Giannoulias wins IL Senate primary for Obama's old seat

I sat down with Giannoulias for an hour over the holidays (or maybe over Thanksgiving, I'm clearly getting old). I like him. He seems quite sincere. And earnest. Which is nice, and different, for a politician. Read the rest of this post...

Murtha reportedly in grave condition

Ambinder just tweeted it. This is from earlier. Read the rest of this post...

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter to GOP: 'Aren't you helping the terrorists?'

Jonathan Alter on Countdown, moments ago:

I think they're [Republicans] in a place now where they just want to hurt Obama. What they don't get - and I wish they would look into their souls a little bit - if they convey, over and over again, that the President of the United States is weak, what does that do? It emboldens the terrorists. And I don't say that lightly. Think of terrorists overseas, or at home, that might be plotting an attack - if they think that the President is weak, which he is not, he is manifestly not. He's killed twice as many of them, not to put too fine a point on it, with Predators as his predecessor did. He is not weak. But if they continue to convey that he is weak, that gives serious help to the terrorists.

I think the pressure should now be on these Republicans, aren't you helping the terrorists, by insisting, against all evidence - remember we have 100% conviction rate of terrorists in civilian courts in this country. 100%. It's not like any of them are out walking the streets, as we're told. The only detainees from Guantanamo who have been released and who have returned to terrorism in their home countries were released under President Bush. So far there has not been one case of that happening under President Obama. So, this line is a bunch of hooey, and they have to stop saying it, and the onus now has to be on them for why they're not harming us by continuing to do so.

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TV business report accidentally catches nude photos on banker's computer

The fun starts about 1:05 into the video. Keep an eye on the guy and the computer monitor to the left of the speaker's ear (our left).

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RNC: 'Women sometimes need a little more handholding, or they need their friends to help them make a decision.'

Okay, wow. Read the rest of this post...

Brennan: All transferred detainees who returned to terrorism were released by Bush, no recidivism for those released by Obama

It's too bad George Bush doesn't love America as much as Barack Obama does. (You know, I heard Bush was born in Africa.) Read the rest of this post...

DNC admits they paid $500,000 for ads defending Ben Nelson's hideous position on HCR

Joe reported yesterday that a series of pro- Ben Nelson ads have been running in Nebraska over the last month. Ads touting how Ben Nelson stood up to those evil forces in Washington who wanted a "government takeover" of health care (he means the "public option," that he helped kill). Joe was wondering where the Nebraska Democratic party got the money to run these expensive ads. Then he found his answer - the DNC, and you.

Markos has more:

Who gave the cash to the Nebraska Democratic Party [for the ads]? Well, if you've donated to the Democratic National Committee this cycle, you did.

That's right, the Democratic Party paid for ads attacking health care reform, for an incumbent senator who isn't even up for reelection until 2012, and for a senator who has made it his life mission to stymie every significant item in the Obama/Democratic agenda. The same Ben Nelson that fought hard to include regressive anti-choice language in the Senate bill, backing off only when Democrats agreed to pay him off with $100 million for Nebraska's Medicaid expansion.

This is the same Ben Nelson that cut $60 billion in school reconstruction funds in last year's stimulus plan, and the same Ben Nelson that has signed on to the odious Murkowski amendment that would prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse gasses. And of course, the same Ben Nelson that stripped the health care reform bill of any meaningful cost constraints.

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Note to the Brookings Institution: If you're gonna act like homophobic right-wing bigots on TV, at least update your terminology

"Alternative lifestyle" is very Jesse Helms circa early 1990s. Though f-g still works.

Perhaps the new generation of young gay activists planning a new ACT UP for the 2000s need to pay the Brookings a visit. Read the rest of this post...

China threatens US about meeting Dalai Lama

Oh please. The US would be nuts to do anything other than ignore China's recent loony rants. Their other recent rant against US defense contractors is equally odd, if not violating the spirit of the WTO which they had to join. (Not that I really care to defend that industry, but still.) One of these days the US really has to forcefully push back against that miserable government instead of cowering as we've witnessed for years. What are they going to do? Stop buying US debt? Fine, then maybe the US will stop buying their cheap junk.

Any meeting between President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama would harm bilateral relations, China warned Tuesday while repeating Beijing's refusal to discuss Tibet's status with the spiritual leader's envoys.

An Obama meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader would "seriously undermine the political foundation of Sino-U.S. relations," said Zhu Weiqun, the executive deputy head of the Communist Party's United Front Work Department who was in charge recent talks with the Dalai Lama's representatives.

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Admiral Mullen was stunning today. And, we need DADT repealed this year.

John and I spent some time thinking through our response to the DADT hearing today. I've posted my thoughts over at AMERICAblog Gay. Here's how it starts:

The big takeaway from the Senate Armed Services Committee's hearing was Admiral Mullen's stunning testimony. He was very impressive and very personal:

“It is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do,” Mullen said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“We have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity – theirs as individuals, and ours as institutions,” Mullen added.

And, he reiterated what he said after the hearing via his Twitter account:

Stand by what I said: Allowing homosexuals to serve openly is the right thing to do. Comes down to integrity.

Mullen showed a lot of integrity today.

We're not so keen on the year-long review of the policy. The best thing to do is to repeal DADT this year. Dragging it out just gives our opposition the chance to mobilize and do everything possible to undermine progress. Chairman Levin should work to include the repeal language in the Defense authorization bill.

And, it doesn't help to have people who are viewed as representing supposedly liberal organizations, like the Brookings Institution, on CNN spewing right-wing, homophobic talking points. But, that's what Michael O'Hanlon did today as he talked about the problems some in the military will have "accepting alternative forms of lifestyle." He was pathetic. And, Glenn Greenwald rightly ripped him apart for it. Thanks for aiding the enemy, Brookings.

UPDATE: Here's video of O'Hanlon.
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John McCain on DADT in 2006

John McCain said in October of 2006 that we should listen to our military leaders as to what to do on Don't Ask Don't Tell:

And I understand the opposition to it, and I‘ve had these debates and discussions, but the day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, Senator, we ought to change the policy, then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mullen, to John McCain and other Senators today:

"It is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly is the right thing to do" - Mullen.

Oops.

UDPATE @ 4:02 PM: Just posted the video of McCain here. Thanks to Jed Lewison. Read the rest of this post...

This is not the way the White House should communicate with friends

Has anyone done this job before? It's embarrassing for everyone to hear this news in the paper instead of through official channels. Good grief.

President Obama has decided not to attend a United States-European Union summit scheduled for Madrid in May, and European Union officials found out about the decision through the press late on Monday, senior European officials said Tuesday morning.

The Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who is scheduled to arrive in Washington in two days on a visit, was described as angry and embarrassed, and European officials said there was a set of high-level diplomatic exchanges overnight.

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Live Chat on DADT hearing

Joe and I are doing a live chat on AMERICAblog Gay on the Senate Don't Ask Don't Tell hearing taking place right now. Read the rest of this post...

DOD's big DADT news today is that they lied to us 9 months ago when they said they were already studying implementation of the repeal

(Quick note: Joe and I will be hosting a live chat on AMERICAblog Gay at noon to watch the DADT hearings on C-Span 3.)

And the media is falling for it hook, line and sinker. More sadly, the White House reportedly fell for it too.

Last May, the Pentagon said they were studying how to implement the repeal of DADT. Today, their "big news" on DADT is that they're going to commission a study of how to implement the repeal. It took them nine months to come up with the idea of yet another study. That's the hard work the White House and the Pentagon have been promising us has been going on for almost a year now. These guys got together, for almost a year, and could only agree to do another study. Nine months, for that.

But hey, this time when they tell us they're working on figuring out how to implement the repeal of DADT, we should trust them. It won't be like last time, when they all apparently lied.

And oh yeah, the study is going to include an examination of whether repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell will force the Pentagon to recognize gay marriage. Seriously. Maybe they should also study whether tanks will need to be painted pink, and whether soldiers will be permitted to wear tutus during hand to hand combat. And then we can have a long drawn out discussion about the risk to the children. I'm not sure what that risk would be, but since the Pentagon, with the White House's approval, is in all out red-herring mode, where would a homophobic discussion about oppressing gay and lesbian Americans be without a full-blown analysis of the risk to children. Read the rest of this post...

Colbert destroys Harold Ford

Wow. I saw a lot of tweets about this last night, but didn't get to see it til this morning. Big mistake for Harold Ford.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Harold Ford Jr.
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

I'm not opposed to primaries, especially for candidates who are appointed, like Ford's primary opponent, Kirsten Gillibrand. Senate seats aren't owned, they have to be earned. Ford is making it easy. Still wondering if another Democrat will sense the same opportunity that Ford did and jump into the NY Democratic primary. The White House kept at least one good contender, Rep. Steve Israel, out last year. I just don't think the White House has that kind of political power this year. Remember, the White House also tried to push Governor Paterson out of his race to no avail.
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It's primary day in Illinois

The primary season gets underway today. First up is Illinois where there are races on both sides for the Governor's office and the Senate seat. And, while the President is from Illinois and the Senate race fills his vacated seat, the biggest figure looming over these races isn't Obama. It's Rod Blagojevich, the impeached Governor.

The Chicago Breaking News Center reports there's been a "raucous primary campaign sprint." Here's the background on the Senate side:

Democrats Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer, and David Hoffman, the former Chicago inspector general, have waged a constant battle over who best would represent the party for the Senate on the November ballot. Cheryle Jackson, a former Chicago Urban League president and former Blagojevich spokeswoman, has largely stayed out of the fray.

Blagojevich's scandal-filled tenure and ouster are expected to be issues in the fall races. He faces a corruption trial in the middle of the election season that includes charges he tried to sell Obama's former Senate seat for personal gain. Democrats were further embarrassed when Blagojevich defied them and selected Roland Burris to fill the Senate vacancy -- setting off a scramble to find a viable candidate for 2010.

On the Republican side in the Senate race, five-term U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a social moderate, took a decided turn to the right in his first statewide campaign, attempting to counter a host of challengers trying to be the conservative alternative.

Kirk has moved to the right. That's what Republicans do these days. Kirk is opposed to the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which will become an issue in the campaign if he gets the GOP nomination. Giannoulias, who has been ahead in recent polls, is a strong progressive, who supports marriage equality. According to recent polls, Giannoulias has the best chance to win in November.

In the Governor's race, there are six Republicans in the primary, while Blago's successor, Pat Quinn is facing Dan Hynes in the Democratic primary.

So, there are going to be very competitive statewide races in Illinois this fall. I bet an extra $500,000 from the DNC would be well-received. But, Nebraska got the money for Ben Nelson. Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Today, the Senate Armed Services Committee hold the long-awaited hearing on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. John wrote a preview, based on various news reports, last night. The Pentagon is going to push for a "year-long" review, which will look at issues like same-sex marriage. That sounds like a delaying tactic. Meanwhile, Congress has to repeal the law. And, the Obama administration needs to put the repeal language in its budget. When gays issues are involved, everything gets way too complicated -- even among our allies. The DADT hearing begins at noon. It will be aired on CSPAN3.

The DNC's Winter Meeting starts Thursday here in D.C. If I were a DNC member, particularly the Chair of a State Party, I'd want to know why the DNC spent $500,000 on Nebraska's Ben Nelson in December. Nelson doesn't even have an election until 2012. And, he isn't destitute. Nelson's year-end FEC report shows him sitting on a million dollar campaign account. He couldn't spend his own money? Why? While the DNC was asking people for money to fight for real health care reform last year, Ben Nelson was undermining real reform. But, Nelson was the beneficiary of those dollars. That's pretty bad. And, it sucks that the DNC was so worried about Nebraska when there was a Senate campaign underway in Massachusetts. I'm sure that $500,000 would have been helpful in some other states where there are important elections in 2010, not 2012, too. Who decided to spend $500,000 on Ben Nelson and why?

Obama heads to New Hampshire today. He's speaking in Nashua about his small business lending proposal.

Lots going on... Read the rest of this post...

It's the recession more than the budget that is causing the deficit

Which is why Obama made a critical error in not driving home the fact that the recession was a direct result of decades of GOP economic policy. (With a bit of help from the Clinton economic team which is also known as the Obama economic team.) Because the White House wanted to play nice, not enough people appreciate why the economy is where it's at. As you might expect, the GOP was less enthusiastic about playing nice and has done a good, though dishonest job of blaming everything on Obama.

Payment for unemployment compensation nearly tripled, while spending for Medicaid, food aid and other income assistance programs has also grown.

The reason: The revenue code and the nearly two-thirds of the $3.8 trillion budget that pays benefits like Social Security and Medicare are on cruise control, automatically levying taxes and issuing payments from one year to the next.

As the economy weakens—as it has since the worst recession in decades began in December 2007—the government collects less revenue from people and companies that are earning less, and pays benefits to more Americans as the number of poor and unemployed swells.

"This recession has been unusually deep and had an unusually large impact on budget deficits," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates fiscal constraint. "It far outweighs any policy choices the president and Congress make. It's devastating."

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Trees growing at fastest rate in 200 years

It's probably a result of climate change. If not that, then it's another man made problem. But who really needs to pay attention to the environment anyway?

The trees appear to have accelerated growth rates due to longer growing seasons and higher concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Scientists have documented the changes to the growth of 55 plots of mixed hardwood forest over a period of 22 years, and have concluded that they are probably growing faster now than they have done at any time in the past 225 years – the age of the oldest trees in the study.

Geoffrey Parker, a forest ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre in Edgewater, Maryland, said that the increase in the rate of growth was unexpected and might be matched to the higher temperatures and longer growing seasons documented in the region. The growth may also be influenced by the significant increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, he said.

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UK report: supermarket fridge refrigerants damaging environment

It started with good intentions which were to reduce the ozone layer problem caused by previous refrigerants. Unfortunately, the newer solution is much worse for the environment, though fine for the ozone. The good news is that a few global businesses that can have a major impact are already onboard with the newer products.

The EIA is concerned about the widespread use of damaging HFC (hydrofluorocarbon) gases as coolants. Supermarkets are the biggest industrial emitters of HFCs, which were hurriedly introduced in the 1990s as a safer alternative to ozone-depleting chemicals such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

HFCs do not damage the ozone layer but their global warming potential is ­significant. One tonne of the widely used gas called R404a has a warming effect equal to 3,900 tonnes of CO2 over a 100-year period. The level of leakage of the chemicals is equivalent to 1bn car journeys to the average local super­market. The gases escape in normal use and maintenance.

There are alternatives that can be used for refrigeration. More climate-friendly chemicals have been adopted in Sweden and Demark and by major multinationals including McDonalds and Coca-Cola. But British supermarkets have been slow to make the change.

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