Zandar's Thought Of The Day

A friend of mine told me yesterday that we should get rid of hate crimes altogether and stop criminalizing thoughts in general, and that we don't need hate crime legislation.



Then again, people who do have harmful intent tend not to be so bright to begin with in the thoughts department in general.

(p.s. yer swastika's backwards.)

Snowe Job, Part 4

While New York Democrat Chuck Schumer seems to think that Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada is controlling the Obamacare agenda in the upper chamber, the harsh reality is that Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe is now the one calling the shots.

To keep her support, Snowe said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., needs "to incorporate some of the ideas that have been mentioned (in the Finance Committee) -- to make sure that we contain the cost, that it is budget-neutral."

Snowe pointed out the issue of a public -- or government-run -- health care option was a "line of demarcation between Republicans and Democrats," implying that she would withdraw her support if such an option were included.

She also challenged insurance companies, which she said stood to "gain enormously" from the health care overhaul.

"I think that the insurance companies have to step up to the plate and offer some constructive solutions," she said. "Twenty-nine million more Americans will be entering the system. That's 29 million more customers."

The message is clear: If Reid includes the public option, Snowe will bolt. If Reid doesn't include it, he has a civil war on his hands.

Given Harry Reid's history, who will he support? My money's not on progressives, and anyone betting against Reid bending over backwards to give Sen. Snowe the power to neuter the hell out of Obamacare has only to look at the stimulus bill.

The Snowe Job is coming, and like the avalanche, it starts with a few genuine flakes...

Who Loves You, Baby?

The GOP's constant attacks on Obama as President and the neocon failure to learn anything from the Bush administration's foreign policy setbacks is beginning to take a heavy toll on the Republican brand, as Michael Cohen writes over at Politico.

The problems for Republicans are threefold: First, many on the right seem overtaken by a visceral dislike of Obama that is faintly reminiscent of Democratic attitudes toward President George W. Bush. This partisanship is manifesting itself in dangerous ways. It’s one thing to oppose Obama’s initiatives; it’s quite another to be seen as rooting against American interests.

Second, Republicans continue to engage in the same sort of knee-jerk attacks on Democratic “weakness” and naked appeals to American militarism that, while once resonant, have lost their political luster.

Third, Bush-administration-era views — and political appeals — on national security continue to dominate the GOP. Conservative columnist Ross Douthat strikingly noted this week that Obama passed up a chance to “establish himself” as an “American president” by failing to turn down the Nobel Peace Prize. Considering that even in late 2003, at a period of growing tension in the trans-Atlantic relationship, 84 percent of the country believed that it was in America’s national security interests to be liked and respected around the world, it’s hard to see how this would make Obama “more American” or better liked.

Republicans seem to be buying in to the myth of American indifference and even antipathy toward the rest of the world — adopting the neoconservative view, expressed succinctly by Liz Cheney last weekend, that Americans want a president who espouses the notion of U.S. dominance on the world stage. It’s hard to square these views with Pew Research Center polling from last year, which indicated that a majority of Americans viewed the country’s lack of respect in international eyes as a “major problem,” or regular survey results that show Americans prefer a foreign policy that is focused on cooperation and multilateralism.

The greatest irony of the conservative response to the Nobel Committee’s honor is that it is a clear indication that there is a global thirsting for American leadership and engagement. Conservatives should be delighted by what is basically a European call for American leadership; yet the response has been to treat it as a mark of shame for Obama.

And that's the real issue. It's only a mark of shame if Obama does it, and if Obama does it, it's a mark of shame. People are finally picking up on Obama Derangement Syndrome, and they're getting sick of it. "If you guys have a better idea," they say, "Let's hear it." The response is nothing but screaming and lies and stupidity. And yes, that's turning off large swaths of America to Republicanism.

Damn shame too, we need a party to keep the Democrats approaching actual honesty.

StupidiNews Focus

Two big stories breaking this morning down in today's StupidiNews deserve a closer look:

First, Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida, staunch liberal and Israel hawk (how that combination works I have no idea, but there you are) is resigning. Early speculation was that the Obama Administration was going to name him U.S. Ambassador to Israel, or head of USAID, but the news this morning is that Wexler will instead take a job as a think tank head according to the Miami Herald.

In a conference call Tuesday night with Democratic leaders, Wexler said he will become director of the Washington-based Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. Wexler, 48, is expected to make a public statement about his plans at a 10 a.m. Wednesday press conference at his Boca Raton office.

The jockeying to represent his heavily Democratic congressional district began in earnest Tuesday as the news of his departure began to leak out.

"I'm still a little bit in shock over all this," said state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland, though he added he was "for sure" considering a run for the seat.

Other potential Democratic contenders in the district covering parts of North Broward and Palm Beach counties are state Sen. Ted Deutch of Delray Beach, West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, Broward County Mayor Stacy Ritter and former Broward County Commissioner Ben Graber.

Once Wexler's resignation becomes official, state law requires Crist to call a special election. That can leave candidates little time to raise funds and campaign, and sometimes makes for an unpredictable and chaotic race.

Wexler prided himself on representing the "greatest generation" -- the World War II veterans and Depression survivors from the Northeast who turned South Florida's retirement communities into Democratic strongholds. He was a high-profile spokesman for the Democratic party during the 2000 presidential recount in the state and fought for a paper trail for voters using electronic machines.

The question of course is why now, and why this think tank, but then again that's what press conferences are there to answer.

Second, Bloomberg's story on Tim Geithner's aides pulling in big money from the banks they are supposed to be regulating is definitely going to cause some problems.

Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.

The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.

As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies.

If these folks are still drawing a salary from the companies they are supposed to be regulating, "conflict of interest" doesn't even begin to summarize the situation. I've had my problems with Geithner before, but this one is intolerable, folks.

Heads are going to have to roll now, no question. There's no way this can stand.

StupidiNews!

• A growing West Coast storm could bring flooding and mudslides to California this week.
• Reports this morning from Florida indicate Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler will resign from the House to take a think tank job.
• Plans for The National Museum of the American Latino moved one step closer to reality with a Capitol kickoff.
• Some aides to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made millions from the very banks they are supposed to be regulating.
• After 30 years, the world still has problems with computer passwords that are too easy to break.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

Olympia Snowe is the new Max Baucus.

Max Baucus is the new Harry Reid.

Harry Reid is the new Tom Daschle.

[UPDATE 7:17 PM] And the Winger reaction to Snowe's yes vote is one for the ages.

Epic Hire Better Tech Support Fail

The GOP. Can't run a web site, sure as hell can't run the government.

Just how embarrassing has the launch been for the Republican National Committee's new website? This afternoon, RNC Chairman Michael Steele told Fox News it isn't even a website.

"It's not even really a web site," Steele said. "It's a new platform for us."

To those that have been mocking the site by saying just that, he said it's "a beta site."

"So we're working out a lot of the kinks and the bugs. So the Democrats can have some fun," he said.

Oh, they're not the only ones. Marc Ambinder put together a very compelling top-10 list with the reasons why the RNC's relaunch "is fizzlin'."

Oh, and they managed to post the admin instruction page on the site at one point, because whoever's running the website coudln't fix a plate of waffles.

By the afternoon, the site had crashed altogether. Blue State Digital's Joe Rospars said, "You know your web program is in trouble when your site can't even handle the traffic bump from people making fun of your web program."

Nice. More competence from the guys that brought you the Bush administration...

EPIC FAIL.

Quote Of The Week

Sadly, No!'s Brad on Michael Steele:

It occurs to me that if he’s going to remake the Republican Party in a hip-hop image, Steele needs a hip-hop name. My nomination: Filibusta Rhymes.

That is priceless.

Rush Rolls The Bones

Sure, El Rushbo will deign to sit down and take time out of his busy schedule of calling Obama a fascist, racist, nepotistic Nazi to have a nice talk with the President.

Rush Limbaugh says he'd gladly sit down for a conversation with President Obama if the controversial talk-radio host ever scored an invite to the White House.

"Absolutely," Limbaugh, among the president's fiercest critics, told NBC when asked if he'd be willing to speak with Obama. "I'd be honest with him. The President of the United States is the President of the United States. I want this country to succeed, and if he invited me up there to chat, I would owe him up the dignity of being honest."

Sure he'll be honest, and I mean that. I'm sure he'll honestly call the President all these horrible things to his face, frankly. And of course the more the White House resists, the more Rush wins. And should the White House actually be silly enough to do this, Rush wins.

Well played, actually.

[UPDATE 7:13 PM] On the other hand, Rush loses at NFL ownership.

Snowe Job, Part 3

The Hill is reporting that the GOP will exact revenge on Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe should she back the Baucus Bill.

A Senate Democrat on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee said Republicans on the panel are threatening to vote against Snowe, who is in line for the senior GOP post that is about to come open.

“Wake up,” the Democrat told a reporter last week when questioned if the Republicans would retaliate against Snowe for crossing party lines.

Snowe, a potential swing vote on the Senate Finance Committee, could give Democrats a major boost Tuesday when that panel holds a final vote on Chairman Max Baucus’s (D-Mont.) bill. She could also support the bill in the coming weeks on the Senate floor.

“A vote for healthcare would be something that would weigh on our minds when it came time to vote,” said a Republican on Commerce, who said Snowe would otherwise be assured of the ranking member post if not for the healthcare debate.

Every other GOP member of Finance is expected to vote against the healthcare bill.

In other words, Snowe votes yes, her "friends" on the GOP will kick her to the curb. You can't blame them for playing hardball like that. The Republicans have gotten themselves into a position where if health care reform passes, they're goners for a generation. They know this. Collectively, they're dead if they vote for it as the base will vehemently attack anyone who jumps ship like Snowe might. Individually, they're dead if they vote against it, because they will get the blame from general election voters for voting against health care reform.

So how will Snowe go? Is this article to raise sympathy for her or ire against her?

[UPDATE 11:55 AM] Then again as Aimai observes at NMMNB...

Take a lesson from the Democrats, why don't you? We even let Lieberman play with us and he's stabbed us in the back so many times we look like Swiss Cheese. And its working! We have a majority and we get everything we want...?

Then again, sometimes the Dems need to play hardball too.

[UPDATE 2 3:14 PM] Olympia Snowe has voted yes. Noam Schieber at TNR smells Snowe shoveling.

On the other hand, now that Snowe has voted for the bill in committee, she can basically dictate the terms of the final bill. (Anyone wondering about the havoc she might wreak need only look at the stimulus.) That's because, if you alienate her during the forthcoming negotiations, her defection from the final bill would be disastrous. Just imagine the atmospherics of Olympia Snowe getting up on the Senate floor and saying she was so serious about passing health care reform she voted for it in committee, but that she can no longer support the bill because it's moved too far to the left.

I'd have to agree. Trojan horse time for all.

[UPDATE 3 3:28 PM] On the other hand, Jon Cohn says Olympia Snowe's vote is now vital because Joe F'ckin Lieberman is about to try to screw the entire process over.

The Gold Rush Of Ought Nine

Gold has hit another record intraday high as the dollar continues to weaken.

Spot gold was bid at $1,062.70 an ounce at 0834 GMT against $1,055.25 late in New York on Monday.

Options-related activity also played a role in the euro's moves on Tuesday, with the currency's recent rebound to test September's high of $1.4842 fizzling out ahead of reported large options barriers and expiries at $1.4850.

Early trading in Europe was quiet and confined to narrow ranges, something which may change with the German ZEW investor sentiment survey at 0900 GMT and the latest batch of U.S. third quarter earnings when U.S. markets open.

Oil is heading to $75 a barrel and rising, and other commodities are heading up too.

The world is starting to bet against the dollar, and big time.

Why We Need Federal Hate Crimes Legislation To Include Sexual Orientation

Because of cases like this.

A man brutally beaten in New York City was targeted because he is openly gay, the New York Police Department said Monday.

Two men shouting "anti-gay remarks" viciously beat Jack Price, 49, as he left a 24-hour deli on College Point Boulevard in Queens early Friday morning, police said. No further details where available about the attack.

Price is being treated at New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens, where "he is in fair condition and his vital signs are stable," said hospital spokeswoman Camela Morrissey.

Police arrested Daniel Aleman, 26, and charged him with assault and aggravated assault as a hate crime.

"When someone is attacked for being who they are, and for being proud of who they are, there is no other explanation for that attack than hatred and bigotry," said New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first openly gay speaker of the city council.

At some point you do have to decide to do the right thing. The House has done this, and the Senate needs to follow suit and get a bill to the President's desk.

Yes, New York is operating under state laws right now that go above the current federal ones. That shoudn't be the case. The bottom line after all the obfuscation about states' rights and the expansion of federal government and freedom of expression is that there are states out there that do not want to make assaults like this based on a person's sexual orientation a hate crime, and their congressional delegations certainly don't want it to count as a federal offense either because they don't see attacking someone based on who they love as a crime to begin with.

At some point at the federal level, this needs to be corrected. The legislation is on its way, thankfully.

[UPDATE 8:52 AM] Because after all, we still have a pernicious and overt racism problem in this country and we certainly as hell have an even worse homophobia problem in this country as well.

The Larger Picture

BooMan takes the progressive critics of Obama to task after yesterday's John Harwood-fueled meltdown.

The truth of the matter is, right or wrong, the progressive blogosphere has been a more severe and on point critic of the Obama administration than any teabagger. And, in many ways, that is to the community's credit. We don't embrace the cheerleader's role and that gives us more credibility. When the president screws up, we're willing to call him on it. But, Jesus Christ, do you expect the administration to lie down and say, 'Thank you, sir, may I have another'?

If you berate them for not closing Guantanamo fast enough, not ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell fast enough, not evacuating Iraq fast enough, not passing a health care bill fast enough, and so on...do you not expect one their number to at some point push back and point out that making these kind of changes takes time and is a bit difficult?

And, where the hell do you get off taking it personally? Aren't you the ones accusing them of being whores to the insurance industry and Wall Street and the military-industrial complex? Do you think they are going to find that criticism generous and well-intended?

Criticism is fine. But the sense of entitlement involved here is staggering. Ooh, some big, bad White House adviser defended the administration against one more heated attack. My feelings are hurt. Guess what? You should get over it.

I think the White House is willing to listen to criticism from their allies. From you? Not so much.

I agree. Warranted criticism of Obama is necessary and I've done more than my fair share myself. But I'll also be the first to tell you that a Republican administration would be worse in every conceivable metric or criteria. Holding Obama's feet to the fire is one thing. Deciding that the teabaggers are right and Obama really is an empty suit who has done nothing for America is not only ridiculous, but wrong as well. And no, why do you expect the White House to not stand up for itself against the left just as the left has stood up to Obama? That's how democracy is supposed to work.

A River Runs Through It

California's legendary water issues may finally be getting solved, but the solution may be worse than the problem.

The negotiations are focused on repairing the state’s fragile water ecosystem, unleashing new water supplies and increasing water conservation throughout the state. More specifically, negotiators hope to seal a deal that would make equal the goals of restoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta — a collection of channels, natural habitats and islands at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers that is a major source of the state’s drinking water — and increasing the supply of water to residents, businesses and farms.

State officials say the restoration of the delta, as envisioned in the negotiations, would be the largest environmental restoration project in the United States, surpassing the effort under way in the Florida Everglades.

But the battle over how to distribute California’s water is generations old — it was Mark Twain who was believed to have said, “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over” — and when it comes to water legislation, close to done never means done. In the delta alone, myriad efforts have sought to change how water flows and to whom, including a package of five policy and bond bills that never made it to a vote in the Democratic-controlled Legislature this year.

Yet many factors have made the need to fix California’s water system problems all the more pressing.

The drought has led to water restrictions and increased prices for water around the state. And along with the drought, a federal order last year forcing water authorities to curtail the use of large pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to help preserve dying smelt has reduced water flows to agriculture and resulted in dust-bowl-like conditions for many of the state’s farms. In 2008, over 100,000 acres of the 4.7 million acres in the Central Valley were left unplanted, and experts expect that number to grow this year.

In addition, environmental problems in the Sacramento River have resulted in a collapse of the Chinook salmon population, closing salmon season off the coast of California and much of Oregon for two years in a row.

Among the bills in the making is one that would issue roughly $9 billion in bonds, including $3 billion to build at least one dam. Some of the money would also be used to help restore the delta ecosystem and fortify levies to withstand natural disasters like floods and earthquakes. The bonds would require voter approval.

The bottom line: fixing California's water infrastructure is going to take billions that California doesn't have, and voters aren't going to give them. The misery will only continue as these bond measures fail and the state will have to make more cuts in services.

And the wildfires and mudslides, California's two major weather seasons, will continue as a result.

StupidiNews!

• The Senate Finance Committee is finally set for a vote today on the last health care bill version, paving the way for a full vote later this month.
• The Obama administration has quietly added 13,000 additional support troops to Afghanistan this year.
• Bills to lift the travel ban on Cuba are gaining steam in both the House and Senate.
• The US dollar continues to retreat, sparking a major commodities rally in gold and oil.
• Climate scientists discover that an asteroid impact putting dust in the atmopshere may not be responsible for the last ice age.