July 14 2010 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Washington Monument Syndrome And Other Ploys To Pass Federal (and state and local) Budgets

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 14 2010 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Pandering To The Masses - The 'Washington Monument Syndrome' And Other Ploys To Pass Federal (and state, and local) Budgets [Pop Out Player? Click Here] Prefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps CBR 14:57 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary

In The News:
Thanks this morning to ChrisM, my MP3Angel, for supplying the news & commentary audio files.

The "cap" is in place on the spewing oil pipe in the wreckage of the BP Deepwater Horizon and now they're "testing their test" before they put pressure on it. Meanwhile the Natural Gas is being vented and burned in the open air which leaves BP investors holding their breath because if it DOESN'T work, and they don't find anything that will, there's a chance that BP's Well May Leak For 55 Years Or More Into The Gulf Of Mexico.

The Taliban is playing by the international rules of war... How about NATO? An Afghan soldier NATO was training who killed three NATO/British soldiers with an RPG the other day escaped to Talib controlled territory and surrendered. Meanwhile the funding for the war on Afghanistan is stalled in the house and the Pentagon is getting a bit testy because the bill includes payroll money for the troops stationed there.

The US is allowing a Guantanamo detainee to be returned to Yemen despite in-place prohibitions against repatriation to that country. A federal judge decided this person had done absolutely nothing to warrant his extended detention, EIGHT YEARS, in America's "Concentration Camp in the Caribbean".

The US has deployed an alleged anti-missile battery to Poland 45 miles from the Russian border, to protect Europe from a potential Iranian nuclear attack... But the question of the day is "Is the anti-ballistic missile "shield" system that the United States intends to deploy in Eastern Europe defensive or offensive?"

Jacob Lew, previously serving during the Clinton administration when There WAS a budget surplus, has been picked in a 'raid' on the State Department to be the new head of the Office of Management and Budget.


In OTHER News:

What do you mean "Anarchists DIDN'T Do It"? Four Santa Cruz California Animal Rights Activists (The AETA 4) have had an indictment potentially leading to trial over accusations they firebombed a UCSC researcher's porch and car dismissed without prejudice. Apparently they were arrested simply because they had a previous altercation with the law after demonstrating at a researcher's home.

But in the wake of this decision, it's eminently notable that the state law passed on the basis of this almost certainly provocateur-committed act (the vote was scheduled just a few days after the act) extending special protections to animal researchers at UC facilities (ie. A permanent FBI liaison on UC campuses statewide and a prohibition on demonstrating, as they did, near researchers) remains as legislative proof that provocateurism gets the (lawmaking) goods.

The defense team expects charges will be re-filed and the defendants will appear in court next week.

See IndyMedia: BREAKING: AETA 4 Case Dismissed, But Re-Indictment Possible

More at the Santa Cruz Senile... I mean "Sentinel". Read the comments to gauge the depths of Redneck depravity in this so-called 'Progressive" community.

HAH! ...and I thought I was actually gonna get my Social Security in a few years!

Proposals to Cut Social Security Benefits will Significantly Impact Retirement Income for Low-and Middle-Class Retirees

WASHINGTON, DC - Despite the fact that Social Security is fully funded through 2039, there have been calls to cut Social Security benefits in an effort to reduce the long-term budget deficit. A new analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that three of the most common proposals to cut Social Security would have a substantial negative impact on low- and middle-income families.

“There is a great deal of talk in policy circles about cutting Social Security, but very little discussion of the financial situation of those affected by the cuts,” said Dean Baker, co-director of CEPR and an author of the report... [In Full]

...and WHY might those cuts be necessary? Trillion dollar wars, declining incomes (ie. people that used to work on 'servers' becoming [restaurant] servers), and actualized G20 promises for deficit reductions...

But let's just call it what it is... the result of an IMF Austerity Plan for America. That's right! See: The IMF Is Coming for Your Social Security at Firedoglake. This can also be seen as Disaster Capitalism (Video, Naomi Klein @ The Commonwealth Club identifies the term and defines 'Disaster Capitalism as Class War) coming home to roost.

More on the decrepit state of the US economy and the "Do You Want Fries With That?" employment situation - Robert B. Reich who served three national administrations, recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton and on President Obama's transition advisory board, has a suggestion how to stabilize the American economy:

It's All About the Wages
Our Economy Would Be Fine If Everyone Made Their Fair Share

July 13, 2010

Missing from almost all discussion of America's dizzying rate of unemployment is the brute fact that hourly wages of people with jobs have been dropping, adjusted for inflation. Average weekly earnings rose a bit this spring only because the typical worker put in more hours, but June's decline in average hours pushed weekly paychecks down at an annualized rate of 4.5 percent.

In other words, Americans are keeping their jobs or finding new ones only by accepting lower wages.

Meanwhile, a much smaller group of Americans' earnings are back in the stratosphere: Wall Street traders and executives, hedge-fund and private-equity fund managers, and top corporate executives. As hiring has picked up on the Street, fat salaries are reappearing. Richard Stein, president of Global Sage, an executive search firm, tells the New York Times corporate clients have offered compensation packages of more than $1 million annually to a dozen candidates in just the last few weeks.

We're back to the same ominous trend as before the Great Recession... [In Full]

From Foreign Policy In Focus, another Godawful result from an earlier "G" conference:

Africa: No Butter, But Lots of Guns

Finally, the developed world has a message for Africa: “Sorry, but we are reneging on our aid pledges made at the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland back in 2005, but we do have something for you—lots and lots of expensive things that go ‘bang’ and kill people." [In Full]

[After the commentary, the Honorable Chester Caliber explains how governments work. Courtesy of the Firesign Theatre.]

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Audio hosting courtesy of: [www.archive.org]

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