Last Call

Every now and again, fate gives you a second chance.  Even in Washington.

Robin C. Ashton, the woman Attorney General Eric Holder just named to head of the Justice Department's internal ethics office, was reportedly herself a victim of improper politicization during the Bush administration at the hands of Regent University graduate Monica Goodling.

"As a veteran career prosecutor, Robin is uniquely qualified to serve as Counsel for Professional Responsibility, and I am confident she will lead the office with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and dedication," Holder said in a statement.

You remember Ms. Goodling, yes?

Goodling, you may recall, arrived at DOJ at the start of the Bush administration after working as an opposition researcher for the Republican National Committee. She graduated from Regent University School of Law, the school founded by Pat Robertson, and believed that part of her job was to bring people with conservative and Christian values to the Justice Department, former colleagues said. She admitted to "crossing the line" and running afoul of civil service rules governing hiring decisions.

She thought her job in the DOJ was to purge the office of anyone who might have been a "democrat" or |"liberal", i.e. anyone to the left of Monica Goodling.   Ashton was only one of Goodling's victims.  Holder's decision shows he's serious about restoring the ethics office to actually meaning something, unlike during the Bush years.

We'll see what she can do.

State Of Decay

George Will grabs his towering hairdo and his dessert tray and unleashes a collective, pre-emptive "Let them eat cake!" when it comes to states facing budget chasms, with intent to simply abrogate the pension contracts of millions of state employees.

The nation's menu of crises caused by governmental malpractice may soon include states coming to Congress as mendicants, seeking relief from the consequences of their choices. Congress should forestall this by passing a bill with a bland title but explosive potential.

Principal author of the Public Employee Pension Transparency Act is Rep. Devin Nunes, a Republican from California, where about 80 cents of every government dollar goes for government employees' pay and benefits. His bill would define the scale of the problem of underfunded state and local government pensions and would notify states not to approach Congress like Oliver Twists, holding out porridge bowls and asking for more.

Corporate pension funds are heavily regulated, including pre-funding requirements. A federal agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., copes with insolvent ones. By requiring transparency, the government gave the private sector an incentive to move to defined contributions from defined-benefit plans, which are now primarily luxuries enjoyed by public employees.

Less candor, realism and pre-funding are required of state and municipal governments regarding their pension plans. Nunes's bill would require them to disclose the size of their pension liabilities - and the often-dreamy assumptions behind the calculations. Noncompliant governments would be ineligible for issuing bonds exempt from federal taxation. Furthermore, the bill would stipulate that state and local governments are entirely responsible for their pension obligations and the federal government will provide no bailouts. 

After all, this is the same George Will who scolded the American taxpayer for causing the financial crisis in the first place, so his latest paean to tough economic love to screw millions of little people out of their pensions should come as no surprise.

So what would happen if states simply stripped state employees of their pensions?  Exactly what would then do then?  Work longer at their state jobs?  Quit?  Everyone seems to be eager to do this, but nobody seems to have a plan for doing so without piling the burden onto Social Security or Medicare. 

Of course, maybe that's the plan.  Force them onto Social Security and Medicare, then make cuts across the board on those programs so everybody shares the pain.

Oh what, you thought that only government employees were going to be hurt in this crossfire?  I'm sure that's what George Will wants you to think.

A Painfully Mysterious Problem

So, on one hand we have Sen. Tom "I block 9/11 first responders from getting health care" Coburn predicting doom unless spending is cut immediately.

Coburn, who said throughout the interview he was not trying to "scare" Americans with his rhetoric on the deficit, was then asked to give his worst-case scenario outlook for the American economy.

"I think you'll see 15 to 18 percent unemployment rate. I think you'll see a 8 to 9 percent decline in GDP. I think you'll see the middle class destroyed," Coburn said.

"The people it will harm the most will be the poorest of the poor," adding that he believed hyper-inflation could contribute to the degradation of the American way of life.

On the other hand, we've got actual inflation numbers showing Coburn wouldn't know what he was talking about if he had a team of rocket scientists explaining things to him, as Steve Benen explains.

Apparently, as Coburn sees it, spending will lead to inflation, which will lead to "apocalyptic pain," especially for lower-income Americans. The solution, then, is to take capital out of the economy by slashing public spending, much of which benefits lower-income Americans, deliberately slowing already-weak economic growth.

I just don't know what planet Coburn is living on. The right-wing Oklahoman, best known for his recent fight against health benefits for 9/11 first responders, may not realize it, but the inflationary threat -- the one that he thinks would lead to 18% unemployment at a 9% drop in GDP -- doesn't exist. When the most recent economic figures were released, showing GDP growth at a severely underwhelming 2.6%, there was scarcely any inflation at all. Indeed, as of a month ago, core inflation was at its lowest levels since officials starting keeping track over a half-century ago.

On the gripping hand, we are seeing major speculative action in commodities right now, particularly basic foodstuffs like sugar and other commodities like oil (not to mention gold and silver). So we are seeing price rises, but they are being caused by market speculation, not demand.  Remember $140+ a barrel oil in 2007?

Same thing appears to be happening again.  There's no fundamental reason for these massive shifts in price.  It's just another Big Casino game being played with taxpayer money and backed by moral hazard.

And Coburn's very quick to blame the taxpayer for causing the problem.  Either way, we're the ones who will have to pay.

Not Quite Your Average Joe

Keep an eye on GOP Rep. Joe Walsh from IL-8.  If you're looking for somebody who personifies the Teabagger Paradox perfectly, the suburban business consultant turned politician is your man.

Mr. Walsh, 48, will get about $1.4 million annually to run his operation and plans as many as three district branches. He’ll sleep in his office in Washington, while his family stays here in McHenry. And get this: he’s turned down the usual congressional health care, pension and retirement packages.

“I don’t think congressmen should get pensions or cushy health care plans,” he said. His wife is not exhilarated with the latter decision; she has a pre-existing medical condition and is now forced to hunt for a plan.

Mr. Walsh had an initial campaign debt of about $90,000. That soared several fold because of legal bills related to a lengthy recount battle. A New Year’s Eve party at the Lakemoor Banquet Hall will raise money for a congressman-elect happy to take checks from lobbyists and political action committees.

“If JPMorgan Chase wants to give me money, fine,” he said.

It’s no surprise that he’s unhappy with the tax deal congressional Republicans cut with President Obama. “We cut taxes, raised spending and contributed to the deficit,” he said. “Republicans should have held out for something better.”

His legislative goals are repealing Mr. Obama’s health care legislation and seeking major changes in Social Security and Medicare. I asked if reducing the size, scope and power of government is a means to an end or an end in itself.

“An end in itself,” he said, without pausing. “I think we were sent to D.C. to cut spending and grow the economy. We have to talk about cutting real programs” — and agencies — “like the Department of Energy and Department of Education.”

One of the first votes he’ll confront is on raising the federal debt ceiling. Many economists warn that voting down an increase would be a mistake, and the House Republican leadership agrees. Mr. Walsh will vote against it. “On principle and policy, the leadership is wrong,” he said. “This is a teachable moment on my part.” 

The Club For Growth guys must have wet dreams about cloning Joe Walsh and replacing as much of Congress as possible with them.   Don't kid yourself about what "major changes" to Medicare and Social Security means, either.  He goes on to say he has no intention of working with Democrats, and that governing through anger is the way to go, saying he's "absolutely" prepared to lose in 2012 if it means he was instrumental in shredding the safety net, blowing up the country's credit rating, and dismantling as many executive branch agencies as possible.

Sure, he gets credit for not taking government health care or pension programs.  But this guy is a fanatic, plain and simple.  He'll take all the corporate lobbying cash he can get his hands on to wreck the lives of the very people who sent him to Washington:  blue state seniors.

After all, anyone who outright says that the middle class has it too good in America is not exactly going to be on the side of working class or fixed income Americans.

Ebony And Ivory Coast, Part 2

Some 14,000 Ivorians have fled Ivory Coast for Liberia as Africa's next big refugee nightmare begins to take shape.

People are walking several hours or days before they get on barges to the rivers bordering the West African nations, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees said.

A few deaths have been reported among the refugees, including a child who drowned during the crossing of the Cestos River into Butuo. Observers are seeing malnourished children and people with malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhea.

"We are referring the most severe cases to Saclepea, a five-hour drive on very rough roads. In some locations without ambulances we are transferring the patients on board UNHCR vehicles," the agency said in a statement.

"Some are arriving with severely swollen feet, like a 75-year-old man whom we transferred from Butuo, one of the main entry points into Liberia. Some families said they had walked three to four days through the bush with little food."

The displacement is the fallout of the November 28 presidential runoff, after which the country's Independent Electoral Commission named opposition leader Alassane Ouattara the winner. But its Constitutional Council invalidated those results and declared that incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo won.

The country has been paralyzed by a political stalemate and scores of people have died in violence there.  International powers, such as the United States, the United Nations, and the African Union have recognized Ouattara as the winner and are urging Gbagbo to cede power.

Leaders from the Economic Community of West African States on Friday warned they will not hesitate to use "legitimate force" to defuse the crisis if Gbagbo fails to step down.

Some perspective to keep in mind this holiday season, and there's a lesson to be grateful for what we do have in America, even those of us who have little or nothing.

You're A Hard Habit To Break

The President's spokesman says POTUS has kicked the smoking habit for good this time.

The president may have kicked his smoking habit once and for all. It has been about nine months since the president's last cigarette, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" set to air Sunday, Gibbs said he still chews Nicorette, but that the president used "stubborn willpower" to stop.

"It was a commitment that I think he made to himself at the end of the health care and with his two daughters in mind," Gibbs told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.

Gibbs also said this is the longest period, in the almost eight years he's known the president that he's gone without smoking. 

Pretty good Christmas present/early New Year's resolution for himself and his family if you ask me, especially given the job he has.   Clinton and Bush, Jr. tried to stay in shape too in the Oval Office, Bush admittedly being more successful on that end.

We'll see if the younger Obama can keep up.  I'd put any of the last three Presidents against Michelle Obama on a fitness test however.  I'd bet on her.

Merry Christmas And Stuff

Here's some Yoshida Brothers.



Got about 4 inches of snow here last night, a nice little White Christmas.  I'm gonna play some Fallout: New Vegas.  You all have a nice one whatever you do today, and I'll see you back here a bit later.

StupidiNews, Christmas Weekend Edition!

• A series of bombings rocked the Nigerian city of Jos on Christmas Eve, dozens are dead, more wounded.
• Swiss and US scientists have a prototype solar reactor that turns water into hydrogen fuel.
• China is shifting gears ahead of Sudan's all but inevitable plan to split into two countries.
• West African leaders are warning that Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo must step down as president or face possible military action.
• EA's Call of Duty: Black Ops has become the fastest video game to hit the billion mark in sales

Epic Speak Your Mind Win

Every now and then we're reminded what's really important this holiday season, and how a simple act of making something a great many of us take for granted into a helpful reality can change a person's world forever.

Victor Pauca will have plenty of presents to unwrap on Christmas, but the 5-year-old Winston-Salem boy has already received the best gift he'll get this year: the ability to communicate.

Victor has a rare genetic disorder that delays development of a number of skills, including speech. To help him and others with disabilities, his father, Paul, and some of his students at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem have created an application for the iPhone and iPad that turns their touch screens into communications tools.

The VerbalVictor app allows parents and caregivers to take pictures and record phrases to go with them. These become "buttons" on the screen that Victor touches when he wants to communicate. A picture of the backyard, for example, can be accompanied by a recording of a sentence like "I want to go outside and play." When Victor touches it, his parents or teachers know what he wants to do.

"The user records the voice, so it's something the child's familiar with. It's not robotic," Paul Pauca said.

The app, which should be for sale for $10 in Apple Inc.'s iTunes store by early next week, is one of dozens of new software products designed to make life easier for people with a range of disabilities.

Yes, Victor, there's an app for that indeed.  Best part?

"It opens up his mind to us, because he can show us what he's thinking," said Victor's mother, Theresa.

Not to mention the tons of other people all over the world software like this can help.

This one's for you, Pop.  Figured you'd like it.  You and Mom have a good Christmas, as do the rest of you, whatever holiday you celebrate (or don't!)

Oh, and EPIC WIN for the Pauca family.

It's Getting Hot In Here

One of the big, big showdowns coming in 2011 is the EPA versus the House GOP.  The Environmental Protection Agency says if Congress won't take action on greenhouse gases, then the EPA will.  yesterday it announced plans to deal with power plant carbon emissions, and immediately both House Republicans and energy companies are saying "over our dead bodies."

The EPA announcement, which came as part of a settlement of two 2008 lawsuits, will propose new standards for power plants in July 2011 and for refineries in December 2011, followed by final standards in May 2012 and November 2012, respectively.

During a telephone briefing for reporters, Gina McCarthy, the EPA's assistant administrator for air and radiation, said she could not spell out how significantly the new rules will reduce the nation's contribution to global warming.

"You will see measurable reductions," she said. "It's way too early in the game right now to talk about what the standards will look like."

Power plants account for 35 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions while oil refineries account for 3 percent; combined with an earlier EPA rule targeting cars and light trucks, the agency is poised to regulate sectors accounting for more than 55 percent of the nation's total greenhouse gas emissions.

According to an analysis by the World Resources Institute, the new rules could deliver about one-third of the carbon cuts the United States has pledged to make by 2020. "By focusing on the largest polluters, EPA can take a big bite out of U.S. emissions," said WRI senior fellow Franz Litz.

The EPA's McCarthy said the agency would require that existing and new utilities and refineries use only "what technologies are available." It would not set an overall limit on greenhouse gases such as one that was included in the cap-and-trade bill passed by the House in 2009 but that died in the Senate.

"This is not about a cap-and-trade program," she said. "It is not in any way trying to get into the area where Congress will be establishing law at some point in the future, we hope."

But Charles T. Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, said in an interview that the proposal was unrealistic and that his industry will urge lawmakers to block the EPA's move.

"There is no best available technology. The only thing you can do is cut production," Drevna said. "I see bipartisan concern as to where EPA and the administration are attempting to take climate regulation - how they're going to get there and what it's going to do to the economy."

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who is in line to chair the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next year, seemed to agree. "The fact is there are serious questions about EPA's decision to move forward with these job-killing regulations that will usurp power from states - violating the principles of federalism that are the backbone of the Clean Air Act," his spokesman Kurt Bardella said in an e-mailed statement.

The move from the Republicans is to simply refuse to appropriate any operating funds the EPA or to get rid of the agency completely rather than to see carbon emissions reduced.  Surely the GOP will make one of the two methods part of its government shutdown hostage plan should the agency go through with the process.

A lot of other pieces are going to be on the table when the Republicans play the shutdown card in March (and yes, I fully expect House Republicans will shut down the government in March unless they get 100% of what they want, no word on whether or not that will include Obama's immediate resignation.)  But count on this being a big part of the whole mess next spring.

Another Big Effin' Deal

Vice President Joe Biden believes that national gay marriage is something of an "inevitability".

Vice President Joseph Biden said in a television interview Friday that “there’s an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage.”

The vice president, who backs civil unions but not same-sex marriage, weighed in on the issue two days after President Obama acknowledged his position was “evolving.”

“I think the country's evolving,” Biden said in the interview with ABC News. His comments were not the first time he has suggested the country would eventually accept and support gay marriage. Asked in a 2007 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if gay marriage was inevitable, Biden replied that “it probably is.”

He's right.  Of course the real issue is how long that will take, but it's refreshing to hear that both the President and Vice President believe that DOMA needs to go.

Unfortunately doing something about DOMA from a legislative standpoint is not going to happen while Republicans are in control of anything.  Executive and judicial options still remain, however, particularly the judicial one as California's Prop 8 case winds through the courts on the way to SCOTUS.

Personally I'm convinced there's a fair chunk of conservative Republicans who desperately want a Roe v. Wade style SCOTUS decision permitting same-sex marriage in America to rail against -- and fundraise against -- for the next 30 plus years.  Look how effective and lucrative opposing Roe has been for the wingers over the years.  Hell, I think they'd be secretly delighted.

Turn On The Lights, Watch The Roaches Scatter, Part 53

Republicans are doing their dead level best to punish American's homeowners for Foreclosuregate  There can't possibly be any way the banks could be wrong about who to foreclose on to these guys, and as a number of states now are completely controlled by Republicans, look for those GOP-controlled states to do what Virginia did over the last two years.

Since the meltdown in the housing market began more than three years ago, Maryland and the District have changed their foreclosure laws to give borrowers greater protection. Virginia has moved in the opposite direction.

Last year, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a law making it easier for lenders to defend themselves when accused of giving homeowners too little warning of impending foreclosures.

The process moves so quickly in Virginia - one of the fastest states in the nation - that homeowners can receive less than two weeks' notice that their house is about to be sold on the courthouse steps.

That confronts homeowners with an almost impossible deadline. To get a court to stop the sale in that narrow window, they must gather evidence, file a lawsuit and potentially post a bond with the court that could total thousands of dollars. Instead of trying to find a lawyer and prepare a suit, many borrowers run out the clock trying to deal with their lender.

At a time when lenders have been cutting corners and using phony documents to seize huge numbers of houses, the hurdles can be insurmountable, according to lawyers, consumer advocates and borrowers who have tried to save their homes.

"There's no question that people are losing their homes when they should not be," said James W. "Jay" Speer, executive director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which is part of a legal-aid network.

In many states, homeowners facing foreclosure automatically get a day in court, a chance to tell a judge why they should keep their homes. The judicial process provides at least a modest check on error and abuse.

But in Virginia and 28 other states, as well as the District, according to the RealtyTrac foreclosure information service, borrowers have no such luck. They face "nonjudicial" foreclosure processes, meaning lenders can foreclose without going through the courts. 

Wham, bam, out on your ass.   Remember, the entire MERS system of computerized foreclosure documentation must be considered suspect here.  The burden of proving the banks are owed must fall on the banks.  But in states like Virginia, the burden falls on the homeowner to prove why they shouldn't be thrown out, even with the increasing instances of banks not having anywhere near the required legal paperwork...and in some cases the paperwork they do have is robo-signer fraud.

For many states, there's no judicial recourse.  And Virginia Republicans went out of their way to create legislation specifically to allow banks to foreclose faster, despite the very real concerns about the accuracy of MERS.

Banks are getting away with stealing people's homes.  And increasingly they are getting away with it.  Republicans in Virginia are just the beginning.  Merry Christmas, indeed.

Crude Awakening

Here's your Chart of the Day on gasoline prices Labor Day through the end of the year:



Gas prices traditionally fall 20 cents a gallon or so after Labor Day. This year, they are up 30 cents a gallon or more. We should be looking at gas prices around $2.50 a gallon right now, but instead we're at $3 plus and rising sharply as crude oil has crossed $91 a barrel heading up.

If this is the start of Yet Another Commodity Speculation Bubble, we'll be back in the same mess we were in 2007 when crude hit $147 a barrel, and gas prices topped $4 a gallon (I remember paying $4.25 a gallon in July 2007.)

The difference this time around is that now we have nearly 10% unemployment as opposed to the 5% we had in 2007, which means whatever recovery we do have will get smothered in oil and set on fire.

Yet another indication that the vaunted "just around the corner" recovery of 2011 is simply not going to materialize.

Stone Cold Obama

Greg Sargent catches the two interesting parts of today's otherwise boring and obligatory "President lost the midterms, must shake up White House" article in the WaPo this morning:

Despite all his time studying the Clinton administration, Mr. Obama told his aides that he had no intention of following the precise path of Mr. Clinton, who after the Democratic midterm election defeats of 1994 ordered a clearing of the decks inside the White House, installed competing teams of advisers and employed a centrist policy of triangulation. In fact, several advisers confirmed, the word "triangulation" has been banned by Mr. Obama because he does not believe it accurately describes his approach.

Well, it may not be what Obama will call it, but I doubt the Village will play ball. They'll call it triangulation all day.  Greg continues:

Triangulation just isn't Obama's style, and his scolding of liberals seems to be rooted in genuine frustration with them for disagreeing with him about what's politically possible, given today's realities. To whatever degree Obama is using his disagreement with the left for positioning purposes, it's more about temperament than ideology: He's casting himself as the voice of sanity trying to talk sense into uncompromising partisans on both sides. This just isn't Clintonian triangulation in any sense.

The problem is there's folks on the left who don't understand the words "politically possible".  Their response to this will probably fall along these lines:



The other point Greg caught was this:

The President, preparing to deal with a strengthened GOP, is studying how to maximize the powers of the executive branch. Keep an eye on that one.

Yeah. The problem with that is that Bush tried to do the same thing four years ago.  It hasn't been good for the country so far.  Both Republicans and Democrats are going to be hypocrites on that one.

The Business End Of Means To An End

If you thought sanctions against terrorists states like Iran actually applied to US business titans, allow me to disabuse you of the notion.

Despite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has allowed American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by The New York Times has found.

At the behest of a host of companies — from Kraft Food and Pepsi to some of the nation’s largest banks — a little-known office of the Treasury Department has granted nearly 10,000 licenses for deals involving countries that have been cast into economic purgatory, beyond the reach of American business.

Most of the licenses were approved under a decade-old law mandating that agricultural and medical humanitarian aid be exempted from sanctions. But the law, pushed by the farm lobby and other industry groups, was written so broadly that allowable humanitarian aid has included cigarettes, Wrigley’s gum, Louisiana hot sauce, weight-loss remedies, body-building supplements and sports rehabilitation equipment sold to the institute that trains Iran’s Olympic athletes.

Hundreds of other licenses were approved because they passed a litmus test: They were deemed to serve American foreign policy goals. And many clearly do, among them deals to provide famine relief in North Korea or to improve Internet connections — and nurture democracy — in Iran. But the examination also found cases in which the foreign-policy benefits were considerably less clear. 

The article goes on to document a number of confusing deals through this massive humanitarian aid loophole, quite literally one large enough to sail a container ship full of goods through.   A few companies have come clean or backed out, but for the most part at the same time we were slapping sanctions on places like Iran, we were selling them cigs, internet, and soda...and still are.

Given the state of the economy right now, I can see why the Obama administration would want to look the other way on some of the licenses they supplied for exemptions for exports.  Those do equal jobs back here in the states.  But this exemption law has been in place since 2000, and that's a whole lot of moral ambiguity to push during and including the entire Bush administration's duration and the good years we had.  Apparently they didn't mention any of this.

Yet another place where we play both sides of the game.  Funny how that works.