Turning the tables on FOX News to avenge Amanda Terkel

Tonight, Adam Green from OpenLeft.com avenged the FOX News ambush of Amanda Terkel. A couple months ago, FOX's Bill O'Reilly had one of his lackeys, Jesse Watters, stalk Amanda when she was on vacation.

Adam turned the tables on one particularly smug FOX reporter who was lurking outside of an ACORN event here in DC. The tool from FOX, Griff Jenkins (sounds like a pornstar), was wearing a tux and laid out his own red carpet. That's when Adam and his colleague, Stephanie Taylor, appeared:

You'll notice how smug FOX News reporter Griff Jenkins didn't seem to like it. He got very flustered. They've got very thin skin at FOX News, like most right-wingers. And, Griff Jenkins sure didn't want to answer questions about FOX V.P./GOP strategist John Moody.

Nice work, Adam and Stephanie. Read More......

CIA Still Trying to Suppress Torture Evidence

As Barney Frank said below, we wouldn't want to be like the Bush administration. More from McJoan at DKos. (In all fairness to Barney, it's possible he hadn't read his own statement before he published it.) Read More......

In other news...

To those of you who are new to the blog, we really don't write exclusively about gay news. We do, however, occasionally have an axe to grind on a particular story, and we grind away for a while. Anyway, there was other news today:

Public opposes Obama on Gitmo, but just barely.

Iranian activist pulled from hospital bed, arrested.

E.J. Dionne: Where did we get the idea that the only good health-care bill is a bipartisan bill? Is bipartisanship more important than whether a proposal is practical and effective?

Krugman says it's far too early to judge the stimulus package:

Republicans, providing a bit of comic relief, are saying that the stimulus has failed, because the enabling legislation was passed four months ago — wow, four whole months! — yet unemployment is still rising. This suggests an interesting comparison with the economic record of Ronald Reagan, whose 1981 tax cut was followed by no less than 16 months of rising unemployment....

A few months ago the U.S. economy was in danger of falling into depression. Aggressive monetary policy and deficit spending have, for the time being, averted that danger. And suddenly critics are demanding that we call the whole thing off, and revert to business as usual.

Those demands should be ignored. It’s much too soon to give up on policies that have, at most, pulled us a few inches back from the edge of the abyss.

Andrew Sullivan has been on a tear over the situation in Iran, with about as many updates as I've had about the gay uproar. Check it out for the latest.

Steve Clemons at the Washington Note is the other key source to follow for Iran updates.

Actually, the other indispensable source for Iran updates is Nico Pitney at Huff Post.

More on the family values Republican's adulterous affair.

Want to be angry about something else? Check out the latest on health care "reform." Read More......

Barney Frank throws us under the bus. Lauds incest brief. Says language was appropriate.

Well, it seems a trip to the Oval Office is all openly gay congressman Barney Frank needs to stab his community in the back. After criticizing the DOJ's anti-gay DOMA brief this morning, Frank did a 180 this evening and lauded the brief, which invoked incest and pedophilia. Frank now thinks the brief is just super.

Frank claims that he gave a newspaper reporter his negative opinion of the brief without actually having read it.

Did you catch that? Barney Frank, our senior gay elected representative, and a lawyer himself, claims that he was giving legal opinions on a legal brief that he hadn't even read. At least Joe and I, who are also lawyers, read the brief before commenting on it. How many other issues has Barney opined on about which he's been knowingly willfully ignorant? (Of course, I don't believe Frank for a minute - he read the brief, but the president got him to recant.)

I am simply astounded. Even more astounding is that Barney's release sounds as if it were written by the White House. Their talking points are all through it, including the bizarre notion that somehow Obama would be as bad as George Bush if he opposed DOMA in court. (Repeating the lie that presidents never oppose existing legislation in court.) Joe and I already debunked that lie with the example of four court cases in which Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton and Bush Jr. all opposed existing law. And what's more, we published an essay by former senior Clinton White House official Richard Socarides explaining exactly how the president goes about telling the DOJ to oppose existing law in court. It's not debatable, it's what actually happens in the Oval office, and it's not illegal - it's a fact. The NYT editorial page agreed.

Let me reiterate: Our senior most gay member of Congress actually said that had Obama argued in court that DOMA is unconstitutional, that would be akin to George Bush not going to court to, for example, get a warrant to spy on Americans. Get it? Defending gay people is like spying illegally. But comparing us to incest and pedophilia, using what I'm told was pretty much the original brief the Bush administration used against us years ago, is somehow a sign that we're better than the Republicans - by repeating their arguments in court.

And I quote:

I think it is unwise for liberals like myself, who were consistently critical of President Bush’s refusal to abide by the law in cases where he disagreed with it to now object when President Obama refuses to follow the Bush example.

Yes, a refusal to abide by the law is the same thing as challenging a law in front of a judge.

No, Barney, what happened during the Bush administration is that Democrats of good conscience sold their constituents out for fear of speaking up against a president who was powerful and wrong. So yes, the current situation does bear a striking resemblance.

Barney is far too smart to be this stupid. Perhaps Barney is worried that everyone is dropping like flies from his DNC gay fundraiser next week. More likely, President Obama made him an offer he couldn't refuse. And before you think Obama promised some gay rights advance, he could have just as easily promised Frank a highway project in his district, or a presidential appearance at his next campaign fundraiser.

What's more, Barney thinks the language of the brief was great. He even, between the lines, defends the invocation of incest and pedophilia.

And check out this whopper from Frank:

It would not be wise, in my judgment, for those of us who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, or who sympathize with the fight for our rights, to argue for a precedent that says that executives who disagreed politically with the purpose of the law should have the option of refusing to defend it in a constitutional case.”

Actually, there's another document Congressman Frank didn't bother reading before commenting on. He didn't bother doing a Google search on what our president has actually said about DOMA. Obama didn't say he disagrees politically with DOMA. He said he thinks it's abhorrent and discriminatory. Big difference. So now, according to our hero in congress, our civil rights are just "politics" - and we really don't want our president arguing in favor of our civil rights in court. Astounding. Simply astounding.

Never ever underestimate the ability or willingness of a member of Congress of either party to screw his people for a better offer. HRC attends the White House ceremony, Barney Frank lauds a brief comparing us to pedophilia and incest.

We are on our own folks. The Democratic party has abandoned us.

(Then again, before we all go and get mad, it is possible that Barney didn't even read his new statement before he published it, so maybe it was all a big mistake.) Read More......

They're lying about DOMA too

It's just terribly frustrating when the White House insists on putting out misinformation in an effort to defend the president, and thus simply inflames things further. The president today noted that:

Now, under current law, we cannot provide same-sex couples with the full range of benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.

We were told the same thing on the conference call with OPM chief John Berry.

It's not true.

I've talked to several gay lawyers, including Richard Socarides who worked in the White House, and they say that it is patently untrue that DOMA prevents gay federal employees, or anyone else, from getting health benefits. President Obama could have granted full health benefits to domestic partners - not to spouses, not based on civil unions, but to "domestic partners" - and DOMA would not have prevented it, according to the lawyers I've spoken with. Here's why: DOMA prohibits granting benefits based on marriage, it does not prohibit granting benefits overall. Thus, you define a standard that isn't marriage, such as domestic partnerships as defined by, say, the amount of time spent dating, living together, comingling funds, etc. Had Obama simply said we will give health benefits to the domestic partners, straight and gay, of all federal employees, and given a definition of domestic partner that does not include marriage of civil unions, he could have done it.

But he didn't. And now he's not telling us the truth as to why. Read More......

HRC's Solmonese attends Obama's benefits signing

I was surprised to see the Human Rights Campaign's president Joe Solmonese standing with openly-gay Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank behind President Obama at a White House event that most considered a thinly-veiled attempt to divert attention from the uproar over the White House's total abandonment of its campaign promises to our community. Is it just me, or is terribly inappropriate for our leaders to be giving the president cover at this time, when just today his spokesman reaffirmed that the president stands behind the homophobic DOMA brief that equated our marriages with incest and pedophilia?

My sense is that Tammy, Joe and Barney are giving the president cover, and you don't give him cover unless and until he fixes the problem. These benefits do not fix the problem. They don't even scratch the surface (and in fact, they're not even new benefits). Tammy and Barney, for their part, continue to host a gay fundraiser for the DNC, along with Jared Polis, next week even though the gay attendees are dropping out like flies.

I'm just very disappointed.

For an example of what our organizations and representatives should be doing, first take a look at the glowing statement that HRC released about this event, then look at what everybody else had to say. First, HRC:

Today’s Presidential memorandum committing to a federal workplace free from discrimination, including the extension of some benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers, is a welcome and long-overdue step toward bringing the government’s policies closer in line with what America’s largest companies understand is good for business. Today’s presidential signature is the first brick in paving what is a long path toward equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. We commend President Obama and his administration for taking this beginning step to level the playing field but we look forward to working with him to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and guarantee the entire American workforce is free from discrimination.”

SLDN was hardly as thrilled:

What the President failed to mention today was that not all LGBT employees will receive these benefits. Gay and lesbian service members, employees of the federal government, will not be eligible to receive these benefits under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Ironically, Obama said he wants to “retain the best talent” to serve our country. Yet he won’t he speak out publicly against DADT, the law that fires the best and brightest from the military because they’re gay or lesbian. We urge him to break his continued silence on DADT and endorse repeal legislation in the House, or send up his own language to Capitol Hill.

Now, everyone else. Here is Lamda Legal's statement on the day's events:

Lambda Legal: Obama Administration Can Do More

'The day is long past for incomplete, piecemeal fixes that leave hard-working families uninsured and struggling.'

(New York, June 17, 2009) -- President Obama's planned announcement today misses the mark according to Lambda Legal's Executive Director, Kevin Cathcart.

"While ending any of the discrimination against gay and lesbian federal employees is a welcome step, today's planned announcement falls far short of our hopes and expectations.

"President Obama clearly understands how important it is for people to have health insurance coverage to protect their loved ones and this plan does not provide that.

"Lambda Legal is representing Karen Golinskii, a federal employee who works for the judicial branch and who is seeking health insurance coverage for her same-sex spouse. A federal judge has already issued an administrative decision in that matter, concluding that, within the existing rules, the federal government can choose to provide health insurance for same-sex partners. We think they should, and we'll keep fighting for Karen and her spouse -- and for all federal employees.

"Fair treatment of gay employees regarding these benefits is not new -- many employers, states and local governments have been providing benefits for domestic partners for years. We call on the president to bring a swift end to our government's unfair treatment of its own workers. The day is long past for incomplete, piecemeal fixes that leave hard-working families uninsured and struggling.

"Gay men, lesbians, transgender people and people with HIV are subject to significant discrimination. In a time when we are all facing record job loss and skyrocketing health care costs these problems need to be addressed in ways that help everyone in this country including gay men, lesbians, transgender people and people with HIV.

"The administration and congress must work towards ending discrimination in the workplace--including the military--by passing a federal employment non-discrimination act and repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Additionally, President Obama has said that he believes the so-called Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional. We call on the administration to honor his campaign pledge to advocate forcefully for congressional repeal of DOMA. Married same-sex couples should be afforded the same respect by the federal government as their heterosexual married neighbors."

And here's what People for the American Way had to say:

People For the American Way President Michael B. Keegan issued the following statement:

"During the campaign, then-candidate Obama spoke eloquently about the importance of ensuring that all Americans are treated with dignity and respect. He made specific pledges to pass hate crimes legislation, enact laws to prevent workplace discrimination, end Don't Ask Don't Tell and repeal DOMA. Since then, we've been waiting for concrete results. Today's presidential memorandum is a very small step in the right direction, but it's a token, and tokens are no longer enough. DOMA stands in the way of real progress for same-sex couples now denied federal recognition and protection, and its repeal is long overdue.

"President Obama has a unique ability to provide the moral leadership to ensure that all Americans are treated equally under the law, but so far he has failed to exercise it. We urge the president to live up to his own rhetoric about being a 'fierce advocate' for gay and lesbian Americans. Taking action on his pledge to repeal DOMA would be worthy of the vision that he held out to Americans during his campaign."

The National Center for Lesbian Rights:

A STATEMENT FROM NCLR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KATE KENDELL ON THE PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM

(San Francisco, California, June 17, 2009) - The policy announced today by the President committing to a federal workplace free from discrimination, is a step in the right direction but inadequate and long overdue. It leaves out millions of Americans who do not work for the federal government and fails to include key benefits including health insurance. When running for office, then candidate Obama called equality for LGBT people a "moral imperative." We will continue to demand this administration live up to the President's promise of achieving "full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country."

And here's straight Congressman Nadler's statement, which is what a real representative would say:

“Today’s announcement, while a fine first step, falls dramatically short of what federal employees need, and, of course, does not at all provide the LGBT community the recognition and equal treatment under the law that are long overdue. To many of my constituents, today’s memorandum unfortunately feels less like real progress for civil rights, and more like a reactive effort to reassure gay and lesbian Americans and their supporters who were recently angered by the Justice Department’s offensive and unnecessary arguments in a case challenging DOMA.

Read More......

Show Obama you mean business. Donate to AMERICAblog.

President Obama has made it abundantly clear what he thinks of gay and lesbian Americans, and of progressives across the board. From last week's offensive incest-invoking brief supporting DOMA - exclusively broken on AMERICAblog - to last year's betrayal on FISA, it is clear that this administration listens to one thing - money and power. If you don't hold their feet to the fire, they won't give you the time of day.

Case in point? The hate crimes bill. After the uproar that ensued from the DOJ filing the hateful brief, the administration let it be known that the hate crimes bill would be passed THIS WEEK in the Senate! Whoopee! Well guess what? Now we're told that there was a little problem and they're going to have to postpone taking up the bill until at least August, if we're lucky. Mind you, this was legislation that easily passed the last less pro-gay Congress. Anyone surprised?

Well, the gays have had enough. And we're fighting back.

It's clear that, with the news that Human Rights Campaign National Field Director Marty Rouse has pulled out of next week's $1,000 a person DNC gay fundraiser, that the fundraiser is on its last legs. But the DNC wasn't wrong about one thing. It takes money to secure out rights. But you have to donate to someone who actually cares, and someone who actually will do something to help you get those rights.

That's why I'm asking you today to donate to AMERICAblog.

Longtime readers will note that we don't hold fundraisers at AMERICAblog very often. I decided a long time ago to try to make the blog self-sufficient on advertising.

We don't often have fundraisers any more at AMERICAblog. A long time ago I decided to try to run the blog solely on advertising, and it's been working well. Until this year. With the economy a wreck, advertising for all publications, online and off, has plummeted. And I mean plummeted. I was able to pay my mortgage last month with the ad revenues, but that was about it. I've got enough in the bank to subsidize the blog, and plan to start consulting again, so we aren't going anywhere. But we could use your help. I live off the blog, and Joe and Chris get a healthy stipend from the blog. Your support would mean a lot to us.

I hope in just the past five days, working on the hateful DOJ DOMA brief, you've gotten a sense of what we can accomplish with AMERICAblog. AP is now quoting us as the source on this controversy, and Salon.com asked us to write their top story on their Web site about this issue. Some people think blogging is "just words." And others think we're kids working in our pajamas. In fact, Joe Sudbay and I have, between us, two law degrees and nearly 40 years of political experience in Washington, DC. And I think that experience shows in our writing, but more importantly, in the impact our writing has on the issues we take on.

There was the one where we exposed Jeff Gannon, the conservative Republican White House correspondent, as a gay male hooker (link not safe for work).

There was the one where we bought Wesley Clark's cell phone records in order to highlight the issue of cell phone privacy. As a result, Congress passed, and President Bush signed, a new law banning the practice of pre-texting that put all of your phone records in jeopardy.

There was the one where we took on Microsoft for rescinding its commitment to gay rights after they were challenged by the religious right. We won. (Don't forget out now infamous open letter to Microsoft entitled: "You messed with the wrong faggots.")

There was the one where we took on Ford after the American Family Association got them to pull their gay advertising. We won.

And today we're taking on the White House and the Democratic party, and the other two guys aren't looking so great.

Joe, Chris and I do this because we love it, because we have a passion for the progressive cause, and because we think we can make a difference - and we think we have made a difference.

The mainstream media isn't going to get us our rights and secure our freedoms. They didn't even cover the DOMA story for days, while we continued to rail against this travesty even when some in the gay community said we were wrong. The media refused to cover the Gannon story. They refused to hold George Bush accountable for 8 years. And our liberal groups? More often than not a shell of their former selves. The only people who can change things are us, all of us, working together.

If you agree, please donate to our efforts and help us make our party and our country stronger and more progressive.

Thanks so much, JOHN

PS Your donations are not tax-deductible. Feel free to use the donation box, in bright red, at the top of the next column. You can give a one-time donation, or a recurring monthly donation. Whatever you give, we thank you. You can also donate via check to our PO Box (write checks to "John Aravosis" at: John Aravosis, PO Box 21336, Washington, DC 20009) Read More......

My article in Salon

You can read my entire piece here. Read More......

Gibbs: President stands behind incest/pedophilia brief

Yes, God forbid our president distance himself from a brief that argues that gay and lesbian marriages are akin to incest and pedophilia. I ask again, who is advising these people? From ABC:

TAPPER: Does the president stand by the legal brief that the Justice Department filed last week that argued in favor the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act?

GIBBS: Well, as you know, that the Justice Department is charged with upholding the law of the land, even though the president believes that that law should be repealed.

TAPPER: I understand that, but a lot of legal experts say that the brief didn't have to be as comprehensive and make all the arguments that it made, such as comparing same-sex unions to incestuous ones, in one controversial paragraph...

GIBBS: Well...

TAPPER: ...that's upset a lot of the president's supporters. Does the president stand by the content, the arguments made in that brief?

GIBBS: Well, again, it's the president's Justice Department. And, again, we have the role of upholding the law of the land while the president has stated and will work with Congress to change that law.

One more thing. The President will reportedly say tonight that he opposes DOMA. He's not going to oppose the law however, he's going to keep defending it in court. But in his heart he opposes it. Aw thanks. Read More......

Is Obama giving federal agencies a right they already have?

UPDATE: The answer is "yes." I just asked OPM Director John Berry, on a White House media conference call, whether in fact federal agencies already have the right to give these benefits to gay employees. The answer, "yes." So what's new about tonight? Obama is going to "tell" the agencies to give the benefits - as if any agency in the Obama administration would dare tell a gay employee no to a request for time off to attend their partner's funeral?
__________

We all now know that President Obama this evening will give some federal agencies the right to give some federal employees some benefits at some time in the future. The problem, as one reader writes, is that federal agencies already have that right, and in fact, are already providing the benefits. So what is President Obama actually giving us?

Regarding your latest post of the WH Fact Sheet -- here are some important facts that your readers may care to know.

The para (below) regarding "new" benefits available to domestic partners -- these benefits have been available for YEARS !!!!

For civil service employees, domestic partners of federal employees can be added to the long-term care insurance program; supervisors can also be required to allow employees to use their sick leave to take care of domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children.

Nothing new here.

1) See the OPM website which permits long term care to be extended "Qualified Relatives" that includes:

QUALIFIED RELATIVE- The term ‘qualified relative’ means each of the following:
The spouse of an individual described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4).
A parent, stepparent, or parent-in-law of an individual described in paragraph (1) or (3).
A child (including an adopted child, a stepchild, or, to the extent the Office of Personnel Management by regulation provides, a foster child) of an individual described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4), if such child is at least 18 years of age.
An individual having such other relationship to an individual described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) as the Office may by regulation prescribe.

2) During the Clinton administration -- guidance was requested about whether sick leave could be used to take care of same-sex partners and/children. The answer came back that a federal employee could use their sick leave to take care of, attend doctor appointments, or even attend funerals for anyone who had the "close approximation of family". This was a guidance memo -- not policy -- but it has been available since the mid 1990's. The reason I know this is that I have worked for a DOD Agency for 23 years and even DOD allowed me to take sick leave to care for my partner and my non-bio child.

What a bunch of nothing.

Lisa Polyak
Baltimore, MD

Read More......

White House announces what they're doing tonight, or not

We just received from the White House some guidance on what the president is doing tonight regarding benefits for gay federal employees. It's not clear at all, other than the fact that day-to-day health care coverage (as compared to long-term care, i.e., getting old or infirm) is not included at all. What is included, well, they're not sure. The president is going to order the agencies to look at what benefits they can give us because, apparently, no one did it yet. Why not? Also, no mention of the military - are they getting benefits? Active duty members too? And if so, how are they going to get around DADT?

And, since this is a presidential memorandum, and not an executive order, some have suggested that it will sunset when Obama leaves office, leaving gay and lesbian employees out of luck again. Some fierce advocate.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2009

Fact Sheet: Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination

In an Oval Office event later today, President Barack Obama will sign a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination. The Memorandum follows a review by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management ant the Secretary of State regarding what benefits may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees in the civil service and the foreign service within the confines of existing federal laws and statutes.

Over the past several months, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Secretary of State have conducted internal reviews to determine whether the benefits they administer may be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees within the confines of existing laws and statutes. Both identified a number of such benefits.

For civil service employees, domestic partners of federal employees can be added to the long-term care insurance program; supervisors can also be required to allow employees to use their sick leave to take care of domestic partners and non-biological, non-adopted children. For foreign service employees, a number of benefits were identified, including the use of medical facilities at posts abroad, medical evacuation from posts abroad, and inclusion in family size for housing allocations.

The Presidential Memorandum to be signed today will request that the Director of OPM and the Secretary of State act to extend to same-sex partners of federal employees the benefits they have identified. The Memorandum will also request the heads of all other executive branch departments and agencies to conduct internal reviews to determine whether other benefits they administer might be similarly extended, and to report the results of those reviews to the Director of OPM.

The Memorandum will also direct OPM to issue guidance within 90 days to all executive departments and agencies regarding compliance with, and implementation of, the civil service laws, which make it unlawful to discriminate against federal employees or applicants for federal employment on the basis of factors not related to job performance.

PS Where's the apology for comparing us to incest and pedophilia, the commitment to actively work to repeal DOMA, DADT, the promise to oppose DOMA in court, and the institution of a stop-loss order? Read More......

Health care rationing and reality

What this article is missing is more about how insurance companies already ration your options but still, this is full of good information related to the health care reform debate. Of particular interest is the point being made about the link between health care cost increases and decreasing employee compensation. Even the Democrats in Congress don't want to review all of this because that would disrupt their efforts to find a bipartisan solution that works for the insurance industry but less so for actual voters. It's worth your time to read the full article, but here's the portion related to compensation declines.

The rapid rise in medical costs has put many employers in a tough spot. They have had to pay much higher insurance premiums, which have increased their labor costs. To make up for these increases, many have given meager pay raises.

This tradeoff is often explicit during contract negotiations between a company and a labor union. For nonunionized workers, the tradeoff tends to be invisible. It happens behind closed doors in the human resources department. But it still happens.

Research by Katherine Baicker and Amitabh Chandra of Harvard has found that, on average, a 10 percent increase in health premiums leads to a 2.3 percent decline in inflation-adjusted pay. Victor Fuchs, a Stanford economist, and Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist now in the Obama administration, published an article in The Journal of the American Medical Association last year that nicely captured the tradeoff. When health costs have grown fastest over the last two decades, they wrote, wages have grown slowest, and vice versa.

So when middle-class families complain about being stretched thin, they’re really complaining about rationing. Our expensive, inefficient health care system is eating up money that could otherwise pay for a mortgage, a car, a vacation or college tuition.

Read More......

Barney's mad. But, wants us to keep giving to the DNC.

Barney Frank has finally reacted to the Obama administration's anti-gay DOMA brief. He's mad. And, he's so mad he called the White House:

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, one of the nation’s leading gay rights champions, blasted President Obama yesterday over a controversial anti-gay marriage court filing and is calling on the commander in chief to explain himself.

“I think the administration made a big mistake. The wording they used was inappropriate,” Frank (D-Newton) said of a brief filed by Obama’s Department of Justice that supported the Defense of Marriage Act.

The DOJ brief, which has touched off a firestorm of anger in the gay community, argued that states should not have to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, just as states don’t have to recognize incestuous marriages or unions involving underage girls.

“I’ve been in touch with the White House and I’m hoping the president will make clear these were not his views,” Frank said.

Barney is never at a loss for words. Yet, it took him five days to respond to the DOMA brief. And "inappropriate" is the best he could come up with after having been compared to incest and pedophilia?

Let's face it: LGBT Americans have been let down by our "leaders." Imagine if any other group of Americans had been so maliciously maligned by the administration in an official document. Insert "African-American" or "Jewish," and I doubt it would take five days for their leaders to respond. Be more like five minutes.

Oh, and Barney wants us to keep giving money to the DNC:

“There are a lot of people who aren’t boycotting [the upcoming DNC $1,000 a plate gay fundraiser],” he said. “I think it’s a mistake to deny money to the DNC.”

Yeah, such a bad idea - after all, you might miss out on the 10,400 square foot spa.

As we noted below, according to both the New York Times and NBC the White House only paid attention to our issues after the financial boycott started. The Democrats don't seem to care much about our civil rights, but when the gay ATM goes bust, suddenly we get our calls returned. Despite Barney's pleas, I doubt many gay leaders are going to want to cross a picket line, while their faces are being photographed and videotaped by the Washington Blade, in order to hand thousands of dollars to a party that just compared our love to incest and pedophilia. Read More......

NBC: "Yet today’s presidential memo is a reactive attempt to quell the anger"

NBC's First Read seems to grasp what's really going on today at the White House:

Also today, at 5:45 pm ET, Obama signs a presidential memo granting same-sex benefits to federal workers. This move, however, seems mostly about placating gay-rights advocates who have been angered by 1) the administration’s hesitance in overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”; 2) its brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which Obama has promised to repeal; and 3) Obama’s invitation of Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the prayer at the inauguration. In fact, some wealthy gay supporters of Obama have become so mad that they’re taking their names off an upcoming Biden fundraiser. Of course, the Obama White House has been very reluctant to get involved in cultural issues, and it seems intent on avoiding all the early mistakes Bill Clinton made (like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”). Yet today’s presidential memo is a reactive attempt to quell the anger coming from the gay community. But even the memo doesn’t seem to go far enough for gay-rights advocates. For one thing, as the New York Times notes, the benefits for same-sex couples won’t be extended to health care.

The obsession with not repeating the mistakes of 1993 has resulted in a huge mistake in 2009. Somehow, despite all the progress and the massive shift in public opinion on gay issues since the early 90s, at the White House, the conventional wisdom on gay-related issues has been dialed back to 1993. The very top staffers at the White House have either fomented that perception or let it fester. There's a part of me that feels like this was a very cynical political ploy -- almost as if they want to have the gay community upset with them. It has been one thing after another and we're always told how smart everyone at the White House is. So, it really feels deliberate. They only decided it was a problem when the gay ATM started to shut down.

This is part of a bigger problem with progressive causes and the professional Democrats in DC. During campaigns, they want our money, our support, our blog posts, but once they win, we're not needed. Even worse, they view us as a problem. Many of them forget that they have their tax-payer financed jobs and benefits because of the work so many of us did. That has to stop. Democrats need to remember who their friends are even after they are elected and stop kissing the butts of those who work to defeat them.

And, one note to NBC: I don't consider my rights, or lack thereof, to be a "cultural issue." That's demeaning. Read More......

New financial plan had input from all the people who brought us the financial crisis

The new plan to regulate the financial services sector gets unveiled today at !2:50 PM in the East Room of the White House. Via the NY Times, a lot of the same corporate clowns who brought us the economic disaster were at the White House playing a role in fixing it. Now, you know we can trust them, right?:

President Obama’s plan to reshape financial regulation, which he will unveil on Wednesday, is the product of weeks of meetings among government officials, financial experts, lawmakers, industry executives and lobbyists, many of whom were invited to help the White House draft the proposal.

Mr. Obama told reporters on Tuesday that a “lack of oversight” allowed what he called “wild risk-taking.” He said it led to “very dangerous” conditions that imperiled the global economy.

But executives from an array of industries caught up in the financial crisis came to Washington over the last several weeks to make their case for how the new regulatory landscape should look. They came from big banks and small ones, insurance companies and stock exchanges, hedge funds and mutual funds, and were joined by officials from consumer groups and big labor — often with conflicting views.

Now, lobbyists who lost the initial skirmish inside the administration will head to Congress to try to influence the final product.

I don't purport to understand the financial system. Actually, I'm afraid not many people get it. But, I do find it odd that lobbyists were invited to help "draft the proposal." I thought the Obama White House was going to be a lobbyist free-zone? I'm sure all of those people put the nation's interests first.

Anwyway, we know how this goes. Whatever the lobbyists who didn't get what they wanted from the White House will get it on Capitol Hill. Too many Democrats on the Hill are beholden to bank lobbyists -- and, of course, insurance industry lobbyists.

I just finished reading the book, House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street. It's an amazingly interesting read considering the subject. People at major Wall Street firms had no idea what the hell they were doing -- with other people's money. And, your current Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, was right in the thick of it. Those are his people. I really hope he has the spine to rein them in. But, I doubt it.

According to The Times, this is who had a seat at the table:

In the last two weeks alone, the administration has heard from top executives from Goldman Sachs, MetLife, Allstate, JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Barclays, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Travelers, Prudential and Wells Fargo, among others. Administration officials also discussed the president’s plan with the top lobbyists at major financial trade associations in Washington.

Too bad they couldn't find the former leaders of the now-defunct Bear Stearns and Lehman, too. They probably had some wise counsel, too. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's going to be a busy day at the White House. Early this afternoon, the President "will lay out a comprehensive regulatory reform plan to modernize and protect the integrity of our financial system in the East Room." This is getting a lot of attention. It's designed to impose some oversight in an arena that affects all of us. Sounds like a lot of planning went into this plan.

Then, at 5:54 PM, Obama will make what's supposed to be the big announcement about providing benefits to the partners of federal employees. Now, we all know that's not really a big announcement, but it's a one small step in the right direction. It might have been a big deal back in 1996 -- during Rahm's first term. But, the White House is really playing it up in order to quell the furor over DOMA. And, sounds like the brain trust really just slapped this one together. When most people hear the term "benefits," health care comes to mind. That's not part of the package. DOMA, which Obama wants to repeal but is defending in the Courts, prevents health benefits for partners.

So, let's hope the regulatory reform plan actually meets the hype, because the gay announcement doesn't. And, let's get started... Read More......

German investors to launch $550 billion solar project

The Republicans are probably right. Nobody, but nobody cares about climate change and there is no money to be made here. There's not a business opportunity at all and the corporate world will never care about this issue so it's best letting someone else invest money in new technology because it will only be a failed venture. Better let Big Oil dictate environmental policy because they've always been fair and good for America. Who wants progress that would create new jobs anyway? Bah!

The consortium behind what would be the biggest ever solar energy initiative will first raise awareness and interest among other investors for the project, known as Desertec, which is estimated to cost around €400bn (£338bn).

Torsten Jeworrek, board member of Munich Re, the German reinsurer which is leading the project, said: "We want to found an initiative which over the next two to three years will put concrete measures on the table."

Like other reinsurers, Munich Re has said it is expecting to face mounting claims in the coming years for damage caused by climate change.

The companies – including Siemens, Deutsche Bank, and the energy companies RWE and E.on – will meet on July 13 in Munich to draw up an agreement. German government ministries as well as the Club of Rome, a Zurich-based NGO of leading scientists, managers and politicians which advocates sustainable development, are also expected to be present.

It is seen as particularly significant that the companies aim to start the expensive initiative in the midst of a financial crisis. But although none of the companies is keen to go into detail yet about their involvement, they stress that the project is a chance for them to drive forward the fight against climate change and in doing so to position themselves at the top of the green technology industry. Germany, despite its relative lack of sun, has become a leader in solar energy.

What's that? Insurance companies are investing because they foresee problems ahead with payouts related to climate change? And leading businesses are investing heavily during the worst economic crisis in decades? Could it be so? Are Republicans shaking in their boots because they can't handle any change of the status quo? Are they failing to adapt to the modern world, again? Say it ain't so.

There's a difference between talking up a big, bold story and actually doing it. The Republicans like to whip up macho talk as they bash environmentalists as they hide behind their fear of change. The Germans are actually offering serious change and putting their money behind it instead of same old, same old. Germany, like any country including the US, makes mistakes but maybe, just maybe, we could learn a few lessons in this instance. Read More......

Shareholders fuming over Barclays

Of course, without real "say on pay" they can yell as much as they like but they should not expect any change. One would have expected Obama's economic team to have taken note of the recent UK experiences where public firms thumbed their noses at non-binding votes from investor groups but no, apparently Obama is picking up where Bush left off and ignoring foreign experiences. That might make too much sense. Eventually the US and UK and other developed economies are going to give real voting rights to investors so such abuses can be limited but that will take leadership and vision. Neither is abundant in either Washington or London these days. The Guardian:

Barclays is under fire from several of its big shareholders who are questioning the huge pay-outs to staff at its fund management arm BGI following the sale of the business last week to BlackRock for $13.5bn.

Bob Diamond, BGI's chairman, is in line for a payout of £22m, while the arm's chief executive Blake Grossman will collect around £55m under the terms of the deal announced last week.

Speaking anonymously, one institutional shareholder with a £500m investment in Barclays said: "The BGI management incentive scheme is overly generous to staff, and to its senior executives most of all. You could argue that Barclays investors are being shortchanged."

Several other institutions expressed reservations about "the windfall" for 400 top executives who own roughly a 10% stake in BGI. One said: "Incentives are one thing, but the scale in this instance takes the breath away."

Senior managers will bank £380m in total with 50 executives taking the lion's share. Chief operating officer Rich Ricci is looking to make close to £20m.

Read More......

More rallies planned in Tehran today

And another Robert Fisk update. Foreign press are banned from covering the events (except from their hotel rooms) but The Independent's Robert Fisk was in the crowds again yesterday as the two groups met en masse, separated by only a few hundred police. For years, Fisk has covered the Middle East hot spots and is one of the more fearless members of the press. Ordering him to stay inside never seems to work with him. The Independent:

The fate of Iran rested last night in a grubby north Tehran highway interchange called Vanak Square where – after days of violence – supporters of the official President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at last confronted the screaming, angry Iranians who have decided that Mirhossein Mousavi should be the president of their country. Unbelievably – and I am a witness because I stood beside them – just 400 Iranian special forces police were keeping these two armies apart. There were stones and tear gas but for the first time in this epic crisis the cops promised to protect both sides.

"Please, please, keep the Basiji from us," one middle-aged lady pleaded with a special forces officer in flak jacket and helmet as the Islamic Republic's thug-like militia appeared in their camouflage trousers and purity-white shirts only a few metres away. The cop smiled at her. "With God's help," he said. Two other policemen were lifted shoulder-high. "Tashakor, tashakor," – "thank you, thank you" – the crowd roared at them.

This was phenomenal. The armed special forces of the Islamic Republic, hitherto always allies of the Basiji, were prepared for once, it seemed, to protect all Iranians, not just Ahmadinejad's henchmen. The precedent for this sudden neutrality is known to everyone – it was when the Shah's army refused to fire on the millions of demonstrators demanding his overthrow in 1979.

Yet this is not a revolution to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Both sets of demonstrators were shouting "Allahu Akbar" – "God is Great" – at Vanak Square last night. But if the Iranian security forces are now taking the middle ground, then Ahmadinejad is truly in trouble.

As the fume-filled dusk fell over the north Tehran streets, the crowds grew wilder. I listened to a heavily bearded Basiji officer exorting his men to assault the 10,000 Mousavi men and women on the other side of the police line. "We must defend our country now, just as we did in the Iran-Iraq war," he shouted above the uproar. But the Ahmadinejad man trying to calm him down, shouted back: "We are all fellow citizens! Let's not have a tragedy. We must have unity."

Read More......

White House admits Obama "benefits" speech simply political ploy, plan still being created after it was already announced

A rather blockbuster NYT story in tomorrow's paper about Obama's ploy to win back the gays by offering some federal employees some benefits (but not all, including no health coverage).

The White House actually admitted to the NYT that they were offering the benefits to help contain the "growing furor among gay rights groups." How about doing it because it's the right thing to do? How about doing it because you were already planning to do it to help our community, because you recognize us as human beings? We kept being told, fret not, we have a secret plan for your civil rights - now it seems, not so much:

But administration officials said the timing of the announcement was intended to help contain the growing furor among gay rights groups. Several gay donors withdrew their sponsorship of a Democratic National Committee fund-raising event next week, where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is scheduled to speak.

Just as bad, it seems they came up with this proposal on the fly. In spite of the fact that for a while they've been hinting that they'd do this, the NYT discovered that the details of the "plan" haven't even been decided, yet the White House is already announcing it publicly.

The breadth and scope of the memorandum to be signed by Mr. Obama was being completed Tuesday evening, said administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid upstaging the president’s announcement on Wednesday.

With all due respect, don't our civil rights deserve a bit more attention than some kluge thrown together at the last minute to save a cocktail party?

This is simply more evidence that the White House never had a plan to act on our civil rights, to act on the president's promises (none of which have been fulfilled, or even addressed). They're simply winging it with our rights.

(Pam Spaulding observes that it's "amateur hour" at the White House.) Read More......