Wednesday Open Thread
Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. So, is there anything else going in your neck of the woods besides O’Donnell nuttiness?
Yesterday Senate Republicans plus 2 Democratic tools voted to block debate on the Defense Authorization bill, which contained the DADT repeal. To add insult to injury, someone in the office of Senator Saxby Chambliss put a homophobic death wish on one the biggest LGBT blogs, Joe.My.God.
I’ve just gotten off the phone with Atlanta Journal-Constitution political writer Jim Galloway who says that Sen. Saxby Chambliss has confirmed that the “All faggots must die” comment left here on JMG earlier today did indeed come from his Atlanta office. Galloway reports that Chambliss told him his office is conducting an internal investigation. For now Chambliss’ spokesperson has issued a preliminary statement:
“We have seen the allegations and are moving quickly to understand the facts. This office has not and will not tolerate any activity of the sort alleged,” Chambliss spokeswoman Bronwyn Lance Chester said. “Once we have ascertained whether these claims are true, we will take the appropriate steps.” The comment was posted on Joe.My.God., a blog dedicated to gay and lesbian issues. “All [gays] must die,” wrote a commenter identifying himself as “Jimmy.” Blog author Joseph Jervis of New York City used the Internet Protocol address attached to the comment to trace the slur to “the neighborhood” of Chambliss’ office in Atlanta. Readers quickly helped. “Among the fields in which gay people are over-represented is the IT field,” Jervis said. The office of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson is in the same area. But a spokeswoman for Isakson said his staff quickly ascertained that the message did not originate with them.
Welcome to the new GOP, same as the old GOP.
White House officials expect Lawrence Summers to leave his job as the president’s National Economic Council director after November’s congressional elections, according to three people familiar with the matter.
His departure would leave Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as the only member of President Barack Obama’s original top-tier economic team. Summers, 55, and the president have discussed his future plans, according to one person.
Administration officials are weighing whether to put a prominent corporate executive in the NEC director’s job to counter criticism that the administration is anti-business, one person familiar with White House discussions said. White House aides are also eager to name a woman to serve in a high-level position, two people said. They also are concerned about finding someone with Summers’ experience and stature, one person said.
I’d like Stiglitz or Jared Bernstein but I doubt that will happen. I think it’s obvious by now that rich businessmen want to go back to the bad old days. Why not? They got rich and then they got bailed out. They don’t care if the rest of us suffer – there’s always the Koch brothers to gin up crazy rightwingers for distraction.
Tags: Open Thread
In other news Del State is going to be included in high-school to college funding, left out in the June sessions. I guess Patty Blevins woke up. Now if only her constituents would wake up and give her the heave-ho.
It seems that a few of the pinheads were leaving homophobic comments on other Internet sites yesterday – http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/gop-senator-reportedly-admits-antigay-death-threat-office/
Voter Registration deadline October 9. You can register a lot of ways, including online, or at DMV:
http://elections.delaware.gov/services/voter/placestoregister.shtml
With Summers leaving, there is no sure shot to a happy progressive base. Jim White has a new post on FDL about it [Obama Plots New Disappointments for Progressives – http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/72664%5D.
And there was a buzz about Obama’s Clinton retread OMB choice when he said that he didn’t think the dereg had anything to do with the crisis.
OMB Director Candidate Says Deregulation Didn’t Cause Crisis
Sep 21, 2010 · The Huffington Post reports that former Citigroup executive Jacob Lew, the administration’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, told Senate Budget …
http://www.redstate.com/…/09/21/omb-director-candidate-says-deregulation-didnt-cause-crisis · Cached pageJacob Lew, Obama Nominee And Former Citigroup…1 day ago
Sep 21, 2010 · … recent financial crisis. and he didn’t personally know the extent to which deregulation drove it, but I don’t believe that deregulation was the proximate cause.” “Lew’s …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/21/obama-nominee-jacob-lew-f_n_732594.html · Cached page
ATTN: admin. – my comment is in moderation (I put too many links in it).
A Florida court has shot down the state’s ban on adoption by same-sex couples.
” I think it’s obvious by now that rich businessmen want to go back to the bad old days.”
Go back? Did the “bad old days” ever end?
I need your help, bright folks.
Miss Christine claimed on Dan Gaffney’s program that she received a ‘graduate scholarship’ from “The Claremont Institute”… which appears to be some sort of right-wing think tank.
2 questions y’all might be able to answer. First, is there any evidence that she actually took up studies with these people? And second, are they accredited by anyone, anywhere? Website claims they’re 501 (c) 3, but that covers a whole lot of ground. http://www.claremont.org/about/ You’ll notice they’re .org, rather than .edu.
Thanks.
Cornyn and Sessions to Meet with Log Cabin Republicans – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/22/detente-cornyn-sessions-m_n_734687.html. My guess is that they will get first hand knowledge of what teabagging is all about.
Thanks for the post recovery
Comment by heragain on 22 September 2010 at 2:12 pm:
I need your help, bright folks.
Miss Christine claimed on Dan Gaffney’s program that she received a ‘graduate scholarship’ from “The Claremont Institute”… which appears to be some sort of right-wing think tank.
2 questions y’all might be able to answer. First, is there any evidence that she actually took up studies with these people?
Too much attention has already been squandered on C’OD without you squandering yours.
You can always go elsewhere, delacrap, if you don’t like what’s being published here. No one is forcing you to read our blog. But I figure your life would be miserable if you didn’t come here day in, day out to vent on how much time we’re spending covering the election and not on the subjects near and dear to you.
Here’s some help. Follow this link – http://wordpress.com/ – and set up your own blog. Problem solved.
Florida’s ban on adoption by gays has been ruled unconstitutional – http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/22/1836756/appeal-court-florida-ban-on-gay.html
You always hear about elected officials receiving death threats. Here’s a first: A death threat coming OUT of the office of an elected official.
“The irony of outside progressive groups being blamed for not doing enough to help the Democrats when the White House has been complaining about the “left of the left” and the “professional left” for many months — and de-motivating donors the whole time — should not be lost on anyone. You can’t attack progressives for being too strident and then wonder why they aren’t doing more and still have much credibility.”
It’s you who needs to “wake up,” Barack.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/curse-of-the-control-frea_b_735147.html
Too funny: If Facebook Existed Years Ago
Just click it:
http://www.vinniev.com/if-facebook-existed-years-ago
Feel free to embed this video in a post. It the first part of Christine O’Donnell’s interview with Dan Gaffney.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXeRufnxQ20
Your comments are welcome.
Chris Lynch
http://www.bluemassgroup.com