Out of Control

Von at Obsidian Wings, Radley Balko and Andrew Sullivan all link to this fascinating and upsetting post by Classically Liberal about Sex Offenders and Registry Laws. Why it's upsetting is not what you might think.

Sullivan also links to this Economist piece, which I think is even better.

This situation will never improve, because no politician or law enforcement person who has to answer to an electorate will ever come down on the right side.

Welcome Home

I'm back from the arctic tundra that was Northern Michigan—the last three days never climbed out of the 60s. Unfortunately, it was probably a bit more "seasonal" back here in NC. During my temporary bachelorhood while Mrs F and the girls are Up North I was tasked with keeping the garden alive. The garden consisting of four pots on the front steps: two tomato plants, a pot of herbs, and a green leaf lettuce plant. Oh, and beating back the invasive morning glory across the walk.

Before my departure the tomato plants were assuming sequoia-like stature while the viney interloper across the way had remained more or less unchanged over two or three weeks—never making the threatening moves Mrs F feared.

One week later, this is the botanical horror show that greets me...



The tomato plants and other potted desirables look straight out of the dust bowl, while the unwanted morning glory is thriving like kudzu on goddamn steroids. A closer look:



The actual fruit (vegetable?) on the tomato plants look fine, and hopefully the gigantic drink I gave them will bring the rest of the plants around. As for the morning glory...it appears to have strategically entwined itself all over each and every perennial Mrs F planted in the garden and will require delicate surgery to excise.

Obama Accessorizes

The other bullshit thing that happened on Obama's watch this last week is actually more fundamentally wrong than botching up the stimulus—Obama's DoJ argued before a Federal Judge that Bush's "State Secrets" defense in a rendition case be upheld.

Glenn Greenwald poured out a 13,000-word column I just couldn't find the front door to. And with Greenwald, he's been known to get a little shrill and idealistic on some things...But today I found a great, concise, and brutal assessment of what just happened...

You Cover It Up, You Own It
That's assuming the secret should rightfully be kept in the first place. Nobody doubts that there are legitimate state secrets -- but the Bushies, and now apparently the Obama/Holder DOJ, thought that anything that makes the U.S. government look bad should be a state secret. The theory is that disclosing government crime or misconduct would embarrass the government in the eyes of the world, and whatever embarrasses the government in the eyes of the world harms national security. This misbegotten theory holds that sunlight isn't the best disinfectant, it's the source of hideous wasting disease. Government wrongdoing must be concealed because, well, it's government wrongdoing.

The state secrets privilege, used to cover up wrongdoing rather than to protect legitimate national security secrets, is an all-out assault on public accountability and, ultimately, on democracy. By now, it's well-known that the state secrets privilege was born in original sin. The 1953 case in which the Supreme Court established it, United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1 (1953), turned out, when documents were declassified nearly half a century later, to be a cover-up of gross negligence under a false assertion that the documents contained national security information.

Andrew Sullivan is right to observe here that "with each decision to cover for their predecessors, the Obamaites become retroactively complicit in [their deeds]." Retroactive complicity is an important, and underexamined, moral category. People cover up for others for many reasons, not all of them bad. But the longer and more involved the cover-up becomes, the more deeply implicated you get -- not only in the cover-up, but in the original misdeeds that you're concealing as well. Little by little, you come to own the deeds yourself. Or they own you. It's time to throw away the Ring, Frodo, before it hooks you and enslaves you.

I have to hope that this is just a punt on the first case so the Administration can reassess going forward. After all, that column is from Marty Lederman's old blog, Balkinization. LEderman is a longtime outspoken critic of pretty much everything about the Bush Administration—from torture to executive privilege, and one would assume, bullshit "State Secrets" claims. Marty Lederman is not teaching law or blogging anymore because he now sits at John Woo's old desk working for Obama' Office of Legal Council.

Tim F [h/t] at Balloon Juice put it thusly:

Marty Lederman must be shitting a two story colonial townhouse right now. I have to assume that Lederman and other principled hires at the DoJ will either ensure that decisions like this do not happen again or else he will resign.

Let's hope so. There is 8 years of crooked bullshit to dig through, and I'm not asking for everything to be back in order in four weeks, but this was indeed a disappointing decision, and warrants keeping an eye on.

FAIL

I has some serious issues with Paul Krugman during the campaign, and his seemingly irrational criticisms of Obama. I really was confused as to what Krugman was doing to damage the prospects of the far better (than HRC and certainly McCain) candidate—I am just now starting to realize what he might have been getting at...

The Professor weighs in on the stimulus package the Senate put together, and he takes another swing at Obama in the process.

Only now Obama deserves the beatdown, and if anything, Krugman is letting him off too easily.

How the Democrats can take sweeping victories in all possible races, and the most positive Presidential approval ratings ever and turn that into a mandate for a handful of phony-ass "Centrists" to screw the pooch is beyond me.

In his attempt to give this package the sheen of bipartisan support, Obama (thru the all-to-willing Reid) handed all the power over to DINO Ben Nelson and the two or three Republicans that might come across to support it.

In this all-to-typical capitulation process the Senate scrapped and slashed pretty much all of the good stuff in favor of tax cuts that won't do jack shit to stimulate the economy. The bulk of the Republicans will still vote against it, and when it fails they will hang it on Obama and the Dems.

He has seriously kneecapped his Administration three weeks into the first* term, and fucked the country over even worse.

I am beyond disappointed.

*First? How 'bout only? I'm not sure I'm crazy to think this could set up a Carter-like downfall.

Achille's Heal

I can understand Obama's desire to embrace constituencies that have rejected him. Evangelicals are in that category and Warren is an important evangelical leader with whom, Obama said, "we're not going to agree on every single issue." He went on to say, "We can disagree without being disagreeable and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans." Sounds nice.

But what we do not "hold in common" is the dehumanization of homosexuals. What we do not hold in common is the belief that gays are perverts who have chosen their sexual orientation on some sort of whim. What we do not hold in common is the exaltation of ignorance that has led and will lead to discrimination and violence.

Finally, what we do not hold in common is the categorization of a civil rights issue -- the rights of gays to be treated equally -- as some sort of cranky cultural difference. For that we need moral leadership, which, on this occasion, Obama has failed to provide. For some people, that's nothing to celebrate.

Richard Cohen, The Washington Post

I've now read plenty about the whole "Rick Warren getting a prime slot at the inauguration" from all sides—hard-left liberals who are incensed and/or devastated, and others who make valiant, and at times even convincing, rationalizations for the move. But none summed it up a well as that Cohen column—go read the whole thing.

Ultimately, I still come down where I did a couple weeks ago: This sucks, and Obama fucked up.

Big time.

No, not because this bigoted asshat getting a mic for two minutes during an event that will outshine anything he might possibly say, and this will hardly derail Obama's Presidency before it even gets started. Hell, most people—even Obama supporters—will be unaware of this whole behind-the-scenes drama, and blissfully unaware of the coded bullshit Warren will lace into his remarks.

It's the decision itself that reveals something to me: Obama has shown either a horrible and shocking tone-deafness, a calculated political callousness, or an immense ego that has him believing his own hype that he can heal any wound or close any rift.

Or some disturbing combination of all three.

His decision to offend a very real segment of his most avid supporters to appeal to a mythical segment of his detractors—or at the very least, skeptics—is a poor attempt at playing both ends against the middle. It's Clintonian triangulation and I hate that shit.

I know I've been proven wrong EVERY time I've doubted him, but I think Obama miscalculated here. Obama's detractors and skeptics will need much more than the token affirmation that Warren's presence provides to become his supporters—but even among Obama's strongest supporters, he has revealed a flaw that has justifiably made many of them skeptics.

Quick Hits

Its been a hellish week at work so I've hardly even had time to read anything online, never mind write anything...but here are some wuick thoughts about some things I've seen flash past my eyes of late:

• Caroline Kennedy has no business getting appointed to Hillary's Senate seat, and the thought of it happening fucking pisses me off.

• Barack Obama's selection / allowing / or even tolerating Rick Warren's participation at his Inauguration is terrible. I don't EVER support elevating the platform of asshats like Warren, but especially not in the wake of Proposition 8 and Warren's role in passing it. I understand Obama's call for unity and a desire to represent diveristy of viewpoint, but fairness dictates a like desire from the opponent. Warren is an intolerant asshole and has no intention of advancing a discussion on gay rights, controception, abortion or anything else. He cares only to advance his agenda. Obama's ceremony should not serve it.

• As bad as Warren is, at least he won't be delivering policy. Tom Vilsack will. I was against this guy a month ago, and nothing I've seen changes my opinion that this guy is a bad pick. Period. The best one can hope for is an aggressive Ag policy by Obama and that Vilsack is merely the best player to advance the ball. If that's the case, Vilsack needs to shut his cornhole in the huddle.

• I've completely lost track of the auto industry stuff.

Water Is Wet

The country is in a recession.

And Wall Street is filled with pussies.

Cornholio

Please let this be just more bored reporters pulling stuff out of their ass... Because this would be a serious blow to my faith in Obama.

(I can't add anything to what Ezra said, so just follow the link.)

UPDATE: Seriously, I am not putting any stock in any of the rumors floating around about Obama's appointments. None are forthcoming, and if the campaign taught us anything, it's that the Obama team doesn't leak, and rarely fucks up. That said, Vilsack for Ag would piss me off.

Um...Holy Shit?

Worse news than economic meltdown. Worse news even than McCain as President...Washington Post, p.A2:

The rise in global carbon dioxide emissions last year outpaced international researchers' most dire projections, according to figures being released today, as human-generated greenhouse gases continued to build up in the atmosphere despite international agreements and national policies aimed at curbing climate change.

In 2007, carbon released from burning fossil fuels and producing cement increased 2.9 percent over that released in 2006, to a total of 8.47 gigatons, or billions of metric tons, according to the Australia-based Global Carbon Project, an international consortium of scientists that tracks emissions. This output is at the very high end of scenarios outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and could translate into a global temperature rise of more than 11 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, according to the panel's estimates.

At this point I don't give a shit about the solvency of Social Security or any of that shit. We aren't gonna need it if we're all dead—this needs to be handled and handled fast. Can we please get serious about this shit?

No more fucking morons who think dinosaurs and humans shared a campfire. We need Obama and the Dems to win in a walk and replace every one of the incompetent retards Bush installed throughout the government with actual scientists.

I don't want to hear any more crap about Clean Coal™ from Obama after the election. It's garbage. It's a fucking lie. No new coal plants. Period. Take every existing coal plant and upgrade it to the max, but no more new ones. We need a real solar initiative, and fucking windmills everywhere—in Ted Kennedy's backyard, yours and mine. Here in Asheville and the mountains, I'm sure there will be all kinds of objections to windmills destroying the view—fuck that. The smog from the coal plants gets so bad here there is no fucking view, and I don't want my kids having asthma.

This is The New Deal and the Space Race wrapped into one. Autoworkers in Michigan can be manufacturing turbines, I don't care if it's for a government factory. Just get moving on this shit. It's good for the economy, healthcare, energy...everything.

[h/t Kevin Drum who summed up thusly, "We are so screwed."]

“IT'S A TRAP!” or “This is good news for John McCain.”

As I mentioned previously, last week was pretty busy for me, so I am just catching up on pretty much everything that happened during that time...

My initial thoughts were that this economic meltdown couldn't have come at a better time for Obama—or more precisely—a worse time for McCain. I read the unanimous rejection of the Bush Bailout Plan by anyone with a brain. I saw some more palatable plans suggested (see below). But the one post I read that is really sticking with me is this one at Hullaballo, wherein Digby directs us to a possible GOP jujitsu move:

Republican incumbents in close races have the easiest vote of their lives coming up this week: No on the Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout.

God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. ...Let this be the political establishment (Bush Republicans in the White House + Democrats in Congress) saddling the taxpayers with hundreds of billions in debt (more than the Iraq War, conjured up in a single weekend, and enabled by Pelosi, btw), while principled Republicans say "No" and go to the country with a stinging indictment of the majority in Congress...

And it will work, too. These GOP cocksuckers threw open the vaults and let their buddies ransack the economy for eight years, and now, just as the scope of the theft is uncovered, and the Dems step in to re-lock the door, the GOP shouts "Look!" and pins it all on them.

And nobody is better poised to work this angle than McCain—he can demagogue the shit out of this: Pander to conservatives by "standing up to" the spending, play anti-government and anti-corporate "maverick" by bucking Bush on the issue, and at the same time he can blame the Democratic majority for passing the massive giveaway.

There is not a question in my mind that this could play out that way and not just cost Obama the election, but have an impact on the Congress.

Perfectly timed, no? And the last several years show that the Democrats are all to willing to try and kick the football every time Lucy tees it up.

There is a way around this...overwhelming opposition to Paulson's plan, and crafting one along the lines of Dodd's but with more than a five-man oversight panel. They need MAJOR regulatory reforms, and punitive measures. And as Ed Kilgore notes:

Democrats are right to demand significant substantive concessions before offering their support for the Paulson Plan. But just as importantly, they need to demand Republican votes in Congress, including the vote of John McCain. If this is going to be a "bipartisan" relief plan, it has to be fully bipartisan, not an opportunity for McCain to count on Obama and other Democrats to save the economy while exploiting their sense of responsibility to win the election for the party that let this crisis occur in the first place.

Kilgore's right, this plan only works if the Democrats inoculate themselves by making sure it's bipartisan. Bring it to the floor, and make the Republicans, starting with McCain, vote "yea" first.

UPDATE: Kleimann climbs onboard:

And — this is the part I didn't guess up front — the Democrats don't trust the Republicans not to double-cross them by allowing a bailout to pass (thus satisfying the Republicans' paymasters) while mostly voting against "the Bush-Pelosi bailout" and running as populists.

[...] At minimum, Harry Reid should announce right now that no bill will reach the Senate floor unless both Presidential candidates have signed on as sponsors.

Too bad Harry Reid has never shown the strategy or stones to pull that off.

Check My Math. Please

My calculator isn't big enough to handle the math, and it's been far too long since I had to do math unassisted...

So this "bail-out" is pretty much like handing my family a bill for $10,000. Is that about right? One trillion dollars divided by approximately 100,000,000 households?

Are you fucking kidding me?

And this isn't even going to buy us any assets like the S&L bailout did, or even any regulation or accountability?

This is handing the Bush Administration a blank check to dole out as they see fit?

Do I have all that right?

Where the fuck is Obama's ass-kicking ad on this?

Are We Sure the GOP Race Is Settled?

Because Obama seems to be facing two Republican campaigns...

I want to follow up on something Rickey mentioned in a previous comment, "...the Clinton smear tactics are a warm up for the vicious attack ads the beleagured GOP party will unleash on Obama."

Well...I'm not so sure the GOP can be any more insidious than this.



Can the GOP be more obvious and clumsy? Yes. But how much more disgusting can it get?

This example has flown around the blogosphere as "the Clinton ad that makes Obama more black" (ala the TIME magazine OJ cover). But I think kos nails it when he says "more Muslim." They didn't just make Obama's skin darker they changed tone, hue and contrast to make him look more like an Arab. I'm surprised the copy doesn't just refer to him as "B. Hussein Obama."

I've been biting my tongue on this example for a day or two, because this blog has been a goddamn "Groundhog Day" of Anti-Hillary, and I was hoping for a rejection of Clinton by the voters, but instead her Rovian tactics have brought her back from the grave—and continuing, even increasing them seems her only possible strategy.

This shit cannot stand.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign fucking disgusts me. It is now at the point that I won't be in the same party as her. She is running a Republican slash and burn campaign through her own party's future—and I mean beyond Obama.

If the craven Democratic Party establishment or the stupid fucking sheep of an electorate validates this, I won't be a part of it.

"Say it Ain't So, Rick"

Saw this at rotoworld this morning:

Rick Ankiel-OF- Cardinals Sep. 7 - 3:55 am et
The New York Daily News reports that Rick Ankiel received a 12-month supply of human growth hormone in 2004 from a Florida pharmacy currently under investigation.
So much for what was arguably the best story of the year. If that was Ankiel's only foray into the world of PEDs, one could almost sympathize with him. Ankiel, still a pitcher at the time, had his 2002 and 2003 seasons wrecked by elbow injuries and was trying desperately to make it back. Still, he could have been cheating long before his elbow problems and there's no telling whether he's still using today -- MLB players are not tested for HGH. While a suspension for Ankiel isn't at all likely, we doubt this story will go away as quickly as the news regarding Gary Matthews Jr. did.
Source: NY Daily News

Dammit! This really casts a shadow on what is arguably one of the great sports comeback stories I can remember, period. Here's what I wrote about Ankiel when he first came up to the Cards last month, and the story had only gotten more incredible since—the guy had 7 RBI last night! In 23 games he's hitting .360 with 9 bombs and 29 Ribs. The Cards jumped on his back and climbed back into the race going 17-6 since his call-up.

As rotoworld said, this guy had such downfall—first mental, then physical—one can almost forgive the desperation he must have been feeling at the time. According to the story, he recieved one shipment, before MLB's ban on HGH took effect in 2005, and there is no indication he got any more after that.

What I'd love is for Ankiel to come clean, and make a heartfelt confession about what he was going through, and how he was willing to do whatever he could within the rules at the time to resurrect his career. Unfortunately, he can't do that because while MLB didn't ban HGH, he probably received it illegally. There's no way to know if he uses it now or anytime in between, because MLB does not test for HGH.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. For now. I'm also going to start getting used to the fact that just about everybody did some of this shit...

UPDATE: Deadspin editor and CArds fan Will Leitch has a good post up.