Overfishing by 1000% percent

Environmentalists have successfully used images of cute panda bears and other animals to attract people to the issue of conservation. In the case of sharks, the story has been much more difficult because of our image of them as man-eaters. (I wish Spielberg would be more involved, as his movie Jaws played a large role in this fear.) I'll admit to walking on water the first time I encountered a reasonably sized (5-6 ft. +/-) reef shark while diving in Honduras, but I quickly realized that the shark was as afraid of me, perhaps more. Elsewhere I have encountered Zambezi sharks (aka bull sharks), ragged tooth sharks (sand tiger) and great whites while in the water. They may be intimidating because of preconceived ideas, but like many others, I wasn't bothered by them.

While cage diving with great whites, I had to go in the cage without air because it would spook the sharks despite all of the visitors that day being 10-15 feet in size. Yes, the air bubbles scared the feared great white. Consistently sharks are curious though very cautious with humans and for good reason. Sharks are often casualties of long line fishing fleets or worse still, caught, fins cut and thrown back into the sea to die. American Rob Stewart has a documentary out about the global problem of rapidly declining shark populations and the link includes a movie trailer. They may not necessarily be cuddly, but sharks are critical to the oceans. Read More......

Federal Reserve gives away billions to banks

Actually, it's more like they are paying the banks to take the billions. When they auction off $30 billion at 3.010% and inflation is running closer to 4%, they are acting the way the banks were acting towards home buyers leading up to the housing crash. It didn't seem possible that anyone could be worse than Mr Bubble, but Bernanke is indeed worse. Creating the bubbles of tomorrow, with your tax dollars. Read More......

Larry Craig gets spanked by the Ethics Committee -- but not that hard

AP:

The Senate Ethics Committee said Wednesday that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig acted improperly in connection with a men's room sex sting last year.

In a letter to the Republican senator, the ethics panel said Craig's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea after his June arrest at a Minneapolis airport was an effort to evade legal consequences of his own actions.

Craig's actions brought discredit on the Senate, the letter said.

The six members of committee — three Democrats and three Republicans — told Craig they believed he "committed the offense to which you pled guilty" and that "you entered you plea knowingly voluntarily and intelligently."

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Bush and GOP kill extension of surveillance law

The surveillance law is so important that they're trying to kill it, in order to prove how important it really is. Now who doesn't care about catching Osama? Then again, these are the same people who haven't caught Osama in 7 years, and don't really seem all that interested in doing so. Read More......

McCain votes to kill anti-torture bill after making 'opposition to torture' one of his signature issues

Today, McCain voted with those opposing the Intelligence bill because it uses the Army Field Manual (something he used to support) to effectively outlaw torture (something he used to oppose). In the end, McCain lost and we won. The Senate passed the bill (vote count here) making the Army Field Manual the law of the land for the entire US government. Senator Reid describe the bill:

Washington, DC—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today after the U.S. Senate passed the Intelligence Authorization conference report, which includes a provision to establish a single, government-wide interrogation standard as outlined in the Army Field Manual:

“The Senate today declared that the Army Field Manual works and torture does not. In sending the President a bill that establishes one interrogation standard for the entire U.S. government, we are taking an important step toward restoring our moral leadership in the world. Military and foreign policy experts agree that torture is counterproductive. It elicits unreliable information, puts U.S. troops at risk and undermines our counterinsurgency efforts.

“It is now up to the President to show his own moral leadership and sign this bill into law. And if he refuses to do so, I hope the Republicans who voted for this bill’s passage will stand up to the President and override his veto.”

More from ThinkProgress. Read More......

Clinton's new ad isn't a parody. It's really a Clinton campaign ad.

The Clinton campaign has a new ad on the air in Wisconsin. When I first saw it, I thought it was a parody -- or an amateur YouTube ad created by a Clinton supporter. Nope. It's from the highly paid media consultants working for the Clinton campaign. Atrios thinks the "narrator sounds like he's a bad parody of political ad narrators."

Is this the best the Clinton campaign can do? A cheesy ad about a debate about debates? Seriously. I just expected more from the Clinton ad team. This ad looks like something from the 1970s or a low-budget, state representative campaign. The candidate deserves better -- and surely the voters of Wisconsin deserve better. Read More......

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Donna Edwards thanks you for your support

Last night Donna Edwards beat Al Wynn in a Democratic primary in Maryland. Wynn was the worst kind of Democrat, little more than an in-house lobbyist for big corporations rather than looking after the interests of his own constituents. The blogs, led by blogger Matt Stoller of OpenLeft, joined together with MoveOn, SEIU, Emily's List, Progressive Maryland and others to take Wynn down. And we did. You did. Last fall a coalition of progressive blogs held a $100k fundraiser for Donna, and we raised all $100k in little more than a week (you guys chipped in $5k). The $100k from the blogosphere was not only 12% of the total money Donna raised, but we were there supporting Donna from the beginning, before the other money and groups came on board. Donna's victory is in a very real sense your victory.

PS Stoller tells me that last November the powers-that-be were telling Donna she was toast. She'd never win. Give up. Ha. Read More......

White House admits our phone companies spied on us

Not that this is news, but it's the first time they've actually admitted it. Not surprisingly, it was Bush's slip of the tongue that confirmed it. Read More......

Obama targets the economy and DC insiders

The GOP is really soft on this issue and Democrats running for office ought to be hammering away on the subject. The Bush economic boom wasn't a boom outside of the boardrooms, or at least a good kind of boom. It has been more of a collapse and this all comes directly back to the end result of GOP policies. Call them out, early and often.

"We are not standing on the brink of recession due to forces beyond our control," Obama said in excerpts of a speech at a General Motors plant in Janesville, Wis. "The fallout from the housing crisis that's cost jobs and wiped out savings was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. It was a failure of leadership and imagination in Washington."

"It's a Washington where politicians like John McCain and Hillary Clinton voted for a war in Iraq that should've never been authorized and never been waged — a war that is costing us thousands of precious lives and billions of dollars a week" that could be used on infrastructure, job training and health care.

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The importance of reality-based analysis of Iraq and the Middle East

A comprehensive, expansive report from the Rand Corporation -- a report commissioned by the Pentagon, no less -- details just how screwed up our political, military, and intelligence policies are when it comes to insurgencies. The report describes U.S. actions in the Muslim world as "at best inadequate, at worst counter-productive, and, on the whole, infeasible." We are nearly five years into the war in Iraq. Five years. We're not getting it right. We're not winning. And the government isn't being honest about either of these facts.

These misjudgments and mistakes are costing hundreds of thousands of people their lives. I care about these issues because I think it's important to cut through the lies and the misdirection. This kind of thing is why it's so frustrating when people try to tell me the surge is "working." If a person has cancer and a cut, and you put a band-aid on the cut, the person isn't cured. People deserve to know the root causes of the problems with our policies, and this report apparently really gets to the meat of things.

Of course, if you want to know more about these problems from somebody who experienced them up close and personal, you should buy my book! It hit stores yesterday and is currently hovering around number 1 or 2 on Amazon for books on Intelligence as well as on the Iraq War. (You didn't really think I'd get through a post without a plug, did you? Buy it for yourself, your friends, your congressional delegation, and anybody else who could use some honesty about Iraq and intel.) Read More......

Will McCain eat his own words today during Senate torture vote?

The Senate is getting ready to vote on a key torture amendment today, making the Army field manual rules regarding torture apply to the entire government. At one point during the campaign McCain praised the Army field manual as the way to go - Life is not "24," McCain said at the time. So how will McCain vote today? Will he support the Army field manual? Will he oppose it? Or will he just blow off the vote entirely on one of his signature issues that he claims he cares so much about?

Watch McCain talk about how supportive he is of the Army field manual on torture:



PS The amendment's author is Senator Dianne Feinstein of California. Now, Feinstein drives us nuts sometimes (okay, a lot of times) with her conservative votes. But sometimes she also does good. This is one of those times. Just worth mentioning. Read More......

How Hillary can make a come-back

From Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post:

Here's their advice, condensed into four easy steps:

1. It's The Economy, Stupid: Clinton began the race with a clear advantage over Obama among voters who cited the economy as the most pressing issue facing the country. That edge narrowed and then disappeared altogether as the contest stretched on. Fred Yang, a Democratic pollster, suggested that Clinton should revive a message similar to her husband's "It's the economy, stupid" mantra that defined the 1992 presidential race. "She should issue an economic 'white paper'," said Yang. "She should talk about fiscal responsibility and the economic boom during the Clinton years and make the argument that she will be the jobs/economic candidate." An emphasis on the economy and her knowledge to turn it around -- a wisdom born of experience -- could resonate particularly well in a Rust Belt state like Ohio or even Pennsylvania, which will hold its primary on April 22.

2. Make News: In the wake of Super Tuesday, the Clinton campaign appears to have fallen into a "play it safe" mode that no longer fits the sort of campaign she must run to beat Obama. "She needs to start making news, by having interesting things to say," said one Democratic strategist granted anonymity to speak candidly. The source added it "seems crazy that her campaign sent her over to '60 Minutes' [this past Sunday] with no clear story or point she wanted to sell." Clinton is no longer the frontrunner in the race and, therefore, a traditional "Rose Garden" strategy simply won't work. Chris Lehane, a longtime Clinton loyalist and an advocate of an economic argument, suggested that the New York senator should use "compelling" events to drive the news of the day. His suggestion? "A before and after tour of places in Ohio that were falling backwards under Bush I, came back under Clinton I, fell back under Bush II and what Clinton II will do to get them going forward again."

More suggestions after the jump...

3. Internet Cash = Loyal Supporters: Many within the broad orbit of the Clinton campaign don't think enough has been made of the fact that more than $12 million has been raised online since Super Tuesday. The money story has been almost unremittingly bad for Clinton in the past week -- Obama raised $32 million in January alone, Clinton was forced to loan her campaign $5 million before the Feb. 5 votes. But this storyline, according to party strategists, is one that has potential to show that there are a good many people in the country who believe strongly in Clinton and ahttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.quote.gifre willing to show it by giving small-dollar contributions to her cause. Obama, to date, has had a stranglehold on the "candidate as cause" storyline; this outpouring of Web donations to her campaign could well change that dynamic ... if cast in the right light.

4. Over-perform in Wisconsin: The Badger State primary is set for Feb. 19 and represents the last, best chance for Clinton to win (or at least lose by less than expected) before March 4. While there is a considerable progressive base in Wisconsin -- in Madison in particular -- there are a lot of blue collar, lower middle class white voters who could be responsive to a Clinton message heavy on the economy. Losing by a large margin in Wisconsin -- coupled with an expected big Obama win in his home state of Hawaii -- could be the beginning of the end for Clinton. "To halt the Obama momentum before March 4, [Clinton] needs to either win in Wisconsin or have a huge burst of super delegates announce for her so she can regain the delegate lead," said Steve Murphy, a Democratic consultant and former adviser to Gov. Bill Richardson's (N.M.) presidential bid.

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McCain Web ad touts Bill Clinton's kind words

So I'm doing a Google search for "John McCain" last night and the first link I see is his campaign Web site. I click and land on a page where there's a rather prominent YouTube video of Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton? I figure it must be a pretty damning video, more Clinton bashing from the right, etc. In fact, it's a very nice video of our former president saying all sorts of kind words about John McCain:



Isn't that special.

So I go back to Google to double check the link and what do I find? It's not a Google link at all. It's a Web ad on Google for the McCain campaign:



Now, I suppose it's possible that someone else is buying Web ads in order to promote Bill Clinton's kind words for McCain. But there's no getting around the fact that it's McCain's own campaign Web site that's using a big ole video of Bill Clinton, complimenting John McCain, as a way of drumming up votes for old John. And I've got to imagine that McCain isn't using Bill Clinton's praise to attract conservative votes - they hate Bill Clinton. He's doing it to win independents. It was only a matter of time before John McCain moved to the middle and abandoned conservatives, again. But I didn't think he was going to do it before he even had the primary sewn up. And I sure never imagined he'd use Bill Clinton's praise as a badge of honor. The conservatives are gonna go nuts. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

If you need more evidence of which side is fired up, look at the results from Virginia. 972,633 Democrats voted in Virginia. Compare that to 473,500 Republicans. More than twice as many Democrats went to the polls in a state that is turning bluer by the day. And, Obama received almost 620,000 votes -- almost 150,000 more than all the Republicans combined.

Still struck by how old and angry McCain looked last night -- when he spoke after Obama. Stark difference.

Congrats again to Donna Edwards. Very exciting.

Have at it. Read More......

WellPoint/Blue Cross looking for a few good spies

As if it isn't bad enough with Big Pharma and their cozy (and what many consider unethical) relationship with doctors. WellPoint/Blue Cross now want to be even creepier as they are asking medical doctors to spy on patients and report back to the corporate offices. (You may remember WellPoint from the seedy scandal involving the ex-CEO who was having affairs across the country allegedly promising marriage, passing on STDs and screaming "ABORT" to one women he impregnated. A fine GOP fund raiser and a good moral leader, they say.)

While medical doctors so often are game when it involves holidays to the Caribbean or commission/perks for prescribing drugs, this may be going too far. Blue Cross is asking doctors to report any pre-existing conditions so they can use this as grounds for termination or decline payment. When an individual is canceled, good luck finding another insurance company that will accept you.

More after the jump.

Who doesn't have some sort of pre-existing condition? While this can be difficult for working age people, just imagine the consequences for retired Americans. After my father died a few years ago, my mother received the usual series of nasty letters from the insurance company telling her that she needed to move on. (So much for the retirement benefits promised by my father's company.) Maybe person of 73 years exists that does not have any pre-existing conditions but they are rare. This is a period when most Americans will spend a lot of their hard earned money, paying for medical treatment. If my mother was in California and moving to Blue Cross, WellPoint/Blue Cross would be asking her doctor - her doctor! - to turn in a list of pre-existing conditions so they could cancel her. Then again, would it be her doctor or is Blue Cross forcing customers to use their own special list of doctors who will tow the line for corporate?

WellPoint Inc., the Indianapolis-based company that operates Blue Cross of California, said it was sending out the letters in an effort to keep costs at a minimum.

"Enrolling an applicant who did not disclose their true condition (and the condition is chronic or acute), will quickly drive increased utilization of services, which drives up costs for all members," WellPoint spokeswoman Shannon Troughton said in an e-mail to the newspaper.

"Blue Cross feels it is our responsibility to assure all records are accurate and up to date for HMO providers," she said. "We send these letters to identify members early on in the process who may not have been honest in their application."

And who makes this judgment call? Sounds like it's Blue Cross, an obviously biased player in this situation. A simple, honest mistake could send a customer onto the street without coverage. Worse still, as the article says, patients may hide more serious problems which will then be much more expensive to treat later, if even treated.

When the insurance industry wonders why they are consistently detested in America, this is a prime example. They only want the good customers but who the hell are the good customers? Americans spend more on health care per person than anywhere else in the world and yet the insurance industry is confident enough in their own power that they can pull stunts like this. Sadly, they're probably right. They can and do get away with just about any crazy program they want. Thanks to the GOP program of "let business govern itself" this is the end result.

If WellPoint and Blue Cross want out of the insurance business, fine. If they want to stay in the business, practices like this need to be examined and balanced. As I've said before, here in France (which has it's own problems, of course) I have never once heard someone panic that they were going to be thrown off of an insurance plan or lose their savings due to illness. Not once. As a country we have allowed business to go much too far and it's time we move back to finding a proper balance. Right now, it's a one-sided relationship and that's no longer acceptable. Read More......

Bush says fraud not possible in Iraq or Afghanistan

So forget about the billions that have gone missing, even though they were US tax dollars. (You know, the tax dollars that Bush and the GOP like to tell you is yours.) It's just as though it never happened if the contract fraud occurs overseas. No matter how corrupt or how mismanaged, Bush says it's all OK in the name of spreading democracy or whatever that's supposed to be over there. Clearly we lost billions after Katrina due to mismanagement but Iraq has been a black hole, littered with charges of corruption, fraud, rape, theft, murder, you name it. This is what Bush and the GOP want to condone, as if none of it ever happened.

And to think people around the world think Bush and his talk of freedom and democracy sounds so fraudulent. That would be because it is. Read More......

Donna Edwards: A new and better Democrat won big tonight

Congratulations to Donna Edwards. The Washington Post and AP have declared her the winner:


Tonight, Donna won a decisive victory over incumbent Al Wynn in the Democratic primary in Maryland's Fourth CD. This is a very very VERY Democratic district. That means it's Donna's seat, the fall election against a token Republican will simply be pro forma.

Donna will be a true progressive when she is sworn in next January. This is a very exciting win over Al Wynn who was basically the in-house lobbyist for Comcast and Verizon.

A lot of people deserve credit for helping out. SEIU and EMILY's List did their parts. But, a major shout out is due to Matt Stoller who played a key role in Donna's campaign. He put his heart and his head into this race -- and got the rest of us to weigh in, too, with fundraisers and more. And let's not forget, you guys helped donate to her campaign, so thank you too.

Winning is so much more fun. Read More......