A reader weighs in on Obama, the Tiller murder and Prop 8

Jim from California writes in about the murder of pro-choice doctor George Tiller:

Obama's push for understanding and for a mushy centrism is giving aid and comfort to the enemy, the extremists on the right. Prop 8 succeeded in part because of his "leadership" which empowers bigots. It's, "Hey, if Obama can be against gay marriage and be OK as a Democrat and a black man, then so can I." Or, "If Obama can oppose abortion, then that is a pretty legitimate point of view." As we have discussed before here and elsewhere, relating to the media, there just are NOT two legitimate sides to every social issue. Obama needs to choose and to lead. He is the President for God's sake and he must use the bully pulpit to bully, to lead on significant social issues not to cop out. Neutrality supports the status quo and is thus the right wing position.

Read the rest of this post...

Cheney called Obama "Osama"

To prove Cheney is still loathsome, at that very same forum today where he had a very brief interlude of being almost human while discussing same-sex marriage, the former V.P. called Obama "Osama":

Former Vice President Dick Cheney confused the president of the United States with the world's most-wanted terrorist in a speech on Monday.

Speaking at the National Press Club, Cheney answered a question as to why his administration had not caught Osama bin Laden. But in a faux pas certain to end up on cable news networks and late-night talk shows, Cheney transposed bin Laden's name with that of the current president.

"I believe he's still out there someplace," Cheney said of bin Laden. "I'm sure the current administration will continue to search for him. He's an important figure, obviously. We would have loved to have captured on our watch. We didn't. I'm sure the Obama people feel the same way.

"The important thing is that I don't think he can have much impact in terms of managing an organization, because that link between Obama [sic] and the people under him is pretty fragile. I don't think he has the capacity to do as much harm as he did at one point, but we ought to still continue to chase him."

They would have loved to capture him, but, instead, started a war with Iraq. Now, Osama is still free. Yet, Cheney has the audacity to still rant about what a threat he is to the U.S.

And, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what Lynne and Dick call Obama all the time anyway. Read the rest of this post...

Bill O'Reilly fantasized, on the air, about getting his hands on Dr. Tiller

O'Reilly really wanted to get his hands on Tiller. Media Matters found the clip:

Just a figure of speech? Yeah. Wink, wink. Read the rest of this post...

ABC News analyst: 50-50 chance that explosion brought down Air France jet from Rio to Paris

John Nance, the former FAA administrator, and now an aviation consultant to ABC News, says that there's a 50-50 chance that the missing Air France jet went down in an explosion. The story was just on ABC. They tended to downplay Nance's comments, but I have to admit, i was wondering about the possibility of terrorism as well. Obviously, it's too soon - and it's suspicious that no terrorist group is claiming credit, since they're usually not very shy about such things. Read the rest of this post...

We got a proclamation! It's "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month"

President Obama declared June 2009 as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month." No new rights or anything like that, but we got a proclamation.

Obama wants us to know he "continue[s] to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans." That's good. But, he's President now, not a candidate. A lot of people worked very hard to elect Obama, due in part to his campaign promises of equal rights for LGBT Americans. But, now, we need action, not more promises - at the very least, we need the inklings of a plan of action. So far, we've seen no indication of how, or even if, Obama is going to turn his support of those measures into reality. We've seen words, nice words like the ones below, but nothing really concrete on the legislative front, besides the Hate Crimes bill. And while the Hate Crimes bill is important, it's probably at the bottom of the totem pole, in terms of its importance among the promises Obama has made our community. (And in any case, it already passed both the House and Senate back in 2007 - so the White House doesn't really get any credit for it passing again.)

Here's the proclamation:

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

Very nice and appreciated. But, this is 2009, not 1993. We need more than words, we need real action. And, from watching how activists on other issues are making progress with Team Obama - such as the Hispanic community, that was pushing for three Cabinet posts, and now has a Supreme Court justice too (we're zero and zero) - one thing is clear: We're going to have to be pretty forceful, loud and unrelenting about what we want, if we expect any movement.

Also, as I've noted before -- and will continue to note, GLAD filed a lawsuit aimed at finding Section 3 of DOMA unconstitutional. The government's answer is due by the end of June. During this LGBT Pride Month, if the Obama administration chooses to actually defend DOMA (and they do have a choice), that will speak much, much louder about Obama's continued support for gay Americans than this proclamation. (I actually think that if Obama wasn't hindered by his political advisers and consultants, he'd be much better on the issue. You know, in an off-the-record kind of way, he probably already is.) Read the rest of this post...

Dick Cheney comes out again for gay marriage: "I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish."

Last week, Ted Olson. Today, Dick Cheney:

Dick Cheney rarely takes a position that places him at a more progressive tilt than President Obama. But on Monday, the former vice president did just that, saying that he supports gay marriage as long as it is deemed legal by state and not federal government.

Speaking at the National Press Club for the Gerald R. Ford Foundation journalism awards, Cheney was asked about recent rulings and legislative action in Iowa and elsewhere that allowed for gay couples to legally wed.

"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone," replied the former V.P. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."

We hate Dick Cheney here at AMERICAblog.com. Hate him. But, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And, as Sam Stein, who wrote the article above, notes, this statement make Cheney more progressive than Obama on marriage equality. If Cheney can support marriage equality, there's really no excuse for Obama and other leading Congressional Democrats.

Cheney has been using similar language since 2004, when he broke with his boss, George Bush, over the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage:

At a campaign rally in this Mississippi River town, Cheney spoke supportively about gay relationships, saying “freedom means freedom for everyone,” when asked about his stand on gay marriage.

“Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it’s an issue our family is very familiar with,” Cheney told an audience that included his daughter. “With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone. ... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.

“The question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that’s been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage,” he said.

And, Congress should stay out of it. But, in 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which put the federal government in a position to regulate marriages at the state level. DOMA needs to go.

And, this further confirms all the polling that shows when people know someone gay, it makes them more likely to be supportive of issues like marriage equality. Frankly, I don't think Dick with be with us absent that. But, he is -- and here's the video. Cheney almost sounds human:
Read the rest of this post...

Hard to imagine any problems with the old SEC

Proper oversight and enforcement of sound policies is probably overrated. Or not. Mary Shapiro appears to be moving in the SEC in the right direction but it's is going to take some time to get past some of these problems.

But when the group arrived at SEC headquarters on that winter day early last year, it was barred from the room where the commission was meeting, according to a person familiar with the case. Chairman Christopher Cox and his colleagues reviewed the case inside. When the doors opened, the enforcement officials learned the commission had knocked down the penalty to a small fraction of what they had sought.

The outcome, though discouraging to the team, was not a complete surprise, sources said. After Cox became SEC chairman in mid-2005, he adopted practices that undermined the enforcement division's efforts to investigate cases of corporate wrongdoing and punish those involved, according to interviews with 19 current and former SEC officials.

During Cox's tenure, investigators who wanted to subpoena documents or compel interviews faced an increasingly cumbersome process to win the commission's approval for each case, according to current and former agency officials.

Cox also required enforcement officials to see the commissioners before approaching a company about a civil settlement. In several high-profile cases, when SEC lawyers were ready to ask the commission to authorize lawsuits or approve settlements, Cox postponed the decisions at the last minute, leaving cases unresolved for months, the sources said. At times, as in the Biovail case, the commission eventually weakened the sanctions sought by the enforcement division.

Read the rest of this post...

O'Reilly to address to criticism over his demonization of pro-choice doctor who was then assassinated in church

The fact that a lead GOP front man has to explain himself over a murder speaks volumes to just how extreme the GOP has become. What do you think? Can speech alone incite violence? Or do you subscribe to the notion that speech doesn't kill people, people kill people - i.e., in the end we're all responsible for our actions, regardless of whether someone else inspired them? Read the rest of this post...

Michael Moore on GM's bankruptcy

From Michael Moore:

It is with sad irony that the company which invented "planned obsolescence" -- the decision to build cars that would fall apart after a few years so that the customer would then have to buy a new one -- has now made itself obsolete. It refused to build automobiles that the public wanted, cars that got great gas mileage, were as safe as they could be, and were exceedingly comfortable to drive. Oh -- and that wouldn't start falling apart after two years. GM stubbornly fought environmental and safety regulations. Its executives arrogantly ignored the "inferior" Japanese and German cars, cars which would become the gold standard for automobile buyers. And it was hell-bent on punishing its unionized workforce, lopping off thousands of workers for no good reason other than to "improve" the short-term bottom line of the corporation. Beginning in the 1980s, when GM was posting record profits, it moved countless jobs to Mexico and elsewhere, thus destroying the lives of tens of thousands of hard-working Americans. The glaring stupidity of this policy was that, when they eliminated the income of so many middle class families, who did they think was going to be able to afford to buy their cars? History will record this blunder in the same way it now writes about the French building the Maginot Line or how the Romans cluelessly poisoned their own water system with lethal lead in its pipes.

Read the rest of this post...

GOP's Sotomayor strategy is controlled by Rush and Newt, not GOP Senators

Yesterday was supposed to be the day Republican Senators took control of the debate on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. The Sunday shows were crawling with Republican Senators: GOP leader Mitch McConnell (KY), GOP Whip Jon Kyl (AZ), Senate campaign committee chair John Cornyn (TX), Ranking Repub. on Judiciary Jefferson Sessions, cheerleader Lindsey Graham and Senator/Gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX).

That GOP crew was trying to take control of the messaging not from Democrats, but from the true leaders of their party, Rush and Newt, and a couple of other prominent haters in the party, like Tom Tancredo. But, it didn't quite work out that way, as Roll Call (the sub. req. "Newspaper of Capitol Hill"), reports. Mitch McConnell and his hapless band of GOP Senators spent their time talking about what Rush, Newt and the others said:

Republicans acknowledge that conservatives – particularly former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), former Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) and Rush Limbaugh – put the party in a difficult position with their accusations that Sotomayor is a “reverse racist” and with their attacks on the civil rights group La Raza.

McConnell had hoped to use the Sunday talk show circuit to launch his Conference’s fight against Sotomayor with appearances on all the major talk shows by GOP leaders including McConnell, Minority Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions (Ala.), National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas), as well as Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.).

The plan was for Republicans to hit the airwaves with a preliminary set of concerns over Sotomayor’s record and with some of her public statements – and to keep the comments by conservative activists at a distance while not angering the party’s base.

Republicans also are keen to maintain at least the appearance of open-mindedness, and McConnell has pushed his members to not make statements prejudging her until the Senate is further along in the confirmation process.

Instead, McConnell and his colleagues spent significant time dealing with the controversy and having to distance themselves from the charges while not rejecting them outright.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” McConnell refused to rebuke Limbaugh and other conservatives while also trying to make clear he did not support them. “It is certainly not my view … [but] I’ve got better things to do than be the speech police,” a clearly frustrated McConnell said.

McConnell, who never misses an opportunity to police the speech of Democrats, won't challenge the racist language emanating from his allies. He looked really weak and spineless in his interview:

Under McConnell's leadership, the GOP Senate caucus has shrunk from 55 members to only 40. This interview helps explain why. Read the rest of this post...

Minn. Supreme Court hears Norm Coleman's appeal to overturn election results today

Al Franken should be sitting in the United States Senate today. But, instead, he's got one more court hearing -- this one is the big one. The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear Norm Coleman's last-ditch effort to win in the courts what he couldn't win at the ballot box:

Now it comes down to five votes.

Almost seven months after a U.S. Senate election that was too close to call, five justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether problems with absentee ballots justify reversing a lower-court ruling that declared DFLer Al Franken a 312-vote winner over Republican Norm Coleman.

Partisans across America will be watching, pronouncing judgment on a thousand blogs. The case may cast a blinding national spotlight on the state Supreme Court.

A decision upholding the lower-court ruling could end the protracted struggle and allow Franken to join the Senate, giving Democrats an invincible majority. A ruling for Coleman wouldn't return him to the Senate, but could keep his hopes alive and delay a final decision for months.

Minnesotans want the dispute to end, recent polls show. Most people say Coleman should concede. Nearly two-thirds believe that Franken ultimately will be declared the winner.

Coleman is fighting this battle at the behest of Republican leaders in D.C. They don't want Democrats to have a 60th vote. That matters to the GOP and they've been funding Coleman and his lawsuits for the past seven months.

Coleman should have conceded already. He has the burden of proof to show the lower courts were wrong. It's a high hurdle. We'll monitor what the court watchers are saying after oral arguments and hope for a good decision soon. Read the rest of this post...

O'Reilly compared murdered doctor Tiller to a Nazi, called him a "baby killer," and warned of "Judgment Day"

Salon has the story:

[T]here's no other person who bears as much responsibility for the characterization of Tiller as a savage on the loose, killing babies willy-nilly thanks to the collusion of would-be sophisticated cultural elites, a bought-and-paid-for governor and scofflaw secular journalists. Tiller's name first appeared on "The Factor" on Feb. 25, 2005. Since then, O'Reilly and his guest hosts have brought up the doctor on 28 more episodes, including as recently as April 27 of this year. Almost invariably, Tiller is described as "Tiller the Baby Killer."

Tiller, O'Reilly likes to say, "destroys fetuses for just about any reason right up until the birth date for $5,000." He's guilty of "Nazi stuff," said O'Reilly on June 8, 2005; a moral equivalent to NAMBLA and al-Qaida, he suggested on March 15, 2006. "This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao's China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union," said O'Reilly on Nov. 9, 2006.

O'Reilly has also frequently linked Tiller to his longtime obsession, child molestation and rape. Because a young teenager who received an abortion from Tiller could, by definition, have been a victim of statutory rape, O'Reilly frequently suggested that the clinic was covering up for child rapists (rather than teenage boyfriends) by refusing to release records on the abortions performed.

Jed Lewison has the video from some of those 29 segments:
Read the rest of this post...

Krugman: Reagan did it

Or at least, Reagan started the process that others - Democrats and Republicans - continued and extended. None of this could have been possible without the assistance of large numbers on both sides. Krugman on opening up debt during the Reagan years:

All this, we were assured, was a good thing: sure, Americans were piling up debt, and they weren’t putting aside any of their income, but their finances looked fine once you took into account the rising values of their houses and their stock portfolios. Oops.

Now, the proximate causes of today’s economic crisis lie in events that took place long after Reagan left office — in the global savings glut created by surpluses in China and elsewhere, and in the giant housing bubble that savings glut helped inflate.

But it was the explosion of debt over the previous quarter-century that made the U.S. economy so vulnerable. Overstretched borrowers were bound to start defaulting in large numbers once the housing bubble burst and unemployment began to rise.

These defaults in turn wreaked havoc with a financial system that — also mainly thanks to Reagan-era deregulation — took on too much risk with too little capital.

Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Lots of news swirling around. An Air France jet on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris is missing. Just missing.

Today, the once venerable General Motors will file for bankruptcy protection. Expect remarks from Obama later this morning. U.S. taxpayers have a big stake in the company now. We're building quite a portfolio with our tax dollars.

Also, expect continued extremist attacks on Sotomayor.

Should be quite a week... Read the rest of this post...

GM filing for bankruptcy at 8AM today

Growing up I never thought that I would see this day. Even in their faltering "heartbeat of America" phase when fighting back against Japanese competition it did not even sound like a remote possibility. NY Times:

President Obama will push General Motors into bankruptcy protection on Monday, making a risky bet that by temporarily nationalizing the onetime icon of American capitalism, he can save at least a diminished automaker that is competitive.

The bankruptcy, to be filed in New York, is a moment of reckoning for an industry that was once at the heart of the American economy. It culminates a remarkable four months of confrontation between Washington and Detroit that is expected to result in a drastic downsizing of the company.

It also places the government in uncharted territory as a business owner, as it takes a 60 percent ownership stake in the company during its restructuring.

Read the rest of this post...

Cancer vaccines as the future?

This would be wonderful news for many if the early success is confirmed. Many cancer treatments today can be so harsh. While they can cure the cancer the quality of life during and following treatment is abysmal. Something better has to out there, sooner or later.

Experimental vaccines against three other cancers — prostate, the deadly skin disease melanoma and an often fatal childhood tumor called neuroblastoma — also gave positive results in late-stage testing in recent weeks, after decades of struggles in the lab.

“I don’t know what we did differently to make the breakthrough,” said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society.

Instead of a single “A-Ha!” moment, there have been many “ah, so” discoveries about the immune system that now seem to be paying off, said Dr. John Niederhuber, director of the National Cancer Institute.

It’s way too soon to declare victory. No one knows how long the benefits will last, whether people will need “boosters” to keep their disease in check, or whether vaccines will ever be a cure. Many vaccines must be custom-made for each patient. How practical will that be, and what will it cost?

Read the rest of this post...

Geithner promotes China's interest in joining IMF

Though it may not be popular in some countries, it's not a bad idea. Too many of these global organizations reflect a different time that no longer applies. (The UN comes to mind immediately.) China's economy is large enough where they should be more involved in the IMF:

He offered U.S. backing for a higher-profile role for China in running global institutions including the IMF -- an offer likely to draw resistance from Europe since it raises the sensitive issue of adjusting the voting shares in the global lender.

"The United States will fully support having China play a role in the principal cooperative arrangements that help shape the international system, a role that is commensurate with China's importance in the global economy," Geithner said.

In words clearly intended to soothe Chinese concerns that its vibrant export economy might be targeted by U.S. lawmakers who are feeling pressure from soaring American joblessness, Geithner said the Obama administration will resist any such moves.

Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

Slow Sunday night here in Chicago. We just had a party for my dad's 80th birthday, and my nephews' (two of them) graduations from high school and college. Other than the incredibly yappy dog downstairs in the kitchen (never have I witnessed this kind of separation anxiety in a dog, ever), it's been a very nice trip back home. Read the rest of this post...