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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Tag Archives | environment

Pres. Obama Already has Your Vote and He Knows It

By on 02 February 2012

This article was first published for U.S. News & World Report, under the title “Time for a Tea Party of the Left”.

President Obama takes his base for granted on issues like the Bush tax cuts, Plan B, and the economy

Here we are at the beginning of Pres. Obama’s reelection and what do we find? The Bush tax cuts that, back in 2008, candidate Obama pledged he’d fight to repeal, but which as president he extended. Considering not extending them began as his base position, three years into his first term it’s not too much to ask how Democrats allowed themselves to get twisted into this policy pretzel.

That’s exactly where Obama’s got his Democratic and progressive base, which has absolutely no resemblance to the Tea Party, who began challenging the Republican establishment back during George W. Bush’s term. The efforts finally ended up making history in 2010, with state legislatures across the country went Republican. It started an assault on the middle class, unions, as well as a war on women’s freedoms that ended up turning Wisconsin and Ohio upside down, but boy did it change the debate.

Now Newt Gingrich, once a speaker of the House, is running on an anti-establishment, anti-Washington platform spouting Tea Party populism as the new change message. In South Carolina, Newt sang the Tea Party’s tune and the right wing base rewarded him with a win, leaving the establishment mouths agape.

Where’s the Democratic version of the Tea Party? You’d think after Obama’s anti-progressive economics, foreign policy, and adoption of Bush antiterrorism policies (though to a more methodically lethal, anti-progressive effect), the Democratic base would have taken the Tea Party template and run with it by now.

Obama got away with the healthcare plan, which was bargained behind closed doors with private insurance and drug companies, manifesting a product that hasn’t kept costs down. He negotiated with himself, as he did on the stimulus, instead of using the majority he had in Congress to press the case for a public option that would have tackled healthcare costs, our biggest foe. It was never considered.

When Obama recently decided not to relax restrictions on the emergency contraceptive Plan B, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi gave him a pass, while the Colorado Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, a member of the so called “Pro-Choice Caucus,” stated she was “disappointed.” There are never any repercussions for such decisions on the left, while repercussions have defined the Tea Party and its power on the right.

Understand that Plan B has nothing to do with abortion. It simply makes a female’s womb inhospitable for implantation and has been found absolutely safe by the F.D.A. However, as an ode to independents in an election season, Obama made a decision that any Republican would have made.

But not to worry, a carrot wasn’t far behind. The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that universal contraceptive coverage will now be part of every employer healthcare plan, with religious-affiliated hospitals and institutions getting a one-year delay to comply. It could have been done earlier, but an election year is prime time.

During the debate around Bowles-Simpson, entitlement “reform” was broached first by Obama, with cost-of-living increases on Social Security being considered by the White House. That this would hit women hardest and put them in poverty was evidently missed by the administration. It was scuttled when all hell broke loose.

There wasn’t a woman in the room during the debt ceiling debate, a time when entitlement “reforms” were being considered. Pelosi was only added after women’s groups held a conference call and writers started complaining.

Obama also cut home heating assistance for the poor at a time when the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are in place.

During Obama’s first term, he’s sucked on the straw of cutting the deficit, while ignoring Democratic economics. The bully pulpit for progressive economics wasn’t used until re-election season, when he took to the stage at Osawatamie, Kan., channeling the Occupy Wall Street message while launching his 2012 campaign.

There’s the latest action on the Keystone XL Pipeline, at least a short-term win, but it’s not like he came out with gusto against it. Obama said no for now then blamed the Republicans for not giving him enough time to consider the environmental impact. Activists from the grass roots to Robert Redford applauded. We don’t even know if it’s a definite decision.

The Democratic base has a passive-aggressive relationship with Obama that resembles a dysfunctional love affair. He has all the power and the base has absolutely none, unless you count the gay and lesbian contingent which was as good a model as the Tea Party on how to get it done. It’s not that progressives couldn’t have power; it’s that they refuse to wield any.

So they cannot pressure Obama at election time because he knows his Democratic base will be there. After all, they’re not the Tea Party. It doesn’t matter if they’re unhappy, all that matters is he’s got their vote and he knows it.

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Press Harassment Continues

By on 01 February 2012

“I’m within my First Amendment rights, and I’m being taken out,” Fox shouted as he was led away. – Josh Fox arrested at hearing, Politico

Josh Fox is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker. His documentary “Gasland” helped expose the dangers of unregulated natural gas fracking.

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Newt Gingrich Can’t Beat Barack Obama

By on 21 January 2012

NEWT GINGRICH WINS SOUTH CAROLINA

Memo to GOP Star Chamber. RE: Not Losing the *(&#! House and Senate GOP Majority w/ Newt Disaster. Time for a Secret Meeting. – Mike Murphy tweet

UPDATE (10:00 p.m.): Once again I want to make it very clear, I do not have a candidate in the race in 2012. I will not support any candidate this year. The headline is simply a statement based firmly in reality.

Romney got clocked in South Carolina. Gingrich was in full grandiosity swoon that doesn’t lend itself to synopsis. But his characterization of Pres. Obama is unrecognizable & loopy. GOTV jet engine for Democrats. If Newt doesn’t implode it’s a first. The graph on CNN with women & men listening in Florida went sky high for males, plus for women, but lower. Earlier, priceless Chris Matthews on Gingrich in Florida: “vibraphone of erogenous zones,” referring to playing all the ethnic richness of the state.

A great mentor of mine used to say you can’t win until you’ve lost the fear of failure. Mitt Romney as underdog, could he turn into a force? Republicans sure hope so.

Rick Santorum serves up working class red meat, making the pitch for vice president.

Ron Paul seems to be talking not just about 2012, but addressing what he hopes will be a revolutionary movement that will be passed, I believe, to his son Rand Paul.

_____original post below_____

America does not love Romney, but boy do they hate Newt. – Washington Examiner



The polling compilation from the Washington Examiner article linked above won’t surprise many, especially the girls around here.

Fox News, 1/12-1/14:
Obama, fav/unfav, 51%/46%, +5
Romney, fav/unfav, 45%/38%, +7
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 27%/56%, -29

CBS/NYT, 1/12-1/17:
Obama, fav/unfav, 38%/45%, -7
Romney, fav/unfav, 21%/35%, -14
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 17%/49%, -32

PPP, 1/13-1/17:
Obama, app/dis, 47%/50%, -3
Romney, fav/unfav, 35%/53%, -18
Gingrich, fav/unfav, 26%/60%, -34

Mr. Cool versus Mr. Ice Mitt Romney, who’s now trying to hold on instead of trying to win, at the very least represents the corporate Wall Street decay in both parties for all to see. There’s some educational benefits to this contest.

Mr. Cool versus Mr. Ick Newt Gingrich reveals the rot of Republicans, but it also lets Pres. Obama off the hook on any substantive challenge that won’t be reduced to race baiting “food stamp presidency” invective.

Maybe that’s what the America people have earned for their laziness and lack of involved citizenship. People don’t seem to care that indefinite detention is real and that we continue to hold people at Gitmo without trial, because we’re too squeamish to incarcerate them with murderers in maximum security prisons. The ideals on which this country was founded are less important than the fear factor pushed by both Democrats and Republicans, with Pres. Obama’s refusal to lead continually revealing what ails us.

Leading from behind didn’t start with the bombing of Libya, though it is the first time our sleepy national press picked up on it. Pres. Obama’s entire leadership style is to lead from behind so as not to put himself too far out in front on any issue. With a majority in Congress his first two years he negotiated with himself on the stimulus, while bargaining with private insurance and drug companies, never stepping out on health care, until he sided with Stupak for optics. Leading up to the 2010 midterms, Obama hung back on offering an economic message, then extended the Bush tax cuts when he got shellacked. On the Keystone Pipeline decision this week, it wasn’t made boldly on the side of principle and the potentially dangerous environmental impact; instead it was no for now, blaming his decision on Republicans who wouldn’t give him more time, with the win more to do with activists raising a ruckus than anything. On contraception, which could have easily been embedded earlier in ACA, the decision came down just yesterday on the heels of a report that had an Obama official warning that the budget to come wouldn’t be liked by the left. This requires warning? Pres. Obama works through delivering carrot (contraceptive coverage) and stick (scuttling Plan B) tactics that depend on his political needs (the coming budget to woo independents) and have a foundation in austerity, choosing conservatism as his guide.

However, up against Newt Gingrich little would matter beyond the ick factor of this despicable man.

When it comes to women, Mr. Ick, who’s always had a problem with female voters and for very good reasons, doesn’t stand a chance against Mr. Cool.

Oh, and the video above has gone viral. …as well it should. Did you hear those squeals?

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Romney Takes Big Lead in South Carolina

By on 15 January 2012

**UPDATED**

Mitt Romney’s opened a whopper of a lead in South Carolina. Who says negative attacks can’t work, this time in reverse, especially when they shoot as wildly as When Mitt Romney Came To Town, and go well wide of the mark.

The poll showed 37 percent of South Carolina Republican voters back Romney. Congressman Ron Paul and former Senator Rick Santorum tied for second place with 16 percent support.

Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, has fallen far back after holding a strong lead in South Carolina in December. He was in fourth place at 12 percent in the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

[update] However, the consensus is that though Mitt Romney is ahead, it’s not by nearly as much as the Reuters/IPSO’s poll claims.

As you’ll see from the video above, individual stories continue to follow Mitt Romney everywhere. One unemployed woman said God told her to find him, which resulted in Romney giving her cash.

“God didn’t tell me to go to nobody else, he told me to pray for Romney,” said Williams, when asked why she has decided to support Romney. “I listened to the Lord.”

Newt Gingrich is now getting booed for his efforts against Mitt Romney and capitalism.

It’s got to be a sobering moment for some Democratic partisans readying the confetti guns, thinking that Bain Capital will be an easy shoot and score for them. Scalpel approach could prove deadly, but when has any campaign not preferred a machete? I’m still not convinced there won’t be ways around it for Romney, especially since the people most appalled are very likely not going to vote for him anyway.

Rick Santorum got too little way too late from “150 Christian leaders, business leaders and conservative activists” who endorsed him yesterday.

From the in case you missed it on Friday files, Standard & Poor’s went wild, playing slasher Over There.

S&P lowered its long-term rating on Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Spain by two notches, and cut its rating on Austria, France, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia by one notch.

The move puts highly indebted Italy on the same BBB+ level as Kazakhstan and pushes Portugal into junk status.

The credit-rating agency affirmed the current long-term ratings for Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Americans for Prosperity, a Koch backed group, is doing a $5 million ad buy against Pres. Obama on Solyndra, which will hit during the State of the Union on January 24.

On SOPA, the White House tries to straddle the issue (I know, you’re shocked), while lawmakers are getting creamed by constituents (keep those emails and phone calls coming). From EFF:

Looks like proponents of the Internet Blacklist Bills are finally beginning to realize that they won’t be able to ram through massive, job-killing legislation without a fight. First, Sen. Patrick Leahy, sponsor of the PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA), announced on Thursday that he would recommend that the Senate further study the dangerous DNS blocking provisions in that bill before implementation. Then, a group of six influential senators wrote to Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, urging that the Senate slow down and postpone the upcoming vote on PIPA. Sen. Ben Cardin, a co-sponsor of PIPA, also took a measured stance against the bill, saying he “would not vote for final passage of PIPA, as currently written.” Cardin cited consituent activism as the primary reason for the about-face.

Oh, and if you’re thinking of seeing the film Iron Lady, you should reconsider.

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Crooks, Congress, Scalawags, and Spending

By on 17 December 2011

But after the vote, Casey and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) dismissed the Keystone project as “inside baseball,” arguing that middle-class families are more interested in getting a tax cut than an oil pipeline. [...] “I was responsible for putting it in this bill,” Reid said flatly. “That’s how legislation works. … Along with Manchin, Vermont Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, both members of the Democratic caucus, voted against the payroll package. – Politico

(Click on the picture for scathing Wall Street Journal article on Newt.)

In the complaint against the former Freddie Mac executives, the SEC alleged that they and Freddie Mac led investors to believe that the firm used a broad definition of subprime loans and was disclosing all of its Single-Family subprime loan exposure. Syron and Cook reinforced the misleading perception when they each publicly proclaimed that the Single Family business had “basically no subprime exposure.” Unbeknown to investors, as of December 31, 2006, Freddie Mac’s Single Family business was exposed to approximately $141 billion of loans internally referred to as “subprime” or “subprime like,” accounting for 10 percent of the portfolio, and grew to approximately $244 billion, or 14 percent of the portfolio, as of June 30, 2008. – SEC CHARGES FORMER FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC EXECUTIVES WITH SECURITIES FRAUD

 

The latest AP-GfK Poll shows the American electorate has very complicated feelings about Pres. Obama, as well as his challengers. It’s another poll that supports what I’ve been writing for months and months, as well as in my book. Yes, Pres. Obama is beatable, deserving challenges, with a majority of people believing he doesn’t deserve reelection. However, the alternative isn’t inspiring at all.

Although the public would prefer Obama be voted out of office, he fares relatively well in potential matchups with Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Another bit of good news for the Democrat: For the first time since spring, more adults said the economy got better in the past month than said it got worse.
The president’s approval rating on unemployment shifted upward — from 40 percent in October to 45 percent in the latest poll — as the jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent last month, its lowest level since March 2009.

But Obama’s approval rating on his handling of the economy overall remains stagnant: 39 percent approve and 60 percent disapprove.

The contest for who is more pro-Israel is now on. As Ben Smith noted in a piece this week, Ronald Reagan would have failed today’s GOP litmus test by a mile.

In Pres. Obama’s speech before the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism, a critical element to Israeli security was mostly left un-mined. From the New York Times:

Less than a year before the presidential election, a pattern is emerging. The Republicans will outdo themselves to say the most provocative things they can to demonstrate they love Israel more than anyone else. And President Obama will counter by saying as little as he can about the Palestinians.

Obama on the peace process:

“As president, I have never wavered in pursuit of a just and lasting peace — two states for two peoples; an independent Palestine alongside a secure Jewish State of Israel. I have not wavered and will not waver.”

That’s the bare minimum a U.S. president should ever say. However, anyone attempting to make the case that Pres. Obama is anti-Israel is standing in ideological quick sand.

Now over to the spending bill, which Politico characterizes as a “turning point,” with a report from Huffington Post saying Democrats are declaring victory:

The Democrats provided an extensive list of what they see as bragging points, saying the bill:

  • Prevents policy riders that would have restricted funding for Planned Parenthood and eliminated funding for Title X family planning programs, severely limiting women’s access to health care.
  • Prevents restrictions that would have reversed President Obama’s policy allowing family travel and money remittances to Cuba.
  • Saves 60,000 New Head Start slots created by the stimulus act and spends more than $550 million for the Race to the Top program.
  • Boosts the Student Aid Administration with nearly $50 million in new funding for loan servicing and collections.
  • Preserves the AmeriCorps program by stopping a GOP provision that would have cut the program.

They also pointed to a string of riders that were cut from the bill, including items that would have:

  • Barred use of funds for the CPSC’s public product safety database, SaferProducts.gov.
  • Cut federal funding of National Public Radio
  • Stopped a new military chaplain training curriculum written after the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
  • Ended the Home Affordable Modification Program, which aims to help homewoners avoid foreclosure
  • Prohibited use federal funds to develop and finalize EPA rules naming coal ash as a hazardous waste
  • Stopped the FCC from implementing new neutrality rules
  • Stopped federal spending to run and implement the heath reform law until 90 days after any legal challenges are complete.
  • Republicans also declared wins in adding many other restrictions, including blocking a phaseout of 100-watt incandescent lightbulbs, stopping express funding for a number of President Obama’s “czars,” cutting the budget overall, and placing restrictions on funding for the United Nations.

Yet it was some of the things that made it into the bill that attracted scathing denunciations from Republicans concerned about waste, especially in the defense budget.

[...] “There’s $3.5 billion of unrequested, unauthorized [spending] … projects like for Guam. You thought the Bridge to Nowhere was bad?” McCain said. “This is 53 civilian school buses and 53 repair kits for $10.7 million; $12.7 million for a cultural artifacts repository. That’s in the name of defense.

“I have amendments to save the taxpayers billions of dollars as associated with this bill,” McCain said. “But never mind because we’re going to go home for Christmas.”

Oh, and the latest attack against Pres. Obama surrounds the cost of the First Family’s Christmas vacation.

Bah! Humbug!

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DONE DEAL: Payroll Tax Cut Extension Comes with Keystone XL

By on 16 December 2011

This is why people don’t trust Congress. It’s also why people want another option besides Democrats and Republicans, with an independent force desperately needed in Congress.

Governing in two-month increments, while Democrats cave on principle after principle. It just never ends.

From Politico:

Senate leaders struck a tentative deal Friday night to extend the payroll tax rate and jobless benefits through the end of February, electing to punt tough economic decisions into the new year.

[...] In the frenzy of deal-making Friday evening, Republicans won a major concession: The package includes a provision prodding Obama to make a decision on the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, which has divided labor groups from environmental activists in the Democratic ranks.

Do you notice lately that all we keep reading about is Democrats make a “major concession”? The translation of that is Republicans win again.

Now it’s over to Pres. Obama to finally stand on a line on Keystone XL. Or maybe he’ll find a way around it, though that would take some political gamesmanship, which Democrats don’t seem to do anymore.

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Boehner & McConnell: Keystone XL or No Payroll Tax Extension

By on 16 December 2011

The next time you hear anyone on the right say Democrats don’t compromise I hope you will laugh in his or her face, then buy the person a drink.

You’ve really got to hand it to Republicans.

It’s déjà vu all over again, bringing back memories of this time last year when Pres. Obama allowed Republicans to squeeze him on extending the Bush tax cuts, which added to the deficit and became an unbelievable pain for progressives.

Just this week, Democratic lawmakers caved on the millionaire surtax as well and now Speaker Boehner has laid down the gauntlet on the payroll tax extension package that includes an unemployment benefit extension.

From Politico:

Republicans say they’re not budging on the pipeline. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told POLITICO on Friday: “The House will not pass a product without Keystone.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell has joined him. From Brian Beutler:

Regarding that legislation, Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell emails me with the following statement: “The Leader will not support any bill without the Keystone XL language as part of the agreement.”

As I’ve written before, Pres. Obama likely postponed a decision on the Keystone Pipeline out of his own political interests. It’s likely, in my opinion, that if he gets reelected he’ll give the go ahead on it.

This is something McConnell may or may not be betting on, but the Republican Leader does know that for his side it’s a good talking point to say that Democrats would rather the middle class face a tax increase than okay a project that will not only make us less dependent on foreign oil, but also create jobs. To McConnell, Pres. Obama is denying a tax cut for the middle class, new energy sources and the creation of jobs, all because of extremist environmental wackos, as Rush Limbaugh call people opposed to Keystone.

It doesn’t matter that Sen. McConnell’s portrayal is pure cynical politics. He’s betting it’s a sound bite that sings, at least with the right, which is all that matters.

The one thing you rarely will hear from Senate Democrats, especially on economics, where they always get behind, is “we’re not going to budge.” However, giving in on the Keystone Pipeline would be a monumental embarrassment and tectonic setback for the environmental movement.

Senate Democrats didn’t outright reject the Keystone idea on Friday morning. [...] Senate leaders hoped to get a deal on a year-long proposal, but weren’t ruling out a two-month deal as a fall-back plan. (Politico)

Pres. Obama and the Democrats are once again being beaten on the politics. They’ve simply shown no game at all. If Republicans win on their Keystone demands, it will be a very sour note on which to end the year.

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Would Obama Veto Payroll Cut Bill If it Includes Keystone Pipeline?

By on 09 December 2011

Republicans believe that after weeks of taking a pounding from Obama over the payroll tax issue, they finally found a rallying point over the Keystone pipeline. “Everybody sees the president’s delay on the Keystone pipeline [for] what it is: He doesn’t want to choose between his political base, labor and environmentalists,” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who heads up the Republican Conference’s 2012 efforts. But even though Democratic senators like Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas support the pipeline project, top Senate Democrats are confident they’ll remove “extraneous” GOP provisions. – Politico

Right-leaning The Hill news outlet has a different take.

For House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), there’s nothing like a presidential veto threat to make his job easier.

Pres. Obama delaying his decision on the Keystone Pipeline is like everything he does, it’s about his reelection and motivated by politics.

But while Republicans won’t tax millionaires, they are also trying to cut federal unemployment insurance benefits substantially too, as almost 1 million people are about to see the end to the aid in January.

So this is a very interesting development with the Keystone gambit smart for Republicans if they’d give on the millionaire surtax, but they won’t. It would also provide Pres. Obama an out, something that’s always appreciated by any politician.

If he caves on Keystone, it’s like what he did last year on extending the Bush tax cuts, but lately Obama doesn’t seem to be in that same mood. In 2010, he’d just come off a brutal shellacking in the midterms. Looking at Republicans today, Newt at the top of the ticket, with Santa coming early giving Obama reelect The Donald’s Apprentice debate (if it still happens, because most aren’t showing up), Pres. Obama is in the power position.

Nothing counts unless the Senate can pass the bill. But if they do, something that doesn’t happen often these days, and it comes to Pres. Obama’s desk, will he actually veto it?

In the background is what Barack Obama would likely do in a second term, with no political threat left. I believe he’d okay the Keystone Pipeline, because he’d be safe to rack up what the White House would call accomplishments. This isn’t Yucca Mountain, which I lived through out west. There’s a lot of ignorance about the environmental dangers of Keystone, with Democrats like former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell saying that people will be protected environmentally from the dangers of what the Keystone could bring.

So, imagine a Cordray recess appointment, coupled with an Obama veto on a bill that extends the payroll tax and unemployment insurance, because of Keystone is included.

It would be an interesting way to end the year, with Obama cornering Republicans on raising taxes just as 2012 rolls in.

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The Scurrilously Unprincipled Newt

By on 01 December 2011


Newt’s meeting on Monday with The Donald will be a coming together of two like scoundrels.

With Barack Obama’s approval the lowest of any modern American president, a dubious distinction now that he’s sunk lower than Carter, who the Republican nominee is matters more than ever before.

Ron Paul isn’t going to let Newt Gingrich sweep into Iowa, but also New Hampshire, and take him out without a fight based on facts and Newt’s history.

It’s an easy, but dirty job, but someone had to do it. Newt Gingrich’s total lack of character, principle and passionate opportunism is rivaled by no other Republican. However, his rise proves what a salesman he is and just how desperate the right is to find their un-Romney, even if Gingrich is worse.

The National Review Online helps out:

August 30, 2004: [...] “Everywhere I’ve been, I’ve argued in favor of electing the moderates,” Gingrich said… He even chastised the fiscally conservative Club for Growth — a group that finances primary challengers to Republican incumbents they deem too liberal — for not getting with the program. “Their strategy is explicitly wrong,” Gingrich said. “The key is to elect more Republicans and have a bigger majority and be more inclusive.”

In June 2005… “[...] supporting the ill-conceived nomination of John Bolton as the United States ambassador to the United Nations and backing the latest benighted attempt to withhold America’s legally obligated dues.” [...]

Also that month, he took a surprising tone at a “debate” with Sen. John Kerry on the topic of climate change.

Before Kerry got a word in, Gingrich conceded that global warming is real, that humans have contributed to it and that “we should address it very actively.

In 2007, he accused the Bush administration of fighting a “phony war” on terrorism, and declared “a more effective approach would begin with a national energy strategy aimed at weaning the country from its reliance on imported oil.”

In 2008, he hailed John McCain’s efforts in the crafting of the TARP legislation…

Politicians are notoriously chameleon when it comes to their own survival. However, in his campaign for president Newt Gingrich has proven that he’s so out of touch on his own legacy as to be a danger to this nation if he’d ever get the power of the presidency.

With Pres. Obama at 30% approval among independents, thinking about the alternative, even if I don’t believe Newt Gingrich is electable in the general, is something that requires preemptive political destruction.

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Obama Punts on Keystone Pipeline

By on 10 November 2011

You have to love that the video of Jay Carney on Politico comes with a devastating Mitt Romney ad. File under things that make you chuckle, like Carney saying don’t ask me, ask Foggy Bottom.

Pres. Obama felt the pressure from the Keystone Pipeline protests. That he punted it for now seems to me like a win for the good guys, because it’s not happening now.

From Politico:

Obama said in a statement that he supports delaying a decision.

“Because this permit decision could affect the health and safety of the American people as well as the environment, and because a number of concerns have been raised through a public process, we should take the time to ensure that all questions are properly addressed and all the potential impacts are properly understood,” Obama said. “The final decision should be guided by an open, transparent process that is informed by the best available science and the voices of the American people. At the same time, my administration will build on the unprecedented progress we’ve made towards strengthening our nation’s energy security, from responsibly expanding domestic oil and gas production to nearly doubling the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks, to continued progress in the development of a clean energy economy.”

But like with the issue of entitlements and their “reform,” I still believe that Pres. Obama’s second term, especially with Republicans potentially holding sway in Congress, could look a lot more like a Republican administration than a Democratic one.

…looking forward, however, I wonder how Secy. John Kerry would rule?

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Keystone Pipeline Allies ‘Jobs for the 99′ Occupy Strategy

By on 04 November 2011

Let’s start here, Keystone XL Oil Pipeline: A Symbolic Struggle Steeped In Fuzzy Math, which leads us to a Cornell study. Here’s a snippet:

The battle is said to be about jobs vs. the environment, but it’s really about Republicans like the Koch Bros. selling the State Dept. and Pres. Obama a bill of goods Keystone can’t back up.

So now the Occupy movement is being occupied by the Keystone Pipeline proponents, which include the AFL-CIO led by Richard Trumka. “Jobsforthe99″ is a pro-Keystone website. It trumpets an article from Richard Blackwell that is linked by Lucianne Goldberg, a right winger (some of you may remember her from Linda Tripp).

Huffington Post has a piece up on Keystone today.

There’s a “surround the White House” rally on November 6th trying to stop the approval of Keystone.

Jane Hamsher has an unintentionally hilarious post on Firedoglake, explaining that advertising policy is quite different from editorial. Keystone proponents are occupying her site via advertising that no business person should refuse.

Young people believe the environment matters. We need more of these individuals to get involved in politics, because the current crew is clueless.

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House Dems Fail to Avert W.H. Subpoena of Solyndra Documents

By on 03 November 2011


The above segment is from September. It was the first clue that Solyndra wasn’t going away.

The fawning Jonathan Alter evidently doesn’t watch or pay attention to the Jon Stewart standard. Alter should have waited a couple of weeks. Always the first to trumpet scandals against the Clintons, unfortunately, Mr. Alter just couldn’t wait to write his piece.

Maybe after this latest news Alter will learn what I learned almost 20 years ago: That it doesn’t take a real scandal to be plagued with accusations, something the Obama administration is about to learn first hand.

Breaking news from Politico:

A House panel investigating Solyndra voted Thursday to subpoena internal White House documents on the failed California solar company.

The 14-9 vote, entirely along party lines, adds a legal sledgehammer to what already had been a hyperactive political clash on energy policy between both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

With a Republican majority in the House and a general election coming up, not to mention a need to change the subject from the GOP presidential circus, this is a brilliant move on the part of House Republicans.

It doesn’t have to be a real scandal or even worthy of investigation to become a problem for Pres. Obama.

The current public mood is ugly. Even if Republicans can’t get traction, it’s worth their trouble to try, because with Obama’s numbers moving up they’ve got nothing to lose. The approval numbers of Congress can hardly get any lower.

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Occupy Wall Street Sunday Meets the World Awakening

By on 16 October 2011

Get ready for the Sunday show onslaught.

Conservatives are nervous. They had an Astroturf movement, which is now being upstaged by a real grass roots uprising. So what do they do? They send someone to discredit the protesters. Fox News channel will be drooling on themselves.

It’s déjà vu all over again. People are just smarter today and they won’t be fooled.

The photos from around the world are sensational.

Let the Sunday talk shows top what the Occupy Wall Street and Awakening protesters have done.

Meet the Guy Who Snitched on Occupy Wall Street to the FBI and NYPD

The Occupy Wall Street protests have been going on for a month. And it seems the FBI and NYPD have had help tracking protesters’ moves thanks to a conservative computer security expert who gained access to one of the group’s internal mailing lists, and then handed over information on the group’s plans to authorities and corporations targeted by protesters.

Since the Occupy Wall Street protest began on September 17, New York security consultant Thomas Ryan has been waging a campaign to infiltrate and discredit the movement. Ryan says he’s done contract work for the U.S. Army and he brags on his blog that he leads “a team called Black Cell, a team of the most-highly trained and capable physical, threat and cyber security professionals in the world.” But over the past few weeks, he and his computer security buddies have been spending time covertly attending Occupy Wall Street meetings, monitoring organizers’ social media accounts, and hanging out with protesters in Lower Manhattan. [...]

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What Got Your Attention Today?

By on 28 September 2011



Mr. Christie has to know that the minute he changes his mind the blush will go off his New Jersey… er… whatever. See the Daily Caller for proof.

The Solyndra imbroglio didn’t keep the Obama administration from offering more clean energy loan guarantees.

Energy Department approves $1 billion in solar energy loan guarantees

DOE announced a $737 million loan guarantee to help finance construction of the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a 110-megawatt solar-power-generating facility in Nye County, Nev. The project is sponsored by Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve.

The Energy Department said the project will result in 600 construction jobs and 45 permanent jobs.

“If we want to be a player in the global clean energy race, we must continue to invest in innovative technologies that enable commercial-scale deployment of clean, renewable power like solar,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a news release. “Solar generation facilities, like the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, help supply energy to local utilities and create hundreds of good, American clean energy jobs.”

What we really need is a president with vision and a Congress who takes clean energy seriously. We have neither.

So, what got your attention today? This is interesting.

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Team Obama Yearns to Recapture 2008 ‘Spirit’

By on 07 September 2011

He is frustrated — particularly at Republicans on Capitol Hill, but also at some of his own aides, according to people who have spoken to him recently — that he has been unable to rise above the morass of Washington and recapture the spirit that helped him win election. – Jeff Zeleny

Pres. Obama’s “job speech” isn’t going to be a “jobs speech” at all. It’s a competing rhetorical gambit in a week where Republicans are debating who should take him on in 2012. Zeleny proves it by one line he wrote today. Team Obama wants to “recapture the spirit that helped him win election.”

Could anything be more gauzy, less tangible, void of purpose, while also revealing the central lack of vision element of Obama’s presidency?

Segue to one line in Bloomberg’s report on Obama’s so called “jobs speech”: Almost half the stimulus would come from tax cuts…

Team Obama will never capture the 2008 “spirit” that elected Barack Obama, because people now know it was predicated on a marketing myth. People now know there was nothing behind the “spirit” but emotions tied to fan politics, which Obama can only hope will turn to practical “lesser of two evils” voting once the Republicans have a nominee.

Sure people still like the guy, but the question, Is this all there is?, has now been answered unequivocally.

Oh, and promises won’t work anymore, because Pres. Obama’s gone one to many times to the tool-less word workshop.

Zeleny gets the coveted White House access, but the quote he gets from David Axelrod is one for the books:

“If this is just a referendum on economic conditions, then any incumbent is going to struggle with that, but it’s not just that. It’s a contest about what to do about it,” said David Axelrod, the chief strategist to the president’s re-election campaign. “I’d be more worried if I saw some compelling new argument for how to lead the country, but these guys are carrying the same old water.”

Speaking of “same old water,” let’s consider what Politico calls the “two central measures” to be included in Obama’s “jobs package.”

The two central measures in the Obama jobs package are expected to be a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut and an extension of expiring jobless benefits, according to the AP. Those two initiatives would total around $170 billion.

These two initiatives are the very definition of “same old water,” even though they’re both needed and important. David Dayen has more.

What’s new in Obama’s “jobs package”? A “public works projects will be included, but the AP reports that this will be less than $50 billion of the package.” I guess that’s something, but get out the crayon labeled “puny” to color me unimpressed.

Woven into this discussion is the little mentioned “deficit reduction” side of the package. Shorter: tinkering with some part of entitlements. See Ezra Klein:

Getting less attention in the media is the follow-up speech the White House is planning, which will lay out a specific deficit-reduction agenda that not only meets the $1.5 trillion goal of the “supercommittee,” but exceeds it and pays for the new jobs spending. These proposals will look quite similar to the grand bargain the White House offered Speaker John Boehner, and liberal groups are grimly preparing for the administration to call for raising the Medicare eligibility age.

Whatever “spirit” Team Obama is trying to recapture isn’t going to be done by doing paltry things being floated in the media, while Bill Daley negotiates with Obama’s corporate friends to gut the EPA, as candidate Obama panders to labor and his Democratic base as he moves to change entitlements, all of which is about appeasing Independents int he hopes of being reelected while standing for absolutely nothing.

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Sunday Early Bird News Round-Up

By on 04 September 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday, I’m Stacy and I’ll be your host.

On this day in history, September 4, 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

I’ve perused the internets for some good reads, to save you the trouble:

~The AP is reporting that the CIA worked with Moammar Gadhafi’s intelligence services when we rendered terrorism suspects to Libya to be, you know, tortured. Part of the reason the U.S. is so nervous about the “Arab Spring” is that as word continues to leak out about how we enabled these dictator’s repression of their own people, it’s a good bet the governments that are eventually formed will ensure that they are never again beholden to the United States for anything.

~Late last week a WikiLeaks cable was released which seems to raise the question of whether Iraqi civilians were massacred by U.S. forces, followed by a cover-up. For all those people in the media who were saying “there’s really nothing new in the WikiLeaks documents,” here you go. But don’t expect David Gregory or Candi Crowley to discuss this today on the Sunday talk shows. No, instead, we will hear more endless speculation about whether or not Sarah Palin is going to enter the 2012 race.

~Yet again, President Obama sides with big business and ties the hands of the EPA by putting a halt to tougher smog/pollution rules. Why? Because the Republicans and the pollution lobby opposed it, that’s why. So, now that Obama has done their bidding are they grateful and willing to compromise on something? No, of course not. Now, they want more environmental regulations rolled back.

~The head of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, is hoping for a bold new jobs plan from President Obama next week. Is there some other Obama he knows who is coming out with a job creation plan?

~A very interesting interview with Gen. James Cartwright by Josh Rogin over at The Cable. It demonstrates several things about Obama’s leadership style and how Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen did everything they could to ensure that Obama had no other choice than to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan rather than take the advice of Cartwright and Joe Biden, who believed that a surge would accomplish little and instead advocated a smaller U.S. footprint. And guess who turned out to be right?

~The total deterioration in ties between Turkey and Israel is not only bad news for the region, but is bad news for the Obama administration. The administration apparently expended a great deal of effort to get the two sides together, but was unsuccessful, again demonstrating to the entire world that the U.S. no longer has the influence it once did in the Middle East.

~Dana Priest has another great piece of investigative journalism [part of the Top Secret America series of articles] in the Washington Post. The article describes how the Joint Special Operations Command has morphed into a very large, top secret army that seems to operate without any accountability to anyone.

~The American Spectator’s Matthew Vadum thinks that registering poor people to vote is unamerican because they are nonproductive and a burden on society.

Sorry puppy, this cat is so over you:

~The S&P continues to give triple A ratings to subprime mortgage-backed securities. You know, the same ones that helped spawn the global financial crisis.

~Between January and June, approximately 24,000 Afghan soldiers went AWOL.

~There is no state in this country with a more deplorable, ethically-challenged implementation of the death penalty, than Texas. And yet few are raising questions about this particular case, where Governor Rick Perry denied a stay of execution of a man (Cameron Todd Willingham) who many say, was innocent [based on scientific/forensic evidence]. While all the talk of Perry’s extremism, swagger and gaffes are interesting, when will someone in the elite mainstream media ask Perry about this directly?

~As everybody who has electricity is aware, Dick Cheney is doing the talk show circuit in order to generate buzz for his egotistical tome, In My Time. Putting aside the fact that only in this particular democracy could a former Vice President go to each cable news station and openly boast about his role in an impressive list of crimes and deceits, here’s a question- when is someone in the elite media going to actually ask him a tough question? Have you noticed that the David Gregory/Jake Tapper/Bob Schieffer types seem totally intimidated by Cheney? While Glenn Greenwald posted this commentary about how Cheney is profiting off “the fruits of elite immunity” last week, if you didn’t see it, it’s worth a read.

~Political whiz and democratic consultant Joe Trippi is now doing public relations work for the autocratic, un-democratic, human-rights-abusing Kingdom of Bahrain.

~You know, I truly love doing the news round-up but sometimes as I read all these stories, I find myself getting utterly disgusted with not only the Washington, D.C. polls and lobbyists, but also the navel-gazing media who pander so shamelessly to them. Imagine if the MSM actually did their job?

~Did the Obama administration snub The General Who Can Do No Wrong? While focusing on these petty tit-for-tat episodes is a favorite pastime of the beltway, if the Obama administration really has or had suspicions about Petraeus’ motives, then perhaps they shouldn’t have placed him at the head of the Central Intelligence Agency?

~Is anyone in the White House reading all these commentaries about what a capitulating wimp Obama is? Anyone? All signs point to Obama putting forth a meager, uninspired jobs plan after Labor Day. You know, so the plan will have a little something that Republicans everyone will like.

~Now here is a story absolutely no one can relate to- a private unmanned space ship funded by the billionaire CEO of Amazon, was destroyed during a test flight due to a systems failure.

~Obama’s union problems are about to get a whole lot worse.

~The administration continues to flail around in its latest efforts to prevent the Palestinians from going to the U.N. this month in a bid to declare statehood.

~The President’s Chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt, is exhibit A with whats wrong with our economy. GE is doing a wonderful job creating jobs- overseas.

~A happy story: The penguin Happy Feet was successfully reintroduced into the ocean off the south coast of New Zealand.

The End.

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Progressive Notes: Obama to Breathers- “Choke on It!”

By on 02 September 2011

Art offers his perspective as a movement progressive activist.

Smog!

Boy every day has another great jaw dropper doesn’t it? Today Obama told the EPA to halt stronger regulations on smog pollution. Obama claims, like every major Republican candidate, that such regulations would harm the economy. What a laugh, and a betrayal to the health of the people. The best part is now we won’t even get Bush’s rules on this but those going back to 1997 which were even weaker.

Ozone kills thousands of Americans per year. Science proves that. This move is so blatantly craven by Obama it is nauseating. Worse POTUS is parroting Right wing talking points, the same ones used by Rick Perry and the rest. More:

…the White House announced that it’s not going to have any new rules. On a call with reporters, White House officials argued that it doesn’t make sense to put out new rules in 2011 when there’s going to be another scheduled review of the ozone science in 2013.

But critics say that this reasoning is flawed. For one, notes Amy Royden-Bloom of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, if the EPA did issue a new ozone standard this year, then it could always just postpone its next scientific review until 2016, in line with the law. Second, notes Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch, there’s no reason to think that a brand-new ozone standard will actually be issued by 2013. That’s just when the scientific review is due. Crafting new rules will take longer than that, given the inevitable delays and lawsuits. “I’d say three years, minimum,” says O’Donnell. (When I asked White House officials about this, they said they weren’t sure how long it would take.) And third, says Paul Billings of the ALA, it’s not clear that the science on ozone and human health will change dramatically between now and 2013 — if anything, the case for regulating ozone is likely to get stronger.

So what happens now? Right now, most states are still operating under the old 1997 standards. The EPA had earlier directed states not to follow the (somewhat stricter) 2008 Bush standards, because it was working on even tighter rules. But now those tighter rules aren’t happening. As Bill Becker of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies told me, the EPA now has the option of directing states to follow the Bush-era rules, but that seems unlikely, given the White House’s preference to wait until the 2013 review. Which means states would keep operating under the old 1997 standards, which are more lax than even what the Bush administration had proposed. “We would have stricter protections right now if we had just followed the Bush-era rules back in 2008,” says Becker.

And it’s unclear whether the ozone rules will get updated anytime soon. Becker notes that with each delay, the political debate over ratcheting up the standard becomes fiercer and fiercer, because the costs of compliance of any new rule will go up. And if a new president hostile to environmental regulation comes into office — Rick Perry, say — then the EPA may never get around to issuing new ozone rules.

Get it? A great gift to big business today and possibly one polluters will have for many years to come.

Good thing groups are filing suit against Obama’s latest poor decision. Of note the American Lung Association is filing suit for all us breathers out there who do not want to get cancer from poor air quality.

Right before Obama’s big jobs speech comes this big gift to polluters, some think to placate the Chamber of Commerce for 2012. With zero jobs for August Obama came out with the GOP meme that regulations are indeed bad for the economy. Seen this movie before? It ends badly for Democrats usually.

UPDATE: Get this. Some folks are happy:

Industry officials and Republican leaders crowed about the news. “This sudden admission by President Obama that ill-considered regulations do, in fact, have a negative impact upon our economy is a welcome breakthrough,” Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of its Energy and Power Subcommittee, said in a statement. “With the president’s change of heart on regulations, we welcome his support in having our pro-jobs and pro-growth measures signed into law.”

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Adieu, Summer

By on 01 September 2011

We tore out ivy, weeds and overgrowth this year, planting anew across the yard. It was a labor of love. The companion to the beautiful grass pictured here is fennel flowering. The waxy leaves give it a fairyland look, which the dragonflies adore, as do the butterflies, which were plentiful because we planted just for them, as we did for the hummingbirds. It’s been such a lovely summer, as we settle into our new habitat, complete with canopy on our deck, potted plants, rose and all sorts of native bamboo, too.

It’s hard to see the season give way to fall, with select trees already beginning their turn.

The nearby high school already had cheerleaders out practicing with the football team, timing their introductions so they’re ready for the first big game.

Long weekend coming up, so if you’re traveling, be safe; same goes if you’re partying, which we will be. Birthday coming, though I do appreciate Speaker Boehner, Pres. Obama and the NFL scheduling their events around little me.

The floor’s now yours, any topic goes. Just enjoy the conversation, as we bid summer adieu on this first day of September.

Some thoughts to get you started…

I’ve stopped pretending that the president’s jobs speech scheduled for next week is going to matter. I’m tired of speculating about what it will contain and whether its proposals will be big or small, bold or timid. … – Ezra Klein

Here is what all voters, and especially independents, despise and disdain in a politician — weakness. Nobody wants to see their leader get beat to a pulp every night and then bow his head again. There is no secret, brilliant strategy. This White House is in a bubble. They think they’re winning when the roof is about to cave in. – Cenk Uygur

“I do think this is a really big debate and I think the White House was out of bounds…in trying to schedule a speech during a debate,” Carville said on “GMA.” … “Given a choice between watching a debate and the speech I would have watched the debate and I’m not even a Republican or even close to being a Republican,” he said, adding it will be a “barn burner.” – GMA

PS – Thanks to spincitysd who, as people got sidetracked this summer, has turned In the News into his own private blogging paradise. Anyone can post anything, cross-post from your blog, too. Don’t be shy, chime in! I don’t always have time to comment, but I read every single diary.

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We’ve Got Power

By on 29 August 2011


Streaming live video by Ustream

…and we’re back.

I must say I did enjoy looking at fashion magazines with a flashlight last night, though since I’m a creature of the 21st century having power is preferred. (The flip side of my reading life, which right now is No Ordinary Time, reminding me about when Democrats were Democrats.)

Seems fitting to offer an interview with Al Gore, though what he said put the Daily Caller into hyper crankiness. They also didn’t like Gore taking on Rick Perry.

This is the last week of summer before recess, so it’s a kick back week around here.

The floor is yours. Happy power Monday.

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Hurricane IRENE… The Rain has Arrived

By on 28 August 2011

**UPDATED BELOW**

SUNDAY, 10:25 a.m.: We still don’t have power, but the 2-star general on the street behind us does. Mark was able to run extensions to get the frigerator turned on, because our generator didn’t turn over. Also got my dead phone charged, which is why I can write this update. Huge tree uprooted & crashed across the next street over. Clean up began with putting our deck canopy back up… More later…

Irene’s got a middle iname, and it’s Global Warming. – environmental activist Bill McKibben

The area to the left of this big tree has a deep trench to move the cascading water that comes down from the yards above us. It's a work in progress, but it's great fun to sculpt. Now Irene has passed through and our trees made it, though one street over a huge tree was completely uprooted.

Irene’s wide spread is already being seen as rain hits New York, as well as the Beltway, where I live. We’re not supposed to get the heaviest rains until late tonight, early Sunday.

Daniel, aka “Dash of Dan,” said in a tweet exchange with me that he’s a-okay, though New Yorkers are expecting power loss later.

Thoughts go out to everyone today, especially those getting hit hardest. Stay safe.

Downgraded a notch to a Category 1 storm, Hurricane Irene made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina just after dawn Saturday, with its leading edge already delivering gusting winds and showers to the Washington area and beaches from Virginia north to Delaware.

The brunt of the storm was moving north from Cape Hatteras and was expected to arrive in the Washington area late Saturday and into Sunday morning before heading toward New York and New England.

Pres. Obama has declared states disaster areas along the eastern seaboard, up into New England.

Wonder what Republicans like Gov. Chris Christie would do if the federal government wasn’t there to assist his state and help with funding what needs to be repaired afterward? Government matters and no feckless Democrat or Republican afraid to say so is worthy of holding office.

Oh, and as for Sean Hannity announcing yesterday that First Lady Michele Obama would stay behind in Martha’s Vineyard with her entourage. I’m sure his listening audience will hear a retraction from him on Monday, right? Having delivered it in the worst upper crust, faux British accent you’ve ever heard from a multi-millionaire, it’s the least he could do. But since the man has no class, he won’t. You’ve really got to wonder why the right-wing hates Mrs. Obama with such gusto, but considering they hated Hillary Clinton even more, I see a pattern. It’s any woman who isn’t subservient.

Would enjoy hearing your stories, what your hearing about the storm. So, chime in and share. It’s one hell of a way to end August.

Update: Just posted on Twitter an image of nifty head flashlight Mark used to fix radio, as we listen to Prairie Home Companion on NPR, which is all about St Louis, where I grew up. Walked to gage energy earlier after we lost power; xtra lrg umbrella held for a while, then had to collapse it & tighten my hood, as wind turned from raucous to riotous. …guess since power’s off we’ll have to pop the Duret. Weather olympics outside, but no danger (via BlackBerry).

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