NEWS FLASH

Gingrich Compares Himself To Four Legendary Presidents As He Plans To Bust Courts | 2012 GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said during a Fox News debate in Iowa tonight that he wants to call judges whose rulings he doesn’t agree with before Congress to testify. He then compared himself to four presidents — Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and FDR — in saying that he would take on the courts. Watch it:

As ThinkProgress Justice Editor Ian Millhiser has noted, Gingrich’s court busting schemes are unconstitutional.

If Workers’ Share Of National Income Were At The Post-War Average, They Would Earn An Extra $740 Billion This Year

By Pat Garofalo on Dec 15, 2011 at 6:50 pm

Photo by Flickr use Kyle Ford.

Since 2009, 88 percent of national income growth has gone to corporate profits, while just one percent has gone to wages, adding another chapter to the decline of the middle class, whose incomes have been shrinking and wages stagnating for decades. In fact, according to data analyzed by the Financial Times, workers’ share of national income has fallen to its lowest level on record, and if it were back at the post-war average, workers would earn an additional $740 billion this year:

“We are the 99%”, the slogan of Occupy Wall Street, is a reference to the rising wealth of the top 1 per cent of US income distribution. But an equally valid slogan might be: “We get 58%”.

That figure is the share of US national income that goes to workers as wages rather than to investors as profits and interest. It has fallen to its lowest level since records began after the second world war and is part of the reason why incomes at the top – which tend to be earned from capital – have risen so much. If wages were at their postwar average share of 63 per cent, workers would earn an extra $740bn this year, about $5,000 per worker, according to FT calculations.

This decline in workers’ share of income is actually holding back the national recovery, as “workers on lower wages consume much of their income, while higher wage earners and those with capital income are more likely to save.” Instead of going to the people who are likeliest to spend it, and thus boost the economy, more income is going to corporations and rich people who are just sitting on it. Corporations are actually holding trillions of dollars in cash reserves (and clamoring for more tax breaks), money that could create millions of jobs if it were deployed in a different fashion.

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Climate Progress

Climategate Investigation Warms Up Globally: UK Police Seize TallBloke’s Computers, DOJ Tells U.S. Denier to Preserve Records

By Joe Romm on Dec 15, 2011 at 5:56 pm

Police officers investigating the theft of thousands of private emails between climate scientists from a University of East Anglia server in 2009 have seized computer equipment belonging to a web content editor based at the University of Leeds.

The glacial investigation into the stolen emails has experienced rapid, unprecedented warming that very much appears to be caused by humans, in this case the Norfolk police.

The UK Guardian reports today:

On Wednesday, detectives from Norfolk Constabulary entered the home of Roger Tattersall, who writes a climate sceptic blog under the pseudonym TallBloke, and took away two laptops and a broadband router. A police spokeswoman confirmed on Thursday that Norfolk Constabulary had “executed a search warrant in West Yorkshire and seized computers”. She added: “No one was arrested. Investigations into the [UEA] data breach and publication [online of emails] continues. This is one line of enquiry in a Norfolk constabulary investigation which started in 2009″….

Both Tattersall and a US-based climate sceptic blogger known as Jeff Id said they had received a “formal request” via the blogging platform WordPress from the US Department of Justice’s criminal division, dated 9 December, to preserve “all stored communications, records, and other evidence in your possession” related to their own blogs as well as to Climate Audit, a climate sceptic blog run by a Canadian mining consultant called Steve McIntyre. All three blogs had received messages from “FOIA” last month pointing to the link hosting a second tranche of emails first taken from the UEA in 2009.

It’s funny to see the hyperventilating at the denier websites. As you know, the deniers routinely assume any scientist being independently investigated is almost certainly guilty, that any scientist exonerated by an independent investigation is definitely guilty, and that thousands of actual evidence-based studies are part of a grand conspiracy to deceive humanity.

Unlike the deniers, however, we stay evidence-based, so the fact that the police have seized TallBloke’s computers and told a U.S. denier not to delete or destroy any evidence is not proof in the least bit of their involvement in any crime.

Here’s more of the story:

Health

Bachmann: ‘The Number One Way We’ll Advance The Cause Of Life’ Is By Repealing Health Reform

By Igor Volsky on Dec 15, 2011 at 5:48 pm

Like Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann found no irony in calling for the repeal legislation that would extend health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans (and already insured 2.5 million young adults) at a “pro-life” event last night, saying, “the number one way we’ll advance the cause of life is through the 100 percent repeal of Obamacare.” Speaking at the premiere of The Gift of Life, an anti-abortion movie, Bachmann also criticized the administration for denying greater access to the morning after pill, despite agreeing with the decision. She warned that if re-elected, the administration would surely make Plan B available “on the grocery store aisles next to bubble gums and next to M&Ms.” Watch it:

Of course the morning after pill will never be available in candy aisles. Currently, the medication can only be purchased behind the counter by women 17 and older — meaning that they do not need a prescription but they have to ask a pharmacist for the drug. Those 16 and younger need a prescription in order to obtain it.

Meanwhile, all available data — both in Massachusetts and around the world — shows that women contemplating an abortion are far less likely to seek one if they can afford health insurance for themselves, and feel confident they can provide quality medical care to their newborn children. Therefore, repealing health reform would not only violate the general concept of supporting human life, it would also destroy the “life” of the fetuses that conservatives talk so much about protecting.

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Economy

Statewide Budget Cuts Force Ohio Town To Turn Off Street Lights To Save Money

By Travis Waldron on Dec 15, 2011 at 5:45 pm

In the aftermath of the recession, states across the country have cut their budgets, in turn forcing cities and towns in those states to make their own drastic cuts. Different towns have made different decisions, with some closing libraries, un-paving roads, closing schools, and even attempting to decriminalize domestic violence, all in efforts to save money.

In November, Highland Park, Michigan decided it could no longer afford to pay the electric bill and shut off its street lights. And despite the fact that such a move saves little money and could jeopardize public safety, New Paris, Ohio is following suit, announcing this week that it too will shut off its street lights when it ends its contract with a local electrical company at the end of the month, as WDTN reports:

Officials say the village’s funding from the state has been slashed by 25-percent and another 25-percent will be cut next year.

So to try to make ends meet, the village is preparing to end its contract with Dayton Power and Light at the end of the month.

That would save more than $17,000, but leaders fear it could also cost villagers in safety.

Towns and cities across Ohio have felt the crunch from Gov. John Kasich’s (R) budget cuts, and decisions like the one New Paris made could have been avoided had Kasich and his Republican colleagues not preserved millions in benefits for the rich and corporations. Ohio Republicans cut the state’s estate tax, lowered its income tax in a way that benefited those with incomes over $200,000, and preserved multiple special interest tax breaks to benefit corporations.

None of that, of course, has brought the job creation and prosperity Kasich promised upon taking office. Instead, he’s decided to uphold his duty to protect public safety by leaving prison guard towers empty and forcing local towns like New Paris to black out their streets.

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Security

Congress’s Sanctions Push Could Threaten Obama’s International Coalition On Iran

By Guest Blogger on Dec 15, 2011 at 5:45 pm

Our guest blogger is Peter Juul, national security policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

The National Defense Authorization Act recently passed by the Senate contains several major provisions relating to U.S. policy on Iran, including controversial new sanctions involving Iran’s Central Bank. It authorizes President Obama to impose sanctions directly on the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), but does not require him to do so. However, it does require the president to impose sanctions — not on Iran, but on other foreign banks that do business with the CBI or other Iranian financial institutions designated by the Treasury Department for sanctions or other penalties. In other words, foreign banks that do business with the Central Bank of Iran would be barred from doing business in the United States.

The measures in the defense bill do give President Obama some wiggle room — for instance, allowing him to issue waivers every 120 days — but do not give him the necessary flexibility to conduct the delicate diplomacy required to isolate Iran. As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrote to Congress, “Rather than motivating [our closest allies and largest trading partners] to join us in increasing pressure on Iran, they are more likely to resent our actions and resist following our lead – a consequence that would serve the Iranians more than it harms them.”

While the desire of Congress to further pressure Iran as it continues to refuse to come clean on its nuclear activities is understandable, the smarter policy approach is to give President Obama the tools necessary to maintain the international coalition to hold Iran accountable for its actions and omissions. By threatening to crack this coalition with unilateral actions that could harm even our closest allies with these sanctions, Congress is undermining President Obama’s Iran policy when it should be trying to strengthen it. The sanctions provisions of the defense bill threaten to seriously undercut the painstaking diplomatic action that has left Iran more isolated than ever.

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NEWS FLASH

Marriage Equality Boosts Gay Men’s Health | A new study shows that gay and bisexual men who live in states with marriage equality have improved mental and physical health, require fewer doctor visits, and have lower health-care costs. The study found that in the year after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, gay and bi men had a 13 percent reduction in health-care visits and a 14 percent reduction in health-care costs compared to the previous year.

Climate Progress

‘Don’t Be Evil’ Google CEO Eric Schmidt Laughs Off Petitition To Leave U.S. Chamber Of Commerce

By Brad Johnson on Dec 15, 2011 at 5:30 pm

During an appearance at New York University on Wednesday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was asked to respond to a 200,000-person petition calling on the Internet giant to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Google, whose official motto is “Don’t Be Evil,” officially disagrees with the right-wing lobbying behemoth on climate change, Internet regulation, intellectual property rights, LGBT rights, privacy rights, net neutrality, and women’s rights, yet continues to fund the Chamber’s radical agenda. The new activist organization SumOfUs has launched the Google Quit The Chamber campaign to get Google to act consistent with its supposed values.

Admitting that he knew about the petition effort, Schmidt said that the “Chamber of Commerce has helped us in some areas.” As an example, the Chamber helped him in a dispute over meeting the Chinese prime minister. He said this work was “representing good American values.” With a chuckle, Schmidt said that Google will “see what happens” with the SumOfUs petition:

There are plenty of things we disagree with them on. But I’ll let the petition continue (chuckle), and see what happens.

Watch it:

“Where is Eric Schmidt’s moral compass?” SumOfUs President Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman responded in a statement to ThinkProgress. “The Chamber of Commerce represents the opposite of ‘good American values’ –- not to mention Google’s values. Hundreds of thousands of Google users have made it clear that the Chamber of Commerce’s wars on internet freedom, LGBT and women’s rights, the climate, financial reform, good jobs, and much more are morally incompatible with our own values and with the values of Google’s employees. We call on Eric Schmidt to clarify exactly which ‘good American values’ he believes the Chamber of Commerce represents — and to get Google out of the Chamber immediately. The Chamber’s policies are, frankly, evil. Google, abide by your own principles and don’t be evil.”

Justice

Professor Blasts Bill O’Reilly, Says Need For Voter ID Bills Is The Same For Bills To Protect People From Lightning

By Tanya Somanader on Dec 15, 2011 at 5:30 pm

Republicans across the country are waging a steady war against the American voter, pushing voter suppression and photo ID bills that will potentially disenfranchise students, seniors, minorities, low-income, and millions of other Americans come 2012. Conservatives insist that this regression in civic rights is necessary to combat a demonstrably non-existent problem, voter fraud.

Last night on the O’Reilly Factor, Occidental College political science Prof. Caroline Heldman endeavored to relieve host Bill O’Reilly of his dogged belief that the infinitesimal rate of voter fraud warrants disenfranchising 5 million people. “You’re harboring the misconception that’s you have lots of people trying to vote [fraudulently]. You face five years in prison and a $10,000 fine if you engage in voter fraud, that’s why almost nobody does it.”

Condescendingly mocking her expertise, O’Reilly rattled off “stats” to prove that voter fraud is rampant in Wisconsin, which Heldman noted is near 0.000001 of one percent. “Great,” she said. “Where is all the legislation that is trying to protect people that are struck by lightning because that’s really the same priority that this should have on the agenda.” Watch it:

Heldman noted that the voter ID bills that are popping up around the country aren’t in response to an actual problem but actually created by the American Legislative Exchange Commission (ALEC) which has written, printed, and pushed an identical voter ID bill in several different states. In fact, “every single one of the five states that recently passed Voter ID legislation had [ALEC] members as co-sponsors of the legislation.” O’Reilly responded, “I’ve never heard of that,” later adding “it doesn’t matter if its common sense.”

“It’s anti-democratic, it’s going to demobilize 5 million legally registered voters,” Heldman tried again, citing the Brennan Center, ThinkProgress, and the ACLU’s research. “ThinkProgress, that’s a far left outfit,” O’Reilly said. “I don’t believe that for a second.” To which Heldman replied, “They’re crunching numbers, Bill. Numbers are numbers.”

Indeed, there’s really only one problem with the numbers Professor Heldman presented to O’Reilly last night — a voter is actually 39 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit fraud at the polls.

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Alyssa

The Year In Movies

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Dec 15, 2011 at 5:29 pm

A nice year-end supercut, designed to be a comment on movies themselves:

There is something weird about the way the movie year is stacked, a dismal beginning in the early months, wild rides in the middle, and a rush of almost overwhelming quality and sometimes, bliss, towards the end. The nominations lists that have come out over the past couple of days have been disconcerting, but I do think they speak to the fact that we had a lot of truly enjoyable movies and television this year. Watching this, I’m struck by how much fun I had even at movies that I didn’t think were spectacular. There’s a fair bit of dreck out there. But a lot to be grateful for.

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