Electronic Pen

HARVEY WASSERMAN FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

America's budget crisis has the world economy at the brink. Social Security, Medicare, aid for needy children, environmental protection and much more are being chopped.

Yet, Congress and the White House may still want to use our money to fund atomic power.

Specifically, $36 billion in loan guarantees may still be on the table for building new nukes. Millions more are slated for "small reactors" and other atomic boondoggles.

A national campaign - including an August 7 "MUSE2" concert - is underway to help stop this. With your help, we can win.

Some realities:

More US energy is now generated by renewables than nuclear power, according to the latest Energy Information Administration report, and the balance is continuing to shift to green sources.

Solar cells are now cheaper and faster to install than new nuclear plants, and will soon be cheaper than coal, according to General Electric.

After a half-century, US atomic power cannot attract private investment for new reactors, cannot obtain sufficient insurance against a major disaster and cannot deal with its wastes.
At least one Congressional study shows the likelihood of default on reactor loan guarantees to be at least 50%.

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PAT WELLER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

The debt stalemate continues, but still we can envision the future. Now that a balanced approach of spending cuts and tax revenues has been jettisoned by both parties, the following predictions seem reasonably safe:

1. Spending cuts will affect the poor and middle class exclusively;

2. There will be no shared sacrifice except among the poor and middle class;

3. The middle class will shrink, but they will not be moving up. The poor will become poorer.

4. Corporations will not create jobs as predicted because there will be no demand as a result of the drop in middle class spending;

5. The wealthy, unaffected, will continue to deliver their children to summer camp by private jets;

6. Oil and insurance companies will continue to gouge us, though we will be able to decide for ourselves, through careful shopping, which companies can do it;

7. Unemployment will go up because of the spending cuts;

8. Life will be even more complicated for the disabled and the elderly due to overreaching cuts in entitlement programs;

9. What entitlement programs?

10. Television audiences will increase;

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JACQUELINE MARCUS FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

A big reason why the federal government is "broke" is because the oil industrialists have had a free pass on paying taxes. They haven't paid their fair share of taxes for nearly 15 years. And here's why: Lobbyists make their dirty deals with the legislators by essentially writing the laws that work in their favor and then the legislators add these dirty deals into the bills.

For example, while House Republicans are well aware of the intolerably hot temperatures from global warming right now, they're getting ready to vote on amendments that increase global warming: According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), "among the most egregious amendments, or riders, are ones that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from setting first ever limits on global warming emissions from power plants and oil refineries and undermine new administration fuel efficiency standards for vehicles manufactured between 2017 and 2025." The vote comes just days after a severe heat wave that set record temperatures in many U.S. cities.

And that's the way it works in D.C. for just about everything regarding benefits for billionaires while at the same time, slashing funding for highways, schools, bridges, libraries, health care, police, firemen and so forth. In other words, Republicans want to funnel our tax dollars to war profiteers and billionaires instead of responsibly funding what taxes are supposed to be used for: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and basically the money that is needed to maintain a country's infrastructure. The Republicans' message to the President and to the American people is: How dare you ask millionaires and billionaires to pay taxes! And that's the central reason why both sides are mired in mud.

There is much to be said about what created the deficit. Try ten years of oil occupational wars that include trillions of dollars of wasteful defense spending for starters. "Any serious battle plan to reduce the deficit must take on the Pentagon," wrote David Morris. "In 2011 military spending accounted for more than 58 percent of all federal discretionary spending and even more if the interest on the federal debt that is related to military spending were added. In the last ten years the Federal government spent more than $7.6 trillion on military and homeland security according to the National Priorities Project."

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BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

"Although [Pat] Buchanan doesn't have the influence he did in the 1990s when he commanded a following inside the Republican Party, he remains an influential, even cutting edge figure among a significant sector of extreme paleoconservatives," says Leonard Zeskind, president of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights.

For a number of years, Patrick J. Buchanan was considered "The Man" in the conservative movement; he took a back seat to no one. He ran for the GOP's presidential nomination and attracted a large following; he hosted and appeared on several cable news shows, including being one of the original co-hosts of CNN's "Crossfire"; his books have been bestsellers; and, perhaps most famously of all, Buchanan's "Culture War Speech" at the 1992 Republican Party convention both enthralled his followers and chilled a good part of the rest of the nation.

In a recent column about the events in Norway, after a perfunctory condemnation of the bombing and murder spree unleashed by Anders Behring Breivik, Buchanan was classic Buchanan suggesting that, "Breivik may be right."

Over the years, as Jamison Foser recently pointed out at Media Matters for America, Buchanan has expressed an, "almost unbelievable dislike of Nelson Mandela and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr."; took up the cause of John Demjanuk, who was"convicted earlier this year of complicity in the murder of tens of thousands of Jews while serving at a Nazi death camp"; defended the white supremacists beliefs of Nixon's Supreme Court nominee, Harold Carswell; and,"praised Klansman David Duke for his staunch opposition to ‘discrimination against white folks.'"

In a June column posted at CNSNews.com, titled "Say Goodbye to Los Angeles" Buchanan commented on the June soccer match at Pasadena's storied Rose Bowl that saw the Mexican team beat the U.S. He wrote that fans rooting for Mexico should consider returning there and they should"let someone take his place who wants to become an American."

Buchanan pointed out that "By 2050, according to Census figures, thanks to illegals crossing over and legalized mass immigration, the number of Hispanics in the U.S.A. will rise from today's 50 million to 135 million." Never one to miss an opportunity to be excessively dramatic/hyperbolic, Buchanan concluded: "Say goodbye to Los Angeles. Say goodbye to California."

When Pat Buchanan spoke, many may have turned their heads, but his core audience, anti-immigrant, white nationalists perked up and listened, and later echoed his remarks.

Despite the reams of "culture war" commentary, including anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic and anti-gay rage, for some inexplicable reason, the Washington Beltway crowd has always considered him"a good old boy."

"A cutting edge figure among a significant sector of extreme paleoconservatives"

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Body

 

If you thought discussions about raising the debt ceiling were tortured and depressing and solutions seemed out of reach you couldn't find a more unpleasant reminder of how dismal things can get than to watch how the Interior Department goes about putting a budget in place now that the Republicans are in charge. This committee is a microcosm of what is happening to the country as conservatives set about transforming the political landscape according to their ideological predilections

What we are witnessing is in fact a country being run by fanatics elected to Congress by voters who, in a fury of unrequited promises turned to candidates who talked about smaller government and lower taxes without any real sense of what it would take to govern effectively. Conservatives found advocates to do their bidding among the largely uninformed and wildly jingoistic Tea Party crowd. All manner of strange, almost forgotten factions began to reappear and join the fray determined not to miss the opportunity to make a real difference this time around.

That we have ranged so far from the high promise of our founding principles is a sad perversion of what was once a proud heritage. But it isn't a sudden burst of rancor and evil that has set us off course. We have been wandering for quite some time only to find that events have suddenly overwhelmed any sense of well-being we enjoyed when good times masked underlying problems in our economy and clouded our world view. The attacks on 9/11 confused our sense of proportion and allowed the Bush administration to have its way with us. Outrageous decisions were made that have cost the country dearly and for which we continue to pay an enormous price.

The sickening display of partisan maneuvers in Congress as the country's financial future hangs in the balance makes clear that no serious efforts are being made by the majority to address either the deficit or the debt ceiling. Republican attempts to tie a debt-ceiling hike to their favorite political positions are a typical departure from sound legislative practice. And yet because of the November elections the administration feels obliged to carry on discussions as if they were worthy of serious consideration.

The Interior Department budget debate is indicative of the larger budgeting issues working their way through Congress. The arguments are similar in scope, the players equally tenacious. In this debate the EPA is confronted by people who have always wanted to de-fund and destroy it rather than engage in thoughtful deliberations. On top of deep cuts already achieved the 2012 budget takes another whack at this agency leaving it all but dismantled. Similarly, FAA cuts are a response to union organizing. As usual Republicans are willing to manipulate a program and agency in order to satisfy partisan ideology without regard to how the public will be affected.

As feared in the run-up to the election, "The Republican takeover of Congress not only ... gives the Speaker's gavel to John Boehner, it also elevates up to 25 senior GOP lawmakers to the roles of committee chairs... the top contenders are all men. Nearly all are white. Most have deep ties to the business community or the industries they will soon oversee. Some have former staffers who now work in the lobbying world and could seek influence before their committees. And many have gotten the lion's share of their campaign monies the past two election cycles from special interest political  action  committees."  (ABCnews.go.com/Blotter)

Who can forget Joe Barton's apology to BP for what he said was a "shakedown" by the president for a fund he had initiated to underwrite business and private losses caused by the company's oil spill in the Gulf? Barton's arrogance is typical of the Republican mindset and a reminder of the Texas-oil connection that permeates the party's agenda and distorts the political process.

Worst of all, in a general sense, many legislators rely on their ability to regurgitate talking points and sidestep questions. Minority leader Mitch McConnell is an expert at this as is Tennessee's Marcia Blackburn who filibusters even on simple interview occasions. We have arrived at a place in our national conversation where ideology trumps intellect every time.

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TONY PEYSER FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

 

This one thing that I have recently noticed

I’ll pass along in a manner quite modest.

What name is right for new right wingers?

The one that I rather like is … Teahadist.

 

Anything that Obama has and will ever do

They’re all ready to be condemning:

They possess the collective brainpower of

Your basic run-of-the-mill lemming.

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MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

UPDATE: Since this commentary was written in the early afternoon of July 27th, Think Progress has confirmed that President Obama was negotiating a gradual increase of the eligibility age for Medicare to 67. As Think Progress reported:

Jacob Hacker, political science professor at Yale University, has called the scheme "the single worst idea for Medicare reform" since it "saves Medicare money only by shifting the cost burden onto older Americans caught between the old eligibility age and the new, as well as onto the employers and states that help fund their benefits." Worse still, some seniors between the ages of 65 and 67 could "end up uninsured," the Center on Budget And Policy Priorities' Edwin Park predicted. Individuals "with incomes too high for premium subsidies in the exchange and those who qualify for only modest subsidies" could be priced out of affordable coverage, he warned.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, raising the eligibility age to 67 would cause an estimated net increase of $5.6 billion in out-of-pocket health insurance costs for beneficiaries who would have been otherwise covered by Medicare. Seniors in Medicare Part B would also face a 3 percent premium increase, the study found, since younger and healthier enrollees would be routed out of Medicare and into private insurance. Beneficiaries in health care reform's exchanges would see a similar spike in premiums with the addition of the older population. Federal cost savings, meanwhile, would be slim.

Meanwhile, Think Progress also revisited how Timothy Geithner had warned Obama against negotiating on the debt ceiling because it would likely lead to a quagmire.  Obama ignored his advice.

President Obama's view of himself as a consumate behind closed doors negotiator with Republican leaders may be due to hubris, but is certainly not effective; in fact, he generally ends up as the guy at the poker table who started with the biggest stake, but ends up with no chips left to play.

Yes, polls show Democrats, in general, would vote for him again, but it may be due more to a fear that he is the only thing between America and the cult of barbarians at the gate than due to his weak leadership and feckless negotiations.

OBAMA'S OBSESSION WITH COMPROMISE HAS COMPROMISED HIS PRESIDENCY

Regardless of the current political theater taking place over the debt ceiling, what drives much of the right wing - in terms of symbols - is the iconic image of the lone male (usually with a gun) who doesn't flinch from a fight, when his integrity and justice are at stake.

Let's call this "The John Wayne Syndrome."

Ronald Reagan, a Hollywood colleague and buddy of Wayne, was the epitome of this - in large part because he could act the role so well.

This brings us to the issue of form vs. content in the Obama presidency. Obama has positioned himself as a mediator between the Democrats and the Republicans, not as an unwavering leader for a specific agenda or vision. Since his presidency began, he has been primarily on the defensive, caught on the Republican side of the football field with has back to the goal line.

This is where his emphasis on "compromise" may have compromised his presidency. The Republicans, in general, value strength in politics over concession. They tend to look at a man who is frequently backing away from his positions, whatever his lofty rhetoric, as weak and as someone who can be pushed around.

The intangible in all this is that, while most Americans want the "gridlock to break in DC," it hasn't broken. Despite polling that shows Obama is perceived a bit better on the debt ceiling issue than the Republicans, he is starting to lose advance polls against some GOP candidates for the next election.

What Obama may not understand is that most Americans want strong leadership standing up to bullies and thugs, as Gary Cooper did as the sheriff in "High Noon" (popular culture drives our image making, after all). They didn't elect a mediator in 2008; they elected a leader who would break the DC logjam not by showing weakness, but by showing resolve and an ability to forcefully exercise the power of the presidency.

Republican political leaders are jackals at sensing weakness in opponents. In the end, President Obama's insistence on pleading with the GOP to accept legislation that is similar to what they originally proposed as a first-step debt reduction target is a sign of a failed strategy and risk aversion, not strength.

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Video Nation How much money did we really spend on the bailouts? Where did it go? Are we getting it back? The Nation's Christopher Hayes answers these questions and more.

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• Scott Saul: Suspended Sentences

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• George A. Papandreou on Global Governance

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• Scott Saul: Suspended Sentences

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