Month: March 2009

Mystery Men

If I were a shareholder of AIG, I would be very concerned that the company’s CEO was incapable and unwilling to name the 20-25 people who cost the company $100,000,000,000.00. That’s a lot of money for a company to lose without knowing who is responsible.

Of course Liddy does know who the 20-25 failures are. He’s just refusing to share the information with Congress, despite the fact that the U.S. Government owns 80% of AIG now. Which, I suppose, is to say that I am a shareholder of AIG. With that in mind, I’ll say this: Edward Liddy should be fired for (1) incompetence or (2) refusing to share information with company shareholders.

Lastly, Alan Grayson is a champion of working Americans and one of the greatest models of what a true civil servant looks like today. He’s in his first term in Congress and has taken a huge role in pushing for corporate accountability in these tough economic times. We got to where we are today for a reason and Alan Grayson seems to be one of the very few people in Washington who gets that we can only  identify, stop, and correct the economic forces that have brought us to where we are now through hardnosed questioning and unflinching investigation into economic wrongdoing.

Better Reporting

The New York Times‘ Jackie Calmes and Louis Story do a better job of correctly reporting the falsehood of the “Blame Dodd” meme being pushed by Republicans and some Democrats.

That position was being questioned at the Capitol. Congressional Republicans, eager to implicate Democrats, initially blamed Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who heads the banking committee, for adding to the economic recovery package an amendment that cracked down on bonuses at companies getting bailout money, but that exempted bonuses protected by contracts, like A.I.G.’s.

Mr. Dodd, in turn, responded Tuesday with a statement saying that the exemption actually had been inserted at the insistence of Treasury during Congress’s final legislative negotiations.

It’s still in he said-she said mode, but at least it’s not a flat out lie being masqueraded as fact.

Ending the “Blame Dodd” Meme

Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald have to phenomenally detailed and thorough posts explaining why the current “Blame Dodd” meme regarding AIG bonuses is 100% bunk (Media Matters led the way with pushback against Fox News & Drudge’s attacks on Dodd). The very short version is that the current provisions, passed in February, that exempted bonus limitations on preexisting contracts were pushed through at the behest of Geithner, Summers, and the Obama administratoin — over the objections of Senator Chris Dodd. Dodd had in fact introduced provisions that would have stopped future bonuses regardless of when they were promised.

The efforts by the media, Treasury officials and even White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to lay the AIG bonus scandal at Dodd’s feet is disgraceful and disgusting. Dodd is up for a very tough reelection campaign in 2010. It may be politically expedient for administration officials to blame Dodd for something they did which he vehemently opposed, but it isn’t without consequence. At a time when he is politically vulnerable, his reputation is being unjustly attacked.

I don’t doubt that the administration’s top economic officials failed to grasp the political consequences of exempting existing AIG bonus schedules from TARP regulation. Clearly they now get that the optics are terrible. But trying to pass the buck to the guy that had the foresight to introduce provisions that would extend oversight and limitation to all AIG bonuses – foresight that Geithner and Summers failed to pay heed to – is the wrong path.

The sad thing is that Senator Dodd is such a loyal and collegial politician that he is unlikely to ever publicly express the anger and outrage he must be feeling now, for fear of doing damage to President Obama’s stewardship of the economy and the trust the public has in the administration’s top economic team. If only the administration were able to recognize and repay the loyalty and dedicated service of Senator Dodd in kind.

Gallup: Double Digit Support for Employee Free Choice

Sam Stein of Huffington Post has the latest Gallup Poll, which shows strong bipartisan support for the Employee Free Choice Act in the American public.

Gallup Surveys released a study on Tuesday finding that 53 percent of respondents favored a new law that would “make it easier for labor unions to organize workers.” Only 39 percent of respondents opposed such a law.

When asked how important it was that Congress pass such a law, 26 percent of respondents said “very,” 29 percent said “somewhat,” 23 percent said “not too important,” and 20 percent said “not important at all.”

Added up, the findings provide a solid boost to EFCA backers, with 55 percent expressing some desire to see Congress act on the legislation and 43 percent expressing a level of opposition or ambivalence (three percent said they had no opinion).

Hopefully this sort of strong support will be an impetus for legislators in Congress to drive forward with this popular legislation.

The Continuing Culture War

Roy Edroso is right in his critique of Frank Rich’s latest column on the death of the culture war and his example of the “Going Galt movement” is perfect in showing the continued prevalence of the culture war festering in the right wing blogosphere. While the left has developed an online community that has a balance between outside critique and inside influence, the right has largely developed as an outrage machine. The question isn’t whether the main voices of the right are voices from the culture war, as it was largely during the 1990s, but are the vocal parts of the Republican base the remaining proponents of culture war politics? I think the answer clearly is yes. That it these people are somewhat less focused on stem cells is not a sufficient cause to dismiss the culture war as a major area for Republican organizing.

Nobel Laureates for Tibet

Nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates, celebrities, and tens of thousands of people have signed a letter by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Chinese Communist Party Chairman Hu Jintao, voicing concern for human rights and freedom in Tibet.

The Nobel laureates, activists and Hollywood stars have signed a letter from Archbishop Desmond Tutu expressing concern at the deterioration of the human rights situation in Tibet, and the apparent breakdown of talks between the Chinese government and emissaries of the Dalai Lama.

The letter, published on TheCommunity.com, an Internet site for Nobel peace laureates that promotes peace and human rights, was opened to the public for signature on Friday.

Mary Wald, chairman of the site, said when 100,000 people sign the letter it will be hand-delivered to Chinese President Hu Jintao and others.

“This is the time for a massive outpouring of support for the Dalai Lama,” Wald said. “He is making some of the strongest statements he has ever made, because the situation for the Tibetans it that critical.”

Nobel peace laureates Elie Wiesel, John Hume, David Trimble, Jody Williams, F.W. de Klerk, Mairead Maguire, Betty Williams and Adolfo Perez Esquivel signed the letter along with about 40 celebrities and rights activists including Ford, Paltrow, Peter Gabriel, Richard Gere, Mia Farrow, Maria Bello, Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, Ashley Judd, supermodels Christy Turlington and Naomi Campell and Queen Noor of Jordan.

The letter is posted on TheCommunity.com and you can sign it yourself. Here’s an excerpt:

“We the undersigned Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, human rights leaders and concerned individuals wish to express our concern at the current deterioration of the human rights situation in Tibet, and the apparent breakdown of the talks between the Chinese government and emissaries of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We are dismayed at the lack of any concrete progress toward resolving the conflict over the autonomy and religious freedom of the Tibetan people, and urge all parties involved to redouble their effort to achieve this vital goal.

“To our dear friend His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we say: we stand with you. You define non-violence and compassion and goodness. Clearly China does not know you. It is our sincere hope that they will. We call on China’s government to know His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as we and so many others have come to know him during the long decades he has spent in exile.

Educating on Employee Free Choice, Part 22

Christopher Beam of Slate has one of the best run-downs of the Big Lie used by the opponents of Employee Free Choice, namely the “secret ballot” question. It’s too long and thorough to lend itself to quoting, so I recommend you read Beam’s piece. But this passage is certainly critical:

Even though employers are free to recognize a union without an election, in practice they almost always request an election: Why recognize a union before they have to? Requesting an election also gives them more time to lobby against unionization.

The essential change of the EFCA would be to allow the employees—rather than the employer—to decide whether to hold a secret-ballot election. If at least half of the work force signed cards saying it wanted a union, there would be a union—without the rigmarole of a full-blown election.

China Searching House to House in Lhasa

This is a truly startling revelation about how hard the Chinese government is working to ensure that no news about what they are doing inside Tibet escapes to the outside world. Both the South China Morning Post (subscription) and The Telegraph are reporting that Chinese forces are searching every single house, hotel, and boarding house in Lhasa for non-Tibetans and even Tibetans who live outside of Lhasa. SCMP writes:

Security forces in Lhasa and other Tibetan-populated areas launched a search for “suspicious characters” amid a major security clampdown in the Himalayan region in a pre-emptive bid to prevent any unrest during sensitive anniversaries.

Tensions were high yesterday on the streets of the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region as armed police continued their door-to-door checks for overseas visitors or journalists. Not a single hotel, guesthouse or local home in the city was spared.

Those whose ID cards were not issued by the regional government were taken in for further interrogation and even faced detention, hotel and restaurant owners in Lhasa said.

Apart from people from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Tibetans from outside Lhasa and other parts of the Himalayan region were also targeted.

…

All Tibetan areas in Sichuan and Qinghai are off-limits to overseas tourists and journalists this week, with communications cut off in the most volatile areas, local travel agencies and other sources said.

In Lhasa, major monasteries have been sealed and armed police patrol the city day and night.

Hundreds of big and small hotels were strictly required to report suspicious figures. Local people are required to produce their residence permits in frequent security checks.

Late-night road blocks were seen in downtown Lhasa. Passengers in taxis and pedestrians carrying bags were subject to identity checks by public security officers or armed police.

Shops and entertainment venues were ordered to shut as early as 10pm.

A resident of Bakhor Street, one of the most sensitive areas near the prestigious Jokhang Monastery, said security forces had been checking the rooftops of every building.

Tibet is a prison that the world is not allowed in. China does not anyone to know what they are doing to Tibetans behind closed doors. This is sickening.