Zandar's Thought Of The Day

If Republicans vote early, it's democracy in action.

Republicans across Florida have mounted an early lead in returning absentee ballots and are showing up in greater numbers than Democrats since early voting began Monday.

The GOP touted the numbers as a sign of impending victory on Nov. 2. Democrats dismissed it as meaningless after just three days of early voting results.

Florida Republicans have long flexed organizational muscle by requesting and returning mail or absentee ballots in greater numbers than Democrats. But the GOP has not outpaced Democrats in early voting in Florida since it began eight years ago.

Early voting began Oct. 18, and ends Oct. 30 in some counties, Oct. 31 in others.

If Democrats vote early, it's massive voter fraud by minorities.

After CBS News reported today that Democrats are showing strong numbers at early voting polls, FreedomWorks CEO Dick Armey offered his theory as to why: Those Dems are committing voter fraud.

Appearing on Fox News this afternoon, he told Neil Cavuto that Democrats vote early because there's "less ballot security," creating a "great opportunity" for fraud. He also claimed that such fraudulent early voting is "pinpointed to the major urban areas. The inner city." 

Yep, Democratic early voting is fraud, that's why it's okay to oppress the minority vote, see.

A group trying to register voters in Houston received threats and emails containing racist slurs after being targeted by a local tea party group accusing it of "voter fraud."

In emails obtained by TPM, the group Houston Votes was accused of being "a bunch of white guilt ridden assholes, NIGGERS and greasy mexican spics," "fraudulent Marxist pigs," and "American hating A-holes."

Funny how that works in 2010, huh.

But there are no racists in the Tea Party.

Even More National Public Backlash

Defunding NPR: now powered by the GOP's Tea-ranny of the Majority mob rule program.

House Republicans announced Friday they would take action that could force a vote on defunding NPR in the wake of the firing of news analyst Juan Williams.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that he is adding a measure to defund the publicly subsidized radio network to the conference's "YouCut" program, which allows the public to vote online on spending programs they want cut. Williams was axed by NPR on Wednesday for comments he made about Muslims, drawing the ire of Republican leaders.

Cantor said in a statement that NPR’s decision to fire Williams was an example of "over-reaching political correctness.""In light of their rash decision, we will include termination of federal funding for NPR as an option in the YouCut program so that Americans can let it be known whether they want their dollars going to that organization," he said.

Cantor's decision follows a chorus of Republican calls to defund NPR, which they believe leans too far to the left for a news organization that is partially dependent on federal dollars.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Thursday that he is introducing legislation to defund NPR in the upper chamber and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) is renewing a push for his bill that he introduced in June to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees NPR. 

Sure they are.  Let's turn the budget process into Dancing With The Stars or American Idol while we're at it.  Hell, let's have the entire government process decided by an angry mob doing internet push polls.  Let's amend the Constitution so we do only what the FOX-driven mob wants to do.  That's democracy at its finest!

The Republicans have been trying to get rid of public broadcasting for years.  Public broadcasting actually has standards, and well, we can't have that. 

Tea-ranny of the Majority mob rule is so much easier, and gets better ratings.

Will The Tea Party Sink Prop 19?

Angry Tea Party conservative seniors are set to vote in huge numbers in California, and the likely voter models are looking pretty grim for the Prop 19 effort to legalize marijuana.  The reality is that pro-Prop 19 side is getting crushed in the ad wars as stations won't air them.

The latest poll finds Prop 19 down by 12 points.

The poll, a joint effort by The Times and USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, found the measure favored by Democrats and independents, but overwhelmingly opposed by Republicans. Men were split, and women were leaning against it.

Both sides consider mothers a key swing vote and have debated whether the measure would do more to keep marijuana out of the hands of children or would increase use.

Likely voters younger than 40 are in favor of it by 48% to 37%, but older voters, who say they are more enthusiastic about voting in this election, are not. Among likely voters 65 and over, only 28% support the measure, while 59% said they were opposed.

The measure, which needs a majority vote to pass, would allow Californians who are at least 21 to grow up to 25 square feet of marijuana and possess up to an ounce. Cities and counties could authorize commercial cultivation and sales, and could impose taxes.

Some polls have shown Latino voters, initially against legalization, swinging toward it, but the Times/USC poll found they are opposed to it by 2 to 1. White voters also oppose the measure.

Supporters of legalization have sought to appeal to minorities by highlighting statistics showing that they are arrested for marijuana possession at higher rates than whites. Opponents note that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger already has signed a law making possession of an ounce an infraction.

The poll found Proposition 19 leading only in the Central Coast counties and running far behind in the largely conservative Central Valley and in Southern California.

So yeah, apparently America is still controlled by cranky retirees.  Why?  They actually bother to vote.

Have To Admit It's Getting Better

It's getting better all the time.  Steve Benen:

With several recent youth suicides stemming from anti-gay bullying, an initiative like the It Gets Better Project has an opportunity to make an enormous difference. As part of the effort, created last month by Dan Savage, people from a variety of backgrounds submit videos reminding LGBT young people that in time, life really does get better, even if it's hard to imagine a better future now.


Last night, the initiative received a major boost from the White House, with President Obama recording a video for the project. "You are not alone," the president explained. "You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't do anything to deserve being bullied. And there is a whole world waiting for you, filled with possibilities. There are people out there who love you and care about you just the way you are. And so, if you ever feel like because of bullying, because of what people are saying, that you're getting down on yourself, you've got to make sure to reach out to people you trust. Whether it's your parents, teachers, folks that you know care about you just the way you are. You've got to reach out to them, don't feel like you're in this by yourself.
"The other thing you need to know is, things will get better. And more than that, with time you're going to see that your differences are a source of pride and a source of strength. You'll look back on the struggles you've faced with compassion and wisdom."

What's more, the White House posted an item from Brian Bond, the deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement, who not only shared his own story about being taunted as a young person, and who also admits that he considered suicide. His piece on the White House blog also includes links and information on anti-bullying resources.

All of this comes the same week as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also recording a video message for the It Gets Better project.

Good for all three of them.  And yet, Republicans continue to remain stone silent on this issue.  I wonder why they don't have the courage to help.

I guess it's because compassion towards one of your traditional scapegoats is perceived as weakness among your rabid base, huh?  So no, as far as Republicans are concerned, it's not "getting better" to try to help LGBT youth driven to drastic, suicidal measures to escape hateful rhetoric.

More National Public Backlash

If you don't think the greater goal here is marginalizing, crippling, or removing NPR's reporting completely from the American landscape, then you've not been paying attention to FOX in the last 24 hours.

From calling Tea Party members “Tea Baggers,” to saying that "the evaporation of 4 million" Christians would leave the world a better place, to suggesting that God could give former Sen. Jesse Helms or his family AIDS from a blood transfusion, NPR's personalities have said some pretty un-PC things in the past. A look at the record reveals no shortage of intolerant statements and unbalanced segments on the publicly sponsored network's airwaves.

Let's not forget the folks leading the charge against yanking NPR funding are such conservative "luminaries" like Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and Newt Gingrich...all of whom are employed by FOX News.

War has been declared, folks.  They will not rest until NPR...and all other non-FOX news...is gone for good.

That's how they roll in the Age of Celebrating Ignorance.

The Chamber Controversy Is Not About Foreign Money

It's about the endless domestic money given to the Chamber by corporations to fund campaigns to buy Congress.

As a nonprofit organization, the chamber need not disclose its donors in its public tax filings, and because it says no donations are earmarked for specific ads aimed at a candidate, it does not invoke federal elections rules requiring disclosure.

The annual tax returns that the chamber releases include a list of all donations over $5,000, including 21 in 2008 that each exceed $1 million, one of them for $15 million. However, the chamber omits the donors’ names.

But intriguing hints can be found in obscure places, like the corporate governance reports that some big companies have taken to posting on their Web sites, which show their donations to trade associations. Also, the tax filings of corporate foundations must publicly list their donations to other foundations, including one run by the chamber.

These records show that while the chamber boasts of representing more than three million businesses, and having approximately 300,000 members, nearly half of its $140 million in contributions in 2008 came from just 45 donors. Many of those large donations coincided with lobbying or political campaigns that potentially affected the donors.

Dow Chemical, for example, sent $1.7 million to the chamber in the past year to cover not only its annual membership dues, but also to support lobbying and legal campaigns. Those included one against legislation requiring stronger measures to protect chemical plants from attack.

A Dow spokesman would not discuss the reasons for the large donation, other than to say it supports the chamber’s work.

Prudential Financial’s $2 million donation last year coincided with a chamber lobbying effort against elements of the financial regulation bill in Congress. A spokesman for Prudential, which opposed certain proposed restrictions on the use of financial instruments known as derivatives, said the donation was not earmarked for a specific issue.

But he acknowledged that most of the money was used by the chamber to lobby Congress. 

The best Congress money can buy, folks.  That's the US Chamber's true goal.  Nearly all of it is being spent on lobbying corporate-friendly types, or to just replace the ones that aren't.  That's how campaign dollars work in 2010.  They spend millions on Congress so they don't have to spend hundreds of millions making their products safer, or paying their workers more, or providing better benefits, or cleaning up their toxic messes, or any of that.

They can spend the greater balance on themselves and their executives.  Great deal if you ask me.  Ask the banks.

Where There's Hate-Generated Smoke...

There's hate-generated fire.

White powder delivered in an swastika-covered envelope to the Tucson, Ariz., office of Rep. Raul Grijalva is a toxic substance, the Democratic congressman said the FBI told him Thursday afternoon.

It was not confirmed exactly what substance was mailed to Grijalva's offices, located at the 800 block of East 22nd Street, NBC affiliate KVOA reported.

A staff member called Tucson Police earlier Thursday after finding an envelope containing the suspicious white powder. The offices were locked down by Tucson Police, and the FBI arrived to assist in the investigation, KVOA said.

An envelope arrived with swastikas drawn on the outside and a white powdery substance on the inside, Adam Sarvana, Grijalva’s spokesman, told the Arizona Daily Star newspaper.

It’s not the first time his office has been the target of threats, the Daily Star said.

A Latino-American Democrat in Arizona getting toxic powder in an envelope with a swastika on it?  I wonder why that would happen?  What kind of pervasive effort to generate hatred towards Latinos in Arizona would result in this kind of action?

Oh yes, the condoning of scapegoating and fearmongering of Latinos by the state government itself, led by the state's Republican party and signed into law by its Governor.  Congrats, Arizona.  While you're at it, maybe you can drive out everyone with a conscience, too.

Meanwhile, a couple of states over in Texas, we have Stephen Broden, the GOP House candidate in TX-30 finally admitting what Republicans have been thinking since 2006:  that one option after losing an election is armed and violent revolution against the government.

In the interview, Brad Watson, political reporter for WFAA-TV (Channel 8), asked Broden about a tea party event last year in Fort Worth in which he described the nation's government as tyrannical.

"We have a constitutional remedy," Broden said then. "And the Framers say if that don't work, revolution."

Watson asked if his definition of revolution included violent overthrow of the government. In a prolonged back-and-forth, Broden at first declined to explicitly address insurrection, saying the first way to deal with a repressive government is to "alter it or abolish it."

"If the government is not producing the results or has become destructive to the ends of our liberties, we have a right to get rid of that government and to get rid of it by any means necessary," Broden said, adding the nation was founded on a violent revolt against Britain's King George III.

Watson asked if violence would be in option in 2010, under the current government.

"The option is on the table. I don't think that we should remove anything from the table as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms," Broden said, without elaborating. "However, it is not the first option."

Folks, when people defending the Tea Party say their rhetoric is harmless or an exercise of their right to free speech, keep in mind what happens to or what they thing should happen to people who disagree with them:  that if these guys lose the election and if they remain the minority party, the Democrats are tyrants who oppress them and that a government that does not strictly follow their ideals should be abolished by "any means necessary".

These folks are dangerous if they win control of the government in a fair election.  But they are all but promising to be dangerous if they lose to those who vote against them.

That's their idea of "liberty".

StupidiNews!

• After ripping through the Philippines, Typhoon Megi is now savaging Taiwan and China.
• The latest international report on Arctic ice shows record low ice levels and warming temps.
• US and Afghan officials are denying high-level peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, but the denial is being called a "psychological operation".
• Iran is bypassing as US-led embargo by smuggling jet fighter parts and other banned items through international channels.
• Google is expanding its 1 Gbps fiber optic internet to Stanford faculty and campus housing.

Last Call

Foreclosuregate horror stories will continue to come out as more and more Americans realize their houses were stolen from them by the banks in order to cover institutionalized and widespread mortgage fraud.

Michael and Pamella Negrea have never been late on a mortgage payment in the 15 years they've owned their home in Eastlake. But they've been foreclosed on three times.

Martin and Kirsten Davis, meanwhile, lost their home in Cleveland to foreclosure two years ago. The reason: a mess that started when they accidentally paid 14 cents too little on their monthly payment.

And Michael Rendes of Berea had his mortgage sold last year to Bank of America. The bank foreclosed on him in November, after insisting for months that it didn't hold his loan and wouldn't accept his payments.

Tales like these portray the ugly side of the world of mortgage finance, a world embroiled in controversy amid claims of fraudulently signed foreclosure documents. As a result, many major banks have suspended foreclosures; state and federal officials are launching investigations; and experts everywhere fear this could wallop the limping economy again.

Indeed, the possibility that bank employees illegally "robo-signed" thousands of foreclosures without even reading the information shows the production-line mentality not just of foreclosures, but of the entire mortgage process. It's as simple as this: Many banks during the last decade or so have approved, closed, bought, sold and traded mortgages like baseball cards at a pace so dizzying that they couldn't keep up with their customers, payments or foreclosures.

Now, it's possible that thousands or even millions could have lost their homes in error.

Oh I know.  "All these people are deadbeats living in their homes for free!  They're all cheating the system while you worked hard to keep your home!  You should be outraged at these people!  They're all welfare cheats living off of taxpayer money!  The free market would never allow this to happen!  We want our money and those homes are rightfully ours!"

Sure they are.  And they have the fake paperwork to "prove" it, and enough of Congress in their pockets in order to make this happen.  Worst case scenario is the banks get TARP 2, and all these people get foreclosed on anyway, and our economy takes a double tap right to the frontal lobe.

They're about to get away with it yet again, folks.  And nobody gives a damn.

Bubble And Squeak Time, Part 2

Yesterday I mentioned Britain's austerity measures and the half a million jobs they will cost.  Britain's population is right at 20% of ours, so it would be the equivalent of cutting 2.5 million government jobs here.  As Brad DeLong discovers, the reality of what Britain is in for is far, far worse:

Shame on David Cameron. Shame on Nick Clegg. Shame on George Osborne.

Their shame would not be quite so great if they had a theory about what elements of spending will grow to offset their 9% of GDP planned fiscal contraction. Is the pound supposed to collapse and are exports than to surge? Is the prospect of rising unemployment in the U.K. supposed to greatly enhance business confidence and trigger a surge of private-sector investment? Is the 30-year gilt yield supposed to fall from 4% to 1% and that reduction in the cost of capital cause a surge of capital formation throughout Britain?

Of course not.  It's making average Brits pay for the banks.  And they are going to pay dearly.

[T]he scale of the cuts is...breathtaking. The police budget will fall by 20%. Spending on social housing will fall by three-fifths, with the difference to be made up from higher rents charged to tenants. Local council funding from central government will drop by 28%, a classic strategy in which ministers hope that voters will take their anger out on town halls instead of Whitehall. Spending on the arts will fall by a third. Nor will the damage be confined to the public sector. The government is a significant buyer of goods and services from private firms, after all. PwC, a consultancy, said the other day that it thinks that another half a million private jobs could go over the coming five years as a direct consequence of public-sector austerity, although the chancellor insists that his medicine will be good for the country in the long run.

So another half a million jobs gone.  Cuts that could cost the equivalent here of another five million jobs will be good for the country.  Sound familiar?  It's what the Tea Party wants to do here: slash government to the bone to pay for massive tax cuts for their corporate masters...only like Britain, the Tea Party will only make things worse as they run up red ink.

Keep a close eye on the UK.  The GOP here would love to do nothing more than to follow their draconian lead.

Paladino? Pala-Done-O.

The latest Siena University poll on the NY Governor's race shows a healthy number of Empire State residents have regained their sanity.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo has extended his lead over Republican
Carl Paladino to an overwhelming 63-26 percent among likely voters. With 69 percent of voters having an unfavorable view of Paladino, he is viewed far more unfavorably that Governor David Paterson, who is viewed unfavorably by 58 percent, according to a Siena College poll of likely New York voters released today.

Sens. Gillibrand and Schumer also have similar 30-ish point leads. Whatever enthusiasm gap is out there nationally, it's not the hell in New York.

The Clock Just Ran Out In Haiti

News this afternoon that Haiti is suffering an outbreak of disease, which given the housing conditions where hundreds of thousands if not millions are still homeless and are living in refugee camps, this situation there could quickly lead to disaster.

An outbreak of severe diarrhea in rural central Haiti has killed at least 54 people and sickened hundreds more who overwhelmed a crowded hospital Thursday seeking treatment.

Hundreds of patients lay on blankets in a parking lot outside St. Nicholas hospital in the port city of St. Marc with IVs in their arms for rehydration. As rain began to fall in the afternoon, nurses rushed to carry them inside.

Doctors were testing for cholera, typhoid and other illnesses in the Caribbean nation's deadliest outbreak since a January earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people.

"What we know is that people have diarrhea, and they are vomiting, and (they) can go quickly if they are not seen in time," said Catherine Huck, country deputy for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She said doctors were still awaiting lab results to pinpoint the disease.

The sick come from across the rural Artibonite region, which did not experience significant damage in the Jan. 12 quake but has absorbed thousands of refugees from the devastated capital 45 miles (70 kilometers) south of St. Marc.

A total of 54 people died and 619 were ill, according to Yolaine Surena, a coordinator for Haiti's civil protection department.

There are reports the outbreak is cholera but this has not been confirmed yet.  Any way you look it it, this is bad...and I'm surprised that something worse hasn't happened earlier given this atrocious conditions that continue to exist.

Part of the reason why there continues to be such horrendous conditions on the ground in Haiti is because of various bureaucratic garbage here in the US.  $1.15 billion has been appropriated for Haiti but little of it has arrived, and the rest of the aid above that is being blocked by GOP Sen. Tom Coburn.

I hope he can sleep well tonight.  No doubt he will.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

Hey look, Sabrina the Middle-Aged Not-A-Witch says she was taken out of context at the Delaware Senate debate.

The media and most viewers of the Oct. 19 Delaware Senate debate thought Republican Christine O'Donnell's question about the First Amendment directed at Democrat Chris Coons was a pretty epic gaffe for the hardcore tea party favorite and Constitution proponent.

O'Donnell did not see it that way, however.

"It's really funny the way that the media reports things," O'Donnell told ABC News this morning. "After that debate my team and I we were literally high fiving each other thinking that we had exposed he doesn't know the First Amendment, and then when we read the reports that said the opposite we were all like 'what?'" 

Ironically, a very similar repeat of that situation awaits her in about 12 days. Also it's all the lamestream media's fault!

I believe the phrase is "If you're explaining, you're losing" but let's be perfectly honest here:  even if this vacuum-headed goofball loses to Coons by 40 points, she'll declare herself the "real winner" anyway and get a TV show, book contract, and wingnut welfare for life.  Coons meanwhile will have to actually legislate.

Either way, O' Donnell wins and America is poorer for it.

National Public Backlash, And More On Juan Gone

Well, that didn't take long, did it?



Glenn Beck went on his radio show this morning screaming about how George Soros has a million-dollar bounty on his head and how Soros and his "jack-booted thugs" at NPR have already claimed Juan Williams' head, and how they are coming for Beck and all of his listeners next.

Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee is calling on Republicans in Congress to slash NPR's funding.

"NPR has discredited itself as a forum for free speech and a protection of the First Amendment rights of all and has solidified itself as the purveyor of politically correct pabulum and protector of views that lean left," Huckabee said in a statement provided to CNN.

Williams told Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Monday that he gets "worried" and "nervous" on flights when he sees people wearing "Muslim garb." NPR terminated Williams' contract on Wednesday evening.

Huckabee said he "will no longer accept interview requests from NPR as long as they are going to practice a form of censorship, and since NPR is funded with public funds, it is a form of censorship."

"It is time for the taxpayers to start making cuts to federal spending, and I encourage the new Congress to start with NPR," he said.

Guess what's coming with a Republican Congress?   Hope you enjoyed All Things Considered.  Past tense.  but remember, it's conservatives who are the victims.  Meanwhile, count on Republican calls to pull the plug permanently on NPR.

They're only defending free speech, you know.  Besides, it gets rid of radio competitors for Beck and Huckabee.  These guys aren't stupid.  No NPR means they get more message time.

In the future, all restaurants are Taco Bell, dig?   But hey, I hope they go too far.  Take away America's Car Talk and Prairie Home Companion.  Then duck.

Seriously, folks.  Williams did this to himself.  As Bon The Geek told me earlier today when we were discussing this, "One does not hash out one's insecurity with a mic attached to the GLOBE."

Over at Balloon Juice, E.D. Kain makes the argument that Williams should have kept his job, and that if Williams was a white commenter, he would have.  His argument does have a pretty substantial amount of merit and is worth a read.

[UPDATE]  Eric Boehlert reminds us that the Dubya-era GOP tried to rid us of NPR and PBS back in 2005 because of their "liberal slant" only they couldn't find one.

The Moose-ter Debaters

Steve M. makes this excellent catch over at his place last night:

It's been said that Sarah Palin won't run for president in 2012 because she's not willing to endure all the things a presidential candidate has to go through -- interviews, debates, and so on. Well, we've seen in this election that there's a new right-wing technique for dealing with would-be interviewers: you just don't talk to any media figure who'll give you a hard time. Palin pioneered this. Now all sorts of right-wingers practice it.

Republicans like Daniel Webster, Rand Paul, and Jan Brewer all have refused to debate their opponents.  Joe Miller refuses to talk to the media about his past.  The Palin Petulance is paying dividends.  She made it perfectly acceptable to trash the Village and refuse to talk to them, because they are "elitists".  For a group of people who prided themselves on "guiding America" through the intricacies of political calculus, their chief qualification, years of Beltway ass-kissing passed off as wisdom, became a liability.

Now the Tea Party is priding itself on calling them out, the plan of course is to micromanage any and all appearances to be 100% friendly to the candidate.  Why spin "who won the debate" after the fact when you can refuse the debate and declare victory because you don't need to put up with the "lamestream media's gotcha rules" to get your message across at all, thanks to FOX.

So, you'll see a FOX news GOP candidate debate or two when the 2012 campaign gets underway in about, oh two weeks or so.  But whoever wins the presidential primary for the Republicans, there's a good chance that they'll never debate Obama.  Ever.  If it's Palin, you can count on there not being a single debate.

There's a chance that this could backfire, with the Village role of debate referee in serious jeopardy.  They could viciously turn on Palin as a result.  On the other hand, I'm sure Palin will say that the Village is doing that anyway, no matter what they actually say.

The final arbiter of spin will be Sarah Palin.  Expect a host of other Republicans to refuse to talk to anyone other than FOX over the next two years.

They simply don't have to.