Tonight's Rescue Rangers are Rexymeteorite, Purple Priestess, Unitary Moonbat, mem from somerville, ybruti and grog.

• Daisy Cutter sheds light on the case of a US citizen detained & deported to Honduras; alleges sex assault as well, and provides a chillingly long list of all-too-similar stories. (Unitary Moonbat)
• Something the Dog Said does some digging on campaign funds and uncovers another troubling oversight in Campaign Committees Can Invest Donations? WTF?!? (Purple Priestess)
• The Red Phone Is Ringing with a call to awareness of the litany of edited assaults on this administration's appointees in Hey, CNN! Beck gave Sherrod treatment to Llyod, Holdren, Dunn... (mem from somerville)
• Confused about the Estate tax? GTPinNJ explains exactly why it's a zero sum game in George Steinbrenner, The Estate Tax and Fairness. (Purple Priestess)
• Round Peg Inna Square Hole describes how a brother has coped with terrible injuries in Kosability 7/21- From Visible to Invisible. (ybruti)
• Dragon5616 highlights how One Paragraph speaks to progressive ideals over 70 years after it was written. (grog)
• Bill Prendergast brings us a fascinating primer on game theory in American politics, and his usual update on the Bachmann crazy train in Bachmann update: game theory. (rexymeteorite)
• Talint tells a personal tale of pushback that once worked in An Allegory About Bullying. (mem from somerville)
• As many folks head to Vegas for Netroots Nation, annetteboardman tells us about her mother Growing up in the 1930s and 40s in Nevada. (grog)
• BorderJumpers is traveling and working on aid projects in Africa, observing things like the current phenomenon of fandom around Kenya's Makutano Junction Soap Opera. (Unitary Moonbat)
• Bare Left muses on the discord between ignorance vs. engagement with Glad to be Unhappy. Or not. (mem from somerville)
• Wids, in Eighty-five years ago today (7.2 and 8), eloquently discusses the lasting effects of the Scopes Monkey Trial and presents the final arguments, including this summary by Clarence Darrow: we have done our best to turn back the tide that has sought to force itself upon this modern world, of testing every fact in science by a religious dictum. (ybruti)
• The Cheshire Cat continues observing the sesquicentennial of the Civil War in part three of the series This week in the American Civil War: July 15-21, 1860. (Purple Priestess)

jotter gives us the day's High Impact Diaries: July 20, 2010.

bronte17 has Top Comments (07-21-2010): Just Wires and Tubes.

Shamelessly self promote your diary or pimp for a friend in this Open Thread!

From my fourth-floor room at the Rio, I can see beautiful people frolicking in the glorious pool area in sparkling sunshine (albeit sunshine that is generating 109 degree heat).

Me? I am ensconced in an easy chair. Typing a bunch of political news on a laptop.

Never let it be said that I don't love you people.

With that bit of gratuitous whining out of the way, please enjoy the Wednesday edition of the Wrap, live from Las Vegas!

THE U.S. SENATE

CT-Sen: Simmons makes (halting) comeback to Senate race
Last week, former GOP Congressman Rob Simmons made a much publicized flirtation with leaping back into the U.S. Senate race in the Nutmeg State. That became all but official today, as Simmons returned to the airwaves with an ad encouraging voters to "vote with your heart and your head." It closes with an extremely telling tagline: "I'm Rob Simmons, I'm still on the ballot, and I approved this message." The campaign of GOP frontrunner Linda McMahon was swift and unsparing with their response, accusing Simmons of breaking his word to Connecticut Republicans, as he promised to honor the results of the May nominating convention.

FL-Sen: Did newcomer Greene buy a Senate endorsement?
The timing, of course, could entirely be a coincidence. But something about this move has a certain unpleasant odor. Billionaire upstart Jeff Greene, who jumped into the Democratic Senate primary late and has spent lavishly, might have spent a little cash buying some credibility. At issue was an endorsement of DNC member Jon Ausman. It came, quite curiously, not long after Greene had paid Ausman $4000 for what was described as "political consultation and strategy." Greene is going heads-up with Democratic Congressman Kendrick Meek in the primary scheduled for next month.

LA-Sen: What is it about those Louisiana Republicans?!
Two weeks ago, former state Supreme Court justice Chet Traylor made waves with an 11th hour primary challenge to incumbent GOP Senator David Vitter. Now, it looks like Vitter and Traylor might have even more in common than previously thought. With Traylor now a big statewide player, some folks are coming forward to claim that Traylor has had illicit affairs with a pair of married women, and that he might have been the catalyst for a divorce between a Democratic state representative and his wife (who later became Traylor's wife). Remember, folks, that Traylor was recruited to run because Republicans were scared that Vitter's personal foibles were rendering him unelectable.

WV-Sen: Capito decides to forgo Senate bid, dashing GOP hopes
Color me considerably surprised by this move. When state GOPers insisted on the ability for special election candidates to be able to run in two races simultaneously, it seemed to be that they were greasing the skids for Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito to make a bid. Today, Capito dashed those hopes by announcing that she will not be a candidate in the special election to be held in November. This leaves John Raese, who ran against the late Senator Robert Byrd in 2006 and was easily defeated, as the most likely Republican to make the leap. Democrats are likely to coalesce quickly around Governor Joe Manchin, who announced his Senate bid yesterday. Today, incidentally, Manchin drew a (ahem) unique primary challenger: former Democratic Congressman and Secretary of State Ken Hechler. Politico writer Shira Toeplitz dubs Hechler a "veteran Dem". Um...that's an understatement: Hechler, at the tender age of 95, was first elected to Congress back in 1958.

THE U.S. HOUSE

GA-04/GA-09/GA-12: Primary day post-mortem
One incumbent did get forced into a runoff last night in Georgia, while two prominent Democrats withstood serious primary threats. The incumbent forced into a runoff isn't a big shock--it was newly minted Rep. Tom Graves, who was just elected to the seat one month ago in the wake of Nathan Deal's resignation to run for Governor. Graves came just shy in his conservative district (GA-09) of clearing 50%, coming to rest at 49.5%. The man he defeated in a special election a few weeks back, state legislator Lee Hawkins, made the runoff at 27% of the vote. Graves will be an overwhelming favorite in the runoff next month. Meanwhile, two potentially perilous Democratic primaries were held, and the incumbents managed to make it to November without needing runoffs. In Atlanta's 4th district, Hank Johnson (55% of the vote) repelled the twin challenges of former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones and county commissioner Connie Stokes. Downstate, John Barrow did a little bit better, defeating Regina Thomas in their rematch of the 2008 Democratic primary by sixteen points (58-42). Two other mild surprises were the failure of wealthy state legislator Clay Cox to make it into a runoff in GA-07, and the slightly disappointing showing for state legislator Austin Scott in GA-08, where the highly-touted GOP contender barely avoided a runoff.

HI-01: Hanabusa makes point while making peace with national Dems
Now that she has a clean shot at newly-elected Republican incumbent Rep. Charles Djou in Hawaii, Colleen Hanabusa's relationship with the DCCC and national Democrats has begun to thaw. That said, she wants to make it clear to them that they erred badly in trying to nudge her out of the race in favor of former Democratic Congressman Ed Case. Hanabusa dinged the national Dems for not trusting the fact that, as a longtime veteran of local politics, she did not have a better read on the situation than they did: "I'm president of the Senate. I'm not a neophyte when it comes to understanding political alignments and misalignments."

IA-02: Miller-Meeks internal poll claims much closer race than '08
Crisitunity's must read Daily Digest over at Swing State Project offers up yet another intriguing internal poll from a GOP campaign. This one comes from Iowa GOPer Marianette Miller-Meeks, who lost to Democratic incumbent Dave Loebsack quite easily (57-39) in 2008. This time around, Miller-Meeks' polling from Susquehanna Research is singing a very different tune. She claims that her polling shows her down by just five points (46-41) to the sophomore Democrat.

MI-08: Candidate wages write-in bid to replace departed Dem
Democrats were left holding the bag in the Spring, when shortly after the filing deadline, Democrat Kande Ngalamulume dropped his bid to face Mike Rogers in the 8th district. With no other Democrats on the ballot, it looked like Rogers might get a free ride for 2010. There is a Democrat, however, fielding a write-in bid to win the nomination. His name is Lance Enderle, he has great taste in neckwear (click the link--it's worth it), and he has run for office in the past. Enderle, a teacher and coach who was one of many educators to lose his job in the state budget crunch, would need to meet a baseline number of votes, even if he manages to earn more votes than Ngalamulume in the Democratic primary.

VA-05: SUSA poll claims massive GOP lead in Dem-held seat
This is probably the most pessimistic poll for a Democratic candidate in this cycle not named Blanche Lincoln. A new poll out late last night from SurveyUSA claims a lead of twenty-three points for Republican state legislator Rob Hurt over Democratic freshman Rep. Tom Perriello. Some critics have pointed out that the partisan breakdown of the poll was vastly different than SUSA's 2008 polls here. However, SUSA, mindful of that criticism, points out that Perriello would still trail, even with the previous turnout model intact.

THE GUBERNATORIAL RACES

FL-Gov: Fractious GOP propels Sink into November lead, says PPP
Yesterday, PPP teased potentially explosive results in their gubernatorial poll in the Sunshine State. Clearly, the results of that poll show that the teaser from yesterday was not hyperbole. The new poll has Alex Sink with a legitimate advantage over either Republican in the field. Against newcomer Rick Scott, Sink enjoys a six point edge (36-30), with 13% for Dem-turned-Indie Bud Chiles. When paired with veteran state Attorney General Bill McCollum, the lead stretches to double digits (37-23), with Chiles back at 14%. The key is the incredible disregard with which Scott or McCollum backers hold the other Republican in the field. Given that, the former Dem Chiles might actually be helping Sink, by offering an option for those taking sides in this GOP blood feud.

GA-Gov: Handel gets another 2012 aspirant into her corner for runoff
About a week after Sarah Palin cast her lot with Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel, Handel got love from another major player in the 2012 GOP carousel of candidates. Today, it was Mitt Romney, who offered his vocal support, as well as the support we have come to know and love from Mitt--cold, hard cash. Romney tossed a $1000 check in Handel's direction. Handel led the field of GOP candidates in last night's primary, earning 34% of the vote. Congressman Nathan Deal, who earned 23% of the vote last night, enters the runoff with the endorsement of yet another '12 player: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

NV-Gov: Sandoval with solid lead in general election, according to PPP
While the numbers aren't quite as bad as Rasmussen has continued to insist, yet another poll hands Nevada Republican Brian Sandoval a double digit advantage over Democrat Rory Reid in the battle to replace Jim Gibbons as the state's governor. The new poll out today from PPP gives Sandoval a fourteen-point (52-38) advantage over Reid, a Clark County Commissioner and the son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

RI-Gov: Rhode Island teachers union spurns Democrat, goes Indie
Today, Rhode Island Democrats probably felt the first negative side effect of the exit of more liberal Democratic candidate Patrick Lynch from the gubernatorial race in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals has offered their endorsement to Republican-turned-Independent Lincoln Chafee, the former U.S. Senator. Most intriguing in the story: union officials said that the Democratic frontrunner (state treasurer Frank Caprio) chose not to be interviewed for the endorsement.

THE RAS-A-POLL-OOZA

As I noted during the midday open thread, even the Ras-sies couldn't find enough lipstick for Minnesota GOP nominee Tom Emmer, who has dropped precipitously since the last time the House of Ras headed to the state. We also get new data from Idaho, Ohio, and Kentucky. While Idaho is a little bit of a surprise (GOP Governor Butch Otter is not exactly destroying Democrat Keith Allred), Ohio and Kentucky are utterly predictable.

ID-Gov: Gov. Butch Otter (R) 53%, Keith Allred (D) 36%
KY-Sen: Rand Paul (R) 49%, Jack Conway (D) 41%
MN-Gov: Margaret Anderson-Kelliher (D) 40%, Tom Emmer (R) 35%, Tom Horner (I) 11%
MN-Gov: Mark Dayton (D) 40%, Tom Emmer (R) 36%, Tom Horner (I) 10%
MN-Gov: Matt Entenza (D) 37%, Tom Emmer (R) 36%, Tom Horner (I) 12%
OH-Gov: John Kasich (R) 48%, Gov. Ted Strickland (D) 43%

I'll be talking filibuster reform at a Netroots Nation panel this Saturday at 4pm Pacific. We'll be in room Brasilia 6, which means you can watch the panel live via streaming video here.

Filibuster reform is an expansive topic for debate and discussion. So much so that I find myself overwhelmed at the prospect of both bringing curious but novice observers up to speed and debating the finer points that assume a certain basic knowledge. The only solution I can think of is to break things up into bite-sized pieces and put them out there one at a time until the job is done. Here's the first installment.

Let's begin with the most basic question: Why doesn't the Senate just change the rules on cloture so that all this craziness can finally come to an end?

The answer lies, in two pieces, in the current Senate rules. First, Rule V:

The rules of the Senate shall continue from one Congress to the next Congress unless they are changed as provided in these rules.

And the second, in Rule XXII:

Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or rule IV or any other rule of the Senate, at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the direction of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the clerk call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question:

"Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?" And if that question shall be decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn -- except on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, in which case the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting -- then said measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, shall be the unfinished business to the exclusion of all other business until disposed of.

Together, these provisions appear to mean that the rules continue from one Congress to the next and can only be changed as those rules allow, and that invoking cloture on any proposed rules change would require a 2/3 majority (or 67 votes in a full Senate).

If that was all there was to it, the discussion would end here. But of course, that's not it. There's much more to come.

Disclosure: I'm doing paid work as a Fellow for ProgressiveCongress.org in addressing the necessity of filibuster reform in the Senate. The Fellowship is being supported in part by CREDO Action and Blue America. You can help support this work by signing CREDO Action's petition and/or donating at Blue America's ActBlue page.

Mother Jones' Jake Sherman looks at just one of the many examples of how BP sought influence with and access to powerful lawmakers:

BP's Secret Ticket Request Line

For more than a decade, BP has operated a hush-hush phone line that California lawmakers can call to request box seats to NBA games and concerts at the Sacramento stadium named after its West Coast subsidiary.

In the past five years, BP has given state officials more than 1,200 complimentary tickets to the Arco Arena, hosting them in its corporate suite to see Sacramento Kings games, World Extreme Cagefighting matches, and Britney Spears and Lil Wayne concerts. Getting the tickets is as easy as calling the BP ticket request line, an exclusive, unpublished phone number that appears to exist for the sole purpose of granting freebies to lawmakers, regulators, and their staffs.

"You make a request, leave it on the voicemail, and at some date the tickets either magically appear or they don't," says a legislative consultant who gave me the ticket line's number and spoke on condition of anonymity. "They don't talk to you; you just see 'em or you don't." The ticket line's message was taken down sometime in the past week, shortly after I began my reporting.

You can listen to a recording of the ticket line over at MotherJones.com. No word yet on whether Joe Barton has ever used such a ticket hotline...and if so, whether BP came through...or if they were forced to apologize to him.

The Guardian:

Plans to begin handing control of provinces in Afghanistan to Afghan security forces by the end of this year have been quietly dropped amid fears among European countries that General David Petraeus, the new US commander in the country, is less committed to a speedy transfer of power.

The change of tack, revealed in the final communique from today's historic international conference in Kabul, reflects Petraeus's concerns that security conditions in Afghanistan are too weak for a transition of power to begin as quickly as originally planned, a Nato official told the Guardian.

Although the conference agreed that the security needs of the entire country will have to be met by the Afghan army and police by 2014, major European troop contributors were looking forward to more rapid progress in the relatively stable north and west of the country, where Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and others have personnel.

The New York Times:

A seemingly routine training practice in marksmanship went fatally wrong on Tuesday when an Afghan Army sergeant turned his weapon on an American trainer and a gunfight began. When it was over, the sergeant, two American trainers and an Afghan soldier who had been standing nearby lay dead.

AP reports Tom Vilsack has joined the White House in apologizing to Shirley Sherrod and has offered her a new job in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

WASHINGTON – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday he has apologized to ousted employee Shirley Sherrod and offered her a unique new position at the agency.

Sherrod, in an interview with The Associated Press, said she was considering it.

"They did make an offer," she said in a telephone interview. "I just told him I need to think about it."

Vilsack told reporters that Sherrod accepted his apology. He said, "She was extraordinarily gracious."

The exact scope of Sherrod's potential new role isn't clear, but this represents a swift turnaround from yesterday when anonymous aides within the administration were leaking trial balloons indicating they supported Vilsack's decision and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina was praising Vilsack's handling of the firing in a White House staff meeting.

Greenpeace has some advice for BP:

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) provides "context:"

KILMEADE: Congressman, welcome. Do you regret saying that Republicans should not have a formal program, an agenda?

KING: First of all, if anyone saw, all that I said — this is taken entirely out of context. It’s classic what the liberals do. What I’ve said is we should have general principles, such as we did in 1994 with the Contract With America. Make our position clear as far as repealing health care, as far as cutting back spending, as far as standing with our security forces in the war against Islamic terrorism. But we have 435 or 420-something candidates running for office, and you can’t have a one national agenda that fits all 435 districts. Let each congressional candidate go out, argue what they believe is best within the overall Republican platform. … People will know where we stand, but you can’t have every candidate around the country bound to the exact same platform.

So, what did he say that the liberals are taking out of context?

BENNETT: Is it enough for Republicans to say we are opposed to what [Obama's] doing — stimulus, health care, we don’t like what he’s doing with the government, and look at the job situation — or do we need to have meat on the bones? And say, this is what we are for? Do we have to have positive proposals? [...]

KING: So, It’s a combination of being against what Obama is for, and also giving certain specifics of what we are for. Having said that, I don’t think we have to lay out a complete agenda, from top to bottom, because then we would have the national mainstream media jumping on every point trying to make that a campaign issue.

Of course Kilmeade immediately called out King and played the tape to show that he had indeed said that Republicans should not have an agenda ... or not.

For months, Democrats have been telling you Republicans to show some compassion for somebody other than your gated-community pals by passing an extension of jobless benefits. Commentators at MSNBC have ridiculed you for hypocrisy, berated you for obstructionism, challenged you for convenient amnesia about deficits. Leftist bloggers have sniped at your dogged cruelty.  You’ve ignored them and stayed the course. And now, as Susan Gardner wrote earlier today, you’ve raised the ante with your decision to delay the vote on the extension for a few more hours.

Huzzah! Please, whatever happens: Do. Not. Retreat. Stick to your chosen path. Ponder no doubts. Do not go wimpy on us. The critics are just envious of your heartless, mindless unity. Speaking of which, you might consider punishing those two turncoats from Maine. I mean, what’s up with those women anyway? They seem to miss so many memos from HQ.

Don’t ever let rank-and-file Americans catch a hint that any of you cares more for their well-being than about standing up for a principle that isn’t a principle when the moneyed class is involved. Show no weakness in holding off the inevitable passage of this extension for a few more hours. You don’t want to lose your right to be called the Party of No Way, No How just three months before election day. What would Newt say?

A hoax by the farmer's wife, that is. Or, rather, "farmer's wife":

Speaking with CNN’s John King, right-wing provocateur Andrew Breitbart challenged Eloise Spooner’s “purported” story, accusing King of trusting Sherrod “that the ‘farmer’s wife’ is the farmer’s wife”:

You tell me as a reporter how CNN put on a person today who purported to be the farmer’s wife? What did you do to find out whether or not that was the actual farmer’s wife? I mean, if you’re going to accuse me of a falsehood, tell me where you’ve confirmed that had this incident happened 24 years ago. [...]

You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife?

Yes, that "farmer's wife" is obviously not really the farmer's wife, since she has defended Shirley Sherrod:

Sherrod, "kept us out of bankruptcy," said Eloise Spooner, 82, of Iron City in southwest Georgia. Spooner, in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, added she considers Sherrod a "friend for life." She and her husband, Roger Spooner, approached Sherrod for help in 1986 when Sherrod worked for a nonprofit that assisted farmers.

But since we all know that Sherrod is the Worst Racist Ever, obviously this "farmer's wife" is lying. That's clearly the simplest explanation. Sherrod found some broad to go on TV, pretending to be Eloise Spooner, spinning a yarn about how Sherrod helped her family save their farm -- all so that Sherrod could continue to cover up the Most Heinous Act of Racism Ever, which is all part of the Obama administration's larger agenda to retroactively discriminate again white farmers in the '80s.

Or maybe Breitbart is just a lying asshole.

According to Ben Smith, three sources say that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina praised Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's handling of Shirley Sherrod's dismissal on Tuesday morning, one day before the White House apologized to Sherrod and said an injustice had been done to her (update- I am flying to Vegas now, using inflight wifi, but Gibbs said it was President Obama himself who felt an "injustice" had been done):

But three Democratic sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina singled out the White House's initial response to the incident for praise in the regular 8:30 a.m. staff meeting Tuesday morning. The sources differed on the substance of Messina's praise, but concurred that he had praised the speed of White House communications in response to the flap, which was driven by a misleadingly-edited video posted to Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website.

This, of course, was before Vilsack agreed to revisit his decision in light of the fact that he was, well, you know, completely wrong in every sort of way to have fired her.

The fact that Messina was apparently on board with Vilsack's decision as late as Tuesday morning is shocking and suggests incredibly bad judgment, not just because there was no reason whatsoever to fire Shirley Sherrod, but also because doing so was such an obvious political mistake.

At this point, every second the administration delays ordering Vilsack to reverse his decision and issue an apology to Sherrod is a second that has been wasted. There's really nothing to review -- Sherrod should not have been fired, and if and when she's asked to come back, it has to be quick enough to give her a realistic chance at continuing to succeed in her job. That means the decision needs to be made NOW. It's urgent.

As Greg Sargent points out, if there's anything to review, it's how this decision got bungled in the first place. And if anyone should be on the line, it shouldn't be Shirley Sherrod -- it ought to be Jim Messina.

Update by Susan: And some rollback and apologies begin, according to Bloomberg:

The Obama administration apologized to a black USDA employee who was forced to resign after an edited video clip of her remarks suggested she acted with racial bias in dealing with a white farmer 24 years ago.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack acted without having all the information about the speech by Shirley Sherrod at an NAACP banquet in Georgia in March. Vilsack is trying to contact Sherrod to discuss whether she will return to the agency, he said.

“A disservice was done,” Gibbs said at a White House briefing. “The secretary will apologize for the actions that have taken place over the past 24 to 36 hours.”

"Disservice" is putting it mildly.

Update: Shirley Sherrod has accepted the apology.

• I'm told by reliable sources that Vegas is filling up with thousands of smart, well informed, passionate progressives: important links to Netroots Nation 2010, including the latest on parties, panel info, and live streaming for those of participating from afar can be found here!
• Speaking of NN10, most of you know Americans buy into creationism and other pseudoscience quackery far more than people in most other developed nations? Lots of great pushback at NN10 this week including Supporting Science, Benefiting Society featuring that doctor of doctors, DemFromCt. A partial list of more science and related events is posted here.
• Lots of great reading 'round the sphere on Breitbart's clever hoax, including this update that the case is being re-reviewed. Balloon Juice is really on a roll:

  Really? WTF! Rehire this women and fight back! It really is past time to push back on these race-baiting fuckwads of hate. It is time to call them out and make them own their bile. The dickless weasel who posted this clip is famous for race-baiting. It is all he does.

  Nothing is going to change, though, because our media is just too afraid of being called liberal, and then when they are attacked, seem to relish being the victim. As DougJ pithily noted: “Why not just hire a hooker to dress up as Sarah Palin and beat you with a riding crop?”

  John Cole added by tweet: I'm tired of "teachable moments" on race. No one learns anything but the race-baiters. Can we have an "Amen?"

• US joins the world in pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to develop conservation and clean energy. Meanwhile, China announces a three-quarter trillion-dollar clean energy plan of their own.
• In Georgia, it looks like, we're in for a battle by proxy of two rumored GOP presidential contenders as the two Republican candidates for governor face off with dueling endorsements from Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich.
• Wait, what? It's not good to imply that service employees who rely on tips should be paid less than the minimum wage, because they make a hundred grand a year? Even the House of Rasmussen cannot deny that Republican Tom Emmer has slipped noticeably in the wake of his "tip credit" crusade. --Steve Singiser  
• BP relief well said to be a couple of weeks from completion as cap stays on for now. This tropical wave has roughly a 50/50 chance, and dropping at present, of developing into a potential threat to gulf operations.
• Heads up to police chiefs: Cops are being filmed, all the time, everywhere they go. You do not have a prayer of stopping this no matter what bullshit laws are passed to protect dishonest cops. More importantly, why would you want to protect them?
• US based Raytheon shows off new laser zap gun for aircraft at British air show.

Promising stricter consumer financial protections and "no more taxpayer-funded bailouts … period," President Barack Obama this morning signed into law a hard-fought financial regulatory measure that is being touted as "the most sweeping financial regulatory overhaul since the Great Depression," according to MSNBC.

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the most sweeping financial regulatory overhaul since the Great Depression Wednesday, saying that the new laws will foster innovation, not hamper it.

Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., Wednesday morning, Obama noted that over the past two years the nation has faced the worst recession since the Great Depression, with millions of Americans losing their jobs and watching the value of their retirement savings decline.

“The primary cause was a breakdown in our financial system,” Obama said. For years, the U.S. financial system was governed by “antiquated” rules, he said. “Rules left abuse unchecked and taxpayers on the hook if a financial institution failed.”

“There will be no more tax-funded bailouts ... period,” Obama added, and he noted that lawmakers will still need to “make adjustments” to the rules as the financial system adapts to the changes.

For an in-depth overview of the specific measures contained in the bill, check out the Senate Banking Committee summary (PDF).

President Obama's full statement can be read beneath the fold.

Remember way back in March of this year when Rep. Mike Pence condemned teabaggers' use of racial slurs directed at Rep. John Lewis at a teabagger event in DC? While many of his fellow Republicans accused Lewis of, well, lying, Pence nobly defended (sort of) Lewis's integrity and condemned the racial slurs:

“A couple of weeks before the alleged incident occurred, I was walking across the bridge in Selma, Ala., with John Lewis,” said Pence. “I take at face value what John Lewis said. If John Lewis said he heard it, I believe he’s a man of integrity. And I would denounce those kinds of statements in the strongest possible terms.”  

Well, that was March, and this is July, and now Pence is ready to join a new Tea Party Caucus in Congress, founded by the Queen of Batshit Crazy herself, Michele Bachmann.

At a press availability this afternoon, Pence was enthusiastic. "You betcha," Pence said when asked if he'd join.

"I come out of a background -- I was chairman of the Republican Study Committee, I was chairman of...the House Conservative Caucus," he added. "My hope is that this Tea Party caucus...will be an avenue for bringing some of the energy and the enthusiasm and the focus that I've seen, from the National March on Washington where I spoke on 9/12, to traveling around Indiana and all around the country, deeper into the well of Congress."

In April, I gave Mike credit for having slightly more class than his fellow Republicans because he actually gave a fellow member of Congress the benefit of the doubt and condemned the teabaggers' racism.

My bad.

If you enjoyed last year's health care meltdown, when promising reforms were whittled down to an insurance bill that barely was worth passing, then you'll really appreciate the Florida gubernatorial candidacy of Rick Scott. If you love the health insurance industry, you'll really appreciate the Florida gubernatorial candidacy of Rick Scott. If you're tired of nefarious industries buying politicians, and would rather see a politician already owned because he has been an owner, you'll really appreciate the Florida gubernatorial candidacy of Rick Scott.

Who is Rick Scott? As Media Matters explained, last year:

Rick Scott's company, Columbia/HCA, paid a $1.7 billion settlement after pleading guilty to several charges.  The fraud was so rampant under Scott's leadership that some documents were brazenly "stamped with warnings that they should not be disclosed to Medicare auditors," "some hospitals were knowingly inflating the numbers reported to the Government in the cost report to improperly raise total compensation," and they "improperly included expenses for employee picnics, Christmas gifts and food for nonemployees at social functions as expenditures related to patient care in the cost report for its headquarters."

Columbia/HCA pled guilty to "overcharging the government," "exaggerating the seriousness of the illnesses" of patients, and giving doctors kickbacks in order to receive higher Medicare payments.  Well done. It takes a special kind of person to steal money from a program that helps hardworking Americans.

Yes, Rick Scott once led the health care industry's largest company. Yes, Rick Scott once led what was arguably the health care industry's slimiest and sleaziest company. The slime and sleaze leading to his ouster. As explained by karoli, at Crooks And Liars:

Columbia/HCA didn't just scheme to defraud Medicare a little bit. They schemed to commit fraud on a mega-fraud basis. And it wasn't just insurance companies they tried to rip off. It was Medicare, Medicaid, and even TRICARE, the health plan that covers our veterans. It wasn't only overbilling, either. Here's a partial list:

   * Intentional year-end record fraud alleging payments from the government less than actually received, leaving the government with the burden of overpaying them.
   * Payment of kickbacks to providers to inflate claims billed to Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE.
   * Billing costs to the government which were not allowed.
   * Inflating the cost of transferring patients from HCA facilities to other, non-HCA facilities.
   * Inflating claims for indigent patients.
   * Paying kickbacks for diabetes patients.
   * Overbilling states for Medicaid patients.

The entire list and summary of the case is on the DOJ website.

Columbia/HCA settled the morass of fraud claims for $1.7 billion, the largest-ever settlement of a Medicare fraud investigation.

But it gets better. Or worse, depending on your taste for slime and sleaze. From a 2009 article by Nick Baumann, in Mother Jones:

Back in March, Scott spent $5 million of his own money to set up a nonprofit called Conservatives for Patients' Rights. The group aims to be the command center for the right's fight against Democratic reform efforts. With the major interest groups—including hospital companies, pharmaceutical companies, and doctors—that have opposed reform in the past holding their fire this year in order to have a seat at the legislative table, Scott's group has filled the anti-reform void. According to an estimate reported by the Associated Press, around $15 million has already been spent on ads favoring the Democrats' plan, and  $4 million has been spent to oppose it. Much of that $4 million has come from Scott and CPR, and he's claimed his group will spend as much as $20 million.

Yes, Rick Scott was health care reform's number one enemy. To the degree that health care reform fell short of its potential, Rick Scott is significantly to blame. And, of course, his tactics in opposing health care reform were those tried and true Republican favorites: lies. And worse. Or better, once again depending on your taste for slime and sleaze.

Baumann:

To disseminate its message, CPR has hired the same public relations company that handled the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

To say Scott Swift Boated health care reform isn't an exaggeration. It's exactly accurate. And it gets even better. Or worse. Once again. As Sam Stein wrote, last year:

A report released on Tuesday calls out former hospital CEO Rick Scott for sitting on the board of a company used by Saudi Arabia and Iran to suppress Internet access. In recent months, Scott has become the most high-profile conservative activist working to oppose the health care reforms backed by the Obama administration.

The newly formed organization Media Matters Action Network released a document on Tuesday detailing Scott's links to the Internet monitoring company Secure Computing, and the use of that company's software by some of the world's most oppressive regimes.

The findings add another politically provocative element to the battle over health care reform. While officials with Secure Computing did not immediately return requests for information on Scott's work or compensation, the optics could be problematic. Scott has pledged to spend more than $5 million of his own money to build resistance to greater government involvement in the health care industry. Where that money comes from changes the perception of his opposition.

Got that? Scott made money off a company that helped Saudi Arabia and Iran repress their people, then used that money to help kill health care reform. Perhaps the voters of Florida should know. Perhaps they should know that he once led a company that defrauded publicly funded government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and even TRICARE, which covers military veterans. Perhaps they should know that the man attempting to become their governor defrauded them, and helped prevent them from having the much better health care system so many Americans desperately need.

The party that prides itself on fiscal know-how strikes again:

The Republican Party's national organizing body failed to report more than $7 million in debt to federal election officials this year, making it appear to be in better shape than it was as mid-term elections approach in November, a Washington newspaper said Wednesday.

In a memo to GOP budget officers, Republican National Committee Treasurer Randy Pullen accused RNC Chairman Michael Steele and his chief of staff of trying to hide the damaging information from him by ordering other staff members not to communicate with Pullen, the Washington Times reported.

The fur is beginning to fly, and the RNC communications director is pushing back, saying this is all "standard practice." Of course it is, for the party that looooved Enron. Remember what they think is "standard practice" as they weigh in on how horrible the Wall Street reform measures are that are being signed into law by President Obama today.

Yesterday the Senate finally voted after months of a stalemate to restore unemployment benefits. But as Steve Benen points out, months of stalemates aren't enough for the modern obstructionist Republicans. They've got to twist the knife just a little longer:

Under inexplicable Senate rules, after a filibuster is broken, the minority trying to block passage can delay a final, up-or-down vote for 30 hours. Democrats hoped Republicans would agree to waive this pointless delay, and allow the Senate to vote on jobless aid. Republicans, who know the bill is going to pass anyway, refused without explanation.

Of course! No explanation because there isn't one beyond getting in the way of granting relief to hard-up Americans. Needless to say, Harry Reid wasn't happy.

Now, I hope the American people understand how callous this is. People are desperate, can't make house payments, car payments, can't pay for kids' food. And they are having us wait for 30 hours after cloture's been invoked. We only need a simple majority to pass this bill now, but they're making us wait. I just can't articulate in strong enough feelings how unfair this is to 2.5 million people.... Every hour that is delayed is more misery for 2.5 million people.

And neither this morning was the White House, which issued the following spot-on statement:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2010
 
Statement by the Press Secretary on Continued Delay on Unemployment Insurance Extension

A day after the Senate moved forward to pass the unemployment insurance extension to help millions of Americans fighting to get back on their feet and find work, the partisan minority in the Senate is yet again obstructing passage of this bill.  After blocking this aid three separate times over the past weeks, Republicans have once again refused to reach an agreement and allow this bill to come to the floor for a vote quickly so these benefits can be restored.  Republican obstruction has already cost 2.5 million Americans essential aid they need to pay their rent, put food on the table, and take care of their kids.  By the end of this week, roughly 350,000 more Americans could be added to that number.  The livelihoods of nearly 3 million Americans shouldn’t hinge on partisan game playing in Washington.  This latest move gives the partisan minority thirty more hours to stall in the Senate, but that means thirty more hours of suffering for these hardworking families trying to get by. 

No other business can be handled by the Senate either while this show is going on, according to Benen. But like it or not, a deadline will hit at 9 PM EDT and the vote will be forced upon their shallow, indifferent heads.