Pelosi calls on Obama to stop discharging gay servicemembers immediately

Now this is quite fascinating. It's not often that the Speaker publicly challenges the President to a specific task. As I explain on AMERICAblog Gay, I think Pelosi is calling what she sees as Obama's bluff on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Read the rest of this post...

Boehner now taking partial credit for health care reform

Steve Benen:

INSKEEP: As you know, Democrats are already pointing to things that are changing in America because of this bill. They will point to the fact that college seniors, who would have been kicked off their families' insurance plans when they graduated, will get to stay on. Insurance companies are now saying they're going to end the practice of "rescission," where they take, or at least modify...

BOEHNER: Both of those ideas, by the way, came from Republicans, and are part of the common sense ideas that we ought to have in the law.

INSKEEP: Well, are you going to repeal those two specific things?

BOEHNER Uh, what I want to repeal are the other 158 mandates, commissions, boards that set up all the infrastructure for the government to take control of our health care system. [emphasis added]

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Criminal inquiry ahead for Goldman?

Any chance a few people at Goldman are a bit worried about how present and arrogant they've been for the last few years? Rubbing gaudy profits in the noses of the world during an economic crisis and after an unpopular bailout is never a good idea.

Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into trading at Goldman Sachs, raising the possibility of criminal charges against the Wall Street giant, according to people familiar with the matter.

While the investigation is still in a preliminary stage, the move could escalate the legal troubles swirling around Goldman.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, which two weeks ago filed a civil fraud suit against Goldman, referred its investigation to prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, which has now opened its own inquiry.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama administration again defends anti-gay DOMA law in court

Double whammy from the Obama administration today. DOD weighs in against repeal of DADT and DOJ defends DOMA again.

And remember, they don't have to, and the administration routinely ignores other laws it doesn't agree with. But with anti-gay laws, they defend them vociferously. And quite nastily, to boot. Read the rest of this post...

Gates doesn't want repeal of DADT this year

The Sec. of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs told the Chair of the House Armed Services Committee that they don't want Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed this year. John wrote it up at AMERICAblog Gay, wondering who is the Commander-in-Chief. Don't forget, Obama promised repeal this year in his State of the Union. Let's see who prevails.

Here's the letter from Gates and Mullen:
Letter from Sec. Gates and Adm. Mullen to Chairman Skelton on DADT Read the rest of this post...

Oklahoma Republicans considering anti-immigrant legislation more draconian than AZ

Yes, because it would be really hard to add Oklahoma to the boycott.

A group of state lawmakers said they will consider filing an immigration bill this session that would be tougher than Arizona’s new law.

Confiscating vehicles driven by illegal immigrants and preventing children from becoming citizens at birth if both their parents are illegal immigrants are proposals being discussed, Rep. Randy Terrill said Thursday.

"The focus is going to be very similar to what Arizona’s done, and we’re going to see if we can’t beef up some of the law enforcement, public safety aspects of cracking down on illegal immigration and rolling up the welcome mat for illegal aliens here in the state of Oklahoma,” said Terrill, R-Moore.

The Arizona law makes it a state crime to be in that state illegally and requires law officers to check documents of people they reasonably suspect to be illegal immigrants.

Read the rest of this post...

McCain, who moved to the far right for his re-election, now claims bipartisanship is dead

Again, the Republicans simply lie. Well, in this case, McCain is basically telling the truth. Bipartisanship was dead from day one. Regardless of how many times, and in how many ways, the White House caved to the Republicans - stimulus and health care reform are the two most obvious, but even on climate change and immigration the Democrats aren't holding particularly firm - it has gotten the Democrats nothing in return, other than claims that the Dems haven't been bipartisan enough. This is going to be the latest GOP lie that sticks, unless Democrats - especially the President - take it on directly. The President's statement the other day on financial reform, targeting the GOP for the blame, was excellent. We need to see more like it. Read the rest of this post...

Rachel Maddow destroys anti-immigration hate group

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Anthem Blue Cross backs off 39% price increase

Did insurance companies like Blue Cross really think jamming massive price increases down the throats of Americans was going to fly in this climate? Where did they find their PR team? Goldman Sachs? Enough is never enough but they're always going to try for more.

Insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross, the company criticized by President Barack Obama when it proposed raising rates for Californians by as much as 39 percent, withdrew plans for the proposed hike Thursday.

Los Angeles-based Anthem made the decision after an independent audit determined the company's justification for raising premiums was based on flawed data, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said.

The decision also came one day after Anthem's parent, Wellpoint, Inc. of Indianapolis, announced its first-quarter profit soared by 51 percent.

Read the rest of this post...

Oil rig disaster could be worse than Exxon Valdez within a week

From WonkRoom:

The catastrophic gusher of oil unleashed by the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig last week is on track to quickly exceed the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, an independent expert warns. An explosive burst of oil destroyed the exploratory rig 41 miles off the Louisiana coast on the eve of Earth Day, killing 11 workers. After the shattered hulk of the rig sank to the ocean floor a mile down, the pipeline continues to spew oil that has now reached shore, with an end weeks or months away. John Amos, the president and founder of the nonprofit firm SkyTruth, “which specializes in gathering and analyzing satellite and aerial data to promote environmental conservation,” estimated from satellite photos that the calamity is increasing at a rate of 850,000 gallons (20,000 barrels) a day.

Read the rest of this post...

Economy grew at annual rate of 3.2% in first quarter

Good economic news:

The United States economy continued to expand in the first quarter, but economists cautioned that the pace of growth is still not nearly fast enough to recover ground lost during the recession.

National output grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.2 percent last quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, after growth of 5.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 and 2.2 percent in the third quarter.

The steady growth has quelled fears that the downturn is not quite over.

“It’s been a case of, when will they stop worrying and learn to love the boom?” said Robert Barbera, chief economist at ITG, who said that many economists have been too hesitant to acknowledge the steady recovery because the job market is still weak.

My guess is that people will love the boom when the jobs are back. Read the rest of this post...

White House will now wait on offshore drilling until 'an adequate review' of massive Gulf spill

UPDATE via the Wonk Room: Repeating a GOP/Oil industry sounding talking point, earlier this month the President said:

It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced.

It turns out, by the way, they do:

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So, last month, Obama offered a great compromise on energy. He was going to allow coastal drilling, because he going to get beyond the "tired debates" over the issue. As John asked yesterday: Now who is looking tired? Now who is backtracking? This morning, David Axelrod said that there will be no drilling until there is "an adequate review." Note the President is apparently sticking with his plans for drilling, but needs a study about what happened in the Gulf of Mexico:

"All he has said is that he is not going to continue the moratorium on drilling but... no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here," White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on "Good Morning America" today, defending the administration's policy.

Axelrod said no new offshore drilling will go forward until "there is an adequate review of what happened here and what is being proposed elsewhere."

As Gulf Coast residents brace for mounds of slick to hit their shores, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has seeped into the energy debate in Washington, D.C. and threatens to disrupt Obama's policy and the bipartisan energy legislation in the Senate.

This spill threatens Obama's new policy of drilling, because "all he said" was that he's going to allow it. Obama owns it now. Imagine how much we'd be mocking Palin and the GOPers over their "drill, baby, drill" agenda if Obama hadn't adopted it. So, that quest for bipartisanship and the need to please conservative Democrats is really paying off. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Listening to news reports about the impending arrival on shore of that massive oil spill on the Gulf Coast is eerily reminiscent of coverage of hurricanes. There is, of course, a huge difference. Hurricanes are natural disasters. This one is man-made. The spill is going to have a devastating impact on the economies of those Gulf Coast states. Yesterday, Bill Maher tweeted:

Every asshole who ever chanted 'Drill baby drill' should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty

Great idea. I'm sure Sarah Palin will be down there in her waders trying to help out. And, I can help wondering what genius on Team Obama decided that drilling was such a great compromise.

I did like hearing the news that Goldman Sachs is now facing a criminal investigation. None of them seem at all impacted by the havoc they helped wreak on the American economy. In fact, they've profited grossly. They should be in jail.

Today, we'll get the new numbers on the economy with the release of the GDP for the first quarter of 2010. The President is making remarks on the new numbers this morning, so that's a sign that they should be good. People are spending again, but we'll be through this when people are working again.

What do we need to know? Read the rest of this post...

Greek rescue plan to be finalized today or weekend at the latest

Everyone is hoping this injection of cash - roughly 2.5 times more than initially discussed - will settle the current crisis. Much like the banks requiring cash to stabilize the market, the EU is eager to do the same to push back against the financing problem in Greece. However, Spain, Portugal and possibly others are not far away from requiring rapid assistance as well. I just left Holland after a few days and the general mood there was concern but also a bit of anger. Many felt that they cut hard a few years ago to live within the EU terms and now Greece is receiving easier terms without the pain. A few stories related to Greece that are similar to the infamous "welfare mother that drives a Cadillac" have played on the news which seem to fuel the fire. How much truth there is to the stories is questionable but the uneasiness is definitely present.

What's next for Europe?

France's market watchdog chief said on Friday he believed the plan to help Greece would be unveiled "tonight or over the weekend" and that Greece would not default on its debts.

"What the markets are looking for is the plan, which will be presented tonight or over the weekend," Jean-Pierre Jouyet, chairman of French regulator AMF, told RMC Radio.

"It will be done, it's almost completed. I have no doubt about that," he said.

International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank officials are in Athens to negotiate the bailout and hope to wrap up a deal within days in an effort to avert the risk of a debt default in Greece that could sink other fragile EU economies.

Jouyet said Greece would not default on its debts and that speculators would lose out.

Read the rest of this post...

Reports of oil reaching land in Louisiana

Not that it should come as a surprise. Just imagine the possibilities of this happening along the east coast. Click here for a map of the oil spill movements. BBC:

The US Coast Guard is investigating reports that oil has started washing ashore on the Gulf Coast from a leaking offshore well.

Up to 5,000 barrels of oil a day are thought to be spilling into the water after last week's explosion on a BP-operated rig, which then sank.

President Barack Obama has pledged "every single available resource" to help.

The US navy has been deployed to help avert a looming environmental disaster.

The US Coast Guard said it had sent investigators to confirm whether crude oil had begun to wash up on parts of the Louisiana shoreline.

Read the rest of this post...