Yesterday I caught up on replying to comments and returning visits. It feels good to be up to date again. I should have no trouble keeping up today.
Jig-Zone Puzzle:
Today this handsome puzzle took me 3:05. To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football:
To join our fantasy football league, click here. We still need 5 more players to keep our league.
Short Takes:
From Alternet: Democratic Governor Joe Manchin named former counsel Carte Goodwin, 36, to fill Byrd’s seat pending a special election in November.
Goodwin will take office Tuesday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement.
Welcome Mr. Goodwin. Your presence is needed desperately.
From Common Dreams: Last month was the hottest June ever recorded worldwide and the fourth consecutive month that the combined global land and sea temperature records have been broken, according to the US government’s climate data centre.
Even though some places are cooler than normal, tracking global averages shows a clear upward trend. In spite of that, Republicans oppose energy legislation. And sadly…
From Politico: Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska said Thursday he would not support a procedural vote later this month to begin debate on a climate bill that includes a cap on electric utility emissions, a declaration that underscores the tough climb that Majority Leader Harry Reid will have in trying to cobble together a 60-vote supermajority on the controversial issue.
We need to rename him Ulysses Nelson, so we can call him Useless for short.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is advising the White House not to put Elizabeth Warren in charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — a watchdog agency she invented!
Can you sign our urgent petition to the President?
PETITION TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Elizabeth Warren has proven that she is willing to stand up to Wall Street on behalf of consumers and is the logical choice to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Tim Geithner is a longtime Wall Street insider, and if he’s recommending against Elizabeth Warren that’s all the more reason to appoint her.
We have been covering the US Constitution line by line. When Republicans wave their paper props and parrot their vile machinations, we will be prepared to expose the lies. We have finished the main body of the Constitution. Now we continue with the Amendments. You can find the last article on the main body of the Constitutionhere. It has links to all the others. The text comes fromThe US Constitution. Previous articles in the Amendment series:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Article V deals with Criminal Defense. Except for people in the military, now covered by the UCMJ, we may not be prosecuted for a crime unless a grand jury, made up of other citizens, agrees that there is sufficient evidence to warrant it. We may not be tried twice for the same offence once acquitted. We may not be required to incriminate ourselves. We are guaranteed due process of law. Government may not confiscate our property without just compensation.
Two sections of this are controversial.
In cases involving prostitution, government is confiscating Johns’ autos. In cases involving drugs, government is confiscating property it deems to be acquired with drug profits. Although both practices have been held up in the courts, they do violate the Constitution. Diminishing this right is a Republican priority.
The Miranda warning arises from the right against self incrimination. Recently SCOTUS Republican extremists decided 5-4 that police and prosecutors need only assert that they read a suspect his rights and the suspect refused to sign off on it, even if the suspect denies it. This was a bad decision. Given a long record of police abuse of suspects’ rights, proof must be requires. If a suspect refuses to sign the Miranda form, videotaping that refusal is easy enough to do.
I shall try to put up a new article in this series almost every day. It will take some time to cover it all, but when we’re done, we shall be immune to the lies with which Republicans seek to undermine our freedoms.
Financial Reform was a hard fight. Now that we have won, what did we get?
It’s done. The Senate this afternoon, by a vote of 60-39 passed the final version of Wall Street reform legislation — the exact same version the House passed two weeks ago, which will now go the White House for a signature. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that the President plans to sign the bill next week.
The development, though expected for days, represents a major achievement for President Obama and congressional Democrats — their first landmark bill since health care. And this time it’s actually popular…
…As the 60th vote, Brown harnessed his extraordinary leverage in the final stages of the legislative process, and used it to demand carve-outs for major Massachusetts financial firms and delay final passage of the bill by weeks. Before the July 4th recess, Democrats were forced to take the unusual step of reconvening their financial reform conference committee to remove a bank tax, after Brown and Collins threatened to pull their support. (That tax was replaced with new revenue raisers, including one that brings the 2008 bailout bill to an early end.)
The yearlong debate over reform was marked, as so many initiatives have been, by ultimately ineffective stabs at bipartisan cooperation, which gave way after months to the Democrats’ ultimate strategy of plucking off enough moderate Republicans to pass the bill.
Despite the internal dissent among Democrats, the bill accomplishes some of the party’s biggest reform goals. It creates a resolution authority for the federal government to ease failed firms through the liquidation process — an authority former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson says would have helped him and the country a great deal during the financial crisis of 2008.
It will force big firms to move their risky derivatives-trading businesses into external affiliates where they’ll receive no federal protections — a provision authored during primary season by conservative Democrat Blanche Lincoln, and preserved in large part because her primary challenger, Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, gave her a run for her money and forced her to tack left.
It creates a new consumer financial protection bureau, housed inside the Federal Reserve, which will regulate financial products and protect consumers from predatory financial practices. It ends — or will soon end — major conflicts of interest on Wall Street, and strictly limits the extent to which big banks can make risky trades with their profits. And, in a huge coup for progressive and conservative populists, it allows a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve’s non-monetary policy operations, including the actions it took during the dark days of the crisis… [emphasis added]
The Republican response was completely predictable: NO!
First on the list for Boehner, should he regain control of the House, is repealing the entirety of the Affordable Care Act. Second, the not-yet-signed-into-law financial reform bill:
"I think it ought to be repealed," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, in response to a question from TPMDC, at his weekly press conference this morning.
One of his top lieutenants, Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence agrees. "We hope [the Senate vote] falters so we can start over," Pence told TPMDC yesterday. "I think the reason you’re not hearing talk about efforts to repeal the permanent bailout authority is because the bill hasn’t passed yet."
Of course, there’s no such thing as a permanent bailout authority. There never has been. There is a resolution fund, paid by the large financial institutions themselves if needed, so that, you know, taxpayers won’t have to foot that bill again. But Boehner and Pence have never let a little thing like the truth get in their way… [emphasis added]
In the end, this bill does not go far enough. However, it achieves more than I expected, especially given the extreme efforts of the banking lobby and the Republican Party in opposition. We have more to do, but we can chalk this one up in the win column. It may be the straw that saved the donkey’s back.
The ongoing war still has more support than I would like to see, but will it matter?
Here are the results of a new poll:
Some 44 percent of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama’s handling of the war in Afghanistan, a significant rise from earlier this year, according to a CBS news poll released Thursday.
In CBS’s last poll in May, only 37 percent of those questioned disapproved of the president’s approach to the conflict now in its ninth year.
Some 43 percent of those polled approve of Obama’s policies, about the same as the 44 percent who said they approved in May. But the number of undecideds dropped from 19 percent to 13 percent.
A majority of Americans believe the war is going either "somewhat" or "very badly" (62 percent) jumped from 49 percent in May…
I have to that the case for war can be somewhat compelling. In a special report, Rachel Maddow, who recently traveled to Afghanistan, presented the case for war in a clear and unbiased matter. Then she came to the same conclusion I have repeatedly expressed for the same reason.
Any COIN strategy cannot outperform the quality and integrity of the government that strategy is supporting. No matter how pure our intentions, no matter how good a job out troops do (and the have performed admirably), no matter how many skirmishes we win, etc., in the end we’re left with Hamid Karzai. Now freed from serving the purpose for which he was installed, to be the puppet for GW Bush and the Republican party, he now serves a purpose almost equally corrupt, his own self-interest. With the scant quality and zero integrity his government provides, we have an unreachable goal. To ask more troops to be killed and maimed in such a scenario is wrong.
Yesterday preparing an article and other activities for my volunteer work added to medical appointments took up the bulk of my time. Nevertheless, I did keep up with comments. Today I plan to attack a big backlog of visits to return.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today it took me 3:47. To do it, click here. How did you do?
Fantasy Football:
With left than a month before the draft, we’re stalled at six players out of twelve needed. Unless we get the other six, our league will be cancelled, so we are desperate for more. To join our fantasy football league, click here.
Short Takes:
From TPM: D.C.’s highest court has ruled against opponents of the city’s same-sex marriage law, saying they cannot ask voters to overturn it.
There’s good news for the voices of sanity.
From Common Dreams: BP engineers on Thursday stopped oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since April as they shut all valves on a new cap placed on top of a fractured wellhead, a BP official said.
Although we’re still in the testing phase, this is encouraging. Pray that the rest of the plumbing doesn’t leak and that the relief well, now 37 feet away successfully bottom fills the GOP gusher.
From Huffington Post: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that the Senate would vote move forward with reauthorizing unemployment benefits on Tuesday morning, after the replacement for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has been sworn in.
We have been covering the US Constitution line by line. When Republicans wave their paper props and parrot their vile machinations, we will be prepared to expose the lies. We have finished the main body of the Constitution. Now we continue the Amendments. You can find the last article on the main body of the Constitution here. It has links to all the others. The text comes from The US Constitution. Previous articles in the Amendment series:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The meaning of this Amendment is clear, and forms part of the basis of our right to privacy.
Sadly this Amendment had also been gutted. If police officers falsely claim that they have probable cause, they search without a warrant. For example, when Nixon was President, I was driving in New Mexico toward Las Cruces from El Paso, TX. It was a business trip and my van contained carpet samples and carpet handling equipment. A highway patrol unit pulled me over. They asked if I had been in Mexico. I told them I had not. The asked if I was smuggling drugs. I said No. They asked for permission to search my van. I said no. One officer turned to the other: “Is that marijuana I smell?” “It smells like it to me!” said the other in mock exaggeration. They cuffed me, put me in the back of their car and proceeded to search the van. They found nothing. I had no pot. They let me out, removed the cuffs, and left me with my completely unloaded van on the highway, without so much as an apology.
Such illegal searches happen in this country every day, because the right-wing Supreme Court keeps upholding such unconstitutional searches as legal, when they clearly are not.
But my experience is nothing compared to the massive invasion of our privacy by GW Bush and his illegal wiretapping on telephone conversations, email, and other Internet traffic of virtually all Americans.
We need to restore this essential part of our civil rights. Republicans want to further limit this right.
I shall try to put up a new article in this series almost every day. It will take some time to cover it all, but when we’re done, we shall be immune to the lies with which Republicans seek to undermine our freedoms.
Yesterday I shared how the entire Republican Party if off the deep end about balancing the budget. It’s a rare day when I cover something in the morning and both Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow do the same afternoon. Here’s their take on it.
