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Unemployment Insurance Hit by “Drastic” Budget Cuts
CHRISTINE OWENS, via Norman Eng, neng at nelp.org, @NelpNews Owens is the executive director of the National Employment Law Project, which just released a report titled “Unraveling the Unemployment Insurance Lifeline.” She said today: “It’s disconcerting that these lawmakers would expend so much energy making cuts to state unemployment insurance programs when more people are out of work for longer than any other period on record. Rather than adopting responsible financing practices and doing the hard work of fostering job creation, far too many state lawmakers have taken the easy out of cutting workers’ unemployment insurance benefits.”
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Debt Deal Creates “‘Catfood Commission’ on Steroids”
GWENDOLYN MINK, wendymink at gmail.com Available for a limited number of interviews, Mink is co-editor of the two-volume Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy and author of Welfare’s End. She said today: “The debt deal certainly is better than the Boehner Bill, and better still than the Tea Party favorite, the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill. But it is nonetheless bad policy, bad process, and bad faith. Arbitrary spending caps and across-the-board spending cuts are lazy, wicked, and destructive mechanisms that disguise glacial policy change. The proposed Super Committee and its fast-tracked decisions are…
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“Super Congress” Budget Deal a “Turkey;” a “Lesson in Investment Theory of Political Parties”
THOMAS FERGUSON, thomas.ferguson at umb.edu Ferguson is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and a senior fellow of the Roosevelt Institute. He said today: “Even by American legislative standards, this deal is a turkey and it’s totally appropriate that the new bipartisan Congressional committee should have to report at Thanksgiving. The U.S. economy is plainly stalling out, but beginning in October, the bill enforces sharp cuts in annual appropriations — about $300 billion. It’s obvious that tax rises will not be a significant part of the package: if you couldn’t get any now, what are the…
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“Medicare Is the Answer, Not the Problem”
Saturday is the 46th anniversary of Medicare. MARGARET FLOWERS, M.D., mdpnhp at gmail.com Flowers is congressional fellow for the 18,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program. She has written recently: “Medicare Is the Answer, Not the Problem. Both Democrats and Republicans are missing the point by putting the emphasis on controlling Medicare and Medicaid costs without effectively addressing the reasons for our rising health care costs. Rather than embracing the Republican rhetoric which blames our public insurances, Democrats would do well to call out the real reason for our health care spending crisis: our current fragmented and profit-driven model, and…
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Debt Ceiling “Theatre” not a “Balanced Approach”
DAVE JOHNSON, djohnson at ourfuture.org, @dcjohnson Johnson is a fellow at Campaign for America’s Future. He said today: “Poll after poll shows that the public gets it. People understand that our deficits were caused by tax cuts for the wealthy, wars and increases in military budgets and the effects of the recession, and they want our government to cut the deficits by fixing those. They want taxes raised on the wealthy, cuts in military, investment in infrastructure and education and, mostly, jobs. But D.C. elites are using a contrived crisis to impose back-room ‘solutions’ that benefit elites at the expense…
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Environmentalist Sentenced to Two Years in Jail; Thousands of Political Arrests Since Obama Inauguration
Reuters reports: “An environmental activist was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday in a federal court in Salt Lake City for defrauding the U.S. government by posing as a bidder for oil and gas drilling rights on Utah public lands. Tim DeChristopher, 29, had submitted the phony bids to derail an auction of energy rights.” See today’s Salt Lake Tribune editorial “Justice Denied.” DeChristopher just wrote the piece: “I Do Not Want Mercy, I Want You To Join Me.”
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Potential Medicaid Cuts Threaten Women, Elderly and Minorities
STACY SANDERS, ssanders at wowonline.org, @wowonlinewow Sanders is the director of the Elder Economic Security Initiative, a branch of Wider Opportunities for Women. She said today: “With a decline in employer-based pensions and losses in personal retirement plans due to the recession, older Americans are struggling to make ends meet. Health care costs are a major component of older Americans’ monthly budgets. According to the national Elder Economic Security Standard Index, a single older adult on Medicare needs $254 per month to cover basic health care costs, including premiums, co-pays and prescription support. Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid could break…
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Norway: Behind the Terrorism
ALI GHARIB, agharib at americanprogress.org Gharib is a national security reporter for Think Progress. He wrote “Suspect in Custody for Norwegian Terror Attacks Allegedly an Anti-Islam Right-wing Extremist” and co-wrote “Right-wing Pundits Jumped to Blame Muslims and ‘Jihadists’ for Norway Attacks.” He cites Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post, Michelle Malkin, Andrew Breitbart, the Wall Street Journal and Erick Erickson as journalists and outlets that jumped to pin the attacks on Muslims.
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Norway Terror Suspect Described as Far-Right Nationalist Islamophobe
DEVIN BURGHART, dburghart at gmail.com Burghart is vice president of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights and just wrote the piece “Norway Terror Suspect Described as Far-Right Nationalist Islamophobe.” Burghart tweeted: “UPDATE: Looks like the Norway terror suspect is a fan of the Tea Party’s favorite Islamophobe, Pam Geller.” Burghart has toured Norway on speaking and fact-finding missions about the far-right and has shared a byline with the noted Norwegian writer Stieg Larsson (who died in 2004).
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Cutting Social Security Is Not Strengthening It
President Obama recently stated: “We have a Democratic president and administration that is prepared to sign a tough package that includes both spending cuts, modifications to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare that would strengthen those systems and allow them to move forward, and would include a revenue component.” NANCY ALTMAN, njalt at aol.com Altman is co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, a coalition of over 300 national and state organizations representing more than 50 million Americans. She said today: “Social Security is in the crosshairs of the debt negotiations currently going on in Washington. This, even though Social Security…
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Howard Zinn