'Saudi Arabia' of marine energy signs contracts

This is a very interesting new energy project. Besides the project itself, it's also interesting to note that one of the energy companies involved had previously been promoting a coal energy project which was stopped after protests. In France, the energy company has to purchase a certain percentage of their power from such sources. (I believe it's either 10% or 15%.) Google has recently been called out for moving a new data center to an area that uses coal energy as opposed somewhere that uses green energy. It's important that governments encourage alternative energy projects like this but it's also helpful if businesses encourage and reward the same. Cool stuff.

The seabed off the north coast of Scotland could be transformed into the "Saudi Arabia of marine energy" after seven power firms were awarded contracts for a landmark project designed to harness the area's potential for tidal energy and power up to 750,000 homes by 2020.

More than 20 firms were originally in the running for the project, billed as the world's first commercial wave and tidal scheme, in the Pentland Firth between northern Scotland and the Orkney Islands.

Yesterday, the seven successful bidders were informed by the Crown Estate, which owns much of the UK seabed and is funding the project alongside the Scottish government and local partners.

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Commemorating Nazis?

Riga, we have a problem. I get the whole "we hate Soviet Russia" part but praising the Nazi SS in the process is revolting.

The remembrance ceremonies at Riga's Freedom Monument and the Lutheran cathedral are hugely divisive because they pay tribute to those who fought alongside the Nazis in a vain attempt to halt the Red Army's reconquest of the Baltic state in 1944.

While Russians accuse the Latvians of Nazi revivalism and Jewish leaders protest at attempts to "rewrite history" and belittle the Holocaust, the veterans, all pushing 90, and Latvian nationalists insist they are entitled to remember a famous 1944 battle in which the Latvian legion comprising two divisions conscripted into Hitler's Waffen-SS linked up for the only time in the war to try to thwart Stalin.

The 16 March commemoration, briefly declared a national holiday in the 1990s by a nationalist government, was banned by the Riga city council on security grounds, but the courts overruled the ban on Monday, raising fears of ugly scenes, with clashes predicted between Latvian and Russian youths who regularly hijack the event.

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Where are the Wall Street indictments?

Quite a few people are asking this question including this investment fraud attorney who is a guest writer at CNBC.com today. It's never made sense to me how trillions could disappear and the only people that have been arrested were some small players who lost a few dozen million. Terrible and deserving, sure, but how do the big players avoid the same treatment? It's either the old boy network taking care of its own or the system itself is completely gutted by lobbyists who have allowed their customers to get away with what should be criminal offenses. Probably some of both but either way, it's disgraceful and it's why people are still fuming.

The primary method for avoiding future violations of state and federal securities laws is vigorous criminal prosecutions of those responsible for the violations. If it becomes clear to Wall Street and insurance executives who take massive risks with shareholder capital (all the while being backed by taxpayer funds should the trades be unsuccessful) that the punishment is a probable prison sentence, this will severely curtail future criminal and fraudulent activity from occurring. The credible threat of prison time will send shock waves through Wall Street and do more than any legislation could hope to ever accomplish.

With minimal penalties if they are caught and massive financial windfalls if successful, it is not surprising that so many Wall Street executives are willing to place their financial interests ahead of those of their investors and the country. Only the realistic threat of prison sentences for rational, highly educated, successful corporate executives will prevent these types of abuses from occurring in the future.

Unfortunately, it appears as though federal prosecutors have become gun-shy since the Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were acquitted. Clearly, these are always tough cases but there appears to be compelling evidence of potential criminal conduct in what can only be described as the largest financial crime in U.S. history costing U.S. taxpayers billions.

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If HCR passes is it vindication for Rahm, and proof that liberals are toothless?

It's an interesting question. Now that it appears that liberal Democrats are voting for the Senate health care reform bill, with the Reconciliation fix, is this vindication for Rahm, and more generally, proof that liberal threats have no teeth?

Ben Smith argues the following:

If the bill passes with unified, if grumbly, support on the left, it would seem to vindicate the White House's fundamental approach, which was to take the left for granted as much as possible and focus on courting marginal members of the Senate. The strategy has turned Rahm Emanuel's name into a curse word among some on the left, raised a lot of money for groups like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and produced a real sense of resurgent, independent energy among organized progressives.

Chris Bowers disagrees with Ben:

That statement is only supportable if you fail to remember what the actual health reform debate was like two months ago. In the wake of the Massachusetts special election, Rahm Emanuel wanted to scrap even the Senate health reform bill and pass something smaller.

Instead of scrapping the Senate health care bill and passing something stripped down, Congress is moving to pass the Senate health reform bill with improvements through the reconciliation process. Which is what almost everyone except Rahm Emanuel wanted.

It beats me how someone can have the exact opposite of his recommended path forward come to pass, and still be vindicated. Emanuel wanted to water down the Senate bill further, but instead it will be getting stronger through the reconciliation process as progressives were demanding. Yeah, Emanuel really paved the way forward after the Massachusetts debacle.

I argued months ago that if Democrats simply embrace the Senate bill, which was the result of a lot of compromises right out of the gate (and for no reason) by the President, then we would simply be reinforcing bad behavior in our leaders. They would think that their promises don't mean anything, and that our threats to hold them accountable have no teeth. So there is a real danger in Democrats supporting a health care bill that is much less than it could have been had we had leadership on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Having said that, the bill will help make things better. It will insure 30m Americans (and help them pay for it if they need the assistance), and it will eliminate (so we are told) pre-existing conditions and other insurance company abuses. If all that happens, if the exchanges truly make health insurance more affordable while providing increased coverage, then this legislation will have been worth it, compromises and all.

I still worry, tremendously, as to what benefits we'll really see. And I worry that the President, and far too many of our representatives in Congress, as of yet have little understanding of how we got in this mess in the first place. The fact that some Democrats are talking about Obama's biggest mistake is having done "too much" for the left only shows how screwed up the thinking, and debate, is in this town, at least in some circles.

So, yes, the bill passes and it is true, the left will yet again be shown to have few teeth. But then again, no one can say with a straight face that the last year was a model for success. I doubt the White House wants many more successes like this.

And come November, the Democrats are still in serious danger of seeing what teeth the left has - teeth that at this point feel little motivation to do much more than stay home. Read More......

Republicans are funny little people

DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas on the latest GOP obstruction tactics, and the more general GOP tendency to blame us for doing what they've already done.

Congressional Republicans are funny little people.

Once obsessed with “nuclear options” and “up-or-down” votes, they have set new records of obstructionism via the filibuster, refusing the majority party any leeway in delivering on its promises to the American people.

Once happy to use the reconciliation process as a tool to pass costly and complex legislation, they now scream about the “unprecedented” nature of the perfectly appropriate parliamentary procedure.
Once eager to deliver outrageous lies about the Democratic agenda — such as the whopper about “death panels” out to murder grandma — they now whine about the lack of “comity” in Congress and its effect on the majority party’s future plans. “If they do this [pass healthcare reform], it’s going to poison the well for anything else they would like to achieve this year or thereafter,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Yet after a year of spreading fear, uncertainty and destruction, healthcare reform is on the brink of becoming reality. And as Democrats plan to adopt yet another common GOP parliamentary tactic to finish the job on healthcare, Republican hysteria is reaching new heights.

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Hitchens takes on the Vatican over pedophile scandal - the Pope was complicit

Wash Post:

Very much more serious is the role of Joseph Ratzinger, before the church decided to make him supreme leader, in obstructing justice on a global scale. After his promotion to cardinal, he was put in charge of the so-called "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" (formerly known as the Inquisition). In 2001, Pope John Paul II placed this department in charge of the investigation of child rape and torture by Catholic priests. In May of that year, Ratzinger issued a confidential letter to every bishop. In it, he reminded them of the extreme gravity of a certain crime. But that crime was the reporting of the rape and torture. The accusations, intoned Ratzinger, were only treatable within the church's own exclusive jurisdiction. Any sharing of the evidence with legal authorities or the press was utterly forbidden. Charges were to be investigated "in the most secretive way ... restrained by a perpetual silence ... and everyone ... is to observe the strictest secret which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office ... under the penalty of excommunication." (My italics). Nobody has yet been excommunicated for the rape and torture of children, but exposing the offense could get you into serious trouble. And this is the church that warns us against moral relativism! (See, for more on this appalling document, two reports in the London Observer of April 24, 2005, by Jamie Doward.)

Not content with shielding its own priests from the law, Ratzinger's office even wrote its own private statute of limitations. The church's jurisdiction, claimed Ratzinger, "begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age" and then lasts for 10 more years. Daniel Shea, the attorney for two victims who sued Ratzinger and a church in Texas, correctly describes that latter stipulation as an obstruction of justice. "You can't investigate a case if you never find out about it. If you can manage to keep it secret for 18 years plus 10, the priest will get away with it."

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Interview with Ireland's top blogger, Mick Fealty of SluggerOtoole.com

When I was attending the Personal Democracy Forum conference in Barcelona this past November, I had the good fortune to meet and hang out with Mick Fealty, Ireland's best known blogger, and the editor of SluggerOtoole.com. Mick is visiting DC this week with a group of Ireland's top journalists (from the north and south), and we got a chance to grab dinner last night with Joe, and then tape this interview.

The interview went on for a while, thus the 4 parts below. We talked about blogging in Ireland, the differences between the Irish and American blogosphere, Northern Ireland (the history, discrimination against Catholics, and the recent agreements to restore democracy there), Mick's impressions of President Obama, the Catholic church pedophilia scandal, and the influence of the American civil rights movement in Northern Ireland during the 1960s. (Mick also wrote up his impressions of Washington on his own blog today.) I'm not an expert on Ireland at all - that's Joe's and Chris' domain. I tried to get Mick to explain things for an educated audience that was relatively unaware of the past and present of Northern Ireland's politics. Hope you enjoy.


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Insurer Fortis targeted HIV patients to drop coverage

From Reuters:

In May, 2002, Jerome Mitchell, a 17-year old college freshman from rural South Carolina, learned he had contracted HIV. The news, of course, was devastating, but Mitchell believed that he had one thing going for him: On his own initiative, in anticipation of his first year in college, he had purchased his own health insurance.

Shortly after his diagnosis, however, his insurance company, Fortis, revoked his policy. Mitchell was told that without further treatment his HIV would become full-blown AIDS within a year or two and he would most likely die within two years after that.

Previously undisclosed records from Mitchell's case reveal that Fortis had a company policy of targeting policyholders with HIV. A computer program and algorithm targeted every policyholder recently diagnosed with HIV for an automatic fraud investigation, as the company searched for any pretext to revoke their policy. As was the case with Mitchell, their insurance policies often were canceled on erroneous information, the flimsiest of evidence, or for no good reason at all, according to the court documents and interviews with state and federal investigators.

The government ought to be able to shut companies like Fortis down for this, or at the very least fine the hell out of them. Then throw everyone involved in jail for attempted murder. Read More......

Kucinich will vote yes on health care reform

Rep. Dennis Kucinich just announced that he'll vote for the health care reform bill:

This is not the bill I wanted to support even as I continue efforts until the last minute to try to modify the bill. However, after careful discussions with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, my wife Elizabeth, and close friends, I've decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation.

This was a much anticipated revelation. The cable networks covered Kucinich's speech live. Kucinich noted that he may be the deciding vote on whether the bill passes. He said he had "to make a decision not on the bill as I would like to see it, but as it is."

This should give some momentum to the legislative push. Read More......

The NY Times discovers that GOP leader McConnell is an obstructionist

Today, the NY Times profiles Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and makes a startling discovery: McConnell is all about politics and obstructionism. Apparently, McConnell's strategy wasn't clear to the Times before today. But, now, there seems to be a better understanding of what McConnell is really all about:

Before the health care fight, before the economic stimulus package, before President Obama even took office, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, had a strategy for his party: use his extensive knowledge of Senate procedure to slow things down, take advantage of the difficulties Democrats would have in governing and deny Democrats any Republican support on big legislation.

Republicans embraced it. Democrats denounced it as rank obstructionism. Either way, it has led the two parties, as much as any other factor, to where they are right now. Republicans are monolithically against the health care legislation, leaving the president and his party executing parliamentary back flips to get it passed, conservatives revived, liberals wondering what happened.

In the process, Mr. McConnell, 68, a Kentuckian more at home plotting tactics in the cloakroom than writing legislation in a committee room or exhorting crowds on the campaign trail, has come to embody a kind of oppositional politics that critics say has left voters cynical about Washington, the Senate all but dysfunctional and the Republican Party without a positive agenda or message.

But in the short run at least, his approach has worked.

Worked for whom? Certainly not the American people or the political process. It's worked for McConnell's political agenda, nothing else.

So, for all the demands of bipartisanship from the GOP, it was never going to happen. That's not a surprise to most of us. The NY Times finally figured it out. It is amazing to watch tv reporters and read print accounts of what's going on up on Capitol Hill. Many of them do act as if the Republicans have a reasoned, rational basis for what they're doing. The traditional media types and pundits are always talking about bipartisanship as if it's some kind of holy grail, but ignore the fact that the GOPers have no interest in compromise.

These are dangerous and trying times. You'd like to think that our elected officials would rise to the occasion, especially those on the GOP side who led us to the brink. Instead, we get Mitch McConnell's strategy of obstructionism at any cost. For Republicans, this is "team ball."

This article should be must reading for people in Maine who think their Senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, are moderates. They're not. They on Mitch's team. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning and Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh.

The President's day is packed with St. Patrick's Day related events. That's because Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen is in D.C. He gets a meeting in the Oval Office this morning, a lunch with the President, Vice President and Speaker on Capitol Hill, then a White House reception this evening. (Chris Ryan posted a St. Pat's day video below.)

I suspect that in between, Obama will keep making calls for the health care bill. The House still doesn't have the votes -- and there will be a vote despite the hypocritical hysteria from the GOP and its allies. Obama will be on FOX today, too (as if that will help.)

Congressman Kucinich, who had been a prominent NO vote, may be announcing a switch to "YES" today at 10 a.m. No one seems quite certain this morning. Either way, The Hill reports this "could be defining moment for health reform." I thought the House vote later this week would be that "defining moment," but I guess it's today at 10 a.m.

Start threading the news... Read More......

Happy St Patrick's Day

The Pogues joining up with the Dubliners. St. Patrick's day was always a big event growing up. My mother's side left Ireland during the Great Famine and my dad's side arrived in America at the turn of the century. My grandmother via Liverpool (or nearby) and my grandfather directly from Tipperary as a young teenager. And surprise, surprise, my grandfather walked a beat in Philly after gaining his citizenship fighting in WWI with the US Fourth Infantry.

A few years ago a cousin in Philly traveled to Ireland for vacation and managed to track down family who still lived in the little house where my grandfather was born in 1897. We're still impressed that she could locate the right people because she opened the phone book in County Tipperary and started dialing, asking if they were related to my grandfather. County Tipperary is "Ryan" central so her chances didn't sound very good. (Ryan is a popular name in Ireland but not as common as we find in America.) Somehow on her third or fourth call she spoke with someone who told her that she wasn't connected but she knew who was. Talk about a needle in a haystack. Read More......

Hillary keeps up pressure, Mitchell cancels trip for peace talks

After a career of bullying, Netanyahu may have gone too far at the wrong time. No word yet on when special envoy George Mitchell will head back to Israel though much of that will have to do with how and when Netanyahu responds. While the GOP continues to support the chaotic environment, Democrats and General Petraeus are supporting a new, positive direction in the region. Is there ever any kind of reform that the GOP doesn't reject or block? The Guardian:

As rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in Jerusalem in protests dubbed "a day of rage", Clinton sent a double-edged message to Israel.

She softened the tone of remarks coming from the Obama administration over the last few days by talking about the deep bonds between the two countries. But she combined this by firmly placing the onus on Israel to make concessions needed to get the Palestinians back into talks.

Clinton told reporters at the state department that the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, had to take action to show he was serious about a peace process. She said: "We are engaged in very active consultations with the Israelis over steps that we think would demonstrate the requisite commitment to the process. It's been a very important effort on their part as well as ours. We know how hard this is. This is a very difficult, complex matter. But the Obama administration is committed to a two-state solution."

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