deadissue.com

Looks like the debt ceiling compromise may be falling apart. Which is not too surprising, no self respecting tea bagger will ever vote to raise the debt ceiling, and will probably primary any republican that does vote for it. Smart people would allow a clean bill and a voice vote, and hat is probably the only way to avert the likely crisis that will come from not raising the debt ceiling.

Something new on the debt ceiling:

I don’t know what to make of this, but I am starting to think Isreal may be going off the deep end

I don’t see this happening, according to TPM the white house agrees to trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for letting some of the Bush tax cuts expire. Not only does it seem like a complete sellout on Obama’s part their is no way republicans will vote for a “tax increase”.

My bet is that the U.S defaults before Greece.

I still doubt the debt ceiling will get raised anytime soon, and if it does it will probably require every Democrat to vote for it and a few republicans to help them out; I just don’t see it, no republican is going to risk a primary challenge over the debt ceiling.

If I am wrong it certainly won’t be the first time:)

The U.S is heading for a lost decade and now a nuclear disaster:

Nuclear regulators continue to insist there is no danger posed by a Nebraska nuke facility that had to switch to emergency generators to power reactor coolant tanks after flood waters from the Missouri river punctured a barrier and rushed into the plant.

The facility has been in shutdown since April for refueling. Nuclear watchdog groups warn that if flood waters are able to penetrate the nuclear reactors, it may short circuit the emergency power systems, potentially causing a major disaster

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I haven’t had much time to follow this, but is seems like it’s all about trying to save the banks from the consequences of their mistakes.

Another worry is that Britain’s banks and hedge funds have written multibillion-pound insurance contracts – credit default swaps – that would be triggered if Greece defaults.

Erik Britton, director of City consultancy Fathom, said: “It’s not the direct exposure, it’s the indirect exposure and the implications of an unruly default that I would be worried about. French and German banks bought Greek bonds, and they took out insurance against default. Who did they take out that insurance with? The US and UK
banks. There has to be a loser – who’s the loser?”

If banks had stayed out of the insurance business this would not be a the huge problem it is, maybe de-regulation was not such a good idea after all

Clarance Thomas may be in some hot water.. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, it is probably pretty hard to get rid of a sitting supreme court justice, but if Democrats are looking for an issue this is probably one worth fighting

The debt ceiling is not glamourous and doesn’t even have a Twitter Account, and maybe that’s why almost no one cares, but the talks are not going well.

I wonder what will happen once the U.S starts to default on it’s debts, my guess is much of the world will start to follow along. I think this may be a very bumpy ride.

I don’t think the republicans are in a place where they can vote for any raise in the debt ceiling and not lose the tea bagger vote, or at least face a tea bagger in the primary.

Also keep in mind, if the talks fail to produce a deal that can pass, Republicans haven’t left themselves a back door. This remains a hostage situation — give the GOP the cuts it wants or they’ll block a debt-ceiling increase and create a recession on purpose. They’re no longer in a position in which they can say, “Well, we gave it a shot but the negotiations broke down. Let’s just go ahead and do the right thing now.”

I really don’t see anyway for republicans to get out of this without shooting the hostages, third world status here we come.

A scientific process that can end a lot of animal suffering, feed a lot Of people, and cut down on green house gas emissions.. Of course it will probably never happen because a few wealthy ranchers would have to move out of their mansions.

I have always thought AARP was little more than a marketing organization that targeted seniors, and today they proved it.

I don’t get why anyone still supports nuclear energy. I guess someone must make a lot of money from constructing dangerous reactors or something.

Denver’s mayoral election was pretty much a train wreck, neither candidate seemed to have much of a clue about the city, and now there is this:

Prior to the mayoral election, Denver Mayor-elect Michael Hancock repeatedly asked Denver police if he or his vehicle was captured on video or in photographs at locations of an escort service authorities had under surveillance, records obtained Thursday by CALL7 Investigators showed.

There is more to the story, basically Hancock’s cell phone number appeared in the records of the escort service, and Hancock ran as the family values candidate. Anyways it sure is starting to look like a of smoke where Hancock is concerned.

In other words don’t bet on it. I don’t think you can ever underestimate our current group of politicians, and expecting them to do the right thing is pretty unlikely where the debt ceiling is concerned.

Brilliant. If you ask the public, they’ll say they don’t want the debt ceiling to be raised, don’t want the consequences that come with default, and don’t want the proposals being debated as part of debt-ceiling talks.

Forget the “Party of No”; we’re now looking at the “Populace of No.”

But as we’ve talked about before, these polls should be rejected as irrelevant. Policymakers really don’t have any other choice.

I have a feeling policy makers will find a way to make the least politcally costly choice, which I believe is to do nothing and then point fingers.

Nate Silver doesn’t think the raising of the debt ceiling is impossible

The bottom line: a vote to increase the debt limit would require the approval of all Safe Democrats, plus 50 of the 180 non-Tea Party Republicans. Those votes certainly won’t come easily, but nor does the math seem insurmountable.

I will be really surprised if any republican votes to raise the debt ceiling ever, Nate Silver is far smarter than I am, but I may understand the republican brain better.

I guess they want to the U.S to be more like Pakistan</a. One of the never ending wonders of the republican world view is where does conservatism work? True conservative principles lead to third world countries and poverty yet they keep spouting there nonsense.

I am starting to think the debt ceiling is not going to be raised anytime soon. For republicans it would be political suicide to vote to raise the debt ceiling and maybe for democrats as well. Even though it has the potential to cause a lot of problems I am not looking for any of our leaders to do the right thing here.

For you financial types I suggest you plan accordingly, as for me I am looking forward to the dollar declining in value to the point where I can pay my mortgage off with monopoly money.

Chris Christie refuses to walk a hundred yards. I am not really sure the rich are living any better but they sure manage to waste a lot of resources, while they are doing it.

Looks like Republicans are not too interested in helping Missouri. One thing I have never understood about people in the “heartland” is the way they vote. They are far more vulnerable to natural disasters and depend on federal programs for most of their needs but they still vote republican. What is up with that?

Mmmmm. Maybe all those Christians that didn’t get raptures today should be asking themselves what they are doing wrong

Wall Street doesn’t seem to think the U.S will default on it’s debts, and Right now assigns zero probability to it happening in models used for predicting financial outcomes. These are the same people that didn’t believe home prices decrease. In other words get ready for a really scary ride, Wall Street has no clue what can happen if the U.S defaults, and doesn’t seem to understand how crazy a lot of the tea baggers in congress really are.

As more sex scandals unfoldIt seems to me that the country would be much better off if we ignored them. I can’t think of one example where the country was better off because a sex scandal was discovered and reported on. Just a thought

It seems like like after 9/11 the police state has been getting ever larger. I wonder where all the live free or die people are when things like this happen:

A little-noticed Indiana Supreme Court decision late last week overturned long standing precedent and stripped citizens of the right to resist unlawful police entry to their homes, in a move dissenting justices called
“breathtaking” and “unnecessarily broad.”
The ruling, which came on the appeal of a case in which police subdued a man who
refused to allow them entry to an apartment following a report of domestic violence,
strikes to the heart of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens
from unlawful search and seizure

John MCAine came out with the facts about torture and mentioned that it’s a moral issue. That still doesn’t excuse him for Sarah Palin but it’s a start

One of the latest right-wing myths is that clean energy can’t ever replace oil and coal. Looks like scientists disagree:

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Governments approved on Monday a U.N. report projecting that renewable energies such as solar, wind or hydropower could leap to supply almost 80 percent of the world’s demand by 2050, with the right policies.

The study broadly matched a draft written by scientists before the meeting, but
environmental group Greenpeace said some findings were watered down due to
opposition by OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia and also by Brazil

Of course the report had to be watered down so not to hurt anyone’s feelings

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I don’t know why I read Nicholas Kristof in the NYtimes, I guess so I can get aggravated, today he tells us that people in Africa need family planning, this comes after years of talking about what a great job religious groups do in Africa, yeah, the same groups that are anti-birth control, and spend a lot of time and money lobbying against any kind of real family planning.

It seems that since 9/11 the U.S has had an inferiority complex, and maybe now with the killing of Bin Laden America can get back to being a country on the rise with a positive outlook, and not bunch of Dick Cheney’s running around being paranoid and angry; blindly swinging at anyone that happens to be brown.

Although it seems like conservatives are doing everything they can to bring the country down, maybe this time people will stand up to them before their anger and paranoia takes over again.

It seems like living near a mall is a lot like living by a resort for some people.. I guess that makes sense though when you consider that for many people their main recreation is shopping.

Wal-mart fired this guy for his own good

Thirty-year-old former Wal-Mart employee Joseph Casias used marijuana to treat the symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor and sinus cancer.

Casias was fired in 2009 after testing positive for marijuana. He had been successfully employed for more than five years by a Wal-Mart in Battle Creek and began using medical marijuana after voters approved the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act in
2008

I especially like this part:

“This is just an unfortunate situation all around, and we’re sympathetic
to Mr. Casias’s condition,” Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter said. “Walmart has to consider the overall safety of our customers and our associates, including Mr.
Casias

Wal-mart is basically saying, yeah we know this guy got screwed but we did it for his own good.