The Party of Business?

Is the GOP Still the Party of Business? | The Baseline Scenario:

The majority of our politicians, Democrat and Republican are "the party of business". There are a few on the far right who are full-tile libertarian/tea-party/evangelical wingnuts and on the left, even fewer hippie, leftist, socialists but most are card carrying members of the party of business, the Corporatist party.

tnb

Reporting

Glenn Greenwald has a good post on how reporting works.

What NPR means by “reporting” - Salon.com:

'via Blog this'

Why the Continued War on Drugs

.. because it's profitable. found here. Matt Stoller: Who Wants Keep the War on Drugs Going AND Put You in Debtor’s Prison? « naked capitalism

Here’s the 2010 10k of the Corrections Corporation of America (PDF), the largest operator of private prisons in the country. It’s a pretty simple business model – more prisoners, more money. Or, as the company writes, “Historically, we have been successful in substantially filling our inventory of available beds and the beds that we have constructed. Filling these available beds would provide substantial growth in revenues, cash flow, and earnings per share.” CCA offers an assessment of risks to the company, which include ending the war on drugs or curbing the incarceration of undocumented immigrants.

The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws. For instance, any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them.

Many people wonder why the Obama administration is so harsh with undocumented immigrants – these words supply an explanation for why such harshness can be profitable. But there are more risks.

Legislation has been proposed in numerous jurisdictions that could lower minimum sentences for some non-violent crimes and make more inmates eligible for early release based on good behavior. Also, sentencing alternatives under consideration could put some offenders on probation with electronic monitoring who would otherwise be incarcerated. Similarly, reductions in crime rates or resources dedicated to prevent and enforce crime could lead to reductions in arrests, convictions and sentences requiring incarceration at correctional facilities.

Reduced sentences, good behavior, and fewer arrests are business risks, where a high recidivism rate is a bonus in this schema. And the lobbying and campaign donations flow from the business logic, as this report lays out. These companies want to keep the war on drugs going, want caging of undocumented workers, and want to make sure that good behavior is rewarded with more jail time. And the more like a police state America becomes, the better.

US Health Care

A good health care graphic found here:

Republicans Promise to take US Health Care in Direction of Sub-Saharan Africa | Informed Comment:

'via Blog this'

Religion

Brain-washing Americans

Waiting for the Messiah: Netanyahu addresses Evangelical Christian gathering in Jerusalem - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News:

tnb

Moral Breakdown ?

Rick Santorum and many right-wingers think its a moral breakdown at the personal level, (gays, sex, contraception, sex-drugs-rock-n-roll, etc.) that's destroying our country. I think the more important moral issue is greed and all those greedy-bastards hungry for more money and power.

 Grading the nation: How accountable is your state? | iWatch News by The Center for Public Integrity:

tnb

Weekend Links

What Nuclear Weapons Program? ['Mossad, CIA agree Iran has yet to decide to build nuclear weapon' - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]

Bad Science [Pharyngula - Why am I not surprised?]

Former US government officials supporting a terrorist organization? Glenn Greenwald explains what's going on [Here] and TPM reports on some possible legal action [Here] and [Here]

[Stephen M. Walt: Israel vs Iran - Top Ten Media Fail List]

[Locking People Up for Cash and Power - GinAndTacos]

I'm not sure i believe this.....a Tide Crime Wave? [The Daily - Tide Crime Wave] and [Google - Tide Crime]

Sometimes there's a fine line between being a real business and running a scam. [Top Ten Scams of the year] and [Scams]

Leaks

Remember when our corporate, media, and political elites were up-in-arms over Wikileak's leak of US documents?

[UK paper prints private Assad emails - Middle East - Al Jazeera English] and [boingboing - private Assad emails]

tnb

Israel, The US and Iran

Yeah. This looks like a nuclear site to me. [Israeli official: Satellite images back our claims Iran is developing nuclear weapon - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]

The Daily show takes on Israel vs Palestine, Israel; the US vs Iran, and the Israeli Lobby. [Mondoweiss - The Daily Show]

Why should we worry about this?. [Obama tax plan could cost Israel over $12 million - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]

The propaganda machine working on US Evangelicals. [Only Israel is Safe for You]

The Lobby Machine. [Lobby 1] and [Lobby 2] and [Lobby 3]

tnb

Gas Prices

The US congress,... doing it's part to drive up world oil prices. [Gas prices have shot up 13% since AIPAC's victory in Senate] and more recently here, [War Drums]

tnb

Iran's Nuclear Program

Netanyahu's been screaming that Iran's nuclear weapon is 3-5 years away for 20 years.

Imminent Iran nuclear threat? A timeline of warnings since 1979. - CSMonitor.com

"1992: Israeli parliamentarian Benjamin Netanyahu tells his colleagues that Iran is 3 to 5 years from being able to produce a nuclear weapon – and that the threat had to be "uprooted by an international front headed by the US."

He needs to just shut up.


Here's a good Full pager in the WP. [Military people against war with Iran].

tnb

Links - Sunday Night

The Tea Party Cult? I'd say the "Fox News Cult" [Conceptual Guerilla]

A very good post on the evolution of that cult by Matt Taibbi [Matt Taibbi - Conservative Chickens Come Home to Roost]

[Broken Windows] How petty crime breeds more crime, a blue collar study applied to white collar crime. By William K Black. This fits with my belief that the current moral decay in the US is the greed and corruption at the upper levels of our society and not liberals having sex.

..
..

Iran vs Israel

Juan Cole at Informed Comment compares the firepower of Iran and Israel.

Israel - Iran Military Comparison | Informed Comment

With all the hooplah about a possible Israeli attack on Iran (which I view as rather unlikely), it is worthwhile revisiting the issue of how weak and how much of a nothing the Iranian military is compared to powerhouse Israel. Statistics mostly 2011 from Global Firepower. Note that some comparisons are invidious, as with Israeli reservists, who are quite professional and Iranian reservists, who typically are not. Or, comparing Israeli fighter jets and other aircraft to old broken down Iranian ones is silly. If Israel’s and Iran’s air forces were close enough to tangle (they are not), Iran’s wouldn’t last a day.

CNN needs to run this.

tnb

Links

A great post here on the hate and ignorance found in comments and email fired-off by religious nuts. [Stonekettle Station: Hate Mail From Jesus]

Corporations are people my ass. When corporations do something illegal someone should have to go to jail. [Foreclosure settlement a failure of law, a triumph for bank attorneys - The Washington Post]

The right lives in constant fear of the liberal world brain-washing their kids. [[Legalized Brainwashing]

Colonizing occupied [land].

Even More on Gas Prices

[Sabers Rattle As World Oil Supply Tightens. Time To Tap The SPR? - Forbes]:

[War Drums are the main cause of the recent Increase]

Fox does it's part to put the blame on Obama. [The Fox Effect: Gas Prices Are a Perfect Example | Crooks and Liars]

GinAndTacos take on Gas prices. [ginandtacos.com » NEW MATH]

Holding the world's economies hostage

[Netanyahu and Obama play high-stakes poker over Iran - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News]

"the prime minister's greatest achievement has been to persuade the international community that Israel intends to bomb Iran and has the capability to do so, and that Israel intends to plunge the entire Middle East into a war that will cause gasoline prices to skyrocket."

Who's the terrorist now.

tnb

Morals

A decent post on the state of morals in the US here: [Morals: Our great moral decline | The Economist]

Personally, I think we are in a "moral slump" but that it has more to do with greed and corruption at the highest levels of Corporate business, finance and government than with the problems the Republicans are harping on.


A good example here. [Super PACs' leaders profit from lack of oversight - latimes.com]

tnb