Unique Cactus Flower wallpaper
In case anyone missed it, that wild eyed conpsiracy theory the Right cooked up about Republicans that owned Chrysler dealerships being singled out by the Obama administraion was shot down by Nate Silver, News Flash: Car Dealers are Republicans (It’s Called a Control Group, People) and even more basic then Nate’s statistical research is that Chrysler made the decision about what dealerships to close, not the White House or Congress.
There are lots of interesting numbers in this report on defence spending by Frida Berrigan, but this cost-benefit analysis of defence spending and benefits toward job creation were striking, Defense Budget Shell Game
Obama’s first Department of Defense budget requests $534 billion in spending, continuing a decade-long trend of uninterrupted increases.
[ ]…All of these protesting members of Congress cite the jobs supported by weapons programs. But according to the University of Massachusetts’ Political Economy Research Institute, an investment of $1 billion in defense creates 8,555 jobs and $564.5 million wages and benefits. That same amount, invested in education, creates 17,687 jobs and $1.3 billion in wages and benefits. A Lockheed Martin machinist can’t become a social studies teacher overnight, but transitioning people from military production to more useful sectors of the economy is not rocket science, and the benefits are lasting.
I’ve been tracking defence spending for longer then I have been writing this blog and the budget increases regardless of which party controls the White House or Congress. If cuts are made in one place – when Dick Cheney was SecDef he cut ten divisions – that money was then spent on other toys. Its a fact of political life that Democrats cannot make cuts the way Cheney did. That Secretary Gates wants to cut as much useless crap as he recently recommended to Congress is as near a miracle as we’re likely to see anytime soon.
Maybe under the radar, Supreme Court overturns rule on right to counsel
The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned a landmark 1986 ruling that forbid the police from questioning suspects without their attorney present. The 1986 case, Michigan v Jackson, was overturned on Tuesday in a 5-4 ruling (PDF) in a similar case, Montejo v Louisiana.
[ ]…A group of 19 former judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials, including prominent conservatives like former FBI Director William Sessions and former Bush administration Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, filed an amicus brief (PDF) arguing strongly against overturning Jackson.
So much for the level headed thinking of the male Conservatives that dominant the court. All they have managed to accomplish is give anyone who was convicted based on any information given in one of these police interviews, one more avenue to pursue an appeal. At this point can Democrats start asking why conservatives are so intent on endangering American lives.
The Long Goodbye 