Pelosi calls on Obama to stop discharging gay servicemembers immediately

Now this is quite fascinating. It's not often that the Speaker publicly challenges the President to a specific task. As I explain on AMERICAblog Gay, I think Pelosi is calling what she sees as Obama's bluff on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Read More......

Boehner now taking partial credit for health care reform

Steve Benen:

INSKEEP: As you know, Democrats are already pointing to things that are changing in America because of this bill. They will point to the fact that college seniors, who would have been kicked off their families' insurance plans when they graduated, will get to stay on. Insurance companies are now saying they're going to end the practice of "rescission," where they take, or at least modify...

BOEHNER: Both of those ideas, by the way, came from Republicans, and are part of the common sense ideas that we ought to have in the law.

INSKEEP: Well, are you going to repeal those two specific things?

BOEHNER Uh, what I want to repeal are the other 158 mandates, commissions, boards that set up all the infrastructure for the government to take control of our health care system. [emphasis added]

Read More......

Criminal inquiry ahead for Goldman?

Any chance a few people at Goldman are a bit worried about how present and arrogant they've been for the last few years? Rubbing gaudy profits in the noses of the world during an economic crisis and after an unpopular bailout is never a good idea.

Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into trading at Goldman Sachs, raising the possibility of criminal charges against the Wall Street giant, according to people familiar with the matter.

While the investigation is still in a preliminary stage, the move could escalate the legal troubles swirling around Goldman.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which two weeks ago filed a civil fraud suit against Goldman, referred its investigation to prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, which has now opened its own inquiry.

Read More......

Obama administration again defends anti-gay DOMA law in court

Double whammy from the Obama administration today. DOD weighs in against repeal of DADT and DOJ defends DOMA again.

And remember, they don't have to, and the administration routinely ignores other laws it doesn't agree with. But with anti-gay laws, they defend them vociferously. And quite nastily, to boot. Read More......

Gates doesn't want repeal of DADT this year

The Sec. of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs told the Chair of the House Armed Services Committee that they don't want Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed this year. John wrote it up at AMERICAblog Gay, wondering who is the Commander-in-Chief. Don't forget, Obama promised repeal this year in his State of the Union. Let's see who prevails.

Here's the letter from Gates and Mullen:
Letter from Sec. Gates and Adm. Mullen to Chairman Skelton on DADT Read More......

Oklahoma Republicans considering anti-immigrant legislation more draconian than AZ

Yes, because it would be really hard to add Oklahoma to the boycott.

A group of state lawmakers said they will consider filing an immigration bill this session that would be tougher than Arizona’s new law.

Confiscating vehicles driven by illegal immigrants and preventing children from becoming citizens at birth if both their parents are illegal immigrants are proposals being discussed, Rep. Randy Terrill said Thursday.

"The focus is going to be very similar to what Arizona’s done, and we’re going to see if we can’t beef up some of the law enforcement, public safety aspects of cracking down on illegal immigration and rolling up the welcome mat for illegal aliens here in the state of Oklahoma,” said Terrill, R-Moore.

The Arizona law makes it a state crime to be in that state illegally and requires law officers to check documents of people they reasonably suspect to be illegal immigrants.

Read More......

McCain, who moved to the far right for his re-election, now claims bipartisanship is dead

Again, the Republicans simply lie. Well, in this case, McCain is basically telling the truth. Bipartisanship was dead from day one. Regardless of how many times, and in how many ways, the White House caved to the Republicans - stimulus and health care reform are the two most obvious, but even on climate change and immigration the Democrats aren't holding particularly firm - it has gotten the Democrats nothing in return, other than claims that the Dems haven't been bipartisan enough. This is going to be the latest GOP lie that sticks, unless Democrats - especially the President - take it on directly. The President's statement the other day on financial reform, targeting the GOP for the blame, was excellent. We need to see more like it. Read More......

Rachel Maddow destroys anti-immigration hate group

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Anthem Blue Cross backs off 39% price increase

Did insurance companies like Blue Cross really think jamming massive price increases down the throats of Americans was going to fly in this climate? Where did they find their PR team? Goldman Sachs? Enough is never enough but they're always going to try for more.

Insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross, the company criticized by President Barack Obama when it proposed raising rates for Californians by as much as 39 percent, withdrew plans for the proposed hike Thursday.

Los Angeles-based Anthem made the decision after an independent audit determined the company's justification for raising premiums was based on flawed data, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said.

The decision also came one day after Anthem's parent, Wellpoint, Inc. of Indianapolis, announced its first-quarter profit soared by 51 percent.

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Oil rig disaster could be worse than Exxon Valdez within a week

From WonkRoom:

The catastrophic gusher of oil unleashed by the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig last week is on track to quickly exceed the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, an independent expert warns. An explosive burst of oil destroyed the exploratory rig 41 miles off the Louisiana coast on the eve of Earth Day, killing 11 workers. After the shattered hulk of the rig sank to the ocean floor a mile down, the pipeline continues to spew oil that has now reached shore, with an end weeks or months away. John Amos, the president and founder of the nonprofit firm SkyTruth, “which specializes in gathering and analyzing satellite and aerial data to promote environmental conservation,” estimated from satellite photos that the calamity is increasing at a rate of 850,000 gallons (20,000 barrels) a day.

Read More......

Economy grew at annual rate of 3.2% in first quarter

Good economic news:

The United States economy continued to expand in the first quarter, but economists cautioned that the pace of growth is still not nearly fast enough to recover ground lost during the recession.

National output grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.2 percent last quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, after growth of 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 and 2.2 percent in the third quarter.

The steady growth has quelled fears that the downturn is not quite over.

“It’s been a case of, when will they stop worrying and learn to love the boom?” said Robert Barbera, chief economist at ITG, who said that many economists have been too hesitant to acknowledge the steady recovery because the job market is still weak.

My guess is that people will love the boom when the jobs are back. Read More......

White House will now wait on offshore drilling until 'an adequate review' of massive Gulf spill

UPDATE via the Wonk Room: Repeating a GOP/Oil industry sounding talking point, earlier this month the President said:

It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced.

It turns out, by the way, they do:

_______
So, last month, Obama offered a great compromise on energy. He was going to allow coastal drilling, because he going to get beyond the "tired debates" over the issue. As John asked yesterday: Now who is looking tired? Now who is backtracking? This morning, David Axelrod said that there will be no drilling until there is "an adequate review." Note the President is apparently sticking with his plans for drilling, but needs a study about what happened in the Gulf of Mexico:

"All he has said is that he is not going to continue the moratorium on drilling but... no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here," White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on "Good Morning America" today, defending the administration's policy.

Axelrod said no new offshore drilling will go forward until "there is an adequate review of what happened here and what is being proposed elsewhere."

As Gulf Coast residents brace for mounds of slick to hit their shores, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has seeped into the energy debate in Washington, D.C. and threatens to disrupt Obama's policy and the bipartisan energy legislation in the Senate.

This spill threatens Obama's new policy of drilling, because "all he said" was that he's going to allow it. Obama owns it now. Imagine how much we'd be mocking Palin and the GOPers over their "drill, baby, drill" agenda if Obama hadn't adopted it. So, that quest for bipartisanship and the need to please conservative Democrats is really paying off. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Listening to news reports about the impending arrival on shore of that massive oil spill on the Gulf Coast is eerily reminiscent of coverage of hurricanes. There is, of course, a huge difference. Hurricanes are natural disasters. This one is man-made. The spill is going to have a devastating impact on the economies of those Gulf Coast states. Yesterday, Bill Maher tweeted:

Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty

Great idea. I'm sure Sarah Palin will be down there in her waders trying to help out. And, I can help wondering what genius on Team Obama decided that drilling was such a great compromise.

I did like hearing the news that Goldman Sachs is now facing a criminal investigation. None of them seem at all impacted by the havoc they helped wreak on the American economy. In fact, they've profited grossly. They should be in jail.

Today, we'll get the new numbers on the economy with the release of the GDP for the first quarter of 2010. The President is making remarks on the new numbers this morning, so that's a sign that they should be good. People are spending again, but we'll be through this when people are working again.

What do we need to know? Read More......

Greek rescue plan to be finalized today or weekend at the latest

Everyone is hoping this injection of cash - roughly 2.5 times more than initially discussed - will settle the current crisis. Much like the banks requiring cash to stabilize the market, the EU is eager to do the same to push back against the financing problem in Greece. However, Spain, Portugal and possibly others are not far away from requiring rapid assistance as well. I just left Holland after a few days and the general mood there was concern but also a bit of anger. Many felt that they cut hard a few years ago to live within the EU terms and now Greece is receiving easier terms without the pain. A few stories related to Greece that are similar to the infamous "welfare mother that drives a Cadillac" have played on the news which seem to fuel the fire. How much truth there is to the stories is questionable but the uneasiness is definitely present.

What's next for Europe?

France's market watchdog chief said on Friday he believed the plan to help Greece would be unveiled "tonight or over the weekend" and that Greece would not default on its debts.

"What the markets are looking for is the plan, which will be presented tonight or over the weekend," Jean-Pierre Jouyet, chairman of French regulator AMF, told RMC Radio.

"It will be done, it's almost completed. I have no doubt about that," he said.

International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank officials are in Athens to negotiate the bailout and hope to wrap up a deal within days in an effort to avert the risk of a debt default in Greece that could sink other fragile EU economies.

Jouyet said Greece would not default on its debts and that speculators would lose out.

Read More......

Reports of oil reaching land in Louisiana

Not that it should come as a surprise. Just imagine the possibilities of this happening along the east coast. Click here for a map of the oil spill movements. BBC:

The US Coast Guard is investigating reports that oil has started washing ashore on the Gulf Coast from a leaking offshore well.

Up to 5,000 barrels of oil a day are thought to be spilling into the water after last week's explosion on a BP-operated rig, which then sank.

President Barack Obama has pledged "every single available resource" to help.

The US navy has been deployed to help avert a looming environmental disaster.

The US Coast Guard said it had sent investigators to confirm whether crude oil had begun to wash up on parts of the Louisiana shoreline.

Read More......

Get ready for the next GOP lie to defend the banks: The checkbook tax

The next lie that the Republicans will be using to defend Wall Street against reform has been revealed. From Greg Sargent via McJoan:

The Democrats supporting the current legislation have assured an anxious electorate that whatever funds are used to create whatever regulatory scheme created will come from the banks, not the taxpayers. Let me emphasize that so that even casual readers will catch it: the Democrats promise that you won’t pay for their legislation, banks will.

Really?

Since when have corporations ever paid taxes, fees or penalties? Employees end up paying in the form of lower salaries and benefits. Customers end up paying in the form of higher costs.

And in this case, every account holder will be forced to pay higher fees on their checking account and savings account. That’s you, my friendly reader. Can you say “checkbook tax”? I can, and I think lots of candidates will be saying it come November.

You'll be surprised to hear that it too is a lie. Read More......

South Park censors self over Muhammad

Ross Douthat in the NYT:

In a way, the muzzling of “South Park” is no more disquieting than any other example of Western institutions’ cowering before the threat of Islamist violence. It’s no worse than the German opera house that temporarily suspended performances of Mozart’s opera “Idomeneo” because it included a scene featuring Muhammad’s severed head. Or Random House’s decision to cancel the publication of a novel about the prophet’s third wife. Or Yale University Press’s refusal to publish the controversial Danish cartoons ... in a book about the Danish cartoon crisis. Or the fact that various Western journalists, intellectuals and politicians — the list includes Oriana Fallaci in Italy, Michel Houellebecq in France, Mark Steyn in Canada and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands — have been hauled before courts and “human rights” tribunals, in supposedly liberal societies, for daring to give offense to Islam.

But there’s still a sense in which the “South Park” case is particularly illuminating. Not because it tells us anything new about the lines that writers and entertainers suddenly aren’t allowed to cross. But because it’s a reminder that Islam is just about the only place where we draw any lines at all.

Across 14 on-air years, there’s no icon “South Park” hasn’t trampled, no vein of shock-comedy (sexual, scatalogical, blasphemous) it hasn’t mined. In a less jaded era, its creators would have been the rightful heirs of Oscar Wilde or Lenny Bruce — taking frequent risks to fillet the culture’s sacred cows.

In ours, though, even Parker’s and Stone’s wildest outrages often just blur into the scenery. In a country where the latest hit movie, “Kick-Ass,” features an 11-year-old girl spitting obscenities and gutting bad guys while dressed in pedophile-bait outfits, there isn’t much room for real transgression. Our culture has few taboos that can’t be violated, and our establishment has largely given up on setting standards in the first place.

Well, the radical Muslims actually kill people, so it's understandable why their threats are taken a bit more seriously. Read More......

Pelosi wants Obama to man-up on immigration reform

Apparently the President is relevent.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says President Barack Obama will have to lead the way on immigration reform if Congress is going to have any chance of passing legislation on the volatile issue this year.

In perhaps her sternest words on immigration thus far, Pelosi put the pressure on the president.

“As I said when President Bush was president, and I’ll say it when President Obama is president,” Pelosi said in her weekly news conference, “if there is going to be any movement in this regard, it will require presidential leadership … as well as the willingness to move forward in the Congress.”

Read More......

Wash Post: Gulf oil spill presents a political challenge to Obama's offshore drilling plans

Had the White House stuck to its guns, and kept to its previous opposition to offshore drilling, the current crisis would have worked to their advantage. Now I don't know what they do. From the Washington Post:

The oil spill, which occurred after an explosion on a rig operated by BP, threatens to highlight the environmental risk of offshore exploration -- a risk that critics have long warned about and that Obama tried to downplay last month when he announced the expansion of drilling.

In that speech March 31, he promised to "employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration." He acknowledged that his decision would provoke criticism from both those who decried the expansion and those who said it did not go far enough.

"Ultimately, we need to move beyond the tired debates of the left and the right, between business leaders and environmentalists, between those who would claim drilling is a cure-all and those who would claim it has no place," Obama said.

Now, the accident in the Gulf may provide more firepower to the critics on the left, who have for years lobbied presidents and Congress to keep in place federal moratoriums on further offshore exploration. Those moratoriums have now expired.

Now who's looking tired? Had the President sided with his friends and allies, with the people who got him elected, with his own promises, he wouldn't be in this mess. Read More......

Obama dampens hopes for immigration reform this year

First what the President said:

In a rare appearance in the press cabin on Air Force One, President Barack Obama sounded skeptical that he would sign comprehensive immigration reform this year.

Obama told reporters Wednesday night that he wants Congress to press forward with immigration reform but said he’s unsure lawmakers have the “appetite” to get it done and acknowledged it would be difficult to do without Republican support.

"So it's a matter of political will," Obama said. "Now, look, we've gone through a very tough year, and I've been working Congress pretty hard. So I know there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue. There's still work that has to be done on energy. Midterms are coming up.”

Here's the problem. When the President starts talking publicly about not being able to get something done, then it won't get done. You just don't telegraph these kind of things unless you simply don't want them to happen. It's difficult to understand what else is motivating the President since a strategy to win never begins with a public talk about how it's not clear if you can win.

Second problem, the President promised Latino voters that he would do immigration reform his first year in office. Now he's suggesting it won't happen in his second. And after the mid-term elections this fall, Democrats will likely have fewer seats, so if it can't happen this year, don't look to it happening next year.

It's health care reform all over again. The President stakes out a promise, then begins to publicly cave at the beginning of the process rather than at the end. If he doesn't have the votes, he should fight for the votes first - just like he did during the presidential primary. You didn't see candidate Obama telling the press that he probably couldn't win. He changed the dynamic, he fought, so that he could win. It's the exact same thing with legislation. You count the votes, then you fight to get more votes. You don't count the votes and then go public with your concerns that maybe you just can't win. It's not terribly smart, or presidential. Read More......

Midterms

Adam Bink at OpenLeft thinks Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic is out of line. I'm split between the two of them.

Marc:

The new Democratic platform does little to recognize this demographic. The party is getting annihilated among whites, even in states like California. Declaring that the Democrats are the party of accomplishments is one thing, but it really does not matter to swing voters in all those House seats straddling the Appalachian Trial, the industrial Midwest and the Rocky Mountain region that the U.S. is once again beloved in the world, that Obama is a man of science, or that he appointed a Latina to the Supreme Court.

Adam:

Shorter Ambinder: Lots of midterm voters think you suck and no message will dissuade them of that. And this is new how, exactly? No "message" in the world will reach some of these voters.

I, for one, am willing to see if the strategy Tim Kaine outlined as the DNC effort- reach the 15 million voters who registered and turned out for the first time in 2008- works. I think that's a much better idea than trying to find a "message" that will reach voters who are unlikely to support you, or governing from the start to try and make sure they support you.

The other thing I would say is that what all the how-to-win-the-midterms hullabaloo misses is this: to some extent, what happens in the midterms is out of everyone's control. Villagers use the public simply being in, as Mike Lux puts it, a foul mood about the economy, and the strong likelihood that Democrats will lose seats, to point to Obama and say "aha! Proof that the Obama style of governance, with its mommy-states and ethics reform and Latina justices isn't working!" I think that's reaching for a message just a bit too far.

Yes, by tradition we should lose seats this fall. And yes, people are ticked about the economy. But what they're ticked about in particular are GOP talking points that the Democratic, including the White House, never adequately responded to.

1. The stimulus was a waste of money we can't afford during a crisis.
2. The health care bill was a socialist take over of our medical system that won't help people like me.

Then we have the ancillary lies:
1. Obama has filled his cabinet his Maoists.
2. Obama is a socialist.
3. Obama is the most liberal president ever.
4. Obama is trying to do too much.

There are more lies, but those are the biggest that I can think of, and they're the ones that seem to most be ticking people off. And the top two, especially - stimulus and health care - exist because the Democrats refused to defend themselves forcefully enough.

Yes, people are ticked about the economy, but the economy would be doing better had we passed the stimulus that numerous economists said we needed, not the much smaller one the President pushed from the beginning. I know it upsets the White House to hear this, but it's true. And now the jobs recovery is flat, and people are pissed. So political moves absolutely have an influence on the public mood.

And finally, as for DNC chair Tim Kaine's strategy of going after newly register 2008 voters for the midterms, I'm not entirely sure that's the wisest strategy. I can't think of anyone more dispirited than people who voted for the first time, and who voted for fundamental change. They didn't get it. And they know it. That's a large part of the reason people are pissed. Read More......

SPLC on racist Arizona law: 'a civil rights disaster and an insult to American values'

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), one of the nation's most forceful fighters against hatred and bigotry, weighed in on the new Arizona law. Here's the brutally harsh assessment:

Arizona’s newly adopted immigration law is brazenly unconstitutional and will undoubtedly trample upon the civil rights of residents caught in its path.

By requiring local law enforcement to arrest a person when there is “reasonable suspicion” that the person is in the country illegally, Arizona lawmakers have created a system that guarantees racial profiling. They also have usurped federal authority by attempting to enforce immigration law.

Quite simply, this law is a civil rights disaster and an insult to American values. No one in our country should be required to produce their “papers” on demand to prove their innocence. What kind of country are we becoming?

Good question. Read More......

Rumors about Obama more likely to be false than rumors about Bush

From Jed at DailyKos:

J.L. Bell runs the numbers on Snopes.com's database of internet rumors and finds out that President Obama has been the target of many more rumors than President Bush -- and that rumors about Obama are far more likely to be false than rumors about Bush:

After eight years in the White House (with Snopes.com around all that time), George W. Bush has been the subject of 47 internet rumors. After less than two years in office, Barack Obama has been the subject of 87, or nearly twice as many.

Even more telling is the relative accuracy of those stories. For Bush, 20 rumors, or 43%, are true. Only 17, or 36%, are false. The remainder are of mixed veracity (4), undetermined (4), or unclassifiable (2).

In contrast, for Obama only 8 of the 87 rumors, or 9%, are true, and a whopping 59, or 68%, are whoppers. There are 17 of mixed veracity and 3 undetermined.

Read More......

Increasing pressure for baseball boycott of Arizona

Robert McCartney in the Washington Post:

I vote to start with baseball, and I'm not alone. National and local Latino groups are actively discussing whether to urge people to boycott Arizona Diamondbacks games. One reason: Some of the team's owners are big donors to politicians who backed the bill.

They also want to move the 2011 All-Star Game out of Phoenix, and they might push to relocate the spring training Cactus League.

"Major League Baseball has been identified immediately as a major target," said Jeff Parcher, communications director of the Center for Community Change. "There's not only Latino players but also Latino attendance."

Arizona's been through this before. A conventions boycott pushed the state to resume recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1992. That was also the price for getting the 1996 Super Bowl.

Until reform arrives, we need to show Arizona how much its law offends us. My Washington Nationals schedule shows the Diamondbacks come to town Aug. 13 for a three-game series. I expect I'll have something else to do that weekend.

Read More......

Nevada GOPer Sue Lowden's chicken policy continues to dog her candidacy -- even GOPers are attacking

Sue Lowden's retro health care plan of using chickens as payment is still making news. And, it's become an issue for her GOP primary opponents. How could they not?:

Nevada Senate candidate Sue Lowden has seen her momentum slow in recent weeks as she has struggled to defend her claim that a bartering system — such as paying doctors with chickens — can lower the cost of healthcare.

Lowden remains the leading Republican vying to face Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but her comments on healthcare have been widely ridiculed — including on late-night talk shows like “The Colbert Report” and the “Tonight Show.”

“Before we all started having healthcare, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor,” Lowden said during a recent TV interview on the Nevada-based program “NewsMakers.” “I’m not backing down from that system.”

The quote has left Washington-based Republican strategists scratching their heads — bartering is not part of the GOP’s playbook for attacking the Democrats’ healthcare bill. And it might have opened the door for her primary rivals to seize the nomination.

Yep, even GOPers in Nevada are attacking Lowden for this inanity. But, she'll still probably win the GOP nomination on June 8. I suspect we'll be hearing a lot about Lowden's chicken policy until November. It's just too good:
Read More......

Ben Nelson's excuses for voting against Wall St. reform met with 'widespread skepticism'

Remember how the DNC gave over $500,000 to the Nebraska Democratic Party to run ads on behalf of Ben Nelson after he voted for the health care bill last December? We broke that story here.

After Nelson repeatedly voted for the GOP filibuster of the Wall Street reform bill, lots of people started asking why. It sure seems that when controversial votes are on the floor, Nelson's vote is impacted by money. On health care, it was from the DNC. On Wall Street reform, according to the Washington Post, it's from Berkshire Hathaway:

Nelson has repeatedly said his objections center on the impact the legislation could have on businesses beyond Wall Street.

But there has been widespread skepticism on Capitol Hill about Nelson's public explanation for his dissent, and the bill's sponsor, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), added further doubts by saying that Nelson raised concerns about a provision concerning exotic financial instruments called derivatives.

That provision has drawn fire from Berkshire Hathaway, the Omaha-based company of billionaire Warren Buffett, and Nelson's biggest donor over the past decade. (Buffett is a director of The Washington Post Co.)

Berkshire Hathaway or individuals associated with the company have contributed $75,550 to Nelson's campaign war chest since 2000, according to records filed through the end of March and analyzed by OpenSecrets.org, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics. One Berkshire company, MidAmerican Energy, also contributed $9,600 to Nelson's Nebraska Leadership PAC.

I still think the DNC should get its money back. Since that health care vote, Nelson votes against the Democratic agenda every chance he gets. And, there will be plenty of other races this fall that could use an extra $500,000. Nelson isn't even on the ballot til 2012. Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Well, the Senate Republicans caved. Harry Reid played hardball and the GOPers couldn't take the pressure. There's a lesson here. Let's hope the Democrats learned it. And, perhaps if the President hadn't been so conciliatory to the intransigent GOPers over the past year, he'd be further along in pushing his agenda. It's been painfully obvious to everyone outside the bubble of those buildings at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue that the Republicans had no interest in bipartisanship. Their goal has been obstruction -- and destruction of the Democratic agenda (although, the traditional media types sure lapped out that bipartisan BS. Patsies.)

It is fun to see the Republicans cry "Uncle." Let's see more of that. As the debate over Wall Street reform gets underway in the Senate, the GOPers will still be trying to weaken the law on behalf of their big bank benefactors. But, they'll have to do it in the light of day, not behind closed doors.

This morning, the President will deliver that eulogy at the funeral of Dorothy Height. She is a legend and really helped change America for the better. In the afternoon, Obama will honor the teachers of the year from across the country.

What else is on the agenda? Read More......

More great volcano photos

Spectacular. Read More......

Increased talk of boycotting Arizona over draconian anti-immigrant law

This is good, and necessary. From John Amato at Crooks and Liars:

Outrage is pouring out all across America over SB 1070. There's a ton of facebook groups popping up to help organize. The push is on to put pressure on MLB to stop supporting Arizona, their MLB franchise and now their Cactus League. Arizona has become host to 15 Major League teams that use the state for their spring training games before the start of the regular season. Cincinnati was the latest team to move their facilities over to the "police state." You may remember the departed Marge Schott, who owned the Reds was suspended from baseball for her racist epithets back in 1993.

The Cincinnati owner, the only female baseball owner, allegedly called two of her former players "million-dollar niggers" and also allegedly made disparaging remarks about Jews and Japanese.

Since almost 30% of MLB players are Latino, I'm trying to find out how many of those players are using work visas. I'm not attacking the players here, but if you were in America on a work visa to play baseball or any sport from another country and had to play in Arizona, wouldn't you be a bit unnerved?

Read More......

Following Arizona, seven states considering anti-immigrant legislation

It's not entirely clear that Congress and the administration are going to have a choice but to deal with immigration this year. Some issues you just can't avoid. Read More......

GOP member of Congress accuses Latino member of working for Mexico

From Media Matters Action:

Last week, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) called for a boycott of Arizona over the state's draconian, possibly unconstitutional immigration law. "Do not do business with a state that is propagating the idea separate but equal treatment under the law can be codified," he said.

Unlike Grijalva, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is a big fan of Arizona's crackdown. After praising the effort in a statement earlier this week, King blasted Grijalva's position last night. During an interview on Fox News, King absurdly suggested that Grijalva's district has been "ceded" and accused the Arizona lawmaker of "advocating for Mexico" and against the United States.

Read More......

Climate change is making allergies worse

Lovely.

Researchers found that not only is spring coming earlier, making for a longer allergy season, but warmer weather allows hickory and oak, two of the most allergenic tree species, to thrive almost everywhere in the US. Another factor: Some plants, such as ragweed, are actually making more pollen as the environment changes. "As trees that use the wind to pollinate undergo stress from heat or lack of water, they begin to produce more pollen to compensate," explained NWF climate scientist Amanda Staudt. Scientists have already observed this phenomenon in cities, where C02 levels are an average of 30 percent higher than in suburbs and rural areas. "Cities are where we’re seeing increased pollen production," explains Demain.

Hayfever's not the only allergic reaction that could worsen with climate change. Sometimes, pollen from certain plants can exacerbate food allergies to related plants, says Jeffrey Demain, director of the Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Center of Alaska. People who are genetically presdisposed to fruit and nut allergies, for example, may find that increased exposure to birch pollen makes their food reactions worse. Similarly, more ragweed pollen could aggravate symptoms in people allergic to melon. Also on the horizon: more aggressive poison ivy. A Duke university study found that poison ivy plants exposed to CO2 produced more potent urushiol, the allergen that causes the famous rash.

So is there any chance we'll adapt by becoming less allergic to all that pollen? Probably not, says Demain.

Read More......

GOP caving on financial reform

That's what happens when you stand up to a bully. Good for the Dems.

Wednesday that a GOP filibuster of Wall Street reform legislation will end.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, released a statement saying closed-door negotiations with Democrats on the financial regulations reform bill had ended with agreement on some issues but others left unresolved.

Of course, they can still filibuster the bill again later on. But at least they were forced to cave on this one. Read More......

Sometimes I think the ADL undercuts its mission

I get annoyed, sometimes, with the Anti-Defamation League's missives against references to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. I get it when they're ticked that someone has compared health care reform to the concentration camps (the Teabaggers did just that). But is every comparison really invalid?

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

We are seeing these offensive and inappropriate Nazi and Holocaust comparisons come to the fore in the public debate once again. We saw it in the health care debate, and now we are seeing it with Arizona. It is disturbing that in speaking out against the bill a number of individuals have taken to using Nazi comparisons, in describing the legislation as being reminiscent of Nazi policies that required Jews and others to carry identity cards, or in comparing the governor and other Arizona officials as being like Hitler.

No matter how odious, bigoted, biased and unconstitutional Arizona’s new law may be, let’s be clear that there is no comparison between the situation facing immigrants, legal or illegal, in Arizona and what happened in the Holocaust....

Here's the problem for the ADL. If no comparison to the Holocaust is ever valid because the Holocaust was unique in human history (that seems to be their logic), then why keep talking about it, other than to honor the dead? History, it seems to me, is taught so that we can learn lessons from it, and so that the worst of it doesn't repeat itself. If the Holocaust was such an aberration, and could never ever happen again - two things I vehemently disagree with - then it's not terribly clear what lessons can be learned from studying it.

I remember reading Hannah Arendt years back. And for me, what made her book so horrifying was how normal men got wrapped up in the Nazi cause and obeyed their orders, no matter how horrific. How evil became normal, and normal people embraced it. The second thing that astounds me about the rise of the Nazis is the gradualism of it. How they didn't just take over and institute every hideous new law in one fell swoop. They did it slowly, incrementally, each one worse than the previous.

Not everything evil brings back memories of Nazi Germany. Agreed. And by using Nazi examples too often, you cheapen them. Absolutely. But there are moves that government, at the state and federal law, at home and abroad, can make that most certainly should trouble any student of history. The "we're number 1" crowd is loathe to admit it, but that doesn't make it any less true.

I worry that by constantly insisting that nothing compares to the Holocaust, it is the ADL that risks cheapening the memory. Because if nothing compares, then we don't ever have to worry about it happening again. And that surely can't be the lesson of the Holocaust. Read More......

GOP congressional candidate wants to microchip Mexicans like dogs

I can think of no other rumor to better destroy the Republicans' chances at the polls than for America's 30 million Latinos to fear that Republicans want to implant them with microchips, like dogs. And in this case, the rumor is true. From the Des Moines Register:

An Iowa Republican congressional candidate says he supports inserting microchips into illegal immigrants to track their movements, noting that's how he keeps track of his dog.

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Reid to keep Senate in all night to force GOPers to defend filibuster of Wall Street reform

This is what we like to see. If the Republicans are going to keep filibustering Wall Street reform on behalf of their Wall Street benefactors, then they really have to filibuster this time. Harry Reid is playing hardball:

Senate Democratic leaders are planning for an all-night session to put more pressure on Republicans to allow a debate on Wall Street reform.

Republican senators voted for the third time in three days on Wednesday to block an effort to bring a reform bill to the floor.

Democratic aides said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to keep the Senate in session overnight to force Republicans to reconsider their opposition to the Democratic legislation.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said leaders had decided to hold a nighttime session to highlight GOP opposition to the Wall Street reform bill.

Republicans won't even let the debate begin. They just use their tired old talking point about wanting bipartisanship, which is really GOP code for obstruction.

Not this time. Here's what we're hearing -- some of it's in Senate procedure-speak, but it's actually pretty clear. Later today, they'll be rolling out the cots in the Capitol. This afternoon, Majority Leader Reid will start asking for live quorum calls, which means Senators will have to show up to vote. Later tonight, Democratic Senators will start asking consent to move to the reform bill. It's assumed the GOP will object, in order to continue their filibuster. As we saw during the recent unemployment filibuster, it only takes one Senator to object. But, GOPers are going to have to object all through the night because Democrats are going to keep asking. Tomorrow morning, Reid will move for a vote to reconsider the motion to proceed. The GOP again voted as a bloc against the motion to proceed today, in order to continue their filibuster. If you check out the roll call vote here, you'll see that Reid voted with the GOP. He did so he can move to reconsider (only someone on the No side can make that move.) So, tomorrow morning, Reid will force Republicans to take another vote on behalf of their Wall Street masters.

Game on. Read More......

McCain's numbers are plummeting, with Dems and Indies too

From PPP:

John McCain has had a Charlie Crist like drop in his approval numbers over the last six months, seeing double digit declines in his popularity with Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. As a result a majority of Arizona voters now disapprove of his job performance.

55% of voters disapprove of McCain to just 34% who give him good marks. When PPP polled Arizona in September he was at a positive 48/42 approval spread, so he's dropped 27 points on the margin since that time. McCain's biggest fall in popularity has come with Republicans as he's been more aggressively challenged from the right by J.D. Hayworth. Where 65% gave him good marks last fall now just 48% do, a 17 point decline. He's also gone down 13 points with independents (from 41% to 28%) and 11 points with Democrats (from 32% to 21%.)

McCain has tried to shed his 'maverick' image in order to survive the Republican primary and the numbers indicate that's working, but at the cost of diminished support from Democrats and independents. Just 28% of voters feel that McCain is an 'independent voice for Arizona' while 55% are more inclined to describe him as a 'partisan voice for national Republicans.'

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Specter questions whether he should have become a Demcorat

Not a terribly helpful thing to say when you're running for re-election as a Democrat. From Political Wire:

"Well, I probably shouldn't say this. But I have thought from time to time that I might have helped the country more if I'd stayed a Republican."

-- Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), in an interview with the Allentown Morning Call, questioning his party switch last year.

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Lieberman to hold fundraiser for Reid

Hell has frozen over. Read More......

The press is ticked with the Obama White House, but the problem goes far beyond the media

I received this story from a friend who is a journalist, and who I trust. He told me the story was spot on. In the story, you'll see blogger Steve Clemons, another friend, quoted. Steve is also someone you can trust. He agrees that there's a problem. This isn't just a story about whiny prima donna reporters, it's about a larger problem, one that Joe and I have written about before.

The press loved Obama during the campaign. We all denied it on our side, but it was true. And all that adulation got the media nothing in return. It's a common story with the Obama campaign and the Obama administration. Being their friend doesn't really get you anything, other than contempt the first time you do something they don't approve of. I've called it "political autarky," the notion that you can and should do everything yourself. The administration doesn't really seem to believe that it needs friends and allies.

Joe, Chris and I, for example, busted our butts helping to get this President elected. A lot of folks who don't enjoy our current criticism of the administration may not realize how much work we did to put Barack Obama in office. We came out swinging against Hillary in the primaries, before Obama was "cool." I went on national TV, repeatedly, and sided with Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton - all the while risking our relationship with the half of our readers who supported Mrs. Clinton. By the end of the campaign, we received a single text message thanking us for our work. That, after raising $43,000 for Barack Obama, being quite possibly their best friend in the blogosphere during the primaries, and doing more than our share of dirty work during the general election.

It's not about expecting something in return. It's about helping people and being spat on in return. I've heard the same story over and over from a number of top Obama supporters, famous names that you'd know, who felt abandoned by the administration after working so hard to elect them. And now you hear the same complaint from gays, Latinos, women, blacks, environmentalists, civil libertarians, progressives, and more. There not only isn't much of a recognition that these people got the President elected, there actually seems to be official disdain for them.

This is not a smart way to do business, or politics.

From Josh Gerstein:

Day-to-day interaction with Obama is almost non-existent, and he talks to the press corps far less often than Bill Clinton or even George W. Bush did. Clinton took questions nearly every weekday, on average. Obama barely does it once a week.

The correspondents association recently met with Gibbs to discuss, in the words of Bloomberg's Ed Chen, "a level of anger, which is wide and deep, among members over White House practices and attitude toward the press.”

A few days later, Gibbs said at one of his briefings, “This is the most transparent administration in the history of our country.”

Peals of laughter broke out in the briefing room.

The numbers speak for themselves: during his first year in office, President Bill Clinton did 252 such Q&A; sessions—an average of one every weekday. Bush did 147. Obama did 46, according to Towson University Professor Martha Kumar.

Some reporters say the pushback is so aggressive that it undermines the credibility of Obama’s aides. “The willingness to argue that credible information is untrue is at its core dishonest and unfortunately calls into question everything else the press office says,” one White House reporter said.

Last year, colleagues noticed that David Corn of Mother Jones went through a noticeable dry spell at White House briefings, with Gibbs seeming to overlook his raised hand for a period of several weeks or more.

“I remember tangling with David, but I would just say I think David has probably gotten more questions at the briefing in the last few months than he got in the entire last eight years,” Gibbs said. Corn declined to comment.

Edward Luce of the Financial Times drew the ire of Obama aides for a couple of articles arguing that decision making in the Obama administration is extremely centralized. Neither piece was a devastating indictment of the White House, but they prompted a furious reaction.

“I was just in awe of the pummeling Ed took from top White House people,” said policy blogger and New America Foundation senior fellow Steve Clemons. He began talking to White House reporters and came away convinced that what he calls an “extremely unhealthy” relationship has developed in which the White House generally cooperates only with reporters who are willing to write source-greasers or other fawning articles.

Gibbs referred questions about the Luce stories to McDonough. “Who’s Ed Luce?” McDonough said. “I’m not familiar with that.”

Read More......

Senate Repubs. are really mad at Harry Reid for making them vote on Wall Street reform

Senate GOPers are mad at Harry Reid because Reid is making them vote to end the filibuster of the Wall Street reform bill. Here's the thing: Republicans wouldn't have to keep take these cloture votes if they'd just end the filibiuster. It's their choice.

I do love that Harry Reid is playing hardball. Clearly, the GOPers didn't expect it. Now, they're stuck siding with Wall Street every day. Via The Hill:

On Tuesday, Republicans voted to defeat a motion to begin debate on Wall Street reform legislation.

It was the second time in two days that Reid scheduled a vote on the matter, and he plans a third vote on Wednesday and a fourth on Thursday, according to a Democratic aide.

Reid also scheduled a vote Monday evening, during the dinner hour, to force senators to show up on the chamber floor, a move that was seen as punishment for Republicans voting to block the Wall Street bill earlier in the day.

Reid could bring lawmakers back to the chamber again after regular hours to discuss Wall Street reform, disrupting their evening schedules.

Senators hate to have their evenings disrupted. That's prime fundraising time.

Some Senate GOPers think Reid is being really mean:

Some of these tactics have vexed centrist Republicans, whose votes are necessary to pass a reform measure.

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), who earlier this year bucked his party to advance Democratic jobs legislation and an extension of unemployment benefits, said the repeated votes are “absolutely” counterproductive.

“I don’t think it helps,” he said.

However, according to reports, Voinovich said late Tuesday that even though he’s not likely to vote to begin debate on Wednesday, he will eventually vote for the motion if the talks continue not to be productive.

So, Reid's strategy isn't backfiring at all. It's working. Chuck Grassley had the audacity to complain, too. That's rich after the delaying game he played on health care.

Republican Senators have been mostly united in their strategy of obstruction. This time, finally, Harry Reid is making them pay for it. Read More......

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The Senate Republicans keep delivering for their Wall Street benefactors. Yesterday, they again voted as a bloc to prevent a debate on reform. Majority Leader Harry Reid is going to make them vote on reform again today and tomorrow. You have to wonder what kind of promises were made to Republican leaders from Wall Street bankers to secure this level of commitment. As we're seeing from the Goldman Sachs hearing, those Wall Street types are used to selling sh*tty deals. That's what Mitch McConnell got for his caucus. They're looking really, really bad, which is fine by me.

The President starts his day in Iowa, then heads to Missouri. He comes back to DC tonight.

Netroots Nation is holding a fundraiser tonight here in DC. It starts at 5:30 PM. Several members of Congress, including Senator Merkley, Senator Gillibrand, Rep. Grijalva, Rep. Blumenauer and Rep. Brad Miller will be there. Details are here. Come by if you're in the DC area.

What do we need to know (besides the fact that Wall Street owns the GOP)? Read More......

Two women beat man who failed to hold elevator door open for them

I had a similar problem in France on entering the FNAC (kind of the French Best Buy) in Montparnasse. I'd open the door to go in, hold it for the person behind me, then every person behind them would keep coming in and not bother using their hand to support the door, so I'd be standing there, ad infinitum, holding the door for everyone. I finally just let it shut on someone. (There was no pasta available.)

Story sounds funny at first, but on reading the entire thing, I'm not so sure anymore.

The women told police “they had to use their fists, their bags and their feet to teach him a lesson,” according to the police report.

In fact, when officers arrived at the Tremont Street building late Saturday night they said they found noodles dripping off the back of Warsame.

And actually, the guy says that you need a pass to enter the elevator - it's a housing complex - and you're not supposed to let people in the elevator who don't have a pass. That makes this a bit more interesting. It's the age old question of whether you let someone slip in behind you when you enter your key-locked building. Would you? Read More......

Manuel Noriega finishes US prison sentence, extradited to France

What a blast from the past. If he is convicted and jailed in France he would still have to be sent back to Panama to face even more charges.

Manuel Noriega, the former drug-running dictator of Panama ousted by a US invasion in 1989, was flown out of America last night en route to Paris where he will face trial on fresh money laundering charges.

Noriega's extradition brings to an end his 21-year spell in a Miami jail, where he held a unique status. He was the first head of a foreign country to be convicted of crimes in the US courts, and he became America's only official prisoner of war.

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Spanish doctors perform face transplant

It's amazing to hear what doctors are able to do these days. Since the partial face transplant a few years ago this type of surgery is developing quickly.

The Spanish patient, who was not identified, now has a completely new face from his hairline down and only one visible scar, which looks like a wrinkle running across his neck, said Barret, who headed the 30-member surgical team.

The man cannot yet speak, eat or smile, but he can see and swallow saliva, the surgeon said. He is expected to be able to eat and breathe on his own in about a week.

"If you look him in the face, you see a normal person," Barret said. "He sits up, he walks in his hospital room and he watches television."

Before the transplant, the 30-year-old patient had had nine surgeries and could only breathe with the help of a ventilator and get nourishment from a feeding tube. He also had problems speaking.

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Stephen Hawking warns that communicating with aliens could be 'too risky'

Sounds goofy but actually quite interesting.

Hawking made the unnerving claim in a new documentary on the Discovery Channel that intelligent alien life-forms almost certainly exist but that communicating with them could be “too risky.”

The 68-year-old scientist said a visit by extraterrestrials to Earth would be like Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas, “which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

He added that the aliens would claim that earth was founded on a Judeo-Alien ethic. Read More......

Gallup: GOP is up by 20 points among those 'very enthusiastic about voting'

This isn't good. But, this is what happens when Democrats ignore their base. From Gallup:

Although U.S. registered voters are closely divided in their 2010 congressional election preferences, those who say they are "very enthusiastic about voting" this year show a strong preference for the Republican Party.

Democrats are competitive in the overall generic poll, but are suffering an enthusiasm gap. Look at the numbers:

On Capitol Hill, we've seen -- and will continue to see -- a reluctance to engage in issues that are viewed by our supposed allies as "controversial." That includes the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which has broad support across the spectrum.

Professional Democrats (like White House & Hill staffers and the high paid political consultants) will say things like "we don't want to rile up the Republicans." Um, they're riled up. Really riled up. Democrats need to give their voters a reason to be enthusiastic.

There's time to fix it. But, Democratic leaders at the White House and on Capitol Hill better get moving. Read More......

UK zoo captures chimps' response to other chimp's death

The similarities between humans and chimpanzees are amazing.

Pansy, a female who died of old age at Blair Drummond Safari Park at the end of 2008, was one of four chimpanzees being filmed by Anderson's group. When she became ill, vets paid regular visits to give treatment, while her companions – her daughter, a male and another female – looked on from a distance.

When Pansy lay down in a nest that one of the other apes had made, the rest gathered around her and began grooming and caressing her. Shortly before she died, all three crouched down and inspected her face very closely. They then began to shake her gently. "It is difficult to avoid thinking that they were checking for signs of life," said Anderson.

"After a time, it seemed that the chimpanzees arrived at a collective decision that she had gone. Two left immediately, but one, the other adult female, stayed and held her hand," said Anderson. "That evening, her daughter came back and stayed with her mother all night long. She was trying to sleep, but was clearly very disturbed. All three of them were."

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Because we all care what a racist thinks

National Journal:

Sen. Jeff Sessions tells ABC News that no matter who President Obama nominates for the Supreme Court, Republicans will use the hearing to attack Obama, arguing that the president wants a judiciary that supports his political views.

"It's pretty clear to me that President Obama sees judges as allies in an effort to promote an agenda he thinks is best for the country," said Sessions, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in an interview with ABC.

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No more chickens for checkups

This is the Republican running against Harry Reid:

It took around two weeks and a good deal of national ridicule, but Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sue Lowden has finally backed off of her apparent advocacy for a “chickens for checkups” barter policy to bring down health care costs.

In an interview with a local station in Nevada today, Lowden clarified her original comments, claiming she’d been taken out of context. Lowden added she had merely made a “casual statement” designed to describe an ongoing reality, and hadn’t intended to offer a policy prescription.

“They took it way out of context,” Lowden said in the interview, blaming Harry Reid’s campaign tracker for plucking the quote out of an hour-long conversation about multiple topics.

Let's look at that quote again:

In her original quote, Lowden said that “bartering is really good” to “get prices down in a hurry,” urging people to “go ahead and barter with your doctor.”

Lowden subsequently said that in the old days, people traded chickens for health care, adding: “I’m not backing off of that system.”

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