Open thread

Still looking at 80 degrees the next two days in DC. Totally bizarre.

In the meantime, a little Rita Mitsouko to pass the late night hours. This song was huge when I was living in France in the mid-80s. You still hear it all the time on the radio over there. It's a great song. But check out this vintage video - I swear it looks fake, it's SO early 80s it looks like it can't be real (reminds me of a Monty Python line about some fake snow somebody created, "it looks more like snow than the real thing.")

Anyway, the song is called "Marcia Baila," and I just looked the group up on Wikipedia:

The band first achieved major popular success in 1985, with the release of the second single from their first album: "Marcia Baïla" rose to number 2 on the French record charts that summer. Philippe Gautier directed a vibrant and widely viewed music video to accompany the record. "Marcia Baïla" is an homage to Argentinian choreographer and dancer Marcia Moretto, with whom Catherine Ringer had studied and performed in the 1970s. Moretto died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 32.

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It's a lovely day for a (gay) wedding

My friends Sylvain and Fred got married this past June in Paris. Actually, they had a civil pact (PACS), or civil union - a form of gay marriage recently approved nationwide in France. The guys just sent out their photos to a bunch of us, and I asked if I could post a few - the photos are just so cute, and I think show how a marriage is a marriage is a marriage. (As always, click any of the photos to see a larger version.)

Both groom and groom sign the PACS document, which is also signed by witnesses. Below is the actual document.



Their local mayor oversaw the ceremony. (In Paris, each neighborhood of the city has its own mayor, then there's a mayor for the city at large.) And, as it should be, both of their moms were in attendance (great pic of them with the moms right after the ceremony, below), as were a ton of family and friends (and check out that city hall building).





Also in attendance were two members of parliament, one of whom was Patrick Bloche, who authored the civil pact law itself, and who wrote a really lovely note in the guys' wedding book:

"Yet again, today, thanks to Fred and Sylvain, I am so proud to have written (and gotten a vote for, not without some difficulty) the Pacs! Much happiness to you both.

Affectionately, Patrick Bloche"

The happy couple shared the obligatory kiss after the ceremony:



And it's just not a wedding if the groom doesn't get stone drunk afterwards.

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Bush the conservationist

Bush spent one hour on the Chesapeake yesterday, fishing for rockfish (anyone on the Chesapeake knows we don't call them "stripers") and plastered the familiar stupid grin on his face and talked about his credentials as a conservationist. Who gets to fish is perhaps one issue though anyone who knows anything about the Chesapeake knows that fishing rights is far down on the list of what's important as far as the long term health of both the Bay is concerned. Pollution is much higher on the list and of much greater concern for the livelihood of the water that is a breeding ground for marine life though heavens, Bush could never criticize his power base.

The Bush administration also shows its true face with it's inability to protect the whale populations that are endangered due to shipping traffic and interference from lobster boats.

Sixteen months ago, a federal agency proposed slowing ships in certain East Coast waters to 10 knots or less during parts of the year to save the North Atlantic right whale, one of the world's most endangered marine mammals, from extinction.

Nine months later, officials at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the situation was so dire that the loss of one more pregnant female might be the death knell for the species, whose surviving population numbers fewer than 400.

Today, however, the rule remains the subject of intense debate among senior White House officials, and the toll keeps rising: Since NOAA published the proposed rule, researchers have found three of the whales dead from ship strikes, and another two suffering from propeller wounds.

Just as they question whether global warming is for real, they question whether years of research related to protecting whales is accurate. Yes, a real conservationist, indeed. Read the rest of this post...

So will Obama fire the bigot in his own eye?

"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"

Barack Obama has called on the Dept of Justice to fire an employee who Obama thinks endorses bigotry against minorities. We're hoping to hear from the Obama campaign that the Senator has the same zero-tolerance for bigotry against minorities when the bigot works on his own campaign. Obama's Web site is still promoting McClurkin all over it. Read the rest of this post...

US Housing's "Mission Accomplished" moments

What a list of quotes. I still remember hearing the GOP brag about how home ownership under their watch was one of their great accomplishments but much like flying the "Mission Accomplished" banner, those claims were just a bit premature.

2004
"American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgage."

—• then Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Feb. 23

2005

"The United States has the broadest, deepest, most successful housing markets in the world, supported by an interdependent financial services infrastructure."

• — then Treasury Secretary John Snow, April 7

2006

"I strongly believe that the market's success in making these non-traditional products available is a positive development, not cause for alarm."

• — Robert Broeksmit, Mortgage Bankers Association, Sept. 20

2007

"Some of the credit issues are there, but they're largely contained."

— • Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, March 6

"The ongoing housing correction is not ending as quickly as it might have appeared late last year. And now it looks like it will continue to adversely impact our economy, our capital markets and many homeowners for some time yet."

• — Paulson, Tuesday

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Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Colbert makes his campaign debut on the Sunday shows with an appearance on Meet the Press. Does Russert even have a sense of humor? Besides him, there are three Republican Presidential candidates, one Democratic candidate doing the circuit. That seems like the usual ratio of GOPers to Dems.

Here's the lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.

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CBS' "Face the Nation" — Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Comedian Stephen Colbert; Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian; Sally Bedell Smith, author of "For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years."

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CNN's "Reliable Source" - John Aravosis, AMERICAblog, among other less important people.

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CNN's "Late Edition" — Reps. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich.; World Bank President Robert Zoellick; Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese parliamentarian; Ali al-Dabbagh, Iraqi government spokesman; Garry Kasparov, Russian presidential candidate.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.

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US to build border fence between Iraq and Iran

Considering the brilliant work that has been done along the US-Mexico border, including the high tech "virtual fence" that the great minds of Boeing have sold to taxpayers, despite no sign of its ability to track much beyond stray cows, coyotes and perhaps a few dogs, why does anyone think the US ought to spend any more money in Iraq to build some kind of a fence to stop Iranians? Heck, they can't even manage to cover 10% of the US-Mexico border despite it being right there in the US so how in the world could such a project even be completed in Iraq?

How much more money does Bush want to throw at the problems that he creates?

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is lending border patrol and customs officers to help, and some former officers are working here under private contracts.

"This is a lot tougher than the Mexican border," said Army Col. Mark Mueller, who is in charge of U.S. forces advising Iraq's Department of Border Enforcement and the Iraqi army in this region. "There are leftover mines and munitions everywhere."

I'm not sure which statement here provides even less confidence between Homeland Security being involved or this project being more difficult than the US-Mexico border. This team is unable to take on any task, big or small, without screwing it up completely. The American middle class is not a bottomless pit of funds for Republican experiments that are always massively expensive failures. Read the rest of this post...

GOP completely out of touch with US on global warming

CNN ought to feel pretty ignorant for their recent Gore-bashing "viewer feedback" article as well because according to their own poll, Americans understand the problem and want to see action. The GOP may want to ignore the issue and even make fun of anyone who sees reality on the problem, but to do so is to attack a broad majority of the population.

Most Americans blame emissions from cars and industrial plants as the primary cause of global warming and believe the United States should reduce levels even if other countries don't, a survey shows.

Fifty-six percent of poll respondents said the phenomenon of global warming has been proven, and can be largely blamed on human endeavors, such as power plants and factories, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll.

In comparison, 21 percent of those surveyed claimed global warming problems are caused either by natural changes or are unproven.

Sixty-six percent of Americans believe the United States should do what it can to reduce global warming, even if other nations ignore it. This compares with 52 percent of respondents who believed that way in 2001.

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