Where's the Outrage?

Congress is on the wrong path. Several major websites are standing up to tell congress NO.

From Wikipedia:

Imagine a World
Without Free Knowledge
For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.

Contact your representatives.

SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short for the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” and PIPA is an acronym for the “Protect IP Act.” (“IP” stands for “intellectual property.”) In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Detailed information about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act articles on Wikipedia, which are available during the blackout. GovTrack lets you follow both bills through the legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for the public interest in the digital realm, has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.

From Google:

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.
Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

Tags: Congress, Media, Senate by ecthompson md
No Comments »

For some reason, I got a call from the Republican National Committee. The guy started off with some small talk and then said that he knows I’ll agree that President Obama has not handled the economy in a responsible way (I’m paraphrasing). I said, “No, I don’t agree with that statement.” He hung up. Let’s skip over the fact that somebody placed me on the RNC call list. Let’s think about this statement just for a second. President Obama has mishandled the economy. How? What was he supposed to do? Economists almost universally agreed that we needed a stimulus package. We needed a stimulus package that equalled somewhere around 10% of GDP. That would’ve been a stimulus package of $1.5 trillion. He was barely able to get a package through Congress that was half of what we needed. So, when economic growth petered out after 12 months or so, who’s surprised? Who were the ones who limited the size of the stimulus? Was it the Democrats or was it the Republicans? Again, I would ask what was Obama supposed to do? More tax cuts which don’t work?

Harry Reid, Senate majority leader, has passed a bill which alters the filibuster. It doesn’t eliminate it, but it alters it. I’m not sure I completely understand this.

Gaile Owens was released from prison in Tennessee. She was on death row but the governor pardoned her last year. She was placed on parole today. Read about her story here.

As most of you know, the predator drone is this small attack airplane that is flown via remote control. Well, it seems that some computer virus has gotten into its system. This can’t be good. This seems like an episode of NCIS – LA.

Rick Perry just stated at the Values Voter Summit that “every human being is entitled to life.” I guess that doesn’t include the 234 people that have been executed while he’s been governor of Texas.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has proposed zero corporate tax if corporations bring their money back from overseas. Of course, he wants us to forget that this has been tried before and it’s been nothing but a windfall for big corporations who momentarily bring their money back only to open new tax shelters overseas.

There’s some serious concern that Monarch butterflies, which fly from as far north as Canada and then roost in Mexico won’t make it through Texas. Read more here. (This has nothing to do with Rick Perry and the death penalty, I promise.)

More e-mails have been released from the White House regarding Solyndra, the failed solar panel company. Just for a second, let’s get some perspective. We, the American people, have been paying somewhere around $4.5 billion per year in tax deductions, preferences and credits for the oil and gas industry. Let’s see… $4.5 billion verses $535 million. Secondly, even those guys who understand money, venture capitalists, don’t get 100% return on their investment. Instead, they’re expecting a 20% return on their investment. They’re expecting that only one or two companies out of every 10 that they invest in to make it big. They are expecting several companies to break even and a couple to fail. This is their business model. Their business model isn’t 100% success on every investment.

It seems that AT&T wants to stick it to customers.

The new job numbers are out. They were slightly better than I expected.

I guess that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor does not like democracy. He seems to have some issues about Occupy Wall Street. He says that he’s becoming increasingly concerned about the “mobs.” I guess he should’ve been equally concerned about the Tea Party.

Read the compelling stories of the new Nobel laureates for Peace. Very powerful.

Occupy Together is the unofficial hub of all of the events going on around the country. Check it out.

So, what’s on your mind? What stories are you following?

Tags: Party Politics, Senate by ecthompson md
1 Comment »

American born terrorist was killed in Yemen. Details of how he died and who killed him are unclear at this time. Anwar al-Awlaki was the Qaeda leader who inspired Major Nidal Malik Hasan to shoot up an Army base in Foot Hood, Tx.

Regulatory uncertainty leads to hiring stalemate. Not so much.

Freddie Mac’s interest rates are lower than ever.

Manufacturing appears to have increased slightly in September.

Our GDP is slightly better than we thought it was.

I talked about this case earlier, but I think there’s a real question as to whether Rick Perry, who stated that he sleeps well, allowed an innocent man to be executed.

I continue to support Occupy Wall Street.

Susan Sarandon – Occupy Wall Street

It’s important to remember that it is still extremely early in the political season. Eight years ago Wesley Clark was leading the Democratic field with 22% of the support, followed by Howard Dean at 13%, John Kerry with 11%, and Dick Gephardt and Joe Lieverman with 11% and 10 %, respectively.

The Senate has filibustered a huge number of Obama’s appointments to the federal bench. It appears that Harry Reid has figured out how to get some of these nominees through the Senate.

In the category of the world gone crazy, “actress” and model Holly Madison has insured her breasts for $1 million.

Holly Madison

Tags: Al Qaeda, Business, Economy, Senate by ecthompson md
No Comments »

• One thing you can say about the media is that they will always find something to go bonkers about. They have completely forgotten about the earthquake in Virginia and are now focused on the hurricane that is projected to hit North Carolina sometime on Friday. They are also in a tizzy over Steve Jobs’ resignation. It is clear that Apple Computers is not to be the same company without Steve Jobs. He was the one that had the drive, the determination and the vision to create the products that we now associate with Apple Computers. In my opinion, his greatness was in creating a user interface that was beautiful to look at and easy to use.

Irene:

• Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill in the Senate to strengthen Social Security. We need more of this.
• One of the things that is great about writing your own memoir is that you can say whatever it is you want to say. I know that everybody’s been on the edge of their seat waiting on former Vice President Dick Cheney to write his memoir. Well, the wait is over. By the way, how is he staying out of jail?
• The CIA is editing and re-editing a new book on 9/11. The FBI’s is written by a former FBI agent, an Arab-speaking counterterrorism agent. Ali Soufan should be a name well known to those who have followed the events of 9/11 very closely. He testified in Congress about the torture techniques that were used by the CIA. He stated, without hesitation, that they were unnecessary and counterproductive. If the CIA does not edit the book to death, I’m looking forward to the publication.
• J.P. Morgan has been fined. They basically broke US sanctions with regards to Iran, Cuba and Sudan. The fine was only $88 million.
• Fox News shuts down Karl Rove when he begins to describe Sarah Palin as thin-skinned.  I wonder what that’s all about.
• Robert Reich is calling for a protest on Labor Day. Marches instead of parades. I’m down with that.
• There’s a growing dissatisfaction against companies who seem to be discriminating against unemployed workers. Please follow the link. This is important.
• The Bush tax cuts are still contributing significantly to our debt. The CBO has the latest numbers.
• Mark Thoma tackles the question concerning why the Fed is hesitant to do more to help our economy.

Tags: Bush Administration, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Senate by ecthompson md
1 Comment »

A friend of mine has written the letter to Senator Harry Reid. It is about the filibuster. I must admit that I’m sitting on the fence about the filibuster. On one hand, I can see how it is a tool to give power to minority and I know that Democrats won’t always be in the majority. On the other hand, qualified applicants to many positions are being blocked by the GOP simply because they can. Here are my friend’s thoughts:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
522 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Reid,
Last January many senators from your own party urged you to establish new rules for the Senate that would prohibit a single senator or a minority of senators from filibustering the nominees of the administration. Despite two full years of inability to overcome the Republicans’ egregious abuse of the filibuster when you had a majority of 60 senators, you agreed instead to allow the filibuster and senatorial holds to continue after your majority fell to 53-47.

I hate to say I told you so, sir, but “I told you so.” I wrote and emailed you then that it was foolish and dangerous to trust the Republicans when they promised not to abuse the continued use of the filibuster. Yet you insisted publicly (and I’m sure in private) that you had the word of Minority Leader McConnell that nominees would get an up-or-down vote in this session of Congress.

Now the entire nation is choking on the fruits of your naiveté, sir. We have no judges, no department heads, no cabinet officers, no financial reform commission leader who will be confirmed by America’s enemies on the other side of the aisle.

Yes, I say “enemies,” because these Republican men (and a few women) are enemies of the United States: they do not want government of the people to be able to function; they will not allow the fulfillment of its laws overseeing private industry and Wall Street speculation, and they are doing their best to destroy the effectiveness of our courts. I remember Mr. McConnell stating that his only priority during this Congress was to ensure that Mr. Obama would be a one-term president; he has decided instead to end Mr. Obama’s presidency in 2011, despite the Constitutional guarantee of a four-year term. And as much as they hate Mr. Obama, they hate our democracy that allowed him to be elected. You, sir, should be ashamed of having trusted them.

I ask you to revisit, immediately, the Senate rules on filibusters and to declare an emergency in the appointment process to the courts and the administration’s unfilled positions. Your unexpected reelection to lead a Senate with a diminished majority was not a license to hand power over to Senator McConnell. It’s time to take power back and USE IT!

Sincerely,

Tags: Party Politics, Senate by ecthompson md
1 Comment »

From Progress Report:

Top executives from the Big 5 oil companies — ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips — flew into Washington, D.C. on their corporate jets to defend their industry at a U.S. Senate hearing yesterday. The Associated Press reports that “Motorists are paying nearly $4 for a gallon of gasoline as the oil industry reaps pretax profits that could hit $200 billion this year.” The oil industry is not only benefiting from spiking gas prices, but also from over $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies they receive every year. With those subsidies and loopholes, Exxon’s federal tax rate for the last three years was 17.6 percent, lower than what the average American pays. “Voters’ anger over high gas prices is directed squarely at the oil companies and the politicians who defend them,” according to a recent national survey by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club. “Voters are furious with oil companies, according to our polling, and overwhelmingly support ending their subsidies.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “wants to bring a bill to the floor next week” Wednesday to repeal tax breaks for the major oil companies, “to help ease the deficit by about $21 billion over 10 years.”

PROFITING FROM PAIN: “Given profits of $35 billion in just the first quarter alone, it is hard to find evidence that repealing these subsidies would cut domestic production or cause layoffs,” Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said yesterday. “After all, based on first-quarter profits, these tax breaks represent less than 2 percent of what these companies are on pace to make this year. Even without these tax breaks, these companies would clearly be highly profitable.” In his opening statement, Baucus argued that the most vulnerable in society shouldn’t have to suffer for the benefit of oil companies. “We should use this money to reduce our deficit instead of putting the burden on seniors and our children’s future. The oil executives were unmoved. “Do you think that your subsidy is more important than the financial aid that we give to students to go to college?” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked. ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva said the question was “very difficult” to answer. “Not once during this hearing have I heard any semblance of a willingness to share unless every company also has to,” Rockefeller concluded. “I haven’t heard anybody talk about what they are doing — what they would be willing to do — to share in our budget problem. The total concept of what keeps America together…is a sense of fairness, that everybody has to lose at some point, everybody has to give something up to be a real country.” (more…)

Tags: Big Oil, Senate by ecthompson md
3 Comments »

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

To catch up on the Senator John Ensign scandal, here are a couple of posts (here and here). There is plenty that we have learned about Senator Ensign. He basically used his position to get sex from a married woman who worked for him. I thought that Senator Ensign was slime before. This story is only missing drugs and rock’n'roll. It has a bizarre, secretive religion called The Family. It has a jealous husband. It has rich parents helping to pay off the married woman and her sap of a husband. It has a cover-up with the help of another Senator. There are a couple of people in this tale who need to go to jail. Ensign is one of them. (The Senate Ethics Committee report is here.)

From TPM:

The Senate Ethics Committee has uncovered extensive evidence that former Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and others broke U.S. law by trying to cover up an affair Ensign had with a campaign aide, the wife of one of his top Senate staffers.

The panel has forwarded the evidence of criminal activities to the Department of Justice for further investigation, which it is required to do in any investigation that turns up evidence of criminal wrongdoing, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who chairs the ethics panel, and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), said in letters to the DOJ and FEC released Thursday along with a final report from a special prosecutor handling the case.

“The committee voted unanimously to refer Senate findings to the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission because we have reason to believe that Sen. Ensign violated laws within their jurisdiction,” Boxer said in a rare floor speech addressing the committee’s usually private proceedings.

The evidence the committee uncovered is so egregious, Boxer said, that a special counsel assigned to the case was set to recommend expulsion had Ensign not resigned. The potential criminal actions include aiding and abetting the violation of the one-year post-employment lobbying ban, discrimination on the basis of gender, false statements to the FEC and obstruction of justice, among others. (more…)

Tags: Senate by ecthompson md
4 Comments »

I know that progressives have been pushing for an end to the filibuster for the last 12-18 months. I don’t know? I’ve been thinking about it and I still don’t know. On one hand, you have the graph below.

It is clear that the Republicans have obstructed progress/legislation at every turn. Their whole purpose was to show America that the Democrats and President Barack Obama could not get anything done. They were rewarded with a landslide victory in the House. But, to get back to my point, the filibuster is a tool the minority. It is supposed to be like that lever that is behind the glass that you pull in case of fire. It is clear that the Republicans have misused the filibuster but in changing the rules could the Democrats regret the change in several years? When the Democrats are in the minority and Republicans are pushing for yet another tax cut for the rich or a bailout for Wall Street which leaves main street behind or the return of the Patriot act, will the Democrats regret the change?

From Ezra Klein:

And if we don’t do anything, I’d argue, our political system will continue to disappoint. The polls — both in the abstract and in the judgments of the lame-duck session — continue to show that the American people want the two parties to join together to get things done. But the filibuster is a powerful incentive to do just the opposite: It gives the minority the power to make the majority fail at its job, and now that both Democrats and Republicans have realized that kneecapping the other is the quickest way back into power, it’s the strategy that they turn to first. The lame-duck session was so productive precisely because the congressional session that preceded it was less productive than a supermajority of members thought it should’ve been. That’s an indictment of the system, not an argument in its favor.

You might say, however, that the American people don’t just want action. They want bipartisan action. To some degree, I think that’s right. When the two sides go to war over this or that bill, it turns off the public. But the theory that the filibuster encourages bipartisanship gets it exactly backwards. The START treaty, which first looked unlikely to pass, and then barely got the required votes, and then suddenly got many more than the required votes once its success appeared assured, shows something important about the political system: For the minority, the first-best outcome is defeating the majority, but the second-best outcome might be working to make the bill better and help it pass.

Tags: Senate by ecthompson md
No Comments »

I have never liked the law Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It was stupid. It was an excellent example of liberal overreach combined with liberal spinelessness. Remember that President Clinton promised to end discrimination in the military. This was a great goal but he didn’t talk with the military or didn’t think that they would mind. He was talking and promising without thinking. Then he got elected and had to confront reality. The military wasn’t interested in changing, period. So, being a politician, President Clinton decided that he would compromise. Let’ s pick a halfway point, he thought. Well, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was that compromise. It was the halfway point between complete discrimination and complete equality. It was sort of discrimination which was sort of stupid.

So, the Senate finally voted to end this discriminatory policy. This is a great thing. Now, the military will have to adjust. The military will adjust because they are great soldiers who answer to the people.

From HuffPo:

The Senate voted 65-31 on Saturday to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, defeating a 17-year policy of banning gay and lesbian service members from serving openly in the military. Six Republicans initially crossed the aisle to vote against the policy: Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

The Senate vote is a vindication of Obama’s decision to push for congressional repeal as opposed to unilateral executive action, though activists note he could have done both. The Senate will make a final vote on ending the policy at 3 p.m.

In the first procedural vote on Saturday morning, 63 senators voted in favor of the bill and 33 against. In the final passage, Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) switched their voted to “aye,” despite initially voting against moving forward with the bill.

“The important thing today is that 63 senators were on the right side of history,” Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, told HuffPost after the first vote, adding he sees the bill as a “stepping stone to further advances for the gay and lesbian community.”

Tags: Civil Rights, Military, Senate by ecthompson md
5 Comments »

This week I’m going to have a series of posts on Healthcare and Healthcare Reform. Tell your friends to join the conversion. I should have my first post in this series up early this evening.

Now, START needs Congress to act but the Senate has been stuck.

From TP:

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) has been the leading Senate Republican urging the upper chamber of Congress to ratify the New START arms control treaty with Russia. However, the Republican obstructionism that has become so routine throughout the past two years of President Obama’s tenure is standing in the way. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has been the face of the GOP hamstringing and despite the fact that this non-controversial treaty — one that closely mirrors the one President Reagan signed with the Soviet Union — has been thoroughly debated in the Senate for nearly a year, Kyl told the New York Times, “If they try to jam us [in the lame-duck session], if they try to bring this up the week before Christmas, it’ll be defeated.”

Lugar has been reluctant to criticize his colleagues’ obstruction. When asked last week if they were just playing politics, Lugar said, “I am not ascribing motivations to anybody.” But other Republicans don’t seem to be holding back. Brent Scowcroft served as national security adviser to two Republican presidents and has been pleading with Congress to ratify New START. Profiling Lugar’s awkward position vis-a-vis other Senate Republicans on this issue, Politico reports today that Scrowcroft isn’t being as diplomatic as Lugar on the GOP’s incentive for holding up START:

In an attempt to rally bipartisan support for the treaty, the White House has enlisted the kind of GOP foreign policy wise men that Lugar exemplifies – among them former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and James A. Baker. But they have had no success with members of their own party, and it has left them scratching their heads over the source of the GOP opposition.

“It’s not clear to me what it is,” said Brent Scowcroft, a former national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush who noted that this START treaty is not very different from previous ones negotiated and ratified under Republican presidents. “I’ve got to think that it’s the increasingly partisan nature and the desire for the president not to have a foreign policy victory.”

Tags: Foreign Affairs, Senate by ecthompson md
5 Comments »

I wasn’t a fan of Ted Stevens, but I think that he did a great job representing the State of Alaska. He was a huge force in the Senate for several decades. I find the news of his death very sad. My heart goes out to the loved ones of Senator Stevens and family members of the others killed in the plane crash.

From TPM:

Former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) passed away as a result of a plane crash last night outside of Dillingham, Alaska. He was 86 years old. He leaves behind a wife, Catherine; five children from his first marriage to Ann — Ben, a former state Senator, Susan, Beth, Walter, Ted Jr.; and Lily, his daughter with Catherine.

Stevens was the longest-serving Republican member of the United States Senate in its history, having first won election to it in 1968.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: The Senator From Alaska: Ted Stevens' Political Career]

According to a profile in the Anchorage Daily News, Stevens began his political career volunteering for Eisenhower’s Presidential campaign in 1952 while working at a DC-based law firm: he left to take a job he was offered at the Interior Department which then failed to materialize. He accepted a job offer with an Alaskan law firm instead, driving to Fairbanks in February 1953. Stevens got the job offer from Charles Clasby because Stevens was the D.C.-based lawyer of Clasby’s client, coal miner Emil Usibelli.

Stevens spent only 6 months working for Clasby before he was offered the job of U.S. Attorney for the Alaska Territory, and the Senate confirmed him in 1954. Stevens built a reputation as a pugnacious prosecutor, though he denied reports that he regularly accompanied the U.S. Marshalls on raids packing heat, telling the Anchorage Daily News in 1994:

He remembers only one such incident. It was in Big Delta, about 75 miles southwest of Fairbanks. “We decided we’d take a combined force down there because of information we’d received about a lot of different violations of federal and territorial law. There was a prostitution ring, and drugs and violations of liquor laws.”They wanted to make sure everything was done right, that the evidence would be admissible, the arrests would be legal, so they asked me if I wanted to go along. I said, yeah. “So one of them suggested I ought to take a gun,” he said. “So he checked me out a gun. It was a holster with a gun. It wasn’t two guns. I never had two guns. I never walked around town with it. “But someone did see it,” he said. “Someone saw us coming back in or going out of the federal building that day and said, ‘Jesus Christ, there’s the damn district attorney carrying a gun.’ ” The report spread “up and down Fourth Avenue in every bar.” (more…)

Tags: Senate by ecthompson md
No Comments »

I found this on Morningstar.com. I thought that it was worth commenting on.

5 Big Econ - July 2010 [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’d like to take a few moments and go over these five big statements of the week.

• Let’s start with this report from Moody’s.com. This report attempts to analyze the unprecedented steps that were taken both by the Federal Reserve, Congress and the Bush/Obama administrations in order to stabilize the economy. They use a modeling technique in order to stimulate the economy. They estimate that 8.5 million jobs have been saved. They also estimate that the Gross Domestic Product would be approximately 11.5% lower without the intervention. Wow! Basically, they’re saying that government intervention worked to avoid the Great Depression 2.0. Now, I know that this will not be the last word on this. I find this paper very fascinating. For those who are interested in the economy, please read the whole paper.
• Just as in the United States, Europe has performed their stress tests on their financial institutions and found that the vast majority of their financial institutions are fiscally sound. From a political standpoint, what else could they have found? Just for a moment, imagine that the European Union announced that the majority of their banks were unable to stand a significant stress. The panic that would ensue would cause distress and the banks will collapse. The purpose of the stress test is to calm the fears of investors.
• There should be no surprise to anybody that the housing market remains depressed. In my opinion, the housing market has overbuilt and will take several years to alleviate that oversupply. In the meantime, there will not be much building. As I mentioned earlier, the economy has to find another fuel to drive economic engine. The housing sector just can’t do it anymore. This is why I have been pushing green energy.
• The Democrats are unable to push through comprehensive climate change legislation. There’s almost no Republican support. The conservative Democrats have too much to lose by supporting such legislation. In my opinion, Democrats need to split up this legislation into small pieces. Small portions can pass.
• British Petroleum has put Tony Hayward up on the shelf. They haven’t really fired him. With the amount of money he is getting, it’s hard to say that he’s really been demoted. He has just been removed from public view. To be honest, Tony Hayward is not the problem. The problem is a sense of entitlement that many of these executives have. The chairman of BP had the nerve to say that they look out for the “little people.” Really? Instead of feeling lucky or deep sense of humility for running a multibillion dollar corporation and taking home a multimillion dollar salary, they seem put out and upset that one of their wells has contaminated the Gulf of Mexico. It is not the person, but the culture that is the problem.

Tags: Bush Administration, Economy, Obama administration, Senate by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

I never knew that Thurgood Marshall was an activist judge. Foolishly, I thought he was somebody to be admired and even emulated. It is clear that in 1954, when he argued Brown versus the Board of Education he did not share the mainstream view that separate could be equal. It took Senator Jeff Sessions (Republican — Alabama) to point out the craziness that was Thurgood Marshall.

Dana Milbank noted: Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the panel, branded Marshall a “well-known activist.” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Marshall’s legal view “does not comport with the proper role of a judge or judicial method.” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) pronounced Marshall “a judicial activist” with a “judicial philosophy that concerns me.”

From TPM:

Looks like Senate Judiciary Republicans have at least one unified talking point today: Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to ever serve on the Supreme Court, was an “activist judge.” As Elena Kagan kept on her listening face, multiple senators slammed both Marshall’s judicial philosophy and her service as his clerk in the late 1980s.

Ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) criticized Kagan for having “associated herself with well-known activist judges who have used their power to redefine the meaning of our constitution and have the result of advancing that judge’s preferred social policies,” citing Marshall as his son, Thurgood Marshall Jr., sat in the audience of the Judiciary Committee hearings.

In an example of how much the GOP focused on Marshall, his name came up 35 times. President Obama’s name was mentioned just 14 times today.

Thankfully, the Democrats had a thoughtful response. From TP:

These attacks on Justice Marshall sparked what was easily the most eloquent moment of the hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) reminding Senate Republicans exactly who they were going after:

On at least three or four occasions I have been disappointed by my Republican colleagues warning us that you just might follow in the tradition of Justice Thurgood Marshall. . . . Let me say for the record, America is a better nation because of the tenacity, integrity and values of Thurgood Marshall. Some may dismiss Justice Marshall’s pioneering work on civil rights as an example of “empathy”—that somehow as a black man that had been a victim of discrimination, his feelings became part of his passionate life’s work—and I say “thank God.” The results which Justice Marshall dedicated his life to broke down barriers of racial discrimination that had haunted America for generations. . . . And I might also add that his most famous case, Brown v. Board of Education—if that is an activist mind at work, we should be grateful as a nation that he argued before the Supreme Court, based on discrimination in this society and changed America for the better.

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma was happy to let us know that we had more freedom 30 years ago that we have today.

From TP:

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) then responded to Coburn by pointing out that Coburn’s idea of a more “free” society was when women had fewer rights:

KLOBUCHAR: I was really interested and listening to Senator Coburn. … He was actually asking you, just now, back 30 years ago if you thought that we were more free. … But I was thinking back 30 years ago, was 1980. … And then I was thinking, were we really more free, if you were a woman in 1980? Do you know, solicitor general, how many women were on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980?

KAGAN: I guess zero.

KLOBUCHAR: That would be correct. There were no women on the Supreme Court. Do you know how many women were sitting up here 30 years ago in 1980?

KAGAN: It was very striking when Senator Feinstein said she was one of two women. I thought, how amazing. So, how many?

KLOBUCHAR: There were no women on the Judiciary Committee until after the Anita Hill hearings in 1991. Do you know how many women were in the United States Senate in 1980, 30 years ago?

KAGAN: I’m stumped again.

KLOBUCHAR: No women were in the United States Senate. There had been women in the senate before, and then in 1981, Senator Kassebaum joined the Senate. So, as I think about that question about if people were more free in 1980, I think it’s all in the eyes of the beholder.

(Klobuchar corrected herself later to note that Kassebaum was already serving in the Senate at the time, having been sworn in in 1978.)

Tags: Legal, Senate by ecthompson md
26 Comments »

Senator Robert Byrd is dead at age 92.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From WaPo:

Robert C. Byrd, 92, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who became the longest-serving member of Congress in history and used his masterful knowledge of the institution to shape the federal budget, protect the procedural rules of the Senate and, above all else, tend to the interests of his state, died at 3 a.m. Monday at Inova Fairfax Hospital, his office said.

Mr. Byrd had been hospitalized last week with what was thought to be heat exhaustion, but more serious issues were discovered, aides said Sunday. No formal cause of death was given.

Starting in 1958, Mr. Byrd was elected to the Senate an unprecedented nine times. He wrote a four-volume history of the body, was majority leader twice and chaired the powerful Appropriations Committee, controlling the nation’s purse strings, and yet the positions of influence he held did not convey the astonishing arc of his life.

A child of the West Virginia coal fields, Mr. Byrd rose from the grinding poverty that has plagued his state since before the Great Depression, overcame an early and ugly association with the Ku Klux Klan, worked his way through night school and by force of will, determination and iron discipline made himself a person of authority and influence in Washington. (more…)

Chris Matthews who I think is over-the-top most of the time had an interesting tribute to Senator Robert Byrd. Take a look:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Tags: Congress, Hardball, Senate by ecthompson md
No Comments »

You remember what happened, don’t you? Everything started to unravel late in 2007. The first one who was found without a chair when the music stopped was Countrywide. Bank of America was able to buy Countrywide for $4 billion (a stock swap) in early 2008. Just a year earlier Countrywide was worth over $50 billion. Countrywide’s founder and CEO Angelo Mozilo (Time wrote that he was one of the top 25 people to blame for the financial crisis) was once the darling of Wall Street. He ended up being charged by the SEC for taking more than $139 million in profits. It was Countrywide who first introduced us, the American people, to credit default swaps and CDOs. In a wonderful bit of irony, IndyMac was founded in 1985 by David Loeb and Angelo Mozilo as a means to collateralize Countrywide Financial loans that were too big to be sold to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. In 1997, IndyMac (Independent National Mortgage Corporation) was spun off as a separate company. I mention all this about Countrywide because we’re going to see this exact same cycle again with IndyMac. IndyMac, Washington Mutual and Countrywide were birds of a feather. Each company pushed subprime mortgages. Each company pushed adjustable-rate mortgages. Each company packaged the mortgages into securities which could be sold to Wall Street.

Case: 80-year-old retiree in Savannah, Georgia, loan in 2005 to build a modular house. The mortgage was approved by IndyMac. They approve the application based on the applicant’s Social Security income, which was written down as $3825 per month. The only problem is the maximum social security benefit is less than half this amount.

In late June of 2008, Senator Chuck Schumer released a letter which was volatile to say the least. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find the original letter on the Internet. I have been able to find portions of the letter quoted in several articles. (If someone is able to find the letter please send me the link.) In a statement the senator mentioned that he was “concerned that IndyMac’s financial deterioration poses a significant risk to both taxpayers and borrowers.” He went on to say that IndyMac “could face a failure if prescriptive measures are not taken quickly.”

Let’s back up and look at what the Los Angeles Times wrote in January of 2008. (This was six months before Schumer opened his yap.) This particular article looked at adjustable-rate mortgages. The author noted that adjustable-rate mortgages were usually given to small business owners, self-employed professionals and salespeople with consultative finances and fluctuating earnings. The article notes that adjustable-rate mortgages were given out by Countywide and IndyMac to people who previously would not qualify. Adjustable-rate mortgages usually have a “teaser rate” for around two or three years. So loans written in 2005 and 2006 were now resetting at their higher interest rate in 2008. The article noted delinquency rates in some parts of California of 13-15%. (One particularly egregious variation of adjustable-rate mortgages for something called an option adjustable-rate mortgage. This mortgage gave the homeowner three choices at the end of every month — pay principal plus interest, pay interest only or pay less than interest-only and allow the principle to increase.) So, in January, the Los Angeles Times called out Countrywide, which had just been bought by Bank of America, and IndyMac by name.

IndyMac Stock Price

A report that was published by the Department of Treasury after IndyMac’s implosion shows us the magnitude of the problem. According to this report, by May 2005, officials at IndyMac were aware of problems with their adjustable-rate mortgages. This market completely collapsed in 2007. The bank could no longer sell its mortgage securities because there were no buyers. By May 2008, over 12% of these loans were greater than 90 days in delinquency. Another reason for IndyMac’s failure lies in its lack of deposits. The bank did not have many retail branches. Therefore there were many customers opening up savings accounts and checking accounts. IndyMac had to rely on Federal Home Loan Banks and brokered deposits for funds. Basically, as I understand it, this is simply another way to borrow money. At one point in 2006, IndyMac had over $9 billion in these loans. Finally, every bank is supposed to have a certain amount of cash on hand to balance out possible loan losses. In early 2008, IndyMac hired an outside accounting firm and the firm showed that IndyMac did not have enough cash on hand. As if this wasn’t bad enough, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s decided in April 2008 to re-rate the number of mortgage-backed securities (before this time they simply rubberstamped many of the securities that were brought to them by J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs). This included over $160 million in mortgage-backed securities that Indy Mac was holding, thus lowering IndyMac’s capital ratio (when it rains it pours). Around the same time, IndyMac announced its third consecutive quarterly loss (see graph).

I think it’s been pretty much established that the Office of Thrift Supervision ignored warning signs. Had they acted in a timely manner, the implosion could have been prevented. There is one little side note that I thought was interesting. The Office of Thrift Supervision allowed Indy Mac to accept an $18 million deposit from its holding corp. and backdate that deposit in order to help balance its books. This transaction happened on May 9, 2008. On May 6, 2008 the FDIC told the Office of Thrift Supervision that Indy Mac was “close to failing and needed new money quickly.” (Some at OTS were forced to resign because of IndyMac.)

So, I think that after further investigation it is clear that IndyMac was going to fail with or without Chuck Schumer’s help. Did Senator Chuck Schumer drive the final stake through the heart of a dying Rasputin who already been shot, poisoned and burned? Yes, I think that’s a fairly accurate metaphor. On the other hand, I have clearly shown that IndyMac was dying. Federal regulators were going to have to step in soon. In hindsight, they should’ve stepped in sooner. IndyMac was going to die with a without Chuck Schumer’s help. Their business model simply could not stand the catastrophic failure of the subprime mortgage market.

Tags: Business, Economy, Senate by ecthompson md
7 Comments »

As a trauma surgeon, I find Monday to be a relief. By Monday afternoon, you have an opportunity to look around and see how bad the weekend truly was. So, unlike most Americans, I like Mondays.

• 15 years ago, I was working at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport. The bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people lost their lives, continues to be shocking. I remember wanting to help, but not knowing exactly what to do.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

• I’ve been working on a small research project. One of my readers challenged my assumption that Senator Charles Schumer did not cause the failure of IndyMac. I contend that there was a run on the bank but that the bank was failing long before that run started. I should have a post ready by tomorrow at this time.
• One of the reasons that I did not believe that IndyMac was solvent had to do with the fact that they were handing out these loans like free candy. Something just smelled rotten. And it’s not just with this particular institution. The more you read about the financial industry in the mid-2000s, the more you get this foul stench. Look at Countrywide. Look at AIG. Look at Bear Stearns. Now look at what we’re learning about Goldman Sachs. Several people have pointed out that there was a extremely cozy relationship between the rating agencies (Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s) and some of the big financial institutions like Goldman Sachs. The Senate is investigating. The California Attorney General has been looking into this for a year or so. He held a press conference today announcing that he was going to court to force Moody’s to comply with a subpoena. The SEC, which seems to have been dormant for over a decade, has now been awakened. They charged Goldman with fraud. This is starting to get good.
• BTW, leading economic indicators seem to be heading in the right direction.
• It appears that Europe will be flying again, starting tomorrow.

• Interesting accounting practices seem to be popping up. It appears that in 2008 Lehman Brothers may have been cooking the books.
• I guess Representative Darrell Issa never heard about living in glass houses.
• A top Al Qaeda leader in Iraq has been killed. Yet again, top American official in Iraq stated this could’ve been a potentially “significant blow” to the insurgents. Where we heard that before? Where’s Bin Laden?
• There appears to be a huge scandal brewing in India that involves cricket and politics.

Tags: Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Economy, Iraq, Rachel Maddow Show, Senate, Sports by ecthompson md
1 Comment »

The Senate opens hearings today into the failure of Washington Mutual. Washington Mutual was among a group of banks that jumped into the subprime mortgage sector headfirst. Jumping into anything headfirst is not usually a good idea until you know how deep the pool truly is. It is estimated that over $700 billion of these subprime mortgages were handed out between 2004 and 2007. These were those famous adjustable-rate mortgages. Washington Mutual handed out over $133 billion in these adjustable mortgages. The former CEO Kerry Killinger stated that WaMu wasn’t being treated fairly by the government. He whined that WaMu “should have been given a chance to work its way through the crisis.” What I want to know is whether anyone in that hearing run over to Mr. Killinger and cry tears of sadness for this millionaire.

When people are given the wrong incentives, we shouldn’t be surprised when they do the wrong thing. Specifically, loan originating officers were given incentives to generate loans. It really didn’t matter what kind of loan. It didn’t matter whether the loan was fraudulent or legitimate. During Washington Mutual’s own internal investigation back in 2005, they found the two offices in California where over 50% of their loans were fraudulent. (At one location was over 80%.) Yet, the practice continued. Why? The money was too good. (Oh, I forgot to mention that their own risk officers were excluded from important meetings. This means that either these risk guys are lying to protect their butts or WaMu knew what they were doing was fraudulent and they didn’t want to rish telling them.)

In Michael Lewis’s book, The Big Short, he describes an incident where a immigrant farm worker who made no more than $14,000 a year was given a loan for $750,000.

Lower middle class and upper lower class Americans were hit the hardest by these fraudulent practices. They were specifically sought out by these banks. These are Americans that are holding down one or two jobs. Both parents are working. They’re working extremely hard and they are very close to being able to afford a nice house, in a nice neighborhood with good schools. Something always gets in the way of their dream house. These are everyday expenses that they simply cannot afford — car breaks down, they need a new refrigerator, Johnny was hit in the head with a baseball and needs stitches. So Washington Mutual, IndyMac, Wachovia and others preyed on these Americans.

Here’s my whole problem with these shysters. They made tons of money off of unsuspecting Americans, off of Americans who wanted to believe in the American dream. When the banks collapsed, the Americans were kicked out on the street. Banks who were deemed too big to fail were rewarded for their size and they were allowed to buy the smaller failing banks at fire sale prices. Bankers who lost their jobs were given a little pot of gold on their way out the door. Bankers who kept their jobs were given big fat pay raises for acquiring new assets. Real, honest-to-goodness, hardworking Americans who believed that they would never be given a mortgage they didn’t qualify for were asked to bend over (and kicked in the seat-of-the-pants repeatedly).

So, I hope that something meaningful will come out of these Senate hearings. I hope this is not just a dog and pony show.

Tags: Corporate Wrongs, Economy, Senate by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

Personally, I think it has something to do with older politicians. They just don’t recognize that the field has changed. In the late 1980s and early 1990s you could say one thing on Monday and say a completely different thing on Friday and almost nobody would pay attention. For that matter, once Walter Cronkite stepped down, it seemed like America lost its memory. We can’t remember squat. Politicians took advantage of our collective memory deficit disorder. John McCain was one of those politicians. Now, we have the Internet, blogs and the Rachel Maddow Show.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

How can John McCain say he doesn’t consider himself a maverick? That was his campaign slogan. More correctly, that was his campaign image. This is the same image that he crafted for the 2000 campaign. In spite of the fact that we really can’t find much evidence that McCain bucks the party line, he has run multiple campaigns on the idea that he is an independent voice in the Senate; conservative, yet independent. I guess somebody has come up with some polling which has suggested that his “maverickiness” may be holding him back. Wouldn’t this technically be called a flip-flop? I think I have a new campaign slogan for John McCain — the anti-maverick. I like it.

Tags: Elections, Senate by ecthompson md
1 Comment »

Over the next several days I’m going to try and talk about what’s next after healthcare reform.

Rachel Maddow had to take out a full page ad in the Boston Globe to combat rumors that she was running for Senate in Massachusetts. It seems that former model and newly minted Senator Scott Brown thought would be a great idea to say that somebody liberal and famous was gunning for his position. I guess he thought would be a great way to rake in campaign funds. Of course, the other thing he could do would be to shout at the president during a joint session of Congress. That seemed to work for Joe Wilson.

Since I didn’t post a music video last night, I thought that I would post one this morning.

Artist: Al Jarreau
Tune: Morrnin’

From PA:

• Election results in Iraq: “The former interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, a secular Shiite once derided as an American puppet, galvanized the votes of Sunnis who sat out Iraq’s first national elections and clawed his way back from political obscurity. But his wafer-thin edge of 91 to 89 over his nearest rival, the incumbent prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, falls far short of the majority of 163 of the 325 seats in parliament that he needs to form a government.” (Ed. I think that it is interesting that Sunnis are coming back to the table.)
• Uh oh: “A South Korean naval ship sank early Saturday after an explosion tore a hole in its bottom near a disputed sea border with North Korea. The cause of the explosion was not clear, and the Seoul government did not blame North Korea for the incident.”
• Campaign-finance ruling: “A federal appeals court on Friday handed another victory to conservative opponents of campaign-finance restrictions, striking down limits on individual contributions to independent groups who want to use the money for or against candidates in federal elections.”
• Welcome changes to the Home Affordable Modification Program and the Federal Housing Administration program: “The Obama administration announced new ways Friday to tackle the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed.”
• Senate Republicans did what they do best: they blocked an extension of unemployment benefits.
• House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) spokesperson tries to explain why the GOP leader got the story of the magic bullet so very, very wrong this week. [Read more →]

Tags: Elections, Iraq, North Korea, Party Politics, Rachel Maddow Show, Senate by ecthompson md
No Comments »

I first read about the blogger Jon Swift dying from the update below.  Jon, which wasn’t his real name, was one of the first major bloggers to answer one of my e-mails. He put my little blog on his blog roll. He engaged me in conversation. After a while, I was able to engage just about all of the major bloggers except for Jane, Huffington and Digby (they have never answered any of my e-mails). Jon was the rarest of conservatives, he was thoughtful, open, humorous and engaging. I know that the world would be a better place if there were more people like him around.

From Political Animal:

• Iraq: “Three powerful suicide bombings killed at least 33 people and wounded more than 50 Wednesday in the restive Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, authorities said. Most of those killed and wounded were Iraqi police officers charged with securing the province’s capital city ahead of elections Sunday. “
• Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) announced a “leave of absence” from his powerful post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee today. Whether he’ll ever get his gavel back remains unclear.
• Marriage equality reaches the nation’s capital. Western civilization remains unaffected.
• Matters get slightly worse for New York Gov. David Paterson (D).
• Greece tried to alleviate creditors’ fears today with a new $6.5 billion austerity plan.
• Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) is blaming Harry Reid for Bunning’s five-day hostage standoff over unemployment benefits.
• On a related note, Kevin Drum explains, “Bunning is a moron.”
• Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is threatening to vote with far-right Republicans to kill health care reform. This isn’t the first time Grijalva has talked like this.
• I was very sorry to hear that the blogger known as “Jon Swift” has died.
• Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is not above trying to connect his hatred for gays to his opposition to federal wage requirements.
• As part of our ongoing coverage of SUNY Binghamton’s troubling transition to Division I athletics, the school announced this week that its basketball team will not be participating in the America East tournament this year.
• Leave Grant’s picture on the $50 alone.
• And finally, Rod Blagojevich was — in all seriousness — the “guest of honor at a Northwestern University panel on ethics in politics last night.” The disgraced former governor reportedly “elicited laughs from the audience — and not necessarily intentionally.”

Tags: Civil Rights, Economy, House of Representatives, Senate by ecthompson md
No Comments »