Largest gay group says Obama not showing leadership on 'Don't Ask Don't Tell'

Unfortunately it's the truth. Read the rest of this post...

Consumer spending is up, which is a good sign for the economy

Wash Post:

The steady gains in consumer spending are boosting confidence that the engine of the nation's economy is starting to hum again. February's increase was particularly notable because it came despite a freeze on wages following six months of growth. That sent the personal savings rate down to 3.1 percent, the lowest level since October 2008.

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Wash. Post on the growing problem of 'food fraud'

Okay, I really want the Food part of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to get on top of this:

"Food fraud" has been documented in fruit juice, olive oil, spices, vinegar, wine, spirits and maple syrup, and appears to pose a significant problem in the seafood industry. Victims range from the shopper at the local supermarket to multimillion companies, including E&J; Gallo and Heinz USA.

Such deception has been happening since Roman times, but it is getting new attention as more products are imported and a tight economy heightens competition. And the U.S. food industry says federal regulators are not doing enough to combat it.

"It's growing very rapidly, and there's more of it than you might think," said James Morehouse, a senior partner at A.T. Kearney Inc., which is studying the issue for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the food and beverage industry.

John Spink, an expert on food and packaging fraud at Michigan State University, estimates that 5 to 7 percent of the U.S. food supply is affected but acknowledges the number could be greater. "We know what we seized at the border, but we have no idea what we didn't seize," he said.

The job of ensuring that food is accurately labeled largely rests with the Food and Drug Administration. But it has been overwhelmed in trying to prevent food contamination, and fraud has remained on a back burner.

It's disturbing that what we're eating isn't what we think we're eating.

And, I did love this part of the article:

The techniques have become so accessible that two New York City high school students, working with scientists at the Rockefeller University and the American Museum of Natural History last year, discovered after analyzing DNA in 11 of 66 foods -- including the sheep's milk cheese and caviar -- bought randomly at markets in Manhattan were mislabeled.

High school students can figure this out. Seems like FDA should be able to handle it. Read the rest of this post...

Michele Bachmann thinks Rep. John Lewis is a liar. Yes, Civil Rights hero John Lewis.

Wow. Just wow. Via Steve Benen, who asks:

Oh, Michele Bachmann, is there anything you won't say out loud?

Benen adds:

So, Michele Bachmann would have us believe that John Lewis is a liar. John Lewis, who has demonstrated more integrity, honesty, and courage in his career than Bachmann's limited intellect can even fathom, is deserving of mistrust, because he heard racial slurs and talked about it. Got it.

It is possible that Michele Bachmann does not know about the civil rights struggle in America and the role John Lewis played in it. She probably has no idea that she serves in Congress with a living civil rights legend. And, if she did, she wouldn't care. Read the rest of this post...

Froomkin concerned about the White House counsel

From Dan Froomkin:

The White House counsel ideally serves as the president's conscience. But late last year, Barack Obama's conscience was surgically removed. Greg Craig, as Obama's top lawyer, was the point man on a number of hot-button issues, the fieriest being how to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Craig argued for holding fast to the principles that Obama outlined before he became president, regardless of the immediate political consequences -- an idealistic approach that, in a White House filled with increasingly pusillanimous pragmatists, earned him some powerful enemies. ... He was replaced by Robert Bauer, a politically adept consummate Washington insider whose expertise is in campaign finance law -- in short, a man whose job is to win elections, not defend principles. [...]

But decisions about whom the government should prosecute -- and how -- are precisely the kind that shouldn't be made on political grounds. The American justice system is supposed to transcend partisanship, and be beyond the realm of political horsetrading. There are limits to how much the White House should do when it comes to interfering with the Justice Department -- limits that, unfortunately, every modern president seems to push. And with Bauer serving in Craig's place, the pushback is lacking.

Even White House officials don't disagree that Bauer, who was general counsel for Obama's presidential campaign and chief counsel at the Democratic National Committee, is taking a fundamentally different approach to the job than his predecessor did.

Craig was undeniably opinionated. By contrast, a White House spokesperson told HuffPost: "Bob does not approach the position of White House counsel advocating for a particular set of policy preferences. He thinks that his role as counsel is to give the best legal advice available to the president and to other staff members in the White House."

So he doesn't stake out a position and defend it? "The White House counsel's office has not developed under Bauer a policy recommendation," the spokesperson said. "In the context of any pending legal question or pending policy, what they've done is to outline a range of options given their reading of the opportunities."

The White House did not make Bauer available for comment. And Craig declined several interview requests. But Craig's friends are horrified. Bauer is "becoming a validator and an enabler, rather than someone on the president's staff who keeps him out of trouble," said Steve Clemons, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation.

What Craig did was to try to keep Obama true to his campaign rhetoric about reversing the extremist legal views of the previous administration. "To Greg Craig, that was a defining characteristic of what the Obama administration was supposed to be about," Clemons said. "He ended up being the guy who kept pulling Obama toward his own moral and legal and political commitments."

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Wash Post recaps the lesbian bondage voyeur club saga of GOP chair Michael Steele

He's a saucy guy, that Steele.

Although it is not unusual for either party to spend money in tony settings to cater to wealthy donors, the RNC's latest filings captured widespread attention for one expenditure at a risque nightclub: $1,946.25 for "meals" at Voyeur in West Hollywood, which features topless dancers wearing horse bridles and other bondage gear while mimicking sex acts.

Liz Newcomb posted some Yelp! reviews of Voyeur at AMERICAblog Gay. Read the rest of this post...

Insurance industry caves on effort to cheat kids with pre-existing conditions

That was quick. But it goes to show you that we'll need to keep an eagle eye on the insurance companies, as this won't be the last time they try to find a loophole in the legislation. Good job by HHS on this one. Read the rest of this post...

Obama's DOJ defends DADT in court, quite vigorously in fact, argues that it's entirely constitutional

Yes they did. And no, they didn't have to. They even quoted Colin Powell railing against gays serving in the military. Yet they failed to mention that Powell has since changed his mind. An inconvenient truth that the man we put into office didn't bother mentioning to the court.

Don't Ask, Don't Give. Read the rest of this post...

Yet another child rape scandal ensnares the Vatican

New scandals involving the Catholic hierarchy are being exposed. Leaders of the Church really did enable and protect child rapists -- for decades. And, it's becoming obvious that the current pope was right in the thick of the cover up:

The Archdiocese of Miami, along with top Vatican authorities, knew as far back as 1968 that the Rev. Ernesto Garcia-Rubio, a priest later defrocked amid child sex-abuse allegations, had a troubled past in Cuba before transferring to South Florida, lawyers representing victims claimed Monday.

The lawyers say the Vatican's role is similar to what is alleged in the scandal now unfolding in Wisconsin, where top Catholic officials are accused of failing to defrock a priest accused of molesting some 200 deaf boys in a long career that paralleled the Miami cleric's. Pope Benedict XVI was in charge of the Vatican office that reviewed such cases when he served as Cardinal Ratzinger.

"It was a longstanding and well-known secret that the Vatican and Archdiocese of Miami knew exactly what Ernesto Garcia-Rubio was capable of," said Aventura attorney Jessica Arbour who with lawyer Stuart Mermelstein have filed several suits against the archdiocese involving Garcia-Rubio.

I really don't know how these people can live with themselves. I really don't.

I also don't understand how the Catholic bishops have any moral authority on Capitol Hill -- or anywhere else. Read the rest of this post...

Bisphenol A (BPA) to be listed as 'chemical of concern' by EPA

It's not much, but it's a start. BPA is used in countless products despite concerns about its safety for humans. Industry has been looking for alternatives for years though to date, nothing her emerged. This may be the shot across the bow that pushes them to speed up their research.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it is formally listing Bisphenol A -- a chemical found widely in consumer goods -- as a "chemical of concern."

The chemical is added to plastics to harden them, and has been used in soda cans, baby bottles and food containers. It is so widespread that 90 percent of Americans show traces of it in their urine. But, in recent years, studies have linked BPA to heart disease and cancer in humans, and to abnormal development in animals.

In January, the Food and Drug Administration said it had concerns about the chemical's effect on human health.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

This morning, the President will sign the reconciliation bill at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Virginia. The setting is significant because of the student loan reforms that are included in the reconciliation bill. That was a huge accomplishment, which got overshadowed by the health care debate. At least student loan reform made it through, unlike almost everything else. (Obama will be introduced by Dr. Jill Biden, who teaches at NOVA Community College.)

Later today, the President is meeting with President Sarkozy of France. Then, he and Michelle are having dinner with Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni. That means DC has a non-political celebrity in its presence. DC-types get giddy over "real" celebrities.

It's Passover, so happy Passover to all who celebrate. Although, this marks one more year in which I did not get invited to a Seder.

Start threading the news...I've got to take Petey out before it starts raining again. Read the rest of this post...

Myanmar opposition to boycott elections

The junta forced the issue by banning the opposition party from running in the elections as long as Aung San Suu Kyi remained in the organization. They refused to expel her and instead, voted to boycott the elections. They already won years ago by a large majority but were not allowed to govern so the elections have been proven to be all about show for the regime.

Loud cheering broke out at a meeting of the leaders of Burma's main opposition party after they voted unanimously to boycott an upcoming election that has been widely condemned as unfair and undemocratic.

The decision will further undermine the credibility of the poll. All 113 delegates at yesterday's gathering of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) agreed not to register the party with the election commission, effectively preventing it from participation in the polls that are expected to be held in October.

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Australia criticized for proposed internet filter

What are they thinking? This plan sounds like it's going down a very bad path for Australia.

"Our primary concern is that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide," Google wrote in its submission to the Australian government, suggesting that the filter – which would be mandatory and state-controlled – would slow browsing speeds.

The company said it already had its own filter to block child pornography.

"Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available and we agree," Google said. "But moving to a mandatory ISP-level filtering regime with a scope that goes well beyond such material is heavy-handed and can raise genuine questions about restrictions on access to information."

Lucinda Barlow of Google Australia told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the proposal raised the possibility of banning politically and socially controversial material and went beyond filters used in Germany, Canada and Italy. Other critics say the filtering would put Australia in the same censorship league as China.

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