Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

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Archives for 2009

Lovin’ It

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All these rumors have me cracking up:

Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge (R) is seriously considering a 2010 bid for the Senate seat held by Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter and will make his decision in the next two weeks, according to several sources familiar with his thinking.

Ridge is perhaps the state’s most decorated Republican, having held a House seat for more than a decade, spent eight years as governor and served as the first secretary of homeland security under President George W. Bush. He was also mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in 2008.

If he ran, he would almost certainly face primary opposition from former congressman Pat Toomey, a conservative who came within two points of knocking off Specter in the 2004 Republican primary. Toomey has made it clear that he is in the race regardless of whether Ridge, who is considered to be a moderate, runs.

Polling suggests that Ridge would be more competitive than Toomey against Specter, who left the GOP last week, in a general election. In a new survey by Quinnipiac University, Specter leads Ridge by a narrow margin of 46 percent to 43 percent, while he holds a 20-point margin over Toomey.

To recap, Specter, who voted with the Republicans 70% of the time, was essentially pushed out of the party for his stimulus vote. They will then run the reactionary lunatic Pat Toomey, who can never win the general election. Deciding that doesn’t make sense after seeing polling data suggesting Ridge will be more competitive, the idea of Ridge running is floated. Small problem. Ridge isn’t an anti-abortion fanatic, which means that he is also a dread RINO. This will be fun to watch.

Having said all that, I have been less than impressed with Joe Sestak’s little shtick the past few days, showing up on every talk show possible and hinting that Specter isn’t a real Democrat and the like. He has a D after his name. He is a real Democrat. Now, if you don’t think he is a good fit for the Democratic party, and think you would be a better Senator, then run. But quit playing these little games. You’re an admiral, for goodness sakes. Quit sounding so whiny.

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Stress Tests

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Krugman:

But that just adds to the bad feeling about all this. Even Brad DeLong, who has been relatively sympathetic to the administration here, is disturbed by the idea that regulators are negotiating with the banks about the test results. Now it seems as if the report’s contents may also be dictated by what, based on the response to leaks, the informed public is willing to swallow. (”Would you believe it if we say Citi is fine? OK, what if we say they need $5 billion? Not enough? How about 10?”)

I hope I’m not being too cynical here. But it would be nice if the administration would, just once, do something to dispel that cynicism.

I heard one report on NPR last week that essentially the banks were arguing with the administration about the outcome of the stress tests, and that is why the results were pushed back a week. That really inspired confidence, and I hope they don’t give students everywhere ideas.

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The Other Victims in Our Ownership Society

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What happens when the push to by a home causes all sorts of bad behavior and wrecks the economy? Renters get screwed, too:

A registered nurse came close to losing her $1,550-a-month apartment on the Upper East Side after being let go from two jobs in three months. A woman found herself dipping into a 401(k) to keep her $3,375 unit in Peter Cooper Village after her husband was laid off in February from his six-figure marketing job. A father of two with an M.B.A. and a law degree owed $5,400 in back rent in Stuyvesant Town after he struggled to find steady work and lent money to his wife’s family.

Lawyers, judges and tenant advocates say the staggering economy has sent an increasing number of middle-class renters across New York City to the brink of eviction, straining the legal and financial services of city agencies and charities. Suddenly, residents of middle-class havens like Rego Park in Queens and Riverdale in the Bronx are crowding into the city’s already burdened housing courts, long known as poor people’s court.

Even some affluent people in high-end places are finding themselves facing off with landlords. One man, laid off by Merrill Lynch, was forced to move out of his $5,700 apartment in TriBeCa, owing $20,000 in back rent. Todd Nahins, a lawyer who represents owners of luxury residential buildings, has been busy negotiating payment plans for tenants in arrears.

Although I will say this- just the idea of paying $3,375 a month in rent gives me chest pains.

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What’s the end game here?

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One thing I haven’t read much about is how the Specter switch impacts the Franken-Coleman thing:

“This makes it pretty darn important,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, of the race following Specter’s switch. “I expect they will pursue the appeals until they are exhausted, whenever that may be. … I would assume if they were unsuccessful in the Minnesota Supreme Court, there may very well be an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are planning a full-scale public pressure campaign to force Coleman to concede should the court affirm a three-judge panel’s ruling that Al Franken is the winner. Democrats have already begun using the race’s elevated importance to raise money, and they’re mounting a fresh campaign to pressure Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, to sign an election certificate once the state Supreme Court rules.

“Pawlenty’s signature is very, very important,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee, which oversees election disputes. “We expect it to happen after the Supreme Court of Minnesota rules. …. If he refuses to sign, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

I will not be at all surprised if Scalia-Kennedy-Roberts-Thomas-Kennedy-Alito find a way to reverse the results and seat Coleman. I just hope that Franken has the dignity to deal with this in a bipartisan way.

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Objectively Pro-Corporate Tax Cheats

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If you listen closely, you can hear the screams beginning:

Members of the business community today are starting to sound off in opposition to President Obama’s new plan to crack down on offshore tax evasion, denouncing the initiative as a “foolish” program that would do more harm than good.

Critics argue the president’s effort to raise taxes on the overseas profits of U.S. companies could damage U.S. multinational corporations.

“His proposals would put American corporations at a great disadvantage, which is a very foolish policy in a competitive global marketplace,” said Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute.

Announced earlier today, the Obama administration’s two-part plan would remove tax deductions for companies that take jobs overseas and reduce the amount of taxes lost to overseas tax havens.

“If financial institutions won’t cooperate with us, we will assume that they are sheltering money in tax havens and act accordingly,” Obama said in announcing the plan today in Washington, adding that the government will also hire 800 new IRS agents to enforce it.

Not only is closing these loopholes the right thing to do, but it should be fun watching the Republican party and the entire right-wing blogosphere coming out as objectively pro-corporate tax cheats and pro corporate tax loopholes. Should be fun.

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The Bush Legacy Project

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They’ve been busy shaking down the plutocrats for one last roll in the hay:

George W. Bush often has said that historians will vindicate his presidency. And since he left office, he’s moving fast to give them the tools.

Longtime financial backers of the 43rd president have raised more than $100 million for a presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas that will house his official papers, sources close to Bush told TIME. Much of the money was collected in the 100 days or so since Bush left the White House, a pace much faster than that of his recent predecessors. At least so far, none of it has come from overseas, the sources said. (See pictures of George W. Bush as president.)

The Bush fundraising effort, compared to that of his predecessor, is off to a brisk start. Bill Clinton’s library planners had hoped to receive pledges of $100 million within a year of the end of his presidency, but a pardons scandal delayed that achievement for another year, said Skip Rutherford, who chaired the Clinton library committee.

All those Dick Cheney interviews and appearance by Bush lackeys makes sense now, doesn’t it? Had to keep a high profile so the boss could get his loot.

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