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Friday, July 1, 2011

Morning Joe: Mark Halprin and his 'word' for the President




Time Magazine's Mark Halperin shares his impression of President Obama's performance at Wednesday's press conference.





Time's Mark Halperin apologizes to viewers for an earlier comment he made regarding President Obama and his Wednesday press conference on the debt debate.
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The Thursday Outlook: The Debt Ceiling is Constitutional

By Jonathan Larsen
 - 
Thu Jun 30, 2011 11:56 AM EDT
With Pres. Obama's news conference yesterday signaling an impasse on the debt-ceiling talks, a lot of folks are asking whether Democrats can get around the debt ceiling simply by declaring it unconstitutional. Here's the relevant clause, from the 14th Amendment:
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.
Ezra Klein today writes that there's a plausible legal argument that this language supports a finding that the debt ceiling is unconstitutional. And Dave Weigel yesterday, also asked whether the debt ceiling is constitutional. Well, I don't think so.
Here's the tip-off: The article that Weigel links to doesn't question the constitutionality of the debt ceiling. It questions the constitutionality of defaulting. Two different things. The 14th Amendment doesn't prohibit Congress from capping how much money the US can borrow. All it does is prohibit Congress from failing to pay it back. Congress can cap its borrowing and still abide by the 14th Amendment in one of two ways: Stop borrowing, or raise the cap.
It's default that's not an option.

The Wednesday Outlook

By Jonathan Larsen
 - 
Wed Jun 29, 2011 2:18 PM EDT
Pres. Obama today called out Congress for failing to pursue a meaningful jobs plan, for defending big oil and private jets and for blocking measures they once supported because helping the economy might bolster the president's political fortunes. Talking Points Memo has a good writeup showing just how dramatic the GOP reversal has been -- now that the policies they once backed might help the president.
All of this, of course, is coming to a head because Republicans are trying to use the Aug. 2nd deadline for raising the debt ceiling -- in order to make further economy-destroying cuts. And resisting efforts by Democrats to attach economy-boosting spending and/or revenue increases. And today there comes word that Democrats are considering whether they can raise the debt limit without Congress. Why? Because the Constitution prohibits default -- which means Congress shouldn't have the power to cap debt. And yes, I get that this solution -- if it is one -- has the appeal of preventing the Republicans from extorting further measures that damage the economy. But it would put Democrats on the hook all alone for raising the debt ceiling -- and you can bet the GOP will accuse them of doing so illegally, if not unconstitutionally. Republican leaders have already acknowledged that the debt ceiling has to be raised. All that Democrats have to do is say they won't raise it with any new spending cuts attached. Period. Which do Republican leaders fear more -- the fickle, manipulable pique of the Tea Party or the unholy wrath of Wall Street? It seems to me that's a question worth answering
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It's China's turn to wrestle with a pile of bad debt

Massive infrastructure spending has created a mountain of bad loans

By John W. Schoen Senior producer

msnbc.com
updated 7/1/2011 11:59:13 AM ET
The U.S. banking system was the first to get hit by the financial Panic of 2008. For the past year, European bankers have been scrambling to head off exploding debt bombs in Greece and other countries with high debt loads.
Now, it looks like it's China’s turn to face up to a giant pile of bad debt. This being China, though, the story isn’t playing out like an ordinary Western financial crisis.
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The source of China's current problem dates back to the collapse of the global economy in 2008 when, like its Western counterparts, the Chinese government unleashed a flood of cash to stimulate its economy. Much of that money was loans from state-owned banks to local governments, which were supposed to spend all those yuan on new roads, railways, power plants and other projects to help China maintain its torrid pace of economic growth.
Many of those yuan didn't get where they were supposed to go. It's still not clear exactly where they all went. But this week the Chinese government announced the results of a nationwide audit of 31 provinces and hundreds of municipalities which found that those local governments are now carrying some $1.6 trillion worth of loans. And a large portion — as much as 20 percent — may have to be written off as bad debt.
Following the blueprint of economic transformation laid out in the early 1980s by Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping, China has embarked in recent years on a massive spending spree. Beijing hopes the spending will expand the economic success of coastal cities to inland regions by stitching them together with vast networks of roads, railways and high-speed Internet. But many of those projects have become mired in debt, with modern high-speed rail lines carrying handfuls of passengers and four-lane rural highways all but empty of vehicles.
Special report: China 2.0
“Last year, 55 percent of GDP was contributed by infrastructure investment — in other words bank lending,” said Carl Waters, an American investment banker until recently based in China and co-author of "Red Capitalism." "If you keeping making bad loans that don't pay back, you’re going to run out of money sooner or later."
For now, Beijing has said it will simply shift some $463 billion of those bad debts off the books of local governments and allow them to sell bonds to raise fresh cash. China’s state-owned banks, which also need fresh cash, will likely recapitalize their books with the profits guaranteed by state-mandated interest rates that pay savers less than banks charge borrowers.
Chinese bankers are also allowed to roll over their bad debts indefinitely, writing them off a little bit at a time while they raise fresh cash by selling stock to investors. That’s how China dealt with its last debt crisis in the late 1990s.
“At face value it was successful,” said Mark Williams, senior China economist at Capital Economics. “The banks cleaned themselves up and official government debt stayed down. But it only worked because the government rigged the financial system to guarantee big bank profits.”
The problem, said Williams, is that under such a system, bankers make money even when they make bad loans. Now, with debt piling up on the books of local governments, the government and its state-owned banks have increasingly more bad debt to warehouse. Eventually, that bad debt will make it harder for China to lend more money to invest in new infrastructure projects.
“China is already rapidly becoming significantly leveraged,” said Waters. “If you look at what happened in Greece or Ireland or Portugal when a country is leveraged, it has to borrow more and more to meet its interest obligations. That makes it less and less possible to invest in projects that will grow your GDP.”
Story: Economic crisis in Greece could reach United States, IMF warns But, as politicians from Washington to Athens have discovered, cutting back on spending can be a tough sell with the voters. In China’s case, any slowdown in growth could further inflame an already restive population. Chinese leaders have recently sought to bolster popular support with higher wages. But those higher salaries have raised the cost of doing business in a country that catapulted itself to the world's second-largest economy based on its seemingly endless supply of cheap labor.
Demands for higher wages in factory towns have sent multinational manufacturers looking elsewhere for cheaper labor. Southern China, where the low-cost manufacturing revolution began two decades ago, is now suffering what the Chinese people call a “hollowing out,” according to John Rutledge, an investment manager and advisor to the Chinese government.
Story: Surging China costs forces some U.S. manufacturing companies back home “The assembly jobs in Guangdong that are now going to places like Vietnam are leaving empty buildings behind,” he said. “Those buildings were filled with the migrant workers from Sichuan and Hunan who were making money to send home to their families in the poor villages in western China. So there's a serious employment issue there.”
Infrastructure development was supposed to spread the wealth created in factory cities to rural inland areas to raise the living standards of those poor villages. Now, rising levels of bad debt will make it much harder for Beijing to continue to invest in those efforts to realize Deng's vision of spreading the wealth to all of China.
Beijing's massive spending spree poses another threat to China’s long term economic stability. Pumping more money into infrastructure projects may help prop up growth. But that cash infusion raises the risk of a sustained bout of higher inflation.
“The Chinese government is facing the difficult balancing act of maintaining high levels of economic growth while containing inflation,” said Jing Ulrich, JPMorgan’s head of global markets in China. “They need to keep job creation levels high and they need to maintain a decent level of income growth. They also need to dampen the inflation of wage increases and the impact on China's global competitiveness. It is a difficult juggling act.”
Rising levels of social unrest this spring and summer have made that juggling act even more difficult. So far, those riots and demonstrations have been relatively isolated. That situation could change if inflation continues to erode the economic gains brought by rising wages.
“There a lot of dry tinder on the ground,” said James Rickards, head of market intelligence at the research firm Omnis. “What's the match? The match is inflation. The inflation rate is 5.5 percent. But food inflation is 10 percent.”

Video: China debuts Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail

 


China launched a major new link on its high-speed rail system on Thursday, which traverses the 800-mile route from Beijing to Shanghai in less than five hours. NBC's Adrienne Mong reports. 




Video: China builds world's longest cross-sea bridge


The Jiaozhou Bay bridge spans over 26 miles to link China's eastern port city of Qingdao to Huangdao making it the world's longest cross-sea bridge. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.

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Senate to work next week on debt limit impasse

Change of schedule announced after president prodded lawmakers to 'get it done'

WASHINGTON — The Senate abandoned plans for a July 4 break as time dwindled for lawmakers to strike a compromise on avoiding a government default and reducing mammoth federal deficits. In a challenge to President Barack Obama, the chamber's top Republican invited him to the Capitol to discuss the impasse with GOP lawmakers.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced the scheduling change Thursday, a day after President Barack Obama prodded lawmakers to act swiftly to extend the government's ability to borrow money. The Senate had been scheduled to take a week's break but instead will meet beginning Tuesday.
No July 4th recess for the Senate
"We'll do that because we have work to do," Reid said.
The House had already been scheduled to work next week.
Minutes later, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took to the Senate floor to invite Obama to meet with Senate Republicans "anytime this afternoon" at the Capitol. He belittled Obama's demands to include increased tax revenues as part of a deficit-cutting package, repeating what GOP leaders have long said: Congress lacks the votes to approve a measure containing tax hikes.
By meeting directly with Republicans, "that way he can hear directly from Senate Republicans why what he's proposing will not pass," he said, adding, "And we can finally start talking about what's actually possible."

The White House said Obama had no plans to accept McConnell's invitation
"What the senator invited the president to do was to hear Senate Republicans restate their maximalist position. We know what that position is," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said. "He also invited the president to hear what would not pass. That's not a conversation worth having."
At a Wednesday news conference, Obama insisted there is no more time to add. And he beseeched and badgered lawmakers to complete a deal to cut long-term deficits and lift the nation's debt ceiling before Aug. 2 to avoid what his administration says would be a calamitous government default.
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"There's no point in putting it off," he said Wednesday. "We've got to get this done."
But neither Obama nor the divided Congress is making it easier. The White House has identified at least $1.3 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years and is proposing up to $400 billion in new tax revenue. Republicans want more spending cuts and no tax increases.
Such brinkmanship relies on the clock; it is both a friend and an adversary. The problem with Aug. 2 is not that it's too soon, but that it's still four week away.
At a news conference, the president sought to upend the Republican argument that deficit-cutting negotiations had come to a standstill over the White House desire to increase taxes.
"The tax cuts I'm proposing we get rid of are tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers, and corporate jet owners," Obama countered.
Ever since bipartisan debt negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden broke down last week, the White House has gradually become more aggressive, culminating with Obama's spirited news conference.
He called on lawmakers to work through their July Fourth recess. He argued that his 12- and 10-year-old daughters show more discipline getting their work done. "They're not pulling all-nighters," he said.
"Call me naive," he said at another point, "but my expectation is that leaders are going to lead."

Obama is tilting at an institutional dysfunction — one that he himself once seemed to recognize: "If you don't set deadlines in this town, things don't happen. The default position is inertia," he said in 2009 during the health care debate. As it turned out, his deadline came and went, and it wasn't until 2010 that the health care overhaul legislation passed.
Some deadlines are too stark to avoid, but they get pushed to the brink. The government shutdown talks earlier this year came down to the final two hours. When asked what ultimately led to a deal to avoid halting government operations, one top Obama adviser said, "the clock."
Senior presidential adviser David Plouffe was asked in a nationally broadcast interview Thursday if the deadline was real.


"There's very little debate that that's going to change," he told NBC's "Today" show. Plouffe added, "We're in a danger zone now."
Plouffe, who was Obama's campaign manager when he ran for president in 2008, said he believes Democrats and Republicans alike are going to have to "get out of their comfort zone" to reach an agreement that would increase the government's borrowing authority and avert a default on the federal debt.
The Obama administration is warning that if the debt ceiling is not raised by Aug. 2, the U.S. would face its first default in history, potentially throwing world financial markets into turmoil. Many congressional Republicans aren't convinced, and some administration officials worry that it could take a financial plunge before Congress acts.
The pending debt ceiling vote would have to raise the current borrowing limit of $14.3 trillion by about $2.4 trillion to last until the end of 2012.
At his news conference, Obama took issue with criticism that he has not pushed for an agreement. He argued that he has spent an hour to an hour-and-a-half each with Republican senators, Democratic senators and House members from both parties.
"I've met with the leaders multiple times," he continued. "At a certain point, they need to do their job."
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, replied that an increase in the debt ceiling will pass only if the White House agrees to spending cuts in excess of the debt limit increase, holds down future spending and raises no taxes.
"The longer the president denies these realities," Boehner said, "the more difficult he makes this process."

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Video: President's Press Conference

Senate to work next week on debt limit impasse

Change of schedule announced after president prodded lawmakers to 'get it done' 

After being called out by President Obama for not striking a deal to avoid a government default and reduce federal deficits, the Senate has canceled its planned July Fourth recess. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports.

The Morning Joe panel – including former DLC chairman Harold Ford Jr. and Time's Mark Halperin – discusses the president's Wednesday press conference on the debt. Obama stated that elimination of selected tax breaks for oil companies and the wealthy must be included in any deficit reduction plan.

The Morning Joe panel continues its discussion on the president's debt-related Wednesday press conference. The president considered keeping Congress in D.C. unless progress is made this week on the debt ceiling.


One day after the President Obama scolded Congress for the stalled debt ceiling talks, Republicans on Capitol Hill blasted back. NBC Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd reports.

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Panetta sworn in as Obama's second Pentagon chief

New defense secretary to tackle budget negotiations, 'don't ask don't tell' debate and drawdown of wars 

By ROBERT BURNS
updated 2 hours 45 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — On his first day as Pentagon chief, Leon Panetta said his top priorities are preserving U.S. military power despite budget cuts, defeating al-Qaida, stabilizing Afghanistan and forging a "real and lasting partnership" with Iraq.
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Panetta huddled Friday with the Joint Chiefs of Staff shortly after taking the oath as the nation's 23rd secretary of defense, signaling that he intends to follow the example of his predecessor, Robert Gates, in building ties with the military brass. He said he would, like Gates, put a premium on advocating for the needs of troops and their families.
"Rest assured that ... I will fight for you," he said in a Fourth of July video message to U.S. troops worldwide.
He sounded the same theme at his swearing-in, which was closed to reporters. According to a Pentagon spokesman, Marine Col. David Lapan, Panetta said during the brief oath-taking ceremony in his new office, "There is no higher responsibility for a secretary of defense than to protect those who are protecting America."
The former eight-term congressman and one-time White House budget chief is likely to begin visiting troops in the field this summer. Gates flew to Iraq the day after he was sworn in, to show his support for the troops.

Panetta came to the Pentagon after 2½ years as CIA chief, a tenure highlighted by the May 2 raid that killed Osama bin Laden. At age 73, Panetta is the oldest incoming defense secretary in history and the first Democrat to run the far-flung Defense Department since William J. Perry completed his tenure in January 1997.
With Panetta replacing Gates, the pieces of President Barack Obama's rejiggered national security team began falling into place. Panetta's replacement at the CIA, Army Gen. David Petraeus, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, as was Ryan Crocker, the veteran diplomat who takes over as U.S. ambassador in Kabul later this month.
Petraeus' designated successor, Marine Lt. Gen. John R. Allen, is on track for Senate confirmation shortly and is tentatively scheduled to assume command in Kabul in mid-July.
In a written message to all military and civilian Pentagon employees, Panetta made clear that he recognizes the budget challenges he will face, and he pledged not to allow a money crunch to weaken the military.
"There will be no hollow force on my watch," he wrote.
His predecessor two times removed, Donald H. Rumsfeld, wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Friday that Panetta's main challenge, beyond successfully concluding the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, will be fending off White House and congressional "raids" on defense spending.
Story: Senate unanimously approves Panetta as Pentagon chief
"The conventional wisdom seems to be that, as a former budget director, Mr. Panetta will know how to skillfully draw down the Pentagon in the 'postwar' period to come," Rumsfeld wrote. "We ought to wish him success in proving the conventional wisdom wrong."
Panetta expressed confidence that he can strike an appropriate balance between defense needs and budget constraints.
"While tough budget choices will need to be made, I do not believe in the false choice between fiscal discipline and a strong national defense," he wrote. "We will all work together to achieve both."
On his watch later this year, Panetta may face an Iraqi government request that some of the roughly 47,000 U.S. forces still in the country stay beyond the end of this year, when all U.S. troops are supposed to go home.
In his Friday message, Panetta said the U.S. would "continue our transition out of Iraq" but not abandon the Iraqis.
"We must cement a strategic relationship with the Iraqi government, one based not solely on our military footprint there but on a real and lasting partnership," he wrote, adding that it is in U.S. interests to see Iraq become a stable democracy.

Video: Panetta: al-Qaida a big threat beyond Afghanistan



In his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense on Thursday, Leon Panetta said U.S. special operations forces are coordinating airstrikes against al-Qaida targets in Yemen for fear a civil war there will provide a safe haven for terrorists. BC's Jim Mikalszewski reports.


Gallery: National security: Obama shakes up his team

there are colored pins on right side click on the red one 

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Petraeus confirmed as CIA chief

The Senate has unanimously confirmed Gen. David Petraeus to be the new director of the CIA.
The vote was 94-0.
Petraeus, a 37-year Army veteran who has served as the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and previously as the head of U.S. Central Command, is expected to start the new job in September.
He will replace Leon Panetta, who is leaving the CIA job to become the new Defense Secretary.
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Geithner mulling departure after debt ceiling deal?

As the deadline to raise the U.S. debt limit creeps nearer, Bloomberg is reporting that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is mulling a departure from the administration after a deficit deal between Congress and the White House is forged.
From Bloomberg:
[Geithner] signaled to White House officials that he’s considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the national debt limit, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Geithner hasn’t made a final decision and won’t do so until the debt ceiling issue has been resolved, according to one of the people. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions.
Update:  In an appearance with former President Bill Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative event Thursday evening, Geithner said for the "foreseeable future," he will continue in his position.  "I live for this work. It's the only thing I've ever done. I believe in it," he said, according to the AP.  Geithner added:  "We have a lot of challenges in the country and I'm going to be doing it for the foreseeable future."
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Appeals court dismisses nuclear waste suit

By DINA CAPPIELLO, NEDRA PICKLER
updated 7/1/2011 1:13:41 PM ET
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration won a legal battle Friday in the long-standing fight over where to bury the nation's nuclear waste, but it's not likely to be the last.
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The federal appeals court in Washington ruled against South Carolina, Washington state and others that want to ship radioactive spent nuclear fuel they are temporarily storing to a repository 90 miles from Las Vegas at Yucca Mountain.
Congress chose Yucca Mountain as the leading candidate for waste disposal. But opponents are concerned about contamination, and the Obama administration said it would not consider the site and would look for alternatives.
The appeals court ruled that it's not an appropriate time for it to intervene because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission hasn't made a final decision yet on the status of Yucca Mountain. So the court threw out the case.
But the court pointed out that the commission is required under the law to issue a final decision within four years of an application, which will come in 2012 for the Bush administration's application for construction at Yucca Mountain. The court noted the commission's decision can be reviewed by the court and that it can also be sued for failing to act by the deadline.
Other than Yucca Mountain, the United States has no long-term plan for disposing of its nuclear waste. A federal report issued early in June said the U.S. has generated more than 82,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste, which it was storing at 80 sites in 35 states.
The amount of waste is expected to double by 2055, the Government Accountability Office said.

The Japan nuclear disaster put a spotlight on the problems of storing spent nuclear fuel in pools on the grounds of nuclear power plants. The spent fuel rods at Fukushima-Daiichi were likely damaged after the nuclear power plant lost power and the ability to keep water on the rods to cool them. In the United States, spent fuel pools contain much higher concentrations of radioactive material.
Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the only site for possible development as a repository in 1987. The Bush administration moved forward with plans to develop it, over protests from Nevada led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat.
President Barack Obama in his campaign for the White House vowed to kill Yucca Mountain, a decision that helped him win Nevada. Once in office, Obama promoted Gregory Jaczko, a former Reid aide, to chairman of the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
A year later, Obama made good on his promise. Energy Secretary Steven Chu withdrew the government's application to build the dump, saying it wasn't a workable option. But the NRC licensing board rejected the administration's move, saying that the application couldn't be withdrawn without better justification.
The application is currently in limbo, since Jaczko has yet to hold a final commission vote on whether the licensing board's decision should be rejected or upheld and has refused to say if there ever will be a vote. In the meantime, Jaczko has shut down the licensing review, a decision that has been questioned by Republican lawmakers, and the agency's inspector general, which found last month that the NRC chief did not fully inform commissioners about his plans.
Meanwhile, the Energy Department has gone ahead with dismantling the project.
The three appellate judges, David B. Sentelle, Janice Rogers Brown and Brett M. Kavanaugh — all appointed by Republican presidents — each issued separate opinions with the same bottom line. All three said the suit must be dismissed because the decision over Yucca Mountain currently is up to the commission.

 

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Michigan Rep. McCotter announces presidential run

Detroit congressman is third sitting member of House to join 2012 race 

updated 2 hours 34 minutes ago
LIVONIA, Mich. — Thaddeus McCotter, an independent-minded congressman from Michigan, launched a longshot bid Friday for the 2012 Republican nomination to run for president.
The conservative from the Detroit suburbs unveiled a campaign website and told a Michigan radio station he would formally announce his candidacy Saturday.
"There are a lot of people out there worried the American dream is in danger," McCotter told WJR radio.
He said the other Republican candidates are "fine people" but are not prepared to seize the opportunity to challenge and defeat Democratic President Barack Obama.
"I believe I could," he said. "You're never going to know unless you get into the arena."
First Thoughts: Another summer of Obama's discontent?
McCotter, 45, is a rock'n'roll fan and guitar player known to quote song lyrics and at times challenge his own party leaders. He is a strong supporter of the car industry and backed the industry bailout.

He enters the Republican campaign with little name recognition or money and will be a heavy underdog to rivals like former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his fellow member of Congress, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.
But McCotter, who has been traveling the country to gauge the potential for his candidacy, said he senses Republican voters are open to new candidates getting in the race. Bigger names like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Texas Governor Rick Perry are still considering bids.
The congressman said he will continue to serve in the House while he runs for office.
McCotter's website lists five core principles for his candidacy, including "our liberty is from God, not from government" and "our prosperity is from the private sector not the public sector."

 

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Brownback signs bill restricting late-term abortions based on 'fetal pain'

April 11, 2011
Topeka — Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill restricting late-term abortions based on the presumption that a fetus feels pain after the 21st week.
Brownback planned a signing ceremony Tuesday on two sweeping bills restricting abortion.
He has already signed House Bill 2218, according to the Kansas Legislative Information Systems and Services website. The other bill, House Bill 2035, has yet to be signed, according to the website. That one requires parental consent for minors to have an abortion.
Opponents of abortion have praised the measures.
HB 2218 was landmark legislation that is already law in Nebraska, according to Kansans for Life.
And HB 2035 strengthens parental involvement for pregnant minors, improves judicial bypass protocol and “acknowledges that abortion will terminate the life of a separate, whole, unique living human being,” the group said.
Abortion rights supporters have said the measures will jeopardize the health of women.
“While rare, an abortion that takes place after 22 weeks into a pregnancy is most often necessary because of a severe fetal indication or serious medical condition that endangers the life or health of the mother,” said Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
HB 2035 would force victims of incest or domestic violence “to navigate intricate and likely biased judicial proceedings in order to circumvent the double parental consent provision included in the bill,” said Julie Burkhart, founder and executive director of Trust Women.
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The Abortion Fight

Kansas defunds Planned Parenthood

By Julian Pecquet - 05/13/11 12:50 PM ET
The Kansas state legislature passed a budget late Thursday night that strips state funding for Planned Parenthood.
The new budget strips about $334,000 in federal Title X funding for the organization, according to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. The nation's largest abortion provider is a lightning rod for religious conservatives, but it argues that eliminating government support for family planning and prevention will only hurt poor women.
"It is outrageous that Gov. [Sam] Brownback will sign a budget bill that will undermine women's health and deny Planned Parenthood from providing preventive health care through the Title X program," President and CEO Peter Brownlie said in a statement. "Thousands of Kansans are now at risk of losing access to basic, preventive health care."
The organization, he added, is "seriously considering all options — including litigation" to overturn the decision. Planned Parenthood has already sued Indiana after that state passed legislation stripping it of Title X funding; the next court date to seek injunctive relief is June 6.
The House of Representatives has passed similar legislation, but it died in the Senate. Similar efforts are also under way in state legislatures in Oklahoma, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.


Kansas says abortion clinic failed inspections

Senate bill 36

By BRAD COOPER

The Kansas City Star

No Kansas abortion clinic has met the state’s new licensing rules, raising the prospect that by Friday, Kansas will be the only state where women cannot get an abortion.
On Tuesday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the clinics inspected so far hadn’t met the new standards approved by the Legislature earlier this year.
Kansas has only three abortion clinics, all in the Kansas City area.
One, in Wyandotte County, has already been told it would not be licensed. The local president of Planned Parenthood said Tuesday that his Overland Park clinic still hadn’t been approved for a license.
But the stakes were raised Tuesday when a father-daughter physician team from a third clinic went to federal court to stop Kansas from imposing the new rules.
The lawsuit, brought by Herbert Hodes and his daughter Traci Nauser, alleges there was an organized and deliberate effort by Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration “to close abortion clinics by any means necessary.”
“At every step …, KDHE implemented the licensing provisions of the act in ways that made it impossible for existing medical practices to obtain a license by the effective date,” the lawsuit contends.
A spokesman for the governor could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. A spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment declined to comment on the clinic’s lawsuit.
Hodes and Nauser run the Center for Women’s Health, an obstetrics and gynecological clinic in Overland Park that also provides abortion services.
State health inspectors were scheduled to inspect the Hodes’ clinic today, but the clinic canceled the review, saying it would not get a license anyway.
The lawsuit contends the licensing rules are overly burdensome and impose a “number of ambiguous and unclear requirements” on the clinics.
“As a whole, the temporary regulations impose burdensome and costly requirements that are not medically necessary or appropriate and that are not imposed on Kansas medical providers performing other comparable procedures,” the lawsuit charges.
Tuesday afternoon, state health regulators said the abortion clinics they’ve inspected so far have “failed to meet the minimum health and safety standards” in the new law. The agency refused to identify the clinics that were inspected.
KDHE said it will continue to work with applicants and provide follow-up inspections if it appears that the areas of noncompliance can be worked out.
The state last week notified Aid for Women in Kansas City, Kan., that it would not be licensed. The clinic was not inspected, but the decision was based on its application.
Planned Parenthood in Overland Park was inspected for 20 hours over two days last week.
Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said his agency has not been licensed yet. He reiterated that the inspection results indicated his agency will be in full compliance on or by Friday.
Brownlie said he has had communications with the state, but would not disclose details.
The new licensing law requires clinics to be inspected twice a year, including one unannounced review. It also spells out standards for operations, supplies, facilities and medical procedures.
Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said the law was needed to ensure the safety of women. She said the law was never intended to shut down abortion clinics and pointed out that a similar law is in place in South Carolina.
“Without any oversight, women really are in danger,” Culp said Tuesday.
She said women who are malpractice victims are less likely to go public after an abortion than if they had undergone a procedure like knee or shoulder surgery.
The regulations total 36 pages. Among other things, they require any physician performing an abortion to have clinical privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. They also require each facility to have drugs and equipment to deal with a medical crisis such as a heart attack or an allergic reaction to medication.
They also contain requirements for the building, including dressing rooms for staff that are equipped with a toilet, a sink and a place to store clothes. The procedure rooms are also required to be at least 150 square feet and the recovery area must be at least 80 square feet per patient.
The rules also set required temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees for the recovery rooms and 68 to 73 degrees for procedure rooms.
The regulations were sent to providers on June 17, less than two weeks before the Hodes’ clinic was scheduled to be inspected and only days before Planned Parenthood was scheduled to be inspected.
Bonnie Scott Jones, one of the lawyers representing the physicians, called the timeline “absurdly short.”
“If you operate a medical practice, there’s no way that in two weeks you’re going to be able to transform the physical environment,” said Jones, counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Jones also said it was “quite shocking” that the department outright refused to grant a waiver from any of the rules.
“They weren’t even willing to hear the requests we wanted to make,” Jones said.
“That’s a really extreme process for a state agency applying new regulations that it just came up with and gave to the regulated entity.”
Should Kansas be left without an abortion provider, the nearest location for a woman to undergo a first-trimester abortion would be in Columbia, Jones said. The nearest location for a second-trimester procedure would be in St. Louis, she said.
To reach Brad Cooper, call 816-234-7724 or send email to bcooper@kcstar.com.


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Paul Ryan Falsely Claims That Food Stamp Program Is ‘Rife With Fraud’

By Pat Garofalo on Jun 30, 2011 at 4:25 pm
In addition to releasing a radical budget that dismantled Medicare while likely raising taxes on the middle class, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) has suggested a radical reworking of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps). Under his plan, which would simply block grant SNAP to state governments, “SNAP would largely lose the ability to respond to rising need, forcing states during economic downturns to cut benefits or create waiting lists for needy families.”
In order to build support for his dismantling of the food safety net, Ryan has been spreading falsehoods regarding SNAP. Case in point, during a question and answer session hosted by the Spolight on Poverty and Opportunity, Ryan claimed that SNAP is “rife with fraud“:
Help us figure out how to reform these programs so they can grow at more sustainable rates and so that they really work. Help us reduce the redundancy and the duplicativeness of programs. Help us figure out how to make sure that these things are actually getting the assistance to the people who really need them.
Look at SNAP for example. You know we get all these reports. We get hearings and GAO and reports about how the SNAP program is rife with fraud, how it’s not getting the assistance to the people who need it, how there’s no incentive to – we’ve got a guy who won a lottery that’s on the program you know. Help us figure out how to reform these programs so that they can work better.
Listen here:


But as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found, SNAP errors are currently at an all-time low, with errors accounting for less than three percent of the program’s cost:
To ensure that benefits are provided only to eligible households and in the proper amounts, SNAP has one of the most rigorous quality control systems of any public benefit program and, in recent years, has achieved its lowest error rates on record. In fiscal year 2009, even as caseloads were rising, states set new record lows for error rates. The net loss due to errors equaled only 2.7 percent of program costs in 2009. There is no evidence that program errors are driving up SNAP spending.
During the recession, SNAP has been critical for reducing poverty and pumping money into local economies. So in order to push his radical revamp of the program, Ryan is simply inventing reasons to attack its current structure, which is actually functioning quite well.
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Gov. Christie signs state budget after series of deep cuts

Published: Friday, July 01, 2011, 9:00 AM     Updated: Friday, July 01, 2011, 9:09 AM
Statehouse Bureau Staff By Statehouse Bureau Staff

Gov. Christie delivers 2011 budget address
Enlarge Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger Gov. Chris Christie gives his budget proposal to both houses of the Legislature. (Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger) Gov. Christie delivers 2011 budget address gallery (37 photos)
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie took an ax to the state budget Thursday.
Destroying Democrats’ efforts to restore funding to public assistance programs, the Republican governor Thursday slashed $900 million from a budget he blasted as "unconstitutional."
What was left was a $29.7 billion spending plan that cuts funding Democrats had sought to add for the state’s financially troubled cities, Medicaid, college tuition programs and suburban schools.
He also left $640 million unspent, the largest surplus in the past decade and double what the last three governors have left.
And Christie vetoed bills that would tax millionaires more to fund schools and provide tax relief for low-wage earners.
At a news conference to unveil the cuts he made with line-item vetoes, Christie blasted the Democratic budget as "unconstitutional" and based on "fantasy revenue found between the cushions."
"They decided to deceive the citizens of the state with a budget that makes them look like Santa Claus in an election year," Christie said. "How shocking, politicians deceiving and pandering to voters to get re-elected."
Christie had one explanation for his individual reductions: "We can’t afford it."
Democrats, who Christie said were "pandering to special interests" are expected to return next week and fight the reductions.

Video: Christie line item vetoes budget 
 
Gov. Chris Christie gutted the state budget today using the line item veto. Calling the Democrats budget a fantasy, Christie cut $900 million out of the proposed budget. (Video by Megan DeMarco / The Star-Ledger)
"There are special interests," Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) responded. "They are called seniors, the middle class and low-income families who the governor just decimated. We are just beginning to digest the cuts in the budget, but they are extremely cruel and mean-spirited."
On Tuesday, Sweeney stood smiling next to Christie as the governor signed a sweeping overhaul of employee pensions and health benefits. Thursday, Sweeney stood in the back of the room at the governor’s Statehouse news conference with a somber look, later calling it the "most disappointing day in my entire career as a legislator."
"He makes it very hard to work with him," Sweeney said.
After handing down pages of line-item vetoes, the governor’s office refused to comment on or clarify any of the reductions.
Christie also cut deeply into his original proposal, trimming financial aid for the state’s most troubled cities from $149 million to $10 million. The biggest recipients last year were Camden, which was awarded $69 million, and Trenton, which was given $27 million from that fund.
"These municipalities will not be able to survive," said Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. "I think this is going to wreak havoc in communities."
The governor eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars Democrats wanted to restore to the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor, and to FamilyCare, the health plan for working poor people, said Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex).
"What he’s done is unconscionable, when the state can deny thousands access to health care and take it away for thousands more," Vitale said.
Christie also cut school funding by $500 million, slashing the $1.1 billion Democrats had sought. Christie left an extra $473 million that the Supreme Court ordered him to send to urban schools and $167 million for suburban and rural school districts that Democrats had added.

Video: Senate President Sweeney responds to Christie veto
Sweeney said today was "the most disappointing day" in his legislative career, and said Gov. Chris Christie's vetoes were "cruel" and "mean-spirited." (Video by Megan DeMarco / The Star-Ledger)
Other notable budget actions included:
• Christie for the second straight year cut $7.5 million for family planning centers like Planned Parenthood.
• Funding for "After the 3," an after-school program for low-income children, was eliminated.
• He cut $10 million for a program that provides legal representation for the poor in non-criminal cases.
• Christie will make a pension payment of almost $500 million in the next fiscal year.
• He left intact funding for "Senior Freeze," a program that provides property tax relief for senior citizens.
Christie cut the budget using his "line-item veto" authority, which allows him to reduce or remove portions of the budget and then sign it into law. The changes will not require legislative approval.
Calling them "mean-spirited and vindictive," Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) pointed to a $250,000 reduction in funding for the Office of Legislative Services, non-partisan legislative staff that disagreed with Christie about how much revenue the state is going to collect next year. Christie also cut salaries and wages for legislative staff: about $3 million in the Senate and $1 million the Assembly.
"It’s retaliatory because they came up with very responsible revenues that he just disagreed with," Buono said.
With the budget wrapped up, Christie said he is leaving this weekend for a two-week family vacation.
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Service Members Sing the Star Spangled Banner for July 4th

Uploaded by on Jun 27, 2011
Montage of over 150 U.S. military service members singing the United States National Anthem. Each note is represented by at least one service member. Produced by Staff Sgt. Joash Buenavista. Provided by American Forces Network Iraq. To download the full resolution video, visit http://dvidshub.net

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The Keystone XL Pipeline: Game Over For the Climate

just what we need, a big ugly leaking pipeline running across the middle of the United States endangering, polluting the land, burning carbon into the atmosphere, and wreaking havoc all over the place.

by Bill McKibben 07-01-2011
We need you. In late August — from the 20th to Labor Day weekend — some of us are mounting what may turn into the largest-scale use of civil disobedience yet around global warming. We’ll be doing daily demonstrations that risk arrest at the White House in an effort to block the ugliest project you’ve probably never heard of: the so-called Keystone XL pipeline, which will run — if President Obama grants the necessary permits — from the tar sands of Alberta down to the Texas coast.
The original call for the action went out in late June, from a group of individuals that included Wendell Berry, Naomi Klein, Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network, scientist Jim Hansen, and others. They stressed that the action will be entirely peaceful; in fact, if you want to come you’ve got to be “dignified in dress and demeanor.” That’s because we want very much to show who the radicals are in this story.
And make no mistake — that pipeline is a radical act. It helps unlock the planet’s second-largest pool of carbon, after only the oil wells of Saudi Arabia. There’s enough carbon up there that if you could burn it all off you’d raise the atmosphere’s carbon concentration from its current 390 parts per million to nearly 600. Even burning a much smaller amount of these tar sands would mean that it’s “essentially game over” for the climate, according to Hansen.
The pipeline is ugly for other reasons too — it trashes native lands and endangers prime American farmland (can you imagine running an oil pipeline atop the Ogallala Aquifer?). But it’s beautiful for one reason: President Obama, all by himself, can stop it. Since it crosses national borders, it requires the man himself to sign a piece of paper saying it’s “in the national interest.”
We’re pretty sure he wants to stop it: After all, the day he secured the nomination for president, Obama said that “if we’re willing to fight for it,” generations from now, we’ll see this as “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” But the pressure on him will be enormous. So, as he said at the very start of his presidency, even (or especially) his supporters will need to keep the pressure on him to do the difficult things. We have to show him, and everyone else, that there’s strong support for a livable planet. As EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said last week to explain Obama’s less-than-perfect environmental record: “They’re not marching on Washington the way they did on Earth Day in the ’70s.” She’s right — time for us to do what needs doing.
D.C. in August is not everyone’s idea of a great vacation spot. It’s hot and humid. But here’s the thing — unless we get to work right now, it’s going to be hot and humid everywhere. So join us at tarsandsaction.org – and take a stand against global warming.
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Minnesota government shuts down

Posted at 09:34 AM ET, 07/01/2011


By

The Minnesota state government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. CDT Friday July 1,2011, after talks between Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and top Republicans fell apart. (Carlos Gonzalez - AP) After six months of disagreement and seven days of intense negotiations, the Minnesota state government shut down at midnight last night.
Gov. Mark Dayton (D) and the Republican-controlled legislature have been in a standoff since the beginning of the legislative session over how to close a projected $5 billion budget deficit.
In an echo of the national budget fight, Dayton wanted to raise taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans. Republicans wanted to close the gap with spending cuts and accounting shifts.
“I cannot accept a Minnesota where people with disabilities lose part of the time they are cared for by personal care attendants so that millionaires don’t have to pay $1 more in taxes,” Dayton said at about 10 P.M. last night, when it became clear that a deal would not be reached.
It’s the second shutdown in six years in the state. The last one came in 2005, under former governor Tim Pawlenty — now a Republican presidential candidate. That shutdown lasted eight days, and about 9,000 workers were temporarily laid off.
A judge ruled earlier this week that only core government functions will continue while the government is shuttered, which means public safety, welfare programs, care for residents in state facilities (including prisons), preservation of the government financial system and necessary administration functions (for example, payments and computer system maintenance).
That means state parks will close for the holiday weekend, the busiest of the year. The Department of Natural Resources has estimated tourism losses of $12 million for each week the government is closed. About twenty thousands state workers are officially laid off; they are eligible for unemployment insurance.
For days, the negotiations between Dayton and Republicans in the state legislature have been difficult to follow because both sides agreed to a “cone of silence.” Since the talks broke down, that cone has disappeared.
Republicans offered a deal that included layoffs for some state workers and teachers along with some unrelated measures they have been unable to pass, including a voter ID law and abortion restrictions. The GOP also proposed delaying $700 million in payment to public schools, who are already owed about $1 billion by the state.
In recent days negotiatiors came close to an agreement, with Democrats proposing $3.58 billion in spending over the next two years and Republicans asking for $3.4 billion. But the budget for health and human services, which constitutes about a third of state spending, was a final sticking point.
Republicans called on Dayton to convene a special session so that a stopgap measure could be passed and a shutdown avoided. Dayton refused.
Both houses of the state legislature turned Republican last fall for the first time in 38 years, reversing the roles in a state that for past eight years had Pawlenty battling a Democratic-held legislature.
“The equivalence is this: both in ‘05 and now, you had Democrats demanding that we raise taxes and raise spending,” Pawlenty told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on a trip home Thursday.
Pawlenty also denied any resonsibility for the $5 billion deficit, for which he has repeatedly blamed Democrats in the legislature. But this shutdown could lead to renewed focus on Pawlenty’s fiscal record.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s WhoRunsGov profile
Conflict over the Iron Range highlights looming legal battle over Minnesota redistricting
Minnesota government goes into shutdown in partisan dispute
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