Sunday, November 28, 2010

deficit commission targets Social Security

[11/12/10] The leaders of the deficit commission are baldly calling out the budget myths of both political parties, challenging lawmakers to engage in the "adult conversation" they say they want.

Their plan -- mixing painful cuts to Social Security and Medicare with big tax increases -- has no chance of enactment as written, certainly not as a whole. But the commission's high profile will make it harder for Republicans and Democrats to simply keep reciting their tax-and-spending talking points without acknowledging the real sacrifices that progress against government deficits would demand.

It's time for both conservatives and liberals to "put up or shut up," says Jon Cowan, head of the centrist-Democratic group Third Way, which praised the bold new proposals and urged politicians to show courage. Republicans failed to produce their often-promised deficit reductions when they controlled the government, Cowan said, and Democrats refuse to acknowledge that entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare must be trimmed.

***

In a politically incendiary plan, the bipartisan leaders of President Barack Obama's deficit commission proposed curbs in Social Security benefits, deep reductions in federal spending and higher taxes for millions of Americans Wednesday to stem a flood of red ink that they said threatens the nation's very future.

The White House responded coolly, some leading lawmakers less so to proposals that target government programs long considered all but sacred. Besides Social Security, Medicare spending would be curtailed. Tax breaks for many health care plans, too. And the Pentagon's budget, as well, in a plan designed to cut total deficits by as much as $4 trillion over the next decade.

The plan arrived exactly one week after elections that featured strong voter demands for economic change in Washington. But criticism was immediate from advocacy groups on the left and, to some extent, the right at the start of the post-election debate on painful steps necessary to rein in out-of-control deficits.

The plan would gradually increase the retirement age for full Social Security benefits -- to 69 by 2075 -- and current recipients would receive smaller-than-anticipated annual increases. Equally controversial, it would eliminate the current tax deduction that homeowners receive for the interest they pay on their mortgages.

No one is expecting quick action on any of the plan's pieces. Proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare are making liberals recoil. And conservative Republicans are having difficulty with options suggested for raising taxes. The plan also calls for cuts in farm subsidies, foreign aid and the Pentagon's budget.

***

[3/6/13] 5 ways to fix Social Security

Thursday, November 25, 2010

North Korean allies?

Was it a simple blunder or did a possible 2012 presidential contender really get her geography wrong?

That's the question being debated after Sarah Palin said in an interview with Glenn Beck Wednesday that North Korea was a U.S. ally.

When asked by Beck how she would handle a situation like the one that was developing in North Korea, Palin responded: "This is stemming from, I think, a greater problem when we're all sitting around asking, 'Oh no, what are we going to do,' and we're not having a lot of faith that the White House is going to come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea is going to do."

It is unclear whether Palin is talking about sanctions against North Korea, or U.S. sanctioning -- i.e. approving or supporting -- its actions.

Palin continued: "Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies," when Beck interrupted and corrected her to say "South Korea."

"And we're also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes," she responded.

Rod Tam

[11/2/11] Rod Tam sentenced to two days of jail

[11/25/10] City Councilman Rod Tam pleaded guilty yesterday to 26 misdemeanor counts of theft and falsifying documents, and for the first time admitted to overcharging the city for meals unrelated to his work as a Council member.

The guilty pleas came eight months after Tam admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay $11,700 in restitution and a $2,000 civil fine over allegations by the city Ethics Commission.

The commission said Tam improperly used his Council contingency fund for hundreds of personal meals -- totaling more than $22,000 -- unrelated to his city work.

Tam was unavailable for comment, but issued a written statement saying he was responding to the charges "out of embarrassment."

"Pursuant to compromise, I have pleaded guilty to a variety of petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors," Tam said. "I submitted vouchers that exceeded actual bill amounts. I also submitted vouchers that were below actual billing amounts.

"I should have practiced better bookkeeping methods. I take full responsibility and deeply apologize for my mistakes."

Tam previously admitted only to sloppy record-keeping and faulty math, while arguing that the rules covering discretionary expenses of Council members needed to be clarified.

Tam is completing his second four-year term on the Council, after serving nearly two decades in the state Legislature.

He is perhaps best known from his time in the Legislature for introducing a bill to provide naps and snacks for public workers and more recently for a bill in the City Council that would have allowed bus drivers to ban riders emitting offensive body odor.

[9/17/10] Why would you invite Rod Tam to a debate?

The same reason you'd put Paul Lynde in the center square or have Paula Abdul as a talent judge or book Dennis Rodman and his dress for an awards banquet.

Same reason you'd write a column about him.

He's a sideshow. He's a clown. He's for entertainment purposes only. You can count on Tam to sprinkle the goofy powder on an otherwise bland event.

The question is, why would anyone vote for him?

Tuesday night's mayoral debate on KGMB featured front-runner Peter Carlisle, acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell and last election's spirited underdog, Panos Prevedouros.

Rod Tam was just there for laughs. And, like he always does, he came through for the crowd.

***

Sometimes writing about Rod Tam feels like shooting fish in a barrel, yet the man keeps piling up the fish and handing out the guns. And, amazingly, he keeps running for public office and keeps getting elected.

That incredible winning streak might come to an end now that he's aiming for higher office and is facing other candidates who haven't billed taxpayers for every meal they've eaten for the past four years.

The 18-page document summarizing the Ethics Commission investigation into Rod Tam's bento-gate is the sort of thing you print up and pass around the office for comic relief:

He doesn't like to meet with people in his office because there are allergens in Honolulu Hale that bother his sinuses.

He took his brother and sister out to dinner, called them "constituents" and sent bills for $400 for city reimbursement.

He took his family to dinner at the Empress restaurant and claimed it was a "crime in Chinatown meeting."

On that Valentine's Day dinner, he claimed was meeting with two state employees to discuss how the economy affects Hawai'i's public education.

And not only did he say he was on city business when clearly he was feeding his family, he overcharged for the reimbursements. Ethics Commission investigators caught him when they went back to the restaurants and matched up the credit card slips Tam submitted with restaurant copies of the same bills. Ho! Busted!

Tam received repayments for hundreds of meals because he said they were related to council business. He justified the claims by saying the mealtime discussion was about "Hawai'i's economy," "economic development" or the "city's economy," which is what the rest of us talk about these days at all the meals we pay for ourselves.

It may be tempting to shrug it off with, "Yeah, well, I'll bet they all do it." But they don't. In the Ethics Commission report, it says by comparison, a few of the other council members have used their discretionary funds for the occasional staff lunch or as per diem when they're traveling on council business. Some council members haven't submitted meal reimbursements at all.

The whole thing is so classically Rod Tam. When other politicians are running up tabs on the taxpayers' backs, they're doing crazy stuff like ordering room-service lobster dinners and pay-per-view dirty movies or flying to Argentina pretending it's an international trade mission. Not Tam. He takes his wife to dinner at a low-end Japanese restaurant. That doesn't make it less wrong, but it does make it more Rod Tam.

-- by Lee Cataluna

***

City Councilman Rod Tam wants to be our mayor.

I would chuckle at the very thought, but ... wait. People keep voting for him. In fact, Tam has held public office for close to three decades - 20 years in the state Legislature and eight as a City Councilman.

Wow. Gee. That means there is actually a chance he could become mayor. Hoooo boy.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

North Korea shells South Korean island

SEOUL (AP) — North Korea bombarded a South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday, setting buildings ablaze and killing at least two marines after warning the South to halt military drills in the area, South Korean officials said.

South Korea said it returned fire and scrambled fighter jets in response, and said the "inhumane" attack on civilian areas violated the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War. The two sides technically remain at war because a peace treaty was never negotiated.

The skirmish came amid high tension over North Korea's claim that it has a new uranium enrichment facility and just six weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il unveiled his youngest son Kim Jong Un as his heir apparent.

The United States, which has tens of thousands of troops stationed in South Korea, condemned the attack and called on North Korea to "halt its belligerent action," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in Washington. He said the United States is "firmly committed" to South Korea's defense, and to the "maintenance of regional peace and stability."

The North's artillery struck the small South Korean-held island of Yeonpyeong, which houses military installations and a small civilian population and which has been the focus of two previous deadly battles between the Koreas.

One South Korean marine was killed, three were seriously wounded and 10 slightly wounded, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. Island residents were escaping to about 20 shelters in the island while sporadic shelling continued, the military official said.

North Korea's supreme military command threatened to continue military strikes against South Korea if it violated their disputed sea border "even 0.001 millimeter," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

The firing came amid South Korean military drills in the area. North Korea's military had sent a message to South Korea's armed forces early Tuesday to demand that the drills stop, but the South continued them, another military official said.

Saturday, November 06, 2010

disasters strike Indonesia

MOUNT MERAPI, Indonesia -- A volcanic eruption and a tsunami killed scores of people hundreds of miles apart in Indonesia -- spasms from the Pacific "Ring of Fire," which spawns disasters from deep within the Earth.

The eruption of Mount Merapi on Tuesday killed at least 25 people, forced thousands to flee down its slopes and spewed burning ash and smoke high into the air on the island of Java.

Meanwhile, off the coast of Sumatra, about 800 miles west of the volcano, rescuers battled rough seas to reach the remote Mentawai islands, where a 10-foot tsunami triggered by an earthquake Monday night swept away hundreds of homes, killing at least 113 villagers, said Mujiharto of the Health Ministry's crisis center. Up to 500 others are missing.

The twin disasters happened hours apart in one of the most seismically active regions on the planet.

Friday, November 05, 2010

spending silly season

We call elections the "silly season," but this year we should call it the "spending silly season."

Never has so much money been spent to say such nasty things about so few.

If you have a mailbox in the 1st Congressional District, you already know that Charles Djou ruined the economy, actively killed jobs and is now trampling our schools.

And you have learned that Colleen Hanabusa is a tax-and-spend tsunami intent on strangling our economy with job-killing regulations.

How could we have ever elected this despicable pair in the first place?

Negative advertising is fueled by the big political action committees. There's more of it this season, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in January to free up corporate and union money.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Republicans regain House

WASHINGTON » Republicans rolled up historic gains to seize control of the House yesterday as voters disenchanted with the economy, President Barack Obama and government dealt a strong rebuke to Democrats in every corner of the country.

The GOP ousted Demo-cratic freshmen and influential veterans, including some considered safe just weeks ago. Republicans piled up their biggest House gains since they added 80 seats in 1938: By early today they had netted 60 formerly Democratic seats and led in four more. The GOP victory eclipsed the 54-seat pickup by the so-called "revolution" that retook the House in 1994 for the first time in 40 years and the 56-seat Republican gain in 1946.

In the Senate, Republicans have netted six Senate seats -- defeating incumbents in Wisconsin and Arkansas and winning Democratic open seats in Indiana, Illinois and North Dakota -- but will fall short of the majority and lost a major symbolic battle as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) defeated former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle (R) in Nevada.

Democrats regain seats (in Hawaii)

Neil Abercrombie, who evolved from a fiery Vietnam War protester to a respected Democrat in Congress, was elected governor of Hawaii last night on a message of change after eight years of Republican rule at Washington Place.

Abercrombie easily defeated Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, the Republican, to become the seventh governor since statehood. He is expected to be sworn in to replace Gov. Linda Lingle on Dec. 6.

***

Hawaii Democrats swept their three congressional races yesterday and now prepare to return to a vastly different landscape in Washington.

Colleen Hanabusa ended Republican Charles Djou's six-month U.S. House term with a victory that at one point seemed in doubt even in a Democratic stronghold such as Hawaii.

Hanabusa and fellow U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, who handily defeated GOP challenger John Willoughby, now head to Capitol Hill as members of the minority party, after Republicans won control of the U.S. House.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye cruised to a ninth term in the Senate over former state lawmaker Cam Cavasso. Democrats' continued control of the U.S. Senate means Inouye retains his post as president pro tempore -- third in line to the president -- and chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Ambercrombie vs. Aiona

Former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona have fundamentally different philosophies on the role of government.

Abercrombie, the Democratic candidate for governor, believes in an activist government that guides social and economic policy and helps solve problems. He wants the state to more aggressively compete for federal money that could steady state government during the economic recovery.

"Government can and should work to spark the private economy, particularly during tough economic times. This has always been the case," he said in a statement. "Reflecting the will of the people, government can invest in things like infrastructure so that businesses can expand and

operate more cost-effectively -- consider how boat tour businesses are adversely affected by the current neglect to our harbors. Government can invest in higher education to spark research and development by entrepreneurs that have commercial applications. Government can streamline regulations so that small businesses can expand. All of this takes smart use of government resources.

"In Duke Aiona's world every individual family and every business is on their own. My view is that we are all in this together and the people rightfully expect government to work."

Aiona, the Republican candidate, believes in a smaller and less intrusive government that cultivates but does not interfere with a business-friendly environment.

"Government does not create jobs. We're not job creators," he said. "It's the private sector, as we know, that creates jobs. It's the small businesses that create jobs."

Aiona believes government can prod job growth through initiatives such as the federal stimulus package, state capital improvement projects and tax incentives for businesses. But he argues that Abercrombie has exaggerated the potential for new federal dollars to help the state through the recovery.

"That's why I have asked him to show me. Show me where he gets all this federal money," he said. "And he hasn't because he can't."

war in Iraq

[11/2/10] Rapid-fire bombings and mortar strikes killed 76 people and wounded more than 200 across Baghdad's myriad neighborhoods Tuesday, demonstrating the insurgents' ability to carry out coordinated strikes from one side of the capital to the other.

The attack — blasts in at least 13 separate neighborhoods — was clearly designed to hit civilians at restaurants and cafes where many Iraqis were gathered to enjoy the warm evening. The sophistication and the targets — Shiites — suggested that al-Qaida-linked Sunni militants were responsible for the deadliest day in Iraq since May.

The strikes, two days after the bloody siege of a downtown church, were stunning in their scope — indicating a high degree of coordination and complexity from an insurgency that just a few months ago U.S. and Iraqi officials were saying was all but defeated.

"They say the situation is under the control. Where is their control?" said Hussein al-Saiedi, a 26-year-old resident of Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City slum, where 21 people were killed when a parked car blew up near a market in Tuesday's deadliest bombing.

[8/26/10] BAGHDAD - Bombers and gunmen killed at least 56 Iraqis in more than two dozen attacks across the country yesterday, mostly targeting security forces and rekindling memories of the days when insurgents ruled the streets.

The attacks made August the deadliest month for Iraqi policemen and soldiers in two years, and came a day after the U.S. said that the number of American troops had fallen to fewer than 50,000, the fewest since the war began in 2003.

"Where is the protection, where are the security troops?" said Abu Mohammed, who saw a car bombing near Baghdad's Adan Square that killed two passers-by. "What is going on in the country?"

Iraq's foreign minister said insurgents are attempting to sow as much chaos as possible, as lawmakers struggle to form a new government and Americans withdraw troops.

"Here you have a government paralysis, you have a political vacuum you have the U.S. troop withdrawal," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said. "And, in such environment, these terrorist networks flourish."

[8/18/10] BAGHDAD—Young men from some of Iraq’s poorest areas waited all night outside an army recruitment center, only to become easy prey Tuesday for a suicide bomber who killed 61 in the crowd. Desperate for jobs, dazed survivors rushed to get back in line after the attack.

Officials quickly blamed al-Qaida for the deadliest single act of violence in the capital in months. Police said 125 people were wounded.

Bodies of bloodied young men, some still clutching job applications in their hands, were scattered on the ground outside the headquarters’ gate. Soldiers collected bits of flesh and stray hands and legs as frantic Iraqis showed up to search for relatives.

The early morning bombing in central Baghdad starkly displayed Iraqi forces’ failure to plug even the most obvious holes in their security two weeks before the formal end of the U.S. combat role in Iraq.

Army and police recruitment centers have been frequent targets for militants, underscoring the determination of the applicants to risk their lives for work in a country with an unemployment rate estimated as high as 30 percent.

“I have to get this job at any cost in order to feed my family,” said Ali Ahmed, 34, a father of two who returned to the bloody street after taking a friend to the hospital. “I have no option but to come back to the line. If there were other job opportunities, I would not be here in the first place.”

[7/27/10] Two car bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims during a religious festival in the holy city of Karbala killed 25 people on Monday, Iraqi police and hospital officials said. Sunni extremists are suspected.

Militants detonated two parked cars filled with explosives about two miles (three kilometers) apart as crowds of pilgrims passed by. Police and medical officials in Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, said 68 people were injured in the attacks.

The pilgrims were on their way to Karbala to take part in an important religious holiday, known as Shabaniyah, that attracts devout Shiites from around the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday bombings, but the method is the hallmark of Sunni extremists.

While violence has dropped dramatically in the past years in Iraq, suspected Sunni insurgents regularly target Shiite religious ceremonies and holy places in an attempt to re-ignite sectarian tensions that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2005 and 2007.

[7/19/10] BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber ripped through a line of anti-al-Qaida Sunni fighters waiting to collect their paychecks near an Iraqi military base as nearly 50 people were killed in violence west of Baghdad.

The attack is the deadliest this year against the groups that turned against the terror network amid an apparent campaign by insurgents to undermine confidence in the government security forces and their allies.

The attacks on the Awakening Council members highlighted the daunting security challenges the country faces as the U.S. works to withdraw all combat troops in Iraq.

[7/8/10] BAGHDAD — Militants struck across the Iraqi capital Wednesday, killing more than 50 people, including 32 in a suicide bombing that targeted pilgrims commemorating a revered Shiite saint, Iraqi police said.

The attacks – the deadliest of which occurred in northern Baghdad's predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah – offered a clear indication of the push by insurgents to exploit Iraq's political vacuum and destabilize the country as U.S. troops head home.

Police said the bloody suicide bombing that killed 32 and wounded more than 90 people, split the hot Wednesday evening air as Shiite pilgrims were about to cross a bridge leading to the a shrine in the Shiite Kazimiyah neighborhood where a revered imam is buried.

[4/6/10] The Web site WikiLeaks.org released a graphic video on Monday showing an American helicopter shooting and killing a Reuters photographer and driver in a July 2007 attack in Baghdad.

A senior American military official confirmed that the video was authentic.

Reuters had long pressed for the release of the video, which consists of 38 minutes of black-and-white aerial video and conversations between pilots in two Apache helicopters as they open fire on people on a street in Baghdad. The attack killed 12, among them the Reuters photographer, Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and the driver, Saeed Chmagh, 40.

David Schlesinger, the editor in chief of Reuters news, said in a statement that the video was “graphic evidence of the dangers involved in war journalism and the tragedies that can result.”

On the day of the attack, United States military officials said that the helicopters had been called in to help American troops who had been exposed to small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in a raid. “There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force,” Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a spokesman for the multinational forces in Baghdad, said then.

But the video does not show hostile action. Instead, it begins with a group of people milling around on a street, among them, according to WikiLeaks, Mr. Noor-Eldeen and Mr. Chmagh. The pilots believe them to be insurgents, and mistake Mr. Noor-Eldeen’s camera for a weapon. They aim and fire at the group, then revel in their kills.

“Look at those dead bastards,” one pilot says. “Nice,” the other responds.

[4/5/10] Suicide attackers detonated three car bombs in quick succession near foreign embassies in Baghdad on Sunday, killing more than 40 people in coordinated strikes that Iraqi officials said were intended to disrupt efforts to form a new government.

The bombings followed the execution-style killings of 24 villagers in a Sunni area two days earlier, a spike in violence that suggests insurgents are seizing on the political uncertainty after the recent election to try to destabilize the country as U.S. troops prepare to leave. No clear winner emerged from the March 7 vote.