The Week That Was

Majority, super: The number of votes required to paralyze the Senate.

Corruption, New Jersey,
Two mayors, two state lawmakers, several rabbis and a slew of others arrested for

Cheese Food, Homogenized, Processed and Individually Wrapped

The new metaphor replacing "sausage" as the description of legislation as it emerges from commitee and winds its way through the Congress.

Funny, poor attempt to be:

Reporters posing as bad comedians. Or vice versa.

The Borgen Project has some good information on the cost of addressing global poverty (www.borgenproject.org).
It only takes $30 billion annually to end world hunger!
Yet... we are spending $550 billion annually on the defense budget.

The Karl Rove article was a good, if underreported, hit. Not an eye opener, though.

B*rgen Project, nuking from orbit: "It's the only way to be sure!"

Oooh, is this one "moderated" too?

The sausage factor appears to be in high gear leading up to the summer vacation recess...

PennyMac
subtopics: IPO, PMT, Kurland, Stanford, Countrywide, bad mortgages, buying, Countrywide, subprime cleanup, Countrywide, mortgage investment trust, cashing in, Countrywide, did we mention already?

PennyMac (PMT): started trading publicly this week with IPO. Mortgage investment trust that buys bad mortgage below market and reworks them for a profit. Led by former Countrywide executives.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32219013/site/14081545
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32203855/site/14081545
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1199169679&play=1
early story by Jane Wells – http://www.cnbc.com/id/28540870/site/14081545

Jobs, New
subtopics: San Diego, construction, military, not Steve, not kidding, really

Real ones spotted in San Diego, thanks to military construction. Not found anywhere else in USA.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32221520

Putin, Vladimir
subtopics: whale, Beluga, tag, GPS, BRIC, USSR, new, global domination, “I'll be baaaack”, Palin, watched by, image, macho, “I'm King of the World!”, ocean, wetsuit

Attached a satellite tag to a Beluga whale for scientific research.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/01/2642975.htm

Perfume
subtopics: Fort Worth, it's a gas, mass hysteria, hospital, victims, story really stinks

Thirty-four people hospitalized over alleged gas leak, caused by perfume.
http://www.star-telegram.com/topstories/story/1511194.html

Democracy:
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Let David Sirota offer a variation on it's definition:

"Health Care Tyranny by 13 Obstructionists"
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"These lawmakers, hailing mostly from small states and rural areas, together represent only 13 million people, meaning those speaking for just 4 percent of America are maneuvering to impose their health care will on the other 96 percent of us.
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Census figures show that the poverty rates are far higher and per capita incomes far lower in the 13 legislators' specific districts than in the nation as a whole. Put another way, these politicians represent exactly the kinds of districts whose constituents would most benefit from universal health care. So why are they leading the fight to stop—rather than pass—reform?
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Because when tyranny mixes with legalized bribery, constituents' economic concerns stop mattering.
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Thanks to our undemocratic system and our corrupt campaign finance laws, the health care industry doesn't have to fight a 50-state battle. It can simply buy a tiny group of congresspeople, which is what it's done. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, health interests have given these 13 members of Congress $12 million in campaign contributions—a massive sum further enhanced by geography.
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Remember, politicians trade favors for re-election support—and the best way to ensure re-election is to raise money for TV airtime (read: commercials). In rural America, that airtime is comparatively cheap because the audience is relatively small. Thus, campaign contributions to rural politicians like these 13 buy more commercials—and, consequently, more political loyalty.
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The end result is an amplifier of tyranny: Precisely because the undemocratic system unduly empowers legislators from sparsely populated (and hence cheap) media markets, industry cash can more easily purchase tyrannical obstruction from those same legislators. In this case, that means congresspeople blocking health care reform that would most help their own voters.
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Of course, there is talk of circumventing the 13 obstructionists and forcing a vote of the full Congress that cannot be filibustered. Inside the Washington palace, the media court jesters and political aides-de-camp have reacted to such plans by raising predictable charges of improper procedure, poor manners, bad etiquette and other Versailles transgressions.
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But the real crime would be letting the tyrants block that vote, trample democracy and kill health care reform in the process."
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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090730_health_care_tyranny/

BTW, am I the only who's noticed the shift in The Krug's tone towards Obama over the last month or so? Where he was once his greatest critic, he now seems incapable of holding him even partly accountable for this mess.

The Borgen Project has some good info on the cost of addressing global poverty.

$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget.

Well, no doubt we disagree about the degree of Obama's respons. for said mess. My pt. was that Krug's tone (look at what he's written over the last few weeks) has clearly changed. Of course, we can flash way back to the primaries:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/opinion/17krugman.html?_r=1
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But even shortly over a month ago, he seemed to disagree with your frame, that Obama would be the last person to be held accountable:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/opinion/26krugman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Looks like single payer will have a chance to take it to the floor. I watched this today and Weiner has a neat simple chart.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/liberals-will-get-single-payer-vote-on-house-floor-2009-07-31.html

Hate posting anything from Halp, but he has the goods on the Prog. Change Campaign Comm. targeting Ben Nelson and his pathetic reaction:
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http://thepage.time.com/2009/07/31/not-so-gentle-ben-part-ii-2/

Perhaps Krugman has realized that prostelgzing is a lot easier than actually governing and perhaps in his recognition that politics is a multi-team sport he has decided to cut Obama some slack. Obviously, it's easy to say Obama is bad because he's not doing things as a progressive would do them, but I think Krugman is taking solace from the fact that Obama is doing what he said he would do. Walking the walk even though the media, the GOP and his own damn party are constantly trying to throw crap in the way. Keeping his word is important considering we just spent eight years being lied to about everything, even things that didn't matter. The Bush administration acknowledged openly and with pride that they deliberately created one alternate reality after another.

Obama, on the other hand, is not the great dictator and his approach, while sometimes frustrating, is better than the "my way or the highway " approach of the Bush doctrine. Now, in hindsight we can all see that despite working well to the dismay of Liberals for a number of years, it eventually did fail and when rank and file Republicans stopped listening to the "Great Decider" he turned into a pretty pitiful figure.

The reality is that Congress is a co-equal branch of government, yet we get mad because the President treats them with the respect their constitutionally due. Then we get mad when Obama doesn't let Congress roll him, with requests for evidence against Bush they know full well he can't provide without weakening his own branch of government.

Sometimes I feel like that idiot screaming on you tube for the world to leave Brittany alone. I just hope my fellow commenters understand what this man is up against. This is no ordinary President and no ordinary time. Our future prosperity depends on keeping those inhabitants of the alternate universe from the seats of power while we regroup.

I know even imagining the country returning Republicans led by birthers to the seats of power sounds beyond absurd, but it ain't. Obama wants to put the country back on the right track and restore sanity to our governing strategy after thirty years of Conservative delusion, Republicans and their messianic devotion to all things Reagan will say and do absolutely anything to keep that from happening. If history has taught me anything its that extremists all have the same fatal flaw -- And in time all will go one step too far! But in the mean time, I hope the secret service is gearing up, that Democrats stop laughing this crap off and that we all keep the big picture in mind because stupid like breathing can be a reflexive and involuntary function in Americans.

Dear Borgen Project dudes:
We get it. The US defense budget is ridiculous. It is beyond ridiculous. It would solve many problems if we reduced it.

Driving us insane over the matter earns you no friends.

The John Birther Society is making the GOP look a bit nutty.

Not sure if this is our weekend open thread but this made me happy-

Franken not being very Senatorial with the ever obnoxious T Boone Pickens.

http://www.minnpost.com/cynthiadizikes/2009/07/31/10621/politico_franken_confronts_t_boone_pickens

Yep, it's an open thread. No weekend toys for us I guess.

Obama hates cops and crippled black guys like Gates-gate

Wingnuts are even crazier than you thought.
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