A Special Place In Hell, Police Edition

I know we have both praised and criticized cops on ZVTS, but this is beyond reason. This guy deserves everything they can dish out, and then some.  His name is Skeeter.  I just have to point that out, because as hillbilly and inbred as my neck of the woods can be, I've never actually known an Skeeter.  Way to keep it fresh, Seattle.

SEATTLE -- A Lakewood police officer was charged with embezzling more than $120,000 from a fund for families of four colleagues who were shot to death while on duty then spending some of the money on trips to Las Vegas, the U.S. attorney's office said Wednesday.

Officer Skeeter Timothy Manos also is accused of making purchases of several thousand dollars at Costco and Home Depot with the money.

"This is a sad day for our community," U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said in a statement. "These acts betrayed the memory of our fallen heroes, their families, fellow officers and all who supported the fund."

News From From Across The Pond

Naomi Watts is going to play Princess Di.  I searched for images, and all I found were some put together side-by-sides, nothing official.  However, I do see that Watts has some similar mannerisms.  There is this one look, that is one we all recognize.  Watts can resemble her without trying, which gives us hope.  I loved Di, for my generation she was like an aunt we all loved fiercely but never got to see at Christmas.  Anyone who dared to play her would be braving criticism.  Watts has a good start, and this would earn her some fans if she can pull it off.

In other news, Prince Harry is now a trained Apache pilot, and will be spending more time in Afghanistan.  For security reasons, there are no official dates or comments, but "Captain Wales" has not only earned recognition from the military, but his peers.  Despite a rocky partying beginning, the young prince has become an accomplished soldier and earned the respect of his peers.  One can only hope Di would be proud.

Rick Rolling The Country, Part 2

And Rick Santorum gets ever closer to self-parody of wingnut ignorance, fear-mongering, and utter stupidity.

Santorum's disdain for environmentalists was palpable and largely shared by the crowd of nearly 1,500 people here at the Meridian Convention Center. Perhaps sensing he was preaching to the choir, Santorum expounded upon his position that manmade global warming is a myth and a plot by the left to take freedoms away from the American people.

"This was a politicization of science," Santorum said, of the science behind global warming. "You hear all the time, the left – 'Oh, the conservatives are the anti-science party.' No we're not. We're the truth party. The absurdity and the politicization and the manipulation of data, why? Because the left is always looking for a way to control you. They're always trying to make you feel guilty so you'll give them power so they can lord it over you."

Connecting this position to foreign policy, Santorum said that by catering to these "radical environmental groups" President Obama has forced the country to increase its reliance on foreign oil, and he's signaled to Middle Eastern foes that we'd need their help in the future.

"We're throwing Israel under the bus because we know we're going to be dependent upon OPEC," Santorum said. "We're gonna say, Oh Iran, we don't want you to get a nuclear weapon, wink, wink, nod, nod, go ahead just give us your oil. Folks, the President of the United States is selling the economic security of this country down the river right now."

Rick Santorum is insane.  And millions share in his mass delusion that scientific fact doesn't matter, "truth" does.  And truth is whatever Ricky says it to be.  These retrograde, reactionary pinheads are one really bad voting day away from controlling this country.  If these assholes get power in November, you can kiss decades of progress and civil rights goodbye for the rest of your lifetime.  If they get enough power to enact Santorum's agenda, you can kiss generations of progress goodbye for your kids and grandkids too.

Time to pick a side, people.

Greek Fire, Part 51

And so the Greeks are left with their own Pompeii of Austerity, and it just blew up today.

Greek political leaders said they had clinched a deal on economic reforms and spending cuts needed to secure a second bailout, but euro zone finance ministers demanded more measures and a parliamentary seal of approval before providing the aid.

The European Union and the International Monetary Fund have been exasperated by a string of broken promises and weeks of wrangling over the terms of a 130 billion euro ($172 billion) bailout, with time running out to avoid a default.

Finance ministers of the 17-nation euro zone meeting in Brussels warned there would be no immediate approval for the rescue package and said Athens must prove itself first.

Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the Eurogroup, set three conditions, saying the Greek parliament must ratify the package when it meets on Sunday and a further 325 million euros of spending reductions needed to be identified by next Wednesday, after which euro zone finance ministers would meet again.

And so it goes.  Another Greek "deal" equals another EU austerity shakedown and another promise to bury the Greek people under the ashes of debt.  How long before the Greeks actually stop going on daily strikes?

It's going to get ugly fast, folks.  Keep an eye on this one.

StupidiNews!

• Thousands of Syrians are expected to protest Russia's UN resolution veto as activists continue to face a bloody crackdown by the al-Assad regime.
• A New Hampshire Republican wants to get rid of the state's lunch break law, saying it's unnecessary over-regulation of business.
• The Pentagon announced some 14,000 service jobs that would now be open to women, bringing the age of women soldiers in combat closer.
• Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin may dissolve the country's ruling party and create a new one to consolidate his power base after next month's elections.
• A Texas jury has delivered a stinging rebuke to the "biggest patent troll case in US history".

Last Call

My Senator at CPAC today:

Sen. Rand Paul at CPAC on Thursday asked President Obama: "Do you hate poor people, or do you just hate poor people with jobs?"

Paul later in his speech admitted he doesn't actually think President Obama hates poor people.

Rand Paul however isn't sure if he hates poor people or not.

Rubio Shows The GOP Hand On The War On Women

MoJo's Nick Baumann puts the various GOP birth control freakout stories in perspective as he catches "moderate" Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida dropping this bombshell of a bill: the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act."

What does it do?  Why, it ends birth control insurance coverage for women, of course.

Rubio has sold his proposal—introduced Jan. 31 as the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act," or S. 2043—as a way to counter President Barack Obama's controversial rule requiring even religiously affiliated schools and universities to offer copay-free birth control to their employees. But health care experts say that its implications could be far broader.

If passed, the bill would allow any institution or corporation to cut off birth control coverage simply by citing religious grounds. (You can read the bill here or in the DocumentCloud embed below.) It has 26 cosponsors in the Senate; a similar proposal sponsored by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) has 148 cosponsors in the House. On Wednesday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed to repeal Obama's rule, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pointed to Rubio's bill as a potential model for doing so.

In English, this means that no entity has to cover birth control in a health plan if it can point to a religious reason for not doing so. And the entity itself is not required to have any religious affiliation. It could just be a plain old corporation. That means that if the middle-aged white guy who runs your company is religiously opposed to birth control, he can have it stripped out of your insurance plan—even if his Viagra is still covered. You could wake up the next morning and find you're paying full price for drugs that you once got for free or at much-reduced prices.

Endgame.  As I said earlier this morning, guess what the price of President Obama's payroll tax cut extension will be?

Within about a week, we've gone from a measure that Republicans supported in 2004 on birth control to now basically the end of birth control being covered by employee health plans.  And I expect this will only be the first of as many poison pill/hostage crises as the Republicans can jam into the Affordable Care Act as they can.

They were never going to repeal "Obamacare", they were going to make it so awful that the American people would demand the old broken system back.  Getting rid of employee birth control coverage is just the start.

Oh but here's the worst part.  Rubio is getting backup from Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin.

“Under our Constitution, religious organizations have the freedom to follow their beliefs, and government should honor that,” Senator Manchin said. “The Obama Administration's position on this mandate is wrong and just doesn't make any sense to me. I'm proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation with Senator Rubio, which will ensure that the First Amendment rights of religious employers are afforded the respect they deserve.” 

The Village "firestorm" over the "birth control controversy" is having the desired effect.  The Dems that never had the President's back and never will?  Off to the races they go.

Turn On The Lights, Watch The Roaches Scatter Part 86

Foreclosuregate rattles on, and it looks like the banks are going to lose their pound of flesh, in this case, $25-$26 billion over three years, in order to get off the hook for roughly 100 times that in real damage to the economy.

The final details of the pact were still being negotiated Wednesday night, including how many states would participate and when the formal announcement would be made in Washington. The two biggest holdouts, California and New York, now plan to sign on, according to the officials with knowledge of the matter who did not want to be identified because the negotiations were not completed. 

The deal grew out of an investigation into mortgage servicing by all 50 state attorneys general that was introduced in the fall of 2010 amid an uproar over revelations that banks evicted people with false or incomplete documentation. In the 14 months since then, the scope of the accord has broadened from an examination of foreclosure abuses to a broad effort to lift the housing market out of its biggest slump since the Great Depression. Four million Americans have been foreclosed upon since the beginning of 2007, and the huge overhang of abandoned homes has swamped many regions, like California, Florida and Arizona. 

In New York State, more than 46,000 borrowers will receive some form of benefit, with an estimated 21,000 expected to see what they owe reduced through a principal reduction, according to estimates by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

The five mortgage servicers in the settlement — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial — have largely set aside reserves for the expected cost of the accord and investors are likely to cheer its announcement because it removes one more legal worry for the industry, analysts said. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s a panacea for the housing industry but it is good for the banks to get this behind them,” said Jason Goldberg, an analyst with Barclays. 

Of course it is.  And yes, about a million underwater homeowners will get some relief.  But ten million will not, and the housing depression will remain for another 3-5 more years at the minimum.  There's still hope that the robosigning outfits like MERS are going to still face legal action, but for the most part, the banks are getting away with murder, the housing depression is going nowhere, and the bulk of homeowners won't see a dime from this settlement.

Is it better for the million or so homeowners who will see something get that money?  Absolutely.  But the cost is brutally high for that aid and the people responsible for this mess still won't face prison.

And yet...given the circumstances, it was the best we could hope for.  Yves Smith gives us a dozen reasons why the deal should depress you.  The biggest one?

We’ll now have to listen to banks and their sycophant defenders declaring victory despite being wrong on the law and the facts. They will proceed to marginalize and write off criticisms of the servicing practices that hurt homeowners and investors and are devastating communities. But the problems will fester and the housing market will continue to suffer. Investors in mortgage-backed securities, who know that services have been screwing them for years, will be hung out to dry and will likely never return to a private MBS market, since the problems won’t ever be fixed. This settlement has not only revealed the residential mortgage market to be too big to fail, but puts it on long term, perhaps permanent, government life support. 

There's a reason I think the housing depression will last into 2017 or longer. Foreclosures will continue to pile up, and home prices will continue to drop.  And all the while, the banksters are making out like bandits.  As Matt Taibbi says, Wall Street should stop whining.

The financial services industry went from having a 19 percent share of America’s corporate profits decades ago to having a 41 percent share in recent years. That doesn’t mean bankers ever represented anywhere near 41 percent of America’s labor value. It just means they’ve managed to make themselves horrifically overpaid relative to their counterparts in the rest of the economy.

A banker's job is to be a prudent and dependable steward of other peoples’ money – being worthy of our trust in that area is the entire justification for their traditionally high compensation.

Yet these people have failed so spectacularly at that job in the last fifteen years that they’re lucky that God himself didn’t come down to earth at bonus time this year, angrily boot their asses out of those new condos, and command those Zagat-reading girlfriends of theirs to start getting acquainted with the McDonalds value meal lineup. They should be glad they’re still getting anything at all, not whining to New York magazine.  

And our economy gets to foot the bill.  Nice.  Is this Obama's fault?  No.  Congress, Washington, lobbyists, Fannie, Freddie, the banks, MERS, all this was put into motion well before Barack Obama ever set foot in the Oval Office.  I'm not expecting this to be fixed in 3 years, hell it'll take 3 decades before home prices are back to 2006 levels...if then.  And it's not like bankrupting the banks and putting hundreds of thousands of bank employees who were not responsible for this disaster out of work is a viable solution either.

Is this the best we can hope for right now?  Unless the makeup of the House and Senate changes substantially in the "let's clone Elizabeth Warren a couple hundred times" direction, yes.  Political reality is political reality, just like the economic reality of the housing depression is reality.  Some homeowners are getting help, and the banks are paying for it.  McCain would have done nothing.  Certainly his DoJ would have done everything possible to insulate the banks from any settlement.  (PS, the one state not joining?  Oklahoma.  Their AG says the banks should not be held liable at all.  Period.)

But this is a win for the forces of greed and evil, because they set all this up as legal well before it happened.  It's depressing and I hate it.  But we know how to fix it.  We can start in November.

Making Medical Sense, Michigan Style

A new Michigan-based, national coalition of medical marijuana advocates is coming together to defend the rights of patients and dispensaries.

The National Patients Rights Association (NPRA) will lobby legislators, prosecutors and local governments to uphold medical marijuana laws in 16 states and Washington, D.C.

Michigan voters legalized the use of cannabis for medical purposes in 2008 with the passage of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. There are now more than 100,000 registered patients in the state.

Although there have been legal challenges to the use of medicinal marijuana since California first legalized its use in 1996, opposition in Michigan has been especially strong under the state's current attorney general, Bill Schuette.

Again, we have legislature at odds with facts.  Right now, marijuana is classified as being incredibly harmful (not so) with no medical benefits (not so).  These things are known, and anyone who knows a pothead and a drunk can tell you there is no question which is more dangerous.

But we're not talking about recreational use, we're talking about relieving the pain and suffering of people who are facing life-threatening illness or death.  Just like those who can't separate "those sluts getting abortions" from women who face death from danger of pregnancy or the horror of rape, the ignorance of the voting majority may cripple common sense.

Medical rights trump personal beliefs.  Every time.

It's too bad the wrong people pay the price for their stupidity.

Fark & Obama Team Up To Bring You Today's Lunchtime Treat

I love Fark.  I love Obama.  And thanks to them, I laughed and clapped at a young boy's success.



Showing his dedication to science, innovation and plain old curiosity, Obama has a young boy demonstrate his air cannon, firing a marshmallow to see the results at 30 psi. The boy keeps a remarkably straight face but struts at the end, pleased with the results and the recognition.

Washington Leading The Way, Part 2

As expected, Washington State's House has just passed the state Senate's same-sex marriage bill, and the measure is expected to be signed into law soon by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Pedersen, a gay lawmaker from Seattle who has sponsored gay rights bills in the House for several years, said that while he and his partner are grateful for the rights that exist under the state's current domestic partnership law, "domestic partnership is a pale and inadequate substitute for marriage."

Pedersen cited Tuesday's ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals during his remarks on the House floor.

"The court addressed the question of why marriage matters directly," he said, and read a section from the ruling that stated "marriage is the name that society gives to the relationship that matters most between two adults."

"I would like for our four children to grow up understanding that their daddy and their poppa have made that kind of a lifelong commitment to each other," he said. "Marriage is the word that we use in our society to convey that idea."

Several Republicans argued against the bill, saying that it goes against the tradition of marriage.

Rep. Jay Rodne, R-Snoqualmie, said that the measure "severs the cultural, historical and legal underpinnings of the institution of marriage."

"This bill is really an exercise of raw political power," he said. "It contravenes human nature and it will hurt families and children."

Yes, New York is suffering terribly, isn't it?

You know, I really am sick of people acting like same-sex marriage is worse for the sanctity of the institution than divorce or domestic violence.  Your right to discriminate against people is not enshrined in the Constitution, people.  It's stupidity at its finest, and good for Washington State to do the right thing.

Orange Julius, Over His Head

House Speaker John Boehner is picking a fight he won't win, vowing to force the President to overturn his decision to require insurance companies to provide birth control to women, and going against the will of the American people.

“If the president does not reverse the Department’s attack on religious freedom, then the Congress, acting on behalf of the American people and the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and defend, must,” Boehner said. “This attack by the federal government on religious freedom in our country cannot stand, and will not stand.”

The Speaker said the House would take matters into its own hands with committee hearings and legislative action to push back if the administration declines to act.

“In the days ahead, the House will approach this matter fairly and deliberately, through regular order and the appropriate legislative channels,” Boehner said. He called on the Energy & Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue, to take steps against the rule and “consider all possible options.”

Translation:  Gentlemen, we just found our new hostage for the payroll tax cut!  Only...the support might not be there for Johnny.

Pro-choice Republicans are begging their party to drop this fight over contraception before it’s too late. Turning to a discussion about access to birth control will be nothing short of a disaster, they say.

The new and unexpected war over contraception may not end up as only a battle between the White House and the Republican party. It could end up as a fight between the GOP and itself. As we saw during the 2011’s push to defund Planned Parenthood — when some Republican Senators rebuked their colleagues in the House for attacking the organization — Republicans on Capitol Hill do not speak with one voice on matters of women’s health. Now, as Speaker John Boehner seemingly prepares to turn the House GOP’s attention to contraception, pro-choice Republicans are warning that the GOP may become the next Komen For The Cure.

The Tea Party wing of the GOP is counting on it, I'd say.  "Sorry ladies, you can have birth control or your payroll tax cut.  And we're making that choice for you!"

By all means, GOP, continue to drive younger, secular women into the voting booth for President Obama.

StupidiNews!

• Despite previous signals to the contrary, New York and California are expected to join the $25 billion "Foreclosuregate" settlement with banks this week.
• GOP House majority leader Eric Cantor is under fire from both parties for weakening the House version of the STOCK Act insider trading bill.
• As Greek lawmakers have come up without an austerity agreement, already steep cuts are driving Greek citizens to a swamped safety net system.
• Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse has posted its first quarterly loss in three years as reorganization costs ate up profit.
• Apple has officially ended the white MacBook, ending the iBook legacy once and for all.

Last Call

I haven't really weighed in on President Obama's decision to take support and money from the Priorities USA Action PAC, but Kevin Drum is 100% correct about it.

Is this hypocritical of Obama? For the thousandth time, no, no, no. The playing field is the playing field, and once a public policy has been legally put in place you'd be a sap not to play by the same rules as everyone else. If you oppose the mortgage interest deduction as a matter of policy, you still have every right to take the deduction as long as the rest of the country keeps it in place. If you're a Republican governor who objects to the stimulus bill, you'd be actively irresponsible not to take your share of the money once it's there. If you oppose earmarks, you still have an obligation to your district to take them as long as they exist.

In order for the President to be in any position to do anything about Citizens United through legislation, he still has to be President.  That means playing the campaign finance game that SCOTUS has set up so he can get re-elected.  The alternative is a Republican in the White House who would certainly veto any campaign finance limitation, not to mention have the ability to appoint SCOTUS justices...and three of them are currently in their 80's or will be in 2013.

David Axelrod signals the White House stance:

We have to live in a world as it is, not how we want it to be.

You can hate the game, but you still have to play it.  And you play it to win.  Period.

Gapastrophic Failure

Steve Benen flags down the real story so far in the GOP primary:  it's not Mitt's finishing problem, or clods of Santorum gumming up the works, or even Newt's ego self-immolating like a phosphorus elemental in a gasoline refinery, but the significant turnout deficit compared to just four years ago.

So, what were the totals last night? In Minnesota, with nearly all of the precincts reporting, 47,826 Republicans participated in the caucuses, down about 23% from four years ago.
In Colorado, with all of the precincts reporting, 65,479 GOP voters showed up, a drop of nearly 7% from the 2008 totals.

And in Missouri's non-binding primary, with all of the precincts reporting, turnout stood at 251,868. That's quite a few for a primary dismissed as a "beauty pageant," though as Cohen noted, the comparison is admittedly flawed.

Nevertheless, we can start to take some larger lessons away from the larger trajectory. For one thing, none of this makes Mitt Romney look especially impressive -- he's losing states he won four years ago; he's struggling to get his supporters to participate; and he's failing badly to match his 2008 vote totals at this stage in the process. It's starting to look like Romney only wins when he spends several million dollars on attack ads to destroy his main challenger.

For another, this is part of a pattern. As was reported on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Monday night, if we look just at self-identifying Republicans in the exit polls, turnout dropped 11% in Iowa, 15% in New Hampshire, and 16% in Florida. Though turnout in South Carolina was strong, it's proving to be the exception, as evidenced by additional weak numbers in Nevada and in yesterday's contests.

The GOP bet everything on the "Tea Party as the new majority" after 2010, and that assumption is rapidly turning into one of the biggest political meltdowns in a long time.  Awesome.  The further to the right they go, the more they lose from everyone else.  Even their primaries are self destructing.

If you were a woman, a minority, a non-Christian, LGBT, a government or union employee or you make less than six figures a year, why would you care to vote in the GOP primaries since the party already classifies you as the enemy?  I mean what what, literally leaves the 27% if that much?  More like 2.7% at the rate they're going.  The only state where turnout was up?  South Carolina.  That speaks volumes.

We've still got loads of work ahead of us, but damn it feels good to see the sun again.