The Hollywood Liberal

What Are the DC Democrats Thinking?

Dead Heat in Nevada
A new Mason-Dixon poll in Nevada shows Sen. Harry Reid (D) and challenger Sharron Angle (R) neck and neck.

Reid barely edges Angle among likely voters, 43% to 42%. Two weeks ago, he had a seven point lead.

Said pollster Brad Coker: “At least for the moment, Angle seems to have stopped the bleeding. Reid had the airwaves to himself for a while, and he drove her numbers down with the advertising. But that didn’t necessarily drive his numbers up. There hasn’t been a lot of good news to hang his hat on.”

Very Tight Race for Florida Governor
A new Quinnipiac poll in Florida finds a very close three-way race for governor between Alex Sink (D), and either of the Republican candidates Rick Scott (R) or Bill McCollum (R), and the independent Bud Chiles (I).

With Scott as the GOP nominee, he leads with 29%, followed by Sink at 27% and Chiles 14%.

If McCollum wins the Republican primary, he would lead with 27%, followed by Sink at 26%, and Chiles at 14%.

Crist Maintains Lead in Florida Senate Race
A new Quinnipiac poll in Florida finds Gov. Charlie Crist (I) leading the three-way race for U.S. Senate with 37%, followed by Marco Rubio (R) at 32% and Jeff Greene (D) at 17%.

If Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) wins the Democratic primary, Crist’s lead would be 39%, followed by Rubio at 33% and Meek at 13%.

Key finding: Crist’s lead is based on getting half the independent voters, about 20% of Republicans and about 40% of Democrats. He also has a 53% to 37% job approval rating.

Ruptured Oil Pipe Sends 877,000 Gallons of Crude Oil into Kalamazoo River, Threatening People and Wildlife
The spill is believed to be the largest in the history of the Midwest.

The spill is believed to be the largest in the history of the Midwest.

Why Are We Often Terrified Of Our Own Sexuality?
While so much about sexuality is brazenly public these days, we haven’t advanced very far in our ability to talk about our sexual fears and anxieties.

While so much about sexuality is brazenly public these days, we haven't advanced very far in our ability to talk about our sexual fears and anxieties.

Fire Teachers; Hire Guns: The New Plan for National Security
This week’s civics lessons for America’s schoolchildren: Your education is a threat to national security.

This week’s civics lessons for America’s schoolchildren: Your education is a threat to national security.

Heritage Foundation Turns On Turkey
It looks like the Heritage Foundation has discovered that Turkey — our once staunch NATO ally — is a country made up of…Muslims. But Heritage has learned that and is none too pleased. Even worse, from Heritage’s point of view,…



Turkey – NATO – United States – Middle East – Government

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Steve King derides SB-1070 judge as a Clinton appointee, forgets she was recommended and praised by Jon Kyl.
Yesterday, shortly after federal district court Judge Susan Bolton blocked key, controversial elements of Arizona’s harsh new immigration law from taking effect, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) ripped into the ruling. He alleged that Judge Bolton prioritized “protecting the [Obama] Administration’s political standing” because she was “appointed by the Secretary of State’s husband,” former president Bill […]

Yesterday, shortly after federal district court Judge Susan Bolton blocked key, controversial elements of Arizona’s harsh new immigration law from taking effect, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) ripped into the ruling. He alleged that Judge Bolton prioritized “protecting the [Obama] Administration’s political standing” because she was “appointed by the Secretary of State’s husband,” former president Bill Clinton:

“With the possible exception of illegal immigrants in Arizona, the people cheering the loudest about Judge Bolton’s injunction can be found in the Obama Administration,” said King. “By blocking the most important enforcement provisions of Arizona’s law, Judge Bolton has apparently decided that Arizonans’ lawful attempts to protect their lives and property is of secondary importance to protecting the Administration’s political standing among open borders advocates. I doubt Judge Bolton’s ruling will survive an appeal, and, for now, the Obama Administration should consider itself lucky to have had its day in court in front of a judge appointed by the Secretary of State’s husband.”

Apparently, King has forgotten that Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), a prominent foe of President Obama’s immigration reform agenda and a defender of SB-1070, recommended Bolton for her judgeship in 2000. At her confirmation hearing, Kyl praised her “expertise and fairness” in dealing with Arizona’s concerns. Moreover, as the Wonk Room’s Andrea Nill points out, “Bolton has been described by her peers as an ‘impeccable’ and ‘fearless’ judge whose rulings are ‘well-reasoned and unambiguous.’”

– William Tomasko

As Tennesseans Desperately Search For Work, Wamp Suggests Unemployed Are ?Just Sitting Back Waiting?
This past Tuesday, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), who is also a leading candidate for the GOP nomination for governor, joined a conference call with the right-wing National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). When the subject of extending unemployment benefits arose, Wamp complained that giving people unemployment insurance was “creating a culture of dependence which […]

This past Tuesday, Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), who is also a leading candidate for the GOP nomination for governor, joined a conference call with the right-wing National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). When the subject of extending unemployment benefits arose, Wamp complained that giving people unemployment insurance was “creating a culture of dependence which we do not need.” He then said that he wants “people out there scraping and clawing and looking for work and not just sitting back waiting”:

Wamp […] said small business, the NFIB and he as governor “must resist… any more mandates to small business to help the unemployed — that we have continued to extend on a federal level, I think, unemployment compensation so long that there’s disincentives for people to actually re-enter the workforce or go out and look for a job.

“And this is creating a culture of dependence which we do not need. We want people out there scraping and clawing and looking for work and not just sitting back waiting. And so we’ve got to not allow any more mandates.”

Of course, the promise of a meager unemployment check that provides barely enough support to get by does not have Tennesseans “just sitting back waiting,” and it is offensive for Wamp to paint all the unemployed with such a broad brush. Throughout the recession, people from across the Republican congressman’s state have desperately sought work, going to any lengths to get employed again:

– Lori Hillard, an Ashland City native, was laid off a year ago from her job as an Internet program administrator. She began “stressing out and losing sleep” at the thought of losing her unemployment benefits, which were her only source of income. Yet she sends out “sends out at least 15 to 20 resumes per week,” desperately trying to find work. “I know how hard and diligent I have been in searching for a job,” she told a local paper. “The economic situation is just as bad for us. When 400 people are applying for an administrative assistant’s job, that shows how dire the situation is.”

– Kim Stokes of Hendersonville-based Stokes Production Services Inc. tells the Tennessean that she has so many applicants that she can’t even come close to hiring them all. “I have freelancers calling me constantly because they don’t have anything going on,” Stokes said. “Everywhere I look, people don’t have work — people like some of my friends who are older and have been let go. They’ve never been without work before in their lives.”

– Ellen Zinkiewicz, who is the director youth and community services at the Nashville Career Advancement Center, notes that “nearly three-quarters of teenagers who want a job haven’t been able to find one.”

– When Fontanel Mansion at White Creek Pines needed staff and held a job fair this spring, 1,200 people showed up to apply — six times what the business had capacity for.

This past April, hundreds of Tennesseans lined up outside the Lewisburg Recreational Center in Marshall County, Tennessee for a job fair to try to find work. “I’ve been everywhere looking. I’ve been to every temporary agent, trying to find a job. There’s no jobs,” Connie Rogers told a reporter at the fair. Thankfully, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the “stimulus”), which Wamp opposed while hypocritically touting its benefits, helped create many of the jobs at the fair. Watch a report about the Marshall County job fair from Tennessee’s Department of Human Services:

Tennesseans who are on unemployment benefits are not “just sitting around waiting” for the next unemployment check. They are desperately seeking work so that they can make a decent living for themselves and their families. Tennessee currently has a 10.1 percent unemployment rate, and people who have no other means to get by need unemployment insurance to survive. By attacking the job-seeking unemployed of his state, Wamp is insulting those who are doing everything they can to put food on the table, while simultaneously working against them by trying to deny them unemployment benefits.

44: Judgment day for Charlie Rangel
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is headed for a legacy-defining moment Thursday, in which the 40-year veteran will either admit to a string of ethical misdeeds or force the preliminary phase of a historic trial on those charges.


United States – Politics – Democratic – Ethics – United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

Republicans continue Senate filibuster of small-business bill, stymie Democrats
In a fresh blow to President Obama’s jobs agenda, the Senate on Thursday shelved a plan to create a $30 billion loan fund for cash-strapped small businesses, delaying final passage of a top administration priority until September at the earliest.


Filibuster – Senate – United States – Government – Legislative Branch

Judge who ruled on Arizona law is well versed in immigration cases
The federal judge who blocked key aspects of Arizona’s new immigration law was so well regarded across the political spectrum that she was nominated to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, who tapped her on the recommendation of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), one of Congress’s most…


Arizona – Law – Immigration – United States – Services

SEC charges billionaire Texas brothers who donate to GOP with fraud
Sam and Charles Wyly, billionaire Texas brothers who gained prominence spending millions of dollars on conservative political causes, committed fraud by using secret overseas accounts to generate more than $550 million in profit through illegal stock trades, the Securities and Exchange Commission…



Fraud – Business – Allegedly Unethical Firms – One Complainant – Articles

The Take: Democrats’ ad spending reflects election anxieties
So Robert Gibbs was right. Remember the uproar the White House press secretary created when he said on national television that there were certainly enough seats in play for Republicans to take control of the House in November? House Democratic leaders upbraided him and expressed their anger to t…


Democratic – Politics – United States – Election – Parties

Judge Right to Halt Worst Parts of AZ’s Noxious Law

Troops Are the Real Victims of War Leaks
Ralph Peters, New York Post
If we needed yet another example of Washington's self-absorption, we sure got it with the WikiLeaks dump of classified data on AfPak.Government officials promptly freaked about the political consequences. The rush to insist that “there's nothing new here” and that the leaks “really don't change anything” was dishonest even by DC standards.Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies!The victims of this tragic event aren't punch-drunk White House staffers or members of Congress up for re-election. They're not the wed-to-Pakistan wonks at State or even the…

Wikileaks Proves Need for Mainstream Media
Anne Applebaum, Slate
Thank you, WikiLeaks.I didn't think it was possible, but Julian Assange has done it: By releasing 92,000 pages of intelligence documents relating to the Afghanistan war onto the laptops of an unsuspecting public, the proprietor of WikiLeaks has made an iron-clad case for the mainstream media. If you were under the impression that we no longer need news organizations, editors or reporters with more than 10 minutes' experience, think again. The notion that the Internet can replace traditional newsgathering has been revealed as a myth.To see what I mean, try reading this: “At…

The Politics of GOP Stupidity
E.J. Dionne, Washington Post
Can a nation remain a superpower if its internal politics are incorrigibly stupid? Start with taxes. In every other serious democracy, conservative political parties feel at least some obligation to match their tax policies with their spending plans. David Cameron, the new Conservative prime minister in Britain, is a leading example.

As Debt Bites, Sun Could Set on U.S.
Niall Ferguson, The Australian
We have been raised to think of the historical process as an essentially cyclical one.We naturally tend to assume that in our own time, too, history will move cyclically, and slowly.Yet what if history is not cyclical and slow-moving but arhythmic, at times almost stationary, but also capable of accelerating suddenly, like a sports car? What if collapse does not arrive over a number of centuries but comes suddenly, like a thief in the night?Great powers and empires are complex systems, which means their construction more resembles a termite hill than an Egyptian pyramid. They operate…

2 House Dems Ask Rangel to Resign
Two Democrats in the House of Representatives are calling on Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to resign instead of facing a public ethics inquiry that could damage the party’s chances at the polls this fall. “I think it’s clear that he should resign from Congress,” said Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho).

It’s never the time — to not be a hypocrite
The old saying that it is always the right time to do the right thing, doesn’t apply to the wealthy nor their servents in Congress.

pic from walknboston at flickr.com

Behold Kent Conrad “Mr. Deficit Hawk”. What do you think of those Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and the Republican plan for loving them?

[A] “formula for the decline of the United States.”

Naturally, Kent continues…

There’s no question in my mind that taxes have to go up on the wealthiest among us. The question is when. I don’t think this is the moment.

Yes, god forbid the fabulously wealthy, who have had huge swaths of the national wealth the last eight years concentrated in their hands, release a fraction (now, then, or ever).

It’s just never the moment for them to help reduce the debt, is it “Mr. Deficit Hawk”?

?

Early Morning Swim: Pat Buchanan Completely Disproves Climate Change!
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth…

Meanwhile, back on planet Earth…

Scientists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies reported recently that the average global temperature was higher over the past 12 months than during any other 12-month period in history. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released corroborating data, adding that the past four months, including June, have each individually been the hottest on record as well….

The average global temperature, computed over a 12-month period, reached a new record in May and held steady for the month of June, he said. This was despite the recent minimum in solar activity, which should have had a cooling effect on Earth. Apparently, Ruedy said, the solar cycle “has much less impact than the warming trend.”

But…but…Al Gore flies in planes and has a big house.

?

‘Daily Show’: Best Leak Ever
It seemed like nobody in a position of power in Washington thought that the shocking details about the war in Afghanistan, our “allies” in Pakistan and other gems from this week’s WikiLeaks melange of madness were all that “new.”  (continued)

It seemed like nobody in a position of power in Washington thought that the shocking details about the war in Afghanistan, our “allies” in Pakistan and other gems from this week’s WikiLeaks melange of madness were all that “new.”? (continued)

Related Entries

• July 29, 2010 Dah Danger
• July 28, 2010 Leaking to Avert Disaster

Alcohol: For the Rheumatoid Arthritis That Ails You
This could be a case in which the cure may cause problems above and beyond the severity of the symptoms, but a study that sounds like more fun than others we’ve heard of has found that alcohol consumption may help ease the pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis, as well as check the disease itself. However, the researchers behind these exciting findings sounded a requisite cautionary note while they were at it.  —KA BBC: Drinking alcohol can not only ease the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis it appears to reduce disease severity too, research suggests. Scientists at the University of Sheffield asked two groups of patients with and without the disease to provide details of their drinking habits. They found that patients who had drunk alcohol most frequently experienced less joint pain and swelling. Experts say this should not be taken as a green light for drinking more. Read more

This could be a case in which the cure may cause problems above and beyond the severity of the symptoms, but a study that sounds like more fun than others we’ve heard of has found that alcohol consumption may help ease the pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis, as well as check the disease itself. However, the researchers behind these exciting findings sounded a requisite cautionary note while they were at it.? —KA

BBC:

Drinking alcohol can not only ease the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis it appears to reduce disease severity too, research suggests.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield asked two groups of patients with and without the disease to provide details of their drinking habits.

They found that patients who had drunk alcohol most frequently experienced less joint pain and swelling.

Experts say this should not be taken as a green light for drinking more.

Read more

Related Entries

• July 29, 2010 Dah Danger
• July 28, 2010 Leaking to Avert Disaster