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From: bentway 3/21/2012 12:35:08 PM    of 773667   The nature of debt comparisons By Steve Benen Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:34 AM EDT CBS News' Mark Knoller published an item this week, arguing that President Obama has added more to the national debt in three years than President George W. Bush did in eight years. The piece proved to be wildly popular with conservatives, which is a shame -- Knoller's piece is misleading and largely inaccurate. As the CBS reporter sees it, the evaluation is a simple matter of arithmetic. Bush added about $5 trillion to the debt during his tenure, and the debt has gone by a nearly-identical figure under Obama. Ergo, based on the postings from Bureau of Public Debt at the Treasury Department, the observation is sound. But it's not. Knoller doesn't mention, for example, that the debt increase "on President Obama's watch" includes a $1.3 trillion deficit that was sitting on his desk the day he took office, left there by Bush/Cheney. It also fails to explain to the policies behind deficits. Consider this chart, for example, published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities For that matter, it also matters which administration's policies are driving the debt. Here's another image, put together by the New York Times, which provides context Knoller's piece did not. New York TImes And even after we take all of these facts under consideration, there’s another angle that often goes overlooked: must this additional debt necessarily be deemed a bad thing? Looking back over the last several years, we can say definitively that Republicans were entirely responsible for the nation’s fiscal mess. But given the larger circumstances, we can also say with confidence that it makes a lot of sense for the Obama administration to run large deficits: he inherited a brutal recession that required expensive federal intervention and led to low revenues, as well as two ongoing foreign wars, which his predecessor never even tried to pay for. Of course the president is running large deficits; trying to eliminate them now would make an economic catastrophe even worse. Knoller’s piece doesn’t provide any of this information. It’s a bit of a mess. maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com  Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices | Political Discussion ForumsShare Recommend | Keep | Reply | Mark as Last Read | Read Replies (1)

From: Brumar89 3/21/2012 12:41:19 PM 2 Recommendations   of 773667   Leftwing News Group Facilitating Sex Slavery Posted by Jammie on Mar 21, 2012 at 7:43 am Just imagine the furor if a Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper was helping enslave young women into sex slavery. Why, the left would be outrageously outraged. This story, however, has flown under the radar. Leave it to one of the left’s lone voices of dignity, Kirsten Powers, to speak up. Right here in the United States is a media company — Village Voice Media, the parent of New York’s own Village Voice — that has of late achieved notoriety for its role in facilitating sex slavery. VVM’s online advertising arm, Backpage.com, has been under fire from law enforcement, clergy and anti-sex-trafficking groups for its role in assisting pimps who’ve kidnapped women and girls to sell for rape.According to the advertising consultancy AIM Group, Village Voice Media isresponsible for about70 percent of online-prostitution advertising, earning it a cool $24 million a year. Earning it off of incredible human suffering, mind you. Some actually defend backpage.com’s “right” to provide a forum to peddle women and girls to serve as sex slaves. They throw their hands in the air and chant, “First Amendment.” Give me a break. There may be no legal remedy here, because of the protection these creeps receive from the Communications Decency Act. But if activists can organize a boycott to try to force Rush Limbaugh off the air for calling a woman a “slut” and “prostitute,” then there is no reason the same shouldn’t be done to Village Voice Media for facilitating the monsters who force girls and women into actual prostitution. Obviously destroying Limbaugh is far more important than the lives of some young girls. No reputable advertiser should be allowed to be associated with any Village Voice property unless the company stops running these ads. According to Equality NOW,an international human-rights group, this VVM company doesn’t just help American men prey on women and girls. It’s an international scourge as well, operating in 14 countries outside the United States. It advertises for sex tours — and if you think that the girls who are used in sex tours have made a “choice” to be there, I’ve got a bridge in Alaska to sell you. Tzili Mor, Equality Now’s New York director, told me,“All over the worldwhereBackpage.comoperates it potentiallyadvertises for underage girls — and sometimes women of age — to be used as sex slaves.Some areabducted, held and raped. It’s a really easy way to [procure] women the way you would buy a sofa or table for your house. The Village Voice is normalizing the transaction of buying women.” Backpage.com claims it is taking measures to protect against sex trafficking. Guess what? They’re not working. As The Post recently reported, a 15-year-old Long Island girl was kidnapped, drugged and gang-raped by pimps who then sold her on Backpage.com. It could be your daughter or niece or sister next. Sandra Fluke was unavailable for comment. jammiewf.com  Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices | Political Discussion ForumsShare Recommend | Keep | Reply | Mark as Last Read | Read Replies (1)