Weekend Economists Surrender April 8-9. 2011

[Demeter]

Yes, WEE has thrown in the towel....on this date, in 1865 - At Appomattox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in the parlor of William McClean's home. Grant allowed Rebel officers to keep their sidearms and permitted soldiers to keep their horses and mules. Though there were still Confederate armies in the field, the war was officially over. The four years of fighting had killed 360,000 Union troops and 260,000 Confederate troops.

And in Washington, DC today, the Democratic leadership surrendered to the GOP all pretenses of running this country by signing a short-term funding bill that will keep the Federal government open for another....6 days! During those 6 days, we will endure more political theater as Congress decides to honor (or not) a spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends October 1, 2011.

Or, as Huffington Post reports:

Federal Budget Deal Reached, Government Shutdown Averted At Least Temporarily

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/08/federal-budget-deal-government-shutdown_n_846614.html

Perilously close to a government shutdown, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reached a historic agreement late Friday night to cut about $38 billion in spending and avert the first federal closure in 15 years.

Obama hailed the deal as "the biggest annual spending cut in history." House Speaker John Boehner said that over the next decade it would cut government spending by $500 billion – and won an ovation from his rank and file, tea party adherents among them...They announced the agreement less than an hour before government funding was due to run out...

On side issues – "riders," the negotiators called them – the Democrats and the White House rebuffed numerous Republican attempts to curtail the reach of the Environmental Protection Agency. They also sidetracked their demand to deny federal funds to Planned Parenthood. Under the accord, the issue will come to a vote in the Senate under terms guaranteed to end in its defeat. Anti-abortion lawmakers succeeded in winning a provision to ban the use of federal or local government funds to pay for abortions in the District of Columbia. One of Boehner's priorities, a program that lets District of Columbia students use federally funded vouchers to attend private schools, was included. In addition, the Senate will vote on proposals to deny federal funding to implement the year-old health care law. It is certain to fall short of the required 60 votes but will place Democrats on the record.

The long-term deal in hand, lawmakers raced to pass an interim measure to prevent a shutdown, however brief, and keep the federal machinery running for the next several days. The Senate acted within minutes, and even though it took the House longer. White House Budget Director Jacob Lew issued a directive saying that in view of the agreement, "agencies are instructed to continue their normal operations."

Well, I'm so glad that's over....

[Demeter]

1. FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNS--TWO BANKS FAILED LAST NIGHT

Western Springs National Bank and Trust, Western Springs, Illinois was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Heartland Bank and Trust Company, Bloomington, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Western Springs National Bank and Trust.

The two branches of Western Springs National Bank and Trust will reopen during normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of Heartland Bank and Trust Company...As of December 31, 2010, Western Springs National Bank and Trust had approximately $186.8 million in total assets and $181.9 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Heartland Bank and Trust Company agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and Heartland Bank and Trust Company entered into a loss-share transaction on $100.8 million of Western Springs National Bank and Trust's commercial loans...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $31.0 million. Compared to other alternatives, Heartland Bank and Trust Company's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Western Springs National Bank and Trust is the 27th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the fourth in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was The Bank of Commerce, Wood Dale, on March 25, 2011.



Nevada Commerce Bank, Las Vegas, Nevada was closed today by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with City National Bank, Los Angeles, California, to assume all of the deposits of Nevada Commerce Bank.

The two branches of Nevada Commerce Bank will reopen on Monday as branches of City National Bank...As of December 31, 2010, Nevada Commerce Bank had approximately $144.9 million in total assets and $136.4 million in total deposits. In addition to paying a premium of 0.71 percent to assume all of the deposits of the failed bank, City National Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and City National Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $111.1 million of Nevada Commerce Bank's assets...The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $31.9 million. Compared to other alternatives, City National Bank's acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC's DIF. Nevada Commerce Bank is the 28th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Nevada. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was SouthwestUSA Bank, Las Vegas, on July 23, 2010.

GEE! ONLY $62.9M LOST!

[Demeter]

2. IN OTHER NEWS

There's some hockey game that will delay the printing of the Ann Arbor fishwrap, meaning Sunday will not be a fun day for your WEE editor....

The local MSM couldn't care less about the budget struggles. I doubt it will even get mentioned on the front page...

[Hugin]

3. Then... There's this part of "The Deal".

Apparently, a crowd that won't audit the Fed thinks it's perfectly o.k. to audit the CFPB on an annual basis. An audit performed by some nebulous private sector entity... No less. :eyes:

Edit: paraphrased due to questionable article copyright status.

[Demeter]

32. Oh, Did the Uber-Editors Ding You, Too?

Evidently unable to burn people who are less than enthusiastic about their Man in the White House, these sad souls are reduced to counting syllables...measuring truth and knowledge in indigestible dribbles and incomplete thoughts.

[hamerfan]

4. G'Morning, Demeter!

Thanks for all the work you do here and at SMW! We appreciates it!
:hi: :donut: :donut:
hamerfan

[Demeter]

8. I'd like to know why you all aren't sleeping

6 recs in 20 minutes at 4:30 in the morning....we've all got to stop meeting like this!

I know why I'm not sleeping....too much food at Euchre night, where my protegee, on her second attempt at the game, scooped the pot! Good job, KLM!

[MattSh]

5. Historic?? Well, I thought...

for something to be called historic, it actually had to be, you know...historic?

[cutlassmama]

7. Historic as in the amount of cuts to the budget. btw no one is saying

exactly where/what/when these cuts are. I imagine it's all on the back of the little people though.

[Demeter]

9. For the comic value alone, it's historical

Or maybe that's hysterical...

[Fuddnik]

15. Yeah, really something to be proud of.

:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

They only settled for a lot more than the Repukes demanded in the first place. And, they managed to gut Dodd-Frank even more.

How much more will they cut next year? They just rewarded more criminal behavior, and encouraged them to try for more. Which they'll get going into election season.

Oxymorons:
Military Intelligence.
Jumbo Shrimp.
Democratic Leadership.

[DemReadingDU]

21. Most likely orchestrated behind the scenes

Keep everyone on their toes, drag it until the 11th hour.
Then hey...a deal is announced so the government doesn't shutdown.

What is going on around the world that the media was prevented from talking about?
The referendum vote in Iceland?
The Portugal bailout?
The Japan meltdown?
The escalation of war in Libya?
Protests in Egypt?
etc., etc., etc.

[Ghost Dog]

33. Re: Referendum in Iceland

Iceland votes on Icesave-Landsbanki repayment

Icelanders are voting in a referendum on the latest plan to repay the UK and Netherlands for costs incurred when its banking system collapsed.

The country overwhelmingly rejected a previous repayment plan, which was put to a referendum last March.

The new deal offers less onerous repayment terms, but opinion polls suggest it will again be rejected.

...

The British and Dutch governments had to reimburse 400,000 citizens who lost savings - and Iceland must now decide how to repay that money.

/... Or so the BBC pronounces: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13022524

--
Iceland, fight this injustice

Saturday's referendum is a chance for Icelanders to strike at the conspiracy that leaves us all bailing out financiers

On Saturday the Icelandic people vote in a referendum on whether the Icelandic state and thus the citizens should guarantee the so-called Icesave claim. Icesave was a bank deposit account that promised market-leading interest rates. When the bank failed, the question arose if the Icelandic depositors' guarantee fund – a private institution financed by the banks – should have taxpayer backing. Instead of letting depositors lose their money or even wait for compensation from the bankruptcy estate, the governments of the UK and Netherlands (where the Icesave products where marketed) decided to reimburse depositors from their own countries. The reimbursement included the full principal, while the recklessly high-interest profits of the risk-seeking depositors were thrown in as a bonus.

Then the British and Dutch authorities went to the Icelandic government and claimed, with reference to EU regulation, that the compensation was in fact the responsibility of the Icelandic taxpayer and that Iceland had to reimburse the British and the Dutch in full.

...

In a similar vein, the people of Ireland, Greece, Portugal and other EU nations have had to accept a total guarantee of all loans made by commercial lenders, thus leaving both financial institutions and bondholders free of all responsibility. Why is this? Has this been discussed properly? Is the idea that taxpayers should necessarily guarantee private lenders a commonly accepted proposition? Is reckless lending supposed to be without consequence?

Instead of applying the customary methods of writing off debt, it seems that an invisible consensus has been created – reminiscent of Chomsky's phrase of the "unconscious conspiracy" – that the financial excesses and reckless lending of the past decade shall be carried forward by the taxpayers into the unforeseeable future. As a result, citizens across Europe are facing extreme cuts in public services, tax rises and massive rises in unemployment.

/... The Guardian explains: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/08/iceland-referendum-conspiracy-financiers?INTCMP=SRCH

--
And, as an aside:

...The opposing yes and no camps have been running a fierce campaign battle, and the national conversation has been completely dominated by the dispute. Indeed, mention the word "Icesave" to Icelanders, and most want to run for cover. Which is why the matter of the "golden geese" last week provided something of a welcome respite.

The story took most everyone by surprise. Ten mega-rich investors from the US and Canada had contacted Icelandic authorities and were pledging to invest up to $15bn into our cash-strapped economy. All they wanted was a teeny-weeny favour in return: Icelandic citizenship for themselves and their children.

To the glib observer, the deal certainly sounded attractive. The tycoons' Canadian attorney, one David Lesperance, gushed to Iceland's national public-service broadcaster RÚV that the group had been so taken with the country that they wanted to "join team Iceland". They were, he said, "motivated beyond money" and were primarily looking to invest in the country for political and philanthropic reasons.

When the reporter sounded doubtful, he quickly added that they were also concerned about the number of nuclear power plants being built where they lived, and about their children being drafted into the military. Neither of which would happen if they lived in Iceland.

/... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/07/icelandic-citizenship-golden-geese

[DemReadingDU]

35. Iceland Rejects Debt Deal To Repay Billions

4/10/11 Iceland Rejects Debt Deal To Repay Billions

Referendum results show voters in Iceland have rejected a government-approved deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands $5 billion for their citizens' deposits in the failed online bank Icesave.

Final results from five of six constituencies on Sunday showed the "no" side taking just under 60 percent of the votes.

Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said the results were disappointing but she would try to prevent political and economic chaos resulting from it.

The result complicates Iceland's recovery from its 2008 economic collapse.

Icelanders overwhelmingly rejected a previous deal in a referendum last year, but the government hoped a new agreement on better terms would win approval.

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/10/135287507/iceland-rejects-debt-deal-to-repay-billions

[Fuddnik]

36. Screw the banks and jail the banksters.

Seize all of their assets and claw back their pay. That's how you pay off the debt.

[Po_d Mainiac]

41. Might as well scavange a few organs also.

Although the hearts are likely useless. :bounce:

[Demeter]

44. I Expect the kidneys are no good, either

Otherwise, they wouldn't be so full of it.

[Demeter]

6. 10 of the Biggest Corporate Tax Cheats In America

http://www.alternet.org/rss/1/551168/10_of_the_biggest_corporate_tax_cheats_in_america?akid=6795.227380.ESkezK&rd=1&t=9


...GE is not alone. Here are 10 other big corporate tax evaders (with an assist from an MSNBC analysis of leading corporate tax-dodgers). Keep in mind that neither political party ever actually cuts spending significantly, so every dollar these companies avoid paying is one that will come out of the paychecks of working America....

1. Google
2. News Corp
3. Boeing
4. Pfizer
5. Oracle
6. Altria (Philip Morris)
7. IBM
8. Time Warner
9. Morgan Stanley (the food stamp profiteers)
10. Microsoft


SEE "FUN FACTS" AT LINK!

[Demeter]

10. Imagine Being 80 and Owing 40K in Health Costs Under Republican Paul Ryan's Insane, Randian Plan

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/551942/imagine_being_80_and_owing_40k_in_health_costs_under_republican_paul_ryan%27s_insane%2C_randian_plan/#paragraph5

It should destroy him and the GOP for the foreseeable future, but the merging of the two parties on these issues is so far along, it's quite possible that there will be little fallout unfortunately. The "pragmatists" will undoubtedly find some way to work out the wrinkles:

Representative Ryan Proposes Medicare Plan Under Which Seniors Would Pay Most of Their Income for Health Care

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/representative-ryan-proposes-medicare-plan-under-which-seniors-would-pay-most-of-their-income-for-health-care

That is what headlines would look like if the United States had an independent press. After all, this is one of the main take aways of the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) analysis of the plan proposed by Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee. Representative Ryan would replace the current Medicare program with a voucher for people who turn age 65 in 2022 and later. This voucher would be worth $8,000 in for someone turning age 65 in that year. It would rise in step with with the consumer price index and also as people age. (Health care expenses are higher for people age 75 than age 65.)

According to the CBO analysis the benefit would cover 32 percent of the cost of a health insurance package equivalent to the current Medicare benefit (Figure 1). This means that the beneficiary would pay 68 percent of the cost of this package. Using the CBO assumption of 2.5 percent annual inflation, the voucher would have grown to $9,750 by 2030. This means that a Medicare type plan for someone age 65 would be $30,460 under Representative Ryan's plan, leaving seniors with a bill of $20,700. (This does not count various out of pocket medical expenditures not covered by Medicare.)

...The fantasy that the Great and Heroic Paul Ryan relies upon is that "the market" will be so full of competition that it will magically keep prices low and profits high and everyone will live happily ever after in a capitalist nirvana. Unfortunately, the insurance industry has already proven that it doesn't respond to normal market forces and there's no reason to believe that it will in the future. They will make profits by covering the young and healthy and finding ways to cut corners on the old and sick. That's how they make money. And Lord knows that Ryan and his ilk don't expect or want them to consider anything else...


THIS IS A "MUST READ" FOR ANYONE PLANNING TO LIVE PAST THEIR EMPLOYABLE, INSURABLE YEARS...

[Demeter]

11. The Koch Brothers' Tangled and Far-Reaching Web

WARNING: DO NOT EAT BEFORE READING....


http://www.alternet.org/story/150547/the_koch_brothers%27_tangled_and_far-reaching_web?page=entire

[Demeter]

12. What Is ALEC? Dragging the Secretive Conservative Organization Out of the Shadows

http://www.alternet.org/story/150463/what_is_alec_dragging_the_secretive_conservative_organization_out_of_the_shadows?page=entire

[Demeter]

13. Why Republicans Persist in Demanding the Elimination of 700,000 Jobs

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12569

Why do Republicans persist in demanding that we eliminate 700,000 jobs? It has to do with the influence of four major groups:

1). The CEO/Wall Street Class. Much of America's economic royalty - which is the major base of the Republican Party - is focused exclusively on what you could call short-term greed. They want their taxes to fall as far as possible. They want Government to stop trying to regulate their reckless behavior - producing unsafe products, fouling our air and water, out of control speculation...Many of this gang believe that if they can make enough money - for them anyway -- the future will simply take care of itself. Whether or not jobs of ordinary Americans will disappear is of relatively little interest to them. They want government to be as small a factor in our lives as possible - except of course to the extent that government contracts or privatization of government services can feed their bottom lines...


2). The second influential group pushing for policies that would eliminate 700,000 jobs are the intellectuals and academics who work for the first group. And I do mean "work for." Guys like the billion-dollar right wing Koch brothers literally pay "think tanks" and "foundations" all over America to churn out reports and studies that basically argue that up is down and black is white. They create the intellectual structure to dress up the economic self-interest of the wealthiest Americans in respectable academic clothing. They tell us there is no "scientific consensus" about climate change. They create economic theories to support their contention that Keynesian economic policies don't work and that we need to turn instead to austerity policies and low taxes to give business the "incentive" to produce and invest....

3). Many in the third group actually understand the budget-slashing proposals being made by Republicans in the house would cut massive numbers of jobs. This group is the Republican political class - and they would be happy as pigs in slop to eliminate those jobs. The last thing they want is for the economy to improve. If the economy fell into a second recession, they think that would be the best thing that could happen since bottled beer. As Rush Limbaugh put it, they want Obama to fail.

4). Of course the final - and most visible -- group clamoring for draconian cuts that would cost 700,000 American their jobs is the Tea Party, and the many far-right members of the Republican caucus that they helped elect last year. Many of these extremist Members of Congress actually believe that the voters sent them to Washington to "shrink government." Of course the Tea Party - and its corporate sponsors -- did exactly that. But the vast majority of swing voters that helped elect them were simply furious that their own personal economic situations seemed to be getting worse and worse. The real reason for this problem is that all of the economic growth of the last two decades has gone to the top 2% of the population. Middle class incomes have not kept up with the increased productivity of the economy, and everyday people are falling further and further behind as a result...

[Demeter]

14. TOM TOMORROW'S ADVENTURES OF "MIDDLE MAN"

[Po_d Mainiac]

31. I doubt that MB shaves.....steel blades wood melt...n/t

[Demeter]

16. HISTORY LESSON: The Boston Tea Party Revealed

http://www.truth-out.org/boston-tea-party-revealed/1301986800

While the Pilgrims were early arrivers to America, and their deeds and experiences make outstanding folklore, they weren’t the country’s founders. This country was formally settled nineteen years before the pilgrims’ arrival, when land from the Atlantic to the Mississippi was staked out by what was then the world’s largest transnational corporation. The Pilgrims arrived in America in 1620 aboard a boat they chartered from that corporation. That boat, the Mayflower, had already made three trips to North America from England on behalf of the East India Company, the corporation that owned it. By the early- 1600s colonization of North America, the British Empire was just starting to become a world empire....

...America was one of the East India Company’s major international bases of operations; and once the company figured out how to make a colony work, it grew rapidly. Through the 1600s and the early 1700s, the company and its affiliates largely took control of North America but also sent Captain James Cook on his explorations of Australia, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands. He was killed in Hawaii while on a company mission of exploration.

The company’s influence was pervasive wherever it went. For example, one hundred years or more before Betsy Ross was born, the flag of the East India Company was made up of thirteen horizontal red and white alternating bars, with a blue field in the upper-left corner with the Union Jack in it. Although, according to the well-known legend, Ross reversed the order of the red and white bars, the American flag is startling similar to that of the East India Company in the 1700s.*

*The East India Company designed its flag with thirteen red and white bars long before there were thirteen states. Many historians believe it was because most of the stockholders in the East India Company were initiates in the Masonic Order, and the Masons considered thirteen to be a metaphysically powerful number. Virtually every signer of the Constitution was also a Mason, which may be why they chose to limit the original colonies to thirteen. But that’s all speculation; nobody knows for sure, or, if they do, they’re not telling.

In its earliest years, the company began assembling its own private military and police forces. After a particularly bloody massacre of company employees by the Dutch at Amboina, Indonesia, in 1623, the company realized it needed to hire some new and uniquely competent people to ply the trade routes. To stop smugglers from competing with its trade to North America, the company authorized its governor of New York to hire Captain William Kidd to clean up its trade routes by killing colonial smugglers and sinking their ships. When Kidd began secretly competing with the company on the side (an activity the company called smuggling and piracy), it had him captured and executed in 1701.

The company also approached the British Parliament and asked for authority and protection by British military forces....

[Demeter]

17. No safe level of radiation in Japan:Experts warn: any detectable level of radiation is "too much"

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/04/20114219250664111.html


...........................................................................

“Nobody is talking about the fact that there is no safe dose of radiation,” Cabasso added, “One of the reasons Morgan said this is because doses are cumulative in the body.” This means that the sum of several very small exposures to radiation has the same effect as one large exposure, since the effects of radiation are cumulative...

=============================================================================

Radioactive Iodine has already been found in the tap water in all of Tokyo’s 23 wards...The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission had already recommended an 80-kilometre evacuation zone for U.S. citizens in Japan.


........

Some experts have warned of a nightmare scenario where clouds of radioactive material (FROM FUKUSHIMA) could spread lethal toxins across the planet for months on end if the spent fuel rods catch fire due to lack of coolant....scientists stated, “The Fukushima plant has around 1760 tonnes of fresh and used nuclear fuel on site,” while, “the Chernobyl reactor had only 180 tonnes.” According to a report from the New York Academy of Sciences, due to the Chernobyl disaster, 985,000 people have died, mainly from cancer, between 1986-2004.

.................

250,000 years of radiation

Sullivan explained that when dealing with long-lived radioactive materials, in addition to carcinogens there are inter-generational effects that include the mutation of the genetic structure of life...A radioactive half-life means that in this case, in 24,000 years, half of the ionizing radiation will have decayed, then in another 24,000 years half of that radiation will decay, etc.

[Demeter]

18. Waking Up to a Nuclear Nightmare

http://truthout.org/waking-nuclear-nightmare

[Demeter]

19. Surrender at Appomattox, 1865

With his army surrounded, his men weak and exhausted, Robert E. Lee realized there was little choice but to consider the surrender of his Army to General Grant. After a series of notes between the two leaders, they agreed to meet on April 9, 1865, at the house of Wilmer McLean in the village of Appomattox Courthouse. The meeting lasted approximately two and one-half hours and at its conclusion the bloodliest conflict in the nation's history neared its end.

Prelude to Surrender
On April 3, Richmond fell to Union troops as Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in retreat to the West pursued by Grant and the Army of the Potomac. A running battle ensued as each Army moved farther to the West in an effort to out flank, or prevent being out flanked by the enemy. Finally, on April 7, General Grant initiated a series of dispatches leading to a meeting between the two commanders.



MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

20. Battle of Appomattox Court House

The Battle of Appomattox Court House, fought on the morning of April 9, 1865, was the final engagement of Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, and one of the last battles of the American Civil War. Lee, having abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, after the Siege of Petersburg, retreated west, hoping to join his army with the Confederate forces in North Carolina. Union forces pursued and cut off the Confederate retreat. Lee's final stand was at Appomattox Court House, where he launched an attack to break through the Union force to his front, assuming the Union force consisted entirely of cavalry. When he realized that the cavalry was backed up by two corps of Union infantry, he had no choice but to surrender.

The signing of the surrender documents occurred in the parlor of the house owned by Wilmer McLean on the afternoon of April 9. On April 12, a formal ceremony marked the disbandment of the Army of Northern Virginia and the parole of its officers and men, effectively ending the war in Virginia.

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Appomattox_Court_House

While Meade reportedly shouted that "it's all over" upon hearing the surrender was signed, Grant was aware that only a single army had given up. Roughly 175,000 Confederates remained in the field. Many of these were scattered throughout the South in garrisons while the rest were concentrated in three major Confederate commands.<18><19> Just as Porter Alexander had predicted, it was only a matter of time before the other Confederate armies began to surrender. As news spread of Lee's surrender, other Confederate commanders realized that the strength of the Confederacy was fading, and decided to lay down their own arms. Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina, the most threatening of the remaining Confederate armies, surrendered to Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman on April 26. General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department in May and Brig. Gen. Stand Watie surrendered the last sizable organized Confederate force on June 23, 1865.

There were several more small battles after the surrender, with the Battle of Palmito Ranch commonly regarded as the final military action of the Confederacy.

Lee never forgot Grant's magnanimity during the surrender, and for the rest of his life would not tolerate an unkind word about Grant in his presence. Likewise, General Gordon cherished Chamberlain's simple act of saluting his surrendered army, calling Chamberlain "one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal army."

[Fuddnik]

22. All this week, our local PBS affiliate was airing Ken Burns, "The Civil War".

Towards the end of the war, the nations two national cemeteries were filled and they needed a new one. Te Army Chief of Staff ordered the Quartermaster General of the Army to procure more land for burials.

The Quartermaster, a Georgia General, who served under Lee before the war had grown to hate Lee, and blamed him for all the carnage. He had just the place.

He seized Lee's home (and maybe birthplace, I'm not sure) in Arlington, Va. He said, "He killed them. Caused their deaths. I'll bury them in his front yard, so if he ever returns, He can never go outside". Thus was born Arlington National Cemetery.

Talk about a prick!

[Demeter]

24. I never knew that

God, that war will never end. I wonder how many of those Teabaggers display Confederate flags.

[Demeter]

25. More Black Men Now in Prison System than Were Enslaved

http://www.laprogressive.com/law-and-the-justice-system/black-men-prison-system/

“More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began,” Michelle Alexander told a standing room only house at the Pasadena Main Library this past Wednesday, the first of many jarring points she made in a riveting presentation.

Alexander, currently a law professor at Ohio State, had been brought in to discuss her year-old bestseller, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness More Black Men Now in Prison System than Were Enslaved. Interest ran so high beforehand that the organizers had to move the event to a location that could accommodate the eager attendees. That evening, more than 200 people braved the pouring rain and inevitable traffic jams to crowd into the library’s main room, with dozens more shuffled into an overflow room, and even more latecomers turned away altogether. Alexander and her topic had struck a nerve.

Growing crime rates over the past 30 years don’t explain the skyrocketing numbers of black — and increasingly brown — men caught in America’s prison system, according to Alexander, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun after attending Stanford Law. “In fact, crime rates have fluctuated over the years and are now at historical lows.”...

[bread_and_roses]

23. Obama and the quisling Ds "hail" "historic" gutting of supporters

Why, why, why, why cannot "our" President stand up and defend what ALL the polls tell us ordinary people want? People want health care, they want their elders cared for, they want children to have food to eat and roofs over their head, they support home heating assistance, food stamps, medicaid, medicare, services for the disabled, education for their children, strong Social Security, the right to organize, protections for the environment, workplace safety, regulation of banking and investments, TAXING THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS...and Obama "hails" the Ds profound and traitorous capitulation to the Right Wing narrative of cuts and cuts and cuts. And some around here congratulate them. Wonderland indeed.

Talk about civil war - we are in another one: the rich against the rest of us. The Rich are on a "Sherman's March" through the working class (which, contrary to what some seem to believe, includes the poor and those poor deluded souls who are one or two paychecks away from destitution but consider themselves "Middle Class.")

[DemReadingDU]

26. It is a civil war - the rich against the rest of us

A government by the wealthy for the wealthy. The middle class is being gutted. We need to enjoy whatever we have now, because eventually (a few decades?), health care, social security, medicare, college education (except for the wealthy) will be gone.
:(

[kickysnana]

27. How can we control 2/3 of the govt and end up giving them more than they asked for? n/t

[Fuddnik]

28. We're good, ain't we?

[Demeter]

29. Breaking News: Tax Revenues Plummeted (SO MUCH FOR TAX CUTS PAYING FOR THEMSELVES)

http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8EL2Y8?OpenDocument

We take you now to the official data for important news. Federal tax revenues in 2010 were much smaller than in 2000. Total individual income tax receipts fell 30 percent in real terms. Because the population kept growing, income taxes per capita plummeted.

Individual income taxes came to just $2,900 per capita in 2010, down 36 percent from more than $4,500 in 2000. Total income taxes and income taxes per capita declined even though the economy grew 16 percent overall and 6 percent per capita from 2000 through 2010.

Corporate income tax receipts fell 27 percent and declined 34 percent per capita, even though profits boomed, rising 60 percent.

Payroll taxes increased slightly overall, but slipped per capita because the nation's population grew five times faster than the number of people with any work. The average wage also declined slightly....

[Demeter]

30. I find I'm Dyspeptic This Weekend

and won't be good company. I will try to get rid of, or get over what's bothering me, but just in case, I think you've got enough to chew over. Feel free to add to the library for your fellow Weekenders!

The truth is, I cannot stomach much more reality right now...

[Fuddnik]

34. Kick and Rec!

[Demeter]

37. Weather report

It is not only above freezing, it's above 70....76.5F and climbing still.

There's this bubble in the jet stream that permitted the warm air to come up from the Gulf, for the first time since whenever. If it stays, then we have instant summer--no spring to speak of. If it goes, the arctic air out of Canada will probably snow on us again....there's no such thing as a happy medium around the so-called "temperate" zone.

So, in honor of this momentous event, I threw open all the windows...and turned on the self-cleaning oven. I hope that by the end of the week, the house will be habitable again.

[Fuddnik]

42. And I'm laying here in this wretched 88 degree pool.

Drinking beer.

:beer:

[Demeter]

43. It's 81F Now

I just bought a pair of fuzzy lined boots on clearance, and a pair of lacy sneakers.

This 40 degree from morning to afternoon is hard to adjust a body to. I had to wear gloves and hat this morning on the paper route, and it was foggy and damp.

[Demeter]

38. Market Update--Weekly Recap

Week ending 08-Apr-11

The S&P 500 shed 0.3%, in relatively subdued trade. The modest decline follows a steep 4.2% gain in the previous two weeks.

Seven of the 10 sectors fell, with industrials shedding 1.4%. Consumer staples posted the largest gain, up 1.1%.

Commodity prices rallied, with silver spiking 8.5%, crude advancing 4.8% and gold gaining 3.3%. Meanwhile, the dollar index fell 1.3%, with the dollar hitting a fresh 52-week low against the euro.

In corporate news, Texas Instruments (TXN) is going to buy National Semiconductor (NSM) for $6.5 bln, an 80% premium.(NOW THERE'S A MARRIAGE MADE IN HELL-TWO DYSFUNCTIONAL COMPANIES PUT IN HARNESS)

NSM spiked 68% and was the top gainer. Retailers also were among the week's best performing stocks on upside reports.

On the downside, oil sensitive stocks took a hit. Southwest Airlines (LUV) shed 7.8%.

In overseas news, the ECB raised its benchmark lending rate by 25 bps to 1.25%, as expected. Portugal requested aid from EU officials, also as expected.

Back in the U.S., the looming threat of a government shutdown had a limited impact on stock trading.

The coming week marks the unofficial start to first quarter earnings season with Alcoa (AA) reporting on Monday after the close.

[Demeter]

39. Banks Are Off the Hook Again

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/opinion/10sun1.html

Prepare for a disappointment. As early as this week, federal bank regulators and the nation’s big banks are expected to close a deal that is supposed to address and correct the scandalous abuses. If these agreements are anything like the draft agreement recently published by the American Banker — and we believe they will be — they will be a wrist slap, at best. At worst, they are an attempt to preclude other efforts to hold banks accountable. They are unlikely to ease the foreclosure crisis.

............................

But the gist of the terms is that from now on, banks — without admitting or denying wrongdoing — must abide by existing laws and current contracts. To clear up past violations, they are required to hire independent consultants to check a sample of recent foreclosures for evidence of improper evictions and impermissible fees.

The consultants will be chosen and paid by the banks, which will decide how the reviews are conducted. Regulators will only approve the banks’ self-imposed practices. It is hard to imagine rigorous reviews, but if the consultants turn up problems, the banks are required to reimburse affected borrowers and investors as “appropriate.” It is apparently up to the banks to decide what is appropriate.

It gets worse. Consumer advocates have warned that banks may try to assert that these legal agreements pre-empt actions by the states to correct and punish foreclosure abuses. Banks may also try to argue that any additional rules by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help borrowers would be excessive regulation...The least federal regulators could do is to stress that the agreements are not intended to pre-empt the states or undermine the consumer bureau. If they don’t, you can add foreclosure abuses to other bank outrages, like bailout-financed bonuses and taxpayer-subsidized profits.

[Demeter]

40. RAISING THE DEBT CEILING

[bread_and_roses]

45. “The substance of this deal is bad...But the way Democrats are selling it makes it worse"

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/10-2

The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein cut through the bull to look for the bone,

“The substance of this deal is bad,” he writes, “But the way Democrats are selling it makes it much, much worse.

The final compromise was $38.5 billion below 2010’s funding levels. That’s $78.5 billion below President Obama’s original budget proposal, which would’ve added $40 billion to 2010’s funding levels, and $6.5 billion below John Boehner’s original counteroffer, which would’ve subtracted $32 billion from 2010’s budget totals…. Obama bragged about “making the largest annual spending cut in our history.” Harry Reid joined him, repeatedly calling the cuts “historic.” … You would never have known that Democrats had spent months resisting these “historic” cuts, warning that they’d cost jobs and slow the recovery…. The Democrats believe it’s good to look like a winner, even if you’ve lost. But they’re sacrificing more than they let on.”

Take a breath because this budget fight is only a minor blip in a deeper and protracted war that is just cranking up. As Business Insider notes, “The fight over whether to shut down the government for a few days is chicken-scratch. It's low-stakes poker compared to the fight over the debt ceiling, which must be resolved by May 8, in just over a month….

Now, there are fools, and there are fools - and there are fools fools. Which may be the only way to describe the Ds. Why, for the love of the goddess are they not out there telling the citizenry exactly what and who these cuts hurt, and exactly who to blame for them? Why oh why is Obama bragging about his "historic" cuts??? Why is he not excoriating the despicable Rs for trying to balance the budget on the backs of preschoolers and seniors? Why???????????????????????????????????????

Well, there's only one explanation for it, so I don't know why I'm asking. We are so screwn. As hateful as the ensuing suffering would be, I'm at the point of saying bring it down. Maybe then people will start to remember what gov't is for, and why we have a safety net, regulations, etc etc etc. People are suffering now and more will suffer soon.

It's as if they are trying to precisely calculate the exact number who can suffer without the rest understanding that "there but for the grace..." Trying to throw just the exact # of scraps that will keep a majority hoping that one of those scraped plates will end up on their table, and so closing their eyes to those poor souls out there scrabbling through the midden for a bone.