Thursday, May 09, 2013 Published Weekday Mornings   To see the full version of today's cartoon, click on the preview graphic of the cartoon (below the Commentary) to be taken to the full version in your favorite web browser. Real Education College Graduates Fare Well in Jobs Market, Even Through Recession For high school grads, the economy keeps getting worse Study: 284,000 College Graduates Had Minimum-Wage Jobs Last Year, 70% More Than 10 Years Ago Total Debt Levels Fall, But Student Loan Delinquencies Soar Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposes her first official bill, to lower interest rates on student loans Sen. Elizabeth Warren calls for giving student borrowers the same loan rate as banks CFPB lays out options for repayment of private student loans Bankruptcy Could Soon Be a Way Out of Student Loan Debt, Again A better approach to student loans Benghazi Baloney Benghazi Review Board Chair Says Notion Of Cover Up Is 'Pulitzer Prize Fiction' Benghazi Rescue Was Impossible, Pentagon Confirms GOP's Own Star Witnesses Debunk Right-Wing Benghazi Conspiracy Theories Benghazi: Incompetence Maybe, But No Cover-up Top Republican 'Fairly Satisfied' With White House's Account Of Benghazi Dana Milbank: No smoking guns at Benghazi hearings; Whistleblower's yarn fails to tie Benghazi lapses to politics Cleveland Cleanup Judge sets bail at $2 million for each case against accused Cleveland kidnapper Cleveland authorities to review 911 dispatcher's 'lack of empathy' toward Amanda Berry In Praise of the Emergency Dispatchers Who Handled the Amanda Berry 911 Calls Joan Walsh: Charles Ramsey is still a hero Justice & Injustice Ariel Castro charged in Cleveland kidnapping Jodi Arias Convicted of First-Degree Murder Global Economics G7 finance chiefs to discuss bank reform push UN agency: Worldwide, young people under 24 almost three times more likely to be unemployed Howard Schneider: Three charts that show how the world could end extreme poverty by 2030 Neil Irwin: The most important story in global economics nobody is paying attention to Race In America At Elite Colleges, an Admissions Gap for Minorities White Men Now Get 92% of Contracts in Post-Affirmative Action L.A. Health Care Checkup Democrats say there's a reason they're not selling Obamacare yet Rick Ungar: The Great American Hospital Pricing Scam Exposed-We Now Know Why Healthcare Costs Are So Artificially High Energy, Climate & Environment The Most Controversial Chart in History, Explained; Why Climate Deniers Can't Disprove The "Hockey Stick" Chart Study: Carbon-dioxide levels are at their highest point in at least 800,000 years Finally, Some Not-Terrible Climate News: Greenland Not Melting Any Faster Nations In Turmoil Sect. Kerry: Assad cannot be part of Syria solution Syrian Web traffic returns after 20-hour outage Syrian Refugees in Jordan Struggle to Survive Fareed Zakaria: U.S. credibility is not on the line in Syria International News Bangladesh garment factory fire kills 8; Collapse toll hits 948 Prince Charles attacks global warming skeptics and corporate lobbyists Stephen Hawking joins academic boycott of Israel Former Pakistan prime minister's son abducted as Taliban threaten Pakistan's election Midwest Roundup Neb. Legislature debates merits of buying state airplane Nebraska lawmakers answer call to upgrade radio system Drought's toll on Midwest's groundwater is steepest on record MidAmerican Energy company to spend $1.9 million to erect 656 new wind turbines in Iowa A Real Education   For several years now - even before she was elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts - Elizabeth Warren has been one of our favorite policy wonks,  for a whole host of reasons. As the children and grandchildren of a few our friends graduate college this month, Sen. Warren and a few others on Capitol Hill are looking to help them - and us - with a huge and growing problem nobody wants left on their doorstep. While the economy continues improving, and college grads are faring surprisingly well in the job market - as they did even through the great recession - the facts are still fairly brutal. As Brad Plumer of Wonkblog pointed out recently, if your child didn't get a post-secondary education, the economy isn't getting any better. Even for hundreds of thousands of recent college graduates, the promise that a higher education would lead to higher wages and a better life has proven to be false, a version of the American social contract that our nation has broken, leaving thousands of people - if not millions - with piles of college debt and no way to pay it back. So it was with great excitement Wednesday, that we watched Senator Elizabeth Warren present her first official bill, an idea that might allow more Americans to finish college without those piles of debt, while repairing the credibility of America's social contract... To continue reading... click here. And now, for your Daily Felltoon preview for May 09, 2013 (Click the preview cartoon above to see the full version of the cartoon) Jobs & The Economy Jobless claims fall to lowest level in almost five-and-half years Dow, S&P hit new highs - again - in quiet trading on Wednesday Stock Markets Rise, but Half of Americans Don't Benefit Deficit Reduction Is Seen by Economists as Impeding Economic Recovery Steve Benen: A deficit shift the GOP may struggle to explain Jamelle Bouie: The deficit is actually shrinking. Can we talk about unemployment now? Budgets & Extortion More GOP lawmakers balk at chained CPI Repubs Refuse to Negotiate On The Budget Unless They Can Take a Hostage Truth: Republicans Are Blocking Budget Negotiations Because The Debt Limit Is Too Far Away Barro: Boehner Accidentally Explains Why His Deficit Position Is Phony Sargent: Chaos governing from the GOP Bernstein: House Republicans and extortion for the sake of extortion Wall Street Watch Freddie's Profit Soars on Housing Rebound Big Banks Begin To Push Back Against Tighter Rules, By Hiring Even More Lobbyists | Borrowers shorted on mortgage relief checks SBA shifting funding away from small business training programs, draws fire from Congress Immigration: Reform Coming Soc. Sec. rpt: Proposed immigration bill would boost U.S. economy Study: Immigration reform would create over three million jobs Co-Author Of Right-Wing Immigration Study Wanted To Bar Immigrants Based On IQ Senate Panel To Consider 300 Amendments To Immigration Bill The 5 Most Ridiculous GOP Immigration Reform Amendments GOP culture war threatens immigration reform Guns & America 5-Year-Old Shoots 7-Year-Old Brother In Texas Concealed-carry training failed to stop death of 3-year-old near Tampa, Florida Access Of Evil: How The NRA Protects Children From Being Safe At Least 71 Kids Have Been Killed by Guns Since Newtown Amazon Pulls Bleeding Ex-Girlfriend Shooting Target After Outcry Senate Democrats Block Attempt To Expand Gun Rights It's Your Cap News Toon for May 09, 2013 (Click the preview cartoon above to see the full version of the cartoon) White House Update President Obama, House Democrats talk jobs, deficit reduction, over dinner | Pres. Obama's approval rating back over 50%; Significantly higher than GOP leaders National Politics Pew Center: Six Take-Aways from the Census Bureau's Voting Report John Nichols: Our Elections Really Are Rigged-by Gerrymandering and Districting Abuses 'Landslide' for Sanford Declared by 100% Unverifiable Touch-Screens Ezra Klein: Small Donors May Actually Make Politics Even Worse News From Capitol Hill Senate rejects gun amendment to water infrastructure bill Congress Considers Patch To Keep Helium Supply Afloat House Republicans see few politically palatable options on debt ceiling House GOP to force vote again on repealing 'Obamacare' next week On The Left Senate Democrats Starting on the Defensive For 2014 Poll Shows Democrat Markey With Big Lead Over Gomez In Massachusetts Special Election for U.S. Senate On The Right GOP Vows To Block Obama's Renewed Effort To Close Gitmo Steve Benen: A classic Cheney modifier, to cover his ass States Of Confusion Minnesota House set to vote on gay marriage bill today | Florida's former Gov. Charlie Crist: I now support gay marriage We hope you enjoy "The Daily Felltoon" every business day. Thanks for continuing to be a member! Paul Fell Shawn "Smith" Peirce Paul Fell Cartoons, Inc.