Polish firefighters required to say 'Heil Hitler!' every morning

As you can imagine, that didn't go over very well with some people.

The station commander, along, apparently, with his deputy, also reportedly subjected to anyone who questioned his command to abusive tirades involving strings of expletives.

His alleged insistence of firemen using "Heil Hitler" instead of the traditional greeting of "Good day" was resented in particular given Poland's immense suffering under during the years of Nazi occupation.

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Reid to call GOP's bluff on filibustering every bill

From Amanda Terkel:

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) received a letter signed by all 42 Senate Republicans, which stated, "[W]e write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers."

But Reid plans to file cloture this week on at least three measures: the DREAM Act, collective bargaining for firefighters, and a 9/11 health bill. A senior Democratic staffer told The Huffington Post that it was likely to happen tonight or tomorrow. If it happens tonight, any of the bills could come before the Senate for a vote on proceeding to full debate as soon as Friday or possibly early next week.

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The impact of the GOP effort to kill unemployment benefits for millions of Americans this Christmas

Via Huff Post Hill:

Marie Roth said she fell behind on house payments when Congress spent nearly two months dithering over a reauthorization of extended unemployment benefits last summer. Now that lawmakers are dithering again, she's worried she'll lose the house. "I'm trying not to freak out. Just kinda praying and hoping for the best," Roth, 40, told HuffPost. "I keep looking for work and it's just not happening. There's nothing there."

Ken Watson of Batavia, Ohio, learned via email today that he'd be cut off from his unemployment benefits this weekend. "I thought I was good into January. I was so shocked today," Watson told HuffPost. Here's what the cutoff letter said: "Because federal funding for this program is ending on Saturday, December 4, 2010, you will not be able to receive these extended benefits for weeks beyond that date. Even if there is a balance showing on your account, these amounts cannot be paid because of the ending of federal funding. If Congress enacts legislation reinstating funding for this program, and that funding is retroactive, you will be notified." Watson is one of 800,000 facing an immediate cutoff from the Extended Benefits program in the next week. He said he's got five kids. "I don't know what I'm gonna do," he said. "We'll figure something out."

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Fineman: The fix is in on tax cuts

Countdown's first segment on Tuesday was about the Bush tax cuts, and well worth your time, especially if you like horror shows.

But I'd like to focus on the follow-up interview with Howard Fineman. Listen; then tell me why this doesn't translate to — Hey kids, the fix is in.



The key quote from Fineman, at 1:10 in the clip:

Everybody in the city knows that the president has essentially agreed to accept a two- or three-year extension of tax cuts for all Americans, including the wealthiest.

It seems that this [working] group [with senators and Tim Geithner, etc.] is designed to come to the conclusion that they know they're already supposed to come to and then give it back to the president.

The Republicans are going to make a big show of being reasonable by reluctantly giving up on their desire to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest into infinity. And they're going to be the reasonable ones here, so they're going to claim, by just agreeing to two or three years. And the president's going to accept it.

More on that working group here. Can't get much plainer than that. The fix is in on tax cuts.

I think we elected a Republican.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Glenn Greenwald - The moral standards of WikiLeaks critics

He starts with Joe Klein but there's much more inside the link including the Interpol charges against Assange.

Do you have that principle down? If "a single foreign national is rounded up and put in jail" because of the WikiLeaks disclosure -- even a "single one" -- then the entire WikiLeaks enterprise is proven to be a "disaster" and "Assange is a criminal" who "should be in jail." That's quite a rigorous moral standard. So let's apply it elsewhere:

What about the most destructive "anarchic exercise in 'freedom'" the planet has known for at least a generation: the "human disaster" known as the attack on Iraq, which Klein supported? That didn't result in the imprisonment of "a single foreign national," but rather the deaths of more than 100,000 innocent human beings, the displacement of millions more, and the destruction of a country of 26 million people. Are those who supported that "anarchic exercise in 'freedom'" -- or at least those responsible for its execution -- also "criminals who should be in jail"?

How about the multiple journalists and other human beings whom the U.S. Government imprisoned (and continues to imprison) for years without charges -- and tortured -- including many whom the Government knew were completely innocent, while Klein assured the world that wasn't happening? How about those responsible for the war in Afghanistan (which Klein supports) with its checkpoint shootings of an "amazing number" of innocent Afghans and civilian slaughtering air strikes, or the use of cluster bombs in Yemen, or the civilian killing drones in Pakistan? Are those responsible for the sky-high corpses of innocent people from these actions also "criminals who should be in jail"?

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TSA sued over 'pat downs'

There are surely many more like this underway or about to be filed. Some people really can be funny when it comes to privacy.

A Colorado attorney has asked a federal judge to order the Transportation Security Administration to abandon its airport screening procedures for United States citizens.

Gary Fielder filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver last week, more than a month after he, his two daughters, ages 9 and 15, and a family friend underwent a TSA pat-down in San Diego.

Fielder's lawsuit claimed the pat-downs were "disgusting, unconscionable, sexual in nature" and in violation of the Constitution's protections against unreasonable searches.

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WikiLeaks: Blackwater pitched themselves as pirate hunters

It takes one to know one, as they say. Why is the US still doing business with them? NY Times:

Lawsuits filed later by crew members on the McArthur made life on the ship sound little improved from the days of Blackbeard.

One former crew member said, according to legal documents, that the ship’s captain, who had been drinking during a port call in Jordan, ordered him “placed in irons” (handcuffed to a towel rack) after he was accused of giving an unauthorized interview to his hometown newspaper in Minnesota. The captain, according to the lawsuit, also threatened to place the sailor in a straitjacket. Another crew member, who is black, claimed in court documents that he was repeatedly subjected to racial epithets.

In the end, Blackwater Maritime Security Services found no treasure in the pirate-chasing business, never attracting any clients. And the Obama administration chose not to sever the American government’s relationship with the North Carolina-based firm, which has collected more than $1 billion in security contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Blackwater renamed itself Xe Services, and earlier this year the company won a $100 million contract from the Central Intelligence Agency to protect the spy agency’s bases in Afghanistan.

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Boehner and Cantor are now art critics on the taxpayer's dollar

Oh please. Have they really solved the economic crisis so quickly that they now have time for crap like this?

House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) and incoming Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Tuesday called for the dismantling of an exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery after they learned that it contains video of a Jesus statue with ants crawling on it, as well as works of art with strongly sexual themes.

Titled "Hide/Seek," the exhibit is slated to run from Oct. 30 to Feb. 13. The conservative website CNS News.com first alerted the two Republican leaders to its content.

Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said, "Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake and correct it, or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves [in]." He later clarified that Boehner wanted the exhibit "cancelled."

UPDATE from Joe: The Washington Post is reporting that the exhibit has been removed. Read the rest of this post...

Dan Savage is right: 'McCain is a bigot'

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Obama-for-America wants you to write letters supporting the federal pay freeze (really)

From David Dayen, this is OFA's latest appeal, quoted directly:

From Day One, this administration’s top focus has been growing the economy and putting Americans back to work — and that will never change. ...

Yesterday, [Obama] announced a proposal to freeze pay for non-military federal employees for two years ...

Cutting costs and spending responsibly has been a cornerstone of this administration’s record. And we need your help to get the truth out there.

Will you take a few minutes and write a letter to the editor today to set the record straight?

Pick me — I can do that:

Dear Mr. or Ms. Editor,

I want to set the record straight, just like the president asked me to.

I voted for a progressive Democrat and I got this Republican. Will you please tell people how bad I feel?

Thanks,

Citizen Yes I thought I could

GP Read the rest of this post...

GOP brings the Christmas spirit - 2 million Americans lose unemployment benefits

Thankfully Obama is ready to negotiate with them on tax cuts for the richest Americans. Surely caving in this time will work, right? Washington is probably upset that Wall Street bonuses will probably be down this year and who can really live on $400,000 - $500,000 per year? (An average range, of course, but how can one live on such chump change?) If Wall Street is prepared to cut back, everyone else should be ready to cut back, right? Just imagine how rough it's going to be for Wall Street traders to provide proper holiday gifts with so little? At least we know that we're all in this together and our brave leaders in Washington understand the situation.

Let them eat cake.

Extended unemployment benefits for nearly 2 million Americans begin to run out Wednesday, cutting off a steady stream of income and guaranteeing a dismal holiday season for people already struggling with bills they cannot pay.

Unless Congress changes its mind, benefits that had been extended up to 99 weeks will end this month.

That means Christmas is out of the question for Wayne Pittman, 46, of Lawrenceville, Ga., and his wife and 9-year-old son. The carpenter was working up to 80 hours a week at the beginning of the decade, but saw that gradually drop to 15 hours before it dried up completely. His last $297 check will go to necessities, not presents.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning. It's World AIDS Day.


Yesterday was quite a day.

First, we had the President meeting with Congressional leaders. Then, the DADT report came out. The press conference from Gates and Mullen was impressive. Gates concluding remarks that "a policy that requires people to lie about themselves somehow seems to me fundamentally flawed." DADT is fundamentally flawed.

Unfortunately, the process to end DADT has been flawed all year. Our biggest hurdles now are: the calendar, the process and GOP leadership. The next couple weeks present a huge challenge for Maine's Susan Collins. She keeps saying she wants a "fair process," but hasn't defined what that means. Collins voted for the DADT language in the Senate Armed Services Committee in May. If she sides with GOP leadership and makes bogus arguments about the process, DADT won't be repealed for a long time. She knows that. We'll see if Collins is truly a Maine independent or really just one of McConnell's puppets. Her track record shows she's more of a puppet. Hopefully, equality tips the scale.

Obama doesn't have much on his public schedule today. He's having lunch with DC's new mayor, Vincent Gray.

I don't understand why the President felt compelled to tell Republicans that he hadn't been bipartisan enough in the past. But, then again, I don't understand much of the Obama administration's strategy on anything.

It's a gray, rainy day in DC -- we're under a tornado watch til 10 AM.

Also, I'm on the Majority Radio Report wth Sam Seder at 11:45 AM ET. Read the rest of this post...

Julian Assange wanted by Interpol

Invasions of privacy are apparently a one way street. What is OK for governments is not OK for individuals. Wouldn't it be nice to see the governments so active about defending the privacy of individuals some day? What a joke.

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, is tonight facing growing legal problems around the world, with the US announcing that it was investigating whether he had violated its espionage laws.

Assange's details were also added to Interpol's worldwide wanted list. Dated 30 November, the entry reads: "sex crimes" and says the warrant has been issued by the international public prosecution office in Gothenburg, Sweden. "If you have any information contact your national or local police." It reads: "Wanted: Assange, Julian Paul," and gives his birthplace as Townsville, Australia.

Friends said earlier that Assange was in a buoyant mood, however, despite the palpable fury emanating from Washington over the decision by WikiLeaks to start publishing more than a quarter of a million mainly classified US cables. He was said to be at a secret location somewhere outside London, along with fellow hackers and WikiLeaks enthusiasts.

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Ségolène Royal jumps into 2012 campaign for French president

Everyone has been expecting current IMF MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be the candidate for the Socialist Party, so this news came as a shock. After her defeat to Nicholas Sarkozy in 2007, few imagined she would run again. Whether it's Strauss-Kahn or even Royal, Sarkozy is sitting on record low numbers and will have challenges to win again. But never underestimate the left's ability to blow a lead. (Some things somehow cross all borders.) The Guardian:

Royal, who once likened herself to Joan of Arc, surprised the Socialist party hierarchy by announcing today in two local papers that she would rise from the ashes and wanted to run for the Elysée in 18 months' time. She promised to be the candidate of the people and attacked her party for dithering over who would stand against Sarkozy.

The announcement by Royal, 57, who heads the Poitou-Charentes region in western France, exposed the long-running saga of the backstabbing, bickering and rivalries that has undermined the French left and exposed its lack of policies.

Sarkozy, whose approval rating is at a record low, has not announced whether he will stand for re-election in 2012 but is expected to seek a second term and has been crisscrossing France making thinly veiled campaign speeches to win back crucial parts of his electorate, including farmers, rural voters and the over-50s.

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Comcast to charge toll for Netflix

They do this because they can get away with it. Comcast has plenty of friends in Congress on both sides of the aisle and they're not shy with handing out money. The reality is that the service they provide is slow and very expensive compared to other parts of the world, so they have lots of cash to work with. (As I've mentioned in the past, even "socialist" France has multiple fiber optic options for around €35. This includes 100MB service, plus calls to well over 60 countries around the world plus TV channels. Other European and Asian countries have even better deals.)

So who still says we don't need net neutrality?

Comcast made a move during the past several weeks that may threaten Netflix and other video services, according to the New York Times. It levied a "toll" to Netflix's contracted video delivery service, called Level 3, which the company felt forced to pay in order to "ensure customers did not experience any disruptions." This brings a new wrinkle to the "network neutrality" debate.

In effect, without charging Netflix or its own cable broadband customers extra, but instead charging the provider of the video stream itself, Comcast gets to test the waters of segregated pricing, the very imbalance that supporters of net neutrality seek to counter. In this instance, Level 3, the contractor that dearly wants Netflix's business, is forced to pay extra to keep it. Eventually, this could lead to Netflix raising its own prices in order to cover the expenses of its streaming contractors. Neither Netflix or Comcast responded to the New York Times when approached about the matter. (Comcast is in final negotiations to buy NBC Universal; msnbc.com is a joint venture between NBC Universal and Microsoft.)

This also raises yet another reason why the Comcast deal ought to be canned immediately. Read the rest of this post...