Wednesday Open Thread
Welcome to Wednesday! We’re finally seeing some beautiful spring weather again so I’m hoping that means flowers and birds rather than itchy, watery eyes and sneezes. It’s time again for an open thread so let’s get started.
Bipartisanship! Democrats and Republicans agree – the RNC has gone too far with their fake census mailings.
Earlier this month, President Obama signed legislation that passed both the House and Senate unanimously to outlaw “deceptive” mailings disguised to look like official Census documents. Congress took up the measure after Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele sent fundraising mailers marked with the words “census document,” and “DO NOT DESTROY OFFICIAL DOCUMENT.” But despite the new law, a number of news outlets report the RNC is continuing the send “virtually identical” phony Census forms:
An RNC mailer obtained by TPMmuckraker bears the words “Census Document” and, in all caps, “DO NOT DESTROY/OFFICIAL DOCUMENT,” on the outside of the envelope. In smaller letters, it says: “This is not a U.S. government document.” The new law requires, among other things, that such mailers state the name and address of the sender on the outside of the envelope — something the RNC’s missive doesn’t appear to do. Inside, a letter from RNC chair Michael Steele, dated April 12, asks recipients to fill out a questionnaire about their political views, and solicits donations of as much as $500 or more.
This is the second time this year that Congress has addressed these RNC mailers. The RNC doesn’t think their in technical violation of the law (apparently the word “census” appears through the screen on the envelope and is not written on the envelope). Congress will pass another law to close this loophole and the Postmaster General is investigating the mailers.
Mexicans in Arizona should carry documentation and “act carefully” after the state passed a law requiring local police to determine the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry said the warning is directed toward Mexicans living, studying or planning to travel to the southwestern U.S. state, which shares a border with northern Mexico, according to the e-mailed statement sent today.
Other organizations are calling for boycotts of Arizona and companies based in Arizona.
Tags: Open Thread
There is a suspect in the blow dart attacks.
Two professional organizations I belong to are being strongly urged this week to cancel planned conferences in AZ. One of them is definitely exploring alternate locations. I’m voting for San Francisco!
It looks like it is going to get REALLY interesting in the FL-Sen race:
Charlie Crist expected to announce independent run tomorrow.
Buh-bye beaches:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/climate-desk-sea-level/
If Crist runs as an independent in Florida, it could be THE race to watch.
The Department of the Interior approves the Cape Wind project.
I think that Governor Markell was a signatory to this letter.
Bob Cesca has a screen capture of the “science” section of the Fox News website.
That pretty much explains it all, right?
OMG, that’s perfect, Cassandra.
I was just going to post that Harry Reid says they are going to force Republicans to stay on the floor all night to keep blocking debate on the bill but Twitter just told me the GOP already caved.
Way to go Harry!
Cassandra, that link is both hilarious and sad.
Whoa – they found Noah’s Ark?
McCain is in big trouble in Arizona.
Goldman’s Bad Investment
The Chicago Tribune reports that Goldman Sachs seems not to be getting a good return on its political investments:
“It was inevitable, in the midst of all the exposure that Goldman Sachs’ most controversial investment strategies have been getting lately, that politicians might start giving back or giving away some of the more than $31 million that the investment banker’s PACs and employees have given to political campaigns in the last 20 years.
Most of that money is long gone, however, spent on campaigns past won and lost.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat facing a reelection fight back home, is giving $7,500 that her campaign collected from Goldman Sachs’ political action committee to charity – the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, Lincoln’s leading rival for the Democratic nomination, has criticized Lincoln for accepting money from the bank.
There’s a lot more money still out there, in the election cycle underway. According to the review that the Center for Responsive Politics has made of all contributions of $200 or more reported to the Federal Election Commission, Goldman Sachs and its employees have put at least $694,000 into the campaigns of federal candidates in the 2010 election cycle – that money flowing by a better than two-to-one margin to the Democratic Party, the one in control of Congress.”
And of course the Democrats, desperate to keep their political bubble from bursting, are busily vilifying Goldman. That’s what you get when you try to buy a party at the top of the market.
wsj.com
UI, those McCain numbers are the perfect illustration of why the GOP is screwed unless they stop pandering to the TPers. I don’t know what the numbers were, but I’ll guarantee you that his favorables with Dems and Inds were a hell of a lot better a few years ago. Now, after being forced so far right to win the primary, except in the reddest of red states, whoever gets the GOP nod will be unelectable unless they backtrack on about 90% of what they said in the primary.
On the other hand, someone like Crist, who as an Independent is free to actually run like moderate Republican, could really be helped.
Scott,
That’s why I think the FL-Sen race is now THE race to watch. Crist might make it o.k. for moderate Republicans to jump ship.
Isn’t the McCain problem the GOP problem today? The inmates have taken over the asylum.
Here’s your Dumb Idea of the Day (but no dumber than the actual law) — I think we can agree that almost everyone who supports the AZ immigration law does so secure in the knowledge they they never have to be worried about being asked for their papers. So here’s my amendment to the law: For every stop an officer does of a person he suspects of being an illegal, he must also stop someone he doesn’t suspect of being in the country illegally. Make it a 1/1 ratio of harrassed white people to harrassed brown people. Do that, then see how many people support it.
From the man Obama is backing in his senate race:
Quote of the Day “Well, I probably shouldn’t say this. But I have thought from time to time that I might have helped the country more if I’d stayed a Republican.” — Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), in an interview with the Allentown Morning Call, questioning his party switch one year ago.
Inquirer and Daily News sold to suits.
Karen Heller this morning: “Why did many of us stay? Because we can’t imagine doing anything else, working everyday to uncover the truth, challenge authority, demand answers, while giving voice to people who might otherwise go unheard. We’re charged with telling the stories of our neighbors and our region. It’s an honor, a gift.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/92287589.html
Not just suits, but hedge fund suits.
Does not look good for the Inky & the Daily News.
Tea Party Jesus
Obama said ” go arrest some white christians… and if you can provoke a shoot out, even better…”
FBI agent short on details on militia inquiry (couldn’t recall many details, judge was puzzled)
toledoblade.com 04/28/2010
DETROIT – An FBI agent who led the investigation of nine Michigan militia members charged with trying to launch war against the federal government couldn’t recall many details of the two-year probe yesterday during questioning by defense lawyers. Even the judge who must decide whether to release the nine until trial was puzzled. “I share the frustrations of the defense team … that she doesn’t know anything,” U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said after agent Leslie Larsen confessed she hadn’t reviewed her notes recently and couldn’t remember specific details of the case.
With the financial reform bill, Reid finally shows how it should be done. We’d have had real HCR if Obomba and Reid had done the same with that bill.