Author: Source

A very informative article by Matt Taibbi appearing in Rolling Stone Magazine

Matt Taibbi: Courts Helping Banks Screw Over Homeowners

Retired judges are rushing through complex cases to speed foreclosures in Florida

The foreclosure lawyers down in Jacksonville had warned me, but I was skeptical. They told me the state of Florida had created a special super-high-speed housing court with a specific mandate to rubber-stamp the legally dicey foreclosures by corporate mortgage pushers like Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase.

by Jonathan Schell / The Nation / November 10, 2010

The Army intelligence analyst Pfc. Bradley Manning, 22, now in a military detention center charged with having leaked classified documents related to the Iraq War, once explained why he was contemplating his deed. (He is additionally suspected of having leaked the 390,000 documents made public by the whistleblowing solicitor WikiLeaks, but he has not been charged with this.) Manning was not yet in prison or in the media spotlight.

by Karla Peterson / SignOnSanDiego / November 13, 2010

When he talks about San Diego as the perfect scene for his TV crimes, actor Donal Logue likes to toss out a W. Somerset Maugham quote about the French Riviera. The geography is off, but the sentiment is a straight shot to the dark heart of our golden city.

PHOENIX — A measure that would legalize medical marijuana in Arizona pulled ahead for the first time Friday, with both supporters and opponents saying they believed the proposal that went before voters on Election Day would pass.

Proposition 203 was ahead by 4,421 votes out of more than 1.63 million votes counted. The measure started out losing by about 7,200 votes on Nov. 2 and the gap gradually narrowed in the following 10 days.

President Obama appointed 18 people to come up with suggestions for lowering the deficit. Yesterday, when Pres. Obama is outside of the country and will be until Sunday, they released their suggestions. I won’t go into detail about all of the things, but will mention two in particular that have me up in arms:
1. Social Security – raise the retirement age and lower the benefits

I am so mad that they are using SS as part of the reason for the budget problems.

State law requires public review of potential impacts before proceeding

The Sierra Club San Diego Chapter on Thursday, Nov. 9th, asked the City of San Diego to comply with state law requiring public review of likely environmental consequences before taking the dramatic step of privatizing the city’s only public landfill. Turning over the Miramar landfill to a private operator, as the City proposed in a request for bids issued in July, could cause significant environmental damage and expense.

For the first time in nearly three decades women have not increased their ranks in Congress.

Washington — Ask Republican Rep.-elect Nan Hayworth how important it is to have women in congressional leadership roles, and she answers that gender shouldn’t matter much.

“The overwhelming consideration to someone like me is merit,” Hayworth insisted. Yet, as she continued to talk about her own campaign experience, Hayworth practically stopped herself. “I did make it part of my theme, thinking about it now,” Hayworth said, referring to the fact that she is a woman and mother of two grown children.

On May 6, 1935, with the country in the midst of the Great Depression, and with indirect efforts to create jobs having not moved the needle of unemployment rates, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 7034 and appropriated $4.8 billion for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA put millions of Americans to work constructing buildings, painting murals to decorate them, and performing plays for audiences that had never before seen a dramatic production. In the process, many were saved from poverty and starvation and the economy began to revive.

by Noam Chomsky

The U.S. midterm elections register a level of anger, fear and disillusionment in the country like nothing I can recall in my lifetime. Since the Democrats are in power, they bear the brunt of the revulsion over our current socioeconomic and political situation.

More than half the “mainstream Americans” in a Rasmussen poll last month said they view the Tea Party movement favorably—a reflection of the spirit of disenchantment.

The grievances are legitimate. For more than 30 years, real incomes for the majority of the population have stagnated or declined while work hours and insecurity have increased, along with debt. Wealth has accumulated, but in very few pockets, leading to unprecedented inequality.

Terriers has been consistently awesome all season and tomorrow [Wed – Nov. 10] night’s episode is no exception. We have some clips and a trailer for the episode to share with you!

Last month, I said Terriers was one of the best new shows of the fall season. Having seen the final four episodes of Season 1, I feel comfortable saying that this series isn’t just one of the best new shows this fall, it’s also one of the best shows on TV right now.

My First and Last Article for the Union Tribune

by Katherine Sweetman / It was in the U-T until pulled / Nov. 8, 2010

An Introduction/ Resignation (A Small Gesture)

In an effort to step up the appearance of supporting the visual arts, The Union Tribune has graciously offered a handful of artists, scholars, and arts professionals the opportunity to write for them– requiring only one blog post per week (52 per year). And the pay? Oh… no pay.

Arts are very important to the Union Tribune but… so is money.

by John Lawrence/Will Blog for Food

I can think of no more apt metaphor for what voters did to themselves than the title of this post. Dissatisfied with the economy, voters voted in a party dedicated to the destruction of the economy as far as the middle class is concerned. They voted for a great economy for Wall Street bankers and billionaires. Obama, despite his failure to get the economy back on track in two years and despite his Republican lite tendencies and seeming inability to take a strong stand, is vastly preferable to the Republicans who now control the House. Obama, who already was governing from the right of center, is continually accused of being a left wing socialist and told by Republicans that he now must move to the right. If he moves to the right any further, he might as well resign from the Democratic party and join the Tea Baggers.