"Sarah Palin's war chest points to 2012 presidential bid"

Ewen MacAskill (UKGuardian):

John Ellis, a conservative political analyst, predicted she would be the de facto Republican frontrunner by December and that, by then, it may be too late for the party to do anything about it. Ellis wrote on his blogsite: "'She's too stupid' is what the Establishment GOP really thinks about Sarah Palin. 'Good-looking,' but a 'ditz'. This is unfertile ground, since Palin can turn the argument on a dime and say: 'They drive the country into bankruptcy, they underwrite Fannie and Freddie, they bail out Goldman Sachs, they fight wars they don't want to win, they say enforcing the immigration laws is silly and they call me stupid! I'll give you a choice: you can have their smarts or my stupidity, which one do you want?' A large number of GOP presidential primary voters will take Palin's "stupidity" in a heartbeat." MORE...

Ari Melber: "Most important political TV this week" (video)

MSNBC-Countdown, video (09:44):

Eric Alterman and Neera Tanden debate Obama & Kabuki democracy.

Howie P.S.: This might have been the most important political tv of the month if Tweety could have controlled his motor mouth.

Naomi Klein: "The G20: A Global Menace Invented by Larry Summers" (with video)

rabbletv on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

naomiklein.org, with video:

Here in Toronto we are getting the predictable lectures about how burning cop cars and smashed Starbucks outlets distract attention from “legitimate” protestors and NGOs with “important messages.” It’s a nice theory, except for the fact that the non-violent protests were being completely ignored by the international press until stuff started burning.

But they were taking place all over Toronto, timed with the G20 summit. This is a speech I delivered on Friday night, at a terrific event organized by the Council of Canadians. It is about why the G20 deserves to be derailed, interrupted and, ultimately, shut down.

Howie P.S.: Democracy Now! (with audio, video) looks back at the Toronto G20 held June 26-27, 2010.

Today's Helpful Thoughts for Democrats from Greg Sargent

Greg Sargent:

* But let's cut through the B.S.: How much will action on energy and even unemployment matter if the economy remains in the tank, which looks more likely now that Dems are giving up on more stimulus spending?

* And absent such action, why would Dems get enthusiastic about this fall, no matter how many times Robert Gibbs warns that there's "no doubt" that the GOP could take the House?

* While we're at it: Wouldn't voters like it if Dems continued pushing for big action on the economy, even if there's no chance of success, rather than throwing in the towel in advance, which accomplishes nothing?

Howie P.S.: The Dems seem to believe there's no point in "playing" each game if you don't have a good chance of winning. Is politics like the World Cup or is it more like a long battle where there are benefits to be gained from "suiting up every day"? If you hate sports analogies, feel free to suggest your own.

Booman: "Read Alterman"

Booman:

If you have the stamina, you should read Eric Alterman's long opus on the state of progressive politics in this county. It's actually about the state of all politics in this country, but it seeks to explain why progressive policies cannot be enacted despite large Democratic majorities in Congress and a president that is (or has been) rhetorically committed to them.

I have a few quibbles with Alterman's recitation of the facts, but I want to praise his overall effort. My biggest criticism is that he fails to critique progressives. Everyone else comes in for harsh treatment, but progressives are given a pass. I think that is a mistake, but it's interesting to think about why progressives deserve criticism. It's largely because progressives are not familiar enough with the obstacles to progressive change that Alterman exhaustively lays out.
(SNIP)
If you thought electing Obama would guarantee that all of his promises would become law inside of two years, you are going to be disappointed. I'm not. I'm extremely happy with the president and nearly at my wit's end with pretty much everyone else in this country. No faction frustrates me more than my own, and I'm grateful for Alterman for starting this conversation. I just wish he'd shine a mirror on himself and our movement. We need to hear about our shortcomings, too. Our biggest shortcoming is not understanding what Alterman has written and what it means for how we should feel about this administration. As I've said, this present Congress is the most productive and progressive Congress since 1965-66 and this president is the most successful and progressive since LBJ, and too many of us are focused on our disappointments and not focused on the right-wing threat that lurks out there with all its institutional advantages, just waiting to destroy this country, for good. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Earlier in this century I was invited to be a front-pager on Booman's site and posted there for short time.

"After Unemployment Extension, White House Shutting Down Stimulus Efforts" (with video)

David Dayen (FDL), with video from ABCNews (08:41):

David Axelrod appeared on This Week and acknowledged that the Administration has little chance of getting anything beyond an extension of unemployment benefits through Congress between now and the election. That extension would appear to have 60 votes whenever Robert Byrd’s replacement gets into the Senate. But that jobs bill that had all the tax extensions and infrastructure funding and summer job money? Forget it. Aid to state Medicaid programs? Isn’t going to happen. Extending the COBRA subsidy to keep the jobless covered? Nope. MORE...

"Liberals analyze their Obama 'despair'"

Abby Phillip (Politico):

Borosage says that over the past 18 months, progressives have learned the hard way that they need to be more independent of the White House to realize the change that they are seeking.

The remedy for the problems that progressives face, Borosage says, lies in the need to create an equal and opposite force that can rival the enthusiasm of the tea party movement.

“If there is a progressive movement that is demanding change, driving the debate, challenging conservative Democrats and Republicans and challenging the White House, you might see a bolder agenda,” he says. “But it’s equally possible that this reform moment … that we miss it and conservatives come back with the same ideas they had when they drove us off a cliff.”

“It was always naive to expect a president to start a movement,” says Michael Kazin, a Georgetown University history professor and co-editor of the liberal magazine, Dissent. “It’s a little bit like expecting a chief executive to start a union.” MORE...

Howie P.S.: H/t to Unjin Lee. Alterman ends his essay with a similar conclusion:

Obama is taking the best deal on the table today, but hopes and expects that once he is re-elected in 2012—a pretty strong bet, I'd say—he will build on the foundations laid during his first term to bring on the fundamental "change" that is not possible in today's environment. This would be consistent with FDR's strategy during his second term and makes a kind of sense when one considers the nature of the opposition he faces today and the likelihood that it will discredit itself following a takeover of one or both houses in 2010. For that strategy to make sense, however, 2013 will have to provide a more pregnant sense of progressive possibility than 2009 did, and that will take a great deal of work by the rest of us.

To borrow from Hillel the Elder: "If not now, when? If not us, who?"

More back and forth on this topic this morning from Atrios and his legions of commenters.

Stamper: "The Politics of Cannabis and Color "

Norm Stamper:

Alice Huffman's explanation of the California NAACP's endorsement of Proposition 19, the state initiative calling for the regulated legalization and taxation of marijuana, was well reasoned and smartly put. But she was promptly pounced upon, smeared by a collection of out-of-touch, fear-mongering detractors, including "more than 20 African American religious and community leaders" headed by one Bishop Ron Allen. Mr. Allen's statement was illogical, and insulting and condescending to the multitudes of African American civic leaders, including law enforcement officers and members of the clergy, who are working to end a drug war that has had devastating effects on communities of color.

Young black men have been hit particularly hard. As a new study by the Drug Policy Alliance points out, young blacks consume marijuana at rates lower than young whites. Yet in the 25 largest counties of California where blacks constitute 7 percent of the population, African American men are being arrested at double, triple, or even quadruple the rates for whites. This is not accidental.

MORE...

Howie P.S.: Norm Stamper moved to the San Juan Islands after serving as Seattle's Police Chief.

"Goldman Sachs agrees with Krugman that more stimulus is needed"

theCapitalistRedux' diary on Kos:

Let me preface this by saying whiteshoes at GS aren't always the smartest guys in the room- I've sat across the table from a few research analysts, PMs, and wholesalers of theirs and they can be a mixed bag. But on the whole, they are certainly canny enough to know what's good for their firm, and spiraling deflation is rough for even the best distressed asset investor. To see them in agreement with a self-proclaimed Liberal (not in the economic sense) neo-Keynesian like Paul Krugman is not something I would normally foresee without the risks of premature austerity being so grave. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I wish I understood that last sentence, H/t to Chris in Paris.

Don't forget! Gulf Oil Still "Spilling" (live video)

PBS NewsHour: live streaming video from USTREAM.

Taibbi: "This is the greatest thing I've ever read"

"A Reasonable Man" (Christopher Beam-NY Times):

Politically, it’s clear why the White House likes Brooks—he’s the persuadable opposition. “David represents to them the sensible Republican,” says Collins. “If David is convinced, they regard that as a real bi-partisan triumph.” But the special relationship is as much about style as politics. Temperamentally, Brooks and Obama could be twins. They address crises with an almost inhuman calm—an asset at times, but also a liability when the only proper response is emotional. On this, Brooks defends Obama. “You know, people fault President Obama for being passionless sometimes, for being a little too cold,” Brooks said on PBS NewsHour in May. “But when you have a week like this, where you’ve got the Greek situation, the oil spill, you’ve got Times Square, you’ve got floods in Nashville, I think they responded with reasonable speed, but basically with a level of calmness, which is in his nature … This is a good time to have a president like Obama, who’s just steady.” MORE...

Howie P.S.: Here's the source for Taibbi's comment. As I read the Beam piece, I kept wondering exactly what Taibbi meant.

"Outrage in Oakland: Transit Officer Convicted of Involuntary Manslaughter–Not Murder–in Killing of Unarmed Oscar Grant" (with audio/video)

Democracy Now! with audio/video:

Scores of people were arrested in Oakland, California Thursday night in protests over the verdict in the Oscar Grant shooting. Grant was the unarmed 22-year-old African-American man who was shot dead by Johannes Mehserle, a white transit officer, on an Oakland train platform on New Year’s Day, 2009. A jury in Los Angeles convicted Merserle of involuntary manslaughter but he was acquitted on the more serious charges of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

Howie P.S.: "Oscar Grant, A Victim Of American Fear."

"Two More Candidates for the McChrystal Treatment" (with video)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Eliot Spitzer
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

Robert Scheer:

It was Geithner who, as head of the New York Fed, presided over the $180 billion bailout of AIG, which, as revealed by the 500-page documented record of that travesty released last week by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, was a scam to pass taxpayer money to Goldman Sachs and the other large banks that had created the problem. And it was Summers who as President Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary pushed through the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which guaranteed “legal certainty” for the toxic derivatives packages that Goldman and the others sold. At the time Summers assured Congress that “the parties to these kinds of contracts are largely sophisticated financial institutions that would appear to be eminently capable of protecting themselves from fraud and counterparty insolvencies. …”

For such not-so-prescient but very convenient insight, Goldman Sachs rewarded Summers with $200,000 for two speeches he gave to its executives while he was an adviser to candidate Obama. Not surprisingly, the new financial regulations proposed by this administration and soon to be signed into law let Goldman and the others so much at fault off the hook.

There is enormous and justifiable populist outrage out there over the antics of a runaway Wall Street that is not being held accountable. Obama could tap into that outrage by taking his cues from a true populist, Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. One of only eight senators to vote against the Clinton-backed 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had done so much to protect the economy, Feingold voted against the Bush bailout too and is now breaking with Obama on his so-called financial reform:

“The bill does not eliminate the risk to our economy posed by ‘too big to fail’ financial firms, nor does it restore the proven safeguards established after the Great Depression, which separated Main Street banks from big Wall Street firms and are essential to preventing another economic meltdown. The recent financial crisis triggered the nation’s worst recession since the Great Depression. The bill should have included reforms to prevent another such crisis. Regrettably, it did not.”

The president’s record on the economy is even worse than his performance in Afghanistan, and a reversal of course is much in order. If he doesn’t get the message now, the voters will give it to him loud and clear come the November midterm elections. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I find that Robert Scheer is usually more accurate in his judgments than I would prefer. Eliot Spitzer has reached the same conclusion and shared his thoughts with Stephen Colbert, video (06:09). Glenn Greenwald agrees and wrote about it in April. 2009.

"Marijuana Law Reform Is a Civil Rights Issue"

Alice Huffman (President of the California NAACP):

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," said the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1967 when he spoke out against the Vietnam War. At the time, he was roundly criticized by friend and foe alike for speaking out on an issue considered outside the purview of civil rights' leaders. Dr. King understood better than most at the time the true cost of war -- in lives lost, in futures squandered, in dreams deferred and in misspent resources. Eventually, a majority of Americans came to agree with him about the war in Vietnam but he did not live long enough to see the shift in public opinion. His moral courage lay in speaking out in the face of disagreement, caring more about his integrity than popularity.

As leaders of the California NAACP, it is our mission to eradicate injustice and continue the fight for civil rights and social justice wherever and whenever we can. We are therefore compelled to speak out against another war, the so called "war on drugs." To be clear, this is not a war on the drug lords and violent cartels, this is a war that disproportionately affects young men and women and the latest tool for imposing Jim Crow justice on poor African-Americans.

We reject the oft-repeated but deceptive argument that there are only two choices for addressing drugs -- heavy handed law enforcement or total permissiveness. Substance abuse and addiction are American problems that affect every socioeconomic group, and meaningful public health and safety strategies are needed to address it. However, law enforcement strategies that target poor Blacks and Latinos and cause them to bear the burden and shame of arrest, prosecution and conviction for marijuana offenses must stop.

The report released this week by the Drug Policy Alliance confirmed that marijuana law enforcement in California disproportionately targets our youth. Despite consistent evidence that Black youth use marijuana at lower rates than Whites, in every one of the 25 largest counties in California, Blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at higher rates than Whites, typically at double, triple, or even quadruple the rate of Whites.

We believe whatever potential harms may be associated with using marijuana are more than outweighed by the immediate harms that derive from being caught up in the criminal justice system. Once a young person is arrested and brought under the justice system, he or she is more likely to get caught in the criminal justice system again. While most marijuana possession arrests do not result in long prison sentences, they almost all generate some entanglement in the net of the criminal justice system -- acquisition of arrest records, entry into criminal databases and the permanent stigmatization that arises from such involvement. A simple marijuana possession charge and $100 ticket starts a rap sheet that can leave an individual with a permanent record as a drug offender, which can easily be searched by employers, landlords, schools, credit agencies, licensing boards and banks.

Given the current economic crisis and high level of unemployment, particularly for Black men, do we really want to permanently handicap a person's ability to get an education, make a decent living and have a productive life because they used marijuana? Equally important -- is arresting people for possessing marijuana the best use of our scarce tax dollars? At a time when counties are laying off teachers, firefighters, child and senior care providers, can we justify wasting millions attempting to reduce demand for cannabis through law enforcement? How many more years should we wait before declaring that strategy a failure? Our recent history is filled with elected officials (including our current President), business leaders and others who have admitted using marijuana and were nonetheless able to lead productive lives. How many would have been able to do so if they were subjected to current law enforcement practices?

The California NAACP does not believe maintaining the illusion we're winning the "war on drugs" is worth sacrificing another generation of our young men and women. Enough is enough. We want change we can believe in; that's why we're supporting Prop. 19. Instead of wasting money on marijuana law enforcement, Prop. 19 will generate tax revenues we can use to improve the education and employment outcomes of our youth. Our youth want and deserve a future. Let's invest in people, not prisons. It is time to end the failed war on drugs by decriminalizing and regulating marijuana to save our communities. MORE...

Howie P.S.: "Will the Marijuana Vote Help the Democrats in November?"

"California Dems Endorse Pot Legalization, Proposition 19"

Ryan Grim (HuffPo):

Democratic lawmakers from California are hoping that a proposition to legalize marijuana on the November ballot will help drive progressive voter turnout, but most are so far unwilling to state publicly how they'll vote when the curtain closes. Three House Democrats, however, tell HuffPost that they'll be supporting the measure, which would authorize cities and counties to tax and regulate the sale of marijuana for adults 21 and over.
(SNIP)
At the state Democratic Party convention in April, Party Chair John Burton was asked how to re-energize Obama voters from 2008. "Pot," he said, according to Greg Lucas.

The state Democratic Party's executive board meets next weekend to consider whether to endorse Prop 19, but gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown has already come out against it. A number of unions may weigh in as well. The United Food and Commercial Workers union is organizing medical "bud tenders" and the more legal workers there are to organize, the better it is for unions. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees may also endorse. State workers, facing mass layoffs and wage cuts, would benefit from the billion-plus in revenue taxing marijuana could bring in. MORE...

Howie P.S.: The Washington state Democrats endorsed Washington state's I-1068 on June 26, 2010. I-1068 failed to gain the necessary number of signatures by the deadline in early July.

Change by electronic communication?: "The death of activism"

Community organiser and Chicagoan Saul Alinsky, circa 1946: 'I love this goddamn country, and we're going to take it back.' Photograph: Myron Davis/Time & Life/Getty

Clancy Siga(GuardianUK):

We've plenty to protest about in the US, but on the streets there is no dissent. Why is our liberal mood so paralytic?---In my middle-class neighbourhood, you can organise people around dog-walking exchanges, the crimewatch duty roster, mutual baby-sitting, earthquake preparedness and dire household emergencies. But even the most liberal-minded among us seem totally spooked by the currently toxic idea of politically organising our private economic tragedies into any form of communal resistance to Bush-Obama's class warfare – skyrocketing unemployment, home foreclosures, bank failures, vanished investments and social service cuts that directly affect us. Politics? Ugh. Please, don't bother me. I'd rather talk about Tony Soprano's latest session with his leggy shrink.
(SNIP)
The late, great Chicago community organiser Saul Alinsky liked saying that the only way to activate people is to appeal not to altruism but to their self-interest. Yet perceived self-interest is unpredictable and sometimes comes from the heart as well as the pocketbook. For example, all across the country, ordinary, deeply conservative Catholic parishioners have recently been motivated to march, protest, sit-in and even barricade themselves when they felt threatened by local church closures demanded by a cost-cutting hierarchy hungry for money to pay out in the sex assault cases.

Rank-and-file parishioners didn't organise by listservs or electronic communication but face to face, neighbour to neighbour. MORE...

Alterman:"Kabuki Democracy"

Eric Alterman (The Nation):

Few progressives would take issue with the argument that, significant accomplishments notwithstanding, the Obama presidency has been a big disappointment. As Mario Cuomo famously observed, candidates campaign in poetry but govern in prose. Still, Obama supporters have been asked to swallow some painfully "prosaic" compromises. In order to pass his healthcare legislation, for instance, Obama was required to specifically repudiate his pledge to prochoice voters to "make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as president." That promise apparently was lost in the same drawer as his insistence that "Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange...including a public option." Labor unions were among his most fervent and dedicated foot soldiers, as well as the key to any likely progressive political renaissance, and many were no doubt inspired by his pledge "to fight for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act." Yet that act appears deader than Jimmy Hoffa. Environmentalists were no doubt steeled through the frigid days of New Hampshire canvassing by Obama's promise that "As president, I will set a hard cap on all carbon emissions at a level that scientists say is necessary to curb global warming—an 80 percent reduction by 2050." That goal appears to have gone up the chimney in thick black smoke. And remember when Obama promised, right before the election, to "put in place the common-sense regulations and rules of the road I've been calling for since March—rules that will keep our market free, fair and honest; rules that will restore accountability and responsibility in our corporate boardrooms"? Neither, apparently, does he… Indeed, if one examines the gamut of legislation passed and executive orders issued that relate to the promises made by candidate Obama, one can only wince at the slightly hyperbolic joke made by late night comedian Jimmy Fallon, who quipped that the president's goal appeared to be to "finally deliver on the campaign promises made by John McCain."
(SNIP)
Indeed, with regard to almost every single one of our problems, we need better, smarter organizing at every level and a willingness on the part of liberals and leftists to work with what remains of the center to begin the process of reforms that are a beginning, rather than an endpoint in the process of societal transformation. As American history consistently instructs us, this is pretty much the only way things change in our system. Over time, reforms like Social Security, Medicare and the Voting Rights Act can add up to a kind of revolution, one that succeeds without bloodshed or widespread destruction of order, property or necessary institutions.

What's more, one hypothesis—one I'm tempted to share—for the Obama administration's willingness to compromise so extensively on the promises that candidate Obama made during the 2008 campaign would be that as president, he is playing for time. Obama is taking the best deal on the table today, but hopes and expects that once he is re-elected in 2012—a pretty strong bet, I'd say—he will build on the foundations laid during his first term to bring on the fundamental "change" that is not possible in today's environment. This would be consistent with FDR's strategy during his second term and makes a kind of sense when one considers the nature of the opposition he faces today and the likelihood that it will discredit itself following a takeover of one or both houses in 2010. For that strategy to make sense, however, 2013 will have to provide a more pregnant sense of progressive possibility than 2009 did, and that will take a great deal of work by the rest of us.

To borrow from Hillel the Elder: "If not now, when? If not us, who?" MORE...

Howie P.S.: In between these two hefty passages is a novella full of descriptive analysis.

WikiLeaks, vanden Heuvel, Phish, Keynes and Joe Bageant (with video)

"US private Bradley Manning charged with leaking Iraq killings video" (GuardianUK):

A US army intelligence analyst was today charged with leaking a highly classified video of American forces killing unarmed civilians in Baghdad and secret diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. MORE...

Katrina vanden Heuvel (WaPo op-ed):

But, as I've argued before, if progressives are to alter the hostile political environment that arms the lobbies and forces President Obama -- and, even more, fearful centrist Democrats in Congress -- to shrink from bolder reforms, they must build and mobilize a broad reform movement that transcends left-right divisions.

Now, we have a compelling blueprint of just how to do that. A new book -- "The DeMarco Factor: Transforming Public Will Into Political Power" -- shows that that kind of organizing is no pipe dream. Written by Michael Pertschuk, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission and co-founder of the Advocacy Institute, the book focuses on the strategies and leadership of organizer Vincent DeMarco, who has waged successful advocacy campaigns in Maryland and Congress for 20 years. MORE...

"Killing in the name of" (Phish 7/4/2010, video-03:59).

"Keynes & Co. have lost the stimulus argument" (Brad Delong-The Week):

With the nation mired in unemployment, liberal economists have been pulling the fire alarm with increasing urgency. But the fire department isn't coming.
(SNIP)
The situation is grim. So why isn't everybody running around with their hair on fire?
I have my theories:
• widening wealth inequality and an upgrading of the class position of reporters and pundits, who are no longer ink-stained wretches immersed in mainstream America;
• the collapse of union power, which ensures that nobody who sees real workers on a daily basis sits at the table when the deals are made;
• increasing job security for the powerful in Washington, aided by the growth of the lobbying apparatus that envelops the mixed-economy government;
• the collapse of professional integrity among the Washington press corps, which no longer dares to call balls and strikes as it sees them, preferring to say only that the Democrats say it was a strike and the Republicans say it was a ball, and that opinions on the shape of the earth differ.MORE...

"Waltzing at the Doomsday Ball" (Joe Bageant):

As an Anglo European white guy from a very long line of white guys, I want to thank all the brown, black, yellow and red people for a marvelous three-century joy ride. During the past 300 years of the industrial age, as Europeans, and later as Americans, we have managed to consume infinitely more than we ever produced, thanks to colonialism, crooked deals with despotic potentates and good old gunboats and grapeshot. MORE...

"Mayberry Machiavellis: Obama Political Team Handcuffing Recovery"

Ryan Grim (HuffPo):

Under the leadership of President George W. Bush, science, empirical evidence and expert advice struggled to be heard above the din of politics. It's one thing to prioritize politics over good policy; it's quite another to let bad politics drive the agenda. But that's what the Bush administration did during its Terry Schiavo era and his congressional majorities paid the price.

Today, a new band of Mayberry Machiavellis has gained control, counseling President Obama to ignore the advice of his economic team and press forward with deficit reduction ahead of job creation. MORE...

Taibbi: "Lara Logan, You Suck" (with video)

Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone):

Lara Logan, come on down! You're the next guest on Hysterical Backstabbing Jealous Hackfest 2010!

I thought I'd seen everything when I read David Brooks saying out loud in a New York Times column that reporters should sit on damaging comments to save their sources from their own idiocy. But now we get CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan slamming our own Michael Hastings on CNN's "Reliable Sources" program, agreeing that the Rolling Stone reporter violated an "unspoken agreement" that journalists are not supposed to "embarrass [the troops] by reporting insults and banter."

Anyone who wants to know why network television news hasn't mattered since the seventies just needs to check out this appearance by Logan. Here's CBS's chief foreign correspondent saying out loud on TV that when the man running a war that's killing thousands of young men and women every year steps on his own dick in front of a journalist, that journalist is supposed to eat the story so as not to embarrass the flag. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Slightly old news, but like "Groundhog Day," (video-02:46), the message is still pertinent.

"Obama's Fourth of July Barbecue" (with slideshow)

Epoch Times (with slideshow):

President Barack Obama hosted a large Fourth of July party Sunday for military personnel and their families and friends on the South Lawn of the White House. The Obamas not only celebrated the signing of the Declaration Of Independence but also their daughter Malia’s birthday.

More than a thousand people attended to acknowledge the birth of our free nation. Red, white, and blue colors were everywhere. With flags flying and patriotic table settings the Obama family served barbecue to their guests. Malia Obama turned 12 while her country turned 234.

“Welcome to the White House and Happy Fourth of July! All across our great country today, folks are coming together decked out in their red, white, and blue, firing up the grill, having a good time with family, just like here today. Now of course I’ll admit that the backyard is a little bigger here but it’s the same spirit, and Michelle and I couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate America’s birthday,” said President Obama.

More than 1,200 military service men and women were invited to the event that featured performances from comedian Cedric the Entertainer. The pop/rock band The Killers also performed at the presidential Independence Day party. The event was broadcast live from the White House official website.

The party began with a speech from President Barack Obama. The night concluded with a massive fireworks display.

Howie P.S.: With The Killers and Cedric the Entertainer in attendance, I wish I could locate some video of this event.

"House Dems Stand Firm on Afghanistan Withdrawal Timetable"

Tom Hayden (The Nation):

One hundred sixty-two House members, including a large majority of Democrats, sent a significant antiwar message to President Obama last night July 1), forcing the White House to depend for Afghanistan war support on the Republicans who want to unseat the Democrats and Obama himself in upcoming elections.

Despite claims by punditry that the antiwar movement has disappeared, stalwart Representative Barbara Lee gained 100 votes for her amendment rejecting $33 billion for 30,000 new troops already being sent to Afghanistan. Seven of her votes were Republicans. The measure would have redirected the $33 billion to expenses incurred in redeploying the troops out of Afghanistan.

More significant numerically, there were 162 votes cast for Representative Jim McGovern’s amendment, co-authored by representatives David Obey and Walter Jones, which articulated a game plan for ending the war. MORE...

Howie P.S.: More in depth analysis from Sahil Kapur in The Washington Independent: "As Afghan War Drags On, Some Democrats Threaten Revolt." Atrios chimes in this morning:

Important people in the White House waste valuable time giving a shit what David Brooks thinks.

Here's this morning's final (I promise) Beltway blather, from the wise Greg Sargent:

"Why GOP obstruction will benefit Republicans."

Amy Goodman: "We Can't Afford War" (with audio)

Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) with audio:

The U.S. will eventually negotiate its withdrawal from Afghanistan. The only difference between now and then will be the number of dead, on all sides, and the amount of (borrowed) money that will be spent.

"Oily Troubles Trickle Down" (with video)

Bill Whitaker (CBSNews.com) with video (03:25):

When the oil spill stifles the way of life for fisherman in Louisiana, it causes a domino effect for everyone affiliated with one of the largest industries in the area.

Like an oily octopus spreading its tentacles through the Gulf of Mexico, menacing muck is choking off sea life and on shore a way of life. Bill Whitaker reports. MORE...

Howie P.S.: More Good News from The Wall Street Journal:
"Obama Decried, Then Used, Some Bush Drilling Policies."

"Strapped Police Run on Fumes, and Federal Pot-Fighting Cash"

Wall Street Journal:

To make sure his office gets the federal funds, Sheriff Bosenko since last year has spent about $340,000 of his department's shrinking resources, more than in past years, on a team that tramps through the woods looking for pot farms. Though the squad is mostly U.S.-funded, the federal grants don't cover some of its needs, such as a team chief and certain equipment. So, Mr. Bosenko has to pay for those out of his regular budget.

He doesn't doubt the value of pursuing pot farming, which he says is often the work of sophisticated Mexican gangs and leads to other crimes like assault. But other infractions, like drunken driving and robbery, may have a bigger direct impact on local residents than pot growing, he says.

The pot money is "$340,000 I could use somewhere else in my organization," he says. "That could fund three officers' salaries and benefits, and we could have them out on our streets doing patrol." His overall budget this year is about $35 million. MORE...

Howie P.S.: H/t to Lee, who also links to "State NAACP backs marijuana legalization initiative" (LA Times):

Saying that prohibition takes a heavy toll on minorities, leaders of the NAACP’s California chapter announced Monday that they are backing passage of a marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot.

The war on drugs is a failure and disproportionately targets young men and women of color, particularly African-American males, said Alice Huffman, president of the NAACP’s state conference.

Lee comments:

Anyone who’s been involved in drug law reform for some time is well familiar with the odd contradiction that occurs in many African-American neighborhoods. Despite being the most negatively impacted by the downstream effects of marijuana prohibition – from the violence of drug gangs to the disproportionate numbers of people within those neighborhoods who end up in jail – many of the leading voices within these communities cling to the belief that the drug war is both moral and necessary. But the impact of these racial disparities and the increased divide between African-American neighborhoods and the rest of America has made the truth of prohibition’s impact too hard to ignore.

During our failed American experiment with alcohol prohibition, a major milestone in its eventual repeal was when New York Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia began pointing out how devastating it was to New York’s large immigrant communities. The NAACP’s endorsement of Proposition 19 is an important milestone in this fight.

"Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS) grips conservative media once again"

"Of course, the paranoia and faux anger must be added...perhaps pumped up by non-prescription meds."

Media Matters for America:

In recent weeks, conservative media have been consumed by "Obama Derangement Syndrome," accusing President Obama of being insane, of colluding with Russian spies, of trying to create a civil war and implement one world government, among other things, while also claiming that his administration is trying to control everything under the sun, including the Internet and, inexplicably, your toilet. MORE...

"Steele’s Afghanistan criticism highlights Democrats' mixed message on war"

Russell Berman (The Hill):

Michael Steele’s criticism of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan may be creating a headache for the Republican National Committee, but it’s also shining a spotlight on the Democrats’ mixed message on the war.

The Democratic National Committee pounced on the RNC’s chairman’s comments at a GOP fundraiser, accusing Steele of “betting against our troops and rooting for failure in Afghanistan.”

Just hours earlier, however, a majority of the House Democratic caucus voted to require a timeline for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and to restrict funding if President Barack Obama deviates from his drawdown plan. MORE...

"Spend Your Fourth Drunk and Broke! Or Fabulous and Laughing, Elin Woods-Style! Whatever!"

The Black Snob:

The Snob is spending her first Fourth of July in the Nation's Capitol. Oh goody! I'll probably do something very not glamorous and eat more food than I should. Might write a few letters to Elin Woods to see if she feels like joining in a few business ventures with me since it looks like she might have a little extra cash floating around soon. (Or not!) Or I just might get drunk and watch no-sexy-times vampires versus werewolves fighting over that one girl who thinks one day her fans are going to murder her movie. What are you going to do? The one thing I'm not going to do is update this puppy until something strikes my fancy. And I predict that something will strike my fancy around Monday. Until then, enjoy yourselves. Don't get too drunkity-drunk and blow up anything with yer sparklers n' such! MORE...

"July 4: Declare Your Independence from War" (video)

Rethink Afghanistan, video, (01:39):

July 4 is a time when Americans celebrate life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But when we're spending hundreds of billions on the Afghanistan War, and when we're cutting education and unemployment insurance benefits in a dismal economy, it's clear that the war is killing the American dream.

Let's get our priorities straight so we can declare independence from bloody, costly wars.

Alter: "T Minus Two Years--Believe the president on Afghanistan."

Jonathan Alter (Newsweek) with video (08:02):

There are at least three reasons—military, financial, and -political—to take the president at his word that the current commitment of 100,000 troops will be of short duration. MORE...

Howie P.S.: "After the Taliban, back to normal." View the photo gallery.

Obama, Afghanistan and the "Anti-War Liberals"

Dick Polman (Philadelphia Inquirer):

We can all agree that this Fourth of July holiday is not particularly festive, given the grim tidings on all fronts. But perhaps the unhappiest Americans these days are the antiwar liberal Democrats who voted with enthusiasm for Barack Obama, only to find him tethered to a protracted war in a remote region that for two millennia has foiled virtually every foreign invader. Even Alexander the Great had to flee with an arrow in his leg.MORE...

Howie P.S.: I still maintain that Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan is not what was promised. He did promise to shift resources from Iraq to Afghanistsn, but NOT on the scale we have seen.

"Jacob Leicht, 1,000th Soldier Killed In Afghanistan, Born On Independence Day" (with video)

Arthur Delaney (HuffPo), with video (02:13):

Marine Cpl. Jacob C. Leicht of Kerrville, Texas, the 1,000th American soldier killed in Afghanistan, would have turned 25 this July 4.

Jacob's father, Craig Leicht, told HuffPost last week that the family hadn't made major plans for Independence Day. "Yeah, we had our moments of sorrow, but that's what life is about -- standing up for what you believe in," he said. "We're not really, I guess, a weeping and gnashing-of-teeth kind of family. We're rejoicing in who Jacob was and what he stood for." MORE...

Dave Alvin - "Hey, Baby, It's The Fourth Of July" (video)

LiveFromAustinTexas, video (06:31).

"Obama Secretly Deploys US Special Forces to 75 Countries Across World" (with video)

Former Intel Boss: "How to Make an American Job Before It's Too Late"

Andy Grove (Bloomberg):

The first task is to rebuild our industrial commons. We should develop a system of financial incentives: Levy an extra tax on the product of offshored labor. (If the result is a trade war, treat it like other wars -- fight to win.) Keep that money separate. Deposit it in the coffers of what we might call the Scaling Bank of the U.S. and make these sums available to companies that will scale their American operations. Such a system would be a daily reminder that while pursuing our company goals, all of us in business have a responsibility to maintain the industrial base on which we depend and the society whose adaptability -- and stability -- we may have taken for granted.

I fled Hungary as a young man in 1956 to come to the U.S. Growing up in the Soviet bloc, I witnessed first-hand the perils of both government overreach and a stratified population. Most Americans probably aren’t aware that there was a time in this country when tanks and cavalry were massed on Pennsylvania Avenue to chase away the unemployed. It was 1932; thousands of jobless veterans were demonstrating outside the White House. Soldiers with fixed bayonets and live ammunition moved in on them, and herded them away from the White House. In America! Unemployment is corrosive. If what I’m suggesting sounds protectionist, so be it. MORE...

Howie P.S.: H/t to Rob Glaser (Founder and Chairman RealNetworks). Andy Grove, senior adviser to Intel, was the company’s chief executive officer or chairman from 1987 until 2005.

Matt Taibbi on Maria Cantwell and Financial Reform

Matt Taibbi:

Meanwhile the passage of the final Financial Regulatory Reform Bill has been hopelessly complicated by a number of factors, the biggest among them being the death of Robert Byrd. But with the news today that Maria Cantwell is back on board with the bill, it looks like the Dems have the 60 votes they need to pass this thing. The story of what it took to get those 60 votes is sort of amazing — again, I have more on this coming out later — but let's just say the whittling process has been in overdrive for almost all of the last month and while all of the major "reforms" are still in place, each of them is getting smaller and smaller with every passing minute. And they still could get whittled down even more in the week and a half or so that's supposedly left until the Senate votes on the bill.

As one Senator I spoke with yesterday said, "This thing is in play until they put the final nail in the coffin." MORE...

"Who's behind ballot Initiatives: A liberal guide"

Joel Connelly:

An ambitious new website, titled stopgreed.org, seeks to give financial footprints to big corporate and special interests behind "citizen" initiatives that have qualified for Washington's November ballot.

The site was launched quietly on Friday, but hopes to create plenty of vibrations during the next four months.

A partially complete "Rogues Gallery" of big givers is a centerpiece of the site, being constructed by The Northwest Progressive Institute, an Internet-oriented group of young liberal activists. MORE...

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Updated: "Organizers: Wash. legal pot measure won't make ballot"

UPDATE: "Pot Versus Alcohol: Experts Say Booze Is the Bigger Danger" (Paul Armentano):

For more than three decades, America's marijuana policies have been based upon rhetoric. Perhaps it's time to begin listening to what the experts have to say.

KOMO News (AP):

An initiative to legalize marijuana for adults in Washington state will not qualify for the fall ballot, an organizer said Thursday.

Seattle medical marijuana attorney Douglas Hiatt told The Associated Press that the effort fell about 40,000 to 50,000 signatures short of the 241,000 that must be turned in by Friday. Hiatt said his group, Sensible Washington, will try again next year. MORE...

Jim McDermott: Unemployment Standoff 'A Class Warfare Issue'

Arthur Dekaney (HuffPo)

It's a class warfare issue," said McDermott in an interview with HuffPost after the House vote. McDermott, chairman of the Ways and Means Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, lamented the fact that congressional deficit hawks squawked little during two wars and when Congress authorized a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry.

"Wall Street is saying to them, 'These deficits, they're making problems, we need to get this deficit down,'" McDermott said. "So the very people who took the money and were stabilized because we created deficits are now turning around and biting the hand that feeds them, that is, the taxpayers. It's unconscionable." MORE...

The Beltway Ponders Afghanistan, Financial Reform and Immigration

"House approves money for Afghan surge" (Reuters):

Key members of the Democratic majority decided to let the legislation go to the House floor Thursday evening after adding the money for domestic U.S. programs they favored.

There was $10 billion to help avert teacher layoffs, $700 million for security on the border with Mexico and $142 million to help the oil-sullied Gulf Coast. Cuts were proposed to other programs to offset the spending.

"If American money is going to be building a nation, I'd like it to be mine," said Representative Louise Slaughter, chairwoman of the powerful Rules Committee, before the vote. MORE...

Greg Sargent comments:

Yesterday House Dems approved war funding for Afghanistan, but the more interesting vote may have been that nearly 100 Dems helped Republicans defeat an amendment that would have required the president to submit a timeline for redeployment of American troops out of the region.

"Cantwell will vote for financial reform bill" Joel Connelly (seattlepi.com):

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who voted against a Senate-crafted financial reform bill saying it was too weak, is giving badly needed support to a stronger version of the legislation worked out by a Senate-House conference committee.

Cantwell was one of only two Democratic senators to vote against the Senate version of the bill.

Cantwell said the conferees' version holds significant improvements over the original Senate bill, especially in its language requiring transparency in derivatives markets and tough penalties for evading the clearing and exchange trading requirements for derivatives. MORE...

"Obama presses 11 Republican senators to revive support for immigration reform" (WaPo), with video (01:58):

In his first major speech on immigration as president, President Barack Obama says that while the frustrations over it aren't new, Arizona's tough new anti-immigrant law and the protests surrounding it have created new tensions.
MORE...

"Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone on McChrystal and the Disputes Behind the U.S. Debacle in Afghanistan" (with video)

Democracy Now! with video:

In a rare extended interview, we speak to Michael Hastings, whose article in Rolling Stone magazine led to the firing of General Stanley McChrystal. Hastings’ piece quoted McChrystal and his aides making disparaging remarks about top administration officials, and exposed long-standing disagreements between civilian and military officials over the conduct of the war. The Senate confirmed General David Petraues as McChrystal’s replacement on Wednesday, one day after McChrystal announced his retirement from the military on Tuesday after a 34-year career.

"Senate GOP again kills jobless aid extension"

"Senate GOP again kills jobless aid extension" (AP):

For the third time in three weeks, Republicans in the Senate on Wednesday successfully filibustered a bill to continue providing unemployment checks to millions of people.

But since Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine voted with Democrats to advance the $33 billion measure, its passage seems assured next month once a replacement is named for Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who died on Monday. Democrats would then have a filibuster-proof majority for the bill. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Ben Nelson was the sole Democrat who joined with the Republican senators.

"Costco and liquor: Good or bad for Washington?"

Chris Grygiel (seattlepi.com):

In the debate over privatizing liquor sales in Washington state, Costco is either a retailer with a proven ability to give consumers what they want -- cheaply -- or a ruthless giant out to dominate and disrupt.

To foes of Initiative 1100, the privatization measure to which Costco has already given $735,000, the Issaquah-based corporation is the latter. Backers of the competing privatization bill supported by more than $1.4 million from two big beverage distributors -- Initiative 1105 -- have called the Costco measure "irresponsible" and say it will loosen restrictions to the point where there will be "more liquor stores than Starbucks stores."
(SNIP)
Both privatization campaigns say getting the state out of the liquor business will be good for consumers and could bring the state even more tax revenue.

A union-backed "no" campaign is ramping up to oppose both efforts, saying the initiatives will increase liquor sales and put much-needed revenue at risk just as the state budget is reeling from deep service cuts.

The broader opposition campaign, Keep our Kids Safe, is supported by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents state liquor store workers. The State Council of Firefighters and the Church Council of Greater Seattle also are involved in the "no" campaign.

In 2009, the state Liquor Control Board said taxes, markup and fees provided more than $332.7 million for programs and services throughout the state. Of that, $199 million went to the state's general fund, almost $63 million went to cities and counties and $49 million went to help pay for the state's health insurance for the poor. MORE...

Sherrod Brown: "No recess until jobless benefits pass"

Joan McCarter (Daily Kos):

The good Senator named Brown is doing his damnedest to get jobless benefits passed.

The House and Senate should stay in session until they can pass an extension of unemployment insurance, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said Wednesday.

Brown urged leaders to keep Congress in session and eat into the holiday weekend and next week's recess, if necessary, to pass a long-delayed extension of benefits and tax cuts that's stalled in the Senate.

"For too many weeks, Republicans have blocked legislation that would extend tax cuts for small businesses, close tax loopholes that encourage corporations to ship jobs overseas, and extend unemployment insurance," Brown said in a statement. "Congress should not adjourn for the July 4 holiday weekend without passing an extension of unemployment insurance."

This is the message Harry Reid needs to hear: keep them in. Bring out the cots. Only let them out to attend Sen. Byrd's funeral, and then bring them back. One thing we know, breaking out the cots tends to break loose Republican votes. Take their vacation away until they help the 1.2 million Americans who have prematurely lost their unemployment insurance.

WA I-1068: "Will pot legalization initiative make fall ballot?"

Chris Grygiel (seattlepi.com):

With a nod to its base, the campaign to legalize marijuana for adults in Washington has made an appointment to turn in initiative signatures to the secretary of state's office at 4:20 p.m. Friday.

The late-in the day timing (Friday is the last day for campaigns to turn in signatures) will help Initiative 1068 gather John Hancocks until the last minute. The campaign has struggled to gather the required 241,000 signatures of registered voters for a spot on the November ballot. The time - 4:20 p.m. - is also well known to marijuana enthusiasts as the time of the day when people across the world light up.

State officials say the I-1068 campaign has told them they've got about 200,000 signatures so far - and have been getting many petitions back every day. The state Elections Division urges campaigns to submit at least 300,000 signatures, allowing for a pad to cover duplicate or invalid signatures.

Howie P.S.: Sensible Washington is having a volunteer celebration tomorrow @ Alki from noon-6pm. I-1068 was a grassroots, volunteer=driven effort. By comparison, "Beverage distributors pour $1.4 mil into liquor privatization" (seattlepi.com):

Two big beverage distributors have given $1.4 million to Initiative 1105, one of two measures seeking to privatize liquor sales in Washington state.

The other effort - I-1100 - turned in 396,000 signatures to the state last week. I-1100 is backed by Costco, which has contributed $735,000.

I-1105 has until Friday provide the secretary of state 241,000 signatures of registered voters to qualify for the November ballot. They're supposed to drop off signatures at 1:30 p.m. that day. Odom Southern Holdings of Bellevue has given $654,000 to the measure and and Young's Market Company of Los Angeles has chipped in
$850,000. The two companies both cut $320,000 checks on June 23, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.