Harry Reid – Yellowback Donkey Award of the Year

Once again the Democrats fold and run…

Assault weapons ban dropped from gun bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid on Tuesday declared politically dead the effort to ban military-style assault weapons, a setback for President Obama and gun-control advocates who are pushing the Senate to move quickly on bills to limit gun violence.

Reid (D-Nev.) is preparing to move ahead with debate on a series of gun-control proposals when the Senate returns from a two-week Easter recess in early April. Although he has vowed to hold votes on measures introduced after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., in December, Reid told reporters Tuesday that the proposed assault-weapons ban isn’t holding up against Senate rules that require at least 60 votes to end debate and move to final passage.

The proposed ban, “using the most optimistic numbers, has less than 40 votes. That’s not 60,” Reid said.

Still up for consideration are three other bills approved last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee: bipartisan legislation to make gun trafficking a federal crime, a bipartisan measure to expand a Justice Department grant program that provides funding for school security, and a Democratic proposal to expand the nation’s gun background check program.

Step right on up, Harry – and get your “Yellowback Donkey Award” for legislative cowardice.

They Were Republicans

Had an interesting conversation a few months ago with a couple of folks who had worked for several previous administrations. In LA people can talk about the film industry. In Vegas, it’s the Casinos. In Washington, there are a lot of folks who stay around after serving positions in the Government – so depending on whether you are in a room with DoD and Military people – or a group of Beltway Bandits and Civilian Agency people… It seems that everyone has some experience in – or with one or more parts of the Federal Government.

There is an “inside the Beltway” – it is just not the “groupthink” campaigning politicians try and stereotype it as.

So…the discussion…

What happened to the Republicans? Where did they go?

Former Senator Chuck Hagel (R) wonders the same thing -

Former GOP Senator Chuck Hagel: Republican Party Has ‘An Astounding Lack Of Responsible Leadership’

Former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel (NE) can’t muster any praise for his Republican colleagues’ behavior in Congress over the past few months. In an interview with the Financial Times, Hagel blasted GOP leadership for their “irresponsible actions” during the debt ceiling debacle, noting that “I think about some of the presidents we’ve had on my side of the aisle — Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., go right through them, Eisenhower — they would be stunned.”

“Disgusted” with the debt ceiling negotiations, Hagel called it “an astounding lack of responsible leadership by many in the Republican party, and I say that as a Republican.” “Does anyone not believe what’s happened here the last couple weeks in the market was not a complete, direct result of the lack of confidence that came out of that folly, that embarrassment?” he asked. Watch it:

Asked about Tea Party influence, Hagel said the Republican party is too captive to a movement that is “very ideological” and “very narrow.” “I’ve never seen so much intolerance as I’ve seen today,” he said. Later surveying the GOP 2012 field, Hagel said the party may need to rebuild, agreeing that Republicans are now “too far to the right.”

 

 

Former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens Killed in Plane Crash

Former Alaska US Senator Ted Stevens was killed in a plane crash last night. Stevens was the longest serving member of elected Alaska Congressmen and Senators to serve in Washington, prior to being voted out after being convicted on  charges of corruption. Stevens survived a crash in 1978 which killed his wife, Ann. Condolences to Mr. Steven s family, and the people of Alaska he served for so many years.

Former Senator Ted Stevens Is in a Plane Crash in Alaska

Former US Senator (Alaska) Ted Stevens

Rescue crews from the Alaska Air National Guard and theUnited States Coast Guard arrived on the scene more than 10 hours after the crash, hampered by rain and fog in an area of mountains and lakes north of Bristol Bay.

The European aerospace firm EADS said that the chief executive of its North American operations, Sean O’Keefe, 54, a former NASA administrator, was also on board.

UPDATE – Keith Cowing NASAWatch.com: 2:22 PM EDT: According to a family source both Sean O’Keefe and his son Kevin than survived the plane crash but they are both rather banged up.

The family of Mr. Stevens issued a statement on Tuesday morning that expressed concern but said nothing about the former senator’s fate:

“The Ted Stevens family offers their prayers for all those on board and for their families. We thank the brave men and women who are working to reach the site. We continue to work with the Alaska National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Alaska State Troopers. We thank everyone for their support and prayers.” The crash occurred about 320 miles southwest of Anchorage before 8 p.m. Alaska Daylight time, the National Transportation Safety Boardsaid. Another plane spotted the downed aircraft around 7 p.m. and notified authorities, the National Guard said.

Mr. Stevens, 86, was among the group flying to a lodge near Lake Aleknagik, where he often spent summers fishing. It was unclear why he and the other passengers were headed there.

The N.T.S.B. said that the crash was about 10 miles northwest of Lake Aleknagik, and the aircraft was a DeHavilland DHC-3T. The single-engine, high-wing airplane plane is owned by GCI, the Alaskan telecommunications provider, as is the lodge.

The plane went undetected by radar, because in the area where it went down, about 20 miles north of Dillingham, there is no radar coverage below about 4,000 feet, according to one air traffic control expert familiar with the area. The expert asked not to be identified because the N.T.S.B. is in charge of releasing information. The flight was under visual flight rules, two people familiar with the area said, meaning that it was not being directed by air traffic controllers. The N.T.S.B. said it was sending a team of investigators to the crash site, even though it said it did not know the identity of those on board. The agency does not ordinarily send a board member from Washington to the crashes of private or corporate planes. Mr. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican senator until he lost his bid for a seventh term in 2008 after he was found guilty of corruption charges; the case was later thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct.

His stature in Alaska seemed to have remained virtually intact despite the scandal, and recently he had been campaigning with the state’s Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski. Sen. Murkowski issued a statement asking Alaskans to pray for those aboard the aircraft.

Mr. Stevens survived another plane crash on Dec. 4, 1978, that killed five of seven people on board, including his first wife, Ann. He was traveling on a Lear jet that crashed when landing at Anchorage International Airport, which was renamed Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in honor of the senator in 2000.

Before that 1978 crash, Mr. Stevens reportedly spoke of a premonition that he would die in a plane crash, a fate that is not unknown to many in Alaska who travel the vast state in small planes.

Senator James Webb of Virginia, Loses His Seat

Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, just destroyed his electoral chances with a ill conceived, and patently erroneous screed on “Diversity” in (of all stupid places), the Wall Street Journal.

Policy makers ignored such disparities within America’s white cultures when, in advancing minority diversity programs, they treated whites as a fungible monolith. Also lost on these policy makers were the differences in economic and educational attainment among nonwhite cultures. Thus nonwhite groups received special consideration in a wide variety of areas including business startups, academic admissions, job promotions and lucrative government contracts.

Where should we go from here? Beyond our continuing obligation to assist those African-Americans still in need, government-directed diversity programs should end.

Nondiscrimination laws should be applied equally among all citizens, including those who happen to be white. The need for inclusiveness in our society is undeniable and irreversible, both in our markets and in our communities. Our government should be in the business of enabling opportunity for all, not in picking winners. It can do so by ensuring that artificial distinctions such as race do not determine outcomes.

Senator Webb, this constituent is pissed at you. I am pissed at you because of your ignorance. Now, I know you are a former Republican, but that really is no excuse. You have been a Democrat now for a while. What that means is you now, unlike when you were a Republican have access to folks within your own party who fought for Civil Rights in this country. You have access to people who clearly understand the issues, are fully cognizant of the history (because they lived it), and who, like Mrs Sherrod don’t have any crosses to burn about hating white folks.

Further, as a Senator, you have access to many of the countries best legal and academic minds, who can clearly enunciate the history, the legal and Constitutional context, and operation of the various Affirmative Action and Diversity programs in the United States. So why don’t you go down down the hall and talk to one of those legal experts and learn -

Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the US Government cannot pass a law, legislation, or federal regulation which discriminates based on race.

Now, read that a couple of times and let it sink in.

What that means is that ANY Federal Legislation, FAR, or regulation had to apply equally to every single group in America… including the current conservative pity candidate – white folks.

First a few facts to allieviate you ignorance -

Prior to Adorand v Pena, the Supreme Court decision which effectively ended Affirmative Action in this country as a remedy for past and existing discrimination (Existing discrimination, Mr. Webb? Virginia has lots of farms, Mr. Webb, at one time many owned by black farmers. Read this on how racism, and discrimination against minorities still is a serious issue at the USDA.)…

1. In 1993 there were over 400 Disadvantaged Small Businesses owned by white males – many from exactly the same region you are crying about.
2. Over 90% of the beneficiaries of Affirmative Action in contracting by the Federal Government were white.

Post 1993 and conservative uproar and pushback against black folks starting businesses, the Government contracting system shifted to “Hub Zones”, ergo – companies set up and operated in economically disadvantaged areas were given “Small Disadvantaged Business” status, which allowed them to bid on small (<$200k) contracts without competition, and small competitive contracts (<$12 m) against other similarly situated companies. Hub Zones are not assigned by race – they are assigned by the income and poverty level in any particular area – meaning there are lots of Hub Zones in poor white areas, and hundreds, if not thousands of white owned companies taking advantage of the Federal Government’s “Diversity Contracting Program” as “Disadvantaged Small Businesses”.

But while you are fawning all over the racist conservative right - you might just want to read about the disparate economic impact of Minority Owned Firms, which just might be relevant because of how bad your conservative friends have screwed the American economy and the country. And what the Bushit did to Small Business -

1. Cutting the Small Business Administration’s budget by nearly half. The SBA is the financial guarantor of only resort for many Minority owned businesses because of active redlining by commercial and merchant banks.
2. Cutting financings of Minority and women owned businesses from 26% of total loans in 1998 to under 8% in 2007.
3. Diverting over $800 billion in Minority and women Owned business contracts to the Big 6 Government contractors, often under false pretenses.

For reasons I can’t get a grasp on, you want to hold onto the racist meme that progress for black folks means negative progress for white folks…

And that is just plain unacceptable – because it is patently false.

Your version of a “level playing field” is the fact that black folks start 30% of the new incorporations in the United States…

But receive less that .03% of the Venture Financing as reported by Forbes Magazine.

That version of “level playing field” pretends that 10 black kids getting into a graduate program at a state university due to AA, is far more critical a national issue –  than the systematic perversion of Justice in many states where blacks are systematically excluded from Jury Pools.

In our own state – you ex-political mate Jim McDonnell has brought back a “literacy test” for ex-felons to gain back their voting rights exactly like the Old Jim Crow system of Poll Taxes and Literacy tests. Now, if a disproportionate percentage of those felons is black (see jury pools) – what exactly does that mean Mr. Webb?

Think you should take advantage of that “learning experience” Mr Webb.

BTW – I put this post under my category – “The New Jim Crow” – perhaps you should read it.

Sen. David “Diaperman” Vitter Goes Birther

Facing the worst ecological and economic crisis of any state since Oklahoma and the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression…

Louisiana Senator, David “Diaper-man”  Vitter signals his support for the “birthers”.

Yeah – if I was him, I’d want to talk about anything except my record!

Robert Byrd, Longest Serving Member of Congress

Briefly met Robert Byrd what seems like 1 million years ago when I was a technician servicing computer equipment on the Hill in my first job in the computer industry. Was working on some equipment in his office when he walked in, and unlike a lot of pols, said hello. This was the 70′s, and the country was still in a turmoil, told him my Dad was from West Virginia coal mining country, and remember asking him if he was related to the Virginia Byrds, a political dynasty which held sway in Virginia for near 60 years. He said something to the extent of “no, they don’t claim us – we’re the poor hillbilly coal miner Byrds”.

Robert Byrd, longest-serving member of Congress, dead at 92

West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, the self-educated son of a coal miner who became the longest-serving member of Congress, died early Monday at age 92, the senator’s office said.

Byrd, a nine-term Democrat, was known as a master of the chamber’s often-arcane rules and as the self-proclaimed “champion of the Constitution,” a jealous guardian of congressional power.

His speeches were laced with references to poetry and the Greek and Roman classics, often punctuated by the brandishing of his pocket copy of the national charter.

He was also known as the “King of Pork,” using top positions on the Senate Appropriations Committee to steer federal spending to his home state — one of the nation’s poorest.

Byrd relished the title.

“Pork, to the critic, is service to the people who enjoy some of the good things in life, and I’ve been happy to bring to West Virginia the projects to which they refer. I have no apology for it,” he said.

He was an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq, calling his 2002 vote against a “blind and improvident” authorization of military action the proudest moment of his career…

Robert Carlyle Byrd was born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr. on November 20, 1917, in the North Carolina town of North Wilkesboro. His mother died when he was a year old, and he was adopted and renamed by his aunt and uncle, Titus and Vlurma Byrd.

He started his political career by running for the state House of Delegates in 1946, while working as a butcher and welder. He won a seat in the House of Representatives six years later, was elected to his first Senate term in 1958 and won his ninth in 2006, three weeks shy of his 89th birthday.

“If it’s the Lord’s will, the people will send me there. Why? This Constitution needs a champion,” he said before the 2006 vote.

As the senior senator of the majority party, Byrd served as the Senate’s president pro tempore — third in line of presidential succession, behind the vice president and speaker of the House.

While he set two endurance records in Congress, he was only proud of one in the end. The other was for his 1964 filibuster against the Civil Rights Act, when he spoke for 14 hours and 13 minutes in an effort to derail the law.

He opposed civil rights when he first ran for office, a stance he came to regret later in life. He blamed “that Southern atmosphere in which I grew up, with all of its prejudices and its feelings,” for his opposition to equal rights, which included joining the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s.

He called the move “the greatest mistake of my life,” an “albatross” that would always shadow his career.

“It’s a lesson to the young people of today, that once a major mistake has been made in one’s life,” he said, “it will always be there, and it will be in my obituary.”

Tea Bagger Republican Senate Candidate From Kentucky, Rand Paul Supports Segregation

This was a veritable train wreck. Rand Paul is the son of Congressman Ron Paul whose racist associations with the C of CC and white nationalist groups are well documented. Rand Paul takes the Libertarian view that the Government cannot regulate discrimination by private businesses – which as Rachel points out during this interview means that businesses, primarily in the South by the time of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be able to legally exclude Minorities as customers or workers on the basis of being private enterprise…

Ergo the Bus Boycott of Montgomery, and the Wallgreen lunch counter protests would have been illegal…

On the part of the Civil Rights workers.

What this is, is a thinly veiled regurgitation of David Duke’s “new new new” KKK in suits philosophy – sometimes expressed in their terminology as a “Right of Association”.

Tea Bagger Gay-Baits US Senator Lindsay Graham

The Republican Party’s lurch right to kowtow to the Tea Baggers is having the obvious consequences – the Party is ripping itself to shreds. A lot of people are predicting a Republican resurgence in the mid-terms – but if you look at what the Tea Baggers are doing…

This could well be a major loss like 2008 for the Republicans as Moderates desert in droves. That “Big Tent” keeps on getting smaller and smaller every day. This one smacks of Hitler’s pogroms to eliminate from the Nazi Party anyone who wasn’t Aryan, a true believer, or was “defective”.

This strikes to the heart of Tea Bagger “white is right”, plastic patriotism, jingoistic, homophobic, and racist – hate politics.

Tea Party speaker gay-baits Lindsey Graham

Really, only a gay person (or maybe a Muslim) would be enough of a deviant to disagree with these folks, right?

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has had an uneasy relationship with his party’s purists for years. Even in his own home base of South Carolina, the right wing has long thought of Graham as a squish on an array of crucial issues, including campaign finance, immigration and environmental regulation.

There’s also, however, always been a nastier undercurrent. For years, unsubstantiated but persistent rumors have swirled about the sexuality of the unmarried Graham. What’s unsettling is how some on the right seem eager to connect one complaint about Graham to the other.

At a Tea Party rally in Greenville, S.C., last week, a speaker tried to figure out just what, exactly, is wrong with Graham. “Barney Frank has been more honest and brave than you. At least we know about Barney Frank, nobody’s going to hold it over his head.”

He continued, “Look, I’m a tolerant person. I don’t care about your private life, Lindsey. But as our U.S. senator, I need to figure out why you’re trying to sell out your own countrymen, I need to make sure you being gay isn’t it.“

What’s interesting here is the thought obviously running through the speaker’s head: that something about the personal features of a politician like Barney Frank or Lindsey Graham explains their otherwise disagreeable behavior. The argument isn’t that Frank and, supposedly, Graham, are horrible liberal traitors, and gay to boot. It’s that they are, or might be, horrible liberal traitors because they’re gay.

And once you notice this type of argument here, you realize that it’s everywhere. This is the basic case against President Obama as well. It’s not just that his policies are bad. It’s that he is somehow not one of us, doesn’t understand our country and its traditions, and so is in fact working for the other side. The “he’s a foreigner” line of attack also featured at the rally, when former GOP presidential candidate Tom Tancredo asked, “If his wife says Kenya is his homeland, why don’t we just send him back?”

You’d think that the argument that Obama is a scary outsider Muslim would be about fighting terrorism — the president is too soft on terrorists, because he’s a secret double-agent. But the “foreigner” rap on the president doesn’t even seem to be about international issues. Instead, it’s somehow about healthcare and taxes and domestic policy in general.

This is the language of a political movement that sees itself defending a peculiar, limited version of democratic politics. Academics have a term for this idea: herrenvolk democracy. The basic idea is that there is supposed to be equality, and even unanimity on crucial matters, among qualified citizens. And if someone breaks the consensus, it’s not so much a sign that there needs to be an argument about this or that issue. It just casts doubt on whether that person was a legitimate member of the group in the first place. (Note that Graham himself has criticized the use of “racial epithets” on the right.)

This is all over the comments about Frank and Graham, as well as the standard attack on Obama-as-Kenyan-Muslim. As the Greenville Tea Party guy put it, “I need to figure out why you’re trying to sell out your own countrymen.”

Another Right Wing Hypocrite!

Fresh on the heels of several Democrat scandals, the Republicans continue to be the gift that keeps on giving in terms of their ability to self-immolate.

Yet another in a very long line of right-wing hypocrites has been outed by his own actions. California state Sen. Roy Ashburn, who reportedly has voted against every gay rights measure since he took office eight years ago was charged with driving under the influence on Wednesday, reportedly after leaving a gay nightclub in Sacramento. This particular metro-sexual Republican is married to a woman, and the “father” of 4 children.

California senator says he’s gay, defends his anti-gay votes

Republican, anti-gay State Sen. Roy Ashburn in his booking photo

California state Sen. Roy Ashburn, whose personal life became the subject of rumors in the wake of a DUI arrest last week, announced Monday that he is gay, but he defended his numerous votes against gay rights bills.“I am gay . . . those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long. But I am gay,” Ashburn told conservative radio talk show host Inga Barks in an on-air interview.

A Sacramento TV station last week reported that unnamed sources saw Ashburn at a gay bar the night before his arrest last Wednesday on suspicion of DUI. The speculation set off a media frenzy, rekindling rumors that Ashburn lived a closeted life.

Gay-rights advocates seized on the news to point out Ashburn’s votes against gay rights legislation and his appearance several years ago at a rally in support of a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage.

I guess gay people suffer the pestilence of people like Sen. Ashburn, just as black folks suffer the pestilence of that segment of self-hating black conservatives, who spin their wheels, and work themselves into a frenzy defending conservative racism… Gay people have the likes of Senator Ashburn…

We have the likes of Clarence Thomas.