Ecosystem Update: Who's Got A Case Of The Mondays?

(Reuters) - Anonymous, a hacker group sympathetic to WikiLeaks, plans to release e-mails obtained from Bank of America Corp early Monday morning, according to posts on the group's Twitter feed.

The group, unrelated to the document leak website founded by Julian Assange, said it plans to release documents exposing "corruption and fraud" at the largest U.S. bank by assets.

Link.

Who Inspired This Man? What Inspired This Man?

The man who shot this woman point blank in the head? She's Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).

Giffords, 40, took her seat in Congress in 2007 and has advocated for immigration reform, among other Democratic-led issues. She was among 20 members of Congress who were on former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's so-called "hit list," depicted in a graphic online with targeting crosshairs over their individual districts, still viewable on her Facebook page. "Palin has crosshairs on our district; people have to realize there are consequences to that," Giffords told MSNBC. Link.

Back in June 2010, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords's (D-AZ) Republican opponent Jesse Kelly had an event at which voters could shoot an assault rifle with the candidate, promoted as thus:

Get on Target for Victory in November Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly

The "Ecosystem Of Corruption"

Hmmmm...it looks like Julian Assange of Wikileaks may be sitting on a rather interesting (and large) pile of emails from a large U.S. bank. A pile that he says will illustrate the "ecosystem of corruption"...

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It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms, I presume.
...

Yes, there will be some flagrant violations, unethical practices that will be revealed, but it will also be all the supporting decision-making structures and the internal executive ethos that cames out, and that’s tremendously valuable.
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You could call it the ecosystem of corruption. But it’s also all the regular decision making that turns a blind eye to and supports unethical practices: the oversight that’s not done, the priorities of executives, how they think they’re fulfilling their own self-interest. The way they talk about it.
...

A major U.S. bank...Got any guesses? The full interview here.

Only One Solution

We can't help but wonder how much coverage the corporate media will give to other plans to reduce the deficit. To what extent will the corporate media follow conservative talking points by repeating endlessly that the only way to solve the problem is by cutting existing programs--and completely ignore growth and job creation as viable alternatives.

Alternative plans DO exist. Alternative possibilities DO exist. Austerity DOES NOT have to happen:

The Blueprint takes a very different approach from other prominent proposals, specifically prioritizing a strong economic recovery because widespread job creation and robust economic growth are essential to successful deficit reduction.

The plan will produce the following short- and long-term results:

Substantial and sustained increased funding for job creation and investments, especially in the near term; A budget path that significantly improves the 10-year budget outlook;

A transition from a primary deficit to a primary surplus in 2018, and sustainable debt levels by the end of the decade;

An improvement in the long-term path for public debt, stabilizing debt as a share of the economy beyond 2025;

A solid footing for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for the long term; and A modernized tax code that raises adequate revenue fairly and efficiently.

The Blueprint’s budget path boosts funding for near-term job creation, achieves lower deficits in the medium-term and balances the primary federal budget in less than a decade. It does so with the recognition that boosting—rather than cutting—spending on national priorities, including infrastructure, transportation, technology and education, is critical to American prosperity.

If our entire economy's health is predicated on spending money, then how can it be a good thing to freeze wages? Or to not invest in infrastructure, transportation, technology, or education? See, 'cause if people don't have money, they don't buy stuff. That's kind of an important concept here. Firing people, freezing wages and not investing in our country won't help matters.

Here are some more ideas you'll never hear or see again:

Use our tax dollars wisely by making targeted, common-sense cuts to military spending.

Shore up funding for Social Security by expanding the payroll tax to include more of the earnings of high-income individuals.

Get the economy back on track by investing in immediate job creation and a strong economic recovery.

Do you need to be reminded that it's all about the children (like they say in church)?

Create the foundation for long-run economic growth by increasing investment in early childhood education, quality child care, infrastructure, public transit, rural broadband connectivity and research and development.

And before we go, do you need to be reminded that you are not a millionaire?

Rebalance the tax code by repealing the Bush-era tax cuts for top earners and by taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income.

Who wrote this strange report?

Demos, EPI and The Century Foundation have produced a budget blueprint for economic recovery and fiscal responsibility. The blueprint prioritizes a strong economic recovery because widespread job creation and robust economic growth are essential to successful deficit reduction. Investing in America's Future is a project of Demos, EPI and The Century Foundation.

We will not have a strong economy unless and until the middle class is strong again. Policies that result in weakening the middle class even further will not help. But those will be the only policy options presented to us by politicians and the corporate media.

Well? What Are You Waiting For?!

We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to undo all the progress we made in the 20th century...

Farmers: Does Dan Soucek Hate Us, Too?

And one more thing, also from Watauga Watch:

On state budgeting and priorities, Soucek said education is a top priority, but then when asked where he'd cut the state budget, he suggested eliminating the Golden Leaf Foundation, which he said would save $570 million. Which we reckon would make the $150,000 grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation for laptops for Watauga High School students just more needless pork.

This is the Golden Leaf Charter:

The Golden LEAF Foundation was formed under a charter established by the North Carolina General Assembly. According to the charter, the Golden LEAF Foundation “shall promote the social welfare and lessen the burdens of government [by using its funds] to provide economic impact assistance to economically affected or tobacco-dependent regions of North Carolina in accordance with the Consent Decree [between the state of North Carolina and cigarette manufacturers].”

Activities to be supported include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Education assistance for tobacco farmers and other workers affected or projected to be affected by a decline in production of tobacco products.


• Job training and employment assistance for tobacco farmers and other workers dependent on tobacco farming, production and sales to transition to other sources of income.


• Scientific research to develop new uses for tobacco or for the development of alternative cash crops.


• Economic hardship assistance experienced by tobacco farmers, quota owners, their families and others as a result of decline in quota and/or production of tobacco or tobacco products.


• Public works and industrial recruitment to local governments for upgrading utilities, transportation, and other public service infrastructure to attract new businesses or for more general economic development purposes.


• Health and human services to improve health care and other social services needed to maintain the stability of tobacco-dependent communities.


• Community assistance in the form of grants and/or loans to economically depressed and deteriorating tobacco-dependent communities, to be used exclusively for public purposes.

What Would You Cut?

Why would a freedom-loving Teabagger threaten to sue a radio station for showing a video of an interview that the Teabagger voluntarily agreed to do at the radio station? Maybe because it reveals a little too much about the Teabagger? We could have sworn that Teabaggers/conservatives were against frivolous lawsuits. To top it all off, the Teabagger was being interviewed by a conservative talk show host.

Oh, the evil media! Things get fun at about 4:36. Grab some popcorn.

Why Does Dan Soucek Hate Watauga County Students?

From Watauga Watch:

On state budgeting and priorities, Soucek said education is a top priority, but then when asked where he'd cut the state budget, he suggested eliminating the Golden Leaf Foundation, which he said would save $570 million. Which we reckon would make the $150,000 grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation for laptops for Watauga High School students just more needless pork.

The Drop Zone

In its entirety, the letter to advertisers from Tides Foundation CEO Drummond Pike concerning Glenn Beck and his followers:

Dear Fox Advertiser,

I am writing to ask your company to take a simple step that may well save lives in the future. And it is not unimportant that taking this action will remove your company and its products from any connection to what could very likely be an unpleasant tragedy, should things remain as they are today. On behalf of my organization, and many others like it, I ask that you cease advertising on the Fox News Channel.

This is neither a hollow request, nor one rhetorically made. There is an urgency to it born of our own direct experience as the target of a would-be assassin inspired by Fox's Glenn Beck Show.

On July 19th of this year, I arrived at our San Francisco office to learn that a misguided person carrying numerous guns and body armor had been on his way to start a "revolution" by murdering my colleagues and me. The Oakland Police Department called to tell us that, following a 12 minute shootout with the California Highway Patrol, law enforcement officials arrested an assailant who had targeted the Tides Foundation, an organization which I founded and currently serve as CEO, and the ACLU for violence. To say we were "shocked" does not adequately describe our reaction. Imagine, for a moment, that you were us and, had it not been for a sharp eyed highway patrolman, a heavily armed man in full body armor would have made it to your office with the intent to kill you and your colleagues. His motive? Apparently, it was because the charitable, nonpartisan programs we run are deemed part of a conspiracy to undermine America and the capitalist system, which is hogwash.

Although not a political organization, the Tides Foundation has been a frequent target of misinformation, propaganda, and outright lies by Fox News' Glenn Beck. Since his arrival at Fox in early 2009, Beck has repeatedly vilified Tides, suggesting we are intent on "creat[ing] a mass organization to seize power." He accuses the foundation of indoctrination and says we are "involved in some of the nastiest of the nasty." Beck tells viewers that Tides has "funneled" money to "some of the most extreme groups on the left" and that our mission is to "warp your children's brains and make sure they know how evil capitalism is." In total, prior to the attempted rampage, Beck had attacked the Tides Foundation 29 times. On September 28th, more than a month after the shooting, Beck reiterated his focus on the Tides Foundation, warning, "I'm coming for you." In jailhouse interviews, the gunman confessed he views Beck as a "schoolteacher" who "blew my mind." My would-be killer admitted that Beck "give[s] you every ounce of evidence you could possibly need" to commit violence.

Beck is a self-described "Progressive Hunter" who relies on violent rhetoric. Do you really think that the millions of Americans who describe themselves as "progressive" need to be "hunted down"? If so, to what end?

For hours every day on radio and television, Beck pits American against American, telling his audience that our country is under attack by a demonic Nazi-like regime seeking to destroy all that is great about America while insisting it's up to his viewers to resist and revolt. He warned his audience that "these are the most dangerous two years of our republic. Because in the end, in revolutions, the real dangerous killers show up." Beck even compared our government to vampires while instructing his viewers to "drive a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers" and pretended to poison Speaker Pelosi on television. A few months later, Gregory Giusti was was arrested for repeatedly threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- including threatening to destroy her home -- because he was upset over health care reform. The man's mother told a local news station he listens to those with "really radical ideas," adding, "I'd say Fox News or all of those that are really radical."

When I started the Tides organizations 35 years ago, I did so in the very American belief that ordinary citizens had a role to play in our democratic process. It was, I thought, the responsibility of everyone to become engaged in our civic life, and for years we've worked with thousands of Americans to do just that. And, while we support progressive values and goals, we respect the rights and voices of those with whom we disagree on issues. Never in our history have we tolerated employees or grantees that support those who would do harm to others. By supporting Fox News Channel, you and your company are risking your reputation and good standing because they are doing just this.

As you may know, a coordinated advertiser boycott by Media Matters and Color of Change, an online civil rights group, has caused Glenn Beck's Fox News show to lose over 100 sponsors. Despite the campaign's success, Fox insists it has had no impact on the channel's profitability because the overall demand for advertisements on Fox has remained stable. Companies are still paying to advertise on Fox News, but their ads are simply moved to a different time of day. Thus, businesses that pay to broadcast commercials on Fox News are subsidizing Glenn Beck's television show by continuing to pump money into the network. It has become clear that the only way to stop supporting Beck is to stop supporting Fox News.

I respectfully request that you bring this matter of your company's sponsorship of hate speech leading to violence to the attention of your fellow directors as soon as possible. I believe no responsible company should advertise on Fox News due to its recent and on-going deplorable conduct.

While we may agree to disagree about the role our citizens and our government should play in promoting social justice and the common good, there should be no disagreement about what constitutes integrity and professionalism and responsibility in discourse - even when allowing for and encouraging contending diverse opinions intelligently argued. This is not a partisan issue. It's an American issue. No one, left, right or center, wants to see another Oklahoma City.

The next "assassin" may succeed, and if so, there will be blood on many hands. The choice is yours. Please join my call to do the right thing in this regard and put Fox News at arm's length from your company by halting your advertising with them.

Sincerely,

Drummond Pike

CEO and Founder, Tides

Take action here.

Area radio stations that carry Beck's radio show:

WHKY 1290 AM Hickory

WSIC 1400 AM Statesville

WFHG 92.7 FM Abingdon, VA

Damming The Flow

Corporate control of elections is working well. So why wouldn't corporate control of the flow of information on the internet work well too?

On Net Neutrality, government-that-works means ensuring that citizens, innovators, and creators -- not large corporations or the government - control the flow of information.

More here.

Right Back At Ya

Just One Lottery Ticket Away...

Local teabaggers will be having a rally in Jefferson on October 16th. It will be interesting to see how much coverage they get from goblowridge.newt.

Will the teabaggers ever understand who owns them?

Useful Idiots

Are you one?

Way back in the day, some notable journalists and left-leaning intellectuals allowed themselves to be fooled by the likes of Mao and Stalin. Fooled into thinking that these brutal dictators had somehow managed to create "Utopian Societies" in their countries. The BBC is doing an excellent job covering this fascinating story.

But who are the useful idiots of today? We would suggest that the useful idiots of today are the teabaggers.

Why? Because they are being used to spread the agenda of a tiny, wealthy elite in the U.S. That's the "useful" part. What the teabaggers do not seem to understand is that if the policies they are being told to support actually were enacted, that they - the teabaggers - would be hurt the most. Yeah, you guessed it--that's the "idiot" part.

Teabaggers, think for a minute--about David H. Koch (full article here):

On May 17th, a black-tie audience at the Metropolitan Opera House applauded as a tall, jovial-looking billionaire took the stage. It was the seventieth annual spring gala of American Ballet Theatre, and David H. Koch was being celebrated for his generosity as a member of the board of trustees; he had recently donated $2.5 million toward the company’s upcoming season, and had given many millions before that.

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A few weeks after the Lincoln Center gala, the advocacy wing of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation—an organization that David Koch started, in 2004—held a different kind of gathering. Over the July 4th weekend, a summit called Texas Defending the American Dream took place in a chilly hotel ballroom in Austin. Though Koch freely promotes his philanthropic ventures, he did not attend the summit, and his name was not in evidence. And on this occasion the audience was roused not by a dance performance but by a series of speakers denouncing President Barack Obama. Peggy Venable, the organizer of the summit, warned that Administration officials “have a socialist vision for this country.”

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Americans for Prosperity has worked closely with the Tea Party since the movement’s inception. In the weeks before the first Tax Day protests, in April, 2009, Americans for Prosperity hosted a Web site offering supporters “Tea Party Talking Points.” The Arizona branch urged people to send tea bags to Obama; the Missouri branch urged members to sign up for “Taxpayer Tea Party Registration” and provided directions to nine protests. The group continues to stoke the rebellion. The North Carolina branch recently launched a “Tea Party Finder” Web site, advertised as “a hub for all the Tea Parties in North Carolina.”

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The Republican campaign consultant said of the family’s political activities, “To call them under the radar is an understatement. They are underground!” Another former Koch adviser said, “They’re smart. This right-wing, redneck stuff works for them. They see this as a way to get things done without getting dirty themselves.” Rob Stein, a Democratic political strategist who has studied the conservative movement’s finances, said that the Kochs are “at the epicenter of the anti-Obama movement. But it’s not just about Obama. They would have done the same to Hillary Clinton. They did the same with Bill Clinton. They are out to destroy progressivism.”

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The Kochs’ subsidization of a pro-corporate movement fulfills, in many ways, the vision laid out in a secret 1971 memo that Lewis Powell, then a Virginia attorney, wrote two months before he was nominated to the Supreme Court. The antiwar movement had turned its anger on defense contractors, such as Dow Chemical, and Ralph Nader was leading a public-interest crusade against corporations. Powell, writing a report for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged American companies to fight back. The greatest threat to free enterprise, he warned, was not Communism or the New Left but, rather, “respectable elements of society”—intellectuals, journalists, and scientists. To defeat them, he wrote, business leaders needed to wage a long-term, unified campaign to change public opinion.

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Do. You. Get. It? They are using you to push an agenda that will make THEM more money. Not YOU.

WXIT Goodness With Karl

Thanks so much to the corporate media tools at WXIT-AM for carrying Rush. We got an extra treat recently when Rush went on vacation (or rehab, whatevah). His fill in host was none other than THE Karl Rove. And oh, did he SUCK:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Scintillating. He probably even lost the local tea-bagger audience, with all his references to footnotes and appendices. Know your audience, Karl. Try to keep it to one syllable or less.

Don't Be Evil

WASHINGTON – Free Press, MoveOn.org Civic Action, CREDO Action, the Progressive Campaign Change Committee and ColorofChange.org today delivered petitions on behalf of more than 300,000 people challenging Google to stand by its “don’t be evil” motto and to call off a deal with Verizon that would jeopardize the future of the open Internet.

“It shouldn’t be left to the whims of two companies to decide for the rest of us how the Internet works,” said Josh Silver, president of Free Press. “We’ve seen the disasters that can happen when industry giants are left to regulate themselves. Unless we want to see the Internet go the way of the Gulf of Mexico and AIG, our leaders in Washington need to reject the Google-Verizon deal and get back to making policies that truly protect Internet users and the open Internet.”

More here.

Everything Is Fine

Looks like some banks in North Carolina are getting ready to go belly up. Should you worry your pretty little head? Of course not:

Harry Davis, an economist for the N.C. Bankers Association, was surprised by the growth in the number of troubled banks. However, like Smith, he doesn't anticipate a large number of failures.

"The reason there are so many problem banks right now isn't because they were poorly managed," said Davis, who is also an Appalachian State University banking professor. "It's because the absolute bottom has fallen out of the economy."

While one might certainly expect someone who works for the banking industry in NC to say something like the above, recent SEC filings from one troubled regional bank seem to indicate that the FDIC has had a few concerns with the quality of management at the bank being, ummmm, less than good, maybe:

� Within 90 days of the Order, develop and implement a written strategic plan covering at least three years consistent with sound banking practices to improve the Bank's operating performance;

� Within 30 days of the Order, appoint a committee of the Board of Directors that is responsible for overseeing compliance with the Order and providing progress reports to the full Board regarding compliance with the Order; and

� Develop a budget designed to improve net interest margin, increase interest income, reduce discretionary expenses, and improve and sustain earnings.

The above 8K filing was from 2009. Kinda looks like the FDIC wanted to see some managerial improvements way back then.

Not poorly managed?

� Cease to extend additional credit to any borrower who has a loan or extension of credit with the Bank that is classified as "Loss" or "Doubtful";

� Within 45 days, adopt and implement a plan regarding the Bank's liquidity, contingent funding and asset liability management and review and revise the plan on a quarterly basis;

� Not pay cash dividends without the prior written consent of the FDIC and the Commissioner;

Local journalists may want to cover this story--that is if they can pry themselves from set of Scrambled Squares. Thank goodness they have their priorities straight.

Corporate Censorship: We Own Your Opinion

If only we could turn over all of our media to the private sector. Then, there would only be efficiency. No inefficient stuff like censorship would exist. Our glorious corporate story would be on view for all to see:

Greed Requires Regulation

This is what the unfettered, deregulated free market has to offer:



Yes, mere "externalities", those lazy birds and fish. Apparently they are not using their bootstraps--otherwise they would have saved themselves by now.

The free market will take care of all of this by allowing BP to go bankrupt--or be taken over. And all that death? All that environmental destruction? All the lost jobs? Just more "externalities."

See, all better. All done.

"How Soon Until The Free Market Stops The Oil Spill?"

From Bob Cesca:

...As I watch these robots slice the riser from the blowout preventer and read the news about lakes of oil moving towards the coasts of Florida, I'm wondering who to blame for this. The list is long, but, in part, I blame anyone who bought into the lines: "government is the problem" and "the era of big government is over." It's been systematic deregulation and the elevation of free market libertarian laissez-faire capitalism that have wrought this damage and allowed potentially destructive corporations to write their own rules and do as they please.
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This oil spill is the culmination of deregulation mania, which started with dear Ronald Reagan. Policies have consequences.

C'mon private sector. What's taking you so long? How come that invisible hand thing ain't workin'? Where's your self interest? Milton? Ronnie? Anyone??

Death On The High Seas & Underground

Have you heard much about the workers who were killed on the Transocean/BP oil rig in the Gulf? Heard anything about the totally outdated laws on the books today dealing with how a deceased worker's family is compensated in the event of an on the job fatality?

Why, its almost as if these workers don't even exist. Certainly, in the eyes of many a multinational, workers are simply viewed as being expendable. And those laws? Well, those same multinationals have a pretty strong interest in making sure that they NEVER get updated.

At about 8:35 in to this video, Ed Schultz talks to the father of a worker killed in the explosion on the Transocean/BP oil rig.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Oh, and just in case you have forgotten--some miners were killed in West Virginia. Remember?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Ah, what deregulation hath wrought. Look at that private sector self-policing itself.