A Little Ray Of Sunshine: This Time With Meatballs

An extremely successful chef has made an enormous difference for hungry kids in his neighborhood.  This goes a little beyond the normal feel-good story, however.  It is about the sharp eye of a man who saw a need and filled it.  It's also a statement about an emerging population, the motel kids.  

While "motel kids" are found across the United States, the situation is very common in Orange County, California, a wealthy community with high rents and a large number of old motels. In 2009, local authorities estimated that more than 1,000 families lived in these conditions.

When Serato learned that these children often go hungry, he began serving up assistance, one plate at a time. To date, he's served more than 270,000 pasta dinners -- for free -- to those in need.

"Kids should not be suffering," Serato said. "[I had] to do something."

What he did was begin feeding those kids, in the most straightforward and efficient way he knew how.  At the insistence of his mother, he began to serve up hot meals to kids who may not have eaten otherwise.  He not only gave when times were good, he gave even more when times were slim.  There were lean times when he had fewer paying customers and an even greater need to fill, and he didn't slow down a bit.  Now he supports 200 kids in two locations, and is encouraging other restaurants to chip in, even if it's just a few meals.

Driving A Compact Over Obamacare

MoJo's Stephanie Mencimer files this report on the Tea Party's next plan to kill Obamacare by turning to the state level.

The tea party has a new plan to attack health care reform. While some conservative activists are still fighting to get the law defunded and eventually repealed, others are organizing behind a radical, states'-rights proposal that would go beyond merely derailing health reform. Egged on by tea partiers, at least a dozen states are now contemplating legislation that supporters believe would allow them to seize control of and administer virtually all federal health care programs operating in their states and exempt them from the requirements of the health care law. That includes Medicare, the government health care program for the elderly on which a sizable number of tea partiers rely.

The vehicle for this reform end run is called the health care compact, an interstate compact not very different in theory from the ones states use to create regional transit authorities, for instance. Recently, the nation's largest tea party group, the Tea Party Patriots, has thrown its weight behind the concept, seeing it as another way of downsizing the federal government. But the group may have other motivations, too. TPP has received a significant amount of money from the measure's backer, the Health Care Compact Alliance, an organization bankrolled by the right-wing heir to a Texas construction company fortune. Last month, the Alliance underwrote TPP's policy summit in Phoenix for a sponsorship advertised at $250,000. It has also become a regular advertiser on TPP's website and email promotions.

Along with TPP's endorsement comes its considerable army of activists, who are working to persuade state legislatures to pass laws to join the interstate compact rather than to implement parts of the new federal health care reform law. The Georgia House, which recently refused to move legislation that would create health insurance "exchanges" as required under the Affordable Care Act, also passed health care compact legislation. States including Tennessee, Oklahoma, Montana, Arizona, and Missouri are currently considering similar bills.

The heart of the compact maneuver is, ironically, a kind of collective bargaining, something that Tea Party faithful insist has no place in government, as it hurts the taxpayer.  It's states banding together to resist the "tyranny" of health care reform, and if that does set off alarm bells, it should.  If enough states join this compact rather than implement the law as passed, the Tea Party figures it can effectively destroy the law from within.

But remember, the point here is to tell the federal government that it has no right to compel states to follow the law.  Compact supporters want enough states to exempt themselves from the PPACA so that the law can't possibly work at a national level.  Even better, they believe that the compact, being interstate commerce, will solely be regulated by Congress and not the President.  They figure they'll get the money and none of the executive branch oversight as long as House Republicans insist that how the money must be doled out, and Senate Dems are forced to follow.

Or hey, they can just play for time until 2013 in which case they figure they'll have Republicans everywhere who will simply eliminate the PPACA completely.  Either way, they win.

It's a surprisingly good plan.  It's going to hurt millions of actual American citizens, but it's not like the Republicans give a damn.

Duh, winning.

To The Shores Of Tripoli, Part 8

The AP fact checks President Obama's speech from last night and argues that "turning things over to NATO" means things will continue as they have been with the US in charge.

OBAMA: "Our most effective alliance, NATO, has taken command of the enforcement of the arms embargo and no-fly zone. ... Going forward, the lead in enforcing the no-fly zone and protecting civilians on the ground will transition to our allies and partners, and I am fully confident that our coalition will keep the pressure on Gadhafi's remaining forces. In that effort, the United States will play a supporting role."

THE FACTS: As by far the pre-eminent player in NATO, and a nation historically reluctant to put its forces under operational foreign command, the United States will not be taking a back seat in the campaign even as its profile diminishes for public consumption.

NATO partners are bringing more into the fight. But the same "unique capabilities" that made the U.S. the inevitable leader out of the gate will continue to be in demand. They include a range of attack aircraft, refueling tankers that can keep aircraft airborne for lengthy periods, surveillance aircraft that can detect when Libyans even try to get a plane airborne, and, as Obama said, planes loaded with electronic gear that can gather intelligence or jam enemy communications and radars.

The United States supplies 22 percent of NATO's budget, almost as much as the next largest contributors - Britain and France - combined. A Canadian three-star general was selected to be in charge of all NATO operations in Libya. His boss, the commander of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples, is an American admiral, and the admiral's boss is the supreme allied commander Europe, a post always held by an American.

Very much a literal interpretation of the speech, but accurate. But the AP did notice the same thing I did:  we don't have an end-game in Libya.

OBAMA: "Our military mission is narrowly focused on saving lives."

THE FACTS: Even as the U.S. steps back as the nominal leader, reduces some assets and fires a declining number of cruise missiles, the scope of the mission appears to be expanding and the end game remains unclear.

Despite insistence that the operation is only to protect civilians, the airstrikes now are undeniably helping the rebels to advance. U.S. officials acknowledge that the effect of air attacks on Gadhafi's forces - and on the supply and communications links that support them - is useful if not crucial to the rebels. "Clearly they're achieving a benefit from the actions that we're taking," Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney, staff director for the Joint Chiefs, said Monday.

The Pentagon has been turning to air power of a kind more useful than high-flying bombers in engaging Libyan ground forces. So far these have included low-flying Air Force AC-130 and A-10 attack aircraft, and the Pentagon is considering adding armed drones and helicopters.

Obama said "we continue to pursue the broader goal of a Libya that belongs not to a dictator, but to its people," but spoke of achieving that through diplomacy and political pressure, not force of U.S. arms.

And the AP is again correct here.  Nobody is buying the notion that the no-fly zone is "protecting civilians" and not helping the rebels both tactically and strategically.  If the goal in Libya is NOT regime change, for it has been stated that the goal is to get Libya to the point where they can decide their own fate, then it's everything the rebels need to achieve it.

It's very good to see that the pressure diplomatically is on to get Qaddafi to step down...but that again is regime change, is it not?  Even Obama has publicly said, as have other leaders, that Qaddafi has to go.  Yes, Obama is certainly going about it in a more intelligent wat than a Republican would have, but the prospect of an ugly ground war still hangs over this.

On the other hand, if Qaddafi does fold and leave, Obama will look like a genius.

On the gripping hand, Republicans will attack Obama no matter what he does in Libya.

Shutdown Countdown, Part 11

Ezra Klein is convinced a government shutdown is coming as soon as the end of next week.

April 8th. That’s the deadline for Republicans and Democrats to reach a deal on funding for the remainder of 2011. No deal? Then the government shuts down. And if I were a betting man, that’s where my money would be right now: the negotiations have become too acrimonious, the issues at their heart too numerous and personal to the parties, to make a deal likely even in normal circumstances. But in circumstances in which newly elected Republicans are trying to prove to their base that they won’t catch Beltway fever and compromise while Democrats are trying to prove they won’t get pushed around by a party that controls a minority of the federal government? A deal seems near impossible.

One way you know that talks are going poorly is that, over the last 24 hours, reporters have suddenly been showered with leaks and inside information about what’s holding up the talks. It’s not just that Republicans want to cut deeper than Democrats and pass a series of riders accomplishing longtime conservative priorities like defunding Planned Parenthood. It’s also that Republicans are insisting that the House’s spending bill serve as a starting point for all negotiations and Democrats are insisting that if Republicans want so many cuts, they need to be open to the cuts coming from outside the non-defense discretionary bucket. So the fights over “what” and “how much” have been joined by fights over “from where” and “based off what.” It’s not a good sign, at this late stage in the negotiations, for the points of contention to be multiplying.

I'm still not convinced of a shutdown.  If you had shown me this post six weeks ago as a message from the future, I would have agreed with it totally.  But in the intervening weeks what I have seen is that at pretty much every major juncture in this process since the new Congress was convened, Dems have folded.

Republicans have all but gotten a complete win on the budget here and the process has been the same:  Tea Party Republicans threaten to destroy the country, GOP leaders say "Well if you give us some concessions we might be able to put a leash on them", Dems offer billions more in cuts, and the Tea Party settles down for a few days, then the process repeats itself.

I fully expect another round of tens of billions more in cuts to be offered by the Democrats before the end of next week, which will buy another couple of weeks in the House for negotiations.  Dems are convinced that if there is a shutdown, they will be blamed, and not the Republicans.  Even the chance that they might take the heat for it is leading them to capitulate.  They're buying the Cantor Theory.

"Senator Reid failed to pass a budget last year and once again is abandoning his responsibility to offer a credible plan to cut spending and fund the government for the rest of the year. The Reid/Schumer leadership team has failed to take our fiscal crisis seriously, as members of their own Democratic caucus have pointed out.

"Our federal government borrows nearly forty cents of each dollar it spends, yet Senate Democrats want to keep spending money that we don't have. It is clear that because Senator Reid refuses to make any spending cuts, he instead plans to force a massive future tax hike on families and small business people.

"In the scope of our debt crisis, if Senator Reid and Senator Schumer force the government to partially shut down over these sensible spending cuts, Americans will hold them accountable." 

Every word of it other than "Senator Reid" and "Senator Schumer" (because they are Senators) is a lie, but the Dems are completely terrified by this.   Now, it's possible that the Tea Party will revolt and Ezra is right. But I think the Republicans can get one more batch of cuts, basically getting to the $60-$80 billion in cuts range that they put as their starting position, without having to give up anything but a couple of continuing resolutions.

Seems like a total win to me...unless Ezra is right and the Tea Party blows up the whole deal (which is very possible.)

[UPDATE]  Brian Beutler reports that Republicans are planning to can the White House's latest offer outright, leaving everything up in the air.  Entirely possible now that this is prelude to a shutdown.  It's also possible that this is prelude to a complete fold by the Democrats.

StupidiNews!

• International leaders and diplomats will meet in London today to decide how to proceed on the subject of Libya.
• House Republicans will conduct hearings into emails showing the Obama administration's "pattern" of delays and failure to speedily vet document requests for the media is widespread.
• Ohio's 2005 tax cuts are costing the state $2 billion a year of its $8 billion shortfall, according to one watchdog group.
• Federal prosecutors are considering manslaughter charges against BP for the events leading up to the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that killed eleven.
• Sprint has come out 100% against the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, saying it will do everything it can to block it.

Last Call

Here's the word cloud of the President's speech tonight (full text here)



Make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, Ivory Coast is actually in a civil war right now.

Heavy gunfire and explosions rang out from the strategic town of Duekoue in western Ivory Coast on Monday, residents said, but it was not clear who was involved in the shooting.

Duekoue has remained under the control of incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo since a 2002-3 war but rebels who seized the north of the country have pushed toward the town as the country's post-election crisis turns increasingly violent.

Would be nice if, you know, the world gave a damn.

Just saying.

The Reporters You Should Be Reading, Ladies First Edition

So Saturday I blew a gasket over this infuriating NY Times style section piece on DC's hot young reporter/blogger gurus who of course happened to be all male.  In the comments, bjkeefe took me to task for not naming any women in my response, something I corrected in the comments, but I feel I need to put it out here as its own post.  So here they are, the reporter/bloggers I follow who happen to be women.

Let's start with Mother Jones and some of the best in the business:  Mac McClelland, Kate Sheppard, Stephanie Mencimer and Suzy Khimm.  Sheppard is MoJo's Washington environmental reporter and her work on women's rights and the GOP abortion extremists is must-read stuff, Mencimer covers Capitol Hill and the Tea Party very well, and Khimm covers DC politics as well as anybody at the Post or Times, if not better.  McClelland's work on human rights, Haiti and the BP oil spill in particular is outstanding and even though she's not strictly a Washington correspondent, her work is just that good.

Also getting props, HuffPo's Amanda Terkel, formerly of ThinkProgress, now HuffPo's Senior Washington Correspondent.  I've been reading her for years, her coverage of the 2008 campaign was brilliant stuff.

ProPublica's Dafna Linzer is another excellent find, one of the best national security reporters out there.  Her columns on Gitmo are especially worthy reading.

Finally, Miami Herald's political ace, Joy Reid (of The Reid Report blog) shows you don't have to be in Washington to have an excellent political sense of the beltway.  I aspire to write as well as she does merely from a personal standpoint.

I read these folks on a regular basis, and you should as well.  At least in a fair world, it wouldn't matter that they all happen to be women.

Dems Get A Win-diana

When Dems left in Wisconsin to stop the GOP, it devolved into an ongoig nightmare.  But Indiana Dems are finally coming back home having beaten Republicans and Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Here are two big highlights from compromise, provided to TPM by a Democratic source:

• Labor: Republicans have agreed to scrap the controversial right-to-work law that led the Democrats to shut things down back on Feb. 22. Republicans have also pledged not to pass a law making the state's existing ban on collective bargaining for state workers, created by Daniels executive order, permanent.

Daniels had suggested the legislature not take up the bill in the first place, saying he supported it but that it could "wreck" his goals of making the session about education reform and other top priorities for his administration. So the deal to take labor off the table can be seen as a victory for both the Democrats and Daniels, who's eager to move on to other things, possibly in advance of a run for the White House.

• Education Daniels' signature policy agenda for this legislative session was a proposal to create a state-funded private school voucher system for low- and middle-income families. That plan will be curtailed considerably in the deal with House Republicans.

The compromise calls for strict caps on the number of vouchers the state can give out the program's first two years, denying, as a Democratic source put it, "the largest voucher program in the nation the Republicans originally wanted." Under the new plan, vouchers will be limited to 7,500 students in the first year and 15,000 in the second year.

Other concessions in the deal call for the abandonment of plan to let private companies take over failing public schools. 

It could be the Republicans were beaten by Democrats who finally showed enough spine to win.  Or it could be the fact that polls are showing that Republican governors pushing anti-union, anti-education agendas are getting savaged in polls.   Daniels wants to run as a "moderate Republican", not as a Tea Party nutbar (of course that still puts him to the extreme right of the country).  His presidential bid would die stillborn if he ran on that.

Still, it's a win for Democrats in the Hoosier State for sure.

The Ultimate In Unfinished Bush Business

Rolling Stone's article on the " Afghanistan Kill Team" is very sobering stuff, and they are not even close to kidding when they say the images are disturbingly graphic (and completely NSFW.)  Soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade, 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company out of Washington State, did things so horrific to Afghan civilians that every American needs to be made aware of them.  And yes, they are war crimes.

The poppy plants were still low to the ground at that time of year. The two soldiers, Cpl. Jeremy Morlock and Pfc. Andrew Holmes, saw a young farmer who was working by himself among the spiky shoots. Off in the distance, a few other soldiers stood sentry. But the farmer was the only Afghan in sight. With no one around to witness, the timing was right. And just like that, they picked him for execution.

He was a smooth-faced kid, about 15 years old. Not much younger than they were: Morlock was 21, Holmes was 19. His name, they would later learn, was Gul Mudin, a common name in Afghanistan. He was wearing a little cap and a Western-style green jacket. He held nothing in his hand that could be interpreted as a weapon, not even a shovel. The expression on his face was welcoming. "He was not a threat," Morlock later confessed.

Morlock and Holmes called to him in Pashto as he walked toward them, ordering him to stop. The boy did as he was told. He stood still.

The soldiers knelt down behind a mud-brick wall. Then Morlock tossed a grenade toward Mudin, using the wall as cover. As the grenade exploded, he and Holmes opened fire, shooting the boy repeatedly at close range with an M4 carbine and a machine gun.

Mudin buckled, went down face first onto the ground. His cap toppled off. A pool of blood congealed by his head.

The loud retort of the guns echoed all around the sleepy farming village. The sound of such unexpected gunfire typically triggers an emergency response in other soldiers, sending them into full battle mode. Yet when the shots rang out, some soldiers didn't seem especially alarmed, even when the radio began to squawk. It was Morlock, agitated, screaming that he had come under attack. On a nearby hill, Spc. Adam Winfield turned to his friend, Pfc. Ashton Moore, and explained that it probably wasn't a real combat situation. It was more likely a staged killing, he said – a plan the guys had hatched to take out an unarmed Afghan without getting caught.

Nor was this the only incident. Not by, and if you will excuse the term, a long shot.

After the killing, the soldiers involved in Mudin's death were not disciplined or punished in any way. Emboldened, the platoon went on a shooting spree over the next four months that claimed the lives of at least three more innocent civilians. When the killings finally became public last summer, the Army moved aggressively to frame the incidents as the work of a "rogue unit" operating completely on its own, without the knowledge of its superiors. Military prosecutors swiftly charged five low-ranking soldiers with murder, and the Pentagon clamped down on any information about the killings. Soldiers in Bravo Company were barred from giving interviews, and lawyers for the accused say their clients faced harsh treatment if they spoke to the press, including solitary confinement. No officers were charged.

But a review of internal Army records and investigative files obtained by Rolling Stone, including dozens of interviews with members of Bravo Company compiled by military investigators, indicates that the dozen infantrymen being portrayed as members of a secretive "kill team" were operating out in the open, in plain view of the rest of the company. Far from being clandestine, as the Pentagon has implied, the murders of civilians were common knowledge among the unit and understood to be illegal by "pretty much the whole platoon," according to one soldier who complained about them. Staged killings were an open topic of conversation, and at least one soldier from another battalion in the 3,800-man Stryker Brigade participated in attacks on unarmed civilians. "The platoon has a reputation," a whistle-blower named Pfc. Justin Stoner told the Army Criminal Investigation Command. "They have had a lot of practice staging killings and getting away with it."

After nine years of the abyss staring back, I can hardly say I'm surprised at this. But it's not an excuse for what should be considered war crimes, plain and simple.  Maybe this will be the incident that gets us out of Afghanistan, but I doubt it to the point of near despair.  it makes Abu Ghraib look like a church picnic, a systemic series of message killings of civilians, just to put the fear of God and the United States military in them (in that order.)

But frankly, given all that is going on the world this month, this won't even register on the Village radar.  And it's a damn shame, too.  The Army won't say how widespread this is.  We only know about it because Morlock and Holmes got caught.  We may never know the full extent of this mess.

But hey, it's all fair, right?  They killed our civilians on 9/11, so we're killing theirs.  Eye for an eye.  Torture and indefinite detention is an approved method of obtaining information in America now.  Why not outright murder?

Epic Fail: Boys Sleepover Leads To Man Shot In Groin Edition

Sometimes, you just gotta love a news story for the simple and amusing beast that it is.  This is one of those times. Those Aussies know how to throw down!

Six boys cowered in the dark as a knife-wielding man threatened to kill them during a suburban sleepover from hell.

The group of mostly 12-year-olds yesterday told how their neighbour went on a rampage, screaming they "were going to die" and trying to batter down the door to their townhouse in the Brisbane suburb of Capalaba.

The three-hour ordeal ended only when Brett Hayes, 50, was shot in the groin by a policewoman after he allegedly lunged at her with six 30cm knives.

An investigation has been launched into the shooting as police defended their response to several frantic calls for help.

There is some criticism of the police department for taking an hour to respond, but the policewoman's mighty shot put an end to the ruckus.  And silly me, I thought we had clinched the global redneck title.

And With A Loud Jangle, My BS Detector Went Off

Washington (CNN) -- After almost 30 years in a mental hospital, John W. Hinckley Jr., the college dropout who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan, is moving closer to the day his doctors may recommend he go free.

According to court records, a forensic psychologist at the hospital has testified that "Hinckley has recovered to the point that he poses no imminent risk of danger to himself or others."

That concerns former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, who helped oversee Hinckley's prosecution in 1982. He told CNN, "I think John Hinckley will be a threat the rest of his life. He is a time bomb."

There are certain things you can't do if you ever expect to enjoy freedom in your life again.  Shooting the POTUS is one of them.  Playing Russian Roulette on film and stalking a young actress is minutiae when compared to that one single act.  I understand redemption, I understand that he is 55 now, an old man when compared to the man who shot Ronald Reagan.  I also understand the depth of his insanity, and am in total agreement with diGenova.

How Much For The Little Girl?

Ezra Klein finally figures out what E.J. Dionne could have told you three weeks ago and what Steve M. expanded on:  John Boehner's game of "Bad Cop, Completely Insane Cop" means Republicans are going to get everything they wanted in budget negotiations and then some.

Back in February, Paul Ryan unveiled what was supposed to be the opening bid from the House Republicans: $32 billion in cuts for the rest of 2011. But the Tea Party demanded more and House leadership quickly caved, doubling their proposed cuts to more than $60 billion -- or almost $100 billion less than barack Obama’s 2011 budget request (quick note: different news stories present these numbers differently, as it depends on whether you use Obama’s budget request or 2010’s funding as a baseline. I’m using the difference from 2010 funding, which makes for lower sums). Now Democrats are offering as a compromise measure $30 billion in total cuts, or exactly what Ryan’s original proposal had called for. Pretty neat, huh?

And that’s not the Democrats’ final offer, either. Odds are good that the eventual compromise will see cuts somewhere between the $30 billion Republican leadership called for and the almost $70 billion the conservative wing of the House GOP demanded. “That’s not much of a compromise if we end up with what the House Republican leadership wanted in the first place,” observe Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden. And they’re right. But the irony is that it’s entirely possible the press will report that Democrats “won” the negotiations, as Republican leadership is likely to have to lose a lot of conservative votes in the House to get any compromise, no matter how radical, through the chamber. That will make them look bad, and in the weird logic of Washington, make the Democrats look good. But if you just keep your eye on the policy, Republicans are moving towards a win far beyond anything the House leadership had initially imagined. Getting there required learning they had less control over their conservative wing that they’d hoped, but it also taught them that their inability to control their conservative wing gave them credibility in negotiations with Democrats and can lead to pretty remarkable policy wins, as no one doubts that House Republicans really will shut down the government or allow for a default.

In other words, all Orange Julius had to do to win was to let his Tea Party lunatics do what they always do:



Yes, Jake and Elwood in the restaurant acting like complete nutjobs until they get what they want is an extremely viable political strategy in 2011.  Dionne called this weeks ago, and as I said back then, it's working.

I thought for sure a shutdown was coming.  But the Democrats have so completely folded in sheer terror at the prospect of more Tea Party abuse that they are going to give OJ the whole ball of wax just to get them to go away.  And you can bet Boehner will simply repeat this "Well gosh I dunno what they are going to do" threat time and time again.

[UPDATE]  And right on cue, Dems are offering another $20 billion in social cuts, which the Republicnas will not accept and will continue to shut down the government again in two weeks.   Rinse, repeat.

Land Of The Rising Core Temperature, Part 18

As highly radioactive water continues to leak from the Fukushima Daiichi reactors, Greenpeace is urging Japanese officials to widen the evacuation zone.

A partial meltdown of fuel rods inside the reactor vessel was responsible for the high levels of radiation at that reactor although Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the radiation had mainly been contained in the reactor building.

TEPCO later said radiation above 1,000 millisieverts per hour was found in water in tunnels used for piping outside the reactor.

That is the same as the level discovered on Sunday. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says a single dose of 1,000 millisieverts is enough to cause hemorrhaging.

TEPCO officials said the underground tunnels did not flow into the sea but the possibility of radioactive water seeping into the ground could not be ruled out.

Greenpeace said its experts had confirmed radiation levels of up to 10 microsieverts per hour in a village 40 km (25 miles) northwest of the plant. It called for the extension of a 20-km (12-mile) evacuation zone.

"It is clearly not safe for people to remain in Iitate, especially children and pregnant women, when it could mean receiving the maximum allowed annual dose of radiation in only a few days," Greenpeace said in a statement, referring to the village where the radiation reading was taken.

More than 70,000 people have been evacuated from an area within 20 km (12 miles) of the plant and another 130,000 people within a zone extending a further 10 km are recommended to stay indoors. They have been encouraged to leave.

Of course, TEPCO officials are disputing Greenpeace's readings and they are of course saying everything is fine, even while admitting to the partial meltdown, something I called weeks ago.  Meanwhile, they have appealed to French nuclear technicians for assistance.  Whether or not that will make a difference here at this partial meltdown juncture is anyone's guess.

TEPCO stock is limit down on the Nikkei at this hour again.  It's lost two-thirds of its value in the last two weeks, going from 2,100 yen a share to under 700.

Empire State Building (A Budget)

If New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget agreement looks familiar -- eliminating a surcharge tax on the state's wealthy, making cuts to Medicare and education, and laying off state workers -- there's a reason for that.  Even relatively blue states like New York have to deal with Republicans that control at least one chamber in the statehouse, and in the case of the state senate, Cuomo did much of their austerity work for them.

Dashing the hopes of many Democratic lawmakers, including the bulk of the New York City delegation, the budget did not include an extension of a temporary income tax surcharge on wealthy New Yorkers, a measure that has drawn support among Democrats and even some Senate Republicans as a way to further offset Mr. Cuomo’s proposed cuts in money for schools and other programs.

Mr. Cuomo persuaded legislative leaders to agree to a year-to-year cut of more than $2 billion in spending on health care and education, historically the two largest drivers of New York’s budget. Over all, officials said, the budget deal would reduce year-to-year spending by about 2 percent.

For both Medicaid and education, the deal calls for a two-year appropriation instead of the traditional one year’s worth of financing, locking in fixed rates of growth through Mr. Cuomo’s second year in office and potentially allowing him to avoid a repeat of the battles he fought this year with teachers’ unions and other special interests.

In exchange, Mr. Cuomo agreed to add $250 million — a modest amount by Albany standards — to his executive budget proposal, including more money for schools, the blind and the deaf, human services, higher education, and prescription drugs for the elderly. 

So it's actually not quite as bad as Cuomo first proposed, and this is coming from a Democrat.  That's the best thing you can say about the state's budget.  Keeping the surcharge on finance tycoons would have made up for the end of stimulus dollars from Washington, but the former state AG who ran on cleaning up Wall Street is now helping the fat cats clean out the state's treasury.  They get tax cuts, the rest of the state gets spending cuts.

Even the Democrats look like Republicans in 2011.  The battle over budget austerity has long been lost by the American people, and in state after state taxes on the wealthy are being chopped to fight over what few corporate jobs these multinationals are creating in the US...corporations sitting on record profits, mind you, screaming that they need tax relief or else, playing states against each other in order to get the best set of incentives.  Meanwhile, state taxpayers are picking up the bill and taking the financial pain.

Of course, what did you expect from the Wall Street State?

StupidiNews!

• President Obama will address the nation tonight on Libya from the National Defense College.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party looks to face yet another historic defeat in state elections, this time in Baden-Wuerttemberg, facing an anti-nuclear Green Party surge.
• A truck bomb in the eastern Afghanistan province of Paktika has killed at least 20 and injured dozens.
• Ireland is looking to make senior bondholders pick up some of the country's bailout tab in order to win concessions from the EU on a better rate.
• A new study shows college professors who use their personal Twitter accounts to communicate with students are seen as "more credible".