Atrios Blog

Yeah, yeah, another stupid open thread.

The difference between Republicans who still support Bush and the ones who no longer do is that the ones who still support Bush still imagine that they are in on the con.

idiots.

I guess we're bringing it on.

How have I managed to, until now, be utterly unaware that we had a senator named Crapo.

Authoritarian cultist bedwetters.

Scalia:

Scalia decried his own court's recent overturning of a state anti-sodomy law, joking that he personally believes "sexual orgies eliminate tension and ought to be encouraged," but said a panel of judges is not inherently qualified to determine the morality of such behavior.

Like Yglesias, I miss the good old days when it was all social security all the time. It's a largely unacknowledged success of the liberal blogosphere, but I'm fairly convinced that collectively we killed that sucker.

I also miss the Washington Post editorials telling us that the universe was going to implode if we didn't gut social security NOW.

What they want:

Two of the Web’s most famous blogs, the liberal Daily Kos and the conservative RedState, have trumpeted the Hensarling bill since it failed on the suspensions calendar during a November vote, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage but snagging more than half of the House. The bloggers of Daily Kos, RedState and other online forums argue that the Allen-Bass alternative, which would provide targeted exceptions from the law for individuals and some websites, would force them to register as political committees.

Allen did not dispute that possibility. He noted that his bill would allow websites unrestricted operations as long as their annual expenditures did not exceed $10,000.

“They might well have to file,” Allen said of blogs as large as Daily Kos, “but that’s the point. If the Internet becomes more important, the types of financial abuses that occurred within the campaign-finance system in general” are more prone to occurring.

No one can explain why Markos should be treated differently than the National Review Online, slate.com, Fox News, Air America, etc... but they really really want to nonetheless.

Idiots, as are plenty of commenters at kos who seem to think the issue is that since Kos makes money from his site he needs to be regulated by the FEC.

Probably not, but Senator Harkin gives it a try anyway:

We have a President who likes to break things. He has broken the federal budget, running up $3 trillion in new debt. He has broken the Geneva Conventions, giving the green light to torture. He has repeatedly broken promises – and broken faith – with the American people. And now, worst of all, he has broken the law.

In brazen violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), he ordered the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless wiretaps of American citizens. And, despite getting caught red-handed, he refuses to stop.

Let's be clear: No American – and that must include the President – is above the law. And if we fail to hold Bush to account, then he will be confirmed in his conviction that he can pick and choose among the laws he wants to obey. This is profoundly dangerous to our democracy.

So it is time for Congress to stand up and say enough! That's why, this week, Senator Russ Feingold proposed a resolution to censure George W. Bush for breaking the FISA law. And that's why I fully support this resolution of censure.

Nothing is more important to me than the security of our country. Of course, we need to be listening to the terrorists' conversations. And sometimes there is not time to get a warrant. That's why the FISA law allows the President, when necessary, to wiretap first, and obtain a warrant afterward. But that's not acceptable to this above-the-law President. He rejects the idea that he should have to obtain a warrant before or after wiretapping.

We have an out-of-control President whose arrogant and, now, illegal behavior is running our country into the ditch. It's time to rein him in. And a fine place to start is by passing this resolution of censure. I hope that Senator Feingold's measure will be brought to the floor. And when it is, I will proudly vote yes.

Uh, the smart thing to do is, you know, do the opposite?

From Scott Lemieux.

Sam Rosenfeld discusses the McCain issue. One thing which has been left out of the conversation is the internet caucus. A little internet history is in order. Obviously the Free Republic is no longer the primary nexus of online Republicans, but it still has its place. Back before the 2000 election Freeperville's Leader, Jim Robinson, was a hardcore McCainiac. There was a big spat and all the Bushies, including Lucianne and Matt Drudge, fled to Lucianne Goldberg's new place. At the time Lucianne tried to pass it off as a moderates vs. the extremists spat, though Ldotters these days are more batshit crazy and extreme than Freepers, as hard as that is to believe.

Then, of course, Bush won the primaries and Robinson had to retool the place back into Bush worship central. Another round of purging and fleeing, yada yada.

The Freepi themselves hate McCain generally, though I'm not sure where Robinson is on the issue. In any case, as I said, freeperville is not the force it once was, with conservative blogs becoming more relevant and influential.

Still, one important point remains. As David J. reminded me in comments, Matt Drudge cannot stand McCain. That's a big hurdle of McCain to get over. One wonders if he's even aware.

Trivia: Michelle Malkin's onetime freeper handle was Little LuLu.

Yeah, yeah, another stupid open thread.

Hard to believe, but apparently true.

It seems that Christmas came early for Maury Elementary of Alexandria, Virginia last year. In the spring of 2005, only 5 of Maury’s 19 third-graders passed the state’s “Reading/Language Arts” test, a passing rate of 27 percent. (Statewide, 77 percent of third-graders passed. We’ll call this test “reading” from this point on.) But yes, Virginia—there is a Santa Claus! Thanks to bizarre statistical manipulations, the state ended up reporting that 17 of Maury’s 19 third-graders had passed—and Maury was soon at the top of the Washington Post’s front page, hailed as “a study in pride, progress” (full links below). How did five out of 19 become seventeen? How did an abysmal passing rate become a source of community “pride?” Simple—according to Alexandria testing director Monte Dawson, an undisclosed number of Maury fourth-graders also were given the third-grade test. When 12 fourth-graders passed the third-grade test, they were added to the third-grade total. We know, we know, it sounds impossible—but no, we’re really not making this up. Indeed, Dawson sent us a lengthy excerpt, apparently from a technical manual, which outlined the absurd procedure. What do you do when a school’s passing rate exceeds 100? The excerpt even explained that!

(tip from Stunt Woman)

If I were McCain I'd be thrilled about this:

Is John McCain a lesbian? Maybe we'll learn the answer from Edward Klein, who insinuated as much about Hillary Clinton in his 2005 biography -- largely a clip-job of hit pieces, reviewers said -- and is apparently hard at work on a poison-pen book about the Arizona senator. According to Crain's New York Business, Klein claims he'll chronicle the Republican presidential front-runner's "sexual infidelity, chronic gambling and anger management." I can hardly wait.

Since Klein discredited himself so badly with his Clinton hack job that even conservatives who will believe literally anything about Clinton distanced themselves from him, this book will serve McCain well. If there's anything that's actually seedy and true in the book it'll be lost in the bullshit and McCain will be inoculated.

How low can Joe go.


You know what to do.

Having first decided that Congress is irrelevant, Specter now concludes that the Supreme Court is too.

Nice endorsement there, Philadelphia Inquirer.

Yeah, yeah, another stupid open thread.

Apparently the market has spoken:

DCRTV has run rumors for the past few months that Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group will shutter its Hunt Valley-based News Central. Now, News Blues confirms that the national news operation, which feeds dozens of Sinclair-owned and operated TV stations, will close at the end of March. The employment status of news anchors like former Fox 5er Morris Jones (left), Jennifer Gladstone, and Alison Kosik, and weather forecasters Kristin Emery, Scott Padgett, Tony Pagnotti, Vytas Reid, Susan Schrack, Lisa Teachman, and James Wieland remains unclear. Sinclair launched its $50 million News Central in 2002. Says NB: "Designed to cut costs by eliminating or greatly reducing the size of existing news departments at Sinclair stations, News Central became the focus of much criticism because it shifted control of news content away from the individual stations and into the hands of Baltimore news managers." However, News Central newscasts produced low ratings and have been dropped by many Sinclair stations. NB adds that Sinclair is "scrambling" to maintain local news broadcasts on its major network-affiliated stations like Baltimore's Fox 45, WBFF, which produces a morning and a 10 PM newscast.....

Oh, and Limbaugh got canned in Baltimore too.

Yeah, yeah, another stupid open thread.