Alan Auerbach Calculates Impact of Bush Tax Cuts

-The Washington Post, August 1, 2010 by William G. Gale
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/30/AR2010073002671_pf.html

Based on projections by the CBO, Alan Auerbach of the University of California at Berkeley and myself, among others, even if the economy returns to full employment by 2014 and stays there for the rest of the decade, the continuation of current fiscal policies, including the Bush tax cuts, would lead to a national debt in the range of 90 percent of GDP by 2020.

-Bloomberg Businessweek, August 5, 2010 by Peter Coy
http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_33/b4191056654282.htm

One problem with extending the cuts is that it doesn’t send much of a signal about fiscal fortitude. That’s why economist Alan Auerbach of the University of California at Berkeley argues for coupling the extension with a major deficit-reducing measure that would kick in a couple of years from now—say, an increase in the Social Security retirement age.

Chris Kutz Comments on BP Investigation and UC Contract

Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2010 by Michael Hiltzik
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20100730,0,1032270.column

“I’m waiting to see that happens with the investigation,” he says. “The oil spill is tragic and clearly negligent, but that alone shouldn’t be enough to cause us to revoke the partnership. But if we’re getting into serious criminal negligence, deliberate indifference to environmental or health risks, then the university needs to think about who it’s working with.”

Eric Talley Explains Government Role in Oracle Suit

San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 2010 by James Temple
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/30/MNEE1EM0EF.DTL

The fact that the contract was worth hundreds of millions of dollars could propel potential damages toward the upper range seen in these cases, said Eric Talley…. Hundreds of False Claims Act cases are filed each year, but the government tends to throw its full weight behind only the most promising ones, Talley said. “The (Justice Department) has determined this to be meritorious enough to put their own efforts forward, rather than sit on the sidelines,” he said.

Bobbie Stein Criticizes Oakland Cops for Ignoring Crowd Control Policy

San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 2010 by Bobbie Stein and Rachel Lederman
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/28/EDV91EKR9F.DTL

When Oakland police brass meet this week to review what went wrong after the July 8 Johannes Mehserle verdict, they should not overlook their own crowd control policy. Had the department followed this policy, it could have minimized property damage and also avoided police-inflicted injuries and wrongful arrests of demonstrators.

Aarti Kohli Believes Arizona Immigration Law Will Hinder Police

KALW, Your Call, July 29, 2010 Host Rose Aguilar
http://bit.ly/dtfnVu

These laws are going to have a real impact on policing. In these communities, immigrants are not going to be willing to trust law enforcement because they know that part of law enforcement’s mandate is to try and root out undocumented immigrants. And so if you’ve got a crime and you’ve got a witness, who might be lawful themselves, but they’re living with someone who’s undocumented, they may be unwilling to come forward as witness.

Maria Blanco Criticizes New Immigration Laws

The Nation, July 29, 2010 by Robin Templeton
http://www.thenation.com/article/38035/baby-baiting

“The new laws effectively sentence people to a ten-year separation from their families if they try to go through the application process,” says Blanco. “When you read the statistics about how the undocumented population has increased, you have to realize how much of that is the direct result of blocking people from gaining legal status who, before, legitimately could.”

Jason Schultz Considers iPhone-Jailbreaking Ruling A Blow to Apple

-Bloomberg, July 26, 2010 by Todd Shields and Adam Satariano
http://bit.ly/cHQldK

Apple may also use other laws to keep iPhones from being modified, said Jason Schultz, co-director of the Samuelson Law Technology and Public Policy Clinic…. “Having the copyright office side with the jailbreakers doesn’t look good in court for Apple,” Schultz said in an interview. “They will have to explain why the copyright office is wrong.”

-CNET News, July 27, 2010 by Erica Ogg and Declan McCullagh
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20011702-260.html

“It is an uphill battle now for Apple. What this does is kind of shifts things in favor of users,” said Schultz. “If Apple goes to court they have to explain to a judge why the copyright office is wrong (in this case) or why other laws should trump copyright laws.”

-San Francisco Chronicle, July 27, 2010 by Benny Evangelista
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/27/BUMV1EK31O.DTL

“This ruling is quite important because we’re seeing more and more of these kinds of embedded systems,” Schultz said. “It opens the way to more competition and more innovation. It’s a groundbreaking ruling from the U.S. Copyright Office, which has not always been as permissive.” He said the ruling could also spur “a whole business ecosystem formed around jailbreaking.”

Barry Krisberg Notes Roots of Youth Violence

ABC7, Beyond the Headlines, July 25, 2010 Host Cheryl Jennings
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=resources/lifestyle_community/community&id=7576739

”I think that increasingly we’re seeing that young people who get involved in violence have themselves been victims or witnesses of violence in their homes. So to the extent that we have serious and sustained problems of child abuse and domestic violence, that feeds this problem. Unemployment creates this as well. Certainly gangs have a major influence in terms of propelling young people towards violent behavior.”

Christopher Edley Discusses Shirley Sherrod Fiasco

CNN, State of the Union, July 25, 2010 Host Candy Crowley
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1007/25/sotu.01.html

”I think there are actually three stories here. One is about political mismanagement on the part of the administration and mismanagement in journalism. The second is about race. And the third is about the interaction of the two. And what we’ve seen is that the likelihood of mismanagement goes up if race is involved and the stakes go up as well.”