Ten For '09

And now, ten things I wish would happen in 2009, but won't.

1. CNN's Ruben Navarette will stop rationalizing the GOP's institutionalized racism.
2. Dick Cheney will write a tell all book about how stupid Dubya really is.
3. Mike Huckabee will leave politics for good and start a band.
4. Obama will lose his temper. Once. Just once. That's all it will take.
5. Five words: Super Bowl Champion Carolina Panthers.
6. NBC will bring back John Laroquette in his own show. Again.
7. The Ghostbusters video game will not only be on time, but it'll kick serious ass.
8. Same goes for Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.
9. Quiznos brings back the Triple Q sub.
10. Obama fixes the universe.

Would be nice, huh.

The Million Dollar Question

The question isn't "What the hell is Blagojevich thinking?" but, as John Cole brilliantly points out:

Not to be too much of a smart-ass, but since when has anyone ever paid a political price for going against Harry Reid? Has it ever happened? On the other hand, Jane may be right. In my limited time as a Democrat it sure does seem like the only time Democrats take a stand is when they are attacking… another Democrat. And, if you ask Joe Lieberman, they don’t even do it very well then.

As to Blagojevich, it really isn’t that ballsy of a move at all. The only thing he has going for him right now is the legitimate power he commands as governor. Democrats hate him. Republicans hate him. His approval ratings are lower than Bush. Patrick Fitzgerald has him by the short hairs on tape. All he can do is keep insisting he is innocent and act as if nothing has happened. He really has no other options.

And there you go. Everything you need to know about Rod Blagojevich is summed up by the fact Harry Reid is a spineless twit. The one thing the GOP does better than the Democrats is enforce party order. Once again, the Dems look like morons because the party leadership gets called on their bluff and then does exactly nothing about it. The GOP has been doing this to the Dems for years, and apparently Blagojevich was actually paying attention.

Go figure. Just seat Roland Burris already and be done with it.

Alberto Gonzales: Professional Victim

Steve Benen nails it.

GONZALES FEELS SORRY FOR HIMSELF.... Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left office in disgrace 16 months ago, and has kept a low profile since. His reputation has not improved in the interim -- Gonzales has struggled to find a law firm willing to hire him -- but at least he hasn't said or done anything ridiculous since his departure from public life.

Gonzales, however, is apparently interested in some kind of comeback. The former A.G. is writing a book about his tenure in the Bush administration and chatted with the Wall Street Journal about how mean everyone has been to him.

"What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?" he said during an interview Tuesday, offering his most extensive comments since leaving government.

During a lunch meeting two blocks from the White House, where he served under his longtime friend, President George W. Bush, Mr. Gonzales said that "for some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror."

Is Gonzales really that confused about what he did that was "so fundamentally wrong"? I suppose he proved during multiple congressional hearings that his memory is similar to that of someone who's suffered serious head trauma, but Gonzales' list of scandals is hard to forget.

Just off the top of my head, there was the U.S. Attorney purge scandal, Gonzales signing torture memos, his conduct in John Ashcroft's hospital room, his oversight of a Justice Department that was engaged in widespread employment discrimination, and his gutting of the DoJ's Civil Rights Division. Gonzales was even investigated by the department's Inspector General on allegations of perjury and obstruction.

On warrantless-searches, the Military Commissions Act, policy on detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and the Geneva Conventions, Gonzales was a disaster. On managing the Justice Department, he filled his staff with Pat Robertson acolytes, feigned ignorance while structural disasters unfolded, and showed shocking tolerance for corruption and politicization of a department that, for the benefit of the nation and the rule of law, needed to maintain independence.

And I'll add a hearty "screw you" to Gonzo and ask him to stand in the same room with the family of any of our troops or any of the 9/11 families, any Iraqi, Afghan, Pakistani family that got bombed, or the family of any of the millions killed since 9/11 and say to their face that he believes he is a casualty.

The Ought Nine Outlook

As promised, my predictions for 2009:

1. Obama's stimulus package is passed, but it makes Bush's tax cuts permanent. It fails to do much of anything and real unemployment rises dramatically as entire malls close across the country and millions in retail lose their jobs.
   
2. The S&P 500 indeed drops to 500. The Dow hovers around the 5k mark. A number of banks go under and are bought out and merged. The financial sector sits on the TARP money and housing prices continue to tumble. Another bank bailout is passed, and it fuels a major wave of bank consolidation across the country. Job losses in the sector for the year approach 250,000.
   
3. Benjamin Netanyahu is elected Israeli PM, and Israel bombs Iranian "nuclear sites", forcing a very ugly global confrontation. The US backs Israel, and Iraq and Afghanistan spiral out of control as a result. Reprisal attacks against American interests if not the US itself rage on.
   
4. GM closes its doors, putting hundreds of thousands out of work. Chrysler is spared barely, merging with Ford, and the remaining automakers band together to share suppliers. Still, layoffs in the rust belt states are brutal, with real unenployment in Michigan hitting 25%.
   
5. Universal health care fails to pass at all thanks to Blue Dog Democrats and prime-time commercials showing huge lines outside ER rooms and doctor's offices. As a result, Tom Daschle resigns his cabinet position. The bill that does pass is a gift package to Big Pharma that greatly curtails generic drugs.
   
6. California, New York, and Michigan declare bankruptcy. Essential government services in those states will be shut down for a time while Washington drags its ass. Other states will begin to ask for billions in bailout money.
   
7. The resulting riots in a major American city forces Obama to call in the Army. At least one GOP lawmaker will publicly say Obama should be impeached for doing so. Bonus points if that lawmaker turns out to be somebody other than Ron Paul.
   
8. The Blagojevich appointment of former Illinois AG Burris to Obama's old seat and the Senate's refusal to seat him causes nothing but problems for the Dems as Burris v. United States reaches the Supreme Court. The Senate loses the case. Burris is greatly pressured by the Dems to resign once the state law in Illinois is changed to accomodate a special election and/or Blagojevich is impeached and removed...that is if the impeachment doesn't go to the Supreme court too.
   
9. Vladimir Putin once again becomes President of Russia and makes his move demanding the Eurozone pay up for oil and gas. Oil goes to $80 a barrel.
   
10. At least one major assassination attempt on Obama's life is made/broken up as he is blamed for the miserable economy, the riots, and the job losses. The country rallies for a while around him, but the GOP sets the table for taking back Congress in 2010.
    

Here's hoping I'm wrong.

StupidiNews!

• An extra second is being added to official clocks worldwide tonight.
• Republicans consider accusing Bush and GOP lawmakers that supported the bailout as guilty of "socialism".
• California's AG sues Bush over his changes to the Endangered Species Act.
• Broadcaster Viacom is threatening to pull 19 cable channels from Time Warner customers tomorrow.
• "Information Overload" could be costing US workers almost a trillion dollars in productivity.

Dear America:

"Pay no attention to the hundred million seniors and poor on government Medicare and Medicaid already, or the 45 million with no health care whatsoever...Obama's going to ruin health care in the US with his big government approach!"

--Sally Pipes, WSJ

The Carrot And Stick Approach

We're now getting to the point of Israel's Operation Cast Lead where the current status quo, in this case Israeli air strikes, are all but exhausted as a tactical and political option. Valuable tactical targets will have moved or have already been hit, and politically the pressure on Israel to cease fire from both within and externally has grown considerably. The longer this goes on, the more Israel stands to lose.

With reports of Israeli forces interfering with humanitarian aid and the conflict giving Hamas a reason to be in the spotlight, the Israelis are considering calling a 48 hour truce to give humanitarian efforts a chance to work...but also to give Israel the opportunity to prepare a major ground offensive.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip would continue for as long as necessary to achieve the goals of the defense establishment against the ruling Hamas regime.

"The Gaza offensive has begun and will not end.... until our goals our reached, we are continuing according to the plan," Olmert said.

The prime minister's statement came in response to reports that defense officials intended to recommend a 48-hour truce to abate the war against Hamas and embark on a temporary truce before it became necessary to begin a significant ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The thing is, Israel now either has to commit to withdrawal or a major ground invasion in the next few days. Hamas is betting it can declare victory in either situation once again. Given the tough talk out of Olmert over the last few days, it looks like that ground offensive is a very distinct possibility.

Things could very quickly get a lot worse, and we've still got three weeks until Obama is even sworn in.

The Right Way, The Wrong Way, And The Blago Way

The Blago way in this case naming a successor to Obama's Senate seat and daring the world to do something about it.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected Tuesday to name former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate, CNN affiliates the Chicago Tribune and WLS-TV reported, citing sources familiar with the decision.

Burris' appointment would fill President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat. Blagojevich is to announce his choice at a news conference at 3 p.m. ET.

Burris, 71, is African-American. According to the newspaper, he expressed interest in the Senate seat shortly after the November 4 election.

The news comes as Democratic leaders in the Senate warned that they would reject any Senate pick made by Blagojevich, who faces criminal charges.

So, with Blagojevich calling the Dems bluff, the ball's firmly in Obama's court now. If he approves of Burris, he looks like an ass for backing Blago, plus Burris can never live down the appointment scandal. If Obama rejects Burris he looks like an ass for dumping on one of Obama's own political heroes and it'll be clear that Blago will simply try again, and if he does nothing, he looks like an ass for doing nothing.

Harry Reid basically is saying Blago can go to hell.

The Senate will not seat Roland Burris if Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich attempts to appoint him, a Democratic leadership aide said.

Majority Leader Harry Reid views Burris as "unacceptable," the aide said.

The die, as they say, is cast.

PS: Hey Harry, where was this sudden backbone six months ago on FISA?

[UPDATE] Blago has balls. Real balls.

"Please don't allow the allegations against me to taint this good and honest man," Blagojevich said.

Nice.

House Of Pain

CNN is reporting the Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 US markets fell a record 18 percent for October. The CSI is always about six weeks behind the times, but the numbers are still bad bad bad given that the effect of the housing markets on the rest of the economy can reverberate for months down the road.

If housing prices are still falling (and this confirms they are and will be well into 2009) there's no real chance at recovery for the economy in the forseeable future.

Year-End Clearance

It's "Predictions for 2009" time 'round the 'net, and we start with the Frog Pond's ertswhile Steven D's pretty detailed list of what he thinks will go down in '09. Highlights:

* Unemployment (real unemployment, not the massaged numbers the media reports) will hit 20% or more in the USA this Spring.

* Corporate Bankruptcies will hit record numbers and will include many, many major retailers, and automobile related companies, including one or more of the Big 3 (Chrysler and GM especially).

* Automotive Lobbyists will scream loudly to change the bankruptcy code to make Chapter 11 (the reorganization provisions) more corporate friendly and less labor friendly. Expect those to pass easily.

* Individual bankruptcies and foreclosures will also increase spectacularly. Do not expect much relief for homeowners, individuals and small businesses, however. Senate Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats will see to that.

* Health Care Reform will pass, but it will be too little, and provide too many bones for Big Pharma and the Health Insurance companies to be of any real benefit to most Americans. Health Care costs will continue to rise for most people.

But the gobsmacker is that there's a couple of pretty disturbing social predictions that I see as plausible enough to explore further:

* Riots will break out this summer in one or more major American cities. The causes could be unemployment, food shortages, hot weather, racial animus, anger at police violence, or all of the above.

* The number of assassination threats against Obama will skyrocket. The FBI and Secret Service will break up more than one serious conspiracy. Other political figures will also see increased numbers of death threats with the risk that various politicians or other prominent leaders will be killed.

* Food shortages may occur later in the year, particularly of produce.

Considering this morning's StupidiNews story on a US Army War College professor gaming out scenarios where this sort of thing happens and the US military's role should include the effort "to rapidly determine the parameters defining the legitimate use of military force inside the United States", it's worth considering the effects of that.

Things are already pretty bad in a number of major American cities. Facing another year of draconian state and local budget cuts greatly affecting law enforcement, mass layoffs continuing across the country, and real unemployment approaching one in five if not one in four Americans, I happen to think there's a significant amount of merit to the prediction of shortages, unrest, and some sort of major incident occurring in a US city in 2009 or 2010.

I'll have my own predictions up in the next day.

StupidiNews!

• Israel's self-described "all out war" against Hamas continues for a fourth day.
• How would America deal with economic-fueled domestic unrest in a worst-case scenario?
• The Treasury Department plans to buy $5 billion in GMAC stock.
• FedEx will give up a Super Bowl ad slot this year to save to company money.
• The National Archives is struggling to deal with eight years of a Bush data dump.

The Pursuit Of Perfection

Who says there's nothing perfect left in these troubled times? The Detroit Lions have found their perfectly awful season as their 31-21 loss to Green Bay yesterday sealed their place in history at 0-16.

The 1976 expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 0-14, were the last team to complete a season without a win.

“I’ve got to live with this,” Lions center Dominic Raiola said. “This is on my resume.”

It’s also on the resume of Lions coach Rod Marinelli, whose job is in jeopardy.

The Lions’ last loss didn’t come without a fight. After falling behind 24-14 midway through the fourth quarter, Kevin Smith’s 9-yard touchdown run put Detroit back within a field goal.

But Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers responded with a 71-yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver, and the Lions’ Dan Orlovsky threw an interception on fourth-and-27 with 3 minutes left, dooming Detroit to futility of historic proportion.

“It’s just kind of numb,” veteran kicker Jason Hanson said. “It’s here. It’s been coming, though, a train rolling down the tracks for a while. We tried to stop it. We couldn’t.”

The Lions were building toward this for years and now have lost 23 of their last 24 games.

The 0-16 record will be a lasting testimony to the Matt Millen era.

Is there any more appropriate symbol of 2008's crushing futility than to see the most financially ravaged major city in the country field the worst team in modern NFL history and complete the dubious record on the last weekend of arguably the worst year in America in generations?

If the smashmouth, fight back Pittsburgh Steelers and their 3 Super Bowl wins represented America's soul during the blue-collar 70's, the showtime Broadway Joe-led San Francisco 49ers the team of the high-flying 80's with their 4 wins captured America's spirit, and the domination of the Aikman-era "Science of Football" Dallas Cowboys epitomized the high-tech 90's with their 3 wins in 4 seasons represented our rise to the "unipolar moment" of the Clinton era, the NFL team that represents this country's very essence during the Big Zeroes may indeed deserve to be the Detroit Lions, a team that steadily grew worse from 9-7 in 2000 until this year's nadir of absolute zero as we head into the worst financial storm in generations.

If that's not a perfect parable for this country over the last eight years under its current management, I don't know what is.

StupidiNews!

• A third day of Israeli airstrikes rock the Gaza Strip with ground troops ready to enter as Hamas continues to launch Kassam rockets.
• First Lady Laura Bush calls the shoe tossed at her husband by an Iraqi reporter "an assault".
• One in ten Floridians is on food stamps and many more qualify.
• California's $42 billion budget shortfall and 8.4% unemployment rate is taking its toll across the state.
• 2008 marked the first year the internet overtook print as America's primary source of news.

The Real Problem With Israel And The Palestinians

As we learn today that the Egyptian government has fired on Palestinians fleeing Gaza through the Egypt crossing, it's time to reflect on the views from the wingnut section of the universe. There's a distinct chunk of people out there who honestly believe that the problem with Israel is that they haven't killed enough Palestinians yet.

No, really, that's the argument. That's the sentiment you're seeing on wingnut blog after wingnut blog. Jules Crittenden mocks "liberal hand wringing" and bemoans:

I don’t know about you, but I sure hope Palestinians lobbing missiles and Israelis retaliating doesn’t amount to a serious challenge of Obama’s ability to lead the free world, or we’re in trouble.

Nice guy, Jules. The guys at Power Line seem to think the problem is those terrible Hamas guys keep ending up in places where Israeli airstrikes have no choice but to flatten Palestinian civilians.

Hamas' conduct is illegal and evil. Under the circumstances, the Bush administration's instruction to Israel to avoid civilian casualties at best represents a kind of confusion regarding the challenges Israel faces on each of its borders. The challenges are akin to those the United States faces in its own engagements in the region, so it is hard to believe that the problem is one of intellectual clarity rather than political cowardice.

If only the Israelis would just have enough balls to turn Gaza into a parking lot, this whole thing would be over. And that's the mild stuff compared to the completely unhinged Pamela Geller over at Atlas Shrugs, who honestly believes that Hamas's rockets are in fact proof of the Second Holocaust and completely fails to see the irony in wanting to exterminate Palestinians from the face of the Earth.

If only the Palestinians would have the grace to just die already. Rounding up a million and a half people, putting a huge concrete wall around them, starving them out and then dropping bombs on them until they stop complaining about their "merciful" conditions is a perfectly logical thing to some people.

And folks wonder why there's no peace in the Middle East.

Thanking Dubya

Condi Rice still carries the "work wife" torch for her boss, as she explains to CBS that Americans of all stripes will soon "start to thank the President for what he's done" over the last eight years.

"So we can sit here and talk about the long record, but what I would say to you is that this president has faced tougher circumstances than perhaps at any time since the end of World War II, and he has delivered policies that are going to stand the test of time," Rice said in an interview that aired on CBS' "Sunday Morning."

The secretary of state brushed off reports that suggest the United States' image is suffering abroad. She praised the administration's ability to change the conversation in the Middle East.

"This isn't a popularity contest. I'm sorry, it isn't. What the administration is responsible to do is to make good choices about Americans' interests and values in the long run -- not for today's headlines, but for history's judgment," she said.

"And I am quite certain that when the final chapters are written and it's clear that Saddam Hussein's Iraq is gone in favor of an Iraq that is favorable to the future of the Middle East; when the history is written of a U.S.-China relationship that is better than it's ever been; an India relationship that is deeper and better than it's ever been; a relationship with Brazil and other countries of the left of Latin America, better than it's ever been ...

"When one looks at what we've been able to do in terms of changing the conversation in the Middle East about democracy and values, this administration will be judged well, and I'll wait for history's judgment and not today's headlines."

On its face, Rice's protestations are equal parts stupidity and delusion. She's been the weakest Secretary of State in modern history, serving as the Bush administration's Apologist-In-Chief more than anything else. Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Cuba, the EU, Haiti, Indonesia, and pretty much the entire continent of Africa -- all places where our foreign policy has made things worse and in many instances has cost thousands of lives if not hundreds of thousands. Arrogance, ineptness, stubborness, stupidity, ignorance...these are the hallmarks of Bush foreign policy, and while Colin Powell certainly has his own crimes to pay for, Condi Rice bears a large butcher's bill herself, first as Bush's intel wrangler, then as Bush's cleaning crew.

But as ridiculous as Condi Rice's argument is (her assumption that Bush's policies will "stand the test of time" is both delusional and horrifying) she's correct on one level: I do thank Bush for being such a singularly terrible leader in every sense of the term that America chose to elect Barack Obama specifically to fix all the things Bush fucked up.

So, she's right on that account. We'll soon be thanking Bush for not being President anymore, and that soon will be about 12:01 PM on January 20.

Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right

A second day of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza has brought the death toll to over 275. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that the assault on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, will "continue for some time".

Israel will call up 7,000 reserve soldiers, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during the weekly Cabinet meeting. He told ministers he planned to present the measure to two Knesset committees, which must approve the action.

Meanwhile, Israeli ground troops and tanks were deployed around Gaza. However, there is no indication of a ground operation inside Gaza.

The U.N. called for a halt to hostilities, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the Cabinet meeting that the operation "is liable to continue for some time, perhaps more than can be foreseen at the present time."

Hamas, too, showed no signs of backing down.

For a second day, black plumes of smoke rose above Gaza City as makeshift ambulances screamed down rubble-strewn streets, taking wounded Palestinians to hospitals already crowded with hundreds of patients wounded this weekend.

It's clear at this point Israel has decided that with the cease fire expired as of December 19 and the US in no position to do anything during the transition, that the time for restraint has ended. Lebanon was too difficult a target to deal with in 2006, but the lessons the Iraelis have learned from that seem to be to pick on a much weaker target and to start the PR war early.

It's sad, really. Neither side is right, and the death toll willcontinue to rise...and the worst part is that the one country that could influence Israel to stop -- the United States -- has zero credibility after killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan civilians, putting anything Israel has done to shame.

Just how many wars will Barack Obama have to deal with on January 20?

Too Much To Take

It appears that Bush's planned (and then reversed) pardon of mortgage fraudster Isaac Toussie was more than even Malkinvania could handle.

"What's particularly galling is this man was involved in mortgage crimes and mortgage fraud, which, HELLO! has been the number one story of the year," Malkin said about Bush's year ending "embarrassment."

The conservative pundit wondered why the Bush vetters didn't do a basic Google search beforehand.

"It calls attention to the Bush administration's own role in allowing the subprime crisis to fester," said Malkin. "The fact is under Bush's watch, a lot of this did take place, and the Bush administration's policies themselves, particularly at HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban development, encouraged exactly this kind of behavior."

If even Our Lady Of The Muslim Concentration Camps is convinced Bush is at fault for this disaster of an economy, there's pretty much zero hope for his legacy.

But it gets worse. As Steve Benen points out, the nature of Presidential pardons are absolute, meaning that there's a strong legal argument that Isaac Toussie's pardon cannot be rescinded in any way.

Like it or not, presidents have broad authority when it comes to granting pardons. They also, however, have no authority to when it comes to taking pardons back.

Bush's clemency, announced this week, for Isaac Toussie is rather scandalous in its own right, given Toussie's background as a scam artist who got off easy running an illegal mortgage scheme and his father's contributions to Republicans earlier this year. But it's the president's decision to try and change his mind that's especially interesting.

Now, as a legal matter, it appears Bush can't grant a pardon and then rescind it. The process just doesn't work that way. The White House would have us believe, however, that his publicly announced, unconditional pardon for Isaac Toussie didn't really count. Bush was going to grant him clemency, but it hadn't actually happened yet, so the president interrupted the process before it could become official.

and as Josh Marshall reveals, THAT argument holds no water either.

But from what I can tell, the Pardon Attorney doesn't 'execute' anything. The current system of having the Pardon Attorney create certificates of pardon only goes back to the Eisenhower administration, and was then apparently only done to relieve the president of the chore of signing so many pardons and commutations. I spoke to former Pardon Attorney Margaret Colgate Love (1990-1997) who told me that "receiving the president's warrant and sending notifications to the petitioners is purely 'a ministerial act of notification.'" In layman's terms, at this end of the transaction, the Pardon Attorney's role is really just a matter of paperwork. "When we received the Master Warrant from the president," said Love, "what our job was was to notify them, by telephone, and eventually by written notification. The document evidenced the president's action. We never assumed that that document had any necessary legal significance."

So just as a factual matter, the idea that the Pardon Attorney needs to 'execute' the pardons seems to be bogus. End of story.

In other words, once Bush or any President grants a pardon, it's a done deal. Bush can't take it back. And as Digby pointed out yesterday, the whole point of reversing the Toussie pardon was to make sure Bush didn't have a fishy-looking Marc Rich-style controversial pardon like Clinton did so that the GOP could oppose the appointment of Eric Holder to AG. Holder was of course the Clinton Justice Department official who signed off on the Marc Rich pardon, and the plan was of course to make him pay for it during the nomination hearings and burn him to the ground.

Now the Bushies don't even have that. There's no way they can accuse Obama of glossing over pardon shenanigans to appoint Eric Holder when Bush's pardon of Toussie looms over the entire proceedings.

Insert foot, pull trigger. These Bush idiots can't even get a pardon right...a final, sad commentary on the complete political incompetence of the outgoing administration. Is it any wonder 75% of Americans are glad to tell Bush "Don't let the White House door hit you in the ass on the way out"?

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition

• Israeli airstrikes on Gaza claim over 150 lives as Israel retaliates for days of Palestinian rocket attacks.
• The US offers Viagra to win over Afghan warlords.
• An Iraqi prison revolt leads to 16 dead and 3 escaped Al-Qaeda members.
• Wal-Mart will be the next store to sell the Apple iPhone starting this weekend.
• Is it time for the FCC to go for good?

Earning Cred, Republican Style

So, suppose you're a Republican running for arguably the most powerful internal position in the GOP: Chair of the Republican National Committee. You're running for the job to be the person in charge of the GOP's new strategy to take back Washington. How do you go about raising your profile among GOP bigwigs over the holiday season?

Well, if you're former Huckabee campaign guru Chip Saltsman, you put out some swag bags complete with holiday tuneage.

RNC candidate Chip Saltsman’s Christmas greeting to committee members includes a music CD with lyrics from a song called “Barack the Magic Negro,” first played on Rush Limbaugh’s popular radio show.

Saltsman, a personal friend of conservative satirist Paul Shanklin, sent a 41-track CD along with a note to national committee members.
“I look forward to working together in the New Year,” Saltsman wrote. “Please enjoy the enclosed CD by my friend Paul Shanklin of the Rush Limbaugh Show.”

The CD, called “We Hate the USA,” lampoons liberals with such songs as “John Edwards’ Poverty Tour,” “Wright place, wrong pastor,” “Love Client #9,” “Ivory and Ebony” and “The Star Spanglish banner.”

Several of the track titles, including “Barack the Magic Negro,” are written in bold font.

The song, which debuted on Limbaugh’s show in late March 2007, latches onto an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times of the same title. That column, penned by cultural critic David Ehrenstein, argued that Obama could serve as a balm to whites who felt guilty about past treatment of African Americans.

Limbaugh first highlighted the column the day it ran, according to a contemporary report by Media Matters, the liberal watchdog agency. Media Matters reported Limbaugh repeated the phrase more than two dozen times the day the column ran.

The following month, Shanklin debuted his version of the song, sung to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon” and performed in Shanklin’s impression of Al Sharpton.

“See, real black men, like Snoop Dogg, or me, or Farrakhan, have talked the talk, and walked the walk, not come in late and won,” one verse in the song says.

The GOP. Because being a racist asshole never goes out of style, and that's what passes as a positive among the party elite.

As I've said time and time again, if you think the campaign season was the worst the GOP could possibly get, wait until the wing of the party that honestly believes they lost because they were way too soft on the President-Elect finishes purging the moderates from the party, and galvanizes every racist, bigoted, homophobic, hate-filled impulse into a party platform and long-term strategy to "take the country back for real America and God."

You ain't seen nothin' yet.

What Digby Said

And lo, Digby said:

In case anyone's wondering why Bush retracted the pardon of his contributor's son, it's not because he had an attack of conscience or even because it looks bad politically to pardon a mortgage scammer.

It's sadly because the pardon would have made it harder for the Republicans to tank Eric Holder's nomination on the basis of the Marc Rich pardon. One of their most substantial hissy fits was that that Holder signed off on it when it hadn't gone through proper channels (something that was not unprecedented then either.) It turns out that this Bush pardon was granted under similar circumstances.

Remember, Rove is orchestrating the Holder strategy and he's made clear that the Rich pardon is going to be at the center of it.

This has been What Digby Said.

Four Years Down The Road

A lot has been made of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's shot in the GOP primaries in 2012, but if even Rick Moran over at Right Wing Nuthouse thinks Jindal's a loser, then he's in real trouble. Jindal reflects the basic problems with the GOP according to Moran.

Sizing up Jindal at this point is probably an exercise in futility since he will no doubt grow and change as his term in office continues. But what we know of him now is not very encouraging to me. I could never vote for someone who believes that creationism/intelligent design should be taught in schools – even if it is done in concert with the teaching of evolution with the goal of “letting the kids decide” which “theory” they wish to believe.

This kind of anti-intellectualism that promotes ID as science on a par with Darwinism is just plain loony. Imagine in Cosmology if we taught the “Steady State” theory of the origins of the Universe alongside the “Big Bang” and expansion theories, allowing students to decide which theory is “true.” The question answers itself. One theory is clearly wrong and the other is clearly correct.

If parents want to home school their kids and teach them ID or send them to private religious schools where Darwin is a dirty word, fine. They will grow up sweeping the floors of Japanese, Swedish, or Chinese bio-tech factories rather than owning them. You can deny the efficacy of evolution all you want but since modern biology is based on it (and not on ID/creationism) it stands to reason that the coming revolution in bio-technology will proceed without your children being involved. This nonsense has already affected the numbers of students entering graduate level life sciences which a recent Rand study showed will necessitate US bio-tech firms looking overseas for engineers and biologists within the next decade.

But this debate is only a symptom of what ails the GOP. Much of the base appears to be battling modernity itself. Declaring categorically – and without even a scintilla of the requisite knowledge to do so – that Climate Change is a “hoax” bespeaks an ignorance that causes most voters to blanche in horror at the prospect of electing a Republican. Scientists who advocate the theory of catastrophic climate change may indeed be wrong. They may be close minded and not open to opposing views. But “hoaxers?”

This is not the first time that eminent scientists have gotten it wrong and refused to consider evidence the the contrary. The theory of plate tectonics – the continents sitting on plates, floating on magma, that rub against each other and migrate great distances over time – was belittled for a 100 years. But no one accused proponents of the Continental Drift theory of perpetrating a scientific hoax to advance that theory at the expense of plate tectonics.

And of course he's right. The GOP is at war with itself over science and religion. There's a deeply ingrained, fanatical section of the GOP that is Luddite to the core, that rejects science as the tool of evil, believing it to be what the elitist secular Liberals use to yoke the necks of the proud, self-sufficient, God-fearing American family.

We're talking about a group of people that honestly believe all the nasty things going on in the world are the result of the final coming battle, and that faith in God and only faith in God can save us. Anything else, including the whole exercise of intellectualism in any capacity, takes away from faith and is therefore inherently evil.

It's part preying on the fears of the small-minded and part being scared into religious fanaticism. People are scared because they are being scared on purpose by these clowns, and the worse the economy gets, the easier it's going to be to convince these folks that the real problem is not Bush and the GOP ripping the American people off, but lack of God's law being imposed on all Americans.

Moran belongs to the sect of the GOP that thinks it is smarter then that, but in the end, those are just the guys with the whip hand. Can you imagine a President that doesn't believe in evolution?

Oh Look, More Headaches

As if 2008 didn't have enough problems, here comes reports that the Pakistan Army is being directed to the Indian border region near Kashmir to defend against "anticipated Indian incursions".

The troops were deployed from Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan, where forces have been battling Taliban and al Qaeda militants in North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Pakistan's armed forces have been on high alert in anticipation of a possible conflict with India following last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which killed 160 people.

India believes the 10 men who carried out the attacks were trained at a terrorist camp in the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir.

A senior official said the troops had been moved from areas where there are no active military operations, and emphasized that troop levels have not been depleted in areas where soldiers are battling militants, such as the Swat Valley and the Peshawar area in the North West region.

In addition to the move, leave for all military personnel has been restricted and all troops were called back to active duty, the senior official said.

Asked for a reaction to the development, Husain Haqqani. Pakistani ambassador to the United States, said, "Pakistan does not seek war, but we need to be vigilant against threats of war emanating from the other side of our eastern border."

Pakistan is clearly making a show of expecting to be attacked soon. Two bitter rivals, both nuclear powers mind you, getting into a border scuffle is not the kind of thing you want to see. Somebody needs to step up and defuse the situation, but what can honestly be done?

A fourth Pakistan-India war could be imminent.

StupidiNews!

• The worst holiday shopping season in decades could lead to unprecedented post-holiday sales this year starting today.
• California's looming budget default is causing state bond yields to skyrocket.
• Blago's lawyer plans to subpoena Obama aides in order to help clear the Governor's name.
• Reduced demand for commodities has stalled the recycled materials market.
• Singer and actress Eartha Kitt has died at the age of 81.

Obama's Holiday Message

StupidiNews, Christmas Edition!

• President Santa Bush dealt out some presents: jobs on government panels and committees for 3-6 year terms.
• A "blog miracle" this Christmas saved one family's home from foreclosure.
• Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman just got a lump of coal in his runoff election recount against Al Franken.
• Convicted Presidential pardon seeker Issac Toussie got his own lump of coal as the President rescinded his pardon.
• Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was looking for his own presents from Obama, but ended up with coal, coal, coal.

Have a Merry Christmas anyway.

Dear America:

"This economy proves Obama is the worst President ever. The fact that he's not actually President yet is just semantics."

--Holman Jenkins, Wall Street Journal

Not So Fast

While I hate to be a humbug on Christmas Eve, it's worth pointing out that many of the predictions of a weak economic recovery in late 2009 are based on the housing market finally having bottomed out. The only problem with that is that the housing market shows zero signs of bottoming out at all, if anything the decline is accelerating.

The U.S. housing market took a sharp turn for the worse while Spain joined a growing list of countries in a recession that shows no sign of abating.

Existing U.S. home sales and prices both fell at a record pace last month, according to a report released Tuesday, further evidence that the financial turmoil which intensified in September was driving consumers deeper into retreat.

"The quickly deteriorating conditions in the job market, stock market and consumer confidence in October and November have knocked down home sales to another level," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

Sales of newly built U.S. homes slowed to the weakest level since 1991, according to separate figures from the Commerce Department.

We're getting closer and closer to that death spiral depression scenario every month, it seems. The housing market crash lowers consumer consumption, lower consumption causes layoffs, layoffs take more and more people out of their homes, and prices continue to fall as a result as more homes are put on the market and more buyers are taken out as credit requirements tighten.

At this point a gargantuan stimulus package, well above the trillion dollar mark, may be the last hope we have. All signs point to an even steeper pace of deterioration in early 2009.

As bad at this year has been, next year will be much, much worse.

[UPDATE] Just in time for Christmas, the weekly job numbers are out with new unemployment claims hitting a 26-year peak at 586,000. It'll get worse. Much worse.

Happy Holidays.

StupidiNews!

• President Bush has issued a few more Christmas pardons, but nothing controversial so far.
• Was the airplane death of Karl Rove's "IT Guru" an accident or something else?
• CIT and AmEx join the TARP bailout list to the tune of $6 billion.
• Despite death threats from insurgents, registration for Afghan elections continues.
• The notebook computer has finally overtaken the desktop PC globally in shipments.

The Stupid, It Burns Us

There's got to be some kind of award out there to give USA Today's DeWayne Wickham for sheer number of thinking people offended by his gobsmacking article comparing Rick Warren to (and I shit you not) Booker T. Washington.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Washington was one of this nation's most influential black leaders. His willingness to try to find common ground with whites who viewed — and treated — blacks as an inferior race made Washington someone presidents reached out to.

Theodore Roosevelt, especially, turned to Washington for advice on "the Negro problem." Taking counsel from "the great accommodationist," as Washington was called, was an act of steam control by the Republican president at a time when the racial divide was undeniably this nation's most explosive problem.

"In all things purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress," Washington said in an 1895 speech that established him as a black leader who was willing to temper the demands of blacks for racial equality.

Recently, Warren — who, like most evangelical leaders, disagrees sharply with Obama on social issues such as abortion and gay rights — sounded a similar note when he sought to assuage the concerns of those who question why he was asked to give the invocation.

"You don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand," he said in a speech to a group of Muslims in California.

I don't know where to start, but let's go with this: Booker T. Washington stood up to and worked with a notoriously bigoted man in President Teddy Roosevelt, because even Roosevelt realized that the world was permanently changing in a post-Civil War industrial era. Somehow, that's exactly like Obama picking the notoriously bigoted Rick Warren out of raw political expediency!

Look folks, no matter what Obama does to reach evangelical voters, he won't get them. Not that he should stop trying to reach them: he is President of the entire United States. But Rick Warren is just a terrible attempt...and this article comparing him to one of the most influential black leaders in history manages to even be worse.

Walk Softly And Carry A Big Clinton

BooMan takes a look at the NY Times story on the future of diplomacy. Hillary Clinton is already pushing for a much more powerful State Department role in Obama's foreign policy apparatus.

Democrats are more culturally attuned to the State Department, but Carter and Clinton had weak secretaries. Hillary Clinton is not going to be a weak secretary. She is looking to expand the job and take over as much turf as possible. Ordinarily that might be a bad thing, but her power is going to be coming at the expense of the Defense Department (and to an indeterminate degree, the Treasury Department). Secretary Gates is voicing his support for an expanded diplomatic service, and his lame duck status and Republican roots make him institutionally incapable of competing with the former First Lady.

Why do I see this as good? Because it will mark a restoration of the State Department as the premier department of government. And that means that we won't shoot first and ask questions later. It means we will put a kinder face forward to the rest of the world. It means that State Department will regain its morale and that they'll be able to recruit the best minds. It's just good overall.

I happen to agree with BooMan on this one. The Times story makes it clear that a new era is dawning at Foggy Bottom.

As Mrs. Clinton puts together her senior team, officials said, she is also trying to carve out a bigger role for the State Department in economic affairs, where the Treasury has dominated during the Bush years. She has sought advice from Laura D’Andrea Tyson, an economist who headed Mr. Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers.

The steps seem intended to strengthen the role of diplomacy after a long stretch, particularly under Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in which the Pentagon, the vice president’s office and even the intelligence agencies held considerable sway over American foreign policy.

Given Mrs. Clinton’s prominence, expanding the department’s portfolio could bring on conflict with other powerful cabinet members.

Mrs. Clinton and President-elect Barack Obama have not settled on specific envoys or missions, although Mr. Ross’s name has been mentioned as a possible Middle East envoy, as have those of Mr. Holbrooke and Martin Indyk, a former United States ambassador to Israel.

The Bush administration has made relatively little use of special envoys. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has personally handled most peacemaking initiatives, which has meant a punishing schedule of Middle East missions, often with meager results.

Again, having the State Department run diplomacy and foreign relations is a good thing, and certainly a step in the right direction over Colin Powell's lies to the UN to justify invading Iraq and Condi Rice's frenetic scrambling that continues to accomplish nothing, both acting on the whim of the VP's office.

Then again, Clinton is still a war hawk and always will be. Although she's a definite improvement over Powell and Rice, that's just not saying much. Any competent diplomat would meet that low criteria. We need somebody committed to diplomacy and compromise, not Kissinger in a dress. It still remains to be seen if she'll actually promote Obama's policy...or worse, she will promote Obama's policy, and it turns out Kissinger in a dress is exactly what he wanted.

The Center of A Viper's Nest Indeed Contains A Serpent

While the Madoff case rages on, another case involving bank regulation is developing, this time a federal regulator has been removed from his job for pulling the strings behind IndyMac Bank.

The Office of Thrift Supervision has removed its west region director as a result of an inspector general's investigation into the collapse of IndyMac earlier this year, according to correspondence made public today by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA).

Darrel Dochow was fingered by the OTS inspector general as having approved a backdated capital infusion of $18 million into IndyMac by its holding company to stave off a downgrade in the rating assigned to the bank. A downgrading in its level of capitalization would have triggered additional regulatory restrictions on IndyMac, according to a letter to Grassley from OTS Inspector Eric M. Thorson.

This isn't the first time Dochow has been the regulator involved in a major banking collapse. A generation ago he resisted calls to shut down Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan before its collapse, which became notorious thanks to the Keating Five scandal.

Dochow's approval for the backdating came in early May and was intended to buttress the bank's capital position as of the end of the first quarter, March 31. The plan -- some details of which, Thorson concedes, remain unclear -- was discovered by the inspector general for the FDIC in documents held by IndyMac's auditor, Ernst and Young, and were turned over to Thorson's office.

So a former Keating Five figure was covering for a bank to the tune of $18 million instead of regulating it. Gee, that's not SOP for the Bushies. And the best part? There's even more of these back-dated capital infusions floating around still being investigated.

Thorson's investigation, which is ongoing, found that OTS allowed other thrifts to similarly backdate capital infusions, but the letter provides no additional details about those other cases.

If you've done something bad enough in the Bush administration in order to actually lose your job, then you're in serious trouble.

StupidiNews!

• The so-called Fort Dix Five have been convicted of conspiracy to kill US soldiers in New Jersey.
• Mexican drug gangs beheaded eight Mexican Army soldiers in a gruesome display.
• One economist puts the chance of economic depression in the US at 50%.
• Iran's President may be unpopular, but he's expected to win re-election in six months.
• Wall Street investors seem to be betting on GM to run out of gas for good.

Well If This Were A Novel...

Over at the Daily Beast, crime novelist, lawyer, and Chicago native Scott Turow dissects the Blagojevich case, and how he he sees the case against the Illinois Governor shaking out:

Some commentators have argued that the prosecution of Blagojevich, especially the charges that he was trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat in exchange for a job or massive campaign contributions, is not all that compelling. And it is surely true that it is hard for prosecutors to win cases of attempted bribery. So-called ‘crime in the head’—bad thoughts without outright bad conduct—does not tend to impress jurors.

But critics should not make the mistake of confusing a bare attempt case with the forthcoming indictment against Blagojevich. What Fitzgerald charged in the complaint is an astonishing and appalling pattern of extortion and bribery involving numerous completed crimes. Blagojevich awarded state contracts and state jobs to giant campaign contributors. The only real defense for Blagojevich is to blame those quid pro quos on his aides and fundraisers and claim he was clueless. And that dog will not hunt. Not only does the government have at least four witnesses who were deep in the scheme who will say that Blagojevich was fully knowledgeable, but the roster of witnesses of is all but certain to grow as Blagojevich intimates caught on the wiretaps make their own deals over time. Worst of all for Blagojevich is the venal chatter that came out of the governor’s mouth and was captured on the federal bugs that were in place for over a month. The man who called the President-elect of the United States a “motherfucker” because Mr. Obama’s team wouldn’t play ball, will be damned in the end by his own words and his unambiguous intent to profit from public office.

It's worth a read.

Looking For Heads To Roll

According to TPM, the revelations of the Bernie Madoff case has put the SEC in a "state of complete panic" :

The revelation that Bernard Madoff -- who himself had in the past served as an adviser to the SEC on electronic trading -- was running an alleged "$50 billion ponzi scheme" has rocked the SEC to its core, according to a current long-serving member of the commission's enforcement division.

"This has put the agency into a state of complete panic," the SECer told TPMmuckraker in an interview.

The source said that one associate director in the enforcement division had in recent days ordered junior staff to review every case that's been closed over the last few years, to ensure that violations weren't missed -- as they appear to have been in the 2006 investigation of Madoff. "There's a real paranoia around here," the source added.

With a new administration incoming, a new boss in Mary Schapiro who now has to prove she's tough enough to reform the SEC, a vowed plan to overhaul financial regulatory bodies in general and even a plan to combine agencies, the natives are indeed restless. That a lot of heads will roll from the Madoff case is the fear around the water coolers at the SEC, and rightfully so. Considering she's already got one strike against her as being too buddy-buddy with the types of folks she should be regulating after giving a job to Bernie Madoff's son at the regulatory agency she ran before, the axe is going to swing freely and there will be blood in the streets. It'll be a good show.

But in the end the real question is just how much new regulatory pressure Obama and Schapiro will be allowed to bring on Wall Street. My guess is more of the same: regulations barely enforced if at all by a brutally underfunded agency and an administration unwilling to go after the most egregious violators to "avoid hurting what economic growth is left". Schapiro will make a show of it, she has to. But in the end the transfer of wealth away from what's left of the American middle class to the super-wealthy will continue unabated, especially since the super-wealthy have lost trillions in vanished stock market value. They'll want it back. It'll come from us.

Guaranteed. After the sturm und drang, the status quo will roll on.

StupidiNews!

• Winter weather has stranded thousands of travelers in the northern US today.
• Dick Cheney insists wartime powers made all the Bush administration's actions legal.
• Holiday hanky-panky leads to September being the most popular birth month in the US.
• Another round of US missiles has hit the Pakistan border area.
• The Associated Press found exactly zero of 21 banks would confirm where the bailout trillions have gone.

Ugh.

Panthers lose in OT at the Meadowlands, 34-28. Missed figgy in regulation, 2 punts, Panthers still couldn't put it home when it counted.

We're in serious danger of a Manning vs Manning Super Bowl at this point.

Ugh.

Proving A Negative

Remember kids, if you're a wingnut, mankind's effects on global warming and climate change is completely disproved by the fact it snowed one day in Vegas this week. A couple inches in snow in Vegas is even more powerful evidence than a long-term, lake-killing drought in the Carolinas, for instance.

Being that stupid means never having to face the truth. Ignorance is indeed bliss.

Records? What Records?

Today's front page Washington Post story on Bush' s records raises more than just eyebrows.

Federal law requires outgoing White House officials to provide the Archives copies of their records, a cache estimated at more than 300 million messages and 25,000 boxes of documents depicting some of the most sensitive policymaking of the past eight years.

But archivists are uncertain whether the transfer will include all the electronic messages sent and received by the officials, because the administration began trying only in recent months to recover from White House backup tapes hundreds of thousands of e-mails that were reported missing from readily accessible files in 2005.

The risks that the transfer may be incomplete are also pointed up by a continuing legal battle between a coalition of historians and nonprofit groups over access to Vice President Cheney's records. The coalition is contesting the administration's assertion in federal court this month that he "alone may determine what constitutes vice presidential records or personal records" and "how his records will be created, maintained, managed, and disposed," without outside challenge or judicial review.

It's going to be a long, ugly battle. Perhaps Obama can compel Bush to comply, perhaps not. But unless the Democrats demand these records be released, it won't happen. And given the lack of spine on Capitol Hill, I'm thinking eight years of Bush lawbreaking will just get swept under the rug in the name of "pragmatism."

Of course, the Dems will act surprised when Obama is asked for every piece of communication ever conceived in his administration by the GOP in the name of "open government."

Geared Up To Drive Down

Terrence in DC takes a broad view of what the GOP aversion to unions (and especially their unbridled rancor towards the UAW) really means, and comes up with a pretty damn good theory: nothing conservatives do makes sense unless you accept the truth that their goal is to make America globally competitive by dramatically lowering our standard of living.

Anti-unionization, deregulation, and increased outsourcing are all hallmarks of contemporary conservatism. So, at least we know who to thank for our current situation. But that's the unspoken message of conservative economic philosophy in a globalized economy: the only way Americans can "compete in a global economy" as envisioned and delivered by conservatism is to accept a lower standard of living. As low as the market demands. How low? Read up on working and living standards in just about any country you can find on any label on just about anything in your own house.

Read the whole article, but the general theory is extremely sound.

Conservatives think that you are making too much money, and they are not. They see America as a country full of stupid, hungry locusts, but locusts necessary to provide the wealthiest their vast resources. In a republic such as ours, these masses still get some power. The conservative way to solve this dilemma is to destroy the infrastructure of upward mobility to keep the masses from using it.

Health care, college, even free time to explore our world: this is what conservatives must put out of our reach in order to maintain the yoke around us, and unionized labor represents the most direct and powerful method of fighting back. When the people take power through collective bargaining, they take power in other ways.

That's the real reason why unions must be destroyed in America. The dismal economic situation makes it all the more necessary and urgent to the powers that be. In the last eight years the American middle class has all but been destroyed. The GOP seeks to finish the job. More than anything else, that's the thing to remember.

Gentlemen, Behold! It Is Science!

Barry's weekly address today covers one of the most striking differences between this administration and the incoming one, namely not only a belief that science is valuable in and of itself, but that it is ultimately vital for the continued survival of America and the world.

President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday signaled climate change and genetic research will be among his top priorities when he takes office as he named White House science and technology advisers.

"Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation," Obama said in a weekly radio and video address.

"It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology."

Obama's comments were a clear reference to President George W. Bush's administration which has been accused of downplaying scientific findings on climate change and genetic research.

Signaling a break with Bush's policies on global warming, Obama named John Holdren, an award-winning environmental policy professor at Harvard University, to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy and co-chair the president's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Obama called Holdren "one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change".

Holdren, 64, led the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international group of prominent scientists that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. He won a MacArthur Foundation "genius award" in 1981 for his arms control work, and a number of environmental science awards.

Holdren, a Washington Beltway insider, served as former president Bill Clinton's science and technology adviser in the 1990s.

I may talk about my problems with Obama on foreign policy and some of his advisory and cabinet choices, but in the end it's this that gives me hope that we have a chance to turn things around on this rock.

Imagine what a McCain/Palin administation would have continued to do to science.

Burn It All Down

The lovely folks that brought you California's Prop. 8 are now gunning for a clean sweep, saying that due to the legislation passing, California's courts have no choice but to annul existing gay marriages.

The sponsors Friday filed responses to three anti-Proposition 8 lawsuits with the state Supreme Court. The briefs also defend Proposition 8 against opponents' legal challenges, including an argument that the amendment needed a constitutional convention to be added to the state's constitution.

"We are confident that the will of the voters and Proposition 8 will ultimately be upheld," said Andrew Pugno, General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com and the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund.

California Attorney General Edmund "Jerry" Brown called on the court to reject the initiative.

"Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification," Brown said in a written statement.

Rick Jacobs, founder and chair of the anti-Proposition 8 Courage Campaign, said he was "appalled" that the initiative's supporters wanted to nullify the same-sex marriages that are already on the books.

"The motivation behind this mean-spirited and heart-breaking action should not be allowed to be buried in legal brief," he said. "If Proposition 8's sponsors plan to destroy lives, they should at least have the courage to admit it publicly."

The really disturbing precedent here is that civil rights can be taken from a minority under the guise of "the will of the people." Under that logic, why not institute a new era of Jim Crow laws aimed at African-Americans or Latinos under a proposition vote? Why not put the practice of Islam in the US to a vote, and close down all mosques should the measure pass?

If you believe that you can take basic human rights like marriage away from a group based solely on sexual preference, you should be able to take rights based on religion, race, age, gender, or any other discriminatory criteria.

The danger that this effort represents is tantamount. The supporters of this effort will not stop there. Once you codify into law the ability of the many to take away the rights of the few, it will be used against any and every group. Once you've established a threshhold that one group cannot cross because of their minority status, all that remains is to steadily lower the bar until that group has no civil rights at all. Why not revoke the rights of gays and lesbians period? Why not apply the same standard to Muslims or Jews? Doesn't the Islamic or Jewish idea of marriage differ with the Christian one? Isn't that the argument used to deny gays and lesbians the right to marry?

Why stop there, Prop 8 supporters? Go for the whole ball of wax. Let's deny civil rights to everyone who is different.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition

• Florida officials confirm remains found last week are those of missing toddler Caylee Anthony.
• Dick Cheney refuses to turn over his records, citing 'personal and partisan' issues.
• Suspected mega-fraudster Bernie Madoff faces 24/7 surveillance after prosecutors warn he's a flight risk.
• Cable breaks have disrupted internet service in South Asia and the Middle East.
• The world may be running out of coal reserves much faster than previously thought.

Auto-matic Response

How much do the wingnuts like Malkinvania hate the UAW? Their brilliant idea is, no joke:

Instead of wringing their hands, I’d like to see fiscal conservatives in Congress put their money where their mouths are and file suit against this illegal, unconstitutional bailout.

That's right. Sue the US Government for the auto bailout. The reasoning? The auto bailout uses TARP funds. TARP funds are for "financial institutions". Treating GM and Chrysler's finance arms as "financial institutions" for this purpose is the worst thing Bush has ever done as far as these folks are concerned, instead of letting the horrible, terrible UAW die screaming and taking millions of jobs with them. It's so bad in fact Congress should sue Bush for this unconstitutional use of unchecked executive power.

Stop and think about this. Congress should sue Bush, she says. Not over illegal wiretapping. Not over torture. Not over Scooter Libby, not over Iraq, not over Afghanistan, not over Gonzo's US Attorney firings, nor any of the dozens of scandals over the last eight years. No, the outrage that prompted Michelle Malkin to say that Congress should stand up to the President is the outrage of refusing to kill the UAW.

Nothing that Bush has done before warranted being sued by Congress in her eyes. Nothing. Not a single thing. Until, in a lame-ass attempt to punt and spare the atomized wreckage of his "legacy", Bush went too far in his use of executive power for even Malkinvania to handle by committing the unforgiveable sin of failing to put a couple million Americans out of work by destroying an iconic American industry.

I salute you, Madam Malkinvania. Your infinite lack of humanity has even shocked and surprised the most cynical of observers such as myself.

I Got Your Resignation Right Here

Blago To Entire Known Universe: Screw you, die in a fire.

In an unwavering statement of innocence, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday he will be vindicated of criminal corruption charges and has no intention of letting what he called a "political lynch mob" force him from his job. "I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong," Blagojevich said, speaking for about three minutes in his first official public comments since his arrest last week on federal corruption charges.

The Democrat is accused, among other things, of plotting to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat.

"I'm not going to quit a job the people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob," Blagojevich said.

Nope. Not going away aaaaaaaanytime soon.

A Generally Revolting Situation

Via Steven D at the Frog Pond, an article by Gareth Porter on the Pentagon's plan for Iraq should frighten pretty much everyone. The bottom line? General Petraeus, General Odierno, and Secretary Gates have no plans whatsoever to obey their Commander-In-Chief come January.

United States military leaders and Pentagon officials have made it clear through public statements and deliberately leaked stories in recent weeks that they plan to violate a central provision of the US-Iraq withdrawal agreement requiring the complete pullout of all US combat troops from Iraqi cities by mid-2009 by reclassifying combat troops as support troops.

The scheme to engage in chicanery in labeling US troops represents both open defiance of an agreement which the US military has never accepted and a way of blocking president-elect Barack Obama's proposed plan for withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of his taking office.

By redesignating tens of thousands of combat troops as support troops, those officials apparently hope to make it difficult, if not impossible, for Obama to insist on getting all combat troops of the country by mid-2010.

So, by classifying tens of thousands of combat troops as support troops, no troop withdrawals will be made, and there's not a thing anyone can do about it. Confident that they have Obama in a corner politically and that domestically, the President will have his hands more than full, they figure Obama won't want to fight this battle at all.

A source close to the Obama transition team has told Inter Press Service that Obama had made the decision for a frankly political reason. Obama and his advisers believed the administration would be politically vulnerable on national security and viewed the Gates nomination as a way of blunting political criticism of its policies.

The Gates decision was followed immediately by the leak of a major element in the military plan to push back against a 16-month withdrawal plan - a scheme to keep US combat troops in Iraqi cities after mid-2009, in defiance of the terms of the withdrawal agreement.

The New York Times first revealed that "Pentagon planners" were proposing the "relabeling" of US combat units as "training and support" units in a December 4 story. The Times story also revealed that Pentagon planners were projecting that as many as 70,000 US troops would be maintained in Iraq "for a substantial time even beyond 2011", despite the agreement's explicit requirement that all US troops would have to be withdrawn by then.

Odierno provided a further hint on December 13 that the US military intended to ignore the provision of the agreement requiring withdrawal of all US combat troops from cities and towns by the end of May 2009. Odierno told reporters flatly that US troops would not move from numerous security posts in cities beyond next summer's deadline for their removal, saying, "We believe that's part of our transition teams."

His spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel James Hutton, explained that these "transition teams" would consist of "enablers" rather than "combat forces", and that this would be consistent with the withdrawal agreement.

But both Odierno's and Hutton's remarks were clearly based on the Pentagon plan for the "relabeling" of US combat forces as support forces in order to evade a key constraint in the pact that the Times had reported earlier.

Gates, Odierno and Petraeus are telling Obama to go to hell. Surely the GOP will back any play like this that the Pentagon and Gates make, saying that Obama should support out troops, listen to our commanders on the ground, etc. Should Obama wade into this one, they figure they will cut him off at the knees in the middle of the worst economic crisis in 75 years.

But wade in he must. Our republic is at stake here. If the generals win this battle, then we will never be out of Iraq, not in your lifetime. Obama will have to make it clear to the Pentagon that America intends to honor its agreement. If he does not, then we're under a military junta in all but name, with the neocons and the GOP war hawks running the country for good.

Dear America:

"Obama is totally clean, but the Blagojevich thing might mean that maybe he's actually the most corrupt politician in history, and it's his own damn fault for not making me 100% sure he's guilt-free on this. Therefore, until he proves a negative, I reserve the right to treat him as Worse Than Bush."

--Joe Conason, Salon.com

Fate In The Balance

Rumors around the Big Three are swirling today. One one hand, some are reporting a bailout deal is imminent and could come as soon as today. On the other hand, there's plenty of reporting that there's no deal coming and automakers like GM are facing an "orderly bankruptcy":

General Motors is likely to file for bankruptcy protection with government backing, giving bondholders a recovery of more than 25 cents on the dollar, according to Moody's Investors Service.

There is a 70 percent probability that the restructuring plan for U.S. automakers will consist of a prepackaged bankruptcy financed by government loans to get GM and Chrysler through to 2009, Moody's said in a report dated Dec. 15. Under that scenario, bondholders would be likely to lose less than 75 percent of their investment, Moody's said.

Either way, there are a lot of sectors of the economy in dire trouble. If Toyota is expected to be posting its first ever yearly loss today, you know things are bad for the automakers...all of them.

[UPDATE] Bush is apparently making a major automaker bailout announcement at 9 AM.

[UPDATE 2] The bailout is on, $17.4 billion in bridge loans.

The federal government will provide $13.4 billion in loans to automakers General Motors and Chrysler, the White House said Friday.

"Allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action," President Bush said Friday morning.

"The terms and conditions of the financing provided by the Treasury Department will facilitate restructuring of our domestic auto industry, prevent disorderly bankruptcies during a time of economic difficulty, and protect the taxpayer by ensuring that only financially viable firms receive financing," according to a statement released by the White House.

An additional $4 billion may be available in February, the Bush administration said.

A senior administration official briefing reporters said he expects that GM and Chrysler officials will be signing the loan papers to access the cash later Friday morning.

GM and Chrysler have until March 31 to prove financial viability, or the loans are called in.

We'll see where this goes. The fate of the Big Three is now in Obama's hands.

StupidiNews!

• Watergate informant Mark "Deep Throat" Felt has died at the age of 95.
• Auto bailout news could come as early as today as Chrysler and GM look to stave off bankruptcy.
• The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is projecting an Al Franken Senate win by the narrowest of margins.
• The Pentagon is drawing up plans to close Gitmo in anticipation of Obama's widely expected decision to do so.
• Could Silicon Valley be the deciding blow against the Employee Free Choice Act?

Warren No Peace

Obama's choice of avowed bigot Pastor Rick Warren for his invocation has raised a couple of excellent responses from the Left, like Kos and John Aravosis.

Markos makes an excellent point, that goes far beyond the Warren controversy.

Obama wouldn't be out there making perhaps the strongest statement in support of gays and lesbians by a president (though he's still not technically one, I know) if it wasn't for the sturm and drang this choice generated. It is precisely this backlash that has forced Obama to clearly affirm his commitment to equality. And it will be continued pressure that will force him to do the right thing on the issue.

If we shut up, he'll take the path of least resistance. And that path of least resistance is kowtowing to the conservative media, the clueless punditocracy, and bigots like Warren.

First off, Markos is correct. The sad lesson we're learning is that we're not going to get squat, any of us, gay or straight, if we don't beat the crap out of our elected officials on a regular basis.

I'm in total agreement with the both of them, of course. In the end, Obama is a politician. Politicians make calcuated political manuevers all the time, it's what they do. Obama's no different in that respect. Nobody ends up President who isn't a political animal, through and through.

I like the guy. But "better than Bush" is not acceptable. Not after the sheer level of damage wrought to our country, damage that will take decades if not longer to recover from. Obama is being held to a higher standard, fair or not. The situation dictates that he absolutely has to be, or America isn't going to make it. Period. The pressure on him is crushing. But he ran for the office and was elected, knowing full well all the work that has to be done for the good of the country right now.

So yes, when Obama or any other politician makes such a crude, stupid move, they get called on it...as they should.

Get To Dah Choppah!

Roubini vs. Helicopter Ben's Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP)!

Round One.

Fight!

The Fed decision to cut the target for the Fed Funds rate to the 0% to 0.25% range is just underwriting what was already obvious and happening in reality: While the target Fed Funds was until Tuesday still 1%, in the last few weeks--following the massive increase in liquidity by the Fed--the actual Fed Funds was already trading at a level literally close to 0%.

So the Fed just formalized what had already been happening for weeks now, i.e., that the Fed Funds rate was already zero and that the Fed had already moved to quantitative and qualitative easing (QE) in the form of a massive increase in the monetary base and aggressive use of monetary policy to reduce short-term and long-term market rates that are stubbornly high in a sign that the credit crunch is severe and worsening.

I predicted early in 2008 that the Fed Funds rate "would be closer to 0% than to 1%" in the midst of a severe recession. Now, 12 months into this severe recession--a recession that will last at least another 12 months (if not, as is possible, much longer)--the Fed Funds rate is already down to 0% (the beginning of the zero-interest-rate-policy, or ZIRP, for the U.S.) and the Fed has moved into uncharted unorthodox monetary policy as a severe stag-deflation is taking place.

And, as predicted by me over a month ago, the Fed is now committed to keep the Fed Funds rate close to zero for a long time (as a way to push lower long term Treasury yields); purchasing agency debt and agency MBS in massive amounts; and even considering purchasing long-term Treasuries as a way to push lower long-term government bond yields that are already falling sharply.

More aggressive policy actions may be undertaken by the Fed as a severe credit crunch shows no signs of relenting. In a 2002 speech on deflation, Ben Bernanke spoke even of helicopter drops of money, monetizing fiscal deficits and even buying equities.

The latter actions have already been partially undertaken: The Fed is effectively already monetizing U.S. fiscal deficits as the purchase of markets assets is financed with the Fed printing presses rather than the TARP program. And now, with the Fed considering the purchase of long-term Treasuries, such monetization of deficits will be made more formal.

Also, since the TARP has been turned into a program to recapitalize financial institutions (and thus boost their capital and market value), the U.S. has already effectively intervened indirectly in the equity market (by partially nationalizing a good part of the financial system). Once the Fed starts to buy the long-term Treasuries financing the TARP program, this indirect Fed purchase of U.S. equities will be even clearer.

While Fed actions to reduce mortgage rates--via purchases of agency debt and agency MBS--are partially successful as long-term mortgage rates are falling, most of the Fed purchases of private assets have been so far limited to very high-grade securities.

Thus, the gap between the yield on high-grade commercial paper purchased by the Fed and the one that the Fed is not purchasing is sharply rising; ditto for the gap between agency MBS and private label MBS. Also, while long-term Treasury yields are sharply falling, the spread of corporate bonds--both high-yield and high-grade--relative to Treasuries remains huge as a sign of a severe credit crunch.

Thus, as a next step, the Fed may be soon forced to walk down the credit curve and start buying private short-term and long-term securities with lower credit ratings. That would mean the Fed will take on even more credit risk than it is already taking on today while purchasing illiquid private assets. But desperate times lead to desperate actions by desperate policy makers.

Not good. In other words, the Fed plan is this:

1. Lower interest rates to zero.
   
2. Make shit up as we go along and hope it works.
   
3. Profit!

Which is a friggin' great plan, if, you know, you're not the central bank of the largest economy on Earth.

We're currently on Step 2 up there. We'll be there for quite some time.