Robert Reich on the enthusiasm gap between Dems and Republicans

Robert Reich is right. At some point you have to give your supporters something more than "at least I'm better than a Republican." I think the Democrats are already on the verge of losing a significant chunk of the gay vote (and money), and I suspect constituencies concerned about health care, climate change, Wall Street reform, and immigration aren't far behind.

I had dinner the other night with a Democratic pollster who told me Dems are heading toward next fall’s mid-term elections with a serious enthusiasm gap: The Republican base is fired up. The Dem base is packing up.

The Dem base is lethargic because congressional Democrats continue to compromise on everything the Dem base cares about. For a year now it’s been nothing but compromises, watered-down ideas, weakened provisions, wider loopholes, softened regulations. Health care went from what the Dem base wanted — single payer — to a public option, to no public option, to a bunch of ideas that the President tried to explain last week, and it now hangs by a string as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid try to round up conservative Dems and a 51-vote reconciliation package in the Senate. The jobs bill went from what the base wanted — a second stimulus — to $165 billion of extended unemployment benefits and aid to states and locales, then to $15 billion of tax breaks for businesses that make new hires. Financial regulation went from tough new capital requirements, sharp constraints on derivate trading, a consumer protection agency, and a resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act – all popular with the Dem base — to some limits on derivatives and a consumer-protection agency inside the Treasury Department and a rearrangement of oversight boxes, and it’s now looking like even less. The environment went from the base’s desire for a carbon tax to a cap-and-trade carbon auction then to a cap-and-trade with all sorts of exemptions and offsets for the biggest polluters, and now Senate Dems are talking about trying to do it industry-by-industry.

These waffles and wiggle rooms have drained the Democratic base of all passion. “Why should I care?” are words I hear over and over again from stalwart Democrats who worked their hearts out in the last election.

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North Korea's mime traffic cops

From Boing Boing:

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When Glenn Beck spits 'progressive' does anyone else hear 'Jew'?

As someone who has been studying far right bigotry for 17 years now, I listen to this compilation of Glenn Beck talking about "progressives," and I hear the same bigotry used to smear Jews over the years - but instead now the word being used instead of "Jew" is "progressive." Listen to the language. An infection. A disease. A cancer. They lie, chat and steal. Creeping their way into the system under the cover of darkness. They hate the Constitution, they distort history.

Also, note how Beck is now trying to demonize the word "progressive" the way Republicans spent the last several decades demonizing the word "liberal." More from Crooks and Liars, and here's the compilation of Beck.

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In high risk gamble, HRC promises DADT will be repealed this year, and disagrees with WH spokesman - says repeal must happen before Nov. elections

America's largest gay civil rights group last night laid down a clear benchmark for the Obama administration, Congress, the Democratic party and itself. Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese promised an audience of his organization's donors and members that Don't Ask Don't Tell will be repealed this year.

That's great news if true. But it sets a clear deadline for all the parties involved. A deadline that is currently, and clearly, not on track as of this writing. I give HRC credit for putting its reputation, and its organization's future, on the line by promising that DADT will be repealed this year. Come October, we'll know if HRC, and the Democrats, still matter to our community. Read More......

Frank Rich: 'the unhinged and sometimes armed anti-government right...is making a comeback'

Frank Rich takes a closer look at the Teabaggers today, following on CPAC, the "chilling" article about the teabaggers by his colleague, David Barstow, and the attack on the IRS by Joseph Stack. As much at the GOPers want to own the teabaggers, that's not quite the case. The true teabagger hate them, too:

The distinction between the Tea Party movement and the official G.O.P. is real, and we ignore it at our peril. While Washington is fixated on the natterings of Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Michael Steele and the presumed 2012 Republican presidential front-runner, Mitt Romney, these and the other leaders of the Party of No are anathema or irrelevant to most Tea Partiers. Indeed, McConnell, Romney and company may prove largely irrelevant to the overall political dynamic taking hold in America right now. The old G.O.P. guard has no discernible national constituency beyond the scattered, often impotent remnants of aging country club Republicanism. The passion on the right has migrated almost entirely to the Tea Party’s counterconservatism.

The leaders embraced by the new grass roots right are a different slate entirely: Glenn Beck, Ron Paul and Sarah Palin.

Some elected Republicans fit into this group, too, including Reps. Michelle Bachmann and Steve King. The future they see for the is country is pretty scary if one doesn't fit in with their world view.

And, the constituency for Republicans on Capitol Hill is Wall Street, the big banks and the insurance companies. Those institutions are universally loathed right now by people across the spectrum. Read More......

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

It's "White House Health Care Summit, the sequel," today on the shows -- without Obama and not at the White House.

Almost every guest on all of the shows was at the White House on Thursday. Today, we're going to find out how the summit translates into reality. Basically, we'll learn that the GOPers aren't going to compromise on anything.

Here's the question: Which GOPer brings the 2,400 page bill as a prop? Eric Cantor did it at the White House -- and got smacked for it. Will he do it today on NBC? Since Republicans have no solutions, they rely on props and gimmicks.

And, of course, John McCain gets a slot. John McCain is the most sought after Sunday show guest ever. Ever.

The full lineup is here. Read More......

TED VIDEO: Sean Carroll on the arrow of time

Chris turned me on to these videos several months ago, by posting them on the blog. They're basically genius lectures. All relatively short, and all very interesting. In this one, a cosmologist talks about time.

Sorry, some genius got the bright idea of having this video auto-turn-on every time the page loads. How very 1996 of them. I yanked the video and am linking instead. Read More......

Please back away from the Teabagger, ma'am

Politico reports that conservatives are now trying to purge the Teabaggers of their most extreme elements, such as birthers and the militia movement:

After months of struggling to harness the energy of newly engaged tea party activists, the conservative establishment - with critical midterm congressional elections on the horizon - is taking aim for the first time at the movement’s extremist elements.

The move has been cast by some conservatives as a modern version of the marginalization of the far-right anti-communist John Birch Society during the reorganization of the conservative movement spearheaded in the 1960s and 1970s by William F. Buckley Jr.

“A similar effort will be required today of conservative political and intellectual leaders,” former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson wrote in his column in the Washington Post . “It will not be easy. Sometimes it takes courage to stand before a large crowd and proclaim that two plus two equals four.”

In front of conservatives, that would be next to impossible. You see, facts have a liberal bias. It's the reason a recent study showed that kids who go to college end up more liberal. Intelligence and knowledge tend to make you more accepting of reality, and other human beings. That doesn't go over so well in Republican circles, where far too many believe that great grandma used to hang out with pterodactyls. Read More......

Live cams from Hawaii. Tsunami hitting momentarily (4:05pm Eastern ish)

UPDATE: The surge is coming in right now, at least at the one location. 4:47pm Eastern. They say the waves will be coming and going for hours, so it's not clear when, or if, they'll be bad.



It's supposed to be coming through the various Hawaiian islands starting at 4:05pm Eastern and for another half hour. The local news is already showing some idiot swimming in the ocean.

Waikiki beach cam.

Hawaiian TV news coverage live.

This is NOT from Hawaii. It's video I just saw on YouTube of the deadly tsunami that hit Asia on December 26, 2004.

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Obama ready to compromise on health care reform if GOP is serious

Washington Post:

Obama plans to unveil an updated proposal this coming week, likely on Wednesday, according to press secretary Robert Gibbs. Gibbs suggested it would include concepts put forward by Republicans at the summit. One Republican who was there, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., was contacted Friday by the White House and asked to submit details of suggestions he made on rooting out waste and fraud from the medical system, Coburn's spokesman said.

It's interesting to note that the President came to the table last week after having compromised three times already.

First, he compromised when asking Congress to pass health care reform last year. He was no longer for single payer, and clearly indicated that a public option was no longer a necessity. Second, he compromised twice when presenting his plan to the Republicans last week. He compromised by basing last week's plan on the House and Senate bills, which themselves were already compromises intended to get more conservative and Republican votes. The President could have simply based his proposal on his original campaign promises. The President also compromised in that he didn't include everything from the House and Senate bills in his proposal to the GOP. And now, he's going to compromise a fourth time, by melding GOP proposals into his proposal of last week.

The GOP hasn't presented a single compromise yet. The Republicans walked in last week and presented the same proposals they've had from day one. Now, will that show the GOP to be intransigent and the President to be more flexible, in the eyes of the public? That's a question of messaging - something the Democrats have been failing on, but seem to be getting better at in the past week. Read More......

The man who refused to die

A horrendous story from the BBC of one man's tale of being a prisoner of war during WWII in Asia. Horrific.

They came to think of themselves as the forgotten army - the men who endured years of suffering in Japanese Prisoner of War Camps during World War II.

Yet many of the survivors, when they came back, never spoke of what they had seen and suffered. Now, one survivor of the camps has broken his 65-year silence.

This is a story of almost unimaginable suffering. The POWs were transported deep into Thailand on rice trucks that were more like steel coffins.

The men survived on a few handfuls of rice a day. Many succumbed to disease - cholera, beriberi, tropical ulcers. Their weight fell to five or six stone. Beatings were routine.

For years he went barefoot and naked except for a simple loin cloth. After another death march through the jungle, Alastair Urquhart was taken back to Singapore and, with 400 other men, loaded into the hold of a cargo ship.

There was standing room only. It was airless, fetid, the heat baking. Many died here too.

I am breaking my silence now, he writes in his book, to bear witness. I am a lucky man, but I am also an angry man, and my business with Japan is unfinished.

Germany has atoned. Young Germans know of their nation's dreadful crimes. But young Japanese are taught nothing of their nation's guilt.

It's far worse. The prison boat he was on got torpedoed by a US submarine. He was picked up by the Japanese, after five days of floating on a barge, then sent to a prison camp a few miles outside of Nagasaki. Guess what happened next. Read More......

'State of catastrophe' in Chile after 8.8 earthquake strikes

UPDATE: Reuters reports that a tsunami is heading for Hawaii, estimated to hit at 4:19pm EST, 11:19am local time.

Twitter on Chile quake here. Interesting that the local media in Chile is using Twitter reports from their "reportwiteros," a pun on "reporteros," or "reporters."


Look at the breadth of the tsunami warning:

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

CHILE / PERU / ECUADOR / COLOMBIA / ANTARCTICA / PANAMA / COSTA RICA / NICARAGUA / PITCAIRN / HONDURAS / EL SALVADOR / GUATEMALA / FR. POLYNESIA / MEXICO / COOK ISLANDS / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / NIUE / NEW ZEALAND / TONGA / AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / JARVIS IS. / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / FIJI / AUSTRALIA / HAWAII / PALMYRA IS. / TUVALU / VANUATU / HOWLAND-BAKER / NEW CALEDONIA / JOHNSTON IS. / SOLOMON IS. / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / MIDWAY IS. / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / CHUUK / RUSSIA / MARCUS IS. / INDONESIA /
N. MARIANAS / GUAM / YAP / BELAU / JAPAN / PHILIPPINES / CHINESE TAIPEI

Via Reuters:

A massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck south-central Chile early on Saturday, killing at least 78 people, knocking down homes and hospitals, and triggering a tsunami.

Buildings caught fire and residents huddled in streets strewn with glass and masonry, many terrified by powerful aftershocks and desperately trying to call friends and family.

President Michelle Bachelet said there were 78 confirmed deaths and that more were possible. Telephone and power lines were down, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage close to the epicenter.

The President has declared a "state of catastrophe."

"A widespread tsunami warning" is in effect.

Lots of aftershocks.

Live coverage from Chilean TV:

Free TV Show from Ustream
More photos from Chilean TV:

















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Everyone's suffering in the recession

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Reconciliation is a rule used in Senate just like the filibuster. Will Republicans drop the filibuster?

That's tonight's deep thought, courtesy of DNC chair Tim Kaine. Read More......

Stiglitz on the need for a second stimulus

Nobel economist Joe Stiglitz talks about the stimulus - the first one, and the need for a second.

ZC: We've talked a lot about banks so far, but there is more to the economy than banking. It's been a really bad year for American households. Do we need a second stimulus? If so, what should it look like?

JS: We clearly need a second stimulus. There are a couple of ways of seeing this. When the Obama administration first moved on the stimulus, it posed a scenario that was not really rosy, but one that proved a little too optimistic. It expected unemployment without the stimulus it would be around 10 percent, with the stimulus it would be brought down to 8 percent. Others like me thought things were going to be much worse, that without the stimulus, unemployment would be around 12 percent and with the stimulus, it would be about 10 percent. And the pessimists were right. Well, when the world turns out to be worse than you thought it would, you have to adjust what you do.

But even a much bigger stimulus would have only brought the unemployment rate down to about 8 percent, which is still totally unacceptable. So right now I am very much in favor of a second round of stimulus. Hopefully, it will be better designed and more targeted to job creation and actually stimulating the economy. The tax cuts in the first round weren't designed really to stimulate the economy very much and didn't work very effectively.

ZC: And what do you do to create jobs? Are we talking fiscal aid to states? Unemployment benefits? A new WPA?

JS: The first thing I would do is aid to the states. The states have balanced budget frameworks. The revenues are down by around $200 billion because of the recession. If they don't get aid, they have to either raise taxes—which is very hard in the current environment—or cut back expenditures. And what they inevitably cut are teachers, nurses, firefighters and a whole set of crucial public services which are all the more important in an economic recession.

So the first thing is to provide states with money, and that spending goes right to the economy very quickly. You don't have to set up new programs and it really does save jobs. I would also do one of the things that Obama is pushing now which are job credits to encourage companies to hire more workers. Focus a little bit more direct attention on jobs. We don't know how effective these are going to be. There is some debate, but it seems to me that if we don't try we're not going to get anywhere.

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If it's Friday, Glenn Beck is back to defending the 'death panel' lie

I realize that Beck is entertaining, and he is. But he's also a huge liar. An entertaining liar. But still a liar. Too many FOX viewers confused entertainment and tenacity with truth. Read More......

GOP House member: Blacks worse off today than under slavery

Um, no.

FRANK: In this country, we had slavery for God knows how long. And now we look back on it and we say "How brave were they? What was the matter with them? You know, I can't believe, you know, four million slaves. This is incredible." And we're right, we're right. We should look back on that with criticism. It is a crushing mark on America's soul. And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by policies of slavery. And I think, What does it take to get us to wake up?

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Increasing movement towards using reconciliation for health care reform

From Greg Sargent:

Okay, there have been a few scattered developments that, when taken together, make it clearer and clearer that a reconciliation vote on the health bill is becoming a foregone conclusion.

First: A top Nancy Pelosi ally, Dem Rep George Miller, went on MSNBC this morning and said unequivocally that there will be such a vote:

“The choreography gets a little complicated here, but the House will present a reconciliation bill.”

Emphasis mine. Second: Another key House Dem on health care, Rep Rob Andrews, said on a conference call with reporters this morning that Dems had little doubt that they’d muster the votes for it in the end (an opinion not widely shared among pundits and reporters):

“This Speaker has never brought a piece of legislation to the floor and failed to pass it. And she is not about to start now.”

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Axelrod: Rs never had a problem with reconciliation when THEY used it

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Dems could learn a thing or two from GOP Senator Jim Bunning

From Taylor Marsh:

Via Politico, after the Democrats’ milquetoast performance on health care leadership over the last year and counting, who doesn’t appreciate Sen. Bunning’s bluntness?

In a colloquy with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Jeff Merkley, a freshman Democrat from Oregon, was pleading for Bunning to drop his objection, when the Kentucky Republican got fed up.

“Tough s—t,” Bunning said as he was seated in the back row, overheard by the floor staff and others in attendance.

Everyone understands the importance of unemployment benefits extensions, but can you imagine any Democrat standing up to say: Tough sh–, I want the public option, because it’s the only thing that keeps down health care costs for Americans, and I won’t stop until we vote on it.

I know it’s very impolitic and counter-intuitive for me to say this given the legislation Bunning’s blocking, but I have a begrudging respect for someone who won’t take any crap from weaker politicians on the Democratic side who won’t stand and fight for anything. That’s just how sick of this sh– I am.

The moral of this story: Republicans are mean; Democrats are patsies.

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Why don't Senate Dems force the GOP to have a REAL filibuster?

As you probably know, GOP Senator Bunning is filibustering the extension of unemployment benefits, and has so screwed things up that now those benefits will run out on Sunday before this bill can pass.

The thing is, the Democrats aren't making Bunning conduct a "real" filibuster. A real filibuster is just like in the movie "Mr. Smith goes to Washington." A Senator has to sit on the Senate floor forever, continually talking, or else the filibuster is broken and we can move on. But that's not what's happening. The Democrats let Bunning go home last night to get a good night's rest, and now he's back at it this morning. Even worse, for the past hour the Senate has been in a quorom, where the room remains empty and nothing happens while someone reads the Senators' names. The quorom is a way for Senators, like Bunning, to take a break and still be able to come back and hold their place when they feel like it (it's the legislative equivalent of calling "save!" when a kid gets out of his seat while watching TV). The thing is, Democrats can stop Bunning from "saving his seat" by simply objecting to the quorom call. Then Bunning would have to keep talking and talking, and not even be allowed a bathroom break unless some other GOP Senator stepped in to help him.

That's what a REAL filibuster is. And they're a real pain in the ass to organize and keep going.

So why aren't Democrats forcing the Republicans to mount a real filibuster? Read More......

McCain's new threats, and the perils of missed messaging

As you know, GOP Senator Bunning is currently conducting a filibuster of a bill to extend unemployment benefits. The current benefits expire Sunday, and they're going to be cut off - because of the GOP filibuster, there's not enough time to pass the bill before the benefits run out. Bunning wants to take the remaining stimulus monies and use them for the benefits instead.

At the same time, John McCain is now saying that there will be "cataclysmic effects" if the Democrats use Reconciliation to break a GOP filibuster of health care reform.

Why are the two events related? Because they're both happening because of bad Democratic messaging come back to bite us in the behind.

Bunning's filibuster is really a two-fer. First, he's taking advantage of the fact that the administration did a bad job selling and defending the stimulus, so that now only 6% of the public thinks the stimulus created any jobs, when in fact, CBO found last week that the stimulus has created up to 2.1 million jobs. Remember what it was like just one year ago. Banks weren't lending. The stock market had plummeted. Even George Bush's outgoing cabinet warned that the country was in dire straights. The stimulus saved us. It wasn't big enough, and that's why our recovery is still relatively flat, but it saved us from another Great Depression. But because the public doesn't think the stimulus worked, after the GOP lied for a year about it, Bunning feels comfortable demanding that the rest of the stimulus be scotched, risking our entire economic recovery.

Second, Bunning is taking advantage of the missed messaging on the budget deficit. Democrats rightly passed a nearly $800 billion stimulus in order to stop the country from plunging into a second Great Depression. But, because they didn't adequately defend it, Democrats are now talking about the need to massively cut the deficit above all else. That kind of talk is dangerous while the economy is still teetering. Cutting spending now would reduce demand, and reduced demand in a weak economy could force the economy to contract again, i.e., another recession or worse. Mind you, economist are still worried that the economy may contract again this fall in any case. So cutting spending will only risk making it worse. But, Democrats decided to agree with the GOP talking about, so now we're all about cutting spending. Thus, Bunning is on a crusade to make sure we stop spending the "wasteful" stimulus monies, and we "cut spending" at the same time. He's doing this because our messaging enabled it.

Then there's McCain. Why does he feel comfortable blasting reconciliation? Because Democrats did a bad job selling health care reform, and selling the use of reconciliation for passing it. On health care reform, a recent Newsweek survey found that Americans tend to oppose President Obama's health care reform plan until they find out what's actually in it, then they like it. A lot. McCain feels comfortable trying to block reconciliation, and thus block health care reform, because of bad messaging on HCR over the past year. Second, on reconciliation itself, we found out only last week that the congress, and particularly the GOP, had used reconciliation repeatedly in the past to pass major health care reform bills. The Democrats have been talking about possibly using reconciliation, to get around the never-ending GOP filibusters, for almost a year now. Why did it take a private think tank to do the research that Democrats should have done a year ago? As Joe would say, that's pretty pathetic.

And finally, McCain feels comfortable arguing against reconciliation because Democrats have done a poor job educating the public about the incessant GOP filibusters. When the Democrats blocked far fewer GOP court nominees than the Republicans are blocking bills today, the GOP went ballistic and it was all the national news how the Dems were abusing the filibuster. Now that the GOP is abusing it far more than the Dems ever did, it's not that big a story. And blame the media all you want, but if you feed them the right story, very often they run with it. But you have to feed them the right story.

And actually, there's one more reason that John McCain feels comfortable threatening legislative armageddon if the Democrats use reconciliation to pass HCR. Republicans have learned that if you threaten a Democrat, they usually cave. Conservative Democrats have learned the same lesson. Democrats have turned legislative appeasement into an art, especially in the last year. So, McCain knows that if he threatens to be really really mean, a lot of Democrats, including the President, will feel an uncontrollable urge to make nice, in the hopes of averting the imminent mean-ness by caving outright to the GOP's demand. Of course, as a result, McCain and the Republicans will continue to loose armageddon on the Democrats regardless of what the Democrats offer to make it stop. The appeasement won't work. But history tells us that the Democrats don't learn their lesson.

My point in this post is to show you how political actions have consequences. Everything the Republicans are doing to us today is based on bad moves Democrats made in the past. Every time the Democrats screw up their messaging, or cave to a GOP (or conservative Dem) demand, they set the stage for even more problems in the future. Nothing happens in a vacuum. It's all cumulative. And that is why a lot of us complain about every Democratic mis-step. Because we know that the error will come back to haunt us, sooner rather than later. Read More......

Republican Senators block extension of unemployment benefits

Jed Lewison got the video of the Senate proceedings last night. The Republican Senator from Kentucky, Jim Bunning, kept objecting to a unanimous consent agreement on passing an extension of unemployment benefits. Those benefits expire on Sunday, February 28th.

The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. this morning. Democrats will try again to extend the program.

The Republicans got us into the economic quagmire. And, they've done almost nothing to help get us out. But, filibustering a bill to extend unemployment benefits has got to be a new low.
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In NY, Paterson's political support evaporates over latest scandal -- UPDATED

UPDATE @ 9:55 a.m. Elizabeth Benjamin at the New York Daily News reports Paterson will announce today that he's not running for reelection. He's not resigning. Just not running, as of now, anyway. She includes this caveat:

The governor has a reputation for being wildly mercurcial and changing his mind at the last minute - particularly if he feels he's backed into a corner.

________
What a mess in New York. And, I don't mean the snow storm currently hitting the state.

The last governor quit over a scandal involving a prostitute. The current governor is embroiled in a scandal over domestic violence and its cover up. Since this story broke on Wednesday night, the calls for Paterson to end his gubernatorial campaign are coming from those closest to him:

A range of political allies and even some close friends urged Mr. Paterson privately and publicly to end his bid for election. They said his political standing had been irreparably damaged by revelations on Thursday that the State Police had contacted the woman pressing a domestic violence complaint against a close aide, and by the allegation that the governor had spoken with her a day before she was due back in court.

While no prominent Democrat called for Mr. Paterson to resign, several said it would be impossible for him to both govern and run a campaign while dealing with the allegations, which the governor has asked Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo to investigate. Other officials said that if an inquiry showed that Mr. Paterson tried to influence the woman’s decision not to continue the case, he should resign.

Those calling on Mr. Paterson to suspend his campaign included senior Democratic members of New York’s Congressional delegation, Albany lawmakers and black Democratic officials, including some from Harlem, generally considered Mr. Paterson’s political home base.

“I don’t think his campaign can go forward successfully — quite the opposite,” said State Senator Bill Perkins, a Democrat from Harlem who holds Mr. Paterson’s former seat. “This is a fatal blow, and it will probably only get worse. I just think that it’s clear that this is a storm he has to step away from.”

If it gets worse, Paterson will probably have to resign. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

So, the media is dissecting the meaning to the summit. I thought Obama did a very good job. It's pretty clear the GOPers really are the Party of No. One of the best moments was when Senator Durbin pointed out that many of the things the Republicans were complaining about were part of their taxpayer financed health care -- and that if they thought it was "socialist plot." they should drop out of the system:

Today, Senate Democrats are going to try again today to pass a bill containing an extension of unemployment benefits. Kentucky's Jim Bunning has objected to moving that bill forward five times now, including again last night. The program expires over the next couple days. But, at the last moments, Bunning decided to play political games at the expense of millions of unemployed Americans, including a lot in Kentucky. To top it off, after keeping the Senate in session til almost midnight last night with his objections, he complained about missing the Kentucky - South Carolina basketball game. If there isn't a unanimous consent in the Senate, the program will run out of money over the weekend. Bunning, who isn't running for reelection, is the voice of the GOP opposition, but he's speaking for all GOPers on this one.

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

GOP now filibustering unemployment benefits - current benefits will run out before bill can be passed because of Republicans

And the Democrats are forcing Bunning to launch a real filibuster. About time. Show the American people what selfish, uncaring extremists the Republicans really are.

Retiring Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) late Thursday launched a one-man crusade to block an extension of unemployment and COBRA insurance benefits, vowing to allow the benefit programs to expire Sunday unless Democrats agreed to pay for them with unused stimulus funds.

Bunning’s quixotic pursuit of deficit offsets at the potential expense of payments to unemployed or uninsured citizens enraged Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other Democrats, who vowed to keep the chamber in session until Bunning relents or collapses.

A senior Democratic leadership aide said Durbin would ask for unanimous consent to pass the extensions without Bunning’s payment scheme every half hour for the foreseeable future. “We’re going to keep doing it until we break him,” the aide said.

Did you get that? This idiot wants us to use the stimulus funds that haven't yet been spent, but are about to be spent. By CBO's estimate, up to 3.5 million jobs are depending on the stimulus for their existence this coming year. This moron wants to wipe that out. The economy isn't out of trouble yet. A lot of economist worry that the economy may contract again the fall. Taking back the remaining stimulus funds while the economy is still teetering, i.e., decreasing demand, is insane. I hope the Democrats are pointing this out, in addition to the inhumanity of taking away people's unemployment benefits. We cannot let the GOP propose economically dangerous, but populist, solutions and let them get away with it. Read More......

Déjà vu on Greek-Wall Street deal

How do these people avoid prison? Really. Sports game fixing or vote rigging is a legal offense but betting against a deal and profiting is somehow OK. NY Times:

Echoing the kind of trades that nearly toppled the American International Group, the increasingly popular insurance against the risk of a Greek default is making it harder for Athens to raise the money it needs to pay its bills, according to traders and money managers.

These contracts, known as credit-default swaps, effectively let banks and hedge funds wager on the financial equivalent of a four-alarm fire: a default by a company or, in the case of Greece, an entire country. If Greece reneges on its debts, traders who own these swaps stand to profit.

“It’s like buying fire insurance on your neighbor’s house — you create an incentive to burn down the house,” said Philip Gisdakis, head of credit strategy at UniCredit in Munich.

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China passes on emissions cap

It's always tomorrow. When the other big polluter - the US - drags its feet, it should be no surprise that China punts as well. At least China is showing some movement with adopting new, greener technology.

China "could not and should not" set an upper limit on greenhouse gas emissions at the current stage, Su told a meeting on climate change policy in Beijing on Wednesday.

However, he said China was committed to making its economy more energy-efficient.

Beijing has pledged to reduce its carbon intensity -- the measure of greenhouse-gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product -- by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 based on 2005 levels.

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Women-only toilets for long haul flights?

It may not help speed up the usual long lines on these flights but I can see their point. Things tend to be dirty by the end of a 10 hour flight. CNN:

The Japanese airline All Nippon Airways will introduce women-only lavatories on its international routes starting Monday.

The move comes in response to "numerous requests from passengers for this service," the company said in a statement.

Many women called for the airline to give them their own lavatories in a 2007 survey of customers, said ANA spokesman Justin C. Massey.

"They didn't list any specific complaints. ... It was just more a matter of general preference," Massey added.

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More Republican health care deflection

So now we have a Republican, Senator JohnBarrasso of WY, talking about how foreign leaders come to America for their health care, so that means our health insurance system is the best in the world. Kind of different things. My problem, for example, isn't that I can't find good asthma drugs in America. It's that they're three to five times the cost in America as they are in the rest of the world, and my American insurance won't cover them for more than a few months because my coverage kind of sucks even though it's the best I can buy.

Joe got great appendicitis surgery in America. Too bad it cost $25,000.

So, what is the relevance of the fact that our medical treatment is excellent in America if our insurance system doesn't permit a lot of us to get such treatment?

Every Republican knows that this is what we're talking about. Yes, they basically lie to the American people, and claim that somehow having great doctors proves that we can all afford to go the doctor, especially if we get a catastrophic illness. Read More......

Put chain-smoking John Boehner on the individual insurance market and watch what happens

Put chain-smoking John Boehner on the indivividual insurance market and when he can't get a policy anywhere - which he wouldn't - then let's see him say that we have the best health care system in the world. We don't. And no amount of flag waving will change the facts, which do have a liberal bias. The truth often does. Read More......

To be precise, American people want us to scrap THIS bill & then pass all of its provisions

Newsweek:

In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the majority of Americans are opposed to President Obama's health-care reform plan—until they learn the details. Plus, a look at very unhappy mood of the electorate.

As Democrats struggle to salvage health-care-reform legislation, a new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that while a majority of Americans say they oppose Obama's plan, a majority actually support the key features of the legislation. The findings support the notion that Democrats have not done a good job of selling the package and that opponents have been successful in framing the debate. The more people know about the legislation, the more likely they are to support major components of it.

When asked about Obama's plan (without being given any details about what the legislation includes), 49 percent opposed it and 40 percent were in favor. But after hearing key features of the legislation described, 48 percent supported the plan and 43 percent remained opposed.

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Politico: 'Boehner wrong to say Obama took zero GOP ideas'

The Politico isn't known for leaning left, to put it mildly:

The office of House Minority Leader John Boehner claims that Democratic proposals “do not implement a single major GOP reform that would lower costs for families and small businesses.”

Three of the 11 pages in the plan Obama released Monday focus on tackling “waste, fraud and abuse,” a key Republican goal. Seven of the 14 bolded proposals in that section are credited to a House bill authored by Illinois Republican Mark Kirk.

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AP FACT CHECK: Obama has edge in debate over premiums

AP:

When President Barack Obama and a Republican lawmaker sparred Thursday over what might happen to health insurance premiums in an overhauled system, both cited a nonpartisan analysis that looked at that very question. The president gave a fairer summary of what the analysis found.

Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander declared in his statement to the White House health policy conference that "for millions of Americans, premiums will go up" under the Obama plan. That much could be true - but for millions of others, premiums are expected to go down and those who face higher costs would be getting better coverage than they have now.

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GOP health care plan is worse than you think

Well probably not worse than YOU think. Read More......

Will the 21st century belong to China?

That's what many Americans think. Having started my adult working career during the "Japan is taking over the world economy, we're doomed" years and then working closely with Japan back in the 1990s, I'm less convinced. Also, too many people see the high growth related to China but overlook the problems that could easily change the dynamics. When bubbles burst - and they always do - responses can vary dramatically. Without a booming economy, how easy will it be for the communist party to maintain its grip on the country? With unrest already causing problems during the good times, how bad will it be in the future? How will China react if the West doesn't start buying Chinese products again at pre-recession rates?

As for the US, clearly the system is off though the US also has an ability to remake itself better and faster than most countries. Corporate lobbying and influence in the US is damaging America's ability to compete on a global scale. When the US was more of a closed system, it was possible to get away with such a system but with easy access to foreign competitors. These days, however, something needs to change in the US to prepare businesses for the global market. The US also needs to be a leader in new technologies and not a follower.

What's the mood here? Is this century destined to be all about China or somewhere in the middle?

Asked whether this century would be more of an "American Century" or more of a "Chinese Century," Americans divide evenly in terms of the economy (41 percent say Chinese, 40 percent American) and tilt toward the Chinese in terms of world affairs (43 percent say Chinese, 38 percent American). A slim majority say the United States will play a diminished role in the world's economy this century, and nearly half see the country's position shrinking in world affairs more generally.

The results are consistent with recent polls by Gallup, the Pew Research Center and others that have tracked a significant public concern about China's growing prominence on the world stage, as its economy has expanded into what is arguably the second-biggest in the world. In 2000, for example, when the U.S. economy was booming, 65 percent of Americans polled by Gallup said the United States had the world's strongest economy. By last year, the United States and China ran neck-and-neck on the question.

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My initial thoughts on health care summit

I'm at the eyes glazing over point in the discussion, which is never a good moment. But I think we learned something key during the first hour. Harry Reid and President Obama rock when they get ticked off. It's jarring how good Obama, especially, is when he's forced to fight. The White House staff needs to take advantage of that more. If this were the Hill, and he were my boss, we'd be forcing him (without him knowing it) into situations where he was publicly confronted by his critics, his blood pressure would rise, and he'd show the American people some fight, some conviction, and some humanity. Same for Reid. They're both so damn measured, the two of them together could sell an iPhone sleep aid app and retire in riches. Get Reid and Obama pissed off, and suddenly you remember why you supported them in the first place. Read More......

It's summit time. Join our Live Chat.

The White House summit on health care reform is beginning. It's live on CSPAN, both t.v. and online, and at the White House website. We're holding a live chat further down.

President Obama is going to kick things off and they'll be focusing on four themes: 1) Controlling costs – introduced by the President; 2) Insurance reforms – introduced by Secretary Sebelius; 3) Reducing the deficit – introduced by the Vice President; and 4) Expanding coverage – introduced by the President. The list of Congressional participants, according to the White House, is after the break.

We'll be monitoring and will post developments throughout the day. The summit lasts until 4:00 PM.



You can watch the summit, live, via the box below:



There are 19 Senators and 21 House members:

Senator Harry Reid, D-NV, Majority Leader

Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY, Republican Leader

Senator Dick Durbin, D-IL, Majority Whip

Senator Jon Kyl, R-AZ, Republican Whip

Senator Max Baucus, D-MT, Chairman of the Finance Committee

Senator Chuck Grassley, R-IA, Ranking Member of the Finance Committee

Senator Tom Harkin, D-IA, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

Senator Chris Dodd, D-CT, Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

Senator Chuck Schumer, D-NY

Senator Patty Murray, D-WA

Senator Kent Conrad, D-ND

Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-WV

Senator Ron Wyden, D-OR

Senator Lamar Alexander, R-TN

Senator John Barrasso, R-WY

Senator Tom Coburn, R-OK

Senator John McCain, R-AZ

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA

Representative Steny Hoyer, D-MD, Majority Leader

Representative John Boehner, R-OH, Republican Leader

Representative James Clyburn, D-SC, Majority Whip

Representative Eric Cantor, R-VA, Republican Whip

Representative Charles Rangel, D-NY, Chairman of the Ways and Committee

Representative Dave Camp, R-MI, Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee

Representative Henry Waxman, D-CA, Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee

Representative Joe Barton, R-TX, Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee

Representative George Miller, D-CA, Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee

Representative John Kline, R-MN, Ranking Member of the Education and Labor Committee

Representative John Dingell, D-MI, Chair Emeritus of the Energy and Commerce Committee

Representative Xavier Becerra, D-CA

Representative Louise Slaughter, D-NY

Representative Robert Andrews, D-NJ

Representative Jim Cooper, D-TN

Representative Paul Ryan, R-WI

Representative Marsha Blackburn, R-TN

Representative Charles Boustany, R-LA

Representative Peter Roskam, R-IL

** Note: Senator McConnell and Leader Boehner will designate one additional Republican member to attend.**

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Mitt may want to re-think his jobs creation attack on Obama

His own record for creating jobs was a bit suspect and lacking. But hey, if Mitt insists let's talk more about this subject.

The Republican contender was the governor of Massachusetts from January 2003 to January 2007. And during that time, according to the U.S. Labor Department, the state ranked 47th in the entire country in jobs growth. Fourth from last.

The only ones that did worse? Ohio, Michigan and Louisiana. In other words, two rustbelt states and another that lost its biggest city to a hurricane.

The Massachusetts jobs growth over that period, a pitiful 0.9%, badly lagged other high-skill, high-wage, knowledge economy states like New York (2.7%), California (4.7%) and North Carolina (7.6%).

The national average: More than 5%.

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Biden previews the summit, which 'could be pure theater'

There are a lot of pre-summit articles this morning. One of the most interesting for me was the interview the Vice President did with a hometown newspaper:

Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Democrats are ready to work with any good ideas Republicans bring to today's White House summit on health care reform, but he also said the event "could be pure theater."

"This could end up not being good," Biden said in an exclusive interview with The News Journal. "But I know of no other way than to just keep pushing, saying, 'Guys, OK, this is our idea. What's your idea?' "

Biden said the six-hour summit aims to bring congressional Democrats and Republicans together with White House officials, including Biden, to discuss four topics: Containing health care costs, the impact of health care reform on the deficit, insurance reform and the number of uninsured Americans who should get coverage under health care reform legislation.

"Literally, if they come up with an idea that bends that [cost] curve, we'll compromise," Biden said of Republicans.

The Republicans are going to expect Democrats to compromise because they think Democrats are desperate for a "bipartisan" deal. Too many people in the White House still think the process, not results matter. The American people want results.

And, basically, Republicans don't want to bend the profit curve for the insurance industry. Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's Summit Day. Yep, today, from 10 AM until 4 PM, the President and Congressional leaders from both parties will gather at Blair House, which is right across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, to discuss health care reform legislation.

Here's how White House "Daily Guidance" describes the event:

The President will offer brief opening comments, followed by Republican and Democratic Members chosen by their colleagues. They will then begin discussions around four themes: 1) Controlling costs – introduced by the President; 2) Insurance reforms – introduced by Secretary Sebelius; 3) Reducing the deficit – introduced by the Vice President; and 4) Expanding coverage – introduced by the President.

The summit will be broadcast on CSPAN. The White House website will be livestreaming it. And, the cable networks will also have live coverage.

So, basically, the summit is the political news of the day. There will be a lot of commentary and post-summit analysis. It could be a good show. Everyone will be watching to see how the GOPers behave -- or don't behave, which is more likely.

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

Plastic soup in the Atlantic as well

Maybe the treehuggers who are calling for an end to plastic bags at the store are onto something, no? It may not be as bad as the "soup" in the Pacific but it doesn't sound very good either. BBC:

Scientists and students from the SEA collected plastic and marine debris in fine mesh nets that were towed behind a research vessel.

The nets dragged along were half-in and half-out of the water, picking up debris and small marine organisms from the sea surface.

The researchers carried out 6,100 tows in areas of the Caribbean and the North Atlantic - off the coast of the US. More than half of these expeditions revealed floating pieces of plastic on the water surface.

These were pieces of low-density plastic that are used to make many consumer products, including plastic bags.

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UK gears up for elections

It's hard to believe they can have a proper election with such small amounts of cash. Without unlimited corporate spending, how can it be a true democracy? The Independent:

The Conservatives received more than £10m towards their election war chest in just three months – far more than the other parties combined.

The flood of cash into the Tory coffers is enabling it to outspend Labour in pre-election skirmishes ahead of the campaign. It reported gifts worth £10,481,949 in last quarter of 2009, compared with £4,962,886 collected by Labour and £1,055,717 received by the Liberal Democrats. The figures released by the Electoral Commission also show that the Conservatives raised some £26m during 2009, while Labour received about £16m over the year.

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White House denies report it's considering scaled-back HCR plan

According to the Huffington Post, the White House is denying a Wall Street Journal report that the President is considering a scaled-back health care reform plan that's much smaller than the one he proposed for tomorrow's summit with Democratic and GOP leaders. An administration official says that while a fallback option had been developed after the Massachusetts election defeat, the administration isn't considering it at the moment. I don't know what to think, but it's not very helpful having this information out there on the eve of the summit. The White House needs to get these leaks under control, and keep its overall messaging on point. Read More......

'The Republican Party is the wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry.'

And, Republicans did not like it when Rep. Anthony Weiner called them out today during the debate on the antitrust bill. But, he's right. Even if his words had to be stricken from the record, they live on:
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NYT publishes the real exposé about NY governor Paterson. It ain't pretty.

From the NYT:

Last fall, a woman went to court in the Bronx to testify that she had been violently assaulted by a top aide to Gov. David A. Paterson, and to seek a protective order against the man.

In the ensuing months, she returned to court twice to press her case, complaining that the State Police had been harassing her to drop it. The State Police, which had no jurisdiction in the matter, confirmed that the woman was visited by a member of the governor’s personal security detail.

Then early this month, days before she was due to return to court to seek a final protective order, the woman got a phone call from the governor, according to her lawyer. She failed to appear for her next hearing on Feb. 8, and as a result her case was dismissed.

Many details of the governor’s role in this episode are unclear or in dispute, but the accounts presented in court and police records and interviews with the woman’s lawyer and others portray a brutal encounter, a frightened woman and an effort to make a potential political embarrassment go away.

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Greece pushes back against EU members, cites Germany's Nazi past and the robbing of Greece by German troops

The current government has been saddled with problems left over from the previous conservative government so it's hard not to push back against the piling on from fellow EU member states. Greece complained that Italy was even more aggressive with its risky Wall Street deals but they saved the harshest criticisms for Germany. The German politicians have been excessive with their attacks and Greece returned the favor. Reuters:

Pangalos criticized Germany's attitude towards the Greek crisis, saying Athens had never received compensation for the economic impact of the Nazi occupation during World War Two.

"They took away the Greek gold that was at the Bank of Greece, they took away the Greek money and they never gave it back. This is an issue that has to be faced sometime in the future," he said.

"I don't say they have to give back the money necessarily but they have at least to say 'thanks'," he said. "And they shouldn't complain so much about stealing and not being very specific about economic dealings."

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Nicaragua denies cancer treatment due to pregnancy, citing anti-abortion law

The American religious right is no doubt thrilled with this decision. The Guardian:

Nicaraguan authorities have withheld life-saving treatment from a pregnant cancer patient because it could harm the foetus and violate a total ban on abortion.

A state-run hospital has monitored the cancer spreading in the body of the 27-year-old named only as Amalia since her admission on February 12 but has not offered chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a therapeutic abortion, citing the law.

The decision has ignited furious protests from relatives and campaigners who say the woman, who has a 10-year-old daughter and is 10 weeks pregnant, will die unless treated. The cancer is suspected to have spread to her brain, lungs and breasts. They have petitioned the courts, government and the pan-regional Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to intervene.

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McCain tries to tie conservative GOP primary opponent to birthers

This is fascinating. A Republican using the birthers, who are in bed with the Teabagger movement, to tar his opponent. Remember, the birther conspiracy theory - that President Obama wasn't really born in the US and thus is not constitutionally eligible to be president - was highlighted, and well-received with a standing ovation, at the recent Teabagging conference in Tennessee. So it's actually quite interesting that McCain is trying to use the fringe in a negative way, rather than embracing them. Then again, they don't quite like him anyway. But still, it means McCain suspects that Arizona Republicans aren't as fringe as the birthers and possibly the Teabaggers.

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House passed bill to repeal health insurance industry's anti-trust exemption by 406 - 19 margin

Reining in the health insurance industry really is bipartisan:

By a vote of 406-19, the House passed the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act (HR 4626), introduced by Reps. Tom Perriello (D-VA) and Betsy Markey (D-CO). This bill is designed to restore competition and transparency to the health insurance market – by repealing the blanket antitrust exemption afforded to health insurance companies by the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945. Under this legislation, health insurers will no longer be shielded from legal accountability for price fixing, dividing up territories among themselves, sabotaging their competitors in order to gain monopoly power, and other such anti-competitive practices.

Pretty shocking to see so many Republicans vote against their insurance industry benefactors. They must be hoping that the insurance industry controls enough votes in the Senate to kill this bill. But, it is pretty amazing that so many hard-core GOPers didn't want to be seen as supporting protecting the insurers.

Here's the list of the 19 Republican House members who chose to stick with the insurance companies, a cabal that includes some of the worst of the worst in the House GOP caucus. You'll note the Minority Leader is one of them: Akin (KS), Boehner (OH), Brady (TX), Broun (GA), Buyer (IN), Franks (AZ), Garrett (NJ), Jenkins (KS), Jordan (OH), King (IA), Lamborn (CO), Linder (GA), Moran (KS), Paul (TX) Price (GA), Ryan (WI), Sensenbrenner (WI), Tiahrt (KS) and Westmoreland (GA).

This is the second time this week that the "party of NO" said yes. Five GOP Senators voted to end the Republican filibuster of the jobs bill on Monday night. Then, six of the GOP hypocrites who filibustered (Alexander (TN), Cochran (MS), Inhofe (OK), Lemieux (FL), Murkowski (AK) and Wicker (MS)) ended up voting for final passage today. Read More......