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As we reported earlier this month, Tea Partiers are congregating in Philadelphia tomorrow for a 'Uni-Tea Rally' aimed at spotlighting the diversity -- racial and otherwise -- of the Tea Party movement. And TPM's Evan McMorris-Santoro and Jillian Rayfield are...


Tea - Evan McMorris-Santoro - Jillian Rayfield - United States - New York City Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php

Here's something I've been wondering about. When I first heard the news that Charlie Rangel was likely to face a "trial" in the House on the 13 violations he's accused of, I remember being sort of surprised. That's not only...


Ethics Committee - Senate - United States - Newt Gingrich - United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php

I'm not sure quite what to make of this. But on top of Charlie Rangel's now all but certain trial/hearing before the Ethics Committee in September, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is also being charged with misusing her office and has...


Maxine Waters - Charles B. Rangel - Democratic - Ethics - Charlie Rangel Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php

Tonight's Rescue Rangers are vcmvo2, Louisiana 1976, HoosierDeb, YatPundit, and rexymeteroite, with sunspark says doing double duty diving for pearls among today's diaries and running the edit machine.

It's July 30. On this day in 1956, the phrase "In God we trust" was adopted as the official motto of the United States. 54 years later, aided undoubtedly by the Texas Board of Education, the Tea Party is convinced that it is a part of the Constitution.

Here are the hidden gems uncovered by the intrepid explorers of the DR:

In the Oil and the Environment category:

• While the Oilpocalypse has brought new concern about possible threats against nature, RLMiller informs us about the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline: A Failure of Environmental Security. (Louisiana 1976)
• paradox looks to a future without oil (which might by itself be a paradox) and finds himself Yearning for the Electron Dream. (sunspark says)

In the Those Wacky Right Wingers category:

• Avenging Angel takes a well-documented, frightening look at the 50 million Evangelicals in this country and their leaders in It Was the Best of Times, It Was the End of Times. (sunspark says)
• Mokurai identifies and untangles some of the ties that bind in Translating Code: Libertarian. (HoosierDeb)
• JDWolverton recognizes that, to save the failing economy, we must do much more than merely start Tweaking the Expiring Tax Cuts. (rexymeteorite)

In the Concerning Your Health category:

• DavidW offers A word of caution on your hearing and alerts us to a common, often permanent, cause of hearing loss. (HoosierDeb)
• It's unusual to rescue a link without the diary in which it is attached, but I think even the diarist would not care in this case, as his entire goal was simply to point you to what he called "The Most Important Health Care Info You May Ever Read."(HoosierDeb/sunspark says)

And finally, some Miscellany About Race:

• Ojibwa discusses "the most comprehensive study of Indian reservations ever done" in Indians 101: The Meriam Report. (YatPundit)
• LiberalTexan explains the reasons Why Justice is Not Color Blind, and discusses racial disparities in the justice system. (rexymeteorite)

jotter has today's High Impact Diaries: July 29, 2010.

asimbagirl has Top Comments: Chocolate Decadence Cupcakes Edition.

Don't hesitate even for a microsecond to promote your favorite diaries (even your own) in the Open Thread. That's what Open Threads are for. (At least this one.) Besides, it's the last Friday of the month. What else do you have to do?

From Mark Twain:

'In God We Trust.' It is the choicest compliment that has ever been paid us, and the most gratifying to our feelings. It is simple, direct, gracefully phrased; it always sounds well -- 'In God We Trust.' I don´t believe it would sound any better if it were true.

I think we all knew that the growing call for filibuster reform was going to meet with some resistance eventually.

Well, here it is:

Senior Democrats say Reid will not have the votes to change the rule at the beginning of next year.

“It won’t happen,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said she would “probably not” support an effort to lower the number of votes needed to cut off filibusters from 60 to 55 or lower.

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) echoed Feinstein: “I think we should retain the same policies that we have instead of lowering it.

“I think it has been working,” he said.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) said he recognizes his colleagues are frustrated over the failure to pass measures such as the Disclose Act, campaign legislation that fell three votes short of overcoming a Republican filibuster Tuesday.

“I think as torturous as this place can be, the cloture rule and the filibuster is important to protect the rights of the minority,” he said. “My inclination is no.”

Sen. Jon Tester, a freshman Democrat from Montana, disagrees with some of his classmates from more liberal states.

“I think the bigger problem is getting people to work together,” he said. “It’s been 60 for a long, long time. I think we need to look to ourselves more than changing the rules.”

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who is up for reelection in 2012, also said he would like the votes needed for cloture to remain the same.

“I’m not one who think it needs to be changed,” he said.

There are plenty of reasons to believe it's still possible to get these Senators on the same page with reformers, but I won't go into them all just yet. We've got to give them some time and talk things out with them first.

But there is one thing I'd like to address directly right now, and that's the statement from Jon Tester, who said that he thought the real problem was "getting people to work together."

Well, who couldn't agree to that? Right? But here's where I'm going to guess that Sen. Tester and I differ in our approach. For him, the emphasis is probably on "together," whereas for me, the emphasis is on "work." Because the Senate isn't "working," but they're "together" whether they like it or not.

The Senate's not working, because there are something like 400 bills that have been passed by the House during the 111th Congress that the Senate has failed to consider. The Senate's not working, because there are dozens and dozens of executive nominations gathering dust. But most of all, the Senate's not working because it doesn't take any work to stop it from working. And that's what the Republicans are interested in doing. Worse, current rules make stopping the Senate from doing its work the easiest thing in the world to do.

That's just plain wrong, and I'll bet anything Senator Tester would agree with that. I'm guessing that's true because Senator Tester seems like the kind of guy who prides himself on his hard work, whether it's on the farm or in the Senate.

And he strikes me as a fair guy, too. So I know he'll understand when I say that if you want to allow for extended debate to let the minority be heard, that's fine.

But it's not free.

You should have to work -- and work hard -- to be able to stop an important bill. You should have to work yourself half to death to be able to derail an entire legislative agenda. And quite frankly, you shouldn't count on ever seeing the light of day again if you're looking to bottle up the entire agenda of the biggest Senate majority elected in decades. It should be that hard to do.

But it's not. Most times, you don't even have to lift a finger. And you know Jon Tester can't really be OK with that.

The filibuster is no longer a measure of the courage and dedication of a single Senator, fighting against all odds to demand that his voice be heard. Today's filibuster is the coordinated act of an entire party caucus, and it's hardly ever aimed at getting additional debate time, but rather at stifling debate and preventing Senators from doing the job we sent them to Washington (and paid them with your tax dollars) to do. And that's to vote. To make the tough calls and the hard decisions on public policy, and choose a direction for America. They're not doing it though. And they're not doing it because the filibuster makes it impossible for them to do it. (But that's not stopping their paychecks, in case you were wondering!)

Stopping an entire legislative agenda -- or even just demanding a little bit of extra time to debate and consider an important decision -- ought to take real, honest, hard work. And that should mean being on the floor to participate in that debate you demanded. How can anybody "work together" if one side doesn't even have to show up?

That's the current state of the filibuster. The minority need only show up once in a while to vote "no" on whether or not to end debate, but they don't have to show up more than one at a time to actually participate in that debate. Just talk about nothing, one at a time, and then pass it on to a colleague when you feel like heading out for a drink. And once in a while, call in your buddies to show up to say "no."

That's not work.

But the majority does have to do the hard work. They're the ones who prepare measures for floor consideration. Who shepherd it through committee. Who gather support for it among colleagues and interest groups and constituents. Where's the "work" from the minority? All they do in this "working together" business is show up and say "no."

Well, I imagine that even Senator Tester would like to see that change. Only there's no way to change it without opening up to the possibility of changing Senate rules, because so long as there's no way to make Senators do their work, he can wish all day long that his Republican colleagues would "work together" with him and it won't make a damn bit of difference. Maybe he has been wishing, but I certainly haven't seen it happening. Have you? It must not be working real well. And I've got to believe that the reason it's not working real well is that the rules make it so that you have more power when you refuse to work than you do when you agree to pitch in.

That's got to change. And if Jon Tester doesn't think so, I'd love to hear him tell me why.

This should fix all the problems on Wall Street:

The New York company is telling employees that they will no longer be able to get away with profanity in electronic messages. That means all 34,000 traders, investment bankers and other Goldman employees must restrain themselves from using a vast vocabulary of oft-used dirty words on Wall Street, including the six-letter expletive that came back to haunt the company at a Senate hearing in April.

...

Goldman's employee emails have been a touchy subject ever since the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the firm in April of cheating clients by selling mortgage securities that were secretly designed by a hedge-fund firm to cash in on the housing market's collapse.

This month, Goldman agreed to pay $550 million to settle the civil charges, without admitting or denying the allegations.

So it's not that Goldman Sachs employees will stop pushing "shitty deals." They just won't be allowed to describe them that way anymore.

Though Elena Kagan's confirmation to the Supreme Court hasn't really been in question, the support of five Republicans means that there's no jeopardy in next week's vote.

Retiring Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. announced Friday that he will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, making him the fifth Republican to indicate support for Obama's pick for the job....

Gregg was one of four Republicans who voted both for Kagan’s confirmation as Solicitor General and for Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The other three – Sens. Collins, Lugar, and Snowe – have also said they will vote for Kagan.

Lindsey Graham is the other. Ben Nelson, however, won't. At least that's what CNN's Senior Political Editor Mark Preston tweets:

Neb. Sen. Ben Nelson will vote against Kagan, but will vote with Dems. to help break a filibuster if needed.

That's confirmed in this statement from Nelson's office, based on "concerns" (unspecified) he's heard from Nebraskans. I'm sure Nebraska has been burning up Nelson's phone lines with calls about Kagan.

Nice of him to at least decide he could break this filibuster, particularly now that he knows he won't need to. All of which goes to show that in one area, the Supreme Court,the ultimate vote will generally be along party lines but with enough Republicans who believe that the President's should be shown deferrence in his choice to confirm. Hopefully that will lead Obama, if he is faced with another appointment in his next six years, to nominate a demonstrated liberal to the court.

We've now updated our original story from this afternoon on the Portland DA's decision not to prosecute Al Gore. We've added the prosectors' memo, which was obtained by the local media, which makes the prosecutor's decision to drop the case...


Al Gore - Prosecutor - United States - National Enquirer - Portland Oregon Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php

In a letter sent to BP earlier this month, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott say that BP General Counsel Jack Lynch told them that the reason BP wasn't limiting claims to the statutory cap of $75 million was that gross negligence led to the disastrous explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

"Finally, we note that your letter states: 'We have not asserted the cap provided under the Oil Pollution Act,'" Perry and Abbott say in reference to BP's statement it wouldn't invoke the post-Exxon-Valdez law that limits a company's spill related liabilities to $75 million. "We read that as an attempt to suggest that BP is voluntarily paying claims associated with the oil spill. The truth is that BP has not asserted the cap because it acknowledged that evidence would reveal that the explosion and resulting spill were the product of gross negligence -- which renders the statutory cap irrelevant. We know this because, during a conference call with Gulf Coast attorneys general, BP General Counsel Jack Lynch acknowledged that gross negligence would be revealed as a cause of the explosion that led to the oil spill."

Such a finding would be significant not only because it would render the $75 million cap moot, but because it would also quadruple the fine-per-barrel that the government could assess on BP. The Houston Chronicle runs the numbers:

If the courts find BP was negligent in activities that caused the Gulf of Mexico oil spill it's fines could nearly quadruple.

• Per barrel fines under the Clean Water Act

• Without gross negligence: $1,100

• With gross negligence: $4,300

• Size of total fines assuming 55,000 barrel-per-day spill rate

• $5 billion without negligence finding

• $19.6 billion with negligence finding

Not surprisingly, BP is now publicly denying that Lynch ever told Perry or Abbott that BP would be found guilty of gross negligence. Call me bipartisan, but this is one scenario where I actually believe Perry and Abbott, both of whom are Republicans.

Interesting note: in explaining why it believes it is entitled to a $10 billion tax deduction bailout to defray the costs of the spill, BP includes among its expenses $5 billion in fines, tallied at $1,100 per barrel, the per barrel rate if they are not found guilty of gross negligence. If they are found guilty of negligence, that fine would rise to nearly $20 billion, but from BP's perspective, the upside would be that they believe that they'd be entitled to a larger tax deduction bailout. Of course, that assumes BP is able to get its hands on a bailout in the first place: legislation is on its way to make sure they can't profit from the spill. Let's hope it gets passed quickly.

What's coming up on Sunday Kos ….

• Dante Atkins will have a motivational message in the aftermath of Netroots Nation.
• Decades ago, a science fiction editor set a goal for his authors: "Give me a creature that thinks as well as a man, but not like a man." Now progressives face another challenge, Mark Sumner wonders if we can build a movement that works as well as the conservatives on all levels without becoming like the conservatives.
• Brooklynbadboy will take a decidedly "good riddance" stance towards the downfall of Harlem's "Gang of Four."
• The primary schedule will get back on track this coming week with high-profile primaries in four different states. Steve Singiser will criss-cross the country offering a preview of the goings-on in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Tennessee.
• Laurence Lewis will remind everyone that the right-wing racism now exploding into the open is neither new nor incidental.
• Now that racism and sexism in America are over, Kaili Joy Gray aka Angry Mouse will explore the plight of the new oppressed minority: white men.

Is this the first time for this? This morning Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) was doing a live radio hit on KFBK back in the district while driving to the Capitol. But he had to cut the interview short when a...


Dan Lungren - KFBK - Radio - Virginia - United States Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

Put Your Brain in Neutral with Late Night Snark:

"BP CEO Tony Hayward complained that he was unfairly 'demonized' in the U.S. over his handling of the Gulf oil spill. In response, demons complained that they were unfairly compared to BP CEO Tony Hayward."
---Jimmy Fallon
-
"'THE SEA-NATE'...Of Course, This Boat Is Not The Actual Senate, An August Body, Of Which I Am Proud To Be A Member, Serving Humbly With 99 fellow Americans, But In Fact, A Nautical Pun Utilizing My Place Of Work Lo These Past Many Years, As Well As A Synonym For The Word Ocean, Which Is In No Way To Suggest This Craft Will Purely Navigate Ocean Waters. In Fact, I Have Made Plans This Very Weekend With The Fergusons To Navigate The Merrimack, Retracing The Steps Of The Famed Sea Captain, Arnold Merrimack, Obviously Steps Being A Figurative Form Of Speech. If Anything, We'd Be Following In The Wake, Which Obviously Has Long Since Diminished, That Trip Having Been Embarked On Centuries Ago. But I Digress. The Point Is, I Have A Very Nice Boat."
---The name of John Kerry's new yacht, as read by Jon Stewart
-
"Microsoft is getting ready to debut a brand new slogan. A three-word motto: Control Alt Delete."
---Jimmy Kimmel
-
"Obama is blowing off the Boy Scouts Jamboree! ... For Pete's sake, Mr. Obama! Every president in the last hundred years has gone...except twelve of them.  Reagan never went, but he honored the Boy Scouts every day by wearing the neckerchief.  Technically it was just his neck wattle."
---Stephen Colbert
-
"Sarah Palin was delivering a speech and she said 'refudiate.' It's not a word---you have refute and repudiate, and she combined them. A lot of times that will happen and people will confuse combinations of words. I remember a couple years ago John McCain mistakenly combined the words Vice President and Palin."
---David Letterman

More at Dan's place

Last weekend of July. Unbelievable. Oh, well...Bottoms up!  Your west coast-friendly edition of  Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

You may be getting down on the Senate because they couldn't manage to hold a vote Thursday on that jobs bill that Republicans are filibustering. But they did manage to double the penalty for marijuana brownies. In case you were...


United States Senate - Filibuster - Senate - Cannabis - Republican Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php

The DNC has a walk down memory lane.

Let's fight to keep it. The DSCC sends out a reminder that "Coats, Vitter, Johnson, Boozman, Blunt, Norton, Buck, Angle, Paul All Want To End Medicare For Seniors In Their States."

Actually, pretty much all Republicans do, though up until recently it hasn't been fashionable (or politically smart) to say so out loud. But the war on the New Deal and the Great Society has really never ended for the GOP.

It was not exactly a surprise to learn that BP believes thinks it is entitled to a $9.9 billion tax benefit, including refunds on taxes paid in previous years, to pay for the cost of cleaning up its own oil spill.

That's right: despite earning $80 billion over the past four years, despite saying that it will pay for the expense of recovery in the Gulf, BP now wants a $10 billion bailout from taxpayers.

Makes you want to scream out loud, eh? Of all companies in the world that do not deserve a bailout, BP might just be the leading example. (Though, to be fair, Goldman does give it stiff competition.)

It's a horrible idea, and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) agrees. Today he announced plans to block the taxpayer bailout of BP, promising to introduce legislation that would block BP taking advantage of the deduction and any associated tax credits or refunds.

Aside from being the right thing, Engel's idea is political gold: imagine the difficult position it would put Republicans in. Do they support Democratic efforts to make sure BP doesn't profit from its oil spill, or do they believe in bailouts for BP? If Joe Barton's apology is any guide, the results could be a political disaster for the GOP...and another big win for Democrats.

The Portland Oregon DA's office has closed the Al Gore (alleged sex assault) case because "a sustainable criminal case does not exist."...


Al Gore - Portland Oregon - United States - National Enquirer - President Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php

Right now, Democrats can blame Republicans for Senate inaction:

That's some serious GOP obstructionism. Unprecedented.

Democrats can end that by eliminating the filibuster when the new organizing resolution is passed at the beginning of the next Senate. But apparently, too many Senate Democrats hate progress, and would rather have the filibuster as a handy excuse for inaction.

Five Senate Democrats have said they will not support a lowering of the 60-vote bar necessary to pass legislation. Another four lawmakers say they are wary about such a change and would be hesitant to support it. A 10th Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), said he would support changing the rule on filibusters of motions to begin debate on legislation, but not necessarily the 60-vote threshold needed to bring up a final vote on bills...

Senior Democrats say Reid will not have the votes to change the rule at the beginning of next year.

“It won’t happen,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said she would “probably not” support an effort to lower the number of votes needed to cut off filibusters from 60 to 55 or lower.

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) echoed Feinstein: “I think we should retain the same policies that we have instead of lowering it. “I think it has been working,” he said.

Ha ha ha ha! "It's been working". In what world? It's a fantastic tool for Republican obstructionists, for corporatist Democrats, for attention whores like Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman who get to wield veto power over chamber legislation, and for anyone in the chamber who doesn't want clear accountability and democracy.

Fact is, Democrats have the tools to eliminate GOP obstructionism. If they don't use them, then they won't have anyone to blame but themselves for their chamber's inability to do shit. And if you think 59 has been painful, just wait until we're down to 54-56 seats (or worse). The Obama presidency will be effectively over, even if he sticks around until 2016.

(Via Digby.)

Earlier we reported that Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), who leads the investigative subcommittee of the Ethics Committee, said the body had recommended a 'reprimand' for Charlie Rangel. Now he says he 'misspoke'. Nope. No idea....


Gene Green - Charles B. Rangel - Ethics - Charlie Rangel - United States Josh Marshall http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php

So the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that has a long history of fighting discrimination and bigotry, has apparently gone bonkers: they have joined forces with fringe lunatics like Sarah Palin in opposition to the construction of an Islamic Center two blocks from the Ground Zero. Their rationale?

"We are ever mindful of the tragedy which befell our nation there, the pain we all still feel – and especially the anguish of the families and friends of those who were killed on September 11, 2001. The controversy which has emerged regarding the building of an Islamic Center at this location is counterproductive to the healing process."

Adam Serwer responds:

I learned a very important lesson in Hebrew School that I have retained my entire life. If they can deny freedom to a single individual because of who they are, they can do it to anyone. Someone at the ADL needs to go back to Hebrew School.

I have learned the same lesson in my life, not just in Hebrew School, but also being the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. So too has J Street. Even if you have no intention of ever setting foot inside such a center, you should still stand up against the campaign of irrational fear-mongering being waged against the facility -- especially if you are part of a group whose mission is to fight all forms of bigotry. Whether or not the proposed Islamic Center is politically popular is besides the point: the bottom-line is that you can't put an asterisk next to tolerance.