Marshall says Simpson should go
Breaking: Democrat acts like Democrat.
Charlotte, NC – In a speech Thursday marking the 90th anniversary of women being granted the right to vote, U.S. Senate candidate Elaine Marshall called on Alan Simpson to resign as co-chair of President Obama’s fiscal commission following derisive comments the former Wyoming Senator made about Social Security recipients. "Alan Simpson’s remarks were disrespectful to women and to social security recipients. He should resign or the President should fire him,” Marshall said, speaking at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte. “The fact that he thinks this way shows that he can’t do his job with an open mind. We should be doing everything in our power to strengthen and protect Social Security, not attacking the recipients who depend on it.”Full Story, Permalink »
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What’s going on at UNC-TV?
Yes! Weekly is reporting that Eszter Vajda has been fired.
No reason given, according to the report.
LL has been on this story plenty and has an interesting post at IHT called Alcoa: UNC-TV tries to unring the bell
More background and an interview with the researcher paid $3,000 by former House speaker Richard Morgan here.
It's pretty clear that there's a lot going on behind the scenes here. I'd say UNC-TV has about twenty-eight seconds to get out in front of this thing. If that.
Alcoa has already made public a draft review by three UNC J-School professors. From the preface:
The professors were asked to provide their collective opinion on whether the series met universally accepted standards of journalism and whether they would have accepted the segments for broadcast. The request originated with Tom Howe, director and general manager of UNC-TV. However, Mr. Howe later informed the professors that he wanted to postpone the review of the series. As a result, the draft memorandum was never issued. However, given the unfounded and damaging claims about Alcoa contained in the UNC-TV report, we believe it is important that the entire report be made public. The attached draft memorandum was provided by UNC to Alcoa’s attorney in response to a public records request. Alcoa is solely responsible for the decision to distribute the draft memorandum further.Full Story, Permalink »
Sunday Morning Post: Early August Lull edition
Hey, it's still summer — enjoy it. Meanwhile, some reads for you.
• PPP looks at the trends in NC politics
• Martha Minnow, who succeeded Justice Kagan at Harvard Law, sets a few things straight.
• Gigantic Center for American Progress report on what Merkins want from their Guvmit
• Conway on Rand Paul: A Waffling Pessimist Who Wants To Be The Prince Of Cable TV
Full Story, Permalink »
Morning Post: Number 14 edition
14th Amendment
Amendment XIV
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2.
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.
Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5.
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Full Story, Permalink »
Morning Post: Jobbers
Today's jobless report, well, sucked. Yet for some reason the people with jobs who are supposed to do something about it are saying 'meh.' Maybe these people need to not have jobs as well.
Read this Calculated Risk post.
Here's an excerpt from an editorial I penned for this week's Carrboro Citizen:
Welcome to the recovery — not In the latest monthly report, Orange County saw a half percent jump in unemployment in June, rising from 6 percent to 6.5 percent. For the freshly unemployed, there is little comfort in knowing that we remain one of the counties with the lowest rates of unemployment in the state. Statewide, we jumped one-tenth of a percent to 10.1 percent. Anyone looking for work in this climate knows finding any job is tough and finding one in a field you’re interested in or located nearby is even tougher. So it’s infuriating on so many levels to hear the bash-the-unemployed rhetoric pouring out of the recent congressional debate over benefit extensions and jobs programs. The idea that there is a vast couch-potato conspiracy is totally divorced from reality. Perhaps some among that 10.1 percent here in the Old North State are satisfied being on the dole, but most would be happy to have their jobs back. Then there is the equally phony outrage that consumers are not spending enough to gin up the economy. We learned in the droughts over the past decade that once people change habits and showerheads, they don’t suddenly become water wasters when it starts raining again. So if you’re waiting on the great American consumer to come through, think again. Wages are stagnant, spending reflects that and, wisely, more and more people are coming to understand that the equity in their home is not a piggy bank. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner applauded the new frugality. But his essay on the so-called recovery offered little else to anyone outside of the boardrooms. Yes, balance sheets and profits are up and it’s wonderful, we suppose, that very large investment banks are doing so well that they’re repaying their bailout faster than thought. But foreclosures and bankruptcies are also on the rise. And just how should the unemployed, underemployed and newly destitute decode the secretary’s history lesson about how recoveries take time? As many have pointed out, massive unemployment is growing acceptable among the people calling the shots. Whether the result of being cowed by critics or not, the administration and Congress’ timidity in pursuing any new efforts to put people back to work prior to the fall election sends the message that 10 percent unemployment is somehow all right for now. It seems that rather than putting their energies into solutions, policymakers, pundits and politicians of all stripes are trying to convince themselves that widespread, chronic joblessness is part of some new reality. They pursue that thinking at their own peril and, unfortunately, ours.Full Story, Permalink »
