China expands spy case, Australian still being held

Nobody should condone the selling of state secrets but this business-deal-turned-bad is disturbing not to mention flat out creepy. This is a business deal with a foreign company that did not progress and now China is using the power of the state to punish others including an Australian national. The company in question is not even a high tech business related to national security but rather a mining company. The West helped build this monster and now there's little that can be done without offending the regime and becoming the next target. For what purpose?

Chinese investigators have questioned executives at several steel mills in a widening probe of alleged leaks of state secrets to Australian iron ore supplier Rio Tinto, Chinese media said on Tuesday.

The news comes as Australian officials urged China to move quickly in dealing with the detention of a senior Australian Rio executive on spying charges, a case that has cast a shadow over bilateral trade worth $53 billion in 2008.

"Our first concern is that their case has to be dealt with expeditiously and fairly," Australia's former China ambassador, Ross Garnaut, said on Tuesday.

"My experience is that difficult cases of this kind ... are best handled away from the megaphones."

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Bastille Day at the French Embassy

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Bastille Day party this evening at the French Embassy here in Washington (and I didn't even have to sell out my people to go!). Bastille Day is, of course, French independence day, taking place every year on the 14th of July. The French, however, don't call the holiday Bastille Day - they call it the Fête Nationale (the national celebration) or the quatorze juillet (the 14th of July). Just like us to give French independence day it's own American name :-)



This is the French cultural center, located next to the French Embassy in Georgetown, just north of the university. It's a beautiful area, and the building is quite nice architecturally. The party, I'm told by a friend at the embassy, takes place in French embassies around the world every July 14, and is open to any French citizen arriving at the embassy gates with a French passport - they are required to let them in on this day every year for the party.

The party itself was surprisingly French. I say that, meaning, there weren't that many Americans at all - I was expecting half the place to be invited American guests. Not so. In fact, it was a bit like visiting Miami, well, a French Miami - in that, people just assumed you spoke French, and daggumit, that was going to be the operating language whether you liked it or not (for example, I learned from the nice French security man at the metal detector how to say "albuterol" in French).



The inside of the cultural center is a bit more Spartan, but the set up was very nice. They had sandwich food (bread and sliced meat), and the de rigeur pâté. They also had a number of stations set up with drinks, one had Pernod (French ouzo), another champagne, another French vodka, and so on. I didn't get a lot of food as, just as I walked up to the food table, the US national anthem started to play. It felt somehow rude to just star jabbing at roast beef while the Star Spangled Banner was playing, so I dutifully stood at attention while lots of people were snagging up the remaining baguette in front of me. Then, of course, before I could jump in, the French national anthem started, so again I stood politely at attention, while the hordes around me devoured. I did finally get some pâté, but gave up on the rest, as the scene quickly became an ad hoc re-enactment of the storming of the Bastille.

It's hard to say why exactly, but the embassy hired some can-can dancers to come perform during the reception. It was fun. Just a bit different.



There were also a few men and women dressed in Revolutionary War period garb. Again, not quite clear why, and while standing in line to get in at security, a Ben Franklin replica was standing behind me. I should have asked him what was up, but honestly, a part of me thought he might be nuts rather than the entertainment (after all, we do have the infomercial guy with the dollar signs on his suit living in the neighborhood - or at least often parking here with his dollar-sign car). Funny aside, I saw dollar-suit guy in the security line at Dulles Airport maybe 6 weeks after September 11. Mind you, Dulles was the airport the plane that hit the Pentagon left from. I pitied crazy infomercial guy, because I suspected he was going to get a very special cavity search in his little dollar suit that day.

It was time to go, I took a look to my right, and don't know why, but for me the scene had sort of a crazy Renoir moment to it.

Read the rest of this post...

The Harry Potter Alliance

A rather brilliant bit of activism inspired by the Harry Potter franchise (and J.K. Rowling approves). I asked it's leader, Andrew Slack, to write us a piece explaining exactly what it is, and what they do - here's what he sent me:

The Harry Potter Alliance takes an outside of the box approach to activism by using parallels from the Harry Potter books to educate and mobilize young people across the world toward working for social change. Through various new media platforms and a vibrant network of Harry Potter fans, the Harry Potter Alliance is regularly communicating to over 100,000 people.

With over 30 active chapters worldwide, here’s what we’ve accomplished:
• raised over $15,000 to protect thousands of civilians in Darfur and Burma
• helped our partner group STAND see a 40% increase in high school chapter sign ups and a 52% increase in
calls to 1-800-GENOCIDE during a 2 week campaign compared to normal rates
• delivered over three quarters of the 10,000 signatures that UK based Aegis Trust sent to the UN Security
Council concerning Darfur
• had a podcast we produced on Darfur downloaded over 120,000 times
• Our Accio Books! campaign raised over 13,000 books, 4,000 of which are going to a youth village in Rwanda.
• Introduced thousands to the growing Media Reform movement spearheaded by our partners at Free Press
• gearing up to start workers’ rights campaigns promoting Fair Trade chocolate and support for the Employee
Free Choice Act
• forced Wal-Mart executives to comment on the front cover of the Chicago Tribune Business section due to our
helping over 2 million people see the famous “Harry Potter and the Dark Lord WaldeMart” video series.
• Gotten the right wing blogosphere predictably upset about our stance on equal rights as we continue to work with partner groups on same sex marriage.

In my recent Huffington Post article, I talk about our newest campaign found at Whatwoulddumbledoredo.org involves the entire Harry Potter fan community taking over Twitter (today tweet #dumbledore), thousands lining up at theaters world wide with name tags that state a lesson that Dumbledore has taught them, and collectively writing a document that articulates how Harry’s mentor Dumbledore can be a metaphor for lessons on life, love, loss, and political transformation.

The Harry Potter Alliance has been featured in over 200 US publications including JK Rowling’s talking about us in Time Magazine. Ms. Rowling would later say, The HP Alliance is, without doubt, the purest expression of 'the spirit of Albus Dumbledore' yet to emerge from the Harry Potter fandom, and I am honoured and humbled that such great things are being done in Harry's name.”

And here's the latest review of the upcoming film. Read the rest of this post...

Join our online chat tomorrow with Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) about the DADT policy

Democratic House member Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania has decided to take the lead on the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell in the House. In addition to being a member of the Blue Dog coalition, Murphy is the first Iraq War vet to become a member of the House. He's perfectly situated to lead the charge on this battle. So we're very glad to be hosting a chat with him tomorrow about his effort to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell. Considering all the interest in this issue of late, this is a great opportunity to quiz a member of Congress as to where things really stand, and whether we're going to see a real effort to repeal the discriminatory policy.

So join us Wednesday, July 15 at 12:30pm Eastern time, when we'll have Congressman Murphy join us in the comments to a post we'll put at that hour. You can then ask your question in the comments, and he'll respond to them in the comments live from his office on the Hill. See you then. In the meantime, there's more on Murphy's effort on DADT here. And we'll have a post by the Congressman in the morning .

And here's Murphy on Rachel Maddow's show:

Read the rest of this post...

Kuttner: Stronger economic medicine is needed

Robert Kuttner at Huff Post:

Several events of the past week should be a wake-up call to the Obama administration. Bottom line: the medicine isn't working. Stronger stuff is needed....

I still have to pinch myself when I realize that the President of the United States is Barack Hussein Obama. Like the rest of the progressive community, my heart swells when Obama, in Egypt, makes a brilliant speech on Middle East, or accelerates the progress of redeeming full civil rights for gays and lesbians. (I could find some quibbles on these fronts as well.) But these are not the issues that will cost him his presidency if he fails to grasp that the economic recovery and the moment of reform are slipping away.

As Republican missteps turn from tragedy to farce and back again, we should not get too cocky. The Republican ticket in 2012 could be Palin-Sanford; if unemployment is 11 percent, it will win.

Read the rest of this post...

House Dems. introduce real health care reform bill: The America’s Affordable Health Choices Act

Today, House Democrats introduced the real deal on health care reform. Ezra Klein says, "On first glance, it looks good." That's a good start for me. It appears to include a strong public plan (it wouldn't be real reform without one.) This is a massive legislative undertaking. There will be a markup in the the House Committee on Education and Labor tomorrow, which should last two days. No doubt, the insurance industry will be out in force to gut this bill. And, they'll have massive resources to do just that. Speaker Pelosi said this bill will pass before the August recess:

"If you change jobs, lose your job or start a new business,” she said, “you still have health care."

She then pressed the point that the legislation would be done by the president's deadline.

"Inaction is not an option for us,” Pelosi said. “That is why we are still on schedule to unveil this plan and pass this legislation before we leave for the August recess.

For a ton of info. on the legislation, check out The Gavel.

Also, Obama, who is channeling LBJ on health care, is supportive of the House bill, but doesn't draw any line in the sand. An excerpt from Obama's statement:

This proposal will also prevent insurance companies from denying people coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition. It will ensure that workers can still have health insurance if they lose their job, change their job or start a new business. And it includes a health insurance exchange that will allow families and small businesses to compare prices and quality so they can choose the health care plan that best suits their needs. Among the choices that would be available in the exchange would be a public health insurance option that would make health care affordable by increasing competition, providing more choices, and keeping the insurance companies honest.

The House proposal will begin the process of fixing what’s broken about our health care system, reducing costs for all, building on what works, and covering an estimated 97% of all Americans. And by emphasizing prevention and wellness, it will also help improve the quality of health care for every American.

Then, let's get it passed. Just as it is. The game is on and White House is going to have to apply a lot of pressure on Democratic members of Congress to make this happen -- and they're gong to have to lose that whole bi-partisan schtick. Read the rest of this post...

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is a bigot and a racist. He's prejudiced. It's not that hard to say because it's true.

Most of the talking heads refuse to acknowledge that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, who was denied a federal judgeship because he's a racist, is still a racist. But, he is. And, it's been on full display at the Sotomayor hearings.

Fortunately, there are some great minds online who get it. First, probably the best quote to-date on Sessions came from of Matt Yglesias:

I would pay good money to hear Sonia Sotomayor say, “Senator Sessions, I think it’s ironic to be facing these questions from a man whose judicial nomination was rejected by this very committee on the grounds that he’s a huge racist.”

Greg Sargent cuts right through the DC BS and nails Sessions for what he is. Greg notes that Sessions has repeatedly attacked Sotomayor for saying her heritage influences her. Sessions sees that as inherently evil. But, Sessions voted for Samuel Alito, who testified that his heritage guided him.

Here’s what Samuel Alito acknowledged during his 2006 confirmation hearing:

[W]hen a case comes before me involving, let’s say, someone who is an immigrant — and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases — I can’t help but think of my own ancestors.…

When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.

This sort of garden-variety hypocrisy is so constant in Washington that no one blinks at it, except perhaps for legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who said today that Sessions implied that “being a white man, that’s normal. Everybody else has biases and prejudices.”

It’s actually weirder than that: Sessions’ questioning, combined with his vote for Alito, suggests that it’s okay to have biases and prejudices — as long as you’re a white man.

That hypocrisy is rampant in DC. Because Jefferson Sessions is a Senator, the Villagers all treat him like he's normalish. They did the same thing to Jesse Helms. You can imagine people saying of Sessions, "But, he's very nice and polite." He's a racist. The DC media elite excuse bad behavior from racists and homophobes all the time. Otherwise, why would any of them sit on the same set with Pat Buchanan? It's actually appalling -- and makes the media elite complicit. Read the rest of this post...

Empathy, Take Two

GOP Senator Tom Coburn's bigotry empathy on full display. Read the rest of this post...

Democratic President finally supports marriage equality

Nice news. But, it's Clinton, who signed DOMA, not Obama who called DOMA "abhorrent."

NOTE FROM JOHN: This is a huge paradigm shift, in my view. While we are hoping that the Obama administration and Democrats on the Hill abandon the 1990s and catch up with the repeal of DOMA, DOMA has itself been sidelined by marriage. Meaning, two years ago the repeal of DOMA would have been huge. Now, it's big, and certainly bigger than the passage of hate crimes (or even ENDA, I'd argue), but the real big enchilada has become marriage itself.

As early as a year ago, I, and I think Joe too, would have been able to pardon a Democratic politician who wasn't comfortable coming out publicly in favor of gay marriage. Our logic would have been: We know in their hearts many of them are probably okay with gay marriage, but to say so publicly would be their death politically - and we're not likely to get marriage in our lifetime anyway, so why force our friends to take a bullet for us needlessly?

No more.

I expect marriage equality in my lifetime, and demand it. And what's more, I expect it now. The repeal of DOMA is still huge, and necessary, but it's not enough. And by dragging their feet on their promises to our community, the White House and the Hill are putting themselves in the awful predicament of not just ignoring the top promises they've made to our community, but in the case of DOMA repeal, even if they ever get there, it won't be enough because the issue, and the community, has passed them by. Read the rest of this post...

Why I'm still amazed by the Internet

In a little more than 12 hours since the launch of our new gay politics section, we've got readers in Brazil, Taiwan, Australia, Spain, France, Germany, Mexico and Canada. And that's just a snapshot of a moment in time. The recent visitors' list shows the following international visits as well:

United Kingdom [37%]
Germany [13%]
Netherlands [6%]
Switzerland [6%]
Spain [6%]
France [6%]
Japan [5%]
Philippines [2%]
Ireland [2%]
Hong Kong S.A.R., China [2%]
Malaysia [2%]
Taiwan [2%]
Norway [2%]
Portugal [2%]
Sweden [2%]
Poland [2%]
India [2%]
Oman [2%]
Israel [2%]
Thailand [2%]

For me, what's amazing is just how quickly news can spread online. How quickly any of us can communicate with a stranger halfway around the world. I'm still amazed at the power of the Net, after having worked nearly 15 years in this field. Read the rest of this post...

Obama to ignore laws he doesn't like

No, not DADT. Nor DOMA. Read the rest of this post...

MLK's civil rights group threatens to fire local leader for opposing Prop 8, supporting marriage equality

I have a nightmare. Read the rest of this post...

Goldman Sachs posts massive $3.44 billion profit

Woo hoo! Kind of makes you wonder just how "on the verge of death's door" companies like Goldman, that took $10 billion in bailout monies, really were. Though one could argue that this is a bailout success story. I mean, we want companies we save to be profitable and "worth it" - otherwise, we're saving dinosaurs that should have been put to rest. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Read the rest of this post...

Ah, empathy

Justice Sam Alito on empathy and judging

“When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.”

Flashback: Alito Knows A Thing Or Two About Empathy Also

On Wednesday, Glenn Greenwald posted a key part of the transcript of Justice Samuel Alito's 2006 confirmation hearing, which suggests that, just three and a half years ago, Republicans thought empathy was a pretty righteous quality in a Supreme Court nominee. Well, we've dug up the footage of that portion of the hearing and, as it turns out, he sells the empathy pretty well.

Flashback: George H.W. Bush On Clarence Thomas' 'Great Empathy'

"I have followed this man's career for some time," said President George H.W. Bush of Clarence Thomas in July 1991. "He is a delightful and warm, intelligent person who has great empathy and a wonderful sense of humor."

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Oil prices are on the rise - are speculators to blame?

Considering that a sharp rise in oil prices is the last thing our economy needs right now, perhaps someone should start investigating this much more earnestly:

The run-up in oil prices that began earlier this year was not as steep as last summer's record climb, but it was almost as mystifying.

Demand was low, the global economy was sagging, and the world's oil consumers and producers were brimming with excess supply. Those factors ought to keep prices down, but the monthly average price of crude oil jumped $10 a barrel from February to April, another $10 in May and again in June. Gasoline prices in the United States rose 54 days in a row, and AAA called the increases through May "the largest five-month retail advance this century."

Then over the past 10 days, oil prices tumbled back, falling to $59.69 a barrel, to the lowest level in eight weeks, summoning memories of last year, when prices hit a record $147 on July 11 before falling back down. Renewed pessimism about the economy was one reason for the 10-day swoon, but the abrupt shift has been dizzying. And not entirely reassuring. Many regulators, oil analysts and oil executives say that the lurches in price this year -- even more than last year's -- must be attributable primarily to one factor:

Speculators.

Read the rest of this post...

NJ GOP governor candidate doesn't want Palin helping him

It's interesting that with polls show Palin wildly popular in the GOP, actual Republican candidates, in sane states, don't want her anywhere near their campaign. The problem is likely that while Palin may titillate GOP faithful, she turns off independents and Democrats - people a GOP candidate needs in a general election.

In other Palin news, a new poll shows that the majority of Americans think that Palin resigned to help her career. Read the rest of this post...

Obama to channel LBJ to pass health care reform

The message from the White House to members of Congress is that, yes, Obama is going to become much engaged in the health care debate. His model is Lyndon Baines Johnson:

In mapping its strategy, the Obama team chose to take its cues from another Democratic senator-turned-president: following the legislative model employed by Johnson to enact Medicare in 1965.

"There are two qualities these presidents have in common," said White House senior adviser David Axelrod. Like Obama, Johnson "had a big vision and drove the country toward it, and second, he had a great appreciation for the legislative process."

Early on, Obama and health czar Nancy-Ann DeParle discussed the parallels with Johnson and creation of the health program that serves 45 million seniors and people with disabilities today. Just as Johnson gave legendary lawmaker Wilbur Mills (D-Ark.) latitude to craft the Medicare bill, Obama has asked Congress to write the health-care revamp legislation.

And just as Johnson was known for his powers of personal persuasion, Obama, a former senator himself, has assiduously cultivated and cajoled lawmakers.

The president has to use his bully pulpit and those powers of persuasion, but this is all for naught if we get a bill that doesn't actually reform health care. Empowering and protecting the insurance companies, as so many Democrats still want to do, doesn't accomplish reform. If Obama wants to channel enact real reform, he'll push hard for a real public option, not a weak, watered down co-op provision. We'll learn a lot about Obama's commitment by hard how he fights for the public option.

One difference between Obama and LBJ is that the Post notes Obama still "covets" bipartisanship. Johnson had served in the Senate for decades, eventually becoming Majority Leader. My sense is that LBJ just wanted to get the job done and didn't "covet" anything except winning. We need that part of LBJ, too. Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Senators on the Judiciary Committee will have the opportunity to ask questions of the Supreme Court nominee today. This is when the hearings could get interesting. Based on the opening statements, it's pretty clear that the GOP Senators are playing to their hard-core base. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III set an ugly tone -- to hear him express concern about prejudice is rich. (Note to Sessions: Look in the mirror.)

The health care debate is really heating up. Obama upped the ante yesterday by saying "Don't bet against us." We already bet on Obama to fix health care when we elected him. Seems a big part of the equation is whether members of Congress, especially Democrats, can look outside of their little Capitol Hill bubble to do the right thing. There really is very little capacity on the Hill to look beyond the next election. That kinda makes it hard to solve long-term problems.

Lots going on. Let's get started. Read the rest of this post...

Mel Brooks and the French Revolution

And soon after, it wasn't so good to be da king. Read the rest of this post...

Singapore races out of recession

It would be nice to see more shocks such as this. Reuters:

Singapore's economy has leapt out of recession, expanding in the second quarter at its fastest rate in nearly 6 years, thanks to a surge in biomedical production and construction.

Gross domestic product for the April-June period rose at an annualized and seasonally adjusted rate of 20.4 percent, versus a median forecast in a Reuters poll of 16.4 percent and the first rise after four consecutive quarters of contraction, preliminary government data showed on Tuesday.

From a year earlier, GDP fell 3.7 percent as manufacturing and service industries continued to contract, the data showed. That compared with expectations for a fall of 5 percent.

Analysts remained cautious over the data and questioned its sustainability given volatility in Singapore's drugs output and a weak global outlook, but said other export-dependent Asian
economies were also likely to see improved second quarters.

Read the rest of this post...

Bastille Day

I'm getting a slow start this morning after our 86 year old neighbor (and former brasserie owner) invited us for dinner. It's a public holiday and there's a parade that starts sometime this morning though I'm not much of a fan of such events. Instead we are meeting my nephew who is visiting from America with his friend and his friend's family. We did a bike tour on Sunday and the plan is to do a walking tour about the French Revolution followed by dinner on the terrace and then make our way into the mob to see the fireworks. I may need even more rest tonight. (For those who are visiting Paris, Paris Walks is by far the best walking tour operator. Prices are all the same but their quality is well above the rest.) Read the rest of this post...