GOP Senator Jim DeMint To Join Heritage Foundation

It has been announced South Carolina Republican, Senator Jim DeMint will vacate his seat at the end of the year and take the helm at the Heritage Foundation. Jim DeMint has been a powerful Conservative within the Senate and has aligned himself with the Tea Party Movement, though he may be stepping aside this will not diminish his role in politics but merely strengthen it. The Heritage Foundation is a powerful Right-Wing think tank and will give DeMint the power to lobby and support other Far Right Socially Conservative Republicans. Already in the Senate DeMint has lended his support to help elect six Tea Party Candidates. There is a strong argument that his hand has been strengthened by these elections, as well as his new role as President of The Heritage Foundation. Celebration amongst Liberal Media outlets is premature.

Though Jim DeMint has only served in the senate since 2005, he has made his mark as arguably the most Conservative member of the Senate. DeMint, as a member of the Sub-Committee on Communications, Technology and the Internet supported a bill that would have outlawed doctors and patients even talking about abortion over the internet. An outspoken critic of Same-Sex marriage, DeMint went as far as to say during his 2004 campaign, DeMint stated his belief that gays should not barred from teaching as well as single mothers who live with their boyfriends. However, DeMint's Grandstanding made him a complicated foe to deal with. He at times proclaimed that he would block any bills that came through the Senate if they were not approved by his staff. What DeMint has made in crazy, he had made up with guile, political posturing and forging strong Conservative alliances. The support he has garnered among like minded politicians he has helped to elect will help to further the lobbying power of The Heritage Foundation once he takes it's helm.

The Heritage Foundation in many ways is a perfect fit for DeMint. Not only does their policy positions align with his own, but their tactics for garnering support also coincide. The Heritage Foundation operates as a Not-For-Profit Policy Research and Education Institution, which affords them a tax free status while still utilizing the tools of a lobbying group and receiving unlimited support from wealthy individuals, corporations and foundations. Though many in the Liberal Media are rejoicing over this news, Jim DeMint's role in Beltway Politics has not diminished but in fact has strengthened. Now with political allies and at the helm of a large Conservative Think Tank he is free to operate behind the scenes with out fear of ever losing an election, a scary thought indeed.

Elizabeth Warren Wins Banking Committee Seat

Move over Wall Street. U.S. Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard University law professor, is poised to take a seat on The Senate Banking Committee after she’s sworn into office January 3rd. Though a final decision on committee assignments won't be made until the new session of Congress convenes reports have been coming that Senate leaders are poised to appoint her. Warren, 63, has been a champion fighting for Wall Street Reform and a Banking Committee seat would give her a role in writing banking legislation including revisions to the Dodd-Frank Act. The financial services industry and Warren have had a combative relationship since her calls for the formation of The Consumer Protection Bureau, in which she was slated to head.

Warren defeated incumbent Republican Scott Brown by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent in November to become the first woman senator from Massachusetts and regain the seat held for 47 years by Democratic icon Edward Kennedy. Warren ran for Senate after President Barack Obama chose not to nominate her as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a Dodd-Frank centerpiece designed to protect Americans from predatory lending and bad financial products. Warren championed the idea as a lawyer and helped build the bureau as an Obama administration adviser.

The banking and financial services industry opposed establishment of the bureau and Senate Republicans banded together to block her nomination as director. Republicans have continued to attack the agency, calling for it to be changed into a five-member commission and subject it to congressional appropriations. Warrens appointment will not be without a fight, however, as Banking lobbyists are already beginning their fight against her. Democrats may also pickup an additional seat on the Banking Committee, Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, is also expected to receive a seat on the Banking Committee. Manchin has acknowledged he has been pushing to receive a seat on the committee.

Republican Congress, White House Play Political Chicken With Fiscall Cliff

In the midst of the battle over the fiscal cliff President Obama met today with top CEOs is an effort to gain headwind in solving this potential crisis. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans have begun to bump heads and show signs of potential cracks in solidarity, though GOP Speaker of the House John Boehner and Majority Whip Eric Cantor claim otherwise. The dissent within Republican ranks began over the weekend as Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said Republicans would be willing to offer concessions on tax policy and would be willing to eliminate or cap certain deductions in an effort to increase revenue and reduce the countries budget deficit. Today, five-term GOP Representative Tom Cole signaled that he may be willing to accept raising taxes on the wealthiest 2% of American's in an effort to keep taxes at current rates. On Friday President Obama plans to outline his strategy to fix the fiscal cliff to the American people, and the White House has already begun it's Twitter campaign #my2k where people can express how raising their taxes $2,200 would effect them. $2,200 is the average rate middle-class families taxes would increase.

At the beginning of 2013 The Bush Tax cuts are set to expire and income, capital gains and dividend taxes are set to increase, on top of that in an effort to reduce the budget deficit painful spending cuts would also be made to all government departments. Obama's proposal is essentially to renew all Bush Tax cuts except for those making over $250,000 a year and make some changes to entitlement programs. Republicans have stated they would be willing to eliminate certain deductions in an effort to raise revenue while making major cuts to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Like most policy fights over necessary fixes, much of the battle over the fiscal cliff is simply political theater in an effort by both sides to get as close to a bill that they favor. It would be surprising if Democrats and Republicans could not agree upon a deal in the eleventh hour as they always do. Unfortunately, this game of political chicken is harming the economy in the near term. The vast majority of the American people are still shaken by the Great Recession and have little confidence in Wall Street as well as K Street. A real deal will likely look similar to Simpson-Bowles and taxes for the wealthiest 2% are likely to go up coupled with a reduction of the Department of Defense and an increase in the age of Social Security and Medicaid recipients. The important thing is that real deficit reduction is achieved in a manner that will not cause a shock to the economy and allow the economy to continue on its steady recovery.

Anonymous Launches #OpIsrael In Support Of Gaza

Israel has launched a fresh round of attacks on the Gaza strip, some of the deadliest in nearly four years. Israel has bombed 20 or more sites and risks launching a new war in the Middle East. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has been especially hawkish over the summer towards Iran but without American support he has turned his attention over to the Israeli occupied territory of the Gaza strip in Palestine. The brutality against the Palestinian people is further proof of the need for Palestine to be a free and independent state and occupying forces to leave their territory. The tyranny over and oppression of the Palestinian people has gone on to long. Israel is attempting to cut off internet access to the region but Anonymous has stepped in to offer their support. We here at Geeked Out applaud their effort to fight such oppression. Anonymous is no stranger to supporting dissent and fighting tyranny. During Iranian protests before the Arab Spring the supported the people through DDoS attacks on Iranian government websites and helped support the Egyptian people during ousted President Mubarek's reign.

Anonymous released in a public statement:

"For far to long, Anonymous has stood by with the rest of the world and watched in despair the barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people in the so called "Occupied Territories" by the Israel Defense Force. Like so many around the globe, we have felt helpless in the face of such implacable evil. And today's insane attack and threatened invasion of Gaza was more of the same. But when the government of Israel publicly threatened to sever all Internet and other telecommunications into and out of Gaza they crossed a line in the sand. As the former dictator of Egypt Mubarack learned the hard way - we are ANONYMOUS and NO ONE shuts down the Internet on our watch. To the IDF and government of Israel we issue you this warning only once. Do NOT shut down the Internet into the "Occupied Territories", and cease and desist from your terror upon the innocent people of Palestine or you will know the full and unbridled wrath of Anonymous. And like all the other evil governments that have faced our rage, you will NOT survive it unscathed. To the people of Gaza and the "Occupied Territories", know that Anonymous stands with you in this fight. We will do everything in our power to hinder the evil forces of the IDF arrayed against you. We will use all our resources to make certain you stay connected to the Internet and remain able to transmit your experiences to the world. As a start, we have put together the Anonymous Gaza Care Package - http://bit.ly/XH87C5 - which contains instructions in Arabic and English that can aid you in the event the Israel government makes good on it's threat to attempt to sever your Internet connection. It also contains useful information on evading IDF surveillance, and some basic first aid and other useful information. We will continue to expand and improve this document in the coming days, and we will transmit it to you by every means at our disposal. We encourage you to download this package, and to share it with your fellow Palestinians to the best of your ability. We will be with you. No matter how dark it may seem, no matter how alone and abandoned you may feel - know that tens of thousands of us in Anonymous are with you and working tirelessly around the clock to bring you every aid and assistance that we can." 

 We here at Geeked Out will keep you posted on developments as they happen within Gaza regarding #OpIsrael. 

What Legal Weed Means For America

If your like us here at Geeked Out, you love to smoke weed. If you're also like us you wished you lived in Colorado or Washington right about now. On November 6th Colorado and Washington passed historic measures to legalize recreational marijuana usage. This has huge implication not only for weed smokers but for all Americans. The American economy has been reeling since the 2008 housing market collapse, one of the main arguments for legalized weed has been tax revenue. Not only could this be a boon for the two states but could also lead to increases in tourism for the two states from weed smokers who would like to do so legally, much like Amsterdam whose economy thrives on such tourism. The reduction of non-violent marijuana related incarcerations could also lead to major savings for these states.

 If the new Marijuana regulations do lead to state budget surpluses these laws could have a massive rippling effect and spread to other states, that is if The Federal Government does not seek to thwart the effort. Marijuana is still regarded as a schedule 1 drug by the Federal Government, which is legal jargon which claims Marijuana has no medical viability what so ever. It is within the power of the Executive Branch, i.e. the President, to remove such a label but many point to the Federal Governments crack down of dispensaries in California. Washington's I-502 and Colorado's Amendment 64 leave huge loop holes which could lead to huge problems with Federal and State regulation. Washington's I-502 also opens up DUI laws for driving under the influence and only actually decriminalizes under an ounce, so legally you could still come under major fire for selling it. Colorado's law seems a little more thought out and seeks to integrate the sale of marijuana with Colorado's already thriving dispensaries. I think these laws though imperfect are a step in the right direction. The drug war has been an epic failure and even if the Federal Government does step in a majority of American's support legalization so if the Fed's do choose to fight it it will be a long uphill battle for them.

Break Up Big Telecom

Have you looked at your wireless bill lately? If you’re like most Americans your bill has continued to go up while your service continues to dwindle and you are even capped at a low rate of usage. T Mobile charges $70 a month for a data plan capped at 5gbs at 4G speeds. It is the same with wired internet, cable providers charge you $50-70 month for subpar service of 5mbps with capped usages only to charge you exorbitant fees for going over your data limit. Why do they do this, because if you can’t go over a certain threshold they won’t be forced to update their infrastructure?  In fact, the United States internet infrastructure ranks 15^th in the world, that’s right behind Romania and Hong Kong. Like the Oil Trusts of the early 20^th century wired telecommunications companies are monopolies, although only regionally. Time Warner and Comcast’s services do not overlap and they are permitted to function unopposed from one and other. Likewise, AT&T and Verizon maintain a hold over 80% of wireless customers. Without the necessary competition to lead to competitive pricing and innovation the US internet infrastructure is in desperate need of an upgrade and Americans are burdened with overpricing. One option is for the FCC to file suit and force these companies to divest into smaller competing companies to help breed innovation. Some optimism is on the forefront as Google has introduced its Google Fiber to Kansas City. This plan has provided fiber optics to the city and those making use of Google Fiber boast speeds of 1gbps, that’s 200 times faster what current cable providers allow. It is imperative for this country that something is done as not everyone can live in Kansas City.

Some countries have already developed successful plans for keeping their infrastructure up to par to a 21^st century landscape. Countries like New Zealand have been wildly successful models. In fact, New Zealand bars companies who provide network services from developing content or alternate services, which prevents network service providers from favoring their own content and services. New Zealand, also took the stance of treating fiber networks in much of the way we deal with water and electricity in this country. By building the infrastructure and then allowing private companies buy the networks in which homes and businesses are built upon. This not only leads to greater innovation in infrastructure it frees up capital for future infrastructure projects, all the while spurring private investment.

In the early 20^th century the Standard Oil Trust had a similar hold over oil in this country. Much like the big telecommunications companies the gouged price and set their own price standards. That is until Teddy Roosevelt broke up Standard Oil among other prominent monopolies. This isn’t the first time a company such as AT&T has been accused of being a monopoly. In fact, just last year it was barred from purchasing T Mobile for just that reason. Reagan divested the company in the early 80’s and AT&T corp was broken apart from South Western Bell. In 1995 South Western Bell bought its former parent company and 22 of its former subsidiaries and took on its former parents name and logo once again. It is time for the government to not only break up this Telecom monopoly but regional monopolies like Comcast and Mediacom and bar these businesses from competing in both networking and data services which has allowed them to simply “harvest” their profits rather than compete to earn them.

What Obama Has Done

 So, recently there have been a lot of accusations from the right claiming Obama has done little to nothing and that the economy, as well as the country, is worse off than when he stepped into office. Not only is this untrue it is a blatant misrepresentation of the facts. In fact Obama  has executed many sound policy decisions and the country is better than we were four years ago under Bush. Likewise, Mitt Romney, the current Republican Candidate for President, would be dangerous for our country especially if he is truly honest about some of the policies he is advocating. This includes critiques of Obama's policy decisions regarding the Auto and Financial Industry Bailouts and Foreign Policy.

  Due to Obama's stimulus and Bailouts he has staved off a Depression and has moved us out of a Recession. Many on the right in Washington predicted a total failure of the TARP program, as well as The American Recovery And Reinvestment Acts and Bailouts. Yet, by enacting these programs the government saved millions of jobs. In addition the bailouts have netted the United States a profit due to interest on loans to the Financial and Banking Industry as well as loans and company shares in the Auto Industry . The Auto Industry was in particular trouble, with no private equity to be found it was necessary for the government to partially nationalize the industry allowing Ford, Chrysler, and GM to restructure and become profitable once again. Mitt Romney actually advocated allowing the Auto Industry to go bankrupt in a New York Times Op-Ed. He advocated a structured bankruptcy of the companies and claimed the auto industry would be destroyed if bought out by the government. Romney obviously does not understand economics, business sure, economics no. If it were one company, yes you would allow the company to go through bankruptcy, manage it's debt and restructure or begin the process of closing it's doors. This was not one company this was the entire auto industry, likewise with the financial industry. These were millions of jobs at stake and a vital American Industry with no privately held capital in the market willing to take the risk. It became necessary for the government to take action to save millions of jobs and save an industry that has been essential to the American economy. Since then the Auto Industry has prospered from the bailout and companies like Ford have restructured bought their shares back from the government and are now profitable. The government still owns the majority of shares in GM but under guidance of the new CEO the company is now profitable and has once again become the most popular auto maker in the world while saving 1.4 million jobs. Maybe  Romney  thought he could make a quick buck if Detroit went under, being head of Bain Capital a corporation that buys companies in bankruptcy then guts them and sells their assets. This is just one portion of what Obama has done, more is to come in my continuing series "What Obama Has Done."