Not just #1 in health care

When I first arrived I didn't quite understand the slow pace of dining. As much as I liked to cook before, I was still used to the American pace of getting it over and done with quickly. Now I'm pretty used to the slow pace as restaurants without being chased out by waiters and I like it. I can't stand being rushed when I go to the UK or US. One of my first big meals here was a six hour marathon meal that featured same year Champagnes, white Burgundy and then red Burgundy. People in France love to have long meals and then debate anything and everything, sometimes simply taking a crazy position only to keep the debate going. Finding a quick solution isn't really part of the routine but then again, when you have beautiful food and lively discussion, who really cares? Reuters:

True to their reputation as leisure-loving gourmets, the French spend more time sleeping and eating than anyone else among the world's wealthy nations, according to a study published Monday.

The average French person sleeps almost nine hours every night, more than an hour longer than the average Japanese and Korean, who sleep the least in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Now if only something could be done about the rising crime in Paris. I think I know the topic of debate for the next dinner. Read More......

Why would Treasury want JPMorgan to buy more banks?

Sure, I get the hole "JPMorgan CEO Dimon is closely associated with the Democrats" story but c'mon, this is not the direction we need. If there is truly a belief that the US has too many banks, why not merge a few smaller banks instead of making a big bank too big? There never appears to be any movement on the part of the Obama economic team other than what's comfortable and good for the big players on Wall Street. This serves Wall Street well but it's less convincing for everyone else. Reuters:

The U.S. banking sector is likely to see further consolidation and JPMorgan Chase may be called on by regulators for more acquisitions, Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said on a webcast call Monday.

"There are still too many banks in the United States," Dimon told Calyon Securities analyst Mike Mayo on the call.

Too many big egos by big bank CEOs on Wall Street as well. Read More......

GOP Senator Hatch worried Obama may pick Sup. Ct. justice with "empathy" for the country's problems

When your political party equates empathy with radical extremism, it becomes increasingly clear why only 20% of the country wants to be associated with you:

Hatch raised concerns initially that Obama was using “buzz words” for a liberal activist justice by suggesting he wanted someone who had “empathy” for the country’s problems. But Obama told Hatch “that was not what he meant, and I take him at his word … and that he assured me that he would not be picking a radical or an extremist for the court that he was very pragmatic in his approach and that he would pick somebody who would abide by the rule of law.”

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Joe the Plumber on "queers": "I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children"

Yes, meet the mascot of the "new" Republican party. He's just as bigoted, angry, and intolerant as the old Republican party:

Christianity Today: In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?

Wurzelbacher: At a state level, it's up to them. I don't want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary--it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do--what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we're supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing.

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GOP Sen. Inhofe: Specter leaving the GOP is evidence that the Dems have lost

GOP Senator Jim Inhofe, via Wonkette:

There is no evidence more visible that the American people are already rebelling against the far-left agenda than Senator Arlen Specter switching parties to become a Democrat. He did this for one reason, and that is his advisers told him he couldn’t retain his Senate seat as a Republican. In other words, the same people who supported Senator Specter six years ago have soundly rejected him today.

That, my friends, sounds like 1994. The extreme liberal agenda is not sellable to the American people. Just wait and see.

Well, in that case, I don't think we've lost nearly as much as we deserve. Perhaps Olympia Snowe and a few more Republicans can join the Democratic Party, and then really teach the Dems a lesson.

And let me add, who do we Democrats have in the Senate who is as nutty, and ridiculous - not to mention, angry and intolerant - as people like Jim Inhofe? The Republican party is all leftovers now. Read More......

Credit card payments slip again

With unemployment going up (probably another point or so) and the economy negative to flat for 2009 this number can only grow higher. The only real question left is how brutal Congress will allow the credit card companies to be with those in debt. The card companies have plenty of lobbyists working their case to collect the last ounce of flesh so maybe this is not in question either.

Consumers fell further behind on their credit card bills in March even as lenders worked to reduce their exposure to delinquency and default, a top credit bureau executive told Reuters.

Dann Adams, president of U.S. Information Systems for Equifax, said 4.7 percent of payments on bank-issued credit cards were at least 60 days late in March, an increase of 38.3 percent over March 2008.

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GOP holds "Outside the Beltway" rebranding event inside the beltway

It's as if Sarah Palin is running the show. From Washington Monthly's Political Animal:

As part of the Republican Party's rebranding effort, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) hosted a National Council for a New America event at a pizza shop over the weekend. Roll Call reported, "Cantor said the idea of the road show is to gather ideas from outside the Beltway to shape the Republican agenda."

....At the risk of sounding picky, it's probably worth noting that Republicans started gathering ideas "from outside the Beltway" at an event inside the Beltway.

A place called Pie-tanza, in an Arlington strip mall, hosted the event. Pie-tanza is just a few minutes from the Washington Golf and Country Club. Indeed, it's only about six miles from Capitol Hill.

They are a walking metaphor of themselves. Read More......

GOP Rep. Michelle Bachmann talks about orgies

Putting aside the comedic value for a moment, the Republicans have a real problem here. Their top representatives in the national spotlight are an ongoing source of embarrassment. Bachmann, Limbaugh, Steele, Palin, Gingrich, Boehner, Cantor. They're also, all, embarrassingly conservative - or like Steele and Romney, trying awfully hard to fool people into thinking they are. Either way, they don't present a very enticing picture for moderates.

"During the last 100 days we have seen an orgy. It would make any local smorgasbord embarrassed," Bachmann said. She then told the crowd that April 26 was National Debt Day, which conservatives commemorate as the moment government spending outpaces revenue. As Bachmann explains, "The government spent its wad by April 26. Every dime government spends after April 26 throughout the rest of this fiscal year is borrowed money."

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Steele welcomes moderates to GOP, just not their ideas

Politico:

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appealed to the political middle Friday to join his party but added that the party itself wouldn't moderate.

"All you moderates out there, y'all come. I mean, that's the message," Steele said at a news conference. "The message of this party is this is a big table for everyone to have a seat. I have a place setting with your name on the front.

"Understand that when you come into someone's house, you're not looking to change it. You come in because that's the place you want to be."

Steele's line reminds me of the usual refrain you hear from gay Republicans who tell you that their Republican coworkers are really nice to them, but their gay friends, less so. Of course, that's because they've betrayed their gay friends for their Republican coworkers. Similar issue here. Steele loves moderate Republicans, provided they betray their principles and work for people, for politics, for ideas they don't endorse or even like. Hell of a bargain. Read More......

Swine flu alert lowered in Mexico

The number of cases has been dropping in Mexico for days so it looks like we are on the downside of this. CNN:

Mexico lowered its health alert level Monday, citing improvements in the battle against swine flu.

The level was lowered from red, or "high," to orange, or "elevated."

"The measures we have taken, and above all the public's reaction, have led to an improvement," Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said at a news conference.

In the US, the CDC is also seeing "encouraging signs" which is great news. Read More......

Romney disses Palin

The irony, of course, is that Romney mocked Palin as "beautiful" but not "influential." He should talk. Romney is himself a pretty boy who cares far too much about his hair, his clothes, and his skin for the usual heterosexual Republican male. So to have Romney launch a personal attack against Palin as being too glam is perhaps ill-advised. Read More......

The "new GOP" hires Bush's top White House aides to teach it how to be "new"

This is just funny.

Republicans looking to recover from Bush-era defeats are turning to an unlikely source for advice: top aides to former President George W. Bush.

Former White House press secretary Dana Perino, former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie and former White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto are among those set to provide words of wisdom to House Republican press secretaries at their annual workshop this Friday.

GOP House Conference Communications Director Matt Lloyd said Perino, Gillespie and Fratto represented “the gold standard for Republican communications professionals” and were obvious choices to advise the party’s messengers.

Yes, the Bush White House. The gold standard for Republican communications. So good at messaging, they handed the House, Senate and White House to the Democrats and brought the Republican party down to a shocking 20% self-identification. Read More......

Is Cantor suggesting that the GOP will go pro-gay and pro-choice?

The number two Republican in the House said the following yesterday at a meeting meant to revive the GOP:

"It is about time to be an inclusive as we can," said Cantor recently of the town halls, which are being organized by a new group -- that he is leading -- known as the National Council for a New America. "What we are aiming to do it to join together in hopes of beginning a conversation with the American people."

...That same poll showed that social issues -- like gay marriage -- are of declining potency in a political context. Forty-nine percent of the sample said they supported the idea of gay people being allowed to marry while 46 percent opposed it, a drastic shift from a 2006 Post/ABC poll where opposition (58 percent) to gay marriage far outstripped support (36 percent) for the idea.

As inclusive as they can would mean embracing the gays. After all, every single story talking about the Republicans' exclusivity problem mentions gay rights as an increasing albatross around the neck of the GOP. So what else could Cantor have meant? Maybe the religious right can get the Mormons to give them another $1.5m to do attack ads against the GOP now (a storm of tolerance and equality is coming...) Read More......

Palin is one of Time mag's "most influential." But, the "new" GOP guys aren't about "personality" (meaning Palin)

Oh, sure, the Republicans launched a whole new image. But, there are some deep-seated dislikes among the leaders of GOP. Mitt dissed Palin this weekend on CNN:

In the latest instance of a high-profile GOP member taking a passing swipe at the party's 2008 vice-presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney jokingly dismissed Sarah Palin’s inclusion on Time’s list of influential people in an interview broadcast Sunday.

He asked, was “the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people?”

Romney, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” was replying to a question from moderator John King on whether Time’s inclusion of Palin and talk show host Rush Limbaugh on their list of “The World’s Most Influential People” was good or bad for the Republican Party.

One of the "new" GOP's talking points is that the party isn't about "personalities," which is code for "Sarah Palin":

Responding to King’s question first, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said “there are some who like to make it all about personalities, but it's about ideas.”

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, who is also playing a prominent role in the Council, similarly said to POLITICO Saturday after the group's launch in Arlington, Va., that the group hopes “to make the next election about ideas and not about personalities.”

So, they're all worried about their image, but it has nothing to do with personality. Got that? Read More......

NY Times Co. could announce shutdown of Boston Globe today

UPDATE @ 10:14 a.m.: Taking a break. And, this from the NYT VP doing the negotiating:

"We have no plans to file a notice at this moment," Thornton said as he left the negotiations.

Intense negotiations in Boston over the past couple days have not resulted in a deal to save the Boston Globe -- yet. The Globe's owner, The New York Times Co., is playing hardball with the Globe's unions. As of now, it looks like there's no agreement. Here's the latest:

The Boston Globe pressmen’s union said this morning it reached a tentative agreement with the New York Times Co., but representatives from the newspaper’s largest union have gone home for the day after the company rejected its offer, which included $10 million in cuts to salaries and benefits.

The New York Times Co. issued an ultimatum last night, saying it was prepared to begin the process of shuttering the 137-year-old newspaper if its unions do not agree to major financial and contract concessions, including the abolition of lifetime job guarantees for some workers. The closing process would be triggered by a filing, which management has threatened to submit today, notifying the state of its intention to shut the Globe within 60 days.

The Boston Newspaper Guild, the Globe’s largest union representing more than 600 editorial, advertising, and business office workers, said management rejected a proposal that included a 3.5 percent pay cut for most employees, an unpaid furlough, an increase in the early retirement age, and a reduction in pension and 401(a) contributions.

Growing up, the Globe was the big city paper. It's an institution for people from the greater Boston area. Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Now that the 100 day obsession is past, one theme for the pundits this week is that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are getting along and she's doing a very good job as Secretary of State. Apparently, that's just something they can't wrap their heads around. It wasn't supposed to be that way, they though. But, it is. Brilliant choice. Most excellent Secretary of State. (Actually, the only surprise is that Bill Clinton has been virtually invisible.)

I literally haven't watched the TODAY Show for months. But, it's on this morning. True to form, in the first half hour, the show did a piece on that missing Scottish girl -- and, now, they've moved on to a long report about the Caylee Anthony murder case. Same old stories.

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

Did the White House threaten Chrysler creditors?

Is there a reason why anyone should even care if they did? If anything, assuming the White House did it shows that Obama does know how to play hardball. Somehow it's difficult to see Americans being upset with the White House taking a hard line against the big money folks during a serious discussion that could greatly impact the rest of the country. It's long been a concern that Obama is too nice so I only hope that this hard approach continues as the former Wall Street giants come begging for more cash. DealBook in the NY Times:

Recent comments by a lawyer representing Chrysler’s dissident debtholders alleging that Steven Rattner, the White House’s auto task force chief, “directly threatened” to wreck the reputation of the investment firm Perella Weinberg Partners if it continued to oppose the Obama administration’s reorganization plan have been picking up steam in the blogosphere.

After President Obama announced Thursday that Chrysler would file for bankruptcy, Perella Weinberg said it would support the government’s settlement with the carmaker’s secured lenders.

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Bank of America also looking for $10 billion

Looks like it's time to give both BofA and Citi the GM treatment including management change at the top. They're incompetent and they've put the economic system on the brink of disaster. Take them over, break them up and avoid the next "too big to fail" problems that they created with the help of Congress. Dragging this on forever in this state isn't helping anyone other than the top management. Reuters:

Bank of America is working on plans to raise more than $10 billion in fresh capital, even as it and Citigroup launch last-ditch attempts to convince the U.S. government they do not need to bolster their balance sheets, the Financial Times reported.

Citing people close to the situation, the paper said that Citi, Bank of America and at least two other lenders will on Monday attempt to convince the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve that the findings of "stress tests" into their financial health were too pessimistic.

Bank of America, which has had $45 billion in government aid, was found to need well in excess of $10 billion, the Financial Times reported on its website on Sunday, citing sources.

I guess we will see how fair Obama intends to be now that the long-awaited bank stress tests are here and the behemoths need a lot more money. Considering the number of former Citigroup employees inside the Obama economic team and the heavy lobbying efforts underway, something tells me Wall Street will get any easier ride than Detroit received. Read More......

Wolves off endangered species protected list today

The Bush administration started the process and sadly the Obama administration agrees and will let the protections expire today. The Western hunters who opt for shooting anything that moves seemed to have won the day, for now, at least. From the AP:

Wolves in parts of the Northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list on Monday, opening them to public hunts in some states for the first time in decades.

Federal officials say the population of gray wolves in those areas has recovered and is large enough to survive on its own. The animals were listed as endangered in 1974, after they had been wiped out across the lower 48 states by hunting and government-sponsored poisoning.

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Berlusconi declares himself most popular in the world

Obviously he's not counting his wife who after a long public feud has filed for divorce. He's yet another right winger who struggles in real life with the family values theme. Somehow his wife had the nerve to be upset with him attending the birthday party of an 18 year old not to mention the promotion practices that surprisingly always include young and attractive women.

It's not clear where he came up with the 75% approval number other than his own mind. Maybe his hair plugs are altering his mind but if he's so popular, why does he accomplish so little? Reuters:

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has compared himself to Jesus Christ and Napoleon, boasted on Friday that he was the world's most popular leader.

The conservative premier, in his third term in office, said opinion poll findings in his possession showed his popularity at just over 75 percent, making him far more popular than U.S. President Barack Obama -- or any other head of government.

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