"Cash for clunkers" is out of money. Already. In less than a week.

Wow. That was quick. In just six days, the "cash for clunkers" bill has run out of money:

The U.S. government plans to temporarily suspend its "cash for clunkers" incentive program because Obama administration officials believe its $1 billion budget has been exhausted after just one week, said several congressional officials.

Department of Transportation officials contacted lawmakers offices Thursday evening to inform them the program would be put on hold as early as Friday, these people said.

The program, which offers rebates of up to $4,500 to consumers who trade in old vehicles and buy new, more fuel-efficient models, was launched July 24 and sparked a surge in car sales.

"It was an absolute success," said Michael J. Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation Inc., the U.S.'s largest chain of auto dealerships. "There's a very compelling case the government should put more money into it. It's a great stimulus to the economy.

Congress had expected the $1 billion set aside for the rebates to last several months and set up the program to expire Nov. 1.

By my very primitive calculation, using the highest rate of $4,500 per car, over 220,000 new cars were sold in the past six days. That has to be some kind of record. Read More......

David Waldman deconstructs the birthers

David Waldman, from DailyKos and CongressMatters, was on Keith Olbermann tonight, with guest host Richard Wolffe, to talk about the birthers. (MSNBC's video wasn't working for me, tonight. So I got the DailyKosTV version):


Waldman is very good on the t.v. Read More......

Teabaggers are mad at Blue Dogs

For some reason, I am now on the email list of the teabaggers. They're not a happy bunch.

Today, the El Dorado Arkansas Teabaggers sent out an email trashing Blue Dog Mike Ross over health care. According to Teabaggers, the Blue Dogs are now only "supposedly conservative." Ouch. That has to hurt:

EL DORADO, Ark. -- Local TEA Party leaders today expressed concern over what they perceive to be Rep. Mike Ross's last-minute cave-in on health care reform to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman. Ross and other supposedly conservative Blue Dog Democrats had held their ground against the trillion-dollar socialized medicine scheme until Wednesday, when Ross announced "an agreement has been reached."

"It is clear that the people of Arkansas and the nation are not happy with this legislation," said El Dorado TEA Party chairman John Wilson. "Constituents have dropped leaflets, made phone calls, and written letters showing our support of Congressman Ross's stand against a government takeover of our health care. Now we feel betrayed."

You know what this means? No more teabagging for the Blue Dogs. Read More......

Progressive Dems. are fighting for real health care reform -- and showing they've got power, too

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been marking up the health insurance reform bill all afternoon. They're still at it and if you've got nothing better to do, check it out on C-SPAN3 or the committee's webcast.

As I noted this morning, the progressives in Congress, who have largely been ignored by the White House, are not going to accept a weakened bill. Lots of things were happening today. Jane Hamsher reports that 53 members of the Progressive Caucus will not support the Blue Dog compromise and won't vote for a final bill without a robust public option. UPDATE: 57 members signed this letter. The names are here.

And, from Roll Call (sub. req.), progressives on the Energy and Commerce Committee aren't making any promises either:

The outcome of a health care markup in the Energy and Commerce Committee was still in jeopardy Thursday afternoon as liberal Members continued to balk at a deal reached with Blue Dog Members that sliced more than $100 billion from the package.

Several liberal Members from the committee met to discuss the issue and and are trying to find alternative budget cuts that would satisfy Blue Dogs without shrinking subsidies that would help people buy insurance.

The Blue Dogs and Baucus/Conrad don't run the Democratic Party. Selling out to the GOP isn't going to work this time.

My sense is that Rahm Emanuel and his Deputy, Jim Messina, decided they really needed to work with conservatives on the Hill in order to pass the Obama agenda -- even if it meant compromising on core values. After all, Emanuel elected the Blue Dogs and Messina used to work for Baucus. That's their world view. You know their attitude about progressives is "where can they go?" They think the progressives want a bill so badly that they'll settle for a GOP bill. That's proving to be wrong. (I also think people in the White House made the same calculation about LGBT voters. You know, like, where else are they going to go.)

We were all led to believe that Obama was a different kind of politician who wasn't going to play the same old DC games. His top staffers are playing those games and making their boss look really bad outside of DC. Read More......

When a Beluga Whale saved a diver with severe cramps

Here's a nice break from the on-going political circus and a way to detox after reading about Karl Rove again. It's a great story. Check out the pictures, too:

It looks like a moment of terror - a diver finds her leg clamped in the jaws of a beluga whale. In fact, it was a stunning example of an animal coming to the rescue of a human life.

Yang Yun, 26, was taking part in a free diving contest without breathing equipment among the whales in a tank of water more than 20ft deep and chilled to Arctic temperatures.

She says that when she tried to return to the surface, she found her legs crippled by cramp from the freezing cold. At that point Mila the beluga took a hand, or rather a flipper.

Nice work, Mila. Read More......

Rove had an even bigger role in scandal over firings of US Attorneys

Most of us think Karl Rove was the mastermind of most evil doings in the Bush White House. Because, he was. So, it is satisfying to see The Washington Post headline that Rove had an even "heavier hand" in the US Attorney scandal:

Political adviser Karl Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush White House played a greater role than previously understood in the firing of federal prosecutors almost three years ago, according to e-mails obtained by The Washington Post, in a scandal that led to mass Justice Department resignations and an ongoing criminal probe.

Is anyone surprised by this? Except maybe the DC press corps who fawned over Rove.

It sure seems like Rove has gotten himself into quite a fix here. One wonders if he's been honestly answering questions from federal investigators. Rove is so arrogant that he thinks his view of reality is the right view, even if it doesn't match the facts.

One other aspect of this story that's fascinating. The Rove-led effort to fire New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was initiated after he wouldn't press charges against ACORN. Yes, Rove started that.

There's more on ACORN and additional reporting from the Washington Post after the break.

On ACORN:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's ex-chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, testified last week that "during the run-up to the midterm elections," the A.G. told him Rove had "complained" that David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney in New Mexico, and two other federal prosecutors, were not doing enough to prosecute voter fraud—a top GOP priority. It was shortly after that, Sampson said, that Iglesias got added to the list of U.S. attorneys to be fired. (Iglesias told NEWSWEEK he had been repeatedly pushed by New Mexico GOP officials to prosecute workers for ACORN, an activist group that was registering voters in minority neighborhoods, but he found no cases worth bringing.)

So, Rove started the GOP obsession with ACORN, which continues to this day. Rove saw a potential political issue, but the U.S. Attorney didn't see any wrongdoing. Iglesias got fired. Let's hope Rove finally goes to jail.

Someone's been lying and spinning about this scandal for years now. From the Post:

The e-mails and new interviews with key participants reflect contacts among Rove, aides in the Bush political affairs office and White House lawyers about the dismissal of three of the nine U.S. attorneys fired in 2006: New Mexico's David C. Iglesias, the focus of ire from GOP lawmakers; Missouri's Todd Graves, who had clashed with one of Rove's former clients; and Arkansas's Bud Cummins, who was pushed out to make way for a Rove protege.

The documents and interviews provide new information about efforts by political aides in the Bush White House, for example, to push a former colleague as a favored candidate for one of the U.S. attorney posts. They also reflect the intensity of efforts by lawmakers and party officials in New Mexico to unseat the top prosecutor there. Rove described himself as merely passing along complaints by senators and state party officials to White House lawyers.

Read More......

Military adviser: "after six years in Iraq, we now smell bad to the Iraqi nose."

Time to wrap this thing up says a top military adviser. Long past time to wrap this thing up say a lot of Americans and Iraqis:

A senior American military adviser in Baghdad has concluded in an unusually blunt memo that the Iraqi forces suffer from deeply entrenched deficiencies but are now capable of protecting the Iraqi government, and that it is time “for the U.S. to declare victory and go home.”

Prepared by Col. Timothy R. Reese, an adviser to the Iraqi military’s Baghdad command, the memorandum asserts that the Iraqi forces have an array of problems, including corruption, poor management and the inability to resist political pressure from Shiite political parties.

For all of these problems, however, Colonel Reese argues that Iraqi forces are competent enough to hold off Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias and other internal threats to the Iraqi government. Extending the American military presence in Iraq beyond 2010, he argues, will do little to improve the Iraqis’ military performance while fueling a growing resentment.

“As the old saying goes, ‘Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.’ ” Colonel Reese wrote. “Since the signing of the 2009 Security Agreement, we are guests in Iraq, and after six years in Iraq, we now smell bad to the Iraqi nose.”

It's had a stench in this country, too. Read More......

House GOP campaign chair got earmark for a blimp. And, the story just gets better from there.

You can't make this stuff up. After the break, read the first five paragraphs of the article about Rep. Pete Sessions and the blimp earmark. Each has a fun fact. We've got hypocrisy, inexperienced blimp makers, lobbyists with criminal records, blatant lies about job creation and fake addresses.

This is too much:

Rep. Pete Sessions — the chief of the Republicans’ campaign arm in the House — says on his website that earmarks have become “a symbol of a broken Washington to the American people.”

Yet in 2008, Sessions himself steered a $1.6 million earmark for dirigible research to an Illinois company whose president acknowledges having no experience in government contracting, let alone in building blimps.

What the company did have: the help of Adrian Plesha, a former Sessions aide with a criminal record who has made more than $446,000 lobbying on its behalf.

Sessions spokeswoman Emily Davis defends the airship project as a worthwhile use of federal funds and says it could eventually lead to thousands of new jobs in Sessions’s Dallas-area district.

But the company that received the earmarked funds, Jim G. Ferguson & Associates, is based in the suburbs of Chicago, with another office in San Antonio — nearly 300 miles from Dallas. And while Sessions used a Dallas address for the company when he submitted his earmark request to the House Appropriations Committee last year, one of the two men who control the company says that address is merely the home of one of his close friends.

Got all that? Wow. This is truly mock-worthy. Read More......

Harvey Milk to receive Medal of Freedom from President Obama

A long overdue, but fitting tribute to an American hero.

The full list of Medal of Freedom recipients, which can be found here, includes Senator Ted Kennedy, Billie Jean King and Stephen Hawking.

In his statement, Obama said each recipient was "an agent of change." Harvey Milk sure was. So, this is another very nice gesture from the White House. I wonder if Harvey Milk would think this gesture is enough in the quest for LGBT equality. I don't think so. Read More......

SPLC keeping up the pressure on CNN for letting Lou Dobbs fan "the flames of racism"

Just got this email from Richard Cohen, President of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The group is not backing down in its battle with CNN over Lou Dobbs:

This week, I appeared on the "O'Reilly Factor," and Bill O'Reilly told me that we shouldn't take Dobbs seriously, that it's all just about ratings.

But Dobbs is playing a dangerous game. By promoting paranoid conspiracy theories that originate in extremist circles, he's fanning the flames of racism among a segment of society that can't accept a black man in the White House. And we've already seen a wave of violence committed by racial extremists since Obama was elected.

Let me be clear: This issue has nothing to do with Dobbs' First Amendment rights. We're not calling for the government to silence Dobbs. We're simply calling for CNN to exercise responsible editorial judgment.

O'Reilly told me that CNN won't care what the public thinks about Dobbs' irresponsible reporting. I disagree. I think, together, we can make a difference. I want to thank all of you who have joined this call and all who support SPLC's work.

Please help us again by joining our call to take Dobbs off the air — and forward this email to your friends and family members so that we can make our voices ring even louder in CNN's executive offices.

One wonders how the colleagues of Lou Dobbs over at CNN feel about him fanning the flames of racism. Seems to undermine some of the very good work others, like Soledad O'Brien, have been doing on race issues. Read More......

There is no Senate health care deal -- and GOP Sen. Enzi says no deal on unless he get everything he wants in the final bill

So, remember the big deal reached in the Senate by Max Baucus and those GOP Senators? Not true say those GOP Senators, Grassley (IA) and Enzi (WY).

Even better (or worse), Enzi said there will be no deal unless he gets everything he wants in the final bill. I first read about Enzi's statement on CNN.com, but had to see the original statement. Here it is:

“I also need commitments from Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi, as well as the Administration, that the bipartisan agreements reached in the Finance Committee will survive in a final bill that goes to the President.”

So, not only does Enzi expect Baucus to cave by producing a GOP bill, he wants everyone else to cave -- up to and including Obama. That's pretty ballsy. Enzi has been empowered to think he controls the whole process.

Democratic Senators Max Baucus and Kent Conrad have really screwed this up. They have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, but have managed to cede power to the GOP.

More from CNN's report after the break.

This is a real mess, thanks to Senator Baucus. First "the bombshell":

Two of the three Senate Republicans negotiating a bipartisan deal on health care reform said they consider an agreement out of reach before the Senate goes on its August recess.

That likely dashes the hopes of Democratic leaders and President Barack Obama for a deal among the so-called Gang of Six negotiators that could deliver critical momentum for the stalled health care overhaul.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyoming, dropped the bombshell news to CNN and two other reporters in Capitol hallways Wednesday night. They have spent weeks behind closed doors, trying to hammer out an agreement with their Democratic counterparts on the Senate Finance Committee but said too many issues remain unresolved, making it virtually impossible for them to sign on to a deal before the break.

And, more on Enzi:

Enzi, a soft-spoken conservative, was furious about headlines Wednesday morning that suggested he was close to reaching a deal with the Democrats.

“I felt my reputation was in danger,” he said.

He issued a statement batting down the stories and insisted any deal he might ultimately sign onto would have to be preserved by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Reid when it is merged with other more liberal legislation in the Senate and House.

“I’m not interested in lending credibility to disaster,” Enzi said.

Read More......

"The Military Is Not the Police"

That's the headline in an editorial in today's NY Times: The Military Is Not the Police. That law (Posse Comitatus Act of 1878) was almost violated by the Bush/Cheney regime. And, that's what the ACLU is still worried about:

The American Civil Liberties Union has been sounding the alarm about the proliferation of “fusion centers,” in which federal, state and local law enforcement cooperate on anti-terrorism work. According to the A.C.L.U., the lines have blurred, and the centers have involved military personnel in domestic law enforcement. Congress should investigate.

Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, said Wednesday that fusion centers were not intended to have a military presence, and that she was not aware of ones that did. She promised greater transparency about what role, if any, the active military was playing.

Um, thanks, Secretary Napolitano. A good operating principle here is: the Military is not the police. Read More......

Progressives push back on conservative health care concessions

UPDATE: Progressive members of Congress need to hear from all of us. FireDogLake has made it easy. Names and numbers are here. Ask the progressive to hold the line by supporting the public option. A real public option. These calls are making a difference.
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Things could be getting a lot more interesting up there on Capitol Hill. I've had the sense that White House negotiators have long believed their biggest (only) hurdle was the Blue Dogs and the Baucus/Conrad roadblock. They've taken for granted the wishes of the real progressives, who actually support Obama's agenda. But, the progressives are letting it be known they won't be taken for granted. This is what we want from progressives -- A spine:

The Blue Dogs’ deal, which cut $100 billion from the healthcare reform price tag, was instantly denounced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who said, “It’s unacceptable. We’re not going to vote for anything that doesn’t have a robust public plan.”

Liberals aimed to win 50 signatures on a letter to their leaders opposing the deal to make it clear they could defeat the healthcare bill on the floor.

“Fifty is our threshold,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), a co-chairman of the caucus. “That’ll kill anything.”

There's more after the break. You'll see that Obama has already called Rep. Jan Schawkowsky (D-IL). She needs to stick with the progressives on this one.

Remember, the Blue Dog's bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee is only one of three moving forward in the House. Two other House Committees passed bills with Obama's health care agenda intact.

Here's more of that article. Democratic leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue seem to realize they have a problem with progressives now:

The White House and Democratic leaders moved quickly to try to quell the liberal insurrection. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called a group of liberals to her office in the mid-afternoon, and Democrats postponed plans to continue a stalled markup of the bill by the Energy and Commerce Committee until Friday. Instead, they held a caucus meeting to answer member questions.

“It’s more important to let members ask questions, raise concerns,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the chairman of Energy and Commerce.

Within hours of the liberal complaints, Obama was on the phone with Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a fellow Illinois Democrat and Energy and Commerce member who is in charge of the healthcare issue for the Progressive Caucus.

He told her the bill should go forward, Schakowsky said.

Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Deal or no deal? That's the big question on health insurance reform. For the past few weeks, the conservative Democrats have had their way. Let's see how progressives on the Hill fight back.

Tonight, President Obama is having Officer Crowley and Professor Gates over for a beer. This has become the most important "getting together for a beer" event in the history of the world. The discussion about beer has trumped the underlying reason for the meeting.

There's lot swirling around out there. Let's get to it... Read More......

Responding to attack from increasingly unhinged Lou Dobbs, Rachel asks if she can really be a "teabagging queen"?

I thought this was funny. I love Rachel.

Birther King Lou Dobbs called Rachel Maddow a "teabagging queen." Rachel pondered the question last night:

Lou Dobbs must make CNN's president Jon Klein so proud. And, all of Lou's colleagues at CNN should realize that Dobbs is the becoming the voice of that network. What he says, they all own. Read More......