Yes, Joe Lieberman’s attempt at a combined police state wet dream/vanity legacy project, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, failed failed to break a filibuster, and so it’s dead for this session.
I’m happy, but Barack Obama is bumming, because, well, the worlds worst constitutional law professor wants to be able to spy on people without any independent review.
Oh, my bad, it was Darryl Issa and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, voting on strictly party lines, to hold the Attorney General in contempt.
The ‘Phants are f%$# lunatics.
One week after Apple announced it was booting Google Maps from iOS and photographing the world with its own aerial fleet, a top US Senator has written to both companies expressing concern over their “military-grade spy planes.”
“Barbequing or sunbathing in your backyard shouldn’t be a public event,” said Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) in a statement on Monday. “People should be free from the worry of some high-tech peeping Tom technology violating one’s privacy when in your own home.”
Schumer noted that although Google Maps and Google Earth have used satellite imagery in the past, “reports have suggested” that both Google and Apple have upgraded their capabilities to aircraft-based photography that can see through windows and capture detailed images with four-inch resolution.
Although Schumer specifically mentioned sunbathing – and we never even knew he was a Reg reader – his remarks suggest that his main concern isn’t high-flying voyeurism, but rather intelligence that could aid terroists and other miscreants.
“Detailed photographs could also provide criminals and terrorists with detailed views of sensitive utilities,” he wrote to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Larry Page, noting that although there are online sources which currently show such potential targets as power lines, substations, and reservoirs, those images are in low resolution.
“However,” Schumer surmised, “if highly detailed images become available, criminals could create more complete schematic maps of the power and water grids in the United States. With the vast amount of infrastructure across the country, it would be impossible to secure every location.”
So, we have yet another participant in the war against maps.
Let’s keep everyone ignorant, because someone might do something bad with information someday.
Dumbass.
Senator Scott Brown today rejected a debate proposed by Victoria Reggie Kennedy, after the widow of Senator Edward M. Kennedy refused his precondition that she not endorse a candidate in his reelection campaign against Democrat Elizabeth Warren.
“We respect Vicki Kennedy’s decision but we regret that we cannot accept a debate invitation from someone who plans to endorse Scott Brown’s opponent,” Brown Campaign Manager Jim Barnett said in a statement. “The Kennedy Institute cannot hold itself out as a nonpartisan debate sponsor while the president of its board of trustees gets involved in the race on behalf of one of the candidates.”
The announcement came shortly after representatives of Vicki Kennedy said she would not agree to Brown’s demand that she remain neutral in the race, in exchange for the senator’s participation in a late September debate she had proposed be hosted by the University of Massachusetts Boston and Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
Barnett had said Monday that Brown would participate only if Kennedy, president of the board at the Kennedy Institute, not endorse in the race and that MSNBC not be the broadcast sponsor of the debate.
What a whiny bitch.
He’s (rightly) terrified that Elizabeth Warren will have his sorry ass for lunch, so he’s making up excuses.
You know, if lying to Congress means anything, don’t go after a pitcher who probably lied about using steroids, go after a sitting US Attorney General, Alberto “Abu” Gonzalez, who lied about torture and war crimes.
Should Clemens be in jail?
Yes, he should, for becoming a Yankee when he started with the Red Sox.
F%$# the F%$#ing Yankees.
And he was not a happy camper.
Jon Stewart was brutal, but Taibbi was outraged.
I’d like to see a way to combine the two.
Jon Stewart on the how the Senators (with 2 exceptions) sucked up to Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase when they were supposed to be grilling him.
I was going to write about it, but there weren’t enough obscenities in my vocabulary to do it justice, and Jon Stewart nails it with a PG rating.
Go figure.
The Chairman of the JCS has said that if the automatic budget cuts kick in for the pentagon, we will see more war:
The nation’s top military officer warned Wednesday that automatic defense cuts agreed to in last year’s bipartisan debt limit deal could lead to more war.
At a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon has gone along with recent targeted cuts to limited targeted cuts, but argued that the the sweeping across-the-board cuts in the so-called sequestration would weaken the country’s ability to deter adversaries and therefore lead to more war.
“Sequestration is absolutely certain to upend this balance. It would lead to further end-strength reductions, the potential cancellation of major weapons systems and the disruption of global operations,” Dempsey said. “We can’t yet say precisely how bad the damage would be, but it is clear that sequestration would risk hollowing out our force and reducing its military options available to the nation. We would go from being unquestionably powerful everywhere to being less visible globally and presenting less of an overmatch to our adversaries, and that would translate into a different deterrent calculus, and potentially, therefore, increase the likelihood of conflict.”
Who the hell are we going to war with?
We have troops and/or mercenaries in:
Seriously, there isn’t anyone left for us to invade who has any oil but the Norwegians.
I’m unsure of the significance, Ron Barber was a former Giffords aide, and he was shot when Giffords was, so there is the whole sympathy issue.
Additionally, his opponent, Jesse Kelly, is a major teabagger, and the movement is clearly not as strong as it was in 2010.
As to my feelings about this, it’s, “Meh.”
Giffords was a Blue Dog in Congress, and Barber seems to be cut from the same mold, waffling on voting for Pelosi in the caucus, and for Obama in the general election
Harry Reid has explicitly stated that Republicans are sabotaging the economy for political gain:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday accused House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) of deliberately trying to sabotage the U.S. economy.
Republicans immediately fired back, with Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) spokesman using an eight-letter word to rebuke the Senate leader.
“That’s bull—-,” said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel. “House Republicans are united in our desire to get a sensible, reform-minded transportation bill done, including job-creating energy initiatives like Keystone.”
Reid has grown frustrated by House Republicans’ reluctance to pass a multiyear transportation authorization bill, which Democrats say would create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
House Republicans have threatened to pull out of conference talks with Senate negotiators, according to one media report, which could scuttle any prospects for a deal. A senior House GOP aide, however, disputed the report.
They should have been saying this for at least two years.
Silvestres Reyes was defeated in the Tuesday primary by El Paso City Councelman Beta O’Rourke.
The district is overhwelmingly Democratic, so it means that O’Rourke is pretty much a shoe in for the general.
Why is this good news? Because Reyes was aggressively pro-drug war and pro drone, to the point of lobbying for drone stikes in Mexico, and O’Rourke supports Marijuana legalization.
It’s a big deal, and it shows that, as the NORML blog notes, the war on drugs is no longer the winning issue that it used to be.
That Representative Joe Pitts (R-PA) should have nothing to do with any initiative involving Israel, nor, for that matter, should he be allowed to cut his own meat:
It seems that Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA) is a tad out of the loop on matters of Middle East peace. If it were up to him, Israelis and Palestinians would restart peace talks under the guidance of their respective leaders, Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat.
His advice does not seem to take into account the fact that Arafat died in 2004 and Sharon has been in a coma since 2006.
“With the global war against terrorism, it is now incumbent on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Yasir Arafat to clamp down on Palestinian extremists that have perpetuated violence and to restart a peace process that has collapsed,” wrote Pitts in a recent, rather outdated response letter to a constituent.
Perhaps Pitts should try to address some other burning issues from the 1990s, like making Newt Gingrich shut the f%$# up.
Hmmmm …… Things haven’t changed as much over the past 15 years as I’ve thought.
So, after expressing concerns about the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), the White House has now threatened a veto:
The White House has said that the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), currently before the US House of Representatives, lacks enough privacy protections in its current form and will probably be vetoed if passed.
A statement from the White House Office of Management and Budget said that, while the importance of protecting the national infrastructure from online attacks is paramount, it “strongly opposes” the bill because it lacks proper oversight, could seriously damage individuals’ privacy and hands over responsibility for domestic cybersecurity to the NSA, rather than to a civilian body.
“Legislation should address core critical infrastructure vulnerabilities without sacrificing the fundamental values of privacy and civil liberties for our citizens, especially at a time our Nation is facing challenges to our economic well-being and national security,” the statement reads.
“The Administration looks forward to continuing to engage with the Congress in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion to enact cybersecurity legislation to address these critical issues. However, for the reasons stated herein, if H.R. 3523 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”
Yea! The White House is standing up for privacy.
Or maybe not:
“The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, in its current form,” the White House said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “H.R. 3523 fails to provide authorities to ensure that the nation’s core critical infrastructure is protected while repealing important provisions of electronic surveillance law without instituting corresponding privacy, confidentiality, and civil liberties safeguards.”
CISPA’s sponsors, House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., dismissed the White House statement.
“The basis for the administration’s view is mostly based on the lack of critical infrastructure regulation, something outside of our jurisdiction,” the pair said in a statement released during the House Rules hearing. In addition, the sponsors pointed out that the White House objects to the bill’s current form, which doesn’t contain the latest changes hammered out with civil liberties groups.
(emphasis mine)
Maybe I’m a bit of a cynic, but I’m thinking that their objection is that it does not grant enough power.
If we look at the Obama administration’s prior behavior, their concerns for civil liberties or transparency have always taken a back seat to expanding executive power. (Basically Dick Cheney with abortion support)
Also, as PC Magazine notes, the Obasa administration made exactly the same sort of statements about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which allows for indefinite detention of American citizens, but decided to sign it anyway.
In any case, the House just called what is likely his bluff, and they passed CISPA and sent it to the Senate.
I’m not optimistic.
White House Statement after break:
CISPAvetostatement
Actually there were 5, and Romney won them all.
What is interesting however were 2 Congressional races in Pennsylvania:
U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, Pennsylvania’s longest-serving congressman, lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary, while Rep. Mark Critz beat fellow Democratic incumbent Rep. Jason Altmire in another contest that shook up the state’s House delegation.
Newly-configured congressional district lines put in place by the Republican-controlled state Legislature affected the dynamics in each closely-watched race.
Holden, who was elected to Congress in 1992 and was one of its conservative, so-called Blue Dog Democrats, lost Tuesday to personal injury attorney Matt Cartwright, who spent nearly $400,000 in the race.
Asked to assess his victory, Cartwright said “It’s a combination of things, number one, the redistricting, and number two, my own core political beliefs are a much better fit for the new district.”
The only bad news in these two elections is that Critz and Altmire could not both lose.
Still Critz is a bit less bad than Altmire.
BTW, as an aside, if you are considering supporting Democratic Congressional candidates this cycle, take Howie Klein’s advice, and don’t take a DCCC endorsement for granted, particularly since its head this cycle is former Blue Dog Steve Israel. (You can see examples of their hacktacular calls at the link)
We need fewer of these right wing pukes in congress, not more, and most of the DCCC’s red to blue targets are faux Dems.
So called Democrat Joe Manchin is refusing to endorse Barack Obama for president, and rather unsurprisingly, so is Joe Lieberman.
Actually, it is a bit of a surprise. I would have expected Lieberman to endorse the Republican again.
But the West Virginia Senate election is a big priority of the DSCC, which is why I won’t give to the DSCC.
Whatever money I have to contribute goes to real Democrats.
It looks like the Democratic establishment in Michigan is going all in for a Congressional candidate who has voted to defund Planned Parenthood:
That’s a serious question: Who does the DCCC back in the Michigan 3rd CD race?
- Steve Pestka, who voted to defund Planned Parenthood when he was in the Michigan House, or
- Trevor Thomas, an actual pro-woman Democrat
Context — Obama’s White House is in the process of trying (and failing) to damp down the firestorm from the gay community about Obama’s pointed refusal to grant the same protection against same-sex–preference bias as it routinely grants to other biases.
Marcie Wheeler, who lives in the district pointed it out this way:
Meanwhile, the Democrats are still going to use GOP attacks on women as a political stunt. DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz tweeted or re-tweeted 7 comments about women’s issues yesterday, in addition to the seemingly mandatory condemnation of Rosen.
I was particularly amused by this DWS tweet:
Bottom line: Choice, affordable contraception, and Planned Parenthood are at stake in this election. http://j.mp/I6A8c0
As it happened, a few hours after DWS sent that tweet, I went to a Debbie Stabenow event hosted by a local women’s group. As we were waiting for the Senator to speak, a top county Democrat was sitting several rows behind me trying to convince some of the women not to support Trevor Thomas. “There is absolutely no way he can win,” the guy said (the polling says he’s wrong, and I suspect he knows that). In addition to saying a gay man can’t win, he also said a pro-choice person can’t win in the district (his listeners pointed out that Stabenow herself had won the district; so have at least two other pro-choice candidates). Then he described Steven Pestka, using the line Michigan Democrats used to defend Bart Stupak as he was rolling back access to choice for women across the country.
He’s with us on everything else.
But the really appalling comment, uttered by a man at a women’s event, was this:
I need to win this year.
If the guy were reasonably intelligent, he might have said, “we need to win the gavel back for Nancy Pelosi.” But he couldn’t even muster a “we need to win” this year. Nope. It was “I need to win this year,” and that’s why women have to suck it up and vote for someone who has attacked their autonomy in the past.
Steve Pestka’s with us on everything else, this guy said at a women’s event. But he’s not just anti-choice. When he was in the State House (the experience locals point to to claim he’s a better candidate than Trevor) he scored a whopping 0% on votes to support choice. That included a vote for HB 4655, which singled out Planned Parenthood to be defunded, precisely the outrage–at the national level–that Democrats use as the cornerstone of their metaphorical attack on the GOP for its “War on Women.”
It really is remarkable just how craven, and willing to abandon core principles the professional Democrats are, and how f%$#ing stupid this sort of behavior is.
Cowardly political calculation, particularly with the active public support of the party establishment, turns off voters.
Now that Olympia Snowe is leaving the Senate, she is complaining that she did not get enough face time from Obama:
Retiring moderate Republican senator still prizes “bipartisanship” over actually passing legislation
Retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe has finished grading the president’s report card. President Obama gets an “F” in bipartisanship, where “bipartisanship” is defined as “constantly stroking the fragile egos of self-important Senate moderates.”
Snowe is not seeking reelection because the Republican Party wholly merged with the conservative movement and then began enforcing much stricter party discipline than it had in the past, and she would likely lose a primary election to a more right-wing candidate. But in her high-minded version of what happened, she is leaving because of “partisanship,” an evil spell cast on the formerly fraternal and cooperative United States Senate by comity-hating wizards.
………
So instead of cap-and-trade, we got nothing. Instead of the DREAM Act, we got nothing. If healthcare reform had failed, we’d have nothing. If Snowe’s stated goal was to maintain the status quo, because she doesn’t care about immigration and doesn’t believe in climate change, then she’d be totally doing a very good job. But she claims to care about climate change and want to do something about immigration, which leads me to believe that she’s horrible at being a senator. It is the incompetent political maneuvering of “moderates” like Snowe, and not “partisanship,” that leads directly to Senate inaction. If what she needed, in order to be swayed to the side of passing legislation to address problems, was for the president to make a much bigger public show of courting her, then she’s a bizarre and repulsive specimen. Being against everything because people aren’t paying you enough attention is so much worse than being against everything on principle.
The Senate is not a great deliberative body. It is a support group for narcissistic sociopaths.
Even more than the insane members of the Senate *cough*Jim Demint*cough* *cough*Tom Coburn*cough*, it is those who worship at the alter of bipartisanship, because their efforts are nothing more than preening for an imagined audience when there are real issues that need to be addressed.
The problem is that the Senate is a broken institution, and it has been for some time, because of people like Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, etc. who value the appearance of being reasonable over actually being reasonable, and care not a fig for being effective representatives of the citizenry.
Knit Your Congressman a Vagina
Just go read it.
Jean “Mean Jean” Schmidt lost the Republican primary for Ohio’s 2nd CD to political newbie Brad Wenstrup.
It’s a good thing, though she lost to someone who appears to be even more conservative.
The interesting thing is that a new super Pac, the Campaign for Primary Accountability, which dropped a significant chunk of change against her, mostly taking her to task for voting to increase the debt ceiling.
This same group also supported Kucinich against Kaptur, and is going after Jesse Jackson Jr. in Illinois, as well as Spencer “Insider Trading” Baucus (R-AL).
I’m inclined to think that they are a beard for right wingers. Both Kucinich and Kaptur are firmly liberal, but Kaptur was the more effective legislator, if just because Kucinich was so determinedly iconoclastic, and the wing-nuts hate anyone named Jesse Jackson.
Additionally, its founder, Eric O’Keefe is a winger and a Club for Growth puke, which further reiforces my suspicions.
The post Citizens United world of campaign finance is remarkably opaque.
And not in a good way, because that fatuous preening faux Democrat Bob Kerrey has decided to change his mind and run for the Nebraska Senate:
Kerrey had announced earlier this month that would not try to return to the Senate, citing his family in New York City.
“Doing things the conventional way has never been my strong suit,” he said in a statement. “I came to realize that my previous decision was the easy one, not the right one. My commitment to serve Nebraska and America, and to be part of the debate about the challenges we face, was too strong to dismiss.”
His wife went from opposing to supporting the idea, according to a Democratic official, and that played a big role in his reversal.
“My family supports this decision 100 percent,” Kerrey said in his statement.
Just what we need, another Fox News Democrat who leads with cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Grover Norquist and the Club for Growth guys have it right, moving the dialogue in your direction is more important than winning any election, and when the party supports people who try to undermine core party values, the dicussion moves in the wrong way.