New GOP governor starts term with executive order eliminating transparency

If there's one thing the public has been screaming for, it's less transparency. What progress!

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has signed an executive order that eliminates a requirement for the governor and top aides to disclose how much they earn.

Under the order signed after Haslam took office on Saturday, the disclosure rules applying to himself and senior administration officials will be the same as those for members of the General Assembly. Those only requires them to list sources of income, but not how much they make.

The move wipes off the books former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen’s first executive order of 2003, which required the top executive branch officials to make annual reports about their total earnings.

Then again, Tennessee is the state where Teabaggers have presented a plan to remove history about the "minority experience" and to exclude "made up criticism" about slavery and native Americans. There's progress for you! Read the rest of this post...

Sam Seder on Krugman's Morals & Money article

On Friday, Sam Seder of Majority Report did a nice commentary on the Paul Krugman "Tale of Two Moralities" column. (Our commentary on that column is here.)

Seder does a nice job of taking apart a number of Conservative concepts, such as "narrow" (when they want it to be) construction of the Constitution, the so-called "freedom of contract" concept, and Senator Mike Lee's specious argument that child labor should not be federally disallowed because it doesn't affect interstate commerce (the infamous Commerce Clause that so many Conservatives wish to disappear).

Seder is especially good on this latter subject. I'll let him speak for himself.



Sometimes I too wonder whether we wouldn't be better as a country if we became a worse one quickly, instead of this achingly slow degradation that's being forced on us.

What if we woke up tomorrow, and child labor was legal in 22 states? (And you know which 22 would sign up for that, don't you? Hint: "Right to work".)

Most people would be appalled, and then we could get somewhere. Horrid thought, but if we're going to get to the bad place eventually, is it better or worse to go there in a way that maximizes a good result? Some would call that homeopathic medicine. In that sense, I used to call Bush II our Homeopathic President, except the fever never broke.

And no, I'm not advocating child labor, not by any stretch; I'll let Sen. Lee (R-Utah) do that. Lee, one of those retainers who sounds smart enough to know how wrong he is, and not care.

GP

(For what it's worth, you can access hand-crafted downloadable and embeddable segments of the new Seder show here. Just thought I'd pass that on.) Read the rest of this post...

Are you the guys who lost this roll of film? (very cool)

A New Yorker found a canister of 35m film in a park in Brooklyn during the recent blizzard. So he developed the photos, and is using YouTube to try to find the owner. They're gorgeous photos (the guys who took them look European). Check them out, and if you think you know who took them (there are a few self-portraits), contact: brooklynfoundfilm@gmail.com


(H/t HuffPost Hill) Read the rest of this post...

Parts of Dixie celebrated Robert E. Lee day on Monday

Maybe it's like celebrating Hermann Göring day in Germany. Oh that's right. That would be in bad taste but Germany has the common sense not to celebrate a failed military leader that worked for a morally wrong cause. How in the world could anyone celebrate someone who fought to defend such a despicable cause? It's in especially bad taste to celebrate Lee on the day that should be for Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a great American.

Arkansas state employees will have Monday off, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr . – and General Robert E. Lee, commanding officer of the Confederate Army.

Every year, the doors of the state Capitol bear notices that offices will be closed the third Monday of January to honor Dr. King and Gen. Lee. Arkansas is one of three states to commemorate both men with a state holiday. The others are Alabama and Mississippi.

"I know my students that come to the university seem to come with a bit of nostalgia for the Old South ... particularly Robert E. Lee, who has the mystique of being the man who only reluctantly seceded," said University of Arkansas history professor Jeannie M. Whayne. "He's become, well, one book's title says it all, The Marble Man, the ideal of the Southerner."

Nostalgia, really? What part of the Old South was so glorious? The slavery or the racism that required changes in the federal law in the 1960s? Oddly enough, I can't recall any northerner suggesting a Ulysses S. Grant day to celebrate the man who won the war for the North while trampling over Richmond, Atlanta and the south. Read the rest of this post...

Lieberman isn't running for reelection

Today, we're learning that Joe Lieberman isn't running for reelection:

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman will announce on Wednesday that he will not seek a fifth term, according to a person he told of his decision.

Mr. Lieberman, whose term is up in 2012, chose to retire rather than risk being defeated, said the person, who spoke to the senator on Tuesday.

“I don’t think he wanted to go out feet first,” the person said,.

He would have been defeated and that would have been a better. In fact, earlier today, PPP's Tom Jensen wrote a post titled, Why Lieberman Would Have Lost.

Yes, he helped on DADT repeal. But, for the most part, this guy undermined the progressive agenda for years. And, let's not forget how he campaigned against Obama in 2008.

Good riddance. Read the rest of this post...

WH spokesman seems to suggest anti-gay DOMA law is constitutional

And things seemed to be going so well for the White House in gayland. Read the rest of this post...

Cheney attacks Obama for doing what he and Bush did, expand govt and increase the deficit

Of course, Cheney's an idiot for suggesting that Obama shouldn't have increased the deficit. The alternative was letting the country sink into another Great Depression. It's troublesome that the man who was just recently vice president, and de facto president, is suggesting that we should have let the country fall into a depression rather than increase the size of the deficit.

The media needs to hold Cheney to this comment. So do the Democrats. Unless the President wants to give in to the Republicans on the notion that the stimulus was not necessary, someone at the senior levels of our government, preferably President Obama, needs to hit back hard on Cheney, and ask why he favors sending the country into a Depression.

The President can't win by sitting back and pretending these attacks won't matter. As we've seen time and again, they do matter, and they work. We won't stop them by publishing economic treatises, we'll only win by hitting the Republicans back, hard, every time they make an idiotic statement like Cheney did today.

Above the fray hasn't really worked, in terms of defeating the GOP lies. Read the rest of this post...

Report: Pope John Paul II's Vatican warned Irish bishops not to report child rape

And the Vatican is fast-tracking John Paul's sainthood? This is sickening, but so is the power structure of the Catholic church.

A newly revealed 1997 letter from the Vatican warned Ireland's Catholic bishops not to report all suspected child-abuse cases to police — a disclosure that victims groups described as "the smoking gun" needed to show that the Vatican enforced a worldwide culture of cover-up.

The letter, obtained by Irish broadcasters RTE and provided to The Associated Press, documents the Vatican's rejection of a 1996 Irish church initiative to begin helping police identify pedophile priests following Ireland's first wave of publicly disclosed lawsuits.

The letter undermines persistent Vatican claims, particularly when seeking to defend itself in U.S. lawsuits, that the church in Rome never instructed local bishops to withhold evidence or suspicion of crimes from police. It instead emphasizes the church's right to handle all child-abuse allegations, and determine punishments, in house rather than hand that power to civil authorities.

Read the rest of this post...

Experts doubt HCR will actually 'kill jobs'

But remember, lies need no basis in fact. To wit: Death Panels. The GOP will continue to claim whatever they want, in unison, until the public thinks it's true - unless someone with enough stature to steal the news cycle stands up and calls them liars to their face (that would be you, Mr. President).

Facts simply don't work to refute lies in politics. They're, sadly, not enough. You need to get in someone's face and call them on their lies, or the lies stick.

Now get this. The NFIB, quoted by the GOP as "proof" that health care reform will kill jobs, has just repudiated the very NFIB study that the GOP is basing their "job killer" claim on.McClatchy:

The report says that a study by the National Federation of Independent Business, "the nation's largest small business association, found that an employer mandate alone could lead to the elimination of 1.6 million jobs between 2009 and 2014, with 66 percent of those coming from small businesses."

But that study was released on Jan. 28, 2009, well before the law was written. It studied a model, not the law that was enacted eventually, and it was based on a different set of assumptions.

"It's old. We don't use it anymore because it was based on a hypothetical mandate," NFIB spokeswoman Stephanie Cathcart said. While her group still thinks that the law will hurt business job growth, it cites no firm number.

Read the rest of this post...

Palin, upset that she's no longer in the news, defends use of 'blood libel'

Seriously, she was out of the new for, what, 4 days and she just couldn't take it anymore. So Ms. Me Me Me decided to defend her use of the term "blood libel," hoping that it might get another round of news going. And it did. Particularly since Palin insisted she knew the definition of blood libel, then went ahead and poorly defined it. Then again, English isn't her first language (Palin doesn't really have one). Andy Barr at Politico:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin insisted Monday that she did know the definition of, and correctly used, the term “blood libel” in recently striking back at her critics.

“Blood libel obviously means being falsely accused of having blood on your hands,” Palin said in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity.

Actually, it's much more than that. It's a historic and defamatory slur on an entire group of people, meant to demean, and even more, dehumanize them. It's not simply being falsely accused of having blood on your hands, otherwise anyone falsely accused of a crime could claim "blood libel," and that's not what it means by any stretch.

But I suppose if you're not that bright, mock education, have never properly mastered the English language, and use phrases that your speechwriter gives you without really knowing what they mean, or having any notion of the history behind them (does anyone seriously believe that Palin knew the history of the phrase - please), then yes, you might be confused about the meaning and usage of "blood libel." And that's why you shouldn't use phrases you don't understand.

(And for added ME ME ME benefit, Palin goes on to criticize the memorial service the President attended, calling it a "pep rally." That's right, continue to mock the dead, Ms. Palin. Great way to bring the country together.) Read the rest of this post...

Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) is retiring

Another red state Democrat is retiring reports Chris Cillizza:

North Dakota Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad plans to announce his retirement today, according to two informed Democratic sources, creating a potentially prime pickup opportunity for Republicans in a GOP-leaning state.

Conrad, who currently chairs the Senate Budget Committee, has been in office since 1986 and risen to become one of the most influential -- and intellectual -- policy makers operating in the nation's capital.

Conrad had been open about his ambivalence about running for another term and those doubts almost certainly increased following a 2010 election that decimated the Democratic party.

The 2012 elections were already going to be rough for Senate Democrats. In November, Markos took an early look at the 2012 Senate races. It doesn't look good for Democrats. His conclusion:

In a bad climate, 2012 will be nightmarish for Senate Dems. If things improve, it'll merely be tough.

Read the rest of this post...

New report finds 129 million Americans under 65 have a pre-existing condition

The insurance companies invented the whole pre-existing condition to prevent having to pay for coverage. And, a lot of Americans now fall into that category:

As many as 129 million Americans under age 65 have medical problems that are red flags for health insurers, according to an analysis that marks the government's first attempt to quantify the number of people at risk of being rejected by insurance companies or paying more for coverage.

The secretary of health and human services released the study on Tuesday, hours before the House plans to begin considering a Republican bill that would repeal the new law to overhaul the health-care system.

A vote is expected on Wednesday. But while Republicans may muscle through a repeal bill in the House, its prospects are slimmer in the Senate, where Democrats andindependents will enjoy a 53-47 majority.

I have to imagine that a lot of members of Congress have some kind of pre-existing condition. They're not the healthiest group of Americans. But, I doubt members of Congress get much of a run around from insurance companies.

The insurance industry's lobbyist, of course, disparaged the report. But, as the article notes, it's based on that industry's definitions:

The study found that one-fifth to one-half of non-elderly people in the United States have ailments that trigger rejection or higher prices in the individual insurance market. They range from cancer to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, asthma and high blood pressure.

The smaller estimate, by Health and Human Services Department researchers, is based on the number of Americans whose medical problems would make them eligible for states' high-risk pools - special coverage for people denied insurance because of their medical history. The researchers arrived at the larger figure by adding in other ailments that major insurers consider a basis to charge customers higher prices or to exclude coverage for some of the care they need. (emphasis added)

I've been in the individual market for five years. And, I have asthma. That caused a problem securing coverage in the first place.

So, this week, the GOPers are taking on 129 million Americans under 65 and their families. That sounds like it should be, using the GOP's terminology, a political job-killer. Read the rest of this post...

For FY 2010, Teabaggers 'requested more than $1 billion in earmarks'

Change Teabaggers can believe in!

Influenced largely by the Tea Party, Republicans in Congress this year have taken a firm stance against earmarks to show their commitment to cutting back government spending.

It turns out, however, that members of the House Tea Party Caucus requested more than $1 billion in earmarks in the 2010 fiscal year, the National Journal reports.

After reviewing data compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the National Journal found that several of the 52 Tea Party caucus members made requests for earmarks -- federal funds that go to specific districts for specific companies or projects. In all, Tea Party caucus members requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150.

Read the rest of this post...

Tunisia forms unity government as self immolation protests spread

Let's hope the new government will be a step in the right direction for the people of Tunisia. It's not obvious how it will be that much different as many of the new government are the same old faces. (A problem that we see all too often around the world.)

Tunisian politicians took their first practical step into the future today by creating an interim national unity government including opposition politicians, in an effort to quell continuing unrest following the ousting of the veteran Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali as president last week.

The government was dominated by old faces, with the serving ministers of defence, interior, finance and foreign affairs keeping their jobs alongside three newcomers taking part in what they hope will be a peaceful democratic transition via free elections that will serve as a model for other repressive Arab regimes.

"We are committed to intensifying our efforts to re-establish calm and peace in the hearts of all Tunisians," the prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, told a news conference in a still tense and occasionally violent capital. "Our priority is security, as well as political and economic reform." He named Najib Chebbi, founder of the opposition PDP party, as minister of regional development. Tunisian journalists complained, however, that Ghannouchi had refused to answer questions.

Meanwhile protests involving self immolation are spreading in North Africa.

Yesterday there were reports that the family of the former president of Tunisia fled the country with 1.5 tons of gold. If that is the case, the international community needs to step up and correct that problem. Read the rest of this post...

Report: UK linked to overseas torture

These are ugly times for countries that are supposed to be the leading democracies of the world. The Guardian:

A Guardian investigation into counter-terrorism co-operation between the UK and Bangladesh has revealed a detailed picture of the last Labour government's reliance on overseas intelligence agencies that were known to use torture.

Meetings and exchanges of information took place between British and Bangladeshi officials in an effort to protect the UK from attacks that might be fomented in Bangladesh, according to sources in both countries.

The likelihood that a number of suspects would be tortured as a result of the meetings went unmentioned, according to the sources. Subsequently, more than a dozen men of dual British-Bangladeshi nationality were placed under investigation, and at least some suffered horrific abuse from the Bangladeshi authorities.

Read the rest of this post...