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Credit: NY Times

credit: NY Times

The absolute arrogance of it all:

Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Justice Thomas’s wife has called Ms. Hill, seeking an apology.

In a voice mail message left at 7:31 a.m. on Oct. 9, a Saturday, Virginia Thomas asked her husband’s former aide-turned-adversary to make amends. Ms. Hill played the recording, from her voice mail at Brandeis University, for The New York Times.

“Good morning Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas,” it said. “I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband.”

Ms. Thomas went on: “So give it some thought. And certainly pray about this and hope that one day you will help us understand why you did what you did. O.K., have a good day.”

When I first saw this headline, I misunderstood it to be Ginni Thomas reaching out to Anita Hill to apologize herself for the disgusting circus that surrounded Hill's testimony, but I should have known that a tea party queen like Ginni Thomas would no more apologize to Anita Hill any more than she would apologize to the whole of America for her husband's proclivity for napping during SCOTUS hearings. No, instead, she had the unmitigated gall to call up Professor Hill to ask Hill to apologize?

To her credit, Hill has simply refused to give Thomas the apology she's seeking, rather than throwing it back in her face or perhaps laughing herself silly, which would have been my first inclination. And this is not the first time Thomas has sought an apology:

“I initially thought it was a prank,” Hill told ABC News. “And if it was, I thought the authorities should know about it.”

She reported the call to campus police.

Mark Matthews of our affiliate KGO learned about this and reached out to Virginia Thomas.

Thomas e-mailed him, saying: “I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get passed what happened so long ago. That offer still stands, I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended.”

Hill told ABC News: “Even if it wasn’t a prank, it was in no way conciliatory for her to begin with the presumption that I did something wrong in 1991. I simply testified to the truth of my experience. For her to say otherwise is not extending an olive branch, it’s accusatory.”

She continued: “I don’t apologize. I have no intention of apologizing, and I stand by my testimony in 1991.”

So that's what Thomas considers an olive branch? Okay then. Anita Hill proves both then and now what a class act she is compared to both Thomases.

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We've already seen in this election cycle the level of threatening behavior escalating to new heights, thanks in large part to the innate viciousness of Tea Party rhetoric. In particular, threats from mentally unstable people, as well as far-right Patriot movement followers, freshly energized by the Tea Parties, are rising to the fore.

Now we're witnessing thuggery from the political leaders of the Tea Party themselves, or at least from the minions they unleash on any unpleasant dissenters in their vicinity. Real American democracy, obviously, is just too hard to take for these patriots.

Watch the video above, taken by another reporter at the scene when Joe Miller's hired thugs muscled and then handcuffed a reporter asking questions -- and then likewise muscled other reporters at the scene.

Folks, that's what fascism looks like.

Even Miller's supporters were appalled:

"I would say Tony was aggressive, and I would say he was rude because he interrupted me, but he didn't do anything wrong and he wasn't posing a threat to Miller," Symbol said.

She said Miller tried to get away from the reporter and in doing so put his hand on her arm and pushed her aside. Her 8-year-old son, Vincent Mahoney, was standing right behind her, and Miller bowled him over in his attempt to get away. "I don't know if [Miller] didn't see him or didn't care, but he didn't say 'excuse me' or 'I'm sorry'. He didn't even turn his head," Symbol said. "He simply did not care at all."

Symbol said after Miller fled, she turned and saw Hopfinger trying to get around the security guards who were blocking his way. "They kept pushing him back. He kept saying, 'I have a right to be here, I have a right to be asking these questions.' Tony would try to walk forward and they would push him back."

Symbol said she did not see Hopfinger push anyone in the time she was watching the confrontation.

Then again, this is what happens when you hire far-right extremists of the Patriot variety to act as your "security" force. It's becoming abundantly clear that Miller is very much part of that world, and indeed is poised to become the Patriot movement's first elected senator.

As the Financial Times observed, this kind of thuggery toward members of the media was probably inevitable, given the Tea Partiers' proclivity for attacking them rhetorically (particularly Sarah "Lamestream" Palin). However, it's not just media folks, but anyone perceived to be from "the other side" by Tea Partiers. And it's not just in Alaska.

Down in Florda the other day, we had this from another Tea Party candidate -- Allen West:

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If money is power, the RGA is one of the big players on the field. It was sickening to see the size of contributions flowing through their organization for the quarter ending September 30th. Hedge fund managers, News Corp, oil companies, health providers...you name it, they brought it.

The list that follows comprises some of the biggest donors for the quarter, or in some cases, the year. When compiling this list, I didn't list the zillions who gave between $15,000 and $50,000, excluding them unless the year to date total was significant.

Perhaps it's because I have never found myself in a position to be able to dash off a check for $25,000-$50,000, but I was appalled. The amount of money flowing into and out of just this one organization for a midterm election with no Presidential or national campaigns is obscene. All I could think of as I was going through page after page of donors giving anywhere from $5,000 to over a million dollars was...imagine what good could be done with that kind of money.

And so, for your viewing pleasure and comment, here are the notable givers to Haley Barbour's Republican Governors' Association:

Big Kahuna Winner of them all

Michigan Chamber of Commerce: $3,825,000 Year to Date: $5,372,500

Million Dollar Boys' Club - Contributions of $1 million or more

• Sheldon Adelson, Nevada Hotel Guy, neocon extraordinaire $1,000,000
• Bob Perry, Texas Developer. Total this quarter: $3.5 million; Total year to date: $4 million
• Paul Singer, Hedge Fund manager, Elliott Management Total this quarter: $1,509,899; Total year to date: 2,009,899

Half a million here, Half a million there - $500,000-$999,999

• Steven Cohen, Hedge Fund manager, SAC Capital Advisors: $500,000
• Devon Energy $500,000 Total year to date: $900,000
• Anne Griffin, Aragon Global Management $500,000
• Kenneth Griffin, Portfolio Manager, Citadel Group $500,000

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Please Sarah, by all means feel free to split the Republican vote for 2012.

JENKINS: How much impact do you think we will see on November 2nd with the Tea Party's message?

PALIN: I think the Tea Party is key to the movement that turns this country around. Tea Party Americans have been bold enough to start telling the truth.

And again, knowing that they are going to get the political shots and shots from the media and the slander, still they've done what patriots have done throughout history. They've withstood that, knowing their message is right, stolid, steel-spined. So their influence is going to be strong going into November 2nd and stronger come November 3rd.

JENKINS: The movement continues. Are you the leader of the Tea Party?

PALIN: Thank goodness, tea party Americans don't have, they don't need a leader. They are not a bunch of "sheeple." They are good, hardworking, independent Americans. Not just hard-core conservatives involved in any kind of political machine. They are independents knowing that America is based on very, very solid foundational principles. They want to get back to those principles, and that has nothing do with having a party machine telling them or an individual politician telling them what to do.

JENKINS: Some of the tea party candidates, not just Sharron Angle, Joe Miller, Marco Rubio in Florida, Christine O'Donnell in Delaware -- do you think they will go, if they are elected and take that message and shake-up Washington? I know you like to shake things up.

PALIN: I do. That's what it is going to take. Yes, they better. And I have faith they will shake things up because that's why we're sending them there.

And this is kind of -- I think some in the GOP, it is their last shot. It is their last chance. We will lose states and be disappointed from them if they start straying from the bedrock principles that can grow our economy. If they start straying, then why not a third party? That's what people are going to start asking.

JENKINS: And do you see leaders like House Minority leader John Boehner or Mitch McConnell, do you see them embracing this Tea Party message, or do you see the rift getting bigger?

PALIN: No, I see them embracing and evolving into what the people's message is. As we the people grassroots movement is able to articulate the solutions to the problems we are facing in America. They're seeing it.

And I think it empowers them to start doing what inherently they know is fundamentally right to get the economy on the right track. It empowers them.

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TBogg: Carly Fiorina’s Underpants Gnome Budget.

The Next Web: The effect of the “It Gets Better” campaign on its participants.

David E's Fablog: The brain from Planet Teabag.

MN Progressive Project: Veterans to Tom Emmer – "You suck!"

Reverend Manny and the Twilight Empire: Wall Street falsely blames Main Street for the foreclosure crisis.

Guest post by Batocchio. E-mail tips to batocchio9 AT yahoo DOT com.

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Credit: Blue Gal

My Latino Voice: "Tea Party Candidate Sharron Angle Tells Latino Students They Look Asian".

Open thread below....

UPDATE: Oh, and OBVIOUSLY this is a Yankees-Rangers Baseball Thread, too.

Spiritualized's Let It Come Down was a departure from their drone-y, effects laden earlier albums. Band leader Jason Pierce utilized 115 session musicians, including a choir and orchestra, to to realize a vision that hearkened back to Phil Spector's "wall of sound" production. It was recorded at Abbey Road and AIR Studios and this track is one of my favorites.

Let It Come Down
	Artist: Spiritualized Price: $6.05 (As of 10/20/10 04:46 am details)

Very happy to see they're pursuing this case. The Blues are infamous for cutting deals with hospitals that squeeze competition out of the market -- in fact, did you know the Blues often require that hospitals do not give sliding-scale prices to people without insurance? If they decide to go after more of them, this might lead to actual competition:

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department sued Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan on Monday, asserting that the company, the state’s dominant health insurer, had violated antitrust laws and secured a huge competitive advantage by forcing hospitals to charge higher prices to Blue Cross’s rivals.

The civil case appears to have broad implications because many local insurance markets, like those in Michigan, are highly concentrated, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans often have the largest shares of those markets.

In the Michigan case, the Obama administration said that Blue Cross and Blue Shield had contracts with many hospitals that stifled competition, resulting in higher health insurance premiums for consumers and employers.

The State of Michigan was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court in Detroit.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield, like most insurers, contracts with hospitals, doctors, labs and other providers for services. The lawsuit took direct aim at contract clauses stipulating that no insurance companies could obtain better rates from the providers than Blue Cross. Some of these contract provisions, known as “most favored nation” clauses, require hospitals to charge other insurers a specified percentage more than they charge Blue Cross — in some cases, 30 to 40 percent more, the lawsuit said.

Christine A. Varney, the assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division of the Justice Department, said these requirements were “pernicious.”

“Our lawsuit alleges that the intent and effect of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s contracts is to raise hospital costs for competing health plans and reduce competition for the sale of health insurance,” Ms. Varney said. “As a result, consumers in Michigan are paying more for their health care services and health insurance.”

The contract terms, she said, discouraged discounts and prevented other insurers from entering the market. The lawsuit also asserts that Blue Cross, in effect, bought protection from competition — by agreeing to pay higher prices to certain hospitals to induce them to agree to the “most favored nation” clauses.

You may remember Alan Grayson's acclaimed ad from the 2008 cycle, "Briefcases":

In fact, when posted by my OpenLeft colleague Matt Stoller, it was the first time I started paying attention to Alan.

Well, we've got a sequel just out from our friends at the campaign:

The bill he refers to, H.R. 1664, "To amend the executive compensation provisions of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards", was one of the earliest pieces of legislation to pass in this Congress.

I work a great deal in LGBT politics, and one of the more common criticism is "The Democrats"- whatever that generic unspecific label means- didn't keep their promises. One of the reasons I'm working to re-elect Rep. Patrick Murphy is because he's one of the few who did. He said he would work hard to pass repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and he did- side by side with LGBT advocates. Despite lack of Senate action on it, Grayson deserves credit for doing what he said he would do- and in only his 4th month in Congress. There are members of Congres who have been there for years and don't have their name on a bill.

It's pretty easy to find a member of Congress whose legislative existence consists of bring pork back home and vote whichever way they're told to (I can name a half-dozen off the top of my head). Finding one who actually does shit? Harder. Which makes him one we've gotta keep.

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HuffPo's Investigative Fund has come up with a sharp story on the ever-expanding tax lien investment market, which you'll be surprised to know is just another way for Wall Street to gouge American taxpayers. Here are the relevant parts:

Nearly a dozen major banks and hedge funds, anticipating quick profits from homeowners who fall behind on property taxes, are quietly plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into businesses that collect the debts, tack on escalating fees and threaten to foreclose on the homes of those who fail to pay.

The Wall Street investors, which include Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have purchased from local governments the right to collect delinquent taxes on several hundred thousand properties, many in distressed housing markets, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has found. [...]

Some states allow the investors to tack on as much as 18 percent interest and a passel of legal fees and other charges. When property owners fail to make full payment, the investors can sue to foreclose - in some states within as little as six months. [...]

Years ago, the big banks left the buying of tax liens largely to local real estate specialists and small-time investors. These days, banks and hedge funds, stung by the failure of many speculative investments, see tax liens as a relatively safe option that can yield returns of around 7 percent.

Some banks also are packaging tax liens as securities - in a similar way to how unpaid home loans are securitized - and selling them to investors.

So broke local governments, instead of taking the time to collect taxes properly, are essentially forking over people behind on their taxes to Wall Street, where they'll have the lovely choice of paying off their taxes at usurious interest rates or losing their house to the banks that bought their tax liens. This is a great investment for banks since, even in this horrible real estate market, they can make a significant profit from selling someone's home for the relatively low price of paying off one year's worth of property taxes to the government. Either way, it's KA-CHING, KA-CHING, KA-CHING!

For those interested in learning more about how to become a financial vulture, I found this swell how-to video posted by the National Association of Tax Lien Investors. Note the sociopathic disregard for human suffering throughout it:

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