Just who is Ted Olson?

I'll stop beating the dead horse after this post. But Jake Tapper at ABC explains just who Ted Olson, the newest gay marriage advocate, is:

It should be noted, for those not fully aware of Mr. Olson's resume, that he is a full-throated conservative, a Federalist hero who in 1999 welcomed conferees to "the heart" of the proverbial "vast right-wing conspiracy" he is perhaps the most highly respected conservative lawyer in the land. As Assistant Attorney General, he defended President Reagan during the Iran-Contra scandal, served on the board of directors of The American Spectator, and helped Paul Jones's lawyers prepare for their case.

You'd better believe that every die hard conservative in American politics just diid a double take on that one. Read the rest of this post...

Searching for surplus funds?

After so many years how long could this possibly take? Sell some of the riches owned by these institutions just as the Boston Archdiocese had to do. The Irish government certainly has a responsibility but the Catholic orders who were involved in decades of abuse need to step it up instead of plotting out a plan for dodging their responsibility. More abuse is the last thing the victims need at this point. Waiting should not be an option.

The premier noted that one order heavily implicated in brutality and molestation at boys' schools, the Christian Brothers, had already pledged to search their finances and assets for "surplus" funds.

"I believe the other individual congregations involved should now also articulate their willingness to make a further substantial voluntary contribution," Cowen said after an emergency Cabinet meeting Tuesday to discuss the abuse report.

On Wednesday, seven of the 18 orders confirmed they would meet with the government. All reiterated apologies for their role in harming children — But none said they would contribute more to a 2002 deal with the government that left taxpayers paying almost all of the euro1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) legal bill for 14,000 abuse settlements.

The Conference of Religious in Ireland, the umbrella body for 138 religious orders on the island, said the 18 orders mired in the child-abuse scandal are planning their own private strategy-planning session Friday in Dublin to decide on a common approach to the government.

Read the rest of this post...

Newt tweets about the horrors of Auschwitz, then calls Sotomayor a racist. Classy guy.

There's been a lot of coverage about Newt's nasty, misguided attack on Sotomayor from earlier today. He's pushing the idea that she's a racist. We wrote about Newt in the post below, noting how he launched his "racist" attack on Sotomayor via Twitter. But so far, not a lot has been said about where Newt is while he's tweeting away.

DailyKos diarist Jeffrey Feldman figured out that the good little Catholic boy, Newt, tweeted his hateful message about Sotomayor after he toured the "gas chamber and crematorium at Auschwitz" yesterday. Yes, Newt is in Poland working on a movie about Pope John Paul II. Obviously, Newt was inspired by the setting to spew hatred. Feldman posted a screen capture of Newt's tweets.

The guy is too much. Methinks Newt needs to spend some time in the confessional.

This sad episode just provides further proof that the GOPers have no shame. Politicking from concentration camps. Does it get any worse? Read the rest of this post...

GOP says filibuster unlikely against Sotomayor

Not exactly your daddy's GOP, eh? Still, you'd better believe they're going to be digging and digging to see if they can find anything to use against her, and if they find something, or come up with something that sounds like something even if it isn't, you'd better believe that the filibuster option will be back with bells on. Read the rest of this post...

Gay protests greet Obama in LA tonight

From the Courage Campaign. They're billing it as a "welcome" rather than a "protest." Uh huh:

LGBT Community Calls on Obama for Full Equality Outside DNC Fundraiser Following Prop 8 Ruling

LOS ANGELES -- Just one day after the historic California Supreme Court ruling on the Proposition 8 marriage ban, the LGBT community will gather outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel to welcome President Obama and highlight the growing movement toward full federal marriage equality and the need to repeal "Don't Ask. Don't Tell."

The most LGBT-friendly sitting U.S. President in history will be at the Beverly Hilton for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser.

The demonstration will feature Lt. Dan Choi and other LGBT servicemen & women in opposition to "Don't Ask Don't Tell."

Lt. Choi will ask President Obama to respond to a letter signed by more than 140,000 Courage Campaign community members asking the President to end DADT and not fire Lt. Choi. The letter can be found here:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/DontFireDan

Organizers from the Courage Campaign. Equality Network, Equal Roots Coalition, Stonewall Democratic Club, F.A.I.R., and White Knot believe it is time for all Americans to demand equality on all fronts for all people.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 27

6:00PM - Rally begins

7:00PM - Program Begins

WHERE: Beverly Hills Hilton - exact location around hotel TBD

Read the rest of this post...

RNC pulls video making "pussy" joke about Pelosi

That only took them a week. Read the rest of this post...

Top RNC staffer piles on the Newt-led attack that Sotomayor is a racist

The RNC's Director of New Media, via Twitter, piled on to the right wing meme, fostered by Newt Gingrich, that Sonia Sotomayor is a racist. Greg Sargent has the tweet and asked the question:

Does Todd Herman, the director of new media for the Republican National Committee, agree that Sonia Sotomayor is a racist?

Herman just Re-Tweeted Newt Gingrich’s earlier Tweet claiming that Obama’s SCOTUS pick had indulged in “racism,” which is catching some flak from some media figures today.

These guys are so desperate and just plain hateful. Newt recently converted to Catholicism. He must have been absent when they were teaching the lessons about loving one's neighbor (or maybe because he's pals with church leaders, he could skip those teachings.) Clearly, Newtie is still a primary messenger of hate and divisiveness.

For now, "racism" is the talking point about Sotomayor for the Newt's other right wing pals, as Media Matter shows us in this video:

They are pathetic. And, it's weird how these wingnuts are just so afraid of Sonia Sotomayor.

UDPATE: Okay, this is getting to be too much. Besides the racism line of attack, one of the wingnuts has added the "rice, beans and pork" critique. Not kidding. We've already passed the point of absurdity. Talking Points Memo found this item in Alexander Bolton's article in The Hill:

Sotomayor also claimed: “For me, a very special part of my being Latina is the mucho platos de arroz, gandoles y pernir — rice, beans and pork — that I have eaten at countless family holidays and special events.”

This has prompted some Republicans to muse privately about whether Sotomayor is suggesting that distinctive Puerto Rican cuisine such as patitas de cerdo con garbanzo — pigs’ tongue and ears — would somehow, in some small way influence her verdicts from the bench.

Curt Levey, the executive director of the Committee for Justice, a conservative-leaning advocacy group, said he wasn’t certain whether Sotomayor had claimed her palate would color her view of legal facts but he said that President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee clearly touts her subjective approach to the law.

“It’s pretty disturbing,” said Levey. “It’s one thing to say that occasionally a judge will despite his or her best efforts to be impartial ... allow occasional biases to cloud impartiality.

"But it’s almost like she’s proud that her biases and personal experiences will cloud her impartiality.”

Wow. The right-wingers have become delusional in a very short period of time. The combination of an Obama presidency and a Sotomayor Supreme Court nomination has pushed them over the edge.

And, was Alexander Bolton writing this as comedy or does he think it's news that right wingers are "mus[ing] privately" about Sotomayor's food choices? I can't tell. It's so bizarre. Read the rest of this post...

Report: Citi and Bank of America to raise salaries

The overall annual pay better be coming down dramatically. For too long this industry has overpaid to retain "talent" that has crashed the global economy. The banks still don't seem to appreciate how overvalued they are in the market. Pay superstar money for superstars, perhaps, but since when have we seen superstars? The high numbers generated during the bubble have been exposed as trash so anything from recent memory doesn't fit. What is it going to take for them to understand? Then again, when they are treated so royally by the government, it's only normal that they believe in their own superiority.

Following a Morgan Stanley plan unveiled last week, Citigroup and Bank of America are likely to soon raise base salaries for investment bankers to compensate for limits on annual bonuses, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are not considering an increase in base pay, the paper added, citing two people familiar with the matter.

BofA spokeswoman Jessica Oppenheim was quoted as telling the paper that "pressures in the investment-banking and capital-markets businesses continue to be intense," adding that the bank would "take the steps necessary to retain key employees."

Right. So how about we see some actual results from those "key employees" before getting carried away. If they want to leave, let them leave. There are plenty of others ready to dive in and move up the ranks. They may even be better. It's hard to imagine anyone worse than what we've seen. Read the rest of this post...

GOPers already going overboard with ugly (and ridiculous) attacks on Sotomayor

The Republicans just can't help themselves. They can't control their most base instincts. It's instinctive: Must throw every every nasty and racist (sometimes subtle, sometimes not) attack at Sotomayor without regard to the political consequences. This really is who they are. Via Greg Sargent:

Sonia Sotomayor was nominated only 24 hours ago, but a familiar pattern is already visible: The overheated conservative reaction to the pick is likely to further complicate the GOP’s efforts to shake off its image as intolerant, backward-looking, harshly obstructionist, and captive to extreme elements.

The reaction from the right is already playing into the hands of Dems, whose strategy is to make any and all GOP objections to Sotomayor about the current state of the Republican Party.

Evidence of this isn’t hard to find. In a CNN radio interview, RNC chair Michael Steele all but begged fellow Republicans to temper their rhetoric on Sotomayor. Steele said, wishfully, that the GOP “right now will avoid partisan knee-jerk judgments.”

Conservative Republicans, however, didn’t get that memo, denouncing her in harsh, sometimes racially loaded terms.

Rush Limbaugh attacked her as a “hack” and a “reverse racist.” Pat Buchanan declared her an “Affirmative Action pick.” And Senator Jim Inhofe worried that Sotomayor won’t apply the law “without undue influence” from her “race” and “gender.” There is much more like this.

There's so much more like this. The Republicans are captive to the extremist elements because it's all they've got left in their party.

Over at Firedoglake, Christy Hardin Smith identified the key right wing line of attack via the buffoonery of Tom Fitton from Judicial Watch:

Here we have the very essence, the core if you will, of right wing objections to Judge Sotomayor's nomination. I give you the intellectual stylings and logical superiority of Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton:

David Shuster: "What evidence do you have that she would put her feelings and politics above the rule of law?"

Tom Fitton: "Because President Obama chose her."

She was nominated by a Democratic President. Ergo, she must be unacceptable without any factual foundation as to why.

Taaaa daaaaaaaaaah.

Yes, there you have it in a nutshell -- or a nut's rant. And, it's only going to get worse. Read the rest of this post...

Hypocrisy watch: Under Bush, Senator Grassley and his GOP colleagues demanded an "up or down vote"

A most excellent op-ed in the Des Moines Register by our friend, Ari Rabin-Havt, on the expected hypocrisy from the GOP over the upcoming nomination battle. Working for Harry Reid, Ari had a front row seat when Republican Senators were espousing the need for "up and down" votes for Bush's judicial nominees. Back then, they were vehemently opposed to any delays -- and GOP leaders were going to invoke the "nuclear option" to preclude any filibusters. Let's see what they do now:

Four years ago this month, as a staffer for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, I sat at the back of the Senate Chamber and listened to Republicans denounce efforts to filibuster President Bush's judicial appointments. One after another, they sermonized about the body's constitutional, even moral, obligation to give each nominee an "up or down vote."

At the time, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said, "It's time to make sure all judges receive a fair vote on the Senate floor."

Now four years later, President Barack Obama has announced his first nomination to the Supreme Court. No one doubts Judge Sonia Sotomayor's qualifications. In fact, she was first appointed to the federal courts by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

However, many conservatives, in a desperate attempt to reclaim relevance, are already calling on Senate Republicans to filibuster Obama's highly qualified pick.

Not only would this be one of the greatest acts of hypocrisy in the 220-year history of the Senate, it would be an admission by Republicans that their actions four years ago were nothing more than a political stunt.

If Grassley supports a filibuster on Sotomayor's nomination, he will make it undeniably clear that he is happy to use the Constitution as a political prop. We will be made acutely aware that he sees our founding documents as trivial things, to be revered when they are useful and cast aside when the political winds change direction. Such cynicism is far more deplorable than plain hypocrisy.

My guess is that Grassley and his GOP colleagues demonstrate the deplorable cynicism. They have to cater to their hard-core wingnut constituents. Read the rest of this post...

Bush Solicitor General, Ted Olson, explains why he's now for gay marriage

We wrote last night about how Ted Olson, George Bush's former Solicitor General (the guy who argues the administration's cases before the Supreme Court) - and the guy who argued Bush v. Gore before the Supreme Court on behalf of Bush - is now teaming up with attorney David Boies to launch a federal legal challenge to Prop 8 in Cailfornia.

As I mentioned last night, it's hard to overplay the significance of this. Olson may very well be the man singlehandedly responsible for putting George Bush in the White House these past eight years. He is a conservative. He was a member of the board of the American Spectator, the magazine that investigated Bill Clinton in the early 90s, and got that entire ball of wax rolling. Olson was the guy who was so conservative that Harry Reid torpedoed Bush's desire to make Olson Attorney General after Gonzales. Olson is so conservative that Bob Novak (aka Novakula) called him "highly esteemed."

You get the point.

This is as significant in conservative circles, I believe, as former McCain strategist Steve Schmidt, now supporting gay marriage. Moderates in the Republican party - or perhaps more accurately, conservatives - are suddenly speaking out with more moderate views. The irony is that we always wanted moderate/liberal Republicans to stand up and denounce the culture wars. To take their party back. But instead, we have a growing number of conservatives who are washing their hands of the religious right and its phobias.

Read what Olson said to Byron York at the Washington Examiner about his work on the Prop 8 case:

"I personally think it is time that we as a nation get past distinguishing people on the basis of sexual orientation and that a grave injustice is being done to people by making these distinctions," Olson told me Tuesday night. "I thought their cause was just."

I asked Olson about the objections of conservatives who will argue that he is asking a court to overturn the legitimately-expressed will of the people of California. "It is our position in this case that Proposition 8, as upheld by the California Supreme Court, denies federal constitutional rights under the equal protection and due process clauses of the constitution," Olson said. "The constitution protects individuals' basic rights that cannot be taken away by a vote. If the people of California had voted to ban interracial marriage, it would have been the responsibility of the courts to say that they cannot do that under the constitution. We believe that denying individuals in this category the right to lasting, loving relationships through marriage is a denial to them, on an impermissible basis, of the rights that the rest of us enjoy…I also personally believe that it is wrong for us to continue to deny rights to individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation."

If Ted Olson can say that about gay marriage, then all bets are off in terms of what we should expect from Democratic politicians.

Joe and I both used to give a lot of latitude to Democrats on gay marriage. We're both realists who believe that civil rights, like so many other victories, are most often won in small steps (or "tranches" (aka slices) as they say in the financial world, and France). We were willing to cut Obama some slack on gay marriage because we understood that America wasn't there yet, and it was difficult for a Democratic politician to openly support gay marriage and not lose his career.

No more.

Times have changed. We have conservative Republican leaders like Steve Schmidt and Ted Olson openly endorsing gay marriage while our Democratic president and far too many of his administration are treating gays and their civil rights like some kind of crazy Aunt you don't talk about in polite company because she's just so embarrassing.

Religious right bigots like to invoke Obama's supposed opposition to gay marriage when trying to take away our civil rights, and the White House says nothing to dispel the comparison. Well, perhaps it's time we started quoting pro- gay marriage conservatives like Steve Schmidt and Ted Olson, and asking the White House why Barack Obama seems to have a bigger hang up with our civil rights - hell, with us (do you see anyone openly gay in the Cabinet?) - than two of the most conservative Republicans in Washington. Read the rest of this post...

GM moves much closer to bankruptcy

The one-time lion of American industry is inching closer to bankruptcy this morning:

General Motors on Wednesday prepared to face the fallout from a failed debt exchange that sends the largest U.S. automaker closer to a bankruptcy filing expected by the end of the month.

GM bondholders had until midnight to trade $27 billion in debt for a 10-percent ownership stake in the reorganized company that U.S. officials have said could emerge from a quick trip through bankruptcy court.

As the deadline passed early on Wednesday there was no immediate word from GM on how much debt the offer had succeeded in retiring. The Treasury also had no immediate comment.

So many members of Congress doggedly protected the auto industry from forced innovation. Rep. John Dingell comes to mind. He chaired the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee for years and fought legislation aimed at the auto industry. Oh, and his wife works for GM. Republicans did the auto industry's dirty work on issues like health care reform back in the 90s. All those powerful friends on Capitol Hill helped bring GM to where it is.

And, we're all going to end up owning GM now:

In better times, many employees of General Motors called their company “Generous Motors” because of its rich benefits.

Now G.M. may stand for something else: Government Motors.

The latest plan for the troubled automaker, which is expected to file for bankruptcy by Monday, calls for the Treasury Department to receive about 70 percent of a restructured G.M.

Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Yesterday was a pretty wild news day. It was just non-stop.

The president really delivered on his Supreme Court appointment. Once again, he ignored the usual D.C. chatter, gossip and whispers. And, this is going to be quite the confirmation battle. The Republicans have to navigate a minefield. The GOP Senators will have to cater to their extreme base, but in doing so will alienate one of the fastest growing voting blocs. And, you know those idiots on Capitol Hill will side with their wing nuts. They always do.

On Prop. 8, let the repeal effort begin -- and do it right this time. If the so-called leaders of the movement in California hadn't screwed up the campaign last year, we wouldn't be in this situation. They were too worried about who got credit for the victory. But, we are where we are -- and we have to win at the ballot box in California. In the meantime, we'll keep making progress and moving forward across the country. Time is on our side -- and the right wingers know it. (Now, we just need our friends in the White House to figure that out.)

Let's see where this days leads us... Read the rest of this post...

Roubini: no bottom until late 2009, slow recovery

Any talk of recovery strikes me as much too optimistic as well. If anything the market is moving sideways, without any real long term direction. Even with the recent runup in the stock market it's treacherous territory that is a traders market. Individuals hoping to cash in while prices are cheap could easily lose badly unless they have extensive knowledge and time to move in and out quickly. Business doesn't necessarily look any worse, in my view, but it's certainly not eager to spend either. Too many excesses from the bubble years still need to be worked out. Reuters:

Roubini, who is widely credited for predicting the current economic turmoil, was speaking at the Seoul Digital Forum.

"A more sober analysis suggests we're closer to the bottom; there is light at the end of the tunnel, but it's going to take a while longer, and the recovery is going to be weaker than otherwise expected."

Once the recession ends, "U.S. economic growth is going to be below potential for at least two years," he said, amid multiple imbalances in the housing sector and the financial system, and the rise of public debt.

Read the rest of this post...

NHS approves acupuncture to save money

I think I can hear the traditional doctors screaming already. The surgeons, who love to slice and dice regardless of the problem, will be protesting the change despite new studies showing how little surgery actually helps with back pain. Here in France the national health care and insurance companies have been slow to accept alternative treatments, probably due to the strength of the pharmaceutical industry, but they are coming around. Personally I love acupuncture and have had great success with it for stress related treatments so I think adding it to a system like the NHS is great news.

Tens of millions of pounds are being wasted by the NHS on useless treatments for back pain, money that should be diverted to alternative therapies such as acupuncture and spinal manipulation, a health service watchdog says today.

From among 200 treatments and devices claimed to help a bad back, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has passed judgement on what works and what doesn't. X-rays, ultrasound and steroid injections are out and osteopathy, chiropractic and "needling" are in, it says.

The new guidelines mark a watershed in the treatment of the condition and for Nice itself. It is the first time that the institute has issued a positive recommendation that the NHS provide, and pay for, alternative therapies.

Are such treatments covered in your insurance plan? Is this normal or a big deal? As I said above, it's very much in transition here and younger doctors are no longer afraid of this. It probably helps that a few doctors paved the way and now everyone is seeing the cost savings side of these treatments. Read the rest of this post...

Paint your roof white?

Yes, but does it match faux brick and vinyl siding? Outside of Greece or ancient Greek outposts there aren't many places in the world that use white roofs. There's nothing wrong with it but it would take a lot of change in attitudes of what looks "normal" to people. Over here I think of roofs as either clay tile, slate or sometimes (in Normandy) grass/thatch. In the States I think of gray synthetic tiles or slate. Once people got over the look, then there's the cost of doing the roof. Maybe during the building process though, whenever that starts again. The Independent:

Steven Chu, the US Secretary of Energy and a Nobel prize-winning scientist, said yesterday that making roofs and pavements white or light-coloured would help to reduce global warming by both conserving energy and reflecting sunlight back into space. It would, he said, be the equivalent of taking all the cars in the world off the road for 11 years.

Speaking in London prior to a meeting of some of the world's best minds on how to combat climate change, Dr Chu said the simple act of painting roofs white could have a dramatic impact on the amount of energy used to keep buildings comfortable, as well as directly offsetting global warming by increasing the reflectivity of the Earth.

"If that building is air-conditioned, it's going to be a lot cooler, it can use 10 or 15 per cent less electricity," he said. "You also do something in that you change the albedo of the Earth – you make it more reflective. So the sunlight comes down and it actually goes back up – there is no greenhouse effect," Dr Chu said.

Read the rest of this post...

Sotomayor updates from around the Web

Crooks and Liars has the video of Obama nominating Sotomayor. Politico has the embed:



Plum Line notes that 7 GOP senators supported Sotomayor for judge. Will they flip flop in order to curry favor with the dwindling GOP base?

Awk-ward.

Halperin: Barring any surprises, Sotomayor will be nominated.

FDL reports that GOP accidentally leaked its own talking points on Sotomayor.

Olympia Snowe says Sotomayor is "well qualified."

"I commend President Obama for nominating a well-qualified woman." — Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.

Read the rest of this post...