Late night open thread

Trying to take the weekends a little easier. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Wow, it really got nice today, 64 :-) Read the rest of this post...

Major GOP scandal developing in Ohio

Ok, so you know how the GOP is looking for new ways for you to invest your social security funds? Those private accounts? Take a look at how they invest money in their favorite red state, Ohio....

According to the April 6th edition of the Toledo Blade, the state has taken to investing in rare coins. No Kidding. Rare coins. Through a major GOP fundraiser, of course.

Since 1998, Ohio has invested millions of dollars in the unregulated world of rare coins, buying nickels, dimes, and pennies. Controlling the money for the state? Prominent local Republican and coin dealer Tom Noe, whose firm made more than $1 million off the deal last year alone.

The agreement to invest the money in rare coins is rare itself: The Blade could find no other instance of a state government investing in a rare coin fund. Neither the state nor Mr. Noe could provide one.

"I don't think I'd be excited to invest in rare coins," Vermont Treasurer Mike Ablowich said. "It's a little unusual."

The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation has continued to be the sole investor in Mr. Noe's Capital Coin funds despite strong concerns raised by an auditor with the bureau about possible conflicts of interest and whether the state's millions were adequately protected.

This is outrageous. Public funds invested in rare coins...even I know that's not sound fiscal policy. It's amazing that people in Ohio trust the GOP with their state and their money.

Fortunately, the Ohio Democrats have seized on this issue. A group of Democratic State Senators have been pounding the issue all week. From the Blade article:

Ohio Democrats yesterday stepped up their call for an investigation by Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles.

Senate Democrats sent him a letter yesterday expressing concern that said the bureau "may be in breach of its responsibility" under state law to Ohio taxpayers to "safeguard public dollars."

The letter was signed by Senate Minority Leader C.J. Prentiss (D., Cleveland), Assistant Minority Leader Mark Mallory (D., Cincinnati), Minority Whip Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), and Assistant Minority Leader Robert Hagan (D., Youngstown).

The Democratic legislators also said they were concerned with the "political appearance of BWC's decision to invest so heavily in such risky business."

"We are concerned with the appearance that political connections, rather than sound financial planning, motivated BWC's decision to invest millions in Mr. Noe's rare coins," the Democratic senators wrote to Mr. Charles.

Mr. Noe and the bureau separately have said that politics had nothing to do with the bureau's investment in Mr. Noe's rare coin funds.

Sure, politics weren't involved....sure. These kinds of risky financial schemes have to be draped around the neck of every Republican in the state, just like Social Security at the national level. The GOP can't be trusted with your money....it's either record deficits or rare coins.

Apparently, it's not viewed by some as a problem by some. The Toledo Blade reported that Ken Blackwell, the Secretary of State and 2006 candidate for Governor, has no problem with this action:

Mr. Blackwell said his position hasn't changed, but he said he would not criticize the bureau's investment in rare coin funds.

"I would never have any reason to question Jim Conrad's integrity. When you run a fund size of $18 billion and you're looking at $50 million, 'Beyond what one's disposition might be, is that an irresponsible amount of risk?' Most people would say no," he said.

Yeah, Ken, what's $50 million in public funds among friends? Read the rest of this post...

Another open thread

Lovely day in DC. I get to sit and do my taxes, yeah! Read the rest of this post...

Out of Control... Absolutely out of fucking control

The right wing nut jobs have gone over the deep end when it comes to their hatred for judges. Read this article in today's Washington Post. Then, read it again. You know the situation is scary when the article, written by Dana Milbank, starts:

Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is a fairly accomplished jurist, but he might want to get himself a good lawyer -- and perhaps a few more bodyguards.

Conservative leaders meeting in Washington yesterday for a discussion of "Remedies to Judicial Tyranny" decided that Kennedy, a Ronald Reagan appointee, should be impeached, or worse.

The charge against Kennedy is being led by one of the long-time nutballs, Phyllis Schlafly because of his recent decision that juveniles shouldn't be executed. Okay, not to delve in to too much hypocrisy, but this whole "culture of life" crowd wants Kennedy impeached because he won't send kids to the chair. Huh?

But it gets better...or actually worse:

Not to be outdone, lawyer-author Edwin Vieira told the gathering that Kennedy should be impeached because his philosophy, evidenced in his opinion striking down an anti-sodomy statute, "upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law."

Ominously, Vieira continued by saying his "bottom line" for dealing with the Supreme Court comes from Joseph Stalin. "He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him, whenever he ran into difficulty: 'no man, no problem,' " Vieira said.

The full Stalin quote, for those who don't recognize it, is "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem." Presumably, Vieira had in mind something less extreme than Stalin did and was not actually advocating violence. But then, these are scary times for the judiciary. An anti-judge furor may help confirm President Bush's judicial nominees, but it also has the potential to turn ugly.

Quoting Stalin as a solution to a political problem??? What the fuck??? And this Vieira guy is serious about Stalin-type solutions:

Invoking Stalin, Vieira delivered the "no man, no problem" line twice for emphasis. (I added the bold for my own emphasis) "This is not a structural problem we have; this is a problem of personnel," he said. "We are in this mess because we have the wrong people as judges."

These are the people setting the agenda in the GOP around judges. That judge-bashing debate is tied right in to the battle over nominations.

Every single Democrat in Congress has to denounce these threatening attacks. And these attacks are coming from -- and have to be directly linked to -- Tom DeLay and John Cornyn. The nuts are just echoing this violence rhetoric that comes right from DeLay and Cornyn.

Stalinist solutions??? This is out of fucking control.... and it has to be stopped. Every debate in the Senate about judges has to be about how America's judiciary is being threatened with violence. Read the rest of this post...

Jesse Helm's Consultant Marries His Gay Partner

Yes, hypocrisy reigns once again. Arthur Finkelstein, who masterminded the political career of Jesse Helms and several other notable Republican gay bashers, has married his male lover...in that liberal bastion on of Masssachusetts, no less.

The New York Times has the story:

Mr. Finkelstein, 59, who has made a practice of defeating Democrats by trying to demonize them as liberal, said in a brief interview that he had married his partner of 40 years to ensure that the couple had the same benefits available to married heterosexual couples.

"I believe that visitation rights, health care benefits and other human relationship contracts that are taken for granted by all married people should be available to partners," he said.

That, Mr. Finkelstein is probably the most accurate and truthful thing you have ever said. Try it out on your pals in the GOP. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Beautiful day in D.C....the cherry blossoms are blooming. What's the news? Read the rest of this post...