H/T Bob Ceska's Awesome Blog:

Best Person Of the Week:

Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) for proposing an amendment banning Medicare. The Republicans, who claim to be loudly opposed to government-run healthcare, voted against the amendment.

Discussing the ramifications of investigating CIA torture, Rove told Reuters:

Karl Rove, who was a top aide to former President George W. Bush, accused Obama of seeking to conduct "show trials" a day after the president left open the possibility of prosecuting officials who provided legal analysis of interrogation procedures.

Rove told Reuters: "If the Obama administration insists on criminalizing policy disagreements, how can they place any limits on who they prosecute?"

"Everyone in the interrogation process would have to be treated the same," he said, including the CIA agents, the physicians who monitored interrogation sessions, and the lawyers who researched and wrote the memos.

The chain could reach "to the leadership of the intelligence community to the legislators in both parties and the Bush administration officials who were briefed on these memos and agreed to them," he said. [Emphasis added. - Ed.]

"It is now clear that the Obama White House didn't think before it tried to appease the hard left of the Democratic Party," Rove said.

So be it, says I! Throw them all out and start fresh is rapidly becoming my new mantra.

March 10, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC- Following a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing today on Rebuilding Economic Security: Empowering Workers to Restore the Middle Class, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released the following statement:  

“In my judgment, it is appropriate at this hearing to discuss the Employee Free Choice Act, but also the trauma that the American family is living through in this recession.  We need to talk about helping to provide economic security for families who don’t have it.  One of the best ways to ensure economic security for workers and their families is for that worker to be a member of a union.

“The other side has done a good job of making their arguments.  I give them credit for their political skill -- even if their arguments are not always accurate. 

“What you don’t hear is that the Employee Free Choice Act actually gives workers two different ways to choose whether to form a union: through an election process or through majority sign up.  The choice is up to the workers.

The banking crisis explained so anyone can understand it, without insulting your intelligence.

Only on NPR's This American Life!

The collapse of the banking system explained, in just 59 minutes. Our crack economics team—the guys who explained the mortgage crisis, Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson—are back to help all of us understand the news. For instance, when we talk about an insolvent bank, what does it actually mean, and why are we giving hundreds of billions of dollars to rich bankers who screwed up their own businesses? Also, two guys go to New Jersey to look at a toxic asset.

Click here to listen.

On TPM Muckraker:

Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday
night -- about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a
local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue
stranded victims?

Turns out it wasn't actually, you know, true.

Is anyone surprised?

In the current issue of Harper's Magazine, Ben Metcalf expresses his delight in paying at least a small amount toward America's ability to wreak havoc on the less well-armed populations of the world...

I have, from the comfort of my couch, made the nations to cower before me. I have, during commercial break trips to the bathroom, left whole continents behind me in ruin. I have watched through bored and sleepy eyes as the millions came begging for mercy, and I have, without ever lifting a finger, but only allowing one to descend upon a button of my remote, turned my plump and kingly thumb down.

From Eli Pariser:

Dear MoveOn member,

With hundreds of thousands of ballots cast across the country, for the first time in MoveOn's history, we've voted together to endorse a presidential candidate in the primary. That candidate is Barack Obama.

Something big is clearly happening. A few weeks ago, MoveOn members we surveyed were split. But with John Edwards bowing out, progressives are coming together. Obama won over 70% of the vote yesterday, and he's moving up in polls nationwide.

As comments poured in from MoveOn members across the country, the sense of hope was inspiring. Here's how Christine Y. in New Jersey put it: "I've never felt so strongly about any one candidate in my entire life. He's truly an inspiration to all of us-especially the younger generation. I will stand by him 100% for as long as he's willing to stand up and fight for this country!"

by Greg Palast

Here’s your question, class:

In his State of the Union, the President asked Congress for $300 million for poor kids in the inner city. As there are, officially, 15 million children in America living in poverty, how much is that per child? Correct! $20.

Here’s your second question. The President also demanded that Congress extend his tax cuts. The cost: $4.3 trillion over ten years. The big recipients are millionaires. And the number of millionaires happens, not coincidentally, to equal the number of poor kids, roughly 15 million of them. OK class: what is the cost of the tax cut per millionaire? That’s right, Richie, $287,000 apiece.