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4th of July Music and Open Thread

post from TalkLeft on 04 July 2009 02:44:00 PM. © TalkLeft

video details and more

It seems like the same songs make the list of top 4th of July music each year. Current TV's Sergio puts them in context. I especially liked the part [/sarcasm]about the Toby Keith song where the soldiers stomp and cheer and go totally wild as he belts out:

You'll be sorry you messed with the U.S. of A.
Cause we'll put a boot in your as*, it's the American Way

He also points out the critical verse in Springsteen's "Born in the USA" [More...]

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

And to answer Sergio's question, is John Mellencamp pride or punishment, I'll cut John some slack and go with pride. He spent a lot of time helping the Dems last year on the campaign trail. How about you?

Here's my video of him singing "Little Pink Houses" at a John Edwards' campaign event in Iowa.

video details and more

This is an open thread, all topics welcome, not just the 4th of July.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/RqSzY14vEVQ/3854

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Where The Rubber Meets The Road (7/4/09)

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 04 July 2009 02:39:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

As reported in last Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer, here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress were recorded on major roll-call votes for the week ending Sunday June 28th.

House

Homeland-security budget: By a 389-37 vote, the House approved a $44 billion Department of Homeland Security budget for fiscal 2010, up 6.5 percent from 2009. The bill bars development of a national ID card, requires threat assessments of Guantanamo Bay prisoners, and prohibits spending to block individuals from importing FDA-approved drugs from Canada.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: John Adler (D., N.J.), Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.), Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.), Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), Tim Holden (D., Pa.), Frank A. LoBiondo (R., N.J.), Patrick Murphy (D., Pa.), Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.), Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.), Joe Sestak (D., Pa.), and Christopher H. Smith (R., N.J.).

Voting no: Michael N. Castle (R., Del.).

As noted here, the presence of language in the bill about barring development of a national ID card was in all likelihood the reason for Castle?s ?No? vote here (no other information on his web site). And I realize the argument for this has some theoretical merit, but trying to implement this in the real world would be a nightmare (one of the reasons why I personally support licenses for illegal immigrants ? we need to track these people somehow). Also, telling foreign nationals that they suddenly need an ID card to work and/or study here would exacerbate the ?brain drain? that developed after 9/11 at a time when we can least afford it.

Air marshals budget. By a 134-294 vote, the House refused to cut spending in the Homeland Security Budget for the Federal Air Marshal Service from $860 million to $819 million. The agency's mission is to station armed marshals on an undisclosed number of passenger flights.

A yes vote was to cut the air marshals budget.

Voting yes: Castle, Pitts.

Voting no: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Schwartz, Sestak, and Smith.

I?m hearing rumblings that Castle might make a run for the Senate in 2010. If he does, I can?t wait to hear him try to defend votes like this one.

Economic stimulus. By a 113-318 vote, the House refused to cut Department of Homeland Security spending by $2.7 billion, which is the amount of stimulus funds Congress added earlier this year to the department's budget.

A yes vote backed the spending cut.

Voting yes: Adler.

Voting no: Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts, Schwartz, Sestak, and Smith.

I have to admit that it took a long time for John Adler to made a rookie mistake like this one (can?t find any further information to explain this).

2010 military budget. By a 389-22 vote, the House authorized a $680 billion military budget for fiscal 2010, including $130 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and $9.3 billion for the National Missile Defense. The bill sets a 3.4 percent military pay raise, increases active-duty personnel by 40,200 troops to 1.4 million troops, and bars permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Castle, Dent, Fattah, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts, Schwartz, Sestak, and Smith.

Withdrawal from Afghanistan. By a 138-278 vote, the House defeated an amendment to the 2010 military budget requiring that the Defense Department report to Congress by the end of the year on any plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Brady, Fattah, and Sestak.

Voting no: Adler, Andrews, Castle, Dent, Gerlach, Holden, LoBiondo, Murphy, Pitts, Schwartz, and Smith.

Here is a link to a congressional votes post from September ?06 where a measure calling for accountability from Dubya on Iraq was introduced in the Senate and defeated in a party line vote. I?m just trying to point out here how one party kept in lockstep with its commander in chief, as opposed to the Dems.

Yes, accountability is always a good thing, but, for better or worse, Obama has barely had time to do anything is Afghanistan. Do I personally agree with what he?s doing? Not completely. But all I?m saying is that he deserves a chance before politicians of his own party start hectoring him over withdrawing troops.

Interrogation videotapes. The House required, 224-193, the government to videotape all military interrogations, except during combat, and retain the tapes in a secured and classified repository. The amendment was added to the military budget bill.

A yes vote backed the amendment.

Voting yes: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Castle, Fattah, Murphy, Schwartz, Sestak, and Smith.

Voting no: Dent, Gerlach, LoBiondo, Holden, and Pitts.

Patrick once opposed this (here), but kudos for doing the right thing this time (and Castle looked like a chump earlier, but he does the right thing here; also, even though there?s a lot not to like about Chris Smith, he also keeps casting votes like this one).

Cap-and-trade energy package. The House voted, 219-212, to shift U.S. energy production and consumption from fossil fuels to renewable fuels while setting cap-and-trade rules to cut emissions linked to global warming.

A yes vote was to pass the measure.

Voting yes: Adler, Andrews, Brady, Castle, Fattah, LoBiondo, Murphy, Sestak, Schwartz, and Smith.

Voting no: Dent, Gerlach, Holden, and Pitts.

I weighed in on this earlier here (first item) ? shocking that, except for the air marshals vote with Castle, Joe Pitts isn?t hanging out on a limb all by himself this week.

Senate

Tourism in America. By a 53-34 vote, the Senate failed to get 60 votes for ending a filibuster on a bill that would establish a federal corporation to increase foreign travel to the United States and expand Department of Commerce tourism programs.
A yes vote was to advance the bill.

Voting yes: Thomas Carper (D., Del.), Bob Casey (D., Pa.), Ted Kaufman (D., Del.), Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.).

Not voting: Arlen Specter (D., Pa.).

Yeah, why the hell do we need to spend money on any stinkin? tourists, particularly in light of this?

Harold Koh nomination. The Senate confirmed, 62-35, the nomination of Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh as the Department of State's top lawyer.

A yes vote was to confirm Koh.

Voting yes: Carper, Casey, Kaufman, Lautenberg, Menendez, and Specter.

Now that Koh is confirmed, hopefully Dawn Johnsen will be next.

Legislative branch budget. The Senate killed, 65-31, a motion to reduce the $3.12 billion legislative branch budget for fiscal 2010 to its 2009 level. The bill remained in debate.

A yes vote opposed a budget freeze at 2009 levels.

Voting yes: Casey, Carper, Kaufman, Lautenberg, Menendez, and Specter.

The Inquirer reports that Congress is now in a July 4th recess, with everyone scheduled to return to Washington next week.

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2009/07/where-rubber-meets-road-7409.html

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Health Care for All!

post from What IS Right for Virginia on 04 July 2009 02:37:00 PM. © What IS Right for Virginia

Read The Full Article:
http://southeastvirginia.blogspot.com/2009/07/health-care-for-all.html

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Private equity screaming about new regulations

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 04 July 2009 02:35:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

Good, but please scream louder just so we're sure you are in pain. Just as in the UK, this group is trying to move back to the highly leveraged world that brought us into this mess. Sure they can make huge profits but we have a pretty good understanding about the losses too. The problem here is that they've socialized those losses and want to pretend as though it never happened. When do investors get their bailout rewards from these people? Let them go ahead and have a hissy fit. If they don't like it, tough. Until they can show benefits to the broader market forget about what they have to say. Somehow they think that they are important enough to demand anything.

But preliminary guidelines proposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp on Thursday will deter the industry from investing in banks, executives warned.

"The issue that the regulators have to deal with is that banks need capital, but they don't want people to make too much money," said Steven Kaplan, a professor of finance specializing in private equity at the University of Chicago. The FDIC proposals would make it harder for investors to make money, he said.

"If you're a private equity investor you have to be a little crazy to want to deal with the FDIC and the government," Kaplan added.

The guidelines call for a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 15 percent for three years. Currently, well-capitalized banks must have Tier 1 capital of at least 6 percent of risk-weighted assets.

The new regulations would call for private equity groups to maintain their investments in banks for three years, unless they get special approval from the FDIC.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Americablog/~3/-iEp10Rxius/private-equity-screamin
g-about-new.html

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Saturday hate mail-apalooza

post from Daily Kos on 04 July 2009 02:30:12 PM. © Daily Kos

This week's theme appears to be "incoherently crazy". More so than usual. And Palin!

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/RMISKetDrNw/-Saturday-hate-mail-ap
alooza

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Passing the Ball

post from Kmareka.com on 04 July 2009 02:25:00 PM. © Kmareka.com

I’m fascinated by Sarah Palin for a lot of reasons. One is that she uses the coded language of the hard fundamentalist religious right. Another is that she has a speaking style that seems casual and unscripted, but is actually full of allusions and tones and a deliberate vagueness so she can imply things that won’t show up on a transcript. She gives herself lots of wiggle room.

So how about her statement that she’s, ‘passing the ball’? Whoever is she passing it to? Is there a star player waiting to catch a great big ball of Alaska and score the winning shot? Or is the ‘ball’ the Republican base that is still cheering for her?

I never thought she was dumb. She might be erratic but she leaves all the doors open for a quick escape to whatever next move she has planned.

Read The Full Article:
http://kmareka.com/2009/07/04/passing-the-ball/

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The Week in Blog: The Right Loves Helen Thomas
Edition

post from LiberalOasis : The Blog on 04 July 2009 02:04:00 PM. © LiberalOasis : The Blog

This week's edition of The Week In Blog is up at bloggingheads.tv, featuring Matt Lewis and myself discussing blogger reaction to the White house health care town hall and the carbon cap bill. Watch it below.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.liberaloasis.com/2009/07/the_week_in_blog_the_right_lov.php

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No Radio Show Today: Happy 4th!

The LiberalOasis Radio Show is celebrating the birth of America by slacking off. We'll be back next Saturday.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.liberaloasis.com/2009/07/no_radio_show_today_happy_4th.php

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Taibbi: Impending Rule Change Means Goldman Sachs
Stock Manipulations Can't Be Tracked

Remember that Rolling Stone piece about Goldman Sachs I mentioned the other day? Here's another post from Matt Taibbi that should raise serious concerns about the stranglehold the company has on the economic markets:

"In a move set to infuriate and send many Zero Hedge readers over the top, the NYSE has taken action to make sure that nobody will henceforth be able to keep track of the complete dominance that Goldman Sachs exerts over the New York Zero Hedge Stock Exchange. This basically ends our weekly Program Trading updates disclosed every Thursday indicating that Goldman has singlehandedly captured all of NYSE's program trading."
-- Zero Hedge
I'm sorry I didn't post this earlier, but I urge readers to go over to Zero Hedge and check out this post about the NYSE's recent decision to change its procedures... to protect Goldman Sachs from bloggers like Zero Hedge!
This is complicated stuff (for people with no financial background, like me, it's nightmarish) and I have a longer thing about this coming out later. But the essence of this story is that Tyler Durden over at Zero Hedge has, for months, been complaining that Goldman has been manipulating the NYSE, in particular manipulating program trading in somewhat the same way (although perhaps not to the same extent) that they manipulated the commodities markets. In order to make his case -- and his theory has gained a lot of acceptance, to the point where Goldman had to respond to the allegations publicly -- he has been analyzing data the NYSE releases on program trading every week.
So what happened this week? The NYSE announced that it will no longer be releasing its weekly program trading data. This is quiet obviously a move designed to make it even more impossible to track what's going on in the NYSE and shield, in particular, Goldman Sachs. Let's hope there's a public uproar about this; Zero Hedge posted contact info for NYSE officials, and has urged readers to petition the exchange to restore the old rules in the name of transparency.

They plan to do this by July 10th, so it's important to call now. Let them know what you think of them making it impossible for anyone but insiders to know what's going on. From Zero Hedge:

This is a travesty, as well as a complete obliteration and a mockery of the move for transparency that the Administration, Regulators and Exchanges have been posturing they support.
We advise all readers to contact the provided staff on the memorandum and voice your incredulity with this brazen move to completely obfuscate Goldman's behind-the-scenes take over the world's biggest stock exchange.
Robert Airo, Senior Vice President, NYSE Euronext at (212) 656-5663 or
Aleksandra Radakovic, Vice President, NYSE Regulation at (212) 656-4144