Marco Rubio hasn't made mortgage payments since January

Those funny Teabaggers are such good role models. Foreclosure isn't normally what one would considers to be a conservative value but the times they are a changin'.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio and another Miami politician are facing foreclosure on a Tallahassee home they co-own for failing to make mortgage payments since January, Leon County court records show.

The Deutsche Bank National Trust Company initiated foreclosure proceedings on the home owned by Rubio and state Rep. David Rivera, who is running for Congress. Rubio, a former state House speaker, and Rivera lived in the home when they were in Tallahassee for legislative sessions and other business.

Rivera is running for the U.S. District 25 seat, which spans eastern Collier, western Miami-Dade and mainland Monroe counties.

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New Democrat Coalition cashes in thanks to Wall Street

Much like the phony "New Labour" nonsense that Tony Blair introduced, the New Democrat Coalition is all about putting a smiley face on right wing Democrats. By caving to Wall Street's demands they are part of the problem in the US. We don't need to be giving more to that pampered group who are already living the high life at the expense of everyone else. It's hard to think about how much cozier Democrats could be to corporate interests but this group pushes the relationship to new limits. Once again, big money from Wall Street talks.

A plan to regulate derivatives — contracts between two private parties betting on the chance of bonds' default, or price movements of oil, or shifts in the value of the dollar or interest rates_ is mired in controversy. Lots of money is at stake, so lots is also flowing to campaigns.

A House-Senate negotiating committee narrowing differences between competing financial regulation bills will debate the issue next week. The Senate's version would impose tougher restraints on derivatives and force banks to spin off their divisions that trade in them. The version the House passed last year is weaker on derivatives, and wouldn't force banks to spin off their trading business.

On Wednesday, 43 members of the New Democrat Coalition — a group of 69 business-friendly House Democrats — sent a letter to the top House-Senate negotiators arguing against the Senate provisions and in favor of the weaker House version.

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Blackwater receives new $120 million contract

More business as usual in Washington. This hardly sounds like "change" but maybe in the strange world of insider Washington someone, somewhere can explain it away as they always do.

CBS News has learned in an exclusive report that the State Department has awarded a part of what was formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide a contract worth more than $120 million for providing security services in Afghanistan.

Private security firm U.S. Training Center, a business unit of the Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater, now called Xe Services, was awarded the contract Friday, a State Department spokeswoman said Friday night.

Under the contract, U.S. Training Center will provide "protective security services" at the new U.S. consulates in Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, the spokeswoman said. The firm can begin work "immediately" and has to start within two months. The contract lasts a year but can be extended twice for three months at a time to last a maximum of 18 months.

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Defenders of BP among us

Last night, I received press release via email. I get lots of press releases, but this one came from BP via its p.r. flaks at the Brunswick Group. I'm not sure how the Brunswick Group decided to put me on its BP distribution list, but I let them know I'm not interested:

You wanted to make sure I saw this release? Really. Why?

I'm not interested in bullshit propaganda from BP's flaks. Take my email address off your list NOW.

The Brunswick Group shouldn't have access to this email. I only use it on private listserves. And, it offends me that my email was used by the corporate whores who are defending BP.

I'm sure the Brunswick Group is hauling in a lot of money for defending the atrocious behavior of its client. I hope it's worth it for all of you.

There are a lot of Democrats in town who are working for BP now.

Pam Spaulding spotlights the leader of BP's response at the Brunswick Group: Hilary Rosen.

Pam linked to a Business Week profile of BP's p.r./lobbying team, which reported:

Orchestrating the response is the Brunswick Group, whose Washington managing partner, Hilary Rosen, has connections throughout the city as the former head of the Recording Industry Association of America and from previous jobs that include working for Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.

So, one of the leading DC Democratic power-brokers is "orchestrating the response" for BP. I'm sure the money is good.

Hilary is considered a force in DC politics. She's a key player at the Human Rights Campaign. She's a CNN pundit.

So, when, if ever, do we draw the line between our friends and our friends who defend the enemy? Because let's face it, the Republicans are the allies of Big Oil. Joe Barton clarified that on Thursday.

We elect Democrats to ostensibly enact the Democratic agenda. But, many leading Democrats sell their access to Big Oil and other entities that opposed the Democratic agenda by hiring Democrats. So, many of us do the work. And, those folks reap the financial benefits on one hand while undermining the Democratic agenda on the other. That kinda sums up DC.

And, I'm still wondering how the geniuses at the White House made the decision to have the President publicly endorse off-shore drilling on March 31st, then dis the idea that oil rigs cause oil spills on April 2nd. Read the rest of this post...

From oil spills to gay rights, 'this White House doesn’t come out swinging without being backed up against a wall.'

From Kerry Eleveld in the Advocate:

It was only after every moderate-to-progressive pundit from the sweep of San Francisco to Portland, Maine panned his performance, his linguistics, his style, his lack of imagination, his aspirational anemia, that Obama went to the bargaining table with BP the next day and came up with $20 Billion to help compensate people who’s lives have been devastated in the region—a good start.

Then Texas Rep. Joe Barton handed Democrats a gem and the White House, bruised and battered and perhaps a little desperate itself, pounced on his comments in just a little over an hour, calling it “shameful” that the congressman seemed “to have more concern for big corporations” than the residents of the region.

“Congressman Barton may think that a fund to compensate these Americans is a ‘tragedy,' but most Americans know that the real tragedy is what the men and women of the Gulf Coast are going through right now,” read the White House statement.

But this week was nothing new—rather, it was another lesson from a recurring narrative: This White House doesn’t come out swinging without being backed up against a wall.

It did not put pen to paper on health care until a year into a battle nearly lost. It did not finalize a deal for “don’t ask, don’t tell” until the weekend before a vote that was going to take place with or without White House input. And in the wake of the oil spill, plummeting polling numbers triggered the trappings of import—a speech from the Oval Office—but still produced no meat.

Not until White House advisers realized they had basically lost everyone – friends and enemies alike in Washington as well as the heart of America – did a determined Obama show up to broker a deal that yielded the $20 billion escrow account.

I often wonder where we would be on LGBT issues right now if the community hadn't raised holy heck following the first DOMA brief last spring. This president and this White House only move decisively when their hand is forced. And that's something every advocate—whether working on behalf of labor, reproductive rights, immigration reform, the environment, or LGBT equality—should work into their calculus if they hope to inspire change during this administration.

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Tony Hayward goes yachting in JP Morgan regatta

He finally got his life back with those he loves. Oh yeah, his son was there with the mega-yacht and the bankers as well. Ahhh, Big Oil and bankers all together in one flashy regatta. How's the Gulf Coast doing today?

The BP boss at the centre of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill came under further pressure last night after he was spotted relaxing at a yachting event on the Isle of Wight.
Tony Hayward, 53, BP’s £1million-a-year chief executive, was enjoying the clear blue waters of the Solent, 4,500 miles away from the disaster. His appearance came as it was reported he had been removed from day-to-day control of the crisis.

After he was accused of failing to take responsibility and ignoring dangers when BP was drilling in the Gulf, Mr Hayward watched a 52ft yacht named Bob, which he co-owns, take part in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race yesterday. The yacht - made 10 years ago and worth around £470,000 - came fourth in its class behind triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie.

What a toff. There's King Tony who is sitting on his butt while the crew races his elite yacht. Is he too lazy to even bother with participating or is that the the little people do for their superiors? Maybe that's what one does with a $750,000 custom built racing yacht when you're hobnobbing with other elite JP Morgan clients.

We're trying to figure out what "Bob" stands for. Jojo is convinced it's for "Big Oil Blunder" though we haven't confirmed it yet. Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

The main subject of the talk shows today is, once again, the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

John will be on CNN's Reliable Sources between 11:00 - 11:30 a.m. Eastern talking about media coverage of Obama's oil spill speech and Sarah Palin.

The big "get" of the day is Rahm Emanuel. He's on "This Week" with Jake Tapper. Jake's been tweeting about the interview for the past day.

Nine senators, almost 10% of the Senate, pop up on the various shows today. That includes some of Big Oil's best allies: Mary Landrieu, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell.

Secretary Gates is on FOX News so we may see a DADT-related question.

Here's the full lineup. Read the rest of this post...

Sean Flynn

The Times had another article about the search for Sean Flynn yesterday. An old friend is back in Cambodia looking for his remains in a country full of bones leftover from the deadly years of the Khmer Rouge terror. Flynn and others risked everything back in the day to report on the war. Read the rest of this post...

Tories to release chopped spending budget

If the rumors are true that the Liberal Democrats agreed to macho hacking of the budget while telling voters something else, this will be their last victory for decades. It comes as no surprise that the Tories are delivering tax cuts for the haves and plain old cuts for the have-nots. Didn't the US just see how tax cuts during tough times do not help and only hurt recovery? What else should people expect from the Conservatives?

George Osborne will announce plans for the biggest-ever assault on welfare benefits in Tuesday's emergency budget as part of an estimated £85bn package of savings and tax rises to reduce Britain's unprecedented peacetime deficit.

The chancellor believes that, by slashing the £180bn-a-year welfare bill, he can help protect spending in other areas, such as education, defence and transport, as well as safeguarding capital projects vital to the economy.

"If we drive down the welfare bill, that allows more money to be allocated to departments," a government source said.

The focus on welfare and benefit reform is likely to include cuts in tax credits for wealthier families and could see the end of child benefit payment to higher earners. But it will also put Osborne on a collision course with unions, which fear the poor will be hit hardest. The coalition government hopes to soften the impact of deep reductions in public spending – and deflect criticism from those who say the cuts will put economic recovery at risk – by presenting a parallel growth strategy for the public sector, based on safeguarding infrastructure projects, education reform and tax incentives for business.

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Sea Shephard frees allegedly illegal tuna in Mediterranean Sea

The failure to secure the required radical reform of the tuna fishing industry may have something to do with this. Corruption runs deep in the commercial fishing industry and until that is addressed there are few options left to save the faltering fish populations. The Guardian:

In a statement from the boat, Captain Paul Watson said: "Sea Shepherd's helicopter reconnaissance flight this morning found two fishing vessels. One was engaged in transferring bluefin tuna into one of the two nets being towed by the other vessel.

"The captain of the Cesare Rustico said when questioned that the tuna were caught on the morning of the 14th by the Libyan vessel Tagreft. When we replied that the number of tuna in the cage exceeded the quota for the Tagreft, the captain said the cage also included tuna from seven other Libyan seiners. All the catches were caught on the 14th, the last legal day, according to the captain.

"The problem with this explanation was that we had observed … weather conditions for those two days made fishing virtually impossible.

"The extremely difficult conditions, coupled with the position of the cages only 40 miles off the Libyan coast, when they should have been moving 25 miles a day, suggested to us that the fish were freshly caught within the last three days at the most."

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