Mocking Sarah Palin

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GetEQUAL protests at Capitol for vote on ENDA: Pelosi told us to pressure her

Earlier today, activists from GetEQUAL staged another protest to push for LGBT legislation in Congress. Today, the focus was on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the venue was the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol today.

Last week, GetEQUAL published a list of timeline of broken promises from a myriad of elected officials promising votes on ENDA. To date, there have been no votes and, as far as we can tell, none are planned.

A press release from GetEQUAL's provided context for the protest:

"We know that Speaker Pelosi has the political prowess and the political bandwidth to take on ENDA while the Senate is shepherding 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' through the legislative process," said Robin McGehee, co-founder of GetEQUAL. "We are pressuring Speaker Pelosi to move on ENDA because, while we know that she values the legislation, we have yet to see her show the leadership she's promised in taking ENDA out of committee and moving it through the House."

"We are following her advice to 'make her do it,' and to ensure that she and the rest of the House see that people's lives and livelihoods are on the line here," said Heather Cronk, managing director of GetEQUAL. "As we head into the August recess, we will take the energy of today's Rotunda action out into the states, and look forward to building popular support for the legislation in coalition with other LGBT organizations. We will concentrate on the districts where Representatives and Senators have not yet found the courage to step forward to support ENDA -- both Republicans and Democrats."

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees can be fired from their jobs in 29 states, and transgender or gender-nonconforming employees can be fired in 38 states. (My emphasis)

On Saturday at Netroots Nation, Speaker Pelosi repeatedly told progressive activists to "make her" pass progressive legislation like ENDA, comprehensive immigration reform, and a comprehensive climate change bill. GetEQUAL activists took up that challenge and today's action builds on prior actions that GetEQUAL has organized or co-organized, including sit-ins in Speaker Pelosi's offices in March of this year, a shut-down of the Las Vegas Strip last week targeting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and several rallies at Speaker Pelosi's district office in San Francisco, including one yesterday.

And, some photos from the protest courtesy of Ian Goldin/GetEQUAL.

The protest:

The arrests:
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Ellsberg: Obama 'has indicted more people for leaks than all previous presidents together'

The Wikileaks leak is all the rage; it's having its 15 minutes of fame. (More on delayed detonation of that bomb at the bottom of this post.)

Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, appeared on Larry King Live this week, as did Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers leaker from the Vietnam War era, and Michael Hastings, the recently famous Rolling Stone writer. The transcript is here (h/t ezpz in the comments of this post).

There's much in the show to comment on, but here are two fast take-aways:

1. In the Julian Assange interview, King asks him (my emphasis):

KING: The U.S. national security adviser, General James Jones, calls this irresponsible. According to him, "The disclosure could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk and threaten our national security." How would you respond to that?

ASSANGE: Well, we're used to dealing with organizations that have been exposed as a result of our publishing efforts, and, you know, whenever we hear something like that, how could this be incorrect? I mean, a Martian may land on the Pentagon at any moment in time. That doesn't mean that it's correct.

KING: So, you don't take this seriously, this criticism? Any fear -- any conscious [sic — conscience?] about possibly what you did cost a life?

ASSANGE: When you're talking about any and possibly, of course, all sorts of things can happen in political affairs that are not -- that are not predictable. But insofar as we can understand the material, we see material that's at least 7 months old. We have withheld approximately 15,000 reports for a further minimization process, and we don't see anything here that is of tactical significance.

It's so subtle, so part of the foliage, you almost miss it. "Cost a life." The blockbuster revelation so far from this material is the thousands of Afghan lives already lost. Yet King, like almost everyone living in this country, only totes up lost lives when they're ours. Afghan life, like Iraqi life, must be almost invisible, like raindrops compared to ours.

(Assange's answer, by the way, seemed a perfectly reasonable one; and no one wants any lives lost — that's kind of the point.)

2. Daniel Ellsberg is asked to comment on a clip of press secretary Robert Gibbs complaining about the leaks:

KING: Daniel, do you understand why Mr. Gibbs, representing the president, is so upset?

ELLSBERG: Well, he's very upset in part because he's working for a president who has indicted more people now for leaks than all previous presidents put together. And two of those people -- Thomas Drake and Shamai Leibowitz -- have been indicted for acts that were undertaken under Bush, which [the] George W. Bush administration chose not to indict.

So this is an administration that's more concerned about preventing transparency, I would say, than its predecessor which I'm very sorry to hear. As somebody who voted for Obama and expect to vote for him again, despite all this.

Yikes. That's all — yikes. (Video of the Ellsberg intervew is available here.)

About delayed detonation: The current counter-spin has veered from "Bad wiki" to "Gosh, didn't we already know that?" Nice move; I didn't see the soft-pedal coming.

But wait until all the citizen solders, the bloggers, the commenters, the research professionals and un-embedded journalists — the real ones — dig through that pile. My guess? This bomb will explode for months.

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BREAKING: Federal judges 'blocked the most controversial parts' of Arizona's SB 1070

A major decision today in Arizona:

A federal judge, ruling on a clash between the federal government and a state over immigration policy, has blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law from going into effect.

In a ruling on a law that has rocked politics coast to coast and thrown a spotlight on the border state’s fierce debate over immigration, United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix said some aspects of the law can go into effect as scheduled on Thursday.

The parts of the law that the judge blocked included the sections that called for officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws and that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times. Judge Bolton put those sections on hold until the issues are resolved by the courts.

I posted the full decision, via Scribd.com, after the break.

Here's the decision:
Decision in lawsuit against Arizona SB 1070 Read More......

Dems bending over backwards to assure Republicans they won't pass legislation during lame duck session

Of course, it's entirely legal to pass legislation during the lame duck session. It's not like Congess ceases to exist between the elections and the swearing in of a new Congress. But, Democrats being Democrats, all the Republicans have to do is say "boo!" and they back away as quickly as they can. Really quite pathetic.

From The Hill:

The head of House Democrats’ campaign committee tried Tuesday to tamp down speculation that the party would try to push through major legislation during a lame-duck session of Congress this fall.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the assistant to the Speaker and chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), said “no one should think there’s some secret plan for after the election on big issues.”

“There’s no secret or overt plan to do something like that,” he told MSNBC.

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Missouri Teabaggers: We have NOT endorsed Roy Blunt. And, they're angry at Bachmann.

Woah. There's a major intra-GOP cat fight underway in Missouri.

Seems Michelle Bachmann, founder of the House Teabagger Caucus, is going to be campaigning this weekend for GOP Senate candidate Roy Blunt. His primary is next Tuesday, August 3rd. Joe the Plumber did an ad for Blunt's right-wing opponent, Chuck Purgason, this week.

Well, the Missouri teabaggers are NOT happy. Not at all. They're not for Blunt and want everyone, including Bachmann, to know it. Sean at FiredUp Missouri has the details:

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney: "More that two dozen Missouri TEA parties say a bid by US Senate candidate to capitalize on their movement has 'shocked' them...'Roy Blunt voted for TARP and Cash for Clunkers. For Michele Bachmann to come to Missouri and give the impression that all the Missouri Tea Parties support Roy Blunt is an abomination of everything we have been standing up for,' said Jedidiah Smith, a Tea Party leader in Franklin County, Missouri."

And, here's that Teabagger press release.
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Maine's teabagger/GOP candidate for Governor caught lying. Will now only give written answers to media

Maine's Republican Party has its own version of Sharron Angle. He's the GOP candidate for Governor: Paul LePage. After a rough week, in which he basically spewed out a series of lies and personal attacks, LePage said he's not talking to the media anymore, via the Kennebec Journal:

"How do we keep this above board, how do we keep this straight?" Hale asked.

"Well, from now on, what I am going to do is, I'm not going to make any comments to reporters unless it's in writing," LePage said.

Hale asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," LePage said. "Because they won't report what you say, they just report the spin that they want to put on it."

Huh? See, part of the problem is that when LePage opens his mouth, he inserts his foot. For example:

On Tuesday, Democratic officials once again called on LePage to apologize for statements over the weekend in which he said that the Democrats’ 2010 campaign manager, Arden Manning, had suggested LePage was not fit to be governor because he is Catholic and of French Canadian descent.

Manning has denounced the accusation as “a lie, plain and simple.” And on Tuesday, the Maine Democratic Party insinuated that LePage’s statements could land him in legal hot water — even while citing the controversy in an appeal for campaign donations.

I believe Manning. LePage just flat out lied. That's disturbing on several levels. But, it's not unusual. He's made some bizarre statements in the past.

LePage thinks creationism should be taught in public schools. Seriously. In a televised debate of the GOP gubernatorial candidates on May 27th 2010, Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s each of the candidates was asked: “Do you believe in creationism, and do you think it should be taught in Maine public schools?” LePage's answer: “I would say intelligence, uh, the more education you have the more knowledge you have the better person you are and I believe yes and yes.”

Maine has a strong legacy of environmental leadership. But, even in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, LePage supports offshore drilling. In that same candidate's debate On May 27 on Maine Public Broadcasting Network, LePage was asked if he would support drilling off the coast of Maine. He answered “Yes.” Two of Maine's premiere industries are tourism and lobsters. Offshore drilling would do a number on both.

The Democratic candidate is Libby Mitchell (LePage trashed Libby about her age over the weekend, too.) There are also a couple of independents in the race.

So, when you wonder why Collins and Snowe aren't being the moderates they purport to be, keep in mind that their stand-bearer in Maine is a teabagger. Collins has already endorsed LePage. I'm sure Snowe will. Read More......

Senate Dems blocking move by Senate Dems to change filibuster

Our government isn't working. That seems obvious to most Americans. And, the big problem is the Senate. The GOP's obstructionist tactics have prevented that body's ability to solve some of our nation's glaring problems. But, instead of trying to fix the filibuster, several Senate Democrats are enabling the obstruction by blocking efforts to change the rules. Via The Hill, here are some of the problems:

“It won’t happen,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said she would “probably not” support an effort to lower the number of votes needed to cut off filibusters from 60 to 55 or lower.

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) echoed Feinstein: “I think we should retain the same policies that we have instead of lowering it.
“I think it has been working,” he said.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) said he recognizes his colleagues are frustrated over the failure to pass measures such as the Disclose Act, campaign legislation that fell three votes short of overcoming a Republican filibuster Tuesday.

“I think as torturous as this place can be, the cloture rule and the filibuster is important to protect the rights of the minority,” he said. “My inclination is no.”

Sen. Jon Tester, a freshman Democrat from Montana, disagrees with some of his classmates from more liberal states.

“I think the bigger problem is getting people to work together,” he said. “It’s been 60 for a long, long time. I think we need to look to ourselves more than changing the rules.”

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who is up for reelection in 2012, also said he would like the votes needed for cloture to remain the same.

“I’m not one who think it needs to be changed,” he said.

Of course Nelson doesn't want it changed. He sides with GOPers all the time. But Feinstein? Tester?

The filibuster has to be fixed.

Chris Bowers has been keeping track of filibuster vote count, including some of this year's candidates. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The President is heading to New Jersey tomorrow to talk about the economy. He'll be at the Tastee Sub Shop in Edison. He's also taping "The View." (It will air tomorrow.)

The House is getting ready to head home for recess. They'll be adjourning on Friday. I have to say, with some notable exceptions like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), the House really has delivered on the Democratic agenda. But, time after time, that agenda was stalled in the Senate. And, the White House often dissed the House for doing exactly what the President said he wanted.

The Senate has another week before recess. Big loss for campaign finance reform yesterday and, thus, a big win for the GOP's corporate benefactors. It's beyond annoying that Snowe and Collins voted to filibuster the DISCLOSE Act when Mainers voted to enact a Clean Elections law. And, that happened fourteen years ago -- in 1996. Those two know where their constituents stand, but stuck with Mitch McConnell again. They're such frauds.

I'm in Maine for the next couple days. And, the weather is perfect. Read More......

The President is on 'The View' this week with that lesbian expert Elizabeth Hasselbeck

Yes, Obama is taping "The View" later today. We learned this week that one of the show's hosts, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, is an expert on lesbians. Who knew?:

This is actually very embarrassing.

But, "The View" has established its gay bona fides, perhaps the hosts could get Obama to explain his current positions on LGBT issues, particularly why he continues to defend DOMA and DADT in the courts. After all, Obama has said both laws are discriminatory. Since the President, as President, has never talked to LGBT media, maybe "The View" hosts can fill in. Read More......

CSI Gulf of Mexico

Would that the federal officials responsible for overseeing oil drilling and enforcing the nation's environmental laws were as organized and diligent as the crew investigating potential crimes:

A team of federal investigators known as the "BP squad" is assembling in New Orleans to conduct a wide-ranging criminal probe that will focus on at least three companies and examine whether their cozy relations with federal regulators contributed to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, according to law enforcement and other sources.

The squad at the FBI offices includes investigators from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal agencies, the sources said. In addition to BP, the firms at the center of the inquiry are Transocean, which leased the Deepwater Horizon rig to BP, and engineering giant Halliburton, which had finished cementing the well only 20 hours before the rig exploded April 20, sources said.

If the GOPers take over Congress, they'll prevent this investigation. They'll defund it or use some other gimmick.

I wouldn't be surprised to see BP start turning its (failed) P.R. campaign into a political campaign. And, the Senate GOPers blocked campaign finance reform, so that's really not a joke. It's a possibility. Read More......

GOPers Vitter and Blunt sponsor bills to protect BP by limiting liability

You'd think that the Senator from Louisiana would want to hold BP accountable. Not David Vitter. He wants to pass legislation to protect BP by limiting the company's liability by basing liability on BP's profits (and, as we reported earlier, BP had a $17 billion loss in the last quarter.)

Via Sam Stein:

Instead, the GOP has rallied around a counter-proposal, authored by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) that would cap an oil company's liability at an amount equal to its profits of the last four quarters. If the company had not made a profit in the past four quarters, it would be liable for $150 million (or twice the current cap).

To be sure, BP still has a chance to turn around its profit margin during the next three quarters. But in terms of net earnings, it is now operating out of a $17 billion hole. If Vitter's version of economic liability legislation were the law of the land, there would be open concern about the damage payments that Gulf residents would end up recouping. As a Democratic operative working on the issue notes:

When Vitter introduced the bill, we pointed out that one of the co-owners of the Deepwater Horizon rig, Andarko, had not made a profit in the last year. But with this news today, if BP doesn't overcome this quarter's losses, next year they could be responsible for a disaster as bad as or worse than the one in the Gulf and they would only be liable for $150 million if Vitter's bill were law.

UPDATE: An astute reader points out that another Senate candidate, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), has sponsored legislation similar to Vitter's in the House.

Vitter and Blunt are two of the GOP's top Senate candidates this year. Protecting BP is a top priority.

And, we're all well aware of Vitter's shady past with prostitutes. Turns out Blunt is a Party Boy -- a big time DC Party Boy. Read More......

'Put down that plastic, Mr. President'

A tip for the president from Jennifer Grayson, the green columnist at Huffington Post, writing at her own place (my emphasis):

President Obama, you’ve spearheaded a number of meaningful environmental reforms since taking office (raising fuel efficiency standards for cars, an $80 billion investment in clean energy technology, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program) — and it seems like you genuinely want to move this country toward a clean energy future, especially in the wake of the BP oil disaster — so would it be too much to ask you to stop being a shill for the bottled water industry? . . .

It may seem like a minor detail, but those little plastic bottles are having a big impact on our nation’s oil footprint, once you factor in the crude used to make the plastic, the energy needed to process the water, the fuel used to transport the bottles, the electricity to refrigerate them… The grand total? Fifty million barrels of the sticky stuff a year. . . .

Now imagine the example you’d set for all of us if you were photographed sporting a reusable Nalgene or Klean Kanteen[.]

Seems like a reasonable request for all of us. May as well start with what's in our hand; it's at least something we can control.

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Iraq and Afghanistan war spending tops $1 trillion

Today, the House voted to approve another emergency supplemental appropriation to cove the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Anyone who is bitching about the deficit needs to know this:

With the new war spending, the total amount of money that Congress has allotted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan surpasses $1 trillion.

The war in Iraq never should have happened. If that war of choice hadn't distracted the U.S., we might have actually done the job in Afghanistan in a timely fashion. But, nine years laters, it's still a mess

This is a testament to the failed leadership of George Bush and Dick Cheney. That $1 trillion is all deficit spending. Just like the Bush tax cuts. But, those faux deficit hawks never gave these Bush/Cheney policies a second thought.

And, the money is one thing. There's no price tag that can sum up the unnecessary human tragedies. Read More......

Al Franken: 'I don't get BP's lack of remorse'

Still subbing for Keith Olbermann on Countdown, Lawrence O'Donnell had a segment on the BP vice-president of Safety, Steve Flynn. O'Donnell, of course, thinks Flynn should resign, especially after his evasive testimony before a congressional sub-committee recently. ("I'm not the VP of Safety, I'm the VP of Thoughts About Safety" — or words to that effect.)

But I'd like to focus on Sen. Al Franken's questioning, which is embedded in the Countdown segment:



Al Franken, mano-a-mano (well, "man to man" anyway) with BP's VP of Safety. Thank you, Senator.

Now my own point: Maybe the senator is saying that ("I don't get it") for show, as a way of making the point. Or maybe he really doesn't get it. But notice he's not making the real point, the obvious one, the one thought that a world swimming in Charmin ads finds it impossible to consistently think.

The obvious thought is this, and it's a statement: No corporate "person" will ever feel remorse.

How on earth could it? A corporate "person" has no heart, no soul, no head, no capacity to feel anything at all. It is simply a beast that feeds itself. (Well, ostensibly it feeds the stock-holders, but we're way past that stage of capitalism, aren't we.)

And the central fact of this new century is that we live in a forest of such beasts, surrounded by them, constantly feeding them. We are things to them, literally. They eat us and we feed them.

But they also feed us in return. They surround us with images of the beast as human — as the kind store-keeper in the Charmin commercial; that nice business-blonde who cares about our energy future; the horny frat-bro-next-door who brings Zima and twins to your next party.

It's really hard, in a forest of such images, to see the beast behind the we-care human simulations. But it's critical that we do; the BP oil spill has kicked the Beast War* into the next phase, and believe me, he who is confused, will lose.

(*Apologies to George Lucas; he knows I mean well.)

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