seajane

I Remember Newt and Mitt

2011-12-28T10:39:00.000-08:00

Newt and Mitt seem to think we are all too young to remember or we are all afflicted with Alzheimer’s. I remember.

I remember Newt Gingrich’s disastrous term as Speaker from 1995 to 1999. I remember that he was disciplined in January 1997 by the House of Representatives for ethics accusations. I also remember that Gingrich resigned from the House on November 5, 1998, under pressure from his Republican colleagues. I remember him being divisive, using extremist language, and closing down the government when he wasn’t given a seat up front in Air Force One. I remember that he not only was against gays in the military but also was against women serving – something about hunting giraffes and our ‘cycles’ being problematic in the trenches. He says he wants to bring us back to Reagan era job creation. Really? I remember the Fed funds rate being over 20% during the Reagan era. There weren’t a lot of jobs being created with that rate. Unemployment reached a high of almost 17% under Reagan and by the end of his term we had only improved to around 8% -- not far from where we are now. No thank you, I don’t want to go back to those good ole days.

Mitt Romney says he learned from his father how to lead. Whoa! I remember George Romney. I remember difficult race relations in Detroit during his term as governor from 1963 to 1969. Race riots, block busting – horrible stuff. I was raised in Detroit so conditions might not be as clear in your memory but Romney was always finding ways for his friends to profit on the misery of others and racial unrest was just another opportunity. He then went on to be Secretary of HUD – what a disaster! He allowed improper behavior with FHA mortgage insurance and Section 235 subsidies and did nothing. There were inflationary appraisals, faulty repairs, and rushed approvals so his friends could make a quick buck. Later the bulldozers had to level the homes and neighborhoods were destroyed by HUD. But George Romney taught his son well as Mitt now spouts idiocy about ‘let the values decline until investors are attracted’. There were a couple books really popular during Romney’s rein in HUD: The Federal Bulldozer by Martin Anderson and The Unheavenly City by Edward Banfield – both highly regarded by Milton Friedman and Mitt often quotes from them when talking about the housing crisis. I remember George Romney’s crowning glory was the dynamiting of the Pruitt Igoe public housing project. HUD under George Romney disbursed millions and millions of tax dollars to his friends supposedly to fix Pruitt Igoe but by the end of Romney’s term it was deemed a failure and dynamited. So why should vacant foreclosed homes be of any concern to Mitt?

Mitt used these lessons of rewarding your friends well when he formed Bain Capital. Andy Kroll (another guy that seems to remember) over at Mother Jones has an excellent article on his ‘job creation’ experience worked at Bain. Dade International is an excellent example. Kroll writes: “Dade International, a medical testing company acquired by Bain and Goldman Sachs in 1994. As Bloomberg reported, Bain cut 1,600 jobs from the company between 1996 and 1999 after merging the company with several others as part of Bain's restructuring plan. In 1999, Bain and Goldman sold Dade International, as it was later called, for a profit, but left the company buried in debt. It filed for bankruptcy in 2002.” Kroll has other examples but be sure that the investment partners at Bain enjoyed wildly lucrative financial benefits while the workers and companies got screwed. Richard Gelard is also someone who seems to remember and writes “Mitt Romney, if elected, would break up America and sell of the pieces to the ever hungry 1%.”

We need to do an intervention to our friends and colleagues who are in their Fox induced dissociative fugue state and are thinking about support Newt or Mitt. They need to hear our witnessing of the realities and our memories of these two dangerous guys.

9-9-9

2011-10-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

The number 1 job classification in the State of Washington in 2009 was construction. If Cain wins and he enacts his 9-9-9 plan, we'll never recover. Who would buy a new home and pay the 9% sales tax when they could buy a used home and not be taxed?

The sales of new cars will also be adversely impacted by this 9% tax when used cars are not taxed. So kiss the auto industry goodbye!

What a disaster this man will be for our economy!

A Jeopardy Winner to Head CFPB? Really!??

2011-07-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

President Obama passed over Elizabeth Warren and nominated Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, state lawmaker,and 5 time "Jeopardy!" winner to run the nascent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The White House is spinning this by saying "Cordray’s resume is well suited to the task at the CFPB . . ." But I don't see he is anywhere near the caliber of Elizabeth Warren.

Here's what is in his official biography from when he ran unsuccessfully for Senate:

As State Representative, Richard Cordray was the principal sponsor of legislation fighting crime, preserving the environment, and protecting children and families. His Community Service Education Act was the first law in Ohio to promote community service education as a way to teach values and responsibility in our schools. His Environmental Siting Disclosure Act ensured more public involvement and input into decisions about locating facilities that are environmental hazards. Richard Cordray also helped pass laws promoting undercover sting operations, improving our ability to deal with juvenile crimes, reforming death penalty juries, and raising the penalty for attempted aggravated murder, as well as the first Ohio law making stalking a crime. He fought for a family leave law in Ohio before Congress ultimately was able to pass federal legislation.

Richard Cordray's record shows that he is tough on crime, tough on bigotry, and tough on protecting children and families.

Nice guy, sure. Good Democrat, yes. But where is the extensive experience and life time of consumer protection advocacy that Elizabeth Warren has?

Why do we have to settle for someone who has not the skills, passion, and knowledge of Elizabeth Warren?

Of course the bigger questions, when is Obama going to stand up to the Republithugs and quit selling us out?

OMG -- I agree with a National Review Writer!!

2011-06-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Quick! Take my temperature! I must be sick!!

David Gelernter over at the National Review wrote an excellent (cough, cough) piece that I agree with entirely (swoon). (I'm scared!!)

Here's a piece:

Weiner didn’t commit adultery or anything near adultery. He committed tasteless stupidity, and there’s no law against that. When reporters first asked him about the expose reports, he should have said “Butt out.” . . .
For my part I couldn’t care less what sort of pictures or messages Weiner has been sending around the Net, and it’s an imposition to be required to care; to be unable to avoid the topic. I find that I have no interest in Congressman Anthony Weiner’s sex life or virtual sex life whatsoever. And I’ve heard enough tearful on-camera contrition to last me the rest of my life. I don’t want to hear Weiner’s apology. It’s got nothing to do with me, tells me nothing I want to know; the cable news media, conservative and liberal, would do the public a favor if they would agreed to a blanket tearful-apologies ban effective this instant. . . .

I suspect David Gelernter's days at the National Review are numbered.

Please shoot me if I ever quote Pam Geller.

Let's All Remember THIS Vote

2011-04-15T11:58:00.000-07:00

Doc Hastings, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and Jaime Herrera Beutler all voted to end Medicare as we know it, replacing it with subsidies for private insurance and it would simultaneously spend trillions of dollars to reduce tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. Reichert didn't vote.

Let's never say their names without this shaming suffix:

Jamie Herrera, who voted to end Medicare, replace it with subsidies to private insurance companies, and reduce taxes on the wealthiest Americans . . .

When is the Right Time to Debate?

2011-03-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

Certainly, now when we are in the midst of an emergency with reactors in Japan melting down, it is not the time to debate nuclear power safety -- so say the Republicans.

When is the right time?

Is it far enough away from 9-11 in time that we can talk about sensible safety on airlines instead of this hodge-podge of ridiculous steps we talk now that doesn't make anyone feel safer?

Has enough time passed from when the miners were lost at a mine in West Virginia that had repeated and egregious safety violations for years for us to have the conversation about mine safety and regulation?

How about wet land restoration and effective dike building? Has enough time passed since Katrina that we can begin to debate this?

Obviously it's never the right time to have a debate about gun safety, no matter how many public officials or public safety officers get killed!

It's been months since BP created a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico -- can we talk about drilling safety now?

It's been several years since Lehman was closed but now Basel III is recommending minimum capital level below what Lehman had at the time of their failure -- can we talk about that now or is it still too close to the banking bailout?

How many states have to experience their water table being poisoned by fracking techniques before we can debate safety of gas extraction procedures?

How come it's not the right time to debate nuclear reactor safety but it is the right time to reduce funding for tsunami warnings?

Idiots!

Pawlenty Shoots Himself in the Foot

2011-01-12T14:37:00.000-08:00

Tim Pawlenty was on Morning Joe this morning to shill his book and announce that he's probably going to run in 2012 and then he blew it big time.

Joe Scarborough asked him about Sarah Palin's pathetic video this morning and Pawlenty wimped out and missed a huge chance to show some leadership. It was sad to watch. Scarborough even tried to give him a couple more chances to recover and Pawlenty didn't get it. Scarborough and Brzezinski asked him about Palin's map with the targets on the Gabby Gillfords district and Michele Bachmann's "armed and dangerous" comments and Pawlenty caved in and said meekly "it's just not my style". He had such an opportunity to say something important and blew it. How hard would it be to say something like:

My initial response was to defend the fact that I'm sure no one ever condoned such violence, and never would. But the fact is, if we in any way contributed to an unhealthy political climate, we have to be more careful and deliberate in our public language rather than merely sharpen defenses.

Pawlenty could have been a contender and blew it on the easiest TV show outside of Fox News.

We Need Grayson

2010-11-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

I agree with Dan Savage:

To Alan Grayson:
So it looks like you're out—hell, it looks like you got your ass handed to you. That sucks. The country needs you, Congress needs you, Dems need you.

I'm guessing you've met Jay Inslee. Jay is a member of the House of Representatives from Washington state. Jay has represented Washington's 1st Congressional District since 1999. But Jay was first elected to Congress in 1992 from Washington state's 4th Congressional District. Jay lost that seat in the Republican Revolution of 1994. Turns out Jay was too liberal for Washington state's 1st Congressional district. (Jay didn't think people should be able to send their pre-schoolers to daycare with guns.)

Washington state's 4th Congressional district is way over on the east side of our state—it's rural, red, conservative, and crazy (gun crazy, hate crazy, and just plain crazy crazy). Washington state's 1st Congressional district is over here on the west side of the state—it's urban and suburban, liberal, and pretty sane. Jay's in Congress now because he moved.

You lost, Alan—tuns out you were way too liberal, and way too outspoken, way too sane, for your district. So do like Jay did and move. And run. And get your ass back into Congress. We need you.

My Brain Could Not Process This

2010-11-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Rally to Restore Sanity was a fun show and the signs were clever but this blew my mind.

My favorite sign:

I'm Tired of Subsidizing the Rich

2010-10-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

I'm sick and tired of my income being unfairly redistributed to the rich. We have got to stop extending tax breaks to the rich. This week it was reported that Google pays only a 2.4% tax rate. We lost $3.1 BILLION in tax revenues from Google alone due to a tax shifting loop hole. Who makes up that $3.1 billion? -- The middle class.

I'm sick and tired of this phoney whine by the rich that small businesses make up 50% of the income andnot extending their precious tax breaks will adcversely impact small businesses. Bull shit. They keep tossing out that small businesses make 50% of the income. But they are not defining small business as mom and pop businesses with small payrolls or low revenues like the SBA. They are using the IRS definition which \has to do with the number of owners, not employees or receipts. So partnerships and LLCs are small businesses in the eyes of the IRS -- like Bechtel and Koch Industries.

Here's some others as identified by Forbes:

Company, State
Platinum Equity, CA
Washington Cos, MT
Sammons Enterprises, TX
Ebsco Industries, AL
Ingram Industries, TN
Roll International, CA
Berwind, PA
API Group, MN
Deseret Management, UT

They have total revenues of $212.95 BILLION and employ 85,879 workers. And they can't afford to go back to the same tax rate they had during the first 6 years of the Bush administration?!! They need me to subsidize them??!!

I'm sick and tired of this arguement and refuse to stand by while our elected officials keep redistributing my income to the wealthy.

Solution to the "Burn the Qur'an" Controversy

2010-09-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

I say let's rendition this fame whore "pastor" Jones to Kandahar and quit giving him a microphone and quit giving him the attention he demands.

Harry Reid is a Disappointment (Again)

2010-08-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Harry Reid claims that while he respects freedom of religion, he's not willing to support an Islamic center near Ground Zero.

Specifically, says Reid spokesman Jim Manley, he thinks the "mosque" should be built "some place else":

The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else. If the Republicans are being sincere, they would help us pass this long overdue bill to help the first responders whose health and livelihoods have been devastated because of their bravery on 911, rather than continuing to block this much-needed legislation.

The second most powerful Democrat in the country is not willing to support the First Amendment.

What makes this an even greater disappointment is that Reid is a Mormon. Opposition to Mormonism began before the first Latter Day Saint church was established in 1830 and continues to the present day. The most vocal and strident opposition occurred during the 19th century, particularly during the Utah War of the 1850s, and in the second half of the century when the practice of polygamy in Utah was widely considered by the U.S. Republican Party as one of the "twin relics of barbarism" along with slavery. This is widely know by all Mormons and is a basic part of their history. But here is Reid who should be empathetic to the demonization and virulent discrimination of a religious group, taking sides with those who wish to discriminate.

How does he reconcile this in his soul?

We've Got to Quit Dancing to Their Sick Music

2010-07-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Don't we all remember Bush's greatest Bushism:

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

This was one lesson we could have learned from Bush. But instead we are the fools. Why are we allowing a pond scum dweller like Andrew Breitbart play us like marionettes?

He unfairly smeared and broke ACORN and now he's after Shirley Sherrod. And just like the good little puppets, Obama and the press do exactly what he wants and look guilty.

We have got to stop this nonsense!!

Andrew Breitbart selectively edited a clip of an African-American USDA official seeming to admit she treated a white farmer poorly out of her own racial bias while an USDA employee. It turns out that Shirley Sherrod was actually telling an anecdote of an experience she had 28 years ago to show how the issue of race often obscures the issue of class, and the fact that poor black farmers and poor white farmers had a lot in common (eventually, she helped and became close to the white farmer and his family) — but Breitbart left all of that out of the video (just as he selectively and unfairly edited his cartoonish ACORN tapes). The White House immediately insisted she resign before doing any kind of investigation and now looks like a whimp.

I hope Shirley Sherrod sues the life out of Breitbart! But only after Obama publicly apologizes to her and reinstates her immediately!

h/t http://www.srbwi.org/

UPDATE: Rachel Maddow was just on and reminded me that this really the third time they have done this. I completely forgot their role in getting Van Jones fired.

We have got to grow a spine!

How Do These Idiots Get on TV to Pontificate??

2010-06-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

Former GE CEO and Chairman Jack Welch was on Morning Joe this morning demonstrating that he is senile.

He was asked by Joe whether it was a problem that Americans don't manufacture things anymore and that the Chinese are the big manufacturers now. Welch, who oversaw a lot of this off-shoring manufacturing during his rein as master of the Universe, said some stunningly stupid things. He claimed that the Chinese only manufacture small things where we have retained the manufacturing of important things like the iPad. One of the other "experts" on Joe's panel asked "what about high speed rail?" Welsh said that isn't the Chinese, he claims the high speed rail is in Japan. Yes, Japan has had high speed rail for year but unless you are under a rock everyone should know China has just leapfrogged over everyone with their high speed rail -- faster, safer, longer, freigh handling -- and Jack doesn't know?! China builds 1200 miles of high speed rail and has it operational this year and Welch denies it's occurring! He thinks we make the iPad?!! Is South Korea part of the USA now? Because Samsung, the manufacturer of the iPad is in South Korea. Only small things, huh? I guess Jack considers the GE wind turbines "small things" made in China. They are 80 meters high and made in Shenyang, China! It takes at least 6 HUGE flat bed tractor trailer trucks to move one of them from the port where we import them to the Columbia Gorge where they are being installed. GE's Global Research Center is in Shanghai and Jack Welsh doesn't know??!!

Idiots! Scarborough should do just a little sanity test on proposed guests before booking them on his show. At a minimum they should be up on current events in their own freekin' industry!

Open Letter to Bill Randall

2010-06-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Bill:

I heard that during a campaign stop for the House in North Carolina you said that "there was some sort of collusion" between BP and the government that allowed the Gulf Coast oil spill to happen.

You asserted that the government let BP get away with breaking offshore drilling regulations, which then led to the oil spill fiasco:

"I don't know how or why, but in that situation, if you have someone from a company proposing to violate the safety process and the government signing off on it, excuse me, maybe they wanted it to leak."

You acknowledged that your theory is "purely speculative and not based on any fact," but you insisted that there might be a "cover up going on."

I think you are right. But I think you have the parties involved confused. What possible motivation would BP have to participate is such a scheme with the government? Since the so called 'accident" had to be set in place during the Bush administration when they selected just the right place to destroy, how did they get the Obama administration to agree to allow it to trigger? No, these participants don't make sense.

But there is a conspiracy that does make sense and is already working. I think there is evidence that there is collusion between the various oil companies. For example, during the testimony before the Senate hearing this week it was disclosed that the Gulf of Mexico response plans for ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell are virtually identical to BP’s and just as deficient. It is well known that

they share lobbying companies and associations and all have been very generous to many of the same candidates.

But why? Well, if the Gulf of Mexico is made into a dead zone and fishing and tourism is killed off completely then the only industries and jobs available to border states will be in the oil industry. They will bow to the oil companies and give them any franchise they want to drill, baby drill. It could be a free-for-all! If the Gulf is dead, what more harm could be done?

We are already seeing evidence that pressure for this is being pushed. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is critical on the moratorium on new drilling. He said:

. . . we've lost off shore jobs because we have a lot of them. But I'm going to tell you, my concern is bigger than that. My concern is because we produce 30 percent of all the oil in the United States in the Gulf of Mexico and that more than 80 percent of that is from deepwater drilling, what you're talking about is reducing American oil production by about a fourth. That's the opposite of what we need. We need more American energy.

Congressional representatives from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi are appealing to the Obama administration to shorten the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf, noting the damage that will be done to regional economies dependent on the oil and gas industry. Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal, has described the moratorium as a self-inflicted wound that will make it even harder for his state to recover. Louisiana's two senators, one a Republican and one a Democrat, have also argued against the length of the moratorium.

I think you are thinking too small. There is a conspiracy but it's not between Obama and BP. It's ALL the oil companies conspiring to create conditions for a drilling free-for-all and buying politicians to implement it. You should conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. In fact you might want to withdraw from your Congressional race so you can devote full time to this investigation.

Good luck! I'm sure you will be very successful in your investigations. Go get em!! You'll be our hero!

Volunteers Bail out BP

2010-06-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

I volunteer in my community and I'm a big believer in volunteering but in the case of the aggregious actions by BP, no American should do volunteer work to clean up for them. BP should be required to pay everyone a prevailing wage for sopping up shorelines, picking up and cleaning wild life, and all the other jobs currently being done by volunteers. And BP should cover every person who works on this clean up with medical coverage in case they get sick handling their mess. This is not a time for volunteers -- god bless them -- to be bailing out an irresponsible corporate giant but instead they need to be compensated by the offender and protected. Let's not have another situation like the 9-11 responders who were forgotten when they got sick from being at ground zero.

Another outrage that is little reported is how the government is cooperating with BP on the extent of the damage this gusher has caused and is causing. Reporter Mac McClelland reported for Need to Know from Grand Isle, La. where she was refused entry to a publically owned beach by local law enforcement. He told her she had to get a pass from BP's public information office if she wanted to go to a public beach. WTF!!

Deja Vu All Over Again

2010-05-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

BP's insistence that the air is safe to breathe and workers don't need protection seems to be a repeat of the Administration assuring us that the air at the World Trade Center was safe after 9-11. The only difference seems to be that it took longer for the symptoms to show up on the 9-11 workers than it is for the workers on the oil gush cleanup.

When are we ever going to choose to be more concerned about the safety of people over corporate profits?

Conservatives Divide

2010-05-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

Andrew Sullivan tore into Peggy Noonan this morning. How come a conservative musters more passion supporting Obama than Democrats?

Here's some of his best quips:

. . . It heralds nothing less than the end of the Obama presidency just a year and a half in:
The disaster in the Gulf may well spell the political end of the president and his administration ...

Seriously? Her evidence for this? She claims the Democrats don't love him. The latest poll of polls shows over 80 percent support. She claims that he is "weakened, polarizing and lacking broad public support." Really? With unemployment at near record highs after a deep recession, Obama's approval ratings are stuck just below 50 percent - and have been remarkably stable for months. At this point in his presidency, Obama is about five points more popular than Reagan, who was poised to drop to 37 percent approval by January of 1983. Clinton was lower than Obama in June 1994. In today's polarized climate and awful economy, Obama is remarkably resilient. He has a favorable rating over 52 percent, and his unfavorable rating is at a six month low of 39 percent. This is Obama's political end?

The premise of Noonan's moronic column is that the federal government, especially the president, should be capable of ending an oil-pipe rupture owned and operated by private companies, using technology that only deep-sea oil companies deploy or understand. And if such a technical issue is not resolved by government immediately, it reveals paralyzing presidential weakness and the failure of an entire branch of political philosophy. Again: seriously? It's Obama's fault that under Bush and Cheney, government regulation of oil exploration was so poor and corrupt, corner cutting appears to have been routine? And this, Peggy, is what governments do, even when run by crazy-ass liberals. Governments do not dig for oil; they merely regulate those who dig for oil. That the government failed to do so under the previous administration does not seem to me to be proof that this administration has failed.

What I have also learned these past few years is that the right seeks merely a narrative to lead themselves out of the hole they dug for all of us. Reality be damned. The job of the rest of us is to insist that reality matters and that these fools be exposed.

Come on, Democrats! Let's show a little support and passion. We are in the majority, for GAWDS sake!

Kagan Should Not Respond

2010-05-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

It appears that the extreme right is pushing the Republithugs to question Kagan's sexuality.

I say she should pull a Laine Hanson and refuse to answer the question if they have the balls to ask it. Laine Hanson is a character from the 2000 movie, The Contender. Joan Allen plays Laine.

Laine Hanson, a senator who is nominated to become Vice President following the death of the previous office holder. During the confirmation process, Laine is the victim of a vicious attack on her personal life in which stories of sexual deviancy are spread. She is torn as to whether she should fight back, or stick to her high principles and refuse to comment on the allegations. Although it isn't easy, she sticks to her guns, and in the end she is rewarded for it.

I know life isn't the movies and movies are not life but Laine Hanson's reasons for not responding are valid -- if she responded to the questions it meant that the questions were appropriate. I don't care whether Elena Kagan is gay or not but I do deeply care that some people think it is an appropriate criteria to judge whether she can perform as Associate Justice.

I searched the record of the David Souter hearings and despite his being a life long bachelor no one ever asked him about his sexuality. Roberts married late in life and had some strange views about women and one could read things about this picture. But no one ever asked him about his sexuality.

If Kagan addresses this subject it will become the litmus test forever in the future. She should pull a Laine and refuse. It is irrelevant and inappropriate to ask.

UPDATE: No matter how many times Condoleeza Rice answered questions from the Senate and Congress, no one ever asked her about her loan partner, business associate, home co-owner, friend. It wasn't relevant.

Thursday's Stock Market Dive

2010-05-09T11:43:00.001-07:00

Thursday the stock market nose dived almost 1000 points in 15 minutes. The NY Times says

President Obama and lawmakers called for action, and regulators at agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission promised to deliver, even as they struggled to understand the origins and particulars of Thursday’s chaos.

The gist of the solution, according to regulators, traders and academics is that markets need uniform rules for intervening when a stock goes into free fall.

I've heard excuses that it was "fat finger syndrome", the Greek riots, computerized trading, but what I never hear about is computer hacking.

As Amy Poehler said on Saturday Night Live Last Night: "You mean a trader can trade a billion shares without manager oversight, while if I try to use a $50 bill to pay for a Starbucks it becomes a 4 person transaction -- REALLY?"

My hope is that SOMEONE is investigating whether this was due to hacking but they just aren't talking about it until they can set up safeguards to prevent it from happening again.

Sometimes I am a Pollyanna and live in my own happy safe world.

Palin Inserts Foot in Mouth

2010-05-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin announced today:

I’d like to tell you about a Commonsense Conservative running for office in California this year. She grew up in a modest home with a school teacher dad, worked her way through several colleges, and then entered an arena where few women had tread. Through a combination of hard work, perseverance, and common sense, she proved the naysayers wrong to reach the top of her field, where she led with distinction – facing hard truths, making tough decisions, and showing real leadership through a rocky transition period. Where others had failed, her company had weathered the storm and settled on a stronger new foundation.

Her name is Carly Fiorina, and I’m proud to endorse her for U.S. Senate.

I've made no secret as to my feelings about Fiorina. Maybe I shouldn't be surprized that Sister Sarah would think Carly was impressive. ARGH!

BUT her Facebook followers turned on Palin. Seems that Carly isn't Tea Bag worthy. Oops! Fiorina is not Bat Shit crazy enough for them. Could Sister Sarah be losing touch with her adoring fans??

The Ridiculousness of the Bail Out

2010-05-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

When you get Digby over at Hullabaloo adding to quotes from Atrios at Eschaton, you know there should be a warning sign:

It's a little weird that reporters are hesitant to clearly spell out what happened. Basically the Fed printed a huge amount of money. Some of that money they used to do what TARP was originally supposed to do, buy up Big Shitpile at inflated prices. Some of that money they lent to banks at basically 0 interest. Of course there were plenty of other things they could have done with 2 trillion bucks, if preserving the executive compensation at megabanks wasn't thought to be crucial for the survival of the economy. They could have dropped it from helicopters. They could have paid off mortgages directly. They could have given it to state governments. They could have bought me a SUPERTRAIN. But, no, they decided that propping up an obviously failed system of financial intermediaries was the important thing, so that's what they did.

The ruling elites believed that the best way to bring back the economy was to ensure that jackasses like Fabrice Tourre weren't unduly inconvenienced, the thought being that even though they were the ones who caused the problems, we couldn't possibly do without them. And we the proletariat are supposed to be so grateful that they left Ponzi in place to further steal from us in the future. This was the problem with leaving Geithner, Bernanke, and Summers on the payroll and keep bringing Greenspan back to testify and guide the idiots.

I agree with Digby and Atrios that we could have spent that money smarter and in a way that it would have resulted in a lasting legacy of infrastructure for generation to come. But NO we had to ensure that the Fabulous Fabrice got his bonus.

Kent State

2010-05-04T08:05:00.001-07:00

This is the 40th anniversary of the Kent State massacre. It is one of the more important dates in my political maturation. Of course the assassination of John, Bobby, and Martin affected me -- but they were at unattainable levels -- highly visible leaders. Being outside of the Chicago Democratic Convention was big but I wasn't in the front lines -- I was way back in the crowd and again I thought only the leaders out front were the ones at risk. Kent State was me and I realized I could be assassinated for my views. The demonstrations were no longer fun events but serious expressions of my views -- views I had to be willing to die for. I've never stopped demonstrating but it was much more serious after Kent State.

Terminating Teachers Who Have Accents

2010-04-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Arizona isn't satisfied with rounding up Brown people and asking for papers,

the Arizona Department of Education recently began telling

school districts that teachers whose spoken English it

deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be

removed from classes for students still learning English.

Using this standard all of these teachers would have lost their jobs.

(From the top: Prof Tony Blair, Yale, English accent; Dr. Shelby Foote, Southern accent; Teacher Frank McCourt, Irish accent; Dr. Ashley Morris, PhD, Cajun accent; Dr. Wernher von Braun, German accent.)

Adult Republithugs??

2010-04-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

Steve Benen over at The Washington Monthly has a great take on Congressman Eric Cantor's response to Obama's weekly address.

...The frequently-confused Republican leader said that if voters backed the GOP in November, his party would offer "responsible, adult leadership."

Now, of all the things Republicans have to offer the electorate, perhaps no three words in the English language are less appropriate than "responsible, adult leadership." As should be abundantly clear by now, today's GOP officials approach their responsibilities and substantive discourse with all the maturity of a child. A young child. A young, slow child. A medicated, young, slow child who's easily distracted and hasn't learned social norms about honesty...

I would add petulant. They remind me of the character Max Braverman on Parenthood on TV. The kid has Asperger's Disorder and gets fixated something and cannot be denied it. Max possesses normal intelligence and language development traits but experiences challenges with social and communication skills -- same as the Republithugs! Max has to be the center of attention and his needs are priority -- same as the Republithugs! Max sometimes doesn't make any sense in what he says and likes to dress up in a costume -- in Max's case it's a pirate costume, in the Republithug's case they dress in tri-corner hats with tea bags stapled on them.

Steve Benen is a little kinder than me:

In 2010, Republicans choose not to know anything about public policy, can't engage in an honest debate, reflexively oppose anything Democrats support (including GOP ideas), and reject responsibility for the spectacular failures they created while in the majority.

Cantor is promising "responsible, adult leadership"? From whom, exactly? When was the last time a Republican leader said something intelligent and accurate about any area of public policy? When was the last time the GOP acted in a responsible fashion during a substantive debate? When was the last time the nation saw so much as a glimmer of maturity from any member of the party leadership?

Heather over at Crooks and Liars has a good take on this too:

The Republicans are simply not a serious political party right now. They have nothing to offer other than attacking the Democrats at every turn and they are more than willing to use every means at their disposal to assure they get back into power.

We continue to hope, against the odds, that responsible Republicans will escape extinction and one day provide partners for us again. But Cantor can't promise this at this point. Adults compromise. Responsible legislators work for the greater good, not just their own re-election prospects. Leaders lead, encourage others to lead, and move forward -- not obstruct and try to undo progress. Cantor can't point to any evidence that today's Republithugs can reach that bar.

What is a financial institution?

2010-04-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

Senator Bob Corker had a good exchange with Ezra Klein on the financial reform bill this week. Basically he is uncomfortable with all the hyperbole his fellow Republithugs are throwing around trying to kill the financial reform bill. Corker says that the issue here is not philosophical disputes between the two parties, but technical changes to make sure the language of the law accords with its intent. Sounds very reasonable.

But then he says:

The way the language is written right now, the resolution process could be used on an auto company. We want this clearly, solely to apply to financial institutions. That's just one example of a definition type of thing that has to be dealt with.

Here's the problem -- auto companies are financial institutions. Many companies, from Nordstrom to Sears to General Motors, have bank and thrift charters or hybrid Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured industrial loan companies (ILCS). Walmart is currently aggressively working to become a financial institution. I don't want to add to Walmart's bottom line but I also don't want them offering financial services without oversight and the only way to exercise oversight is through regulation and the threat of our ability to revoke their charter.

So what is he talking about? I'm going to be very interested to see how Senator Corker threads this needle.

Honoring the Confederacy

2010-04-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure: My family is from the South. I have a relative who died fighting for the Confederacy and is buried in a Confederate cemetery.

Mississippi Republican Governor Haley Barbour told CNN's Candy Crowley this weekend that it's no big deal that Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell is celebrating the confederacy. Of course Crowley pushed back on the slavery omission as the big issue.

Why is it when legally elected Democrats pass legislation and a legally elected President signs it - they want to call it "treason" but when politicians want to have a month designated to celebrate traitors and persons who committed sedition, this is OK? The confederacy was sedition, plain and simple. It should not be celebrated. The flag of traitors should not be honored and protected. It is wrong.

I agree with Haley Barbour and Bob McDonnell that it has little to do with slavery -- but they were traitors. Next thing you know they'll want to host a parade for Timothy McVeigh!

99 Years Ago Today

2010-03-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire.

146 women died to give us worker safety standards.

A Call for Disenfranchisement

2010-03-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

Amanda Marcotte has a great post over at Pandagon on these Tea Baggers and the Republithug party. She talks about how these thugs keep expressing that they represent the real people and somehow the Democrats are "shoving something down their throats". I think Amanda has hit the nail on the head: She says:

It's simple, really. They assume, if they don't state it outright, that large numbers of American voters shouldn't have the right to vote. That's the implicit argument when Sarah Palin praises white rural voters as "Real Americans", when birthers obsess over the idea that the first black President simply can't be eligible for office, when tea baggers yell racist and homophobic slurs at politicians, and when they insist that you eliminate black voters from a count if you want to find out how popular a politician "really" is. When Bart Stupak laughed out loud at the very idea that nuns have opinions worth listening to -- and listed a bunch of men whose opinions were the ones that counted-- you had a similar sentiment being expressed. Universal suffrage seems like a fundamental part of democracy to liberals, but it appears that conservatives think it de-legitimizes the results of elections.

See? You let those women, blacks, Hispanics vote and you get things shoved down your throat! It's so simple . . . for a simple mind.

Rudy Giuliani Trashs Unions

2010-03-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Rudy Giuliani was on Morning Joe this morning and all the Country's ills are due to labor unions according to him. One of his examples was that we own GM and only kept the company afloat to appease the UAW. He then complained that Obama owned the banks and was controlling salaries. What kind of up-side-down world does Rudy live in? First of all -- BUSH bailed out the banks and there were NO salary controls connected to the TARP funds. Secondly -- the UAW took HUGE concessions repeatedly and additional concessions were demanded as a condition of extending TARP to the auto makers. The unions were thrown under the bus while Wall Street fat cats kept their precious.

Giuliani is so dishonest that he makes me mad. Why does the MSM give him a microphone to peddle his lies?

Deem and Pass

2010-03-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Don't miss Norm Ornstein's post:

Any veteran observer of Congress is used to the rampant hypocrisy over the use of parliamentary procedures that shifts totally from one side to the other as a majority moves to minority status, and vice versa. But I can’t recall a level of feigned indignation nearly as great as what we are seeing now from congressional Republicans and their acolytes at the Wall Street Journal, and on blogs, talk radio, and cable news. It reached a ridiculous level of misinformation and disinformation over the use of reconciliation, and now threatens to top that level over the projected use of a self-executing rule by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the last Congress that Republicans controlled, from 2005 to 2006, Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier used the self-executing rule more than 35 times, and was no stranger to the concept of “deem and pass.” That strategy, then decried by the House Democrats who are now using it, and now being called unconstitutional by WSJ editorialists, was defended by House Republicans in court (and upheld). Dreier used it for a $40 billion deficit reduction package so that his fellow GOPers could avoid an embarrassing vote on immigration. I don’t like self-executing rules by either party—I prefer the “regular order”—so I am not going to say this is a great idea by the Democrats. But even so—is there no shame anymore?

Yes!

Oscars

2010-03-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

I LOVE the Oscars! Cameron Diaz and Sandra Bullock looked GREAT!

But what happened to Booth Gardner's documentary and why was Farrah Fawcett left out of the memorials? I didn't hear Booth Gardner's documentary listed in the list of nominees.

And then there were Zoe Saldana and Vera Farmiga in full swirl ridiculousness!

h/t LA Times

Cantwell & Murray Sign the Public Option Letter

2010-03-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

According to Open Left Senator Cantwell signed the Bennett letter to pass the public option through reconciliation. Senator Murray signed earlier this week so we're 2 for 2!!

Canadian Women's Olympic Hockey Team

2010-02-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

The IOC is going to investigate. Team Hockey has appoligized. The press is covering it like a scandal. What horrors!! There's a chance that they could ban the team from the Closing Ceremony or force them out of the Olympic Village. In the past Olympians were caught with steroids, political boycotts, cheating and judging scandals without all this hullabaloo. But a few puffs of a cigar and swigs or beer and champagne as celebration for a hard won Gold medal in their country's national sport on the ice where they could take it all in - is the latest scandal.

Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director of the Olympic Games, said that drinking in public was "not what we want to see" from athletes at an Olympic venue.

I've known many Canadians in my lifetime and in terms of the actual celebration, it's not exactly something uncommon in Canada and was a pretty mild celebration. No investigations was begun when Jon Montgomery won a gold medal for Canada in skeleton, and then he was photographed walking through the streets of Whistler guzzling from a pitcher of beer that he gripped with two hands.

But OF COURSE there is ONE big difference!! They are women! Quelle Horreur!! They should have been sipping tea with white gloves on and dainty dresses. What will the children think??!!

Congrats, girls!! Have a cool one on me! You earned it and deserve it!

WA State Republithugs Find Their Senate Candidate

2010-02-21T13:34:00.001-08:00

The Republithugs have found their candidate to face Patty Murray: Superbowl hero Washington Redskin Clint Didier. He has a website for donations with the requisite waving flag and Reagan quote and states:

I am not a practiced politician. I am commited to representing you "the people" to the best of my ability. A team effort will be required to bring our Government back to its original definition under the Constitution.

Interesting since in his interviews and speaches his trademark issue is that we should abolish the separation of Church and State. I guess his Constitution that he always carries around with him is missing a page or two.

The Mount Vernon Statement

2010-02-18T12:20:00.000-08:00

The CPAC clan has come out with the newest gimmick a sort of "Contract on American II", called The Mount Vernon Statement. It's all pretty with parchment background and scripty fonts and words like moral, honor, faith, God, traditional, freedom, etc. we are all invited to electronically sign on to the screed after the original signers. I for one will not "join" with these original signers nor do I ever want my name to be associated with these criminals who I would normally NEVER associate with those words:

Edwin Meese -- Remember Wedtech?
Wendy Wright -- her organization is against civil rights for gay and lesbians and is also the HPV vaccine (like Gardasil). She also wrote "An Ordinary Girl's Dialogue With God" one of those purpose driven life screeds
Lee Edwards -- who brags in his signature that he was present at the signing of the Sharon Statement. I preferred the Port Huron Statement.
Tony Perkins -- who has recently tried to prevent Planned Parenthood from providing earthquake relief to women in Haiti saying they were trying to promote their agenda (yes they were -- the agenda was to try to help women who had lost EVERYTHING PREVENT unwanted pregnancies, have healthy pregnancies, and safe births).
Brent Bozell -- who believes net neutrality amounts to a plot to "control the Internet."
Kenneth Cribb -- a professional Climate Change denier funded by Exxon
Grover Norquist -- remember the Abramoff scandal?

I don't think I need to go on. I for one will NOT be adding my name to theirs. I have NOTHING in common with these hacks.

However, I bet this screed gets tons of publicity and in the end it will be as effective as the the Sharon Statement 50 years ago or the Contract on America from 1994.

Put the Republicans on the Record

2010-02-18T09:22:00.000-08:00

The Hill reports:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) lacks the votes to begin debating his targeted jobs bill, according to sources monitoring the legislation.

Reid needs 60 votes to open debate on the $15 billion jobs bill. The vote is scheduled for Monday, when lawmakers return from the Presidents Day recess.

I say FORCE the vote. Make every one of those Republithugs stand up and vote against a jobs bill. And then every Democrat needs to grab a microphone and point out to the country that the Republicans prevented a jobs bill from being passed. Then they should send staff over to C-Span and make sure they have a good clean copy of the tape of them voting NAY and add it to every one of their next campaign commercials and tell their constituients "go ahead and throw me out but look what you'll get."

Harry: Do the party the biggest favor you can. FORCE THE VOTE.

Render to Caesar

2010-02-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

I shouldn't be shocked that these Haitian children kidnappers Baptists from Idaho think they are above the law because they say 'their intentions were good'. This is a convenient rationale.

But the leader of this bunch is a particularly irresponsible and reprehensibe citizen. She's defaulted on her obligations, refused to pay employees, didn't get required paperwork for her personal business, didn't show up in court when vendors sued her for non-payment, and skipped out on fines and taxes. Her local newspaper states:

But even before Laura L. Silsby and seven other Idahoans ended up in a Haitian jail accused of trafficking in children, Silsby had a history of failing to pay debts, failing to pay her employees and failing even to follow Idaho laws.

So I have questions -- why would ANYONE follow this woman? She was a disaster waiting to happen. But then when the disaster happens, why defend her?

Many of the excuses have centered around her deeply held religious calling. Bull shit. Jesus said “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” He is commanding his followers to respect the State's authority. You can save orphan children in the name of God but do it legally. This woman hasn't demonstrated any respect for Caesar or her neighbors for that matter. Don't tell me you are following Jesus' example in helping these children but then conveniently ignore his actual words instructing you to do it within the law.

Idiots. Hope you enjoy your time in a Haitian jail.

We Lost an Important Voice Yesterday

2010-01-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

Howard Zinn died yesterday.

Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and whose books, such as "A People's History of the United States," inspired young and old to rethink the way textbooks present the American experience, died today in Santa Monica, Calif, where he was traveling. He was 87.

Noam Chompsky said:

Both by his actions, and his writings for 50 years, [Howard Zinn] played a powerful role in helping and in many ways inspiring the Civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.

He immeasurably affected me and my life. I never missed a chance to see him speak and bought most of his books and videos, including his Emma Goldman play and his comic book!

As important as Dr Zinn was to a couple generations of Americans, I will be surprised if the MSM spends any time on reflecting on his accomplishments and influence. Howard Zinn is certainly more important to the changes we made in the United States in the '60's and '70's -- and his life and work should be celebrated more than Michael Jackson's, but I doubt it will be.

We have some really screwed up priorities.

h/t backbonecampaign.org for pix

Haiti

2010-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

No one can see the pictures coming out of Haiti after this devastating earthquake without feeling heartbroken for these people. Send money, yes. Pray for them, yes. But if we want to do something that will help the systemic poverty of Haiti we need to pass the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation.

Last year in May, the Times Online had an excellent article about how debt, starting with the reparations demanded by France have crippled this country. Today, Haiti owes the World Bank $1.6m a month! Now is the time to get this important Act passed.

Intellectually Dishonest

2010-01-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

Are the Republithugs being intellectually dishonest, simpleminded, or deliberately obtuse on this Harry Reid is a racist thing? I'm not a big fan of Senator Reid and I hope a progressive Dem replaces him but it has nothing to do with his comments about 'light skinned' and 'negro dialect' -- it has EVERYTHING to do with his handling of Senators Landrieu and Nelson during the health care negotiations and his chumminess with Lieberman.

Republicans have been pouncing on Reid's comments and calling for Reid's resignation from the Senate leadership. They compare Reid's comments to Trent Lott's 2002 comments that America would have been better off had then-segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond been elected president in 1948, which resulted in Lott being forced to leave the GOP leadership. There is a clear difference between the comments, of course: While Lott's words were interpreted as an argument that segregationist policies would have been better for America than integration, Reid was discussing a political strategic reality.

Joe Ritchey over at Fundamental Truths like me has noticed Joe Scarborough's obsession with this:

The irony here is the more Joe talks the more clear it is that it is him that has a racial issue not Harry Reid. . . . But Scarborough along with his other old white boy cohorts Pat Buchanan and Mike Barnacle dig a deeper and deeper hole for themselves by trying to claim some anti Republican bias as if there is no difference in the remarks. His biggest argument to justify his point are unprovable hypothetical, "what would happen" if it was a Republican that said it.

I find it amazing that in a effort to politically destroy Harry Reid by claiming racism, Scarborough is showing clearly how totally clueless about race he is.

Chuck Todd has joined the chorus claiming the two events are the same. Crooks and Liars captured Todd's Tweet:

Why is Reid surviving while Lott didn't? Dems are rallying around Reid; GOPers let Lott whither on vine.

Idiot.

Liz Cheney and Michael Steele are in the same sinking boat as Scarborough and Todd. It's telling when George Will is the voice of reason in this cluster-@#$%.

NEWS FLASH -- Healthcare Works for Multimillionaires

2010-01-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

Rush Limbaugh has chest pains and is rushed to a hospital in Hawaii, by the way a state that requires all employers to provide their employees with health insurance.

But back to Rush: “Based on what happened to me here,” Rush Limbaugh told reporters about his hospital visit, “I don’t think there is one thing wrong with the American health care system. It is working just fine.”

Thank GAWD!! A multimillionaire, high profile person can receive decent health care. Isn't America great?! Well no need for any health care bills from Congress.

The Chutzpah is Breathtaking

2009-12-31T09:41:00.000-08:00

The brilliant Digby points us to this article in the WSJ by Laura Saunders. Digby is more polite than me and says she doesn't know what to say. I guess my momma didn't bring me up right because this kind of noblesse oblige sickens me.

Here's some of Saunders wisdom:

Nothing's certain except death and taxes -- but a temporary lapse in the estate tax is causing a few wealthy Americans to try to bend those rules.

Starting Jan. 1, the estate tax -- which can erase nearly half of a wealthy person's estate -- goes away for a year. For families facing end-of-life decisions in the immediate future, the change is making one of life's most trying episodes only more complex.

On Jan. 1, the one-year halt to the estate tax begins. And never before has so much money hinged on the time of death, WSJ's Laura Saunders reports in a News Hub extra.
.
"I have two clients on life support, and the families are struggling with whether to continue heroic measures for a few more days," says Joshua Rubenstein, a lawyer with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York. "Do they want to live for the rest of their lives having made serious medical decisions based on estate-tax law?"

Currently, the tax applies to about 5,500 taxpayers a year. So, on average, at least 15 people die every day whose estates would benefit from the the tax's lapse.

The macabre situation stems from 2001, when Congress raised estate-tax exemptions, culminating with the tax's disappearance next year. However, due to budget constraints, lawmakers didn't make the change permanent. So the estate tax is due to come back to life in 2011 -- at a higher rate and lower exemption.

To make it easier on their heirs, some clients are putting provisions into their health-care proxies allowing whoever makes end-of-life medical decisions to consider changes in estate-tax law.

So what she's saying is these folks would rather die than pay taxes. Where's the equal concern for those folks at the bottom of the economic ladder, without estates to pay for their end of life care?

Here's some more:

Under current laws in effect until the end of this year, the size of the exemption is $3.5 million per individual or up to $7 million per couple. The tax is slated to disappear entirely on Jan 1.

But estate planning in 2010 will be complicated by a new twist: a complex tax on capital gains that will affect a broader swath of taxpayers. The estate tax is scheduled to return in 2011 at a 55% rate with an exemption of slightly more than $1 million.

The looming lapse of the estate tax is presenting some families with unprecedented ethical quandaries.

Ethical quandary!?? Do I have a right to be in an ethical quandary about my income taxes? The chutzpah of this entitled bunch is breathtaking. Am I supposed to feel sorry for a bunch of rich people who can't figure out any other way to avoid taxes other than killing themselves? I should pay more tax so these entitled posers can avoid taxes?!!

GAWD! It's enough to make me join Billionaires for Wealthcare just so I can do end-of-life counseling for these poor Ritchie Riches!

Where's the Dixie Chick Outrage??

2009-12-30T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ted Nugent goes off to a foreign country and makes the following statement:

"I think that Barack Hussein Obama should be put in jail. It is clear that Barack Hussein Obama is a communist. (Former Chinese leader) Mao Tse Tung lives and his name is Barack Hussein Obama. This country should be ashamed. I wanna throw up."

Wasn't this the same mortal sin that caused the Dixie Chicks to be pilloried? Where's the foaming at the mouth? CD smashing events? Play list blacklist? Concert demonstrations? Death threats?

Doesn't the right ever see their own hypocrisy?

Democrats Roll in the Pork Mud

2009-12-24T09:23:00.000-08:00

When President Obama urged Congress earlier this year to cancel a series of major weapons programs deemed no longer needed, he specifically cited the effort to build a backup engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Obama administration has signaled for months that funding for a second F-35 engine in the fiscal 2010 defense bill could become veto bait. Gates spent months, most recently at the beginning of September, making the case that the Pentagon does not need or want the alternative engine.

But the smell of pork was too irresistible for John Kerry.

But while Congress was ultimately persuaded to adopt most of Obama’s proposed weapons cuts - including canceling the F-22 fighter program - the GE program was rescued with the aid of several Massachusetts lawmakers who lobbied behind the scenes. It marked the fourth year in a row that Bay State lawmakers joined other lawmakers with GE jobs in their states to save the project from the Pentagon’s budget ax.

Senator John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that GE officials had told his office that 1,000 jobs in Massachusetts will be saved or maintained once full production begins on the backup engine.

Crooks & Liars says it best:

What utter bullshit. This is just unjustified crap, and it doesn't smell any better coming from a Democratic politician than a Republican. In talking about defense acquisition with a colleague, he said that he might believe in Santa Claus, but he didn't believe in acquisition reform. With clowns like this in the Senate and White House, it's no wonder that the Defense Department can't get clear of its huge funding bills and massively overpriced, behind schedule programs.

This is what causes the public not trust ANY politician. Shame on John Kerry.

Men Protecting Us Little Women AGAIN

2009-12-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

My fantasy Sunday morning show is Rachel Maddow hosting a panel made up of Ana Marie Cox, Arianna Huffington, Jessica Valenti, Digby, and Donna Brazile discussing the merits of the public money paying for prostrate exams and Viagra. Maybe then David Gregory and NBC will get a clue as to why it is so insulting for him to use a panel of men to discuss abortion.

Taylor Marsh covered it well:

Well, as with the late Tim Russert, once again with David Gregory on “Meet the Press,” women are not seen or heard at a time when abortion politics has been at the center of the healthcare debate. (I’ve been covering this reality for years.) That women also pay more for health insurance evidently doesn’t meet the “Meet the Press” standards for being included in the debate. That says it all, not only about the continuing If It’s Sunday, It’s Misogyny . . .

Silly me, why would the opinion of a woman be useful when talking about abortion rights anyway? We're so lucky to have the menfolk talking for us silly women!

Kill Lieberman's Bill

2009-12-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

We Democrats stand on the verge of ushering in a world of nearly unregulated mandates, in which we're all forced by the state to hand over our money to failed private monopolies, with no cost control in return. Without a public option and no hope of expanding Medicare coverage, this bill is not worth supporting.

Please encourage your Senators to vote against the Lieberman insurance company welfare act.

We'll have to live another day to try to correct the injustice, waste, inefficiency, and unfairness of our current health care system. Nine months wasted. What a shame.

Romney is Playing with Statistics Again

2009-12-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney just said on Meet the Press that the average Government worker makes approximately $30,000 more that private workers. Idiot. Yes, the average occupational wage of Civil Service occupations is about $65,000 but that is by occupation, not worker. There are far more entry level Civil Servants and blue collar workers than judges and Agency heads. This statistics also ignores the military service members which would further drive this number down. But even at that, Romney failed to compare the average occupational wage from the private sector to the Civil Service wage. Instead he seems to have compared it to the median individual wage. In 2007 the average household income in the United States was over $50,000 -- still a far way from $30,000 less than Civil Servants. What he must have been referring to is the median of people, not occupations, which was $26,000 in 2006.

Romney is mixing apples and oranges and NO ONE on Meet the Press challenged Mitt. Idiots!

When Did Being an Adulteress Become Not Shameful?

2009-12-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not a prude. I understand the thrill of a little thing on the side. I may or may not have indulged myself. But it used to be shameful. It used to be secret. If anyone ever asked the standard was to deny, deny, deny. It seems like now these adultresses cannot wait to hire Gloria Allred and a publicist and make sure we all know about it. They save stained dresses, voicemail recordings, and run to TMZ to brag. What is wrong with these women? Do they dally because they were attracted to the person or did they do it for the money TMZ will pay? If so there is a word for a woman that dallies for money.

It trace this 'fucking without shame' back to Donna Rice. She was able to parlay her notoriety into a gig selling jeans aptly names "No Excuses." Meanwhile the rest of us ended up with Ronald Reagan.

This new fucking for publicity, money and "fame" might be as big of a turn off for men who might otherwise want to dally as Fatal Attraction was.

I'd worry about the supply of men for afternoon delights drying up, but then again . . .

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

2009-11-25T07:16:00.000-08:00

It is from 31 years ago but this still my favorite line from a Thanksgiving TV episode --

Viagra vs Abortion

2009-11-12T11:52:00.000-08:00

The fabulous Digby has hit the nail on the head as usual:

I have a moral objection to paying for any kind of erectile dysfunction medicine in the new health reform bill and I think men who want to use it should just pay for it out of pocket. After all, I won't ever need such a pill. And anyway, it's no biggie. Just because most of them can get it under their insurance today doesn't mean they shouldn't have it stripped from their coverage in the future because of my moral objections. (I don't think there's even been a Supreme Court ruling making wood a constitutional right. I might be wrong about that.)

Many of the men who are prescribed this medication are on Medicare, so I think it should be stripped out of that coverage as well. And unlike the payments for abortion, which actually lower overall medical costs (pregnancy obviously costs much, much more) banning tax dollars from covering any kind of Viagra would result in a substantial savings. . .

I completely agree. Where do I sign the petition?

Stupak Amendment is a Poison Pill

2009-11-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

I say if the Stupak Amendment is in the final bill after conference -- vote against it. I will not throw young women under the bus for these Blue Dogs and Republithugs.

Legalized Cookin' the Books

2009-11-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

While we're all focused on health care and spree shootings, bankers are quietly trying to sneak a new law in that would legalize falsifying financial statements.

We've been waiting for regulatory reform of the financial services industry and what we're getting instead is a permission for banks to use smoke and mirrors. Banks are trying to get Congress to agree that the next time there's a big downturn, they should have the ability to alter their accounting standards -- essentially, fudge the numbers -- so that the public and investors won't be able to tell how insolvent they really are. By ignoring their declining asset values, they can avoid the standard requirement of raising more capital. This is a Democrat sponsored bill. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., wants to amend the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009. Perlmutter’s proposal would hand over responsibility for overseeing accounting standards to the agencies being contemplated to oversee systemic risk, which could allow most companies to never comply with the law, and if that doesn't do enough harm it would also mandate a study to see whether it would be a good idea to exempt additional ones as well.

Sarbanes-Oxley was passed, almost unanimously, by a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-controlled Senate. Now a Democratic Congress is gutting it with the apparent approval of the Obama administration. Wednesday they passed an amendment that exempt small and mid-size companies from audits required under the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate-reform law. Now they start sidsussing whether to extend these powers to the financial services. I don't understand why we're even considering this.

The American Bankers Association is now pushing Congress to give a new systemic risk regulator — either the Federal Reserve or some panel of regulators — the power to override accounting standards. The view of the bankers is that the financial crisis did not stem from the fact that the banks made lots of bad loans and invested in dubious securities; it was caused by accounting rules that required disclosure when the losses began to mount.

I can't believe I'm on the same side of an issue as the Chamber of Commerce but bad laws make strange bedfellows.

Of course the Chamber is looking at it in terms of investors but my point of view is that of a regulator. People think regulators have all the power and we can close financial institutions on a whim. Not so, generally we watch financial institutions that we know are not survivable limp along and waste away until they at last become insolvent and we can grab control. But by then it's too late to save anything so we end up liquidating It would really save money if we could conserve earlier rather than waiting until they are a corpse or zombie. If this new bill passes, it could become impossible to recognize an insolvent financial institution.

Braney Frank hasn't weighed in yet. I hope he comes with some common sense.

Hoffman is Thrown Under the Bus

2009-11-05T11:04:00.000-08:00

Big surprise! Hoffman lost in NY-23. (snark, snark)

A week ago Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman met with the editorial board of the Watertown Daily Times, the largest paper in the district. After Hoffman “showed no grasp of the bread-and-butter issues pertinent to district residents,” his companion in the meeting, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, rose to his defense by dismissing regional concerns as “parochial” issues that would not determine the outcome of the election.

Today the story is different. Politico reports on a conference call Wednesday with reporters to discuss the 2009 election results, Dannenfelser, Campaign for Working Families PAC President Gary Bauer and National Organization for Marriage Executive Director Brian Brown largely avoided analyzing the New York special election and focused on GOP victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races. They report Dick Armey had some thoughts:

Armey, the former House GOP majority leader, noted that Democrats had seized on Hoffman’s inability to address local concerns.

“The fact of the matter is, he didn’t pay enough attention to the local concerns, and they were able to tag him as being unaware of the local needs and concerns,” Armey said.

I expect my Congressman to be aware and an advocate for my local issues first and foremost. But the tea-baggers have a litmus test that their candidates must only subscribe and follow the Glen Beck 9.12. And if you don't win after all their money, talent, and celebrity then there's something wrong with you.

Luckily NY-23 saw how they were trying to use them and looked out for their interests first.

Dierdre Scozzafava Quits

2009-10-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

Scozzafava was the Republican candidate for NY-23, chosen by the Party, endorsed by 11 county party heads, endorsed by the news paper and was the likely winner in this heavily Republican district. But then Conservative Party nominated Doug Hoffman -- doesn't live in the district but is a tea bagger favorite. The Republithugs starting supporting him over Scozzafava.

Chris Kelly says it best:

.. . a traveling freak show of evil creeps who want to use a misguided mediocrity to jerk around the people of upstate New York for shits and giggles.

To Glenn Beck, Gary Bauer, Sean Hannity, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Malkin, Dick Armey and, yesterday, like the churning of milk bringing forth butter and the wringing of the nose bringing forth blood, to Sarah Palin's Facebook page.

It's like Commissioner Gordon lit up the batshit signal.

He also has the support of the Club for Growth, the National Review, the Weekly Standard and Human Events. Or, as Sarah Palin puts it:

And best of all, Doug Hoffman has not been anointed by any political machine.

She's still got it.

He hasn't just been anointed by a political machine. He's been kidnapped by drifters.

So in the face of these crazies Scozzafava, the Republican candidate for the open 23rd District seat in New York, suspended her campaign.

Red State is doing a victory lap saying that either Republican must join the tea baggers or be purged.

I hope the voters vote in their best interest and don't let themselves be led by these thugs.

Rush Limbaugh

2009-10-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

Why is a bunch of rich white men keeping another rich man out of their private club a news story? It's been 2 days now and there are no signs of the coverage letting up. So Rush Limbaugh was uninvited to join a consortium of rich men buying the Rams -- so what?

Joe Scarborough for the last two mornings blames Rev Sharpton. Rush blames the media and 'liburrels'. As if the media, liberals, or Sharpton have ANY influence on rich clubby white men! Why would the NFL insiders listen to public conversation on anything they did? For GAWD sakes they re-hired Michael Vick! They couldn't care less what the public thinks -- only if it can turn a profit. Obviously they thought Rush's money and presence in their club had no value or they would have been falling all over themselves to include him in their little rich boy's club.

Can we talk about something important now?

Scarey People

2009-10-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

What is wrong with these people?

I'm getting afraid. Why is anarchy preferable to voting for them?

hat tip to our friend David Weinert over at Crooks and Liars.

Nobel?

2009-10-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

I agree completely with Andrew Sullivan's reaction to this morning's announcement of Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize:

I've had some coffee now. Reading through all the reactions... there are two obvious points: this is premature and this is thoroughly deserved.

Both are right. I don't think Americans fully absorbed the depths to which this country's reputation had sunk under the Cheney era. That's understandable. And so they also haven't fully absorbed the turn-around in the world's view of America that Obama and the American people have accomplished. Of course, this has yet to bear real fruit. But you can begin to see how it could; and I hope more see both the peaceful intentions and the steely resolve of this man to persevere.

This president has done a huge amount to bring race relations in this country to a different place, which is why the far right has become so vicious in attacking him and lying about him. They know he threatens their politics of division and rule. He has also directly addressed the Muslim world, telling some hard truths, and played a small role in evoking a similar movement of hope and change in Iran, and finally told the Israelis to stop cutting their nose off to spite their face.

I like Shimon Peres' statement, reprinted in a useful compendium of world reaction at the Lede:
“Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such a profound impact. You provided the entire humanity with fresh hope, with intellectual determination, and a feeling that there is a lord in heaven and believers on earth.” Mr. Peres, who won the peace prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat in 1994 following the Oslo Accords, added: “Under your leadership, peace became a real and original agenda. And from Jerusalem, I am sure all the bells of engagement and understanding will ring again. You gave us a license to dream and act in a noble direction.”

Right now, we do not know where that direction will ultimately lead. We do know that we were facing a spiral of conflict that, unchecked, could have taken the world to the abyss. I see this prize as an endorsement of his extraordinary reorientation of world politics, and as an encouragement to see it through. In the midst of our domestic battles, and their ill-temper (from which I have not been immune lately), this is an attempt to tell us: look up for a moment, see how far we've come in pivoting away from global conflict, and give this man a break for his efforts and the massive burden he now bears.

And, in the darkness that still threatens, know hope.

This is aspirational and I'm grateful that the International community is with us.

Radioactive Scat

2009-10-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

For those who think Nuclear power is the way to go to reverse global warming -- get alod of this article in the Seattle PI:

An estimated 50 million gallons of liquid wastes from Cold War plutonium-production processes -- laced with radioactive cesium and strontium salts -- were dumped in a 13.7-square-mile area south of central Hanford's 177 underground radioactive waste tanks. That dumping ended more than 40 years ago.

Similar dumping happened at a two-square-mile site in north-central Hanford.

Jackrabbits routinely burrowed into those sites.

They found the salt, liked it, and licked it.

Later, they pooped it, leaving slightly radioactive scat all over the ground.

The clean up just began this week. Meanwhile this poop has blown in the winds, entered the water table, rinsed into the Columbia River.

Also meanwhile across the River, giant windmills turn to produce power with no side effects of radioactive scat risk. We need to stop even talking about nuclear power.

Money Honey Dumb as a Stump

2009-10-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

I've always considered Maria Bartiromo a pretty version of a get-rich-quick huckster with just a better time slot on TV than the other infomercials. She cares about one thing and one thing only -- the stock market. It's good news to her when people get laid off because stock will go up. It's great news if they off shore jobs because stock prices will go up. She sucks up to corporations and fawns over CEO's and lets them lie and do puff pieces on her "Closing Bell" show even just days before their companies implode or charges are filed on the CEO's -- who can forget her relationship with Todd Thompson of Citigroup, interview on Lehman Brothers last year, Ken Lewis on how their acquisition of Countrywide was a good thing, or with John Sauro of North American Mortgage. I always assumed that if people are smart enough to play in the stock market that they should be smart enough to see through her "Money Honey" persona.

But somehow last year Bartiromo started thinking she was a real commentator -- WOW! SHE IS DUMB!! Last year, conveniently just before the election in late September, Bartiromo hosted a special on the "Hunt for Black Gold" -- featuring Sarah Palin with her "drill, baby, drill" strategy. Bartiromo never challenged her -- it was definitely a puff Republican support piece. She has lied about Obama almost incessantly since -- he promised no earmarks, wants to tax small businesses, Obama gave AIG the bailout. But since then, she's been out and about more -- I don't care about "The View" pieces and some of the other soft stuff. But she pretends to be a serious commentator and she obviously doesn't have a clue. Last month it was the goof about Medicare on the Carlos Watsons' show:

At one point, Bartiromo was critical of the government-managed health care system in the United Kingdom. "How do I know the quality [of health care in the United States] is not going to suffer" with a public option? she asked.

Rep. Weiner reminded her that there already is government-managed health care in the United States -- namely, Medicare, the system created for Americans 65 years and older -- and that patients with Medicare report very high satisfaction rates.

Bartiromo's response to this argument was a true head-scratcher. In a mocking tone, she pressed the congressman: "How come you don't use it [Medicare]? You don't have it. How come you don't have it?"

Rep. Anthony Weiner, who turns 45 this week, tried to walk Bartiromo through it. "Because I'm not 65." But she was insistent. "Yeah... c'mon!" she exclaimed, laughing incredulously.

But before that she kept repeating that Health Care Reform was going to cost us over a trillion dollars over 10 years. I chucked both of these statements to her blind allegiance to supporting the stock value of her health care provider corporations.

This morning, she branched out to other topics, with equal idiocy. Tim Dickinson from Rolling Stone was on Morning Joe to talk about his newest article called The Lie Machine on who is behind the birthers, deathers, tea baggers. Bartiromo was on the panel and her "salient" point was that Democrats do it too. She thought she really got Tim when she accused "Who's behind "Move On"?!" WOW! Read much, Maria??

It was a really eye rolling moment. She should be required to do just a little research before she's allowed to open her mouth on her own without a script.

Health Care Triggers and What is Health Insurance?

2009-09-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

The "trigger" alternative to providing a good public option health care alternative right out of the gate like Rahm Emanuel and Olympia Snowe are pushing is just cheap political cover. The ball-less and spineless politicians just want plausible deny-ability. The "trigger" offer them the opportunity to allow for a public option only under certain conditions and they can write lame options into the legislation so that those conditions would never get met in the real world, thus doing the insurance companies' bidding.

I say if we have to swallow this sour pill and put up with them making us wait, we need a good strong definition as to what adequate insurance means. Too many companies offer what they call "insurance" but is really just a discount club or coverage in only selected and mostly unavailable providers. Wal-Mart, always the leader, has figured this scam out. Here's how the Miami Herald described their coverage:

So here's how it works: Wal-Mart offers insurance, but aggressively shifts the cost onto its employees. The low-wage workers then pass up the unaffordable coverage and turn to the states. If this isn't exactly company policy, it is at least company philosophy. CEO Lee Scott, at the company's recent ''summit'' for the media, even described it. He said some state health programs are 'so lucrative that, in fact, it's hard to be competitive with them and certainly extraordinarily expensive to be competitive with them.'

Wal-Mart provides health care options to their employees and families that have a deductible of $1,000 for individuals and $3,000 for families. Standard services – including office visit co-pays, emergency room visits and ambulance services, per-event deductibles, and pharmacy co-pays – are not applied toward the standard deductible.

I got a quote from Assurant Health of WA. Here's the highlights:
Plan Type: PPO
Office Visit for Primary Doctor: $35 Copay for the first 4 visits; deductible and coinsurance thereafter; this benefit includes Primary Doctor, Specialist, Periodic Health Exam, and Periodic OB-GYN Exam Office Visit for Specialist.
Coinsurance: 50% after deductible
Annual Deductible Individual: $10,000
Only 1 provider in my county is part of this plan.

Yes the price sounds good -- $190 per month -- but what would I get? 4 exams at $35 then a 50% discount after I spend $10 thousand. One lengthy illness or complication and I'm bankrupt.

This kind of 'insurance' shouldn't be even called insurance. Yet under Olympia Snowe's proposal it would be consdiered affordable insurance and would prevent the trigger from being pulled.

We need strong minimum standards for what qualifies as real insurance that protects people, prevents them from having to go bankrupt or worry about how they will pay for a simple procedure. Something that controls costs and really provides prevenative assistance.

Don't let them stick us with this lame "trigger" without a strong definition and standard.

Animal Shelter Closes

2009-09-25T07:37:00.001-07:00

Due to budget constraints, King County is closing its animal shelter. I volunteered often at that animal shelter and it was the best one I've ever been connected with -- clean, caring staff, vet on staff, well run. They had to handle cat and dog over population, substandard care of farm animals, breaking up cock fighting rings, and removing dangerous animals. I fostered many sweet kittens there and adopted my sweet Shepard "Socks" from them.

How do we call ourselves a civilized society without a decent animal shelter?

Who Do You Believe? Republicans or your Lying Eyes?

2009-09-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Why is it so uneven?
I agree with the sentiments of Code Pink but not their tactics. I’ve never seen Congressmen line up to speak to them. I’ve never seen MSM cry and beg them to show up for an event. I’ve never seen estimates that they’re 2 million strong or news coverage of their events go on for a week.

But the Republicans court and flatter the racists in the tea baggers. Glenn Beck controls them like a puppet master. And the MSM covers, discusses, and legitimizes them. The best of the Republicans just deny they exist.

It is a shame that it’s left to Democrats like Pelosi and Carter have to call them out. This morning Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan went on and on denying there are racists and criticizing Pelosi and Carter. How can they deny this? Why can’t they separate them out of the Republican party? I can only assume that they want them as constituents.

Here’s another one. Look how quick the Democrats threw Acorn under the bus after they were set up. Why are we taxpayers still paying Blackwater after sworn testimony that they are guilty of murder and they’ve been caught overcharging us?

Move-On Did A Great Job on Public Option

2009-09-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

As usual, Move-On calls it right against all those that think we can have a trigger, wait until the economy gets better, or delay the issue until we're not so busy.

Van Jones

2009-09-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a little uncomfortable with Obama's throwing Van Jones under the bus. Since when does asking for an investigation as to who-knew-what-when on 9-11 make you ineligible to serve the Country? Especially when we're talking about the previous outing-spy-traitor-torturer-"so?" administration! Also, doesn't freedom of speech include the freedom to boycott?

Justin Rubin, Executive Director of Move-On had a good statement on this:

The right-wing smear campaign that wrongly forced Van Jones' resignation represents Washington at its worst.

Van Jones has worked tirelessly to bring jobs and environmental progress to some of the poorest communities in our nation. His dedication and leadership are exactly what we need more of in Washington. And his resignation is a loss to this Administration.

This should serve as a wake-up call to all reasonable people that the right wing politics of race-baiting, distortion, and hate—as practiced by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Republican Congressional leaders like Mike Pence--are a growing threat to the change America desperately needs.

Andy Stern from SEIU aslo spoke of this on Twitter:

Van Jones deserved a more spirited defense. I underestimated the traction of the attacks - and like the White House should have done more

John Potesta said:

Van Jones is an exceptional and inspired leader who has fought to bring economic and environmental justice to communities across our country. . .

Van was working to build a common ground agenda for all Americans, and I am confident he will continue that work. Unfortunately, his critics on the right could find no common ground with him.

Clearly, Van was the subject of a right-wing smear campaign shrouded in hypocrisy. Van’s chief tormentor Glenn Beck, who spent weeks engaged in vicious name-calling, retains his perch at Fox News after calling the president a racist who has “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” Van has set a standard that Beck would never impose upon himself. . .

Jane Hamsher's reaction is one of my favorites:

Now he's been thrown under the bus by the White House for signing his name to a petition expressing something that 35% of all Democrats believed as of 2007 -- that George Bush knew in advance about the attacks of 9/11. Well, that and calling Republicans "assholes." I'm pretty sure that if you search through the histories of every single liberal leader at the CAF dinner that night, they have publicly said that and worse.

So where are all the statements defending Van Jones by those who were willing to exploit him when it served their purpose? Why aren't they standing up and defending one of their own, who has done nothing that probably the majority of people in the Democratic party haven't done at one time or another? Is he no longer "one of their own?"

And Digby, of course, adds just the right amount of snark:

Don't Fuck With Fox

by digby

So Van Jones resigned and a great sigh of relief is felt all over the village. The dangerous radicalism we've recently been seeing in our political discourse has been eradicated with his departure and the administration can pursue its agenda without any other distractions from the kooky fringe. Thank God for that.

I would hope that these leftist extremists like Color of Change will think twice before they go after an upstanding company like FOX News because the lesson here is that somebody is going to pay a big price for doing it. In fact, it probably would pay to keep a close eye on the FOX gasbags from now on to get an idea of which groups or individuals have offended the network and get rid of them before anyone has a chance to make a public stink. It would save everyone a lot of time and trouble.

Why is this White House so scared?

Ted Kennedy

2009-08-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

I loved Ted Kennedy. His speeches often brought me to tears. I've personally benefited from his work in the Senate through the legislation he pushed through and he was a real national leader.

But -- I find it interesting that the one event the talking heads keep pointing out as his biggest mistake in the Senate was his dressing down of Bork in 1987. The mainstream media keeps saying it was the tipping point for when supreme court judge conformations became politicized. My point of view is that it was Reagan's nomination of Bork that made it become politicized. Kennedy justifiably derailed that nomination. Reagan should have never nominated such a man so outside the mainstream.

I was very disappointed later in 1991 that Kennedy didn't challenge Clarence Thomas and we're stuck with this incompetent right winger because of it. At the time I blamed Kennedy's own perceived personal escapades with women that probably made him feel unable to appropriately question and point out Thomas' inappropriateness. I vividly remember Kennedy sitting there, not asking questions, looking circumspect. Women everywhere were disappointed and mad. It made many of us determined to make sure that more women would be in the Senate in the future. We realized we could not rely on the men to protect us.

My own Senators -- Cantwell and Murray -- have Kennedy to thank for making the rest of us so outraged that we insisted more women were elected.

I forgave Kennedy and I loved him but his actions concerning Bork wasn't his biggest failing -- his inaction on the Thomas hearing were.

h/t davidhorsey.com

Repercussions

2009-08-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Steve Brill (founder of CourtTV) used to publish a magazine called "Brill's Content". It was a pretty decent magazine but went bust in 2001. Each month the magazine published a running score of pundunt accuracy. The scores were dismal!

The smart and funny Bill in Portland Maine had a great post today on penalties. He listed off common penalties for sports, traffic citations, fines, etc. He then cited this penalty:

Neocon Republicanism: Lying about and/or being completely wrong and/or incompetent and/or deceitful about WMDs, torture, terror threats and civil liberties between 2001 and 2009 = Book deals, TV appearances, regular guest columns in major newspapers and magazines, huge speaking fees, credibility and authority inside the D.C. beltway, invitations to cocktail parties, lobbying power, Twitter/Facebook stardom, and serving as "balance" on talk shows against those who didn’t lie and were completely right and competent and candid about WMDs, torture, terror threats and civil liberties between 2001 and 2009.

How true!!

Everyone Supports Single Payer!!

2009-08-24T08:29:00.001-07:00

Despite the propaganda spin from the Republithugs, single payer has broad support from many, many organizations. Apple Eating Notes assembled an impressive list of supporters for single payer. I know you'll recognize how broad and extensive the support is. Funny thing though, no insurance companies. Huh?!

Most Extensive Analysis I've Seen of Carly Fiorina

2009-08-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

I'm really nervous about Carly Fiorina being pushed forward as the Republithugs "best candidate" in 2012. The bat-shit crazies will eventually be marginalized. But the more pragmatic of the party, in their search for grabbing the White House back will search for their perfect candidate. I predict that Carly Fiorina will rear her ugly head. She's good looking (the Sara Palin factor), religious (the Huckabee appeal), and talks like she knows what's happening in the business world (the Romney card). She also has never held office so she doesn't have a pesky voting track record to justify or explain. She doesn't talk crazy but comes off as professional. She would be a disaster for this Country but a wet dream for the corporatist wing of the Republithug party.

Media Matters has done the best research I've seen on Carly Fiorina. Thankfully, someone else sees her as a threat. Go see their research and I suggest you save the link as a favorite because I predict you will need it in a couple years.

We must watch this woman and make sure the truth is out there about who she really is.

h/t to San Francisco Chronicle for pix

Obama is not a Nazi

2009-08-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

AKMuckraker has a great, heartfelt, and effective post on these idiots throwing the word Nazi around at the townhlls. Go read the whole thing but meanwhile here's her summary:

I am tired of people comparing Obama to Hitler. I am tired of seeing signs with swastikas and nazi symbols at health care rallies. I am tired of people saying that a health care plan designed to uplift millions of Americans to give them dignity, and choice and the ability to care for their families, is like Naziism. I am tired of Rush Limbaugh.

As time passes, and as the greatest generation becomes a memory, passing into history one soul at a time, it is up to the generations that follow them to keep “Hitler” and “Nazi” out of the clutches of those who would make them political buzzwords for people they don’t like, or policies they don’t understand. Those words remind us of the worst that people can be. There is nothing horrible about Germans in particular that caused them to do these things. This is humanity’s dark potential, and something that we all need to remember, whether we were there or not, or whether our family was affected or not, because this is what people can do to each other. To strip those words of their power and meaning in order to create political fear for self-gain is inexcusable and needs to be confronted and refuted whenever it arises, by all of us, whether we support the current health care bill and the current president or not.

Isn't she smart?!

What a Way to Begin a Morning!

2009-08-05T08:22:00.001-07:00

Gore and Big Dog Clinton saving 2 young women reporters sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea. What a fairy tale ending to what I'm sure was a nightmare for the women. And it was brought together by Al Gore!

Keith Olberman is a Genius

2009-08-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Health Care

2009-08-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

Family, friends, an old boss all have been sending me cut n' paste e-mails against reforming health care. They all have consistent themes like "LOOK ON PAGE 426!!!" or "ACORN!!" (when did a community group that tries to help the lowest rung of our society get shelter and back on their feet and participating in our society become the devil??) and "MANDATORY KILLING OUR ELDERLY" (and / or mandatory abortions and sex changes).

I'm getting angry -- unfortunately my friends and family are feeling the brunt of it because they are demonstrating how uninformed they are by passing this garbage around and also unfortunately the reply button is so handy and I can't restrain myself. But who I'm really angry at is the insurance companies starting all of this. Health care reform is too important to have to be distracted with these lies and garbage. We should be having good discussions and debates and instead the insurance companies are being very successful is distracting us with this crap.

h/t to Far Left

Are You Kidding Me?!!

2009-07-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

This was just posted on Huffington Post:

Michael Vick is back in the NFL. Now all he needs is a team to play for. Vick, free after serving 18 months in prison for running a dogfighting ring, was reinstated with conditions by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday. He could participate in regular-season games as early as October.

Are there no standards? I hope they live to regret this. I hope animal lovers everywhere empty any stadium that Vick shows his ugly face in and turns the TV off when any of his games air.

"Thank you God for sending me to Timmy’s house instead of Michael Vick’s"
hat tip to Nathan Griffis

Gates Arrest

2009-07-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not one to call racism but what was the cop doing in Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s home? If he didn't like how Professor Gates was acting all he had to do was back out and leave. And I ask myself how would I react if someone, even a cop, followed me into my home and was unwelcome and wouldn't leave? I've been having disagreement with my homeowers association and I resent everytime they come on my property and although they have power over me they at least (as far as I know)don't carry a gun and taser. I can see Gates' point of view. I cannot see Crowley's. Is his ego so sensitive that he cannot withstand a small elderly man with a hip replacement yelling at him? If so, maybe he needs another line of work where he doesn't have to withstand such 'abuse'.

Andrew Sullivan has a great point of view:

If a cop gives you trouble in your own home after it is perfectly clear that no crime has taken place, you have every right to tell him to get the hell out of your house; and he has no right to hang around. You also have every right to give him your opinion of his police work or his haircut if you so wish.

There is a distinction, in other words, between a deference to cops based on trust and a deference based on fear. I find the idea that mouthing off to a cop in your own home is enough to get you arrested a disturbing feature of the post-9/11 police state. My gut sense of the interaction is that Crowley - used to total deference and fear from those he interacts with - was simply appalled at being harangued so vituperatively, especially by a black man (but race was not the only factor), and quickly realized he had no grounds to arrest Gates in his home, and so lured him outside to get the pretext of "disorderly conduct" in front of seven people. Yes, Skip over-reacted after a long flight and an embarrassing battle with his door; but Crowley - a cop who declared that he was a Republican to the media for no apparent reason - got the man who didn't kowtow to him in cuffs as revenge. The very fact that the charges were dropped tells you who was in the wrong, according to the Cambridge police.

I don't know about you, but I prefer societies in which the exercize of free speech in your own home does not lead to being arrested - especially just to teach you a lesson on how to be deferent to police.

He's Good Enough and I Sure Like Him

2009-07-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

Two weeks into his term as Senator, Al Franken wrote, got co-sponsors, and got a bill attached to the Appropriation Bill. WOW!

Here's the other thing, it's to provide help to veterans to get service dogs if they need them.

Puppies and veterans! Who would have the balls to vote NAY on that?!

Congrats Al!!

Birthers are Idiots

2009-07-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jon Stewart for calling it perfectly:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Born Identity

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Joke of the Day

I just gave feedback on the CNN site regarding Lou Dobbs relentless legitimizing the Birthers. There's no legal requirement as to what has to be on a birth certificate -- I've seen foot prints, doctor's names, hospital names, names such as "boy" when the parents haven't decided yet on a name, blessings, etc. The certificate of birth is a legitimate and legal document. Obama got his social security number, passport, and other documents with it. Why isn't it good enough for Lou Dobbs? I finished my feedback by saying "WWWCD?" "What would Walter Cronkite do?" and I said Lou was a shameful and poor representative of the legacy of Walter Cronkite.

HELP Came Up with a GREAT Bill

2009-07-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

Check out the bill that came out of Ted Kennedy's Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on healthcare:

+ It covers 97% of us for $600B over 10 years.
+ It has a real public option.
+ It charges businesses only $750 per year for every employee not provided coverage. The fee was forecast to generate $52 billion over 10 years, money the government would use to help provide subsidies to those who cannot afford insurance.

The same provision is also estimated to greatly reduce the number of workers whose employers would drop coverage, thus addressing a major concern noted by CBO when it reviewed the earlier proposals.

(h/t to cuteoverload.com)

One Term President?

2009-06-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

John Amato (he'd sure look darn good in Harman's seat)over at Crooks & Liars says:

It's real simple. If President Obama doesn't include a vibrant public option in health care reform, he will lose the left and will never recover. Is that what he wants? Does he want to be a one-term president? Does he want conservatives and teabaggers to control Congress?

I'm sick and tired of hearing his representatives tell me that Congress is writing the bill. He won a mandate to reform health care. John McCain's plans for health care were rejected by Americans. So why is he involved in a kabuki dance with all the weak-kneed Democrats like Blanche Lincoln, DiFi, Ben Nelson, Kent Conrad and all the rest of the corporate Dems? And why does Sen. Grassley matter at all? They don't care about American families and what's been happening to them.

I agree. And Senators Murray and Cantwell are in the same sinking ship if they betray us again. We will throw these corporatrists over and re-build the party if necessary.

A Way to Scream about Public Option

2009-06-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

Several bloggers through ActBlue are gathering funds to run this commercial to advocate that the public option gets back on the table:

I hope you'll join us in supporting this cause. The more times we get this on the air, the better our chances are.

Bureaucrats Between Patients and Providers

2009-06-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

Congressman John BOEHNER: ... But, at the end of the day, we want to make sure that doctors and patients are making decisions about what care is in their best interest, not some government bureaucrat in between.

I have one of the most expensive plans available through my employer -- I pay $112 per month and I'm not sure what my employer pays. I also pay $750 out of pocket in deductibles.

The insurance company, states this in their annual report:

Like other companies, we faced a challenging business environment as the global financial crisis became a defining event in 2008, and our stock closed lower at the end of 2008 than the previous year. Our stock’s performance, however, does not reflect other measures of our industry leadership, including superior medical membership growth, industry-leading operating earnings per share growth and strong revenue growth. Metrics of this industry leading performance included:
􀂃 Revenue, excluding net realized capital losses, increased 14 percent over 2007 to $31.6 billion.1
􀂃 Net medical membership increased by 848,000 members, or 5 percent, to 17.7 million.
􀂃 Operating earnings per share were $3.93, an increase of 13 percent over 2007.

Staying True to Our Strategy
Our accomplishments have been the direct result of a strategy focused on segmentation, integration, consumerism and operational excellence. Over time, executing this strategy has created value for our customers and differentiated Aetna from our competitors.

Where's their concern for the patient? I have to use their preferred provider. The preferred provider has to approve any other treatment I want -- for example I have a plantars wart on my foot and I know that I need to go see a podiatrist but I have to go to the preferred provider first to get them to approve the podiatrist visit. I'm limited to generic drugs -- I cannot get covered other than generic even if that's what the doctor thinks will work best for me. If I need hospice care, they limit me to 5 days in a 3-month period -- I better die fast. My preferred provider has to call the insurance company before sending me out or preforming any procedure to get it pre-approved.

I already have many bureaucrats between me a the medical care I need but the biggest bureaucrat impacting me, the insurance company, is primarily concerned with stock price and CEO salary. He rations out care to me and arbitarily limits what I can receive whether I need it or not -- not for the my good, not for the public good and not to ensure I receive needed care but rather to preserve stockholder value.

Thanks for you concern, Boehner, but I've tried it your way and I'd like to see if the government bureaucrat can't do it better and for cheaper.

I WANT SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE

UPDATE 6-18-09 PM:

Digby (of course) puts her finger right on the issue. She has a list of what insurance company CEO's are paid. Here's mine:

* Aetna
CEO: John Rowe
2005: 22.1 mil
5-year:57.8 mil

From me: Senator Murray's 5 largest campaign contribution industry group is Pharmaceuticals/Health at $126K.

Health Care Insurers Chutzpah or Confidence?

2009-06-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I wrote to my Senators and Congressman:

The House and Senate needs to quit carrying the insurance industry water on their trigger proposal and other delaying techniques. Congress needs to represent the people. We, the people, want universal single payer health care. We're willing to discuss public 'option' just so long as it does not become the insurance companies' dumping ground for so called "uninsurable" high risk/high cost patients and allow the insurance companies to cherry pick the least risk patients. The public option must be a real option for people and be operated in such a way that it stays competitive with private for-profit companies.

Senator Reid and Congresswoman Pelosi are not demonstrating adequate leadership in this area. They appear to be beholding to the insurance companies and are ignoring the electorate. Universal health care is this generation's watershed issue. Please get on board and support real health care reform. Just kicking this issue down the road and trusting that for-profit companies will cut costs is unacceptable. The trigger options are unacceptable. We all remember how the problems with the prescription drug legislation were going to be fixed later and here years and years later we still have that donut hole in coverage and no negotiating for prices. This time we need real reform -- not a flawed half way measure and another empty promise of fixing it later.

Any legislator that compromises on this opportunity to reform health care will have to answer for this when they come up for re-election. This is not an issue that can be swept under the rug. You will be held accountable for your vote and leadership on this issue.

Years ago fire departments were all privately owned and for profit. We, the people, saw that there was a public interest to bring them into the public sphere and out of private hands. I'm sure the fire companies of their day stalled, whined, and threatened their public officials so they could hold onto their power and profit. But the public need was more important and today fire departments are publicly financed and managed. We are now at another watershed time in history. Basic universal health care is too important to be left to private for-profit companies. It is a public need and the public needs to finance and manage it.

Please support universal single-payer health care reform. Stand up for the people, not private for-profit interests.

This week they heard directly from our friendly health insurance companies.

Top executives of UnitedHealth's Golden Rule Insurance Co., Assurant Health and WellPoint Inc., appearing Tuesday before the the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, told angry lawmakers they would not confine such rescissions to cases in which intentional fraud on the part of the policyholder can be shown, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

I wonder if our Congress people are capable of connecting the dots. We need to get rid of these vampires who have been sucking insurance premiums from us and then when faced with maybe paying out something, recission us, canceling health insurance policies retroactively. Heads they win, tails we loose. Even faced with the (remote) possibility of a single-payer universal health care, these vampires refuse to change their practice of recission.

I'd say they had chutzpah but they are instead probably confident that they've bought the house and senate and have nothing to worry about.

UPDATE 6-17 PM -- Here's the response I got from Sen Murray:

. . . Recently, I joined with my colleagues on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, of which I am a senior member, to introduce the "Affordable Healthy Choices Act." This legislation reduces health care costs, allows Americans to keep the coverage they have if they want it, and makes health insurance affordable to those who do not have it today.

I am particularly proud that as we work to offer quality, affordable coverage to all Americans, that we have included provisions to support programs that would increase the number of Americans going into health care professions to ensure our system has enough workers to provide much needed care. . .

What does that mean?

Digby is so Smart!

2009-06-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

Digby is so smart and luckily for me, quicker to post just what I'm thinking. I get to just link to her and say things like "Amen" and "Ditto".

I wasn't going to wade into the David Letterman thing because it seemed pretty trivial to me on the media sexism scale. But it's obviously a growing brouhaha, so I might as well.

First of all, Sarah Palin does not look or act like a "slut" and it's nothing more than a sexual fantasy to think of her that way. She married her high school sweetheart and has five kids. She's a born again Christian. She does not dress provocatively, and she has said that she put her hair up and wore glasses specifically to take her looks off the table as much as possible. She's an attractive 40 something politician, she's not a Playboy model (not that there's anything wrong with that) and it would be nice if she didn't have to put up with that stuff. She's not trying to "sex herself up" for the camera or anything else. There's enough to criticize her for.

The daughter thing was in poor taste. Leave the kids out of the jokes. The fact that he meant her older daughter is obvious, but that doesn't make it any better. She's a young girl who didn't ask for the limelight and doesn't deserve to be mocked by middle aged men. It's cruel and unnecessary.

...Having said that, this ridiculous accusation that he was talking about raping the 14 year old is over the top and disingenuous, to say the least. That clearly was not his intention and claiming it was really cheapens the validity of the complaint.

And making Palin into a feminist hero because of this cheapens feminism. This woman is defending herself and her own daughter, but as Governor she never quite finds the voice to defend other women who have average real life problems, like workplace discrimination, rapes or unwanted pregnancies. Her complaints are not coming from feminist principle but rather political opportunism.

And these right wing monsters like Limbaugh who are suddenly concerned about the treatment of women in the media is laughable. This is the man who coined the term feminazis, and called Chelsea Clinton the white house dog. His record of rank, violent misogyny is clear. If Palin repudiated him as quickly as she goes on television to condemn Letterman, I might be able to take her a little bit more seriously as a feminist.

The media are fascinated by Sarah Palin, at least partially because of her camera friendly appearance and her colorful family life. That doesn't mean they can call her a slut and use her teenage daughter as the butt of crude sexual jokes. But it also doesn't mean that she and her politics aren't reactionary and anti-feminist. Having some feminist principles are required for that and Sarah Palin only seems to develop them when it involves her.

A big "ditto amen" from me!

Is Hillary Kidding?

2009-06-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

Hillary posted a message on the State Department website commemorating the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square.

She states in part:

China . . . to take its rightful place in global leadership, should examine openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal.

How can she even suggest this while at the same time playing the party line of "we're not looking back" when it comes to investigating our use of torture and warrant less searches?

Hypocrite.

If you're Rich, You're Perfect

2009-06-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Sen. John McCain endorsed Meg Whitman and called her the future of the GOP.

GAWD help us!

I guess the future of the GOP is crooked bankers, child labor exploitation, slavery, theft (but at least she gave it back when she got caught -- so since she's rich, no prosecution -- ooopsie!), and a religious extremist homophobe.

But she says she'll run California like a business (hey! Didn't Arnold say that was what he was going to do?) What part of her business should we expect her to apply to California? The part of her disastrous purchase of Skype? Cronyism with Goldman Sachs? Or will she just outsource California? I mean she keeps saying she believes in job creation -- but she also wants more H1B visas and sings the praises of Globalization.

But the media loves her! She's rich ergo she's perfect!

In Case the Media is Interested

2009-05-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Let me go on record -- I don't give a rat's ass what Cheney, his daughter, or Newt have to say. They are not in office and hold no position in government -- their opinions of what documents should be released or what the behavior of those IN government are is completely irrelevant. You are wasting my time and paper and ink by covering them 24/7.

Cheney is not equivalent to Obama. His speeches are a waste of breath and I have no interest in seeing them. To present his opinion as somehow relevant in any discussion on how this President, we voted for, is doing means less to me than if you interviewed my dog.

You are NOT covering these has beens because that's what the public wants or is interested in. Obama is the President. Cheney and Newt are has beens. Dick's daughter is irrelevant.

"Liberal" media, my ass!

We'll Never Be Accused of Being a Greatest Generation

2009-05-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

From 1942 to 1946 more than 400,000 German, Italian and Austrian Nazi prisoners were housed in over five hundred major camps and several satellite camps in many U.S. states, including Ohio, California, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Nebraska. 150,000 prisoners came after the Allies captured the complete Afrika Korps in 1943. Another huge influx of prisoners came after D-Day in 1944, through December of that year, when 30,000 POWs arrived monthly. Laurie McLaughlin has a brief article on this at Suite 101. The History Channel covered this. There are several books on Nazi POWs in America.

400,000!! So why are FBI Director Robert Mueller and 90 Senators, including Cantwell and Murray, such wimps over 240 detainees at Gitmo?

How can we somehow manage to hold hardened criminals, serial killers, terrorists like Charlie Manson, David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, Richard Speck, Aileen Wuornos, the Blind Sheik and so on . . . but somehow we are incapable to hold on American soil Osama's driver??

The Senate needs to grow a set and grow up.

All Politics is Local -- Very Local

2009-05-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

This isn't political on a big scale -- this is real local politics: homeowners association. I have a neighbor who has been harassing me for 9 years. I don't know what his problem is and I don't care. Maybe I belong to the wrong church. Maybe he doesn't like my friends. Maybe he's a republithug and he knows I'm a Democrat. Maybe my presence makes his stay at home wife jealous and he wants to take it out on me. I don't know and I have a feeling there's nothing I could do to correct it. Three years ago, his harassment got to a stage where I had to call the sheriff and file a complaint against him. He stopped coming on my property and damaging my house but he's changed tactics. He has found a powerful ally -- the homeowners association.

He complains, they harass me. It has cost me and the homeowners association thousands of dollars in legal fees. We spend hours negotiating. I won and was able to keep my roommate (he claimed all tenants had to be related by blood or marriage). But I lost on the fence. Despite many variations of fencing in the neighborhood, mine didn't exactly match the specs in the Architectural Standards. I've had to spend thousands to modify my fence. One of the Board members is quitting because the stress of dealing with these complaints is getting to be too much for him. I've changed from a basically happy person to someone who is suspicious and stays in the house to avoid him.

His latest complaint was that my 2 hens -- Lucy and Ethel, kept in a coop in my backyard, out of sight of everyone, was in violation of the covenants that says homeowners in the subdivision can only have "dogs, cats, and 2 caged birds in the dwelling". Well he's got me there. I don't keep the chickens in my home. The Association inspected and informed me that I was in violation and said I have to get rid of my pets. So last night I went to the annual homeowners association meeting to try to appeal or change the covenant to allow for caged birds to be in the yard. I was ridiculed and marginalized. He and the Board had enough proxies to block my attempt to change the covenant. I brought up that other homeowners had fish tanks (visible from the street), hamsters, a snake, and other unallowed pets. They informed me that since there were no complaints about the other homeowners, they had no intention of taking any action on them but since there was a complaint about me they "had" to take action. I have to get rid of my chickens immediately.

The harasser wins. He has succeeded in using the power of the homeowners association to exert control and mess with me.

I don't like what I'm changing into. I used to be a neighborly person -- for GAWD sakes I'm a PCO. But now I am afraid and uncomfortable. I don't door bell or do political meetings in my home.

The market sucks but I'm determined that I'm going to spend the next 12 months getting my house into pristine saleable condition and put it on the market next Spring. He has succeeded in chasing me out of the neighborhood. I found a wonderful home for my chickens but I really miss their chatter, antics, and especially their eggs.

Anyone out there interested in living in a Stepford neighborhood next to a harasser?

Torture is Wrong -- ALWAYS

2009-05-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

Some idiot Republithug was trying to justify torture today on MSNBC when Ari Melber gave the perfect response:

Idiot: And yet there are others who would say that the waterboarding helped. It helped provide information...

Melber: But Joe, even if we put that aside and say that might be possible, there are leaders throughout the world who would say that genocide helps security, that cancelling elections helps security, that fascism helps security. At some point here the whole issue is that we have to move beyond the framework of just saying torturing someone or killing someone worked, and be bound by the rule of law.

Amen

It's About Time!

2009-05-07T08:53:00.001-07:00

h/t Souza/White House

Constitution?

2009-05-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

It should be interesting to see how many Republithugs resurrect the 'respect for the Constitution' as a rationale to oppose any pick Obama will make for the Supreme Court. Will any reporter ask them when they start spouting this stuff where they were when the First Amendment was being violated when Amy Goodman, a credentialed reporter, got roughed up and arrested at the Republithug Convention? Will any news person ask them where were their objections when the warrantless wiretapping became known? Or when CIA Director denied that the 4th Amendment included a requirement for a warrant? Or the 6th and 8th Amendments when Padilla was thrown in jail and in isolation without trial? Habeas Corpus when they talked about government databases of prescription use?

I could go on and on . . .

Good Take on Why Should Never Torture

2009-05-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Kevin Drum has an excellent post on why we should NEVER torture.

I don't care about the Geneva Conventions or U.S. law. I don't care about the difference between torture and "harsh treatment." I don't care about the difference between uniformed combatants and terrorists. I don't care whether it "works." I oppose torture regardless of the current state of the law; I oppose even moderate abuse of helpless detainees; I oppose abuse of criminal suspects and religious heretics as much as I oppose it during wartime; and I oppose it even if it produces useful information.

The whole point of civilization is as much moral advancement as it is physical and technological advancement. But that moral progress comes slowly and very, very tenuously. In the United States alone, it took centuries to decide that slavery was evil, that children shouldn't be allowed to work 12-hour days on power looms, and that police shouldn't be allowed to beat confessions out of suspects.

Amen

McCain

2009-04-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

McCain was just on Face the Nation and was pitching for us to just move on from trying to hold people accountable for torture. He says he's against torture and said it will never happen again. I started to think the old John McCain was back . . . and then he said our enemies will always follow the Geneva Convention because they know there will be retribution.

Does he not see that by not insisting on accountability for our people who ordered these torture memos to CYA, who ordered this torture, and who lied about it need to be held accountable will be held as precedence that torture can be done with impunity?

What's wrong with these people??!!

Darcy Burner is Going to DC

2009-04-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Darcy Burner is going to DC! She starts work at a new job heading up the American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation. I'm thrilled she'll be there as out voice! Congrats to Darcy!

Isn't This a Confession?

2009-04-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

From Karl Rove's Twitter:

Precautions taken 2 guarantee compliance w/ federal prohibition on torture. U might characterize diligence as overcautious. #TCOT #SGP #HHRS
about 13 hours ago from TweetDeck

Bring the Torture Authorizers to Justice

2009-04-23T17:37:00.000-07:00

Every time one of these Republithugs talks about torture as a 'difference of opinion' or 'difference in tactics' they make the case even stronger for bringing the enablers to justice.

If it's just a political difference than the next time the Republithugs are in power we can go back to torturing with immunity. By not bringing them to justice we are condoning it and setting a dangerous precedence.

It is not too much of a stretch in my mind that Rudolph W. Giuliani would use torture. He's already on record supporting it.

Scott Horton's Essay on how the USA Became 1984

2009-04-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Revealing the Secrets in Room 101
By Scott Horton

On Thursday the spirit of George Orwell visited America, three times.

The first visit can be found in four memoranda prepared by Bush Administration lawyers which gave the actual go-ahead for the use of specific torture techniques on specific individuals, thus demolishing forever the absurd contention that the torture lawyers were ever only engaged in some abstract exercise without any direct application to incidents of torture. Here, we discover that Room 101 of the Ministry of Love (Miniluv) has been faithfully recreated by the Bush Team...

Orwell made his second appearance in a statement issued by Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair in which he drew a stomach-turning comparison between Americans who sacrifice for their country in uniform and those who perpetrated war crimes under orders from higher ups in the Bush Administration. But perhaps the first lines of Blair’s statement were intended to send a signal of the deceit that lay within. “We will absolutely defend those who relied on these memos and those guidelines,” he says, because they acted in the wake of 9/11, whereas “read on a bright, sunny, safe day in April 2009, [the memoranda] appear graphic and disturbing.” Blair’s name echoes Orwell’s actual name, Eric Blair; his words remind one of 1984: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

Then Orwell visited us a third time. This time the message came straight from Miniluv, whose never-resting eye keeps watch over every enemy of the state, foreign or domestic, real or, far more often, the creation of paranoid delusion combined with political convenience. Eric Lichtblau and James Risen of the New York Times report:

The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews. Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.

...Indeed, we learn that Miniluv even attempted to wiretap a member of Congress without a warrant or any form of special authorization because Miniluv was convinced that the congressman was communicating with a person they distrust.

Miniluv’s voracious appetite is chronicled a bit further in a follow-up piece yesterday from Lichtblau and Risen in which we learn that it is on the verge of perfecting its ability to “collect and analyze every e-mail message, text message, and Google search” you’ve ever performed. But this is the least of it. They know your favorite pizza toppings, the medications you use, the color of your socks, the size of your t-shirt, the books you thought about buying on Amazon.com, and the movies your ordered from Netflix—as well as the ones you paused over, thinking to order. They will use all of this information to protect you. Unless, of course, some day you find yourself invited to Room 101.

I especially agree with Horton's conclusions:

Can anyone be surprised to learn that the new guardians of these vast and unchecked powers, while piously promising to reform and stop breaking the law, also feel that there is no really compelling reason to enforce the law–in the process breaking the oaths they just took a few weeks ago to uphold that very law? Is it not indeed amazing that these claims can be made on the public stage without being greeted with the peals of derision they deserve? Now comes the test of our democracy–will we close the door and walk away, or demand to know what’s been done in our name and hold those who guided any abuses to account for their misconduct? President Obama tells us there’s nothing to see here, just move along. But this will be a test of whether we have a citizenry worthy of that name.

Third Time Disappointed

2009-04-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today Obama released the torture memos. In announcing their release, President Obama stated, in part

My judgment on the content of these memos is a matter of record. In one of my very first acts as President, I prohibited the use of these interrogation techniques by the United States because they undermine our moral authority and do not make us safer. Enlisting our values in the protection of our people makes us stronger and more secure. A democracy as resilient as ours must reject the false choice between our security and our ideals, and that is why these methods of interrogation are already a thing of the past.

But that is not what compelled the release of these legal documents today. While I believe strongly in transparency and accountability, I also believe that in a dangerous world, the United States must sometimes carry out intelligence operations and protect information that is classified for purposes of national security. I have already fought for that principle in court and will do so again in the future. However, after consulting with the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, and others, I believe that exceptional circumstances surround these memos and require their release....

This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history. But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past. Our national greatness is embedded in America’s ability to right its course in concert with our core values, and to move forward with confidence. That is why we must resist the forces that divide us, and instead come together on behalf of our common future.

Torture will never be a "thing of our past" until there are consequences. He says our 'national greatness is embedded the America's ability to right its course . . . ' but the precedence is there. Torture can be used.

The memos make me physically sick. The intent issue is especially specious. Why else would someone want to engage in these activities besides to inflict pain so that the person will be motivated to talk? The lawyers seem to say since the end game or OBJECT is not to inflict pain but instead to gain intelligence, then you're covered and it's not torture since you have to have intent to inflict pain.

To follow that logic -- I want to be rich. That's my intent. So it's not bank robbery if I get the money from the bank -- I don't intend to rob them. I just want to be rich.

It is also offensive to have lawyers making determinations as to the level of sever pain or suffering. It is disgusting!

I am extremely disappointed in Obama for not holding these disgusting individuals accountable for this offense to all citizens. They tortured in our name and I am ashamed.

UPDATED 4-17-09

As usual Andrew Sullivan is eloquent on this topic. I especially like his hopeful conclusion:

Mukasey and Hayden complain that the president has tied the hands of future presidents in this. Yes, he has. What Obama understands is that what is truly vital is that this dark and shameful period not become a workable precedent. It must be repudiated at the very heart of the American political system, and removed like the cancer it is.

I hope Andrew is right and Obama is able to allow us to repudiate it even if it's without anyone being hels responsible or consequences. I fear that you need the enforcement or another president in the future will allow this to occur again.

Obama Continues Attack on Habeas-Corpus

2009-04-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

Obama is continuing Bush's attach on our Constitution. This is so disappointing.

From the New York Times:

The Obama administration said Friday that it would appeal a district court ruling that granted some military prisoners in Afghanistan the right to file lawsuits seeking their release. The decision signaled that the administration was not backing down in its effort to maintain the power to imprison terrorism suspects for extended periods without judicial oversight.

In a court filing, the Justice Department also asked District Judge John D. Bates not to proceed with the habeas-corpus cases of three detainees at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Judge Bates ruled last week that the three — each of whom says he was seized outside of Afghanistan — could challenge their detention in court.

Tina Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, which is representing the detainees, condemned the decision in a statement.

“Though he has made many promises regarding the need for our country to rejoin the world community of nations, by filing this appeal, President Obama has taken on the defense of one of the Bush administration’s unlawful policies founded on nothing more than the idea that might makes right,” she said.

Where is the change and when will we see it?

I'm Disappointed in Obama

2009-04-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

From credoaction.com:

In the heat of the presidential campaign, then Sen. Barack Obama cast his lot with major telecommunications companies -- and AT&T specifically -- by voting to give big telecom retroactive immunity for allegedly helping the White House illegally spy on Americans. It was one of the most disappointing moments of the campaign.

However, he did forcefully oppose the Bush administration's use of the "state secrets" privilege to get cases thrown out of civil court. According to the Obama/Biden campaign web site:

Secrecy Dominates Government Actions: The Bush administration has ignored public disclosure rules and has invoked a legal tool known as the "state secrets" privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.

But now, to the dismay of civil liberties groups, President Obama is using the "state secrets" defense to make the case that the United States government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying and can never be sued for surveillance that might violate federal privacy statutes.

That's what happened on April 2, when President Obama's lawyers invoked Bush's radical theory of executive power to argue for the dismissal of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's litigation against the National Security Agency for the warrantless wiretapping of countless Americans.

Of course, the government should be able to argue before a court that the public release of some information would unacceptably damage national security. But many courts have handled national security information with appropriate safeguards, and the mere assertion of "state secrets" without persuading a judge with evidence is just plain wrong.

When it comes to the abuse of "state secrets" defense, we agree with candidate Obama, not President Obama. If EFF's case against the NSA is dismissed, we may never know the extent of the Bush administration's illegal spying on Americans.

Obama isn't going to change things like I hoped. This is really disappointing. I thought he'd at least stand up for the Constitution.