As leaders obsess about bar hours, planning isn't complete for real inauguration issues

All the planning isn't done for the inauguration, you know, the little things, like safety:

With President-elect Obama's inauguration less than six weeks away, federal and local officials have not finalized emergency evacuation plans for the millions of people expected to be in Washington for the ceremony.

“We do not have the entire picture today,” said Malcolm Wiley, a spokesman for the Secret Service. “The entire plan is not completed as of yet.”

Wiley met with more than a half-dozen local and federal agencies and departments Thursday to discuss security and crowd control plans for the Jan. 20 event on the National Mall. But much has yet to be decided.

You'd think safety might be the top worry. Or, maybe getting people in to and out of town. Metro can't accommodate all the people coming to town, for example:

“We’re not going to be able to carry 2 or 3 million people,” said Lisa Farbstein, a spokeswoman for Metro. “We figure that we can carry approximately 120,000 people an hour max, on the rail system. That assumes best-case scenario that at 4 a.m. (when the Metro starts service) there are 120,000 people lined up ready to come in.”

Porta-johns should be on Feinstein and Bennett's minds. But, no. Our leaders are obsessing about the bar hours. Yes, the leaders of D.C. and key Senators, including Dianne Feinstein and Robert Bennett, are in a frenzy because the city is allowing bars to stay open late. Talk about priorities. I'd love to know the back story on how this leapt to a top priority for Feinstein and Bennett.

For the record, I don't even drink and rarely go to bars. But, I just don't think that the D.C. restaurant and bar hours should be taking up so much time. And, I'm starting to feel a little claustrophobic about the crowds coming to town. I'm glad, believe me. And, I'm excited. I just don't have a lot of confidence in the D.C. leaders -- or Dianne Feinstein and Robert Bennett -- to deal with it. Read More......

Krugman is terrified again

I wish he'd stop that.

Another day, another terrifying economic report, this time on unemployment claims.

So are we now losing jobs at the rate of 600,000 a month? 700,000? If fiscal expansion takes, say, 8 months to kick in (and that’s optimistic), where will that leave us?

The post is titled "nosedive." Ugh. Read More......

Poll: Palin is the most beloved Republican among Republicans, yet Dems and Independents loathe her

Markos makes a interesting point. A new NBC/WSJ poll shows that, among Republicans, Sarah Palin is their favorite Republican. But among the public at large, she's not liked at all. That's a sign, as Markos puts it, of how far out of the mainstream Republicans have become.

"[A]mong Republicans only, the most popular is Palin -- with a whopping 73%-13% rating. But Palin's overall score is a net negative, 35%-45%, which means she fares poorly among Democrats and independents."

...[T]hose Palin numbers are as hilarious as she is. Republicans worship her, the rest of us (including our independent friends) think she is an embarrassment to humanity. It's a win-win! They're happy with Palin, and we're happy that she continues to repulse independents, thus making them unelectable.

Those Palin numbers illustrate, better than anything else, just how far rank-and-file Republicans have strayed from mainstream America. They've literally relegated themselves to fringe status.

Read More......

Every vote should be counted fairly

The Minnesota Senate race has yet to be decided. Al Franken wants every vote to be counted fairly. So do voters:

Norm Coleman would rather not count all the votes. Like most GOPers, he'd rather win dirty. But, he's a sleazy guy, which is why the FBI is investigating alleged payments of $75,000 to Coleman's wife. Read More......

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield insurance nightmare

Let me first summarize this long post: You're paying more and more each year for your health insurance, but your benefits may not be going up at all. Mine are frozen, for life apparently, at 1997 levels. So each year, as prices rise with inflation, my benefits are the same, so I can buy less and less as I get older and older (and anyone who's actually gotten older can tell you, the older you get, the MORE you spend on health care, not less).

I had a little chat with BlueCross BlueShield today, and discovered something rather shocking. It's something that might apply to a lot of you out there, even though you don't know it.

In a nutshell, I have the best self-employed health insurance BlueCross offers. Yet, somehow, I got cut off two months ago because I'd spent my annual "limit" on prescription drugs. I had no idea that I had an annual limit on how many prescription drugs I could purchase, but I was equally surprised that in 12 years of using CareFirst, I'd never hit the limit before. Considering I'm not any sicker this year than in previous years, I wondered what was different this year.

Then I talked to CareFirst this morning.

ME: What's my annual limit on prescription drugs under my plan?

CAREFIRST: $1,500.

ME: So that means if I buy a $100 drug, and I pay $20 and you pay $80, that adds $80 to my total $1,500 you'll pay in one year?

CAREFIRST: Yes.

ME: And what was the annual limit when I started with CareFirst back in 1997?

CAREFIRST: $1,500.

ME: Wait, so you mean I was paying something like $140 a month back in 1997 for $1,500 in prescription coverage, and I'm paying $340 a month today for the same $1,500 in coverage? So your benefits are not keeping up with increasing drug prices or even inflation - they're stuck at $1,500 - even though I pay more every year?

CAREFIRST: Yes.

Let me explain. Inflation erodes the value of the dollar. Everyone knows that what cost you $1,500 ten years ago costs you a lot more today, simply because prices rise every year (on average). In fact, all things being equal, the same good costing you $1,500 in 1997 would cost you $2,024 in 2008. So in real dollars - in terms of what prescription drugs I can actually buy - over the past ten years CareFirst took away 26% of my prescription drug coverage at the same time that CareFirst was increasing my premiums by 242%.

Who knew?

I honestly thought that as my premiums were increasing so were my benefits. They're not. The insurance companies always complain about the high cost of drugs, and how they're getting higher every year. Well, no they're not - not if you're only paying $1500 a year, no matter what year it is. I'm only costing CareFirst $1500 a year in drugs, so at least on the drug front, there is no cost inflation whatsoever - in fact, CareFirst is making money on me relative to what they were making ten years ago. (I don't know the costs of doctor visits and lab tests, perhaps they've gone up - but then again, so does my premium.) And I don't have any figures on whether prescription drug prices have stayed even with inflation or whether drug companies are charging more than ever for their drugs (you do the math, I'm gonna go on a limb and guess that they're charging more). And if they are charging more, then your benefits have decreased even further.

And of course, your benefits aren't going anywhere, so in ten more years, I'll still be stuck at $1500 a year - which won't be worth much of anything at that point.

Just another example of how screwed we are by our current health care system. Read More......

Auto bail-out bill going down in flames - McCaskill & Baucus joining Republicans in killing rescue plan

The latest on the bailout package from AP:

Prospects for a $14 billion auto industry rescue bill dimmed Thursday amid growing opposition in both parties and despite urgent appeals by both President-elect Barack Obama and President George W. Bush.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell came out against the legislation — the product of a hard-fought behind-the-scenes compromise between the majority Democrats and the White House. And not even the White House's argument that it was crucial at a time of rising joblessness seemed to restore lost momentum for enactment....

The majority of Senate Democrats were expected to back it, but some were on the fence.

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus is opposing it because of a provision to bail out transit agencies that were involved in transactions now considered unlawful tax shelters.

McCaskill said judges' pay raise, inserted by Reid, "sends the wrong message to the United States of America at this scary moment."

Hey, so what if Claire McCaskill and Max Baucus join with the Republicans in sending the US economy into a Depression. They'll have done the principled thing because, as everyone knows, the House and Senate Republicans are always looking out for the people's best interest.

Folks, this is a bill supported by George Bush's White House, for Christ's sake. The House and Senate Republicans are playing politics, just as they always do, as the economy is about to take an even more serious dive. This is when Democrats had better grow a pair of balls and do something, public, fast to tell the American people about exactly what's coming if we let the automakers go bankrupt. I don't like the doom and gloom talk, as I think it generally makes things worse as you freak consumers (and Wall Street) out. But if it means telling folks that we risk plunging the country into a Depression, and if it's true, then tell people, now.

This is what happens when you become a political party with no spine. Bullies stand up to you because they know they can. It's time to show them that they can't, or the next 4 years of the Obama administration are going to be one GOP filibuster after another, just hoping to send us into a greater and greater Depression so that the Republicans can win the Congress and the White House back. That appears to be the GOP plan - send the country into chaos, just as they did when they shut down the government during Clinton's presidency. The Republican party is run by maniacs. It's time to call them on it. Or seriously, there's no reason for Democrats to control the government if they can't learn to lead. Read More......

The future of journalism

From Calderone:

[I]n the past week alone, the NY Times decided to borrow $225 million against its headquarters, the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy, and top Washington Post executives agreed to a salary freeze, while talking of the need for "fundamental changes." Layoffs hit NBC, Viacom, Time, and NPR.

And today comes word that Newsweek is cutting pages and staff.

As much as the corporate media drives us collectively mad, we need them. America can't afford to have fewer journalistic resources keeping our government, and corporate America - our entire society - honest. Read More......

Senate Republicans, and Max Baucus, threaten to throw nation into another Great Depression

First, a word to Max Baucus: And you wonder why Democrats always beat up on you.

Now to the Republicans. So you want to force us to lose another 2 million jobs in the throes a massive recession? Don't forget, these are the same Republicans who were happy to throw the stock market into a tail spin because they didn't want to bail out the banks. Now they don't want to bail out the car industry. Well, folks, sorry to tell you, the patient is dying here. I'm not a real fan of the mortgage bailout. As a first-time buyer, all it means to me is that you're artificially inflating prices and making it more expensive for me to buy my first home. (I'm also not thrilled about bailing out banks who knew what they were doing.) But I understand that we don't have a choice. The repercussions to the economy are too great if we just let everyone go into foreclosure. So I suck it up and accept that we have to have some kind of bail out. Same thing goes for the auto industry.

Our auto industry is huge - some estimates are that millions of jobs could be lost over the next year if we let Detroit go bust. With the economy already in a deep recession, that would be catastrophic to all of us. So it's no longer about bailing out those [insert here] "stupid unions" or "stupid executives." It's about covering our own asses.

There was a popular joke amongst the international relations crowd in the mid 1980s, during the height of the Latin American debt crisis. In a nutshell, western banks had loaned Latin American governments (often corrupt military governments) a gazillion dollars (over $300 billion) that they subsequently wasted. The new democratic governments in Latin America didn't think they should have to pay the old corrupt loans. The western banks said "uh yeah you do," and the banks refused to bailout out the Latin American economies by finding a way to forgive, or at least lessen, the debt. So here's the joke:

LATIN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ASKS WESTERN BANK: What do you call it when I owe you 300 million dollars?

WESTERN BANK: Dunno.

LATIN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: "Big trouble for me."

LATIN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: Now, what do you call it when I owe you 300 billion dollars?

WESTERN BANK: No idea.

LATIN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT: "Big trouble for you."

I.e., if Latin America went bust, then the banks wouldn't get a dime. And while they could afford writing off a few hundred million, they couldn't afford writing off a few hundred billion. So it was in the interests of the banks to figure something out, regardless of whether the Latin American governments deserved a bailout.

At some point, the problem becomes so huge that it threatens to hurt everyone, not just the guy seeking help. Whether we like it or not, homeowners who gambled on their mortgages and lost, big banks who gave out loans like candy, and automakers who never modernized for the 21st century all have us by the collective juevos. That doesn't mean we just hand them cash. But it does mean that we have to hold our noses and do something to ensure that they don't take all of us down with them.

The congressional Republicans - and lapdog Max Baucus - are playing with economic fire. It's time the Democrats showed a little backbone and went to the American people and told them exactly what's going to happen if Detroit goes belly up. Then tell them who to blame: Max Baucus and the congressional Republicans. Read More......

Americans to Bush: Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Just get out.

Fun facts about Bush, Cheney and the GOP from the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll:

A whopping 79% in the poll say they’re not going to miss [Bush] when he leaves office. That’s compared with 55% who said the same of Clinton in December of 2000. Moreover, almost half (48%) think that Bush will go down as one of the worst presidents in our history. Just 18% said that of Clinton and only 6% said that of Bush 41. But Bush 43 isn’t the only Republican who has taken a hit in the new NBC/WSJ poll. Dick Cheney leaves office with sporting an all-time low in his personal rating. And the Republican Party’s fav/unfav is 27%-52%, which is its lowest rating ever in the poll (by comparison, the Democratic Party’s is nearly reversed, 49%-28%).

I'm really excited about the inauguration of Barack Obama (although the idea of D.C. being able to handle 3,000,000 people makes me a little claustrophobic.) I'm really looking forward to watching the motorcade with Obama and Bush leaving the White House for the drive down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. We'll be dealing with the devastating legacy of George Bush for a long time, but that's when he'll leave the White House and leave our lives for good. Read More......

The Right to Die: Terminally ill man's suicide shown on TV in Britain

You have to read the story, it's far more complicated than it sounds. At first blush, it sounds like the story last month where a young man killed himself online for others to watch. This is not that story. It's a documentary about a man with a degenerative disease who finally decided it was over. He went with this wife to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, and with his wife present, took some pills and went to sleep. But it was filmed for a documentary and shown on TV in the UK. And a firestorm ensued.

I don't buy the talk about this being the next extension of trash TV. This is a real news story, and a real documentary. It's not reality TV. Of course, the Catholic Church and its surrogates are doing their best to ensure the most suffering possible. Oh the day the Catholic leadership, and the more self-righteous Christians among us, learn to care about people once they're born.

In the film, he says he wanted to take action before the disease, which destroys cells that control essential muscle activity such as speaking, walking, breathing and swallowing, left him completely incapacitated.

The documentary shows Ewert and his wife going about their daily routine: Mary cleans her husband's teeth, bathes, shaves and feeds him as he bows his head.

Speaking in a reedy voice and breathing deeply from plastic tubes attached to his nose, Ewert said he felt like "empty shell."
He said some people might say: "No, suicide is wrong, God has forbidden it. Fine, but you know what? This ventilator is God."
Before the pair leave for Switzerland, he is wheeled through a local park.

"I see the plants, and they're dying, and I'm dying too," he muses. "They'll be coming back next spring — I'm unlikely to."
"I think I can take my bow, and say: Thanks, it's been fun."

In an emotional message to his adult son and daughter, who appear in the program, Ewert asked for understanding.
"I would hope that this is not a cause of major distress to those who love me," he said, using a voice-activated computer to speak. "This is a journey I must make."

At the same time, he acknowledged, "My dear sweet wife will have the greatest loss, as we have been together for 37 years in the greatest intimacy."

The program shows Ewert being interviewed by Dr. Hans-Jurg Schweizer in Zurich, Switzerland. Schweizer, who is responsible for filling out the lethal prescriptions, gives his approval and wishes him a "happy journey."

Later, Ewert is set up on a small yellow bed in a nondescript room; as the technicians get ready, his wife says her goodbyes.
"Have a safe journey," she says, tearing up. "See you sometime."

Ewert chokes down the lethal cocktail, slurping apple juice through a pink straw to blot out the taste as the ninth movement of Beethoven's symphony plays in the background. His wife holds his hand as he begins dying.

Read More......

Last week's new unemployment applicants highest in 26 years

It keeps getting worse:

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits surged to a 26-year high last week, Labor Department data showed on Thursday, as a deepening recession forced employers to cut back on hirings.

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits jumped by 58,000, the biggest increase since September 2005, to a seasonally adjusted 573,000 in the week ended December 6 from an upwardly revised 515,000 the previous week. That was the highest print since November 1982, when 612,000 workers submitted new claims for unemployment benefits.

Bush and his GOP allies sure did a number on American workers. What a legacy. Can we finally put to rest the idea that the GOP knows anything about the economy? (And, can Democrats agree to never cave in to the GOP on economic issues?) Read More......

Senator David Vitter (R-LA), of DC Madam infamy, is leader of anti-auto industry force in GOP; Calls auto industry bailout "ass backwards"

Louisiana's Senator David Vitter, the family values crusader/prostitute client, is leading the GOP opposition to the auto industry bailout. Yesterday, at a Capitol Hill press conference, he called the deal "ass backwards":

Sen. David Vitter, R-Metairie, said Wednesday he would use every procedural tool at his disposal — including the filibuster — to block approval of what he called an "ass-backwards" approach helping the industry. He objects to giving automakers money before they restructure to regain their competitiveness.

If there's one Senator who shouldn't be talking about "ass" at a Capitol Hill press conference on the floor of the United States Senate, it's David Vitter.

Vitter is really riding his wave of publicity. This morning, he was the featured guest on the "The Early Show" on CBS. So, Vitter is the face of opposition to the bailout for the Republican party. They really are low on talent. It seems a big part of the Republican opposition to the bailout is aimed directly at the auto workers, which makes it even more suspect.

In this fight, the Republicans have made David Vitter the poster-boy for screwing over workers.

UPDATE: I originally believed Vitter said "ass backwards" in a press conference. Class act that he is, Vitter said it on the Senate floor:
Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

We're getting health care news from the soon-to-be Obama administration today. The president-elect, we're told via email, will talk about "the future of the nation's health care system." That future includes Tom Daschle in as Secretary of Health and Human Services and head of the new White House Office of Health Reform. Obama always said health care will be one of his top priorities -- and it has to be. This will be one area were the opposition will be fierce. The insurance companies have a lot of money and they'll be spreading it around. Democrats who side with the insurance companies should do so at their own peril -- and that means Democratic members of Congress and Demcorats who are lobbyists.

Two weeks til Christmas. Yikes.

Let's get cranking.. Read More......

75% of public think Obama has had the right level of involvement in making federal policy as president elect

From MSNBC's First Read:

Last week, the AP reported that some Democrats, including Rep. Barney Frank, were criticizing Obama for not being more assertive when it comes to the country's economic crisis.

But the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that a whopping 75 percent of respondents believe that the president-elect has had the right level of involvement in making policy. That's compared with just 12 percent who think that Obama has become too involved, and 11 percent who say -- as Frank did -- that he has not been involved enough.

That's the public's perception. That doesn't contradict what Barney Frank said. Frank is talking about what America needs right now, not what the public thinks we need. Still, interesting number. Read More......

Do Mormons think that anal-sex-loving Jews control Hollywood?

It's a fair question, since of their biggest defenders said just that on national TV. Let me quote to you one of the Mormon's top defenders:

Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, OK? And I'm not afraid to say it. That's why they hate this movie. It's about Jesus Christ, and it's about truth. It's about the messiah. Hollywood likes anal sex.

Wow. Nice Christian language from one of the Mormons' top defenders, a man who is now running full-page ads in the New York Times on behalf of the Mormons. Then again, considering that the Mormons have a policy of forcibly converting dead Jewish Holocaust victims to Mormonism against their will and the will of their families, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that the best the Mormons can come up with is a man who thinks that anal-sex-loving Jews control Hollywood. Read More......

Reid to Blago: Don't even bother picking Obama's replacement, they're not welcome

Harry Reid drafted a letter to Blagojevich today telling him to resign, and not to dare picking Obama's replacement. All 50 Democratic Senators reportedly signed the letter.

Many people don't realize that the Senate is constitutionally empowered to choose the qualifications of its own members. Here's the relevant passage of the US Constitution:

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.

But Nate Silver, over at FiveThirtyEight.com, says not so fast.

Contrary to much reporting -- including some of our own - the U.S. Senate probably lacks the Constitutional authority to refuse to seat an appointment made by indicated Governor Rod Blagojevich....

The tricky part here is that Article 1 of the Constitution stipulates that the Senate is the "Judge of Elections, Returns and Qualifications" of its own members. The Senate actually has fairly broad latitude on questions of "Elections and Returns", which is why it could intervene, say, in the Minnesota recount (as it has done in similar cases in the past). An appointment, however, is not an election, which means the only vehicle open to the Senate is challenging the appointee's qualifications, and the Powell v McCormack precedent stipulates that such a review would be limited to his age, residency or citizenship. What the Senate would have to do instead is actually expel the member they just admitted to the chamber, which requires a 2/3 majority and would be much stickier in terms of precedent -- the Senate has not expelled a member since the Civil War.

Now, having said all of that, Blago is an idiot if he tries to appoint someone after all 50 Democratic senators told him "don't." But an even bigger idiot will be the person who actually accepts Blago's appointment. Read More......