A few minor tweaks to the blog

You may have noticed I'm trying to make the blog a tad easier to read.

If you look near the top of the next column to the right, you'll see that I've created a new "fav blogs" category that automatically updates with the latest posts from a number of the top blogs. (Note that you can click the "show all" button at the bottom of the box to see all the latest blog posts, not just the last five.) As a result, I got rid of the "Hot off the Wire" section, which was the same content - I think it's easier to read in the second column.

I'm also not sure how many of you have noticed, but the second column is chock full of news and opinion updates from around the Web. I've intentionally picked what I think are the best content providers among the blogs, and the news sites, and we're regularly updating the second column with the latest headlines from those sites. The idea is that you can come to AMERICAblog and scan the second column to see what's up around the world, and then click over to whatever story you want to read. My hope is to make the blog somewhat a one-stop shop for people wanting to know the latest news, without having to jump to 50 different sites. I find it incredibly helpful. I hope you do too.

I also moved the ad in the second column much further down, so now you have more "real" content up top. It cuts our profits, but I think it adds more substance to the top of the blog.

I also moved the link to AMERICAblog Gay (our gay politics section) to the top of the second column, since people keep asking how to get there. And as an aside, we post a good 5 to 10 stories a day on AMERICAblog Gay, far more than we ever could fit on the main AMERICAblog home page on any given day (because we still have to also cover the non-gay news on this site). We still cross-post the most important gay content on the main AMERICAblog home page, to make sure everybody sees it, so rest assured that we did not take content away from the main site, rather, we simply added 5 times more gay content to the other site while still writing about the occasional gay topic over here. (And I've posted a note on my computer monitor to make sure I don't forget to post a few gay stories over here each day, just to be sure.)

That's it for now. Coming soon, I'm going to ask that the photos be removed from the "You might also like" recommendations that appear at the bottom of each post. It's a very cool service that looks at the post and finds similar posts that we've already written about. I love the service, I just worry that all the photos might be adding to the overall busy-ness of the blog.

And finally, I'm looking around at other comment services. We've been trying to make the current service work for almost two years now, and it hasn't. I'm talking to a number of potential services and will let you know when we settle on a new one. But we're very close.

Oh, one more thing. You might have noticed (ha) that the site loads slowly. It's the ads. It's not the java, it's not the images, it's the ads. But the problem isn't that we have "too many" ads per se. The problem is that the ad companies serving the ads have made quite a mess of things by making sure that the ads now load as slowly as possible, holding up the rest of the content on the site until the ads finish. I've hired a code consultant who is trying to speed things up. And if the problem persists we're simply going to cut back on some of the ad providers, and take a hit to our pocketbook. I want the site to load faster, it matters to me, and I know it matters to you. Just wanted you to know that we're aware of the problem, and are working on it.

That's it for now. Have a good night.

PS I almost forgot! In addition to Naomi Seligman, who joined us as a new writer a few weeks ago, we added another new writer to the blog today, Liz Newcomb, an attorney from West Hollywood, California. Liz and her wife were one of the 18,000 couples legally married in California before Prop 8 banned any further marriages. We're really excited to welcome her to the blog. While Naomi will probably write more for the main AMERICAblog home page, about US politics overall, Liz will be writing mostly about gay politics over on AMERICAblog Gay. You can read Liz's bio here, and her first post here.

NB I've also added yet another 100 reader pets to the photos in the upper right hand corner of the blog. They keep coming in, I'll keep posting them. I think we're up to 500 or 600 now, I have no idea LOL Read the rest of this post...

Harold Ford will be the next Senator from NY over our gay bodies

Seriously, he'd better not go there.
(Sorry, I have to enter some Technorati code: 9N2NXWS5ECAN ) Read the rest of this post...

Please contribute to former ThinkProgress blogger Judd Legum's campaign in Maryland

As I've mentioned before, our friend Judd Legum is running for State Delegate in Maryland.

His first, and therefore most important, campaign finance deadline is just a couple of days away. It's important in elections to show that you can raise money - it helps bring in more money, and scare away the competition. You can give $25 right now to Judd via ActBlue, safely and security - 100% of your donation will go to Judd's campaign. Click here to donate.

Here are three reasons to pitch in a few bucks right now:

1. Judd is a committed progressive who has a deep understanding of the Netroots and the issues we care about. He founded the blog ThinkProgress, and as Arjun at DailyKos noted when Judd launched his campaign, Judd could be "one of the first candidates to emerge from the Netroots to win high political office."

2. It's important to support progressives at the state level. The tea party movement is making a big play to gain power in state legislatures, particularly in Maryland. Grover Norquist and Americans for Prosperity are holding a large rally in Judd's district next week, and they're promoting it extensively on the radio. (One of Judd's likely opponents was the emcee of the tea party held in Annapolis last fall.) The national right wing is investing heavily at the state level and it's up to us to provide a counter-balance. Judd is that counter-balance.

3. Your donation canl make a big impact. At the federal level, it's tough to make a big impact in races that involve millions of dollars unless you raise a LOT of money. At the local level, it's a whole other story. In 2006, the election in Judd's district was decided by 53 votes. A $25 donation to Judd could actually fund enough voter contact to swing the race.

You can contribute HERE. Please do. And thanks. John & Joe

Judd Legum (MD-HD-30) $

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Another visit with Triumph the Insult Dog

Of course, our favorite moment was when Triump visited the GOP Convention:

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European Central Bank - we will not bailout Greece

Not to dismiss the poor economic budgeting by Greece, but this is going to be a hard sell after the bailouts of bankers. Who really believes the European Union won't step up and intervene? Do we only bailout bankers who retire with hundreds of millions and let others fall? Really?

The European Union would not help bail out Greece, European Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark was reported as saying on Wednesday.

"The markets are deluding themselves when they think at a certain point the other member states will put their hands on their wallets to save Greece," Stark said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

Stark said in recent years Greece had not controlled its public accounts or worked to help improve the country's competitiveness.

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And what will House leaders get in exchange for giving up the public option?

Good question. The key to negotiating is actually getting something in return for caving. It's a lesson the White House is unfamiliar with. But we like to think that Nancy Pelosi is better than that. Read the rest of this post...

Blumenthal starts CT Senate race with very high approval ratings

With the announced retirement of Chris Dodd, the long-serving Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, is finally getting his shot at the Senate seat. One big problem Dodd has was his polling numbers had tanked in the state. In November, his disapproval rating was 54%, that's toxic for an incumbent. James L. at Swing State Project put it like this:

Unlike Byron Dorgan's tragic retirement decision in North Dakota, Dodd is actually taking one for the team here. Dodd's well-documented baggage proved to be a tremendous burden for him in every poll we've seen of his re-election bid this year.

Yep. The Republicans have already started attacking Blumenthal, but he's got a solid record in Connecticut. Plus, the GOPers now have to worry about the knock-down battle underway for their party's nomination between former Congressman Rob Simmons and the former CEO of the World Wrestling Entertainment Linda McMahon. The primary in Connecticut is on August 10th, so that could end up being fun to watch.

A politico in Connecticut told me that Blumenthal is "squeaky clean." And, the people of the state like him, based on Quinnipiac's polling, he had a 78% approval rating from Connecticut voters -- and that includes 70% approval from Republicans. Those numbers have been consistent for the past year, too. :
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Best pilot for a failed TV show, ever

More about this over at Warming Glow. Read the rest of this post...

Harold Meyerson on what the left needs

I would argue that you already have Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, and the liberal Netroots leading a movement. The problem is that such a movement can only have limited effectiveness when it is undercut by our own political leaders. From Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post:

In America, major liberal reforms require not just liberal governments, but autonomous, vibrant mass movements, usually led by activists who stand at or beyond liberalism's left fringe. No such movements were around during Carter and Clinton's presidencies. For his part, Obama won election with something new under the political sun: a list of 13 million people who had supported his campaign. But he has consistently declined to activate his activists to help him win legislative battles by pressuring, for instance, those Democratic members of Congress who have weakened or blocked his major bills. To be sure, loosing the activists would have brought problems of its own: Unlike Roosevelt or Johnson, who benefited from autonomous movements, Obama would be answerable for every loopy tactic his followers employed. But in the absence of both a free-standing movement and a legion of loyalists, Congress isn't feeling much pressure from the left to move Obama's agenda.

The construction of social movements is always a bit of a mystery. The right has had great success over the past year in building a movement that isn't really for anything but that has channeled anew the fears and loathings of millions of Americans. If Glenn Beck can help do that for the right, can't, say, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann help build a movement against the banks or for jobs programs? It might well be too little too late, but without left pressure from below, the Obama presidency will end up looking more like Carter's or Clinton's than Roosevelt's or Johnson's.

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NRCC spokesman Andy Seré gay-baits again, even though he reportedly 'gets more tail than anyone I know in DC'

The Republican party is gay-baiting yet again. But this time there's a twist. Andy Seré, the unmarried family values spokesman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, allegedly "gets more tail than anyone I know in DC." (This was reported in a Nashville paper yesterday.) That's called premarital sex and promiscuity. Both are big no-nos on the family values right. In fact, rampant premarital promiscuity is often considered a "liberal" value by the right.

So how does the NRCC reconcile the family values campaign it has launched in the Tennessee congressional elections with a reportedly non-family-values NRCC spokesman running that very campaign? Does the NRCC think that having promiscuous premarital sex with practically anything that walks is Tennessee family values? And does this mean the NRCC no longer believes in abstinence before marriage? Then there's the condom discussion - another thing the family values right abhors. One hopes condoms were involved in getting all this supposed "tail." Were they? And since the GOP has made clear that it believes condoms are not reliable, then this matter gets all the more serious. Putting aside the sin of knowingly having promiscuous premarital sex when you "know" condoms are "unreliable," has anyone followed up with all of this "tail" to make sure that we're also not talking about having children out of wedlock, or worse, abortion? If condoms are as unreliable as the Republicans claim them to be, and the GOP spokesman supposedly "gets more tail than anyone I know in DC," then pregnancy is a very real danger of such reckless premarital promiscuity. Much more on AMERICAblog gay. Read the rest of this post...

It's definitely "ping pong" for the health care bill -- and the Senate side will win

All the biggest Democratic players met at the White House last night to talk about the strategy for the health care bill. And, as expected, they agreed to play "ping-pong" with the bill:

House and Senate leaders have formally agreed to bypass a bicameral conference committee to merge two healthcare bills, and have opted to instead “ping-pong” the Senate bill over to the House and back again, according to House leadership aides.

Aides said the agreement was reached during a Tuesday evening meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the top two Democrats from each chamber.

In this game of "ping-pong," the Senate side will win. The House may score a few points, but don't count on it.

What points the House may score could be hammered out in a meeting Obama is having this afternoon with Speaker Pelosi and the chairs of four key House committees: Waxman, Rangel, Miller and Slaughter. Read the rest of this post...

GOP has new legislative strategy: Lawsuits

All those years of stacking the courts with conservative judges may finally pay off for the GOP. They're new legislative strategy is to sue:

Republicans and allied groups say they will spend millions to oppose healthcare reform and other Democratic initiatives in the courts, which they see as a last line of defense against President Barack Obama’s agenda.

Republicans claim that healthcare reform is subject to challenge on various constitutional grounds, and conservative activists say they are willing to raise millions to wage that battle.

So, Republicans now love suing. They've tried to limit access to the legal system for decades. One more example of It's Okay if You're a Republican (IOIYAR). Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The open thread is a little later today, wanted to get the news about Chris Dodd's retirement posted. That's actually a positive electoral development as compared to the news about Byron Dorgan retiring.

House and Senate leaders are still negotiating over health care. It's a one-sided negotiation as the Senate holds most of the cards (and the Senate has the White House on its side.) Does anyone remember the Seinfeld episode when George Costanza was negotiating with NBC? I've looked for the clip on YouTube and Hulu. Basically, George bragged about his negotiating skills, then ended up getting way less than the original offer. That's how progressive Democrats on Capitol Hill negotiate. They talk tough but always end up with a lot less.

As for the White House, the President doesn't have much on his public schedule according to the "Daily Guidance and Press Schedule," which arrives by email.

UPDATE @ 8:63 A.M.: Just got an "UPDATED Daily Guidance" from the White House. The President now has a meeting at 2:30 P.M. with Speaker Pelosi and the chairs of key House Committees: Rep. Henry Waxman from Energy and Commerce, Rep. Charlie Rangel from Ways and Means, Rep. George Miller from Education and Labor Chairman and Rep. Louise Slaughter from the Rules Committee. Coincidentally, or not, those are the Chairs of the Committees that put together the House health care reform bill.

Okay...now thread... Read the rest of this post...

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) to retire

This news broke over night.

Facing a very tough reelection battle, Chris Dodd, the long-time Democratic Senator from Connecticut, is going to announce his retirement today:

Democratic U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, a 30-year incumbent who has been struggling in public opinion polls for more than a year, plans to announce today he will not seek reelection.

Dodd is expected to announce the news at a press conference at noon outside his East Haddam home.

Since making the decision not to run, "he's been in a great mood,'' said a source close to the campaign who requested anonymity. "A weight's off his shoulder and he's happy."

With Dodd running, Republicans were looking at this race as a possible pickup. But, that's a lot less likely now. Richard Blumenthal, the state's Attorney General, will be the Democratic nominee.

Amazing that Lieberman will still be around, but Dodd will be gone. Read the rest of this post...

Iceland president rejects bank payments, calls for referendum

As easy as it is to sympathize with the voters there who believe the problems from the banks are the problems with the banks, rejecting the payments will create another set of problems that may even be worse. Who would really think that the reckless behavior of bankers would mean paying out 40% of the GDP? Besides economic retribution, Iceland could easily face rejection by the EU and penalties from the IMF. Prosecuting the bankers would be a better option though even in countries where trillions have been lost, how many bankers have been prosecuted?

Iceland's president stunned his nation yesterday by refusing to sign off on a plan to repay £2.3bn owed to the British taxpayer, reigniting a major diplomatic row with London and leaving Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling mortally embarrassed at the latest twist in the saga of Reykjavik's banking meltdown.

A repayment plan for the debt, owed after the British Government paid compensation to UK savers who lost money in the collapse of the Icelandic internet bank Icesave, had been approved by Iceland's parliament despite huge opposition. But yesterday, in a move that horrified the rhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifuling coalition, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson declared that MPs had failed to take public opinion into account, and called a referendum. It was an extraordinary step for a ceremonial President, and only the second presidential veto in the republic's 66-year history.

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China's key Copenhagen negotiator fired

Clearly someone in Beijing is listening to the anger in the west over the failure at Copenhagen. It's also obvious that the negotiator was hardly the person calling the shots but since when have leaders at the top paid the price for failure? The Guardian:

He Yafei, who was at the forefront of China's blocking actions on the final fraught day of the summit, has been removed as vice foreign minister, according to a short summary of government appointments by the Xinhua news agency.

The agency gave no explanation, but the Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao suggests He has been punished with a shift to a post at the United Nations for failing to smooth relations between China, the US and Europe, particularly as tempers flared in the last hours of the talks.

During the negotiations, He described his US counterpart as "lacking common sense", frustrated the US president, Barack Obama, at his inability to make decisions and astonished the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, by refusing to allow even rich countries to set a target to cut emissions by 2050.

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