The No on Prop 19 campaign – those wonderful folks protecting marijuana prohibition – have stooped to attacking cops, judges, doctors, and teachers on the campaign’s official website.

In a landing page from an online ad, the No on Prop 19 campaign photoshopped burning joints into the mouths of five people (from stock photos) dressed as a doctor, teacher, judge, police officer, and a young woman. The text of the site – which has been changed since DrugWarRant.com first reported the page and its painfully obvious spelling mistake – warns of “bus drivers, forklift operators, hospital technicians, crossing guards who might be stoned could be coming to your community.”

Does the No on Prop 19 campaign trust our public guardians so little, it thinks all that’s stopping police, judges, doctors, and teachers from going to work high is current marijuana law?

Remember: it was No on Prop 19’s Tim Rosales whom called our Just Say Now campaign “tasteless.”

It's all about Sen. Collins (R-ME). . . and Sen. Snowe. (photo: Remy Steinegger)

The Senate has begun their cloture vote on the state fiscal aid bill, which would provide $26.1 billion dollars in Medicaid and education jobs funding. The bill, a gut-and-amend of an FAA Authorization Bill, is fully paid for through a series of measures, including an $11.9 billion dollar cut to the food stamp program, starting in 2014. Allies pushing for this vote vow to restore that funding in later years.

I’ll update as it goes along. All eyes are on three Senators: Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Ben Nelson.

…Even if this vote passes, the House would have to concur, and they’re not supposed to be in session until September. There was talk yesterday of calling the House back to pass this.

…Scott Brown votes no, he actually authored a state aid bill that was fully paid for that was substantially similar to this.

…Ben Nelson votes Aye, as does Lieberman and Pryor. Basically, if Collins or Snowe votes Aye, this will pass.

…Susan Collins votes Aye, so this is going to pass today. We’ll see if the House goes into session for it. And of course, it just delays a cut to the poor out four years, so there’s work to be done.

…Snowe also voted Aye.

…The motion passes 61-38. I would expect final passage to happen sometime this week.

President Barack Obama greets James Clapper, his nominee for director of national intelligence. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

So, after a last minute dance with three Republican holds, James Clapper is poised to be confirmed as Director of National Intelligence. As I noted before, this means someone most Senators either have or have had concerns about will be approved by big numbers to head our intelligence community.

But the more important story about this nomination seems to be about holds and reform.

As I noted before, John McCain briefly put a hold on Clapper’s nomination. As Marc Ambinder explains, he did so as leverage to demand information on a satellite program over which Congress and the Administration has clashed.

The Director of National Intelligence’s office has sent Sen. John McCain’s office its top secret report on the development of two “tier-two” electro-optical satellites that Congress doesn’t want funded but the intelligence establishment believes it desperately needs. Neither McCain’s office, the White House, nor the DNI would confirm that McCain was seeking information about the highly classified development program, nor would they say why it took so long to send McCain the report he requested.

In parallel with McCain’s hold, Kit Bond and Tom Coburn–who, as Senate Intelligence Committee members, both voted for Clapper’s nomination in the Committee–put a hold on Clapper’s nomination as leverage to get a report on threat assessments of people at Gitmo.

The Cable caught up with Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, who said that two other senators were holding up the nomination, committee ranking Republican Kit Bond, R-MO, and Tom Coburn, R-OK. The senators wanted ODNI to deliver an overdue threat assessment on the prisoners being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

[snip]

Bond told The Cable Tuesday that he is getting the information he desires.

“Today I talked to General Clapper and I’m pleased the intelligence community is now working to provide the documents and access that I — and other members — have been seeking and that they are required by law to share with lawmakers,” he said.

Coburn also denied he has a formal “hold” on Clapper but said he was worried about the Guantánamo threat assessment.

“I think it’s important that we look at the vast number of people that have been released under the Bush administration and the Obama administration from Guantánamo who are now trying to kill American soldiers,” he said. “And I think that information is due and the intelligence committee ought to be getting it. So I am trying to do whatever I can to make good decisions.”

So prepare for James Clapper to take over at DNI!

And with his confirmation, expect Congress to lose the leverage it had to force the Administration to accept some real intelligence reform, reform that would, among other things, require Presidential Administrations to share information required by Congress more readily and widely. [cont'd.]