Mr. Gay meet Mr. Homosexual

I'd seen this last night and meant to post it, but forgot. Sorry. It's funny as hell. It also proves a rather controversial point I made a while back. Read More......

Delta Airlines scraps "free" mileage tickets

If flying Delta is not punishment enough, they are now charging customers for "free" frequent flier tickets. It's always difficult to say which major US carrier is the worst airline in the industrial world but Delta is again doing it's best to win that slot. Read More......

Lawsuit wants to allow guns in Atlanta's airport

Which is kind of funny, since you now pretty much have no constitutional rights in an airport any more, other than the right to carry a gun - or so these guys hope. Read More......

Politico outs Donna Shalala, kind of

Basically, yeah. Pushback has the scoop:

In a piece about longshot vice presidential candidates that ran earlier this week, Lisa Lerer had this to say about Shalala:

Shalala currently serves as president of the University of Miami (swing state alert!) where she teaches political science. During her presidency, she’s wrangled with unions over employment issues, which, depending on who you ask, could help or hurt in the general election.

There’s no doubt, though, that Republicans would try to associate her with every left-wing professor and academic group in the school. Are middle American voters ready to find out what LGBT stands for?

Read More......

Starbucks closing 600 stories in the US

That can't be good. Read More......

Brooklyn hospital patient left to die in waiting room

Best healthcare system money can buy. Knowing the system in the US, they will probably send a bill to the family for the inconvenience of disturbing their emergency room waiting room or not having the proper insurance. Have we really become a country that doesn't give a damn bout the welfare of our people? Unfortunately, it looks as though that is the case.

Esmin Green, 49, had been waiting in the emergency room for nearly 24 hours when she toppled from her seat at 5:32 a.m. on June 19, falling face down on the floor.

She was dead by 6:35, when someone on the medical staff, flagged down by a person in the waiting room, finally approached, nudged Green with her foot, and gently prodded her shoulder, as if to wake her. The staffer then left and returned with someone wearing a white lab coat who examined her and summoned help.

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Obama rejects California gay marriage ban; McCain supports it

From the Sac Bee:

In a letter to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club read Sunday at the group's annual Pride Breakfast in San Francisco, the Illinois senator said he supports extending "fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law."

"And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states," Obama wrote.

Well, full equal rights is marriage. But I personally don't expect the Democratic nominee to embrace that, and win, yet. We still have much work to do on our end to make sure that embracing marriage is not a kiss of death for our candidates. (I still don't think anyone is doing any real public education on the topic.) And yes, other presidential candidates have embraced it, but they weren't major candidates. No one much cares what you say when you're not really a contender. Read More......

Markos' take on the past few weeks

Your thoughts? Read More......

Being George Bush is a problem for John McCain

From Gallup:

A recent USA Today/Gallup poll finds about two in three Americans concerned that John McCain would pursue policies as president that are too similar to what George W. Bush has pursued. Nearly half -- 49% -- say they are "very concerned" about this.

Seems like this makes the case that McCain should be running from all of Bush's policies. And it goes without saying that Obama should, too. Instead, McCain is gunning for a third Bush term. Read More......

What Wesley Clark really said; how the press missed it

From the Columbia Journalism Review:

[M]oderator Bob Schieffer interjected that “Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences, either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down”, Clark responded: “Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”

The McCain camp, sensing an opportunity, complained that Clark had “attacked John McCain’s military service record.” Of course, Clark had done nothing of the kind. He had questioned the relevance of McCain’s combat experience as a qualification to be president of the United States. This is a distinction that you’d expect any reasonably intelligent nine-year old to be able to grasp.

But many in the press have been unable to....

Even if McCain weren’t running on his military record, it’s undoubtedly something that could convince many voters, rightly or wrongly, that he has the experience to be commander in chief. Why should it be out of bounds for Democrats to argue that McCain’s particular military experience has done little to prepare him for the decisions he’ll have to make as president?
...

It’s crucially important that we have a political debate in this country that’s at least sophisticated enough to be able to handle the following rather basic idea: Arguing that a person’s record of military service is not a qualification for the presidency does not constitute “attacking” their military credentials; nor can it be described as invoking their military service against them, or as denying their record of war heroism.

That’s not a very high bar for sophistication. But right now it’s one the press isn’t capable of clearing.

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Obama to expand faith-based initiative

I'm not even sure what to say.

UPDATE: Okay, I wanted to think about this before responding, and now I've thought about it. Expanding the faith-based initiative at first glance gives me the willies. When I think faith-based initiative, I think "government funding the religious right." Will expanding the initiative expand funding to the religious right? Will it continue to permit government-funded groups to discriminate against gays (we're not in the '64 civil rights act)? Will it crack down on current abuses in the program, such as groups that proselytize? Is there an imbalance in funding between religious right and religious left groups, and if so, will this expanded program guarantee that the left is at the very least equally funded in the future, if not given the lion's share? Will there be a top to bottom review of the current program to fix any and all pro-right-wing biases that Bush has most certainly built into it?

I'm a Christian. I'm not afraid of religion. I am however afraid of many of its adherents. They don't tend to like me. They don't tend to like Democrats. And on a basic, selfish level, I don't want to see my tax dollars funding people who don't like me, and who go out of their way to hurt me. I'm also squeamish about any government involvement in religion - funding religion, in essence. That's creepy. This entire program is creepy. What wouldn't be creepy? Funding small politically-benign religious groups in the inner city to do outreach to at-risk kids. Not to convert them to Christianity or Islam, but to help get them off the street, midnight basketball, whatever. That is an idea that intrigues me. But to date this program has come across as little more than a government funded teat for the religious right. Read More......

OPEC: high cost due to dollar and speculators

And OPEC is not the only voice suggesting this. As investor Wilbur Ross says, there are no lines as we witnessed in the last oil crisis, just high prices. The weak dollar policy is is fine for exports but the US imports too much to make this sustainable. At least not sustainable for regular Americans who struggle with only one house, as opposed to 7, 8, 9 or 10 houses. The world has very little faith in the greenback and consumers have little left in their pockets and no more credit to buy. But remember, the Republicans are economic experts and they know what they're doing. Read More......

McCain has a new plane to replace the "legendary bus" but reporters have to be "good" to sit up front with McCain

In a report with the date-line "ABOARD THE STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS" that reinforces just about every concern we have about the media's love affair with John McCain, the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin gushes about McCain's new campaign plane:

Monday morning marked the inaugural flight of Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) new campaign plane, even though the presumptive GOP nominee wasn't on it. His wife Cindy and the traveling press corps tested out the airplane equivalent of the McCain's legendary bus, by hopping a short flight from Dulles to Harrisburg, Pa., where the senator had spent the night.

The Boeing 737-400, operated by Arizona-based Swift Air, represents a serious upgrade from the Jet Blue charters McCain has been using for several months. Specially configured for the candidate, it features a special area toward the front where McCain will conduct group interviews with the press, in the same way he does on his chartered bus. That section features a couch and two captain's chairs, along with an area where cameras can film him. McCain stopped conducting press interviews on his plane several weeks ago, with his aides saying he preferred a setting where he could sit down with reporters rather then while journalists thronged him in the aisle.

McCain senior aide Mark Salter quipped this morning that "only the good reporters" would get to sit in the specially-configured section for interviews. "You'll have to earn it," he said.

Now, that statement from Salter probably sent shivers down the spines of the political reporters. None of them can imagine not getting into that special section with McCain. What a horror. But, clearly, Salter was joking. The political reporters have already been good. They've earned a seat up front with McCain, but watch how they all just work harder to prove it.

The big question is who is bringing the Dunkin Donuts. From Eilperin's report, it sounds like AP's Liz Sidoti might have some competition for biggest kiss-ass on the McCain plane. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Looks like the rules for the 2008 election are clear. Or I should say the rule: Don't ever challenge or attack John McCain. The GOP won't stand for it. More importantly, the chattering class of political reporters and pundits won't stand for it either. John McCain is their friend and they just will not allow any criticism of McCain. Got that?

Okay, on to the threading.... Read More......

Wachovia to stop "pay whatever you want" loans

Are they sure? It sounded like such a good idea and thankfully regulators saw no problem with it either. Just because real estate is hitting new lows every week and the bank's stock price has dropped around 70%, there's no reason they should give in to common sense. Such practices would only encourage more common sense and then where would the banking industry be? Well, that's why they're paid the big bucks, courtesy of the American middle class. No matter how stupid or how costly or how ridiculous their half-baked ideas are, taxpayers will always be there to bail them out and fund their lifestyle. Ain't life grand for bankers?

The choice to pay less was one of the options of Wachovia's controversial Pick-A-Payment mortgages, which offer customers four different payment options each month. Wachovia (WB, Fortune 500) told The Associated Press that it will no longer offer the less-than-full interest payment option on all new home loans.

Critics have said paying less than the amount of interest charged can lead to negative amortization. That means the borrower owes more than the value of their home, increasing the chance of foreclosure.

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African Union silent on Mugabe election theft

Pretty pathetic, but at least they're not giving him a standing ovation this time. It is difficult for the world to take the AU seriously when no one can step up in public and provide valid criticism. No region is perfect but the election fraud and violence was so blatantly obvious, even a lapdog like Thabo Mbeki could not ignore it. Well, if he wasn't hugging Mugabe at the presidential palace, that is. All of this talk about promoting a joint government is ridiculous. Mugabe lost the election and then launched a campaign of extreme violence so who could possibly trust a partnership with him?

African leaders pointedly avoided public criticism of Robert Mugabe yesterday as he arrived in Egypt for a summit expected to press him to negotiate with the opposition that his Zanu-PF party bullied out of last week's election.

The African Union summit allowed the 84-year-old leader to take his seat, despite strong criticism from African election monitors who questioned the legitimacy of Friday's uncontested vote.

Some delegates at the meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh said that in private there was little warmth towards Mugabe; but in public there were no statements condemning the violence that propelled him back into office. A draft of a final communique circulating yesterday called only for dialogue.

Read More......

Paulson confirms strong dollar policy

If only those darned facts didn't get in the way of his story. This administration and its enablers are completely comfortable with distorting the truth regardless of the topic. Read More......