News aggregator

It isn't "progress" unless you're moving forward:

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's presidential council rejected a plan for new provincial elections and sent the bill back to parliament Wednesday for reworking, a major setback to U.S.-backed efforts to promote national reconciliation.

The ruling came despite a reported last-minute telephone call by Vice President Dick Cheney to the main holdout on the three-member panel, which has to sign off on laws passed by the legislature. The White House tried to put its best face on the development, saying "this is democracy at work."

Other administration officials are a little more blunt:

The veto is "somewhat of a setback," Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, acknowledged Wednesday during a hearing in Congress.

Five years after the fall of Baghdad, and the Iraqi government has yet to agree on a power-sharing agreement (or otherwise meet 18 benchmarks of progress).  As the AP points out, the "surge" was supposed to make this process easier:

Such power-sharing agreements are the end goal of last year's buildup of U.S. troops. The hope has been that the declining bloodshed will remove the fear that has paralyzed Iraqi politicians, enabling them to compromise and strike deals across the sectarian divide. And that, in theory, should blunt support for the Sunni insurgency and allow American troops to withdraw from the country.

Political progress, of course, just a "hope" but was an explicit justification and goal of the escalation.  Will the media look beyond the administration's "shit happens" spin and report on this and other setbacks whenever John McCain & Co. claim that the "surge" is a "success"?  

Yeah. I didn't think so.

For more on this topic, check out dday's excellent diary here.

McCain won a key endorsement yesterday from the "Bring on Armageddon as fast as you can!" crowd, when John Hagee announced his support.

Who is Hagee? ABC explains:

The pastor is best known in some Washington circles as a founder of Christians United for Israel and for his belief, as laid out in his book "Jerusalem Countdown" that the end of days scenario as spelled out in the Book of Revelation will occur after Russia, allied with the Islamic world, attacks Israel.

"Russia is going to get in that position and they are literally, with all that massive military force, going to attack Israel," Hagee told ABC News in 2006. "This is recorded in Ezekiel 38 and 39. God himself is literally going to destroy that army. Decimate it."

Hagee added that the confrontation would be followed by a Chinese army of 200 million coming to the city of Armageddon, where they will meet British and U.S. forces in the Battle of Armageddon.

"At that point, Jesus Christ returns to Earth and sets up his eternal kingdom in the city of Jerusalem and there's 1000 years of peace," Hagee said. "The Jewish people are going to see the supernatural hand of God preserve them and deliver them while the enemies of Israel are crushed. That's the end-time story."

Asked if he subscribed to this theology, McCain furrowed his brow.

Brow-furrowing stuff indeed. It's easy to imagine the long pause that followed that theological question. (For the record, McCain answered, "All I can tell you is I'm proud to have Pastor Hagee's support.")

So as of yesterday we have a new slogan for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee: John McCain, the official candidate of the people who believe in governing according to Ezekiel 38-39.

Thanks to Rich for a hat tip to this in this morning's Coffee Talk.  We find out that the Michigan Campaign Finance Network actually hates democracy, and that lurking in the shadows of the campaign to reform judicial elections is the skulking figure of George Soros.

The problem for Justice at Stake and the MCFN is that when judicial elections are free and fair, their preferred candidates usually end up losing. It's not campaign finance law these groups have a quarrel with - it's democracy.

As Rich noted below, the author of this editorial is himself a lobbyist, which probably goes a long way to explaining the author's opposition to reforming the process -- right now, lobbyists can sink dollar after dollar into judicial campaigns, which has resulted in the kind of politicized rulings we're getting from the court and the declining public trust in the judicial system.  But, still, this must be defeated ... George Soros!

Lift the rock on Justice at Stake and you'll find hedge fund billionaire George Soros, who finances ultra-liberal activist groups like MoveOn.org.

It's hard to find any consistent principle in Soros' opposition to private campaign funding in judicial elections. Apparently, he believes that only his wealth should influence the composition of state judiciaries, and ordinary citizens should just stay out of it.

It's hard to find consistent principle in Soros' opposition to private campaign funding in judicial elections because it doesn't seem to be something Soros ever talks about.  Thus, although you can assume that Dan Pero was trying to show the good readers of Lansing that he possesses a dry, cool wit, it is far from apparent that George Soros believes that only his wealth should influence the composition of state judiciaries.

What we're left with is really nothing more than a standard wingnut ad hominem attack on an idea by assailing a person or persons.  George Soros, to wingnuts, is code words of "evil personified," which means simply mentioning his name in connection to an idea is enough to warrant full blood oath-level opposition to it.  And, the feeling that you're left with is that Soros, Dark Lord of the Left, is actually at the controls, pullng the levers, pushing the buttons, and steering the wheel.

Well, when you lift the rock at Justice at Stake, you find a bunch of others involved, however.  Naturally, they're hidden, on a page called "Campaign Partners."  They include such politically charged organizations as the American Bar Association and various Leagues of Women Voters, those stinking pinkos (this is kind of thing that happens when you enshrine universal suffrage in the Constitution).

But, of course, we probably don't want to take the opinion of the legal profession too seriously ... you can't swing a dead cat in a room full of attorneys without hitting a "trial lawyer," and public funding of judicial races is the first step towards stocking the state Supreme Court strictly with partners from the law offices of Sam Bernstein.  I mean, only a reprobate represents people injured by medical malpractice.

Meanwhile, I see that the Free Press managed to dig up an attorney to offer insights into the selection of judges.

In November, Clifford Taylor, a Republican and the current chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, will be up for re-election against an as-yet unnamed Democrat. The contest promises to be expensive and bitter, only adding to the growing feeling among Michigan voters that our state judges are highly partisan and beholden to campaign contributors.

Spoken like a true trial attorney on the take from Soros of Mordor.  What would the alternative be?  Well, if you're Abe Simpson, you're not happy.

While we may not be able to change the tenor of this November's election, we can avoid continued erosion of the public trust in the system by adopting a nonpartisan judicial selection method like that used in Missouri, which combines merit selection of state judges with nonpartisan retention elections.

Our current system for selecting state Supreme Court justices is labeled nonpartisan by some, but it is not. Judicial candidates are nominated by political parties at party conventions and have party support in election contests.

It's worth noting that the current state of judicial election has attracted criticism from one George Will, who called the election of judges a bad, but understandable, idea. There's an even stronger column he wrote a few years back when he suggested that it was time to do away with the election of all judges and turn them all into appointed positions.  A quick, five-second Google search failed to turn it up, but my point is this ... obviously, George Will is George Soros with a bowtie.

There is something else here worth raising.  If we insist on keeping the same old judicial election procedure, and one certainly assumes that we won't get meaningful reform on this any time soon, then we should at least remove from the ballot the notation that someone is already a current justice.  This provides an undue advantage to the incumbent for obvious reasons.  Not only does it provide an unwarranted advantage to the incumbent, but -- if memory serves me right -- judicial elections are the only elected positions in Michigan where incumbency is noted right there on the ballot.

Once again showing that "supporting the troops" is just a slogan, Senate Republicans unexpectedly agreed to debate Senator Russ Feingold's bill that would require troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq within 120 days and cut funding for further combat deployments.  Is it because Republicans have finally decided to listen to more than 60% of the American people?  Or did they finally realize that the ever-increasing cost in blood and treasure is too high a price to pay?  Of course not.  It's because Republicans:

...want to highlight the security achievements over the past year under President Bush's troop buildup strategy.

That's right; they want to do a little political grandstanding on the backs of the troops that they claim to support.  And to do so, they will cheerfully lie and say the "surge" is a success and that only losing 30 or 40 Americans a month is good news.  

To be fair, not all Republicans agreed with the move.  Christopher Bond (R-MO) had this patriotic thought about a debate on bringing the troops home:

We don't need to waste any more time on this.

There are few sadder sights in this world than watching a political party past its prime trying to relive its best moments as if they can turn back the clock. In 2002, capitalizing on 9/11, Bush and the Republicans won the Senate and added 8 seats in the House.

By 2006, however, things had changed. An ill-fated attempt to recreate the 2002 climate of fear by (R) Nancy Johnson in 2006 was met with humiliating defeat by Chris Murphy (CT-05), with the incumbent Johnson losing 56%-44% despite this ad (Johnson's 2006 ad is on You Tube under the heading 'worst ad ever?'):

Murphy's win was, of course, part of the Dem resurgence that took back Congress that year. Unwilling or unable to learn from that, Republicans are restaging Pickett's Charge, running similar ads against Chris Murphy and other freshmen Dems:

And why not? The entire Republican party is out of touch with the American voter. The standard-bearer, John McCain thinks sniggering at Barack Obama's position on Iraq is a winner.

"I'm not embarrassed to tell you that I did not watch the Democrat debate last night, but I am told that Senator Obama made the statement that if Al Qaeda came back to Iraq after he withdraws – after the American troops are withdrawn – then he would send military troops back, if Al Qaeda established a military base in Iraq," McCain said while campaigning in Tyler, TX. "I have some news: Al Qaeda is in Iraq. Al Qaeda, it's called Al Qaeda in Iraq, and my friends, if we left they wouldn't be establishing a base, they wouldn't be establishing a base, they'd be taking a country. And I'm not going to allow that to happen my friends. I will not surrender. I will not surrender to Al Qaeda...

"So you know this is how politics works," Obama said. "McCain thought that he could make a clever point by saying ,'Well, let me give you some news Barack, Al Qaeda is in Iraq,' like I wasn't reading the papers. Like I didn't know what was going on."

Obama continued: "But I have some news for John McCain, and that was that there was no such thing as Al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq."

Obama went on to remind McCain about Al Queda in Afghanistan and other unfinished business left by President Mission Accomplished, the fellow that screwed up in the first place.

Ah, yes. George Bush and John McCain. Now there's an image to remember. And note, please, that in every poll American voters think Iraq is a mistake (58%), and oppose the war (64%). And McCain thinks his attack line is a winner, because.... he thinks it's 2002?

November 15, 2002
According to the first CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted after the congressional elections, 68% of Americans approve of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president -- up from 63% just before the elections, but about the same level it has been for the past 3 months.

Because he thinks America wants a third George Bush term (Bush is at 31% and dropping)? Because he thinks voters like it just the way things are (69% think the country is on wrong track)? Because Americans want to stay in Iraq for 100 years?

Now McCain would have us believe that more war, and then still more war—"bomb, bomb Iran" to the Beach Boys' melody—remains the best course to follow. "We will never surrender," he likes to say, "and they [meaning Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama] will."
A more realistic appraisal: McCain will never come to his senses.

This is a winning strategery for McCain and Republicans... why? It's not 2002 any more. The inept Republican fear campaign played badly for Nancy Johnson in 2006 and Rudy Giuliani in 2008. Why would it work better now?

Alas, it's going to take a Democratic win in November to purge the system of the idea that Republican fear and smear still work. Chalk that up to yet another reason to vote Democratic.

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Strike's officially over. The late night snark returns to C&J:

"This is exciting news. Southern Methodist University announced that they will be the home of George W. Bush's presidential library.  This will be the first presidential library to be made up entirely of small, shiny objects. In fact, I understand right now they're building a shelf for the book."
---Jay Leno
-

"Yesterday, Ralph Nader announced he's running for president again. Immediately after the announcement, the guy sitting next to Nader on the park bench told him to shut up."
---Conan O'Brien
-

"[Fidel Castro's] retirement will not change the relationship Cuba has with the United States. Cubans will still not legally be allowed to enter the United States unless they have an overpowering fastball."
---David Letterman
-

"The New York Times this week printed an article alleging that John McCain may have had an improper affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman. Or, as it's known among lobbyists, lobbying."
---Amy Poehler

"They say this woman works for the telecommunications lobby. Apparently, she called McCain out of the blue and asked, "Are you happy with your current sex provider?"
---Leno
-

"It was a tough day for America. From 5:30 to 8:30 tonight, every Starbucks was closed. It was terrible. For three full hours, people everywhere were forced to pay a reasonable amount for coffee. Fortunately, President Bush gave FEMA the go-ahead to tap into the nation’s mochaccino reserve."
---Jimmy Kimmel

Florida, I'm comin' down there today to wrastle yer gators (IF ya know what I mean). Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

Good morning. Today is the Day Before Leap Day. But it's still February, which means it's still winter here in Michigan. So grab yourself a hot mug of something to drink and take a look at today's cup-o-links. 

Kwame and the Text Messages Ad Nauseum

• Freep: Video: Mayor Kilpatrick schemed to conceal texts. “A Wayne County judge today released the last remaining sealed documents, showing how Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his city-paid lawyers schemed to conceal incriminating text messages that could result in perjury charges against him and Christine Beatty.”
• Detroit News: Laura Berman: 'Solution' included payoff, secrecy. “The defense lawyer described the settlement as a ‘global solution.’ In computerese, global solutions are technical programming changes that work across computer systems. In Detroit's unfolding mini-Watergate, the global solution was a quasi-legal fix that was corrupt at its core, a deal with a big payday to one side and a promise of secrecy to the other.”

Judicial Reform

• Freep: Cate McClure: Minimize the politics in selecting justice. McClure makes the case for implementing a method for selecting our state’s judges that would take away the partisanship that drenches the current method.
• LSJ: Dan Pero: 'Reform' groups want voters out of the loop. “An assortment of lobbyists declared last week ‘judicial reform’ week in Lansing. Their goal was to gain support for public financing of state Supreme Court elections.”
  In case you forgot, Dan Pero “is a former member of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission and is president of the Lansing-based American Justice Partnership, a group launched by the National Association of Manufacturers to advocate for legal reform at the state level.” Yes, the same NAM whose President is...former Governor John Engler. And no less than John Engler himself declared “Lobbying Gives Voice to Manufacturers in Washington.” So I guess lobbyists are okay as long as they’re Pero’s lobbyists.

The Merger of Northwest and Delta

• Livingston Daily Press & Argus: Phil Power: Airline merger could boost region. Phil makes the case for the merger of Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
• Detroit News: Pilots stuck on choice to arbitrate. “The ongoing effort by pilots for Delta and Northwest airlines to merge their seniority lists is hung up, at least in part, on whether an arbitrator should eventually be brought in to resolve the issue, sources with knowledge of the pilot talks said Wednesday.”

Education

• Michigan Messenger: 'Laramie Project' playwright: Kalamazoo student performers 'courageous.' “’Bravo!’ said playwright Moisés Kaufman about the controversial production at Kalamazoo Central High School of his play The Laramie Project. ‘How beautiful that they are having the most courageous conversation. They have inherited the words of a community in mourning. A community struggling with the question how did we raise these children here? That is a courageous question.’ On a tight schedule, Kaufman spent several hours in Kalamazoo Saturday afternoon.”
• LSJ: U.S. veteran, Iraqi share their stories with students. “Patricia McCann served in and around Baghdad as a specialist in the Illinois Air National Guard from 2003 to 2004. She said her experience clearly convinced her the war was a mistake. Raed Jarrar is a 30-year-old Iraqi political analyst, born and raised in Baghdad, who now, with McCann, tours the United States, encouraging people to oppose the war.”
• ars technica: Misperceptions meet state of the art in evolution research. “As an employee of the National Center for Science Education, Nick Matzke was involved with everything from situations that never made the press to coaching the lawyers in the Dover trial, which gained international attention. One thing that apparently became clear is that, due to the highly technical material and a flood of misinformation on the topic, the public (and even many scientists) simply don't know what the current state of knowledge is when it comes from evolution.”

Odds & Ends

• AP: Gov. Granholm: Bad roads, bridges could be good for new jobs. Moving up $150 million in projects to replace or repair more roads and bridges this summer should add 2,100 construction and engineering jobs in Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday. The 34 projects sprinkled around the state originally were set for 2009 or later, but were moved up as part of the governor's economic stimulus project.
• YAF Watch: YAF's New Co-Chairs, in their own words. Just when you thought things might improve with Kyle Bristowsteping down as President of MSU's YAF chapter, think again.
• The Grand Rapids Press: Danger on Lake Michigan ice, piers. “Glistening on a sunny winter day, the 300-foot ice pack off Holland State Park is almost enchanting to adventurers.” It can be dangerous taking a walk out on the ice. Be sure to check out the accompanying picture and slide show.
• The Muskegon Chronicle: Forestalling foreclosure. “The NIC, which ordinarily helps people find and purchase homes, offers a free foreclosure prevention service that often keeps families from losing their homes.” It’s that latter service that is in heavy demand these days.
• Livingston Daily Press & Argus: Immigrant gets second chance. “Fnu "Joe" Yonathan is getting another chance. The 29-year-old Brighton man, a native of Indonesia, learned this week he has until April 24, 2009, to reapply for asylum.”
  

As always, if I missed anything, please feel free to add it to the comments.  

Joseph Romm at Salon.com writes (one-day site pass required):

The cold truth about climate change
The more I write about global warming, the more I realize I share some things in common with the doubters and deniers who populate the blogosphere and the conservative movement. Like them, I am dubious about the process used by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to write its reports. Like them, I am skeptical of the so-called consensus on climate science as reflected in the IPCC reports. Like them, I disagree with people who say "the science is settled." But that's where the agreement ends.

The science isn't settled -- it's unsettling, and getting more so every year as the scientific community learns more about the catastrophic consequences of uncontrolled greenhouse gas emissions.

The big difference I have with the doubters is they believe the IPCC reports seriously overstate the impact of human emissions on the climate, whereas the actual observed climate data clearly show the reports dramatically understate the impact.

But I do think the scientific community, the progressive community, environmentalists and media are making a serious mistake by using the word "consensus" to describe the shared understanding scientists have about the ever-worsening impacts that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are having on this planet. When scientists and others say there is a consensus, many if not most people probably hear "consensus of opinion," which can -- and often is -- dismissed out of hand. I've met lots of people like CNBC anchor Joe Kernen, who simply can't believe that "as old as the planet is" that "puny, gnawing little humans" could possibly change the climate in "70 years."

Days since Mission Accomplished: 1764

Direct costs per minute of Iraq war and occupation, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation: $238,425

Direct costs of Iraq war and occupation for the 326 days remaining in Mister Bush’s term: $111,926,232,000

Direct costs of Iraq war and occupation for the 100 years of McCain’s wet-dream: $12,531,618,000,000

We did it again. Last August, when Bush came to Seattle raise a bunch of money for his buddy Dave Reichert, you responded. You showed that there are a lot more of us than there are of them, more than 3,200 of us, in fact. We also outraised Bush.

Today, we proved there are still more of us. Laura Bush came to town for another fundraiser for Reichert, and in response, we set a goal of 250 donations to send the message that we can compete, donor to donor, with any of the Bushes, even the ones people still like.

By e-mail, the Darcy Burner campaign reports that with the help of you, the locals at On the Road to 2008, HorsesAss, Open Left, and at Darcy's Web site we shattered the goal of 250 contributions, and have at least 320. The campaign reports that there were probably around 150 people at the Bush event.

Thanks for you investment in Darcy, and in the nation's future. This will be your reward in Congress.

Of course, if you wanted to make it an even 500 donations....

On the Web:
Darcy Burner for Congress
Blue Majority ActBlue page

This evening's Rescue Rangers are nyc in exile, taylormattd, BentLiberal, dadanation, grog, Avila, and joyful, with jennyjem as editor.

On this day in 1807, one of my favorite poets was born. He wrote;

Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
US poet (1807 - 1882)

Also born on this day, but in the year 1902, was author John Steinbeck, who wrote;

All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal.
John Steinbeck, "Once There Was A War" 1943
US novelist (1902 - 1968)

Please enjoy these works by some other gifted writers.

• Avenging Angel delivers a well-researched and well-written diary that wonders if the proverbial leopard can really change its spots in RNC Orders Diversity Training for the Party of Hate. (dadanation)
• fatbyjhnsn gives us one beautiful and moving diary in Politics vs. Art: The New York Philharmonic in North Korea. (dadanation)
• In Wind, Solar, Efficiency: McCain To Miss the Trifecta?, diarist chapter1 exposes McCain for the hypocrite he is, on all issues environmental. (BentLiberal)
• gooners celebrates one Peace Corp experience in Peace Corps Week: Beni Ourain. (nyc in exile)
• nolalily provides an "all politics is local" diary on the efforts to elect better Dems in Louisiana and how we have helped in Dkos Contributions. Is there a Gilda in the House? (grog)
• WattHead celebrates 'people power' in an exuberant diary, A Spooked Coal Industry Fights Back, Trying to Buy 2008 Elections! (joyful)
• RoddieH describes an Iraq War veteran's extraordinary courage and perseverance in A Disabled Vet is Recognized for His Sacrifice in Seattle. (taylormattd)
• cedelson proposes questions Tim Russert should ask McCain. The guess here is that Timmeh won't. (grog)
• dogemperor checks in with yet another informative diary detailing the alarming marriage of extremist religion-to-state. Today we learn of New links between racists and PDI Gothard front. (joyful)
• In Watching Freedom's Watch: How Your Money Flows From Vegas To John McCain, jamesboyce makes your mission perfectly clear: don't stay at the Venetian or the Palazzo. (BentLiberal)
• YatPundit offers an historic look at transportation and canals in 1857 New Orleans in Wednesday Streetcar Blogging and NOLA Kossacks Open Thread. (Avila)
• Liberal Protestant admits to having "a bit of a bissextile fixation." How about you? Are you calendar curious? Quadrennial questioning? If so, check out Wild Bissextile Fun, a nifty history of 2/29/XX. (BentLiberal)
• Check out these beautiful pictures drawn by Central American kids, who are sick over the Bush Policy of Spraying Poison on Children. An insightful diary about how the war on drugs is poisoning the fragile eco-system that straddles Equador and Columbia. By redstatehatemonitor. (BentLiberal)

brillig has Top Comments- Home Remedy Edition.

Please promote your own favorite diaries in this open thread.

Michael Bloomberg announced in an Op-Ed for tomorrow's New York Times that he's not running for President.

Whew.  I don't know if we could have handled the excitement of a Bloomberg candidacy.  

Here's the interesting part of Bloomberg's op-ed:

Now who will turncoat former Democratic pollster Doug Schoen get to buy his brand of stupid?

UPDATE: As BarbinMD just reminded me, Broder will be crushed:

"Today, that tide may be carrying [Chuck Hagel] away from his Republican Party and toward a third-party or independent ticket with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- a development that could reshape the dynamics of the 2008 presidential race.  

[...]

John Kennedy liked to say that a rising tide lifts all boats. The Bloomberg-Hagel pairing would test that proposition."

ADDITIONAL UPDATE  This one's from Markos:
David Broder, July 1, 2007:

But the support for an independent has deeper roots than just antipathy to particular candidates. Doug Bailey, one of the leaders of Unity08, an organization planning an Internet "convention" to nominate an independent national ticket, said, "People sense the [political] system is broken, and this can't be like recent elections or we're really in trouble."

David Broder, August 26, 2007:

More than that, there is a palpable hunger among the public for someone who will attack the problems facing the country -- the war in Iraq, immigration, energy, health care -- and not worry about the politics [...] Unlike Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot, the last three significant independents to run, none of whom had spent a day in elective office, Bloomberg has solid governing experience and a commendable record of innovation and accomplishment in New York. He has the personal wealth to finance a campaign and people on his staff eager to run one. If he decides to go, he would add to the mix -- not distort or diminish it.

Yes, primary season is behind us (hopefully), but there's still a mess that has to be cleaned up ... namely the voter lists collected at public expense, but placed them off limits to possession by same-said public.

Today, according to a press release in Ye Olde Inbox, a judge has issued an injunction against the Secretary of State from distributing those lists.

"We are encouraged by this order barring the Secretary of State from sharing this information until the court has had ample time to review the merits of the case," said Thomas F. Wieder, ACLU of Michigan Cooperating Attorney. "It is our contention that the state cannot lawfully limit access to this information to the two major political parties while making it a crime for anyone else in the state to use or acquire this information."

This is one of those things that would appear -- on the face of it -- to fall into the category of "Well, duh," but here we are.

The federal lawsuit was brought by the ACLU on behalf of the Green, Reform, and Libertarian parties; the Metro Times; and a political consulting firm.

Here's a part of a piece on Gongwer regarding a recent interview Governor Granholm gave to Michigan Public Radio:

Asked on a radio call-in show if she thought the state suffered from an inferiority complex, Ms. Granholm said, "Yes, I do."

She did not blame the state for being down on itself given the ongoing economic problems, "but if we look at what this state has to offer, we have to have all hands on deck" to help rebuild the state.

As she travels around the nation and the world in search of companies looking to locate in the state, Ms. Granholm said she finds that people outside of Michigan do not have the negative impression of the state that its own residents have.

I've noticed quite a few people seem to be having that negative perception about Michigan, and not always because of the weather or the economy. What do you think? Have you seen a lot of people down about our state? How justified do you think it is?

Like the Guv, I don't blame people all that much given what's gone on. But how many other states have what we have?

Or maybe it's just a part of a general attitude people have toward where they live. Do Wisconsinites, Pennsylvanians, Tennesseans, etc., have the same attitudes about their home states as many Michiganders/Michiganians do?

Walt Starr might've made this point elsewhere, but I found it in a comment at MyDD;

Each day delegates were won Obama first, followed by Clinton

1/3 (IA) 16 - 15
1/8 (NH) 9 - 9
1/15 (MI) 0 - 0
1/19 (NV) 13 - 12
1/26 (SC) 25 - 12
1/29 (FL) 0 - 0
2/5 (SuperTuesday) 842 - 828 (11 still to be decided)
2/9 (LA, NE, WA, VI) 105 - 56
2/10 (ME) 15 - 9
2/12 (DA, DC, MD, VA) 111 - 57.5 (6.5 to be decided)
2/19 (HI,WI) 56 - 38

It's true -- this entire contest, Obama has never lost the delegate count. If it weren't for the superdelegates, Clinton would be looking at nine out of nine election days without a single delegate victory.

It's really hard to say this any better than Goldy does:

I know Dave Reichert and his buddies at the Seattle Times would like to present him as a "conscience driven independent," but exactly how independent he is can be measured by the degree to which the Bush White House has prioritized his reelection. When President Bush made his first fundraising visit of the cycle on behalf of a Republican incumbent, he flew cross-country to raise money for his friend and ally, Dave Reichert. And now that First Lady Laura Bush is making her first appearance on behalf of an incumbent, she too has followed her husband’s path.

That’s Dave Reichert — the Bush’s favorite congressman — and while you can’t blame him for happily sitting down to a $500 per person lunch with the First Lady at an exclusive Medina residence, he can’t blame us for doing our best to make him choke on it. And the best way to make him and his campaign gag on yet another White House funder, is to match this event donor for donor.

That’s why we’ve set a target of 250 new donors to Darcy Burner in response to today’s event, and the good news is that we’re already halfway there. The bad news is, we’re only halfway there.

Reichert is a Bush man through and through. Darcy Burner is a progressive Democrat, through and through.  Help us get her to Congress, and make Reichert choke on it.

On the Web:
Darcy Burner for Congress
Blue Majority ActBlue page

• Zogby admits that it's a piece of shit. And stupid, too.
• Every so often I get a particularly hilarious piece of winger mail, a piece so ridiculous it stands out from the rest and reaches that loftiest of perches -- hilarity.

  I don't understand your site.  So much unhappenist.  Hate GWB, fine.  Now HRC?  One of your own?  Forget the middle east.  Russia, China, and South America. all are after us.  We here in the USA, even without the muslium killers, are in danger from 3 or 4 fronts.  The US can be killed. Not by a missive nucular strike, it would only take two or three cities.  We would fold.  Civil war would rule.  Our country, would not be here anymore.  Where would be your dreams be then?  Sure our country has problems. If we give up our security to other enities, we will be distroyed.  The world wants it.  They don't need our help. No matter what.  Our freedom comes from us.  The world wants it.  It's ours to lose.

• My book will be published by new Penguin imprint called "Celebra". It has officially been unveiled. From the publishing industry newsletter Publishers Lunch:

  Penguin Adds Mainstream Hispanic Imprint
  Penguin Group announced their latest new imprint yesterday, Celebra, which will focus on "mainstream Hispanic personalities," beginning with yesterday's release of Geraldo Rivera's HIS PANIC: Why Americans Fear Hispanics. Run by publisher Raymond Garcia, who was associate publisher at Harper's Rayo, "the goal of the new imprint is to publish books for mainstream readers that will also resonate with the vast population of Hispanics in the United States."

  Garcia says in the announcement, "Hispanics are no longer a niche audience, but rather an integral and seamless part of today's mainstream America. With Penguin's excellent reputation for marketing and distribution, I’m confident we will make a significant impact." Celebra will publish as a part of New American Library. Other authors for the line include Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Perez Hilton, real estate developer Jorge Perez, and DailyKos.com blogger Markos Moulitsas.

  You know what's cool about this? We aren't being pigeonholed into writing about "Hispanic" issues. Pengiun has simply decided to find and promote new Latino voices, but letting them do what they do best. It truly is an effort to mainstream our voices. It's quite the difference from Deborah Howell's efforts to segregate us at the Washington Post a couple of years ago:

  The Metro section needs a female columnist, and it also needs a columnist attuned to the region's burgeoning Latino communities. A Latino columnist could appear in the Extras since they are oriented toward counties and neighborhoods. Not all new voices have to be on the staff; they could be regular contributors. Metro's new Page Three could be used to bring in more female and minority voices.

  The point is not to toss excellent white male columnists; the point is to add more and lively voices to The Post.

• Super delegate John Lewis officially switches from Clinton to Obama.
• Funny.
• You know how the "reform" groups are always screaming about politicians doing favors for their donors and allies?

  To a fault, they have invested heavily in the McCain asset base: he has fought their fights, introduced their bills, promoted their regulatory agendas, helped them secure good press for this all. After so great a dependence on him, the costs of his diminished luster on reform issues are also theirs to pay [...]

  After all these years, in a sharp turn of the tables, these organizations are being asked to answer for a relationship with a politician that may have been too close, with too many favors traded, albeit for a cause that they all believed to be unimpeachably for the good.

• Indiana's wingnutosphere is dumber than most. And that's a real accomplishment in the party of Brock Olivo.

The easiest job in America?  Covering John McCain's run for the White House.  The only requirement is to report what he says, remind America that he is a straight talker,  blatantly ignore anything that interferes with that narrative, and then get home to write that novel.  

Yesterday a rightwing radio hack with a history of making outrageous, hateful remarks about Barack Obama, warmed up the crowd for a McCain campaign event by repeatedly emphasizing "Hussein," calling him a hack, tossed in an insult to Madeline Albright's looks and hit the trifecta with a little homophobia.  All of this "delighted the 500 or so cheering Cincinnati Republicans," but John McCain was appalled.  So angry that long after his delighted and cheering fans had left, he decided to apologize for the remarks, because after all, he had no idea that this man would say anything like that.   Who would have thought that a man who has called Obama "Barack Mohammed Hussein Obama," who has said he was a one man "sleeper cell," and that it would be shocking to elect him in these "terrorist times," would ever say anything so hateful?  

And naturally, the press agrees. The Associated Press says that "McCain Disavows Comments About Obama," the New York Times tells us that "A Host Disparages Obama, and McCain Quickly Apologizes," while USA Today assures us that, "McCain rebukes radio host for Obama talk"   The Washington Post went along with the how-could-McCain-have-known-and-wasn't-that-a-great-apology route and threw in a little fair and balanced reporting:

Nonetheless, the exchange was an example of the already intense competition between McCain and Obama even before either has locked up his party's nomination.

The Post didn't explain how insults about Obama at a McCain event constituted "an exchange," but they did provide an example to show how this was an already intense competition...a quote from McCain's chief lobbyist campaign manager saying that Obama had "broken his word to the American public."  

Of course the media-love wouldn't be complete without Fox News giving us some deep thoughts from Saint John:

Though he vowed that attacks on Sen. Barack Obama’s background..."will never happen again," Sen. John McCain acknowledged late Tuesday that he is concerned that he may be unable to control all of his supporters—especially third party groups.

"We’re aware of many of the things that 527s have done...where unlimited amounts of money can pour into negative campaigns such as we saw against John Kerry and his combat record, as we saw against (former Senator) Max Cleland...they’re really very not accountable to anyone."

It seems this might have been a good time to mention that when there was a Sense of the Senate resolution saying that:

In 2002, a Senator from Georgia who is a Vietnam veteran, triple amputee, and the recipient of a Silver Star and Bronze Star, had his courage and patriotism attacked in an advertisement in which he was visually linked to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein;

This attack was aptly described by a Senator and Vietnam veteran as ``reprehensible''...

...John McCain voted against it.  Nah.  That would make him seem like a hypocrite.  

Not one of our champions of journalistic integrity thought it was worth mentioning the long history of divisive, hateful language by this radio hack.  And why would they?  John McCain said he had no idea and he's a straight talker, so...end of story.

Great stories coming out of the Lone Star state.

First of all, if you want more evidence that Clinton is being done in by her campaign, there's this blog post from TV reporter Elise Hu in Austin.

Since the arrival of the competing presidential campaigns, I have had a difficult time getting a hold of the Clinton campaign's Texas press contact, Adrienne. It's rather difficult to include the Clinton campaign in stories when we cannot connect. For example...

-- A February 8th email to establish first contact went unreturned.
-- A call and voicemail message on February 13th regarding office openings went unreturned.

This morning, I called for a response on the House Democratic Caucus leaders taking issue with Clinton's comments about Texas not being in her "electoral calculation" in November. Adrienne responded with, "Oh, Lord," and said she would call back once she found out more about the dust-up, and I never heard from her again.

Not encouraging if you're a Clinton partisan or, well, Hillary Clinton herself.

Next up, for you Texas readers, Anna will be doing an online texas convention training this Friday afternoon on Daily Kos. If you're a Texan and want to know how the whole system works, anna will help you out. And as a bonus, she sent me this report from the ground:

and let me just add to what karl sent you last night about the obama campaign doing more to rebuild the party in two weeks than the party's done in years.... he's 1000% right.

we have - in tarrant county alone - 3400 volunteers and over 600 precinct captains.  that means that we could fill almost every single precinct captain spot in tarrant county.  one of our goals has been to ask these volunteers to continue to serve their local parties, and we are urging our precinct captains to become precinct chairs where ever there is an empty spot. if our people will fill the empty spots, we could have a precinct chair in every precinct in tarrant county for the first time in over 15 years.

we have also been conducting multiple caucus training sessions around tarrant county over the past week, and these will continue through next weekend.  i have yet to attend a training event where less than 250 people showed up.  if just half of that 250 showed up to one County Executive Committee meeting, we could literally have a majority voting block and take back our county party. this was one goal of howard dean's campaign and it is being fully realised with the obama campaign.

our outgoing county chair showed up at our first training session - 400 attendees showed up on two day's notice - and was floored.  although he's on team hillary, he could not help but be amazed at what we were doing. i know because i asked him.  i told him i knew he was team hillary, but asked what he thought of our event.  to paraphrase, he said (and told me i could quote him on this) that he and Garry Mauro (one of Clinton's top Texans) go way back and he couldn't exactly walk away from that history, but he could see which campaign was stirring people.  that was two weeks ago when we were in our infancy stages.

another thing that i keep hearing from the paid staff is how amazed they are at the infrastructure that our local volunteers created. before our paid staff arrived, we had a volunteer mailing list consisting of a few hundred people.  we sent out the call for office space, supplies, homes for the staff, crews to prepare the offices, etc etc.  in less than one week, we volunteers - working without the support of our county party - prepped and created two primo locations out of whole cloth. all our staff had to do was literally show up and get to work. this allowed them to concentrate on what they do best: running the ground game. i strongly suspect that tarrant county - which has been a republican stronghold for over a decade - is going to suprise everyone on march 4th.

Inspiring stuff, no doubt. And that YouTube above? Thank anna for putting it together.

Last November Gov. Granholm and Michael R. DeVos, Executive Director of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), launched the "Save the Dream" campaign to protect Michigan families and keep consumers in their homes. This public awareness campaign is intended to help citizens avoid foreclosure and stabilize our state's turbulent housing market.

As the Democratic Vice-Chairman of the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee, I recently helped usher the bills implementing the Save the Dream initiative through the committee process.

One of the main goals of the Save the Dream campaign is to establish an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) Refinance Program that will help homeowners switch to a lower-interest, fixed-rate loan. These ARM's have been one of the major factors contributing to our state's foreclosure crisis, which is why I am proud to have sponsored Senate Bill 948 to make sure homeowners in this state can transition into a stable, long-term mortgage that they can actually afford.
The Rescue Refinance Program, another important feature of the initiative, will assist individuals who have a delinquency on their mortgage and face foreclosure. With the recent news that several major equity firms were writing off billions in losses because of the foreclosure crisis, it's clear that everyone has a vested interest in keeping consumers in their homes. By stabilizing the housing market, we can also stabilize the mortgage industry.

In order to qualify for these new loan products, homeowners must meet the same income and sales requirements as other MSHDA programs. While homeowners will still be responsible for paying off the full value of their refinanced mortgages, these programs will be aggressively priced below market rates, benefiting the most at-risk families.

I have been working diligently with my colleagues Sen. Buzz Thomas (D-Detroit), and Sen. Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) along with many other Democratic Senators in combating this housing crisis for more than a year. Each of us has introduced legislation that will protect consumers from fraudulent lenders, improve financial literacy and restore professionalism to both the lending and the appraisal process. Governor Granholm has shown a willingness to sign these bills as fast as we can pass them, so the sooner we act the better.

I appreciate the cooperation of Sen. Richardville (R-Monroe) and my colleagues on the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee as we lead a bipartisan effort to stem the tide of foreclosures. Protecting the American dream of home ownership is critical to the future of our state. The tasks of revitalizing Michigan's economy and creating jobs will be even more challenging if we do not take aggressive action to protect the families by helping to keep them in their homes.

To learn more about MSHDA's Save the Dream campaign, log onto http://www.michigan.gov/mshda and click on the "Save the Dream" link. The site includes tips on how homeowners can avoid foreclosure, answers general questions about the process, provides links on who to contact for advice, and offers advice on managing credit.  Also, current as well as prospective homeowners can contact MSHDA toll-free at 866-946-7432.

In the video below, you can watch a brief clip of Sen. Hunter discussing this legislation:

State Senator Tupac A. Hunter (D-Detroit) represents the 5th District which comprises northwest Detroit (in part), Dearborn Heights, and Inkster.  He serves as the Assistant Democratic Leader and the Ranking Democrat on the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee.

(Cross-posted on Call of the Senate Democrats)

(Bumped -- kos)

The right is increasingly afraid of losing the battle over telco amnesty, and has been throwing everything they've got at the hold out Dems in Congress. They've spread the lie that this issue is about protecting American from the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal and WaPo to television sets across the nation.

Now they're using veterans to do their dirty work. The American Legion, the veterans' community-service organization that represents the men and women who have fought for their country and their Constitution, is urging those men and women to push Congress to pass the Protect AT&T Act.

“Since this war began, the Congress has done an exemplary job of ensuring that the nation’s fighting men and women are the best-trained and best-equipped military ever in American history,” National Commander Conatser wrote. “Today, The American Legion asks you to continue this precedent by equipping the intelligence assets with the necessary tools needed to provide these dedicated troops the very best information available by timely enactment of S.2248, The Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA).”...

“It defies all common sense to give lawsuits a higher priority than national security,” Conatser said. “The American people expect Congress to protect America, not the lawsuit lobby. This surveillance is aimed at terrorists who want to kill innocent Americans. The government is not interested in phone calls that you make to Aunt Sally.”

The American Legion has acted as a tool of the Republicans lots of times, but this takes the cake. Let's look at the lies. First, the Republican Congress was just a little bit lax when it came to ensuring that the troops in Iraq were even adequately equipped. Second, the House RESTORE Act contains all of the "necessary tools" for intelligence that S. 2248 has. It just doesn't protect AT&T, nor does it allow the administration to cover up its lawbreaking. Third, and this one has to be repeated an awful lot, apparently, the ACLU and the Electronic Frontiers Foundation are not the lawsuit lobby. Fourth, whether or not the government is interested in your calls to Aunt Sally, they might have listened in. For no good reason and, this is the important part, illegally.

Did the veterans of America's wars really fight so that AT&T could break the law without being punished? So that their government could illegally spy on anyone they want to, and get away with it? Somehow I don't think so. It's a real shamethat the American Legion, the organization that is supposed to be representing them and helping to get legislation that really benefits them (like more body armor, like fully funded veterans care, like adequate treatment for brain injuries and PTSD) is instead lying to them.

If you're a veteran and are opposed to giving AT&T a free pass for breaking the law, please let the American Legion know that they don't speak for you. Call them at (202) 861-2700 or use this contact page.

And if you aren't a veteran, but want to combat all of the calls and e-mails that will be going to Congress as a result of the American Legion's effort, why not just go ahead and use the toll free numbers they have to call your Congress person and Senators and tell them you don't want AT&T to get off the hook.

Call toll free to the Capitol Switchboard: 1-877-851-6437, 1-800-828-0498, or 1-800-614-2803.  Ask for the office you would like to speak to.  You can also request that one office transfer you to the next office.  Most staff members are happy to do so.