• If you've stocked up on fireworks for today's celebration, please take a moment to see what stupid looks like.
• Don't miss Gail Collins' hilarious take on Palin's resignation speech:

  So if she’s starting to run, it will be as the same reporter-avoiding, generalization-spouting underachiever that she was last time around.

  Now we know she not only doesn’t have the concentration to read a policy paper, she can’t focus long enough to finish the job she was hired to do.

  On Friday, Palin said that finishing out her term would be just too easy. “Many just accept that lame-duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck and ‘milk it.’ I’m not putting Alaska through that,” she said.

  Apparently, she’s going to put the rest of us through it instead.

• It seems that the National Archives has a problem with archiving. How Seinfeldian.

• Greg Sargent at The Plum Line has a run-down of yesterday's big news - with the best title ever:

  Bailin' Barracuda, Or The Quitah From Wassila

• Two U.S. soldiers died today in Afghanistan.
• And while our involvement in Afghanistan increases, Vice President Joe Biden is in Iraq saying that our role there is switching to diplomacy.
• It seems that the Washington Post isn't the only news organization trying to cash in on influence peddling, they're just the only one stupid enough to send out fliers bragging about it.
• After nearly eight years, people are finally being allowed to make the climb to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.
• President Obama leaves tomorrow for a week long trip to Russia, Italy and Africa.
• Serena Williams beat sister Venus for her third Wimbledon title.

This week's theme appears to be "incoherently crazy". More so than usual. And Palin!

That's a real man bites dog headline, I know, but Sessions has decided to get particularly nasty over an utterly irrelevant issue in the Sotomayor nomination. He's demanded decades worth of paperwork from a Puerto Rican civil rights organization. Sotomayor once served on the board for the group, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Sessions has demanded reams of documents from the organization that weren't written, edited, reviewed, or approved by Sotomayor, acting in her capacity as a board member. Which White House Counsel Greg Craig pointed out in a letter sent to Sessions.

"Perhaps there is confusion about Judge Sotomayor's role with PRLDEF, and that confusion may account for your unusual interest," Craig wrote. "Let me be clear: On Judge Sotomayor's behalf, we submitted all documents the committee requested of her, and we did so in record time."

To which, Session responded:

"During her time there, the organization took extreme positions on legal issues ranging from the death penalty to abortion to racial quotas," Sessions said in a statement. He said it was "absurd" for the White House to call the documents irrelevant.

Because staff that was not under her control or supervision wrote things that she was not in a position to approve or reject. Gottcha. This is pro forma obstructionism from Sessions, another pathetic attempt to try to drum up some kind of real opposition to Sotomayor and to potentially delay the hearings while they wait for irrelevant documents.

Senator Leahy remains philosophical, saying:

some in the GOP were going to oppose any Obama pick - "even if the president had nominated Moses."

Republicans "were going to object no matter who it was. And several of them have told me that privately," Leahy told The Associated Press in an interview at his Vermont farmhouse.

That would be an interesting nomination fight, Sessions versus Moses. As it is, they aren't going ot be able to stop the Sotomayor nomination. But that won't stop them from being assholes about it for as long as they can, riding that wave of white male privilege into electoral irrelevance.

If ever there were a holiday that seems expressly designed to display the gift with language possessed by the current President of the United States, Fourth of July would be it. And with this morning's weekly address, Barack Obama took full advantage of the opportunity presented, not just saluting America's peaks and victories, but reminding its citizens of the dark times and despair as well that the nation has overcome with what he called our "indomitable spirit."

And in passages that echoed his campaign observations about the "unlikely story that is America," he reminded us of how this country, in many ways, a surprising anomaly in history:

We are called to remember how unlikely it was that our American experiment would succeed at all; that a small band of patriots would declare independence from a powerful empire; and that they would form, in the new world, what the old world had never known – a government of, by, and for the people.

He saluted the spirit of America, the will and collaboration that helped us as a country survive the Depression, wars and other challenges. As before, we need that spirit to face our current challenges, he said, and to stake out this generation's place in our history, "understanding that each of us has a hand in writing America’s destiny":

That is the spirit we are called to show once more. We are facing an array of challenges on a scale unseen in our time. We are waging two wars. We are battling a deep recession. And our economy – and our nation itself – are endangered by festering problems we have kicked down the road for far too long: spiraling health care costs; inadequate schools; and a dependence on foreign oil.

He then launched into his trademark rhythmic declarative style, sentence after sentence beginning with the flourish, "Now is the time ...." Now is the time to fix education, to meet the energy challenge, to reform health care, to rebuild our economy. And to those who say all these changes are too ambitious and are ultimately impossible to attain, on this national holiday, the President had a punch-to-the-gut patriotic message:

These naysayers have short memories.  They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of change. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of America.

We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years ago today.

Yee-haw. Take that, obstructionist naysayer Republicans and weak-kneed Democrats.

Final off-the-wall observation: I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest this may be the first time a President of the United States used the  term, "kick back," in an address. Without sounding like an old guy trying to be hip, no less.

The full address can be found beneath the fold, or on the White House website.

Last week a group of paleo-biologists from all over the world visited that crowning fundamentalist temple of insular self indulgence, the Creationist Museum. Here there be dinosaurs wearing saddles, toothy raptors peacefully munching veggies next to Adam and Eve, and everywhere you look posters and exhibits lay the blame for mankind's greatest sins on evolution. Some of the scientists chuckled, others were confused, and educated Americans from every political background could only hang our heads in shame-by-proxy:

"It's sort of a monument to scientific illiteracy, isn't it?" said Jerry Lipps, professor of geology, paleontology and evolution at University of California, Berkeley.

There have been many reviews of the creationist theme park and gift shop. Some funny, many informative, and each depressing in its own way. But the most hilarious and -- I'm warning you -- ruthlessly irreverent such article of all time has to be this one.

• Meanwhile, Pat Buchanan channeled the ghost of Jerry Falwell in an anti-evolution screed so hoary, so egregiously bad, that it was panned by a number of conservatives.
• Any piece that starts like this is going to be good:

  It was probably inevitable. Given the mileage progressives got out of slamming the Bush administration for abusing science, conservatives were bound to bring parallel charges against the Obama administration.

• Igor Derysh has a brief and critical look at ACES well worth reading:

  The bill allows companies to skimp on the set standards of the bill and allows them to miss the milestone goals. That's like telling your child "you're not allowed to drive, but if you drive for less than two hours it's ok."

• For all its amazing abilities, the number one mortal flaw in vertebrate physiology is our single, beating heart. Researchers have now identified the master stem cell that could one day be harnessed to grow new cardiac components, or even whole new tickers.  

Saturday punditry, with a twist of Sarah Palin.

Howard Fineman:

I have covered politics for a long time. I can tell when someone is running for president. Sarah Palin is running for president.

Howard, you might be right, but you're wrong about this: she may be running but she's no longer a player.

But you never say "never" in politics, and there are reasons why it’s worth paying attention to what she is up to these days.  

Bullshit. That is, unless All My Children and The Young and the Restless are pre-empted.

WaPo:

"We've seen a lot of nutty behavior from governors and Republican leaders in the last three months, but this one is at the top of that," said John Weaver, a longtime friend and confidant of  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

Arena/Politico response, all sides of spectrum, none of it supportive:

Sherrilyn Ifill, Professor of Law, U. Md.: Watching this news conference felt like watching a public figure unravel before our very eyes. And it wasn't pretty. This lady was spooked, scared, angry, I thought, and incoherent.

Andrew Rotherham, Co-founder and publisher, Education Sector: I can see political trouble from my house.

Patrick J. Egan,  Professor of Politics and Public Policy, NYU: Governing was never her strong suit.

Patrick Dorinson, Political communications strategist and commentator: I am quite sure the media snobs and elitists are ecstatic that they have successfully destroyed her and her family in the process.

Bradley A. Blakeman, Republican strategist, consultant, entrepreneur: The people of Alsaka elected Palin Governor expecting that she would serve an her entire term absent a compelling reason to step aside. She has NOT given a good enough reason in my opinion to step down. This is just another bizarre event in what has become a series of uncomfortable political misteps that raises more questions about her judgment and ability.

David Boaz, Executive VP, Cato Institute: Will we one day say that her presidency was "born on the Fourth of July"? I doubt it.

William Jelani Cobb, Professor of History, Spelman College: This is obviously part of a vast left-wing conspiracy designed to assure Barack Obama a second term and, if Rush Limbaugh is to be believed, several more after that.

Larry J. Sabato, Professor of Politics, University of Virginia: Welcome to Bizarro World. We’ll see what the real, full story is behind this seemingly nonsensical move. But one result is clear: Sarah Palin is no longer a credible candidate for President in 2012.

Dan Balz:

But are Palin's rules those of someone with the capacity to seek and win her party's presidential nomination in 2012, as many believe is her ultimate goal, or of someone who has flashed like a meteor across the political skies but ultimately with limited impact? That question was at the center of the discussion among Republican strategists who were baffled by what they had just heard from Alaska.

CBS:

With the stunning news of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s sudden resignation, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that there is "something else out there" that has forced her to make this decision. There might well be, but ever since her return to Alaska after her electoral defeat in November, it has been very clear that she has loathed the new dynamic that has greeted her there.

It isn't that she was fed up with Alaska. Alaska was fed up with her.

William Kristol:

If Palin wants to run in 2012, why not do exactly what she announced today? It's an enormous gamble - but it could be a shrewd one.

Yeah, and I could be considered a shrewd commentator, and a brilliant strategist, too. And pigs could fly. So, put wings on this porker and call it Alaska Airlines. As Sarah goes, so go I.

Jonah Goldberg: Sarah, you're the laughingstock of the Democratic party [and maybe now the Republican Party. Also.]  I am, too. but still, even I think you're blowing it.

For nearly four decades, since environmental legislation was first enacted, ecp-groups have found the Supreme Court to be more or less favorable to the cases they have brought before it.

Not so with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. at the helm.
Adam Liptak writes at The New York Times

The Supreme Court heard five environmental law cases in the term that ended Monday, and environmental groups lost every time. It was, said Richard J. Lazarus, a director of the Supreme Court Institute at Georgetown University Law Center, "the worst term ever" for environmental interests.

The court allowed Navy exercises using sonar that threatened whales off California. It limited the liability of companies partly responsible for toxic spills. It made it harder to challenge Forest Service regulations and easier to dump mining waste into an Alaskan lake. And it allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to use cost-benefit analysis to decide how much marine life may be killed by cooling structures at power plants.

Business groups expressed measured satisfaction with the decisions.

"The court does seem to be bringing more common sense back to environmental law," Robin S. Conrad, a lawyer with the United States Chamber of Commerce, said at a recent news briefing.

= = =

The rescue begins below and continues in the jump. (The next Green Diary Rescue appears Sunday at 9:30 p.m.)

= = =

The Cunctator informed us that DK GreenRoots: ExxonMobil Is Still Funding Global Warming Denial Groups!: "From 1998 to 2005, ExxonMobil directed almost $16 million to a group of 43 lobby groups in an effort to confuse Americans about global warming. After being criticized by the Royal Society in 2006, Exxon promised to end funding to groups questioning climate change. In May 2008, Exxon again issued a public mea culpa and pledged to cut funding to groups that ‘divert attention’ from the need to develop and invest in clean energy. Yet, in 2008, while cutting contributions to the most extreme groups, Exxon still funded the National Center for Policy Analysis, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, all groups which publicly question or deny global warming."
DK GreenRoots

sarahnity, whose Saturday Frugal Fridays series is always green, went a little further in  Saving Some Green by Going Green: "Too often, we think that it costs money to be environmentally friendly. While that can be true, the fact of the matter is that there are plenty of things you can do every day that take little effort and often no upfront costs. There are lots of ways you can change your home or your lifestyle to reduce the amount of energy and other natural resources you consume, but in this diary I want to focus on some of the easiest (and cheapest) changes you can make that will still make a significant difference. The most important thing to keep in mind if you are looking for places to save resources is to first look to where your biggest usage is and try to trim that.  If you can save just 2% of the power on something you use 40% of the time, that is going to be a much bigger savings than if you save 50% of the power on something you use 5% of the time.  Your goal should be to stop the hemorrhaging before you start worrying about the skinned elbows."
DK GreenRoots

= = =

The Overnight News Digest is posted. Included is the story
Education secretary challenges NEA on teacher pay

Tonight's Rescue Rangers are vcmvo2, shayera, noddem, jennyjem, grog, and ybruti while the jet-lagged editor is dadanation.

The rescued diaries

• Username4242 posts great pictures (along with very informative text) of the candidates for Bonus Dinosaur of the Week! My five favorite finds. (ybruti)
• WIds presents in Palin's Poetry a free verse transcription of the surprising speech today by Alaska's soon-to-be former governor. (ybruti)
• arendt reflects on various schools of thought on human behavior discusses how these differing schools are personified in many interactions on dKos in Increasing the gap between impulse and action. A thought-provoking diary. (vcmvo2)
• Casual Wednesday writes this contribution to the week's environmental diaries about the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming in DK Greenroots: Considered Forthwith. (vcmvo2)
• blue meme, in the aftermath of the "PR" disaster yesterday at the Washington Post, wonders Did the WaPo violate the Lobbying Disclosure Act? (vcmvo2)
• count takes a look at recently released information and asks Employment data: OH YEAH? (shayera)
• Something the Dog Said continues his series First Amendment Friday 10 - Hustler V Falwell with an analysis of this important free speech case. (grog)
• I love OCD relates the hard work and mental challenges of dealing with a parent with dementia in The Greatest Generation - A Caregiver's Story. (grog)
• mspicata channels Billy Mays in this attempt to bail out California: Golden State Blowout Sale!!!! (grog)
• gjohnsit offers up a real solution to the mess in California with A progressive solution to California's economic crisis. (jennyjem)
• Avenging Angel summarizes the mounting evidence against the former Vice President in DOJ Confirms Cheney's Key Role in CIA Leak Case. (jennyjem)
• JohnCos gives a personal example of just how low the political discourse has sunk in They Called Him A Coward... (jennyjem)
• Deep Brain Diarist reflects on a time of recovery and gives an update of his condition after having Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery -- Part 3. Two Years Ago Today! (noddem)
• Tasini shares the story of Victory At SmithField: An Independence Day Symbol. After 17 years of fighting for their rights, workers at a pork plant have won the rights to which we are all entitled. (noddem)

The regular extras

jotter has High Impact Diaries: July 2, 2009.

BeninSC has Top Comments - Sanford and DeMint.

The reminder

Please use this as an Open Thread as well as your chance to promote your favorite diaries of the day. Respectful engagement is most welcome here. Please keep in mind that each Diary Rescue's daily purview extends from 3pm PST yesterday to 3pm PST today.

Shamelessly self-promote or pimp for a friend in this Open Thread!

I was busy most of the day, but I heard that something might have happened with regard to the 2010 elections. Some sort of a candidate announcement. Might have been a governors race? Perhaps someone here can fill me in....

:)

MN-Gov: Apparently, Norm Coleman IS Serious About This
Norm Coleman is obviously trying to resemble one of those sandy-bottomed childrens toys that you keep knocking over, only to see it rise again to your endless amusement/frustration. According to this article, a Coleman advisor is saying that he is actively discussing a 2010 gubernatorial bid with Republican activists. This comes, of course, less than 72 hours after he finally conceded the 2008 Senate race, in which he was defeated by Democrat Al Franken.

OH-Gov: Poll Confirms Softening of Strickland's Position
A new poll from Quinnipiac shows that the state's financial dire straits have had a political effect on the state's first-term Democratic governor, Ted Strickland. Once considered in a strong position for re-election, Strickland now leads his potential GOP rivals by single digits. Strickland holds a one-point edge over former Senator Mike DeWine (41-40) and a five-point edge over former Congressman John Kasich (43-38). In early May, Quinnipiac had Strickland leading both GOP candidates by double-digit margins.

NATIONAL: The Dire Straits of Republican Governors
As Sarah Palin jogs off into the sunset (for now), Kyle Munzenreider of the Miami New Times has a pretty solid read on a topic that will probably unleash a little healthy weekend schaudenfreude in these parts: the shockingly swift descent of the Republican governors, once considered to be the bedrock upon which the GOP resurrection would be built. The gallery of GOP gubernatorial drama alone is worth the visit.

IL-Sen/IL-Gov: Could Kirk's Statewide Plans Get Scuttled By Right-Wing?
Mark Kirk has taken most of his abuse lately from the political left, in particular for his somewhat dangerous attempt to give Barack Obama and the Democrats a swift kick in the knees by telling China that America's government could not be trusted. Now, he is taking on water on the starboard side. Yep, the right-wing in his state is less than thrilled that he was one of eight Republicans to support the President on last week's very tight Clean Energy vote.

NV-Sen: Heller Looking Less Likely As A Senate Challenger in 2010
Barely a week after John Cornyn insisted that a Republican challenger to Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid was forthcoming, the main target of the NRSC's recruitment efforts seems to be intent on staying put. Dean Heller, who has served northern Nevada in Congress since 2006, has not made up his mind definitively, but the signs are pointing towards him not running for statewide office in 2010. This is doubly good news for Democrats, since not only does this mean that he is unlikely to challenge Reid, but it also means that he is unlikely to challenge incredibly vulnerable GOP Governor Jim Gibbons. Top Republicans seem resigned to a Heller non-candidacy: John Thune, now in the Senate leadership, simply said of Heller, "I think he likes the job he has."

Feel free to add your own theories in the comments.

So Sarah Palin has resigned. From four colleges. From her job with the Oil & Gas Commission. And now finally, from her job as governor.

Highly unusual for someone once so determined to climb the political ladder that she stayed on in Texas to deliver a speech to the Republican Governors' Association, even as she went into labor with her fifth child. But, hey, that's Sarah. Also.

Now, my first thought was that she merely meant that she was tired and wanted to recline, but alas, she left little doubt about her actual intentions with her extended, often rambling speech, during which the local waterfowl laughed repeatedly.

Palin's first draft, by the way, reportedly began: "When in the course of human... stuff... (also)."

It's truly been an amazing few weeks for the America, as we found out that GOP governors celebrate Father's Day with adultery, and July 4th by resigning from office.

This is a pretty amazing abdication of responsibility, I must say. I think back to John McCain's flaky "suspension" of his campaign over the financial crisis, and when you put it side by side with Palin's freak-out, I'm really astonished that they were ever considered a legitimate presidential ticket. How she ever made it all the way through field dressing a moose without getting bored and quitting, I'll never understand.

But then again, this was someone who probably winked because she couldn't commit to finishing a blink.

I'm appreciative, at least, that she went out in a blaze of glory, with one last incoherent blast of public word spray. I think I'm seeing starbur... ah, screw it. I don't feel like finishing that sentence.

Best of luck to you in whatever you do next, Sarah. Rumor has it that you quit for an offer of $50 an hour to go pick lettuce in Yuma for the whole season. But I think you can't do it, my friend.

This will shock you, I know, but corporate interests have signficiantly outspent consumer groups in the health care reform debate.

In the first three months of 2009, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has spent more money on lobbying since 1998 than any other company, trade association, or advocacy group, and the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhARMA)--the No. 6 all-time spender--paid lobbyists a combined $22.5 million to promote their interests.

Meanwhile, prominent champions of the public insurance option spend very little on lobbying or campaign contributions. Families USA, a self-described consumer watchdog dedicated to health care issues, for example, has spent a mere $10,000 on lobbying this year and only $32,000 total in 2008. Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a national network that unites doctors' associations, consumer groups and other activists, spent $80,000 last year. And the National Health Council (NHC), which has remained mum on this issue but supported putting pressure on insurers to cover pre-existing illnesses, has not spent any money on lobbying since 2007.

Of these more prominent organizations, in fact, only the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is a major lobbyist--$4 million spent so far this year and $158.8 million since 1998--but the group has not publicly endorsed or rejected the president's proposed legislation.

Yowza. All that money spent to keep us getting lousy health care. Or, rather, paying exorbitant costs for insurance and prescription medications--there isn't a lot of actual "care" involved in those pursuits. Is it likely to make a difference with our (ahem) public servants? Nate thinks so, after doing some of his famousl number crunching:

The insurance industry's influence appears to swing about 9 votes against the public option. Whatever number of senators wind up supporting the public option, add 9 to it, and you'll have a decent ballpark estimate for what the level of support might be if not for insurance industry contributions...

The single senator who's position on the public option is most likely to have been changed by lobbying money is Mark Warner of Virginia, who has already raised $69,000 from insurance industry PACs in spite of having been in the Senate for less than six months. Absent industry money, the model estimates about a two-thirds likelihood that Warner would support the public option; with it, the model thinks the chances are very low. Indeed Warner has been mum on the public option to date.

Ranking next on the list is Harry Reid, who has taken some $78,800 from insurance industry PACs and who has also yet to articulate a position on the public option in spite of his status as Majority Leader. If the model is right, Reid's noncommittal stance on the issue might be better conceived of as tacit, if somewhat soft, opposition. Following Reid is Kent Conrad of North Dakota, who has floated a compromise bill that would replace the public option with a co-op system, a version of which the Senate Finance Committee appears likely to adopt.

There are many issues in which I think a "with us or against us" attitude is short-sighted and politically damaging. On health care, it's different. It's us, the consumer, the people who are having to shell out all this money for health "care" vs. the people taking all of our money and giving us shoddy product. And then taking all that money and pouring it into lobbying the people who are supposed to be representing our interests.

Nine votes, many of them on the Finance Committee, conveniently. Mosey on over to slinkerwink's action diary, and make a call or two to the Senators on the Finance Committee. They'll also all probably be home for the 4th recess, and will be having townhalls and constituent meetings. Ask them point blank, are they with us, or against us? Are they among those nine Senators who will be swayed by campaign contributions from industry PACs, or are they looking out for us? (That's a really good question to ask in a public setting.)

From the MASSACHUSETTS-ANNEXED FRONTIER TERRITORY OF MAINE...

The Declaration of Independence: Brittle Parchment of Liberty

If you are going to sever ties to your Commonwealth through bloody struggle, it is considered polite to write down why. Nobody wants to get three years into a revolution only to realize the whole thing was a Three’s Company-esque misunderstanding. The Declaration of Independence was the laundry list of grievances stating America’s case for freedom. Its accusations against the King ranged from egregious ("He has plundered our seas, burnt our towns and ravaged the lives of our people") to the trifling ("Sometimes when he sees us at a party he acts like he doesn’t know us"). But proud men would not take up arms against the Crown solely because the King had "erected a multitude of new offices." The authors of the Declaration knew they would also have to appeal to man’s higher nature, to stir men’s souls. They needed something with some zazz. Enter a hot-shot tobacco executive from Virginia, Thomas Jefferson.

His task would be to synthesize the unique brand message of America down to something that would captivate the hard to reach "12-28 ragtag militia" demographic, all the while not offending traditional "Butterchurn Moms." His first attempt at a Preamble was:

-
AMERICA. A is for All the tea they taxed. M is for the Minutemen they shellaxed..."
-

It tested poorly. But his rewrite would be win-win:

-
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
-

In a scant 35 words, Jefferson had given the nation the kind of positive brand identity that tendered moot the issue of whether or not we had to live up to its ideals. Still, knowing the inherent contradiction between their noble words and the reality of a slave-owning nation, Jefferson and the Founders wisely decided to strike from the Declaration of Independence the phrase "or your money back."

---From America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction

Happy 233rd Birthday, America, We The People luv ya.  The original Cheers and Jeers from July 4, 1776 starts in the Commonwealth of There's Moreville... [Washington's sword: Swoosh!!]  RIGHTNOW!  [Liberty Bell: Gong!!]

Meet the GOP's newest favorite wingnut from South Carolina, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint:

DeMint Supports Honduras Military Coup

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has come out in support of the military coup in Honduras, chastising President Obama in a statement for what he calls "a slap in the face to the people" of that country.

You can sort of understand DeMint's position here. At the rate they're going, the only way the GOP is going to get back in power anytime soon is through a military coup.

Coming up on Sunday Kos ...

• Next week, Presidents Obama and Medvedev will meet in Moscow to negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Plutonium Page will discuss the treaty and the role it plays in the complicated path to Global Zero.
• Just in time for the holiday weekend, DarkSyde will review some of the amazing spin-offs from gunpowder in a Brief History of Fireworks.
• The Republican Party will try to start some July 4th fireworks this weekend with an ad (of questionable accuracy) targeting vulnerable Dems for their vote on the American Clean Energy Act. Steve Singiser looks at the factual issues with the ad, and some of the more curious targets of the NRCC's attacks.
• SusanG will take a look at two first-hand accounts of dealing with the housing market: the controversial and ethically challenged book by New York Times finance reporter Edmund Andrews, Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown, and Gimme Shelter by Mary Beth Williams, a rollicking account from a freelance journalist of a three-year journey trying to buy a home in New York City.
• DarkSyde and DevilsTower team up for a foray into the convoluted world of financial markets and unregulated derivatives in "Bids and Bubbles."

Every two years, Republicans try this crap. And every two years, people look at each other and say, "what the hell is a 'daily cause'?"

“Tom Perriello’s national energy tax vote was the defining moment of his short career,” NRCC spokesman Andy Sere said, adding that voters in his district who once thought of him as “that nice young man … is actually a smug globalist who cares more about his Daily Kos cred than the farmers, laborers and middle-class families in his district.”

Dear NRCC,

How many candidates with "Republican cred" have won recently?

Hugs and kisses,

kos

A few minutes ago, Megan Stapleton, Sarah Palin's spokeswoman, seemed to suggest Andrea Mitchell's sources who claim Palin is "out of politics, period" are wrong:

FOX ANCHOR: Was today's presentation from Governor Palin the opening salvo in the campaign for the presidency of 2012?

PALIN SPOKESWOMAN (CHUCKLING): I won't go so far as saying that. What I will say, though Stuart, this is a fighting move. This is a move that says 'okay, enough. I'm not going to keep hitting my head against this wall. I'm not playing politics as usual. You go play that game, I'll go play it another way and on another court.'

She is saying, 'no, you know what, I believe in national security, I believe in energy independence, I believe in supporting our troops. It's not getting done, and I can't do it and make a difference where I am right now behind the governor's desk, so I'm going to go around the governor's desk, and I'm going to make that difference, outside -- outside government.'

FOX ANCHOR: Meghan, it sounds a lot as if you are saying she's going to get out there and campaign in the lower 48. You are her spokeswoman, do you know specifically of some plan that she has to do that?

SPOKESWOMAN: No, there's no plan other than, of course, as she mentioned in her speech, she is going to get out there, and she's going to rally behind the candidates who what those same ideals and values.

That question is whether the spokeswoman meant candidates in 2010 whose support could help Palin win the 2012 nomination, or whether she meant she will support 2012 candidates. 2010 certainly seems a bit more likely given the tenor of her other comments.

Update (2:58PM): On the other hand, Palin's spokeswoman did characterize the announcement as saying "I'm going to make that difference, outside -- outside government." Obviously, resigning puts Palin outside government, but was the spokeswoman talking about the near-term, or was she saying Palin never hopes to return to government?

Update (3:10PM): bluedonkey08 pretty much nails it:

You know (3+ / 0-)

Sometimes I think it's not worth trying to understand what she says. Your sanity will appreciate it.

I was just saying something similar to a friend.

Update (4:05PM): Politico reports she will give "serious consideration" to a 2012 run, according to a close friend. That's PalinDrama for ya!

Andrea Mitchell offers a different read on today's events than most have thus fair, saying sources close to Palin are claiming that she has told them that she is "out of politics, period" and that they are free to throw their support behind other 2012 candidates.

Who knows if Mitchell is right, but if she is, it would make a heckuva lot more sense than this being the opening of the 2012 campaign, as Bill Kristol suggested to Fox.

Update (2:53PM): The plot thickens -- Palin's spokeswoman seems to suggest Mitchell's sources are wrong, saying "this is a fighting move."

Celebrate the crazy:

You notice at the beginning of the clip, she takes a shot at lame duck governors who take overseas trade missions?

As I thought about this announcement that I wouldn't run for re-election, and what that means for Alaska, I thought about how, well, how much fun some Governors have as lame ducks. They maybe travel around their state, travel to other states, maybe take their overseas international trade missions.

That seems like a fairly obvious shot at Mark Sanford. It's very weird that she would choose to engage with him, and fairly bad political judgment.

Remember Ronnie Earle? He was the Travis County District Attorney who indicted Tom DeLay back in 2004.

Former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle inched closer to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor Thursday when he filed a one-page form with the Texas Ethics Commission designating himself as his campaign treasurer.

Earle did not state on the form which office he would seek but said in an interview, "I have made no decision, and I won't for a while, but if I run, it will probably be for governor."

Designating a treasurer allows him to start raising money for a bid, although he said he has no fundraising events planned.

"If somebody is interested in donating, I would certainly be in position to have all the I's dotted and the T's crossed," Earle said.

He did not give a timetable for making his decision.

Earle is the first serious Democrat to consider a gubernatorial bid, and given his cred with Democratic voters, he should motivate many to participate in the Democratic primary.

This is extra relevant because Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is hoping to attract Democratic and independent support in her own GOP gubernatorial primary against incumbent Gov. Rick Perry. Texas primaries are open.

But with Democrats suddenly having a relevant primary of their own, that narrows Hutchison's potential voter pool considerably. And with Perry doing a bang-up job of building allegiance among the teabagging/secessionist crowd, Hutchison's job would get a lot more difficult.

Her current plans seem to be to quit late this year to trigger a May 2010 special election (though she has made no official announcement). The NRSC is loathe to defend that seat in a low-turnout special election, and has been pushing for her wait long enough to eliminate the need for the special. But her electoral prospects are already precarious, and they just got a bit more.

Her best bet would be to resign her Senate seat immediately, get home, and start campaigning hard. But that would trigger a special election this November. And as you can imagine, that would put Senate Republicans in an even bigger hole (though Hutchison would be replaced with a Perry appointment pending the special election). So what does ol' Kay do? Look out for herself and come home, ditching her useless seat in the Senate, or does she throw her fellow Republicans a lifeline and hold out until this fall, further endangering her gubernatorial prospects?

She should look out for number one.

Update (12:50PM) -- "America is looking north to the future." Must be running.

Update (12:45PM) -- Video of Palin's statement just now. We'll post it soon, but the birds making noises over her announcement are hilarious. And her claim that she's "not dropping the ball" is just as funny. The decision, she says, "has been in the works for awhile." For a while? She hasn't even been governor for awhile! Eight months ago, she thought she was the next Vice President of the U.S.

And she sure sounds like she's running for President. Which must mean she's a moron.

Update (12:43PM) -- There's also a discussion going on in RandySF's recommended diary.

Update (12:40PM) -- A Fox anchor's take:

She's quitting as a one-term governor who is very young and has been ridiculed by some as just not ready for prime time.

Only one thing to add to that. One-term is too generous. She's quitting as a one-half term governor. And she's quitting after less than a year on the national stage.

Unless she's a total moron, there's no way she's running for president. Then again, maybe she is a total moron.

Original post: Sarah Palin is stepping down as governor at the end of July, after just 30 months on the job. KTUU Alaska:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Gov. Sarah Palin will resign her office in a few weeks, she said during a news conference at her Wasilla home Friday morning.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the Governor's Picnic at Pionner Park in Fairbanks on Saturday, July 25, Palin said.

There was no immediate word as to why she will resign, though speculation has been rampant that the former vice presidential candidate is gearing up for a run at the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

• An idea whose time has clearly come: Draft Bachmann.
• California is busy printing up IOU's. That's not a messed up budgeting system at all...
• Gay sex has been decriminalized in Delhi, which is expected to lead to further advances in equality in other areas of India. (Bear in mind the law being overturned dates to the British empire.)
• Holy crap.
• What Yglesias said. Sheesh, and I'd had a generally favorable view of Amy Klobuchar.
• John Cole speculates on what right-wing elites really believe and comes up mostly empty.
• How has the blogosphere changed in the past 6 years? This post isn't easy to excerpt to give you a taste, but it's prompting a lot of discussion -- check out the links in her updates. Ezra Klein argues that "she dances around the issue a bit: The place has professionalized."

  The blogosphere isn't thrumming with the joyous, raucous, weirdness of the early years. And that's a shame. But the upside is that it's more careful. It reports and investigates and uncovers. My blog certainly isn't as fun to write as it used to be. But it's also a lot better than it used to be. And it certainly pays more. And so it goes. The blogosphere grew up and it got a job, or, to be more specific, lots of jobs. That made it less fun, but, like a frat house legend who now goes to work every morning, probably more useful to society.

• Not in a million years would I do this.
• Steve Benen calls it: Jim DeMint is a Jesse Helms for the 21st century.

This isn't how Republicans are supposed to act.

Gov. Charlie Crist ran afoul of the state Constitution when he refused to fill an appeals court seat because all of the picks submitted to him were white, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously ruled.

The high court also ruled Thursday that Crist must make a judicial selection from the all-white list of six names for the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach.

Crist, complaining Dec. 1 that none of ''three well-qualified African-Americans'' made the cut, asked the nominating commission to send him more names. But the commission refused.

In a written statement Thursday, Crist said he was ''disappointed'' with the ruling, but he will comply with it. ''I remain committed to ensuring that the diversity of the people of Florida is represented in our judiciary,'' Crist said.

This would be great politics in a Democratic primary. In a Republican one? Give his primary opponent Marco Rubio another arrow in his quiver.

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 6/29-7/02/2009. All adults. MoE 2% (6/22-25/2009 results):

Full crosstabs here. This poll is updated every Friday morning, and you can see trendline graphs here.

Since none of the movement this week is terribly pronounced, there is a temptation to call this something of a status quo week. However, it is WHERE the movement took place that leads us to a few conclusions.

Without exception, every Democrat saw better numbers than last week, even if it was just incrementally.

Without exception, every Republican saw WORSE numbers than last week, even if it was just incrementally.

This is especially notable since the Republicans in the poll had spent most of the last month rebounding from the basement-level numbers they were staring at the end of the month of May.

To what do we attribute the reversal of fortune this week? The easy, and most tempting, target is Mark Sanford. The Sanford imbroglio broke in the middle of the week last week, and therefore last week's tracker would not have been able to gauge the full effect of public disgust with another tale of a conservative Republican gone wrong. Sanford, this week, managed to keep the story alive with his own mouth, as well as the escalating calls for his resignation.

That said, it is not for certain that this is simply a Sanford reaction, or revulsion. There is at least some evidence that this might have as much to do with the Clean Energy bill as it does the not-so-clean Sanford adventure.

For the Democrats, the bulk of the increase (indeed, virtually all of it) can be attributed to a marked increase in support from Democratic voters. This is strongest in the case of Nancy Pelosi, as you can see below:

Change in Net Postive/Negative Favorability from 6/25/09 to 7/02/09, Democratic Voters ONLY

Barack Obama +2 (from +80 last week to +82 this week)
Nancy Pelosi +4 (from +52 last week to +56 this week)
Harry Reid +2 (from +38 last week to +40 this week)
Congressional Democrats +2 (from +64 last week to +66 this week)
The Democratic Party +1 (from +71 last week to +72 this week)

If there has been a substantial complaint from Democrats about the early performance of this Congress and this President, it has been that they have been craving more action than they have been receiving. House passage of a major bill like the Clean Energy bill is the kind of action those voters have been waiting for, and they seem to have rewarded Democrats (and Pelosi, in particular) with better numbers.

The Republicans, on the other hand, see their slide register across the board, and just from one demographic band. With the Republican Party's sliding numbers this week (down three from the previous week), their slide was slightly more pronounced among Independents and nonvoters. This could well be a Sanford response, but it could also be continued frustration that the GOP has apparently gone all-in on being obstructionists, with their almost universal lack of support for the energy measure and their continued public position of opposing anything coming out of the Obama administration.

On this week's generic ballot test, the numbers are almost identical to last week's, and similar to where they have been all month:

Would you like to see more Republicans or Democrats elected to Congress in 2010? (6/18 in parentheses)

Democrats 42 (43)
Republicans 29 (29)
Not Sure 29 (28)

Counterintuitively, what little change we find in the 2010 Congressional ballot test moves in the REPUBLICAN direction, albeit by a single point. The Democrats still enjoy a double-digit lead on that question, as they have since we started asking that question a little more than a month ago.

UPDATE: Yeah, yeah, the newbie tried to do graphics. Is that what you young whippersnappers call an "epic fail"? It's been nuked. Lo siento mucho...Resized and fixed. Call it a learning experience!

Washington Post headline:

Sanford Didn't Use State Money For His Affair, S.C. Officials Say

From the very same article:

He [Sanford] reimbursed the state $3,304 this week for part of an official state-sponsored trip to Brazil and Argentina in June 2008 during which he spent time with his mistress, Maria Belén Chapur, said Sanford's spokesman, Joel Sawyer.

So here's the question: why the heck is Sanford reimbursing the state for his trip to Argentina if public funds were never used during his affair?

That just doesn't make any sense. If he didn't use public funds, how could there by anything to reimburse?

And if he did use public funds, isn't this like saying a bank robber didn't do anything wrong because he (or she) returned the stolen money?

Gee, what a surprise, via Americablog:

White supremacists and neo-Nazi hate groups plan to take advantage of the anti-tax “Tea Parties” set to occur in more than 1,000 cities and localities over the July 4 holiday weekend to disseminate racist fliers and other materials and attempt to recruit others to their cause, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

ADL’s Center on Extremism, which monitors extremist groups and provides information to law enforcement and the public, has released information on its Web site describing the attempt by white supremacists to co-opt the anti-tax message of the events as a means to spread racism and anti-Semitism.

On Stormfront, the most popular white supremacist Internet forum, members have discussed becoming local organizers of the “Tea Parties” and finding ways to involve themselves in the events. Many racists have voiced their intent to attend these rallies for the purpose of cultivating an “organized grassroots White mass movement,” with some suggesting that they would do so without openly identifying themselves as racists.

Those patriotic teabaggers must be so proud.

• Argentina's got a flu problem.

  “We are facing a grave problem here,” said Dr. Jorge Yabkowski, the president of the Federation of Health Professionals of Argentina. “Hospitals here have very limited capacity to deal with this epidemic.”

  On Wednesday, emergency rooms that normally receive 200 patients had to attend to 1,000, and in Buenos Aires Province the minister of health, Claudio Zin, said about 40 percent of health care workers were not showing up, either because they were ill or were concerned about catching the virus. The province had called up retired doctors and medical students to help out.

  See Disasters, Surge and Pandemics. This could be us in the fall.

• Last Friday, I participated in a flu summit at NIH/National Library of Medicine. The all-day summit archive is on line here.
• A further WH and cabinet level summit will take place at NIH on July 9.

  

  “Scientists and public health experts forecast that the impact of H1N1 may well worsen in the fall – when the regular flu season hits, or even earlier, when schools start to open – which is only five or six weeks away in some cases,” Secretary Sebelius said. “The goal of the Summit is to launch a national influenza campaign by bringing federal, state and local officials, emergency managers, educators and others together with the nation's public health experts to build on and tailor states' existing pandemic plans, share lessons learned and best practices during the spring and summer H1N1 wave, and discuss preparedness priorities.”

  We'll see what comes out of it, but there's no question the fall will be a difficult time, and preparing now for potential school closures is prident and necessary. From CIDRAP:

  Pandemicflu.gov and various health departments offer checklists on what individuals and families can do to get ready for a pandemic. They include:

  · Learn about pandemic H1N1 influenza, its symptoms, how it spreads, and how to prevent infections.

  · Stock up on water and non-perishable food. Although the recommendations vary from days' to months' worth, most experts agree it's important to have extra key supplies on hand.

  · Ensure you have a supply of your prescription medicines.

  · Keep other emergency and health supplies handy such as flashlights, manual can openers, face masks, and painkillers.

  · Make a list of people who are willing to help and can be contacted in case of emergencies.

  · Make plans for potential disruptions at work, curtailed social gatherings, and school closures (for example, is it possible to work from home if you are unable to go into work?).

  Other useful skills for pandemic preparedness include learning how to care for the sick at home, rehydration therapy, and isolation measures, said, Joy Alexiou, public information officer for the Santa Clara Department of Public Health in California.

  "Get things in order. Have the supplies in hand so you are not surprised when you go to the store and it's not there," said Alexiou, noting that in the first days of the HINI outbreak, some stores ran out of hand sanitizer.

  Fall will be here in just a few short weeks.

• CNN:

  The new president of the American Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation’s doctors, said Wednesday the group is open to a government-funded health insurance option for people without coverage.

  Dr. J. James Rohack told CNN that the AMA supports an “American model” that includes both “a private system and a public system, working together.”

  In May, the AMA told a Senate committee it did not support a government-sponsored public health insurance option.

  However, Kossack wbramh notes that the AMA's position is not so clear.

• Ezra on the HELP bill:

  This goes back to my point the other day: For health reform in general and the public plan in particular, the composition of the health insurance exchanges is arguably the single most important policy question. The larger the exchanges, the more people who will have access to a competitive insurance market (including the public plan). But the easier you make it for employers to access the exchanges, the more health reform costs because more people use government subsidies, and the more people "lose" their current coverage because their employer buys into the exchange option.

• Kaiser.orgon Schumer and the public option:

  Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the key Senate Finance Committee and advocate for a government-run health insurance plan, said yesterday he would abandon all other possible compromises in favor of immediately creating a public plan that "would operate on 'a level playing field' with private insurers," CongressDaily reports. Other proposals have included a plan that would establish health insurance co-ops with government seed money or "trigger" the creation of a public plan only if private insurers fail to meet certain targets for containing costs and improving access.

Friday pundits are the best! Except, maybe for Wednesday. Or Tuesday. And there's always Saturday and Sunday.

NY Times editorial:

The jobs report for June should put a chill on hopes for an economic recovery anytime soon. And it makes a compelling case for more government stimulus, as unpopular as that idea may be in Washington. Americans all over the country are struggling.

Paul Krugman:

O.K., Thursday’s jobs report settles it. We’re going to need a bigger stimulus. But does the president know that?

Matt Taibbi: a Taibbi tour de force (not without controversy - Goldman Sachs is less than happy with it):

Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression

David Brooks:  

The frictions are building and will lead to divorce, conflict and potential catastrophe. China, Ferguson argued, is now decoupling from the United States. Chinese business leaders assume that American consumers will never again go on a spending binge. The Chinese are developing an economy that relies more on internal consumption.

Chinese officials are also aware that the U.S. will never get its fiscal house in order. There may be theoretical plans to reduce the federal deficit and the national debt, but there is no politically practical way to get there. Depreciation is inevitable and the Chinese are working to end the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency.

WaPo:

A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations.

For a small fee, you can come over for dinner and we can discuss whether to post more stories like this. Nota Bene: the dinner has been canceled because of an overzealous publicist.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:

Mountaintop removal coal mining is the worst environmental tragedy in American history. When will the Obama administration finally stop this Appalachian apocalypse?

Linda Buzzell at Alternet writes

In the last 150 years, however, the human relationship with time has radically changed. Some say the problems started earlier, with the development of agriculture or writing, but it was really the Industrial Revolution -- the rise of the Machine -- that put humans in thrall to mechanical processes and machine time. And the recent exponential speeding up into Cybertime has accelerated the process still further. Industrial time was bad enough (Charlie Chaplin did a wonderful job of visualizing that "cog in the wheel" feeling in his film "Modern Times") but Cybertime can be dizzyingly discombobulating for a Pleistocene primate.

And that's how many modern people feel -- completely frazzled and out of synch with our deepest selves.

The results of this disconnection from nature and nature's pace show up in therapists' and doctors' offices every day. Living under unnatural time pressures causes a myriad of psychological, social and physical ailments. Delinked from the natural rhythms of our bodies and the rest of the planet, we struggle with diminishing success to adapt to the strange mechanical and disembodied world we have created.

As a practicing psychotherapist and ecotherapist, when I see patients who are suffering from depression or anxiety I ask them to keep a time-journal in which they record the hours and minutes spent each day outside, as well as the hours spent inside in front of a screen. My clients are often shocked to realize how disassociated they have become from nature and our species' natural ways of living, and the effect this disconnection is having on their psyche. In fact, a 2007 study from the University of Essex shows that a daily "dose" of walking outside in nature can be as effective at treating mild to moderate depression as expensive antidepressant medications that can sometimes have negative side-effects.

= = =

The rescue begins below and continues in the jump. If you haven’t already joined, please consider signing up for DK GreenRoots, the new Google Group for eco-blogger activists.

= = =

In a DK GreenRoots-tagged diary, My Lake Has Singing Sands, Muskegon Critic wrote: "It's called singing sand.  The sand along Lake Michigan squeaks when you walk on it, given the right temperature and humidity. Singing sand. Rrrt, rrt, rrrt...like so. While walking along the singing sand beaches of Lake Michigan, as the cool waters dance around our bare feet, I tell my five year old son that the lake is ours, so we have to take care of it. Ours not in the sense of ownership, but in the sense of father to son, brother to brother. I know it isn't precisely true; That it's our lake. Details, details. I tell my son lots of crazy things. For example I also tell him that the 1998 Ford Escort is the best automobile ever made, EVER."

rb137 lamented a slaughter in the DK-GreenRoots-tagged diary, Blood Stains on Green Technology: "There is a brutal civil war taking place in The Democratic Republic of Congo -- a war where the government is not strong enough to do more than patronize the bloody militias that fight amongst themselves. But what does this have to do with the environmental movement? The DRC is rich in natural resources. Many of the metals that are used in green technology are found there. Electrodes in your cell phones, components in your computer, your catalytic converter, and materials of the green economy are regularly mined in The Democratic Republic of Congo. You might find electronic devices that funded this conflict in your pocket right now. These metals must be regulated just like the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone. ... We need to work toward a blanket prohibition on using blood minerals that come from The Democratic Republic of Congo."

Tonight's Rescue Rangers are vcmvo2, Elise, ItsJessMe, dopper0189, grog and jennyjem with vcmvo2 editing.

The diaries up for rescue are:

• Muskegon Critic writes a beautiful paen to the Great Lakes in this week's environmental series: DK GreenRoots: My Lake Has Singing Sands. (grog)
• In a provocative diary Kaid at NRDC questions if the movement to "re-green" shrinking cities is ignoring the true problem, suburban sprawl: Village Green: Let's Be Careful What We Wish For on "Shrinking Cities". (dopper0189)
• Bruce Nilles presents the good and the bad news in a report from the EPA in DK Greenroots: Poverty Near The "High Hazard" Coal Ash Sites. (jennyjem)
• Captain Janeway illustrates the difficulties of caring for an aging parent in Passages for my mother, passages for me. (vcmvo2)
• Valtin explains that following the Army Field manual might not prevent all forms of torture, in Beyond Yoo: Army Field Manual Allows Torture with Drugs. (Elise)
• Roger Schuler continues his excellent reporting in The Cheating of Don Siegelman, Part IV. (vcmvo2)

• Vyan exposes Bagram AFB : America's OTHER Torture Chamber. (jennyjem)
• andrewmcleod opines on what it would take to get Universal health care. (vcmvo2)
• In A Place for Human Rights at the U.S.-Russia Summit, Paul LeGendre asks Obama to discuss the increase of hate crimes in Russia with President Medvedev. (vcmvo2)
• Vikingkingq believes we need to go further than the Waxman-Markey climate change bill and offers ideas, in Green Transit and Hybrids: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. (Elise)

jotter has High Impact Diaries: July 1, 2009.

Elise brings tonight's Top Comments: A DK GreenRoots Edition.

Enjoy and please promote your own favorite diary in this Open Thread.

As people start staring out the window at work, anticipating the holiday weekend....

MN-Gov: Coleman Flirting With Gubernatorial Bid. No...Really.
This was hinted at back when Tim Pawlenty announced his retirement, but now the whispers are getting louder: is Norm Coleman contemplating a run for Governor? The head of the GOP in Minnesota said that he talked to Coleman, and that the former Senator is not "ruling anything in or out." The St. Paul Legal Ledger does a nice job today, meanwhile of summarizing the field for this top-tier governors race.

TN-Gov: Prominent State Senator Moves Closer To Democratic Primary
State Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle has filed paperwork to run for Governor. He becomes the fifth Democrat to declare an interest, but Kyle might have an ace in the hole--he is the only one of the five thus far who hails from vote-rich Shelby County (Memphis).

IL-Gov: GOP Field For Governor Reduced By One--Birkett to Run for AG
One of the fence-sitters on the Illinois Governors race got off the fence today, by declaring that he will NOT be a candidate. DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett instead announced he is planning to run for Attorney General. The current Attorney General, Democrat Lisa Madigan, has frozen the Democratic side a little bit as she vacillates between running for Governor, running for the U.S. Senate, and running for re-election.

NH-Sen: Popular Former GOP Governor Joins Sununu on the Sidelines
Laura Clawson told us here at Daily Kos this morning that former Senator John Sununu has decided NOT to run for the open Senate seat in 2010. Later in the day, the wound was compounded when Stephen Merill, who was a popular Republican governor of the state during the 1990s, told the Manchester Union-Leader that he ALSO did not wish to run for the Senate. Good news for the GOP, though: Ovide Lamontagne (last seen getting blown out by seventeen points against Jeanne Shaheen back in 1996) is sounding more and more like a candidate. The GOP is still hoping for either former Congressman Charlie Bass or state AG Kelly Ayotte to make a bid.

In other NH-Senate news, a new poll by the University of New Hampshire has likely Democratic nominee Paul Hodes leading all but one prospective GOP opponent. Ayotte actually holds a 39-35 lead over the Democrat, while Hodes holds narrow leads over Sununu (43-41), Bass (40-38), and possible candidate Frank Tausch (45-25).

AK-Gov: Top Palin Critic Seeking to Be A Palin Opponent
Democrats, usually scrambling to find statewide candidates in Alaska, seem to have a run on them for 2010. The newest name is state Senator Hollis French, who headed last year's Troopergate investigation and has been a leading critic of Sarah Palin. Palin, of course, has not clarified her 2010 plans. She apparently has been too busy excoriating her old pals at Team McCain for not affording her enough opportunities to get her sweat on.

NATIONAL: The Sad Tale of the Gingrich "Revolution" Class of '94
Politico, besides being quite busy ripping the folks at WaPo to shreds today, has also posted an interesting piece by Michael Falcone highlighting the personal travails of several members of the Congressional "class of 1994" that was swept in by that year's Republican tsunami. Sure, you know about guys like Mark Sanford and John Ensign. Sadly, there are many more examples. Some will find it somewhat sad, others will bathe in the schaudenfreude. Either way, a worthy read.

NATIONAL: Epic Fail For The NRCC On Cap and Trade Attack Ad
Yesterday, the NRCC (the House campaign wing of the GOP) announced that they were going after several "vulnerable Democrats" on their votes for President Obama's American Clean Energy and Security Act. It did not take long for the nonpartisan analysis site FactCheck to weigh in on the ad:

"The NRCC ad credits a Washington Times editorial for its claim that the Waxman-Markey bill would make electricity prices “skyrocket,” costing families $1,870 a year. But the NRCC is wrong...The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would cost households an average of $175 in 2020."

Other analysts, of course, even imply that the plan will eventually lead to savings, and not costs. One TV station in Roanoke, Virginia is already refusing to air the advertisement.

A conversation between Michele Bachmann and one of her staffers:

Staffer (approaches gingerly): Congresswoman?

Bachmann (looks up from computer screen, revealing that she was posting a comment on a freeper board as "CensusBoycott2009"): Yes?

Staffer: I just received word that three members of the GOP caucus have asked you to give up your Census boycott.

Bachmann (shakes head): I just knew it.

Staffer (confused): Knew what?

Bachmann: Obama's socialist mind control is already working. He's taken over the Republican Party.

Staffer (horrified): Oh no! What do we do? You're the only thing standing between us and insanity!

Bachmann (soothing): Don't worry. I have a plan. But we must be careful. And we cannot admit the real reason I am boycotting the Census.

Staffer: You mean we have to stop telling the truth about how they plan to round up Americans and put them in FEMA camps, just like the Japanese in World War II?

Bachmann: Oh yeah, I'd been meaning to tell you about that. Michelle Malkin cleared that up for me -- it was actually a good thing to put them in internment camps, so that's not why I'm against the Census anymore.

Staffer: So why are you against the Census?

Bachmann: If I told you the truth, your life would be in danger.

Staffer: From The Obamessiah?

Bachmann (nods): Listen, I'm standing firm on this. But if they ask you why I won't fill out the Census, I want you to give them a cover story.

Staffer: What's the cover story?

Bachmann: That I've gone hiking.

Staffer: Gone hiking? Where?

Bachmann: Around Lake Bemidji.

Staffer: I didn't know you liked hiking.

Bachmann: Yes, I love hiking. I've always gone hiking. And we're all hikers now. So be careful. Because they are coming after us hikers.

In the latest edition of Time, Michael Scherer has an article on Vice President Joe Biden's efforts "to ride herd on the stampede for dollars known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," and today at the Swampland, Scherer notes that:

One interesting fact that didn't make it into the story. Since March, Biden has talked, usually in conference calls, to dozens of mayors and 47 of the 50 state governors about the Recovery Act. The three governors who have not yet been on the line, though they have been invited: Alaska's Sarah Palin, Texas' Rick Perry and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal. You can draw your own conclusions.

We can also probably conclude that Mark Sanford would have made the list if he hadn't been busy milking his so-called rejection of the stimulus money for every drop of publicity he could get ... or hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Just when you thought it was safe to venture out again, the zombie lies about global warming claw their way out of the grave. Like its slowly shuffling namesakes, most of this undead propaganda is so easily out maneuvered it would be laughable, if it wasn’t finding traction among the usual suspects on the cusp of a Senate debate -- guaranteed to be brimming with desperate GOP antics -- over a historic climate and energy bill.

Professionals paid by energy groups to present their clients’ case in the best light possible won’t be swayed by appeals to reason, honesty, or empirical data. As the old saying goes, ‘it’s impossible to get a guy to understand something if he’s livelihood depends on him not understanding it.’ But the court of public opinion, including those sympathetic to industry shills and PR hacks, is a different story. I asked Chris Mooney, coauthor of Unscientific America, who has a wealth of experience effectively dealing with the public how he would approach that group. He said one tried and true method is to simply ask them "what if you’re wrong"? So I gave that idea a test spin here, and maybe I just got lucky, but the early returns are encouraging.  

The logic is hard to avoid. If we invest in energy efficiency, alternative technologies, and green jobs, and for whatever reason global warming turns out to be much adieu about nothing, we as a nation are left with greater energy independence and whole new industries right here at home. Not a bad outcome. But if climate change deniers are wrong, and we do nothing, we’re left depending on foreign oil, stuck with a growing, potentially catastrophic environmental disaster, and little or no immediate solutions to any of it. The better scenarios should be readily apparent.

Of course, there is one small group of people that might stand to benefit enormously under what are the worst scenarios for the rest of us. Business as usual means a few more pennies for energy companies on near term quarterly earnings’ reports. Those monopoly pennies might add up to the difference between a five million dollar bonus and a ten million dollar pay day for an oil company CEO or a large stockholder. And that, right there, explains the energy funded think-tanks and endless partisan attacks. With these insatiably greedy bastards it’s not about national security and it’s certainly not preserving your job. It’s the dollars, always the dollars.

That "holy grail" CIA torture report that is reportedly wil undercut claims that torture provided any useful intelligence, the one that was supposed to have been released yesterday, and a few weeks before that, might be held now until August 31.

At least, that's what the administration has requested. The ACLU, the organization that brought the FOIA case which resulted in the order that the document be released will challenge that request. Spencer has the details, including the documents:

The Justice Department argues that the volume of material it needs to go through in the CIA’s 2004 inspector general report is just too great to meet any pre-August 31 timetable. Not only is the IG report itself 200 pages, that’s just one of 319 documents under review as part of the case.

The ACLU replies that the CIA and the Justice Department have already missed three deadlines for the agreed-upon disclosure, and lawyer Amrit Singh writes that she’s “disturbed by the clear trend emerging in the government’s repeated delays in disclosure of documents critical to a complete understanding of the CIA’s interrogation program.” She says that instead of delaying, Judge Alvin Hellerstein should order the “expediting the reprocessing and release of all CIA documents at issue.”

Spencer also has this statement from the ACLU's national security chief Jameel Jaffer:

The CIA has already had more than five months to review the inspector general’s report, and the report is only about two hundred pages long. We’re increasingly troubled that the Obama administration is suppressing documents that would provide more evidence that the CIA’s interrogation program was both ineffective and illegal. President Obama should not allow the CIA to determine whether evidence of its own unlawful conduct should be made available to the public. The public has a right to know what took place in the CIA’s secret prisons and on whose authority.

It's hard to see what a delay of two months will necessarily gain the administration given, as Jaffer points out, they've already had five months to try to figure out what to do about it. The predictable response was just what they got, the ACLU upped the ante by requesting that all of the CIA documents that are pending release be expedited. At this point, the report is going to be damaging no matter what--damage likely intensified by the efforts to delay its release.

Stay tuned for the court's response, probably after the holiday weekend.

Jon Stewart smackdown on Beck’s “bin Laden needs to attack America”:

The debate on the health care bill is so often snagged on talking points that have been around since Truman. A government health care plan will lead to bureaucrats rationing our health care!

"I don't think many Americans want to start having to wait in line [or] start getting government permission for procedures," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said last month on CBS's Face the Nation.

All too often, reporters are willing to accept that hoary old chestnut as the end of the discussion, so when Scott Horsley at NPR takes a deeper look at that idea, it's... refreshing.

But some doctors and economists argue that, in effect, the U.S. health care system is already rationing, in the most unproductive ways.

"In America, we strictly ration health care. We've done it for years," says Dr. Arthur Kellermann, professor of emergency medicine and associate dean for health policy at Emory University School of Medicine. "But in contrast to other wealthy countries, we don't ration medical care on the basis of need or anticipated benefit. In this country, we mainly ration on the ability to pay. And that is especially evident when you examine the plight of the uninsured in the United States."

Anyone who gets their medical care through insurance today has experienced this rationing. It's far from invisible. You can see your doctor only if they fit the criteria of your plan. And every appointment, every referral, every test, every prescription is subject to the rationing of the insurance company.  That's for people who have insurance. For those without...

Kellermann still remembers the young mother of two who came into his emergency room more than 15 years ago, suffering from a hemorrhagic stroke.

"We worked for 90 minutes to save her life, but basically she had burst a blood vessel in her head. She didn't have a chance," he says. "She had no health insurance, and when the money got tight, she had to make a choice — she could either buy the groceries for her kids, or she was going to buy the three blood pressure medicines she had to take every day."

Sadly, Kellermann says, for less than the cost of that futile, 90-minute effort in the ER, the woman could have had all the blood pressure medication she needed for the rest of her life. It was not a government bureaucrat who decided she should forgo treatment until it was too late — it was her own lack of health insurance that led her to make that choice.

Horsley's report doesn't break new ground. It doesn't delve into obscure statistics or show health care from an unexpected angle.

Instead it shows us the health care system we all know -- one that's already bounded by a severe rationing system that gives little consideration to anything but dollars.  What's extraordinary about the report is that it describes the health care system we all know and live with, not the one that fantasy system that McConnell pretends we have.

Shorter Howard Kurtz: Well, ok, so none of the African American women who are reporters on the Michelle Obama beat have gotten interviews with her since the inauguration. And ok, so "no one raises questions when an Irish American male reporter covers a pol named Murphy." But all these African American women are still probably going too easy on Michelle Obama. Because she's black! And they're black! And she's a woman! And they're women!

As Adam Serwer says:

More importantly, you would never ever see a media critic like Kurtz questioning the ability of white men to cover other white men objectively, or for that matter the ability of white men to cover women or people of color, despite the fact that if newsroom coverage were to be affected, it would be by the prevailing cultural biases of the better represented population in the newsroom.

But why would Kurtz question white men? After all, he's a white man, and he's never had the appearance of being sympathetic to a white male candidate. Cold, clear-eyed assessment, that's him:

After McCain held a media barbecue at his cabin near Sedona, Columbia Journalism Review seems to have developed indigestion, especially since it was on the record but political questions were discouraged:

"Such ground rules must go down easier with a tour of the grounds and a plateful of McCain-made ribs. (While, apparently, 'objectivity prohibits a good reporter' like Reuters' Jeff Mason from telling readers how tasty McCain's ribs were, CBS's Dante Higgins 'is confident in reporting they were succulent and flavorful').

"In return for dropping 'political talk,' reporters got their candidate-cooked meal. And a tire swing. And Frank Sinatra tunes on the deck.

"And McCain, in return, got press coverage depicting a relaxed, confident, regular-like-you-and-me-but-also-very-much-in-charge guy holding court at what could well be, as so many reporters noted, the future Western White House. (Could rib-grilling be the new brush-clearing? Just as manly -- and sticks to reporters' ribs!)"

There might be a morsel of a complaint here if journalists didn't get much chance to ask McCain serious questions. But he's the most accessible presidential candidate in modern history. Hillary had one dinner with her press corps, but it was off the record. And my sources say she didn't cook.

In fact, Kurtz had a lot to say about McCain's accessibility to reporters...like Howard Kurtz.

In conclusion: It's unreasonable to suggest impropriety when John McCain has reporters over to his house and cooks for them. It is reasonable, however, to wonder if the beat reporters who slog along behind Michelle Obama waiting outside the closed doors of her events are favoring her because of shared race and gender.

That, my friends (McCain shout-out!), is Village logic.

If you had any doubts about why Mark Sanford wanted to talk about his sex life, then this statement from his wife Jenny should clear them up:

Columbia, S.C. - July 2, 2009- The last week has been very painful for me, my family and for the people of South Carolina.  However, throughout this terrible ordeal, the incredible outpouring of kindness, support, and prayer I’ve received from countless friends and folks I have never even met has been truly uplifting.  I appreciate that more than I can say.  Please know that my sons and I are doing fine, given the circumstances.  We are surrounded by friends and family, and we will make it through this. I believe it is how we respond to the challenges we face in life, and what we learn from them, that is most telling about who we truly are.

There is no question that Mark’s behavior is inexcusable. Actions have consequences and he will be dealing with those consequences for a long while. Trust has been broken and will need to be rebuilt. Mark will need to earn back that trust, first and foremost with his family, and also with the people of South Carolina.

The real issue now is one of forgiveness. I am willing to forgive Mark for his actions. We have been deeply disappointed in and even angry at Mark. The Bible says, "In your anger do not sin."  (Psalm 4:4) In this situation, this speaks to the essence of forgiveness and the critical need to channel one’s energy into positive steps that uphold the dignity of marriage and the family, and lead to reconciliation over time. My forgiveness is essential for us both to move on with our lives, with peace, in whatever direction that may take us.

Desmond Tutu said "forgiveness is the grace by which you enable the other person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew."  Forgiveness opens the door for Mark to begin to work privately, humbly and respectfully toward reconciliation with me. However, to achieve true reconciliation will take time, involve repentance, and will not be easy.

Mark showed a lack of judgment in his recent actions as governor. However, his far more egregious offenses were committed against God, the institutions of marriage and family, our boys and me.  Mark has stated that his intent and determination is to save our marriage, and to make amends to the people of South Carolina. I hope he can make good on those intentions, and for the sake of our boys I leave the door open to it. In that spirit of forgiveness, it is up to the people and elected officials of South Carolina to decide whether they will give Mark another chance as well.

The Sanfords want the focus on to be on their personal lives, because that sets up a narrative in which Mark Sanford can be redeemed from his sins. Nobody is without sin, and there's nothing better than a redemption story, and every compassionate person wishes them well in their pursuit of happiness and peace with each other.

But the thing is, none of that has anything to do with his fitness to serve as governor of South Carolina.

Lindsey Graham says if Sanford can reconcile with his wife, then he can stay on as governor. Excuse me, but Lindsey Graham of all people should know that you don't need to be married, happily or otherwise, to hold high office.

As a public official, your public responsibilities have nothing to do with your private ones, and the only reason why Mark and Jenny Sanford continue to expose their private life to the world is to confuse the two -- and they want to confuse the two because Mark Sanford completely and utterly failed in his public responsibilities.

Not only was he completely AWOL for five days, but he had originally planned a 10-day trip. Think about that -- ten days outside the country, incommunicado. And he thought that was just fine?

Moreover, Sanford's office lied about his whereabouts while he was AWOL, and falsely claimed to have been in contact with him -- and Sanford lied to his own staff about where he was.

Then we have the issue of Sanford's trade mission to Argentina. Were it not for his mistress, he never would have gone to Argentina, where he discussed agribusiness issues in contravention of U.S. policy.

Today, the law enforcement chief appointed by Sanford said Sanford did not misuse public funds to visit his mistress. That may be legally true, but if Sanford believes what he did was ethical, then why is he pledging to repay the state for the costs of the trip? And why won't he release his records on the issue?

So it should be no surprise that in the face of Mark Sanford's inexcusable public malfeasance, the Sanfords want to talk about his private foibles. As much as we wish them well in their private endeavors, it's important to remember the only issue that matters is Mark Sanford's public behavior -- and it is that public behavior which should lead to his resignation.