Open Thread

Before you go to bed tonight, watch North Carolina Senate candidate Jim Neal's video for AMERICAblog (or watch it again). I posted it earlier today, but I'm putting it up again because it is very cool that Jim did this video to introduce himself to AMERICAblog's readers. Shows the kind of savvy campaign that he's running in North Carolina. So, watch the video -- and give him a contribution at the ActBlue page we set up to make it very easy to support Jim's campaign. You'll sleep better. You know you will.

After that, do some threading... Read the rest of this post...

No, Hillary, you really didn't start criticizing the war before Obama did.

Why? Seriously. Why? Why does Hillary Clinton do this? Why can't we just start campaigning against John McCain.

No, instead, we're still stuck dealing with continuing issues about Clinton's veracity (and let's face it, trust is not her strong suit with voters.) On the campaign trail, Clinton appears to be making things up. From Jed (the full post is worth a read):

I started criticizing the war in Iraq before he did.
-- Hillary Clinton, 4/5/08

Yes, that's a pretty crazy thing to say, but this being Clinton, there's some parsing involved. In her mind, anything that happened before January, 2005 doesn't count, because she and Barack Obama weren't both in the Senate.

Okay -- but as Jake Tapper documented, Clinton's story was flat-out false.

Again, Clinton was very emphatic making her point. Again, she was wrong. There's a pattern developing -- and it's not good.

If you have any doubt, watch how Olbermann handles this latest gaffe in this video.

In Hillary Clinton's mind, if you weren't in the Senate, your opposition to the war didn't count. That's bizarre. But, it explains a lot. Last year, all of us who strongly opposed the war or who thought she should at least admit it was a mistake were told we didn't matter to her. She even told us not to vote for her:

But I have to say that if the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from.

Well, now, there is only one other to choose from. Read the rest of this post...

Susan Collins attacked Tom Allen for missing votes to attend his mother's funeral and to be with his wife who has breast cancer

Susan Collins is despicable. Seriously, there is no other word to describe the cravenness of her politics. Just got this from the Maine Democratic Party:

Saying "enough is enough," the Maine Democratic Party today requested an apology from Senator Susan Collins and her surrogates for attacking Congressman Tom Allen for standing by his family.

The MDP also asked Senator Collins and her supporters to pull down a web video carrying specific attacks on Congressman Allen for missing votes to attend his mother's funeral and to stand by his wife in her illness with breast cancer. [The video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sbRgpuoIEA ]

"Since last summer Senator Collins and her friends have taken Tom Allen to task for missing votes to attend the funerals of his parents and to attend his daughter's wedding," said Peter Chandler, MDP Coordinated Campaign Manager. "Last fall, they attacked Tom Allen for missing votes to attend the funeral of a relative."

Chandler said, "Now they have gone overboard, producing and nationally distributing a vicious web video that specifically names votes Congressman Allen missed while attending the funeral of his mother, and others recently missed to be with his ill wife.[My emphasis.]

"Senator Collins and her supporters need to debate the issues that matter to every Mainer like the economy, high energy prices, health care costs and Iraq instead of resorting to these tactics," he added. "She and her friends distributing these attacks should apologize and pull the video down."

She's really something that Susan Collins. What makes this worse, Collins made the same mistake already against Allen.

For some reason, Collins thinks her attendance record is her greatest asset. Whatever. If you've ever seen Collins in action, you know she's like that annoying kid in high school who raised their hand to tell the teacher they forgot to give out homework. She wants the attendance award. It's apparently her only issue this year.

No wonder Susan is trying to create a distraction. In October of 2002, shortly before her last election, Collins voted for the Iraq War. She's continually voted to continue that war. That's why she wants to talk about her attendance record, not the issues. But, it's those actual votes that matter. Collins is despicable and should really be ashamed. But as a loyal, hard core Republican, she has no shame. She must lose in November.

AMERICAblog supports Tom Allen. Read the rest of this post...

Markos: "This thing is over"

He's right, of course. It is over.

But, it's not over for Mark Penn. He's still very involved in the Clinton campaign. As Sam Stein reports, Penn said so himself today.

Seriously, enough with the endless Clinton campaign drama. Let's move this along and start the battle with McCain. Read the rest of this post...

French protesters derail Olympic Torch carry in Paris

Good for them (or as they say in French, "chapeau!"):

Paris' Olympic torch relay descended into chaos Monday, with protesters scaling the Eiffel Tower, grabbing for the flame and forcing security officials to repeatedly snuff out the torch and transport it by bus past demonstrators yelling "Free Tibet!"

The relentless anti-Chinese demonstrations ignited across the capital with unexpected power and ingenuity, foiling 3,000 police officers deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and even inline skates.

Chinese organizers finally gave up on the relay, canceling the last third of what China had hoped would be a joyous jog by torch-bearing VIPs past some of Paris' most famous landmarks.

Read the rest of this post...

Italians have 14 political parties to choose from in the upcoming Senate elections

And before you think "choice" is a beautiful thing, listen to how it works in Italy. Because they have a parliamentary system of government, meaning, more or less, the parties need to form coalitions with other parties to create a government. Sounds nice and "let's all work together" doesn't it? Except it means that one small party can pull out and bring the government crashing down. This has been happening a lot in Italy for several decades now, governments coming crashing down after only a short time in office. It's led to a lot of instability, and Italy, from what I'm told, is starting to fall backward while countries that were once not as rich as Italy, like Spain, continue to move ahead economically. It's very sad. Italy is an amazing country. Culture, architecture, cuisine, a 2,000 year old ruin on practically every corner, and some damn nice (and good looking) people. It makes no sense that a country this rich should continue to be run so poorly. Then again, we should talk.

Oh yeah, Italy. I forgot to mention. I was invited a while back to give a series of talks to Italian university students, and journalists, about how we're using blogs and the Internet in the US for the elections (and overall politics). Italy is pretty behind in using the Net for everything (I'm told Berlusconi, the man who once was, and is soon expected again to be, Prime Minister, doesn't even have a campaign Web site). It's been really interesting. Some of the students speak English, others not so well (in contrast to Greece, where fluency in English in Athens was RAMPANT - I mean it was downright bizarre how well the Greeks, in Athens at least, now speak English). But in Italy, not so much. So some of my talks have been in English, others I've given in Italian, which makes it a lot harder, but it's also fun. There's something about experiencing another country in their own language that makes the experience more authentic to me. It's interesting the perspective you get on your own country, your own politics, your own nation's future, when traveling abroad. Some people think foreign travel is all milk and cookies, but it's really not. It's fun, yeah, but actually can be quite lonely as well. But at it's best, it's more fascinating than anything else. It's hard to tool around 20 feet below ground in a 2,500 year old Etruscan tomb, looking at a frieze of some long-forgotten very-important-dead-guy (an Italian Ozymondias) and his loving family, and not get a sense of perspective.

Read the rest of this post...

David Vitter should have spent money on driving school

Not on prostitutes.

Check out this video of David Vitter. Be sure to watch all the way through.

I think someone needs to go back to drivers ed. Read the rest of this post...

3 in the Mourning

Read the rest of this post...

Does anyone really think Obama doesn't love America?

And if they do, why are we stooping to cater to them?

Seriously.

This is the most ridiculous "theme" I've seen perpetuated yet - and that's saying a lot considering some of the madness that keeps coming up in this primary race. Yes, a man who hates America (he doesn't wear a pin! where's his right hand?) is putting it all on the line to lead this country in what may be one of the most difficult times in modern history. He would inherit all shades of mess, and yet he wants to front the nation even though/because he hates it! Really?

Stop pandering to the insanity! It's a stupid stupid thing to say. Don't give it credence and maybe it will finally go away. Good rule of thumb. If you think it's absurd...it probably is. The end of the write actually makes the right point:

"There may be some people who question his patriotism," said Ed Treacy, "but he's never going to get their vote anyway."

Read the rest of this post...

AMERICAblog supports Jim Neal for Senate in North Carolina

You have to meet Jim Neal. He is running for Senate in North Carolina and he did a video to introduce himself to AMERICAblog's readers:



Jim is a proud Democrat running for Senate. And, clearly, he is right on the issues. He'll run circles around Liddy Dole. We set up an ActBlue page to make it very easy to contribute to Jim's campaign.

The primary is May 6th (yes, the same day as the all-important Democratic primary in NC, so turnout will be huge.) Jim is not the "establishment" candidate for the primary. However, the polls we've seen show a close primary race at this point. PPP's latest survey shows the primary race is wide open -- and money will matter.

For additional background, check out Pam Spaulding's interview with Jim shortly after he announced his candidacy. Also, Jim participated in a Blue America session at FireDogLake. And, BlueNC has a lot on the race. From all the reports, we're convinced Jim is putting together a great campaign in North Carolina. It's very cool to have such a strong, credible candidate in NC who is also gay. Let's help Jim win and take over the seat from Liddy Dole and end the legacy of Jesse Helms. Read the rest of this post...

The disgrace and shame that is KBR

It's painful to even try to address a story like this, but it's one of those things that needs to be out in the open, recognized, and acted upon. The Nation has a gut-wrenching article about yet another rape perpetrated against a KBR employee in Iraq, and the subsequent (inevitable, horrifying) cover-up by KBR and neglect by our government. This is ugly, ugly stuff (trigger warning):

That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a US soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: his gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand -- but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth.

Did KBR jump to action? Did the US government take steps to address this horror? Of course not. KBR tried to cover it up, told her to keep quiet, tried to compel her to sign nondisclosure agreements, and spied on her. The US took no steps to prosecute.

And here where it gets a little bit technical: In terms of redress for harm, there are usually two routes a person can go -- criminal and civil. For criminal prosecution, contractors working in Iraq are currently immune from Iraqi law, and their legal status under US law is murky at best. In theory, according to the article, the Justice Department could bring criminal charges in federal court, but that's up to a prosecutor. Since a contractor in Iraq wouldn't have standing in any federal district court, I'm guessing -- though I'm not 100% sure and would welcome more informed commentary -- DOJ proper would have to bring criminal charges. Now, less than a month ago, SecDef Gates issued a directive allowing for UCMJ authority over civilian contractors, meaning that military police now have authority over contractors, at least in theory, though obviously MPs are not generally in the business of policing contractors.

Overall, though, in five years of war, with 180,000 civilian contractors working in Iraq, not a single criminal charge has been brought against any of them. You think among 180,000 people in the middle of a war zone some crimes are being committed? Maybe? But there are no police officers, no clear legal authority or system, and apparently no interest in or process for holding people accountable for their crimes committed overseas. A nonprofit recently set up to support contractors with incidents of sexual assault or harassment has 40 reports already; again, no criminal charges filed. Ever. In five years.

On the civil side, all sorts of torts were (allegedly) committed against the subject of the article (assault, battery, false imprisonment, and IIED, at the very least), which would ordinarily allow for a lawsuit, which could also shed some light on the larger problem (through discovery processes, publicity, etc). Enter, however, one of the more malicious legal developments of recent years: the binding arbitration clause. Natasha Chart has an excellent and comprehensive rundown, the short version of which is that a skyrocketing number of contracts include language barring civil court remedies in favor of closed, non-public, and unappealable arbitration. Initially used primarily in consumer contracts, binding arbitration clauses are increasingly snuck into employment contracts, and they often -- unconscionably, in my admittedly inexpert view -- cover intentional torts as well as negligence. It's really a horrible and horrifying situation, and it should offend any reasonable person's sense of justice.

Congress is looking into it -- at the behest of, in particular, Rep. Poe and Rep. Conyers -- and one can only hope they, y'know, do something to fix this, both on an individual level and as a matter of overall policy. Read the rest of this post...

You can meet "The Real McCain" courtesy of Cliff Schecter

Our good friend, Cliff Schecter, has written a book, "The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him -- And Why Independents Shouldn't." You can buy it for $10.17 at Amazon.com. And, all progressives should buy it and read it. Let's help get Cliff's numbers up on Amazon.

Throughout the week, Cliff will be releasing excerpts about the real McCain -- and we'll be posting throughout the week. It's a fitting follow up to McCain's bogus introductory tour from last week.

UPDATE (with link fixed): Here's a link to one of the first bombshells from the book. McCain is an ugly guy -- even to his wife.

Besides Cliff's blogging, he's also a master in television debates. Watch the video below. Every time Cliff does a debate, he destroys the GOP arguments and leaves them speechless. We really want Cliff out there telling the story about John McCain. If you want to support Cliff's work -- undermine McCain, buy the book.

Read the rest of this post...

Ongoing primary hurting Dem 527s fight against McCain

Not only is this ongoing primary hurting our efforts to fund anti-McCain 527s, it seems that some rich Hillary donors are refusing to give a dime to fight McCain unless and until Hillary becomes the nominee:

"A lot of the big Media Fund people were Hillary people, and [California billionaire Steve] Bing's just not going to write a check unless she's the nominee," the operative said.

I have a hard time believing that big Dem donors would prefer John McCain over Barack Obama, and are actually making decisions that are helping John McCain get elected. Still, if this is the case, then Howard Dean and the SuperDelegates need to show a little spine and stop Hillary from destroying what was once a sure-win in November. Read the rest of this post...

McCain and Greenspan go way back.

Chris wrote yesterday about Mr Bubble's endorsement of John McCain. I couldn't let this moment pass without noting that Greenspan and McCain's paths have crossed before:

In 1985, Keating hired Alan Greenspan as an economic consultant, in an effort to convince an oversight agency to exempt Lincoln Savings from certain regulations. Greenspan delivered a favorable report, writing that Lincoln Savings was "a financially strong institution that presents no foreseeable risk to depositors or the government." (Greenspan produced similar favorable reports on numerous other banks that also failed soon after.) The agency ultimately declined the request.

Read the rest of this post...

Another clash of politics vs. reality over Iraq

For George Bush, his administration and his party, the politics of the Iraq war have always trumped the reality of the Iraq war. Under the direction of Karl Rove, Bush made Iraq his major political issue in 2002 and 2004. The American people bought it. John McCain's support for Bush's war is the central tenet of his campaign -- and, again, Rove's fingerprints are all over McCain's campaign. For Bush and McCain, the politics of Iraq have never matched the reality.

Most important of all, Bush and McCain still can't explain how Iraq is making us safer. Because it isn't.

Page A1 of today's Washington Post addresses the politics of Iraq:

The hearings before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees promise to be as much about presidential politics as about the past six months of military and diplomatic progress in Iraq. All last summer, Washington anxiously awaited the September appearances of Petraeus, the commanding U.S. general in Iraq, and Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat in Baghdad, anticipating that their testimony could determine the political viability of continued war.

Much further back, Page A13 of the Post, addresses the reality of Iraq:

Three U.S. service members were killed and dozens were wounded Sunday in rocket attacks on the fortified Green Zone and a military base in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

A fourth U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Diyala province, the military said.

The rocket attacks came at 3:30 p.m., according to a U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The attack on the Green Zone killed two of the soldiers and wounded 17, the official said. The other attack in the city, at a U.S. military base in Rustamiyah in eastern Baghdad, killed one soldier and wounded 14, the official said.

"It's a tough day for us," the official said. "These are our colleagues, our friends."

Unfortunately, Iraq is about politics. Only a political change in the presidency of the U.S. is going to stop this war. Read the rest of this post...

Mr Bubble: I had nothing to do with my economy

The poor little lamb sounds like he's getting a bit testy. To hear him tell his side of the story, it's as if he was a casual observer during his terms as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. He endorsed tax cuts yet could not manage to have his concerns on poor regulation heard. And his policy of low lending rates? Nope, had nothing to do whatsoever with the latest bubble. How convenient.

Remember, this is the guy that McCain thinks is a great economic leader. Read the rest of this post...

Airline Quality Rating study: failure across the board

To say that Americans detest the airline industry would be a mild understatement. Remember that it was the GOP who bailed this lovely bunch out with billions in taxpayer dollars only a few years ago and what did the US receive for it's investment? Massive executive salaries, salary cutbacks from everyone else, less on time, higher costs to fly, increasingly cramped spaces and an industry that doesn't really give a damn about what consumers think.

As we bail out the newest bunch of freeloading money wasters on Wall Street, think about the airline bailout. Just as business always asks "what's in it for me?" it's high time we ask the same question to business. The bailout model really needs to change. Read the rest of this post...

Wall Street addicted to emergency funds, now at $38.4 billion per day

Dammit, when is Congress or heaven forbid, a presidential candidate going to get serious about this? People on both sides of the isle are fuming about these handouts to the people who have created this recession. Of course nobody wants to trigger major bank failures but for goodness sakes, we keep giving and are not seeing any signs of cutbacks from Wall Street. A lot of the taxpayer money is going right back in to help them finance their bonus system and when these people wrap up the year, bonuses will be as high or higher than last year. It's the American public who will be financing those bonuses and guess what they get in return? A swift kick in the ass, loss of a job or house and a new demand for tax cuts.

The time to negotiate with this bunch is not two years from now, but now. Wall Street never hesitates to demand "what's in it for me?" and this is exactly what we ought to be asking from them today. It also makes me wonder why we only see nastiness between Democrats running for President instead of that same aggression against Wall Street and the damned GOP who started this. How could anyone possibly have faith in a Democratic candidate who can only attack a fellow Democrat and not the owners of this? Wall Street borrowing is up 200% in three weeks and you would never know it by the pathetic doddling in Washington. It looks like the Democrats are ready to let yet another key issue slip through their fingers. Read the rest of this post...