Friday Cat Blogging

This week, it's Nasdaq's turn. The big fat black cat. Nasdaq and I have had a rocky relationship during this particular visit to Paris. You see, Nasdaq, like me, has ashtma. And like me, Nasdaq has to take a variety of inhaled steroids every morning and night to help keep her asthma under control. So, before they left on vacation, Chris and Joelle showed me how they give Nasdaq her morning and evening medicine. It's a pornographic looking device called an AeroKat.



Hmmm, I thought, looking at the AeroKat. It looks an awful lot like the chamber I use for administering my asthma meds. Do Chris and Joelle honestly think I'm going to pin Nasdaq down and jam this thing down her throat twice a day? Apparently yes. Oh but it gets better. Take a look at the head of the AeroKat - you see, you put this contraption over the cat's muzzle so she has no choice but to breath the medicine.



Yeah right. Those of you who have cats will appreciate what happens next.

Being a dog guy, I was worried that Nasdaq might bite me, or scratch me. But I never quite anticipated what she actually did. I cornered her and gave her her two shots of medicine and she took it quite well, then ran like hell. Never to be seen again.

For two full weeks, Nasdaq ran and hid every morning, and every evening, just about the time I needed to find her to give her the medicine. If she accidentally ran into me in the hallway, she bolted. The cat literally hid from me for two full weeks. Now sure, a dog might have bitten your arm off doing this to her (well, actually your own dog would know better), but a dog would have faithfully put up with it every morning and night. A cat simply runs and hides. And if you've ever tried to catch a running cat, it's nothing like a dog. They're like jello. Or in Nasdaq's case, very fat, slow-moving jello, but jello nonetheless.

Nasdaq is finally, once again, starting to hang around me, hoping I've stopped the medicine torture. I called Chris and asked him what to do, because honestly if I started the treatment again she'd just get up and hide for another two weeks. he said to call it quits, so I did. Nasdaq is now once again sleeping peacefully upside down on top of my suitcase (photo above), and all is well in the world. I really knew that Nasdaq had forgiven me when she pulled the old "begging for dinner six hours before it was due" trick. She only does this one to Chris, so the fact that she was now pulling it on me meant that all had been forgiven. I took a little video of Nasdaq staking out the hallway to the kitchen - it's what she does when she's begging for an early meal. Enjoy.

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No more plastic bags in Mexico City

Definitely a step in the right direction. CNN:

Mexico City's thousands of stores went green Wednesday, as amended ordinances on solid waste now outlaw businesses from giving out thin plastic bags that are not biodegradable.

The law affects all stores, production facilities and service providers within the Federal District, which encompasses the city limits. Nearly 9 million people live inside the district and another 10 million reside in surrounding communities that make up greater Mexico City.

Mexico City becomes the second large metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere to outlaw the bags. San Francisco in March 2007 enacted an ordinance that gave supermarkets six months and large chain pharmacies about a year to phase out the bags. Los Angeles is set to impose a ban if the state of California does not enact a statewide 25-cent fee per bag by July.

About 90 percent of the bags used in the United States are not recycled.

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Pressure builds on Harry Reid to deliver on health insurance reform

Senate "centrists" like their Blue Dog brethren in the House are slowing down and preventing real health insurance reform. Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi said she can't pass a bill without a strong public option. Now, Harry Reid needs to step up and put pressure on those wayward Senate Democrats who are preventing progress. From The Hill:

Liberal activists are pressuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and party leaders to crack down on renegade centrist Democrats who might block President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul.

Yes, we're beyond irritated that Obama has let his staff, led by Rahm and Jim Messina, let the Baucus fiasco fester. But, Reid is the Majority Leader and has some say in this. Greg Sargent thinks presents a real opportunity for the Majority Leader:

It’s worth noting that widespread disappointment with President Obama among rank and file Democrats for his conciliatory posture towards the GOP and “centrist” Congressional Dems presents a big political opportunity for Harry Reid. No idea if he’ll seize it, but it’s there.

Reid has a chance to emerge as a hero to Democrats who want action at a time when they’re sorely in need of one. If he makes good on his threat to get health reform through the Senate via “reconciliation,” rolling over “centrist” Dems, it would resonate strongly with those on the left who blame current Dem leaders — Obama included — for stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the GOP’s desire to scuttle reform at all costs.

We need a hero. Harry Reid needs to put on his boxing gloves and start delivering. McJoan thinks so, too:

Reid has a unique opportunity to lead here, if he makes good on the threat. The plug has to be pulled (no pun intended) on the Baucus debacle before more damage is done. Bypass Finance and move on without them. It would solidify Reid's leadership in the Dem caucus, because the majority of Dem Senators cannot be pleased with the way leadership and the White House have allowed Baucus to handle this. I'm not entirely sure that it will bring progressives back to the Reid fold, it would sure make Netroots Nation 2010 [in Las Vegas] a more pleasant experience for him.

Chris Bowers has been doing a whip count on Democratic Senators who support the public option. It can happen. But, we need leadership. Read More......

National Review piles on Palin and the Wall Street Journal for getting it wrong on Export/Import Bank

I don't often link to the National Review Online, but when there's a post titled, Correcting Sarah Palin and the WSJ, I will link. The NRO cites a piece by Ben Smith, to whom I often link, on a fake dust-up about the Export/Import Bank:

Under fire from Sarah Palin and th Wall Street Journal over a proposed $2 billion loan to the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, the U.S. Export Import Bank is circulating a fact sheet [pdf] defending its proposal.

The document makes the point — left out by Palin's demand for more American jobs — that the bank is an export credit agency, designed to finance the purchase of U.S. goods and services.

"Only American made goods and services qualify for Ex-Im Bank loans or guarantees. This is the government doing what it's supposed to do — create jobs and make sure that Americans get a fair shot at selling goods and services and to help American workers compete on a level playing field," said the document, being circulated by Bank officials on Capitol Hill.

Yeah, the self-described energy expert, Sarah Palin, got it wrong. What's new? The Ex-Im bank actually makes money for the U.S.

At some point in the near future, one hopes that when Sarah Pain writes a screed on Facebook.com, thinking and responsible people will ignore it. Read More......

Key Finding from Wash. Post/ABC poll on Obama and Democrats/liberals: “the first sign that something is going wrong with his base.”

Greg Sargent dug a little deeper into the latest Washington Poll/ABC News poll, which was released today. As John noted earlier today, this poll is especially bad for Obama among independents. But, that's not the real story, as far as I'm concerned. Greg learned more from the Post's polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta about the numbers for Democrats and liberals. Those results show a growing problem for Obama with his base, which includes many of us:

The numbers tell the story: In three key cases where Obama has dropped significantly, he’s also dropped by sizable margins among Dems and liberals. Let’s take the major findings driving the discussion today, and compare them with his drop among Dems and libs:

* The WaPo poll found that “49 percent now express confidence that Obama will make the right decisions for the country, down from 60 percent at the 100-day mark in his presidency.”

On that question, among liberals, Obama has dropped a surprising 12 points, from 90% to 78%, in the same time period. Among Dems, he’s dropped eight points, from 90% to 82%.

* The WaPo poll found that “forty-nine percent now say they think he will be able to spearhead significant improvements in the system, down nearly 20 percentage points from before he took office.”

On that question, among Dems, Obama has fallen a surprising 11 points during that time period, from 90% to 79%. Among liberals it was even steeper: A drop of 13 points, from 84% to 71%. (This could also partly be a referendum on Congress, but it’s still suggestive.)

* The WaPo poll also found a steep drop in approval of Obama’s handling of health care, which now stands at 46%, down 11 points from 57% in April.

But guess what: The drop during that time period was the same among liberals: Down 11 points, from 81% in April to 70% now. Among Dems overall, Obama fell six points, from 83% to 77%.

WaPo polling analyst Agiesta cautioned that independents were likely a greater factor, but she said Obama’s problems among Dems and liberals were clearly playing a key role: “This is the first sign that something is going wrong with his base.”

Obama's brain trust has decided the base doesn't matter. Rahm Emanuel, Jim Messina (and probably Jim Margolis) have focused on the false promise of bipartisanship, which has required scaling back what we were led to believe was Obama's agenda. They're obviously the smartest people in the world and think the rest of us are stupid and wouldn't notice. But, we have. The numbers speak for themselves. Many of us in the base aren't happy.

I want Obama to succeed in enacting the agenda he promised to enact during the campaign. That's why he's president now. If Obama would be a real leader, he'd get back the Democrats and independents. Read More......

Gay Maine couple celebrates 40 years together

Sweet.

Help them get married. Donate to No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, the campaign to save the state's new marriage law here via ActBlue. Also, the campaign manager, Jesse Connolly, told us that he has a donor who will match contribution made until midnight tonight. Read More......

Eugene Robinson on how Dems need to get their groove back

Eugene Robinson:

Here's the least surprising news of the week: Americans are souring on the Democratic Party. The wonder is that it's taken so long for public opinion to curdle. There's nothing agreeable about watching a determined attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

A poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center reports that just 49 percent of respondents have a favorable view of the Democrats, compared with 62 percent in January and 59 percent in April. This doesn't mean, though, that Americans look any more kindly upon the Republican Party -- favorability for the GOP has been steady at 40 percent throughout the year, according to Pew.

What it does mean, however, is that Republican efforts to obstruct, delay, confuse, stall, distort and otherwise impede the reform agenda that Americans voted for last November have had measurable success. And it means that Democrats, having been given a mandate -- one as comprehensive as either party is likely to enjoy in this era of red-vs.-blue polarization -- don't really know how to use it....

Democratic leaders should stop backpedaling, stop apologizing and show their followers -- by words and deeds -- that the principle of universal health care is worth fighting for. They should even allow themselves to raise their voices at times -- not motivated by anger but by conviction.

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Bernanke: US nearing start of a recovery

That's good. Provided we don't have another downturn early next year, which many fear. Still, good news is better than bad news. Read More......

GOP leader Rush Limbaugh makes "anus" joke about Barney Frank

Frank is gay. Anus. Get it? Read More......

Wash Post poll, very bad numbers for Obama

Especially bad among independents.

Public confidence in President Obama's leadership has declined sharply over the summer, amid intensifying opposition to health-care reform that threatens to undercut his attempt to enact major changes to the system, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Among all Americans, 49 percent now express confidence that Obama will make the right decisions for the country, down from 60 percent at the 100-day mark in his presidency. Forty-nine percent now say they think he will be able to spearhead significant improvements in the system, down nearly 20 percentage points from before he took office.

As challenges to Obama's initiatives have mounted over the summer, pessimism in the nation's direction has risen: Fifty-five percent see things as pretty seriously on the wrong track, up from 48 percent in April....

There has also been slippage among independents on broader measures of Obama's presidency. His job approval among independents now stands at 50 percent, the lowest level of his presidency. For the first time, more independents strongly disapprove than strongly approve of how he is doing. His approval among independents is also below 50 percent on the economy, the deficit and taxes.

Joe and I have been predicting this for months. A steep drop in the polls as liberal disaffection with Obama spreads to the public at large. And the next shoe to drop, which we also predicted: Where does the Obama administration go for help, once they're below 50%, after pissing off, and pissing on, all of their friends on the way up? Read More......

Krugman on Obama. Devastating.

NYT columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman:

[T]here’s a growing sense among progressives that they have, as my colleague Frank Rich suggests, been punked. And that’s why the mixed signals on the public option created such an uproar.

Now, politics is the art of the possible. Mr. Obama was never going to get everything his supporters wanted.

But there’s a point at which realism shades over into weakness, and progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of that line. It seems as if there is nothing Republicans can do that will draw an administration rebuke: Senator Charles E. Grassley feeds the death panel smear, warning that reform will “pull the plug on grandma,” and two days later the White House declares that it’s still committed to working with him.

It’s hard to avoid the sense that Mr. Obama has wasted months trying to appease people who can’t be appeased, and who take every concession as a sign that he can be rolled.

Indeed, no sooner were there reports that the administration might accept co-ops as an alternative to the public option than G.O.P. leaders announced that co-ops, too, were unacceptable.

So progressives are now in revolt. Mr. Obama took their trust for granted, and in the process lost it. And now he needs to win it back.

You really need to read the entire piece. The criticism of Obama, and the concerns about his character and increasingly tarnished brand, are going mainstream. The administration didn't care when the Netroots tried to warn them the past eight months, and long before that, that they were hurting the cause, and in the process, hurting their boss. And now, the cat's out of the bag. Read More......

There is no such thing as ten dimensional chess

(NOTE FROM JOHN: I keep forgetting to put the necessary caveat before posts like this, for the lesser minds out there. Joe and I raised nearly $50,000 for candidate Obama, and we came out in defense of him, and against Hillary, long before candidate Obama had a chance in hell of defeating the inevitable Hillary. So spare us the "you never liked him anyway" garbage. We liked him before it was cool. Which makes our criticism and disillusionment all the more important.)

There's no such thing as ten dimensional chess, and our president is not a vulcan.

During his health care forum yesterday, President Obama gave his usual pep talk about how during the campaign everyone thought he was down and out. But like the tortoise and the hare, slow but steady Barack Obama won the race.

And it's all very cute. And all very wrong.

Barack Obama was in serious trouble last July and August. John McCain had launched a serious of "celebrity" ads, mocking Obama as more puff than substance, and, I think, taking a bit of a swipe at his manhood as well. It was the first attack by the Republicans that was actually starting to take hold, starting to do real damage to Obama, and Obama's response was nowhere to be found. Like Michael Dukakis twenty years before him, Barack Obama kept forging ahead, like the good geeky professor, while John McCain continued to beat the crap out of him.

Finally after the Netroots exploded at candidate Obama - almost exactly a year ago today - fretting that he was endangering our best chance at the White House in a decade, and after top donors then picked up the ball and privately slapped the campaign around, the Obama campaign discovered their inner cojones and fought back, hard.

Barack Obama didn't win the election through the strength of his subtle, non-combative personality. He won in large part because his supporters finally forced him to fight back like, as the expression goes, a man.

So when I see President Obama try to assuage Democrats' concerns about his presidency, and his meek performance to date on issues ranging from the stimulus package to health care reform, by telling us it's all part of the same grand plan he had for the election, I worry because I know first hand that the grand plan is a myth. Obama didn't win the election by being cool and collected, aloof and obtuse. He won it by finally engaging the enemy, mano a mano, and showing the American people that he had a spine, that he actually stood for something, and was willing to fight for his beliefs.

Now back to today.

President Obama, and some of his supporters, would like you to believe that the erratic cacophony, and repeated caves, that are his "strategy" on health care reform are all part of some grand plan, so complicated, so incredibly smart, that mere political mortals like you and I could never even begin to fathom its brilliance and breadth.

Yes, that's one possibility. The other is that top Obama aides Rahm Emanuel and Jim Messina have decided that it's politically expedient to chuck the president's various campaign promises and run for the middle, since "the left of the left" has nowhere else to go.

Occam's razor teaches us that when presented with conflicting, theories to explain a situation, the simpler theory, with the fewer assumptions, is usually true.

What's more plausible?

That President Obama is actually for the public option, but is actually playing us: trying to so enrage the left as to motivate us to beat the bejeesus out of him, plummet his approval ratings, and brand him as weak and spineless in the eyes of the public, all with the secret intent of making us make him do the right thing, giving him the grassroots support he needs to pass the best health care reform bill possible, including the public option and even single payer, just like he promised?

Or, that yet another Washington politician made a lot of promises and then sold us out once he got into office?

But putting the logic aside for a moment. Let's look at the facts.

Was flip-flopping on FISA, saying he'd lead the filibuster against it and then actually voting for it, eventually part of some grand secret scheme to actually kill the FISA bill? No.

How about when he flip-flopped on...

Off shore drilling.

Immediately withdrawal from Iraq.

Forgoing public financing.

NAFTA.

The DC handgun ban.

Welfare reform.

Eliminating military tribunals.

Releasing torture photos.

Gay rights across the board.

Handing 40% of the stimulus package to useless GOP tax cuts.

Caving on the public option.

There's a lot more, but those are some of the more memorable moments in which Barack Obama went back on, or caved, on some very public issues. In which of those cases was the cave not a cave at all, but rather part of some secret plan to actually win the issue in the end, and win on the particular issue that he seemed to have caved on?

President Obama has never played ten dimensional chess on a single issue. When he's caved in the past, he actually caved. There was no grand plan. There was no super secret double back flip fake to pull out a win in the end. He simply caved on a promise for political expediency and those who supported that promise lost.

There is no such thing as ten dimensional chess. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

What a week. It's August. It's supposed to be slow. It's not.

This morning, Obama is holding a meeting with former Senator Tom Daschle. For some reason, the Obama press crew wanted people to know that this meeting is taking place. It's on the schedule (and not every meeting is on the schedule.)

Daschle was supposed to be the health care czar, but had some tax problems. Does seem like we could have used a big-time health care czar right about now, doesn't it? (Although, Daschle has close ties to the health insurance industry.) I wonder where we'd be on the reform package if Daschle had paid all of his taxes...

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

Ocean temperatures hitting new highs

Maybe when you never leave your little world of Republican make believe, this isn't a problem. In the real world, it's a problem. Down here on the Mediterranean we have definitely noticed warmer waters. As pleasant as warm water can be it is still a concern.

It's not just the ocean off the Northeast coast that is super-warm this summer. July was the hottest the world's oceans have been in almost 130 years of record-keeping.

The average water temperature worldwide was 62.6 degrees, according to the National Climatic Data Center, the branch of the U.S. government that keeps world weather records. June was only slightly cooler, while August could set another record, scientists say. The previous record was set in July 1998 during a powerful El Nino weather pattern.

At a full degree above the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees, "the global ocean surface temperature for July 2009 was the warmest on record," the center said.

Large portions of many continents had substantially warmer-than-average temperatures, the center stated.

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British supermarket to create new bank

For those not familiar with Tesco, it's a large UK hypermarket that carries a lot of influence. They previously entered the banking market with (now tainted) Royal Bank of Scotland though they now have plans to create a completely new bank that is not part of the ever-present bonus culture. It's only a matter of time before others do the same elsewhere though as long as the banks continue to receive easy treatment, few will rush into this market. The future?

To prepare himself for his new role as chief executive of Tesco Retailing Services Higginson, the group's former finance director, has begun studying for his banking exams. During the Treasury select committee's probe into the causes of the financial crisis it emerged that many senior executives, including HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby, did not hold any banking qualifications.

Last year Tesco bought RBS's 50% stake in Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) for £950m and Higginson said the call centre, which will open next year, was a "significant step" towards offering a full banking service. It has doubled the headcount at TPF's Edinburgh headquarters to 400. Another 500 former RBS employees are also expected to transfer to the new site in central Glasgow where they will handle customer sales and services calls. The Scottish government contributed £5m to the project.

Tesco wil not launch the new products until the second half of 2010 as first it has to build the IT infrastructure required to support the bank, a project Higginson described as a "huge undertaking." The personal finance arm had previously run on RBS's systems.

The rare good news on the jobs front was welcomed by the chancellor, Alistair Darling, who described it as a "strong vote of confidence in Scotland's financial services industry". The banking crisis has resulted in a wave of consolidation and Darling welcomed a new, potentially strong player: "We need more competition and that's something that we intend to encourage. The last couple of years has seen a significant reduction in the number of people, both from abroad and British-based banks, who are lending into the market."

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Tax income down, borrowing to rise sharply in UK

Without a few tough decisions, this is precisely where the US is headed sooner than later. If there were any signs of anyone able to make tough decisions whether in Congress or the White House it might be averted but there will be no changes. The borrowing can't go on forever.

Britain's public finances plunged further into deficit last month – usually a period when the Treasury sees an inflow of funds. Compared with the £5.2bn positive contribution to the public finances recorded in July 2008, this year saw a net outflow of £8bn, thanks to a collapse in VAT and corporation tax receipts.

City analysts were expecting a net outflow of just £500m, and the news renewed fears that the Government may find it increasingly difficult to fund its deficit – especially once the Bank of England stops buying gilts for its quantitative easing programme.

July is one of four months in the year when a substantial proportion of corporation tax receipts are received by the Exchequer; but corporation tax receipts for July 2009 were 37.9 per cent lower than the same month last year, an indication of the pressure of the downturn on business.

Only four months into the current fiscal year, cumulative public borrowing is running at £49.8bn, more than three times the comparable figure in 2008-9, and more than in the 2006-7 fiscal year. It means that the public finances are well on track to hit the Chancellor's Budget forecast of £175bn total borrowing this year, and many economists believe that borrowing could easily shoot beyond that, to £200bn, or close to 15 per cent of GDP, easily a peacetime record.

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The annual Beloit College Mindset List is out

Never used a card catalog? Lucky kids.

If the entering college class of 2013 had been more alert back in 1991 when most of them were born, they would now be experiencing a severe case of déjà vu. The headlines that year railed about government interventions, bailouts, bad loans, unemployment and greater regulation of the finance industry. The Tonight Show changed hosts for the first time in decades, and the nation asked “was Iraq worth a war?”

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Emeritus Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. It is used around the world as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation.

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LA Times: Activists say poor nations' access to affordable drugs stymied

LA Times:

Activists in the U.S., as well as Thailand and other developing countries, have accused the Obama administration of blocking greater access to affordable drugs in a bid to win the pharmaceutical companies' support for its healthcare overhaul.

Organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam International -- an anti-poverty group -- said they had hoped President Obama would join them in the fight to make generic drugs available to combat disease in impoverished countries.

But "it appears that Obama appointees are continuing to work from the playbook of the last administration," said Oxfam policy advisor Rohit Malpani. The British-based group had opposed President George W. Bush's trade policies as being detrimental to public health.

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