Jane

Ben Smith does a rather large profile of blogger Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake. Let's just say, you won't like her when she's angry :-) (Well, most of you will, but the Hill and the White House most certainly won't.) Here's an excerpt of the profile:

But Hamsher's sharp elbows haven't prevented her from being a central, and effective, player on the left, with a distinct agenda: To reclaim the "narrative of discontent" from Tea Party activists and other conservatives who have seized it from a neutered progressive movement.

A particularly grave error, in her view, was steering the groups away from populist assaults on the AIG bonuses early in Obama's term.

"The natural people who would have been organizing at that point in time were the liberal groups. The bankers came to the White House and said, 'We want you to ratchet down the rhetoric and that's what happened. The word went out at those meetings, 'Don't criticize the bankers, don't criticize Geithner and Summers,’" she said, referring to gatherings of major, White House-allied groups under the rubrics Unity '09 and Common Purpose.

"All that populist anger migrated over to the teabaggers and grew over there," she said. "That was a huge mistake and we're going to pay for it in 2010."

Hamsher says she's "not as cynical and disdainful of the Veal Pen as I sometimes seem." After all, she was asked, aren't they on the same side?

"Are we on the same side?" she asked. "They're on the side of the Democratic Party. We're an independent political force."

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Indie Senator Sanders blocks Bernanke nomination

From Sanders' office. This is significant since it's a Democrat taking on a Democratic administration. It's fair to say that the White House's problems have moved beyond the "Internet left fringe":

Sanders Blocks Bernanke Confirmation

WASHINGTON, December 2 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today placed a hold on the nomination of Ben Bernanke for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

“The American people overwhelmingly voted last year for a change in our national priorities to put the interests of ordinary people ahead of the greed of Wall Street and the wealthy few,” Sanders said. “What the American people did not bargain for was another four years for one of the key architects of the Bush economy.”

As head of the central bank since 2006, Bernanke could have demanded that Wall Street provide adequate credit to small and medium-sized businesses to create decent-paying jobs in a productive economy, but he did not.

He could have insisted that large bailed-out banks end the usurious practice of charging interest rates of 30 percent or more on credit cards, but he did not.

He could have broken up too-big-to-fail financial institutions that took Federal Reserve assistance, but he did not.

He could have revealed which banks took more than $2 trillion in taxpayer-backed secret loans, but he did not.

“The American people want a new direction on Wall Street and at the Fed. They do not want as chairman someone who has been part of the problem and who has been responsible for many of the enormous difficulties that we are now experiencing,” Sanders said. “It’s time for a change at the Fed.”

The Federal Reserve has four main responsibilities: to conduct monetary policy in a way that leads to maximum employment and stable prices; to maintain the safety and soundness of financial institutions; to contain systemic risk in financial markets; and to protect consumers against deceptive and unfair financial products.

Since Bernanke took over as Fed chairman in 2006, unemployment has more than doubled and, today, 17.5 percent of the American workforce is either unemployed or underemployed.

Not since the Great Depression has the financial system been as unsafe, unsound, and unstable as it has been during Mr. Bernanke's tenure. More than 120 banks have failed since he became chairman.

Under Bernanke's watch, the value of risky derivatives held at our nation's top commercial banks grew from $110 trillion to more than $290 trillion, 95 percent of which are concentrated in just five financial institutions.

Bernanke failed to prevent banks from issuing deceptive and unfair financial products to consumers. Under his leadership, mortgage lenders were allowed to issue predatory loans they knew consumers could not afford to repay. This risky practice was allowed to continue long after the FBI warned in 2004 of an "epidemic" in mortgage fraud.

After the financial crisis hit, Bernanke's response was to provide trillions of dollars in virtually zero-interest loans and other taxpayer assistance to some of the largest financial institutions in the world. Adding insult to injury, Bernanke refused to tell the American people the names of the institutions that received this handout or the terms involved.

“Mr. Bernanke has failed at all four core responsibilities of the Federal Reserve,” Sanders concluded. “It’s time for him to go."

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Dems Durbin and Feinstein attack citizen journalists

Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), who is closely allied with the White House, are offering an amendment to strip citizen journalists, including bloggers, from the proposed media shield law.

And Feinstein wonders why the blogs don't like her. As for Durbin, I'm not sure it's very wise of the Senate leadership to be taking a swipe at a core Democratic constituency. I can understand why Feinstein would do it - her MO is to undercut Democrats as often as possible - but Dick Durbin? Hopefully this is one of those instances where Harry Reid can have a little talk with his leadership team and tell them that if they want to go attacking Democrats they can start with Lieberman (yeah, whatever, he has a committee chair, he's a D), Landrieu, Nelson and Bayh, who are threatening to bring down the health care reform package.

God forbid Durbin be asked to show some real balls and take on the folks who are impeding, not assisting, the Democratic agenda. Is anyone in charge in this party? Read the rest of this post...

Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with customer location data more than 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009

WIRED:

Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with customer location data more than 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009, according to a company manager who disclosed the statistic at a non-public interception and wiretapping conference in October.

The manager also revealed the existence of a previously undisclosed web portal that Sprint provides law enforcement to conduct automated “pings” to track users. Through the website, authorized agents can type in a mobile phone number and obtain global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the phone.

The revelations, uncovered by blogger and privacy activist Christopher Soghoian, have spawned questions about the number of Sprint customers who have been under surveillance, as well as the legal process agents followed to obtain such data.

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Leaked GOP memo details how to impede a health care vote using arcane Senate procedures

They're afraid of a vote because they know that more than 50 Senators would vote for the reform. Even though President Obama was elected on a platform of reforming health care, and even though a solid majority of Americans favor the public option. Party of NO strikes again. Read the rest of this post...

British sailors released in Iran

Holding a team of yacht racers for nearly one week simply because they strayed into local waters is downright bizarre. But that's what you have running the show for the time being. The Guardian:

Iran's ministry of foreign affairs has confirmed that the five British sailors arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have been freed, the Foreign Office said.

Earlier, Iran's official IRNA news agency said the yachtsmen were freed after an interrogation by authorities found they had entered Iranian waters by mistake.

David Young, father of Oliver, one of the men being held, said he was "very relieved" at the news. He told PA he heard the news from the FCO and the sailors' team manager.

"We thought it would be over quickly," Young said. "This is what we were hoping for." Some of the mens' families are yet to be officially told of their release.

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Marriage bill defeated in New York State Senate

We lost: 24 - 38. Read the rest of this post...

CNBC tells Dobbs "no gracias" on new job

It seems former CNN host Lou Dobbs is no longer welcome at CNBC. Hey there's always FOX. Read the rest of this post...

Marriage Equality legislation being debated now on floor of New York State Senate

The debate on marriage equality in the New York State Senate is underway. I posted the live feed of the debate at AMERICAblog Gay.

The New York Assembly passed this legislation in May. The Governor, David Paterson, strongly supports it.

(And, yes, I'm back from South Africa -- an amazing country, but more on that later.) Read the rest of this post...

Is 9/11 so ten minutes ago?

ABC's Jake Tapper makes the interesting point that most of the West Point cadets, in the audience for President Obama's Afghanistan speech last night, were ten years old when 9/11 happened (and, a reader notes that it's probably not "most, but rather, the first year cadets):

Our Jake Tapper made the interesting point this morning that many of the cadets in President Obama’s audience last night were 10 years old at the time of the 9/11 attacks that launched this country into war in Afghanistan. Have the echoes faded, making the war a harder sell?

It might make 9/11 resonate less for them, but I'm not so convinced. I'll bet ten years old were scared to death on that day - they knew something was up, they saw mom and dad freaking out, they talked to their friends, they had the Internet and saw the video. If anything, children may have been even more scarred by the day than we adults were. ABC continues:

It’s debatable; only 7 percent in a CNN poll last August said “the country is completely back to normal,” indicating that 9/11 still does resonate. So do concerns about terrorism more broadly: In an AP poll last month 77 percent of Americans called terrorism an extremely or very important issue, about the same as when it asked in 2006; and in a CNN poll in October, 36 percent expressed concern they or a family member could be a victim, as many as said so in November 2001.

I think we're finally getting over the political (and real) PTSD we all had, understandably, after the attack (I remember inexplicably breaking into tears when a waiter suddenly dropped a tray of plates behind me in a Paris restaurant a few years after September 11). A PTSD that the Bush administration was all too happy to exploit. We're not 100% there yet, but the day we are over September 11, I think it will be a good thing. You can remember the past, and learn from it, without having it so overwhelm your senses that its lessons are lost to passion. Read the rest of this post...

More on the Salvation Army's anti-gay jihad

I'd written earlier about the Salvation Army being a nasty anti-gay evangelical church that goes out of its way to try to hurt gays in the legislative sphere. Some folks asked why I wrote that. I'd forgotten that many may not be familiar with the Salvation Army's anti-gay activism around the world. So I gathered a few articles. You can read them here. Give to another charity, don't give to the Salvation Army. You are funding an evangelical church that lobbies against the civil rights of gays and lesbians worldwide. Read the rest of this post...

Krugman sees increased chance of lapsing into a second recession next year

He's still not sold on it, but sees the chances increasing. Read the rest of this post...

Salvation Army accused of checking immigration status of kids before giving them toys

Let's not forget - the Salvation Army is a far-right evangelical Christian right church. They're rabidly anti-gay, and they work in Washington, and around the world, against the civil rights of gays and lesbians. So if you've got a dime to spare this Christmas, do not give it to the guys with the red buckets. Fund a real charity, not an evangelical activist.

To wit. A story is running around that the Salvation Army has been checking the immigration status of kids before giving them toys. The Salvation Army denies it, saying they're only checking for 'residency', to make sure the kids getting the toys live in the area (apparently because children in other areas don't deserve a visit from Santa). Then I noticed this little gem at the end of the article:

The Salvation Army also verifies the immigration status of anyone who comes to their shelter.

Merry Christmas to you too. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Joe has landed. He should have arrived at Dulles airport around 6am or so, and should be getting home any minute. We'll see how he feels about blogging today. I posted a poll about Obama's Afghanistan speech last night, you can find the poll in the next column, top of the column - vote if you haven't.

Otherwise, I'm back in DC. Had an interesting, and somewhat sad, discussion with a young guy while in line at airport security at O'Hare. He said he was heading to basic training. Looked all of 18. Said he applied last year, but had to wait to finish high school. I asked him why he was joining the military, now of all times (meaning, with two wars on). He said, in America, you need an education to get anywhere - he was joining so they'd pay for his college.

I know the GI Bill is a good thing, and it's helped countless men and women go to school who couldn't otherwise. But this kid has to risk his life to go to college. Noble, to be sure. But I'm having a hard time feeling that this is the way things should be. Read the rest of this post...

Australia rejects climate change bill

Ugh. The age of ignorance is spreading. Then again, Murdoch's Newscorp dominates in that market.

Australia's plans for an emissions trading system to combat global warming were scuttled Wednesday in Parliament, handing a defeat to a government that had hoped to set an example at international climate change talks next week.

The Senate, where Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government does not hold a majority, rejected his administration's proposal for Australia to become one of the first countries to install a so-called cap-and-trade system to slash the amount of heat-trapping pollution that industries pump into the air.

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New South African government focusing on science to fight AIDS

It's about time. As beneficial as a good diet can be for general health and especially those who are sick, it still doesn't replace proven medicine. The problem has been much too serious for too long so it's a positive sign for a very hard hit country.

The United States is giving South Africa $120 million for AIDS treatment drugs in response to a plea from President Jacob Zuma that underlines his new approach to fighting the epidemic in the country with the world's heaviest AIDS burden.

His predecessor's health minister distrusted drugs developed to keep AIDS patients alive, instead promoting beets and garlic treatments. Zuma, who took over after April elections, and his health minister have said former President Thabo Mbeki's AIDS policies were wrong. Zuma's government has set a target of getting 80 percent of those who need AIDS drugs on them by 2011.

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Birthers run ad in cult-run GOP paper, attacking Obama, using monkey

What an innovative idea. Using a monkey to poke fun at a black man. Read the rest of this post...