Misc.
‘Shared Sacrifice’: Hostess Used Employee Pensions to Fund Itself By: Sarah Jones Dec. 11th, 2012 more from Sarah Jones <img src="http://www.politicususa.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Screen-Shot-2012-12-10-at-10.41.37-PM-300x255.png" alt="" title="the big lie shared sacrifices" width="300" height="255" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-102586"/> See if you can spy the “shared sacrifice” in this story.
'Shared Sacrifice': Hostess Used Employee Pensions to Fund Itself
AT&T has a sneaky plan. It wants to exploit a loophole in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s rules to kill what remains of the public telecommunications network — and all of the consumer protections that go with it. It’s the final step in AT&T’s decade-long effort to end all telecommunications regulation, and the simplicity of the plan highlights a dysfunction unique to the American regulatory system.
Here's How AT&T Is Planning to Rob Americans of an Open Public Telco Network | Wired Opinion
Report: data caps just a “cash cow” for Internet providers
Why do so many Americans now live with Internet data caps—and what are these caps doing to the future of broadband? Those are the questions posed by a new paper from the New America Foundation, which wants to shake up the lethargy that has descended over the data caps debate by pointing out just how odd the caps truly are. "Internet service and mobile providers appear to be one of the few industries that seek to discourage their customers from consuming more of their product," write the paper's authors. "The reason for this counterintuitive business model is that in the noncompetitive US marketplace, it is highly profitable." The arguments presented here aren't novel, but they do act as a fine summation of the anti-cap position (and the report is only 13 pages, making it a quick read).
Yovany Gonzalez's Wells Fargo Lawsuit Alleges Bank Fired Him, Cut Dying Daughter's Health Insurance
Wells Fargo allegedly fired an employee because his dying daughter needed expensive cancer treatment, according to a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Court on Thursday. Wells Fargo fired mortgage consultant Yovany Gonzalez three days before his daughter Mackenzie was scheduled to get cancer surgery in August of 2010, the lawsuit states . According to the suit, the hospital canceled the surgery because Mackenzie no longer was covered by health insurance. She died of cancer in March of 2011. Before Gonzalez was fired, Wells Fargo and United Health Care, the health insurer, asked Gonzalez's wife "numerous questions" about Mackenzie's treatment and made "several references ... to the costs of her treatment," the lawsuit states.Killing Libby
Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis At U.S. Highway 2 crosses Montana, it is dotted along its 600-mile length with signposts bearing white crosses.
[Editor's note: This morning, I found a an enormous, 30Lb box waiting for me at my post-office box. Affixed to it was a sticker warning me that by accepting this box into my possession, I was making myself liable for nearly $11 million in damages. The box was full of paper, and printed on the paper were US laws -- laws that no one is allowed to publish or distribute without permission. Carl Malamud, Boing Boing's favorite rogue archivist, is the guy who sent me this glorious box of weird ( here are the unboxing pics for your pleasure ).
Liberating America's secret, for-pay laws
What the rest of the world can teach conservatives -- and all Americans -- about socialism, health care, and the path toward more affordable insurance Reuters Avik S. A. Roy Yesterday, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry posted a stimulating comparison between the American and French health-care systems.
The Myth of the Free-Market American Health Care System - Megan McArdle - Business
The Wall Street Journal just reported that the Federal Communications Commission is holding "closed-door meetings" with industry to broker a deal on Net Neutrality -- the rule that lets users determine their own Internet experience. Given that the corporations at the table all profit from gaining control over information, the outcome won't be pretty. The meetings include a small group of industry lobbyists representing the likes of AT&T, Verizon, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and Google. They reportedly met for two-and-a-half hours on Monday morning and will convene another meeting today.
Timothy Karr: The Fate of the Internet -- Decided in a Back Room
WASHINGTON, Nov 4, 2010 (IPS) - An international boycott of Botswana diamonds aims to draw greater attention to the government's mistreatment of native Kalahari Bushmen. The rights group Survival International launched the boycott in San Francisco and London Tuesday with a protest outside the diamond retailer De Beers, which is partly owned by the Botswana government. With the support of several celebrity endorsements, the group is also urging a boycott of tourism to Botswana "until the Bushmen are allowed to live on their ancestral land in peace". "No government is immune to bad publicity, and the Botswana government is no exception," says Miriam Ross, Survival International's Campaigner. "The more people know about the government's treatment of the Bushmen, the less customers Botswana will have for its diamonds and its tourism."
Group Says Botswana Bushmen Evicted over Diamonds
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19 iconic products that america doesn't make anymore: Tech Ticker, Yahoo! Finance
As the latest showdown to dominate American politics, the battle between Wisconsin’s governor and public employees carries many unspoken messages. It tells us, for instance, that Republicans do not see collective bargaining as a fundamental human right. It also suggests that Democrats are willing — finally! — to draw a line in the sand. But most important of all, it shows what government really sees as its top priority. Recall that in recent years, we’ve witnessed two separate debates over two types of taxpayer-subsidized laborers.
Our culture of avarice - War Room
WASHINGTON — Vowing to curb the authority and the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, congressional Republicans are attacking the agency to a degree not seen since President Richard Nixon created it 40 years ago. The EPA's effort to tackle the latest and perhaps most challenging environmental problem – global warming – has made it a central target of the new Republican leadership's anti-regulatory agenda. Having failed last year to enact new legislation to curb global warming, the administration is left to use existing law – the Clean Air Act – to start reducing the pollution causing the planet's temperature to rise. During a hearing on Wednesday, GOP members of a House subcommittee contended that such actions will only raise electricity prices and penalize industries that otherwise could be creating jobs. "Congress intends to reassert itself in the statutory and regulatory process at EPA and specifically the Clean Air Act," said Rep.