Intelligence agencies still not sharing information

Obama inherited the current "fix" that the Bush administration put into place. There was no reason to assume that Bush didn't fix this after the first screw up, also known as September 11. So why is this still happening? Read More......

Dems are moving to sack the superdelegates

There's some New Year's cheer. Read More......

2009 words to banish

Taegan cites a few:

Among the 2009 "winners" that played roles in American political discourse: shovel-ready, czar, teachable moment, stimulus, in these economic times, and the Obama-as-prefix construction (Obamacare, Obamanomics).

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1 in 5 divorce papers reference Facebook

Then again, I hear 1 in 5 Republican divorce papers reference Jeff Gannon. Read More......

Tech President: "The Obama Disconnect: What Happens When Myth Meets Reality"

I'm particularly fascinated by Plouffe's assertion that the White House does messaging, not organizing. I think that's true in the case of the Obama White House. I don't, however, thinks it's inherently true of every inhabitant of past White Houses. And I suspect this is a part or the problem the White House is having on a variety of issues - they see themselves as spokesmen, not strategists; they are there to talk about what they want (sometimes), not actually organize to win. And they mostly see the online world as a place to push a message, not a constituency, and not a tool. From Micah Sifry at TechPresident:

In The Audacity to Win, Plouffe writes often of an "enthusiasm gap" that he saw between Obama's supporters and the other Democratic candidates, notably Clinton. Back then, there was plenty of evidence to support Plouffe's claim: Obama was surging on all the online social networks, his videos were being shared and viewed in huge numbers, and the buzz was everywhere. We certainly wrote about it often here on techPresident. Now, there is a new enthusiasm gap, but it's no longer in Obama's favor. That's because you can't order volunteers to do anything--you have to motivate them, and Obama's compromises to almost every powers-that-be are tremendously demotivating. The returns OFA is getting on email blasts appear to be dropping significantly, for example. "“People are frustrated because we have done our part,” one frustrated Florida Obama activist told the Politico. “We put these people in the position to make change and they’re not doing it.” (See also this petition from 400 former Obama staffers.) DC insiders may blame the fickle media, or the ugliness of the cable/blog chatter, or the singleminded Republican opposition, for the new enthusiasm gap. These are all certainly factors. But I suspect that when the full history of Obama's presidency is written, scholars may decide that his team's failure to devote more attention to reinventing the bully pulpit in the digital age, and to carrying over more of the campaign's grassroots energy, may turn out to be pivotal to evaluations of Obama's success, or failure, as president....

Now that Obama is President, Plouffe--a well-paid adviser to the DNC and OFA-- apparently doesn't see the same need as he did during the campaign for muscular local organization, even of the top-down kind. In his 40-minute interview with Ari Melber of The Nation (and regular techPresident contributor) a few weeks ago, he explains that the White House doesn't need to be putting its new media operation on the same high level that the campaign did. "In the White House, obviously you're not really raising money and you're not really doing organizing," he says to Melber. (Really?) "The main focus is to help deliver message." Hence the new media team belongs as a subset of White House communications, as opposed to "digital strategy." The dusty old playbook at work....

In the face of strong questioning from Melber about signs of declining support for Obama among young voters, and in the vastly lower counts he is getting on his Youtube video, Plouffe refuses to give out hard, checkable metrics on the health of the Obama base. Hearing Melber describe the disgusted reaction of uber-blogger Markos Moulitsas to a recent OFA fundraising email, Plouffe somewhat hotly replies, "It's easy to take potshots, but I'm very closely in contact with the people who make up the heartbeat of the ground level of Obama for America, who are still out there." (Telling that he says "Obama for America," not "Organizing for America.") He asserts:

"We've had a couple million people out there volunteering for health care, quietly in communities, helping maintain support. It's different from a campaign; you're not out there saying, 'Register eight voters today.'.... I quite frankly am thrilled that over two million people, which is a lot, have done something on health care, meaning: they've gone out and knocked on doors; they visited a congressional office; they helped organize a press conference. It's happened in all 50 states, and we think it's a small part of why health care will get done."

I'm sorry, but when two million people are in motion in favor of something, because they put themselves in motion, we know what that feels like. It's called a movement. It started to happen in 2007-08, and it hasn't happened since.

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Top 10 weirdest moments of 2009

I would concur with most of these:

- Obama has to be sworn in twice
- Sarah Palin resigns
- Sheila Jackson-Lee addresses Michael Jackson's funeral (I'd say it was Al Sharpton tweeting from the funeral)
- Blago does reality tv
- White House beer summit (absolutely)
- Sanford confesses — and confesses, and confesses
- Tom DeLay goes on "Dancing With the Stars"
- Bloomberg, Gingrich and Sharpton team up to talk education at the White House (maybe)
- Steele vs. Limbaugh (not weird, just sad)
- Doug Hoffman says ACORN stole his election (even weirder, FOX News and GOP in general repeating the same thing) Read More......

China sentences "living Buddha" to prison

The kangaroo courts of China continue. Remind me again why the IOC gave China the Olympics and then tried to claim it was a success for opening up China from the knuckle-dragging ways of the communist party? (Hat tip to our friend Cat)

The monk's legal team said the firearms had been planted and a confession extracted through torture. They added that while his property had been ceded to him, the paperwork had not been drawn up correctly.

An initial trial last year provoked a wave of media attention and a verdict was never returned. "The story of this religious leader is symptomatic of Beijing's heavy-handed treatment of Tibetans," said Woeser, a leading Tibetan activist. The local government in Kardze county viewed his case as one of the biggest causes of "instability" in the region.

At a second trial in Kangting, the monk's lawyers were disqualified from representing him and his family was forbidden to hire a fresh legal team and forced to use a court-appointed defence. Although he was acquitted of the illegal possession of a firearm, he was given seven years for illegally occupying state land and a further one-and-a-half years for possessing the bullets.

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Jobs improving, again

What was that GOP talking point about the Democrats being so bad for the economy? Wrong again. It's not going to improve overnight but it's steadily improving. Working off the problems of Republican economics will take more time and maybe even another stimulus round. Let's see where we are at the end of the first quarter.

The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for unemployment insurance fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000, the lowest since July 2008. That's much better than the rise to 460,000 that Wall Street economists expected.

The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, fell for the 17th straight week to 460,250, the lowest since September 2008, when the financial crisis intensified. The crisis led to widespread mass layoffs, which sent jobless claims to as high as 674,000 last spring.

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Immigration agents posing as Mormons?

Federal officials looking to terrorize illegal immigrants have found a new tool: posing as Mormon missionaries.

University of California at Santa Barbara professor, Jacqueline Stevens, reported in The Nation that the ACLU is investigating a claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials visited a home, dressed in LDS clothing, attempting to confirm an immigrant was living there. Marina Lowe, a Salt Lake City ACLU Attorney was interviewed for The Nation piece:

The woman, who was suspicious of other visitors seeking her husband around the same time, said two people dressed like missionaries, but lacking black name badges commonly worn by Mormon emissaries, came to her door, Lowe said.

"It was purely her impression," Lowe said. "She was very suspicious."

The day after she confirmed for the visitors that her husband lived there...he was arrested by ICE agents.

One would think even ICE has its limits. Not so:

When Stevens was preparing her article, she asked ICE whether it is consistent with government policy for its agents to pose as religious workers. The e-mailed answer did not deny suchruses, but instead said tactics are effective to enhance officer safety. "They told me it's consistent with their policy," Stevens said. "Why would I doubt it?”

And not quite a denial from the Mormons:

LDS Church spokeswoman Kim Farah declined comment. "The church cannot comment on unsubstantiated allegations," she wrote Monday in an e-mail.

All this, while the immigration debate in Congress is heating up. Today's LA Times details the White House's commitment to getting a comprehensive immigration bill passed, without revealing its position on key issues. With this White House, as we know, the devils in the details. Read More......

Most Americans optimistic about 2010

Sounds fair enough. Although there are some speed bumps ahead and a few possible road blocks to recovery, how could things be much worse than what we've experienced the last few years? How about for you? Optimistic for the new year or mostly glad we're heading out of 2009? What would make 2010 a good year for you? I'm going with optimistic. As long as the economy stabilizes I'll sleep much better at night and anything above would be a bonus.

For all their differences, Americans largely agree on two things: 2009 was a lousy year for the nation, and 2010 is likely to be better. Nearly three-fourths of Americans think 2009 was a bad year for the country, which was rocked by job losses, home foreclosures and economic sickness. Forty-two percent rated it "very bad," according to the latest AP-GfK poll.

That's clearly worse than in 2006, the last time a similar poll was taken. The survey that year found that 58 percent of Americans felt the nation had suffered a bad year, and 39 percent considered it a good year.

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Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's already 2010 in Australia. They're free of 2009.

Apparently, Limbaugh is "resting comfortably" in a Honolulu hospital after being admitted with chest pains.

There's another storm moving up the East Coast today. We're actually having a winter this winter here in D.C. Today, it's an ice storm. But, it doesn't seem too bad. Petey, the dog, won't go out in rain. He loves going out in snow. We'll soon find out his views on ice. I'm not optimistic.

Let's bring 2009 to an end.... Read More......

British priest who promoted shoplifting over starvation attacked

This brings me back to my earlier post about gift card stealing. We all know that stealing is wrong (not to mention illegal) so why is it that some people will have the book thrown at them for small theft yet we all watch as Wall Street penalizes so few? Is that fair? Isn't there a problem with the justice system that does nothing as business leaders walk away with tens of millions or more in settlements despite destroying the economy which triggered job losses? Yeah, yeah, the law says blah, blah, blah. Obviously we have serious problems with the laws when stealing a gift card - even $130,000 worth of them - or shoplifting food is a more serious crime than triggering the credit crisis that has so far cost trillions in the US alone. Are crimes now forgiven or ignored when they're over one trillion dollars in value?

Why is it that some react so strongly against the idea of shoplifting food to feed a family but not about the starvation itself? The man who attacked this priest is a coward and should be ashamed of himself, though he probably has no shame.

The Rev Tim Jones, from St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, attracted harsh words earlier this month from the police and a former archbishop of Canterbury for telling his congregation it was acceptable for the needy to steal to feed their families.

But there came a very different rebuke last weekend, when a man approached the priest outside the church and threw 30 tins worth of ravioli and spaghetti on him. The contents of the bucket may well have been inspired by Jones himself, who said he would "rather that people take an 80p can of ravioli rather than turn to some of the most appalling things".

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Norway combats superbugs by giving less antibiotics

A very interesting read on fighting the increasingly common superbugs. Too many doctors hand out antibiotics and pills like candy and that is a big part of the problem. The pharmaceutical industry may not like it and the doctors who receive too many give-aways from the industry may not be pleased but for those who are serious about health should start figuring out how to address this. If it helps save money for expensive drugs along the way, all the better.

Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this bacteria. But Norway's public health system fought back with an aggressive program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics.

Now a spate of new studies from around the world prove that Norway's model can be replicated with extraordinary success, and public health experts are saying these deaths — 19,000 in the U.S. each year alone, more than from AIDS — are unnecessary.

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Gift card theft is skyrocketing!

Oh my gosh! One clerk even stole $130,000 so set the alarm, call the police and prepare the firing squad. Retail lost billions they tell us. Life as we know it might be over. Businesses are surely going to upset with this new study, but maybe we all ought to be a lot more worried about the pilfering done from the top such as the trillions that are never coming back on Wall Street. The inside thieves are wrong, but I suspect they will be treated much more harshly than the CEOs and senior executives who ravaged the global economy.

After watching this last economic meltdown and banking recovery (with bonuses to match), I really don't have the stomach to listen to anyone complaining about small time theft like this. I suppose I'm equally wrong for not giving a damn but that's where I am following this disgraceful economic cycle. If I ever noticed honest leadership from our so-called leaders in politics or business, I might feel differently but that's not going to happen. Read More......

THIS JUST IN: Limbaugh rushed to hospital with chest pains

Apparently just reported. Read More......

I might have to check with my wife about this

This article could only be done by the British press. Yes, the subject is a new book from a French psychologist with some controversial issues. However, nobody can quite turn out stories about France being over-sexed quite like the British media. I remember taking the bus into Paris with an American who asked me if it's true what they say about everyone in France having affairs with everyone else. It's sort of like people outside of the US asking if everyone in America owns a gun and has violent crime on their doorstop every day.

If nothing else, it's worth a laugh because it's so typically British press. I really don't see where France is any different from any other country in terms of affairs. Somehow not the Daily Mail or Sun, but The Telegraph, of course:

Maryse Vaillant claims French men should stop being castigated for being serial womanisers and that keeping a mistress can actually improve their marriage.

In a controversial new book on the effects of infidelity on married life, Men, Love, Fidelity, Miss Vaillant says her aim is to "re-habilitate infidelity".

According to figures cited in the book, an estimated 39 per cent of French men cheat on their wives at some stage in their life.

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White House releases another 25,000 visitors records

Following through on the commitment to transparency. Read More......

New report documents Bush admin's early failures in Afghanistan caused by political pressures and Iraq war

James Dao got his hands on a Pentagon report titled, "A Different Kind of War." It's a history of the early years in Afghanistan -- and it paints an ugly picture of failed leadership. We're still enmeshed in that conflict because our political leaders, starting with Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, didn't pay any attention to the needs of the military people in that country:

The historians say resistance to providing more robust resources to Afghanistan had three sources in the White House and the Pentagon.

First, President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had criticized using the military for peacekeeping and reconstruction in the Balkans during the 1990s. As a result, “nation building” carried a derogatory connotation for many senior military officials, even though American forces were being asked to fill gaping voids in the Afghan government after the Taliban’s fall.

Second, military planners were concerned about Afghanistan’s long history of resisting foreign invaders and wanted to avoid the appearance of being occupiers. But the historians argue that this concern was based partly on an “incomplete” understanding of the Soviet experience in Afghanistan.

Third, the invasion of Iraq was siphoning away resources. After the invasion started in March 2003, the history says, the United States clearly “had a very limited ability to increase its forces” in Afghanistan.

It's good timing for the release of the report. Republicans -- and Joe Lieberman -- are huffing and puffing about national security today. But, that same crowd screwed up the war in Afghanistan -- against Al Qaeda and its allies -- and we're still paying the price. It's important to remember how inept our leaders were. With this record, how Dick Cheney or any Republican -- or Joe Lieberman -- has any credibility on national security is beyond me.

We're still dealing with the after effects of Bush's complete failure in Afghanistan. We're talking about Yemen now because Bush didn't do the job back then. Read More......

Politico: President Obama takes the heat President Bush did not

Politico:

Eight years ago, a terrorist bomber’s attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner was thwarted by a group of passengers, an incident that revealed some gaping holes in airline security just a few months after the attacks of Sept. 11. But it was six days before President George W. Bush, then on vacation, made any public remarks about the so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, and there were virtually no complaints from the press or any opposition Democrats that his response was sluggish or inadequate.

That stands in sharp contrast to the withering criticism President Barack Obama has received from Republicans and some in the press for his reaction to Friday’s incident on a Northwest Airlines flight heading for Detroit.

Democrats have seized on the disparity and are making it a centerpiece of their efforts to counter GOP attacks on the White House. “This hypocrisy demonstrates Republicans are playing politics with issues of national security and terrorism,” DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan said. “That they would use this incident as an opportunity to fan partisan flames … tells you all you need to know about how far the Republican Party has fallen and how out of step with the American people they have become.”

I suspect a few things are going on here. First, the shoe bomber incident was three months after September 11. We were all still shell-shocked. Rather than being afraid to criticize the president, I think we were all so scared, the thought didn't even cross our minds (and the same thing applied to the media, which was also tempered following 9/11). Second, Democrats aren't as good at political PR as Republicans are. Republicans are always looking for an opportunity to take advantage of a situation, a crisis. Democrats tend to be more principled. And finally, Republicans are better at shutting down criticism. If Democrats had tried to speak out, the GOP would have accused us of being un-American, and the Democrats would freak. Read More......

Rather strong WH statement taking on Cheney

UPDATE: Had the wrong, link - correct one is there now. This is good. Very good. Let's have more of this.

[I]t is telling that Vice President Cheney and others seem to be more focused on criticizing the Administration than condemning the attackers....

First, it’s important that the substantive context be clear: for seven years after 9/11, while our national security was overwhelmingly focused on Iraq – a country that had no al Qaeda presence before our invasion – Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda's leadership was able to set up camp in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where they continued to plot attacks against the United States. Meanwhile, al Qaeda also regenerated in places like Yemen and Somalia, establishing new safe-havens that have grown over a period of years....

To put it simply: this President is not interested in bellicose rhetoric, he is focused on action. Seven years of bellicose rhetoric failed to reduce the threat from al Qaeda and succeeded in dividing this country. And it seems strangely off-key now, at a time when our country is under attack, for the architect of those policies to be attacking the President....

President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and – unlike the last Administration – we are not at war with a tactic (“terrorism”), we at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies.

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The year in gay

Kerry Eleveld at the Advocate reviews the President's handling of gay civil rights over the past year. Her opinion matters greatly in the gay community. Here's an excerpt:

But perhaps what is most peculiar for a president who ran on an aggressive equality platform was the Office of Personnel Management’s recent decision not to provide same-sex partner benefits to a federal employee, defying a federal judge who ordered the agency to do so in a dispute resolution case.

Based on guidance from DOJ, OPM reasoned that the order was not legally binding because the judge was acting in an administrative capacity rather than a court case. Representatives from Lambda Legal, the organization representing the federal employee, countered that a federal judge is always imbued with the power of a federal judge regardless of what proceeding he’s presiding over.

Without getting too bogged down in legalese, suffice it to say that the case presents in shades of gray and could be interpreted by reasonable lawyers different ways. The real question is, if the administration has to lean one way or the other, why not lean toward equalizing treatment for gay couples, as candidate Obama consistently claimed he would?

“I don't understand why they are so focused on finding reasons to not do this -- it seems to me that they had all the cover they needed if they had wanted to reach a different result,” Richard Socarides, a New York attorney and former LGBT advisor to President Clinton told me. Just as the agency argued the order was not legally binding, he added, “they could have also chosen to comply and said they were being directed to do so by a federal appellate judge.”

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When 'natural' isn't natural

Slimy corporate marketing double-talk at its best.

Until early 2009, Silk brand soy milk was made using organic soybeans. But earlier this year, Dean Foods (owner of the Silk brand) quietly switched to conventional soybeans, which are often grown with pesticides. But they kept the same UPC barcodes on their products, and they kept the product label virtually the same, only replacing the word "organic" with "natural" in a way that was barely noticeable. They also kept the price the same, charging consumers "organic" prices for a product that was now suddenly made with conventionally-grown soybeans.

Many retailers and consumers never noticed the bait-and-switch tactic, so they kept buying Silk, thinking it was still organic. The shift on the product label from "organic" to "natural" wasn't well understood by consumers, either. Many consumers continue to think that the term "natural" is basically the same as "organic," when in fact they are almost opposites. The term "natural" is entirely unregulated, and almost anything can be claimed to be "natural" even when it's sprayed with pesticides or treated with other chemicals.

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Maureen Dowd on WH's handling of terrorist attack aftermath

I think she's right. I don't think they're handling this well from a PR perspective. And yes, PR matters. It is important that the public feel that their leader gets it, that he's running the show, that he knows there's a problem, and that he is trying to fix it.

The Republican attacks against Obama over the past few days have hurt. But only because the White House hasn't exactly done a stellar job of managing the public response to the attack. The President should have been out there on day one, he shouldn't have gone golfing right after speaking to the nation about the attack (does no one in the White House watch old footage of Bush?), and it's not at all clear that he should have remained on vacation in "exotic" Hawaii (again, no memory of the campaign and the "Hawaii problem"?). And the last thing the WH should have done is sent Napolitano on TV, had the WH repeat the allegation, that everything worked really well AFTER the nut got away with trying to blow up a jet. The President even defended Napolitano yesterday. He didn't just defend the secretary, he defended her words. His staff said the President thought she was right, that the system did work well.

Oy.

As Maureen Dowd would say, lose the Spock. It doesn't matter if you're technically correct if your words come off as creepy and aloof. After some guy who paid $3000 in cash for his ticket, didn't check luggage, was on a terror watch list, whose own father called the US to warn that his son had become an extremist, waltzes on to a plane full of Americans and tries to blow it up - and only gets caught because some Dutch guy, not an air marshal, but a Dutch guy, jumped him, and the fairy dust in his crotch didn't fully ignite - after all of that, there is simply no circumstance, short of presenting the public with Osama bin Laden's head on a spit, that merits calling the day anything other than an unmitigated disaster.

It just looks bad, and whether folks like it or not, appearances matter in leadership. Just because the Republicans are trying to make hay of the entire incident doesn't mean the White House is handling it correctly. Read More......

My CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield premium just got hiked 15%

Which is a step in the right direction, considering they've been hiking it over 20% a year the past several years. I can't wait until the health care reform bill lowers my premiums and increases my benefits, just like the Democrats promised. How much do your premiums go up a year? (Though if you're with a private company that has insurance, your premiums probably go up less - self-employed people get screwed.) Read More......

Republicans are giddy about using the terror issue as a political issue again

Republicans really only had one political issue for the past few election cycles: Fear. They won when they could scare the American people. And, in the wake of the latest terrorism incident, the Republicans are hoping their glory days of scaring Americans are back:

As the GOP seeks a path out of the political abyss in the 2010 elections, its leaders seem to be turning to the issue of terrorism, which worked for them in the 2002 congressional midterms and in President George W. Bush's 2004 reelection.

"They just don't get it," Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, wrote in a fundraising letter for his gubernatorial campaign. "These are the same weak-kneed liberals who have recently tried to bring Guantanamo Bay terrorists right here to Michigan!"

Yes. Hoekstra is already using what happened on the flight to Detroit as a fundraising tool. Republicans see national security as a political issue. If they were serious about it, we wouldn't still be waging a war in Afghanistan. And, Valerie Plame would still be working as an undercover spy.

And, there's this:

The Republican strategy is further complicated by the fact that the nation's counterterrorism intelligence and security procedures were created after Sept. 11, 2001, by Bush and congressional Republicans. Current watch-list systems were put in place years ago and have not changed. In addition, the former Guantanamo Bay detainees who showed up in the al-Qaeda leadership in Yemen were released by Bush two years ago.

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GMAC to pick up another $3.5 billion from government

Is now the time to throw more money at this industry? Maybe GMAC is behaving better than others but this has to be the last place anyone wants to give money to during these lean times. Reuters:

GMAC Financial Services is close to getting about $3.5 billion in added aid from the U.S. government, on top of the $12.5 billion already received since December 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The announcement is expected within days and will coincide with GMAC taking additional steps to absorb losses related to its mortgage operations, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Yemen. As we end 2009, that's the new word. Yeah, that's the country we'll be hearing a lot about. Joe "Yemen will be tomorrow's war" Lieberman and his merry band of warmongers, the ones who never provided any oversight of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are already ginning up.

Too bad our military is stretched thin in wars that were never effectively managed. And, it's probably not such a good thing that the U.S. military kicks out Arab linguists -- and other personnel -- just because they're gay. If only we had a President who was committed to ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- and would actually follow through on that commitment.

Also, for anyone who missed it, the key architect of the campaign to save marriage by attacking the gays, Karl Rove, is abusing the sanctity of marriage and destroying that hallowed institution himself. He's getting a divorce -- another divorce. It's his second. There are many right wing theocrats who think divorce is really the biggest threat to marriage. They have a new poster boy now. Oh, Rove wants privacy as he goes through this process. But, I just think, from a public policy perspective, that can't be the case. Rove made saving marriage a big campaign issue. Unfortunately, I think we need all the details of this sordid destruction of the sacred rite, you know, to see how marriage can be protected from the likes of Karl Rove.

Let's get started... Read More......

Report: Riskiest mortgage lenders were most active lobbyists

Of course, the heavy lobbying never stopped even when these groups had no money to spend. They just spent the TARP money to lobby again to make sure the obedient Congress would not bother to introduce anything they didn't like. Best system money can buy. Thanks for nothing, Congress. Again.

The study did not name any of the lenders but the language in it implied that they were among the biggest banks and mortgage brokerage companies in the nation.

"Lenders that lobby more intensively on these specific issues have (i) more lax lending standards measured by loan-to-income ratio, (ii) greater tendency to securitize, and (iii) faster growing mortgage loan portfolios," the report said.

"Ex post, delinquency rates are higher in areas in which lobbying lenders' mortgage lending grew faster, and, during key events of the crisis, these lenders experienced negative abnormal stock returns," it added.

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China thumbs nose at world over execution

Because executing a person with a documented history of mental problems is perfectly fine. Would Texas even do this? If China wants to sit at the big table and do business globally, they really need to learn how to accept criticism better than this. The Guardian:

The dispute intensified early today when it was confirmed that China had ignored pleas for clemency from the British government and executed the 53-year-old from north London. Campaigners insisted Shaikh had a severe personality disorder and had been duped by gangsters into carrying 4kg of heroin in a suitcase.

The prime minister, who had called China's premier, Wen Jiabao, to urge him to halt the execution, said he was "appalled and disappointed" at the execution.

In a "difficult" meeting at the Foreign Office, the UK minister Ivan Lewis told the Chinese ambassador Fu Ying that her government had failed in its basic human rights responsibilities by ignoring representations about Shaikh's mental health. "It's a deeply depressing day for anyone with a modicum of compassion or commitment to justice," Lewis said.

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Settlement reached on lead in toys

It seems like a very low settlement number considering how dangerous lead is for children. The legal costs had to be significant but neither amount sounds like it would have much of an impact on safeguarding children in the future. Shouldn't companies be responsible for knowing what is in the products they are selling? Is ignorance really a valid excuse in such cases?

An Illinois firm agreed to pay a $1.25 million settlement for importing and selling the popular Thomas & Friends children's toys that contained lead levels above legal limits and risked sickening children.

In agreeing to the penalty settlement, RC2 Corp. denied that it knowingly violated federal law as alleged by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the agency said in a statement Monday evening.

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US had intel "about a possible Al Qaeda attack around the holidays"

The story gets more intriguing by the day:

The United States government had intelligence about a possible Al Qaeda attack around the holidays and had more information about where the suspect had been and what some of his plans were, an official said.

Some of the information at the time was partial or incomplete and it was not obvious that it was connected, the official said, but in retrospect it now appears clear that had it all been examined together it would have pointed to a pending attack involving the Nigerian suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Mr. Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to carry out a bombing on a Detroit-bound flight Christmas Day.

The official said the administration is “increasingly confident” that Al Qaeda had a role in the planned attack, as the group’s Yemeni branch has publicly claimed.

Something didn't work. Someone better fix it. Read More......

Just how well is TSA really searching our luggage?

So I arrive from Chicago O'Hare on my usual 4pm United flight into DCA and what do I find for the second time this month? My luggage is unzipped. And I mean, really unzipped (see photo above). Both compartments (you'll notice the top right corner, that zipper is open too). And just like the last time I flew in on United from DC, both zippers were open that time as well, but I didn't complain because I figured it was a fluke. Now I'm not so sure.

Usually when I fly to and from Chicago, I get that nifty little white TSA card in my bag letting me know my bag has been searched. And good for them. Having some stranger checking out my boxers is a small price to pay for safety. I do, however, object to airport security being in such a rush that they not only don't have time to re-zip my bag, but this time around, I got the impression they didn't even go into my bag at all. I had things packed in a very precise way - mom gave me a ceramic rolling pin she'd picked up in England, and it, and a few other Xmas gifts, were gingerly packed inside and around clothes in order to protect them. Nothing was moved. Things are always moved when I fly in and out of DC. Not this time. I have the distinct impression that someone unzipped my bags, copped a cursory feel inside through the zipper, and then moved on to the next bag, without actually opening my bag.

And even if they did open my bag all the way to search it, airport security was in such a rush to get to the next bag that they couldn't even take the time to rezip my bag? And this is happening repeatedly, meaning there's a pattern of behavior here. Is O'Hare security also this rushed when they're inside my bag, and your bag, looking for explosives? Hard to believe they take their time looking for bombs in my luggage, then are so rushed they can't even find time to close the zippers, then they slow down again to meticulously check the next suitcase for plastique.

Someone's airport security, either United's or TSA's, appears to have a sloppiness problem. And it isn't reassuring four days after a guy tried to blow up a plane.

PS The other possibility is that there's a thief going through United's luggage at either O'Hare or National, and they're not rezipping the bags. Read More......

Snowstorm actually BOOSTED holiday sales (online shopping to the rescue)

Kind of a fascinating factoid. Last week's east coast blizzard, coming days before Christmas, actually boosted retail sales, because people shopped at home online. Raises a fascinating question about voting online. Usually you worry that bad weather will lower turnout (because people don't really like trudging through feet of snow in sub-zero weather to stand in voting lines). But if you can vote online, then bad weather actually plays to your advantage - or at least levels the playing the field. We know from running the blog that traffic peaks while people are at work during the weekdays. At work they have the time to surf, at home they're busy being parents, or whatever. Read More......

I care about my life more than your Kindle

Just me?

“I flew 265,000 miles last year,” said Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer and security analyst. “You know what really pisses me off? Making me check my luggage. Not letting me use my laptop, so I can’t work. Taking away my Kindle, so I can’t read. I care about those things. I care about making me safer much, much less.”

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Another multi-million dollar payout at AIG?

Incredible. Whatever bunch of idiots are allowing this need to be fired - without severance - today. Every day there's yet another surprise like this. Let the entire damned thing collapse and start over because obviously the rescue plan is not functioning for anyone other than the greedy bunch who drove the company into the ground. It's true that the Obama team inherited this mess though they could have changed the direction of this process. Instead, it's more of the same once again.

American International Group Inc is preparing to pay its departing general counsel several million dollars in severance after she resigned over federal pay curbs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The insurer determined that Anastasia Kelly was entitled to the money under the company's severance plan, whose terms say certain executives can resign and collect severance if their pay is reduced significantly, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

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This guy used the same explosives that the shoe bomber used in 2001

That raises the question of just exactly what the Bush administration did the past seven years to put a system in place to stop these explosives from coming on planes. Not much, it seems.

But Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism analyst at Georgetown University, called the suspect's ability to smuggle the device on board profoundly disturbing, given that the TSA has spent more than $30 billion on aviation security since 2004, the world's airlines collectively spend an additional $5.9 billion a year, and PETN is well-known as a favored material for terrorist suicide bombers.

I can appreciate the privacy issues involved in using those devices that basically show you 100% nude. And spare me the explanations about how the guys watching you are in a secure room with no ability to copy your nude photo - it's called a cell phone camera. But what I can't abide is all this talk about the "cost" being prohibitive." The cost? You mean the Bush administration was happy to spend a couple of trillion on unnecessary tax cuts, another trillion on two wars, one of which was unnecessary, but they chose not to spend money on making sure another shoe bomber didn't try to blow us up, partly because of concerns about costs?

Just to give you an idea of how "expensive" these devices are:

The machines currently cost $100,000 to $200,000 apiece, though they could replace other equipment. Deploying them throughout the U.S. aviation system could cost about $150 million.

Ooh, $150m. I've seen bigger earmarks written by children on the Hill. In Washington terms, $150m is nothing. This is not about money. And I have a hard time believing that the Bush administration gave a lick about anyone's privacy. So why didn't George Bush and Dick Cheney go ahead and make the airways safer? Read More......

It's the change, stupid

Steve Rosenthal writes about how Democrats can win in 2010 and beyond:

In Florida in October 2008, candidate Obama talked about a new set of priorities, investing $15 billion a year in renewable energy resources to create 5 million new green jobs in the next decade; putting 2 million people to work rebuilding schools, roads, communications networks - "an American infrastructure for the 21st century." He talked about early childhood education, an army of new, higher-paid teachers, and money for tuition assistance to any young person willing to serve the country. Candidate Obama stood for change, for rebuilding the economy from the bottom up, with "an economic recovery plan not just for the CEOs but for the secretaries and the janitors." He gave a worried and anxious America hope and a plan that called for restoring America's middle class. Remind yourself Democrats, THAT was the winning agenda; THAT was what attracted Independents and base Democratic voters in record numbers to the polls to vote for Democrats in 2008....

The frustration voiced by independents and Obama surge voters in 2009 should be of real concern. These voters are still looking for change to happen and will keep voting for change — regardless of party — or not voting at all, until something real happens. In the 2008 election what mattered most to voters was the candidate's ability to "bring change," and the 34 percent of voters who cited this quality in exit polls nationally voted 89 percent for Obama. Only a year later, in the New Jersey governor's race, 39 percent of voters cited the ability to "bring needed change" as the most important candidate quality, but these voters delivered a sharp rebuke to Democrats and 67 percent voted for Republican Chris Christie.

Listening to these "change" voters (or as a Republican acquaintance of mine calls them, "fix it" voters) it is clear they are frustrated, stressed, and just want things in the country to get back on track. They are not interested in political expediency. Independents, Democratic base voters and the Obama surge voters want action, and they want the change they voted for in 2008. They want to see real leadership, not legislative gridlock. They don't want their elected officials to go back to the days of legislating "small things" - school uniforms comes to mind. To win them back - to engage them at all in 2010, Democrats need to pass real health care reform, then move aggressively on a job, jobs, jobs (it cannot be said enough) program with strong workers' rights. Do as candidate Obama said, put people to work immediately to fix our schools, rebuild our transportation infrastructure and invest in green technology, energy efficiency and create more green jobs.

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No one is running TSA, thanks to a GOP Senator

This Republican Senator may very well have played a role in several hundred Americans nearly getting blown up on Christmas day. If a Democrat had done this, the GOP would make this entire issue about that Democrat. From McClatchy:

An attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day would be all-consuming for the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration — if there were one.

The post remains vacant because Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has held up President Barack Obama's nominee in opposition to the prospect of TSA workers joining a labor union.

It's not really going to matter if you can join a union if you're dead. Read More......

GOP Congressman Mark Kirk's gay nightmare

Welcome to what it's like to be gay in the military, Congressman Kirk (R-IL). To be more precise, welcome to what it's like for any military member, gay or straight, living under the military's anti-gay Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. People talk. And you spend a lot of time worrying what people are saying about you, whether you're going to lose your job, whether your career is now in doubt, rather than focusing on your job. Wouldn't it be nice if no one cared if you were gay, Congressman?

Then again, you care if people are gay, Congressman. You think that gay people shouldn't serve in the military. But you're an officer in the Navy Reserves. And now some people are saying that you're gay. If you are gay, you're quite possibly violating the DADT policy, Congressman. A policy you defend. That puts us in the uncomfortable position of not caring if you're gay, but caring very much if you're a hypocrite.

So which is it, Congressman Kirk? Is your sexual orientation irrelevant to your job performance in the military, or are you, Congressman Kirk, a potential threat to the morale and cohesion of the United States armed forces during a time of war? By your own standards, the American people deserve a straight answer. Read More......

Palin's daughter is suing for custody

Alaska Dispatch:

The custody battle between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin became public last week when two Superior Court judges issued orders unsealing the court record and denying the use of pseudonyms to protect the feuding parents' identities.

A Dec. 23 order from Judge Kari C. Kristiansen denied Palin's motion to close the proceedings and opened the case file to public access, while an order issued the same day by Presiding Judge Sharon Gleason denied Palin's request to use John and Jane Doe in place of Johnston's and her own real names.

On Nov. 4, Palin filed for sole custody of Tripp Johnston-Palin, the former couple's son, who celebrates his first birthday today. Kristiansen initially issued temporary orders limiting access to the case file and allowing the parties to file under pseudonyms.

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Obama campaign operation sending emails to "bandage the wounds" with his base

There's an article in Roll Call (sub. req.) titled, White House Hopes to Soothe Liberals’ Angst, which begins:

President Barack Obama is confronting a threat to his re-election as members of his base increasingly voice concern about his policies.

Obama has faced a mini-rebellion from liberals after he went along with a decision to drop a public insurance option — and then its substitute, a “buy-in” expansion of Medicare — from the Senate health care bill. Liberals are also concerned about the climate change deal that he agreed to in Copenhagen and his decision to inject 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan.

But the White House has been taking steps to bandage the wounds.

It is, however, unclear from this article what exactly those steps are, besides a couple of emails sent to the DNC's Organizing for America list:

The president and his aides are also moving to ensure that the activists who made up his own populist campaign organization — called Obama for America in 2008 and now housed in the DNC under the banner Organizing for America — do not stray from the fold.

Just two days after Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) sealed the Senate health care bill’s eventual passage by announcing on Dec. 19 that he would become the 60th Senator to back it, Obama fired off an e-mail to OFA members assuring them that this was the kind of legislation that they had worked hard to help him pass.

I don't think most of the OFA members expected Pharma and the insurance companies to be big winners.

To be clear, the President and his team are worried about the base for his reelection in 2012, not the congressional races in 2010. I think it's safe to say that it's going to take more than email messages from the President and David Plouffe to fire up the base. Words won't be enough. Actions are required. And, the best action the President could take would be to follow through on his campaign promises.

No one is expecting Obama to do more than he promised, but we are expecting him to do what he promised. At this point, it's clear Obama is not going to fight for a better health care bill, but he could actually put some presidential muscle behind repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell or passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The base is watching and waiting -- and grumpy. Read More......

With Yemen as base for Al Qaeda, Afghanistan deteriorates

I know this is on Obama's plate now, but for eight years, Bush and Cheney ignored the war in Afghanistan to pursue the unnecessary war in Iraq. They failed to take out the leadership of Al Qaeda -- despite repeated promises to do just that. Now, Yemen has become the latest haven for the terror group. According to Reuters, it's an "attractive alternative base." Over the weekend, Joe Lieberman was already making noises about launching a war there:

"Somebody in our government said to me in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, Iraq was yesterday's war. Afghanistan is today's war. If we don't act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow's war," Lieberman said, during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday". "That's the danger we face."

Lieberman was one of the biggest cheerleaders for the "yesterday's war" in Iraq -- and it's still not over. Thanks to Joe's buddies in the Bush/Cheney administration, we never finished "today's war" in Afghanistan. And, that long-ignored conflict is apparently deteriorating:

As the U.S. and its allies try to overcome logistical hurdles and rush some 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan in 2010, intelligence officials are warning that the Taliban-led insurgency is expanding and that "time is running out" for the U.S.-led coalition to prove that its strategy can succeed.

The Taliban have created a shadow "government-in-waiting," complete with Cabinet ministers, that could assume power if the U.S.-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails, a senior International Security Assistance Force intelligence official said in Kabul, speaking only on the condition of anonymity as a matter of ISAF policy.

I know we can't change history, but we can't ignore it. The U.S. should have finished the job against Al Qaeda eight years ago. Instead, Bush, Cheney, Lieberman and the rest got side-tracked by Iraq. Al Qaeda has moved on, but we're now bogged down in two wars, one that should never have been fought and one that should have ended years ago. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Two more days left of the year and the decade. I keep seeing lists of the best and worst not only of 2009, but the decade that ends Thursday night. This was the decade when George Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of their GOP gang did their best to ruin the country and the world. For some reason, that seems like a long time ago, but it wasn't. And, we suffered through it for eight long, painful years. For me, the Bush/Cheney regime was the worst event of the decade -- an eight year long event. Let's hope it was the worst event of the century so we have the ugliest part behind us. Cleaning up their messes will take up a good part of the century.

It's wicked windy in the nation's capitol today. We have a "wind advisory," which "means that wind gusts over 45 mph are expected." And, that's making it feel pretty darn cold. The wind chill is in the teens. I'm sure the wind is making flying even more annoying today.

Start threading the news.. Read More......

JPMorgan CEO phones UK Finance Minister over bonus tax

And remember, JPMorgan's CEO is Jamie Dimon who is also closely tied into the Obama team. He is often listed as one of the lead candidates to replace Geithner or take over other leading economic positions within the Obama administration. Remember this the next time his name is floated to replace someone. He's obviously terrified of the impact the tax will have on his business, but he's also again showing how he is part of the global problem in the banking industry. Where is their sense of responsibility for the problems they created? If only this crowd worried as much before the crisis as they do now we may have avoided such a deep recession.

Making veiled threats after having the industry rescued - that included healthy and weak banks alike - is yet another cheap shot from this industry. Wouldn't it be nice is someone in authority called them out and actually followed through? Reuters:

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon expressed concerns to UK Finance minister Alistair Darling about the country's 50 percent tax to be levied on bankers' bonuses over 25,000 pounds, London's Telegraph reported.

In a recent phone call, Dimon spoke about the bank's plans to build its European headquarters in London's Canary Wharf for 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) as a way of demonstrating the bank's commitment to the city, the paper said.

This amount is definitely a substantial sum. Of course, so are the trillions of dollars spent rescuing the industry. In that light, a couple of billion is chump change so get over it and quit yapping about it. Where else would JPMorgan go for their European HQ? It's not as though the continent is any more friendly to this industry. Read More......

Outrage as China executes Briton with mental health issues

The death penalty is once again delivered in China despite pleas from the UK as well as medical records that detailed the history of mental health problems with the convicted British drug smuggler. There are so many problems with the death penalty including executing the wrong person as well as executing people who have mental health issues. Unfortunately the US is unable to join the criticism since the death penalty is so widely used. The Guardian:

China was this morning condemned for its human rights record after a British man who, his supporters say, had mental health problems, was executed for smuggling drugs.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, was shot dead by a firing squad at 10.30am local time (2.30am British time) after frantic last-minute pleas for clemency by the Foreign Office failed.

Britain had demonstrated its anger with Beijing over the treatment of Shaikh, who had smuggled 4kg (8.8lb) of heroin into China, when it summoned the Chinese ambassador for a diplomatic dressing down at the Foreign Office.

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New paper plane record set

It's all about the origami technique. In case you are wondering, this is from a flat surface without wind assistance.

With a bend of the knees and an arch of the back, a Japanese engineer today set a world flight record for a paper plane, keeping his hand-folded construction in the air for 26.1 seconds.

Using a plane specially designed for "long haul" flights, Takuo Toda narrowly failed to match his lifetime best of 27.9 seconds, a Guinness world record set in Hiroshima earlier, but achieved with a plane that was held together with cellophane tape.

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More on creepy terrorist guy

ABC's Jake Tapper had an interesting series of tweets tonight about the guy who tried to blow up the Northwest jet from Amsterdam to Detroit:

1) May 09 UK denies him a visa for claiming he'd study at bogus university. Per Home Secy that immediately put him on watchlist in UK.

(2) Nov 19, his father- a respected banker- reports son to US Embassy in Nigeria, says he's being radicalized in Yemen....

(3) Dec 16 he buys $3K ticket WITH CASH from KLM office in Ghana. Gives no address or contact info

(4) Dec 24 he boards plan in Nigeria for roundtrip multiday flight to US WITH NO LUGGAGE

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New Year's resolutions mostly fail

But the good news is, there are ways that work. After failing in the past to get started, earlier this year I decided to take small, steady steps and so far, so good with my exercise plans. Along those lines but much more impressive than my results is this story. The Guardian:

Of the 78% who failed, many had focused on the downside of not achieving the goals; they had suppressed their cravings, fantasised about being successful, and adopted a role model or relied on willpower alone.

"Many of these ideas are frequently recommended by self-help experts but our results suggest that they simply don't work," Wiseman said. "If you are trying to lose weight, it's not enough to stick a picture of a model on your fridge or fantasise about being slimmer."

On the other hand, people who kept their resolutions tended to have broken their goal into smaller steps and rewarded themselves when they achieved one of these. They also told their friends about their goals, focused on the benefits of success and kept a diary of their progress.

People who planned a series of smaller goals had an average success rate of 35%, while those who followed all five of the above strategies had a 50% chance of success, the study found.

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Republicans Who Opposed The Stimulus Continue To Pan It As A ‘Failure,’ While Also Taking Credit For Its Success

ThinkProgress:

Every Republican in the House and nearly every Republican Senator voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the stimulus). Although the Congressional Budget Office has credited the stimulus with creating up to 1.6 million jobs, the same GOP politicians who opposed the stimulus have attempted to justify their opposition to the policy by smearing it as a failure. But as ThinkProgress has documented, the same politicians are returning to their districts to take credit for the economic success of the stimulus.

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ABC gets photos of the bomber's explosive underwear; was more than enough to blow hole in side of plane

From ABC News:

It is a six-inch long packet of the high explosive chemical called PETN, less than a half cup in volume, weighing about 80 grams.

A government test with 50 grams of PETN blew a hole in the side of an airliner. That was the amount in the bomb carried by the so-called shoe bomber Richard Reid over Christmas 2001.

The underpants bomb would have been one and a half times as powerful.

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