Louis C.K. apparently decided that, after Daniel Tosh has been the subject of harsh criticism for saying it would be funny if a feminist heckler got gang raped at his show, Tosh is in need of his support. “Your show makes me laugh every time I watch it,” he tweeted. “And you have pretty eyes.” Given C.K.’s long record of comedy that’s self-reflective about privilege and smart about gender—though I do think he’s fallen down both comedically and politically in his attacks on Sarah Palin, and his episode of Louie where he goes after a heckler played by Megan Hilty can be jarring—this is particularly disappointing. Given the reaction I, and other folks, have gotten from comedians today, and a rash of unfortunate attempts at humor that have devolved into bashing women, I kind of think women who care about comedy need C.K.’s championing them more than Daniel Tosh does. And I’m feeling less disappointed by not pulling the trigger on tickets to see him live on this tour.
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NEWS FLASH
Some Republicans Still Insist That Obamacare Is ‘Unconstitutional’ | The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act last month, but that isn’t stopping Republicans from claiming that the law is unconstitutional. During debate over a GOP bill to repeal the measure on Tuesday evening, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) insisted, “we have the vigor of the American people here and it’s totally unsuitable to be saddled by this unconstitutional takings of American liberty.” Watch it:
Update
Earlier in the debate, Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) called Obamacare a “violation of our constitutional liberties.”
Why The London Interest Rate Rigging Scandal Makes The Case For Reining In Banks’ Risky Trading
Both UK and US authorities are investigating several banks — most prominently Barclays — for rigging the London InterBank Offered Rate, a benchmark that governs interest rates on all sorts of financial products. According to a report today from Reuters, regulators knew as far back as 2007 that banks were manipulating LIBOR, but little was done to address the problem.
Banks were gaming LIBOR in order to profit off of its movements, and to make themselves look healthier during the financial crisis of 2008 than they actually were. “If attempts to manipulate LIBOR were successful — and the regulators think that Barclays did manage it, on occasion — then this would be the biggest securities fraud in history, affecting investors and borrowers around the world,” according to The Economist.
As CNN Money’s Stephen Gandel noted, the fact that banks were looking to profit off LIBOR’s movements shows the emphasis that they have put on trading over more traditional lending — and makes the case for rules that rein such risky trading in:
The real story, and the long-term concern for regulators, is not that lending rates were fixed, but how much of the business of big banks these days is driven by trading, not lending. Clearly, Barclays and other banks believed they could make more money on their trading desk manipulating the rate, then they would lose in their lending operations…All this appears to be more evidence for why we need a strong Volcker rule that separates lending from trading.
The $9 billion trading bust at JP Morgan Chase also shows the wisdom of restricting the ability of the biggest banks to engage in risky trades that are divorced from commercial banking practices. Instead, the Volcker Rule — the part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law meant to address this problem — has been consistently watered down due to intense bank lobbying and compliant members of Congress.
NEWS FLASH
California Department Of Health Targets LGBT Community With Anti-Smoking Billboard | The California Department of Health (CDH) has put up an anti-smoking advertisement specifically targeting the LGBT community, which has about twice as many smokers as the general population does. The increased rate of smoking may be partially due to the fact that tobacco companies specifically market to the LGBT community. The Center for Disease Control also targeted the LGBT community in their recent anti-smoking campaign. The contact information on the billboard is CDH’s toll-free number.
Obama Offers Health Insurance To Seasonal Firefighters
After visiting Colorado Springs, one of the towns most devastated by ongoing wildfires, President Obama instructed officials to offer federal health insurance to seasonal firefighters, the Denver Post reports.
Hundreds of seasonal firefighters—a force comprised mostly of young people and college students—have been battling especially severe wildfires in Colorado and other Western states, risking both immediate danger and long-term health consequences from bronchitis to lung cancer. Obama reportedly told his cabinet upon his return that he wanted to “find a solution” for these firefighters, who are not eligible for federal insurance because they are not full-time workers. Earlier this summer, an online petition garnering 126,000 signatures helped promote the cause to insure firefighters and another Denver Post article highlighted the need:
Tales of temporary firefighters or their families suffering from expensive ailments or putting off care are “a dime a dozen,” Lauer said from southeastern Wyoming, on the Russells Camp fire. Lauer is in his sixth temporary season and will soon start University of Denver law school classes but said he worries more about other families.
“The issue really hit home when my godson was born prematurely and his folks got stuck with a huge hospital bill,” Lauer said.That family, Nate Ochs and Constance Van Kley in South Dakota, now has insurance through Ochs’ permanent job. But more than half the Tatanka crew is temporary, without federal insurance, Van Kley said. ”A lot of them are in that phase of beginning to sort out a career and family,” she said. “Being uninsured is stressful even when you’re 19.”
It is not yet clear how many people will now be covered or for how long, as most of these workers will find new jobs by winter. Mark Davis, president of the Forest Service Council of the union, estimated for the Associated Press that the federal government would pay $17.5 million a year to pay its share of premiums for seasonal firefighters working for the Forest Service, which employs about 70 percent of federal firefighters. The Office of Personnel Management will release the directive to provide access to the firefighters by the end of the month and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) has also introduced legislation meant to provide health insurance for firefighters and their families.
In the past, these workers would either forgo health insurance entirely or purchase an individual policy made more expensive by their high-risk jobs. Under Obamacare, by 2014, all uninsured Americans will be able to find coverage in the state exchanges.
Marriage Equality Now a Mainstream Value
Our guest blogger is Ben Harris, intern for LGBT Progress.
A series of polls released over the past two months confirms that marriage equality is now a mainstream value. Public opinion polls by Gallup, ABC, NBC, and CNN have found support at 50, 53, 54, and 54 percent, respectively. This represents the highest support for marriage equality ever recorded. Historically, a majority of Americans have opposed marriage equality. These polls suggest that the public support has hit a tipping point, as polls over the past two years have shown that a clear majority favors the freedom to marry.
The Center for American Progress released an issue brief this week breaking down the numbers and looking forward to November as voters take to the polls to vote on marriage equality referenda in four states. The brief finds that the strong majority backing for equality is buttressed by strong, stable and increasing support from young voters, independents, and people of color – all crucial demographics in the upcoming elections. In fact, current polling suggests that marriage equality is poised to prevail in the four states with marriage on the ballot this fall.
In early May, President Obama became the first sitting president to endorse marriage equality. Polls since then suggest that his announcement strongly influenced African American voters. An ABC News poll found support among black voters at 59 percent after Obama’s announcement, whereas it hovered at about 40 percent beforehand. In the state of Maryland, support for the freedom to marry among black voters skyrocketed from 39 to 55 percent, a complete reversal from just three months ago. The President’s announcement has clearly made an impact in the African American community, one which could prove decisive at the ballot box.
These polls, however, continue to find a significant generational gap in support for marriage equality. While all age groups favor equality more today than a year ago, 73 percent of voters ages 18-34 back the freedom to marry, whereas only 35 percent of voters above the age of 64 do. With regard to political affiliation, recent polls find that about 60 percent of independents favor marriage equality. Both young voters and independents are potentially key voting blocks, and support for marriage equality among each demographic only continues to rise.
Gay couples eager to be married should be cautiously optimistic about the upcoming battles this November, with marriage equality on the ballot in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington. In those states, polls find support at 55, 57, 49, and 54 percent, respectively. What’s even more telling is the gap between those who support and those who oppose equality. In Maine, Maryland, and Washington, that gap is a staggering 20 points. Furthermore, advocates for the freedom to marry have leapt over the so-called “enthusiasm gap.” Today the percentage of voters who strongly support marriage equality outnumbers those who strongly oppose equality by 7 points, indicating that staunch opposition to equality for gay couples is losing steam.
Based on these polls, President Obama’s position on marriage equality now falls squarely in line with the majority of the American public, while Republican lawmakers still lag far behind, including the presumptive Republican nominee for President, Mitt Romney. There are strong signs that the freedom to marry will become law in at least one state this fall. But regardless of what happens in November, support for marriage equality is trending upward, and will likely continue to do so with growing support among young generations and other key demographics.
NEWS FLASH
International Criminal Court Gives First-Ever Prison Sentence | The International Criminal Court, created 10 years ago to try individuals for war crimes and genocide, has handed down its first-ever prison sentence. Thomas Lubanga, a former Congolese warlord, was sentenced to a 14-year jail term for building a rebel army out of child soldiers during the Second Congo War of 2001-2003. The army was accused of murder, rape, and ethnic massacres. After taking into account time-served, Lubanga, who is also the first person to be convicted by the ICC, will spend eight more years in prison. The ICC is investigating seven other cases, all based in Africa, and has issued four arrest warrants for crimes in the DRC since opening its doors in 2003. The United States is not one of the 120 countries that are members of the ICC.
Republican Senator On Romney: ‘It’s Really American To Avoid Paying Taxes’
Though every candidate in the past 30 years has released multiple years of tax returns, Mitt Romney is refusing to do so, reducing surrogates to telling the press to simply “get over it.”
But Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) attempt to defuse the controversy surrounding Romney’s taxes may be a new low for the campaign:
Mitt Romney shouldn’t be criticized for using off-shore tax havens because “it’s really American to avoid paying taxes, legally,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday. [...]
Graham argued that Congress is responsible for tax avoidance because it has crafted such convoluted rules and said he was fine with Romney’s taking advantage of the loopholes.
“As long as it was legal, I’m OK with it,” Graham said. “I don’t blame anybody for using the tax code to their advantage. I blame us for having it so complicated and confused. Pick a rate and make people pay it.”
A recent report by the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) found that tax dodging shifts $100 billion onto taxpaying Americans.
Video: Residents Warn They Can ‘Kiss The Tourism Industry Goodbye’ If A Proposed Coal Mine Is Built Near Bryce Canyon
By Jessica Goad
The Center for American Progress and the Sierra Club are unveiling three documentary videos in a series called “Public Lands, Private Profits.” One of the videos follows residents of Panguitch, Utah, a small town near Bryce Canyon National Park that has been thrust in the middle of an age-old fight between tourism and natural resource extraction.
At issue is a proposed mine on public lands adjacent to an operating mine on private lands owned by the Alton Coal Company (who declined requests for comment). The new mine would effectively quintuple the area under development. Some residents and local business owners fear that the increased truck traffic on Panguitch’s main street will negatively impact tourism, which the county relies on for economic development more than any other county in the state.
The National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other government agencies criticized the U.S. government’s initial study and approval of the project, which failed to address its impacts on climate change. While the mine won’t be seen from Bryce Canyon National Park itself, it is close enough that the park might feel the impacts of pollution from the dust kicked up by the mine, which could negatively impact its famous night skies.
Others in Panguitch, including nearly all of its elected officials, are stalwart in their support of the mine because of the promise of more jobs.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management still has time to get it right in the next round of environmental reviews that it is undertaking. Just today, the agency announced that it will start a supplemental environmental analysis of the proposed new mine. To find out more about this issue or to take action, visit the Sierra Club’s website.
Jessica is the Manager of Research and Outreach for the Public Lands Project at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
Anti-Gay Group Plans Google Boycott: ‘This Is Going To Be A Tough One’
Google has launched a new international initiative called Legalize Love to promote safer conditions for gay and lesbian people in countries with anti-gay laws on the books. Naturally, the American Family Association is now considering a boycott of Google products.
On their radio network, the AFA’s Buster Wilson decried Google’s gay rights campaign, which plans to start its focus in Poland and Singapore before expanding to other countries. Right Wing Watch has the video:
If the AFA thought boycotting Oreos was tough, wait until they start trying to avoid all Google products. As Wilson notes, anti-gay boycotters would need to ditch Gmail, Google Calendar, YouTube, their Android phones, and the search engine itself. “It’s going to be a hard one for a lot of us,” Wilson concedes, but it will “test the meat of our convictions.”
AFA will certainly need strong convictions because they are quickly running out of acceptable companies. If they plan to boycott Google, they would also have to add Microsoft, Nike, Time Warner Cable, Levi Strauss, CBS, and Xerox to their list — just a handful of pro-gay U.S. corporations. As more and more businesses realize the economic and social benefits of having inclusive pro-LGBT policies, the AFA’s feeble boycotting of Oreo cookies and Google products looks increasingly silly.
