It took the RNC six days to take this racist photo of President Obama down from their Web site

More from Media Matters. Read More......

Obama admin to deport gay Brazilian man who was raped in Brazil, and is now married to an American man in Massachusetts

Fierce advocate strikes again. Read More......

Senator Dodd introduces bill meant to immediately freeze credit card rates

From the Hill's blog:

Credit card rates would be immediately frozen under new legislation introduced on Monday by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).

Dodd will introduce the bill in response to concerns that the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act, enacted earlier this year, has done little to block credit cards from raising interest rates before the remaining provisions of the CARD Act go into effect.

Another reader wrote me the other day to say that his credit card interest rate just got raised to 29% or so, and his credit is spotless. Has anyone else had their interest rate recently raised? Read More......

Climate change deniers won't like this

Then again, since when have they ever relied on facts? The earth is not cooling.

U.S. government data show the decade that ends in December will be the warmest in 130 years of record-keeping, and 2005 was the hottest year recorded.

The case that the Earth might be cooling partly stems from recent weather. Last year was cooler than previous years. It has been a while since the superhot years of 1998 and 2005. So is this a longer climate trend or just weather's normal ups and downs?

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Village People

I was chatting with Greg Sargent of the Plum Line and he used the phrase "the village" with me. I'd heard it before, but had no idea what he was talking about. Well, just so happens that Greg has done a post about "the village" and what it means.

And as a resident of this village for 25 years, I'll have to think about this one :-)

UPDATE: Digby weighs in on this post, with a post of her own referring to this post. Anyone else feeling a self-referential overload? Read More......

Did Roland Burris save the public option?

Kinda wild.

Reid and the leadership faced this basic math: There is only one Snowe and there are 60 members of the Democratic caucus. If just a few Democrats abandoned the bill, it would fall short even with Snowe's support.

"It's a zero-sum situation," said Durbin, who is in charge of counting votes in the Senate. "If we thought that just putting the trigger in meant that we'd end with 61 votes," he explained, then that's what leadership would have done.

"But there were some [senators] that felt that that just didn't go far enough moving toward a public option," said Durbin, who is himself a backer.

"We have 60 people in the caucus," Reid said. "We'll all hang together and see where we come out."

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) had insisted he would oppose any bill without a public option and rejected the trigger as a compromise. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent and self-described democratic socialist who caucuses with Democrats, had come close to making such a threat but said he was "playing it day to day." Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) said over the weekend that the lack of a public option was a "good reason" to vote against it.

The only clear vote "no" was Burris. Read More......

Baucus on board now too

This is very good if we now have Baucus on board. From Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly's Political Animal:

Perhaps more interesting was the reaction from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who has been a public option detractor.

"It is time to make our system work better for patients and providers, for small business owners and for our economy. It is time for health care reform. For more than a year, we've been working to meet the goals of reducing the growth of health care costs, improving quality and efficiency and expanding coverage. There are a tremendous number of complicated issues that go into reform and the public option is certainly one of them. I included a public option in the health reform blueprint I released nearly one year ago, and continue to support any provision, including a public option, that will ensure choice and competition and get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. Success should be our threshold and I am going to fight hard for the 60 votes we need to meet that goal this year."

What's fascinating about this is that Baucus was reportedly fighting tooth and nail to keep the public option out of the merged bill. This statement suggests he's on board with Reid's bill, and almost seems to be trying to take some credit for it.

I read it that way too. Read More......

Obama administration official says Reid including public option in health care plan is "dangerous"

It's the children's hour apparently.

From CNN:

An administration official went so far as to call Reid's move "dangerous" but quickly followed by saying Reid knows his caucus better than anyone and will therefore have the support of the White House.

Yeah, you see, that's the thing. You really don't have the support of the White House if the White House is still running around blabbing to the media about how Harry Reid, and the public option's inclusion, are "dangerous." It yet again undercuts Senator Reid, and undercuts the public option. If the White House were serious about real health care reform, if they were serious about truly trying to keep the President's promises, they would do something about the incessant leaks coming out of this White House trying to undermine real health care reform. Then again, leaks intended to damage fellow Democrats, but not Republicans, have become somewhat of a trademark of this White House. Read More......

Not that we care, but did Snowe leave some wiggle room?

Olympia Snowe to Bloomberg News, this weekend:

HUNT: Even a public option that gives states the option, even that would be a deal-killer for Olympia Snowe?

SNOWE: Well, I wouldn’t say - characterize it as, you know, in such strong terms as deal-breakers, but yes, I’m opposed to it.

I would prefer to see the private sector with the right incentives...

Not a deal breaker. Interesting. Then why all the attention on her, and all the focus on "trigger or nothing"? Read More......

White House statement on Reid health care bill

Typo in the original:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________
For Immediate Release October 26, 2009

STATEMENT FROM PRESS SECRETARY ROBERT GIBBS ON HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

“The President congratulates Senator Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd for their hard work on health insurance reform. Thanks to their efforts, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the President is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made. He’s also pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out. As he said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition.”

###

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Reid speaking now - Opt-out public option is in the bill

Public option source of great discussion.

I've always been a strong supporter.

Not a silver bullet. Important way to assure competition and level the playing field.

Concluded, with support of WH, Dodd and Baucus, best way to move forward is have a public option with opt out.

Intend to include it in the bill.

Strong consensus to move forward. Sending bill in a few hours to CBO.

Lower cost, preserve choice, create competition, improve quality care.

States will have until 2014 to opt out.

Have 60 votes? As soon as back from CBO, I believe we'll clearly have the support of the caucus.

PO is fairest way to go, versus trigger.

Reid: Snowe doesn't want a public option at all, I hope she'll see the wisdom.

There will be a co-op in this bill. (Huh?)

Reid: Legislation is for the poor and middle class. (WRONG. It should be for everyone - all of us are just as screwed if we get really sick and our insurance cuts us off, if we hit a lifetime limit, if we can't afford our prescription drugs because Blue Cross only gives us $1500 a year and MS drugs cost $2000 a month (I know because a colleague's wife has MS).

Reid's prepared remarks, after the jump...

The last two weeks have been a great opportunity to work with the White House, Senators Baucus and Dodd, and members of our Caucus on this critical issue of reforming our health insurance system.

We have had productive, meaningful discussions about how to craft the strongest bill that can gain the 60 votes necessary to move forward in the Senate.

I feel good about progress we have made within our caucus and with the White House, and we are all optimistic about reform because of the unprecedented momentum that exists.

I am well aware that the issue of the public option has been a source of great discussion in recent weeks. I have always been a strong supporter of the public option.

While the public option is not a silver bullet, I believe it is an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients.

As we’ve gone through this process, I’ve concluded, with the support of the White House and Senators Baucus and Dodd, that the best way forward is to include a public option with an opt-out provision for states.

Under this concept, states will be able to determine whether the public option works well for them and will have the ability to opt-out.

I believe that a public option can achieve the goal of bringing meaningful reform to our broken system. It will protect consumers, keep insurers honest and ensure competition and that’s why we intend to include it on the bill that will be submitted to the Senate for consideration.

We have spent countless hours over the last few days in consultation with Senators who have shown a genuine desire to see reform succeed, and I believe there is strong consensus to move forward in this direction.

Today’s developments bring us another step closer to achieving our goal of passing a bill this year that lowers costs, preserves choice, creates competition and improves quality of care.

I’m happy to answer a few questions before I have to leave for a meeting.

Read More......

Peter Mayle and "Alowine" in France

Something light and funny for the Halloween season. In Paris, Halloween - or Alowine as it's called here - probably peaked around 2000 or so. It's still there but not very present the way it was. When the French started to reach their limit with Bush, all things American started to be swept up and tossed out along the way. At the end of the Peter Mayle article is a tasty sounding recipe using pumpkin. French potiron has more flavor than the taller and rounder US variety. Using it for soup is a staple for meals this time of the year and it disappears from the store shelves very quickly. Read More......

Newsweek's Fineman on "Obama's pointless bipartisanship"

Howard Fineman in Newsweek:

But the pursuit of Snowe is pretty close to obsessive, which is not a good thing either for Democrats or for the prospects of health-care reform worthy of the name. First, Snowe's exaggerated prominence is both the result and symbol of Obama's quixotic and ultimately time--wasting pursuit of "bipartisanship." In case the White House hasn't noticed, Republicans in Congress are engaged in what amounts to a sitdown strike. They don't like anything about Obama or his policies; they have no interest in seeing him succeed. Despite the occasional protestation to the contrary, the GOP has no intention of helping him pass any legislation. Snowe may very well end up voting for whatever she and Democrats craft, but that won't make the outcome bipartisan any more than dancing shoes made Tom DeLay Fred Astaire....

Worse, the pursuit of Snowe isn't uniting Democrats; it is dividing them. Democrats who haven't been in the room with her as she bargains with the leadership bristle at her role, even as they personally like and admire her. She remains deeply skeptical of a publicly financed alternative to private insurance, in good part because of what she sees as the failure of Maine's version of the idea—and yet some form of a public option is favored not only by most Democrats in Congress but by most of the American people. If Obama and the Democrats really want such a plan, they may as well try to get tough. For inspiration, the president might consider a Longfellow aphorism. "In this world," the poet wrote, "a man must either be an anvil or a hammer."

Read More......

White House now blaming it all on Harry Reid; Obama happy to help Reid get the 60 votes he needs after Reid already has the 60 votes he needs

You see, President Obama really wanted to follow through on his campaign promise for a robust public option, he wanted to lobby individual members of Congress all these months on behalf of this goal, but you see, the administration now explains, Senator Reid never asked him to help. From TNR:

On Sunday, a senior administration official told TNR: We will be 100 percent behind whichever direction Reid decides to go. ... Reid hasn't asked for help. He is polling his caucus to make a decision on the opt out or the trigger. Whichever way he chooses, president Obama will help make the sale publicly and privately.

So, once Harry Reid is done whipping his caucus, leaning on Senators, and cajoling his fellow members to vote for the plan he'd prefer - once all of that is done and Senator Reid has finally gotten the 60 votes he needs, only then will the President be happy to weigh in, publicly and privately, and help Senator Reid get the 60 votes he needs - the votes Senator Reid will already have at that point.

And actually, there's a bigger problem for the White House now. Senior adviser to the President, Valerie Jarrett, said on Friday that the White House was already pushing for the public option.

It doesn't get much clearer than that. Jarrett not only defended and reaffirmed President Obama's support for the public option, but said "we're going to keep pushing until they very last moment" for it.

Yet today we find out that the White House isn't pushing at all, because they claim that Harry Reid hasn't asked them to, but they plan on pushing once Reid finally lines up the votes. Then why did Jarrett say on Friday that the White House was already pushing, if we now find out that they're not? Read More......

NBC: Reid bill will include opt-out public option

It ain't soup till Reid announces it, but here's the latest talk in town - I started hearing about this last night. From NBC's First Read:

Per NBC’s Mike Viqueira, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has a health-care reform bill ready and will send it to the Congressional Budget Office today for an evaluation of costs, according to a top aide. The measure will include a public option with the "opt out," whereby states could individually decide to remove themselves from the government plan.

The Wall Street Journal has more: “Details of the legislation could change, but its broad outlines are becoming clear. Employers with more than 50 workers wouldn't be required to provide health insurance, but they would face fines of up to $750 per employee if even part of their work force received a government subsidy to buy health insurance, this person said. A bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee had a lower fine of up to $400 per employee… The bill is expected to expand health coverage to tens of millions of Americans by giving low- and middle-income Americans subsidies to offset the cost of insurance, and expanding the Medicaid federal-state insurance program to cover a broader swath of the poor. Most people would be required to buy insurance or pay a fine, though exceptions would be made for those deemed unable to afford it.”

Read More......

If the President really supports the public option, then let him answer this one simple question

What has the President done, and more importantly, what is he currently doing, to get Harry Reid the last 2 or 3 (or 1) votes he needs to put the public option, sans trigger, in the Senate bill?

Traditionally, presidents call members of Congress, invite them to the White House, make them offers they can't refuse, etc. when the president supports specific proposals, and wants those proposals enacted into law. Especially when the proposals are his campaign promises in what is the most important piece of legislation of his presidency.

What presidents don't do is issue general statements of support, and then say "good luck with that." That's what you do when you don't really care whether the proposal survives or not.

The general statements of support which keep coming from the White House are non-responsive to the rumors. The rumors in fact are that the White House is issuing statements supporting the public option while undercutting at worst, and not helping at best, Senator Reid in his efforts to get the public option included in the bill with no trigger. Simply issuing another statement is exactly the concern expressed in the rumors.

There is no indication that the President has actually done anything to lobby individual members of Congress to support including the public option in the Senate bill. And that is the problem, and the question the White House needs to answer.

And finally, for those who say that the President is secretly lobbying for the public option, but we just don't know it, remember what the White House slipped to Marc Ambinder in August (the White House regularly goes to Ambinder when they need a reporter to get their message out):

Privately, White House aides have communicated to the House leadership that the onus on changing minds about the public plan is on Congress, not on the president.

The White House doesn't think it's its job to help sell the president's own campaign promises. More on that in a later post. Read More......

Roubini sees another economic crash coming

Another bubble that will eventually be corrected. No predictions on timing, but looking at the inflated values, it's bound to happen. Roubini is also repeating what others have been saying which is the regulation was all there but nobody wanted to disturb the market. The self regulation experiment was a complete failure and if we are to lessen the depth of future recessions, real regulation is going to have to be implemented. Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

This should be a very interesting and revealing week in the effort to pass health insurance reform. The House Democratic leadership is whipping for the strongest possible public option. In the Senate, various reports over the weekend indicate that we'll soon be seeing Majority Leader Harry Reid's "merged" bill. And, by soon, I mean in the next couple days. As of now, it appears that bill will include a public option with an "opt-out" provision. But, we'll know only know what's in the Senate bill when we see it.

At some point, in the near future, we're going to need to see Obama take a very active role in lobbying for the reform bill on Capitol Hill. He's going to have to use his bully pulpit and the power of his office to get this done. This is his legacy -- not Olympia Snowe's.

Today, the President is holding another meeting on Afghanistan in the morning. Then, he's heading to Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida to give a speech and meet with service personnel from the Navy and Marine Corps. He's also doing a fundraiser in Miami tonight.

Should be an interesting week... Read More......

Mugabe's police raid opposition offices

Same old, same old. Time to completely shut down this ridiculous unity government that is anything but.

Zimbabwe police raided a house used by executives of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party, saying they were searching for weapons, the country's finance minister said Saturday.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, said about 50 armed police "ransacked" the house in a Harare suburb on Friday night.

Read More......

Top UK CEO pay barely scratched by recession

And remember, CEO's in the UK and Europe are paid much less than US executives. Despite the stock free fall in the market (which has brutalized retirement plans) corporate leaders are hardly sharing in the pain. Bonuses have come down a bit though offsets in salary increases have made the differences hard to detect. The bankers have (fairly) received the bulk of public anger for excessive pay but it doesn't take long to see too many other unacceptable examples. The Independent:

The typical boss of a FTSE 100 company pocketed a bonus of £502,000 for the financial year to April, a survey by Incomes Data Services reveals today. Though the figure was 29 per cent lower than the year before – the first time in a decade that chief executives' bonuses have fallen – IDS said the size of the pay-outs would still surprise many people.

It also pointed out that at many companies, chief executives were compensated for smaller bonus payments by much higher basic salaries, with the typical boss given a 7.4 per cent rise. As a result, the average FTSE 100 director's total remuneration package last year was just 1.5 per cent lower. Chief executives are still earning just as much as they did in 2006, when the economy was still strong.

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Saudi female journalist to receive 60 lashes

Savages. The journalist who received the sentence was not even involved in the specific TV show that has triggered the brutal torture for her and a show guest. The guest who bragged about having sex with many women was sentenced to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes. This is yet another reason why the educated world needs to move beyond an oil-based society.

A Saudi court sentenced a female journalist Saturday to 60 lashes for her work on a controversial Arabic-language TV show that aired an episode in which a man bragged about his sex life, two sources told CNN.

The court in Jeddah also imposed a two-year travel ban on Rosanna Al-Yami, according to a Saudi Information Ministry official, who could not be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media. The ban prevents her from traveling outside Saudi Arabia.

Read More......