Month: March 2012

The Village 1 percenters

by digby

Look who’s joining the country club:

David Gregory, host of NBC’s Meet The Press, and Bret Baier, host of Fox News’s Special Report, are among the latest applicants to the Chevy Chase Club, the historic social club that has catered to Washington’s wealthiest for over a century.

The Club’s recent “Membership Report” shows that both Gregory and Baier are up for consideration as “newly-proposed candidates for membership.” Gregory is being sponsored by Joseph Stettinius and William M. Walker. Baier is being sponsored Burke F. Hayes and by Brit Hume, the former anchor of Fox News’s Special Report.

The Chevy Chase Club would not disclose the cost of admission, but a member told me that the initiation fee is $80,000 and that members pay $6,000 in annual dues. The member also said that Bob Schieffer, host of CBS’s Face The Nation, was a member of the club.

Through an NBC spokesperson, Gregory declined to comment. Spokespeople at Fox News did not return a request for comment.

The Chevy Chase Club was founded in 1892. As recently as 1976, it did not accept Jewish or African-American members, according to a report in the New York Times. And despite reforms, some who have visited the club believe it has maintained an atmosphere reminiscent of earlier days.

“Order a cocktail at the Chevy Chase country-club and you’ll step back into ante-bellum Savannah,” one British reporter for The Telegraph observed last year. “The blacks wait on Wasps, showing all the deference expected of them. You won’t find many Cohens either, lounging on the well-kept lawn.”

I can hardly wait for the next time Gregory places himself in the role of the average American as, like all Villagers, he is wont to do:

So this morning David Gregory, in the great tradition of his forebear Tim Russert, was just a regular workin’ dude interviewin’ the big wigs about the troubles of average Murikins jess like him:

MR. GREGORY: My mother out in California, I presume, is watching this morning. She’s like a lot of Americans, worried about her job and wondering why not just bank lending, but something called nonbank lending, securitization–what is that, and why does that matter to her?

Just like Joe and Jane American everywhere, Dave’s mom is fearing for her financial future and would like an explanation for why she finds herself feeling so insecure.

I have an idea. Maybe Dave could get his wife, the former General Counsel for Fannie Mae, to explain all this high flying financial mumbo jumbo to her mother-in-law. And if worse comes to worse and Ma Gregory loses her job, maybe Dave could hire her to clean his multi-million dollar Nantucket vacation home.

This is the problem with the political press. There is no earthly reason for David Gregory to join this club. He has all the access he needs to any powerful person on earth. The only reason for him to join it is because he wants to be among other people like himself (and away from the polloi.) Do you think old Dave will be covering his friends down at the club with the vigor that’s necessary in these times? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

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Blue America Chat: Patsy Keever NC-10 11 AM/PDT

by digby

Here’s an excerpt of Howie’s post at Down With Tyranny:

“Women all across North Carolina,” Patsy told us, “are disgusted with the Republican treatment of women. My campaign launched a petition drive protesting the GOP’s assault on women and collected over 850 petitions in a few days. I’m not just talking about Democratic women. Whether it’s the radical right-wing conservatives in Raleigh or in Washington, the women I’ve spoken to are ready to take action to confront this extremism. I faced this issue at the state level as well. GOP members in the State House proposed legislation curtailing women’s choice. Well I fought against this bill and worked to uphold Governor Perdue’s veto. I am angry, and needless to say, women across the state are angry too.”

And Patrick McHenry has been no champion on women’s issues– not on any of them. He votes against women on social issues and on economic issues. Patrick McHenry, as everyone who has followed his career knows, has a serious problem with women. And after Patsy wins her primary against a conservative Democrat on May 8, she’ll be up against McHenry– and in a district newly redrawn to be somewhat friendlier to Democrats and Independents and less friendly to right-wing extremists. Obama’s performance is 6% better under the new lines and, by party registration, there are now actually more Democrats in the district (39.3%) than Republicans (35.6%). But Patsy didn’t jump into this race because of Limbaugh or the GOP War Against Women. Her issues have more to do with education– she taught in the public schools for more than 25 years– and with an economic equality agenda.

As a mother, grandmother, public school teacher, community leader and elected official, I have spent more than 30 years working to make our community a great place for families and children to live. I have fought to create opportunities for meaningful employment, ensure that our children get a quality education, protect the quality of our air and water and achieve equality for all of our citizens. When I am elected to Congress, I will continue to do so.

Now I want to take these principles to Washington D.C., where a good dose of common sense and cooperation are direly needed. While understanding the need to tighten our belts, I will protect Social Security and Medicare, defend the natural beauty of our region and stand against extremism that hurts families. Every time I take a vote, I will ask myself, “Will this make our community a better place… for us, for our children and for our grandchildren?”

Patsy is a terrific progressive, beloved by her constituents and very experienced in North Carolina politics. She has a chance — with your help.

She’ll be joining us at CrooksandLiars at 2pm (ET), 11am on the West Coast for a live chat about her campaign and her issues. If you’d like to help this fiery grandmother, with a proven track record, replace Patrick McHenry– who also has a record– please consider a contribution at the Blue America ActBlue page.

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NRA dreams come true

by digby

So it turns out that Treyvan Martin was talking to a friend while being followed by the neighborhood watch guy:

The pair’s phone logs, obtained by ABC News, show they spoke just five minutes before police responded to reports of a shooting at the gated community in Sanford, Fla.

Recounting her conversation with Martin, the teen girl said, “He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man.”

“I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run,” she said.

After a few minutes, the girl said, Martin thought he was safe. But eventually the man appeared again.

“Trayvon said, ‘What are you following me for?'” the girl said. “And the man said, ‘What are you doing here?’ Next thing I hear is somebody pushing, and somebody pushed Trayvon because the [phone’s] headset just fell.”

The line went dead, the girl said.

“I called him again and he didn’t answer the phone,” she said.

So it would seem that the teen-ager was the one who was afraid. And rightly so as it turns out.

He didn’t run, and for good reason. If he had, he would have been considered a “fleeing suspect” and could have gotten shot. Of course, under Florida’s lunatic gun laws, if he stood his ground, he could still get shot. Indeed, under these laws, the only person who has any rights is the one with the gun. And that person is evidently entitled to stalk, chase and shoot unarmed strangers and call it self defense.

I was talking about this this morning and someone said that “they” were going to have to change these laws. And I realized once again how sick our society has become — those are NRA laws and thus inviolable. I honestly cannot picture how it’s even possible for them to be changed short of a massive uprising by tens of millions of middle class working Americans. The NRA is holding the government hostage and its now completely ineffectual at dealing with gun violence.

Update: this timeline explainer from Mother Jones is indispensable if you want to understand the case and the context for these laws. This is one example of how the law works:

Many readers have asked whether, given the 911 recordings, a case against Zimmerman would be easier than most homicides in which “self-defense” is cited by a defendant. In Florida, the answer probably is no: The courts’ interpretation of the stand-your-ground law has been extremely broad—so broad that, to win an acquittal, a defendant doesn’t even have to prove self-defense, only argue for it, while to win a conviction the prosecution has to prove that self-defense was impossible.

Numerous cases have set the precedent in Florida, with the courts arguing that the law “does not require defendant to prove self-defense to any standard measuring assurance of truth, exigency, near certainty, or even mere probability; defendant’s only burden is to offer facts from which his resort to force could have been reasonable.” When a defendant claims self-defense, “the State has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense.” In other words the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt never shifts from the prosecution, so it’s surprisingly easy to evade prosecution by claiming self-defense.

This has led to some stunning verdicts in the state. In Tallahassee in 2008, two rival gangs engaged in a neighborhood shootout, and a 15-year-old African American male was killed in the crossfire. The three defendants all either were acquitted or had their cases dismissed, because the defense successfully argued they were defending themselves under the “stand your ground” law. The state attorney in Tallahassee, Willie Meggs, was beside himself. “Basically this law has put us in the posture that our citizens can go out into the streets and have a gun fight and the dead person is buried and the survivor of the gun fight is immune from prosecution,” he said at the time.

According to the NRA the constitution only protects people who have guns, not those who don’t. It’s really that simple.

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Mr. Consistent

David Atkins

The Times pens yet another tribute to Rick Santorum’s consistency:

He objected to Mitt Romney’s insistence that the tenets of Mormonism are not in conflict with traditional Christianity. He said there was good reason to doubt the theory of evolution and argued that intelligent design should be taught in schools. And when critics questioned Rick Santorum on even the most innocuous matters, like his support for stronger federal oversight of pet stores, he fired back.

Over the last decade, Mr. Santorum has been a prolific writer of op-ed articles, letters to the editor and guest columns in some of the country’s largest and most influential newspapers. All the while he displayed many of the traits that define him as a presidential candidate today: a deep and unwavering Catholic faith, a suspicion of secularism and a conviction that the country was on a path toward cultural ruin.

A review of his columns and letters going back 10 years reveals a striking consistency in his conservative political views and spiritual guiding principles. He could be harsh, as when he mocked President Obama’s mantra of hope and change as “pathetically counterfeit.” He could throw out scientific terms whenever topics like genetics were involved. “Scientists who are pushing for embryonic stem-cell research are seeking pluripotent stem cells.” And there was even a brief turn as a film critic. “Any movie titled ‘Knocked Up’ isn’t going to win any awards for decorum, and this one doesn’t disappoint.”

He wrote in national newspapers like USA Today, Washington-centric publications like The Hill and Roll Call, religious ones like Catholic Online, and metropolitan dailies in Pennsylvania like The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Philadelphia Inquirer, which paid him as a columnist for more than two years after he was voted out of office in 2006. The column had the cheeky title “The Elephant in the Room.”

His writings were often sprinkled with Biblical and religious references. On global warming, he said, “Climate change’s Pharisees reassure us that the global-warming science is still settled.” On the reaction in Congress to his amendment on teaching evolution in schools, he wrote, “The High Priests of Darwinism went berserk.”

As Digby noted a few days ago, it’s hard to see why Rick Santorum should get credit for this. I could run for office for twenty years running on a platform of eliminating NASA’s budget in favor of studying flat-earth topography, penning op-eds decrying the Pharisees of heliocentrism and the High Priests of Copernicus. It wouldn’t be an admirable character trait. It would make me stubbornly wrong, and crazy to boot.

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The endless learning curve

by digby

Krugman:

Greg Sargent has more bang-your-head-against-the-wall material about the Obama administration’s “pivot” to deficits. Quoting a new book by David Corn:

Plouffe was concerned that voter unease about the deficit could become unease about the president. The budget issue was easy to understand; you shouldn’t spend more money than you have. Yes, there was the argument that the government should borrow money responsibly when necessary (especially when interest rates were low) for the appropriate activities, just like a family borrowing sensibly to purchase a home, to pay for college, or to handle an emergency. But voters needed to know — or feel — that the president could manage the nation’s finances.

The depth of political malpractice here is just mind-blowing.

The goes on to show that the public always thinks the budget should be balanced, no matter what — even in the Great Depression. And I would guess that one of the reasons is that politicians — including the President — are constantly telling them that the federal budget is just like the family budget and we all have to tighten our belts!

“Now, finally, we should all be able to agree that we’ve got to do something about our long-term deficits. Now, these deficits won’t just burden our kids and our grandkids decades from now — they could damage our markets now, they could drive up our interest rates now, they could jeopardize our recovery right now.

Responsible families don’t do their budgets the way the federal government does. Right? When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices. It’s time your government did the same. “

That was February of 2010. It was still going on in July of 2011, 18 months later:

“Government has to start living within its means, just like families do. We have to cut the spending we can’t afford so we can put the economy on sounder footing, and give our businesses the confidence they need to grow and create jobs.”

Long learning curve, there.

Can we all agree, at least in hindsight, that this was the wrong approach? It’s not as if some very prominent people weren’t saying it at the time. And 18 months later, too. not to mention those of us in the peanut gallery.

I’m reading Showdown right now. And like all the books about the first term, it’s intensely frustrating. It’s not as if we didn’t know all this. But finding out just how thoroughly they bought into the nonsense is still chilling.

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Liberals, resist this taunt

by digby

I mean it. It’s a huge part of the reason that Democrats run scared and it’s got to stop. It’s been going on as long as I can remember — maybe as long as human history. And it’s been extremely destructive to civilization:

On March 16, Limbaugh explained to a caller what he meant by “new castrati”:

LIMBAUGH: That’s basically men with no guts who have just been bullied by women and the power structure and liberalism in general. And so, in — when I do the imitation of those guys — this is the new castrati — basically, these are people that just have been bullied into total acquiescence with the liberal agenda. They don’t stand up for themselves. They never stand up for what’s right for themselves. They’re just total appeasers. They just totally go along to avoid any resistance or confrontation whatsoever.

CALLER: So is castrati a play on words for castrate?

LIMBAUGH: Yeah, yeah. De-balled if you will.

Sadly, I’ve known many people in my life who’ve been intimidated by that taunt. And frankly, I see its effects fairly frequently even today with all the chest beating and high fiving over bin Laden’s death. I hate to break the news but you will never be able to kill enough people to make up for the fact that liberalism is perceived as “woman’s work” and the Democrats as “the mommy party.” If that’s what you seek then you might as well join the rest of the bullies and become a Republican.

Lawful firing

by David Atkins

This is crazy.

They weren’t wearing sagging pants or revealing clothing. But dressing in an orange shirt is apparently enough to get fired at one Florida law firm, where 14 workers were unceremoniously let go last Friday.

In an interview with the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, several of the fired workers say they wore the matching colors so they would be identified as a group when heading out for a happy hour event after work. They say the executive who fired them initially accused them of wearing the matching color as a form of protest against management.

Orange is widely considered to be one of the most visible colors to the human eye. Orange vests are worn by most hunters as a safety precaution and by school crossing guards. Most prisoners are required to wear orange jump suits.

The color orange is arguably Florida’s defining color. The self-described “Sunshine State” is widely known for its orange juice exports.

The law offices of Elizabeth R. Wellborn, P.A. offered “no comment” to Sun-Sentinel reporter Doreen Hemlock, but four ex-employees tell the paper they were simply wearing their orange shirts to celebrate “pay day” and the upcoming Friday group happy hour.

“There is no office policy against wearing orange shirts. We had no warning. We got no severance, no package, no nothing,” Lou Erik Ambert told the paper. “I feel so violated.”

Ironically, had the employees been wearing orange as a form of protest, it would have been illegal to fire them, ABC News reports.

And yet, conservatives argue that the playing field in this country is too tilted toward labor, and not beneficial enough to job “creators”/destroyers. Nuts.

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Of course it’s not racist. Why would you think so?

by digby

From Roger Friedman at Forbes:

Paula Smith of Hinesville, Georgia has a company called Stickatude.com. And they’re selling their own version of an anti-Obama bumper sticker that reads “Don’t Re-Nig 2012.” Ms. Smith told me in a telephone conversation on Saturday afternoon that the bumper sticker has been in their inventory since June 2010, but just in the last few days it’s started selling. The price is $3. Ms. Smith insisted that the bumper sticker is not racist. I asked her about the “N” word, for which “nig” is the shortened version. “According to the dictionary [the N word] does not mean black. It means a low down, lazy, sorry, low down person. That’s what the N word means.”
[…]
The Smiths own a well known paint ball field in Hinesville — a town near Savannah. Mrs. Smith said customers come from all over the world. Ms. Smith said she is not racist, she just wants Obama out of office. She tells me she doesn’t have a preferred replacement candidate. “And besides Obama is not even black. He’s got a mixture of race. It’s his choice of what his nationality is. I’m a mixed breed. I call myself a Heinz 57,” she says, referring to an ancestry that’s part of French, Scottish, and German.

“I just want someone that’s going to help the United States and not give it other countries all the time. And stop giving the immigrants the benefits that most Americans inside their own states can’t even get because they’re giving it others who don’t even live here as an American.

“I do find it amazing and entertaining that one of our stickers has become a racist thing,” Ms. Smith told me. I asked her if she thought the “N” Word was a bad word? “No,” she said, ” because I don’t use it. I have kids here around me that are black kids. I call them my own kids. I’ve helped black families…to guide them in the right direction. Paintball is one of these things. We like to laugh and have a good time. That’s our way of life.”

There you have it. She helps black families to guide them in the right direction. I hesitate to even imagine what those paintball games are like.

I think this person is a pretty fringe character. Modern American racism is rarely even this overt. Usually they just go with the Muslim thing or talk about food stamps. But under the surface this is what a rather large minority of Americans still think, unfortunately. The good news is that it used to be a majority.

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America’s Reasonable Demagogue

by digby

He does have one point.The Bush administration and his Randian pal Alan Greenspan knowingly pumped the housing crisis and Wall Street gambling, resulting in the Great Recession.

And now he wants to destroy any chances of a sustained recovery by pushing a ruthless and brutal austerity regime on the country even as unemployment is high and the housing crisis persists.

So yeah. Governments can look the other way or even consciously precipitate an economic catastrophe. And they will do it again if Paul Ryan has his way.

Which once again raises the question: why isn’t the DCCC trying to do every last thing in its power to defeat him? Can there be any rational excuse for it?

Blue America’s challenge still stands. And if you’d like to try to defeat this most dangerous of all Republicans, you can do so here.

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Tasered in cuffs

by digby

The latest taser death (that I know of). In Florida, of course:

The episode began Saturday on the north end of the Dunedin state park. Barnes had received news about the health of a boyfriend, the sheriff’s said, and told his aunt that he wanted to “cleanse himself” at the beach.

The aunt, Paula Yount, joined Barnes in the water. But Barnes “went berserk for no reason” and began cursing and pushing her, Gualtieri said.

Yount declined to comment Sunday.

An officer with the state Department of Environmental Protection, Joseph Tactuk, was on patrol at the park and saw the altercation.

Tactuk tried to stop it, the sheriff said, but Barnes got into a fist fight with the officer, bloodying his nose.

During the struggle, Barnes was placed haphazardly in handcuffs, with one hand tangled behind his head.

Marine sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Kubler and other Pinellas County patrol units arrived.

Barnes was pulled to the shelly part of the shore, where he continued to throw elbows, flail about and head-butt the officers, Gualtieri said.

As Barnes continued to struggle, Kubler fired a Taser at him, limiting the bursts to less than what the weapon allows. The sheriff said Kubler fired it twice more — for three-second bursts — as the struggle continued.

Barnes stopped struggling. After officers adjusted his handcuffs, they discovered he was not breathing. Emergency crews were called to the beach, and Barnes was then taken to Bayfront Medical Center.

Gualtieri said there’s no specific policy about using Tasers on handcuffed suspects. But, he said, it is usually proper to use them when someone, like in this case, is using physical resistance against a deputy.

And why would there be policy? When you have an obviously distraught person everyone knows that the only logical thing to do is shoot them full of electricity while they are bound. It’s just common sense. Indeed, I would imagine that deputy’s would appreciate having the leeway to shoot handcuffed suspects full of electricity whenever they need to. Why not? (Well, except for the whole state brutality and possible death thing, but that’s hardly a concern in America, is it?)

I do appreciate how the story is so precise and detailed about the “limited bursts” until the citizen “stopped struggling.” It makes it so nice and clinical.

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