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In the United States, mobile phones are mostly a kind of cool gadget. The real revolution was the invention of the telephone in the first place. But in much of the developed world, wireline phone networks never got properly built out and proliferation of mobile phones represents the first mass penetration of this aspect of modernity. Gallup shows us that in sub-Saharan Africa mobile phone usage varies enormously from place to place with, not surprisingly, phones being more widespread in the places that are doing better: What’s more, as smartphone costs continue to fall that sector is likely to be the main driver of internet access in poor countries.

Tags: author, economy, feeds, green, health, in-the-united-states, media, mobile, mobile-phone, posts-for-08-31-2011, rick-perry, taxes

Welcome to the 2011 Emmys—and the first inaugural ThinkProgress Emmy liveblog! Joining me is the marvelous Libby Hill from TV on the Internet . We’ll be posting updates in reverse chronological order, so keep refreshing. And join in the comments or hit us up on Twitter, me at @alyssarosenberg and Libby at @midwestspitfire with questions or snark. 10:56 Alyssa : Modern Family wins, and this night finally draws to a close. A few general thoughts: -The general lockout of 30 Rock strikes me as a good thing. The show’s gotten complacent and stale. I hope Tina Fey finds a way to move it forward this season. -It’s really unfortunate that Modern Family has a gay couple that it’s explicitly decided aren’t married (and I know that’s true because the actors who play Mitch and Cam told me that at the HRC Awards last year). It’s true that Mitch and Cam are humanizing gay couples, but the show really should have taken that step if it wants major credit for being groundbreaking. – Too Big to Fail is really wonderful. I’m excited to see what HBO’s movie division comes up with next year. I hadn’t thought about it this way going into the awards show but it’s the thing I think I’m most sorry didn’t get more recognition. With any luck, Homeland will take off, and we’ll have a show with some social relevance that collects some statuettes next year. -Peter Dinklage’s Emmy win was a nice way for Game of Thrones to force the wedge in the door. With any luck, this won’t b e Lord of the Rings syndrome, and the show will get broader recognition next year. If I was a betting woman, I’d tell you to put money on Maisie Williams, as long as HBO puts her name in contention. Next season should be amazing for Arya. Thanks to Libby for all the help. And thanks to all of you for tuning in. See you tomorrow morning! 10:55 Alyssa : I really don’t think hosting an awards show is an entirely impossible task, but people manage to make it look sisyphean every time. 10:48 Alyss a: Mad Men’s win here seems unsurprising, a fairly balanced allocation of the awards across the board. 10:44 Alyssa : I demand a Downton Abbey – Modern Family crossover. It can be like the Hawaii trip! Can you imagine Sofia Vergara and Maggie Smith? 10:39 Libby : If I had to judge a person’s acting ability by how convincing their acceptance speech is, Kate Winslet would not fair well. 10:37 Alyss a: Not remotely surprised by Kate Winslet’s win for Mildred Pierce , but I highly recommend Cinema Verite . Diane Lane and James Gandolfini are very, very good in it. 10:32 Alyssa : Guy Pearce might not want to say he’s had a lot of sex with Kate Winslet given her recent divorce. Also, the thought of birthing an Emmy? Men, for your information: NOT HUMOROUS, JUST PAINFUL. 10:24 Alyssa : “Hallelujah” is not really an appropriate song to play to memorialize the dead when you think about it carefully. 10:20 Alyssa : Okay, I wanted Idris Elba to win for Luther , but it adds insult to injury that Barry Pepper wins for a role in inaccurate, rightwing history over William Hurt in Too Big To Fail , which is a fantastic, useful general interest explanation of the financial crisis . 10:18 Alyssa : When Amy Poehler wins for P arks and Recreation someday, I hope she gives her speech as Leslie Knope. 10:17 Alyssa : I’m always sort of pleased when the accountants get their moment in the sun at awards shows. Hollywood needs its bureaucrats too! 10:09 Alyssa : Here comes the British invasion with the writing win for Downton Abbey . Idris Elba better get a trophy tonight or I am going to be very cranky. 10:07 Alyssa : Jane Lynch. Please, please stop. You are not a lesbian because you hate men. Even the men from Entourage. This is terrible. 9:58 Alyssa : My teenaged, Early Edition -loving self is so ridiculously happy for Kyle Chandler’s win for Best Actor. I really hope he sticks with TV instead of movies so I can see more of him. 9:56 Libby : “Comedic” announcer guy is pretty much the worst thing that’s ever happened to things. 9:54 Alyssa : I know people were upset by The Killing , but Mireille Enos is one of the smartest actresses I’ve ever interviewed. I hope she gets a better season next year. 9:45 Alyssa : Lannisters pay their debts out of the vast number of awards they’ve won and melted down to fill Casterly Rock. Peter Dinklage rules. And almost makes up for Maisie Williams not being put in contention for her work as Arya. 9:41 Alyssa : Well, I’m glad to know Boardwalk Empire is dandy since I’m going to watch all of the first season this week to catch up in time for recaps. Thanks, Emmys! Also, curious to know what the other competitors could have done if they had his pilot budget. 9:40 Alyssa : I’m using Loretta Devine’s presence on stage to suggest that people see Jumping the Broom . It’s a really nice little class comedy and she’s one of the best things in it. 9:34 Libby : I like to think that Margo Martindale sits at home and listens to Foster the People all the time. Alyssa : First Tim Olyphant reference! All my Deadwood peeps drink and lust after men with impractical senses of rectitude! 9:31 Libby : Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. A fantastic win for Jason Katims and Friday Night Lights . This win makes my heart hurt in the very best way. 9:27 Alyssa : The combination of Kathy Bates’ narration from a Harry’s Law monologue and shots of Dany and Drogo from Game of Thrones made me laugh harder than anything has all evening. 9:20 Alyssa : Jon Stewart is a national treasure but he should mix up the men and ladies in his posse on stage, particularly when people are freaking out about the demonstrated maleness of the writing staff . 9:16 Alyssa : We’ve reached a point in the evening where Jane Lynch pretends to slap someone who works behind the scenes and it’s supposed to be funny. Send humor care packages. And failing that, bourbon. 9:12 Alyssa : And here for a badly-needed dose of self-mockery is Lonely Island and Michael Bolton. I will admit to listening to “Jack Sparrow” on repeat a lot . Although, seriously, the ridiculousness of “It’s not gay when it’s in a three-way” is really not making me love this night any more: 9:05 Alyssa : I feel like Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, saying “Bored!” every fifteen minutes. However, I am not shooting holes in my wall. A nice State Department family lives next door and I feel like that would be anti-social. 9:03 Libby : How many times per season do you suppose they say “This is what it’s all about” on American Idol? I’m guessing 300,000. Alyssa : I offer a bounty to anyone who will do a supercut so we can determine the exact answer. For science. 9:00 Alyssa : Jane Lynch is a wonderful gay icon but I feel like she is playing to a ton of stereotypes tonight. “Call Rachel Maddow and find out what time spinning is. Take the pickup in for an oil change. No, I’ll do it myself. And there was a third thing but I left it in my fanny pack.” I mean, really? 8:59 Libby : On a slightly feminist note, I’m disturbed at how much of reality television is apparently women beating the crap out of each other. Seriously. Men host things, women punch each other while wearing too much makeup. 8:55 Alyssa : Okay, crossing over Breaking Bad and The Office may have saved the night for me. Aaron Paul makes everything better. 8:51 Libby : Louie is changing the landscape of television and entertainment as we know it. I know that I should just be grateful that I get to experience his amazing work and that the Emmys even know he exists. But what would we be if we didn’t keep hoping for something better? For people to get the recognition they deserve. 8:47 Alyssa : Libby and I are both surprised here as Melissa McCarthy wins for Best Actress in a comedy. But McCarthy was so go-for-broke funny in Bridesmaids that I sort of can’t bring myself to be upset about this. “This is my first and best pageant ever!” is pretty adorable. 8:42 Alyssa : I’m sorry. I’m glad that The Big Bang Theory exists for the purposes of nerd mainstreaming, but Louis C.K.’s performance on Louie is a genuinely genius starting point for a conversation about American masculinity, sex, and parenthood. I know this is so sincere it should break this liveblog, but I’m genuinely sad and frustrated that it looks like he’s going to be totally shut out tonight. 8:41 Alyssa : Zombie Charlie Sheen: classy to the coworkers his temper tantrums blew up earlier in the year. 8:40 Alyssa : Jane lynch on her daughter’s tea parties these days: “They complained about taxes, called Obama a communist, and wondered how the Latina kid got in.” 8:34 Alyssa : “Thank you to my somewhat satisfied wife,” is, sadly, the best laugh line of the night. 8:32 Alyssa : L ouie loses for comedy writing, and my heart dies a little bit more. 8:30 Alyssa ; Zooey Deschanel is always so deer-in-the-headlights that when she has to act surprised about something, like these patently ridiculous fake lines, it doesn’t remotely register. 8:27 Alyssa : Now that Modern Family’s won everything, I am imagining a spinoff of Game of Thrones called Medieval Family . The Lannisters would destroy the Dunphys, though I do think Gloria could take Cersei. 8:24 Alyssa : So, we agree that this is not good, right? I think the only way this ceremony will be redeemed for me is if Idris Elba wins for Luther and proposes to me from the stage. 8:18 Alyssa : When I think about it, I’ve met more actors from Modern Family than any other show nominated tonight. Ty Burrell can emcee the heck out of a Ford’s Theater Gala, and because he got me through that event without going insane last year, I’m pleased for him. 8:15 Alyssa : Julie Bowen: “I don’t know what I’m going to talk about in therapy now. I won something!” This feels like the right win to me. Claire Dunphy is a great straight woman, and one of the least cliche mothers on television. Libby : I can see as many of Julie Bowen’s ribs as Modern Family has supporting acting nominations tonight. 8:12 Libby : Much of this makes me sad, because, oh hey, look at all those awesome shows that didn’t get the recognition they deserved and that I could be having a much better time watching on DVD instead of something as POINTLESS AND FRIGHTENING AS THE EMMYTONES! 8:09 Libby : My husband has spent much of the weekend watching old Emmy broadcasts on YouTube and showing me the worst production numbers from them. It is clear that this broadcast has decided to attempt a return to terrible form. 8:04 Alyssa : Jane Lynch would destroy Pete Campbell. Also, this totally bolsters my idea that Mad Men should end with Peggy and Joan in a convertible running off to a lesbian commune in California. 8:02 Alyssa : This is sort of making me wish that Entourage had done a musical episode if only to see Ari’s profound discomfort. 8:00 Alyssa : Uh, Leonard Nimoy is telling Jane Lynch she’s the “most logical” person to MC the Emmys because “To men, you’re womanish. To women, you’re mannish.” We’re 60 seconds in, and this has already not been a good night for gay people. 7:59 Alyssa : Hosts have already told red carpet guests that they want to tear their faces off and wear them in public. Now, one asks Laurence Fishburne “Is there any chance you could kick me, or karate chop me in the neck?” The red carpet is always a horror show, but this is a whole different level. 7:56 Libby : KTLA just asked David Spade why his shows never get the recognition they deserve. ::Crickets:: 7:52 Alyssa : Revelation of the night so far. LL Cool J’s secret passion is the History Channe’s gator huntin’ show Swamp People . Which may qualify as an *actual* guilty passion. 7:45 Libby : Additionally, Paula Abdul talked to the KTLA hosts for 2 minutes and said the words “The X Factor” no less than 2 dozen times. I think she’s ready to run for the Republican nomination now. 7:42 Alyssa : Rob Lowe explains the Hollywood definition of catching up on lost family time: bringing your kids to awards shows they were too young for the last time you had a good moment in your career. 7:40 Libby : TWatching the Emmy broadcast on KTLA in Los Angeles is fantastic. They scream at celebrities from the sidelines and force them, not just to chat, but to awkwardly meet other celebrities. Thus far, they’ve made Steve Carell and Peter Dinklage chat inanely and Alan Cumming and Paula Abdul hug while a random blonde rubbed Alan’s pants. I LOVE EMMY NIGHT! 7:33 Alyssa : Jon Hamm promises more vampires and Glee crossovers on the next season of Mad Men and a nation of advertisers gets misty over the possibility.

Tags: alyssa, alyssarosenberg, director, economy, health, midwestspitfire, posts-for-08-31-2011, war, yglesias

Our guest blogger is Peter Swire , the C. William O’Neill professor of law at the Moritz College of Law of the Ohio State University and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Here’s another reason for the rest of us to get mad at Wall Street. Even where the government can prove massive fraud in the mortgage market, the finance folks are saying the suits should be dropped. The suits were announced last Friday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency , the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA sued 17 major banks and a number of individuals for fraud in the issuance and sale of mortgage backed securities during the buildup of the housing bubble. In response, a columnist for the Motley Fool has called the suits a “ misguided search for vengeance ” and “an unnecessary distraction.” An investment banker told Bloomberg that the government should “ stop punishing banks .” The mortgage fraudsters should get away, they say, because we don’t want to shake confidence in the big banks that FHFA says committed massive mortgage fraud. But there are so many reasons why the people who perpetrate fraud should pay for it. To pick two often voiced by conservatives, take “personal responsibility” and “property rights.” The personal responsibility part is that individuals and companies that signed fraudulent securities filings are responsible for the fraud. That punishes fraud, and deters the next generation of Wall Street financiers when they get tempted to do it again. The property rights part is that fraud is theft — the fraudster took money from the other party. The banks are trying to argue that Fannie and Freddie were “sophisticated purchasers” who should have known better. But even sophisticated companies can be the victims of fraud — the suits allege that the defendants had detailed facts about the bad mortgages that were simply unknown to the purchasers. Nor should we accept the idea that the government should stop the suits and forgive all the fraudsters because the markets might otherwise lose confidence in the big banks. Fortunately, this is not the fall of 2008 when financial markets froze and even the best borrowers could not get capital. The economy is not what we want it to be, but U.S. banks have raised many tens of billions of dollars of capital and financial markets are functioning. Where evidence exists for fraud, the suits should go forward. Charles Keating went to jail after the S&L mess. Where the facts warrant it, this generation of wrongdoers should pay as well.

Tags: election-2012, feeds, health, jobs, lgbt, posts-for-08-31-2011, security, their-fraud, thinkprogress, yglesias

ThinkProgress filed this report from the Republican presidential debate in Simi Valley, California. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) just doesn’t know what to do with his radical book arguing that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional. The Perry campaign has alternatively embraced the book , distanced itself from it , run away from voters asking him about it, and misrepresented what it says . ThinkProgress’ Scott Keyes caught up with Rick Perry’s campaign manager yesterday, and learned that Team Perry is back to simply not telling the truth about what their candidate believes: KEYES: Does the governor still think that Social Security exists at the expense of the Constitution? PERRY SPOX: In the book he never said — he didn’t say it was unconstitutional. Is that what you’re getting at? KEYES: Well, just that he wrote that Social Security exists at the expense of the Constitution. PERRY SPOX: He believes Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and that we’ve got to address it. We’re starting a national conversation. Watch it: For the record, here is the passage in Fed Up! where Rick Perry says that Social Security is unconstitutional: There is no ambiguity in this passage. Nor is there ambiguity in a subsequent interview where Perry reiterated his belief that Social Security and Medicare violate the Constitution: I don’t think our founding fathers when they were putting the term “general welfare” in [the Constitution] were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care. What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government. I stand very clear on that. Simply put, the Perry campaign needs to stop misrepresenting what their candidate believes.

Tags: affordable care act, distanced-itself-from-it, health, ian-millhiser, perry-campaign, posts-for-08-31-2011, rick-perry, tenthers, thinkprogress, tweets

In These Times’ Mike Elk notes that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has, for 40 years, had the ability to regulate excessive heat in the workplace, yet has failed to ever issue a federal rule governing how hot is too hot for employees to work safely. Over the last two decades, “at least 523 workers have died from heat stroke and another 43,000 have suffered from heat–related injuries serious enough to have to miss at least one day of work.” “OSHA has demonstrated an alarming lack of oversight over the past 40 years in the face of this recognized and entirely preventable hazard,” said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group.

Tags: director, donate, feeds, health, housing, lgbt, media, posts-for-08-31-2011, security, thinkprogress

Ben Bernanke’s speech today in Minneapolis is extremely similar to some things he’s said previously, but this time around in addition to reiterating that “the Federal Reserve has a range of tools that could be used to provide additional monetary stimulus” he also concluded by saying that “the Federal Reserve will certainly do all that it can to help restore high rates of growth and employment in a context of price stability.” Now of course in the part Bernanke hasn’t said things like “the Federal Reserve will refuse to help restore high rates of growth and employment” but there has been this weird gap that most people in the press aren’t noticing. Bernanke, unlike some commentators, has never said that the Fed is out of ammunition. He’s always maintained that they have additional tools, so the implication has always been that the tools aren’t being used because the Fed has believed the situation is okay. Now, though, he’s blocked out extra time at the September meeting to discuss those tools with his colleagues and he’s saying that the Federal Reserve will do all that it can. And it can do a lot! It’s time to learn from Switzerland and get moving.

Tags: author, bernanke-hints, easing, health, joe-romm, posts-for-08-31-2011, security, social security, thinkprogress, yglesias

Great, great piece by Benjy Sarlin about two of his high school classmates at Stuyvesant, Jukay Hsu and Himanshu Suri, who went from organizing the student body of the high school traumatized in the wake of the attacks to careers setting up media organizations in Iraq and as half of Das Racist, respectively: Ten years later, neither is completely sure how 9/11 affected him. “I can’t afford therapy,” Suri jokes. The connections are clearer in his case: he credits the attacks with planting the seeds of racial consciousness that would eventually define his rap aesthetic. “It was the first time there was a feeling of pan-people-of-color for all the South Asian people, the Pakistani kids, the Indian kids,” he said of that period. “It was the first time we made jokes about it amongst each other, referring to ourselves as brown, in order to cope.”… From the outside, it’s hard not to read into Hsu’s career choice as well — Army officers with both a Stuyvesant diploma and Harvard degree aren’t exactly a dime a dozen — but he downplays the connection to 9/11. He developed a passion for development as an undergraduate, but ultimately decided to enter the Army over pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. In 2008, he was shipped to Iraq to lead a rifle platoon in the Sunni triangle. After a few months of patrols and raids, his battalion commander took note of his interest in local government and tasked him with leading development projects for an area roughly the size of Delaware. His proudest achievement was helping launch the region’s first local radio station. It’s interesting to me that, in their own ways, both Hsu and Suri went into communications. It would be fascinating to see some sort of data about what careers college and high-school students on September 11 thought they were going into before the attacks and what they actually ended up doing for a living. Of course, everyone’s plans change along the way, but I’d love to know if the arc ended up bending towards public service or inter-cultural understanding in the way we like to think it did.

Tags: author, capaf-logo, donate, great-piece, posts-for-08-31-2011, security, september-2011, sexist-jerk, united nations, white house

By Jessica Goad, Manager of Research and Outreach, Center for American Progress Action Fund The House Natural Resources Committee began its fall agenda today with a hearing on creating jobs through developing offshore and renewable energy resources. The Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Vice President for Energy Policy Kate Gordon was on hand to argue that green jobs are a bright spot in the economy, but warned that this success will not last if we do not create a market within the U.S. for clean energy. She said: While other countries step up to rebuild their economies on a more sustainable and secure energy footing, we are spending our time squabbling while Rome burns, by continuing to subsidize and support fossil fuel companies at the same time that we ignore our crumbling infrastructure , chop away at research and development funds, and fail to take the necessary steps to put America into the global race to lead the green economy Meanwhile, Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) spent his opening statement describing 10 policies that the President should focus on during his speech on jobs this evening. Seven of the ten policies that Rep. Hastings detailed heavily promote fossil fuels , such as drilling more in the Gulf of Mexico, opening up sensitive places in Alaska to drilling, and developing oil shale resources. (The other three policies that Hastings included on his list relate to renewable energy, but as ThinkProgress previously noted, the solutions that the Republican members put forth on this issue could pose “unintended consequences” to the industry). House Republicans continue to promote the mature and highly profitable fossil fuels industry by accusing the Obama Administration of hindering oil and gas development. A report released yesterday by Wood Mackenzie and paid for by the American Petroleum Institute found that opening up more areas to drilling and getting rid of “regulatory burdens” will create 1.4 million jobs by 2030. The Wood Mackenzie witness at today’s hearing expanded on this point by describing how the “ current path of policies which slow down the issuance of leases and drilling permits.” But as Stephen Lacey at ClimateProgress pointed out yesterday, the oil and gas drilling in the U.S. is actively and steadily increasing under this Administration. Headwaters Economics found that U.S. onshore drilling activity was at 91 percent of the 20-year high. And, the U.S. is currently drilling more than anywhere else in the world: today, according to industry research firm Baker Hughes, there are 1,968 oil and gas drill rigs operating in the U.S. and 1,700 rigs operating in the rest of the world combined. As Gordon said during today’s hearing, this committee’s continued focus on opening up areas to more drilling takes attention away from the real issue at hand—how to maintain our country’s role as a world leader in the clean energy economy. As she discussed in her testimony, clean energy manufacturing jobs are “critical to our long-term competitiveness, because our global leadership depends in part on whether we still make things in America. ” But making things in America in part means creating demand here at home, and we are falling behind on this by failing to enact policies that create certainty for renewable energy businesses. She expanded on this thought by comparing the U.S. clean energy market to those of China and Europe, asking: All this points to one key question: Do we really want to be in the business of inventing the green technologies of the future, only to end up buying those technologies back from countries that have successfully commercialized, manufactured, and exported those technologies—and come up with successive waves of innovation that they can then also sell back to the United States? Do we want to be the world’s great clean technology consumer, while the rest of the world prospers? Is this the way to strengthen the American economy? In order to combat this possibility, Gordon suggested that Republicans, who currently set the agenda for the House, focus on policies that ensure consistent demand and financing, such as Clean Energy Standard, extending the Production and Investment Tax Credits, extending the Section 1603 Treasury Grant Progress, establishing a green bank, cash grant program providing grants in lieu of tax credits for renewable energy generation, and supporting more consistent interagency cooperation for onshore and offshore renewable energy development. Additionally, Gordon noted that the Republican budgets, which tremendously slash clean-tech and energy investments, show how “some of America’s political leaders seem intent on crippling us before we have even fully entered the global green jobs race.”

Tags: clean-energy, creating-jobs, economy, global-warming, health, in-debate, keystone-xl, posts-for-08-31-2011, war, yglesias

Via Washington Post , “nearly 100 former aides to members of the new budget-cutting super committee now work as K Street lobbyists,” with 43 staffers lobbying for the health care industry. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) — the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee — employed the most staffers-turned lobbyists– 25, with 12 now working for the health care industry:

Tags: abortion, action, author, capaf-logo, feeds, posts-for-08-31-2011, security, super-committee, thinkprogress