CNN's Glenn Beck said "it might not be bad" for a 20 - 25 foot storm surge to "clean the streets out" in NYC

Glenn Beck is a sicko. That's not a surprise. That he continues to spew his hate on CNN is the surprise. We are still dealing with the repercussions of a hurricane that destroyed an American city. Apparently, Glenn Beck wants the same thing to happen to New York City. Chris Achorn has been monitoring Beck and he's got the goods:

LANDSEA: New York is extremely vulnerable, too, if a hurricane strikes just west of them and funnels all that water just north along Long Island into the city itself. They could have 20 to 25 feet of storm surge.

BECK: Actually, that would clean the streets out. It might not be bad.

"Clean the streets out" of what? Does anyone at CNN care what this guy says? How about all those CNN staffers in NYC? Miles and Soledad, do you think the 20 to 25 foot storm surge isn't such a bad idea? And, Anderson Cooper, you're a New Yorker. What do you have to say? Read the rest of this post...

Rehnquist: the hallucinating Supreme Court Justice

Some of Rehnquist's decisions caused nightmares, but who (besides the FBI) knew the Justice was actually hallucinating?:

The FBI's file on former Chief Justice William Rehnquist - made public more than a year after his death - indicates the Nixon and Reagan administrations enlisted its help in blunting criticism of him during confirmation hearings.

The file also offers insight into the hallucinations and other symptoms of withdrawal that Rehnquist suffered when he was taken off a prescription painkiller in 1981. A doctor was cited as saying that Rehnquist, an associate justice of the Supreme Court at the time, tried to escape the hospital in his pajamas and imagined that the CIA was plotting against him.

You can't make this stuff up about the hard-core right wingers. Read the rest of this post...

Yet another Colorado anti-gay right-wing preacher - this would be the third - under investigation for being naughty

Not clear what this guy did, but it seems to involve the "misuse" of church funds. As this blog notes, let your imagination run wild with that one. Read the rest of this post...

Capitol Hill Wrap Up

Here's a wrap up from earlier this afternoon at the Capitol. Thanks again to our friends at PoliticsTV for helping us out with our videos today and for their great interviews with some of the new leaders of the 110th Congress.

Read the rest of this post...

Bush to appoint Muslim to highest US position ever

Reuters is reporting that Bush is planning on moving US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad over to the UN as our new ambassador. That would make Khalilzad the highest-ranked Muslim official in the US government ever, at least according to what my sources tell me. And I think that's great.

And just like the gays in the Republican party, once you let some in, more will follow. Lots more. I think that's great too.

I'm really going to enjoy watching the religious right bigots try to torpedo this nomination. They can't afford to give Muslim-Americans a foothold in the most senior reaches of our government. Why? Because the religious right Republicans are bigots, and Khalilzad's appointment will break a very high glass ceiling for Muslim-Americans.

I love watching Bush screw the religious right. Smells like... John McCain.

Couple questions from Joe in DC: Will Khalilzad be sworn in with a Koran? Can someone in the media ask Congressman Virgil Goode what he thinks about this nomination? Read the rest of this post...

McCain suggests we aren't leaving Iraq until we win

The man is nuts. From AP:

In an interview with the Don Imus radio show Thursday, McCain responded the criticism: "I don't know if it's a doctrine or not, but it's a principle — a principle that when I raise my hand and vote to send young men and women, American men and women, into harm's way and fight a war, I'm committing to accomplishing the mission. Maybe some others did not understand that when they voted to support the war."

The mission is over, you lost. Would McCain have voted to send more men to Vietnam since, you know, once you vote to send our men and women into harm's way they don't get to come home until we win - even if we already lost? Read the rest of this post...

OPEN THREAD: What a difference a day makes

My favorite moment from yesterday - upon taking the gavel, the new speaker opened the session with a commitment to the next generation - how refreshing. From the LA Times: "One of Pelosi's campaign promises was to take the House gavel away from special interests and pass it to "the hands of America's children."" It's a new day in Washington.

Consider this an open thread. Read the rest of this post...

The first ten Senate bills start the Democratic agenda

What now in the Senate? Chuck Schumer answered that question from the Senate side of the building via Huffington Post:

Today marks the first day of the new Congress and hopefully a new era of working together on issues that help middle class families. From strengthening our homeland security to making college more affordable, this is what we're all here to do and must get done, starting right now.

Take, for example; the War in Iraq. It now seems that the President will move forward with sending more troops. An escalation in the war, particularly with no change in strategy, makes no sense. We are policing a civil war right now in Iraq. And whether the troops stay three months or three years, as soon as they leave the Sunnis and Shiites will resume fighting with one another and nothing will have been accomplished. The bottom line is we need a change in strategy. Both the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee will convene hearings next week to help cerate a change of strategy.

As part of the Democratic leadership, we have announced ten new bills - each of which are aimed at helping people. These bills represent important priorities for the Senate and the country.

Senator Reid's first floor statement as Majority Leader laid out those top ten bills:

In the first 10 bills we will introduce this afternoon—and in our on-going oversight of the war in Iraq—we intend to address three priorities of the nation: one, providing real security; two, restoring transparency, accountability and responsibility to the United States government; and three, helping working Americans get ahead by boosting wages and cutting costs in health care, education and energy.

We begin with S. 1, our plan to change the way Washington works.

It was late 2005 when scandals involving lobbyists and lawmakers shocked this nation, and despite the Senate’s best attempts, here we are—two years later—and still, there has not been reform of ethics, lobbying, and earmarks.

The people deserve better, which is why—as our first order of business—we will seek to give Americans the open and accountable government they deserve.

On Monday, we will start with the ethics bill that passed the Senate last year. This bill included important improvements in many areas, but it was not allowed to proceed because of politics in the House.

This year, we will improve that legislation and make additional reforms.

This legislation will include reforms to slow the revolving door between government jobs and lucrative employment with special interests. It will eliminate gifts paid for by lobbyists and interests that hire lobbyists. It will limit privately-funded travel like the notorious golf junkets to Scotland. It will increase disclosure requirements, so that the public will be better informed about the activities of lobbyists. And it will increase penalties for those who break the rules.

With these bipartisan reforms, we will help ensure America has a government as good—and honest—as the people it serves.

S. 2 through S. 10 are also worth a read. It's a solid agenda for a better America.

Amazing that instead of trying to divide America, the Senate leaders are trying to make a better America. Read the rest of this post...

Meet Congressman Chris Van Hollen from Maryland

As head of the DCCC, it is Representative Chris Van Hollen (D - Maryland 8th) who is entrusted with maintaining the Democratic House majority in 2008. Video courtesy of PoliticsTV.

Read the rest of this post...

Meet Congressman Tom Allen from Maine

Congressman Tom Allen (D-ME) stopped by blogger row. The video is courtesy of PoliticsTV.com. Tom, who is my member of Congress from Maine, came by to talk about this Congress -- but we'll all be hearing a lot about him as the 2008 Senate race in Maine starts to gear up (Susan Collins should be afraid -- very afraid):

Read the rest of this post...

You may call her Speaker Pelosi

It's official. Nancy Pelosi is now the Speaker of the House. Third in line to the presidency. (Photo from C-SPAN)

Raw Story has the text of Pelosi's speech. Read the rest of this post...

A new Majority Leader

Harry Reid - now the Majority Leader of the United States Senate. Currently Earlier speaking on C-SPAN2. Read the rest of this post...

Bush, unilaterally and out of nowhere, claims illegal power to spy on Americans' mail

The man is dangerously out of control.

With no authority whatsoever, Bush has decided that he has the right to violate US law and read our mail without first getting a judge's order. Why? Because he can. Well, actually, he can't. It's against the law. And what possibly can be Bush's excuse this time for spying on Americans illegally? The mail isn't going to get away if he gets the required court order before reading it. They can simply impound the letter, or whatever, that they want to search, and go to the judge and prove their case.

The Democratic congress, the people's congress, cannot come soon enough. Bush is a dangerous, incompetent, embarrassment to our entire country and our entire history. Republicans should be ashamed having voted for this man once, let alone twice. More from the NY Daily News. Read the rest of this post...

OPEN THREAD: Live Coverage Via C-SPAN

One of the foundations of our democracy is the orderly transition of power. While ceremonial at times, moments like this reaffirm all of our participation in the political process. Your involvement does make a difference. For those of you unable to watch TV at work, take a moment this lunch hour (East Coast time) and watch some of the coverage live from C-SPAN. C-SPAN has House coverage, C-SPAN2 has Senate coverage.

Consider this an open thread.

ROB'S NOTE: How satisfying was to hear the roll called in the Senate and hear names like Tester, Webb, and McCaskill instead of Burns, Allen and Talent? Read the rest of this post...

Update from the Capitol

Hello again. The video above comes courtesy from our friends at PoliticsTV.com. PoliticsTV has been interviewing some of the key Members of the 110th and we'll be featuring their interviews throughout the day.

There has been a steady stream of returning and newly elected members of Congress coming to meet with us this morning.

We've had the chance to talk to Rep. Louise Slaughter who chairs the very powerful House Rules Committee. She's focused on getting the initial agenda passed noting that they have a 12 year mess to clean up. The Republicans disenfranchised half the electorate during their reign. Slaughter is committed to making sure that the people really get their voices heard

The new chair of the DCCC, Chris Van Hollen, came by, too. In 2002, Van Hollen got the voters in his district to understand that a vote for their incumbent moderate Republican was really a vote for House GOP leaders like Tom DeLay. That message worked in 2006 in many districts and states. Van Hollen is committed to expanding the Democratic majority in the House and as he told us, the Democrats are on the offensive. Read the rest of this post...

Rangel bumped Cheney from his Capitol office

This is "sweet revenge":

Rep. Charles Rangel has evicted Vice President Dick Cheney from his office in the Capitol, and the Harlem heavyweight is moving into the prime digs today, The Post has learned.

Gilded letters were freshly painted atop the office door yesterday proclaiming "Ways and Means Committee" - confirming that the office now belongs to Rangel, the House panel's new chairman.

Sources said Cheney's and his staff's belongings were removed over the holidays.

The new digs give Rangel some of the choicest and most politically central real estate in all of Washington - as well as a measure of sweet revenge.

For the record, Cheney has no role in the House. He's the President of the Senate. But, he needed the House office so he could be the puppet master and prevent any oversight of the Bush/Cheney administration. Those days are soooo over. Read the rest of this post...

A New Morning in America

Hello from Room H-122 in the Capitol. Joe and I are pleased to welcome you to AMERICAblog's coverage of today's swearing in of the 110th Congress. It's a truly monumental day for our country, with the swearing in the first woman to hold the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Over the next few hours Joe and I will be interviewing some of the new and returning Members of Congress. We'll be asking them about how they plan on implementing America's priorities on national security and Iraq, economic priorities such as raising the minimum wage, and tackling health care. Today is a great opportunity to meet our country's new leaders. We'll have ample open threads so check back and join in the celebration. Read the rest of this post...

Iraq arrests the guy who photographed Saddam's execution. What about the guy who oversaw it?

The new Iraqi government has learned well from its puppet master. Rather than investigate the folks who arranged the lynch mob that executed Saddam Hussein in a grotesque display worthy of "Lord of the Flies," the Iraqi government is investigating the folks who took the video that let the world know that this disgusting abuse took place in the first place.

The guy who filmed the execution and released the tape to the world should get a medal. Instead he and several others were arrested. On what grounds? Using a cell phone cam? The Iraqis also arrested some of those who taunted Saddam. Again, on what grounds? Taunting a dictator? I'm all for getting to the bottom of this fiasco, but the folks who need to be held accountable aren't the guy with the cell phone cam or the guy who couldn't restrain himself from taunting a dictator. The people who should be held responsible are the folks who arranged and abetted this snuff film of an execution - that would be the US government and the Iraqi government.

More from AP.

Oh yeah, and check this out from the same article:

The second-guessing over the conduct of the execution came as a video turned up of four Americans and an Austrian abducted in November in southern Iraq.

Oops. Guess we just lost a little credibility in criticizing those Al Qaeda videos, didn't we? Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

It's a new day in America. The Democrats take over Congress today. "Rob in Baltimore" and I will be live blogging from the Capitol today.

So, it's the big day for the Democrats obviously -- yet, the Today Show's first guest is John McCain. Huh? They couldn't find a Democrat?

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

Muslim Gitmo detainee's head wrapped in duct tape for chanting the Quran

And even better, the Bush administration doesn't think an investigation is needed.

And we wonder why they hate us. Read the rest of this post...

What have the new immigrants ever done for the US

Besides creating lots of new business opportunities for Americans. This study is only focusing on the technology industry so there are plenty of other areas where they have created new businesses, paid taxes, hired employees, etc. Personally I have worked for three startups that had founders or senior directors who were new immigrants.

A team of researchers at Duke University estimated that 25 percent of technology and engineering companies started from 1995 to 2005 had at least one senior executive — a founder, chief executive, president or chief technology officer — born outside the United States.

Immigrant entrepreneurs' companies employed 450,000 workers and generated $52 billion in sales in 2005, according to the survey.

How will America survive with all of these new immigrants? Read the rest of this post...