Cutting taxes for the wealthy? Again?

By Steve Benen

In his unnervingly dishonest op-ed for USA Today this week, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) assured voters his party isn’t just obsessed with going after President Obama. “At the same time,” he argued, “we remain focused on the American people’s top priority: jobs and the economy.”

What possible rationale could there be to justify such a claim? It’s actually pretty simple: House Republicans continue to pass tax cuts. Ergo, Boehner thinks he’s telling the truth when he claims the GOP is focused on “jobs and the economy,” all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

It didn’t get much attention, but late last week, House Republicans quietly approved yet another tax break, this time advancing a tax policy that benefits the wealthy while hurting the poor. Danny Vinik had a good piece on this:

FINDING BERGDAHL - PART 2

INSIDE THE SEARCH FOR THE LAST PRISONER OF AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR

By Robert Young Pelton

Events following the mysterious disappearance of Private Bowe Bergdahl from his Army base in Afghanistan were investigated thoroughly in 2009—but without Bergdahl providing any input. The report is still classified, but what we can be certain of is that, up until this point, the Army hasn’t uncovered anything serious enough to prevent Bergdahl from returning to active duty at a desk job in San Antonio, Texas. Then again, keeping him as an active duty soldier means he remains squarely under the auspices of the military justice system. But despite his new job and promotion to Sergeant (as well as more than $350,000 in back pay), intense public and political scrutiny and outrage over the prisoner swap of the Taliban Five—as the five mullahs from the Taliban’s inner circle came to be known—means that Bergdahl now is facing another exhaustive military investigation to endure alongside his pro bono attorney.

Discerning the truth—or at least an agreeable version of his motivation—about Bergdahl’s disappearance on June 30, 2009, is now wrapped up with outrage over the exchange of five Taliban mullahs for the safe return of the last American POW. What we will learn is that the seemingly opportunistic and hasty release of the Taliban Five from Guantánamo was going to happen regardless of Bergdahl’s fate.

What is acutely apparent is that many are passing judgment on Bergdahl without all the facts, including those regarding this young man’s life before his service in the military. This is exemplified by a court case currently under review in Hailey, Idaho, where as of today a judge will determine whether CNN has any merit in its suit against the Blaine County Sheriff Office and its decision to withhold, according to the prosecuting attorney, an “inactive law enforcement record” from November 1999 that did not result in any charges filed.

The record in question was requested by the CNN last month, along with three other law enforcement records related to the Bergdahls that were released. The request for the fourth has been twice denied on grounds that releasing it would constitute an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” according to Blaine County Sheriff Gene Ramsey and the prosecutor assigned to the case. But will a 20-year-old police record regarding Bowe Bergdahl as a minor teach us anything relevant about his kidnapping, or will it only serve as more fodder for the 24-hour “Two Minutes Hate,” as George Orwell described the generic focusing of hate on an individual?
more

http://www.vice.com/read/finding-bergdahl-part-2-411

The Koch Brothers’ Fake Libertarianism: War, Forced Pregnancies, and Homophobia

The largest media outlets in the country routinely describe the conservative billionaires David and Charles Koch, the shadowy megadonors behind much of the modern political infrastructure on the right, as selfless libertarians. Matthew Cooper of Newsweek claims they are "more libertarian than Republican, more Austrian economics than Christian Coalition." Daniel Schulman, author of a new book on the Koch family, recently told Jon Stewart on The Daily Show that the brothers do not "align with Republicans at all," adding that "David Koch has come out and said he's pro-gay marriage; they're pro-reproductive rights."

It’s almost as if these journalists can’t accept that the rich men whose names are plastered all over elite cultural institutions in cities like New York are conservative Republicans. But the reality is that the Kochs are underwriting powerful political organizations with decidedly anti-libertarian views—like arbitrarily killing foreigners in detention and using the heavy hand of government to force women to carry undesired pregnancies to term.

The evidence for the Koch clan’s supposedly libertarian beliefs—particularly on polarizing issues like gay marriage, war, drugs, and abortion—tends to consist of off-hand remarks made by David and Charles in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a comment at the 2012 Republican convention.

Following the Koch money paints a different picture.

"It is far past the time that we reject the lie that homosexuality and redefining marriage has no consequences," Alison Howard of Concerned Women for America roared at the anti-gay March for Marriage rally earlier this year. "Marriage does not need to be redefined. It needs to be underlined! Marriage is between a man and woman!"


more
http://www.vice.com/read/the-koch-brothers-fake-libertarianism-war-forced-pregnancies-and-homophobia-729

One reason Time Warner execs are happy to sell: $80-million golden parachutes

The biggest corporate offshoots of Time Magazine’s long march through history have at least two things in common: Time Warner and Time Warner Cable are at the center of the most anticipated mergers of the year, and their CEOs stand to make a fortune if they can get the deals done.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes’ media conglomerate is expected to receive a sweetened offer from Rupert Murdoch’s Fox any day now, and should it satisfy his board, he’ll walk away from the company with a $79-million payday. Time Warner Cable CEO Rob Marcus just needs the government to approve his company’s merger with Comcast, and then he’ll be out of a job and $79.9 million richer. (Pity poor Joe Ripp, CEO of the recently spun-off print media arm, Time Inc.—he’s facing cost-cutting and $1.3 billion in corporate debt, with no deep-pocketed suitor in sight.)

Those kind of paydays can attract public ire, especially in the case of Marcus, who agreed to sell his company just two months after becoming the firm’s top manager, earning a golden parachute as part of the merger deal that includes a $20-million cash bonus along with stock compensation. Bewkes, on the other hand, became CEO after a multi-decade career at Time Warner and its subsidiaries. His payout is entirely due to the vesting of his stock compensation if he leaves the company when control changes, though it’s possible that negotiations over a fully-realized deal will yield additional pay.

Compensation plans like these originated in the go-go days of the 1980s, as US corporate raiders perfected the art of the hostile take-over. David Yermack, a finance professor at New York University, says that managers were often loathe to give up their job, even if a deal made sense, so golden parachutes were created to take managers’ personal financial situation out of the picture, so they wouldn’t protect themselves while their companies stumbled. Research suggests that this worked pretty well for company shareholders, especially if the compensation is equity-based.

more
http://qz.com/239360/one-reason-time-warner-execs-are-eager-to-sell-80-million-golden-parachutes/

The US has lost tens of thousands of AK-47s in Afghanistan

After more than a decade of weapons supplies, cumulatively worth some $626 million, to Afghan security forces, US inspectors have discovered a problem: the Afghan National Army and Police have more weapons — up to 100,000 more — than they need. What’s worse? No one is keeping proper track of the surplus weapons, most of which are Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles.


Global arms-trading rules require dealers to issue a license for weapons use and attempt to monitor it—and this new report (pdf) shows that the Afghan government’s efforts to track US-supplied weapons are, at best, woeful.

This is especially worrisome because of the tendency for surplus arms to find their way into the black market and, from there, into the hands of bad actors. It would not be the first time that happened in Afghanistan: when the Taliban first fought their way to power in the 1990s, it was with weapons left behind by the Soviet Union and arms provided to guerrilla fighters by the US.

The new arms surplus, which dates back to shipments made before 2010, is blamed on two choices made by NATO and the Afghan government. The first was a decision to switch from distributing AK-47s to weapons more commonly issued to NATO forces, such as M16 and M4 rifles. There was no accompanying program to recover the Kalashnikovs already handed out. The second was the decision to reduce the size of the standing Afghan army, once expected to be as large as 352,000 personnel but now slated to fall to 228,500 by 2017.

more

http://qz.com/241374/the-us-has-lost-tens-of-thousands-of-ak-47s-in-afghanistan/

New Generic Ballot Surveys Don’t Show Signs of Republican Wave

One of the big questions of this election cycle is whether it will turn out to be a “wave” election, like the one in 2010, when an upswell of anti-Democratic sentiment carried Democrats out of the House. One of the best measures of whether there’s a wave is the “generic ballot” question. Pollsters ask: Do you want Democrats or Republicans to control Congress?

Unfortunately, generic ballot polling has been sparse so far this cycle. Last week, however, there were three national polls, by Fox News, CNN and Pew Research, asking the generic ballot question. None showed an anti-Democrat wave, like the one that brought Republicans back to power in 2010. In fact, none of the three polls showed Republicans with a lead among registered voters at all.

The surveys are highly consistent with other surveys conducted over the last two months, which show Democrats ahead by an average of 1.9 points among registered voters. The Republicans have not led in a generic ballot poll since early June, when Fox News showed Republicans ahead by four points.

The current slight Democratic edge is fairly similar to what generic ballot surveys showed in the days ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

more

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/upshot/new-generic-ballot-surveys-dont-show-signs-of-republican-wave.html?src=twr&smid=tw-upshotnyt&_r=1

‘Education reform’ now a pejorative term to many progressive Democrats

By Valerie Strauss

Earlier this year I published a post about how the Democratic Party has been split for years over the issue of corporate school reform. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have been Democratic leaders of the dominant reform movement which seeks to transform public schools through standardized-test-based “accountability” and the expansion of charter schools. (There are Republican leaders as well, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush).

Recently, there has been growing pushback against corporate reform from elements in the Democratic Party. Donna Brazile, a longtime strategist, this month announced that she will co-chair a newly formed organization called Democrats for Public Education and she told delegates at the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention that “the very premise of market-driven education reform” is wrong. The new organization is apparently a counter to the Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), which has for years supported Obama’s reform agenda and supported the spread of public charter schools. After the new group was announced, DFER head Joe Williams issued a one-sentence statement — “Welcome to the jungle, baby.” (Perhaps a reference to the Guns n’ Roses song?)

More opposition to the Obama reform agenda was expressed at this month’s 2014 Netroots Nation convention, which brings together progressive political activists to discuss and debate key issues facing the country. Jeff Bryant, who is the director of the Education Opportunity Network, a partnership effort of the Institute for America’s Future and the Opportunity to Learn Campaign, writes in this post about what he witnessed at the convention and what it means for the future of school reform. This original version of this post, which you can see here on the network’s blog, began with a discussion of the political tenor of the convention and the ecstatic reception received by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who spoke about the growing income inequality in this country and declared that it was time to fight against a “rigged” economic system. Bryant also wrote about a sense among many of the participants that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016. What appears below is his discussion about education issues were approached at this and earlier Netroots Nation conventions.

more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/07/28/education-reform-now-a-pejorative-term-to-many-progressive-democrats/

Companies proclaim water the next oil in a rush to turn resources into profit

by Suzanne McGee

“Is now the time to buy water?” enquired the email that showed up in my inbox earlier this week.

Its authors weren’t worrying about my dehydration levels. Rather, they were urging me to think of water in quite a new way: as a commodity to invest in.

Making money from water? Is this what Wall Street wants next?

After spending nearly 30 years of my life writing about business and finance, including several years dedicated to the commodities market, the idea of treating water as a pure commodity – something to bought and sold on the open market by those in quest of a profit rather than trying to deliver it to their fellow citizens as a public service – made me pause.

Sure, I’ve grown up surrounded by bottled mineral water – Evian, Volvic, Perrier, Pellegrino and even more chi-chi brands – but that has always existed alongside a robust municipal water system that delivers clean water to whatever home I'm occupying. All it takes is turning a tap. The cost of that water is fractions of a penny compared to designer bottled water.

more

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/27/water-nestle-drink-charge-privatize-companies-stocks

Tuesday Toon Roundup 3: The Rest

Immigration










Corps








Wisc



Death

Tuesday Toon Roundup 2: Middle East