The world loves Baltic the sea dog

What's not to love about the furry little pooch? Read the rest of this post...

WSJ uncovers more examples of GOP lawmakers privately admitting stimulus created jobs

From Jed at DKos we learn that the GOP lawmakers include GOP budget leader Paul Ryan, John Cornyn (!), and crazy Jean Schmidt (!!) Read the rest of this post...

Malta seascapes

Not politics, just very cool. Sounds like a book worth grabbing.

As I've said before the internet has proved to be a great place for photography. It has allowed photographers to meet, exchange views and ideas as well as allowing instant access to pictures from the other side of the world.

Whether you are a professional or keen amateur photographer you can now share your work with others and engage with those who have a passion for the same subjects or styles of photography. Digital photography has opened up many new avenues of contact and expression.

However, there is nothing quite like seeing your own work in print. To hold in your hand a single picture, or indeed a book of pictures remains very satisfying.

One group that has gone from the virtual to the real is a collection of photographers in Malta who met on Flickr where they are known as Flickristi.

The group has just published its first book, Malta Seascapes, which includes the work of more than 30 photographers and focuses on the coastline of Malta. The launch was accompanied by an exhibition which was hosted at the Malta Maritime Museum.

Each photographer has a number of pictures included in the book, each showing off their particular style, from dramatic colour landscapes to thunderous black and white rolling clouds.

Lots more photos via the link above. Read the rest of this post...

Palin steamed over Family Guy satire

Curious what you think. (Aside from the Palin reference, the end of the video is hysterical.) From Mediaite:

Um…did that really happen? And on Fox? Last night’s episode featured a “unique” story line where character Chris Griffin was dating a girl with Down’s Syndrome. A dangerous territory for comedy to be sure, that turned ugly, when Ellen (the character with Down’s Syndrome) revealed that her mother was the former governor of Alaska. Cue deserved outrage…now!

As ThinkProgress notes, Palin's outrage is selective. Read the rest of this post...

Evan Bayh hates you. Seriously. He told CNN today.

UPDATE: From Ambinder we learn that Bayh thought Obama was too beholden to liberals!

Bayh is an anomaly of sorts; he really grew to dislike the influence of liberal activists on his Senate colleagues. To him, these activists increased the cost of doing business. Reaching out to the other side became more risky than rallying around an ideological pole, even though that rallying around contributed to stasis. When it became clear to Bayh that the White House wasn't going to play his game -- wasn't going to sell out liberals at every turn -- Bayh decided he had had enough.

I'm with Atrios:

If Ambinder knows what he was talking about, Bayh wanted Obama to support a Senate coalition of Republicans and centrist Democrats. You know, the same thing we had for the past several really awesome years of policymaking. You also get the sense that, as is usually the case, there isn't really much policy substance here, it's all about the joys of hippie punching.

CNN:

"He hates the Senate, hates the left bloggers," a friend and longtime adviser to Bayh said. "They are getting their wish, pure Democrats in the minority."

Actually, the reason Democrats are in the quagmire they are today is because they and the White House moved too far to the right, not because they embraced the blogs. None of them have embraced the blogs, even though much of what we espouse polls well with the majority of the American public, and, ironically, was included in candidate Obama's platform. The problems arose not when the President and Congress did too much of what the blogs wanted, it's when they refused to do what they already promised the American people, and thus came off weak and ineffective.

The Congress and the President moved to the right in an effort to appease the Republicans. And look what it got them. Nothing. For Evan Bayh to now pull a Sarah Palin, taking all his marbles and going home, is neither original nor helpful. Bayh can blame the demise of the Democratic party all on himself. They took his advice. Lord knows they aren't listening nearly enough to any of us.

In other news, the Republicans are apparently a bit ticked at Evan Bayh. It took him leaving to finally do something right. Read the rest of this post...

Teabaggers beware, Scalia says you can't secede

This is going to be make Teabagger Nation very cranky. Read the rest of this post...

More updates from our blog swarm urging HRC to be our 'fierce advocate' on DADT

A coalition of progressive blogs and bloggers, straight and gay, joined today in a blog swarm targeting the Human Rights Campaign. The swarm urged HRC to to be more aggressive in its lobbying of the White House on DADT. Here are a few updates, since our last update.

HRC issues statement saying their secret plan is still on track. Hill says, no it isn't.

The last time HRC promised us that DADT was on track.

Anecdotal evidence that HRC is getting a lot of calls, here and here.

A reader explains that HRC and the White House are simply waiting until DADT reaches 100% in the polls, in the interest of bipartisanship. Read the rest of this post...

TSA at it again

How shocking to read that something like this happened at the Philadelphia airport, again. That place is a magnet for employees like this. The dad has every right to be upset.

Just when I thought I was out of the Transportation Security Administration business for a few columns, they pull me back in.

Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?

Unfortunately, it's no joke. This happened to Bob Thomas, a 53-year-old officer in Camden's emergency crime suppression team, who was flying to Orlando in March with his wife, Leona, and their son, Ryan.

Ryan was taking his first flight, to Walt Disney World, for his fourth birthday.

Read the rest of this post...

What will Evan Bayh do with his $13m war chest?

From Greg Sargent:

With national Dems scrambling to figure out a way forward in the wake of Evan Bayh’s announced retirement, Dem party strategists are quietly beginning to ask a key question:

What will Bayh do with the $13 million in campaign cash he still has on hand? Will he turn all or some of it over to the Dem party committees, to help the eventual Dem candidate in Indiana and blunt the negative impact his retirement will have on the party’s fortunes?

A spokesman for Bayh tells me he’s made no decision what to do with the money. And it’s likely that he will come under pressure to turn that cash over to the party.

Bayh does have the option to do this. According to Judith Ingram, a spokesperson for the Federal Election Commission, Bayh can turn over unlimited amounts to the DSCC, the most likely recipient, or even to other national party committees, such as the DNC and the DCCC.

He can only turn over limited amounts to the eventual candidate, but cash given to the DSCC would blunt the damage to Dems. The DSCC would have to come up with less money to spend on the Indiana race and would conceivably have more resources to spend elsewhere.

Read the rest of this post...

Lots of updates on our blog swarm of HRC over DADT

As you may know, Joe and I joined a group of other top progressive bloggers, both gay and straight, in a blog swarm today, calling on the largest gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, to publicly demand that President Obama take the lead on repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell this year. There's growing concern on Capitol Hill, and in the gay community, over the White House's refusal to signal that it wants DADT repealed this year. Here are a few of our posts, over on AMERICAblog Gay.

Our original post about the blog swarm. A blog swarm is basically a group of blogs all agreeing to write about the same topic on a particular day, in an effort to get it attention.

The gay magazine, the Advocate, reports on our swarm.

Pam Spaulding weighs in.

Michelangelo Signorile weighs in too.

A local HRC affiliate weighs in, and tries to deflect the blame away from the President.

Lots of other blogs and bloggers weigh in, including DailyKos, Taylor Marsh, TowleRoad, David Mixner, and Bilerico. Read the rest of this post...

Halperin's brilliant advice for Obama in TIME: Just ask the GOP to play nice

From Eric Boehlert at Media Matters:

Oh brother. It's been a whole year and still Beltway deep thinkers in the press remain committed to unique narrative that it's Obama's job -- and his alone --- to create bipartisanship. Forget that the definition of bipartisanship is two sides working together. From the day Obama was sworn into office, the press has made it quite clear that Democrats, and Democrats only, will be blamed for the lack of political cooperation.

And yes, Halperin this week repeats the same Beltway-approved talking points that pundits have been recycling for 12 months now. (I want that job!)

Halperin's painfully naive closing provides an unintended chuckle:

Obama needs to conduct some sort of face-to-face intervention with amenable senior Republican legislators, to convince them that it is possible to make a deal in one or two important areas without agreeing on every issue or laying down their arms for the next election. He needs to remind his adversaries that the purpose of government, ultimately, is to improve the lives of the American people, that its leaders - whether in the majority or the minority - shouldn't want to be part of a system that inspires so little faith. And that, friends or not, the only way to build back the trust of the American people is to start to trust each other, if only a little bit.

OMG, why didn't the White House think of this?! According to Halperin, all Obama has to do is ask some "amenable" GOP leaders for their cooperation. Obama just needs to appeal to their sense of duty and responsibility.

And voila! Problem solved.

Read the rest of this post...

Ken Starr 'sorry' about Lewinsky scandal

From Stephanopoulos, via Twitter:

Starr: 'Absolutely' Sorry Clinton / Lewinsky Scandal Happened "The law is the law." He told me this morning.

Read the rest of this post...

A sign of the times

And not a very good sign, either.

A 73-year-old Florida man who was arrested for robbing three banks -- unarmed and taking $600 in each heist -- said he needed the money to pay his home mortgage, police said on Friday.

James Bruce of Tampa was arrested on Thursday. He admitted robbing the banks but said he planned to pay back the money, Tampa Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

"He called it a repayable loan," she added.

Read the rest of this post...

DADT blog swarm: Call HRC today to demand the President pushes repeal of DADT this year

A group of progressive and LGBT blogs have launched a blog swarm aimed at the Human Rights Campaign. The goal is simple: Call HRC and tell them to push the White House to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell this year.

John laid out the reasons for the swarm at AMERICAblog Gay.

Besides us, these blogs are also participating: Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend, Michelangelo Signorile, Sirius OutQ & the Gist, Markos Moulitsas, DailyKos. Andy Towle, TowleRoad, Joe Jervis, Joe My God, Bil Browning & Phil Reese, Bilerico, Taylor Marsh, TaylorMarsh.com, David Mixner, DavidMixner.com, and Dan Savage, Slog

We need leadership from the White House to get the repeal of DADT. The President can include repeal language in the Defense budget he sends to Capitol Hill. There's still time for that. In addition, Servicemembers United have crafted a repeal plan that would meet the needs of all the key players. If Obama wants the repeal in his budget, the Senate Armed Services Chair, Carl Levin, can include the language in his Committee's Defense Authorization bill. That way, the repeal can be moved in a way that doesn't require overcoming a 60-vote filibuster. It can be done. It should be done.

Unfortunately, too many D.C.-based progressive groups have not challenged the Obama administration's failure to follow through on campaign promises. They've enabled the inaction in order to maintain access. But, we've started to reach a point where allies are publicly demanding action, or promises are never kept. Just last week, the AFL-CIO was forced to send an action alert to its members, targeting the White House. If it's good enough for the unions, it's good enough for us.

We truly believe that if HRC were to openly call on the White House to get DADT repealed this year, it would happen. Mostly because Democrats are rightly worried about the gay vote (and the support of our straight allies) months before a critical congressional election. They should be worried about the gay vote if there's no action this year.

PLEASE CONTACT HRC TODAY

Please contact HRC today, and urge them to publicly demand that the President take the lead in getting DADT repealed this year. If you're a member or donor to HRC, tell them, and ask to speak to Members Services.

We are at a unique moment in history. Pro-gay Democrats control the White House and the Congress. Momentum is building for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. And the polls show that the American people, even Republicans, are on our side. We can win this battle. But only if our leaders choose to lead. Gay Americans helped elect this President and this Congress with our votes, our money and our time. And gay Americans have funded HRC for years, in exchange for a promise of results once the Democrats finally came to power.

You've done your job. Now it's time for the President, Congress and HRC to do theirs.

HRC Front Desk: (202) 628-4160
TTY: (202) 216-1572
Toll-Free: (800) 777-4723

HRC Web site comment page.
General membership email at hrc: membership@hrc.org Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Big news last night from Pakistan with the capture of the Taliban's second-in-command. Bush and Cheney never accomplished that. No, they ignored Afghanistan and Republicans in Congress let them. Peter Daou made a really good point last night on Twitter:

Why you can never trust Beltway narratives: national security is turning out to be this Dem White House's strength

Meanwhile, the tough battle for Marja continues with U.S. troops facing "Ambushes, sniper fire and a labyrinth of buried bombs."

On the political front, we can expect more fretting among Democrats on Capitol Hill with the news that Evan Bayh is retiring. This is a time for Democrats to act bold and follow through on the agenda that got them elected. I suspect they'll do just the opposite.

The President is making a trip to Lanham, Maryland today. He's going to be speaking at the IBEW's job training center about investing in new energy jobs.

Congress is in recess for the week.

Let's get it started... Read the rest of this post...

Sexism bringing down EU foreign minister?

In the old boy network, it's always a strong possibility but certainly the new foreign minister isn't doing herself any favors either. It should be noted that the two countries being accused of sexism have done a much better job than the UK in recent years with promoting women in senior government positions. The UK is not necessarily known for promoting a fair distribution of senior positions in either government or business. Thatcher is of course, the exception that proves the rule in modern Britain. Sexism surely is playing a role though lack of visibility during the recent crisis isn't helping. (Think about Bush being a no show after Katrina.)

It should also be noted that northern Europe is the model for sharing business and government between men and women. Most countries in the world could learn a few lessons from those governments, the US included. The choice of Catherine Ashton for this position has seemed as odd as the decision to promote Herman Van Rompuy as EU President. Neither had a record of substance and nothing suggested that they had the experience necessary for what should be high profile jobs.

You almost have to feel bad for both since they were thrown into the spotlight without much experience handling that brutal environment. It's as if both were set up for failure. When I read about the new foreign minister being protective of her personal time, on a personal level I'm in complete agreement. I don't take phone calls or check work emails after a certain hour and I enjoy having dedicated time with my wife. However, even in my field of work, it's understood that this is not always possible as you move up the ladder. It's not right and it's probably not healthy, but that's the way it is. When you accept the job of foreign minister or president, it goes without saying that your personal schedule is going to be limited while you are in that role.

What were the Brits thinking when they promoted a non-elected, unknown person in the first place? A peer in the House of Lords? Really? The Independent:

Her no-show in Haiti helped to tip what was just a mild undercurrent of consternation into a torrent of hostility. Her argument that "disaster tourism" would detract from vital humanitarian efforts was left looking silly when another senior EU official, Development Commissioner Karel De Gucht, was dispatched to the scene of the disaster. French newspapers seized on her absence, with the left-leaning daily Libération expressing outrage that Lady Ashton had returned to Britain to visit her husband and children on the same day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Port-au-Prince. "It smacks of amateurism, even incompetence," the paper wrote. France's Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche deplored the "current void" left by Ashton. "The world does not wait for us," he told French reporters. She also left herself open to further attacks over her decision to forgo an international aid conference for Haiti in Canada, leaving the media-savvy French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to grab the limelight.

But supporters said criticism of what may have been an error of judgement is now degenerating into a personal character assassination. "The French seem to have it in for her. It is open to question how much of this is about her being British and a woman. And they have a huge guilt complex over Haiti anyway, which they might channelling through her. But it is becoming excessive," said one senior diplomat, referring to a recent French article that alleged that Lady Ashton "switches off her phone after 8pm" and makes off to London every weekend to visit her husband and school-going child, instead of travelling the globe.

Read the rest of this post...

Murdoch's UK tabloid hoping for settlement in phone hacking case

The British Conservatives are hopeful as well. Somehow the argument that there was an isolated case of phone hacking sounds flimsy. The Guardian:

The News of the World is believed to be planning to settle a court case which threatens to disclose further evidence of the involvement of its ­journalists in illegal information-gathering by private investigators.

According to one source at the paper, executives have devised a plan to block the case by offering money to the celebrity PR agent Max Clifford to persuade him to settle his legal action over the illegal ­interception of his voicemail messages.

The Clifford case is potentially important for Andy Coulson, media adviser to the Conservative leader David Cameron, who edited the News of the World at the time of the illegal interceptions. The paper's then royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, and a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, were jailed in January 2007 for intercepting the voicemail of a total of eight victims, including Max Clifford. Coulson and the paper said they knew nothing about the illegal activity by Goodman and Mulcaire. Coulson resigned on the grounds that he carried ultimate responsibility.

Since then it has emerged that other News of the World journalists were involved in handling illegally "hacked" voicemail messages and that there were numerous other victims.

Read the rest of this post...

Circumcision ring receives funding for additional studies

Sounds like a potentially good solution to lowering the AIDS rate in many poor countries. Fewer complications are an added bonus for this project that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting. China produced some excellent solutions to problems that impact many poor countries and this sounds like their latest easy but good solution.

The most powerful force against AIDS in Africa may be circumcision, a procedure that's easily done in the developed world. But it's a challenge on a continent where there are too few medical workers and a reluctance by men for cultural reasons and fear of pain.

Now there may be a new weapon in the arsenal — a ring-shaped device that is mostly painless and requires less time for health workers.

The Chinese-developed device, the ShangRing, has been tested in a small study in Kenya and a larger test is set for later this year. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will invest about $4 million into studying the device.

Read the rest of this post...