Avedon:
You know, I just can't help questioning Eric Holder's priorities.
I'm not saying the prosecution in question wasn't dirty. What I want to know is why it was at the top of the list. As Scott Horton says:The misconduct by prosecutors in the Stevens case, bad as it was, is trivial compared to what went on in a number of other political prosecutions which have been profiled here–the Siegelman case, the prosecutions of Paul Minor and two Mississippi judges, and the prosecution of Cyril Wecht.Signed,
Not Atrios
Sully: Booze And Teens
John Cole: Cat Handcuffs (AKA Pig in a Blanket)A new and serious study finds its effects far worse than marijuana:
Abnormalities have been seen in brain structure volume, white matter quality, and activation to cognitive tasks, even in youth with as little as 1-2 years of heavy drinking and consumption levels of 20 drinks per month, especially if >4-5 drinks are consumed on a single occasion. Heavy marijuana users show some subtle anomalies too, but generally not the same degree of divergence from demographically similar non-using adolescents.
The pot-prohibitionists have no arguments any more. And at some point, even in America, that has to matter, no?
At some point today while I was trying to get work done, a certain cat stood behind me and yowled for an hour and a half straight. I tried to pet him. He yowled more. I checked his food. It was fine. He yowled more. I tried to play with him. He yowled. I shot him in the face with a squirt bottle. He yowled and ran out of the room, and came back in and starting meowing again. I shut him out of the room and he stood by the door and scratched at it while meowing.
Finally, I grabbed him and rolled him up in a towel like a dead person in a carpet:
Oddly enough, he stayed there like that for a half hour and seemed to like it. We have a really weird relationship.
Gail Collins: The People Have Mumbled
NYT Editorial: The Forgotten RichWe were so excited about that special Congressional election in upstate New York. Finally, a chance to find out whether the nation really approves of what Barack Obama has been doing!
You cannot figure these things out with tea leaves or polls. Just ask the Republicans in Washington. They certainly would be giving Obama more help if the country really demanded it. But what if the people who said nice things about the president to the pollsters just liked Michelle’s vegetable garden?
And who better to set us straight than the residents of a nearly 200-mile-long district that was gerrymandered so carefully for the G.O.P. that it wound up looking like an outline of Bart Simpson doing a swan dive? Or perhaps a designer boot with fire coming out of the toe.
...
The Senate budget debate began this week against a backdrop of war and recession, rising unemployment and surging foreclosures, runaway health care costs and diminishing insurance coverage — to name just a few of the nation’s big problems. But for Senator Blanche Lincoln, Democrat of Arkansas, and Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, the most pressing issue is clear: America’s wealthiest families need help. Now.
The two senators plan to propose an amendment to deeply cut estate taxes for the fraction of the top 1 percent of the population still subject to those levies.
The proverbial millionaires next door — the plumbers, contractors and accountants who amass substantial wealth through hard work and modest living — are not the intended beneficiaries of the proposed cut. The Obama budget already takes care of them, because it retains today’s law, which imposes the estate tax only on couples with property worth more than $7 million, or individuals with property worth more than $3.5 million. That means 99.8 percent of estates will never — ever — pay a penny of estate tax.
The heirs of the remaining 0.2 percent of estates are who Ms. Lincoln and Mr. Kyl are so worried about. Their amendment would increase to $10 million the level at which the estate tax kicks in. It would also lower the top estate-tax rate to 35 percent from 45 percent.
With all the serious work before Congress, it is a colossal waste of time to have to rebut the false claims and warped premises of ardent estate-tax cutters. Ms. Lincoln’s and Mr. Kyl’s colleagues in the Senate should make short work of it and move on to urgent matters.
In addition to creating the false impression that the estate tax eventually hits everyone — by mislabeling it a “death tax” — opponents routinely ...
...
I increasingly think Summers was a terrible choice as economic advisor. TPM Headline:
Harvard Analyst Was Fired For Emailing Summers About 'Frightening' Trades
Investment Analyst Rang Alarm On Derivatives In Harvard Fund
DougJ: Seventy years of solitude
As always, Rachel sums the repuglican budget up accurately, concisely, and with abundant snark.I’m not so much in the mood to make fun of Congressional Republicans today, but I’d be remiss if I let this pass:
This is the scoring the House Republicans have provided, tracking Democratic budget policy and theirs over the next 70 years. As you can see, predicting ideological stances over as yet unborn Democratic members of Congress, the GOP scoring appears to have us on track for the government owning about 90% of the economy in the early-mid-22nd century, which if I remember is about the time period of the invention of the warp drive. So I don’t know if they’ve figured that in too.Even the Politico gets in on the act a bit:
“If you expected a GOP alternative to the failed policies of the past that got our country into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, then I have two words for you: April Fool’s,” said Kenneth Baer, communications director for the Office of Management and Budget.
Indeed, many of the tax ideas show no effort to temper those tax breaks — under the Bush Administration—which most benefit upper income families. And Ryan would add on top of this a cut in the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent and temporarily suspend all capital gains taxes for 2009 and 2010.
This is just embarrassing. It’s like watching a Pauly Shore movie.
- Josh Marshall says: Wow, That's Cool The House GOP budget plan also includes the abolition of Medicare.
- atrios: Big Government Conservatives Yes, it's long been a mystery why conservatives dream of growing the government through tax cuts. Actually the mystery is that this type of nonsense and the people who spout it are given a platform, that these obvious absurdities are given a "fair" hearing.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Sargent: MSNBC: It’s News That GOP Budget Has Numbers In It
Okay, this one is funny. Today the House GOP, led by Rep Paul Ryan, finally released their alternative budget.
And it really is a sign of the times that MSNBC proclaimed that the news here is that the GOP budget actually has numbers in it this time.
Check out how MSNBC presented the story today (click to enlarge):
The headline reads:
GOP Releases Detailed Budget Plan With Specific Numbers
The fact that this headline was delivered with no trace of irony whatsoever underscores yet again how politically disastrous it was for the Republicans to release the earlier, numbers-free version. It would really be interesting to know who made the final decision to go with that.
- From Sargent's Happy Hour Roundup:
* Yes, John McCain will be offering an alternative budget, as has been rumored. His spokesperson, Brooke Buchanan, confirms to me that he’ll be offering that alternative on the Senate floor this evening. Details when we get them.
Update: Details on McCain’s budget proposal here.
* But McCain’s budget isn’t being done with the support of Senate GOP leaders. Another leading Repubilcan Senator is confirming what I reported below: The leadership is unlikely to follow the House GOP and Rep. Paul Ryan in producing an alternative budget of its own, which would render the House version moot.
A spokesperson for Senate GOP whip Jon Kyl emails:
We certainly support the goals of Congressman Ryan, but we just received the text today and can’t say whether we’ll offer something similar in the Senate.
Sargent: Joe The Plumber Admits He Knows “Little” About EFCA, Gets Jeered By Workers
Oof. Looks like Joe the Plumber’s campaigning against the Employee Free Choice Act in Pennsylvania didn’t go so well.
Mr. Plumber, whose appearances were organized by the anti-EFCA group Americans for Prosperity, admitted he knew “little” about the legislation after being confronted with questions at one of the events yesterday in Harrisburg by a Pennsylvania progressive group. He was also heckled by dozens of Pennsylvania union workers, according to a local report.
And after his rough time in Harrisburg, he skipped a subsequent rally in Philadelphia, according to union officials who were there.
Here’s some video of the grilling Mr. Plumber took from the group, Keystone Progress, which prompted the irritated plumber to respond: “I know a little about a lot of things. But I don’t know a lot about everything.”…
Pressed on the specifics of the law, Mr. Plumber repeatedly refused to answer, and finally lost his cool, telling his questioner: “Drop it, brother, drop it. I never said I was an expert, man.”
Meanwhile, the Patriot News reports that union members who were bussed to the rally jeered and heckled Mr. Plumber.
“Rat! Rat! Rat!” some shouted. Another yelled: “Real plumbers are for card check!”
According to the Patriot News, Mr. Plumber admitted at one point that he hadn’t read the bill.
The tough time Mr. Plumber endured was apparently too much for him. He was scheduled to appear at a subsequent rally against EFCA in Philadelphia, but according to the SEIU, which had several organizers on the scene, he was a no-show.
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