EFTA01141591.pdf

From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bcc: jeevacation@gmail.com Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 11/03/2013 Date: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 11:38:50 +0000 Attachments: First,admit_the_problem_EJ_Dionne_TWP October 27„2013.docx; Why_is broadband_more_expensive_in_the:US_By_Thom_Geoghegan_BBC_News_Octobe r 27,2513.docx; Arbout 7,500 Children_Are_Admitted To U.S._Hospitals_Every_Year_With_Gun_Injuries Huff—Post -10 28 213.cicx; Baglulad; Baghdad's_Burning... _Andlt's _ _rind_—of_—Our_Fault YOCHI Foreign_Policy_10_28=5F2013.docx Eurozone_Jobless_Rate_Holds_Steady_At_Record_High_Of 12.2_Percent_10_30_2013.do cx; Could_New_York_City_Subways_Survive_Another_Hurricane_Robert_Sullivan_NYT_Oct ober 23,2013.docx; The:Truth_About_Those_Canceled_Health_Plans_Jeffrey_Young_Huff Post_11_01_2013. docx; Peter_Tosh_bio.docx; Move_over Bob_Marley„Peter Tosh_is_finally_getting_the_recognition_he_deservesjan_ Burrell_Theindependent_November 2,2013.docx; Four days,four massacres,_21_dead_-- and as always,few_answers_Matt_Pearce_LATimes_l 0_30_2013.docx; Tor rht—first_time_in_at_least_seven_years,four_mass_murders_took_place_in_four_days _USA_Today_10_30_2013.docx Inline-Images: image.png; image(1).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; image(8).png; image(9).png; image(10).png; image(11).png; image(12).png DEAR FRIEND An Obituary printed in the London Times Common Sense isn't all that common. Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: - Knowing when to come in out of the rain; - Why the early bird gets the worm; - Life isn't always fair; - And maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). EFTA01141591 His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. But it truly tanked when Wayne LaPierre, President of the National Rifle Association publicly suggested that if there were more guns in schools, children will be safer, when experts will tell you that people living in households that have guns, are five times likely to be the victims of gun violence. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense was given a body blow when a twenty-nine year old man who profiled, stalked, followed, got out of his car and accosted a seventeen year old boy walking home on a winter evening from a local convenience store with skittles and ice tea and then claimed to be the victim. Common Sense was lost when politicians refused to accept the science of climate change supported by more than 17,000 scientific papers while demanding that schools teach that the world was created in seven days as stated in the Bible. Further evidence of this was last week's comment by North Carolina elected official Rep. Pittman said that "President Obama is not a traitor because he hasn't done one thing to harm in Kenya,"to garner applause Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, - by his parents, Truth and Trust, - by his wife, Discretion, - by his daughter, Responsibility, - by his son, Reason, - and by his community, Tolerance. He is survived by his 7 stepbrothers; - I Know My Rights EFTA01141592  _ - I Want It Now - Someone Else Is To Blame - I'm A Victim - Pay me for Doing Nothing - It's the Government's fault - And if none of these work.... Blame the 47%, Muslims, Immigrants or Obama Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing. ****** ;;Lou Reed Lou Reed (March 2, 1942 - October 27, 2013) Every so often there is a song that punctuates a period of time or an event in your life and for me one of the songs is Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side." If only for this, he will always be in my Pantheon of musical gratitude. Last Sunday, October 27, 2013, Lou Reed died of complications from a liver transplant that he had in May at the age of 71. Reed was a rock pioneer who went from record label songwriter to a founding member of the short-lived but innovative and influential Velvet Underground. The band and Reed's solo work tackled taboo topics like drug addiction, paranoia and sexual deviancy in songs that were largely spare, muscular and often saturated in feedback Other than "Walk on the Wild Side" Reed lack the mainstream commercial success that his cult status would suggest. Performers from David Bowie to R.E.M. and U2 have cited them as inspiration, and the Velvet Underground was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. And anyone who spent a evening at Max's Kansas City will tell you that no song mirrored its story and that of the counter- culture in New York City, than Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side." Echoing the musician Steven Tyler, "RIP TO A GREAT FRIEND A FELLOW MUSICIAN. FROM MAXES TO THE MASSES YOU MADE THE WORLD SING. I LOVE YOU LOU!" Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side -- http://youtu.be/4wNknGIKkoA A big story like the government shutdown and debt ceiling debacle tends to push things that often matter off the front pages and TV. Here is just one that got almost no attention. A survey out last week showed that nearly half the students in the nation's public schools, 48% come from families so poor that they qualify for free or reduced priced meals. And even more disgraceful is that a majority of students now qualify for food subsidies in 17 states across the South and West. And echoing Bob Shaffer the moderator on CBS's FACE THE NATION, Sunday morning news program said last week, "I like to see our elected officialsfocus on how we can fix things like that Because I losing interest on who wins the partisan games." What happened in America? Where is the tolerance? Empathy? Concern for one's fellow man/woman? The common man? Less fortunate? Those in need? Our elderly? Our children? Our neighbors? Friends? Institutions? Ronald Reagan was wrong. The problem isn't government, its people? People who lack tolerance, empathy and concern for others. People who don't understand that every time we drill for oil or mine minerals, we are taking from future generations. People who don't understand that cutting taxes isn't building an economy. People who don't care as long as they get theirs. People who pit Christians against Muslims, Blacks against Browns and haves against the have-nots. When did Investment Bankers, Celebrity Hairdressers and news about the Kardarhians become more important than school teachers, fire fighters, nurses and police? EFTA01141593 As Bill Maher asked last week on his HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher — When did the American dream become this pathway to indentured servitude, this economic death spiral where workers get paid next to nothing so they can only afford to buy next to nothing, so businesses are forced to sell cheaper and cheaper sh*t? Walmart employees can only afford to shop at Walmart. McDonald's workers can only afford to eat at McDonald's. And Hooters waitresses have to wear shirts they grew out of years ago. And, look, even if you're not moved by the "don't be such a heartless prick" argument, consider the fact that most fast-food workers, whose average age, by the way, now is 29 -- not talking about kids -- are on some form of public assistance. Which is not surprising. When even working people can't make enough to live, they take money from the government in the form of food stamps, school lunches, housing assistance, daycare. This is the welfare that conservatives hate. But, they never stop to think if we raised the minimum wage and forced McDonald's and Walmart to pay their employees enough to eat, we, the taxpayers, wouldn't have to pick up the slack. This is the question the right has to answer: do you want smaller government with less handouts, or do you want a low minimum wage? Because you cannot have both. If Colonel Sanders isn't going to pay the lady behind the counter enough to live on, then Uncle Sam has to. And I, for one, am getting a little tired of helping highly-profitable companies pay their workers. I would like to summarize this ad-lib by pointing out that as a society, we have lost clarity. It has to be.... How else can one explain advocating tax breaks for the rich, while cutting food programs for the poor, especially when 48% of Americans need food subsidies in order to survive and 2o% of our children go to bed hungry? And you don't have to believe in God to recognize that this is a travesty This is wrong There is a murder epidemic in America, which is being ignored by politicians in both major political parties on both the federal and state level. Murder sprees are now the new norm, feeding the mayhem and murder report on the nightly news. But the real Big Ugly is that there is no public outrage. A recent example: Monday night a 36-year-old man went on a killing spree in Terrell, Texas that left at least five people dead. The shootings began around 5 p.m. Monday when police started finding bodies. The first victim was discovered in a home with a bullet wound to the head. Officers were investigating that death when they received word of an arson and a second body nearby. A friend of the suspect was shot at in a third location, but was not injured. Around lo:343 p.m., police found two more victims shot to death inside a home. Authorities also discovered a 3-year-old child at the location, uninjured in bed. Three of the victims were women and two were men. Early Tuesday morning, police arrested Charles Everett Brownlow Jr., after an hours-long manhunt and a high-speed chase — Brownlow was spotted by a helicopter, then crashed his car and fled into a wooded area where he was later apprehended. At this time, a motive for the slayings is unknown. EFTA01141594 In a report compiled by the NBC News research department on guns and crime, they say that every year more than 100,000 people are shot which equates to an average of 289 people being shot each day. Eighty-six of them die: 3o are murdered, 53 kill themselves, two die accidentally, and one is shot in a police intervention. Between 2000 and 2010, a total of 335,609 people died from guns -- more than the population of St. Louis, Mo. (318,069), Pittsburgh (307,484), Cincinnati, Ohio (296,223), Newark, N.J. (217,540), and Orlando, Ma. (243,195). One person is killed by a firearm every 17 minutes, 87 people are killed during an average day, and 609 are killed every week. (source: CDC) Homicides by weapon: Handguns comprised 72.5 percent of the firearms used in murder and non-negligent manslaughter incidents in 2011; 4.1 percent were with shotguns; 3.8 percent were with rifles; 18.5 percent were with unspecified firearms. 13.3 percent of homicides were done with knives or other cutting instruments. 5.8 percent of homicides were from the use of hands, fists, feet, etc. (source: FBI) Guns and kids: • 82 children under five years old died from firearms in 2010 compared with 58 law enforcement officers killed by firearms in the line of duty (sources: CDF, CDC, FBI) • More kids ages 0-19 died from firearms every three days in 2010 than died in the 2012 Newtown, Conn., massacre (source:CDF, CDC) • Nearly three times more kids (15,576) were injured by firearms in 2010 than the number of U.S. soldiers (5,247) wounded in action that year in the war in Afghanistan (source: CDF, CDC, Department of Defense) • Half of all juveniles murdered in 2010 were killed with a firearm (source: Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention) 2013 Mass Shootings Sept. 16, 2013 - Washington, D.C. -13 dead (including gunman): Defense contract employee and former Navy reservist Aaron Alexis, 34, allegedly opened fire shortly after 8 a.m. inside building 197 in the Washington Navy Yard, killing 12 people and wounding more than a dozen others. Alexis was slain in a gun battle with police. Sept. 11, 2013 - Crab Orchard, Tenn. - 4 dead: Jacob Allen Bennett, 26, was arrested in the shooting deaths of a woman and three teenagers. Their bodies were found in a car about 5o miles west of Knoxville, Tenn. August 14, 2013 - Oklahoma City, Okla. - 4 dead: Daniel Livingston Green, 4o, was arrested on four counts of first-degree murder, after his mother, sister and her two children were discovered fatally EFTA01141595 shot inside their home. August 11, 2013 - Omaha, Neb. - 4 dead: Nikko Jenkins, 26, was arrested for allegedly shooting four people in the head. Police say three of the four victims had no connection to Jenkins. Aug. 7, 2013 - Dallas - 4 dead: Erbie Lee Bowser, 44, a former teacher and Dallas Mavericks hip- hop dancer, was charged with two counts of capital murder after police said he attacked the homes of his estranged wife and his girlfriend, killing both women and two of their children. Four additional people were wounded in the attacks. July 26, 2013 - Hialeah, Fla. - 7 dead: Police say Pedro Vargas, 42, went on a shooting spree in his South Florida apartment complex, killing the building's two managers, a family of three, and a man returning from his son's boxing practice. Before the attack, Vargas called the police asking the dispatcher to run the license plate of a vehicle parked outside the building, after reporting he had been followed and threatened by people doing witchcraft. July 26, 2013 - Clarksburg, W. Va. - 4 dead: Sidney Muller, 27, was arrested on four counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing two individuals after a drug deal gone wrong. Muller allegedly then turned his weapon on two passersby, a father and his son who were delivering the local newspaper, killing them. June 7, 2013 - Santa Monica, Calif. - 5 dead (including gunman): Police say John Zawahri, 23, armed with a homemade assault rifle and high-capacity magazines, killed his brother and father at their home and then headed to Santa Monica College, where he carjacked a woman, ordering her to drive him around while he fired at other people. The woman escaped unharmed but two other people were gunned down. May 11, 2013 - Waynesville, Ind. - 4 dead: Four bodies were discovered in a home after a vicious killing that authorities said was a drug-related crime. One victim's son returned home to find the bodies and reported them to 911. Police say Samuel Sallee, 55, is the prime suspect in the case. May 10, 2013 - Fernley, Nev. - 5 dead: Jeremiah Bean, 25, was arrested days after allegedly killing an elderly couple in their home, then a newspaper delivery man and another couple nearby. Police say the first attack went undetected, giving Bean the opportunity to commit the three others. He was arraigned on 19 counts, including first-degree murder, arson and burglary. April 24, 2013 - Manchester, Ill. - 5 dead: Rick Odell Smith, 43, allegedly stormed a home, killing five members of the same family. Smith had been in a dispute with at least one of the victims, potentially over the custody of a child, police said. The five victims included a grandmother, her granddaughter, the granddaughter's boyfriend and their two children. EFTA01141596 April 21, 2013 - Federal Way, Wash. - 4 dead: A domestic-violence homicide claimed three additional lives before the gunman was killed by responding officers. Police say Dennis Clark III, 27, shot and killed his girlfriend in their shared apartment before killing two witnesses in the building's parking lot and a third victim in another apartment. April 18, 2013 - Akron, Ohio - 4 dead: Derrick Brantley and Deshanon Haywood, both 21, were each charged for the murder of four adults, two men and two women, who had been found shot in the head in a townhouse basement. Police say two guns were used. March 13, 2013 - Herkimer County, N.Y. - 4 dead: In a shooting rampage that spanned two upstate New York villages, Kurt Meyers, 64, allegedly took the lives of four people. Police say Meyers first opened fire in a barber shop in Mohawk, killing two customers, one a retired corrections officer. The gunman then fled to an auto care business in neighboring Herkimer and fatally shot an employee and a customer who was a 23-year veteran of the state Department of Corrections. According to authorities, the gunman had no money, no job and was maxed out on his credit cards. Jan. 19, 2013 - Albuquerque, N.M. - 5 dead: Nehemiah Griego, 15, is accused of killing both his parents and three younger siblings. According to police documents, Griego shot his mother while she slept, then killed his brother and sisters after they woke up. Griego told authorities he ambushed his father, who was returning home from work, with a semi-automatic rifle that his parents owned. All victims appeared to have gunshot wounds to the head. New Mexico authorities also report that the teen had planned to go to Walmart and randomly shoot people. Jan. 7, 2013 - Tulsa, Okla. - 4 dead: Brothers Cedric Poore, 39, and James Poore (pictured), 32, are accused of killing four women, two of whom were twins. The victims, found in an apartment, were all mothers, and a 3-year-old boy was also found unharmed. Since the mass shooting in Newtown on last December 14th using the most recent CDC estimates for yearly deaths by guns in the United States, it is likely that as of 10/29/2013, roughly 28,776 people have died from guns in the U.S. since the Newtown shootings. Compare that number to the number of deaths reported in the news in our interactive below, and you can see how undertold the story of gun violence in America actually is. We have to ask why? And again, why aren't our public officials outraged? Doing something? Every half month approximately the same amount of people die from gun violence as on 9/11 and we started two wars to avenge those terrorist attacks, not to mention the trillions of dollars spent fighting the War On Terrorism. In spite of what the NRA says, guns kill because the easy access to guns makes it more likely that they will be used to kill. Without a doubt, American needs to curtail access to guns, especially military grade weapons. Concurrently, we need to invest in mental health, because nothing is more dangerous than a crazy with a gun. Now that's common sense EFTA01141597  Budget deficit shrinks to five-year low U.S. Budget Deficit By Year -200 -400 1000 -1200 1400 1600 2008 2003 2010 2011 2012 2013 Save Beate...Sr:Mow Sog Republican Conservatives will tell you that after President Obama the #1 problem in America is the out of control government spending and growing deficit. When in reality the deficit is not growing; it's shrinking. The Al' reported this week that for the first time in five years, the U.S. government has run a budget deficit below $i trillion. The government says the deficit for the 2013 budget year totaled $680.3 billion, down from $1.09 trillion in 2012. That's the smallest imbalance since 2008, when the government ran a $458.6 billion deficit. Many congressional Republicans predicted tax increases on the wealthy that began in January would fail to lower the deficit, but as is usually the case, the opposite happened. The combination of new tax revenue and reduced spending did what exactly what was expected — it reduced the nation's budget shortfall. While this shouldn't surprise anyone, the trend is a well-kept secret — national polling last year found that only 6% of Americans realize that the deficit is shrinking in the Obama era. Whether the public realizes it or not, the facts are not in dispute — the deficit is now down $400 billion from last year, and down nearly $800 billion from when President Obama took office. This is the fastest deficit reduction seen in the United States since the end of World War II. A number economist don't actually consider this good news. As many strongly believe the nation should be borrowing more, not less, taking advantage of low interest rates, investing heavily in infrastructure, creating millions of jobs, and leaving deficit reduction for another day. That said, if we're going to have a fiscal debate, it should be rooted in reality, not silly misconceptions. And the reality is, we're witnessing deficit reduction at a remarkable clip. Still Republicans like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) recently appeared on Fox News and when the discussion turned to the budget, the Virginia Republican said lawmakers should be "focused on trying to deal with the ultimate problem, which is this growing deficit." Without a doubt, the deficit is a problem that should be seriously addressed. And economist who is worth their salt will tell you that it will require both cutting spending and raising taxes and maybe in the short term spending money on the country's infrastructure to grow the economy. But focusing on a non-existent problem of a growing deficit, when it has been slashed by more than 40% over the past several years is a EFTA01141598 distraction that the country can ill afford. And for those politicians who are still using this issue to promote their profile, do a serious disservice to our country. We have many serious problems and those are the ones that we should focus on. Can you really eat on a $1.40 a meal or $29 a week? Since the recession the request for food assistance has soared by more than 70%. With a record number of Americans relying on federal aid to put food on the table as of Friday, they will have to make do with less because the rerecsion-era boost to food stamps funding officially expired. Benefits were reduced by about 5% on Nov. 1 for all of the nearly 47.7 million Americans on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). A family of four will now receive $36 less each month because of the reduction, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A household of eight would see benefits reduced $65 a month. The average monthly benefit per household for all 50 states and the District of Columbia last year was $278. The cuts severely curtail the federal funds that have flowed into local communities and businesses through the states. Georgia, for example, will see total benefits cut by $210 million, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. Illinois' share of the cut will be $22o million. For Ohio, it's $193 million. All told, $5 billion less in food stamp benefits will be paid over the next year. The reductions will be acutely felt in states with a higher food stamp population, particularly in the dozen states where one in five residents is collecting benefits. Vulnerable populations will be especially affected. In New EFTA01141599 York, more than 1 million elderly people or those with disabilities will feel the impact, according to the center's analysis. About 2.3 million children in both California and Tens will be affected. The expiring benefits were always intended to be temporary, and some say calling the end of the benefits boost a "cut" is disingenuous. Congress approved a higher level of food stamp benefits for all recipients as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the stimulus bill enacted in 2009. Although the economy has and is improving, demand for assistance remains at record levels — almost three times what it was in 2000. The cost of the program has ballooned as well. A decade ago, federal spending on food stamps topped $20 billion annually. In the last fiscal year, the U.S. spent a record $78.4 billion. In Washington and in many states, Republicans have backed efforts to curb spending, cut benefits and trim enrollment in SNAP. The persistent demand and skyrocketing costs have prompted calls from some policymakers to cut spending on the program. Others say reductions are premature and will hurt those still reeling from the recession. But the real issue isn't money because the 16 day government shutdown, cost an estimated $24 billion and Conservative Republicans didn't blink an eye. One in seven Americans rely on government assistance to feed themselves and their family. And it is estimated that as many as 15 million children go to bed hungry. The human costs of food insecurity should be a black eye to every American. Yet Conservatives are asking for another $40 billion in cuts in food assistance programs. Something is wrong here.... We are gutting the safety net for the most vulnerable Americans.... Our children, elderly, disabled and poor. I am ashamed...... and if you are an American, so should you. THIS WEEK's OFFERINGS As E.J. Dionne wrote this week in The Washington Post in his op-ed — First, admit the problem — President Obama and the Democrats that nobody is talking about: They have been too fearful of confronting our country's three-year obsession with the wrong problem. And that the tea party's greatest victory: It has made the wrong problem the center of policy making. The wrong problem is the deficit. The right problem is sluggish growth and persistent unemployment. As Dionne points out that the paradox is that the deficit would be less challenging today if we had been less preoccupied with it since the 2010 elections. The deep cuts in government spending since then have slowed the very growth we need to make our way toward fiscal balance. As Dionne says, relief may be on the way. More from political exhaustion than any change of heart, we may be about to take halting steps toward dealing with the issues we should have been grappling with in the first place. The president's defenders would assert that he has been careful all along to emphasize the need for short-term stimulus to get the economy moving and to insist that deficit reduction was his goal only for the longer run. That's true enough. But there are the words, and then there is the music. Since a Republican Party driven by tea party thinking managed to make government spending and deficits Washington's paramount concerns, the administration has backed off aggressive efforts to use government to pump much-needed energy into an economy whose tepid growth since the 2008 implosion has left 11.3 million Americans out of work. By putting so much effort into negotiating a failed "grand bargain"with House Speaker John Boehner in 2011 and subsequently agreeing to the sharp, across-the-board cuts of the "sequester" to get out of a crisis, Obama contributed to the deficit chorus. Because of the fiscal tightening, our unemployment rate is probably a point higher than it would have been otherwise. We've done a heck of a job on the EFTA01141600 deficit, reducing it from about 10 percent of the economy in 2009 to 4 percent now. We've done badly by the jobless. The administration would argue that it did a lot to avoid even more damage. It had to play the political hand dealt it by the 2010 elections while facing the overwhelming consensus among political elites that deficit reduction was urgent. The commission that Obama appointed, led by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, spread this gospel with passion and zeal — even if both acknowledged, usually in much softer tones, that the economy still needed a short-term boost. Of course, there should be no denying that we face fiscal challenges down the road. Over the next three decades or so, the retirement of baby boomers will be expensive. Most of the spending will be in health care expenditures under Medicare and Medicaid. In an environment free from crisis-mongering and hyper-partisanship, passage of the Affordable Care Act could have been seen as a first step toward what ought to be our goal: guaranteeing decent health-care coverage to all Americans, including the elderly, at a cost government can afford. And, by the way, no matter how successful we are at doing this, there is no way around the need for more government revenue as long as large numbers of baby boomers are around. But all this should be the focus of a measured discussion over the next several years, not an excuse for a frenzy of cuts — especially reductions right now that are only dampening the recovery. When the house is still smoldering, you don't worry about how to cut your heating bill in the coming decades. Here's the good news. Congress is so sick of political chaos and failed quests for big budget deals that it might actually address the problem right in front of our noses. Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chair, spoke last week of the futility of shooting for a "grand bargain." This is a positive signal. And Obama now seems intent on pushing back against austerity . "This obsession with cutting for the sake of cutting hasn't helped our economy grow,"he said on Friday. "It's held it back." The most helpful thing Congress can do immediately is to get rid of the sequester cuts. A Congressional Budget Office study conducted at the request of Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the Budget Committee's ranking Democrat, found that if left in place, the automatic reductions could cost up to 1.6 million jobs next year. Allowing that to happen would be folly — and heartless, too. So let's douse the flames of slow growth and joblessness first. Government does better when it deals with one crisis at a time. The idea that we can cut the government budget to generate jobs is as stupid as it sounds. Like any other country America has to control government spending, but taking money out of a consumer based economy is going to reduce buying. We need to grow the economy and the best way to do this is by investing in upgrading the country's infrastructure which can't be outsourced to China. The President should forget any "grand bargain," and pursue a jobs program that is the right thing for America. EFTA01141601 In the country that created broadband, this week in BBC News Tom Geoghegan wrote - Why is broadband more expensive in the US? - Because home broadband in the US costs far more than elsewhere. And at high speeds, it costs nearly three times as much as in the UK and France, and more than five times as much as in South Korea. But why? The price of basic broadband, TV and phone packages - or bundles as they are known - is much higher in American cities than elsewhere, suggests the New America Foundation think tank, which compared hundreds of available packages worldwide. Looking at some of the cheaper ones available in certain cities, at lower to mid download speeds, San Francisco ($99/£61), New York ($70) and Washington DC ($68) dwarf London ($38), Paris ($35) and Seoul ($15). EFTA01141602  Cost of broadband/TV/phone packages around the world Megabits per second downloads (Mbps) El Price a month available ($) Seoul Riga Zurich Berlin Paris London Toronto Washington DC New York San Francisco 0 20 40 60 80 100 Note: $ reflects cost of living (purchasing power parity) Source: New America Foundation This research echoes the findings of another report earlier in the summer by the OECD, which compared countries in terms of their broadband-only prices. Across all 1O download speeds and capacities, it consistently ranked the US near the bottom. For instance, at high speeds of 45 Mbps and over, the OECD report has the US ranked 3oth out of 33 countries, with an average price of $90 a month. With phone and TV thrown in, plus some premium channels, these packages often cost $2OO. "Americans pay so much because they don't have a choice," says Susan Crawford, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama on science, technology and innovation policy. And although there are several national companies, local markets tend to be dominated by just one or two main providers. "We deregulated high-speed internet access 10 years ago and since then we've seen enormous consolidation and monopolies, so left to their own devices, companies that supply internet access will charge high prices, because theyface neither competition nor oversight" EFTA01141603  Countries with high-speed broadband 45 megabits per second or more Megabits per second downloads (Mbps) Price a month available ($) South Korea Slovak Rep Hungary Japan Estonia UK France Slovenia Canada US 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Note: $ reflects cost of living (purchasing power parity) Source: OECD Two-thirds get their broadband via their television cables, she says, because the DSL (digital subscriber line) service provided by phone companies over copper lines can't compete with cable speeds, while wireless and satellite services are subject to low usage caps. San Francisco seems to be particularly expensive. Mitch Evans pays $2OO a month for internet, TV and unlimited voice phone calls. "I guess I've just become used to it after 23 years here in the Bay Area. I know the cost of living here is very high, butfor me it's a small price to payfor such a beautiful and wonderful place to call home." Buck Wallander, a recent arrival in the city, pays $12O a month for a television and broadband package provided by Xfinity/Comcast, plus $7 a month to "rent" the modem. He says he had little choice in selecting a provider because the only other cable television company was directv, which didn't offer any internet service. His internet speed is "entry-lever with a cap on usage. He says he's pretty satisfied with the service but resents leasing the modem. 'That's like a rental car company charging customers an extra $7fee per month to include the steering wheel." Elsewhere in the US, there is a patchwork of other options. In Kansas City, Kansas, residents are enjoying a high-speed fibre network, supplied by Google, at a price of $7O a month for a gigabit (1,000 Mbps) internet-only service. And there's a slower 5 Mbps download speed for free for seven years to those who pay $300 up front. Google now has Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah, in its sights, too. Verizon also has a super fast fibre network, Fios, available to to% of US households. About 15O cities across the US have internet access supplied by public utility companies. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, electricity company EPB became an internet service provider four years ago. After expanding its existing fibre network which it used to control the grid, it now offers a one gigabit service for $7O a month. What the suppliers say EFTA01141604 • Verizon said it provided good value - a triple-play bundle FiOS including high-speed, fibre 500 Mbps internet for roughly $ioo to $125 per month, before taxes, fees and other charges for set-top box rentals and premium channels • Comcast said it had increased speeds 12 times in 11 years. "We offer a 1o5 Mbps service today to more than 5o million homes across the US in 39 states plus the District of Columbia. We also offer ourfastest speed tier, 505 Mbps, to millions of homes in the north-east of the United States." • Time Warner Cable said entry-level pricing for broadband was the second lowest in the world. "Competition is robust and growing, with American consumers enjoying meaningful choices among providers, speeds and pricing. The US broadband network is strong and is only getting stronger." we ear •••• These new services have had a positive impact on prices, says Chris Mitchell, director of telecommunications at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. "When a community builds its own network it enters the market with a lower price than the incumbents had been offering. Often the incumbent then lowers their price - often evenfurther than the municipal network is offering - so when a community starts offering a service the prices typically drop." In Lafayette, Louisiana, $35 can get you 15Mbps from the municipal internet service. But only one in ro US cities have public electricity utilities and 19 states have discouraged or banned communities from building these networks, says Mitchell. For Susan Crawford, author of Captive Audience, higher prices have created a digital divide which excludes poor Americans from quality internet access. And there are economic implications too. "The 2008 banking crisis demonstrated what happens when we allow banks to act out ofpure self interest. The communications crisis in America is less visible but also destructive of America's ability tofunction on the global stage." Like electricity, she says, internet access should be available equally to all at reasonable prices so that every other sector of US industry and society can flourish. Rick Karr, who made a PBS documentary in which he travelled to the UK to find out why prices were lower, says that the critical moment came when the British regulator Ofcom forced British Telecom to allow other companies to use its copper telephone wires going to and from homes. But US regulators took a different approach. Rather than encouraging competition between operators using the same network, the US encouraged competition between different infrastructure owners - big companies that could afford to build their own networks. Some believe that UK-style regulation is bad for competition and innovation, however, and suggest that the US is already one of the world leaders in broadband. Several studies show the US with broadband speeds as good as anyone, says Brian Dietz of the NCTA, the trade association for the US cable companies. High performing states like Vermont, New Hampshire and Delaware have faster average speeds than Japan, he says. And 96.3% of US households have access to wired broadband. It's also very difficult to fairly make international comparisons on price, he says. "Building broadband networks in a country with the sheer size and diverse geography of the US is definitely a factor when comparing but despite these challenges, the US is a leader in global broadband by any objective measure." The critics should take a broader view, says Scott Cleland, chairman of NetCompetition, a pro-competition e-forum supported by broadband interests. EFTA01141605 In Europe, people are selling different capacities at different prices, but the US encourages different technologies and a diversity of choice - people can choose phone, cable, wireless or satellite, he says. And suppliers can get a return from their investment which can be ploughed back into improving the infrastructure - $1.2 trillion has been reinvested since the mid-1990s. But in Europe the funds aren't there, so it's Europe that is lagging behind on 4G and fibre, Cleland argues. "We may be paying more in your eyes today but we are buildingfor tomorrow and the long-term." The US is the only country in the world that provides a fast streaming cable service to everyone, he says. Moaning about it, he thinks, is like complaining you only have access to a Rolls-Royce when you also have Fords, Chevys and Cadillacs to choose from. ****** 1 I IC;WS 1 \ ti iia ,m,,,,,, GI NSv, GTAS A Ow" 00cci .,,..ok.‘,. , \ I ej' Diana Aguilar holds a photo of her 6-year-old daughter Aliyah Shell during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol, calling for gun reform legislation on Sept. 18, 2013. Aliyah died after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds outside her home in Chicago in 2012. Every year more than 7,000 children with gunshot wounds are admitted to hospitals in the United States, according to a new study that was presented Sunday at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Fla. The report, entitled "United States Gunshot Violence: Disturbing Trends," found that approximately 7,500 children are admitted to hospitals annually for the treatment of injuries sustained from guns. Researchers say that more than 500 of these children die because of their injuries. Reviewing about 36 million pediatric hospital admissions from 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009 for the study, the researchers found that the number of kids hospitalized from gunshot wounds has been rising. "Between 1997 and 2009, hospitalizations from gunshot wounds increased from 4,270 to 7,730, and in-hospital deaths from 317 to 503," according to a news release on the academy's official website. Dr. Ann Madenci, one of the study's authors, says that handguns were most often to blame for these hospitalizations. "Handguns account for the majority of childhood gunshot wounds and this number appears to be increasing over the last decade," Madenci said in a statement posted on the academy's site. "Furthermore, states with higher percentages of household firearm ownership also tended to have higher proportions of childhood gunshot wounds, especially those occurring in the home." EFTA01141606 Citing Madenci's research, NBC News writes that 8o percent of the gun injuries were inflicted by handguns. Given these statistics, Madenci says implementing policies to reduce the number of firearms, specifically handguns, in homes could help limit the number of children injured by guns. "Based on our research, we know that there is a clear correlation between household gun ownership -- and gun safety practices -- and childhood gunshot wounds in the home on a large scale,"Madenci told Discovery News. Gun-ownership advocate Alan Gottlieb told NBC News that while he doesn't find fault with the study's findings, he says that any conversation about guns and gun ownership should encompass both pros and cons. Specifically, he pointed out that guns not only injure and kill, but also save lives. "When you look at the number ofpeople who are alive today or who didn't have to be hospitalized because they weren't a victim -- and the money saved on that -- you have to look at that side of the equation to get good public policy,"he said. Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, added that he agreed with Madenci that debate about policies regarding handguns may be necessary. At least 9,900 gun-related deaths in the United States have been reported by the media since mid-December, when more than two dozen people -- including 20 children -- were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., according to Slate's gun deaths tally project. More than 640 of these victims have reportedly been teenagers or children. According to a January report in the New England Journal of Medicine, guns kill twice as many children and young people as cancer, five times as many as heart disease, and 15 times as many as infections. Please feel free to read the article in The Huffington Post - About 7,50o Children Are Admitted To U.S. Hospitals Every Year With Gun Injuries: Study. Why isn't anything being done? History often repeats itself and two years after the last American combat troops left Iraq, the country is in flames. The violence raging there poses a serious policy challenge for the Obama administration -- EFTA01141607 and offers a cautionary tale of what could happen in Afghanistan if all American troops are withdrawn from that country as well. This past week, Iraqi Prime Minister Noun al-Maliki visits Washington to plead for American help in his fight against the Islamist militants who have killed more than 5,000 Iraqis since the start of the year, including roughly 600 this month alone. On Sunday, a spate of car bombings killed at least 60 Iraqi civilians and security personnel, pushing this year's death toll to levels not seen since the height of the country's civil war. There's a painful irony to Maliki's trip. In the fall of 2011, the Obama administration and the Maliki government were locked in negotiations over a pact that would have cleared the way for a continued U.S. military presence in the country by guaranteeing the Americans full immunity from criminal prosecution. Obama yanked all U.S. combat troops out of the country when Maliki made clear that he wouldn't or couldn't deliver such an agreement. Two years later, Maliki is desperately trying to turn back the clock and get Washington to increase its security cooperation with his government. Afghanistan is not Iraq, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai is facing a similar dilemma when it comes to the future U.S. military presence in his country. Washington is demanding that Afghanistan give its troops the kind of immunity it wanted in Iraq, and Karzai -- like Maliki -- is publicly opposed to providing it. The impasse has led the Obama administration to consider something that would have been unthinkable even a few months ago: a complete withdrawal of all American combat troops from Afghanistan, the original battlefield of the war on terror. The Obama administration has made no secret of its desire to get out of Afghani