Archive for category Political Mix
China on the Defensive After Obama’s Climate Speech
Posted by admin in Political Mix, World News on December 19th, 2009
Market Mix Up
by Kent Garber - Dec. 18, 2009
USNews.com
COPENHAGEN—As international climate talks drag into the night, the United States is publicly and privately pressuring China to share more information about its carbon emissions. And that is putting China on the defensive.
Both President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao addressed world leaders this morning, in what was supposed to be the final days of talks. But they struck sharply different tones in their speeches, and it now appears that Wen was offended by Obama’s words.
Obama met with Wen this afternoon and, according to reports, sought a second meeting this evening after the premier walked away from negotiations.
The immediate source of conflict appears to have been part of Obama’s speech. Speaking deliberately, with long pauses, Obama told leaders to stop squabbling over a deal or risk having “the same stale arguments, month after month, year after year, perhaps decade after decade.”
He seemed annoyed, even accusatory, at times, admonishing some leaders for naively insisting on getting a perfect treaty and refusing to compromise. “We know the fault lines because we’ve been imprisoned by them for years,” he said. “We have very little to show for it.”
And in what was probably the most inflammatory part, at least from China’s view, Obama said, “I don’t know how you have an international agreement where we are all not sharing information . . . . That doesn’t make sense. It would be a hollow victory.”
Even before Obama spoke, Wen appeared defensive, as if compelled to address the charge that China is impeding an agreement. For several minutes he ticked off China’s progress on green energy. From 2005 to 2008, he said, “China has enjoyed the fastest growth of renewable energy” in the world. China, he added, now ranks first in the world in terms of installed hydropower and nuclear plants under construction.
Wen reminded leaders there is general acceptance that China, as a developing country, should not be held to the same emissions standards as the developed world. “China has a 1.3 billion population,” he said. “According to U.N. standards, we still have 150 million people living below the poverty line. We therefore face the arduous task of developing the economy and improving people’s lives.”
In general, the United States agrees with that assessment. But Obama said China must beef up its emissions monitoring and reporting, calling it a necessary step for a credible accord on greenhouse gas emissions. (Obama’s call also has a political dimension, because Senate Democrats say they will struggle to pass a climate bill without verifiable assurances that China is serious about curbing emissions.)
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Sheriff Joe’s Tortured in Hades, and Will Arizona’s New U.S. Attorney Follow El Diablo’s Lead?
Posted by admin in Political Mix on December 19th, 2009
by Stephen Lemons - Dec. 15, 2009 5:52pm
New Times - Phoenix
ARPAIO IN HELL
I’d perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on just about any man — if his life were at stake! But what about Sheriff Joe Arpaio, say, if he were suffering a heart attack?
No way! That was my initial response to this ethical hypothetical, because Maricopa County would definitely be better off without him. But then it occurred to me that Joe is a human being. Well, isn’t he? Hmmm?
Such were my thoughts on seeing myself depicted in the New Carpa Theater’s recent production of writer/director James Garcia’s American Pastorela: The Saga of Sheriff Joe. Yeah, that’s right, I was name-checked and given my own character in the play, which features Arpaio croaking in the first scene after getting grilled by yours truly during a press event.
James Rivas, who portrays a properly buffoonish Sheriff Joe, recognizes me by name in the handful of reporters clustered round him, and refers to me as an “all-around pain in my behind.” I — as played by Jerry Mendoza — press him on profiling brown folks during his infamous anti-immigrant sweeps, and Joe drops of a myocardial infarction right then and there.
Being the only Fourth Estater present who knows CPR, I’m cajoled into sitting on the supine sheriff’s lap and pumping his chest. As if that weren’t bad enough, the other reporters suggest that I really should perform mouth-to-mouth on the croaking leader of Maricopa County’s ruling junta (otherwise known as the MCSO).
Thankfully for my reputation, my character draws the line at going lips to lips with the septuagenarian, and Arpaio’s off to Hades to meet with El Diablo.
Just before being dragged off-stage by machine-gun toting MCSO thugs, I’m asked by another reporter for my reaction to Arpaio’s demise, to which I reply, “Well, he was an endless source of entertainment.”
In a subsequent scene, Arpaio awakes in Hell, dressed only in a wife-beater, a pair of autographed pink boxers, and characteristic black socks and dress shoes. When he wonders where he is, one of Lucifer’s servants, played by actress Michelle Burchfield, tells him he’s in Satan-country, informing him, “Stephen Lemons almost saved your life.”
“Lemons!?” barks Arpaio, comically. Arpaio then goes on to make a deal with the devil, who’ll allow him to return to the land of the living as long as he does his bidding, and prevents a shepherd family from Mexico from seeing the baby Jesus born in Phoenix.
See, a pastorela, as the name suggests, is essentially a retelling of the Nativity story, with herders of sheep trekking off to see the newborn son of God. Such pageants have a long tradition in Mexico, dating back to Spanish Colonial times, where they were used to convert indigenous peoples to Catholicism.
Humor is often an essential element to pastorelas, and playwright Garcia doesn’t fail us here. My favorite part is when Arpaio, who fails to prevent the shepherds from reaching their destination, must return to Hell and face trial before a tribunal made up of Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and a high-heel wearing J. Edgar Hoover. The charge: Arpaio ain’t evil enough.
Oh, the irony.
Arpaio’s defended — kinda sorta — by Phoenix attorney and activist Danny Ortega, also played by Mendoza. Here I have to point out that the thin, handsome Mendoza makes for a better Ortega than a version of me. Casting-wise. Should he want to play me in the film version, he should be prepared to pack on the poundage like Robert De Niro in Raging Bull.
Sarah Palin’s Fake Bus Tour
Posted by admin in Mix Up TV, Political Mix on December 6th, 2009
Blagojevich Evidence Stolen From Burglary At Lawyer’s Offices
Posted by admin in Political Mix on December 6th, 2009
By Market Mix Up - Dec. 6, 2009
Political Mix
Imagine that… I wonder how the burglar knew to go in and steal Blagojevich’s evidence out of the rest. And how will he ever get a fair case? Just seems a little fishy is all I’m saying. Not to say he’s wasn’t already screwed…
Read the full story at The Huffington Post.
Will The Unemployment Disaster Be Obama’s Katrina?
Posted by admin in Political Mix, Unemployment on December 5th, 2009
Market Mix Up
By Arianna Huffington - Nov. 23, 2009 06:14 PM
The Huffington Post
There’s a Category 5 storm about to make landfall, and the president and the officials in charge of preparing for the approaching disaster don’t seem to be particularly worried. Sound familiar?
Just as Katrina exposed critical weaknesses in the priorities and competence of the Bush administration, the unfolding unemployment disaster is threatening to do the same for the Obama White House.
The members of the Obama administration may not be attending a birthday party at John McCain’s ranch in Sedona or shopping for expensive Ferragamo shoes in New York as a great American city is destroyed, but their decidedly lackadaisical response to what job losses are doing to multiple great American cities raises the question: will unemployment be Barack Obama’s Katrina?
His economic team’s resistance to a second round of stimulus, “lukewarm” reaction to Congressional jobs legislation, and prioritization of deficit reduction over job creation certainly has the feel of a taking-in-the-damage-from-2,500-feet flyover moment.
“There is no discussion of a package like a second stimulus,” said deputy White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki. “But we are working closely with Congress and consulting with outside experts to determine the right policies and next steps.” No word on whether those outside experts include the 1 in 6 workers currently unemployed or underemployed.
Of course, the real problem isn’t the outside experts; the administration’s wrongheaded approach is a classic inside job. Sen. Sherrod Brown summed it up on CNN, telling John King that when it comes to putting the focus on Main Street, the president’s “advisors are mixed.”
Which makes one wonder: what level of unemployment would it take to unmix them? Even 10.2 percent, the highest level in 26 years, after 22 straight months of job losses, doesn’t seem to have quickened the pulse of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner.
And it’s not like the levees haven’t begun to crack, with the real unemployment rate — factoring in discouraged and partially employed workers — at 17.5 percent, the unemployment rate for workers aged 16 to 24 at 19 percent, and the unemployment rate for young African-Americans at 30 percent. What’s more, the average length of unemployment is at a record high, while the ratio of job seekers to open positions is now 6 to 1.
A new ABC/Washington Post poll reported that 30 percent of Americans say someone in their home has lost a job. I’m guessing that Summers and Geithner are comfortably in the other 70 percent. But even if it hasn’t hit home for them, it should be clear that unemployment is going to be the singular issue of 2010.
Congressional Democrats have certainly gotten the message — and have grown tired of waiting for the White House to take the lead. According to The Hill, House Democratic leaders, including Speaker Pelosi, are “worried they’ve appeared unresponsive to rising unemployment because they were absorbed by health care.” The article also says that Harry Reid has told colleagues he wants a jobs bill soon.
As John Larson, the fourth-ranking House Democrat puts it: “It’s jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Members of this caucus feel… that a jobless recovery is just simply unacceptable to us.”
The problem for the White House and for the Democratic Party — and, most importantly, for the country — is that the administration’s response on jobs is being led by Summers, who actually opposed the extension of unemployment benefits Obama just signed. At this point you have to wonder what Obama’s attachment to Summers and Geithner is. We know if you become a target of Glenn Beck and cause five seconds of embarrassment to the administration you need to start updating your resume (ask Van Jones), but if you slowly bring down the administration, and the party, and the country, that’s apparently fine.
The Dumbest Stimulus Plan to Date
Posted by admin in Mixed Economy, Political Mix on December 5th, 2009
by Morgan Housel - Dec. 4, 2009
The Motley Fool
Look how far we’ve come, Fools: One year ago, banks were ridiculed for making so many bad loans. Today, they’re being threatened with fines for not making enough.
Earlier this year, the government enacted a $75 billion stimulus program to entice banks to modify mortgages. So far, the program has been a dud. In order to ensure that banks and mortgage servicers are doing their part, the Treasury warned on Monday that those not modifying fast enough “will be subject to consequences which could include monetary penalties and sanctions.”
Modify more mortgages, or be fined. Yikes. This is serious business. But why is the program failing so hard that banks and servicers have to be threatened with fines?
First, the numbers. There are two phases to the modification process: the trial modification, where a bank or servicer modifies the loan, and a second step, in which the modification is made permanent. In order to become permanent, borrowers have to make three on-time payments and document their financial condition.
So far, trial modifications have been on fire:
|
Month |
Trial Modifications Granted (cumulative) |
|---|---|
| May and Prior | 50,130 |
| June | 143,276 |
| July | 253,673 |
| August | 386,865 |
| September | 487,081 |
| October | 650,994 |
Source: makinghomesaffordable.gov.
No complaints there. The original goal was to hit 500,000 trial modifications by early November. Done and done.
Permanent modifications are another story. Data is hard to come by — the Treasury conveniently leaves out current figures — but with straight faces, the Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development recently predicted that 375,000 trial modifications will be made permanent by year end.
Now here comes the punchline: The Congressional Oversight Panel reports that from March until September, only 1,711 trial modifications were made permanent. Ouch.
Among these 1,711 permanent modifications, just one small servicer, Ocwen Financial Group (NYSE: OCN), claims it alone accounts for 44.6% of the total. Back out Ocwen’s percentage, and the rest of the mortgage industry made a nearly insignificant number of trial modifications permanent.
The Anti-Arpaio Haymarket Squares Storm the Cronkite Building
Posted by admin in Mix Up TV, Political Mix on December 5th, 2009
By Stephen Lemons in Feathered Bastard - NewTimes.com
Fri., Dec. 4 2009 @ 7:02PM
Because I was upstairs at the Cronkite School building this past Monday watching Sheriff Joe get blistered by the journalism profs, then sung off the stage by the Freddie Mercury impersonators, I missed all the action taking place on the ground floor. There, a peaceful revolt was in full swing, with the anti-Joe forces storming the lobby, led by the Phoenix punkgrass group the Haymarket Squares.
The Haymarket Squares attack the Cronkite School with punkgrass
Named for the infamous Haymarket Square Riot of 1886, the folksy trio recall such politically-minded performers of yore as Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. In this video, they have the crowd clapping and singing along with them for their song “Sheriff Joe,” which includes some pretty cool lyrics. Check these out:
Law enforcement has become a joke around here
The biggest terrorist in town is ruling us with fear
Calls himself the toughest sheriff but we all know
He’s an evil old man that Sheriff Joe…
I particularly like the part where they reference some of the victims of Joe’s jails, such as Phillip Wilson, Deborah Braillard, and Jeremy Flanders.
In ‘96 an inmate took a tent stake to the head
In ‘03 the Aryans beat a man to death
A diabetic woman needed insulin and begged
Arpaio’s crew just let her die instead
Chilling words, and oh, so true, as New Times readers are well aware.
I’m looking forward to hearing the Haymarket Squares play live. Their next date is at Mardi Gras on the 11th, and they have their songs available on iTunes and elsewhere. We need more revolutionary-type music in this burg. Looks like the Haymarketers aim to provide it. More power to ‘em.
