Chrysler Financial deserves to fail

They are on the verge of ruin and they turn down a federal loan because they don't want pay restrictions. Really? Seriously? Just as Reagan sacked the air traffic controllers, Obama ought to fire the entire management structure at this pathetic excuse of a company. This is a team that has done nothing to improve the overall company and even down to the last dollar only cares about their own bloated pay plans. Let them all rot.

Top officials at Chrysler Financial turned away a $750 million government loan because executives didn't want to abide by new federal limits on pay, sources familiar with the matter say.

The government had been offering the loan earlier this month as part of its efforts to prop up the ailing auto industry, including Chrysler, which is racing to avoid bankruptcy. Chrysler Financial is a vital lender to Chrysler dealerships and customers.

In forgoing the loan, Chrysler Financial opted to use more expensive financing from private banks, adding to the burdens of the already fragile automaker and its financing company.

Not a penny more. Let them find out how well it pays to live on unemployment like everyone else. Read More......

Newt vs. Newt

It's not pretty watching a major political party self-destruct before your very eyes.

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A Rick Warren wiki war?

More signs that Rick Warren continues to try to downplay his anti-gay advocacy. We're not the only ones to notice Warren going soft on the gays. Frank Rich noted it too in his column yesterday:

More startling still was the abrupt about-face of the Rev. Rick Warren, the hugely popular megachurch leader whose endorsement last year of Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, had roiled his appearance at the Obama inaugural. Warren also dropped in on Larry King to declare that he had “never” been and “never will be” an “anti-gay-marriage activist.” This was an unmistakable slap at the National Organization for Marriage, which lavished far more money on Proposition 8 than even James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.

If it's not even cool for a religious right leader to be seen as anti-gay, we really have won. And yes, I know - we haven't "won" yet. But our enemy is on the ropes. And while it may not yet be time to celebrate. It's certainly not too early to gloat, just a bit. Read More......

Jane Harman and Israel, another perspective

A friend writes in response to my earlier story about Jane Harman and Israel:

Jeff Stein’s CQ story is wrong in so many ways. First, CQ makes an inferential link between "an Israeli official" to AIPAC without showing that this “Israel official” has anything to do with AIPAC. As a side note, AIPAC terminated their relationship with Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman upon being accused with a crime. These two individuals acted on their own outside of their roles in AIPAC.

Second, CQ got the charges wrong. Rosen and Weissman are being accused of receiving information from a government official, not passing it on as the story suggests. There's a huge difference here and that's what's at stake.

AIPAC critics love talking about AIPAC spies, but the real issue here is, is it unlawful for American to RECEIVE sensitive information from a government source? There's a chilling effect on media freedom if they are found guilty. The NPR show “On the Media” (www.onthemedia.org) does a story or two a year on this case and the impact on journalistic freedom.

Imagine the Pentagon papers, or what would happen if journalists were arrested for receiving sensitive information? What if a government official gave you sensitive information for examination for Americablog?

The heart of the CQ story is incorrect...because Harman wasn't acting on behalf of Israel. Rosen and Weissman aren't being accused for spying on behalf of Israel. The CQ story is trying to depict Rosen and Weissman as convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. What Rosen and Weiss did is nothing like what Pollard was convicted of. Rosen and Weissman met with the State Department official on their behalf, not at the behest of Israel or AIPAC. To suggest so is wrong and that's what stinks about this story. The fact that Stein’s title of CQ’s “Spy Talk Columnist” shows the inherent bias of this story and shows that it is teetering on pure fantasy.

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New video shows "stern" Obama, apparently lecturing Hugo Chavez

I really hate when right-wing lies are exposed. From ABC's Jake Tapper.

Chavez Obama
by noticias24

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In a first, new poll shows majority of New Yorkers support same-sex marriage

Across the nation, heads are exploding at the right wing, gay-bashing organizations. Support for same-sex marriage has reached a majority in New York state (where it's tied in the burbs and rural areas). This is the first poll to reflect majority support for marriage equality in New York:

A majority of New Yorkers support gay marriage and Gov. Paterson's attempt to legalize it, a new poll shows.

A Siena College poll released Monday found that by 53% to 39% margin, those surveyed say the state Senate should pass legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, virtually ensuring it would become law.

The poll is believed to be the first showing a majority of New Yorkers supporting gay marriage.

Democrats strongly support it by a 59% to 35% margin while Republicans oppose it by virtually the same tally, 59% to 31%.

Support for gay marriage is strongest in the city. It's virtually evenly split in the suburbs and upstate.

Now, it's time for the New York State Senate to step up and pass the marriage bill. Read More......

Gingrich: "We didn't rush over, smile and greet Russian dictators"

Newt Gingrich is now claiming that an American president has never before (Obama) smiled and greeted a foreign dictator (Chavez). Specifically, Gingrich says this never happened with American presidents and the Soviets. DKos uncovers that, of course, Gingrich is again lying in an effort to ensure that our new president fails. At some point, why even put people on TV that outright lie about the facts? More from DKos.

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Meghan McCain: Karl Rove is a "Twitter creep"

Meghan McCain is right. Karl Rove is creepy. We've written that, among other things about Rove, for years. But, it's one thing for AMERICAblog to blast Rove. It's a whole new ball game when GOP activist Meghan McCain takes on the creepy GOP establishment so publicly:

Karl Rove follows me on Twitter. That’s creepy. I joined Twitter a few months ago; so far, it has been a liberating way to transition from political to personal blogging. It’s allowed me to share the less serious aspects and humorously uncensored moments of my life. But there’s also been a downside: I am now being followed by Karl Rove, and my local sheriff, and God knows how many other political pundits. We need to take Twitter back from the creepy people.

Rove isn't the only Republican who offends McCain. She also calls Maricopa County's infamous sheriff, Joe Arpaio (truly one of the nastier elected officials in the country) a "Twitter Creep." He's following her, too.

And, speaking of creeps, Ms. McCain spoke this past weekend at the gathering of gay Republicans. Sam Stein reported that Meghan was a big hit as she railed against the GOP:

Speaking to an affectionate crowd of Log Cabin Republicans on Saturday evening, Meghan McCain ridiculed the party her father headed this past election, declaring that "old school Republicans" were "scared shitless" of the changing landscape.

The Senator's daughter, who has quickly become something of an iconic figure in the gay conservative community since the end of the election, took repeated shots at the GOP for its antiquated mores.

They loved her! They really loved her!!

Let's see who stands with Meghan in her battle against the GOP's creeps. Looks like she has no intention of backing down. This is going to be fun to watch. Read More......

The GOP's other new idea: Bringing back Fascism

Republican activists want to brand Obama and his policies "fascist." So, they're resorting to the tried and true tricks of the vast right wing conspiracy, with a little modern day social networking:

The epithet, commonly associated with Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy, gained new currency among conservatives with the publication of Jonah Goldberg’s 2008 book, “Liberal Fascism.” This spring, an article in The American Spectator titled “Il Duce, Redux?” called Mr. Obama’s goals, language and conception of government “straight out of Mussolini’s playbook.”

Mr. Anuzis noted that the Fox News commentator Glenn Beck had picked up the theme, as did some participants at the antitax “tea party” rallies last week. Mr. Anuzis spreads the word on Facebook and Twitter.

Yes, this is another one of the new ideas from today's Republican leaders. It ranks right up there with cow farts.

And, what a surprise that the term goes from Goldberg to The American Spectator to FOX News. Who would have other guessed that would happen? (Answer: Any reporter or observer who has watched the GOP in action for the past 20 years.)

Mr. Anuzis, the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, is a GOP leader. And, guess who he's working with now? Newt:

“It’s politically very incorrect only because we’re not used to it,” concluded Mr. Anuzis, who recently joined American Solutions for Winning the Future, a group led by Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker. But he acknowledged, “You’ve got to be careful using the term ‘economic fascism’ in the right way, so it doesn’t come off as extreme.”

Is there really a right way to use the term "fascism"? It only sounds extreme. And, I don't think most Americans even know what it means. Read More......

Did Jane Harman help throw the 2004 election to Bush?

Alberto Gonzales reportedly said that it was Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman who convinced the NYT to kill its domestic spying story on the eve of the 2004 presidential election. Many on the left think that the publication of that story, and its allegations that the Bush administration was illegally spying on American citizens, could have helped swing the election to John Kerry's favor.

The story, however, is far bigger than that.

CQ reports that Harman was under investigating by the FBI after having been heard on an NSA electronic intercept discussing a quid pro quo deal with an Israeli spy.

Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.

(Join Jeff Stein for a live online chat at 3 p.m. today about his story, or submit a question for Jeff.)

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

I'm a friend of Israel. But I'm a bigger friend of America. And this story stinks to the heavens. Harman could have ended up chairing the Intel committee in the House. All the while that she, allegedly, was co-opted by not just Gonzales - she would have owed him for dropping the investigation - but she would have also been in constant fear that some day someone might leak the news that she had, allegedly, agreed to a personal quid pro quo on behalf of a foreign government. And one of the people who could have leaked that info - one of the people who Harman would allegedly be co-opted by - would be a foreign government.

If this news is true, then Harman was a walking security risk. A security risk who was the top Democrat on the House intel committee. A Democrat who is still chairing a subcommittee on the Homeland Security committee.

These are the kind of allegations that would likely stop you, or me, from even getting a security clearance. And Harman didn't just get one, by virtue of her being a member of Congress, she was, and still is, one of the top Democrats on intelligence issues overall.

Perhaps this is all just a pack of lies. But the information is now public. Harman needs to come clean, publicly, now. Read More......

Mocking "Gathering Storm" from start to finish

Frank Rich wrote about the cottage industry that has sprung up on YouTube mocking the National Organization for Marriage's anti-gay marriage ad:

Far from terrifying anyone, “Gathering Storm” has become, unsurprisingly, an Internet camp classic. On YouTube the original video must compete with countless homemade parodies it has inspired since first turning up some 10 days ago.

There's so much to mock. The one point that isn't mockable is the $1.5 million the group had to spend on this piece of crap. It's extremely annoying that NOM and the other haters have so much money.

But, let's get back to making fun of Maggie Gallagher's group, the National Organization for Marriage. We've got a parody not only of the ad, but a parody of how the actors were cast for the ad. It's not exactly safe for the workplace -- but blame the right wingers for that. They started it.

First, the audition:



Then, the ad:



I can't wait to see NOM's ad for 2M4M. The parodies of that will definitely be NSFW. Read More......

Anti-Obama fallout is limited to the right-wing freaks who already think the worst about him, in other words, the hard-core GOP base

Could it be that some pundits are actually starting to understand that today's Republicans are always going to hate Obama? Last night, on CBS News, Jeff Greenfield downplayed the attacks on Obama after the Summit of the Americas:

"There is fallout from those people who already regard Obama as anything from a socialist to a fascist to a dangerously weak president. I'm talking about people on the right. If it doesn't spread beyond that, you're going to have the same situation where about 30% of the country really regards him negatively but the rest says 'so far so good.'"

It's still too soon to tell if other pundits and talking heads have grasped this. Last week's teabagging events exposed the new GOP and the right wing's pure, unadulterated hatred for the President -- and totally revealed the bias of FOX News for anyone who still doubted it was GOP-TV.

Drudge may still rule Mark Halperin's world, but there may be hope for some of the others. Like I said, it's too early to tell. Read More......

Michael Hayden, still an idiot

You may recall that Michael Hayden, Bush's CIA chief, and the former head of the NSA, once explained away his illegal domestic eavesdropping by saying that had he followed the law, it would have required him to present his case and to fill out "paperwork." Now Mr. Hayden is - surprise surprise - criticizing Obama for telling our enemies that we don't do torture. Hayden explains:

"What we have described for our enemies in the midst of a war are the outer limits that any American would ever go to in terms of interrogating an al Qaeda terrorist. That's very valuable information," Hayden said during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."

"By taking [certain] techniques off the table, we have made it more difficult -- in a whole host of circumstances I can imagine -- for CIA officers to defend the nation," he said.

Yeah, that's cute. Except that the US agreed a long time ago that torture was off the table. And even John McCain is opposed to torture. But of course, Hayden has a more personal reason for opposing the release of information pertaining to the torture of foreign prisoners. Mr. Hayden, I suspect, isn't very interested in spending the rest of his life in some foreign prison as a war criminal. Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Congress is back in town. Can't wait to see what crazy gimmicks the Republicans have up their sleeves. Their numbers are shrinking, so Republican party leaders keep catering to the most extreme elements. That's why we see them say NO to saving the economy, while devoting themselves to teabagging.

Yesterday, the Republican's House leader John Boehner epitomized just how ridiculous his party has become when he stated that cow farts prove carbon dioxide don't cause global warming, via DailyKosTV:

That's some of the best thinking from the GOP.

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

Obama to clean up credit card industry

There's no question more consumers could have been smarter about how they deal with easy credit, but the same could also be said about Wall Street, yet they received a fat bailout. When a friend of mine told me a few years ago about his baby daughter receiving a "pre-approved" credit card it seemed obvious that the industry had gone too far. As much as I try to stick to cash and avoid plastic, the fact remains that having access to credit can be helpful in many ways and it helped the US and UK economies grow. Industry insisted that if they were regulated or limited, it would destroy everything but they managed to do that on their own. Now it's time to install proper oversight and regulation. If only it wasn't Summers in the lead. It's hard to trust him any more than the credit card companies themselves.

Top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said Obama would be "very focused in the very near term on a whole set of issues having to do with credit card abuses."

"We need to do things to stop the marketing of credit in ways that addict people to it," Summers said in an interview on the NBC television talk show "Meet the Press."

Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, said the administration is concerned about practices that result in consumers being "deceived into paying extraordinarily high rates that they wouldn't have paid if they knew they were getting themselves into."

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271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals in the water

Forget about mining for gold, people ought to be mining the pharma gold in the water because there's a lot of it out there. Problems related to pharmaceuticals in the Chesapeake Bay tributaries have been well documented and similar problems have been reported around the country. Who wants to be drinking this water or letting their kids drink this water? Industry needs to start thinking more about the people they are impacting and be forced to clean their act. It's time the federal government starts paying attention instead of letting business pollute at will.

U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water — contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.

Hundreds of active pharmaceutical ingredients are used in a variety of manufacturing, including drugmaking: For example, lithium is used to make ceramics and treat bipolar disorder; nitroglycerin is a heart drug and also used in explosives; copper shows up in everything from pipes to contraceptives.

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Economic decline slowing

Both the US and UK are both showing signs of slower decline, which is very positive news. The downside is that growth or signs of new life are difficult. A new report came out today from a British business lobby (CBI) that shows the British economic fall was more severe than previously thought though the rate of decline is slowing. This appears to be very similar to what we are seeing in the US as well. Until the economy settles and manages to avoid new surprises (hello, banks) growth is going to be hard. For some time now, many economists have suggested the economy will not experience a "V" (sharp drop, sharp increase) but rather "L" shaped growth. This means a hard drop and then very slow growth over an extended period of time.

The economy is still in decline but results from a new economic survey show evidence the recession is abating as more companies see rising demand for their products, taper plans for job cuts and report profit margins on the uptick.

The latest quarterly survey by the National Association for Business Economics, set to be released Monday, indicates that the economy is at an inflection point, but not quite a turning point, said Sara Johnson, NABE’s lead analyst on the survey and an economist at IHS Global Insight.

And the other possible option is a "W" shaped recession that experiences a few sharp declines. With looming banking issues out there, we could always see improvements and then hit another bottom due to a surprise. Read More......

Rough day at the office for cat

Come to think of it, it's been a while since Sushi last brought in any visitors. He's trying but so far the plump pigeons have managed to get the better of him this season. Nadaq does a sideways flop like this but usually it's meant to be a signal of her interest in receiving a belly rub. Read More......