Drilling isn’t off the table…yet - Obama,Barack
Despite Barack Obama’s threats to overturn a Bush Administration executive order allowing oil exploration on 360,000 acres in Utah, thus far Congress isn’t showing interest in reinstating their offshore drilling moratorium…yet. In response to a question today following remarks at the National Press Club, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer noted (h/t CQ Politics.com and Bob McCarty): We believe it is absolutely essential to have an energy policy which is, as I said in my speech, not driven by the temporary reduction of prices at the pump, which are hard to explain, hard to explain how you go down about half
Happy Birthday, Sen. Ted Stevens. You lose - Barack Obama.
(UPDATE: Wednesday afternoon Sen. Stevens formally conceded defeat to Mayor Begich.)
Alaska’s long-serving Republican senator, Ted Stevens, turned 85 today.
He also lost an election against his Democratic opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.
Which means Stevens does not get a seventh term.
And it means one more U.S. Senate seat pickup (a total of seven now) for Democrats under Majority Leader Harry Reid and for the impending legislative agenda of President-elect Barack Obama.
Democrats now hold 58 seats, closer to a solid 60-vote filibuster-proofing they sought, with two Republican seats still undecided in Georgia and Minnesota, plus two independents who usually vote Democratic.
The actual Alaska vote count was not quite complete. But Stevens trails Begich by 3,724 votes with only about 2,500 left to tally, the kind of impossible lead that can be surmounted only in a few machine-run counties of the United States.
Stevens was recently convicted on seven federal felony counts, all stemming from an unreported array of gifts received as a legislator, largely home improvements from an oil services company.
Stevens, a former U.S. attorney himself, intended…
…to fight the convictions, charging prosecutorial malfeasance.
But his GOP colleagues, who already lost seats in 2006 over corruption issues, were lining up to pinch him out of the Republican caucus if he had won.
This saves them the trouble and will realign the state’s long-dominant Republican Party power structure involving, you betcha, reform Gov. Sarah Palin, who’s been a successful thorn in the side of old-time GOP leaders there in recent years.
Her lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, came within a few hundred votes of upsetting incumbent Rep. Don Young in a primary challenge earlier this year.
Stevens was famous for delivering the goods for Alaska. "We ask for special considerations," he often said of the nation’s largest state, "because no one else is that far away, no one else has the problems that we have or t
he potential that we have, and no one else deals with the federal government day in and day out the way we do."
Stevens was a former state legislator and two-term House member before being appointed to the Senate by Gov. Walter Hickel 40 years ago next month.
A UCLA graduate, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Eleven years ago, when Stevens succeeded Sen. Mark Hatfield as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he said:
"Sen. Hatfield had the patience of Job and the disposition of a saint. I don’t. The watch has changed. I’m a mean, miserable S.O.B."
In 2006 alone, he was credited — or blamed, depending on your view of pork — for bringing some 9 billion federal dollars into his state.
Stevens rejected suggestions by party leaders that he resign after his conviction. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Stevens had "broken his trust with the people."
Begich will be the first Senate Democrat from Alaska in more than 30 years. He is the son of Nick Begich, a Democratic congressman killed in a 1972 campaign plane crash.
The mayor’s campaign theme was built around this:
Alaskans "tell me we need a senator with new ideas, a senator who’s in touch and listens to everyone. They tell me they want a senator who works with all sides of the issues to find solutions and get results."
– Andrew Malcolm
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Credit: Office of Sen. Ted Stevens; Associated Press
Happy Birthday, Senator Ted Stevens. You lose - Barack Obama.
Alaska’s long-serving Republican senator, Ted Stevens, turned 85 today.
He also lost an election against his Democratic opponent, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.
Which means Stevens does not get a seventh term.
And it means one more U.S. Senate seat pick-up (a total of seven now) for Democrats under Majority Leader Harry Reid and for the impending legislative agenda of President-elect Barack Obama.
Democrats now hold 58 seats, closer to a solid 60-vote filibuster-proofing they sought with two Republican seats still undecided in Georgia and Minnesota, plus two independents who usually vote Democratic.
The actual Alaska vote count was not quite complete. But Stevens trails Begich by 3,724 votes with only about 2,500 left to tally, the kind of impossible lead that can only be surmounted in a few machine-run counties of the United States.
Stevens was recently convicted on seven federal felony counts, all stemming from an unreported array of gifts received as a legislator, largely home improvements from an oil services company.
Stevens, a former U.S. Attorney himself, intended….
…to fight the convictions, charging prosecutorial malfeasance.
But his GOP colleagues, who already lost seats in 2006 over corruption issues, were lining up to pinch him out of the Republican caucus if he had won.
This saves them the trouble and will realign the state’s long-dominant Republican Part power structure involving, you betcha, reform Gov. Sarah Palin, who’s been a successful thorn in the side of old-time GOP leaders there in recent years.
Her lieutenant governor, Sean Parnell, came within a few hundred votes of upsetting incumbent Rep. Don Young in a primary challenge earlier this year.
Stevens was famous for delivering the goods for Alaska. "We ask for special considerations," he often said of the nation’s largest state, "because no one else is that far away, no one else has the problems that we have or the potential that we have, and no one else deals with the federal government day in and day out the way we do."
Stevens was a former state legislator and two-term House member before being appointed to the Senate by Gov. Walter Hickel 40 years ago next month.
A UCLA graduate, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Eleven years ago when Stevens succeeded Sen. Mark Hatfield as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, he said:
"Sen. Hatfield had the patience of Job and the disposition of a saint. I don’t. The watch has changed. I’m a mean, miserable SOB."
In 2006 alone, he was credited — or blamed, depending on your view of pork — for bringing some nine billion federal dollars into his state.
Stevens rejected suggestions by party leaders that he resign after his conviction. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Stevens had "broken his trust with the people."
Begich will be the first Senate Democrat from Alaska in more than 30 years. He is the son of Nick Begich, a Democratic congressman killed in a 1972 campaign plane crash.
The mayor’s campaign theme was built around this:
Alaskans "tell me we need a senator with new ideas, a senator who’s in touch and listens to everyone. They tell me they want a senator who works with all sides of the issues to find solutions and get results."
–Andrew Malcolm
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Photo credit: Office of Sen. Ted Stevens; Associated Press
How Happy Harry Reid lost his groove - Barack Obama
This was not a happy holiday season for Happy Harry Reid.
Normally, the guy from Nevada is a laugh-riot. He’ll turn 70 this year but doesn’t look a day over 78.
It just seems the Senate majority leader has encountered one problem after another in recent days. Things looked so rosy right after the Nov. 4 election with his enhanced Democratic majority and a shot at a Republican-proof 60 seats. He even got rid of that old crank, GOP Sen. Ted Stevens from Alaska.
But the warm feelings melted quickly after the loss of the Georgia runoff when the has-been ticket of Bill Clinton and Al Gore went down there to campaign for Jim Martin and helped overwhelmingly reelect Republican Saxby Chambliss.
With Barack Obama winning the White House and the president-elect’s Senate seat opening up, Harry blithely phones Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a few days before the governor’s arrest, to helpfully offer his collegial thoughts on the strongest nominees out there and, oops, soon finds himself on a federal wiretap whose full contents the world awaits.
To help counter any whispers about a developing Democratic culture of corruption, Reid was among the first to denounce the unconvicted Blagojevich, to demand his resignation and to state flatly that …
… his Senate would never seat a Blago appointee. In fact, he’s alerted Senate guards should such a culprit attempt entry.
Our good blogging buddy with the better memory, Carl Lavin over at Forbes.com, has come up with a forgotten Harry Reid quote from a time when another prominent Democrat was accused of wrongdoing and up before the Senate. The accused was President Clinton. We won’t spoil the entire Reid quote; you can find that here.
But here’s part of what Harry said about flawed people with great dreams back in 1999 concerning another accused Democratic officeholder:
"Great dreams are dreamed by people with human flaws. Great policies and actions are sometimes set in motion by those with broken souls. Great deeds are not always done by good men."
In the true Illinois political tradition of an elbow to the mouth just for fun, Gov. Blagojevich deftly leaks that Harry’s Senate recommendation was not to pick any of the three black possibilities but to go with the white woman or the Asian American one. But like many Chicago pols, Rod’s played hardball since pre-K. He proceeds to nominate another black, Roland Burris, an experienced statewide officeholder who’s never lost to a Republican.
So Harry, who denies opposing blacks like Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., finds himself in the public perception of lobbying against three blacks and threatening to bar a fourth from taking the seat of a fifth black and becoming the only African American senator.
On Sunday, Reid, the federal government’s highest-ranking Mormon, wa
s denying that he’s against blacks and in fact, he said, he once helped get one appointed to a court.
Mr. Burris goes to Washington. Blagojevich’s pick is a year older than Harry, and he’s been around the ballot box a few times himself in Cook County, which keeps a lot of spare ballot boxes on hand.
Burris says all reasonable and friendly-like that he’s been legally nominated by an as yet unimpeached governor and intends to show up for the new Congress come Tuesday to give the people of Illinois the full representation they deserve as any decent public servant would do. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Which sets up a scenario of guards or Harry barring the door to a black just like Gov. George C. Wallace down in Alabama lo those many years ago.
But it won’t come to that. That’s not change to believe in. Harry let slip Sunday something about being an old trial lawyer and knowing that, goshdarnit, in politics everything is open to negotiation. Show of hands here; who’s betting on Blago’s guy?
Now, after these 22 long years in the exclusive Senate (and four years before that in the House gang), now Reid can’t call the president dumb and the worst one ever anymore.
He’s got to actually work with him. The new chief executive is a young fellow, who barely spent a half-term in the club, much of it campaigning for another job elsewhere.
And Harry’s got to explain to the popular president-elect early this week why his economic stimulus package is mired in the legislature, despite an enlarged Democratic majority, and can’t be ready in time for the historic inauguration on Jan. 20. How does that work again?
Not to mention Harry’s own reelection next year.
And we all remember what happened to the last Senate Democratic leader, whose name is Tom Daschle. Not only did he lose reelection to a Republican, but now he’s gotta work as the secretary of Health and Human Services.
–Andrew Malcolm
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Photo credits: Harry Reid on a good day. Associated Press. Reid, almost smiling, and Barack Obama. Getty Images
Ticket Replay: A double O moment — Oprah and Obama at the same inaugural - Obama,Barack
The Ticket is republishing this weekend some of our favorite items from recent campaign months. This one looking toward the Obama inauguration on Jan. 20 originally appeared in this space on Dec. 5, 2008:
Shortly before the Nov. 4 presidential voting closed, noted Obama-backer Oprah Winfrey announced that she’d already picked out her inaugural ball gown, a sign of overconfidence that she did not have to pay for in the end.
Now that Barack Obama’s inauguration is virtually certain (unless the Supreme Court’s ponderings lead it to get involved), Oprah has announced she’s taking her Chicago talk show to W
ashington, which is also famous for lotsa talk. (And that’ll allow her to write off the gown cost as a business expense.)
She’s rented the 2,300-seat Kennedy Center to do two shows there right around Jan. 20.
You may remember Oprah came out early for her fellow Chicagoan. She held a huge celebrity fundraiser for him at her Montecito house.
And she emceed giant primary rallies for him in Iowa and North Carolina, which he won, and New Hampshire, which he lost to Hillary Clinton, the first serious female presidential candidate who many former Oprah fans thought she should support. Winfrey’s ratings took a hit.
We don’t want to let anything out of the bag and spoil the screaming.
But wouldn’t it just be a perfect television moment if, while Oprah is talking to the excited Kennedy Center audience in January at inauguration time, a certain someone who’s about to become president and maybe his wife too walked out on the stage behind the show host?
Everyone would cry, except those execs watching the ratings.
–Andrew Malcolm
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Photo credit: Oprah.com
National and International Headlines for November 19 - Obama,Barack
Headlines from Democracynow.org, a daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 650 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the US.
Reports: Obama Asks Eric Holder to be Attorney General
President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly asked Eric Holder to become his attorney general. If confirmed, Holder would become the first African American to lead the Justice Department. Holder served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration and as US attorney for the District of Columbia. He served as an adviser to Obama’s campaign on legal issues and served on his vice-presidential selection team. Newsweek reports Eric Holder still has to undergo a formal “vetting” review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced. Since leaving public office, Holder has worked as a partner at the D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling. His clients have included the fruit giant Chiquita. Last week on Democracy Now!, journalist Mario Murillo criticized Holder’s ties to Chiquita.
Mario Murillo: “There’s been talk about a close ally and friend of Obama as a potential Attorney General for the United States, Eric Holder, who is currently defending Chiquita Brands International in its defense against dozens of plaintiffs here in Colombia, working families who were targeted by paramilitaries who were funded to the tune of $1.7 million over the last several years. It’s a major scandal. And if this guy becomes the Attorney General under an Obama administration, then it’s going to be really hard to find justice in this case coming from the United States.”
In a speech to the American Constitution Society in June, Eric Holder said the next president must “move immediately to reclaim America’s standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.” Holder is an opponent of the death penalty but has called for stiffer penalties for some drug offensives. In 2005, he was part of the legal team that developed strategies for securing reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act.
Alaskan Republican Ted Stevens Loses Senate Seat
Democrats have picked up another seat in the Senate, as Alaskan Republican Ted Stevens lost his bid for re-election. Democrat Mark Begich declared victory Tuesday after his lead increased to 3,700 votes. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the history of the US Senate. He was convicted last month on federal ethics charges. Begich is the first Democrat to represent Alaska in the Senate since Mike Gravel nearly thirty years ago. Begich’s win gives Democrats control of fifty-eight Senate seats, two short of a filibuster-proof majority.
Recount Begins for Coleman-Franken Race in Minnesota
The outcome of Senate races in Minnesota and Georgia are still to be decided. In Minnesota, a recount begins today in the race between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Al Franken. Coleman is currently winning by just 215 votes out of more than 2.9 million votes cast.
Democrats Let Lieberman Keep Senate Chairmanship
Senate Democrats sought to bolster their majority on Tuesday by voting to allow independent Joe Lieberman to stay in the Democratic caucus and remain chair of the Homeland Security Committee, despite his decision to campaign for John McCain and other Republicans, including Norm Coleman in Minnesota. Lieberman will also remain head of the Armed Services subcommittee but he will surrender his position on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Auto Execs Lobby for $25 Billion Bailout
US auto executives warned Congress on Tuesday that their industry was teetering on the brink of collapse as they pleaded for lawmakers to bail out the industry with $25 billion in government-backed loans. The CEO of Chrysler, Robert Nardelli, blamed the company’s financial woes in part on healthcare and pension costs.
Robert Nardelli: “At the same time, Chrysler has billions of dollars in cash payment obligation to pay wages, pay suppliers, to pay healthcare, pensions, all in the range of about four to five billion dollars a month. Therefore, without an immediate bridge financing support, Chrysler’s liquidity could fall below the level necessary to sustain operations.”
Lawmakers repeatedly criticized the auto executives. Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd accused the CEOs of seeking treatment for wounds that are largely self-inflicted. Lawmakers and the Bush administration have sparred over the best way to extend help to the automakers.
US Kills 6 in Strike Deep Inside Pakistan
In Pakistan, at least six alleged militants have been killed in a US missile strike in the Bannu district. The strike marked the first time the US has hit an area of Pakistan outside the tribal regions of North and South Waziristan. The missiles were apparently fired from unmanned planes launched in Afghanistan. The US has killed over 100 people in a series of strikes in Pakistan in recent months.
EPA Moves to Ease Air Rules for National Parks
The Washington Post reports the Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas. The EPA’s push to weaken the Clean Air protections has sparked fierce resistance from senior agency officials. Half of the EPA’s ten regional administrators formally dissented from the decision, and four others criticized the move in writing.
UN: Half of World Could Face Clean Water Shortage by 2080
UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is warning that half the world’s population could face a shortage of clean water by 2080 because of climate change. The availability of drinking water is being reduced as global warming is disrupting water flow patterns and increasing the severity of floods, droughts and storms. The World Health Organization has estimated that 1.1 billion people did not have sufficient access to clean water at the beginning of the decade.
Obama Pledges “New Chapter” on Climate Change
On Tuesday, President-elect Barack Obama pledged to engage vigorously in international climate change talks after he takes office. Obama recorded a video message that was shown to the Governors Global Climate Summit.
President-Elect Barack Obama: “My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change that will strengthen our security and create millions of new jobs in the process. That will start with a federal cap-and-trade system. We’ll establish strong annual targets that set us on a course to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020 and reduce them an additional 80 percent by 2050. Further, we’ll invest $15 billion each year to catalyze private sector efforts to build a clean energy future.”
ACLU: US Is Asking Other Nations to Detain US Citizens
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a suit alleging that the Bush administration has asked other countries to detain US citizens on their behalf. McClatchy Newspapers reports the suit centers around the case of Naji Hamdan, a US citizen who has been held for nearly three months in the United Arab Emirates without charges, access to a lawyer or contact with his family. In 2006, Hamdan moved to the UAE from the United States after being the target of intense FBI scrutiny. In August, Hamdan was questioned at the US embassy in Abu Dhabi by two FBI agents. He was detained by UAE officials several weeks later.
Texas Grand Jury Indicts Cheney and Gonzales on State Charges
And a grand jury in Texas has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in private prisons in Texas. The indictment has not been seen by a judge, who could dismiss it. The indictment cites Cheney’s investment in Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in South Texas. Gonzales is accused of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately run prisons.
Everyone went down to Georgia - Barack Obama
With Mark Begich winning in Alaska, Gordon Merkley victorious in Oregon and Al Franken hot on Norm Coleman’s heels, it looks like the Democrats’ quest for 60 Senate seats is headin’ on down to Georgia, where early voting has begun in a run-off between Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democratic challenger Jim Martin.
Democrats are fighting an uphill battle in the red state: A Rasmussen poll shows Martin 4 points back and Georgia’s secretary of state reports a decrease in African-American turnout. But the party is doing its best to take the seat, and hoping that some of the residual enthusiasm from Barack Obama’s win will help Martin.
Meanwhile, Republicans are doing their best to make sure this ends up as more than a war of Democratic aggression. Both parties have begun diverting significant resources, including some big names, to the peach state. John McCain and Mike Huckabee have already stumped for Chambliss. Bill Clinton is putting his weight behind Martin. And Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Al Gore are on their way, as are a host of Obama campaign operatives. The Republican National Committee has committed 2 million dollars to helping the Chambliss campaign, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee has begun airing ads that claim Martin helped create the biggest tax hike in Georgia history.
The run-off was mandated by Georgia election rules, which say that a candidate needs to receive a majority of the vote in order to be elected. On Nov. 4th, Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley kept both Chambliss and Martin from hitting the 50 percent plus one mark. Buckley — who will not be on the ballot this time around — is embracing his spoiler status and showing, as they say in Georgia, a bit of chutzpah. He’s has now said that in order to receive his endorsement Chambliss and Martin would have to sign on to a lengthy statement of principles. Neither is likely to do so.
Ticket Replay: Stricken Wall St. traders protest with their own cars - Dem, Ill
For a few days The Ticket is republishing some favorite items from the past political season. This one originally appeared in this space on Oct. 9, 2008, back during all the economic concerns over Wall Street’s turmoil and the bailouts and failures of some firms such as Lehman Bros.:
The Ticket has just received a breaking news photo of suddenly unemployed Wall Street workers taking the financial crisis into their own hands.
It’s rather shocking. Are we on the brink of social anarchy near the climax of a national election?
And nowhere else will you get this kind of complete spot coverage of the economic crisis’s impact on the presidential race between Barack Obama-Joe Biden and John McCain-Sarah Palin.
Click on the Read more line below to see what we mean.
– Andrew Malcolm
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Outraged unemployed and obviously hard-hit Lehman Bros. traders stage a protest at corporate headquarters, blockading the entrance with their own personal vehicles.
National and International Headlines for November 20 - Dem, Ill
Headlines from Democracynow.org, a daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 650 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the US.
California Court to Review Legality of Prop 8
California’s state Supreme Court has agreed to decide the legality of Proposition 8, the ballot measure that repealed the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry in California. The passage of Prop 8 has sparked nationwide protests by gay rights activists. Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the past two weeks. The Los Angeles Times reports gay rights advocates argue that the measure was a constitutional revision, instead of a more limited amendment. A revision of California’s constitution can be placed before the voters only by a two-thirds vote of the legislature or a constitutional convention. Proposition 8 reached the ballot after a signature drive. A hearing on the lawsuits is expected to be held as early as March. The court has refused to allow any more same sex weddings until a ruling has been made.
Dow Jones Falls Below 8,000, First Time Since 2003
In economic news, the Dow Jones index fell over five percent Wednesday, ending the day below 8,000, its lowest level since March 2003. The market is now down 43 percent since it hit a high point in October 2007. USA Today estimates nearly $10 trillion in wealth has been wiped out over the past year. Wall Street stocks fell Wednesday after reports showed the biggest monthly drop in the consumer price index in sixty-one years. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that construction of new homes plunged last month to the lowest level in the forty-nine years that the government has kept records.
White House: “Celebrate the Victory” in Iraq
In Iraq news, the White House said the Iraqi cabinet’s approval of the status of forces agreement means the US can celebrate victory in Iraq. The agreement mandates that all US troops leave Iraq in three years. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino made the comment after being asked why this agreement is not the timetable that the President fought so hard against.
Dana Perino: “We believe that the conditions are such now that we are able to celebrate the victory that we’ve had so far and establish both a strategic framework agreement, which is a much broader document and talks about all sorts of cooperation that we’ll have with Iraq from here on out, from trade and healthcare and exchanges on science, and a real strong bilateral agreement that you would hope we would have with any of our allies.”
UK Judge: Attack on Iraq Violated International Law
One of Britain’s most prominent judges, Lord Bingham, has accused Britain and the United States of acting like a “world vigilante.” He said the attack on Iraq was a serious violation of international law. Lord Bingham also said the legal advice given to Tony Blair by the attorney general prior to the Iraq war was fundamentally “flawed.” Bingham’s comments came in his first speech since retiring.
Daschle Picked for Secretary of Health and Human Services
President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly picked Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to become secretary of Health and Human Services. As secretary, Daschle is expected to play a major role in working with Congress on Obama’s campaign promise to expand healthcare coverage for Americans. Since losing a bid for re-election four years ago, Daschle has served as a board member of the Mayo Clinic and a highly paid adviser to healthcare clients at the law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird. The lobbying firm has declined to disclose which healthcare industry clients Daschle had advised. The firm represents dozens of companies, including pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and trade groups for nurses and nursing homes. Earlier this year Dashchle published a book titled Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.
Napolitano Considered for Homeland Security Chief
Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona is reportedly set to be offered the position of Homeland Security secretary. She is a two-term governor, as well as a former US attorney and state attorney general for Arizona. She was the first governor to call for National Guard troops to secure the US-Mexico border.
Billionaire Pritzker Expected to Become Commerce Secretary
President-elect Obama is also expected to tap billionaire Penny Pritzker to serve as Commerce secretary. Pritzker is a longtime friend of Obama’s and served as his national finance chair. Pritzker was involved in running and overseeing the Illinois-based Superior Bank, which collapsed in 2001. The bank has been described as being at the forefront of turning subprime loans into securities, the risky practice at the heart of the financial crisis.
Coleman-Franken Recount Begins; Race Tightens
In Minnesota, the Senate race between incumbent Norm Coleman and Al Franken has tightened. After the first day of a statewide recount, Coleman’s lead has shrunk to just 174 votes.
Taxpayers to Pay for Gonzales Defense
McClatchy Newspapers reports the Justice Department has agreed to pay for a private lawyer to defend former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales against allegations that he encouraged officials to inject partisan politics into the department’s hiring and firing practices.
Rep. Barbara Lee to Head Congressional Black Caucus
In other news from Washington, Congresswoman Barbara Lee has been named chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization of the use of force after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Somali Pirates Demand $25 Million from Saudis
The Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi oil supertanker are demanding $25 million for the ship’s return. Mohammed Said said, “The Saudis have ten days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous.” The supertanker was loaded to capacity with two million barrels of oil when it was seized along with twenty-five crew members. On Wednesday, Somalia’s prime minister Nur Hassan Hussein said Somalia does not have the ability to stop the piracy off its coast and needs more help from the international community.
Nur Hassan Hussein: “These piracy problems are not limited only within Somalia, but it is affecting the whole region. It is affecting, globally, the world, and we see that the Transitional Federal Government doesn’t have enough capacity to combat and eradicate this piracy, which is becoming a concern, a common concern for all the world.”
News Execs Criticize Israeli Ban on Journalists in Gaza
Executives from the Associated Press, Reuters, New York Times, BBC, CNN and other news organizations have signed a letter criticizing the Israeli government’s decision to ban journalists from entering Gaza. In a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the executives wrote, “We are gravely concerned about the prolonged and unprecedented denial of access to the Gaza Strip for the international media.” Israel has virtually sealed off the Gaza Strip and cut off aid and fuel shipments. A spokesperson for Israel’s Defense Ministry said Israel was displeased with international media coverage, which he said inflated Palestinian suffering and did not make clear that Israel’s measures were in response to Palestinian violence.
PETA Video Exposes Brutality At Turkey Farm
The giant poultry company Aviagen has suspended a supervisor after an animal rights group released a video showing turkeys being abused at the company’s West Virginia farms.
The video released by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals shows workers stomping on the heads of turkeys, twisting their necks and slamming them into metal cages.
The video was recorded by an undercover investigator. Earlier this week PETA filed a criminal complaint against Aviagen alleging animal cruelty. Aviagen describes itself as “the world’s leading poultry-breeding company” and supplies most of the turkey breeding stock in the United States. A supervisor at the farm was secretly recorded admitting that every worker gets agitated sometimes and kills turkeys.
PC Magazine to Stop Printing Magazine
In media news, PC Magazine has announced it is ceasing publication of the magazine after 27 years but would continue online. Many other publications have made moves recently to the web. The Christian Science Monitor is planning to cease printing its weekday paper in favor of its website. U.S. News and World Report is switching to a monthly magazine with an increased focus on the web.
Gordon-Reed and Matthiessen Win National Book Award
And this year’s National Book Awards have been announced. Annette Gordon-Reed won the nonfiction award for “The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,” a biography of three generations of a slave family owned by Thomas Jefferson. Peter Matthiessen won the fiction award for “Shadow Country.”
Obama Is Still Pushing Green Snake Oil - Dem, Ill
In a taped speech shown to attendees at a climate change conference in California this week, Barack Obama continued trying to distract Americans from the enormous cost of making substantial reductions in carbon dioxide emissions by promising "five million new green jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced." Not only is this number pulled out of thin air; it’s nothing to be happy about. As I’ve noted, the manpower required to transform the economy so that greenhouse gas emission targets can be reached is a measure of the cost involved. Obama makes it seem as if we should try to maximize this cost, promising that green jobs will "steer our country out of this economic crisis."
That is pretty much the opposite of the truth. As The New York Times notes, "some industry leaders and members of Congress have suggested that Mr. Obama’s climate proposal would impose too great a cost on an already-stressed economy—having the same effects as a tax on coal, oil and natural gas—and should await the end of the current downturn." Obama’s response is to portray the economic burden as a boon.
In the speech, he does implicitly make the case that the cost he refuses to acknowledge will be justified in the long run:
Few challenges facing America—and the world—are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We’ve seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season.
Is it really "beyond dispute" that global warming already has produced drought, famine, and stronger storms? New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin notes that "the statement about ’storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season’ is hard to square with the science on hurricanes in a warming world, which has gotten more nuanced of late."
Even if Obama were right about current conditions, and right that things will only get worse, what evidence is there that his cap-and-trade plan will ameilorate the trend enough to justify the cost? Assuming we meet his goal of an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 (a conveniently distant deadline), how much will it cost, what impact will it have on global warming, and how much damage will thereby be avoided?
Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming, argues that adapting to climate change is much more cost-effective that trying to prevent it, an effort he says is unlikely to have any measurable impact. Presumably Obama thinks Norberg Lomborg is wrong. I’d like to hear why. But that would require Obama to be more candid about the sacrifices demanded by his plan to create the Clean-Energy Economy of Tomorrow. It is difficult to perform a cost-benefit analysis you refuse to admit there’s a cost.
Ron Bailey’s interview with Lomborg appeared in the October issue of reason.