On January 18th Internet websites shut down, including this one. The simultaneous black out was in protest of two bills before Congress, SOPA and PIPA. On January 20th, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shelved the Senate version of the bill, PIPA, for a floor vote and House Judiciary Chair Lamar Smith just suspended SOPA in committee. SOPA and PIPA are D.O.A.
I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns,” said Lamar Smith, House judiciary chairman and the sponsor of the Stop Online Piracy Act, as he announced the suspension of work on the bill.
Mr Smith’s retreat followed a similar move in the Senate, where majority leader Harry Reid postponed a scheduled vote on the related Protect Intellectual Property Act “in light of recent events.
Some were not happy, such as Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy:
PIPA/SOPA supporter Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), miffed by this sudden turn of events, offers his own statement. “I understand and respect Majority Leader Reid’s decision ... But the day will come when the Senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem.”
The state of Louisiana, in a broad new challenge to the role of undocumented immigrants in American society, asked the Supreme Court on Monday to rule that those who are in the country illegally should not be counted in the ten-year national census, at least for purposes of deciding how to divide up seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. In a lawsuit filed directly in the Court, without prior action in lower courts, the state contended that it has been denied one potential seat in the House because illegal immigrants are counted in census totals, putting Louisiana at a disadvantage in House apportionment. The first step in the case of Louisiana v. Bryson (140 Original) is for the Court to decide whether to allow the lawsuit to go forward in the Court, presumably after hearing from the federal government.
Howz that globalization workin' out fer ya? A new National Science Board report, Science and Engineering Indicators 2012, finally shows some bleak statistics for American Scientists and Engineers. High-technology manufacturing has lost 28% of jobs since a 2000 employment high of 2.5 million. That's 687,000 jobs. Below is the NSB report graph of the drop in high-tech manufacturing employment for the last decade.
U.S. employment in high-technology manufacturing reached a peak in 2000, with 2.5 million jobs. The recession of 2001 provided the first big hit causing “substantial and permanent” job losses, the report said. By the end of the decade, more than a quarter of the jobs were gone.
NSB committee chair Dr. José-Marie Griffiths:
We’re seeing the result in the very real, and substantial, loss of good jobs
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It's a 4E. The never ending European Economic Mount Vesuvius has erupted again, threatening that final pyroclastic flow to the global economy. Friday the 13th has arrived and the horror show slasher is Standards and Poors. S&P doesn't like what Europe's leaders have done about the financial crisis.
To wit, S&P just downgraded the European bail out fund. The European Financial Stability Facility was just downgraded from AAA to AA+. This affects the EFSF's ability to raise cheap funds to help contain the financial crisis. S&P what are you thinkin'?
Last Friday France was downgraded from AAA to AA+ and given a negative outlook. Austria was spanked too and lost their AAA credit rating from S&P. One again Debbie Downer Standard and Poor's is on a credit ratings downgrade rampage.
Austria is now AA+. Italy was downgraded to BBB+. Portugal was downgraded to junk, BB. Spain gets an A and Cyprus I guess gets a beggin' cup at this point. Their S&P rating is now between junk and BB+.
The big picture downgrades from S&P's press release:
Most of the transcripts reveal a frightening embarrassment, especially now Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner praising now debunked former chair Alan Greenspan. Believe it or not the FOMC was worrying about inflation.
Matthew Yglesias points out we haven't seen nothin' yet. Wait until the transcripts are released for 2008 and 2009. Only then will we know the level of Fed foolishness.
The White House just responded on the controversial Internet censorship bill SOPA and frankly, it doesn't look good for opponents.
The Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders while staying true to the principles outlined above in this response.
A flurry of studies have been released telling us what we already know. America is not the land of opportunity for most folk.
Social mobility is the ability to rise or fall economically in relation to one's peers. Increased social mobility implies people get ahead by their own efforts.
On January 18th Internet websites shut down, 
Judicial Watch, a notoriously conservative group, has filed a 
It's a 4E. The never ending European Economic Mount Vesuvius has erupted again, threatening that final pyroclastic flow to the global economy. Friday the 13th has arrived and the horror show slasher is Standards and Poors. S&P doesn't like what Europe's leaders have done about the financial crisis. 
The Federal Reserve released 
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