Primary Night Results: Teabagger won in Delaware -- UPDATED

UPDATE @ 12:20 AM: Still waiting for results in DC, but it looks like NOM's candidate in Ward 5, Delano Hunter, is going to lose. GOOD.

In the mayor's race her in DC, Vincent Gray is leading Mayor Fenty. But, I can't tell how much of the vote is counted. The counting is very, very slow. Local news is agog ove a broken window at Fenty's campaign HQ.

Also, it's now looking good for Eric Schneiderman in the Democratic primary for NY AG. He's up by 3 points.

UPDATE @ 11:44 PM: Ethically challenged NY Congressman Charlie Rangel was just declared the winner in his primary. His ethics trial will take place later this month.
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UPDATE @ 11:08 PM: A winner has been declared in the NY GOP Gubernatorial primary. Tweeted by Swing State Project:

AP calls #NYGov GOP nod for Carl Paladino, one of the most revolting human beings in the Empire State.

Revolting and racist. Typical GOPer. Paladino will face Andrew Cuomo in November.
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UPDATE @ 10:24 PM: In New York, State Senator William Stachowksi, who voted against the marriage bill last December, was defeated in his primary. Congrats to FightBackNY for taking the fight to him -- and winning. The primary winner, Tim Kennedy, supports marriage equality. Now, he has to win in the general.
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UPDATE @ 10:16 PM: The openly gay Mayor of Providence, David Ciclline, won the primary in RI's Second CD tonight. This is the open seat, vacated by Patrick Kennedy.
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UPDATE @ 10:06 PM: Via Hotline, we've got an intra-GOP Senate caucus cat fight underway. Someone in a the leadership office is upset with DeMint for supporting O'Donnell:

One senior Republican leadership aide blasted DeMint for his involvement in the race, arguing he cared more about his own personal stature than a Republican majority in the Senate.

"DeMint took it a step too far here, and I think he has lost the remaining credibility he had, even within the caucus," said the aide. "DeMint is not interested in a majority, he'd rather establish himself as the leader on the fringe."

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UPDATE @ 9:43 PM: Via Blue Hampshire, in NH's Second CD, Annie Kuster won the Democratic primary. Blue Dog Katrina Swett has conceded. Annie is great. We'll have to help her win this open seat in November.
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UPDATE @ 9:08 PM: AP just called Delaware's GOP Senate primary for teabagger (and masturbation authority) Christine O'Donnell. 1) Wow. and 2) YAY!!!
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Okay, as of 9:00 PM Eastern polls are now closed in all seven states with primaries -- and DC. I'll be updating with results through the night. So far, Christine O'Donnell, the teabagger with a bizarre and shady past, is leading in Delaware. I think she's going to win. At 9:06 PM, with 77.5% of precincts reporting, O'Donnell is leading by a 10-point margin: 53.9% - 46.1%. (I'm updating these numbers every few minutes.) O'Donnell is now the face of the GOP. And, this bodes well for Democratic candidate Chris Coons. He took a risk getting in this race -- and it just might make him a Senator.

As always, if you want the most up-to-date info., check Swing State Project. I'm a more than a little addicted to the crew over there on elections nights. Blue Hampshire is tracking the New Hampshire races, including the GOP Senate primary and the 2nd District Democratic primary (We're for Kuster over Blue Dog Swett.)

An interesting note to the night from Alaska from a recent primary: Lisa Murkowski, who lost to teabagger Joe Miller in her primary, is going to tell us on Friday whether she'll run as an independent, according to the adn.com.

I'll update as events unfold... Read the rest of this post...

Ninth Circuit fails in its duty to proscribe torture

Torture news followers know by now that the Ninth Circuit has upheld the Obama DOJ's request to short-cut a private lawsuit brought by five men who claim they were kidnapped, renditioned, and tortured — a suit brought against the private company ("a Boeing subsidiary", by the way) directly involved in his kidnapping and transportation.

The case is Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan and the winning argument was "state secrets." Incredibly, the DOJ requested, and got, the state secret prohibition placed on the entire lawsuit, not just specific testimony. (And keep in mind, it's a lawsuit, not a criminal case.)

From the L.A. Times on the use of "state secrets" in this case (h/t Scott Horton; my emphasis throughout):

The decision to short-circuit the trial process is more than a misreading of the law; it’s an egregious miscarriage of justice. That’s obvious from a perusal of the plaintiffs’ complaint. One said that while he was imprisoned in Egypt, electrodes were attached to his earlobes, nipples and genitals. A second, held in Morocco, said he was beaten, denied food and threatened with sexual torture and castration. A third claimed that his Moroccan captors broke his bones and cut him with a scalpel all over his body, and poured hot, stinging liquid into his open wounds.

So what's going on here? What secrets are being protected? Well, it's back to our old friend, international torture prosecutions. Horton:

The Holder Justice Department would have us believe that it is protecting state secrets essential to our security. That posture is risible, and half of the court saw through it. The dilemma faced by the Justice Department was rather that evidence presented in the suit would likely be used in the future (not in the United States, obviously) to prosecute those who participated in the extraordinary renditions process. Twenty-three U.S. agents have already been convicted for their role in a rendition in Milan. Prosecutors in Spain have issued arrest warrants for a further 13 U.S. agents involved in a botched rendition case that touched on Spanish soil. Prosecutors in Germany have opened a criminal investigation into the use of Ramstein AFB in connection with torture and illegal kidnappings. Prosecutors in Poland are pursuing a similar matter. And Prime Minister David Cameron was recently forced to brief President Obama on his decision to direct a formal inquiry which could lead to prosecutions tied directly to the subject matter of the Mohamed case. This is the remarkable background to the case decided by the Ninth Circuit, and remarkably not a single word about this appears anywhere in the opinion—or even in most of the press accounts about it.

Horton concludes: "The Ninth Circuit has made a liar out of Uncle Sam and a mockery of its duty to uphold the law proscribing torture."

As always, stay tuned. Drip, drip, drip.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Geithner has spent more time with Goldman's CEO than Pelosi or Reid

But in all fairness to Timmy-boy, it's important to spend a lot of time and maintain a good working relationship with your boss. There's always another promotion out there, right around the corner. Smart thinkin' Timmy! After all, who really needs input from political leaders that are elected by the public? Huffington Post:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has met more often with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein than Congressional leaders, including the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader, according to his official calendar.

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein has shown up on Geithner's calendar at least 38 times through March 2010 since the Treasury Secretary took office in January 2009, three more entries than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, 13 more than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and nearly four times as many as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner combined, according to a copy of Geithner's daily log recently published online by the Treasury Department. The imbalance is striking, considering that Geithner was heavily involved in financial regulatory reform legislation, which Congress was grappling with during the period covered by the calendar.

All told, Geithner met with, spoke to, or attempted to secure conversations with Wall Street chieftains at least 49 times during the five-month period ending in March 2010, a slight increase from the 37 entries on his calendar during the previous five-month period.

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A quick tour of Stockholm

(As always, click any photo to see a larger version.)

Nothing fancy this time around, just wanted to show you a few shots I took in Stockholm the past couple of days. I'm in Sweden at the invitation of the Swedish Netroots. We've been working together for the past year and a half (or longer) on helping building the international progressive Netroots, something I've been working with the Greeks, Spanish and French on as well. This week was the first time I was free, and since I was in Europe already, it seemed a good time to come by - especially with the Swedish national elections happening this coming Sunday, I'll be able to observe how the Swedes electioneer (albeit without understanding a lick of Swedish).

Anyway, it's a great country, and Stockholm is just a lovely city. Can't say enough good things about this place. And, the stereotype is true. Lots of blonds, and the people are just gorgeous.



Ah yes, I took this shot earlier today. Noticed some political party campaigning on a corner, and noticed far too many cops hanging out nearby (this is Sweden, after all, not a ton of violence). Well, I soon figured out that this was the Swedish Democrats party, not to be confused with American Democrats. The Swedish Democrats, I'm told, have troubling ties, and/or a past, with Nazis. Lovely.



This is just a cool HDR photo that I took on my daily walk to and from the hotel. It's a pedestrian sidewalk in downtown Stockholm.



This is a political rally last Sunday for the Swedish Social Democrats (the good guys). Attending was an actor I didn't know, until someone pointed out that he was the father of the blond vampire guy on True Blood. Then I got excited.



A marathon I ran into on Saturday.



A neat new-ish building along the river that evokes a bit of the Sydney Opera House.



And finally another fun HDR photo. The town is simply empty at night, and this was relatively early (10ish). Read the rest of this post...

Majority Leader Harry Reid is moving the Defense bill with DADT language

Joe just attended a press conference that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid held on the Hill to discuss the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" compromise legislation that is included in the Defense Bill. Here's Joe's video. You can read the rest of Joe's report here.

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Bill O'Reilly on tax cut debate: Boehner 'was caught in a tanning bed'

Meow!

Rep. John Boehner "was caught in a tanning bed" and "didn’t really hear what was going on" during the public debate over tax cuts, Bill O'Reilly told me today. That is how he explained Boehner’s "blink" on the tax cut stand-off when the Ohio Republican said he would vote to extend just the middle-class cuts if it was his "only option."

Speaking of tanning beds. I just find it funny that a party that goes out of its way to gay bash (no gays in our military, thank you very much), and even subtly imply that Democratic candidates aren't as manly as they should be, has a party leader who spends his time cultivating a perpetual tan. I don't think I know any straight guys who get perma tans. I mean, sure there's Charlie Crist... And don't even get me started on the eyebrows and the make-up in his official photo (and tell me he's not wearing make-up). Imagine what the Republicans would do if our party leader had that as his official photo. Read the rest of this post...

Dylan Ratigan & Tom Hayden: Where's the anti-corporate outrage?

A good discussion on a late-August Dylan Ratigan episode. Dylan asks "Where's the outrage?" given the current economic troubles and the power of the "six major industries [that] control the entire U.S. government regardless of whatever political party the telecommunications, banking, health care, defense, agriculture, energy".

Hayden and Ratigan compare these times to both the Sixties and the Thirties, similar eras with different protest arcs. I think the comparison to the Thirties (2:00 in the vid) is correct; if so, the real protests are coming, and not passé (in both senses).

At one point (3:45), Hayden talks about the Tea Partiers as representing the counter-movement, but also as inadvertently prepping the way for the next wave. A good discussion throughout (h/t Griffon for the link).



The discussion in the final third of the interview is also astute. Comparing students in the Sixties with today's, he correctly identifies the differences that keep today's students more passive (my word, not his) — especially educational debt and the lack of a draft. (Debt as a way of killing student protest was another Reagan gift.)

But Hayden isn't negative on the young; when the opportunity for something that looks practical comes up, they come through. His example is telling (I'll leave you to experience it directly).

Once more, Dylan Ratigan — someone who belongs on the radar. His show is early by Keith standards — 4pm EST, 1pm PST. The watch-for-free website is here. Enjoy.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Poll: Investors uncomfortable with market and don't trust it either

Why in the world would anyone trust the current Wall Street? The bank profits were all about the TARP money and as volatile as it's been, this is no market for anyone who isn't enjoying the luxury of expensive software systems. The administration should take a closer look at this as it could be an opportunity to win over new support. With the heavy reliance on Wall Street for retirement plans, most voters want to see a properly working environment where they can succeed. Watching those who created the recession profit while everyone else limps along does nothing to bring confidence.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to bring everyone back to reality instead of the continuing cycle of get-rich-quick schemes that have been very much part of the market problems.

Wild gyrations on Wall Street have made U.S investors leery of buying individual stocks and skeptical that the market is a fair place to park their money.

In an Associated Press-CNBC poll of investors, 61 percent said the market's recent volatility has made them less confident about buying and selling individual stocks. And the majority of those surveyed — 55 percent — said the market is fair only to some investors.

The survey confirms that average investors have been growing more concerned about the stock market as a safe place to invest for retirement. And news about the market has been unsettling for ordinary investors of late: More than 60 percent of those surveyed said they had paid attention to news reports about swings in the stock market.

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This is the danger that Obama and the Democrats face

Maureen Dowd really is at her best when she's not being sassy. To wit, her recent article about her friend Peggy, a Republican who crossed party lines to vote for Obama. Other than the "voting Republican" part, her friend Peggy is most everyone I know.

My point: This isn't just the Internet left or professional Democrats anymore. We're now hearing the exact same criticism of the President coming from cross-over voters, aka independents. It's a problem. Negatives can be hard to dispel.

Disillusioned with her beloved W. over Iraq and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and the disdain for bipartisanship, she gave her affections — and small cash infusions — to Barack Obama in 2008.

Despite being a Washington native, Peggy believed that the dazzling young newcomer could change Washington.

But she has lost a lot of faith now, saying she might vote for Mitt Romney over Obama if Romney is the Republican nominee in 2012. (Sarah Palin shouldn’t count on her vote though. In Peggy’s words, “Are you nuts?”)

Peggy thinks the president has done fine managing W.’s messes in Iraq and Afghanistan. And she lights up at the mention of his vice president, Joe Biden. But she thinks Obama has to get “a backbone” if he wants to lure her back to the fold. “He promised us everything, saying he would turn the country around, and he did nothing the first year,” Peggy says. “He piddled around when he had 60 votes. He could have pushed through the health care bill but spent months haggling on it because he wanted to bring some Republicans on board. He was trying too hard to compromise when he didn’t need the Republicans and they were never going to like him. Any idiot could see that.

“He could have gotten it through while Teddy Kennedy was still alive — he owed the Kennedys something — and then the bill was watered down.

“He hasn’t saved the economy, and now he’s admitting he’s made very little progress. You can’t for four years blame the person who used to be president. Obama tries to compromise too much, and he doesn’t look like a strong leader. I don’t watch him anymore. I’m turned off by him. I think he’s an elitist. He went down to the gulf, telling everyone to take a vacation down there, and then he goes to Martha’s Vineyard. He does what he wants but then he tells us to do other things.

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Next week's vote on the Defense bill with DADT language: Where the votes are -- or should be.

Posted this at AMERICAblog Gay.

Kerry Eleveld spoke to Servicemember United's Alex Nicholson about the upcoming vote on the Defense Authorization -- looking at where the votes are. It's expected that John McCain will continue to filibuster the Defense Authorization legislation.
Majority Leader Harry Reid will file cloture on Thursday, meaning there will be a key vote early next week to end the filibuster -- probably on Tuesday. The big question is whether the rest of the GOP caucus will join with McCain. Nicholson provided some intel:

Although some Democratic senators, such as Jim Webb of Virginia, might break with their party and support the filibuster, some Republican senators could help compensate for the deficit.

Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana has already indicated he would not support a filibuster; Sen. Susan Collins of Maine voted for the repeal measure in the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a good candidate to also break with her party. Other GOP senators who might vote to break the filibuster include Olympia Snowe of Maine and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.

Nicholson noted that no Democratic senator has given a strong indication to date that he or she would join a Republican filibuster.

What's less clear is what might happen if the bill reaches the Senate floor, where amendments might be offered to strike the repeal language or to expand the terms of the certification process beyond the president, Defense secretary, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs to also include the service chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Either measure would require 51 votes to pass.

But Nicholson said there's still an element of the unknown in any calculation at this point.

"A lot of the vote estimations really come from pre-recess intelligence," he said, noting that senators just returned to Washington Monday. "I don’t think any organization has gotten a feel for how the August recess has impacted members positions on this issue."

As I mentioned yesterday, Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) also announced he won't filibuster the Defense bill over DADT. And, he voted for the Defense Authorization bill in Committee. Will he keep his word this time?

We'll see if Brown, Collins, Lugar and Snowe stand with America's servicemembers -- or if they cave to their leader, Mitch McConnell again.

The best thing to do: Call your Senators. Both of them: 202-224-3121. Read the rest of this post...

Smaller banks continue to miss TARP payments

This is a very serious problem. The banking problem may have eased for a handful of the largest banks (thanks to generous lifestyle-maintaining handouts) but for the broad majority of banks, problems continue. It's not a sustainable model to have 5 or 10 massively profitable banks and 1,000 losing money. The banking elite certainly put their money (and TARP money) to work for them in Washington, didn't they? The banking crisis is certainly not over today.

The latest report from the agency shows that more than 120 institutions - nearly all of them small banks - have missed their scheduled quarterly dividend payments, which is more than a sixth of the banks that received federal aid during the financial crisis.

In addition, five banks that received capital injections from the controversial $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program have failed altogether, making it highly unlikely that taxpayers will recover the nearly $3 billion poured into those institutions.

The Treasury report showed that at the end of August, a record six banks each missed six dividend payments. Saigon National Bank in Southern California has missed seven.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's primary day in seven states and D.C. Yes, we have a very hotly contest mayor's race going on here.

There are several key races to watch. Once again, GOP Senate primaries are hogging the attention. In Delaware, there's an ugly battle underway between the teabaggers and the GOP. They're at war in the Senate primary between Rep. Mike Castle and wingnut Christine O'Donnell. I'm really pulling for O'Donnell. She's a sure loser in November.

In New Hampshire, it's a battle between two far right candidates: Kelly Ayotte and Ovide Lamontagne. Ayotte has been leading for most of the race, but Lamontagne has been surging. Both are pretty extreme. They both oppose gay adoptions.

Also, in New Hampshire, there's a Democratic primary battle under in the Second CD between progressive Annie Kuster and Blue Dog Katrina Swett. I really want Swett to lose.

There are several primaries for State Senate seats in New York today, too. You recall that we lost the marriage vote in NY's State Senate last December. Senators, including Bill Stachowski from the Buffalo area and Ruben Diaz from the Bronx, who voted against marriage equality have faced aggressive challenges. Incumbents really hate primaries. So, kudos to Fight Back NY for taking up this fight.

There are more, of course. For up-to-the minute results, go directly to Swing State Project tonight.

The House is back in session today. And, in the Senate, the parties will hold their caucus lunches this afternoon. Both Reid and McConnell will talk to the media after these meetings and will give us a sense of how the next few weeks will play out. As we reported yesterday, Reid has made a commitment to bring up the Defense Authorization bill, which includes the compromise DADT language. Expect a vote to end McCain's filibuster early next week.

Obama will be in Philadelphia to give his "Back-to-School" speech today.

That's a lot.... Read the rest of this post...

Berlusconi laughs it up with sexist, Hitler and gay bashing jokes

Somehow he managed to offend almost everyone in a matter of seconds. And then laughed about it. It remains unclear what anyone sees in him as a political leader since he can't even make basic progress on the economy let alone make it through a discussion without offending someone. (There's a video with translation inside the link.) The Guardian:

Faced with a tottering economy and a crumbling coalition government, Silvio Berlusconi has chosen to woo a youth rally with jokes about Adolf Hitler and his own sexual prowess.

The former cruise ship entertainer told a joke in which Adolf Hitler is begged by his supporters to return to power after they discover he is still alive. After resisting, Hitler says: "I'll come back, but on one condition ... next time I'm going to be evil."

Fabio Evangelisti, a member of parliament for the opposition Italy of Values party, demanded Berlusconi apologise to Israel and the Italian Jewish community. The party's leader, Antonio Di Pietro, said: "At this point the problem is not political or judicial, but psychiatric."

Turning his attention to the economy, Berlusconi jokingly advised young Italians to marry into money, adding: "I have a daughter who is free to marry."

Now separated from his wife following the scandal over his friendship with the teenage model Noemi Letizia, Berlusconi said he was also an eligible candidate for four reasons: "I am friendly, I have money, legend has it I know how to do 'it', and lastly because girls think: 'He's old and rich, he will die soon and I will inherit everything.'"

Read the rest of this post...

Cuba to cut 1 million government jobs

Maybe that's what Castro was suggesting the other day. This is a dramatic change and it definitely represents a new era in Cuban history. BBC:

The Cuban labour federation said more than a million workers would lose their jobs - half of them by March next year.

Those laid off will be encouraged to become self-employed or join new private enterprises, on which some of the current restrictions will be eased.

Analysts say it is biggest private sector shift since the 1959 revolution.

Cuba's communist government currently controls almost all aspects of the country's economy and employs about 85% of the official workforce, which is put at 5.1 million people.

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The next bad idea in flying

Oh great, even less space. It's not quite uncomfortable enough to have my knees planted into the seat in front of me so this is a brilliant idea. Now this is what customers are begging for!

An Italian company called Aviointeriors, which manufactures commercial airline seats, is debuting the SkyRider, a seat with "a 23-inch pitch or less".

That means there's 23 inches from your seatback to the one in front of you—at least eight inches shorter than most conventional economy class seats.

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