story about the cost to extend the Bush tax cuts - something that is overwhelmingly supported by Republicans.

"...extending tax cuts for people making more than $250,000 per year would add $678 billion over 10 years to the growing deficit. Debt-service costs alone would amount to "$1.7 trillion over the 2009-2019 period."

A little further down in the Progress Report email is mention of a USA Today report that points out that the expiring unemployment benefits are estimated to save the federal government $34 billion through November. And of course Republicans have no intention of extending those benefits.

In a nutshell, to restate the obvious, the f-ckin' Republicans won't support an extension of unemployment benefits that help the middle class/working poor but they can extend tax cuts that help those who make over $250,000 a year. And I'll leave it to you to read the Progress Report to address Republican hypocrisy when it comes to the deficit.

In more f-ckin' economic bad news: foreclosures abound and are expected to reach one million this year.

F-ckin' Right On. F-ckin' why the clean f-ckin' energy revolution is f-ckin' here.

Oil Spill Charity "F-Bomb-A-Thon" from UnF--kTheGulf.com on Vimeo.

And step one... a f-ckin' cap on carbon, like f-ckin' BP should cap that f-ckin' well.

And in more WTF news: Money continues and continues to corrupt. And it's f-ckin' acceptable. It's "business as usual" to go to a fundraising lunch sponsored by Wall Street in the middle of the financial reform debates. F-ck that $h!t. That's totally not f-cking okay.

Oh and the chicken came before the f-cking egg.

Monday Morning Cafe' Con Leche

We are the champions! Somos los campeones! Felicidades a España! Que emocion! (photo: courtesy of El Pais)

To keep things in perspective and to remember good and evil live side by side, bow your head for those who perished in the awful terrorist attack on soccer fans in Uganda.

Halliburton 'defrauded' American taxpayers. They didn't defraud. The money was 'lost in the sofa.' $1.4 billion plus lost in the sofa? What this says of the media and the state of truth-telling.

And Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's 'contribution' to truth-telling. She should be careful because for every lie a woman tells, she gets another wrinkle.

Another voice speaks in the income inequality causes recession corner.

Another interesting tidbit:
An effort to put solar on the world's iconic buildings.

Justice For Oscar Grant And Everyone

View my pics I took.

My Only News Today

The only thing that I feel like I can write about/talk about today in public is the Mehserle verdict. I am obsessed.

The skinny: Yesterday, Johannes Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter with a gun enhancement for shooting Oscar Grant on New Years Eve 2009. Sentencing - a possible range of 2 to 14 years - will be on August 6th. Today, downtown Oakland is sweeping up the glass from broken storefront windows.

Yesterday, I went downtown at 6pm to listen to what the speakers had to say and it was clear that everyone who was there was not satisfied with the verdict. The crowd was peaceful until I left around 8:00pm. When I got home and turned on the TV, I heard reports of a looted Footlocker and people arrested for failure to dispersed. And then the damage increased. Now, I want to be clear. This was not a riot, even though taggers wrote "Riot for Oscar" on a wall. Graffiti, broken glass and stolen hair extensions and sneakers do not a riot make.
 
Do not lump everyone together like it was a free for all.  It wasn't. Most people who were arrested were for failure to disperse - a peaceful arrest.  And youth protesters tried to stop the looters.  

Shame on those who looted and caused property damage, as they did nothing except to further the cause of the proverbial man, of the broken system. 

As for me, I'm sad, guilty and mad. Sad because so many feel like the system doesn't work for them. Guilty because it probably works for me - I say probably because I'm a white female, but you can never be sure even if you're a white male. And mad that the system doesn't work for everyone - how is it that in a case where race was a factor, there were no African-American jurors - that perspective is necessary - has your momma ever told you to how to act with the cops? told you to put your hands where they can be seen and say yessir, nosir and be as polite as you can? mine didn't, but ask a black teenage male if his mom has and bet the answer is yes; how is that we live in a world where someone could consider a man face down and subdued by two officers  a threat; how is it that even tazing someone in that position is an okay thing to do.  I'm mad at the MSM who sensationalizes a dent on a car like it's the worst thing that's happened to Oakland and reports nothing about justice.  Did anyone, anyone, anyone report on what happened at the half a dozen youth centers around the city?  The family does not think justice is served (and frankly neither do I) - I want more reporting on what justice looks like.

Morning - eh, Lunch - Coffee Reads

NEWS

The Congressional Budget Office says the American Power Act (Kerry-Lieberman proposal to address climate change) would put a $19 billion dent in the federal deficit over the next 10 years. And yes we must do something about climate change, because it IS real. And dirty air does cause health problems. And yes, this is a bi-partisan issue or should I say a non-political issue.

Banks that have repaid TARP loans from the government report more than a 10% return. That's way better than I'm getting from my bank.  Meanwhile foreclosures continue to loom and the government's loan modification program isn't doing much to help.

Wall Street needs a defender. Give me a break.  Reshma Saujani is running against Carolyn Mahoney to represent Manhattan in Congress. Saujani us "the only candidate who understands how stressful and difficult the past few years have been for some of the wealthiest people in America." As my friend Dave G. was fond of saying: 'look for sympathy in the dictionary - it's between shit and syphilus.'

SOLUTIONS?

From The Nation, a prescription for curing the economy - reduce income inequality (which was also, according to the author, the cause of the economic crisis - and a vision for what America should be -

a country where every neighborhood features safe, well-paved streets, excellent schools, functioning mass transit and a healthy environment....

And from a moderate deficit hawk, a "Jobs Now, Deficits Soon" package, sensible tax reform:

cutting payroll and corporate taxes now -- and offsetting this with phased-in tax hikes on dirty energy and consumption, to take effect only once jobs and growth are back on track.

coupled with spending initiatives

extend unemployment benefits... [and] help states avoid the layoffs and cutbacks that will further dampen consumption.

CURIOUSITIES

My superhero has

• iron-containing structures... to help them sense the Earth's magnetic field independent of their motion and posture, and thus identify their geographical position;
• ability to reproduce via cloning;
• ability to track up to 30 absent members of their family by sniffing out their scent and building a mental map of where they are;
• photographic memory;
• fast adaptation to environment;
• close its mandibles at an incredible speed... allows them to jump enormous heights for their size.

The late great George Carlin (who I had the fortune to meet in person) on euphemisms.

Morning Coffee Reads

BP has plenty of company with trouble oil wells - 27,000 unregulated abandoned wells in the Gulf, mostly from the 1940's. My favorite sentence:

Oil company representatives insist that the seal on a correctly plugged offshore well will last virtually forever.

Yeah, and I believe the oil company representatives.

All of Oakland (and LA) are paying super close attention to the Oscar Grant murder trial by former BART policeman Mehserle. Emotions are high. Many plea for justice and peaceful protests.

And more from the 'can't we all just get along files. Mideast peace??

Cool: Testing a 24-hour solar plane

Picking the winner of today's World Cup game - Paul the Octopus - only 75 minutes 'til game time.

Happy 70th Birthday (wow) Ringo! Means I'm a pup.

Park Bench Capitalism.

PAY & SIT: the private bench (HD) from Fabian Brunsing on Vimeo.

Stuff That Caught My Eye (and Ear)

It's a catch 22 being underemployed - you have time to read all your emails and be up on the news and you spend a lot of time reading all your emails and the news.

What caught my eye today and why

In the 'Sinking Low' or 'Make Me Want to Vomit' category: Chrysler is advertising to the Tea Party

Ultra Important:
Response to conservative diss on climate change as too expensive to tackle. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face - it's so big it's hard to wrap your head around, but gotta happen and we gotta do something about it. Solving this problem also offers one of our best opportunities, i.e. to create an economy based on clean energy instead of fossil fuels. We're trying but some people just don't want to cooperate. Fannie and Freddie are blocking loan programs that help people go solar. Fannie and Freddie need their collective fannies smacked. But that's another story.

Deflation scares?

The Depression-era cratering of wages and prices was disastrous because it rendered companies and consumers less able to pay their debts.

In 2010, companies are holding $1.8 trillion (yes, with a T). What are they doing with all that money stashed under the mattress - come on guys and gals, create some jobs.

Why we need campaign finance reform: Dems decision to regulate Wall Street means campaign contributions are drying up. Is anyone surprised that Wall Street donates money to Senators and then the Senators decide not to regulate them and then they engage in risky behavior? People wake up - it's our fault - we let this happen. I repeat, louder this time: WE NEED CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM.

Inspiration: I listen to KCRW (originated in Santa Monica) on iTunes because, well, let's say I like the station a real lot, more than other stations. Today, Matt Holzman interviewed Diana Nyad who at 60 is going to swim from Cuba to Florida. Right On.

Maybe I would have stayed in my economics Ph.D. program if I had Ken Rogoff as a professor. He co-wrote a book with Carmen Reinhart that looks at 800 years of economic downturns. His favorite economist joke:

A drunk on his way home from a bar one night realizes that he has dropped his keys. He gets down on his hands and knees and starts groping around beneath a lamppost. A policeman asks what he’s doing.

“I lost my keys in the park,” says the drunk.

“Then why are you looking for them under the lamppost?” asks the puzzled cop.

“Because,” says the drunk, “that’s where the light is."