"This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this."

Huff Po:

"Eric, don't call my bluff. I'm going to the American people on this," the president said, according to both Cantor and another attendee. "This process is confirming what the American people think is the worst about Washington: that everyone is more interested in posturing, political positioning, and protecting their base, than in resolving real problems."

It sounds like Obama isn't going to back down. He's willing to go to the brink in order to get something meaningful passed. It's refreshing to see a Democrat display this amount of chutzpah. Just when I'm just about to give up on the guy he reminds me why I voted for him. This is an incredible gamble though, if we were to go into default we would experience a recession probably worse than the previous one. Obama realizes that if this were to happen that would be the end of his Presidency. But if he's going down he might as well take the Republicans down with him. I imagine this scares the GOP to death, Mitch McConnell admitted as much himself. It's either this or he just doesn't give a damn anymore and has given up on negotiating with the GOP. It's an admirable position though, its not often you see a politician sacrifice his political career for the health of the country. All I can say is I hope it works and the Republicans back down, otherwise its going to get ugly.

BEING PASSED BY: Why Aren't Latino Ballplayers Speaking Out?

BEING PASSED BY: Why Aren't Latino Ballplayers Speaking Out?

RE: Could Nixon Make A Comeback?

Could Nixon Make A Comeback? - The Dish

“I think of what happened to Greece and Rome, and you see what is left — only the pillars,” Nixon concluded somberly. “What has happened, of course, is that the great civilizations of the past, as they have become wealthy, as they have lost their will to live, to improve, they then have become subject to decadence that eventually destroys the civilization. The U.S. is now reaching that period.”

Perhaps Nixon jumped the gun with his conclusion, and failed to take into account a possible Soviet collapse, which occurred a decade and a half after Nixon left office. The collapse of the Soviet Empire bought the United States some more time atop the global hierarchy. But the point Nixon made is even more glaringly obvious now than it was then. With climbing debt, deteriorating infrastructure, a stalled economy, an ineffective public education system, a failed public health system, expensive foreign wars and a gridlocked political process that refuses to address these issues; it is becoming clear that America is in decline. Political leaders refuse to say it, the American public refuses to believe it, but there is no getting around it at this point. It becomes even more glaringly obvious when juxtaposed with rising global powers such as China, India, and Brazil. While those countries have leaders that at least attempt to solve problems and plan for the future, ours focus on short term political gain and personal aggrandizement. I don't hold out much hope for our leaders to grow up, face these challenges, and pull us out of this tailspin. The only question I have at this point is whether we'll go away gracefully like Great Britain, or be destroyed from within like Rome.

Being Held Hostage

Andrew Sullivan writes about the debt ceiling talks going on in Congress:

What you probably cannot do is negotiate with economic equivalent of terrorists. What Cantor and Boehner are doing is essentially letting the world know they have an economic WMD in their possession. And it will go off if you do not give them everything they want, with no negotiation possible. That's the nature of today's GOP. It needs to be destroyed before it can recover.

It's insane that we've reached this point. To have a political party threaten national default if it doesn't get everything it wants is terrorism. It's what hostage takers do. I don't think the American people are taking this seriously enough. Want to know what happens when a country defaults on its debts? Chaos. Just looks at what happened to Latin America in the 80's. Or Mexico. Or Russia. Or Argentina. Bruce Bartlett better explains:  

Republicans are playing not just with fire, but the financial equivalent of nuclear weapons. Perhaps at one time when the federal debt was owned entirely by Americans we could afford to take a chance on debt default because the consequences would only be internal. But today, more than half of the privately held public debt is owed to foreigners; the Chinese alone own more than $1.1 trillion of Treasury securities. Moreover, many countries use Treasury securities as backing for their own currencies. Thus the impact of default would be felt internationally, disrupting finances and economic policies throughout Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Therefore, a potential debt default is far more than a domestic consideration; it is a matter of foreign policy. This is why Secretary of State Clinton and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen have warned that the public debt represents an important threat to national security. As attorney Thomas Geoghegan recently put it, “Where the validity of the debt is concerned, our national security is at stake.”

It's one thing to have a developing country default. It's another thing entirely when the largest, most interconnected economy in the world defaults. Perhaps we're numb to scare tactics. Or we just choose to look away as our bumbling politicians try to disarm a bomb that could kill all of us. I don't know. But luckily there is something Obama can do if Congress fails to act: Go over their heads.  Bartlett explains:

A more radical solution, Plan B, would be to simply disregard the debt limit altogether on constitutional grounds, an idea I suggested in The Fiscal Times on April 29. University of Baltimore law professor Garrett Epps made a similar suggestion in The Atlantic on May 4.

The essence of the argument involves section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which reads: “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.”

In my view and that of Prof. Epps, this means that the president would have constitutional authority to take extraordinary measures to protect the public credit and prevent a debt default even if it means disregarding the debt limit, which is statutory law subordinate to the Constitution.

Perhaps we can avoid this crisis after all. I see no other way. Until GOP leaders break and accept compromise on a deal that includes tax hikes AND spending cuts, which has a snowball's chance in hell at this point, there is no other way. Ultimately the responsibility lies with the American people. We elected these children and they aren't doing their jobs. So instead of complaining about it, its time to do something and actually vote them out of office. Until then nothing will get done. 

Portions of Gov. Deal's HB 87 Blocked

Loganville-Grayson, GA Patch

According to the civil action file, section 8 of the bill “authorizes Georgia law enforcement officers to investigate the immigration status of criminal suspects where the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect committed another criminal offense.”   

If an immigrant does not have proper documentation on him, the police officer would have been able to detain him and place him in jail, or report him to the Department of Homeland Security.   

That section was blocked.   

Additionally, section 7, which would penalize anyone “transporting, moving, concealing or harboring illegal aliens,” was blocked. A fine of up to $250,000 would have been imposed. 

You can read the civil suit in its entirety here.    

NPR

 "The defendants wildly exaggerate the scope of the federal crime of harboring under (the law) when they claim that the Plaintiffs are violating federal immigration law by giving rides to their friends and neighbors who are illegal aliens," he said. 

The judge was especially critical of that provision, blasting the state's assertion that federal immigration enforcement is "passive." Thrash noted that federal immigration officers remove more than 900 foreign citizens from the country on an average day. 

He also wrote that the state measure would overstep the enforcement boundaries established by federal law. Thrash noted that there are thousands of illegal immigrants in Georgia because of the "insatiable demand in decades gone by for cheap labor" in the agriculture and construction industries. But he said the federal government gives priority to prosecuting and removing illegal immigrants who have committed crimes.

 The entire bill, which goes into effect on July 1, hasn't been blocked just these portions. The section of the bill that makes it a felony to provide false information on a job application will still go into effect. Even still this is very positive news. I'm proud of U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash Jr. for doing what is right and just. There still is a long road ahead however. If you want to help overturn HB 87 there will be protests on July 1st and 2nd. Not perfect, but I can't deny that this is great news for immigrants in the state of Georgia.

                                                                                                                                                

Cutting Off the Nose to Smite the Face

Crop Losses Could Top $1B - GPB

An agriculture industry group estimates a shortage of migrant labor may wind up costing Georgia fruit and vegetable farmers $300 million in crop losses. Officials worry the total economic impact will be even greater if crops from the next harvest are lost. 

The Georgia Agribusiness Council estimates the total loss stemming from spoiled and unpicked produce to be close to $1 billion.

Georgia is paying a high price for the near-sighted bigotry of its legislators. While the Republicans representing the suburbs around Atlanta and Augusta rode the immigrant hate-train long enough to pass House Bill 87, they completely ignored the engine that drives much of Georgia's economy: agriculture. Anyone who has ever driven through the state of Georgia knows that agriculture dominates much of the state. Being a resident of Georgia since 1998 I've learned this. Peanuts, Pecans, Peaches, Cotton, Timber, and Poultry are multi-million dollar industries in this state. For better or for worse, all of these industries are reliant on cheap immigrant labor; labor that is rapidly fleeing the state. Quickly realizing the bind he's created for farmers, Governor Nathan Deal is scrambling for solutions. He's ordered that probationers be sent out into the fields to pick crops; a plan that has failed miserably.

I'll never understand why our beloved legislature decided to pursue such an economically crippling bill during a time where Georgia faces 10% unemployment. Then again this is a state where in the year 2011, you still can't buy a can of beer or a bottle of wine on Sundays. It's the South, where the people have more disconnects than AT&T. I've grown accustomed to the backwardness of its politics. But when there's an issue like this that affects me directly, it gets irritating. As a result of this bill immigrants will flee the state, food prices will rise, farmers will struggle, and investment will look elsewhere, probably to more friendly states such as Florida. A state and region that has worked hard to escape its dark racial past is once again being dragged back into the darkness. It's up to the good people of Georgia, Alabama, Arizona and the rest of the United States to once again stand up for what's right, and force our leaders to do the right thing. Immigrants are people not aliens, and its time we start treating them like that.

Chinese Awakening?

Max Fisher - The Atlantic

Last week, riots broke out in Guangdong province, the country's most populous as well as its industrial base. Coastal, ethnic Han, and economically essential, Guangdong province matters for China. In the violence end ensuing crackdown, protesters burned out cars, ransacked shops, and rained bricks on police. CNN's Eunice Yoon, arriving here not long after the protesters, wrote, "for the first time since I started reporting in China years ago, workers approached us unfazed by our cameras. They were unafraid to vent their grievances to foreign TV journalists even as the police looked on." Police soon commanded her to leave.

What has worried me for sometime now is the example that China has set for the world. The fact that China has achieved extraordinary economic growth over the past thirty years while still maintaining an autocratic system has fascinated the world. Many columnists have even expressed envy at this model and have pondered why the American political system can't achieve the focus of the Chinese political system. I've always felt uneasy about these arguments because it undermines the virtue of democracy and fails to paint a complete picture. As an outsider looking in its easy to point to the cold, technocratic, one-party system that has successfully achieved break-neck economic growth and say it works. China indeed should be lauded for recovering from the backwardness under Mao to become the superpower they are today. They've transformed from a largely peasant agrarian society to a modern capitalist juggernaut in little over 50 years. 


But what doesn't get talked about is the fact that China leads the world in executions by a wide margin. Human rights abuses? Ignored. Lack of Labor standards? Overlooked even praised in some circles. Persecution of ethnic minorities such as Tibetans and Uighurs? Barely talked about. Total disregard for the environment? Not even on the radar. Outside of Fareed Zakaria, no one in the mainstream media brings up these issues. Only those that pay close attention know that China is basically recolonizing Africa. The American political system has its long list of faults, I'm not even going to go there, but its problems pale in comparison to China's. I would wager that there isn't a single American, Briton, German, Frenchman, or Canadian in their right minds that would trade their lives for that of a Chinese. 


It was widely believed that the acquiescence of the Chinese population was essentially bought in exchange for economic growth. But that assumption is quickly being debunked. Chinese citizens are increasingly taking to the streets to air out their grievances in the face of overwhelming force. It isn't clear how much the Arab Spring has influenced this "Chinese Summer"; but you'd have to be blind not to the connection. The Chinese government was afraid of this which is why it increased its electronic monitoring recently. Will this lead to meaningful political reforms or will it lead to another Tiananmen Square? No one knows. But its worth keeping an eye on going forward.