Open thread

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Lesbian sex novelist uncomfortable with Hillary as president

Like anyone cares what Lynne Cheney thinks. Read the rest of this post...

AMERICAblog 2.0 status

I wanted to give folks an update on where we are for AMERICAblog 2.0, i.e., rebuilding this blog bigger and better. As you know, the fundraising took place while I was abroad, so I waited until I got back, four weeks ago, to get rolling on production. We already had the new home page, and general site, design done, so that's good. I've now got the developer picked out who will build the back-end of the site (i.e, the real guts of the site, the stuff that makes it function). And that means I'm at the most tedious, nerve-wracking (for me at least) part of the process - going through each page of the new site and listing every single detail of functionality that each page will have, and where it will have it. I loathe this part of the process because it can be difficult to come up with all the details you need before you build it - e.g., what exactly goes on the user bio page, what information do we solicit, and how do we want it laid out? After I finish those lists, then I hand them over to the developer who will actually build the guts of the site - the brain, as it were. Then we make any last minute tweaks to the html to ensure the new guts of the site actually fit the template we already have designed. Then we test, then we launch. It's going to be a few months getting through all of this.

Anyway, just wanted to give a status check. In the meantime, the $20,000 in donations are still sitting in my PayPal account because I wanted to be able to say, and prove, that I'm not spending your donations on trips to Spain. :-)

So thanks again, and stay tuned.

JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Fred Thompson and Fred Phelps

Anti-gay religious right wingnuts say GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson saw "eye to eye" with them on gay issues. These are the people who picket soldiers' funerals and who picket the funerals of gay people like Matthew Shepard. Thompson responded, and criticized, the picketing of soldiers' funerals, but how he was interestingly silent about Phelps' gay-bashing. The Phelps crew says Thompson agrees with them about gays. Does he? Read the rest of this post...

I'll be attending the 2nd annual Spanish & Portuguese liberal political blogger conference in Spain

I've been invited to do the keynote speech at the 2nd annual Spanish and Portuguese liberal political blogger conference in Cáceres, Spain in early November. The conference, called efindex07, is basically YearlyKos for Spain and Portugal (though there will also be bloggers from Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic). Apparently there are going to be lots of reporters and politicians attending, so it really is going to be a YearlyKos-o. The conference planners have asked me to help them promo the conference, so here you go.

Kind of fascinating that the blogging phenomenon is taking place across the globe. France, for example, was really behind in terms of Internet connectivity years ago, and now they're the top country in Europe (arguably) in blogging. They have a number of blog-stars, whom I've met, though their top bloggers do a mix of politics and other things (be it culture, technology, etc.). They're also much more into video blogging than we are - yes, we video blog on YouTube and elsewhere, but the top political bloggers don't really do regular video journals (we tried, and felt it was kind of boring).

My speech, in Spanish no less (or at least that's the plan, we'll see how well that goes - I suspect French and Greek are going to keep popping out, along with an Argentine accent) will be about cyber-activism and how citizens can impact the government. Though considering that Spain has already enacted gay marriage, and we can't even get our majority in Congress to blow its nose without first making sure that President 28% won't be mean to them, I'm not sure I have much to teach them. Seriously, though, it should be fascinating.

I'll be spending the night of November 1 in Madrid, then heading to the conference the next morning. So, if any of you are in Madrid that evening, perhaps we should plan an AMERICAblog dinner (or lunch, since I recall the Spanish eat dinner at like 1am). Email me if you're going to be in Madrid and are interested, and I'll figure something out. (And if any of you are in or near Caceres, we'll be there all weekend.)

A final note to Danny at the National Journal: Yes, the conference is paying for my plane ticket and my hotel (but no honorarium, alas), so it's true, in the future I'll never be able to write objectively about those Spanish/Portugueuse liberal blogger political stories. Read the rest of this post...

Bush: Threat of World War III if Iran goes nuclear

What an idiotic thing to say, since most of the world, and much of America, thinks that Bush is the one who will cause WWIII if Iran goes nuclear. But putting that aside, what an incredibly moronic thing for a world leader to say, especially since WWIII generally means "the end of the world." Read the rest of this post...

Turkish parliament approves invasion of Iraq

I wonder if they think they voted for diplomacy to work.

(Sorry for the delay in posting. Blogger just woke up from its siesta.) Read the rest of this post...

KY Paper: McConnell lied when denying knowledge of GOP smear campaign against 12 year old boy

From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell knew last week -- at a time when he was denying it -- that his staff had sent e-mails encouraging reporters to look into the background of a 12-year-old boy used by Democrats to support expansion of a health-care program.

In an interview Friday with WHAS-TV reporter Mark Hebert, the Kentucky Republican said his staff had not been involved in trying to push reporters to look into the financial situation of the boy's family.

But McConnell's communications director, Don Stewart, said in an interview Monday with The Courier-Journal that he had told McConnell about the Oct. 8 e-mails sometime around Thursday, the day before the interview with Hebert.

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Missouri's right wingers threaten to impeach Secretary of State Robin Carnahan because she's following the law.

For too many years, right wing Republican Secretaries of State have done the bidding of the lunatics in their party. Think Katherine Harris in Florida and Ken Blackwell in Ohio.

In Missouri, there's a Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, who doesn't kowtow and cater to every diabolical idea promulgated by the nuts. And, they really hate her for it.

In 2006, Carnahan rejected the biased language of the right wing's ballot initiatives. Every time they challenged her in court, the nuts lost.

These are the same anti-stem cell zealots who attacked Michael J. Fox when he got involved in the Missouri Senate Race over the stem cell issue. (Keep in mind that Rush Limbaugh, who openly mocked Fox's Parkinson, has deep roots in Missouri.)

Anyway, fast forward to 2007. The anti-stem cell crowd is coming back with another anti-science, anti-health, pre-historic initiative. They have a new plan that would repeal the referendum that passed in 2006 (but don't want anyone to know.) Fired Up Missouri documents the foibles of "the anti-cure crowd."

Again, Carnahan isn't letting the stem cell opponents confuse the voters. Those religious fanatic types hate it when they don't get their way.

Their solution? Impeachment. Not kidding:

[Curt] Mercadante says that while the courts have given the Secretary of State some latitude in editing ballot summary language submitted to the office, the latitude has been surpassed in this instance. He says all options, including an effort to impeach the Secretary of State, will be considered.

So, they want to impeach Robin for following the law. Now, that's insane:

The Secretary of State's Office could not disagree more with Cures Without Cloning on its claim that the summary language is confusing to voters. Secretary Robin Carnahan's Chief of Staff Mindy Mazur says the summary is completely fair and in accordance with state law.

Mazur says it is not uncommon to have challenges to initiative petition ballot titles, pointing out there is a process laid out for the challenge in law. She adds that in 2006 there were court challenges to three different summary statements and in each case the summary statemant was upheld as sufficient and fair.

We all get caught up in the Presidential race and the battles for House and Senate seats.

But a lot of the day-to-day work gets done on the front lines by people like Robin Carnahan. It's just so important to win elections in key states like Missouri for key offices like Secretary of State. The Republicans have known that for years. State elections really matter. Robin is running for re-election next year. And, she needs to win again. Read the rest of this post...

Bush doing press conference to smack Congress

Bush is doing a press conference right now. He's basically using the bully pulpit to trash Congress. This is, of course, painful to watch. He's swaggering, which is odd given how low is approval is.

The guy can't even run is own office, can't run the war, can't run the country -- but he's decided to micro-manage how Congress operates. He has very specific instructions for Pelosi and Reid. He keeps saying Congress. Over and over. And he says it like it's a swear word...

Okay, Bush actually had a remark explaining how diplomacy works. Like he has an idea.

And, your President got a little feisty with ABC's Martha Radditz...this isn't his first time at the rodeo, you know.

Interesting that Bush's comments at the start were all about Congress...but all the questions are about his failed foreign policy.

Okay, he did get a couple domestic questions. Be warned: Bush keeps saying he is going to sprint to the finish --- that's how he's going to "stay relevant." Read the rest of this post...

Turkey edges closer to invading Iraq

And not in the way Bush wants them to. Turkey has been blustering about invading for a while now, but it's really more than bluster. Turkey has an ongoing problem with Kurds, both rebels and people in general, both inside eastern Turkey and in northern Iraq. One solution is for the Turks, a member of NATO with a huge advanced military, simply invade northern Iraq and quell the situation for themselves. And while that may work for the Turks, it gives us heartburn since Turkey may just decide to stay and de facto annex northern Iraq. That may give the Iranians an incentive to move in and take the south, leading to the partitioning of Iraq. Or it could just turn into another big bloody civil war in the north, one that we'll of course end up policing with another few hundred 18 year old draftees. At this point, it sounds to me like Turkey is blustering to get us to do something to fix the problem. But having said that, the situation is serious for Turkey, and our ongoing occupation is only breeding more problems for us and the region. Read the rest of this post...

Don't give Mukasey a free pass today

Today's NY Times editorial has some good advice for the Senators on the Judiciary Committee. Today's hearing shouldn't be a love-fest. There are major, major problems facing our system of justice. Many of those serious issues were created by Alberto Gonzales and his boss, George Bush. Gonzales is gone, but that boss remains:

Alberto Gonzales left behind a Justice Department that is not worthy of the name. Prosecutions were launched to help Republican candidates win elections. Lawyers were hired for nonpolitical jobs based on their politics and their sworn loyalty to the White House. The department — which is supposed to defend the Constitution — cheered on the Bush administration’s unconstitutional tactics in the war on terror.

Mr. Mukasey has a good reputation as a lawyer and a judge. But that is not enough. The Senate needs to know what he intends to do to set the Justice Department right. Will he lead an investigation of the still-festering United States attorneys scandal? Will he cooperate with Congressional investigators, make documents available and seek to obtain testimony from Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, who have made baseless claims of executive privilege?

How will he ensure that his staff’s loyalty is to justice, not to the president’s political team — especially since many of the top lawyers are “loyal Bushies” hired by the old regime?

Mr. Mukasey should be asked what he thinks about holding detainees indefinitely in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and denying them habeas corpus rights. He should be made to explain which interrogation techniques he considers to be torture. He should be asked what he intends to do to end illegal domestic spying programs and whether he would turn over to Congress all of the documents relating to these policies.

Mukasey should be asked those questions. More importantly, he should answer all those questions. And, he must be held accountable.

Ha. I just said someone in the Bush administration should be held accountable. That's a good one. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good Morning.

Larry Craig is undoubtedly the most famous Republican in America these days. He's getting more TV time than all the GOP presidential candidates. Must be driving Mitch McConnell insane.

What else? Read the rest of this post...

Foreign buyers running from US

Republican presidential candidates can spin it however they like and perhaps their supporters are too thick to look around and see the truth, but the rest of the world is quickly losing faith in the US economy. In August, foreign investors unloaded $163 billion of US securities. It is no wonder that since the world started this most recent round of dumping US assets, the US dollar has fallen against most of the leading global currencies. The last time the dollar fell so broadly was in the early 1970s.

Between a weak dollar, soaring oil costs, a collapsing real estate market (which had been the motor keeping the economy moving) and a severe lack of faith in the US market by the rest of the world, there are so many warning signs for a troubled economy and probably inflation pressure in 2008. Instead of being grounded in reality, Guiliani, Thompson, McCain and the rest all want to brag about how this is the greatest economy we've ever had. How can any of them be trusted to help fix the problem if they can't even admit that there's a problem? Just how out of touch are these guys? Read the rest of this post...

Bush and the "free market" phonies lose WTO case

Whether or not subsidies are warranted or fair is an issue that needs to be reviewed but once again Bush and the GOP love to attack anyone who fails to subscribe to their jury rigged system of supposed free trade. When a foreign country calls them out and takes them to court, the result often is the same. This time it was Brazil who took the US to court and won with the WTO ruling against US subsidies to cotton farmers.

"The panel found that the changes made by the United States were insufficient to bring the challenged measures — certain support payments under the 2002 Farm Bill and export credit guarantees — into conformity with U.S. WTO obligations," it said in an e-mailed statement Monday. "We are very disappointed with these results."

The United States has argued that it sufficiently overhauled its cotton program when it scrapped two export credit guarantee programs and last year repealed the so-called Step-2 cotton-marketing program that made payments to exporters and domestic mill users as compensation for buying higher-priced American cotton.

But Brazil said Washington's continued support for American cotton producers ensured artificially high production and export levels, hurting Brazilian and African producers.

The Brazilian government claims the U.S. retained its place as the world's second-largest cotton grower by paying out $12.5 billion in government subsidies to American farmers between August 1999 and July 2003. China is the largest exporter of cotton, while Brazil is fifth.

The GOP can always talk the talk, but never walk the walk. Read the rest of this post...