Olbermann: Leaked GOP memo suggests auto bailout bill was killed for political reasons

From Keith Olbermann's blog over at Countdown:

Countdown has obtained a memo entitled "Action Alert - Auto Bailout," and sent Wednesday at 9:12am, to Senate Republicans. The names of the sender(s) and recipient(s) have been redacted in the copy Countdown obtained. The Los Angeles Times reported that it was circulated among Senate Republicans. The brief memo outlines internal political strategy on the bailout, including the view that defeating the bailout represents a "first shot against organized labor." Senate Republicans blocked passage of the bailout late Thursday night, over its insistence on an immediate union pay cut. See the entire memo after the jump.

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Friday Orchid Blogging

Blc. Copper Queen

I've had this one for a few years, and it's finally showing its potential. As you'll see from the bottom photo, there are five flowers this time blooming, and that's a sign of a happy plant. And happy almost always means "good light." This is a family of orchid that likes a good deal of light. I gave this baby a lot sunlight, out on my balcony this summer, and that, along with some hideous looking lamps from Ikea shining on it 15 hours a day, gave me some great blooms (and great in quantity - the better the growing, the more blooms).



Now if you check out the photo below, you'll notice below the flowers, on the let, there's a stripy snaky pod thing growing. Those are the flowers coming out of a paph. mulitfloral that I have blooming for the first time. Hopefully all of those flowers will open at once, and it should be - knock on wood - quite a cool display. This is the kind of plant that makes those flowers that look a bit like evil bats in wing formation. That one should be in a full bloom in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

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Surprise! The GOP screws the troops again.

An exclusive from Noah Shachtman at Wired:

A Defense Department project, supposedly designed to support U.S. troops, was used instead to channel millions of dollars to personal friends and allies of its chief. The "America Supports You," or ASY, program was led in a "questionable and unregulated manner," according to a Department of Defense Inspector General report, obtained by Danger Room. At least $9.2 million was "inappropriately transferred" by the project's managers. Much of that money served only to further promote ASY, instead of assisting servicemembers.

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When a bargain isn't always a good deal

Prices are dropping. And for those of us celebrating Christmas with our usual shopping binge, that's not a bad thing. It's also not bad if you've been waiting forever to buy that one expensive thing (big TV, dining room table, couch, or whatever). There's no question that over the next year, you'll get quite a bargain.

But, as this article notes, there's a downside to prices dropping too much. The more the prices drop, the less businesses make on that sale. The less businesses make, the less money they have to pay their employees. So employees get cut and benefits get cut. And the more employees that get cut, the fewer people who have money to buy all those goods, even if they're now cheaper. And thus begins a vicious circle of decreased prices, profits, jobs, and spending.

Don't get me wrong, I'm searching my heart out for Christmas bargains for the family, and it's possible that some time over the next year I may finally break down and buy my own real dining room table (versus the cheapo Ikea fold-down I've had for 15 years) that I've been pining for, forever. And while Charlie Brown would remind me of the true meaning of Christmas, the economy could use a little of Snoopy's crass Christmas commercialism right about now.

Consumers reduced their spending at retail stores again in November while the costs of goods before they reach store shelves also continued to drop, more bad signs in a recession that appears to be deepening.

Businesses also cut their inventories by the largest amount in five years, the government said Friday, a sign the recession will force further cuts in production....

Falling prices might sound good for buyers, but a prolonged, widespread decline would do serious economic damage, dragging down incomes, clobbering home prices even more and shrinking corporate profits....

The latest economic data illustrate the negative cycle currently bedeviling the economy: consumers tighten their belts as the unemployed — and those who fear for their jobs — spend less, reducing retail sales and leading companies to cut back further.

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GM calls GOP's bluff, will temporarily shut down 20 plants across North America

Psyche.

General Motors Corp. said Friday it will temporarily close 20 factories across North America and make sweeping cuts to its vehicle production as it tries to adjust to dramatically weaker automobile demand.

GM said it will cut 250,000 vehicles from its production schedule for the first quarter of 2009, which includes a cut of 60,000 vehicles announced last week. Normal production would be around 750,000 cars and trucks for the quarter, spokesman Tony Sapienza said.

Many plants will be shut down for the whole month of January, he said, and all told, the factories will be closed for 30 percent of the quarter.

"We're adjusting pretty dramatically," spokesman Chris Lee said.

The move affects most of GM's plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. During the shutdowns, employees will be temporarily laid off and receive a portion of their normal pay from the company. They can also apply for state unemployment benefits, Lee said.

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Democrat Al Franken made progress today in Minnesota

Today was a big day for the recount in Minnesota. The current "official" tally shows incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman leading by 192 votes, however, the challenged ballots have yet to be counted (that will be done next week from Dec. 16 - 19). There are ongoing issues over 133 missing ballots and a large number of absentee ballots, which may have been incorrectly rejected. Those two issues was addressed today by the five-member Canvassing Board. Geek that I am, I watched the board's hearing live today via TheUptake.org.

As reported at MinnPost.com, things went well for Al Franken at the hearing:

The board has decided to count the missing 133 ballots from a Minneapolis precinct over the objections of the Norm Coleman campaign that lost ballots couldn't be recounted. According to the machine count done on Election Night, Franken won among those ballots by 46 votes. Friday's Canvassing Board's unanimous decision o go by the Election Night count means Franken keeps that 46-vote advantage.

Secondly, and potentially more significant, the board unanimously encouraged every county to sort its pile of rejected absentee ballots, look for those that were disqualified improperly, open and count those ballots and report the revised results to the state board.

The Franken campaign wanted those absentee ballots counted, so this is good news. The Coleman campaign doesn't want the ballots counted, so they're going to court.

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Now we know why they call them "Red" states

Reader Chris writes:

Key line:

“The collapse came after bipartisan talks on the auto rescue broke down over Republican demands that the United Auto Workers union agree to steep wage cuts by 2009 to bring their pay into line with U.S. plants of Japanese carmakers.”

The Republicans have revealed themselves at last.

You remember that old Soviet-era Russian joke about the guy who was horrified when his neighbor came home one day with a goat? It really bothered him that his neighbor had a goat and he didn’t. After stewing about this for a few weeks he went to the local Party boss and complained. The boss said, “I understand, comrade. I will try to find you a goat.” To which the guy replied, “No, no – I want you to kill my neighbor’s goat.”

Now we know why they’re called “Red” states.

NOTE FROM JOHN: I have to say I thought something similar. Since when is an American political party behind the proposition that it's unfair for Americans to make more than foreigners? And that if we do make more than foreigners, we need the government stepping in to cut our salaries? Is this really the position the Republicans want quoted back at them during the next election? Not to mention, what will the impact be on an already anemic economy of cutting the wages of hundreds of thousands of American workers? Doesn't that take more money out of the economy in the short term? Isn't that the opposite of what's needed? Read the rest of this post...

Illinois AG to Supreme Court: Help. Blago "is incapable of serving"

The Blago saga continues.

CNN covered live the news conference of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. She's going to the Illinois Supreme Court to get Blago out of office:

Atty. General Lisa Madigan called on the Illinois Supreme Court today to temporarily remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office and appoint Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn as acting governor, "so the business of the state of Illinois can go forward."

One of her goals is to prevent Blagojevich from using his power to appoint a U.S. senator to replace President-elect Barack Obama, who abandoned the seat as he prepares to enter the White House.

Madigan also said she wants the court to bar Blagojevich from directing state contracts along with a broad range of state business.

"We think it is very clear he is incapable of serving," Madigan said of the governor during a news conference in downtown Chicago.

The guy doesn't have a shred of class or decency. He won't resign. Although, CNN just reported that his Chief of Staff John Harris did quit. Harris was also arrested earlier this week. I wouldn't be surprised if Blago is taking some sick joy from knowing he's causing problems for Obama.

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Let's stop debating whose grassroots is bigger

There's been a lot of talk, some of it private, some public, about the former Obama campaign setting up a new non-profit organization to lobby Congress in support of Obama's agenda. And considering the large grassroots network Obama has marshaled, this isn't a bad idea. But, Obama needs to make sure that this new grassroots movement, Obama's own personal MoveOn, doesn't strive for too much political autarky.

Obama's people seem to have a predisposition towards going it alone. Given a choice between using someone else's wheel that's already out there, and reinventing one themselves, they tend to go for the latter. In real terms, this means that Obama's campaign decided early on not to embrace the Netroots. They would simply create their own blogs and online grassroots at BarackObama.com. And while this worked, famously, to a degree, there came a point in the campaign where the Obama team and the blogosphere both realized they needed to work together in order to win.

This new Obama organization has the potential to do remarkable things. But it's still untested. For all the fundraising the Obama online machine accomplished, they're far less tested in political advocacy. And for all the unity among Obama's online grassroots during the campaign, keeping a coalition of supporters together during an administration - when one false move by Obama on a key issue could alienate half of his grassroots base - is an entirely different ball game.

Obama's grassroots isn't the only game in the town. The liberal blogosphere and Netroots (including MoveOn, Media Matters, and others), and progressive organizations more generally, have their own loyal online following. And it took all of us a long time during the campaign to finally realize that we needed each other if we were going to win. I just hope that the birth of this new Obama organization brings with it a new spirit of combining our energies, rather than once again trying to reinvent the proverbial e-wheel by assuming that the "old" Netroots is expendable. That mistake was made once. It's in no one's interest for it to be made again. Read the rest of this post...

Musicians, Broadway, Hollywood asked not to license music to Mormons, BYU

Ironically, the musical "Wicked" is at the top of the list of music the Mormons are trying to license. Now that the Mormon church has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the gay-hating religious right, why should they get any broadway shows, or any music from any progressive artists at all? Let them go to Pat Boone and license his music. (And there's always Lee Greenwood.)

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With the country in crisis, Republican Senators playing the same old, useless political games. Democrats need to shut them down.

All right, I am obsessed with the Republican Senators today. In January, there will only be 41 of them (maybe 42 if that crooked Norm Coleman ekes out a win). In 2006, there were 55 GOP senators. They've lost over 25% of their numbers. That is a serious fail. When they were in charge, they enabled Bush. When in the minority, all they did was obstruct.

The GOP strategy for the next Congress is starting to emerge. It's more of the same. Over the past couple days, Arlen Specter and neanderthal Jon Kyl have been puffing out their chests and squawking about Eric Holder's nomination. They want to play games with the date of the hearings. It's about posturing, we're told in this AP analysis:

Republicans this week said there is good reason to spend time reviewing Holder's qualifications, especially given the recent politicization that demoralized the Justice Department under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The agency has major responsibilities, including the balance between tools to fight terrorism and the protection of civil liberties.

"As I look at this matter, it seems to me not realistic or fair to begin hearings before Jan. 26," said Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said mid-January might work.

More time, of course, also would mean more opportunity to talk about and review publicly that unpleasant chapter in Holder's career — and by extension, the troubled tenure of the Democrats' last president.

But insisting on the postponement served another Republican purpose as well. Peppered throughout their protests on the Senate floor was the word "precedent" — as in, not setting one with regard to confirmation hearings for Obama's other picks.

Okay, where to begin? These same GOP Senators, Specter and Kyl, ignored the failings of the Bush Justice Department. Now, it's a matter of their pride to delay the hearings on Holder. That's absurd.

All of the GOP Senators, in concert with their president, have put this country on the precipice. This country is in serious danger on many fronts. Americans voted for change. Serious change. Not games. Obama keeps saying he wants to put partisan politics aside for the good of the country. That only works if both sides do it -- and it looks like the GOP isn't changing its tactics.

Harry Reid and the rest of the Democrats in the Senate need to show some real leadership over the next few months. This is no time for the GOP's intra-Senate stunts. Every time the Republicans play the usual political games, they must be stopped. If the GOP Senate leaders want to filibuster everything, let them try. But, they will be exposed. Some of those GOP Senators running in 2010 might want to take note of all the empty seats at their next caucus lunch before they engage in the obstructionist games. And, the Senate Democrats have the power. They need to lead. Read the rest of this post...

LA Times: "Senate Republicans kill auto bailout bill"

Yes, they did. The GOP Senators, who enabled the Bush policies that destroyed our economy, are trying to finish off the U.S. auto industry:

Republican opposition killed a $14-billion auto industry bailout plan in the Senate on Thursday night, putting the future of U.S. automakers in doubt and threatening to deliver another blow to the economy.

The measure died after a last-ditch effort by Senate Democratic leaders to strike a compromise that would have lured enough support to save the legislation, which was crafted in consultation with the White House.

How many industries and companies have been obliterated because of Bush and the GOP?

I don't have any great love for the leaders of the U.S. auto industry. They created this mess. And, I hate the fact that the Bush administration has had a hand in the negotiations. But, these are very, very dire times. Also, I would never trust the motives of the Republican Senators. They were driven, in part, by their disdain for working men and women. Not only did the GOP Senators do everything possible to kill the negotiated deal, they went overboard in an effort to blame the UAW. David Vitter, quite possibly the biggest hypocrite on Capitol Hill, took the lead:

The Republicans senators emerged from their meeting an hour later having decided they would not agree to a deal. Several blamed the autoworkers union.

“It sounds like the U.A.W. blew it up,” said Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana.

Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the banking committee and a leading critic of the auto bailout proposal, said: “We’re hoping that the Democrats will continue to negotiate but I think we have reached a point that labor has got to give. If they want a bill they can get one.”

So, in GOP world, it's the men and women who do the real manufacturing work who are the problem.

The future of the auto industry is on in the hands of George Bush. How scary is that?

UPDATE 10:03 AM: The Bush administration may use the other bailout money to bail out the auto industry:

The White House said on Friday it was considering tapping a $700 billion financial industry bailout fund to prevent a collapse of ailing U.S. automakers.

"Given the current weakened state of the U.S. economy, we will consider other options, if necessary including use of the TARP program, to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters aboard Air Force One as Bush headed to Texas.

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Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

So, you may think that the failure of the auto bailout in the Senate is the big news today. You're wrong. Matt Lauer is obsessed with some photos of a couple girls who work at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in California. See, the girls took a bath in the sink of the KFC and posted the pictures online. That's the news today. I'm sure CNN will be all over it, too. I can't have my t.v. wake me up anymore. I get out of bed annoyed...I am getting a new alarm clock.

Okay, I'm running late. Need to take Petey for a walk. If Matt Lauer can obsess over pictures, so can I:

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How Germany could add significantly to the severity of the global downturn

More Krugman. I know Chris would have posted this, but he's in London trying to drum up business. So it falls to me to scare the hell out of everyone over the economy.

There’s an extraordinary — and extraordinarily depressing — interview in Newsweek with Peer Steinbrueck, the Germany finance minister. The world economy is in a terrifying nosedive, visible everywhere. Yet Mr. Steinbrueck is standing firm against any extraordinary fiscal measures, and denounces Gordon Brown for his “crass Keynesianism.”

You might ask why we should care. Germany’s economy is the biggest in Europe, but even so it only accounts for about a fifth of EU GDP, and it’s only about a quarter the size of the US economy. So how much does German intransigence matter?

The answer is that the nature of the crisis, combined with the high degree of European economic integration, gives Germany a special strategic role right now — and Mr. Steinbrueck is therefore doing a remarkable amount of damage.

Here’s the issue: we’re rapidly heading toward a world in which monetary policy has little or no traction: T-bill rates in the US are already zero, and near-zero rate will prevail in the euro zone quite soon. Fiscal policy is all that’s left. But in Europe it’s very hard to do a fiscal expansion unless it’s coordinated....

And if Germany prevents an effective European response, this adds significantly to the severity of the global downturn.

I noticed something similar in the past year in Europe. While our economic indicators were heading south, it seemed a lot of people in Europe felt that this was an "American problem," and that their housing market, banks, and overall economies were just peachy. Yeah, not so much. Read the rest of this post...

Colin Powell blasts GOP, Limbaugh

About time someone said it.

he Republican party must stop "shouting at the world" and start listening to minority groups if it is to win elections in the 21st century, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.

In an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria for Sunday's "GPS" program, President Bush's former secretary of state said his party's attempt "to use polarization for political advantage" backfired last month....

"I think the party has to stop shouting at the world and at the country,"Powell said. "I think that the party has to take a hard look at itself, and I've talked to a number of leaders in recent weeks and they understand that." Powell, who says he still considers himself a Republican, said his party should also stop listening to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

"Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?" Powell asked. "Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?"

The Republican party is unique in its embrace of anger, hatred, and divisiveness. There are no equivalent heroes on the left to compare to a Rush Limbaugh, an Ann Coulter, or the overall tone of conservative talk radio and FOX News. People on the right try to talk about Michael Moore. Really? What has Michael Moore said or donate lately - hell, in the past 3 years - that's been even in the same ballpark as the kind of bile spewed from best-selling conservative author Ann Coulter and top-rated conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh? Then there's FOX News. CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and NBC don't hold a candle to FOX in the angry yellow journalism department. Read the rest of this post...