Marriage Equality in France: a heroine struggles against a rising right wing

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Thursday February 14, 2013 · 10:37 AM PST

2013/02/14 · 10:37

On Tuesday Feb 12, the French Assemblée Nationale passed a historic marriage equality bill, after 10 days of fierce debates by the nation’s lawmakers. The Assembée is the French equivalent of the US House of Representatives with 577 seats and two major parties dominating the current legislative session. The Parti Socialiste which won the 2012 presidential election has about 51% of the seats and the UMP holds about 34% of them. The remaining seats are divided among several smaller parties including Europe Ecologie and the Front National, a far right group. The “Mariage Pour Tous” (Marriage For All) bill passed with 329 votes in favor and 229 votes against.

What’s surprising is the amount of controversy that has been stirred up in France over the measure. I spent several years in France and travel there now and then. There are some interesting parallels between the political situation in France and here in the States.

leftreborn

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Thursday February 07, 2013 · 4:25 PM PST

2013/02/07 · 16:25

On Jan 14 & 15, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health held a special event “Summit on Reducing Gun Violence in America.” Many people think that the NRA effectively ended scientific research into gun violence and public safety but that’s not exactly true. The Center for Gun Policy and Research carries on.

With so many passionate advocates on both sides of the issue, I’m surprised this event hasn't attracted more attention at DailyKos. Conclusions based on evidence and analyses improve the conversation. The rest of the text below is summarized from the recommendations of more than 20 experts. You can also browse the Johns Hopkins website for a complete report on the summit’s findings.

leftreborn

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Sunday February 03, 2013 · 9:21 AM PST

2013/02/03 · 09:21

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released the results of a survey last week that found a majority of the public views the federal government as a threat to their personal rights and freedoms.

The Pew report’s findings are no surprise. With talk of controls to prevent gun violence, there are always firearms enthusiasts who obsessively insist there can be no government infringement on Second Amendment rights. Americans have always chafed under tyranny, real or imagined. Shay’s Rebellion in 1786 and 1787 and the Whiskey Rebellion in 1791 established the tradition.

What’s different today is how the Gun Lobby shapes the conversation about policy relating to guns and public safety. The Gun Owners of America illustrates the tactic favored by the Gun Lobby. They work that nerve that seems to be built-in with Americans, as if we inherit it through our DNA. They take full advantage of the nagging suspicion many Americans have about losing their freedom and the Gun Lobby overtly spells out the solution. More guns, of course. Today, the Gun Owners of America ask on their website: “Will the U.S. Follow Germany's Example?” An editorial cautions its readers, “Victims of tyranny -- from the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, to the victims of Joseph Stalin and Idi Amin -- have all wished they were armed. We should not join their ranks of victimhood.”

leftreborn

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Saturday January 26, 2013 · 8:18 AM PST

2013/01/26 · 08:18

Words fail. In more ways than one.

Disappointing. Troubling. Absurd.

It’s a surprise to hear that The U.S. Court of Appeals declared President Obama’s January 2012 recess appointments unconstitutional.

Chief Judge David Sentelle of the D.C. Circuit said in the ruling that the National Labor Relations Board appointments and Richard Cordray’s appointment to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are invalid. All of the appointments are important and necessary. I will address the issues that lead to Cordray’s appointment to keep the focus of this diary tight.

The main features of Sentelle’s decision are:

• The Senate was operating pursuant to a unanimous consent agreement, which provided that the Senate would meet in pro forma sessions every three business days from December 20, 2011, through January 23, 2012.

• The recess appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution is limited to intersession recesses, not intra-session adjournments.

• An interpretation of ‘the recess’ that permits the President to decide when the Senate is in recess would demolish the checks and balances inherent in the advice-and-consent requirement, giving the president free rein to appoint his desired nominees at any time he pleases.

The court dismissed concerns about lengthy position vacancies. “If some administrative inefficiency results . . . that does not empower us to change what the Constitution commands.”

Sentelle’s decision doesn't challenge the legality of recess appointments. Article 2 Section 2 of the Constitution provides for them. Sentelle’s decision says the recess appointments were unconstitutional because the Senate was conducting pro forma sessions at the time.

leftreborn

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Friday January 18, 2013 · 6:25 PM PST

2013/01/18 · 18:25

On Monday Treasury Secretary Geithner sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner suggesting that a cap on the debt limit undermines the rule of law and flirts with a charge of extortion. On Friday, Eric Cantor issued a statement that sounded like the Republicans are ready to pursue a different strategy regarding the debt ceiling. "Post hoc non propter hoc.” Logic doesn’t permit anyone to say that Geithner scared the Republicans into steering towards a straighter, narrower path.

For one thing, “the full faith and credit” of the United States is still being held for ransom. What do Republicans get from extending the deadline for Democrats to deliver what they demand?

leftreborn

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Thursday January 17, 2013 · 9:42 AM PST

2013/01/17 · 09:42

“Threatening to undermine our creditworthiness is no less irresponsible than threatening to undermine the rule of law, and no more legitimate than any other common demand for ransom. “
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Jan 14 2013

In a busy news week something that deserves attention was overlooked: the remarkable language Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner used in the debt limit notification letter he sent to Speaker John Boehner on Jan 14.

Formal letters from the Treasury to Congress requesting a raise in the statutory debt limit are routine. They have been sent before. What's different this time is the suggestion that Republican strategy contradicts the rule of law and the comparison of Republican strategy with coercion that can be legally challenged.

leftreborn

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Tuesday January 15, 2013 · 4:03 PM PST

2013/01/15 · 16:03

Ben Bernanke appeared at the University Of Michigan Ford School Of Public Policy yesterday and he spoke at length about the current economic situation in the US. His most noteworthy comments were about the failure of Congress to raise the debt limit and whether seigniorage would be a feasible policy solution for the government to fund itself. (Seigniorage is an operation for funding government spending by issuing currency.)

The platinum coin issue was raised during the Question and Answer portion of the presentation.

And the first audience question is that, if Treasury had [inaudible] trillion dollar platinum coin [laughter], would the Fed have accepted it and credited Treasury's accounts? If not, why not and what does this mean for the independence of the Fed moving forward?
Well, as you--I'm not going to give that any oxygen. [Laughter] As you probably know, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve over the weekend, the Treasury issued a statement which the Federal Reserve approved stating that we didn't think this was the right way to deal with this problem. I mean, there are legal issues or policy issues. I think the right way to deal with this problem, as I said earlier, is for Congress to do what it's supposed to do and needs to do and authorize an increase the debt ceiling so that we can pay our debts, we can pay our bills. And that's the right way to do it. And, you know, I think that's what will eventually happen. But I don't think that going off in that other direction would really be all that helpful.
[excerpted from a transcript]
[in the video embedded below, the quote begins at 45:15]

Bernanke also spoke about the debt ceiling, in general.

I want to say one word about the debt ceiling which is that not everybody understands what the debt ceiling is about. Raising the debt ceiling, which Congress has to do periodically, gives the government the ability to pay its existing bills. It doesn't create new deficits. It doesn't create new spending. So not raising the debt ceiling is sort of like a family trying to improve its credit rating saying, I know how we can save money, we won’t pay our credit card bills. That’s not the most effective way to improve your credit rating. And it was the very slow solution to the debt ceiling in August 2011 that got the US downgraded last time.
[in the video embedded below, the quote begins at 11:55]

leftreborn

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Monday January 14, 2013 · 10:12 AM PST

2013/01/14 · 10:12

“First, any value in the balances in the Social Security Trust Fund is derived from dubious government accounting. The trust fund is not a real savings account. From 1983 to 2011, it collected more Social Security taxes than it paid out in Social Security benefits. But the government borrowed all of these surpluses and spent them on other government programs unrelated to Social Security. The Trust Fund holds Treasury securities, but the ability to redeem these securities is completely dependent on the Treasury’s ability to raise money through taxes or borrowing.”

From the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget— Fiscal Year 2013 (p. 104) This document is commonly referred to as “The Paul Ryan Budget.”
Read More

There is no government authority

leftreborn

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Friday January 11, 2013 · 9:57 AM PST

2013/01/11 · 09:57

“There is no government authority except that which God has ordained.”
Romans 13:1

"Everyone has weapons. All over. Extemist militants are armed. Violence is unchecked. There is no government authority to hold anyone accountable.”
Fawzi Bokatif, leader of the ‘Feb. 17 brigade’ which led the rebel fighters in Libya against Gadhafi

There is no government authority.

There is no government authority to demand equal treatment under the law. The unwelcome go to the lunch counter after church down the road where they allow all kinds . . . down the road . . . the church that was firebombed.

There is no government authority to guarantee universal suffrage. You vote with a valid official ID. Step lively. The precinct has only one voting machine and there’s an eight hour wait.

There is no government authority for universal access to health care. When you aren’t well you go to the emergency room with or without insurance. They have procedures for patients who can’t pay.

There is no government authority that will keep you safe. Buy guns to match the firepower of your God-fearing neighbors and the insane.

leftreborn

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Friday January 04, 2013 · 10:27 AM PST

2013/01/04 · 10:27

“People in the political arena were even talking about a potential default,” said Joydeep Mukherji, senior director at S&P. “That a country even has such voices, albeit a minority, is something notable,” he added. “This kind of rhetoric is not common amongst AAA sovereigns.”
(The Nation, August 12, 2011)

After Standard & Poor’s lowered its sovereign credit rating for the US from AAA to AA+ it issued an official explanation for the downgrade. Joydeep Mukherji was a little more direct and to the point. When elected officials responsible for making fiscal policy speak cavalierly about the possibility of a debt default, expect a downgrade. The ratings agency would take the words of Michele Bachmann, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell and others seriously. There would be consequences for statements such as this one:

“I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting. Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming.”
(Mitch McConnell, Washington Post, August 3, 2011)

leftreborn

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Tuesday December 18, 2012 · 3:45 PM PST

2012/12/18 · 15:45

Yesterday evening, an unpleasant pungent odor settled in around the same time that a piece appeared in the HuffingtonPost alleging that the President had a brand new offer for the Republicans in the fiscal negotiations.

“The details of the offer were sent to The Huffington Post on condition of the source's anonymity. The White House has moved off of its initial and second revenue demands of $1.6 trillion and $1.4 trillion respectively. As of now, the president would be fine raising $1.2 trillion in revenue. He also is no longer insisting that taxes increase on families with income above $250,000. Instead, he is calling for a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for incomes of less than $400,000.”

Oh really? On condition of the source’s anonymity? That won't do. Back in the day, substantiation and attribution were how Journalism was done. Those are antiquated notions now. Consume at your own risk.

Later in the evening, the odor grew more rank when a second piece appeared in the HuffingtonPost. The President’s new offer included a detail that the first article somehow missed.

“It would also gradually reduce Social Security, pension and disability benefits seniors are due to receive, taking a small bite up front, but building up to much larger cuts over time. . . the proposed Social Security reform is known as ‘chained CPI’”

Still no substantiation or attribution. Read More

Please sign White House petition to preserve integrity of Social Security COLAs

leftreborn

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Tuesday December 18, 2012 · 6:50 AM PST

2012/12/18 · 06:50

Protect Social Security benefits for the long-term by preserving the integrity of COLAs
Tying annual Social Security cost of living adjustments to the Chained Consumer Price Index will reduce benefits. The effect will be cumulative and substantial over time. The current Cost of Living Index should be retained.

The financial situation of seniors has already been eroded. The value of retirement savings had had no chance to keep pace with inflation for 15 years. Homeowners equity has collapsed. Retirees and those nearing retirement shouldnt pay for the mistakes that caused the current unsatisfactory fiscal situation. Social Securitys OASI Trust Fund has had receipts exceeding expenditures for decades. Benefit payments havent added a penny to the public debt. Removing the cap on taxation that exempts income over $110,100 today will ensure Social Security solvency.

Poll

56 votes Show Results

What would improve US economic performance and create jobs?

56 votes Vote Now!

What would improve US economic performance and create jobs?

A] Spending cuts

1 vote

B] Lower taxes

0 votes

C] More spending

8 votes

D] Higher taxes

5 votes

E] A balanced budget

2 votes

F] Deficits only matter when the Democrats are in charge.

3 votes

G] Spending to create jobs in a short-term priority

13 votes

H] Aligning outlays and revenues to a fixed percentage of GDP is a long-term goal that can wait until recovery takes hold

3 votes

F] & G] & H]

21 votes

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Marriage Equality in France: a heroine struggles against a rising right wing

Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research: Summit Recommendations

The Dirty Work of America's Gun Lobby

Recess Appointments Unconsti-wuh? Please Proceed, Republicans.

Held for Ransom

Geithner to Boehner on Debt Limit Debacle: A common demand for ransom

Bernanke’s Policy Talk at Univ of Michigan, Questioned on Platinum Coin Seigniorage

Why You Should Be Worried About Social Security

There is no government authority

Minting a Platinum Coin Can't Stop Republican Treachery on the Debt Ceiling

A Whiff of Something Rotten

Please sign White House petition to preserve integrity of Social Security COLAs