Tagged as: obama
news that caught my eye
i’ve not been posting much, cuz i’ve suddenly been *swamped* with things to do. (more on that in a bit).
these were things that caught mah eye over the past month:
Profit found in jailing immigrants for feds
SAN ANTONIO — As federal officials begin an overhaul of the widely criticized system used to incarcerate immigrants awaiting hearings and deportation, their challenge includes a deep inconsistency in the amount paid to a hastily assembled network of private prisons and local jails that hold thousands of such detainees.
Contracts obtained by the Associated Press illustrate the problem in paper-heavy detail, and not all of the discrepancies can be explained by geography or differences in the cost of living. For example, a suburban Atlanta county is paid less than $43 per day to house an illegal immigrant, while a rural New Mexico county gets $97 a day — just a few dollars shy of the amount paid for a bed in Los Angeles.
Some county jails charge only the actual cost of housing an immigrant, while others acknowledge partnering with private prison companies to profit from the system.
Last week, the Obama administration announced a series of “major reforms” in the detention of illegal immigrants, including placing federal employees inside the largest facilities to monitor detainee treatment. In doing so, John Morton, the new director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, acknowledged the current system is both inconsistent and lacks oversight.
“There isn’t a uniform rhyme or reason to it,” he said.
there’s no real uniform rhyme or reason to our immigration policy as a whole. why should detention be any different? society seems geared towards profiting off of other people’s misery, so maybe that’s the “consistency”.
$3 billion buys not-so-green vehicles
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the nation’s top car salesman in recent weeks, has cited the Obama administration’s best-seller list of mostly smaller, fuel-saving cars like the Ford Focus to describe the success of the Cash for Clunkers rebate program.
But what LaHood and other administration officials usually don’t mention is that some trucks and sport-utility vehicles that get less than 20 miles per gallon, like the Ford F-150 truck and one version of the Cadillac SRX Crossover, also are being purchased with the new government subsidies. Both are bulky vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds when loaded that boast at least 248 horsepower.
Just how many consumers used the federal rebates to buy these larger, not-so-green vehicles is unclear. The Obama administration has declined so far to release detailed records of purchases under the program being compiled by the Transportation Department, listing every clunker deal requesting rebates. The Associated Press requested the data July 31.
The Transportation Department distributes regular summaries of sales from the clunkers program and has used the electronic sales information from dealers to bolster arguments that Americans are dumping gas guzzlers for gas savers. But its failure to release detailed records means the public can’t verify those claims.
ahhh. it’s so nice to have transparency back in the federal gov’t….................................................oh. nvm.
Expert blasts fire investigation that led to execution
Key testimony that sent a Corsicana auto mechanic to the execution chamber for setting a house fire that killed three young children was based on faulty investigations that ignored eyewitness reports and failed to follow accepted scientific procedures, an expert review of the case concludes.
While the 51-page report by nationally known fire scientist Craig Beyler stops short of charging that Cameron Willingham wrongfully was sent to his death, it dismisses as slipshod the investigations by Deputy State Fire Marshal Manuel Vasquez and Corsicana Assistant Fire Chief Douglas Fogg. Willingham maintained his innocence until his execution in 2004.
“The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man — convicted of a crime I did not commit,” Willingham said from the death house gurney.
The men’s investigations into the December 1991 blaze at Willingham’s residence failed to meet current standards of the National Fire Prevention Association or even standards that were in place at the time of the fire, Beyler wrote.
Some of the testimony Vasquez offered to support his claim that the fire was set to kill Willingham’s 1-year-old twins and 2-year-old stepdaughter, Beyler contended, was “hardly consistent with a scientific mind-set and is more characteristic of mystics or psychics.”
the wheels of justice don’t just move slowly, they get bogged down and go entirely flat all too often.
also, see:
Books That Counter Our “Training” To Make War By John Pilger
great list of books. i’ve to add a couple ot my “must reads” list.
Blue Cross and Blue Dog Democrats: Reflections on “Health Reform” Under “The Unelected Dictatorship of Money” by Paul Street
democrats can kvetch about republicans blocking healthcare reform all they like, but seriously, get a grip. republicans are going to try to block healthcare reform. if for no other reason than because democrats support it. the *real* problem, lies not with the other party who were going to balk ~anyway~, but with those within your own party that are balking and fighting against meaningful reform.
reaganesque tax troubles to hit millions
from U.S. gives too much, but IRS will get it back:
WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama’s “Making Work Pay” tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.
The government is going to want some of that money back.
The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month.
But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time.
At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income.
The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.
the same thing happened during the 80s. reagan lauded his “tax cuts” which left more money in taxpayer’s pockets, yet when tax time rolled around, people found out that not enough taxes had been withdrawn from their paychecks to cover what was due to the irs - nasty, nasty surprise for many people. of course, it only affects those who can least afford to pay it at the end of the year, and srsly, who cares about those folks, right?
this is more of that “change we can believe in” - a return to reaganomics.
on the torture memos…
It is not simply the specter of Abu Ghraib that the Bush Justice Department memos evoke, but the specter of Nuremberg. This is not to say that the brutality sanctioned by the Bush Justice Department was equivalent to that of the Nazis, but it is to say that the Nuremberg precedent of holding government officials responsible for the human rights violations of their subordinates applies here.
support for gays is largely a superficial thing
as i’ve been saying for months.
take this, for example:
Ever since Barack Obama was obliged to distance himself from Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. (and all the right-wing hyperventilating that entailed), our President has been lacking a home church. To fill that vacuum Obama has embraced five pastors, presumably to dispense spiritual wisdom and not, one would hope, stick their evangelical noses into politics. Four of those pastors blindly follow fundie “values,” while the fifth might be described as only mildly progressive since he loudly disassociates himself from “left-leaning” churches.
who are these five?
obama remembers the poor… give them some pie!
speaking today on the necessity of the economic stimulus package, president obama remembered that the poor, too, need help.
On the middle-class tax force, Obama said “we’re not forgetting the poor because they, too, share our American dream.” He said his administration wants to make sure low-income people “get a piece” of the American pie “if they’re willing to work for it.” - Obama signs orders to ‘level the playing field’ for unions
because you know, the poor, they’re lazy fuckin’ bastards who just lay around and mooch off the government. unlike successful business people. who run corporations.
if the poor are willing to work for it ...for a change, we’ll do what we can to get them a piece of pie!
and if that fails, why, let them eat cake :D
arin stuff:
‘cept when i don’t.
Recent Comments:
arin721 on indispensable firefox addons for web design: gosh, but spammers are so polite nowadays! so in that same vein, let me extend you my thanks, adley, for your&hellip
Adley on indispensable firefox addons for web design: I can see that you are putting a lot of time and effort into your blog and detailed articles! I am&hellip
luckmario on spackling is my new hobby: I like this article. This is called a great article. I am new here. I like your site too. This is&hellip
arin721 on seriously, i should see someone...: i was *this close* to deleting this post completely… it’s uncomfortably raw. then i got your comment and i breathed a&hellip
kayleigh on seriously, i should see someone...: arin , i just came across ur website whilst looking at stuff on the internet for college , im doing a&hellip
avery edison
your monkey called
open left
texas tribune
think progress
Quotes I like
design by arin's attic. hosted by dreamhost. powered by expressionengine.