VIDEO: Ventroliquist Dummies of America LOVE Sarah Palin, one dummy to another

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Gingrich takes political advice from man who calls Obama 'the Kenyan'

From Media Matters Action:

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, however, saw no need to correct the record when an audience member at his "Real Job Summit in New Orleans" stood up and referred to President Obama as "the Kenyan."

After the audience squealed with joy at the questioner's birtherism, Gingrich patiently listened to the man's advice. When the man was finished speaking, Gingrich complimented his contribution to the discussion and instructed his staff to take note of the man's ideas.

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Are the banks playing games with their accounting again?

But of course, why would we expect anything else from them? If nobody is ever going to call them out, there's no reason to expect them to behave any different than they've been behaving for years. Reuters:

Major U.S. banks temporarily lowered their debt levels just before reporting in the past five quarters, making it appear their balance sheets were less risky, the Wall Street Journal said, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The paper said on Friday 18 banks, including Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, understated the debt levels used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42 percent at the end of each period.

The banks had increased their debt in the middle of successive quarters, it said.

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QVC enters deal with Smithsonian to sell copies of Hope diamond

From the Wash Post:

The Smithsonian Institution has signed a deal to sell Hope Diamond knockoffs and faux Marie Antoinette earrings on home shopping channel QVC this fall.

"Together, we will create jewelry that is not only fashionable, but also serves to educate the public about the Smithsonian and the jewelry, gems and minerals found in its collections," Carol LeBlanc, Smithsonian Enterprises director of consumer products, said in Thursday's announcement.

It is thought to be the first time anyone has accused QVC of being educational.

Yes, nothing says "fashionable" like a 45 carat, one inch tall diamond knock-off. Read the rest of this post...

Pope directly linked to yet another cover-up of child rapist priest

But remember, it's all petty gossip in the media as the Vatican keeps telling us. Uh huh. It's all about protecting the church hierarchy instead of protecting innocent children. How many more chances will he get before they start speaking honestly about this serious problem?

The future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including "the good of the universal church," according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature.

The correspondence, obtained by The Associated Press, is the strongest challenge yet to the Vatican's insistence that Benedict played no role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests during his years as head of the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog office.

The letter, signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was typed in Latin and is part of years of correspondence between the Diocese of Oakland and the Vatican about the proposed defrocking of the Rev. Stephen Kiesle.

The Vatican refused to comment on the contents of the letter Friday, but a spokesman confirmed it bore Ratzinger's signature.

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FDA reviewing antibacterial soap

It's hard not to really like Obama's FDA. The Bush FDA had a partnership with industry that resembled Fox News and the GOP so this has been a very welcome change. Safety for consumers matters.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it was reviewing the safety of triclosan, a widely used antibacterial agent found in soap, toothpaste and a range of other consumer products.

The agency stressed there are no grounds to recommend any changes in the use of triclosan but said some recent studies merited a closer look.

One member of Congress, Massachusetts Democrat Edward Markey, called for strict limits.

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Is the economic crisis over? Some say yes, some say no.

Floyd Norris wrote a piece today over at the NYT about how the economic recovery is going much better than people think. Our own in-house economist, Prof. Steven Kyl of Cornell University, says "not so fast." First some Norris, then some Kyl.

Norris:

The American economy appears to be in a cyclical recovery that is gaining strength. Firms have begun to hire and consumer spending seems to be accelerating.

That is what usually happens after particularly sharp recessions, so it is surprising that many commentators, whether economists or politicians, seem to doubt that such a thing could possibly be happening.

And here's what Steve Kyl emailed me:

Well, I am not as giddy as they seem to be. In fact, the economy seems to be pretty much on track with my forecast of last December which was "not in recession but not so good it will feel like a recovery." Certainly if you are one whose happiness is measured by the stock market, then 11,000 is a lot happier than 6,000 - but I am not one who thinks an employment report of 160,000 new jobs is Happy Days. That number is positive - a good thing after a long period of losses - but it is barely high enough to give jobs to new entrants to the job market, and wont make a dent in the 8 million or more jobs we need to be back to a reasonably good situation.

This is precisely the situation many of us have been worried about with a too small stimulus package. We would get to a place where the downward momentum has halted but there is not enough demand to provide upward momentum in its place. There is still a huge backlog of residential housing, there is still a lot of trash on the balance sheets of banks and capacity utilization is still too low to expect a surge in business investment. In short, we are staggering along at a low level equilibrium that is barely keeping us at a more or less constant level - and our current level is not one we should be happy to remain at.

To get to a better place we need another stimulus - a real one, not window dressing - because the rest of the world is not in limbo waiting for us - good and bad things can happen and we are vulnerable to them in our current status. Take Greece for example - I am no chicken little but any reasonable observer has to admit that there is at least a POSSIBILITY of very bad news that could be contagious across borders. The Middle East is also always a wild card. Who wants to gamble that we can stagger along without outside issues interrupting our slow recovery? Why should we want to?

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AP EXCLUSIVE: Future pope (Ratzinger) stalled pedophile case of man who had previously tied up, molested young boys

The Pope is now directly implicated in aiding and abetting the rape of children.

And the Vatican continues to belittle these charges, as if the rape of children isn't kind of important to any organization, let alone a church. How many organizations do you know where the leader is under a cloud of child rape? You'd think this would be taken as kind of a serious charge. Does anyone in a leadership position in the Catholic church actually give a damn about children?This is a criminal conspiracy that has been uncovered. These men should all be in jail.

The future Pope Benedict XVI resisted pleas to defrock a California priest with a record of sexually molesting children, citing concerns including "the good of the universal church," according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature.

The correspondence, obtained by The Associated Press, is the strongest challenge yet to the Vatican's insistence that Benedict played no role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests during his years as head of the Catholic Church's doctrinal watchdog office.

Kiesle had been sentenced in 1978 to three years' probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of lewd conduct for tying up and molesting two young boys in a San Francisco Bay area church rectory.

As his probation ended in 1981, Kiesle asked to leave the priesthood and the diocese submitted papers to Rome to defrock him.

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Oil prices spiking again

There's no real reason for this other than traders doing their best to squeeze the life out of the recovery. It's a delicate recovery but it might not last if this continues.

Oil prices rose above $86 a barrel Friday in Asia after robust U.S. retail sales in March pointed to growing consumer demand in the world's biggest energy market.

Benchmark crude for May delivery was up 71 cents to $86.10 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 49 cents to settle at $85.39 on Thursday.

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First GOP member of Congress calls on Steele to resign

From CQPolitics (link isn't working for me):

Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida is the first Republican in Congress to call for Republican Naitional Committee Chairman Michael Steele to resign.

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Should Stephanopoulos have asked Obama about Palin's nuke critique?

Interesting question from Greg Sargent as to whether Palin matters, and whether reporters should therefore be quoting her, and asking the President about her. Sam Stein at Huff Post has more on this. Read the rest of this post...

Gingrich vows to shut down government for two years if GOP retakes Congress, will repeal 'virtually everything' Obama has done

Virtually everything?

Ban on pre-existing conditions.
Adding kids to parents' health insurance.
Affordable student loans.
Equal pay.

Really?

And shutting down the government worked so well in the 1990s when Gingrich shut down the government, and it blew up in his face. How many normal Americans really want to shut down the EPA for two years? This is insane. Dems need ads on TV right now showing Gingrich talking about shutting down the EPA for two years. So much for safe drinking water. Would you like some botulism with your hamburger little boy?

Here’s my promise: … When we win control of the House and Senate this fall, Stage One of the end of Obamaism will be a new Republican Congress in January that simply refuses to fund any of the radical efforts. […]

Once upon a time, I used to be Speaker of the House and I actually understand the legislative process. And the truth is, under our Constitution, the Congress doesn’t have to pass the money. If EPA gets not budget, it can’t enforce cap-and-trade. […]

So Stage One of Obamaism being gone is to simply win this fall and not fund it for two years. Stage Two is…to ensure Obama joins Jimmy Carter in the tradition of one-party presidents (sic). And, that in that context, that we be prepared to commit that a Republican President and a Republican Congress in February and March of 2013 will repeal every radical bill passed by this machine.

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Threats against Congress soar, mostly from HCR opponents

Motivating their supporters towards violent rhetoric has been a mainstay of the GOP for several years now. During the presidential campaign, Sarah Palin's rallies were a hotbed of violent rhetoric from supporters who declared Barack Obama a terrorist (as did Palin, albeit subtly), to one Palin rally attendee who suggested that Obama be killed. And just last week Palin joked about the increased concerns about violence, and violent rhetoric, from her supporters, Teabaggers and other.

The Washington Post has much more about the recent climate of violence created by the Republicans:

Anger over the health-care overhaul has led to a nearly threefold increase in recent months in the number of serious threats against members of Congress, federal law enforcement officials said.

Nearly all of the recent threats appear to come from opponents of the health-care overhaul, said Gainer, who also served four years as chief of the U.S. Capitol Police. And, he said, there have been "significantly more" threats against House members than against senators.

This week, Rep. Stephen I. Cohen (D-Tenn.) received hostile e-mails to his Cohen for Congress campaign Web site, an incident that was reported to the Capitol Police and the FBI office in Memphis. One e-mail said, "If our tea parties had hoods, we would burn your [expletive] on a cross on the White House front lawn," according to Cohen's chief of staff.

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Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring

More reporting from:
Reuters.
ABC.
LA Times.

CNN is reporting the news that Justice Stevens is retiring. This wasn't completely unexpected. He's 90. But, CNN confirms that the retirement will occur this summer.

So, we'll be having a confirmation battle over the next couple months.

From AP:

Stevens says he will step down when the court finishes its work for the summer in late June or early July.

His announcement Friday in Washington had been hinted at for months. It comes 11 days before his 90th birthday.

Stevens began signaling a possible retirement last summer when he hired just one of his usual complement of four law clerks for the next court term. He acknowledged in several interviews that he was contemplating stepping down and would certainly do so during Obama's presidency.

The timing of his announcement leaves ample time for the White House to settle on a successor and Senate Democrats, who control 59 votes, to conduct confirmation hearings and a vote. Republicans have not ruled out an attempt to delay confirmation.

The leading candidates to replace Stevens are Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 49, and federal appellate Judges Merrick Garland, 57, and Diane Wood, 59.

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Stupak is retiring, received death threats from health care reform opponents

Bart Stupak, who has been in that national spotlight over the health care/abortion debate, isn't running for reelection:

Michigan Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak will not seek reelection this fall, a decision that comes hard on his front-and-center (and controversial) role in the recent passage of President Barack Obama's health-care legislation.

Stupak confirmed his decision to the Associated Press and is expected to formalize it as a press conference at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time in Marquette, Mich.

Sources familiar with Stupak's thinking describe him as burned out from the long fight over health care in which he emerged as the leading voice of pro-life Democrats wary about the possibility that the legislation would allow federal funds to be spent on abortions.

According to today's Washington Post, health care opponents threatened to kill Stupak:

Rep. Bart Stupak (Mich.), the leader of a bloc of antiabortion Democrats who eventually cut a deal with the Obama administration and voted for the bill, received a fax with a drawing of a noose and an anonymous voice mail saying: "You're dead. We know where you live. We'll get you."

Related to his retirement news?

Remember, Stupak recently referred to the threats from health care reform opponents and Teabaggers as "domestic terrorism."

SANCHEZ: Is it -- is it terrorism?

STUPAK: I guess you might as well call it domestic terrorism, sure. Sure.

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Obama rejects criticism of START treaty from noted Russian/Nuclear expert Sarah Palin

ABC's George Stephapoulos interviewed President Obama in Prague earlier today. The President was in the Czech Republic to sign the START treaty with Russian President Medvedev. One of the leading critics of this treaty is none other than that noted Russian and nuclear expert Sarah Palin. She and her pal, Michele Bachmann, were in a frenzy about it on FOX News with Sean Hannity. That alone should negate paying attention to her rants.

So you're George Stephanopoulos and you're interviewing the President about this important treaty. You get a fixed amount of time and not that many questions. So, if you're Stephanopoulos, instead of focusing on the key elements of the treaty, you go right for the important stuff. Questions four, five and six were about Palin. George literally quoted her brilliant schoolyard analysis. Obama was having none of it:

STEPHANOPOULOS: I want to get to some of those broader issues. Because you're also facing criticism on that. Sarah Palin, taking aim at your decision to restrict the use of nuclear weapons. Your pledge not to strike nations, non-nuclear nations, who abide by the nonproliferation treaty. Here's what she said. She said, "It's unbelievable, no other administration would do it." And then she likened it to kids on the playground. She said you're like a kid who says, "Punch me in the face, and I'm not going to retaliate." Your response?

OBAMA: I really have no response. Because last I checked, Sarah Palin's not much of an expert on nuclear issues.

STEPHANOPOULOS:But the string of criticism has been out there among other Republicans as well. They think you're restricting use of nuclear weapons too much.

OBAMA:And what I would say to them is that if the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But not concerned about her criticisms?

OBAMA: No.

Pundits froth over everything Sarah Palin says. But, I have a feeling most Americans, even a few teabaggers, wouldn't want her too close to our nuclear arsenal. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The President is flying back from Prague today. He's in the air as I write this. Now, we think he's coming back to the U.S. today. We'll know for sure this afternoon.

Congress comes back to DC on Monday after the two week recess. Everyone on the Hill is thinking about the 2010 elections. And, I just saw this tweet from Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com:

fivethirtyeight: It's time to acknowledge that the Democrats COULD lose 60 or 70 House seats. Not super likely, but eminently possible.

Yikes. Nate hasn't done a post on this yet. When he does, I'll link to it. Here's Nate's post on a "possible 50+ seat loss for Democrats." But, there's been a lot of talk about the possibility of Democrats losing the House in November. That's one reason why you'll see a scramble to get progressive legislation passed in wha't left of this year. It's one of the reasons we've been so aggressive about getting the President and other allies to push harder on the repeal of DADT and passing ENDA. Democrats need to motivate their base. Polls have shown that our base isn't as motivated as the GOP base. That hasn't been a concern for the White House, but it should be. It really should be.

Let's get it started... Read the rest of this post...

South African fossils may be missing link

Another amazing discovery from Africa.

The extraordinary remains are thought to represent a period of evolutionary transition between tree-dwelling apes and the earliest human ancestors, or hominids, to take their first tentative steps on two feet. Their position at the very root of our family tree has led scientists to claim that the skeletons will help define what it means to be human.

The remains were recovered alongside the fossilised bones of at least 25 other animals, including sabre-toothed cats, a hyena, a wild dog, several antelope and a horse, according to two reports in the journal Science. At the time the creatures died, the region was dominated by a grassy plain crossed by wooded valleys.

The discovery of the mass grave has led researchers to suggest that the ancient animals and the hominids fell into the cave network through "death trap" holes in the surface and were unable to escape. The skeletons were so well preserved that palaeontologists believe the two individuals fell into the cave together and were dead and buried within days or weeks.

The remains, found in the Malapa cave network at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site 40km outside Johannesburg, have already triggered a row over their identity, because they share anatomical features with both early humans from the genus, Homo, and their ancient predecessors, the Australopithecines, or southern apes.

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Malcom McLaren died, aged 64

What a legend. A few months ago I posted his own "Buffalo Gals" but here it is again.

Malcolm McLaren, the man who irreversibly changed the face of British music as manager of the Sex Pistols, died yesterday, aged 64.

He had suffered from cancer for some time and, despite a recent period of good health, his condition had deteriorated rapidly in recent days, according to his spokesman. He died in Switzerland yesterday morning and his body is expected to be flown home to be buried in Highgate cemetery, north London.

Those paying tribute to him last night included John Lydon, who poignantly signed his statement in the name of Johnny Rotten, the nom de guerre that the one-time enfant terrible used during his Sex Pistols days.

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