Obama to do interview with Russian opposition newspaper

A step in the right direction.

Barack Obama is to give an interview to the Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta before his trip to Moscow on Monday, in the clearest sign yet that his administration will take an unexpectedly tough approach in its dealings with the Kremlin. Obama will talk to the editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, and meet the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who co-owns the paper.

Novaya Gazeta is famous for its critical reporting of the Russian government. Its special correspondent Anna Politkovskaya is one of four reporters from the paper to have been murdered. A critic of the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, she was shot dead in Moscow in October 2006.

Formally, Obama is following in the footsteps of Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, who granted Novaya an interview in April. This week the paper published its own investigation into the origins of last summer's war between Russia and Georgia. The Kremlin blamed Georgia's pro-US leader, Mikheil Saakashvili. According to Novaya, however, the Kremlin planned its invasion of Georgia long in advance, sending columns of tanks.

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It's really worth a read

The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. Read the rest of this post...

Private equity screaming about new regulations

Good, but please scream louder just so we're sure you are in pain. Just as in the UK, this group is trying to move back to the highly leveraged world that brought us into this mess. Sure they can make huge profits but we have a pretty good understanding about the losses too. The problem here is that they've socialized those losses and want to pretend as though it never happened. When do investors get their bailout rewards from these people? Let them go ahead and have a hissy fit. If they don't like it, tough. Until they can show benefits to the broader market forget about what they have to say. Somehow they think that they are important enough to demand anything.

But preliminary guidelines proposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp on Thursday will deter the industry from investing in banks, executives warned.

"The issue that the regulators have to deal with is that banks need capital, but they don't want people to make too much money," said Steven Kaplan, a professor of finance specializing in private equity at the University of Chicago. The FDIC proposals would make it harder for investors to make money, he said.

"If you're a private equity investor you have to be a little crazy to want to deal with the FDIC and the government," Kaplan added.

The guidelines call for a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 15 percent for three years. Currently, well-capitalized banks must have Tier 1 capital of at least 6 percent of risk-weighted assets.

The new regulations would call for private equity groups to maintain their investments in banks for three years, unless they get special approval from the FDIC.

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Obama wants liberal groups (read: MoveOn) to stop pushing Dems to support public option

Liberal groups, such as MoveOn and SEIU, and liberal bloggers (such as Jane Hamsher and our own Joe Sudbay) have been pressuring Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu to support the public option in health care reform (i.e., some kind of public health insurance plan). Landrieu has been adamantly opposed to anything resembling a public option. So groups like MoveOn have been running ads against her.

Well, our president will have none of that, He want us all to stop trying to get Landrieu to support a public option. Specifically, he wants them to stop running this ad.

Yes, let's not pressure bad Democrats to support key provisions of the most importance piece of legislation of Obama's presidency, let alone the next decade.

Obama is quickly pushing liberal groups to a make or break moment, I think. Groups like MoveOn can't just agree to stop supporting, and advocating for, key components of the liberal agenda simply because the president asks them to. I mean, sure, MoveOn can. Just as the gay groups have so far rolled over and played dead for the president even as he files briefs defending ant-gay laws, even as he compares their marriages to incest and pedophilia, even as he turns a blind eye towards the two gay service members a day being kicked out under his watch. But MoveOn doesn't lack the spine, and crave the cocktail parties, like our national gay civil rights groups. And now we have the second time that Obama has criticized MoveOn, and implicitly, its members.

At some point, liberal groups, and their liberal constituencies, are going to realize that the president has a habit of asking much and giving little in return. The blogs learned it during the election, when they busted their butts for this president and have since been treated like dirt. The gays have now learned it. The immigration groups are starting to learn it, as are the health care reform groups. I understand some women's groups aren't real happy (as if anyone thinks Obama, who is beginning to seem genetically incapable of fighting for anything "controversial," is going to defend abortion). And now it's MoveOn, again.

At some point these organizations' members are going to wake up and smell the coffee. And it isn't going to be pretty for anyone. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday Swedish hedgehog blogging

The cutest little things. Apparently the island Jane Hamsher and I are on is known for its abundance of hedgehogs. I finally got to see one the other night, walking home from a reception or something around midnight, and there it was, scurrying along the street, around the size of a fat squirrel. (You can get a sense of how small the things are by the photo below.) The little guy actually stopped, looked at me, and then even walked a bit towards me - they're not particularly scared by humans. My new Swedish friend Bjorn immediately walked up and started petting the thing. I declined, after hearing the story the other night of the Swedish friend of Bjorn's who decided to pet the local "tame" fox, and got bit. Anyway, Bjorn let the little guy go and he quickly scurried around the corner (the hedgehog, not Bjorn). I've now seen a few of these little guys, usually late at night, and they really are quite adorable.

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Brutal murder of gay sailor increasingly looking suspicious, while Obama DOD (surprise) does nothing

"By the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration." - President Obama, 6/29/09, speaking to carefully selected gay leaders at the White House

A possible hate crime killing of a gay US sailor on Obama's watch. Navy Seaman August Provost III was gagged, bound by the hands and feet, shot in the head three times, and then his body burned. His relatives say he was repeatedly harassed for being gay, but couldn't seek help from the Defense Department because of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. Now he's dead.

Obama administration investigators say it was just a random act of violence. Move right along.

Putting aside my obvious concerns about the Obama administration's lackluster record on gay civil rights, you would think that after the recent uproar over the Obama DOJ's anti-gay DOMA brief comparing gay marriage to incest and pedophilia - and the Obama administration's rushed attempt to play catch up by organizing White House ceremonies, cocktail parties, and an assortment of minor rights - someone in the Obama White House would say "hey, maybe we need to call DOD and tell someone to actually, seriously investigate this murder," rather than blowing off the concerns of the dead US military member's family.

Not so much.

Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to the his sexuality and have taken a “person of interest” into custody. No charges have been filed.

The dead sailor's aunt says the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy shares the blame in her nephews death:

“He went to the Navy to serve and protect,” she said in an interview with Beaumont’s KFDM News, “he didn’t get protected at all.”

Roy told The Associated Press that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy discouraged her nephew from asking for help.

“That phrase is just stupid because it tells them they have no one to speak to,” she said.

To our president, and to those gay "leaders" advising him that it's okay to drag his feet on his major promises to our community, the message is clear: Political cowardice comes at a price. Read the rest of this post...

Rumors fly of possible Palin embezzlement indictment

Raw Story has a summary of the reporting on this. There is simply no way that the GOP frontrunner for president is suddenly announcing her resignation, late on a Friday, the day before a major holiday - the traditional times to dump damaging information - if someone didn't confront her with devastating information. So an indictment sounds possible. Though, Palin doesn't strike me as the type to give up and resign simply because someone's coming after her. The information must be devastating and conclusive.

Wonder if Palin's been to Argentina lately? :-)

Actually, I was talking to Jane Hamsher this morning on our little puddle jumper out of the island of Gotland, and it struck me that maybe Palin is about to get indicted by the same folks who took down Ted Stevens. Remember, Stevens didn't win on the facts - he won because the lawyers at Justice screwed up. Those lawyers must have been ticked that their case fell apart based on a technicality, so to speak. What if the same influence peddling case involved Palin too? What if they went to Palin, showed their hand, and said "we're taking Todd down, unless you resign?"

Anderson Cooper takes on Palin's spokeswoman, and pretty much makes mince-meat of her.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

Happy Fourth of July.

So, it wasn't a slowish news weekend after all. How about that Sarah Palin? She's got us all talking about her -- again. That speech was bizarre. And, the rumors are swirling. While some pundits may think this was a brilliant move, well, it wasn't.

North Korea launched missiles today. Seven to be exact. Kim Jong-Il didn't count on Sarah Palin filling the weekend news hole and stealing all the attention.

KarenMrsLloydRichards captured the events of the week in her ongoing series, Haiku for the Obama administration, which appears regularly in the comments. I've said it before, but I love how much she says with so few words.

This one made me laugh out loud. Perfect:

"FABULOUS par-tay!"
"Yeah, Debbie Downer bloggers
Want me to stay home."

And, on Mark Sanford:

Torn between two loves,
Mark is feeling like a fool,
Breaking all the rules. . .

Enjoy the holiday. Read the rest of this post...

Happy 4th of July

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UN's Ban praises Myanmar's junta

What a fool. He's an improvement over Kofi Annan but barely.

The high-stakes visit to Burma comes at a critical time for Ban, whose low-key approach to his job has been criticised as ineffectual. He came under further fire on arrival in Naypyidaw, the regime's headquarters, when he told the head of the junta, General Than Shwe: "I appreciate your commitment to moving your country forward."

"That is absolute nonsense," said Brad Adams, a Burma specialist at Human Rights Watch. "It's just what we implored him not to say, to make these diplomatic gaffes. Than Shwe has steadily moved his country backwards."

British officials were also furious at the remarks. They had urged Ban not to visit Burma, and risk handing the junta a propaganda prize with his visit, without first ensuring he would gain concessions in the form of the release of political prisoners and steps towards genuine democracy.

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Iran officially charges British embassy official

The hard line regime is obsessed with the British. The capturing of the British sailors in 2007 was odd but arresting embassy workers is even more bizarre. They're fixated on picking a fight with a world power and without the US, the UK is the best they can hope for. (The US is no stranger to such strange behavior either as we discovered during the invasion of Iraq.) The EU ambassadors are staying put for now as that was apparently part of the deal when Iran released other embassy workers. The Guardian:

A British embassy employee is to stand trial in Tehran for "acting against national security" — a dramatic escalation in Iran's campaign to blame Britain for protests against disputed election results.

The man, a 44-year-old Iranian who is the British embassy's chief political analyst, was arrested on Saturday and has been formally charged at Tehran's Evin Prison, his lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, said. "Apparently he will be put on trial. We have prepared and submitted the defence documents and I have to see the judge next week."

It was is not clear whether any other embassy staff will face prosecution. A senior cleric claimed that some had "confessed" to playing a role in the protest movement. The staging of political trials is likely to lead to a breach in relations not only with Britain, but also with the European Union. Iranian ambassadors were summoned to foreign ministries in capitals across Europe in a coordinated rebuke.

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Junk food even has negative impact on cockroaches

Attorneys for the junk food industry have suggested that the tests were unfair and a distortion of the true nutritional value they provide to humans and cockroaches alike. Not really, but it wouldn't surprise anyone if they did. LiveScience:

To find out, Moore and her colleagues picked young female cockroach nymphs and divided them into two dietary groups. Half were fed a good-quality balanced diet of protein-rich fish food and high-carbohydrate oatmeal, while the rest were raised on fish food only.

Both groups were allowed to eat as much as they wanted. The difference in diets "was not quantity but variety," Moore said.

After the last molt, when the nymphs became adults, the team switched the diets of some animals. Half of the cockroaches raised with good quality diet lost their oatmeal, while half of the bugs fed poorly were promoted to a good-quality diet.

Eighteen days after the switch, the diet control ended and some of the surviving cockroaches were dissected. The rest were allowed to live on and reproduce.

The results: While the lifespan of the members of both groups was about the same, the cockroaches on the poor diet were fatter and took longer to mature.

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